Chapter 174: Heavy Snow This Year
By the bank of a great river in the Yellow Court Nation that originated within the Great Li Empire, Chen Ping'an caught an unexpectedly large green carp. The pink-skirted girl cooked a delicious fish soup.
After the three of them—one person and two yaoguai—had eaten their fill, they began to chat idly.
Chen Ping'an asked them if the immortals in the books really benefited from dining on mist and drinking dew, absorbing the air of dawn and the essence of the sun and moon.
The pink-skirted girl, whose true form was a fire python, nodded vigorously.
"Barely better than nothing. The benefit is very small."
The green-clad boy, while bending over to skip stones across the river, shook his head. "We creatures of the dragon and serpent lineage still need to rely on the mountains for food and the waters for drink. Merging with the mountain roots and swallowing the water's fortune—that is the true foundation of the Great Way. All those other flashy, insubstantial things are meaningless."
Chen Ping'an smiled and asked, "Since there is some benefit, why not make good use of it? You both want to transform into flood dragons, and later you’ll need to select a great river stretching over ten thousand li to journey into the sea, eventually achieving the form of a true dragon. Shouldn't you cultivate even more diligently?"
The green-clad boy lightly tossed away the last stone, clapped his hands, and laughed. "Cultivation relies on talent, not hard work."
Chen Ping'an asked again, "If you have talent, shouldn't you work even harder?"
The green-clad boy was stunned for a moment, then pretended to be dead. "Master, my head suddenly hurts. Probably caught a chill from the damp air. I'm going to sleep now."
Chen Ping'an laughed. "You're a water snake..."
The green-clad boy leaped up and plunged into the river, his figure vanishing in an instant.
A massive water snake roamed freely at the muddy river bottom, like a monarch inspecting his domain.
The pink-skirted girl said quietly, "Master, he's just lazy. But his innate talent and lineage are much better than mine. His physical body is naturally stronger. Even if I train hard for two or three hundred more years, I still can't match him."
Chen Ping'an comforted her, "Then don't compare yourself to him. First, compare yourself to yourself. Strive to be a little better today than yesterday, and a little better tomorrow than today."
Filled with fighting spirit, she said sincerely, "Master is right!"
Then she added, "No wonder Master is only at the second Martial Realm but still trains in fist techniques so diligently, never slacking off. It's because the slow bird needs to fly first..."
Realizing her slip, she quickly covered her mouth.
Loose lips sink ships.
Chen Ping'an was amused. "You're right. I am slow, so I need to work even harder."
Then he began walking the stake on the riverbank.
Even the pink-skirted girl, who was usually calm, found it tedious after watching so many times.
A few days later, Chen Ping'an climbed a mountain slowly, leaning on a bamboo staff. At one point, he solemnly scooped up a handful of soil and carefully placed it into a small cotton pouch he had prepared earlier. Pouch after pouch of different soils accumulated, gradually becoming the heaviest weight in his backpack. The green-clad boy and the pink-skirted girl tacitly refrained from asking about this, treating it as some secret cultivation matter.
At first, the green-clad boy enjoyed not having to clear the way in his true form, finding it quite leisurely. But after moving at such a slow pace for so long, he inevitably grew bored. However, he dared not interfere with his master's itinerary, so he tried to make conversation. "Master, when we passed through that prefectural city earlier, why didn't we spend money more lavishly? You don't have much silver left, but I have money. No need to be frugal. Even if I spend all my silver now, I can just find any river and fish out some treasures. That's all money."
Chen Ping'an said, "I've heard that cultivation consumes the most wealth..."
The green-clad boy immediately changed his tune. "Master, I'm broke. I was just boasting earlier!"
To avoid hearing Chen Ping'an's peasant philosophy about saving little by little, he would stop at nothing.
The green-clad boy, unable to endure silence, spoke up again after Chen Ping'an fell quiet. "Master, not to criticize you, but in cultivation, the goal is to spend thousands of gold and have it come back, to strike down enemies at the slightest disagreement. That's what makes a true hero, a true extraordinary bearing! Not this petty, scraping, small-minded existence..."
Chen Ping'an didn't argue. He just walked slowly along the mountain path.
It's different.
Even if you walk the same path, there will surely come a day, at some fork, where you part ways.
This was one of Chen Ping'an's biggest insights from this journey, escorting Li Baoping and the others on their far-off studies.
