Chapter 1028: Peach Blossoms and Spring Breeze, a Cup of Wine

Chapter 1028: Peach Blossoms and Spring Breeze, a Cup of Wine

A village school nestled among mountains and rivers, with a babbling brook nearby where water splashed against rocks and clusters of lush green calamus grew.

Chen Ping'an, in his true body, lay on a rattan chair, holding a palm-leaf fan, resting with his eyes closed.

The path was cleared by clouds in the daytime, while spring lingered with the long stream under the night sky.

Zhao Shuxia stopped his walking stake practice and sat down on a bamboo chair beside the eaves.

He glanced at his master, who was lying down and waving the fan, and for no reason recalled a saying from Mr. Zhu: "The span of one's life is not solely determined by heaven; cultivating the body and nurturing the spirit can prolong one's years."

Chen Ping'an, still with his eyes closed, said, "If you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh. No need to hold back. But let me make this clear beforehand: don't let what happened today spread to Fallen Mountain, especially not to Little Mili."

Zhao Shuxia nodded, a broad smile on his face, but he still didn't let out a laugh, saving his master some face.

Honestly, the more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed. After all, when something like this happened to his master, even someone as honest and simple as Zhao Shuxia couldn't help but want to laugh.

Earlier that day, a young student's mother had come to the school. She was clearly a shrewish woman. She stood at the door, raised her voice, and told her child to come home with her and stop studying there.

At the time, the master asked her the reason, but the woman ignored him completely, just kept yelling her child's nickname. The little boy stood up timidly, looking both embarrassed and wronged.

The woman grabbed her child's arm and demanded the master refund the tuition on the spot. In truth, the tuition was already lower than the "market price" and much cheaper than in the neighboring village.

The master didn't get angry. He didn't say anything to the woman either, just wanted to say a few words to the child.

That angered the woman. She started pushing and shoving, and when the master merely raised his hand to block, she flew into a rage and swung at his face.

Recalling the day's events, Chen Ping'an couldn't help but smile wryly. "I suppose this is what the books call 'scholarly dignity in the dust.'"

Zhao Shuxia asked curiously, "Master, is it true that the Sage of Sages personally stipulated that ten strips of dried meat be the tuition for becoming a disciple?"

The implication, of course, was: did even a sage need money to teach?

Chen Ping'an smiled and nodded. "Absolutely true."

Zhao Shuxia hesitated, then couldn't help asking, "Master, why did you let that woman take her child away?"

Chen Ping'an opened his eyes, thought for a moment, and said helplessly, "Since I couldn't stop her, what choice did I have? It's not like I could start scratching her. This isn't a fistfight where whoever wins gets to call the shots."

Zhao Shuxia laughed so hard he couldn't close his mouth.

And so that child became the first student to drop out of the village school.

The school had only been open a few days, so calling it an inauspicious start wouldn't be an exaggeration.

He'd heard that the gossiping woman had been spreading rumors about the school and the master, making wild accusations and saying all sorts of nasty things.

Now, Chen Ping'an here had deliberately suppressed all his realms, divine powers, and aura, making himself indistinguishable from an ordinary mortal. That was why he hadn't heard Zhao Shuxia greet him earlier. And when Yu Huiting, a female cultivator from Snow Wind Temple, happened to fly past here and mistakenly thought Chen Ping'an was pretending to sleep in his rattan chair to ignore her, she'd actually wronged the Hidden Official. But even so, if Chen Ping'an had just glared at her back then, he probably could have scared off that meddlesome village woman.

Still, as amusing as it was, Zhao Shuxia sighed. He felt indignant on his master's behalf. How much fortune did it take to be able to study under the master? He'd heard that many Confucian academies nowadays wanted the master to give lectures, but he had politely declined.

Chen Ping'an gently waved his fan and chuckled to himself. "I remember the first time I met Wei Xian. It was in a place called Fox Village on the border of Daquan. We were in an inn, and the founding emperor of Nanyuan Kingdom had an eye for talent. The second thing Wei Hailiang said to me, right after we met, was 'Master, you have such a heavy kingly aura!' Oh, you think? Other than his capacity for alcohol, Wei Xian had an unparalleled eye for people. Lu Baixiang and Sui Youbian are far behind him."

