Watching the Mountain

Ye Qingxue knew many things about Ye Shan, including his purpose for sending Ye Shu to her side and all the tests he had put her through before. She knew it all.

Xu Ran asked her why she would accept such an arrangement if she knew. Wouldn’t it have been better to just refuse?

But Ye Qingxue shook her head, saying she didn’t want to stand in the way of Senior Brother Ye Shan’s path just for her own sake.

Xu Ran asked her what path that was.

She said that her Senior Brother was born to amaze the world.

She had felt this way ever since she first met Ye Shan. He had always been the most outstanding among his peers. Later, when he burst onto the scene, his brilliance illuminated the entire Cultivation Realm, driving the Major Sects to break their own rules just to erase him. This only proved her point even further.

Later, when her Senior Brother suffered a grievous injury and fell into obscurity, everyone felt sorry for him. Only she was secretly delighted, because it meant he would no longer leave her side.

But as time went on, an indescribable feeling grew within her. ’While Senior Brother can stay by my side like this, he’s also trapped. His life isn’t supposed to be like this.’

Yet even with this thought, her desire to keep him by her side never wavered.

It wasn’t until her Senior Brother entrusted Ye Shu to her that she knew she could no longer stop him.

Because he had already made up his mind.

And so, she could only choose to let go.

Likewise, this time, while everyone marveled at Ye Shan’s feat, she chose not to forgive him.

Letting go did not mean forgiving.

*

*

*

Just like Ye Qingxue, Xu Ran would not forgive Ye Shan either.

Little Xiyue was still alive. Her Divine Soul had entered the Phoenix Egg that Ye Shan had brought back from the Phoenix Race.

Following the method Ye Shan taught him, Xu Ran used his own blood as a catalyst, allowing Little Xiyue’s Divine Soul to absorb the Life Force within the Phoenix Egg.

Then, using Xu Ran’s blood as a foundation, she would complete her transformation and undergo Nirvana Rebirth.

Furthermore, Ye Shan assured Xu Ran that the reborn Little Xiyue would still be fully human, not a member of the Phoenix Race.

This was because she was absorbing the Life Force and Nirvana Power of the Phoenix Race, not fusing with the Phoenix Egg itself. It was akin to being reborn using the egg as a vessel.

With Xu Ran’s blood as the catalyst, they would, in a sense, share a true blood bond.

Ye Shan also told Xu Ran that during this process, if he had any insights into the Dao Laws, he could infuse them into the Phoenix Egg as well.

That way, when Little Xiyue hatched from the shell, she would already possess those insights.

Little Xiyue’s Cultivation was stronger than Xu Ran’s, so theoretically, she shouldn’t need his insights. But upon further reflection, he thought, ’My goal is the Ten Thousand Laws of heaven and earth. If I can infuse all of the Ten Thousand Laws directly into the Phoenix Egg...’

’...then when Little Xiyue hatches, wouldn’t she directly become Wanfa Xiyue?’

This gave Xu Ran a new goal.

Xu Ran was naturally relieved that Little Xiyue was still alive, but the problem was, she never should have been in danger in the first place.

If it weren’t for Ye Shan, she could have stayed by Xu Ran’s side forever.

But because of Ye Shan, he was now forced to be separated from Little Xiyue for a period of time. How could he possibly forgive Ye Shan for that?

According to Ye Shan, when he first started teaching Little Xiyue, he had indeed intended to teach her his own Swordsmanship.

He even used his Divine Soul as a guide to show Little Xiyue the one sword technique that made even heaven and earth envious.

But after seeing it, Little Xiyue immediately felt that it was not a sword technique a human could perform.

Ye Shan told her truthfully that once this sword technique was unleashed, he himself would perish.

He had sensed this back when he was preparing to use it in the Secret Realm, and so he had held back.

He felt that the enemies within the Secret Realm were not worthy of him unleashing this technique. Moreover, doing so would implicate the Sect, plunging it into a state of eternal damnation.

More importantly, he wanted to live. He did not want to die just like that.

’My life still has more wonderful things in store,’ he had always felt. ’To die like this would be a terrible waste. I haven’t enjoyed life enough yet.’

But, when he mentioned to his master, Nine Profound True Monarch, that he had achieved Heart Melt Heaven and Earth and seen the many traces left by the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race in the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm...

...his master asked him why he didn’t use that one sword strike to kill the members of the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race he had seen. Was he afraid of implicating him, his master?

Ye Shan knew his master was an emotional man who valued relationships deeply. The death of his friends and family in a conflict with evil demons had left a scar on his heart that never faded.

Later, his master, the Nine Profound True Monarch, fell. He had died to protect Ye Shan. At the time, Ye Shan couldn’t understand why, but he finally figured it out when he faced Junior Sister Qingxue.

’So Master wanted to sever my attachments this way, to free me from all worries.’

’What kind of hatred must it have been to make him do something like that?’

But Ye Shan still felt it would be too much of a waste if he were to act just like that.

His one sword technique was powerful, but it couldn’t kill every last member of the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race. He estimated that even if he borrowed the Power of Heaven and Earth to break through to a new level of Cultivation, he would, at best, only have a chance to kill a single existence Above Divinity Transformation.

That was too great a loss. A single existence Above Divinity Transformation was not worthy of him, Ye Shan.

He would either not act at all, or he would eliminate every evil demon he had seen lurking in the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm and the Demon Race.

Only a feat like that would be worthy of him, Ye Shan.

Until the day he met Junior Brother Xu’s disciple, Little Xiyue.

A person who, like his master, was filled with hatred.

Ye Shan asked her, what was the source of her hatred?

She said she wanted to avenge her mother, Xiaoque’Er. Her mother had told her that after she was grievously injured, her entire clan had been slaughtered.

The people who had injured her mother had learned of her relationship with Senior Sister Yue and tried to use it as leverage, threatening her mother to harm Senior Sister Yue.

Her mother refused, and so her entire clan was massacred.

Ye Shan was stunned to hear this. Threatening someone with their family was an absolute taboo in the Cultivation Realm. Later, however, he discovered that the people who had threatened Xiaoque’Er seemed to be from the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race.

He told Little Xiyue what he had discovered.

Little Xiyue asked him if he could kill everyone from the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race to avenge her mother.

Ye Shan told her that if she could make him as powerful as heaven and earth itself, he was confident he could do it.

Then, the tiny little girl, with a straight face and a solemn expression, told him to leave that matter to her.

She would make Ye Shan as powerful as heaven and earth—or even more powerful. All he had to do, when that time came, was kill every last member of the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race.

This was the only way she could repay her mother.

Upon hearing this, Ye Shan was intrigued.

If he could truly become as powerful as heaven and earth, or even surpass it, he was confident he could kill the entire Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race.

In that case, he wouldn’t mind giving his life to unleash that one sword strike.

That was the pact between him and Little Xiyue.

She had fulfilled her part.

And so had he.

Xu Ran learned all of this from Ye Shan’s phantom projection. He recalled a time when Little Xiyue had brought out some delicacies from Xiaoque’Er’s homeland, and he had asked her if she had met any of Xiaoque’Er’s family.

She said no, that her mother’s clan had moved away.

So, she had lied to him back then.

Xu Ran made a mental note of it. He would have to discipline her properly after she was reborn from the egg.