Chapter 0028: Can You Do It or Not, Lord Shen? Of Course I Can, Second Prince

The carriage stopped at the foot of Yu Ji Mountain, located on the eastern bank of the Min River.

The mountain was steep and perilous, as if carved by knives and axes. Someone once wrote a poem: “When the sky clears and you look, all peaks appear low,” illustrating its towering height that even mountain floods could not submerge.

Precisely because of this, Yu Ji Mountain obstructed the eastward flow of the river, creating the current situation in the Jiangdu Plain where the east suffered from drought while the west endured floods. The eastern counties lacked water for farming, and the western counties were plagued by perennial water disasters, causing misery on both sides.

Xie Chengze stood at the mountain’s base, removed his outer robe, then bent down to lift the hem of his inner long gown, rolling it up and tying it around his waist.

His long, straight legs were now exposed. Xie Chengze did a few warm-up exercises with enthusiastic grunts to prevent sports injuries while climbing.

Shen Yuan observed his posture. “Are you climbing the mountain?”

Xie Chengze nodded. “Does Lord Shen want to prepare as well?”

The mountain paths were rugged, making it difficult to move in an outer robe.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “I have qinggong. No need for such trouble.”

Xie Chengze looked at him enviously. “How nice. I really want to chop off your legs, Lord Shen, and attach them to my body.”

Shen Yuan: …

What nonsense was he spouting again?

After finishing his warm-up, Xie Chengze slung his prepared small water pouch and bundle over his shoulder, brimming with fighting spirit as he stepped onto Yu Ji Mountain. “The path to immortality, here I come!!!”

Two quarters of an hour later.

Xie Chengze lay sprawled on a rock by the mountain path, like a dried-up rotten fish strip, not moving even if poked.

Shen Yuan stood nearby, glancing sideways with a mocking smile. “Your Highness has exhausted his strength halfway up the mountain. It’s now mid-afternoon, your legs are weary—this truly jeopardizes the path to immortality.”

Xie Chengze: ?

Showing off with classical Chinese? I can do that too!

“I entrust you with the task of carrying me up the mountain. If you fail, I shall punish you to appease… to appease…” Xie Chengze stumbled, looked around, and his eyes lit up. “To appease the spirits of the mountain ants you’ve trampled!”

Shen Yuan: …

Childish.

“Lord Shen.” Seeing Shen Yuan remain motionless, Xie Chengze stretched out his arms toward him with a pleading look.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “Second Prince, it’s not that I’m unwilling to carry you. I haven’t eaten since noon and have limited strength. I can only guarantee my own climb to the summit.”

“Then why did you come out with me?” Xie Chengze immediately said disdainfully. “Our Wuji was supposed to carry me up the mountain!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Our Wuji can carry me up the mountain even when he’s exhausted! Are you incapable or what?”

“Are you capable or not—”

“Are you incapable—”

“Incapable—”

“Ah—”

The mountain echoed with Xie Chengze’s contemptuous questioning, accompanied by a few birds chirping as if mocking Shen Yuan’s incompetence.

Shen Yuan: …

Shen Yuan turned his back. “Get on.”

Xie Chengze immediately revived, springing up like a carp and flying onto Shen Yuan’s back, stretching out his arm and shouting, “Let’s go—!”

Only then did Shen Yuan realize he had been tricked by Xie Chengze again.

He wasn’t too tired to climb—he was just too lazy and wanted to ride on his qinggong for an easy ascent!

Sighing inwardly, Shen Yuan resignedly hoisted his legs and stepped onto the mountain path.

Traveling up the mountain with lightness skill was indeed pleasant. The swift pace allowed the cool mountain breeze to sweep past his ears, drying the thin sweat on the handsome young man’s temples. He narrowed his small eyes contentedly, resting his hands naturally on Shen Yuan’s shoulders, and sighed, “Lord Shen, you’re such a smooth ride.”

Shen Yuan stumbled.

He gritted his teeth and said, “Your Highness, watch your words!”

Why was he always so improper in this lifetime? Could it be because he had praised Xie Chengze’s beauty too much in their previous life, and this was his way of getting back at him?

If that was his intention, Shen Yuan would never give him the satisfaction.

Shen Yuan tightened his grip on the other’s buttocks slightly, whether intentionally or casually giving a light bounce, and provocatively retorted, “This subject might take it seriously.”

