Unsheathed

In the night sky, a trio of old men were flying together toward Palace Willow Island.

As was to be expected of a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers, Liu Laocheng hadn’t even broken a sweat in his battle against Chen Ping’an.

In fact, he had never really even gotten serious the entire time.

“Why didn’t you kill that young man? It’s not like you to leave loose ends untied like this,” Gao Mian asked in a puzzled manner.

“You were so loud, and you were clearly intentionally speaking for me to hear,” Liu Laocheng replied in an exasperated manner, while Xun Yuan remained silent with an amused smile on his face.

The three of them descended to the entrance of Palace Willow Island, then continued on foot from there.

“Seeing as I partially have him to thank for that colored glaze golden body fragment, I should spare him in repayment. Besides, this is a young man who was able to survive a battle against Du Mao, and I have no direct qualms with him, so why not spare him? I can establish authority by killing, but the same impact can be had by wounding someone as well. On top of that, he was quite a smart young man and agreed to make a deal with me,” Liu Laocheng explained.

“Would you say you spared him more so out of gratitude or more so because you didn’t dare to kill him?” Gao Mian asked with a smile, and Liu Laocheng’s expression instantly darkened upon hearing this.

“If that young man hadn’t cupped his fist in a salute just now, Old Man Liu would’ve definitely changed his mind and killed him on the spot,” Xun Yuan suddenly interjected.

Liu Laocheng nodded in response.

“I know better than to allow a threat to grow into an adversary. I can tell if someone’s being genuine with me or not, so in a way, he saved his own life.”

“I think that even in a place like Bamboo Scroll Lake, Chen Ping’an will be able to live longer than that Gu Can,” Xun Yuan said with a smile.

Gao Mian shook his head in disagreement.

“I’m not sure that’s going to be the case. I do approve of his character, but that’s not necessarily going to help him survive in this world.”

“Indeed,” Liu Laocheng chimed in with a nod. “A dog that bites never bares its fangs before striking. There’s a very important reason that I haven’t mentioned that contributed to my decision not to kill him.

“In a lawless place like Bamboo Scroll Lake, there are many fools who think they can outsmart everyone else, but if there exists someone here who’s willing to follow the rules like an idiot yet also has what it takes to survive, then at the very least, I feel like I can make a deal with them and be content in the knowledge that they’ll hold up their end of the deal.”

As opposed to making any remarks on Liu Laocheng’s heartfelt words, Gao Mian fixated solely on a single sentence, and he grumbled, “You’re even flattering Old Man Xun now? How shameless can you get? How come you never flatter me?”

Xun Yuan rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Liu Laocheng glared at Gao Mian out of the corner of his eye as he harrumphed coldly, “I’ve seen you literally get the shit beaten out of you! How am I supposed to flatter you when I’ve seen you at your absolute worst?”

“Oh? When did this happen?” Xun Yuan asked as his eyes lit up with schadenfreude.

“What’s the point in bringing up these past events?” Liu Laocheng deflected in a rather awkward manner.

Gao Mian burst into laughter as he recounted, “Many years ago, he encountered the only End Tier master martial artist on our Eastern Treasured Vial Continent at the time. It was the leader of the Cui Clan, and the two of them got into a physical confrontation.

“He was beaten into submission, and after that, he gave himself the nickname of Tenth Tier Martial Artist. However, that martial artist later disappeared. I heard that he traveled to the Middle Earth Divine Continent, and it’s unclear what fate he met there.”

“All martial artists who have been able to touch the doorstep of the tenth tier are people of immense willpower. The martial fortune of our Parasol Leaf Continent has always been very lackluster, even compared with a small place like your Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Isn’t that strange?” Xun Yuan mused.

Gao Mian was a very straightforward man, and he immediately snapped, “Strange my arse! The martial artists of your Parasol Leaf Continent have always been trash! How many tenth tier martial artists does your Parasol Leaf Continent have at the moment? Do you even have two? Do you know how many our Eastern Treasured Vial Continent has right now?

