Unsheathed

Xu Yuanxia was rather delighted with the decision to visit the Golden Osmanthus Temple. After all, this temple was closed to the public all year round, meaning that outsiders were unable to visit and experience its impressive nature. There were rumors in the Azure Phoenix Nation claiming that the rain of osmanthus flowers in White Water Temple had actually originated from the ancient trees located at the back of the Golden Osmanthus Temple, all of which were thousands of years old. An immortal traveling around the world had also visited the temple and pointed at the osmanthus trees, saying that these were osmanthus trees from the moon.[1]

The yellow earth bull hadn’t entered the rock cave to seek shelter with the group, and this was because it was a demon. In other words, it was possible that the cultivators from the temple might suspect it of being involved in this incident. If that happened, then Chen Ping’an would be forced to explain many things to alleviate the suspicions and worries of the Golden Osmanthus Temple.

Fortunately, the earth bull was well aware of how things worked with cultivators from the mountains. Laying in the mountain forest far away from the stone cave, it used its mind’s voice to inform Chen Ping’an that it would burrow into the ground at the foot of the mountain and wait for them there. Unless an earth immortal scoured the area, it was very unlikely that anyone would detect its presence. Chen Ping’an told the earth bull to be careful, and to run up Azure Waist Mountain if it encountered any trouble. Chen Ping’an would naturally step forward to explain the situation.

The Golden Osmanthus Temple was located at the top of Azure Waist Mountain, and the muddy mountain path made it especially difficult to reach it. From the foot of the mountain to the temple at the peak, the widest section of the mountain path could only accommodate three people walking side by side. Thus, one didn’t need to dream about going up the mountain in a horse-drawn carriage. Judging from this, it was very clear that the Golden Osmanthus Temple was indeed quite unwilling to interact with the outside world.

When visiting the Green Goat Palace atop Clear Realm Mountain, Chen Ping’an and the others had needed to climb the Cinnabar Staircase. of more than three thousand steps. This staircase was even more magnificent and majestic than the staircases decorated with cloud dragon engravings in the imperial palaces.

The Golden Osmanthus Temple wasn’t large, and it could only accommodate forty to fifty Daoist priests. While climbing Azure Waist Mountain with their juniors and descendants, the various groups of people from the cultivation world had hired people to build simple thatched cottages at the waist of the mountain so that they could rest there. The Golden Osmanthus Temple didn’t stop this.

Upon seeing how easygoing the temple was, some observant people from the cultivation forces of the Azure Phoenix Nation decided to hire several dozen strong young men to directly build proper dwellings at the waist of the mountain. Moreover, these dwellings were no inferior to the inns found on the busy streets and alleys of bustling cities.

The Golden Osmanthus Temple was a relatively uncommon type of temple found in the mountain forests. According to what the handsome Daoist priest revealed during their casual conversation, the assets of the temple didn’t fully belong to the branch of Daoism that they belonged to. Moreover, apart from the Daoist priests who were temporarily staying in the Golden Osmanthus Temple to cultivate, those who became disciples of Temple Master Zhang Guo would also receive formal recognition from the imperial court of the Azure Phoenix Nation later. They would become official immortals. In fact, this was probably the fundamental reason so many powerful forces and wealthy clans from the cultivation world were willing to rush over to Azure Waist Mountain with their juniors and descendants.

Only the larger Daoist temples would have all of the relevant positions filled, with three overseers, five masters, and eighteen heads. However, there were only forty to fifty Daoist priests in the Golden Osmanthus Temple, so there was naturally no need to be so stringent and fill all of these positions. Apart from Temple Master Zhang Guo, there were only two or three supervisors and a similar number of bookkeepers in the temple. The handsome priest was called Xu Borui, and he was in charge of the drum in the Golden Osmanthus Temple. Even though the temple was small, the drum and the bell naturally couldn’t be neglected.

As for the minor Daoist temples in the world, the largest one was undoubtedly Mount Longhu’s Heavenly Master Residence in the Middle Earth Divine Continent.

Temple Master Zhang Guo was going to choose his disciples in two days. As one of the largest and most powerful forces in the Azure Phoenix Nation, Zhu Fengxian’s Great Marsh Gang had spent a large sum of money—more than one hundred thousand taels of silver—to construct a so-called summer palace at the waist of the mountain. This summer palace was extremely eye-catching even among the many other structures. By the looks of it, Zhu Fengxian was absolutely confident that his granddaughter would be chosen as a disciple of the temple master.

Blusher Hall had also hired workers to construct a unique garden villa. However, Daoist Priest Xu Borui directly turned to the two young girls and said, “Liu Qingcheng, Zhu Ziyang, the two of you can follow me to the temple. The Golden Osmanthus Temple has already prepared two rooms for you.”

After saying this, Xu Borui turned to Chen Ping’an and said with a smile, “The temple is small and simple, so apologies for our lack of hospitality. We only have two rooms remaining, but you can follow me up the mountain if you’re willing to stay in a room by yourself. If you’re unwilling to split up with your friends but have nowhere else to go either, then I can personally contact some acquaintances in the Azure Phoenix Nation and get a place for you to stay for a few days. Don’t worry about the hassle, it’s actually a good opportunity for us to build some positive karma.”

