Unsheathed

Everything was calm and peaceful as the convoy from the Yao Clan traveled north.

The Great Quan Empire was enjoying flourishing martial fortune, so it could only be their border armies that harassed other nations and not the other way around. Northern Jin Nation to the south and Southern Qi Nation to the north had both suffered for a long time.

However, the three princes of the Great Quan Empire were locked in an intense battle for the throne, so intense that they were on the verge of openly drawing weapons against each other.

This occupied a lot of the first prince’s time and effort, forcing the eldest prince who guarded the northern borders to scrap his plans to launch a northward military expedition, lest his force accidentally suffer fundamental losses after conquering large swathes of enemy territory. That would result in him losing his advantage. If that were the case, would he not be handing the fruits of his labor over to the new emperor in Mirage City?

There were also four or five small nations neighboring the Great Quan Empire to the east and west. The ruler of one of these nations referred to himself as a nephew and to Emperor Liu Zhen of the Great Quan Empire as Uncle Emperor. Meanwhile, another nation had become a vassal state of the Great Quan Empire.

The convoy stopped once every fifteen kilometers since it was necessary to clean the nostrils of the warhorses. Yao Zhen would also take this opportunity to leave his carriage and chat with Chen Ping’an.

After a few conversations, Yao Zhen’s grandson, Yao Xianzhi, also became familiar with Chen Ping’an. However, this “unpolished jade of the Yao Clan” was very modest in front of Chen Ping’an.

Yao Xianzhi was only fourteen years old, yet he had already served in the border army for three entire years. He had become an official scout in his second year, and had been promoted to corps commander after providing meritorious service. He had studied the art of war from his teachers in the clan ever since a young age, yet he wasn’t someone who was fond of boasting about his knowledge. He was extremely mature for his age, and Clan Leader Yao Zhen also had very high hopes for him.

Yao Xianzhi didn’t conceal his admiration of Chen Ping’an at all. Back in the mountain valley, it was Chen Ping’an who had appeared from out of nowhere when the mounted troops of the Yao Clan were being ruthlessly hunted and massacred by the two cultivators from the mountains. Chen Ping’an had saved his grandpa and the other surviving members of the mounted troops.

Not only that, but Chen Ping’an had even thrown a punch at that grandmaster wearing a suit of Dew Armor and sent him reeling. He had displayed even more calm and composure against the sword cultivator who possessed seemingly boundless destructive ability.

Afterward, Yao Lingzhi had told Yao Xianzhi about Chen Ping’an’s incredible feats in the inn. With three simple punches, he had killed Little Duke Gao Shuyi on the spot. After killing the little duke, he had even dared to fight against Imperial Guardian Li Li. Upon hearing this, Yao Xianzhi had developed an even deeper sense of respect and admiration for Chen Ping’an. In fact, he felt a strong urge to help Chen Ping’an clean and feed his horse every single day.

Chen Ping’an also had a fairly good impression of Yao Xianzhi, especially the unwavering determination in his eyes when he fought bravely with his body covered in blood in the mountain valley. This was still fresh in Chen Ping’an’s memory.

However, perhaps because Yao Xianzhi wanted to get closer to him, he would always look for something to talk about even when there was nothing to talk about. As a result, he would often crack some unfunny jokes. For example, why was Southern Qi Nation in the north while Northern Jin Nation was in the south?

Yao Xianzhi also mentioned how some literary giants who were experts at composing poems about the border regions were extremely fond of the Yao Clan’s cavalry. One certain poet had even offered to exchange his poems for a top-grade warhorse, an offer that his grandpa had rejected.

The poet had been extremely bitter about this, and he had slandered the Yao Clan’s border army for a whopping ten years after returning to the capital. Yao Xianzhi claimed with confidence that he would definitely visit this poet when they arrived in Mirage City.

Chen Ping’an rarely spoke when he interacted with Yao Xianzhi. However, he wasn’t annoyed by Yao Xianzhi’s persistence either.

Yao Lingzhi was the most prodigious martial arts talent in her generation of the Yao Clan, and her feelings toward Chen Ping’an were much more complicated than those of Yao Xianzhi. There was gratitude and respect, yet also some unwillingness to acknowledge that he was extremely impressive. She was also a young girl, so she was rather unwilling to accompany Yao Xianzhi to pester Chen Ping’an all the time.

