Unsheathed

“Chen Ping’an, what do you think about Zhang Shanfeng’s fist technique?” Spiritual Master Fire Dragon suddenly asked.

Chen Ping’an faltered for a moment before replying honestly, “It’s a bit slow and yet to be refined.”

Zhang Shanfeng felt so awkward that he almost wanted to dig a hole to bury himself.

Master, you’re not trying to forcefully brag about your own disciple because you feel like Chen Ping’an’s aptitude is too impressive, right? You’re not trying to win back some face, are you?

There was no need for this.

Was Zhang Shanfeng not aware of his own abilities? He was a slow learner, and he realized that he was still far from strong enough after leaving the mountains to travel around and vanquish demons. Thus, Zhang Shanfeng decided that he would only leave the mountains again after his Dao power was strong enough in the future.

In any case, Senior Brother Yuan from Secret Profound Peak possessed good aptitude, and the little Daoist priests at Ground Lying Peak were especially fond of speculating whether or not their Senior Uncle Yuan was a Golden Core Tier immortal.

“Chen Ping’an, you weren’t wrong to pick the path of martial arts first,” Spiritual Master Fire Dragon said.

“I didn’t actually choose it myself,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile. “I had no choice at the time, and I would have died if I hadn’t practiced fist techniques to nurture my body. I would have also failed to embark on distant journeys and do anything else.”

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon nodded and said, “No matter what, only by treating yourself well can you genuinely afford to treat others well. You need to clearly understand this. Afterward, is there any need to question your own heart when you grace the world with good deeds and acts of kindness? My opinion is that this isn’t very necessary.”

Chen Ping’an pondered for a brief moment before smiling and replying, “I understand.”

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon recalled something, and he chuckled. “Since you’re so fond of overthinking things, also liking to stroll around Paddling Island and being able to assess a fist technique as yet to be refined, why don’t I tell you a short story? You can draw your own conclusions after you finish listening.

“A scholar was crossing a river with a boatman, with the former having read many books and poems and the latter not recognizing a single character. The scholar expounded many profound principles, causing the boatman to go bright red with shame and embarrassment. A huge wave capsized their boat, knocking the two people into the water. The scholar was drowning and on the verge of death, and only the boatman, who possessed but a single skill and had no other belongings, was contemplating whether or not he should rescue the scholar.”

“I’ve remembered it. I’ll make sure to mull over the deeper meaning of this story,” Chen Ping’an said.

There was a hint of a smile on Spiritual Master Fire Dragon’s face as he asked slowly, “Does there necessarily need to be a deeper meaning? It’s because of my cultivation base and status that you’re paying extra attention to my nonsensical musings.”

Chen Ping’an was just about to say something.

However, Spiritual Master Fire Dragon waved his hand and said, “I’m standing on the shore, so I need not listen to the answer of someone standing on the boat.”

In the end, Spiritual Master Fire Dragon flicked his sleeve and casually retrieved the green colored glaze roof tiles, drawing them into his large sleeve.

It was said that the sleeves of those atop the mountains were as vast as the heavens, allowing them to store mountains and rivers.

Chen Ping’an felt slightly envious. If he mastered this immortal mystical ability, then he would truly be like a fish in water when he became a wandering merchant again.

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon walked to the shore first. The talismanic boat was silently docked there, undulating with the movement of the water.

Zhang Shanfeng and Chen Ping’an slowly walked next to each other.

“I only have some shallow observations regarding your fist technique,” Chen Ping’an said. “Apart from your usual cultivation, remember not to stop practicing this fist technique when you return to Ground Lying Peak.”

Zhang Shanfeng smiled and asked, “Then can I be regarded as half a fist technique master of yours?”

Chen Ping’an replied with a single word, saying, “Scram.”

“Rest assured, I’ll help you push Secret Profound Peak’s Senior Brother Yuan to be a bit quicker,” Zhang Shanfeng promised in a quiet voice. “I’ll tell him to visit the Dragon Palace Small World as soon as possible. Senior Brother Yuan has a good temper even though his Dao power is very lofty.”

