Chapter 99
Ha... ha...
I silently continued speaking as I looked at Second Brother, who laughed that dry, bitter laugh.
“You swallowed the Thousand-Year Serpent. You devote yourself to cultivation. I believe both were choices made for the sake of the Snow Palace. Am I right?”
“...Yes...”
I quietly watched him as he gave that bitter smile.
Slowly, he continued speaking.
“The Snow Palace isn’t just a sect. It’s something like a nation. The people who survive in this harsh land have been protected by the Snow Palace for generations. Only because we exist can they seek stability. The noble value we’ve upheld until now—and its weight—someone must bear it.”
I could feel the full gravity of his words.
He had risked even his life to uphold the Snow Palace’s value.
Was this truly the kind of man he had been?
This wasn’t something that could be dismissed as simply a result of us not having talked much before.
His true thoughts—perhaps I could only hear them now, as he hovered on the edge of death.