Unsheathed

A small head was resting on a windowsill and dazedly staring at the courtyard.

No one else in the relay station noticed Zhong Kui and the old Heavenly Lord’s arrival, yet strangely enough, Pei Qian was still staring at the courtyard and Chen Ping’an in the middle of the night.

Chen Ping’an turned around to look at Pei Qian before saying, “Go back to sleep.”

It would have been better for him to remain silent. After saying this, Pei Qian went over to grab a stool before nimbly climbing out of the window and jumping to the ground in one swift motion.

“Why aren’t you sleeping? Why are you running over here?” Chen Ping’an asked.

“I couldn’t fall asleep, so I’ve come here to accompany you and chat with you,” Pei Qian replied in an obsequious manner.

Chen Ping’an waved his hand and said that he needed to practice fist techniques. Thus, Pei Qian could stay here if she wanted to.

Pei Qian became sleepy after watching for fifteen minutes, so she told Chen Ping’an she was leaving before taking a deep breath and sprinting toward the window. She leaped high up, trying to grab the windowsill with both hands. She would then kick her legs and pull herself back into her room. That would definitely look very impressive.

However, things didn’t go to plan, and her chin violently crashed into the windowsill instead.

Pei Qian fell backward onto the ground.

Chen Ping’an looked over, yet he could barely bring himself to watch on.

Pei Qian sat on the ground and reached up to hold her chin. She looked at Chen Ping’an with tears brimming in her eyes.

Chen Ping’an walked over and squatted down. After gently moving her hands away and inspecting her chin, he smiled and asked, “Are you still going to act heroic and mighty?”

Tears immediately streamed down the skinny little girl’s tanned face.

Chen Ping’an had no option but to wipe the smile from his face and help her up. While doing so, he said, “I know a little girl who’s around the same age as you. She’s also very reckless, but she’s able to tolerate pain better than you. If it were her, she would definitely be smiling at me right now. In fact, she might even comfort me and tell me not to worry.”

After saying this, Chen Ping’an added, “However, everyone has a different personality, so there’s no need for you to copy her.”

The two of them sat beside the stone table.

Pei Qian only dared to open her mouth slightly, so her voice was slightly muffled as she asked, “What’s her name?”

“She’s called Li Baoping, and she likes to wear a bright red jacket all the time. She also likes to call me junior uncle,” Chen Ping’an replied.

“You like her a lot?” Pei Qian asked in a quiet voice.

Chen Ping’an nodded in response. How could there be a junior uncle who didn’t like Li Baoping?!

Pei Qian remained silent.

“You watched me practice walking meditation just then, so how was it?” Chen Ping’an asked.

There was a baffled expression on Pei Qian’s face. She wasn’t faking it this time, and she was genuinely confused as to why Chen Ping’an was asking such a question.

Chen Ping’an also became slightly confused, and he asked, “You never thought about stealing this stance and emulating it?”

“Why would I emulate you swaying back and forth as you walk?” Pei Qian retorted.

She stood up with a spirited expression, baring her teeth and swinging her arms around. She then feigned drawing a sword and held two fingers together, chaotically stabbing the air around her as she randomly jumped around. Afterward, she even unleashed the Bastard Fist Technique and showed off for a while, exclaiming, “I’m naturally going to focus on learning the most powerful techniques!”

Chen Ping’an didn’t find this funny at all. Instead, there was a solemn expression on his face.

There was Lu Fang controlling his sword with his mind in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

There was Chen Ping’an undergoing the process of Examining the Dragon.

There was the Deity Drumming Technique that had pushed Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu back.

And there were also some traces of Old Demon Ding’s myriad techniques.

Pei Qian’s movements couldn’t be regarded as similar in terms of form.

However…

Someone had once said that training fist techniques the incorrect way was a surefire way to ruin one’s body. Yet, what if one abandoned all fist stances while practicing fist techniques and directly developed true intent?

In Chen Ping’an’s memory, only a single person had managed to do this before.

Sure enough, it was just as he had expected.

“You kept staring at Daoist Priest Shao in the morning, so what did you notice?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Pei Qian didn’t dare to reply.

“You’re allowed to say anything as long as you don’t lie,” Chen Ping’an reassured.

Only then did Pei Qian look around and reply in a soft voice, “I feel like that person with the surname Shao is harboring ill intentions. He isn’t a good person.”

Chen Ping’an followed up with another question, asking, “Were you able to see that old Daoist priest tonight?”

Pei Qian nodded earnestly in response.

Chen Ping’an felt slightly helpless. He was well aware that the old ancestor of Peace and Tranquility Mountain had used a paramount mystical ability to conceal his presence.

