Watching the Mountain

Chapter 13: Chapter 10: He’s Actually Pretty Strong

It wasn’t until Ye Shan actually made his move that Xu Ran finally understood how he had been able to defeat three True Disciples with a single sword strike.

The moment Ye Shan gripped his sword and looked at him, Xu Ran felt his entire being, from body to soul, become locked in place by a terrifying presence. He had lost control of his own body.

He desperately tried to move, but it felt as if he were enveloped by countless blades glinting with a cold light. The sensation made the hair on his body stand on end and his skin ache dully as his body instinctively recoiled.

The thought that the slightest movement would get him instantly skewered by those innumerable blades overwhelmed his mind.

Then, just as he stood frozen in place, anxiously waiting for the phantom blades to disappear, Ye Shan moved.

In an instant, all color bled from his vision. There was only a single, blinding flash of sword light. He felt his body being run through by countless blades, and a searing pain shot through his mind before he lost consciousness.

Ye Shan’s sword was simply impossible to dodge.

”My apologies.” Looking at Xu Ran, who lay on the ground with his eyes closed, Ye Shan sheathed his sword, cupped his fist, and spoke softly.

’Perhaps, after this, Junior Brother Xu will never be able to cultivate again.’

Ye Shan sighed inwardly. He was the one who had personally shattered the man’s Dao Heart and his future, yet he felt little guilt.

As a Sword Cultivator, he could not refuse a challenge.

After another glance at the motionless Xu Ran on the ground, Ye Shan shook his head, put his sword away, and prepared to leave.

He had lost all interest. He originally came to see how someone with such mediocre talent like Xu Ran cultivated.

But Xu Ran’s request had ruined his curiosity.

He felt no admiration for Xu Ran’s attempt to stimulate his instincts by confronting death. In fact, it had erased any good impression he might have had.

Now, all he felt toward Xu Ran was indifference.

He admired the strong and those who refused to be ordinary, but he disliked the conceited.

’And in his eyes, Xu Ran’s actions were exactly that.’

’Not just anyone could face death head-on.’

’I already warned him, yet he insisted on trying.’

’He can’t blame me for this outcome.’

Ye Shan didn’t look at Xu Ran again. He slowly turned, but just as he lifted his foot, a sharp gasp sounded from behind him, followed by a voice, incredibly weak yet unyieldingly firm:

”Let me... catch my breath... then... continue.”

Hearing this, Ye Shan’s eyes flew wide open. He spun around to see Xu Ran, propped up on one hand, struggling to his feet. A look of utter disbelief spread across his face.

”Junior Brother Xu, you...”

He was utterly shaken. He hadn’t held back in the slightest. Although he hadn’t physically harmed Xu Ran, the mental assault had been completely real.

Once, a True Disciple had made the same request. It took him several days just to come to his senses. Afterward, he resigned his position as a True Disciple and went to the Chores Courtyard to become a Steward, living out his days in leisure.

Because after that, he could never cultivate again.

This experience was why Ye Shan had considered Xu Ran conceited. ’If even a genius True Disciple couldn’t withstand it, what made a man of mediocre talent think he could? Wasn’t he just bringing ruin upon himself?’

And yet, here Xu Ran was, getting back on his feet.

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he was still stunned.

Xu Ran’s face was deathly pale as he looked at Ye Shan. Recalling that last sword strike, his eyes still betrayed a lingering fear.

It was the true feeling of facing death—an indescribable sensation that filled him with an endless terror. His survival instinct screamed at him to struggle, to clutch at any last straw, but there was nothing. All he could do was watch in despair as his body plummeted downward.

But this starkly real sensation also felt... familiar.

Yes, familiar. Almost strangely comforting.

As someone who had transmigrated with his memories intact, he had genuinely experienced death once before. At the time, he had even been fully conscious of the fact that he was dead.

It was precisely because of this that when he faced the sensation again, a strange calm settled over him, and the endless fear vanished.

’It’s just death, isn’t it? Not like I haven’t been through it before. I’m actually pretty experienced with this sort of thing.’

Of course, that was just a fleeting thought. The moment he broke free from the sensation of death, he was still filled with terror and lingering dread, so much so that he didn’t dare to recall the experience.

That was why he had asked for a moment to recover.

Even though he had been through it before, the human aversion to death is instinctual, embedded deep within the soul, the consciousness, down to every last cell—an experience one is never willing to repeat.

”Junior Brother, you still intend to continue?” After a long moment, Ye Shan composed himself and looked at Xu Ran as he asked.

Xu Ran nodded and replied matter-of-factly, ”Of course. A moment ago, that was just you attacking, Senior Brother Ye. I couldn’t even move. I asked you to be my sparring partner to train my combat instincts and awareness. If I can’t even fight back, what’s the point of the training?”

”What?” Ye Shan stared at Xu Ran, dumbfounded.

’He intends to fight back while facing death? Is such a thing even possible?’