Unsheathed

“Are you familiar with this old senior, Brother Wei?” the young man at the center of the trio asked with a smile.

“His name is Zhu Lian, and we came from the same hometown,” the dark-skinned man replied. “He’s a Far Roaming Tier martial artist, and at the moment, he’s serving as a steward in the Dragon Spring Prefecture.”

The young man was rather surprised to hear this.

A Far Roaming Tier martial artist? Why have I never heard of him before?

He was very familiar with all of the native Far Roaming Tier martial artists of the Great Li Empire as almost all of them had joined the military.

In contrast, he was much less well-versed when it came to Qi refiners, and that was entirely by choice.

He was a descendant of one of the Great Li Empire’s top generals, and he had been born on Chi’er Street, a street rife with descendants of generals like himself. He had never been very fond of cultivators, but he had always felt a natural sense of closeness to martial artists, the military, and the martial arts world.

His ancestors had all used their fists and blades to fight for the Great Li Empire and their clan, and he was proud to follow in their footsteps.

His name was Liu Xunmei, and just like his good friend, Guan Yiran, he sorely detested the leeches who resided on Yichi Alley and lived cozy and comfortable lives thanks to the accomplishments of their seniors. Liu Xunmei’s name had actually been personally given to him by Guan Yiran’s father.

Many of the profligate young masters on Yichi Alley and Chi’er Street were simply not cut out to do anything with their lives, so they were arranged safe and lucrative jobs in various offices by their seniors. These people all appeared to be big shots, and even their servants and maidservants all had to be cultivators, but whenever they set foot on Chi’er Street, they were always very sheepish and didn’t even dare to speak too loudly.

Liu Xunmei got down from his horse, then smiled as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Zhu Lian and greeted, “Liu Xunmei pays his respects to Senior Zhu!”

Zhu Lian hurriedly returned the salute with a smile of his own as he praised, “You’ve achieved a lot for a young man, General Liu. I’m sure you’re full of confidence whenever you offer up incense to your ancestors in your clan’s ancestral hall.”

Liu Xunmei was very amused by this interesting piece of praise, and he didn’t feel like it was rude at all for Zhu Lian to be speaking of his clan’s ancestors and ancestral hall.

With Liu Xunmei dismounting his steed, Wei Xian and the other cavalry quickly followed suit, but the young black-robed swordsman continued to recline on his horse as he nodded and remarked, “A very impressive Wing Formation Tier martial artist he is. It seems like your hometown has a knack for producing exceptional talents, Wei Xian, just like our Clay Vase Alley.”

The swordsman was none other than Cao Jun.

Technically, Cao Jun was a native cultivator of the Southern Whirl Continent, but the ancestor of his clan, Cao Xi, came from Clay Vase Alley.

Lu Baixiang had been trailing along behind Zhu Lian and Liu Chongrun this entire time, and he stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Zhu Lian.

Wei Xian gave Lu Baixiang a nod of acknowledgement, and the latter returned the nod with a smile.

After parting ways with Cui Dongshan, Wei Xian had joined the Great Li Empire military and become an accompanying cultivator for the Great Li Empire’s cavalry. Through the weight of his accolades on the battlefield, he had earned himself the position of corps commander, but he had essentially already been promoted to the position of battalion commander, and all he was waiting on was an order from the Ministry of War to make the promotion official.

Of course, if he were willing to personally lead troops in battle, then he would immediately be promoted to a sixth-rank general, and he would have over a thousand men under his command.

A battalion commander of the Great Li Empire was likely the most precious battalion commander in the Majestic World. They were exempted from having to salute all generals below the third rank that they encountered. If they were in the mood, they could cup their fist in a simple salute, but if they didn’t want to, they could simply do nothing.

Cao Jun had always been Wei Xian’s direct superior. In light of his battlefield accolades, he had been put in charge of all of the accompanying cultivators of a ten-thousand-man cavalry unit. Even though Wei Xian was only a battalion commander, in a way, he was like Cao Jun’s assistant. According to the perpetually lackadaisical Cao Jun, it was always best not to think if thinking could be avoided, so when it came to troublesome matters like planning the deployment of troops, he always liked to thrust those duties upon Wei Xian.

Even though Wei Xian claimed to be a Militarian cultivator, he was more like a pure martial artist, and in the beginning, his leadership was met with disdain and skepticism. Everyone assumed that he had come from a privileged background and had been sent to join the military to shamelessly secure cheap accolades now that the war to conquer the continent was wrapping up.

However, it only took a few battles for those dissenting voices to die down, and the reason for this was very simple: all of the accompanying cultivators who had fought alongside Wei Xian in battle and should’ve died had instead survived.

