Unsheathed

The louchuan traveling to Azure Phoenix Nation had been constructed by a Mohist master who specialized in crafting ships. It wasn’t particularly remarkable among all of the myriad ships in Old Dragon City, and it could only house less than two hundred passengers at a time.

It was mostly used for transporting various valuable products from the northern region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and the southern region of Parasol Leaf Continent. However, the merchant that owned this ship only received the products left over after the five major clans of Old Dragon City had already taken their share, so none of the products were of a particularly high quality. Occasionally, some hidden gems would slip through the cracks, fetching several hundred snowflake coins of additional earnings, and that was already worthy of celebration.

Azure Phoenix Nation had some renown in the southeastern region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent for its abundance of Daoist temples and Buddhist monasteries. Various Daoist immortals and high-ranking Buddhist monks often held Liberation Rites of Water and Land and Heavenly Worship Ceremonies in Azure Phoenix Nation with funding from the imperial court.

On top of that, Azure Phoenix Nation’s blue sandalwood Xuan paper was also extremely renowned and was sold far and wide to several continents. As a result, the emperor of Azure Phoenix Nation had always been one of the wealthiest rulers in the southeastern region of the continent.

Furthermore, Buddhism wasn’t very prevalent on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, so Azure Phoenix Nation had the greatest number of Buddhist monasteries out of any nation on the continent. The walls of those monasteries were riddled with beautiful writings from revered scholars and poets, attracting countless scholars.

Inside a brightly lit room on the top floor of the ship, Chen Ping’an was reading a book about the topography of Azure Phoenix Nation. The book had been purchased from a bookshop in Old Dragon City by Zhu Lian, and while Chen Ping’an was reading, Pei Qian was making her transcriptions.

The most difficult part of any endeavor was always the beginning. Over time, a habit would develop, and it would no longer be as difficult. The same applied to Pei Qian and her transcriptions. Making daily transcriptions had already become a habit, one that she maintained even without any urging from Chen Ping’an.

However, Chen Ping’an knew that if he weren’t by her side, then Pei Qian would immediately abandon this habit. At the very most, she would only feel guilty for a day or two, following which she would forget about it entirely.

Chen Ping’an had split the basic refinement medicinal wine in his gourd into five parts, giving one part to each of the four picture scroll martial artists. This was one of the few things that pure martial artists could use to enhance their cultivation base. At the moment, Sui Youbian was at the Vajra Body Tier, and her combat prowess was even further enhanced by her Deep Infatuation sword.

In particular, when it came to one-on-one battles, any Qi refiner that was not an earth immortal would be as good as dead if they let her get within a hundred feet. Zhu Lian’s bottleneck was displaying clear signs of loosening, meaning that he was very likely to follow in Sui Youbian’s footsteps and reach the Three Mind Tempering Tiers.

Wei Xian and Lu Baixiang were still not close to making breakthroughs yet. However, following their sparring matches against Zheng Dafeng and the deaths that they had suffered during the battle outside Old Dragon City, their cultivation bases had been elevated slightly further.

On top of that, the four picture scroll martial artists couldn’t be compared with normal sixth and seventh tier martial artists to begin with.

Over the course of their journey, as long as they didn’t encounter any deranged cultivators of the Upper Five Tiers, Chen Ping’an was confident that they would be able to survive any ordeal. Even if they were to encounter a Nascent Tier earth immortal, as long as they weren’t a swordsman, his group would be able to put up a good fight.

In fact, if the four picture scroll martial artists were willing to sacrifice themselves, perhaps Chen Ping’an could even come out on top.

Regrettably, Chen Ping’an had given the azure sword suppressing talisman inscribed by Zhong Kui using the Wind and Snow Awl to Zheng Dafeng for him to use during the battle on the Dragon Scaling Platform. The sword trapped within the talisman just so happened to be the Sword Immortal that Chen Ping’an was carrying on his back.

Fu Qi wasn’t a swordsman, and even though this sword was a pseudo-celestial weapon, it wasn’t a bonded item of his, so Zheng Dafeng was able to trap the sword using his sword suppressing talisman. Even though he wasn’t able to trap it for long, Fu Qi still quickly surrendered.

If Chen Ping’an were still in possession of the sword suppressing talisman, he would have nothing to fear even if he were to encounter a malicious Nascent Tier swordsman. In fact, if he could catch them off guard with the sword suppressing talisman, then he could even turn the tables and secure victory himself.

Having said that, losses of this nature weren’t enough to weigh on Chen Ping’an’s mind for long.

