Chapter 281: Innocence
The little Daoist boy rose from his cushion, rolled up the Daoist scripture, and lightly tapped it against his palm as he looked at the dejected young man. This Heavenly Lord, who was formidable in battle yet little known throughout the Haoran World, felt a bit pleased.
Had he probably broken up with that annoying girl?
The little Daoist, rarely one to console others, squeezed out what he thought was a benevolent and sincere face, grinning as he said, "That kind of stinky girl—bad temper, cold personality, just a decent face, decent family background, decent talent, decent prospects... What do you like about her? So, breaking up is breaking up. Look at this Daoxuan Mountain; just walk down the street, and you can grab a handful of gentle girls. Look at those slender waists, like pickled cabbages—nothing special. Which one catches your eye? I'll help you."
Chen Ping'an smiled helplessly but didn't respond. It was best not to provoke someone with such formidable magical power.
He simply bid farewell politely to the grinning little Daoist boy, lacking none of the proper etiquette. As for the sword-embracing man, as long as it was daytime, he was forever the same—dozing off. Chen Ping'an didn't disturb his daytime dreams.
Ning Yao had mentioned him before. In the Thirteen Battles, this man fought the ninth match and lost, losing to a twelfth-tier great demon who was barely a hundred years old. It was a particularly regrettable loss. That young demon, wielding an immortal weapon, had burst onto the scene, making a name in one battle that spread throughout the world south of the Sword Qi Great Wall. The sword-embracing man came here to be punished, confined to a small area on Daoxuan Mountain.
The sword-embracing man was a rogue sword immortal, five hundred years old, but he had not established a lineage at the Sword Qi Great Wall. It was said that in the early days of the middle five tiers, he had a Dao companion of ordinary cultivation. After she fell in battle, this sword immortal never took another woman in his long career. He had a good relationship with everyone, but not the best with anyone.
For cultivators, especially upper-five-tier Qi refiners, the matter of offspring was both significant and mysterious. Women, in particular, had to cut off the Red Dragon early to ascend and attain the Dao, making childbirth difficult. Moreover, Qi refiners outside the military path were reluctant to entangle themselves too much with worldly karma. Unless they were certain they could produce a child with excellent Dao aptitude, they would postpone the matter of childbirth, waiting for the right opportunity.
Otherwise, in the immortal families of the mountains, how would they settle descendants who were as mediocre as ordinary Confucian scholars?
Would they raise them like chickens or dogs?
But even if these pitiful creatures—poor in aptitude but high in vision—were willing to stay content and wait for death, that would be fine. Yet in truth, the history books are filled with cases of clan annihilation caused by such matters.
Moreover, even if cultivators were willing to give their descendants patience and familial affection, each parting—like a white-haired person sending off a black-haired one—was ultimately a heartbreaking affair.
Prosperity and continuity, the passing of incense and fire, were one's own family matters. But one must understand that proving the Great Dao and cultivating immortality were one's own personal matters.
The Lizhu Cave Heaven above the Great Li Dynasty in Baoping Continent was the smallest of the thirty-six minor cave heavens, only a thousand square miles in size. Yet it attracted attention because the people of this minor cave heaven had astonishingly good aptitudes. Ordinary men and women in the marketplaces could give birth to children that, outside the cave heaven, would be the result of painstaking efforts by two Earth Immortal couples.
For example, the cultivation geniuses who walked out of Lizhu Cave Heaven included Xie Shi of Julu Continent, Cao Xi of Pojia Continent, and the Twin Gems of Great Li who helped the Song clan extend its dynasty.
Chen Ping'an returned to the Stork Inn and learned that the Osmanthus Island had already returned to Old Dragon City. He asked the young innkeeper about the ferry routes to the central part of Tongye Continent and roughly which direction on Daoxuan Mountain had the boarding docks.
The young innkeeper's family had been rooted in Daoxuan Mountain for generations, and he knew these matters intimately. The sea around Tongye Continent had fierce winds and high waves, naturally unsuitable for ferry navigation. Especially the southern regions of Tongye Continent were extremely isolated. Almost all cross-continent ferry docks were in the north. This was why the Tongye Sect in the north could overshadow the Yugui Sect.
Finally, the young innkeeper recommended a Treasure-Swallowing Whale ferry that sailed underwater, departing from the Shangxiang Ferry on Daoxuan Mountain and going directly to the Fuji Sect in central Tongye Continent.
The Treasure-Swallowing Whale would set sail in ten days, so Chen Ping'an booked a room at the Stork Inn.
The young innkeeper sat behind the counter, clicking his abacus, and glanced at the boy's back, somewhat puzzled. He was still carrying a sword, but the wooden box was gone, replaced by an unfamiliar long sword?
He shook his head and didn't think further. Strange things weren't strange on Daoxuan Mountain.
Just recently, there was a young man from Zhongtu Shenzhou whose breakthrough in martial cultivation had come at the very moment he stepped from the Sword Qi Great Wall into Daoxuan Mountain. It triggered an unprecedented celestial phenomenon, causing the mirror-like gate to violently tremble. The Great Heavenly Lord stationed at Solitary Peak had to appear personally and even intervene directly to suppress the gate's alarming commotion.
Then there was a group of female immortal masters from the Sea-Spray Ganlin Sect who brought countless corpses of dragon-like creatures and made a substantial profit on Daoxuan Mountain.
The Dragon Lord Jiaolong had spent the most money, purchasing large quantities of gold and silver dragon whiskers, leaving himself in debt to many. But no one thought this Daoxuan Mountain lord was a fool, because doing so had likely pushed his whisker duster, already an outstanding semi-immortal weapon, toward the quality of a true immortal weapon.
And among the female Qi refiners of the Ganlin Sect, a young man suddenly became a hot commodity. This lucky fellow had just been taken as a son-in-law into the Ganlin Sect. Not only was he chosen as a Dao companion by the famous Pounding Rain Immortal of the Ganlin Sect, but he also tested as having excellent Dao aptitude by the sect's founder. Then, he was favored by another renowned Rain Drop Immortal of the southern sea and married her. Two Golden Core realm immortals, both on the verge of becoming Earth Immortals, served the same husband. Such a fortuitous match made everyone envious.
On the path of cultivation, the difference between good fortune and bad was truly like heaven and earth.
Chen Ping'an had gone to the Sword Qi Great Wall and hadn't moved from the wall top the entire time. While there, he felt he could say many things slowly. But when he was thrown back to Daoxuan Mountain, he realized it was too late.
He was worried, but not particularly heartbroken. There was a lot of concern, though.
Chen Ping'an took the key to his lodgings. There was nothing much to store—just a sword on his back, a Sword-Nurturing Gourd hanging at his side, and no other belongings. Following the young innkeeper's advice, he soon left the room to go to the shops near the inn to buy necessities.
He bought a copy of *Records of the Mountains and Seas*, a book detailing the customs and geography of the Haoran World. Naturally, it was a kind of immortal book, or else buying it would have been useless. On each page, over a dozen illustrations and three to four thousand words were recorded, with images and text flowing like water and clouds.
He also bought a book on the pronunciation and phonetics of Tongye Continent's refined speech, and one on the Great Refined Speech of Zhongtu Shenzhou. Chen Ping'an didn't want to arrive in Tongye Continent unable to communicate with anyone. Although Tongye Continent was likely similar to Baoping Continent, where kingdoms and vassal states had their own official languages and dialects, learning the refined speech common among the mountain immortal sects and the dynastic courts was essential.
On Daoxuan Mountain, especially for magical treasures and spiritual tools, there was almost no chance of getting lucky with a bargain. The cultivators here had high cultivation levels and sharp eyes, and items were often expensive, much higher than on the mainland. However, one advantage was that there was almost no fraud. Merchants who could open shops here were almost all centuries-old or millennia-old establishments; they didn't do one-off deals, so they cherished their reputations.