“If you become a powerful martial artist in the future, what will you do if you feel like someone is bullying you? Tell the truth!” Chen Ping’an asked.

“Smash them half-dead with a single punch?” Pei Qian replied in a hesitant voice.

Seeing that Chen Ping’an was about to become angry, Pei Qian decided not to hold back anymore, crossing her arms in front of her chest and angrily exclaiming, “I’ll smash them dead with a single punch!”

Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “Then what if you were actually in the wrong?”

“I stay by your side every day, so how can I possibly be wrong?” Pei Qian replied in a confident voice.

Chen Ping’an didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He put on a stern expression and asked, “But there’ll eventually come a day when you leave and travel around the cultivation world by yourself, won’t there?”

“There won’t!” Pei Qian replied in a resolute voice. “Why would I leave and travel around the cultivation world by myself? There are so many bad people around, so what would I do if I can’t beat them? Also, what if I run out of money? I’ll go hungry every day, so I’ll have to steal and rob people to fill my belly. If you hear about this, you’ll definitely scold me and beat me again. What can I do? Right? So it’s best that I don’t leave and travel around the world by myself.”

“What if you become a very powerful martial artist in the future? What if you become even more powerful than me?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Pei Qian furrowed her brows and carefully mulled over this question. In the end, she furiously shook her head and replied, “I’m such a lazy person! My favorite thing to do is sleep, and I’m also afraid of pain. It’s not like you don’t know that. The soles of my feet were filled with blisters after walking for so long, and I cried until I couldn’t even speak anymore when we popped those blisters.

“When you were fighting with those people in the border inn, you didn’t cry even though the wounds on your arms were so bad that I could see your bones. But I can’t. If I were you, I might have fainted just looking at my arms. Ah… How good would it be if there was a top martial arts technique that I could master in a single night without suffering any pain?”

Chen Ping’an suppressed his smile and said in an amused voice, “You’re also aware that you’re lazy, unambitious, and cowardly?”

Pei Qian hung her head in dejection.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Chen Ping’an asked.

“Because my chin hurts,” Pei Qian replied in an aggrieved voice.

Chen Ping’an smiled and turned around, leaning against the stone table as he gazed up at the night sky.

Pei Qian copied his movements, yet her short stature meant that she could only rest the back of her head against the stone table.

“You’ll turn eleven after the New Year, so you need to read more books and learn more things,” Chen Ping’an said in a soft voice.

There was still a long and difficult path ahead of them.

Teaching Pei Qian was genuinely more difficult and mentally tiring than throwing one million punches.

However, this was also fairly good.

Chen Ping’an spoke his mind to Pei Qian in a rare display, saying, “Back in my hometown, I was only a little bit older than you at that time. I had also never read any books before. Mr. Qi told me that principles and knowledge existed in the books, yet how to conduct oneself as a good person existed outside the books.”

In the end, Chen Ping’an murmured, “I hope that everyone in the world can meet their Mr. Qi when they’re young.”

Right now, Pei Qian was still a little girl who had selective hearing and only heard what she wanted to.

For example, Chen Ping’an had said that she would turn eleven next year.

In this world, only Chen Ping’an would remember something like this. She was ten this year, and she would turn eleven next year.

————

The old Daoist priest from Peace and Tranquility Mountain suddenly stopped in his tracks, retrieving the locust wood gavel and allowing Zhong Kui’s yin soul to hover out.

Above the sea of clouds, Zhong Kui saw a most familiar person standing not far away. This person was his teacher, the mountain master of Great Subduing Academy.

The mountain master simply looked at Zhong Kui.

“Teacher?” Zhong Kui asked in a quiet voice.

The mountain master was seemingly unable to accept this nightmare. Even now, he was still unwilling to believe what he saw, murmuring, “It shouldn’t have been like this, it shouldn’t have been like this…”

Everything was caused by a simple decision. He shouldn’t have gone to Green Roving Residence back then, and he shouldn’t have asked his most prized disciple to go to Peace and Tranquility Mountain. He should have told Zhong Kui to stay at the inn in the small border town and continue to keep an eye on that nine-tailed fox hiding there.

Even though the nine-tailed fox was a twelfth tier great demon, her identity was far too sensitive and her status was far too high. Thus, her true name had already leaked into the world a long time ago. If Zhong Kui managed to learn the true names of all the ancient great demons in the world, he would essentially gain the ability to protect himself as long as he remained in Majestic World.

No one had imagined that Bai Yuan, the sword-carrying white ape from Peace and Tranquility Mountain, would be the true culprit behind the demons escaping from the well prison.

