Unsheathed

Compared to before, Chen Ping’an was the only additional person at the Ning Residence. It hadn’t become that much livelier.

The reason behind the Ning Residence’s sombreness was far too solemn and heavy.

Following Ning Yao’s birth, the Ning Residence initially had a chance to become a top-notch clan like the Dong, Qi, and Chen clans. Now, however, that was nothing more than a past glory. Yet, there also existed a dark haze that couldn’t be shooed away.

Elsewhere, business at Die Zhang’s wine shop had initially been on the verge of going downhill, but thanks to Sword Immortal Huang Tong from the Great Emblem Sword Sect visiting his hometown to drink and Old Sword Immortal Dong Sangeng personally visiting the wine shop, as well as four other sword immortals visiting with them and three leaving inscriptions on the safety tablets, business immediately started to boom again.

The wine shop was unbelievably busy, with a large number of people squatting on the ground to drink. At the same time, the wine shop promoted a new and unique pickled vegetable dish, giving it away for free whenever someone purchased a pot of wine. It was a perfect match with the slightly bland Bamboo Sea Small World Wine, with the crunchy pickles a perfect complement for each sip of wine.

Chen Ping’an maintained a very disciplined schedule while he stayed at the Ning Residence, and apart from refining Qi for twelve hours at the pavilion on Dragon Slaying Cliff every single day, he would often spend one hour sweeping the courtyard in the morning with Grandma Bai. During this time, he would ask detailed questions about matters pertaining to fist techniques. Li Er had explained things clearly enough during Chen Ping’an’s training sessions at Lion Peak, but when it came to grandmasters at the peak, the fundamentals of their fist principles would generally be connected, but the paths they took afterward would be completely different.

Grandma Bai would often give demonstrations when she got into the fine details, allowing Chen Ping’an to emulate her movements. In fact, Grandma Bai felt especially happy and content because Chen Ping’an had already used her fist stance during his battles on the street. Bai Lianshuang’s fist techniques were completely different from most in the world, focusing most on retracting one’s fist and containing one’s intent. Only when one tempered one’s fist intent to a state of fullness and flawlessness could one think about throwing punches at one’s opponents.

At noon every day, Chen Ping’an would enter the training ground in the Minute Small World with Nalan Yexing, spending approximately one hour to familiarize himself with the flying sword of an Unpolished Jade Tier sword cultivator.

There would be another training session at midnight, one that Nalan Yexing had suggested, saying that the four hours at midnight would be the best time to learn his two completely different sword intent essences.

Learning sword techniques from Nalan Yexing was completely different from learning fist techniques from Grandma Bai, with Chen Ping’an often suffering injuries in the process. Nalan Yexing already controlled his sword strikes very well, and Chen Ping’an would only appear like he was bloodied and riddled with wounds. In reality, however, these were nothing more than minor cuts. Even so, Grandma Bai would feel pained and worried every time she saw this.

Chen Ping’an had suffered slightly heavier wounds one time, and when drinking wine with Nalan Yexing after the training session, as they always did, Grandma Bai had severely scolded Nalan Yexing, unleashing a torrent of abuse at him. Nalan Yexing hadn’t dared to talk back, and he could only sit there and hold onto his wine cup.

Chen Ping’an had already explained the situation to Grandma Bai, as had Ning Yao, with both of them telling Grandma Bai that she didn’t need to worry. For some unknown reason, however, the knowledgeable and capable old woman was quite stubborn and unreasonable regarding this matter, leading to pain and suffering for Nalan Yexing.

After hearing that Chen Ping’an’s barrier for the Eighteen Stops Technique was loosening and showing signs of breakthrough, Grandma Bai finally suppressed her worry and let Nalan Yexing off the hook. He needed to be given credit for his hard work, even if he wasn’t given credit for his achievements.

Regarding the Eighteen Stops Technique that A’Liang had modified, Chen Ping’an privately asked Ning Yao why A’Liang had only taught it to so few people.

Ning Yao’s expression became solemn as she explained that it wasn’t the case that A’Liang didn’t want to teach the modified Eighteen Stops Technique to more people, but rather, he didn’t dare to.

Sitting inside the pavilion, Chen Ping’an suddenly jolted awake at this realization, so terrified that he surprisingly broke into a cold sweat.

