Sword of Coming

In the darkness of the night, Chen Ping’an continued to flee deeper into the mountain at a breakneck pace. A short while later, he rushed into a bamboo forest where the soil was particularly soft and loamy, and from there, he began to intentionally make his footsteps heavier.

A few minutes later, right as he was about to leave the bamboo forest, he suddenly latched onto a bamboo tree on his left, then swung himself toward another bamboo tree nearby. As he swung from tree to tree, he appeared even more monkey-like than the old ape from Sun Scorch Mountain, and after repeating this process a few times, he finally drifted gently down onto the ground, then crouched down to wipe away the footprints on the ground.

He turned back to find that he was around 50 to 60 feet away from the first bamboo tree that he had swung from, and only after that did he continue running.

A few more minutes passed, and at this point, he could already hear the faint sound of flowing water in the creek up ahead. Not only did he not stop or slow down here, he leaped high up into the air instead, plunging into the creek before quickly rising to his feet. As it turned out, he had landed on a huge rock.

He was extremely familiar with this area, and he opened his eyes up as wide as they would go, using his exceptional eyesight and memory to skip from rock to rock in the creek, fleeing toward the downstream direction. If he could continue down this path, then he would eventually reach the Azure Cow Ridge, which was situated to the south of the town. After that was the covered bridge, and after going beyond that, he would reach Master Ruan’s forge.

However, he didn’t rush all the way to Azure Cow Ridge. Instead, he jumped out onto the shore to his right at a point where the creek had flowed out of the mountain and was sharply tapered to a narrow stream.

It didn’t take long before he heard a female voice call out to him. ”Over here, Chen Ping’an!”

Chen Ping’an immediately crouched down, panting heavily as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

”Can we really trick that old ape onto the mountain like this?” Ning Yao asked in a low voice.

”We’ll see. I’ve done everything I can,” Chen Ping’an replied with a wry smile.

Ning Yao had come all the way from Fortune Street to meet him here, and she asked, ”Did you get injured?”

Chen Ping’an shook his head in response. ”It was just a minor injury.”

A series of mixed emotions welled up in Ning Yao’s heart, and she grumbled, ”Do you have a death wish? You’re extremely lucky that old ape didn’t kill you!”

Chen Ping’an smiled as he replied, ”That old bastard already broke the rules once. If you had acted any later than you did, I would’ve been screwed.”

Ning Yao faltered slightly upon hearing this, then suddenly burst into laughter. ”You actually managed to do it? That’s incredible!”

Chen Ping’an chuckled in response.

Ning Yao rolled her eyes, then asked, ”What do we do next?”

Chen Ping’an considered the question for a moment, then replied, ”We’ll stick to the general plan that we came up with before, but there are some details that need to be tweaked. That old ape is really strong!”

Ning Yao slapped Chen Ping’an on the back of his head as she chuckled, ”Took you long enough to figure that one out!”

Chen Ping’an suddenly said, ”Turn around, Ning Yao. Keep an eye on the creek while I apply some medicine to my back.”

Ning Yao did as she was told, turning to face the upstream direction of the creek.

Chen Ping’an took off the robe that belonged to Liu Xianyang, then removed that suit of wood porcelain armor as well. After that, he pulled a porcelain vial from the Yang Family’s medicine shop out of a cloth pouch tied to his waist, then poured out a viscous ointment onto the palm of his right hand. With his left hand lifting up the hem of his shirt, he used his right hand to apply the ointment to his own back.

Despite his high pain threshold, he was sweating profusely as he applied the ointment.

Ning Yao had her back facing him this entire time, but she still asked, ”Does it hurt?”

”This is nothing,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

Ning Yao rolled her eyes in response, seemingly dismayed by Chen Ping’an’s effort to put on a strong front.

Next to a house on the westernmost side of the town, a woman was sitting on the ground, bawling at the top of her lungs while vigorously smacking her own chest. Her thin and threadbare clothes looked as if they could burst open at any moment. Beside her stood a pair of dirty young children, looking at their mother with dazed expressions, at a complete loss for what to do.

A man was also squatting outside the house, sighing to himself with a resigned expression. For some reason, a hole had been blown into the roof of their house. The spring chill still hadn’t receded yet, and even though he was confident that he would be able to endure the cold, what was going to become of his wife and his children?

Not far away, some neighbors of theirs were gathering together, discussing spiritedly among themselves. Some of them were saying that they heard a commotion on their rooftop, but they merely thought that this was the doing of stray cats and didn’t pay much heed to it. There were also some who proclaimed that the western side of the town had been quite chaotic the entire day, with some children spotting an old white-robed deity drifting back and forth.

