Mysterious mirror hanging high

He shrugged, a hint of simple sympathy in his eyes:

"The principle of Yin and Yang emphasizes balance and harmony. Isolated Yin cannot grow, and isolated Yang cannot produce. Fellow Daoist Fu's situation is like a field where there are only cloudy days and no sunlight. The seedlings that should grow there will naturally... not grow very well and will be sparse."

His words were blunt and even somewhat vulgar, but the meaning was crystal clear—due to his constitution and cultivation method, Fu Changting's body was severely imbalanced in yin and yang, with an excess of yin and a deficiency of yang, resulting in extremely thin male characteristics, possibly even almost none.

"so……"

Guo Tingshu sighed, his gaze towards Fu Changting filled with emotion: "Ever since Fellow Daoist Fu was old enough to understand things, he has probably received no shortage of strange looks from others. Even if they don't say it, he can probably guess seven or eight tenths of what they're thinking."

"These terms, 'heroes and good men,' whether they are heroes or good men, are all titles for upright, masculine men."

Guo Tingshu pointed at Jing Yu, then at Fu Changting: "Brother Jing said he's not a hero. If others heard that, it wouldn't mean anything, but to Brother Fu, it sounds like he's stabbing him in the heart and mocking him for 'not being a man'."

"The thing Fellow Daoist Fu can't stand the most in his life is being told that he's not like a man."

Guo Tingshu honestly said, "Brother Jing probably didn't mean it, but it just happened to hit Fellow Daoist Fu's sore spot, which is why he got angry all of a sudden."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent.

Everyone suddenly realized what was happening, and their gazes towards Fu Changting became complex. There was a sense of sudden understanding, a deep-seated disdain and mockery, and a few barely perceptible traces of pity.

But more than anything, it's a sense of "I see, no wonder."

For the first time, Fu Qianxue's beautiful face lost its coolness and composure, and a trace of anger and murderous intent flashed in her eyes. She could not bear to watch her brother be humiliated like this.

She turned slightly to the side, seemingly trying to block everyone's gaze from falling on her brother.

Fu Changting's face had turned from pale to deathly white, his lips trembled slightly, and his narrow, gloomy eyes were now filled with indescribable shame, anger, resentment, and a trace of fear that he had been completely seen through and had nowhere to hide.

The already chilling aura emanating from him intensified dramatically, with wisps of visible black cold air emanating uncontrollably, and even causing a thin layer of white frost to condense on the ground.

Fu Changting's voice was extremely dry and hoarse, as if squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with boundless hatred and murderous intent: "You...you're courting death!"

Facing Fu Changting's chilling gaze, which seemed to want to devour him, Guo Tingshu did not back down. Instead, his eyes revealed a rare, almost pure sympathy and understanding.

He said earnestly:

"Brother Fu, don't be so quick to get angry."

"Just now, as I listened to the turmoil in your mind... the grievances, the resentment, and that inescapable self-loathing... sigh, it made me feel really uneasy."

"Since you were little, you've suffered a lot of cold looks, gossip behind your back, and even ridicule to your face because of this... well, because of the excessive yin energy and insufficient yang energy in your body, right? No, you are the demon child of the Taiyin Demon Lord, so you shouldn't dare to ridicule them to their face... but those eyes, those whispers, are like needles pricking you, aren't they?"

Guo Tingshu sighed: "Actually... when I was a child, I was pretty much the same as you."

"I've been slow-witted since I was a child."

Guo Tingshu pointed to his head, his tone as calm as if he were talking about someone else: "It's not just that I'm stupid, it's that my brain works slower than everyone else's. I'm always a beat behind in my speech and actions, and my reactions are slow. The little kids in the village call me 'Silly Tree' or 'Dumbhead.' They not only look at me coldly, but they also often throw pebbles at my head, chase after me and curse at me, and imitate the way I walk and talk..."

"Back then, I felt wronged and couldn't understand why everyone else was fine, but I was the only one who was considered an idiot? Was I born wrong? Should I not even exist?"

"Later, by chance, I unwittingly embarked on the path of spiritual practice."

Guo Tingshu scratched the edge of his felt hat: "I've been cultivating, and I've become more enlightened. My mind seems to be sharper than before. But there are still some things that seem different from others."

His gaze refocused on Fu Changting, and his sympathy and understanding became even more genuine: "That's why I said, Brother Fu, I can understand your predicament to some extent. It's not because we did anything wrong, but because we... didn't stand on the side of the majority."

"You were born with a prominent Yin energy, which is a cruel twist of fate, not something you wanted. I am slow-witted and have dull senses, which is also my nature. We haven't bothered or harmed anyone, we're just... a little different from most people."

"But sometimes people just love to bully those who are 'different'."

Guo Tingshu shook his head, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears: "They think you're not a man, they think I'm a fool, so they use their own standards to measure us, they look at us with their own eyes, they think we're inferior, they think we can laugh at and bully them at will."

He was serious:

"But I figured it out later, Brother Fu."

"It's not my fault that I'm not smart. It's not your fault that I'm not acting like a man."

"Sometimes, we are not on the side of the majority, and therefore we are subjected to cold looks, ridicule, and even persecution... This is not our fault."

Guo Tingshu seemed to be stating a very simple truth:

"It's because the world's standards are too narrow, and those people's hearts are too small and their eyes too blind."

"They can't tolerate differences, they can't understand the special, so they rush to belittle and reject them in order to make themselves seem normal and correct."

"But there are three thousand great paths, each leading its own way... What fixed rules are there? What distinctions of high and low, noble and base?"

"Brother Fu, why are you so fixated on the image of a 'man' they describe? Walk your own Taiyin Path, cultivate your own Xuanming True Method. As long as you have a clear conscience, your supernatural powers will naturally come to fruition. Why care about others?"

"Let them laugh at you, you keep striving. When you attain the Dao Fruit of Taiyin, become the Supreme Demon Lord, and even glimpse the realm of the Supreme Dao Venerable, those who laugh at you and mock you today will probably not even have the right to look up at your back."

The rage and murderous intent on Fu Changting's face gradually solidified and dissipated as Guo Tingshu calmly and earnestly narrated, replaced by an extremely complex emotion.

There was the embarrassment and annoyance of having one's secrets exposed, the resentment towards the past, and a subtle, almost imperceptible stirring, but more than anything, there was a deep melancholy and... bewilderment.

He stared intently at Guo Tingshu, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to retort, to rebuke, to say "What do you know?", but in the end, he only asked one question:

"Hey kid, what's your name?"

Guo Tingshu was taken aback, and subconsciously said, "My name is Guo Tingshu."

“Guo in city walls, ting in courtyard, and shu in big tree.”