Unsheathed

The Green Oriole Nation was located near the eastern shore of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and traveling north from the Five Mountain Nation, one still needed to pass through the Southern Thorn Nation and the Northern Swallow Nation first.

Neither of these was a large nation, but they weren’t the vassal states of large empires either.

There were many lakes and marshes in the Southern Thorn Nation, while there were many mountains and peaks in the Northern Swallow Nation.

However, the Southern Thorn Nation had always been on bad terms with the Five Mountain Nation, with many skirmishes taking place on the borders. Even so, there had been very few large battles involving more than ten thousand border soldiers in the past one hundred years.

The border armies of the Five Mountain Nation were largely stationed at precarious passes in the north, while the Southern Thorn Nation possessed a more powerful marine army. It was very difficult for either nation to infiltrate the depths of their enemy nation, so if the border generals on both sides preferred defense over offense, then the border regions would experience a period of peace and prosperity.

On the other hand, if the border generals liked to accumulate military merit for the sake of renown in the imperial court, then there would be countless small battles taking place on the borders. However, these battles would never transform into large wars that drew on the full resources of both nations, allowing the border forces to fight to their heart’s content.

There was a strong sense of tacit understanding between the emperors of the two nations, and they would try their best to avoid appointing border generals who liked to do battle at the same time. However, the outside relatives of the Southern Thorn Nation’s royal family held significant power right now, and a dozen or so years ago, a young outsider relative had actively asked to be transferred to the southern borders. He had drilled the troops and groomed the horses, establishing an army of cavalrymen and attacking the borders of the Five Mountain Nation several times.

Meanwhile, the Five Mountain Nation had also produced a rare local talent at the border regions, with a Confucian general who was extremely skilled at military strategy rising to the fore. He had been responsible for defending the northern border several years ago, and this had led to a series of small skirmishes at the border.

If it weren’t for Wang Dun coincidentally traveling near the northern border ten years ago and inadvertently blocking the elite cavalrymen of the Southern Thorn Nation from launching a surprise attack and infiltrating the nation, it was entirely possible that the Five Mountain Nation would have lost one or two critical border towns as a result. They would have naturally been able to snatch these towns back, but doing so would have definitely led to the largest number of casualties in the past one hundred years.

Chen Ping’an and Sui Jingcheng handed over their travel documents at a small pass of the Five Mountain Nation that wasn’t guarded by many soldiers, and after passing through, they crossed the border and avoided stepping onto the official road of the Southern Thorn Nation. Instead, they stuck to Chen Ping’an’s planned route, choosing to travel along the small paths that traversed mountains and crossed rivers.

Not long after crossing the border, they were able to witness a distant skirmish from a small and serene path.

There were two groups of scouts, each consisting of a dozen or so cavalrymen.

The elite cavalry traveling south were from the Five Mountain Nation, while the elite cavalry returning north were from the Southern Thorn Nation.

“It’s always been the barbarians from the Southern Thorn Nation traveling south to attack our borders, so since when have our scouts actively entered this enemy nation as well?” Sui Jingcheng asked in puzzlement.

“This signifies that the young Confucian general who’s renowned throughout the imperial court of the Five Mountain Nation has fairly big ambitions,” Chen Ping’an replied. “He joined the army during his youth and rose to become a third-rank great general of the border region in less than ten years, a testament to his impressive abilities. He definitely isn’t a simple person.”

The two of them quickly left the small path and stopped beside a dense forest, hitching their horses before jumping onto a tree to observe the conflict.

The marine army of the Southern Thorn Nation had always been outstanding, and it was second only to the Great Seal Script Empire and the Great Guan Empire in the south. However, there were few legitimate cavalrymen that it could deploy into battle, and it was only due to that outside relative general purchasing a large number of horses from the Houliang Nation in the west that the nation was able to cobble together an army of approximately four thousand cavalrymen.

However, it was a shame that they had failed to achieve victory in their first deployment, coming across Wang Dun, the number one martial arts superior grandmaster of the Five Mountain Nation. They wouldn’t have been able to catch him even if their horses had six legs, and they would have ended up exposing more of their military secrets instead. As such, they had been left with no option but to retreat.

On the other hand, the infantry and cavalrymen of the Five Mountain Nation weren’t necessarily outstanding either. In fact, it could be said that they were relatively inferior among the neighboring dozen or so nations. However, they still had an advantage over the Southern Thorn Nation which only prioritised its marine army.

