Chapter 184: A Hidden Realm
Cao Jun looked at those messy little trinkets, like a phalanx of heavily armored infantry on a battlefield, surrounding the commander Li Xisheng like an iron bucket.
Cao Jun noticed a clue and said admiringly, "You must be very good at Go, and you're definitely well-versed in the divination of the Yin-Yang school."
Because with the cultivation of a sixth-tier Qi refiner, unless the blue-clad scholar was a reincarnated immortal at the level of the founding patriarchs of the three major religions, he could barely manage to control so many objects at once. But it was clear the scholar in front of him was cutting corners. Every time he defended against the piercing strikes of the White Fish flying sword, he roughly calculated the trajectory and breakthrough points of the sword. So other than maintaining the fall leaves and autumn winds and other items without letting them drop, the area where the scholar truly needed to infuse spiritual energy was not too large.
This was like a siege battle. Cao Jun's side had strong combat power, but insufficient troops, so they could only focus on attacking one wall. The scholar appeared to have placed defensive soldiers on all four walls, but in reality, three of them were empty shells. He only needed to predict the future, accurately guessing Cao Jun's direction of attack every time, making his defense appear effortless.
Cao Jun's mind moved, and the snow-white flying sword withdrew from the battlefield, returning in front of its owner. Cao Jun glanced at it briefly—the sword tip and blade edge were somewhat worn, more than expected. Fortunately, the sword intent contained in the White Fish short sword had improved after hundreds of clashes and honings. In the end, it was still a profitable deal.
Cao Jun felt a bit conflicted internally. The Great Li Emperor wouldn't dare to arm-wrestle with the behind-the-scenes forces of the three religions for the sake of a Qi Jingshun, but he would most likely be willing to tear apart face with the Cao clan, which had long since established roots in another continent, for the sake of his own Qi refiner who had hope of entering the upper five realms.
For the first time, Cao Jun was uncharacteristically hesitant. He sheathed the White Fish back into its scabbard while simultaneously gripping the hilt of his other sword, named Black Chi.
He deliberately put on an angry face and said, "If you've got guts, don't play turtle hiding in your shell!"
Li Xisheng smiled and retorted, "Do you have the guts to play turtle hiding in your shell?"
Cao Jun was choked silent. He was once a genius sword cultivator highly anticipated by the sword immortals of an entire continent, pursuing unmatched sharpness and killing power in the world. Of course, he lacked the ability and the interest to be like the blue-clad scholar in front of him—not fighting back when hit, not cursing back when scolded, just relying on a pile of bizarre and broken junk to defend the city wall stubbornly, never taking the initiative to attack.
Someone once described a sword cultivator as a light cavalryman, coming and going like the wind, swift as lightning. The flying sword was like a crossbow. When encountering an enemy in a small-scale skirmish, often the enemy died in a single exchange. As for a flying sword from a fifth-tier terrestrial sword immortal, placed on a battlefield, its lethality was like a bed-mounted crossbow. Even if it was just quietly placed atop the city wall, it was a huge deterrent to the enemy.
Military cultivators were heavy cavalry. Once they raised their momentum and aura to their peak, it was like heavy cavalry charging forward, both offensive and defensive, unstoppable in breaking formations.
As for pure martial artists, who were considered by the mountain world to have no hope on the Great Path, they were like heavy infantry, cumbersome and average in killing power. Even an eighth-tier Grandmaster at the Distant Journey realm, capable of riding the wind, if they failed to kill the enemy in a short-range burst, once the Qi refiner distanced themselves and engaged in a prolonged fight, they would be far inferior to Qi refiners.
Seeing Cao Jun silent, Li Xisheng reached out and gently moved some small thunder and autumn wind items in front of him, opening up his view. He took the initiative to say, "The reasoning your sword spoke of wasn't thorough enough."
The implication was that he was willing to hear the reasoning of that Black Chi sword.
Cao Jun gently rubbed his cheeks with both hands. "Your way of speaking is really unpleasant. But I admit you have the qualifications for that. I have a suggestion you could consider: let's have a life-and-death battle, all consequences on ourselves, unrelated to family or country. How about it? Do you dare to bet with me?"
Li Xisheng shook his head. "You've already seen that I'm not good at offensive methods at all. So you've actually been in an invincible position from start to finish."
He didn't mind revealing his weakness at all.
Cao Jun said helplessly, "Are you being honest or just lacking a brain?"
Cao Jun looked at the young scholar and inexplicably thought of the most remarkable scholar in the Southern Continent of Bodhi, the head of the Chen clan of pure Confucianism in this generation.
