Unsheathed

Instead of traveling by flight, Tang Xi made his way to the Luminous Jade Cliff on a Spring Dew Garden talismanic boat.

From afar, Tang Xi spotted Chen Ping’an and his student picking up pebbles as they waded through the stream. It was certainly a serene and relaxing sight compared with the tense scenes back in the ancestral hall.

Chen Ping’an had heard that Song Lanqiao’s ship would arrive at the Talisman Water Ferry Station the next day, and he was content to wait with Cui Dongshan. The two of them returned to the stream, picking and choosing their way through the pebbles while Cui Dongshan told Chen Ping’an about his intercontinental journey.

At the mention of Skeleton Shoal and Skeleton Wall City, Chen Ping’an raised a question. He knew that Sect Leader Zhu Quan of the Flax Robe Sect was currently stationed in a small town, and he wondered if Gao Cheng and his forces would be able to eradicate that small town and remove that thorn in his side in one fell swoop if he really wanted to.

Cui Dongshan answered without any hesitation, telling Chen Ping’an that the answer was very simple. If Zhu Quan were willing to flee the scene, then of course she would be able to slip away and return to Wood Garment Mountain. However, given her personality, she was almost certainly going to fight to her death in Malicious Ghost Valley.

She would sacrifice both her life and the formation in Green Cottage Town to deal Skeleton Wall City a heavy blow and buy time for the next generation of Wood Garment Mountain to grow and develop, including the likes of Du Wensi and Pang Lanxi.

However, Cui Dongshan also revealed that Gao Cheng had some other plans for Zhu Quan, and that was why he was happy to maintain the status quo instead of declaring war.

“How do you know so much when you were only in Skeleton Shoal for such a short time?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile.

“Attention to detail is one of my few limited skills,” Cui Dongshan replied with a smile. “I have gathered a decent amount of information on Gao Cheng so far on this journey through the Northern Complete Reed Continent. Additionally, the Flax Robe Sect also helped me out, and I was able to obtain Gao Cheng’s precise birth date, eight characters, birthplace, and the feng shui of his clan’s ancestral grave.

“Normally, none of this information would be of any consequence. For any cultivator of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, even an Immortal Tier one wouldn’t be able to use this information to inflict any substantial harm upon Skeleton Wall City. Unfortunately for Gao Cheng, this information has ended up in my hands, and as a result, it’s become very much consequential.”

Chen Ping’an picked up a pristine white pebble before placing it into a makeshift pouch that he had fashioned out of the front of his robe, then said, “It was really quite shady of Gao Cheng to do what he did to Zhou Mili.”

“Indeed,” Cui Dongshan agreed with a nod. “I’d even go as far as to say it was downright scummy. Right now, Brother Gao has a brother. I didn’t bring him with me on this journey, but you should go and see him when you get the chance, Teacher. He’s quite a handsome boy, but he’s not the brightest.”

“Is he similar to Mr. Li’s scholarly attendant?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Cui Dongshan nodded as he explained, “I used one as practice, while the other was handled much more meticulously, so they’re a little different.”

Chen Ping’an hesitated momentarily, then said, “If it’s possible, I would like to ideally treat him as a real human being someday. Having said that, I’ll let you be the judge of whether that would be a good idea. I’m just telling you what I would like to see, but you don’t have to go out of your way to try and make it happen if it’s unfeasible.”

“The teacher’s wish is the student’s command,” Cui Dongshan said with a wide smile.

The two of them then fell silent as they detected Tang Xi and the approaching talismanic boat.

Tang Xi slowly arrived at the bank of the stream, then extended a respectful bow as he greeted, “Tang Xi of the Nightglow Grass Hall pays his respects to Mr. Chen.”

Chen Ping’an held onto his pouch full of pebbles with one hand as he waved at Tang Xi with the other, greeting Tang Xi with a smile as he emerged from the stream.

Cui Dongshan’s pouch was filled with even more pebbles, all of which were also of a greater size, so he was forced to grip it with both hands, giving him a rather comical appearance.

Chen Ping’an and Tang Xi walked alongside each other, and the latter declared in a direct and straightforward manner, “The Spring Dew Garden ancestral hall is a little concerned, so I’ve been sent here to see you. Please pardon my intrusion, Mr. Chen.”

“Tell Mistress Tan that she has nothing to worry about,” Chen Ping’an said with a reassuring smile. “My disciple and I will set off for Skeleton Shoal tomorrow on Senior Song’s ship, and you have my word that the two of us won’t cause any trouble for the Spring Dew Garden. Otherwise, we would be repaying kindness with ingratitude.