“There’s the one that I admire the most, then there’s also Li Er, who demolished the ancestral hall of your Parasol Leaf Sect, and there’s Feudal Lord Song Changjing of the Great Li Empire as well! That’s three!”

Xun Yuan merely smiled in response, while an enlightened look appeared on Liu Laocheng’s face.

This was why Xun Yuan had become friends with Gao Mian, while the smarter Liu Laocheng could only be regarded as an ally of his.

————

In the wake of the battle, Chen Ping’an carried Gu Can down the mountain on his back.

The Day and Night Wandering Deity True Body Talisman had already been tucked up his sleeve, and the divine light within the talismanic core had almost been completely spent. The next time he summoned the pair of wandering deities, they would most likely only be able to linger for around fifteen more minutes at most, and that was only if they didn’t have to expend any additional energy in battle.

Gu Can’s deathly pale face was smeared with blood, and he had sustained extremely severe injuries, but he had managed to survive.

Tan Xue was also barely clinging onto life, and with a flick of its tail, it swam deeper into Bamboo Scroll Lake before sinking to the lakebed.

Over the years, it had secretly dug out the rough outlines of a dragon palace on the lakebed here.

Liu Laocheng had put on a stunning display of power as a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers, beating Gu Can and Tan Xue to the brink of death, but as the newly crowned ruler of the cultivation world, Liu Zhimao had refrained from making an appearance the entire time.

Instead, it was the accountant who had intervened to stop Liu Laocheng.

Liu Laocheng was renowned across Bamboo Scroll Lake for his ruthlessness and mercilessness, yet he had made a rare display of mercy in sparing the lives of Chen Ping’an’s trio, and all of the vagrant cultivators of Bamboo Scroll Lake had no idea what to make of this.

It was Liu Laocheng who had once said that a merciful heart was one’s worst enemy, yet it seemed that he had gone against his own famous adage.

As Tan Xue swam into its lair and entered a state of hibernation, Gu Can’s condition also began to improve.

His arms were wound around Chen Ping’an’s neck as he laid against the latter’s back and asked, “Are you going to take back Tan Xue? Tan Xue is still quite afraid of you. After all, you’re technically her true master, so if she follows you, I won’t have to worry about her being abused.

“If someone else tried to take her from me, and I couldn’t stop them, I’d rather let Tan Xue die than for her to be taken, but I can accept it if you took her, and I definitely won’t regret giving her up to you. You know what I’m like; once I’ve made up my mind on something, I won’t change my mind easily.”

“You can keep her. Only with Tan Xue by your side can I focus on doing my own thing without having to worry about you.”

“Why? Are you not afraid that Tan Xue will only enable my killing ways?”

“Back on the Parasol Leaf Continent, I obtained an immortal sword by the name of Deep Infatuation. It can also be called the devourer of hearts, and it elevates itself by piercing into the hearts of its adversaries. [1] At first, I was very averse to using it.

“Not only did I not want to use it in battle, even the mere sight of it annoyed me. However, I then came to understand that the sword is not at fault. It’s just an object. It’s the wielder who determines the fate of the sword. Forget it, you don’t like to listen to these principles of mine, so I won’t force them upon you.”

“It’s fine, go ahead. In the past, I found it really annoying whenever you talked about stuff like this, but right now, even if I still don’t understand your principles and won’t take them to heart, I don’t find them so annoying to listen to for some reason. Isn’t that strange?”

As opposed to answering the question, Chen Ping’an suddenly changed the subject as he said, “This is the second time.”

Gu Can nodded in response.

“I understand. The first time was when you chose to stay on Cyan Gorge Island, and the second time was when you saved me just now. If this happens one more time, then you’ll regard me as a stranger and no longer care about me.”

“It seems like you still have some conscience, after all,” Chen Ping’an remarked in an indifferent manner.

“Not much,” Gu Can chuckled. “My conscience only applies to you and my mother. As for that dead father of mine, I don’t have any recollection of him, so I don’t feel any sense of connection to him. Perhaps that’ll change if we’re reunited someday, but I don’t really want to think about that for now.”

