Watching the Mountain

Chapter 40: Chapter 34: Helping You Attain the Dao

Everyone’s spirits were high, showing not the slightest fear of going to the battlefield.

By the end, even Flowing Clouds Master, his face flushed red, staggered drunkenly up to Xu Ran. Squinting, he said in a roguish tone:

”At your age, going by looks alone, you seem much older than even me. And yet you don’t even have an heir! Let me tell you, back in my day...”

”We call the people from the Evil and Demon Domains ’evil demons,’ but they’re actually human, just like us. I saw some of them many years ago. The young women there... let me tell you, they’re as lovely as can be. How about it? Want me to tie one up and bring her back for you? Heh heh heh.”

Xu Ran glanced at the red-faced Flowing Clouds Master and wiped his brow. Now he finally understood why everyone called the man a ruffian.

’They weren’t wronging him in the slightest. He’s a ruffian, through and through.’

”Thank you for the kind offer, Master, but I don’t have any need for that.”

”Don’t be shy, kid! It’s not something you need to hide...”

Xu Ran shook his head, speechless. ’This is blatant kidnapping. Is that really something to brag about openly?’

”Why are you so stubborn, kid? No one can refuse something I’ve decided on. You just wait. When I bring her back, you’ll take her whether you want to or not...”

*

*

*

After the banquet, Xu Ran found Yue Qingyu to explain his intentions.

Yue Qingyu looked at him and said coolly, ”I refuse.”

Xu Ran was taken aback by her answer.

He had just presented the fruits of his research to Yue Qingyu.

His results came in two parts. The first was a high-yield Spirit Rice, complete with its seeds and cultivation techniques. The second was a method for growing Spirit Rice Seeds in ordinary fields—those with Spiritual Qi but not classified as Spirit Fields—along with its own set of cultivation techniques.

In a comparable environment, the high-yield Spirit Rice produced more than double the yield of the commonly grown variety. The Spirit Rice grown in ordinary fields yielded seventy percent of the normal amount, but it took five times longer to mature.

While ordinary First Grade Spirit Rice could mature in six months to a year, this new variety required three to five years. Yet, its strategic importance was even greater than that of the high-yield version.

After listening to his explanation, ripples of emotion finally broke the calm surface of Yue Qingyu’s expression. Her eyes flashed with a brilliant light as she looked at him.

She never expected it. The man before her was the same one she had casually made a promise to in the Mortal World. The same man with mediocre aptitude who, a century later, had sought her out with her token, his hair already white with age, to join the Sect. And now, so many years later, he had given her such an incredible surprise.

Her expression faltered for a moment. She suddenly recalled having mentioned the Valley Qi Pill to him before. After a brief silence, an inscrutable look crossed her fair face as she asked:

”Have you been researching this all these years?”

Xu Ran nodded.

”Was it because of me?”

Xu Ran cupped his fist. ”You were the one who guided me onto the path of cultivation. I owe you a debt of gratitude as great as a mountain.”

He then stated his intention to leave the Sect once Little Xiyue was a little older. He wanted to travel the world to see if he could find an opportunity for a breakthrough.

He had been in the Profound Pure Sect for decades. The only reason he had been able to stay this long was the excuse that he had accidentally eaten a Longevity Fruit.

Now, decades later, the extended lifespan granted by the fruit was nearly depleted. It would be unreasonable for him to stay any longer; he had to leave.

Who would have thought that after he finished speaking, he would be met with Yue Qingyu’s direct, two-word refusal.

He looked at her in confusion, awaiting an explanation. In his experience, she was not the type to be so domineering and unreasonable.

Yue Qingyu slowly began to speak.

”It’s too dangerous. War has broken out with the Evil and Demon Domains, and most people from the Major Sects have gone to the front lines. Even many aspiring Loose Cultivators have voluntarily joined the fight. The ones who remain... do you really think they’re the ’good’ ones?”

”The Major Sects are short-staffed, so there’s no one to maintain order in the Cultivation Realm. Those who normally keep to themselves will no longer have anything to fear.”

