Unsheathed

Chapter 385 (1): Ghost Living in an Immortal’s Avatar

Sui Youbian didn’t open the door for Cui Dongshan. Even when Cui Dongshan told her that he could elevate her sword techniques, sword intent, and perhaps even her Sword Dao by a significant amount, allowing her to essentially gain an immortal sword billet for free, Sui Youbian still remained steadfast and refused to open the door.

Cui Dongshan stood outside her room and rubbed his chin. After pondering for a while, he changed his tactic and asked Sui Youbian whether she wanted to learn about the demeanor of true sword immortals in the Majestic World.

Sui Youbian remained indifferent, and she used a small Dragon Slaying Platform to sharpen Deep Infatuation in her room. She had purchased this piece of Dragon Slaying Platform from Chen Ping’an, and it was only as thick as her hand. This Dragon Slaying Platform could be regarded as a leftover piece from First and Fifteenth’s so-called meals.

Even though Deep Infatuation was an immortal treasure crafted by a cultivator to begin with, and it was possible to increase its quality even further, it wasn’t a bonded flying sword nurtured by a sword cultivator. In other words, it was still an inanimate object. Thus, Sui Youbian couldn’t toss her Dragon Slaying Platform to Deep Infatuation and let the sword do its own thing like how Chen Ping’an could toss his Dragon Slaying Platform to First and Fifteenth. Sui Youbian needed to spend time and effort to temper Deep Infatuation.

Brilliant and mystical sparks of various colors flew through the air as Sui Youbian sharpened her blade.

She was aware that Dragon Slaying Platforms were regarded as the most precious sword whetstones in the world, yet she did not know why this was the case. Even so, Sui Youbian still reaped great benefits through the process of using her Dragon Slaying Platform to sharpen Deep Infatuation. Like gathering and dispersing clouds, wisps of fine and exquisite sword qi shimmered and formed some agile patterns that quickly appeared and disappeared on the blade of her sword. Deep Infatuation radiated with intensity.

It was as if she wasn’t sharpening Deep Infatuation alone. It was as if she was also tempering her own sword heart, which was already bright and pure to begin with.

Cui Dongshan found the situation slightly strange. He had come across dozens if not hundreds of people who were extremely passionate about swords like Sui Youbian, and he knew that the minds of these people were actually very simple. To put it in a positive way, their mindset could be described as sincere; to put it negatively, it could be called stubborn. In any case, it was a mindset solely focused on pursuing the Sword Dao.

Observing how Sui Youbian nurtured her sword qi every day, however, it was clear that her true pursuit was sword intent, something that differed greatly from the pursuits of sword experts. It was clear that Sui Youbian intended to switch paths, going from a martial artist to a Qi refiner. She was determined to become a top-notch sword immortal in the Majestic World. Moreover, she was a naive lady who felt like the world revolved around her. Taking all of these things into account, she shouldn’t have been as dithering as she was right now.

Cui Dongshan was temporarily out of ideas regarding how to deal with Sui Youbian after being refused entry to her room. If it had been Xie Xie instead, he would have already kicked the door open and punished her with a proper slap to the face. However, there was Chen Ping’an to support Sui Youbian, so Cui Dongshan had no option but to restrain himself. Unable to use his exquisite educational techniques, he could only turn around and leave.

In reality, Cui Dongshan could have revealed something that would have definitely tempted Sui Youbian. However, he was unwilling to use up all of his trump cards so soon.

After returning to his room and closing the door, Cui Dongshan forcefully stomped his foot and summoned the local mountain lord.

The mountain lord was a shapely woman dressed in bold and vibrant attire, quite a rare sight indeed. Cui Dongshan stood beside his bed before leaning back and sprawling himself across the bed. He then kicked his boots off, and he instructed the lowly ranked mountain lord to massage his feet for him. The shapely woman obediently squatted down beside his feet and gently massaged them.

The heavens chilly and the earth freezing, the four seasons cycled one after another; birth, aging, sickness, and death, such was the natural cycle of life.

Those who ingested Qi survived, and this was one of the origins of Qi refiners. This pertained to the true foundations of the Great Dao.

The sages once said that those who eat meat possess courage and boldness, those who eat grains possess wisdom and shrewdness, those who ingest Qi gain the lifespan of deities, and those who ingest nothing gain godhood before death.

The first three points were very easy to understand, yet the final point was quite subtle and difficult to understand. This was due to the fact that the Dao couldn’t be revealed, and it was also because the implications behind this point were far too big of a taboo. This pertained to the dead end faced by pure martial artists, and it also pertained to the sages’ desire to prevent those in the future generations from tracing the roots of the Dao of gods and deities.

