Xiao Shi looked slightly embarrassed. "Master, that Ye Qingyun is actually a mortal, the kind without a single shred of cultivation."
The white-haired elder froze.
A mortal?
"Impossible!"
He flat out refused to believe it.
Could a mortal paint a painting containing the Great Dao?
Absolutely impossible.
Anyone capable of producing such a painting had to be an almighty expert whom even the white-haired elder needed to look up to.
The kind of expert whose greatness was boundless.
"Perhaps your discernment is too poor to see through the true face of the expert, mistaking him for a mortal."
The white-haired elder said.
Hearing him say this, both Xiao Shi and Uncle Jiu began to doubt reality.
"Could that fellow really be a reclusive expert above worldly affairs?"
Xiao Shi furrowed her delicate brows.
Uncle Jiu, however, was suddenly struck by a realization.
"Eldest Miss, we encountered two Demon beasts along the way. I shouldn't have been a match for them, but it was as if they were suppressed by some kind of force, and I easily chased them away."
Xiao Shi came to her senses as well.
Her eyes widened in utter disbelief.
"You mean... Ye Qingyun was the one who secretly intervened back then?"
Uncle Jiu nodded repeatedly.
Hiss!
Xiao Shi was stunned.
Put that way, everything made sense.
Whether it was this painting or the events along the way, it all proved that Ye Qingyun was by no means as ordinary as he appeared.
He was actually a reclusive expert above worldly affairs?!
"What are you two talking about?"
The white-haired elder looked at them in confusion.
"Master, it's like this..."
Right then, Xiao Shi recounted to the white-haired elder how they had met Ye Qingyun and everything that had happened along the journey.
After listening, the white-haired elder looked at the two of them with a gaze that practically screamed he wanted to slap them to death.
Xiao Shi and Uncle Jiu felt extremely awkward.
A reclusive expert had walked alongside them the entire way, yet not only had they failed to recognize him, but they had also treated him that way.
Thinking back now, both of them broke out in cold sweats.
"You two!"
The white-haired elder shook his head repeatedly.
"Fortunately, that senior is magnanimous and didn't hold it against you. Otherwise, how could you possibly still be alive?"
The two of them could only nod repeatedly in agreement.
"With such an expert around, it's hard to find peace of mind without paying a personal visit."
The white-haired elder carefully rolled up the scroll and placed it into his storage bag.
"Quickly, take me to this expert. I want to personally ask for his guidance."
Xiao Shi was taken aback.
Clearly, *she* was the one who had come to seek apprenticeship, so how did it end up with her master eagerly rushing to pay respects to someone else?
"Master, what about these apprenticeship gifts..."
"What apprenticeship gifts? This painting is your best apprenticeship gift. Take everything else back."
"Fine."
Xiao Shi wore a helpless expression.
The white-haired elder was frantic with anxiety, urging the two of them to set off immediately.
Learning that Ye Qingyun had appeared at the market at the foot of Fuyun Mountain, the white-haired elder grabbed Xiao Shi and Uncle Jiu one in each hand and soared up into the air.
Whoosh!
The white-haired elder flew directly through the sky, carrying the two of them toward Fuyun Mountain.
...
Ye Qingyun returned to Fuyun Mountain.
Looking at his old nest, a wave of peace washed over Ye Qingyun's heart.
"There's no place like home."
After taking such a trip out, Ye Qingyun deeply felt the warmth of home.
Rumble...
He was starving and hurriedly ate a little something to fill his stomach.
After eating his fill, Ye Qingyun had a wonderful sleep.
He slept all the way until high noon the next day.
Only then did Ye Qingyun comfortably get out of bed.
He pushed open the door and stepped outside.
Only to see someone outside the courtyard.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing that person acting sneakily and trying to pluck the pears from the tree, Ye Qingyun let out a loud shout.
The person was startled and tumbled right out of the pear tree with a thud.
That was a nasty fall.
The person let out an "ow" and sat on the ground, unable to get up.
Ye Qingyun hurried forward.
Only to discover it was a child.
He looked to be only seven or eight years old.
His clothes were dirty and tattered, his hair unkempt and dusty—a living, breathing little beggar.
The child was shivering, and his face was somewhat distorted from the pain of the fall.
"You've got a lot of nerve, coming to steal my pears?"
Ye Qingyun sneered.
The little beggar rubbed his leg and staggeringly got to his feet.
"I didn't steal them."
"Caught red-handed, and you still say you didn't steal them?"
Ye Qingyun was amused out of anger.
The little beggar snorted.
"So I stole them, so what? Are you going to beat me to death or something?"
Ye Qingyun was left speechless.
Well, what do you know?