”Don’t think the Major Sects are just arrogant and overbearing. Without them, the Cultivation Realm would be dozens, even hundreds of times more chaotic. If you leave now, with your current Cultivation, do you really think you’ll have any chance to achieve Enlightenment Dao and break through?”

”Well...” Hearing this, Xu Ran immediately understood the stakes. The problem was, there was no telling when the war on the Evil Demon Battlefield would end. Wars in the Cultivation Realm could last for decades, centuries, or even millennia, with endless waves of cultivators joining the fray.

’If this war lasts for decades or even a century, it would be completely unreasonable for me to still be in the Sect. There’d be no way to explain it.’

Just as he was pondering this, Yue Qingyu spoke, her expression calm. ”If I give you another three hundred years, are you confident you can break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, or perhaps even go further?”

Xu Ran was stunned. Before he could even process her words, she opened her hand. Resting in her fair, delicate palm was a single elixir, imprinted with a six-leaf Dao pattern.

Yue Qingyu spoke softly.

”A Cultivator is limited in how many longevity-type Spiritual Objects and Elixirs they can consume in a lifetime. There’s also a limit to how many years can be added at each Realm. The restriction isn’t from the items themselves, but from the Cultivator’s own body being unable to withstand the burden.”

”However, there are ways around this. As long as we’re willing to pay the price, the Sect is capable of refining an elixir that can extend your life by three hundred years.”

”You don’t need to feel uneasy or undeserving. Your past contributions to the Sect are more than enough to merit this, to say nothing of the Spirit Rice Seeds you’ve just submitted. You’ve earned this. It is only right for the Sect to handsomely reward those who have made great contributions.”

Xu Ran’s mind reeled. She spoke of it so casually, but he knew this elixir was anything but simple. ’Its value and the cost to create it must be far beyond anything I can imagine.’

Her gaze fell upon Xu Ran as she said coolly:

”Once, you told me there was nothing wrong with having the will to seek the Dao. Now, I am willing to extend your life by three hundred years to support that will and help you on your path. I hope you can walk even farther along it.”

With that, she gave a gentle wave of her hand, and the elixir floated from her palm into Xu Ran’s.

*

*

*

It was the same desolate mountain behind the Sect. Ye Shan sat silently on the ground, gazing at the full moon. Moonlight washed over his aged face as the evening breeze rustled his white hair.

He sat there, motionless, his face devoid of emotion. The little girl who used to listen to his stories was gone now, ever since she had called him a ”liar.”

After a long while, he turned his head and looked into the distance. A graceful figure in white, exuding an air of cold, otherworldly detachment, was slowly approaching him.

”Junior Brother Ye, Hao Yu has gone to the battlefield. He volunteered.”

Yue Qingyu said softly. The Hao Yu she spoke of was the only son of Ye Shan’s master, Nine Profound True Monarch.

Ye Shan stood there silently, as if he hadn’t heard her.

Yue Qingyu paid him no mind and continued, ”In a hundred years, the Sect will have a Valley Qi Pill. I came to inform you of this.”

Without waiting for his reaction, she turned and left.

Only after she was gone did Ye Shan’s expressionless face finally twitch. The moonlight shimmered in his eyes, like a dragonfly skipping across the surface of a lake, sending out faint ripples.

*

*

*

In the end, Xu Ran accepted the responsibility entrusted to him by Qing Xuan Master, taking on the role of Instructor Elder in the Instructor Hall to instruct the newly initiated disciples.

He sat in the very seat Qing Xuan Master once occupied, looking down at the crowd of youths below. They sat there quietly, their innocent faces turned up toward him. For a moment, his mind drifted, an indescribable emotion welling up inside him.

Little Xiyue was among them. She had once been the youngest here, but now she was the eldest.

Earlier that morning, before they came to the Instructor Hall, Little Xiyue seemed to have sensed her master’s mood. Standing ramrod straight, she had told Xu Ran with a stern face:

”If anyone dares to cause trouble during your lecture, I’ll go teach them a lesson. As long as I’m here, no one will dare to make a scene.”

Little Xiyue spoke with fierce determination. She had set a goal for herself: from this moment on, she would be of help to her master. She wouldn’t let anyone cause him trouble.