However, Cui Dongshan was aware of the three minor tiers that belonged to the tenth tier of martial arts. There was the Thriving Qi Tier, the Simplification Tier, and the Divinity Tier. The Great Li Empire’s Song Changjing was most likely still at the Thriving Qi Tier, yet Li Er—who had advanced to the End Tier after Song Changjing—had already advanced to the Simplification Tier. Cui Dongshan had been astonished when he had first heard this news.

In fact, Cui Dongshan had been so astonished that he had run over to pummel Yu Lu, the young man who was aimlessly wandering around with Prince Gao Xuan of the Great Sui Nation all the time. The battered and bruised Yu Lu didn’t dare to fight back, and it was very likely that he was still completely stumped as to why Cui Dongshan was suddenly punishing him. He was even more baffled by what Cui Dongshan said afterward: “You might have toilet paper in your hand in the future, but beware that there might not be a toilet for you to take a shit in.”

Cui Dongshan was feeling worried for his little lackey! Different empires and nations would have varying levels of martial fortune, so was it not the case that different continents would also have differing levels of martial fortune? The Eastern Treasured Vial Continent was the smallest continent in the Majestic World to begin with, yet Song Changjing had already reached the End Tier of martial arts at such a young age. Soon afterward, Li Er had traveled to the Complete Reed Continent and surprisingly overtaken Song Changjing, advancing to the Simplification Tier of the tenth tier of martial arts.

Moreover, there was still that old man. It was said that his temperament had changed considerably, and he had now become a carefree and secluded cultivator in the bamboo building in Downtrodden Mountain.

Thus, if it weren’t for Zheng Dafeng suffering great misfortune in Old Dragon City and being turned from someone with the potential to reach the End Tier into a useless cripple, then it was very likely that the dead end faced by pure martial artists in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent wouldn’t be the tenth tier anymore. Instead, it would directly plummet to the ninth tier.

Of course, there was also Chen Ping’an to consider now, and there were also his four subordinates who had left the Lotus Flower Blessed Land and suddenly materialized in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. As Cui Dongshan’s two servants, couldn’t Yu Lu and Xie Xie pay some attention and hurry over to a toilet reserved for tenth-tier martial artists? Otherwise, they would have nowhere to take a shit in the future!

Yu Lu was a remnant evil of the Lu Clan. He was the crown prince of the destroyed Lu Empire, after all, so it was only natural that he was viewed that way.

His martial arts cultivation base was continually climbing, and the most critical point was that his footsteps were relatively solid and stable. Apart from possessing extraordinary martial arts talent, this was also in large part thanks to his father, the emperor of the Lu Empire, going crazy and transferring half of the empire’s martial fortune to his son.

In the eyes of sages, were pure martial artists not pieces of rock in a cesspit?[1] Were they not hard, foul-smelling, and pathetic?

Cui Dongshan felt very anxious and upset. There were far too many idiots in the world, and these idiots didn’t understand his foresight and worries at all. In the past, it was shitty little children like Xie Xie and Yu Lu. And now, there were also these four subordinates following Chen Ping’an around.

Ahhh, Little Baoping was truly the best.

It was just that the temper of the little girl wearing the bright red jacket was a bit too explosive.

Cui Dongshan lay down on his bed and placed a hand on his forehead. He was in a bad mood right now, so he directly sent the shapely mountain lord of the county city flying with a single kick.

The mountain lord smashed into the wall. Of course, regardless of how low her divine rank was, she was still a deity who enjoyed incense offerings from the mortal world, so she was able to avoid making noise as she crashed. She hurriedly stood back up, and she was trembling in apprehension as she said, “Please calm down, Esteemed Immortal. This humble servant apologizes for being so foolish.”

Not long ago, this esteemed immortal from a foreign land and with a mysterious background had visited the martial sage temple of the county city and directly dragged her out from her simple underground residence. After doing this, he had then flicked his sleeve and pulled the martial sage out from his gold statue.

After asking some questions and understanding the situation, he had immediately resolved the deep hostility between the two relevant parties. Thanks to this esteemed immortal’s help, the gold statues of the two deities in the scholarly temple and the martial sage temple had regained their purity.

However, the reaction of the other party had been even more incomprehensible than this. The clan of that young immortal disciple had been beaming with joy, as if they had obtained some kind of huge benefit.

It was inevitable that the mountain lord feared this esteemed immortal.

A young Abode Tier Qi refiner from the mountains had almost turned the county city on its head, yet in her estimations, this esteemed immortal from a foreign land was at least a powerful earth immortal. She definitely couldn’t provoke him. The two deities from the scholarly temple and the martial sage temple had both been extremely bold and stubborn people when alive, yet they had both agreed to his request and been willing to act as door gods for him. They would stand outside the inn for an entire night to express their gratitude. Meanwhile, she was only a measly mountain lord who fed on their scraps. How could she dare to oppose this esteemed immortal?

