Unsheathed

In the following days, the journey along the dragon channel slowly petered out to a conclusion, and the ship was fast approaching the southern end of the channel.

Having already completed his target of 200,000 repetitions, Chen Ping’an was no longer as strict and stringent in the rest of his fist technique practice, taking a more relaxed approach instead.

The day after his failed attempt to buy wine, he went out during the daytime to buy three jars of wine from the restaurant, with which he was able to fill his Sword Nurturing Gourd. The wine was extremely expensive, and although its flavor was decent, it was not on the same level as the fine brew of Sword Water Villa.

Chen Ping’an removed the two talismans glued to the wall, both of which were made from ordinary azure talisman paper. One of them was a calming talisman that could help Chen Ping’an focus to a certain degree so that he wouldn’t be swayed by outside distractions, and was a commonly used talisman in major Daoist temples of the mortal world during ceremonies.

The other talisman was a cleansing talisman that many powerful officials and renowned scholars of the mortal world liked to request from Daoist temples during the summertime. Not only were these talismans able to release faint spiritual energy, they also had a cleansing effect that eradicated dirt and foul odors, ensuring that the room they were in stayed pristine.

Both talismans were among the most rudimentary talismans recorded in the Authentic Death-Avoiding Book, but despite their basic nature, they had helped Chen Ping’an greatly. Otherwise, the ship owner would never allow him to set foot off the ship!

During the past two months, Chen Ping’an had been practicing his walking meditation day and night in this room, sweating up a storm this entire time, and without the cleansing talisman, the room would have been completely uninhabitable.

Both were disposable talismans, and at this point, they had almost completely run out of spiritual energy, so they were barely any different from two normal sheets of paper. Chen Ping’an was very accustomed to being cautious and keeping a low profile, so he didn’t even discard these used talismans into the river channel, instead stowing them away in his pocket treasure.

These were both key contributors to his 200,000 repetitions, so he couldn’t just throw them away. At the very least, they would serve as good souvenirs.

At this point, Chen Ping’an was all but certain that the stack of talisman paper he had gotten from Li Xisheng, particularly the golden ones and the ancient book pages, were extremely valuable, so he had to use them as sparingly as possible.

A treasure pagoda demon-suppressing talisman inscribed upon a piece of golden talisman paper was able to easily suppress the officials of the Blusher Prefecture that had fallen into demonic ways, and that was sufficient testament to their value. Another example was the golden-armored warrior that one of the top Qi refiners of Water Combing Nation had used as his ultimate trump card. That golden-armored warrior talisman used paper of clearly inferior quality to the golden talisman paper provided by Li Xisheng.

Prior to disembarking from the ship, Chen Ping’an made sure to clean up his room and pack up all of his belongings. After returning the wooden badge for his room, he left the ship with everyone else.

Not far away in front of him was a couple that was conversing with one another, and Chen Ping’an found the woman’s voice very familiar. He took a quick glance in her direction to find that it was a young woman with a mole on the corner of her mouth.

This was the very same woman who had been “suffering” on the ship for the past two months. In Chen Ping’an’s mind, her love for her husband had to be extremely deep and genuine. Otherwise, there was no way that she would’ve been willing to put up with such torment.

During the disembarking process, Chen Ping’an heard many things. For example, someone had captured an extremely rare pair of twin aromatic herb maidens at the Ancient Pond. A single one of these plant spirits would only be worth around a dozen snowflake coins, but a pair of twins like these would set one back at least fifty or sixty.

Over the course of the entire two-month journey, very few of the fishermen were able to fish up even one river dragons the length of two fingers, and no miracles had taken place.

The ship had stopped at quite a few ferry stations on the way to its ultimate destination, and as some of the wealthier Qi refiners were disembarking from the ship, many of their pitiable servants were forced to carry a mountain of large and heavy bags on their backs.

On top of that, they had to be very careful when they walked so that they didn’t damage any of the items inside the bags, many of which extremely precious and worth no less than the carriers’ lives.

