Jade Above All is a Qi-based Ability backed by Jade Authority to fuel its power. It buffed all the basic stats of the user, as that is what it does in its normal state, and that was what it was doing before Father had lost it.

 

Now? Well, now that the Mind Core he had successfully grown/birthed/fused with his Soul of Qi he will no longer lack in that department to anybody, much less when the Ability was used. 

 

What were the actual statistical improvements I did not know? I don't even know for myself as there is no System to define/measure and approximate it among the average of those it scans.

 

No matter how much his statistics increased, if there is one thing that I am sure of, it is that not even that Emperor will lightly initiate a fight with him, even if he was at the Soul of Transformation stage, as was told to me.

 

Yet, all that is what he gains passively just for having it and activating it. 

 

What kind of Ability he manifested is the number one question bothering me, and I could only infer a few possibilities. 

 

That is when I saw my father's body shift. A wobble here and there before he ended his meditation and opened his eyes. 

 

Next moment I saw him stare at the dark clouds above him. 

 

After staring at it for a moment, I noticed the Jade platform on which he had been seated and was currently standing vanished, only for gravity to fail its job. 

 

Void Step is the first thing any Soul Creation Cultivator will ever test out when gaining the ability to treat Space as if it were the earth itself. 

 

My tests concluded on a delicate interaction of the real Void and the Space of this World that enables it. So far this delicate dance of standing on Space itself eluded me but I did find a workaround for increasing the difficulty of its execution, as Xia Renshu experienced not long ago.

 

It was but a matter of time for me to gain it in one form or the other, but Father began to stretch his body left and right, up and down followed by three-dimensional acrobatics that would boggle the mind of normal people seeing it much less thinking and executing it in a fight. 

 

To me, it looked like 3D Chess when I observed their earlier fight. 

 

Alongside the reaction times needed for this, you also needed plenty of processing prowess to think of all the possible vectors to find the angle that will deliver the most optimal attack. 

 

It takes a lot of practice to fight at this stage unless you could overpower your enemy with Spiritual Arts and kiss them goodbye.

 

Either way, before my father finished his exercise thunder sounded out in the sky. 

 

It blinded me as the lightning came down on father. 

 

It was very sudden, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust their own lenses for zooming out the scene for my receptors to deliver me the answer. 

 

Father did not stop his exercise but his Ability, the Jade statue of himself, Halo included, had positioned itself above him with its sword pointing at the sky.

 

Lightning crawled all over it, but there was not a smidgen of reaction from it.

 

Father ignored it all and continued his bodily exercise when another bolt came. Then another and another and another, yet there was no reaction from it.

 

The sword acted like a lightning rod to attract the lightning and not hit his real body. 

 

More came before it stopped for a moment. 

 

That was also the moment Father stopped and stared at the dark cloudy sky. 

 

He said nothing, but in the next moment, his Jade statue inched closer to his body and slowly fused with it. When they fully fused into one, there was no distinction between him and the Jade statue that existed prior.

 

Looking at it all now, I had to admit that a ring Halo did indeed look cool. 

 

It probably would have been the same for me, and my Avatar. Ultimately it had not passed the final round for the simple reason that the WiFi signal just carried more meaning to my mind and memories, than a simple floating ring behind my head.

 

My inner musing aside, I looked at Father as he crouched slightly and shot into the sky like a missile attempting to leave its planet of origin. 

 

He pierced into the dark cloudy skies and vanished from my vision. 

 

I gave my Uncle a look, but he lost sight of him too, and I could imagine few dared to use their Divine Sense inside a Tribulation Cloud full of Intent of punishment/static charge.

 

The only indication that there was a change was the constant growling that came into my ears.

 

Not long later, red lightning began to show itself. Just seeing sprung forth memories of it.

 

My true body may not have been hit with the lightning, but the residual carnage it had left on my Avatar caused phantom pains to ripple, especially since my body was tightly connected to the Avatar through BIOS. 

 

Minutes passed as the sky growled out its anger at Father. 

 

“ This can't even compare to what I endured? ” I said to my Uncle. He scowled at my words.

 

He had long since dismissed his Jade Skin Armor and sword. 

