Unsheathed

Prior to the summer solstice, Chen Ping’an spent virtually all of his time indoors, dedicating close to twenty hours a day to Qi refinement.

Ning Yao went a step further, going into seclusion altogether.

Fan Dache would visit the Ning Residence to train whenever he received a messenger flying sword from the residence, and if he wasn’t facing Chen Ping’an’s fists, then he would be facing Yan Zhuo or Dong Huafu’s flying swords. Chen Sanqiu wouldn’t spar with Fan Dache, as he was responsible for carrying him home.

Yan Zhuo and Dong Huafu both possessed their own swords, Purple Lightning and Elaborate Makeup, and once they unsheathed these blades, Fan Dache would suffer even more. Fan Dache could only grumble about his aptitude being too inferior, allowing him to only be greatly discerning but not greatly apprehending, and thus preventing him from breaking through.[1]

Chen Ping’an promised Fan Dache that these sword training sessions would conclude once he advanced to the Golden Core Tier. At that time, he could visit the wine shop and holler a few times to draw a successful full stop on the matter.

However, it wasn’t so easy for Dragon Gate Tier sword cultivators at the Sword Qi Great Wall to break through the barrier to the Golden Core Tier, and doing so would essentially be like a coming of age for them.

There was naturally a good reason why the Sword Qi Great Wall was home to the strongest sword cultivators in the world, also able to attract wave after wave of sword cultivators from other continents in the Majestic World to visit and temper their sword skills.

Indeed, practicing sword skills at the Sword Qi Great Wall was analogous to pure martial artists being fed fist after fist without reprieve, allowing one to build an extremely strong foundation at each and every cultivation base.

This signified greater barriers to overcome when attempting to break through, and it was as if the Great Dao were weighing heavily on the shoulders of the sword cultivators, preventing them from standing up straight.

If Fan Dache traveled to the Majestic World’s Stalactite Mountain, it would become much easier for him to advance from the Dragon Gate Tier to the Golden Core Tier. Of course, doing so would also mean a far inferior golden core, with the detriments far outweighing the benefits in the long-term.

Because of this, only earth immortals who genuinely had no hope of breaking through at the Sword Qi Great Wall would visit Stalactite Mountain to cultivate and try their luck for a period of time. After all, each breakthrough after the Golden Core Tier would imply extending one’s lifespan by hundreds or even thousands of years.

Cultivators below the Golden Core Tier were prohibited from going to Stalactite Mountain to cultivate, however, and this was an ironclad rule of the Sword Qi Great Wall. This was in order to comprehensively quash the lazy mindsets of the young sword cultivators at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Thus, many criticisms had still been leveled at Ning Yao for sneaking out of her home and secretly visiting Stalactite Mountain in the past, despite her incredible aptitude and the fact that she did not need to take any shortcuts.

However, Chen Qingdu, the old great sword immortal, had turned a blind eye to this, and A’Liang had secretly watched over Ning Yao as well, accompanying her to Stalactite Mountain’s Catch and Release Pavilion. The others had simply grumbled and griped, and none of the sword immortals would have actually stepped forward to block Ning Yao.

For the past few training sessions, Chen Ping’an teamed up with Fan Dache to face off against Yan Zhuo and Dong Huafu. They were free to use their flying swords, but they wouldn’t use the swords at their waists, with the four of them using wooden swords instead.

Moreover, the method of determining victory and defeat was very strange, with defeat going to the side whose wooden sword shattered first. A pile of wooden swords had been placed on the training ground, and almost all of them were used by Fan Dache, even with Chen Ping’an helping him and rescuing him countless times.

No matter what, Fan Dache was finally able to leave the Ning Residence on his own two legs. Before going home each time, he would make sure to purchase and drink a pot of the cheapest wine at the wine shop.

Chen Sanqiu would also chat with Fan Dache about the positives and negatives of the training sessions, as well as the flaws that were present in Fan Dache’s attacks. Fan Dache’s eyes would glimmer as he drank wine and listened to his good friend’s careful guidance.

