Unsheathed

At the wine shop, it was also Die Zhang’s first time hearing about Chen Ping’an’s proposal to offer a bowl of yangchun noodles for free with each purchase of a pot of wine. After Chen Ping’an sat down, she said to him in a quiet voice, “I need to manage the business, and I’ll also need to make yangchun noodles in the future, so I’m afraid that I won’t be able to manage all this by myself.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “I’ve heard that the father of Kangle, that little boy, is quite a good cook and a fairly decent person as well. Even so, he’s struggled to find a stable job over the past few years. I’ll teach him a secret recipe for making yangchun noodles afterward, and he can become a long-term employee of our wine shop.

“Zhang Jiazhen can also work here as a part-time employee whenever he has spare time, and he can help around with the miscellaneous tasks and whatnot. That way, Shopkeeper Die can get some rest. In any case, their salary over a year won’t even add up to the cost of a single bowl of wine.”

Die Zhang smiled and nodded in response, appearing just as exuberantly happy as when she earned money.

Chen Sanqiu, Fatty Yan, and the others were already accustomed to this. These were the kinds of things that Chen Ping’an would consider and act upon.

However, Fan Dache felt slightly puzzled as he asked in a joking manner, “Chen Ping’an, don’t you find this troublesome? How have you achieved your current cultivation? Did it fall from the skies?”

“Hey, Dache,” Chen Ping’an called out.

“What’s up?” Fan Dache asked in a slightly nervous voice.

“You’re drinking together with so many Golden Core Tier seniors, and this small table is occupied by Sanqiu, Fatty Yan, Dong Huafu, and Die Zhang. Just how much face are they giving you? Yet, everyone here is drinking the cheapest wine. This doesn’t seem very appropriate,” Chen Ping’an said in a persuading voice.

Fan Dache wasn’t very willing to get ripped off, especially since there was still a fourth tier Qi refiner at the table.

“If my observation and guess are correct, then that young man holding a pot of wine just then is most likely responsible for the second trial. He’s also at the Dragon Gate Tier, but just how old is he? How humiliating would it be for you to lose?” Chen Ping’an continued in a quiet voice.

Hearing this, Fan Dache asked Shopkeeper Die Zhang for a pot of fine wine. However, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you so certain that there’ll be a second trial?”

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment before explaining, “Things would have been more difficult to guess if Sword Immortal Guo hadn’t grounded Lü Duan. Now, however, there will definitely be a second trial. The reason for this is very simple: Sword cultivators from the Middle Earth Divine Continent care most about their face. If everything proceeds smoothly, then the Sea Observation Tier cultivator responsible for holding the first trial will be Gao Yehou’s younger sister, Gao Youqing, correct?

“She’s only ascended the city wall one time, and she’s never been to the battlefield in the south. Gao Youqing’s aptitude is naturally very good, and in terms of combat experience and the destructive ability of one’s flying sword alone, Golden Core Tier sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall are far superior to their counterparts in the Majestic World.

“They naturally possess a noticeable advantage under the Golden Core Tier as well, but this advantage isn’t as big as you might think. In any case, there are many prodigies in the Middle Earth Divine Continent, and even though Jiang Guancheng belongs to the grand-disciple generation of one of the ten most powerful cultivators in the Middle Earth Divine Continent, and despite his master, Sword Immortal Ku Xia, traveling with them, he still doesn’t have much influence in the group of young prodigies. Taking this into account, Gao Youqing will lose in the first trial.

“That young man holding the pot of wine clearly isn’t the leader of the group either. When I attacked Jiang Guancheng earlier, his companions were all extremely worried and instinctively wanted to help. Even so, not all of them looked to Yan Lü for his opinion and instructions.

“From this, we can deduce that Yan Lü is nowhere near winning over his companions and becoming their leader. Since he isn’t the leader, would he dare to step forward and gamble with the face of all of the sword cultivators in the Middle Earth Divine Continent, recklessly participating in the three trials?

“There’s definitely someone else in Sword Immortal Sun’s residence, a leader whom they all accept and listen to. I surmise that this person is an extraordinary prodigy who’s young, has a low cultivation base, but possesses outstanding combat power. Just how incredible is this person? They’re so incredible that even the young prodigies who are one to two cultivation bases above them are willing to listen to them.

“In other words, this person is undoubtedly the mastermind behind the announcement, placing additional rules on the three trials. Sword Immortal Ku Xia has already visited the Sword Qi Great Wall before, so he wouldn’t be so bored as to come up with these ideas. That Nascent Tier sword immortal would be even less daring to do something like this.

“To put things bluntly, can these young masters and young mistresses truly be protected by just a Nascent Tier cultivator? With this in mind, we can indirectly infer that the young sword cultivator possesses an excellent mind, able to exert influence over both a senior Nascent Tier cultivator and a sword immortal.”

