Watching the Mountain

"Hm?"

"Have you... ever had people say bad things about you?"

Ye Shan, who was taking large bites of fish, looked up at her words and thought for a moment. "Sure."

"Like what?"

"They say I’m too arrogant, that I don’t know my place, that I’ll fall flat on my face eventually." Ye Shan said it nonchalantly, as if he were talking about someone else.

Ye Qingxue was taken aback. "Don’t you get angry?"

"Angry?" Ye Shan blinked. "Why would I be angry? They say I’m too arrogant, but I think my arrogance is justified."

He said it with such natural, righteous confidence.

Gazing at his profile, rimmed with gold by the setting sun, Ye Qingxue suddenly felt she was beginning to understand what Master meant by ’having a mountain in your heart’.

"But..." she said softly, "they call me a decorative pillow—all looks, no substance. They say I’m holding Master back."

Ye Shan turned to look at her, his eyes shining like two stars in the twilight glow. "Senior Sister, are you?"

Ye Qingxue shook her head.

"Then that’s that." Ye Shan finished the fish in a few quick bites and tossed the bones into the pool. "Just because they say you are, does that make it true? Who are they? Do they speak for the Heaven and Earth Dao, or for Master?"

After saying his piece, he stood up and brushed off his clothes. "I’m heading out, Senior Sister. The Instructor Hall is holding the Artifact Manipulation Technique assessment tomorrow. I need to go practice. I’m going to try and lift a thousand-jin cauldron for fun."

Ye Qingxue watched his retreating figure, and after a long moment, the corners of her mouth curved into a slight smile.

’A thousand-jin cauldron. He’s bragging again.’

But somehow, Ye Shan always seemed to turn his boasts into reality.

「A few days later, at the Instructor Hall’s Artifact Manipulation Technique assessment.」

The instructor required the disciples to use their Spiritual Power to lift stone locks, ranging from ten to a hundred jin.

Most disciples could barely lift fifty jin; even the best among them only managed eighty.

When it was Ye Shan’s turn, he walked up, glanced at the stone locks, and then turned to the instructor. "Elder, are these the heaviest you have?"

The instructor shot him a glare. "Isn’t a hundred jin enough for you to practice with?"

Ye Shan shook his head and walked to a corner of the Martial Arts Arena, where several stone cauldrons used for testing disciples’ strength were placed. The smallest one weighed at least three hundred jin.

He extended his hand, and his Spiritual Power surged forth, steadily lifting the three-hundred-jin stone cauldron. He carried it back effortlessly and placed it before the instructor.

"This is more like it," he said.

The entire arena fell silent.

The instructor opened his mouth, but in the end, he just waved a hand. "...Go back to your place."

Ye Shan nodded. As he walked back to the line, he passed by Ye Qingxue, giving her a wink with a small, triumphant smirk.

Watching him, Ye Qingxue felt that little thought about him bragging again suddenly dissipate.

’So... it really is possible.’

As the days passed, Ye Qingxue gradually grew accustomed to Ye Shan’s unique way of "comforting" people.

One time, while practicing her Swordsmanship, she accidentally cut her hand. The wound wasn’t deep, but beads of blood seeped out.

Ye Shan happened to be passing by. He glanced at it and said, "Senior Sister, you’re so careless you even cut yourself."

Ye Qingxue had been feeling a little sorry for herself, but his words made her laugh in exasperation. "It’s none of your business."

"I can’t be bothered to care." Ye Shan pulled a small porcelain vial from his robes and tossed it to her. "Here, Golden Sore Medicine. Next time, aim better. Try to kill yourself in one strike so you don’t have to bother with medicine."

Ye Qingxue caught the medicine, both annoyed and amused.

As she applied the medicine, Ye Shan stood by with his arms crossed, watching. He suddenly said, "But Senior Sister, if you’re this gentle on yourself, you’ll probably be even softer on your enemies. No wonder you’re always holding everyone back."

"Ye Shan," Ye Qingxue glared at him.

"I’m just stating facts." Ye Shan looked innocent. "How about this: on the next mission, you can stick with me. I’ll cover for you. It’ll be a bit of a pain to drag along some dead weight, but it’s better than watching you get criticized by others."

Ye Qingxue was so mad she wanted to poke him with her sword, but looking into his bright, clear eyes, she suddenly found she couldn’t stay angry.

She started to learn how to fight back.

"Ye Shan, if you’re so amazing, can you split that thousand-year ironwood fir on the back mountain in half?" she asked, pointing to a distant ancient tree so thick it would take three people to wrap their arms around it.

Ye Shan glanced at it. "Why would I split it? It didn’t do anything to me."

"I’m just asking if you can."

"I can," Ye Shan said nonchalantly. "But Master would scold me if I did, so I won’t."

Ye Qingxue didn’t believe him.

The next day, she deliberately walked past the ironwood fir and discovered a new, shallow sword mark on its trunk. It was no deeper than an inch, but it was straight as a line, extending from the root to the treetop, perfectly neat as if drawn with a ruler.

She stood under the tree, staring up at that sword mark for a long time.

On another day, she said, "Ye Shan, can you jump from the summit of Divine Sword Peak to the foot of the mountain using only your physical body, without any Spiritual Power?"

Ye Shan thought for a moment. "I can, but I’d break my legs. Not worth it."

"So that means you can’t."

"Who says I can’t?" Ye Shan raised an eyebrow. "I just said it’s not worth it. If I really had to jump, I could just lay down a thick layer of cotton at the bottom first."

Ye Qingxue: "...That doesn’t count."

"Why not?" Ye Shan was full of righteous indignation. "You never said I couldn’t use cotton."

Ye Qingxue was left speechless.

Things like this happened many times.

She would propose a seemingly impossible task, and Ye Shan would either accomplish it directly or do it in a way she had never considered.

Every time, as she watched his matter-of-fact, fearless demeanor, a strange feeling would well up inside her.

’This junior brother of mine... It seems the word ’impossible’ truly doesn’t exist in his world.’

The atmosphere within the Sect gradually began to change.

The senior brothers and sisters of the Instructor Hall began to frequently mention a name: Yue Qingyu.

"Did you hear? Senior Sister Yue broke another record yesterday. It hasn’t been that many years since she joined, and she’s already at the Purple Mansion Building Stage."

"That’s not all. I heard she went down the mountain alone a few days ago and slayed a Demon Beast that was about to break through to the Golden Core Stage."