Unsheathed

Night started to set in, and the man in azure being chased by the lame young boy stopped and borrowed the last wisps of lingering light to gaze down the path to the south. The boy seized this opportunity to punch him in the shoulder, yet the dejected scholar simply swayed a little and ignored him completely.

The lame young boy was slightly curious, so he followed the scholar’s gaze and also peered into the distance. However, he failed to see anything, so he started to think that the scholar in azure was purposely doing this to distract him. The lame young boy was just about to punish the scholar in azure with a flurry of punches again, beating him until he didn’t dare to tease the innkeeper anymore.

However, his heart suddenly jolted, and he lay down and pressed his ear to the ground.

His expression became serious. What he heard was a troop of cavalry, and quite a large one at that. Post attendants and soldiers would occasionally pass by Fox Town, but the small town had never been visited by large cavalry troops before.

In order to admire the magnificence of the Yao Clan’s cavalry, the youths in Fox Town would often gather together to travel to Hanging Armor Military Town in the distance. Only then would they be able to steal a few glances at those mighty mounted troops from far away.

Metal armor, warhorses, crossbows, sabers… These were the most manly things in the eyes of the impoverished youths from Fox Town.

The lame young boy was no different; he was also fascinated by these manly things. It was just that the other children didn’t like to play with him.

At this moment, the lame young boy abandoned his pursuit of the man in azure and walked into the inn to inform Jiu Niang of the situation. Jiu Niang yawned and replied that she was aware now. However, these cavalrymen definitely wouldn’t take a fancy to her inn and Fox Town, so they were most likely marching through the night to head to Hanging Armor Military Town in the north. Thus, there was no need to pay any heed to them.

The lame young boy nodded in acknowledgment and immediately ran outside, climbing onto the roof of the inn and holding his hand above his eyes as he peered into the distance. There was still a wisp of light remaining, just enough for one to strain their eyes and see things vaguely. The lame young boy wanted to witness the military outfits of those cavalrymen from the border. That way, he could brag and show off to other children his age when he went to Fox Town to buy oil and rice for the innkeeper.

He could vaguely see the billowing dust in the distance, and the deep and resounding thuds against the earth were also becoming clearer and clearer.

However, the last wisp of light didn’t stay around for too long. This caused the lame young boy to become a little desperate, so he hurriedly climbed down the roof and ran into the inn to ask Jiu Niang whether he could put up some lanterns. Jiu Niang glared at him and asked, “You want to hang the lanterns out this early? Who’s going to pay for the candles?”

The lame young boy patted his chest and said, “I’ll pay for them. If I can’t afford them, then ask Old Hunchback to pay for them first.”

Jiu Niang nodded in approval. Upon seeing this, the lame young boy was filled with delight as he ran away to hang two large red lanterns outside the inn. He was just about to climb onto the roof again, yet he saw a single cavalryman veering slightly off the official road and quietly galloping to the inn. The cavalryman was dressed in a bright and colorful suit of armor, in stark contrast to the plain and simple armor worn by the Yao Clan’s border army.

The cavalryman removed his helmet and held it in front of his chest before asking with a cold expression, “Do you sell green plum wine here?”

The lame young boy gulped and trembled in fear as he replied, “That’s correct, Lord Soldier, we do sell green plum wine here.”

The cavalryman’s voice was solemn as he ordered, “I want the innkeeper to clear out the entire inn in fifteen minutes. Prepare five tables of food for us, and remember to serve the best green plum wine. We’ll cover the cost, and we won’t pay a single copper coin less. In fact, we’ll reward you handsomely if the green plum wine is truly as delicious as the rumors say!

“Keep in mind that we’ll send people to check the rooms when we enter the inn. If anyone dares to disobey our order and stay, then we’ll execute them without mercy. The guests of the inn can naturally return after we leave.”

The cavalryman put his helmet back on before turning his horse around and galloping off into the distance.

The lame young boy appeared dazed. The man in azure was squatting outside the inn by himself, while the emaciated dog had already returned to its kennel. The man in azure had nowhere to go right now, and upon seeing the lame young boy stuck in a trance, he said in reminder, “Hurry up and inform Jiu Niang about this. The inn will be shut down if you offend these esteemed people from the capital.”

The lame young boy hurriedly sprinted into the inn, yet he discovered that the innkeeper and the hunchbacked old man were already sitting together and discussing this matter. Thus, his arrival meant that he could become the sacrificial lamb who informed the guests upstairs of the current situation. He would have to ask them to make haste and leave the inn, lest there be unnecessary bloodshed and death.

The lame young boy was slightly hesitant, yet Jiu Niang waved her hand and said that she would clear his debt for the lantern candles. The lame young boy immediately charged upstairs, heading to Chen Ping’an’s room which was the closest. He clearly explained the situation to the guest, and Chen Ping’an expressed that he didn’t mind leaving the inn for a moment.

