Jade Shakes the Thousand Mountains - Chapter 28 Not Enough

Chapter 28 Not Enough

I think… I think I made Senior Brother cry…

How deeply must one be hurting to shed a tear someone who didn’t even utter a sound when his Spirit Vein was completely destroyed…

This was the first time Yu Chanyi had seen someone cry in front of her. Even if it was just a fleeting glimmer of moisture, she instinctively felt a sense of panic. Her seated posture grew stiff and uneasy.

She parted her lips, wanting to offer words of comfort, but she lacked experience in such matters. The moment she opened her mouth, she felt clumsy and closed it again in silence.

Just then, Wei Shengming’s hoarse voice sounded once more, his tone slow and drawn out, unbearably so. “She was a girl…”

Yu Chanyi immediately held her breath and listened intently.

Wei Shengming’s hand, resting on the stone table, unconsciously clenched. His fingernails scraped against the stone, producing a harsh, grating sound, but he seemed unaware of it. His voice was as light as a dream: “Little Junior Sister, there are some people you only need to meet once to know they are the ones you would spend your entire life searching for. But…”

His words grew disjointed. “You’ve already heard most of Wei Shengming’s stories. You know his glory and his disgrace. But do you know his incompetence…”

“Lu Wenshu may not be worth following, but Wei Shengming is even more despicable.”

As he spoke, he didn’t look at Yu Chanyi. Instead, his gaze was vacant, fixed on the mountains behind her.

The towering peaks, shrouded in moonlight, resembled elongated ghostly shadows. His eyes were empty, as if his very soul had been lost among them. The incoherent words that reached Yu Chanyi’s ears trailed off, forgotten.

The overlapping mountain ranges reflected in his eyes, and Wei Shengming’s eyes turned completely red.

“Pitiful, pitiful… pitiful…” His voice grew softer with each repetition, as if he didn’t know whom he was referring to.

Yu Chanyi could hardly tell whether it was the natural deepening of his eye color or the redness brought on by tears.

His expression was so calm it seemed eerily hollow. If not for the tear he had deftly wiped away earlier and the tremor in his voice as he spoke, Yu Chanyi would have struggled to detect any crack in his emotions.

Such a beautiful voice now sounded like a broken zither being forced to play hoarse and grating, unbearably unpleasant.

Some things were self-evident, and Yu Chanyi had never been one who needed every detail explained to understand.

Even though Wei Shengming’s words were chaotic, Yu Chanyi managed to piece together fragments of meaning.

The possibility she gradually assembled made her face grow increasingly pale.

Yu Chanyi realized that the person Senior Brother mentioned the one with extraordinary talent, surpassing even Wei Shengming and Lu Wenshu must have fallen into dire circumstances. Perhaps their current situation was even worse than Wei Shengming’s…

Just then, Wei Shengming said, “I truly met such a person, as real as can be. But… Heaven has been unjust to her.”

The phrase “Heaven has been unjust to her” struck Yu Chanyi like a thunderclap. Suddenly, the world around her seemed to fall into complete silence.

A long time passed.

“Why?” Yu Chanyi heard her own voice ask, clear and distinct.

She couldn’t understand why the talented Sword Cultivators of the Giant Sea Ten Provinces were plagued by troubles one after another, remaining obscure and unknown, while Lu Wenshu who had climbed to his position by stepping upon her bleached bones with an ill-gotten reputation had been securely holding a high position in the righteous path for a thousand years?

Why was this?

Why didn’t Heaven’s Way show injustice toward Lu Wenshu?!

This was ultimately a question that could never be fully voiced, and no one could give her an answer.

Biting back the heat in her eyes, suppressing it again and again, Yu Chanyi’s gaze gradually turned cold. She asked again, “Talent alone isn’t enough, is it?”

Wei Shengming was still staring blankly into the distant mountains, his eyes hollow like a Puppet’s. Yu Chanyi knew that her words likely hadn’t reached his ears. Silently, she stood up, her face devoid of any extra expression, only summoning her longsword back into her hand.

