Unsheathed

After emerging from the prefectural city, the group continued westward.

Cui Chan emerged from his horse-drawn carriage, then arrived by Chen Ping’an’s side as he turned to Li Huai with a smile and offered, “Would you like to come into my carriage? It’s really spacious and comfortable in there, and you can even lay down to sleep.”

Li Huai was very tempted by the offer, but he didn’t dare to decide for himself. Thankfully, Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “You can go if you want.”

“As expected, learning your way of doing things and treating others has been of immeasurable benefit to me. Do you need me to thank you in any way, Teacher?” Cui Chan asked.

Chen Ping’an nodded in response.

“What would you like from me?” Cui Chan asked as an ecstatic look appeared on his face. “I’m unable to open the treasure chamber inside my pocket treasure at the moment, so I can’t fetch anything from there, but there are a few good items among the things that I purchased from that gambling addict in the city, such as that colored glass figure.

“It’s quite an interesting little trinket, and if you inject spiritual energy into it, it’ll begin dancing and singing in an extremely life-like fashion…”

“I would like you to disappear,” Chen Ping’an interjected.

Cui Chan was very depressed to hear this, and he departed in silence. He then ran over to harass Li Baoping and Lin Shouyi for a while, only to be met with stoic silence, and in the end, he could only return sheepishly to his carriage, where he saw Li Huai rolling around joyfully, having the time of his life. Cui Chan crouched down beside him and pulled out that little colored glass figure, then waved it at Li Huai as he asked, “Do you want this?”

Li Huai stared intently at the gorgeous female glass figure, and he lied through his teeth, “Not at all.”

Cui Chan injected some spiritual energy into the figure, and bursts of gentle light began to radiate outward from within the colored glass. He then set it down onto the floor of the carriage, and it didn’t take long before a series of creaks and clicks rang out from the glass figure.

After a brief silence, it abruptly sprang to life, performing an elegant dance while singing an ancient song in a foreign language that wasn’t the official dialect of Great Sui Nation, the Great Li Empire, or Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Hence, Li Huai had no idea what it was singing, but it was such a beautiful sight that he couldn’t help but rest his chin against the ground as he watched the glass figure’s elegant dance in a transfixed fashion.

By the time the light within the glass figure completely faded, it reverted back into an unmoving inanimate object.

“You don’t want it even if I give it to you for free?” Cui Chan asked in a tempting voice. “What are you so afraid of? You are Chen Ping’an’s friend, while I’m Chen Ping’an’s student. We’re so close to one another, how could I possibly hurt you? Besides, what reason do I have for harboring sinister intentions toward you?”

Li Huai withdrew his gaze as he turned to Cui Chan with a disgruntled expression. “I’m not going to believe anything that you say! Besides, I have plenty of treasures! I have a bug silver that can turn into an ant or a dragonfly! Do you have one?”

An exasperated look appeared on Cui Chan’s face upon hearing this. “Didn’t I give you that bug silver?”

Li Huai nodded in response with a justified expression. “That’s right, so it’s mine now, and you don’t have one!”

Cui Chan erupted into laughter upon hearing this. “As expected of a little rascal that came out of the Jewel Small World, particularly someone who became one of Qi Jingchun’s group of final disciples thanks to your luck and fortune! I should’ve known that all of you would be a pain to deal with! Then again, Shi Chunjia and Dong Shuijing are a little lackluster in comparison. I’d say they’re not much better than Yu Lu and Xie Xie.”

Cui Chan raised his head to look up at the roof of the carriage as he mused, “It seems like everything truly was preordained by the heavens.”

Cui Chan then withdrew his gaze as he turned back to Li Huai, then asked, “You really don’t want it?”

Li Huai nodded in response. “You can keep it. Before I went to bed last night, Chen Ping’an told me that I can’t just take things that are offered to me once I get to the academy in Great Sui Nation.”

“But we’re still several hundred kilometers away from the border of Great Sui Nation,” Cui Chan countered. “Even after we enter Great Sui Nation, we’ll still be about 400 kilometers away from the new Mountain Cliff Academy. Altogether, that equates to a journey of close to 1,000 kilometers, so why are you in such a hurry to start refusing things from others?”

Li Huai looked up at the roof of the carriage as he said, “Chen Ping’an told us that he won’t study at the academy with us. He’ll be returning home once he accompanies us to the academy.”

