Unsheathed

On this day, Fan Dache’s entire body was riddled with small gashes, and he was drinking at the wine shop with a dazed expression.

Chen Sanqiu wasn’t in much better condition.

The five of them had joined forces to battle Nalan Yexing in the Minute Small World on the Ning Residence’s training grounds, but aside from Chen Ping’an, the four others, namely Chen Sanqiu, Yan Zhuo, Dong Huafu, and Fan Dache, had all been made to suffer for their decision to challenge the old sword immortal.

Fatty Yan had returned home to continue his training, while Dong Huafu had gone somewhere to wander around on a shopping spree. Everything would be put on Yan Zhuo and Chen Sanqiu’s tab, so he didn’t have to worry about budgetary restrictions.

“Sanqiu, I’m suddenly a little afraid to become a Golden Core Tier swordsman,” Fan Dache admitted. “Once I reach the Golden Core Tier, I won’t have any guardian swordsmen anymore.”

“That’s your problem,” Chen Sanqiu said with a grin. “I come from a wealthy clan, so even after I reach the Golden Core Tier, I’ll still have swordsmen from my clan to protect me on the battlefield. What a reassuring thought that is! I should have a drink to that.”

And so he did, raising his cup to take a sip of wine.

At this point, Chen Sanqiu had realized that when dealing with a friend like Fan Dache, the direct and straightforward approach was always the best, and that there was no need to be overly considerate of Fan Dache’s feelings.

“Chen Ping’an has agreed for me to accompany all of you onto the battlefield during the next battle, so he’s going to be my guardian swordsman,” Fan Dache declared with a grin of his own.

Even if Fan Dache were a complete fool, Chen Ping’an’s intentions would’ve still become abundantly clear to him after so many sparring and training sessions together. On one hand, he was trying to enhance Fan Dache’s cultivation base, but he also had a secondary objective, which was to hone everyone’s cohesion and teamwork as a unit. Ideally, they would all survive the next battle and slay many demons in the process.

Chen Sanqiu raised his bowl of wine, then gently touched it to Fan Dache’s as he remarked, “You’re a lucky man, Fan Dache. Not everyone gets to have Chen Ping’an as their guardian swordsman.”

Fan Dache poured himself another bowl of wine as he mused, “If I think about it that way, I’m suddenly looking forward to becoming a Golden Core Tier swordsman again. Right now, Chen Ping’an is a fifth tier cultivator, and he just so happened to make his breakthrough on the Sword Qi Great Wall, so why isn’t he here to celebrate with us?”

“He’s probably too embarrassed to make a fuss,” Chen Sanqiu chuckled. “After all, he still hasn’t even reached the Abode Tier yet.”

“He’s not one to get embarrassed over something like that,” Fan Dache disagreed with a shake of his head.

Earlier, when they were drinking together here, Chen Ping’an had stood up, raised a toast to everyone, and delivered an address, encouraging everyone to make breakthroughs of their own. He told them not to be shy about it, and that they had no excuse not to make breakthroughs, considering they were able to enjoy the cheapest wine and the finest yangchun noodles on the Sword Qi Great Wall, in addition to free pickled vegetables.

According to him, they were unworthy of drinking his wine if they couldn’t make breakthroughs in their cultivation, and he declared that he was going to raise his wine prices for those who took too long to make breakthroughs.

At the time, all of the patrons of the wine shop had fallen into a bewildered silence. They felt like something wasn’t right, but at the same time, it didn’t really feel worth it to confront Chen Ping’an over his provocative remarks.

However, what was much more infuriating to everyone was the betting station that had been arranged to take bets on whether Dong Huafu would take the initiative to treat everyone. In the end, almost everyone lost. In the beginning, no one felt particularly disgruntled by this outcome. After all, both the second shopkeeper and Yan Zhuo had also suffered heavy losses along with everyone else.

The only one who had officially won money on the bet was Pang Yuanji, and after the event, he came to drink at the wine shop with a rather smug grin. That was when some people began to realize that they had been duped. Furthermore, the bookmaker of the betting station was none other than the Nascent Tier old fart who had inexplicably written a poem earlier.

It was an extremely familiar scam!

Thus, Chen Ping’an didn’t accompany Chen Sanqiu and Fan Dache to the shop to drink. Instead, he paid a visit to the Sword Qi Great Wall.

