Unsheathed

The river god in black carried a badly worn chair over from a distant corner of the hall, taking a glance at the incense boy peeking over the side of the censer after he sat down. He smiled and asked, “This is such a major matter, yet you didn’t tell this little guy whom you live together with?”

“Isn’t everything still undecided? What is there to tell him?” the disheveled man replied without expression.

The river god in black retrieved his folding fan and lightly tapped the armrest of his chair, saying with a smile, “The only difference is whether it’s a big cause for celebration or a small cause for celebration. You seem quite calm about all of this.”

The disheveled man had been given the cold shoulder for several hundred years, never having the opportunity to receive a promotion. There was clearly a good reason for this, or else he should have been able to become the city god of a county city no matter what. Many of his old acquaintances were doing quite well now, so the incense boy in vermilion couldn’t be blamed for sighing and lamenting all the time, sitting in a daze on the roof of the mountain lord temple when he had nothing to do and looking up at the sky hoping for good fortune to hit him on the head.

Still expressionless as before, the disheveled man replied indifferently, “In all these years, even the shit that I’ve eaten hasn’t been warm, so should I care about the difference that a mere few days makes? Even I haven’t said anything about this matter yet.”

Who would feel comfortable hearing a reply like this?

The incense boy in vermilion rolled his eyes upon hearing this exchange. A cause for celebration? Piss off, alright. What cause of celebration could his master have? If this crappy little temple could keep its status as a mountain lord temple, then he should run off to all of the other mountain god temples, river god temples, and city god temples to offer incense and thank the heavens.

The incense boy had given up all hope now, and he would be over the moon as long as they weren’t kicked out of the temple and forced to drift around with him lugging the censer. There were some rumors secretly spreading around several city god temples right now, saying that all of the deities regardless of their status would be reshuffled after Dragon Spring Prefecture rose to become a province.

The incense boy had even gone as far as to kowtow and act pitiful this time, but even this hadn’t worked with his master, with the mountain lord still refusing to leave the temple and attend the Night Travel Banquet hosted by the formal mountain god of the Great Li Empire’s Northern Mountain. Thanks to this, everyone was saying that Steamed Bun Mountain was done for, causing the incense boy to feel extremely anxious every day. He felt a strong urge to die together with his master straight away, allowing him to fight for a better reincarnation.

“So be it if you ignore the others, but just how many years does our relationship go back?” the river god in black said in an exasperated voice. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that we’ve gone through thick and thin together, is it? You’re not going to visit even when construction of my temple is complete?”

“Will you hold me in higher regard if I visit?” the disheveled mountain lord asked. “Our relationship will still be as shallow as always. Also, I’ll definitely need to bring some presents if I visit to congratulate you, won’t I? I have no money, and I can’t bring myself to act wealthy to my own detriment.”

The incense boy in vermilion flared up in rage, standing up with his hands on his hips and looking up to glare at his master as he scolded, “Have you swallowed the courage of a fucking lion? Is this any way to talk to Mr. River God?! Ignorant fool, hurry up and apologize to Mr. River God!”

The disheveled mountain lord shot a sideways glance at him.

The incense boy in vermilion was on the verge of tears as he turned around to look at the river god in black, and it took him a great deal of effort to finally squeeze out a few drops of tears and plead, “Mr. River God, you’re old acquaintances with my master, so I beg you to please help me persuade him. Otherwise, I won’t even be able to eat dust if this continues. Oh, my life is so bitter and miserable…”

The river god in black joked, “It’s not like there aren’t city gods inviting you to move into their grand residences and letting you choose whatever censer and plaque you want. Just how fortunate is that? Since you’re aware that your life is bitter and miserable, why don’t you take them up on their offers? Why are you forgoing such a good life to suffer here? Why are you inhibiting your own ability to succeed?”

The incense boy in vermilion forcefully patted his own chest, yet he failed to control his strength properly and ended up spitting out a mouthful of incense ashes. After coughing a few times, he announced loudly, “This is called having strength of character!”

