Unsheathed

For the next two days, Chen Ping’an brought Pei Qian and Zhu Lian with him as he wandered around and visited the shops in the capital. Meanwhile, Shi Rou stayed back in the inn to look after their rooms and belongings.

The streets were indeed bustling, and because of the grand debate between Buddhism and Daoism, the capital of the Azure Phoenix Nation was filled with all kinds of people from the three teachings and hundred schools of thought. Some sought fame, while others sought material benefit. Of course, there were also people like Chen Ping’an who were purely here to enjoy the scenery and also purchase some local specialties of the Azure Phoenix Nation.

Perhaps due to their familiarity with Chen Ping’an, neither Pei Qian nor Zhu Lian found it strange that Chen Ping’an liked to visit and wander around bookshops. However, the extremely perceptive Shi Rou noticed some clues. When wandering around the bookshops of various sizes, Chen Ping’an almost never touched those new books with high-quality prints. He showed little interest in the classics of the hundred schools of thought as well.

Rather, Chen Ping’an would almost always flick through the unofficial history records of minor officials as well as the Local County Chronicles of various nations and other similar types of miscellaneous books. In addition to these, he would also read over the clan genealogy books that were often tucked away in the corners. However, Chen Ping’an never purchased these books after flicking through them.

This had caused many bookshop owners to roll their eyes at him.

Fortunately, they were accompanied by Zhu Lian who liked to spend carelessly whenever he had money. Thanks to his help, they weren’t scolded by the shopkeepers and kicked out of the bookshops.

As for Pei Qian, she was most likely considering the fact that Chen Ping’an had bought the most renowned and expensive Xuan paper in the Azure Phoenix Nation for himself, following which he had bought a pair of imperial green glazed Go stone containers for Zhu Lian and a small gourd for her. He had spent an exorbitant amount of money, far more than what he would usually spend.

Thus, even if Pei Qian saw some items that she genuinely liked, she would only steal a few glances at them and not ask her master to purchase them for her. In any case, the treasure box that Yao Jinzhi had given her was truly full to the brim already, and it would be impossible for her to put anything else inside. Perhaps she should ask her master for a brand-new treasure box? Pei Qian mulled over this for a moment, but she eventually decided against doing so. Even though her master had earned some grain rain coins in the Lion Garden, he had already purchased several items for her and the others. That being the case, she would ask about a new treasure box the next time her master earned some money.

At the end of the day, this was simply because they were poor.

Pei Qian felt slightly sad, not knowing when she would be able to collect a large number of treasure boxes that were all filled to the brim with treasures. Old Cook Zhu Lian had once told her that there was something even bigger and better than treasure boxes—the treasure shelves owned by those wealthy clans. Only by filling such treasure shelves up could one truly possess a dazzling array of treasures. Indeed, people’s jaws would drop to the ground when they saw such a magnificent display of rare and expensive treasures.

While wandering around the streets and shops these past few days, they had heard some small pieces of news that were just barely relevant to them.

According to Zhu Lian, the emperor of the Fortune Mountain Nation had extremely unique tastes that he couldn’t help but admire. The powerful ruler of the Fortune Mountain Nation didn’t like slender and shapely women, and he was instead fond of chubbier women only. There were four concubines whom he liked the most, and these women could no longer be described as simply plump. Each of them weighed more than one hundred kilograms, and the emperor of the Fortune Mountain Nation adoringly referred to them as Charming Pig, Charming Dog, Charming Bear, and Charming Sparrow.

Among the four concubines, Charming Pig Yuan Ye was even more renowned for something else—she was one of the four martial arts superior grandmasters in the dozen or so nations located in the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Emperor Zheng Kui of the Fortune Mountain Nation was currently accompanied by his four charming concubines and staying at a relay station in the capital of the Azure Phoenix Nation.

Two days ago, Emperor Zheng Kui had dressed in casual clothes and visited the Buddhist temples and Daoist temples in the capital with Charming Sparrow, the most slender of his four favorite concubines. Unexpectedly, a conflict had arisen between them and a group of young masters when they were offering incense in a temple. Charming Sparrow had attacked without mercy, directly beating the young masters half dead.

