Chapter 1068: A Traveler's Eyes Amidst Vast Azure Waves
On the shore of Autumn Qi Lake, a short, sturdy man in cotton-padded clothes and straw sandals did not like wearing his saber at his waist, preferring to cradle the scabbard in his arms. He raised his gaze slightly as a man in a green robe with a jade hairpin walked toward him.
Judging by the other's breathing rhythm, the weight of his footsteps, and his overall bearing, he seemed to be a martial artist of middling skill. That was normal enough—anyone capable of entering the territory of Autumn Qi Lake was no ordinary individual.
The man smiled, hands tucked into his sleeves, and asked, "You're Wu Jiang?"
Among the young luminaries of the martial world, although they were not included in Gao Jun's invitation to the assembly, it was not at all surprising to see Wu Jiang here.
Wu Jiang nodded.
Having too great a reputation in the martial world could be troublesome as well.
People always came up to him trying to strike up a conversation, but rarely did anyone offer anything substantial. Couldn't they at least invite him to a meal or a drink?
This fellow before him kept his hands hidden inside his sleeves while walking—could he be an expert in hidden weapons, a practitioner of some unorthodox path?
The man smiled and asked, "The one who taught you your saber technique—is his name Lu Tai?"
Wu Jiang furrowed his brow. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Speaking plainly, you could say he's something like my half grandmaster."
From his master, to a few senior and junior martial uncles, plus that so-called half grandmaster, the leader of the demon cult—it seemed that overnight, they had all vanished without a trace.
He had spent several years traversing the martial world of the four nations but had failed to find even a single clue about any of them.
Still, this fellow had quite the nerve, speaking the name of that demon cult leader so casually. Although Lu Tai had been missing for years, his fearsome reputation in the martial world was no ordinary matter. Even now, with the world having grown so strange, no matter who it was, when mentioning Lu Tai, they wouldn't utter his name directly—they either called him "that person" or respectfully referred to him as Cult Leader Lu.
As for the demon cult, once at the height of its glory, it had long since fragmented due to the lack of a leader. If Wu Jiang himself hadn't been forged by his own hard work, he wouldn't dare to openly acknowledge his martial lineage connection to the demon cult when traveling abroad.
The man continued on his own, "Huang Shang, who serves as the state-protecting true man of Southern Garden Kingdom, has always been a Daoist priest. As for Huan Yin's temperament, he doesn't seem like someone who would take disciples easily. That said, your half master must be Tao Xieyang?"
Wu Jiang nodded. This fellow was certainly well-informed about his sect.
Could he also be some Qi refiner who had stepped in dog shit, cultivated immortality, and thus kept his youthful appearance? An older martial senior of his grandmaster's generation? Had he suffered a great loss, unable to defeat the elder, and after waiting until the elder was gone, decided to bully the junior? No matter—according to his master, a coward with such a mentality would amount to nothing, whether practicing martial arts or cultivating immortality.
The man in green asked with a smile, "I heard Lu Tai took on a final closed-door disciple, around the same age as you? It seems he doesn't even have a surname—just called 'Jinzhi.' He uses a bamboo sword and is a swordsman?"
Wu Jiang's face darkened.
Did this fellow think he was a village schoolteacher and that he was some ignorant child?
The man twisted his wrist, and a flask of wine appeared out of thin air. Whether it was a trick of the martial world or a divine technique from the mountains, he lightly tossed it to Wu Jiang.
Wu Jiang didn't reach out to catch it. Instead, he pushed out a palm, sending forth a thick blast of martial artist's true qi to send the flask back.
There were all sorts of underhanded tricks in the martial world, especially poison experts whose methods were near impossible to guard against. Once, Wu Jiang had nearly fallen victim to a woman, almost losing his virginity.
The man extended his hand from his sleeve and caught the returning flask. In that instant, Wu Jiang closed in, holding his sheathed saber and placing it on the other's shoulder, patting it. He asked with some suspicion, "Brother, with this level of skill, you dare to roam the martial world?"
The man remained completely still and asked with a smile, "Before Lu Tai disappeared from this place, did he manage to break into the Nascent Soul stage?"
Wu Jiang looked baffled. "What?"
As he spoke, the short saber-wielder retreated quickly, returning to his cradling posture.
If the other hadn't kept talking about matters related to his grandmaster, Wu Jiang wouldn't have had any interest in wasting time with him.
Wu Jiang had only met the so-called junior grand-uncle (by seniority) once—a fellow who looked down his nose at everyone.
But he had once heard his master say that his grandmaster doted excessively on this final disciple. Not only did he personally teach him immortal techniques and boxing, but he also gave him a mountain of sword manuals.
His grandmaster had also given that same-age fellow a bamboo sword. Once, when his master was drunk, he mentioned offhandedly that the bamboo sword was engraved with the characters "Xia Dui."
The man laughed. "Ah, right. Let me introduce myself. My name is Chen Ping'an. I'm a friend of that half grandmaster of yours. A good friend."
Wu Jiang curled his lip. "If I said I was Ding Ying, would you believe me?"
The swindlers on the martial world these days had plenty of new tricks.
Chen Ping'an raised the flask in his hand and shook it. "Whether you believe I'm Chen Ping'an or not isn't important. What matters is that this flask of immortal brew is real. Dare you drink it?"
Zhong Qian, the River God of unknown origin, this "remnant" of the demon cult, Wu Jiang, and the large wave of young martial arts grandmasters springing up like bamboo shoots after rain—even though only Zhong Qian had reached the Golden Body stage for now, the number of Six-Refinement martial artists far exceeded what Chen Ping'an had seen when he first entered the Lotus Flower Blessed Land; it had nearly doubled. Crucially, the number of Six-Refinement martial artists would continue to increase over the next twenty or thirty years, only stabilizing around thirty years from now.
His founding disciple had deliberately broken through her stage here, and Pei Qian's several gifts of martial luck were, of course, extremely important. But if you looked further back, at the root of it, it seemed that the old temple master had already cultivated a large batch of good seedlings within his own domain.
Otherwise, even if the martial luck of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land were abundant, it would have still concentrated on a small handful of pure martial artists, not this "golden age of the martial world" with a hundred flowers blooming.
Wu Jiang stared intently at the mysterious man, silent for a moment, then said, "I don't accept rewards without merit. Go on—who's the enemy, and who do you want me to cut down? But let me make it clear: I'll slash them, but I won't kill them. The various courts are strict these days; the wind is tight. Since you're a Qi refiner from the mountains, your enemies are bound to be high-status. Sneaking in to slash them a few times isn't hard, but actually causing a death is no small matter. I'm not about to become a wanted fugitive, on the run all over the place, just for a jar of so-called immortal brew."
Chen Ping'an chuckled wryly. Sure enough, this was a disciple taught by Tao Xieyang. Although Tao Xieyang hadn't given him thorough instruction, Chen Ping'an raised his arm and said, "We hit it off at first sight. I'm giving this to you to drink. No need for payment."
