Unsheathed

The burly young man returned to Narrow Wasp Alley, slowly walking toward its tail end. In the middle section of the alley, there were two large and vacant residences opposite each other. There were colorful door gods plastered on the gates of the two residences, and these door gods still looked brand new even though they hadn’t been swapped for several hundred years. One residence was decorated with two scholarly door gods, while the other residence was decorated with two martial door gods.

When the burly young man walked past the two residences, he had tossed a wine pot with each hand, causing the four colorful door gods to his left and right to immediately glow brightly. Each door god extended a hand to catch a wine pot, then placed the wine pot inside the gates. Afterward, a painted wine pot mysteriously appeared in the paintings of a scholarly door god and a martial door god.

After drinking their fill, they passed the wine pots to their companions on the adjacent gates. When they finished drinking, all four colorful door gods returned to normal. The paper near one of the bearded martial door gods’ facial hair appeared a little soggy, but it quickly dried up and left no trace.

The burly young man returned to the residence where he lived by himself. The residence appeared very quiet and lonely, and it had already been this way for many years. His master liked to travel around the world, and he always used to announce with confidence that he would definitely bring a breathtakingly beautiful wife back home. This time, however, his master wasn’t heading out to look for a wife who potentially wasn’t even born yet. Instead, he was heading out to attend to proper matters.

His master claimed that he was looking for the colored glaze golden body of some Upper Five Tier cultivator who had passed away. A few pieces of this cultivator’s colored glaze golden body had fallen into Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, so he would definitely strike it rich if he could obtain one of these pieces. At that time, he would have enough money to find himself a wife.

For the sake of obtaining a piece of the deceased cultivator’s colored glaze golden body, his master even asked one of his best friends for help. Otherwise, he might not be powerful enough to compete with the other old bastards. With some assistance from his good friend, however, he would have a much better chance at succeeding.

The burly young man felt slightly worried about this. The treasure was profoundly valuable, after all, so would his master’s so-called good friend be tempted by it?

However, his master had laughed loudly and replied that this was definitely possible with any other person in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, except for the old geezer who called himself Handsome Chivalrous Young Man. Even though this old geezer was stubborn and bad-tempered, he was widely regarded as someone with no guilt in his heart on the path of cultivation.

The Handsome Chivalrous Young Man had fought with his life on the line two times, once to stand up for his friend, and once to defend the honor of his sect. He had advanced to the Unpolished Jade Tier twice, yet these two battles had caused him to fall back to the Nascent Tier twice. Even Ascension Tier elites might not be as gallant and chivalrous as him.

Wind Snow Temple’s sword-forging master, Ruan Qiong, was already a Militarian sage now. Back when he was young, however, he had also been renowned for his upright nature. Ruan Qiong had once said that if the Handsome Chivalrous Young Man needed a sword, then he would immediately forge a sword and would even go as far as to personally deliver it.

That was the first time the burly young man had seen his master speak in such a confident manner, so he finally felt at ease.

At the same time, he felt slightly curious about his master’s old friend with the peculiar nickname.

————

After buying another two pots of well-water immortal wine, Chen Ping’an and the others went to visit the final attraction at Wasp Tail Ferry Station. This was a thousand-year-old apricot tree, and its shade covered an area of several thousand square meters. There was a hollow at the bottom of the apricot tree, and it was filled with copper coins, silver, and gold that people had tossed over.

The wandering merchant, Skinny Liu, had told Chen Ping’an quite a bit about this ancient tree. There were many interesting stories about this ancient apricot tree, stories that had existed before Fortune Mountain Nation established itself on the ruins of Wenjing Nation. A long time ago, the founding emperor of Azure Phoenix Nation had made an exception and bestowed this apricot tree with the title of Emperor Tree.

Unwilling to be left behind, the emperor of Wenjing Nation had instructed his prime minister to personally visit the tree and purposely bestow it with a title that was one rank lower, calling it the Prime Minister Tree. Finally, the emperor of Lofty Sky Nation had also joined in on the fun. Lofty Sky Nation had reached its peak prosperity three hundred years ago, and a meritorious general had ridden his horse here and erected a monument and composed an article. Thus, people in Lofty Sky Nation were still accustomed to calling this ancient apricot tree General Apricot Tree.

Emperor Tree, Prime Minister Tree, and General Apricot Tree—this was an ancient apricot tree with three titles bestowed by three emperors. This was indeed a peculiar and interesting tale.

