Unsheathed

Chapter 550 (4): It’s a Pity the Sky Doesn’t Rain Money

At some secluded location near the Water Dragon Sect.

An old Daoist priest reached over to support the young Daoist priest beside him.

The young Daoist priest carrying a sword on his back was stumbling around and close to falling, but there was a beaming smile on his face as he exclaimed in delight, “Master, how come I don’t want to vomit at all today?”

“That’s definitely because your cultivation has advanced,” the old Daoist priest replied with a serious expression. “If you return to Ground Lying Peak now, your senior brothers and senior sisters will definitely praise you for your progress.”

“Master, tell me the truth,” the young Daoist priest said with a skeptical expression.

Only after being pressed by his disciple did the old Daoist priest reveal, “Your master has many friends, after all, so even though we’re traveling quickly, it’s inevitable that we’ll need to stop from time to time. This trip was the shortest one so far.”

“Master, your speaking skills are so poor, so it’s no wonder that your friends in the mountain never invite you inside to sit for a while when you visit them,” the young Daoist priest grumbled. “I’m able to see things clearly, and those people are so polite when they speak with Master that they don’t appear like genuine friends at all. Master, if this is the same case when you travel outside the mountains in the future, then it truly won’t do.”

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon nodded and concurred, “Your master is indeed lacking when it comes to making friends.”

Zhang Shanfeng glanced at his master and didn’t say anything.

The old spiritual master could only nod again and add, “I’m a bit lacking when it comes to cultivation as well.”

Zhang Shanfeng smiled and consoled, “It’s okay. Master’s Dao power isn’t high, and your disciple’s Dao power isn’t much better.”

Zhang Shanfeng shook his head and looked around, asking, “Master, the Water Dragon Sect is such a large immortal force, so you don’t have any friends here, do you?”

Only at this place, which was the destination of their trip, did Spiritual Master Fire Dragon explicitly mention the immortal force’s name, saying that Zhang Shanfeng’s friend, Chen Ping’an, was most likely going to be around here for a while. As for the other lofty mountains, vast rivers, and immortal abodes that the two of them had visited before? Zhang Shanfeng wasn’t familiar with those places and those people anyway, so his master naturally hadn’t mentioned their names.

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon faltered for a moment before smiling and nodding in response.

And thus, he used his mind’s lake to tell Sect Leader Sun Jie of the Water Dragon Sect that he didn’t need to show himself. He could return to the ancestral hall first.

Was this disrespectful and against etiquette?

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon was already paying a visit, so was this not a great show of respect and etiquette?

————

Chen Ping’an entered his room and started to read the secret letter.

Zhu Lian first mentioned Wei Bo’s successful breakthrough, writing that he had become the first Upper Five Tier mountain god in the history of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Emperor Song He of the Great Li Empire had personally visited the Dragon Spring Prefecture, with two of the six head ministers accompanying him, one from the Ministry of Rites and one from the Ministry of Justice. They had ascended Cloud Drape Mountain and congratulated Wei Bo, and not only that, but the imperial court of the empire had also retrieved a pseudo-celestial tool possessing a strong affinity with water from the royal treasure chamber to bestow upon Cloud Drape Mountain, a subjugation treasure that acted as icing on the cake.

With this pseudo-celestial tool, Wei Bo would be able to more easily control the water fortune in his jurisdiction, even though he was a formal mountain god. In fact, he could even suppress all of the highest-ranking river gods in the jurisdiction of the Great Li Empire’s Northern Mountain.

From this, it could be seen that the new emperor, Song He, was displaying more than just courtesy to this official appointed by the late emperor. Rather, he was voluntarily offering power and influence to Cloud Drape Mountain. Right now, Wei Bo was essentially controlling the mountains and waters that represented the origin of the Imperial Song Clan, along with the Great Li Empire’s Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Justice.

Thus, Zhu Lian told Mountain Master Chen Ping’an not to worry about selling his treasures for bargain prices. Wei Bo had caused immense commotion when breaking through, drawing all kinds of auspicious phenomena that stirred up all of the residents in the capital of the Great Li Empire. Like carp crossing a river, many noble and wealthy clans furiously surged into the newly established Dragon Province, yearning to offer incense at Cloud Drape Mountain and pay their respects to Mountain God Wei.

Not only that, but the Ministry of Revenue also brought close to one hundred gold essence copper coins to Cloud Drape Mountain, treating this as a gift from the imperial court. The other ministries also showed their sincerity in various different ways. Of course, they only dared to openly offer these gifts to Cloud Drape Mountain after first receiving approval from the young emperor.

Even the young emperor was evidently a little surprised. He had already anticipated Wei Bo’s breakthrough to cause a huge stir in the imperial court and the empire, but he had surprisingly still underestimated the joyful atmosphere sweeping through the officialdom and the mortal world. In fact, this was one of the largest celebrations since the founding of the Great Li Empire.

