Unsheathed

Chapter 447 (1): What a Coincidence, I’m also a Swordsman

The two parties were going to encounter each other on a narrow path.

In the distance was a group of thirty or so light cavalry, and they slowly came to a stop with their bows and sabers gleaming with especially vigorous might in the heavy snow.

Approximately half of the cavalrymen were carrying torches in one hand, and the several men at the forefront of the group weren’t wearing standard armor like everyone else as they clustered around and protected a handsome young man. The handsome young man was wearing a snow-white fox fur coat, and he squinted his eyes to peer through the wind and snow and observe the three riders in the distance. Appearing elegant and noble, he pursed his thin and sanguine lips.

Three subordinates came to a stop beside the handsome young man. To his left was a burly man holding a long and brilliant lance that gleamed under the radiance of the torches held by the cavalrymen behind them.

There was also a skinny and monkey-like man with his arms crossed before his chest. He had neither bow nor saber, and there was no sword hanging by his waist either. However, there were several bloody and ice-cold heads hanging on both sides of his saddle.

To the right of the handsome young man was only a single person, an expressionless man in his forties who was carrying a sword in a pine grain scabbard, with the hilt of the sword surprisingly shaped like a ganoderma. The man frequently covered his mouth to cough.

The handsome young man appeared to have the closest relationship with the middle-aged man to his right, with his body leaning ever so slightly toward him even though he was sitting high up on horseback.

After covering his mouth and coughing again, the middle-aged swordsman glanced at the three steeds approximately fifty paces away and said in a quiet voice, “Your Highness, it’s just like I said before, there are indeed two people and one ghost. The ghost is a beautiful woman wearing a fox fur coat, and it’s extremely likely that she’s a Fox Skin Beauty Talisman crafted using the secret technique of Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan.”

The middle-aged swordsman reached forward, appearing as if he wanted to catch some snowflakes. However, a small spirit that measured one finger tall surprisingly appeared in his palm. The spirit was snow-white with a pair of wings on its back, with its appearance allowing it to merge with the snow and become hard to detect even from such a close distance. This spirit was presumably a so-called immortal scout, and its purpose was similar to that of immortal observation techniques. It was just that one relied on immortal techniques while one relied on living spirits.

“Thanks for your hard work,” the middle-aged swordsman said to the small spirit with a smile. He retrieved an exquisite blue-and-white porcelain jar from his sleeve, slowly putting it back after the small spirit flew inside.

The handsome young man whom the middle-aged swordsman had referred to as “Your Highness” raised an eyebrow, a fervent look in his eyes as he leaned even closer to the former and chuckled, “Mr. Zeng, I’ve heard of Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan before, but my mother empress was always reluctant to let me leave the capital and manage another jurisdiction. Things have been delayed for eight entire years, and I often stay in my residence in the capital all year round.

“For the sake of avoiding suspicion and also in order to save some ink money for those imperial censors at the censorate, I’ve never had the opportunity to interact with any immortals from the mountains. What’s a Fox Skin Beauty Talisman and what’s so unique about it? Mr. Zeng possesses profound knowledge and has traveled around half of the continent before, so can you please explain this to me?”

While the handsome young man was speaking, Mr. Zeng had already taken out a porcelain vial and poured two pea-sized emerald green alchemical pills into his palms, gently popping them into his mouth. His body was most likely struggling against the assault of the wind and snow, and the color only returned to his face after he ingested the pills. Even so, there was still a smile on his face as he replied, “The Xu Clan is in possession of a thousand-year-old fox den where an old fox lives. The old fox formed an alliance with the Xu Clan, agreeing to offer several sheets of fox fur every year. These sheets of fox fur range from one hundred years to three hundred years old, and they’re used to craft talismans that are sold to people all over the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

“These Fox Skin Beauty Talismans are incredibly popular in more than half of the continent, and most immortal forces that have immortal coins to spare have several Fox Skin Beauties working as maidservants. Fox Skin Beauties are no different from ordinary living people after being released from the talisman, and one can even place yin entities or ghosts inside these talismans. This is most likely the case for that female ghost over there.

“If an immortal force has a good relationship with Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan, they can even send over an illustration of what they desire the woman to look like before purchasing a Fox Skin Beauty Talisman. The Xu Clan will then craft the talisman according to this illustration, and the guest elders who are responsible for this process are all artistic masters who have never disappointed their customers before.”

