Look at You, You Coward

Old Ye said nothing, merely staring at Su Fan with a beaming smile.

Su Fan's scalp went numb.

Brother, let's talk this out. Don't hit me.

"Old Ye, I really didn't make these two dishes today to disgust you..."

Ye Tianhe smiled and poured him a cup of wine.

Su Fan grew even more flustered.

"Brother, what exactly are you trying to do? I really have no idea..."

Ye Tianhe pointed at him, then slapped the table and burst into laughter.

"Look at you, you coward. Don't go around telling people you're a friend of mine, Ye Tianhe..."

He lifted his wine cup and clinked it against Su Fan's.

"Come on. You have to keep me company today. Neither of us is leaving until we're drunk..."

Su Fan chuckled, completely unaware that Old Ye had changed the way he addressed him.

"Did you really need to say that? Come on... bottoms up..."

Seeing Su Fan's carefree look, Ye Tianhe couldn't help but smile bitterly inwardly.

They all said cultivation valued one's Dao Heart above all else, yet he had once been too hung up on appearances, just as Su Fan had said earlier.

Gaining it is fortune; losing it is fate. Why cling to it for an entire lifetime?

His master had once said that his Sword Heart was still lacking by just a little.

To nurture his Sword Heart, he had even given up on Foundation Establishment.

Yet years had passed. Though he was only a hair's breadth away, his Sword Heart had never reached perfection.

Who would have thought that a single sentence from Su Fan would let him see through everything in an instant?

Su Fan would never have dreamed that a toxic chicken-soup line from his previous life would allow Old Ye to attain enlightenment in a single day.

Many things in life were simply that miraculous.

Had the setting been different, or had someone else said it—even the exact same words—they might not have helped Old Ye at all.

He had merely said them casually, at the right time and in the right atmosphere.

It had simply been a catalyst, like a sheet of paper that Su Fan had inadvertently poked through.

Sword cultivators walked amid danger, hovering on the brink between life and death.

They were born lonely.

Ye Tianhe was the same—aloof and solitary, always coming and going alone.

He had no idea what had happened, but he had actually gotten along well with this little Rogue Cultivator. Even their bickering left him exceptionally comfortable.

In Ye Tianhe's eyes, this was surely the arrangement of the heavens.

Moreover, the perfection of his Sword Heart had greatly changed his view of Su Fan.

He had always thought Su Fan lacked ambition, spending all day carefree and unconcerned, thinking only about crooked and unorthodox methods.

Now, he felt that his own judgment had been somewhat one-sided.

With Su Fan's slovenly, devil-may-care temperament, his Dao Heart was instead more clear and transparent.

This was also why so many cultivators encountered bottlenecks and were unable to break through despite years of bitter cultivation.

At its root, it was because their attachments ran too deep.

Ye Tianhe knew very well that Su Fan's casual remark would help him immensely in the future.

After that, Old Ye seemed to become an entirely different person.

He talked more, his tongue grew loose, and he put his arm around Su Fan while rambling on about this and that.

The two of them drank themselves silly, singing and dancing there.

They looked just like two lunatics.

Su Fan had no idea how much he had drunk. He only remembered Old Ye bringing out bottle after bottle of wine.

In any case, he had drunk himself into a total blackout and remembered nothing.

The next day at noon, Su Fan was awakened by thirst.

His mouth and tongue felt parched, his skull throbbed dully, and his entire body was sore and weak.

Su Fan sat down cross-legged and circulated the Primordial Chaos Technique. Spiritual energy cycled through his body several times, and he quickly recovered quite a bit.

He exhaled a long stream of alcohol fumes, and his mind instantly cleared.

Damn it, he absolutely couldn't drink like that again.

Actually, no matter how much alcohol a cultivator drank, it wasn't a big deal.

With a little circulation of spiritual power, the alcohol would naturally dissipate.

But last night had been different. Old Ye was leaving, and Su Fan had felt a little down.