The cavalry unit had prepared horses for Zhu Lian’s trio, and together, they set off for the location where the water palace and dragon boat were situated, which was only roughly a hundred kilometers away from the Miasma Ferry Station. The water palace and dragon boat were buried under a river, and the secret passage to reach them was extremely well-concealed. Only Liu Chongrun was privy to the secret techniques required to unravel all of the many mountain and water restrictions in place.

Otherwise, even if one could find the treasure chamber, they wouldn’t be able to enter the secret area unless they completely destroyed the water fortune and mountain foundations in the area. However, if they did that, then certain mechanisms would be triggered, and the water palace and dragon boat would be destroyed.

Liu Chongrun was astonished to discover that Liu Xunmei was a fourth-rank general of the Great Li Empire at less than thirty years of age.

Part of her surprise came from how rapidly Liu Xunmei had managed to progress up the ranks. For all military officials of the Great Li Empire, promotions could only be earned on the back of battlefield accolades. That was an ironclad rule, and perhaps those who came from privileged backgrounds would have a slightly higher starting point than others, but from there, they wouldn’t receive any preferential treatment as far as further promotions were concerned.

Additionally, she was also stunned by the depth and breadth of Downtrodden Mountain’s connections in the officialdom. Liu Xunmei’s presence here had to have been approved by numerous powerful generals in very lofty positions. Even if they weren’t generals on the same level as the likes of Cao Ping and Su Gaoshan, they had to have been just below those two in status.

Not only was Liu Chongrun perplexed by all of this, but even Liu Xunmei himself was also feeling rather confused. He had been instructed to come here by a trusted subordinate of General Cao Ping, and among this cavalry unit were two high-ranking spies from the Green Ripple Pavilion playing the role of overseers. From the looks of it, they weren’t present to ensure that Zhu Lian’s trio followed the rules. Instead, they seemed to have been keeping a close eye on Liu Xunmei instead.

There was a lot for Liu Xunmei to mull over here. Could it be that the newly appointed military governor, Cao Ping, was colluding with a certain high-ranking individual in the Green Ripple Pavilion to engage in corrupt practices for their mutual benefit? Was that why Cao Ping had chosen to hide behind the scenes and get his subordinate to take care of this matter?

But if he were doing something so brazen, wouldn’t he have a subordinate who was more loyal to him take Liu Xunmei’s place? If this arrangement went against the military laws of the Great Li Empire, then Liu Xunmei would be sure to report Cao Ping to the imperial court, even at the risk of his own life. The Liu Clan of Chi’er Street was not a clan that Cao Ping could easily silence.

Could it be that Cao Ping planned to hang his subordinate out to dry and use him as a scapegoat if the imperial court ever got on his case? That didn’t seem like something Cao Ping would do.

However, it was even more far-fetched to consider the possibility that there was someone so powerful pulling the strings behind the scenes that even Cao Ping was forced to do their bidding. Who would that person have to be? Was the imperial preceptor the one behind all of this?

Was it really necessary to be this secretive about a treasure when they had a guide to take them there?

The Great Li Empire’s forces had gathered up mountains of spoils on their southward march, destroying thousands of mountain and water temples in the process, and all of that had been done in accordance with the rules of the empire, so why should this be any exception?

Liu Xunmei was very curious, and he was hoping that he would get to live to find out the answer.

Liu Xunmei and Liu Chongrun were riding alongside each other, discussing the best route forward, while Wei Xian and Lu Baixiang were riding along close behind them, exchanging some small talk.

On the surface, Lu Baixiang was the most easygoing of the four picture scroll martial artists, seemingly able to strike up a conversation with anyone, while the other three barely spoke to each other at all.

Somehow, Zhu Lian had ended up bringing up the rear with Cao Jun, and the two of them were getting along extremely well. Before long, they were referring to one another as brothers, and they spoke about everything. Of course, for a pair of men like them, it was almost mandatory to talk about women.

Zhu Lian was a masterful judge of character, and he was making sure that everything he said was exactly what Cao Jun wanted to hear.

As their conversation continued, Cao Jun was quickly growing fonder and fonder of his new friend, and he was even tempted to leave the military and go to Downtrodden Mountain to become a guest elder.

————

After leaving the Refreshing Sect with his scholarly attendant, Cui Ci, Li Xisheng returned to a provincial city in the Sweet Wormwood Nation, which was a small and secluded nation on the Northern Complete Reed Continent, but it wasn’t a subsidiary of a larger nation.

Inside the provincial city, Li Xisheng bought a small house on a street called Cave Immortal Street, and there just so happened to be a household with the Chen surname living across from him. It was a wealthy household, but not exceptionally so. One member of that household was the same age as Li Xisheng, and he just so happened to also have the “bao” character in his name.[1]

His name was Chen Baozhou, and he was a hobbyist scholar with no official scholarly titles. He was very well-versed in musical instruments, Go, calligraphy, and art, and Li Xisheng often went out on journeys with him, but never to any faraway places.

