Unsheathed

Chapter 642 (1): Cui Dongshan’s Piece of Blank Paper

After Zhu Lian arrived at the pastry shop, he complained that the shop hadn’t used its stove for a long time, making it nothing more than a decoration. Thus, he told Pei Qian to purchase some ingredients, saying that he was going to cook a meal to bring a bit of liveliness to the shop.

Pei Qian was unwilling to move, feeling worried about Big Sister Xiuxiu who had gone to the Fine Wine River. She wanted to wait until Big Sister Xiuxiu returned first. In any case, the Burclover shop next door used its stove every day, so they could simply head over for some free food and drink. Little Sister Jiu’er was a fairly good cook, in any case, and the entire Dragon Riding Alley could smell the aromatic fragrance of her dishes.

Zhu Lian didn’t agree to Pei Qian’s suggestion, saying that each shop had its own feng shui and human atmosphere. It wouldn’t be difficult to get free food and drink from next door, but the human atmosphere couldn’t be brought back.

But where did human atmosphere come from? It came from none other than human inhabitants, with food being cooked, blankets being aired under the sun, and ideally, the sound of books being recited. Just the clicking and clacking of an abacus being worked was nowhere near enough. Monetary fortune was difficult to retain to begin with, and it was necessary to rely on human atmosphere to better retain monetary fortune.

Pei Qian was out of excuses. The old cook had the most rules and many peculiar habits, and Pei Qian was never able to beat him in an argument. That being the case, she could only take Right Guardian Mili with her, planning to visit the shops nearby to buy some meat and vegetables.

Shi Rou felt guilty and afraid, convinced that Zhu Lian was warning her and showing contempt for her awkward state, where she was neither a human nor a ghost. Moreover, not only had she failed to make good money for Downtrodden Mountain, but she was even ruining the feng shui of this shop.

With this in mind, Shi Rou secretly grabbed some personal money and stuffed it into Pei Qian’s hand. The young girl said this wouldn’t do, and it was more appropriate to record this expenditure in the shop’s account. Before Shi Rou could take the pouch of money back, however, Pei Qian had already stuffed the copper coins into her sleeve and stomped her foot, grumbling that Big Sister Shi Rou was treating them like outsiders and that this wouldn’t do in the future. Afterward, she and Zhou Mili whooped in joy as they dashed away, disappearing in an instant.

The small town had now become the county city of Locust Yellow County, with many shops appearing in the streets and alleys. Several shops started to sell antiques, with most of their wares being products that the Cloth Wrapper Shop viewed as inferior. However, selling just a single one of these antiques could net them several immortal coins, enough to buy a residence in the new prefectural city.

In reality, Dragon Riding Alley’s Burclover shop was quite famous now, with the items in the shop at least being real even though they were expensive. Because of this, few people purchased the items on display, but many people visited to take a look.

An endless stream of scholars from the Great Li Empire liked to travel here, visiting the old mountain of porcelain, the scholarly temple, the martial sage temple, the many immortal forces in the west, Cloud Drape Mountain, Forest Deer Academy, and so on.

Meanwhile, the cultivators who arrived at Ox Horn Mountain’s ferry station would often travel along a different route from the scholars, visiting the peach trees of Peach Leaf Alley, the Iron Lock Well near Apricot Blossom Alley, the pastry shop that sold desserts and candied fruit in Dragon Riding Alley, the Burclover shop that seemingly sold miscellaneous items that actually had slight ties to immortal qi, the new private school established by the Dragon Tail Creek Chen Clan, and so on. These were places that outsiders needed to visit if they ever traveled to the small town.

People came and went, resulting in bustling scenes in the small town.

Zhu Lian made his way to the kitchen, only to find that the water vat was empty. Seeing this, he grabbed a shoulder pole and carried two water buckets. He wouldn’t be able to draw water from the Iron Lock Well, which had already been fenced off and turned into a restricted area. However, the imperial court of the Great Li Empire had opened several new wells in the small town, lest the most basic necessity of water become a challenge for the residents of the small town.

Even so, many elderly residents incessantly complained about the taste being off, with the water from the new wells nowhere near as sweet and refreshing as the water from the Iron Lock Well. They still needed to drink water to survive, of course, but this didn’t stop them from grumbling and complaining all the time.

