Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an tucked his hands up their opposite sleeves as he cast his gaze into the distance, where Cui Dongshan and the others were looking out at the vast landscape in the south.

Bai Shou was standing beside Qi Jinglong, pleading with Chen Ping’an with his eyes.

Please handle Pei Qian for me, Brother Chen. You’ll have my eternal gratitude!

Chen Ping’an turned to Pei Qian and said, ”There’s an extremely important distinction between swordsmen and sword-wielding martial artists. The difference is like that between heaven and earth, so do not take offense at what Bai Shou said earlier.”

Pei Qian was in a really good mood right now, so what Bai Shou had said to her earlier was nothing more than water off a duck’s back.

”I wouldn’t dare to say that I’m all that accomplished when it comes to my fist techniques and transcriptions, but I’ve inherited at least a tenth of Master’s ability to stomach nonsense from others!” Pei Qian declared with a smile. ”How much stomach capacity is that? It has to at least be enough to easily fit three bowls of rice and two dishes, so it’s certainly more than enough to stomach whatever Bai Shou has to say!”

Cui Dongshan sat atop the city wall with an amused grin.

Chen Ping’an was the only one capable of making Pei Qian’s emotions swing so quickly and so drastically.

Most importantly, even through her joy and sorrow, she didn’t forget to commit everything Chen Ping’an told her to memory, including the things she couldn’t quite understand for now.

Cao Qinglang was also very relieved to see Pei Qian back to her usual self.

”You’re not going to say anything?” Qi Jinglong asked with a smile.

”Would she forgive me if I apologized?” Bai Shou asked.

”It’s hard to say,” Qi Jinglong replied with a smile.

Bai Shou was feeling very conflicted.

”What you said to her earlier isn’t what you need to apologize for,” Qi Jinglong said. ”In my opinion, nothing that you said truly counts as offensive. However, where you went wrong is in your mental state. While you did pay a visit to Downtrodden Mountain, you didn’t truly open your heart to the place and see what it had to offer. Otherwise, you and Pei Qian wouldn’t be so at odds with each other.”

”How was I supposed to see what Downtrodden Mountain had to offer when I got knocked out by Pei Qian as soon as I met her?” Bai Shou complained. ”Are you not aware of Brother Chen’s character? Even if you’re not aware, everyone else on the entire Sword Qi Great Wall certainly is. If Pei Qian inherits even half of what he’s capable of, then what’s going to happen to me? You’re so close with Chen Ping’an that we’ll inevitably have to meet them frequently in the future. Am I supposed to just hide from Pei Qian every single time?

“Look at her! She’s looking at me right now, and that smile on her face is the spitting image of Chen Ping’an’s! Do you not understand? Even though he scolded her earlier in front of all of us, that was all just for show! He’s still on her side! I’m scared that if I go to drink at his wine shop, he’s going to spike my wine with an entire jar of laxatives! Don’t tell me he’s not capable of doing something like that; he most definitely is!”

”It seems like you’ve really thought things through,” Qi Jinglong chuckled.

Bai Shou heaved a defeated sigh. Clearly, Liu Jinglong wasn’t taking him seriously at all.

Pei Qian skipped over to everyone, then declared to Bai Shou, ”Bai Shou, from now on, our sparring matches will be limited only to debates and simulated battles!”

Bai Shou was so relieved to hear this that he almost erupted into tears, just as Pei Qian had done earlier.

However, Pei Qian then turned slightly to ensure that her back was facing her master before flashing Bai Shou a smile.

Bai Shou instantly stiffened as if he had been struck by lightning.

Chen Ping’an rested a hand on top of Pei Qian’s head, and she immediately put on a jovial expression and said, ”You’re destined to become a great sword immortal, Bai Shou. Mr. Liu is truly fortunate to have found such an exceptional disciple like yourself. Once you become a sword immortal, I’ll be sure to visit the Great Emblem Sword Sect with my master and bring along several large bundles of firecrackers to celebrate.”

”Tell him what you really came here to say,” Chen Ping’an prompted.