After all, Wu Jiang could be considered Lu Tai's grand-disciple. As someone whose status had risen with the tide, Chen Ping'an, now acting as an elder, had to give some sort of meeting gift.
Wu Jiang sneered. "Are you planning to play the long game, or do you want to become sworn brothers with me, get chummy over time, and then have me fight for you?"
That's how it was written in many martial arts stories and detective novels—the so-called upright gentlemen, all moral and righteous on the surface, but with cruel hearts and hands that never stained with blood.
It was a good thing he hadn't yet married a beautiful wife; otherwise, he'd have to be even more cautious. Thinking of that, Wu Jiang took another look at the other man. He was rather handsome, so it was best to keep his distance.
His master was right: the martial world was treacherous, and those who flew high were rarely good birds.
Farmers complain that farming is hard; scholars complain that studying is hard. Swap places and see how that goes.
Martial artists say martial arts are good; Daoists say cultivation is good. Fight it out, and you'll see who's superior.
By the lake, a man and a woman were both fishing.
Whether they had caught anything or not, they first set down their creels.
The perch of Autumn Qi Lake was extremely famous, a favorite among gourmands of the Northern Jin and Songlai kingdoms.
Those who truly loved fishing often also loved watching others fish.
Willow branches hung like a curtain. Sitting in the shade, the young-looking Qi refiner suddenly raised his rod. A foot-long perch freshly caught, he took it off the hook and tossed it into his creel.
The woman beside him, though plump in figure, carried an air of dignity. Her face was charming, yet there was a sternness between her brows.
She was a mountain spirit by origin, but she had succeeded in forming a body. Judging by her aura, she was likely a god of some illicit shrine, not yet granted official recognition by the court. Thus, the golden body of her shrine was not yet stable, and her true form occasionally flickered, like tree shadows after the wind.
Chen Ping'an sat on the shore, unsealing the clay cap and drinking. Wu Jiang, after some hesitation, came over and crouched beside him.
Wu Jiang wasn't worried about a sudden attack. Besides, the man didn't look like he was all that formidable. According to some abstruse words in a certain saber manual, his "qi was light."
The only exception to that rule would be a martial grandmaster who had returned to simplicity, like his grandmaster Lu Tai.
In the territory of Autumn Qi Lake, private fights were strictly forbidden. If discovered, regardless of the reason, both parties—whether it was a fistfight or a magical duel—would be taken into custody.
A few days ago, several people had already been caught and sent to Big Tree Temple to eat vegetarian meals.
Chen Ping'an spoke through heart-to-heart transmission: "Dauntless Hero Wu, do you know their identities?"
Wu Jiang nodded. "They come from the southernmost barbarian lands of the Songlai Kingdom. The man is called Yuan Huang. He's a cultivation genius by your mountain Qi refiners' standards, but he's also proficient in spear techniques—a family tradition, very impressive martial skill. They say his spearwork rivals that of Arm Saint Cheng Yuanshan. A few years ago, he refused a recruitment offer from Lake Mountain Sect. The woman is the Mountain Goddess of Dieye Mountain Temple. Her real name is unknown; the locals call her Green Waist Goddess. Her shrine has an elegant name: 'Beggar Flower Ground.'"
Yuan Huang was a wandering swordsman in his youth. His family had been ruined, and he had avenged them with his own hand. In the dead of night, with snowflakes as large as palms, the young man dragged his spear in a stealthy night attack, entering a military garrison's official residence, spearing his enemy's head, then chopping it off. Finally, he found a rope several zhang long, tied one end to the enemy's head and the other to his own topknot, and fled at a speed faster than arrows, too fast for horses to catch.
A fine case of avenging a grievance and taking a head.
Wu Jiang continued. "Yuan Huang has an even more famous friend, a short fellow who loves to meddle in affairs that don't concern him, especially injustices. But his attacks are extremely ruthless—either he cuts people in half or chops off their legs. You know Wu Que? He uses a saber like me; several of his disciples and grand-disciples were killed by this man. Wu Que didn't even dare to let out a fart. Not because he couldn't beat him, but probably because he didn't want to provoke a desperado with nothing to lose. My master said that most famous senior martial artists who have a reputation and a sect are like that—the older they get, the more cowardly they become. Today's young people will be the same when they become venerable elders in the future. My master taught me saber techniques with no demands and no expectations of repayment. He just asked me not to become like that. I think he's right, so I never thought about opening a martial arts school or pledging allegiance to any court. If you don't ask for power, money, territory, or women, you can be free from heaven and earth, and even freer."
After saying all that, Wu Jiang turned his head and asked, "Brother, we're both wanderers of the martial world. When we're out and about, what's the primary principle?"
I've been so honest; can't you at least give me a hint? Give me a straight answer, and then I'll drink?
Chen Ping'an smiled and replied, "Treat others with sincerity."
Wu Jiang fell silent.
This young saber expert was suddenly covered in fine sweat.
Because the only time he had followed his master to pay respects to his grandmaster, the cult leader, that memory was too vivid.
In the winding and twisting headquarters of the demon cult, there was nothing like the strict security, piles of bones, and cries of suffering he had imagined. Instead, it was a landscape of clear mountains and beautiful waters, pavilions and towers, and many beautiful women, alluring and charming. As a youth, he had mistakenly thought he had entered a fairytale realm of cosmetics and women. When he finally saw that "grandmaster," he was even more disoriented. The man was neither an old man with white hair and a youthful face nor a burly man. He looked more like a scion of a wealthy family, and he was even more... good-looking than the women he had seen on the way.
The young man wore a golden hairpin and was dressed in a loose white robe. He had taken off his boots and was sitting cross-legged on a dragon throne that seemed to have been brought from somewhere.
He looked at the timid young man kneeling and kowtowing at the door.
Lu Tai smiled cheerfully. "Young man, you're as black as a piece of charcoal, not bad, not bad, very endearing. I'll ask you a question. If you answer wrong, I'll have Tao Xieyang twist your head off. If your answer is passable, you don't have to call me grandmaster, but at least you'll leave in one piece, going back the way you came. If you answer well, I'll teach you a few ultimate techniques that will make your master drool. A Seven-Refinement martial artist will be within reach."
The youth was already scared out of his wits.
Tao Xieyang coughed to remind the youth, who was still kneeling, that the cult leader was asking him a question.
The youth snapped back to reality and said, trembling, "To survive."
Lu Tai rubbed his chin. "Barely passable. It'll do."
"Remember, in the martial world, treat others with sincerity."
"Got it?"
The dark-skinned youth's teeth chattered. "Reporting to the Cult Leader, I've committed it to memory."
He lifted his chin, and a serving girl holding a box took a martial arts manual from her sleeve and casually tossed it to the youth at the door.
It was with that saber manual that Wu Jiang was able to refine his martial skills and greatly increase his strength. Of course, his master had also copied a copy.
Wu Jiang used the technique of condensing sound into a thread and asked cautiously, "May I ask for the immortal's name?"
