Unsheathed

The little girl in pink rushed out of the scripture library while carrying a large stack of ancient books just in time to see Cui Chan bowing to Chen Ping’an, and a hint of fear instantly appeared in her eyes as she turned to the latter.

At the same time, a little boy in azure fell out of the sky with his clothes in tatters, presenting a sorry sight to behold. A streak of golden light was revolving incessantly around him, as if it were a soldier responsible for escorting a criminal.

The little boy in azure was panting heavily as he laid on the ground and wiped the blood from his face. He turned to Cui Chan, and the vicious look in his eyes still hadn’t completely faded. This was no surprise, considering that he had reigned supreme in the river outside the city for several centuries up to this point, so he was naturally feeling extremely furious and indignant to have been embarrassed like this.

With a snap of his fingers, the streak of azure light flew back up Cui Chan’s sleeve like a bird returning to its nest.

Cui Chan could see that there was a slightly perplexed look on Chen Ping’an’s face, so he smiled and explained, “Do you recall back when we were outside the Yefu Pass, how I was boasting to you about how I had prepared some extremely precious presents for you?

“One of those presents is this temporarily ownerless flying sword by the name of Golden Autumn. Not only is it quite a powerful flying sword, even someone with a cultivation base that’s not particularly advanced can use it.”

A smug grin appeared on Cui Chan’s face as he said, “The last owner of this flying sword was an almighty sword immortal of the Middle Earth Divine Continent. He was also a complete and utter go addict, and perhaps he took a hard knock on the head or something, but he decided to switch from sword cultivation to completely dedicating himself to playing go.

“Unfortunately for him, he was a rather mediocre go player, and he lost this flying sword to me in a bet. Ultimately, I’d say he made the bet with me knowing full well that he would lose his flying sword out of a desire to cut all ties with his former identity as a swordsman.”

“Will Lin Shouyi be able to use this Golden Autumn?” Chen Ping’an asked with a curious expression.

A dismayed look appeared on Cui Chan’s face as he groaned, “Teacher, you’re displaying way too much favoritism! Of course Lin Shouyi will be able to use the sword, but it would be an enormous waste to give it to him! I’m willing to give this sword to you, but there’s no way I’d be willing to give it to Lin Shouyi!”

The little girl in pink and the little boy in azure exchanged a glance with one another, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in each other’s eyes.

The concept of making a bet with a sword immortal from the Middle Earth Divine Continent was a completely unfathomable one to them.

Chen Ping’an took a glance at his surroundings, then prepared to depart and continue on his way.

“Please wait a moment, Teacher. I have some other things to tell you so that no unforeseen mishaps arise during your journey back to Dragon Tail County,” Cui Chan said, then pulled out the inkstone that was once the premier treasure of the Lurking Dragon Temple as he turned to the water snake and the fire python as he ordered, “Put your true bodies in here right now! I don’t have much patience, so I suggest you don’t test me. If you dare to delay any longer, I may just have to…”

Cui Chan’s voice trailed off here, and he began contemplating whether he should just kill the little boy in azure to get rid of him once and for all. After all, in order to enact the plan of Dragon Spring County, it was already sufficient for him to establish ties with the old flood dragon.

As for the fire python and the water snake before him, neither of them were very advanced in their cultivation base, and they hadn’t even completed their transformations into flood dragons yet, so they were nowhere near the level of the Cold Food Great River God. Hence, he had captured them as nothing more than a tiny added bonus.

His thought process was that seeing as he couldn’t access the treasure chamber in his pocket treasure, he would subjugate these two little creatures for Chen Ping’an so that he could keep them around and have them look after his mountains. This was a chance for the fire python and the water snake to go to Jewel Small World, so it was actually a massive blessing for them.

Hence, Cui Chan didn’t care about whether they lived or died. At this point, he and Chen Ping’an were already student and teacher. Cui Chan knew Chen Ping’an’s personality better than anyone else, and he knew that it was like a rock in a latrine, as stinky as it was unyielding.

If Chen Ping’an hadn’t accepted Cui Chan as his student, there was no way he would’ve been willing to accept these two creatures as an offering from him, but now Cui Chan had officially become his student, it was an entirely different story.

