Unsheathed

Chapter 165(2): (2): If Chen Ping’an were Here

Generally speaking, someone like him, who had inherited his noble title, would stay out of the imperial court’s affairs and very rarely make appearances in the morning assembly unless there was something very important being discussed.

This was an unspoken rule of the imperial court, yet on this day, several high-ranking officials, including Pillar General Han, had suggested that it was best for him to participate in the morning assembly. After all, the matter that was going to be discussed concerned him as well.

Several of the officials present rose to their feet in unison to apologize, but the emperor raised his hand with a smile to cut them off, then gestured for them to sit down again as he said, “There’s no need to stand up, just remain seated. I didn’t gather all of you today to levy accusations or assign blame to anyone.

“Instead, I just want to hear some concrete information about what’s been going on, rather than hearing all these unsubstantiated rumors. All of the children in the imperial classrooms, including Xuan’er, have constantly been discussing this topic recently, and they’ve completely neglected their studies as a result.

“Their teacher has been complaining to me, saying that if they’re so interested in the gossip surrounding Mountain Cliff Academy, then they should go study there instead!” [1]

The head minister of the Ministry of Rites was the shortest one out of all of the officials present, but he was also the highest-ranking official, and he gave the emperor an objective and unbiased recount of the recent events that had transpired.

“So if I’m understanding this correctly, Elder Mao himself has explicitly said that we should stay out of these altercations between children, is that correct?” the emperor asked with a smile.

“That is indeed the case,” the head minister replied with a nod.

“I see,” the emperor replied, then fell into deep thought.

Of course, none of the officials present were so naive as to believe that the emperor truly had no idea of what had been happening. The spies of Great Sui Nation certainly weren’t that incompetent.

The secret yearly expenditure that Great Sui Nation’s Ministry of Revenue had to make just to deal with the spies of the Great Li Empire was an astronomical sum, so one would be foolish to think that the Great Sui Nation’s intelligence network wasn’t well-funded.

In fact, if the emperor of the Lu Empire hadn’t been so conceited and had trusted the intelligence provided to him by Great Sui Nation, perhaps the Lu Empire would’ve ultimately still fallen, but it definitely wouldn’t have fallen so quickly. In the wake of the Lu Empire’s speedy demise, all of the officials in Great Sui Nation’s imperial court were cursing the Lu Empire’s emperor and officials as incompetent and arrogant idiots.

Even the scholarly officials were being extremely harsh with their criticism, so one could imagine just how scathing an assessment the military officials of Great Sui Nation had toward the Lu Empire.

After a brief silence, the emperor of Great Sui Nation turned to all of the officials in the room with a smile as he said, “In that case, let’s put an end to this matter here. Perhaps none of the children have any bad intentions, but even so, these are still physical altercations, and there needs to be a limit on how far things can be allowed to go.”

The first half of the emperor’s statement had been virtually identical to what Mao Xiaodong had said about this matter.

With that, the meeting drew to a conclusion, and the emperor asked the minister of the Ministry of Rites to stay behind.

The emperor rose to his feet, then crouched down beside the fire brazier to personally move the coals inside the brazier around with a metal poker. The eunuch that was standing outside didn’t step in to perform the menial task in the emperor’s stead, and the head minister didn’t seem to have regarded this as strange in any way.

The emperor set down the metal poker, then extended his hands over the fiery coals as he said, “Looking back across history, pressure on an empire has never come exclusively from neighboring enemy nations. Instead, it also comes from the empire’s own officials, who claim to be loyal to their emperor and vow to protect their nation.”

The head minister gulped nervously upon hearing this, and sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead.

A self-deprecating smile appeared on the emperor’s face, and he turned to beckon to the head minister, who hurriedly ran over to the emperor before also crouching down in front of the fire brazier in a slightly awkward manner.

The emperor smiled as he asked, “Why is the Great Li Empire in such a hurry to continue its southern expansion? Lake View Academy’s attitude was originally quite ambiguous, and they were unwilling to make any commitments, but now, they’re even more anxious than we are.

As for that young man by the name of Li Changying, Lake View Academy was constantly stalling for time, intentionally refraining from awarding him the noble person title, yet I’ve heard that there are now even calls within the academy to award Li Changying with the virtuous person title. Isn’t that funny?”

This was a question that the head minister couldn’t answer no matter what, and he was feeling even more uneasy.

“If Head Minister Ma or any of the other head ministers were in your place, they wouldn’t be anywhere near as uneasy as you are right now. All of them would be able to face me with their heads held high, so do you know why I ultimately assigned you to become the mountain master of Mountain Cliff Academy instead of any of them?” the emperor asked.

