Chapter 1077: Strange Land, Homeland, Wine Land, Heartland

Chapter 1077: Strange Land, Homeland, Wine Land, Heartland

Chen Ping'an brought Mi Li to that residence. Both the courtyard gate and the house door were open. Inside the reception hall, besides Yu Xuan, Senior Brother Jun Qian and Bai Ye were also present. Pei Qian was sitting upright, and there was a green-clad young boy with his eyes looking at his nose and his nose looking at his heart, not knowing what he was doing here. Old Immortal Yu, you don't seem like much of a drinker either. Besides, with such high cultivation and such an advanced age, if I were to raise a toast on the drinking table, even Chen Lingjun was afraid his hands might tremble and he wouldn't be able to steady the wine bowl.

Chen Ping'an, still dressed in his green gauze Daoist robe with a sword on his back, stepped over the threshold and first made a Daoist hand salute to the old true man. "Junior pays respects to True Man Yu."

The old true man gently pressed his hand down twice and laughed. "I, the guest, am not being polite at all, wandering around the mountain as if it were my own home. As the host, Fellow Daoist Chen, why are you being so polite? You're being distant."

Chen Ping'an was meeting the most accomplished man of the Haoran World for the first time. He bowed again. "Greetings, Mr. Bai. Senior Brother Jun Qian."

Bai Ye nodded in acknowledgment.

Jun Qian smiled and nodded. "Hurry up and sit."

Chen Ping'an had a hard time not looking at that tiger-head hat. He didn't go to sit in the host's seat but instead took a seat near Senior Brother Jun Qian. Then he kept his eyes straight ahead, meeting the gazes of Pei Qian and Chen Lingjun. Pei Qian grinned. Chen Lingjun's eyes were full of grievance. He sniffled, looking quite wronged. What was going on? Why did Old True Man Yu insist on having him join in the conversation? What was there to talk about? He didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Yu Xuan was sitting right next to Chen Lingjun.

On Chen Ping'an's side of the row of chairs, Cui Dongshan, who was now the sect master, sat at the innermost end. Then came the guest Bai Ye, with Senior Brother Jun Qian on the outside.

Chen Ping'an laughed. "True Man Yu, actually, Chen Lingjun isn't usually this reserved. Once you get to know him, you'll find he's quite lively."

Of course, if Chen Lingjun hadn't already known about the senior's identity beforehand, he would have been even more lively and unrestrained.

Yu Xuan stroked his beard and laughed. "I see."

So the reason was that their relationship wasn't good enough yet.

Chen Ping'an asked curiously, "Why isn't Cao Qinglang here?"

Cui Dongshan leaned forward, poking his head out and turning to look at his teacher. "There's a matter, neither big nor small, that I have to secretly tell you about, Teacher."

Chen Ping'an said, "Let's hear it."

Pei Qian said, "Cao Qinglang met two friends over in the Tongye Continent. One of them is quite special."

Chen Ping'an said doubtfully, "What's there to discuss behind Cao Qinglang's back?"

Back then, when Cao Qinglang left the Lotus Root Flower Blessed Land, he had followed Master Zhong on a cross-continent journey. Later, in the Great Li Dynasty, he became close friends with Xun Qu, who had also passed the imperial examinations in the same year.

What was so surprising about making friends? Besides, Cao Qinglang had been mature for his age since he was young. After gaining experience, he had become even more steady and composed. What problems could arise?

Cui Dongshan explained, "Besides Xun Qu, whom you've already met, Teacher, Cao Qinglang made two more friends over in the Tongye Continent. One is called Xu Zhen, a young scholar who has just begun his cultivation. He has worked as a lecturer in an official academy for many years. He and Cao Qinglang share similar interests and occasionally have academic debates, but they can agree to disagree, mutually sharpening each other's knowledge. It's clear that Xu Zhen greatly admires Cao Qinglang and considers their relationship to be one of both teacher and friend."

"The other is a Qi refiner named Yu Li. He is already in his eighties in the mortal world, but his Dao cultivation has been successful, and he has preserved his youthful appearance. Yu Li is a half-way mountain-and-wild cultivator. He only formed his golden core in recent years. He is erudite and knowledgeable, with pure scholarship. I've talked about this person privately with Junior Brother Cao, and Junior Brother Cao spoke highly of him. He feels that Yu Li is similar in scholarship to Mr. Lu, who was half a teacher back in their hometown. So I became curious and wanted to see with my own eyes what kind of extraordinary person could make Junior Brother Cao feel inferior. Yu Li's background is verifiable. He was once a registered cultivator of a small immortal manor on the Tongye Continent. Their mountain gate still exists, and the records are all there, including his family background. There are no problems at all. The reason he became a wandering cultivator was that his original sect had no sense of responsibility. A large group of ancestral hall members only cared about taking their direct disciples, family members, and Dharma inheritors and secretly fleeing north on a ferryboat. During that time, they happened to come across the opening of the Five-Colored World and ran off without a trace. Yu Li, in a fit of anger, neither followed the sect leader and elders to escape their homeland nor simply left. Instead, he calmly took those outer disciples, maids, and servants to find a remote and barren place to hide. After the war was over and the world was peaceful again, he didn't want to wait for any sect members to return to the old site. He gave away all his savings of immortal money to those lower-five-realm fellow disciples, helped them find a mountain to open a cave dwelling, and then actively removed himself from the ancestral hall registry, becoming a wandering mountain-and-wild cultivator from then on."

When he got to this point, Cui Dongshan steeled himself and said boldly, "At my request, Senior Sister Pei once took a distant look at the other party's state of mind. The scene within his heart lake was a huge city. A great sun hung in the sky, sunlight shone everywhere, and the people within the city lived and worked in peace and contentment. Roughly estimated, there were millions of them. Everyone was carefree, the large and small buildings were in good order, the flowers and trees were thriving, there were many academies, martial arts halls stood everywhere, and the incense smoke from temples and the kitchen smoke rose together. Spirits of the dead and living, Qi refiners and demonic beings coexisted. The Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist teachings and the hundred schools of thought converged here like rivers flowing into the sea."

Chen Ping'an listened attentively up to this point and then commented, "The scale of his heart's state is not small at all. I wonder if this person has the heart and the Dao to match."

Cui Dongshan had also made a special trip to visit this person, spending about half a month getting along with him day and night. Even Cui Dongshan, who was the most skilled at finding faults, couldn't find anything wrong. He was gentle and polite, sincere in his dealings with others, had lofty aspirations, and was meticulous in his work... But the more flawless he was, the more certain Cui Dongshan was of one thing: if something is abnormal, there must be a demon!

Cui Dongshan's reasoning was simple: someone in this world who is as "well-arranged" as my teacher absolutely cannot appear a second time!

Chen Ping'an thought for a moment and then laughed. "It's not some unspeakable secret. You should have brought Cao Qinglang in to discuss it together. You can't have the heart to harm others, but you must have the heart to guard against them."

Pei Qian immediately said, "Teacher, that's what I said at the time, but Little Senior Brother insisted on being sneaky and furtive, as if he couldn't bear the light."

Cui Dongshan's eyes widened in shock. Senior Sister Pei, did you actually say that? Little Senior Brother doesn't remember!

Pei Qian reminded him, "Please, Sect Master Cui, continue with the important matters."

Cui Dongshan raised his hand and made a fist, lightly pounding his chest. When there's nothing going on, I'm "Big White Goose," but when something happens, I'm "Little Senior Brother." And now, it's already "Sect Master Cui"? It's truly heart-wrenching, making one's liver and gallbladder ache!

Chen Ping'an suddenly asked, "Does this person have any intention of entering the court of a certain country?"

Cui Dongshan nodded. "Yes, he has already been in contact with the Yu Clan Dynasty since last year."

Chen Ping'an nodded. That made even more sense. "No need to hide it. I'll talk to Cao Qinglang about this later."

Cui Dongshan continued, "Teacher, what comes next is all troublesome matters. Even if I wanted to report only the good news and hide the bad, it would be difficult."

Chen Ping'an laughed. "I am the mountain master, and you are the sect master. At worst, I just hear about the troubles. The one who really needs to worry is Sect Master Cui."

Sect Master Cui was dumbfounded. This shouldn't be happening, this shouldn't be happening! Both Teacher and Senior Sister were turning their backs on him! Wasn't the subsidiary sect still part of the family?!"

