Unsheathed

There were only three small stools in Chen Ping’an’s house, so the little girl in pink hurriedly stood up to offer her seat to the young swordsman. However, the young swordsman wasn’t in a hurry to sit down, and he chuckled, “Since I’m visiting on New Year’s Day, it naturally doesn’t make sense for me to come empty-handed. Here, I have two small trinkets for you guys.”

He extended his hand, and there were two jade tablets with no engraved characters resting in his palm. However, there were the unique cloud patterns of the Great Li Empire’s Imperial Song Clan engraved on the four corners of the jade tablets. “These are called Peace and Safety Tablets, and you can hang them on your waist. It’ll be slightly beneficial to you two when you’re settling down here in the future. If you decide to embark on a long journey, these jade tablets will also make your travels around the Great Li Empire easier and more convenient.”

The little boy in azure was quite eager to accept this, and this was because he understood the precious nature of these jade tablets.

As for the little girl in pink, she didn’t know anything about these jade tablets. Thus, she simply turned around to look at Chen Ping’an. Whether they accepted these gifts or not was entirely up to their master.

Chen Ping’an hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, “You can accept it.”

The little boy in azure and the little girl in pink both bowed and thanked the young swordsman after accepting the jade tablets.

The young swordsman immediately bid farewell and turned around to leave after giving the presents to the little boy and the little girl.

Chen Ping’an didn’t know how to ask him to stay, so he could only accompany him to the door of the courtyard.

Meanwhile, in the Cao Clan’s ancestral home, the old man was standing beside the pond in the house. There was also a red fox sitting up on the skywell[1], while Cao Jun was sitting on a chair with one leg crossed over the other. He was looking at his ancestor out of the corners of his eyes, and he was too lazy to even say anything in greeting.

After the young swordsman walked in, the old man smiled and asked, “You have a fairly good relationship with that young boy?”

The young swordsman smiled and replied, “With Mr. Cao’s lofty cultivation base and status, you actually decided to target a young boy living in an impoverished alley?”

Cao Xi laughed and said, “I was merely giving him some minor punishment. At most, he would have only experienced misfortune for a single year. It’s nothing much. In fact, even mere mortals with slightly stronger ancestral blessings and slightly more Yang energy can endure this misfortune. In any case, didn’t you interfere as well? You helped that young boy dispel some small calamities.”

The young swordsman shook his head and didn’t say anything else.

This was the absurd nature of the world. Xie Shi and Cao Xi were both powerful figures who had grown up and walked out from Jewel Small World, and the former was an honest and sincere person who was renowned throughout several large continents. Xie Shi was publicly regarded as a grandmaster, and he was someone who could stand out and distinguish himself in the Complete Reed Continent, a continent that was filled with swordsmen. In fact, he had the potential to become an extremely powerful and influential Heavenly Lord, and he was someone whom even his enemies respected.

On the contrary, Cao Xi was someone with a strange personality. He had never had a good reputation, and everyone said that he was an unkind and ungenerous person. They claimed that it was because of his extremely good fated opportunities that he was able to continually grow stronger in an unstoppable manner.

Yet, contrary to expectations, it was the unorthodox sword immortal, Cao Xi, who was now standing on the side of the Great Li Empire. Meanwhile, Xie Shi was unexpectedly about to do something quite disgraceful.

Cao Jun stood up and said with a faint smile, “I know who you are. You’re the Mo Clan’s Xu Ruo. You roamed around the Middle Earth Divine Continent for many years, and you’re extremely renowned there. People refer to you as a flood dragon among humans. I feel like Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Wei Jin likes to immerse himself in the world and dislikes staying in the mountains because of your influence. Perhaps he’s trying to emulate what you did in your youth.”

Xu Ruo recalled that young and high-spirited sword immortal from Wind Snow Temple. He shook his head and chuckled, “He’s not trying to emulate me.”

Cao Xi suddenly remembered something, and he jumped into the dried-up pond and turned over a bluestone slab. There was an ordinary copper coin hidden there, and it was already covered in rust. The renowned terrestrial sword immortal laughed heartily. He put the copper coin in his sleeve and clicked his tongue in wonder. “What a good omen, what a very good omen.”

Cao Xi looked up at the young swordsman and said, “In my view, the shattering of that bonded porcelain was the fault of the Great Li Empire and Dragon Spring County. It was because of their mistake that the accident occurred. However, the Great Li Empire already provided compensation at that time, and the other party also accepted this compensation. Logically speaking, this matter should have concluded there. However, that buyer has now raised this matter progressively up the ranks of the hidden forces, and he’s eventually gotten the mighty Xie Shi to step forward to frighten the others. Things have been done in a fairly unethical and unscrupulous manner.

