Unsheathed

Lady Xiao Luan and her personal maidservant were staying together in a courtyard located in a remote corner of the Purple Sun Residence.

If they had been asked to stay together with Sun Dengxian and the others, then even someone as amicable as Lady Xiao Luan would have flared up in rage.

Lady Xiao Luan was standing in the main hall right now, while her maidservant had already been rendered unconscious by a secret technique. Sitting in front of her was the culprit.

The seated person shot a sideways glance at the river goddess of the White Swan River, a strange smile on their face as they looked at her tight-fitting clothes.

There was an awkward expression on Lady Xiao Luan’s face.

The person sitting in front of her was none other than the Cave Spirit True Lord Wu Yi, the true owner of the Purple Sun Residence.

Lady Xiao Luan naturally wouldn’t dare to enter the Purple Qi Palace without permission regardless of how bold and courageous she was. Moreover, she naturally wouldn’t dare to dress like a high-class brothel worker and head over to knock on Chen Ping’an’s door.

She had done all of this at Wu Yi’s behest.

Wu Yi hadn’t threatened Lady Xiao Luan using her superior cultivation base, and she had instead offered the river goddess an irresistible deal.

This pertained to the river god of the Imperial River attempting to bring great harm to the White Swan River through his relationship with the Dragon Spring Prefecture.

Sect Master Huang Chu had already promised Lady Xiao Luan that he would help her stop the sneaky and sinister actions of the Imperial River’s river god.

In exchange, the river goddess residence of the White Swan River needed to offer a huge sum of immortal coins to the Purple Sun Residence every ten years. From this point onward, the White Swan River would become the same as the Iron Plate River in the sense that it was now a subordinate force of the Purple Sun Residence.

However, the White Swan River wasn’t simply offering money to avert imminent disaster. After subordinating itself to the Purple Sun Residence, the river goddess residence would undoubtedly grow further and further from the Yellow Court Nation’s Imperial Hong Clan, eventually having to draw a clear boundary between the two. However, Sect Master Huang Chu had promised Lady Xiao Luan that the White Swan River would grow from less than four hundred and fifty kilometers in length to more than six hundred kilometers in length within one hundred years!

The White Swan River would have to finance this expansion, but the pushback from the imperial court of the Yellow Court Nation as well as the desperate counterattacks by the mountain and river deities would all be dealt with by the Purple Sun Residence. The White Swan River simply needed to pay the market rate to enlist the help of cultivators from the Purple Sun Residence, allowing them to suppress and kill their foes.

Immortal money was easy to earn, while the length of the White Swan River determined the fortune that the river would enjoy. Not only did the White Swan River require permission from the imperial court to expand further, but it would definitely face many significant roadblocks from other forces in the process. Moreover, these roadblocks required more than just money to solve.

After the White Swan River was extended to six hundred kilometers in length, it would gain not just the extra waterways, but also the prefectural cities, county cities, mountains, and branching waterways in the surroundings. All of these would fall under the river goddess residence’s control. At that time, the annual income of the residence would become extremely impressive.

This was something that Lady Xiao Luan had always dreamed of achieving. After one hundred, perhaps her river could soar past the Cold Food River and become the largest river in the Yellow Court Nation, to say nothing of surpassing the Imperial River and becoming the second-largest river in the nation. In fact, she even dared to dream about her residence becoming a water goddess palace in the future.

This was the true reason why Lady Xiao Luan had acted so subserviently in the Vast Snow Hall.

She definitely had to grab this opportunity with both hands!

This was already more than finding peace and calm with a little forbearance. Indeed, this was laying down a smooth sailing path along her Great Dao and being able to enjoy abundant incense offerings in the future.

After the banquet, Wu Yi had visited Lady Xiao Luan and proposed a second transaction. Lady Xiao Luan had already been filled with hope and yearning for the future, so after weighing up the benefits and hesitating for a while, she had suppressed the vexation, grief, indignance, and shame in her heart and ultimately decided to nod in agreement.

Wu Yi said that as long as Lady Xiao Luan was willing to climb into Chen Ping’an’s bed and have a one-night stand with him, then that would be doing a great service to her and the Purple Sun Residence. Once Lady Xiao Luan successfully completed this task, Wu Yi promised that the Iron Plate River would become a subordinate force of the White Swan River, meaning that the incense temple would no longer be able to borrow the Purple Sun Residence’s power to threaten her. The elderly river god would no longer be able to rival her superior force.

