Watching the Mountain

Chapter 62: Chapter 56: His Change

Just as Xu Ran and Little Xiyue were gazing at Ye Shan with complicated expressions, he suddenly let out a long sigh, like a taut string gone slack. He then turned to stare at Little Xiyue and declared with a perfectly straight face,

”Alright. I just saved your life and your master’s. This little incident won’t be settled without at least a month’s worth of grand feasts.”

Little Xiyue looked utterly baffled at his words and exclaimed emotionally, ”How did you save our lives?”

Seeing her reaction, Ye Shan pointed in the direction Ye Qingxue had just been. ”If it weren’t for me,” he said, ”you two would’ve definitely been killed by Junior Sister Qingxue. How is that not me saving you?”

”What, are you trying to deny it?” he asked, staring straight at Little Xiyue.

Little Xiyue faltered, hesitating for a moment. ”That... that probably wouldn’t have happened, right? We didn’t do anything to offend her.”

Ye Shan scoffed. ”Why not? You saw her yourself. Do you think Junior Sister Qingxue is a normal person? When she flies into a rage, she doesn’t care if you’re a fellow disciple or what the Sect rules say. Once she makes a move, she shows absolutely no mercy.”

Little Xiyue’s expression froze, and her confident air deflated. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, her face a little pale, ”But she’s still your junior sister. How can you talk about her like that?”

’A creeping sense of fear was already taking root in her heart. The image of the box of Golden Cores in Ye Qingxue’s hands flashed through her mind. She really doesn’t seem like a normal person at all.’

’If it were just me, it wouldn’t be so bad, but Master is here too. I can’t let anything happen to him.’

Hearing this, Ye Shan’s expression grew complex. ”It’s precisely because she’s my junior sister that I understand her so well.”

He tilted his head back slightly, his expression unreadable. ”Just think about it. Would any normal person calmly—or even boastfully—show off a box of Golden Cores they’d dug out of other people’s bodies?”

He shook his head lightly, his tone layered with complexity. ”Would any normal person remain so fixated on an old man who’s already gray and withered?”

Little Xiyue’s expression faltered. Then, nodding in deep agreement, she whispered, ”I guess you’re right.”

Meanwhile, seeing the look on Ye Shan’s face, Xu Ran couldn’t hold back any longer.

He wasn’t one for gossip, but if the gossip was about Ye Shan, well, that was a different story.

’This guy has been putting me down ever since we first met, and he just had the nerve to criticize me right in front of my precious disciple, Little Xiyue.’

As a Longevity Seeker, he could be lacking in many skills, but holding a grudge was not one of them.

He’d been curious ever since he first heard the name ”Pill-Digging Witch,” and now seemed like the perfect time to make Ye Shan squirm.

And so, with a glint in his eye, he gave Ye Shan a suggestive look and asked, ”Senior Brother Ye Shan, I heard you once held this Pill Witch of a junior sister in your arms. I’m awfully curious about that story. Why don’t you tell us all about it?”

Ye Shan looked stunned. He stared at Xu Ran in silence for a moment. ”Junior Brother, I didn’t take you for the type to be interested in such matters.”

Xu Ran nodded, his face stern. ”Of course I’m not. I have no interest in other people’s business whatsoever.”

Ye Shan had just breathed a sigh of relief when Xu Ran continued, ”So, Senior Brother Ye Shan, what exactly is the story? Do tell.”

Seeing his persistence, Ye Shan’s expression tightened, and he was about to refuse. But just then, he saw Little Xiyue hold up two slender, pale fingers. With a deadpan expression, she said, ”Two months. Grand feasts. You tell my master the story, and I’ll cook for you.”

Little Xiyue wasn’t actually interested in such things herself, but since her master was so curious, she naturally had to help satisfy his curiosity.

’Master is so old and still at the Qi Cultivation Stage, with no one to look after him. If I, his disciple, don’t spoil him a little, he’ll be just too pitiful.’

At Little Xiyue’s words, Ye Shan’s eyes lit up, and he gulped.

Ever since she was a child, Little Xiyue had cherished the feeling of a family eating together, and she especially disliked it when her master, Xu Ran, ate at the dining hall.

After a particularly disheartening experience at the dining hall, she had thrown herself into practicing her culinary skills, all for the sake of luring Master Xu Ran back to eating at home.

Now, over a decade later, her cooking still couldn’t quite compare to the Sect’s Spirit Chefs, but at least now when her master ate her food, he wouldn’t call it terrible.

Ye Shan also felt Little Xiyue’s cooking couldn’t match the dining hall’s Spirit Chefs. After all, those chefs had dedicated their lives to the craft; it would be a miracle if an ordinary person could catch up to them in just a decade or so.

And yet, for reasons he couldn’t quite explain, he simply preferred Little Xiyue’s cooking. It had a special, comforting, home-cooked quality that made eating it an absolute pleasure.