Chen Ping’an had ridden a horse before, and he had even ridden a donkey with the old Daoist priest in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. Thus, he knew that the storytellers and novels were all lying when they talked about people traveling five hundred kilometers on horseback in a single day.

Imperial messengers could indeed achieve this by running horses in a relay and taking advantage of the relay stations along the post roads. This method would be employed when delivering urgent military updates. However, there was a requirement to swap messengers and horses every so often. Not only that, but the messengers would bear no responsibility if they knocked people over and accidentally killed them on the post roads.

The price to pay was severely wounding the horses that took part in the relay. Indeed, the hooves of the horses might be severely damaged even if they had horseshoes on.

The post officials and the county officials were all extremely diligent and hospitable when they hosted the convoy from the Yao Clan. Clan Leader Yao Zhen was a great general who commanded the iron cavalry of the Yao Clan, after all, and he wasn’t going to the capital to remove his armor and retire. Instead, he was going to the capital to become the head minister of the Ministry of War.

He was a trusted subject of the emperor, and he was going to transform from a pillar of the border regions to a pillar of the imperial court. That being the case, Old General Yao could potentially squish a few county magistrates to death with his pinky finger if he so desired. Thus, who dared to take this convoy lightly?

Yao Zhen greeted and farewelled many officials, and it was a tiring task for him to interact with all these people. He wasn’t necessarily enthusiastic when dealing with the local officials, yet he didn’t display any sense of haughtiness or bad temper either. He almost never rejected any governor’s invitation to a banquet, though he would occasionally find some excuses to turn down the invitations from the prefectural overseers. County magistrates naturally didn’t dare to host a welcoming banquet for the incoming head minister.

Chen Ping’an didn’t attend these banquets, while Pei Qian wracked her brains and tried her best to go along to them. One time, she started to drool simply by listening to Yao Xianzhi describe the names of the dishes. The strange thing was that Yao Zhen would bring Yao Lingzhi and Yao Xianzhi to the banquets with him every single time. However, he would always ignore Yao Jinzhi, the young woman who was seemingly treating her carriage as her home.

This time, they were passing by a relatively unknown prefectural city, and the authorities there seemed willing to even wash the streets ahead of them. As always, Chen Ping’an didn’t participate in any of the official events. He left the relay station with Pei Qian and Zhu Lian, and he planned to buy some small trinkets such as a jade hairpin. However, Yao Jinzhi surprisingly decided to leave the relay station as well, asking to tag along with Chen Ping’an and the two others.

She was still wearing her elegant veiled hat. When resting during their travels, however, she would always remove this veiled hat if there were no outsiders present, allowing Chen Ping’an to see her true appearance many times. She was indeed very beautiful, even more so than Sword Immortal Sui Youbian.

According to Zhu Lian’s joking remark, he had never come across a woman as breathtakingly beautiful as Yao Jinzhi during his several decades as the strongest person in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. He had heard about the Mirror Heart Pavilion’s Tong Qingqing appearing in the blessed land after him, so he had wondered whether her beauty could rival that of Yao Jinzhi’s. Chen Ping’an had nodded and said it could.

After hearing this, Zhu Lian had said that if he were to put a price up to one hundred copper coins on a woman’s beauty, then Yao Jinzhi and Tong Qingqing would deserve at least ninety copper coins.

Chen Ping’an wasn’t willing to discuss the looks of other people behind their backs. Moreover, there was a single thought in his mind—even if these women had perfect looks, they would only be worth a maximum of one hundred copper coins according to Zhu Lian’s scale. In his mind, however, Ning Yao’s beauty could only be measured in grain rain coins or gold essence copper coins.

Thus, Chen Ping’an didn’t have any extra thoughts when he came across Yao Jinzhi and witnessed her beauty. He simply treated her as another acquaintance.

Chen Ping’an wanted to buy a jade hairpin, so Yao Jinzhi told him that there was a Child Alley in the prefectural city that specialized in selling antiques and curios. She had heard some rumors about the things there, so she also wanted to go there to search for a decorated tile end and an ancient type of lucky money.

