Unsheathed

Cheng Quan felt like this young man was far more interesting than Zhao Geyi.

Thus, the elderly Nascent Tier sword cultivator surprisingly shuffled over to sit beside Chen Ping’an, asking, ”I’ve heard that there are many wonderful mountains and peculiar rivers in the Majestic World, making a feast for the eyes and ears?”

Chen Ping’an didn’t so much as turn around, instead gazing straight ahead as he replied with a smile, ”It isn’t all that special. People still grow tired of these mountains and rivers after looking at them for a long time, especially if they have to climb them and traverse them. Their vision will always be blocked, so it’s difficult for their minds to become transcendent and free.

”After residing in the mountains for a long time, cultivators in the Majestic World will also seek movement after extended periods of stillness. They’ll journey through the mortal world beyond the mountains and waters. However, it’s quite pointless to leave the mountains for the sake of re-entering the mountains.”

Cheng Quan started to regret shuffling over to sit beside Chen Ping’an. The young man’s words had been quite intriguing before, but he was beginning to sound very superficial now. This was truly very uninteresting.

Chen Ping’an retrieved a copy of the Seal Manual of the Two Hundred Sword Immortals from his Dao robe before turning around and handing it to Cheng Quan with a wide grin. ”Senior Cheng, take a look and see if there’s any seal you’re interested in. Business is booming, and almost all of them are sold out. However, if you ask for a particular seal, I can even offer a discount on top of carving a new one. Even if you aren’t interested in any of the seals, you can resell them afterward and make enough money to purchase one or two pots of wine. It’s a win-win situation.”

Cheng Quan accepted the Seal Manual of the Two Hundred Sword Immortals and casually flipped to a random page. He clicked his tongue in wonder and remarked, ”Beyond the business aspect, it appears on the surface like someone’s eye has been caught when they choose a certain seal, but in reality, it’s actually a feeling of attraction in their heart. In other words, you’re not only making money, but you’re also able to take a peek at people’s hearts for no extra cost. What impressive business sense, Second Shopkeeper.

”After taking a peek at people’s hearts, is it better for you to push the door of their hearts open, or is it better for you to knock first? I say that neither option is good.”

Chen Ping’an rocked his folding fan and replied with an aggrieved expression, ”Senior Cheng, don’t speak nonsense and bully a junior just because your sword techniques are mystical and you’re able to stand out among the many sword immortals. In any case, you are drinking, reading, and unleashing attacks at the same time now. To flip through the book with sword qi, and to kill demons as a side dish to accompany your wine... Senior Cheng, you truly possess the elegant demeanor of eminent scholars.”

Cheng Quan’s sword strikes didn’t falter at all even though he was casually flipping through the seal manual. Meanwhile, Chen Ping’an’s flying swords also remained as quick and deadly as always even though he was rekindling his hustle as a wandering merchant.

Cheng Quan paused briefly when he saw the side inscription of a certain seal, and he was just about to purposely flip to another page when he discovered something out of the corner of his eye. As it turned out, that shameless little bastard was staring straight at him. Chen Ping’an smiled knowingly, seemingly saying that he understood without actually saying this out loud. As such, Senior Cheng didn’t need to feel embarrassed at all.

Seeing this, Cheng Quan also stopped trying to conceal his interest. He reached down to caress those characters, especially the characters ”beautiful lady” at the end. The old sword cultivator couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

”Wearing a tattered hat and old clothes, I ride a lame donkey through the familiar green mountains and blue waters. Above me are the glowing clouds of dawn, the iridescent clouds of dusk, and the starry night sky; in front of me are the flickering lamps, potted flowers, and a beautiful lady.”

He and Zhao Geyi had competed with each other for so long, yet they were still unclear about who she actually liked. She had simply said that she would like whichever one of them advanced to the Immortal Tier first.

Cheng Quan’s cultivation base had been higher at the time, and his aptitude was also better than that of Zhao Geyi. Because of this, Cheng Quan had claimed that she definitely liked him instead of Zhao Geyi.

However, Zhao Geyi always argued that she had been going to great pains to motivate his Dao Heart.

They both had their own views, and they had been arguing over this for countless years.

Once upon a time, there had been a breathtakingly elegant female sword immortal called Song Yuncai at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

She had come from the same impoverished alley as Cheng Quan and Zhao Geyi, and all three of them had eventually become Upper Five Tier sword cultivators and fought alongside each other for many years. During this time, the impoverished alley that had produced three sword immortals at once became so famous that even Stalactite Mountain, the distant Rain Dragon Sect, and the even more distant Southern Whirl Continent had all heard about the matter.

Cheng Quan returned the Seal Manual of the Two Hundred Sword Immortals to Chen Ping’an and said casually, ”Don’t become too involved in mortal practices when you become a sword cultivator in the future.”

Chen Ping’an put away the seal manual. Both of his sales today had fallen through, and he had even sacrificed two pots of immortal wine in the process. However, since Cheng Quan had mentioned him becoming a sword cultivator, and keeping in mind the notion of the third being the charm, this was a good omen. Thus, Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, ”Thank you for your well wishes, Senior. I’ll consider this after I become a sword cultivator.”

