Unsheathed

The young Daoist priest’s palms were sweating profusely as he clutched the jade badge tightly while forcing his way through the crowd, drawing much ire and verbal abuse in the process.

A nearby attendant of Ceremony Mountain quickly noticed the young man forcing his way through the crowd, and he approached the young Daoist priest with a stern expression, but right as he was about to scold the Daoist priest, the latter spread a hand open to reveal a beautiful jade badge assigned to guests staying in the Premium Room C.

A benevolent smile immediately appeared on the attendant’s face as he asked, “Are you staying in room C, esteemed guest?”

The attendant was raising this question as he was somewhat familiar with the physical appearances of all of the guests staying in the premium rooms on the Ceremony Mountain Kun ship.

The young Daoist priest mustered up some courage, then explained, “My name is Zhang Shan, and I’m a traveling Daoist priest. I am from a distant branch of Mount Longhu’s Zhang Clan, but our branch isn’t officially listed in the genealogical records of Mount Longhu. The guest staying in room C, Chen Ping’an, is… a friend of mine. I was delayed by some matters so I’ve shown up late, and I’m looking for Chun Shui and Qiu Shi.”

As soon as he declared his intentions, the young Daoist priest immediately regretted his decision to do so, feeling as if he had been too reckless and abrupt, and that he shouldn’t have accepted the jade badge without discretion. He was a very thoughtful young man who liked to keep his emotions bottled up, and he often drove himself into corners when thinking about certain matters.

This was exactly the case here, and he was left at a loss for what to do. He felt like this was a flaw that was pervasive throughout every single element of his life, whether it be while he was training or when he was slaying demons and devils.

Right as the young Daoist priest was ruing his decision, the attendant’s smile grew even more pronounced as he stepped away to the side, indicating that the young Daoist priest was allowed to come in. At the same time, the attendant said in a respectful voice, “Please come with me, Esteemed Immortal Zhang.”

After learning about the situation, Chun Shui voluntarily gave up her seat, and an additional sandalwood chair was provided. Even as the young Daoist priest sat down, he still felt as if he were in a dream.

Chun Shui had only just vacated the chair, so there was still some of her residual body heat left on it. This made the young Daoist priest feel very awkward, and he was quite shy to begin with, so a faint blush appeared on his face. He hurriedly shifted his bottom so that he was sitting only on the edge of the chair, as if failure to do so would’ve been the equivalent of desecrating Chun Shui.

Qiu Shi was very amused to see this.

Chun Shui was rather perplexed about how Chen Ping’an had acquainted himself with this impoverished Daoist priest, but her expression remained unchanged as she sat down onto the new chair that had been brought out next to the young Daoist priest. As a maidservant that had come out of a major cultivation sect, observation was a mandatory skill to possess, and the young Daoist priest’s uncomfortable reaction naturally hadn’t evaded her attention.

A faint smile appeared on her face, and for some reason, she began comparing the young Daoist priest to the guest that she was serving, Chen Ping’an. Both of them came from impoverished backgrounds and were embarking on long journeys on this ship, and both of them were being exposed to these sights of auspicious opulence for the very first time, but even though Chen Ping’an was the younger one of the two, he was clearly much more calm and steadfast, displaying none of the tension and unease present in the young Daoist priest.

While the young Daoist priest was fidgeting in an uneasy fashion, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he hurriedly rose to his feet before offering his jade badge to Chun Shui. “This is Chen Ping’an’s jade badge, please return it to him.”

Instead of accepting the badge, Chun Shui replied in a gentle voice, “Young Master Chen will be back soon, so you can return it to him yourself, Esteemed Immortal Zhang.”

Looking into Chun Shui’s beautiful eyes from such close proximity, the young Daoist priest couldn’t help but blush once again as he sheepishly withdrew the jade badge, displaying none of the poise and grace befitting of an immortal.

The young Daoist priest was very thirsty, but all he could find was a dish of tea leaves and no tea. He was too shy to ask for some tea to be brewed for him, so he could only suffer in silence.

Qiu Shi had been very amused by the young Daoist priest this entire time, and she picked up a a bitter sparrow’s tongue tea leaf before placing it into her mouth with an amused expression as she explained, “Esteemed Immortal Zhang, these tea leaves can be directly consumed, so there’s no need for them to be brewed into tea.”

Chun Shui was a little exasperated, but she couldn’t scold her sister for her rudeness in front of everyone else.