Chen Ping'an said, "That suddenly appeared Bingding Sword Boat, who does it belong to? According to the rules, it seems we still need to discuss it in the Jise Peak Ancestral Hall before reaching a conclusion, right?"

Cui Dongshan, dejected and listless, lowered his head and rubbed the armrest of the chair with his sleeve. He said weakly, "Then I'll just get straight to the point. First, there was a conflict on the mountain at the Yulin Ferry outside the capital of Yunyan Kingdom. A few Qi refiners and a group of martial artists from the martial world had a big fight, nearly causing deaths. Now we have a confusing lawsuit on our hands. The emperor of Yunyan Kingdom is another muddler who doesn't want to get involved, so the case was pushed to the Ancestral Hall. As luck would have it, the temporarily formed Ancestral Hall had a big argument internally. Li Ba, whose Dao name is 'Cuizhang', is the full authority representative of the East Sea Water Lord's Mansion in charge of digging the great river. He heard some unpleasant words in the capital, made a mountain out of a molehill, and insisted that the other party admit their mistake and take back their words. As a result, he ran into some people who are tough in the head, backbone, and even tougher in the mouth. If you, Li Ba, have the cultivation to kill them, go ahead, but they won't apologize. Don't even think about it. I naturally wanted to handle things impartially, and that's what I did. I forced those few people to apologize, but then both sides, which had their own backgrounds and backers among the mountain forces, all quit. Two mountain Daoist temples, as well as a few small countries along the great river, all stopped working. Add to that the two groups at Yulin Ferry who almost beat each other's brains out, and you get a bunch of people who are nothing but trouble."

Back then, Wang Zhu had generously thrown fifteen thousand Guyu coins at Cui Dongshan, nearly knocking Sect Master Cui unconscious on the spot.

The "Jincu Wu" was a brush washer in the shape of a coiled dragon and a green porcelain. She hadn't mentioned when she would take it back, so Cui Dongshan just treated it as a bonus. Give it back? No way.

Chen Ping'an said, "You can talk about the real troublesome matters now."

Cui Dongshan let out a heavy sigh, slapped the armrest, and said angrily, "Not long ago, in several sections of the great river that had already started digging, several troublemakers who were ruthless and unpredictable appeared almost simultaneously. One of the Qi refiners, each time, would go to the river sections that were crowded with people, all in the central part of the Tongye Continent where there were no Earth Immortal realm cultivators stationed in small countries. How could they withstand such destruction? The casualties were heavy. He would smash down several talismans with tremendous killing power and then flee. Besides him, there were four others who seemed to be mountain-and-wild cultivators of unknown identity. They would stay away from the river sections while lurking and waiting for an opportunity. When they struck, they would go on a killing spree, specifically targeting the generals, ministers, and cultivators from small mountain strongholds of the vassal states of the great dynasties. Within just a few days, after doing all this, they immediately stopped, only made one move, and then completely disappeared without a trace. They didn't forget to post notices, declaring that this was the consequence of daring to recklessly dig the great river and ruin the luck of the entire Tongye Continent. Furthermore, the notices contained some slanderous content meant to frame others, simply saying... that someone had ulterior motives, trying to please both the Great Spring Female Emperor and Huang Ting of Taiping Mountain, as well as Huang Yiyun of Pu Mountain. Especially out of camaraderie from the same hometown, they tried to please the East Sea Water Lord Wang Zhu, making backroom deals. As compensation for the Qingping Sword Sect's foothold in the Tongye Continent, they planned to sweep all the mountain luck of the central continent into the waters of the great river and give it away to the East Sea for free. Hence, it was a sinister scheme to enrich one water mansion by exploiting half a continent's luck. By the time the great river was successfully dug and connected to the sea, it would be too late to regret."

Chen Ping'an frowned and remained silent.

It wasn't that he cared about these baseless slanders, but that this group of Qi refiners, who had appeared and disappeared like a rabbit rising and a falcon falling, were not reckless at all. They had a plan, interconnected steps, and crucially, they must have left something in reserve.

Chen Ping'an asked, "Have there been any outbreaks of plague recently in the countries along the planned great river?"

Cui Dongshan nodded. "Yes, and in more than one place. But I have already invited several eminent physicians from the Central Earth to temporarily control the plague, so it hasn't spread."

Chen Ping'an asked, "What about the academy?"

Cui Dongshan said, "Wen Yu, the vice headmaster of Tianmu Academy, is already in the capital of Yunyan Kingdom overseeing the situation."

Chen Ping'an breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Cui Dongshan showed a hint of a smile. "Headmaster Wen is truly decisive in his actions. He took matters into his own hands, acted first and reported later to the Confucian Temple, directly called on Zhong Kui, and personally made a trip to Fengdu. He found one of the sources of the plague, then followed the clues, and eventually, after returning to the world of the living, he found one of the demonic Earth Immortal cultivators who had been raising a 'plague god.' He killed the demon on the spot and temporarily detained the coerced 'plague god' in the academy. I don't know what means Wen Yu used, but he was even able to use the demon's identity to contact the other two accomplices and dealt with them all at once. Now, on the surface, only two remain."

Pei Qian hesitated for a moment and then said, "One of them is not a demonic cultivator who failed to escape back to the Barren Wasteland, but a native human cultivator of the Tongye Continent. It is said that he remained unrepentant, his reasoning being that the reason the Tongye Continent suffered such a catastrophe was because the Sword Qi Great Wall failed to hold the Daoxuan Mountain passage and the Confucian Temple sages stood by and did nothing."

Cui Dongshan seemed unwilling to dwell on this matter and continued, "As for the first group of Qi refiners that went to investigate the matter, from our Qingping Sword Sect, we sent Mi Yu, Xing Yun, and Liu Shui, three sword cultivators. From Taiping Mountain, there was Mountain Lord Huang Ting, who had come out of seclusion, and she brought along 'Guo Ran,' a Celestial Immortal realm cultivator with the Dao name 'Longmen.' From the East Sea Water Mansion, there were Ghost Immortal Huang Man and martial artist Xi Man. As for the other forces, including the Pu Mountain Yuncao Hall led by Xue Huai, a group of royal retainers from the Great Spring Dynasty, and so on, there were a total of eight teams that went into hiding. Each chose a location along the great river as a base, and then they all performed their respective duties, beginning a game of patience... and luck, waiting for the hare by the tree stump."

Yu Xuan tugged at his beard. "There is only the saying 'a thousand days as a thief, but not a thousand days guarding against a thief.' Waiting for the hare by the tree stump is indeed a method of last resort. It's better than doing nothing, but if the other party simply stops now, the trouble will be huge. Not to mention the disheartened people, how can they be rallied? And with those uncontrollable rumors, your Qingping Sword Sect, along with the Luopo Mountain, could easily see their reputation in the Tongye Continent completely ruined."

Not to mention the various cultivators under the temporary Ancestral Hall running around exhausted with little effect to show for it. More importantly, those small countries, from the court to the common folk, were living in constant fear. After all, this wasn't a matter of "a gentle breeze causing some stir" anymore. People were dying. As a result, most of the construction along the great river came to a sudden halt. Only major powers like the Great Spring Yao Clan, as well as large immortal manors like the Yugui Sect and the Qingping Sword Sect, continued to dig the great river as usual.

Chen Ping'an looked at Cui Dongshan, who grinned. "That clone of mine hiding in Pu Mountain, since he has nothing to do anyway, is now acting as bait. Whether the mastermind behind the scenes will take the bait depends on whether the main culprit or the capable accomplices dare to kill a Dragon Gate realm young genius, a direct disciple of the Qingping Sword Sect, to establish their authority and become famous in a single battle."

Chen Ping'an rubbed his forehead. "Continue."

Cui Dongshan said, "A master diviner cast a hexagram and roughly deduced several places where the opponent might appear. That bastard was finally caught red-handed. Because Huang Ting from Taiping Mountain was not far away, as soon as she received the news, she immediately flew there on her sword and caught up to him!"

Chen Ping'an frowned. "Huang Ting couldn't intercept and kill him?"

If he had been killed, Cui Dongshan wouldn't have had to say so much.

