Unsheathed

The louchuan slowly docked, and it was so majestic in size that Fan Yan, Yuan Yuan, Lü Caisang, and the others who were standing at the dock could only crane their necks to look up at it.

Over at the bow of the ship, Gu Can hopped down from the railing and Senior Sister Tian Hujun naturally walked over to help him gently pat his dark green official garb. Gu Can shot a glance at her and said, “You don’t need to disembark today.”

Tian Hujun’s face was filled with worry as she said, “Apparently the assassins who are hiding in Pond Water City are sword cultivators from the Luminous Vermilion Empire, so we definitely can’t underestimate them. With me present…”

Gu Can smiled and interjected, “You won’t be of any use at all. Or perhaps Senior Sister is willing to die for me if I truly come across any life-threatening danger? Since you definitely won’t, don’t try to ingratiate yourself with me regarding these matters. Do you think I’m stupid? Take, for example, your action of flattening the creases in my official garb right now. You’re acting willingly and within your abilities, and I also enjoy it a lot. How good is that?”

There was a hint of despondence in Tian Hujun’s eyes as she relented to Gu Can.

Qin Jue and Chao Zhe exchanged a smile.

They definitely couldn’t treat Junior Brother Gu Can as a little child.

Their master, River Severing True Lord Liu Zhimao, had once joked at a celebratory banquet that only Gu Can was most able to obtain his true inheritance.

Afterward, Liu Zhimao had looked around the banquet hall with an eerie expression and directly announced that only Gu Can could become the future island master of Cyan Gorge Island. No one else was allowed to compete with him. Otherwise, there would be no need for Gu Can to do anything, and he would directly clear out the challengers himself. Moreover, he definitely wouldn’t waste the challenger’s corpse.

Back then, Gu Can had been lazily sprawled across an extremely large and wide chair, with his feet resting on the back of the so-called catfish that had revealed its true body and become much more slender than before. He had laughed loudly upon hearing Liu Zhimao’s words, and he had raised his cup of sweet fruit juice and exclaimed, “Master, let’s continue to drink.”

In the end, the only people who disembarked the louchuan were Gu Can, his senior brothers Qin Jue and Chao Zhe, as well as two open collar ladies wearing veiled hats to conceal their appearances. The open collar ladies were lithe and alluring.

Young City Lord Fan Yan of Pond Water City appeared impressive on the surface yet was actually useless in reality. He was tall and sturdy, and he also appeared very good-looking. He quickly walked over to welcome Gu Can and the others, cupping his fists as he bowed and said with an obsequious smile, “Big Brother Gu, didn’t you complain about the crabs being too annoying to eat last time? Your little brother has put some thought into it this time, and I’ve especially chosen for Big Brother…”

A playful smile appeared on Fan Yan’s face as he drew two large semispheres in front of his chest and continued, “…A young lady like so. However, let me say this first. If Big Brother Gu doesn’t take a fancy to her, then we’ll simply have her extract the crab meat for us. If Big Brother Gu does take a fancy to her and takes her back to Cyan Gorge Island as a maidservant, however, then remember to count this as a merit for me. You might not know, Big Brother Gu, but it took a lot of work to bring her over from the Stone Brush Nation to Pond Water City. I spent a huge sum of immortal coins!”

Gu Can smiled with squinted eyes and said, “It can’t be that this young lady who has an opportunity to get closer to me has already been swapped out for someone else right? Perhaps she’s a mortal enemy of mine who’s carefully plotting to assassinate me?”

Fan Yan was stunned, and he murmured, “Then what should I do? Have I wasted all of my immortal coins?”

There was a gloating smile on Yuan Yuan’s face.

Before Gu Can had arrived at Cyan Gorge Island, Lü Caisang had been the previous little devil wreaking havoc throughout Bamboo Scroll Lake. Lü Caisang genuinely looked down on the foolish Fan Yan, but he was naturally happy to be acquainted with an idiot who was willing to spend exorbitant amounts of immortal coins. In fact, Fan Yan was someone who would become extremely angry if he wasn’t allowed to throw his money away. All of the island masters in Bamboo Scroll Lake needed a money bag who was happier to spend money than to earn money, and this was not to mention that Pond Water City was the third-largest city in Bamboo Scroll Lake. It was genuinely overflowing with money.

