Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an heard and witnessed many strange things during his time on the immortal ship.

A group of female cultivators in colorful robes had played on a swing beneath the sea of clouds, with their silvery laughter and chatter drawing many whistles and shouts from the male cultivators on the immortal ship. The two parties were going to pass each other and never meet again in the future, so the comments from the male cultivators became slightly crude and wanton.

However, a colossal flood dragon head had slowly stuck out from the sea of clouds, stunning many cultivators on the immortal ship into silence. The mystical being, which wasn’t actually a genuine flood dragon, had used its head to gently ram the stern of the immortal ship, causing it to shoot forward like an arrow.

Chen Ping’an committed this scene to memory, and after returning to his guest room, he continued to go about his day as usual.

From Stalactite Mountain to the Northern Complete Reed Continent, since parting with Lu Tai to accidentally entering the Lotus Flower Blessed Land and leaving the Daoist temple with Pei Qian and the four martial artists from the picture scrolls, Chen Ping’an had started to record some of his experiences based on his memory.

Starting from his departure from Stalactite Mountain, then to his encounter with Lu Tai, his arrival in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and his trip through Sky Calling Street of the Planchette Writing Sect, these records continued all the way to today’s encounter with the flood dragon head pushing their immortal ship in the sea of clouds above the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

There were two stacks of paper on the table.

Chen Ping’an had separated them into a draft stack and a transcript stack, with the former containing cross-outs and corrections and appearing much like an undelivered letter. However, this letter was becoming longer and longer as he continued to record his experiences.

Meanwhile, the transcription was neat and tidy, looking like a piece of homework written by a student for their teacher.

Sometimes, there was genuinely nothing for Chen Ping’an to write about, having not come across any interesting scenery, people, or matters for an extended period of time. When this happened, Chen Ping’an would either write nothing or he might occasionally write “Today was uneventful and peaceful.”

Everyone had fought for the right to ascend in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, and Chen Ping’an had unleashed his swords and fists at the most powerful person in the blessed land after being trapped in a deadly battle. He had encountered a noble scholar who was good at writing limericks at an inn on the border of the Great Quan Empire. He had wandered around with his yin soul and come across the short-tempered water goddess of the Burial River, after which he had visited the Green Roving Residence and expounded the theory of sequential order to the water goddess, who greatly admired the knowledge of that old scholar.

Chen Ping’an had also stayed at the Old Dragon City’s Dust Medicinal Shop for a period of time, and he had brought the increasingly mature Pei Qian to the Azure Phoenix Nation in the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month that year, he had received the first-ever birthday present in his life…

The only experience he didn’t write about was those few years that he had worked as a bookkeeper at Bamboo Scroll Lake.

In the end, it was only after returning to his ancestral home in Clay Vase Alley and guarding the night by himself under the candlelight that Chen Ping’an had mulled over this matter for a long time, finally writing a single sentence.

“These few years were quite difficult to endure, but having pulled through the other end, they actually appear okay in hindsight.”

Chen Ping’an finished another draft and another transcription, with both tall stacks of paper being written in neat compact script. Perhaps his characters would still appear very basic in the eyes of expert calligraphers, and disregarding the contents, the three hundred thousand odd characters appeared rigid and compact from the beginning to the end. They were written in a proper manner, but nothing more than that.

Chen Ping’an put away the ink and the calligraphy brush, extending his hands and placing them on the two stacks of paper that looked like books that were yet to be bound. He gently straightened the stacks and lightly pushed down.

There was nothing for him to worry about for the moment, so he allowed his mind to drift far away. When he returned to his senses, Chen Ping’an placed the two stacks of paper in his pocket treasure before standing up and starting to practice fist techniques, combining three stances together as usual.

Right now, he spent roughly half his time practicing fist techniques as a martial artist and half his time refining qi as a Qi refiner. Thus, finding time to draw talismans was his biggest source of recreation.

After purchasing two newspapers, Chen Ping’an didn’t come across any trouble as he arrived at the immortal ferry station of the Dragon Palace Small World.

Similar to the Jewel Small World in his hometown, the Dragon Palace Small World was also one of the thirty-six small worlds. This small world was owned by the Water Dragon Sect, with the old ancestor of the Water Dragon Sect first discovering and occupying the small world. However, the Dragon Palace Small World was strongly coveted by many people, resulting in two significant periods of turmoil that had included both internal troubles and external threats. It was only after the Water Dragon Sect reached an agreement with the Great Origin Empire’s Esteemed Mystery Department and Duckweed Sword Lake that it was able to enjoy the bountiful profits of the Dragon Palace Small World in peace.

