Sword of Coming

Before Chen Ping’an knew it, the intercontinental ship had already arrived over the tall mountains and deep waters of the Yellow Court Nation.

Chen Ping’an walked to the bow of the ship to enjoy the scenery, and those steering the intercontinental ship were also very understanding, purposely reducing the altitude so that they sometimes came within touching distance of the tall mountain peaks or flew together with the birds.

The Yellow Court Nation was a territory that had once belonged to the Ancient Shu Nation, so many official immortals from the mountains would work together with the local forces to wantonly dig the rivers and change their paths, exposing the river banks and allowing them to search for the so-called Dragon Palace Mystical Realm. They would follow the clues in the various local chronicles and rumors, and they simply needed to pay some money to the local immortal forces and the imperial court of the Yellow Court Nation. Of course, vagrant cultivators frequently came here to test their luck and look for missed treasures as well.

Xuan Guzi, the blind old Daoist priest, had also thought about coming here to test his luck with his two disciples before. However, fortune was a mystical and intangible matter, and it would be extremely difficult to reap any rewards unless one were a wealthy cultivator who could get into contact with the correct people and spend a huge sum of money to cast a very wide net.

The intercontinental ship’s destination was the Palace of Eternal Spring located to the north of the Great Li Empire’s capital. The ship would pass the Dragon Spring Prefecture’s Ox Horn Mountain on the way, and Chen Ping’an planned to disembark there. According to the route that he had planned, he wanted to first visit the residence that had previously belonged to the female ghost in the wedding dress to check in on Gu Can’s father.

Chen Ping’an would then travel along the Embroidered Flower River and pass Red Candle Town, Go Table Mountain, and the Iron Talisman River. This was a familiar route, and Chen Ping’an would perform sitting meditation on his sword as he rapidly flew back to Downtrodden Mountain. Riding his horse would be too slow, and he would miss the intercontinental ship traveling to the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

The intercontinental ship couldn’t land anywhere it wanted for the sake of one customer, so Chen Ping’an had already communicated with those in charge of the ship, asking them to leave his horse at Ox Horn Mountain. Chen Ping’an also asked them to notify the workers at Ox Horn Mountain’s ferry station to send his horse back to Downtrodden Mountain.

A troubled expression appeared on the ship steward’s face. Flying over the territory of the Great Li Empire was already terrifying enough, after all, and he was afraid that some passenger might accidentally spit phlegm overboard and strike an immortal force of the empire. If that were to happen, the immortals of the Great Li Empire would directly use their immortal treasures to smash the intercontinental ship to smithereens, turning all of them into mincemeat.

Moreover, as the second-last stop of the intercontinental ship’s route, Ox Horn Mountain’s ferry station was specially guarded and managed by the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire. That being the case, they naturally didn’t have the courage to interact with those martial artists beyond loading and unloading cargo.

Hearing this, Chen Ping’an offered some further explanation, saying that he had a fairly good relationship with Ox Horn Mountain. His mountain was also a neighbor of the ferry station, so transporting a horse to Downtrodden Mountain wouldn’t cause any trouble.

There was an aggrieved look on the old steward’s face, and he neither accepted nor rejected Chen Ping’an’s request. Afterward, the Sea Observation Tier steward only agreed to help Chen Ping’an after the latter secretly gave him a few snowflake coins.

The true reason why the old steward changed his mind naturally wasn’t because he cared about a few snowflake coins. Rather, he didn’t dare to overly offend this young man from the Great Li Empire. Since the young man owned Downtrodden Mountain, it could be said that he was a powerful local figure. The old ancestor of the steward had used a huge amount of money and personal relationships to build this new route, and the steward was sure that he would see this young man much more in the future.

As such, taking a risk to help this young man could be viewed as an act of goodwill upon getting acquainted with each other. When managing business relationships, those that were long-lasting would often pertain to more seemingly trivial matters. After all, what if there arose a circumstance where one could make use of these relationships?

Thankfully, the young man was also an understanding person, and he immediately repaid the old steward after receiving his help, saying that the old steward could visit Downtrodden Mountain in his free time in the future when his intercontinental ship docked nearby. The young man introduced himself as Chen Ping’an, and he said that there would be both tea and wine at his place when the old steward visited.