In her heart, she knew the answer to this question.

It wasn’t enough.

Lu Wenshu had been the Number One of Sword Way for a thousand years and the Champion of the righteous path for several centuries. He had likely become an immovable behemoth with deeply rooted foundations. Thinking this, Heaven’s Way was indeed utterly unjust. How could she possibly challenge him relying solely on her own talent and hatred?

A clear breeze carrying the fragrance of autumn osmanthus swept through the courtyard, causing the grass blades in the Medicine Field to sway gently like a pair of tenderly stroking hands. Yet the two Grand Micro Sect disciples standing in the middle of the Medicine Field shivered slightly.

Before Yu Chanyi’s sword was even drawn from its sheath, they felt an extremely powerful Sword Intent seeping from her blade, distant yet piercing like deep winter, almost instinctively making them tremble with fear.

One of them narrowed his pupils, transmitting his thoughts to the other: “Did you understand what they were talking about just now?”

The other replied mentally: “Wei Shengming must be spouting nonsense again. Where in the Giant Sea Ten Provinces has there ever been someone more talented than him and Lu Wenshu? He often does this fabricating things out of helplessness after being defeated by Lu Wenshu. It can’t be taken seriously.”

He added: “But Yu Chanyi seems to actually believe it… Did you hear what she said?”

The other replied with a pained expression: “Of course I heard. She said, ‘Only talent isn’t enough, is it?’ Judging by her demeanor, she must think it’s still insufficient, so she’s going to train even harder with the sword.”

“…”

“…”

Silence.

Both Grand Micro Sect disciples fell silent.

At that moment, neither of them wanted to be Sword Cultivators anymore.

“Little Junior Sister! Little Junior Sister!” Wu Xi Lan’s cheerful voice suddenly called out from the Medicine Hut.

Hers was the only voice in the entire courtyard that sounded genuinely happy.

Yu Chanyi lowered her eyes, withdrawing the cold gleam in them and sheathing her longsword.

She took a deep breath, composed her emotions, and walked into Wu Xi Lan’s Medicine Hut.

Wu Xi Lan was busy by a face-sized medicinal mortar, pounding herbs with both hands occupied. She lifted her chin to signal Yu Chanyi to take the several medicine bottles nearby herself.

“Here, new Spirit Gathering Pills and Heart Gouging Pills. There are some other Elixirs too I refined them with the Spirit Herbs I’ve been cultivating recently. Specially made for you, they’ll only benefit your cultivation. You can take one pill per day.”

Just as Yu Chanyi picked up the medicine bottles to leave, she suddenly remembered something. She paused, walked back to Wu Xi Lan’s side, and hesitantly said, “Senior Sister.”

Noticing her hesitant expression, Wu Xi Lan made a questioning “Hmm?” and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Chanyi glanced outside with concern and said, “I think… I think I made Senior Brother cry.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Xi Lan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Seeing Yu Chanyi’s hesitant expression, she had thought something serious had happened.

“This is quite normal,” Wu Xi Lan said. “I’ve seen many Sword Cultivators who come here secretly shed tears outside the Inexhaustible Sect after sparring with you.”

Wu Xi Lan thought to herself: With Little Junior Sister being so exceptionally talented, it’s understandable that her junior brother who spent two full years just trying to unsheathe his sword would feel ashamed and shed tears upon seeing his junior sister’s extraordinary innate gifts and rapidly advancing swordsmanship.

Wu Xi Lan chuckled playfully, joking, “Who would have thought our Little Junior Sister had the ability to make so many people cry for her.”

Yu Chanyi: “No…”

Never mind.

It would be too difficult to explain.

Yu Chanyi abandoned the idea of getting any useful information from Wu Xi Lan.

–

As winter arrived, along with the cooling weather, Yu Chanyi’s Sword Intent also turned cold and sharp.