Lü Caisang was a slender and delicate young man dressed in snow-white robes. Huang He had once joked that if the beautiful young man put on a small amount of makeup, he would definitely qualify to become one of Gu Can’s open collar ladies. Of course, he would need to carry two large buns in front of his chest first.

Lü Caisang had flown into a fit of rage and immediately lashed out, directly killing a martial arts grandmaster who had stepped forward to protect Huang He with his life. However, Gu Can had eventually persuaded him to back down. Even so, it was abundantly clear that the relationship between Lü Caisang and Huang He, the only child of the Stone Brush Nation’s great general, had been completely ruined. Huang He felt immense regret after the fact, and he had tried all kinds of ways to repair the relationship between them. However, Lü Caisang didn’t give him a chance.

Lü Caisang said to Gu Can in a soft and delicate voice, “Rest assured, Cancan, I’ve already assessed the situation, and our opponent is only a cultivator at the Lower Five Tiers. She’s fairly good-looking, and very well renowned in the Stone Brush Nation. Compared to her, the ladies that you’re collecting in the big courtyard on Cyan Gorge Island are nothing more than unrefined women who dirty our eyes.”

Gu Can raised a leg and lightly kicked Lü Caisang, jokingly scolding, “Are you bloody stupid? Why did you tell me beforehand? Now I won’t be pleasantly surprised anymore.”

Lü Caisang rolled his eyes at Gu Can, and there was surprisingly a hint of seductiveness in his expression. Qin Jue and Chao Zhe found this incredibly weird, yet they didn’t dare to let their feelings show on their faces.

Even though they were all members of the Ten Heroes of Bamboo Scroll Lake, everyone needed to be well aware of who was truly powerful and influential among the nine current members. For example, Huang He had misjudged things one time, mistakenly thinking that Lü Caisang was a good brother of his whom he could unconditionally trust and joke around with. However, he had immediately been met with a sharp rebuff. It was said that he had initially been complaining about the unfair treatment upon returning to the great general’s residence, yet he had ended up being severely reprimanded by his father.

Yuan Yuan, the young island master of Oriole Island whom his parents had nicknamed Roundy, looked around and asked with a perplexed expression, “Gu Can, where is your large catfish? It isn’t going to disembark with us? We walked through the streets of Pond Water City last year already, so we know that they’re wide enough for your large catfish to travel through.”

Gu Can placed his hands inside the opposite sleeves of his official garb, smiling with squinted eyes as he replied, “The small catfish will stay in the lake this time and won’t go to Pond Water City to have fun with us. It needs to swim around and drink a bit more water right now, especially since it ate far too many Qi refiners last year. It directly absorbed the water fortune essence of two large islands that had been accumulating for several hundred years without thought as well, so it’s often been cultivating in seclusion at the bottom of the lake for the past year.

“Let me tell you guys some good news. I’m only sharing this secret with you guys because we’re all brothers, so remember not to tell anyone else! The small catfish will soon become a legitimate Nascent Tier cultivator. At that time, even my master, the River Severing True Lord, wouldn’t be a match for my small catfish. Mhm, perhaps only the old man who’s already disappeared from Palace Willow Island for many years might have the right to fight with my small catfish.”

“Big Brother Gu, you promised me that you would allow me to stroke the big catfish’s head if you became happy day. That way, I can go around and brag to everyone else. Does this promise still count?” Fan Yan asked with a dazed expression.

Gu Can raised his head slightly, looking up at the dimwit and thinking that there were genuine idiots in the world who weren’t simply concealing their strength and biding their time. They were genuinely stupid, and this was completely unrelated to whether they were rich or poor, or whether their parents were intelligent or not.

Gu Can smiled faintly and replied, “Why will it not count? Since when have I ever gone back on my words?”

Fan Yan smiled widely and danced for joy.

However, Gu Can immediately kicked him in the crotch and remarked, “Your little brother down there is so small. You’ve grown up all these years for nothing.”

Fan Yan keeled over and grabbed his crotch in pain, not becoming angry as he begged, “Please don’t be like this, Big Brother Gu. My parents are lenient regarding everything except for the matter of carrying on the family line. I definitely can’t mess around with this! You taught me a new concept last time, saying that gallant heroes and cultivators who don’t pursue loneliness in old age will be too ashamed to greet other people and travel around the cultivation world. I repeated this to my mother, yet she was incensed and chased me around to beat me for a long while. She didn’t hit me hard, and it didn’t hurt at all, but I started to feel a little guilty when I saw the rims of her eyes becoming red.”

