Unsheathed

This city god was wearing the official garb unique to officials from the Great Quan Empire’s Ministry of Rites, and the rank decoration on the front of his garb adhered to similar regulations as those of living officials in the yang world. The decoration would be a reflection of his official rank.

The only difference was that the official garb of city gods was black, and this represented the fact that they were representatives of the mortal emperor who patrolled the yin world to keep watch on the many ghosts and yin souls who wandered around during the night.

Chen Ping’an remained calm and composed as he watched the conflict between the mountain god and the river guardian.

After all, this conflict was nothing more than a minor skirmish compared to his experiences in Dragon Spring Prefecture and his encounters during his two trips to distant continents. This conflict couldn’t be regarded as funny, but it certainly wasn’t something that would astonish Chen Ping’an. It was very difficult for Chen Ping’an to experience a thrilling sensation similar to that of climbing to the peak of Cloud Drape Mountain for the first time or witnessing a majestic river for the first time.

Zhu Lian stood beside Chen Ping’an, and of the four subordinates following the young boy, this person left the strongest impression on the members of the Yao Clan. This was because compared to the three other subordinates, this hunchbacked old man truly appeared like a follower and a servant.

Moreover, the members of the Yao Clan had heard about the performance of these four subordinates in the battle in the border inn, so they were roughly aware that the stunningly beautiful woman with a sword on her back was a sword expert, the dignified and impressive-looking Mr. Lu was a saber-wielding martial arts grandmaster, and the taciturn Wei Xian could rival an entire army by himself, proven by how he had blocked the group of Qi refiners from the imperial court.

Meanwhile, this hunchbacked and kindly-looking old man was actually the most ferocious and brutal out of the four subordinates. Following the conclusion of the intense battle in the border inn, the hunchbacked old man had stood there surrounded by mangled corpses and severed limbs.

Zhu Lian didn’t look at Chen Ping’an.

Many times, there was no need to observe the human heart using one’s eyes.

Zhu Lian became increasingly interested in Dragon Spring Prefecture as well as Jewel Small World that Dragon Spring Prefecture used to be. Just how many elites and powerful cultivators had hidden in Jewel Small World to shape Chen Ping’an into the person that he was? Chen Ping’an was so young, yet he had seemingly witnessed all kinds of huge storms already, making it such that his mind’s realm would seldom fluctuate anymore.

He was but a young boy, yet he was already as calm and composed as an experienced adult.

This made him appear mature beyond his years, but also, inevitably, dull and boring. At the same time, he could also be accused of being shrewd and calculating for his age.

This was perhaps a common feeling among other people, but Zhu Lian didn’t hold the same opinion. Chen Ping’an was always kind to other people, yet he gave Zhu Lian a vague and slightly different feeling—as if there was the shadow of a sinister flood dragon lurking in the depths of his calm mind.

However, this flood dragon that no one else knew about was most likely bound tight by rules and regulations as well as the notions of good and evil. As a result, the flood dragon couldn’t rise to the surface of the water and stick its head out even if it wanted to.

Zhu Lian didn’t dare to speculate about anything else, and he could only confirm one thing. There were definitely one or two extremely deep-rooted attachments in the depths of Chen Ping’an’s heart that he couldn’t let go of.

The city god was exhausted after traveling hundreds of kilometers to rush over here to break up the fight. This left him in a foul mood, and he felt a strong urge to flatten the river guardian temple and the mountain god temple with a single stomp.

The mountain god and the river guardian crossing the boundary without permission was an extremely sensitive matter. Once their actions were reported to the Ministry of Rites in the capital, he would also suffer severe punishment as the city god of the nearby provincial city. He had remained in his territory and done nothing wrong, yet the wanton actions of the two foolish deities had rained sudden disaster upon him.

After shooing the two trembling bastards away and telling them to piss off back home, the city god noticed Yao Zhen and the others standing in the distance. He channeled his Qi observing technique to examine them, yet he was immediately astounded by the blinding radiance that he saw.

The city god wanted to descend to the ground to further observe these people, yet the group of people was surprisingly haughty and arrogant, with two cultivators directly drawing their sabers and pointing them at him. They warned him against coming any closer, or else they would treat him as an assassin who harbored ill intentions.

The city god was so enraged that he almost shouted for his two subordinate deities to come back. Fortunately, he was able to control himself thanks to the nourishment from the incense offerings that he had enjoyed for hundreds of years. In the end, he simply committed the faces of these strangers to memory. His expression was extremely dark as he returned to the provincial city.