Fan Dache felt even more giddy with anticipation when Chen Ping’an suggested that the four of them team up to spar with Sword Immortal Nalan Yexing.

Apart from gradually selling one hundred or so sword immortal seals, Yan Zhuo’s silk shop also started to promote a newly published book, the Seal Manual of the Hundred Sword Immortals.

At the same time, customers could also receive bamboo fans as a free gift now, although some of the seals affixed to these fans would be privately collected stamps not included in the Seal Manual of the Hundred Sword Immortals. The bamboo fans were crafted from ordinary materials, and the only things unique about them were the poems and seals.

Similar to how the restaurants and wine shops were forced by Die Zhang’s wine shop to put up couplets and horizontal scrolls, the various silk shops at the Sword Qi Great Wall were now forced by Yan Zhuo’s silk shop to offer fans and other small and exquisite make-up trinkets for free.

However, the customers — especially the wealthy women from large clans who weren’t short on money — seemingly didn’t rate the other silk shops. In reality, they didn’t necessarily fancy the seals and folding fans offered by Yan Zhuo’s silk shop, but even Li Cai and several other female sword immortals, as well as many women from large clans, patronized his shop, so how could these wealthy women possibly allow others to perceive them as having inferior taste?

Not only that, but some wealthy men who usually possessed poor emotional intelligence surprisingly visited Yan Zhuo’s silk shop or instructed their subordinates to visit, almost as if they had drunk some kind of hypnotic wine at Die Zhang’s wine shop. They would purchase exquisitely beautiful but functionally useless lengths of fabric, gifting these to their wives or mistresses along with the fans they would receive for free.

Many women actually felt their husbands had overpaid for the fabric, but they could only say they liked the present when they saw the expectant looks on their husbands’ often rigid, emotionless faces. Afterward, when the scorching heat of summer arrived, these women could open their folding fans to invite some cool relief.

Looking at the beautiful characters of the fans, those who didn’t understand the poems could turn to those beside them and softly inquire about the meaning, while those who understood the poems would feel genuine satisfaction and admiration

After completing Qi refinement for the day, Chen Ping’an strolled around at night and visited the pavilion atop Dragon Slaying Cliff by himself.

Ning Yao was cultivating in seclusion now, and she hadn’t said too much before entering seclusion, only stating that this wasn’t for the sake of advancing to the Nascent Tier. In any case, she wouldn’t face any dangers.

Chen Ping’an planned to stay at the Sword Qi Great Wall for at least five years, and if the next large-scale war with the Savage World were yet to break out at that time, he would need to hurriedly make a trip back home to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. There were many matters to deal with at Downtrodden Mountain, after all.

Afterward, he would need to immediately make his way back to Downtrodden Mountain. Both the Sword Qi Great Wall and Stalactite Mountain were extremely strict about messenger flying swords now, and they could only be delivered or received after passing the strict examination of two relevant officials. This was extremely troublesome for Chen Ping’an.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t get the timing right and travel to Stalactite Mountain, where he could then hand the secret letters to the Fan Clan’s Osmanthus Island or Sun Jiashu’s Mountain and Sea Turtle. The two sides wouldn’t necessarily be breaking any rules, and the latter could help Chen Ping’an deliver his letters to Downtrodden Mountain after they arrived at the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

It wouldn’t be too difficult for Chen Ping’an to do this now, although he would naturally need to pay a small price. Otherwise, the rules established by the Sword Qi Great Wall and Stalactite Mountain would become nothing more than a huge joke.

Indeed, could he truly regard the sword immortals and Dao Lords as nothing more than useless props? Chen Ping’an wasn’t afraid of paying a small and necessary price, but he didn’t want the Fan Clan and the Sun Clan to become overly involved with Downtrodden Mountain beyond normal business.

They were showing goodwill and doing legitimate business with Downtrodden Mountain, so Chen Ping’an naturally couldn’t draw them into the many conflicts and issues surrounding Downtrodden Mountain before they even managed to earn any dividends.