With that in mind, Cui Chan was suddenly overcome by a myriad of emotions. Dealing with Chen Ping’an had been extremely wearisome for him, requiring more mental effort than the physical effort it would’ve taken to move the Five Mountains.

However, after stepping over a certain invisible boundary, he was struck by a very strange feeling. Despite all his wiles and cunning, being accepted as Chen Ping’an’s student gave him a sense of… reassurance.

The little boy in azure could see the golden light flashing within Cui Chan’s sleeve, and he hurriedly fell to his knees before kowtowing to the ground. “Please spare me, esteemed immortal! I’m willing to pledge my eternal loyalty to you and do whatever it is that you ask of me without any complaints!”

Having read countless books in the scripture library of the Iris Orchid manor, the little girl in pink didn’t want to be associated with the water snake. She wasn’t the type of creature that could just freely spout a bunch of nonsense that went against what she was actually thinking, and as a result, she was at a temporary loss for what to do.

Cui Chan couldn’t be bothered to waste any more time with words, and he raised the inkstone as he declared, “I’ll count to three.”

The little girl in pink hesitated momentarily, following which a tiny fire python that was as thin as a thread flew out of her glabella before entering the inkstone. Immediately thereafter, her face turned as pale as a sheet, and she looked as if she were on the verge of passing out.

A defeated look appeared on the face of the little boy in azure as he heaved a forlorn sigh while murmuring to himself, “So be it. A wise man learns to submit to his circumstances.”

Smoke then began to billow out of all of his orifices before converging to form a small azure snake that was slightly thicker than the fire python before also flying into the inkstone. As soon as the python and the snake entered the inkstone, they immediately curled up into a pair of balls, not daring to make even the slightest move.

After all, on the edge of the inkstone was the slumbering old flood dragon, which was an ancestor to all serpentine creatures, and they were terrified that any wrong move could rouse the old flood dragon from its slumber and send it flying into a thunderous rage.

Cui Chan picked up the inkstone, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, “You two need to learn to count your blessings. You’ll be somewhat restricted by this inkstone, but through it, you’ll be able to advance in your cultivation base. If the same opportunity were presented to other demonic creatures related to flood dragons, they would be begging me to draw their true bodies into the inkstone.”

The well-mannered little girl in pink who had grown up her entire life in this scripture library immediately extended a curtsey of gratitude upon hearing this, while the little boy in azure was accustomed to living a more unrestrained and uncouth lifestyle, and he pursed his lips with disdain at Cui Chan’s claims.

Cui Chan paid no heed to this as he smiled and continued, “Both of you have heard of the Great Li Empire’s Dragon Spring County, right? It’s the place that Jewel Small World became after it fell out of the sky. My teacher is an extremely rich man there, and he owns five mountains, as well as many snake gall pebbles that are imbued with immense spiritual energy.

“Those things were formed by the spirit blood of the final true dragon of this world, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you just how valuable they are. Hence, the two of you better make sure to look after my teacher well on the way back to Dragon Spring County.”

The eyes of the little girl in pink immediately lit up, and she extended a deep bow toward Chen Ping’an with an elated expression. “Please use this loyal servant as you see fit.”

The little boy in azure was even more direct, falling straight to his knees as he kowtowed to the ground and asked, “Master, do you require any beautiful maidservants to warm your bed at night? I know many beautiful women, some of whom are even cultivators. All you need to do is give me the nod, and I’ll abduct… I mean, invite them to your doorstep in lavish sedan chairs right away!”

Chen Ping’an massaged his own glabella with an exasperated expression as he took a glance at Cui Chan. It seemed that those who were alike really did tend to band together. With that in mind, it made sense that someone like Cui Chan would attract someone as bizarre and unruly as the little boy in azure, while those around Chen Ping’an, like Li Baoping, Li Huai, and Lin Shouyi, were a lot more sensible.

After his spiritual connection was severed by the old scholar, Cui Chan possessed the body of a boy, and his personality had also regressed to one that was more childish, but he still retained all of the experience and outlook of his older self. Hence, through that brief glance alone, he was able to roughly glean Chen Ping’an’s thoughts, and he was left feeling a little exasperated.

