Chapter 204: A Mountain Taller than Any They Could Imagine
Yu Guang parted ways with a still dumbfounded Yang Can and hurried back to the small, secluded courtyard.
In the shadowy corner of the courtyard, Yu Yin stood, his pale hand covered in fine, hair-like strands of spider silk that extended down into the soil. The cat perched on the wall suddenly twitched its ears, its gray eyes looking toward the end of the path.
Yu Yin’s expression shifted slightly as strands of spider silk surged from beneath him, pushing the remaining branches and leaves in the courtyard neatly into a corner before swiftly retracting.
As Yu Guang opened the gate and entered, he saw the now-clean courtyard and walked over to Yu Yin with a broad smile, giving his frail younger brother an affectionate hug.
“Well done, Youngest!”
He let go of his brother and announced happily, “Come on, big brother will take you to eat something delicious.”
…
The courtyard had its own kitchen, but the Divine Academy also had a large dining hall where most students preferred to eat.
Yu Guang had no strong attachment to cooking himself; previously, he’d had no choice but to cook, but now that there was a dining hall, he naturally chose that option. Besides, he was well aware that his younger brother found his cooking rather unpalatable.
The Divine Academy, training future cultivators, was wealthy enough to occupy an entire mountain, so the dining hall was also grand, offering a wide variety of foods.
Yu Guang picked out a selection of soft, easy-to-eat dishes for Yu Yin, setting a large plate on the table before them.
As the two sat down to eat, the cat crouched nearby, its gray eyes fixed intently on Yu Guang.
He ate bowl after bowl, going for more several times, making people wonder if he’d ever actually eaten his fill before.
He wasn’t a particularly strong-looking teenager, so where was all that food going?
But it had to be said, he ate with such relish that it was hard not to feel hungry watching him. Even Yu Yin, who had been staring at him, unknowingly finished all the food in front of him.
Those around him who couldn’t resist sneaking glances felt the same—the food seemed somehow tastier than usual.
Yu Guang, by himself, set off a lively, enthusiastic atmosphere in the dining hall.
A few students, looking a bit furtive, slipped in through the hall’s entrance.
They all had bruised and swollen faces and went straight to the food counter to pack up meals, each carrying several large boxes.
Then they suddenly noticed Yu Guang eating in the corner and, terrified, didn’t dare look up before quickly slipping out of the hall.
“Weren’t those guys from the Tianchong class just now?”
“What happened to them? Who beat them up like that—could it have been the teachers?”
“No way would the teachers lay a hand on them. I heard it was that guy over there.”
Someone gestured in Yu Guang’s direction.
The incident on the martial arts training ground in the back hill hadn’t gone unnoticed by Yang Can—there were also a few other students nearby who saw it.
Seeing the students from the Tianchong class suffer a setback was rare news, so word spread quickly.
Those prideful students from the Tianchong class thought no one knew, so they chose a few of the less injured students to fetch food while the others gathered in a large courtyard to discuss how they could restore their reputation.
“We were caught off guard today, ambushed by him suddenly. Next time, this won’t happen!”
“Listen to yourself—do you even believe that?”
“What’s with you, boosting someone else’s morale while diminishing our own? I don’t believe that the thirty of us really couldn’t beat him!”
“I think he’s just brute strength, nothing more.”
“We’re stronger and bigger than him in martial strength, yet he still knocked us flying. You call that brute force?”
“Alright, stop arguing. Tomorrow, we’ll set up a formation to trap him, and we’ll be able to give him a proper beating!”
Originally, they hadn’t intended to go all out, but today’s defeat had been too humiliating. They were completely overpowered without a chance to fight back.
Now, they had no choice but to take it seriously.
As they were talking, the food arrived, and the group, clutching their sore backs and bruised faces, went to eat. Only four people remained seated.
“Pei Wenjue, do you really think a formation will work against him?” asked Ban Ying, the only girl among the four.
She’d been thrown into a pond, and her hair was still damp.
“Whatever happens, we have to try. Are we supposed to surrender without a fight?” Pei Wenjue gritted his teeth.