The Water Dragon Sect was an ancient sect with a long history in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, with many anecdotes relating to it. On the other hand, the Great Origin Empire’s Esteemed Mystery Department and Duckweed Sword Lake could only be regarded as young powers compared to the Water Dragon Sect. Right now, however, these two young powers enjoyed far more renown than the Water Dragon Sect.

There was a restriction formation set up around the Water Dragon Sect located on the waterside, so the passengers on the immortal ship were unable to see the silhouette of the immortal sect, instead only able to see the bank of the large river. Hazy mist enveloped an area of fifty kilometers in radius, and only when the immortal ship sailed through the large formation of thick fog that lingered all year around and slowly descended toward the ferry station were the passengers finally able to see the magnificent structures of the Water Dragon Sect stretching into the distance.

For the first time since taking immortal ships in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, Chen Ping’an discovered that all of the passengers were obediently leaving the immortal ship on foot after it docked at the station.

However, considering the domineering nature of the Great Origin Empire’s Imperial Lu Clan, the stories and rumors about the Yang Clan of the Esteemed Mystery Department’s Lofty Cloud Palace, and Chen Ping’an’s personal experience with Sword Immortal Li Cai of Duckweed Sword Lake, this no longer seemed as surprising as it initially appeared.

There were one thousand or so immortal mandarin trees planted at the Water Dragon Sect’s Wood Slave Ferry Station, with all of them personally planted by the founding ancestor of the sect. Before passing away, the old ancestor had said that his achievements were mediocre, with only one thousand wood slaves to give to his disciples.

Dressed in azure with Sword Immortal on his back, a Sword Nurturing Gourd by his waist, and a bamboo hiking pole in his hand, Chen Ping’an slowly walked through the large ferry station that had an archway at the entrance. Engraved on the archway were several characters personally written by a calligraphy sage from the Middle Earth Divine Continent: Underwater Small World.

The river grew extremely wide at the ferry station, reaching an astounding width of one hundred and fifty kilometers. The Dragon Palace Small World was located underwater, similar to the dragon palace of Verdant Bamboo Lake.

However, cultivators didn’t need to swim to visit this small world, thanks to a long underwater bridge that the Water Dragon Sect had spent a huge amount of resources to build. Visitors could walk along this bridge to reach the Dragon Palace Small World, and they would, of course, need to pay ten snowflake coins to enjoy this privilege.

However, if visitors wanted to proceed further and enter the small world — which legends claimed had one thousand flood dragons in the ancient past, with these flood dragons venturing out to manipulate the clouds and rain — then they would need to pay an additional lesser heat coin.

This was clear extortion.

Upon thinking of the Hundred Eye Taotie Dao robe that he had grabbed from the Lofty Cloud Palace’s Yang Ningxing, however, Chen Ping’an felt like he could perhaps endure the pain and part with some immortal coins.

At Skeleton Shoal’s Malicious Ghost Valley, there was Young Heavenly Lord Yang Ningxing from the Lofty Cloud Palace’s Yang Clan.

On the border of the Five Mountain Nation, there was Sui Jingcheng, the direct disciple of Duckweed Sword Lake’s Sword Immortal Li Cai.

In that immortal ruin, there was Bai Bi, the direct disciple of the Water Dragon Sect’s ancestral hall who had been standing beside Young Feudal Lord Zhan Qing.

On the path of cultivation, those relationships and threads appeared like a tangled chaos, with each knot, no matter how big or small, being another encounter. This gave people the misconception that heaven and earth were only so big.

The Wood Slave Ferry Station was bustling with people, so noisy that it didn’t appear like an immortal ferry station at all. Instead, it appeared more like a flourishing street in a mortal city.

This was because the tenth of the tenth and the fifteenth of the tenth were both very important days. This was the case outside the mountains, and it was also the case in the mountains.

One day was a ghost festival, one of the three largest, and another day was the birthday of the Water Official Great Emperor, a Daoist official.

The Water Dragon Sect would host two Daoist ceremonies in the Dragon Palace Small World, with these ancient ceremonies highly respected and acclaimed. According to the year, the cultivators of the Water Dragon Sect would host either a gold edict, a jade edict, or a yellow edict ceremony, helping all beings pray for fortune and ward off disasters. The second ceremony, the birthday of the Water Official Great Emperor, was of utmost importance to the Water Dragon Sect due to this ancient deity overseeing the many gods and deities of the water.

