Bitter Realm: Have the Four Realms been united today?

Chapter 30: Explanation, A Fluttering Heart

Yue Tianji knew that Xuanming was most afraid of being criticized and disappointed by others.

Therefore, the reason that it broke this rule must be something that it feared even more!

The room was deathly silent until Xuanming's voice broke out a quarter of an hour later.

"Sir, I... I'm not belittling myself!"

"You've misunderstood me!" His tone revealed a hint of caution.

Yue Tianji knew that Xuanming was changing the subject; Xuanming would not lie, nor was he willing to lie.

Therefore, he would use silence to conceal the truth, but as long as he guessed the answer and pressed him a little, Xuanming would also be a wise man to know when to yield, except for one thing!

Not answering at this point is itself an answer.

Even though he knew Xuanming was changing the subject, he was still so angry at his words that he wanted to laugh.

If he hadn't guessed there was more to the story, he would have loved to give that incorrigible boy another good beating.

The flickering candlelight in the study illuminated the beads of sweat on Xuanming's pale face.

He leaned against the table, waves of burning pain surging through his right shoulder, which instead allowed something long suppressed to break through his defenses.

"I...did not regard myself as worthless." His voice was hoarse, yet carried an unprecedented clarity.

"I would give my life for even a one-thousandth chance of survival for someone else..."

"But before that, I will do everything in my power to expand that slim hope."

Yue Tianji listened silently, his eyes deep, until Xuanming finished speaking, and only the sound of their breathing remained in the room.

He did not immediately refute, his fingertips brushing against Xuanming's left shoulder, which was trembling slightly from tension, his voice low yet as cold as ice striking jade.

"If it doesn't concern you personally, you can still handle it impartially."

"When the time comes, you keep giving in, keep forbearing, keep backing down, and refuse to admit your mistakes."

His gaze was piercing, locking onto Xuanming's gaze as he tried to dodge. "If you don't consider yourself equal to others, aren't you demeaning yourself?"

"It's different, even if the hope is slim," Xuanming raised his eyes, his gaze filled with a stubborn seriousness.

"The price I paid was my life, and the price I got back was also my life."

"If someone wanted to kill me for money, I'd run away as fast as I could; I wouldn't be stupid enough to walk right into their trap."

"This...this is at most self-deprecation, it can't be considered 'self-abasement'!" He emphasized the last two words.

Perhaps it was the pain that weakened his defenses, or perhaps it was this other world that gave him a sliver of delusion.

Or perhaps it was Yue Tianji's unwavering kindness, like a spark falling into the wasteland of his heart, that rekindled his dormant spirit.

He couldn't help it, he couldn't help wanting to explain, he couldn't help wanting to change the image he had in Mr. Yue's mind.

"When the strong sacrifice themselves to benefit the weak, this is called benevolence."

"Those who are equal in strength sacrifice themselves to benefit others, which is also a form of benevolence."

"Those who are weak and sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others are already belittling themselves."

"To harm oneself for the benefit of the strong..."

Yue Tianji paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping over Xuanming's thin frame and pale face, finally settling on his stubborn eyes. He sighed softly and slowly uttered his conclusion:

"It's not self-deprecation, it's self-abasement!!!"

"You can distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, and black from white. I ask you, if your words had come from someone else, would you truly agree with them?"

"That's just an excuse you're using to deceive yourself. How long are you going to keep running away?"

"I……"

Xuanming suddenly looked up, his lips moving as if he wanted to argue something.

But after meeting Yue Tianji's light brown eyes, he couldn't utter another word.

"As expected, I couldn't hide it from Mr. Yue. Ha, well, that's fine too."

"I was never truly a part of this world; I will eventually leave. I shouldn't have too many ties with the people of this world."

"Mr. Yue is absolutely right!" Xuanming seemed like a completely different person in an instant.

His tone was cold, his attitude distant, and the light in his eyes gradually faded, like a puppet uttering pre-programmed commands.

"It's late, and Mr. Yue is injured, so he should rest early. I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell."

After saying this, Xuanming ignored Yue Tianji's reaction, stood up, and walked out of the study.

"Would you be willing to become my disciple?"

Xuanming stopped in his tracks, stunned.

"The generals of Huanchenbuwu dislike the mental strain of paperwork, and the Soul Emperor is preoccupied with the war and has no time to attend to it."

"Government affairs are complicated, and it is really difficult for me and Zhishu to manage them alone."

If Mu Yunzhi were here, she would definitely be unable to resist teasing him.

The phrase "reading the secrets of heaven" was just taking advantage of Xuanming's ignorance of everything since he was new to the area.

It's true that government affairs are complicated, but they are far from being beyond the capacity of Yue Tianji to handle.

"Thank you for your kind offer, Mr. Yue, but I am not very knowledgeable and I am afraid that..." Xuanming was about to refuse without thinking, but...

"There's no rush." ​​Yue Tianji not only didn't give Xuanming a chance to refuse, but also deliberately used his previous words of refusal to shut him up.

"It's getting late, and I'm injured and tired. You should go back now!"

"Someone come here!"

The soldiers guarding the gate obeyed orders and entered, bowing respectfully.

"Greetings, strategist!"

"Send Xuanming back. He's not familiar with this place, so you need to be careful."

"Yes, please follow me, young master!"

Xuanming said nothing in the end and followed the soldier out of the study.

He didn't turn around, but his pace quickened a bit, as if he were fleeing from someone who could see through him.

After a while, his expression gradually calmed down, and he reluctantly turned his attention back to the way home.

There were no candles along the road, but fortunately the night sky was cloudless and the moonlight was cool enough for him to make out the outlines of his surroundings.

"The moon seems perfectly normal!"

Xuanming raised his head and saw a bright moon just like the one in his memory, which reminded him of the blood-red sun in Shenyu.

It was a scarlet star, as if cast from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, so red it was almost black, exuding a sinister aura.

The earth it illuminated was also stained a blood-red hue.

When Xuanming first saw that thing, which he wasn't sure could still be called "the sun," the hairs on his body involuntarily stood on end.

Its only similarity to the sun in Xuanming's understanding is that it still follows the pattern of sunrise and sunset.

Unbeknownst to them, the two had already reached the first fork in the road.

At this moment, the soldier leading the way turned around, seemingly afraid that the boy behind him might go astray, and spoke up to remind him.

"Young master, please come this way."

"Uh, okay."

Xuanming responded almost subconsciously and walked toward the path on the right as instructed.

It wasn't until the soldier turned around and led the way again that he realized something was wrong.

Xuanming looked back at the fork in the road several times, a hint of doubt rising in his mind.

"Shouldn't we turn left at this intersection?"

When he arrived in the morning, he was worried that he wouldn't be able to find his way back, so he made a point of noting down the shape of each fork in the road.

"Perhaps the red sunlight in the morning created a blind spot, causing me to missee!"

Xuanming found an explanation for himself, suppressed his doubts, and continued to follow.