Earth Valley. The Mountain Beyond the Mountain.

True talent is welcome anywhere, but it’s safe to say there was no place in all the world that prized talent more than the Mountain Beyond the Mountain.

The Mountain Beyond the Mountain had originally been ruled by ten gods. But the two mightiest among them, contending for the seat of sovereign, slaughtered one another for ten thousand years, bringing incalculable ruin upon Earth Valley and the Mountain Beyond the Mountain alike. It was precisely for that reason that the eight gods caught up in the crossfire of that ten-thousand-year war resolved to join hands, and — while the two strongest lay weakened, each grievously wounded from savaging the other — struck back all at once, blasting their divine bodies into ash and cinders, then sealing the divine consciousnesses of both deep beneath the Mountain Beyond the Mountain. With the two strongest fallen, the eight gods — evenly matched, and all of them wounded in the great sealing battle — resolved to divide the “Eight-Quarter World” of the Mountain Beyond the Mountain among themselves, and at the same time to bring in outstanding talent from Earth Valley, hoping to swiftly restore a Mountain Beyond the Mountain left in ruin and desolation by the war of gods.

For ten thousand years since, no matter what a person’s specialty or type, so long as they came from Earth Valley to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain, they would be hired without regard to conventional standards.

The eight gods held the eight quarters, and in this age of peace, the divine nations they had resolved to build needed talent in great quantity. So any talent who came here saw their worth multiply a hundredfold, with every quarter vying to sign them.

The Reception Terrace of the Mountain Beyond the Mountain.

The reception envoy on duty, “Old Mao,” had spent the whole day sighing and groaning.

The rule here was that each year, the reception envoy representing each quarter could stand duty at this post for one month. Any talent received during that period belonged wholly to the representative on duty — unless the talent had already signed a divine contract with another quarter beforehand. For the remaining four months of the year, the reception envoys of all eight quarters joined together to recruit in common, with the highest bidder taking the prize.

The problem was that Old Mao, reception envoy of the Southeast Divine Nation, had been standing duty here for twenty-eight days and hadn’t received a single talent — nowhere close to the quota of “three talents” handed down from above. How could Old Mao not be anxious? How could he not spend all day drinking and sighing and groaning? As for actually meeting his quota, Old Mao had given up on that. He only hoped he might receive one talent, so as not to end with a goose egg!

“Talents these days get fewer and fewer. It wasn’t like this six thousand years ago. Back then, the Heaven Realm and the Sky Tower both sent us in Earth Valley a steady, unbroken stream of talent. Even if plenty of them didn’t want long-term appointments, they’d at least come temper themselves for a stretch, no trouble at all. Nowadays there aren’t even a handful of young ones coming to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain for trials. Hai — truly, each year is worse than the last!” Old Mao shook his head and sighed, lifted his wine gourd, and tipped a good draught down his throat. He reckoned his unblemished reception career — never once a goose egg — was about to be lost. Had he known, he’d have retired and quit the post three years ago. Now his good name in his twilight years was simply not going to survive!

“My lord, it looks like someone’s coming over there!” As a reception envoy of divine-envoy rank, Old Mao counted as middling in the Mountain Beyond the Mountain, and by his station and status he was entitled to a few servants. The one speaking now was a clever little imp with the powerful long-distance vision of a hawk’s eye.

This clever little imp was named “Guoguo.” His strength wasn’t much — he wasn’t yet capable of qualifying as a talent and entering the Mountain Beyond the Mountain. But he had a silver tongue and superb long-range sight, and that counted as a talent of a sort. So Old Mao had taken a fancy to him while on assignment in Earth Valley, brought this clever little imp of a mere three hundred years back to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain, and taken him on as a servant.

At Old Mao’s ear the words landed, and the hand tipping wine into his mouth froze on the spot.

Someone was coming?

It couldn’t really be a talent, could it?

Could it be that heaven had eyes, and, unwilling to watch his good name perish in his twilight years, had sent him a “talent” at the very last moment before the shame of the goose egg?