Chen Ping’an also smiled and said that he would inform the guests in the neighboring two rooms, so the young boy could go and inform the other guests instead. The lame young boy thanked Chen Ping’an before hurrying off to the other rooms.

After returning to her room, Pei Qian lit the oil lamp on her table and flipped open a book. She smiled and said that she was reading.

Chen Ping’an didn’t expose her lie. In reality, Pei Qian had been standing by the wall and eavesdropping on Zhu Lian and Wei Xian the entire time. She had only grabbed the book from her luggage and pretended to be reading after hearing Chen Ping’an knock on the door.

Chen Ping’an told her to pack up because they needed to leave the inn for a while.

Meanwhile, Zhu Lian had already opened the door of the neighboring room and said to Chen Ping’an with a smile, “Wei Xian went to sleep again after opening the door for me. Should I wake him up, Young Master?”

Zhu Lian was just about to turn around, yet Wei Xian, who still reeked of alcohol, had already sat up. He massaged his glabella and said to Zhu Lian and Chen Ping’an, “I’m awake now.”

Ma Ping and his two subordinates swore and muttered under their breaths when they heard that a group of cavalry was passing by. However, they still obediently packed up and left their rooms.

Yao Lingzhi, the young girl with a ponytail, was staying in the room at the end of the corridor. She was standing by the railings on the second floor right now, and she stared at the innkeeper on the first floor and questioned, “Is this how your inn treats its guests? Well, this is truly an eye-opening experience for me. This is a border region, yet someone actually dares to act so wantonly under the nose of the Yao Clan’s mounted troops? I want to see who these mighty people are. After all, they’re so capable that they can clear out an entire inn with a single command!”

The young girl placed a single hand on the railing before directly jumping down to the first floor, causing the faces of Ma Ping and his two subordinates to twitch. Where had this tough little girl come from?

Jiu Niang smiled bitterly. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t help but hesitate.

The hunchbacked old man held his smoking pipe and pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ll head over and discuss this with the cavalry. We’re running an ordinary inn here, so how can we treat people differently based on their wealth and status?”

The hunchbacked old man walked out of the inn, with his figure vanishing into the boundless darkness of night.

Jiu Niang looked up at the guests on the second floor and said apologetically, “Just stay in your rooms in a moment. Tonight’s matter is the inn’s fault, so we’ll compensate each of you with a pot of five-year-old green plum wine after everything is over.”

Yao Lingzhi leaped back to the second floor and strode into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Ma Ping and his two subordinates also huffed in anger as they returned to their own rooms.

Chen Ping’an asked Wei Xian and Zhu Lian to head to his room for a while first. It went without saying that Pei Qian went to his room as well.

Jiu Niang instructed the lame young boy to go outside so that he could bring the scholar with the surname Zhong into the inn. They would offer him a room on the second floor so he wouldn’t be an eyesore outside the inn.

The man in azure picked a room on the second floor before leaning against the railing and looking down at the first floor. Jiu Niang wagged her finger at him and said, “Piss off into your room.”

There was a hint of worry in the man’s voice as he said, “Jiu Niang, you’re so beautiful, so what will you do if those soldiers become touchy and forceful after seeing your beauty? Drinking wine will cause them to become even more daring and wanton…”

Jiu Niang smiled and replied, “Then that will give you the opportunity to play the role of a hero saving a beauty, won’t it? If I’m blind and foolish, I might even offer myself to you to show my gratitude.”

The man in azure shook his hand and declared, “Noble people won’t take advantage of other people. Rest assured, Jiu Niang, scholars all possess an aura of righteousness and a mind full of sagely principles. As long as I’m standing here, those soldiers won’t be able to develop sinister thoughts no matter how much wine they drink…”

Before Jiu Niang could retort, Yao Lingzhi had already opened her door at the end of the corridor and drawn her saber halfway from its scabbard, causing a crisp metallic sound to ring through the air. Her voice was stern as she said to the man in azure, “Shut up, pervert!”

It was abundantly clear that the young girl’s saber was far more effective than the lame young boy’s flailing punches and kicks. The man in azure immediately entered his room without saying another word.

However, the more this was the case, the more Yao Lingzhi felt disappointed in the woman downstairs. Day after day and year after year, Jiu Niang was drinking and interacting with men like this? How was she different from those women in the brothels?

Yao Lingzhi entered her room and slumped down on the table. A sense of grief welled up inside her, causing her to start sobbing.

Jiu Niang stood behind the counter and sighed. She poured herself a bowl of green plum wine.

There was a loud thud.