After splitting the spoils, Chen Ping’an had made a profit of quite a few grain rain coins. On the way to the Sword Qi Great Wall, he decided that he had to find a new bookmaker next time. For example, Sword Immortal Tao Wen seemed like a very honest and trustworthy guy.

Instead of traveling directly to Zuo You using his talismanic boat, Chen Ping’an chose to walk an extra few dozen kilometers.

Along the way, he encountered a bunch of children of the Lower Five Tiers practicing sword techniques under the tutelage of a Nascent Tier swordsman. It wasn’t considered taboo to spectate this type of training, so Chen Ping’an sat down atop the city wall to watch from afar.

There was also a group of children arguing nearby, seemingly debating how many Lin Junbis it would take to defeat a single shopkeeper.

All of the children who were able to play on top of the Sword Qi Great Wall had to be remarkable in some way, either coming from affluent clans or possessing an innate aptitude for swordsmanship.

The children from places like Yanchi Alley and Spirit Rhino Alley would never come here. The city was too far away from the Sword Qi Great Wall, and it was simply too long a journey for the average child to make on foot. Additionally, there was very heavy sword intent and immense sword qi on the Sword Qi Great Wall, creating an unforgiving, inhospitable environment for children with frail constitutions. Such was life. Some were born with everything, while others found themselves in worse and worse situations as they progressed through life.

One of the children spotted Chen Ping’an, and he immediately yelled, “You tell them, Second Shopkeeper! Surely you can beat up five Lin Junbis with just a single hand! If you say yes, then you’ll be my friend! My name is Yuan Zaohua!”

Chen Ping’an merely waved a dismissive hand in his direction, indicating for him to go away.

The boy refused to give up, lowering his expectations a little as he asked, “How about three? Surely you can deal with three!”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never fought him before,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

“How about I issue an official challenge for you?” Yuan Zaohua offered. “I’ll tell everyone that you can beat up Lin Junbi, Yan Lü, and Jiang Guancheng with just one hand!”

Chen Ping’an stood up and made his way over to the boy. Only up close did he discover, to his surprise, that it was actually a girl, but she was a tomboy through and through.

He gave her a light kick on the backside as he scoffed, “Get outta here! Do you even know how to write? How is an illiterate little brat like you going to write an official challenge?”

“Of course I know how to write! I’m way smarter than you!” Yuan Zaohua snapped with an indignant expression.

“Alright, in that case, how do you write Chen Ping’an?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile.

“I know how to write your name, but I’m not going to!” Yuan Zaohua replied. “You must’ve forgotten how to write your own name, and you want to trick me into teaching you, right? You’re not fooling me that easily!”

Clearly, she was the leader of this group of children, and all of the other kids were eager to back her up.

Chen Ping’an sat down facing the city in the north, then pulled out a bamboo leaf before using it as a makeshift instrument to play a tune.

“That doesn’t sound good at all!” Yuan Zaohua scoffed disdainfully.

All of the other children could only nod in agreement.

Chen Ping’an merely ignored her, and that left her feeling a little disappointed. He continued to sit in silence, gently patting his own knee in an absentminded fashion as he looked out at the distant city.

All of a sudden, Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “Who do you all think are the current ten most powerful sword immortals? It doesn’t have to be in order.”

“What’s the point if you don’t assign an order to them?” Yuan Zaohua scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “That would be just saying a bunch of names with no purpose.”

Chen Ping’an stood up and prepared to depart.

“Chen Ping’an, I’ll tell you my top ten if you give me a folding fan,” Yuan Zaohua negotiated as she extended a hand toward him.

Chen Ping’an chuckled. “Well, aren’t you a tricky little customer!”

Yuan Zaohua spread her arms open wide to block Chen Ping’an’s path, and she insisted with a stubborn expression, “Hurry up! You have to give me a folding fan with the best calligraphy and the most characters on it!”

Chen Ping’an was initially planning to ignore her, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him, and he sat down as he prompted, “Go ahead and tell me your top ten first. I’ll decide whether I want to give you a folding fan afterward.”

“The old great sword immortal, Dong Sangeng, A’Liang, Lord Hidden Official, Chen Xi, Qi Tingji, Zuo You, Nalan Shaowei, the old deaf guy, and Lu Zhi! That’s my top ten!” Yuan Zaohua declared, rattling off the entire list of names in a single breath. “Give me the folding fan!”

