Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an had faith in his own instincts.

As the two of them continued to travel together, 20 days quickly passed by, and their journey continued to progress quite smoothly without a hitch. During this time, Chen Ping’an and Zhang Shan had also grown closer and closer with one another, to the point that Chen Ping’an would begin practicing his six-step walking meditation in front of Zhang Shan without any inhibitions, and whenever they took some time to rest, he would practice his seated meditation.

As for Zhang Shan, he was coincidentally cultivating the Five Lightning Righteous Technique, which Chen Ping’an was obviously not unfamiliar with. During his cultivation, Zhang Shan would often adopt strange poses, such as standing on one leg while pounding a certain acupoint on his abdomen with a tightly clenched fist and whistling in a rhythmic fashion.

At other times, he would press a finger against the arteries in his neck while the index and middle finger of his other hand would be held together. At the same time, his mouth would be tightly shut as he made a humming sound akin to rolling thunder deep in the pit of his stomach.

This was the first time that Chen Ping’an had ever met anyone who was every bit as diligent and conscientious in their cultivation as he was, and that was most likely the main reason why they were able to get along so well.

Not only were they willing to put in the hard yards, they reveled in the process.

Occasionally, the two of them would seek out some shelter at night in an ancient temple or a cave, and they would light a fire. Over the campfire, Zhang Shan would tell Chen Ping’an stories about how formidable the swordsmen of Complete Reed Continent were and how Daoist priests were discriminated against. The same treasure or spirit tool could be sold to a swordsman for only 10 light snow coins, but the price would be doubled for a Daoist priest.

Even the timid and mild-manner Zhang Shan couldn’t help but grow a little disgruntled when he talked about this, and an extremely rare look of anger would appear on his face. He also declared that if it were possible, he would definitely do something to change this state of affairs.

After learning that Chen Ping’an was a martial artist, Zhang Shan had actually felt quite perplexed. If Qi refinement were considered to be the most costly endeavor under the heavens, then practicing martial arts was most definitely the undisputed second-most expensive pursuit, one that also ate up an enormous amount of money and resources. Ever since leaving Mount Longhu, Zhang Shan hadn’t lived a single day in comfort or luxury.

Whenever he did manage to acquire any money or resources, he would reluctantly exchange them for life-saving talismans or a suitable demon subduing treasure or two. Even the simplest divine movement talisman could allow him to make a swift escape if he were to ever come across a great demon, quickly taking him several kilometers away.

However, just a single one of those talismans cost 30 snowflake coins, and a single snowflake coin was worth at least 100 taels of silver. This meant that if Zhang Shan had grown up in a mortal family, then he would’ve had to earn at least 3,000 taels of silver just to be able to purchase a single divine movement talisman.

As a third tier Qi refiner, Zhang Shan had embarked on an arduous southbound journey across Complete Reed Continent, which was absolutely rife with swordsmen, and he had nothing to rely on but his rather lackluster abilities. The majority of the demons that he had subdued had actually been nothing more than wandering spirits, while the fiends that he had eradicated had mostly consisted of lost ghosts that were still yet to attain intelligence.

Earning money had been very difficult for him, and at times, he would even lose money if he were to encounter a formidable second tier demon. The truly lucrative jobs were Liberation Rites of Water and Land, weddings, and funerals. In particular, events that required the presence of a large number of Daoist priests were always the best source of income, but they were always few and far-between.

Hence, after hearing about how Daoism was much more revered and respected on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent than on Complete Reed Continent, he had made up his mind to travel southward to the former to see if he could find some opportunities for himself, but he had almost starved to death not long after he got on the Kun ship, and that had severely dampened his enthusiasm for this journey to Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Ancient Elm Nation wasn’t a very large nation, and it didn’t take long before the two of them crossed over the border to arrive in Colorful Garment Nation. As they were traveling one night, they encountered a heavy storm.

At the time, they had been in a secluded mountain range, and what was rather strange was that even after traveling for close to 10 kilometers through that mountain range, they still weren’t able to find a single suitable place to take shelter in.

The area was riddled with jagged rocks and steep cliff faces, and the occasional large trees that they came across had all wilted, while the rare living trees that they encountered were far too small to provide any meaningful shelter. Hence, they were forced to brave the heavy rain, which was pelting them with relentless force.

Inside the bamboo building on Downtrodden Mountain, Chen Ping’an’s physical constitution had been honed to an extreme extent, so he was naturally completely unbothered by this. However, Zhang San had only recently reached the third tier, and Qi refiners weren’t as physically hardy as pure martial artists to begin with, so his lips had turned blue, while his complexion had become deathly pale.