Cui Dongshan rubbed his face with both hands, helpless. "The enemy had actually hidden well enough, but unfortunately for him, he ran into Huang Ting. Huang Ting never does things half-heartedly. The enemy took a sword strike, not lightly wounded, but he still managed to escape."

Chen Ping'an remained silent.

As the sect leader of Taiping Mountain, Huang Ting was not only a Jade Pure realm sword cultivator, but also, let's not forget, Huang Ting's fortune was widely acknowledged as the best in the continent.

The fact that she could catch up and pursue that demonic cultivator, who was very likely the mastermind, was proof in itself. But the fact that he eventually escaped was also a kind of proof.

So this was even more troublesome than if Mi Yu, who was already a Celestial Immortal, had chased after him and struck, only for the enemy to escape heavily wounded.

Xing Yun, who looked like a young man, and Liu Shui, an old woman, were both native sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall who had come to the Haoran World for the first time. Xing Yun had already been given a new identity, serving as both a registered guest elder of the Qingping Sword Sect and the new manager of the Fengyi Ferry Boat. Because these demonic cultivators had suddenly appeared and were running wild, their first task was to change places and kill demons. The only problem was that they might not even have the chance to see the demons, or that there were several of them.

Cui Dongshan said, "This beast, whose identity has already been confirmed as a demon, publicly declared before being caught by Huang Ting that from now on, wherever there is dust rising along the great river, there will be a talisman from him waiting."

Chen Ping'an asked, "Is this demon an Upper Five Realm talisman cultivator who is proficient in escape techniques and good at fleeing?"

Cui Dongshan shook his head. "According to Huang Ting, he seemed to be only at the Nascent Soul realm. But he is indeed proficient in the Five Elements Escape Technique and has a seemingly endless supply of talismans, which he uses in combination in a dazzling manner. In that chase, which lasted less than half an hour, Huang Ting actually struck many times, but only one sword landed on the demon. And that, as Huang Ting later told me, was 'a wild slash, just trying my luck.'"

Cui Dongshan emphasized, "So this demon is extremely skilled in talismans."

Yu Xuan asked, "Sect Master Cui, are there any talisman remnants?"

Cui Dongshan took a small porcelain jar from his sleeve and carefully poured the talisman ash onto the table.

To be honest, if Yu Xuan hadn't been at the mountain, Cui Dongshan would have had to ask his teacher to ask his teacher's teacher to invite Old Immortal Yu down from the starry river for a visit.

Yu Xuan raised his sleeve, reached out with his fingers, and pinched a bit of the talisman paper residue. He gently rubbed it between two fingers, then suddenly flicked his sleeve. A point of golden light appeared in the air, then from point to line, from line to surface, fine golden threads extended outward, "generating" a complete talisman made of golden material in sequence.

The moment the "talisman formation" was complete, that talisman was about to explode, as if it were a "talisman within a talisman" waiting for this exact moment.

Unfortunately for this talisman, it had run into Yu Xuan, the talisman master.

Yu Xuan had already drawn a talisman at the same time to trap it. The talisman in the air, covered in countless fine cracks, swayed and trembled, on the verge of collapse.

Yu Xuan stared at it for a moment and soon came to a conclusion that was both good and bad. "It's not any kind of major talisman recorded in the books. There are over two thousand two hundred talisman lines. A bit rough, but the intent is there. It's clear that this is very likely a 'first creation' drawn by that demonic cultivator himself. So it's still in the process of being explored and hasn't reached perfection. Otherwise, even if I had been prepared and used a talisman to suppress a talisman, the Dao traces hidden in the talisman's core would have been destroyed and erased. However, the cultivator who can draw this new talisman is highly accomplished, and his methods are very unorthodox. He has several brilliant ideas that dare to think what predecessors haven't thought. I have to admit, this fellow is a good seedling, really a good seedling for cultivating talismans. If he stays hidden in the Tongye Continent for long, he will definitely be a significant threat."

Yu Xuan continued, "Huang Ting's guess is correct. The most likely realm is Nascent Soul. The possibility of Jade Pure realm cannot be entirely ruled out, but it is very small."

Chen Ping'an suddenly said, "Could it just be the Golden Core realm?"

Yu Xuan held the talisman again with his right hand and used his left hand to make calculations. After a moment, the old talisman, unable to hold on any longer, shattered with a bang. Yu Xuan nodded. "That's possible too. It could be either Golden Core or Nascent Soul, fifty-fifty."

Cui Dongshan rubbed his chin. "Most likely Golden Core."

What if this demonic cultivator managed to break through to Nascent Soul during his escape, or even went into seclusion and reached Jade Pure?

If a Golden Core could be this troublesome, and if he then crossed a major threshold and entered the Upper Five Realms, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Yu Xuan asked, "Sect Master Cui, are these all the talisman remnants?"

Cui Dongshan nodded. "This is what Huang Ting managed to find by pure luck."

Yu Xuan said regretfully, "That's a pity. If it had been a complete talisman, even half a piece would have been good. But with just these few remnants, trying to trace back and find a definite clue is a delusion. Even I can't do it. The other party was very clean in his talisman drawing, as if he had taken precautions from the start. He used... good heavens, it's not just one substitute talisman. He used a substitute to draw a substitute talisman, and then drew a talisman within a talisman... This fellow has too many tricks up his sleeve. Troublesome, indeed troublesome."

Suddenly realizing that many people were looking at him, Chen Ping'an laughed angrily. "What are you looking at me for? If you're going to look at someone, look at Chief Zhou. This fellow has clearly learned the essence of Old Sect Leader Jiang's nomadic crime sprees."

Chief Zhou, who had just come to the door on a whim to join the fun and meet the experts, stopped in his tracks, a look of utter innocence on his face. Huh? How could this be blamed on him?

Bai Ye, though not a sword cultivator, was the true sword immortal in Jiang Shangzhen's heart.

Old Immortal Yu's abundant wealth made Jiang Shangzhen feel inferior. Yu Xuan pondered for a moment, stroked his beard, and said, "If all else fails, I'll make a trip to the Tongye Continent in person and stay there for a month or two to see if I can encounter this up-and-coming talisman master. Any longer would be impractical, as I still need to help monitor the celestial green path trajectory, so I can't afford to be too distracted."

No one said anything polite like "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

Jiang Shangzhen laughed. "Then I'll follow Old Immortal Yu back to my hometown and try my luck like Huang Ting."

But Chen Ping'an said, "Senior Yu shouldn't leave a mind clone in the starry river and go to the Tongye Continent in person. He might be waiting for that opportunity."

Cui Dongshan nodded. "That's right."

Chen Ping'an said, "Senior Yu, you don't need to worry about this. We will try to resolve this threat as soon as possible. Jiang Shangzhen, you go back first. Once I finish dealing with my personal matters, I'll go to the Tongye Continent."

Yu Xuan didn't put up any pretense. He nodded and sighed with emotion. "It's not easy to do things, whether as a person or in one's work. A hundred years of effort might not be enough, but a single failure can ruin everything. Don't be disheartened. Wait until the clouds part and you see the moon. I believe there will always be a time when the village seems dark with willows and flowers bright."

Cui Dongshan coughed a few times. "Teacher, that's about all I have to talk about. I'll take my leave now. I'm tired from the journey; I need to rest and recover."

Chen Ping'an nodded and said via mental voice, "After you rest, call Jiang Shangzhen and immediately go to those two places in the Lotus Root Flower Blessed Land. Divide the tasks and take more people with you. I'll have Jiang Shangzhen and Xie Gou take the Parasol Tree Umbrella to the Tongye Continent soon."

Cui Dongshan kept walking and replied via mental voice, "Teacher, are you worried that there might be someone lurking in those two places, causing trouble in secret? According to reason, no matter who it is, they would show some respect to the old temple master."

Since it was "no matter who," that included Zhou Mi.

Indeed, no one would want to provoke the Blue Sky Grotto Master.

Chen Ping'an lowered his head slightly, his eyes dark and unclear. He said calmly, "It's not some snakes stirring up trouble in a draining puddle. There are old precedents that make the reason clear: 'If the old crops are not cut down early, the remaining seeds will spoil the good fields.'"

Cui Dongshan slowed his steps upon hearing this. His eyes were complicated, and he seemed about to speak but stopped. He even turned his head to look at his teacher.