Zhu Lian liked supernatural novels, while Pei Qian liked everything precious and valuable. However, her innately sinister and ferocious personality was seemingly suppressed by a huge degree when she traveled with Chen Ping’an. She always begged Chen Ping’an to let her become a bookkeeper like Zhong Kui. She didn’t ask for much, and she would be extremely satisfied with just a few pieces of loose silver in her pockets.

Chen Ping’an completely ignored Pei Qian’s request. With ten copper coins in the pocket, one shakes their clothes to cause loud clinking.[1] This saying perfectly described the skinny little girl.

This prefectural city spent a lot of effort to welcome Yao Zhen. While walking to Child Alley, Yao Jinzhi explained the reason to Chen Ping’an. The prefectural overseer had served in the Yao Clan’s border army, and thanks to his good fortune, he had started to climb up the official ranks in the regions after leaving the army. According to Third Grandpa, he had once been a very ambitious person during his youth.

They entered the extremely long Child Alley, and were greeted by a huge variety of different shops. Apart from some proper shops, there were also many merchants selling their wares out of cloth wrappers. Some looked like impoverished scholars, and these people most likely came from declining clans. Others looked furtive, and these people had most likely obtained their goods through improper means. They might have purchased them through illegal channels, or they might have directly stolen them from other people.

Chen Ping’an was very interested in these merchants who peddled their goods in cloth wrappers. If the seller and the prospective buyer were both interested in completing a transaction, then they would head to a quiet place to discuss things further. They wouldn’t talk about the price explicitly, and would instead signal their desired price in their sleeves. Yao Jinzhi smiled and explained that this practice was jokingly referred to as “caged haggling.”

Apart from unique hand gestures that represented copper coins and loose silver, there were also particular ways to represent different numbers. For example, bending one’s index finger to one’s palm would represent nine, while crossing one’s index finger and middle finger would represent ten,

Chen Ping’an, Zhu Lian, and Yao Jinzhi all made some purchases in Child Alley. Only Pei Qian was still empty-handed.

Yao Jinzhi fulfilled her wish and purchased a pile of ancient copper coins from a previous empire. These copper coins were known as “Famous Spring,” and their asking price ranged from high to low. There was nothing out of the ordinary regarding these transactions.

However, things were slightly different when Yao Jinzhi came across a few decorated tile ends in a small shop. There were tile ends decorated with Taotie patterns, tile ends stamped with auspicious sayings, and even a set of four tile ends decorated with the images of four gods. Chen Ping’an could sense the young woman’s delight through her veiled hat.

Yao Jinzhi left the small shop with an additional bag, and Chen Ping’an offered to carry it for her out of politeness. However, the young woman hurriedly turned down his offer.

Zhu Lian purchased two romance novels that were hidden under the covers of supernatural novels.

As for Chen Ping’an, he purchased a hornless dragon hairpin made from white jade. There were no characters inscribed on the hairpin, and there were only some clean and flowing dragon patterns. Chen Ping’an had immediately taken a liking to this hairpin, yet he had found the asking price slightly too expensive.

The merchant claimed that this hairpin was crafted by a jade-carving master from a past dynasty, and it was simply the case that they hadn’t engraved their signature onto this work. Otherwise, he wouldn’t sell it even if someone offered him three hundred taels of silver. Chen Ping’an would have immediately turned around and left if he had come across this situation during his trip to Great Sui Nation. On the other hand, he would have gritted his teeth and made the purchase if he had come across this situation sometime before today.

Fortunately, Yao Jinzhi walked over to haggle with the merchant, eventually slashing the price to thirty taels of silver. Her argument implied that she owned a legendary jade carving from this renowned craftsman, a daffodil that was truly exquisite and wondrous. As a result, she was incredibly familiar with this renowned craftsman’s carving techniques. With this as the basis of her argument, she continued to talk down the material of the hornless dragon jade hairpin. The merchant was rendered speechless, so he could only huff and significantly reduce the price of the jade hairpin as he sold it to Chen Ping’an.

