Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an and his companions chose some suitable locations for the congee stalls and medicine shops in the prefectural city, quickly and methodically working through the necessary steps to bring everything to life. The prefectural overseer’s office was familiar with these matters, and it also helped that the prefectural overseer was personally overseeing everything. As for the identity of the young man in azure cotton robes, the old prefectural overseer spoke in a vague and mysterious manner, not revealing it to anyone else. This caused them to respect and fear Chen Ping’an even more.

Three days later, Chen Ping’an asked Ma Duyi to secretly return the thirty-two snowflake coins to the rooms of the two vagrant cultivators.

Afterward, the three of them traveled to a congee stall near the city gates, stopping their horses far away before dismounting. Chen Ping’an asked an official immortal who had accompanied them to help look after the horses for a moment.

After arriving at the congee stall, Ma Duyi was unwilling to act as a beggar, while Zeng Ye felt like he didn’t need to eat a bowl of rice congee that was as bland as water. Thus, Chen Ping’an went to patiently line up by himself, receiving a bowl of congee that could just barely be regarded as thick. He also received two steamed rolls, and he squatted down next to the path and started to eat.

He could hear the petty officials calling out from time to time, loudly telling the impoverished locals and arriving refugees the rules of the congee stalls. They couldn’t be greedy, and each person could only receive one serving of congee and steamed rolls. They shouldn’t eat too quickly either, or else they would get in trouble if they choked or became bloated.

Chen Ping’an looked at the snaking lines, and among them were quite a large number of local men who were healthy and well-dressed. There were even some people who brought their children along, with the children enjoying tanghulu as they waited in line.

There was a group of local men not far from Chen Ping’an, and none of them appeared weak or emaciated. As they ate the congee and steamed rolls, they complained that this food was even worse than pig feed.

Chen Ping’an silently ate his food, unfazed by what he saw and heard. This was because he knew that worldly matters were just like this. It was very difficult to appreciate and cherish what came for free. If one spent money to buy the same thing, however, they would perhaps feel like it tasted better, even if it were just rice congee and steamed rolls. At the very least, they wouldn’t grumble and complain like the group of men.

Chen Ping’an returned the congee bowl before walking over to Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye and saying, “Let’s go.”

The three of them jumped on their horses and left the prefectural city.

Ma Duyi was very observant, and she noticed something off after frequenting the congee stalls and medicine shops with Zeng Ye over the past few days. After leaving the prefectural city, she finally couldn’t hold back anymore, complaining, “Mr. Chen, at least thirty percent of the silver we gave them was pocketed by those sly officials in the prefectural overseer’s office. At the very least! Even I managed to see through them so easily, so how did you not notice anything, Mr. Chen? Why didn’t you scold that prefectural overseer?”

“Is that so?” Chen Ping’an replied.

Ma Duyi was almost angered to death.

Meanwhile, Zheng Ye was stunned.

The young boy was truly unaware of what had taken place. After all, how could he see through the schemes and intricacies of officialdom?

Ma Duyi became increasingly angry upon seeing no reaction from Chen Ping’an, and she fumed, “Mr. Chen! I won’t help you next time if you keep ignoring the problem like this! You can ask Zeng Ye, that silly young boy, to do everything by himself. Let’s see if he improves the situation or makes it even worse!”

Chen Ping’an pondered for a moment before giving Ma Duyi an explanation that wasn’t exactly an explanation, saying, “Since we’re doing a good deed, we shouldn’t be too pedantic as long as we roughly achieve our goals. We don’t need to strive for perfection. I was mentally prepared to lose thirty percent of the funds to their corruption, and my bottom line was actually even lower. I would have accepted it even if the participating officials pocketed forty percent of the funds. Be it thirty percent or forty percent, we can treat this as payment they received for doing a tangible good deed.”

Ma Duyi hadn’t expected this answer at all. She wanted to become angry, yet she couldn’t do so no matter what. In the end, she decided not to say anything at all.

Chen Ping’an smiled and suggested, “If you feel dissatisfied about this, then I’m willing to change my bottom line from forty percent to twenty percent as long as you’re willing to help Zeng Ye. What do you say?”

Ma Duyi was very satisfied with this proposal, and only after hearing this from Chen Ping’an did she ride up to Zeng Ye and start to patiently discuss strategies with the simple and naive young boy.

