Unsheathed

Standing with his back to the counter, Wang Dun sighed and asked, “When are you leaving? It’s not that I’m unwilling to host you, but it’s best that you don’t visit Sweeping Villa right now. All you’ll come across are some boring and tiresome social engagements.”

Afterward, Wang Dun told Chen Ping’an the detailed address of the immortal ferry station located in the Green Oriole Nation.

Chen Ping’an walked out from behind the counter and chuckled, “Then I’ll trouble Villa Master Wang with asking someone to bring us two horses. We won’t stay overnight in this small town, and we’ll immediately continue our journey instead.”

Wang Dun waved a hand, calling over a disciple of the villa who had rushed over to the wine shop and stood on a distant street corner after hearing news of the villa master’s appearance. This was a handsome middle-aged sword practitioner. Wang Dun was skilled in a wide variety of martial arts, and he was the undisputed number one in the Five Mountain Nation in all of these disciplines, whether it was fist techniques, qinggong, saber techniques, sword techniques, spear techniques, and so on.[1]

As a result, Wang Dun’s direct disciples were also skilled in a wide variety of different martial arts. The middle-aged disciple who had rushed to the wine shop was one of Wang Dun’s prized disciples and someone who had inherited the essence of his sword techniques. He was a top three sword practitioner in the cultivation world of the Five Mountain Nation, and after seeing Chen Ping’an and hearing his master’s instructions, he didn’t forget to cup his fists and bow in respect at the sword immortal in azure before leaving the wine shop, saying, “Disciple Wang Jingshan of Sweeping Villa pays his respects to Sword Immortal. If Sword Immortal travels past Sweeping Villa in the future, then I beseech Sword Immortal to please provide this junior with some guidance on sword techniques.”

“Alright,” Chen Ping’an smiled and replied with a nod.

“Guidance on sword techniques? A single return trip to and from the mountains by the flying sword will be enough to defeat you, Wang Jingshan. You might as well be honest and directly say that you want to see the bonded item of a sword immortal. Do you not feel embarrassed coming up with a nonsensical excuse like this?”

Wang Jingshan was clearly familiar with his master’s temper, so he didn’t feel awkward at all as he smiled faintly and bid farewell.

It wasn’t long before Wang Jingshan returned with two fine horses from the mountain villa, and in addition to him, there were two extra steeds carrying a young boy and a young girl. These two youths were his junior brother and his junior sister.

The three people and five horses had traveled from Sweeping Villa to this nearby county city.

Most people in the villa wouldn’t have dared to ask Wang Jingshan to travel to the wine shop together to disturb their master and witness the impressive demeanor of a legendary sword immortal, but these two youths were the favorite disciples of Wang Dun, giving them the ability to nag Wang Jingshan until he had no option but to grit his teeth and bring them along.

Wang Dun and the two outsiders were no longer at the wine shop, and they were instead standing outside the entrance of an inn located nearby.

There was little polite chatter and small talk as Chen Ping’an and Sui Jingcheng jumped onto two horses and rode away.

The young boy, who was also carrying a sword on his back like Wang Jingshan, clenched his hands into fists and clicked his tongue in wonder, remarking, “As expected of a fabled sword immortal!”

“Which useless eye did you see that from?” Wang Dun asked with a chuckle.

The young boy wasn’t afraid of his master at all, and he pointed at his eyes and replied, “I saw it all!”

He had naturally learned this response from his master.

The saber-carrying young girl said in an indifferent voice, “I wasn’t able to notice anything out of the ordinary.”

The young boy sniggered and replied, “You use the saber, so unlike me, you naturally weren’t able to sense the boundless sword intent radiating from that sword immortal. Saying this might scare you, but just taking a few glances at the sword immortal was hugely beneficial to me. The next time we spar, just borrowing a wisp of a sword immortal’s sword intent will be enough for me to resoundingly defeat you!”

Wang Dun smacked the young boy on the back of the head and scolded, “How foolish. Why didn’t you say this when the sword immortal was still here just then?”

“The sword immortal’s aura was too powerful, and I was unable to open my mouth due to being suppressed by his heaven-shaking sword intent,” the young boy replied in a serious manner.

