Unsheathed

An emaciated old monk materialized beside the Black River Great King.

Compared to the old turtle that was as large as a mountain, the old monk was so small that he could essentially be disregarded.

In Chen Ping’an’s eyes, however, the aura of the old monk was so lofty and majestic that it was actually the old turtle that appeared like an insignificant speck.

The old monk held his palms together and said “Amitabha” before asking, “Benefactors, can you allow this old monk to bring this turtle back to the Great Round Moon Monastery?”

The scholar smiled and replied, “I have no objections, but you have to ask my brother for his opinion first. You can only take this turtle back if he agrees as well.”

The old turtle opened his mouth and begged, “Please save me, Old Monk. I know I was wrong, so I’ll definitely study Buddhism peacefully in the monastery in the future. I won’t dare to leave without permission again, not in one thousand years and not in ten thousand years.”

The old monk looked toward Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an also looked at the old monk, and he said, “It doesn’t worry me whether he understands his wrongs or not. I simply want to confirm whether this old turtle can make up for the sins that he’s committed all these years.”

The Black River Great King wanted to say something, but he quickly discovered that he was unable to make a single sound.

Still holding his palms together, the old monk nodded and replied, “I can guarantee in the old turtle’s stead that he will cultivate and make up for his sins in the future. He’ll perform good deeds and cultivate good karma, and this will be more beneficial for the world than simply killing him right now.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t say anything else.

A hint of a smile appeared on the old monk’s face as he nodded and looked toward the opposite shore of the river, chanting “Amitabha” before silently saying that there was salvation in repentance.

When the short old monk who was wearing a large and loose-fitting Buddhist robe turned around, both he and the old turtle instantly vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, the scholar casually summoned back his hornless dragon copper seal that was falling due to the sudden disappearance of the old turtle.

Chen Ping’an remained unmoving and fell deep into thought.

“You’re truly very courageous, Brother Haoren. Are you aware of that old monk’s identity and background?” the scholar asked with a smile.

“No, I’m not,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head. “The Be At Ease Compilation didn’t have any records about the old monk, and I only learned about the existence of the Great Round Moon Monastery in Malicious Ghost Valley after I walked past that forest of peach trees.”

The scholar raised his hands and massaged his cheeks before remarking in emotion, “If the secret records of the Esteemed Mystery Department are correct, then that old monk is the second-ranked Golden Arhat in the Northern Complete Reed Continent and the first-ranked for his indomitable nature. Even if the old monk stands there and doesn’t move, the bonded flying sword of a Nascent Tier sword cultivator still won’t be able to kill him even after attacking him for fifteen minutes. In fact, the bonded flying sword will be damaged instead.

“If I were in your position, I definitely wouldn’t have dared to bargain with the old monk. Truth be told, I was already prepared to obediently hand over the old turtle the moment that he appeared. However, Brother Haoren truly has very good gambling fortune, and the old monk actually smiled instead of becoming angry. We two brothers have managed to not offend the Great Round Moon Monastery.”

“One needs to have the proper mindset to achieve these proper results,” Chen Ping’an said slowly.

The scholar could feel a huge headache forming, and he exclaimed, “Oh my, please don’t mention these things, Brother Haoren. I’m a Daoist disciple, so I’m most allergic to these kinds of principles.”

Chen Ping’an suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, and he walked to a section of the frozen river that was showing signs of melting after losing the support of the Black River Great King’s mystical ability. He sat down cross-legged before grabbing a block of ice and casually rubbing it over his face.

However, blood continued to pour from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Chen Ping’an appeared slightly adrift, but there was still a slight smile on his face.

The scholar squatted nearby and widened his eyes in astonishment, asking in a quiet voice, “Brother Haoren, your soul is trembling violently and your bones and tendons are quivering with extreme exertion, so don’t you feel any pain at all?”

Chen Ping’an pursed his lips and gazed into the distance, replying, “Would you believe me if I told you that this was nothing more than a tickle?”

“I believe you!” the scholar replied with an earnest nod.