The two of them fell silent and continued to launch sword strikes.

Qi Shou felt slightly envious of the second shopkeeper. He was truly able to strike up a conversation with anyone.

Two hours later, Cheng Quan suddenly said, ”Disregarding your fist techniques and immortal treasures and whatnot, I’d say that you have quite the quick wit, young lad.”

”This is one of the most fundamental skills. If I ask you to carve the seal from just then, keeping the side inscription but changing the main inscription, what will you choose to write for the main inscription? If you ask me, there’s a mess of characters on the Seal Manual of the Two Hundred Sword Immortals and those folding fans, and those who have read some books can all plagiarize or take so-called inspiration like this. It can’t be regarded as a genuine ability. A disciple of the Scholarly Sage should be much more knowledgeable than this.”

It was Cheng Quan’s turn to have his eyes opened this time, and he was astonished to see Chen Ping’an directly retrieve a blank seal and say with a smile, ”Please look after my battlefield for a moment. Of course, the military merit will still count towards me.”

Things would be extremely safe with Cheng Quan helping to defend his battlefield.

Chen Ping’an boldly stopped focusing on the battle, retrieving his four flying swords and having three of them enter his Sword Nurturing Gourd to rest for a brief moment. Meanwhile, he used Fifteenth as a carving knife on the blank seal. However, he not only changed the main inscription but also the side inscription.

After he handed the seal to Cheng Quan, the old sword cultivator held it up and nodded expressionlessly, saying, ”It’s okay.”

Cheng Quan placed the brand-new seal, which he seemingly found okay but wasn’t genuinely fond of, inside his sleeve.

An old friend and a beautiful lady, generous and full of extraordinary virtues.

A mountain peak in the youth’s heart, suddenly stolen away by the clouds.

The main inscription read: A moment of carelessness.

Chen Ping’an was in no hurry to summon his flying swords and rejoin the battlefield, and he continued to have Cheng Quan help him sweep the battlefield as he murmured to himself, ”A great beauty in my heart, not afraid of being seen by others.”

Chen Ping’an used the jade bamboo folding fan that his disciple, Cui Dongshan, had given him to create a cool breeze for himself and Senior Cheng. He then chuckled and continued, ”Senior, not only is this custom seal for you made from top-quality material, but each character engraved on the seal was also done so with utmost care.

”The original price isn’t high at one grain rain coin, and I can offer a discount of twenty percent since you are a sword immortal. Now that you’ve helped me kill enemies on the battlefield, I can improve the discount further to fifty percent. In other words, this custom seal will only cost you five lesser heat coins!”

Chen Ping’an lowered his voice and continued, ”If it were me, what kind of discount would I ask for? I would directly pay the original price of one grain rain coin.”

Cheng Quan completely ignored the young man, and he appeared slightly adrift as the look of vicissitude on his face was gradually replaced with a faint smile.

”She was the most beautiful woman at the Sword Qi Great Wall back then. She was very attractive,” he murmured to himself.

After saying this, he turned to Chen Ping’an and said in a serious voice, ”She was even more outstanding than Ning Yao.”

Unexpectedly, the young scholar’s temper flipped even quicker than the pages of a book.

”Bull-fucking-shit!” Chen Ping’an loudly spat in anger.

Cheng Quan wasn’t offended by this, but rather, his mood was greatly improved. This was a very familiar situation, and he wasn’t afraid of it at all. However, he was drinking the young man’s wine and taking the young man’s seal, so it ultimately wouldn’t be good for him to reply with a curse of his own. With this in mind, he smiled and remarked, ”Why are you suddenly cursing?”

”Suppress your cultivation base to the third tier and see whether I continue to curse you or not,” Chen Ping’an retorted.

”Second Shopkeeper, I won’t hold back if you continue to push me,” Cheng Quan smiled faintly and said in warning.

Qi Shou felt slightly exasperated.

Only two people were arguing, but the old sword cultivator and the young man were causing such a ruckus that it appeared like two hundred people were engaged in a free-for-all fight.

Thankfully, this didn’t affect their performance on the battlefield.

This was only normal. One was an old sword cultivator with many years of experience on the battlefield, and the other was the second shopkeeper who would haggle over every copper coin.

The only thing that surprised Qi Shou was their impressive ability to curse and argue.

By the looks of it, Chen Ping’an was enjoying the upper hand, as he was using the local dialect from his hometown or the official dialects of some other continents as he cursed.

Cheng Quan wasn’t able to understand these dialects, so he needed to guess what Chen Ping’an was even saying. There would sometimes be a look of sympathy in Chen Ping’an’s eyes as he used these other dialects to praise and scold Cheng Quan, and he would occasionally repeat what he said using the local dialect of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Cheng Quan wanted to retort to the young man, but he needed to guess which of his praises and curses were sincere or sarcastic. This put him in a tough spot, and much of his experience gained from arguing with Zhao Geyi over the years was rendered ineffective.

Things were as lively as could be.

Fan Dache felt numb and apprehensive when he walked over to deliver wine to Chen Ping’an.

