Chapter 302: Parting Ways
On the way back, Chen Ping'an had already returned to his normal state of mind. Flesh and blood were slowly growing on that arm where the white bones were exposed, and one by one, meridians slowly spread like grass vines—extremely mysterious. Chen Ping'an watched carefully, like a scholar engaged in scholarship, but it thoroughly disgusted Lu Tai. He thought that although the Lu clan also kept some secret martial arts grandmasters, at the fourth or fifth realm, they definitely wouldn't have Chen Ping'an's level of composure.
As Chen Ping'an walked, he watched, enduring the pain with great relish. By personally witnessing the growth of those meridians, he gained great benefit in understanding the circulation of qi. Some knots that he previously couldn't figure out suddenly became clear. As they neared Flying Eagle Fort, Chen Ping'an had to put his arm away, lest the townsfolk mistake him for a demonic cultivator. With the dharma robe Golden Nectar protecting him, he could hide this grisly scene within his sleeve while not affecting the process of flesh and bone regrowth on his arm.
The flying sword Awn had already brought back the Five Peaks Crown. Lu Tai weighed it and said it was an ancient dharma treasure of extremely high quality. The depiction of the Five Peaks True Form Diagram on it, in both technique and form, indicated that this crown came from the Central Continent, and had likely later drifted to Tongye Continent, a pearl hidden in the dust. It might even have originally been the lifebound object of a famous mountain deity from the Central Continent.
Chen Ping'an was somewhat interested in this, considering it a way to broaden his knowledge. As to whether Lu Tai would monopolize the Five Peaks Crown or deliberately undervalue it, Chen Ping'an didn't even think about it, because deep down, he didn't believe Lu Tai was that kind of person. Measuring a gentleman's heart with a petty man's mind—the world is complex, and people's hearts are hard to fathom, so such caution is permissible, but not excessive.
The two didn't go straight to the main building of Flying Eagle Fort. They first quietly returned to the martial training ground and put away the dharma sword "Foolish Heart," which Dou Zizhi had purchased at great expense from the Fuji Sect. After absorbing the blood essence and spiritual qi of a Dragon Gate realm peak cultivator, the longsword's blade grew even clearer and snow-like, its patterns flowing like autumn waters, increasingly lively and spirited, with radiant brilliance. Even Lu Tai, who held himself above others, couldn't help but take the sword and examine it again, clicking his tongue in wonder, saying that the old fiend's words were a mix of truth and falsehood, but regarding realm, it should be credible. Before his fall, his peak in life had most likely truly touched the threshold of the Nascent Soul realm. Such a level of Golden Core cultivator was considered decent even in the Central Continent, enough to hold one's head high while climbing the mountain.
Thus, this Foolish Heart—or "Heart Eater" might be more accurate—had obtained a tremendous stroke of fortune.
To the point that Lu Tai advised Chen Ping'an not to sell Foolish Heart. In the future, if he encountered evil cultivators or demonic beings, he could just pierce their hearts with a single thrust, accumulating yin virtue for himself while improving the quality of his sword. Killing two birds with one stone—why not do it?
Seeing Chen Ping'an hesitate, Lu Tai, for the first time, scolded him, saying: "A cultivator doesn't need to care about good and evil? That's nonsense and rubbish. But since when do worldly implements and dharma treasures have a distinction between righteous and evil? Using an evil tool to do righteous deeds—what's wrong with that?"
Lu Tai grew angrier as he spoke, almost wanting to point a finger at Chen Ping'an's nose and curse: "You can stare wide-eyed at your own flesh and bone growing back, so why can't you get past this little hurdle? Chen Ping'an! If you still have this stubborn mindset, you might as well not cultivate the Bridge of Longevity. I advise you to focus on becoming a pure martial artist and stop dreaming of being a great sword immortal. With a nature like yours, even if you later obtain the Bridge of Longevity and become a qi refiner, the inner demon you face when breaking through to the upper five realms might be bigger than the sky! Don't you know? Every qi refiner who reaches the Nascent Soul realm has an extraordinary ambition to contend with heaven and earth, and their magical techniques, perseverance, and resilience are already remarkable. But why is the upper five realms so difficult? It's because this critical bottleneck—the danger lies not in what people mistakenly think are heavenly tribulations. Those are just superficial. The true enemy is your own heart. The higher your Dao heart and the firmer your nature, the taller your inner demon's dharma form can be—up to a thousand feet—and indestructible like the golden body of ancient gods. How will you break through then..."
Chen Ping'an didn't refute anything. He just pointed at Lu Tai's nose and quietly reminded him: "Here it comes again."
