Watching the Mountain

Chapter 69: Chapter 63: Why Not Give It a Try?

’Something like Heart Melt Heaven and Earth... I suppose only those who’ve reached the realm of Immortals could achieve that, right?’

’Are there Immortals in this world?’

Xu Ran had no way of knowing. However, he had never seen any records concerning Immortals within the Profound Pure Sect, so he figured they probably didn’t exist.

The story of the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm wresting an entire domain from the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race on the battlefield felt strange no matter how he thought about it. The whole affair reeked of inconsistency.

But if even someone like Yue Qingyu didn’t know the truth behind such matters, it was pointless for a mere Junior Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage like him to even think about it.

Just as Yue Qingyu had said, such things were far too removed from him. It was better to just focus on his cultivation.

After casting aside his distracting thoughts, Xu Ran arrived at the Scripture Pavilion on Spirit Stream Peak to officially assume his new post.

He was no stranger to the Scripture Pavilion, having often come here to look through its records.

The Spirit Stream Peak’s Scripture Pavilion was located on a Suspended Island halfway up the mountain and was open for three hours each day.

When it was open, a flight of three hundred and sixty-five bluestone steps would connect it to the ground below.

The Scripture Pavilion itself was a single, massive wooden pagoda, capable of holding over ten thousand people at once without feeling crowded. It had six floors. The first two floors housed ordinary texts like historical records, local customs, collections of Tao Scriptures, and miscellaneous anecdotes. The third and fourth floors were for ordinary Cultivation Techniques, while the fifth and sixth floors were reserved for important ones.

The place was typically watched over by three to five Stewards who looked ancient and frail, as if a strong gust of wind could blow them over. They all seemed to have one foot in the grave.

Whenever Xu Ran had visited before, he’d always thought, ’Anyone assigned to guard the Scripture Pavilion, no matter how unassuming they appear, must actually be a master hiding their true strength.’

It wasn’t until he reported for duty today that he realized he had probably been overthinking things.

The Steward in charge of showing Xu Ran the ropes was a man surnamed Liu. He had a Purple Mansion Stage cultivation, but his back was stooped and he shuffled along at a snail’s pace.

When he heard what Xu Ran was thinking, he rolled his eyes and said irritably, ”There is a great master responsible for guarding the Scripture Pavilion, but it isn’t us. It’s a Golden Core Elder. As for people like us? We’re the ones whose cultivation paths have hit a dead end, who’ve even lost all interest in Cultivation Techniques. Isn’t that why we’re sent here?”

”To put it more bluntly, didn’t the Sect assign us here because they couldn’t think of any other use for us? They just sent us here to live out the rest of our days.”

”Is that so?” Xu Ran was taken aback. ’So the Scripture Pavilion is basically the Sect’s retirement home?’

Steward Liu shot him a glance, asking with a look of confusion, ”And you’re not?”

Xu Ran froze at his words. He thought about his own situation. ’Come to think of it,’ he mused, ’I guess I’m in the same boat.’

”But I’m still quite interested in Cultivation Techniques.”

Hearing this, Steward Liu stared at him for a moment, sizing him up, before saying in a very serious tone, ”There’s no problem with being interested in Cultivation Techniques. But let me give you a piece of advice. There are countless techniques in here. I suggest that when you study one, you focus on it and it alone.”

”Act as if it’s the only Cultivation Technique in this entire place. Only after you’ve mastered it, or completely lost interest in it, should you move on to the next. Otherwise, you’ll easily drive yourself mad.”

Xu Ran contemplated the meaning behind the man’s words for a moment, then gave him a solemn bow. ”Thank you for the warning.”

’Every Cultivation Technique is a different Dao. If I’m half-hearted, I’ll likely suffer a backlash.’

’I was planning to walk the Path of Ten Thousand Laws, thinking the more Cultivation Techniques I learned, the better. But the method is just as important as the goal. If it weren’t for Steward Liu’s reminder, I might have really gone astray by accident.’

*

*

*

The Scripture Pavilion was only open for three hours a day, and there was hardly anything to do. The duties were light and the work was leisurely. Every day when the pavilion closed, he would take a Cultivation Technique he was studying back to his Cave Mansion to continue poring over it, along with any notes and insights left behind by previous cultivators.

Lately, however, his days hadn’t been entirely peaceful. Whenever he returned to his Cave Mansion, he would often find someone waiting for him outside.

That person was Ye Shan.

Ever since the day Zhang Zhentian returned from the Evil Demon Battlefield, Ye Shan seemed to have changed. While he still looked like a disheveled, white-haired old man, his aura had grown increasingly plain and ordinary.

His personality, however, was reverting more and more to how it had been when Xu Ran first met him.

When they talked, if it weren’t for his aged face, Xu Ran sometimes had the illusion that he was speaking with the same high-spirited young prodigy he had met all that time ago.