Zhao Shuxia, after all, was neither Senior Sister Pei Qian nor Little Senior Brother Cui Dongshan. He couldn't keep up with such talk.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Chen Ping'an said two brief, halting lines for no apparent reason.

"Knowing things cannot be helped, yet accepting them as fate."

"The radiance of the moon and wind, in the end, is free and unrestrained."

Zhao Shuxia didn't understand, but he sensed that tonight, his master seemed... relieved? Especially at ease?

Chen Ping'an said softly, "Take that letter to Fallen Mountain. Remember to choose a secluded path through the mountains and waters, walking the stakes the whole way. On the road, take the time to appreciate how unusual a Fifth Realm martial artist's physique truly is. Once you reach Fallen Mountain, there's no need to rush back. Let Old Cook help you practice your fists. Use the second floor of the bamboo tower. Tend to your injuries first. If you find fist practice enjoyable, you can take a few more beatings. Best to steal a few more stances from Zhu Lian. That fellow likes to keep secrets. I bet he has plenty of aces up his sleeve that he's never had a chance to show. You're a sword artist too, and Zhu Lian knows swordsmanship. Up on the second floor, you can be shameless and ask him to show you a few moves. If you can break through to the Sixth Realm while you're in the bamboo tower, that's fine too. Don't worry about my daily needs. If you're worried about anything, worry about the fact that you're still a bachelor at your age."

Zhao Shuxia had just broken through from the Fourth Realm to the Fifth Realm here at the school. Since both were within the Body Refining realm, breaking through wasn't as difficult as going from Third to Fourth or from Sixth to Seventh.

Just now, the Daoist Wu Di, in that alleyway courtyard in Yongjia County, had asked Lu Chen about the verification of something: how did Zhu Lian's swordsmanship compare to Sui Youbian's?

Lu Chen had grinned and answered with just two words: "Not low."

Whether that meant Zhu Lian was only higher than Sui Youbian and not lower, or whether in Lu Chen's eyes as the Celestial Lord, Zhu Lian's swordsmanship deserved the term "not low," Lu Chen hadn't elaborated.

One should know that Lu Chen had written a book called "On Swords." Besides that, within the Jade Capital's Yushu City, he had borrowed a piece of land from City Lords Guo Xie and Shao Xiang to build a private study, which he named "The Studio for Viewing a Thousand Swords."

Those two deputy city lords were among the few great sword immortals of the Daoist sect in the Jade Capital.

And Zhu Lian had once let it slip that the first time he walked the martial world, it was as a wanderer with a sword. If anyone thought Zhu Lian was unskilled in swordsmanship, Chen Ping'an would never believe it.

Of the four from the Lotus Flower Blessed Land painting, it seemed that only Zhu Lian hadn't taken any formal disciples. One should know that Zhu Lian was already a Martial Artist at the End Realm. Leaving aside Sui Youbian, who had long since switched to Dao cultivation and wanted to become a female sword immortal, Wei Xian and Lu Baixiang, who had put more effort into the Body Refining path of martial arts, were only at the Far Wandering Realm now. Their fellow townsman Zhong Qiu was the same. Only Zhu Lian, after all these years on Fallen Mountain, seemed more interested in acting as the young mountain lord's steward, handling daily affairs. He was busy with a hundred tasks but idle only when it came to martial training. Chen Ping'an had no idea what was going on in his head. That was why they had arranged that fistfight in Nanyuan Kingdom's capital, choosing a day of heavy snow, where neither held back, just to have a good, decisive bout.

According to the "years of martial study," you, Zhu Lian, are sixty years older than me, Chen Ping'an. And I'm one realm higher in martial arts than you. That's fair game. Whoever ends up on the ground won't have anyone else to blame.

Zhao Shuxia nodded in agreement.

Indeed, in the thirty years since his master first left home, he had spent almost all his time traveling and in foreign lands. It wasn't Zhao Shuxia's place to take care of his master's daily life.

Zhao Shuxia remembered Zhu Lian once saying, "When we cannot be responsible for ourselves, it's hard to be qualified to be responsible for others."

As for the sudden letter delivery, it was because Chen Ping'an had just written a letter that day. He had originally planned to have Chen Lingjun take it to Fallen Mountain next time he came by, and from there send it to the Green Ping Sword Sect, addressed to Cao Qinglang.