Chen Ping'an raised his eyes. "Blessings never come in pairs, but misfortunes never come alone. That's an old saying. Rather than having them come sporadically every now and then, it's better to let them all come out and bask in the sun at once. We know in our hearts that these current calamities, whether they are on the Tongye Continent or hidden in the blessed land, are all heart-wrenching bad things. But in a sense, they can also be seen as turning points. When a matter reaches its lowest point, the next step is upward."

Cui Dongshan lightly nodded, then turned his head. He swung his two snow-white sleeves and strode away with large steps.

Seeing that the big white goose was gone, Chen Lingjun plucked up his courage, stood up, and asked tentatively, "Mountain Lord, how about I see Sect Master Cui off?"

Chen Ping'an was about to nod when Yu Xuan laughed, "Fellow Daoist Jingqing, leaving as soon as we meet? That's not right, not right. Why not stay and chat with me a bit more?"

Chen Lingjun had just lifted his bottom when he heard this. He opened his mouth wide and gently put his bottom back down. If not for the mountain lord being in the room, Chen Lingjun would have been even more restless, feeling like he was sitting on a bed of nails!

The green-clad young boy sat back in his chair, his eyes vacant, speechless. What was up with Old Immortal Yu? Why was he insisting on picking on him?

Bai Ye glanced at the green-clad young boy.

Chen Lingjun felt a little guilty.

Earlier, no one had told him who this boy in the tiger-head hat was. At that time, Lord Chen hadn't been able to control his mouth. On the road, he had met the pair of one tall and one short. Chen Lingjun had found it amusing, laughed heartily, put his hands on his hips, and asked Mr. Jun Qian if he had taken on another disciple.

Chen Lingjun saw that Mr. Jun Qian just smiled and didn't say anything. His eyes seemed full of encouragement and approval...

So Chen Lingjun sized up the handsome young boy and spoke with the air of an old hand, "Good, good, good. I was just saying that kid named Zheng Youqian wasn't bad. He'll go far in the future. This young brother here, what's your name? You clearly have a strange bone structure, a true seedling for cultivation. Not bad, not bad at all. Mr. Jun Qian, you've been doubly blessed. Congratulations. I wonder if this young brother can drink? If he can, then together with your master, the three of us brothers can go to my place and have a morning drink..."

Jun Qian laughed and said, "His name is Bai Ye. 'Not bad' is certainly an understatement, but he's not my disciple. He's a friend."

Chen Lingjun was momentarily speechless. He would never make the same mistake twice! He would never repeat the same error! So he absolutely would not suggest that the boy change his name.

Instead, he quickly stopped putting his hands on his hips. The green-clad young boy's expression became solemn and heavy. Then he used his mental voice to ask Mr. Jun Qian, "Which Bai Ye?"

Jun Qian laughed and said, "The Bai Ye you're thinking of."

Chen Lingjun was familiar with the routine. This was what was meant by "practice makes perfect." With lightning speed, he put his hand to his forehead, swayed a little, and muttered to himself, "This morning drink has got me completely lost, I can't tell north from south anymore..." Then, in a fluid motion, he turned around and staggered a few steps before breaking into a sprint. In the blink of an eye, the green-clad young boy had disappeared without a trace.

After that, before Chief Zhou had come up the mountain, Chen Lingjun had been hiding in his residence, which he euphemistically called "reflecting on his faults behind closed doors" and "practicing closed-door Zen."

After Cui Dongshan walked out of the residence, he thought for a moment. The teacher was right.

A long wait, and then another long wait, and finally, the wait was over.

Cui Dongshan let out a long breath. Then he jumped forward, shouting and yelling, punching and kicking, his two sleeves making a slapping sound as he performed a set of punches.

His teacher, Chen Ping'an, felt this way, and Cui Dongshan felt no different.

If you don't fear bad things coming early, and you don't worry about good things coming late, then according to this logic, you could indeed barely consider this string of dangerous storms as the sign and beginning of the next good thing.

But in between, both the mountain and the subsidiary sect would have to be worried, spend energy, and work hard.

Cui Dongshan didn't walk back to his own residence. Instead, he flickered and leaped over the wall into the courtyard where the Parasol Tree Umbrella was stored.

He sat on the steps as if waiting for someone. He raised five fingers and made a calculation, occasionally raising his other sleeve and waving it a few times.

Cui Dongshan was bored, yawning. Finally, two people arrived: Liu Xianyang and Gu Can, who had been to the Hu Mountain Sect.

Without any polite pleasantries, Cui Dongshan flicked his sleeve and activated a sword formation outlined in golden light. He took a scroll from his sleeve and lowered his voice, "This portrait was painted by the female Daoist Huang Ting of the Tongye Continent. It's a depiction of a rampaging demonic cultivator, but it's most likely just the appearance of a substitute talisman. Brother Liu, what do you think? Say the word. I'll do whatever Brother Liu says!"

Liu Xianyang reached out his hand without a word of nonsense.

Cui Dongshan handed over the scroll but didn't let go. "Wouldn't that alert the snake?"

Liu Xianyang scoffed, "Brother Cui's words are wrong. If you see the snake with your own eyes, how can it be 'alerting the snake'? It's 'disturbing the grass and alerting the snake'? Stop dawdling. Let go. Give it a whack first. Whether it hits the seven inches or not, I'll decide after I hit it."

"Brother Liu, with your higher realm and status, your courage and boldness have become truly impressive. You're the stuff of legends now, just like a sect master! So domineering!"

"We're brothers. Save the flattery. Sect Master Cui, step aside."

Cui Dongshan immediately put his feet together and hopped sideways. "Little brother obeys the order!"

Liu Xianyang turned to look at Gu Can and lowered his voice, "Nose-picker, if Chen Ping'an comes to stop me, remember to block him and tell him not to meddle..."

Gu Can had already said, "He didn't come. He just glanced this way and then took Yu Xuan for a walk to the mountaintop."

Liu Xianyang was deeply hurt and started cursing directly, "You ungrateful bastard!"

Cui Dongshan roared angrily, "We're both sect masters! Equal status! Brother Liu, if you say that, then I'm not happy about it!"

Liu Xianyang unfurled the scroll, letting it float in the air. Then he waved his hand, signaling Cui Dongshan to go cool off somewhere.

The big white goose hopped sideways again.

Liu Xianyang just took one look at the cultivator in the portrait, then began to calm his mind and closed his eyes as if dozing off.

Cui Dongshan didn't dare to disturb Liu Xianyang's session of "seeking the sword in a dream." He just grinned and stared straight at Gu Can.

Gu Can responded with a polite smile.

Cui Dongshan said via mental voice, "To be honest, I don't know what others think of you, but at least Pei Qian and I don't dislike you."

Gu Can nodded and smiled. "Good to know."

Cui Dongshan rubbed his hands together. "Since you don't dislike me either, and we see eye to eye, how about the two of us..."

Gu Can cut him off bluntly. "No way."

Cui Dongshan glared. "At least hear what I have to say before refusing!"

Gu Can said, "If you were an outsider, I would chat with you outside the door for a while."

Cui Dongshan gave a thumbs up. "Well said!"

Gu Can hesitated for a moment, then made a bow of thanks to this white-clad young man with a mole between his eyebrows, but without saying a word.

Cui Dongshan smiled radiantly and returned the bow.

They were both extremely intelligent people, and both were the closest people to Chen Ping'an. So, all was left unspoken.

Chen Ping'an led Yu Xuan to the summit of Jiling Peak. The former mountain god temple had been slightly renovated and turned into a simple, ancient-style building, but no plaque had been hung there yet.

Following the old true man's gaze, Chen Ping'an laughed. "I had already thought of a name for the plaque, just two characters. Reading from right to left, it's 'Observing the Dao.' Reading from left to right, it's 'Dao Observation.'"

Yu Xuan's eyes lit up. What a brilliant idea! It seemed that in the entire Haoran World, no mountain immortal manor had such a plaque?

Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Chen Ping'an had to say, "Let's set the terms first, Senior. Don't go stealing this junior's idea."

Yu Xuan thought for a moment and then laughed. "I certainly won't plagiarize. I don't have that thick a face. I'll buy it. How about I buy it from you? I'll waive the interest on the five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins I lent you?"

Chen Ping'an just shook his head. "No deal."

