Unsheathed

The Dust Medicinal Shop was tucked away deep in the small alley, like a fearful child hiding from a scolding, and the female employees had nothing to do all day aside from dealing with their shopkeeper’s unwelcome advances. The shop did barely any business, and even the female employees themselves were rather perplexed about exactly why they had been hired.

While it was true that they had to deal with the shopkeeper’s constant flirting and ogling, he never actually did anything that crossed the line, and they were paid their wages in full and on time every single month, so they were certainly more than happy to while away the hours at the medicinal shop.

In any case, it wasn’t like they were going to lose any meat from being ogled at by the shopkeeper. In fact, this was quite a high-paying and low-stress job, and as a result, their living conditions and appetites had all improved, so most of them had actually gained weight, much to their chagrin.

On this day, Zheng Dafeng received another spoken message, which had been sent to him by a Yin god that he had left Jewel Small World with. Regardless of how Zheng Dafeng tried to befriend or goad the Yin god, the latter stoically refused to reveal their cultivation base, so Zheng Dafeng remained completely oblivious to just how powerful they were.

Old Man Yang had instructed the Yin god to tell Zheng Dafeng two things, the first of which was that Chen Ping’an’s True Qi Eight Tael Talismans were already broken, so there was no need for him to remove them. The second thing was that the Dao mentor and Dao guardian were both in Old Dragon City, so he had to be vigilant.

The first thing was easy to understand, but the second thing had been conveyed very vaguely by Old Man Yang, and before Zheng Dafeng had a chance to ask any questions, the Yin god had already vanished.

Zheng Dafeng was left completely perplexed, and he sat down onto the doorstep of the medicinal shop with an absentminded expression. This had always been weighing on his mind. Old Man Yang had admitted that he was Zheng Dafeng and Li Er’s master, but he wasn’t their Dao mentor.

Instead, he was the Dao mentor of Li Er’s daughter, Li Liu. As for the identity of the Dao guardian, Zheng Dafeng was currently serving as Dao guardian to that young boy from the Fan Clan. He had to ensure that the boy progressed smoothly past his third tier bottleneck, and from there, he had to assist the boy in reaching the Spirit Refining Tiers.

Old Man Yang’s attitude toward Chen Ping’an was also rather vague, but there was one thing that Zheng Dafeng was certain of, which was that Chen Ping’an was one of the many people that his master had placed bets on, but he was held in nowhere near as high a regard as Ma Kuxuan, who was blessed by the Heavenly Dao.

The breathing technique that he had taught Chen Ping’an was only a very rudimentary one, and it really wasn’t anything remarkable. However, Zheng Dafeng speculated that due to the incredible progress that Chen Ping’an had been making in his martial arts cultivation, Old Man Yang was slowly beginning to pay more attention to him.

Zheng Dafeng’s brows furrowed tightly in deep thought as he murmured to himself, “Could it be that he wants me to serve as Chen Ping’an’s Dao mentor or Dao guardian? Surely not. In the past, whenever he’s assigned such duties to anyone, he’s always been very straightforward about all of the details, such as who he wants, how long he wants them to serve for, and what cultivation base the target has to reach during that time. He would never be so vague about something like this.”

Zheng Dafeng interlaced his fingers behind his head as he sighed, “Besides, I don’t get along with Chen Ping’an at all! He’s such a boring kid, I just can’t bring myself to like him! Clearly, Li Er would be a much better fit as Chen Ping’an’s Dao guardian. What on earth are you thinking, Master? Why can’t you just tell me what you want me to do in simple and straightforward terms?

“If I only have to serve as a Dao guardian for him for a year or two, then I can endure it, but if I have to be his Dao mentor, then you might as well kill me now!”

An energetic female employee was eating some sunflower seeds, and she turned to Zheng Dafeng with a smile as she asked, “What’s gotten you so worked up, Shopkeeper?”

Zheng Dafeng took a glance at the young woman’s flat chest, then said in a displeased voice, “You have to keep up, Xiao He. You’ve already got the long legs covered, but you have to grow a little bit of meat on your chest to balance out your physique!”

The young woman was quite bold and easygoing to begin with, and after working at the medicinal shop for so long, she had already grown accustomed to Zheng Dafeng’s constant advances, so she didn’t even skip a beat as she continued to eat sunflower seeds.

“If I want to grow more meat, then I have to eat more, but that requires money. I want to be a bit more voluptuous there, but my limited monthly wage only allows me to eat so much. What can I do? How about you give me a secret pay rise, Shopkeeper? I promise that I won’t tell any of the others.”

“I’d be a fool if I counted on you to keep a secret!” Zheng Dafeng scoffed. “If I give you a pay rise, then tomorrow, I’ll have to give everyone a pay rise! Do you think money just falls into my lap? I have to work really hard to support all of you, so don’t make my job any harder.”

The young woman sat down onto the doorstep, then intentionally extended her legs out of the shop as she smiled and said, “Isn’t there a woman living nearby who’s really into you, Shopkeeper? She’s so voluptuous, isn’t she exactly your type? Why do you keep ignoring her? She has more meat up here than all of us girls combined!”

