Unsheathed

Inside Chen Ping’an’s room at the entrance of Cyan Gorge Island, all of the materials, including maps of the Bamboo Scroll Lake islands and the nearby cities, the files from the incense room, the genealogical records of the islands, and close to two hundred thousand characters’ worth of handwritten notes; so much had already been categorized and placed into the shelves and drawers, yet the desk was still laden with more materials that were yet to be organized.

Inside the room was a desk, a row of shelves placed along the wall, and a dining table. Aside from that, there was only a chair, two benches, and a stool.

Gu Can continued to visit the room frequently from the end of autumn into winter, and each time he did, he always liked to sit at the entrance of the room for a very long time, either to nap under the sun or chat with Tan Xue. While visiting an island by the name of Purple Bamboo Island, Chen Ping’an had requested three bamboo poles from the island master, two large and one small.

The two large ones had been fashioned into a pair of small bamboo chairs, while the small one had been roasted and polished into a fishing pole. The two bamboo chairs had been crafted to make Gu Can and Tan Xue more comfortable during their visits, while the fishing pole was naturally for fishing purposes, but Chen Ping’an was never able to find the time to do any fishing.

On this night, Chen Ping’an opened his hamper and ate his meal in silence.

He was still awaiting the return letter from Peace and Tranquility Mountain.

Wei Bo had already given him all of the answers, and it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Wei Bo, but what he was about to do next was something of the utmost importance, so no amount of verifying and double-checking would be too much.

However, given that Peace and Tranquility Mountain was on the Parasol Leaf Continent, this was an intercontinental correspondence, and it wasn’t out of the question for an intercontinental letter by flying sword to simply disappear for one reason or another. Hence, Chen Ping’an was already prepared for the worst, and in the worst-case scenario, he would get Wei Bo to send another letter to Zhong Kui of Peace and Tranquility Mountain in his stead.

If this had been his first time traveling the world, perhaps even if he had these connections, he would’ve still relied solely on his own as troubling others wouldn’t have sat right with him, but things were different now.

Chen Ping’an didn’t want to become the type of loner that the abbot of the Observing Dao Temple had spoken of. Owing a favor wasn’t something to be shied away from, as long as the favor could be returned. Only with frequent exchanges of favors would one feel comfortable reaching out to friends in their times of need.

After his meal, Chen Ping’an closed the hamper, then opened a report and began to browse through it.

The report contained some interesting events that had taken place in Bamboo Scroll Lake at the time, and it was similar in nature to the official reports sent by provincial governors to government offices. Back in the Hundred Flower Garden inn in the Azure Phoenix Nation, Chen Ping’an witnessed this type of report before, and he recalled finding it quite remarkable at the time.

Now that he had been staying in Bamboo Scroll Lake for a long time, he had begun to do as the locals did and asked Gu Can to fetch him copies of these reports. As soon as a new one was released, it would immediately be sent to his room.

Interesting events took place virtually every single day on Palace Willow Island, and the very next day, those events would be known across the entirety of Bamboo Scroll Lake.

This phenomenon was attributable to a place by the name of Willow Catkin Island. The cultivators of the island, from its island master to its external disciples and even down to its servants, were virtually never on the island. Instead, they spent all day wandering around outside their island, and they made a living by gathering and selling all types of information, some of which was embellished for dramatic effect.

On top of that, they would also deliver immortal reports to the wealthy and powerful clans on half of the islands in Bamboo Scroll Lake, as well as the four major lakeside cities. If it turned out to be a slow day, then the reports would be quite small, perhaps only the size of a piece of tofu, and they would also be cheaper, starting at a minimum of one snowflake coin per copy.

If there were many events to report on, then the reports could be as large as maps and cost up to around a dozen snowflake coins.

The particular report that Chen Ping’an was currently reading was mostly dedicated to detailing the recent events that had taken place on Palace Willow Island. There were also some descriptions about the remarkable aspects of some islands that had recently risen through the ranks, as well as stories about new and interesting events that had taken place on some older and more well-established islands.

For example, following his latest outing, the old ancestor of Jade Bridge Island had returned with an exceptional cultivation prodigy that had immense natural talent for Daoist talismans. Another example was the story of how a previously unknown young female cultivator of the Waterfall Nunnery on Wintersweet Island had benefited immensely from puberty, transforming into a stunning, young beauty.

Wintersweet Island had released enchanted picture scrolls of her, and in the first month alone, countless wealthy cultivators had been clamoring to see her and shower her with immortal currency.

As a result, the spiritual energy on Wintersweet Island had been boosted by over 10%. There was also an inspirational underdog story about a mediocre cultivator on Cloud Cave Island, who had already been counted out by everyone, but enjoyed a meteoric rise and became the next Golden Core Tier earth immortal to emerge from Bamboo Scroll Lake after Tian Hujun.

