Watching the Mountain

Yue Qingyu looked at his eager expression and smiled faintly. "You don’t have to be so excited. My cooking is nowhere near as good as yours."

Xu Ran paid her words no mind. It was never a matter of whether the food was good or not. ’Senior Sister Yue just doesn’t get it.’

After tasting the meal Senior Sister Yue had personally cooked, he realized she was being far too modest.

’I could never make something this delicious.’

Xu Ran quickly wolfed down the food in his bowl and held it out. "Senior Sister, another bowl."

He said the same thing ten times that day.

His time with Senior Sister Yue was always as calm as still water, without the slightest ripple, just as it had been when she first came to him after her Scattering and Rebuilding.

Only this time, their roles had reversed. Before, he had been the one to cook; now, it was Senior Sister Yue.

They usually only spoke during meals; the rest of the time was spent in silence, mainly because Xu Ran didn’t want to disturb Senior Sister Yue’s cultivation.

After every meal, Senior Sister Yue would quietly begin to cultivate, while he would lie there in silence, recuperating and healing his injuries.

He lay in bed for a month before he was barely able to get up. Then, the Secret Realm merged into their world.

Senior Sister Yue didn’t leave afterward, saying she would stay until he had completely recovered. During this time, she also continued to infuse her insights into the Phoenix Egg where Little Xiyue slept.

"After receiving my insights, Little Xiyue’s hatching will be delayed again."

Upon hearing Senior Sister Yue’s words, Xu Ran didn’t object in the slightest. In the past, he might have looked forward to Little Xiyue hatching sooner.

Now, he only hoped that Little Xiyue would remain inside the Phoenix Egg until this "plague" in the Cultivation Realm was completely eradicated. She absolutely could not emerge at a time like this.

Time flowed on. The great malady in the Cultivation Realm remained unresolved; to this day, they hadn’t even found its root cause.

The infection, which had started with those in the Purple Mansion Stage, began to spread to the Core Formation Stage. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

During this period, the Demon Race and Qin Yufeng made no major moves. Only occasionally would powerful members of the Demon Race come to the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm to snatch some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. They would leave as soon as they had them, without causing any major slaughter.

There were also no movements against the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race. Xu Ran had once asked Qin Yufeng about it out of curiosity, and Qin Yufeng had replied that it wasn’t time yet. They had to wait. They would only make their move when everything was ready.

Xu Ran had no idea what "ready" meant to Qin Yufeng, and he knew the man would certainly never tell him.

It was in the tenth year after his return from the Demon Race that he finally recovered from his weakness.

Afterward, the Profound Pure Sect announced to the world that Master Vermilion Bird’s adoptive father had passed away. Of course, the identity declared dead was only the one that had been publicized throughout the Cultivation Realm; it had little to do with the real Xu Ran.

The only real consequence for Xu Ran was that he took the opportunity to assume a new identity. In truth, it wasn’t much of a change. It just meant that in the eyes of outsiders and ordinary people within the Sect, he was now dead.

To those who knew him well, he was still alive. From now on, however, he would use his Daoist title publicly instead of his given name. In the Sect’s registry, he was listed as a newly joined, ordinary Elder. Other than that, not much had changed.

Now that his injuries had healed, Xu Ran returned to the Scripture Pavilion.

Upon arriving at the Scripture Pavilion, Xu Ran mused for a moment, then silently picked up the medical texts that Hao Miaomiao had left behind.