The previous time such a huge celebration had taken place was when Song Changjing had destroyed the Lu Empire, the former overlord state of the Great Li Empire that had suppressed and abused it for a long time. It was because of this that the residents in the capital of the Great Li Empire had rushed onto the streets to celebrate.

Looking even further back, one needed to open the history books from several hundred years ago, when the Great Li Empire had comprehensively broken free from its status as the Lu Empire’s vassal state and become an empire in its own right.

Zhu Lian wrote that if Wei Bo hosted a third Night Travel Banquet, he could collect half of the grain rain coins still required based on conservative estimates.

Apart from this, Bejeweled Hairpin Island’s Liu Chongrun had already signed a contract with them, choosing to settle down at Ao Back Ridge, where the water fortune was relatively abundant. However, the ancestral hall of her immortal force would remain at Bamboo Scroll Lake, lest she be targeted by the True Realm Sect. Of course, the dozen or so direct disciples with the best cultivation aptitude would all settle down at Ao Back Ridge to cultivate, with Liu Chongrun having already hired Mohist craftsmen and mechanists to construct a residence there.

According to her agreement with Downtrodden Mountain, this residence would be one with Ao Back Ridge, and unless she renewed her contract in three hundred years’ time, this residence would automatically become the private property of Mountain Master Chen Ping’an when she left.

Even though Bejeweled Hairpin Island was leasing Ao Back Ridge for three hundred years, it had only paid a deposit of thirty grain rain coins. Regarding the topic of immortal coins, Liu Chongrun had insisted that her immortal force didn’t have much savings due to their businesses being too small. Taking into account the cost to move and the cost to build relationships with various different forces, paying a deposit of thirty grain rain coins was already close to emptying out her entire savings.

In the end, Zheng Dafeng’s buffoonery had caused Liu Chongrun to reveal a secret intimately linked to her mortal identity. This was a very pleasant surprise.

This princess from a fallen nation was willing to help Downtrodden Mountain in secret, striving to regain that water residence and dragon boat. Neither of these items had been found and obtained by the Luminous Vermilion Empire. If they obtained both items, then Liu Chongrun was willing to give the incredibly valuable dragon boat to Downtrodden Mountain. If they only obtained a single item, regardless of whether it was the water residence or the dragon boat, then Ao Back Ridge and Downtrodden Mountain would split the treasure fifty-fifty.

Zhu Lian hadn’t agreed to this offer straight away, given that this matter pertained to the locally stationed heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire, meaning that conflict could arise very easily. Thus, Zhu Lian asked Chen Ping’an about this matter in the letter, querying whether they should accept the offer or not.

As for the new governor, Wei Li, hailing from the vassal Yellow Court Nation and the new provincial city god hailing from Steamed Bun Mountain, where the three rivers converged, Zhu Lian didn’t forget to mention these “unexpected” appointments to the Great Li Empire’s officialdom in the letter.

Zhu Lian wrote even more about the Liberation Rite of Water and Land and the Heavenly Worship Ceremony that had taken place at Bamboo Scroll Lake, describing everything in great detail, regardless of how large or small the matter.

In fact, he even wrote about the blind old Daoist priest and his two disciples settling down at Dragon Riding Alley’s Burclover shop, as well as their remarks.

In addition, Zhu Lian also wrote that Lu Baixiang had recruited two new disciples, a young girl by the name of Yuan Bao and her younger brother by the name of Yuan Lai. They were both decent martial arts talents, and when Chen Ping’an returned home, he could find some time to summon the two of them to Downtrodden Mountain, where they could then record their names in the genealogical records of Downtrodden Mountain’s ancestral hall.

There was also some information about seeking knowledge at the Great Sui Nation’s Mountain Cliff Academy.

The most important information was on the last piece of paper, pertaining to the spiritual energy of the Lotus Root Blessed Land. Following two large sums of grain rain coins being fed into the blessed land, several critical mountain roots and water veins had been significantly fortified and nurtured. After accomplishing this, they now needed to engage in a formal dialogue with the emperor of the Southern Garden Nation. Meanwhile, this mortal emperor was already showing signs of wanting to abdicate the throne and become a cultivator, and a new emperor would naturally need to make more concessions given the inevitable instability of his rule.

However, regarding these decisions that could genuinely affect the general direction of the small blessed land, Zhu Lian hoped that Chen Ping’an could personally provide an answer. That way, he, Zheng Dafeng, and Wei Bo could follow Chen Ping’an’s wishes to come up with a proper plan of attack.

Apart from these major and minor matters pertaining to his mountains, Zhu Lian also mentioned many matters relating to the world outside the mountains.