Yu Xuan sighed and reluctantly gave up. Chen Ping'an was a Confucian disciple, so it wouldn't be good for him to hang a plaque with those two characters on the mountain top, as it would make him look like a Daoist priest. But if his own Taofu Mountain's Tianjin Peak used it, wouldn't that be perfect?

Chen Ping'an waited for a moment, but unexpectedly, the old true man didn't show any intention of insisting. Where was the will to continue bargaining? So Chen Ping'an tried to make a detour. "Senior, the price can be negotiated."

"Forget it. I'm not a fool. Would I spend five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins just to buy two characters? Someone like Liu Daochan, who has too much money and is willing to be taken advantage of, is rare."

Yu Xuan waved his hand with a smile. He remained silent for a long time, then said softly, "Mountain Lord Chen, to forge iron, you must be strong yourself. The worst thing in doing things is having the will but not the strength."

Chen Ping'an said, "Junior is already in seclusion."

Yu Xuan then said, "Haste makes waste. Failing to break through twice in seclusion is no small matter, Mountain Lord Chen. You must plan before you act, prepare for the worst, and have a backup plan."

Chen Ping'an murmured an agreement.

Suddenly, the old true man came to his senses. "What? You're already in seclusion?!"

Chen Ping'an laughed. "I wouldn't dare deceive you, Senior."

Yu Xuan, ignoring the taboos of the mountain world, hurriedly asked curiously, "You have to be clear. Have you gathered enough five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins and started forging the sword? Or is it... a general kind of seclusion?"

Chen Ping'an answered frankly, "It's not sword forging. It's seclusion."

Yu Xuan stomped his foot, looking utterly helpless. "Good lad! You're already in a state of seclusion? If you make even the slightest mistake, Old Scholar won't scold me half to death!"

Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "I can't predict the future. How was I supposed to know that Senior Yu would come to Luopo Mountain?"

Yu Xuan took a deep breath, held his breath, and stomped his foot heavily. Then he spread his hands and made a hand seal. "I wish this mountain lord a smooth and favorable seclusion."

A moment later, Yu Xuan seemed stunned. "Chen Ping'an, isn't this seclusion of yours a bit too mysterious? Can you tell me a little about it? I can isolate heaven and earth; we can talk privately."

Chen Ping'an laughed. "If it succeeds, I'll invite you for a drink, Senior. For now, let's not talk about it."

Yu Xuan nodded. "Alright, alright!"

At that moment, the old true man wished he could pour out all the auspicious words he knew.

Chen Ping'an rested one hand on the white jade railing and asked with a smile, "Senior Yu, if I may be a bit more casual?"

Yu Xuan sat on the railing first. "Be as casual as you like."

Chen Ping'an turned around and sat down. He took out a vermillion wine gourd and asked, "Old True Man, do you know of any immortal manors in the nine continents of Haoran that are currently willing to sell a Dragon-Slaying Platform? Size doesn't matter, as long as there's one. If they're willing to sell, just name the price."

Yu Xuan shook his head. "You can't buy that kind of thing. It goes around and around. Whenever it appears, it's almost always monopolized by the major sects. Even if it's not a sword Dao sect, they'll cherish it like a family heirloom. Even if they don't use it, it's good to feast their eyes on it."

Chen Ping'an had only asked on the off chance, like casting a line without expecting a fish. Hearing the old true man, who was well-connected among the mountains, say the same thing, he completely gave up on the idea of finding a bargain.

Yu Xuan said, "When I get back, I'll say hello to a few friends on the mountains and see if there's any such good stuff in the Barren Wasteland World."

Chen Ping'an took a big gulp of wine, thanked him, then took another gulp. He laughed. "Back in my hometown, I wasn't so keen on it. The thing is, I didn't know a good thing when I saw it back then. As soon as I had a little money, I'd use it to buy mountains. Young and ignorant, with shallow vision, I always felt that things without legs—fields, land, houses, and the like—were the safest."

Yu Xuan said via mental voice, "There's only one thing I'm extremely curious about."

Chen Ping'an asked, "Old True Man, are you curious about the rules governing the flow of luck in the small town back then?"

Yu Xuan stroked his beard and nodded. "Indeed."

Chen Ping'an said, "I once asked Senior Brother Cui about it on the city wall. Later, I asked Lu Chen. Their answers were similar. They both said that because they didn't know the most fundamental threads, they couldn't deduce the truth."

Yu Xuan smiled faintly. "If it weren't so, how could the Green Boy Heavenly Lord have used the fog to create flowers and fool everyone?"

Chen Ping'an laughed out loud. He put away the sword-nurturing gourd he was using as a wine flask. With a twist of his wrist, he produced a dry pipe and began smoking with practiced ease, soon emitting clouds of smoke.

Yu Xuan asked in surprise, "You're into this?"

Chen Ping'an laughed. "It's like drinking. Over time, it becomes second nature."

Regarding Chen Ping'an's two natal flying swords, the method of forging "Cage Sparrow" was simple and difficult at the same time: it had to "eat" Dragon-Slaying Stones. Could that even be considered a "shortcut"?

Dragon-Slaying Stones were even rarer than Gold Essence Copper Coins. Truly, for a sword cultivator, using it meant there was less of it. Not to mention that it was priceless and not even available on the market.

The locals commonly called it Dragon Ridge Mountain. It stored a large piece of Dragon-Slaying Platform. But in the records of the Great Li Ministry of Revenue, it was Mountain Jia Six. In the history of the Great Li Song Clan, it had been sealed off during the Chunhui era.

The Dragon-Slaying Platform, one of the two execution platforms of the ancient heavenly court, had been shattered by a sword cultivator who had ascended to heaven, scattering its pieces across the human world. The two largest "cliffs" were located in what later became the Bottle Gourd Continent and the Sword Qi Great Wall. The former was that cliff of Dragon Ridge Mountain, named Mountain Jia Six by the Great Li and also known by Lu Yan as the ancient name True Hidden, or Celestial Nose.

According to the agreement made at the time, that Dragon-Slaying Cliff on Dragon Ridge Mountain was initially to be split between the Wind and Snow Temple and the True Martial Mountain. The Great Li Song Clan could help seal the mountain and mine it. Later, the Great Li Dynasty changed its mind, allowing Ruan Qiong, the chief retainer who had founded his own sect, to get a share. Because the Dragon Spring Sword Sect's portion wasn't large, and given Ruan Qiong's status and reputation, especially since the Wind and Snow Temple was his wife's family, and Cui Chan, the national advisor, had personally visited the True Martial Mountain that year, the True Martial Mountain side had to accept it, albeit reluctantly. However, the one who used up their share of the Dragon-Slaying Platform the fastest was the Wind and Snow Temple. In the years since, they had only sent two elderly sword cultivators to build a thatched hut there and keep watch as a symbolic gesture.

Then came Ruan Qiong's share, which also "disappeared without a trace" soon after.

But the Wind and Snow Temple's military strategist ancestor, who looked like a child, had obtained an ancient sword technique. The key was that the sword technique was extremely high, but its threshold was not high. Earth Immortal sword cultivators could cultivate this sword lineage.

Ruan Qiong had also obtained a lost sword-forging technique that had been lost for tens of thousands of years.

After Liu Xianyang returned to his hometown, he often went there to wander around, claiming he was inspecting his own territory. But his eyes were always glancing towards the cliff on the True Martial Mountain side. So, after many times, they began to watch Liu Xianyang like a thief. Every time he entered the mountain, the True Martial Mountain would have a cultivator follow this disciple of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect closely.

So, when Chen Ping'an returned to his hometown this time, he didn't have any designs on Dragon Ridge Mountain, even though he had recently become the new National Advisor of the Great Li. He didn't even think about the remaining Dragon-Slaying Platform on the True Martial Mountain side, much less bring it up.

Back on the city wall of the Sword Qi Great Wall, Chen Ping'an had sequentially formed his Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Jade Pure realms. The number of flying swords had crossed thresholds sequentially: one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, four hundred thousand.

There were only two paths to take. One was for Chen Ping'an to raise his realm. The other was to "eat" Gold Essence Copper Coins. This shortcut, compared to eating Dragon-Slaying Stones, was only relatively easier.

Refining one thousand five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins and integrating them into the nascent long river of time. Roughly estimated, the number of flying swords that could be differentiated from a single "Well Mouth Moon" could hopefully reach eight hundred thousand. If optimistic, maybe as many as a million.