Zhu Fengxian laughed heartily and remarked, “There’s no need to go to so much trouble, Daoist Xu. This young master and his companions can stay with my group.”

The old woman from Blusher Hall naturally wanted to invite Chen Ping’an and his companions as well. However, it was a pity that they were all female, so it was necessary for them to avoid arousing suspicion of illicit relationships. Unable to say anything, they could only watch on as this huge fated opportunity was snatched away by the brutish martial artists from the Great Marsh Gang.

The heavy downpour finally stopped, and Chen Ping’an asked Xu Borui whether he could go up the mountain to take a look at the osmanthus trees in the temple today. Xu Borui smiled and said that there was no problem at all. However, he would need to accompany Chen Ping’an, as visitors weren’t allowed to wander around by themselves in the Golden Osmanthus Temple.

And thus, Chen Ping’an brought Pei Qian, Zhang Shanfeng, and Xu Yuanxia with him as he continued to climb the mountain. Meanwhile, Wei Xian and the others returned to the so-called summer palace with Old Demon Zhu Fengxian from the Azure Phoenix Nation.

Holding a large bundle of oil-paper umbrellas in his arms, the little Daoist priest was hanging around Pei Qian and talking to her, and he seemed to be having the fun time of his life.

This was inevitable. He was the youngest member of the temple, and everyone else was an ancient relic who barely had any teeth remaining. And if they weren’t, then they were strict and serious junior uncles like Xu Borui. Now that the little Daoist priest had finally come across someone the same age as him, he was naturally as delighted as could be.

However, Pei Qian was starting to feel a little annoyed. How had she ended up with such a chatterbox sticking to her? Shouldn’t cultivators in the mountains all appear blind, deaf, and mute?

Blusher Hall’s Liu Qingcheng and Zhu Fengxian’s granddaughter, Zhu Ziyang, left the protection of their seniors to go to the Golden Osmanthus Temple with Daoist Priest Xu Borui. The former was slightly timid, while the latter appeared completely fearless, continuing to confirm the veracity of some rumors about the temple with Daoist Priest Xu Borui. Xu Borui was most likely a transcendent individual with a gentle nature, and he patiently answered all of Zhu Ziyang’s questions without adding any embellishments. He didn’t conceal anything either. Thus, Zhu Ziyang immediately developed a good impression of this Daoist priest as well as the Golden Osmanthus Temple.

Liu Qingcheng summoned her courage and asked the round-faced young girl from the Great Marsh Gang in a quiet voice. “Oh, so your name isn’t actually Night?”

Zhu Ziyang slapped her forehead and remarked, “How can there be someone as naive as you in the cultivation world?”

In fact, Zhu Ziyang was already showing some mercy by not directly calling Liu Qingcheng stupid.

Zhu Ziyang glanced at the exquisite paper-cutting knife hanging by Liu Qingcheng’s waist out of the corners of her eyes. The bamboo scabbard was inscribed with the characters “Miniature One,” and Zhu Ziyang asked with a smile, “Your paper-cutting knife looks fairly nice; care to give me a look?”

Liu Qingcheng shook her head and replied in a timid voice, “This is a heirloom left behind by my great ancestor, so I can’t give it to other people carelessly.”

Zhu Ziyang wanted to continue nagging Liu Qingcheng, but Xu Borui smiled faintly and said, “Zhu Ziyang, you shouldn’t force people against their will. You need to keep this in mind if you become fellow disciples who cultivate together in the future.”

Zhu Ziyang had a fairly good impression of the handsome Daoist priest who was one of Temple Master Zhu Ziyang’s direct disciples. In fact, he might become her senior brother in the Golden Osmanthus Temple very soon. Because of this, she decided to spare the timid young girl from Blusher Hall.

Liu Qingcheng looked at Xu Borui in gratitude, and the latter simply responded with a smile.

Chen Ping’an looked at the two young girls who were about to become cultivators in the mountains—this reminded him of his encounter in the Colorful Garment Nation. Back then, a young girl with bells on her wrists and ankles had once fought alongside Chen Ping’an, subduing demons and eliminating fiends together. Even though her cultivation base as a Qi refiner hadn’t been especially high, she hadn’t made the situation more difficult for Chen Ping’an either. She was a very chivalrous young girl, and she had ended up becoming a disciple of the Divine Edict Sect, something that people were extremely envious of.

In addition to her, there were also the two children whom he had first encountered in the firewood shed. They had experienced many challenges, but they could probably be considered semi-cultivators as well now.

Fortune and misfortune appeared to exist on two extremes, yet it was often the case that they were only separated by a few simple actions.