Gu Can stood on his tippy-toes and patted Fan Yan’s head, saying, “It’s said that fortune favors the foolish, so you can definitely have a bunch of idiotic children with your future wife who’s yet to be born.”

Fan Yan grinned in delight.

Gu Can rolled his eyes.

This idiot couldn’t differentiate between praise and insult, nor could he differentiate between good people and bad people.

Everyone could tell that the foolish Fan Yan would definitely be tricked and taken advantage of by other people if he truly left the protection and supervision of his parents. However, Gu Can was extremely lenient to Fan Yan, not going overboard even though he did trick the idiot of some money. Moreover, he didn’t allow other people to bully Fan Yan too much either.

There was a bright glimmer in Lü Caisang’s eyes, and he appeared even more delighted than Gu Can as he exclaimed, “This is brilliant news! Cancan, you and I can drink a few more cups of crow caw wine at the banquet afterward!”

Yuan Yuan had a round and chubby face, and he was the most simple-minded out of the few so-called brothers. He was always smiling, and he never became angry regardless of how other people teased him.

However, Yuan Yuan was completely stunned when he heard the shocking and significant news about the small catfish, with his expression freezing for a very brief moment before returning to normal. He clicked his tongue in wonder and remarked, “Thanks to our relationship with Gu Can, won’t the few of us need to walk with a swagger and throw around our weight when we travel around Bamboo Scroll Lake in the future? Only that will suit our status.”

Gu Can smiled and said to Fan Yan, “You, Caisang, and Roundy can bring my two senior brothers to the restaurant where we’re eating crabs first. I need to take a slight detour to buy a few things first.”

Fan Yan became extremely angry, and he surprisingly glared at Gu Can and huffed, “Buy a few things? Buy?! Big Brother Gu, are you looking down on me, your brother, from the bottom of your heart? If Big Brother Gu likes something in Pond Water City, is there any need to spend money to buy it?”

Gu Can jumped up and slapped Fan Yan across the face, scolding, “Who the fuck said that I need to spend money to buy things? After all, just how bad does it sound to say that I’m stealing things?”

Even though Fan Yan was slapped, there was a dazzling smile on his face as he clutched his cheek and raised a thumb, praising, “Big Brother Gu is indeed a refined person!”

Gu Can waved a hand and said dismissively, “Piss off, don’t delay me from enjoying the scenery here. How can I have fun with you guys around?”

Lü Caisang’s expression was stern as he interjected, “No, Bamboo Scroll Lake is far too chaotic now, so I need to accompany you for safety.”

“Fine, fine, fine, you can follow behind my ass and eat dust. You’re nagging me like a bloody woman,” Gu Can said in helplessness.

Lü Caisang humphed coldly in response.

They parted ways at the dock, and Fan Yan had naturally prepared an extravagant horse-drawn carriage for his Big Brother Gu already.

Gu Can and Lü Caisang walked toward one carriage, while the two open collar ladies walked toward another carriage.

In the eyes of the vagrant cultivators in Bamboo Scroll Lake who came from all walks of life, there was only a single point of similarity between Gu Can and Lü Caisang. That was, they both had a very good master.

Gu Can’s hands were still inside his opposite sleeves as he suddenly elbowed Lü Caisang who was walking beside him, grinning slyly and saying in a low voice, “If you go to my hometown, and if you somehow lose your current cultivation base, then I dare say that you’ll definitely excite those perverts and single men who are coincidentally passing by when you walk through the small alleys. They’ll chase after you and grope you, and you’ll sob and run to my house to furiously knock on the door, shouting, ‘Not good, Gu Can, not good! Some men are trying to strip me naked!’ Haha, just thinking about this makes me incredibly happy.

“However, do you know what’s even funnier? It’s the fact that those bastards will curse and let loose a torrent of abuse after they pull your pants down and find a fucking dick! And do you know what’s the funniest thing? It’s the fact that they’ll grit their teeth and steel their hearts and flip you over anyway! They’ll punish you on the spot… Owee, hahaha, I can’t anymore, my tummy hurts…”

Gu Can bent over and roared with laughter as he walked.

“How disgusting!” Lü Caisang spat with an ice-cold expression.

The two of them stepped inside the carriage and sat down, and only then did Lü Caisang ask in a quiet voice, “Why did you suddenly change into these clothes? Didn’t you dislike these kinds of fancy clothes before?”