---
On the border between the Yellow Court Nation and the Great Li Empire, Chen Ping'an encountered a great anomaly of mountain tremors and earth shaking. At a mountain peak, he saw dust rising in the distance. He specifically dragged them toward that place. In a small city of the Yellow Court Nation, they witnessed a human tragedy. Countless city walls, houses, and temples had collapsed. Nearly half the city's population was dressed in mourning white. Every household was grief-stricken. Daoist priests, young and old, were coming and going in a hurry. Some young Daoist boys wore expressions of compassion for the world's suffering, while old Daoists looked pleased at the money filling their purses. A myriad of human expressions.
Fortunately, order in the city hadn't completely collapsed. Chen Ping'an only encountered a gang of local thugs trying to bully a young brother and sister whose parents had just died in the anomaly. He stopped them from forcibly taking the girl to be sold. The gang was just taking advantage of the chaos, had no justification, and after Chen Ping'an knocked back two of them with a punch and a kick, they slunk away resentfully.
Chen Ping'an left the impoverished siblings twenty taels of silver and then went to rest in an abandoned Martial Saint Temple. He noticed that this small, flimsy-looking shrine had stood firm in the great earthquake without a single scratch.
A painted clay statue of the Martial Saint sat high above, his beard bristling as he glared angrily at the mortal world.
The green-clad boy glanced at the statue and immediately saw through its secrets. "The incense offerings here are impure. The place is small, and the offerings are clearly insufficient. If you can't eat your fill, you starve. Gods and men are the same. So the deity presiding over this place left long ago. Naturally, he couldn't protect the county town. He could barely maintain the peace of this tiny patch of land."
The pink-skirted girl lacked the green-clad boy's insight and experience. Her nature was purer and more innocent. She bowed respectfully to the Martial Saint statue. After that, seeing that Chen Ping'an had already started sweeping the floor, she helped wipe the dust off the altar.
The green-clad boy didn't dare mock his master, so he mocked her instead. "You, a fire python who's read a few broken books, why are you trying to cozy up to this kind of deity? Besides, in that great war that shook all worlds, that great upheaval of heaven and earth, we of the dragon and serpent lineage were outright traitors. It's a good thing this minor deity isn't around anymore. Otherwise, your bow would definitely be seen as a provocation. The god would probably manifest in his golden body, roam the mortal realm, and smash your head with one punch. Bang! I'd definitely clap and cheer."
Chen Ping'an asked curiously, "Why are you dragons and serpents traitors?"
The green-clad boy realized he had misspoken, quickly shut his mouth, and shook his head vigorously.
The pink-skirted girl covered her mouth with both hands, looking pitifully at Chen Ping'an, her expression saying, "Master, please don't ask me. I know, but I don't dare tell."
The sky was covered in fiery sunset clouds. Chen Ping'an and the pink-skirted girl started a fire in the temple to cook dinner. The green-clad boy, bored while waiting for the meal, paced back and forth on the high threshold. Suddenly, he jumped down, quickly walked down the steps, and approached a brother and sister. Clearing his throat and putting on airs, he said, "Do you have business with my master? Speak up. What is it? If you're hoping for more help from my master, I suggest you go back home right now. If..."
The green-clad boy grinned slyly as he sized up the young girl. She was poorly dressed, just like his master, and not particularly pretty, but her figure was good. For such a young girl, she had the charm of a plump woman. Quite rare. He restrained his smile and continued his nonsense with a straight face. "If you think your life-debt is hard to repay, and someone wants to offer herself to my master, I'll go and inform him right away..."
The slightly older brother's face darkened, and he was about to turn and leave angrily, but the girl gently tugged his sleeve. They saw the benefactor had already walked out of the temple. He gave the green-clad boy a knock on the head and said apologetically, "Don't take him seriously. He just likes to joke and scare people."
The girl said shyly, "It's okay. My brother and I won't take it to heart."
It turned out the siblings had brought some food. Chen Ping'an accepted it. Neither side was good with words. The brother quickly left. The girl made an awkward, clumsy curtsy before taking her leave from the chance-met benefactor.
Chen Ping'an sighed and walked back into the temple. Seeing the green-clad boy hopping on the threshold, he said softly, "I know you mean no harm. But from now on, don't speak without seriousness to everyone. Careless words can hurt people. Some people will remember them for years."
