Unsheathed

This immortal ship wasn’t going to travel directly to the Dragon Spring Prefecture. After all, with the departure of the Cloth Wrapper Shop from Ox Horn Mountain, the ferry station there had become completely abandoned. On paper, it was temporarily being used by the Great Li Empire’s military, but it wasn’t an important location, and barely any immortal ships passed through there.

The majority of the ones that did carried nobility from the Great Li Empire visiting the Dragon Spring Prefecture for sightseeing purposes. The Dragon Spring Prefecture was set for a resurgence, and there were also some rumors suggesting that it was going to be elevated from a prefecture to a province, which meant that around a dozen lofty official positions were going to appear in the Great Li Empire’s officialdom.

With the Great Li Empire’s military claiming half of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent in such dominant fashion, the statuses of its native officials had been steadily rising. At the moment, the Great Li Empire’s regional officials were the equivalent of capital officials from its subsidiary nations, and any such official that was sent to an official post in one of those subsidiary nations would automatically be promoted up a rank compared with their former official post.

The ship that Chen Ping’an was traveling aboard was going to be making a stop at the ferry station of a small nation called the Thousand Gorge Nation. The Thousand Gorge Nation was a rather barren nation that was home to many mountain ranges, and its people consisted of isolated settlements that were separated from one another by the nation’s unforgiving terrain.

It was a peaceful nation that was yet to have been claimed by the Great Li Empire’s mighty army, and its ferry station was overseen by the owner of the Cave of Blessings, who was also the Thousand Gorge Nation’s imperial preceptor and the leader of the nation’s immortals. However, the entire nation only had several dozen official immortals, and the imperial preceptor himself was only at the Dragon Gate Tier.

The only reason why he had an immortal ferry station to his name was because the Cave of Blessings was a fallen small world from ancient times, and it had several types of produce that could be sold to the south. However, the profit margins on these types of produce were far from impressive, so there were no foreign cultivators interested in taking over the Cave of Blessings.

Chen Ping’an’s plan was to pay the Dragon Spring Prefecture a visit before traveling to the Colorful Garment Nation and the Water Combing Nation. There were many urgent matters that he had to personally attend to back home, such as the matter of purchasing mountains from the Great Li Empire’s imperial court. Wei Bo could help in this regard, but he couldn’t sign the title deeds with the Great Li Empire in Chen Ping’an’s stead.

The journey proved to be quite a smooth one, with the exception of a minor incident. A group of immortals from Light Breeze City felt it demeaning that an ordinary horse was being kept in the stables on the bottom floor of the ship with their meticulously fed and trained spirit steeds, so they wanted to send a message to the horse’s owner.

Of course, the methods that they employed were quite sneaky, but thankfully, Chen Ping’an took great care of his beloved steed, which he had named Qu Huang, and he often sent Fifteenth to check on Qu Huang to ensure its safety. Over the years, he had developed a very strong bond with this beloved steed, and he was extremely grateful to it.

Hence, as soon as Qu Huang was startled in the stables, Chen Ping’an immediately sensed it and sent out both First and Fifteenth. The pair of flying swords took on an insubstantial form, passing through the ship level by level to reach the bottom floor before stopping a powerful beast cold in its tracks, right as it was about to sink its fangs into Qu Huang.

Chen Ping’an then also made his way to the bottom floor of the ship to see what was happening, only to be stopped by the employee responsible for overseeing the stables. He immediately understood what was happening, and he grabbed the young man by the shoulder and dragged him to where Qu Huang was being kept.

As Chen Ping’an made his way into the stables, all of the beasts inside began trembling with fear as they cowered in submission. The beast nearest to Qu Huang was a black, dog-like creature with four white paws, and it was the size of a small cow.

According to the immortal scriptures that Chen Ping’an had purchased from Stalactite Mountain, it appeared to have been a descendant of the Mountain-Chasing Dog, a type of ferocious ancient beast.