The young woman gestured to her own chest as she spoke, and Zheng Dafeng grimaced as he waved a hand to chase her away.

“A pretty young woman like you shouldn’t go around saying such shameless things! Otherwise, you’re never going to be able to find a husband! Get back to the shop and sweep the floor.”

The young woman wasn’t willing to move, and she retorted in a justified manner, “Our shop is called the Dust Medicinal Shop! It would hardly live up to its name if I made it too clean.”

Zheng Dafeng was no match for her in a war of words, so he gave up altogether, cradling the back of his own head with his hands as he laid back to look up at the sky.

Other people in the city weren’t able to see the sea of clouds up above, but that was not the case for a master martial artist like himself.

Celestial tools ranked above immortal tools, but they were extremely rare on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. How rare? Sect Master Qi Zhen of Divine Edict Sect, for instance, had only been granted a celestial tool by the formal sect on Middle Earth Divine Continent after reaching Heavenly Lord status.

Due to how far out of reach celestial tools were, all Qi refiners settled for the next best thing, which were pseudo-celestial tools, artifacts somewhere between immortal tools and celestial tools.

At the moment, Old Dragon City had four pseudo-celestial tools, two of which were in the possession of the Fu Clan’s leader, and both of them were formidable offensive treasures. In contrast, the new one that had been purchased from Middle Earth Divine Continent was a defensive treasure. As for the sea of clouds in the sky above the city, the Fu Clan claimed they had always owned if.

However, as for whether this was actually the truth and whether this was the Fu Clan’s true trump card, that was difficult to say for sure. As for that story about the woman who had awakened from the sea of clouds 800 years ago to eradicate that army of evil cultivators while wielding the pseudo-celestial tool, that was nothing more than an old wives’ tale.

For the combination of the woman and the sea of clouds to be that formidable, then two conditions had to be met: the sea of clouds had to be a celestial tool rather than a pseudo-celestial tool and its wielder also had to be a Qi refiner of the Upper Five Tiers.

The young man turned to Zheng Dafeng with a curious expression as she asked, “What are you looking at, shopkeeper?”

Zheng Dafeng’s eyes widened as he turned to her with a serious expression, then replied, “I’m looking to see if there are any scantily dressed celestial maidens flying past in the sky.”

The young woman rolled her eyes in response. “Be careful they don’t piss onto your head!”

“That would be the most divine heavenly elixir,” Zheng Dafeng replied as he smacked his lips.

“Disgusting!” the young woman denounced as she sprang to her feet, while Zheng Dafeng chortled with mirth.

The young woman had only just made her way back into the shop when she suddenly turned around and asked, “Shopkeeper, can you hum that tune from your hometown that you were humming last time?”

Zheng Dafeng shook his head vigorously in response. “I’m counting on that tune to attract the woman of my dreams, so I can’t just hum it for anyone.”

“Hum it for me,” the young woman insisted. “Perhaps I’ll become your wife in the future.”

Zheng Dafeng’s eyes immediately lit up, and he was just about to rise to his feet when the young woman sat back down onto the doorstep with a concerned look on her face as she sighed, “I don’t think you’re ever going be able to find a woman to marry you if you’ll believe in such blatant lies.”

Zheng Dafeng sat back down in a deflated manner, and after a brief silence, he began whistling the same tune that the young woman had requested, except this time, he wasn’t singing the lyrics.

The young woman leaned forward slightly so that her chin was resting on her hands as she listened in silence. The lyrics of the song were all in Zheng Dafeng’s hometown dialect, so she couldn’t understand them anyway.

————

A significant event was about to take place in Old Dragon City. The young city lord, Fu Nanhua, was going to marry a woman from Cloud Forest’s Jiang Clan.

The Jiang Clan was one of the longest-standing affluent clans on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and it was said that in ancient times, back when Confucianism had only just become the official teaching of the Majestic World, several grand priests had emerged from the Jiang Clan after the Etiquette Sage established the earliest set of Confucian rules.

Grand priests were one of the six heavenly official positions, and they were responsible for carrying out all types of rituals and ceremonies to attract the blessings of the heavens.

The Jiang Clan was situated on the southeastern coast of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and there was an extremely wide path leading out of its front gates, which faced the sea. The path was close to twenty kilometers in length, and it extended all the way into the sea. At its conclusion stood a pair of enormous natural corals that served as ceremonial gate towers, presenting a stunning and majestic sight to behold.

After moving from Middle Earth Divine Continent to Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, the Jiang Clan gradually turned its back on its scholarly roots to pursue business, and it had managed to remain standing to this day through all of the countless hardships and turmoil thrown its way.

At this point, it possessed sufficient wealth to rival a nation, and the same applied to the Fu Clan of Old Dragon City, so a coming together of these two clans in matrimony was massive news on the continent. Everyone was curious about what type of betrothal gift the Fu Clan had presented, as well as what the Jiang Clan was going to offer up as dowry.

Was it going to be a pseudo-celestial tool? There were also many immortal powers who had shared close ties with the Fu Clan for generations. What were they going to offer up as congratulatory gifts?

