Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an didn’t perform walking meditation anymore after showing it to Zeng Ye three times. He would occasionally retrieve some geomancy maps to pore over.

Night fell, and the two of them planned to set up camp in the wilderness. In any case, this wouldn’t matter as long as it didn’t snow.

Chen Ping’an retrieved a Fox Skin Beauty Talisman inside of which was a female yin entity called Su Xinzhai.

She was an Abode Tier cultivator when alive, and she came from a clan in the Stone Brush Nation where her father favored males over females. A cultivator from an immortal force took a fancy to her aptitude when she was young, and she was thus taken to Yellow Barrier Mountain to officially set foot on the path of cultivation. Su Xinzhai cultivated for a dozen or so years without ever returning home, and she had already severed all emotional attachments with her clan.

Her father once traveled to the foot of Yellow Barrier Mountain to ask for an audience with his daughter, yet Su Xinzhai remained in the mountain and refused to fulfill his request. Her father had hoped that she could help her brother in the imperial examination, yet his hopes were dashed and he could only swear and curse as he made his way back, speaking in the vilest way possible. It was very difficult to imagine that a father could say such disgusting things about his own daughter.

Tailing her father in secret, Su Xinzhai had heard everything loud and clear, leading her to feel utterly aggrieved and heartbroken. She had initially planned to help her clan this one time, yet she ultimately decided to sever all ties with the mortal world once and for all, returning to the mountain to cultivate.

The final time Su Xinzhai left the mountain to train, she and two other sect sisters were kidnapped by a Dragon Gate Tier elder from Bamboo Scroll Lake’s White Fish Island. In the end, Su Xinzhai died a wretched death as she was eaten by that flood dragon. As for her two sect sisters, they had died long ago at the hands of that elder from White Fish Island.

There was always an enchanting smile on Su Xinzhai’s expressive face whenever she appeared from the Fox Skin Beauty Talisman.

She was the most open-minded and adventurous person out of the twelve female yin entities staying inside the talismans, and she was the mastermind behind many tricks that were used to tease Zeng Ye.

Chen Ping’an truly wouldn’t have dared to let her out of the talisman if it weren’t for the fact that they were about to enter the jurisdiction of Yellow Barrier Mountain.

Regarding the current situation of Yellow Barrier Mountain, Chen Ping’an had already told Su Xinzhai everything that he knew.

The esteemed master whom she missed dearly had already passed away several years ago, but the current state of Yellow Barrier Mountain was still quite stable. It was only a second-rate immortal force in the Stone Brush Nation, after all, and such middling forces were surprisingly able to avoid the catastrophic flames of war with relative ease.

Third-tier and weaker immortal forces would be annexed and gobbled up by stronger neighboring forces, while top-notch first-rate forces would easily attract attention and trouble due to their size and strength. These powerful forces were given a huge headache regarding how they should deal with the imperial court of the Stone Brush Nation or the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire. One mistake, and they could invite destructive flames of fury onto themselves.

There were thirty or so cultivators in Yellow Barrier Mountain, with all of them being official immortals who were registered with the necessary departments. Add to that the servants and subordinates, and there were approximately two hundred people in Yellow Barrier Mountain right now.

Su Xinzhai’s final wish was to return to Yellow Barrier Mountain and offer three sticks of incense to both her master’s grave and the ancestral hall. She had no other wish beyond this. In fact, she didn’t even wish to remain in the Hall of the Underworld or the imitation Colored Glaze Pagoda.

Su Xinzhai surprisingly didn’t tease Zeng Ye or Bookkeeper Chen Ping’an when she appeared this time.

Zeng Ye found this strange, while Chen Ping’an wasn’t surprised at all.

She was returning home with complicated feelings.

Zeng Ye felt quite happy to see Su Xinzhai.

His thoughts and feelings were pure and limpid.

Chen Ping’an was aware of his feelings, and Su Xinzhai was aware of them as well. However, she pretended to be oblivious to them. Compared to more mature women, younger women relied more on love at first sight when entering relationships.

Men were enchanted by a woman’s beauty, while women were attracted to a man’s handsomeness. This was an unbreakable rule that needn’t be met with any surprise.

The pitiful Zeng Ye was faring slightly better than the Vermilion Chord Residence’s Ma Yuanzhi, but only by a negligible amount that truly wouldn’t make any difference.

Chen Ping’an changed his plans upon seeing Su Xinzhai’s knitted brows and worried expression, telling Zeng Ye to sleep for two or so hours after he finished cultivation. They would then continue to travel through the night.

