Anxious Qingshan, Calm Xianyu

On Boundary Mountain.

Experts of the Wendao Sword Sect had been gathered here for several days.

During this time, aside from the Pavilion Elders of the Wendao Sword Sect who were visible on the surface, many eighth-stage experts from the Three Sects and Hundred Schools had also arrived in secret.

To say that immortals were as numerous as ants would be an exaggeration, but including those from the Wendao Sword Sect, there were nearly a hundred eighth-stage experts present.

On the surface, the Wendao Sword Sect was prepared for battle at a moment's notice.

In the shadows, the experts of the Central Province stood by, each harboring their own schemes.

At the summit of Boundary Mountain, Ye Xianyu sat firmly on the peak. Amidst the whistling autumn wind, she boiled tea and flipped through a book, looking perfectly at ease.

It was as if the slaughter on the three-thousand-mile battlefield before Boundary Mountain had absolutely nothing to do with her.

In contrast, Li Qingshan paced around her incessantly.

One moment he would sit down, only to stand up the next.

He clicked his tongue repeatedly and furrowed his brows without pause.

At times, he gazed into the distance with a heart full of worry; at others, he glanced at the girl and sighed deeply.

From the direction of Demon-Slaying City, disciples of the Shadow Hall shuttled back and forth, constantly bringing back intelligence.

Every time they arrived, Ye Xianyu would remain unmoved. With a wave of her hand and a simple command to continue scouting, she fully embodied the poise of an immortal.

Originally, Li Qingshan had also been quite calm. However, since Yao Xiaoxiao was brought back and he learned that Xu Xian had charged into the Demon Suppression Abyss, he could no longer sit still.

The events of Yecheng were still fresh in his mind. Tonight, a similar scene was playing out once again.

Last time, Xu Xian had left so suddenly that Li Qingshan couldn't follow. This time, Xu Xian had entered another dangerous land, and he still couldn't follow.

He was truly afraid that the boy would die in there.

Becoming annoyed by Li Qingshan's pacing, Ye Xianyu complained, "Enough, stop pacing. You're making me dizzy."

Li Qingshan didn't coddle his master and snapped back, "If you're dizzy, then close your eyes."

Ye Xianyu glanced at him but didn't argue. She simply pursed her lips and asked, "Did you find someone to send that little girl from the Yao family back?"

Li Qingshan gave a perfunctory grunt of affirmation.

Yao Xiaoxiao was only at the fourth-stage core formation; she was simply too weak.

Ye Xianyu allowed the breeze to flip a page of her book and murmured, "That's good. She is Elder Yao's treasure, after all. I heard from your Ninth Senior Martial Uncle that ever since the Eighth Senior Brother entered the Ancestral Peak, the old man has been quite lonely. Every day, he's either refining pills or planting herbs. From what I've seen, that's indeed the case."

"But after this girl was born, she became the apple of the old man's eye. He has always doted on her."

As she spoke slowly, the girl frowned slightly, adding with a hint of regret, "Perhaps the girl just has a poor fate. She lost her parents at birth and was born with an incurable disease. Sigh... what a fine girl. I heard she could refine fourth-rank pills before even turning thirty. She's a rare alchemical talent. It would be a shame if she died just like that..."

Li Qingshan found this bizarre. Why was she suddenly talking about someone else's family affairs?

He said disdainfully, "What time do you think it is? How do you have the heart to chat about someone else's family?"

Turning a deaf ear, Ye Xianyu continued leisurely, "I heard your Little Junior Brother can cure the girl's illness. I wonder if it's true?"

Li Qingshan interjected for no reason, scoffing, "You actually believe that? You really think Xu Xian is omnipotent? If you and the other Martial Uncles couldn't find a way, how could he handle it? Give it a rest."

It wasn't that he looked down on Xu Xian, but rather that he knew some of the inside story.

When Yao Xiaoxiao was born, it had caused quite a stir in the mountains.

Though it didn't quite match the commotion of Xu Xian stepping on and shattering the stele back then, it was comparable.

He remembered it clearly. That day, a malicious aura enveloped the entire Falling Cloud Peak. It was June, yet frost fell from the heavens, and hundreds of green mountains turned white in an instant.