Wang Dun smacked him again, causing the young boy’s head to bounce forward as he scolded, “Piss off to the side.”

The young boy swaggered away, turning around and chuckling, “When making our way over here, I heard Senior Brother Jingshang say that the River Churning Flood Dragon Lu Dayong has faced the sword immortal’s flying sword before. I’ll ask around about that, and if I’m able to accidentally comprehend another wisp of a flying sword’s true intent, then heh… To say nothing of Senior Sister, even Senior Brother Jingshan won’t be my match at that time. This will naturally be delightful and worthy of celebration for me, but it will truly be sorrowful and worthy of lamentation for Senior Brother Jingshan.”

The sword-carrying young boy briskly walked away after saying this.

Wang Jingshan suppressed a chuckle and asked, “Master, where does Junior Brother’s terrible habit come from?”

Wang Dun started to throw baseless accusations in order to distance himself from this, replying, “He’s probably learning it from your Senior Sister.”

Wang Dun’s opening disciple was Fu Loutai, a saber-wielding martial artist who was ranked among the top three saber grandmasters in the Five Mountain Nation. At the same time, she was also exceptionally skilled with the sword. However, she got married a few years ago, and she was surprisingly raising her child alongside her husband, choosing to leave the cultivation world in order to do this.

Moreover, Fu Loutai’s husband wasn’t a gallant martial artist from the cultivation world, nor was he a wealthy descendant from a powerful clan. Rather, he was nothing more than an ordinary and slightly well-off man. Not only that, but he was even seven to eight years younger than Fu Loutai. Strangely enough, not a single person in Sweeping Villa — from Wang Dun to her junior sisters and junior brothers — found this to be inappropriate. They didn’t care about the rumors floating around the cultivation world either.

When Wang Dun had been away from Sweeping Villa in the past, it had actually been Fu Loutai teaching her junior brothers junior sisters martial arts techniques. As such, Wang Jingshan respected his senior sister immensely even though he was actually a few years older than her.

With this in mind, the young girl spoke up to defend her senior sister, grumbling, “Master, you can’t push everything onto Senior Sister just because she’s not at Sweeping Villa anymore. This is completely against the morality and justice of the cultivation world.”

Wang Dun ignored her words as he brought his two disciples back to the wine shop.

He naturally needed to relocate after closing this wine shop.

Wang Dun sat down at a table, and Wang Jingshan borrowed this opportunity to report the current situation of Sweeping Villa to his master, going over the income and expenditure, social interactions, the auspicious day that had been chosen to hang up the plaque bestowed by the emperor, which cultivation forces and martial artists had offered congratulatory presents but hadn’t stayed overnight in the villa, who had remained in the villa and voiced their difficulties to him, who wanted to seek Senior Wang Dun’s help, which elder from which cultivation force had a birthday banquet coming up and needed someone from Sweeping Villa to attend, a letter that had been personally delivered to the villa by an assistant minister from the Ministry of Justice asking for extra hands from the villa to resolve a difficult murder case in the capital, and so on and so forth…

Wang Dun grabbed the wine pot on the table and poured himself a large bowl of wine, drinking sip after sip as he listened to Wang Jingshan’s report. He simply nodded in acknowledgment when it came to matters that Wang Jingshan had already resolved, treating this as a form of giving approval. If he disagreed with Wang Jingshan’s decision, then he would say a few words and provide some suggestions. When it came to some matters that Wang Dun viewed as more important, he would discuss them in more detail. Wang Jingshan remembered all of his master’s suggestions and remarks.

The saber-carrying young girl sat beside them and yawned. She didn’t dare to ask for wine to drink, so she could only rest her arms and head on the table and gaze at the street outside the inn, secretly thinking about what the lady wearing the veiled hat actually looked like. Was she a stunning beauty? Or would she actually look very ordinary after removing her veiled hat, appearing completely unremarkable? Anyhow, the young girl was feeling slightly disappointed at this moment. She had initially thought that she would never be able to come across a sword immortal in her life, yet apart from being astonishingly young, the sword immortal who had been with her master hadn’t aligned with her imagination of a sword immortal at all.

Wang Jingshan spoke for close to an hour to report all of the matters pertaining to the recently bustling Sweeping Villa.