Chen Ping’an could tell that it was no purebred Mountain-Chasing Dog as such creatures were all of a uniform color throughout their entire body. Much like Mountain-Moving Apes, Mountain-Chasing Dogs were very aggressive and short-tempered, but at this moment, it was putting on an even more fearful display than all of the other beasts in the stables, tucking its tail between its legs and curling up into a ball.

Chen Ping’an released the ship employee’s shoulder, and the latter massaged his own shoulder as he put on a fawning smile and said, “Your horse must’ve gotten into a conflict with the neighboring beast. This is not an uncommon occurrence. I’ll move your steed elsewhere so that it won’t happen again.”

Chen Ping’an took a glance at the fence between Qu Huang and the Mountain-Chasing Dog descendant to discover that it was completely unadorned.

There should’ve been some talismans plastered to the fences between the stalls, and those talismans would immediately be triggered if a beast were to encroach upon the space of another, thereby alerting the employees of the ship to come in and mediate. However, these spirit beasts that were brought onto immortal ships were generally quite smart and well-disciplined, so they normally wouldn’t cause trouble for their owners.

Otherwise, they could easily incur hefty costs for their owners, or even worse, cause conflicts that couldn’t be resolved with money.

However, in the eyes of this Mountain-Chasing Dog descendant’s owner, they most likely saw no risk in provoking someone who was still using an ordinary horse as their steed of choice.

Chen Ping’an reached out to give Qu Huang a gentle pat on the head, and it gently stomped on the ground in response, looking largely unfazed.

Chen Ping’an withdrew his hand, then smiled as he murmured to himself, “These people are trying to spoil my Great Dao…”

The ship employee was very much taken aback to hear this. He had anticipated that there was a very good chance that the owner of the horse would seek damages from the perpetrators, but he had never expected such a heavy accusation. Could it be that he was exaggerating the severity of the incident for extortion purposes?

This was exactly what the employee wanted to see. In his mind, the ideal outcome would be for a fight to break out between the two parties!

He didn’t know Chen Ping’an’s background, nor did he know why his mere presence alone would be enough to strike so much fear into the beasts in the stables, but he would surely regret it if he tried to mess with the cultivators of Light Breeze City!

The immortals of Light Breeze City had always been esteemed guests on this immortal ship, and the ship employee was very familiar with them. There was a certain type of spirit wood produced by the Thousand Gorge Nation’s Cave of Blessings that was particularly beloved by fox spirits as it was able to moisturize and nourish fox fur.

As a result, almost all of this type of spirit wood was purchased by the immortals of Light Breeze City before selling it to the Xu Clan for twice the price. The manager of the ship had once asked these immortals why the Xu Clan didn’t make the trip to purchase this spirit wood themselves, in response to which the immortals of Light Breeze City had burst into laughter and declared that the Xu Clan couldn’t care less about saving such minor costs.

During the time that it would’ve taken them to travel to the Thousand Gorge Nation, they would’ve earned far more money than those batches of spirit wood were worth. As the owner of a fox den, the Xu Clan were rolling in wealth and were accustomed to having everything brought to them.

The group of immortals from Light Breeze City were all dressed in pristine, white fox fur coats, and they looked very much out of place as they stepped into the stables.

The fox fur coats of Light Breeze City had exceptional temperature moderation capabilities, able to warm the wearer during winter and cold them down during summer, and it was just a case of how thick the coats were. However, it was still a strange sight to see someone wearing a fox fur coat during summer, no matter how thin.

The reason why these immortals insisted on wearing these fox fur coats was because it was a symbol of prestige. The immortals of Light Breeze City were held in very high regard in the northern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, particularly after the leader of the Xu Clan had obtained a suit of precious wart-like armor from the Jewel Small World with the help of his Dao partner.

In addition to that, the Xu Clan also possessed a Peace and Safety Tablet from the Great Li Empire, and their rise was all but unstoppable.

Chen Ping’an wasted no time with words, still looking as sickly as ever as he adopted his slack fist stance. However, in spite of his sickly appearance, he was able to make short work of the group of immortals, only taking a single punch to knock down each of them.