Pei Qian cleared her throat, then said, ”I shouldn’t have been so aggressive to you earlier, Bai Shou. I apologize. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Bai Shou’s skin was crawling as he hurriedly replied, ”It’s fine, I don’t mind at all.”

The reality was that he didn’t dare to mind.

”My martial arts progress is coming along really slowly, and it’s probably going to take me quite a few more days just to reach the fifth tier, so I’ll wait a few more years before I ask for your guidance in the form of sparring matches, Senior Brother Bai Shou,” Pei Qian said with a smile.

”Didn’t you say we’re only going to do debates and simulated battles?” Bai Shou asked.

”We can discuss that another time,” Pei Qian replied with a grin.

Cao Qinglang was rather happy to see this. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one who was afraid of Pei Qian.

”Is it going to affect Bai Shou’s cultivation for him to be so timid and restrained around Pei Qian?” Chen Ping’an asked through his mind’s lake.

”Let’s just treat it as a necessary form of mental cultivation,” Qi Jinglong replied with a smile. ”Bai Shou has never been all that motivated to cultivate. He’s had a change of heart since coming to our sect, and he truly wants to learn swordsmanship now, but he’s still denying that he wants to learn, probably just to spite me. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing now that someone’s putting a bit of pressure on him. As a matter of fact, he’s been working extra hard in his cultivation ever since he heard that Pei Qian was coming to the Sword Qi Great Wall.”

”He’s a good kid,” Chen Ping’an said. ”I can tell that much just from the fact that he never even considered using his most lethal techniques that he learned on Deer Cutter Mountain, even after being humiliated by Pei Qian. Otherwise, I don’t think he would’ve been beaten back on Downtrodden Mountain.”

”Of course, my disciple isn’t going to be inferior to yours,” Qi Jinglong said with a smile.

”He’s still a little inferior,” Chen Ping’an argued.

”What about the masters then?” Qi Jinglong asked.

”You do realize I’m still a young man, right?” Chen Ping’an asked. ”Right now, I’m a fifth tier Qi refiner. If I were a hundred years old like you, I would already be at the fifteenth tier! That’s four whole tiers above your Unpolished Jade Tier! What do you think of that?”

”I think that’s very sound reasoning indeed,” Qi Jinglong chuckled.

”You’re far too kind,” Chen Ping’an replied, feeling a little embarrassed.

”Should we go to see my senior brother, or go to the Ning Manor first?” Chen Ping’an asked as he turned to Cui Dongshan.

”You can go to the Ning Manor with everyone else, Teacher. I’ll go visit your senior brother on my own,” Cui Dongshan replied with a smile.

Chen Ping’an considered this arrangement for a moment before nodding in approval.

”Senior Sister, please lend me a yellow paper talisman to give me courage,” Cui Dongshan suddenly requested.

At the moment, Pei Qian was feeling very perplexed.

Since when did master have a senior brother?

Chen Ping’an hadn’t had a chance to tell her about this. After all, it wasn’t really appropriate to include something like this in the letters that he had sent back to Downtrodden Mountain, and Cui Dongshan couldn’t be bothered to mention it, either. He couldn’t even recall if the guy’s name was Zuo You or You Zuo. As a matter of fact, if Chen Ping’an hadn’t mentioned him, Cui Dongshan wouldn’t even have been aware that such a mighty sword immortal was currently staying on top of the city wall, sitting there to show off his sword qi every day.

Pei Qian pulled a yellow paper talisman out of her sleeve, then handed it to Cui Dongshan as she asked, ”If he’s my master’s senior brother, then wouldn’t that make him my uncle-master? I didn’t even prepare a gift for him!”

Cui Dongshan put on a serious expression and replied, ”Your uncle-master is a really feisty guy! He has the words ’everyone owes me money’ carved onto his forehead!”

Pei Qian turned to Chen Ping’an with an inquisitive gaze, and the latter chuckled, ”Don’t believe his nonsense. Your uncle-master appears very cold on the surface, but he has a kind heart, and his swordsmanship is unmatched in the Majestic World. Make sure to show him your Deranged Demon Sword Techniques when you get the chance.”

Pei Qian was horrified by this suggestion.