If in the first half of the year she had been painstakingly studying how to make her moves unpredictable and impossible to read all because of Wei Shengming’s comment about her “rigid textbook style lacking practical experience” often letting Grand Micro Sect disciples execute a few more moves so they wouldn’t lose too quickly and could practice with her longer, then in the latter half of the year, she showed no mercy to the Grand Micro Sect disciples whatsoever.

Those who usually slacked off or weren’t diligent in their training couldn’t even withstand a single move under Yu Chanyi’s sword.

They could no longer, and dared no longer, come to practice swordsmanship with Yu Chanyi.

When sparring with Yu Chanyi, that bone-chilling, all-penetrating killing intent rushed at them, far more piercing than the exceptionally cold winter winds of the Sword Inheriting Sect’s territory. This wasn’t something low-level cultivators with limited immortal years and cultivation could withstand.

Later on, even just sensing Yu Chanyi’s Sword Qi from a distance would make them shiver.

Li Xu would occasionally stand on the Inexhaustible Sect’s wall to observe the matches. Sometimes he would forget that his purpose for being there was to pay closer attention to Wei Shengming’s movements, becoming unconsciously captivated while watching Yu Chanyi spar with others.

He had long heard from the two disciples he stationed at the Medicine Field about the conversation between Yu Chanyi and Wei Shengming that night, including Yu Chanyi’s question, “Talent alone isn’t enough, is it?” Throughout this entire year, while observing Wei Shengming, this question often lingered in his mind.

But watching Yu Chanyi’s daily progress in cultivation, Li Xu gradually realized one thing.

He wasn’t qualified to provide the answer to that question.

From what he could see, probably only Yu Chanyi herself was worthy of providing the answer to that question.

–

Time passed, and another year went by.

The wisteria trees in the courtyard had withered yellow twice when, on the first day of winter of another year, Yu Chanyi’s Spirit Vein broke through the twenty-fourth inch.

On this day, while Li Xu was practicing swordsmanship in his residence filled with exotic flowers and rare plants, he heard Duan Xiaofeng’s returning footsteps.

He sheathed his sword, rubbed his sore wrist, and turned around to see Duan Xiaofeng looking calm but with a hint of dejection.

Duan Xiaofeng said, “Senior Brother, I lost.”

“Within three moves, ten matches to ten losses.”

“I can last at most two moves against her now.” Duan Xiaofeng said with downcast eyes. “None of us here can withstand three moves from Yu Chanyi anymore. I think she no longer wishes to practice sword with us.”

Duan Xiaofeng lifted his gaze to Li Xu: “If we still want to approach the Inexhaustible Sect through sword practice with her, only you, senior brother, can go.”

Yet Li Xu’s expression remained as calm as his. “This day was bound to come eventually,” he said.

Just as Duan Xiaofeng had anticipated defeat at Yu Chanyi’s hands, Li Xu had also foreseen this day. He wasn’t surprised by its arrival.

Though it had come faster than he expected.

Before going to the Inexhaustible Sect, Li Xu carefully maintained his sword – wiping it with Chain Gold Mud and cleansing it with Jade Sweet Spring Water.

The next morning, he arrived at the Inexhaustible Sect.

Yu Chanyi was waiting for him at the stone table in the courtyard. The wisteria trees had shed all their leaves for winter. Bathed in morning glow and covered in dew, she tilted her neck gazing absently at the mountain ranges, like a pure white petal washed clean by dew. With one glance, Li Xu knew Yu Chanyi had likely practiced sword all night again.

She must have sensed his arrival, otherwise she would have reacted to someone entering the courtyard. Li Xu spoke: “Yesterday, Duan Xiaofeng told me he lost.”

“At this point, among Grand Micro Sect disciples, probably no one but me can exchange more than a few moves with you.”

“That’s why I’m here.” Li Xu cupped his hands in salute to Yu Chanyi, then drew his sword.

