Unsheathed

Outside the window, the river water flowed slowly as it had for thousands of years. Chen Ping’an only leaned against the windowsill and napped for a short moment, yet his mind already felt slightly more soothed and relaxed than before. This was quite a rare feeling, as it had already been far too long since Chen Ping’an had last enjoyed a good sleep.

Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi were still yet to return, so Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but feel slightly worried.

As he expected, his journey through the Plum Glaze Nation was indeed filled with shadows after he met with Zhang Ye, took a quick trip back to Bamboo Scroll Lake, and entered the nation through Staying Pass. There was someone tailing him the entire time, and this person possessed an extremely high cultivation base and was able to conceal themself very well, so much so that Chen Ping’an could only vaguely detect their presence very occasionally.

Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi remained oblivious the entire time, and Chen Ping’an didn’t reveal the situation to them either, lest they become anxious and make any mistakes as a result, causing further unnecessary trouble.

Even though the person didn’t display any sense of friendliness or hostility, Chen Ping’an still felt as if there were a stinging radiance cutting at his back.

Few cultivators in Bamboo Scroll Lake could achieve this, and it would be beneath the Unpolished Jade Tier Liu Laocheng to do something like this. The Nascent Tier Liu Zhimao most definitely wouldn’t do something like this either.

As for the Imperial Song Clan of the Great Li Empire, they were unwilling to complicate matters for themselves. In addition, Chen Ping’an was a citizen of the Great Li Empire, after all, and Lu Baixiang and the others had all become citizens of the Great Li Empire as well.

Thus, even if the high-ranking officials outside of Cui Chan felt eager to target Chen Ping’an — for example, the trusted subordinates of that imperial concubine — they definitely didn’t possess the courage to cause trouble in Bamboo Scroll Lake. This was Cui Chan’s Go board, and the imperial preceptor cared greatly about rules and regulations whenever he did something. Of course, almost all of the rules in the Great Li Empire, from the imperial court to the army and from the mountains to the mortal world, had been single-handedly established by Cui Chan.

Chen Ping’an was almost certain that the person tailing him was one of the outside cultivators who were staying at Palace Willow Island. They most likely weren’t the leader of the group, since the matters at Bamboo Scroll Lake were of utmost importance to them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have rushed over to suppress Liu Zhimao.

The matters at Bamboo Scroll Lake required their leader to stay back in Palace Willow Island, so the person tailing Chen Ping’an was probably the second or third-in-command of the group of powerful outside cultivators. They were looking for an opportunity to make a move. The only fortunate thing was that they weren’t looking to directly kill Chen Ping’an, and it appeared as if they hadn’t come up with a flawless plan that left no hidden dangers yet. Once they decided to take action, however, they would definitely do so in a swift and ferocious manner.

In regards to these matters, Chen Ping’an actually felt slightly thankful to Liu Laocheng in the depths of his mind. Not only did Liu Laocheng not take advantage of this opportunity to scheme against Chen Ping’an, nor did he spectate things from a distance, but he even gave Chen Ping’an a secret warning one time, informing him about the dangers. Of course, there was also the possibility that Liu Laocheng had already told the outside cultivators about his possession of a sage’s jade tablet, a sage who accompanied the Paramount Sage in the Confucian temple. As such, the outside cultivators were also worried about Chen Ping’an causing mutual destruction and fundamentally ruining their huge schemes in Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Even so, Chen Ping’an still had a vague feeling that Liu Laocheng was a… very interesting person. As such the former explanation was more likely than the latter.

However, it was a shame that Liu Laocheng didn’t have the final say on the fate of Bamboo Scroll Lake, rendering useless the two Go boards that Chen Ping’an had worked so hard to create. These were Go boards that pertained to Liu Zhimao, Tan Yuanyi, as well as Liu Laocheng. Chen Ping’an had to concede that his Go boards had only fared slightly better than being completely swept to the floor by someone. The Great Li Empire’s Su Gaoshan was using Bamboo Scroll Lake to play a game of Go with those outside cultivators right now, so everyone else including Chen Ping’an could only stand on the sidelines and watch.

It could be said that all of Chen Ping’an’s hard work and painstaking efforts had been for naught. However, Chen Ping’an didn’t think this was the case.

Whether or not someone accepted their fate was dependent on whether they understood their fate first. This was the case when Chen Ping’an had sought an audience with Su Gaoshan yet had been forcefully told to “piss off.” Chen Ping’an was able to calmly accept this outcome, and this was due to what he had personally seen and heard on his trip through the Stone Brush Nation as well as the reports he had previously read on Willow Catkin Island.

Chen Ping’an dared to say that he had a relatively good understanding of Song Changjing’s personality, including his impoverished background and many hardships during the earlier stages of his life. It was only afterward that he had been promoted to general thanks to his outstanding military achievements.

