Unsheathed

Shortly after the Daoist nun from the Daoist Saber Room left, Pei Qian quietly tiptoed out from her room with a yellow paper talisman on her forehead.

There was a tense expression on Shi Rou’s face as she stood beside the door, and a sense of lingering fear in her mind even though she could no longer detect the Daoist nun’s aura.

As a female yin entity, it was in fact extremely dangerous for her to openly wander around the mortal world. She was like a monkey pretending to be a person, and she would only draw sniggers of derision if this fact was made known. Not only that, but she had used heretical methods to seize control of an immortal’s body, an act that would lead to severe consequences for her if it were made known to powerful official immortals.

Pei Qian arrived beside Chen Ping’an and Zhu Lian and glanced at the foot of the wall.

Zhu Lian smiled and asked, “It’s nothing more than a strand of fox fur that’s exhausted its spiritual energy, yet you still want to pick it up and treat it as a treasure?”

He reached over and made a grabbing motion, causing the strand of black fox fur that had supported the demonic illusion technique of the fox demon to drift over and land between his fingers. He handed it to Pei Qian and said, “Here, take it if you want it.”

Pei Qian hid behind Chen Ping’an and asked carefully, “Can I sell it for some money?”

Zhu Lian rubbed the extremely tough fox fur between his fingers, and he was surprisingly unable to turn it into ashes. He was slightly astonished, and he carefully examined the fox fur before replying, “This is indeed an impressive item, but it’s very difficult to find a proper use for it. If we can obtain the full suit of the fox demon’s skin, then it can perhaps be transformed into a natural Dao robe.”

“It’s best to avoid saying things like this,” Chen Ping’an warned.

“This old servant indeed misspoke,” Zhu Lian responded with a smile.

It was clear that the commotion in the small courtyard had already caught the attention of the two other groups of cultivators, with the group led by Young Master Dugu and the Dao partners both rushing over to check on the situation. They all had different expressions when they entered the small courtyard, and there was a slightly complicated look in their eyes when they gazed at Chen Ping’an.

The fox demon should have come here in five days, so why had it suddenly shown itself earlier? Moreover, that flash of incisive saber light had carried immense power and astonished them to the core. They were astounded by the lofty cultivation base of the saber-wielding Daoist nun, and they were equally stunned by her ability to shatter the illusion of the fox demon with a single strike.

According to the information that the Lion Garden had given them before, the fox demon was an extremely elusive entity that not a single immortal formation or immortal treasure had managed to harm before. Indeed, not a single immortal had managed to so much as catch a piece of the fox demon’s robe.

Chen Ping’an was relatively conservative when he told the two groups of cultivators about the conflict between the fox demon and the Daoist nun, and he also made sure not to reveal the true identity of the Daoist nun regarding her background with the Daoist Saber Room.

The old man with a small and fiery red fox squatting on his shoulder suddenly asked, “Young Master Chen, can you sell this strand of fox fur to me? Perhaps I can borrow this opportunity to discover some clues. In fact, I might even be able to locate the hiding spot of the fox demon. ”

“How much will you offer?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile.

The old man weighed things up in his mind before replying, “This strand of fox fur has already lost its spiritual energy, so truth be told, it’s not even worth a single snowflake coin in its current state.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t respond straight away.

A subtle look of scorn appeared in the attractive eyes of the beautiful maidservant standing behind Young Master Dugu.

By the looks of it, even though the young immortal in white with a long sword in a white scabbard on his back looked much like someone from the mountains, he was actually as philistine as could be. Was he going to give them a long spiel for the sake of a strand of fox fur that was only worth one snowflake coin? However, she quickly accepted this fact and didn’t feel surprised any longer. Were the so-called official immortals not sanctimonious individuals just like this?

She was traveling around the mountains and rivers with her young master, and they had come across many people and matters in the cultivation world, in the mountains, and on the waters. Yet how many people had managed to impress her young master? It was no wonder that her master would always start with great enthusiasm yet end up completely disappointed and disillusioned.

At this moment, the beautiful maidservant suddenly discovered the tanned little girl standing behind the young man staring at her.

The maidservant smiled at Pei Qian, and Pei Qian cracked a grin in reply.

“I suddenly remembered that I’ve also mastered some lowly mystical abilities that can be used to search for the fox demon. That being the case, I won’t sell this strand of fox fur anymore,” Chen Ping’an suddenly said to the old man.

The old man smiled in a carefree manner and replied, “Everyone has come here for the united purpose of subduing the fox demon. Since you find this strand of fox fur useful, it’s only natural that noble people won’t seize the favored items of others. I won’t insist on making you sell it.”