How can Li Baoping and the other children be considered to be normal? In fact, you’re not even normal yourself, Chen Ping’an! Who in their right mind would dedicate themselves to practicing the moves of a shoddy fist technique manual a million times before thinking about anything else?

The little boy in azure raised his head as he said, “Master, Cao Hushan of the Iris Orchid manor has another son, and he was previously stationed outside the city beside the river to keep an eye on me. His cultivation base isn’t all that advanced, but he has decent aptitude and an immortal clan as a backer.

“At this point, I presume he must’ve already met up with his father. Once he learns about what happened from his father, he’ll definitely be causing trouble for us in the future, so should I…”

The little boy opened his mouth up wide, then chomped down viciously to simulate devouring the son of Cao Hushan in question.

Cui Chan smiled as he said, “There’s no need for you to involve yourself in this matter any further. All you have to do is accompany my teacher out of the city, and I’ll take care of the rest here.”

“Don’t kill unless it’s necessary,” Chen Ping’an warned with a meaningful look.

“I’ll be sure to keep your teachings in mind, Teacher,” Cui Chan replied with a wide smile.

Right at this moment, the bamboo basket on Chen Ping’an’s back stirred slightly, and Chen Ping’an turned around to find the locust wood sword swaying slightly from side to side. The adorable little girl in gold climbed along the wooden sword and the basket all the way onto Chen Ping’an’s shoulder before beckoning to him, and Chen Ping’an immediately leaned his head closer to her so that she could whisper into his ear.

After listening carefully to what the little girl had to say, he turned to Cui Chan and said, “It’s saying that once you reach Mountain Cliff Academy, you have to pass on two messages to Mao Xiaodong, one of which is ‘the heavens and humans are separate entities, and human nature is subject to change’, while the second message is ‘etiquette governs behavior, while laws rule through fear’.”

A complex look appeared on Cui Chan’s face as he heaved a faint sigh.

It was clear that one of those was a parting message from the old scholar to himself, while the other were the final words of Qi Jingchun that he had originally hoped would be passed on to Mao Xiaodong by Chen Ping’an.

With that in mind, Cui Chan was feeling a little dejected, and he pointed at the little girl on Chen Ping’an’s shoulder as he said, “This is the only remaining incense entity of Jewel Small World, and it’s already come most of the way to attaining a godly body.

“There’s a mountain god temple on Downtrodden Mountain, and the mountain god in there is a decently trustworthy figure, so you can leave her there so that she can reside in the temple and draw sustenance from the incense being offered there.”

A hesitant look appeared on the face of the little girl in gold standing on Chen Ping’an’s shoulder, but ultimately, she took a deep breath as she cast her gaze toward Cui Chan as she said, “Mr. Qi left me another message, but at the time, he told me that you may not be worthy of hearing it. However, now that you’ve officially become Chen Ping’an’s student, I think I can relay the message to you even though you’re still a bad person.”

Cui Chan faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of excitement appeared welled up in his heart, and he put on a serious expression as he prompted, “Please go ahead.”

The little girl in gold said in her tender voice, “The student asks ‘why does it say that a crab has six legs and two claws? Is that a clerical error?’, to which the teacher replies ‘the impoverished scholar has a tight budget’.” [1]

Cui Chan immediately burst into raucous laughter upon hearing this, laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face, while everyone else looked on in befuddlement.

Cui Chan made his way back toward the scripture library on his own while continuing to howl with laughter, wiping the tears from his eyes as turned and said, “I won’t accompany you beyond this point, Teacher. I wish you a safe and smooth journey home.”

After making his way into the scripture library, Cui Chan looked down at Chen Ping’an’s departing figure from a window on the second floor as he yelled, “Teacher, if you encounter any trouble that seems impossible to overcome, then you can go and seek out that former minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Just tell him that you’re my teacher, and it would be even better if you could tell him that you’re half a student to that old scholar!”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind,” Chen Ping’an replied as he turned around. “Look after yourself.”

“It looks like we’ll both be embarking on journeys of our own,” Cui Chan murmured to himself as he waved farewell at Chen Ping’an.

He then made his way all the way up to the sixth floor, where he cast his gaze into the distance.

The reason why he had been unwilling to make his way up to this level earlier wasn’t because there were any secrets lurking on this floor. Instead, it was simply the childish nature of his personality at play once again, resulting in some unpleasant memories surfacing in his mind.