It was only after hearing this that a sincere smile appeared on the old steward’s face. Regardless of whether the young swordsman was being perfunctory or not, his decision to say this was already better than nothing. When doing business, knowing someone’s name was often enough to get things done. There was no need to necessarily become friends with them, and other people would naturally have many more things to mull over when they heard some certain names.

A few days later, when the intercontinental ship had already entered the territory of the Great Li Empire, Chen Ping’an peered down at the mountains and waters of the Great Li Empire and notified the old steward that he was going to leave. He then summoned Sword Immortal, having it fly out of the scabbard on his back before he jumped overboard.

Standing on the golden thread, he drew a sharp arc through the sky as he rapidly descended to the ground.

The old steward smacked the railing with pure delight on his face. When he arrived at Ox Horn Mountain, he definitely needed to ask around to learn more about this seemingly impressive ”Chen Ping’an.” The young man had concealed his strength extremely well, surprisingly only bringing a horse with him as he traveled around the world beyond the mountains. This was very atypical, as which cultivator from the immortal forces in the mountains didn’t have some immortal mannerisms?

Chen Ping’an landed on the path that he was already very familiar with, and he no longer needed to use a Yang Energy Illumination Talisman to guide him forward this time. He directly arrived before a mountain face, but he didn’t use a Barrier-Shattering Talisman to forcefully ”kick down the door and barge into the residence,” and he instead lightly snapped his fingers as if he were knocking on a door.

Chen Ping’an had used the former method before, and the mountain god of the Embroidered Flower River who had a green snake coiled around his arm had coldly taunted Chen Ping’an afterward, using the laws of the Great Li Empire’s mountains to reprimand him and tell him never to do this again. Even though he had appeared haughty and domineering, it was indeed Chen Ping’an who had been in the wrong. Since this was the case, Chen Ping’an would continue to ”knock on the door” in the future, regardless of whether he became a genuine sword immortal or not.

Ripples appeared on the surface of the mountain face as the barrier suddenly opened up, allowing Chen Ping’an to enter. The scenery in front of him immediately opened up as well.

Chen Ping’an frowned as he slowly walked forward and looked around. Things here appeared much better than before, with the mountains and waters stable and the spiritual energy abundant. These were all positive changes, and it was most likely the case that Gu Can’s father, the new owner of this residence, had made good progress in repairing the mountain roots over the past three years.

This would be viewed as a tangible accomplishment among mountain gods and river gods, and the Ministry of Rites would be responsible for recording these meritorious actions on the merit register maintained by the Ministry of Personnel’s merit inspection official. However, Gu Can’s father didn’t come out to welcome him today, and this was quite abnormal in Chen Ping’an’s view.

During Chen Ping’an’s short return to Downtrodden Mountain back then, he had asked Wei Bo about this Chu Clan residence with a plaque reading ”Beautiful Water Noble Wind” in great detail. The old residence and the new owner both fell under Wei Bo’s jurisdiction and command, with him being the formal god of the Great Li Empire’s Northern Mountain, so he indeed knew about the ins and outs of the situation.

However, Wei Bo also said that the Ritual Office of the Great Li Empire’s Ministry of Rites would specially manage the secret threads personally woven by the imperial court. As such, even Wei Bo only had the right to know about the situation but no right to interfere. This old residence of the Chu Clan was one such thread.

In fact, it was only at the end of winter last year that the old residence had been classified as such, and it had essentially been plucked out from the jurisdiction of the Northern Mountain. When Chen Ping’an had signed a contract with the imperial court of the Great Li Empire on Cloud Drape Mountain back then, the Ministry of Rites’ assistant minister had mentioned this matter to Wei Bo and roughly explained the situation. However, this had been nothing more than some polite words to ease Wei Bo’s mind.

Wei Bo naturally had no complaints. He wasn’t stupid, and he understood that he didn’t necessarily have control over all areas simply because they fell under the Northern Mountain’s jurisdiction. After all, even the capital of the Great Li Empire technically fell under his jurisdiction, but could he truly barge into the capital to order people around?

Regarding the yin god of the Gu Clan, the explanation from the officials was that Gu Tao had largely lived in recluse over the past three years, working diligently to repair the fortune of the mountains and waters. He had worked extremely hard, and the imperial court was preparing to reward him and appoint him to a different role. It was also said that Wei Bo and Zhu Lian had made a bet regarding this appointment, with each writing their guess on a slip of paper and handing it to Chen Ruchu, the little girl in pink. The loser would treat the winner to some wine.