“In fact, it’s quite easy to resolve this matter. We can just make one vigorous effort to beat Xie Shi to death. There’s me, there’s you, and there’s also Sage Ruan Qiong. If the three of us combine forces, Xie Shi will not only lose, but he won’t be able to flee either. Xie Shi’s seeking death, so he can’t blame anyone else if we grant him his death wish.”

“Even if we kill Xie Shi, what should the Great Li Empire do if the shattered and fallen Jewel Small World is also comprehensively destroyed?” Xu Ruo asked.

“Killing Xie Shi and sending a warning to the others is an extremely effective tactic. This is no less effective than constructing another White Jade Capital,” Cao Xi replied. This was easy for him to say, as he didn’t need to put himself in the shoes of Xu Ruo or the Great Li Empire.

The young swordsman ignored him.

However, Cao Xi continued to tempt him, saying, “Isn’t the Great Li Empire about to march south? If we kill Xie Shi, just how many old bastards at the 10th tier or Upper Five Tiers will dare to remain in Great Sui Nation? I wager that there’ll be no more than five. If I’m wrong, then I’ll deal with all of the additional old bastards. What do you say?”

Xu Ruo was slightly puzzled, and he asked, “Is there bitter and deep-seated hatred between you and Xie Shi?”

Cao Xi shook his head and replied, “No, we’re nothing more than fellow townsmen. We’re not from the same generation, and we’ve never met each other before this either. Our ancestors didn’t bear any grudges against each other either. However, I simply can’t stand Xie Shi relying on his powerful cultivation to bully the Great Li Empire. He’s far too ungrateful to his home nation. He was born in the Great Li Empire, after all, and so be it if he doesn’t show any gratitude to the empire for raising and nurturing him. Yet, he’s actually opposing the Great Li Empire now? I, Cao Xi, can’t stand this type of person.”

“Absolute motherfucking bullshit!”

The fiery red fox standing on the skywell immediately revealed Cao Xi’s true intentions, sneering, “The Southern Whirl Continent’s Pure Confucian Chen Clan is a branch clan that originated from the Middle Earth Divine Continent. The main Chen Clan has always been at odds with the Daoist Sect, so killing Xie Shi can be viewed as the greatest present in the world to them. To say nothing betrothing an official descendant of the Pure Confucian Chen Clan to Cao Jun, they’d even be willing to betroth another descendant from the main Chen Clan in the Middle Earth Divine Continent to him.”

“You loudmouthed woman,” Cao Xi scolded with a chuckle. He raised a hand and flicked his sleeve.

The fiery red fox instantly exploded into smithereens.

Compared to when it had been hacked into pieces by Cao Jun’s flying sword, the fox clearly took a much longer time to knit back together and return to its original form.

It ripped up a roof tile and aggressively threw it at Cao Xi. After doing this, it turned around to flee as quickly as a bolt of lightning.

Cao Xi casually caught the roof tile and tossed it back up to its original position.

In fact, the roof tile was already shattered into many pieces.

Xu Ruo, the gallant individual from the Mo Clan, rejected Cao Xi’s suggestion. “This kind of matter isn’t something that I can make a decision on.”

Cao Xi rolled his eyes and asked, “Then who in the Great Li Empire can make this decision?”

Xu Ruo smiled and replied, “Only three people — the emperor, Monarch Song Changjing, and Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan.”

“Then tell one of them to come over!” Cao Xi exclaimed in anger. “You, Xu Ruo, are just coming here to watch a show without actually doing anything? What’s the point? Since Xie Shi has dared to come here by himself, it’s clear that he definitely has something to rely on. If on the off chance he manages to flee even after the three of us combine forces, and if he manages to achieve his goal and even flee back to the Complete Reed Continent, then we three pitiful insects — in addition to the Great Li Empire’s Imperial Song Clan — will all be fucked at that time!”

“They will come,” Xu Ruo replied with a nod.

Cao Xi instantly fell silent.

This was because he always liked to project his shortcomings onto others. He was very afraid that the Great Li Empire would turn around to target him after disposing of Xie Shi.

This was especially the case since the Great Li Empire’s Imperial Song Clan wasn’t some kind of noble entity.

Some genuine noble person, a person who was even more powerful than him and Xie Shi, had already died.

He had died right in this small town.

One naturally couldn’t blame the Great Li Empire for being disloyal, nor could one blame the emperor for cowering from the conflict.

However, Cao Xi felt like this was far too much of a bad omen. It was extremely inauspicious.

Moreover, he had received news regarding the Great Li Empire’s Jewel Small World on his way here, and one piece of information had mentioned his ancestral home being damaged and fixed. This had soured his mood even more.

If it weren’t for the Pure Confucian Chen Clan requesting it, he would have been completely unwilling to involve himself in this conflict.