But this kind of sword forging was extremely stable. However, Chen Ping'an's current seclusion made him feel as if he had returned to the exhausting deliberation of the Summer Resort. He had to weigh every detail repeatedly, not daring to take a single wrong step!

Yu Xuan was rarely so hesitant. Finally, he waved his sleeve and created a talisman array. "I'm really itching with curiosity. Just tell me the general idea of this seclusion of yours, lad. In all my years, I've never heard of such a method of seclusion. How can a cultivator be in seclusion while his true body is out wandering? And the key is that you're crossing the major threshold from Earth Immortal to Jade Pure. I remember when I was in seclusion back then, I didn't dare be so reckless. And you've already failed twice before?"

Chen Ping'an had to give a general explanation. "Praise be to the Northern Dipper, you can also extend your life. This fits the Daoist meaning that only when the Dao heart dies can it live. So, outside my true body, I set up nine talisman clone bodies: seven manifest and two hidden. All are placed below halfway up the Bottle Gourd Continent. As for this true body, I'm using the alias Chen Ji, a teacher who runs a school in a rural area."

Yu Xuan waited for more, but the lad stopped. "That's it?"

Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "Senior himself asked me to give a general idea."

Yu Xuan imitated the old scholar and let out an "Ai," then grabbed Chen Ping'an's arm. "That's too perfunctory! Chen Ping'an, be a little more detailed. Talk to me about it."

This was called the urgency of seeking the Dao!

It had nothing to do with the level of realm.

Chen Ping'an slowly explained, "My teacher has a concept of 'Heavenly Officials.' The Book of Rites also mentions the seven emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire. The seven manifest clones correspond to these seven emotions. The two hidden ones are responsible for casting the net and pulling it in. Among them, the pure martial artist is about 'manifesting' a pure true qi, as much as possible tending towards 'Dao-ification' within his own small world, gathering his thoughts, which is somewhat related to the Buddhist concept of stopping thoughts and the Daoist concept of fasting the mind. The other hidden one is a Qi refiner, who does the opposite. He lets his thoughts arise freely, the more the better, ceaselessly. For example, it's like flowers blooming in the wilderness. The inspiration comes from Lu Chen's chapter on the Great Sage, specifically the line: 'The true men of old, when they slept, they did not dream; when they woke, they did not worry; when they ate, they did not savor; their breathing was deep.' I also once considered the Buddhist theory of the six desires, but that path proved unworkable. As for why, it involves the fundamental path of my own cultivation, so I won't say more. As for the 'Chapter on Valuing Life' written by one of the ancestors of the Eclectic School, I did some deduction earlier at the Mixue Peak Daoist site, but it seemed insufficient to serve as an... anchor. So I gave up on it as well. In the end, I chose the 'Five Poisons' theory. In this, according to Buddhist teachings, I deliberately added beams on beams and heads on heads. It's asking for trouble on purpose, making it harder to cross the heart's barrier. Simply put, I want to use the state of mind as a battlefield, use heart demons to kill heart demons, kill demons like mowing grass, build skull pyramids. But all the bones piled up are my own. How scary can heart demons be? I want to see for myself. People on the mountain say that when the Dao is one foot tall, the demon is ten feet tall. I want to see exactly how high it can go. So, the true body is free and can chat with you like this, Senior."

Chen Ping'an's single thought that had traveled beyond the heavens with the Sword Holder was not included in this. So, this was another kind of distant resonance, like the connection and mutual pulling between heaven and earth.

Each thought attached to one of the nine talisman clones, forming a great array, conforming to the principle of the Dharma resembling heaven and earth.

Chen Ping'an had used up nine talismans without hesitation, including two priceless green talisman papers that couldn't be bought even with money.

All were one-time consumables. Unless he sealed off a mountain and withdrew one of the clones, the talismans would continuously leak spiritual energy until they were completely depleted and turned into useless paper.

"Incredible! It opens the eyes!"

Yu Xuan smiled and stroked his beard. "Trouble you, Fellow Daoist Chen, to explain it in more detail. I'll give it a name!"

Chen Ping'an's eyes sparkled, his brows flying high. He gently tapped the white jade railing with his pipe, making a crisp metallic sound.

He began to elaborate on his thoughts and ideas to the old true man.

With a flick of his sleeve, the smoke formed nine portraits. Each portrait was a hexagram.

What were the seven manifest ones?

The green-robed mountain lord in the bamboo tower of Luopo Mountain. Ruled by "Sorrow."

Chen Jiu, the outer gate receptionist of the Bamboo Branch Sect. Ruled by "Joy."

Wu Di, the fortune-telling Daoist in the Yu Xuan Kingdom. Ruled by "Anger."

The middle-aged scholar inside a Lu ancestral temple within the Yu Prefecture of the Great Li. Ruled by "Desire."

Chen Ren, the sword-carrying youth appearing in the Qing Xing Kingdom and reappearing in the Hehuan Mountain area. Ruled by "Fear."

A "gentleman of the upper beams" who steals books but only reads them, inside the Imperial Secretary's Library of a small country on the southern bank of the great river. Ruled by "Love."

The one who opened heaven's eyes and observed the Dao in the Lotus Root Flower Blessed Land. Ruled by "Hate."

What were the two hidden ones?

A martial artist at the Golden Body realm dressed as a mountain Daoist.

A Golden Core Earth Immortal with a big beard, wearing a saber, looking like a wandering knight.

"This is the first layer of foundation, using the seven emotions as the base."

Yu Xuan nodded slightly. "The green-robed mountain lord stays on the mountain. The seven emotions are ruled by sorrow. The greatest sorrow is the death of the heart. This fits with Fellow Daoist Chen's saying that only through death can life be found."

"You were poor as a child, loved reading but couldn't get an education. Now that you have it, reading books, listening to the sound of turning pages, smelling the scent of ink and paper, naturally gives rise to joy, which in turn gives rise to love."

"Without approaching evil, you don't know good. This is observing the Dao."

"But..."

Hearing this, Chen Ping'an smiled knowingly, pointed to his head, then to his heart, and took over the conversation. "But... in the end, it's only a partial view. But it's already my limit."

Yu Xuan laughed. "And the second layer, the 'gilding' method? Please enlighten me, Fellow Daoist Chen."

Chen Ping'an smiled and nodded. The nine portraits shifted from stillness to motion, each showing different scenes, each acting according to its own purpose.

After a moment of silence, Chen Ping'an said, "Senior may not know this, but I was born on the fifth day of the fifth month."

Yu Xuan was taken aback. "Fellow Daoist wants to eliminate the Five Poison Hearts?!"

On the Barren Wasteland journey, he had borrowed the 14th realm from Lu Chen. It was like pulling up seedlings to help them grow. His Dao heart had been forced to grow. Chen Ping'an's most urgent task was to eliminate the hidden dangers.

In this matter, Lu Chen had not only warned him beforehand but also after. Chen Ping'an had to acknowledge the favor.

Earlier, at the top of the Po Mo Peak, Lu Chen had leaked heavenly secrets for his direct disciple, Cao Rong.

What seemed like a splash-ink landscape painting was actually a meticulous brushwork that was detailed to the extreme.

Lu Chen had leaked heavenly secrets to Cao Rong, and the content of his words contained the true meanings of both the Buddhist and Daoist teachings.

The Dao bestows the form; Heaven bestows the shape. The method of copying landscapes is to first capture the landscape outside the painting. What you capture is precisely the heart's monkey and the mind's horse that need to be subdued, the Daoist's heart demon.

Also at the top of Po Mo Peak, Zhou Qiu and Liu Tie and the others had left Fengle Town. They had seen another Chen Ping'an who had arrived by shrinking the earth, completely different from the grass-sandal-wearing youth with a sword on his back. This one fit their image of the young Hidden Official better.

He was young, handsome, full of Dao aura, with a clear and ethereal expression. He wore a golden crown, a green gauze Dharma robe, held a white jade ganoderma in his hands, and wore cloud-stepping shoes.

This was one of the hidden star clones serving as the array's assistant.

This "Chen Ping'an" was specifically responsible for secretly protecting the sword-carrying youth, whose martial arts realm was not high.

This outfit, completely different from Chen Ping'an's usual attire, was not only "good-looking" but also practical.

