Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an didn’t need to ask; Yao Zhen went ahead and obtained for him a geomancy map of the northern regions of the Great Quan Empire as well as two even more detailed geomancy maps of the relevant provinces and prefectures. This allowed Chen Ping’an to plan a rough route to Heavenly Palace Peak.

The six of them left the official road and entered a muddy dirt road.

With a yellow paper talisman stuck on her forehead and a hiking pole in her hand, Pei Qian walked as swiftly and freely as the wind.

Bored and with nothing better to do, the skinny little girl asked, “Old Man Wei, do you let out stinky farts when you eat until you’re stuffed?”

Wei Xian ignored her.

Pei Qian went to pester someone else. “Little Bai, how come I’ve never seen you leave to take a shit? It’s not good to hold your shit in your stomach.”

Lu Baixiang was rendered speechless.

Pei Qian ran over to Sui Youbian, who was at the back of the group, and she raised her head and asked with an obsequious expression, “Big Sister Sui, do you know how to fly? I often listened to the storyteller at the foot of the bridge, and he claimed that immortals could not only leap across rooftops and run along walls, but they could also transform beans into soldiers and ride atop mists and clouds.

“Well, that old geezer was trying to trick people into giving him wine to drink, so I didn’t believe a single word that he said. But I believe in you, Big Sister Sui. I’ve seen people flying on swords before, so you can definitely do this as well, right? Especially with how beautiful you are. I’ll be head over heels with joy if I can become half as beautiful as you when I grow up.”

Sui Youbian chuckled coldly in response to the obsequious little girl.

In the end, Pei Qian returned to Chen Ping’an’s side and mysteriously sighed with emotion, saying, “Back in my hometown, I always felt like the most amazing thing in the world would be if you could just eat soil and not die because of it.”

“I read in a book that there’s a mountain in the northern regions of Parasol Leaf Continent where the clay is genuinely edible,” Chen Ping’an replied.

Pei Qian was stunned, and she exclaimed, “Clay that can genuinely be eaten like rice?! Then should we head over to collect a basket?”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and replied, “It’s not on the way.”

Pei Qian’s mind was always filled with strange and peculiar thoughts. For example, she would earnestly ask Chen Ping’an whether he felt like each building and each tree looked very much like a person.

Her explanation was that windows looked like the eyes of buildings, while doors looked like their mouths. Similarly, leaves looked like the outer garments of trees.

Chen Ping’an countered this by asking, “Then why do trees remove their garment when it’s freezing cold in winter, yet they wear so much when it’s scorching hot in summer?”

Oh, he has a point…?

Pei Qian scratched her head. Sure enough, Chen Ping’an’s explanation was more reasonable because he had read more books.

Apart from Pei Qian’s occasional nonsense, Chen Ping’an and his four subordinates didn’t speak much as they walked.

Many people might find this unfathomable, but the six people traveling together on foot were individuals from different time periods, five of whom had enjoyed the title of strongest in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land in their time.

Chen Ping’an continued to ruminate on the immortal mantra inscribed on the jade slip from the water goddess as he walked.

While walking along a mountain path paved with bluestone slabs today, Zhu Lian asked in a quiet voice, “How should we deal with this, Young Master?”

Lu Baixiang, Wei Xian, and Sui Youbian continued forward as normal, yet they had also noticed the peculiar situation at the same time.

“There’s no need to panic,” Chen Ping’an replied.

They had purposely detoured around the jurisdiction of the Great Quan Empire’s border army while traveling north, and it was because of this that they had walked more mountain paths.

However, they had finally been discovered by someone today. It was difficult to say who it was right now, and it the other party might be simply fearful of them, so they found it necessary to send someone over to examine the situation. Of course, this could also be a trap that was specifically targeting Chen Ping’an and his companions.

There was a light drizzle during dusk, making the mountain path especially difficult to navigate. While walking through a desolate and sparsely populated area, they came across a rundown temple that had clearly been abandoned for many years. Pei Qian was ecstatic that they had finally come across some shelter where they could seek refuge from the wind and rain.

Her boots and pants were caked in mud, and each time she lifted a foot, it felt like an iron weight. Even though she was carrying the oil-paper umbrella, the lashing wind and rain still caused her hair to stick to her forehead. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

Chen Ping’an told Pei Qian to stop, and he retrieved a Yang Energy Illumination Talisman and pinched it between his fingers before walking into the empty and rundown temple by himself. The talisman didn’t self-combust, and only then did Chen Ping’an tell Pei Qian and the others to enter.