Apart from the magnificent archway, Chen Ping’an discovered that the style and layout of this ferry station were slightly similar to the ruins of that immortal abode, with dozens of engraved stone steles behind the archway. Perhaps regions near large rivers and with a strong affinity to water all followed these same customs?

Chen Ping’an looked over the stone steles one by one, a choice that proved to be popular with many other people. There was a large number of traveling Confucian scholars as well, and these scholars who appeared to be from Confucian academies were all putting their heads down and transcribing the stone inscriptions next to the stone steles.

Chen Ping’an carefully read over the “Record of Virtuous Individuals Constructing the Stone Bridge” from the Daping period, as well as the “Drowning Dragon Pavilion” written by a local calligraphy sage from the Northern Complete Reed Continent. This was because these two stone inscriptions offered a detailed explanation of the construction process of the underwater stone bridge, also recounting the origin and rise of the Dragon Palace Small World.

The line was as long as a snaking dragon, and Chen Ping’an waited for almost an entire hour before finally seeing the cultivator who was responsible for collecting the entrance fee for the Water Dragon Sect.

He handed over ten snowflake coins and obtained a seal engraved from immortal mandarin wood, one that had an ancient style and was engraved with top-notch seal-script characters. The cultivator from the Water Dragon Sect informed Chen Ping’an that he could return this seal to the cultivator on the other end of the stone bridge.

This was the first time Chen Ping’an had seen a wood seal from an immortal force in the mountains. The character on the bottom of the seal was “Rest,” and the characters on the side of the seal were “Fame and fortune pertain to the body, life and death pertain to destiny.”

After reading this, Chen Ping’an asked whether these wood seals could be purchased.

The female cultivator from the Water Dragon Sect smiled beautifully and replied that these mandarin wood seals were tokens for crossing the bridge and belonged to the sect, so they were all recorded and traced and weren’t up for sale. However, there was a shop inside the Dragon Palace Small World that especially sold all kinds of different seals, with various types of famous stone seals in addition to the unique mandarin wood seals of the Water Dragon Sect. Thus, this guest could definitely find a suitable seal when he entered the Dragon Palace Small World.

Chen Ping’an was just about to enquire about the price of the mandarin wood seals in the Dragon Palace Small World.

However, the people lining up behind him had already started to grumble in annoyance, scolding him and telling him to piss off. They hadn’t come here to watch him flirt with a celestial maiden.

Chen Ping’an had no option but to turn around and apologize, following which he hurriedly left the line and made space for the next person. Chen Ping’an felt a slight sense of disappointment. Items being sold in immortal shops were often quite expensive, and the larger the immortal force was, the more difficult it would be to find a bargain.

Meanwhile, there had still been some opportunities to find bargains at the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Green Beetle Shop, Wasp Tail Ferry Station’s Cloth Wrapper Shop, and similar immortal shops at smaller ferry stations.

The long and extremely wide stone bridge had the ability to repel water, and even though it was a stone arch bridge, the arch was actually upside down. It was said that the central point of the bridge was already close to the bottom of the large river, another remarkable property of the bridge.

Stepping onto the bridge meant walking into the large river.

The wide bridge was bustling with people and horses, appearing even busier than the main streets in the capitals of the mortal empires.

From this, it could be seen that the Water Dragon Sect was making huge amounts of money every single day simply by collecting an entrance fee for the stone bridge.

Chen Ping’an looked up, gazing at the distant and limpid color of the large river. This was unlike the murkiness of ordinary rivers.

The bridge was approximately one hundred and fifty kilometers long, so visitors could hire horses and carriages at each end to help with the journey.

There was an endless stretch of abodes and buildings at the other end of the stone bridge, and each end of the bridge was also guarded by an old ancestor at the Unpolished Jade Tier. Because of this, the Water Dragon Sect was often split into the northern sect and the southern sect.

The ancestral hall was located to the north of the large river, and it had formerly been one of the three ancient shrines of the Plenty River. As a result, it was said that the disciples of the northern sect were haughty and conceited, causing an invisible barrier to subtly form between them and the southern sect, despite both being from the Water Dragon Sect.

Chen Ping’an could understand this. As long as a matter wasn’t too major, it was inevitable for people to indulge their nature and behave in this manner.

Perhaps the same would happen if Lu Baixiang established an immortal force outside Downtrodden Mountain in the future, and perhaps Lu Baixiang’s direct disciples would also feel uncomfortable when they visited the ancestral hall at Downtrodden Mountain at that time.