A look of realization appeared on the handsome young man’s face, with his eyes becoming increasingly fervent and lustful as he gazed at the female ghost in the distance.

Even though he hadn’t abided by the ancestral rules and left the capital to rule over his own jurisdiction after all these years, he hadn’t wasted his time in the capital either. His biggest hobby was to leave the prison that had produced two emperors before, disguising himself as a despondent scholar who had failed to pass the imperial examination or a wanderer from foreign lands who had traveled to the capital.

He had already tasted all kinds of beautiful women before, especially the female family members of the imperial censors. He had captured both the hearts and bodies of those who were slightly better looking. Thus, he was even able to casually flip through the numerous impeachment reports that flew into the censorate like snowflakes. He couldn’t help this. Even though the imperial family appeared strict and terrifying, they would also dote and pamper their youngest.

In any case, his mother empress’ power and influence were quite impressive as well, allowing her to have significant control over the emperor. When the three of them gathered in private, the emperor wouldn’t feel ashamed even if his mother empress blatantly teased him and called him someone who only liked to listen to praise, and he would instead laugh heartily. This being the case, he was genuinely unworried about those impeachment reports that he read to pass time. In fact, he would feel utterly ashamed if he weren’t scolded by that bunch of old bastards.

However, he couldn’t help but feel like something was missing from his carefree and comfortable life.

He was going to become the emperor in the future, so it was a given that he couldn’t become a Middle Five Tier immortal, he wouldn’t be able to temper his physique and practice fist stances, and he couldn’t become a genuine grandmaster in the cultivation world. As for leading an army to go to war and slaughter enemies? He had absolutely no interest in such a matter.

The handsome young prince couldn’t help but grumble about his mother empress. The crown prince wasn’t him, and even the title of Noble King wasn’t his. Did his mother truly love him? Or was she purposely treating him as a good-for-nothing and raising him in the capital? She had to remember that his two older brothers were bastards born by the former empress!

He was in a pitiful state right now, forced to wander around like a homeless dog and forbidden from returning home. Thanks to some excuse from his mother, he could only wander around outside the capital. He had already grown tired of playing around with those unrefined women from the countryside villages, especially since they lacked the skills to properly serve him regardless of how beautiful they were.

So be it if this were all, but his mother had even issued an absolute order after he secretly snuck out of the capital, instructing him to personally lead his subordinates to kill scouts from the Great Li Empire. Was this not forcing him to seek death? In reality, he wasn’t optimistic about the seemingly powerful but hollow Luminous Vermilion Empire, and deep down in his heart, he actually leaned toward surrendering to the powerful northern barbarians from the Great Li Empire.

If he were sitting on the royal throne right now, he would immediately open the city gates of the capital and personally lead Su Gaoshan’s warhorse inside. What was so fun about war? Of course, he did indeed want to witness a magnificent battle between tens of thousands of Qi refiners. Now that would be a true battle between immortals and a glorious sight to behold. But doing battle on horseback? Were they two nests of ants fighting each other?

In any case, he was going to reap some decent reward from today’s trip. He had come across a beautiful Fox Skin Ghost who appeared no different from ordinary humans.

The young prince was absolutely ecstatic.

The three steeds in the distance had already stopped for a long time, facing off against his elite cavalrymen just like this.

The young prince’s name was Han Jingxin, and he enjoyed the worst reputation out of all royal family members in the imperial court of the Stone Brush Nation. The smile on his face gradually grew wider.

The three people in the distance were truly courageous, surprisingly staying put and not obediently retreating to give way to him.

This was as expected of a cultivator from the mountains who possessed a Fox Skin Beauty. He was either an unrestrained vagrant cultivator from Bamboo Scroll Lake or an official immortal from within the Stone Brush Nation, so it was completely understandable that he was young and haughty.

However, it was a shame that his status would do him no good in this desolate and uninhabited area.

Han Jingxin found it extremely exciting to kill people on windy and snowy nights. The pursuit and battle not long ago had been far too boring, and he had killed an imperial censor who had retired of old age during autumn and made his way south at a snail’s pace. The imperial censor’s family also had bad seeds, and he hadn’t managed to give birth to a single good-looking daughter. Not only that, but even his sons had failed to marry any beautiful women.

That being the case, there was no need for Han Jingxin to show any mercy. The imperial censor had always criticized him with such fervor, even dragging the emperor and empress into his criticisms and somehow earning the esteemed title of Courageous Official. But this wasn’t all, and the old man liked to continue grumbling even after he retired from the officialdom. Not only did he drag his feet and leave slowly, but he even expressed profound criticisms of the current affairs with some renowned literati who were too incapable to become officials.

