CHAPTER 135: 135- CULTIVATION CAVE [3]

He clutched his chest dramatically, his knuckles white, his breath coming in shallow gasps.

"Please, Clan Head... such jests... they... they are bad for an old man’s heart!" Genuine terror flickered in his wide eyes.

Elder Sun, finally wrenching his gaze from the miraculous well, took one look at Joshua’s panicked, parchment-pale face and erupted.

"HAHAHA!" His booming laughter shook his ample frame, tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, Joshua! Your face! Priceless! Look at you, flapping like a plucked goose dropped in a snowdrift! The Clan Head was clearly yanking your chain, you old pessimist!" He slapped his thigh, his laughter echoing louder than his initial greeting.

Fang Yuan chuckled and finally let the laughter fade, his expression softening into something more sincere.

"Ah... haha, I’m sorry. Truly, Elder Joshua," he said, inclining his head slightly, "It’s always been fun teasing you, but I suppose I went a little too far this time."

His voice lowered, warm and earnest.

"Please forgive this junior for his mischief. I meant no harm."

Joshua sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, the violent tremor in his hands slowly subsiding.

Color seeped back into his cheeks, leaving blotchy patches.

He managed a weak, profoundly embarrassed nod, unable to meet Fang Yuan’s eyes directly.

"O-Of course, Clan Head. It’s... all forgiven. Just... please, by the ancestors, no more talk of impeachment. It’s... unsettling." He shuddered visibly.

"Agreed," Fang Yuan said, his smile softening.

He gestured toward the cave where the faintly pulsing well shimmered in the shadows, its waters casting a cool, ethereal glow that danced across the stone walls.

"I suppose it’s time we return to the real reason we came here," Fang Yuan said with a calm smile. Then he turned to Elder Joshua, his gaze respectful but edged with quiet anticipation.

"Elder Joshua, would you do us the honor of stepping inside that cave and evaluating whether the spiritual energy within meets your expectations... or not?"

His tone was light, but the invitation carried weight, like a challenge wrapped in courtesy.

Eager to escape his humiliation and burning with renewed, intense curiosity, Joshua nodded sharply, his spine snapping straight.

"At once, Clan Head." He strode purposefully towards the dark maw.

As he crossed the threshold, his body jolted.

A sharp, audible gasp ripped from his throat.

He took two more steps into the gloom, his silhouette freezing just inside the entrance.

The trip watched him raise both hands slowly, palms cupped upwards as if trying to hold the very air, his fingers visibly trembling.

"The density..." Joshua’s voice drifted back, thick with reverence, stripped of all skepticism.

"It’s... remarkable! Thicker than the ambient Qi outside by leagues, richer even than near the spirit pond itself! This... this alters everything! The cultivation potential..." Wonder saturated every syllable.

He stood transfixed for several heartbeats, head tilted back, basking in the invisible torrent.

Then, slowly, deliberately, he turned back towards the light.

The awe on his face didn’t vanish, but it fractured..

His brow furrowed, carving deep lines.

He looked down at his still-trembling hands, clenching and unclenching them, then swept his gaze back out at Fang Yuan, the solitary cave with the well, and the dozens upon dozens of other dark cave entrances crowding the mountainside like hungry mouths.

The wonder was still there, but now it was buried under a heavy, dawning realization.

A deep frown etched itself onto his face, disappointment settling like dust.

"But Clan Head..." Joshua’s voice cut through the lingering warmth, sharp with renewed, practical concern.

He stepped fully back into the sunlight, his troubled eyes flickering from the single, modestly glowing wellspring to the vast, silent array of caves.

"...The spirit energy is concentrated, yes. Wonderfully so, in this one spot. But..."

He raised a hand, sweeping it slowly, almost despairingly, across the multitude of entrances.

"...the amount being drawn... can it possibly be enough?"

The unspoken question hung thick and heavy in the suddenly still air: Enough for all of them?

His gesture encompassed the impossible scale of the need.

Fang Yuan’s response came with a smile.

There was amusement in his eyes, sharp and glinting like a blade hidden beneath silk. "Oh please, Elder Joshua," he said, his voice smooth and low, carrying just enough gravity to command attention. "You think too small."

He gestured lazily toward the glowing spring, its radiance pooling like liquid starlight. "I intend to place one of these wells in every single cultivation cave you’ve built. No exceptions."

A pause. His grin widened, tone light but unmistakably deliberate.

"After all... I’m not running a retreat. I’m cultivating a clan."

The words rang out, calm and resolute—yet beneath their simplicity pulsed a quiet thunder.

Elder Sun let out a sharp gasp, as if the weight of the statement had knocked the breath from him.

And Elder Joshua’s head snapped around so fast it cracked the stillness like a whip.

His weathered face tightened, the deep lines etched into his brow seeming to deepen all at once.

"That’s a waste—!" he blurted, the words harsh and instinctive, flung out like a shield.

It was the cry of a man who had spent decades pinching every grain of spiritual sand, fighting for every scrap of cultivation resource.

The idea of scattering precious wells into every cave struck him like heresy against practicality.

But the words died on his lips, choked off by the sheer, impossible reality of the wellspring beside them and the serene confidence radiating from his Clan Head.

He saw Fang Yuan’s unwavering gaze, the absolute certainty in his posture.

Joshua’s shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him like air from a punctured bladder.

He took a slow, deliberate breath, the lines around his eyes softening from outrage to weary acceptance.

A faint, almost rueful sigh escaped him.

"I... suppose," he conceded, his voice rough but calm now, "the old generation should really be stepping down... and watch the younger generation truly lead."

He glanced at the miraculous well, then back at Fang Yuan, a complex mix of resignation and dawning respect in his eyes.