 

“ True. Jiao, tell me this. For how long would you have been able to endure? ”

 

“ If we had been on the ground for quite a while, I assume. ” I replied to him, wondering what all this was about? “ Down there, I would be able to redirect the lightning in the earth. Up here in the sky, my only choice was to absorb as much as possible. That is why I used Xia Renshu as a scapegoat before using his Soul of Qi as material in manifesting my Lightning Qi Elemental Spirit. ”

 

“ Right… Regarding that, does that mean that your main goal has been delayed? ” He asked.

 

Nodding, I replied. “ Yes, I did not have any time to examine it in any detail. “

 

Summoning my right gauntlet, I point at the forefinger and the lightning bolt-shaped white Jade at the first knuckle. 

 

“ I had prepared the container for that process beforehand. “ I explained. ” Xia Renshu’s Soul of Qi was Yang based. So all I needed was the right Intent to not mess up the cooking process right at the start. Then all it took was an infusion of lightning inside the pot, with a constant supply of Life Essence for the Will to survive long enough to be molded into a different state and shape. ”

 

“ After that, was giving it more Life Essence. The new mind was then imprinted with Rules and Laws regarding lightning instinctively as it all happened. Those Rules and Laws expand its mind. Then that mind expansion results in the white Jade being refined in quality thanks to the Qi of the lightning. In return, that creates more internal space for the Spirit to grow. Like that, it continues on and on until the right conditions for its growth are disrupted. ”

 

~ Fascinating! ~ A voice delivered to me. It was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. 

 

Somewhere in my mind, a trigger triggered thanks to it, and my attention shifted to it. 

 

Comprehending it, I blink a few times before turning my chair in the right direction. 

 

“ Damn your obfuscation. It keeps making me forget about you. ” I say to nobody in particular but I knew the message would find its recipient. 

 

Uncle probably had given me some looks, but I ignored him in favor of this individual.

 

“ Can you see what is happening inside? ” I ask.

 

~ As is commonly known, the defense of the Jade Dao is outstanding. Your Father is doing fine. ~ 

 

“ Good, then I don't have to worry. ” 

 

I knew he would be fine, but I took a liking to my new father. Therefore a tiny sigh found its way into my mind. 

 

Once it was gone, I faced my uncle again. His face was puzzling to whom I was speaking, probably. 

 

“ A high-level Cultivator is cheating by using obfuscation. My Power allows me to sidestep that influence so I can retain memories of him, but without a reminder, I would forget I even had those memories. ” I explained to my Uncle but his clueless expression told me of his answer.

 

Shaking my head once I go on. “ I have already told you once before. It seems like even passive memory of his presence is taken away. Anyway, he said Father is doing fine. ”

 

His mouth was the only thing to make a response before he nodded and went back to staring at the sky. 

 

About an hour passed when a change happened in the sky.

 

A massive split in the clouds arose as if somebody sliced half the sky in two. 

 

It was fairly far even for my enhanced vision to see, but it wasn't hard to know who stood in the center of the divide.

 

Father’s Jade sword was the origin of the split. However he did it, I had to admit that the scale of it is incredible. 

 

The divide was at least as wide or long as the capital city, and it wasn't small by any measurement. 

 

My eyes caught more movement from his Jade engulfed body, and another divide came as a huge cross appeared in the sky, and Father stood in the middle of it all. 

 

His Jade Skin Armor was singed and burned in places. It gave a huge contrast to the green color of the armor. 

 

But it was the Halo behind his head that became the spectacle.

 

It was rotating clockwise. From its center, where the words Jade Above All stood, an Aurora manifested. 

 

It colored the sky behind him with its beautiful shifting, ever-flowing hint of green rivers. 

 

The Aurora manifestation did not emanate too far from the Halo, though. From my perspective, when I look at it and Father, the Aurora emanated a shape of flowing wings. 

 

Maybe it would be different if I had been beside him. Whatever the case was, I observed as father swung his sword twice more to split the dark sky two more times. 

 

What remained of the dark cloudy sky full of lightning took the shape of a cross within a cross, an eight-spoked asterisk form.

 

“ That is a spectacle of Power display, isn't it, Uncle? ” 

 

“ Hmm… ” Was all that I heard from him. 

 

Glancing at him, I saw him rub his chin as his gaze betrayed the fact that he was thinking about something serious, and it wasn't hard to guess what it was. 

 

Father’s display of power surprised me too. I am sure there were quite a few factors involved in him using that much power, but the size of it is ridiculous when it is your first time observing that happening. 

