Unsheathed

After Liu Zhimao left, Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye were filled with trepidation as they entered the room and sat down.

Liu Zhimao hadn’t used his earth immortal mystical powers to create a barrier and keep secret his conversation with Chen Ping’an, nor had he purposely held back on saying anything.

As a result, Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye had been able to vaguely hear the chatter and laughter coming from the room.

There was a complicated look in Ma Duyi’s eyes.

Meanwhile, there was a look of puzzlement on Zeng Ye’s face.

Chen Ping’an didn’t explain anything, and he simply asked Zeng Ye about his cultivation progress, answering each of the young boy’s questions and occasionally providing some guidance or inspiration when they discussed more intricate specifics. Even though Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye were cultivating together and pushing each other forward, with the former even able to answer questions for the latter, Ma Duyi was still slightly lacking compared to Chen Ping’an. At the very least, this was what Chen Ping’an felt. However, when Chen Ping’an’s seemingly bland and ordinary words entered Ma Duyi’s ears, the young woman who was more talented than Zeng Ye was struck by inspiration after inspiration.

It was as if an immortal had led them to a waterfall, where both she and Zeng Ye could only stand at the foot of the waterfall and catch water with bowls and buckets to quench their thirst.

Only after Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye took their leave did Chen Ping’an undo the restriction on the messenger flying sword from the Great Li Empire’s Cloud Drape Mountain.

It was an unexpected piece of news.

An assistant minister from the Great Li Empire’s Ministry of Rites had personally visited Dragon Spring Prefecture, and apart from inspecting matters pertaining to the scholarly temple and the martial sage temple, he had privately visited Mountain God Wei Bo as well, offering a new suggestion during their conversation.

The imperial court of the Great Li Empire had recently bought back many mountains abandoned by the immortal forces, so they were planning to use this opportunity to do some big business with Chen Ping’an. The Great Li Empire still owed Chen Ping’an some gold essence copper coins, so Chen Ping’an could use these coins to buy the so-called mature mountains that already had immortal abodes and mountain-protection formations left behind by the immortal forces.

If Chen Ping’an agreed to this proposal, he could obtain close to thirty percent of the mountains to the west of Dragon Spring Prefecture in one fell swoop. Disregarding the abundance of spiritual energy in these mountains and only focusing on their sizes, Chen Ping’an would become a big landlord who could almost rival Sage Ruan Qiong.

Wei Bo was very frank in the letter, saying that this was a hugely beneficial opportunity for Chen Ping’an. However, there were some notable risks involved in the sense that Chen Ping’an’s ties to the Great Li Empire would become deeper and stronger. It wouldn’t be easy for him to wash his hands of this relationship in the future, and he wouldn’t be able to simply sell his mountains as Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan had done so if things took a turn for the worst.

The imperial court of the Great Li Empire had also listed out some conditions, saying that Chen Ping’an would need to sign a special contract if he were to own so much land in Dragon Spring Prefecture. Cloud Drape Mountain, the Northern Mountain of the nation, would be the location where they formed their alliance, and the imperial court of the Great Li Empire, Wei Bo, and Chen Ping’an would sign together a second-grade alliance contract of the empire.

First-grade alliance contracts involved the formal gods of the Five Mountains appearing together, and such contracts also needed to be stamped with the imperial seal of the emperor. Of course, such important contracts would only be signed with Upper Five Tier cultivators who could influence the fortune of the nation. Only then would the Great Li Empire go to such great lengths.

Wei Bo also said frankly that Chen Ping’an could consider his relationship and trust in Wei Bo when contemplating whether to sign this alliance contract or not. However, this consideration should only play a small role in his final decision.

One needed to be extremely diligent and cautious when it came to matters pertaining to the Great Dao.

At the end of the secret letter, Wei Bo said that this matter wasn’t urgent and he could help Chen Ping’an delay things for another six months to one year, so he could have a good think about it. Even if the state of affairs in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent was much clearer at that time, with the Great Li Empire having defeated the Luminous Vermilion Empire and continued their expedition south, it was simply a case of the middleman, Wei Bo, and the buyer, Chen Ping’an, needing to be a little more shameless in pushing to sign an alliance contract with the Great Li Empire. This was very normal when doing business in the mountains and outside the mountains, so there was no need for Chen Ping’an to feel troubled or embarrassed.

