Chapter 107 - 106: What about your dream?

Chapter 107: Chapter 106: What about your dream?

The moon had risen above the mountain peaks by the time Lin Qingyue finished tending to her spiritual herbs inside the house.

She was preparing to return to the bedroom when a soft, melodic humming drifted in from outside, carried gently through the night breeze.

She paused, tilting her head toward the window.

The humming was unfamiliar.

Curious, she set down her tools, pulled her cloak around her shoulders, and stepped outside.

The cold air immediately brushed against her cheeks.

Beyond the wooden house, the mountain stretched beneath a blanket of snow, its distant peaks illuminated by the pale moonlight.

Lin Qingyue followed the sound around the house and soon found Chen Yuan standing near the edge of the cliff, his loose robes swaying in the breeze as he gazed into the distance.

He was humming an unfamiliar tune that she had never heard before.

His complexion had recovered, and there was no longer any trace of the terrible injuries that had once covered his body.

Under the moonlight, his calm expression and relaxed posture gave him an almost otherworldly appearance.

With his long black hair trailing on the back and his tall stature over the edge.

Lin Qingyue stopped for a moment.

She had seen plenty of handsome cultivators before, but Chen Yuan was on a whole entirely new level. His demeanor was different.

Unlike most powerful experts that would scorn at her, he didn’t. He treated her with respect from the start until now. So far, she didn’t even feel the distinction between them.

Unknowingly, she found herself standing there a little longer than necessary until Chen Yuan’s voice came and reached her ears.

"Why are you standing there? Come over."

Lin Qingyue immediately recovered from her daze and walked toward him, stopping a few steps away from the cliff’s edge.

"Senior, you’re completely recovered now?"

"More or less."

He looked toward the distant mountains again, seemingly enjoying the quiet night.

Lin Qingyue followed his gaze.

For a while, neither of them spoke, and she found the silence surprisingly comfortable. The soft wind carried the faint scent of snow and pine through the air, while the moon cast their shadows across the ground.

After a while, Chen Yuan suddenly asked, "How old are you?"

Lin Qingyue blinked.

The question caught her off guard, and she hesitated before answering with a slightly bitter expression.

"Seventy."

Chen Yuan turned to look at her.

"Seventy?"

"Yes..." She lowered her head, rubbing her fingers together. "I’ve used quite a few beauty-preserving pills over the years, so I still look young."

There was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

Although she had no reason to hide her age, admitting that she was seventy while looking like a young woman was still somewhat awkward.

Chen Yuan studied her for a moment before chuckling.

"Seventy years old, yet you still behave like a little child."

Lin Qingyue froze.

"Huh?"

"You’re easily tempted by money, get excited over a few spiritual stones, and look as though the sky is falling whenever something surprises you. If you hadn’t told me your age, I would have thought you were much younger."

Her face immediately reddened.

"Senior! I’m not a child!"

Chen Yuan merely smiled, showing little intention of taking back his words.

Lin Qingyue opened her mouth to argue, but after a moment, she could only rub the back of her head awkwardly.

"...I don’t act like that all the time."

"Of course."

His casual agreement somehow made her feel even more embarrassed.

She glanced away, puffing out her cheeks slightly as she muttered under her breath, while Chen Yuan returned his attention to the moonlit mountains.

After a while, Lin Qingyue’s embarrassment gradually subsided.

She leaned against a nearby rock, keeping a comfortable distance from the cliff’s edge, and looked out over the snow-covered mountains.

"Senior, may I ask you something?"

Chen Yuan glanced at her. "Go ahead."

"What did you want to become when you were young?"

He raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Well, you asked about my age, so I thought it was only fair that I ask you something in return." She paused, then added with a small smile, "Besides, I’ve never had the chance to speak with someone like you before. I’m curious."

Chen Yuan turned back toward the mountains.

"What I wanted to become..."

He seemed to consider the question. She waited for a moment before speaking again.