She knew that if the young Daoist priest were someone with a petty and extreme personality, then he would likely develop a grudge against Qiu Shi for this slighting gesture, but thankfully, the young Daoist priest had a very mild personality.

The flush on his cheeks deepened even further as he picked up a couple of tea leaves between his fingers, then placed them into his mouth before gently chewing on them.

Immediately thereafter, his face immediately puckered up as if he were a small child eating a sour grape or a goldthread herb for the first time, and he couldn’t help but shudder at the taste.

Qiu Shi had to cover her mouth to conceal her mirth, and she found it very entertaining toying with this young Daoist priest.

As for Chun Shui, she was a little perplexed.

Through his gesture of picking up those tea leaves, the young Daoist priest had inadvertently revealed something about himself. He had picked up the tea leaves between his index finger and his middle finger, with the latter on top while the former was on the bottom, exactly as one would when picking up go stones, and that the fact that he did this in such a natural and inadvertent manner indicated that he frequently played the game.

If he were just a bottom-dwelling Qi refiner from an impoverished clan, then he most likely wouldn’t even have had a chance to see a go board. After all, musical instruments, Go, calligraphy, and painting were considered to have been pastimes exclusively for the wealthy.

Furthermore, playing Go was something that required a great deal of application and investment, and there was no upper limit to the amount of time and effort that one could spend perfecting their game.

Hence, for a cultivator of the Lower Five Tiers, there was no way that they would distract themselves with a game like go unless it was something that they had picked up at a very young age. After all, with the time and energy that he spent playing go was time and energy that was diverted away from cultivating, thereby resulting in a very high opportunity cost.

The devil was always in the details, and what Chun Shui truly found interesting about observing people was precisely these fine details.

Chen Ping’an was a young boy with an impoverished upbringing, yet he was able to stand on the ship’s observation deck every single day, practicing his fist techniques while looking out at the clouds.

In contrast, this shy Daoist priest had most likely come from a highly educated clan, and he would’ve possessed a decent status in the mortal world, but in the world of immortals, he was ultimately someone that was relegated to wandering the deck of the Kun ship.

Right at this moment, Chun Shui just so happened to notice the child being held by the timid man in the front row turning to smile at her, and she gave him a smile of her own out of politeness.

At the same time, she was thinking to herself that the most important test under the heavens had to have been the circumstances that one was born into.

As for the child, he was marveling at Chun Shui’s beauty, and he really wanted to purchase her to become his personal maidservant. That way, whenever his hands became cold from flipping through book pages during winter, he would have her warm them.

The child tugged on his mother’s sleeve, and his mother was very cold and arrogant to everyone else, but she was extremely doting and affectionate with her son. She lowered her head so that the child could speak into her ear, and he told her what he was thinking.

The woman turned around to take a glance at Chun Shui with a cold expression, then turned back to her son with a smile as she said, “Her aptitude is far too mediocre. Even if we give her all the cultivation resources in the world, there’s no way she’ll be able to even touch the Middle Five Tiers. Don’t worry, once we get off the ship at Old Dragon City, I’ll find a Cave Abode Tier woman to serve as your maidservant.”

This sounded like a preposterous claim, but not only did the child believe her, no one else around them batted an eyelid at the prospect of finding a Middle Five Tiers woman to serve as a maidservant for a child.

The woman had made no effort to keep her voice down, and Chun Shui’s face immediately turned deathly pale.

The woman had declared that she had no hope of ever reaching the Middle Five Tiers, and that struck her with a sense of despair.

All of a sudden, the woman turned her gaze to Qiu Shi, and she remarked, “Oh, this little lass here has some potential, but she’s not quite as pleasing on the eyes as the other one. Do you like this one, Son? If you do, I can buy her from Ceremony Mountain.”

The boy also turned his gaze to Qiu Shi, then scoffed with a disdainful expression, “I don’t like her at all. She’s as thin as a stick, just like you, Mother.”

Indeed, the woman was very tall but also extremely thin and lanky, and she wasn’t irked by her son’s words at all. Instead, she patted him on the head and erupted into raucous laughter that sounded just harrowing as the cries of a crow in the dead of night.

Qiu Shi was completely oblivious to what had just been discussed between the two, while Chun Shui’s head was lowered with her hands folded over her knees, and she was clenching them together so tightly that veins could be seen bulging on the backs of her hands.