What Chen Ping’an was truly saddened by was the fact that this talisman was one of the final two talismans that Zhong Kui had inscribed as a noble scholar, so using it up was like bidding farewell to the memory of a good friend.

Compared with the intercontinental ships that Chen Ping’an had witnessed and traveled on, this ship was downright tiny. It didn’t even have an observation deck, and he could only look out at the scenery through his window.

After Pei Qian completed her transcriptions, Chen Ping’an carefully examined them to ensure that there weren’t rushed characters that had to be rewritten, and after that, he began practicing walking meditation with her, something that he made her do for a minimum of four hours per day.

In the past, Chen Ping’an hadn’t found this practice to be boring or particularly laborious. Only after witnessing Pei Qian practicing the same walking meditation did he come to realize that even though the six-step walking meditation was very simple, practicing it for a million repetitions was a very difficult task, both physically and mentally.

Chen Ping’an was keeping a constant eye on Pei Qian’s condition, and it didn’t take long before she was sweating profusely. Strands of hair were clinging to her forehead from her sweat, and her complexion had turned very pale.

Even though she didn’t dare to whine or complain, the smile had completely faded from her face, and with each step that she took, her frail body would tremble involuntarily. Chen Ping’an remained expressionless this entire time, but internally, he was feeling very sympathetic toward her.

On the first day, Pei Qian had been very excited to commence her walking meditation practice, and thanks to this excitement, she was able to persevere the entire four hours. In the end, she was carried to the neighboring room by Chen Ping’an on his back.

The next day, she was only able to last two hours before falling to the ground in a deflated manner while cramping incessantly. For the next few days after that, Chen Ping’an relented a little, only making her complete two hours of walking meditation while adding on a little more time with each passing day.

Even so, this still proved to be an extremely exhausting endeavor for Pei Qian.

Initially, she still had the strength to glower at Zhu Lian whenever he mocked her while watching her practice her walking meditation, but after that, she didn’t even have the strength to glare anymore.

Only after ten days had passed did the smile on Pei Qian’s face finally return. At this point, the most difficult part of the journey was already behind her, and her signature swagger was back.

On this day, Zhu Lian approached Chen Ping’an. “Young Master, I can see that Pei Qian possesses exceptional martial arts aptitude. While honing the body, the more hardships one endures, the stronger the foundation they’ll be able to build, so I think that she would do well with four hours of walking meditation a day.”

In response to this suggestion from Zhu Lian, Pei Qian once again had the energy to glower at him.

After completing their walking meditation, the two of them opened the window to practice their standing meditation. Pei Qian was too short to see out the window, so she could only face the wall. After securing Chen Ping’an’s approval, she dragged a chair over to the window so that she could stand on it and look out at the sea of clouds with Chen Ping’an.

“You have to believe that your efforts will be rewarded,” Chen Ping’an said in a quiet voice.

At the moment, Pei Qian was only going through the motions with her standing meditation, so she wasn’t benefitting much from it at all. Chen Ping’an was rather perplexed by this, and he had asked Sui Youbian and the others about it, but they weren’t able to provide any answers, either.

Pei Qian was very happy to have just endured another grueling day of walking meditation, and a thought suddenly sprang into her mind as a look of longing appeared in her eyes.

“Will I also be able to have a sword when I go out exploring the world in the future? Ideally, I’d also want to carry a saber strapped to my waist like Little Bai. By that time, I’ll definitely be a lot stronger than I am now, so it won’t be too heavy for me.”

Chen Ping’an smiled as he nodded in response.

“As long as you don’t slack off, I can promise you now that I’ll definitely give you a sword and a saber when you decide to go out exploring the world by yourself in the future.”

Pei Qian was feeling a little embarrassed as she said in a quiet voice, “I’ve already thought about it. Once I have my own sword and saber, I’m going to strap them to my waist on the same side, and I’ve even thought of a name for them. Do you want to hear the name, Father?”

“Go ahead,” Chen Ping’an prompted with a smile.

Chen Ping’an had always been quite proficient when it came to naming things.

“I’ll call them ‘Saber Sword Cross’ because they’ll be crossed over each other while strapped to my waist. What do you think, Father?” Pei Qian asked with a hopeful expression.

“I think that’s great,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

An elated smile immediately appeared on Pei Qian’s face as she pinched her index finger and thumb together and said, “I’ll be very happy if my sword is even this little bit as good as yours.”

Chen Ping’an turned to her with a smile as he said, “Once we reach Azure Phoenix Nation, we’ll continue on foot, and when we pass by a bamboo forest, I’ll pick out some older bamboo trees to craft a bamboo sword and a bamboo saber for you. You can strap them to your waist and carry them around if you like.”