"When I was little, I wanted to become a great healer. I thought that if I learned enough about spiritual herbs and medicine, I could cure every illness in the world."

"Every illness?"

"Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "I know it sounds ridiculous now, but I really believed it."

"Whenever someone in my village fell ill, I would go into the mountains to gather herbs."

"Most of the time, I didn’t even know what I was picking, and my master had to stop me from making things worse."

Chen Yuan chuckled.

"That sounds dangerous."

"It was!" Lin Qingyue protested. "But I was young. I thought that as long as I worked hard enough, I could eventually learn to treat anyone."

Her smile gradually softened as she remembered those days.

"Of course, I eventually realised that some illnesses cannot be cured so easily. Some injuries are too severe, some medicines are beyond my abilities, and there are people I simply cannot save."

She lowered her gaze toward her hands.

"It was difficult to accept at first. I kept wondering whether I could have done something differently, whether I should have studied harder or gathered better ingredients. Sometimes, I still think about the people I couldn’t help."

The wind stirred the hem of her cloak, and she pulled it closer around herself.

"But I don’t want to give up on that dream. Even if I can’t save everyone, I can still help someone. If I can make a medicine that eases another person’s suffering, or prevent a family from losing someone they love, then I think my efforts are worthwhile."

Chen Yuan listened quietly.

Lin Qingyue looked up again, her expression becoming more earnest.

"I don’t think anyone deserves to suffer simply because of the circumstances they were born into."

"Someone might become cruel because they’ve been hurt, or someone might do terrible things because they’ve never known anything else."

"That doesn’t mean we should excuse everything they do, but I don’t want to decide that a person is beyond saving before I’ve even tried to understand them."

She paused, apparently worried that she had said too much.

"That’s why I became a spiritual herbalist. I want to help people, even if all I can do is ease their pain a little. Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to cultivate a medicinal herb that can save someone everyone else has already given up on."

A rustle of leaves whistled between the two, and Chen Yuan turned to look at her with a faint smile over his face, "That is quite a beautiful wish... "

Lin Qingyue’s cheeks warmed at his praise and her fingers fidgeted over the hem of her robes.

"W-well... Despite being a wishful dream, I think as long as I devoted my effort for this, in the end, it would be rather worthwhile."

The awkwardness lasted only a moment before her usual liveliness returned, "A-and..."

"Although, I have to say, I never expected that I’d actually get the chance to save a High Lord!"

She straightened, looking genuinely delighted by the thought.

She patted her cheeks several times with her eyes glistening wide and clear.

"Do you know how incredible that sounds? I can brag about this for another five decades before I die! When people ask me about my greatest achievement, I’ll tell them that I once rescued a High Lord who was lying half-dead in the snow!"

Chen Yuan stared at her before bursting into laughter.

"You truly are one strange woman."

"What’s strange about that? It’s an incredible achievement!"

"Most people would be more concerned about how they ended up involved with someone wanted by the Zhao Imperial Family."

"Well..." Lin Qingyue’s smile faltered briefly. "I’m concerned about that too."

She glanced at him, then quickly looked away.

"But that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of saving you."

Chen Yuan shook his head, still smiling.

He had met countless cultivators throughout his life.

Some pursued strength, others sought wealth or authority, and many were willing to sacrifice nearly anything to extend their lifespans.

Yet this woman, who had spent years cultivating herbs in a remote mountain, was delighted by the prospect of having a story worth telling.

Perhaps it was precisely that simplicity that made her unusual.

They remained beside the cliff for a while longer, watching the moonlight spread across the distant peaks.

Eventually, Lin Qingyue’s curiosity got the better of her again.

She hesitated, rubbing her fingers together before turning toward him.

"Senior..."

"Hm?"

"What about you?"

Chen Yuan looked at her.

"What about me?"

"Yes... I’ve went to ask you first and took the chance to speak myself. But... I am really curious... " She paused, suddenly less confident than before. "What is it that you want to accomplish?"

The question seemed to hang in the cold air.