In the letter, Chen Ping'an suggested that his favorite student, who seemed flawless in every way, take some time away from the busy work of digging the great river to go to Tianmu Academy and listen to Vice Headmaster Wen Yu's lectures.

Chen Ping'an never hid these matters, or certain private intentions, from Zhao Shuxia.

Zhao Shuxia asked curiously, "Master, do you seem to hold Headmaster Wen of Tianmu Academy in high regard?"

Chen Ping'an thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully, and said slowly, "How to put it? Wen Yu is very close to the image I have in my mind... of an ideal scholar. He has a strict moral character, a natural and unyielding scholarly spirit, sharp and incomparable. At the same time, he's very pragmatic. He has lofty ambitions, a meticulous mind, and is steady in his actions. And he always harbors a strong compassion for the weak. For these reasons, I think Wen Yu deserves to be called a 'pure and true Confucian.'"

Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Just as my master said, 'One who sets his will and practices it is a gentleman.' Wen Yu is exactly that kind of upright gentleman."

Perhaps infected by the change in his master's mood, Zhao Shuxia made a rare joke. "How does Headmaster Wen compare to Mr. Liu from the Taiwei Sword Sect?"

Chen Ping'an laughed silently. He gently fanned himself, looking leisurely, squinting with a smile. "They're different. I feel more at ease with Wine Immortal Liu. With Headmaster Wen, I feel a bit more constrained."

Zhao Shuxia was shocked. Hadn't his master been through countless storms? How could he feel constrained when interacting with someone?

Although Zhao Shuxia didn't belong to any particular peak on Fallen Mountain, the atmosphere there was open. Everyone spoke freely, and information was shared. No one was marginalized. So he knew that whenever his master returned from a long journey, he brought back a basket full of stories. But no matter how magnificent the events—whether experienced firsthand or witnessed—he rarely mentioned any one person so repeatedly. But here, at this school, he had brought up Wen Yu many times.

Chen Ping'an's first encounter with Wen Yu was on their own Wind Kite ferry boat. Though it was their first meeting and they didn't talk much, Chen Ping'an didn't hide his admiration for this academy gentleman in front of Zhao Shuxia.

For example, Wen Yu had a plan to use a certain mountain sect as a model. The primary condition was that the number of people in the Patriarch Hall must be odd. And before that, there would be a smaller internal meeting to determine whether certain important decisions needed to be put on the agenda. The number of people would also be odd, ensuring that there would never be a tie in opinions. That way, any decision put on the table, whether for or against, could be passed quickly. Regardless of the two subtly differentiated "inner and outer" councils, if anyone persistently dissented, they could explicitly request that their negative opinion be recorded for future reference, like an audit trail. At the same time, there would be a role similar to a "historian," with duties akin to keeping a daily record.

Chen Ping'an extended two fingers together, gently drawing a circle and lifting them. "Wen Yu said that the entire world is in a state of spiraling upward, like a ram's horn. This doesn't rely solely on strong individuals leading the way, but also on a stable yet flexible system. He believes that the quality of the world shouldn't always depend on the decisions of a small few. There needs to be a way for more people to be responsible for themselves. During this process, we can correct mistakes at any time. We shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes; we should be afraid of procrastination. Using a surface-level appearance of no mistakes to cover up inactivity. We should let every mistake and correction become a small step upward for the world. Over time, this becomes a path that anyone can walk. In this way, the academy first provides a verifiable template for the secular world. The more times a joint resolution is passed, the more cases there are to review, the more problems are discovered. Correcting errors is like correcting characters in a text; the base text gradually approaches a perfect edition. Eventually, the world will stabilize. But in this process, there will certainly be..."

Chen Ping'an sighed softly. "It takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to nurture a person. The task is heavy and the road is long."

Zhao Shuxia said shamefacedly, "Master, is this like casting pearls before swine?"

Chen Ping'an asked with a smile, "Do you find it annoying?"

Zhao Shuxia shook his head. "Of course not."

Chen Ping'an nodded. "When we know more 'whys,' we become more patient and level-headed. When a person can be calm and composed, it means their cultivation of the mind has borne fruit. Later, when they encounter difficulties, they won't easily speak in anger or say harsh things."

All the teachings of the three religions and hundred schools seem to focus on the word "mind." They work hard on it, even to the point of exhaustion.