Wang Jingshan was extremely stubborn in his pursuit of sword skills, never drinking wine and never indulging himself in women either. Not only that, but he followed a vegetarian diet all year round as well. Following the departure of Senior Sister Fu Loutai, it was often him and an old steward who managed the internal and external matters of the mountain villa, with the old steward managing the former and Wang Jingshan managing the latter.

In reality, however, the old steward was already quite elderly and was suffering from many ailments resulting from his earlier years in the cultivation world, leaving him with insufficient energy to deal with too many matters. As a result, Wang Jingshan needed to pick up more of the slack. This was especially the case after Wang Dun entered the ranks of the top ten martial artists, with the old steward needing to scramble around to deal with matters.

Because of this, Wang Jingshan needed to step forward to maintain some relationships. This was especially important because a decent number of renowned martial artists from the cultivation world cared greatly about the statuses and cultivation bases of the disciples who welcomed them. They would naturally feel honored if they were welcomed by Wang Jingshan, and they would conversely grumble in dissatisfaction if they were welcomed by Senior Wang Dun’s least talented disciple, Lu Zhuo.

Wang Dun drank a sip of wine before putting down his bowl and asking, “Jingshan, are you discontent with Senior Sister Fu’s choice? If she were still at the villa, then you wouldn’t need to manage all of these trivial matters by yourself. Perhaps you would even be able to advance to the seventh tier earlier.”

Wang Jingshan smiled and replied, “I wouldn’t believe it myself if I said that I wasn’t discontent. However, the discontent is only minor, and my bigger gripe is about why Senior Sister Fu found herself such a mediocre man. I feel like Senior Sister Fu could have found herself a much better man.”

Wang Dun smiled and said, “If the romantic relationships between men and women were reasonable, then I surmise that there wouldn’t be such a disastrously large number of romance novels in the world.”

Wang Jingshan seldom entertained these kinds of discussions.

In reality, even though Wang Jingshan didn’t really like the timid man who had accompanied Senior Sister Fu to the villa a few times, he still remained very polite and adhered to all of the necessary etiquette. Not only that, but he even did his best to restrain his junior brothers and junior sisters, lest they accidentally reveal their true thoughts. After all, that would only make things more difficult for Senior Sister Fu.

Wang Dun paused for a moment before saying in a slightly melancholy voice, “I feel a bit guilty for delaying your cultivation of the sword, but to say something unpleasant to the ear, I also feel very pleased when I see you busily dealing with matters here and there. I feel like it was a very satisfying decision to take you as a disciple back then and teach you sword techniques. In any case, I still need to say something to you from the bottom of my heart.”

Wang Jingshan sat upright and said, “Please go ahead, Master, I’m all ears.”

Wang Dun smiled and said in a soft voice, “Jingshan, if you feel weary one day and grow tired of these trivial matters at the villa, wanting to travel around the cultivation world with your sword, then don’t feel guilty at that time. You don’t need to feel guilty at all. You can feel free to visit your master with a pot of fine wine, and your master will see you off after enjoying the wine. You can return home whenever you want to, and you can travel around the cultivation world again after you’ve had enough time to rest. This is only reasonable.”

Wang Jingshan nodded in response.

Tears welled up in the eyes of the saber-carrying young girl sitting on a neighboring table.

Senior Sister Fu had already left the villa, so Senior Brother Wang Jingshan leaving as well would make her feel very sad.

However, what made the young girl feel even sadder was the fact that her master had seemingly grown old.

“Then Master, I’ll leave to travel around the cultivation world straight away?” Wang Jingshan suddenly said.

Wang Dun faltered for a moment before chuckling, “Don’t mind me, your master has simply had one too many drinks today, so he’s been spouting some drunken words that don’t cost a single copper coin. There’s no need to take these words seriously. Even if you do, you can leave for the cultivation world later. The villa still needs you to manage the important affairs…”

The young girl rolled her eyes before turning around and lying back down on the table.

Her master, who didn’t appear like a grandmaster at all when interacting with his disciples, was truly very annoying.

However, both Senior Sister Fu and Senior Brother Wang Jingshan said that Wang Dun, the number one martial artist in the cultivation world of the Five Mountain Nation, and their master, someone who always slacked off in Sweeping Villa, were like two completely different people.