Su Gaoshan enjoyed a lofty status, and he was also a resilient person who had a rock-solid mentality. His mental state was already like that of powerful cultivators pursuing Dao. Even if Cui Chan and Song Changjing still reprimanded Su Gaoshan when issuing orders and analyzing his performances, they presumably still felt a sense of respect for him in their hearts.

On the other hand, accepting fate was to obtain no reward after putting in extensive effort. This would of course lead to disappointment.

In reality, this was no different from Zhang Ye’s state of mind when he had appeared at Descending Falcon Mountain.

Chen Ping’an wanted to grab his Sword Nurturing Gourd and drink a sip of wine, yet he suddenly remembered that his wine gourd was already hanging by Ma Duyi’s waist right now. He sat back down and thought for a moment, eventually deciding to take out the calligraphy works composed by the drunken and crazy county lieutenant. He unfurled the works and started to admire them, and he felt very fond of them no matter how he looked at them.

The characters were written in a single breath, appearing especially carefree and unrestrained.

Was this any different from the fist techniques of martial artists?

The characters were beautiful in appearance and flexible in movement, with each aspect adhering to Dao.

Was this any different from the sword strikes of sword immortals?

The principles of the world would always share some similarities and parallels.

Each calligraphy work was signed off with the various private seals of the young county lieutenant. However, most works were only signed off with a single seal, and it was extremely rare for a single work to be signed off with two seals.

One of the calligraphy works was extremely boastful, reading, “If holding my works in front of water, fear not each character swimming away as a flood dragon; if holding my works while walking at night, even ghosts and gods will have nowhere to run.”

This calligraphy work was stamped with two seals, with one reading “Vigorous Are Young Flood Dragons” and the neighboring one reading “Skinny Dragon Full Spirit”.

There was another calligraphy work on which he had directly used three seals in quick succession. Chen Ping’an could still vividly remember the young county lieutenant’s actions and exuberant expression at the time, and had been like spirited calligraphy immortal and heartily laughing noble as he wrote, “I’ve come across an idiot using immortal wine to purchase my immortal calligraphy works; how satisfying!” The seals respectively read, “Kaiyuan,” “Changshu,” and “Ink Pond Immortal.”

Chen Ping’an put away the calligraphy works one by one.

He was definitely going to treasure them and store them in Downtrodden Mountain. If in the future anyone asked him to sell these calligraphy works, he wouldn’t sell them no matter how much he was offered. He was going to pass them down as family heirlooms!

Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but smile widely as he thought about this.

Chen Ping’an stretched lazily and put his hands inside his opposite sleeves as he continued to gaze at the river.

He had once engraved a beautiful line of poetry from some book onto a bamboo slip. The bamboo slip was small, yet the artistic conception that it conveyed was vast and grand.

Autumn leaves covering a myriad mountains making the world appear boundless, bright moonlight illuminating the river making the water appear pure.[1]

Gazing at the magnificent river outside, Chen Ping’an’s mind unknowingly started to broaden as well.

Mr. Qi, there was something that I still couldn’t manage to do at Stalactite Mountain. After putting in more effort, however, I might be able to do this now.

Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi returned to the inn. Zeng Ye was filled with enthusiasm, saying that they had met the river god of the Spring Flower River. The old river god was wearing a hairpin and dressed in embroidered clothes, and he had been extremely kind and friendly to them, going out of his way to greet them and personally take them around the water god temple.

Ma Duyi rolled her eyes, saying that the old geezer’s gaze made her feel uncomfortable. The river god was very lecherous, constantly staring at her waist as he looked at the Sword Nurturing Gourd hanging by her side.

Chen Ping’an felt like it would be inappropriate to comment on these matters.

The Spring Flower River was the largest river in the Plum Glaze Nation, and this was a nation that had always respected and revered water gods. With this in mind, the esteemed formal god of the Spring Flower River definitely wasn’t a simple person.

In reality, Chen Ping’an had already come across many official mountain gods and water gods before. He had first come across Go Table Mountain’s Wei Bo, and he had then come across the wedding dress female ghost who could be regarded as half a mountain god. Afterward, there was the river god of the Embroidered Flower River who had appeared beside Gu Can’s father, and there was also the water goddess of the Parasol Leaf Continent’s Burial River.

While traveling north through the Great Quan Empire, he had come across two deities who were mortal enemies with each other, with the fight for territory between them rocking the mountains and water. Of course, there was also the water goddess of the White Swan River whom he had encountered in the Yellow Court Nation’s Purple Sun Residence, a deity who made him feel a huge headache.

Chen Ping’an wondered about the situation back at Downtrodden Mountain — how was the relationship between the little boy in azure and his good friend, the river god of the Imperial River, right now?