However, he grumbled endlessly in his mind, thinking that he naturally wouldn’t believe this bullshit.

The scholar started to quietly count the seconds in his mind, wanting to see how long it would take for Chen Ping’an to stop bleeding from the face.

“What’s happening with the Sea Turning Primordial Lord?” Chen Ping’an turned around and asked.

The scholar smiled and replied, “I’ve tied her up using a demon-binding chain, so we can summon her whenever we want.”

There was a strange look in Chen Ping’an’s eyes.

The scholar smiled with squinted eyes and asked, “What’s wrong? Only Brother Haoren is allowed to have a demon-binding chain, but I’m not allowed to have a demon-binding chain?”

The scholar extended a hand, on top of which materialized a snow-white rope. He shook the rope slightly, and a section of the frozen river surface in the distance immediately shattered as the sturdy woman was dragged out from underwater. Afterward, she furiously sprinted forward as if her hair were being pulled by someone, and it only took a blink of an eye for her to be dragged to the feet of the scholar.

Chen Ping’an’s eyelids twitched slightly when he saw this.

Just how many so-called trump cards did this “Yang Mumao” possess?

“How should we deal with her?” the scholar asked. “I’ll do whatever Brother Haoren commands!”

“She can live as long as she’s willing to voluntarily open the door to her cave abode,” Chen Ping’an said.

The scholar nodded and said to the small turtle with a smile, “Did you hear that?”

However, the Sea Turning Primordial Lord acted strangely, glancing at Chen Ping’an before turning to the scholar and saying, “I need you to make a blood vow before I open the door.”

The scholar roared with laughter, extending a finger before suppressing his smile and clearing his throat. He then said in a serious voice, “Alright, alright, I’ll make a vow. I, Yang Mumao, swear to the heavens…”

The woman suddenly burst into tears, wailing in grief, “I know that I’m definitely going to die. Both of you are liars! Big fat liars!”

Chen Ping’an narrowed his eyes.

The scholar’s expression changed slightly, and he suddenly smiled and said, “Forget about it. We’ll spare her measly life this time. I have other uses for her, what with the Great Origin Empire coincidentally being short of a river guardian right now. I’ll receive some merit if my recommendation of her is successful, and this is a slightly better deal than killing her to accumulate hidden virtue.”

Chen Ping’an held his hand out.

The scholar scrunched his face up in reluctance as he retrieved the silk paper and the golden core that was on the verge of shattering from his sleeve. “This piece of paper is extremely valuable, and I genuinely can’t gift it to Brother Haoren. However, the golden core of the Imperial Thunder Divine General will immediately crumble apart violently if it’s removed from the paper, with its might perhaps being equivalent to the strike of a Nascent Tier cultivator. This is no small matter, and the two of us will both suffer with how close we are to the golden core.”

“We’ll split the spoils from the cave abode fifty-fifty instead of thirty-seventy. Ten percent is for me helping you in battle just then, and ten percent is for this shattered golden core.”

The scholar hesitated as he contemplated the offer.

Seeing no response, Chen Ping’an said, “Then let’s change the split to forty-sixty in my favor. Regardless of how shattered it is, a golden core is still a golden core, after all…”

The scholar put away the silk paper and the golden core and said firmly, “We’ll split it fifty-fifty!”

“My wounds are too severe and I’m unable to walk, so I’ll leave you to go and retrieve the treasures by yourself,” Chen Ping’an said.

The scholar replied with a nod before smiling faintly and exclaiming, “Huh? Why isn’t Brother Haoren suffering from hemophobia anymore?”

“It’s my own blood, so I naturally won’t faint at the sight of it,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

There was a look of realization on the scholar’s face.

He then instructed the Sea Turning Primordial Lord to kneel on the ground, and he stood in front of her with one hand behind his back. He put his index finger and middle finger together on his other hand, and he started to draw a talisman on her forehead, with his strokes so deep that they cut through her skin and flesh and exposed bone.

The Sea Turning Primordial Lord understood the significance of this matter, so she gritted her teeth and didn’t dare to make a sound.