This was similar to how the old locust tree had been chopped down, removing the cool shade it had once provided. The elderly residents felt extremely sad about this, but weren’t their grandchildren — wearing open crotch pants and with trails of snot hanging from their noses — still as happy and carefree as always?

Everyone else had left the pastry shop, and Shi Rou wasn’t accustomed to this feeling as she sat behind the counter by herself. She thought about what meat and vegetables Pei Qian might bring back, and she imagined what it would look like when Zhu Lian put on his apron and started to cook in a moment. She felt an urge to chuckle, and she glanced at the evening glow outside, which also appeared like it was slowly walking home over the horizon after busily working for an entire day. It was time for it to knock off and rest.

The Burclover shop next door was also owned by Downtrodden Mountain, and compared to the thick and complicated account book of the pastry shop, the Burclover shop was actually performing much, much better. Selling just a single item could bring the Burclover shop’s profits equal to several years of profits of the pastry shop.

Jia Cheng, the blind old Daoist priest, didn’t like to manage the Burclover shop too much now, given that he had reached a bottleneck in his cultivation. Thus, he handed the shop to his two disciples to look after. There was Zhao Denggao, the lame young man who was serious and unsmiling, and Tian Jiu’er, the well-behaved and clever young girl.

Old Daoist Priest Jia would often spend the large majority of the year cultivating at Yellow Lake Mountain, the newest subsidiary mountain of Downtrodden Mountain.

He wouldn’t concern himself with worldly matters; something extremely typical of cultivators.

Mortals spent half their life in bed, while Qi refiners spent more than half their life sitting in silence and cultivating, distancing themselves from the clamor and emotions of the mortal world. Traveling outside the mountains to train was simply a process of using other people’s hearts to temper one’s own Dao Heart.

According to what Zhu Lian had told Pei Qian in a casual conversation before, cultivating exclusively in the mountains was nothing more than sitting still and using the human heart to examine the heavenly heart. It was possible to attain success, but it would be incredibly difficult to attain great success. Thus, there was the notion of extreme stillness begetting movement, where cultivators would voluntarily venture into the mortal world.

So, judging from Zhu Lian’s explanations, how were the dispositions of those immortals in the mountains who were far removed from the mortal world, sitting above the clouds and more accustomed to the sounds of the mountain breeze and rustling pine trees? They would only be so-so.

After cultivating in the mountains for several hundred years, they wouldn’t necessarily have experienced more than mortals outside the mountains who only lived for a measly few decades. The journey of one’s heart and mind could only be progressed by interacting more with other people. However, there were ultimately fewer people in the mountains.

Shi Rou felt like Zhu Lian’s words were very unreasonable. Thinking about them carefully, however, they indeed appeared to be slightly reasonable.

As for the young mountain master of Downtrodden Mountain, he was quite unique as well. He never had any ”free time,” so he never managed his mountains and pushed the responsibilities onto everyone else. Indeed, he spent far more of his time traveling outside than cultivating or enjoying life in his own mountains.

It was said that Chen Lingjun had played a huge role in transforming Yellow Lake Mountain, a large mountain with immaculate water fortune, into a subsidiary mountain of Downtrodden Mountain. Downtrodden Mountain had handed over the money, and Yellow Lake Mountain had handed over the land contract, with this transaction recorded by the governor’s manor of Dragon Province, the Ministry of Rites, as well as the Ministry of Revenue.

And just like that, Yellow Lake Mountain quietly became a property under the name of the young mountain master. Old Daoist Priest Jia always dreamed of owning such a large mountain, and Shi Rou wasn’t especially close with this blind old Daoist priest. She always felt like he was too basic and worldly.

The feng shui of Yellow Lake Mountain wasn’t simple, so was this a mountain that Jia Cheng could covet?

Old Daoist Priest Jia was like two completely different people before and after becoming a guest elder of Downtrodden Mountain. Before becoming a guest elder, he was extremely polite to Shi Rou, always visiting her shop and insisting on sitting there for a long time, even when they had nothing to talk about. He would use all kinds of methods to butter her up, something that gave Shi Rou a headache.

After Jia Cheng and his two disciples all became guest elders, however, the old Daoist priest never visited the pastry shop again. Shi Rou didn’t know whether he was putting on airs or trying to get her to voluntarily visit the Burclover shop instead, where she would then praise him. In any case, Shi Rou refused to do this.

