Unsheathed

Occasionally, Chen Ping’an would look at a well-worn snowflake coin and wonder to himself just how many cultivators it had seen. A thousand? Ten thousand? Was it possible that it had traversed across all nine continents of the Majestic World?

Song Lanqiao was fully focused on his conversation with Chen Ping’an. He had a feeling that the contents of their discussion could decide the overall direction of the Spring Dew Garden for the next century.

However, during their conversation, Chen Ping’an took a glance over at the wall, and Song Lanqiao instinctively looked in the same direction.

There, Cui Dongshan had grabbed onto either side of his chair with his hands, and he was swaying back and forth, using the legs of the chair as a substitute for his own legs as he slowly waddled forward in an unsteady fashion.

As soon as he noticed Chen Ping’an looking, he immediately stopped what he was doing, then pretended to look elsewhere as he began whistling in an inconspicuous display.

Song Lanqiao flashed him a polite smile before averting his gaze.

Is he retarded?! There has to be something wrong with him!

Chen Ping’an spoke with Song Lanqiao for over two hours, and both of them brought up many ideas for a potential future collaboration.

As the conversation continued, Song Lanqiao became increasingly comfortable and relaxed, and it was even becoming a rather cathartic experience for him as he was finally able to express some ideas that he had held for many years but had never had a chance to share. Furthermore, Chen Ping’an was very pleasant to talk to, never giving any absolute or overly concrete verdicts on Song Lanqiao’s proposals and ideas.

Instead, he mostly adopted very gentle and respectful rhetoric, such as “I didn’t quite understand that part. Could you please elaborate further, Senior Song?” and “I have some different ideas on this topic. Please have a listen to what I have to say, and if you have any objections to raise, then feel free to state them.”

However, just because Chen Ping’an wasn’t quick to jump to absolute verdicts didn’t mean that he was afraid of making decisions; he displayed a full willingness and readiness to take responsibility for his decisions.

Meanwhile, Cui Dongshan continued to waddle along on his chair the entire time, making lap after lap around the table. Thankfully, he ensured that no sound came from his chair as he engaged in his childish game, and before long, Song Lanqiao was able to cast him completely out of his mind.

By the time the conversation drew to a conclusion, there was no longer any tea left. Speaking with Chen Ping’an had been a very enjoyable experience for Song Lanqiao, and he would’ve loved to continue the conversation, but ultimately, he stood up to announce his departure.

He told Chen Ping’an that there was no need to escort him, and the latter smiled and nodded in response, accompanying Song Lanqiao to the door before instructing Cui Dongshan to see him off.

As Song Lanqiao made his way out into the walkway, a sense of foreboding instantly welled up in his heart as he found himself alone with Cui Dongshan, while Chen Ping’an was nowhere to be seen.

Cui Dongshan backed his way out of the room, then gently closed the door before turning to Song Lanqiao with a smile on his face.

Song Lanqiao’s own smile instantly began to stiffen.

However, before he had a chance to do anything, Cui Dongshan had already jumped up and slung an arm around his neck, then began walking forward while dragging him along.

“Well done, Brother Lanqiao! You offered some very interesting insights and ideas back there.”

Song Lanqiao was almost unable to suppress the urge to yell to Chen Ping’an for help.

With his heart full of fear and unease, Song Lanqiao tried to remain still and unmoving, but he was involuntarily dragged along by Cui Dongshan, and as soon as he took a step forward, he immediately knew that something was very wrong.

In the next instant, Cui Dongshan was already nowhere to be seen.

Song Lanqiao found himself standing amid a boundless expanse of white mist without any discernible landmarks around him. It was as if he had stepped into a dead small world. There was nothing but empty whiteness as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and as he began to walk, he discovered that he was standing on something rather soft and loamy, but it wasn’t any type of soil from this world.

He stomped down forcefully to try and figure out exactly what it was he was standing on, but the “ground” beneath his feet merely rippled and offered no answers.

He began walking forward in a tentative fashion. Around fifteen minutes later, he took flight. Two hours later, he had become so frantic that he had summoned a large collection of immortal treasures to try and blast his way out of this unsettling place, but the small world around him remained completely unaffected. A year later, he sat with his legs crossed and a hopeless look on his face, having already resigned himself to his fate.