If A’Liang had taught this modified technique to too many people, then it was inevitable that the younger generation of demon tribe sword cultivators in the Savage World would manage to elevate their Sword Dao to the next level!

Ning Yao looked at Chen Ping’an.

“I’ve only taught the technique to a single person — Pei Qian,” Chen Ping’an said.

“Then it’s okay,” Ning Yao replied with a nod.

Afterward, Chen Ping’an asked whether, with the exception of the two published books, there were any other books by sword immortals available in the markets. It didn’t matter whether the sword immortal was local or not, nor did it matter whether the book was about battles at the Sword Qi Great Wall or travels through the Savage World.

Ning Yao replied that the Ning Residence didn’t have many such books in its collection, with most of the books in the scripture library belonging to the Three Teachings and the Hundred Schools of Thought. However, Chen Ping’an could try his luck at Mirage Market located in the north of the city.

Chen Ping’an became quite hesitant.

This market was extremely strange, with its foundation genuinely being a mirage. Moreover, this mirage had remained tangible and condensed for a long time, not dispersing into thin air. The buildings were majestic and imposing, appearing much like immortal residences, and the forty or so structures of various styles could hold several thousand people at once.

The Sword Qi Great Wall was tightly guarded, making it difficult for outsiders to enter and exit. Thus, the large businesses that had frequent dealings between the Majestic World and the Sword Qi Great Wall would all set up shop at Mirage Market, selling all kinds of strange and wonderful artifacts, ancient curios, immortal treasures, and everything in between. However, Mirage Market would fade once every one hundred years, during which the cultivators and people residing there would need to exit and wait for the market to condense into a tangible form again. Only then could they return.

Ning Yao had once faced an assassination attempt at Mirage Market.

It was also over there that Grandma Bai had fallen from the tenth tier of martial arts to the ninth tier, the Mountain Summit Tier. One had to realize that, unlike Qi refiners, it was quite rare for pure martial artists to drop cultivation bases. From this, it was abundantly clear just how dangerous and brutal the assassination attempt on Ning Yao had been.

Chen Ping’an didn’t agree with Ning Yao’s suggestion to visit Mirage Market together, and he instead planned to ask someone to help him purchase the books. This was simply a matter of spending money, money that he had worked hard to earn and spend.

Disregarding their combat power and only focusing on their cultivation speed, Chen Ping’an could compare himself to Die Zhang, Chen Sanqiu, and the others, even if he didn’t compare himself to Ning Yao. Even so, Chen Ping’an still sincerely felt like he wasn’t at their level.

One time at the training ground, Yan Zhuo had joked that he would teach in the stead of Chen Ping’an, passing down the unparalleled fist technique to Guo Zhujiu. Chen Ping’an had squatted down nearby and ignored their nonsense. However, when he looked up and glanced at the sight of Chen Sanqiu and Dong Huafu refining Qi in the pavilion, using their bridges of immortality to form links with heaven and earth, he saw that their speed of channeling spiritual energy was even quicker than the eye could follow. This caused Chen Ping’an to feel slightly vexed, feeling like he was wasting the top-notch environment of Dragon Slaying Cliff by cultivating there every day.

Ning Yao stood beside Chen Ping’an and consoled, “Your bridge of immortality isn’t fully constructed yet, and the two of them are already Golden Core Tier cultivators, so that’s why you feel like there exists such a huge gulf. Things will be different when you obtain all five bonded items of the Five Elements, with each bonded item supporting the others. You only have three bonded items right now, but the quality of the water seal, the soil of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Five Mountains, and the wooden divine statue are all good enough, able to form the shell of a small world. You have to realize that even here at the Sword Qi Great Wall, the large majority of earth immortal sword cultivators don’t possess such complicated core abodes.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and remarked, “It’s enough for sword cultivators to have a decently good bonded sword. It doesn’t need to be supported by so many bonded items.”

“Aren’t I just trying to comfort you?” Ning Yao asked.

“I appreciate it,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

He then recalled something and asked, “Die Zhang is busy with her store and wine shop every day — will this truly not affect her cultivation?”