She had always been frightened and wary back then, preventing her from thinking too deeply about things. After unknowingly enjoying so many years of peace and calm, however, Shi Rou finally noticed many things.

Chen Ping’an, the young mountain master, was stupidly brilliant with regard to how he purchased mountains. He always made huge profits on his transactions, and he did so subtly, without drawing outsiders’ attention. He had come from an impoverished background in Clay Vase Alley, and he hadn’t attended a single day of school either. After striking it rich, however, he surprisingly never thought about flaunting his wealth. This was truly very rare.

At the same time, it would be categorically wrong to regard the young mountain master as stingy. After all, he was very generous toward Shi Rou as well, someone who hadn’t made any great contributions to speak of.

Chen Ping’an had purchased many mountains for extremely low prices, and not only that, but Yellow Lake Mountain had come with many completed immortal abodes as well. All of them were now managed by the ancestral hall of Downtrodden Mountain.

Cinnabar Mountain was similar to Yellow Lake Mountain in this regard, while Ox Horn Mountain had come with not just a large ferry station, but even the Cloth Wrapper Shop and other immortal shops, which had cost exorbitant amounts of immortal coins to establish. And now, all of them belonged to the pockets of Downtrodden Mountain.

Zhu Lian returned with two buckets of water, and Pei Qian and Zhou Mili returned shortly after him, each with a bamboo basket in their hands.

Zhou Mili helped to get the fire going, puffing her cheeks as she worked the blowpoke. Pei Qian prepared the vegetables, not forgetting to tease Little Mili and telling her to take it easy, lest she accidentally blow the entire stove away. Little Mili laughed in response, yet this caused her to suck up a mouthful of soot and ashes.

Pei Qian clutched her belly and roared with laughter, while Zhou Mili also laughed loudly, announcing that she was almost full. Old Cook Zhu Lian put on his apron and used the well water to clean the chopping board, preparing to use his already sharpened knife to display his cooking prowess.

Shi Rou wasn’t able to help even if she wanted to. She appeared slightly extra as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen, but it wouldn’t be good for her to just walk away like that either. Thus, she simply stood there like a frozen door god.

In reality, Shi Rou didn’t feel embarrassed or annoyed about this, especially since she had already grown accustomed to it. She looked at the bustling kitchen, and the atmosphere felt festive even though the New Year was yet to arrive.

Zhu Lian’s movements were fluid and soothing to watch as he cut the vegetables.

Pei Qian stood beside him and praised, ”Such brilliant knife skills. Why don’t you use knives against your opponents, Old Cook?”

Zhu Lian didn’t look up as he replied with a smile, ”Cooking knives? If I had to carry a weapon, wouldn’t soaring through the sky on a sword look better?”

”You know, I find this part about you very strange, Old Cook. You definitely wouldn’t have been very handsome during your youth either, so how are you so knowledgeable about romantic matters?” Pei Qian asked in exasperation.

”I wasn’t handsome, so I naturally needed to study these things more,” Zhu Lian replied. ”Otherwise, wouldn’t I have struggled even more to find a wife?”

”Then did you find a wife or not?” Pei Qian asked. ”There were far too many generations between us in that blessed land, and you weren’t exactly famous either, so I didn’t hear much about your feats in the martial world.”

”Didn’t you hear about the golden ball jujube paste cakes in the capital of the Southern Garden Nation?” Zhu Lian replied casually.

Pei Qian immediately shot a glare at him and said in a quiet voice, ”There are ears against the wall! And you still call yourself an experienced member of the martial world? This is so careless of you! I already felt immeasurable regret after mentioning the capital of some nation just then, and you already made a mistake by not correcting me. Yet, you’re mentioning it again now?” ℯ

Zhu Lian nodded and replied with a smile, ”Yes, you make a good point. I’ll definitely be careful in the future.”

”I wonder if Mr. Zhong and Blockhead Cao dare to return this year?” Pei Qian asked.

Zhu Lian shook his head and replied, ”It will be difficult for them to return. Scholars traveling to the Southern Whirl Continent is the same concept as ladies visiting the shops at the foot of Stalactite Mountain’s Milu Cliff. They’ll wander around for a long time and look at everything.”