Zhao Shuxia understood this deeply.

In the first floor of Fallen Mountain's bamboo tower, which served as both a residence and a study, Chen Ping'an, as one of his avatars, was reading by lamplight. He was repeatedly flipping through a booklet, the contents of which were a summary of his last casual chat with Wen Yu. On the desk beside him were eight other booklets of varying thickness, each with different content. There were geographical records like travelogues, excerpts and reading notes from Buddhist precepts and Daoist scriptures, and personnel and observations from Zaiyu Mountain's Bamboo Branch Poetry. All sorts of things were compiled into books.

If one were to think of the seven manifest and two hidden avatars attached to the nine talisman papers as co-editing a book, then the Chen Ping'an who stayed put on Fallen Mountain was something like a chief editor.

This Chen Ping'an walked out of the house, hung up a sword talisman, and flew by wind to Huaihuang County.

According to the result of the last council meeting at the Literary Temple, future Ministers of Rites of each country would have to be graduates of the seventy-two academies. In Wen Yu's view, scholar-officials, in addition to having solid personal cultivation, also needed to be proficient in law and arithmetic, and to possess practical skills for governing. They needed to be able to rectify their minds sincerely, constantly enrich their knowledge, and also be good at solving—or at least understanding—the operational principles of specific matters like grain and money, litigation, and so on. At the time, Wen Yu gave Chen Ping'an an example: when officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue argued in court, one couldn't just talk about ritual and morality while the other only talked about his own purse. That would be like a chicken talking to a duck.

Since the students entering the academies were the undisputed best seeds of learning from their respective countries, the academies had the responsibility to cultivate these seeds. The academies should focus on studying a dozen or so topics, open up channels for discussion, and allow Confucian scholars to widely participate in policy essays. For example, what truly constitutes a sage king ruling with non-action? The academies should strive to make these unresolved or ambiguously answered topics known to students as soon as they enter the academy, rather than having them just read their own books and bury themselves in their personal research. Are the ancestral laws of a country, or even the Confucian rites of the Literary Temple, unchangeable or corrigible? Is there room for improvement, and how to improve? All of this should be clearly sorted out during the students' time at the academy, so that everyone has a clear understanding. Even if they still have different answers, they can agree to disagree for the time being, leaving it to the specific people and events they encounter later, in their families, at court, to confirm or refute their initial views... For every argument, there should be a rigorous and meticulous process of deduction. For every viewpoint put forward, there should be sufficient reasoning to support it. Wen Yu said that scholars under heaven should present their arguments like writing a book: the thesis is just the title and preface; the evidence is the bibliography, the main chapters. It should proceed step by step, with every link open to scrutiny.

Setting one's inner resolve is emotional, romantic, and can be lofty and boundless. Doing one's immediate tasks is rational, requiring order and a clear framework.

Furthermore, Wen Yu said he planned to lead the academy in cooperating with the various governments to compile a universal pharmacopoeia under official authority, and to elevate the status of the medical school among the hundred schools.

He also wanted to compile a classified book of the famous reforms in Haoran history—both successes and failures—along with contemporary and later evaluations and differing opinions, for future scholars to reference.

This aligned perfectly with many of Chen Ping'an's views.

And clearly, Wen Yu had thought more deeply and systematically than Chen Ping'an.

This was probably what was meant by "feeling like old friends at first sight, instantly becoming confidants."

Besides being a Confucian gentleman serving as vice headmaster, Wen Yu was also a genuine sword cultivator.

Just like the registered cultivators of the Azure Underworld, at their core, they were all Daoists.

But that didn't prevent them from having their own cultivation paths and additional identities. For instance, the Mysterious Capital Temple had a lineage of Daoist sword immortals, and the Huayang Palace in Difei Mountain also had a branch lineage of sword cultivators.

Wen Yu had once joked with his friend Wang Zai, who was visiting his study, that if he had gone to the Sword Qi Great Wall, he would definitely have entered the Summer Palace.

This wasn't Wen Yu belittling his friend to elevate himself.

This Chen Ping'an quietly arrived at the main street of the town. The building where the boss was Aunt Feng was still brightly lit and noisy with voices at this hour.