The head minister replied in a quiet voice, “Because I’m the least scholarly one out of all of the head ministers. With me serving as the mountain master of Mountain Cliff Academy, you won’t have to worry about me colluding with Mao Xiaodong.”

“That’s Elder Mao to you,” the emperor reminded.

“Ah yes, Elder Mao,” the head minister hurriedly corrected himself in a fearful manner.

The emperor nodded as he murmured to himself, “I’m willing to give the same amount of respect to Elder Mao as the Great Li Empire did to Mr. Qi, and that’s the main difference between me and that barbaric emperor of the Great Li Empire.”

The head minister opened his mouth to say something, but the emperor shook his head with a smile as he continued, “However, that difference between us isn’t going to serve much of a purpose.”

At this point, the head minister was in a state of complete panic.

The emperor very rarely spoke to his subordinates like this, and this was the only second time in his life that the head minister had been spoken to like this, with the first occasion being 10 years ago, when he had unexpectedly been assigned the role of head minister.

“Of course it’s important for all scholars to possess lofty morals and virtuous qualities, but just those things alone may not be enough to rule over a nation,” the emperor sighed.

The head minister didn’t dare to remain silent any longer, so he could only muster up some courage and reply, “Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Your Majesty.”

The emperor turned to him with a smile as he said, “You’re a great subordinate in all areas, but the one problem with you is that you’re excessively cautious. From now on, stop doing things to intentionally defile your own reputation. You think I don’t know what your sons and daughters are like?

“None of them would have the malice or the courage required to forcibly take over the private land of our citizens. Your youngest son, in particular, is an exceptionally bright young man, and I’m sure he’d be able to put up an outstanding performance in the imperial examination, so why do you insist on suppressing his talents?”

The head minister’s lips began to quiver, and he gritted his teeth as he rose to his feet, then fell to his knees as he said, “This is the only way that someone as incompetent as myself can think of to help lessen your burden!”

The emperor helped the head minister to his feet as he said in a warm voice, “There are many people in the imperial court who denounce you as an incompetent official with compromised principles, but in my opinion, officials like you are truly indispensable pillars of Great Sui Nation!”

The tears that the head minister had been fighting back this entire time instantly spilled over, and all of the indignation that he had suppressed over the past decade was instantly erased as he fell to his knees once again. “How fortunate I am to be serving such a shrewd and kind emperor!”

The emperor gave the head minister a playful kick as he chuckled, “You’re the head minister of the Ministry of Rites, don’t go crawling around on your knees like a child! You’re making a fool out of yourself!”

Only then did the head minister rise to his feet, and he hurriedly wiped a hand across his face as he apologized, “My sincerest apologies for this embarrassing display, Your Majesty.”

“You can go now,” the emperor said with a dismissive wave of his hand as he sat back down, and the head minister immediately departed.

The emperor then pulled a Confucian classic out of a small pile of books, and as he flipped through the book’s pages, he suddenly asked in a casual voice, “I heard that there are many strange types of wind in the world, one of which is the book flipping wind, is that right?”

The emperor was speaking in a very quiet voice, but the tall eunuch standing outside was still able to hear him, and he replied, “That is indeed the case, Your Majesty. No one has been able to find the origins of this wind, and the only thing that’s known about it is that it likes to read books from all time periods, both old and new.

“The wind is extremely faint, making it undetectable even to the average cultivator. If someone can guide it into their body, then the wind will slowly flow throughout their internal organs, and the host will be able to extend their lifespan by regularly reading books.”

“That’s remarkable!” the emperor exclaimed as he raised his head. “Is this wind present in our Great Sui Nation?”

The old eunuch shook his head in response. “The book flipping wind has always been present exclusively in Confucian schools and academies and can’t be found anywhere else. Even Daoist sects such as Wind Snow Temple and True Martial Mountain are completely devoid of book flipping wind.”

“The world is truly full of wonders. It’s just a pity that I’m an emperor, and I’m unable to freely explore this marvelous world of ours,” the emperor sighed.

The old eunuch smiled as he said, “That may be misfortunate for you, but it’s immensely fortunate for all of the people of Great Sui Nation.”

The emperor was very pleased to hear this and immediately burst into laughter.

He then set down the book in his hands as he suddenly asked, “Should I send Gao Xuan to go study at Mountain Cliff Academy?”

The old eunuch immediately shook his head without any hesitation. “The trip that we took to Jewel Small World was quite a perilous one, but the rewards that he reaped were also extremely bountiful. His Highness has claimed two enormous pieces of fortune for himself, and there’s no longer any need to seek out an education.

Furthermore, the fact that His Highness had the courage to agree to travel into the heart of an enemy nation with me is a massive blessing in itself, and it’ll be sure to take him far on his pursuit of the Great Dao.”