After reading the secret letter, Chen Ping’an opened his Small Sword Resting Ground and used a messenger flying sword to send a message to Liu Zhimao. Afterward, Island Master Liu could help him deliver a letter to Cloud Drape Mountain, and the reply only needed to be a single word: Okay.

With this done, Chen Ping’an walked to the window and looked outside. General Xu Mao from the Stone Brush Nation was wildly ambitious, and people like him had very good chances of achieving great things and rising to high positions in chaotic times like these.

Once the Great Li Empire defeated the Luminous Vermilion Empire and continued to march south, Xu Mao, who was already a middle-rank martial official in the Great Li Empire, would be able to command a squad of elite cavalry, making him even stronger. As the army marched south, that would present Xu Mao with the opportunity to obtain huge amounts of military merit. Most importantly, Xu Mao’s temperament and abilities were far superior to that of Prince Han Jingxin, and all that he was lacking was an innately lofty status.

It was said that Su Gaoshan had also been born in a relatively poor clan in the border regions, much the same as the Stone Brush Nation’s Xu Mao. As such, it was reasonable to infer that the special treatment afforded to Xu Mao and his quick promotion to a martial official was related to this fact.

Xu Mao would have also been rewarded if he had defected to General Caoping, the other great general from a pillar clan in the Great Li Empire, but he most definitely wouldn’t have enjoyed a direct promotion to the position of fourth-rank martial official. Perhaps he would have also been valued and promoted to important positions in the future, but the speed of his rise up the ranks would have definitely been slower.

Chen Ping’an passed many county cities and prefectural cities during his journey north, and the heavy cavalry under Su Gaoshan’s command naturally hadn’t been perfect and faultless. However, the many military rules of the Great Li Empire’s armies were still vaguely noticeable.

For example, loyal members of the Stone Brush Nation had attempted to assassinate a scholarly attendant of the Great Li Empire in Zhou Guonian’s hometown, that rundown provincial city, and the Great Li Empire had rapidly deployed a squad of elite cavalry as reinforcement. Working together with the cultivators accompanying the army, they had caught and executed all of the main culprits, hanging their heads on the city walls. Meanwhile, several high-ranking accomplices from the Stone Brush Nation were imprisoned, with their clan members also placed under house arrest. However, there was no unnecessary implication or punishment.

Something else also occurred during this time, something that made Chen Ping’an look at Su Gaoshan in a new light. One windy and snowy night, a young boy secretly snuck onto the city wall to steal the head of his respected master. He was discovered by the guards on the city wall, yet he still managed to escape. However, it wasn’t long before the young martial artist was caught by two martial secretaries of the Great Li Empire.

This matter could be viewed as either major or minor, especially since it was a crime with no precedent during the Great Li Empire’s expedition to the south. It was reported up through the ranks, eventually catching the attention of General Su Gaoshan. Su Gaoshan instructed his subordinates to bring the young martial artist to the general’s tent, and after having a conversation with him, Su Gaoshan tossed him a large pouch of silver and permitted him to bury his master’s whole corpse.

His only request was that the young martial artist should remember that the true culprit behind his master’s death was Su Gaoshan, so he wasn’t allowed to cause trouble for the border army of the Great Li Empire in the future, especially trouble for the scholarly officials. If the young martial artist wanted to exact revenge in the future, then he should directly look for Su Gaoshan.

Word of this matter spread far and wide through the officialdom and cultivation world in the central region of the Stone Brush Nation.

Following this was the first major matter that Liu Zhimao had mentioned.

The young woman in green and the young boy in white.

Chen Ping’an smiled upon thinking of this.

A thought suddenly occurred to Chen Ping’an, and he jumped onto the windowsill before lightly tapping his foot and leaping onto the ridge of the roof. He walked forward slowly, with no destination in his mind. He was simply taking a stroll along the many roof ridges.