This conflict had caused a huge commotion, and the officials responsible for maintaining law and order in the capital had arrived to address the issue. Not only that, but high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Rites attended to the situation as well. This was inevitable, as the conflict pertained to the diplomatic relationship between the two nations.

After finally appeasing all parties with much difficulty, it was determined that the troublemakers were a few young masters from large clans in the capital as well as several wealthy friends who had traveled here from the north. After learning of Emperor Zheng Kui’s true identity, the young masters and the wealthy friends relented and didn’t cause any further trouble.

However, just as this conflict was resolved, another issue immediately arose. Several people who had just settled down in a new residence in the Azure Phoenix Nation were suddenly killed in a horrifying manner. It was said that even the coroner had wanted to throw up when examining the corpses.

It wasn’t long before a rumor spread throughout the entire capital, with people saying with certainty that the brutal methods used by the culprit were none other than the methods commonly employed by Charming Pig, the martial arts superior grandmaster from the Fortune Mountain Nation. The victims were dismembered, and only their heads were left on their torsos. Not only that, but the culprit had even struck several of the victims’ acupoints, making them go mute and even helping them stem their bleeding. As a result, the victims had died a slow and painful death.

The imperial court of the Azure Phoenix Nation rapidly put together a team to investigate the matter. At the same time, they immediately sent a group of experienced officials from the Ministry of Justice, immortal guest elders from the imperial court, and renowned cultivators from the cultivation world to the relay station where Emperor Zheng Kui was staying.

However, this was still not enough to suppress the public outrage, and countless officials and scholars gathered together to encircle the relay station where Emperor Zheng Kui was staying. If it weren’t for the law enforcement officials of the capital holding everyone back and the two hundred elite infantry personally deployed by Chief Military Governor Wei Liang watching over the crowds with intense gazes and preventing the situation from deteriorating any further, it was very likely that things would have descended into utter chaos and ultimately led to unimaginable consequences. After all, the powerless scholars could only face the fate of being brutally slaughtered by one of Emperor Zheng Kui’s four beloved concubines.

Charming Pig Yuan Ye announced that she would challenge the Great Marsh Gang’s Zhu Fengxian, another member of the four martial arts superior grandmasters in the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. If she lost, then the Fortune Mountain Nation would accept the accusations being made against them. If she won, however, then all of the scholars from the Azure Phoenix Nation who were blindly causing trouble outside the relay station would have to kowtow and apologize.

There were rumors that Old Demon Zhu Fengxian had traveled around on a sanguine horse-drawn carriage in the past, and he was also renowned for having wreaked havoc and caused significant bloodshed in the cultivation world of several nations during his prime. He was indeed in the capital of the Azure Phoenix Nation right now, and he was staying in one of the numerous Daoist temples.

Yesterday, the notorious Zhu Fengxian finally returned to the cultivation world, surprisingly accepting Charming Pig’s challenge and walking into the relay station as the number one hero of the Azure Phoenix Nation. He was going to engage in a life-and-death battle with Charming Pig Yuan Ye.

From the moment that Zhu Fengxian left the Daoist temple in a horse-drawn carriage to the moment that he arrived at the relay station, countless commoners and cultivators from the Azure Phoenix Nation and the corresponding cultivation world lined the streets and waved and shouted in support.

However, the adversarial forces were always one step ahead, and Zhu Fengxian—who carried the hopes of countless people in the Azure Phoenix Nation—was surprisingly no match for Charming Pig Yuan Ye. He was defeated by Charming Pig who was ranked second out of the four martial arts superior grandmasters, and he was severely wounded and casually lifted up by the neck.

Charming Pig Yuan Ye was drenched in blood but relatively uninjured, and she swaggered out of the relay station with Zhu Fengxian still in her hand. She then swept her gaze across the speechless crowd before tossing the limp and unconscious Zhu Fengxian onto the street. Before re-entering the relay station, she reminded the crowd to come here and kowtow tomorrow.