Fan Dache was astounded by what he heard, and he exclaimed, “Chen Ping’an, were you already aware of these people’s identities and backgrounds beforehand? Or did the Ning Residence receive some news from Stalactite Mountain?”

“Why don’t you guess?” Chen Ping’an replied with a wide grin.

Die Zhang rolled her eyes, wanting to remind Fan Dache that he definitely shouldn’t guess. That would be mentally exhausting.

“Many people are placing bets on this, so our plan is…?” Yan Zhuo asked.

Chen Ping’an shook his head and said, “Making money by betting on us losing would be quite vexing.”

“Based on this statement alone, this pot of wine was well worth the money,” Fan Dache said as he handed over a wine bowl.

“You borrowed the money from me anyway,” Chen Sanqiu added.

“Not bad, Fan Dache, not bad at all. You’re starting to learn from Dong Huafu,” Yan Zhuo praised.

Dong Huafu shook his head and commented, “He still isn’t as good as me.”

Fan Dache raised his wine bowl and said with a wide smile, “Then a toast?”

They all raised their wine bowls and downed their wine.

Chen Ping’an came across a man wearing Confucian robes when he returned to the Ning Residence by himself. This person was none other than Noble Scholar Wang Zhai.

Wang Zhai spoke briefly and succinctly, asking some questions about Sword Cultivator Huang Zhou and discussing the official inspection process at the Sword Qi Great Wall with Chen Ping’an.

Simply put, the two sword immortals belonging to the Hidden Official’s lineage were unwilling to look too deeply into Huang Zhou’s death, even though they were explicitly responsible for these kinds of matters. Moreover, there was no conclusion on whether Huang Zhou was a spy working for the demon tribe. At the very least, there wasn’t any concrete evidence.

Due to these factors, Chen Ping’an could escape punishment for killing Huang Zhou. However, the Hidden Official’s lineage definitely wouldn’t help Chen Ping’an prove his innocence, nor would Wang Zhai. Chen Ping’an would need to deal with any future criticisms himself. In the end, Wang Zhai stated that he would tie up the loose ends in the alley where Huang Zhou resided, providing some funds to support the elderly and youth. This only required some minor effort.

“Why are you being so impartial?” Chen Ping’an asked in curiosity.

“My master is good friends with Mr. Mao, and the two of them once traveled and pursued knowledge together. My master has always regarded Mr. Mao not being able to temper his knowledge at the School of Rites as a great shame,” Wang Zhai replied using his mind’s lake.

Chen Ping’an came to a realization, and he cupped his fists and bowed in response.

Wang Zhai had no option but to return the gesture. In reality, this wasn’t very appropriate, but given that his earlier intentions and actions might not have escaped the attention of the Hidden Official, as well as Sword Immortal Zhu An and Sword Immortal Luo Shan, returning this gesture wouldn’t matter anymore.

Wang Zhai suddenly smiled and said, “Mr. Chen, I heard that you personally composed and bound a book called the Seal Manual of the Hundred Sword Immortals, with one of the seals having the inscription: The sun shines bright during daytime, as the moon glows radiant during nighttime. I have a good friend who has the character ‘bright’ in his name, so this would be a perfect gift for him.”[1]

Noble Scholar Wang Zhai didn’t feel awkward at all about referring to the young man as Mr. Chen.

“I’ll give Yan Zhuo a heads up,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile. “Mr. Wang, you can feel free to collect the seal yourself if you don’t mind the feminine atmosphere of the silk shop. If this is too troublesome, then I can arrange for someone to deliver the seal to your study. This won’t require any effort.”

Wang Zhai smiled and nodded in response, saying, “Thank you for your help, Mr. Chen. It would be even better if there were a side inscription and signature.”

“That’s as easy as lifting a finger,” Chen Ping’an replied.

“Do you know why I’m willing to do this?” Wang Zhai asked. “After all, it would have been completely sufficient for me to remain silent, and I would have had a clear conscience even taking into account the friendship between my master and Mr. Mao.”

“I don’t know,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head.

“Not knowing is good. Very good,” Wang Zhai remarked with a sigh of emotion.

He bade farewell and took his leave, with his Confucian robes flowing in the wind.

Chen Ping’an returned to the Ning Residence, standing on the training ground for a brief moment and looking at Ning Yao cultivating in the pavilion. She was like a beautiful painting, even from far away, one that could bring joy and relaxation to one’s mind.

He returned to the small wing room afterward, continuing to craft and inscribe seals. He would definitely recompile and re-bind the currently crude Seal Manual of the Hundred Sword Immortals in the future. After all, this manual didn’t truly contain just one hundred seals.