After the two groups of cultivators left, Chen Ping’an hesitated for a moment before asking Pei Qian with a serious expression, “Do you know why I wasn’t willing to sell this strand of fox fur?”

“That person was lying and purposely giving us a low price,” Pei Qian answered immediately. “He had impure intentions, but you instantly saw through him with your sharp senses. You were unhappy, and you were unwilling to get into trouble. After all, what if the fox demon was observing things in secret and your actions offended him? He would start targeting us and completely ruin your plans.

“We came here to observe the situation, and we also wanted to drink some tea and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Making the wrong choice just then would have caused us to become involved in the troublesome situation and also caused this small courtyard to become a land of blood and slaughter…

“Master, I’ve said so much, so at least one of these explanations is correct, right? Haha, aren’t I very smart?”

Zhu Lian clicked his tongue in amusement and remarked, “Well, someone is about to receive a knuckle to the forehead.”

Sure enough, Chen Ping’an immediately rewarded Pei Qian with a knuckle to the forehead.

Pei Qian glared at Zhu Lian and exclaimed, “You jinxed it!”

Zhu Lian smiled and asked, “Picking on the weak and fearing the strong? Do you feel like I’m a pushover who’s easy to bully? Do you believe me when I say that I’ll sprinkle mud into your favorite dish?”

Pei Qian felt slightly guilty, and she looked at Chen Ping’an before lowering her head in dejection.

From their first encounter in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land up until the time she was tossed out of the blessed land by the stinky old Daoist priest, Pei Qian always felt like Chen Ping’an was the person who understood her the most in the world. Borrowing a phrase from the books, it could be said that she had piles of bad records. Thus, she was feeling slightly afraid now.

Chen Ping’an tousled her hair and said softly, “I was reading the notes of a literati once, and he mentioned a certain phrase from the Buddhist scriptures: The matters of the past became irrelevant yesterday, and the matters of the future begin from today.[1] Do you know what this means?”

Pei Qian looked up and gently shook her head.

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “You’ll understand it in the future.”

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up, and she requested, “Master, can you inscribe this phrase onto a small bamboo slip and give it to me? If it’s possible, can you do the same with the two sentences you wrote in the river guardian temple as well?”

Chen Ping’an nodded and agreed to the little girl’s request. In a rare display, he then started to explain some fundamental principles regarding his decision to not sell the strand of fox fur to Pei Qian. “We need to be extremely careful when we travel around the cultivation world. We can’t seek to harm others, yet we can’t let our guard down either. Otherwise, wouldn’t we be foolishly benefitting bad people?

“If we insist on remaining outwardly sincere, and if we always open up to everyone regardless of the situation, then you have to realize that wealth can change a person’s mind. Acting like this will only make the cultivation world even more dangerous. Treating others with genuine sincerity is naturally a beautiful and desirable thing, yet how should we properly safeguard this sincerity to prevent it from harming others and even harming us as well? It requires accumulation of experience in the cultivation world to find the right balance.”

Zhu Lian smiled faintly and remarked, “Kind-hearted but not naive, worldly but not scheming. These precious words are the fundamental principles from the books.”

“Mhm, Zhu Lian has explained it much better than I have. It’s also concise and to the point,” Chen Ping’an said.

He retrieved one of the three remaining pots of osmanthus wine and handed it to Zhu Lian. Back then, the Fan Clan had given him quite a large quantity of osmanthus wine, separated into two types. One type was for Chen Ping’an to drink on his journey, and there was plenty of it. However, Chen Ping’an had given away one pot here and one pot there, one to Xu Yuanxia and one to Zhang Shanfeng, so he had almost run out of it before even arriving at the capital of the Azure Phoenix Nation.

The other type of wine was incredibly rare; apparently, Lady Gui personally made it on Osmanthus Island. Chen Ping’an had only received six pots of this wine in total, and even Fan Junmao had drooled over them and shamelessly asked Chen Ping’an for one pot.

Pei Qian turned around to look at Zhu Lian, asking in curiosity, “Which book is this phrase from?”

Zhu Lian laughed heartily and replied, “The book of bitter life lessons, the best book to educate a person.”

One of the things that Pei Qian hated the most was her master being beaten by someone else. Thus, she sneered at Zhu Lian and scoffed, “Heh, then I’m filled with boundless knowledge and have a bottomless collection of books. Anyone can make things up on the spot. My master’s explanation was much better. Much, much better.”

Zhu Lian bobbled his head around as he drank. There was delicious wine to drink, so he was no longer interested in arguing with the tanned little girl.

“You shouldn’t disregard the principles expounded by Zhu Lian simply because you don’t like him,” Chen Ping’an said to Pei Qian. “Forget about it, we can talk about these things in the future.”