There was a common saying that it was safer to sleep in graveyards than it was to enter rundown temples.[1]

There was good reason behind this saying, in that murderous robbers and bandits would often treat rundown temples as their bases. In addition to this, abandoned temples would attract wandering ghosts and yin entities more easily after the godly statues lost their divine aura. These ghosts and yin entities would linger around the area, causing the rundown temples to become ghostly wastelands that harbored all kinds of filth. This would naturally bring harm to those who entered to seek shelter.

While traveling with Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, Chen Ping’an had once come across a young fox spirit in a rundown temple that turned out to be quite nice. However, kind-hearted fox spirits and demons were the minority. The large majority of ghosts, spirits, and demons would be ferocious beings who detested yang energy and relished human flesh.

The divine altar in the rundown temple had already collapsed, and the clay statues of the deities were also nowhere to be seen. There were countless cobwebs of all sizes on the beams and pillars.

Zhu Lian collected some dry branches, but there weren’t enough of them to start a campfire. As a result, they had no option but to venture outside to cut down and collect some branches that were soaking wet from the rain. It took them a long time to get a fire going.

After entering the rundown temple, Pei Qian immediately made up another excuse to obtain a talisman from Chen Ping’an so that she could slap it on her forehead. She claimed that she was a scaredy-cat, so she needed to borrow a talisman to ward off evil.

Nowadays, she could only borrow a talisman and stick it on her forehead to show off after she finished copying five hundred characters from the sagely essays.

Chen Ping’an told her to use a small branch to write the five hundred characters on the ground. Upon hearing this, Pei Qian put on a sulky expression and said that she wouldn’t stick a talisman on her forehead today. She was far too tired, so she asked whether she could write the characters next time.

Looking at the pitiful little girl drenched and muddy, Chen Ping’an nodded and let her off the hook today. Pei Qian was extremely relieved, and she shuffled closer to Chen Ping’an and asked whether she could take a glance at the wooden treasure box that Yao Jinzhi had given her.

This was Pei Qian’s belonging to begin with, and it had simply been placed inside Chen Ping’an’s bamboo bookcase for safekeeping.

Chen Ping’an told Pei Qian to grab it from the bamboo bookcase herself. Pei Qian carefully retrieved the exquisitely crafted wooden treasure box and sat down beside Chen Ping’an. However, she purposely sat with her back facing Wei Xian and the others, not allowing them to take so much as a single glance at her treasures.

It would most likely be very difficult to correct her stingy nature.

In any case, Chen Ping’an seemingly made no explicit attempt to discipline Pei Qian in this regard.

Zhu Lian had toyed with Pei Qian before, grabbing her hiking pole and hiding it away. Pei Qian never allowed anyone to touch her hiking pole, so she had almost challenged Zhu Lian to a duel to the death.

The treasure box was divided up into nine sections of different sizes.

Apart from the ancient copper coins from a previous empire and the small and exquisite wooden carving of a ganoderma, there was also a Daoist badge that had become smooth and shiny due to old age.

A Daoist enforcer was engraved on the badge, and he had a crimson face adorned with a large beard. He was dressed in a red robe and suited in golden armor, and also had a third eye on his glabella, making him appear especially mighty and dynamic.

The Daoist badge was very small, most likely something that someone had obtained from a Daoist temple and brought back home for the younger generation, hoping that it could ward off evil and protect them from harm.

The remaining items were feminine and refined adornments for ladies.

Pei Qian raised her head slightly and asked Chen Ping’an, “Which item in here is the most valuable?”

Chen Ping’an leaned back slightly and took a glance at the items inside the wooden treasure box, replying, “The wooden ganoderma and the Daoist enforcer badge are both fairly decent spirit tools. Qi refiners at the Lower Five Tiers can count themselves very fortunate if they’re able to possess a single such treasure.”

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up, and she asked, “Then how many taels of silver are they worth?”

Chen Ping’an flicked her on the forehead and replied, “Miss Yao gave you these presents out of goodwill, so why are you always asking about how much they’re worth?”

Pei Qian shrank back and carefully responded, “If I were by myself, Big Sister Jinzhi definitely wouldn’t have given me so many treasures.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “Oh, you can even tell something like this? How did you figure it out?”

Pei Qian pointed at her eyes and replied with a smile, “I obviously used my eyes.’”

Chen Ping’an raised his hand again, causing Pei Qian to hurriedly cover her head in fright. The wooden treasure box on her knees wobbled and almost fell to the ground.

Chen Ping’an grabbed the treasure box, and he didn’t reach over to flick her forehead again.