This was a rare opportunity for Zeng Ye to do something for Su Xinzhai, so he naturally patted his chest loudly and agreed without hesitation. Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but smack his forehead upon seeing this. Zeng Ye was a fledgling who had seldom interacted with young women, after all.

Even so, Chen Ping’an still gave Zeng Ye an opportunity, walking away by himself and leaving Su Xinzhai at the campfire to act as a temporary Dao guardian for the cultivating Zeng Ye.

Chen Ping’an secretly left his two flying swords at the campfire before walking along the small mountain path on the mountain ridge where the thick snow and pine leaves would occasionally crackle and crunch underfoot.

Turning around and glancing back, he saw Su Xinzhai holding the hems of her dress and quickly running over, purposely causing her footsteps to be as loud as possible and leaving a long trail of footsteps in her wake. Her ability to do this wasn’t because she was an Abode Tier cultivator while alive. Rather, it was quite easy to achieve this using the extraordinarily expensive Fox Skin Beauty Talismans crafted by Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan.

There were all manners of weird and wonderful things in the vast world.

As cultivators ascended step by step and gazed around, they would eventually be able to witness more magnificent views than those at the foot of the mountains.

Su Xinzhai arrived beside Chen Ping’an, walking side-by-side with him and saying with a smile, “Mr. Chen is truly bad at match-making. Can’t you tell that I have zero interest in Zeng Ye, that silly young boy?”

Chen Ping’an smiled wryly and replied, “It’s okay if you don’t like him, and it’s not as if I’ll force you to do anything against your will. However, you shouldn’t purposely make him feel sad either. Miss Su will be comfortable and carefree in the future, but I still need to interact with that silly young boy for several more years.”

Su Xinzhai feigned astonishment, smiling with squinted eyes and exclaiming, “A great immortal like Mr. Chen actually cares about the feelings of a silly young boy like him? You should give him a beating if he isn’t obedient! You should beat him until he submits! Cultivators from Bamboo Scroll Lake are all like this — we don’t remember kindness, and we only remember beatings.”

Chen Ping’an chuckled in anger and replied, “I’m this close to ignoring you.”

Su Xinzhai suddenly extended an arm and tried to loop it around Chen Ping’an’s elbow, yet Chen Ping’an hurriedly jumped away and shot a glare at her, asking, “You really want a beating?”

Su Xinzhai covered her mouth and giggled. She then bent down and made a snowball, asking casually, “Mr. Chen, where’s the small charcoal basket that you always bring around? I can help you light it up.”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and said, “We shouldn’t waste any charcoal. It was fine at Cyan Gorge Island, and there was naturally someone to replenish my stock of charcoal once I finished using them. However, there’s no such thing here, so I’ll need to spend my own money to buy charcoal from the markets. My hands will be warm, but my heart will be aching.”

Even though Su Xinzhai had appeared in the living world many times during the course of the journey, allowing her to witness Bookkeeper Chen’s miserly nature from the very beginning, she still found this aspect of Chen Ping’an very fresh and interesting.

It was for the sake of hearing this answer that she had asked the question in the first place.

Su Xinzhai walked in front of Chen Ping’an before suddenly walking in reverse and giggling, “When we arrive at Yellow Barrier Mountain, Mr. Chen definitely, definitely has to eat some crispy mahua on Osmanthus Street that’s located in the small town at the foot of the mountain.[1] Only by eating this mahua will this trip have been worthwhile. In fact, it’s best if you buy a large bag and bring it with you.”

“Are you going to pay?” Chen Ping’an asked with a huff.

Su Xinzhai rolled her eyes and exclaimed, “Oh my, what might the problem be, Mr. Chen, Old Immortal Chen? You’ve especially traveled all this way already, yet you’re still worried about a few taels of silver?”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “It’s quite clear that you’re a young lady who doesn’t know how to save up and spend responsibly, yet you still dare to look down on the honest and responsible Zeng Ye?”

Su Xinzhai was extremely irritated, so she immediately threw the snowball in her hand at Chen Ping’an. The latter bent his knees slightly and easily dodged the attack. Su Xinzhai was just about to make another snowball, yet Chen Ping’an hurriedly said, “Stop, stop, stop, I don’t want Zeng Ye to develop any misunderstanding about the two of us.”

