Unsheathed

The first helper to arrive at the Lion Garden was an old immortal from a Daoist temple in the capital, someone who had a very good relationship with the Liu Clan. He gallantly traveled over to help, and he successfully broke through the illusion formation and reached the Lion Garden, where he stood guard under the room of the pitiful young woman. He set up an altar and drew talismans all around the area, performing Daoist rituals to ward off the fox demon.

The very next day, members of the Liu Clan found the esteemed Dragon Gate Tier immortal naked and hanging from a tree with his hands tied together. The old immortal was utterly embarrassed after being rescued, and he could only lament that the fox demon was far too powerful for him.

Afterward, Qi refiner after Qi refiner was defeated and shooed away by the fox demon. Some of the Qi refiners were gallant individuals coming to help because of the Liu Clan’s admirable traditions and values, while some of the Qi refiners were drawn over by the offer of the three ancestral relics.

However, they were all toyed with and embarrassed by the fox demon.

In the end, the fox demon publicly announced to Assistant Minister Liu that he would visit the Lion Garden once every ten days, and his “father-in-law” could feel free to hire as many helpers as he wanted to fight against his “son-in-law.” That way, he could prove his abilities to the Lion Garden, and after they became one family, the calamity of today would definitely end up becoming the beautiful stories of tomorrow.

Chen Ping’an silently listened to all of this.

The young girl with freckles on her nose was the daughter of the steward, and she also remained silent the entire time. Before leaving the pavilion, she had most likely been accompanying her father and chatting with him.

Before entering the Lion Garden, Chen Ping’an glanced at the Yang Energy Illumination Talisman on Pei Qian’s forehead and quietly tapped it with his finger. However, the talisman that was extremely sensitive to yin energy and murderous aura didn’t react to the surrounding environment.

Chen Ping’an didn’t remove the talisman from Pei Qian’s forehead, but he wasn’t feeling relaxed either. This extremely bold fox demon definitely had some unique strengths; perhaps he was a great demon that had become a true earth immortal.

There were three other groups of cultivators in the Lion Garden right now, all of whom were waiting for the fox demon to show itself.

Add to that Chen Ping’an and his companions, and there were now four groups of cultivators present.

Old Zhao, the steward of the Lion Garden, led Chen Ping’an and the others to their rooms which were situated in four corners around the young lady’s residence. In reality, the fox demon was like an elusive shadow as he came and went, so this kind of crude setup was merely something to give them a sense of security.

While walking to their rooms, they were able to soak in the beautiful and calming scenery of the Lion Garden. There were halls and pavilions; gazebos and corridors; walls and greenery; plaques and couplets. Everything appeared harmonious and refined.

If one entered the private garden of a scholarly clan that was both wealthy and noble, one would feel relaxed and pleased as they strolled around even if they didn’t interact with anyone else and there were no signs of guqin, Go, calligraphy, painting, wine-drinking, or tea-tasting.

The private garden wasn’t filled to the brim with gold and jade like many ordinary residents thought, nor were there gold tables or silver chairs lying around the buildings.

Those who maintained a prime minister’s house could be viewed as seventh-rank officials, and the residences of aristocrats wouldn’t be disturbed by barking.

Disregarding a clan’s influence and power and simply focusing on their traditions and values, it was indeed the case that clans that had rapidly developed wealth overnight couldn’t compare to clans that had enjoyed nobility for several generations.

Chen Ping’an, Pei Qian, Zhu Lian, and Shi Rou were staying in a small and elegant standalone courtyard. This courtyard was situated beyond the actual garden, but it was only one hundred or so paces away from the young lady’s residence. This was in violation of some customs and etiquette, especially in some regions of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent where Neo-Confucianism was paramount.

In these regions, it was incredibly important to adhere to the rules of women not leaving their residences for no reason. However, the young lady’s life was in danger right now, and Assistant Minister Liu wasn’t a stubborn and pedantic scholar either. Thus, he ignored these customs and etiquette.