At such a young age, he was already a hardened little rascal.
Ye Qingyun didn't actually intend to blame him; after all, being a beggar at such a young age was indeed rather pitiful.
"What's your name?"
Ye Qingyun asked.
"I don't have a name."
"No name? Then what do other people call you?"
The little beggar scrunched up his nose. "They all call me little bastard."
Ye Qingyun shook his head helplessly.
"Then what is your surname?"
The little beggar's expression flickered.
"My dad's surname is Guo."
"Then what about your parents?"
"They're both dead."
A pang of sympathy welled up in Ye Qingyun's heart.
He walked over to the pear tree and picked a dozen or so pears.
Then he fetched a bag of rice from inside the house.
"Take these to eat. If you finish them, you can come back to me."
Ye Qingyun handed the items to the little beggar.
The little beggar looked doubtful and hesitant.
He didn't even dare to reach out and take them.
"From now on, don't steal things anymore."
***
Chapter 23: Demon King Blocking the Way? True Dragon Soaring into the Sky?
The white-haired elder brought Xiao Shi and Uncle Jiu all the way to the market at the foot of Fuyun Mountain.
"Master, it was right here in this market that we met Ye Qingyun."
Xiao Shi said.
The white-haired elder gave a hum of acknowledgment, then closed his eyes and used his spiritual sense to scan the entire market.
The elder possessed profound cultivation and could instantly see everything in the market with crystal clarity.
Yet very quickly.
The elder grew somewhat disappointed.
There were indeed some martial artists in the entire market.
But they were all cultivators of meager strength, completely beneath his notice.
Naturally, none of them could be that mysterious expert.
On second thought, however.
That expert might have been hiding his cultivation all along, wishing to travel through the mortal world in the guise of a mortal.
Perhaps among the mortals he had scanned, one of them was this mysterious expert.
With that, the white-haired elder calmed his mind and began wandering around the entire market.
Xiao Shi sent Uncle Jiu back to Beichuan first, while she herself followed the white-haired elder as he wandered through the market.
For a full seven days.
This small market had been thoroughly checked inside and out by the white-haired elder.
He even knew down to the exact number of old folk and children in the market.
Yet he never found Ye Qingyun.
"Could it be that this expert has already gone far away?"
The white-haired elder couldn't help but wonder.
Xiao Shi suddenly remembered something.
"Right, he seemed to know Old Man Huang, the storyteller at the teahouse."
The white-haired elder glared at her.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Xiao Shi looked a bit embarrassed.
"Forgive me, Master, I forgot."
The white-haired elder: "..."
Since they had a lead, they naturally had to go look immediately.
The master and disciple arrived at the teahouse.
Old Man Huang happened to be in the middle of storytelling.
Moreover, the story he was telling was *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, which Ye Qingyun had told him.
Old Man Huang spoke with great verve and passion, his tone stirring and sonorous.
The teahouse was packed to capacity with not a single empty seat, leaving the proprietor grinning from ear to ear as he constantly urged the servers to pour more tea for the guests.
It was fair to say that ever since Ye Qingyun told a story at this teahouse, the teahouse's business had flourished day by day.
It was infinitely better than before.
Although Ye Qingyun hadn't come back to tell stories since, Old Man Huang was quite capable of recounting the tale of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* on his own.
"Master, that's Old Man Huang."
Xiao Shi pointed at the storytelling Old Man Huang.
The white-haired elder glanced at Old Man Huang and confirmed that this person possessed zero cultivation.
Instead of interrupting directly, he stood aside and listened to Old Man Huang's story.
Before he knew it, the white-haired elder found himself immersed in it, his thoughts completely following the flow of the story Old Man Huang was telling.
When that segment of the story finished, a good number of the guests in the teahouse dispersed.
Only then did the white-haired elder have Xiao Shi go ask questions.
Soon, Xiao Shi returned.
"Master, I've asked around. That Ye Qingyun seems to live on nearby Fuyun Mountain."
"Fuyun Mountain?"
The white-haired elder furrowed his brows slightly.
He seemed to recall having visited this place before.
Thinking carefully, the white-haired elder remembered.
A hundred years ago, the white-haired elder had crossed paths with a formidable enemy, pursuing him all the way until they passed by Fuyun Mountain.
Back then, the white-haired elder had even been shocked by the restrictive barrier on Fuyun Mountain.
"Let's go, to Fuyun Mountain."
Without a moment's delay, the two of them headed straight for Fuyun Mountain.
When the white-haired elder saw that the peak of Fuyun Mountain was no longer shrouded in black mist, an expression of surprise involuntarily surfaced on his face.
"The restrictive barrier from back then has actually vanished!"
He remembered very clearly.