It was said that that old man Chen, who had cultivated great learning from reading, hid a clear wind in his sleeves, carried a bright moon on one shoulder, and a red sun on the other.
Cao Jun set aside his thoughts and turned his head to look. He saw a small, bright red fox standing upright on the eaves of an old house in Mud Bottle Alley. The fox said to Cao Jun, "The old ancestor told me to tell you to know when to stop. If Ruan Qiong beats you to death, he'll just find some place here to bury you, considering it as returning to your roots after all."
Cao Jun looked disgusted. "What? Say that again!"
The little fox coughed, instantly transforming from a gentle and refined manner to a ferocious one. It put its hands on its hips and cursed, "That old bastard Cao Xi told me to tell you, you bastard grandson, to stop right now. If you piss off that blacksmith surnamed Ruan and get beaten into a pile of meat paste, he won't avenge you. He has hundreds of direct descendants, can't help them all. He also said it's a pity that your wife hasn't been married into the family yet, otherwise he wouldn't have asked me to persuade you to stop. It'd be best if you got killed, so he could take the opportunity to step in."
Cao Jun's expression was calm and indifferent as he nodded. "That's right. That's the tone of that old bastard."
Li Xisheng ignored this exchange. "If we're not fighting, then please make way."
"Not fighting, not fighting. I can't kill you, you can't kill me. How boring."
Cao Jun laughed. "Let's go take a look at the blacksmith shop, pay respects to the sage."
Cao Jun's figure rose straight up into the sky, then rapidly plummeted toward the blacksmith shop.
As for the ridiculous rule in Dragon Spring Prefecture forbidding flying against the wind without permission, Cao Jun really didn't care about it.
Then came a loud bang.
Cao Jun was immediately sent flying backward like a meteor. By the time he finally managed to stop, he was already hundreds of miles away. He had tumbled countless times through the sea of clouds. Sitting cross-legged in the air, spitting blood profusely, his face as yellow as gold paper, Cao Jun wasn't furious or frantic. Instead, he wore that habitual smile. "Sure enough, guys from Snow Wind Temple all have bad tempers. I wonder if Wei Jin from Immortal Platform will be a surprise?"
The fox with bright red fur circled around Cao Jun, gloating, "Got a taste of it, huh?"
Cao Jun smiled. "Didn't die."
The fox clicked its tongue. "Your skill at bullying the weak and fearing the strong is inherited from Cao Xi."
Cao Jun said, "If I don't bully the weak and fear the strong, should I bully the strong and fear the weak instead? Are you out of your mind?"
The fox didn't care. It lifted a paw to scratch its chin, stood on tiptoe, and gazed at the small town. "What about that strange sword embryo we couldn't snatch?"
Cao Jun said darkly, "You still have the nerve to talk? If you hadn't been egging me on to kill for treasure, I would have at most made a fair trade with that kid."
The fiery red fox put on a stern face and lectured, "When it comes to being a person, you must hold firm to your original heart. However you act outside, you should continue the same way when you come to this tiny Dragon Spring Prefecture. So what if there's an eleventh-tier military sage? Behind you isn't an eleventh-tier sword cultivator ancestor? One has the advantage of time and place, the other has a convenient divine weapon. Both are unreasonable types among Qi refiners, evenly matched. If they fight and you watch from the sidelines, you might even gain some insight. Why not?"
Cao Jun sneered. "Given Cao Xi's temper, if I plot against him for an inch, he'll take back a foot."
The fiery red fox stabbed where it hurt, playing the same old tune. "At worst, let him sleep with your wife a few times in the future. What's there to fear?!"
Cao Jun was silent, maintaining a smile as he stared at the fox. The young sword guest's smiling face showed no fluctuation.
The fox pretended to be surprised. "Wow, you're actually angry? Cao Jun, who's been slacking off for a hundred years, actually has a serious side?"
Cao Jun smiled slightly. "Killing mosquitoes and flies in leisure, suddenly having a mind to kill them all."
The White Fish left its sheath, and a rainbow of light appeared.
The fiery red fox's head was thrown high into the air, but not a single drop of blood splattered.
That head still spoke, "Oh my, this sword strike is slower than a turtle moving house. And they call you a genius sword cultivator? How embarrassing."
Meanwhile, the headless body swaggered around, wiggling its hips, completely ignoring the repeated piercings of the White Fish flying sword. The head in the air continued to provoke, "This embroidery needle of yours is just tickling."
In that stretch of sky, sword light burst wildly, white rainbows crisscrossed.