Sure enough, Su Xinzhai stopped her movements and remarked in amusement, “Perhaps Mr. Chen has seen incredible beauties before, so I can no longer interest you? Or perhaps you’re interested, but you don’t dare to act on your feelings?”

Chen Ping’an smiled faintly and replied, “This isn’t something that should be revealed to others.”

Su Xinzhai looked into the young man’s eyes before making a face and exclaiming, “Wow, wow, wow, what a surprise! As it turns out, our blockheaded Mr. Chen genuinely has a girl whom he likes! Ah drat, it looks like I’ve lost another bet.”

Chen Ping’an merely smiled and offered no response.

In the end, Chen Ping’an told Su Xinzhai to go back to where Zeng Ye was first, saying that he was still going to walk around for a while.

Su Xinzhai joked that Chen Ping’an was a sly old fox even though he was so young, and it was hard to say how many young ladies had fallen victim to him for him to become so very meticulous.

Chen Ping’an accepted this as a word of praise, not arguing with Su Xinzhai’s remark.

Su Xinzhai walked back to where Zeng Ye was and squatted down beside the campfire.

Chen Ping’an didn’t return for a long time.

There was a giddy smile on Zeng Ye’s face when he finished cultivating and saw Su Xinzhai squatting beside him.

The three of them set off again when Chen Ping’an eventually returned.

Chen Ping’an didn’t retrieve the other Fox Skin Beauty Talismans because they were approaching the territory of an immortal force, and this decision was consistent with what he had generally done when passing mountain god temples, river god temples, city god pavilions, scholarly temples, and martial sage temples in the past.

In reality, being in possession of a guest elder jade tablet from Cyan Gorge Island meant that Chen Ping’an could have simply ignored the small problems that he might have encountered. Moreover, the Stone Brush Nation was in very close vicinity to Bamboo Scroll Lake where there were many vagrant cultivators, so the citizens of this nation were largely accustomed to all sorts of things that people in other small nations might find astonishing or inconceivable.

Even so, Chen Ping’an insisted on his decision of not retrieving the Fox Skin Beauty Talismans. Su Xinzhai and the other female yin entities simply grumbled a little, and it didn’t seem like they were actually complaining for real. Instead, it was as if they were pouting to their guardian.

It was evening when the one ghost and two people arrived at the small town located at the foot of Yellow Barrier Mountain. Even though Chen Ping’an said earlier that he was reluctant to spend money, he still bought a bag of the most expensive mahua from Osmanthus Street. The mahua came in assorted flavors, and Chen Ping’an shared them with Su Xinzhai and Zeng Ye. They were indeed fragrant and crispy, and after taking a few bites, Chen Ping’an surprisingly turned around to buy two additional large bags, secretly placing them inside his minimization treasure when no one was looking. He pretended not to see Su Xinzhai’s wide smile.

There were two cultivators guarding the entrance of Yellow Barrier Mountain, one old and one young, with both being Lower Five Tier disciples with relatively poor cultivation aptitude.

When Chen Ping’an retrieved the guest elder jade tablet from Cyan Gorge Island which was brimming with spiritual energy and briefly explained the reason for his visit, the two cultivators immediately turned pale with fright and showed no signs of wanting to report the matter first. Instead, they directly led Chen Ping’an and his companions into the mountain.

Chen Ping’an didn’t conceal Su Xinzhai’s identity to Yellow Barrier Mountain, nor did he purposely keep secret the two other matters.

The old cultivator remembered Su Xinzhai’s name, especially since she was once a profound talent whom Yellow Barrier Mountain had very high hopes for. However, tragedy had struck, and Yellow Barrier Mountain never even considered condemning the culprit. Rather, they had voluntarily sent someone to Bamboo Scroll Lake’s White Fish Island to apologize to that Dragon Gate Tier immortal.

Of course, Yellow Barrier Mountain had wanted to turn this misfortune into fortune, hoping that they could forge some sort of relationship with White Fish Island. That way, they could lean on this relationship to deter the adversarial immortal forces, both close and far. However, White Fish Island had refused to grant the cultivator from Yellow Barrier Mountain an audience, not giving them any face at all. Fortunately, that cultivator had purposely explained things in an ambiguous manner after returning, thereby bringing some tangible benefits to Yellow Barrier Mountain.

With this in mind, would the old cultivator dare to slight the unexpected visitor, a guest elder from Cyan Gorge Island?

1. Mahua (麻花) or Fried Dough Twist is a Chinese dough twist that is fried in peanut oil. ☜