Walking out of the shop with a small brocade box in his hand, Chen Ping’an first thanked Yao Jinzhi for her help with slashing the price of the jade hairpin. He then couldn’t help but smile bitterly and say, “Miss Yao, listening to your words just then, why do I feel like this jade hairpin isn’t even worth thirty taels of silver?”

Yao Jinzhi remained silent, however. Only when they walked a fair distance from the small shop did she chuckle softly and say, “This jade hairpin is genuinely something crafted by that renowned craftsman. To say nothing of three hundred taels of silver, it would have been worth purchasing even if it cost five hundred taels of silver.

“Moreover, the craftsman only worked with the best quality jade, so the material of your jade hairpin is naturally top quality. In fact, the quality is so high that the craftsman regarded it as the ‘paragon of beautiful jade.’ He almost didn’t dare to take his carving tools to the piece of jade.

“Everyone can tell whether a piece of jade is of good quality or bad quality. However, it’s far more difficult to determine just how good the quality of the jade is. Moreover, each person has their own tastes, so this complicates things even further.”

Zhu Lian nodded with a smile. However, it was unclear whether he was admiring Yao Jinzhi’s knowledge or approving of the renowned craftsman’s attitude toward beautiful jade.

Chen Ping’an put the small brocade box into his sleeve and asked with a smile, “Do you truly possess that jade daffodil?”

“I borrowed those descriptions and explanations from a book,” Yao Jinzhi replied with a smile.

This implied that she didn’t.

Pei Qian rolled her eyes. She wanted to ingratiate herself with Yao Jinzhi in the hopes that the young woman would feel in a charitable mood one day and decide to give that jade daffodil to her.

However, Yao Jinzhi then added, “Those descriptions were indeed from a book, but the jade carving was a wedding gift given to my aunty.”

Chen Ping’an could only respond with a polite smile.

Yao Jinzhi was quite similar to her younger brother, Yao Xianzhi, in this sense. However, she was more skilled and experienced than him, so the atmosphere wouldn’t become too awkward.

Judging from this, it could be seen that Yao Jinzhi was actually quite easy to get along with.

Pei Qian was already starting to ingratiate herself with Yao Jinzhi, asking in a sweet voice, “Are you tired, Big Sister Yao? Do you want me to carry your bags for you? I’m very familiar with carrying things, and I’ve been responsible for carrying the luggage this entire trip. I guarantee that I won’t break any of your treasures.”

Yao Jinzhi smiled and shook her head, causing her white veil to gently sway back and forth.

Pei Qian was slightly disappointed, and she was still unwilling to give up, saying, “Then make sure to tell me when you get tired, Big Sister Yao. This alley is more than 5600 paces away from the relay station, but with your long legs, it’s probably around 4700 paces away.”

Yao Jinzhi could only nod in response.

Pei Qian was truly a strange little girl.

As the four of them continued to walk along the bustling Child Alley, Zhu Lian looked down at Pei Qian and asked with a smile, “You remember the distance so clearly?”

Pei Qian sighed in grief and replied, “Because I’m bored. I won’t get money to spend anyway, so I can only find something to occupy myself with. What else can I do?”

Zhu Lian chortled with laughter.

They returned to the relay station at dusk, and Chen Ping’an made his way to the back courtyard to take a walk. Here, he discovered Lu Baixiang and Sui Youbian sitting in a small pavilion and playing a game of Go with a Go set that they had found from some unknown place. Wei Xian was standing next to them and observing the game.

Chen Ping’an walked into the pavilion just as the game was decided. Lu Baixiang won by a small amount.

Sui Youbian played an extremely aggressive style of Go, one that was filled with energy and vigor. On the other hand, Lu Baixiang was less resolute and attacking than Sui Youbian even though he was a man.

Zhu Lian also walked over. Sui Youbian farewelled Chen Ping’an and left, so Lu Baixiang challenged Zhu Lian to a match instead. The hunchbacked old man shook his hands, saying that he was a terrible Go player who didn’t dare to embarrass himself. Lu Baixiang turned his gaze to Wei Xian, and the latter said that he was inferior to even a terrible Go player. In fact, he hadn’t understood the game between Lu Baixiang and Sui Youbian at all. He simply had nothing else to do, so he wanted to see who would win the game.