Assistant Minister Liu had three sons and two daughters, and his oldest daughter had married a handsome and talented man from a clan as noble as the Liu Clan. She had come back to the Lion Garden to visit during the first month of the new year, yet both she and her husband had become trapped here due to the trouble caused by the fox demon. Thus, they had no option but to remain in the Lion Garden.

In fact, Assistant Minister Liu’s other children were facing the same miserable fate as well. Only his eldest son, a county magistrate in a county near the river guardian temple, hadn’t returned home during the new year. It was thanks to this that he had avoided the miserable fate of becoming trapped. After the troublesome situation arose, Assistant Minister Liu delivered several letters, one of which was directed to his eldest son, strictly forbidding him from returning to the Lion Garden. He definitely couldn’t allow private feelings to affect public duty.

Assistant Minister Liu’s second son was the most pitiful, returning home from a distant journey only to become a cripple.

Even though most people referred to Assistant Minister Liu as Old Assistant Minister Liu, Liu Jingting wasn’t actually that old at all. Rather, he had started off as a child prodigy who easily breezed through the imperial examinations, eventually becoming a champion scholar at just eighteen years old. He then advanced through the official ranks without so much as a stumble, serving for thirty years, of which twenty years were as assistant minister. Afterward, he resigned and returned home before turning fifty.

Even so, everyone in the imperial court liked to respectfully refer to him as Old Assistant Minister Liu.

Chen Ping’an had only just put his luggage down when the man personally came over to visit. He was a refined and elegant elder, and was brimming with a sense of scholarly talent. Even though his clan was facing a huge calamity right now, his’s expression was still calm and composed as he conversed with Chen Ping’an.

The assistant minister wasn’t forcing himself to smile and act amiable, although the hint of anxiety and exhaustion on his face couldn’t be missed. This caused Chen Ping’an to develop a very good impression of him. He was calm and collected, as befitting the clan leader, yet he also had sincere and positive relationships with his children.

After walking with Liu Jingting to the entrance of the small courtyard to see him off, the old assistant minister smiled and said that Chen Ping’an was free to roam around the Lion Garden as much as he wanted.

After returning inside, Chen Ping’an saw Pei Qian transcribing texts in her room with the talisman still stuck to her forehead. It was clear that she wasn’t going to remove this talisman even when she went to bed.

Shi Rou felt slightly exasperated as the small courtyard only had three rooms with beds. As it turned out, the steward of the Lion Garden had thought that it wouldn’t be disrespectful to their guests if the two elderly subordinates were made to stay in the same room.

The steward was naturally oblivious to the fact that a beautiful skeletal ghost was living inside Du Mao’s immortal body. But forcing Shi Rou to stay in the same room as Old Pervert Zhu Lian? No, she would rather go outside and stay in the courtyard at nighttime. She was a yin entity, in any case, so it wouldn’t harm her soul or deplete her vitality regardless of whether she slept or not.

However, Chen Ping’an suggested that she stay in the main room, while he and Zhu Lian would stay together in another room.

Shi Rou hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement and thanking Chen Ping’an.

There was a look of disappointment on Zhu Lian’s face, and the sight of this caused tumultuous waves to surge through Shi Rou’s mind.

Zhu Lian turned around and looked outside the courtyard, and Chen Ping’an silently nodded at the old man. Seeing this, Zhu Lian stood up and walked over to open the door. Six people walked over from the distance, most likely Qi refiners from two of the three groups that were staying in the Lion Garden to help subdue the fox demon.

There was a husband and wife duo; the man seemed around forty years old, while his wife looked to be in her thirties. They both appeared to be at the Abode Tier, and the man was carrying a sword on his back. This was a habit of many cultivators, since carrying a sword as they traveled would act as a form of natural deterrence. After all, what if they were a powerful sword cultivator?

The woman wore palace attire; she was rather ordinary-looking, but her beautifully pale and smooth skin left a deep impression.

Judging by the positions of the four other people, the young man walking in front was the leader of the group. He was surprisingly a pure martial artist, while the three people walking behind him were Qi refiners. There was an old man in black with a small and bright red fox standing on his shoulder, and there was a tall and sturdy young man with a long, emerald-green snake wrapped around his arm. There was also a beautiful young girl walking behind the pure martial artist, as if she were his personal maidservant.