“Look closely — it may be a divine servant returning from assignment in Earth Valley. Whatever you do, don’t get it wrong!” Old Mao forcibly restrained the excitement in his heart. In truth he’d already summoned up his utmost eyesight and seen clearly: the newcomer really was a brand-new talent who had never once been registered, and not a divine servant returning from Earth Valley. What baffled Old Mao, though, was that this talent, who seemed to have dropped straight out of the sky, was simply too young. From the life-fluctuations naturally emanating off him, Old Mao found that this young man was only around twenty years old.

Only twenty?

Unbelievably young!

You had to understand that in a place like Earth Valley, three hundred years old was only just coming of age. At twenty you weren’t even a snot-nosed brat. To put it unkindly, a young man of a mere twenty years might well not be weaned yet…

“Welcome, welcome!” Weaned or not, Old Mao felt he absolutely had to land this young man of near-infant years — otherwise the reception career he’d carried for thousands of years without a single goose egg would have no way of drawing to a glorious, perfect close. Ordinarily, when receiving talents, Old Mao stood a bit on his own dignity; the first contact was always made by sending out a servant. But now, never mind his status as a divine envoy — he rushed forward and seized the newcomer’s hand in both of his.

“Where is this?” The newcomer was not only young but muddle-headed. He’d arrived at the Mountain Beyond the Mountain and didn’t even know where he was. Truly, one hardly knew what to say.

“Welcome. This is the Reception Terrace of the Mountain Beyond the Mountain. I am Mao Podi, reception divine envoy of the Southeast Divine Nation. You may call me ‘Old Mao.'” Absolutely refusing to end with a goose egg, Old Mao heaped his face with smiles, gripped the newcomer’s hand and would not let go, enthusiasm fairly bursting out of him.

“The Reception Terrace of the Mountain Beyond the Mountain?”

The newcomer went blank at the words.

After a long moment, he muttered to himself: “That fellow actually flung me all the way to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain?”

Guoguo, the clever little imp at Old Mao’s side, saw at once that something was off. This man was far too young, and he seemed to be hopelessly bad with directions — he’d lost his way, taken a wrong road, and blundered inexplicably onto this Reception Terrace. He wasn’t a talent transported here for having met the conditions at all.

He hurried to remind his master: “My lord, this — this seems a bit off!”

But what sort of figure was Old Mao?

A supremely shrewd old hand who, in several thousand years, had never once misjudged a man! As a reception envoy, if he couldn’t spot what was off at a single glance, then he’d have lived those few thousand years for nothing, and wasted a reception envoy’s pair of eyes besides!

Still — for the sake of that shameful record about to be born, he decided to play blind this once. Anyway, the young man before him was still very young, and even if his strength didn’t currently meet the standard for a talent, he was worth cultivating. Isn’t there a saying that youth is the greatest potential of all? He swept a hand through the air, cutting Guoguo off: “Nothing’s off at all — this is a talent! Little friend… ah, no, young brother — might I ask your name?”

“My surname is Yue. My given name is Titan.” The newcomer, taken for a man hopeless with directions, was a young fellow of quite outrageous good looks. Unsmiling he was well enough, but once he smiled it was simply something else. Old Mao counted himself fortunate not to favor the company of men, and not to be a woman — otherwise this kid would have bewitched him outright.

“Yue Titan, is it? I’ll just call you Little Titan, then. Little Titan, what special skills do you have?” Old Mao motioned for Guoguo to make out the talent registration record.

“Special skills? Does being handsome count?” The moment this Yue Titan opened his mouth, Guoguo, in charge of the registration, toppled headfirst to the ground and very nearly gave himself a brain hemorrhage.

“Ahem, ahem. There’s no need to mention handsome — everyone can see that. Besides handsome, do you have any other special skills?” Old Mao wasn’t the least bit angry. For one thing, he needed this talent Yue Titan to preserve his flawless reception career from the shadow of disgrace. For another — well, young people are always a bit full of themselves, and what was the point of squabbling with a child of a mere twenty years?