Chen Ping'an laughed through heart-to-heart transmission. "I told you I'm Chen Ping'an, and you didn't believe me. If I just said some other name, would you believe it then?"
Wu Jiang muttered under his breath, "How could I dare to believe something like that?"
In the capital of Southern Garden Kingdom, Ding Ying had killed Zhu Lian, and you then killed Ding Ying.
They also said that you made Yu Zhenyi, who was flying on his sword, not dare to enter the city.
Especially, Wu Jiang had heard a terrifying piece of news from his master: that his grandmaster and that Sword Immortal surnamed Chen were close friends with a bond of life and death, and they had once traveled the martial world of the outside together.
Chen Ping'an tossed over a flask of wine and asked, "Wu Jiang, what are your thoughts on the current state of the world?"
Wu Jiang didn't stand on ceremony this time. He reached out and caught the flask, unsealed the clay cap, and took a good sniff. Good wine! Even before drinking, the young man felt a bit tipsy.
Wu Jiang tilted his head back and took a big gulp of the so-called immortal brew. As soon as it went down, his entire acupoints felt like they had been drenched by a long-awaited rain after a drought. The wine's energy steamed up inside him, stirring his blood and qi. Along the meridian pathways, everything trembled with a sound like metal and stone. Wu Jiang shuddered, his face flushing red. He grunted and sighed, "No wonder everyone wants to be an immortal."
After digesting that surge of wine energy, Wu Jiang came back to his senses, like when he was a young man, first meeting Cult Leader Lu Tai. He carefully considered his words and then said in a deep voice, "The world now is full of strange and miraculous things. Everywhere, the impossible has become possible. Things I never dared to imagine before have all come true. Those who learn martial arts and practice boxing have hope of surpassing those legendary figures who once seemed invincible. No longer do they have to wait until they're seventy or eighty. Someone as young as Zhong Qian is already a grandmaster like Zhong Qiu or Cheng Yuanshan. Those who cultivate immortal techniques can even think about eternal life. It seems that overnight, all the famous mountains and great rivers have found masters. Within every nation, there are sacrifices. Officials are busy building temples, and the common people burn incense with great devotion..."
When he reached this point, Wu Jiang looked up at the sky, his expression complex. "I once met a friend who had, by chance, started cultivating immortal techniques halfway through his life. He said it was a blessing from Heaven."
He shook his head and took another gulp of wine. This time, he didn't dare drink too much. He gazed at the shimmering Autumn Qi Lake and murmured, "But with immortals emerging and ghosts proliferating, it's a good thing for someone like me, who has martial arts to rely on. The common people might not find it so amusing. It's more likely to make them uneasy."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "It's good that you think that way. Don't worry about saving the wine; drink your fill. I've got more." As for the art of persuading people to drink, the Second Shopkeeper was at least on par with his martial arts realm.
Wu Jiang was astonished. "Does Sword Immortal Chen also know the magical technique of bringing wine?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Can't teach it, and even if I could, I couldn't."
Because this divine ability has another name: "Being Rich."
After all, Chen Ping'an didn't have Master Lu's demeanor or thick skin to simply transport immortal brews from all over the world without permission.
Chen Ping'an took out another flask of wine and handed it to Wu Jiang, asking with a smile, "Since that's how you see the world, how have you been walking the martial world all these years?"
Wu Jiang opened his mouth to speak, then thought it over and swallowed all the fine-sounding words. He answered honestly, "I'm a bachelor, just wandering the martial world according to my preferences. At least I don't harm anyone."
Chen Ping'an smiled and nodded. "Just from the way you're dressed when you go out, I can tell you're not lying."
A Sixth-Refinement martial artist already possesses a share of martial luck. Wherever they go, they can enjoy the best of everything. Even getting an official position as a high-ranking military general from a court is a trivial matter.
Wu Jiang looked embarrassed. The storytellers under the bridge always talked like that: unshaven, unkempt, drifting through the martial world—that was how heroes and gallants were supposed to be.
A great ship headed for Snail Island. Hu Kingdom's ruler, Pei Xiang, who had already removed her veil, was accompanied by three "attendant fox immortals," sitting on the top floor, sipping tea and enjoying the view.
The ship's temporary steward, specially sent to await "Ruler" Pei Xiang's arrival, was a young female Daoist from Big Tree Temple, one of Temple Master Gong Hua's direct disciples. Her name was Bo Xing, her Dao title "Soft Sun." For this grand event, she was specifically responsible for receiving guests. She was now kneeling on a white jade mat, personally brewing tea for her guests.
Bo Xing handed tea cups to the guests and said with a bright smile, "My temple master, to welcome your majesty, has built a new mansion on Snail Island, named 'Ancient Moon Pavilion.' It is only waiting for your majesty to disembark and take up residence. If you don't mind the remote location, from now on Ancient Moon Pavilion will be your private residence. In the future, when Qi refiners of the Fox Kingdom come to Autumn Qi Lake to tour, they can all stay there."
Big Tree Temple seemed to grant special favor to female Qi refiners and the spirits of mountains and rivers.
Pei Xiang smiled and nodded. "When I see Palace Lake Lord, I must thank her in person."
During the casual conversation, Bo Xing mentioned her background. She smiled and said, "My ancestors have lived for generations along the Gan River, not far from Autumn Qi Lake. My family has been in the timber rafting business on the river for generations."
Guo Zhujiu leaned back, reached out to lift the curtain, and looked toward the willow-lined lakeshore. He couldn't help but admire how comfortably his master played the villain.
——
The Haoran world had nine continents, while the Qingming world had fourteen prefectures. Among them, only Ruzhou was universally recognized as a place where "martial luck overwhelmed Dao aura."
This was because the Vermilion Gold Dynasty of Ruzhou had a "Master Lin" stationed at Crow Mountain.
Additionally, Ruzhou's territory contained many watery regions and marshy lands, making it the most troublesome piece of land for the Qi-Watching lineage officials of the White Jade Capital.
Within Ruzhou's borders, there was a river called Chanjiang, whose water transport ranked first in the prefecture, placing it among the six great rivers of the Qingming world.
A man and a woman walked side by side along the bank of this great river. The strong river wind blew against their faces, their sleeves flapping.
The man smiled. "It's 'zhou' and not 'zhouyu,' which shows the vast difference in mountain and water luck between the two worlds."
Lin Jiangxian, on all his previous travels, had always gone alone. But this time was an exception; he was accompanied by a young woman who had come to find him not long ago. She was Su Dian, from the small town of Huaihuang County in the old Li Zhu Cave Heaven of Vase Bottle Continent. By actual seniority, she could be considered his junior sister. However, now in Crow Mountain, Su Dian had changed her name to Su Dian (with a different character). She had become a disciple of one of Lin Jiangxian's second-generation disciples, which greatly widened the generation gap.
At first, Lin Jiangxian worried that Su Dian might be unhappy. He had even prepared a speech, saying it was just a temporary measure to hide her identity—the White Jade Capital was not like the World Liturgy of Haoran; it was easy for those Dao officials skilled in divination to trace things back... Unexpectedly, Su Dian didn't even let him finish. She simply replied that as long as she could learn "true boxing" here, she wouldn't mind even being a menial disciple who had to serve tea and water to others every day.