Zhu Lian led them inside the courtyard, making some small talk in the official dialect of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

The husband and wife duo were citizens of the Lofty Sky Nation, and they hailed from an immortal force in the mountains.

As for the young martial artist, his surname was Dugu, and he had come from a large empire in the central region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Of the four people in his group, two were master and subordinate while two were master and disciple. They had encountered each other and become friends while traveling, and they had worked together to defeat some demonic cultivators who ruled over a mountain and wreaked havoc in the surrounding area. After hearing about the grand debate between Buddhism and Daoism, they had decided to travel together to the Azure Phoenix Nation to take a look.

The young master told Chen Ping’an that there was another middle-aged Daoist nun equipped with a saber staying in the northeastern corner of the Lion Garden by herself. She wasn’t very fluent in the official dialect of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and she was also somewhat unsociable, which was why they hadn’t been able to persuade her to come here to greet Chen Ping’an and the others.

After chatting for a while, Chen Ping’an once again walked to the entrance of the small courtyard to see the visitors off.

After returning inside, he recalled a certain Daoist nun who wielded a saber and murmured to himself, “There can’t be such a coincidence, can it?”

“Is there a reason you say that?” Zhu Lian asked in curiosity.

Chen Ping’an nodded and replied, “I once went to a place called the Daoist Saber Room when I traveled to Stalactite Mountain, in the southern region of the Southern Whirl Continent. There was a branch of Daoist priests who followed the Daoist second disciple, and all of these Daoist priests wielded sabers, resulting in others referring to them as Daoist priests from the Daoist Saber Room.”

The Daoist Saber Room had once been extremely renowned in the Middle Earth Divine Continent, yet similar to the mysterious saber-lending cultivators from the Mohist Sect, they had slowly but surely disappeared from the public view.

Shi Rou remained indifferent to all of this.

Chen Ping’an picked up on this fact, and he immediately knew that the Daoist Saber Room was indeed not famous in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent anymore.

The reason for this was very simple and quite comical. Daoist priests from the Daoist Saber Room were all incredibly haughty. Not only did they possess lofty cultivation bases and immense power, but they also had extraordinarily bad tempers.

As a result, they thought very lowly of small places like the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

While viewing that wall in the Daoist Saber Room, Chen Ping’an had personally seen the bounties that other people had posted. There was a bounty for Song Changjing’s life, and the reason was surprisingly because a small place like the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent didn’t deserve to have a tenth tier martial artist. It was only right that this martial artist be killed, lest they continue to disgust people.

Apart from Song Changjing, there had also been bounties for Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan and Xu Ruo posted on the wall. For Sword Immortal Xu Ruo, the bounty was posted by a woman who had once been obsessively in love with him. Her feelings of affection had ultimately transformed into feelings of hatred. As for Cui Chan, there was a bounty for him due to his terrible reputation.

Chen Ping’an explained the origin and legend of the Daoist Saber Room to Zhu Lian and Shi Rou.

Shi Rou’s expression finally changed slightly.

Upon seeing Chen Ping’an look over with a smile, Zhu Lian hurriedly promised, “Rest assured, Young Master! No matter how wildly passionate about martial arts this old servant is, I still wouldn’t be so reckless as to challenge a Daoist nun who’s potentially from the Daoist Saber Room.

“Moreover, what if she’s a beautiful woman? How could I possibly bring myself to crush her then? I would feel a strong urge to pick flowers from the Lion Garden for her instead. Ah… I’m truly becoming a little curious after saying this. I wonder what that Daoist nun looks like? Even though Lady Shi Rou was definitely a stunningly beautiful woman when she was alive, I can’t help but feel a little fed up after looking at Old Du’s immortal body every day.”

After saying this, Zhu Lian became slightly annoyed as he continued, “By the looks of it, this old servant’s cultivation base is not quite enough. I’m still unable to see through one’s physical body.”