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon chuckled as he walked in front of the two young friends.

It was truly difficult to say whether his disciple, Yuan Lingdian, had a good temper or not.

This brat had been the most mischievous and unruly of his disciples in the past, with his cultivation base advancing due to his frequent fights. Spiritual Master Fire Dragon had forced him to cultivate in seclusion in a cave at Peach Mountain for ten years, and after he exited seclusion, he was grounded for another sixty years. Only then did his self-cultivation and temperament improve.

Chen Ping’an stood at the dock and watched the talismanic boat rise into the sea of clouds.

He planned to visit the Southern Fragrance Water Palace and thank Water Goddess Shen Lin.

However, he needed to ask Li Yuan for the directions first.

After waiting for a long time, Li Yuan finally saw that talismanic boat fuck off from the dock. He immediately appeared on Paddling Island.

A Dragon Palace Small World without Spiritual Master Fire Dragon was adorable and likable, no matter how he looked at it.

Upon hearing that Chen Ping’an wanted to visit the Southern Fragrance Water Palace, Li Yuan replied that this was an easy request, and he immediately channeled a water element mystical ability to travel through the water with Chen Ping’an.

He wasn’t so basic and despicable as to prevent Mr. Chen from exchanging goodwill with Shen Lin.

Shen Lin had diligently managed the Plenty River Summer Residence for many years, while Li Yuan felt like he had only been a tiny bit lazy in his role. Moreover, they both had their own responsibilities, so they wouldn’t actively cross the boundary into each other’s territory.

In reality, whether purposeful or not, Li Yuan’s “lack of interpersonal skills” and purposeful distancing of the Water Dragon Sect’s Sect Leader Sun Jie was the main driver allowing the Southern Fragrance Water Palace to strike a perfectly balanced private relationship with the southern sect’s Shao Jingzhi, with this relationship appearing especially valuable and causing Shao Jingzhi to feel a sense of gratitude. Even though she was at the Unpolished Jade Tier, she still paid respects as if she were a junior whenever she saw the Nascent Tier Shen Lin.

After they arrived at the summer palace, they faced no obstruction at all as they entered through the side gate.

Being the water official of the Plenty River was a very beneficial role.

In any case, those big sisters at the Southern Fragrance Water Palace all had a very good relationship with Li Yuan. They were all like a family, one big family.

The Southern Fragrance Water Palace had very strict rules and regulations, so Li Yuan’s slightly crude jokes actually enjoyed an even better reception here, with quite a number of subordinate deities and ghost maidservants with decent aptitude being most fond of listening to this young-looking water official talk about the romantic stories of the mortal world. The room would be filled with silvery laughter whenever Li Yuan covered those steamy scenes, and some of the more easily embarrassed women would shyly chide him after they finished listening with bright red faces, after which they would leave in a graceful manner. Tsk, their swaying hips would truly sway one’s mind.

Walking through the familiar corridors of the water palace, Li Yuan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, thinking that he would truly be living a great life if his godly body were still unblemished.

It wasn’t long before Shen Lin walked out to personally welcome the two visitors.

Li Yuan initially hadn’t planned to stay with them, thinking that his job would be over after he led Chen Ping’an to Shen Lin. He had planned to look for those big sisters to have a heart-to-heart discussion, asking them whether they had taken a fancy to any of the Water Dragon Sect’s young and talented cultivators, and whether they needed his help to pull some strings and surreptitiously set up a chance encounter or some small misunderstanding.

However, Mr. Chen said that he would return to Paddling Island after a short chat, so Li Yuan could only feel a deep sense of remorse as he temporarily pushed aside those steamy stories that he had recently heard and was planning to retell. In the past several hundred years, Li Yuan had retold and added extra embellishments to more than one hundred stories pertaining to those in the mountains and those outside the mountains, yet it appeared like the romantic stories featuring that bastardly Jiang Shangzhen enjoyed the best reception, something that was completely outrageous.

Chen Ping’an was holding a brick of specialty tea, a small gift without any lofty thoughts. In reality, it was nothing more than just a small gift.

