My Arms Can Turn into Blades

As soon as Chen Lusi walked out of the meeting room, she found Ji Xin sitting in a wheelchair, gently brushing the embers off her bread.

Upon noticing Chen Lusi coming out, she merely glanced back before continuing to eat her bread.

Obviously.

She had calmed down.

Chen Lusi thought for a moment, walked over, and looked at the bread in her hand: "Would you like me to get you a new piece of bread?"

"No need."

Ji Xin shook her head: "Just a bit of ember, it’s not like it’s inedible... if you really want to do something, stretch out your hand."

"Hand?"

Chen Lusi raised her hand somewhat puzzled.

And in the next second.

Ji Xin lifted her hand too and then firmly grasped his palm, her knuckles turning pale from the exertion.

Apparently, she was aware of what had just occurred inside.

"..."

Chen Lusi looked at Ji Xin, who was coldly biting into her bread, then at his tightly gripped hand, guessed something, thought for a moment, and did not break free.

Ji Xin suddenly spoke: "Why did you come out?"

"The Daoists seemed a bit agitated, felt it inappropriate to stay inside any longer."

Chen Lusi leaned against the wall, replying casually: "After all, no one wants to embarrass themselves in front of the younger generation at such an old age... though I don’t quite understand them."

"Oh."

Ji Xin nodded, then asked: "When you say you don’t understand, do you mean you don’t understand why they got so agitated?"

"Yes."

"Because nothing is certain at the moment? Not even sure if they’re able to produce a finished Talisman? So you feel their agitation is unreasonable?"

"Correct."

"..."

Ji Xin paused in silence for a while, then said while taking a bite of her bread: "We live in a high-context country, and in such a cultural environment, you must pay attention to their surface words and actions and understand the inner meanings such as their background, relationships, feelings.

The ones inside collectively are nearly four hundred years old, advanced Empowerers tend to live long, but we’re not immortal beings. Coupled with Daoism’s constant belief in Daoist Natural Law, going with the flow, they are not ordinary figures; those who lead Daoism are all exceptionally gifted and smart people.

They’ve lived so long they’ve seen through many things, do they want to restore the Daoist Lineage to enhance themselves? To resist the Celestial Strategy Mansion? To seek immortality?

Not necessarily, at least from my understanding of those old fellows, it’s not.

More, it’s about the sentiment soaked into their bones... they long for the return of past glory, they yearn to complete the legacy.

Just like the ordinary people’s view of surname inheritance, it’s the imprint of familial affection, at life’s end, elders often want to leave something for their descendants.

They’re the same, as a religion upholding honoring teachers and traditions, passing the torch, what they value most is legacy, but after the Daoist Lineage was severed, everything related faces becoming ’useless items’.

Especially coming into modern times, apart from those optional ceremonies, they are almost indistinguishable from ordinary Empowerers. Previously, they could use the excuse that the Daoist Lineage would eventually return, but after the last Feudal Dynasty’s demise, what excuse do they have now?

Not to mention ordinary Daoists... even they themselves started doubting the necessity of the legacy, and under such circumstances, the day the legacy breaks is almost foreseeable, which for them is undoubtedly a catastrophe.

But at this moment, you appeared."

Chen Lusi: "..."

Ji Xin took another small bite of bread and continued: "You feel nothing is certain at the moment, not even sure if they can produce a finished Talisman, but actually to them, none of this matters.

At least not at this moment, after all, no matter how strong they become, they cannot change much. They don’t necessarily wish to become stronger, they simply want hope, and you gave them hope, previously useless scraps started becoming precious again, the legacy that seemed destined to break off indeed continued.

They witnessed, Talismans could still be useful, when the Talismans you drew were used and proved useful, they’re like old elders about to close their eyes witnessing the birth of a newborn at home, isn’t it exciting?

Perhaps this newborn may stray as it grows, perhaps the Talismans you draw won’t enable Daoism to return to peak during their lifetime, after all, you’re not a Daoist member, they may never see Daoism return to its peak moment throughout their lives, but does this matter? It doesn’t matter.

Because the most precious thing is always hope, golden hope, as long as there’s hope, even if the road ahead is rocky, the end a bit farther, the pace a bit slower, it doesn’t matter.

This is the reason for their excitement."

"..."

Chen Lusi was silent for a moment, nodded lightly: "I understand."

Ji Xin glanced towards the elevator direction, then slowly let go of Chen Lusi’s hand, continued: "No, you don’t understand."

"..." Chen Lusi looked at Ji Xin in confusion.

"The most precious thing is hope, and right now you are the embodiment of hope."

Ji Xin swallowed the last bite of bread, slightly raised her snow-white chin and looked at Chen Lusi: "Do you know what this means? It means you can now influence the largest domestic local religion... after all, just because of you, those few wouldn’t even be willing to say much, daring to directly kick me, the Celestial Strategy Mansion’s person in charge, out."