In the end, Chen Ping’an felt like teaching his disciple wasn’t something that could be done too hastily. He couldn’t push all of his beliefs—even if he personally viewed them as correct principles—onto Pei Qian without regard for anything else.

Pei Qian had a brilliant memory, and it was no big challenge for her to memorize tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of characters from the sagely classics. However, memorizing all of this wasn’t as useful as having her genuinely understand one or two of the phrases.

Zhu Lian had made a casual remark in the river guardian temple, yet Chen Ping’an had thought very deeply about this remark—returning the sagely classics to the sages. Chen Ping’an started to self-reflect. He hadn’t read many books compared to genuine scholars, yet he was incredibly well-read compared to ordinary commoners. Thinking carefully, however, just how many sagely books had he “kept” and how many had he “returned” to the sages?

Chen Ping’an sighed and said that he was going to head inside to practice his fist stances.

It would be far too eye-catching if he were to practice in the courtyard.

Sitting inside her room, Shi Rou became lost in thought when she heard Chen Ping’an mention that phrase from the Buddhist scriptures. In the end, she sighed softly and pushed these thoughts out of her mind, calming her breathing and gathering her concentration as she started to channel a mantra that Cui Dongshan had taught her. Using this breathing technique, she started to slowly but surely refine the immortal body that she was living in.

After Chen Ping’an closed the door, Pei Qian asked in a quiet voice, “Old Cook, why does Master look a little unhappy? Is he annoyed about me being dumb?”

Zhu Lian smiled widely and asked, “Do you want to drink some wine? We can drink this delicious wine together to wash away our age-long sorrows.”

Pei Qian crossed her arms and huffed in anger, “I’ve already been screwed over by Cui Dongshan once, so don’t you try to ruin my Dao Heart as well!”

Zhu Lian almost spat out his mouthful of wine. “Just what kind of nonsense Dao Heart does a little kid like you have?” he asked in incredulity.

Pei Qian stood up and clasped her hands behind her back, shaking her head and sighing and not forgetting to glance at Zhu Lian in pity at the same time. It was as if she were saying that she didn’t want to waste her breath and explain things to a brick wall.

After Pei Qian turned around, Zhu Lian seized the opportunity to kick the little girl in the backside, causing her to almost fall down and smack face-first into the ground. However, Pei Qian had traversed over many mountains and rivers and also practiced walking meditation for a long time, so she deftly placed two hands on the ground and performed a flip, preventing herself from falling over. After standing still, her embarrassment turned into anger and she fumed, “Zhu Lian, why are you launching a sneak attack on me?! Do you still care about the honor of the cultivation world or not?! Can’t you see that I’m wearing new clothes right now?!”

“Do you want to learn Awakening Insects, a martial arts technique that I created by myself?” Zhu Lian asked. “Upon reaching initial mastery, one’s punches will be like booming spring thunder. To say nothing of smashing cultivators from the cultivation world until their bones become loose and rattled, this martial arts technique is also extremely effective against all kinds of ghosts and spirits.”

“And who are you again?” Pei Qian retorted.

Zhu Lian didn’t care about his kind-hearted offer being rudely turned down, but he genuinely didn’t want to listen to Pei Qian’s nonsensical reasoning that was surely going to follow. Thus, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, run along now, go and practice your Deranged Demon Sword Technique.”

Pei Qian felt slightly stifled after she was unable to spit out the words in her stomach. Just like Zhu Lian suggested, she returned to her room to grab her hiking pole, after which she started to practice the martial arts technique that she had also created by herself.

Her confidence had skyrocketed after defeating the dog in the mountains that time, so apart from obediently practicing the six-step walking meditation with Chen Ping’an every day, she had temporarily paused her practice of the White Ape Sword-Carrying Technique and the White Ape Saber-Wielding Technique. She would only practice these techniques in a perfunctory manner from time to time. Right now, she was focusing more of her effort on the Deranged Demon Sword Technique, an immensely powerful and peerless sword technique that led to immediate results.

Pei Qian was having a lot of fun practicing this original martial arts technique. Meanwhile, as he stood there watching her, the Far Roaming Tier martial artist that was Zhu Lian felt like his eyes were burning in pain…

He looked around instead.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. By the looks of it, the fox demon had learned its lesson after facing the Daoist nun’s powerful saber strike.

1. This isn’t actually a saying from the Buddhist scriptures, but rather from Yuan Liaofan’s Four Lessons, a book about destiny, how to differentiate good from bad, how to correct faults, and how to practice good deeds in order to cultivate both virtue and humility. Yuan Liaofan was a Chinese official from the Ming Dynasty. This phrase reminds people to cherish the current moment and view life in a calm and open-minded manner. ☜