 

Not only have I never witnessed somebody create a spectacle like this before, but now I was related to that somebody.

 

It brought both joy and envy to my mind. 

 

Joy was easy to understand, but envy stemmed from the fact that I have yet to create a dedicated attack-oriented destructive Ability. There are a few candidates for what it will be and what form it would take, but I am still undecided about it.

 

‘ Stil, I doubt I would be able to create something like that, even if I created the most destructive Ability that I envisioned. Or would I? Did I limit my possibilities somehow? ‘

 

Seconds passed as I observed the split-apart clouds as lightning snakes tried to jump from separated clouds here and there, only to be destined not to, as the dark clouds began to diminish slowly. 

 

Through the sliced skies, rays of bright light appeared and began to shine on everything beneath it.

 

Then I experienced a feeling of cold/smooth/watery material on the right side of my cheek. 

 

Similar to a tear it flowed down my face, and I realized what it was. 

 

It began to rain from above. 

 

Similar to summer rain it rained lightly for a few minutes and vanished right after, as the dark clouds dispersed with a supernatural speed. 

 

“ Hahahahaha. ” Rang out in the sky. 

 

It was loud, and it probably reached the whole city. 

 

It carried pride full of jubilation and blissful happiness based on success. 

 

“ I feel as if none could stop me. ” The voice boomed in all directions.

 

“ Xia Renshu, you're dead! ” My Father declared when I noticed his head looking around.

 

“ Huh, I don't see him. Did he run away? ” 

 

“ Second, he did not run away, but he won't fight you either. Come down and look in that direction. ” I heard my Uncle say. 

 

His Qi delivered the message, but his left hand pointed in a particular direction. 

 

Within a second, Father descended to our elevated height and looked at his enemy. 

 

There he saw the Emperor of the Azure Wind Empire, his guards alongside Qi Jian, and the unconscious Xia Renshu lying on the roof of a house. 

 

There was, what I assume, a healer tending to him.

 

“ It can't be? ” Father bellowed out unbelievably as he observed. “ Why is he like that? What happened as I was busy? ”

 

“ What else? Jiao happened! ” My Uncle pronounced as if just those words could explain everything, without any context needed to understand anything at all, much less right now.

 

“ Oh. ” I heard Father utter as he looked at me. 

 

His Jaded gaze said it all. He did not need to understand how or why it happened. He believed Uncle’s words without an inch of doubt. 

 

He looked at me for a moment, then at Xia Renshu, back at me for a moment, then again at his hated opponent, only to utter out his innermost feelings.

 

“ But… My Revenge? ” Father expressed his innermost sorrow at not getting what he wanted.

 

“ Yu Liwei, your Revenge has already been delivered! ” A new voice joined. It was a voice I had not heard before, but as I watched it all happen, it was easy to guess who it was. 

 

The Emperor spoke and his Edict was delivered. 

 

His body was facing Father. His hands were behind his back as he stared directly at Father. His clean and dignified appearance presented a sight and presence that few could ever acquire. 

 

“ Feng Honghui. ” My father said. 

 

His voice sounded neutral, but it was not that obvious. I have read enough literature to know that calling an Emperor by name and not by the title he carried was pure disrespect. 

 

If it had been anybody lesser than Father, there was no doubt that he would be facing heavy consequences. If he were of an even lower ranking, flogging would be the most common punishment, and death… well, death was death. 

 

There is not much to be said about it.

 

“ We Have Spoken, and Thus It Will Be. ” The Emperor declared for all. “ Unless the Yu Clan is planning on mounting a full-blown rebellion as of this moment? ”

 

For a second I imagined Father would refuse, and all hell would erupt.

 

“ Second, I will follow your back without any doubt. But, I need to point out that Xia Renshu became the scapegoat for your Stage Ascension. ” Uncle interrupted both of them as he appeared right beside Father.

 

“ He did? What happened? ” 

 

With that pointed question, Uncle began explaining everything that happened after he began his meditation. A few times he gave me a strange look of disbelief and at the end, he gazed back into the sky and those receding dark clouds. 

 

When he was down with hearing the story, his attention shifted back to me. “ To think you would curse at the Immortal as you did. I am without words on how to react to that. ”

 

Hearing him, I moved my floating chair in their direction, and within seconds I was there to give my reply. 

