Unsheathed

Using the lesser heat coins that were worth one hundred snowflake coins each, Chen Ping’an’s four subordinates all returned with some new purchases. Zhu Lian, for instance, had nothing whatsoever in the beginning; by the time they’d left Old Dragon City, however, he was carrying a bag on his back. And now that they were about to leave Wasp Tail Ferry Station, the bag on his back had become even heavier.

Zhu Lian regarded himself as a scholar now, so he naturally had to travel around with books on his back.

Chen Ping’an and the others traveled to the capital of Azure Phoenix Nation on foot. Of the three nations surrounding Wasp Tail Ferry Station, Azure Phoenix Nation had hosted a grand Liberation Rite of Water and Land[1] two years ago. The emperor had personally organized the Liberation Rite.

In response to this, both Lofty Sky Nation and Fortune Mountain Nation hosted a Heavenly Worship Ceremony at almost the exact same time last year as if there were some sort of competition. The two ceremonies had attracted almost all of the Daoist cultivators and caught Azure Phoenix Nation by complete surprise.

However, the emperor of Azure Phoenix Nation didn’t back down, and he planned to host a debate between Buddhism and Daoism during spring this year. He was going to pick either Buddhism or Daoism to become the national religion of Azure Phoenix Nation. The winner would be placed higher than Confucianism, while the loser would be relegated to last place.

Because of this, Chen Ping’an felt like Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia would remain in the capital of Azure Phoenix Nation until at least the end of spring this year.

Most likely due to their close proximity to Wasp Tail Ferry Station and the large number of Daoist temples, Buddhist temples, mountains, and rivers in their jurisdictions, these three nations had sufficient spiritual energy. They were not among the places with such little spiritual energy that they were viewed as Dao-less territories. In fact, there was far more spiritual energy in these three nations than Water Combing Nation, where Chen Ping’an had ventured in the past.

He had only been a pure martial artist at the time, so he hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the situation, only having a rough gauge instead. Now that he had refined the water seal into a bonded item and was able to slowly absorb spiritual energy, however, he could discover the mystical nature of the situation when comparing the two different regions.

Of the several nations in the central region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent that Chen Ping’an had traveled through on foot, it was Colorful Garment Nation that contained slightly more spiritual energy than the other nations.

And speaking of Colorful Garment Nation, the female bone ghost who had signed a contract with Chen Ping’an was still living in the talisman he kept inside his pocket treasure.

However, Chen Ping’an didn’t like her, so he never once allowed her out of the strange talisman that she called home after leaving Osmanthus Island.

He would let her out after he returned home to Downtrodden Mountain in the future. There was a mountain god guarding the surrounding mountains and rivers, so Chen Ping’an was confident that the female bone ghost would be deterred from doing anything reckless.

Deities from ordinary nations in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent were incomparable to formal mountain gods and river gods from the Great Li Empire—deities in the Great Li Empire were naturally one rank higher than those in other nations. This was the case now, but in the future…

Half of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent had been conquered by the Great Li Empire now, and all that was missing was approval from the Confucian school in Middle Earth Divine Continent. Thus, the rank of deities in the Great Li Empire and Middle Earth Divine Continent would most likely be the same in the future. After all, half of the continent would belong to the Great Li Empire.

When leaving Wasp Tail Ferry Station, Chen Ping’an and the others noticed that all travelers entering the immortal ferry station were holding a yellow paper talisman sold at the entrance, whether they were Qi refiners or martial artists. After they entered the ferry station, a rippling door would appear for them to walk through. To put things simply, the yellow paper talisman was quite similar to passports and travel documents used by nations in the mortal world. Even so, this was quite novel, and it was the first time Chen Ping’an had seen something like this. He had never come across another ferry station that required payment to enter.

Of course, there was no need for them to purchase the yellow paper talismans since they were leaving the ferry station. After leaving, Chen Ping’an walked over to ask a fifth tier Qi refiner guarding the entrance some questions. Chen Ping’an was very sincere, and the guard also noticed the young boy’s impressive aura as well as the fact that he had walked out from the immortal ferry station just then. Thus, he smiled and answered Chen Ping’an’s questions.

