Unsheathed

All of a sudden, the room had gone completely silent with the exception of the sound of rustling pages. Doing business was the forte of all of the intercontinental ship administrators, and it was finally time for them to put their skills to use.

With the approval of Chen Ping’an, most of the sword immortals departed.

Li Cai, Ku Xia, Yuan Qingshu, Xie Zhi, Song Pin, and Pu He had all already returned to the Sword Qi Great Wall, but Mi Yu and Gao Kui stayed behind, while Shao Yunyan remained seated at the entrance.

Xie Songhua still had to personally ”escort” an intercontinental ship back to the Pure White Continent, so she was naturally also still around.

Of course, Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan had to stay as well. They were the ones who were going to have to deal with all of the business proceedings going forward, working with Shao Yunyan to do business with the intercontinental ships from the eight continents.

This was truly quite a significant deal for the Spring Banner Inn, and the outcome of the discussion that was about to take place would have an impact on hundreds of empires, sects, and other immortal powers across the eight continents of the Majestic World.

Chen Ping’an remained seated on the main chair, sipping on some wine brought to him by Mi Yu while patiently waiting for all of the administrators to read through the catalogs that had been presented to them.

In this moment, Nalan Caihuan was most likely the one in the room who harbored the deepest resentment toward Chen Ping’an.

Gao Kui had come here for only one purpose, and that was to kill her!

While she sorely resented Chen Ping’an, she couldn’t do anything, and her fear outweighed her resentment.

She felt as if she were sitting on a bed of nails, and her heart was filled with agitation and trepidation. Right at this moment, Chen Ping’an began communicating with her through her mind’s lake.

”Don’t worry so much. I can even tolerate doing business with all these outsiders, so I can certainly tolerate you. While it’s true that you’ve overstepped your authority on many occasions to make some rather shady deals, your contributions to the Sword Qi Great Wall cannot be denied. I promise you that the Nalan Clan won’t lose out on too much, and if luck goes your way, perhaps you could even reap some profits, but I can’t make any guarantees on that.”

Nalan Caihuan also made some promises to Chen Ping’an, and she felt like she had been very open and honest with Chen Ping’an, putting her sincerity on full display.

However, not only did that not change her situation, but her fears were only deepened because Gao Kui still hadn’t left the Spring Banner Inn. Instead, he remained seated nearby, sipping on some wine, namely some Bamboo Sea Small World wine as opposed to the immortal wine served in the Spring Banner Inn.

Nalan Caihuan took a moment to compose herself, then began reflecting on the events that had taken place thus far, closely scrutinizing every single detail to try and get a better grasp on Chen Ping’an.

Prior to this, she had never truly dealt with Chen Ping’an before. It was only after he became Hidden Official that the two of them made a deal for the first time, and that had ended on a rather unsavory note as Chen Ping’an’s deception had made her appear like a complete fool in front of Nalan Shaowei.

By gathering all those sword immortals in the Spring Banner Inn, Chen Ping’an was telling all of the intercontinental ship administrators that he could kill them all on a whim. However, that wasn’t the most potent threat that he had delivered. Instead, he had gone out of his way to dig up as much information about every single administrator as he could in order to tailor his threats to each administrator.

He was no longer even talking business or targeting the sects and backers behind the administrators. Instead, he was directly targeting the administrators themselves. For example, for Wu Qiu and Tang Feiqian, he had threatened to destroy their reputations alongside their private residences on Temper Mountain on the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

Killing them would be far too easy. Instead, his objective was to subject them to fates worse than death.

However, that wasn’t to say that death threats didn’t work. For some, like Jiang Gaotai of the Southern Winnowing Basket and Liu Shen of the Rainbow Raiment, Chen Ping’an had simply threatened them with death, and he would’ve been perfectly willing to follow through on his threat had the earlier conflict escalated any further.

There was no point for the administrators in talking to Chen Ping’an about their backers or threatening to no longer do business with the Sword Qi Great Wall. If anyone dared to stand up from their chairs, then they would become the sole target of Chen Ping’an, and he would do everything in his power to make their lives as much of a living hell as possible.

Perhaps threats of this nature wouldn’t work on many of the official immortals of the Majestic World. In fact, the more prideful ones may even turn on him completely.

However, all of the administrators present were more businessmen than they were cultivators, so these threats were very effective.

Of course, the true deciding factor was the books brought out by Mi Yu.