Pei Qian put everything back in the treasure box before turning around and handing it to Chen Ping’an. She lowered her voice and said, “Big Sister Jinzhi is genuinely very beautiful. I feel like she’s… more feminine than a certain someone else.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t comment on this. He glanced outside the temple where the light drizzle had transformed into a heavy downpour.

Zhu Lian was busy cooking.

Chen Ping’an stood up and grabbed a branch roughly as long as a sword before walking over to the entrance of the temple. He stood still and looked up at the curtain of rain.

Zhu Lian and the others turned their heads to look at Chen Ping’an at almost exactly the same time.

Even Sui Youbian sitting cross-legged the furthest away from Chen Ping’an was no exception, placing her hands on the hilt and tip of Deep Infatuation after opening her eyes.

Only Chen Ping’an remained unmoving as he stood there, holding a branch as if he were holding a sword.

As time went on, Sui Youbian closed her eyes again, and Zhu Lian continued to fan the flames and cook rice. Wei Xian wandered around the rundown temple, squatting down in front of the walls with a shard of painted clay in his hand. This had most likely come from one of the shattered clay statues in the temple.

Lu Baixiang was reading a Go manual that Yao Jinzhi had given him, which apparently contained the so-called “ten games in the iridescent clouds” between the city lord of White Emperor City and Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan from the Great Li Empire. Lu Baixiang was extremely fond of this Go manual, and he would take it out to read whenever he had free time. Reading it often would definitely be beneficial.

While waiting for the rice to cook, Zhu Lian retrieved the low-quality print of a juicy romance novel. Pei Qian mustered her courage and shuffled over, hoping to catch a glimpse of what Zhu Lian was reading. However, Zhu Lian immediately pushed her small head aside.

Pei Qian stole a glance at the Go manual in Lu Baixiang’s hands. She couldn’t understand it, and she wasn’t interested in it either. She detested Go immensely. You take a turn, they take a turn, and both sides needed to ponder forever before making their move. It was far too boring. Indeed, it would only be slightly more interesting if she could rapidly smack down three or four Go pieces for every Go piece that her opponent placed.

When the fragrance of the cooking rice started to waft through the rundown temple, Chen Ping’an said in a quiet voice, “There’s a group of people hurrying toward this temple. You guys can ignore them and continue to do whatever you’re doing. You can also eat if you’re hungry.”

Rain was bucketing down outside, and a group of people was braving the rain and rushing over to the rundown temple to seek shelter.

There were a dozen or so people, all wearing conical bamboo hats and dressed in raincoats made from straw. Each of them had a saber by their waist, and they all appeared strong and vigorous, with their breathing calm and composed.

After interacting with the Yao Clan for so long, Chen Ping’an could immediately tell that these people were definitely elite soldiers from the army.

The leader of the group was a burly man in his thirties, and he possessed the might of dragons and tigers as he walked. He was the eye-catching member of the group, and it could be said that he was like a crane standing among chickens.

The burly man stopped ten paces away from the rundown temple, and he smiled at Chen Ping’an, asking, “Are you Young Master Chen, the person who rescued Old General Yao from the sword cultivator and killed Little Duke Gao Shuyi?”

Seeing Chen Ping’an remain silent, the burly man continued, “I’m Liu Cong, a member of the Great Quan Empire’s Imperial Liu Clan. I’ve been eating sand in the northern regions for the past few years, and I thought to myself that I definitely needed to pay Young Master Chen a visit after hearing those two pieces of news. Scouts from my army were sneakily tracking you and your companions just then, so I have to apologize for the rudeness!”

Liu Cong.

He was the eldest prince of the Great Quan Empire.

He commanded the border army in the north, and his reputation in the army of the Great Quan Empire was immense. He was known for relying not on his position as prince of the empire, but on his military achievements in the northern border regions.

“You came here just for these two things?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Liu Cong laughed loudly and replied, “Of course not. Young Master Chen, I presume you aren’t very familiar with Mirage City. When Gao Shuyi was young, he would always follow me around. After all these years, the relationship between us always remained amicable. I can’t claim to be very sad about Young Master Chen killing him, especially since he leaned more toward Third Brother after I left the capital. However, I’m very curious about your martial arts cultivation base. Just how strong are you that you were able to rival Li Li, the Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Imperial Horses?”

Chen Ping’an scanned the surroundings.

Liu Cong raised a hand and revealed, “There aren’t many of them. There are only five thousand soldiers, with two thousand elite infantry on the mountain and a further three thousand at the foot of the mountain. Young Master Chen, is this greeting gift good enough for you?!”