While returning to the main convoy, Yao Zhen walked over to Yao Jinzhi and asked in a quiet voice, “Why were you so cold and unreasonable?”

“Interacting with other officials and drinking with them is inevitable while we travel to the capital,” Yao Jinzhi replied in a slightly exasperated voice. “However, things will become much murkier if they pertain to the city god and other deities. Grandpa, you don’t want to be secretly impeached by the imperial censors before you even arrive in Mirage City, do you?

“Even if the emperor treats this as nothing more than a joke, it will still send waves through the imperial court and the common people in the capital. Who in the world doesn’t enjoy some good drama? In fact, didn’t we just walk to the mountains to enjoy some drama? Did we truly care about who was in the right between the mountain god and the river guardian?

Yao Zhen immediately understood the implications after hearing Yao Jinzhi’s explanation. He nodded in sincere agreement.

The old general sighed in pity in his mind. Just how good would it have been if Yao Jinzhi were a male? That way, he could have left her at the border region and felt much more at ease.

Pei Qian gathered a large pile of fish, yet Chen Ping’an was surprisingly unwilling to take any of them. Thus, she had no option but to grab their tails and forcefully toss them back into the river. This was a tiring job that left her drenched in sweat.

After traveling for a while, they arrived at Riding Crane City, which was both a provincial city and a prefectural city. They were only a step away from reaching Mirage City, the capital of the Great Quan Empire.

Riding Crane City had a long and colorful history, and the name of this city originated from a famous legend that described a powerful cultivator riding a crane and ascending from this city. There was a small mountain inside Riding Crane City, and the scenery of this mountain was normal and unspectacular. However, countless scholars and literati visited this mountain every year simply because it was the location of that powerful cultivator’s ascension. Meanwhile, the small mountain was also surrounded by private residences designed and built by wealthy nobles from the capital. Each inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

The city god whom they had encountered just then had most likely come from this provincial city. However, Yao Zhen didn’t need to fear a city god from a provincial city.

The head minister of rites was responsible for managing the appointment, promotion, and demotion of city gods in the empire, and the rank and salary of this position were almost identical to that of the head minister of war. Moreover, the Great Quan Empire was a nation where martial arts were extremely widespread, so the position of head minister of war wasn’t some kind of unimportant position with no influence. Otherwise, the old generals nearing retirement age wouldn’t have coveted this position so much.

Just like before, they stayed in a relay station in the provincial city. This was due to the rules established by the imperial court. The relay station in the city was extremely large, surprisingly no smaller than the residence of a high-ranking official. In order to welcome Yao Zhen, trusted subordinates of the governor and the prefectural overseer made several trips to the relay station to almost completely clear it out.

Since the two officials had already prepared everything in advance, Yao Zhen had no option but to accept their goodwill. At the same time, he acted as if he weren’t aware of their help. If the water was too clear, there would be no fish; if a person was too critical, they would have no friends. This was especially the case in the officialdom.

Generally speaking, the imperial court could tolerate loyal officials and treacherous officials. The imperial court could also make use of self-serving officials and fence-sitting officials. However, the imperial court was often unable to tolerate the existence of a moral sage.

This was because such an official would be like a demon-exposing mirror hanging high above the imperial court, mercilessly exposing the flaws and blemishes of all pillar officials.

Old General Yao couldn’t help but sigh with emotion in his mind. His granddaughter, Yao Jinzhi, had explained these principles regarding how to interact with other people to him while she was only fourteen or fifteen years old.

There were times when Yao Zhen would chuckle in self-ridicule. He had lived for so long and accumulated so much experience, yet he had perhaps treated all of this as grass and fed them to the warhorses.

Fortunately, Chen Ping’an was also in the convoy. Yao Zhen enjoyed chatting with this young boy during his trip to the north.

According to their agreement, Chen Ping’an had a casual sparring session with Yao Xianzhi and gave him one or two tips. Yao Xianzhi treated Chen Ping’an’s words as gospel, and he was overcome with sadness when he visited his grandpa and spoke his true thoughts. He claimed that he had practiced martial arts like a dog for all his life.

Upon hearing this, Yao Zhen had asked him how many years “all his life” was. Perhaps it was dozens of years? This rendered Yao Xianzhi speechless. Yao Jinzhi was brewing tea nearby, and she chuckled in amusement when she heard this exchange. Even though she had failed to beat Lu Baixiang a single time in Go, she could definitely be regarded as a grandmaster when it came to brewing tea.

The Yao Clan had lived in the rough border regions for many generations, with both male descendants and female descendants practicing martial arts and displaying their might on the battlefield. That being the case, how had they raised such a talented and refined young lady?