”Master, have you forgotten about my leg injury? I can’t show Uncle-master my Deranged Demon Sword Techniques when I can barely even walk around without stumbling!”

Shortly thereafter, the two parties parted ways, and Chen Ping’an summoned his talisman boat to depart with Pei Qian and the others.

Without his teacher around, Cui Dongshan was free to do whatever he pleased, and he began walking sideways along the top of the city wall like a crab while flapping his sleeves up and down.

Before long, Cui Dongshan had arrived near Zuo You’s place of cultivation.

As usual, Zuo You was seated atop the city wall with his eyes closed, nurturing his sword intent.

He didn’t even bother to spare Cui Dongshan a glance.

Cui Dongshan sneakily approached Zuo You from behind until he was only about twenty meters away, then jumped up and began flailing his limbs, throwing a string of punches and kicks in Zuo You’s direction.

He then jumped to another spot and continued his assault, and as he sprang up into the air, he bent and touched his hands to his toes, executing an acrobatic maneuver that was surely extremely elegant and graceful.

Finally, he stood on one leg and struck a dashing pose.

As a mere Unpolished Jade Tier cultivator, he was able to fight the mighty sword immortal, Zuo You, to a tie. Surely, that was an unmatched feat on the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Zuo You couldn’t even be bothered to look at Cui Dongshan as he asked in a cold voice, ”Do you want me to cut you down with a single slash of my sword, or chop you up a few times?”

”Senior Sister, he’s threatening me! I’m scared!” Cui Dongshan wailed as he slapped the yellow paper talisman to his forehead, following which a look of realization appeared on his face. ”Oh, I forgot that Senior Sister isn’t with me.”

Zuo You reached out to make a grabbing motion, conjuring up a longsword with his sword intent.

He didn’t even want to draw his sword because the person behind him wasn’t worthy.

You can say that you can face the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and the Majestic World with a clear conscience, but you can’t say the same about my teacher! You were once my senior brother, but from that day forth, I became the senior brother of the Scholarly Sage’s branch!

”Treat your own junior nephew with a bit more respect!” Cui Dongshan yelled.

Zuo You rose to his feet.

As opposed to the mountainous presence displayed by the little Daoist priest when he stood up at the gate earlier, Zuo You’s rise was much more underwhelming.

Of course, it wasn’t because he was lacking in sword qi and sword intent. It was simply because his sword qi and sword intent were too aligned with the Great Dao of heaven and earth, to the point that they blended seamlessly into the world around him.

”Fine! Just kill me then!” Cui Dongshan challenged. ”I have important matters to discuss with you, but I guess you don’t want to hear what I have to say. You never cared about the survival of your senior and junior brothers anyway, so why don’t you just chop off my head and be done with it?”

”You can still talk even if I chop off your limbs,” Zuo You remarked.

Cui Dongshan could only look up into the heavens with a devastated expression.

In the next instant, Cui Dongshan was sent plummeting down from the top of the city wall by a longsword formed by pure sword intent, crashing to the ground several kilometers away.

”You should thank my junior brother that I let you off the hook so easily,” Zuo You sneered as he sat back down.

The old great sword immortal had already arrived by his side, and he smiled and asked, ”You sensed that phenomenon just now, right?”

Zuo You nodded in response.

If it weren’t for that, Cui Dongshan most likely wouldn’t even have dared to come and to see him alone.

”That is the innermost voice of your junior brother,” Chen Qingdu mused. ”You just can’t hear it because your swordsmanship is still lacking.”

”Why don’t you relay the message to me?” Zuo You suggested expressionlessly.

”I can’t do that,” Chen Qingdu refused with a shake of his head. ”If those words were to come out of my mouth, then all three worlds would be implicated.”

Earlier, Chen Ping’an had made a declaration to himself, but hadn’t verbally articulated it. Even so, just his inner voice alone was enough to trigger a slight phenomenon.

”How nice it is to be young,” Chen Qingdu mused.

Earlier, Chen Ping’an had declared internally, ”Please have patience with me, everyone. Once I become a tenth tier martial artist, I will strive for the eleventh tier, at which point I will raise my fists to the heavens beyond the heavens. Once I reach the Ascension Tier, I will raise my sword to the White Jade Capital!”

