Watching the Mountain

Chapter 410: Chapter 216: Combined Attack Array

”Master.”

”Mm.”

Xu Ran looked at Ye Qingyue, whose face wore the sweet smile of a young girl in love, and felt something was a little off.

He didn’t know what had happened during the trip to the Overseas Archipelago, but ever since she returned, Ye Qingyue seemed like a completely different person.

She always had a sweet and blissful smile on her face.

When she spoke, her voice and tone were so sweet it was as if her mouth was full of candy.

The opposite was true for Shen Wuchen.

He had no idea what that guy had done to feel so guilty, but whenever Shen Wuchen saw him, his eyes would dart around evasively, and the muscles in his face were as stiff as iron.

Given the circumstances, Xu Ran could guess what had happened between the two of them even with his eyes closed.

’I heard that not long after they found the Wangyue Sect in the Overseas Archipelago, Senior Su Yingxue passed away. Could it be that Shen Wuchen took the opportunity to comfort Ye Qingyue while she was grieving, and the two of them just... got together without even realizing it?’

Xu Ran felt this was highly likely. ’It’s a clichéd scenario, but it works.’

However, despite his curiosity, he didn’t ask too many questions. It somehow felt improper for a master to be gossiping about his disciples, so he could only suppress the urge.

The news of Su Yingxue’s passing, however, left him feeling melancholic for quite some time.

He still remembered the scene of Su Yingxue leading the people of the Wangyue Sect, gifting him a Magical Robe as they parted ways.

’At the time, I even thought that if I ever had to leave the Profound Pure Sect, I’d take that Magical Robe to the Overseas Archipelago and seek refuge with the Wangyue Sect in the name of my descendants.’

But he never expected that his status in the Profound Pure Sect would grow ever higher. Now, with Senior Sister Yue’s cooperation, he no longer needed to consider leaving. Instead, it was the Wangyue Sect that had suffered many hardships during their relocation. The Sect’s members had scattered, and Su Yingxue had passed away.

The Wangyue Sect’s fate was quite a shame, really. They had moved to the Overseas Archipelago because they had seen through the schemes of the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race and sensed that the Cultivation Realm was headed for a great turmoil.

So they left the mainland of the Cultivation Realm a step ahead of everyone else, planning to ride out the calamity in the Overseas Archipelago.

But who would have thought that not long after they arrived in the Overseas Archipelago, Senior Brother Ye Shan would appear out of nowhere and erase all the schemes of the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race with a single sword strike.

This made many things feel anticlimactic. The eons of planning by the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race was one such thing, as was the Wangyue Sect’s relocation to the Overseas Archipelago to seek refuge.

That single strike from Senior Brother Ye Shan had rendered everything meaningless.

All one could say was that sometimes, things just happen that way. Man proposes, God disposes.

Xu Ran sighed internally and shook his head, pushing the matter from his mind.

The year was now 170 of the Hidden Dao Era. Zhang Zhentian and Shen Wuchen had set out in the year 100. It had taken them twenty-five years to find the Wangyue Sect, where they stayed for five years. The return journey from the Overseas Archipelago, however, had taken them forty years.

This was mainly because they had stirred up too much trouble on their way back.

The journey there had been peaceful, but the journey back was a constant battle, which significantly delayed their return.

Furthermore, regarding the intelligence they were concerned about, Zhang Zhentian and Shen Wuchen had not managed to gather any useful information.

As for news of his own disciple, Jiang Ling’Er, they had found nothing.

Because the pace of the Dao Concealment was quickening, they couldn’t stay in the Overseas Archipelago any longer and had no choice but to return first.

Moreover, to prepare for the potential chaos to come, Zhang Zhentian, Shen Wuchen, and Ye Qingyue had all postponed their Dust-covered seclusion.

Ye Qingyue had originally planned to enter her Dust-covered seclusion soon but suddenly changed her mind.

’If the Overseas Archipelago is really going to launch a large-scale invasion of the Cultivation Realm’s mainland, it should happen before the Dao Concealment is complete. Otherwise, once it is complete, the Spiritual Qi in the Cultivation Realm won’t be enough to sustain combat between High Realm Cultivators.’

To be precise, it would be very difficult for High Realm Cultivators to recover after depleting their own energy reserves.

Based on this reasoning, Zhang Zhentian and the others planned to wait until the world had completely entered the Dao Concealment before beginning their Dust-covered seclusion.

Based on the current speed of the Dao Concealment, the world would be completely enveloped around the 600th year of the Hidden Dao Era. That was just over four hundred years from now—a period of time they, as Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, could afford to wait.

*

*

*

”Master, I’m ready.”

As Xu Ran was lost in his thoughts, Ye Qingyue called out to him.

Hearing her voice, Xu Ran snapped back to reality. He nodded at the sweetly smiling Ye Qingyue and replied:

”I’ll go get them.”

With that, he walked off in a certain direction.

After returning from the Overseas Archipelago, he had pulled Ye Qingyue in to be a sparring partner.

He had originally asked Shen Wuchen, but Ye Qingyue had volunteered, saying Shen Wuchen needed to focus on his Cultivation and that she would take over the sparring duties.

Xu Ran naturally had no objection to this. All he needed was a sparring partner; he didn’t care who it was.

Of course, she wasn’t sparring with Xu Ran himself, but with the four students Elder Xu had entrusted to him: Qing Ma, Zhu, Mei, and Lan Juhua.

Xu Ran had previously promised Elder Xu that he would look after the four of them, and he had been guiding their Cultivation recently.

His Cultivation was currently at the Golden Core Stage, so it was quite appropriate for him to be guiding four people at the Purple Mansion Stage.

”Elder Hidden Mountain.”

Seeing Xu Ran, the four of them hurried forward to greet him.

Xu Ran waved his hand and asked them, ”Are you ready?”