“Make them light and small so that they won’t be too heavy to carry around,” Pei Qian requested.

Chen Ping’an smiled and nodded in response, then cast his gaze toward the clouds outside the window as he casually asked, “What are you going to do with your hiking pole?”

“That’s my right-hand man. It’s accompanied me on such a long journey, I can’t just throw it away,” Pei Qian replied without any hesitation. “I’m going to allow it to retire and return to the fields to start a family of its own. I’ll ask Old Man Wei about what type of official title I should bestow upon it.”

“That’s the correct way to go,” Chen Ping’an praised with a pleased nod.

————

Over at Dust Medicinal Shop in Old Dragon City, Zheng Dafeng really didn’t have much to pack at all. His only belongings consisted of some sets of clothes and that old pipe.

It seemed that no matter where he was, whether that be Jewel Small World or Old Dragon City, he would always have very little in terms of belongings. There was nothing that was particularly important to him, and he could leave anything behind at any time.

He was going to travel to the Dragon Spring Prefecture on one of the Fu Clan’s ships the next day, so this was the final day that he was going to be spending in Old Dragon City, and he was sitting on a stool under the old locust tree.

The old man had already left, telling Zheng Dafeng that he was going to visit a friend in the Invincible Divine Fist Sect.

Li Er had returned to Old Dragon City a day ago, and Fu Qi immediately paid the shop a visit with his son, Fu Donghai. Fu Qi made it clear to the two of them that Fu Donghai was the perpetrator behind this entire debacle, and all Zheng Dafeng had to do was give the word, and he would allow Li Er to smash Fu Donghai’s bridge of immortality.

Zheng Dafeng asked Fu Qi why he hadn’t snapped his son’s bridge of immortality himself before bringing him to the shop. After all, wouldn’t that be a greater show of sincerity?

Fu Qi had no response to this.

To his credit, Fu Donghai was quite a courageous man. Not only did he not beg for mercy, he even provoked Li Er with some verbal taunts, almost as if he wanted to have his own bridge of immortality snapped.

At the time, Zheng Dafeng was sitting in the courtyard, smoking his pipe with a weary expression.

Clearly, Old Man Yang had already made deals with the Great Li Empire, the Fu Clan, and the Fan Clan.

Once the army of the Great Li Empire reached Old Dragon City, Fan Junmao would be able to become the Great Li Empire’s second great mountain god after Wei Bo, and in exchange, all that Old Man Yang had to give up was Zheng Dafeng’s martial arts cultivation base.

Zheng Dafeng knew that the matter had already been settled, so he simply told Fu Qi and Fu Donghai to leave, not wanting any further involvement with them.

Fu Qi was very relieved to hear this, and he was just about to depart with Fu Donghai when Li Er suddenly threw a punch straight into Fu Donghai’s chest.

Not only was his bridge of immortality snapped, it was completely obliterated.

Li Er turned to Fu Qi with an indifferent expression as he said, “I think that a father should stick up for his son.”

Fu Qi picked up the unconscious Fu Donghai from the ground, and there was not even a hint of anger on his face as he smiled and said, “I’m glad you were able to let off some steam, Mr. Li Er. I’ll be returning to my manor now. Farewell.”

“Oh? Why don’t you take me there so I can pay a visit to your Fu Clan’s ancestral hall?” Li Er suggested with a smile.

Fu Qi’s expression instantly darkened significantly upon hearing this.

“That’s enough, Li Er,” Zheng Dafeng sighed in a weary manner.

Not long after Fu Qi departed with Fu Donghai, Li Er left Old Dragon City.

Zheng Dafeng was basking in the warm, early spring sun on his own under the locust tree, wearing a comfortable cotton jacket that Pei Qian and the others had purchased for him.

The woman that he hadn’t seen for a long time showed up once again. It seemed that she had eaten very well over the new year period, and she had become even more rotund as a result.

As opposed to only strutting around back and forth in front of Zheng Dafeng, on this occasion, she mustered up the courage to approach them, then asked in a shy voice, “Is your shop hiring, Shopkeeper Zheng?”

Zheng Dafeng smiled and shook his head in response.

“I’m going back to my hometown tomorrow. It’s too hard to make a living in Old Dragon City.”

The woman was ridiculously fat, but her voice was very mellow and pleasing to the ears, and she asked in a disappointed manner, “Are you coming back?”

“I don’t think so,” Zheng Dafeng replied with a shake of his head.

“Isn’t this an old residence left behind by your ancestors? What are you going to do with the shop?” she asked.