Without those, all of Chen Ping’an’s efforts would’ve been completely futile. Once all of the administrators left the Spring Banner Inn and Stalactite Mountain, they would never return to do business again, and Chen Ping’an would’ve accomplished nothing aside from ruining the business reputation of the Sword Qi Great Wall. Perhaps he wouldn’t be removed from his post as Hidden Official, but Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan would be put in charge of the finances of the Sword Qi Great Wall again.

With that in mind, Nalan Caihuan was feeling a little better, and she felt like she now knew how to deal with Chen Ping’an.

In terms of looks and disposition, Nalan Caihuan was undeniably a fine beauty.

Mi Yu took a glance at her, then shook his head with a hint of sympathy and disdain in his eyes before closing his eyes again.

This did not escape the notice of the bitter and resentful female Nascent Tier cultivator, and her mood was instantly lifted slightly.

After telling her that he had lied to her, Mi Yu seemed to have been intentionally refraining from looking at her this entire time. Whenever his gaze roamed over to the section of the room that she was in, he would always make sure not to look at her.

Why would he go out of his way to do this unless she had a place in his heart? Even Nalan Caihuan had once fallen for Mi Yu, yet despite her close proximity to him on the Sword Qi Great Wall, she was still unable to capture his heart.

Considering things from this perspective, the woman felt like she had outdone Nalan Caihuan.

She turned her attention back to Mi Yu to discover that he was staring out at the falling snow in silence with a hint of loneliness and vulnerability in his eyes, completely different from the cold and callous display that he had put on earlier.

The resentment in her heart instantly turned to sympathy. Her beloved Mi Yu was already an Upper Five Tiers sword immortal, yet it seemed like he was still being picked on by his peers in what was supposed to be his hometown.

Chen Ping’an had been closely observing everyone this entire time, and he couldn’t help but be impressed after noticing the extremely subtle yet measured shift in emotion from Mi Yu. It seemed that he was a natural womanizer. If his talents in attracting women could translate to cultivation talent, then he would surely have already reached the Ascension Tier long ago. Out of everyone that Chen Ping’an knew, perhaps only Jiang Shangzhen could compete with him in this regard.

Chen Ping’an decided that he was going to find an opportunity to seek justice for all of the poor women who were infatuated with Mi Yu. He would do so by giving Mi Yu a solid beating, one in which he wouldn’t be allowed to retaliate.

Xie Songhua was feeling a little conflicted. She wanted to escort Jiang Gaotai’s Southern Winnowing Basket, but Dai Hao had really been asking for it as well, and she couldn’t decide which one she resented more. Her gaze was flickering back and forth between the two, and the sword case on her back had been buzzing with hostility this entire time. All of a sudden, she found herself with too many personal vendettas to settle at once!

The administrators from the Pure White Continent had embarrassed her at every turn, and if she had permission from Chen Ping’an, she would gladly kill every single one of them. With that in mind, she couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Wei Jin and Yuan Qingshu. The administrators of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and the Southern Whirl Continent had been very cooperative thus far, giving the two sword immortals no reason to go after them.

Dai Hao could feel Xie Songhua’s murderous aura hanging over him like a palpable miasma, and he knew that his days were numbered if he didn’t do anything.

Thus, he tentatively asked through his mind’s lake, ”Lord Hidden Official, can you put in a good word for me with Sword Immortal Xie?”

Dai Hao didn’t even dare to look up at Chen Ping’an as he was speaking to him. While that could be considered a rather rude gesture, he simply didn’t dare to take the risk. He felt like if he were to raise his head now, then Xie Songhua would instantly separate it from the rest of his body.

”Do you still recall what Sword Immortal Xie said to all of you when she first saw you tonight?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile. ”Have a good think about that.”

She had declared that she would be personally escorting the poorest intercontinental ship from the Pure White Continent back to its home continent, and that if she failed to protect the ship in question, then she would accept the full brunt of the blame.

Dai Hao heaved an internal sigh of relief at this recollection.

”Thank you, Lord Hidden Official.”

Wei Jin had perhaps somewhat intentionally chosen not to travel with Li Cai and the others. Instead, he left on his own, and he was the last to leave.

”I’m going to escort Sword Immortal Wei for a bit,” Chen Ping’an declared as he rose to his feet. ”Mi Yu, you can answer any questions raised by our guests while I’m gone, and make sure to keep records of any changes in prices and terms that you reach through negotiation. Once again, I’d like to reiterate that all those who are sitting here today are businessmen, and that includes myself.