Chen Ping’an rose to his feet again, and he really did pick out a jade bamboo folding fan from his minimization treasure before slapping it down onto Yuan Zaohua’s hand.

“Make sure you don’t lose it; this thing’s worth quite a bit of money.”

Yuan Zaohua opened the folding fan with a gleeful expression, but there weren’t many characters on it, and she barely recognized any of them.

“Gimme another one! I want one with more characters on it!” she demanded.

Chen Ping’an gave her another light kick on the backside as he chuckled, “I suggest you don’t push your luck! Otherwise, I’m going to change my mind.”

Yuan Zaohua closed the folding fan and tucked it behind herself, then extended her other hand toward Chen Ping’an as she declared, “In that case, I’ll buy the folding fan with the most number of characters from you!”

“How’re you going to pay for it?” Chen Ping’an asked with an amused smile.

“The old great sword immortal, Dong Sangeng, A’Liang, Lord Hidden Official, Chen Xi, Qi Tingji, Zuo You, Nalan Shaowei, the old deaf guy, and Lu Zhi,” she repeated with a serious expression. “From now on, I’ll add Chen Ping’an to my list! You will be the eleventh most powerful sword immortal on our Sword Qi Great Wall! How about that?”

Chen Ping’an burst into laughter, and he gave her another fan, this one with many more characters on it.

“Very impressive, little girl,” he praised with an amused smile. “You’re the only one on the Sword Qi Great Wall that’s been able to swindle me out of money.”

Yuan Zaohua was very pleased with her spoils, but she still wanted more.

“If you give me another one, I can include you in my top ten, or even my top five! It’s fine if this one doesn’t have as many characters on it,” she negotiated.

Unfortunately for her, Chen Ping’an didn’t take the bait.

However, prior to his departure, he pulled out a small seal and told Yuan Zaohua to hand him the folding fan that had fewer characters on it. He gently imprinted his seal onto the fan, then returned it to Yuan Zaohua, while all of the other children looked on with wide eyes.

By the time the Nascent Tier sword immortal concluded his lesson, Chen Ping’an was already long gone, and the old sword immortal made his way over to Yuan Zaohua and the children.

At this moment, Yuan Zaohua was resting her chin on top of the city wall with the two folding fans splayed out before her, doing her best to identify any characters that she recognized. Of course, she preferred the one with more characters on it, and in her eyes, it had to be far more valuable than the other one.

However, the old sword immortal’s attention was drawn to the folding fan bearing fewer characters, and he was quite amused by what he saw.

Most good things aren’t meant to last; precious jewels soon become relics past.

But lost jewels may still be unearthed someday, perhaps gaining in value; who’s to say?

The first sentence came from an extremely renowned piece of poetry in the Majestic World, whereas the second half was complete nonsense, most likely something that Chen Ping’an had made up himself.

Having said that, it did put a positive twist on things, invoking a sense of hope when the original piece of poetry contained a rather sobering message.

All of a sudden, the old sword immortal’s attention was drawn to the seal imprinted on the fan, and an intrigued look appeared on his face.

The inscription in the seal read: “Life is fraught with separations, but even shattered mirrors can be mended.”

The old sword immortal then thought of Yuan Zaohua’s background. Her father was a bright talent who had high hopes of reaching the Upper Five Tiers, but ultimately perished on the southern battlefields before he could reach his full potential, leaving behind only Yuan Zaohua and her mother. The old sword immortal turned his gaze in the direction that Chen Ping’an had departed.

It had to be said that he was a little different from the academics from schools and ones that the old sword immortal had encountered in the past.

Meanwhile, Chen Ping’an had already met up with Zuo You.

“I see you’ve already made a breakthrough,” Zuo You remarked.

“That’s right. I am now a fifth tier Qi refiner,” Chen Ping’an confirmed with a nod.

“Make sure you don’t slack off in your studies and mental cultivation,” Zuo You cautioned.

Zuo You was probably the only senior brother under the heavens who was concerned that their junior brother was making breakthroughs too quickly, rather than worried that their junior brother’s cultivation base was too low.

“With you keeping a constant eye on me, I wouldn’t dare to slack off even if I wanted to,” Chen Ping’an said in a resigned manner.

