The Old Dragon’s information was the first Ji Yuan had recently heard about other immortal cultivators taking action, particularly with regards to Yuhuai Mountain in Dazhen’s Ji Province.

However, the Old Dragon was only particularly concerned about the related events due to the previous incident with the True Demon. The specific details of that incident were only known to the parties involved, and unless something happened, he would not take the initiative to contact Yuhuai Mountain.

“Mr. Ji, since this has occurred, do you plan to contact Yuhuai Mountain? In any case, this old man won’t be dealing with that group of ‘immortals.’”

The Old Dragon deliberately drew out the pronunciation of the word “immortals.” It was a disparaging joke he would often make about other cultivators in front of Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan’s expression was not as relaxed as the Old Dragon’s.

“Tianji Pavilion’s vague predictions were leaked, and Dazhen only attracted a little attention. However, Yuhuai Mountain is different. If it is not handled well, it will be placed at the center of a controversy.”

The Old Dragon looked at Ji Yuan and couldn’t help but say something.

“Look on the bright side. If Tianji Pavilion’s predictions are true, Yuhuai Mountain can seize this opportunity to flourish alongside Dazhen’s Qi, it may become world-famous. After all, that Jade Lump¹ Mountain has a good heritage. Their rumored imperial edict is indeed real, and it is a mountain decree² that can select a mountain god. The only issue is that Yuhuai Mountain doesn’t have anyone who can modify this decree, so it can only guard the mountain gate.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

Ji Yuan was stunned for a moment. It seemed that the rumored mountain decree really existed. The Old Dragon’s words were always credible, but he still couldn’t help but ask another question.

“Mr. Ji, you didn’t know? I thought you were already aware of this since you were temporarily living in Ji Province.”

Ji Yuan’s thoughts were rather distant.

“I mentioned to you before that I know very little about the current affairs of the world of cultivation. I wasn’t joking.”

The Old Dragon frowned, thought for a moment, then continued the topic.

“Yuhuai Mountain holds the Mountain Decree. In fact, the people of Yuhuai Mountain are very smart. They have not bothered to conceal this matter over the decades, and deliberately fanned the flames of rumor. Instead, people who know about it believe it to be false, and just a bit of rumor and gossip³ for Yuhuai Mountain so that they can gain influence.”

“Then how did Mr. Ying know about this?”

“Hehe, as for me, I had some conflicts with Yuhuai Mountain back when I first transformed into a True Dragon. After I ascended to True Dragon, I wanted to go to Yuhuai Mountain to cause trouble for them. If it hadn’t been for the Mountain Decree that suppressed me with all the force of Yucui Mountain, that little Jade Lump sect would have brushed away with a few sweeps of my dragon tail long ago!”

Ji Yuan felt a little helpless. It was true that people of the dragon clan should not be offended, but he still felt the need to speak out a bit.

“When you, Old Sir, turned into a dragon and caused a flood in Ji Province, it was only natural for the cultivators of Yuhuai Mountain to come to stop you. Since have been bringing rain to Ji Province for over two hundred years with no issue, why do you still hold a grudge against Yuhuai Mountain?”

The Old Dragon grinned and looked at his friend.

“Mr. Ji knows that I’m not a tyrannical person. If Yuhuai Mountain really came out to stop the flood when it was on the rise, that would be it. For example, I still respect the former City God of Duming Prefecture, though he has long since perished. But that group of bastards… I remember they were led by a young boy named Taoist Zi Yu. After the confrontation, when I went into the river and headed for the sea, they thought I was exhausted, and wanted to cut off the river and cut off my path forwards as a dragon. How could I tolerate this?”

As the old dragon spoke, dragon energy spilled out from the corners of his mouth, causing the branches and leaves of the jujube tree in the courtyard to tremble slightly.

Alright then. Ji Yuan stopped talking.

​​Common sense could provide a reason for things like preemptive measures. However, in the end, this kind matter was something that both parties involved should discuss at their own discretion. Yuhuai Mountain could not possibly have missed the commotion when the City God of Duming Prefecture shattered his golden body to injure the young flood dragon. Afterwards, the flood dragon had obviously made some effort to restrain itself and change course away from attacking. That incident had happened after it had entered the river. It couldn’t conclusively be labeled as the wrong move to make, but it inevitably angered the Old Dragon.