The one hundred or so seals that had initially been on the small table had already been grabbed by Yan Zhuo and brought to his silk shop. They were now being treated as treasures of the shop.

Most of the seals currently on the table were uninscribed, with only a very small number of them having complete inscriptions.

To Chen Ping’an, inscribing seals was not only a way to calm his mind but also to review his knowledge.

In addition, how could he summarize his knowledge in a few characters or a dozen or so characters and give them away with the seals, which were simply crafted from ordinary material? And how could he encourage people to voluntarily and happily take these seals, perhaps even going as far as to pay for them? Was this a small task? No, it was actually a major task.

Looking back at the history of the Sword Qi Great Wall, many sages, noble scholars, and virtuous scholars from the lineages of the Etiquette Sage and the Second Sage had come and gone. In fact, some of them had even died on the battlefield to the south. Did these scholars, who possessed auras of justice and righteousness, not want to hear the sound of sagely scriptures being loudly recited at the Sword Qi Great Wall?

However, they each had their own hardships, challenges, and shackles, ultimately preventing them from truly promoting the teachings of Confucianism. Of course, Chen Ping’an didn’t think that he was capable of picking up this mantle, and he was simply doing what he could.

Chen Ping’an held a carving knife and slowly inscribed seal-script characters onto a seal: Observing Dao Temple, Dao Observing Dao.

Chen Ping’an initially hadn’t wanted to make custom seals for Dong Bude and her friends, but he had agreed to her request after seeing Ning Yao nod in approval.

It wasn’t the case that he could completely ignore some matters simply because he was aloof to them.

Of course, Dong Bude purposely making this request of Chen Ping’an in front of Ning Yao was also a reflection of her cleverness.

The characters inscribed on the fine jade seals were straight and proper, with Chen Ping’an placing extra emphasis on elegance and scholarly aura. Since this was a legitimate sale, Chen Ping’an would make a fair deal with everyone regardless of age or gender.

When they drank at the wine shop before, Dong Huafu said his older sister quite liked the seals, so she could help promote them in the future and attract more customers. However, the condition was that she received a share of the profits from Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an politely declined this offer, and Dong Huafu didn’t mind this decision. He hadn’t wanted his older sister to visit the Ning Residence so frequently, anyway, lest it give rise to vulgar rumors. If that were the case, then Chen Ping’an would be the first to suffer, and Dong Huafu would ultimately suffer the most. After all, if Chen Ping’an were scolded by Big Sister Ning, who would he vent his anger on if not Dong Huafu?”

He was well aware of how Chen Ping’an had dealt with Fan Dache, and Fan Dache had even felt quite happy after being beaten up by Chen Ping’an. Perhaps Fan Dache was stupid, but he most certainly wasn’t.

Dong Bude was indeed the direct daughter of the Dong Clan, and both she and her friends were very generous, upholding their promise and giving the leftover jade materials to Chen Ping’an as payment for his carving and inscriptions. Meanwhile, Chen Ping’an genuinely turned the leftover materials into extremely small seals, crafting a dozen or so and choosing to inscribe each seal with dense arrays of characters. In fact, one seal was inscribed with more than one hundred characters.

These small seals weren’t crafted from ordinary jade. The jade provided by Dong Bude and her friends was Frost Jade, a jade extremely famous among immortal materials. In addition, Chen Ping’an had needed to employ Fifteenth to inscribe the minuscule characters on the seal. He wouldn’t offer these small seals as gifts for placing a deposit with the silk shop; instead, he would sell them for one lesser heat coin. Bargaining wouldn’t be allowed, and the customers could either pay up or leave.

Perhaps the wealthy women who visited the silk shop at the Sword Qi Great Wall wouldn’t be able to understand the amazing nature of the inscriptions, so the seal, which seemingly had the same characters, “Observing Dao,” repeated three times, would most likely gather dust for a long time.[2]

Chen Ping’an picked up another blank seal, inscribing the characters: A perfect union under the moon and flowers, a couple as perfect as immortals.

Chen Ping’an shook the seal and blew over it, after which he weighed it in his palm with a look of satisfaction. With his exquisite craftwork and the auspicious inscription, he would change his surname if people didn’t fight over this seal.

Business at the silk shop couldn’t rely solely on female customers, and they needed to attract male customers as well. That would be a reflection of his abilities as the second shopkeeper of the shop. And thus, Chen Ping’an whistled softly as he briefly contemplated this matter, after which he unhurriedly retrieved another blank seal and inscribed the characters: There lives a woman so beautiful that she put to shame the three lamps in the heavens.

1. This refers to the character 煜, which means bright, radiant, brilliant, etc. ☜

2. In Chinese, “Observing Dao Temple, Dao Observing Dao” is written as “观道观道观道,” with “观道” (Observing Dao) being repeated three times. ☜