Chen Ping’an descended Dragon Slaying Cliff and returned to the wing room in the Ning Residence. There had only been a single table with seals in this room before, but there was now an additional table with a geomantic map of the Dragon Spring Prefecture drawn by Chen Ping’an. The kiln supervision official would most likely feel quite displeased if he were to see this map.

This was because the geomancy map accurately depicted the locations of all the dragon kilns in the Dragon Spring Prefecture, regardless of size. There was the Star Leader Kiln, the Celestial Kiln, the Prosperous Scholar Kiln, the Thriving Martial Kiln, the Soaring Sky Kiln, the Exotic Flower Kiln, the Parasol Shade Kiln, the Paper Weight Kiln, the Ganoderma Kiln, the Flowing Jade Kiln, the Lotus Flower Kiln, and so on and so forth…

There were also two handwritten books by Chen Ping’an on the table, one recording the historical inheritances of the dragon kilns and the other detailing the history and backgrounds of the fourteen large families and clans of the small town. Everything was written in small, regular script, with the characters so densely packed together that the county office of the Locust Yellow County and the Ministry of Justice of the Great Li Empire would most likely be displeased if they were to see these books.

Chen Ping’an wrote much of the contents based on his recollections, while more than half of the secret records were secretly gathered one by one, little by little, through Downtrodden Mountain a few years ago.

Chen Ping’an held his hands inside his opposite sleeves, gently rocking back and forth as he gazed at the geomantic map.

Without turning his head, he extended a hand out of his sleeve and used two fingers to flip one of the books to a specific page. This page pertained to Sun Scorch Mountain, and Chen Ping’an took a glance before flipping the pages again and landing on a page pertaining to Light Breeze City’s Xu Clan.

These were all familiar people.

The relatives and ancestors of these individuals were all recorded clearly. Perhaps Chen Ping’an had an even better understanding of the genealogical structures of these clans and forces than the direct disciples and descendants belonging to these forces.

These two main books were nearing completion, but there were two subsequent books that were in the works and would contain even more characters and content. One pertained to the buying and selling of bonded porcelain at the dragon kilns, as well as some immortal forces in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent that had potentially been buyers.

Apart from the seemingly ordinary and lowly Ma Clan in Apricot Blossom Alley, the book would also touch on the lofty and wealthy Jade Forest Sect. And upon writing about the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Jade Forest Sect, it would be impossible not to talk about Xu Xuan.

After that, there would be records about He Xiaoliang, the sect leader of the Refreshing Sect, and this would in turn result in descriptions of the Divine Edict Sect, the paramount immortal force in the mountains of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

The second book recorded the many relationships between the large clans of the small town and the various immortal forces beyond the Jewel Small World, naturally drawing on and complementing the other book.

Chen Ping’an walked out of the wing room, only to see Nalan Yexing waiting outside with a relatively solemn expression, which also betrayed a hint of fury. This was because an unofficial disciple of the old man, the Golden Core Tier Cui Wei, a local sword cultivator of the Sword Qi Great Wall, was standing beside the old man.

A strong killing intent radiated from Nalan Yexing, and it was almost as if he were fighting the urge to kill Cui Wei on the spot.

Chen Ping’an immediately understood the situation, and he smiled at Nalan Yexing and said, “There’s no need to criticize yourself, Grandpa Nalan. I can tell you about a trial of self-reflection when you have free time in the future.”

Nalan Yexing nodded in response before turning to Cui Wei and saying, “From today onward, there will no longer be a master and disciple relationship between you and me.”

Cui Wei was expressionless as he simply cupped his fists in apology at Nalan Yexing.

As for what Cui Wei was actually thinking right now? He had managed to restrain himself and hide his intentions until now, so he definitely wouldn’t give away any clues.

Nalan Yexing disappeared with a flash.

Chen Ping’an carried two chairs over, and Cui Wei sat down before saying, “Mr. Chen, you have most likely guessed the situation already.”

Chen Ping’an nodded and said, “I was slightly suspicious from the very beginning, especially since your surname was far too eye-catching. Once bitten, twice shy, so it was inevitable that I would ponder more about this. My suspicions had initially started to fade after observing the situation for a long time, partly due to the fact that you’ve most likely never left the Sword Qi Great Wall before.

