Watching the Mountain

Chapter 216: Chapter 149: What Cannot Be Severed

The only thing he lamented was his foolish student, Jiang Ling’er. She was truly a cause for concern. He had just warned her yesterday that this Qin Yufeng fellow was no good, but the very next day, she had revealed everything without reservation.

’I wonder how she’s doing now. That Qin Yufeng fellow hasn’t done anything to her, has he?’

Just as he was worrying, Qin Yufeng, on the other end, seemed to guess his thoughts and spoke first.

”Fellow Daoist Xu, you needn’t worry. I haven’t done anything to your student. She is, after all, the student of my only remaining friend. How could I possibly make a move against her?”

Hearing Qin Yufeng once again claim he was his only remaining friend, Xu Ran hesitated for a moment before speaking uncertainly.

”Senior, if I recall correctly, many people from the original Flame Sun Sect are still alive, aren’t they? Including your family, which still exists today.”

After the Flame Sun Sect was destroyed, the survivors were captured and interrogated. Once it was confirmed they hadn’t participated in Ancestor Yanyang’s plan, they received some minor punishments and were then released.

Qin Yufeng’s self-mocking laughter came through the Communication Jade Talisman again.

”Heh, that’s why I said I envy you, Fellow Daoist Xu. Not everyone can be surrounded by people with such pure hearts.”

”Fellow Daoist, do you still remember the scene at the Grand Sect Tournament back then? For me, it’s as clear as day.”

He sighed, his voice low. ”I originally thought one only encounters such treatment from outsiders. The reality, however, is that when you fall from grace, the first to abandon you, and even stab you in the back, are the people closest to you.”

”If I hadn’t had a fortuitous opportunity, I probably wouldn’t have the chance to be contacting you now, Fellow Daoist Xu.”

”In fact, I originally thought I would never again have the chance to speak to anyone I used to know.”

”Then, a few days ago, I came to the Dog Race and saw your student. After learning she was from the Profound Pure Sect, it suddenly dawned on me that I still had a friend in you.”

”So, I contacted you. I have no ulterior motive. I just wanted to experience what it’s like to talk to an old friend again—to speak freely, without any worries.”

”I have leverage over you, Fellow Daoist. I’m sure you’ll acknowledge me as your friend.”

After a moment of silence, Xu Ran spoke quietly. ”A friend made through leverage... Does that not bother you, Senior?”

Qin Yufeng laughed. ”I don’t like it either, but I have no other choice. After all, if I hadn’t mentioned that leverage, you wouldn’t trust me, Fellow Daoist.”

”Do you want a friend that badly, Senior?”

”Of course. You may not understand, Fellow Daoist Xu, but what I hate most is being ostracized. It was just like at the Grand Sect Tournament, when people from the other Sects would avoid me on sight. I still remember it to this day.”

His tone shifted as he continued.

”Just because someone’s faction has fallen into decline, they’re treated as an outcast and excluded from the group. The world shouldn’t be this way.”

Hearing this, Xu Ran paused, frowning. ’Something about this guy’s state of mind seems off...’

”Then what do you think the world should be like, Senior?”

Qin Yufeng replied in an utterly serious tone, ”A world where people don’t have to curry favor with those on the rise, and where those who have fallen are not met with scorn and ridicule.”

”Where everyone, regardless of status, power, or Cultivation Realm, can cast aside all superficialities and make friends according to their own hearts, sitting down to talk freely about the things they love.”

After a brief pause, he said in a low voice, ”And what I am doing now... is making that ideal world a reality.”

Xu Ran was startled. ’So my feeling was right. There really is something wrong with this guy’s state of mind.’

”Senior, how do you intend to achieve this ideal world?”

Qin Yufeng chuckled lightly. ”Naturally, by shattering the old order and rebuilding a world with a new one.”

He ignored Xu Ran’s shock and continued, ”The reason I contacted you, Fellow Daoist Xu, is that I want someone to bear witness to what I’m doing.”

”As I said, I don’t like being excluded. If no one even witnesses what I’m doing, that would be far too tragic, wouldn’t it?”

Xu Ran was utterly stunned by Qin Yufeng’s words. This was the same person who, at the Grand Sect Tournament, had been forced to sit and drink tea with him simply because everyone else was ignoring him. And now, in the blink of an eye, this man was telling him he was going to reshape the world’s order.

It felt so much like a dream that for a moment, he was in a daze, unable to tell if any of this was real.

He truly couldn’t understand it. Just because everyone had shunned him after the Flame Sun Sect’s fall from grace, he had developed this idea of destroying the old world to build a new one.

’How does this guy’s mind even work?’

It took him a long moment to calm himself before he asked:

”Senior, do you really think something like that can be done?”

Even Ye Shan, who had achieved Heart Melt Heaven and Earth and obtained the Qi of One’s Own World, would never have dared to claim he could stand against the entire Cultivation Realm alone.

’What gave Qin Yufeng the right to say something like that?’

Qin Yufeng’s calm, indifferent voice came through the Communication Jade Talisman. ”We’ll see.”

Xu Ran was momentarily stunned. Hearing that reply, he was now absolutely certain: this guy was serious.