There was no one playing Go, so Wei Xian took his leave. Zhu Lian left immediately after him.

Only Chen Ping’an and Lu Baixiang stayed back, with the latter packing up the Go set.

Chen Ping’an leaned against the railing and drank the green plum wine from his Sword Nurturing Gourd. Meanwhile, Lu Baixiang pinched the Go pieces between his fingers and quickly returned them to their respective boxes. This was a simple and unremarkable task, yet the crisp cracking sounds resulting from the collisions between the Go pieces surprisingly prevented the task from appearing menial and boring. Instead, it appeared quite calming and pleasant.

Chen Ping’an felt a sense of admiration.

If it weren’t for his complete lack of talent in Go, and if he didn’t view games of Go as a time-consuming endeavor that would affect his training of fist techniques and sword techniques, Chen Ping’an would have genuinely wanted to study and play Go.

Yao Jinzhi walked over in a calm and elegant manner, not wearing her veiled hat anymore since she was in the relay station. After sitting down, she turned to Lu Baixiang who had finished packing up the Go set and asked, “Mr. Lu, how about a game between the two of us?”

Lu Baixiang glanced at the sky and replied with a smile, “I imagine it will be a fierce battle. I don’t mind playing a game of Go at night, but will you be able to see the Go board clearly when the sky turns dark?”

Yao Jinzhi nodded and said, “The moon is full on the fifteenth, so I can most likely borrow the radiance of the moon to make out the Go board. There’s no need for you to worry, Mr. Lu.”

Before starting the game, the two sides needed to decide who played first.

Lu Baixiang was playing the white pieces, while Yao Jinzhi was playing the black pieces.

Chen Ping’an stood up to observe the game, yet he couldn’t decipher the strategies and skills of the two players as he watched them making their first moves. Thus, he returned to the bench along the railings and sat down cross-legged, slowly sipping wine from his wine gourd.

Because there were two guest elders from the Great Quan Empire in the convoy, Chen Ping’an was quite unwilling to reveal the truth behind his wine gourd, Jiang Hu. As a result, he always felt stifled and unsatisfied when drinking in the morning.

After all, Qi refiners and martial arts grandmasters were all very observant people. They could perhaps detect some traces and hints simply from the way he held his wine gourd and raised his arm.

Chen Ping’an was absorbed in thought. When he finally came to his senses, he realized that Yao Jinzhi had surprisingly left the pavilion already. Once again, Lu Baixiang was standing there and packing up the Go set by himself.

As he put the Go pieces away, Lu Baixiang smiled and said, “I wish I can one day go to White Emperor City that’s located among the sea of iridescent clouds. ‘Respectfully allow the world to make the first move,’ huh?[2] I can’t help but feel a sense of longing.”

“I have a… disciple who’s incredibly skilled at Go. You can play with him when you meet in the future,” Chen Ping’an instinctively replied.

The young Cui Chan, or Cui Dongshan as he was now known, was an expert Go player who had once played ten games against the city lord of White Emperor City.

However, Chen Ping’an felt a little frustrated that he had to admit that Cui Dongshan was his disciple. He couldn’t call Cui Dongshan his friend, after all.

Lu Baixiang didn’t take this too seriously. He had played two games of Go against Sui Youbian and Yao Jinzhi, yet he hadn’t even needed to use seventy or eighty percent of his full strength. Sui Youbian had genuinely lost, while Yao Jinzhi had also concealed some of her strength. However, she would have still lost even if she had used her full strength.

Lu Baixiang could almost be described as conceited regarding his skills in Go. During his time as the most powerful martial artist in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, Lu Baixiang had been more than just the peerlessly powerful founder of the demonic forces. He had also been unrivaled in Go.

What Lu Baixiang was truly curious about was the fact that Chen Ping’an surprisingly had a disciple. After all, Chen Ping’an was still young, and he wasn’t a Confucian scholar in this Majestic World either.

After chatting about the cultures and customs of the prefectural city for a while, Lu Baixiang left the pavilion to return the Go board and the Go pieces. Chen Ping’an chose to remain in the pavilion by himself.

It was already the end of autumn, and according to the convoy’s travel plans, it would almost be the beginning of winter when they arrived at the ferry station outside Mirage City.

He had heard that a snow-covered Mirage City was a rare and wonderful spectacle.

Chen Ping’an felt calm and peaceful at this moment. When leaving Stalactite Mountain, he had set himself the goal of advancing to the seventh tier, the Vajra Body Tier, in ten years. However, his progress was extremely quick right now, far quicker than what he had anticipated. This was thanks to the two life-and-death battles outside the Flying Eagle Fortress as well as a large number of intense battles in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land and near the border regions of the Great Quan Empire.

Not only had Chen Ping’an advanced to the fifth tier, but he had also managed to successfully create a solid foundation. Thus, Chen Ping’an wouldn’t feel like he was taking things too quickly even if he broke through to the sixth tier right at this very moment.

Disregarding Zhong Qiu and just focusing on Ding Ying—a Golden Core Tier Qi refiner with the Five Mountains Hat and now the strongest person in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land—and Li Li—the imperial guardian of the Great Quan Empire—which battle had been an easy win for Chen Ping’an?

Chen Ping’an didn’t dare to imagine just how difficult it would be to advance from the sixth tier to the seventh tier. He didn’t dare to imagine just how many resources and fated opportunities one would need. Following the seventh tier, the eighth tier was called the Wing Formation Tier or the Far Roaming Tier. This was a tier where pure martial artists could genuinely stride into the sky and travel on the wind like immortals from the mountains.

After the Wing Formation tier, there was also the ninth tier and the secret tenth tier, the true End Tier of martial arts. There were ten tiers of martial arts in total.

Of these ten tiers, Chen Ping’an yearned to reach the eighth tier, the Far Roaming Tier, the most.

Chen Ping’an would practice the Eighteen Stops Technique even when he was traveling on horseback during the day, yet on this quiet and peaceful night, he decided to slack off in a very rare sight. He simply sat in the pavilion and let his mind wander as he drank.

Only when Yao Zhen and his granddaughter, Yao Jinzhi, walked over did Chen Ping’an finally stand up. He noticed the cloudy expression on the old general’s face, and Yao Jinzhi explained in a soft voice, “The prefectural overseer only reminisced about his time in the army when he chatted with Grandpa during the banquet. After Grandpa drank to his heart’s content, however, the prefectural overseer privately instructed someone to deliver a huge present to the relay station, hoping that Grandpa can take care of his disciples when Grandpa becomes head minister in the future. Grandpa became very angry about this.”

Yao Zhen lightly patted his knee and sighed with emotion, adding with a gloomy expression, “Thinking back to the past, just how impressive was that young man? He was filled with vigor and a sense of righteousness, and he never backed down in fear when facing enemies on the battlefield. Yet, after just ten or so years as an official, how has he already changed so much?”

“Grandpa, ten years isn’t a short time. Wearing an official’s hat will change one’s personality, and stepping into the government office will change one’s colors,” Yao Jinzhi said with a smile.

Yao Zhen humphed coldly and exclaimed, “What an utterly unnecessary gesture! He doesn’t need to dream about me going against my conscience to help him in the imperial court!”

Yao Jinzhi smiled and asked, “Would you have put in some good words for him because of your past friendship even if he didn’t give you these presents? Clearly not. Since this is the case, the prefectural overseer decided that it was worth it to take a gamble. He wagered that you understand the compromises that one must make in the imperial court.

“He wagered that you also have to yield after entering the officialdom and that ypi needs to seek support from some old acquaintances after becoming the head minister of the Ministry of War, lest you be marginalized by the officials and nobles in the capital. If you become isolated and powerless in the future, then perhaps the first name you think of will be that of this prefectural overseer.”

There was a bitter smile on Yao Zhen’s face.

Chen Ping’an didn’t interject. Yao Zhen and his granddaughter were willing to discuss these schemes and rules of the officialdom in front of an outsider, so Chen Ping’an treated this as knowledge and information that even one thousand taels of gold might not be able to buy. He simply listened and remembered everything.

1. This refers to people who like to show off even if they aren’t necessarily well-off. ☜

2. This is a statement of confidence from someone extremely skilled. Similar to letting your opponent always take white in chess. ☜