Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 404 Zhou Da Reports Back

Chapter update reminder: Chapter 404 Zhou Da reports back, read here.

Zhou Da stood outside the study door, having waited for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The door was ajar, and there was no sound from inside. An old servant in the corridor brought him a cup of tea. He took it, but didn't drink it. He just held it and watched the tea foam slowly sink into the brown liquid.

He had served in the Western Army for twenty years and had seen it all. Yet, his palms were still damp with a thin layer of sweat.

Two years ago, he sent his wife to Qingyang Valley and drove back alone in his blue-curtained carriage. On the way, he encountered a group of refugees and, as if possessed, followed them, staying for three whole months in that strange "immortal settlement" at the foot of Yunyin Mountain.

In three months, he saw Shi Laosi from Xiaoshi Village walk with his back straight, saw the girl named Xiaocui holding a book and learning to read, and saw those peasants who used to be weak in the knees when they saw the immortal master now dare to joke with him and point at the faucet and say, "This thing works really well."

During those three months, he also saw the immortal masters on that mountain come and go, saw that they never bossed people around, saw that they ate at the same table as mortals, and saw that the immortal master called Fatty Li personally cooked, and before going into seclusion, he was still thinking about making an extra pot of porridge for the newly arrived refugees.

Three months later, he left.

It's not that I don't want to stay, it's that I have to come back.

There was finally movement inside the door.

"Come in."

Zhou Da pushed open the door, stepped inside, stopped three feet inside the threshold, and knelt down on one knee.

"This old servant, Zhou Da, pays his respects to Commander Wei."

A person was sitting behind the desk.

The man was in his early sixties, with graying hair and beard, yet his eyes still held a sharp edge. He wore ordinary clothes, without armor or a sword, but simply sat there, exuding an aura that made people afraid to look him in the eye.

Wei Shanyue.

Wei the Tiger, the commander of the Western Army of the Great Qian Dynasty, who guarded the northern frontier for more than 30 years and was feared by the barbarians.

Wei Shanyue had just returned from the northern frontier military camp, which is why Zhou Da was only summoned at this time.

Get up.

Zhou Da stood up and stood with his hands at his sides.

"Still what?"

"Madam has entered the outer gate of Qingyang Valley." Zhou Da bowed his head. "That day, this old servant escorted her to the mountain gate, where she was received by Zhou Su, the outer gate steward. Madam asked this old servant to convey her message, 'All is well, Grandfather, do not worry.'"

Wei Shanyue remained silent.

Zhou Da didn't look up either.

The study was so quiet that you could hear the chirping of cicadas in the trees outside the window.

"You stayed there for three months," Wei Shanyue finally spoke. "What did you see?"

Zhou Da's Adam's apple bobbed.

He knew Wei Shuai would ask.

"This old servant has seen a mountain," Zhou Da said. "A mountain that is completely different from Qingyang Valley."

Wei Shanyue didn't interrupt, he just looked at him.

Zhou Da recounted his experiences from that year, bit by bit.

Those square, glowing houses. Water that flows without needing a well. Floors as smooth as mirrors. Transparent glass windows that cover entire walls.

The refugees who fled from all directions. The peasants who were settled in clean houses and had enough to eat every day. The children who learned to read and write and to learn a trade from the spiritual master. The old people who smiled as they bent over to work.

And the immortal masters on that mountain.

"They don't allow people to kneel," Zhou Da said. "This old servant saw it with his own eyes. That guy called Shi Lao Si, who's over seventy, was seeing that person on the mountain for the first time, and his knees were bent so low that he had to be helped up. He said that in the Yunyin Sect, you don't have to kneel to anyone."

Wei Shanyue's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Zhou Da continued, "There's a cook on that mountain named Fatty Li, who is that immortal master's disciple. Before he went into seclusion, he was still concerned about whether the newly arrived refugees had hot porridge. In my forty-three years of life, I've never seen an immortal master like him."

"What was that immortal master's name?"

"Chen Anran," Zhou Da said, "everyone on the mountain calls him Master Chen."

Chen Anran.

Wei Shanyue silently repeated the name in his mind.