 

“ There is no better attention-grabbing action to do than to curse at somebody, who has a ‘Stick it Up the Ass’ attitude. ” I replied without a hint of shame in my actions. “ Those at the top get so used to having their way that when it does not go their way, it baffles their minds. If you do it publicly the message gains far more traction. Then, they have no choice but to address it, and that was what happened. ”

 

“ Alright, we will speak about that later. ” He told me and faced the Emperor back. 

 

Beside him, I began to observe the Halo which was rotating and producing the Aurora visual signs while part of my mind paid attention to their talk.

 

“ Emperor Feng Honghui, I have declared publicly that I will be taking his head, and that is what I intend to do. Now move out of the way, or War it is. ”

 

“ Father. ” I shouted in a hurry. 

 

In response, my inner thoughts accelerated in search of an answer. 

 

“ You're a merchant at heart, right? Why not go for a compromise? ”

 

Still, in his Jade Skin Armor form, he stared at me. “ I would, but it would be a wrong choice at this moment. “ He said, but the next words arrived silently to me through his Divine Sense. 

 

~ It won't matter if I leave Xia Renshu alive or not. The Xia Clan will retaliate against us one way or another. If I leave him alive the Emperor will listen to an aggrieved subject's hardships and help the Xia Clan openly. If I kill Xia Renshu now, the position of Prime Minister of the South will be open, and before it is filled again Feng Honghui will have no choice but to swallow his words for failing to protect him and rely on his own forces instead of the Xia Clan backing. That will give me a short window to placate the other Clans into avoiding a full-blown war. ~

 

“ I see. In that case, let me ask another question. ” I spoke loudly, so everyone heard my voice. “ Does the Yu Clan have any intent on overthrowing the ruling clan and leading this Empire in its stead? ”

 

For a second, I saw Father wonder where I was going with this. 

 

Nodding for him, he replied. “ No, while we have the manpower to fight all Five Clans to attain rule over such a big plot of land. We dont not have enough to keep it, much less after the said contest exhausts us. The Yu Clan never even desired to do so. We are merchants at our core, and everything else is to keep our status without too much struggle. ”

 

Hearing it, I nodded. Then I sent my awareness inside my head again and pulled out something that he would recognize instantly. 

 

It was a rolled-up golden scroll. Once I had it in my hand, I saw his recognition, so I threw it into the air. 

 

It traveled some distance from me before. Then it repositioned itself right in between him and the Emperor.  

 

“ Use that to enforce a Contract between the Royal Feng Clan and the Yu Clan. ” I said, but unknown to everybody as I spoke, words began to write themselves into the scroll as it waited to be opened. 

 

“ You don't have to kill Xia Renshu but under the condition that the Royal Feng Clan does not help the Xia Clan in their retaliation, and the Yu Clan will not leave an Empire with but ashes of itself. ”

 

“ If you can come to a consensus, you can enforce peace as you, the Clan Lord of the Yu Clan, and Emperor Feng Hongui will be the key pieces for the Contract. If either of you breaks the Contract, the punishment will be simple, knowledge of the Contract being broken. After that, both of you can blast each other's heads if you want. ”

 

Silence rained for a moment before the voice of the Emperor arrived in my ears. 

 

“ Young Lady of the Yu Clan. Why should We compromise at all? We are the Empire. ” The authoritative voice declared.

 

Still, It told everything it needed to say to me.

 

“ Father has almost reached the end of the Soul Creation Stage, am I right? ” Seeing the nod of confirmation, I went on. “ Once he does, he will have no choice but to leave this Empire closer to the Eternal Forest, as every other Soul Transformation Cultivator that reaches said stage does. At least that is what should happen, but he can not leave as he has no male Heir for the Clan. I certainly don't want to take his place even if he begged me to, and my older sister is disqualified immediately. ”

 

“ Therefore, Father has to sire a son and educate the next generation. By the time the said male Heir is ready to become the next Clan Lord, decades will pass. Decades of relative peace in the Empire, and by the time Father leaves, the grudge left behind will be small, so there is no need to fear its kindling erupting. ”

 

“ I think the choice here is logical. The common good for the Azure Wind Empire and its future, with but a small compromise to leave the Xia Clan to deliver its retaliation on its own. ”

 

Finally having said all that, the words inside the golden scroll wrote themselves neatly and in a far more flowery language to suit its purpose. 

