Unsheathed

The Fan Clan’s Osmanthus Island ship was scheduled to depart in six days, while the Sun Clan’s Mountain and Sea Turtle had already set off.

Chen Ping’an had originally planned to go and see the Mountain and Sea Turtle for himself, but given how chaotic a place Old Dragon City was and the massive spectacle that Zheng Dafeng had created through his recent breakthrough, he decided to refrain from causing trouble and gulped down his curiosity along with his wine.

Over the next couple of days, the boy from the Fan Clan continued to visit the Dust Medicinal Shop every day, carrying flagons of osmanthus wine with him while seeking instruction in the martial arts from Zheng Dafeng. Normally, Zheng Dafeng was never very serious, but when it came to discussions surrounding martial arts, he turned into a completely different person.

His choice of words was still a little fancy, but as Chen Ping’an listened to their conversations, he felt like Zheng Dafeng’s advice was indeed very beneficial to the boy at his current stage of martial arts development. In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that Zheng Dafeng was imparting valuable words of wisdom.

However, none of what Zheng Dafeng said was very useful to Chen Ping’an, and he was left feeling a little perplexed by the end.

Zheng Dafeng didn’t mind having Chen Ping’an overhear his conversations with the boy from the Fan Clan. In fact, he was hoping that Chen Ping’an wouldn’t be able to suppress the urge to get involved and instruct the boy himself.

If Chen Ping’an could step in and replace him as the boy’s Dao mentor, then he would be free to do whatever he wanted, which was mostly to rush back to the shop to continue harassing his female employees. Unfortunately for him, all Chen Ping’an did was listen, but he never said anything, and it was as if he wasn’t proud of his own fourth tier cultivation base at all.

That made Zheng Dafeng even more disdainful of Chen Ping’an. He was such a young boy, yet he had more composure than a boring old monk! How was anyone supposed to warm up to a boy like him?

If it weren’t for the fact that Chen Ping’an was his Dao mentor, he would’ve chased Chen Ping’an out of the shop long ago, then left the shop himself to go and live at the Fan Manor as an esteemed guest. Over there, he would be fawned over by a whole host of beautiful women, and that thought was even more appealing than the osmanthus wine that he was drinking.

On this day, Fan Er had only just had some of his questions in martial arts cultivation answered by Zheng Dafeng before the latter rushed back to the shop to chat up some girls. Hence, Fan Er struck up a conversation with Chen Ping’an, and the two boys sat under the eave so that they were out of the sun.

As the head of the Sun Clan, Sun Jiashu had a very heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and his words and actions reflected this. Everything that he did was designed to make others comfortable in his presence. In contrast, Fan Er was far more innocent, but not so much that he was completely unaware of the hardships of the average person.

He was also very smart and outgoing, and overall, it was clear that he had been raised well. His parents were most likely very easygoing people as well, as evidenced by the name that they had given Fan Er.

Whenever Fan Er spoke of his older sister, Fan Junmao, his eyes would always be full of admiration. Even though he and his sister were only half-siblings that had been born to different mothers and despite the fact that they were both members of an extremely wealthy clan, he was still very fond of his sister’s mother.

He always said that his own birth mother spoiled him too much and was too lenient on him, and while he enjoyed this treatment, he was worried that he would never be able to grow up. In contrast, his sister’s mother also doted on him, but taught him many principles on top of that and was always very objective and reasoned in her approach to educating him.

Whenever he did something right in his studies, his martial arts practice, or anything else, she would praise him and tell him what he had done right. However, if he made a mistake, then she would treat him like an adult. Instead of scolding or abusing him, she would tell him what he had done wrong in a calm and earnest fashion, so Fan Er respected her from the bottom of his heart.

Even though the two boys had only known each other for a few days, Fan Er was very willing to open up to Chen Ping’an and tell him about his life.

As for Chen Ping’an, he was also more than happy to hear Fan Er’s stories, and he would listen in silence while sipping on wine. Initially, Fan Er was worried that he was boring Chen Ping’an, but he quickly came to realize that Chen Ping’an was genuinely fond of hearing him talk, and that encouraged him to open up even further.

In return, Chen Ping’an also told Fan Er many of the stories from his own childhood, including how he had worked as a kiln laborer and how he had traversed the mountains as a child.