The Great Li Empire had promoted two generals of the heavy cavalry who had competed against each other to breach the Luminous Vermilion Empire first. Cao Ping and Su Gaoshan were both promoted to the position of military governor, a relatively new official position in the history of the Great Li Empire.

It was always said that this position was one that the late emperor had especially created to serve as a “pillar position” for meritorious generals of the empire. The Cao Clan was already a pillar clan to begin with, whereas Su Gaoshan now felt much more confident than before, enjoying an equal standing with the other pillar clans. It was rumored that the Great Li Empire would eventually appoint six military governors, with one in the capital, one at Old Dragon City, one in the former territory of the Luminous Vermilion Empire, and three at undetermined locations for undetermined individuals. There was no hint of who or where these three military governors would come from.

At the same time, turmoil was sweeping through many of the conquered nations, with people rising up and cultivators even going as far as to wantonly assassinate stationed officials of the Great Li Empire.

Apart from the heavy cavalry under Cao Ping and Su Gaoshan continuing to march southward, the third army of heavy cavalry started to slow down and eventually stop, with some staying in the former territory of the Luminous Vermilion Empire and some traveling north to quash the rebellions.

Some big and some small, there were a total of several dozen matters mentioned in the letter.

Chen Ping’an carefully read Zhu Lian’s letter twice before picking up Pei Qian’s letter, which only consisted of two pages.

She was simply boasting and praising herself.

She had made transcriptions earnestly, not accumulating any debt.

Her self-created Deranged Demon Sword Technique was progressing in leaps and bounds, clearly becoming the most paramount technique of paramount techniques.

Her relationship with Zhou Mili was also very good, and the small water monster had already become the right guardian of Dragon Riding Alley’s pastry shop. Pei Qian asked Chen Ping’an whether Zhou Mili should be promoted to Downtrodden Mountain’s right guardian when he returned home, but her question was giving away her guilty conscience, what with her remark that she wouldn’t casually promise Zhou Mili such a high-ranking position, and that she was a very fair a just person who would remain impartial despite her good relationship with Zhou Mili. Thus, her master needed to make the final call when he returned home.

She also talked about how extremely earnest Cen Yuanji was regarding her fist technique training, and this was as expected of a martial arts prodigy whom the old cook had personally picked out and brought to the mountain. However… Big Sister Cen had been concentrating far too hard when practicing fist techniques one time, so much so that she hadn’t paid attention to the steps and had accidentally slipped and fallen. Pei Qian claimed that she had coincidentally been walking past at the time, yet she surprisingly hadn’t managed to catch Big Sister Cen. As a result, she still felt a little guilty and uneasy even as she wrote this letter.

Thus, if Big Sister Cen mentioned this matter in the future, Chen Ping’an most certainly shouldn’t reprimand or punish his opening disciple. Pei Qian had definitely made this mistake by accident.

Chen Ping’an immediately knew that there was much more to the story than what Pei Qian had described.

She had definitely committed a punishable offense, and it was because of this that she was making an excuse for herself in the letter first.

Moreover, there was another point that Pei Qian definitely hadn’t noticed. She had written about many things that she had witnessed in Downtrodden Mountain, yet she hadn’t made a single mention about how many silver coins the two shops at Dragon Riding Alley had made. In Chen Ping’an’s view, she had definitely skipped a huge number of classes at the private school.

Chen Ping’an didn’t think much about this, especially since Zhu Lian was there to watch over Pei Qian. She most likely wouldn’t go overboard, and even if she did, he believed that Zhu Lian would inform him in the letter. Even so, he would still reward Pei Qian with a good number of knuckles to the forehead when he returned to Downtrodden Mountain. She hadn’t mentioned anything about her studies and academic progress in the letter, so how could this be regarded as studying in earnest? With Pei Qian’s temper, would she not brag and show off if she were praised by her teachers?

Pei Qian also mentioned in her letter that Big Sister Xiuxiu was no longer at Divine Elegance Mountain, and she had heard that Big Sister Xiuxiu was now cultivating somewhere else. Pei Qian felt slightly worried about Big Sister Xiuxiu, seeing that she hadn’t visited the Burclover shop to purchase desserts for a long time already.

She also wrote that a beautiful big sister called Sui Jingcheng had come to the mountains, and not only was she beautiful, but she was also astonishingly generous, not even batting an eyelid when she spent money. However, she was very poised as the opening disciple of her master, never asking Sui Jingcheng to buy her anything, not a single time.

At the end of the letter, Pei Qian wished her master a smooth journey and bountiful wealth, hoping that he could be happy and safe every single day. She also wished that he could return home earlier.

Upon reading this, Chen Ping’an felt slightly reluctant to punish her with knuckles to the forehead.