Chen Ping’an knew that if things were to continue like this, even if Zhang Shan could make it through the night, he was definitely going to fall so ill the next day that he wouldn’t be able to travel at all.

Chen Ping’an stopped in his tracks, then laid a hand onto Zhang Shan’s shoulder before instructing him to remain still on the spot and try to maintain a stable rhythm in his breathing to the best of his abilities, having to yell over the sound of the heavy rain as he did so. In the meantime, he would go ahead on his own to find shelter, and regardless of the outcome of his search, he would return to Zhang Shan’s side within 15 minutes.

Zhang Shan faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he was already in a rather dazed and disoriented state. He said something in response, but his voice was so feeble that Chen Ping’an couldn’t hear him at all over the sound of the rain. He could see Zhang Shan’s condition deteriorating by the minute, and he knew that he couldn’t allow Zhang Shan to be exposed to the elements any longer.

With that in mind, Chen Ping’an didn’t hesitate any longer, giving Zhang Shan a reassuring smile before quickly trudging off on his own.

Meanwhile, Zhang Shan sat down with his legs crossed and tried to ward off the cold to the best of his abilities.

For Qi refiners, the Lower Five Tiers were also known as the Mountain Ascending Five Tiers, and it involved drawing upon the external spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine the body. The first and second tiers were called the Copper Skin Tier and the Grass Root Tier, and during those tiers, Qi refiners attained more resilient bodies and more abundant vitality.

Theoretically speaking, no matter how heavy a storm was, a Qi refiner of the Willow Tendon Tier should’ve been able to ward off the cold, seeing as they were already able to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine their tendons and bones.

However, as a disciple of Mount Longhu, Zhang Shan was influenced by the talismanic branch of Daoist cultivation, which relied more on external objects, like divine movement talismans and peach wood swords. As a result, his physical refinement was rather lacking, and this storm was particularly heavy and punishing, so the True Qi in his body was being sapped away at a rapid rate.

Zhang Shan’s vision was quite blurry due to the heavy rainfall and his feeble condition, and he was internally debating whether he should take off his bags and consume a Qi replenishing pill from his clay vial. However, even the cheapest Yang Restoration Pill still cost an entire snowflake coin, and he couldn’t bear to waste one like this, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere, hoping that Chen Ping’an would return soon with good news.

Having embarked on the path of cultivation, one had to be prepared to suffer as cultivators did.

Those in the mortal world often romanticized the pursuit of cultivation by seeing it through rose-tinted glasses, but in reality, it was an extremely arduous journey that was fraught with suffering and hardships.

After quickly walking out of Zhang Shan’s line of sight, Chen Ping’an didn’t conceal his third tier cultivation base any longer, forging ahead at a rapid speed.

He spotted yet another wilted tree up ahead with only its bare branches remaining, and after completing a run-up of a few steps, he ran his way up the trunk of the tree, then grabbed onto one of its decaying branches, using it to launch himself upward. The branch quickly snapped before falling to the ground, but at this point, Chen Ping’an had already launched himself up into the air and landed higher up the tree.

He cast his gaze forward, and he spotted a small hill in the distance. He squatted down slightly before launching himself off the branch that he was standing on, and the entire tree toppled to the ground behind him while he flew through the air.

He was flying diagonally downward, and he landed at the speed of an arrow. He reached out to break his fall with his hands, sending mud and water splashing in all directions. Then, he somersaulted forward, and as soon as his feet landed on the ground, he launched himself forward once again while maintaining a low center of gravity, moving in an extremely quick and agile fashion.

It didn’t take long before he reached that small hill, yet even after scaling to the top of the hill, he was still unable to spot any shelter from his new vantage point. This was rather vexing to Chen Ping’an, and he was beginning to consider chopping down some branches on the way back to set up a makeshift tent. However, given Zhang Shan’s current condition, even if he could take shelter in a tent, he would most likely still end up falling ill anyway if a fire couldn’t be lit.

At this point, Chen Ping’an was beginning to grow quite perplexed. It was very strange for such a large area in a mountain range to be so featureless and completely devoid of shelter. He had traveled across many types of terrain in the past, but never had he encountered a place that was quite so withered and bleak.

If they had been in a sinister graveyard, then perhaps this would’ve been fitting, but why was it that even the rain that was falling here was so much colder than the rain elsewhere?