The green-clad boy's deep cyan eyes, which upon close inspection were filled with an eerie strangeness, showed a flicker of impatience. But he hid it well. He bowed his head and said "Oh," with nothing more.
Chen Ping'an said nothing further. He sat down in the temple to practice the Sword Furnace standing stake.
Gu Can, who lived at one end of Mud Vase Alley, had memorized a vast number of "enemies" at such a young age. When alone with Chen Ping'an, he would talk about those people with gritted teeth and murderous intent. A child that small had already thought about digging up someone's ancestral graves.
The rights and wrongs of this were hard to sort out.
But according to the Sage of Literary Affairs, if you looked at the sequence, many of Gu Can's grudges originated from those seemingly insignificant taunts and sneers that didn't even weigh half an ounce.
The green-clad boy looked at the busy pink-skirted girl inside and the focused Chen Ping'an. He seemed to want to say something but swallowed his words. Still, some pent-up frustration remained. He paced more restlessly on the threshold. Finally, feeling he had to speak or burst, he planted his feet on the threshold, swinging his short body back and forth like a swing, leaning into the temple and then leaning out. He said to Chen Ping'an, "That alley boy is utterly ungrateful. Can't even take a joke or two? If he can't handle that, he might as well die! No real ability, but his pride is higher than the sky. That boy deserves to suffer and be miserable for his whole life!"
Chen Ping'an remained seated on the ground, eyes closed, practicing the Sword Furnace. He didn't ask, didn't respond, didn't speak.
The green-clad boy was silent for a moment. His voice was low, his deep eyes, covered in a cold, watery mist, stared fixedly at Chen Ping'an. He tried to speak in a joking tone. "Master, when you roam the martial world, you should side with your own people, not with reason. Only then can you eat well and get along. Besides, I don't really care about those siblings. Master, you've done them such a great kindness. The sister understands reason. As for the brother, the reason he shows his resentment on his face is partly because he thinks I insulted his sister, and I made him lose face. But mostly, it's deep-seated inferiority. Deep down, he knows he's useless. Even if this weren't a chaotic time, he couldn't protect his sister. If this kind of person remains so stubborn and refuses to lower his head even a little, he'll only suffer greater losses in the future. So, Master, I was doing this for the good of both of them."
Chen Ping'an opened his eyes. After thinking it over seriously, he nodded and said slowly, "What you said is not wrong. But right and wrong have an order. You can't use a later 'right' to deny an earlier 'right.' The same goes for mistakes."
The green-clad boy clenched his fists in his sleeves, his brows lowered. He seemed afraid that his divine intent might leak out and allow Chen Ping'an to see the storm in his heart's lake through the "well." This accomplished water demon, who was second only to the River God of the Imperial River, felt a fire of rage burning within him. He wanted nothing more than to punch this boring "master" to death, then eat the fire python to supplement his cultivation, using her as a stepping stone for his own ascension on the Great Way.
The green-clad boy turned around, jumped off the threshold, and said with a playful laugh, "Young master, I'll go apologize then."
His laughter had already reached inside the temple, but facing away from the shrine, the green-clad boy's face was full of violent murderous intent.
After the green-clad boy had gone far, the pink-skirted girl said timidly, "Master, he's really angry. If this were on the Imperial River, given his nature, he'd probably flood both banks. According to county records, over the past few centuries, there have been many 'natural disasters' of flooding, and instead of suppressing them, the Imperial River God would fan the flames."
Chen Ping'an patted her head. "Since he doesn't want to listen, I won't reason with him anymore."
When Chen Ping'an said he wouldn't reason with him anymore, he truly meant it. He would no longer discuss these boring principles with the green-clad boy.
He had originally thought that since they were traveling together and had grown close, he was willing to say a little something. Since the boy didn't like hearing it, Chen Ping'an certainly wouldn't force his company. He would just go back to the starting point. From then on, as long as the green-clad boy didn't do anything beyond Chen Ping'an's bottom line, he would let him be. Like this small incident today. If it had been at the beginning of their acquaintance, Chen Ping'an would have just watched coldly. Why would he have said these heartfelt words? How much had Chen Ping'an said to Cui Dongshan after walking so far with him?
The pink-skirted girl said innocently, "Master, you can talk to me. I love hearing these things."
