He Shan puzzledly looked in front of him to see what the hold-up was about. He had conveniently positioned himself a few inches at the back, giving himself ample room to react in case Zou Yi and Zou Liqin tried something. Even if they were now in an alliance, he still didn't trust them one bit.
He saw Zou Liqin look in a particular direction. He recognized that look. It was the same look he had when he was very small and would try to convince his grandfather to spare a certain beast when they were out hunting or when he wanted to bring back a couple of them home as pets, ignoring the fact they would be eaten by the beast if given a chance.
He couldn't help but chuckle when he remembered his naivete from back then before his look turned to one of sadness mixed in with regret.
"Does your sister want to bring her with us?" asked He Shan as his expression turned stoic.
"Liqin, we can't do it. She doesn't have a cultivation base and by the looks of it, it doesn't seem like she even wants to participate in the test. Even with the announcement she still hasn't made a single movement," said Zou Yi.
The moment Zou Liqin stopped, he saw where her gaze had landed, and it was on the weakest participant. The 13-year-old girl without a cultivation base who had been staring at the waterfall with a dazed expression on her face.
Zou Yi even suspected that the Order made a mistake in letting someone like her take the test. She did not seem like she was all there. Back at the Zou clan he had seen some clan members show the same habits as her. Those clan members were ones who got traumatized while undergoing the selection test for the next clan patriarch.
He couldn't help but suspect the same thing may have happened with that 13-year-old girl.
"But brother, it can't hurt to have extra help, besides Grandpa.." Zou Liqin's voice trailed off in a faint quiver as she focused on the dazed girl.
Zou Yi who was prepared to rebut her and forcefully pull her into the waterfall, paused his actions. He silently stared at his sister and the girl and moments later made a sigh of exasperation as he said,
"Fine, do what you want, but if she doesn't want to move, we can't force her or wait for her and if she puts us at any risk, we will abandon her. If you're okay with that, then you can ask her to join us, but if you're not, I'm afraid we will have to leave her Liqin, we can't afford to be willful," Zou Yi said in an austere tone and expression.
"Fine, I agree," Zou Liqin begrudgingly agreed as she hurriedly made her way over to the dazed 13-year-old girl.
"Are you two crazy?!" He Shan hurriedly yelled with spittle flying everywhere. Some of it even fell on Zou Yi who wasn't far away from him.
"She doesn't have any cultivation, and we are about to step into an unknown situation, and you two want to add more risk to the already unfavorable circumstances?
We are already the weakest, and you want to add another burden to the mix when we can barely guarantee our safety in there, even with all of us cooperating.
All this for what? Some misguided kindness? What if we all get eliminated because of her? Have you all thought through the consequences of your actions?
Misplaced kindness is no less dangerous than drinking poison hoping it will stave off your hunger. If you two want to take such a risk, do it, I'm better off alone," He Shan vehemently said as he prepared to set off alone.
"While bringing her along comes with its risk, I can tell you leaving now and scaling the mountain alone will almost guarantee in your elimination, as compared to doing it with us, even with a 'burden' coming along with us," Zou Yi coldly said.
"Though you could scale up the mountain if you had a monstrous talent, that would guarantee your success of it, but the fact that you agreed to form a partnership with us or remained behind instead of charging in immediately at the start of the test was announced, means you do not believe your individual talent is enough to scale the mountain alone.
You need us, the same way we need you, and there is no one else around who we would both be comfortable enough to form a partnership with," added Zou Yi.
His words seemed to have had an effect since He Shan had paused his footsteps as he glared back at him.
"He Shan.." Zou Yi's gaze turned to one of sorrow as he mentioned He Shan's name.
"My father, mine, and Zou Yi's was hailed as a genius, a once-in-a-thousand-years genius. He was given that title in a place that had no shortage of geniuses. Everyone from the elderly to the young believed in that..."
Zou Yi smiled wryly when he reached this point as his gaze turned distant.
He Shan had a puzzled expression as he wondered what all this had to do with the matter at hand.
'Do we have time for this? Forget it, Grandpa said if one has a story the least one can do is listen in silence. I should think of it as hunting and learning more about the habits of my prey' thought He Shan.
"However, that one in a thousand genius, lost to someone no one had any expectations of, and the loss wasn't small either.
He Shan, our father lost and died, and the person he competed against was a nobody who shocked the whole clan and ended up gaining something coveted beyond measure.
I learned something from that tragic reality, things are never as one expects, life has a way of surprising you and it is never set in stone. To us, that girl may very well be a dead weight but who knows, she may surprise us.
In your hunting, haven't you ever been surprised by a beast that acted outside your expectations?" asked Zou Yi.
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