“Besides being handsome, I can do plenty of things. I’m not one of those pretty-boy types who’s good for nothing but his face…” Yue Titan scratched at his scalp, and for a good long while couldn’t come up with what else he was actually good at.

“Then let’s write ‘handsome’ down as the special skill for now!” Old Mao felt there was no need to make things hard on this little friend. Only twenty years old — being off the breast at all was impressive enough; what special skills could he possibly have? Asking him such a thing was deliberately putting him on the spot. Old Mao swept a hand through the air and had Guoguo enter “handsome” in the special-skills column. Guoguo filled it in with great reluctance, mouth twisted, feeling that handsome was worth jack shit — you couldn’t eat handsome for dinner!

“Thank you. Once I think of what my special skill is, I’ll be sure to tell you!” Yue Titan thanked Old Mao with great gratitude.

“Don’t mention it. Having this one special skill is quite enough for you.” Old Mao patted Yue Titan on the shoulder, indicating that this skill had considerable value too — especially that smile, more brilliant than sunlight, with lethality to spare. Women simply could not resist it. Old Mao reckoned he’d have to be careful from now on, and had best not bring this Yue Titan home for a banquet, or every woman under his roof might have her heart stolen clean away by the kid’s smile.

“Could you tell us your place of origin? If it needs to be kept confidential, you needn’t say.” Guoguo was thoroughly put out. Until now, at Lord Mao Podi’s side, he’d counted as the handsomest one around, and the youngest too. Plenty of people, Mao Podi’s own family included, doted on him all the more for it — some even said he was Lord Mao Podi’s illegitimate son. Now this Yue Titan had shown up, and his own position was suddenly a bit less secure.

Compare ages, and this Yue Titan was younger still — a mere twenty, young to a preposterous degree.

Compare looks, and there was no comparison at all: this snot-nosed brat was a genuine heartthrob.

Handsome enough to make a man jealous. One smile, and it’d stop your breath!

If Lord Mao Podi had deliberately brought this Yue Titan in, then his own position would likely be usurped by this snot-nosed brat…

Vexed as he was inside, he didn’t dare let it show. Instead he probed sideways, hoping to learn a little more about the fellow. Know yourself and know your enemy, and a hundred battles bring a hundred victories!

“An upright, aboveboard man like me has nothing to keep secret — there’s nothing I can’t say to another.” Yue Titan thumped his own chest, signaling that he was a fair and honorable gentleman, able to withstand the organization’s scrutiny, with a clear conscience toward heaven above, toward the earth below, and toward the people in between. This attitude, however, did not diminish Guoguo’s vexation by so much as a hair; if anything he found the fellow more detestable still. Isn’t he just a snot-nosed brat of twenty? How many days have you even been alive? How many things have you actually been through? Even if you wanted secrets, you’d have to live a few more days and weather a few more storms first!

“The Sky Tower?” Hearing Yue Titan’s answer, Old Mao knit his brows. “For the past several thousand years the Sky Tower seems to have produced very few newcomers. What’s been happening over there?”

“Nothing’s been happening at all. It’s fine!” Yue Titan indicated that there were no problems with the Sky Tower.

“How did you come to be at the Mountain Beyond the Mountain?” Guoguo couldn’t resist asking. Ordinarily this wasn’t a thing you could press about in detail, touching as it did on the privacy of a man’s cultivation — but faced with a man so hopeless with directions that he’d lost his way all the way to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain, Guoguo truly couldn’t hold the question back.

“I don’t know either. I was cultivating in a certain place, and just when I was a hair’s breadth from finishing, some nameless fellow — I’d guess an utter bastard with no humanity and no feeling whatsoever — took me, right in the middle of very pleasantly absorbing energy, and flung me here. And told me to fetch something or other.” Yue Titan spread both hands and shook his head, muddled beyond the muddiest of muddleheads. “Heaven knows what that was supposed to mean. Anyway, I wound up here for no reason I can make out. I’m not too clear on it myself…”

“Ah — excellent!” Old Mao sat stunned for a good while. Had it not been for his reception career, he certainly would never have taken on a muddlehead like this. But now he had no room to choose, and could only shut one eye and squint with the other. Besides — the fellow was young, yes, but he had potential, and though he was hopeless with directions, he might well have some great personage backing him. Otherwise, how could he have been delivered here to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain?

