Chapter Eighty-Five: Yuechan Was Speechless

“Huh?”
Hearing that the herbs needed to be placed in little boxes, Cao He was stunned. Were these worthless herbs really worthy of such ceremonious treatment?
If every single herb needed its own little box, wouldn’t that be exhausting? How could he possibly find the time to make so many boxes?
Cao He stood there in a daze. Ye Qiu scolded, “What are you standing around for? Just do as I say!”
“But Master, we don’t have that many boxes. All the ones in the storeroom are filled with your books…”
Cao He protested, feeling wronged. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do it—he simply didn’t have enough boxes.
Ye Qiu thought for a moment and realized it was true; the storeroom did have a pile of boxes, but they were all filled with books.
“Hmm… How about this: take all those useless books out and put them aside for now. Nobody wants them anyway. Let’s deal with these herbs first and worry about the rest later…”
“Alright, I’ll get to it right away…”
Having received his order, Cao He turned and hurried off to the storeroom to get to work.
“So, where were we just now?”
Ye Qiu turned back, momentarily forgetting what they’d been discussing due to Cao He’s little mishap.
Yue Chan glanced at him speechlessly, feeling he was doing it on purpose.
“Oh, right, we were talking about hardships! Exactly… What our Great Wilderness lacks most right now is this very kind of hardship.
Flowers grown in a greenhouse will never know the struggle for survival. When necessary, they too must experience the terror of disaster.
As the old saying goes, if you want what you’ve never had, you must be willing to do what you’ve never done.
The great calamity that is coming—I have a feeling this is only the beginning. For the Great Wilderness to survive, we must fight with all our might…”
Ye Qiu spoke solemnly, his words ringing with truth, though in reality, his mind was elsewhere.
Why should he care about the fate of others? All he cared about was making some money for himself.
Looking at the pile of treasures by the door, Ye Qiu was inwardly overjoyed. “Heh heh… treasures! This time, I’m sure to strike it rich.
Haha, do you have any idea what my past twenty-odd years have been like? Other transmigrators, don’t they all start off with an invincible system or an ancient divine body?
But me? I had nothing at all. I thought I’d be a nobody for this whole life. Who could have guessed that even I, Ye Qiu, would have a day to get rich?”
Ye Qiu was bursting with glee inside, but outwardly he remained calm, letting no hint of emotion show on his face. This was his cardinal rule.

One of the most crucial survival tips: never let others read your thoughts, or you’ll end up on the defensive.
So, Ye Qiu’s daily routine was to put on a mask and make himself look as much like a hidden master as possible.
Yue Chan asked curiously, “It seems… you really do have quite a bit of experience, Senior. But… after all you’ve said, I still don’t know what hardships you yourself have endured.
Could you tell me? I’d like to learn from your experiences so I don’t stray down the wrong path…”
Truth be told, Yue Chan was genuinely curious about Ye Qiu’s story. She wanted to see through this man who had been entangled with her fate for over ten years—what had he truly been through?
How had he grown step by step to his current level? Yue Chan’s gaze was earnest as she looked at Ye Qiu, hoping for a genuine answer.
“Huh?”
Ye Qiu was taken aback. What hardships had he endured?
Had he really?
Other than those first two years after transmigrating, when his family was destroyed, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly difficult about his life.
And even then… Ye Qiu had just been a bystander—no one paid him any attention.
Back then, the Ye household was struck by some inexplicable disaster. Ye Qiu was still reeling when his family was gone.
In the chaos, the entire Ye family perished—all except Ye Qiu. People simply didn’t care enough to bother with him; he had no sense of presence.
In the end, Ye Qiu wandered the world with baby Ye Dong, who was only a year old. After half a year of drifting, even the baby was stolen away.
From that moment on, Ye Qiu’s life had no more remarkable events. Every day was spent either lying low or finding new ways to hide.
The world was just too dangerous. Imagine transmigrating only to have your whole family killed before you even had a chance to see what your parents looked like.
That scene had left Ye Qiu with a lasting psychological scar, which explained his incredibly cautious nature.
Other than that, there seemed to be no real hardships in his life.
Ye Qiu thought it over carefully, then replied sincerely, “I don’t think I’ve ever really endured any. My life has been spent reading, writing, playing the zither, and occasionally playing chess—that’s all…”
Yue Chan: “???”
Are you joking?
You just became invincible by reading, writing, playing the zither, and chess every day?
Heavens above, please, strike this pretentious man down with a bolt of lightning—he’s infuriating.

Just a moment ago, he was lecturing about greenhouse flowers unable to withstand hardship. But when it comes to him, it turns out that being a greenhouse flower makes you invincible?
Weren’t all the greatest masters throughout history tempered by endless tribulations? Did he skip a few steps?
Yue Chan was speechless, rolling her eyes in disbelief, feeling as if she’d wasted twenty years of her life.
She had fought tooth and nail to improve herself, only to fall behind someone who idled away his days, doing nothing productive and acting like a rascal?
Well, the words might not be harsh, but the insult was deep.
“Wait…”
Suddenly, Yue Chan’s heart trembled, filled with doubt. She glanced at Ye Qiu, thinking, “Reading and writing? That actually aligns perfectly with my previous suspicions. Could it be… his cultivation truly comes from reading, writing, and mastering the arts?”
All at once, Yue Chan seemed to understand. She remembered the paintings Ye Qiu held and the words he’d spoken when arranging the great landscape array. Her heart was shaken to its core.
“To wield a brush and measure the world—could it really be as he said, that a single brush is enough to command the universe?
If that’s true, then his path is truly endless. Across countless eras, no one has ever reached such a realm.”
Yue Chan was utterly astounded. She seemed to have finally guessed the origin of Ye Qiu’s cultivation.
It must be said—the most dazzling empress of the present age truly deserved her reputation, to have deduced even this.
“But… how does he conceal arcane arts and swordplay within his paintings?”
Yue Chan couldn’t quite figure it out. In truth, neither could Ye Qiu himself.
Years ago, the painting Ye Qiu gifted her contained a terrifying Azure Lotus technique. It was thanks to that painting that Yue Chan had achieved her current status.
She spent over a decade comprehending that painting, and within it, she not only mastered the Azure Lotus technique but uncovered many other ancient and formidable arts, laying the foundation for the future Heavenly Palace.
“What’s wrong? You don’t need to look so shocked. Really, I’ve never suffered any tribulation—I’ve never even killed a chicken, let alone undergone a heavenly ordeal…”
Ye Qiu replied with complete sincerity, enough to drive anyone mad.
Yue Chan was left speechless. Fine then, keep pretending. If you can be this powerful without ever killing a chicken, then what does that make the rest of us?
Just pretending?
If pretending were a crime, you’d be beyond redemption by now…