Unsheathed

Strangely enough, even in the wake of Mao Xiaodong’s departure, the main hall of the Confucian temple still wasn’t reopened to the public. Instead, it seemed like the restrictions had only become tighter.

In the rear hall, Yuan Gaofeng and the Confucian temple deities had been joined by some very esteemed guests, one of whom was the emperor of the Great Sui Nation, who had come to the temple in layman’s clothing, and he was standing beside him was an elderly eunuch in a red python robe.

There were also two other men, one of whom appeared quite advanced in age, and there was a very overbearing aura about him, even though he was in the presence of the emperor and all of the Confucian temple deities. The other man was a bit younger, but he had gone to the anterior hall to look at the statues of the seventy-two saints, presumably because he felt like he didn’t have the right to take part in a meeting between such prestigious figures.

The old man proclaimed his own name to be Lin Shuangjiang, and he wasn’t from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but he spoke in a very authentic Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and Great Sui Nation official dialect.

Lin Shuanjiang was most likely a pseudonym, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that the old man possessed unfathomable power. Following his arrival in the capital of the Great Sui Nation, the eunuch standing behind the emperor and a guest elder of the imperial palace had joined forces to attack him with all their might, but they were able to leave even a single mark on him.

There was a displeased look on Lin Shuangjiang’s face as he took a glance at Yuan Gaofeng and the other two Confucian temple deities who had met with Mao Xiaodong earlier.

The rest of the deities present had either been Confucian generals that had been founding fathers of the nation while they were alive, or prominent scholarly officials in the history of the Great Sui Nation. All of those deities were currently banded together, and a subtle divide existed between them and Yuan Gaofeng’s group.

In the end, Lin Shuangjiang’s gaze fell upon the emperor of the Great Sui Nation as he said, “Your Majesty, The people and soldiers of the Great Sui Nation are all willing to fight for you, are you going to continue adopting this policy of appeasement?

“During the forging of the alliance between the two nations, the Great Sui Nation was indeed no match for the army of the Great Li Empire, but the circumstances have changed drastically since then, so are you still going to cower and bow to the Great Li Empire?

“I am but an outsider, but I would be more than happy to tell you about how many officials of the Great Sui Nation have retired from their posts and how many scholars have fled into the mountains in dismay at the state of their nation over the past few years. On top of that, do I need to tell you about how heavy a decline there’s been in the fortune of all of the martial sage temples across the nation?

“I understand that your intention is to take all of the blame upon yourself in exchange for a century of peace for the Great Sui Nation, but will things really work out that way? Even if those northern savages abide by the hundred-year agreement and do not attack the Great Sui Nation over the next century, how can you be sure that the Great Sui Nation will actually heave peace for a hundred years? And what happens after that?

“You’re just going to wait for a blessing from the heavens, for the Great Li Empire to fall to its own demise, following which your Geyang Gao Clan can reap the benefits? I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what the Song Clan of the Great Li Empire is like. Right now, Song Changjing is serving as interim ruler of the nation, so there’s a military man currently in power.

“The emperor of the Great Li Empire was even willing to abolish the titles of the formal gods of the Five Mountains when it suited him, can we really expect them to abide by this agreement established the Great Sui Nation’s Eastern Splendor Mountain and the Great Li Empire’s Cloud Drape Mountain?

“I’m willing to make a prediction right here that in thirty years at the very most, even if the army of the Great Li Empire still hasn’t taken over the Luminous Vermilion Empire by then, it will have firmly established its claim over the entire northern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and once that happens, all of the citizens of the Great Sui Nation, from the soldiers on the border to the prominent officials in the imperial court, will be yearning to make the Great Li Empire their new home.

“When the time comes that all of the citizens of the Great Sui Nation regard another nation as superior to their own from the bottom of their hearts, you will be the emperor who brought about the fall of the Great Sui Nation. How will you face all of your predecessors?”

“You have no right to be making such insolent remarks on the national matters of our Great Sui Nation, Lin Shuangjiang!” Yuan Gaofeng yelled in a furious voice.