“Fellow cultivator Yu, if you please.”

–

The marketplace bustled with unprecedented activity, far more lively than usual.

Amid the bustling crowds, most coming and going were Sword Cultivators. Wu Xi Lan squeezed through the throng, finally pushing her way into the herb shop she wanted to visit.

“Really swarming with Sword Cultivators,” Wu Xi Lan brushed dust off her clothes, muttering to herself: “Every hundred years, when the Sword Debate Tournament approaches, those rogue Sword Cultivators without sects come rushing to buy swords and medicine beneath Sword Inheriting Sect. Do they really think everything here is good? Hmph.”

Even the outer disciples of Sword Inheriting Sect sell fake swords, so these shops at the mountain’s foot are even less reliable.

Wu Xi Lan scanned her surroundings, looking at the passing Sword Cultivators, briefly resentful that she couldn’t distinguish which among them were truly skilled.

Otherwise she might have captured a powerful one to practice with her junior sister, helping her defeat that Li Xu sooner.

Throughout the year, Wu Xi Lan had frequently seen Li Xu standing on the wall watching Yu Chanyi practice with others. Having witnessed how devastatingly Yu Chanyi had lost to Li Xu that time, whenever she saw Li Xu observing Yu Chanyi’s sword practice from the wall, Wu Xi Lan felt displeased. She always suspected Li Xu had ill intentions, scheming to make her junior sister lose again.

Wu Xi Lan had come to understand that despite Li Xu’s unassuming, gentle and seemingly harmless baby face, his sword skills weren’t as poor as she had thought, given he had defeated her junior sister.

After all, since losing to Li Xu last time, over a hundred cultivators had fallen to Yu Chanyi, including those with forty or fifty-inch Spirit Veins and higher Spiritual power than her. Even with all seventy-two inches of his Spirit Veins opened, without genuine skill, Li Xu couldn’t have gained such advantage over her junior sister. This simple logic, Wu Xi Lan could still figure out.

When would her junior martial sister be able to defeat Li Xu? This had become a matter weighing on Wu Xi Lan’s mind.

With the Sword Debate Tournament approaching, swords, Magical Artifacts, and Elixirs that could aid cultivators in recovery had become extremely scarce in the market. In previous years, Wu Xi Lan would seize this opportunity to set up a stall and sell Elixirs, but now that the Inexhaustible Sect had gained a junior Sword Cultivator sister, her Elixirs would naturally be reserved for this junior sister.

To prepare an ample supply of Elixirs, Wu Xi Lan had made early preparations.

She had specifically pre-ordered some herbs she didn’t cultivate from the pharmacy owner and came to the market today to collect them. This was to avoid the situation where, half a month before the Sword Debate Tournament, the market would be so tight that even the ingredients for making Elixirs would be completely swept away.

In previous years, Sword Cultivators would still be frantically buying ready-made Elixirs and Magical Artifacts at this time, not yet turning to purchasing raw herbs. Even if she hadn’t pre-ordered, coming out to shop today would have been timely enough.

“Shopkeeper,” Wu Xi Lan said as soon as she entered the pharmacy, slapping her pouch of Spirit Coins on the counter. “I’ve brought the Spirit Coins. Give me the thirty jin of Cloud Perch Grass, nine jin of Moon Gazing Moss, and three liang of Deer Frost I ordered.”

Wu Xi Lan was a regular customer at various pharmacies in the market, and the shopkeeper had long known her. Hearing her voice, he emerged from the inner room.

Though Wu Xi Lan had clearly heard his continuous laughter from outside, when he came out, not only was there no trace of a smile on his face, but he also wore an apologetic expression.

Upon seeing Wu Xi Lan, the shopkeeper slapped his forehead heavily. “Ah, look at my memory!”

The shopkeeper said with deep remorse, “Fellow Daoist Wu, I truly apologize. The herbs you requested have already been sold out here.”