”Who’s going to write the spring couplets this year?” Pei Qian asked. ”There’s Master’s ancestral residence, Downtrodden Mountain, the ancestral hall on Sky Blue Peak, the bamboo building, the many residences, and all those other mountains. It seems like there are a whole heap of couplets to write.”

Zhu Lian smiled and replied, ”Brother Dafeng and I can help if it’s too much for you to manage.”

Pei Qian frowned and said, ”I can reluctantly agree to you helping, Old Cook, but can Zheng Dafeng’s calligraphy be appreciated by anyone? I’m afraid of his calligraphy being too good at warding away evil spirits, so much so that even spirits and ghosts will be too afraid to enter the buildings and mountains. It would be disastrous if our good fortune were scared away as well.”

”Brother Dafeng is actually brilliant on the inside. With the exception of Go, he’s very good at both calligraphy and scholarly studies,” Zhu Lian replied.

However, he suddenly continued, ”Forget about it. We won’t ask for Brother Dafeng’s help.”

Pei Qian chuckled in joy.

Zhou Mili was sitting on a small stool beside the stove, still holding the bamboo blow poke as confusion spread across her face. Sitting beside her and snacking on roasted seeds, Pei Qian explained in a quiet voice, ”Praising someone as brilliant on the inside is actually the same as calling them ugly.”

Zhou Mili glanced at the old cook before looking at Shi Rou and thinking about Zheng Dafeng’s appearance. She cracked a grin, thinking to herself that out of those at Downtrodden Mountain, only Mountain God Wei’s appearance lived up to the beautiful scenery of the mountain.

Zhu Lian asked Shi Rou to cook two side dishes.

Shi Rou wanted to refuse, but she didn’t dare to do so.

Zhu Lian adjusted his apron and sat on the door threshold at the kitchen entrance.

After finishing the roasted seeds, Pei Qian counted on her fingers and said, ”There’s Master, Mountain God Wei, Big White Goose, Guest Elder Zhou Fei, and many other people who are good-looking at Downtrodden Mountain.”

Zhou Mili covered her mouth with one hand and leaned in to Pei Qian’s ear, whispering, ”Immortal forces in the mountains can earn money through enchanted picture scrolls. He said before that it’s easiest to make money off those celestial maidens in the mountains.”

Pei Qian immediately twisted Zhou Mili’s ear and scolded, ”What are you talking about? Will Master earn money through these means?”

”No, definitely not!” Zhou Mili immediately replied.

Pei Qian let go and suggested with a grin, ”But we can ask Big White Goose, Mountain God Wei, and Zhou Fei to cash in on their good looks. Perhaps we can truly enjoy a large and continuous stream of income.”

Zhou Mili hurriedly made a gesture of flipping pages and transcribing texts.

Pei Qian nodded and said, ”Okay, I’ll record this merit of yours in my account book.”

Zhu Lian was quite amused by this, and he remarked, ”This is feasible, and we can discuss it in the next ancestral hall meeting.”

Pei Qian compressed her voice to a thread and said to the old cook, ”I saw an Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal called Mi Yu at the Sword Qi Great Wall, and his appearance is also okay. He’s just a bit stupid, and his heart is filled with mountains of flowers. He’s so fickle that it’s comical.

”After Mi Yu provoked us, he almost faced a sword strike from Uncle-Master before Master and the big white goose could even make a move. However, he can make up for his crimes, and he can come to Downtrodden Mountain and become the chief miscellaneous disciple of the outer sect. Along with the big white goose and the others, the four of them can return home after making enough money for Downtrodden Mountain.

Zhu Lian nodded and said, ”Downtrodden Mountain does need a sword immortal to deter others. Even a romantically fickle person will do.”

He then roared with laughter, not explaining the reason to Pei Qian or Little Mili.

Cui Dongshan was already at the Upper Five Tiers.

Brother Wei Bo was an Upper Five Tier mountain god of the Northern Mountain.

Guest Elder Zhou Fei, or Jiang Shangzhen to be more precise, was already at the Immortal Tier and was the sect leader of the Jade Tablet Sect.

If they added the Unpolished Jade Tier Sword Immortal Mi Yu to this mix...

The four of them were all shameless people, so they definitely wouldn’t feel embarrassed about earning immortal coins by live-streaming through enchanted picture scrolls.