Not only was the body sliced into seventeen or eighteen pieces, but even the head had been split into eight parts. Yet when the White Fish flying sword showed a moment of hesitation, the fox instantly restored itself to completeness.
This cycle repeated itself over and over.
Finally, Cao Jun sighed and sheathed his sword.
The fox twisted its neck and walked over to sit beside Cao Jun. "Young man, only talk as big as your skills allow."
Cao Jun nodded. "Reasonable. I'll listen to you."
"Then, once you marry your wife, lend her to me to sleep with? Anyway, she's female and I'm female—hard to say who's taking advantage of whom."
The fox started stirring up trouble again, sneering, "Wow, the number one sword immortal seed of our Southern Bodhi Continent from a hundred years ago, now a ninth-tier great sword cultivator, suddenly being so obedient today?"
"Young" Cao Jun, who was actually already over a hundred years old, gazed into the distance. His lips pressed together, ignoring the fox's taunts in his ear.
——
Chen Ping'an quickly ran to Li Xisheng's side, worriedly asking, "Are you alright?"
Li Xisheng smiled slightly. "It's my first time fighting, and I encountered a sword cultivator. Honestly, I was pretty nervous inside, but the result wasn't bad."
Chen Ping'an sighed in relief.
The silver ingot sword embryo in his sleeve had returned to silence, no longer burning hot and trembling after Cao Jun had left.
Suddenly, the green-clad boy leaped forward, hugging Chen Ping'an's waist tightly. "So scary, so scary! I guessed right—it's easy to get beaten to death just walking down the street. This town is unlivable, unlivable! Master, be merciful, let me roll away to Luopo Mountain to cultivate. I promise, I swear from today on, I'll practice diligently day and night. Not just sipping clouds and drinking dew—even eating grass roots and chewing mud on Luopo Mountain, I'll do it!"
Li Xisheng couldn't help but laugh. He quickly comforted, "People like Cao Jun are, after all, extremely rare. Although I've never left the town, I can be sure that cultivators with such high cultivation and such strange tempers are few and far between. You don't need to be so nervous."
The green-clad boy ignored Li Xisheng and just kept begging Chen Ping'an. When Chen Ping'an pushed his head away, he switched to clinging tightly to one of his arms, leaning back as if falling, refusing to let Chen Ping'an move forward. "Master, have mercy, please! At worst, I'll return you an ordinary snake gallstone, okay?! Master, you don't know me—I've always been a coward. Even walking at night makes my legs tremble. And then I came to this town; we just stepped out, and sword qi was whooshing everywhere. I'm really scared…"
Chen Ping'an had no choice but to stop, helplessly asking, "Do you know the way to Luopo Mountain?"
The green-clad boy was all snot and tears, for once acting like a grandson. "Master, at a time like this, even if I don't know the way, I'll pretend I do."
The pink-skirted girl said softly, "Master, I know the way."
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment. "Then you two go to Luopo Mountain and stay in the bamboo building for now. But you must promise me—no causing trouble. I'll finish up here as soon as I can and come see you soon. I'll try to make a trip to Luopo Mountain before the new year."
The green-clad boy bowed and said, "Master, you are wise and heroic!"
The pink-skirted girl said softly, "Master, I'll send him there and then come right back."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "No need. The bamboo building is suitable for cultivation. Just stay on the mountain together. Don't be afraid of him. If he dares to break his promise and secretly bully you, I'll deal with him then."
The green-clad boy jumped up and down. "Master, silly girl, can't you two ever think well of me? Am I the kind of person who goes back on his word? Among the entire Huangting Kingdom, from the court to the common people, who doesn't know that the Sword-Riding River God has a brother who always keeps his promises? If he says to eradicate the roots and spare not a single one, he means it; if he says to do his ancestors, he won't kill his grandson…"
Chen Ping'an laughed dryly. "Impressive."
The green-clad boy immediately turned his head, putting on an exaggerated look of shyness and embarrassment. He reached out one hand and waved it lightly. "Master, I'm just boasting to build up courage. Don't take it seriously."
Chen Ping'an pressed one hand on his head and extended the other. "Hand it over."
The green-clad boy looked a bit dazed and lifted his head. "What?"
The pink-skirted girl whispered a reminder, "You promised Master earlier that if he let you return to Luopo Mountain, you'd hand over an ordinary snake gallstone."
The green-clad boy forced a smile. "Master, you're rich and powerful. Don't be like this."
Chen Ping'an didn't withdraw his hand.
The green-clad boy could only obediently take out his smallest snake gallstone and place it on Chen Ping'an's palm.
Chen Ping'an handed the snake gallstone to the pink-skirted girl and smiled. "When you get to the mountain, if he doesn't bully you, you can give it to him as a reward."