He walked all the way to Mud Vase Alley, stopped at the mouth of the alley for a moment, then strolled slowly inside. He stopped in front of the door of his ancestral home's neighbor, facing the long-abandoned house that had been derelict since before he could remember. He glanced at a certain spot in the alley to his left, then crouched down, hands tucked into his sleeves. It was as if there was a young child rolling on the ground. Then he glanced to his right, at the muddy ground outside his ancestral home, where a rouge box lay buried.

It was like the question the "Daoist Wu Di" had asked Lu Chen: all the affairs of the world, tangled and messy—are they determined by man or by heaven?

If everything is determined by heaven, then it's an unchangeable fate. But if not, then on the road of life, there are inevitably many coincidences, and gain and loss lie in one's own hands.

From the tone of Lu Chen's reply, it seemed the latter was more common.

Chen Ping'an hesitated, then imitated Lu Chen by jumping over the wall. Behind it was the courtyard gate. He took a few steps, wanting to push open the front door and go inside to have a look, to see if there were any clues. But as soon as he reached out, he stopped. He thought better of it. He vaulted back over the wall into his own house, took out his key, unlocked the door, sat down at the table, pulled out a fire striker from his sleeve, and lit an oil lamp.

This "Chen Ping'an" was the scholar he had once imagined himself becoming—someone who studied as a youth, left the school, worked hard to make a living, and in later years had his own study.

It was probably the life his parents had wished for him: safe and peaceful, with enough to eat and wear, a family and a career.

Some simple truths didn't need to be repeated to a child. Be kind to others. Be polite. When you see an elder on the road, don't be a mute; greet them. Be an honest person, do your duties properly... because children always see clearly how their parents and elders behave. This was probably true family education.

Back at the village school, Zhao Shuxia asked, "Master, why do you deliberately act like... an ordinary person?"

Chen Ping'an smiled. "When I open a school and teach at the foot of the mountain, I'm educating people. What use are divine powers and techniques?"

Zhao Shuxia was speechless.

Chen Ping'an sat up and murmured, "Education and cultivation cannot be separated."

If one day the school only taught knowledge, and the parents and elders who sent their children to school, as well as the teachers themselves, all thought that way, there would be problems.

Chen Ping'an was silent for a moment, then smiled. "I also have a selfish motive: I want to emulate Mr. Qi."

Hearing this, Zhao Shuxia immediately understood.

It seemed that his master always addressed that senior brother of the Wen Sheng lineage as "Mr. Qi," not "Senior Brother Qi." He had done so in the past, was doing so now, and probably would continue to do so in the future.

Chen Ping'an suddenly laughed. "Shuxia, you might soon have a junior fellow apprentice. He's fourteen years old, and his name is Ning Ji. For now, it's just a possibility. I can't say for sure, because Ning Ji still has to go through the process of choosing his master. It's between Lu Chen and me. He'll make his decision after he calms down and thinks for a few more days."

Zhao Shuxia thought he had misheard. "Who?"

Chen Ping'an said, "You heard me right. It's Lu Chen."

Earlier in Yongjia County, Chen Ping'an had explained to the youth in detail the weight of terms like Lu Chen and Celestial Lord of the Jade Capital. He had used many analogies that the youth could understand.

Ning Ji had, of course, been astonished. But both Lu Chen and Chen Ping'an noticed something: the youth showed no joy at all. Instead, his face turned pale, and he fell into a deep, instinctive fear.

When a person harbors a profound distrust of this world, it must come from heart-wrenching sufferings on their life's path.

The young man, not very old, had experienced much human warmth and coldness, separations, and deaths. The landscape of his heart was a hazy gray, almost devoid of color.

Lu Chen had wanted to follow Chen Ping'an's example and give Ning Ji a detailed explanation of Chen Ping'an: the Hidden Official, the Mountain Lord of Fallen Mountain, the future National Teacher of the Dali Dynasty, the final disciple of the Wen Sheng lineage, and his future wife Ning Yao...

But Chen Ping'an didn't let Lu Chen do it. He signaled to the Celestial Lord not to... cheat.

By his original plan, Lu Chen had asked the youth to bring a bowl of plain water, using water as a substitute for tea. According to Lu Chen's intention, if Ning Ji agreed then, he would drink it.

That would have meant Lu Chen had drunk the disciple tea and established a master-disciple relationship with Ning Ji.