Ning Yao shook her head and replied, “No, it won’t. Apart from when she advanced to the Abode Tier and the Golden Core Tier at the Ning Residence, she has relied on herself for all of her other breakthroughs. She can advance very quickly each time she hones herself on the battlefield, and she’s a cultivation prodigy who’s naturally built for large-scale battles. You didn’t see her full sparring session with Dong Huafu last time, but you’ll understand what I mean when you fight alongside her on the battlefield in the future. You’ll understand why Chen Sanqiu and the others treat her as a friend until death. Every time a large-scale battle concludes, Chen Sanqiu will ask Fatty Yan and Dong Huafu whether they saw the back of Die Zhang’s head or not, and whether it’s beautiful or not.”

Ning Yao paused for a moment before continuing, “Because of this, the seniors in the Dong Clan and the Chen Clan have always been thoroughly impressed by Die Zhang, who doesn’t hail from a very good background. This is especially so for the Chen Clan, which even intends to have a young prodigy get married to Die Zhang. Chen Sanqiu’s older brother agreed to this suggestion, but Die Zhang herself didn’t agree to it.

“Grandpa Dong’s willingness to see the Great Emblem Sword Sect’s Sword Immortal Huang Tong off at Die Zhang’s shop had nothing to do with you, but it had everything to do with Die Zhang saving Dong Huafu’s life in the past. Die Zhang once said, ‘There’s no need to save me if my death is inevitable,’ and this was a statement greatly appreciated by Grandpa Dong.”

Ning Yao smiled and said, “I didn’t discuss these matters in much detail with Die Zhang, seeing that she always likes to overthink things. I’m afraid that she’ll end up getting distracted. She holds far too much admiration for those senior sword immortals with outstanding military merit, so much so that it’s become a detriment. You would have most likely noticed the situation at the wine shop just then. Regardless of whether it was Zuo You, Grandpa Dong, Han Huaizi, Li Cai, or the others, Die Zhang would feel extremely tense and nervous whenever she saw any of them.”

Chen Ping’an nodded and replied, “I did notice this. If you’re okay with it, I can chat with her about this matter later. I have some experience regarding these things.”

Ning Yao glared at Chen Ping’an and asked, “Why would I not be okay with this? Perhaps you view me as a cold-hearted person?”

Chen Ping’an reached forward and pinched Ning Yao’s cheeks, replying, “Of course not.”

Fatty Yan had his eyes peeled and his ears open the entire time, and in a moment of carelessness, he was kicked in the face by the young girl who was learning martial arts from him. Yan Zhuo was completely unfazed, and he used his eyes to signal to Guo Zhujiu, who turned around and immediately drew a sharp breath. Her master was truly courageous! Sure enough, those who were capable would become more courageous. At the same time, she was also incredibly smart and fortunate, having found herself such a brilliant master. She was definitely going to benefit from this!

Ning Yao stood still and didn’t move, allowing Chen Ping’an to pinch her cheeks as she remarked, “How very capable of you. Why don’t I accompany you for a sparring session in the Minute Small World?”

Chen Ping’an hurriedly retracted his hands, clasping one hand behind his back and gesturing toward the training ground with his other hand as he replied with a faint smile, “After you.”

Ning Yao raised an eyebrow and dashed into the Minute Small World located near the south of the training ground, gracefully coming to a stop before lightly flexing her wrists.

However, Chen Ping’an had already fled into the distance, disappearing without a trace.

Ning Yao didn’t chase after him, instead summoning her flying sword and casually strolling around the Minute Small World. This couldn’t be regarded as practicing sword techniques, and she was simply giving her flying sword some fresh air, having not summoned it for a long time.

Cultivation was truly not worth a mention for Ning Yao.

Guo Zhujiu appeared slightly dazed as she praised, “Assessing the situation and knowing when to advance and when to yield… My master is truly a man of greatness.”

“Lü Duan, I’ll teach you fist techniques, and you can teach me the art of flattery. How does that sound?” Yan Zhuo asked.

Copying her master’s pose from when he had stood on the street and faced his opponents before, the young girl clasped one hand behind her back and clenched her other hand into a fist, appearing confident and at ease as she shook her head and replied, “Your heart isn’t sincere, and your talent is even worse.”

Yan Zhuo was slightly dumbfounded.

Ning Yao beckoned with her hand and said, “Lü Duan, come here for a beating.”

“Alrighty!” Guo Zhujiu shouted in reply.