She and her junior brother both believed this.

After all, both Fu Loutai and Wang Jingshan had traveled around the cultivation world with Master Wang Dun before.

Wang Dun had engaged in several conflicts with cultivators from the mountains before, and there were even a few times when he had engaged in life and death battles with his opponents.

Both Senior Sister Fu Loutai and Senior Brother Wang Jingshan had the same explanations regarding these conflicts, saying that the reason for their master getting involved was because he liked to stick his nose into other people’s business.

For some unknown reason, however, neither Fu Loutai nor Wang Jingshan would grumble in dissatisfaction when they said this, and there would instead be a bright glimmer in their eyes.

The sword-carrying young boy was like a gust of wind as he ran back to the wine shop, plonking down on the same bench as his master.

The young boy was the only disciple of Wang Dun’s who could do something like this. Moreover, he was completely unashamed as he did this.

“How did it go? Did you manage to comprehend anything?” Wang Dun asked with a smile.

The young boy sighed in grief and replied, “The River Churning Flood Dragon Lu Dayong spoke in an exaggerated manner and filled my entire face with spittle, forcing me to carefully block his secret spit attacks the entire time. Moreover, he kept repeating the same words over and over again. I’m not a genuine immortal, so I was unable to comprehend a great deal of the flying sword’s true intent. In this sense, Senior Brother Wang is more fortunate than Senior Sister Fu. Otherwise, I would have already become Master’s most powerful disciple.”

Wang Jingshan smiled faintly and suggested, “Then perhaps I should thank Chivalrous Hu for his help afterward?”

The young boy waved his hand and replied, “There’s no need. In any case, my sword skills will be able to surpass Senior Brother’s tomorrow if not today.”

“Oh?” Wang Jingshan remarked with a smile.

“Next year if not this year!” the young boy corrected.

Wang Jingshan didn’t say anything else.

His junior brother was indeed unrestrained when it came to what he splurted out.

When it came to practicing the sword, however…

The young boy was the most diligent and rule-abiding in the entire Sweeping Villa.

This was enough.

Wang Dun swept his gaze across his three disciples, all of whom were very good despite their different personalities. He felt like he could drink some more wine today, so he stood up and walked over to the counter, only to falter in puzzlement.

Why were there three unfamiliar pots of wine?

Wang Dun cracked open one pot of wine, and even his three disciples were able to smell the cool and lingering fragrance of the wine.

He laughed heartily and gestured for the young girl to also grab a bowl before he sat down. In fact, he even instructed Wang Jingshan to grab a bowl as well, saying that he should have a small amount to taste the wine of immortals. Afterward, Wang Dun poured each of his disciples varying amounts of immortal wine.

The young boy took a sip and exclaimed in astonishment, “Goodness me! This wine is quite potent and even better-tasting than our villa’s plum wine! As expected of a gift from a sword immortal. It’s absolutely incredible!”

Wang Jingshan also took a sip, and he felt like it was indeed different from ordinary wine. However, he was still unwilling to drink too much.

The young girl had a taste, and she felt like there was nothing special about it. It was still as bad-tasting as always. Indeed, was there any good-tasting wine in the world?

Wang Dun smiled at the young boy and asked, “You practice the sword, so do you feel disappointed that your master isn’t a sword immortal?”

The young boy took another sip of immortal wine as he replied casually, “Well, this disciple isn’t a sword immortal either.”

Wang Dun nodded with a smile. He had initially been prepared to strike the young boy’s head with his knuckle, but he quietly unclenched his hand and patted the young boy’s head instead, saying with a kindly expression, “At least you have some conscience.”

The young boy nodded earnestly in response. When Wang Dun lowered his head to drink wine, the young boy started to make faces at the young girl, presumably asking her whether he was smart and capable to have escaped from punishment and not have received a knuckle to the head.

The young girl started to expose his actions to their master.

Wang Jingshan started to kick the young boy while he was down.

Meanwhile, the young boy started to play dumb.

Wang Dun didn’t say anything, and he simply poured the wine from his disciples’ bowls into his own bowl before tilting back his head and downing the wine in a single gulp.

1. Qinggong literally means lightness skill, and is a martial arts technique that involves agility and body control. ☜