Zhu Fengxian was picked up and placed inside the horse-drawn carriage by a group of teary-eyed disciples from the Great Marsh Gang, and he was immediately rushed back to the Daoist temple to receive treatment for his grave wounds.

There was silence outside the relay station, and there was incessant wailing outside the Daoist temple.

After coincidentally hearing about this incident in a bookshop, Chen Ping’an continued to wander around and look for books.

Pei Qian didn’t feel much pity for Zhu Fengxian, and she simply felt like he had suffered a very miserable fate. Moreover, he wasn’t very powerful, yet he still insisted on stepping forward to make a name for himself. Was he not aware that he could hide inside the Daoist temple? Because of his poor decisions, he had now been beaten to the verge of death by that obese Charming Pig.

Not only that, but his reputation was also in tatters. According to the descriptions of the cultivation world in that novel Pei Qian had read, martial artists who lived and fought in the cultivation world would be as good as dead if they lost their fame and reputation.

There was only one thing that made Pei Qian feel a slight sense of sympathy. When climbing the mountain and traveling to the Golden Osmanthus Temple back then, they had temporarily stayed in the luxurious residence that Zhu Fengxian had constructed on the mountain for his granddaughter. Zhu Fengxian was a wealthy and generous person, and Pei Qian quite liked this about him. However, it was a shame that even if Old Geezer Zhu was resilient enough to survive this time, it was incredibly unlikely that she would be able to freeload off him again in the future.

They had met by chance back then, and they had first sheltered from the downpour together before climbing the mountain together. In the end, Zhu Fengxian’s granddaughter, Zhu Ziyang, and Liu Qingcheng from the Lofty Sky Nation’s Blusher Hall had both become direct disciples of the Golden Osmanthus Temple’s Old Immortal Zhang Guo.

Pei Qian and Chen Ping’an had watched the disciple-recruiting ceremony that had been filled with a whole sequence of elaborate formalities and stretched for almost an entire hour. Pei Qian had ended up with a headache, and she had been forced to stand there like an inanimate wooden puppet from the beginning to the end. Indeed, she had found this even more tiring than transcribing texts.

It was noon when Chen Ping’an walked out from the bookshop, and he stood on the steps outside and became lost in thought.

“Young Master, what are your thoughts?” Zhu Lian asked in a quiet voice.

Shi Rou felt extremely anxious, and she quietly prayed that Chen Ping’an wouldn’t choose to get involved in this messy situation.

Chen Ping’an’s answer left her partly satisfied and partly anxious.

“We’ll head over to the Daoist temple to visit Zhu Fengxian,” Chen Ping’an replied. “If his injuries are serious, then I coincidentally have some alchemical pills that I can give him. We can take our leave after greeting him and giving him some alchemical pills.”

“Young Master is a loyal friend, and more importantly, Young Master can still act with calm and prudence in such a situation,” Zhu Lian praised.

Pei Qian glared at him and accused, “Why are you stealing my words, Old Cook? What am I meant to do now?”

Zhu Lian didn’t hold back, replying in a blunt voice, “What are you meant to do now? You can go and eat shit. You don’t need to spend any money, and if you’re still not full, you can give me a yell and wait for me outside the toilet after we return to the inn. I guarantee that it will still be warm.”

“How disgusting,” Pei Qian rolled her eyes and said.

Chen Ping’an paid no heed to the argument between the old man and the little girl, especially since this was a daily occurrence. After asking some passers-by for directions, they walked together to a Daoist temple in the capital that had suddenly shot to fame overnight.

It took them roughly one hour to arrive near the Daoist temple, and there was a sparse crowd of people standing outside the temple walls. Some people left after hurling some abuse and tossing a few rocks inside, while most people were here to join in on the fun. These people would leave in satisfaction after walking a lap around the outside perimeter of the Daoist temple.

Apart from them, there were also some people from the cultivation world who had hastily made their way here after hearing of the news. These were cultivators whose fathers and ancestors had most likely suffered at the hands of the Great Marsh Gang in the past, but these cultivators didn’t dare to wantonly unleash a torrent of abuse at Zhu Fengxian or the disciples of the gang. They naturally weren’t stupid enough to provoke the wounded gang either.