Apparently, each stride of his was equivalent in length to around a dozen strides from the average person, and despite his enormous stature, he was able to run along the rooftops with ease. It was unclear whether he was a deity statue who had come to life and escaped his temple, or if he was a mountain god that had left the mountain for some reason.

Elsewhere, a young sword cultivator from Wind Lightning Field was squatting by himself with a grim look on his face.

Earlier, Liu Baqiao had been chatting with Cui Minghuang at the office of the kiln supervision official, and after hearing about the commotion at the Li Clan’s manor, it didn’t take long before he smelled the scent of blood in the air. However, despite his bold and brash personality, even he knew better than to directly challenge a Mountain-moving Ape on his own.

However, he was keenly observing from the sidelines, trying to see if an opportunity would arise that would allow him to strike the old ape with a sneak attack. With that in mind, Liu Baqiao had gotten onto the rooftop of a tall building, and from that vantage point, he scoured the town with his gaze, searching for the old ape. It didn’t take long for him to discover the commotion ringing out in Clay Vase Alley, and thus, he directed his attention to the unfolding chaos.

Liu Baqiao’s bonded flying sword was being nurtured in his Bright Hall Acupoint due to the injury that he had sustained, and in the instant that Bai Yuan had unleashed his aura to go after Chen Ping’an, the flying sword had been raring to go, almost flying out on its own. In this strange place, the degree to which one was restricted by the Heavenly Dao was directly correlated to how advanced one’s cultivation base was.

Hence, Liu Baqiao knew that this display of power from Bai Yuan had to have come at a cost. Even if he could forcibly activate his aura, then use his incredibly powerful physical constitution to suppress the Qi turbulence triggered by the backlash from the Heavenly Dao of this place, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to do this on many occasions.

Otherwise, he would have to bear the massive risk of the dam being completely overwhelmed, and if that were to happen, it was definitely a possibility that his entire cultivation base could be destroyed. Even if he didn’t go that far, he was already taking a risk anyway by breaking the rules of the town right under the nose of a Sage.

However, after seeing the two massive craters that had been smashed into the ground by Bai Yuan’s feet after he had launched himself from that rooftop, Liu Baqiao was feeling very grateful for the fact that he hadn’t rushed in recklessly. Otherwise, there was a very good chance that he would’ve diverted Bai Yuan’s attention to himself.

Only after sensing just how much power Bai Yuan had drawn upon did Liu Baqiao realize just how serious Bai Yuan was about hunting down Chen Ping’an. If it weren’t for the fact that he had to go back to the Li Clan’s manor to ensure that Tao Zi was safe, perhaps it wasn’t a sure thing that he would’ve been able to capture the cunning and slippery Chen Ping’an, but he would’ve definitely been able to hunt down Liu Baqiao had Liu Baqiao decided to step in.

Of course, Bai Yuan wasn’t an idiot. In the instant that Liu Baqiao’s bonded flying sword had almost flown out of its scabbard, Bai Yuan had to have definitely already detected his presence.

However, even though there was a hint of lingering fear in Liu Baqiao’s heart, having just survived a close brush with death, he felt no fear toward Bai Yuan himself. If a pair of cultivators from Wind Lightning Field and Sun Scorch Mountain decided to engage in battle, then that battle wouldn’t end unless one or both of them were dead.

Furthermore, even if there were one party with a clear cultivation base disadvantage, there was no chance that they would beg for mercy from their more formidable opponent. This was a fact that was supported by the loss of countless lives from the two revered sword sects over the past 500 years.

In addition, Liu Baqiao had his own trump card in the town.

Liu Baqiao slowly stood up, but instead of returning directly to the office of the kiln supervision official, he made his way over to the broken house on the westernmost side of the town.

Standing outside the short earthen wall, he yelled out to grab everyone’s attention, and after the bawling woman and his husband turned to look at him, he tossed a gold essence copper coin at the tearful woman as he smiled and said, ”Please stop crying, woman! I’m getting goosebumps even from all the way over there!”

The woman caught the golden copper coin, upon which she discovered that it was very similar in appearance to a normal copper coin, except the color was different. She was a little dazed as she asked in a quiet voice, ”Is this gold?”

”No, but it’s way more valuable than gold,” Liu Baqiao chuckled.

The woman faltered slightly upon hearing this, then flew into a rage as she hurled the golden copper coin viciously back at Liu Baqiao. She then rose to her feet, placing her hands on her hips as she yelled, ”Piss off! I would’ve perhaps believed you if you told me that this is gold, but you’re telling me it’s even more valuable than gold?