This trip to Haoran would have been accomplished, and Lu Chen could have returned to the Azure Underworld and the Jade Capital.

The reason Lu Chen had this sudden inspiration to repeat an old trick and want Ning Ji to transfer to Chen Ping'an's tutelage was that the Celestial Lord had his own plans.

First, choosing Ning Ji as a direct disciple involved too many karmic entanglements. It wasn't that Lu Chen couldn't handle them, but he was always lazy. With his disciples, like Cao Rong or He Xiaoliang, when it came to personally transmitting the Dao, he was very casual. He would take them as disciples, toss them a few spirit books and secret manuals, teach them a few Dao techniques, and then wash his hands of them. Moreover, Ning Ji's background meant that he was different from all of Lu Chen's previous direct disciples. Lu Chen would have to keep the youth by his side until he broke through to the Upper Five Realms. For a few decades to a hundred years, he wouldn't have a moment's peace.

Furthermore, taking the youth as a disciple didn't have the benefits one might imagine. Lu Chen had done a rough divination outside the alley. If the wild cultivator Ning Ji remained masterless, unclaimed by heaven and earth, with no teacher and no Dao companions on the road, he was highly likely to become an extremely young Fourteen Realm great cultivator. But if he had a teacher, even if Lu Chen himself transmitted the Dao to him, Ning Ji's Dao achievements would actually begin to decline. Whether he could reach the Fourteen Realm would become a question mark.

Thus, Lu Chen neither wanted to harm himself by taking on a mess that would require his personal attention, nor did he want to ruin the youth's future by delaying his cultivation.

In fact, Lu Chen had three people in mind who were perfectly suited to be Ning Ji's teacher: Senior Brother Kou Ming, Li Sheng, and Zheng Juzhong of Baidi City.

But Senior Brother had not yet achieved the Dao, Li Sheng was extremely busy, and Zheng Juzhong was, after all, a capricious demonic magnate. Even if Lu Chen dared to send the youth there, the Literary Temple would probably not agree.

Chen Ping'an was in fourth place.

Then the youth was silent for a long time before asking Lu Chen a question: if Lu Chen's status was so exalted, why did he insist on taking him as a disciple?

Lu Chen was speechless for a moment, feeling wronged.

Should he tell the truth? Should he be frank with the youth and say, "You, child, have an improper origin, a troubled fate, and came into this world to collect debts. You're destined to be a troublemaker who will give the Literary Temple headaches for many, many years to come. You need someone to control you. That person must have a high enough realm, enough patience, and be sufficiently orthodox and proper in their methods of transmitting the Dao, in accordance with ritual. Only then can they gradually guide you, this 'crooked tree,' onto the right path and the correct cultivation path. Otherwise, without a doubt, you'll become an extremely young Fourteen Realm great cultivator, bringing a huge unknown to both the Haoran and Barren Wastes underworlds."

Lu Chen's eyes were resentful. He tilted his chin toward Chen Ping'an and said, "Ning Ji, don't you have anything to ask Daoist Wu?"

So the youth asked Chen Ping'an, "Daoist Wu, are you willing to take me as your disciple?"

Lu Chen nearly spat blood on the spot.

It was like that: one person asks about tomorrow's weather, and another asks if a clear day today is good weather.

Are the difficulties of the two questions the same? Can that be considered fair?

Lu Chen almost angrily accepted the disciple right then and there.

Under the night sky, on a rural path, a young Daoist led a thin youth toward the village school where Chen Ping'an was located.

They had agreed earlier to let Ning Ji think it over for a few days. Lu Chen thought it would be better to bring the youth to see the real "Daoist Wu Di." So he took Ning Ji and used the Earth Shrinking technique.

In the blink of an eye, Ning Ji stepped from the courtyard into the alley, only to find himself walking on a completely unfamiliar muddy road. He asked, "Celestial Lord Lu, isn't Daoist Wu a Daoist? How come he's a teacher?"

Lu Chen smiled slightly. "He has this incorrigible habit of wanting to be a teacher. He always wants to be a good person and also make the whole world a little better. Even if it's just a tiny bit."

Ning Ji asked, "Does Celestial Lord Lu ever want to make the world better?"