The ferry station was quite large, and it was also packed with shops. Here, the wares peddled by the merchants were specialty local products from the cluster of nearby nations. Chen Ping’an had nothing better to do, so he took a stroll through the hops, and inside, he discovered many different types of spirits, most of which were adorable and energetic plant spirits.

Some were in the form of children, some were elderly men and women, and all of them varied in size and appearance. However, even the largest of these spirits was no taller than a finger, and they were either housed in green bamboo cages or standing atop inkstones. There was also a little girl with wings on her back toiling away in front of a tiny spinning wheel, and it seemed that there was no end to the variety on display.

Overhearing some of the bargaining, Chen Ping’an came to find that out that these spirits were similar in nature to the row of tiny green-robed children standing on the branch of that bonsai plant in the green beetle Green Beetle Shop, and their price was determined by their rarity. The cheapest ones only cost a single snowflake coin each, while the most expensive ones could fetch up to fourty snowflake coins.

In the end, Chen Ping’an arrived at a conclusion, which was that the further south he went, the more commonplace these spirits seemed to be.

Chen Ping’an visited all of the shops in the ferry station, but didn’t buy anything. This wasn’t because he was stingy. Instead, he was planning to buy some spirits on the way back to the Great Li Empire from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

After emerging from the underground cave, Chen Ping’an felt as if he were finally seeing the sun again for the first time in a long time. Once again, the entrance of this cave was riddled with engravings from renowned figures, even more than the one at Water Combing Nation ferry station. It was as if all of the engravings were jostling for space, and even the tiniest of spaces had been occupied.

Chen Ping’an carefully examined the engravings on the cave entrance. They were all great pieces of calligraphy that varied in style and flair, but deep down, he still felt as if none of them could compare with Cui Chan’s calligraphy.

Outside the ferry station was a valley with a wide and smooth path that was lined with shops. These shops appeared more grand and opulent than the ones by the ferry station, and the streets were packed with pedestrians, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold. Even the stray dogs laying by the side of the road seemed more at ease and well-fed than stray dogs from elsewhere.

The first thing that came into view was a small three-story building on the left. Hanging above the entrance of the building was a golden plaque that read “Virtuous Maiden Ferry Station”. At this point, Chen Ping’an was already familiar with where he needed to go, and he knew that this was the ferry station where the ship that was bound for Old Dragon City was set to depart.

After entering the ferry station, he made an inquiry at the counter and was informed that the next ship to Old Dragon City was set to arrive at noon, and that a premium room was going to cost twenty snowflake coins, while a standard room cost ten snowflake coins. Chen Ping’an asked if there were any rooms that were cheaper than that, and he was told no such rooms existed on the ship, which belonged to the Mutton Fat Hall.

All of the people in the hall that had overhead Chen Ping’an’s question turned to look at him with derision in their eyes, but he wasn’t embarrassed at all as he paid twenty snowflake coins for a jade pendant, on one side of which was engraved the characters “Mutton Fat Hall”, while “Premium Room 11” was engraved on the other.

This reminded Chen Ping’an of his Chen Shiyi seal, which he had left back at the bamboo building on Downtrodden Mountain, and he felt this to be a good omen. With that in mind, he made his way out of the hall with a cheerful smile on his face. There was still some time left until the ship was scheduled to arrive, so he decided to do some shopping.

He was planning to buy some clothes, but he was going to skip on shoes as he had already grown accustomed to wearing straw sandals over the years, and there were still two brand new pairs left in his pocket treasure.

The shops on the streets here were far more opulent in appearance, but the wares sold inside were much the same as those in the shops elsewhere, consisting primarily of different types of plant spirits. The spirits being sold here were a little cheaper, and Chen Ping’an felt as if he could easily spend all day looking at these adorable little creatures.

However, the fact that he was only looking while making no purchases made him a rather unpopular figure in the eyes of the shopkeepers. Chen Ping’an visited the shops one after another at a leisurely pace, and before long, he arrived at a particularly opulent one. He drew to a halt outside the entrance with a slightly dazed look on his face.