Cui Dongshan walked over and sat down in front of the table. There was a stack of books which he had casually purchased during the journey, most of them famous works by renowned literati in the Azure Phoenix Nation. Cui Dongshan randomly picked a book to read. However, he immediately started to yawn after reading just a few pages.

He waved at the shapely woman and instructed, “Come here and help me flip the pages.”

The mountain lord hurriedly walked over to flip the pages for the handsome young boy. This required some skills, and she needed to pay close attention to his gaze. Otherwise, she would definitely offend the young esteemed immortal if she flipped the pages too early or too late.

Cui Dongshan read another few pages before waving his hand and saying in a dismissive voice, “Alright, you’re free to go now. There’s nothing else for you to do here.”

The mountain lord didn’t dare to let her happiness and relief show. She was just about to take her leave, yet she suddenly recalled something, and she debated whether she should inform the young esteemed immortal about this. In the end, she gritted her teeth and recounted what she had witnessed before to Cui Dongshan.

This pertained to Chen Ping’an’s short trip from the inn to the martial sage temple. After leaving the temple, he had then entered a secluded alley and summoned the beautiful woman from a yellow paper talisman.

The shapely woman was a mountain lord, after all, so it was as if she were hiding among nature when she remained underground. Even cultivators at the Middle Five Tiers would find it extremely difficult to detect her presence. Of course, it was a different story for earth immortals.

After listening to the mountain lord’s words, Cui Dongshan smiled and remarked that she had made a significant contribution. However, he immediately flicked his sleeve and almost shattered her soul. He stopped himself at the last moment, and he even helped her re-stabilize her godly body afterward.

The mountain lord only lost seven or eight ounces of incense essence, or else it would have been time for the county city to look for a new mountain lord. Even so, it would still take her close to sixty years to accumulate this amount of incense essence from the mortal world again. She was astonished and terrified, and her heart was also bleeding at this devastating loss. However, she still didn’t dare to show any hint of anger. Instead, she fell to her knees and begged for mercy, sobbing, “Please forgive me, Esteemed Immortal.”

Cui Dongshan pondered for a moment before smiling widely and replying, “You’ve made such a huge contribution, so I should reward you and promote you to the position of formal mountain god or river god in the Azure Phoenix Nation. As for secretly observing my master without permission, this should be a death penalty. A contribution is a contribution, and a crime is a crime. We need to be clear about this, and a contribution shouldn’t cancel out a crime. You should have died just then, and you couldn’t have been promoted to a higher position even if I wanted to help you. As for the situation right now? Just go home and wait for good fortune to befall you.”

Cui Dongshan didn’t reveal the reason why he had spared her in the end.

The mountain lord returned underground with a delighted expression.

The unexpected circumstance in the Colorful Garment Nation was none other than one of the many pieces that he had placed on the Go board all those years ago. To be more precise, it was one of the many pieces that “they” had placed.[2]

The lecherous old cultivator who liked to collect beautiful female ghosts couldn’t be regarded as an especially important piece. Cui Dongshan hadn’t spent much time and effort on him in the past. However, among the countless secret letters sent back by spies that had flooded into the capital of the Great Li Empire like snowflakes, Cui Dongshan had paid slightly more attention to one certain letter. This secret had been very short, with only twenty or so characters to roughly explain the situation. It was very likely that the spy who had written this letter hadn’t treated the matter with any sort of importance either.

If this were in the past, matters like this—which the imperial preceptor of the Great Li Empire treated as trivially amusing matters to pass time—would suffer a fate similar to the mountain of secret letters in the secret chamber of the Great Li Empire. They would be sealed away and ignored for many years.

After conducting some investigations due to boredom, and because he was in possession of countless secrets of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, Cui Chan dared to say that he understood the background of the beautiful skeletal ghost even better than her previous master.

To cull phrases left and right, such was the act of old literati; to follow clues to uncover the truth, such was the act of Naturalists.

Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan was impressively skilled in both of these areas.

Cui Dongshan stood up and left his room, walking down the corridor before stopping and knocking on Chen Ping’an’s door.

Chen Ping’an opened the door and asked, “Is something the matter?”

Cui Dongshan nodded vigorously and replied, “I have a hugely important matter to discuss with you, Master!”

Chen Ping’an shot a glance at him, and Cui Dongshan smiled faintly as he continued, “However, it’s up to your luck whether this succeeds or not.”

Chen Ping’an started to shut the door, yet Cui Dongshan reacted very quickly and hurriedly extended both hands, forcefully keeping the wooden door open.