The Sword Nurturing Gourd was still on the table, and he hadn’t taken the bamboo saber and the Great Replica Qu Huang with him either.

He was doing as he pleased without overstepping the boundaries.

He could go anywhere he wanted in the vast heaven and earth.

In the end, Chen Ping’an stopped and stood on the curved eaves of a roof, closing his eyes and starting to practice standing meditation. However, he didn’t maintain this practice for a long time, and he instead pricked up his ears to listen to the sound of melting snow.

Perhaps this person was a martial secretary from the Great Li Empire stationed at this city, or perhaps they were an accompanying cultivator from some mountain in the Great Li Empire. Of course, it was also possible that they were a cultivator from True Martial Mountain, an ancestral temple of the Militarian Sect.

This was a young man wearing light armor, and he was also walking along the roof ridges in the city. He had nothing to do today, and he wasn’t technically a member of the army either, so he held a pot of wine that he had warmed up beforehand as he stopped on a curved eave several dozen paces away from Chen Ping’an. Using the official dialect of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, he smiled and said, “Enjoying the scenery is okay, and even visiting the city wall of the provincial city will be fine. I coincidentally came here to relax my mind as well, so I can accompany you if that suits you.”

This was a very polite introduction, and following the unstoppable advance of the Great Li Empire’s heavy cavalry, everyone and everything that wasn’t from the Great Li Empire could indeed be viewed as an outsider and a vassal. However, there was also a sense of alertness in the young cultivator’s words.

Chen Ping’an smiled and shook his head, replying, “There’s no need, I’m just about to return.”

The young cultivator was astounded, but he immediately broke into loud laughter, raising his pot of wine high into the air. As it turned out, the young man in azure cotton robes had spoken fluently using the official dialect of the Great Li Empire.

And thus, the martial secretary who was young yet had already fought on horseback for close to ten years said in a loud voice, “I’m Guan Yiran from Yi Province’s Cloud Stay Prefecture.”

There was hesitation on Chen Ping’an’s face, especially since now wasn’t a suitable time to reveal his identity. As such, he simply smiled in apology and cupped his fists in acknowledgment.

Guan Yiran laughed loudly and said, “If you come across any difficulties in the future, you can seek help from the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire. Wherever our cavalry exists is wherever the territory of the Great Li Empire extends to!”

Chen Ping’an appeared slightly adrift, not knowing how to respond.

————

The third day of the New Year arrived, and Chen Ping’an left the provincial city with Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye, continuing their journey toward the northern border of the Stone Brush Nation.

The thick snow gradually melted away.

Spring ushered in lush greenery, the sunshine glistened on the flourishing locust leaves.

Zeng Ye obtained many treasures as they traveled, for example, a military seal of a martial official from the Stone Brush Nation that was inscribed with the characters “Crafted by Li Cao.” There were also many antiques and curios that had been randomly tossed aside like trash, with most of them being large vessels or small and exquisite items. It was very likely that the ordinary-sized items easy for carrying around had already been taken away by the fleeing commoners.

Many of the abandoned items would be worth dozens or even a hundred gold coins during peacetime, yet they were now strewn across the ground like worthless rubbish. There were renowned and expensive works of calligraphy and paintings that were already soaked and damaged by mud, and precious treasures that had been sold at a bargain to those shops in the cities that hadn’t been ravaged by the flames of war.

Ma Duyi was an avaricious person, and Zeng Ye was surprisingly even more so. Whenever they had free time after setting up the congee stalls and medicine shops, the two of them would run around the city to look for cheap treasures. They had already borrowed money from Chen Ping’an two times, but it was only a small amount in total, adding up to just twelve snowflake coins. However, it wasn’t easy to exchange this into mortal gold and silver, and it was necessary to visit immortal ferry stations or immortal inns to do so.

Thankfully, one of the female yin entities staying in the Fox Skin Beauty Talismans hailed from a relatively powerful first-rate immortal force in the Stone Brush Nation. After helping her complete her final wish, Chen Ping’an exchanged some immortal coins for mortal gold and silver with the immortal force. He then gave the gold and silver to Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye, letting them spend it as they saw fit. Regarding this, Ma Duyi had especially pestered Chen Ping’an to make a large bamboo case for her so that she would have somewhere to store the money.

