Unsheathed

As the group drew closer to the city god temple, they discovered that most of the people on the streets were worshippers who had come to offer incense in the temple. There were many stalls on either side of the street, selling all types of wares, such as food and children’s toys. Chen Ping’an bought Li Baoping and Li Huai a tanghulu each, and the two children immediately began to compare whose tanghulu was bigger.

As it turned out, Li Huai was the luckier of the two children, and there were a total of six hawthorn berries on his stick, and overall, he had beaten Li Baoping four times. After claiming his victory over Li Baoping, Li Huai began to rush in circles around Chen Ping’an and Lin Shouyi while holding his tanghulu high above his head.

Meanwhile, Li Baoping was eating her tanghulu in silence, and she suddenly extended a leg forward in a sneaky fashion. Li Huai was caught completely off guard and tripped over her leg, falling face first onto the ground, while his tanghulu fell out of his hand and rolled away into the distance.

Thankfully, his bamboo bookcase was strapped quite securely to his back, so it didn’t fall off, but that was no consolation to Li Huai, and he began bawling his eyes out as he sat on the ground.

Li Baoping raised her head, feigning an oblivious expression as she looked around in an innocent manner. Chen Ping’an was both exasperated and amused by her actions, and he gave her a firm flick on the forehead, then helped Li Huai to his feet before buying the distraught boy another tanghulu.

Li Huai’s tears immediately gave way to a wide smile, and he accepted the clean tanghulu, then picked up the dirty tanghulu from the ground, holding one in each hand. This time, he made sure to stay far away from Li Baoping as he waved his tanghulus around in a gloating fashion.

Li Baoping rolled her eyes at him as she scoffed, “You’re so immature!”

What was rather interesting was that no matter what Li Baoping did to Li Huai, he had never held a grudge against her. In fact, he had never even gotten angry at her, and at the very most, he would only feel saddened or indignant.

This was something that Chen Ping’an and Lin Shouyi had never been able to understand, and Lin Shouyi could only explain that certain things were simply meant to be, and it seemed that Li Huai was simply destined to suffer in silence at Li Baoping’s hands.

Cui Chan had separated himself from the group quite a while ago, stopping on his own in front of a stall selling miscellaneous goods. Yu Lu stopped the carriage to wait for him, but Cui Chan didn’t even raise his head as he waved a hand at Yu Lu, indicating for him to follow Chen Ping’an and the others.

Meanwhile, he began to examine the goods being sold, but in the end, nothing caught his eye, and he prepared to depart. Throughout this entire process, he hadn’t uttered a single word.

The owner of the stall was a lazy-looking young man, and whenever there had been customers passing by his stall on the way to the temple, he had largely ignored their price inquiries, so business was far from booming. In his eyes, Cui Chan’s attire and demeanor indicated that he was from a wealthy clan in the city, and the lackadaisical look on his face immediately faded at the sight of Cui Chan’s lack of interest in his wares.

He hurriedly rose to his feet from his stool, putting on a fawning expression as he introduced that the dozen or so items being sold had all been passed down for generations in his family, and that they were at least 200 to 300 years old. He was only selling them now as his family had encountered a crisis and was in urgent need of money. Otherwise, he would’ve sooner died than put these cherished treasures up for sale.

It was clear from the young man’s appearance that had ruined his body through excessive alcohol consumption and sexual activity, and no matter how he advertised his wares to Cui Chan, the latter remained completely silent. Thus, the young man could sit back down onto his stool in a defeated manner.

Any of the young masters of affluent clans in the city could crush him like an ant, so he certainly didn’t dare to try and force Cui Chan to purchase his wares. It was said that those affluent clans were visited by immortals virtually every year, and whenever such a visit took place, the visiting immortals would all be ceremoniously welcomed, producing scenes that were even more lively and bustling than festival celebrations.

The fireworks set off on those occasions were so loud that they shook the very heavens, and those clans wanted nothing more than to tell the entire city that they had been blessed with a visit from esteemed immortals.

“I’ll take everything on this table for 10 taels of silver. Will that be enough?” Cui Chan suddenly asked.

The young man shook his head vigorously as he replied with a sullen expression, “Forgive me for turning down your offer, esteemed young master, but all of these items that I’m selling really are treasures that have been passed down for generations in my family.