“I owe the Spring Dew Garden many favors, from this Luminous Jade Cliff to the Pi Fu Shop on Old Locust Street, and that’s not even to mention you and Senior Lin. Once I get to Wood Garment Mountain, I’ll try to put in a good word for the Spring Dew Garden with my acquaintances there.

“The Spring Dew Garden is on good terms with the Flax Robe Sect to begin with, and hopefully, I can do my part to further increase business dealings between the two. However, I’m just one person with limited influence, so I can’t make any promises on whether my words will actually have an effect. If it turns out that my words fall upon deaf ears, I hope you won’t turn me away from your Nightglow Grass Hall the next time I visit the Spring Dew Garden.”

Tang Xi was very relieved to hear this, and a hint of genuine gratitude welled up in his heart as he extended another bow and said, “I won’t forget what you’ve done for me, Mr. Chen!”

“Shopkeeper Wang Tingfang is doing a great job with the shop, so there’s no need for you to keep too close an eye on it from now on,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. “Otherwise, I’ll feel indebted to you, and Shopkeeper Wang will also feel very pressured.”

“In that case, I’ll leave it to Wang Tingfang,” Tang Xi replied with a nod. “But rest assured, if he begins to stray down the wrong path, I’ll be sure to whip him back into shape. He already has a very easy job. If he dares to slack off, then his integrity will need to be called into question, and my Nightglow Grass Hall will be to blame for failing to instill the correct values into him.

“If that happens, then the next time you come to my Nightglow Grass Hall for tea, I’ll start off by drinking three cups of wine as a punishment, and only then will I dare to drink tea with you.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and nodded in response.

Tang Xing was not one to dilly-dally, and with his objective completed, he bade farewell to Chen Ping’an and set off back to the ancestral hall.

As opposed to traveling at a leisurely pace on his talismanic boat, he flew straight back as quickly as he could.

Cui Dongshan didn’t utter even a single word the entire time.

“Looks like I command a lot more respect with you here,” Chen Ping’an remarked as he turned to Cui Dongshan.

“It’s only natural for a teacher to reprimand his student,” Cui Dongshan said in a serious manner.

Chen Ping’an chuckled in exasperation. “What are you talking about?”

The two of them strode over to the pergola, and Chen Ping’an sat down on the steps. Cui Dongshan sat down beside him, and it was unclear whether this was intentional, but he sat down a step below Chen Ping’an.

The duo had already piled their pebbles together, and at this moment, Cui Dongshan was leaning back, supporting his upper body with his elbows on a higher step as he cast his gaze into the distance.

Even though it was already autumn, the scenery remained as lush and green as ever. It seemed that for the Spring Dew Garden, all four seasons were spring.

Chen Ping’an rolled down his sleeves and pant sleeves, but remained barefoot. His shoes were in the pergola behind him, pointing at the bench.

Cui Dongshan’s hiking pole was resting diagonally against a pillar of the pergola.

A smile appeared on Chen Ping’an’s face as he mused, “Back when I was an apprentice at the dragon kiln, I looked at the soil everywhere I went, trying to see if it would be suitable for firing pottery. After becoming a traveling salesman, I began looking for money-making opportunities everywhere I went, trying to see where I could earn more money.

“Selecting the right soil is very important, and the pottery firing process is even more important. Regardless of how beautiful a piece of pottery looks before going into the kiln, it would inevitably be ruined if something went even slightly wrong in the firing process. The hard work of dozens of people toiling away for at least half a year would all go to waste, and that’s why Old Man Yao always insisted on overseeing the firing process himself.

“Even his most prized disciple, Liu Xianyang, was never permitted to take on such an important responsibility. Old Man Yao would stay up for entire nights, sitting on his stool, constantly watching the fire. However, one thing he often liked to say was that no matter how much care and attention he gave, once a piece of pottery entered the kiln, it was entirely up to the will of the heavens to decide the final outcome.

“In practice, this turned out to be true. The vast majority of the pieces that we produced ultimately became a part of the mountain of porcelain. At the time, what we were told was that these pieces of chinaware were to be personally used by the emperor, which was why even the slightest of imperfections was unacceptable.

“Back then, the concept of the emperor felt so distant and abstract, almost like a deity in the sky. Then again, back then, everything felt lofty and distant. The top of the old locust tree, the summit of the mountain of porcelain… Everything felt so distant and far away. Even the journey into the mountains to chop wood for coal felt impossibly far.

“At the very least, it was much further than the journey I had to undertake in order to pick medicinal herbs from the mountains as a child.”

Cui Dongshan had been listening this entire time in an absentminded manner, but he finally broke his silence as he said, “When I was locked in the pavilion and forced to read as a child, I had no sense of whether I was high up or not. I could only look into the distance through that tiny little window.