Jiu Niang looked up, only to see the man in azure collapsing to the floor after jumping down from the second floor. However, he picked himself up and walked to the counter, saying with a smile, “Just treat me as the accountant here. I can’t help but feel worried if I stay too far away from you. ”

There was a gentle smile on his face.

Jiu Niang faltered for a moment before replying, “But you’re so ugly. I feel a bit disgusted if you get too close to me.”

The man in azure squatted down and held his head in his hands as if he had been struck by lightning.

As it turned out, those romantic interactions and emotional confessions detailed in the novels were nothing but lies. They were all utterly useless.

The hunchbacked old man walked into the inn first.

A group of people walked in after him. Perhaps they were reasonable people, and they didn’t insist on clearing out the guests on the second floor. They didn’t have all five tables of people rush in at once either.

The leader was a middle-aged man wearing a bright red official robe decorated with the image of a python. His face was pale and clean-shaven, and an aura of overbearing might radiated from his body.

Two people were standing behind the middle-aged man. One was suited in silver armor decorated with cloud patterns. His metal armor clinked as he walked. The other was in his seventies, dressed in a brocade robe and wearing a tall hat. He possessed the demeanor of a transcendent being.

Another seven or eight people were further behind them, and these people were most likely their confidants and trusted subordinates.

The middle-aged man in official garb sat down at a table with the man in silver armor and the man in brocade robes. Standing among the group of trusted subordinates, a young man with a jade pendant hanging by his waist smiled when he saw Jiu Niang.

A whopping seven hundred to eight hundred elite cavalry were stationed outside the inn, and an additional dozen or so carriages, with each holding a prisoner and two guards. Without exception, the guards were all Middle Five Tier Qi refiners from the Great Quan Empire.

The hunchbacked old man furrowed his brow.

He hadn’t imagined that it would be these people.

These guests weren’t giving face to the hunchbacked old geezer, but rather to the Yao Clan. However, the face of Great General Yao and the eighty thousand mounted troops of the Yao Clan was only enough to make these guests go from five tables to three tables.

As for why they didn’t insist on clearing out the guests on the second floor? This was because one of the young subordinates had casually mentioned that it would be livelier if there were more people when they drank. Upon hearing this, the domineering middle-aged man in bright red official garb had chuckled and nodded in agreement.

The general in silver armor looked at Jiu Niang and instructed, “Bring us some green plum wine first. And make sure that our food comes quickly as well.”

The hunchbacked old man pushed aside the curtain in the doorway and entered the kitchen to cook.

The lame young boy started to bring wine to the three tables.

A heavy atmosphere hung over the first floor of the inn.

There was almost no sound except that of wine sloshing into bowls.

Someone suddenly raised their hand and waved at Jiu Niang, saying with a smile, “Innkeeper, can you personally pour wine for our brothers? I’ve heard that this green plum wine is personally made by you following an ancestral recipe that you’ve inherited. That being the case, it’s only right that you personally pour the wine and serve it to us.”

The table of subordinates no longer felt reserved and worried when they heard the young man say this. They immediately burst into loud laughter.

Jiu Niang grabbed a pot of wine and smiled as she walked over.

For some unknown reason, however, she immediately tensed up when she caught the young subordinate’s gaze. She had opened this inn for many years, and had seen all kinds of people from the cultivation world. Not only that, but she had also seen quite a lot of immortals and Qi refiners from the mountains.

Even so, she still felt a slight sense of fear when she locked eyes with the young subordinate. It was as if she were a mortal human who had come across a ghost at night. A sense of powerlessness welled up from the depths of her heart.

The man in azure suddenly dragged Jiu Niang behind him and said with a loud laugh, “Jiu Niang isn’t feeling well today, so how about I, the accountant of this inn, pour wine for the esteemed guests? What does everyone say?”

As if hearing the funniest joke in the world, the young subordinate looked around the inn and asked, “What do you say, brothers?”

Everyone naturally said no.

The young subordinate looked at the man in azure and said in amusement, “Everyone says no, so what can we do? How about we stick with the original plan and get the innkeeper to personally pour wine? It’s only pouring wine, it’s not like we asked Jiu Niang to suit up in armor and go to the front lines, is it?”

The eunuch in bright red official garb turned a deaf ear to the commotion.

The old immortal wearing a tall hat smiled faintly.

The young girl, Yao Lingzhi, opened her door and shouted with a livid expression, “This won’t do!”

The young subordinate stood up, making him the focal point of everyone downstairs.

He looked up and asked with a smile, “And why is that?”

Yao Lingzhi felt slightly uneasy just looking at this person. She instinctively placed her hand on the hilt of her saber, and she recklessly replied, “Because this is the Yao Clan’s territory!”

Yao Lingzhi didn’t notice the killing intent rising in all of the subordinates’ hearts the instant that she placed her hand on the hilt of her saber.