“Isn’t that something that you knew from the very beginning?” Cui Chan asked with a smile.

“I did, but I forgot along the journey,” Li Huai replied in a quiet voice as he laid down with his hands folded over one another acting as a pillow.

Cui Chan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then gloated, “It doesn’t matter to me. I won’t be staying at the academy, either, and I’ll be accompanying Chen Ping’an back to the town. Are you jealous, Li Huai?”

Li Huai turned to Cui Chan with a stunned expression upon hearing this, while Cui Chan looked back at him with a gloating smile.

All of a sudden, Li Huai got up and swept the curtain of the carriage aside with an indignant expression as he yelled with all his might, “Chen Ping’an, Cui Chan’s trying to swindle me out of my money!”

Cui Chan hurriedly grabbed onto Li Huai before clapping a hand over his mouth to silence him then wailed to Chen Ping’an, “He’s lying! Don’t believe him!”

Moments later, Chen Ping’an stormed into the carriage before taking Li Huai with him.

“I was lying to you, Chen Ping’an,” Li Huai said in a quiet voice.

“I know, I just don’t like the look of him,” Chen Ping’an replied in a low voice.

Inside the carriage, the bruised and battered Cui Chan was laying on the floor with a grimace on his face, but not only was he not looking dejected in the slightest, there was a smile playing on his lips instead.

————

Chen Ping’an and the others were situated on the bank of a river on the northwestern border of the Yellow Court Nation. After surveying the water god temple, which was far smaller than that of the Cold Food River, they traveled for over 10 kilometers further before stopping to rest and to prepare some lunch.

At the moment, Yu Lu was responsible for cooking duties, and Xie Xie was also helping out here and there. As a result, Chen Ping’an was able to relieve himself of cooking duties and focus on fishing from the river. During spring, it was best to fish shallow, while fishing deep was best during summer.

During autumn, it was best to fish in shady areas, while sunny areas were where fish gathered during winter. At the moment, it was late autumn, and Chen Ping’an jogged along the river until he found a small area that was sheltered by some overhanging plants before commencing his fishing.

Around 15 minutes later, Chen Ping’an was able to successfully hook onto a river fish that was over a foot in length. However, he was worried that the fish would slip off the hook, or the rod would snap if he were to drag it in too quickly, so it took close to another 15 minutes for him to actually land the fish.

Cui Chan was crouching on the ground off to the side, watching intently this entire time. He insisted on carrying the fish on the way back, and thus, an additional dish of delectable braised fish was added to the meal.

Having carried the fish back to camp, Cui Chan felt like he was entitled to the lion’s share of the dish, and he was digging chunks of flesh out of the fish with his chopsticks like lightning, while Li Huai was scrambling to keep up.

After the meal, Chen Ping’an cleaned everything up with Yu Lu’s help, then began to practice his walking meditation along the river.

Meanwhile, Yu Lu borrowed his fishing rod and went off on his own to find a place to fish.

Lin Shouyi was playing go against Xie Xie, while Li Baoping was engrossed in her reading. Li Huai had finally managed to get his hands on that colored glass figure, and he had won it from Cui Chan during a bet. As it turned out, Cui Chan actually hadn’t gone easy on him.

The two of them had played a game of guessing whether the number of black go stones would exceed that of the white go stones, and vice versa. In order to ensure fairness, both of them had their backs to Yu Lu, who would grab a random number of black and white stones in his hands.

Cui Chan had ultimately lost the colored glass figure to Li Huai with a record of two wins and three losses. With that, not only had Li Huai managed to keep his bug silver, he had added another “treasure” to his collection.

For this bout of walking meditation, Chen Ping’an walked a very long way before taking a seat by himself atop a stone cliff on the river bank. He then continued to practice walking meditation on the cliff at the slowest speed in conjunction with the breathing method from the Eighteen Stops technique, focusing on calm and languid movements.

————

Not long after they recommenced their journey, they ran into a bunch of bandits on a mountain that was far from all human settlements, and all of them were sent running for their lives in a blind panic after witnessing an elementary lightning technique unleashed by Lin Shouyi.

