Jade Shakes the Thousand Mountains - Chapter 24: "Spring Silkworm Cocoon" – What Are You Afraid Of?

Chapter 24: “Spring Silkworm Cocoon” – What Are You Afraid Of?

As soon as Wei Shengming finished speaking, Yu Chanyi’s resistance and wariness were almost visibly written on her face. Her already fair complexion lost all color.

She remained silent for a long moment, her breathing gradually growing labored under Wei Shengming’s piercing gaze.

Steadying her breath, she met his eyes and retorted, “And how do you know the Secret Skill of the Sword Inheriting Sect?”

Wei Shengming replied, “Naturally, I recognized it because I’ve seen someone use it before.”

His expression remained stern. His face was excessively beautiful when softened, it could give the illusion of tender affection, but when devoid of emotion like now, it appeared aloof and unapproachable, like frost clinging to a branch.

Before Yu Chanyi could offer any explanation, Wei Shengming continued, “I don’t care where you stole the sect’s Secret Skill or what past experiences you’re trying to hide. I only hope you understand one thing: crossing swords often hangs on the line between life and death. If you hesitate even for a moment in such critical situations, you’ll be gambling either your own life or your companions’.”

“Battling demons is nothing like sparring,” Wei Shengming added, a furrow forming between his brows. “The slightest hesitation will cost you dearly.”

Cost…

Yu Chanyi’s mind went blank for an instant.

She heard his cold voice continue, “A Sword Cultivator cultivates the Sword Heart and Sword Intent. Whatever your Sword Heart may be, an unwavering Sword Intent is the most indestructible weapon the sharpest blade a Sword Cultivator can wield.”

Wei Shengming suddenly sighed. “Little Junior Sister.”

Yu Chanyi felt this might be the first time he had sincerely called her that.

“What are you afraid of?” he asked softly.

Her lips trembled slightly.

Was she afraid?

Yu Chanyi couldn’t lie to herself.

Yes, she was afraid.

She feared her identity as “Lu Chanji” would be discovered too soon, feared repeating past mistakes. Every day, she rose early to practice sword forms, gazing at the distant silhouette of the Sword Inheriting Sect’s mountains from the courtyard. Inevitably, memories would surface the thirteen years she had lived within Azure Peak, the heart-wrenching pain inflicted by ‘Yinghuo’ imprisoned at Sword Forging Cliff, and her rootless drifting like a cloud for a thousand years. Every day, she lived in fear of reliving it all.

“Kill the fear in your heart,” Wei Shengming’s words struck like a wake-up call.

Yu Chanyi looked up abruptly, meeting his gaze, which had softened slightly. “‘Shattered Stars’ was the perfect move to disrupt Li Xu’s rhythm. You executed it well.”

“But switching mid-way to ‘Spring Silkworm Cocoon’ only trapped you in your own cocoon.”

“I don’t want to see you change Sword moves halfway in a real fight against demons because of hidden reservations.”

The sternness returning to his eyes made Yu Chanyi realize that he seemed to hold the strictest standards for all Sword Cultivators in this world.

“Knowing secret skills from other sects isn’t something you need to conceal. Don’t let it trouble you.” Wei Shengming repeated, “Your sword moves are already quite refined, but you lack practical combat experience. Once you develop battlefield awareness and then enhance your cultivation, your future prospects will be limitless.”

“Someday, I want to see the most indomitable sword intent manifested through you.”

Yu Chanyi bit her lip, her expression showing some embarrassment at being lectured, yet her eyes burned with fiery determination.

“Alright.” She nodded firmly.

Seeing that Yu Chanyi had taken his words to heart, Wei Shengming didn’t prolong the conversation. Just as he turned to leave, Yu Chanyi suddenly called out, “Senior brother…”

She pressed further: “What about you? What are you afraid of?”

Why would someone with such clear insight be unable to even draw his sword?

The departing figure halted, standing motionless for a long while. His back remained turned, but his shoulders gradually slumped.

After a moment, he let out a long sigh as if in answer, then walked away.

Yu Chanyi never received his response. Watching his somewhat dejected retreating figure, she couldn’t help but feel sympathetic.

She was almost certain now that her senior brother had once been a sword cultivator.

Given his insights, he must have been quite an accomplished one at that.

A thought she’d never had before suddenly emerged in Yu Chanyi’s mind

She realized she was becoming curious about why her senior brother could no longer draw his sword.

–

Wei Shengming left, but Yu Chanyi remained in the courtyard for a long time.

His words had undoubtedly shaken her deeply. She stayed until the moon rose above the treetops, staring down at her moon-cast shadow on the ground, before suddenly practicing sword forms against her own shadow.

Starting stance drawing the edge in mere moments, as her sword’s cold light flashed, it seemed like scattered stars filled her vision.