A scholarly official of the Great Sui Nation who had claimed the Yellow Court Nation by devising a series of shrewd national policies urged, “Please reconsider, Your Majesty.”

Lin Shuangjiang didn’t say anything further. He had already gotten his point across, and speaking any further on the topic would only have a detrimental effect to his cause.

Meanwhile, the handsome young man in the anterior hall was inspecting the statues of the seventy-two saints one after another, just as Chen Ping’an had done earlier in the day.

“It was only because of Song Zhengchun’s death that the two of you have come here today, right?” the emperor of the Great Sui Nation asked.

Lin Shuangjiang nodded in response, making no effort to deny this.

The emperor pointed a finger at himself, then asked with a smile, “So what happens if I’m killed by a tenth tier martial artist someday, or by that wandering Mohism hero by the name of Xu Ruo?”

He then pointed at the anterior hall behind himself as he continued, “If Xu Ruo kills the ruler of a nation for no good reason, as a cultivator, he’ll most likely be reprimanded by a sage. Xu Ruo is a significant Mohist figure.

“After the White Jade Capital replica that was being constructed by that Mohist side branch was damaged, the Mohist main branch on the Middle Earth Divine Continent changed its mind and placed its eggs in the basket of the Great Li Empire’s Song Clan, and I think there’s a very good chance that Xu Ruo played an important role in that decision.

“Hence, Xu Ruo may not be willing to ‘trade pieces’ with me as that exchange would incur too much of a loss for the Mohists. However, Li Er could kill me without any qualms. According to the rules of the cultivation world, he’s a pure martial artist, so he doesn’t fall under the authority of the Confucian sages.”

“As long as Li Er hasn’t reached the Divinity Tier among tenth tier martial artists, I can ensure that he’s unable to even set foot in the capital of the Great Sui Nation, provided that your Confucian temple is willing to help me by activating the city’s protective formation,” Lin Shuangjiang replied.

Even so, the emperor of the Great Sui Nation was still not swayed, and he said, “You may be able to keep him out during your time here, but what if he remains a persistent threat? Are you going to permanently settle in the Great Sui Nation?”

Lin Shuangjiang’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

Right at this moment, a warm voice rang out in everyone’s minds.

“If Li Er dares to come to the capital of the Great Sui Nation with the intent to kill, then I’ll confront and kill him. However, that’s all I can promise, and I won’t interfere with any other matters.”

“The Qi refiners of the Middle Earth Divine Continent sure are almighty beings! He makes killing a tenth tier martial artist sound like snapping a chicken’s neck!” Yuan Gaofeng sneered.

“Mr. Fan is not one to make empty promises, so if he says that he’ll do something, then he’ll be sure to follow through,” Lin Shuangjiang said.

“Can I trust you on that?” the emperor of the Great Sui Nation asked with a smile.

“As a Commercialist, trust is the foundation of all of the business that we conduct,” the man in the anterior hall replied with a smile of his own.

————

Li Huai played a game of connect five with Pei Qian according to her proposed set of rules, and he suffered a catastrophic defeat.

After resigning the game, he swiped his hands over the go board to mess up the stones in a fit of frustration as he grumbled, “I’m not playing this stupid game anymore! It’s making me dizzy and hungry!”

Xie Xie was cultivating at one end of the bamboo-paved corridor, and her eyelids fluttered slightly at the sound of the go stones clacking against another.

Roused from her meditative state, she opened her eyes and took a glance in the direction of the source of the commotion, upon which she discovered that Pei Qian and Li Huai were casually tossing the black and white go stones back into their respective jars.

The jars were fired in the official kilns of the Great Sui Nation, so they were worth several dozen taels of silver, but they completely paled in value compared with the priceless go stones.

Back when Cui Dongshan was living in this courtyard, he would occasionally make Xie Xie play games of go with him, and if she were to set down a stone with even a slight amount more force than necessary, she would receive a slap from Cui Dongshan so hard that she would be sent pirouetting through the room like a spinning top, only coming to a stop after crashing into a wall.