At the time, Wei Bo had asked Chen Ping’an to guess what role each of them had written down. Chen Ping’an obviously wasn’t good at guessing these things, and he had also been experiencing a huge headache back then thanks to the brutal beatings waiting for him on the second floor of the bamboo building. However, Chen Ping’an felt slight regret at this moment. If he had asked more about the situation back then, perhaps he would be more mentally prepared at this moment.

Wei Bo also mentioned that Gu Can’s mother had immediately gone to look for Gu Tao after returning to her ancestral residence in Clay Vase Alley, but even though she managed to enter the mountain, the husband and wife separated by yin and yang had seemingly failed to reunite with each other.

It was still the river god of the Embroidered Flower River wearing golden armor standing at the entrance of the residence and waiting for Chen Ping’an today.

Compared to the strong tension between them last time, however, the experienced formal god who was only slightly lower ranked than River Goddess Yang Hua of the Iron Talisman River appeared much more relaxed and friendly this time.

Chen Ping’an cupped his fists in respect and said, ”Greetings, Esteemed River God.”

The river god of the Embroidered Flower River nodded in acknowledgement before asking, ”Are you here to reminisce on the past with Owner Gu Tao, or are you here to exact revenge on Lady Chu?[1]”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, ”I’m here to look for Uncle Gu.”

Since the matters at Bamboo Scroll Lake had already concluded, there was no need for Chen Ping’an to dwell on them too much anymore. None of them were fools, and it was clear that this loyal river god had received secret instructions from Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan back then. Perhaps it was thanks to Chen Ping’an’s act with Uncle Gu at the time that the irresolvable conundrum had been turned into a slightly more forgiving conundrum. Chen Ping’an hadn’t hesitated in the least to change his plans and immediately travel to Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Otherwise, if his trip had been delayed by a month or so, Ruan Xiu and the group of sticky rod officials might have become engaged in an intense conflict with Cyan Gorge Island’s Gu Can, one that imperceptibly pertained to the Great Dao. If either of them had become injured or even died, then that would have been an unimaginable disaster for Chen Ping’an.

In other words, this river god who had failed to carry out the plan back then had perhaps been scolded by Cui Chan already.

The river god gently stroked the head of the green snake coiled around his arm, saying with a faint smile, ”Chen Ping’an, even though I’m still a little frustrated about being tricked and taken for a fool by the two of you back then, allowing you to secretly sneak off to Bamboo Scroll Lake and forcing me to waste my time here to look after that old servant of yours for so long, that was entirely as a result of your abilities. As such, you can rest assured that I won’t let these private grievances affect my decisions regarding official matters.”

Chen Ping’an nodded and said, ”I trust that you’re a person of your word since you were willing to appear here in front of me. We’ll be neighbors of sorts in the future, so we should interact with each other accordingly.”

There was a look of praise in the burly river god’s eyes. His words had been quite blunt and unpleasant, and the hidden meaning behind them had been as clear as could be. As a river god in a territory adjacent to Dragon Spring Prefecture, he had claimed that he wouldn’t let private grievances affect his decisions regarding official matters. However, what if there arose a private conflict between them in the future? At that time, they would naturally be settling their private grievances in a private manner. With this in mind, Chen Ping’an’s reply was extremely appropriate and dignified. He didn’t make any threats, nor did he purposely show any weaknesses.

The river god pointed backward and explained with a smile, ”Repairing the mountain roots is a long and arduous task, so it’s not the case that I’m purposely making things difficult for you and Gu Tao this time, preventing you from reminiscing on the past with each other. Rather, he’s genuinely unable to put down the tasks at hand right now. If you’re willing to, however, you can come inside to drink some wine with me instead of Gu Tao.

”In reality... I have some private words that I want to say to you regarding Lady Chu’s matters. There are many past events that are destined to be absent from the documents kept by the Ministry of Rites, but it won’t be a violation of the rules for me to say some harmless things after I become drunk. What do you say, Chen Ping’an? Are you willing to give me this face?”

Chen Ping’an nodded and replied with a smile, ”Trying to outdrink a river god is truly a very unwise decision. Even so, I’m willing to muster some courage to suffer this once.”

They walked side by side and entered the residence together.

1. This is a different Lady Chu from the one who’s with Han Yuanshan. ☜