“Who’re you trying to fool?! I’ll have you know that I’ve touched silver with my own two hands in the past! You’re just a scrawny little brat who probably hasn’t even grown hair down there yet! How dare you try and trick me? My husband’s still alive!”

The woman became even more enraged as she spoke, and she quickly strutted over to her husband, who was squatting on the ground in silence, before giving him a vicious kick. Her waist wasn’t much thinner than a water tank, but she somehow still managed to make it look seductive as she twisted her hips from side to side while walking.

Her husband was immediately kicked to the ground, and not only did he not retaliate, he didn’t even dare to say anything as he scurried away like a scorned cat, then continued to squat on the spot with a sulky expression.

The woman pointed straight at her husband as she launched into a ferocious tirade. ”You useless piece of trash! How are you any different from a dead man? Whenever anything happens, all you do is stand around and pretend that you’re dead! You do nothing all day aside from wandering around the town, catching fish and snakes like those kids who are still wearing open crotch pants!

“You’re not even as useful as our son! At least he knows to pick up some useful things for the house! Why is it that you’re unwilling to work at the Yang Family’s medicine shop? Are you filthy rich? Why would you refuse a paying job? How about you do something that contributes to this family for once?”

The voluptuous woman paused here momentarily, then suddenly smiled as she continued, ”If you’re not decent in bed, I would’ve dumped you long ago!”

All of the neighbors who were watching the show immediately burst into raucous laughter upon hearing this, and some of the young men also began to whistle and direct dirty remarks at the woman.

Finally, the woman turned her attention back to Liu Baqiao, then roared, ”Why are you still here? Isn’t it time you ran back to your mother to be breastfed?”

Liu Baqiao had never seen an unrefined villager like this before, but not only was he not filled with disgust and disdain, he was very much amused. He had been treated to a good show, and instead of being enraged by the woman’s scathing insults, he only became more amused.

Whenever he had a war of words with anyone back at Wind Lightning Field, he would always be struck by a sense of loneliness as he could never find a fitting opponent. Never did he think that he would encounter a worthy opponent in this place!

With that in mind, he rose to the challenge, putting on a cheeky grin as he asked, ”Can you help me with being breastfed?”

The woman raised an eyebrow, then sneered, ”I’m worried I might accidentally suffocate you to death! I suggest you go find Granny Ma on Apricot Blossom Alley, I guarantee you she’ll have more than enough for you to drink!”

A chorus of raucous laughter instantly rang out.

Liu Baqiao had no idea who this Granny Ma was, but judging from the reaction of all of the bystanders, he knew that he had just been handed a crushing defeat.

Liu Baqiao gave the woman a thumbs up, graciously accepting his defeat. ”You win this time!”

He then held up the gold essence copper coin between two of his fingers and asked, ”You sure you don’t want this?”

The woman was clearly rather hesitant.

Right at this moment, someone called out to Liu Baqiao in the distance. ”Baqiao, Mr. Cui is asking you to go back right away.”

Liu Baqiao turned to discover that it was Chen Songfeng who was calling out to him, and beside him stood a tall and slender woman with a rather cold and forbidding appearance. She wasn’t carrying any weapons, nor was she particularly beautiful, but her figure was exceptional, and in particular, Liu Baqiao was very much appreciative of her long legs.

She was none other than Chen Songfeng’s distant relative. As for exactly how they were related, Chen Songfeng had never offered an explanation, and the woman had also always referred to Chen Songfeng directly by name. On the way here, Liu Baqiao never found the woman to be particularly arrogant, simply a little cold and unapproachable.

Liu Baqiao didn’t dare to keep Cui Minghuang waiting, so he followed the two of them to Fortune Street, but right as he left, he reflexively took a glance at the sulky middle-aged man who was still squatting on the ground.

There was a disheveled and unkempt man in the crowd, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he made his way toward the house alone after all of the neighbors had departed.

The woman had no choice but to take her children to go back and live at her parental home. Everyone from her parental family was extremely snobbish, and they were always looking down on her for the man that she had chosen, so she really didn’t want to go back. In fact, she rarely ever went back aside during festivals, but in the face of this unforeseen disaster, she simply had no choice.

She wanted to take her children to live in a tavern for a few days, living the life of a rich wife for once, but she simply couldn’t afford that lifestyle. She was so poor that she could barely make ends meet, so she had no alternative but to go back to her parental home even though she knew that she was going to be insulted.

The more she thought about this, the angrier she became, and prior to her departure, she pinched onto a piece of flesh on her husband’s waist before twisting it viciously, only letting go after his entire face was twisted in agony. The two children were already accustomed to seeing this, and not only were they not concerned by the fact that their parents were fighting, they were giggling to themselves as if they were watching a good show.