Even those few at the Ancestral Mountain had come out of seclusion. The matter had caused a huge uproar at the time.

It was only later that the news was deliberately suppressed, so most disciples in the sect didn't know the details.

But he was different. As a Peak Master, he knew a bit about it. Yao Xiaoxiao's innate cold poison was exceptionally dominant.

The eight currently living tribulation transcendence experts of the Wendao Sword Sect had joined forces but were unable to eliminate it; they could only suppress it.

This showed how difficult the cold poison was to deal with. Placing that hope on Xu Xian was asking a bit too much.

Especially when he learned that Yao Xiaoxiao had been surviving on Xu Xian's essence blood in recent years? It inevitably made him feel uncomfortable.

He was gratified by Xu Xian's kindness, yet he also ached for the depletion of Xu Xian's essence blood.

How should he put it? His feelings toward Xu Xian were complex. To his face, he would never say a single good word. Yet, he couldn't stand hearing anyone else speak ill of him behind his back.

He was happy to see him suffer and work hard, yet he was also afraid he would damage his foundation.

He enjoyed hearing others boast about Xu Xian's stories, yet he could never help but throw in a few sarcastic remarks. It was truly strange.

Ye Xianyu didn't refute Li Qingshan's words because, in her view, the matter was indeed somewhat illogical.

If even the Fifth Senior Brother was helpless, where would the Little Junior Brother get a solution?

However... she took a small sip of tea and said to herself, "At any rate, Elder Yao believes him."

Li Qingshan exposed the truth, "Elder Yao is just lying to himself. The whole world tells him it can't be done, and then Xu Xian tells him it can. As people get older, they just like to hear what they want to hear."

Ye Xianyu gave him a sharp look and said with a hint of reproach, "Fine, fine. In the whole world, only you, Li Qingshan, are clear-headed."

Li Qingshan didn't care to argue and changed the subject. "Can't you do something about your Junior Brother? Can't he be more stable?"

Ye Xianyu replied slowly, "Don't worry. Back then, when he was only at foundation establishment, he skinned and stewed a sixth-stage Xiushe. Now that he is at the sixth-stage soul transformation, what can a mere beast emperor do to him? The one who should be worried isn't you or me, but those demons in the East Desolation. I'm afraid there aren't enough of them for him to slaughter alone."

She had a strange confidence in Xu Xian. She knew very well that her Little Junior Brother had many trump cards.

When he had bid her farewell, he had confidently claimed he could tear off half an arm from an eighth-stage great ascension expert, showing terrifying strength.

Others might think he was bragging, but Ye Xianyu believed him. The confidence in Xu Xian's eyes back then wasn't the ignorance of a foal feeling the path too narrow or a fledgling hating the sky for being too low.

His confidence was truly well-founded, and that foundation came from the mystery in his hands that even she couldn't see through.

"You think that highly of him?" Li Qingshan asked.

Ye Xianyu responded with a question of her own, "And you think your Little Martial Uncle is so unstable? You really think he's just some hotheaded youth?"

Li Qingshan fell silent.

He admitted that although Xu Xian usually seemed erratic, he was quite deep. Otherwise, he wouldn't constantly be bested by him.

Upon learning that Xu Xian had already broken through to the sixth stage and had volunteered to enter the Demon Suppression Abyss, he knew very well that those fellows from the demon race were likely in for some terrible luck.

Below the eighth stage, he feared no one could do anything to him, especially with that girl Wen Qingxue by his side.

What he truly worried about was the possibility of the alliance treaty being torn up—that the enemy's beast sovereigns or even beast god experts might suddenly strike.

Xu Xian was famous now. He didn't believe the experts in the Great Desolation were unaware of his existence. He also didn't believe those fellows in the Great Desolation wouldn't want to cut him down in his cradle, especially now that an auspicious beast had also appeared. Hence his anxiety.

He said, "You know what I'm worried about."

How could Ye Xianyu not know what weighed on Li Qingshan's mind? However, remembering what the Fifth Senior Brother had told her before she came, her concerns had vanished.

But she couldn't tell Li Qingshan those words, nor did she want to. With a strange sense of melancholy and deep meaning, she said, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen."