Unsheathed

Chapter 529 (1): Downtrodden Mountain’s Wealth

Chen Ping’an pulled his feet from the stream and exhaled. He then shook his right hand, surprisingly causing some ashes to fall to the ground.

His right arm had been bound by a Buddhist mystical ability unleashed by the assassin from Deer Cutter Mountain before, and the falling ashes at this moment were a sign of the lingering karmic ties being completely shaken away.

As a sword cultivator who was imminently about to advance to the Nascent Tier, Qi Jinglong’s remark about the assassination attempt in the mountain valley had been this: incredibly dangerous. A large part of this was because of the Buddhist mystical ability.

Chen Ping’an squatted down and scooped up some water to wash his face. He cocked his head and looked at his reflection in the water, rubbing the thick stubble on his chin. He was slightly worried that he would become a big-bearded man like Xu Yuanxia.

Chen Ping’an placed his hand in the water and opened his palm, gently pushing down and causing the flowing stream to suddenly stop. However, everything returned to normal after a brief moment.

Chen Ping’an changed his hand gesture, drawing a circle in the water and causing a water vortex to continually grow in size. However, Chen Ping’an quickly stopped and allowed the stream water to return to a calm state.

When traveling around with Zhang Shanfeng before, Chen Ping’an had often seen the young Daoist priest gesturing by himself, with his fist techniques not looking like fist techniques and his palm techniques not looking like palm techniques. Zhang Shanfeng’s intent was very strange, so Chen Ping’an had decided to roughly learn some of the stances. However, he always felt like something was off. This was quite strange. When talking about the strength of fist techniques, even one hundred Zhang Shanfengs couldn’t rival a single Chen Ping’an, especially since Chen Ping’an was very talented and quick when it came to learning fist techniques.

For example, Zhong Qiu had used his fundamental Examining the Dragon Technique in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, and Chen Ping’an had immediately emulated the fist technique after observing it once, not only managing to emulate its form, but even managing to somewhat emulate its intent. However, Chen Ping’an was unable to emulate Zhang Shanfeng’s fist technique no matter what.

Chen Ping’an didn’t think too deeply about this matter as he squatted in front of the stream, simply treating Zhang Shanfeng’s fist technique as a unique Qi nurturing method used by cultivators in the mountains, something that required an accompanying Dao mantra.

Why were martial artists at the lowest echelon of the cultivation world derided as bottom-feeding ruffians? This was because their fist stances and techniques failed to capture any true intent. At the end of the day, what was truly important was still that breath of True Qi and its route through the body. Delving deeper, what was important was the mind’s intent, another extremely mystical state. The same type of fist stance could accommodate a large number of varying fist intents, so the same master teaching the same fist guide could result in their disciples displaying all kinds of different fist intents.

This was similar to people having different feelings and comprehensions when observing the same mountains and waters in the world. Indeed, this was the basis behind the saying: The master is only responsible for teaching the basics, while the disciple’s talent and hard work will decide how far they can go.

Chen Ping’an stood up, performing the six-step walking meditation once to slowly stretch his body.

Refining a Hero’s Gall was the key to advancing to the sixth tier.

A so-called Hero’s Gall wasn’t a physical matter, and it was instead the location where a martial artist’s soul and breath of True Qi were nurtured. Its significance was slightly similar to the golden core of Qi refiners.

Chen Ping’an had previously said that he was only two steps short of breaking through to the next martial arts tier. Now that he had refined a Hero’s Gall, he was only a single step short. In reality, the toughness of Chen Ping’an’s physique had long reached a level that could rival that of Vajra Body Tier martial artists. The punishment from Cui Cheng’s fists, the sparring matches against Zhu Lian, the tempering in the thunder clouds of the heavenly tribulation, and the many battles during his extensive travels… Of course, there was also his diligent and unwavering training of the fist techniques. All of these experiences could be regarded as the external cultivation of a pure martial artist.

However, this was extremely likely to become a big barrier for Chen Ping’an, creating a huge gulf to the Vajra Body Tier.

Chen Ping’an was in no rush. The bigger the barrier was, the better. After all, this would give him a better chance of fighting to become the strongest sixth tier martial artist.

Chen Ping’an had almost never thought about the notion of strongest before, and when he had become the strongest third tier martial artist in the past, that had simply been a side-effect of his physique being brutally tempered by the old man in Downtrodden Mountain’s bamboo building. It had absolutely nothing to do with Chen Ping’an’s own desires. After landing in the clutches of Cui Cheng, a tenth tier martial artist, did Chen Ping’an still have the luxury of deciding whether he wanted something or not?