***

At this moment, the young man who had made that incredibly bold internal declaration was standing at the entrance of the Ning Manor with an awkward expression.

There had been two surprises, the first of which was that Ning Yao had come out of seclusion once again to greet Chen Ping’an and his companions.

The second surprise was that Pei Qian had immediately fallen to her knees at the sight of Ning Yao before kowtowing thrice in a row.

”Isn’t that going a little overboard, Pei Qian?” Chen Ping’an sighed in an exasperated manner.

Pei Qian ignored him as she greeted, ”Pei Qian pays her respects to her master’s wife!”

Chen Ping’an had to put on a stern facade to hide his approval.

On second thoughts, she hasn’t gone overboard at all. In fact, that was just right.

Chen Ping’an wasn’t the one who was feeling the most awkward. Instead, it was Cao Qinglang.

Extending a bow toward Ning Yao seemed a little inadequate, but he couldn’t just kneel and kowtow like Pei Qian, either!

Ning Yao dragged Pei Qian to her feet by the ear, but it was clear that she was amused.

She carefully wiped the dust from Pei Qian’s forehead, then carefully examined her for a moment before remarking with a smile, ”Even if you don’t grow up to be particularly beautiful, you’ll at least be decent to look at.”

Pei Qian was so moved that she immediately burst into tears, and she exclaimed in a sincere voice, ”You have such a good eye, Mistress! First, you chose Master, and now, you see the potential in me! I’m beginning to worry that Master isn’t worthy of you!”

Ning Yao took a glance at Chen Ping’an, and he immediately nodded and said, ”That is a very valid concern.”

Ning Yao then turned his gaze to Cao Qinglang.

”You must be Cao Qinglang. You look more like a scholar than your teacher.”

Only then did Cao Qinglang extend a respectful bow and greet, ”Cao Qinglang pays his respects to his mistress.”

Ning Yao gave him a nod of acknowledgment, then turned to cup her fist in a salute toward Zhong Qiu, who responded in kind.

All of a sudden, Pei Qian remembered something, and she carefully pulled out that writing brush and the iridescent cloud letter paper from her bag, then got up onto the tips of her toes and offered the two items up to Ning Yao with both hands.

She then beckoned for Ning Yao to lean down a bit so that she could whisper into her ear, and she said, ”I picked this letter paper out for you, Mistress. I had to go really far to find it, so far that I was worried I’d fall off Stalactite Mountain and into the sea if I went any further. The other thing was chosen for you by Cao Qinglang. It’s not that we didn’t want to spend more money, but we simply didn’t have much to spend. My cost three snowflake coins, while his only cost one snowflake coin, so mine is a bit more expensive.”

Cao Qinglang scratched his head, while Chen Ping’an and Zhong Qiu exchanged an amused smile with each other.

Ning Yao took a glance at the writing brush, and she was immediately able to extrapolate that this had most likely originally been intended to be a gift for Chen Ping’an.

She gave Pei Qian an affectionate pat on the head, then turned to Cao Qinglang with a smile and said, ”Cao Qinglang, you owe me a gift. Make sure to bring one next time.”

Cao Qinglang scratched his head once again, then nodded in response, while Pei Qian could only look up at Ning Yao with an astonished expression.

Mistress saw through my ruse right away! She possesses keener eyes than even several hundred Pei Qians combined! No wonder she was able to pick out Master from all of the people in the four worlds!

Pei Qian walked alongside Ning Yao at the front, chirping away incessantly, while Chen Ping’an and Cao Qinglang followed along behind them, and Zhong Qiu was bringing up the rear on his own.

”From now on, whenever you get some spare time, I’m going to need you to engrave seals with me,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile.

Cao Qinglang was naturally happy to accept this task.

While Pei Qian was busy talking to Ning Yao, Chen Ping’an secretly handed Cao Qinglang a small carving knife, then warned, ”This is for you, but make sure you don’t let Pei Qian see it. Otherwise, you’ll have to handle the consequences yourself.”

”I understand, Teacher,” Cao Qinglang replied with a smile.