Chen Ping'an smiled knowingly. "If I say something wrong, you must tell me."
At that moment, a sudden flash of insight struck her, and she blurted out, "Master's point about sequence—it cleared up my confusion like a sudden opening of a thatched hut! So right!"
She quickly blushed and clarified, "Master, I'm not imitating him. I'm not flattering you!"
Chen Ping'an checked the heat of the fire. The rice was almost cooked. The pink-skirted girl said huffily, "Master, let's not leave any for him. Let him go hungry. Master only wants what's best for him, and yet he gets angry! If his true body weren't confined in that inkstone, he would have attacked Master today. I was terrified just now."
Chen Ping'an shook his head and smiled. "That won't do. We still need to leave him some food."
The pink-skirted girl beamed. "I'll listen to Master."
Chen Ping'an ruffled her little head.
The green-clad boy, of course, didn't go apologize to the "ants." Holding back from slapping the siblings into meat paste was already him being magnanimous.
The green-clad boy, hands behind his back, moved away from the temple. He tapped his toes and leaped onto a rooftop. His small figure turned into a faint green mist, flying rapidly out of the city. With a final, powerful ascent, he shot into the clouds, traced an enormous arc across the sky, and landed deep in a mountain range. His true form, a water snake, crashed to the ground with such force that even the county town felt a distinct tremor.
The water snake twisted its massive body as it passed. Trees shattered, rocks tumbled. It then followed a stream upstream, splashing water everywhere, until it reached a solitary gray-white cliff. Its body coiled around the cliff, spiraling upward. By the time its head reached the cliff's peak, its tail was still wrapped around the base.
The few trees on the cliff were all smashed and sent tumbling down.
The water snake, radiating violent fury, kept tightening its body until the entire cliff was squeezed and broken apart.
Only then, amid the dust that blotted out the sky, did it revert to human form and slowly descend the mountain, walking swiftly, as fast as thunder.
The green-clad boy had no idea that everything he did was observed by two people. On a distant mountaintop a hundred li away, an old man in a scholar's robe stood in the wind. In his hand, he held an inkstone in which an old flood dragon slept, snoring like thunder. This old man was none other than the old shilang of the Yellow Court Nation, or rather, the last surviving dragon-serpent of the ancient Shu Kingdom.
After receiving the golden characters in the palm from the Sage of Literary Affairs and making a secret pact with the Great Li National Master, the old flood dragon had sent the boy-faced Cui Chan to the Great Sui territory. Then he had turned back, quietly capturing all serpentine bastards within the Yellow Court Nation and imprisoning them in the inkstone. He truly scraped the earth three feet deep and dove a thousand zhang into the water. Besides the green-clad boy and pink-skirted girl caught by Cui Chan, more than a dozen small creatures now swam within the inkstone.
Standing beside the old man now was a hunchbacked old crone, whose true form was a vermilion snake that had grown up in the wilds. After obtaining an opportunity for cultivation, she had painstakingly trained for five hundred years to reach her current state, having just broken into the seventh realm. This time, the old man had found her hiding place, directly chiseled a hundred zhang into the mountain, and dragged out her true form, forcing her to submit. But being subservient to the famous scholar-robed old man, the crone only felt she had lost some freedom, not humiliated.
The old man asked calmly, "What do you think?"
The crone replied respectfully, "Reporting to the ancestor, this water snake has a stubborn and unruly nature. But his bone structure and bloodline are something even I envy."
The old man nodded. "His origin is passable, but unfortunately his talent is dull and his mind unstable, unfit for great use. He's squandered a hidden molting opportunity."
The crone was stunned, not understanding why the old man said that.
You see, the two had been up in the clouds, watching the entire scene at the abandoned Martial Saint Temple in the county town through the old flood dragon's art of "cupping water to view heaven and earth." If the green-clad boy had dared to lay a hand on Chen Ping'an, even just a provocation, he would have died instantly. The old flood dragon would not have been soft-hearted.
In fact, the old flood dragon felt an innate aversion to the green-clad boy. It had nothing to do with personality, but purely a conflict of bloodlines. Among the many remnant dragon-serpent bastards in the world, the green-clad boy's lineage often cultivated rapidly and was quite favored by heaven. Yet they were also the most rejected by true dragons and serpents. Like an illegitimate child emerging in a middle-rank clan, barely scraping through the imperial exams—not a great achievement, but an eyesore.