Thus, as a citizen of the Five Mountain Nation, Sui Jingcheng felt like the scouts of her home nation would achieve a certain victory against the scouts of the Southern Thorn Nation.

However, the battle was surprisingly one-sided. After the two groups of scouts encountered each other on the road, there was no sign of relenting and no hint of hesitation from either of the leaders.

There wasn’t any shouting either, and there was only the dull thud of hooves as the opposing scouts silently charged at each other.

There were casualties and injuries on both sides after the first volley of crossbow bolts, with the scouts from the Southern Thorn Nation achieving a small victory and killing five cavalrymen from the Five Mountain Nation. Meanwhile, they only suffered two deaths and one injury themself.

They drew their sabers and charged again.

The two sides brushed past each other.

Once again, it was the scouts of the Five Mountain Nation who had secretly infiltrated the Southern Thorn Nation that suffered more casualties.

The two sides switched positions, and two scouts of the Five Mountain Nation who had fallen off their horses attempted to scramble off the path. However, they were shot in the head and neck by several scouts from the Southern Thorn Nation.

On the other side, a scout of the Southern Thorn Nation suffered an even more miserable fate after falling to the ground, with several crossbow bolts piercing through his face and chest. Afterward, an enemy cavalryman leaned down and accurately swung his saber into the fallen scout’s neck, causing blood to spray across the path.

Among the scouts of the Five Mountain Nation located on the southern side of the battlefield, only a single scout with two horses continued to gallop south.

In reality, the scouts from both sides had started off with more than a single horse. However, following the two violent exchanges, some of the warhorses that had attempted to charge forward with their owners had been shot or slashed by the enemy scouts.

As such, the scout of the Five Mountain Nation was only able to travel south with two horses due to a fellow scout resolutely lending his horse.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to travel far with just a single horse.

Meanwhile, the remaining scouts of the Five Mountain Nation turned around, with their intention very simple. They were going to obstruct the scouts of the Southern Thorn Nation with their lives.

Of course, there was also the scout who had already given away his horse. He also took a deep breath and stood still with his saber.

When it came to fighting wars on the battlefield, large armies of cavalrymen wouldn’t dare to fight and retreat at the same time. However, this was actually an option for these scouts who were elite cavalrymen. It was just that doing so would very easily affect the scout who was traveling south as well, leaving him unable to create a large enough gap between himself and these barbarians from the Southern Thorn Nation.

The two sides had initially started off with the same number of scouts, but the difference in their strength and the departure of a scout from the Five Mountain Nation turned the result into a foregone conclusion.

A short moment later…

The ground was littered with corpses.

Three cavalrymen and six horses from the Southern Thorn Nation silently pursued the fleeing cavalryman from the Five Mountain Nation.

Following an order from a young scout, the remaining scouts dismounted their horses and used their crossbows to shoot the heads of the injured enemies who were collapsed on the ground.

There were two scouts standing behind a severely wounded enemy and competing to see who was the more accurate crossbow shot, with the loser becoming very angry as he unsheathed his saber and briskly walked forward, hacking off the head of the enemy.

The young scout remained expressionless the entire time, resting one foot on the corpse of an enemy scout as he used their face to slowly clean the blood from his saber.

A scout of the Five Mountain Nation who was lying on the ground and should have already succumbed to his wounds suddenly raised his arm and pointed his crossbow at the enemy scout who was walking over to hack off his head to claim military merit. The latter had nowhere to hide, so he was just about to instinctively raise his hands to protect his head.

The young scout had seemingly foreseen this already, so he didn’t even turn his head as he casually launched the saber from his hand, perfectly slicing off the crossbow-wielding hand of the enemy scout. The scout from the Southern Thorn Nation was enraged after experiencing an unexpected brush with death, and his eyes were wide open and bloodshot as he strode forward and planned to hack the severely wounded enemy scout to death. However, the young scout in the distance surprisingly instructed, “Don’t torture him to vent your anger. Give him a swift death. After all, it’s entirely possible that we might face the same situation in the future.”

The scout from the Southern Thorn Nation was burning with rage, but he still nodded in understanding and silently walked forward, driving his saber into the enemy scout’s neck before twisting his hands and rapidly withdrawing his blade.

It wasn’t long before the three other scouts returned, with one of them holding the head of the enemy scout who had attempted to flee. The headless corpse of this enemy scout was also brought back on a spare horse.