This was especially the case since Cao Xi was still yet to figure out the root cause of Qi Jingchun’s certain death. As a result, he felt extremely uneasy once he set foot in Dragon Spring Prefecture.

Because of this, he hoped that Xie Shi’s death could fish out the main culprit. At that time, even if the worst-case scenario in his mind played out, there would still be the Great Li Empire’s Song Clan, Sage Ruan Qiong and Wind Snow Temple, and his supporters, the Pure Confucian Chen Clan and the Middle Earth Divine Continent’s Chen Clan to share the risk together.

Risk and reward came hand in

This was the same regardless of whether it was the mortal world or the cultivation world.

————

The Xie Clan’s ancestral residence was on Peach Leaf Alley, and the descendants of the clan couldn’t be regarded as great in number. In fact, the Xie Clan was already in decline. If it weren’t for the young boy with long eyebrows becoming Ruan Qiong’s unofficial disciple, the Xie Clan would have needed to make the miserable decision of selling their ancestral residence long ago.

A middle-aged man knocked on the gate of the ancestral residence.

A young girl opened the gate, and she asked, “You are?”

“I’m your ancestor,” the middle-aged man replied in a serious tone.

The young girl with bright eyes and slender eyebrows looked like a graceful and restrained person, but she was in fact a fierce and short-tempered individual. “It’s New Year’s Day, so how can you harass someone like this? Do you want me to grab a broom to smack you?” she exclaimed in fury.

The middle-aged man was unfazed, and he replied, “You can go and flip through the clan’s genealogy books. Look for the Jiaxu book, and there’ll be someone called Xie Shi recorded there. That’s me. Also, the character ‘Shi’ is missing a dot.”

Fifteen minutes later, everyone in the Xie Clan was kneeling on the floor outside the ancestral hall.

Xie Shi ignored his trembling descendants, and he silently walked inside the ancestral hall to offer three sticks of incense.

His voice was solemn as he said, “The young boy with slightly longer eyebrows than everyone else, you can enter to offer some incense. The rest of you can return. In any case, there’s no need for you people to offer incense. After all, just seeing you people will cause a ball of fire to well up in our ancestors’ chests.”

Outside the ancestral hall, a woman was filled with sheer delight. She was so moved that tears were streaming down her face. She grabbed her son’s arm and covered her mouth at the same time, preventing herself from making any noise.

The young boy with long eyebrows took a deep breath. After his mother let go of him, he stood up and carefully walked into the ancestral hall. He walked toward that mighty figure.

————

On the post road outside the small town, a horse-drawn carriage was slowly trundling along.

The carriage driver was Liu Yu, the person who had blocked the swordsman on Go Table Mountain. Inside the carriage, there was a refined old man who looked like a scholar, and there was also a young girl who had a naturally sharp and aloof appearance.

They were none other than Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan and Court Lady Zhi Gui.

Or perhaps it was better to call them the old Cui Chan and Wang Zhu?

————

Inside the small courtyard on Clay Vase Alley, the little boy in azure wrapped his arms around his head and started to wail in grief again.

Why was this small town so bloody annoying? This was only the first day of the new year, yet they had already been visited by two people whom he couldn’t determine the cultivation base of. Just using his knee or ass, he could already imagine just how powerful these two people were. They were definitely terrifying people who could smash him to death with a single punch!

In the past, the little boy in azure had always regarded himself as someone who had experienced and witnessed many huge storms. After arriving in the small town, however, he finally realized that those huge storms were inferior to even the small puddles on the narrow Clay Vase Alley.

He began to sincerely admire Chen Ping’an. To be able to survive until today… What an immense feat! Sure enough, the young boy who had become his master wasn’t an ordinary person. It was no wonder that he had been followed around by such a vicious student back then.

And thus, tears streamed down the little boy in azure’s face as he grabbed Chen Ping’an’s hand and said from the bottom of his heart, “Master, I’ll definitely treat you better in the future.”

Chen Ping’an pushed his head aside and chuckled, “You’re always the most afraid of everything. How embarrassing.”

The little boy in azure glanced at the silly and simple-minded girl out of the corners of his eyes. He felt like he was indeed embarrassing himself. He quietly sat back down on his small stool and fumed in silence.

The little girl in pink was indeed more simple-minded than him. She held the smooth and delicate Peace and Safety Tablet in her hands, and she liked it so much that she could barely put it down.

Of course, the most simple-minded of them all was still their master, Chen Ping’an.

He retrieved several bamboo slips that were inscribed with characters and placed them on the short mud wall between his courtyard and Song Jixin’s. This could be somewhat regarded as basking books, right?

1. A skywell (天井) is a typical feature of traditional homes in southern and eastern China. ☜