All of a sudden, he looked up to discover a massive head. It belonged to Cui Dongshan. There was a smile on his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes, which were cold and uncaring. He slowly raised his arm, and only then did Song Lanqiao come to realize that he had been trapped in Cui Dongshan’s sleeve all this time.

In the next instant, he found himself standing in the walkway of the ship. Cui Dongshan was standing nearby with his hands tucked up their opposite sleeves, watching him with a faint smile.

Song Lanqiao almost erupted into tears of relief, such was his joy at being released from purgatory.

“My teacher told me to see you off, but I may have gone a little overboard and escorted you a little further than you may have expected,” Cui Dongshan said with a smile. “Make sure you don’t go telling my teacher about this. Otherwise, next time, I’ll be seeing you off for a decade or perhaps even a century. Perhaps that’ll teach you to keep your thoughts in check and not go around denouncing others as retards.”

“I’ve learned my lesson, Senior,” Song Lanqiao said in a fearful manner.

“You’ve grown accustomed to the abundant spiritual energy in the Spring Dew Garden, and you’ve then grown accustomed to the sparse spiritual energy on this ship, so why is it that you can’t acclimate yourself to the lawless place?” Cui Dongshan asked.

Song Lanqiao was stumped by the question.

As Cui Dongshan passed Song Lanqiao by, he patted the latter on the shoulder as he said in a meaningful and heartfelt manner, “Your mental cultivation is shoddy, and your golden core may as well be made from paper.”

Song Lanqiao turned to face Cui Dongshan, and this time, he extended an earnest bow of gratitude as he said, “Your words have truly enlightened me, Senior. You haven’t shown me the light at the end of the tunnel, but you’ve certainly pointed out the right direction for me.”

Cui Dongshan didn’t appear to have heard him at all as he knocked on the cabin door and asked, “Would you like me to bring you some snacks and tea, Teacher?”

Looking at Cui Dongshan’s side profile, Song Lanqiao felt as if he had just woken up from a dream spanning an entire lifetime.

Chen Ping’an opened the door, then pressed a hand down onto the top of Cui Dongshan’s head as he asked, “Has this disciple of mine been disrespectful to you, Senior Song?”

Song Lanqiao didn’t know what came over him, but he suddenly had the courage to reply, “He put me through a very grueling ordeal.”

“I see,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile and a nod.

In the next instant, Cui Dongshan was pinched by the ear and dragged into the cabin by Chen Ping’an, howling in pain as he went.

“Song Lanqiao, you ungrateful piece of shit! Just you wait! Teacher, I was just helping Brother Lanqiao in his cultivation! I didn’t show him any disrespect! Please forgive me!”

Song Lanqiao departed with a pleased smile.

***

After the ship arrived at the Skeleton Shoal ferry station, Song Lanqiao didn’t even turn up. Instead, he asked someone else to see Chen Ping’an and Cui Dongshan off in his stead, while he made up an excuse and left the ship altogether.

Cui Dongshan gently massaged his own chin as he looked around in disappointment.

After disembarking from the ship, the two of them made their way to Wood Garment Mountain.

On the way there, Cui Dongshan complained, “The first time Zhu Quan met me, she told me that you never mentioned me to her, and that you pretended not to know me. That really hurt me.”

“I’m certain I mentioned you to Sect Leader Zhu a few times, but she’s very busy as the leader of such a huge sect, and she also has to keep a constant eye on Malicious Ghost Valley, so it’s no surprise that she forgot,” Chen Ping’an explained with a smile. “Sect Leader Zhu is a very rare breath of fresh air in the cultivation world, and I have a lot of respect for her, so don’t go causing any trouble on Wood Garment Mountain.

“Also, make sure to be careful with what you say to Pang Lanxi. He’s a direct disciple of the ancestral hall that the entire Wood Garment Mountain has very high hopes for, so make sure you don’t go spouting any nonsense to him. I know that you’re actually a very measured person in spite of how you may come across at times, but you have to remember that this is Skeleton Shoal, not our Downtrodden Mountain.”

Cui Dongshan nodded in response as he cast a disappointed gaze toward Wood Garment Mountain.

With all these restrictions in place, this was going to be a rather boring stay.