“It’s difficult to imagine that someone can endure and restrain themselves for so long, and I also couldn’t understand why you would be willing to pay such a huge price. With this in mind, will it be correct to say that the Dao mentor who truly led you onto the path of cultivation in the beginning was actually a Go piece that Cui Chan placed in the Sword Qi Great Wall a very long time ago?”

Cui Wei nodded and replied, “Mr. Chen, your guess is correct. Not only me, but all of the spies — whether they’re willing to accept this identity or not — experienced many subtle and unremarkable surprises on the path of cultivation.

“For example, Dayu Ridge Alley’s Huang Zhou. In fact, even we were kept completely in the dark at first, and our actions and speech were controlled only through extremely subtle means. Take me, for example. I willingly visited the Ning Residence to reveal my identity to you after finally learning one day an instruction that adhered to some secret command.”

Cui Wei was extremely direct as he continued, “I won’t reveal anything about the past even if you ask. Revealing them is meaningless, in any case, and my first Dao mentor already died on the battlefield to the south many years ago. I’ve come to the Ning Residence today to discuss a single matter: the secret letters you want delivered to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. You can leave the delivery of these secret letters to me. Of course, it’s up to you whether you trust me or not.”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and replied, “I naturally don’t trust you, and I won’t hand a single letter over to you. Rest assured, however, that you pose no threat and no benefit to the Ning Residence right now, so I won’t take any unnecessary actions against you. You’ll remain as Cui Wei in the future, and you’ll simply lose your status as the unofficial disciple of Nalan Yexing.”

Cui Wei, the Golden Core Tier sword cultivator, silently retrieved a pebble from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an accepted the pebble, which hailed from the sparkling stream in the Spring Dew Garden. This was a pebble that Cui Dongshan had grabbed from the stream.

Chen Ping’an placed the pebble in his sleeve and said with a chuckle, “Let’s avoid meeting at the Ning Residence in the future. We’ll try to meet at the wine shop instead, and it’s, of course, better for us to meet as little as possible, lest others grow suspicious. I’ll move your safety tablet slightly if I ever need you for anything.

“From next month onward, ignoring my drinking with my friends when I have spare time, I’ll subtly move your safety tablet first when I need to deliver or receive letters. Afterward, I’ll only meet with you on the first day of the month. If everything proceeds smoothly, then the subsequent meeting can be pushed to the second day of the month, two months from the first meeting. If there’s an exception, then I’ll notify you during the first meeting.

“Generally speaking, sending and receiving letters at most two times a year is sufficient. Let me know afterward if you think there’s a better method of communication or if you have any concerns.”

“Understood.” Cui Wei stood up and walked away without saying anything else.

Chen Ping’an also stood up, but he didn’t see Cui Wei off.

Nalan Yexing appeared under the eaves and said with emotion, “I knew his face and his facade but not his true character.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “You should be glad that a negative variable has disappeared from your side.”

As for putting in a good word for Cui Wei or, conversely, helping Nalan Yexing scold Cui Wei, there was no need for either.

Nalan Yexing smiled wryly and sighed with emotion.

Chen Ping’an walked to the wing room opposite them with Nalan Yexing, and the old man retrieved two pots of wine. It was okay, even if there was no food to enjoy with the wine.

Nalan Yexing listened to Chen Ping’an roughly recount his trial of self-reflection at Bamboo Scroll Lake. There was no need to delve into the details, and the main purpose of recounting this was to comfort Nalan Yexing, letting him know that it wasn’t strange to lose to Cui Chan.

As he listened, Nalan Yexing couldn’t help but drink an additional pot of wine, eventually asking, “How did you struggle through such a traumatic experience?”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “Grandpa Nalan, haven’t you already answered your own question?”

Nalan Yexing faltered for a long while before understanding Chen Ping’an’s response and breaking into hearty laughter.

1. This is a play on Fan Dache’s name, where Dache (大澈) means greatly discerning. This forms the first half of the idiom 大澈大悟, which means greatly discerning and greatly apprehending. ☜