It was no wonder that the Old Dragon would cause trouble after having entered the sea and transforming into a True Dragon. As for how he settled in the Tongtian River afterwards, that was a different story altogether.

“Well, they stopped me once, and I retaliated once, so now we’re even. I won’t bring up the past anymore.”

To be honest, Ji Yuan felt that the Old Dragon also knew deep down that he was the one who had caused the flood in the first place. Otherwise, with his personality, how could he so easily let go of this grudge after having only caused trouble for them once?

“It would be better for me to deal with Yuhuai Mountain by myself…”

“Precisely!”

The Old Dragon suddenly laughed, as if he had been waiting for Ji Yuan to say these exact words, then he added another sentence.

“To be honest, I always felt that if Tianji Pavilion’s predictions were related to Yuhuai Mountain, it would be more accurate to say that they were related to Mr. Ji. Haha, then not even Yuhuai Mountain is qualified for that destiny!”

Since Ji Yuan kept his own counsel, he simply smiled and said nothing.

Most of the things the two talked about afterwards related in some way to the rumors surrounding Tianji Pavilion. As the saying went, let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off;⁴ in truth, Tianji Pavilion was the true driving force, and just as many individuals paid attention to them as did to Dazhen. It was merely that things in the secular world were out of their reach for the time being.

. . .

The Wei family of Desheng Prefecture was quite active behind the scenes recently, but the outside world was not aware.

The main contributor to their obscurity was that Wei Wuwei’s behavior was quite low-key and secretive, and all the various families that he contacted were all only concerned about their own interests, and didn’t bother to publicize anything to the outside world. Thus, no one was aware of the Wei family’s actions.

In fact, after Mr. Ji’s visit to the Wei Family Mansion, Wei Wuwei had gone to see the elder again, and decided to speed up the preparations.

Before, it had been uncertain whether Wei Wuwei himself could enter Yuhuai Mountain, so it was better to delay for now and give Xiao Yuansheng some time to prepare. Now that they had the mysterious Mr. Ji’s guarantee, it was a sure thing, so it was better to depart sooner rather than later.

Today was the ninth day of the fifth lunar month, and the Dragon Boat Festival had only just passed a couple days ago.⁵ In Ji Province, it was called the Dragon Sun Festival.⁶ Although others would understand the first term, few used it.

Qu Yuan⁷

did not exist in this world, so the origin story of the Dragon Sun Festival naturally lacked this part of the legend. The festival mainly came about due to factors including the ancient worship of celestial phenomena, which evolved into the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches,⁸ but with the addition of zongzi rice dumplings.

Early in the morning, two horsemen rode back to the gate of the Wei Family Mansion. After dismounting and giving a short explanation to the gatekeeper, they hurried inside.

Moments later, in a hall somewhere in the mansion, Wei Wuwei listened to the report of his two servants, a cup of tea in hand.

“Mr. Ji accepted the rice dumplings and snacks sent by the patriarch. He seemed especially pleased with the jars of Qianrichun. He said it was very thoughtful!”

Wei Wuwei smiled when he heard this.

“Patriarch, since you value Mr. Ji so much, why didn’t you go in person?”

Wei Wuwei obviously deeply trusted these two servants, which was why they dared to ask such a question.

Wei Wuwei shook his head and took a sip of tea before answering.

“You don’t understand. This is good. It doesn’t seem deliberate, clingy, or overbearing, and it places value on the connection. By the way, did Mr. Ji say anything else?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s fine. You may go.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The two servants bowed and retreated. However, once they were halfway to the door, Wei Wuwei suddenly called out from behind him and asked a question.

“By the way, is the jujube tree in bloom?”

“Before we returned home, the whole of Tian Niu Lane was filled with fragrance.”

Wei Wuwei muttered, “As expected,” and waved his hands to signal the two to leave.

Although Wei Wuwei considered waiting until the jujube tree bore fruit to leave, he didn’t want to make it seem like he intentionally wanted something, so he finally set off with his son on the fifteenth day of the fifth lunar month.

His traveling companions included Wei Wuwei’s uncle and a group of the Wei family’s most skilled servant. The Wei family mother had cried most of the previous night, as if she thought she were sending them off on their final farewell, never to see them again.