“When it comes to business, everything is open to negotiation, and your business acumen will decide how much money you get to make. The rules of doing business will also supersede my authority as Hidden Official.”

Chen Ping’an turned to the administrator of the Rainbow Raiment, Liu Shen, then the administrator of the Temple Bell, Liu Yu, and after calling out the two of them by name, he smiled and said, ”I’ll have to trouble the two of you to help keep records on your end as well.”

Chen Ping’an escorted Wei Jin all the way to the entrance of the Spring Banner Inn.

”I’m not really one to stick my nose into business that has nothing to do with me, but I have some questions that I’d like to ask you,” Wei Jin said.

”Sure, go ahead,” Chen Ping’an prompted with a smile. ”I’m very happy to be able to meet a sword immortal from my home continent on the Sword Qi Great Wall, particularly one that isn’t inferior to any of the other sword immortals here. I am being perfectly sincere when I say this; it’s up to you whether you believe me or not.”

”I may have really believed you if you hadn’t tacked on that extra sentence at the end,” Wei Jin chuckled.

”What did you want to ask me?” Chen Ping’an asked.

”None of the sword immortals from the Majestic World wanted to get anything out of tonight, so why did you insist on having them meet up individually with the administrators from their home continents? Isn’t that an unnecessary move?” Wei Jin asked. ”Actually, forget it, I’m sure you have your reasons. Let me ask you another question instead.

“When you invited all of the sword immortals here, you told them that you wouldn’t make them come to the Spring Banner Inn and make enemies out of all of the intercontinental ship administrators for nothing, but you never clearly stated how you were going to compensate them. However, you dared to promise all of the sword immortals that they definitely wouldn’t be disappointed. What exactly is the compensation that you have planned?”

Chen Ping’an hesitated momentarily, then said, ”To answer your first question, I just wanted to do my best to ensure that good karma comes to good people, and I also didn’t want to make the Sword Qi Great Wall owe any further favors. In terms of my own selfish motivations, I wanted to do a deal with the sword immortals that wouldn’t weigh on my conscience. As for the compensation that I’m planning, that differs depending on the person, and it concerns the private secrets of the sword immortals, so I won’t tell you the specifics.

“However, there’s one piece of default compensation that I plan to give to all of the sword immortals from the Majestic World that I invited to the Spring Banner Inn, and that’s that if they get the chance to return to their home continents in the future, each of them can take with them at least one Lower Five Tiers talent that has the makings of a sword immortal.

“If they don’t want to take anyone with them, then they’ll receive some other form of compensation. If they want to take one or two extra prodigies with them, then they’re free to do so as long as there are that many suitable prodigies available on the Sword Qi Great Wall.”

Wei Jin could only shake his head with a wry smile.

The sword immortals from the Majestic World, the intercontinental ships, even the prodigies of the Sword Qi Great Wall that were still yet to come into their own... The past, the present, the future; everything had been factored into Chen Ping’an’s calculations.

Wei Jin couldn’t help but wonder what the young prodigies of the Sword Qi Great Wall would be able to achieve if they were taken to the Majestic World.

As for the sword immortals that were going to be taking those prodigies to the Majestic World, regardless of what their personalities were like, all of them had dared to come to the Sword Qi Great Wall and were willing to lay down their lives here, so they would surely cherish these disciples from the Sword Qi Great Wall and be willing to mentor them to the best of their abilities.

Once these children grew up and began making names for themselves in the Majestic World, they would surely band together as friends and allies, and by extension, the sword immortals that mentored them would also band together.

Even if, in the worst-case scenario, the Sword Qi Great Wall were to fall, who was to say that these future sword immortals wouldn’t be able to erect a second Sword Qi Great Wall through their collective efforts?

With that in mind, an expectant smile appeared on Wei Jin’s face. He was very much looking forward to seeing that become a reality.

Looking at Chen Ping’an, Wei Jin couldn’t help but think back to when they first met. At the time, he had been nothing more than a timid little hillbilly who didn’t seem all that smart. Back then, his eyes had still been very clear and bright.

Wei Jin stopped in his tracks, then heaved a faint sigh before turning to Chen Ping’an with an inquisitive expression.

”You’re just an outsider; why do you feel inclined to do so much for the Sword Qi Great Wall?”

”My wife lives here!” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile. ”You don’t have a wife, so of course you don’t understand.”