She then turned around to flee, and soaring through the sky wasn’t a difficult task given that she was already a Middle Five Tier sword cultivator. However, her escape wasn’t as smooth as her master’s.

This didn’t matter, and a disciple didn’t need to worry about being inferior to their master.

However, it was a shame that Ning Yao reached forward and made a grabbing motion, using a perfectly weighted wisp of sword qi to wrap around Guo Zhujiu and casually drag her back.

Guo Zhujiu stumbled and stood still, giving a soft shout before putting her hands together and interlocking her fingers, exclaiming, “Heed my call, heaven and earth, make me invisible to Big Sister Ning, and make her punches and kicks not hurt at all!”

Yan Zhuo cupped his face and started to violently massage it, muttering to himself, “I would rather become Lü Duan’s disciple than to take her as my disciple.”

Guo Zhujiu was severely underestimating Ning Yao if she felt like her prayers would help her escape punishment.

The young girl’s face was black and blue as she skipped out of the Ning Residence, and before leaving, she even asked Big Sister Ning whether she wanted to eat some desserts. At the same time, she patted her chest and promised that she had simply faceplanted due to walking too carelessly. However, Big Sister Ning mysteriously grabbed her head and thumped it against the door several times.

The slightly dizzy Guo Zhujiu left the holy land of fist technique training by herself, touching her face as she pitifully walked along the street. Blood from her nose covered her palm, but she casually wiped the blood onto her clothes. She then slowly walked forward with her head held high, thinking to herself that learning fist techniques truly wasn’t easy. However, this was a good thing! After all, what kind of peerless fist technique could be learned so easily?

When she achieved seventy to eighty percent mastery of the fist technique, she wouldn’t do anything to Big Sister Ning. She was Master’s wife, so Master wouldn’t necessarily be willing to side with his disciple. Guo Zhujiu would tolerate her behavior. However, Dong Bude, the old girl who couldn’t find herself a partner, would need to be careful when she walked around at night in the future.

The young girl, who had a lush green inkstone hanging by her waist, gazed up at the clear blue sky, nodding lightly to herself and thinking that today was a good day.

Chen Ping’an and Ning Yao went for a walk to Die Zhang’s wine shop.

In the past, they would each have their own rest time between Qi refinement, and these rest times wouldn’t necessarily line up. Thus, it was often Chen Ping’an who went to the wine shop by himself.

It was clear that Ning Yao had purposely cut her cultivation short today so that she could accompany Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an didn’t think much about this.

When walking past the wine shops that were nowhere near as popular as his own, Chen Ping’an looked at the many couplets and horizontal scrolls and said to Ning Yao in a soft voice, “Their calligraphy skills aren’t as good as mine, and even the contents of their couplets and horizontal scrolls are nowhere near as good as mine, don’t you think?”

“One of the big restaurants recruited an unofficial disciple of a Confucian sage, the sage of an academy, to personally write their couplet and horizontal scroll,” Ning Yao replied.

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “They’ve only taken a small and shallow leaf out of my book, so this won’t do them any good. I dare wager that the restaurant owner will need to offer incense and thank the heavens if business at his restaurant doesn’t become worse. He doesn’t need to dream about the wine drinkers appreciating the couplet and horizontal scroll. There are seventy-odd restaurants and wine shops competing here, and there are one hundred or so types of immortal wine produced in the Majestic World, so it isn’t difficult at all to find wine to drink. At the end of the day, however, what is actually being sold?”

“What?” Ning Yao asked.

Chen Ping’an smiled and didn’t say anything, continuing to take in the contents of the couplets and horizontal scrolls that were like shy young ladies.

“You can piss off if you don’t want to say,” Ning Yao snapped.

“We, of course, want the customers who drink our wine to feel like sword immortals even if they aren’t sword immortals,” Chen Ping’an hurriedly explained. “If they’re already sword immortals, then we want them to feel even greater than sword immortals. Our wine shop is small, and the tables and chairs are crude, yet it’s unexpectedly unrestrained, with the small wine cups containing colossal worlds. Which is why Die Zhang’s suggestion of copying those big and fancy restaurants and swapping out our current tables and chairs now that we’ve made some money is completely unacceptable.