Standing in the shade of the ancient apricot tree, Pei Qian took out the small scented sachet that Aunt Gui had given her. Apart from a few verdant green osmanthus leaves, there had initially been a small osmanthus branch as long as Pei Qian’s finger as well. The branch was filled with osmanthus flowers, and its fragrance hadn’t reduced a single bit even though the branch had been snapped off the osmanthus tree quite a while ago. The golden osmanthus flowers didn’t wilt and fall from the branch either.

The osmanthus branch and the osmanthus leaves were placed inside Pei Qian’s wooden treasure box now, taking up an entire section by themselves. Meanwhile, she used the scented sachet to hold the snowflake coins that Chen Ping’an had given her for New Year. In addition to this, there were also a few copper coins that she had earned through blood, sweat, and tears.

For example, Pei Qian had begged Sui Youbian to follow her around when she purchased Spring Festival goods in Old Dragon City. With Sui Youbian being so stunningly beautiful, the shopkeepers had voluntarily dropped their prices without Pei Qian even needing to haggle. One copper coin at a time, she had quickly earned seven or eight copper coins after purchasing all of the Spring Festival goods. These copper coins were all sitting in her scented sachet now.

However, Chen Ping’an had once told her that the scented sachet was no ordinary item, so Pei Qian didn’t dare to blatantly tie it to her waist. She only dared to place it inside her sleeve most of the time. She was secretly holding the scented sachet in her hands right now, and she thought to herself that it would be great if she could obtain some branches from the ancient apricot tree as well.

There weren’t many visitors at the ancient apricot tree, because the local residents would only come here to offer money and pray for good luck during the New Year or some other festivals. Meanwhile, most people boarding and disembarking intercontinental ships at Wasp Tail Ferry Station were merchants from the mountains who always passed through this area. These merchants neither believed in such superstitions nor were they willing to waste their money.

Thus, the only visitors right now were Chen Ping’an and his companions, as well as a few groups of children from the area who were cheerfully playing with their friends. Further in the distance, there were some other children flying paper kites. Indeed, there were a few paper kites trapped on the higher branches of the ancient apricot tree.

Chen Ping’an planned to leave after seeing the ancient apricot tree which had vague wisps of spiritual energy flowing through it. However, he discovered that the little lotus spirit had crawled out from the ground and was poking its head around near the large hollow of the apricot tree which appeared much like a grand entrance.

A small head quickly popped out from the pile of money and looked at the little lotus spirit.

The little creature crawled out from the mountain of money and stood up straight, placing its hands on its hips and putting on a proud and haughty expression. However, it couldn’t conceal the curiosity and excitement in its eyes no matter what.

The little creature’s outfit was extravagant yet comical. It was dressed in a miniature yellow dragon robe, and there was an ivory ritual baton as well as a rosewood saber hanging by its hips.

Pei Qian tugged Chen Ping’an’s sleeve, and Chen Ping’an thought for a moment before taking out a snowflake coin and handing it to the skinny little girl. He smiled and said, “Go ahead. But remember to be polite when you speak with the little apricot immortal. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Pei Qian immediately ran over and squatted down beside the “grand entrance.”

About fifteen minutes later, Pei Qian returned with a skip and a hop, having just enjoyed a bountiful yield. Chen Ping’an didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He didn’t say a word, and he immediately rewarded Pei Qian with a flick to the forehead.

However, the little lotus spirit surprisingly sided with Pei Qian this time, making some unintelligible sounds as it waved its arms around.

Pei Qian felt slightly guilty, so she obediently turned around and was just about to return the small pile of soil as well as that tender sapling to the apricot tree spirit. Ah, it was a pity that she had spent two snowflake coins to purchase this. She was definitely going to be on the losing end of this transaction.

The little lotus spirit was relatively simple-minded, and it didn’t even know how to speak. On the other hand, the apricot tree spirit dressed in extravagant clothes was far more intelligent, with its fluency in the official dialect of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent even better than Pei Qian’s.

The apricot tree spirit had chattered with the little lotus spirit for a long time, and Pei Qian hadn’t understood a single bit of their conversation at the time. Afterward, the little lotus spirit had used its hand to tap Pei Qian’s shoe, pointing at the snowflake coin in her hand after it caught her attention.

After a bit of back-and-forth, Pei Qian had started to haggle with the apricot tree spirit. She had also taken this opportunity to boast, saying that the spiritual energy in her home was countless times more abundant than the spiritual energy here. In fact, the spiritual energy at her home was almost as viscous as water. Just taking a single sip would be enough to make one full.

