Unsheathed

The academy had already become a small world guarded by a sage, but there was yet another small world at the peak of Eastern Splendor Mountain.

After Mao Xiaodong channeled his powerful mystical ability, it surprisingly appeared as if it were a colorful autumn atop the mountain.

The air was crisp and the breeze was refreshing.

Chen Ping’an was sitting in the west with the Five-colored Golden Box Cauldron in front of him. He first used the spiritual energy nurtured and stored inside his water palace to fan the wind, after which he used the True Qi of pure martial artists to light the flames, causing flickers of tool-refining true flames to burst to life inside the cauldron.

A brilliant radiance suddenly erupted from the cauldron, and it was as if a second sun had appeared in the world.

The golden scholarly core that was hovering above the cauldron started to slowly descend.

Chen Ping’an was already familiar with this process, so he went with the flow and controlled a palm-sized jar of golden sand using the immortal tool-refinement mantra that was derived from the rain-paying tablet located in front of the Burial River’s water god temple. He poured the golden sand into the cauldron, causing the flames to burn even stronger.

Chen Ping’an’s face was illuminated with a bright red glow, causing his limpid eyes that had witnessed countless mountains and rivers to appear increasingly spirited and lively. His hands which had once molded and fired countless pottery pieces didn’t tremble in the least, with his mind also completely clear and composed at this moment.

The golden scholarly core that City God Shen Wen had “cut out” from his heart rose and fell in the cauldron, slowly rotating around as it did so.

There was the incense offerings absorbed from hundreds of years of worshiping by those in the Colorful Garment Nation, the aura of righteousness that persisted even after Shen Wen’s death, and also the divine spiritual light that had been formed following Shen Wen’s long interaction with the seal engraved by the Great Heavenly Master from Mount Longhu. All of these things shimmered like the twinkling stars in the night sky.

Among the myriad of rare treasures, the saber relic from the martial sage temple located in the capital of some nation in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent was the most difficult to refine. This was a relic left behind by a martial sage. Similarly, the thousand-year-old ox horn that measured one and a half meters in length was also extremely difficult to refine.

Chen Ping’an’s mind was calm, and he continued to push forward at a steady pace, ensuring that he didn’t put a single foot wrong. He used the immortal mantra that could “refine all matter” to slowly refine the rare treasures.

The saber that had once accompanied some martial sage as he traveled around the world on horseback hovered above the cauldron and gradually started to melt. Starting from the tip of the saber, a drop of golden liquid fell into the Five-colored Golden Box Cauldron.

Following this, more and more drops of molten metal started to pitter-patter into the cauldron at an increasing speed, eventually connecting together to form a trickle. If one could use an internal observation technique to place oneself inside the small world of the cauldron, then looking up, one would discover that the trickle of molten metal was like a golden waterfall crashing down to the mortal world from the divine river in the sky.

The metal element corresponded to the lungs.

If one wanted to nurture their lungs, then cultivators had already experimented and discovered a process a long time ago. The acupoints located in the sea of Qi, the danzhong, and the feiyu were all critically important.[1]

As Chen Ping’an inhaled and exhaled, he channeled the Eighteen Stops Technique whether consciously or subconsciously, causing the three critical acupoints to instantly become filled with sword qi. Following this, Chen Ping’an’s skin and muscles started to slowly undulate like a drum being beaten on the battlefield. No sound traveled through the peak of Eastern Splendor Mountain, yet inside Chen Ping’an’s body, there were three battlefields brimming with the intense killing intent of sword qi. It was as if the heroic spirit of a sword immortal were unwilling to lay down and rest in the three gigantic battlefield ruins.

There were approximately thirty rare treasures, and it was necessary to refine all of them in the correct order and at the correct time. There was no margin for error. In the same vein, it was imperative that the flames under the cauldron be kept at precisely the correct level.

As the Confucian sage overlooking Mountain Cliff Academy, Mao Xiaodong could use a legitimate secret technique to give Chen Ping’an warnings if it were necessary, and he wouldn’t need to worry about this disturbing Chen Ping’an’s refinement and thereby causing him to fall to demonic ways.

However, Chen Ping’an didn’t give him an opportunity to use this secret technique.

He remained completely focused the entire time, with not a single stray thought in his mind. Using the immortal mantra, he refined the rare treasures one by one and transformed them from physical matters into illusory matters. At the same time, he also channeled the spiritual energy in his water palace and his continually replenishing True Qi to carefully control the flames under the cauldron, and he also used the Eighteen Stops Technique to strengthen the battle aura of his three critical acupoints.