The pink-skirted girl carefully put away the snake gallstone.
The green-clad boy grabbed the pink-skirted girl's arm and said urgently, "Let's hurry to Luopo Mountain! This place is no place to stay!"
The two little ones had just turned out of Mud Bottle Alley when the green-clad boy suddenly stopped. Before he could speak, the pink-skirted girl, with lightning speed, tossed the snake gallstone back to him.
The green-clad boy put away the recovered snake gallstone, nodded, and said with a smile, "Silly girl, are you tired? Let me carry your book box for you."
The pink-skirted girl shook her head vigorously.
The green-clad boy sighed. "You're just born with a hardworking fate. At least fools have fool's luck."
The pink-skirted girl grinned.
The green-clad boy puffed out his chest. "Let's go! Lead the way! Heading home!"
Back at Mud Bottle Alley, since he didn't need to go to Liu Xianyang's house, Chen Ping'an escorted Li Xisheng to the alley entrance.
Li Xisheng stopped, hesitated a moment, and then said, "The following words might be too early to say now, but just like the annotations in the books I gave you—you only need to have read them once—so too should you only need to have heard these words once."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Brother Li, go ahead."
Li Xisheng said slowly, "Have you heard of the 'white horse is not a horse' case?"
Chen Ping'an scratched his head. "On the road to study, Baoping and Li Huai once argued about it. The more I listened, the more confused I got."
Li Xisheng smiled and pondered for a moment. "Then let's not delve into the depths for now. Let me put it differently: one grain of sand plus one grain of sand is how many grains?"
Chen Ping'an asked doubtfully, "Isn't it two grains?"
Li Xisheng laughed. "Of course it is. Then one pile of sand plus one pile of sand is how many piles of sand?"
Chen Ping'an tentatively said, "Still one pile, right?"
Li Xisheng patted Chen Ping'an's shoulder. "Legend has it that when the ancient sages invented writing, the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth wept in fear. This is, of course, a great merit. But you must understand one truth: sometimes, writing itself becomes an invisible obstacle to our understanding of the world. So when you read books in the future, don't endlessly split hairs over words. If you hit a bottleneck, try taking a step back first, then climb a few more steps, trying to go as high as possible. If you don't reach the peak, you won't see the flat ground clearly."
Chen Ping'an listened in a fog, his head aching. It was just like when he had flipped through that Elementary Learning book—between vastness and confusion, he felt there was no path ahead and no retreat behind.
Li Xisheng comforted him. "Take it slow. Don't rush."
Chen Ping'an hummed in acknowledgment. "I understand."
——
Li Xisheng, missing one sleeve, walked back alone to the big mansion on Fortune and Emolument Street. The servants and maids in the household were somewhat baffled by the eldest young master's predicament. Since he was a child, the eldest young master had rarely gone out except to accompany elders on ancestor visits. How could the rare walk turn out so rough? Could he have gotten into a fight?
Li Xisheng returned to his own courtyard. He first checked on the crab and the climbing perch—both were fine—then changed into another set of clothes. After that, he went to the "Thatched Hut" study to read for a while. Finally, he went to a room that was often kept locked. He unlocked the door and pushed it open. As Li Xisheng, the master, looked around, his field of vision was filled with tall, wall-mounted shelves. On those shelves, there were no antique treasures or exquisite porcelain for which Dragon Spring Prefecture was famous—only stacks of seals of varying heights, sizes, and materials.
Inside the room, aside from the shelves crowded with seals, there was only a table and a chair. On the table lay three unfinished seals, made of wood, yellow jade, and bronze respectively. There was also a large box of finely crafted carving knives, along with several ancient books made of precious materials.
Li Xisheng gently closed the door and sat down in the chair behind the table. Each of the three seals on the table was missing just one character. The bronze seal bore the inscription "Subdue External," missing the final word "Path." The yellow jade seal bore "Command the Heavenly," missing the middle word "Law." The wooden seal bore "Qi Transforms Life," missing the first word "Green."
Engraving seals was like drawing talismans—it required a single, uninterrupted flow.
Li Xisheng was clearly not like that.
Instead of picking up the carving knife to etch the characters, he closed his eyes and began to sleep. His breathing was long and continuous, like a mountain stream babbling and flowing gently.
In that tiny room, there was a hidden realm.
——
Chen Ping'an returned to his ancestral house and noticed that the locust wood sword placed on the table had an imperceptible, subtle tilt.
Although Chen Ping'an was shaken inside, he sat down beside the table without betraying any emotion.