The questions that Fan Er raised after hearing Chen Ping’an’s stories were often very amusing and difficult to predict. “You eat clay? Does that taste good? Is it as good as rice? Forget it, it doesn’t matter as long as it can fill my belly! Can you teach me which types of clay taste the best? That way, before I’m denied meals as punishment from my parents, I’ll be able to scoop up a large pouch of clay on the way to the ancestral hall!

“Can you produce a piece of chinaware on your own from start to finish? That’s amazing! When I become an adult, you have to give me a piece of chinaware that you made yourself! It doesn’t have to be too fancy or complicated, just make me a wine cup or teacup, as long as others can recognize what it is. That way, I’ll be able to show off the cup to them and tell them that it was handmade by my friend. They’ll be dying of envy!

“What’s a skywell? What happens if it rains or snows? Can you keep things like fish and crabs in the pond under the skywell?”

Chen Ping’an answered Fan Er’s questions one by one, then smiled as he said something that made Fan Er absolutely ecstatic. “I have a good friend called Liu Xianyang. He’s a real bigshot nowadays, and he’s already gone to Southern Whirl Continent on his own. He taught me how to make traps and craft bows and arrows. I can introduce you to him if the opportunity arises.”

Fan Er immediately nodded eagerly in response, and he couldn’t wait to learn how to make traps and bows and arrows himself.

He was already beginning to consider what he would do if Chen Ping’an were to bring Liu Xianyang to the Fan Manor someday. He was considering where the two of them were going to stay, what they were going to eat and drink every day, which places in Old Dragon City they were going to visit…

After that, Fan Er was absent from the Dust Medicinal Shop for a day.

Late at night, the medicinal shop had already closed for the day quite some time ago, and Chen Ping’an and Zheng Dafeng were in the main room in the backyard, eating a meal that had been cooked for them by a woman.

Zheng Dafeng wanted to show off to Chen Ping’an by making the woman fall head over heels for him with his handsome looks so that she would waive the fee for cooking the meal, but the woman stoically turned down his advances and insisted that he paid her in full, not even willing to offer a discount of a single copper coin.

Zheng Dafeng was holding his chopsticks in one hand and his wine cup in the other as he casually asked, “Did you have fun chatting about all that useless stuff with Fan Er?”

Chen Ping’an carefully chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth, then set down his chopsticks as he replied, “I did.”

A disdainful look appeared on Zheng Dafeng’s face, but in the end, he was unable to suppress his curiosity as he asked, “Say, it hasn’t even been that long since I left Jewel Small World, how did you manage to get so many treasures during that time? Did you just blindly run into one stroke of fortune after another?”

“Why should I tell you? I’m not close with you,” Chen Ping’an retorted.

“So you’re close with Fan Er then?” Zheng Dafeng countered as he raised an eyebrow.

“I’m closer with him than I am with you,” Chen Ping’an replied.

Zheng Dafeng grimaced as he sighed, “The old man sure did you a massive favor by selling First to you.”

Chen Ping’an offered no retort to this.

Seeing as he had already broken character, Zheng Dafeng decided that he had nothing to lose, so he continued asking, “So you’re no longer friends with Sun Jiashu, is that right?”

Chen Ping’an nodded in response.

Zheng Dafeng smiled as he asked, “Are you not going to try and salvage the friendship with him? I can’t say he’s very smart, but he’s certainly extremely rich! Even if you only become casual friends with him, you won’t have to worry about food and lodging anytime you come to Old Dragon City in the future.”

“That’s about the extent of what he can offer me,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head.

After a brief hesitation, Chen Ping’an added, “Sun Jiashu isn’t a bad person, it’s just that he’s not sufficiently earnest when it comes to certain things. If I were a businessman, I wouldn’t dare to make any major deals with him. For someone like him, he sets a price tag on everyone he encounters, and he knows roughly how much the people around him are worth.

“Ultimately, no matter how close someone is with him, he’ll only regard them as a business asset. Who’s to say that he won’t just sell someone someday for his own benefit? Of course, I don’t know him that well, so I could be wrong in my assessment here. In any case, he no longer has anything to do with me.”

Zheng Dafeng smiled as he said, “I’m surprised that you think of this in such simple terms, and I’m also surprised that you think so badly of him. He’s going to be going to some very high places in the future. If you pass up on a friendship with him, that will be an unfortunate loss for both of you. If you don’t believe me, then we’ll wait and see and let time do the talking.”