“What?” Wu Xi Lan frowned. “But I placed the order with you last month and agreed to collect them today.”

The shopkeeper explained, “Just before you arrived, a major customer came. It was only when he showed up that I remembered he had placed an order even earlier than you half a year ago. It was just so long ago that I forgot.”

Wu Xi Lan pressed her lips together. “When will you restock?”

“I’m truly sorry, but all the herbs I receive from now on have also been reserved by that major customer. My fault entirely. I’ll return the Spirit Coins you left here as a deposit.”

“Major customer?” Wu Xi Lan’s frown deepened. She glanced toward the inner room behind the shopkeeper, where a faint white figure appeared elegant and serene. After a brief look, she withdrew her gaze and said loudly, “Ordered half a year ago? How is that possible?”

She had placed her order so far in advance how could anyone have ordered before her?

Something felt off to Wu Xi Lan. She said, “Shopkeeper, I have a written receipt for my order. Since he placed such a large order with you, where is his receipt?”

The shopkeeper’s face stiffened. Reading the clues from his expression, Wu Xi Lan snorted coldly. “If he has no receipt, then it doesn’t count as a pre-order. Give me the goods I need! Especially the three liang of Deer Frost not a single qian less!”

That was something that required immense effort and care to cultivate.

The shopkeeper lowered his head in chagrin, his face showing traces of frustration at being bluntly exposed by Wu Xi Lan. At that moment, a few light taps sounded from the inner room, as if someone was knocking on a table. The shopkeeper quieted down, assuming a posture of listening attentively, as if the person inside had transmitted a mental message to him using Spiritual power.

The shopkeeper visibly relaxed after hearing this and said to Wu Xi Lan, “Well, to be frank, Fellow Daoist Wu, the Spirit Coins you offered can’t even compare to the loose change the Sword Inheriting Sect gives. Selling these herbs to you would mean a huge loss for me. How about this I’ll compromise. Not only will I refund your deposit, but I’ll also compensate you with three thousand Spirit Coins. Fair enough, right?”

“I don’t want Spirit Coins. I want the goods.” Upon hearing the shopkeeper mention the Sword Inheriting Sect, Wu Xi Lan fully understood what had happened.

To this pharmacy owner, customers like her were merely small-time buyers. Despite all the effort spent maintaining relationships, he could only earn meager profits, which paled in comparison to doing business with the Sword Inheriting Sect a single order from them was worth thousands of small transactions.

Three thousand Spirit Coins was truly no small sum. For the Sword Inheriting Sect to offer it so readily showed just how wealthy they were.

But since the Sword Inheriting Sect had already started purchasing herbs, she couldn’t afford to give up the goods she had ordered.

If even this remote shop had been approached by the Sword Inheriting Sect, it was likely that all the pharmacies in the nearby market had already been cleaned out by them.

This was typical of the Sword Inheriting Sect’s style before the Sword Debate Tournament, all the world’s finest natural treasures had to be gathered at their sect for their Sword Cultivators to use.

“You ” The pharmacy owner’s face flushed with anger at Wu Xi Lan’s stubbornness. “I’m offering you compensation in Spirit Coins only out of respect for your frequent purchases here. Aren’t you buying these herbs to make Elixirs and sell them at high prices during the month before the Sword Debate Tournament? By giving you three thousand Spirit Coins upfront, I’m saving you the trouble of making those Elixirs. You should be thanking me! Otherwise, how could you earn this much from selling Elixirs?”

“Don’t twist right and wrong here! You’re the one blinded by greed, not me! I’m buying these herbs to make Elixirs for my junior sister, who will soon attend the Sword Debate Tournament. I won’t sell a single pill of the finished Elixirs!”

“Junior sister? Sword Debate Tournament?” The pharmacy owner snorted dismissively, as if hearing something amusing. “Your Inexhaustible Sect is such a minor sect don’t you rely on the few Elixirs you refine for daily expenses? How could you possibly support a Sword Cultivator? After all your painstaking efforts preparing those precious Elixirs for her, she might just return home after a single day at Penglai.”