Wei Jin shook his head in dismay, not wanting to discuss this subject. In fact, just the mention of the subject made him want to drown his sorrows.

As for where he was going to be sent to in the future, this was something that Chen Ping’an had discussed with him, and the old great sword immortal had also been present at the time.

Wei Jin didn’t intend to refuse. However, before he set off for the Circling Ascension Continent, he wanted to make some battlefield contributions to the Sword Qi Great Wall on behalf of the Divine Platform that were at least on par with Xie Songhua’s. Wei Jin didn’t have much of an attachment to the Wind Snow Temple, and that had been the case ever since his master left, but his master had passed the Divine Platform down to him, so he had to do something for it.

The older generation of cultivators that his master belonged to were all about keeping up appearances, so Wei Jin had to make sure not to disappoint his master. That way, he would at least have something to tell his master when he next visited his grave.

Wei Jin departed from the Spring Banner Inn, while Chen Ping’an returned the same way he had come from.

On the way back, he crouched down beside the skywell of a large courtyard, then scooped up some snow from the ground. He rubbed the snow haphazardly all over his face, then took a deep breath before making a tightly compacted snowball.

Shao Yunyan appeared behind him with a smile on his face and remarked, ”Sword immortals are renowned for their ability to kill without shedding blood; what you did tonight is very similar, Lord Hidden Official.”

”You’re far too kind, Sword Immortal Shao,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile and a shake of his head. ”It’s only thanks to the immense foundation of the Sword Qi Great Wall that I was able to pull this off. I do deserve some credit, but it’s nowhere near as much as people think. If either Yan Ming or Nalan Caihuan had been in my place, they would’ve been able to accomplish all of this as well. Neither of them is lacking in business acumen and calculation ability; the only thing that they lack compared with me is this jade tablet.”

”I disagree,” Shao Yunyan said with a shake of his head.

”If only everyone could distinguish between words spoken in earnest and words spoken out of politeness as you can, Sword Immortal Shao,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. ”It would certainly save me a lot of trouble.”

”If apologies need to be made, then Sun Juyuan and Mi Yu can take care of that,” Shao Yunyan said. ”As for monetary compensation, we can go with Yan Ming first, then Nalan Caihuan, then my Spring Banner Inn, or any other order; it really doesn’t make much of a difference. The only thing you need to consider is how the burden is shared. Are you going to have one party pay until they lose everything before the other two have to step in, or do you want the three parties to share the burden evenly?”

”Let’s share the burden evenly for now,” Chen Ping’an replied. ”If worse comes to worst, and the Yan Clan and the Nalan Clan lose everything, but the hole is still too deep to be filled, then you’ll have to sell the Spring Banner Inn.”

”That’s fine,” Shao Yunyan replied with a smile. ”I’m not afraid of losing the Spring Banner Inn; I’m just afraid of doing things without a plan.”

”What we have to do now is ensure that even after all of the administrators leave the Spring Banner Inn, they still can’t band together to form an alliance,” Chen Ping’an said. ”We cannot allow for a repeat of the situation where the patriarch of the Mountain and Water Cave stepped up to unite everyone. In order to accomplish this, we have to sow distrust and dissension among their ranks. We have to make them distrustful of their former allies and turn their backs on one another.

“Earlier, I was fairly vague with my threats, and I’m sure many of the sly old foxes inside are still not convinced that I’ll actually follow through on my threats. Unless I actually take action and hit them where it hurts most, they’ll likely continue to think that I’m just bluffing. Hence, I’m going to be doing some rather shady things, and I’m likely going to require your services for much of it. If you need the help of any sword immortals to carry out my instructions, then feel free to ask.”

”Setting aside your goals and intentions, I can’t believe the old great sword immortal has such high hopes for someone as snide and underhanded as you.” Shao Yunyan chuckled.

Chen Ping’an burst into laughter upon hearing this. ”Surely you didn’t need to be so blunt, Sword Immortal Shao.”

”I am only ever this blunt with those I consider my friends,” Shao Yunyan replied with a smile.

Chen Ping’an scooped up another handful of snow, then gently clapped his hands together to scatter it as he mused, ”Doing something and doing it well is always going to be more difficult than preaching principles and being a good person.”

From an outside perspective, someone who was lacking in principles would actually use many principles to justify their lack of principles, and for someone who enjoyed making money and was able to make money, they actually made a lot of sacrifices that they didn’t perceive to be sacrifices.