Alex narrowed his eyes, while Pearl widened his.
"You're coming with me, grandpa?" he asked with an excited voice.
"Yes," Bai Jingshen said. "That is the only way to be confident that you can be safe there."
"Wait, you can do that?" Alex asked. "The trial sounds quite important. Are you allowed to get help from someone else?"
"No," Bai Jingshen said. "But what else is there to do? I can just adhere to the rules while protecting him."
Alex scratched his chin, wondering if such a thing could be done. "From what I'm hearing, the trial sounds like a ritual more than anything. Something traditional and sacred. Wouldn't you participating be the same as breaking something sacred?"
Bai Jingshen shrugged. "So what?"
Alex had no response to that. Could anyone do anything to Bai Jingshen? Maybe punish him? But that would keep Pearl safe, which was all that mattered.
But then, Pearl would likely fail the trial.
