Chapter 3: Elder Shen

Shen Yueshan’s ruined body couldn’t withstand much strain. Though he had stopped to rest several times along the way, his chest still ached, his vision swam, and a terrible chill ran through him. His limbs remained ice-cold.

He really had pushed himself too hard.

Shen Yueshan lowered his eyes and pinched out a wisp of Ghost Qi that had worked its way into his heart meridian. After catching his breath, his vision cleared enough for him to stay upright.

It had all started two months earlier.

For some reason, he had suddenly awakened in this remote place. His soul had been in even worse shape then, and he couldn’t move his body at all.

Luckily, the mountain range was rich in spiritual energy. He used the energy around him to nourish his soul and clear some of the Ghost Qi lingering in his body. With his divine sense, he raised a barrier to conceal his presence, making it impossible for anyone to notice him.

It had only been recently that he could open his eyes and force himself to walk a few steps. A few steps, and then he had to lie down again and rest. Unable to get around, he often sent out a wisp of his divine sense to wander through Buqun Mountain Range and listen to the immortal cultivators who came there to train.

That was how he learned that fifty years had passed since he sacrificed himself to Heaven.

The disciples of Wunian Sect were regular visitors to Buqun Mountain Range.

Their sect was in a remote location, and the whole place had a down-to-earth air about it. It was famous across the Cultivation World as a major supplier of provisions, providing eighty percent of the spirit rice, countless spirit herbs, and spirit pets used throughout the realm.

The range was full of dangers, but the Wunian Sect disciples had their own ways of hiding their tracks and quietly gathering rare treasures. Their swordsmanship left something to be desired, though: all form, no substance.

In the cutthroat Cultivation World, where everyone was busy competing and pushing themselves to exhaustion, Wunian Sect was something of an outlier. It preferred to take things easy.

Shen Yueshan liked that about them. They were the sort to live their own lives and let everyone else wear themselves out. So when he realized the Lingxiao Sect disciples meant to kill the Wunian Sect group, he stepped in.

Unfortunately, his body couldn’t take much. One use of spiritual energy had nearly made him pass out again, but he had managed to hold on.

He had thought Wunian Sect was peaceful and quiet, just the place to spend his remaining years. Perhaps he could even join as a junior disciple. So he had sent the Guiding Lantern to bring Huo Xun to him.

What should have been a short walk of barely fifteen minutes had taken Huo Xun two full hours because of Shen Yueshan’s poor health.

Shen Yueshan pushed aside a branch hanging low over the path and slowly emerged from the trees with Huo Xun supporting him. The Wunian Sect disciples in the clearing heard them and turned as one. The quiet murmur of conversation stopped at once.

For a moment, the air was silent.

Shen Yueshan felt a little uncomfortable under their stares and furrowed his brow slightly. One of the disciples broke the silence first. “Eldest Senior Brother… where did you find this delicate beauty in the middle of nowhere?”

“Don’t be rude!” Huo Xun glared at him. Seeing that Shen Yueshan hadn’t taken offense, he let out a breath and explained, “This is the Senior who drove off the Lingxiao Sect disciples.”

The disciple flushed and bowed to Shen Yueshan. “This junior spoke out of turn and offended you. Please forgive me, Senior.”

“It’s all right,” Shen Yueshan said quietly.

Still, his arrival made the lively disciples noticeably more reserved.

After a moment, Shen Yueshan noticed their eyes straying to Huo Xun. They clearly had things to say to him. He let go of Huo Xun, stepped away, and leaned against a large rock.

As soon as Huo Xun approached, his junior brothers and sisters surrounded him. They tugged at his sleeves, looked him over, and asked one concerned question after another. Huo Xun patiently answered them all.

Watching this peaceful scene of a close-knit sect, Shen Yueshan found himself lost in thought.

At Gengchen Immortal Sect, a warm scene of disciples fussing over one another was something he might have seen only once in several years.

Like most immortal sects, Gengchen Immortal Sect was cold and austere. As the foremost sect, it had strict divisions between inner and outer disciples, as well as countless rules.

When Shen Yueshan was eight, his Grandmaster, Immortal Venerable Yuli Zhongli Ji, had personally brought him to Gengchen Immortal Sect, taken him as a disciple, and taught him himself.

His Grandmaster had been strict. As a result, the words “Heavenly Mandate” were etched deep in Shen Yueshan’s bones. No one in the sect had dared grow close to him. The people he had spent the most time with there were his Grandmaster and Qin Huaiyi, the junior brother they had taken in.

Unfortunately…

Neither of them had ever been sincere with him.

Shen Yueshan smiled faintly and reached out to catch a peach blossom blown over by the wind. He lowered his eyes to look at it, his thoughts as still as water. The flower crumbled to dust in his palm.

His old ties were over. There was no need to see anyone he had once known again.

The life he had miraculously reclaimed belonged to him now, however little time he might have left. He wouldn’t let the complicated affairs of Gengchen Immortal Sect bind him again, forcing him to fulfill his “Heavenly Mandate” day after day.

The Wunian Sect disciples kept Huo Xun talking for a good while before their Sect Leader finally hurried over.

He landed with his sword and first checked Huo Xun for injuries. Once he saw that Huo Xun was all right, he visibly relaxed. Then he asked what had happened. As Huo Xun explained, the Sect Leader’s gaze naturally drifted through the crowd to Shen Yueshan, who leaned against a rock in the background.

Huo Xun couldn’t quite explain it. The moment the Sect Leader saw the Senior, he seemed to freeze for a moment. Then a fierce light lit up his eyes.

It was brighter than the look he got when he saw his favorite spirit stones. Like a wolf spotting meat.

Shen Yueshan had been quietly watching the others, growing a little bored, when the young Sect Leader suddenly turned to look at him.

The Sect Leader looked excited. Without the slightest hesitation, he charged through the crowd and enthusiastically grabbed Shen Yueshan’s hand.

“Hello, Senior! Hello! Wunian Sect is short one elder. Would someone as talented as you consider joining us? We could really use you!”

Shen Yueshan fell silent.

Qu Xingyi launched into his pitch. “I can tell you’re extraordinarily skilled. If you join us as an elder, what’s mine is yours. Whatever spirit herbs you want, I’ll make sure you get them!”

Shen Yueshan gently slipped his hand from Qu Xingyi’s grasp. “There’s no need for that.” He lifted his long lashes and spoke evenly. “Your sect is peaceful. I was already thinking of coming here for a quiet life.”

Wunian Sect was secluded and peaceful, with a friendly atmosphere. It was exactly the place he had chosen to retire and wait for death.

“Perfect! That’s settled!” Afraid Shen Yueshan might change his mind, Qu Xingyi turned to the stunned Wunian Sect disciples behind him and said, “You all heard him, right? Hurry up and greet your new elder!”

The disciples of Wunian Sect were quick to act. They still had no idea what was going on, but the moment they heard the order, they all bowed to Shen Yueshan.

“Greetings, Elder!”

Their voices were loud enough to make Shen Yueshan’s ears hurt. When the echo finally faded, he said quietly, “My surname is Shen.”

“Greetings, Elder Shen!”

Qu Xingyi turned to Huo Xun. “Bring out the Immortal Cloud Flying Boat—the one that cost five million spirit stones—and welcome Elder Shen into the sect!” Then he hurriedly tossed two tokens to Shen Yueshan. “We agreed: you’re an elder now. Whoever backs out is a puppy!”

Shen Yueshan fell silent for a moment, unused to how quickly everything was moving. He quietly put the tokens away, then answered, “…All right.”

Becoming an elder instead of a disciple wasn’t so bad.