There was nothing he could do about this, and he genuinely wasn’t able to find any suitable thank-you gift.

Even so, Shen Lin was still very happy, with her emotions not fake at all. Upon hearing that this was a specialty tea from the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, she further asked Chen Ping’an and Li Yuan to stay, personally brewing tea in the pavilion beside the flower garden. She also asked for Young Master Chen’s understanding, seeing that she was using his gift to entertain her guests straight away.

Shen Lin didn’t reveal her true appearance this time, instead using a mystical ability to cover up her severely fractured face.

Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but sigh with slight emotion as he drank the tea. She was clearly a deity, yet she was so good at dealing with people.

Shen Lin also had some thoughts at this moment. Looking at Young Master Chen’s temperament as he drank tea, this young cultivator who had enjoyed personal protection from Spiritual Master Fire Dragon was most likely an official immortal from a sect-level force or a noble descendant from a wealthy clan.

Chen Ping’an asked about refinement techniques pertaining to water elixirs, enquiring about how he could be less wasteful.

Shen Lin naturally wouldn’t keep any secrets, and she clearly explained several key points, allowing Chen Ping’an to benefit greatly. This was the difference between having a good teacher and not having a good teacher on the path of cultivation.

Perhaps vagrant cultivators could snatch many fated opportunities from official immortals, but how to digest these fated opportunities and treasures to obtain eventual success was another matter altogether. Whether one could digest eighty percent or one hundred percent was dependent on whether their immortal force had orderly inheritances and lasting Dao teachings. As time went on, many seemingly small differences could ultimately result in a difference of an entire cultivation base. If this pertained to the Dragon Gate Tier and the Golden Core Tier, then the gulf between the two tiers would be like the gulf between heaven and earth.

From the beginning to the end, Shen Lin didn’t ask a single question about Chen Ping’an’s identity or background. In fact, she didn’t even prod him for any information.

Chen Ping’an bade farewell and returned to Paddling Island after enjoying some tea.

Li Yuan once again led the way for him.

After arriving at his residence on Paddling Island, Chen Ping’an sat down on the cushion and started to plan out his cultivation.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan returned to the pavilion at the Southern Fragrance Water Palace and met with Shen Lin, who had yet to put away the tea set.

Li Yuan didn’t actually like to drink tea, but since Shen Lin had already brewed some tea again, he didn’t mind too much and started to leisurely drink the freshly brewed tea. This was ultimately better than drinking water, no?

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon’s visit seemingly made Shen Lin feel a lot more relaxed.

Li Yuan and Shen Lin casually discussed some recent matters pertaining to the mountains of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. For example, Ji Yue and Gu You both perishing in battle, the Great Emblem Sword Sect’s Liu Jinglong starting to cultivate in seclusion, and the female sect leader of the Refreshing Sect surprisingly having a Dao partner. Li Yuan was slightly frustrated when he talked about Sect Leader He, saying that it would have been amazing if this beautiful and ethereal woman had never been touched by a filthy man in her lifetime.

Shen Lin appeared slightly adrift as she looked at Li Yuan.

She was quite envious of this water official’s ability to laze around, entertaining himself in the human world even though he was a deity.

Over at Paddling Island, Chen Ping’an felt like, from now onward, he wouldn’t have free time for a single moment.

He had only completed the first step regarding the Dao intent contained inside the thirty-six gray bricks, having just barely managed to invite it into his mountain shrine to take root. Afterward, the most critical thing he needed to do was to comprehensively refine this Dao intent into his mountain root. Otherwise, the Dao intent would be nothing more than decoration. However, Dao intent was difficult to refine, requiring even more time than slowly moving those wisps of water fortune to his water palace. There was no shortcut to take, and he could only rely on slow and steady work to gradually refine the Dao intent.

Chen Ping’an performed some rough calculations, concluding that complete refinement of the first gray brick would take an entire month, given that he spent at least twelve hours every day refining it. Perhaps refining the Dao intent of the remaining thirty-five gray bricks would become quicker and quicker, but even so, it would most probably take two to three years to slowly refine all of them.