Cui Dongshan would tell her that if she were to chip even a single one of those stones, then his entire collection would be ruined, and she wouldn’t be able to pay for such a heavy loss even with her life.

For the average household, go stones were made from polished stones, while some wealthier households may use porcelain go stones, and immortals would generally use go stones crafted out of special jade materials.

However, Cui Dongshan’s go stones were Vibrant Cloud Stones that were priceless treasures in the eyes of all avid go players under the heavens. They were crafted using a secret “dripping” technique by the junior brother of the White Emperor City Lord, the owner of the Colored Glaze Pagoda. In the wake of the Colored Glaze Pagoda’s fall, its owner had been missing for over a thousand years, and the special dripping method was lost as a result.

There was once an immortal from the Middle Earth Divine Continent who was an extremely avid go enthusiast, and he was able to obtain one and a half jars of Vibrant Cloud Stones. In order to complete the set, he offered the astronomical purchasing price of one lesser heat coin per stone.

However, at this moment, these priceless stones were being treated by Pei Qian and Li Huai no differently than they would with rocks on the ground.

Thankfully, Vibrant Cloud Stones were worth their lofty price, and even if an adult male were to hurl one into the ground with all their might, the stone would remain completely unscathed.

Seeing as Li Huai no longer wanted to play connect five, Pei Qian suggested that they play a game of tossing and catching stones, and Li Huai’s confidence was immediately restored. This was a game that he was very good at, and he played it quite often with his schoolmates back in the Jewel Small World. Shi Chunjia often lost to him, and he had a 100% win rate against his sister, Li Liu.

With that, they fished out five go stones from the jar, but after one game, they decided that the level of difficulty was too low, and they decided to increase the number of stones to ten.

Xie Xie’s internal organs were trembling as she heard the stones clattering against one another, and she could only pray that Cui Dongshan never found out about this.

Occasionally, a stone or two would come flying out into the courtyard before falling onto the stone ground outside, but the two children were completely unfazed as they rushed outside to retrieve the stones before continuing their game.

At this point, Xie Xie was in no mental state to be meditating, so she returned to her room to read.

Li Baoping emerged from the study in the main room, then crouched down beside Pei Qian and Li Huai to watch their battle, and once again, Li Huai was comprehensively defeated.

Li Baoping silently fished out five black stones from the other jar, then returned five of the white stones to their jar, leaving five black stones and five white stones on the ground. She then turned to Pei Qian and Li Huai as she suggested, “I think this will be a more fun way to play. Each of you will choose one or black or white.

“For example, Pei Qian, if you choose black and manage to pick up seven stones, but there are two white ones among them, then it’ll only count as you having picked up three black stones.”

“I want to choose the white stones, Big Sister Baoping,” Pei Qian said in a timid manner.

“Sure,” Li Baoping replied with a nod.

“I also wanted the white stones!” Li Huai grumbled.

Li Baoping took a glance at him, and he immediately changed his mind.

“You know what? I think the black stones are better, after all.”

Shi Rou was rather intrigued by this interaction.

From her perspective, Li Baoping always seemed to be full of interesting and innovative ideas. It was clear that Chen Ping’an favored her above everyone else, so Shi Rou paid more attention to Li Baoping than she did the other children. Through her observation, she discovered that Li Baoping was quite naive and childlike, but somehow, many of her ideas both fit within the rules while also transcending above them.

While Shi Rou was observing Li Baoping, the battle between Pei Qian and Li Huai drew to a conclusion. Under the new set of rules proposed by Li Baoping, Li Huai had suffered an even more crushing defeat.

Pei Qian had several stones in her hand, and she was tossing them up before catching them over and over again in a triumphant manner as she sighed, “I feel so lonely. All I want is to suffer a single defeat, is that too much to ask?”

Meanwhile, Li Huai was frantically looking around, trying to find something that he could beat Pei Qian in.