“There are clear records on our genealogy tree that one of my ancestors once served as the imperial teacher of the Later Shu Nation’s Auspicious Dynasty. Surely it’s not too much to ask for 70 or 80 taels of silver for even just a single one of these things.”

The young man’s face had become flushed red as he picked up a colored glass figure that was around half an inch in length. Unfortunately, the figure was dull and devoid of luster, and it certainly didn’t look like a prized artifact.

The young stall owner leaned forward slightly, then carefully handed the glass figure to Cui Chan as he said, “Take a good look at this, esteemed young master. If you have good eyesight, you’ll even be able to see the eyebrows and the creases on the robes of the figure. The amount of detail on this thing is astounding!

“Even if the material isn’t of the highest quality, this is still an extremely rare glass figure, so surely it wouldn’t be too much to ask for three or four taels of silver for it! If we factor in all of the other treasures here, 10 taels of silver is simply far too low a price for me to accept. Please consider raising the price out of the boundless generosity of your kind heart, esteemed young master.”

Cui Chan paused momentarily for contemplation, then offered, “How about 11 taels of silver then?”

The young man was so exasperated that he almost passed out, and he was rooted to the spot as he stared at Cui Chan in a dazed manner before heaving a resigned sigh. “Please don’t play with me like this, esteemed young master.”

Cui Chan burst into laughter, then asked, “Do you recognize official silver?”

The young man faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded with a wry smile as he replied, “Of course. Our clan was quite affluent during my father’s generation, and around a dozen of the shops on the street neighboring the city god temple once belonged to our clan.”

Cui Chan pulled out a silver ingot before setting it down onto the table as he declared, “Here are 20 teals of the Great Li Empire’s official silver. Converted into the inferior silver used in your Yellow Court Nation, this should be equivalent to at least 25 taels of silver. Will that be enough for this table of trash?”

The young man had snuck all of these items out to sell in secret, and he had set out to sell them for 20 taels of silver, so he immediately accepted the offer with a gleeful expression, hurriedly picking up the ingot of silver before clutching it tightly in his hand. He carefully examined the silver ingot for a moment, then gently scratched it with his fingernail, and he determined that this really was a silver ingot of exceptional quality.

He was terrified that Cui Chan would change his mind, so he quickly stowed the silver ingot away, then grabbed onto the corners of the tablecloth before lifting them up and tying the corners together to form a parcel.

All of the items inside were clattering together as he did so, and after tying up the corners of the tablecloth, the young man pushed the parcel toward Cui Chan with an ecstatic smile as he declared, “It’s all yours, esteemed young master.”

Cui Chan picked up the parcel as he jibed, “If you’ve sold me counterfeit wares, then I’m going to hunt you down and make you eat these things one by one.”

The young man put on a fawning smile as he assured, “I’m renowned around these parts for my honesty and integrity, and I’ve never swindled anyone, so you can rest assured, esteemed young master. This was definitely a favorable deal for you.”

Cui Chan carried the parcel of items in one hand as he sped up in his footsteps to catch up to Chen Ping’an and the others.

As he drew close to the horse-drawn carriage, he casually tossed the parcel to Xie Xie, then arrived by Chen Ping’an’s side as he pointed at the eye-catching roof of the city god temple up ahead and introduced, “This is the largest city god pavilion in Yellow Court Nation, and it said during the final years of the Later Shu Nation’s existence, this temple had jurisdiction over the city gods of several states, so the green glazed tiles on the roof are of an extremely high quality.

“They definitely would dare to put such precious tiles onto the roof of the average city god temple. This wasn’t the original site of the temple, and it was only moved here after the Hong Clan took over the nation and ushered in a new dynasty. The original site of this city god temple was quite a good place with an old well nearby.

“That well was a spirit spring, and it’s since been turned into an inn by a sect of Yellow Court Nation. The inn caters exclusively to cultivators, officials of the imperial court, and wealthy individuals, and the spiritual energy emanating from the spirit spring is very conducive to cultivation, making it an extremely rare and exceptional place in the mortal world.”

“Is it expensive to stay there?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Cui Chan considered the question for a moment, then replied, “In your eyes, it would be ridiculously expensive.”