Su Dian habitually addressed him as Master Lin with great respect. "Master Lin, how much longer until the next martial arts evaluation?"
It wasn't just about following local customs, nor was it because she was now living under his roof. It was mainly because, given Lin Jiangxian's martial arts mastery, calling him something as simple as "Grandmaster Lin" seemed almost disrespectful.
According to the customs of the mountain world of Qingming, the Celestial Staff Sect compiled a once-in-a-century evaluation of the world's top ten, while the Corpse Dissolution Sect gave a once-in-sixty-years evaluation of the top ten martial artists. The spectators were never satisfied, complaining that the former interval was too short—only a century apart, with the list full of predictable old faces, at most with minor shifts in ranking. Meanwhile, they disliked the latter's interval, which was too long. Besides Master Lin, who was unquestionably number one, the other nine on the list were almost entirely new faces each time, as pure martial artists rarely lived past a hundred.
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "The new list only came out a few years ago. According to the rules, that's how it should be. But thanks to Bai'ou earlier, sixty years of the martial world wasn't too lifeless. She liked to challenge people with her fists and was heavy-handed. Several of her defeated opponents either died or were injured, so they had just gotten on the list and then fell off. Those seasoned seniors who were on the list back then but hadn't been sought out by Bai'ou were inevitably anxious, afraid that they'd lose a fight and embarrass themselves, ruining their reputation. At the same time, young people who weren't on the list but felt they had a chance to make the next top ten were also worried. Was it worth risking their lives for a bit of fame? I believe that before the last list was announced, Dragon Xinpu, the founding ancestor of the Corpse Dissolution Sect, must have gone to the Azure Divine Dynasty ahead of time to talk to Bai'ou and get on the same page. I guess Elegant Minister also gave Bai'ou some words of caution, telling her to stop being so sharp-edged."
The two walked into the tributary, Majia River, formerly known as Zhulong. On a hillside at the junction of the main river and tributary stood a temple with only mediocre incense offerings.
Along the way, there were occasional travelers by the river, but none recognized the identity of the middle-aged man in the green robe. This was related to the fact that Lin Jiangxian didn't like to be in the public eye. Crow Mountain was located within the Vermilion Gold Dynasty, but when the dynasty held any ceremonies, at most one of Lin Jiangxian's direct disciples would represent him. Every time Lin Jiangxian traveled abroad, he almost always walked among the common people and the martial world. He never visited the mountains to befriend Dao officials, nor did he ever stir up any disputes in the mountains.
For example, when he made an exception to attend the wedding banquet of the Great Tide Sect last time, Lin Jiangxian simply chose a corner to sit quietly, using an alias.
"When a pure martial artist ascends, their spirit always arrives first, and the fist follows later. Unlike those cultivators who live for hundreds or thousands of years, martial artists have only a few decades to practice their fists. If you don't even dare to think about it, you'll never reach the high position in your heart."
Lin Jiangxian said, "Here, using Bai'ou as your benchmark is fine. There's a gap between you, and for now it's not small. But if you work hard and push yourself, you'll at least be able to see her back."
"It's better than back home, always comparing yourself to the 'Two Peis.'"
"As your imagined opponents, they will inevitably be two personalities you'll have to face in boxing in the future. One is too high—Pei Bei is undisputedly the number one martial artist of the Haoran world. Not to mention boxing with her, you probably won't even get an easy chance to meet her. The other is too close, back home at the Fallen Mountain. Besides, Pei Qian is even younger than you, and obviously has better martial arts talent. Losing once or twice is nothing, but losing all the time will eventually become a problem. Especially if Pei Qian deliberately pulls her punches. She means well, but if your own mental fortitude isn't strong enough, then you'll be in big trouble. So coming here, changing to a new environment, was the right move."
Su Dian said, "Bai'ou is ultimately the third in the world, Master Lin. Isn't it too presumptuous of me to set her as my target to chase?"
After all, whether you have the spirit is one thing; reality is another.
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "What's there to fear? With me, your senior brother, around, anything is possible. I'll help you learn boxing and feed you fights. Then you won't be just daydreaming."
"But you have to take it one step at a time. I've drawn up a list of about five or six martial arts grandmasters. Within thirty years, you'll fight them one by one."
"Let me make this clear: if you lose even a single match, you'll never be qualified to fight Bai'ou for the rest of your life."
Su Dian took a deep breath. "I will never let Master Lin down!"
Lin Jiangxian shook his head. "I'm just fulfilling my responsibility as your senior brother. I don't have any great expectations for you. I'm just settling an old debt. There's nothing to be disappointed about. You just need to ensure that you don't disappoint yourself."
Although Su Dian had a low seniority in Crow Mountain, her true "master" was still Lin Jiangxian.
Over the next twenty or thirty years, Lin Jiangxian would personally guide Su Dian in learning martial arts and practicing boxing, perhaps even more intensely than his nominal direct disciples.
Bai'ou of the Qingming world could be roughly equated to the female martial god Pei Bei of the Haoran world.
To some extent, Elegant Minister Yao Qing might have deliberately cultivated and copied Bai'ou after this "template" and "original" of Pei Bei.
Bai'ou, the female national preceptor of the Azure Divine Dynasty, wore a short halberd at her waist called "Iron Chamber," a divine weapon recorded in the books of the White Jade Capital.
A finally refined martial artist, she had stood at the peak of the martial path for over a century. Now she was the third martial artist of the Qingming world, after only Lin Jiangxian and Xin Ku.
She had been on the martial arts evaluation list twice. When Bai'ou first made the list, she was ranked last.
Even so, there was no small amount of criticism. A woman in her forties, just having reached the finally refined stage—no matter how good her martial talent—she had never had any examples of fighting finally refined grandmasters. Even before becoming a ten-refinement grandmaster, in the distant travel and peak stages, her greater fame came from her illustrious status as the female national preceptor. As for challenging others to boxing matches, she didn't seem to have any noteworthy victories. Yet everyone in the prefecture said she was a martial arts genius. Wouldn't anyone outside naturally doubt whether her reputation was deserved?
Could it be that just to have a female martial artist on the list, they deliberately let her through?
Facts proved otherwise. After that, every ten years, Bai'ou would go according to the order of the list to find the ninth-placed, the eighth-placed... and fight each of the finally refined martial artists who ranked above her. The martial world was shaken by those four fights—Bai'ou won them all, killing three and leaving one alive. The one surviving finally refined veteran grandmaster lost his stage.
There were no fifth or sixth fights because Bai'ou, serving as the national preceptor of Azure Divine, skipped several ranks and took the initiative to go to Crow Mountain in Ruzhou, directly challenging Master Lin!
Of course, she lost.
So by the second evaluation, when she made it into the top three, there was only a "minor controversy" left. The only flaw they could point out was that she had the short halberd called "Iron Chamber."
