Chapter 173: A Sojourn in This World
All gatherings must end in parting; life is a series of farewells.
Along the long river of time, there seem to exist countless ferry crossings lined with weeping willows. During each sojourn through the years, some will leave the boat, and others will board to accompany you, only to face new partings and reunions at the next crossing.
Just like that hardworking boy from Mud Vase Alley, at the previous crossing, he had already departed from the crowd.
At dawn, Li Er's family of three had long since packed their luggage and said goodbye to the group at the foot of Donghua Mountain. Unlike the first time they parted from relatives in their hometown town, Li Huai was no longer carefree and heartless this time. He no longer felt only that he was free from restraint and could eat sugar-coated hawthorns and chicken legs all day long. Instead, he was tinged with a bit of melancholy; the child had truly grown up after all.
Li Baoping, Lin Shouyi, Yu Lu, Xie Xie, and the handsome young Cui Dongshan had all come to see them off.
The woman’s eyes were red. She was reluctant to let go of Li Huai’s hand, rambling on with trivial words about adding more clothes when it got cold and eating and drinking enough. Li Huai listened quietly. Li Er stood beside her, still looking simple and foolish. After Li Liu had straightened Li Huai’s already neat and new clothes, she turned back to look at the plaque of the Cliff Academy. She remained indifferent to the appraising glances of her peers, Yu Lu and Xie Xie.
The woman finally resigned herself to leaving. Once she stepped out, she hardened her heart and did not look back. Li Er patted Li Huai’s head and followed his wife with a smile. Li Liu patted her younger brother’s shoulder, then performed a slight curtsy to everyone before slowly walking away.
Li Huai lightly kicked Lin Shouyi. The latter clutched a letter in his sweaty palm. The stern young man shook his head, staring at the girl’s receding figure, and murmured, “Next time.”
Li Huai didn’t want to show his sadness in front of them. Forcing down his sorrow, he found an interesting topic and chuckled, “Hey, Cui Dongshan, if you’re Chen Ping’an’s student, then we’re all Master Qi’s disciples. Baoping calls Chen Ping’an ‘Little Uncle Master.’ How do we figure out the seniority between us?”
Cui Dongshan clasped his hands behind his back, elegant and proud, and said smugly, “I am my master’s first disciple. My seniority is very high—tens of thousands of miles higher than this Donghua Mountain.”
Li Huai was startled. “So we have to call you ‘Big Senior Brother’?”
“Big Senior Brother?”
Cui Dongshan immediately became anxious. “Your whole family is Big Senior Brother! I don’t want to be Big Senior Brother! You can call me whatever else you want.”
Li Huai looked confused. “Then call you ‘Little Senior Brother’? That’s a bit awkward.”
Cui Dongshan’s eyes lit up. “‘Little Senior Brother’ is good. It shows respect for an elder brother and has a sense of closeness. From now on, you can all call me Little Senior Brother. Yu Lu, Xie Xie, starting today, you’re no exception. No need to call me ‘Young Master’—that’s too distant. Follow Baoping and the others and call me Little Senior Brother.”
Li Baoping snorted coldly. “I haven’t agreed!”
The little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket rushed out from under the archway. Li Huai shouted, “Li Baoping, there’s still class later!”
“I copied the essays by lamplight last night. What’s there to fear! I want to explore this place alone first, so later I can take Little Uncle Master sightseeing.” Li Baoping held her head high as she ran, chasing after a flock of pigeons that swept across the blue sky. The whistles attached to the pigeons rose and fell, echoing melodiously and clearly over the capital of Great Sui.
Li Huai called out at the top of his lungs, “Then take me along!”
Li Baoping ignored him. Compared to her slender figure receding from the academy’s archway, the little girl’s longing had already traveled tens of thousands of miles away.
—
They had already reached a mountain ridge on the border of the Huangting Kingdom. Chen Ping’an was washing his face in a mountain stream.
Unlike the pink-skirted little girl who only carried someone else’s book box, the green-robed little boy carried a dimension-object, always filled with all sorts of oddities. At first, he hadn’t thought to show off anything in front of the master. But later, he became obsessed with the snake gallstones and thought about them every day, so he started taking things out, begging Chen Ping’an to trade snake gallstones for his treasures.