In the end, the silly little apricot tree spirit had hesitantly summoned a small sapling in the soil in front of Pei Qian. It said that Pei Qian could take this home and find a place to plant it, and that she definitely couldn’t treat it badly. She had to nurture it with spiritual energy that was as viscous as water every day. Pei Qian had patted her chest loudly and agreed to its request. In reality, however, she had already been readying herself for many flicks to the forehead.

After understanding the situation, Chen Ping’an accepted the soil and sapling from Pei Qian before walking over to the root of the ancient apricot tree and squatting down.

The little apricot tree spirit looked extremely alert and wary as it stood inside the large pile of money.

Chen Ping’an finally learned the truth after asking a series of questions. As it turned out, the little apricot tree spirit was soon going to advance to the Middle Five Tiers. However, there wasn’t enough spiritual energy in this area, or to be more precise, it didn’t dare to absorb too much spiritual energy at all.

After all, this was an immortal ferry station where a large number of Qi refiners gathered, and the little apricot tree spirit was only able to take root and cultivate here thanks to the three titles it had been bestowed through questionable means. In reality, the imperial courts of the three nations didn’t care too much about this ancient apricot tree.

Moreover, the apricot tree spirit needed to consider the forces that owned this immortal ferry station, especially since a decline in spiritual energy was one of the biggest worries of immortal clans and sects from the mountains. For example, Du Mao had forcefully used all of the spiritual energy contained inside Parasol Tree Small World. Even though he had done so for personal gain more than anything else, attempting to advance to the Ascension Tier, his actions weren’t without benefit for Parasol Leaf Sect.

If Du Mao had successfully advanced to the Ascension Tier, then according to the rules established by the Etiquette Sage in Majestic World, Parasol Leaf Sect would have been accompanied by virtue and have its title of “sect” be protected by the Confucian schools and academies for at least another one thousand years.

One couldn’t deny the fact that this was an important factor behind Du Mao’s choice to take a risk and attempt to advance to the Ascension Tier. Otherwise, he could have simply remained hidden inside Parasol Tree Small World. Zuo You could shatter the formation of mountains and rivers, yet he definitely couldn’t shatter the restrictions protecting Parasol Tree Small World.

After Du Mao failed to ascend, however, almost all of the disciples in Parasol Leaf Sect went from sincerely respecting and adoring him to utterly detesting and being furious with him. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that their fury toward Du Mao was etched in their souls at this point, with all of them viewing him as an eternal sinner of Parasol Leaf Sect. An ancestor that rejuvenated the sect? What complete bullshit! He was a sect-destroying bastard who flagrantly wasted away all of the wealth accumulated by his predecessors.

As for Du Mao’s secondary intention of ascending into that larger cage to forge a path forward for Parasol Leaf Sect, very few people considered this matter. Meanwhile, the sect leader of Parasol Leaf Sect—the sword cultivator dressed in purple robes—and the elderly Unpolished Jade Tier cultivator responsible for managing the genealogical records in the ancestral hall didn’t actively suppress or placate the outrage sweeping through the sect for whatever reason.

Those belonging to Du Mao’s lineage like his grandson Du Yan not only lost the protection of a Nascent Tier cultivator, but they were even interrogated by the sect. The Du Clan was turned upside down, and all of their wealth was confiscated and handed over to the sect to cover some of the losses.

People were treating things in a black-and-white manner.

They were converging near the two extremes of the ruler.

However, it appeared as if this was the natural reaction of most people, especially when the matter pertained to tangible benefits that affected them.

Chen Ping’an hoped that if he truly founded a sect in the future, people wouldn’t view him as a flawless paragon of virtue. If an unexpected and insurmountable challenge truly presented itself afterward, then he also hoped that people wouldn’t view him as an irredeemable sinner. Even if everyone went their separate ways, he would strive to make it an amicable parting to draw a full stop to their cheerful times together. He would do his best to end things on a good note.

Chen Ping’an squatted down and lowered his head to look at the apricot tree spirit, smiling and asking, “Haven’t you held any discussions with the esteemed immortals in Wasp Tail Ferry Station and asked about becoming a guest elder and becoming an ally with the Five Mountains of a nation? I presume that they’ll welcome the addition of a Middle Five Tier cultivator who can’t run away.”