He may have been the first disciple of the Scholarly Sage and the imperial preceptor of the Great Li Empire, but he had once been young, just like everyone else.

Upon making his way to the top floor, Cui Chan fell backward onto the ground before casually placing the antiquated inkstone on the ground beside him, paying no heed to the dust that was gathering all over his pristine white robes.

He turned to look at the inkstone as he murmured to himself, “Seeing as I’ve already begun, I may as well go all the way and gather the true bodies of all of the flood dragon descendants of the ancient Shu Nation into this inkstone.”

He then turned to look at the caisson ceiling up above, where an authoritative dragon was engraved, and it was a little different from the scripture library back home, which was dimly lit and certainly didn’t have anything as beautiful as this caisson ceiling to behold.

Cui Chan closed his eyes, feeling a little sleepy.

He still recalled that during his youth, he possessed tremendous aptitude, but was always easily distracted. His cruel grandfather had very high hopes for him, and in order to hone his concentration, he had been locked up in the small pavilion on the top floor of the scripture library. The ladder was carried away so that he couldn’t get down, and his meals were lifted up to him using rope.

Of course, there was also a lavatory, which was changed every day. As an act of rebellion to display his displeasure at this inhumane treatment, Cui Chan would often tear pages off books to use as toilet paper, or fold them up into little paper kites and birds before tossing them out the window and watching them fly away with the wind. Whenever he did this, he would hear his grandfather erupt into a furious tirade at the foot of the scripture library.

During that time, the one thing that Cui Chan did the most was stack up all of the books in the pavilion, then stand up on the tall pile of books so that he could look out at the river outside the city through the window. It was often the case that he would spend hours at a time watching the river.

Back then, his name had been Cui Chanchan, rather than Cui Chan, with the first Chan in his name representing the sound of flowing water, while the second represented mountains. [2]

His grandfather had given him this name in the hope that he would grow up into an accomplished scholar with morality as lofty the tallest of mountain peaks and sufficient knowledge to fill the largest of rivers. Beyond all else, his grandfather hoped that he would go on to become a noble person who was respected and revered by the masses, but Cui Chan wanted none of that for himself.

After finally being freed from his purgatory on the top floor of the scripture library, he immediately left his home to embark on a long journey. He traveled out of the nation, then made it all the way to the Middle Earth Divine Continent, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from his stubborn mule of a grandfather as possible.

On top of that, he removed the second chan from his name as well, preserving only the first chan, which he preferred over the second one.

Even after returning to Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and becoming the imperial preceptor of the Great Li Empire, he didn’t return home even once as he simply didn’t want to.

Cui Chan opened his eyes, then wiped a sleeve across his face as he snapped, “What are you looking at? You’ve never seen a man cry before?”

The Yin god of a scholarly-robed old man had appeared on the top floor of the scripture library. It was none other than that old flood dragon, and he was staring at the inkstone with a dark expression.

Cui Chan remained laying on the ground, then sent the inkstone flying toward the old man with a sweep of his sleeve as he said, “I’ve already rid you of 300 years worth of cultivation base, so I’m not going pursue the matter from last time any further. Instead of traveling to Dragon Spring County, I want you to help me capture all of the flood dragon descendants in this place.

“I don’t care what age or cultivation base they are, capture all of them in this inkstone. My teacher has a large collection of exceptional snake gall pebbles that he left at home, and thank heavens that he did. Otherwise, given his personality, he may have already given all of the pebbles away at this point. Once all of the flood dragon descendants are captured, those snake gall pebbles can finally be put to good use.”

Cui Chan then sat up as he casually dusted himself off, while the old flood dragon stowed the inkstone away.

He could clearly sense the change in Cui Chan’s aura, and the discontent in his heart instantly completely faded, replaced by resignation and admiration. “As expected of the Great Li Empire’s imperial preceptor.”

Cui Chan heaved a faint sigh as he said, “There’s nothing surprising about any of this. This is a rare occurrence on the tiny Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but on the Middle Earth Divine Continent, all you have to do is stay there for a century, and during that time, you’ll see countless exceptional prodigies make meteoric rises before falling to their demise just as quickly as they emerged onto the scene.