Just now, the green-robed little boy took out another pile of bottles of various shapes and sizes. He crouched beside Chen Ping’an and explained the interesting aspects of these bottles to the master. He pulled out the stopper of a pinkish-green porcelain bottle and poured it into the stream. Soon, a large patch of soft moonlight flowed out from the porcelain bottle, spilling onto the stream water, dreamlike and illusory.
The green-robed little boy grinned. “Master, pretty, right? This is a Moonlight Bottle, quite popular among cultivators. Besides that, there are also Cloud-Mist Bottles, Sunlight Bottles, and all sorts of others. They’re specifically used to collect cloud waves, colorful mists, moonlight, sunlight, and such from the Five Great Mountains. The spiritual energy they contain isn’t much, naturally not as abundant or enduring as in those blessed caves and paradises. But the scenery these bottles pour out is truly beautiful! What do you think, Master?”
Chen Ping’an was indeed somewhat astonished. In the dense mountain forest, even in broad daylight, it was still a bit dim and gloomy. Now, watching the moonlight slowly flowing over the stream, he truly felt that the world was full of wonders.
The green-robed little boy coaxed, “Trading one small bottle for Master’s snake gallstone wouldn’t be fair. I also have three bottles here, collectively called ‘Echoing Beam Bottles,’ named after the saying, ‘The lingering sound winds around the beams, not ceasing for three days.’ They’re all filled with various beautiful natural sounds from heaven and earth. For example, this bottle has frog croaks, this one has the sound of the great tide, and this one has the sound of mountain pines in the wind. Master, think about it—when you’re sleeping, you can open one of these bottles, and the sound of the tide will be right by your pillow. How pleasant! Aren’t you tempted? I’m offering all these precious bottles just to trade for one snake gallstone! Just one! Master only needs to nod, and these seven or eight bottles will all be yours. If you don’t make this deal, you’ll be struck by lightning...”
Chen Ping’an silently calculated the assets back home in the town. There were still quite a few snake gallstones of excellent quality. He nodded and smiled. “Alright.”
The pink-skirted little girl waved her hand frantically beside him, trying to signal to Chen Ping’an not to agree to this deal.
The green-robed little boy shoved all the bottles into Chen Ping’an’s hands, hopping up and down with joy. He held up two fingers at the pink-skirted little girl and said arrogantly, “One more than you! Now I’m a whole realm higher than you. When we get to Master’s hometown and I eat the stone, I’ll be two realms ahead of this silly girl! Then you better be smart and leave Master’s side so you don’t embarrass him. Master only needs me as a little book boy. What does he need a stupid maidservant for...”
The pink-skirted little girl pouted, her chubby, rosy face scrunching up, as if a storm was brewing.
Chen Ping’an said helplessly, “If you keep bullying her, I’ll back out of the deal.”
The green-robed little boy immediately coughed and said to her seriously, “From now on, take better care of Master’s clothing, food, shelter, and daily needs, understand? For example, after you eat that snake gallstone, hurry up and transform into a beautiful young woman’s figure and appearance. When Master is full of youthful vigor and feels the long nights are too long, you can take the initiative to warm his bed...”
Chen Ping’an put away the various rare little bottles, then gave the green-robed little boy a rap on the head. “Stop spouting nonsense here.”
The green-robed little boy made a theatrical bow. “Master’s lesson is well taken.”
Chen Ping’an crouched back down on the streamside rock, took out a dry cake, and began chewing it. He asked casually, “Do you know what a Dragon King Basket is?”
Both little ones’ faces turned slightly pale. The green-robed little boy’s body went stiff; he couldn’t even joke around or walk anymore.
The pink-skirted little girl said cautiously, “I’ve seen records in ancient books. If a Qi practitioner throws it into a big river or large body of water, it can catch flood dragons. The most terrifying thing is that flood dragons and their kin originally have the advantage of being in the water. Even when facing a Qi practitioner one or two realms stronger, they wouldn’t necessarily lose. But if the opponent possesses a Dragon King Basket, even if their realm is one or two lower than ours, they can still capture us without any resistance.”