Lu Tai stopped speaking and vigorously wiped his nosebleed.
This matter wasn't about the general trends of the world, but solely about Chen Ping'an's personal Dao path. The heavenly backlash that Lu Tai, as a member of the Yin-Yang School Lu clan, suffered was much smaller than the previous time.
Chen Ping'an suddenly said: "Someone's coming from outside."
Lu Tai glanced at Chen Ping'an. Such keen spiritual perception was probably not inferior to a sixth-realm martial artist at all. Was he really just a fourth-realm martial artist?
He became even more curious about the person who had taught Chen Ping'an his fist techniques.
Four people cautiously entered the martial training ground. It was the old Daoist and his disciple Huang Shang, along with the siblings Huan Chang and Huan Shu. They hadn't gone to the main building because the scruffy old man had suggested it. From a high spot in the northern mountains, they had accidentally spotted Chen Ping'an and Lu Tai returning to Flying Eagle Fort, so the old man decided to meet them here first to inquire about the fiend's movements before heading to the main building together. That was clearly safer.
The old man made a Daoist salutation and introduced himself: "I am Ma Feifu, a mountain-dwelling Daoist at Mandarin Duck Mountain. I am honored to meet Immortal Master Lu and Immortal Master Chen."
Previously, when Chen Ping'an and Lu Tai entered Flying Eagle Fort as guests, they had only given their names.
Lu Tai casually reached out, and a bamboo fan appeared in his hand. He waved it gently. "I come from the Central Continent."
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment. "I'm from the Great Li Dynasty of Vase Bottle Continent."
The old Daoist cautiously asked: "Do the two immortal masters know the whereabouts of that fiend?"
Lu Tai closed his bamboo fan, the tip pointing at the old Daoist. Just as everyone was puzzled, the Five Peaks Crown appeared on top of the folded fan. Lu Tai flicked his wrist, making the crown bob up and down, and smiled: "He's already dead. We made a small gain."
When the high-crowned old man had descended on his cloud seat, he had moved the Five Peaks to suppress the training ground. The old Daoist had caught a glimpse at that time, his heart trembling, and he remembered the Five Peaks Crown vividly. Now seeing the ancient crown resting on the bamboo fan, his mind was in turmoil. He couldn't believe that two young men could successfully kill a Golden Core earth immortal, but he desperately hoped that the handsome young master's words were true.
Mountain Daoist Ma Feifu was an old hand who had weathered many storms. Despite his doubts, his face showed gratitude and reverence. He made another solemn salutation. "The two immortal masters were merely passing through, encountered a fiend causing havoc, and still chose to act righteously, saving several hundred lives in Flying Eagle Fort from fire and water. Your merit is boundless. I, on behalf of Flying Eagle Fort, thank the two immortal masters for your great kindness!"
The siblings Huan Chang and Huan Shu, tears welling in their eyes, quickly cupped their hands and bowed deeply, saying respectively to the two foreign gentlemen: "Great kindness need not be spoken of in words. If the two immortal masters do not despise my dullness, Huan Chang is willing to be your servant, to go through fire and water without hesitation!"
"Huan Shu thanks Master Lu and Immortal Master Chen. This humble woman truly doesn't know how to express the gratitude in her heart..."
The young Daoist Huang Shang stood at the back with a complicated expression.
A thought flashed through his mind.
If he could become a disciple of these two, would his path of cultivation become smoother, instead of the current mediocrity that left him in life-and-death danger whenever he encountered demonic beings?
Huang Shang glanced at his master's back. This young Daoist, whose cultivation path had been rough, silently lowered his head, feeling a sense of guilt that he was more ungrateful than the demons and heretics.
But this thought, once rooted, could not be shaken off, and only grew stronger, like a blazing fire, burning his heart hot and making his eyes red.
The mountain Daoist's suspicion and relief, along with his mental exhaustion after the battle.
Huan Chang, after this calamity, wanted to change his course, to strive hard, switching from martial arts to cultivation.
Huan Shu's two forms of address carried a different charm.
And the young Daoist's inner thoughts.
Lu Tai's lips curled slightly. He had already seen everything clearly.
As a member of the Yin-Yang School, dissecting people's hearts and seeing through their minds was his specialty.
Chen Ping'an didn't have deep insights into these things. He only vaguely remembered those subtle expressions and gazes, but the underlying principles weren't yet understood.
The bits and pieces of life aren't truly like the words in books.
The group headed to the main building of Flying Eagle Fort. Although Lu Tai had said everything was settled there and there were no casualties, Huan Chang and Huan Shu were still trembling with fear, afraid that when they opened the door, they would see rivers of blood. When they reached the main building, they found the door tightly shut. Huan Chang knocked hard, and after a long while, an old man from the Huan clan opened it. Seeing the unharmed siblings, he burst into tears on the spot, startling Huan Chang, who thought his parents had fallen victim to the whisk-wielder. After some explanation, they learned that Immortal Master Lu had long ago used his divine abilities to strike down that impostor who had pretended to be a Taiping Mountain cultivator.
For a moment, everyone in the hall felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Huan Chang and Huan Shu didn't notice that their parents weren't in the hall, and when they asked about it, everyone's eyes shifted uneasily.
Lu Tai couldn't be bothered with the domestic affairs of others. He simply led Chen Ping'an up to the rooftop terrace.
Fort Lord Huan Yang was no longer in this "Upper Sun Terrace," as it was oddly named.
Lu Tai sat on the railing. Chen Ping'an followed suit, took off his Sword-Nurturing Gourd, and drank the strong liquor, tilting his head back and exhaling a turbid breath reeking of alcohol.
Lu Tai swung his feet, slowly fanning himself, the hair at his temples fluttering.
It was time to divide the spoils, a familiar routine.
"In the previous battle with Ma Wanfa and Dou Zizhi, plus today's desperate fight, our luck has been pretty good. We've made quite a haul. If it were just me alone before, I might not have gotten such a windfall. You know, within my clan, I'm known as the 'Treasure-Gathering Immortal.'"
Chen Ping'an smiled, suddenly thinking of that female Daoist from the Shengao Sect, who was said to be "blessed with deep fortune, unmatched across a continent."
"That dharma sword Foolish Heart of Dou Zizhi goes to you. The Five Peaks Crown goes to me—no, not 'goes to me,' I'll buy it from you. Besides refining and repairing the Demon Binding Rope for you, I can also fix that damaged armor core you mentioned, the one you bought at the Lingzhi Studio on Inverted Mountain. You've been complaining that storing the disassembled armor pieces in fifteen pouches takes up too much space, right? I can restore it to new condition for free, turning it into a single military armor core. Don't ask me how—a mountain dweller has his own clever tricks!"
Lu Tai's smile was radiant. "So you might need to stay in Flying Eagle Fort for a while. It won't be too long. You can heal here and then go look for that Daoist temple."
Chen Ping'an smiled and nodded. With a rich man like Lu Tai, he wouldn't hold back.
Lu Tai said slowly: "For a top-grade dharma treasure like the Five Peaks Crown, I need to give you twenty thousand Snowflake Coins, which converts to twenty Grain Rain Coins. In the hunt for Ma Wanfa and the killing of the whisk-wielder in the main building, I also gained something. Roughly calculating, I should pay you another twenty thousand Snowflake Coins, also twenty Grain Rain Coins. The whisk handle engraved with the characters 'No Worries' is pretty good—you can take it as a little bonus."
Chen Ping'an was shocked. "That many Grain Rain Coins?!"
Lu Tai always looked into the distance, smiling. "I do have some immortal money from the mountains. Even ordinary Nascent Soul earth immortals in the Central Continent wouldn't dare compare their wealth to mine."
Chen Ping'an just slapped him directly. "Then back on Inverted Mountain, why were you crying poor? Lu Tai, you're something else, quite the actor, huh?"
Lu Tai looked a bit guilty and said sheepishly: "I was afraid you might not be tempted by beauty, but you might be tempted by wealth."
"Tempted by your beauty and wealth!" Chen Ping'an slapped him again, making Lu Tai furious. "Chen Ping'an, watch it, or I'll turn on you!"
Chen Ping'an chuckled and slapped him again.
Lu Tai's eyes flickered as he was about to unleash his killer move, but Chen Ping'an made a "stop" gesture, took a sip of liquor, and said: "Go on."
Lu Tai flipped his hand, and a beautifully embroidered pouch appeared. He handed it to Chen Ping'an.
Chen Ping'an frowned. "What for?"
Lu Tai smiled. "A little trinket. For you. Open it—you'll definitely like it. It's a bag of elm seed coins with a special origin. When you get back home, plant them on a mountain with good feng shui, preferably facing the sun. In three to five years, you might have a pleasant surprise."
Chen Ping'an took the pouch but still said: "Explain clearly, or I'll give it back."
So Lu Tai roughly explained, and Chen Ping'an couldn't stop grinning as he listened. He quickly put it away, not mentioning returning it at all, as if it were never said.