Moreover, Wu Yi would also put in some good words for Lady Xiao Luan and the White Swan River in the imperial court of the Great Li Empire. As for whether she could obtain a Peace and Safety Tablet, Wu Yi couldn’t pat her chest and guarantee anything. At the very least, however, she would personally attend to this matter.

And thus, Lady Xiao Luan had made a surprise midnight visit to Chen Ping’an.

In fact, even the small drizzle had been summoned by Wu Yi’s mystical power, and it was an illusion technique applied to the Purple Sun Residence to prove to Chen Ping’an that Lady Xiao Luan did indeed have romantic feelings toward him. Lady Xiao Luan had sincere feelings for him, and she was voluntarily offering her body to him after experiencing love at first sight. As such, why not enjoy a one-night stand with no strings attached?

Of course, there were additional implications to this matter, and Wu Yi hadn’t been lying when purposely mentioning Chen Ping’an’s bad karma as a result of killing flood dragons or their kin. She had indeed noticed the existence of bad karma on Chen Ping’an’s body. How could this be resolved? This could naturally be resolved using the incense essence and merit contained within the river goddess’ body. This would bring harm to Lady Xiao Luan, but Wu Yi had directly said that she would compensate the river goddess using immortal coins. Lady Xiao Luan had thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement again.

However, it was a shame that Lady Xiao Luan had returned without success.

Chen Ping’an had shut the door in her face.

“Xiao Luan, there was such a huge fated opportunity lying in front of you, yet you still failed to grab it with both hands. You’re truly useless,” Wu Yi said slowly.

There was a wry smile on Lady Xiao Luan’s face.

“Perhaps Chen Ping’an is uninterested in women like you?” Wu Yi suddenly asked. “Your maidservant looks quite young, and her looks are also passable, so why doesn’t she have a go?”

Lady Xiao Luan shook her head and replied, “She most likely won’t even be able to enter True Lord’s Purple Qi Palace. That person called Zhu Lian is a Far Roaming Tier martial artist, and he pestered me for a long time following my visit. He appeared frivolous, yet he actually developed killing intent toward me at the end. Zhu Lian purposely didn’t conceal this either. As such, my maidservant might be directly killed outside the Purple Qi Palace if she dares to go. Either her corpse will be tossed in front of the Purple Qi Palace, or it might be directly thrown into the Iron Plate River and allowed to flow downstream, coincidentally entering my White Swan River.”

Wu Yi rubbed her glabella and mumbled, “Just what is that Chen Ping’an thinking?”

There was a look of helplessness on Lady Xiao Luan’s face. Chen Ping’an had directly slammed the door shut in her face without saying a single word, so had she not felt intense shame and anger as well?

Wu Yi looked Lady Xiao Luan up and down and said, “Xiao Luan, your beauty can already be regarded as top-notch in the Yellow Court Nation, right? If that’s the case, then where else can I find a woman who’s equally as beautiful? Mortal women outside the mountains might appear beautiful on the surface, but in reality, which one of them isn’t filled with a foul stench? Xiao Luan, perhaps Chen Ping’an isn’t fond of slender and shapely women like you? Perhaps he only likes small and petite women or tall and slender women?”

Lady Xiao Luan shook her head in response.

She genuinely had no clue.

Wu Yi sighed and said, “Then tell me, is Chen Ping’an a normal man?”

“He probably is,” Lady Xiao Luan replied in a quiet voice.

“Then what do you think about me?” Wu Yi asked with a serious expression.

A cold chill shot down Lady Xiao Luan’s spine. From Chen Ping’an to his subordinate, Zhu Lian, and then to this old ancestor of the Purple Sun Residence, all of them were incomprehensible lunatics.

She had no option but to choose her words carefully as she cautiously praised, “Just how esteemed is True Lord’s position? How can True Lord possibly sully herself like this?”

Wu Yi waved a hand and said in a disheartened voice, “Forget about it. After all, we can’t have you forcefully barge into the Purple Qi Palace and bed Chen Ping’an against his will.”

Wu Yi stood up and continued, “However, my offer to you still stands even if you failed tonight. It will stand for the next few days, so you still have an opportunity to turn things around. Make of this what you will, Xiao Luan.”

All of a sudden, first Wu Yi and then Xiao Luan, both of their expressions became extremely solemn. They both detected a… unique aura of the Great Dao.

It was lofty, ethereal, dignified, and vast… It was indescribably mystical and mysterious.

Both of them noticed some clues.

“Xiao Luan! What do you say?” Wu Yi asked with a stern expression.

Xiao Luan’s heart churned with emotions, and she no longer displayed any hesitation and was instead filled with soaring fighting spirit. The answer inside the water goddess’ heart was already firm and unwavering.