Chen Ping’an had no objections to this, and he afforded them great freedom as long as this didn’t delay their cultivation and negatively affect their focus on proper matters.

They were in a small prefectural city near the border today, and after Chen Ping’an met with the local officials, Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi started to adeptly make plans for the congee stalls and medicine shops. They didn’t dare to cut any corners when they worked on these matters, and only after they finished work for the day would they dare to happily visit the various shops to buy treasures for bargain prices. This was because even though Mr. Chen never became involved in the planning, nor did he ever say much at all, the two of them were already well aware of his temperament and manner of doing things after traveling with him for so long. Mr. Chen would observe and notice everything, and he would also see further and deeper than both of them.

As for the many antiques and curios they bought using the money they borrowed from Mr. Chen, all of these items were temporarily placed in Mr. Chen’s minimization treasure.

Their ability to pick out valuable treasures was mainly thanks to Ma Duyi’s upbringing in a wealthy clan. She had also been responsible for managing a jewelry shop in Bamboo Scroll Lake, so it was only natural that her appraisal skills were far superior to that of Zeng Ye.

As time went on, Chen Ping’an became worried that Ma Duyi would also make a mistake or be tricked. After all, most of the treasures she and Zeng Ye purchased were miscellaneous items that had trickled into the hands of commoners from the wealthy clans of the Stone Brush Nation. These treasures came in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

With this in mind, Chen Ping’an summoned a Middle Five Tier yin entity from the Colored Glaze Pagoda and asked him to watch over the situation for Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye. However, the yin entity who was transformed into a guard ghost by Vermilion Chord Residence’s Ma Yuanzhi immediately became addicted to this task, even going as far as to enter a Fox Skin Beauty Talisman and appear in the world as a woman. To sacrifice so much after being a Sea Observation Tier cultivator during life, it was clear that the information recorded in Chen Ping’an’s notebook was the absolute truth. This cultivator from Bamboo Scroll Lake was indeed addicted to collecting all kinds of “trash” antiques.

Recorded in Chen Ping’an’s notebook was a comment from some earth immortal many years ago, saying that this Sea Observation Tier cultivator who always had little money to spend would have advanced to the Dragon Gate Tier long ago if it weren’t for his flagrant waste of money on these treasures.

Chen Ping’an also afforded great freedom to the old cultivator. Even though he was wandering around the world as a lithe beauty, he would always sit with his legs wide apart in a manner lacking in decorum. However, Chen Ping’an wasn’t fazed by this, especially since he had already dealt with similar situations before. Truth be told, “Du Mao” acting in a feminine manner and swaying his hips as he walked had been even more repulsive.

Evening arrived, and the one human and two ghosts visited the various large shops in the city to search for bargains again. The more they did this, however, the more likely it was that they would come across trouble. After all, treasures that could even attract a Sea Observation Tier cultivator would naturally attract ordinary vagrant cultivators as well.

In fact, even official immortals would purposely visit these war-torn countries and seize the opportunity to make some money. Of the heirloom treasures that many wealthy clans passed down through the generations, there would indeed be a few that the clans ignored even though they possessed sufficient spiritual energy. If one were fortunate enough to come across such treasures, it was entirely possible for one to earn dozens or even hundreds of snowflake coins.

It was in this context that Zeng Ye and the others would come across like-minded cultivators. However, they had almost ended up in a conflict with some people in a large city not too long ago, with the other party being a group of official immortals from a top-notch immortal force in the Stone Brush Nation. Each side spoke their own reason and had their own merit, and neither side was acting in a domineering manner.

In the end, it was still Chen Ping’an who had stepped forward and resolved the situation, telling Zeng Ye to voluntarily give up that spirit tool. The other party also took a backward stop, inviting the vagrant cultivator, Mr. Chen, to have a hearty drink and chat with them. Even so, Ma Duyi still privately grumbled and complained about Chen Ping’an for a long time afterward.