All of a sudden, Pei Qian tossed the stones aside, then picked up the hiking pole beside her before skipping her way into the courtyard as he declared, “Big Sister Baoping, Loser Li Huai, let me show you what it looks like to fly over houses and leap over rooftops! At the moment, I’m still not quite at that level yet, so I can only vault onto roofs and run over walls. Make sure to look closely, and don’t blink!”

Pei Qian backtracked all the way to one of the walls of the courtyard as she spoke, then took a deep breath before rushing toward the opposite wall. All of a sudden, she stuck her hiking pole into a gap between a pair of bluestone slabs on the ground with unerring accuracy, and the pole was bent into the shape of a horseshoe by her bodyweight, following which it snapped itself straight again with a loud twang, sending Pei Qian soaring high up into the air.

She performed a graceful somersault in mid-air before landing comfortably on top of the wall, where she turned to Li Baoping and Li Huai with a wide grin.

Li Huai was astonished to see this, and he yelled, “Let me try!”

Pei Qian jumped down from the wall in a lithe and silent manner, much like a stray cat, then casually tossed her hiking pole at Li Huai.

Li Huai imitated Pei Qian, backing away to the wall before rushing forward in an urgent manner. As he rushed along, he took a glance at the ground, then stuck the hiking pole into a gap between a pair of bluestone slabs. Once again, the hiking pole was bent to a significant degree before snapping itself straight again, launching Li Huai up into the air.

However, his bodily orientation and direction of force exertion were completely incorrect, and as a result, he was launched upside-down into the air, with his feet aimed up at the heavens and his head aimed at the ground. He immediately began to yell in panic as he plummeted back toward the ground.

Thankfully, Yu Lu was able to catch him before setting him back down onto the ground in the correct orientation, upon which Li Huai immediately regained his swagger as he said in a shameless manner, “I was this close to pulling it off!”

“How about I give you ten more chances?” Pei Qian offered with a disdainful sneer.

“I may be an extraordinarily talented, once in a thousand year martial arts prodigy, but this is not something I’m striving for, so I won’t compete with you here,” Li Huai replied in a serious manner.

After that, Li Baoping took the hiking pole from Li Huai and also made an attempt.

Not only did she succeed, her attempt was a little too successful, to the point that she had flown over the wall and out of the courtyard altogether.

A dull thump rang out from the other side of the wall.

Li Baoping was accustomed to falling from high places, so she didn’t sustain any injuries. However, her landing was a little unstable, and as a result, she was unable to absorb the force of her landing just by bending her knees, leading her to fall onto her backside.

However, she then immediately sprang to her feet, completely unharmed.

Zhu Lian was standing not far away, and he smiled as he asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” Li Baoping replied with a smile of her own, then rushed back into the courtyard.

As a Far Roaming Tier martial artist, Zhu Lian could’ve easily caught Li Baoping, but he chose not to as he could tell that she possessed the skills required to make a safe landing.

Zhu Lian continued to stroll around the courtyard.

Zhu Lian had overheard the conversation between Chen Ping’an and Li Baoping prior to his departure from the academy. Chen Ping’an had been aware that Zhu Lian was nearby at the time, but he made no effort to keep any secrets from Zhu Lian.

Zhu Lian felt like it was quite a pity that Sui Youbian wasn’t around to hear that conversation.

Back in the Dust Medicinal Shop in Old Dragon City, before the four picture scroll martial artists parted ways, the elderly man with the Gou surname who had proclaimed that Sui Youbian had the makings of a sword immortal would often visit the shop.

On one occasion, while watching a game of go in the backyard between Sui Youbian and Lu Baixiang, he had made some brief, yet extremely profound remarks, using the game of go as an analogy to sword techniques.

However, Sui Youbian remained completely unmoved by his profound words, and that left the old man feeling very awkward. Pei Qian had been present at the time, and she had teased him for a long time, saying that it was no wonder that Sui Youbian wasn’t impressed when all he did was spout grandiose nonsense that no one understood.

