Watching the Mountain

"Did Senior Brother always eat like this?"

"No, no, no. He was a much messier eater, wolfing everything down like a reincarnated starving ghost. You’re far more elegant than he was."

A silence fell over the room.

After a long moment, a voice spoke again:

"Back then, did Senior Brother look older, or do I look older now?"

Xu Ran fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly, "You still look a bit older."

He sighed inwardly. The Little Witch’s current appearance could only be described as mummified. Her hair was completely white, her body withered, and only her bewitching, blood-red dress remained as dazzling as ever.

When Zhao Wuyang had previously told him he wasn’t confident about breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage, Xu Ran had always thought he was just being modest.

After all, no matter how he looked at it, the idea that a prodigy who reached the Golden Core Stage before the age of one hundred—a leader among the younger generation in the entire Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm—could fail to even reach the Nascent Soul Stage was simply ludicrous.

It wasn’t until he saw the Little Witch, Ye Qingxue, in this state that he truly understood. Reaching Nascent Soul was harder than ascending to the heavens. This wasn’t an exaggeration; it was the harsh reality.

In the Realms before Nascent Soul, the breakthrough rates for ordinary Cultivators and prodigies were on completely different levels. For instance, at the Foundation Establishment Stage, an ordinary person might have only a ten or twenty percent chance of breaking through, while a prodigy’s chances were closer to eighty or ninety percent.

At the Nascent Soul Stage, however, the breakthrough chances for ordinary Cultivators and prodigies were the same. In fact, it even seemed that more unknown Cultivators from the Golden Core and earlier Realms succeeded in breaking through than prodigies did.

It was a strange phenomenon, but it proved how different the Nascent Soul Stage was from the previous Realms.

It was just as Xu Ran had thought before: the Golden Core Stage was the graduation ceremony for prodigies. After that, the title of "prodigy" no longer existed, leaving only powerful experts who had made a name for themselves.

Of course, the Little Witch Ye Qingxue’s failure was different from others. She didn’t fail because she was unable to transform her Dao into the Power of Law.

She failed because her Dao was already gone.

It was only today that Xu Ran learned the truth. When the Little Witch Ye Qingxue had spoken of her self-created Cultivation Technique, she had been referring to Ye Shan. Her Dao *was* Ye Shan.

After Ye Shan disappeared, her Dao vanished with him. From that moment on, her Cultivation Realm began to crumble.

To that end, she had no choice but to try and break through to the Nascent Soul Realm while simultaneously trying to stabilize her crumbling Cultivation.

The result was self-evident.

The person who embodied her Dao was gone. How could it possibly be transformed into the Power of Law?

’He was truly shaken. He couldn’t imagine how anyone could come to see another person as their Dao.’

’It was absolute madness.’

Xu Ran watched the Little Witch, Ye Qingxue, as she stared blankly at the bucket of Spirit Rice in her hands. After a moment of silence, he added:

"But even though you look older than Senior Brother Ye Shan, you’re far more beautiful than he was back then. He was such a slob; it was awful to look at."

"Can someone who looks like this really be described as ’beautiful’?" Ye Qingxue stared at him, a strange expression on her aged face.

Xu Ran nodded, his voice filled with conviction. "Of course."

’He was a little surprised himself. The Little Witch had aged so terribly, yet when he looked at her, he still saw a beautiful woman. Perhaps it was her aura—a quality that far transcended mere appearance.’

Ye Qingxue smiled at his answer, then fell silent again. After a long while, she sighed softly and said:

"A pity. I still wasn’t beautiful enough. If my beauty could have surpassed the absolute limit, then Senior Brother would have stayed by my side forever."

She said no more. After a moment’s hesitation, she tossed aside her chopsticks, plunged her hand directly into the wooden bucket, and began to eat voraciously.

But she wasn’t Ye Shan, after all. After only a few moments, she couldn’t stand eating like that anymore.

Her gaze then fell upon the Fire Spirit Chicken, which was as big as the bucket. She grabbed it and was about to take a bite.

But just then, Xu Ran reached out. Channeling his Spiritual Power, he sliced off half the Fire Spirit Chicken, took a bite, and said with a smile:

"A bucket of Spirit Rice for Senior Brother Ye Shan only comes with half a Fire Spirit Chicken and half a flask of Hundred Fruit Wine. The rest is mine."

The Little Witch stared at him for a moment before speaking in a low voice:

"You’ve gotten a lot bolder, haven’t you? I remember when we first met, you didn’t even dare to look me in the eye. Now you’re brazen enough to snatch food right out of my hands."

Xu Ran’s expression was calm as he replied, "The reason I didn’t dare to look at you back then was, first, because you were too beautiful; second, because you were too strong; and only third, because I was a coward."

"As for why I dare to snatch your food now, it’s because Ye Shu is at my home."

"But most importantly, you are my brother’s Dao Companion."

He looked at Ye Qingxue’s shocked expression and said, "What I said back then wasn’t just to placate you. In my heart, you have always been Senior Brother Ye Shan’s Dao Companion."

"Senior Brother is gone, and I’m about to die. We never even confirmed our relationship. Do you still think that?"

Xu Ran chuckled softly. "What does that matter? In the future, after I achieve my Dao, I’ll just pull the two of you out of the river of time and space and give you the wedding you never had."

"And if Senior Brother Ye Shan dares to disagree then, I’ll beat him until he does. Besides, he and I still have a score to settle."