Prior to this, Cloud Cave Island wasn’t even entitled to attend the election being held on Palace Willow Island, but recently, it had been demanding that a chair be prepared for them. Otherwise, they proclaimed that regardless of the outcome of the election, it would be illegitimate due to the absence of their Cloud Cave Island.

Chen Ping’an was very intrigued by all these interesting stories, and after reading through the report once, he couldn’t help but read through it a second time.

The young female cultivator on Wintersweet Island mentioned in the report had been reserved a small section on the report by the cultivators of Willow Catkin Island, and a technique similar to the rubbing technique employed on the Ceremony Mountain ship had been used to create a very life-like portrait of her. In the portrait, the woman was standing beside a floral tree in the Waterfall Nunnery, and she was indeed quite captivating.

However, Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but wonder if her appearance had been altered using “face replacement” secret techniques. If Zhu Lian and the old man with the Gou surname had been present, they would’ve most likely been able to tell right away.

Chen Ping’an had begun purchasing these reports quite late, so he was unaware that prior to the tragic massacre on Hibiscus Mountain, all of the stories pertaining to the mysterious accountant on Cyan Gorge Island had been providing Willow Catkin Island with the majority of its income.

Of course, Willow Catkin Island didn’t dare to overly embellish the stories, and they made sure to heap praise on Chen Ping’an wherever possible. Otherwise, they were afraid that Gu Can would lay waste to their island with Tan Xue. In the past, Willow Catkin Island had suffered severe consequences from its reporting.

In fact, ever since its ancestral hall was established five hundred years ago, it had already been forced to move thrice. On one of those occasions, they had been left in such a terrible financial state that they had to rent a plot of land from another island to serve as their territory.

The first move was necessitated by a strongly worded report written by a cultivator in the early stages of Willow Catkin Island’s existence. The report had irked the illegitimate child of the ruler of the cultivation world at the time. The second incident took place three hundred years ago, and on that occasion, Liu Laocheng had been irked by a story about him and his female disciple.

Even though the story only had good things to say about the two of them, painting them out to be an enviable couple that defied conventions and rigid social norms, they were still paid a personal visit by Liu Laocheng.

It was a completely innocuous visit with no violence involved, but the cultivators of Willow Catkin Island were so terrified that they changed islands the very next day as a gesture of apology.

On the third occasion, a report had mistakenly printed Liu Zhimao’s Dao title as the River Severing Heavenly Lord rather than the River Severing True Lord, reducing Liu Zhimao to the laughingstock of the entirety of Bamboo Scroll Lake overnight.

Liu Zhimao had stormed onto Willow Catkin Island and demolished its ancestral hall. That was the most devastating ordeal suffered by Willow Catkin Island to date, and by the time the stunned Willow Catkin Island cultivators had returned sufficiently to their senses to conduct an internal investigation, they discovered that the writer of that report had run away.

As it turned out, it was the descendant of someone who had died an unjust death due to a false report released by Willow Catkin Island, and they had bided their time on Willow Catkin Island for twenty years before setting this nefarious plan into motion, using a single character to lay waste to the entire island.

In the end, a scapegoat had to be found, and the unfortunate editor of the report, a Sea Observation Tier cultivator, was held culpable and killed in brutal fashion.

All of a sudden, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and judging from the sound of the familiar, shuffling footsteps outside, Chen Ping’an knew that it was Hong Su.

He stood up to open the door for her, then invited her to come in, but she refused. After a brief hesitation, she asked, “Mr. Chen, can you really not write about the story between my master and Island Master Liu of Bejeweled Hairpin Island?”

“Alright, I’ll listen to Ma Yuanzhi’s story the next time I go to visit your manor,” Chen Ping’an immediately acquiesced with a smile.

For some reason, there was a great deal of yin energy that was constantly condensed solely in her face, and that was why she was so hideous in appearance. However, if given sufficient spiritual energy to draw upon from immortal currency, she would’ve been far from a hideous woman.

On top of that, she had a pair of very bright and expressive eyes, and after mustering up some courage, she asked, “You rejected my master on purpose, is that right, Mr. Chen? You predicted that my master would get me to come and see you, so you agreed to his request as soon as I arrived and brought it up so that I would be rewarded by him, even though I did nothing.”

Chen Ping’an raised a finger to his lips, indicating that there was no need to articulate his ploy to expose him.

Under the moonlight, Hong Su’s smile was just as vibrant as the moon.

She raised a flagon of wine that she was holding. It was sealed in yellow paper that was bound by a red string, and she smiled as she said, “This is calamus wine, brewed from glutinous rice and polished round-grain rice. It’s not particularly valuable, but it was the official wine back in my hometown and was really popular with women.

“I forgot to mention this wine in all of the stories that I told you last time, so I asked someone to buy some for me, and it’s only just arrived on the island. If you like it, I’ll bring the entire batch to you next time.”