She executed a brilliant “Shattered Stars” move with satisfying fluidity.

With this move, some of the shackles in Yu Chanyi’s heart seemed to shatter along with it.

As her senior brother had said, knowing secret skills from other sects wasn’t something to hide. There was no need for her to deliberately conceal them.

Otherwise, she might overcomplicate things and reveal her hidden anxieties, allowing others to see her fears and exploit her weaknesses.

Exhaling deeply, Yu Chanyi felt as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

These past days, she really shouldn’t have been focusing on how to conceal her identity.

From now on, she needed to concentrate more on how to quickly unblock her spirit veins and defeat Li Xu faster.

Just then, Wu Xi Lan’s voice came from the medicine hut: “Little junior sister, little junior sister!”

Yu Chanyi hurried over as Wu Xi Lan emerged from the medicine hut.

They met outside, with Wu Xi Lan excitedly waving a thin booklet and two small medicine bottles. “I’ve been searching all afternoon and finally found them!”

“What are these?” Yu Chanyi asked.

Instead of answering directly, Wu Xi Lan countered: “Tell me, did you lose to Li Xu today because you’ve only unblocked two inches of your spirit veins?”

Yu Chanyi nodded.

Wu Xi Lan exclaimed: “I knew it! Otherwise how could Li Xu possibly defeat someone who practices sword cultivation daily? That guy spends all his time with flowers and plants he never even practices sword moves!”

Wu Xi Lan continued, “Though Li Xu may seem undisciplined, I’ve tested his Spirit Vein and found he has fully opened it up to seventy-two inches. I may not be able to judge the skill levels among you Sword Cultivators, but the extent of one’s Spirit Vein development can’t escape my eyes. This Li Xu is relying on his advanced age and fully opened Spirit Vein to overwhelm you.”

“Sister Li…” Yu Chanyi wanted to explain on Li Xu’s behalf – aside from having a fully opened Spirit Vein, Li Xu’s swordsmanship was also exceptional, not merely relying on Spiritual power to dominate others. But Wu Xi Lan didn’t give her a chance to speak.

“Alright, alright, little junior sister, no need to speak up for him,” Wu Xi Lan said. “Let’s instead think about how you can break through more of your Spirit Vein faster.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m holding?” Wu Xi Lan waved the thin booklet in her hand, then shook two medicine bottles. “This contains the formula for Spirit Gathering Pills I developed earlier. And these two small bottles contain the actual Elixirs.”

She mysteriously pulled Yu Chanyi into the Medicine Hut and told her, “There’s a medicine in this world called Cleansing Spirit Pill, developed by those medicine practitioners and healers outside to help cultivators break through their Spirit Veins faster.”

“But ordinary cultivators’ constitutions differ from us descendants of the Ancient Remnants. While Cleansing Spirit Pills can help them break through Spirit Veins, they have little effect on us. When I heard about this as a child, I found it quite unfair,” Wu Xi Lan said. “Later, when I studied both medicine and healing arts, I devoted considerable time to research and developed this method for making Spirit Gathering Pills.”

“Spirit Gathering Pills – these are specifically made for us descendants of the Ancient Remnants, to help us break through our Spirit Veins,” Wu Xi Lan explained. “However, before giving them to you, I must clarify one thing.”

“Both Cleansing Spirit Pills and Spirit Gathering Pills have side effects. Generally, it’s best for cultivators to rely on their own comprehension to break through Spirit Veins for stable foundation. Relying solely on Elixirs for improvement will accumulate pill toxins in the body, which is detrimental to later cultivation,” Wu Xi Lan said. “I’ve considered this too. By taking Spirit Gathering Pills together with another detoxifying Elixir, you can break through your Spirit Vein while cleansing the pill toxins, completely worry-free. However, the detoxifying Elixir is quite potent, and the user will experience pain beyond ordinary endurance. Are you willing to take it?”

Wu Xi Lan added, “I’m not insisting that you must surpass Li Xu. If you don’t want to use Spirit Gathering Pills and prefer to comprehend slowly on your own, I won’t object at all. I just hope you’ll be careful when sparring with others later, so you don’t get injured.”

Yu Chanyi didn’t hesitate much: “I’ll take them!”

Wu Xi Lan looked at her deeply for a moment: “Think carefully – can you really endure the pain of marrow cleansing and tendon washing?”

Yu Chanyi lowered her eyes: “I can.”

Though she spoke with certainty, Wu Xi Lan remained unsure. She took out one pill from each medicine bottle and handed them to Yu Chanyi. “I’ll give you two pills first. Try them and we’ll see.”

Upon receiving the Elixirs, Yu Chanyi suddenly realized something and looked up to ask Wu Xi Lan: “Senior sister, how many inches of your Spirit Vein have you opened?”

Wu Xi Lan smiled faintly: “Seventy-two inches.”

