Compared with that useless crowd of disciples of hers.

Ye Wenxuan was more willing to spend her patience on this unfamiliar young man.

"To a young prodigy such as yourself, I have no wish to preach."

Generally speaking, when a person denies something, the odds are they are about to do precisely that.

Shen Yi put the purple-gold pill furnace away into his storage treasure, brushed off his sleeve, and stood up.

That earlier remark meant he could hardly be said to like the woman. But he acknowledged that it was precisely her existence that had allowed Great Qian to scrape by at all.

And, with it, the version of himself who could sit in a Baiyun County eating house over a mouthful of yellow wine and a mouthful of braised meat.

"You have far better manners than Nie Jun."

Ye Wenxuan smiled faintly, her voice softening a little. "There's nothing wrong with your thinking, really. You were born here, after all. The only thing amiss is that your vision is set too low."

She laid a hand on Shen Yi's shoulder and instructed him earnestly, as an elder would. "If cultivation is a high mountain, then you are standing at the summit now. You can no longer consider your problems with the view from the foot of it."

Li Qingfeng stood outside the courtyard and shook his head with a bitter smile.

Even he, an actual disciple, had never in all his years on Wutong Mountain enjoyed treatment like that.

"You need to understand where the crux of it lies."

Ye Wenxuan looked toward the sky. "Take these demons of the Thousand Demon Den. They are strong, true enough — but what are they beside me? Were I willing to put in the effort, I could cut down every one of them by myself."

"But I cannot."

"The reason is simple. If those demons die, that old dog will not be able to sleep soundly. And if it cannot sleep, this world is finished."

"So the only thing we have to do is find someone who can deal with…