He glanced at Xu Ran, who was still staring at him intently, then looked over at Little Xiyue. After a moment of internal debate, he asked, ”For real?”

Little Xiyue maintained her stern expression. ”Unlike you, I don’t lie. I do what I say I’ll do.”

”Fine.” Ye Shan didn’t bother arguing about which of them was the liar. His appetite was now roaring, and all he wanted was to chow down.

With a sigh, he turned to Xu Ran. ”The story is actually very simple. Back then, she was seriously injured on a mission and couldn’t move a muscle. I carried her back and got her help. That’s it.”

”That’s it?” Xu Ran’s eyes went wide with a look of utter disbelief.

’I was looking forward to it for so long, and this is all you give me? How lame.’

Seeing Xu Ran’s pained expression, Ye Shan continued, ”Junior Brother, think about it. If there really were some juicy story between us, given Junior Sister Qingxue’s personality, do you think she’d be acting this way?”

Xu Ran nodded, crestfallen. Across from him, Ye Shan gestured to Little Xiyue. ”I’ve told my part. Now hurry up and prepare that grand feast. And I mean a *real* grand feast.”

Hearing this, Little Xiyue silently turned to look at Xu Ran, her eyes asking for his verdict.

After a brief silence, Xu Ran waved a dismissive hand. ”Fine, whatever. Just do it.”

Only then did Little Xiyue turn to leave. But after just a few steps, she looked back at Ye Shan and asked, ”Was everything you said before true? You weren’t lying to me?”

Ye Shan paused, slightly taken aback. Then, as if recalling what she meant, he nodded, his tone firm and certain. ”Of course. I, Ye Shan, never lie to people.”

Little Xiyue fell silent for a moment before giving a slight nod. With her usual stern face, she said, ”Fine. I understand.”

Listening to their exchange, Xu Ran was curious about what they were discussing, but after a moment’s thought, he decided not to ask.

After Little Xiyue left, Ye Shan seemed to have lost all interest in catching up with Xu Ran. He simply turned around, sat on the ground with his back to him, and fell silent.

Xu Ran took the hint and left as well.

Before he departed, he stared at Ye Shan’s back for a long time.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Ye Shan had changed a great deal.

And in fact, he had. Ye Shan truly seemed to have changed.

For a while after that, every time Little Xiyue delivered a meal to him, Xu Ran would secretly follow.

This was mainly because Ye Qingxue’s words about the two of them being intimate, laughing and talking together, were still echoing in his mind. Even if Xu Ran knew the chances of that were one in ten thousand, he couldn’t rest easy without seeing it for himself.

He didn’t know how other parents thought, but he considered himself a realist. If Ye Shan were still the high-spirited, handsome, and peerless prodigy of his prime, perhaps he wouldn’t have objected even if the rumors were true.

But the Ye Shan of today was no longer the dazzling prodigy of the Immortal Ancient era. Regardless of whether he could ever make a comeback, his current appearance—white-haired, disheveled, and haggard—was simply not suitable.

Fortunately, during this period of observation, Xu Ran saw no intimate behavior between Little Xiyue and him. In fact, every time she delivered his food, she kept her distance, almost as if she found him repulsive and was unwilling to get too close.

This allowed Xu Ran to finally breathe a sigh of relief. ’Thank goodness. My little girl is still safe and sound.’

Ye Shan, too, seemed to become more and more withdrawn. Perhaps it was because most of the disciples in the Sect were new, but he no longer greeted anyone he passed.

His hair grew whiter until not a single black strand remained. His face grew more wizened, and his aura weakened, until he was just like any ordinary, unremarkable old man.

「A few years later」

When Xu Ran emerged from a period of secluded cultivation, he happened to run into Ye Shan once more.

By now, he moved through crowds as if he were invisible. If you weren’t looking closely, you wouldn’t notice him at all.

Seeing Ye Shan in this state, Xu Ran didn’t approach to greet him. He could tell that Ye Shan now had his own way of life and seemingly didn’t want to be disturbed.

Besides, his own cultivation had been progressing exceptionally well during this time. The effects of the Awakening Liquid were even better than he had anticipated, making his training far more efficient than before.

He felt that it wouldn’t be more than a few years before his Qi Cultivation Stage training was perfected, and he could begin preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The only thing that left him uneasy was Little Xiyue. Over the past few years, her cultivation seemed to have become a little too desperate. He had advised her many times that cultivation requires a balance between exertion and rest.

But Little Xiyue simply wouldn’t listen. She acted with an extreme sense of urgency, as if something were chasing her, constantly driving her forward.

He had never been hard on Little Xiyue in her entire life, and now that she was so obstinate, he didn’t know if he should step in and forcibly stop her.

This left Xu Ran feeling rather helpless. ’Sigh... kids grow up and get ideas of their own. They’re really not so easy to manage anymore.’