Unsheathed

Cui Dongshan sat back down onto his stool with a defeated expression, then extended both hands, raising one to above his own head while holding the other at knee-level as he sighed, “What was the point in these measures that Qi Jingchun took to try and protect you? Right now, you’re still at the bottom, and there are countless mishaps that could befall you on your way to the top. Du Mao was a very obvious example of that.”

A thought occurred to Cui Dongshan as he spoke, and he pursed his lips as he amended, “Alright, I guess Du Mao doesn’t really count, seeing as Qi Jingchun had some strategies in place to deal with him.

“However, if we go a little below that, to Upper Five Tiers cultivators below the Ascension Tier, namely the Unpolished Jade and Immortal Tiers, or even a Nascent Tier swordsman… What would happen if you got into a battle of life and death with one such individual?”

“That’s utter nonsense,” Chen Ping’an scoffed as he turned away with a smile. “Which cultivator under the heavens doesn’t have to constantly deal with the possibility of life-threatening mishaps on their way to the top? A principle taken to the extreme is no longer a principle. Surely you don’t need me to tell you that. You’ve clearly been defeated, yet as the sore loser that you are, you refuse to admit defeat. That’s something that you have to work on.”

“What if I admit defeat deep down, but refuse to do so verbally to save some face?” Cui Dongshan protested.

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

Cui Dongshan sighed. “It’s not a good thing that you found out this early.”

“I know,” Chen Ping’an replied.

“The will of the heavens has always superseded the machinations of man.” Cui Dongshan sighed as he scratched his own head in frustration. “Only by remaining oblivious will you have any chance of securing victory against those who are in the know.

“Are you not aware that there was a huge element of luck involved in your past victory over Lu Chen? If Lu Chen targets you again now, dedicating just a bit of his attention to setting up another elaborate plot against you, then you’ll be defeated for sure.”

Cui Dongshan adopted a firmer tone as he reiterated, “I’m saying that you’ll have no chance of victory!”

“Perhaps,” Chen Ping’an conceded with a nod.

Cui Dongshan heaved a forlorn sigh with a complex look on his face.

The attainment of each piece of knowledge was the equivalent of gaining an enemy. Essentially, he was opposing the entire world.

The lowly grass trampled beneath everyone’s feet was, ironically, more capable of withstanding destructive winds than the tall trees above it.

“There’s no need to worry about all of that,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile as he sat down. “We can’t allow our fears to debilitate us. I managed to survive all those years on Clay Vase Alley; there’s no reason why I should be more fearful and cowardly now after coming so far. I can’t let all my fist technique practice go to waste, just like how I can’t waste my life cowering in fear.”

“I suppose it’s good that you think this way,” Cui Dongshan approved with a nod.

“All I can do is take things one step at a time and see how it goes,” Chen Ping’an said. “Back on the ship, you could easily beat me in games of Go even with a twelve-stone advantage, but what about ten years from now? What if I live a hundred more years?”

“As long as the Go board remains the same, with nineteen vertical and horizontal lines, then I wouldn’t dare to say that I can still give you a twelve-stone advantage several decades from now, but if the board becomes a little larger…”

“Shush!” Chen Ping’an interrupted with an amused smile.

“You always display the most flair when you’re being unreasonable, Teacher,” Cui Dongshan praised with a smile.

Chen Ping’an declared that he was going out for a bit, and Cui Dongshan was left in the ancestral residence on his own, crouching down on the ground as he stared at the two circles, not because he was studying them; it was purely out of boredom.

There weren’t many principles in this world that were worth pondering in depth for Cui Dongshan.

Chen Ping’an paid a visit to his parents’ graves, where he burned a lot of paper, some of which he had bought from the Dragon Palace Small World, following which he began adding soil to the graves.

Cui Dongshan got up onto the tips of his toes, peering over the wall into the neighboring courtyard. The feng shui of this alley was truly exceptional.

Song Jixin had become a feudal lord of the Great Li Empire, and Zhi Gui was doing even better. The entirety of Old Dragon City was essentially her backyard, while the Fu Clan was like gardeners tending to that backyard for her.