“I spent fifteen years breaking through seventy-two inches of Spirit Veins. However, having fully opened Spirit Veins isn’t particularly useful for me it just made my Spiritual Power more abundant, sharpened my five senses when handling Spirit Flowers and Herbs, and made me less prone to injuries. My offensive power isn’t strong, so others can’t really tell.”

Just fifteen years to break through seventy-two inches of Spirit Veins… Yu Chanyi vaguely realized something, blinking as she looked at Wu Xi Lan with an expression of disbelief.

Wu Xi Lan seemed to know what she wanted to ask and said, “I broke through using these two types of Elixirs.”

“Both of these medicines were tested on myself.”

It was precisely because of this that Wu Xi Lan knew all too clearly what it felt like to take both Elixirs simultaneously.

As a descendant of Shennong, this was something she had to endure. But whether Yu Chanyi could withstand the pain of cleansing the meridians and marrow, she couldn’t be sure.

“Little Junior Sister, go and give it a try,” Wu Xi Lan said. “If you can endure it, I’ll need to hurry up and refine the Elixirs. Both the Spirit Gathering Pill and the Heart Gouging Pill consume a lot of Spirit Herbs. Li Xu has the best quality seeds. I might have to go buy some from him in a couple of days.”

At this, Wu Xi Lan sighed with emotion, “I never expected that Li Xu, of all people, is a Sword Cultivator! He usually tends to flowers and plants, raising them so beautifully, and he even revived my herbs once. I always thought he was a skilled medicine cultivator. Who would have thought he’s actually a Sword Cultivator who neglects his proper duties!”

–

Li Xu walked back to his residence with heavy steps.

The courtyard of his dwelling was filled with various Spirit Flowers and Herbs.

At a glance, the scene was a lush, verdant expanse with butterflies and bees fluttering among them. This small realm seemed like a paradise of its own, with delightful scenery, but the two disciples standing within it wore troubled expressions.

Seeing Li Xu return, one put down his watering can and the other his weeding hoe, reporting in unison as usual: “Watered the Spirit Flowers!” “Weeded the Spirit Herbs!”

Li Xu glanced at them, a trace of frustration from his earlier spar with Yu Chanyi still lingering in his eyes. He couldn’t help but replay the sensations of exchanging blows with Yu Chanyi in his mind, and out of habit, he asked, “Has the Moon Gazing Moss been transplanted to the shaded area?”

“Transplanted,” one disciple replied, then couldn’t resist complaining, “This Moon Gazing Moss is the most demanding of them all. It needs to sprout in sunlight, but the moment it sprouts, it has to be moved to shade. The timing has to be exact, or it just dies on you. Why is it so temperamental…”

The other disciple asked, “Why are you back so late today, Senior Brother? Did something happen at the Inexhaustible Sect?”

Li Xu snapped back to attention and said, “Nothing happened, but there have been some changes.”

“From now on, we don’t need to use selling seeds as our only excuse to go there.” Thinking of Yu Chanyi, Li Xu’s expression shifted oddly again, but he masked it well, speaking with a stern and dignified air. “We can also say we’re going to spar with the junior disciple there Yu Chanyi. That excuse will work even better.”

“Spar?”

“Spar!”

The two disciples exclaimed in unison once more.

Their faces lit up with relief, and they clapped their hands joyfully. “Sparring is great! Sparring is wonderful! No more having to serve these flowers and plants!”

In order to get close to Wu Xi Lan, they accustomed to fighting and killing as Sword Cultivators had been forced to study flowers, plants, and Spirit Herbs with their senior brother.

Initially, including the senior brother, they were all completely clueless about this and suffered quite a bit, thoroughly tormented by these Spirit Flowers and Herbs that required meticulous care.

For them, slaying Demons was easy, but tending flowers was difficult as hard as climbing to the heavens. These plants couldn’t be struck or scolded; if they were the slightest bit unhappy, they would die. They were truly too difficult to cultivate.

To avoid continuing their fate of tending plants, the two disciples immediately regarded “accompanying the junior disciple of the Inexhaustible Sect to practice sword techniques” as their top priority and began studying it earnestly.

“If we’re going to accompany that junior disciple to practice swordplay, shouldn’t we conceal our true strength? I recall this junior disciple hasn’t been practicing sword techniques for long. If we damage her confidence too much and make her never want to practice again, we’ll be back to tending flowers and plants.”

“But concealing too much isn’t good either. If we become her defeated opponents, she definitely won’t want to spar with us anymore. We need to win against her.”

“We do need to win, but we can’t let her lose too badly. We need to make her lose happily, lose with regret, lose with such feeling that she only wants another round with us. That way she’ll be willing to practice swordplay with us more often.”

“So which of us should go practice with her first?”

“You… you’re the weakest. Wouldn’t it be just perfect for you to accompany her practice?”