Chen Ping’an went fishing one night and managed to hook onto a huge fish that was half as long as a grown man was tall. Only after wading into the water was he able to successfully land the fish, and as he returned joyfully to the campfire, he was greeted by Yu Lu, who was on guard duty at night. Yu Lu took a glance at the soaking wet Chen Ping’an, then gave him a wide smile and a thumbs up.

After that, as they were passing through an eerie burial site, they were surrounded and attacked by a bunch of ghosts and spirits. Once again, Lin Shouyi stepped up with his lightning technique, with thunderclaps ringing all around him while faint purple qi surged over his entire body, giving him the appearance of a divine lightning general.

After several dozen of the ghosts and spirits had been slain by Lin Shouyi’s lightning, a light suddenly appeared deep within the burial site, and a blood-curdling howl rang out, following which a massive sedan chair with a lantern hanging from each of its four corners drifted toward Chen Ping’an’s group while giving off eerie Yin energy.

Thanks to Chen Ping’an and Xie Xie’s protection, Lin Shouyi was able to ward off the enemy on his own with his rudimentary lightning technique for a short while, but he ultimately proved to be no match for the top dog that was dwelling in this burial site, which was a ghostly creature that had manifested a true spirit following centuries of cultivation.

In what seemed to have been a dire situation, Yu Lu stepped up for the first time, rushing forward before destroying the ghostly being with ease with a single punch.

After that, Lin Shouyi began to read his copy of the Recite Atop Clouds Scripture even more frequently.

Finally, everyone arrived at the Great Sui Pass, and they successfully passed through the city gate, which wasn’t all that tall or majestic. Li Huai was remarking to everyone that it was nowhere near as imposing and grandiose as the Great Li Empire’s Yefu Pass.

In the next instant, the sound of thundering horse hooves rang out on the street within the pass, and it was rapidly approaching them.

Chen Ping’an instructed everyone to retreat to the side of the street to allow the horses through.

There were around two dozen cavalry units rapidly approaching, led by a spear-wielding figure in a suit of silver armor. On either side of the silver-armored young boy was an elderly Daoist priest with a peach wood sword on his back, and a fair-skinned elderly man without any facial hair. Both of them were also seated on horseback, and they resembled a pair of old immortals as they galloped along atop their steeds.

Chen Ping’an’s heart jolted slightly at the sight of the silver-armored young boy.

This was the very same brocade-robed boy that had once appeared in the town, and upon spotting Chen Ping’an’s group, he immediately accelerated on horseback, separating himself from the rest of the group before tugging on his reins to bring his steed to a halt around a dozen meters away from Chen Ping’an.

He then got down from his horse in a well-rehearsed manner before striding directly toward Chen Ping’an, and after taking a look at the other in the group, he smiled as he greeted, “We meet again!”

The young boy was tapping the handle of his whip against the palm of his hand as he continued, “You know, I almost died on the border of the Great Li Empire because of that golden carp from last time and that other treasure, which I only later found out was called the Dragon King Basket. Having said that, I’m still very grateful to you.

.

“Even though I gave you a pouch of gold essence copper coins last time, in hindsight, I was still the one who came out significantly better off from that trade. I swore to myself that I would give you more compensation the next time I see you…”

The boy paused here for a moment, then gave himself a light slap on the head as a bashful look appeared on his face. “Where are my manners! Allow me to introduce myself. I am a member of the Gao Clan of Great Sui Nation’s Yiyang County. You can call me Gao Xuan.”

The elderly man with no facial hair had also met Chen Ping’an before, and he was just about to say something when Gao Xuan cut him off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Don’t worry so much, it’s just a name. A name is meant to be called by others anyway.”

Gao Xuan then turned back to Chen Ping’an with a smile as he declared, “I’m here to escort you to our Great Sui Nation’s Mountain Cliff Academy in person.”

————

Not long after Gao Xuan’s arrival, he was followed by over 30 members of the imperial guard, over 300 elite cavalry, and an entourage in excess of 1,000 people. The massive group passed through two states and seven prefectures as they rapidly advanced toward Great Sui Nation’s capital city.

Finally, Chen Ping’an and the others no longer had to travel on foot, and even Li Huai had received a horse-drawn carriage of his own, which was surrounded in all directions by elite cavalry units of Great Sui Nation. Occasionally, some of the cavalry units would glance into the carriage, and whenever they did so, they would always gaze upon Li Huai with an inexplicable sense of admiration and veneration in their eyes.