The straight-line distance from Desheng Prefecture’s capital city to Yuhuai Mountain was about about eight-hundred or nine-hundred li, which was nearly halfway across Ji Province. This was still just the straight-line distance, however; on the way, one would have to go around and through Yucui Mountain. The Wei family estimated that it would take them about half a month.

The procedures for their journey were all familiar to them. About ten days later, the Wei family temporarily parked the carriage in the village at the foot of the mountain, brought out their supplies, and began walking into the mountains together.

Aside from the child, Wei Yuansheng, every individual in the group was a skilled martial artist. After five days of climbing over mountains and crossing ridges in Yucui Mountain, they finally reached the foot of Yunwu Mountain.

In the past few days, they had picked wild fruits, slaughtered wild beasts, been bitten by poisonous insects, and suffered from bad weather, but they had finally arrived at their destination.

They were currently located on a mountain ridge. The Wei family members stood here looking slightly embarrassed, gazing into the distance shrouded by clouds and mist. Meanwhile, Wei Yuansheng lay quietly on the back of one of the family servants.

“Alright. Everyone else will be stopping here. Yuansheng and I will be the only ones to proceed.”

Wei Wuwei’s words were relatively calm, but in his heart he already felt a little nervous. He subconsciously touched the treasure in his sleeve and felt a little more at ease; it was the paper crane Mr. Ji had given him.

“Yuansheng, come get on your Dad’s back.”

“Oh…”

A servant carefully lifted Wei Yuansheng onto Wei Wuwei’s back, and he obediently hugged his father’s neck.

“Patriarch… If you don’t succeed, please come back! We will be waiting here for the next two months!”

Wei Wuwei smiled at the only elder currently present.

“Uncle, don’t worry. My Wei family has the gods on our side, as well as the people.⁹ We will never fail. The mountains are treacherous, so everyone, please be careful. Take care!”

“Patriarch, take care! Take care, young master!”

“Patriarch, take care! Take care, young master!”

……

All the servants bowed and sent the off one after another. At this moment a little sadness came over Wei Wuwei. Xiao Yuansheng’s hugged his father’s strong neck tightly, but he didn’t cry.

“Let’s go!”

As soon as Wei Wuwei finished speaking, he leapt forward. It didn’t take long for him to disappear into the fog in front of him.

T/n: ah, Ying Hong, such a mature, wise, elderly dragon…

1. 玉 (yù): jade, 疙瘩 (gēda): pimple/problem/preoccupation. He’s just calling Yuhuai Mountain insulting names by making puns, taking the first character in their name (yù) and putting the equivalent of “trash” or “gnats” after it. In English, it might look like “Yu-nderpants Mountain” or “Yù-Trash Mountain”
2. The words used here are different: 敕封 (chìfēng): to appoint sb to a post or confer a title on sb by imperial order, vs 诏 (zhào) to admonish/(bound form to noun) imperial edict. Both of them roughly translate to “imperial edict.” I will be using “edict”/”imperial edict” for the first, and “decree”/”mandate” for the second for ease of reading & grammar
3. Lit: wind and shadow
4. i.e. you got yourself into this mess, get yourself out of it
5. The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a beloved minister from the Warring States Period, and involves dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings
6. 端午节 (Duānwǔjié) is the official name vs 端阳节 (Duānyángjié) which uses 阳 (yáng) sun/Yang instead of 午 (wǔ). The dictionary seems to treat it as just a localization/dialect. I translated it to “Dragon Sun Festival” to keep with the individual character meanings while still making it a close match
7. Qu Yuan was a minister during the Zhou dynasty in the Warring States period who was banished for speaking out against an alliance with a neighboring state. He later drowned himself in the Miluo River when said neighboring state conquered their capital. It is said that the local people who admired him raced out on their boats to save him (origin of dragon boat races), and when his body could not be found they dropped sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat those instead of his body (origin of sticky rice dumplings, called zongzi).
8. This came up in one of the early chapters but I forgot which one. The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches are a system of Chinese ordinals, most prominently used in calendars
9. T/n: I have the power of God and Anime on my side! (forgive me, I had to do it)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read