How to prepare for future troubles was one of the sternest examinations for the culture and tradition of an immortal force.

Reading books to understand past people and past matters, and observing other people to observe oneself — this was presumably the purpose of reading a myriad of books and traveling to a myriad of places.

No matter how much someone racked their brains, there were many matters that they couldn’t comprehend and truly understand through imagination alone. Even if they managed to make some inroads, their comprehension would inevitably be shallow and abstract.

Just like Cui Dongshan had said, these good principles would crumble at the first blow once they were spoken and placed in the world that was rife with material desire. Would this not be disappointing?

Some people experienced many things, yet they were unable to properly sift through these matters and identify one or two overarching threads. After drifting aimlessly with the crowds, they would console themselves by thinking that this was the inescapable nature of the world. This was out of helplessness, but it would ultimately still be a shame.

Regarding these gains and losses, Chen Ping’an was still walking slowly and still contemplating unhurriedly.

No matter how rare and unique the scenery of the stone bridge through the large river was, it would still become ordinary and unremarkable after walking several dozen kilometers.

Even though there were strange fish that were as bright as lanterns, as well as many subordinate yin entities of river gods and river guardians drifting around, one would still lose interest in them after seeing them again and again for dozens of kilometers.

Chen Ping’an noticed that almost everyone was in high spirits for the first dozen or so kilometers, looking around everywhere and standing in front of the stone railings to gaze into the distance, being as loud and boisterous as could be. However, they would gradually fall quieter as they walked forward, until only the clip-clopping hooves and the trundling wheels could be heard.

As he walked along the long stone arch bridge, Chen Ping’an’s biggest interest was the side patterns and the engraved characters on the mandarin wood seals hanging by the waists of the other visitors. He committed all of them to memory.

If the immortal mandarin wood seals in the Dragon Palace Small World were too dear, then he would purchase some fine mandarin wood to craft his own.

After walking fifty or so kilometers, Chen Ping’an saw a dozen-odd tea stalls and restaurants on the bridge, similar to the roadside pavilions on the mountain and river paths.

Chen Ping’an entered a restaurant that was five storeys tall and asked for a pot of the Water Dragon Sect’s specialty immortal wine, Midnight Wine, as well as two plates of snacks. However, only after paying some extra was he able to get a window seat with a good view of the scenery outside. The first level was extremely full, and just as Chen Ping’an was about to sit down, a waiter quickly walked over with a group of customers, asking with a smile whether it was okay for them to share this table. If Chen Ping’an agreed, then the restaurant would give him a bowl of Midnight Wine for free.

Chen Ping’an looked at the group of people — two men and one woman — and thought that they didn’t look sinister or aggressive. The young man and the young woman were neither pure martial artists nor Qi refiners, and they instead looked like descendants of wealthy clans. Meanwhile, the old retainer standing beside them was approximately a sixth tier martial artist. Chen Ping’an agreed to the request, and the young man smiled and nodded in thanks. Chen Ping’an raised his wine bowl in acknowledgment.

In reality, the higher up one went, the better the scenery would be. This was simply a matter of paying more.

However, after traveling fifty or so kilometers and having seen all of the scenery along the large river, it would be an absolute waste of money to pay more for better scenery.

Of course, there was a great number of people who didn’t treat immortal coins as money.

Chen Ping’an silently drank wine and listened to the conversations of the other customers.

Paper couldn’t contain fire, and even though the emperor of the Great Seal Script Empire had strictly forbidden the results of that battle from being disclosed, the many people and the numerous pairs of prying eyes had meant that all kinds of information were gradually spread and disclosed, eventually culminating in detailed articles in the newspapers. And thus, the battle and deaths of Ape Call Mountain’s Sword Immortal Ji Yue and the tenth tier martial artist, Gu You, became a topic for discussion among cultivators from the mountains, with these conversations becoming increasingly common and spirited.

When that great sword immortal from the northern region had died in battle at the Sword Qi Great Wall before, people had released swords after news reached the Northern Complete Reed Continent. Ji Yue was also a sword immortal from the same continent, yet news of his death, especially the fact that he had died at the hands of a pure martial artist, was treated with a complete lack of respect, even in the immortal newspapers. There was no attempt to respect the dead and honor his title. In turn, the discussions between the cultivators also became increasingly crude and wanton.

The opinions in the restaurant were almost completely one-sided.