“Back then, books were the things that I detested the most. I have a very good memory that retains everything I see and read, so even though I detested the books, I had memorized all of their contents. At the time, I swore to myself that when it came time for me to find a teacher, I would be sure to find the least learned one possible, one with the fewest books in their collection, and one who wouldn’t try to restrict my freedom.

“That led me to the old scholar, who was just barely getting by in that shoddy alley. In the beginning, I thought I had found the perfect teacher to match my criteria, and it was only afterward that I realized the teacher that I had found for myself was much more learned than I had first thought. After that, I began traveling the world with the old scholar.

“Back then, he was still nowhere near the Scholarly Sage that he would eventually become, and we received a lot of ridicule, but we also encountered many true intellectuals. By the time the old scholar declared that he was going to write a book, we had already traveled a very long way. At the time, he had been extremely confident, declaring that if his book could be published, then it would sell at least a thousand copies, and that it was sure to be sold to other provinces and prefectures.

“He was speaking very loudly when he made this bold declaration, so I knew that he was nowhere near as confident as he was trying to come across, and he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.”

“She initially chose me because of Mr. Qi, so it didn’t actually have much to do with me,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. “It’s the same as why you were so insistent on becoming my student. You were only forced into it by the Scholarly Sage, and it didn’t have much to do with me in the beginning, either.”

Cui Dongshan wanted to say something, but Chen Ping’an waved a dismissive hand as he continued, “It may not have had much to do with me, but it still did have a little to do with me. At a certain moment in time, I was that singularity, a tiny one, but still one that served as an origin point to everything that followed. This is not something that’s unfamiliar to me.

“In fact, to me, there are even bigger singularities that encompass the entirety of many things. For example, after my father left and my mother fell ill, I became the sole and entire singularity. If I hadn’t done anything, then there would’ve truly been nothing left. Back then, the gate of Gu Can’s courtyard and the bowl of rice sitting on their table had also been an entire singularity in itself.

“If they hadn’t opened the gate to let me in, perhaps I would’ve found some other way to survive, but I definitely wouldn’t be the same Chen Ping’an sitting here and talking to you right now.”

Chen Ping’an closed his hand into a loose fist, then tapped it against his own chest as he continued, “When we become very attached to this world, our lives become an arduous toil that’s filled with hardship. Thankfully, I’m afraid of everything but enduring hardship. In fact, the more I have to toil, the more it feels to me like there’s proof that I’m actually living in this world.

“At least, I have to tell myself that. Otherwise, living will feel like an even more arduous grind. As your teacher, this is the one thing I’m superior to you in, but don’t try to learn it from me. It’s not that it’s a bad trait; it’s just that it’s simply not necessary for you.”

Cui Dongshan nodded in response.

Chen Ping’an leaned back, resting the back of his head onto a makeshift pillow formed by his folded hands as he asked, “Cao Qinglang is the reason why Pei Qian suddenly decided to pursue martial arts, right?”

Cui Dongshan gave an affirmative response.

Chen Ping’an had guessed that Pei Qian had begun studying martial arts, just as he had guessed the reason behind her decision.

“Once I see her again, I’ll tell her that it’s alright for her to miss Senior Cui, but she shouldn’t feel guilty over his passing,” Chen Ping’an said. “Ideally, she would nod and agree, but be unable to do it in practice, and I’m sure that’s going to be the case. Pei Qian, you, me… We’re actually all the same. We know all the principles, but we’re still unable to get over ourselves.

“After she grows up, she’ll feel a pang of guilt and sadness every time she returns home, but the older she gets, the better she’ll be able to hide it. For her, the bamboo building on Downtrodden Mountain will be a mental hurdle.

“She was able to overcome the mental hurdle she once had in the Southern Garden Nation thanks to her journey with Senior Cui, but now that Senior Cui is gone, a new mental hurdle has taken its place, one that she’ll never be able to overcome. Having said that, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have certain insurmountable mental hurdles in life that you can only sneak around.”

Chen Ping’an’s voice trailed off into silence, and Cui Dongshan turned to discover that the former’s eyes were closed, seemingly having fallen asleep.

Cui Dongshan also closed his eyes as he allowed his thoughts to wander, and all that remained was the ambient sound of the flowing water in the stream.

Feeling very secure and serene, Cui Dongshan also fell asleep.

Some time later, Cui Dongshan suddenly said, “How sad you will be to see Little Baoping and Pei Qian all grown-up is how glad Qi Jingchun would’ve been to see you grow up.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t say anything, and it seemed that he was still sleeping.

After a long silence, Cui Dongshan called out, “Master?”

“I’m here,” Chen Ping’an replied in a quiet voice.