After retracting his hand, the scholar kicked the Sea Turning Primordial Lord in the head and instructed, “Lead the way.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “Go quickly and return soon. Of course, it’s also okay if you decide to not return.”

The scholar laughed heartily, and the Sea Turning Primordial Lord channeled her mystical ability to melt the frozen river surface and lead the scholar underwater to her cave abode.

After traveling far away from Chen Ping’an…

“Esteemed Immortal, why didn’t you take advantage of that person’s feeble state to kill him and be done with it?” the Sea Turning Primordial Lord asked in a careful voice.

The scholar’s fingers were like talons as he grabbed the woman’s head and roared in anger, “Do I need you to lecture me and tell me how to do things?!”

The Sea Turning Primordial Lord wailed in agony and begged for forgiveness, feeling as if her head were about to explode from the pressure.

The scholar tossed her aside and mumbled, “Fucking hell, I would have been willing to sacrifice half my life if I were able to kill that person… If the price rises above that, however, then the matter becomes very different. In any case… What if I’m accidentally killed instead?”

Feeling slightly agitated, the scholar launched a palm strike and caused the Sea Turning Primordial Lord to tumble through the water. Still not satisfied, he launched another furious kick and sent her shooting forward.

It took the Sea Turning Primordial Lord a great deal of effort to stop tumbling through the water, but she didn’t dare to straighten up even after coming to a stop. She felt like this was even more torturous than death.

The scholar finally stopped punishing her, and he chided, “Hurry up and lead the way!”

However, he quickly smacked his forehead and smiled bitterly, retrieving the water-repelling jewel that he had forgotten to put in his mouth.

He had made a mistake and exposed himself.

But this didn’t matter too much anymore.

After all, Chen Haoren had never planned to follow him underwater from the beginning to the end. As such, there was no need for him to hide his innate mystical ability that had a strong affinity with water. Doing so would be completely pointless.

The frozen river started to melt quicker and quicker.

Chen Ping’an stood up and returned to the bank of the Black River.

He looked around at the surroundings.

It was winter, and a cold chill permeated heaven and earth.

Chen Ping’an breathed slowly and replenished his energy.

The scholar returned by himself approximately one hour later, and Chen Ping’an didn’t ask him about the whereabouts of the Sea Turning Primordial Lord.

“Honest people don’t resort to insinuations, so to be straightforward with you, that lowly servant still needs to clean up her belongings. It’s some items that are difficult to move but aren’t worth much money. At the same time, I’ve instructed her to ruthlessly extort her underlings as much as she can. After interacting with Brother Haoren for so long, it’s high time for me to learn some money-making techniques as well.”

The scholar smiled and continued, “Let’s go, we’ll head to the water goddess shrine to split the spoils. After all, the atmosphere here doesn’t suit the grand occasion.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t have any objections.

The two of them walked to the shrine and sat opposite each other on the steps in front of the main hall. With a wave of his sleeve, the scholar summoned a large number of treasures of varying shapes and sizes, causing them to ring and clang as they piled up into a small mountain.

The scholar asked for praise, saying, “I know that Brother Haoren is a skillful hero who can even pluck the valuable feathers from flying geese, so I decided to draw inspiration from this and bring back everything that was worth a bit of money regardless of its grade or quality. I managed to collect one immortal treasure, twelve spirit tools, and as for immortal coins…

“I’m genuinely telling the truth here, and it’s all at the old turtle’s cave abode. This small turtle who’s going to become a legitimate water goddess in the future was shockingly poor, and I only managed to find eight hundred snowflake coins in total. I genuinely tried my best, Brother Haoren, and you have to understand that I almost smashed up a valuable wall to bring it back as well. That woman’s eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw this.”

The scholar pointed at a lustrous jade hairpin and said, “This is the only immortal tool I found, and cultivators can use this hairpin to repel water and stave off the cold if they wear it in their hair. However, it only appears fancy on the surface, and it can only be regarded as an inferior-grade immortal tool. Even so, it can be quite decent if one practices water element techniques.