“When you say an unfortunate loss, are you talking about a financial loss?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Zheng Dafeng plopped a foot down onto the bench beside him, then asked, “What else could I be talking about? Is money not the driving force behind fulfilling every desire? You think you can cultivate without money? You think you can buy things without money?”

“If it’s only money I’m missing out on, then there’s really no need for me to befriend Sun Jiashu,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

Zheng Dafeng was aware of what Chen Ping’an was implying. It seemed that he was a bundle of contradictions as he was extremely stingy, but also extraordinarily generous to those that he cherished.

However, these two types of behavior weren’t exactly in conflict with each other. Ultimately, the only thing that a cultivator had to ensure was that the Great Dao that they walked was balanced. As long as that was the case, one could even casually skip along and still eventually reach the mountain summit.

Even though Chen Ping’an and Sun Jiashu had parted ways, that didn’t necessarily mean that one was better than the other, or one was good, while the other was bad. Instead, it simply meant that they were walking different paths.

Zheng Dafeng had a very good grasp on Chen Ping’an’s personality, and that was why he couldn’t bring himself to warm up to the boy. Li Er was very fond of Chen Ping’an, but it was the opposite for Zheng Dafeng. Even so, he had to admit that Chen Ping’an’s path had to be acknowledged as it had brought him to this point. How many people under the heavens could serve as Zheng Dafeng’s Dao mentor?

Old Man Yang could, but he didn’t want to. He was willing to accept Zheng Dafeng as his disciple, but he stoically refused to go even an inch beyond that.

Chen Ping’an wasn’t necessarily willing to be Zheng Dafeng’s Dao mentor, either, but it had simply turned out that way thanks to fate.

With that in mind, Zheng Dafeng couldn’t help but think of some distant scenes, some of which he had already seen with his own eyes up close, while others were still quite far away for now.

All of a sudden, he lost his patience, and he decided to end this incredibly boring conversation as he declared, “I’ll be sure to return the five copper coins that I owe you before you depart on Osmanthus Island, and the compensation will definitely be fair.

“In addition, I’ll also be repaying you for your contribution in my breakthrough. Seeing as the old man didn’t explicitly instruct me to serve as your Dao guardian, we’ll go our separate ways once you step onto Osmanthus Island.”

Chen Ping’an had no objections to this, and he nodded in response.

Zheng Dafeng picked up his pipe and lit it. Initially, he had found it rather boring and cumbersome, but now that the habit had been formed, he had grown rather fond of it. No wonder the old man was constantly puffing on his pipe.

A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he thought back to his recent breakthrough. After emerging above the sea of clouds, he had very nearly attempted a second breakthrough to the 10th tier, but what he saw above the sea of clouds dissuaded him from doing so.

In order to progress to the 10th tier, a martial artist had to Ram the Heavenly Gate, so it made sense that a ninth tier martial artist would be able to see the Heavenly Gate. However, Zheng Dafeng was convinced that the Heavenly Gate that he had seen was most definitely different from any that other 10th martial artists had witnessed in the past.

The Heavenly Gate had appeared, but it wasn’t the only thing there.

At the time, Zheng Dafeng had seen an enormous pillar in front of the Heavenly Gate. There was a Divine General clad in a suit of armor pinned to the pillar by a sword. The Divine General had a set of indistinct facial features, and the entire pillar was stained with his golden blood.

Zheng Dafeng had looked up at the impaled corpse at the time, and for an instant, he felt as if the Divine General had sprung back to life, then looked straight into his eyes and uttered a single word.

Go!

In that instant, Zheng Dafeng was struck by a sense of irrepressible horror, horror that was so poignant that it had almost sent him tumbling back down to the eighth tier.

At the time, Fu Qi’s arrival had freed him from that predicament, and at this moment, it was Chen Ping’an’s question snapping him out of his train of thought.

“Zheng Dafeng, I was beaten to the third tier punch by punch, so I know what it takes to establish a solid foundation. Fan Er’s foundation as a third tier martial artist is clearly unsound, so why aren’t you helping him?”

Zheng Dafeng turned to Chen Ping’an with a stunned expression, then suddenly burst into laughter. “You think Fan Er’s martial arts foundation is unsound?”

Chen Ping’an’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. “Could it be even worse than I thought?”

Zheng Dafeng almost choked on the smoke from his pipe as he chortled, “Unsound my arse! Setting aside myself, Senior Brother Li Er, and Song Changjing, Fan Er’s foundation can be considered exceptional compared to any martial artist on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent!