A single Grain Rain Coin was extremely valuable, especially when not compared to the Gold Essence Copper Coins used exclusively in Lizhu Cave Heaven.
This was true even on Daoxuan Mountain, where immortals gathered.
Since he had money in his pocket and no immediate way to make more, he didn't want it sitting around growing mold. Chen Ping'an decided to buy a practical spiritual tool for Lin Shouyi and one for Xie Xie, not minding the expense. Little Baoping, Li Huai, and Yu Lu didn't need any. The first two weren't cultivators and were still young; Yu Lu, like him, was a pure martial artist.
As for selling things, he certainly wouldn't. He wasn't short of money at the moment.
After buying the books at the Stork Inn, Chen Ping'an went to Lingzhi Studio. The first time he had come here with Jin Su, they had just browsed superficially, admiring the immortal treasures. This time, he had a purpose and was more focused. He didn't even glance at treasures worth a fortune that had tier thresholds for Qi refiners. He hoped to find a Daoist scripture on thunder magic or a spiritual tool suitable for cultivation, something like the Sweet Dew Bowl Zhang Shanfeng had obtained by chance, which could help a cultivator accumulate spiritual energy from heaven and earth over time.
Even with a narrowed scope, his eyes were still dazzled.
He carefully walked through Lingzhi Studio back and forth for half a day, forming some ideas in his mind. He selected over a dozen items, then returned to the Stork Inn. He would weigh and balance his choices in the evening and should be able to make purchases the next day. One was a thunder magic Daoist scripture annotated as a unique copy. There were two high-grade elixirs for cleansing the marrow and refining the bones: one from the Xuansu Sect in Fuyao Continent and one from Xianglu Mountain in Pojia Continent. Both were famous Daoist alchemical sects. There were also seven or eight spiritual tools.
During this time, Chen Ping'an inadvertently caught sight of three military armor pellets arranged side by side in a wooden case. According to the accompanying text, they were a type of Divine Man Dew Armor like that worn by the national preceptor of the Guyu Kingdom, but of much higher quality. The three pellets could be worn simultaneously without any burden, which spoke to their extreme defensive power.
But the price was astronomical: thirty thousand Snowflake Coins!
One Snowflake Coin was roughly equivalent to a thousand taels of silver. One Small Heat Coin equaled one hundred Snowflake Coins. One Grain Rain Coin equaled ten Small Heat Coins.
This was the "hundreds, tens, ones" rule for immortal trading currency.
Chen Ping'an remembered that on the Kun Ship of Dajiao Mountain, the treasure that was the ship's anchor didn't even reach this price.
And this was partly because two of the pellets had minor damage and were not perfectly repaired, so they couldn't be called "flawless."
But these were far from the most expensive treasures at Lingzhi Studio. Many immortal treasures weren't priced in Snowflake Coins or Small Heat Coins but in Grain Rain Coins.
In one glass cabinet, a fiery golden feather floated, with no annotation, priced at one hundred Grain Rain Coins.
Some items that looked either radiant or extremely inconspicuous didn't even have a price tag—just the words "negotiable."
Chen Ping'an's teeth ached just looking at them.
That evening, Chen Ping'an settled on two final purchases: the thunder magic Daoist scripture that Lingzhi Studio boldly claimed was "a unique copy in the world, but a pity it's missing dozens of pages; otherwise it would be priceless," to give to Lin Shouyi, and a set of Divine Man Dew Armor that could no longer be restored to a pellet state. The prices of both items far exceeded his expectations, nearly equivalent to magical treasures.
Having made his decision, Chen Ping'an no longer hesitated.
Pale-faced, he began practicing his stance and boxing routine.
It wasn't the money that made him pale, but the "Long Breath" temporarily loaned to him for ten years by the old sword immortal. Wispy sword qi constantly seeped into his soul. For a short time, his breathing wouldn't be greatly affected, but after carrying the sword for a long while, he would suffer greatly. It was somewhat similar to Old Man Cui's Divine Man Drum Beat technique, which focused on accumulation.