 

“ All that under the condition that We sign this ‘Contract’ of which we have no knowledge and its inner workings? ”

 

“ A bit of trust will be required, on both sides, to follow up on this opportunity. ” I said. “ All the Contract will do is inform each party if either of you breaks the already written terms in it. I suggest you discuss the finer points regarding it before signing it, as there will be no way to undo it if signed without breaking the terms. ”

 

“ Trust what you say? Why not use Heavenly Oaths instead? ” The Emperor asked me.

 

“ You could, but imagine the Heavenly Oath as a big hammer carving the Oath into you. This contract will instead use the finest of tools available to do the same, with no real repercussion unless agreed upon. ” I explained with a straight face, as there was a tiny little detail that I omitted from it.

 

After that, silence overcame everything. The Emperor was deliberating this possibility while my mind speculated that Father was already figuring out the details.

 

Moments passed when the Emperor, in his dragon robes, flew to the golden scroll. 

 

Father did the same, but not before his Halo vanished and the air around him blurred for a few moments. Once it was gone, his Jade Skin Armor had retreated fully, and he was wearing new robes with the Clans trademark and initials on his back.

 

After all, it would be improper to stand face to face with an Emperor and be considered naked, technically.

 

I, on the other hand, realigned my thought acceleration into one perspective. The normal one everybody had.

 

Like a pressure valve, it released this pressure with which I had been overtaxing my brain after everything it had been through. 

 

Enjoying the relief, I observed as Father and the Emperor opened the golden scroll and read the terms on it. Then they began arguing about the technicalities and finer points of the compromise.

 

“ That was an interesting proposal that came out of your mouth, Jiao. ” I heard my Uncle say beside me. “ Even though it was unneeded. ”

 

“ What? Why was it unneeded? ” I asked, a bit stupefied. 

 

“ Because both sides would have just stared at each other before I would step in. ” Uncle said. “ I would then preach a few words here and there and deescalate the whole situation. There would have been no war. Although, I do admit that your Contract might save a few headaches in the future. ”

 

“ I… Ok, fine. Maybe I overthought everything the moment the word ‘War’ came out of Father’s mouth. ” 

 

“ It's fine. It just displays that you think of us as family, even if you have memories of a different life. ” He said with a slight smile aimed at me. “ Although, sometimes I wonder if you bring too much trouble to the Clan? ”

 

“ Well, you will have to wait for the future to see if your current thoughts are right or wrong. I like being here, even if I am missing a lot of stuff from that life. ” I replied with an admission.

 

“ I see, well… now that there is no need to hide my presence any longer, we can talk a bit about family. How is Mother treating you? ” Uncle asked as he switched the topic.

 

“ Grandma? ” For a moment, I recalled all my interactions with the old matriarch. “ Fine, I guess. From the little that we have interacted, she treated me with kindness and respect, but I did catch a few moments where her expression told me of awkwardness. ”

 

“ Don't worry, that will change as you both spend some time together. Want to come with me and pay her a visit right after this. I am sure she has been worried sick because of all these events. ”

 

“ I would have preferred a nice napping phase, but if it's a short visit, I don't mind. ”

 

“ Good. ”

 

***

 

Emperor Feng Hongui has been reigning over the Azure Wind Empire for 126 years. 

 

And this is the first time that He had to compromise like this on anything, at least publicly. 

 

Hidden deals made in secret are the norms of Noble politics. But deciding deals for the continued existence of the Empire, argued and written in a strange golden scroll that felt strange to his Divine Sense and about to be signed by him and the Yu Clan Lord for all to see, was indeed something very new for him.

 

Once more, he read the terms of the Contract. 

 

They were easy on the tongue and one's mind. They neither carried too much nor too little favor between His Royal Clan and the Yu Clan. 

 

All that mattered was that with it he was guaranteed no major long-term damage to the Empire as a whole. And that was all that he needed, as everything else he would find a way to deal with.

 

All that under the tiny requirement that he would be signing this Contract, with no prior knowledge of how it functions. 

 

As he stared at the golden scroll, Yu Liwei spoke.