His stomach started to grumble after he said this, and this caused his face to flush slightly red in embarrassment. He was just about to climb out of the censer and leave to drink the wind. He wouldn’t disturb these good-for-nothing friends anymore.

However, the disheveled mountain lord retrieved a stick of mountain and water incense from his sleeve and rubbed his fingers on its tip to light it up. This was, of course, the cheapest and most inferior incense of its type, and the disheveled mountain lord casually tossed it into the censer. The incense boy in vermilion immediately lunged over, not forgetting to complain that this was even worse than pig feed. Even so, he still hurriedly sat in the incense ashes and grabbed the incense stick, gnawing down on it as if he were crunching on sugarcane. His head swayed around as a happy smile spread across his face.

The river god in black laughed heartily and opened his folding fan, causing a refreshing breeze and mist to suffuse through the area.

The disheveled mountain lord hesitated for a moment before saying seriously, “I need to trouble you with delivering a message to Wei Bo as well as the palace minister of the Ministry of Rites whom you’re familiar with. If it’s not the provincial city god temple and only the prefectural city god temple or county city god temple or whatnot, then there’s no need for them to look for me. I’ll stay right where I am.”

The river god in black furrowed his brows and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

The disheveled mountain lord scratched his head, with his expression adrift as he looked at the churning river outside his temple.

“You have a very close relationship with Wei Bo, and if I remember correctly, you did him and that pitiful woman a great favor back then. That being the case, why don’t you speak to him yourself?” the river god in black asked in amusement.

The disheveled mountain lord chuckled coldly and said, “I simply did something that my conscience could live up to. Can this be regarded as a great favor? Must I expect repayment from other people? If I do, then how will I be any different from those people who are always busying themselves with trying to climb the official ranks, strike riches, or increase their worshippers and incense offerings? In regard to the new city god position, it’s not me who’s begging the Great Li Empire. I simply put myself forward, but it’s entirely up to them who they want to choose. Choosing me might not necessarily be a good thing, and not choosing me won’t be a bad thing either. I won’t make things difficult for anyone because of this matter.”

The river god in black nodded and replied, “Okay, I’ll deliver the message for you. However, that’s all I’ll do, and you’ll be on your own for everything else. Everything will be fine if you succeed, but things are looking a bit dicey if you ask me. Once you fail, you’ll definitely be targeted and suppressed by the new provincial city lord. Perhaps he won’t even need to target you personally, and the prefectural city god and the county city god might both be extremely obsequious toward him and harass you all the time as a result.”

There was an indifferent expression on the disheveled mountain lord’s face.

After all, there was no need to mention the martial sage temple and the scholarly temple, and it was without a doubt that these two temples would honor and worship the old ancestors of the Yuan Clan and the Cao Clan. As for the remaining mountain gods and water gods of varying ranks, all of them were in position already. There was the Dragon Whisker River, the Iron Talisman River, Downtrodden Mountain, and Cool Wind Mountain.

That being the case, there were only three vacant spots remaining, two being ordinary city lords and one being a new provincial city lord for the future Dragon Spring Province. These three highly coveted positions were the last remaining ones to discuss and jostle over. The Yuan Clan and the Cao Clan were determined to win these positions, so they would definitely have their descendants or subordinates occupy at least one of the three positions. This was something that no one dared to challenge.

After all, two of the three main generals leading the three southward-marching armies of the Great Li Empire were related to these two pillar clans. Cao Ping was a descendant of the Cao Clan, while Su Gaoshan was a representative for the Yuan Clan in the military. The Yuan Clan was a huge benefactor of Su Gaoshan, someone who hailed from an impoverished background in the border force, and they had helped him immensely more than one time. Moreover, Su Gaoshan was still deeply in love with a young lady from the Yuan Clan. As such, many in the officialdom referred to him as a pseudo-son-in-law of the Yuan Clan.

This pertained to many complex relationships in the officialdom, so it was necessary for the deities of all areas to show their wares.

