He paused, straightened his outer robe, and assumed a solemn air. "I'll accept you as a disciple on my master's behalf. My master was the Body Sect's sect master three generations back. He's already passed away. I'll take you into his school for him. From today on, you're my junior brother. In terms of seniority, you now rank above everyone in the Body Sect except me. Even elders like Tie Jian will have to call you Martial Uncle."
The lightning stopped instantly...
The thundercloud dispersed, looking thoroughly satisfied...
Tie Jian stood behind them, his face expressionless, and merely nodded slightly. Clearly, he had long since ceased to be surprised by his sect master's ability to bend and stand tall as circumstances demanded.
Xu Jingyao looked at Du Busi, then at the crater the lightning had blasted into the ground. He opened his fan and covered half his face, leaving only a pair of smiling eyes visible.
"Greetings, senior brother."
The trace of embarrassment on Du Busi's face vanished at once. He slapped his thigh and laughed. "Good! Junior brother! Come, come, let's go into the hall and offer incense!"
He turned and headed straight into the Ancestral Hall, walking even faster than before, as though afraid something else might fall from the sky.
Shadow Douluo brought up the rear without saying a word the entire time. Only when he passed the crater did he glance down at it, then silently walk around it.
Du Busi looked at Xu Jingyao and blinked. "Do you really have no backing? Up there..."
"Take a guess?" Xu Jingyao replied reflexively, then his gaze shifted evasively.
Du Busi: ...
It felt as though a string of crows had flown across the sky.
Then he consoled himself inwardly: even if he didn't have any, just treat him as though he did!
The God of Destruction in the Sea of Consciousness was equally bewildered. What was going on? That lightning just now seemed to be Universe Level...
Even if only in terms of divine rank...
The Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction looked at each other.
Incense smoke curled through the stone hall. Before the ancestral tablets, the eternal lamps swayed in the breeze stirred by Xu Jingyao's bow just now, their flames leaning sideways before straightening again.
Du Busi planted three sticks of incense in the bronze burner, brushed the incense ash off his hands, and sat on a meditation cushion at the side of the hall before beckoning Xu Jingyao over.
"Junior brother, come sit."
Xu Jingyao walked over and sat on the cushion beside him. Du Busi rubbed his hands together, unable to hide the little I have something I'd like to discuss with you expression on his face.
"Junior brother." Du Busi cleared his throat. "You're part of the Body Sect now, so I'll speak frankly. Your Carefree Pavilion has grown quite large in the Sun Moon Empire, but that place is ultimately a haven where Evil Soul Masters flock together. You're a proper Soul Master. Sharing a pot with a bunch of things that are neither human nor ghost won't sound good if word gets out."
"Why not move the Carefree Pavilion to the Heaven Dou Empire? I have some sway over there. If you come, I'll have the Xue Family give you the best treatment. What sort of relationship do our Body Sect and the Heaven Dou Empire have? We're practically the state religion. The Heaven Dou Empire has granted us the highest authority-even the imperial family's retainers have to stand behind us. If your Carefree Pavilion comes over, I'll have the Xue Family enshrine you like their ancestors."
Xu Jingyao watched Du Busi for a good while.
"Senior brother, how is the Heaven Dou Empire doing these days?"
Du Busi slapped his thigh. "Pretty well! It's not as though you don't know our Body Sect's standing in the Heaven Dou Empire. The Xue Family obeys our every word and gives us whatever we ask for. Can the Sun Moon Empire give your Carefree Pavilion that kind of standing?"
"What does your Carefree Pavilion amount to in the Sun Moon Empire? Dress it up all you like, it's just a merchant association doing business. One word from that old emperor could sweep up the whole pot, you included. The Heaven Dou Empire is different. You're part of the Body Sect, the Body Sect's junior brother. That means treatment fit for imperial relatives."
Xu Jingyao rolled his eyes.
"Senior brother, if my Carefree Pavilion can't yet call itself the number one sect in the Sun Moon Empire, it's because I'm not strong enough and don't dare claim it. But as for standing..." He tapped his fan against his palm. "It's definitely higher than your Body Sect's in the Heaven Dou Empire."
Du Busi opened his mouth, about to say more.
But Xu Jingyao sighed and laid his fan across his knees, his tone slowing. "Senior brother, that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking how the Heaven Dou Empire treats ordinary people. How does it treat Soul Masters at the bottom?"
The words in Du Busi's mouth very clearly caught in his throat.
He fell silent.
His rugged face showed little expression, but with his hands resting on his knees, his fingers slowly picked at the edge of the cushion.
He opened his mouth twice. The first time, no sound came out. The second time, his voice was much quieter. "...I'm not sure."
Then he added, "Probably not very well."
Once he said it, he knew himself that it carried too little weight, so he added another sentence, raising his voice a little as though to bolster his courage. "But how much better could Sun Moon be? It has more Evil Soul Masters than anywhere else! You said it yourself just now-the Carefree Pavilion is in the Sun Moon Empire, a place where Evil Soul Masters flock together. How could it be a good place?"
Xu Jingyao did not rush to refute him. He tilted his head and glanced at him, his eyes holding a hint of mockery, along with a suggestion of Are you sure you want to discuss this with me?
"Senior brother, according to the Sun Moon Empire's own statistics, more than half the Evil Soul Masters within its borders came from the Heaven Dou Empire. Why did they come? Because they suffered oppression in their own country, were falsely accused, and only fell into becoming Evil Soul Masters when they had nowhere left to turn."
Du Busi's fingers stopped.
"The nobles are ruthless. For ordinary people hoping to rise above their lot, becoming fallen Evil Soul Masters is actually the only path that offers any chance of revenge." Xu Jingyao spoke at an unhurried pace, as though making an offhand remark. "Worse still, some are clearly only seeking revenge, yet are directly branded as Evil Soul Masters and ultimately have no choice but to sink into that fate."
He paused, picked up his fan, and spun it once in his palm. "Most of those people have now been taken in by the Carefree Pavilion, though. Those who hadn't fallen completely are all our people now. Senior brother, take a guess where the manpower came from for the Carefree Pavilion's rapid expansion these past few years. We have the Heaven Dou Empire's generous tips to thank for all of it."
Du Busi's Adam's apple bobbed.
Xu Jingyao asked him in return, "Why did I join the Sun Moon Empire? Senior brother, why don't you travel around its territory and see what sort of lives its people lead? The Sun Moon Empire awakens its citizens' Martial Souls unconditionally, arranges schools for Soul Masters, and provides ordinary people with opportunities to learn trades. The elderly have support, and the young are cared for. Apart from those Evil Soul Masters rotten to the roots, the Sun Moon Empire could be called the best place on the Douluo Continent."
He snapped his fan shut and laid it back across his knees. "And what about Heaven Dou? You know better than I do, senior brother. Is that realm of the Xue Family's really worth sacrificing the Body Sect's foundations for?"
Du Busi said nothing.
The stone hall remained quiet for a long time. The eternal lamps' flames swayed gently, and the incense in the bronze burner burned a little shorter, its ash falling soundlessly to the bottom.
Du Busi lowered his head and rubbed his hands against his knees. Only after rubbing them for a long while did he speak in a muffled voice. "Let me think."
He rose, his steps considerably heavier than when he had entered, and took two steps toward the hall's entrance before stopping again. With his back to Xu Jingyao, he waved a hand.