She then suddenly realized that she had misspoken, and she hurriedly amended, “The wine is popular with women, but the men in my hometown enjoy drinking it as well.”

Chen Ping’an accepted the flagon of wine with a smile and nod, then said, “If I like it, I’ll go to the Vermilion Chord Residence to ask you for more.”

However, following Hong Su’s departure, he placed the flagon of wine into his minimization treasure as opposed to drinking it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Hong Su. Instead, he didn’t trust Cyan Gorge Island and Bamboo Scroll Lake. Even if there were no issues with this flagon of wine, if he were to ask for others, then there was no telling which of the flagons of wine could’ve been tampered with. Hence, Chen Ping’an had already decided that he would tell Hong Su that the wine didn’t suit him the next time they met.

For just a single flagon of tampered wine, Gu Can would kill everyone related to the wine without any hesitation, and it was exactly because Chen Ping’an was afraid of this that he would have to refrain from tasting the wine gifted to him by Hong Su.

So long as Gu Can still clung stubbornly to his philosophies, it would be a futile endeavor for Chen Ping’an to try and make him see the light, so he had given up for now.

Even their most fundamental world views were already completely different, so no amount of preaching from him would be able to convince Gu Can that he was wrong.

Gu Can had never seen the time that Chen Ping’an had spent with the four picture scroll martial artists, nor had he witnessed their separations, which had taken place on good terms.

That may not have been suitable for Bamboo Scroll Lake and Gu Can, but at the very least, it would’ve shown him another possibility.

After gradually familiarizing himself with the complex networks in Bamboo Scroll Lake, Chen Ping’an was confident that if Gu Can could take his mind off killing just a little and focus on recruiting allies and creating connections like Liu Zhimao did, then he and his mother would be able to live better and more sustainable lives in Bamboo Scroll Lake.

However, despite everything that Chen Ping’an had seen and thought of, he no longer had the heart to preach to Gu Can when he knew that it was going to be futile anyway.

Having said that, just because he wasn’t going to preach didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to do anything.

On the contrary, he needed to do more.

He had preached all of the principles that he could, yet Gu Can still refused to see the error in his ways, so Chen Ping’an could only settle for the next best thing, which was to make amends.

As long as he remained in Bamboo Scroll Lake and on Cyan Gorge Island, at the very least, he could strive to prevent Gu Can from committing any further major mistakes.

Gu Can was convinced that he was right, so he naturally wasn’t going to change his ways. Chen Ping’an had received two significant blessings from Gu Can and his mother, namely in the form of that bowl of rice and that fist technique manual, and he reciprocated them on both accounts.

Due to his inability to overcome the hurdle in his heart, he was forced to shatter his own golden scholarly core. Only then was able to feel as justified as possible and remain in Bamboo Scroll Lake. From there, everything that he had done had been for the sake of atoning for Gu Can’s mistakes.

This was a very simple sequence of events, but that didn’t mean that it was easy to follow.

The first step was particularly difficult as Chen Ping’an had to convince himself that shattering his own golden scholarly core was a price that he had to pay.

Preaching principles appeared easy, but in reality, it was the most difficult thing that one could do, and the difficulty laid in preaching the principles that required one to make sacrifices. One had to weigh up their own conscience, and if they still decided to preach the principles, then the price that had to be paid was often unknown to others and impossible to articulate.

Outside of these two things, Chen Ping’an also had to mend his own mental state.

He couldn’t afford to collapse before he had finished making amends.

Chen Ping’an emerged from his room, and this time, he didn’t forget to blow out the two lamps on his desk and his dining table.

He passed through the entrance of Cyan Gorge Island and arrived at the dock where his boat was tethered. He wasn’t carrying Sword Immortal on his back, and he stood at the lake in nothing more than his azure robe.

The entire surrounding area was completely silent and deserted, and the night breeze in winter was rather chilly.

For the first time since reaching the fifth tier and donning his Golden Sweet Wine wine, he felt cold.

The more he traveled, particularly after witnessing more and more of what took place in the imperial courts and in immortal sects, the more he found Master Ruan’s viewpoints about the master and disciple relationship admirable, and the more he appreciated the lesson of Go beyond Go taught to him by Cui Dongshan.

Ruan Qiong didn’t take on disciples so that they would stand up for him in his time of need, or so that he could summon them at his beck and call and direct them toward his enemies.

Ruan Qiong had once said that he would only accept like-minded individuals as his disciples, not people who only knew to be dedicated and loyal to him.

What was so difficult in life was that there were certain things that one simply couldn’t come to terms with, but that was only a difficulty that good people had to face, while most people never considered such matters to any meaningful degree of depth.

If the world gives me a beat down, why can’t I retaliate? If someone dares to punch me in the face and enrage me, then I’ll be sure to make them pay. As for whether they’re justified in their actions or if my pursuit for vengeance will harm innocent people in the process, that’s not for me to consider.

Such a way of thinking was not right.