In fact, he only visited once before not daring to visit again, instead asking Dong Huafu to deliver the wine since he was taking a short rest from battle. Dong Huafu quite enjoyed this commotion, and he sat to the side with his ear pricked up, allowing him to both nurture his sword and enjoy a lively show at the same time. He felt like he was able to learn many new things. In any case, Dong Huafu’s ability to add fuel to the fire and fan the flames was uniquely impressive and impossible to replicate.

Ten days later, the battle between the Savage World and the Sword Qi Great Wall continued to rage, but the battle between Cheng Quan and Chen Ping’an came to another temporary pause.

Truth be told, the person suffering the most was actually Qi Shou.

Chen Ping’an often used him as an example, talking about what Brother Qi had done or how he was so impressive. For example, Brother Qi was very young, and he had already become a Nascent Tier sword cultivator at the young age of thirty, so Old Man Cheng needed to hurry up and piss off further away from Brother Qi if he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

Moreover, so be it if Old Man Cheng’s cultivation base wasn’t very high, but it appeared like he only had two bonded flying swords as well? And how many bonded flying swords did Brother Qi have again? Most importantly, each of Brother Qi’s bonded flying swords was of exceptional quality and grade not seen in thousands of years. As such, how could Old Man Cheng compare to Brother Qi?

To say nothing of cursing Qi Shou, once Cheng Quan became lost in the moment, his temperament was such that he would even curse the ancestors of the entire Qi Clan.

Cheng Quan smiled and said, ”Little Brother Chen, I’m very confident of beating that feminine Zhao Geyi in our arguments after sparring with you over the past few days.”

Chen Ping’an rocked his folding fan and replied with a faint smile, ”Allow me to offer a fair assessment. I can take on the two of you alone.”

Cheng Quan shot a glare at the second shopkeeper and exclaimed, ”I’m giving you an inch, and you’re taking a mile, huh? Let’s go again?!”

Chen Ping’an seemingly fell silent, but he was actually compressing his voice to a thread and secretly saying something to Cheng Quan.

Cheng Quan appeared to be weighing up the benefits and drawbacks, and he eventually nodded and said to Qi Shou, ”Hey, crook-eyed brat from the Qi Clan, Grandpa Cheng can see that your aptitude is quite good, so how about I gift you a fated opportunity? What do you say?”

Qi Shou played deaf and mute.

Two stacks of talismans appeared in Cheng Quan’s hands as he walked over to Qi Shou.

Cheng Quan returned a short moment later, not to Chen Ping’an’s side, but to the section of the wall that Sword Immortal Xie Songhua and Liu Xianyang had been defending before.

Qi Shou picked out two talismans, a Guidance Talisman and a Bridge Crossing Talisman, and looked at them carefully. These talismans were higher grade than he had expected, and it was truly a waste to draw them on such poor-quality talisman paper. Qi Shou hesitated for a moment before finally saying to Chen Ping’an using his mind’s lake, ”Just what are you planning to do?”

Cheng Quan had said to Qi Shou that his bonded flying sword, Jumping Spider, had yet to be refined to a top-notch stage, so it was still lacking some might. Afterward, he had offered some teachings as a senior, making some statements that Qi Shou needed to carefully ruminate on.

These teachings pertained to the comprehensions of Cheng Quan and Zhao Geyi regarding sword techniques, and they weren’t necessarily one hundred percent compatible with Qi Shou’s sword techniques. However, to Nascent Tier cultivators who could very easily become stuck at the same cultivation base for a long time, even a sliver of inspiration regarding the Great Dao needed to be taken seriously.

Apart from this, Cheng Quan had also suggested that Qi Shou make a transaction with Chen Ping’an. He definitely wouldn’t be shortchanged, and if he was, he could ask Zhao Geyi for compensation.

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, ”Helping others is also helping myself.”

He then added, ”As for whether or not you want to give the Savage World a small surprise, that’s completely up to you. I never scam unwilling customers. Rather, business should be mutual and voluntary, with one happy to make money and one happy to spend money.”

Qi Shou fell deep into thought.

Cheng Quan’s proposal to him had been very simple but also quite complicated at the same time.

It was simple because Jumping Spider, which had the potential to become a celestial tool in the future, could transform into hundreds upon thousands of genuine flying swords, with the sword intent of each being as powerful as the original. And since it was great enough in number, why not add a little something else, similar to adding a mystical ability to a bonded flying sword?

Meanwhile, it was complicated because the process of so-called adding something to the bonded flying sword would be an incredibly cumbersome process. Someone needed to attach a talisman to each flying sword, ensuring that there was a good link between all of them. Each individual ”Jumping Spider” needed to create its own talisman formation, ultimately allowing all of them to link together and transform into a larger talisman formation.

Apart from this, Qi Shou was secretly worried about the cost being greater than the benefits. More precisely, he was worried about Chen Ping’an becoming too familiar with his flying sword during the process of attaching the talismans.

Compared to the pseudo-celestial tool, High Radiance, Jumping Spider was an even more fundamental aspect of Qi Shou’s Great Dao.

Whether he was fighting to the death with someone or killing enemies on the battlefield, just what kind of scenes would appear when Qi Shou was able to wield one thousand genuine Jumping Spiders?

And just how would his enemies feel?