Of the fundamental threads of thought in Chen Ping’an’s mind, the origin of one strand was Old Man Yao’s remark: If something is meant to be yours, then hold onto it and don’t let it go. If something’s not meant to be yours, then don’t even think about it. To summarize this remark even further, it was essentially the same as the four characters written on the Buddhist Plaque decorating the Crab Archway: Refrain from looking outward. This naturally extended further to the saying: If it’s not meant to be, then there’s no point in forcing things.

This was a principle that Chen Ping’an viewed as completely natural and justified, which was a reflection of his maturing thread of thought. Thus, Chen Ping’an’s speech and actions were all subconsciously affected by these beliefs.

For example, Chen Ping’an had pushed away the martial fortune when cultivating at Old Dragon City, and two times in a row at that. Chen Ping’an was also almost never willing to voluntarily enter blessed lands to seek fated opportunities, instead preferring to “pick up trash to accumulate minor wealth.”

This was similar to people gazing at streams, often only seeing the gurgling water and seldom ever seeing the bottom of the stream.

Chen Ping’an was no exception in the past, and this was something that he had only slowly understood following his journey through the Northern Complete Reed Continent, where he continued to observe people, observe Dao, cultivate, and question his own conscience.

To understand others was wise, and to understand oneself was enlightened.

This was very difficult.

Thus, it needed to be ruminated on and polished again and again, with the resulting essence truly becoming one’s own principle.

Chen Ping’an once again sat down beside the stream.

He glanced toward the south.

It was unknown what he was thinking about.

He started to chuckle to himself.

He then raised a hand and feigned a knuckle to someone’s forehead.

How was Pei Qian currently faring in the private school?

————

An intercontinental ship from Skeleton Shoal’s Flax Robe Sect slowly docked at Dragon Spring Prefecture’s Ox Horn Mountain.

There was a slender and shapely woman wearing a veiled hat and holding a hiking pole standing on the intercontinental ship, and standing beside her was a Dao guardian who radiated with the aura of a Golden Core Tier cultivator.

They were none other than Sui Jingcheng and Duckweed Sword Lake’s Sword Cultivator Rong Chang, who had traveled south from the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

After the intercontinental ship had entered the territory of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, Sui Jingcheng had frequently left her room and stood at the bow of the ship to peer down at the mountains and rivers of this continent.

Beneath them was the Great Li Empire.

When the intercontinental ship had entered Dragon Province, where the Jewel Small World had been demoted to a blessed land, Rong Chang had glanced at the distant Cloud Drape Mountain and remarked with emotion, “Such an astonishing aura. As expected of the Northern Mountain of a continent.”

There were many sets of Five Mountains in the Northern Complete Reed Continent as well, but they were all far inferior to Cloud Drape Mountain, which had suddenly risen to prominence in a very short amount of time.

Upon hearing that Mountain God Wei Bo of the Northern Mountain was on the verge of advancing to the Upper Five Tiers, Rong Chang further sighed with emotion. Mountain gods guarding their territories were similar to sages overseeing small worlds — they needed to be regarded as one cultivation base higher. Once Wei Bo advanced to the Unpolished Jade Tier, the Great Li Empire would have essentially gained an Immortal Tier deity. His combat power wasn’t actually important, and the most important aspect was the fortune of the Great Li Empire. Casting one’s gaze over the territory of the Northern Mountain, the spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers, as well as the scholarly fortune and martial fortune of the region, would become increasingly stable because of this.

According to Sui Jingcheng’s words, the senior sword immortal had an extremely close relationship with Mountain God Wei Bo.

It was late at night, and there were only a small number of immortal ships at Ox Horn Mountain’s ferry station. As such, the Flax Robe Sect’s intercontinental ship appeared especially eye-catching in comparison.

The intercontinental ship would stop here for one day and set off again tomorrow night, allowing the passengers from the Northern Complete Reed Continent to disembark and look around this former small world, which had shattered and plummeted to the ground. It was said that an immortal shop had just opened at Ox Horn Mountain, but it was up to the customers’ wealth and judgment to determine whether or not they could find a bargain.

At the same time, the steward of the Flax Robe Sect’s intercontinental ship clearly notified the passengers that this was the territory of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Northern Mountain. This was no longer the Northern Complete Reed Continent. Moreover, the Dragon Spring Prefecture was also overseen by Sage Ruan Qiong, who hailed from the Wind Snow Temple, with the rules and regulations in this region being incredibly strict. Cultivators weren’t allowed to wantonly fly on the wind or on their swords. With this in mind, the passengers shouldn’t blame the Flax Robe Sect for standing idly by if they were to leave the intercontinental ship and cause trouble.