Even sword cultivators were praising Great Grandmaster Gu You, while they only had ridicule and anger reserved for Sword Immortal Ji Yue.

Gu You’s fist technique was godly, yet he didn’t have any disciples to inherit it.

On the other hand, Ji Yue had left behind a relatively powerful Ape Call Mountain. There were many disciples in this immortal force, but it was facing the challenge of the younger generations being inferior to the older generations. Indeed, there was currently no Upper Five Tier sword cultivator guarding the immortal force anymore.

When Ji Yue was still alive, a single Immortal Tier sword cultivator had been more than enough.

Following Ji Yue’s death, his reputation and former might as a lofty sword immortal had seemingly become an unforgivable crime.

“Great sword immortal? What a load of nonsense!” someone exclaimed in anger. “He didn’t dare to go to the Sword Qi Great Wall to kill demons, and he was even killed by a martial artist in the end, losing all face for sword cultivators like us!”

Someone nodded in agreement, sneering, “People claimed that Ji Yue had only just advanced to the Immortal Tier, but if you ask me, I’d say that he didn’t reach the Immortal Tier at all. Rather, he was an Unpolished Jade Tier sword cultivator the entire time, and he simply gave himself the title of great sword immortal.”

Someone expressed great pity for his misfortune but also expressed deep annoyance at his lack of fight, commenting, “Even though his opponent was one of the four great End Tier martial artists of the continent, Ji Yue’s death was still very vexing. His bonded flying sword was actually restrained by Gu You, allowing the martial artist to destroy his body with a single punch, shatter his golden core and nascent soul with the second punch, and directly kill him with the third punch.

“Ji Yue was the mighty sword immortal of Ape Call Mountain, so how could he be so careless? It’s a good thing that he didn’t go to the Sword Qi Great Wall, or else he would have embarrassed himself even more, causing the sword cultivators there to mistakenly think that sword immortals from the Northern Complete Reed Continent are all as flashy but useless as Ji Yue.”

A short moment later, a cultivator who had some ties with Ape Call Mountain spoke up in indignation, exclaiming, “The entire continent was aware of Sword Immortal Ji’s cultivation base, so why taunt him in a condescending manner after his death? Where were you hiding before?!”

Someone clicked their tongue in wonder and remarked, “Oh my, a friend of Ape Call Mountain has finally come forward to speak up for them.”

Another person purposely “lowered their voice” and warned with a faint smile, “We need to be careful. Ape Call Mountain’s Ji Yue has many friends, yet here we are making unfavorable comments about him. This will lead to people forcing us to obediently shut up. The rules and regulations of Ape Call Mountain are lofty and domineering, and the speed of their swords is even quicker. How truly terrifying.”

Yet another person quickly concurred with this, asking with a cold chuckle, “What’s this? Ants like us are only allowed to praise Great Sword Immortal Ji, but we’re not allowed to speak our actual thoughts? Such arrogance and haughtiness from Ape Call Mountain’s sword cultivator. Such incredible might! Outsiders like us aren’t allowed to make a single fair comment?”

Chen Ping’an drank wine and gazed at the flowing river outside, appearing like an old mute who hadn’t spoken for hundreds upon thousands of years.

Someone directly smacked their table and stood up, retorting, “How can there exist such fragile sword immortals in the world? Do you people not use your brains before you speak? Or perhaps you feel confident that you could have won if you were to face Senior Gu You instead?”

Another customer immediately bit back, slamming their wine cup into the table and asking with a loud laugh, “Hahaha, what’s wrong? I’m not allowed to speak reason simply because I’m not a sword immortal? Then apart from that small handful of people, should everyone else in the Northern Complete Reed Continent shut their mouths? There exists such a rule in the world? Perhaps reason also exists in a shop, and this shop is opened by Ape Call Mountain?”

Chen Ping’an smiled and didn’t say anything.

These people indeed seemed very reasonable.

The small number of cultivators who were defending Ji Yue and Ape Call Mountain all felt extremely aggrieved and stifled.

Meanwhile, many more people felt extremely satisfied, loudly asking the restaurant for a few additional pots of Midnight Wine. After taking large swigs of this fine wine, some people directly tossed unopened pots of wine outside the restaurant, saying it was a shame that they hadn’t been able to encounter Senior Gu in their lifetime, nor had they been able to witness that deadly battle at the Jade Seal River. Even though they were cultivators who looked down on martial artists from outside the mountains, it was only right that they offered a pot of wine to Martial Artist Gu You.