“Big Sister Jinzhi, I don’t like that person called Shao Yuanran; I like Chen Ping’an,” Yao Xianzhi suddenly remarked for no apparent reason.

Yao Jinzhi smiled faintly and replied, “What does it matter to me who you like or dislike?”

Yao Xianzhi was just about to say something else, yet he immediately swallowed his words in fright when he saw Yao Jinzhi shooting a glare at him.

Yao Zhen chuckled in a manner not befitting of the clan leader.

“Grandpa, if everything goes according to plan, the imperial court will send a secret messenger to Riding Crane City very soon. It won’t be too late for you to laugh at that time,” Yao Jinzhi said in a calm and casual voice.

Yao Zhen couldn’t laugh anymore.

Interacting with those scheming officials who had honed their skills in the imperial court for dozens of years was truly a headache-inducing task for the old general.

Chen Ping’an practiced the six-step walking meditation in his room. While doing so, he also closed his eyes and feigned holding a sword, visualizing the different demeanor of all those sword cultivators as they unleashed powerful sword strikes.

There was a bamboo tube made from ordinary green bamboo on his table, and Chen Ping’an had casually harvested this bamboo from a bamboo forest on an azure mountain that they had passed on their trip.

Chen Ping’an wanted to carve a brush holder as a farewell gift for Old General Yao.

Pei Qian ran over to his room and said that she wanted to wander around the city for a while, so Chen Ping’an told her to ask Lu Baixiang whether he was willing to accompany her around. If he wasn’t, then she should obediently return to her room to study. Indeed, Chen Ping’an had already given her a second Confucian book not too long ago.

However, Pei Qian had already memorized the entire book, and she had even run to Chen Ping’an’s room in delight one time and claimed that she could genuinely recite the book in reverse. Chen Ping’an had grabbed the book and asked her to try, and Pei Qian had truly managed to recite the one thousand or so characters in reverse without making a single mistake.

Afterward, Chen Ping’an had twisted her ear and instructed her to return to her room to reflect on her mistake. Before letting her go, he had simply said, “I told you to study earnestly, so are you treating my words as a joke?”

That time, Pei Qian had angrily stormed back to her own room and stood on the chair to peer down at that crappy book. Pinching her chin and furrowing her brows, she had thought to herself, Study earnestly? What does this mean? Am I not studying earnestly enough? I studied for fifteen entire minutes before I could recite this book in reverse!

Pei Qian had then squatted down and looked at the name of the sage who had written this shitty book.

I’ll remember you, old bastard. I’ll definitely beat you up until you cry for your mom and dad once I master my sword technique and fist techniques.

Afterward, she had stood up and mulled over Chen Ping’an’s words for a long time. However, she had failed to make any progress, so she had eventually hopped off the chair and started to practice her wild staff technique with the hiking pole that had accompanied her for a long time.

After randomly swinging the hiking pole around for a while, Pei Qian had tossed it away and felt like she was one step closer to becoming the most powerful martial artist in the world. This improved her mood greatly, and she had jumped into bed and fallen fast asleep.

Upon hearing Chen Ping’an’s response today, Pei Qian giddily ran away to look for Lu Baixiang, whom she had secretly nicknamed “Little Bai.” However, Lu Baixiang was surprisingly playing Go with Sui Youbian, so he asked the little girl to wait for an hour. Pei Qian turned around to look at Wei Xian who was sitting there idly. He didn’t understand Go at all, and he was simply waiting for the moment that victory was decided.

Pei Qian was just about to say something, yet Wei Xian—whose eyes were still fixed on the Go board—suddenly said, “Let’s go.” He immediately stood up, after which Pei Qian came to a sudden realization. The two of them left the relay station to wander around the provincial city together.

Pei Qian smiled and asked, “Old Man Wei, did you bring any money with you?”

Of Chen Ping’an’s four subordinates, Pei Qian was the least afraid of Wei Xian. Moreover, Wei Xian would never get angry when she called him Old Man Wei. In reality, he couldn’t care less about how Pei Qian referred to him.

Wei Xian remained silent.

“Then why the hell are we wandering around and shopping? We won’t be able to buy any of the beautiful trinkets and delicious snacks that we come across,” Pei Qian grumbled.

“I have some silver,” Wei Xian suddenly said.

Pei Qian furrowed her brows and asked, “Where did you get it from? Did you steal it? Did you mug someone? Give me half, and I won’t tell Chen Ping’an.”