Chen Ping’an suddenly instructed his horse to slow down, retrieving a small rectangular box from his sleeve that was inscribed with ancient seal script characters. This was a small gift from Millet Grain Island’s Tan Yuanyi, and it could be viewed as a show of sincerity after the three of them formed an alliance. The small rectangular box was an extremely rare item, a Small Sword Resting Ground of very good quality that measured just one finger in length. It was exquisite and small, and it could be easily carried around and used to store messenger flying swords.

Of course, the Small Sword Resting Ground wasn’t as flexible as large sword chambers, and it could only send and receive one messenger flying sword at a time. At the same time, it expended far more spiritual energy to nurture flying swords compared to ordinary sword chambers. Even so, Chen Ping’an could definitely sell the Small Sword Resting Ground for one grain rain coin as long as he was willing to part with it. Thus, Chen Ping’an naturally hadn’t turned down Tan Yuanyi’s act of goodwill.

After opening the slightly shaking rectangular box, Chen Ping’an retrieved a messenger flying sword that had come from Cyan Gorge Island. The letter said that after learning that he was already in the Stone Brush Nation, Palace Willow Island’s Liu Laocheng had asked Cyan Gorge Island to pass on a single sentence: “Come to Palace Willow Island to discuss the price in more detail when you return.”

Chen Ping’an tightly gripped a snowflake coin, causing spiritual energy to flow into a sword holder in the rectangular box like dripping water. He then activated an ingenious mechanism in the box, causing the messenger flying sword from Cyan Gorge Island to shoot out of the sword holder and disappear with a flash, flying back to Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Zeng Ye was completely engrossed in this process.

He had worked as an errand boy in the simple sword chamber in Thatch Moon Island before, but this was the first time that he had ever seen a Small Sword Resting Ground, something that he had only heard about before. It was truly as mysterious as could be.

Ma Duyi didn’t fare much better than him.

Chen Ping’an placed the Small Sword Resting Ground into his sleeve and breathed some warm air into his hands. This was a big piece of good news.

Just like he had said to Zeng Ye, the most difficult thing in the world was often taking that first step. After taking the first step, it was also of utmost importance whether one could stand firm and steady.

Chen Ping’an mysteriously became allies with Liu Zhimao, who should have been his enemy, and Tan Yuanyi, who was a spy of the Great Li Empire.

Afterward, he had walked into a risky situation, visiting Palace Willow Island to have a discussion with Liu Laocheng.

And now, he was visiting various regions of the Stone Brush Nation to make up for past mistakes and gain a deeper understanding of the nation’s fortunes at the same time.

He was naturally here with a goal.

Chen Ping’an had engaged in a discussion with Gu Can’s mother at his residence near the mountain entrance of Cyan Gorge Island, but his aunty might not have paid much heed to his words at the time. She most likely wouldn’t have given much thought to the matters that he had talked about in a seemingly casual manner, and it was even possible that she might have treated them as inconsequential.

Her thought process was actually quite simple, and she hoped that Chen Ping’an could protect her and Gu Can from the sudden change sweeping through Bamboo Scroll Lake. She hoped that the young bookkeeper could cherish their old relationship and live up to his name of peace and safety.

Among Chen Ping’an’s words, he had said that Bamboo Scroll Lake might become different in the future.

Gu Can’s mother might not have thought deeply about this.

However, Chen Ping’an had already started to make preparations.

Chen Ping’an was going to advance his plan step by step, with his action being perfectly described by Liu Laocheng’s two joking remarks on the boat. He was pulling no stops, and he was displaying lofty ambitions.

This was because Liu Laocheng had already noticed the signs and guessed that Chen Ping’an wanted to change the rules of Bamboo Scroll Lake from the most fundamental roots.

He was going to borrow external power, and he was going to try his utmost.

Chen Ping’an put aside discussing the good and evil of people first, and the first thing he focused on doing was treating everyone as a Go piece and trying his best to draw a larger Go board that belonged to himself. This included everything from the Go pieces to the Go shape and then to the Go formations.

He hoped that he could at least participate in guiding the overarching rules of Bamboo Scroll Lake in the future and be able to establish his own rules.

It was because of this that Liu Laocheng had asked Chen Ping’an whether he had learned to play Go from the Jewel Small World’s Mr. Qi.

This was the reason behind the matters.

Chen Ping’an and Liu Laocheng had actually been having a tug of war with their words.

There were many hidden undercurrents and schemes on the Go board, and finding the weaknesses of one’s opponents, making seemingly unreasonable moves, and making seemingly godly moves were all done with some form of consideration or reason.