The crone's cultivation was shallow and her vision narrow. She couldn't see anything remarkable.
As for the water snake's temper, she didn't see it as a great fault. The reason her back was hunched was that after her first opening of spiritual aperture, when she was still weak, she had been caught by a wild snake-catcher. In the struggle, he had damaged her vital essence, leaving her permanently hunched even after taking human form. Later, she found the descendants of that snake-catcher. A bloody revenge, delayed by over two hundred years, wiped out a middle-class household in the prefectural city overnight. Men, women, and children—none escaped. The entire family line was cut off.
Even after that, the crone still felt she hadn't vented enough. She only regretted that the snake-catcher wasn't a cultivator, so she could have made him taste a fate worse than death.
So, in the crone's view, the fact that the water snake had held back from beginning to end, not uttering a single harsh word to that nagging, impoverished young man, and only releasing his sinister murderous intent after going deep into the wild mountains, showed a fairly decent level of self-cultivation.
The old man shook his head. "You're inferior to that little water snake in bone structure, and even more inferior to that little python in comprehension and wisdom. Far too inferior."
The crone panicked.
She feared the old man would kill her on a whim.
On their journey together, they had encountered more than a few of her kind who were unwilling to accept restraint. Without exception, the old man had killed them all. After death, all their essence, vitality, and souls were captured and absorbed into the ancient inkstone, becoming nothing more than a thin layer of "light ink."
The old man sighed. "On the Great Way, everyone races forward. But one step slow means every step slow. Others may be dozing and slacking off all the while, yet their realm soars a thousand li in a day. You may train day and night, yet in the end, you're still useless. Cultivation is full of such helplessness."
The crone, trying to salvage the situation, asked, "Ancestor, is that young master really so remarkable?"
The old man laughed dryly. "It's not that the youth himself is remarkable. It's the youth's guide who is too remarkable. If the youth were just a youth, no matter how hard he worked, his martial realm wouldn't go very high. At most, sixth or seventh realm. That's all."
Walking the river to become a flood dragon, entering the sea to become a true dragon—these were the two great trials that all dragon-serpent descendants dreamed of. In this process, there would inevitably be extreme hardship and pain. Not only would there be blood and gore, but one also had to endure the torment of transformation. The previous moltings in realm advancement were "small molts," numerous in number. The latter two were hailed as "great molts."
The old flood dragon walked on wind, step by step, out of the mountaintop. The crone had to manifest her true form to follow—a seven or eight zhang long vermilion snake, shaking its head and wagging its tail beside the scholar-robed old man.
The old flood dragon laughed. "I'm not saying that youth's path is necessarily correct. It could be a great road leading to the summit of heaven, or it could be a dead-end road with no great future. But even if it's a dead-end road, it's absolutely enough to let that little water snake transform into a flood dragon. Unfortunately, he doesn't know his own blessing and cuts off his own future. Can't blame heaven for not offering him a bowl of rice. Heaven offered it, but he couldn't hold the bowl himself."
The vermilion snake spoke in human tongue. "The ancestor's cultivation is profound. You have long witnessed the changing landscapes and the vicissitudes of the world. Your vision is naturally far-reaching. We only need to follow the ancestor's instructions to be content. For us, this is already a great blessing."
The scholar-robed old man smiled but said nothing.
In truth, there was much more the old flood dragon hadn't revealed to this vermilion snake. He had even deliberately said some things beneath his station.
That boy's martial talent indeed wasn't outstanding. But that little fellow named Chen Ping'an—the old flood dragon had not thought him "unremarkable" as he had claimed. Back in his own residence, when he first saw that group of traveling students, the old dragon had used his divine powers to look at them. Chen Ping'an was the last to catch his eye. But as he watched, he realized that everyone revolved around Chen Ping'an. It wasn't just words and actions.
It was a mysterious momentum.
That rainy night, there had been the handsome, spirited white-clad youth, the little girl in a red cotton jacket carrying a small book chest, the cold-faced youth already on the path of cultivation, the slender girl with excellent bone structure, the tall youth with hidden cultivation and an even more obscure dragon aura, and the sturdy, naive child.
And finally, the straw-sandaled youth holding a chopping knife, leading the way. At first glance, he was the most unremarkable presence.
