Idle Life on the Mountain

"Senior Brother?"

Chu Zhe, lost in thought, heard someone calling him.

"Hmm? Oh, remember to teach Junior Brother diligently in his cultivation. Put more care into it."

"Yes, I will heed Senior Brother's instruction."

"Um... who is she? Why is she allowed to wander about here so freely?"

Chu Zhe was very curious. He had not come to Zuowang Peak for years, occupied with cultivation and various affairs. Since when had there been a girl who was not even a disciple yet could roam freely on the mountain? Could the Discipline Hall have neglected its duties?

"She is from Qingxu Palace. Martial Uncle Yu instructed that she be allowed to move about freely and not be bound by the sect rules." Before Bai Yujun, the older disciple was too embarrassed to say she was a snake spirit, so he could only brush it off casually. Forget Senior Brother—even the elders could not recognize her as a demon. Aside from that jade pendant concealing her aura, she was likely cultivating the Chunyang Cultivation Method as well.

"Martial Uncle Yu instructed it? Mm, I understand."

Chu Zhe, too, tacitly accepted the beauty before him doing as she pleased. Martial Uncle Yu was different from his Sect Master and the other martial uncles. His Sect Master and the others each had thousands of disciples, and their palaces flourished with incense offerings, while Martial Uncle Yu had only two personal disciples—and now the girl before him as well. Qingxu Palace was the quietest, yet also the warmest. At times, Chu Zhe envied them greatly and often wished he were Martial Uncle Yu's disciple too. Then he would not have to bear such heavy responsibilities on his shoulders.

In that brief instant, countless thoughts passed through Chu Zhe's mind. When he came back to himself, he found that the girl had already left.

At some unknown moment, that girl's pure, lovely face seemed to have been branded into his mind. No matter when, he would always recall that graceful figure...

Many people in Chunyang Palace noticed that Senior Brother seemed to have changed. He often lost focus and occasionally even stared blankly into space...

Yu Rong noticed that Chu Zhe had been coming to Qingxu Palace often these past few days. Xu Ling was delighted beyond measure, while Yang Mu was even happier to be able to seek Chu Zhe's guidance on cultivation matters. Yu Rong, however, did not think much of it.

Despite coming to Qingxu Palace several times, he had never seen the girl from Zuowang Peak. A faint sense of loss lingered in his heart. Each time he left Qingxu Palace, he would stand upon a distant cliff and quietly gaze at that tranquil palace. Chu Zhe found that he increasingly enjoyed wandering around Qingxu Palace. Every corner there seemed especially wonderful, and he always wanted to remain there.

One day.

Chu Zhe pretended to be merely passing by Qingxu Palace.

At last, he saw that figure he had recalled countless times appear in the secluded, silent Qingxu Palace.

Yu Rong had taken her two disciples to the Back Mountain to practice sword control. When Chu Zhe arrived at Qingxu Palace, he found Bai Yujun busy in the hall changing the lamp oil and incense candles.

"Are you Martial Uncle Yu's newly accepted disciple?"

Bai Yujun looked at Chu Zhe and shook her head, her hands never stopping. She lit a red candle and carefully set it on the candlestick, then gently wiped away the incense ash that had fallen onto the altar table. Ever since taking human form, the cleaning of Qingxu Palace's divine hall had fallen to Bai Yujun. It could not be helped—such a vast palace had only three people and one snake.

Seeing that the beauty had no treasured sword, Chu Zhe remembered that he had a spare sword.

He reached into the palm-sized pouch at his waist and pulled out a sharp sword. This move left Bai Yujun stunned. After spending so long on the mountain, this was her first time seeing the legendary Storage Bag.

A Storage Bag was made by using magic arts to inscribe formations inside a bag crafted from special materials, expanding its internal space. It could hold objects several times larger than its own volume. A Storage Bag merely expanded space; it had no ability to preserve freshness or stop time. Air still circulated inside. If time truly stopped, only a vacuum environment could likely achieve it. In a vacuum, apart from dead objects such as metal, would vegetables and fruit not instantly dry out if stored there?

Seeing Bai Yujun's interest in the Storage Bag, Chu Zhe casually removed it and handed it to her to play with.

"You can try taking things out and putting them back in."