In the past, Li Xisheng had journeyed all the way north from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent to the Northern Complete Reed Continent before choosing to settle here, and he was able to secure an official role for himself in the provincial education office through some connections. Prior to traveling to the Refreshing Sect, Li Xisheng would go to the provincial education office every day for work.

The provincial education commissioner was very fond of Li Xisheng for the latter’s impressive base of knowledge. Of course, for someone like the provincial education commissioner, who was renowned for being an upright and incorruptible official, there were naturally some special exchanges of “knowledge” behind his decision to assign Li Xisheng a role in his office.

On one occasion, the two of them had been sharing some drinks with each other, and Li Xisheng had surreptitiously left behind some “knowledge,” which the provincial education commissioner had secretly accepted.

The very next day, Li Xisheng became an official of the provincial education office.

In the beginning, Cui Ci had found this utterly shocking and inexplicable. How could his morally upright and honorable teacher do something like this? How could he compromise his purity as a scholar like this?

Li Xisheng offered no explanation to Cui Ci.

Upon Li Xisheng’s return to the provincial city, there was already no place for him in the provincial education office, and they had stripped him of his position for some menial reason, but that didn’t weigh on his mind.

On the way here, Cao Ci had asked Li Xisheng how long they would be staying in the Sweet Wormwood Nation, to which Li Xisheng had answered that they would be here for a very long time, at least thirty to forty years.

Initially, Cui Ci was a little concerned, worried that they would have to stay here for several centuries, so the answer of just thirty to forty years came as quite a relief to him.

After all, neither he nor his teacher were mortals.

On this day, Li Xisheng once again unfurled an enchanted picture scroll to inspect its contents.

Cui Ci knew his teacher’s habits, and he began burning fragrant incense off to the side. Li Xisheng didn’t actually have a habit of burning incense, but Cui Ci enjoyed it, and Li Xisheng saw no reason to stop him.

Illustrated on the picture scroll was an old teacher who was seated as he delivered a lecture. The old teacher was a virtuous scholar of Great Cormorant Academy, and the first few times, Cui Ci listened in earnest, but after that, he began to find the lectures very boring and repetitive. The teacher only espoused a single principle every single time, packaging it in different ways and meticulously laying out all of the smaller principles branching off the main principle.

Cui Ci found this to be very monotonous and boring. Anyone who had been reading books for a few days would understand these principles, so was there really a need for the old teacher to go into such fine detail about them?

It was no wonder that when Cao Ci later visited Great Cormorant Academy with his teacher, they came to learn that this old teacher was often made the butt of jokes for the repetitive nature of his lectures, and he was also seen as the least learned and competent virtuous scholar of the entire academy. Ultimately, his students were unable to bear him any longer, so the academy assigned him to this role, where he delivered lectures to cultivators through enchanted picture scrolls.

Not only was the academy aware that this was a completely pointless position, but even the old teacher himself was also likely aware that no one would listen to his repetitive nonsense. However, he still delivered his lectures for thirty years, seemingly enjoying the relaxing nature of the job. Occasionally, he would bring along a few books, stories, or copybooks that he enjoyed and pick out one particular phrase from those works before basing his lecture on that, essentially talking about whatever he pleased.

On the street that was filled with bookshops in Great Cormorant Academy, Cui Ci heard a bunch of stories of the past from the old teacher. Apparently, he had been extremely fortunate to have received the title of virtuous scholar back in the day, and his appointment didn’t actually have anything to do with his base of knowledge. At the time, the old teacher had been quite young, and he was invited to many places to deliver lectures as a newly appointed virtuous scholar.

However, everyone soon lost interest in hearing his lectures, and the invitations dried up very quickly. At the height of his renown, a piece of calligraphy or a set of couplets written by him could easily be sold for over a thousand taels of silver. However, just like his dwindling popularity, his works gradually depreciated in price over time, and in the present, even if his works were given out for free, there weren’t going to be many takers.

However, Cui Ci noticed that his teacher always tuned in to this particular old virtuous scholar’s lectures without fail. Even if the old virtuous scholar’s lectures were running concurrently with those of the nine unofficial disciples of the Refreshing Sect’s Sect Leader He, Li Xisheng would always choose to watch the former over the latter.

On the picture scroll, the old teacher sat down in the same spot that he had occupied for thirty years, and he adopted a formal posture, then cleared his throat before picking up a book that he had prepared. It was a travel journal, and after informing all viewers of the book’s name, the old teacher declared that the lecture for the day was going to focus on one particular phrase in the book, namely “The stove in the village had just been lit, while the flowers in the temple began to fall.”

After speaking in depth about that phrase in his usual pedantic fashion, a slightly awkward and embarrassed look appeared on his face as he raised the travel journal up high with both hands, as if he wanted all of the viewers to get a better view of its name.

Cui Ci couldn’t help but roll his eyes in exasperation.

1. The same bao character as in Li Baoping’s name. ☜