However, that very same night, Sui Youbian went into seclusion, and she didn’t leave her room for a day and two nights.

Since then, Sui Youbian had gone to the Jade Tablet Sect on the Parasol Leaf Continent to become a swordsman.

Wei Xian had gone with Cui Dongshan, while Lu Baixiang had gone off to travel on his own, and only Zhu Lian chose to remain by Chen Ping’an’s side.

At the Lion Garden, Chen Ping’an had displayed his powers twice, once against those meddlesome demonic creatures, and the other time against Li Baozhen, but Zhu Lian wasn’t overly impressed by him on either occasion.

However, he had developed a genuine sense of admiration for Chen Ping’an after hearing his conversation with Li Baoping.

Li Baoping, Li Baozhen, Li Xisheng, and the Li Clan on Fortune Street.

The four of them were all connected by blood, and even though Li Baoping referred to Chen Ping’an as her junior uncle, as far as the Li Clan was concerned, he was ultimately still just an outsider.

It was extremely difficult for Chen Ping’an to decide what to do with Li Baozhen, and it would be even more difficult for him to ensure that Li Baoping wasn’t saddened by his decision, regardless of the outcome. It was a head-scratching scenario in which no decision was correct, but no decision was incorrect, either.

If Chen Ping’an had hidden the truth from Li Baoping, merely telling her that he had encountered Li Baozhen in the Lion Garden, then there would be no issues for the time being.

However, if Li Baozhen insisted on courting death, forcing Chen Ping’an to kill him, then even though Chen Ping’an was completely in the right, and Li Baoping would also understand that, she would inevitably be saddened by the fact that her junior uncle had deceived her.

Hence, Chen Ping’an had decided to come clean with her, and overall, his treatment of this matter had been exemplary in Zhu Lian’s eyes.

By sparing Li Baozhen, Chen Ping’an had fulfilled his promise to Li Xisheng. After that, he had “pawned” the talisman that had been passed down to Li Baozhen by the ancestors of the Li Clan, thereby making a deal with Li Baoping and the entire Li Clan.

In doing so, he had isolated and severed Li Baozhen from the rest of the Li Clan.

From that point onward, Li Baozhen was Li Baozhen, while the Li Clan behind Li Baoping and Li Xisheng was one that was completely separate from Li Baozhen.

At the same time, Chen Ping’an had subtly pointed out to Li Baoping the notion that no one was at fault in this matter, and that everyone was responsible for their own fate. With that rationale planted in her heart, even if Chen Ping’an were to kill Li Baozhen someday, she would surely be saddened, but she wouldn’t jump from one extreme to another.

This was the supposed art of swordsmanship, according to the old man with the Gou surname.

With his “sword,” Chen Ping’an had made the perfect incisions, cutting into these extremely complex problems from the perfect angles and to the perfect depths.

On that day, Chen Ping’an had also been in the backyard of the medicinal shop, watching the game of go, and he had also heard the profound words spoken by the old man with the Gou surname.

Even though Sui Youbian possessed exceptional talent for the sword and had gone into seclusion for a day and two nights after hearing what the old man had to say, Zhu Lian was certain that Chen Ping’an had gleaned the true meaning of the old man’s words better than Sui Youbian had.

The Great Daos walked by each person not only varied in length, but also in degrees of loftiness.

Zhu Lian still recalled the assessment of Chen Ping’an that Li Baoping had made to Pei Qian.

He carries a bamboo bookcase, he wears straw sandals, he’s thrown a million punches, he’s the most handsome man in the world.

He wears a white robe, he carries an immortal sword, he’s journeyed across countless lands, he’s the best junior uncle under the heavens.

“Little Baoping, your junior uncle may not be a swordsman yet, but he’s certainly developing the mental qualities required to become a sword immortal,” Zhu Lian murmured to himself.

All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze toward the end of the path leading to the courtyard through narrowed eyes.

An elderly Confucian scholar and a white deer had appeared in that direction.