But the old dragon had focused his gaze on him again and again, and he saw something extraordinary.
Like stars surrounding the moon, like peaks paying homage to the great mountain.
That youth walked at the very front, as if saying, "You may follow safely behind."
Because the heavens and earth are vast, I will shoulder it all.
---
When the green-clad boy returned to the Martial Saint Temple, he had regained his playful, mischievous demeanor. Chen Ping'an treated him with the same ordinary attitude as before.
At first, the green-clad boy was worried that Chen Ping'an might go back on his promise to give him the two snake gallstones. After testing twice and getting a definite answer, he felt relieved. But in the days that followed, even though Chen Ping'an showed no strangeness—he still let the boy spar with him for martial training, still rode on his true form for travel, and still tolerated his tantrums and unreasonable behavior—the green-clad boy felt something was missing. He couldn't put his finger on what.
He only knew that as they got closer to the master's hometown, the pink-skirted girl grew happier and happier. This made him more and more unhappy.
So, as they crossed the mountains and formally entered the Great Li Empire, the green-clad boy pulled out his ultimate trump card.
At dusk, on a long-abandoned cliffside plank road, the three of them stopped to rest in a slightly wider concave cave. He carefully pulled out a large porcelain bowl from his storage item. The bowl contained half a bowl of clear water, exuding spiritual energy, unlike any ordinary rainwater.
The pink-skirted girl blinked her watery eyes. She immediately recognized what it was, but was too embarrassed to go closer and look. Fortunately, the green-clad boy had already scurried over, holding the bowl with both hands, and sat down beside Chen Ping'an. Mysterious, he said, "Master, let me show you something good. It'll start in about a quarter of an hour."
He turned to the pink-skirted girl, grinned, and held up a hand. "I still have five bowls of water like this, from five different immortal estates. Including a scoop from the Thunder Rolling Pool of Zhengyang Mountain. Know how much that cost me, young master? Selling you, silly girl, wouldn't be enough. At my peak, I had seven bowls! Of course, you're a fire python. Your kind of thing would be a special piece of firewood or an incense stick. But I bet you don't have a single one, right?"
Chen Ping'an looked at the arrogant green-clad boy and the self-conscious pink-skirted girl. He asked, "What can you see through this small bowl of water?"
The green-clad boy just grinned, deliberately keeping him in suspense.
The pink-skirted girl explained in a low voice, "Master, I've read in some predecessors' reading notes in the library that mountain cultivation consumes a great deal of wealth. Many immortal sects have found ways to generate income. They appropriately open up some interesting scenes for viewing—like unique sights in their sects that are hard to come by, the daily life of some famous prodigies, or the airborne elegance of senior cultivators. Outsiders don't need to go to those sects' peaks. They can see everything from thousands of li away. It saves effort and trouble, but not money."
As she spoke, she kept stealing glances at the bowl of water, her eyes full of envy. She counted on her fingers and said softly, "Master, this kind of thing is really magical. The immortals need to provide some small item connected to the mountain-river luck—like a piece of shadow wall stone chiseled out, a spiritual tree cut down from the mountain gate, or this white bowl carrying water from the deep pool of Zhengyang Mountain. Before a rare scene or event is opened to viewers, a line of text will appear to remind the buyers. They can then decide whether to spend the item's spiritual energy to watch from afar. If willing, they just need to infuse a little spiritual energy, and through the sect's activated magical techniques, they can see all the images displayed in the text. It's extremely interesting!"
The more she talked, the more dejected she became. "When I first read about this in notes years ago, I begged the Zhilan Cao Clan to help me find such a piece of wood at a high price. But after I gave them the payment according to the agreement, the Cao family kept making excuses and delaying. In the end, I was too embarrassed to ask again, so I pretended it never happened."
The green-clad boy said smugly, "That's because your abilities are too low. If it were me, do you think the Zhilan Cao Clan would dare take the money and not deliver?"
She looked gloomy.
Chen Ping'an patted her little maid's bun and comforted her gently, "Suffering a loss is a blessing. Take the loss first. Believe that you won't always suffer losses."
She looked up and nodded with a smile.
The green-clad boy rolled his eyes dramatically. A big fool and a little fool.
A moment later, he exclaimed happily, "Here comes the good show!"
In the bowl, the clear water began to ripple.