Among them was a young woman with a round face, and before she was so frightened that she slumped to the ground unconscious before Chen Ping’an even had a chance to get to her. All that was left was a handsome young man who was sweating profusely, and he was unsure of whether he should put on a strong front and issue some threats or beg for mercy.

Chen Ping’an tucked his hands up their opposite sleeves before asking him some questions about Light Breeze City.

There were still some differences that he had to settle with the Xu Clan of Light Breeze City and the Mountain-Moving Ape of Sun Scorch Mountain, and even if he were to make another trip to Bamboo Scroll Lake, he wouldn’t simply forget and let bygones be bygones.

With his entire entourage knocked unconscious, the young man made no effort to keep up appearances, fully submitting to Chen Ping’an as he answered all of the questions directed at him in as much detail as he was capable of.

It was like a schoolteacher asking his student about his homework.

The ship employee was completely flabbergasted to see this.

What’s going on here? Aren’t all of the immortals from Light Breeze City supposed to be unmatched in their power?

Chen Ping’an turned his gaze to the ship employee while casually swatting a hand against the young man’s forehead, and the latter immediately fell to the ground to join his unconscious entourage.

Chen Ping’an looked at the fearful ship employee as he asked, “Do you get money for doing things like this?”

The employee shook his head as he replied in a trembling voice, “I don’t get any money at all. I just wanted to suck up to these immortals in the hopes that they’ll provide me with some avenues to earn money in the future.”

“Who came up with this idea?” Chen Ping’an asked.

“It was them! I’m just an accomplice, so please spare me!” the employee replied without any hesitation.

Chen Ping’an gently stomped a foot down onto the ground, and the young man’s body bounced up into the air, jolting him awake.

Chen Ping’an turned to him with a smile, then pointed at the ship employee as he said, “He tells me that you were the one who came up with the idea of trying to kill my horse. What do you say to that?”

The young man was furious, and he scrambled to his feet as he began hurling a torrent of abuse at the ship employee.

Chen Ping’an promptly departed from the bottom floor of the ship, and as he did so, he warned, “Don’t kill anyone.”

The young man made his way toward the ship employee with a sinister grin as he grumbled, “How dare you try and screw me over like this! I’m going to skin you alive and…”

The young man abruptly turned around to discover that Chen Ping’an had stopped in his tracks to look back at him, and he hurriedly put on a fawning smile as he reassured, “I’m not going to kill him, I wouldn’t dare! I’m just going to teach him a little lesson.”

Chen Ping’an departed without another backward glance.

The best way to punish evil-doers was to pit them against one another.

As for which of the two of them was more evil, that was difficult to say.

However, deep down, Chen Ping’an felt more distaste toward the unscrupulous ship employee. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that he could do when it came to the weak and vulnerable like this ship employee.

In contrast, he was much more able to punish cultivators who stepped out of line, just like that time he killed Prince Han Jingling of the Stone Brush Nation. Perhaps once he went to the lawless Northern Complete Reed Continent in the future, he would even be able to kill an emperor or two if he pleased.

Chen Ping’an strode over to the head of the ship, then slowly strolled over the deck while holding the railing.

Both Sun Scorch Mountain and Light Breeze City were doing very well for themselves at the moment, particularly the former.

In the wake of Li Tuanjing’s passing, Sun Scorch Mountain was going from strength to strength, and Wind Lightning Field was inevitably going to have to lie low and accept some humiliation for at least the next century. If Huang He and Liu Baqiao couldn’t quickly reach the Nascent Tier, then perhaps that dark chapter in the Wind Lightning Field’s history would be extended to multiple centuries.

As for the Xu Clan of Light Breeze City, they had sold their mountains in Dragon Spring Prefecture for very cheap prices earlier, clearly indicating that they preferred the Luminous Vermilion Empire and Lake View Academy’s chances over the Great Li Empire.

Now that the situation had clarified itself, they were scrambling to make amends. According to the young man that Chen Ping’an had interrogated, the Xu Clan had established ties with Pillar General Yuan at the end of the previous year.