As it turned out, there was a formation created by Naturalists and Mechanists surrounding Wasp Tail Ferry Station. Earth immortals at the Golden Core Tier and above could directly enter, while those below the Golden Core Tier would need to purchase an entry talisman that cost five snowflake coins each. If someone dared to break in forcefully, they would immediately trigger an alarm and be hunted down by the patrolling guards in Wasp Tail Ferry Station. As for the yellow paper talisman, this was a branch version of the Barrier-Shattering Talisman that Wasp Tail Ferry Station had requested immortals from the talismanic branch to specifically create for this formation.

When Chen Ping’an asked why no other ferry station needed such a talisman to enter, the guard stomped the ground with an amused smile and asked him whose territory this was.

The entrance of the ferry station led toward Azure Phoenix Nation, so Chen Ping’an naturally responded that this was the territory of Azure Phoenix Nation’s Imperial Tang Clan. He came to a sudden realization before the guard could explain the situation in more detail. He sighed with emotion in his mind, remarking that the emperor of Azure Phoenix Nation was truly very talented when it came to making money.

The capital of Azure Phoenix Nation was eight hundred or so kilometers from Wasp Tail Ferry Station, and there were still more than two months remaining until the debate between Buddhism and Daoism began in the sixth solar term. Thus, there was more than enough time to travel there on foot.

Afterward, Chen Ping’an and the others came across many Daoist temples and Buddhist temples of varying sizes as they walked toward the capital of Azure Phoenix Nation. None of them were devout followers of Daoism or Buddhism, so it was usually only Chen Ping’an and Pei Qian who would respectfully offer three sticks of incense to the gods and deities when they visited these temples.

Wei Xian didn’t believe in such things, so he generally wouldn’t enter the temples and would instead wait outside the entrance. Zhu Lian also didn’t believe these things, but he would still accompany Chen Ping’an and Pei Qian when they entered the temples. Lu Baixiang only entered Buddhist temples to sincerely offer incense to the Bodhisattvas, while Sui Youbian only entered Daoist temples to offer incense to the Daoist deities. She was relatively sincere as well.

Chen Ping’an had warned Pei Qian that she could offer incense, but she wasn’t allowed to carelessly pray for anything. She definitely wasn’t allowed to kowtow to every single Bodhisattva and deity and make a wish in front of all of them.

However, he had also told Pei Qian that if she genuinely felt a strong urge to make a wish one day, then she should do so sincerely and remember the contents of her wish as well as which temple and which deity she had offered incense and kowtowed to. Once her wish came true, she would need to visit the temple again and thank the relevant deity regardless of how far away she was.

Looking at Chen Ping’an’s serious expression, Pei Qian had been so frightened that she hadn’t dared to make a wish in any of the temples. She only dared to offer incense. Otherwise, she felt like she would definitely die from exhaustion if she were made to hastily travel from Dragon Spring Prefecture to Azure Phoenix Nation once her wish came true. If she didn’t die from exhaustion, then she would feel such immense regret as she traveled that she would eventually cry herself to death.

And there was one other rule as well: Pei Qian wasn’t allowed to borrow money for incense. She had to purchase it with her own money.

Fortunately, Chen Ping’an gave Pei Qian a few errands along the way, allowing the skinny little girl to earn a few silver coins. After converting this into copper coins, she had enough money to purchase incense at the temples.

Pei Qian didn’t feel like Chen Ping’an was being stingy and trying to save a few copper coins.

Instead, she was increasingly beginning to feel that Chen Ping’an was far more generous toward her, his first disciple, than he was toward Old Man Wei and the others.

This made Pei Qian feel very happy.

During the third solar term, when Chen Ping’an and the others were traveling through the wilderness of a small county in Azure Phoenix Nation, they felt the mountains shake and the earth tremor even though they were located more than fifty kilometers away from the epicenter. The plumes of rising dust and smoke in the distance blotted out the heaven and earth. As if it were suffering immense pain, a colossal demon that appeared hazy from the distance reared its head and roared, causing countless forest birds to flap their wings and flee.

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment before asking Wei Xian and Sui Youbian to head over to investigate the situation. He asked them to check whether any innocent people were injured by the commotion.

Chen Ping’an’s injuries were yet to fully recover, and he also had to manage the conflict between the lake of spiritual energy in his acupoint and his breath of True Qi. Even though he was at the fifth tier of martial arts, his true strength was only hovering around the fourth tier at this moment.