It was quite a smooth trip to the entrance of Wood Garment Mountain. Chen Ping’an was familiar with most of the cultivators of the Flax Robe Sect, and he received a warm welcome from many of them.

Zhu Quan wasn’t on the mountain. She had already gone to Green Cottage Town.

However, Du Wensi had already returned to the ancestral hall and had gone into seclusion in preparation for a breakthrough. His chances of reaching the Nascent Tier were extremely high.

At the mention of Du Wensi, an amused grin appeared on Cui Dongshan’s face as he said, “That kid is a bit of a hopeless romantic. Apparently, Huang Ting of Peace and Tranquility Mountain once paid a visit to Malicious Ghost Valley, and she did so specifically to see Du Wensi, but she didn’t want him to misunderstand her intentions, so she told him that she would never marry in this lifetime.

“Du Wensi was heartbroken, but at the same time, he felt a little glad. Even though he couldn’t have the woman of his dreams, at the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about her marrying some other man. After some thought, he decided that the problem lay in his cultivation base.

“He felt like he would at least have some chances with Huang Ting if he reached a sufficiently lofty cultivation base. For example, perhaps he could pay a visit to Peace and Tranquility Mountain someday, and even better, maybe he could go on a journey together with Huang Ting.”

“It sounds like you know quite a lot, even though you didn’t stay on Wood Garment Mountain for all that long, either,” Chen Ping’an said with a chuckle.

“I had nothing else to do, so I wandered around for fun,” Cui Dongshan replied with a nod. “The people of the cultivation world are not so different from their mortal world counterparts. Everyone likes to gossip about relationships, and the funny thing is that some of the young female cultivators who have feelings for Du Wensi feel even more distraught than him on his behalf.

“All of them are badmouthing Huang Ting for rejecting Du Wensi, saying that she has nothing to be proud of aside from a lofty cultivation base, good looks, a powerful background…”

Just like most of the mountains that served as the home of immortal ancestral halls, there was a staircase leading straight up Wood Garment Mountain.

However, direct disciples were often permitted to fly their way up the mountain, and there were some mountains where flight restrictions didn’t exist even for ordinary disciples. Having said that, there was still a hierarchy system in place, where the more prominent figures of the sect customarily flew higher and took different routes than their lower-ranked counterparts.

There was no such system in place in the Dragon Spring Prefecture, firstly because it had only come into existence fairly recently, and there weren’t many people in the Dragon Spring Sword Sect and on Downtrodden Mountain, so such formalities weren’t really observed. In contrast, there were many rules and restrictions in well-established immortal powers like the Flax Robe Sect and the Spring Dew Garden, and this was a good thing in Chen Ping’an’s eyes.

However, just because rules existed didn’t mean that everyone stuck to the straight and narrow. The reason why there was so much internal conflict in the Spring Dew Garden was that the rules put into place didn’t truly resonate with everyone.

The Flax Robe Sect had Chen Ping’an’s earnest admiration in this regard. Everyone in the sect, from Zhu Quan to Du Wensi to Pang Lanxi, had different personalities, but they all possessed the same mindset and disposition, one that placed the sect above their own lives.

The ultimate pursuit for cultivators was immortality, yet all of the cultivators of the Flax Robe Sect were willing to lay down their lives for their sect. In times of crisis, all of the previous sect leaders who had come before Zhu Quan had always charged headfirst into battle and were willing to die before anyone else just to set an example.

The disciplinary elder of the Flax Robe Sect drifted down the steps as he descended before Chen Ping’an and Cui Dongshan, then smiled as he greeted, “Welcome, Young Master Chen, Fellow Cultivator Cui.”

Chen Ping’an noticed something rather interesting, which was that this disciplinary elder of the Flax Robe Sect seemed to have been very fond of Cui Dongshan, and he spoke to the latter as if he were greeting an old friend.

Could it be that Cui Dongshan had done more than just wander around aimlessly and eavesdrop on gossip on Wood Garment Mountain?

Otherwise, even though he had directly challenged Skeleton Wall City, surely that alone wouldn’t have been enough to earn him so much respect from the disciplinary elder. All Flax Robe Sect cultivators were battle-hardened veterans, and even for someone who appeared as mild and gentlemanly as Du Wensi, he had also fought in countless battles in Malicious Ghost Valley.