“Just go with the flow,” Chen Ping’an said, and his voice was becoming more and more raspy.

“Chen Ping’an, I still want to know why you decided to save me this time. I know that you’re very disappointed in me, and that’s why I’m always paying you visits with Tan Xue and insisting on staying for a while each time, even if there’s no real reason for me to stay.”

“Don’t speak, save your energy.”

“I won’t die anytime soon. Tan Xue has already settled down in her lair on the lakebed, and I’m beginning to feel a little better. Go ahead, Chen Ping’an, I want to hear more of your principles.”

Chen Ping’an forcibly fought down the blood that was threatening to gush out of his throat.

As long as Gu Can was willing to hear him speak, he was willing to speak for Gu Can to listen. His complexion was even worse than Gu Can’s, and his chest was heaving violently.

After taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, he said in a hoarse voice, “I have undergone a process of severance and delineation with you. This is a concept that arose from go, and it can also be applied to sword technique practice. To put it in simple terms, an example of severance would be when I chose to move out of the Spring Courtyard Mansion to stay in that room at the entrance of the island.

“As for delineation, that comes in the form of my observation of you this entire time. As long as you don’t stray out of the circle in which I believe you’ve done no wrong, I will help you, and I will remain the neighbor from Clay Vase Alley that you’ve always known.”

“What if I had continued to kill without restraint after you arrived on Cyan Gorge Island? Would you have left me, or would you have killed me?”

“I would’ve done everything in my power to stop you from committing further mistakes, just like I did everything in my power to prevent Liu Laocheng from killing you today. On top of that, I wouldn’t have left Bamboo Scroll Lake. There are still many things that I have to do, both for your sake and my own.”

“Isn’t that a really tiring way of living?”

“Back on Clay Vase Alley, we endured day after day without any glimmer of hope in sight, and it felt like we were destined to waste our entire lives away. Was that not a tiring way to live? It was, it’s just that you’ve already forgotten about those days.”

“But don’t people live so that they can lead happy and enjoyable lives?”

“I can give you my answer to that question, but it’ll most likely sound like nothing more than a collection of empty words to you, so I won’t waste my breath. This is why I want you to leave Bamboo Scroll Lake someday to see the world for yourself. By the way, I now have a disciple.

“She’s a little girl by the name of Pei Qian. If you leave Bamboo Scroll Lake and return to the Dragon Spring Prefecture someday, but I’m not there, then you can go and seek her out. I think you two would get along quite well. Either that or you’ll constantly be at each other’s throats.”

Gu Can was a little happy to hear this because it was the first time that Chen Ping’an had brought up the possibility of a future for the two of them beyond the time that Chen Ping’an was going to spend in Bamboo Scroll Lake.

“I’m feeling a little sleepy, Chen Ping’an,” Gu Can said in a weary manner.

“Then sleep. I’m here for you, so you don’t have to worry about anything else,” Chen Ping’an said in a gentle voice.

Gu Can was doing everything in his power to stay awake as tears began to well up in his eyes.

“Chen Ping’an, I’m really scared that I’ll wake up to discover that you’ve already left Cyan Gorge Island.”

“I won’t do that,” Chen Ping’an reassured.

“Really? You’re not lying to me?” Gu Can asked, his voice becoming quieter with each word.

“When have I ever lied to you?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Gu Can gave a slight nod, then fell asleep in an instant, so he failed to notice that blood was constantly dripping down onto his arms from Chen Ping’an’s face.

————

Inside the Spring Courtyard Mansion.

Gu Can was lying on the bed, while his mother sat by his side in a heartbroken state.

Tian Hujun had brought over the most precious pills on Cyan Gorge Island, and she couldn’t help but shudder slightly at the sight of Chen Ping’an, who was also seated at Gu Can’s bedside.

Chen Ping’an took a glance at the medicinal vial in her hand, then asked in a hoarse voice, “The medicine hasn’t been tampered with, has it?”