But it was no longer about whether she deserved to be in the top ten or so high; it was about whether she might have had a "small problem" with relying on this divine weapon to achieve the martial arts top three.
As a result, a frustrated Corpse Dissolution Sect, after issuing that list, added among its dozen or so footnotes the second one: "Anyone who has an issue with the rankings can go and fight Bai'ou themselves."
Su Dian asked, "Master Lin, is one of the names on the list Yu Qin from the Corpse Dissolution Sect?"
Lin Jiangxian nodded. "If there are no unexpected changes—for instance, if Yu Qin suddenly drops in stage one day—then your third match will be against her."
Su Dian asked, "Will my coming here cause any extra trouble for Master Lin?"
Lin Jiangxian shook his head. "Earlier, I had you change your name and acknowledge a low-seniority crow mountain martial artist as your master. It wasn't because Crow Mountain was afraid of trouble. It was for you to learn martial arts better and focus on boxing without distractions. Having an inconspicuous identity spares you many trivial matters."
"Of course, it was also a test when we first met. I worried that you might be young and reckless, and after acknowledging me as your senior brother, you'd get too big for your boots in Ruzhou. Whether you're a pure martial artist or a cultivator, if your heart is biased or you rely too much on something, your achievements often suffer."
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "Actually, the White Jade Capital has an internal list. Not many names—less than the count of two hands. It's said that the three sect leaders can each add or remove names from it. Those who stay on the list are exceptions completely outside the constraints and supervision of the White Jade Capital. I happen to be one of them."
Of course, such confidential matters were things Lin Jiangxian had heard about. He couldn't exactly go to the highest place in the White Jade Capital to flip through this "account book."
Great Sect Leader Kou Ming had written two names on it: Sun Huaizhong of Xuan Du Temple and Xin Ku of Runyue Peak.
Second Sect Leader Yu Dou had only written one name: Bao Lin.
Lu Chen had written a long list, but most of it was immediately crossed out by Senior Brother Yu Dou.
Finally, less than five names remained, among them Gao Gu of Huayang Palace, the White Bone True Person, and the latest addition, Zhang Feng, who had just betrayed the White Jade Capital.
"Master Lin of Crow Mountain" was not a name written by any of the three sect leaders, but a name written by the Dao Ancestor himself.
The last time the Dao Ancestor had personally used a brush was over three thousand years ago, when he had written Lu Chen's name.
Of course, these were things that Sect Leader Lu, that bored busybody, had taken the initiative to leak to Master Lin when he came to Crow Mountain in Ruzhou to bum a drink one year.
Because this matter was too classified, Lin Jiangxian didn't go into detail with Su Dian.
Su Dian asked curiously, "Master Lin, for a martial artist like you, if you were to throw a full-force punch, how much power would it have?"
Lin Jiangxian thought for a moment. It seemed that this simple question had actually stumped him. He was silent for a while, then laughed freely. "Among the martial arts community, it seems there's no reference. Roughly equivalent to the full-force blow of a flying stage sword immortal? Crow Mountain is just a martial arts sect that was founded only a hundred years ago; its foundation is limited. It doesn't have a cave heaven sealed off from the world. If it did, I could demonstrate a few punches to give you a more intuitive impression. In the Ruzhou region, I shouldn't use my full power casually—the commotion might be quite large. The imperial astronomical observatories of various countries will definitely report it to the White Jade Capital. Times are different now; it's better to be still and watch the fire from across the mountain."
Su Dian asked, "Master Lin, will the rise of the Corpse Dissolution Sect divert some of the martial luck from Crow Mountain in Ruzhou?"
Lin Jiangxian chuckled.
Su Dian immediately knew she had asked a stupid question.
It turned out that within the last century, the martial luck of Yongzhou's Corpse Dissolution Sect had been flourishing, showing signs of contending with Ruzhou's Crow Mountain.
Because the sect had both a male and female young martial arts grandmaster on the list simultaneously. Qi Guan, Dao title "Riding the Whale." Yu Qin, Dao title "Jade Chime."
For a single mountain to have two martial artists among the world's top ten at the same time, the martial luck was immense, as you could imagine.
Although Crow Mountain had Master Lin guarding it, even Zhao Hechong, Master Lin's senior disciple—a martial arts master originally considered a sure bet for the list—had failed to make it this time.
Moreover, the Corpse Dissolution Sect was one of the few mountains in the Qingming world where Dao officials could cultivate both Dao and martial arts simultaneously. The reason it hadn't managed to join the ranks of the top Daoist sects was that successive ancestral masters had all fallen short—historically, none had ever made it into the world's top ten, or even the alternate top ten.
If the Corpse Dissolution Sect were to "take a different path"—since its martial luck already overwhelmed its immortal aura—it could simply switch to fully cultivating martial arts grandmasters within its sect.
It could then "cream off" the martial arts prodigies from Yongzhou and surrounding prefectures. By opening its doors wide and recruiting martial artists outside its Dao official ranks, it was certain that countless youths would flock to the Corpse Dissolution Sect to learn martial arts. The courts and first-rate immortal mansions of several prefectures would also be extremely willing to send their martial arts prodigies there, to become the best guardians for their direct disciples and young Dao officials when they descended the mountain to train.
Unlike the current situation in the fourteen prefectures of Qingming, where martial artists only recognized Crow Mountain as the sole peak and grandmasters only acknowledged Master Lin.
Over time—say, a hundred years later, or longer, three or five hundred years?
Master Lin of Crow Mountain was, after all, a pure martial artist with limited lifespan.
But the martial artists of the Corpse Dissolution Sect were uniquely blessed: once they entered the door, they started with three to five hundred years of life.
Lin Jiangxian explained with a smile. "The path of concurrently cultivating martial arts and Dao is essentially a sieve. The most awkward part is that it sieves out the truly talented. The Corpse Dissolution Sect knows its own hardship. As for the rare few exceptions, isolated cases—what can they prove? People like that, under Pei Bei, would be Cao Ci. Elsewhere, they'd also be Cao Ci. The only difference is a few years in when they become famous."
Simply put, the Corpse Dissolution Sect could grow its mountain and deepen its foundation by creaming off martial arts talents. But it could never become a second Crow Mountain.
Unless the Corpse Dissolution Sect could find one or two pure martial artists like Cao Ci or Chen Ping'an, who could take in disciples and propagate the tradition.
Su Dian said, "I heard that the Dao officials of the Corpse Dissolution Sect have a tradition of 'a thousand-year tribulation.' Occasionally, some Daoists live over a thousand years. Is that related?"
Lin Jiangxian nodded. "If it weren't for that, collecting a few dozen martial arts manuals and cultivating a group of Daoists dedicated to teaching martial arts would be no trouble at all. Why wouldn't the top Daoist sects take such a huge advantage?"
Su Dian said, "Like a conflict between mountains and water?"
Lin Jiangxian smiled. "That's a pretty good analogy."
