The two attacks collided head on.
Neither Ao Bai nor Xi Yun backed down.
The infernal breath scorched the surroundings to ashes, and the Shattering Soul Blade sliced through space itself.
A huge explosion erupted outward.
Space cracked, time slowed, and even the world itself started to shiver.
The world around the explosion was destroyed from existence.
The loud sounds echoed throughout the world and mortals everywhere cowered in fear.
———
In a faraway mortal city.
A young girl hugged her grandmother closely.
Her hands kept on shaking as she hugged her grandmother even tighter, trying to hide in her embrace.
"Grandma, will we be okay?"
Her grandmother also closed her eyes.
"The Great Sage will save us..."
She wasn't sure he would, the Great Sage never really interfered in the mortal world.
But to someone in need, even the faintest hope shines like a star.
———
The mortal world trembled under the pressure of the attack, and Yi Lan's bubble was knocked to the ground.
In truth, Ao Bai would have won if he hadn't been protecting Yi Lan and trying to minimize the damage.
And Xi Yun knew this, that's why he had also been holding back his large scale attacks.
Yi Lan's bubble reached the ground, and it settled there.
In the sky, the collision of the two attacks had ended.
Both Ao Bai and Xi Yun fell to the ground.
The stench of something burning stirred all around, and a metallic taste hovered in the air.
Everything in the vicinity of their fight had been reduced to nothingness.
Zhu Fan stood at the edge of the crater.
No one noticed when he got there, it was like he was always present there.
Shaking his head in disappointment, Zhu Fan waved his hands.
A green light emerged over the scorched wasteland.
And from that light, new life emerged.
The world slowly reverted itself back to the state it was in.
And just like that, it was as if the fight had never even happened.
Then, Zhu Fan appeared beside Ao Bai.
"Master!"
Both Ao Bai and Yi Lan bowed to Zhu Fan immediately.
Seeing the injured Ao Bai bowing before him, Zhu Fan smiled.
"No need to push yourself. You're injured, you should focus on recovery."
Then, he looked towards Xi Yun.
Sensing his gaze, Xi Yun stopped attending to his wounds.
Then, he scanned over Zhu Fan's face with his eyes.
Xi Yun spoke with a slight strain in his voice. It was clear that his injuries were quite serious.
"Greetings, Great Sage Zhu Fan."
Even saying those words, there was a hint of competition in his eyes.
It was as if this man standing in front of him, the Great Sage, was his next target to surpass.
Zhu Fan chuckled at the competitive spirit in his eyes.
"Child, do you wish to ask me something?"
Xi Yun hesitated for a moment, could the Great Sage also read minds?
But, he decided to ask his question anyways.
"Senior, please tell me. This child has merely a broken fire spirit root, yet you took her in as a disciple. But when I came to you to seek your mentorship, you refused me. Why do that so?"
Even knowing that the decision made no sense, Xi Yun patiently waited for an answer.
The person standing in front of him was the Great Sage, someone who had lived countless millennia. Surely, his decisions must have a reason?
Zhu Fan looked at him with a bit of surprise. In truth, the day Xi Yun had come to seek his mentorship, he was quite busy tending to his garden.
He had truly wanted to accept Xi Yun as a disciple, but he also did not want his peaches to dry up.
In the end, he chose his peaches over taking Xi Yun as a disciple.
Looking back at Xi Yun, Zhu Fan simply sighed and looked at the horizon.
"Not everything in this world depends on talent, child. Sometimes, it is the will to achieve something that matters more."
Xi Yun looked like he almost had an epiphany.
So that was it! I didn't have the will to be accepted as a disciple!
Then, his gaze drifted over to Yi Lan.
How terrifying must her will be in order to be recognized by the Great Sage and taken in despite her talent?!
His gaze held an almost reverant admiration.
Yi Lan noticed his creepy gaze, and her hands clenched involuntarily.
She really wanted to punch this weirdo right now.
Then, Xi Yun said something that no one expected.
"Child... No, senior. Please take me as your disciple!"
And the surprising part was that he had said it to Yi Lan, not even to Ao Bai.
Yi Lan panicked, her breathing sped up slightly, and she barely stuttered out a response.
"Bu- wha- huh!?!"
Xi Yun just continued without a care.
"You see, as long as there's something to learn from someone, status and seniority don't matter. What matters is learning."
Zhu Fan raised an eyebrow, surprised at his wise words.
He chuckled, then turned to Xi Yun.
"Now, now. Don't fluster my disciple."
He sighed, then continued to speak.
"You have proven your will to me, if you wish, you can be my disciple."
Xi Yun looked towards Yi Lan, silently gauging whether he should accept Zhu Fan's offer or not.
Then, his desire for growth ultimately won out.
"Master!"
He bowed to Zhu Fan.
Zhu Fan just smiled.
Then, he broke off a tree branch and fashioned it into a makeshift fishing rod.
"I wanted to go fishing today, does any of you want to join me?"
All of them excitedly agreed, but for their own reasons.
Yi Lan thought it would be a fun opportunity to try out something she had never done before.
Ao Bai just wanted to eat fish for dinner.
And Xi Yun thought that Zhu Fan was going to teach them something on this trip.
And Zhu Fan? He just wanted to fish.
———
Zhu Fan sat on a tree stump at the edge of a pond.
The crystal-like water rippled slowly.
The golden rays of sunlight reflected on the surface of the pond water.
Mortals buzzed on the other side of the pond, all discussing the tremors earlier that day.
Some said it was a catastrophe, and that the end of the world was coming.
Some said it was an earthquake, and that it was nothing to worry about.
And a few suggested that it was a scuffle between cultivators.