“I swear on my life that it’s safe to consume!” Tian Hujun vowed with a firm nod.

“After you go back, tell Liu Zhimao that I’ll be paying him a visit soon,” Chen Ping’an said, and Tian Hujun nodded in response.

After feeding a pill to the unconscious Gu Can, Tian Hujun hurriedly departed, eager to get away.

Gu Can’s mother was absolutely distraught, and she murmured to herself over and over again, “How could this have happened? How could this have happened?”

Chen Ping’an dragged over a chair and sat down beside her, then asked, “Was it not only to be expected that retribution would arrive someday?”

Gu Can’s mother turned to him with tear-filled eyes, and in this instant, he appeared like a complete stranger to her.

“You want to ask me if I intentionally allowed Gu Can to suffer such severe injuries, right?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Gu Can’s mother averted her gaze.

“That was not my intention,” Chen Ping’an said, answering his own question. “Given my current abilities, this was all I could do.”

Gu Can’s mother heaved a faint sigh, and her face was riddled with tear streaks as she nodded and said, “I believe you.”

In this instant, Chen Ping’an felt a little sad, and it had something to do with Gu Can and his mother, but not much.

That night, on the dock, he had come to understand the crux of the knot that had taken shape in his heart, and it wasn’t going to be difficult for him to prove it to himself.

All he would have to do would be to display some subtle details while in Gu Can’s presence. For example, he could hold a certain object in higher regard than Gu Can, and it wouldn’t take long before the seed of dissatisfaction would begin to sprout in Gu Can’s heart.

Given his tendency to turn to extremes, there was a very good chance that he would begin to develop intense resentment toward Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an didn’t want to test out this theory as he didn’t want to toy with the hearts of others.

So what if he learned the answer?

Setting aside everything else to solely weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the situation, he wasn’t afraid that Gu Can would turn on him.

As long as Chen Ping’an felt like his actions were justified, he feared no adversary, regardless of how insurmountable they were. That was the case for Cai Jinjian, Fu Nanhua, and the Mountain-Moving Ape back in the small town, and the same applied to all of the other foes that he had encountered thereafter.

Chen Ping’an had already lost the snotty brat from Clay Vase Alley, he didn’t want to also lose the Gu Can who had originally come to Bamboo Scroll Lake for the sake of his mother.

He didn’t want Gu Can to be as heartbroken as he was.

It seemed like the deeper one thought about life, the fewer the number of people that could understand them.

Chen Ping’an sat on his chair and closed his eyes to rest for a moment, then rose to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Gu Can’s mother asked in an anxious manner.

“It doesn’t matter where I am as long as I’m on Cyan Gorge Island, so you can rest assured,” Chen Ping’an replied.

Gu Can’s mother clearly wasn’t satisfied with this answer, but she didn’t dare to try and force Chen Ping’an to stay.

As soon as Chen Ping’an emerged from the Spring Courtyard Mansion, he immediately clasped a hand over his own chest while closing his other hand over his mouth.

He took a deep breath, then trudged back to his room at the entrance of the island, and after entering the room, he lit the lamp on the table.

He sat alone on the bench with his back facing the window, then pulled out the medicine that he had bought from the Yang Family’s medicine shop in a feeble manner before force-feeding it to himself.

His Sword Nurturing Gourd was sitting on the table, while First and Fifteenth were stationed at the entrance of his room and by the window, respectively.

He was hoping to see change in others when they had no intention of changing, thus came disappointment.

Occasionally, there would be a glimmer of hope, but ultimately, the conclusion was still bound to be one of disappointment.

After consuming the medicine refined by Old Man Yang, Chen Ping’an felt completely numb, both in his body and his soul, and he stared blankly at the flame of his lamp, watching as it burned dimmer and dimmer as morning approached.

All of a sudden, he turned to cast his gaze out the window.

It was morning.

1. The Chinese name for Deep Infatuation (痴心) is a homonym to 吃心, which translates literally to “eat heart” AKA devourer of hearts. ☜