Zhong Kui was truly unable to stand this heavy atmosphere, so he said in a loud and clear voice, “Teacher, I simply performed my duty as a Confucian scholar. My duty is either to educate the masses and support my nation, or to summon my righteous aura to slay demons and uphold the Dao…”

“Do I need you to explain these grand principles to me?” the mountain master fumed.

Zhong Kui was immediately scared into silence.

The Observing Mystical Heavenly Lord sighed and said, “Peace and Tranquility Mountain will not shirk responsibility if the Confucian schools ask for an explanation.”

The mountain master changed his attitude when facing the old Daoist priest, replying in a respectful voice, “My senior brother will definitely feel angry and upset because of this. However, he won’t try to blame or punish anyone else. In any case, what crime has Peace and Tranquility Mountain committed? There’s no crime to speak of. After all, did you blame Zhong Kui for failing to protect Peace and Tranquility Mountain? Did you blame him for failing to protect that earth immortal?”

“Teacher, that old Daoist priest was called Liang Su,” Zhong Kui added in a quiet voice.

The mountain master was just about to flare up in anger again.

Zhong Kui immediately shut up.

The old Daoist priest sighed with emotion and said, “Parasol Leaf Continent might become a little more peaceful following this calamity. However, I’m afraid that chaos is about to consume Southern Whirl Continent and Circling Ascension Continent. Sure enough, the precious treasures appearing in these three continents were all an elaborate plot by the demon tribe.”

After saying this, the old Daoist priest continued in a soft voice, “Your Confucian academy definitely needs to protect that boy from Planchette Writing Sect. Since he was able to expose the demon tribe’s plot…”

He didn’t continue any further.

The mountain master nodded and replied, “It’s only right that we should protect him. I’ve already discussed this with Planchette Writing Sect, and that young boy will adopt a pseudonym and enter Great Subduing Academy to study. As for whether he becomes a Confucian disciple in the future, that’s completely up to him.”

The old Daoist priest smiled and said in amusement, “To have Sect Leader Ji Hai’s final disciple run off to become a virtuous scholar or a noble scholar? Won’t Planchette Writing Sect fight you to the death?”

The mountain master became slightly emotional at the mention of Planchette Writing Sect and Sect Leader Ji Hai, and he sighed, “Ji Hai was quite frank in the discussions, and he said that it was the correct decision for him to take that young boy as a direct disciple and bestow upon him the precious weapon of his deceased Dao partner. However, he would inevitably feel troubled and uneasy whenever he saw the boy, and this would affect his cultivation and prevent him from ever reaching the Immortal Tier. If that was the case, then how could he go to the Sword Qi Great Wall in the future? How could he slay twelfth tier great demons in the future?”

There was sympathy on the old Daoist priest’s face as he sighed, “They were the only Upper Five Tier Dao partners in Parasol Leaf Continent, and they were a rare match made in heaven. It’s truly a pity. Indeed, it will be immensely difficult for Ji Hai to advance to the Immortal Tier in the future. The more he dwells and obsesses with this, the more difficult it will be to eliminate his internal demons.”

The mountain master smiled bitterly and said, “There are some things that outsiders can talk about and give advice on, yet there are some things they cannot.”

The old Daoist priest heaved a soft sigh.

Cultivation was difficult; it was quite literally as difficult as ascending the heavens.

However, it was rumored that a long, long time ago, ascending the heavens wasn’t difficult, while cultivation was still very difficult.

————

On the peak of a majestic mountain in Middle Earth Divine Continent…

There was a deity in golden armor standing with his sword in front of him, with the tip of the sword resting on the ground and his hands resting on its hilt. He was standing beside a stone tablet located on the peak of the mountain, and he was wearing a helmet that concealed much of his appearance. There was an old Confucian scholar sitting cross-legged on top of the stone tablet in an extremely disrespectful manner.

The old Confucian scholar formed hand seals and performed divination inside his sleeves before slapping his thigh and exclaiming, “Fortune, great fortune!”

The deity in golden armor pursed his lips.

“How is it? What do you think about my final disciple?” the old scholar asked with a smug expression.

After being pestered by the old scholar for one entire month, the deity in golden armor couldn’t help but snap back in impatience, saying, “Very good. Very, very good. Are you happy now?”

The impoverished scholar pointed at the deity who was almost as tall as the colossal stone tablet and roared with laughter, remarking, “This insincere expression of yours… I love it!”

The impoverished old scholar started to reminisce about his glory days again, saying, “Thinking back to the past, people would always have the same expression as you do now when they lost an argument with me. Ah… This expression makes me feel so satisfied.”

The deity in golden armor was none other than a formal god of the Five Mountains of Middle Earth Divine Continent. Hearing the old scholar’s remarks, he sniggered and asked, “Who proposed for a poor-ass scholar like you to become a sage worshiped in the Confucian temples in the past? Tell me who it was so I can go and ask them if they ever washed their eyes.”