Regardless of whether it was against the Upper Five Tier Liu Laocheng in Palace Willow Island or against the Nascent Tier Liu Zhimao in Cyan Gorge Island, Chen Ping’an was actually using his fists and influence to do the talking. If he crossed the line and accidentally became involved in the battle for the Great Dao, obstructing any of them from attaining Dao, however, then he would essentially be seeking death.

Since the gulf in power between Chen Ping’an and the two of them was so great, it was only natural that speaking reason with them wouldn’t yield any results. Using his fists to speak reason would further be seeking death. However, Chen Ping’an wanted to achieve a certain goal, so what could he do? In that case, he could only pour all of his effort into cultivating his mind, carefully contemplating the weight and influence of all the Go pieces that were hidden and formless. He needed to contemplate their desires, bottom lines, temperaments, and rules.

If it were possible, Chen Ping’an wanted to try and make transactions with Prince Han Jingling who had fled to Bamboo Scroll Lake, Huang He who was the son of a great general, and even General Su Gaoshan of the Great Li Empire who carried the unstoppable trend of the Great Li Empire.

Chen Ping’an was seeking to put his mind at ease by making up for past mistakes and helping the ghosts and yin entities complete their final wishes. However, what was more difficult than this was the other game of Go that he was secretly working on. This was the first time that Chen Ping’an was attempting to craft a Go board as a player rather than a piece. Most importantly, he couldn’t make a single wrong move, or else a single slip-up would cost him the entire game. Chen Ping’an making a mistake would be equivalent to him having a massive brain fade in planning.

Regarding the former goal, he was preventing Gu Can from making any more mistakes since the young boy was unwilling to see the errors in his way. He was going to make up for these mistakes himself. Apart from exhausting his mental energy and money, there was already no risk of Chen Ping’an losing anything more. As such, he didn’t need to feel as if he were walking on thin ice.

However, since Chen Ping’an was so good at concealing his emotions, how had even Zeng Ye managed to notice the subtle fluctuations in his mental state before?

This was because Chen Ping’an had come across an even bigger and seemingly unsolvable disappointment after seeing off Su Xinzhai and the others. This disappointment lingered in his mind and wouldn’t fade away no matter what.

This feeling was different from what he had experienced in the slightly dark and gloomy room near the mountain entrance of Cyan Gorge Island. He hadn’t summoned all of the yin souls and allowed them out back then, and just taking a single glance at the Hall of the Underworld on the table would bring him huge troubles when he closed his eyes to nap or sleep. It was as if countless malicious ghosts who had been wronged before death were banging on the door to his mind and loudly voicing their grievances and cursing him.

After sending off many ghosts and yin entities, Chen Ping’an’s feeling of disappointment stemmed from a discovery that he had made. Of the many names of the wrongly killed victims recorded in his notebooks, those whom he felt the most guilty toward all let go of their obsessions very readily, choosing to leave the living world once and for all. For example, Su Xinzhai who had always remembered her respected master in Yellow Barrier Mountain.

On the other hand, those whom he felt less guilty toward would often have more requests and more unreasonable final wishes, putting on full display their greed which was common to both humans and ghosts. There were many more yin entities who displayed even more hatred and resentment after death, and these yin entities were temporarily residing in Chen Ping’an’s Hall of the Underworld and Colored Glaze Pagoda.

In reality, Chen Ping’an had already felt much less guilty after deciding to make up for past mistakes. However, the reactions of Su Xinzhai and the others had caused him to start feeling guilty again. In fact, he felt even guiltier than before.

The emotions displayed by Su Xinzhai and the others also lingered outside the door to his mind, yet they were already resolute on leaving the living world and they didn’t harbor any complaints or unleash any verbal abuse. Rather, they would lightly knock on the door, with their movements so gentle that it appeared as if they were worried about disturbing the person inside. Afterward, they would all bid farewell the same way, saying, “I’m leaving now, Mr. Chen.”

At this moment…

Chen Ping’an suddenly squeezed the belly of his horse, causing it to gallop forward and leave the muddy official road, taking a detour and ascending a small mountain ridge.

The horse navigated up the uneven mountain ridge.

Chen Ping’an tugged the reins, stopping his horse at the peak of the ridge.

Zeng Ye wanted to pat his horse and catch up to Chen Ping’an, yet he was stopped in his tracks by Ma Duyi.

Chen Ping’an was at a loss as he looked around.

There was a Sword Nurturing Gourd, a sword, and a saber hanging by his waists, and he could even ride a horse through the wind and snow-filled cultivation world.

In reality, however?

He was alone with nothing to depend on.