In simple terms, besides providing an emergency backup for "youth Chen Ren," it also allowed him to run away if he couldn't win, so that the entire great array wouldn't fall apart halfway.

And this Chen Ping'an, who looked like a young Daoist, appeared more like a Qi refiner than a Qi refiner himself. In reality, he was a genuine Golden Body realm martial artist, not a Golden Core Earth Immortal.

Chen Ping'an had used a piece of green talisman paper without hesitation.

As for the other clone, which also used a piece of green talisman paper, it was indeed a rough and tough martial artist with a saber at his waist, a big beard, and the appearance of a wandering knight. He was at the Golden Core realm.

This was still due to Chen Ping'an's limitation as a Nascent Soul cultivator. His attainments in the way of talismans were not particularly profound compared to true talisman masters. If those two priceless green talismans had been used by a true master of the talisman lineage to draw talismans, it would have been entirely possible to create a Nascent Soul realm clone and a Traveling Martial realm clone.

Buddhism says that "greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt" are the five poisonous hearts, which create evil karma and hinder cultivation. Therefore, without eliminating the five poisonous hearts, so-called meditation is ultimately evil meditation, and the supernatural powers cultivated are not the true Dharma.

Even the heart demons of Daoist cultivators come from this.

And Chen Ping'an's birthday happened to be on the fifth day of the fifth month, which is the customary "Five Poison Day" both on and off the mountain.

The almanac says: The month is called Zhengyang, the season is Duanwu. Therefore, customs vary across the Haoran World, but the purpose is the same. Children wear five-colored silk threads, women wear sachets, men drink realgar wine, craftsmen cast Yangsui mirrors, people ask for paper talismans from temples and Daoist abbeys, or hang calamus and wormwood outside their doors, or hang divine images to ward off evil. In short, they all pray for the safety of their homes.

According to the general saying in the small hometown, a person born on this day is a natural jinx. If their fate is thin, they will die young. If their fate is strong, they will kill everyone around them.

If you like to listen to old people tell stories, you'll get another saying with a similar meaning but slightly different. The fifth day of the fifth month was once a day for sacrificing to heaven and worshipping the gods. It's like the location of a house. It shouldn't be behind a temple or an ancestral hall. The reason is that if everyone is burning incense, worshipping gods, and kowtowing, can the living people of that house bear such a great gift? By the same token, how can a child born on the fifth day of the fifth month bear such a fate?

Of course, when the orphan from Mud Vase Alley grew up, especially when he became the well-known big landowner of the western mountains around the state capital, the old sayings and reasoning remained unchanged. But people would often add one more sentence: it was because the child's parents knew the rules. They had given their son a good name early on: "Ping'an." Peace and safety. The more rustic the name, the easier it was for the child to live. And the meaning was good. That's why Chen Ping'an had achieved later fortune. Not only could he take it, but he could also keep it. The name "Chen Ping'an" had certainly made a great contribution.

Chen Ping'an, using a Daoist Beidou array of seven manifest and two hidden, followed the method of climbing the mountain and guarding the one. He then used Buddhist methods to eliminate the five hearts. It was both each cultivator cultivating their own path and himself protecting his own path.

As Cao Rong had said, the first great illness of youth is high-spiritedness. Because one is full of vigor and vitality, easily angered and irritable.

But contrary to what Heavenly Lord Cao Rong had guessed, the sword-carrying youth Chen Ren was characterized by "doubt" rather than "anger." That's why Lu Chen had said that the sword scabbard on the youth's back was empty.

This symbol was precisely a metaphor for the youth from Mud Vase Alley who had left his hometown. He had once experienced a profoundly intense self-denial, leading to a heart without fixed numbers, fixed principles, or fixed methods, increasingly self-doubting.

The first "Chen Ping'an" that Lu Chen had seen was Chen Jiu, the outer gate receptionist of the Bamboo Branch Sect in Caidyu Mountain.

The second was Chen Ren, the grass-sandal-wearing sword-carrying youth who appeared in the Hehuan Mountain area.

This was Chen Ping'an conducting a review.

In the past, the youth from the back alley had taken one step at a time, thinking far and much, carefully observing the entire unfamiliar world and society. He was greedy for life and afraid of death. All his awe came from fear.

Hence, it was "doubt."

The middle-aged scholar inside a Lu ancestral temple within the Yu Prefecture of the Great Li, who copied scriptures every day and occasionally watched the clouds rise over the human world.

Buddhism says to cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom to extinguish greed, anger, and ignorance. The Lu sect is widely recognized as the strictest in keeping precepts.

But a Confucian scholar who lodged in an ancient temple, eating simple meals every day, while copying Buddhist scriptures, also practiced Daoist Thunder Methods. At the pavilion on the mountaintop, he also performed the true words of the Esoteric School of Buddhism.

What heart was he eliminating?

It was "greed."

Wu Di, the Daoist in the capital of the Yu Xuan Kingdom, the one who cast the net and then pulled it in, was very close to his enemy, the Ma family of Apricot Flower Lane.

And Chen Ping'an deliberately added fuel to the fire. This clone was originally governed by the seven emotions' "anger," so he could use this to gradually sharpen his Dao heart.

This was the true "anger."

The Hidden Official, the Mountain Lord of Luopo Mountain who had nearly dismantled the entire Zhengyang Mountain piece by piece, had forced the Zhengyang Mountain to erect a boundary monument.

And yet, he was working as an outer gate receptionist in the Bamboo Branch Sect, which was a neighboring mountain to Zhengyang Mountain and very likely to become its vassal. His monthly salary was only a few snow coins.

This was a kind of "arrogance" that simply disdained to show itself on the surface, didn't care whether others knew, and came from the bottom of his heart!

The clone Chen Ping'an, who stayed on the first floor of the bamboo tower on Luopo Mountain, where he rested and read, was responsible for collecting, recording, and filing all the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings of all the clones.

On the desk were eight booklets. The "books" varied in thickness and the amount of text. Besides the various Buddhist schools of Chan, Lu, and Pure Land, there were also excerpts and reading notes from Daoist classics. There were travelogues, geographical records, and many "miscellaneous books" on military strategy, agriculture, yin-yang, geomancy, etc. All the encounters and affairs of the clones in the mortal world were compiled into books. If we consider the nine clones of the seven manifest and two hidden auxiliary stars, totaling nine thoughts attached to paper talismans, as co-editing a book, then "Chen Ping'an" in the bamboo tower was both the chief reader and the chief editor, handling both compilation and proofreading.

It was "infatuation."

He had to turn all kinds of mixed knowledge into what Buddhism calls "good knowledge," to break the ignorance barrier.

Upon learning these inside details and plans, Yu Xuan was greatly impressed. He clicked his tongue in wonder and was at a loss for words for a moment.

Yu Xuan asked an off-topic question. "All this fanfare, is it really just to break through and return to the Jade Pure realm?"

Chen Ping'an said, "If the Northern Dipper governs death, then if I don't get revenge, I won't be myself."

Since it wasn't a battlefield conflict but a personal grudge, it was even simpler. Killing a person requires killing their heart first.

Yu Xuan was silent for a moment. There was no trace of killing intent. The old true man couldn't even detect the slightest ripple of killing intent in the "young fellow Daoist" beside him.

Yu Xuan collected his thoughts and asked, "Is there a third layer?"

"Yes. Confucius said, 'The way of the gentleman is threefold: the humane are not worried, the wise are not confused, the brave are not afraid.'"

Chen Ping'an nodded. "And there are the Six Arts passed down from the Sage. Together, they make nine. They are used to regulate the Dao heart, so that the true body doesn't go astray."

One by one, the images revealed more heavenly secrets.

Wu Di the Daoist set up a stall for fortune-telling. His main study was the Longhu Mountain Daoist rituals, supplemented by a thorough reading of the Confucian Ministry of Rites and the Sacrificial Office's laws and regulations. Hence, it was the "Ritual" of the six arts.

Chen Jiu the receptionist, whenever he fished, would start using mental arithmetic to plan. Using arithmetic as the foundation, he delved into the teachings of merchants and farmers. This was the "Mathematics" of the six arts.

The "gentleman of the upper beams" hiding in the Imperial Secretary's Library carried a few ancient "character" books borrowed from the Confucian Temple. He supplemented them with classics and steles, specializing in exegetics. This was "Writing."