A woman who was a direct lineal descendant of the Xu Clan had married a branch lineal descendant of the Yuan Clan, and on top of that, the Xu Clan was providing significant financial support to an army under the control of the Yuan Clan.

Everyone was busy at work, trying to get ahead of everyone else in the battle for the Great Dao.

In contrast, Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but lament his own circumstances.

Even prior to his trip to Bamboo Scroll Lake, he could’ve easily broken through his fifth tier bottleneck to become a sixth tier pure martial artist. At the time, he had been close to home, and he wanted to show Cui Chan’s grandfather that the strongest third tier martial artist under the heavens that he had created had evolved into the strongest fifth tier martial artist under the heavens after throwing over a million punches.

He had fantasized that by showing off the fruits of his labors, Cui Chan’s grandfather would go a little easier on him in their sparring matches so he wouldn’t have to suffer as much. Chen Ping’an had never yearned for martial fortune bequeathments, and even back when those flood dragons had descended upon him from the clouds in Old Dragon City, he had sent them back with a single punch on two separate occasions.

Never had he imagined that close to three years would pass by without another breakthrough.

As for his quest to gather his five elemental bonded items and to reconstruct his bridge of immortality, that was also going far from smoothly. Essentially, he would just have to leave it all down to fate at this point.

Right at this moment, he was approached by the group of cultivators from Light Breeze City, who had regained consciousness and had come to him to extend an apology. Chen Ping’an paid no heed to them, and they sheepishly departed after they were certain that he had no intention seeking vengeance against them.

After that, the owner of the ship also came to deliver an apology, and he promised Chen Ping’an that he would heavily punish the offending employee.

Chen Ping’an didn’t pay much heed to him, either, merely telling him that there was no need for an overly stern punishment as long as the lesson was learned.

The ship docked at the Cave of Blessings in the Thousand Gorge Nation, and in the past, Chen Ping’an would’ve continued on his journey without pause, but this time, he paid a visit to the old Dragon Gate Tier cultivator that was the owner of Cave of Blessings.

The old cultivator seemed to have heard about what had happened on the ship, and even though he was the prestigious imperial preceptor of the Thousand Gorge Nation, he welcomed Chen Ping’an with a very warm reception. Chen Ping’an took advantage of the opportunity to ask the old cultivator about the rough history of the Cave of Blessings, and the imperial preceptor was happy to answer his questions.

Even though the Cave of Blessings held some renown, even though it was only less than ten kilometers in size, and all of the precious treasures within it had already been plundered by cultivators of the older generation. It wasn’t particularly abundant in spiritual energy, and the old cultivator had stumbled into the place by chance before deciding to make it his home.

When it came to the questions raised by visitors passing through, he had prepared a set of answers that he had already completely memorized at this point, and he knew what he could elaborate on and what matters he couldn’t speak about.

After hearing that Chen Ping’an was from the Great Li Empire, the old cultivator became even more friendly and hospitable, insisting that Chen Ping’an stay for a few days. Chen Ping’an tactfully rejected this kind offer, and as a parting gift, the old cultivator gave him a nine-grid box with a spirit tool crafted from the local materials found in the Cave of Blessings in each of the nine grids.

It wasn’t a particularly valuable gift, only worth around twenty snowflake coins in the Thousand Gorge Nation. Of course, that was an astronomical sum in the mortal world, but it really wasn’t much in the eyes of cultivators.

After accepting the box, Chen Ping’an gave the old cultivator a flagon of well-water immortal wine from the Wasp Tail Ferry Station as reciprocation. The old cultivator was ecstatic to hear that the wine from the Wasp Tail Ferry Station, and he invited Chen Ping’an to come and visit the Cave of Blessings again the next time he came to the Thousand Gorge Nation.

He didn’t have such fine wine to welcome Chen Ping’an with, but the Thousand Gorge Nation had some unique pieces of scenery that were very much worth seeing, and he would be happy to serve as Chen Ping’an’s tour guide.

The old imperial preceptor escorted Chen Ping’an all the way to the border of the Thousand Gorge Nation, and only then did he return to his manor.