The emperor nodded in response as he sighed, “When you put it that way, Xuan’er is more fortunate than I am.”

The emperor then massaged his own temples with a weary expression as he continued, “Having said that, Zhen’er was nowhere near as fortunate. His mother finally managed to convince him to claim his own territory as a prince, and it should’ve been an event that was worthy of celebration, but it turned into a source of lasting trauma instead.

“Gao Xuan proclaimed himself to be Gao Zhen while in Jewel Small World, and that girl that you almost killed descended from the heavens with several sword immortals from another continent to seek vengeance against Zhen’er. In the end, she realized that she had the wrong person and swiftly apologized before departing, but Zhen’er has always had a very timid personality, and he was truly frightened by that ordeal.”

“I am to blame for this. If I had known that this would happen, then I wouldn’t have acted so rashly and tried to kill that girl in Jewel Small World.”

The old eunuch extended a slight bow with a guilty look on his face as he spoke.

The emperor waved a hand in response. “It’s not your fault, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Speaking of which, have you managed to find out the true identity of that girl?”

The old eunuch shook his head in response. “That’s proving to be quite a difficult task. All we know is that she’s from Stalactite Mountain, and she may even have ties with the Sword Qi Great Wall, so she’s definitely going to be trouble.”

The emperor heaved a faint sigh. “It’s no surprise that you weren’t able to find anything concrete. After all, those swordsmen aren’t even from this continent, and anything that concerns Stalactite Mountain and the Sword Qi Great Wall is always shrouded in mystery. Those two places have always been considered to be taboo in our world. The world is truly vast, and there’s more than one world under the heavens.”

————

At the moment, Lin Shouyi was living on his own in a dormitory, and all of his previous dorm mates, who were local students from Great Sui Nation, had moved elsewhere.

On this day, the dormitory was a bit more crowded than normal.

Lin Shouyi was resting against his pillow with his eyes closed, while Li Baoping was seated at the foot of the bed with a dark expression while holding her Auspicious Talisman saber.

Li Huai was standing somewhere further away, looking as if he wanted to cry, but didn’t dare to do so.

In the end, he mustered up some courage, then stepped forward as he suggested, “How about I go and apologize to those three? Everyone in the academy says that Li Changying is a Confucian virtuous person that even the emperor of Great Sui Nation holds in high regard, and he’s an immortal of the Middle Five Tiers, so there’s no way we’ll be a match for him.”

Li Baoping immediately erupted into a thunderous rage like a cat that had had its tail trodden on, and she turned to glower fiercely at Li Huai as she snapped, “Apologize for what? How is it that you’ve read so many books, yet you don’t even know right from wrong? If Mr. Qi and Junior Uncle were here, they’d be furious with you!”

Li Huai was greatly startled by Li Baoping’s furious outburst, but instead of running away to cry, he stood up for himself for once as he protested, “It’s all my fault that Lin Shouyi was injured! I know that this isn’t going to be the end of this matter.

“I’m not afraid of being beaten to death, but what am I going to do if something happens to you? If Chen Ping’an finds out that you were injured because of me, he’d resent me for the rest of his life, and he won’t ever talk to me again!”

Li Huai finally burst into tears here, and no matter how vigorously he wiped at his own eyes, there were simply too many tears for him to wipe clean.

Li Baoping was about to continue her scathing tirade, but the sight of the distraught Li Huai had her swallowing her words, and she said in a sullen voice, “You’re not at fault in this matter, so you don’t have to apologize, Li Huai. None of us are at fault, so even if I get swept up in all of this, Junior Uncle wouldn’t blame you for anything.”

She then turned to Li Huai with a resolute expression as she continued, “If Junior Uncle were here, he would also tell you that you’re not at fault!”

The thought of Chen Ping’an made Li Huai feel even more dejected, and he crouched down onto the ground as he sobbed into his own knees. “This academy is full of bad people! If Chen Ping’an were here, he definitely wouldn’t have allowed Lin Shouyi to get hurt, and he wouldn’t have allowed those nasty people to speak to you like that…”

Lin Shouyi’s entire body was giving off the aroma of medicinal herbs, and he heaved a faint sigh as a wry smile appeared on his face.

He knew that there had to have been people fanning the flames behind the scenes. He couldn’t fathom all of the complex matters taking place in the imperial court and in the wealthy clans of the capital city, but he had a feeling that if Chen Ping’an really had stayed at the academy with them, then things would’ve most likely been escalated even further.

Even so, at the very least, the three of them definitely wouldn’t have felt so lost and confused. Without Chen Ping’an, they had lost their psychological pillar of support, so nothing that they did felt right.

