"Little drunkard, do you think my Ling'er Jie is a bit foolish?"
"Foolish? How could she be?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, looking at Qianling ahead with a touch of admiration. "Your Ling'er Jie's state of mind is anything but ordinary."
"How is this not foolish? That's the token of the Monster Immortal Bai Susu! Holding her token means no one in the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain would dare provoke you. Countless people dream of having it, yet Ling'er Jie wants to return it."
"Didn't your Ling'er Jie say it herself? If you don't want to be bullied, you must become strong yourself. If you grow up under someone else's protection, you can never truly become strong."
Gu Qingfeng nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. "A fledgling bird doesn't only grow under protection. Experiencing fall after fall also makes it grow, and its wings become even fuller."
"I know Ling'er Jie is worried that if we have Bai Susu's token, we'll develop a dependency and stop striving to improve. But I think she's worrying too much."
Qianniao said, "At the very least, I wouldn't be like that. And given the current situation of our Xiaoluo Secret Realm, we really need Bai Susu's token. With her token, we wouldn't have to worry about all those messy troubles and could focus on cultivation. I believe whether it's me, Ling'er Jie, or anyone else in Xiaoluo Secret Realm, we would all grow strong quickly. Isn't that a shortcut for us?"
Perhaps worried Gu Qingfeng wouldn't understand, Qianniao added, "It's just like those immortals with powerful backgrounds. They can become experts much, much faster than many ordinary immortals."
Gu Qingfeng smiled faintly and asked, "Qianniao, do you know what kind of person can be considered a true expert?"
Not knowing why Gu Qingfeng would suddenly ask such a question, Qianniao replied without thinking, "Of course, it's someone with a high cultivation level and powerful strength."
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. "No."
"Someone with powerful strength and a great background?"
"Also no."
"Then it must be someone with both background and status, and powerful personal cultivation. That has to be a true expert, right?"
"No."
"Still not? Then what about someone with background, status, prestige, and powerful personal cultivation?"
Seeing Gu Qingfeng shake his head again, Qianniao asked defiantly, "Then you tell me, what is a true expert?"
Gu Qingfeng pointed to the location of his heart. "Only someone with a strong heart can be considered a true expert."
"A strong heart?" Qianniao looked confused, not quite understanding. "What do you mean? How so?"
"Background, status, reputation, prestige—these at best only represent a person's identity. They have nothing to do with personal strength."
Qianniao asked, "Isn't representing an identity enough? With such an identity, isn't that powerful enough?"
"If one day you encounter someone with an even more powerful identity than yours, your so-called powerful identity becomes worthless. Or perhaps, if one day you lose all that, your identity is equally worthless."
Qianniao thought carefully and felt Gu Qingfeng's words made a lot of sense. She added, "Then what about powerful personal cultivation? Doesn't that count as being an expert?"
"Same logic. If you encounter someone with a higher cultivation level than yours, your cultivation becomes worthless. What if one day you lose your cultivation?"
"But... but..." Gu Qingfeng's words left Qianniao unable to refute. She stammered 'but' for a long time without coming up with a proper rebuttal.
"This heaven and earth, this fate, may be able to take away your background, your status, even your cultivation, but they cannot take away your strong heart or your will. As long as your heart is strong enough and your will firm enough, even when facing countless difficulties, even if you fall into eternal damnation, you will eventually have the day you stand up again."
Gu Qingfeng spoke casually. "In this world, is there absolute immortality? In the past, I might have thought not. But now, I think there is. Not immortality of the flesh, nor indestructibility of the soul, but of the heart."
Glancing at Qianniao, Gu Qingfeng continued, "You have never experienced hardship or setbacks, much less a devastating blow. So you are afraid. Afraid of losing, afraid of losing the Xiaoluo Secret Realm. If you suffered a devastating blow that made you lose everything, could you stand up again?"
As Gu Qingfeng's voice reached her, Qianniao tried to imagine it. If she lost everything, had no family, no Xiaoluo Secret Realm, could she stand up again?
The answer was clear.
No.
Qianniao knew she simply didn't have that courage and couldn't withstand such a heavy blow.
"You can't. You couldn't bear it. With your temperament, if you suffered a devastating blow and lost everything, you would either follow your family in death or lose your mind, letting yourself wither away. You are afraid of losing, which is why you crave that token from Bai Susu."
Gu Qingfeng said, "However, Qianling is different. She also cares deeply about the Xiaoluo Secret Realm, even more than you do. But unlike you, she is not afraid of losing. If she suffered a devastating blow and lost the Xiaoluo Secret Realm, even if she lost her cultivation, as long as she is still alive, I believe she would definitely stand up again and reclaim everything she lost."
"That is a true expert."
Gu Qingfeng stood up and stretched. "To become a true expert requires the heart of an expert. And Qianling already possesses it. I believe... she will one day become a true expert."
Beside him.
Qianniao stared blankly. Gu Qingfeng's words were like a sudden enlightenment to her, deeply touching her heart and giving her some insight.
After a long, long time, Qianniao snapped back to reality and looked at Gu Qingfeng with disbelief. Her gaze was as if looking at a monster—filled with shock, curiosity, as if it were inconceivable and utterly bewildering.
"You... you..." Qianniao opened her mouth, words failing her. She took a deep breath, waiting until her heart calmed down before saying, "What were those things you just said?"
"It is the Dao, and it is principle. The principle of the Dao."
"The Dao? Principle? So profound... How do you know these things?"
"Learned from reading books."
"Reading books?" Qianniao stared at Gu Qingfeng. "You've been in our Xiaoluo Secret Realm for over twenty years, either sunbathing or sleeping all day. When have you ever read books?"
"Perhaps I read them before and forgot."
"Oh." Qianniao scratched her head, always feeling there was something off about Gu Qingfeng, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
"I say, big sister, could you stop staring at me with those big eyes? It's creeping me out."
"You know what?"
"What?"
"Just now, when you were spouting those grand principles, it was like... like you were a different person."
"A different person?" Gu Qingfeng touched his own face. "What changed?"
"I don't mean a change in appearance, but... that kind of..." Qianniao thought hard but couldn't find the words to describe it. She shook her head. "I can't really say. It's just that you felt very different from usual just now."