This was especially the case with the general in silver armor sitting beside the eunuch in bright red official garb and the old immortal wearing a tall hat. He was already brimming with killing intent.

The young subordinate was craning his neck and gazing up at the second floor, yet it was as if he were paying close attention to everything that was happening on the first floor as well. He raised a hand and signaled for everyone to calm down and not act recklessly. He then smiled faintly and said, “But the entire Great Quan Empire is the territory of my family. What should we do now? Perhaps the Yao Clan wants to launch a rebellion?”

Jiu Niang held a wine pot and walked out from behind the counter, turning to the young girl first and ordering, “Go back to your room, Lingzhi!”

She then curtsied to the young subordinate and said, “I’ll pour some wine for you straight away, Young Master.”

A smile tugged at the corners of the young subordinated lips as he stared at Jiu Niang’s face. He pointed at the young girl upstairs and said, “Why don’t the two of you, mother and daughter, serve me together?”

Jiu Niang’s face instantly became as pale as paper.

However, a door upstairs suddenly opened, and a young boy in white robes walked out and said, “I don’t fancy that idea.”

The young subordinate looked up at the nosy person and asked with an amused smile, “Oh? And just who do you think you are, little spring onion?”

This time, it was someone from the first floor who answered this question for Chen Ping’an, retorting, “And just who do you think you are, little spring onion?”

It was the dejected scholar in azure with the surname Zhong.

The young subordinate sighed in grief and lamented, “Wowee, one after another, everyone is trying to go against my will tonight. An inn that’s unwilling to shoo its guests away, an innkeeper who’s unwilling to serve wine, a young girl from the Yao Clan who’s speaking impudently, an outsider who thinks he’s a sword immortal just because he’s wearing a white robe, and a scholar who thinks he’s a Confucian sage just because he’s wearing an azure robe…”

He suddenly glanced at Jiu Niang before glancing at Yao Lingzhi, smiling and saying, “It’s okay, the two of you can try to save the Yao Clan tonight. If you satisfy me and put me in a good mood, perhaps I might help you drag the Yao Clan from the brink of death.”

Jiu Niang took a deep breath. As if making up her mind, she turned to the scholar in azure and said, “Zhong Kui, this matter has got nothing to do with you. I know you have some skills, so flee if you can in a moment. Don’t worry about us.”

She then looked up at Chen Ping’an, and was just about to say something to the young boy.

However, Chen Ping’an had already smiled and said, “Innkeeper, what did you say to me before?”

Jiu Niang was slightly puzzled, and this caused her to fall silent for a moment.

“The road of life might be narrow, but the wine bowl is assuredly wide,” Chen Ping’an murmured to himself.

The road was narrow, so he had come across the Yao Clan that was affiliated with that locust leaf.

The road was narrow, so he had come across these people who acted wantonly and wished to sever everyone else’s roads.

However, this didn’t matter because the green plum wine here was delicious.

“I’ll need to trouble the four of you today,” Chen Ping’an said in a soft voice.

Under the watchful gazes of everyone, four people walked out from the room behind the young boy in white.

Wei Xian, the founding emperor of Southern Garden Nation, walked out first, and there was a stern expression on his face as he said, “There’s no need to be polite.”

Martial Arts Maniac Zhu Lian walked out next, and the hunchbacked old man stood on the other side of Chen Ping’an with his hands clasped behind his back. “There was no need to say that, Young Master,” the old man chuckled.

A stunningly beautiful woman stood beside Wei Xian with Deep Infatuation strapped to her back. She was none other than Sui Youbian, the female sword immortal from the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. She appeared cold and aloof as she said, “Thank you for lending me this sword, Young Master.”

Finally, there was Lu Baixiang, the tall and sturdy founder of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land’s demonic force. He was standing beside Zhu Lian, and his hands were resting on the hilt of his saber whose tip was digging into the floor. He smiled faintly and remarked, “Young Master, this saber is quite impressive. Its name, Halting Snow, is quite good as well.”

At the very end, a soft and weak voice sounded and asked, “What about me, Dad?”

“Go back to your room and keep reading!” Chen Ping’an replied in slight helplessness.

“Oh, okay then.”

The skinny little girl closed her door and started to read at the top of her lungs, causing the sagely principles in the book to reverberate throughout the inn.

The scholar on the first floor listened to the loud recitation of the little scholar on the second floor.[1]

Apart from the little scholar reciting, however, there also stood Chen Ping’an, Wei Xian, Zhu Lian, Sui Youbian, and Lu Baixiang.

1. There’s meant to be a pun here, where “scholar” (书生) is homonyms with the sound of reading (书声). Both are read “shūshēng” in Chinese, with the same tones as well. ☜