This was widely regarded as a mystery in the Confucian Sect.

“Why don’t you guess?” the old scholar replied with a punchable smile.

No matter how good-tempered the mountain god of Tassel Mountain was, who wouldn’t be annoyed after being pestered for one entire month? Moreover, the impoverished old scholar was someone who would only take action when he had a clear target. That being the case, could he be up to any good?

“I’ll guess your grandpa!” the mountain god snapped.

The old scholar raised a thumb and pointed at himself, replying, “It wasn’t my grandpa. Rather, it was the founder of Confucianism. However, I do wish that the old man was my grandpa. Ah, what a shame, what a true shame…”

The mountain god of Tassel Mountain renowned for his unruly nature surprisingly put on a solemn expression and stood up straight. He let go of his sword hilt and cupped his fists at heaven and earth, showing his respect and apologizing to the Paramount Sage.

“As you already know, I’m a very thin-skinned person, and I always remind myself that I won’t accept a reward that I don’t deserve,” the old scholar said abashedly. “However, I’m very knowledgeable and extremely good at writing essays, and the principles that I expound are also incredibly profound and mystical. And thus, the Paramount Sage found me and sincerely persuaded me to join him.

“I was extremely moved, and the Paramount Sage mentioned many of my strengths that I hadn’t necessarily viewed as strengths in the past. In any case, the Paramount Sage made one remark that completely resonated with me. Sages are definitely true heroes, yet true heroes aren’t necessarily sages! When I heard this, I thought to myself that the Paramount Sage truly understands me. Thus, I made a small request to the Paramount Sage…”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear this!” the mountain god of Tassel Mountain said in a solemn voice.

“Why, you? How are you so incapable of telling good from bad?” the old scholar lamented.

“Would I have allowed you to enter the mountain if I could tell good from bad?” the mountain god of Tassel Mountain retorted with a cold chuckle.

The old scholar rubbed his chin, and he felt like he was indeed the unreasonable party in regard to this matter. He immediately changed his tune and said, “The personality of that stinky old Daoist priest in the East Sea is far too unlikeable. But he’s an okay person, and he’s also quite generous when giving things away. He doesn’t embarrass himself in this sense.

“I’m aware that he gave that child a very useful treasure. This treasure is useless for cultivation, yet as with most matters in the world, it’s often the case that a suitable treasure is better than a valuable treasure. This treasure can conceal his aura and prevent others from divining his fortune. It’s even better than A’Liang’s tattered bamboo hat from back then. Thanks to this generous gift, I’ll let his dirty actions in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land slide.”

“Even if you don’t let things slide, are you truly able to rival that old Daoist priest in your current state?” the mountain god of Tassel Mountain jibed.

“Scholars like me need to convince other people through reason,” the old scholar said in a heartfelt manner. “Fighting all the time can’t be regarded as true strength, even if one manages to tear the heavens apart.”

In a rare display, the mountain god of Tassel Mountain didn’t retort.

The old scholar placed his hands inside his opposite sleeves. The astral winds atop Tassel Mountain were swift and vigorous, and even the talismanic patterns on the mountain god’s golden armor started to ripple. However, the old scholar’s sleeves and hair remained calm and unmoving.

“It’s difficult for sages to die, yet it’s difficult for noble people to survive,” the old scholar said in a soft voice.

“Of the Hundred Schools of Thought, only the Confucian Sect doesn’t explicitly assign Dao guardians or whatnot. The Confucian academies are the best Dao guardians of all scholars in the world. There are three Confucian schools and seventy-two Confucian academies in Majestic World, and all of them have produced noble scholars who have died on the path of becoming a sage. I feel like these righteous noble scholars who aren’t necessarily bright enough are the backbone of Majestic World. They can…”

The old scholar suddenly stopped speaking, and he turned to the mountain god and shouted, “Oi, big dummy, think of the correct words for me!”

“Serve as a pillar between heaven and earth,” the mountain god replied calmly.

The old scholar slapped his thigh again, exclaiming, “Brilliant!”

“You’ve never spent time as a legitimate noble scholar of Confucianism,” the mountain god of Tassel Mountain suddenly said.

The old scholar remained silent.

————

Inside a Confucian temple, a sage walked out from his clay statue. The divine altar was extremely tall, and the clay statue of the sage was also located incredibly close to the clay statue of the Paramount Sage. The sage was also holding the hand of a young boy who had followed him here from another world.

After exiting the building with the young boy, the sage turned around to glance at the empty spot on the altar. He then smiled at the young boy and said, “You’ll have the opportunity to compete for this spot with someone in the future.”