He was from the distinguished Pei family, where the elders were all cultivators. He had always been the family favorite and took great pride in his appearance and bearing. But now, with dark bruises under his eyes, he looked even more disheveled than Ban Ying.
Wu Jin, who was as large and strong as a giant, rubbed his sore stomach and spoke honestly, “Surrender without a fight? Didn’t we fight already? We fought several times, and we still lost.”
Pei Wenjue shot him a glare and then asked the silent young man polishing his knife beside him, “Ming Yu, what do you think? Are you going to admit defeat, too?”
Wu Jin shouted, “When did I say I was surrendering!”
Ming Yu, clutching his knife, finally said after a pause, “Yu Guang looks like he knows how to handle a blade. He took mine right out of my hand—he’s skilled.”
“But I won’t admit defeat that easily.”
The four of them were the most talented in the Tianchong class, and nearly everyone else followed their lead.
They exchanged glances and saw a determined, fighting spirit in each other’s eyes.
“Right, we’ll never admit defeat!”
…
On the second day, the Tianchong class, who tried to surround and beat up the new student with a formation, didn’t even manage to set it up before the new student disrupted it. Then, he single-handedly beat up the entire group.
“You just wait; we won’t admit defeat that easily!”
Everyone staggered away, supporting each other as they ran off.
On the third day, they finally managed to set up the formation in advance and even figured out a way to lure Yu Guang into it.
But before they could celebrate, Yu Guang broke the formation and ran out. Everyone’s faces turned pale, and no amount of desperate resistance worked—they got another beating.
On the fourth day, Pei Wenjue followed the strategy they had decided on the night before, instructing everyone to hide in the mountains and ambush Yu Guang rather than facing him head-on.
In the end, they couldn’t even ambush him. The Tianchong class students, hiding on the mountainside, constantly heard the anguished cries of their classmates from various directions and frantically tried to hide all over the mountain.
But there was nowhere to hide. One by one, they were dragged out and got to fully experience the intense thrill of a survival chase.
In the end, Yu Guang gathered them all on the training ground, counted them to make sure no one was missing, then let them go with ease.
“This is a complete humiliation!” Pei Wenjue fumed, pacing around the courtyard. “He’s treating us like mice to toy with!”
Today’s mountain skirmish had been turned into a cat-and-mouse game by Yu Guang. None of the traps they set had caught him.
In the forest, Yu Guang concealed his movements better than any of them, appearing out of nowhere. If he hadn’t chosen to reveal himself, they wouldn’t have even known where he was.
Whether it was direct combat, flanking maneuvers, or sneak attacks, they had failed every single time.
“Let me think about how we’ll deal with him tomorrow!” Pei Wenjue said, but many of them stayed silent.
After a long pause, someone finally spoke up, “Forget it. It’s been days, and we really can’t beat Yu Guang.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to get hit again. I admit defeat,” others agreed.
After getting beaten time and time again without a shred of hope for victory, most of them had lost their spirit.
Their bodies were battered, and even their spirits had taken a hit.
These proud geniuses had encountered someone far beyond their reach, a mountain taller than any they could imagine, and now had no will left to fight. They just wanted a truce.
Even among the four, only Pei Wenjue still refused to concede.
“I want to ask him for guidance,” said Ming Yu, who was obsessed with swordsmanship and was the first to give in.
“Actually, I want to be friends with him—or rather, call him big brother,” Wu Jin admitted with an embarrassed chuckle.
“Pei Wenjue, we lost. Admit it, there’s nothing shameful in that,” Ban Ying advised.
Pei Wenjue: “…”
Feeling betrayed by everyone, Pei Wenjue left the courtyard in a fit of anger and shame.
He knew, after all, that Yu Guang was like a towering mountain, suddenly appearing before him, seemingly impossible to surpass and making him feel utterly defeated.
Proud as he was, Pei Wenjue had always been the best, and he couldn’t accept this new reality just yet.