However, this also meant he had to converse with someone who was incredibly blunt. ’For me, this is its own form of torture.’

Seeing Xu Ran seriously studying a Cultivation Technique scroll in his hands, Ye Shan piped up from the side, a note of surprise in his voice.

”Junior Brother Xu, if I recall correctly, you started reading this Cultivation Technique a month ago, didn’t you? It’s been so long. Don’t tell me you still haven’t learned it?”

”It’s only been a month. How could anyone learn a Cultivation Technique that quickly?”

Ye Shan looked even more surprised. ”But normally, don’t you basically learn a Cultivation Technique after reading it through once? Even for a more profound one, it should only take a few extra days of thought, right?”

Facing Xu Ran’s somewhat displeased gaze, he hastily explained, ”All my junior brothers and sisters were like that.”

”I know your talent is a bit lacking, Junior Brother, but... it’s been a whole month! Even a... erm, never mind. You just carry on. I’ll shut up.”

Xu Ran felt that Ye Shan was deliberately trying to get a rise out of him. ’It would be one thing if he couldn’t understand an ordinary person like me because he used to be surrounded by True Disciples.’

’But after his cultivation was crippled, he’s been shooting the breeze with Outer Disciples in the dining hall every day and wandering all over. He’s met so many people. Don’t tell me he still doesn’t know how normal people are?’

’So he must be doing this on purpose.’

He shot Ye Shan an annoyed glare and said, ”Just spit it out. What’s your reason for coming here? If you’re looking to mooch a meal, you’re out of luck. My apprentice is out. Wait until she gets back.”

Hearing his question, Ye Shan started beating around the bush, avoiding the topic. It wasn’t until he could no longer stand Xu Ran’s intense stare that he finally stammered:

”I came here to hide for a bit. This is an Elder’s Cave Mansion, after all, and I’m not particularly close with any of the other Elders.”

It took Xu Ran only a moment’s thought to understand. He let out a long, meaningful ”Ohhh...” and asked, ”That junior sister of yours... the ’Witch’?”

He stared intently at Ye Shan, his eyes sparkling with the fire of gossip, and asked in a peculiar tone:

”From what I know of you, Senior Brother, you shouldn’t be afraid of her, right? So why are you hiding? Don’t tell me there’s a secret here?”

’I’m extremely interested in any gossip about Ye Shan,’ he thought. ’It’s his own fault for always taking jabs at me.’

Ye Shan shot him a look, then spread his hands. ”What secret could there be? She’s my master’s adopted daughter. Master always hoped to raise her to be a cheerful and lively girl, but because of me, she ended up like this.”

”Adopted daughter?” Xu Ran looked at him in surprise. That was a piece of information he’d never heard before.

Ye Shan nodded, his gaze drifting toward the distance as he spoke with an unreadable expression. ”Junior Brother, you should know that about a thousand years ago, our Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm had a clash with the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race. Although it didn’t escalate into a full-scale war like the ones before, many people still lost their lives in that conflict.”

”Junior Sister Qingxue’s ancestor perished in that conflict. My master was her ancestor’s comrade-in-arms, and on his deathbed, the man entrusted his family to him. But later, my master had a sudden epiphany during his cultivation and went into seclusion for a hundred years. By the time he emerged, Qingxue’s family was being hunted down. When Master finally arrived, only she and a handful of others were left. He brought her back with him.”

”Master has always felt extremely guilty about this and has doted on Qingxue endlessly ever since. He often says that he can be as tough as he wants with his own children, but he must take perfect care of his comrade’s family and never let her suffer the slightest grievance.”

”Actually, Master was initially unwilling to take her as a disciple. He simply raised her as a daughter. It wasn’t until she was nearly a hundred years old that he officially accepted her as his student. So even though she always calls me Senior Brother, she’s actually much older than I am.”

”It’s because of me that Junior Sister Qingxue’s personality became what it is today. It pains Master deeply, and he’s always wanted to change her back, but alas...”

Ye Shan sighed, then looked at Xu Ran and asked, ”Junior Brother, do you have any good ideas on how to fix Junior Sister Qingxue’s personality?”

Xu Ran pondered for a moment. The image of Xiaoque’Er on her deathbed surfaced in his mind. He spoke slowly, ”If you want to change a woman, perhaps you could have her raise a child. It might draw out the maternal love deep within her.”

Ye Shan looked aghast. ”Junior Brother, you’re not suggesting that she and I become Dao Companions, are you? That’s absolutely impossible! If it were, I wouldn’t need to hide from her here in your cave.”

”Then find her an apprentice.”

”An apprentice?” Ye Shan mulled this over for a moment, then asked hesitantly, ”Would that really work?”

”That will depend on how you handle it, Senior Brother.”

Ye Shan frowned and thought for a long time, his expression hesitant. ”Maybe... we could give it a try?”

But where would they find an apprentice?