When he passed by Fuyun Mountain at that time, thinking it was just ordinary black mist, he had triggered the restriction and almost lost his life right there.
Now, the black mist on the mountain had completely dissipated.
This meant the restriction was gone as well.
"Could it be the work of that expert?"
The white-haired elder couldn't help but wonder.
Pulling himself together, he and Xiao Shi walked up the mountain together.
Before long.
The white-haired elder came to a halt.
"Master, what is it?"
Xiao Shi looked at the white-haired elder in confusion.
The white-haired elder didn't speak, instead staring ahead with a grave expression.
Xiao Shi followed the white-haired elder's gaze.
And saw a large golden-haired dog lying lazily on a rock not far away, basking in the sun.
This large golden-haired dog even exposed its belly, maintaining a lazy posture.
"That's the dog that follows Ye Qingyun!"
Xiao Shi recognized it at a single glance.
Just as she wanted to walk over, she was grabbed and stopped by the white-haired elder.
"What is it, Master?"
Xiao Shi was puzzled and bewildered.
The white-haired elder's expression was exceedingly grave—so grave that one could even say it held a hint of terror.
He stared at the large golden-haired dog, his breathing growing heavy.
"This is a Demon King!"
Xiao Shi froze.
What on earth?
A Demon King?
Fear filled the white-haired elder's eyes, and he did not dare to step forward.
He bowed deeply toward Damao.
"This old man, Mo Tianshu, pays respects to Your Excellency the Demon King!"
Damao stuck out its tongue without making any response.
Yet the white-haired elder grew even more tense.
Because he completely failed to fathom Damao's depth.
However, he could be certain that this was definitely a Demon King.
A Demon King!
The ruler among Demon beasts.
Even in places where the demon race gathered, the number of Demon Kings would not exceed ten.
Every single Demon King possessed heaven-reaching, earth-shattering capabilities.
Destroying a nation was mere child's play to them.
The white-haired elder was already considered a rare expert among the human race.
Yet compared to a Demon King, there was still a gap.
"Hmm? Did you just say this Demon King is with that expert?"
The white-haired elder suddenly asked.
Xiao Shi nodded repeatedly.
A tremor shook the white-haired elder's heart.
Indeed!
That Ye Qingyun was definitely an extraordinary expert.
Even a Demon King could be ordered about by him.
Terrifying.
To be able to command a Demon King—what kind of terrifying existence was this?
The white-haired elder was well-traveled and knowledgeable, but when it came to commanding a Demon King, he feared that only the Tianshu Dragon Lord, who had dominated an era and caused countless powerhouses to bow their heads several millennia ago, could have accomplished it.
Yet even the Tianshu Dragon Lord had merely managed to make a newly advanced Demon King submit to him.
Meanwhile, this large golden-haired dog before them was definitely not as simple as a newly advanced Demon King.
"My master doesn't like to draw attention."
At that moment, Damao spoke.
The expressions of both the white-haired elder and Xiao Shi turned stern.
"If you wish to visit my master, you must not expose his identity, nor may you disturb his frame of mind while he travels through the mortal world."
The white-haired elder nodded repeatedly.
"Naturally. Since the expert is living in seclusion here, it must be to experience the mortal realm. This old man will certainly cooperate."
As for Xiao Shi, her thoughts were much more complicated.
She recalled all of Ye Qingyun's previous behavior.
So it turned out all of that had been an act.
The man was a genuine reclusive expert who simply wanted to experience mortal life.
At the thought of how she had bullied Ye Qingyun back then, Xiao Shi wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
So humiliating.
Fortunately, the senior hadn't held it against her.
"You may pass then."
Damao said casually.
"Many thanks!"
The white-haired elder bowed deeply, then led Xiao Shi to continue up the mountain.
They hadn't walked much further.
When a loud, sky-splitting roar rang out.
The white-haired elder snapped his head up.
He beheld the most shocking sight of his life.
An azure dragon soared up from the mountain peak, plunging directly into the clouds.
"A True Dragon?"
The white-haired elder was terrified out of his wits, his eyeballs nearly popping out of his head.
***
Chapter 24: Who First Awakens from the Great Dream?
"Disciple, am I seeing things?"
The white-haired elder rubbed his eyes, staring blankly at the sky.
Xiao Shi had also seen the True Dragon vanishing into the clouds, and was currently standing there in a daze.
Hearing the white-haired elder's words, Xiao Shi subconsciously rubbed her eyes as well.
"Master, it seems I'm seeing things too."
The master and disciple looked at each other.
Both of them were seeing things?
Impossible!
The only possibility was that a True Dragon plunging into the clouds had indeed been witnessed by their own eyes.
"Could this dragon also be related to that expert?"