After all, it was still unknown whether Zhu Fengxian was dead or alive, and there were also several notorious disciples of the gang standing guard inside the Daoist temple. Just a single one of these disciples would be powerful enough to defeat the ordinary martial arts elites of the Azure Phoenix Nation.

The Daoist temple wasn’t large, and it was closed and not accepting any visitors today. Chen Ping’an stood at a side entrance and knocked for a long time before a Daoist priest finally opened the door for him with a guarded expression. Chen Ping’an explained that he was an old acquaintance of Gang Leader Zhu, and he asked the Daoist priest to please deliver a message to the Great Marsh Gang for him, telling them that Chen Ping’an was here to visit.

The young Daoist priest nodded in understanding, telling Chen Ping’an to wait for a short moment. After closing the door behind him, it took seven or eight minutes before he returned with a disciple who had accompanied Zhu Fengxian and Zhu Ziyang to the Golden Osmanthus Temple. The disciple of Zhu Fengxian breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Chen Ping’an, and he led Chen Ping’an and his companions to the depths of the Daoist priest. He didn’t speak much as he walked, and he simply spoke with politeness and thanked Chen Ping’an for remembering this friendship.

There was the thick smell of medicine wafting through the air as they arrived near a building, and a few of Zhu Fengxian’s disciples were respectfully and solemnly standing in the corridor outside. Their expressions were serious, and they simply nodded in acknowledgment when they saw Chen Ping’an, not relaxing in the least.

After all, they had only had a brief chance encounter when traveling to the Golden Osmanthus Temple, and human nature was a most unpredictable thing. Heavens knew whether this outsider with the surname Chen was visiting with good intentions or ill will. If it weren’t for Zhu Fengxian—who was still lying in his sickbed—personally instructing his disciples to let Chen Ping’an and his companions into the Daoist temple, no one would have dared to open the door for them and allow them inside.

Chen Ping’an told Zhu Lian, Shi Rou, and Pei Qian to stay in the corridor, not allowing them to approach Zhu Fengxian’s room.

After one of Zhu Fengxian’s direct disciples opened the door for him, Chen Ping’an walked inside by himself with his sword and bamboo bookcase still on his back.

Zhu Fengxian was sitting on his bed with his back resting against a pillow and a blanket over his body, and his face was deathly pale as he smiled faintly and said, “After bidding farewell on the mountain, we’ve now reunited again in a foreign land. However, I’m actually in such a pitiful state right now. Apologies for this embarrassing display, Young Master Chen.”

His injuries were severe.

Apart from Zhu Fengxian who was sitting on his sickbed, there was also an old and expressionless Daoist priest standing in the room. After Zhu Fengxian’s direct disciple stepped inside and closed the door, the old Daoist priest carried a chair over for Chen Ping’an before returning to his spot. He didn’t leave the room, lest Chen Ping’an suddenly draw his weapon and attempt to kill Zhu Fengxian.

Chen Ping’an put his bamboo bookcase beside his feet before sitting down and asking in a soft voice, “Gang Leader Zhu, you didn’t conceal your identity when entering the capital?”

Zhu Fengxian coughed for a moment and strained himself to smile, replying, “Of course I tried to conceal my identity. However, the imperial court has a strong intelligence network and I wasn’t able to hide myself properly. This Daoist temple in the capital is a division of the Great Marsh Gang that we’ve been working hard to grow and maintain for the past thirty years. However, it’s entirely possible that the imperial court has its eyes on this Daoist temple already.

“Even so, this shouldn’t really matter. The emperor of the Azure Phoenix Nation always yearned for the cultivation world when he was young, so after he ascended the throne, it can be said that he’s treated the cultivation world fairly well. As long as the conflicts and revenge killings between forces in the cultivation world don’t go overboard, the imperial court of the Azure Phoenix Nation will seldom get involved.