Refining this golden scholarly core pertained to the cultivation of Confucian cultivators, so there was an extra layer of immense difficulty compared to ordinary Qi refiners refining ordinary bonded items. In addition to the normal refinement process, Chen Ping’an also needed to recite some passages related to the metal element, for example, sagely essays or poems that contained the characters west, autumn, and so on. Chen Ping’an had selected more than half of the necessary passages from his bamboo slips, while Mao Xiaodong had suggested the rest to him while they were discussing this matter in his study.

With regards to Confucian cultivation, refining this bonded item was a process of using the sincerest words from the bottom of one’s heart to seek guidance from the sages.

In reality, Mao Xiaodong was relatively worried about this refinement process.

Thus, when visiting the scholarly temple in the capital back then, he had done more than just collect the shares that belonged to Mountain Cliff Academy. He had also borrowed additional ceremonial artifacts because he was afraid that Chen Ping’an might make a mistake when refining his bonded item. After all, Chen Ping’an had never learned about the cultivation techniques of Confucian disciples before, nor did he possess any heaven-defying shortcut that he could take advantage of. He could only use the brimming scholarly fortune contained inside the ceremonial artifacts from the scholarly temple to make up for his shortcomings and forcefully fight his way through this barrier.

Fortunately, Chen Ping’an performed better than Mao Xiaodong had expected.

This also proved that Chen Ping’an had indeed understood and internalized the knowledge from the books. He had approved of the knowledge, and the knowledge had also accepted him, so this knowledge had therefore become the foundation of his cultivation.

When bringing Chen Ping’an to the scholarly temple, Mao Xiaodong had casually remarked that the knowledge inside the books didn’t have feet. Thus, it was up to a person’s determination and hard work to have this knowledge run into their bellies and fly into their minds. Indeed, the meaning of a book would become clearer if one read it many times.

There was indeed a vast amount of Confucian knowledge and principles. However, this knowledge had never been prison shackles used to hold someone down. This was the fundamental concept of doing as one pleased without overstepping the boundaries.[2]

Mao Xiaodong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

In the authentic scholarly temple located in the Middle Earth Divine Continent, there was a secret Knowledge Hall that very few people knew about. Inside this study hall were the numerous essays and principles that the Confucian sages had expounded to the Majestic World and that had been acknowledged and approved by this heaven and earth.

The characters varied in size, as they did in golden luster.

Oftentimes, the golden characters closest to the floor would be larger in size and shining with a greater and purer radiance.

Many founders of other schools of thought had come here to pay homage before, as had some brilliant individuals who were renowned throughout the Majestic World. They were allowed to freely channel their mystical powers, and some of them had indeed been able to sway a few of the characters floating high up in the air. This was the case even though these immortalized characters were immense in weight and immovable like the Five Mountains in the Middle Earth Divine Continent.

In fact, some individuals had even managed to shift several characters to other locations. Up until today, however, not a single person had managed to so much as slightly sway a single grain-sized golden character hovering above the floor.

Those characters represented the fundamental knowledge expounded by the Paramount Sage and the Etiquette Sage.

Even so, some characters hovering higher up in the Knowledge Hall also belonged to the Paramount Sage and the Etiquette Sage. Moreover, a few of these characters had surprisingly lost their luster and eventually vanished by themselves. When this happened for the first time, the sages in the Confucian schools had been utterly shocked. In fact, even the deputy leader of Confucianism who had been overseeing the scholarly temple at the time had been forced to bathe and change before visiting the statues of the Paramount Sage and the Etiquette Sage and offering incense.

However, the two sages still hadn’t appeared.

It was at that time that a young scholar — a scholar who would eventually become the Second Sage — had said, “There is no unchanging knowledge in the world, and there is no flawless essay in the world. There’s no need to be so shocked. Otherwise, what’s the point of future generations like us studying and proposing new knowledge?”

The scholarly temple had quickly calmed down after hearing this.

Mao Xiaodong pushed aside these thoughts and looked at the young man who was sitting opposite him.

His appearance was handsome and elegant, and he was like a jade tree in a stone forest that was naturally transcendent from the mortal world.[3]

His mind was like a jewel glowing in the dark, and it was as if a miniature moon had been lost in the world and was yet to be collected by a deity from the Moon Palace and returned to the Heavenly Court. There were also countless shards dazzling like stars and making salient the bright moon.

To have a junior brother like this…

How could he, a senior brother, not feel a sense of shared pride?

This had nothing to do with one’s background, and it had nothing to do with one’s cultivation base.