Zheng Dafeng fought back the urge to laugh as he replied, “I’ll just leave it as it is. It’s Dust Medicinal Shop, so why not let it gather some dust?”

“How about you give me the key and I’ll look after the place for you?” the woman proposed with a slight blush on her face. “It would be a real pity to leave this place completely uncared for.”

“There’s no need for that, but thank you for the kind offer,” Zheng Dafeng replied with a wave of his hand.

Zheng Dafeng took a glance up at the sky, and even though it was still the middle of the day, he declared that it was getting late, and that he had to go back to the shop to pack up his belongings.

The woman bit down onto her own lower lip as she watched Zheng Dafeng flee the scene with his stool in his hand, and she suddenly asked, “You’re not even going to ask my surname, Shopkeeper Zheng?”

Zheng Dafeng wasn’t shameless enough to pretend to not have heard anything, so he could only stop in his tracks and turn around before asking, “What’s your surname?”

“I like eating raw ginger, so my surname is Jiang!” the woman replied with a wide smile. [1]

Zheng Dafeng was rendered speechless upon hearing this.

What was he supposed to say to that?

He knew from how the woman had previously been walking back and forth in front of him without ever approaching him that she was a very polite woman who knew not to force herself upon others, and this time was no exception.

She extended a curtsey toward Zheng Dafeng and said, “I wish you a smooth journey, Shopkeeper Zheng.”

Zheng Dafeng smiled and waved farewell to her.

That night, in a secluded area to the north of Old Dragon City.

A new grave had been built, and there were several bright red sheets of paper sitting on top of the grave, weighed down by a few small stones.

Zheng Dafeng was standing in front of the grave, and after burning a book, he set down ten small oil lamps before the grave. There was black oil inside the lamps, and they were giving off a baleful aura, but there were no wicks inside them, so it was unclear how they were supposed to be lit.

All of a sudden, the Zhao Clan yin soul appeared out of thin air, then flicked his fingers at the oil lamps one after another. The ten oil lamps lit up in succession, and upon closer inspection, one would discover that the flames inside them were actually humanoid in form. The faces of those miniature humanoid figures were all twisted in excruciating agony, as if they were being burned alive inside the lamps.

The ten lamps contained the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms of a certain man.

The man’s immortal souls and mortal forms had been abducted out of his physical body by the yin soul.

Zheng Dafeng continued to stand before the grave as he said in a gentle voice, “I’m worried that you’re going to be scared of such a harrowing sight, so I’ll stay here until the lamps burn out before I leave.”

————

Over at the Sun Clan’s ancestral residence, Sun Jiashu was strolling on his own along the riverbank in the night.

Even though the Sun Clan’s old ancestor was already a Nascent Tier earth immortal, he still couldn’t help but be overcome with remorse these past few days.

In contrast, Sun Jiashu was a lot more composed, consoling his ancestor and telling him that they were simply fated to miss out on this opportunity, and that the Sun Clan simply didn’t have much fortune when it came to making money through unconventional means.

A handsome young man suddenly appeared beside Sun Jiashu without any warning, and even the Sun Clan’s ancestor and the three Golden Core Tier guest elders were completely caught off guard by his arrival.

It was the same wise man who had helped Sun Jiashu undo the knot in his heart during their last meeting, and Sun Jiashu immediately extended a respectful bow toward him as he greeted, “I pay my respects to Mr. Fan.”

As a result of the plot that he had hatched against Chen Ping’an, not only had Sun Jiashu almost made an enemy out of Chen Ping’an, he had almost lost Liu Baqiao as a friend as well.

It was none other than this wise man who was far older than he appeared that had approached the disheartened Sun Jiashu and provided him with the guidance required to get him out of his rut.

“You’re walking a path that’s already taking you very far. Just because you’ve been tripped up by a rock and taken a hard fall, does that mean that you’re walking the wrong path? Just because the path that Chen Ping’an is walking is a very good one, does that mean that the path you’re walking is bad?

“If you’re so naive that you see things in such a black and white fashion with no nuances considered, then I suggest you give up on becoming a businessman entirely. No matter how good someone else’s path is, that’s still someone else’s path. You should focus on yourself and don’t compare yourself with others. Granted, you can look up occasionally to see what others are doing, but a glance or two here and there will suffice.”

Those were very profound and priceless words that resonated deep within Sun Jiashu’s heart.

The man had only told Sun Jiashu that his surname was Fan, but according to him, he had no relation to the Fan Clan of Old Dragon City.

Sun Jiashu’s intuition told him that the man was telling the truth.