“Please allow me to slowly explain, Master,” he begged in an aggrieved voice. “If things are as I suspect, yet you are unwilling to listen to me, then you will squander a huge treasure! In fact, two precious treasures will be wasted at once, and you will pointlessly let slip a profound fated opportunity that you should have been destined to receive! I promise, I’m definitely not speaking a single lie!”

Cui Dongshan thought that Chen Ping’an would definitely shut the door on him, meaning that he would need to find another opportunity in the future. Unexpectedly, however, Chen Ping’an actually opened the door and let him in.

Cui Dongshan entered and shut the door behind him. He grinned as he sat down, and he poured a cup of tea for Chen Ping’an and himself. He then set up a restriction, summoning the flying sword that he had won from a sword cultivator from the Middle Earth Divine Continent in a gamble. A flash of golden light rapidly flew around in a circle just above the ground before returning to Cui Dongshan’s glabella. The golden light on the floor didn’t disperse, and it was as if someone had used golden powder to draw a golden well on the floor.

Cui Dongshan smiled and explained, “The female mountain lord here was quite bold and impertinent, and she actually dared to tail you during your trip to the martial sage temple. She witnessed some things that she shouldn’t have witnessed, and even worse than that, she actually dared to ask me for a reward afterward. Does she not understand the concept of respect toward heaven, earth, rulers, parents, and teachers?”

“So you killed her?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Cui Dongshan chuckled and replied, “Why, of course not. I simply explained some reasons and principles to her in a calm and friendly manner, telling her not to make the same mistake again in the future. The mountain lord was also an understanding individual, and it was quite clear that she took my words to heart. Because of this, I blessed her with some fortune and essentially formed a small but positive karmic bond between us.”

Chen Ping’an wasted no time to expose his bullshit. “If you hadn’t needed to come here to look for me, I assume this female mountain lord would have already been wiped from the genealogical records of the Azure Phoenix Nation.”

Cui Dongshan smiled sheepishly and replied, “You have a deeply wrong impression of me, Master. Regardless of the time or the matter, your disciple is always treating others with kindness and respect now.”

Chen Ping’an drank a sip of tea and said, “Right, right. Anyway, since you’re here, let’s discuss the proper matters.”

Cui Dongshan also drank some tea to moisten his throat before weighing each word and saying carefully, “Regarding that seemingly useless immortal body… If you’re lucky, perhaps you can do something that will please everyone.”

Chen Ping’an widened his eyes in shock and exclaimed, “Cui Dongshan, have you gone mad?! To say nothing of whether that female ghost has strong enough bones by Naturalist standards, it won’t make a difference even if you ignore these important matters and focus on the more trivial aspects instead. No matter how you slice it, you can’t change the fact that she’s a female ghost! A woman! And this immortal body is Du Mao’s yang soul avatar!”

Cui Dongshan gently twirled the teacup in his hand, with his expression calm and composed as he looked at Chen Ping’an and asked, “Why are you worrying about these things? Even if someone needs to worry about them, it should be the ghost herself, no? Is there any need for you to worry in her place?”

Chen Ping’an was taken aback upon hearing this, yet he surprisingly nodded and said, “That makes sense.”

“You’re not going to say ‘but?’” Cui Dongshan asked with a chuckle.

With a single thought, Chen Ping’an summoned a yellow paper talisman made from special materials and caused it to materialize on the table. The talisman fluttered a little, and Chen Ping’an used a relatively normal “door-opening” technique belonging to the talismanic branch, releasing Shi Rou from the talisman that was both her home and her cage.

Shi Rou materialized on the table, with her colorful garment draping over its surface. Cui Dongshan looked up at her.

Shi Rou looked down, only to see a handsome young boy with a birthmark on his glabella. Even though he didn’t speak, it was very clear that his eyes were asking her a simple question: Do you want to die?

Shi Rou had no clue about this person’s background, and she couldn’t even determine the level of his cultivation base. Even so, a sense of instinctive fear still welled up in her heart. She immediately hovered to the ground and turned around, not daring to face that handsome young boy anymore. She faced Chen Ping’an instead, yet she still felt as if a piercing gaze were stabbing through her back.

Shi Rou lowered her gaze, and she put on a relatively sincere and gentle expression in a rare display. She then said to Chen Ping’an, “This humble servant pays her respects to Master.”

Cui Dongshan stood up, smiling as he rubbed his hands together in eagerness.

Chen Ping’an nodded to him, gesturing for him to go ahead.

1. “A stone covered in shit” is basically something or someone that is incredibly annoying to deal with. ☜

2. They as in Cui Dongshan and Cui Chan. ☜