————

Even though Chen Ping’an had a very good impression of that Daoist nun, he still decided to contact First and Fifteenth in his Sword Nurturing Gourd, and only after receiving a response did he finally feel reassured.

This was a gift that had fallen onto his lap, so he had to be careful that it wasn’t a trap.

Back when Old Man Yao was alive, whenever he had a drink, he would always tell some fantastic and mystical stories that all of his disciples liked to hear. Whenever those stories were being told, even Liu Xianyang would be happy to listen, while the other disciples merely felt like an intoxicated and rambling Old Man Yao was far more endearing than his normal stern and critical self, so they didn’t really care what he was talking about.

Everyone had their own fate, and some were destined to walk upon the stone slab streets of Fortune Street and Peach Leaf Alley. Even during heavy storms, those streets would still provide firm footing that could be easily walked on. In contrast, some were destined to walk the dirt roads of the small alleys, which would become extremely muddy and slippery with the slightest amount of rain.

Those who were even less fortunate were essentially walking on sheets of paper that could tear at a moment’s notice, and even blessings would turn into curses for them as it would be too much for them to bear.

Chen Ping’an would always sit furthest away out of all of the disciples and commit all of Old Man Yao’s stories to memory.

Interestingly enough, Chen Ping’an was the disciple that Old Man Yao was most reluctant to teach, but he was also the disciple who was most willing to latch onto his every word.

It was very rare for bad people to do good things, and that certainly couldn’t be counted upon, but if one were to encounter a good person doing a bad thing, then that would truly be extremely unfortunate, and Chen Ping’an was hoping that this meeting wasn’t going to be some sinister trap.

If he were walking into an unavoidable trap, then he presumed that it was most likely because of that sword in the locust wooden box that he was carrying on his back. Even though Wei Bo, Ruan Qiong, and Old Man Yang had all contributed to its concealment, someone must have still discovered it somehow.

Chen Ping’an slowly made his way up the staircase before entering the main hall, but the Daoist nun from Divine Edict Sect was nowhere to be seen. He looked around for a while and finally discovered her standing beside the desk in the study.

She was still wearing her usual Daoist robes, but the fish tail hat that she normally wore had been replaced by a lotus flower hat. In the Daoist orthodoxy, Divine Edict Sect was a very strange entity with very chaotic inheritances and lineages from all three teachings, making for a massive mess.

He Xiaoliang had one hand resting on the desk as she revealed in a direct and straightforward manner, “Chen Ping’an, I came to see you under request from Branch Mast…”

The words “Branch Master Lu” almost slipped out of her mouth, but she remained composed as she continued, “Under request from Lu Chen, the Daoist priest who once visited Clay Vase Alley. He’s in the small town right now, but it’s not a good time for him to see you. He asked me to retrieve a medicinal recipe, the one that has his seal stamped on the end.

“Aside from that, he also asked me to return to you a snake gall pebble. From now on, neither you nor Lu Chen will owe the other anything, and you can continue to live your lives as normal. He also told me that if you two were to ever meet again someday, then he would be more than happy to sit down with you and share a drink or two.”

Chen Ping’an felt relieved yet also apprehensive upon hearing this.

This wasn’t about the sword forged by Ruan Qiong. Instead, it was solely about him.

He Xiaoliang smiled as she continued, “Finally, he also asked me to tell you to look after yourself, and to get off the ship at Southern Stream Nation.”

“Alright,” Chen Ping’an replied with a nod.

He Xiaoliang pointed at the table in the main hall, and the two of them sat down across from one another. After a brief moment of contemplation, she flipped a hand over to produce an imperial jade seal of a fallen nation.

It was very uniform in shape and crafted from extremely high-quality jade, and it was a minimization treasure, which was even rarer and more precious than a pocket treasure. Cui Chan had one such treasure in his possession, and it was one of the dozens of treasures that he had used in his battle against Cai Jingshen.

After that, He Xiaoliang raised a hand, and an antiquated inkstone appeared in the air, hovering above the jade seal. Immediately thereafter, an antiquated jade book flew out of the inkstone, and out of the book drifted a small lotus leaf. Finally, a snake gall pebble rolled out of the pocket treasure that was lotus leaf, and it was none other than the one that Chen Ping’an had requested He Xiaoliang to give to Lu Chen.

She had just pulled out a minimization treasure and three pocket treasures, and it was an extremely comprehensive silent bragging of wealth.

