Martial Cultivator

It was unknown how long had passed.

Aunt Gan finally stopped swinging the saber.

This woman’s hands were a bloody mess, turns out she had not been gripping the hilt at all earlier, but had been holding the blade itself and stabbing down again and again.

At this moment, she let go of her hands, but did not feel the pain in them. Instead, she slumped to the side and once again began to cry in grief.

Chen Chao glanced at her, walked over, and picked up Cloud Mud. Cloud Mud had been forged by the best swordsmith on Sword Qi Mountain, and the materials used were also extraordinary. Fresh blood simply could not cling to the blade, and kept flowing along the edge until it fell from the tip.

Chen Chao sheathed the saber and hung it back at his waist.

Xie Nandu walked over from a distance, looked at the three corpses on the ground, and said softly, “In the end, it still came down to killing.”

Chen Chao said calmly, “Some people, there’s just no choice but to kill. Leaving them alive disgusts me. But the outcome is still acceptable.”

Xie Nandu said, “You need to put more thought into things here. After killing people, you have to bestow favors. Don’t just keep killing, if in the end they see you as a monster or calamity, it won’t win you favor.”

Chen Chao nodded his head.

But Xie Nandu just looked at his eyes and said nothing.

Only then did Chen Chao put on a serious expression, “Once I return to the Divine Capital, I’ll give proper thought to how things should be done, and draw up a set of regulations to send to the Northern Frontier for you to look over. Will that do?”

Only then did Xie Nandu nod in satisfaction.

Chen Chao rubbed his head.

At that moment, Aunt Gan finally stopped crying. She knelt toward Chen Chao and kept kowtowing. “Many thanks to Lord Warden Commander Chen, this humble woman has no way to repay you...”

She broke down halfway through speaking, choking up so badly she could not continue.

Chen Chao helped this woman he had met by chance to her feet, and gently consoled her, “Just think of it as your husband borrowing my hand to take revenge, how about that? After all, I do look quite a bit like him.”

Aunt Gan burst into tears, laughing.

Chen Chao said, “If you’ve laughed, then you can’t cry anymore.”

Aunt Gan glanced at Chen Chao, wiped away her tears, and said somewhat resentfully, “Lord Warden Commander, you really aren’t very good at comforting people.”

Chen Chao looked a bit embarrassed. Most of his life, when it came to killing people or slaying demons, he was well-versed, but comforting women? One could not say he knew nothing, but at best, he knew half of nothing.

But Aunt Gan’s next sentence made Chen Chao even more embarrassed.

She looked at Xie Nandu with pity and said, “Poor you.”

Xie Nandu just smiled and said nothing.

A woman like her, how could she possibly need someone to comfort her?

“Aunt Gan, what are your plans going forward?”

Xie Nandu looked at this pitiful woman and took the initiative to speak.

Aunt Gan looked at Xie Nandu and replied with understanding, “I won’t do anything foolish. I’ve lived on alone for so many years, and now that my great vengeance has been taken, what reason is there to insist on dying?”

Chen Chao nodded. It was naturally for the best that she could think this way.

He hesitated for a moment and said, “There are some matters in the north later on, and I may still need to trouble Aunt Gan.”

Aunt Gan teased, “I really misjudged before, who would have thought you were such a big shot? But for someone as important as Lord Warden Commander, what use could you possibly have for an old lady like me?”

Chen Chao gave a bitter laugh. These three great itinerant sects in the north had fallen, but the itinerant cultivators in the north could not be left as a scattered mob. At the very least, one sect had to be supported to nominally unite these itinerant cultivators. Otherwise, it would be truly difficult to manage them going forward.

Chen Chao did not keep it to himself and instead plainly laid out what he was thinking, ”In the future, if Blue Moon Mountain can become the number one great itinerant sect in the north, the imperial court won’t interfere too much in Blue Moon Mountain’s affairs. It only needs Blue Moon Mountain to keep these itinerant cultivators under control, nothing more. The court can make the decision to give Blue Moon Mountain the resources that belonged to one of the three sects.”

Chen Chao added, “For this matter, I call the shots.”

Aunt Gan clicked her tongue and said, “Lord Warden Commander, you’re truly impressive.”

Chen Chao smiled without saying anything.

“But how can you so easily trust that our Blue Moon Mountain and aren’t cut from the same cloth with the likes of their Tri-Pure Mountain?”

Aunt Gan looked at Chen Chao before her, eyes full of doubt. Even a woman like her knew one must not trust others too easily. she did not believe that this young man, who had already become the number one military official of the dynasty, did not understand this principle.

Chen Chao smiled and said, “I understand the principle, but there are some people, when you meet them for the first time, you can already tell whether they’re worth trusting. As for what Blue Moon Mountain is really like, I don’t know, but with Aunt Gan there, I’m willing to take the gamble.”

Aunt Gan covered her chest and said softly, “Lord Warden Commander, these words of yours have truly moved my heart.”

Chen Chao said seriously, “Aunt Gan, don’t tease.”

The corner of his eye glanced toward Xie Nandu, and he let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, this woman did not angry.

“So turns out you’re someone afraid of your wife.”

Aunt Gan became serious and said, “I can’t make the decision on this matter. After all, I don’t have the final say with regards to Blue Moon Mountain. But I can pass on the message to the Mountain Lord and have him give you a reply later, how about that?”

Chen Chao nodded his head.

Though those were the words she said, Chen Chao actually understood that with Aunt Gan saying this, the matter was already more than halfway settled. He believed that the Mountain Lord of Blue Moon Mountain would not reject this matter. After all, the imperial court did not intend to support a puppet. Chen Chao did not want to do such a thing and had no interest in doing so either.

The actions of Great Liang over these years were never about becoming the de facto greatest sect in the world and then using that to oppress others, but rather to become strong enough that no foreign cultivators would dare bully the people of Great Liang.

And to stand side by side with like-minded people.

Only with like-minded allies can one go farther.

......

......

Leaving the Straw Sandal Market, Aunt Gan brought her disciples to bid farewell to Chen Chao. Now that these female cultivators from Blue Moon Mountain knew Chen Chao’s identity, for some reason, the more they looked at Chen Chao, the more pleasing to the eye he seemed. It was as if this man before them had somehow become much more handsome.

Afterward, Aunt Gan said her goodbyes to Chen Chao, but before that, she pulled him aside to say a few heartfelt words. It was roughly some principles about how men and women should get along.

Although Chen Chao had already heard many of these principles from his aunt and elder sister, he still patiently listened without interrupting.

After chattering for quite a while, Aunt Gan finally said solemnly, “Don’t stop cherishing a woman just because you’ve obtained her. If you need to admit fault, do it in time. A man can keep his pride outside, but with his own wife, what’s the point of being so stubborn?”

Chen Chao gave a bitter smile and said, “What if it really wasn’t my fault?”

Aunt Gan replied softly, “Then admit fault first anyway, keep the person by your side, and talk things through later. Don’t let pride push away the one who was meant to walk this life with you.”

Chen Chao nodded and said, “Understood.”

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