Cui Dongshan climbed onto the top of the wall, then jumped up and down a few times to shake off the dust clinging to his robes.

Sword Immortal Cao Xi had already returned to the Southern Whirl Continent from the Northern Complete Reed Continent. After all, someone had to keep an eye on the Mighty Suppressing Pagoda, so Cao Jun was left behind to work his way up the ranks in the Great Li Empire’s military.

With regard to the ghost bride, Chen Ping’an already had an answer to his own question.

However, Cui Dongshan had intentionally made things complicated in order to determine which type of teachings his teacher was currently leaning toward.

In doing so, he had shot himself in the foot, and he was left regretting his decision.

Cui Dongshan extended both hands, then spread his fingers open as he shook out his wrists.

Before the conversation took that turn, Cui Dongshan had intended to discuss another “minor topic” with his teacher, a principle that was woven together by countless thin threads.

Of course, Cui Dongshan wasn’t going to tell Chen Ping’an everything he knew on the subject. Instead, he would only pick out some parts that were beneficial to cultivation.

It was like crafting a porcelain figure.

How was it possible to mold a pile of broken porcelain into a real person, complete with three immortal souls, six mortal forms, and full emotional capacity? The key lay in weaving a web.

At the moment, the main obstacle was that performing such a feat required too much expenditure and came with very high barriers to entry, and even Cui Dongshan wasn’t able to think of any solutions to this problem.

If he could successfully solve this problem, then the biggest external concern of the Majestic World, namely the demon tribe, would undoubtedly be decimated if they attempted an invasion, and the same applied to the sworn enemy of the Heavenly World that they had to construct the White Jade Capital to contend against.

In a sense, humans were the very first porcelain figures, except that the two were crafted from different materials.

Cui Dongshan was also hoping that there would come a day, when he was on the cusp of achieving his goal, that the people he earnestly believed in would tell him whether this choice had been right or wrong. On top of that, he wanted them to elaborate on what he had done right and where he had gone wrong. After that, he would be able to commit himself fully to the rest of his plan and cast his own survival out of his mind.

Unlike the old scholar, who only gave his verdict without providing any elaboration.

***

A Great Li Empire military ship slowly docked at the Ox Horn Mountain ferry station, accompanied by a giant dragon boat, one that had illusions cast onto it by both Wei Bo of the Northern Mountain and Jin Qing of the Central Mountain.

Liu Chongrun, Lu Baixiang, and Wei Xian disembarked from the dragon boat together.

Liu Xunmei and Cao Jun didn’t disembark with them. Having escorted the dragon boat to this point, they had completed their mission, and Liu Xunmei had to report to Military Governor Cao Ping.

“That young man over there is Mountain Master Chen Ping’an of Downtrodden Mountain?” Liu Xunmei asked. “I heard that he also comes from Clay Vase Alley, just like your ancestors.”

Cao Jun nodded in confirmation as he sat on the ship’s railing and replied, “He’s a very interesting young man. In my eyes, he’s even more interesting than Ma Kuxuan.”

“Chen Ping’an is a good friend of my friend, Guan Yiran,” Liu Xunmei said with a smile. “At the end of last year, back on Chi’er Street, Chen Ping’an came up in a conversation I had with Guan Yiran. He’s always had a very careful and steadfast personality, so he didn’t say much about Chen Ping’an, but I could tell that he thought very highly of him.”

This was the first time Cao Jun had heard about this, but he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

A reminiscent look appeared on Liu Xunmei’s face as he sighed. “I heard that Bo Yu from Yichi Alley is currently serving as the prefectural overseer of the Treasure Stream Prefecture. He’s certainly made a name for himself. I don’t know him very well, though. All I recall is that back when we were children, Bo Yu really liked to follow us around all day.

“At the time, none of the kids on our Chi’er Street liked to play with the kids from Yichi Alley. We never got along, and every year, we always arranged a few snowfights to settle our differences. Even though we were always outnumbered, we won every single time. Bo Yu was always in a rather awkward position because he took a neutral stance, so whenever it snowed, he would simply stay indoors and not come out.