He was accompanied by a young direct disciple of his, who expressed some befuddlement, wondering why his master had gone out of his way to arrange such an elaborate welcome.

In response, the old Dragon Gate Tier cultivator sighed, “On the path of cultivation, it’s important to make friends wherever you can. You never know when they’ll come in useful.”

The young disciple gave a thoughtful nod in response, and the old imperial preceptor was worried that he would be led astray, so he added, “At your age, cultivation should be your number one priority. Don’t put too much thought and effort into public relations, just be aware that this is something that’s also very important. You’ll only have to attend to these matters once I’m so old that I can no longer walk.

“As your master, I have to instruct you not just in your cultivation, but also in certain matters that may not be as appealing to you. Unless you can rise to the top without anyone’s assistance, the importance of making friends and accumulating good karma is not to be underestimated.”

The old man then patted his disciple on the head as he sighed, “Last time, when you went out on your own to experience the world, I saw what you did with those nobles of the Thousand Gorge Nation. I could tell that you didn’t actually enjoy what you were doing, and that you were only playing along in order to befriend those nobles.

“Otherwise, I would’ve been truly disappointed in you. As cultivators, we must constantly have our sights set on what’s truly important. What’s the point in becoming enamored with the allures of the mortal world? Outside of cultivation, everything else may as well be an illusion.”

The young disciple was rather alarmed to hear this.

The old cultivator smiled as he continued, “This was the perfect opportunity for me to give you this lesson. It’s well worth the twenty snowflake coins that I gave away just now.”

The young disciple extended a deep bow as he said, “Thank you, Master. I will be sure to remember your teachings.”

The old cultivator stroked his beard with a pleased smile as he made his way down the small mountain path with his prized disciple, while Chen Ping’an continued northward on horseback from the border of the Thousand Gorge Nation.

Of course, he was oblivious to the fact that his visit to the Cave of Blessings had provided the old Dragon Gate Tier cultivator with the opportunity to teach his disciple a valuable lesson.

On a rainy summer’s day, Chen Ping’an rode through the border pass of the Great Li Empire after displaying his passport.

This time, he chose a new route back to the Dragon Spring Prefecture, as opposed to following the same route from before, which passed through Red Candle Town and Go Table Mountain.

The weather was very rainy and humid the entire way, and it felt to Chen Ping’an as if he had returned to the suffocatingly humid summer environment of Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Midway through his journey, he spotted a bare-chested scholar holding a feather fan, standing under an ancient pine tree on a mountain summit. He was surrounded by beautiful maidservants, and standing even further away in the distance was a pair of elderly men who breathed in a calm and controlled fashion. Clearly, the three of them were all cultivators.

Chen Ping’an led his horse past them while looking straight ahead.

After leaving the mountain summit far behind, a hint of sorrow welled up in his heart. Once upon a time, the scholars of the Great Li Empire, even the ones who had already been accepted into Mountain Cliff Academy, had all been desperate to go to Lake View Academy, or the Great Sui Nation, or the Lu Empire, anywhere but the Great Li Empire.

In the words of Cui Dongshan, back then, whenever a pair of scholars of the Great Li Empire got into a verbal altercation, they were almost obligated to bring up the names of renowned scholars of foreign nations, or renowned literary works written by foreign authors, or relatives who were literati from other nations. In their eyes, everything from those foreign nations was superior and to be idolized.

With that in mind, Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but wonder how the current scholars of the Great Li Empire handled themselves, and in truth, he didn’t really care.

By the time Chen Ping’an passed through the relay stations to the east of the Dragon Spring Prefecture and entered the small town, it was already close to dusk. The wooden fenced gate no longer existed, having been replaced by a stone wall, but there were no guards at the gate, and people were allowed to enter and exit as they pleased.

After entering through the gate, Chen Ping’an noticed that Zheng Dafeng’s thatched cottage was still there, standing on its own by the side of the street, looking rather out of place in contrast with all of the well-organized shops nearby. It was most likely the case that Zheng Dafeng had refused to move as he wasn’t happy with the relocation compensation that had been offered.