Chen Ping’an took a glance at Lin Shouyi, who was looking at the decorative beasts on the roof of the city god temple, then asked in a quiet voice, “How expensive is it?”

Cui Chan smiled as he replied, “It would cost at least 100 taels of silver per person per night, and if you want to stay in the room closest to the well, then the price would more than double.”

As the Great Li Empire’s imperial preceptor, Cui Chan once controlled a part of the empire’s intelligence system, and his area of focus was specifically on the immortal powers in the Great Li Empire and in the surrounding nations. It was through those intelligence sources that he had learned about the history of this prefectural city, including the history of this city god temple.

As for why he was familiar with the exact prices charged by the inn, that was a piece of information that he had learned just for something to do in his free time, and perhaps it would’ve served as an interesting topic of conversation whenever he was summoned to see the emperor.

Chen Ping’an lowered his voice as he asked, “If I had a gold essence copper coin on me right now, how much silver would I be able to exchange it for?”

Cui Chan remained silent as he pointed at the city god temple, which was drawing closer and closer.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chen Ping’an asked with a perplexed expression.

“I’m saying that you’ll be able to exchange it for a mountain of silver the size of this temple,” Cui Chan explained with a smile.

Chen Ping’an’s mouth gaped open slightly as he turned to the huge city god temple and unconsciously adjusted the belongings on his back.

Only now was he aware that he was carrying a mountain of silver on his back, and he was suddenly struggling under its weight.

Cui Chan noticed this subtle gesture, but gave no reaction.

After hesitating for a long while, Chen Ping’an stopped in his tracks right before he stepped into the city god temple, then asked, “Cui Dongshan, can I borrow some silver from you?”

Cui Chan seemed to have been waiting for Chen Ping’an to make this request, and he tucked his hands into his sleeves as he smiled and nodded in response. “Of course you can. You can treat me as a walking treasure trove of resources. If you want money, then I have money. If you want treasures, then I have treasures. I have everything that you could ever think of, so you’re limited only by your imagination.”

Chen Ping’an took a moment to make up his mind, then said, “In that case, we’ll stay in this inn for tonight. Regardless of how long we stay here, I’ll get you to take care of all of the costs for now. After we leave the inn, give me a total sum, and you can set the interest rate as you see fit. Once we return to Dragon Spring County, I’ll repay you in both principal and interest, is that alright?”

Cui Chan extended a hand out of his sleeve and waved it as he replied, “Don’t worry about interest, all you have to do is repay the principal sum.”

Right at this moment, Li Huai suddenly squatted down with half a tanghulu still held in his hand, and his eyes widened as he stared at Cui Chan’s boots.

As it turned out, there was a pristine white little ant standing on Cui Chan’s boot, and the ant’s original intention was to climb up Cui Chan’s boot and onto his robes, but as soon as it fell under Li Huai’s scrutiny, it immediately stopped moving. Li Huai was very much intrigued by the sight of the little ant, and he reached out a hand to try and grab it.

The little ant was greatly startled to see this, and it didn’t dare to play dead any longer as it immediately jumped up in an agile manner. It hooked onto the fine material of Cui Chan’s robes with its front legs, then rushed quickly up to Cui Chan’s waist, and with one final leap, it latched onto the underside of Cui Chan’s sleeve, where it dangled while swinging slightly from side to side.

Cui Chan’s expression remained unchanged as he caught the ant between two of the fingers on his right hand, then gently held it in his palm before thrusting it into his left sleeve.

In an astonishing turn of events, the ant melted away like snow and ice in Cui Chan’s palm, instantly transforming into a silver ingot, but the silver ingot was still squirming and moving incessantly.

After stowing the moving silver ingot up his sleeve, Cui Chan looked around to find that Yu Lu and Xie Xie were displaying no reaction to the miraculous feat that he had just performed, but Chen Ping’an and his group of little hillbillies from Jewel Small World were astonished by what they had just seen.

Cui Chan clearly didn’t want to offer an explanation to Chen Ping’an and the others, and he turned to Yu Lu as he said, “Get some incense with Xie Xie, we’ll be using them once we enter the city god temple. Ideally, get an incense tube while you’re at it. Of course, make sure to get a cheap and simple one. Otherwise, I’m not going to pay for it.”