“In reality, Emperor Tang Li was still the crown prince back when I marched through several nations and defeated everyone in my path. I’ve heard that he admired me greatly, and he announced that he would definitely summon me to the palace one day since I was a martial artist who had won face and reputation for the Azure Phoenix Nation.

“Thus, even though I was mysteriously singled out by Charming Pig this time, I couldn’t bring myself to quietly sneak away and leave the capital even though I was well aware that someone was trying to bring me harm.”

Zhu Fengxian was struggling to speak, with his voice choppy and quiet as he explained the situation to Chen Ping’an. Upon seeing this, Chen Ping’an decided not to ask the old gang leader any more questions. He bent down and opened his bamboo bookcase.

As Chen Ping’an did this, both the old Daoist priest and the direct disciple tensed up and prepared to strike. Chen Ping’an stopped his movements and explained, “I have a few bottles of alchemical pills from the mountains. Of course, these alchemical pills aren’t miracle medicines that can rapidly heal one’s wounds and repair one’s acupoints, but they are indeed quite good at replenishing one’s Qi and nurturing one’s soul. They’re not bad at repairing the bodies of martial artists either.”

Zhu Fengxian wanted to raise an arm, yet he was so weak that he couldn’t even do this. In the end, he placed his hand on his blanket and gently shook it at his two loyal subordinates, saying, “There’s no need to be anxious. My judgment of character is better than my skills in martial arts. Right now, anyone in the capital might potentially sneak over to target me, but only Young Master is an exception.”

While walking over to the Daoist temple, Chen Ping’an had purposely walked through a small and secluded alley so that he could retrieve three bottles of alchemical pills from his pocket treasure and move them into his bamboo bookcase. Otherwise, it would be far too eye-catching if he directly summoned them from thin air.

After taking out the three bottles of alchemical pills, Chen Ping’an handed them to the old Daoist priest and said, “Spiritual Master, please examine these alchemical pills first and determine whether they’re suitable for treating Gang Leader Zhu’s wounds.”

Zhu Fengxian couldn’t help but chuckle, “Young Master Chen, you’re giving away life-saving medicines out of goodwill, yet I’ve never seen anyone appear as wronged as this when doing so. You’re probably the first in the world.”

The old Daoist priest accepted the three bottles without expression before walking to the table and pouring out a single alchemical pill from each bottle. He then retrieved a silver needle from his sleeve and carefully broke the alchemical pills into pieces.

Chen Ping’an didn’t become angry about his good intentions being treated as ill will, and he instead felt like the old Daoist priest’s actions were befitting of a true cultivator from the cultivation world.

Even though Zhu Fengxian was feeble and deathly pale, his mood was quite good at the moment, and this was largely thanks to his powerful foundation as a seventh tier martial artist. The disciple standing in the room signaled with his eyes that it was time to see the guest out, but Zhu Fengxian ignored his signal and asked with a smile, “Young Master Chen, do you think that Charming Pig is the true culprit?”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and replied, “I’ve never met her and I don’t understand her character and personality either, so I can’t say for sure. Logically speaking, the imperial consort of the Fortune Mountain Nation shouldn’t be so foolish as to use a unique ability to brutally murder several people at once in the capital of another nation. It’s also unlikely that this is being used as a diversion, although it is indeed possible.

“In the end, this might still become an arm wrestle between the two nations in the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. In other words, it’s not necessarily important whether Yuan Ye was the true culprit or not. Thus, it wasn’t worth it for Gang Leader Zhu to accept her challenge. On the other hand, the mastermind who set you up is quite a clever person, so you need to be extra careful when you leave the capital in the future.”

Zhu Fengxian nodded and replied, “That’s indeed the case.”

Upon hearing this, the old Daoist priest who was fully focused on examining the alchemical pills couldn’t help but look up and glance at the young man.

Chen Ping’an stood up and took his leave after chatting with Zhu Fengxian for a brief while longer.

Zhu Fengxian was unable to leave his bed and stand up, so he could only cup his fists in farewell with much struggle. However, this movement tugged at his wounds and caused him to enter a fit of coughing.

Chen Ping’an and the others left the Daoist temple and returned to the inn.