“The turnover will be so fast that you won’t even be able to follow all of them. In the end, you’ll come to realize that longevity is paramount above all else.”

The old flood dragon shook his head with a smile as he said, “The Middle Earth Divine Continent is not a place the likes of us can set foot on. If we’re discovered, there’s a very high likelihood that we’ll be captured by those powerful empires and be torn to shreds.”

Cui Chan remained seated on the ground as he said with an indifferent expression, “There’s been another change of plans. Some people in the capital city of the Great Li Empire think that you don’t have the authority to serve as the mountain master of the new academy on Cloud Drape Mountain.

“I objected to this idea, but His Majesty has already made a decision to assign you as only a deputy mountain master, and you may not even be second-in-charge. This was an oversight on my part, so if you choose to renege on our agreement, then I won’t have any complaints.”

The old man smiled as he replied, “I think it’s a blessing to serve as one of the lower-ranking deputy mountain masters. If anything bad happens, I’ll be able to hide behind those above me on the hierarchy.”

Cui Chan’s brows furrowed slightly as he warned, “If you’re saying this just to suck up to me, then I suggest you reconsider, because I won’t allow you to renege on our agreement in the future once you’ve made this decision.”

“Rest assured, my decision has already been made,” the old man replied.

Not only was Cui Chan not relieved to hear this, a mocking sneer appeared on his face as he remarked, “No wonder you were able to live for so long.”

The old man paid no heed to the mockery on Cui Chan’s face as he sighed, “All I hope for now is to be able to live a little longer.”

Cui Chan rose to his feet, and all of the dust that was clinging to his robes fell away on its own as he said, “I’m going to need you to take me to Great Sui Nation, then come back here and put an end to things here in Iris Orchid manor. Along the way, you can turn that river god outside the city over to your side as well.”

A peculiar look appeared on the old man’s face upon hearing this.

Cui Chan strode over to him with a grin as he asked, “What is it? Are you not used to having someone straddle across the back of your neck? There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. In the distant past, immortals rode dragons just as wealthy individuals rode horses and donkeys. It was something extremely normal and commonplace.”

A wry smile appeared on the old man’s face as he accepted his fate. “In that case, I’ll wait for you outside.”

Cui Chan nodded in response, and the old man vanished in a flash.

All of a sudden, gusts of fierce wind abruptly swept up in the sky above the city, and the clouds up above descended to such a low altitude that they almost came into contact with the top of the scripture library.

The river god outside the city had already adopted its human form, and it was standing on the bank of the river, looking up at the sky with awe and veneration in its eyes.

The three gods of the city god pavilion, the wenchang pavilion, and the martial god temple were also doing the same thing.

Cui Chan stepped forward and drifted out of the window, passing through the sea of clouds before landing on the head of an old flood dragon, where he sat down with his legs crossed, using the flood dragon as his steed.

He was just like a godly immortal of the ancient past, riding atop a dragon steed.

He closed his eyes as he made a hand seal to practice meditation, just like Chen Ping’an often did.

It seemed that good company equated to good influences.

————

Over at the city gates, Chen Ping’an turned to look up at the churning sea of clouds in the sky, accompanied by the pair of children.

As soon as the little boy in azure made his way out of the city, he immediately felt like an almighty flood dragon that had been released back into the sea, and he remarked in an uncouth manner, “That bastard really is a pain to deal with!”

The little girl in pink took a glance at her sworn enemy with tightly pursed lips, refusing to say anything.

Chen Ping’an reached out to rest his hand atop the little boy’s head in a warning gesture as he said, “He’s my student.”

The little boy in azure was so terrified that he hurriedly rushed away, while Chen Ping’an continued onward.

It seemed that bad company equated to bad influences as well.

1. I’m not entirely sure, but I think what this is supposed to mean is that the impoverished scholar has never bought a crab due to budgetary limitations, so he’s never actually seen a crab up close and doesn’t know that it’s actually supposed to have eight legs. 👈

2. Cui Chan’s current name is 崔瀺, with 崔 being the surname Cui, while 瀺 means sound of flowing water. His past name was 崔瀺巉, with 巉 (also pronounced chan) meaning tall mountain. 👈