Li Xu listened to their conversation, his expression unchanged, but inwardly he shook his head and sighed.

He said: “Duan Xiaofeng, you go.”

The named Duan Xiaofeng was taken aback: “Ah? Me?”

Li Xu looked directly at him: “You.”

Duan Xiaofeng showed a puzzled expression, pointing at himself as he asked: “Me? Wouldn’t that be too bullying? Wouldn’t junior brother be more suitable?”

“Or do you want me to go easy on her during the match, not going all out?”

Li Xu: “If you think you can easily defeat her, by all means don’t go all out.”

After speaking, Li Xu added: “Don’t forget our purpose. Accompanying her practice is just to better observe Wei Shengming. Report back to me anything unusual you notice about him.”

–

The next day, as soon as Yu Chanyi woke up, she saw an unfamiliar face standing outside the Inexhaustible Sect’s gate.

It was a cultivator who looked quite young.

He appeared somewhat nervous and uneasy, holding a sword in his hand. As soon as he saw her, he politely cupped his hands in greeting: “Friend Yu, I’m Duan Xiaofeng, a Sword Cultivator from nearby. I heard from Friend Li that you wish to spar and exchange techniques, and coincidentally I have the same intention. I’ve come to accompany you in sparring and sword practice.”

Though his words were directed at Yu Chanyi, his eyes kept involuntarily glancing toward Wei Shengming’s room.

Noticing his expression, Yu Chanyi tactfully didn’t point anything out and simply asked him: “How many inches of your Spirit Vein have you opened?”

Duan Xiaofeng replied: “Forty-eight.”

Forty-eight inches.

More than hers, much more, but far less than Li Xu’s.

It seemed Li Xu thought he didn’t need to deal with her personally, so he sent a disciple with lower cultivation.

In that case, if she wanted to spar with Li Xu again, she would have to wait some time.

However, being able to spar with cultivators other than Li Xu still suited Yu Chanyi’s purposes perfectly, and it excited her tremendously.

Drawing her long sword, Yu Chanyi said to Duan Xiaofeng: “Friend Duan, please.”

For this sparring session, Yu Chanyi felt much more confident than during her first match with Li Xu.

Her opponent’s sword energy wasn’t as fierce as Li Xu’s, and his Sword moves weren’t particularly cunning or unusual, his style being quite straightforward.

Yu Chanyi responded using the most basic techniques that nearly everyone knew.

These fundamental sword moves appeared unremarkable when executed, yet she wielded them with impeccable stability and flawless defense, all while being deceptively elusive.

At first, Duan Xiaofeng assumed Yu Chanyi was indeed a novice Sword Cultivator who had only mastered simple moves.

But as the exchanges continued, with Yu Chanyi persistently employing elementary techniques yet effortlessly deflecting his attacks with minimal effort, Duan Xiaofeng finally sensed something amiss.

The moves were simple, yet each was applied with perfect precision!

Duan Xiaofeng’s expression shifted from initial casualness to seriousness, then to visible tension.

He realized that even when giving his all, he could hardly find any openings in Yu Chanyi’s defense.

All his assaults against her were like fine spring raindrops falling on a lake barely causing faint ripples before vanishing into the water, unable to inflict any real harm or break her form.

After three or four exchanges, Duan Xiaofeng abandoned his mindset of merely playing along with Yu Chanyi and no longer underestimated her.

He had to exert every ounce of his skill just to barely prolong the match past thirty moves.

After thirty moves, Yu Chanyi’s spiritual power was depleted, revealing a flaw, and Duan Xiaofeng narrowly managed to win.

Although he emerged victorious, he appeared far more disheveled than Yu Chanyi.

Wiping sweat from his temple, Duan Xiaofeng panted unevenly. Among the new disciples of the Grand Micro Sect, his strength wasn’t top-tier, but it was certainly not weak. Even when sparring with senior disciples of higher cultivation, none had ever pressured him so intensely as if backing him step by step into a dead end.

With each of Yu Chanyi’s strikes, it felt as though an invisible vine was coiling around him, tightening gradually until it threatened to strangle him completely.

He was driven to a suffocating sense of drowning by her flawlessly linked moves. Had Yu Chanyi not revealed a slight opening at the critical moment, Duan Xiaofeng believed he would have been the one exhausted into a humiliating defeat.

Recalling the question Yu Chanyi had asked before their duel, Duan Xiaofeng glanced at her uncertainly and inquired, “May I ask how many inches of your Spirit Vein have been unblocked, Fellow Daoist Yu?”

Could it be far more than his?

It must be higher otherwise, how could she have pressured him so severely?

Yu Chanyi replied, “Two.”

Duan Xiaofeng’s expression darkened. “Twenty?” That would be a full twenty-eight inches less than his?!

Yu Chanyi shook her head. “Two inches.”