Wang Xiao looked down at Wenxi, her face flushed, breath coming in soft, rapid bursts like the flutter of a butterfly's wings.
His lips curled into a gentle smile.
There was an untainted purity in her, a beauty that had never been touched by the world's corruption, much like a snow lotus blooming on the highest peaks, far above the dust of the mortal realm.
He had always believed that not every soul needed to be stained by the world's ugliness.
As long as he stood by their side, they would remain as untouched as the jade-like waters of a hidden spring.
He had not taught them the ways of the world for the very reason that they were not of this world. They were above it. He had cultivated them to see the world as distant, as one gazes upon ants scattered across the earth below a towering mountain.
He had kept them within Xianthera, where the chaos of the mortal realm could not reach, ensuring they saw those beyond as lesser beings, like the dragon views the snake.