Lin Jiangxian had once traveled to the territory of the Corpse Dissolution Sect and had seen Qi Guan and Yu Qin from a distance. The former had excellent aptitude, no less than his senior disciple Zhao Hechong. But deep down, this person still considered himself a Daoist living in seclusion in the mountains, yearning for immortality. He admired Sect Leader Lu Chen's scholarship the most. The latter, on the other hand, seemed more like a pure martial artist. Unfortunately, she lacked the guidance of an enlightened master. Besides sparring with her senior brother Qi Guan, she had no idea what "returning to truth" above "spirit arriving" meant. Moreover, she had one major problem: she was too afraid of losing a fight.
In Lin Jiangxian's view, Yu Qin, already at the Nascent Soul stage, would definitely have a major problem if she wanted to break into the upper five realms. Her martial arts ascent had been too smooth.
Because her inner demon would inevitably be a formidable "Yu Qin," who would crush both the Dao heart of the official Yu Qin and all the spirit of the martial artist Yu Qin into dust.
The glorious spectacle of "the mountain occupies two of the world's top ten martial artists" probably wouldn't last many years.
So not long ago, the founding patriarch of the Corpse Dissolution Sect, who had also foreseen this, secretly sent a letter to Crow Mountain, hoping to ask Master Lin to help once.
If not for the fact that Su Dian had just come to "acknowledge her family," making Yu Qin one of the opponents to mutually sharpen martial skills with his junior sister, Lin Jiangxian wouldn't have bothered.
Thus, when Crow Mountain sent a reply letter to the Corpse Dissolution Sect agreeing to the request, the latter was actually quite surprised. They then sent Crow Mountain a letter of thanks with sincere wording, promising that the main members of the Corpse Dissolution Sect's ancestor hall would soon come to the Vermilion Gold Dynasty in Ruzhou to attend the Emperor's birthday celebration. At that time, they would come to bother Master Lin...
In fact, if Master Lin of Crow Mountain hadn't even bothered to reply, the founder of the Corpse Dissolution Sect would have had to go against his own inclinations and seek help from a certain "fellow townsman" of the White Jade Capital. But in that case, the old mountain lord would have had to prepare himself to be cursed out and thoroughly humiliated by his own "Ancestral Master of Qing Ling" inside his own ancestor hall.
That Daoist, whose Dao title was "Qing Ling," was one of the few remaining Daoist elders at the Corpse Dissolution Sect who was of the same generation as Sun Huaizhong and Gao Gu. It was Dragon Xinpu, the one who had secretly gone to Xuan Du Temple in Qizhou to find Wang Sun.
Within Yongzhou,
there had indeed emerged several great cultivation talents.
Besides Dragon Xinpu, for whom dropping stages was as common as eating, there was also Wang Sun of Xuan Du Temple, and the predecessor of Jiang Zhaomo of Purple Qi Tower—both were from Yongzhou.
Now, the Corpse Dissolution Sect also had a young Dao official who was merely in his fifties, even more famous than the list-ranked Qi Guan and Yu Qin.
Fu Quan, Dao title "Dark Cicada."
He was still under fifty, the youngest closed-door disciple of the current mountain lord.
He had been cultivating on the mountain for just over thirty years, but already he was hailed by outsiders as the second Zhang Feng, the Yao Qing of Yongzhou.
Over at the Corpse Dissolution Sect, from the mountain head to the ancestor hall members, they were instead sending out a stream of bulletins, frantically trying to clarify: Our Fu Quan's talent is only mediocre; you all should stop spouting nonsense...
Who would believe that?
Just say that Xuan Du Temple and the Corpse Dissolution Sect had once had a large-scale fight in Yongzhou over this cultivation seedling, leaving things quite unpleasant between them.
In the end, Fu Quan himself chose his hometown sect, the Corpse Dissolution Sect. The reason this child gave back then was interesting: it was close to home.
It was a good thing that Xuan Du Temple's Temple Master Sun was out on a long journey at the time, having vanished for years.
Otherwise, the Corpse Dissolution Sect wouldn't have dared to so brazenly risk a total fallout with Xuan Du Temple to snatch the talisman back to the mountain.
After all, it was Xuan Du Temple that had found the youth first; the Corpse Dissolution Sect was somewhat in the wrong.
Even so, it was Dragon Xinpu who had to grit his teeth and secretly exert influence to block the aggressive sword-immortal lineage of Xuan Du Temple when they sought to fight the Corpse Dissolution Sect over this matter.
Rumor had it that back then, when Fu Quan was still a youth, he used a single sentence to invisibly dispel the friction between the temple and the mountain, preventing any further discord.
"If Master Sun came to take me to Xuan Du Temple in person, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd leave with him immediately. Any slight hesitation would be disrespectful to Master Sun."
That was quite... spiritual.
Later, when Master Sun returned home from his travels and heard these words, he stroked his beard and laughed heartily, praising Fu Quan as a good lad—treating others with sincerity, very much in the style of little Daoist friend Chen.
Soon, a very vivid story spread, saying that Xuan Du Temple's Master Sun had personally said:
"All nonsense—everyone talking rubbish, totally unreliable. Zhang Feng as the second Fu Quan, little Yao Qing? Clearly, Zhang Feng is the second Fu Quan, and Yao Qing would have to call herself old Fu Quan."
Since Master Sun had spoken up to clarify, the mountain bulletins from other prefectures wisely stopped promoting Fu Quan's fame.
After all, Master Sun holds grudges.
If you argue with him, and he's not good with words and can't out-argue you, he'll just have to invite you to sweep his temple.
And don't doubt it: if you ever visit Xuan Du Temple—and I mean literally visit—and you see Daoists from other sects wearing robes not of Xuan Du Temple, and you see them wielding brooms or carrying chamber pots, it's best to treat them with some respect, because their stage is certainly not low.
As for Jiang Zhaomo of the Purple Qi Tower in the White Jade Capital, he had never neglected either cultivation or martial arts throughout his life, yet he never made the martial arts list. Every time the Corpse Dissolution Sect released its rankings, they deliberately placed Jiang Zhaomo at the eleventh position. So he was "honored" by a certain someone as "the Dao child who keeps the gate for the world's martial arts mountain." Hence, the abbreviation... "Gatekeeper."
As for who this "someone" was who dared to mock a White Jade Capital tower lord in such a way, one knew with a glance.
It was generally believed that the Corpse Dissolution Sect's audacity was very likely instigated by this "someone."
Moreover, earlier, the Celestial Staff Mountain, when selecting the world's top ten, had a habit of also naming an "eleventh" candidate, and this person had an excellent relationship with Xuan Du Temple's Master Sun. One was known as the "unshakable fifth," the other the "cast-iron eleventh."
This cultivator, who had been ranked eleventh over a dozen times, was the number one figure in the mountains of Ruzhou. He had a very good relationship with Master Sun, and his surname was Zhu; he styled himself "Somebody."
So back when the last Hidden Official of Sword Qi Great Wall became "Chen the Eleventh" among the world's young talents, the Qingming world, upon learning this, thought that the three of them could sit together for a drink.