The green-robed little boy subconsciously moved a few steps away from Chen Ping’an, crouching far off. “It’s not that simple. Once caught in a Dragon King Basket, the suffering is no less than being in a cauldron of boiling oil. You’d experience the pain of being sliced and cut continuously. This was an exclusive secret of the largest sect in the ancient Shu Kingdom. They specially wove Dragon King Baskets and sold them to Qi practitioners who came from afar trying to capture our kind.”
His voice trembled. He clenched his fists and shook them. “A Dragon King Basket this size could catch me.”
Chen Ping’an stretched out both hands and measured in front of him. “What about one this big?”
This time, even the green-robed little boy, who knew how formidable the Dragon King Basket was, was too scared to speak. The pink-skirted little girl was also silent.
The green-robed little boy said mournfully, “Master, let alone seen one, I’ve never even heard of a Dragon King Basket that big. You don’t have one, do you?”
Suppressing the urge to demand a second snake gallstone, he tested the waters. “If there really is such an exaggerated Dragon King Basket, even an ancestor flood dragon who’s been transforming for thousands of years would have to resign themselves to fate. Master, do you think those bottles aren’t actually that nice to look at? No problem—keep them and play with them. If you really don’t like them, you can give them back to me when we get to your hometown. As for the snake gallstone, you can decide if you want to give it to me...”
Chen Ping’an was both amused and exasperated. “I don’t have a Dragon King Basket. Even if I did, you two don’t need to be afraid.”
No wonder the Great Sui prince Gao Xuan, after buying the golden carp and the Dragon King Basket, had felt sorry. Besides giving out a bag of gold essence copper coins, he had also wanted to express his gratitude in the capital.
Back when he met the man carrying a fish basket selling fish in the town, Chen Ping’an had immediately sensed something was off. How could a carp stay alive and kicking for so long after being taken out of the water? But first, he really had no money back then. Living from day to day, how could he spend lavishly according to his whims? After becoming a kiln worker, he could still save up some copper coins, but Chen Ping’an had never spent extra. Just getting by on daily necessities was already extremely difficult.
Second, Gao Xuan and the old man had intercepted him halfway.
Chen Ping’an tossed a pebble into the stream. The young man was a bit melancholy now—not because he regretted losing a great fortune or opportunity, but because he felt that several mountains of gold and silver had just brushed past him.
In the end, it was still about the money hurting.
In fact, Chen Ping’an didn’t know that the man was Li Huai’s father, Li Er, one of Old Man Yang’s disciples. At that time, Li Er was already a peak-level Martial Artist of the Ninth Grade. Unlike the gatekeeper responsible for collecting gold essence copper coins, Li Er had a good impression of Chen Ping’an. As for why Li Er didn’t just give the fish to Chen Ping’an, there was a deep reason: people on Old Man Yang’s path always upheld the principle of “fairness.” So Li Er casually named a price back then to haggle with the Mud Vase Alley boy and make it seem more real.
Unfortunately, a Great Sui Gao clan prince had intervened halfway. Li Er, who had already broken the rules, immediately became wary and dared not force this immense fortune onto Chen Ping’an. Later, Old Man Yang also scolded Li Er, telling him a cruel truth: if Chen Ping’an had actually accepted the fish basket and the carp, whether he could leave the town alive was another question.
As for these undercurrents in the town, Chen Ping’an had yet to learn the full story.
On the Great Path, fortune and calamity always depend on each other. Whether a matter is a friend adding frost to snow or an enemy sending charcoal in the snow, no one can say for sure in the short term.
The three set off again. That night, they slept on the mountain peak. Although Chen Ping’an no longer needed to keep watch, he still stayed up late after practicing his stances, sitting by the fire for a while before sleeping.
In the dead of night, the mountaintop was utterly silent.
By the campfire, the green-robed little boy added some firewood to the flames and beckoned to the pink-skirted little girl. “Silly girl, come here.”
The girl was leaning against the book box left by Cui Dongshan in the distance. She shook her head vigorously. “No.”
The green-robed little boy said with a smile, “I won’t eat you.”
The girl refused to come closer, no matter what.
The green-robed little boy snapped, “If you don’t come over, I really will eat you! What’s wrong with you? You won’t listen to good advice—do you have to get beaten?”