Mao Xiaodong’s master was the Scholarly Sage, and his senior brothers included Qi Jingchun and Zuo You. They had met A’Liang a long time ago, and Mao Xiaodong had once been fancied by the School of Rites. In fact, he had once discussed Dao with the scholar from the Middle Earth Divine Continent who had slashed open the Yellow River Small World with a single swing of his sword.

Mao Xiaodong had also enjoyed many significant fated opportunities and embarked on many long journeys to seek knowledge. He had also come across countless impressive individuals, traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and enjoyed wine with the founder of Agriculturalism many times.

However, Mao Xiaodong still felt like he was inferior to Chen Ping’an.

This was because he had let slip far too many opportunities.

Cui Dongshan had once inadvertently revealed to him the most dangerous mental journey that Chen Ping’an had embarked on after leaving the Jewel Small World.

This wasn’t a journey filled with bloodshed, and it was instead the period of time when A’Liang had traveled with him.

That had appeared much like a trial filled with numerous fated opportunities and no risk. However, if Chen Ping’an’s character had changed even a little, then he would have suffered the same fate as Zhao Yao. Perhaps he would have enjoyed other fated opportunities in the future, but he would have definitely let slip his fated opportunity with A’Liang and Qi Jingchun and thereby let slip the greatest fated opportunity painstakingly prepared for him by Qi Jingchun.

He would have let slip his fated opportunity with the Scholarly Sage, and he would have eventually let slip his fated opportunity with the girl whom he loved dearly. Having made one misstep, he would have veered further and further off course and eventually suffered immeasurable loss.

“Then how did Chen Ping’an overcome this perilous challenge?” Mao Xiaodong had involuntarily asked Cui Dongshan.

Cui Dongshan had given a very frivolous response, saying, “Because my master knew he was stupid. Of course, luck also played a part.”

Mao Xiaodong wanted to dig even deeper, but Cui Dongshan was unwilling to reveal anything else.

In the end, the ceremonial artifacts that Mao Xiaodong had borrowed from the scholarly temple in the capital weren’t necessarily required to help Chen Ping’an succeed. Rather, these artifacts were simply icing on the cake.

However, Mao Xiaodong was naturally even happier with this result.

This result meant that the quality of Chen Ping’an’s refined golden scholarly core would be even higher.

It would understandably be inferior to the water seal previously refined by Chen Ping’an, but where in the world could one find another seal meticulously crafted by Qi Jingchun?

Chen Ping’an’s mountain seal had been destroyed at the Flood Dragon Trench, and even Mao Xiaodong couldn’t help but feel a sense of shame regarding this. Otherwise, refining both the mountain seal and water seal into bonded items would have been the ideal outcome.

Upon succeeding, this wouldn’t have just allowed Chen Ping’an to advance to the peak stage of the second tier of Qi refinement. Rather, it would have definitely allowed him to soar to the peak stage of the third tier! Even if all three of Chen Ping’an’s remaining bonded items were of low quality, he could definitely still shatter the first major barrier facing Qi refiners and directly advance to the Middle Five Tiers!

Of course, Mao Xiaodong was also aware that bringing Qi Jingchun’s mountain seal to Stalactite Mountain would have very likely caused a huge commotion.

There was seemingly no rhyme or reason to Chen Ping’an’s choices of giving and taking, yet compared to his fist techniques, sword techniques, scholarly study, and even some of the principles that he had already comprehended, these choices of his were an even more innate and fundamental part of his knowledge.

In fact, Cui Dongshan had studied a similar topic in great detail before. What was the fundamental difference between deities and humans? What was it in the depths of one’s soul that made one human? Cui Dongshan and Cui Chan had ventured very far down this narrow and long path. Perhaps they had ventured further down than anyone else in the world.

According to rumors, Cui Chan had visited the Knowledge Hall in the Middle Earth Divine Continent’s scholarly temple before deciding to betray the Scholarly Sage. He had remained silent and stared at the golden characters on the floor for three days and three nights, only focusing on the characters on the bottom and not so much as taking a single glance at those that were higher.

Mao Xiaodong heaved a soft sigh.

No matter what, managing to successfully refine this golden scholarly core into a bonded item was already an extraordinary fated opportunity.

One couldn’t seek perfection for everything, and one shouldn’t harbor unachievable ambitions.

1. Danzhong refers to the area in the middle of the chest. Feiyu refers to two areas on the upper back right next to the spine. ☜

2. This refers to a phrase (七十而从心所欲不逾矩) from the Analects of Confucius. In the context of the original quote, one can act freely in their seventies because ideally, one’s views and principles have already matured and reached a high moral level. ☜

3. This is a line from a work by Liu Yqiqing. ☜