A man in white, who possessed a godly demeanor, appeared at the ferry station. A golden earring hung from one of his ears, and he smiled as he looked at Sui Jingcheng and Rong Chang.

Sparrows surrounded by spiritual energy fluttered around him, with an iridescent glow vaguely flowing around his body.

Rong Chang couldn’t see through this man’s cultivation base, and this made it very clear who he was. He was none other than Wei Bo, the highest-ranking mountain god in the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Sui Jingcheng hurriedly walked forward and asked in a soft voice, “Are you Mountain God Wei?”

Wei Bo glanced at the hiking pole in Sui Jingcheng’s hand before raising a hand and gently shooing away the sparrows fluttering around him. He then nodded in response and replied with a faint smile, “I already received the messenger flying sword, so I came here to welcome the two of you.”

Rong Chang was slightly astonished.

Since when had there been such warm and polite mountain gods? And he had especially come here to welcome the two of them? At the end of the day, Sui Jingcheng and Rong Chang were nothing more than outsiders from a distant continent.

In other regions of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, perhaps it wouldn’t have been strange for a Nascent Tier sword cultivator like Rong Chang to receive such treatment. However, Rong Chang didn’t believe he had a lofty enough status to receive such treatment at the Great Li Empire’s Cloud Drape Mountain.

Disregarding everything else, this region, which was previously the Jewel Small World, contained a large number of powerful and hidden immortals.

There was the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, and also the Southern Whirl Continent’s Sword Immortal Cao Xi. They were only two examples, and it was said that both of them had come from the small town in the Jewel Small World.

Thus, when visiting this region, one shouldn’t try to use their cultivation base to suppress others and get their way. Doing so would be laughable.

Sui Jingcheng felt slightly fearful as she curtsied and said, “Thank you for coming here to welcome us, Mountain God Wei.”

Wei Bo waved his hand and said with a friendly smile, “There’s no need to be so polite, Miss Sui. Do you want to visit Ox Horn Mountain’s Cloth Wrapper Shop, or do you want to directly head over to Downtrodden Mountain?”

“We’ll go to Downtrodden Mountain first,” Sui Jingcheng replied.

Wei Bo nodded and channeled his mystical power, bringing Sui Jingcheng and Rong Chang to the foot of Downtrodden Mountain.

Rong Chang once again felt astonished.

It presumably wouldn’t be a big challenge for this formal god of the Great Li Empire’s Northern Mountain to advance to the Upper Five Tiers, seeing that his affinity with the mountains and waters was so shockingly high.

Rong Chang was taken on a distant trip via a land-shortening technique, yet he discovered that his bonded flying sword barely reacted at all.

“This is Chen Ping’an’s mountain, so it won’t be appropriate for me to directly bring the two of you to the residence at the waist of the mountain. I’ll have to trouble Miss Sui and Sword Immortal Rong with climbing up the mountain by yourselves,” Wei Bo said in an apologetic voice.

There was a residence near the mountain entrance, and a hunchbacked man didn’t even put on his shoes, running over barefoot and keeping his eyes fixed on the young woman wearing a veiled hat. He didn’t spare so much as a single glance for the man.

“This is Brother Dafeng, the gatekeeper of Downtrodden Mountain,” Wei Bo said in introduction.

Zheng Dafeng stood beside Wei Bo, rubbing his hands together as he said with a smile, “You’re Miss Sui, correct? Do you want to visit my place first? Wei Bo and I can make some midnight snacks, and you can treat this as us helping Chen Ping’an warmly welcome his guest. After Miss Sui eats and drinks her fill, she can feel free to rest at my place if she so desires. My residence is big and has many rooms, so to say nothing of Miss Sui alone, there’s enough space even if you want to bring a few friends along… Oh, that’s right. My surname is Zheng, so Miss Sui can refer to me as Big Brother Zheng. There’s no need to be too formal.”

Sui Jingcheng was slightly flustered.

“Miss Sui and Sword Immortal Rong, you can either rest here and eat some midnight snacks, or you can choose to immediately climb the mountain,” Wei Bo said in slight exasperation.

However, what Sui Jingcheng and Rong Chang saw was the hunchbacked man stomping on Wei Bo’s foot and saying with an unchanged smile, “It’s just a midnight snack. It’s no trouble at all to make.”

“Then let’s climb the mountain straight away. There are some matters that we need to explain in detail to Mountain God Wei because we couldn’t reveal too much through the messenger flying sword,” Sui Jingcheng replied carefully.

Zheng Dafeng sighed and forcefully dug his heel into Wei Bo’s boot before twisting it around for a bit. However, Wei Bo was unfazed as he said to Sui Jingcheng, “As you wish.”