Wu Xi Lan’s face turned purple with rage. Gnashing her teeth, she said, “With business practices like yours, this shop will inevitably fail sooner or later.”

The pharmacy owner merely scoffed, utterly unfazed by her words, and replied leisurely, “The Sword Cultivators of the Sword Inheriting Sect are going to win the First Prize at the Sword Debate Tournament. When they do, I’ll spread the word that they bought their herbs from my shop. My humble business will naturally benefit from the association. Going out of business? Impossible.”

Wu Xi Lan clenched her jaw tightly and slammed her hand heavily on the counter. “Compensate me with Spirit Coins! Three thousand Spirit Coins, plus the deposit not a single coin less!”

The pharmacy owner glanced at her sideways. “Why didn’t you just say so earlier?”

This only made Wu Xi Lan even angrier.

After leaving the medicine shop, she hugged the pouch of spirit coins that hadn’t been spent but instead felt heavier and more burdensome. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She turned back and shouted at the shop’s entrance, “You crooked merchant, running a shady business! Don’t think just because you won’t sell me medicine, I can’t get it anywhere else! I knew you’d go back on your word I anticipated I wouldn’t get the goods from you and left myself a backup plan! With no integrity like yours, who knows if the herbs sold here are real or fake! Only the biggest fools of all fools would buy medicine from you!”

After her outburst drew the attention of everyone on the street, and amid their murmurs, Wu Xi Lan made a discreet exit, having achieved her goal. Yet, she couldn’t help but seethe with frustration from the bottom of her heart.

Back when her sect had no sword cultivators, she had once dreamed of doing business with the Sword Inheriting Sect. After all, it was a major sect securing a deal with them would have meant making a fortune.

But now, with Yu Chanyi’s presence in the sect and the addition of a junior Sword Cultivator sister, Wu Xi Lan had gained a new perspective, allowing her to perceive the arrogance and tyranny of the Sword Inheriting Sect.

The finest resources in Flame Province were almost entirely monopolized by the Sword Inheriting Sect, all allocated to their Sword Cultivators.

This left no room for survival for cultivators outside the Sword Inheriting Sect.

She had long prepared a backup plan for herself: if medicinal herbs became unavailable at the apothecary, she could still seek out Li Xu to purchase seeds. Li Xu had all kinds of seeds, including medicinal herbs.

However, with the Sword Debate Tournament approaching and the Sword Inheriting Sect aggressively purchasing herbs at inflated prices, Wu Xi Lan couldn’t be certain whether Li Xu would sell off all his seeds and herbs.

With unease weighing on her heart, she first returned to the Inexhaustible Sect, intending to grab something to please Li Xu before seeking him out. But the moment she stepped through the Restriction, she saw Li Xu standing in the courtyard.

Delighted, Wu Xi Lan hurried forward, but as she took in the scene in the courtyard, her steps gradually slowed.

In the blink of an eye, Li Xu who had been standing dropped to one knee.

Though his expression remained relatively calm, the hand gripping his sword seemed to withstand tremendous force. Though he still held the sword, it trembled uncontrollably, his knuckles strained white. His other hand braced against his knee; without the support of that arm, his body would likely have collapsed to the ground.

And Yu Chanyi’s sword was pointed at his throat.

The cold gleam of the blade reflected Li Xu’s disheveled state, while not a speck of dust clung to Yu Chanyi.

Her face was serene, her breathing steady without the slightest sign of exertion, and she looked down at Li Xu with lowered eyes.

If one were to replace the sword in her hand with a flowering branch, it would not seem out of place as though she were merely admiring the blossom in her hand. Her composure, both inside and out, was so complete it was as if she hadn’t just engaged in a fierce exchange.

Yu Chanyi said, “I concede your courtesy.”