For the rest of the journey, all the way until they reached the capital city of Great Sui Nation, Li Huai felt as if he were being worshiped like a Bodhisattva.

Initially, this was quite a new and exciting experience for Li Huai, but the closer they drew to their destination, the more uncomfortable he felt with this treatment.

The same applied to Li Baoping, who was becoming more and more quiet, and was almost constantly sticking by Chen Ping’an’s side.

As for Lin Shouyi, he paid no heed to what was happening around him, merely staying in his carriage on his own to cultivate.

Yu Lu was still acting as Cui Chan’s coach driver, and his mood didn’t appear to have changed at all.

Inside his personal carriage, Cui Chan was feeling extremely bored, and he whiled away his days either sleeping or yawning. In the end, he became so bored that he was forced to call Xie Xie into his carriage just for someone to talk to.

Ultimately, only fewer than 200 of the cavalry units were permitted to enter the capital city, and Li Huai was stunned to discover that the extremely wide imperial road was lined with countless Great Sui Nation citizens. It was as if the entire population of the capital city had gathered here for some inexplicable reason, just to see a bunch of kids.

Even Lin Shouyi opened his eyes from his cultivation and drew back the curtain of his carriage slightly, then heaved a faint sigh at the sight of the throngs of people gathered outside.

It seemed that the status of Mr. Qi’s direct disciple was quite an extraordinary one.

The new Mountain Cliff Academy that had moved to Great Sui Nation had been constructed on the most scenic mountain in Great Sui Nation’s capital city, Eastern Splendor Mountain. The academy had been constructed along the mountain in a spiraling fashion, and it was far larger than the Mountain Cliff Academy of old.

It was said that not only had the emperor of Great Sui Nation invited the most knowledgeable scholars in the entire nation for this occasion, he had also sent out half of the ministry of rites, led by the left-hand minister, to all of the empires and nations that were on friendly terms with Great Sui Nation in order to extend formal invitations to all of the renowned scholars and literati in those places.

Ultimately, they were able to invite around three dozen foreign reputable scholars to Eastern Splendor Mountain of the capital city to serve as teachers at the new academy.

However, everyone in the nation, from the emperor to the common folk, were aware that a Mountain Cliff Academy with Qi Jingchun and one without were two completely different things.

No one had heard from Qi Jingchun for a very long time, and it was said that he had passed away due to illness. Thus, it was of the utmost importance for Qi Jingchun’s direct disciples to come and “oversee” the academy. Otherwise, the academy would’ve only been Mountain Cliff Academy in name, and no one would’ve been willing to accept it as the actual Mountain Cliff Academy.

This was why they were viewed as saviors by the entire nation, and in the emperor’s eyes, no welcome was too extravagant for them.

Even though it was only a group of three children, that was enough!

Aside from the three direct disciples in the form of Lin Shouyi, Li Huai, and Li Baoping, there were also two students in the form of Yu Lu and Xie Xie, who were naturally of far less importance than the three children, but they were also an added bonus.

————

The streets that led to Eastern Splendor Mountain had already been cleared well in advance, and no one was permitted to tread upon them. Hence, even the members of wealthy clans in the capital city only dared to watch the passing convoy from their vantage points on the tall buildings that lined the streets.

The emperor of Great Sui Nation was dressed in his most official imperial robes as he stood outside the entrance of the academy at the foot of the mountain, wearing a benevolent smile as he watched the five children emerge from their horse-drawn carriages.

Behind the emperor was a small group of the most powerful figures in the entire Great Sui Nation, and it was truly a welcome of the highest order.

There were as many as six 10th tier qi refiners who had been living in recluse for many years, but had come out specifically for this occasion, and they were all lurking out of sight near Eastern Splendor Mountain in case of any unforeseen mishaps.

“Where’s Junior Uncle?” Li Baoping asked.

The five children looked back and forth at one another, and no one knew where Chen Ping’an was.

They were being welcomed by the emperor of Great Sui Nation himself, but he was being completely ignored.

————

On a certain street in the capital city of Great Sui Nation, Cui Chan was walking backward as he looked at Chen Ping’an with a curious expression and asked, “You’ve already changed into your new clothes and boots and put on your jade pendant, so why aren’t you entering the academy with them?”

Chen Ping’an offered no response to him, merely turning back to look in the direction of the academy.