He felt he couldn’t stay at the Divine Academy, wanting to leave and return home for a few days, but he worried that if his family noticed the bruises on his face and body, they’d come to the academy demanding answers.
And if he had to rely on his family to defend his honor, that would be even more humiliating.
After hesitating for a moment, he grudgingly made his way to the dining hall.
For the past few days, he’d had others pack meals for him, and he hadn’t set foot in the dining hall himself.
Doing his best to ignore the curious glances, he kept a stony expression as he got his food—only to notice that annoying Yu Guang was there, too.
Yu Guang was sitting in the corner with his thin, unremarkable little brother, nearly hidden by the pile of bowls and plates stacked around them.
Pei Wenjue instinctively wanted to leave but realized that if he did, it would look like he was afraid of Yu Guang.
So, gritting his teeth, he carried his food over and deliberately sat down nearby.
With a stiff face, Pei Wenjue ate without tasting a thing.
Yu Guang noticed him and, as if greeting an old friend, casually called out, “Xiao Pei, here to eat?”
Without waiting for a response, Yu Guang went back to his meal, not forgetting to pick food for his younger brother across the table.
Hearing himself called “Xiao Pei,” Pei Wenjue shot a glare in their direction, only to be startled by a skinny, gray-eyed cat suddenly popping up from the pile of bowls and plates.
The cat’s eyes were strange, giving off an eerie, gloomy look.
Pei Wenjue fumbled, picking up the chopsticks that had fallen onto his plate, feeling even more embarrassed. Being wary of Yu Guang was one thing, but was he now going to be scared of a cat, too?
Determined, he forced himself to stare back at the cat, when suddenly he noticed Yu Yin turning his head toward him.
In the past few days, Pei Wenjue hadn’t paid attention to Yu Yin, only knowing him as the sickly blind kid.
Yu Guang often brought his younger brother along, always seating him nearby, not too close but never allowing him to interact with the rest of the class.
This was the first time Pei Wenjue had seen Yu Yin up close.
To his surprise, he found that Yu Yin was strikingly handsome.
It was clear he was still young, with skin that seemed to glow like pearl, and the black cloth over his eyes only enhanced his unique allure.
Pei Wenjue was momentarily dazed, recognizing how exceptionally good-looking Yu Yin was, yet he couldn’t help but feel an underlying sense of rejection.
An instinctive caution, rooted in his blood, made him wary, though he couldn’t look away.
Suddenly, a hand—the very one that had left his eyes bruised—reached over, twisting his neck and forcibly turning his gaze away.
The same hand also turned Yu Yin’s head, breaking their gaze.
Pei Wenjue snapped back to reality, a layer of cold sweat rising on his back.
When he looked again, Yu Guang had withdrawn his hand, and Yu Yin’s face was once more hidden behind the stack of dishes.
“Time to train your willpower, Xiao Pei,” Yu Guang told him.
Pei Wenjue, who initially wanted to ask what had just happened, became so angry upon hearing those words that he immediately put aside the strange feeling from earlier.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Strengthening willpower involves controlling your emotions; otherwise, it’ll be easy for you to be influenced by my family’s Yu Yin. There’s no way you can defeat me like this.”
With “no way you can defeat me” echoing in his mind, Pei Wenjue was so furious he couldn’t even finish his meal and left in a huff.
Yu Guang, unaware that he had driven the young man away, turned back to his food and said to Yu Yin, “You should eat more, Youngest, to grow up strong and healthy—best if you could be like Xiao Pei and the others.”
“Young people have energy, strength, and resilience.”
Yu Yin took a while to finally sip a spoonful of meat porridge, thinking about that boy with bruises all over his face, limping as he walked, and wondered, ‘So if I grow strong, you’ll feel free to beat me up too?’
After watching for several days, he had already noticed that his “big brother” had an exceptional sense of control, as if he had trained thousands of students with precision.
For the weaker members of the Tianchong Class, he would hold back his strength, while for the stronger ones, he would push a bit more, ensuring they could handle it.
As for him, due to his young and delicate body, he was handled with extra care.