The average resident of the small town naturally wouldn’t dare to go against the authorities of the Dragon Spring Prefecture like this, but Zheng Dafeng was no average resident.

Chen Ping’an should’ve only arrived in the small town ten days later than this, but he had sped up during the latter part of his journey, allowing him to arrive far ahead of schedule.

Back when he first entered the territory of the Great Li Empire, he had sent a letter to Downtrodden Mountain while passing by the border relay station, informing them of the approximate anticipated date of his return.

As opposed to returning to his ancestral residence on Clay Vase Alley, Chen Ping’an led his horse over the stone bridge and paid a visit to his parents’ graves first. As usual, he pulled out a series of cotton pouches filled with soil from different places to add to the mounds.

It hadn’t been long since the Qingming Festival, and there were still some slightly faded sheets of red paper sitting atop the graves, weighed down by flat rocks. It seemed that Pei Qian hadn’t forgotten his instructions.

On the way to the graves, he had mostly seen only unfamiliar faces. This was no surprise, considering most of the local residents of the small town had already moved to the new Dragon Spring Prefectural City. Almost everyone had moved into auspicious and brand new manors with a pair of large stone lions at the entrance.

Their new homes weren’t inferior at all compared with the past homes on Fortune Street and Peach Leaf Alley, and most of the people who had chosen to remain in the small town were elderly individuals who had stayed out of habit.

The houses that were still standing in the town had mostly been purchased by outsiders, and these elderly people barely ever met their new neighbors. Even if they did, there was no way for them to communicate as they spoke different languages and dialects.

From there, Chen Ping’an made his way back to Clay Vase Alley, which had barely changed at all since he was last there. The only difference was that the alley was now completely uninhabited. The remaining few families had moved to the new prefectural city and sold their ancestral residences to outsiders in exchange for sums of silver that they wouldn’t even have dared to dream about in the past.

With their newfound wealth, they were able to purchase large manors in the prefectural city and still have enough money leftover to live in comfort for several lifetimes. Gu Can’s ancestral residence hadn’t been sold, but his mother had also settled in the prefectural city, purchasing one of the largest and most opulent manors there.

Chen Ping’an pulled out a string of keys from his pocket treasure, then opened the gate to his courtyard. He released Qu Huang’s reins and allowed it to roam free in the small yard while he opened the front door of the house before stepping inside.

Everything inside was still the same as he had left it. He dragged over an old bench and sat down at the table for a while, then rose to his feet and emerged from the courtyard to reexamine the door gods and couplets. After that, he made his way into the courtyard again to look at the “Spring” character.

Sitting back down at the table, Chen Ping’an lit the lamp, and he was planning to sit by himself for a while before traveling to Downtrodden Mountain to give everyone a surprise.

However, after sitting for a while, then another while longer, he continued to remain seated, wanting to sit for a while more.

This was the beginning of his journey. Regardless of how far and wide he traveled, and how long he had been away, this was still the only place where he truly felt safe and secure.

Following the passing of his parents, Liu Xianyang often came to lie down on the bed plank while imagining a life far away from the small town. Gu Can would often come here to complain about how unreasonable and insufferable adults were.

Meanwhile, Pei Qian, the little girl in pink, and the little boy in azure were seated together on a rooftop in Red Candle Town, and all three of them were peering intently into the distance, having made a bet on who would see Chen Ping’an first.

On Downtrodden Mountain, Cui Chan’s grandfather was resting with his eyes closed on the second floor, while Zhu Lian was once again appreciating the talismans on the bamboo building.

Shi Rou was seated on a bamboo chair under the eaves in a bored manner. Ever since returning to Downtrodden Mountain, she had been forced to conform to many rules, making for a very uncomfortable and restrictive stay.

On the summit of Cloud Drape Mountain, Wei Bo was standing side by side with the old flood dragon from the Yellow Court Nation. The former wore a relaxed and composed smile, while the latter was looking rather solemn.

They were both looking at the small town in the distance, within which a tiny flame could be seen in a small alley.