“On top of that, he’s a martial arts prodigy, yet you’re saying his foundation is unsound? In that case, all pure martial artists on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent should just hang themselves to avoid embarrassment!”

Chen Ping’an was still rather skeptical upon hearing this. He couldn’t help but feel as if Zheng Dafeng were trying to shift responsibility. In his eyes, all Zheng Dafeng did was harass his female employees, and he didn’t seem to be willing to pay any attention to Fan Er at all.

Zheng Dafeng smiled as he continued, “If I recall correctly, back when Li Er was at the third tier, even his foundation was a tiny bit inferior to yours. Having said that, that’s nothing for you to be proud of. At the moment, you’ve only shown yourself to be outstanding at the third tier, whereas Li Er’s foundation as a ninth tier martial artist was unmatched under the heavens, and I could say the same about my own eighth tier foundation.

“I’m really curious now. Who was it that managed to beat such a ridiculously solid foundation into you at just the third tier? Surely the old man didn’t summon Li Er back to Jewel Small World to teach you himself!”

“It was someone else,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head.

Zheng Dafeng was even more intrigued, and he set down his pipe as he asked, “How did that person hone your body and soul?”

Chen Ping’an’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this question. Just the thought of the suffering that he had endured in the bamboo building on Downtrodden Mountain was enough to put him in a bad mood.

Zheng Dafeng smiled as he encouraged, “Come on, tell me! You don’t have to go into too much detail. If you tell me, on top of everything else, I’ll give you a swordsmanship manual. It’s just an elementary one, but it’s also renowned as the most reliable.

“The old man got the manual from a Yin god who had once been a swordsman prior to death, and Li Er, Li Liu, and I have all studied it in the past. However, it was useless to me, and the old man secured it primarily for Li Liu, but it could be useful to you as well.”

Chen Ping’an took a moment to gather his thoughts, then said, “The process of honing the body and the soul is about as simple as grinding glutinous rice down into powder. That’s it, it’s up to you whether you believe me or not. However, after that, there were some things that I had to do.”

Chen Ping’an brought his thumb and index finger together as he spoke, then pointed at his own arm as he continued, “I had to peel off my own skin and pluck out my own tendons one inch at a time without blinking even once.

“There was no need for me to completely tear off my skin, nor did I have to completely pull my tendons off the bone. Instead, someone would tell me when to stop, and after that, I would be carried into a medicinal bath, after which my injuries would heal very quickly.”

“How many times did you have to do this in total?” Zheng Dafeng asked.

“Too many times to count,” Chen Ping’an replied. “I had to do it every single day.”

A flabbergasted look appeared on Zheng Dafeng’s face, following which he erupted into laughter. “That’s fantastic! Just the thought of all of the suffering that you had to go through is putting me in a great mood! You can have the sword manual, and I promise you that I won’t tamper with it before I give it to you.”

Chen Ping’an rolled his eyes in response, finding Zheng Dafeng to be a very boring person.

What other type of person would spend all day running a medicinal shop that never made any money?

It took a very long time for Zheng Dafeng to finally suppress his laughter, following which he said, “Fan Er’s aptitude is not inferior to yours, but when it comes to his mentality, he’s not as strong in that area, which is inevitable, considering his background and upbringing.

“This may sound a little harsh, but compared with you and me, he’s sturdy on the outside, but fragile on the inside. If he had to go through the same training that you did, he would break.”

Zheng Dafeng squeezed his wine cup between two of his fingers, instantly crushing it into powder, following which he asked, “Is martial arts more important or is one’s life more important?”

Chen Ping’an stood up and began to clear the table, while a grim look appeared on Zheng Dafeng’s face.

He had suddenly discovered that the circumstances behind the shattering of Chen Ping’an’s bonded porcelain were very complicated, even more so than he imagined.

All of a sudden, a sense of sympathy toward Chen Ping’an welled up in Zheng Dafeng’s heart.

The name that he had been given seemed completely ironic, given that his life up to this point had been anything but safe and secure.

“Who do you look like more, Chen Ping’an? Your father or your mother?” Zheng Dafeng asked in a casual manner.

“According to my neighbors, I look more like my mother,” Chen Ping’an replied.

He then took a glance at Zheng Dafeng before continuing, “No matter who I look like, they’re definitely better-looking than you’ll ever be.”

“Piss off!” Zheng Dafeng snapped, and the tiny hint of sympathy that had welled up in his heart instantly faded away.