How difficult was it to express oneself? Words existed in order to simplify such a process but, sometimes, it was not enough. Ame believed that this man was quite strong to have survived this ordeal. For his cultivation stage.

Joining a power was akin to giving up on pursuing a higher path. While you would certainly be granted safety and stability, you would never be able to reach the peak. That was because the people you would serve would not let you. They would make use of you as a resource, giving you enough that you'd remain with them but not enough for you to climb up.

Acknowledging a superior was the same as giving up on climbing higher than that person.

Her case was different as she was already quite powerful and she could not afford to continue without a backer. But this man? He was of the same age as her, seemingly in his early thirties. He definitely had more opportunities to grasp if he roamed the lands. She blamed herself slightly for taking his future away from him.

She was no Saint and this was a stranger. But that did not mean that she did not have to help.

She believed that even one could not help everyone, it did not mean that one should ignore everyone.

This guy did not have the ability to join the royal guards. As such, joining the faction would only bring his future path to a stop. Maybe if he roamed the lands, he would never achieve much but maybe he could? If he went under the employments of the royalty, he could give up on it.

Still, expressing all of this to him, a wary stranger, was not that simple.

Thus, she decided to confront him like that, as clumsy as it was. She was only trying to provide her help. Being shallow was a privilege of humans after all.

That did not mean that Jin understood her intent. Due to his situation, he could not help but overthink this development.

For one thing, this woman knew that he had been on the mountain. This was a potential threat to his life. While the Church might not go after him by itself, if she provided them the reason, they just might do it. Squashing him was probably not too hard for such an entity.

Secondly, she was stronger than him. Of course, he could always take out the sealing gourd and the accompanying sword and deal with her. However, he would have to run away from this continent. And leaving a lower continent was far harder than moving to it. After all, the higher continents would always be happy to send more cultivators there, sending away some competition. But to take them back? They would certainly not help and might even do their utmost from preventing their returns. Hence, she represented a threat.

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He gauged her but did not feel any murderous intent from her. She was watching him with a determined gaze though. But what for? It was so difficult to guess other people's thoughts...

He sighed and asked: "What do you want exactly?"

Ame frowned. She planned to use her sword to make him understand that he was going in the wrong direction at first. However, judging by his reactions, maybe she was being too much of a busybody. She would have regretted it if she did not try to help him. But she did not consider his situation from 'before' the incident. In fact, she did not know him and his story. Maybe what she considered the right path was not?

She decided to explain herself once more: "You shouldn't waste your future so soon by going under someone else. I only wanted to tell you that the Church won't go after you"

Jin opened his eyes wide as he saw her sigh and sheath her sword. Was this woman actually trying to give him advice? If she was, she was very bad at it. He chuckled and probed her: "Are you saying this to help me?"

She snickered and began to move away, back to the camp. As she left, she said: "So what if I was?"

As she was leaving, Jin smiled and bowed as he told her: "Thank you for your words"

She stopped for a second before continuing. She smiled as she felt content. At the very least, her words were not wasted. The fellow understood her intent. What he did next would not matter to her. She did what she had to do according to her principles.

...

Jin stayed there, watching the moon over the canopy. If he went back now, he might be teased for having taken a dump outside by the mortals from the camp. While it was not much, it would be a pain to deal with. The exchange was not too long but far more than it would take for one to do the light business.

In any case, he was in no rush to go back. While he could learn a lot from chatting with those people, he was quite tired after he spent the day chatting. And the words of that woman left him with many different things to ponder over as well.

Certainly, he had been a little arrogant to join the church's expedition this time. After all the set-backs he faced to reach this place, his mindset relaxed. He began to believe that he was 'free' to act in here.

It was a good thing that this wake-up call happened so early on.

"Indeed, a master should do his best at all times without underestimating anything"

From now on, he should probably start and try to become humbler with himself. He sighed. After having reached the peak once, it was not too easy to lower oneself again and return at the starting point.

He took out an average spear and began to practice many different stances from his past life.

He needed to temper his mind further.

Returning to the basics of his arts always helped him calm himself.