As it turned out, there was a screen roughly the same height as a grown man, and depicted on the screen was an image of a woman with a longsword on her back and a purplish-golden gourd hanging from her waist. She was standing atop a cliff, looking out at a sea of clouds while her elegant dress gently billowed in the wind, giving her the appearance of a pure and untarnished celestial maiden.

This appeared to be an artwork similar to the scenic painting on the Kun ship.

Several people were standing in front of the screen, discussing the visage of the young woman on it with schadenfreude in their voices. Not long ago, Celestial Maiden Su had been one of the most sought-after women under the heavens, possessing pride, beauty, and aptitude in equal measure, yet she had suffered a dramatic fall from grace as a result of the long-standing feud between Wind Lightning Field and Sun Scorch Mountain.

The only time that she had ever worn clothes outside of her sect’s attire was when she fought against evil forces alongside the founder of this shop. At the time, she had donned this exact dress, and in the wake of that battle, this style of dress had taken the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent by storm, with countless female cultivators and wealthy young maidens willing to throw their money at any tailor capable of stitching together such a dress.

“How laughable is it that this shop is still unwilling to remove this screen? If Su Jia were to see this in person, I think she’d be so embarrassed that she’d dig a hole for herself and crawl into it!” a young woman scoffed.

In the crowd was a young Qi refiner who had been an admirer of Su Jia for many years, and he had been reining in his temper this entire time, but was finally unable to suppress his fury any longer. “No matter what has become of Celestial Maiden Su, she’s still a pure and pristine immortal! None of you have any right to badmouth her! Let’s see you say the same thing to her face!”

A middle-aged man retorted with a sly grin, “Before Su Jia had her Dao heart completely obliterated by that disciple of Li Tuanjing’s, I would’ve been glad to even lick the bottom of her shoe, but now… I don’t mean to boast, but if she were to appear before me right now, I would have the courage to squeeze her cheek and wrap my arm around her waist, and what a soft and supple waist that would be…”

The young Qi refiner was so enraged that he began trembling, and he yelled, “Who could’ve possibly given birth to someone as vile and disgusting as you?”

“Who? My parents, of course!” the man replied in a completely shameless manner.

The young cultivators clenched his fists tightly in fury as he glowered intently at the middle-aged man.

The man’s sly grin grew even wider as he provoked, “What, you wanna beat me to death? Do it! If you kill someone here, not only will you be punished, your sect will also be held accountable. If you really admire Su Jia that much, then surely that’s a small price for you to pay! If you don’t beat me to death, then I’m going to feel up Celestial Maiden Su Jia on that screen to my heart’s content!”

The middle-aged man stuck out his head as he spoke, challenging the young cultivator to hit him, and the latter could only walk away with a deflated expression.

The man immediately burst into mocking laughter. “What a pathetic little runt! Don’t go running your mouth if you can’t back it up! Hey, don’t go! Look, I’m feeling up Su Jia right now! Oh, her cheeks are so soft and smooth! What a pretty little lass she is! Celestial Maiden Su my arse! She’s nothing more than a pitiful little wretch with her sword heart shattered! The next time you see her might just be in a brothel!”

The young cultivator quickly departed, not wishing to listen to the man’s infuriating taunts any longer.

Chen Ping’an paid no heed to the bickering outside as he made his way into the shop, then purchased two sets of the most ordinary clothes for thirty taels of silver. This was actually a renowned shop that was doing extremely well for itself in the southern region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and was only one of the shop’s hundreds of branches.

Even so, it took only a rough glance for a complete novice like Chen Ping’an to determine that the shop’s most prized piece of merchandise, a certain robe, possessed defensive properties that weren’t inferior to Chu Hao’s suit of Divine Dewbearing Armor.

Even after Chen Ping’an had emerged from the shop, the man was still there. A new group of bystanders had gathered around him, among which there were both men and women, and they were standing in front of the screen. Most of the men had wistful looks in their eyes, while the women were more than happy to see Su Jia’s downfall, thereby creating a rather stark contrast in attitudes.