The young scout accepted his saber from the hands of a subordinate, lightly returning it to his scabbard. He then walked over to the headless corpse and retrieved a stack of military intelligence that the scouts of the Five Mountain Nation had gathered.

He leaned against the warhorse and carefully read over the reports. He suddenly remembered a matter, and he looked up and instructed, “Retrieve the corpses of our brothers and cut off the heads of the enemy scouts. Also, remember to gather their corpses and bury them in a pit.”

“Leader Gu, the soldiers stationed nearby can deal with these dirty and tiring matters,” a burly scout surprisingly grumbled.

The young scout smiled and replied, “I won’t make you work for nothing. I’ll give up my two kills and let the rest of you decide who should get the two heads.”

The scouts immediately cheered in delight.

In the end, the surprisingly strong group of scouts from the Southern Thorn Nation swiftly left the area.

Standing atop a tree in the dense forest beside a small path, Sui Jingcheng’s face was as pale as a sheet as she remained silent from the beginning to the end.

“Why didn’t you ask me to save them?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Sui Jingcheng simply shook her head.

The two of them left the dense forest with their horses, and Chen Ping’an glanced back toward the end of the path after jumping onto his horse. The young scout surprisingly appeared in the distance, stopping his horse and not advancing any further. After waiting for a brief moment, he cracked a grin and nodded at the young man in azure, after which he turned around and silently left on his horse.

“Is he an elite of the cultivation world hiding in the army?” Sui Jingcheng asked.

Chen Ping’an gently squeezed the belly of his horse, instructing it to slowly walk forward as he shook his head and replied, “No, he’s only just advanced to the third tier recently, and he’s most likely reached this level by tempering himself on the battlefield. This is very impressive.”

Sui Jingcheng felt slightly puzzled.

To the powerful senior sword immortal who was able to easily kill Xiao Shuye, how could an unremarkable third tier border scout possibly earn the praise of being “very impressive?”

“Casting one’s gaze across all of the immortals standing at the pinnacle of the mountains, it’s possible that the large majority of them have slowly climbed to their lofty positions from the very bottom,” Chen Ping’an explained.

The two steeds traveled side by side, with the clip-clop of the hooves relatively quiet as they weren’t traveling in a rush. “Then what about the other people standing at the pinnacle of the mountains?” Sui Jingcheng asked in curiosity.

“They have good fortune,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

Sui Jingcheng was rendered speechless.

“There are some things in the world that you’ll never be able to obtain if you weren’t born with them. There’s no way around this, and one can only accept one’s fate,” Chen Ping’an said.

A short moment later, Chen Ping’an smiled faintly and continued, “However, this doesn’t matter, and there are still many things that we can rely on our own abilities to obtain. On the other hand, we’ll truly be left with nothing if we continue to stubbornly focus on the things that we’re destined to be without.”

Sui Jingcheng felt like this made a lot of sense.

Upon thinking of her own background and upbringing, however, she couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty.

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “Isn’t it better to be born with something than to be born with nothing? What is there to be embarrassed about?”

Sui Jingcheng most likely felt like she had gained a lot from Chen Ping’an’s words, so she fell silent for a moment before turning around and asking with a smile, “Senior, can you let me say a few things from the bottom of my heart?”

“Shut up,” Chen Ping’an replied.

Behind her veil, Sui Jingcheng pursed her lips with a sulky look in her eyes.

The two steeds continued to travel north.

They had come across a tragic battle, and they also came across the joyful sight of children chasing butterflies and running into the fields afterward.

They also experienced the cheerfulness of some little children in a rural village chasing after their two horses.

After arriving at the large peak of a renowned mountain, they coincidentally came across a cultivator during sunset, with the cultivator hovering near an ancient pine tree growing from the cliff face and slowly painting on some calligraphy paper. The masterful artist from the mountains simply smiled and nodded in acknowledgment when he saw Chen Ping’an and Sui Jingchen, after which he continued to leisurely paint the ancient pine tree. In the end, he silently left at some time during the night.

Sui Jingcheng looked up at the Qi refiner disappearing into the distance.

Chen Ping’an started to practice walking meditation.

After retracting her gaze, Sui Jingcheng asked in a careful voice, “Senior, once I master some immortal techniques, will I be able to follow my whims and rescue people if I encounter situations like the one near the border again?”