“That’s all I remember about him. The rivalry between Chi’er Street and Yichi Alley was really fierce back when we were all children, but it quickly cooled off once we grew up, and we were all on much friendlier terms with each other.”

“I reckon my memory of you will be just as hazy when I think of you in a hundred years or two,” Cao Jun said with a smile.

“You’re a terrible conversationalist, you know that?” Liu Xunmei scoffed with a shake of his head.

“If I were good at making conversation, I would already have been promoted and gotten rich,” Cao Jun said.

“If you didn’t have any battlefield accolades to your name, do you think I’d bother to even chat with a terrible conversationalist like you?” Liu Xunmei chuckled with a shake of his head.

“You make it sound like you’re much better at making conversation than I am,” Cao Jun jibed in amusement.

Liu Xunmei leaned over the railing as he said, “Regardless of how I die, whether it be on the battlefield or on my deathbed, make sure to come visit my grave when you pass through the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent in the future.”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll live longer than you just because I’m a cultivator,” Cao Jun said. “Who knows which one of us will be the one visiting the other’s grave?”

“Can’t you say something with more auspicious connotations?” Liu Xunmei groaned with a wry smile.

Cao Jun thought about it for a moment, then said, “In that case, I wish you a swift promotion to become military governor.”

“That’s much better!” Liu Xunmei praised with a nod of approval. “Likewise, I wish you a swift breakthrough to the Upper Five Tiers.”

“That’s going to be hard,” Cao Jun said as he rubbed his own face with a troubled expression.

Chen Ping’an had brought only Pei Qian and Zhou Mili with him to the ferry station. He had spotted the black-robed Cao Jun, but pretended not to have seen him.

Wei Xian gave Chen Ping’an a nod, and Chen Ping’an reciprocated with a smile and a nod of his own.

A rare smile then appeared on Wei Xian’s face at the sight of Pei Qian.

In his eyes, she had grown quite quickly.

Pei Qian skipped over to Wei Xian’s side, then swaggered a lap around him before remarking, “You’re even darker than before!”

“How insolent!” Wei Xian scolded with a stern expression.

“The hell are you tryna do?!” Pei Qian snapped. “You trying to pose as some authority figure? Who’re you trying to fool? Your clan doesn’t have a gold shoulder pole at all!”

“Right now, I’m a corps commander of the Great Li Empire, and I’m also an important official,” Wei Xian declared.

Wei Xian had come from a very impoverished background in the Southern Garden Nation, and his rise had begun in the military.

Pei Qian pointed at Zhou Mili, who was carrying two hiking poles at once, then asked, “You make yourself sound like a big deal! Are you as much of a big deal as her?”

“What do you mean?” Wei Xian asked, perplexed by the comparison.

“Zhou Mili!” Pei Qian yelled.

Zhou Mili immediately stomped a foot down onto the ground, sticking out her chest and raising her head up high as she declared, “Here!”

“Tell us your name!” Pei Qian ordered.

Zhou Mili’s brows furrowed tightly as she got up onto the tips of her toes, then whispered into Pei Qian’s ear, “You already called my name just now, so I should be declaring myself as the great water monster of Mute Lake or the right-hand guardian of Downtrodden Mountain, right?”

Pei Qian heaved a forlorn sigh. Zhou Mili was great in every regard, but she was a little slow.

Wei Xian reached out with a smile, intending to give Pei Qian a pat on the head, only for the latter to evade his hand by ducking down and stepping to the side as she scoffed, “You look so old now, Old Man Wei! And you haven’t even shaved! How’re you going to find a wife like this? I reckon you’ll be single for life at this rate, but not to worry.

“Right now, we don’t have many people on our Downtrodden Mountain, but plenty of them have no chance of finding wives, just like you! There’s Wei Bo from nearby, Chef Zhu, Zheng Dafeng at the foot of the mountain, Little Bai, Old Man Song, and Yuan Lai on the mountain summit… I doubt any of them are ever going to be able to find wives!”

“It’s not like your master has a wife himself,” Wei Xian countered with a smile.

Pei Qian gave a cold sneer in response, and Zhou Mili hurriedly followed suit.