“I taught the lame young boy at the border inn a fist technique, and he repaid the favor by giving me some silver,” Wei Xian replied. “I also taught Yao Xianzhi a fist stance recently, and I also got a dozen taels from that.”

A look of envy spread across Pei Qian’s face, and she remarked, “How impressive, Old Man Wei. You can make big money no matter where you go. I admire you for this.”

Pei Qian then clasped her hands behind her back, walking forward with her chest puffed out as she clicked her tongue and continued, “However, you actually went as far as to scam Little Lame? That’s quite mean of you, Old Man Wei. Rather than scamming him, you should have scammed that lady called Jiu Niang instead. She was the truly wealthy one. Tsk, what a shame.

“Old Man Wei, your appearance isn’t very likable, and you’re nowhere near as young and handsome as my dad. Do you blame your mom and dad for making you so ugly?”

The founding emperor of Southern Garden Nation was being utterly humiliated by a skinny little girl, yet he surprisingly managed to remain completely calm and unfazed.

There was a stern expression on the short man’s face as he replied, “When the imperial artists painted my portrait, they all praised my appearance as mighty and handsome. I feel like they were telling the truth and speaking from the bottom of their hearts.”

Pei Qian was stunned, and she exclaimed, “Old Man Wei, are you stupid or what? Or perhaps those imperial artists had shit for eyes?”

Wei Xian fell silent again.

There was no night curfew in Riding Crane City, and the countless wealthy individuals who lived here were all very willing to splash their money around.

After leaving the relay station and walking out of the street, the middle-aged man and the little girl mingled together with the bustling crowd of people. Pei Qian didn’t have a single copper coin in her pockets, yet she swaggered around as if she had thousands of taels of silver.

This wasn’t strange. After all, Pei Qian had managed to trick a large group of children the same age as her in Fox Town, somewhere completely new and unfamiliar to her. She had convinced the other children that she was a princess of the Great Quan Empire drifting about and living an impoverished life in the common world. Afterward, she had even tricked the experienced guards and had them respectfully escort her back to the border inn.

“Old Man Wei, I have a nagging feeling that there’s something strange about that woman’s eyes when she looks at my dad, that woman who doesn’t dare to show her face,” Pei Qian suddenly said.

“‘Tis the mindset of an emperor,” Wei Xian replied in an indifferent voice.

“Say what?” Pei Qian asked in confusion.

Wei Xian didn’t say anything else.

Pei Qian didn’t dig any further, and she gulped and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth. She smiled widely and asked, “Old Man Wei, can you buy me some candy?”

Wei Xian shook his head in response.

“Why are you so stingy, Old Man Wei?” Pei Qian exclaimed in anger.

A rare smile appeared on Wei Xian’s face as he replied, “I’m nowhere near as capable and patient as Chen Ping’an. I’ll never be able to raise you properly.”

Pei Qian was slightly confused, so she put on a pitiful expression and asked, “Then I’ll borrow some money from you to buy the candy?”

Wei Xian nodded and said, “We’ll set the interest at three percent.”

Pei Qian scrunched her face in disappointment and replied, “Even though I know what three percent interest means, I feel like it’s better to let this go. So be it if I can’t buy the candy. It’s not like I’ll starve to death because of this.”

Even though she said this, she still ran to the craft candy stall like a gust of wind. After arriving in front of the stall, it was as if her feet had taken root in the ground and wouldn’t budge anymore. She refused to leave no matter what.

Wei Xian naturally couldn’t abandon Pei Qian and leave by himself.

If he dared to abandon Pei Qian, then Chen Ping’an would definitely treat him to a flurry of fists.

The old man running the craft candy stall was extremely skilled at creating miniature figures from sugar, and there was a large group of little children crowding around his stall with drool hanging from their mouths. Those with adults accompanying them all received a candy person as per their wishes.

Under the propped-up rectangular table was a round wooden cage that held a small bucket of coal. The old man used a large ladle to spread the piping hot golden sugar across the table, after which he would skillfully move the ladle around to quickly create all kinds of different candy people.

Wei Xian took out some money to buy two candy people, causing Pei Qian to expectantly stare at his hands that were holding one candy person each.

Wei Xian offered a candy person to Pei Qian and said, “Here, I’ll bestow this upon you.”

He was speaking as if he were an emperor bestowing a large plot of land to his subject.

Pei Qian beamed with joy and exclaimed, “I’ll say good things about you in front of my dad every single day! I’m half a scholar now, so my words of praise will definitely be effective!”

Nibbling on their candy people, the middle-aged man and the skinny little girl didn’t stand out at all among the bustling crowds of people.