But there was one thing that they all agreed on.
And that was that the Great Sage was the one who saved them.
Listening to the chatter, Zhu Fan tried not to focus on it too much.
He shifted his attention back to the pond in front of him.
Fish swam about in the pond.
The larger fish ate the smaller ones, and the smaller fish ate the algea.
To Zhu Fan, this was no different than mortals and cultivators.
It was the cycle of karma, after all.
Even as he sat on the edge of the pond, the fish seemed to avoid him completely.
All living beings feared death, it was a primordial fear.
And naturally, they also feared beings stronger than themselves.
His mere presence was enough to scare of any and all wild animals.
Zhu Fan looked at the fish avoiding him, then he sighed.
"I can't even fish in peace any more..."
He retracted his presence from the world, and hid it inside his body completely.
The world suddenly felt a lot lighter, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from it.
Not just the fishes, but every living being in the mortal world felt the change.
Nearby, the fat dragon, Ao Bai, rested.
Ao Bai's wounds had almost fully healed already.
His spirit energy had calmed down, and due to him being a dragon, his presence clamed the fishes around him.
Occasionally, he would flick his tail into the pond and splash some water everywhere, much to Zhu Fan's annoyance.
The fat dragon still held the weird egg that Zhu Fan had purchased from the stall.
He had specially gone back to the Paradise Immortal's Mountain to grab it.
Ao Bai had taken a weird liking to the egg, though whenever Yi Lan asked him about it, Ao Bai would just shrug it off as a pasttime.
Zhu Fan had once asked him about it too, but not like Yi Lan.
He had just asked him,
"That egg... It is related to Yi Lan's fate, yes?"
Ao Bai knew that he couldn't hide anything from his master.
Nearby, Yi Lan was lying on the grass.
All the excitement she had about trying out something new had already worn off.
Fishing required patience, something that a child like her did not have.
Yi Lan looked at her master, then whined in her usual fashion.
"Master!! Why are we still fishing? Can't we do something fun?"
It was true, cultivators really had no reason to fish.
They did not need to eat, and there are a lot of other pasttimes in the world, like playing chess.
But Zhu Fan did not respond.
He just put some bait on the fish hook, and threw it into the pond.
Having been ignored by her own master, Yi Lan whined even more.
Nearby, Xi Yun sat on the ground next to Zhu Fan.
He kept a close eye on everything that Zhu Fan did, and even noted down all of his habits.
Xi Yun had decided that he would follow and observe his master.
To him, Zhu Fan had become the greatest cultivator.
And that meant that even his little habits would have an unparalleled amount of wisdom.
In just the past hour, he had filled over three notebooks with notes about Zhu Fan's habits.
Yi Lan stopped whining after a while, and ram over to Ao Bai.
Getting on his back, she quickly tapped his back.
"Senior Bai, let's have some fun!"
But Ao Bai just pushed her off.
"You're on your own now, I don't want master to get angry."
Finally, Zhu Fan looked over at Yi Lan again.
"Disciple, stop causing trouble and sit down."
Yi Lan however, was not going to give in so easily.
"I don't want to! Cultivators should have adventures, help people, fight evil, not sit around and fish all day long!"
For a moment, a certain nostalgic feeling passed through his eyes.
He had once been like her too, reckless and hotheaded, always thinking about adventures and power.
Then, he had met someone, and that someone had taught him something extremely valuable.
He knew he couldn't make Yi Lan stop being reckless, she was still young after all.
But he could at least impart this piece of advice, and hope that she remembers it someday.
He slowly set the fishing rod aside, the hook still cast.
He slowly began, his words echoed a wisdom that seemed to come from experience.
"Cultivation trains the spirit, but fishing... Fishing trains patience."
He smiled, then looked at Yi Lan.
She was far too young to understand his words properly, and he knew that too.
He just hoped that she would keep his words in mind for later.
On the other side, Xi Yun was frantically taking even more notes.
Ever since he had become a disciple, he hand stopped taking notes at all.
Looking at him, Zhu Fan simply made a tiny remark.
"It seems you didn't understand my meaning?"
Xi Yun paused.
He put his notebook aside, then he turned to face Zhu Fan.
"What do you mean, Master?"
Zhu Fan smiled, and responded in a soft voice.
"Patience is just as important as talent."
Xi Yun looked at Yi Lan, his eyes had the same question as hers.
What does that mean?
Ao Bai chuckled, then decided to help the two a bit.
"Master means that you're too busy trying to attain your goals to focus on what's in front of you."
The two still didn't get it, so Ao Bai decided to help them a bit more.
He turned to Xi Yun, and said.
"You're far too busy taking notes about master to focus on what matters most right now."
Xi Yun thought it over, then he realized that he had been too busy taking notes to focus on what they were doing.
He had been too focused on his goals to enjoy himself.
Ao Bai didn't explain to Yi Lanz however.
He just said that she's too young to understand.
The sun started to go down, and the four prepared to leave.
Just as the slightest bits of sliver shone from over the mountains, a subtle disturbance in the fishing rod caught their attention.
Immediately, Zhu Fan reeled the hook back up.
Ao Bai, Xi Yun, and Yi Lan gathered around him, waiting in anticipation.
As Zhu Fan pulled the fish from the fish hook, and held it in his palms.
A tiny fish—barely the size of his finger—lay on his palm.
As Zhu Fan saw the fish, he immediately let it go again.
Yi Lan immediately questioned him for it.
"Master! It took so long to catch that tiny fish, why did you let it go!?"
Zhu Fan smiled, and gently responded.
"Because, my dear disciple. It's not about whether you failed or succeeded. It's about the fact that you had the patience to try."