Immediately thereafter, the woman spotted the disheveled man sneaking around the entrance of their home, and she yelled, ”Are you here to steal more of my clothes? What the hell is wrong with you? What terrible deeds did I do in my previous life to have ended up becoming your sister-in-law? How could you do this to your family?”

The disheveled man was so dismayed to hear this that he wanted to die, and he objected, ”I swear to the heavens I didn’t do that! Your son only made up that story because I forgot to buy him lollies, how could you believe him?”

The boy merely looked on with an innocent expression, and the woman naturally believed her son more, so she immediately raised a hand to slap the disheveled man.

The disheveled man hurriedly recoiled before scurrying away, yelling to the man who was squatting on the ground, ”Saying something to her, Senior Brother!”

”That never works,” the man replied in a surly tone.

The disheveled man could only heave a forlorn sigh. ”Good, honest men like us are constantly getting screwed over!”

The woman made her way toward the yard gate, holding the hand of one of her children in each hand, and all of a sudden, she turned to the disheveled man with a seductive smile as she said, ”Bring some more money next time, and I’ll sell my clothes to you. I’ll only charge you 50 copper coins per item, what do you say?”

The disheveled man’s eyes immediately lit up, but a timid look then appeared on his face as he negotiated, ”Isn’t that a little steep? That’s about as much as the shop on Apricot Blossom Alley charges for their clothes in brand new condition.”

The woman’s expression instantly changed, and she launched into another scathing tirade. ”So you actually do want to buy my clothes? You deserve to be a single dog for life! Even if you die at the eastern gate someday, everyone’s just going to leave you to rot!”

Following the departure of the woman and her children, the disheveled man hopped back to take a seat on the yard wall, then turned to the man squatting on the ground with a furious expression. ”I don’t want to say this every time I see you, but I really can’t understand for the life of me why you chose to marry such a feisty woman!”

As it turned out, the disheveled man was none other than the gatekeeper at the town’s eastern gate.

The woman’s husband was still squatting on the ground, and he replied, ”I do what I want!”

After a brief moment of silence, the gatekeeper said, ”Our master asked me to pass on a message to you. He said that you need to rein in your temper in the near future and refrain from fighting anyone.”

He then took a glance at the hole in the roof, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face as he continued, ”Master also said that if you really can’t rein in your temper, then you can vent your frustrations on your wife. She’s into that rough stuff anyway.”

The woman’s husband raised his head to look at the gatekeeper, and the latter hurriedly said, ”Alright, alright, I’ll admit that our master didn’t say that. I just made that up!”

The man rose to his feet, and he was quite short in stature. He had a tanned complexion, and the bulging muscles of his arms were stretching the fabric of his sleeves.

He was also a little hunch-backed, and he turned to the gatekeeper as he grumbled, ”Zheng Dafeng, I’ll take on your surname if our master is ever willing to say more than 20 words to you at a time!”

The gatekeeper counted the words of the message that their master had asked him to pass on, and sure enough, it was fewer than 20 words! He cursed the heavens upon making this discovery, following which a dejected look appeared on his face. It seemed that what the man had said to him was particularly hurtful because it was the undeniable truth.

”Did Master say anything else?” the hunch-backed man asked.

Zheng Dafeng replied, ”Master also said that you need to deal with that man.”

The hunch-backed man’s brows furrowed slightly, and he habitually squatted down again, facing his broken house as he grumbled, ”Why should I?”

Zheng Dafeng rolled his eyes in response. ”In any case, that’s an order from our master. You can choose to follow it or not, it doesn’t matter to me.”

The hunch-backed man was silent for a moment, then said, ”Get out of here. If you try to steal my wife’s clothes again, I’ll snap all three of your legs!”

Zheng Dafeng immediately flared up with rage. ”Li Er! You can’t just go around slandering me like this! Who’s been stealing your wife’s clothes? How could you believe something like that? What the hell’s wrong with you?”

The hunch-backed man turned to the furious gatekeeper, looking at him in silence with a dark expression.

Zheng Dafeng was like an indignant little girl as he yelled in a furious and grief-stricken voice, ”Fine, I won’t do it again, alright?”

He then rose to his feet and sprang up into the air, drifting onto the street like a locust leaf. Only after he had gotten far away did he dare to show his true colors. ”Li Er, I’m going to your wife right now to buy her undergarments from her!”

As he was saying this, he was running away faster than the wind.

However, the hunch-backed man displayed no intention of chasing him, and he merely scoffed, ”Idiot.”