After arriving at the Golden Osmanthus Temple, the two fortunate young girls were led to their rooms by a Daoist priest. Meanwhile, the little Daoist priest followed his senior brother to put the osmanthus branch oil-paper umbrellas away. These umbrellas were incredibly precious, and according to Junior Uncle Xu, a single umbrella could sell for thousands of taels of silver if the temple were willing to sell them. Considering the osmanthus branches they were made of, this was only natural.

The little Daoist priest couldn’t help but have his mind wander. If a single umbrella with an osmanthus branch were worth this much money, then just how much would the six ancient osmanthus trees be worth? If they sold the trees, wouldn’t Azure Waist Mountain be renamed Gold and Silver Mountain?

Xu Borui led Chen Ping’an and his companions through the small and tranquil Daoist temple. They headed straight to the back of the temple, and their vision was wide and unobscured now that the rain had cleared up. They could already see the lush leaves of those ancient and towering osmanthus trees, with the middle tree appearing especially tall. Each osmanthus tree had its own name, and Xu Borui introduced them one by one, also explaining what mystical comments some paramount immortals from the mountains had made about them in the past. His explanations were simple and concise, yet he managed to keep them very interesting.

There were crisscrossing paths paved with bluestone slabs between the ancient osmanthus trees, and there were also stone tables and stools under their shade. The stone table located under the ancestral osmanthus tree also had a Go board engraved on its surface. Xu Borui paused here for a moment, and he ran his finger over the Go board as he smiled and explained that this Go board wasn’t engraved using a chisel. Rather, a traveling sword immortal had exhaled a breath of razor-sharp sword qi and used it to “measure up” the stone table.

Afterward, the Daoist priests had used a very precise ruler to measure the Go board, and they had discovered that the vertical and horizontal lines weren’t off by a even a hair. In other words, this implied that the sword immortal had at least been a Golden Core Tier cultivator. In fact, it was even possible that he was a hidden Nascent Tier sword immortal from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Xu Borui was in high spirits as he explained this, and he continued with a faint smile, “A long time ago, a certain senior from the Daoist temple insisted on getting to the bottom of this. He traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and he specially visited Wind Snow Temple, True Martial Mountain, Sun Scorch Mountain, and Wind Lightning Field to search for that sword immortal.

“He visited many renowned sword cultivators during this trip, and in the end, he concluded that the sword immortal who had made the engraving was very like Li Tuanjing, Great Sword Immortal Li, the paramount Nascent Tier cultivator from Wind Lightning Field. However, it was a shame that this senior no longer had the time or power to revisit Wind Lightning Field to confirm this after returning to the temple. And for the hundreds of years afterward, this became an unsolved mystery.”

“I once witnessed Wind Lightning Field’s Sect Leader Li unleashing a sword strike through an immortal picture scroll on an intercontinental ship,” Chen Ping’an remarked. “It was extremely impressive. It’s a shame that Sect Leader Li seems to have passed away after resolving Wind Lightning Field’s conflict with Sun Scorch Mountain. I wonder if Wind Lightning Field can find his reincarnation and bring it back to the sect so it can embark on the journey of cultivation again, maintaining the karmic fate between them?”

Xu Borui was astonished, and he exclaimed, “Great Sword Immortal Li has passed away?!”

By the looks of it, the Golden Osmanthus Temple had genuinely been secluded from the world for the past one hundred years.

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “This is what I heard. However, with how profoundly powerful Great Sword Immortal Li was, I don’t dare to guarantee that it’s true. Perhaps he’s searching for an opportunity to break through to the Unpolished Jade Tier.”

Wind Lightning Field’s Liu Baqiao could be regarded as one of Chen Ping’an’s few friends from the mountains.

For the sake of Celestial Maiden Su Jia, Liu Baqiao had once stood atop a flying sword and pursued the intercontinental ship that Chen Ping’an was on. That had led to a reunion between them.

Thus, Chen Ping’an was fully aware that Li Tuanjing had genuinely passed away. However, as Liu Baqiao’s good friend, he naturally couldn’t appear too confident regarding these extremely important matters when he was speaking with outsiders. He couldn’t flaunt this insider knowledge to other people.

However, Chen Ping’an was someone who paid close attention to details, so he immediately noticed the subtle change in Xu Borui’s expression after he mentioned the Unpolished Jade Tier.

Chen Ping’an realized at this moment that not all Qi refiners were aware of the names of the Upper Five Tiers. In fact, many people would simply gaze up at the title of “earth immortal” for their entire lives.

This was similar to how Zhu He had been certain that the Mountain Summit Tier was the ninth and final tier of martial arts. He was certain that it was impossible to advance any further.

With Chen Ping’an’s current mental state, however, he no longer cared too much about these trivial and harmless mistakes. When traveling through the cultivation world and interacting with pure martial artists, and when climbing the mountains to enjoy the scenery and interact with Qi refiners, it wasn’t necessarily a good idea to only take but not give. Indeed, revealing some secrets could perhaps prevent many troubles in the long run.

1. In Chinese myths and legends, there exists a self-healing osmanthus tree on the moon that measures more than five thousand feet tall. ☜