Compared to her “chance encounter” with the former emperor of the Yellow Court Nation on the banks of the White Swan River, Lady Xiao Luan was feeling even more fervent and spirited at this moment.

Wu Yi strode away and took her leave.

Lady Xiao Luan returned to her room to rest, yet she tossed back and forth on her bed, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

Another bout of rain fell on the Purple Sun Residence tonight.

Zhu Lian stood under the corridor eaves on the second floor of the Purple Qi Palace and remarked with a strange smile, “Alrighty then, so you’re hitting us with a real one now.”

————

Chen Ping’an was completely oblivious to the interactions between Wu Yi and Lady Xiao Luan.

He returned to his room, and the lamp on his desk was still burning bright.

Chen Ping’an started to read again, and after reading for a while, he borrowed the now-dim yellow light of the lamp to look up and around at his surroundings.

The books said that the hearts of some people were like a demon-exposing mirror, a mirror that would completely expose the demons, ghosts, and fiends in the surroundings.

However, Chen Ping’an hoped that his heart was simply an oil lamp. When placed on the table of his bare ancestral residence in Clay Vase Alley, he hoped that it would be bright enough to illuminate the dust and moths, his companions for many years. If there were guests at his house, he hoped that the oil lamp would be bright enough to illuminate the mud brick windowsill as well as the crude ceramic pot that he had placed on top of it, inside of which were some swaying blades of grass.

Chen Ping’an lay down on the table.

He rested his chin on the back of his hands as he gazed at the glowing flame.

In reality, he was aware that there was a matter waiting for him to face and resolve.

Chen Ping’an had thought of many possibilities, and he felt like he wasn’t afraid of any of them.

However, there was one person and one matter that…

…Chen Ping’an didn’t dare to think about.

The notions of right and wrong didn’t differentiate between relatives, friends, and strangers… This was something that Chen Ping’an had said himself.

————

Pei Qian suddenly woke up with a start and sat up. It was as if she had been woken up by a bad dream.

She thought for a moment, yet she had already forgotten the contents of her nightmare. She wiped the sweat from her forehead in slight confusion, after which she looked for a talisman and slapped it onto her forehead. She then climbed into bed and went back to sleep.

Pei Qian could see through people’s hearts, and she could see the scenery inside the mind’s realm of a person. For example, Old Cook Zhu Lian’s mind was filled with sanguine wind and blood rain, lest for a towering building. On the other hand, Cui Dongshan’s mind was like a deep pond, and on the banks were some scattered golden books.

There was a big secret hidden in the depths of Pei Qian’s heart, one that she hadn’t even told her master, Chen Ping’an.

If she focused her attention when looking at Chen Ping’an, it would feel as if she were standing inside a small well. Looking up, it appeared as if there were a lamp placed above the well. There was a small ball of light that should have made her, a scaredy-cat who was afraid of the dark, feel a sense of warmth and yearning.

However, it would instead make her eyes burn with pain and cause tears to run down her cheeks, just like when she had looked up at the blazing sun in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. Even so, she would never learn her lesson, just like she had never learned her lesson in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. After the pain subsided, she couldn’t help but look up at the light again.

When she looked down, what she saw was a rippling moon at the bottom of the well. Lurking further below it, there was the dark shadow of a flood dragon that should have appeared terrifying, yet instead made her feel a sense of intimacy.

Water was slowly creeping up the wall of the well inside her master’s mind.

Someday in the future, perhaps the bright moon in the water would meet with the ball of light above the well.

Pei Qian was fast asleep, yet she subconsciously raised her hand and placed it on her chest. This was where she hid the small pouch given to her by Cui Dongshan. Cui Dongshan had said that if her master became broken-hearted or very angry one day, she could retrieve this pouch and hand it to him.

————

Chen Ping’an remained awake the entire night.

He made a spontaneous decision that he wouldn’t stay at the Purple Sun Residence any longer, and would instead leave and continue his journey back to the Dragon Spring Prefecture. After making up his mind, he asked Zhu Lian to notify the steward, and this could be regarded as his notice to Wu Yi.

Unexpectedly, however, Sect Master Huang Chu hurriedly rushed over and did everything in his power to dissuade Chen Ping’an from leaving, saying that he could essentially resign from his position as sect master if Chen Ping’an genuinely left just like this. He strongly encouraged Chen Ping’an to stay for one or two more days no matter what, and he would organize someone to take him on a sightseeing tour around the Purple Qi Palace.