The white-haired elder couldn't help but wonder.
Along this entire journey, they had first had their path blocked by a Demon King, and now they had witnessed a True Dragon.
The white-haired elder hadn't had such an exciting time in most of his life.
At this very moment, he yearned even more to meet the expert atop the mountain.
The master and disciple continued upward.
Before long.
They arrived outside Ye Qingyun's courtyard.
Inside the courtyard, a rabbit was leisurely munching on a carrot.
It paid no heed at all to the two people arriving outside.
"This rabbit is also the one that expert was holding in his arms back then."
Xiao Shi pointed at the rabbit and said.
The white-haired elder appraised this courtyard.
Although crude, it was arranged with exquisite taste, serene and tranquil.
It was far better than the thatched hut in his own valley.
"Truly an expert's reclusive dwelling—quiet and elegant, refreshing the mind and spirit."
The white-haired elder murmured inwardly.
At this moment, he noticed the various items planted inside the courtyard.
"These... these are all heavenly treasures!"
The white-haired elder's expression changed drastically, incredulity plastered across his face.
Though Xiao Shi's experience was limited, she could still recognize a few rare spiritual herbs, letting out a series of gasps in astonishment.
The white-haired elder didn't even know where he should be looking.
Everything inside this courtyard was a heavenly treasure.
Some of them he had only ever seen mentioned in ancient texts.
The white-haired elder trembled all over with excitement.
"This expert has actually planted so many heavenly treasures here—what kind of existence is he exactly?"
He wanted to step forward.
Unexpectedly, however, the rabbit spoke.
"My master is taking a nap. Do not disturb him."
Xiao Shi was startled.
As for the white-haired elder, he stared fixedly at the rabbit, a hint of wariness in his eyes.
Although this wasn't a Demon King, the rabbit's cultivation was definitely not low either.
"We wouldn't dare disturb him; we will wait here for the expert to wake up."
The white-haired elder bowed deeply toward the rabbit.
Then he stood right there obediently.
Watching her master act like this, Xiao Shi was somewhat speechless.
When she had gone to Yutian Valley to seek apprenticeship previously, she had acted the exact same way.
She hadn't expected that now both she and the white-haired elder would be standing here waiting for Ye Qingyun to wake up from his nap.
This was truly quite amusing.
The rabbit continued munching on its carrot, ignoring the two people outside.
Meanwhile, Ye Qingyun was indeed taking a nap.
He had eaten a bit too much at noon, strolled around the mountains for a while, and upon returning, fell fast asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
The master and disciple waited a full two hours.
Until the sun slanted to the west.
Having slept his fill, Ye Qingyun leisurely woke up.
He flipped over and sat up from the bed, feeling refreshed in mind and spirit, and couldn't help but stretch lazily.
Suddenly recalling the passage about visiting the thatched cottage three times from *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, he couldn't help reciting a couple of lines of poetry.
"Who first awakens from the great dream?"
"Throughout my life, I know myself."
"In the thatched cottage, spring sleep is full,"
"Outside the window, the sun lingers slow."
Ye Qingyun had merely recited these two lines on a whim.
Yet the people outside the courtyard heard them crystal clear.
Upon hearing this poem, the white-haired elder immediately fell into deep thought.
Very quickly.
An expression of shock appeared on his face.
"Good poem! What a good poem!"
"Though this poem is unadorned and plain, it seems to see through the ultimate principles of the Dao, treating all things with detachment!"
An expert truly lived up to the name.
Even an impromptu poem recited upon waking from a midday nap could be this unfathomable.
Xiao Shi, standing beside him, wore a puzzled look.
Though the poem sounded quite nice, was it really as miraculous as her master made it sound?
"Disciple, you must not be impolite in front of the expert!"
The white-haired elder instructed Xiao Shi.
"This disciple understands."
Xiao Shi hurriedly acknowledged.
At this moment, Ye Qingyun had already walked out.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw two people standing outside the courtyard.
An unusual-looking white-haired old man.
And a delicate-looking young woman.
Among them, the young woman looked somewhat familiar to Ye Qingyun.
"Who are you?"
Ye Qingyun asked curiously.
The white-haired elder hurriedly bowed in salute. "This old man, Shen Tianhua, having heard that an expert lives in seclusion here, has come specifically to pay a visit."
"This is my disciple, Xiao Shi."
Xiao Shi also bowed in salute toward Ye Qingyun.
"Xiao Shi pays respects to Senior."
Xiao Shi?
Wasn't that the fellow who had cross-dressed as a man?
Ye Qingyun looked closely.
It really was her!
Why had she come here?
And she even brought her master along?
"Uh, did you guys find the wrong person?"