The middle-aged scholar inside the Lu ancestral temple in the Yu Prefecture listened to the morning bells and evening drums, the Buddhist chanting and the sound of the wooden fish. As he copied texts, the tip of his brush scraped across the rough paper. In the dead of night, he listened to the spring water flowing into the temple. The clouds rising, the wind blowing, the pine waves—all were sounds of nature. At the same time, he deeply studied the "Yunmen Great Volume" and the "Xianchi." As long as one was willing to listen, where in the human world was there not the pentatonic scale of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, and Yu? Hence, it was the "Music" of the six arts.

The burly, big-bearded man appeared to be a martial artist but was actually an Earth Immortal. Besides his saber, he also carried a bow. But the true "arrows connected like a string of pearls" were not from the real bow on his back, but the continuous breathing of the ancient true man. This was the true "Archery" in accordance with the Dao.

Within the Lotus Root Flower Blessed Land, he resided high above, observing the earth. As the nominal master of a blessed land, he arranged the human world, opened paths, and had a legitimate name for doing so. Hence, it was "Driving."

Yu Xuan shook his head. Not in denial, not in disapproval.

Rather... the old true man already didn't know what to say.

If it were just some ideas, they would indeed be novel. Even if others found them incredible, without being able to put them into practice, they would still be an impractical castle in the air. Nice to look at.

But Chen Ping'an was different. He was methodical, step by step, each part interlocking. No clone was not Chen Ping'an himself. No "self" did not conform to a part of his original heart. He just had to follow the path and stride forward boldly!

Yu Xuan sighed and sighed again. Finally, he was willing to speak. "Now only the three aspects of the gentleman's way remain. The grass-sandal youth is 'the brave are not afraid'? The green-robed bamboo tower mountain lord is 'the wise are not confused'? The pure martial artist full of Dao aura is 'the humane are not worried'?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head. "That's how I originally thought of it. But after thinking it over, it didn't seem quite right, so I made some adjustments."

Youth Chen Ren, as he walked, studied military tactics, combined with geomancy to find dragon points and acupoints, and also cultivated the yin-yang and five elements. During his years as a kiln apprentice, he was truly "eating dirt" in the mountains. He had started identifying soil types at a very early age. No matter how weak or timid, a person has to look forward and move forward. If that were the case, as Yu Xuan had guessed, it would be fitting for "the brave are not afraid."

Yu Xuan remembered something. In Chen Ping'an's hometown small town, there was a ceremonial archway. On one side of the plaque, it said: "When faced with what is humane, do not yield to your teacher."

Yu Xuan stroked his beard and nodded. "I understand."

But Chen Ping'an shook his head. "Senior, you're wrong. It's not 'the humane are not worried,' but 'the wise are not confused.' It is precisely because you know that some things must be done without yielding that you can be wise without confusion."

Yu Xuan chewed on this for a moment, then couldn't help but slap his knee heavily. "This interpretation is brilliant!"

Yu Xuan praised repeatedly. "So, the green-robed Chen Ping'an in the bamboo tower doesn't move and sits firm on the mountain, like a commander in a military tent. On the surface, it seems to pursue 'the wise are not confused.' But in reality, flowers and fruits, countless knowledge, a hundred flowers blooming brilliantly. This 'the wise are not confused' is precisely for the sake of 'the humane are not worried'!"

Chen Ping'an put away his pipe, stood up, and stretched. His eyes were burning with passion. "Just so, just so. Then learning boxing, forging swords, cultivating the Dao, and studying diligently are all hard work. In the end, there must be something to strive for, right?"

So, this was the true "the brave are not afraid" in Chen Ping'an's eyes, which fell upon that pure martial artist carrying a flying sword.

Back then, the poor and lonely youth had once said a bold statement to the girl he loved: Even if the three religious patriarchs block the way, they would have to get out of my way.

Later, when he practiced boxing in the bamboo tower, the old man Cui Cheng had said: I want to teach all the martial artists in the world that when they see my boxing method, they will only feel that the sky is above!

On the city wall of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the young stranger had once spoken from his heart, and only the old sword immortal had heard it.

Yu Xuan looked up and asked with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, don't tell me there's a fourth layer?"

"There is."

Chen Ping'an put his hands in his sleeves, raised his head high, and squinted with a smile. "I am the last Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall. I am a sword cultivator. Of course, I need to practice sword forging. For example, creating a small thousand world."

They say everything is difficult at the beginning. Once you have a beginning, nothing is difficult. By using the supernatural powers of the two natal flying swords to overlap each other, through the seeing, hearing, and imagination of the nine clones, to replicate, copy, and trace, all people's appearances, eyebrows, clothing, demeanor, voice tones, words and sentences spoken, were recorded one by one. Heavenly phenomena, geography, human rivers and mountains, flowers, plants, and trees, various buildings, delicious food, dead things, living things, the knowledge of the hundred schools of thought of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism... plus the collection of books in the tall building in the heart lake, and those parasol tree leaves in the Zhenyao Tower of the Tongye Continent, each parasol leaf was a phantom world. Qing Tong was useless, just an empty realm. But if it fell into Chen Ping'an's hands... millions of flying swords, talismans, extremely fine, expanding extremely vast, building extremely high and extremely solid, achieving the virtual and the real, the true and the false. Chen Ping'an could, within a long river of time, build a small thousand world! As long as Chen Ping'an successfully created the first small thousand world with a complete Dao cycle, where sentient beings naturally arise and don't know what "One" is, once there is a "One," how could there not be "Two, Three, and Four"? With "Two, Three, and Four," once you create three thousand small thousand worlds, wouldn't you eventually achieve one great thousand world?!

Yu Xuan's mood was complicated. "Could there even be a fifth layer?"

Chen Ping'an nodded. "Yes. As long as the first small thousand world is created, I can contend with myself, ask myself for boxing without knowing it, and I might be able to break into the eleventh martial realm."

Yu Xuan asked, "Is there a sixth layer?"

Chen Ping'an smiled faintly. "Senior thinks too highly of me."

Yu Xuan chuckled. "How could I not think highly of you, Fellow Daoist?"

The old man had been looking up at you, lad, for quite some time now.

Chen Ping'an quickly apologized and sat back down on the railing.

Yu Xuan was silent for a long time, then said to himself, "I have to say, this is how cultivation should be. A Daoist like this is a true man."

Chen Ping'an seemed about to speak but stopped. Finally, he forced out a sentence, "This junior is forced to do things in a small space. Senior is different, so you wouldn't need to."

Yu Xuan laughed. "Why, are you scolding me now?"

Scolding me for having a smooth path of cultivation, never having to worry about money?

Chen Ping'an looked into the distance, his hands gently resting on his knees, a smile on his face. "To be honest, I wish I could be scolded like that, too."

Poor as a child, parents died, hungry and cold, loved reading but couldn't get an education, accidentally learned the mountain-climbing method, worked as a kiln apprentice for several years, started boxing at fourteen, learned swordsmanship at fifteen. Left his hometown, the sky was high and the earth was vast, what he saw and heard was bizarre. Traveled far, walked the martial world with sincerity. Mostly spent time as a guest. Hard to get drunk on wine in his life. When he returned home, it was a pity that his swordsmanship was sparse, and his boxing had not reached greatness.

A little girl in black came running to the mountaintop. Yu Xuan had already quietly withdrawn his talisman array. Mi Li saw that the good mountain lord and the old immortal seemed to be discussing serious matters, so she stopped abruptly and thought about turning back.

Chen Ping'an smiled and waved her over. "Is something the matter?"

Mi Li trotted over to the good mountain lord. She stopped again, straightened her back, cradled her green bamboo staff, and scratched her face. "It's an emergency! Jingqing, for some reason, said he wants to move to the Qilong Lane in the small town for a few days. I asked him several times, but he wouldn't say why."

Chen Ping'an suppressed a smile, put on a straight face, and said, "It's an urgent matter. Can't delay. Go quickly and come back quickly. Scout and report."

Mi Li stomped her foot, furrowed her faint yellow eyebrows, nodded vigorously, and said with a serious expression, "Aye-aye!"

She turned and sprinted off, retracing her steps. She carried a golden shoulder pole in one hand and a staff in the other, running like a wheel.

Yu Xuan stroked his beard and smiled. The Luopo Mountain had a good family tradition.