The pink-skirted little girl had to muster her courage and sit opposite the campfire.
He asked, “You said our master is a very ordinary and boring person, so how does he have such a fierce and terrifying disciple?”
She thought for a moment. “Master has a kind heart. Good people are rewarded.”
The green-robed little boy sneered. “Can being good fill your stomach?”
She shrank her neck.
He mocked, “And you’re a fifth-realm demon with some special abilities. Could you have a little backbone?”
This time, she did muster some backbone and quietly retorted, “You were chased for two thousand miles by the Supreme Elder of the Lingyun Sect. Where was your backbone then?”
The green-robed little boy, surprisingly, didn’t get angry. He explained patiently, “It’s not that I’m afraid of that old witch. She’s shameless—at her age, she still slathers on pounds of rouge. I, your lord, am a hero who can’t fight with both fists. If I ate that old witch, I’d anger the entire Lingyun Sect. Then my water god brother would suffer, and I wouldn’t feel good about it.”
The pink-skirted little girl quietly turned her head and secretly rolled her eyes.
She only dared to do that.
The green-robed little boy said indignantly, “Are you rebelling, silly girl?! Three days without a beating, and you’re climbing up to tear off the tiles! You think because you have my master backing you, you don’t have to respect your lord, do you?”
She was so frightened she was about to call out to Chen Ping’an.
The green-robed little boy quickly waved his hand, signaling her not to act rashly. He sighed, changed the subject, and said, “Our master is only a second-realm martial artist. Although he’s not inferior to ordinary third-realm martial artists, you and I both know he’s still very weak. Besides, judging by his clothing, food, speech, and behavior, he doesn’t seem like a child from a big family. Does he really own five mountains back in his hometown? And have so many snake gallstones? Could that fierce fellow be deliberately deceiving us? Maybe he wants to lure us into some remote mountain valley?”
The pink-skirted little girl curled up, looking at the flames she was naturally drawn to. Feeling warm all over, she murmured, “I don’t mind. Over the past two generations, the Cao descendants of Zhilan Manor have had ill intentions and betrayed the scholarly heritage their ancestors worked hard to build. I never liked them anyway. Going back to the countryside with our master is good enough.”
The green-robed little boy’s expression turned solemn, no longer his usual playful, unserious self. He said softly with emotion, “The Cao clan did take a wrong path, but there’s no other way. If it were someone else, they’d do the same. When you can become an immortal, who would be foolish enough to study and strive for officialdom? This whole ‘cultivate oneself and save the world’ business is just lies from the Confucian sages. I’ve spent so many years at the Imperial River and seen too many misfortunes of scholars. Not to mention everything else, just the successive provincial governors and prefects—when they met my water god brother, they were more obsequious than when they saw imperial officials in the capital. Whenever a cultivator committed a crime, they’d sure enough beg my brother to help mediate. If my brother was in a bad mood, he’d leave them waiting outside the temple for days. Those officials wouldn’t dare fart. Boring.”
The pink-skirted little girl seemed to want to say something but held back, finally staying silent.
The green-robed little boy giggled. “Master’s already asleep, but your lord still has a long night ahead and can’t sleep. Every moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold... Silly girl, why don’t you be my wife?”
The pink-skirted little girl immediately reddened and cursed, “You pervert!”
The green-robed little boy stared. “What? This is a huge blessing! The smoke from your ancestral grave is rising, you know?! Do you think I really like you? If I weren’t coveting that snake gallstone you haven’t gotten yet...”
She stood up. “I’m telling Master!”
He had to back down again, waving his hand urgently. “Don’t, don’t. How about we become sworn siblings? After we pledge brotherhood, your things are my things, and my things are still my things...”
She simply picked up the book box and ran off.
The green-robed little boy stood up, put his hands on his hips, and laughed loudly. After his laughter subsided, he curled his lips, looking a bit dejected. He muttered, “What a silly girl.”
The green-robed little boy raced to the cliff edge and suddenly shouted loudly, “Between heaven and earth, we are all travelers! Your lord is taking the silly girl to follow our master home!”
In the distance, Chen Ping’an, who should have been fast asleep, curled the corners of his mouth. Only then did he stop circulating the Eighteen Stops sword energy and truly fall asleep.