Xie Chengze didn’t believe a word of it and, not to be outdone, leaned close to his ear and blew a soft, seductive breath, his voice delicate and enchanting, “This prince is serious too~”

The warm breath rushed eagerly into Shen Yuan’s ear canal, stiffening his neck. A strange sensation—numb, tingling, and itchy—spread throughout his body, followed by a faint ringing in his ears and a dazed mind. The mountain path beneath his feet seemed to soften and blur, making it hard for him to steady his footing.

Biting the tip of his tongue to regain a shred of rationality, he countered, “Then to what extent is Your Highness serious?”

“That depends on how far Lord Shen is willing to go~” Xie Chengze continued his mischief, “Lord Shen is so valiant and heroic—this prince has long admired you~ Ow! Don’t pinch my leg! It hurts, it hurts—”

The two straight men sparred openly and covertly, and amidst the bickering and silence, they finally reached the mountaintop.

Shen Yuan set Xie Chengze down as if discarding a burden and strode quickly to the shade of a nearby tree, unwilling to speak with him further. “Your Highness, please do as you wish. This subject will wait here!”

Xie Chengze, ever the opportunist, immediately took advantage and cheerfully ran toward him. “Lord Shen! This prince wants to go up the tallest tree!”

Watching the lively Xie Chengze, Shen Yuan began to regret ever leaving his residence today.

Wouldn’t it have been better to stay at the government office and bully Liang Wan Da? Why did he have to come here to serve Xie Chengze like a beast of burden, only to be subjected to his…

Recalling the other’s earlier teasing and provocation, that tingling sensation once again flowed from the skin of his neck throughout his body. The sudden, unfamiliar emotion unsettled Shen Yuan, making it increasingly difficult to discern what Xie Chengze truly wanted.

He was like that stray kitten Shen Yuan had picked up during his travels as a child—playing with you on a whim, then darting away once bored. Occasionally, he would suddenly turn hostile and scratch you, only to lick your wounds afterward.

Call him good, yet he wasn’t; call him bad, yet he wasn’t entirely wicked.

And this version of him was unsettling Shen Yuan’s heart.

For reasons unknown, this time Shen Yuan didn’t choose to carry him on his back. Instead, he wrapped an arm around his waist and, with a single leap, brought him up into the tree.

“Holy shit!” Xie Chengze was startled, instinctively closing his eyes and wrapping himself around Shen Yuan like an octopus, his legs tightly clinging to his waist. “Brother! Hold me tighter! Don’t let me fall!”

“Relax,” Shen Yuan growled, feeling as if he were about to be strangled. “You won’t fall.”

Xie Chengze finally opened his eyes. At this moment, the two of them stood at the very top of a tall tree. Shen Yuan hovered on a branch, his silver-white robe fluttering in the wind, his high-ponytailed black hair swaying with the breeze—a picture of elegant grace and dashing charm.

Xie Chengze had to admit, this guy was damn handsome.

But… He patted Shen Yuan’s shoulder. “Brother, you’re facing the wrong direction. Turn around.”

Shen Yuan: …

Shen Yuan turned around and changed direction. Then Xie Chengze saw it—the vast view only available from high mountains. The Min River’s waters roared as they rushed toward the Jiangdu Plain, the sediment-laden yellowish flood resembling a fierce tiger or wild beast. Even from the mountaintop, he could hear its low, furious roar as it surged forward, as if it would not rest until it had swallowed the entire Jiangdu Plain.

Where it encountered trees, trees fell; where it encountered fields, fields drowned; where it encountered houses, houses collapsed; where it encountered people, people perished.

Like an insatiable glutton, it left people helpless, forced to kneel and beg heaven for mercy, pleading for a chance to survive.

Yet the Way of Heaven is not benevolent—it treats all beings as straw dogs.

Heaven and Earth are without empathy and without favoritism, regarding all things equally, leaving them to flourish and wither on their own, never demanding anything in return.

The sages, too, are without benevolence—they treat the common people as straw dogs. They act in pure accordance with nature, without partiality, believing that the people should follow natural development as the true path. Thus, they do not interfere with the people’s actions, leaving them to live or die by their own fate.

This is a statement from the fifth chapter of the “Tao Te Ching” by Laozi, which can be summarized as “non-benevolence” being the manifestation of “benevolence” by Heaven, Earth, and the sages in the human world.

But looking at the fertile fields being swallowed, the innocent dogs, cattle, and sheep being swept away, and people weeping before the corpses of their loved ones—some perhaps never even able to recover their family members’ bodies—is this “non-benevolence” truly benevolence or not?

If Heaven and Earth are without benevolence, all things become as lowly as straw dogs.

If the sages are without benevolence, the common people become as lowly as straw dogs.