Yu Lu and Xie Xie did as they were told, departing to secure some incense sticks, while Chen Ping’an suddenly said, “Cui Dongshan, that silver ingot was the money that you used to buy that parcel of items, right? How has it turned into an ant and come back to you?”

An innocent look appeared on Cui Chan’s face as he replied, “I already paid for the items, and he agreed to the price, but the silver ingot insisted on coming back to me on its own. I feel really bad about this as well.”

Li Huai was crouched down on the ground, and an envious look appeared on his face as he mused, “What a fantastic little creature that is. If I had a silver ingot like that, I’d be able to go anywhere I please.”

Cui Chan looked down at Li Huai with a smile as he asked, “You like it? Do you want it? That little thing is called a bug silver, and it can’t do anything remarkable aside from pose as a silver ingot. No one knows how these creatures came into existence, but even in the large vaults of many empires, there’s no guarantee that a bug silver would appear even over the course of a century.

“Furthermore, even if they do appear, they’re usually not very big, and they can only transform into pieces of scrap silver. It’s extremely rare to see one as big as the one up my sleeve right now, and that’s why I like to bring it with me everywhere I go. Furthermore, it’s impervious to fire and water, and even if tremendous force is exerted upon it, it’ll remain completely unharmed.

“You can even slice it up into dozens of pieces, but all you have to do is gather all of the pieces back together in one pile, and it’ll quickly return to its original form. Do you want it? If you do, I can give it to you.”

Li Huai rose to his feet as he replied with a serious expression, “I have only one sister. Her name is Li Liu, and at the moment, she’s still A’Liang’s wife.”

Cui Chan was accustomed to Li Huai’s way of speech, and he replied, “Would you like the bug silver for free? I’m not interested in your

“If I use it to pay for food and treat Chen Ping’an and the others to delicious meals, will it be able to come back on its own every single time?” Li Huai asked.

Cui Chan nodded with a smile, and the silver ingot dropped out of his sleeve before he handed it to Li Huai.

LLi Huai was just about to accept the silver ingot when a hesitant look appeared on his face, and he turned to look at Chen Ping’an, who said, “If we’re going to eat, then we have to pay for our meals. We can’t use tricks to get out of paying for food. I don’t care what Cui Dongshan does, but don’t forget that you are a disciple of Mr. Qi…”

Li Huai immediately clasped his hands behind him, pressing them tightly against his own backside as he shook his head at Cui Chan and sighed, “You can keep it.”

However, Chen Ping’an then continued, “I wasn’t finished, Li Huai. You are Mr. Qi’s disciple, but you can still accept the bug silver. This is a gift from Cui Dongshan to you, so you should accept it. As for how you use it in the future, we’ll establish some rules when the time comes.”

Li Huai’s eyes immediately lit up as he grabbed the silver ingot out of Cui Chan’s hand. He was just about to put the silver ingot in his chest pocket when a thought occurred to him, and he quickly turned around so that his back was facing everyone, then opened his bookcase and tossed the silver ingot inside.

Cui Chan withdrew his hand with a resigned expression as he mused, “I’ve always been the swindler, but it appears that I’ve been swindled myself here.”

Shortly thereafter, Yu Lu returned with an intricately crafted boxwood incense tube that was filled with incense sticks, enough for everyone to make multiple temple visits.

Aside from Xie Xie, who had to stay behind to keep an eye on the horse-drawn carriage, everyone else made their way into the city god temple, and after offering their incense to the city god, they saw a pair of couplets in the main hall.

One takes nothing with them in death, and they can only pray for the welfare of their descendants in the underworld; One may be denounced for millennia to come in the world of the living, but they’ll realize none of that matters on the other side.

The city god statue was situated on a tall pedestal at the center, while on either side of it down below were its subordinates, presenting quite a formidable lineup to behold, with just the assortment of generals alone consisting of a total of eight statues. These were the supervisors of the eight divisions, which included the likes of the Yin Yang Division and the Quick Report Division.

Cui Chan informed them that this was the extent of the number of divisions, even in the city god temples of the highest caliber on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but the largest city god temple in the world had as many as 24 divisions, including even a Register Examination Division, a Disease Expulsion Division, and an Academic Policy Division. Essentially, it rivaled the imperial court of a small empire.