Who knew when the two of them would meet again?

After all, cultivators were people too.

Su Fan had wanted to drink properly with Old Ye one time, just as he had said—neither of them leaving until they were drunk.

Huh...

Where had Old Ye gone?

Had he left without saying goodbye?

Su Fan had just wanted to go out and take a look when he saw a Jade Slip placed on the table in the main hall.

He walked over, picked up the Jade Slip, and pressed it against his forehead.

Only after quite a while did Su Fan put down the Jade Slip and let out a sigh.

His eyes felt a little hot.

The Jade Slip recorded some of Ye Tianhe's insights into the sword path.

It covered the experience and understanding he had accumulated from many years of practicing the sword, along with his experience controlling flying swords, the lessons he had learned, and extensive summaries of his experience in spell battles.

Although the Jade Slip contained none of the Ziyang Sword Sect's inheritances, it was even more precious than an inheritance.

An elite disciple of the Sword Sect like Ye Tianhe would eventually have his insights into the sword path entered into the Library Pavilion of the Ziyang Sword Sect, where later disciples could study and contemplate them.

Su Fan took out that Jade Talisman from the Yuqing Sect again and gently rubbed it in his hand.

Old Ye had been right. What he lacked most right now was systematic cultivation knowledge. Only after joining a sect could he make up for the lessons he had missed.

Fine, leave if you want. Yet before leaving, you just had to make me owe you such a huge favor.

He suddenly felt that the wind and sand were rather fierce, as though they had suddenly blown into his eyes.

Su Fan went into the courtyard and looked at the wind-dried soy-sauce meat hanging all around it.

Old Ye loved this stuff most of all, yet when he left, he hadn't even said anything about taking some with him.

Forget it. He acted like some great lord anyway, and probably wouldn't cook for himself.

He would save it for him. Once he reached Ganzhou in the future, that fellow would certainly come to the Yuqing Sect to look for him often.

When the time came, he could eat as much as he wanted.

For some reason, the courtyard seemed especially desolate today.

Thinking back to the scenes of him and Old Ye drinking wine and practicing the sword in the courtyard, he could see them as clearly as if they had happened yesterday.

Su Fan let out a long breath, dispelling the melancholy in his heart.

No matter what the future held, at least he had a goal now.

That was to break through to the Late Qi Refining stage as soon as possible, then take the Jade Talisman to the Yuqing Sect.

After joining the sect, he would properly settle down and cultivate for several years.

And by then, he would be able to see Old Ye often.

As for whether he should continue cultivating in Shaoyang Market before breaking through, Su Fan felt there was no need to go to all that trouble.

According to Ye Tianhe's analysis, Yongzhou wouldn't descend into chaos within the next few years.

Moreover, before Old Ye left, he had already instructed the Qingxuan Sect to look after him.

Old Ye might love showing off on ordinary days, but his word was still fairly reliable.

No matter what, the Qingxuan Sect wouldn't offend an elite disciple of the Sword Sect over a lowly Rogue Cultivator like him.

In any case, Old Ye had gone to the Qin State, and he would probably stay there for the next couple of years.

Those Sword Maniacs might all have gone to the Qin State.

They were already unable to wait any longer, practically itching for the immortal sects and demonic sects to start their war.

Besides, Shaoyang Market Town was also a Qingxuan Sect airship stop, making it very convenient to travel to Ganzhou.

If the immortal and demonic sects went to war, news would definitely spread from Shaoyang Market. It wouldn't be too late to leave then.

Enough thinking. Time to cultivate.

Su Fan returned to the Cultivation Room, took out the Minor Spirit Gathering Array, and sat cross-legged on it. Then he took out nine Lower Spirit Stones and stuffed them into the slots.

Thinking back, he had once rushed all over the place for just a few spirit stones.

Now, nine spirit stones vanished in the time it took to fart. What a spendthrift.

At the thought of this, Su Fan's heart began to bleed.