“Why didn’t you say that you couldn’t die to my sword qi a few more times even if you wanted to?” Zuo You sneered.

Chen Ping’an immediately knew that he was in for a lot of suffering.

***

Osmanthus Girl Jin Su on the Osmanthus Island was actually Lady Gui’s only direct disciple, and her cultivation base remained the same as it had been ten years ago. This was no surprise, given that bottlenecks were difficult to overcome. Hence, upon the Osmanthus Island’s arrival at Stalactite Mountain, Lady Gui encouraged her to go and explore Stalactite Mountain to take her mind off things. In close proximity to both the mountain and the sea, Stalactite Mountain was an exceptional place to see and visit.

Lady Gui had even given Jin Su an allowance of one grain rain coin as spending money, jokingly remarking to her disciple that if she encountered the same beloved items that had been on her mind for close to the past twenty years, then she shouldn’t hesitate to purchase them this time. This gave Jin Su a massive fright, and she tried to refuse, but Lady Gui brushed her off with a dismissive wave. At the same time, she told Jin Su that this was the first time both Mr. Qi and his disciple were visiting Stalactite Mountain, so she should help them out wherever she could.

Jin Su didn’t think much about it.

Neither Qi Jinglong nor Bai Shou had revealed their sect of origin, so Jin Su merely treated them as if they were a traveling Confucian scholar and his scholarly attendant. The Northern Complete Reed Continent was renowned for its abundance of swordsmen, yet neither of them was carrying swords.

They had traveled to Stalactite Mountain on Osmanthus Island on this occasion because they were apparently friends of Chen Ping’an’s, and they were staying in the Guimai courtyard, which was under Chen Ping’an’s name. Jin Su hadn’t had many interactions with Qi Jinglong and Bai Shou. Occasionally, she would visit their courtyard with Lady Gui to have some tea.

All Jin Su knew was that Qi Jinglong came from the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and that he had traveled southward on the Flax Robe Sect’s immortal ship. Along the way, he made a stop in the Dragon Spring Prefecture, then went straight to Old Dragon City from there. It just so happened that the Osmanthus Island was traveling to Stalactite Mountain, so he moved into the vacant Guimai courtyard.

Lady Gui never revealed Qi Jinglong’s cultivation base, and Jin Su didn’t ask, merely regarding Qi Jinglong as an ordinary passenger on their ship, the type that she would never meet again.

His background, his cultivation base, his personality… What did any of that have to do with her?

However, Jin Su didn’t dare to ignore her mistress’s orders. On this occasion, Osmanthus Island was once again harbored near the Catch and Release Pavilion, and she began introducing the origins of the pavilion to Qi Jinglong. His disciple, Bai Shou, immediately lost interest in the pavilion upon seeing the plaque personally inscribed by the Daoist second disciple. In contrast, Qi Jinglong insisted on paying the pavilion a visit.

Jin Su didn’t care either way, but Bai Shou was feeling really disgruntled at having to wait for Qi Jinglong as he slowly squeezed through the crowd, then stood within the crowded Catch and Release Pavilion for quite some time. Among the eight most prominent attractions of Stalactite Mountain, the Catch and Release Pavilion was the least interesting one, yet even upon his departure, Qi Jinglong took some time to stare up at the plaque, as if he could really see something special about it.

All the while, Jin Su had been watching with disdain, feeling as if Qi Jinglong were being too pretentious and putting on an act to make himself appear more cultured and sophisticated.

Thankfully, Jin Su perpetually had a rather cold expression to begin with, so her disdain wasn’t displayed through her face.

Furthermore, several other osmanthus girls she was quite close with stood next to her, and they would be traveling together for the next three days. The thought of that, combined with the grain rain coin that she had carefully tucked away, brought a hint of a smile to her face.

In her eyes, Bai Shou wasn’t much better than Qi Jinglong. He was constantly complaining and whinging, going on and on about how “Liu” Jinglong was delaying his trip to the Lightning Lake Platform. He didn’t refer to Qi Jinglong respectfully as Master or Mr. Qi, instead seemingly adamant that his master had the Liu surname instead, something that Jin Su felt rather strange, but she didn’t care to ask questions.

What Jin Su felt to be even stranger was that Qi Jinglong was willing to bring such a rude and uncouth disciple with him on his journey.