Chen Ping’an found the situation slightly strange, so he asked, “Since there are so many elite soldiers surrounding us, why did you, a prince, feel the need to put yourself in danger? There are only ten paces between us, so it doesn’t make sense for you to be so confident even if you’re a decently powerful pure martial artist, does it?”

Liu Cong roared with laughter and asked, “Chen Ping’an, how old are you right now? Not even twenty yet, am I right? Do you know how old I am? Exactly thirty years old. Disregarding the time I spent tempering my physique in Mirage City, I only just advanced to become a sixth tier martial artist after engaging in countless battles on the border! If I were genuinely asked to face off against the imperial guardian of the Great Quan Empire, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t even dare to raise my fists or saber against the old eunuch, to say nothing of fighting him to the death. Say, isn’t this quite infuriating?”

“Then perhaps you’ve walked over here to… seek death?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Liu Cong grabbed the hilt of his saber with one hand and used his thumb to point behind him with his other hand. He cracked a grin and replied, “They’re the most outstanding cultivators accompanying the border army in the northern regions. Are you going to completely disregard them?”

Seeing that the young boy holding the branch was unwilling to speak, an expression of amusement appeared on Liu Cong’s face as he continued, “Someone wants your head, someone wants your treasure from Green Roving Residence, and someone wants the wine gourd by your waist.

“Chen Ping’an, do you truly think that a dead noble scholar and a fake jade tablet from the ancestral hall of Peace and Tranquility Mountain can guarantee your safety and allow you to travel to Heavenly Palace Peak without any trouble? Do you truly think you can swagger aboard an intercontinental ship and leave Parasol Leaf Continent just like that?”

Inside the rundown temple, Zhu Lian was squatting beside the campfire with a bowl of rice in his hands. He quickly wolfed it down before standing up.

Wei Xian chewed slowly and carefully, and he offered a single comment after hearing Liu Cong’s words, “This fellow is so talkative; he won’t be able to live long.”

Lu Baixiang rested his hand on the hilt of his saber and walked to the entrance of the rundown temple. Sui Youbian strapped her sword to her back and followed closely behind him.

Wei Xian handed his remaining half a bowl of rice to Pei Qian squatting beside him, saying, “Here, a reward for you.”

Pei Qian accepted the bowl and poured its contents into her own bowl. She then stacked the two bowls together before looking up and saying with a serious expression, “Old Man Wei, I’ll definitely find a place to bury you if you die… When that time comes, can I take all of your silver as compensation?”

Wei Xian held his armor pellet in his hand and replied with a stern expression, “It will be difficult for the four of us to die even if we want to.”

He walked over to Chen Ping’an and compressed his voice into a thread, divulging a piece of information that he hadn’t been especially willing to reveal before.

Chen Ping’an could hear him clearly, and the bare-fisted Zhu Lian, the saber-wielding Lu Baixiang, and the sword-wielding Sui Youbian could also hear him vaguely.

They all had different expressions.

It was still pouring outside, so Prince Liu Cong and his subordinates were unable to hear Wei Xian’s words.

A dark smile spread across Zhu Lian’s face, and he asked, “Young Master, can you bestow me a treasure as well after the conclusion of this battle? Of the four of us, this old servant is the only person who doesn’t have a suitable weapon or treasure right now.”

“I don’t have anything to give you right now,” Chen Ping’an replied bluntly.

Zhu Lian was slightly disappointed, and he turned around to face the group of uninvited visitors, clicking his tongue and saying, “Then Young Master, unlike that night in the border inn, I won’t worry about whether my fist techniques are mighty and attractive when I unleash my fists to kill my opponents in a moment.”

Sui Youbian’s expression was ice-cold as she stood on the rightmost side, and she asked, “Young Master, can I keep Deep Infatuation if my kill count reaches one thousand?”

Lu Baixiang was standing on the leftmost side, and he smiled faintly and proposed, “Master, I simply ask to borrow Halting Snow for ten years if my kill count reaches one thousand.”

Wei Xian was the last to speak, and he announced, “I’ve already become bored of killing elite soldiers in armor, so leave all of the Qi refiners to me.”

“Then what about me?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile.

Pei Qian was scooping rice into her mouth in the rundown temple, and her voice was muffled as she shouted, “Dad, you can come here and eat with me!”

1. This saying may seem counterintuitive, but it refers to the fact that bandits in the past used rundown temples as their bases or a place to shelter. As a result, it would be dangerous to enter a rundown temple. On the other hand, graveyards provided no shelter and also frightened many people away. Thus, staying overnight in a graveyard would be comparatively safer than staying overnight in a rundown temple. ☜