Lu Chen was a little embarrassed. "I'm a rather lazy person. I'm not too concerned about the ups and downs of the path I walk. A long time ago, I wrote a book. Everything I wanted to say to this world is in that book."

Ning Ji said, "I once heard an old saying on the road: 'If one is fated to die in water, they won't die on land.' Celestial Lord Lu, as an old immortal, have you seen so many things that you no longer think about saving that person? Do you just watch us ordinary people live and die, thinking it's all our own doing? Or do you simply not bother to watch?"

Lu Chen smiled and said nothing.

As expected of Ning Ji. On the surface, he was a quiet person, but when he asked a question, it was always so sharp and grand.

Lu Chen sensed the youth's gloom and asked, "And you? Before you met Daoist Wu and me, how did you plan to live your life?"

Ning Ji said softly, "To survive. To live well. To repay kindness and avenge grievances."

Lu Chen asked, "This is only your second meeting with Daoist Wu. Why do you feel so close to him? Aren't you afraid you've met a villain with ulterior motives?"

The youth thought about this for the first time. After a moment of serious consideration, he answered honestly, but the sound faded away.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Daoist Wu... did he come looking for me from the very beginning, just like Celestial Lord Lu?"

Ning Ji wasn't stupid. If he could make a Celestial Lord of the Jade Capital come to that alley in person, there must be an unknown reason.

Lu Chen shook his head. "Not like me. It wasn't like that. Meeting you was just a very chance encounter. Daoist Wu has a similar temperament to yours. The reason he appeared in Yuxuan Kingdom's capital, as you just said, was to repay kindness and avenge grievances."

The youth's mood immediately brightened.

Ha, he had guessed it again. That Daoist Wu was different from Celestial Lord Lu.

Lu Chen was so annoyed.

The Daoist Wu Di was just one of Chen Ping'an's avatars, yet in this youth's eyes, everything he did was golden. People really did drive other people to death. He, the poor Daoist, had introduced himself the moment they met. Where had he not been sincere? Where was the true feeling in this world?

So Lu Chen asked with a grin, "What if Daoist Wu's original intention was the same as mine? If you found out the truth, would you be disappointed?"

Ning Ji thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, I wouldn't."

Maybe, instead, he would feel it was a stroke of luck to be cherished. Like a poor wretch who had been starving so long his eyes were blurry, suddenly picking up a silver ingot from the ground?

Lu Chen rolled his eyes. He brought out a jug of wine from the Green Plum Temple on Nantang Lake. He took a sip of green plum wine and felt his teeth ache.

The youth found it amazing.

Lu Chen asked, "Would you like to learn this immortal technique? It's very easy. Then you can drink without spending money."

The youth shook his head. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back.

Even if you were the Lu Chen that Daoist Wu said "no scholar under heaven could bypass," the Celestial Lord of the Jade Capital, jumping over walls was not good, and stealing things without paying was even worse.

Lu Chen asked with a smile, "Ning Ji, on your journey here, didn't you ever steal?"

Ning Ji answered truthfully, "I did. More than once or twice. But it was only when I had no other way to survive."

Lu Chen sighed. "No wonder you and Daoist Wu get along."

Ning Ji was puzzled. "Did Daoist Wu also have a hard life... and steal?"

Lu Chen didn't answer the question directly. "Many times, when someone makes a mistake and knows it's a mistake, there are two possibilities. One is that it becomes a habit, and they don't even bother to deceive themselves anymore. They just learn to pave their path with excuses. The other is like building a dam in one's heart, so that there is no flood or extreme behavior. That's why the Sage of Sages said, 'If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it.'"

Ning Ji said, "So that means he also stole."

Then the youth added, "Daoist Wu must have had a very hard childhood."

Lu Chen had no choice but to throw his head back and take a big gulp of green plum wine.

He glanced at the youth beside him. Over the years, Lu Chen had occasionally regretted that he hadn't just knocked Chen Ping'an out, stuffed him in a sack, and thrown him into the Jade Capital back then. Whether he dumped him in Nanhua City or followed Senior Brother's example of accepting a disciple on his master's behalf, perhaps he wouldn't have so many worries now.

Sensing the strange look in Celestial Lord Lu's eyes, Ning Ji subconsciously slowed his pace. But he quickly returned to normal. It was a mysterious intuition.

One should not have a harmful heart, but one cannot be without a defensive heart.