The incense boy in vermilion gnawing on his incense stick the entire time looked up and asked dazedly, “What did you guys say just then?”

“We were mulling over who your parents are,” the disheveled mountain lord huffed.

The river god in black started to talk about the customer in his bookstore just then, also mentioning his speculation.

There was a solemn expression on the disheveled mountain lord’s face.

The incense boy in vermilion was in a great mood after eating his fill, and he burped before chuckling, “What a coincidence, I just made a new friend in the Dragon Spring Prefecture. Do you remember me running off to play in Red Candle Town not too long ago? I ventured a bit further away, and I came across two young girls waiting for someone at Go Table Mountain. One was truly very pretty, and the other was… Alright, I won’t go against my conscience and lie just because I have a good relationship with her. She indeed wasn’t as pretty.

“However, I have a better relationship with her, and the two of us clicked right away. She insisted on asking me where the biggest hornet nest was, and would you know it, this was something that I knew very well. I brought them over straight away, and the hornets in the well-sized nest had almost become hornet spirits. Guess what happened next? The two young girls were chased by the hornets, and they were stung all over the place until they looked like two silly pigheads. It was absolutely hilarious. Of course, I felt very bad for them at the time, and I had to wipe away quite some tears.

“They were also very loyal, and not only did they not blame me for taking them there, but they even invited me to a place called Downtrodden Mountain or whatnot. The tanned young girl who has a very good relationship with me was especially loyal and mighty, and she said that she was the opening disciple of her master, so I could eat delicious foods and enjoy myself to my heart’s content at Downtrodden Mountain.”

The disheveled mountain lord immediately homed in on the key point, asking with a frown, “You dared to interact with living people? With your cowardly nature?!”

The incense boy huffed and replied, “I was hiding underground at the time, but I was beaten out of the earth by the bamboo pole of that tanned young girl. She said that she would use immortal techniques to beat me to death if I dared to sneak around any longer, and it was only afterward that I realized that I had been conned. She only managed to see me, but she didn’t actually have the ability to drag me out of the ground. Sigh… The result was good, in any case, and it was through blows that we eventually became friends. The two of you might not know, but the tanned young girl is extremely knowledgeable, noble, talented, wealthy, and generous…”

There was a look of respect and admiration on his face, and he suddenly recalled a matter as he squatted in the ash-filled censer. He tossed a mortal copper coin high into the air and said, “See this? This is the compensation she gave me for leading the way. Very generous, no? Do the two of you have friends like this?”

The disheveled mountain lord smiled in ridicule and taunted, “Is this a lesser heat coin or a grain rain coin? Why don’t you bring it closer so I can see it clearly?”

The incense boy in vermilion put the copper coin away, rolling his eyes and replying, “She said that as someone who’s always dealing with immortal coins in the mountains all the time, giving others immortal coins is far too basic and tacky. I feel like her explanation is absolutely correct!”

The river god in black rocked his folding fan back and forth and concurred with a faint smile, “It is indeed very reasonable.”

The disheveled mountain lord ignored the idiotic little creature.

————

Night arrived.

A swordsman in azure walked by himself along the banks of the Iron Talisman River.

In the Jewel Blessed Land — previously the Jewel Small World — the rules established by Sage Ruan Qiong had always been very useful.

The distant sky appearing lower than the nearby trees, the bright moon so close in the limpid river.[1]

The swordsman approached the river god temple.

A woman holding a sword with a golden tassel appeared on the path, her eyes fervent as she looked at the young man carrying a sword on his back. “Chen Ping’an, can I spar with you as a sword cultivator?” she asked.

Chen Ping’an glanced at her, the person who was once a sword attendant of the imperial concubine but was now one of the highest-ranked river gods of the Great Li Empire. His reply was one simple sentence.

“I’m afraid that I might kill you.”

1. This is a line from Meng Haoran’s poem, Mooring on Jiande River. Meng Haoran was a Chinese poet and a major literary figure of the Tang dynasty. ☜