The little apricot tree spirit plonked down atop the mountain of money, a troubled expression spreading across its face as it replied in a childish voice, “I also want to do this. However, those people who stink of copper coins might trust me, but I don’t trust them at all. This is a very complicated location, with Wasp Tail Ferry Station neighboring Azure Phoenix Nation, Fortune Mountain Nation, and Lofty Sky Nation. There are several forces residing in the ferry station as well, and neither force is willing to yield to the other. For the sake of money, these people secretly smash each other’s heads and send brain juice flying all over the place all the time.

“As for making a vow and becoming an ally with the Five Mountains, which nation’s Five Mountains do you think I should choose? If I’m stupid enough to pick a nation, won’t the two other nations hate me to death? In fact, they might secretly send someone over to fell my main body and chop me into firewood.

“Even though I’m only receiving a dismal amount of offerings right now, going hungry three meals out of four, I can at least push through this and stay alive. Don’t Qi refiners like you have a saying? It’s better to live a wretched life than to experience a good death. Mhm, and there’s also that other saying. It’s better to sacrifice someone else than to sacrifice myself.”

Chen Ping’an pretended that he didn’t hear the final sentence. He completely understood the little apricot tree spirit’s worries. As a spirit with no one to rely on, the apricot tree spirit needed to form an alliance with other Qi refiners if it wanted to advance any further. However, Wasp Tail Ferry Station was located at the intersection of three nations and didn’t belong exclusively to any one nation. As a result, this was genuinely a very troublesome matter. Things would have been far easier if a single force ruled over Wasp Tail Ferry Station.

Chen Ping’an wanted to help, yet there was nothing he could do.

“I heard the tanned little girl say that your hometown is a place similar to a blessed land? And that absorbing spiritual energy is akin to a mortal human drinking water?” the apricot tree spirit asked with a pitiful expression. “Perhaps you can help me and bring this sapling back home? Once it takes root, it can also help you stabilize the spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers near your home. This is a win-win situation that benefits both of us. Disregarding Qi refiners from the School of Commercialism who care only about money, which ordinary Qi refiner from the School of Agrarianism and the School of Medicine won’t view this as a blessing from the heavens? Esteemed Immortal, you definitely have to cherish this opportunity!”

Chen Ping’an placed the soil and tree sapling on the ground before smiling and asking, “Are you also going to say that those who refuse the blessings of the heavens will be punished instead?”

The apricot tree spirit hung its head in dejection and scratched its cheeks as it lamented, “Those two little ones were easy to trick, but this big one is experienced with the cultivation world and much more difficult to trick, just as I expected.”

If Chen Ping’an planted this small sapling on his mountain, it could indeed help him stabilize the spiritual energy in the area. However, the benefits would be extremely limited, and the small sapling would mostly be focused on absorbing spiritual energy for its ancestral tree. In other words, this was definitely a money-losing deal for Chen Ping’an.

Because of the old locust tree in his hometown, Chen Ping’an had learned some secrets regarding tree spirits when having casual chats with Ma Zhi, the old sword cultivator and guest elder of the Fan Clan, on Osmanthus Island.

After Chen Ping’an returned the soil and the tree sapling, the apricot tree spirit was also smart enough to return the two snowflake coins to Pei Qian.

The little lotus spirit appeared listless and dispirited, and Pei Qian also appeared downcast and ashamed. The two little ones both felt like they had failed Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an placed the little lotus spirit on his shoulder and reached over to hold Pei Qian’s hand, saying with a soft chuckle, “Why are the two of you feeling guilty? The apricot tree spirit is the one who should feel guilty.”

Inside the “grand entrance” near the bottom of the ancient apricot tree, the apricot tree spirit lay down in a pile of money and yawned, mumbling, “Well, it looks like I can only wait for the next fool to arrive and take the bait.”

It had a beautiful dream after falling asleep, and it dreamed that it was on a continually growing mountain that soared into the clouds. It grew into a towering tree, and each of its leaves glistened with golden spiritual light, while each of its branches was filled with spiritual essence after being bathed in endless golden incense smoke. It became the only tree spirit to advance to the Upper Five Tiers in the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent… On one of its highest branches, two hazy figures were standing there and gazing at the sea of clouds. One person was drinking wine, and one person had a sword and a saber hanging by her hip.

The little apricot tree spirit was delighted after walking up. Even though it was only a dream, this was still enough to make him feel happy for several years. For some unknown reason, however, it discovered that its face was filled with tears.

The apricot tree spirit dazedly lay atop the mountain of money, perplexed by what was going on. It couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness as if it had lost something important.