Carrying gray bricks up the mountains and moving water fortune into the residence were both long-term matters.

Fortunately, Chen Ping’an understood that his practice of fist techniques was starting to become slightly stale and ineffective, so he could now turn more of his attention to cultivation as a Qi refiner.

In reality, Chen Ping’an no longer needed to strictly practice walking meditation a set number of times each day. Instead, with his cultivation base on the verge of a breakthrough, he simply needed to go with the flow and maintain the flow of fist intent around his body. As for whether he could advance to the Vajra Body Tier as the strongest sixth tier martial artist, it wasn’t that he wouldn’t pursue this, but he simply wouldn’t go out of his way to do so.

He would accept it if he succeeded, and he wouldn’t be too disappointed if he didn’t. There was no need to go overboard with practicing fist techniques simply for the sake of obtaining some martial fortune to bequeath unto Pei Qian. After all, how could he teach his opening disciple if he ended up wandering down a stray path?

Since when had Chen Ping’an forcefully pursued martial fortune? If even he wasn’t forcefully pursuing it, then was it necessary for his disciple to take a shortcut on the path of Martial Dao? There was no such rule in the world. Pei Qian didn’t deserve these benefits simply because she was Chen Ping’an’s disciple.

Moreover, Chen Ping’an had a vague and indistinct feeling that it would be difficult for him to become the strongest sixth tier martial artist following the dissipation of Senior Gu You’s martial fortune. In reality, there wasn’t a necessary relationship between the martial fortune pursued by Chen Ping’an and the martial fortune bequeathed by Senior Gu You, but the matters of the world were sometimes mysterious and inexplicable in these kinds of ways. In any case, there were prodigious martial artists in all nine continents of the world, with each having their own experiences and fated opportunities. As such, would Chen Ping’an dare to claim that he was the purest martial artist?

Chen Ping’an no longer spent too much effort observing the scenery of the final barrier of the Eighteen Stops Technique.

There was also no hurry to temper the blades of First and Fifteenth, and to eventually transform the two flying swords into his bonded items.

Afterward, he would follow the old spiritual master’s suggestion while he stayed at Paddling Island, taking his time to properly refine the abundant spiritual energy accumulated in his three critical acupoints.

It was raining outside again.

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment before standing up from his cushion and walking out with his oil-paper umbrella.

The mountains and waters were the same as before, and there were still questions in Chen Ping’an’s mind for him to reflect on. However, Chen Ping’an felt like he possessed one good quality, that being, he was relatively good at enduring hardships as long as he wasn’t bewildered and was able to take that first step.

He slowly walked through the rain.

Making sense of one fundamental matter would allow him to make sense of a myriad of other matters.

He could push apart the clouds to see the clear sky and the bright moon.

There were many blemishes and significant shortcomings in his heart, but he could simply work toward rectifying these issues.

For example, there was the saying: For a good deed that is intended, there is to be no reward. But so what if there was no reward? Would a good outcome bestowed upon another person not be good anymore simply because there was no reward for the person doing good?

If he intentionally performed good deeds, yet he was truly unable to rectify and make up for those mistakes, not able to accumulate virtue and merit for those wronged souls, then he would search for other methods to rectify the mistakes. He had traveled around the mountains and rivers for many years, finding solutions and forging paths in the face of all kinds of challenges.

Chen Ping’an believed that noble people shouldn’t seek rewards when doing good deeds, so could he become a sanctimonious hypocrite and feel dissatisfied when he wasn’t rewarded for his good deeds? If this deeply hidden selfishness were allowed to manifest and grow, could he truly avoid deceiving and harming others in the future? At that time, the more so-called principles were placed in the basket on his back, the more he would be oblivious to his own obliviousness of proper principles.

He untied the knot in his heart.

His mind was able to relax, but the weight on his shoulders was hefty.

However, Chen Ping’an didn’t think much about this. He was still Chen Ping’an even if he wasn’t wearing straw sandals anymore. Enduring hardships was the one thing that all of the impoverished families in the world didn’t need to brag about. Only by being able to endure hardships could they enjoy good fortune in the future.