As Rong Chang watched this play out, sweat almost formed on his forehead, and his sword heart almost became unstable.

The four of them slowly climbed the mountain together.

“Why are you so disloyal?” Zheng Dafeng lowered his voice and grumbled.

“We need to discuss the proper matters first,” Wei Bo replied with a smile.

“Is your brother’s marriage not a proper matter? Fucking hell… Some of us are drowning to death, while some of us are being parched to death,” Zheng Dafeng fumed.

“The books naturally hold beautiful women, and the paintings naturally hold beauties with strong affection,” Wei Bo replied with a faint smile.[1]

Zheng Dafeng sighed in grief and lamented, “There’s ultimately still something lacking.”

Wei Bo patted Zheng Dafeng’s shoulder and consoled, “Does a handsome man like you need to worry about not being able to find a wife?”

Zheng Dafeng elbowed Wei Bo and retorted, “I would feel extremely confident if I heard this from Chen Ping’an, but coming from you?”

Sui Jingcheng looked around as she climbed the mountain, fully immersing herself in the environment. This was the home of the senior sword immortal.

Meanwhile, Rong Chang felt slightly confused, unable to guess the background of the hunchbacked man. His Great Dao was clearly severed, turning him into a half-crippled pure martial artist, so why did he have such a close relationship with Wei Bo? Most importantly, the two of them didn’t find this strange at all?

Sui Jingcheng slowed down when she saw a young girl descending the mountain while practicing fist techniques. Her fist stance looked quite familiar, so Sui Jingcheng started to carefully examine her appearance. She looked okay, and she was pretty but not too pretty.

Zheng Dafeng smiled and greeted her, saying, “Little Sister Cen, you’re still practicing fist techniques even though it’s so late? You’re working far too hard, and Big Brother Zheng feels like you’ve become thinner.”

Cen Yuanji continued to practice walking meditation, completely focused as she ignored Zheng Dafeng’s words.

She walked down the mountain.

Zheng Dafeng nodded and praised, “That’s okay, it’s correct to ignore Big Brother Dafeng since you need to remain focused on practicing fist techniques. It’s okay as long as you keep Big Brother Dafeng in your mind.”

“Stop delaying Cen Yuanji’s fist technique practice,” Wei Bo said in exasperation.

Zheng Dafeng snickered and replied, “I’m helping her temper her mental state, okay? You’re not a martial artist, so what the hell do you understand? Where’s the true barrier each time this young girl makes a round trip from the mountain peak to the mountain foot while practicing fist techniques? It’s right near the entrance at the foot of the mountain. I might look like I’m doing nothing while I sit on the small chair at the entrance, but how many ordinary female martial artists can withstand the killing intent in my eyes and the hidden meaning in my words?”

A look of realization spread across Wei Bo’s face as he nodded and concurred, “Yes, yes, yes, you’re absolutely correct.”

Rong Chang felt very puzzled. Simply judging by the words and gaze of this hunchbacked man, how had he not been beaten to death yet if he were born and raised in this small town?

Or was it because of his provocative tongue that he had invited calamity and suffered severe wounds, catastrophically severing his Martial Dao? And it was because of this that he had been reduced to a gatekeeper for Downtrodden Mountain, having no option but to depend on Chen Ping’an and being subject to his whims?

Or were there other hidden circumstances, and this hunchbacked man couldn’t be judged by his appearance?

“You truly shouldn’t doubt me so quickly,” Zheng Dafeng chuckled cheerfully. “That woman with the surname Li was unable to withstand the test, no? There’ll eventually come a day when Cen Yuanji wants to thank Big Brother Dafeng for his good intentions, and at that time, she might even wipe tears and snot onto my clothes. Just thinking about this is touching and emotional.”

Wei Bo couldn’t be bothered saying anything else.

This time, the instability in Rong Chang’s sword heart was quite clear.

Zheng Dafeng faltered and shifted his gaze, asking in puzzlement, “Sword Immortal Rong, you’re also receiving benefits of the Great Dao? This doesn’t make any sense! My methods should only work on females.”

Rong Chang smiled and replied, “It’s nothing. I’ve traveled thousands of kilometers from my hometown, so I was simply feeling a little melancholy just then.”

However, Rong Chang no longer dared to view this hunchbacked man as an ordinary person.

How could an ordinary martial arts grandmaster instantly detect the subtle ringing of a Nascent Tier sword cultivator’s bonded flying sword in their mind’s lake?

1. This saying comes from Song Dynasty Emperor Zhenzong’s poem, Exhortation to Learning Poem. This literally means study hard to become rich and get a beautiful wife. ☜