“Fatty Yan suggested using his own money to make an investment, offering up a large silk shop that’s under his name but isn’t doing too well. However, I directly turned down his offer. Firstly, moving locations will damage the feng shui of the wine shop, stripping away the unique atmosphere and charm of our current wine shop for nothing in return. Secondly, this city isn’t small, with tens of thousands of people living here, and we can estimate that half of the population is female. That being the case, will silk and satin truly not sell?

“So, I plan to have a good chat with Fatty Yan, and I’ll tell him not to invest in our wine shop. Rather, we’ll invest in his silk shop. Casting our gaze across the city, which group is genuinely willing to spend money apart from sword cultivators who like to drink? It’s naturally women who like to make themselves more beautiful. With this in mind, I’ve already drafted up a new couplet for the silk shop…”

“A’Liang once said that men practicing sword techniques can rely on just their talent to become sword immortals,” Ning Yao said slowly. “However, a person can’t dream about becoming a kind and considerate man like him if they haven’t been pierced in the heart by the incisive words of women that are like flying swords, suffered the emotional pain of women walking away and not looking back, and had to drink hundreds upon thousands of liters of lingering dream wine.”

Chen Ping’an turned around to face Ning Yao, winking and saying, “You’re right about that. For the past ten years, the person on my mind has been extremely far away, so far away that even the flying swords of immortals can barely reach her. I could only drink wine and practice fist techniques to wash away my worries.”

He suddenly became panicked and flustered in the next moment.

Ning Yao didn’t conceal anything as her expression turned into one of despondence.

It was as if her eyes wanted to convey something, but she couldn’t help but hesitate. She wasn’t good at speaking, so she always chose to remain silent. This was because she didn’t know how to speak in a romantic manner.

In the past, the young boy wearing straw sandals — who had only arrived at Stalactite Mountain after throwing one million punches — had been just as awkward as her when it came to speaking to others. As such, she didn’t feel bad about anything, and she felt like this was only natural. Everything was communicated silently between the two of them.

Chen Ping’an extended a thumb and gently brushed it across Ning Yao’s eyebrow, saying in a soft voice, “Don’t be unhappy. You need to relax your frown.”

“I’m not unhappy,” Ning Yao replied.

Chen Ping’an bent down and lifted Ning Yao up before sprinting away.

Ning Yao was at a complete loss.

Carrying Ning Yao in his arms, Chen Ping’an ran all the way to Die Zhang’s wine shop. The several dozen customers sitting at the tables and squatting on the ground were all stupefied by what they saw.

There were quite a number of young women at the wine shop, most of them from large clans and visiting the wine shop due to its fame. They weren’t shocked by this sight, and their eyes instead lit up. In fact, some of the bolder women even drank a large swig of wine and whistled loudly and adeptly.

Chen Ping’an put Ning Yao down and waved an arm, announcing, “Those who haven’t paid yet will all get ten percent off!”

He then added, “The words of the Second Shopkeeper might not count, so everything will be subject to Shopkeeper Die Zhang’s final approval.”

The customers immediately turned their heads toward Die Zhang, who smiled and said with a nod, “Let’s give everyone ten percent off.”

Cheers and claps instantly rang out around the wine shop.

Bloody hell… Being able to get a discount from this Second Shopkeeper truly wasn’t an easy feat.

Chen Ping’an grabbed a small stool and was just about to go to the intersection between the street and the alley to become a storyteller again. He looked at Ning Yao, who nodded to give her approval.

Die Zhang walked over to Ning Yao’s side and asked in a quiet voice, “What’s going on today? Chen Ping’an never acted like this in the past, and judging by his behavior, it won’t be long before he starts beating drums and gongs on the street.”

Ning Yao shot a sideways glance at a table of young women in the distance who were engaged in spirited chatter, smiling and not saying anything.

Die Zhang suppressed a smile. She had once secretly mentioned to Ning Yao that females would often visit the wine shop to drink now, yet their purpose for patronizing the shop wasn’t for the wine. Instead, they were naturally visiting because of the renowned Second Shopkeeper. There were two shameless customers who had not only purchased wine but had also inscribed their names and messages on the safety tablets hanging around the walls.

If Die Zhang weren’t the shopkeeper, she would have felt a strong urge to remove these safety tablets. Ning Yao had also flipped the two safety tablets around to read their messages before, and she had quietly flipped them back after taking a quick glance.