Taking the Storage Bag, she found it was not very heavy. Curious, she reached into its opening and grabbed about at random. Vaguely, she sensed several items arranged inside. The sensation was strange—once her hand went in, she could feel them. What a miraculous formation.

She grabbed hold of something and pulled it out. It was a jade bottle, and it looked quite precious.

She stuffed it back in and continued feeling around. It seemed she had caught hold of an article of clothing. With a hard tug, she pulled it out. This style... looked like sleepwear for the bedroom.

"Ahem, ahem. That is my clothing."

She tossed the clothing back in, and her little hand continued rummaging through the Storage Bag without pause, playing to her heart's content.

Only after playing for a long while and growing bored did she return it.

"Why don't you speak?" Chu Zhe asked curiously.

Bai Yujun pointed at her throat and shook her head. Refining the Hyoid Bone was not so easy.

Chu Zhe had not expected the beauty before him to be mute. He looked at Bai Yujun with boundless pity, feeling inexplicable pangs of pain in his heart. Especially when Bai Yujun continued busily working with such calm indifference, or tilted her head in curiosity, his heart ached even more.

"I'll give you this sword. I had a Junior Brother from Golden Void Palace forge it. It is very light, suitable for you."

Someone was giving her a sword for free. She had not intended to accept it, but after noticing how fine the sword truly was, she suddenly felt that taking it was no big deal. She had learned many sword techniques lately but had never been able to practice them. Since it was free, there was no need to stand on ceremony.

She nodded to indicate her thanks.

Then she suddenly felt it was not quite right to take someone else's things just like that. Looking around, she reached out and took an apple from the altar table before the statue, handing it to Chu Zhe.

Chu Zhe accepted it in a daze...

She took another apple for herself and began eating it. Chu Zhe thought about it and realized that secretly eating apples from the altar table was truly... thrilling.

Bai Yujun rarely smiled. With an apple in one hand and the sword in the other, she ran off without a trace.

That afternoon.

Xu Ling stared at the altar table, now missing apples, her face full of confusion.

"Strange. I clearly remember putting out enough. Why are two missing...?"

The days passed leisurely.

That morning, Chu Zhe had just left after visiting his Sect Master at Jade Void Palace. Li Xiangyan sat in the Sect Master's chair, watching his beloved disciple's retreating back with a faint furrow between his brows. His fingers moved rapidly as he calculated...

After a long while, he sighed and sent a voice transmission asking his junior sister Yu Rong to come to Jade Void Palace for a discussion.

Yu Rong soon arrived at Jade Void Palace.

"Greetings, Sect Master Senior Brother."

"No need for such formality. Junior Sister, please sit."

After exchanging courtesies, the two sat down. Since they were not outsiders, there was no need to beat around the bush. Li Xiangyan spoke directly.

"I asked Junior Sister here this time because of a major matter concerning Chu Zhe, one that concerns his future achievements."

Yu Rong was taken aback, unable to make sense of it.

"What is it?"

"Just now, I cast a divination concerning Chu Zhe. Junior Sister, you also know that I intend to pass the position of sect master on to Chu Zhe in the future. This disciple satisfies me in both temperament and character, and his cultivation stands among the finest of all the disciples. But..." The sect master frowned.

"Senior Brother, please speak freely."

"Alas, even heroes cannot pass the beauty's gate. Chu Zhe is fated to face a love tribulation. The tribulation lies in your Qingxu Palace, and Qingxu Palace has only one female disciple, Xu Ling. When the time comes, I hope Junior Sister can secretly help the two of them through this trial."

"A love tribulation..." Yu Rong fell into thought.

A love tribulation could be great or small. If one could pass through it safely, one would have greater confidence when facing the heavenly tribulation of ascension in the future. Cultivators who had never experienced a love tribulation found it difficult to overcome one during their tribulation. Countless mighty figures had been reduced to ashes because of love. The sooner the love tribulation came, the sooner it could be overcome, leaving one less hidden danger. Humans were not grass or trees—how could they be without feelings? The difficult part was how to get through it.

"I will do my best. Fortunately, Xu Ling greatly admires Chu Zhe, which saves us quite a bit of trouble."

"That would be for the best."