With the mood built up to this point, there was no need to keep beating around the bush.
"..."
Zuo Qingyu pressed her lips together, Chen Jingli's earlier advice flashing through her mind.
Then she raised her eyes again. The last trace of hesitation vanished, replaced by the frankness of someone who had decided to throw caution to the wind.
"For... a while after you left Blue Star."
"The Qingyi Bureau classified your whereabouts as top-secret information at the highest level."
"But there were inevitably all kinds of guesses out there."
A hint of wistfulness entered Zuo Qingyu's voice.
"After all, the way you did things before attracted far too much attention."
"Even when you single-handedly wiped out the [Three Mountains and Six Sects], something that should have been kept under wraps, you never bothered hiding the news."
"Now that you've suddenly vanished for so long, anyone would think something was off."
"Most people have probably guessed... that you left this planet."
"Though the nations were intimidated by the lingering shadow of your power and didn't dare gamble on that possibility, much less stake their national fortunes on testing it."
"Some panic still arose within Huaxia."
"As it happened, I reached the threshold of the seventh tier then and successfully broke through to [Dao Observation]."
At this point.
Zuo Qingyu abruptly stepped forward and planted both hands on the desk in front of Ye Li, closing the distance between them.
The white-robed young man's figure was reflected in her eyes, fierce emotion surging within them.
"The moment I broke through, I had the idea of helping you keep this chaotic situation under control!"
"That idea might seem a little ridiculous now."
"But what I want to say is-"
"The reason I fought so desperately to become the Arbiter was never