Wei Xian held his Dew Armor, West Mountain, in his hand, while Sui Youbian carried her sword, Deep Infatuation, on her back. They possessed both offensive and defensive abilities as a duo, so they could cover for each other even if they came across any danger. It wouldn’t be difficult for them to retreat to safety.

Chen Ping’an didn’t purposely walk faster, and when Sui Youbian and Wei Xian returned, they said that an earth bull had been turning around and adjusting its position over there. However, a large group of vagrant cultivators had somehow managed to find this earth bull which had remained hidden in this area for hundreds of years, and they wanted to encircle and kill it in order to obtain the natural treasures from its body.

However, two nosy people had stepped forward to block them, one being a young Daoist priest who wielded a peach wood sword and one being a saber-wielding man with a big beard. The two parties had failed to reach a consensus, so they had ended up throwing hands instead. The difference in strength between the two parties was quite significant, and the large group of vagrant cultivators were hellbent on killing the earth bull. Moreover, there was a Golden Core Tier cultivator on their side personally taking charge of the situation. Thus, there could only be one possible outcome.

Chen Ping’an slapped his Sword Nurturing Gourd and leaped high into the air, striding through the sky on his flying swords after First and Fifteenth flew out from the gourd. He appeared much like an immortal riding on the wind and clouds.

The four martial artists from the picture scrolls exchanged glances with each other.

Holding the hiking pole in her hand, Pei Qian also looked left and right in confusion. What in the world was going on?

Sui Youbian disappeared in a flash.

Zhu Lian laughed heartily before also dashing away, exclaiming, “It’s time for another fight! How satisfying!”

Wei Xian carried Pei Qian on his back.

Lu Baixiang quietly followed the others.

He was slightly puzzled about why Chen Ping’an had let his emotions get the better of him.

Perhaps he had friends or acquaintances over there?

However, since he hailed from Clay Vase Alley in Jewel Small World, shouldn’t Chen Ping’an’s friends and acquaintances all be people like the ninth-tier martial artist Zheng Dafeng, the tenth-tier grandmaster Li Er, Sword Immortal Cao Xi, Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, and so on?

Chen Ping’an’s hometown was brimming with an unreasonable number of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

Even if a profoundly powerful Ascension Tier immortal suddenly appeared before them one day, Lu Baixiang and his companions from the Lotus Flower Blessed Land wouldn’t feel too astonished. If a “minor character” at the Middle Five Tiers suddenly appeared and claimed to be Chen Ping’an’s friend, however, they would definitely question that statement.

Even though Chen Ping’an had the help of his two flying swords, he was still carrying wounds from his previous battle, after all. His breath of True Qi was also facing some obstacles, so his speed was roughly the same as that of Sui Youbian and the others running on the ground.

At a gigantic mountain pass that was filled with countless shards of crushed rock, an earth bull forced to show its true form after suffering severe wounds was lying in a large pool of blood.

Standing back-to-back in front of the severely wounded earth bull were two extremely disheveled people, a young Daoist priest and a big-bearded martial artist. They were surrounded by more than twenty Qi refiners who were circling them like a pack of wolves.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, a young boy dressed in white robes arrived from the sky, either riding on the wind or riding on his sword. He appeared as ethereal and transcendent as a true immortal.

The young immortal in white quickly descended and hovered to the ground, nimbly taking five or six steps before walking over to the two disheveled people. He smiled and raised both hands at them.

Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia faltered for a moment, unable to believe their eyes. The young Daoist priest even rubbed his eyes in disbelief. After confirming that he wasn’t seeing things, a look of delight rippled through Zhang Shanfeng’s pure and limpid eyes.

Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia both raised a hand to high-five Chen Ping’an, the young esteemed immortal who had suddenly arrived in front of them. They no longer looked dispirited, and were instead filled with energy. It was an incredible feeling.

Looking at Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia, Chen Ping’an’s eyes were even brighter than Pei Qian’s eyes, which contained the sun and the moon. He held the hands of his two friends and laughed heartily, saying, “I knew it! In this whole world, only my two friends Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia would be willing to put so much effort into a thankless task!”

1. A Buddhist ritual to invite beings of higher realms to help beings of lower realms break free from their suffering. ☜