“I won’t introduce the other spirit tools one by one, and the price difference between them isn’t very great either. We’re splitting these treasures fifty-fifty anyway, so we can simply take six spirit tools each. You can choose first, Brother Haoren. As for the jade hairpin and the pile of snowflake coins that I’ve yet to retrieve, Brother Haoren can also choose one first. And Brother Haoren can feel free to take the rest of the trinkets as well.”

Chen Ping’an flicked his sleeve and placed the large pile of items that the scholar viewed as relatively useless into his minimization treasure.

He then leaned forward and carefully examined the twelve spirit tools.

In the end, he picked six and put them away.

“You can take the jade hairpin, and I’ll take the snowflake coins,” Chen Ping’an said.

The scholar seemingly appeared slightly disappointed, but he still raised his sleeve and allowed the eight hundred snowflake coins to rain down on the ground.

Chen Ping’an waved his sleeve and retrieved the immortal coins like a dragon absorbing water.

The scholar put away the green jade hairpin before placing his hands on his knees and asking, “What should we do next?”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “I’m treating you with sincerity, Brother Mumao, but you tampered with the jade hairpin to test me out. What do you have to say about this?”

There was a look of innocence on the scholar’s face as he remarked, “How could you falsely accuse me like this, Brother Haoren? This isn’t very good, is it? Both you and I are upstanding and righteous individuals, so let’s not become like those vagrant cultivators who turn against each other after failing to split the spoils fairly.”

“Place the jade hairpin on the ground and let me strike it with my sword. Actions speak louder than words,” Chen Ping’an proposed.

“What should I do if Brother Haoren’s accusation proves to be false?” the scholar asked. “At that time, not only will my jade hairpin be destroyed, but I’ll even feel sad and aggrieved as well. What should we do then?”

Chen Ping’an thought about this for a moment before replying, “I’ll give you six spirit tools as compensation if I’ve wrongly accused you.”

There was a cloudy expression on the scholar’s face.

Chen Ping’an lightly tapped his Sword Nurturing Gourd with one finger.

The scholar kept his gaze on Chen Ping’an as he gently placed the jade hairpin on the ground between the two of them.

Chen Ping’an stopped his tapping.

First immediately flew out of the Sword Nurturing Gourd.

“Hold on a second,” the scholar suddenly said.

Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “What’s wrong? Do you want to keep the jade hairpin, or do you want to hand over your six spirit tools?”

The scholar roared with hearty laughter before pinching his hornless dragon copper seal between two fingers and forcefully thumping it down on the jade hairpin, causing it to instantly split into two.

A wave of concentrated spiritual energy diffused into the surroundings.

The jade hairpin gradually lost its luster.

Nothing else special happened.

The escaping spiritual energy kicked up a slight breeze that caused their hair and sleeves to billow.

Chen Ping’an furrowed his brows slightly.

The scholar smiled faintly and said, “It was truly difficult to get a single win on you, Brother Haoren.”

“Just how much money is weighing down on you?” Chen Ping’an asked.

The scholar smiled and shook his head, explaining, “I was truly feeling stifled and frustrated, and I was afraid that my Dao Heart would suffer damage if I didn’t beat you once before I left.”

Chen Ping’an clicked his tongue in wonder and remarked, “So be it if official immortals like you don’t treat immortal coins like money. However, to not treat immortal treasures like immortal treasures as well? How very impressive.”

The scholar sighed and said, “I need to leave now. If it weren’t for the sake of this small gamble, I would have truly left without returning just then. I would have run away with all of the treasures.”

“Then I’ll see you off here,” Chen Ping’an replied with a nod.

The scholar stood up and said softly, “May fate let us cross paths again in the future, Brother Haoren.”

There was a complicated look in Chen Ping’an’s eyes as he also stood up. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t help but hesitate. In the end, he ultimately decided to remain silent.

Seemingly seeing through Chen Ping’an’s thoughts, the scholar laughed loudly and said, “You truly are a good brother, Brother Haoren.”

After saying this, the scholar transformed into a burst of black smoke and left through the ground.

Sure enough, the scholar left just like that.