And indeed, the youth was cautiously observing a "Celestial Lord of the Jade Capital" in his own way.

Lu Chen nodded inwardly. True cultivation material, a genius of earth and trees—was this not it?

Lu Chen asked, "Did you ever go to a school when you were young?"

Ning Ji's expression darkened. "I only went to a family school for a few days. I only learned a few dozen characters."

Lu Chen asked again, "If you had a family school, your family circumstances must have been good. On your first day, did you bow to the Sage of Sages' portrait and kowtow to the teacher?"

Ning Ji shook his head. "I was very young then. My clan uncle was temporarily acting as the teacher. It wasn't a formal enrollment, so there were none of those formalities."

In the secular world below the mountain, clan schools were usually set up in ancestral halls and didn't accept children from other surnames. Chen Ping'an's private school was a different kind, open to all surnames. It mainly taught children to read and write. It was a long-term school, starting after the Lantern Festival and closing in winter. The teacher didn't need to be highly learned; literacy was enough. Of course, there were also teachers who were aiming for official careers, who had more knowledge. They would teach while also taking exams. Many taught in the family schools or classic learning schools of wealthy households. They were often local scholars of some renown. Some schools were long-term, some short-term.

Generally, on the first day of school for a young child, if the family was wealthy and scholarly, or if the place had a strong cultural atmosphere, they would "request" the Sage of Sages' tablet or portrait from the county office and the county instructor. The children would kowtow and bow to the Sage and the teacher. That would mark their enrollment.

Lu Chen raised his finger and quickly wrote two characters in the air. "Do you recognize these?"

Ning Ji nodded. "Su, xian."

Lu Chen smiled. "A person plus grains is the character 'su' [mundane]. A person in a mountain is 'xian' [immortal]. Easy to understand, isn't it? People eat grains, immortals refine qi in the mountains. That's the difference, the distinction between mortals and immortals."

Ning Ji silently memorized these characters and explanations.

Lu Chen said, "Let me be clear upfront. This isn't poaching, and it's not self-praise. If you take me as your master, you'll have more freedom. If you acknowledge that Daoist Wu as your master, you'll find that one day, you'll have to hide from someone for a very, very long time. At least a part of you will."

Ning Ji asked curiously, "Who?"

Lu Chen smiled. "You'll have to find the answer yourself later."

Ning Ji kept this in mind, then looked up. "Is the school where Daoist Wu teaches nearby?"

Lu Chen said, "We're already here."

The youth took a step forward, and in a daze, the night turned into day. There was a sound of reading.

Ning Ji looked around. They were outside the door of a school.

The teacher inside was a stranger in a blue scholar's robe.

But the youth recognized him at a glance as Daoist Wu, just not wearing Daoist robes.

Lu Chen smiled. "South of the house and north of the house, all spring water; willows turn green, so gentle. A good place. Beautiful scenery. Truly a good place to cultivate the body and mind while teaching and transmitting the Way!"

Beside the school, a stream babbled. Lu Chen tilted his head as if listening, then nodded. "Famous paintings should be read like poetry; the sound of books should be heard as the sound of water."

Lu Chen led the bewildered youth into the house. He walked straight to the back and explained with a smile, "Don't worry, Daoist Wu can't see us. We won't disturb his lecture. In the terminology of the mountain peaks, this is called 'entering a realm where no one is there.'"

Ning Ji stood almost against the wall, extremely tense.

Lu Chen, on the other hand, leaned sideways against the window, looking lazy. "By the way, Daoist Wu's real name is Chen Ping'an. Chen as in the surname, Ping'an meaning peace and safety."

Ning Ji nodded.

This ordinary youth had not yet had the chance to learn the extraordinary nature of this very ordinary name.

Inside the school, the man in blue said, "My name is Chen Ji. Chen as in the surname, Ji as in footsteps. From today on, I am your teacher."

"The first phrase I will teach you has five characters: 'To learn and to practice it.'"

The teacher paused for a long time on the word "learn," then said slowly, "For now, let's interpret 'learn' as reading."

Lu Chen leaned on the windowsill, drinking wine. He didn't know when he had acquired a celadon wine cup. He put the wine jug aside, held the cup, and drank slowly by himself. Peach blossoms and spring breeze, a cup of wine.