As soon as Chen Ping’an was done exchanging pleasantries with Lu Baixiang and Liu Chongrun, he immediately gave Pei Qian and Zhou Mili a knock on the head each.

Pei Qian was already accustomed to this type of treatment, but the same didn’t apply to Zhou Mili, who immediately opened her mouth to try and bite Chen Ping’an, only for him to press down onto the top of her head to keep her at arm’s length. She was just about to fly into a rage when she heard Pei Qian clear her throat in warning, and she immediately fell still.

Liu Chongrun had a sword talisman from the Dragon Spring Sword Sect, so she departed by flight.

At the moment, the standard refined water palace was still concealed on the dragon boat, and the plan was for Lu Baixiang to request Wei Bo to transport it directly to Ao Back Ridge using his mystical abilities. Otherwise, the water palace was currently the size of a horse-drawn carriage, and she didn’t have a minimization treasure in her possession.

She could use her own mystical abilities to manually transport the water palace, but that would attract too much attention at the ferry station, something that she wanted to avoid as a safety precaution.

As for the dragon boat by the name of Frothing Ink, it was, of course, already the property of Downtrodden Mountain. The entire Ox Horn Mountain belonged to Chen Ping’an and Wei Bo, so it made sense for the dragon boat to be docked here.

Lu Baixiang led the way for Chen Ping’an onto the massive dragon boat. It was three storeys tall, which wasn’t particularly remarkable, but it was enormous.

It had to have been around half the size of the Flax Robe Sect’s intercontinental ship, able to house over a thousand passengers. Of course, that number would be different if the vessel were filled with cargo. With such a massive and sturdy ship now at its disposal, Downtrodden Mountain would be able to do many things, and Chen Ping’an was unable to disguise his elation as a wide smile plastered itself across his face.

Pei Qian and Zhou Mili were both astonished to hear that such an enormous immortal ship was now the property of Downtrodden Mountain, and Pei Qian immediately pinched Zhou Mili’s cheek before giving it a forceful twist.

The latter instantly cried out in pain, and Pei Qian mused to herself, “So this isn’t a dream.”

“No, no, it’s definitely not a dream,” Zhou Mili hurriedly confirmed with a shake of her head.

Pei Qian patted her on the head as she asked, “Did that hurt?”

“Not at all!” Zhou Mili grinned. “I’m the great water…”

Pei Qian hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth to cut her off, then warned her not to declare her status as the great water monster of Mute Lake in public, as doing so could terrify others, a warning that Zhou Mili took very seriously.

They explored the ship level by level, occasionally opening a cabin door, all of which still retained a fragrant woody aroma even after being submerged in water for hundreds of years. All of the furnishings in the ship had already been seized by the National Treasury to fund potential war efforts. As a result, all of the cabins looked largely the same, given that they all had a similar general layout.

However, Chen Ping’an didn’t find the repetitive sights boring or monotonous at all. Finally, he arrived in the largest cabin on the top level. This was most likely going to be the ship’s premium suite. All of a sudden, Chen Ping’an’s smile faded as he made his way out onto the wide and spacious observation deck.

The destruction of the Ceremony Mountain immortal ship in the Luminous Vermilion Empire had had very far-reaching consequences.

Everyone on that ship had been pawns, but some had survived, while others had perished. As for exactly what Mr. Sword Urn’s motivations were behind destroying the ship, that didn’t seem to be all that important.

At the moment, Chen Ping’an was considering a moral dilemma. For now, he didn’t possess the power to do anything about this perceived injustice, so there was no point in bringing up the matter again, and he would just have to relegate it to the back of his mind.

However, what would he do if Downtrodden Mountain were already well-established, and he was already a Nascent Tier earth immortal or even an Unpolished Jade Tier cultivator? In that scenario, he would be able to seek out justice for the likes of Chun Shui and Qiu Shi, but what if doing so would incur a massive cost? For example, he would have to completely turn on the Great Li Empire and become sworn enemies with Heavenly Lord Xie Shi.