"What's the feud between the Cloud Hidden Sect and the Azure Sun Valley?" he asked.

Zhou Da's expression turned serious.

"During those three months I was down the mountain, I heard some things," he said in a low voice. "Once, five Golden Core cultivators from Qingyang Valley went to Yunyin Sect to cause trouble, but they were shot down from the sky and all their storage artifacts were confiscated. Later, when Qingyang Valley's outer disciples went to Xiaoshi Village to collect grain, they were stopped by people from Yunyin Sect, who said that the area within a thirty-mile radius was under their protection and that Qingyang Valley was not allowed to set foot there again."

Wei Shanyue's gaze darkened.

"That Nascent Soul stage Valley Master of Qingyang Valley," Zhou Da paused, "is said to have gone there later. He went, then came back. He didn't do anything."

The study was quiet for a moment.

"We did nothing." Wei Shanyue repeated these five words, his tone flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Zhou Da knew that Wei Shuai understood.

A Nascent Soul stage cultivator personally went out, then returned, having done nothing.

What does this mean?

This means that Chen Zhenren is either far stronger than a Nascent Soul cultivator, or he possesses something that even Nascent Soul cultivators dare not act rashly.

Either way, it was enough to make Qingyang Valley feel like it was sitting on pins and needles.

"In those short three months," Zhou Da continued, "the number of refugees taken in by the Yunyin Sect kept increasing. Xiaoshi Village, Shijia'ao, Sandaogou... villages within a hundred miles, anyone who could survive, all ran there. When I left, there were already more than three hundred people at the foot of the mountain."

"Where is Qingyang Valley?"

"It hasn't moved," Zhou Da said. "Not a single inch."

Wei Shanyue remained silent for a long time before saying, "You're saying that sending Yiran to Qingyang Valley was a mistake?"

Zhou Da did not answer; he didn't know how to answer either.

The eldest daughter-in-law was Commander Wei's only granddaughter and the only bloodline of this generation in the general's mansion. Sending her away was a decision that Commander Wei and his son Wei Ming made after much discussion.

It wasn't to help her become an immortal, but to give her a way to survive.

When immortal sects clash, mortals suffer. Zhou Da understood this principle when he was in the army.

But if—

What if even that immortal sect can't protect itself?

"This old servant dares not speak of right or wrong." Zhou Da lowered his head, his voice low. "This old servant only knows that those two mountains will inevitably clash sooner or later. Madam, in Qingyang Valley, is merely a newly initiated disciple, without background, without support, and even her spiritual roots are..."

He didn't finish speaking.

But Wei Shanyue understood.

There was no inspiration.

Zhou Su's words from that day had already been reported to Zhou Da by carrier pigeon long ago.

What is the status of a disciple without spiritual talent in the immortal sect?

They are the lowest-level errand boys, the cheapest laborers, and pawns that can be discarded at any time.

If Qingyang Valley wins, that's fine, but what if they lose?

What if that Master Chen, with his men, were to flatten Qingyang Valley?

Wei Shanyue stood up and walked to the window.

A few withered yellow leaves still clung to the branches of the old tree outside the window, shivering in the afternoon wind.

He suddenly remembered that fifteen years ago, his daughter-in-law held his hand before she passed away and said, "Father, name this child 'Yiran' (meaning 'still'), so that wherever she goes, she will remember the way home."

He recalled his son standing in the study saying, "Father, Qingyang Valley has replied that they can accept us, but only outer disciples. We can discuss it further if they can determine our spiritual roots."

He recalled that before Wei Yiran left, she stood at the gate of the mansion, knelt down and bowed, saying, "Grandfather, take care, your granddaughter is leaving."

That child had no mother since he was three years old, and he never complained.

That child swallowed all the grievances for fifteen years, and his face always had that heartbreakingly serene expression.

That child is now in a celestial sect that could be crushed at any moment. He has no spiritual roots, no background, and knows nothing.

Wei Shanyue closed his eyes.

"In your opinion," he asked, his voice deeper than before, "when will the Cloud Hidden Sect make its move?"

Zhou Da remained silent for a while.

"When I left, that Master Chen was still in seclusion."