The trio returned to the kiln supervision official’s office, and Cui Minghuang was seated in the main hall, having already been waiting for them for some time. Upon meeting the unfamiliar woman, Cui Minghuang rose to his feet and nodded to acknowledge, to which the woman also responded with a nod, but her expression remained as cold as ever.

In the words of Liu Baqiao when talking about her behind her back, she looked as if everyone under the heavens owed her a large sum of silver.

After the three of them had taken a seat, Cui Minghuang turned to Liu Baqiao with a smile as he said, ”It’s a good thing you resisted the urge to strike. Otherwise, you would’ve been in massive trouble. You didn’t see what happened just now, but our kiln supervision official, Master Song, just exchanged three punches with that Mountain-moving Ape of Sun Scorch Mountain on Fortune Street.

“From here onward, regardless of how exceptional an opportunity you come across, I suggest you don’t give in to temptation and refrain from doing anything.”

A curious look appeared on Liu Baqiao’s face as he asked, ”Could it be that the old monkey took out Song Changjing with just three punches? Is Song Changjing that useless? Isn’t everyone saying that he’s already on the cusp of reaching the 10th tier?”

Cui Minghuang heaved a resigned sigh as he replied, ”We’re currently living under Master Song’s roof, would it kill you to speak more politely about him?”

”It was Master Song who was able to gain the slight upper hand,” Chen Songfeng said.

Even though he was completely unrelated to Song Changjing, as a cultivator, Chen Songfeng still couldn’t help but be struck by a sense of longing after hearing about such an incredible feat.

It was astonishing to think that a pure martial artist could oppose a Mountain-moving Ape with nothing more than his physical body and come out on top from the clash!

The woman was seated off to the side, resting with her eyes closed while her hands were placed on her lap, and her fingers twitched ever so slightly upon hearing this.

She had originally planned to continue exploring the town, but Chen Songfeng had tracked her down and taken her to find Liu Baqiao before the three of them returned to the kiln supervision official’s office together.

Even though she also had the Chen surname, she didn’t care whether Chen Songfeng would be able to get anything from that old locust tree, or how many ancestral blessing locust leaves he would be able to obtain.

However, when Chen Songfeng tracked her down, she was able to clearly sense that he was forcibly suppressing his excitement, so it was most likely the case that he had managed to obtain more locust leaves than the number that had been projected by the patriarch of the Chen Clan in Dragon Tail County.

Liu Baqiao suddenly burst into raucous laughter as he said, ”I’m glad that old bastard was knocked down a peg! I can’t believe he was taken on a wild goose chase around half the town by an ordinary young boy! I can tell that joke in Wind Lightning Field for the next 10 years!

“Given how sensitive and uptight those Sun Scorch Mountain bastards are, they’ll definitely jump out and proclaim that our Wind Lightning Field is spinning a tall tale. If it isn’t for the fact that breaking the rules of this town incurs far too heavy a cost, I would’ve definitely recorded everything in a recording treasure so I have proof supporting the story!”

Cui Minghuang’s expression suddenly changed slightly as he called out in a stern voice, ”Baqiao!”

The woman’s eyes also sprang open almost at the exact same moment.

Liu Baqiao was just about to ask a question, but he immediately shut his mouth.

It didn’t take long before Song Changjing arrived, and after making his way into the room, he turned to Liu Baqiao with a smile as he asked, ”What’s so funny? Why don’t you share it with me so I can have a good laugh as well?”

Cui Minghuang had already risen to his feet, vacating his chair to Song Changjing.

However, Song Changjing merely shook his head with a smile, indicating to Cui Minghuang that there was no need for such formalities. He then casually dragged over a chair and sat down right next to Liu Baqiao, across from Chen Songfeng and the woman.

Even though Liu Baqiao had always given off a casual and lackadaisical demeanor, even he couldn’t help but stiffen up in such close proximity to a martial artist who was very likely to reach the legendary 10th tier someday.

In particular, this was a martial artist who was notorious for his hobby of slaying prodigies, and that only made Liu Baqiao feel even more fearful and intimidated. Behind Song Changjing’s back, Liu Baqiao was always referring to him directly by name, but now that Song Changjing was actually here, Liu Baqiao was feeling very uneasy.

Thankfully, shamelessness had always come to Liu Baqiao like second nature, and he put on a fawning smile as he said, ”We were just talking about your epic battle against that old ape from Sun Scorch Mountain, Master Song.

“That was truly a battle for the ages, one that would’ve shocked even the gods! The only thing that can match the incredible power of your fists is the kindness of your heart. If you hadn’t held back, that old ape would already be lying dead on Fortune Street! Someone like me cannot even begin to compare with an unrivaled master of the martial arts like yourself!”