Han Jingxin had nothing better to do, so he had decided to show some filial piety this time, catching up to the convoy of the retired official and personally disemboweling the old man. Han Jingxin’s ears had grown calluses after listening to the old man’s criticisms for so many years, so he had wanted to personally witness the old man’s belly full of complaints.

Even so, Han Jingxin still felt like he was far too kind and merciful. After seeing the truly pitiful sight of the old man collapsed in the snow and clutching at his intestines, Han Jingxin had ended his suffering and beheaded him with a single slash of his saber. The old man’s head was hanging from the saddle of the skinny and monkey-like martial arts grandmaster right now, remaining silent as they traveled through the wind and snow. Han Jingxin was surprisingly unaccustomed to the silence of the old man.

Han Jingxin played with a jade pendant in his hand. This was nothing more than a trinket from the mountains, and it couldn’t be regarded as a genuine immortal treasure. Holding it in the hand, however, one would feel warm in winter and cool in summer. It was said that these jade pendants were produced by Dawn Cloud Mountain, and they could be categorized as somewhat passable spirit tools.

Han Jingxin raised his empty hand, waving it in the air and gesturing for the three steeds in front of him to move aside.

Sure enough, the three horses slowly turned around to make way for him.

Han Jingxin was extremely amused by this. There were actually such naive cultivators in the world?

On the other side…

“Mr. Chen, they don’t seem like proper and decent officials and soldiers,” Ma Duyi warned in a quiet voice.

Chen Ping’an nodded in acknowledgment, replying with something that both Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye were slightly unaccustomed to. However, his words were a perfect match with the razor-sharp wind and snow tonight.

“I know they won’t relent and let us go, so I’m simply pretending to yield so that they’ll be braver when they attack us in a moment.”

Zeng Ye’s expression was stiff, potentially due to the frigid cold or potentially due to Chen Ping’an’s words.

Chen Ping’an didn’t look at the tall and timid young boy, continuing slowly, “If we’re not strong enough, then we’ll be the ones to die in a moment. Ma Duyi will suffer the most, and staying alive for her will be even more torturous than death. If you don’t understand something this simple, then you should peacefully cultivate in the mountains in the future. You shouldn’t travel around the cultivation world.”

Han Jingxin raised his hand and made another gesture, following which the cavalrymen behind him deftly rode forward. They didn’t charge over and attack, however, and they only created a small fan-shaped blocking formation.

Their intentions were abundantly clear.

They had only been toying with Chen Ping’an and his companions when asking them to move aside just then, and it had been a game of cat-and-mouse and a small appetizer that had been of little consequence and importance. There was no hurry to bring the starring dish to the table.

“Zeng Ye, if Ma Duyi and I weren’t here tonight, and there was only you and Su Xinzhai facing this group of armed cavalry, what would you do?” Chen Ping’an suddenly asked.

Zeng Ye thought about this for a brief moment before beads of sweat instantly formed on his forehead.

Chen Ping’an didn’t say anything else.

There were some principles that were extremely blunt and unpleasant to the ear. The recipients of these teachings would find it extremely difficult to empathize, especially if they had never encountered such kinds of situations before. Only when they finally suffered hardship would they start to understand.

However, it could be said that those who didn’t understand these principles were actually fortunate people to begin with.

After all, only those who had suffered similar misfortunes before would comprehensively understand these principles without needing anyone to explain it to them.

However, this was nothing. There was something that truly terrified Chen Ping’an the more that he thought about it. He discovered that those who were filled with ill-intent toward the world appeared to learn more from their hardships than those who were filled with kindness. They committed all of their hardships to memory, and they would even start to mull over how to better interact with people and matters if they suffered small defeats against those who were smarter than them and failed to obtain wealth that shouldn’t have belonged to them in the first place.

These ill-intentioned people would carefully think about how to break free from all kinds of difficult situations, how to take advantage of other people’s might to suppress their victims, how to achieve victory from a position of weakness, how to harm others to benefit themselves, and how to obtain the power to decide other people’s fate if they attained Dao…

Chen Ping’an hoped dearly that his observation was wrong. The more wrong it was the better.

Why was it necessary to ask good people to be smarter than bad people? Why was this necessary for them to live a peaceful life?