Lin Shouyi was very intrigued by all of this, while Li Baoping wasn’t displaying much interest, and Li Huai was the most cowardly one of the three, so he only dared to remain tightly by Chen Ping’an’s side.

After seeing the renowned wall murals of the 18 abysses of punishment in the temple, everyone felt like this visit to the temple was very much worth the trip. After that, they made their way out of the main hall and arrived in the rear hall, which resembled a room in a county office where cases were judged.

The city god was seated behind the desk with a pair of judges standing on either side of him, but there was only half a couplet outside the hall, which read: “Sincerity is the key, there is no need to kowtow, get out of my sight”, while the second half of the couplet was missing.

Li Baoping finally found something that had caught her interest, and she began to try and complete the couplet, but no matter what she came up with, she remained dissatisfied, and her brows were tightly furrowed as she continued to persevere, not willing to give up.

Cui Chan and Yu Lu were also standing beneath the incomplete couplet, while Chen Ping’an, Lin Shouyi, and Li Huai were looking into the hall from the entrance.

There were a series of statues inside the hall, one of which was kowtowing against the ground, another one was wearing shackles, and a third one was hanging their head while kneeling to the city god.

An azure-robed elderly man who was only his own spotted the eye-catching bamboo bookcase on Li Baoping’s back, and a warm smile appeared on his face as he approached Cui Chan, then also raised his head to look up at the incomplete couplet as he said, “I can see that you’re a group of little scholars. Have any of you thought of a good second line to complete the couplet?”

Cui Chan ignored the old man, pretending not to have heard him, while Li Baoping genuinely didn’t hear him as she would always invest her full attention into something that caught her interest.

Yu Lu was the only one to offer a response, and he smiled as he replied, “I’ve thought of a few, but I’m not happy with any of them. They’re far too terrible to be heard, so I won’t share any of them with you.”

The old man burst into laughter, and he pointed at the incomplete couplet as he said, “With regard to this couplet, there’s an unspoken rule in the city, which is that anyone, regardless of whether they be human, spirit, ghost, or monster, anyone who can come up with a second line that satisfies everyone will become an esteemed guest of the old city god.”

“What qualifies as a second line that satisfies everyone?” Yu Lu asked with a puzzled expression.

“Look within yourself for the answer,” Cui Chan replied in a lackadaisical manner.

Li Baoping just so happened to be mulling over a similar question, but she had encountered a mental block that she was unable to bypass. Upon hearing Cui Chan’s answer to Yu Lu’s question, she reflexively added, “In the peaceful night, when the mind is clear and sharp, look within yourself, and the answer will arise.”

The old man gave a nod of approval.

Even though Li Baoping was ultimately unable to think of a suitable second line, the old man still insisted on accompanying them out of the city god temple, then waved farewell to everyone with a benevolent smile on his face as he stood inside the temple.

After leaving the ancient city god temple, Chen Ping’an began to ask the people on the streets for the location of the inn mentioned by Cui Chan, but none of them were aware of such a place. It seemed that the inn didn’t even exist in this city, so Chen Ping’an could only turn to Cui Chan.

Cui Chan smiled as he said, “How about we find some other place to stay then? I only heard about the inn from someone else, so the information may not be accurate. If that inn doesn’t exist, then you won’t have to borrow money from me.”

Chen Ping’an turned to look at Lin Shouyi, who looked back at him with a lost expression, and Chen Ping’an decided to persist as he said, “You guys can explore the market, I’ll keep asking around.”

With that, Chen Ping’an rushed forward on his own, asking one passerby after another if they had heard of the inn mentioned by Cui Chan.

Meanwhile, Cui Chan made his way back toward the horse-drawn carriage with a displeased look in his eyes. In his eyes, even though Chen Ping’an had a priceless gold essence copper coin in his possession, it was still extremely expensive to stay at the inn, and ultimately, it would only benefit someone else, so he couldn’t understand why Chen Ping’an was making such a diligent effort.

While bending down to lift the curtain of the carriage, Cui Chan took a glance at the completely oblivious Lin Shouyi, and a hint of envy suddenly appeared in his eyes.