Unfortunately, this time, Somebody Zhu failed to hold on to his title of "world's eleventh."
Currently, the two female grandmasters on the list besides Bai'ou, besides Yu Qin of the Corpse Dissolution Sect, were a woman from a place called Pipa Peak in Youzhou, named Gu Yan Ge.
She belonged to no sect, seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. Nothing was known about her family background or master.
These two female grandmasters were in a similar situation to Bai'ou's first time on the list: they were selected, but there was controversy, and not a small one.
So Xuan Du Temple's Master Sun came forward again to say a few fair words: "People forget the pain once the wound is healed. You'll only know pain when they slap your faces."
Somebody Zhu held a similar view, but expressed it more elegantly, which was also consistent with his usual style.
"What's wrong with women? This is called: do not say that the moth-eyebrowed have no heroic spirit; in the world below, they do not fawn on the king's face; on the mountain, they can make immortals bow their heads."
Su Dian asked a question that had been buried in her heart for years: "Master Lin, when cultivators in the mountains undergo the dissolution of the corpse and reincarnate, they almost always have incomplete souls. Even if they become enlightened and are brought back to the mountain to continue cultivation, can that person still be considered the same person as before?"
Lin Jiangxian smiled knowingly. "What do you think is the most fundamental thing that makes a person a person?"
Su Dian shook her head.
Lin Jiangxian pointed to his heart, then raised his arm and touched his temple. "I think it's these two places. The intersection of the human heart and memory is what makes a person."
Lin Jiangxian stopped walking and asked with a smile, "Can you imagine a scene where, every step I take on this journey, there is a Lin Jiangxian standing there? If that were really the case, when you fought me, how could you ever win?"
Su Dian was dumbfounded.
Lin Jiangxian laughed. "I am just a pure martial artist; of course, I cannot reach such a state. But there are those in the world who can. Su Dian, the world is vast. Only by climbing high can you see far."
The footprints the Buddha left on the human world were all Buddhas standing in the world, with immeasurable Dharma power.
The Dao Ancestor left his temple and walked out the door, using heaven as his robe and earth as his boots.
Similarly, the sound of books reading in the world is the Daoist power of the Sage of Supreme Sanctity.
Lin Jiangxian raised his hand. A flash of white sword light flickered as he received a flying sword message. He opened the envelope, looked at the contents, and said with a smile, "I need to return to Crow Mountain. There's a visitor."
Su Dian cupped her hands in farewell.
Lin Jiangxian lightly tapped his toes, and a green rainbow shot across the sky.
The wandering sword immortal Xie Xin'en, who later came to Li Zhu Cave Heaven; the number one martial artist of the Qingming world, Lin Jiangxian.
His true identity was the Sacrificial Official who had "intercepted" all the martial luck of Sword Qi Great Wall.
Plus there was the Punishment Official Hao Su, who was already in the White Jade Capital. As for that "colleague" of theirs, the last Hidden Official Chen Ping'an, when would he appear in the Qingming world?
——
In the great ship on Autumn Qi Lake, Zhang Lv, the Law-Keeper, narrowed her eyes as she lowered her head to drink tea. Her golden eyes shimmered with light.
From ancient times, the strange and the bizarre were not divided; one strange thing would attract several more.
First, Bai Ye had arrived first and successfully observed the Dao of the birth of the first swordsman in the human world. One move set the whole body in motion. The world seemed to have opened a great door, and strange phenomena arose on all sides.
In a single blessed land, four directions appeared simultaneously with four sword cultivators.
In the capital region of Southern Garden Kingdom, a delicate woman who longed for the martial world but was constrained by her status and unable to travel far was drowsy in her boudoir. Propping her face with one hand, she yawned and casually flipped through a booklet she had compiled herself, filled with frontier poems and sword poems. In an instant, the woman felt a coolness permeate all her orifices. This naturally frail and sickly daughter of a notable family suddenly had a clear mind and a light body, like a piece of goose feather. Then, she felt nauseous, dizzy, and had sharp pains in her abdomen. Her stomach churned, and she turned to vomit onto the floor. In an instant, the room was filled with the stench of filth. Thinking she was experiencing the textbook "beauty's misfortune, essence fading away" death, the gasping woman felt as though she was going to throw up her heart and lungs. When the dry heaving finally stopped, the woman, drenched in sweat, reached out and covered her heart. In a daze, she felt a burning dragon-like force flow from her heart's orifice through her meridians straight to her palm. She looked down and saw a visible line like a winding arm. She quickly spread her palm and shook it vigorously. Finally, she "threw out" a bright red miniature short sword, about an inch long, which hung in the air. Then, like a legendary sword pill, it began to spin around her, as docile as a small bird.
A servant girl who heard the noise and came rushing in saw this scene, thought it was a ghost in broad daylight, and fainted on the spot.
On the desolate borderland between Northern Jin Kingdom and the grasslands, a wandering swordsman with a big beard, riding a donkey and carrying a sword on his back. He looked about fifty, reeked of alcohol, swaying unsteadily. He finished the last of his cheap liquor, casually threw the flask away, and hiccupped. Suddenly, his eyes widened. With a single breath of wine vapor, a gleam of light appeared, suspended in his line of sight—slender as a finger, resplendent and shimmering. The man rubbed his eyes, barely able to make out a strange short sword wrapped in precious light, narrow-bladed, pitch black like ink.
On the grasslands, a slightly dark-skinned, robust young woman. Though her face wasn't that of a beauty, her exceptionally full breasts and plump, elastic buttocks radiated an exuberant vitality.
Inside the tent, the woman was breastfeeding her child. The blue veins made her prominent breasts look even whiter, like the pure white jade she had randomly piled on the table, picked up from the riverbed.
As a girl, she had found a rusty bronze ancient sword and hung it on the wall. Now, the woman reached out two fingers to pinch her full breast. She suddenly looked up, bewildered, as if hearing the sword on the wall sing.
In a Dao temple with vigorous incense in Songlai Kingdom, a young Daoist boy cradling a broom squatted on the steps, staring blankly at the rising curls of incense smoke. In his daze, he saw a wisp of incense condense into a thread, seeming to stretch all the way to the horizon. The young boy looked up and just stared at this long line of incense.
Zhang Lv communicated with the mountain master through heart-to-heart transmission about this matter.
Chen Ping'an replied through heart-to-heart transmission: "I see it. Don't bother with it for now. Just record it in the books first."
The Mountain Goddess of Dieye Mountain Temple tossed a perch she had just caught into her creel, turned to the man in the green robe, and said, "You are a very strange person. You're not of the same path as me, yet you don't have a trace of human aura."
Wu Jiang, who was sitting cross-legged, stopped drinking, slapped his saber scabbard, and said angrily, "How dare you! Why are you insulting people out of the blue?!"
Yuan Huang, not far away, turned his head to look at the guest in green beside Wu Jiang.
In fact, he had already recognized Wu Jiang, but there was no need to force small talk.