At the same time, he also told Chen Ping’an another piece of news, saying that their old ancestor had already left to visit the Cold Food River. Before leaving, however, she had announced that Chen Ping’an and the others could each pick a single treasure from any of the first four floors of the Purple Qi Palace before they departed. This was the Purple Sun Residence’s gift to its esteemed guests.

Of course, Chen Ping’an could naturally turn down this offer. If he did, then Sect Master Huang Chu said that he would pick the four most valuable items from the Purple Qi Palace and smash them into pieces in front of Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an became increasingly puzzled about Wu Yi’s intentions and motives.

After all, this kind of forced and shameless hospitality was far too abnormal. In fact, even Wei Bo definitely couldn’t enjoy such grand treatment from the Purple Sun Residence.

Chen Ping’an naturally wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, getting as far away from the conflicts and dramas as he could. He couldn’t care less about whether Huang Chu smashed the four pieces of valuable treasures or not. First, it was Wu Yi showing great hospitality for no reason, and then it was Lady Xiao Luan knocking on his door at midnight. Chen Ping’an was genuinely feeling traumatized about his stay at the Purple Sun Residence.

However, Sect Master Huang Chu had anticipated Chen Ping’an’s response, so he also became just as shameless and unreasonable as Wu Yi. He said that his future hung in the balance, and it was completely up to Chen Ping’an whether he remained as the sect master or not. In any case, he was simply asking Chen Ping’an to enjoy himself and go on a two-day sightseeing trip around the Purple Sun Residence. This was a small ask, so was Chen Ping’an truly going to turn down their small gesture of hospitality? Was he truly going to stand aside and watch Huang Chu lose his title of sect master?

After discussing this matter with Zhu Lian and Shi Rou, Chen Ping’an decided to stay put and face any challenge that was thrown his way. He accepted Sect Master Huang Chu’s invitation to stay for one more day and enjoy the nearby scenery.

However, Chen Ping’an was immediately overcome with regret when he saw the guide organized by the Purple Sun Residence. Meanwhile, Zhu Lian was smiling widely and taking pleasure in Chen Ping’an’s misfortune, feeling like this wasn’t a bad outcome.

As it turned out, Lady Xiao Luan had regained her graceful demeanor and was the person responsible for taking Chen Ping’an and the others around.

Chen Ping’an could only brace himself and step onto a louchuan moored on the Iron Plate River, sailing upstream with the river goddess.

Night arrived.

Chen Ping’an and his companions returned to the Purple Sun Residence.

Wu Yi stood in the courtyard of Lady Xiao Luan’s temporary residence and asked with a smile, “How was it?”

Lady Xiao Luan wanted to say something, yet she couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Spit it out!” Wu Yi instructed with a displeased expression.

Lady Xiao Luan sighed and said, “I dropped all kinds of hints during our trip, and in the end, I even revealed my feelings to him directly. However, Chen Ping’an ignored me from the beginning to the end, not even saying a single word to me. Only before disembarking the ship did he finally say two things to me.”

“What two things?” Wu Yi asked in curiosity.

Lady Xiao Luan smiled bitterly and replied, “The first thing was: Lady Xiao Luan, are you trying your best to get me killed?”

Wu Yi was completely dumbfounded.

Lady Xiao Luan felt slightly uneasy as she continued, “Chen Ping’an spoke the second sentence in a very serious manner, and he said: I’ll kill you with a single punch if you continue to pester me like this.”

Wu Yi raised her hands and massaged her temples.

Lady Xiao Luan covered her mouth and laughed in a silvery voice, putting her grace and charm on full display. She then put on a slightly more serious expression before patting her chest and saying in a soft voice, “I was genuinely scared because I knew he wasn’t joking. Even so, I feel slightly reluctant to admit defeat. In any case, I’m aware that I’ve let slip a profound fated opportunity.”

Lady Xiao Luan respectfully bowed and apologized to Wu Yi.

Wu Yi shot a sideways glance at Lady Xiao Luan and commented, “At least you know the limits of your own abilities.”

Lady Xiao Luan faltered upon hearing this, yet she quickly came to her senses and stole a glance at the tall yet slightly skinny Wu Yi. She then hurriedly retracted her gaze, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Chen Ping’an is blind as a bat!” Wu Yi spat in anger.

————

Zhu Lian continued to chuckle in secret as he accompanied Chen Ping’an to the corridor located on the fourth floor of the Purple Qi Palace.

In the end, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud and ask, “Young Master, what are your thoughts about coming across such a mysterious romantic encounter?”

“The cultivation world is truly filled with perilous dangers!” Chen Ping’an replied with a dark expression.