"Oh? Little Qianqian has things she doesn't understand? I thought you were wise beyond your years and had everything figured out." Wen Zishan said with a half-smile.
Chen Qian glared at him immediately. "Hall Master, Sister Gao was raised by your own hand, so you can talk to her in that tone all you like. But I'm not her… If you keep sounding so old and stuffy, you might really end up a bachelor for life one of these days!"
Wen Zishan broke into a cold sweat, looking thoroughly uncomfortable. "Ah… let's change the subject. What was it you wanted to ask again?"
"Back then… why didn't you kill… Granny You?" Chen Qian's expression turned solemn, her voice dropping low.
Wen Zishan's face grew serious at once. After a moment's deliberation, he answered: "It's not that I didn't want to kill her — I couldn't."
Chen Qian looked confused. "This subordinate doesn't understand."
Wen Zishan said: "When I first came to the Qingyang Mountain Range, it was because I discovered the Shenyou Mirror that I settled here. And by that time, that old hag had already been standing guard beside the Shenyou Mirror. She seemed to have been living here for two thousand years already. When I first laid eyes on such an extraordinary treasure, naturally I was eager to examine it. But you know what that old hag's temperament is like — she refused no matter what I said. In the end, when I was left with no choice, this Seat fought her…"
"And you won? Granny You lost?"
"Yes." Wen Zishan nodded. "Though the strength of our Divine Sense was roughly comparable, she was only at the First Stage Emperor Transcendent realm. In terms of overall combat power, this Seat was still a cut above. That was when I realized the old creature was no good — vicious in nature, cruel in method. If I could have removed her, I would have shown no mercy. But she had coexisted with the Shenyou Mirror for so long that she seemed to have grasped a sliver of its mysteries. She couldn't use the Shenyou Mirror to fight, but she could employ a special method to activate it and shut the Shenyou Mirror down! If I pushed her too far, she would simply close that treasure. Even if I succeeded, it would have been for nothing!"
Hearing this, Chen Qian gained a clearer understanding and nodded gently. "So the Hall Master had reservations…"
"Precisely!" Wen Zishan said. "So I struck a deal with her — this Seat would not take her life, nor would I touch the Shenyou Mirror. But when I needed to use the Shenyou Mirror, she had to cooperate."
Chen Qian's expression cleared with sudden realization. "No wonder… when I went to train inside the Shenyou Mirror all those years ago, Granny You had that reluctant look, as though she had no choice but to open it. So that's why."
"It's not just you…" Wen Zishan chuckled softly. "Every time the Shenyou Mirror was opened, didn't that old creature always look the same? She considers the Shenyou Mirror her own private possession — how could she bear to let anyone else lay a hand on it!"
At this point, Wen Zishan let out another cold snort. "Over the years, she has cooperated more or less. But who knows how many times she's tampered with things behind the scenes, costing the lives of so many of my Divine Temple's finest!"
Chen Qian's face changed at his words, and she stared at Wen Zishan in shock. "Hall Master, you mean…"
Wen Zishan sneered again and again. "She thinks her meddling goes undetected, but in truth everything is within this Seat's grasp. However… she hasn't gone too far, and this Seat can't be bothered to expose her."
"But those disciples who died…" Chen Qian's expression twisted with pain.
Wen Zishan let out a long sigh. "That counts as a trial of sorts. Those who pass naturally grow stronger. Those who don't… can only perish. It's all a matter of individual fortune and fate!"
Chen Qian patted her chest with a look of lingering fear. "Thank goodness I passed back then." After a pause, she asked: "Hall Master, why did you agree to let an outsider into the Shenyou Mirror this time? This is the Divine Temple's greatest secret. Even most of the temple's own disciples don't know about it."
"No particular reason — I just wanted to test what he's capable of!" Wen Zishan smiled faintly.
Chen Qian said: "Because of the Red Dust Emperor, right? That boy came bearing the Red Dust Emperor's token, and I've heard that you, Hall Master, were raised by the Red Dust Emperor's own hand…"
"Absolutely not!" Wen Zishan suddenly grew agitated, glaring at Chen Qian. "This Seat grew up on handouts from a hundred households — I have nothing whatsoever to do with that old Red Dust fellow…"
"Oh? The more you deny it, the more suspicious it sounds…" Chen Qian pressed her lips together, smiling.
"Slander!"
"A guilty conscience needs no accuser…"
"Little Qianqian…" Wen Zishan suddenly softened his voice, calling out with deep feeling.
Chen Qian's face changed drastically. "Hall Master, this subordinate just remembered she has something else to attend to! I'll be taking my leave!"
Even as she spoke, her figure flickered rapidly, and she fled from Wen Zishan's sight as though her life depended on it.
Past experience had taught her that whenever Wen Zishan wanted to dodge a topic and addressed her in that tone and manner, the best thing to do was to vanish immediately — otherwise she would surely be tormented to the point of wishing she were dead!
"Hmph, that little girl is still too green, daring to spar with this old man — truly overestimating herself! Wahahaha!" In his smugness, Wen Zishan struck a pose of being unrivaled in the world, lonely at the heights, his solitude like snow, and let out a spine-chilling burst of laughter.
…