The hunchbacked old man turned around, looking at Shi Rou and saying in an apologetic voice, “Please rest assured, Lady Shi Rou, I’m aware that my vulgar views are undesirable. I need to change this, so if you’re okay with it, I’ll stay in the same room with you tonight. I need to work hard to train my mental state! Perhaps I might achieve sudden enlightenment tonight, and it’s possible that I might immediately become a Buddha like those Chan monks. From that time onward, I’ll see beauty and attractiveness no matter how I look at you.”

Chen Ping’an coughed a few times and grabbed the wine gourd from his waist, preparing to drink some wine.

There was an ice-cold expression on Shi Rou’s face as she turned around and left, loudly closing the door behind her.

Chen Ping’an chuckled softly and asked, “When are you going to stop pestering her?”

“Young Master, you might not know, but this is a journey of cultivating the mind for romantic people such as me.” Zhu Lian replied in a righteous voice.

Chen Ping’an swirled his Sword Nurturing Gourd as Zhu Lian spoke.

Zhu Lian immediately understood his message.

There was a handsome young man dressed in long black robes squatting atop the courtyard wall, and he clapped his hands in delight and remarked, “Very well, your words deeply resonate with me. Old man, not only is your fist intent profound, but your personality is surprisingly even more interesting!”

Chen Ping’an looked up and asked, “Immortals and deities keep their distance from each other, humans and deities avoid conflict with each other, birds have their own Dao, and mice have their own paths. Can’t we each go our own ways?”

The handsome young man sat down on the wall, with his legs hanging over the side and his heels lightly resting against the snow-white surface. He smiled and replied, “To stay in one’s lane and to mind one’s own business, allowing everyone to coexist peacefully with no conflict—this is indeed the ideal situation. But what if I insist on wandering outside my lane and minding someone else’s business? What can you do about that?”

At this moment, a flash of snow-white radiance suddenly swept across the young man’s neck, vanishing as rapidly as it had appeared.

His head fell from the wall.

However, there wasn’t a single drop of blood.

The body of the headless young man started to dissipate, signifying that it was actually an extremely mystical illusion. Afterward, a strand of thin fox fur drifted through the air.

The fox demon’s frustrated voice reverberated around the courtyard as he shouted, “What amazing saber techniques, you stinky woman! Just you wait, I’ll definitely cover my eyes with cloth one day and blow out the candles, and I’ll have you understand the power of the sword between my legs!”

There was an expressionless Daoist nun standing on the apex of the roof ridge nearby, a gleaming long saber in her hands that she slowly slid back into its scabbard.

Chen Ping’an exchanged a glance with Zhu Lian.

This person was indeed a Daoist nun from the Daoist Saber Room. Moreover, she was a Golden Core Tier cultivator, meaning that she would be quite difficult to deal with. Even Zhu Lian didn’t dare to be careless.

As a Far Roaming Tier martial artist, Zhu Lian would have an overwhelming advantage over most ordinary Golden Core Tier earth immortals in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Even though the hunchbacked old man had stated that his foundation at the Vajra Body Tier wasn’t solid enough, this was simply because he had been comparing it to his previous six tiers as well as Zheng Dafeng’s achievements.

However, Zhu Lian felt like he wouldn’t necessarily enjoy an advantage against a Daoist nun from the Daoist Saber Room, especially since this organization had made a huge name for itself in the Middle Earth Divine Continent.

The face of the middle-aged Daoist nun was skinny and wizened, and after sheathing her saber, she slowly stated in the broken official dialect of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, “This fox demon is my prey. If you dare to snatch this prey from me, then don’t blame my saber for being merciless.”

Zhu Lian smiled in response.

He liked her attitude.

The hunchbacked old man was just about to stand up. Since he liked her attitude, he naturally couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

Chen Ping’an reached over and stopped Zhu Lian, after which he made a pushing gesture toward the wall, signaling that the Daoist nun could leave now.

The saber-wielding Daoist nun disappeared in a flash.

Zhu Lian smiled and asked, “Can you explain the reason?”

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment and replied, “Just wait and you’ll find out.”