They were simply too used to having Chen Ping’an by their side.

During these past few days in which Lin Shouyi had been laying in bed, he had thought about many things.

Only now did Lin Shouyi come to understand just how heavy a burden Chen Ping’an had carried during all of the important decisions that he had made on the journey to Great Sui Nation, such as that time on Go Table Mountain, the ordeal concerning the female ghost in the wedding dress, and the assassination attempt from Zhu Lu.

He also came to realize just how wearisome and vexing all of those seemingly inconsequential decisions were, decisions such as who was going to cook on which day, who was going to be on nightly lookout duty, which route they were going to take, and which attractions that they had to visit along their journey.

All of a sudden, an amused voice rang out from outside. “What’s gotten our mighty General Li Huai crying like this?”

Lin Shouyi opened his eyes with a smile as he said, “You came.”

Li Baoping also turned to the familiar figure outside with a conflicted look on her face.

Li Huai turned to stare at Xie Xie for a moment, then buried his face in his knees once again and continued to sob.

Xie Xie leaned against the doorframe as she shrugged and said, “If you can’t beat them, then just suffer in silence. What’s the big deal?”

Li Baoping wanted to say something, but decided against it in the end.

Xie Xie heaved a faint sigh as she said, “I can’t do anything. Even if you lend me that blade of yours, I still won’t be able to beat Li Changying.”

With that in mind, a hint of frustration welled up in her heart. If it weren’t for the fact that the majority of her cultivation base was sealed by those vicious Dragon Restricting Nails, there was no way that she would’ve had any trouble against someone like Li Changying.

All of a sudden, Xie Xie turned in a certain direction with a surprised look on her face.

As it turned out, someone else had arrived at the scene, and it was none other than Yu Lu. There was a faint smile on his face, and his gaze roamed over Xie Xie, Li Huai, Li Baoping, and Lin Shouyi one after another as he chuckled, “Don’t blame me for coming so late. Prior to this, I thought all of you would be able to deal with this on your own, so I decided not to intervene.”

Lin Shouyi closed his eyes once again, clearly not very fond of Yu Lu.

Yu Lu wasn’t bothered by this, but his smile faded as he said, “I came here to ask all of you a question: What would Chen Ping’an do if he were here?”

Li Huai recalled the events that had taken place on the boat on Embroidered Flower River upon hearing this question, and he replied in a quiet voice, “Chen Ping’an would definitely try to reason with those people.”

An excited look appeared on Li Baoping’s face as she chimed in, “If he discovers that those people refuse to listen to reason, then he would punch some sense into them!”

The corners of Lin Shouyi’s lips curved up slightly, but he didn’t say anything.

Yu Lu nodded in response. “I see. In that case, I know what I need to do now.”

He then turned and departed in a casual manner.

“What are you going to do?” Xie Xie asked as her brows furrowed slightly.

Yu Lu waved at her as he continued on his way, and he replied, “On the way here, it’s always been Chen Ping’an on lookout duty for the first half of the night, while I take over for the second half, and I plan to continue that tradition.”

Li Huai had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Li Baoping’s eyes widened as she turned to Lin Shouyi and asked, “He’s not going to pick a fight with Li Changying, is he?”

“I don’t think so,” Lin Shouyi replied in an uncertain manner.

“But I feel like that’s exactly what he’s going to do,” Xie Xie mused as she raised an eyebrow.

————

Li Changying enjoyed reading, and he was also very good at reading. Not only did he have an exceptional memory, he was always able to extrapolate extra information from the things that he read, thereby making him an excellent student and scholar.

Hence, the brand new scripture library of Mountain Cliff Academy was the place that he enjoyed frequenting the most.

There was no nightly curfew at the scripture library, and on this day, Li Changying was reading a book under candlelight late at night when he suddenly raised his head with a smile and asked, “You’re Yu Lu, right? Do you have some business with me?”

“I do,” Yu Lu replied with a smile and a nod.

Li Changying rose to his feet in a graceful manner as he smiled and prompted, “Please go ahead.”

Yu Lu extended a hand out of his sleeve, then tossed a pouch that was full of silver to Li Changying.

“What’s this?” Li Changying asked with a perplexed expression, and at the same time, a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

Yu Lu had always given everyone the impression of a harmless and well-mannered young man, but at this moment, even though his warm smile remained unchanged, he appeared somewhat menacing for some reason.

“That’s to cover your medical fees. If it’s not enough, then I’ll have to pay you the rest at a later date.”

1. In Chinese, there’s a convention of taking the final character of someone’s name, then adding “er” (儿) to the end to make it a pet name. In this case, Xuan’er is referring to Gao Xuan, the prince of Great Sui Nation. 👈