The green-clad boy snapped his fingers. The water slowly rose from the bowl, like a spring gushing, eventually forming a water curtain as large as a landscape scroll.
On the water curtain, a towering peak appeared first, surrounded by clustered mountains.
Then, a woman in white, riding a flying sword, broke through the air. Her silhouette appeared in the picture without warning. An ancient gourd hung from her waist. She guided the flying sword upward at tremendous speed. In the water curtain, her figure was initially as small as a grain of rice, but gradually became a palm-sized figure, with a cold countenance and a detached, otherworldly aura.
A short distance from the mountaintop, sword essence coalesced into a solid form, like clouds but not clouds, like mist but not mist—strange and magical, indescribable. The celestial woman no longer rode the sword upward. Instead, she stood on the flying sword, gazing at the abundant sword intent contained within the essence. Even across thousands of li, even through this water curtain, the sword intent on the mountaintop, filled with various lingering meanings, rushed toward them. Some were ancient and weathered, some were vigorous like a rising sun over the sea, some dense and clustered like a torrential downpour.
The green-clad boy didn't bother with that messy sword intent. He just drooled over the sword-riding woman, staring at her without blinking. He leered, "This Immortal Su Jia of Zhengyang Mountain is your young master's favorite! She's ranked only behind one other immortal. Look at that figure, that temperament! That river god brother of mine is crude and boorish. He also admires Immortal Su Jia, but he prefers the more voluptuous ones. 'Meat-eaters are base,' as the sages say. Hits the nail on the head."
He twirled his finger, slightly adjusting the image to show Su Jia's back. Then he lightly grabbed, and the immortal's back suddenly enlarged. The green-clad boy chuckled foolishly, wiped his mouth, and wished he could press his whole face against Su Jia's back. If no one else were around, he probably would have.
He said, beaming, "But my number one darling is still the Daoist nun He Xiaoliang! Now she's an immortal among immortals, a celestial among celestials. If she let me touch her little hand, I'd gladly lose a hundred years of my life. No lies. Whoever could introduce me and let me exchange a single word with He Xiaoliang, I'd be their son, their grandson, whatever..."
Chen Ping'an looked at the sword intent forming into clouds and mist. No matter how hard he focused, he saw a grand spectacle but couldn't grasp its true essence. He quickly withdrew his attention, hoping to find a familiar figure in the water curtain—the mountain-moving ape that had caused havoc in his hometown. But the picture only showed Su Jia. If he remembered correctly, that fellow named Liu Baqiao from the Wind and Thunder Garden had always secretly admired Su Jia.
After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the water curtain faded, blurring, then condensed and fell, eventually turning back into a small bowl of clear water.
But the clear water in the bowl had noticeably decreased.
The green-clad boy put away the white bowl and water, rubbing his hands and pacing, laughing happily. "This viewing cost a lot because of the sword-qi scene at the peak of Zhengyang Mountain, but it was totally worth it! In all the times I've watched the various scenes of Zhengyang Mountain before, Immortal Su Jia only appeared in fleeting glimpses a few times. This time... tsk tsk, I never knew Immortal Su Jia had such a figure built for bearing children. Wouldn't have guessed it before!"
Chen Ping'an silently stood up and walked to the plank road outside the cave. The mountain wind howled past, fluttering one side of his clothes as they billowed.
But now, with his solid second-realm cultivation and after countless mountain crossings and soil collections, Chen Ping'an stood as unmovable as a mountain. Vaguely, it seemed he had become one with the steep cliff behind him.
Chen Ping'an suddenly exclaimed in delight, "It's snowing!"
He reached out his hand, waiting for the snow to fall into his palm. He maintained this pose, then suddenly turned his head and happily announced to the green-clad boy and the pink-skirted girl, "Come quick, look! It's snowing!"
A blizzard of goose-feather snow had arrived uninvited.
At the tail end of the year, the twenty-four solar terms had come and gone one by one. Even on their way home, during the Minor Snow season, there had only been wind and rain.
But today happened to be Major Snow, and there really was heavy snow.
After calling out to them, Chen Ping'an continued to catch the snowflakes, lifting his head and murmuring happily, "It's snowing, it's snowing."
The pink-skirted girl had never seen her master so joyful. She happily hopped over to join him.
The green-clad boy had never seen such an immature person. He stayed where he was, grumbling to himself, feeling that life was so boring.