The middle-aged man was going through his spiel once again, and hearing him speak about Su Jia in such a vulgar fashion was a very cathartic experience for all of the envious women gathered around him. Even though they knew that he was a scumbag, upon learning that he was the shopkeeper of the neighboring shop, they still suggested to their male companions to pay the shop a visit.

The men were naturally vehemently opposed to this, and instead of visiting his shop, they wanted nothing more than to beat the man senseless!

While it was true that the man was very much lacking in morality, he was a shrewd businessman, and the more people gathered around him, the more scathing his insults of Su Jia became. The women around him were also quite clever. They didn’t want to make themselves look bad, so they never agreed with what the man was saying.

Instead, they would rebuke him here and there, making it appear as if they were against him, but in reality, they were just fanning the flames. The man was naturally more than happy to oblige, and his insults became more and more vile by the second, much to the elation of the women, who were glancing at their male companions out of the corners of their eyes, as if they were gloating: “See how far your beloved Su Jia has fallen? Do you still admire her now?”

The man was becoming more and more animated, and emboldened by the indirect support he was receiving from these women, he made his way over to the screen, then waved his hand back and forth over it to simulate slapping the life-like visage of Su Jia on it while continuing to hurl more insults at her.

Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but think of how Liu Baqiao was back at the small town while speaking of Su Jia.

Out of all of the outsiders who had entered Jewel Small World in search of opportunities and treasures, Liu Baqiao was the one of the few people who had left a positive impression on Chen Ping’an.

The thing that moved Chen Ping’an the most about Liu Baqiao wasn’t his status as a prodigious swordsman of Wind Lightning Field, nor was it the masculine pride that he always spoke with when talking about how someday, he was going to make Su Jia marry him of her own volition.

Someone had then raised an unexpected question: “What if Su Jia really does set aside the differences between your two sects and fall in love with you someday? What will you do then?”

The question had left Liu Baqiao completely stumbled, and in the end, he had mumbled a response. “How could she possibly fall in love with me?”

Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but be reminded of himself upon hearing this response.

For the sake of Liu Baqiao’s pure and devoted love for Su Jia, Chen Ping’an decided that he had to do something. Thus, he made his way over to the screen and began to stare at the middle-aged man.

The man was just about to take the women around him to visit his shop, only for Chen Ping’an to suddenly appear in his way, and a disgruntled look appeared on his face as he asked, “What the hell are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at you,” Chen Ping’an replied.

“Oh yeah? Keep looking at me if you dare!” the man threatened.

“I will,” Chen Ping’an replied with a nod.

Even the young women who sorely detested Su Jia couldn’t help but be amused by this exchange, and they were quite interested to see what was going to happen next.

The sect that the women had come from was quite close to Sun Scorch Mountain, so they would often catch glimpses of the mountain from afar, and it stood like an insurmountable monolith in their eyes.

When it came to the prized jewel of Sun Scorch Mountain, she was greatly admired by all of the men in their sect, who refused to allow anyone to speak ill of their goddess. It was only now that Su Jia had fallen from grace and they were far away from their sect that they were able to vent some of their longstanding and deep-rooted envy.

A furious look appeared on the man’s face. “Do you have a death wish?”

Chen Ping’an shook his head in response.

“Then what the hell are you doing, standing here like an idiot?!” the man yelled. “I’ll have you know that my family has been doing business here for generations, and I know more powerful immortals than the number of meals you’ve had in your life!”

In response to the man’s blatant threats, Chen Ping’an suddenly replied, “Liu Baqiao of Wind Lightning Field likes Su Jia.”

The man was very much taken aback to hear this, and was momentarily at a loss for words.

“I know Liu Baqiao,” Chen Ping’an continued.

The man took a glance at the sword case on Chen Ping’an’s back as he gulped nervously, while Chen Ping’an concluded, “If I run into Liu Baqiao someday, I’ll tell him about what you’ve said and done here.”