Any 10th tier Qi refiner under the heavens would’ve been absolutely astonished had they witnessed this, yet all of these blessings had fallen into He Xiaoliang’s lap.

He Xiaoliang stowed away the lotus leaf, the jade book, the antiquated inkstone, and the jade seal, then gently pushed the snake gall pebble toward Chen Ping’an.

She could see that Chen Ping’an didn’t seem to dare to accept the snake gall pebble, so she said in a candid fashion, “I can assure you that Lu Chen hasn’t tampered with this snake gall pebble, just like he promised that he wasn’t going to use any mystical abilities to spy on our meeting no matter what I said or did. He made these promises to me in person, so you can rest assured.”

Only after hearing this did Chen Ping’an draw upon Fifteenth to produce a medicinal recipe, the very same one that Lu Chen had given to him back on Clay Vase Alley.

Instead of reaching out to take it, He Xiaoliang used a mystical ability to stow the medicinal recipe into her lotus leaf pocket treasure.

After doing all of this, He Xiaoliang’s expression had clearly become more relaxed, and she had even begun eating a spirit fruit by the name of fire pear.

As she did so, she smiled as she said, “Alright, now that all of the official matters are out of the way, it’s time to discuss some private matters. Don’t be nervous, Chen Ping’an.”

A wry smile appeared on Chen Ping’an’s face. How could he not be nervous?

“Have you heard that I left Divine Edict Sect?” He Xiaoliang asked.

Chen Ping’an shook his head in response.

“Looks like I’m still not sufficiently renowned,” He Xiaoliang mused in a self-deprecating fashion.

After that, she seemed to have been in no hurry to speak, continuing to munch on her fire pear with a look of enjoyment on her face. This fruit was able to ward off the cold, but when it came to the spiritual energy imbued within a fire pear, it couldn’t even begin to compare with an everspring mandarin. Hence, it wasn’t very expensive, and it was a common snack prepared for guests during winter and spring in wealthy and powerful mortal clans.

However, there were more everspring mandarins in the fruit bowl and barely any fire pears. If Chen Ping’an hadn’t asked Chun Shui and Qiu Shi about the prices of the two types of fruits, he would’ve definitely mistaken fire pears as the more expensive of the two fruits.

In reality, this was an indication of Ceremony Mountain’s wealth and generosity.

He Xiaoliang was munching on her fire pear with a relaxed expression, while Chen Ping’an was seated in his chair in a tense fashion, unsure of what her intentions were.

She was the Jade Girl of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Daoist orthodoxy, yet for some reason, she had suddenly declared her departure from Divine Edict Sect. Some said that it was due to her attachment to that junior uncle of hers, who had traveled to Middle Earth Divine Continent to take over the Daoist orthodoxy of the sect above Divine Edict Sect.

They speculated that she was finally unable to suppress her love for her junior uncle, and that she was determined to pursue him even at the expense of her sect, her master, and her Great Dao.

With He Xiaoliang removed from the position of Jade Girl, a new one had emerged to replace her, but instead of Divine Edict Sect, this new Jade Girl was a relatively unknown Daoist nun from Autumn Water Sect. There was widespread speculation that He Xiaoliang’s actions had drawn the ire of the entire continent’s Daoist orthodoxy, and that had led to Divine Edict Sect losing its claim over both the Golden Boy and the Jade Girl.

He Xiaoliang’s master had also been infuriated by her decision, and it had taken a great deal of convincing from Qi Zhen to prevent him from storming down the mountain to chase after He Xiaoliang and confront her.

Everyone knew that He Xiaoliang’s master had extremely high hopes for her and had nurtured her as if she were his daughter.

This was something that everyone in Divine Edict Sect was aware of, and it was exactly because of this that her master was so saddened by her actions.

However, at the same time, there were some skeptics out there. Wasn’t He Xiaoliang supposed to be the most fortunate cultivator on the entire continent? If so, how had she ended up in this situation?

Could it be that an even greater opportunity had fallen onto her lap, one that was enough to convince her to abandon even her master and her sect? The problem here was that the rules of the Daoist orthodoxy were extremely strict, no less so than those of the schools and academies of Confucianism, so even if she were to go to the sect above Divine Edict Sect on Middle Earth Divine Continent, would she really be able to stay by her junior uncle’s side given the terrible reputation she had earned for herself?