With these questions hanging in the air, countless cultivators had swarmed into Old Dragon City the past couple of months to witness this grand occasion with their own eyes. On top of that, there were rumors swirling around that the bride was extremely hideous, and that added an additional element of intrigue.

Fu Nanhua of Old Dragon City had always been renowned for his wide social circle, yet after returning from Jewel Small World, he had suddenly become much more withdrawn. He wasn’t going as far as to refuse to meet with guests, but only his existing friends were granted an audience with him, and he didn’t make any effort to make new friends, in stark contrast with his past self.

Ever since his return, he had remained in the Fu Clan’s residence almost this entire time, not showing his face at any of the favorite spots in the city that he had regularly frequented in the past.

However, on this day, Fu Nanhua had left the Fu Clan’s residence and made his way to the entrance of Fu city on his own. There was a tall crown on his head, and he was dressed in a pristine white robe with a vibrant green dragon-shaped jade pendant hanging from his waist.

He looked very calm and mature, but also a little jaded and dejected, in stark contrast with his vigorous and exuberant persona from back before he visited Jewel Small World.

Recently, the Fu city had been receiving a constant influx of visitors, and even the senior servants of the Fu Clan, who were perhaps even more experienced in treating guests than the imperial courts of some nations, were struggling to keep up.

At this moment, there were quite a few important figures from some immortal powers gathered outside the gates of Fu city, here to offer their congratulations on what was widely viewed as one of the most significant marriage alliances in a very long time. Among them were representatives of Dawn Cloud Mountain.

Dawn Cloud Mountain couldn’t be referred to as a top-tier sect, but the Cloud Root Stones that it produced were highly sought after across several continents, so it was constantly raking in huge revenue and was never lacking in resources. If a few prodigies that could carry the sect’s future could emerge within its ranks, then its ascension to become one of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s first-rate sects would be imminent.

Old Dragon City had a centuries-long relationship with Dawn Cloud Mountain as the Cloud Root Stones produced by the latter were one of the important products carried by the Fu Clan’s Treasure Swallowing Whale and floating mountain ship. Whetstones crafted out of Cloud Root Stones were extremely popular among swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall due to their exceptional quality and relatively low price.

Of course, the low price was the most important factor of consideration. Even if a whetstone could sharpen a sword far better than a piece of a Dragon Slaying Platform, it would hardly matter if no one could afford it. At the moment, a fierce war was being waged against the demon tribe with no end in sight, and many swordsmen were already in severe debt to maintain their swords, so all of them had to be very frugal with their purchases.

Of course, Cloud Root Stones could only be referred to as cost-effective when compared with all of the other precious items being sent to the Sword Qi Great Wall. Cloud Root Stones were sold at extremely different price points depending on whether they were sold to cultivators of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, the Fu Clan of Old Dragon City, or swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

This time, Dawn Cloud Mountain had sent four representatives, namely two patriarchs and their most prized disciples.

Fu Nanhua had finally come out of the Fu Clan’s residence in order to meet someone who should’ve already been dead, namely Cai Jinjian of Dawn Cloud Mountain.

As Fu Nanhua made his surprise appearance, the people gathered near the city gate immediately erupted into conversation, while some began offering him greetings and congratulations. Fu Nanhua responded to everyone with impeccable etiquette, and finally, he arrived in front of a pair of carriages near the back of the line.

The carriages were drawn by Azure Piebald Horses, which were very distant relatives of flood dragons. These Azure Piebald Horses indicated that these were carriages that had been hired from the Sun Clan’s relay station.

Everyone in Old Dragon City knew that there were two ways to spend massively in Old Dragon City: to purchase an Old Dragon Cloud-Flipping Pendant from the Fu Clan, and to hire a carriage from Sun Jiashu. Generally speaking, there were also two types of people who would pursue those two options: the extremely rich and the extremely foolish.

Of course, the two patriarchs of Dawn Cloud Mountain didn’t fall into that latter category. It was very much necessary for them to keep up appearances, particularly during their time in Old Dragon City.

The two patriarchs hurriedly emerged from their carriages with their disciples at the sight of Fu Nanhua. One of those disciples was none other than Cai Jinjian, who was looking a little pale, but was still as beautiful as ever, while the other disciple was a handsome young man wearing a Dao robe with faint wisps of cloud and mist swirling around it.

After making some small talk with the patriarchs of Dawn Cloud Mountain, Fu Nanhua stated a request, which was to take Cai Jinjian into the city for a private conversation.

Cai Jinjian’s master was ecstatic, and they certainly weren’t going to turn down this request. Cai Jinjian had returned from Jewel Small World completely empty-handed, wasting an entire pouch of gold essence copper coins. In the face of those gold essence copper coins, grain rain coins may as well be ordinary copper coins, yet an entire pouchful of the former had disappeared without anything to show for them.

As a result, during the past two years, Cai Jinjian’s master had been made the laughing stock of the entire Dawn Cloud Mountain. The old man had intended to elevate Cai Jinjian to the position of mountain master someday, but that seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream now.