A man like this — even taken on as a freeloader eating idle rice, one more wouldn’t hurt.

And that great power behind him might well be a god — might even be that one, of the Southeast Divine Nation. Otherwise, why send him to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain precisely while Old Mao was on duty? However you looked at it, taking on this Yue Titan was a must. Whether he could draw a connection to the great power behind the boy could wait — at the very least, a supreme power capable of casually flinging a man all the way to the Mountain Beyond the Mountain was not a person to offend!

Guoguo was a clever imp, and he worked out this much for himself as well. His jealousy of Yue Titan remained, but any thought of quietly tripping him up died on the spot, frightened clean out of him.

“Little Titan, going by your age and your strength, you fall just a touch short of our standard. But our Southeast Divine Nation employs talent without regard to convention, and you have potential, so we have decided to hire you. If you agree, you may sign this divine contract. It’s provisional, of course. Once your strength has risen and you’ve proven where your value lies, you’ll receive higher pay and better terms.” Old Mao handed Yue Titan a special talent-employment divine contract of the very sort Guoguo had spent years hoping for and never once received.

“Provisional apprentice divine servant?” Yue Titan swept his eyes over the divine contract, then shook his head in displeasure. “I’m not being anyone’s slave. At home I’m a young master!”

“…” Guoguo toppled headfirst to the ground again. You’re a spoiled young lordling — a blind man could see that. But whatever your status at home, once you come to Earth Valley’s Mountain Beyond the Mountain, without strength you aren’t worth a fart! Provisional apprentice divine servant it might be, but the terms were a hundred times better than what Guoguo himself received, and he’d already given the Southeast Divine Nation decades of labor. And this kid still wasn’t satisfied — it was enough to make a man see ghosts in broad daylight!

“A divine servant isn’t truly a slave — it’s a rank title.” Old Mao explained with a bitter smile. “In the beginning there were no divine servants; there were only divine attendants, divine envoys, and divine generals. But because we needed to bring in talent in large numbers, including those who couldn’t meet the divine attendant standard, we specially established the rank title of divine servant, one step below divine attendant.”

“‘Divine servant’ means a servant who walks the world on a god’s behalf — to a certain degree, representing the god’s will. What’s wrong with that?” Guoguo couldn’t help roaring in exasperation.

“I’m not being a servant, and that’s that — not even a god’s servant!” Yue Titan indicated this point was not up for discussion.

“You wouldn’t even qualify if you wanted it!” Guoguo lost his temper entirely. Kid, could you show one shred of self-awareness, one shred of shame? Someone hands you face and you throw it back?

“Then I’ll go home.” Yue Titan turned to leave.

“Don’t! Whatever you do, don’t go back — coming here is a kind of destiny!” Old Mao hastily blocked his way. On second thought — that supreme power who’d sent Yue Titan here, if it really was the one above him, and Old Mao sent the delivered seed of potential packing back home… failing his quota and catching a reprimand would be the light end of it; he might well face a thunderous, furious punishment. That was not something he could bear. Thinking it through, he gave an inward shiver, and hurried to heap his face with smiles again: “I, Old Mao, am only a reception divine envoy; my authority is rather limited. But I’ll exert my utmost personal ability and give you a contract as an apprentice divine attendant. What do you say to that?”

“My lord?” Guoguo very nearly thought his master had gone mad.

“You, shut it!” Old Mao felt that at a moment like this, you couldn’t catch a wolf without giving up a child. To keep this Yue Titan, he’d accept bleeding a little. It was employing talent without regard to convention, after all — and however you cut it, land the talent first and talk later!

(End of Chapter 1133)