Right as Chen Ping’an was planning to return the same way he had come to get back to Zhang Shan, he suddenly spotted a glimmer of light in the distance, right at the limits of his visual abilities. The glimmer of light was slowly moving northward, swaying gently in the rain like a small raft bobbing up and down in a turbulent sea, looking as if it could capsize and be snuffed out at any moment.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Ping’an memorized the direction that the glimmer of light was moving in, then quickly turned around and returned to Zhang Shan’s side. After helping Zhang Shan to his feet, he told him that there was someone else who was also traveling through the night up ahead, and that he planned to catch up to them. If they were from the local area, perhaps they would know where they could find some shelter.

Zhang Shan was slightly reinvigorated upon hearing this, and Chen Ping’an immediately slung him onto his back before rushing into the night.

Even though he was carrying a locust wood sword case on his back along with Zhang Shan, he was still able to run through the stormy night at a remarkable speed, traversing the mountain terrain as if it were flat ground.

Zhang Shan was rowing drowsier by the second, while the glimmer of light up ahead was growing brighter and brighter.

Chen Ping’an slowed down slightly as he cast his gaze forward to find that there were two other people walking side by side in the rain up ahead. It was a pair of young men who appeared to be scholars, with bookcases on their backs.

One of them was holding a large umbrella, while the other was holding a lit torch, and even though they appeared to be just as impoverished as Chen Ping’an’s duo, they were clearly in far better spirits, smiling as they chatted amicably with one another. It was as if they found the storm to be something that was worthy of celebration rather than a bothersome thing that was slowing their progress.

Furthermore, neither of them seemed to have detected the approaching Chen Ping’an, and he was put slightly at ease upon seeing this.

Here in the stormy wilderness, any abnormal occurrences definitely spelled bad news, and if anything were to go wrong, he couldn’t just abandon Zhang Shan, so a hard battle would surely follow.

From some distance away, Chen Ping’an yelled out to the pair of traveling scholars up ahead in the official dialect of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but the two of them continued onward, seemingly having failed to hear him.

Chen Ping’an was quite relieved to see this. Given their limited hearing capabilities, even if those two were Qi refiners or demonic beings, they couldn’t have been all that powerful. Of course, that was under the assumption they weren’t intentionally hiding their powers.

Only when Chen Ping’an had reached within 20 paces of the pair of scholars did they finally notice him, and they hurriedly stopped in their tracks and beckoned to him.

After a brief conversation, one of the scholars from Colorful Garment Nation took a sympathetic glance at the deathly pale Zhang Shan, then pointed in a certain direction as he said, “Traveling is one of my greatest hobbies, and I often go on long journeys alone.

“While it’s true that this place is quite barren and desolate, I do recall that there’s a courtyard around two kilometers away. There’s a very good chance that it was built by a hermit, and that’s exactly where Brother Liu and I are heading right now, so you can come with us if you’d like.

The other umbrella-bearing scholar chimed in with a wry smile, “We were originally camping on a hill about half a kilometer away, and we were caught completely off guard by this storm. If it isn’t for the fact that Brother Chu knows his way around these parts really well, I would’ve been in huge trouble on my own.”

Chen Ping’an hurriedly expressed his thanks to the pair of scholars.

Despite the fact that they had only just met, the umbrella-bearing scholar was willing to hold his umbrella over Zhang Shan, even at the expense of exposing himself to the rain, and he quickly began to shiver from the cold.

Even though the oil used in the torch wasn’t just any ordinary oil, it was still unable to withstand the direct rainfall, and without the cover provided by the umbrella, it was quickly snuffed out, but the scholar couldn’t bear to toss it away, so he could only hold it in his arms.

With the torch snuffed out, the scholar could only rely on the brief flashes of lightning and his memory to try and find the way forward.

After a while, they really did arrive at a courtyard.

It resembled the estate of a moderately wealthy clan in the city, with a pair of rather petite stone lions on either side of the gates. However, for some unknown reason, there were no couplets hanging outside, nor were there any door gods on the gates.

In any case, at the very least, they had an eave under which they could take shelter and catch their breath.

After folding up his umbrella, the scholar began to pound vigorously on the gate. It was rude to be pounding on someone’s door at night like this, but given the urgency of the situation, it couldn’t be helped.

Only after a long while had passed did the gate swing open, and it coincided with a flash of lightning in the sky, momentarily illuminating a gaunt and terrifying face.

The scholar was so frightened by the sight of this face that he stumbled back and almost fell onto his backside.

It was the face of an elderly woman, and its shadows were significantly exaggerated by the flash of lightning. Even Chen Ping’an, who had seen many demons and spirits up to this point, was given quite a fright, so the scholar certainly couldn’t be faulted for his reaction.

All of a sudden, it occurred to everyone that it may not necessarily be safer or warmer in the courtyard than it was outside.