“Of course,” Chen Ping’an replied. “However, you need to properly consider whether you can handle the unimaginable consequences of your actions. For example, after rescuing the scout and allowing him to flee back to the Five Mountain Nation, the military intelligence might be put away and be of no use after being given to the border general. Conversely, it’s possible that this will result in additional conflict near the border regions, leading to the deaths of hundreds upon thousands of people. There’s also a chance that this might snowball into something bigger, triggering an all-out war between the two nations and causing widespread death and destruction, with starvation sweeping across the lands and anguished wails echoing through the skies.”

Sui Jingcheng fell silent.

Chen Ping’an continued to perform walking meditation as he explained slowly, “And this is why cultivators choose to distance themselves from the mortal world. It isn’t solely because they’re cold-hearted and emotionless. It’s okay if you don’t understand these matters right now, and it also took me a while to understand this after truly embarking on the path of cultivation and attempting to use a different perspective to observe the people outside the mountains.

“Did you forget our review of the matters that took place at the mountaintop town of Magnificent Peak? Looking back at that event, who do you think deserved to be rescued? Who do you think deserved to be helped? Lin Shu, who was foolishly loyal to the previous emperor? Or the scholar who had already forged a path for himself? Or perhaps those youths who had been wrongly killed in the main hall of the Magnificent Sect?

“It seems like the last group of people is most deserving of help and rescue. However, have you considered what would happen to Lin Shu if these youths were rescued? Have you considered what would happen to the scholar’s grand plan to revive the fallen nation? Thinking a bit further, and disregarding the characters of the Golden Gate Nation’s emperor and the emperor of the previous nation, will you delve into which of them has done more for the people of their nations? And what about those gallant martial artists from the cultivation world who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the prince of the previous nation, despite clearly knowing the truth? Is it very satisfying to play the role of a good person and majestically launch a dazzling sword strike?”

Sui Jingcheng nodded lightly in understanding, sitting cross-legged on the cliff and allowing the gentle breeze to brush past her face. She took off her veiled hat, causing the strands of hair on her forehead and beside her ears to sway with the wind.

Chen Ping’an walked over to her side, but he didn’t sit down as he continued, “Being a good person isn’t simply about what we feel. Similarly, doing good deeds isn’t simply about what we think. Which is to say, becoming a cultivator isn’t a bad thing, as this will allow us to see more and to see further.”

Chen Ping’an retrieved the hiking pole that he had put away for a long time, leaning both hands against it and gently rocking it back and forth and forth as he said, “However, some troubles will also arise if there are too many cultivators, with more and more powerful beings striving to attain absolute freedom. When these people casually interfere in one or two matters, what this translates to is significant commotion in the mortal world. Let me ask you a question, Sui Jingcheng. Will a chair become creaky and unstable after you’ve used it for a long time?”

Sui Jingcheng thought for a moment before replying, “It probably… definitely will.”

“Have you never come across a creaky and unstable chair in your life?” Chen Ping’an glanced at her and asked.

Sui Jingcheng didn’t respond, instead blinking her eyes in an innocent manner.

“Have you never even seen a single one before?” Chen Ping’an asked in a helpless manner.

Sui Jingcheng appeared slightly embarrassed.

The Sui Clan was one of the wealthiest clans in the Five Mountain Nation.

Chen Ping’an rubbed his chin and chuckled, “How am I supposed to continue now?”

And thus, he put away his hiking pole and continued to practice walking meditation.

Sui Jingcheng felt slightly disappointed, but she also felt slightly happy for no apparent reason.

Even she didn’t understand these emotions, but what did this matter?

In any case, they were still far away from the immortal ferry station in the Green Oriole Nation, and the senior sword immortal was also traveling relatively slowly to begin with.

She suddenly turned around and exclaimed, “Senior, I want to drink some wine!”

“You can use your money to purchase some wine. Otherwise, there’s no room for any discussion,” Chen Ping’an replied.

“I’ll purchase some wine no matter how expensive it is!” Sui Jingcheng said with a smile.

However, Chen Ping’an unexpectedly shook his head and replied, “It’s clear that you’re going to ask for credit and to repay me later. No go.”

Sui Jingcheng sighed in grief and leaned back to lie on the ground. The twinkling stars in the night sky were like a most beautiful lacquer inlay hanging above the tens of thousands of flickering lights in the mortal world.