 

“ Everything has been agreed on. It's time to sign this thing. ” He said with a neutral expression. “ I have used one of these before, so just put your right thumb on the right square at the bottom. The left one is mine. ”

 

Nodding, the Emperor placed his right thumb on it and Yu Liwei did on the left. 

 

It took a second, but things changed as he felt something descend on His person. 

 

It locked him in place. 

 

For a second, he thought that he had been tricked and that His head would say goodbye to everything below it, but thankfully that did not happen. 

 

Something examined him, the Contract as his thumb was on it, and Yu Liwei who was in the same position as him. 

 

A few moments passed as that something passed and delivered its finality to the Contract, and he was released. 

 

It took a conscious grip on his reflexes to not retreat his arm too fast. After all, all behavior in public had to be held to the highest standards possible. A twitching Emperor was a weak Emperor, and the moment a chink in one’s armor was displayed, it became a slippery slope on which to slip constantly.

 

It was only after Yu Liwei let go that he did. Then the golden scroll closed itself and began to glow, as in its place one became two, and both flew into their respective foreheads, only to stop for a second and switch directions towards their Soul of Qi. 

 

There it entered and began to radiate its presence. The presence gave off light but deep feeling as it embedded itself inside the Soul of Qi. 

 

The lightness came from his ability to break it whenever he wanted, but the deep one is the one that intrigued him.

 

Examining it for a bit, he tried to see its limits. 

 

Thoughts and intentions flared in his mind, and it responded instantly. 

 

Its presence flared just as he imagined, but in response, it also told him what it had sensed. 

 

The most curious thing happened as he tested out the Contract. A different feeling arose from it. It took a second to realize what it meant but when he did it only confirmed its functions.

 

Ending his thoughts and intentions, the Contract retreated, and he stared at Yu Liwei directly. 

 

Their eyes told them that both of them sensed what had happened. 

 

Both nodded at each other and made their way to their people. 

 

Feng Honghui, the Emperor, looked at his subjects for a second. He could imagine some of their thoughts, but he paid them no attention. 

 

“ Qi Jian, I am leaving everything regarding public security. Have word be spread that everything has come to an end. And that everybody can resume their daily lives. ”

 

“ It will be done, Emperor. ” 

 

Nodding at him, the Emperor faced his Royal Palace and found himself inside it. 

 

Doing the same once more, he appeared in the throne room.

 

It was gilded and decorated to represent the status of Him, the Feng Clang, and the Empire as a whole. 

 

Without even facing anybody, he gave an order. “ Send word that We require the Crown Prince. ”

 

Seconds after, a guard left to deliver the Royal Summons. 

 

Meanwhile, he sat at his elevated throne and summoned a sheet of white paper and a white brush. There was no ink anywhere on it, and there was nothing to dip it into to absorb the ink, but wherever the brush moved on the paper, black ink was left behind. 

 

Sheets of documents were completed, before a man looking to be around twenty-five in age arrived. 

 

He wore robes inlaid with five dragons to display his status, and his facial structure told from whom the status was stemming. He prostrated himself before his throne with his face touching the ground before finally raising his head but remaining seated. 

 

“ Crown Prince Feng Zhiqiang greets His Imperial Majesty. ” The man announced loudly before switching to a softer tone of speech. 

 

“ You have called Father? ”

 

“ We did. ” The Emperor affirmed. “ Internal war has been prevented. As a result, We are currently restrained in regards to the conflict between the Xia Clan and the Yu Clan. Therefore We are giving you authority to oversee its happenings. ”

 

“ This Crown Prince accepts the responsibility placed upon him by His Imperial Majesty. ” 

 

“ Good. Out of all of Our children, you have proven to be the most competent to inherit this Us. Do not betray the trust We have placed upon your shoulders. ”

 

“ I will not disappoint you, Father. ” The man declared more as his face touched the ground once again. 

 

Seeing his son like that, a proud feeling erupted from the Emperor's chest but his face betrayed none of those emotions. 

 

With a twitch of his hand, a golden dragon seal appeared in his right hand and stamped on the documents that he had already written. 

 

From them, he picked one and threw it at his son. It floated right before him on the ground. 

 

“ Those are the details of the agreement set in place. Take it with you and study them in detail. ”

 

“ Yes, Father. ” The prostrating man picked up the document and made his way outside. 

 

“ I truly hope you won't disappoint me, son. ” The emperor quietly whispered to himself.