The man smiled as he said, “From now on, there will essentially only be three major clans left in Old Dragon City. One of them is the Fu Clan, which now belongs to Wang Zhu, the second one is the Fan Clan, which essentially belongs to the old divine lord, and half of the final one consists of your Sun Clan, while the Ding, Fang, and Hou Clans combine to take up the other half. This northbound journey is going to be a long and arduous one, so make sure to mentally prepare yourself.”

Sun Jiashu nodded in response.

“Our Sun Clan is definitely not going to miss out on this once in a blue moon opportunity.”

“Once in a blue moon? I think you’re underestimating just how massive this opportunity is,” the man said with a smile.

Sun Jiashu faltered slightly upon hearing this, and as he pondered the meaning of those words, he thought back to the day when he had gone to see off Chen Ping’an in secret.

It seemed that Chen Ping’an had only spotted him in the crowd after the ship had risen up into the air. He did not pretend to not notice Sun Jiashu; moreover, he cupped his fist in a parting salute before giving him a thumbs-up, while Sun Jiashu responded with a faint smile.

————

Inside the imperial palace of a newly founded empire.

A master and disciple duo was walking along between a pair of tall walls.

One of them was a handsome, white-robed young man tracing a finger over the wall beside him as he walked. He was accompanied by a woman who was very tall, but didn’t appear to be lanky or uncoordinated at all.

The most remarkable thing about her was that she had no aura at all.

She wasn’t one with the world like a Qi refiner, nor did she possess the aura of a pure martial artist. In fact, she wasn’t even breathing at all.

There was a scabbard strapped to her waist, but there was no sword in it. She had only just obtained this completely unremarkable-looking bamboo scabbard several days ago, and it was meant for the sword that she had been sharpening in the pool of lightning on Stalactite Mountain.

It had been sourced for her by one of her servants from Eastern Treasured Vial Continent after much trouble.

The white-robed young man turned to her with a smile as he asked, “Was this purchased or taken by force, Mistress?”

“I was told that it was purchased,” the woman replied in an indifferent manner.

“In that case, it was purchased by force,” the young man sighed.

The woman smiled. “If you think that’s not the right way to do things, then you can fight him.”

“How am I supposed to fight him? I’m only a fifth-tier martial artist at the moment,” the young man sighed in resigned manner.

“But you’re the strongest fifth-tier martial artist under the heavens, isn’t that right, Cao Ci?” the woman said as she stopped in her tracks.

Cao Ci was silent for a moment, then traced the tip of his foot over the ground to draw a pair of short lines, one on the left, and one on the right. He then lifted his foot and pointed at the line on the left as he said, “In terms of fifth-tier martial artists, this is where the average martial arts prodigy is.”

He then pointed at the line on the right as he continued, “I’m over here.”

He then pointed at a spot right in the middle between the two lines as he concluded, “This is roughly where the most exceptional fifth-tier martial arts prodigies on Middle Earth Divine Continent are.”

The woman didn’t think that this was an arrogant statement at all. In fact, she felt like Cao Ci was being too modest.

All of a sudden, Cao Ci squatted down and drew another line with his finger, one that was slightly closer to the line on the right, and he said, “I think that’s roughly where that man is as a fifth-tier martial artist.”

The woman looked down the new line that Cao Ci had drawn, and she nodded in agreement as she said, “That seems about right.”

As the two of them were conversing with each other, they were approached by the most powerful eunuch of the empire, the Seal Holding Eunuch that had hopes of reaching the Immortal Tier, and he was followed by a group of chief eunuchs dressed in bright red python robes. As soon as the group of eunuchs caught sight of the duo, they immediately stopped in their tracks before extending respectful bows, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

————

After the ship arrived at the ferry station on the border of Azure Phoenix Nation, Chen Ping’an and his entourage were walking down a lively and bustling street leading out of the ferry station, and for some reason, all of the Qi refiners and martial artists that they encountered chose to walk around them.

This was particularly true for the cultivators of the Middle Five Tiers with the sharpest instincts and the most experienced martial artists of the Three Qi Tempering Tiers. The sharper their intuition was, the more clearly they sensed the indescribable pressure emanating from Chen Ping’an’s group.

Most of their attention was drawn to the four picture scroll martial artists, but from the perspective of a Golden Core Tier cultivator that had concealed his own aura to blend into the crowd, he felt like the auras of the four of them combined couldn’t compare with that of the sword-bearing young man, who was clearly carrying some rather severe internal injuries.

He was like a bright moon nestled in a bed of stars.

1. Her surname is 姜, which is a fairly common Chinese surname that literally translates to ginger. ☜