The messenger flying swords sent to Cyan Gorge Island by Wei Bo and Zhu Lian mentioned this matter to some extent, but never to any great detail. They simply said that the river god of the Yellow Court Nation’s Imperial River had obtained a Peace and Safety Tablet and had personally paid a visit to Dragon Spring Prefecture. The little boy in azure had welcomed him to Downtrodden Mountain, and in the end, the little boy in azure had treated him to some wine and seen him off in the small town. Afterward, the little boy in azure seldom mentioned his good and loyal friend.

Chen Ping’an was slightly worried, but it didn’t feel right for him to exhort the little boy in azure based on the little information he had gathered from the letters.

In the eyes of other people, the little boy in azure’s stubbornness in upholding loyalty was almost bordering on childish. However, Chen Ping’an had never disliked this side of the little boy in azure. In fact, he felt like this was the most commendable and praiseworthy aspect of the little boy.

Being a little dumber was far better than being so shrewd that one went over the top and appeared anything but smart.

At the very least, this was of critical importance in Chen Ping’an’s Downtrodden Mountain.

This was a small territory that belonged to Chen Ping’an, so he was free to establish the rules in this place and determine what constituted good and bad. This was similar to how the old Daoist priest of the Observing Dao Temple was the “heaven” in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

There were many ways to be shrewd and compete with others in the world, and Chen Ping’an also acknowledged these behaviors that fell outside his delineations. In fact, it couldn’t be said that he disliked these behaviors, and he instead felt like there were many things that he could learn from them.

For example, the young Sun Jiashu who oversaw a street that measured dozens of kilometers in length outside Old Dragon City was more than just shrewd — he possessed a unique form of wisdom when interacting with the world. In the end, however, Chen Ping’an and Sun Jiashu could only bid farewell and head down different paths outside the ancestral residence of the Su Clan. Regardless, Chen Ping’an’s impression of Sun Jiashu was much stronger when he boarded the immortal ship and left Old Dragon City.

The same grain could nurture and raise all kinds of different people.

One who was willing to learn from the strengths of others would be less inclined to act stubbornly and split hairs.

One also needed to become more aware of one’s differences from other people, and only by deepening this awareness would one understand why some people enjoyed good lives while some people suffered miserable lives.

Many thoughts tossed and turned in his mind, jumping from one matter to another…

This was just like the cursive script of the young county lieutenant, so unrestrained that Zeng Ye seemingly couldn’t recognize a single character at a glance. Even so, were they not distinct characters at the very core?

When observing characters and appreciating calligraphy, it was fine to not recognize the characters and not be recognized by the characters. One only needed to roughly observe the aura of the characters, and it wouldn’t matter even if this wasn’t done. When one was a member of this complicated world, however, one would be taught the harsh lessons of life if one didn’t recognize the myriad of rules and constraints of the world, especially the rules that were most easily overlooked by the lowest rungs of society. This was completely unrelated to the notions of good and bad.

The Great Dao was selfless, and as the seasons cycled and the river of time flowed, it wouldn’t help for one to lament, “If only I had known earlier,” after they suffered hardships and difficulties.

Chen Ping’an felt slightly anxious. The fiery young Daoist priest carrying a golden Sword Nurturing Gourd on his back had said before that he was going to relocate to a different world. In that case, wouldn’t the Lotus Flower Blessed Land also be brought away to the Heavenly World? What would happen to Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu of the Southern Garden Nation and Cao Qinglang? Would he still have the opportunity to see them again in the future?

The flow of time in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land was under the control of the old Daoist priest, so would Zhong Qiu have already become an ancient historical figure enjoying an esteemed posthumous title in the Southern Garden Nation when Chen Ping’an visited the blessed land again in the future? And what about Cao Qinglang?

Chen Ping’an always thought about Cao Qinglang, that kind-hearted young boy. He was someone whom Chen Ping’an would never forget.

Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi were sitting at the table and casually chatting as they snacked on roasted seeds, and as time went on, they gradually discovered that Mr. Chen was seemingly appearing a little anxious again.

Fortunately, his anxiousness this time was slightly different than usual. It wasn’t solemn and heavy, and it was simply a sense of melancholy brought about by thinking about someone or something. It was fleeting and surface-level rather than aged and ingrained.

In any case, Mr. Chen never talked about his own emotions, regardless of whether it was joy, anger, or sadness. He always digested these emotions by himself.

This caused Ma Duyi and Zeng Ye to feel a slight sense of dejection.

1. This is a line from Huang Tingjian’s poem, Climbing Up Kuai Ge. Huang Tingjian was a Chinese calligrapher, painter, and poet of the Song dynasty. ☜