Furthermore, all four picture scroll martial artists had to die, and Downtrodden Mountain would be regarded with resentment and enmity from all directions. Everyone on the mountain would be hunted relentlessly everywhere they went on the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. If Chen Lingjun went to the Northern Complete Reed Continent, then he would undoubtedly die, and Chen Ruchu would never be able to go to the Dragon Spring Prefectural City again.

The Great Li Empire spies on Dragon Riding Alley would turn from protective guardians into malicious assassins, and everyone on Downtrodden Mountain would be living in constant danger. Perhaps some would die, perhaps some would leave. What would his decision be if these were the outcomes of his actions? Would he still be able to stand up for what he felt was right?

If he were already a bona fide sword immortal at this very moment in time, then he wouldn’t have to grapple with these moral dilemmas. Instead, he would simply throw caution to the wind and trust in his sword to protect everything that he cherished.

However, that seemed like an impossibly difficult goal to reach, and he could easily perish before he came anywhere near reaching that lofty summit.

Occasionally, he would read novels of valiant heroes, the same type that Li Baoping, Pei Qian, and Li Huai would read, and he would find himself admiring the confidence, courage, and resolve of the stories’ protagonists, but such fearless and untouchable heroes rarely existed in the world of reality.

Whenever Pei Qian explored such novels, she would always pick out the most exciting action sequences and read through them over and over again, reveling in a fantasy world in which the protagonist would occasionally encounter a senior of unmatched power, friends from all walks of life, as well as monsters and demons to be slain.

The chapters detailing the protagonist’s struggles and failures were often skipped in favor of the more exhilarating arcs and passages. On the contrary, Chen Ping’an would often only read the beginning of a story, then struggle to advance beyond that point. A common trope in all of these stories was that the protagonist, who was destined for great things in the future, would have to suffer an initial setback to manufacture a tragic backstory.

This often came in the form of a calamity that wiped out the rest of their clan, leaving them all on their own with only a burning desire for vengeance driving them to seek out greater heights. From there, a time skip would often take place, and all of a sudden, they would be all grown-up.

Chen Ping’an found this trope to be rather jarring.

Perhaps all of the spectacular sequences that came later on in the story were indeed very alluring. Certainly, Li Huai and Pei Qian took immense joy in immersing themselves in those chapters of excitement and wonder. However, Chen Ping’an struggled to do the same.

Perhaps it was because there was always a cognitive dissonance that he struggled to overcome, making it impossible for him to relate those stories to real life, thereby preventing a sense of immersion.

“What’s wrong, Master?” Pei Qian asked from inside the cabin.

“Nothing,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head. “I was just thinking about some things.”

Lu Baixiang strode over to Chen Ping’an’s side, grinning. “Congratulations.”

“You have to hurry up,” Chen Ping’an urged.

A forlorn look appeared on Lu Baixiang’s face as he sighed. “I’m hesitating about whether I should find a time to challenge Zhu Lian to a battle.”

“I think you should,” Chen Ping’an encouraged with a smile. “It’s not like it’ll cost you anything.”

“Did you cop a lot of beatings on the Northern Complete Reed Continent?” Lu Baixiang asked.

Chen Ping’an nodded as he replied, “I had two different tenth tier martial artists sparring with me, beating me to the brink of death for fun. I’m sure you must be very envious.”

“Hearing that puts me in a much better mood,” Lu Baixiang replied with a smile.

“Don’t forget that I’m only lending you Halting Snow,” Chen Ping’an reminded.

“I found two bright talents for Downtrodden Mountain, didn’t I? Is that not enough to make up for a saber?” Lu Baixiang jibed.

Chen Ping’an didn’t play along, instead remarking, “I like their names, Yuan Bao, Yuan Lai.”

“Have you already met them?” Lu Baixiang asked.

“I have,” Chen Ping’an replied. “The first thing I said to them was that they had great names, and the girl began looking at me exactly like Cen Yuanji once did, like I’m some nefarious thief that she has to constantly be wary of. I just don’t understand! I’ve been traveling the world for so many years, yet the only place where I’m misunderstood is on my own mountain!”

Lu Baixiang chortled. “My mood has improved even further!”