Gu Can closed his eyes and didn’t respond.

Lü Caisang hesitated for a moment before explaining, “Yuan Yuan is a very shrewd and calculating person, and his mother also has a close and personal relationship with some Nascent Tier sword cultivator from the Luminous Vermilion Empire. Many people in Bamboo Scroll Lake think that this is a rumor that Oriole Island purposely spread to frighten everyone, but my master told me that this is one hundred percent true.

“In the past, Yuan Yuan’s mother was indeed the favorite mistress of that powerful sword cultivator. Even though he was unable to give her a legitimate title and status, the good relationship between them definitely still exists. You definitely have to be careful, because once you kill Yuan Yuan who harbors ulterior motives, it essentially means that you’ll become the target of a Nascent Tier sword cultivator!”

Gu Can didn’t open his eyes, and the corners of his lips curled up as he replied, “Don’t think of Yuan Yuan as such a bad person.”

“I’m saying this for your sake!” Lü Caisang exclaimed in anger. “You’ll suffer the consequences if you ignore these facts! Yuan Yuan’s family is filled with sinister people who like to silently backstab others!”

Gu Can finally opened his eyes and asked, “Regardless of how sinister Yuan Yuan is, can he compare to me, Gu Can?”

Lü Caisang immediately covered his mouth and smiled.

Gu Can copied Lü Caisang’s tone, saying in a sweet and seductive voice, “How disgusting.”

Lü Caisang suddenly became a little melancholy, looking at Gu Can who was transforming significantly with each passing year. He was just a young child, but did anyone dare to regard him as such?

Even his master, one of few cultivators who could somewhat rival the River Severing True Lord, had said that Gu Can was a true freak. Unless he suddenly died one day and genuinely proved the nonsensical statement, ‘to commit many crimes is to seek certain death,’ one day, he would definitely grow up to become an entity that even Upper Five Tier immortals wouldn’t dare to provoke once he took full advantage of the great trend that had little to do with Cyan Gorge Island.

“Gu Can, when will you open up to me?” Lü Caisang asked in a soft voice.

Gu Can took one hand out of the large sleeves of the official garb, pulling back the curtains of the carriage and replying indifferently, “Lü Caisang, you don’t even need to think about this. There are only two people in the world who I’ll open up to, and this won’t change for the rest of my life. I know this is unfair to you, especially since you’re one of the few cultivators in Bamboo Scroll Lake who genuinely views me as a friend. However, there’s nothing I can do about this. I was already gaining renown when you met me, so I can’t ever open up to you.”

They had already arrived inside the city, and Gu Can let go of the curtains and continued with a smile, “However, rest assured that I’ll definitely exact revenge for you if someone beats you to death one day.”

Lü Caisang pursed his lips.

He then leaned against the wall of the carriage and asked, “Gu Can, how have you achieved all this at such a young age?”

“Back in my hometown, I started watching my mom argue and fight with other people when I was around three or four years old. That, and I’m a very quick learner,” Gu Can replied.

He then raised a finger and continued, “When I was slightly older, I could lie on the ridge and remain unmoving for at least two hours even as the scorching sun blazed down on me, all for the sake of catching a catfish. Even he couldn’t compare to me in this regard.”

“Who is the ‘he’ that you speak of?” Lü Caisang asked in curiosity.

Gu Can narrowed his eyes and retorted, “Do you want to die?”

Lü Caisang wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything in Bamboo Scroll Lake, yet he surprisingly felt a slight sense of apprehension at this moment.

Gu Can’s expression suddenly changed again, and he chuckled in amusement as he remarked, “That evil little Yuan Yuan… There’ll eventually come a day when I ask him with a slight twist, ‘Does your mom want to die?’[1] What’s so impressive about having a Nascent Tier sword cultivator as his father? If Yuan Yuan provokes me, then I’ll strip his mother naked in front of the Nascent Tier sword cultivator and hang her from the bow of a louchuan as I travel to every single island in Bamboo Scroll Lake.”

There was a look of puzzlement on Lü Caisang’s face.

Gu Can once again pulled the curtains back, explaining absent-mindedly, “That was the dialect from my hometown, so you obviously can’t understand.”

1. In Chinese, the question sounds almost indistinguishable with the character 吗 (particle used when asking a question) replaced with 妈 (mom). ☜