Green Waist Goddess, the mountain goddess whose shrine was named "Beggar Flower Ground," hesitated for a moment before asking, "May I be so bold as to ask: what cultivation method do you rely on to achieve this state?"
In this strange and varied world of today, what was most valuable? Naturally, it was a single Dao technique. If she could borrow a bit of it, it would be an invaluable boon to her own path.
Birds have their bird ways, snakes have their snake paths. Qi refiners have their heart methods and Dao formulas for breathing and refinement. Gods have their methods of absorbing incense and shaping and refining a golden body. Essences and ghosts also have their own paths to follow.
Just in the human world now, there was a new kind of white "coin" from the mountains, which could condense heavenly and earthly qi. Qi refiners, outside of mountain and river gods, could actually eat it directly.
Lake Mountain Sect had the largest number of these immortal coins. Furthermore, the treasuries of the various courts all had reserves, though some more, some less. And then there was that Reverence Tower, shrouded in mist and hard to find, which also seemed to be quite wealthy.
As the mountain goddess of a shrine, she ultimately had to recruit and gather all the mountain ghosts and water spirits within her jurisdiction. It would be best if she could have a few more Qi refiners serve as "offerings" at Beggar Flower Ground Mountain Temple.
Seeing the man in green with a look that clearly said, "You fool, do you think I'm a fool to be deceived?", the Green Waist Goddess felt a bit embarrassed. Nothing in this world was without profit. After a moment's hesitation, she reached into her sleeve and took out a golden coin, smiling. "Of course, I won't ask without recompense. I'm not boasting—this is a rarity, unique to Dieye Mountain. It's only because our Beggar Flower Ground has an old temple overseer, a ghost of unknown origin, who came to me last year to pledge allegiance. From what I know, his previous life is a craftsman, most skilled in locating dragon veins and choosing auspicious points, selecting beautiful waters and fine soil, working the bellows and fanning the flames, smelting and casting."
More details were not suitable to reveal. For example, the most remarkable thing about this coin in her hand, of which she herself didn't know the value, was that it could transform the incense of the shrine from the ethereal into the solid.
Chen Ping'an's face seemed calm, but inwardly he was quite surprised. It was actually a prototype of a bronze gold coin? He just didn't know if this coin in the mountain goddess's hand was the "first" master coin. It was like setting up a street stall as a peddler—if the buyer acted shocked, it would be an invitation for the seller to fleece them.
So Chen Ping'an only glanced at the golden coin, his expression indifferent, and said, "Talismans. The path I cultivate is the path of talismans."
"But this vein of cultivation is not easy. The threshold is extremely high. Success or failure depends entirely on fate. It's not the same as ordinary Qi refiners. Even if you have a thousand manuals and illuminating texts explaining this path, without talent, even if you are a Qi refiner who drinks clouds and dew and rides the clouds, you'll still be just drawing ghosts."
Wu Jiang nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice, but in reality he was completely confused. When did Sword Immortal Chen alongside him turn to talisman cultivation?
"Of course, nothing is difficult in this world as long as you put your mind to it. Learning the Dao lies in obtaining the method, and the subtlety ultimately resides in the person."
Chen Ping'an thought about stroking his beard and smiling, but then he remembered he wasn't that fortune-telling Daoist Wu Di. So he simply shook his sleeve and drew out a yellow paper talisman, smiling. "In the path of talismans, it's hard for Qi refiners to enter the hall; it's extremely difficult to draw. But as for talismans themselves, I still have a small stockpile. Besides the self-use talismans for traveling across mountains and rivers, visiting Daoists and seeking immortality—good for intimidating evil spirits and suppressing fierce ghosts, walking freely in the world without any prohibitions—there are also the talismans of our cultivation. Our school emphasizes not transmitting the dharma lightly, not revealing one's treasures. If not for an affinity, one should keep them secret. Today at Autumn Qi Lake, encountering the mountain goddess and exchanging a few words—I believe this is a bond of fate hidden within the invisible. I have some surplus talismans here, not many, only three. This is no false modesty; they consumed many natural treasures, exhausting my own spirit and the great mountain's spiritual qi. I imagine this is slightly more difficult than your temple overseer occupying a spiritual vein to open a furnace and cast coins. The preciousness of the material of this talisman and the wonder of its divine powers—allow me to slowly explain to the mountain goddess. Whether to buy or not, decide after you've heard..."
As Chen Ping'an spoke in an unhurried manner, logic interlocking and seemingly reasonable... Wu Jiang beside him had a strange expression and a very complicated mood.
What Sword Immortal Chen? Could the immortal brew also be fake?
Even Wu Jiang, who knew Chen Ping'an's true identity, was half-believing. The knowledgeable Green Waist Goddess was naturally even more suspicious.
Unexpectedly, at that moment, the silent Yuan Huang put down his fishing rod and said, "I'll buy the three talismans. I humbly ask the immortal master to name a price."
This was Chen Ping'an's deliberate suppression followed by elevation. The real connoisseur was actually Yuan Huang, who had just glimpsed the entryway into the path of Qi refinement.
Yuan Huang couldn't help but act as a shill.
Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Since there's an affinity, why discuss money? I'll just give you this mustard-seed talisman."
He twisted his wrist slightly and tossed the talisman to Yuan Huang. It was fast like an arrow, but not surprising. What was surprising was that the talisman floated in a straight line as if walking on empty air, slow and ethereal.
Yuan Huang gently exhaled. Without using his hand to catch it, he let the talisman hover in the air before him. He then took out a small painting box of huanghuali wood. The talisman drifted gently into it.
Yuan Huang put the talisman and box into his sleeve together, thanked the immortal master in green, turned around, picked up his rod, and continued fishing. He didn't say a single word about a transaction.
Chen Ping'an said, "Huh?" Young people these days were so discourteous, weren't they?
Seeing this, the mountain goddess covered her mouth and laughed softly.
Wu Jiang slandered in his heart: "He tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice. It seems Sword Immortal Chen isn't much of a seasoned wanderer."
Chen Ping'an transmitted through heart-to-heart transmission with a smile: "Wu Jiang, you don't understand. This is called playing a long line to catch a big fish."
Wu Jiang immediately straightened his face and said solemnly, "Absolutely."
Chen Ping'an patted the shoulder of the young knight, speaking in the tone of a veteran of the martial world, sincerely: "If we have a chance, I'll introduce you to my inaugural disciple. After learning the fist, one must always find someone to spar with, to practice one's skills, to really know one's ability—whether it's gold or copper or iron."
Wu Jiang, still young and not yet knowing the ins and outs of this, agreed wholeheartedly.
Wu Jiang transmitted through heart-to-heart transmission: "Sword Immortal Chen, are you here this time on the invitation of Sect Leader Gao to participate in the assembly of Big Tree Temple?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'm going to try to make one truth clear: the human world is still your human world. Whether they believe it, whether they accept the toast or the penalty—they can drink as they choose."
Vast azure waves, and a traveler's eyes are green;
On the lake, green mountains seem like flowers about to blaze.