However, Chen Ping'an found that the Eighteen Standstills breathing technique could help him resist these sword qi that "chilled his heart and bathed his soul" to a greater extent than the breathing method taught by Old Man Yang. Still, it was a bitter ordeal.
But this familiar pain instead gave Chen Ping'an a sense of peace.
The next day, Chen Ping'an went to Lingzhi Studio and bought those two items, exchanging money for goods without any incident.
The only surprise was that after the transaction was completed, Lingzhi Studio gave him an extra small carving of mutton-fat jade, shaped like a white ox holding a lingzhi mushroom in its mouth.
The studio said that day was the birthday of one of their founding patriarchs. On such auspicious days, the studio gave small gifts to guests who had spent enough money. It was the cheapest of the acquired spiritual tools, merely a desk ornament for wealthy households to play with.
Chen Ping'an also noticed that there were noticeably more customers today than yesterday. Some children leaving the studio under the guardianship of elders indeed held small items like white jade lingzhi ruyi scepter-like knickknacks, so he felt reassured.
He returned to the Stork Inn. In the deep of night, during a break from his stance practice, a soft knock came at his door. He turned his head and asked softly, "Who is it?"
A man's voice, speaking in the Sword Qi Great Wall dialect, laughed from outside the door: "The gatekeeper at the Hitching Post. Miss Ning wanted me to deliver a message for you, and also bring you something."
Chen Ping'an hesitated for a moment, then went to open the door, silently stepping back a few paces.
Fortunately, it was indeed that sword-embracing man. His appearance could be disguised, but the unique aura of his sword qi could not be faked.
The man had come this time without holding his sword. Seeing Chen Ping'an's puzzled expression, he smiled and said, "Since my duty is to guard the gate, I had to leave something there. So I came, but my sword is still on the Hitching Post."
The man was straightforward. He tossed a small bundle, slightly larger than a fist, to Chen Ping'an. "Ning girl sent this to you. Besides that, she wants you to wait a little while on Daoxuan Mountain. You have two golden dragon whiskers, right? I can find someone to make a decent Demon Binding Rope for you. If you don't want to wait, I'll save myself a favor."
The man sat down at the table without ceremony, poured himself a cup of tea, and continued, "Also, Ning girl has asked around. That golden dharma robe—the golden long robe—is a high-rank dharma robe, hard for even ordinary terrestrial immortals to obtain. It's called 'Jinli'—Golden Sweet Wine. It's a rare heirloom of a noble from the Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Master Mansion. After breaking with his family, he lived in seclusion and died on a southern island far out at sea. It was found by a rogue cultivator and then forcibly taken by that old dragon in Jiaolong Gully. It will fit you perfectly, since a true dharma robe adjusts to the wearer's size. Bring it out. I'll apply a little minor spell. It's too flashy—all golden and shiny."
Chen Ping'an didn't hesitate this time. He took the golden robe directly from his dimensional storage.
The sword immortal from the Sword Qi Great Wall snapped his fingers and gave a rough explanation.
The illusion technique the man used was similar to the one Wei Bo had applied to Chen Ping'an's Sword-Nurturing Gourd. Cultivators below Earth Immortal wouldn't notice anything unusual. Of course, in a life-and-death battle, if the robe naturally protected Chen Ping'an, no one would be a fool and would certainly pick up on the clues.
When the man left, he took the two golden dragon whiskers.
Chen Ping'an closed the door and carefully opened the small cotton bundle.
Inside was a rectangular piece of Dragon-Slaying Platform, about the size of his palm.
What was crucial was that both sides were engraved with characters: "Innocence" and "Ning Yao."
This could only be a masterpiece created by a great sword immortal—most likely Ning Yao's parents had crafted it with care and given it to her as a gift when she was a child.
And then, when Ning Yao grew up, one day she met a young man she liked, and so she gave it to the boy she loved.