Xia Lian desperately tried to calm her mind, forcing her gaze away from Lin Qingyue's overly charming profile and fixing it on the mountain-like Jianmu in the distance.
Her voice was strained with extreme vigilance.
"Sister Qingyue, are we really okay setting up a tea stall right at the enemy's front door?"
Xia Lian's finger subconsciously pointed to the tree hollow that resembled a gaping abyss.
"This is the final BOSS's lair."
"That Elite Mob just caused such a huge commotion; the one inside couldn't have missed it."
"What if it takes advantage of our momentary lapse in focus and charges out with an ultimate skill..."
She tried to use cold tactical logic to extinguish the messy pink thoughts in her mind, and also tried to make her overly relaxed teammates tense up.
"According to normal logic, since we've cleared the gatekeeper, the BOSS must have been alerted."
These words were reasonable and struck the heart of the matter.
Su Wan, who had just escaped from Lin Xiyue's demonic clutches, regained her composure while tidying her slightly disheveled mage robes.
She nodded solemnly.
"Xia Lian is right."
"The demise of the Spirit of Pride will definitely trigger an alarm."
"As the master of this place, if the Azure Dragon has been completely corrupted by 'Pride,' would it feel that we are... provoking it?"
Lin Xiyue extended her tongue, elegantly licking the remaining cream from her fingertip, and leaned her head in upon hearing this.
"So what if it's a provocation? We'll have to fight it sooner or later anyway."
"This isn't a question of whether we fight or not."
Xia Lian's brow furrowed even tighter, her Ranger's survival instinct making every cell in her body scream a warning.
"If we get ambushed before our status is fully restored, the risk is too great."
"How about... we pack things up and find some cover?"
For a moment, everyone's gaze converged on Lin Qingyue.
She was the Captain, the backbone, the one who could always find the only way out using the most outrageous methods.
After listening, Lin Qingyue didn't even bother to look up.
She just slowly lifted the teapot, refilling her cup with scalding black tea, and a soft chuckle escaped her lips as she watched the curling steam rise from the cup.
"Cover?"
"Not necessary."
She finally turned her head, looking at the bottomless tree hollow, her peach-blossom eyes revealing a clarity that saw through everything.
"Drink your tea without worry."
"Even if we set up a barbecue stand right here at the entrance and started dancing to rock music, the one inside..."
Lin Qingyue took an elegant sip of tea, her tone certain:
"Would absolutely not set foot outside that gate."
"Why?"
Su Wan and Xia Lian asked almost in unison.
In this Ancient God Dungeon teeming with danger, facing a being of the Celestial Gods of the Four Directions' level, such an "absolutely safe" conclusion sounded like a death wish.
Lin Qingyue set down her teacup, her slender fingers tapping rhythmically on the small tabletop.
"Put yourself in their shoes."
She tapped her temple.
"If we were facing a 'Wrathful' Vermilion Bird, or some kind of 'Greedy' monster, they would have pounced on us and torn us to shreds by now."
"But where are we?"
"The Azure Dragon's domain," Su Wan answered immediately.
"What is the corresponding Original Sin?"
"Pride."
"Bingo."
Lin Qingyue snapped her fingers, leaning back languidly into her chair.
"So, what is true 'Pride'?"
Without waiting for an answer, she revealed the solution herself, a hint of faint mockery in her voice.
"The Spirit of Pride is the kind that looks down on people, keeps its nose in the air, and feels the need to trample on everyone it sees to prove its strength."
"But that is actually the logic of a street thug, the mindset of a nouveau riche, an inferiority complex etched into the bones that needs external validation to prove its worth."
Lin Qingyue's gaze deepened, as if piercing through layers of barriers to see the solitary figure on the throne.
"True Pride is 'indifference'."
"In the eyes of a God, what are mortals?"
"Ants, dust, a patch of weeds by the roadside."
"Would you get up from your sofa, put on your slippers, and rush out to stomp a few ants to death just because they're carrying food across your doorstep?"
Lin Qingyue spread her hand slightly, her tone filled with a sense of the obvious.
"You wouldn't."
"Because that would be too beneath you."
"You would feel that paying them any attention, let alone getting angry over them, is an insult to your own status."
This analysis instantly plunged everyone into silence.
"So..."
Xia Lian's pupils dilated slightly.
"In the Azure Dragon's eyes, even if we kill its guard dogs, we're just a few slightly stronger... ants?"
"Pretty much."
Lin Qingyue nodded in approval.
"For a being who firmly believes it is the center of the world and possesses absolute truth, leaving its throne to take the initiative against a few intruders is an admission that the intruders pose a threat."
"And to acknowledge a threat is to admit that one is not omniscient and omnipotent, nor in absolute control."
"This goes against the fundamental logic of 'Pride'."
A playful smile curved Lin Qingyue's lips.
"As long as we don't truly walk up to it and curse it to its face, it will keep sitting there, maintaining its ridiculous divine posture, waiting for us to 'pay audience'."
"This is what you call... suffering for the sake of face."
"I see..."
Su Wan suddenly understood, the tense nerve finally relaxing completely.
She lifted her teacup again, her posture returning to its usual elegant composure.
"So, this character flaw actually became our safety guarantee."
"However..."
Su Wan seemed to think of something, her brow furrowing slightly again.
"If we follow this logic, wasn't that 'Spirit of Pride' from earlier a bit strange?"
"What was strange about it?"
Lin Xiyue, who was struggling with a cookie, looked up, a few crumbs still clinging to the corner of her mouth.
"That Spirit of Pride, although every word it spoke was about perfection, its fighting style..."
Su Wan began to review the details of the previous battle, her gaze turning sharp.
"It disguised itself as an Immortal Alliance Daoist, it created a fake trial, and even tried to sneak attack with a poisonous stinger at the last moment."
"Disguise, deception, sneak attacks..."
Su Wan set down her teacup, her voice cool.
"While those tactics were effective, they hardly qualify as 'Pride', do they?"
"It's too cheap."
"Shouldn't true Pride be disdainful of schemes, preferring to crush opponents directly with absolute power?"
The question was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
If even that Elite Mob was so insidious and cunning, would the Azure Dragon, as the BOSS, really remain idle because of "Pride" just as Lin Qingyue analyzed?
The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment.
Before Lin Qingyue could speak, Lin Xiyue, who had been eating with her head down, suddenly swallowed the last bite of her cookie.
She mumbled unclearly:
"Could it be... because its purity was insufficient, it was thrown out to guard the gate?"
"Eh?"
Everyone froze, their bewildered gazes turning to the Paladin, who usually acted more than she thought.
Lin Xiyue took a large gulp of juice, swallowing it with a "glug" to clear her throat. Facing everyone's surprised looks, she spread her hands as if it were obvious, her expression saying, "Is this really so hard to understand?"
"Didn't Sis just say? Pure Pride is disdainful of using underhanded methods."
"But that Spirit of Pride did."
"What does that prove?"
Lin Xiyue smugly raised a single finger and waved it in the air.
"It proves it's not pure!"
"Besides Pride, its body must be mixed with other things! Like jealousy over our good looks, greed for our equipment, or the fear of wanting to survive!"
"Since its emotions aren't pure, in the eyes of that 'perfectionist' freak Azure Dragon, this thing is just a defective product, a piece of trash!"
Lin Xiyue spread her hands in a final closing argument.
"A defective product despised by its master can only roll over to the entrance to work as a security guard, getting by with a few underhanded tricks."
"As for the real deal inside..."
She tilted her chin toward the deep hollow of the tree, her eyes gleaming with an excited battle lust.
"He must be much purer than this thing, and... much more troublesome."