The disciplinary elder personally led the duo to the courtyard where Chen Ping’an had previously stayed.

It would still take around ten more days for the Flax Robe Sect intercontinental ship that traveled between Skeleton Shoal and Old Dragon City to return to the Northern Complete Reed Continent from its previous stop at Ox Horn Mountain.

Pang Lanxi and his great-grandfather, Pang Shanling, were already waiting by the entrance of the courtyard.

“Mr. Chen!” Pang Lanxi called out with a wide smile as he waved at Chen Ping’an.

Upon his arrival, Chen Ping’an immediately received a piece of good news from Pang Lanxi, who quietly informed him that he had secured two more sets of divine maiden mural replicas from his great-grandfather.

“What about the price?” Chen Ping’an asked in a hushed voice.

“You’ll get them for the market price,” Pang Lanxi replied with a smile. “No, I’m just kidding. You’ll get them for free!”

“Looks like Immortal Pang really does adore you,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. “Having said that, let’s go with the market price. Friendship and business should never mix, and it’s best to set clear boundaries between the two.”

Pang Lanxi was a little disappointed to hear this.

“We’ve only been separated for such a short time, yet you’ve already grown so distant.”

Chen Ping’an lowered his voice as he said, “Courtesies don’t cost anything. You extend me a courtesy first, then I return the favor, and from there onward, neither of us has to extend any further courtesies to one another.”

Pang Lanxi’s disappointed expression was instantly replaced with a wide grin.

He was constantly learning new things about all manner of different subjects from Chen Ping’an.

The three men sat down, while Pang Lanxi remained standing behind his great-grandfather as a gesture of respect.

Chen Ping’an cut straight to the chase, bringing up the subject of the Spring Dew Garden.

The disciplinary elder’s name was Yan Su, and he immediately sent a flying sword letter to another one of the sect’s Nascent Tier cultivators, a man by the name of Wei Yusong. He was technically a generation below Yan Su, but he was up there in age.

He was a senior brother to Pang Lanxi, and he was responsible for overseeing the sect’s finances, playing a similar role to Gao Song of the Spring Dew Garden. He was a short and thin old man, and he was very polite and well-mannered to Chen Ping’an and Cui Dongshan.

After Zhu Quan successfully made that small deal with the Ox Horn Mountain ferry station of Downtrodden Mountain, the first thing that she did was to go and have a chat with Wei Yusong. On the surface, it seemed like she was asking about Wei Yusong’s cultivation as the sect leader, but in reality, she had gone to seek praise.

After seeing through her intentions, Wei Yusong had been struck by a combination of amusement and exasperation, and he refused to give her even a single word of praise, much to her frustration and disappointment. When it came to Chen Ping’an, all Wei Yusong could say was that he had a positive first impression of the young man.

However, he had nothing but the utmost respect and reverence for Cui Dongshan, and the reason for this was very simple. After Cui Dongshan arrived on Wood Garment Mountain, he wandered all over the mountain for two days, then went straight to the Flax Robe Sect ancestral hall and dropped off a huge stack of blueprints.

In a very blunt and straightforward fashion, he pointed out the flaws of the Wood Garment Mountain mountain-protection formation, proclaiming that the formation was wasting the combat prowess of that group of heroic spirits. Based on his advice, the Wood Garment Mountain ancestral hall tasked an old guest elder who was a Mohist mechanist to carry out alterations to the formation in accordance with Cui Dongshan’s blueprints.

The entire project only cost just over a thousand grain rain coins, yet it was enough to increase the power of the formation by around 20%! The Mohist mechanist in question was extremely embarrassed and guilt-ridden over his own incompetence, so much so that he almost quit his role as a guest elder after making the alterations to the formation.

This had been a monumental breakthrough for the entire sect. Even an expenditure of ten thousand grain rain coins for only a 10% enhancement would’ve been worthy of wild celebrations for the entire ancestral hall, let alone a 20% enhancement for a tenth of that price!

Hence, all of the cultivators of the Flax Robe Sect’s ancestral hall had become extremely fond of Cui Dongshan, particularly for the fact that he hadn’t asked for any monetary compensation.

Instead, after dropping off the stack of blueprints and laying out some important points to take note of, he had departed without so much as a backward glance, resuming his aimless wandering all over Wood Garment Mountain.