It turned out that these elm seeds were quite magical and, most importantly, suited Chen Ping'an's tastes. They were precious seeds from an ancient immortal elm tree in the Central Continent. Because they were round and flat like coins, they were named "elm coins."
They were homophonous with "surplus money."
Thus, among common folk, there was a saying that eating elm coins would bring "surplus money," which most people dismissed as folklore. Actually, they just didn't know the proper method. One only needed to find the golden essences hiding in the elm coins, soak them in a wine jar until drunk, then take them out and eat them raw. This would increase one's copper coin income by a certain amount each year. Well-off families, at the beginning of spring, would hold an "elm coin feast" to seek good fortune and abundant wealth in the new year.
This kind of steady, long-term income was exactly what Chen Ping'an liked.
Deep down, Chen Ping'an always believed that a sudden windfall was easy to come and go. It either required great perseverance and hard work to hold onto, or it would slip away. But something like elm coins—not too flashy, with steady benefits—gave Chen Ping'an peace of mind.
Having gotten the benefit, Chen Ping'an started to act smug. He smiled and asked: "Isn't this too precious?"
Lu Tai kept opening and closing his bamboo fan with his thumb and forefinger, sighing with emotion: "Chen Ping'an, this trip to Upper Sun Terrace—I'm seeking the Dao. Those two words, 'Great Dao,' do you know how heavy they are? I don't even know how to convert that into money. But since we're friends, how about forgetting the cost? Otherwise, no matter how rich I am, even if I bankrupt myself, I still can't afford to pay this price. What do you say?"
Chen Ping'an handed over his Sword-Nurturing Gourd, nodded, and smiled: "What else can I say? Done!"
Lu Tai took the gourd, raised it high, and tipped his head back to drink the liquor, holding the gourd a few inches away from his face. He drank very heroically.
He wiped his mouth and handed the "Ginger Gourd" back to Chen Ping'an. "Time to refill. I'll have them fill it up for you at Flying Eagle Fort."
Chen Ping'an certainly wouldn't refuse such a good thing.
Lu Tai suddenly said helplessly: "Why does everyone like drinking? What's so good about alcohol?"
Chen Ping'an smiled but said nothing, just drinking.
When he drank, he dared to think what he didn't dare, say what he didn't dare, and do what he didn't dare.
For the next ten days, Chen Ping'an still lived in that small residence, but there were no more disturbances from ghosts or spirits.
Occasionally, Chen Ping'an would sit on the steps at the entrance of the courtyard, looking at the wall at the end of the alley, thinking of those pitiful ghost children, and the smiles they showed in their final moments.
Lu Tai stayed at the main building and occasionally came to sit in this courtyard, but never for long; he would soon go back to his busy affairs.
After ten days, Lu Tai brought back a military armor core that had been restored to new condition. Chen Ping'an was deeply enamored with it, and his arm had recovered, though it still couldn't exert much strength.
In addition to this armor core from Lingzhi Studio on Inverted Mountain, Lu Tai also brought a narrow-blade knife with a snow-white sheath for Chen Ping'an, saying it was a reward from the Huan family of Flying Eagle Fort. If he didn't accept it, the Huans would be uneasy.
This time, Lu Tai took a break from his busy schedule. He didn't leave in a hurry. He brewed a pot of tea for himself in the courtyard and briefly explained the origin of the narrow-blade knife. Back then, that Nascent Soul earth immortal from Taiping Mountain, in order to suppress the overly gloomy feng shui here, had gifted a personal blade to the woodcutter ancestor of Flying Eagle Fort. It was named Snowfall Stop. In later generations, none of the Huan descendants had any aptitude for cultivation. It had been passed down through the generations, always just used as an ornament, a waste of a treasure.
Chen Ping'an understood the preciousness of this narrow-blade knife. It was most likely a beloved item of that Taiping Mountain land immortal. Lu Tai thought for a moment and decided not to be a free-spending philanthropist. He valued the knife at twenty Grain Rain Coins and then handed Chen Ping'an a pouch containing exactly twenty remaining Grain Rain Coins.
In the next ten days, Chen Ping'an's daily routine consisted of walking the stake, practicing his sword, and sleeping. He no longer looked at that wall. After all, meetings and departures were brief. Even matters of life and death would eventually be let go, like a cup of wine in a tavern—no matter how good the taste, could it really keep a man drunk for days?
During these ten days, Lu Tai came only once, saying he had taken on three disciples.
Tao Xieyang, a youth named Huan Yin, and a young Daoist who had switched allegiances, Huang Shang.
As for the reasons, Lu Tai didn't want to say much, only uttering the six words: "Without knowing evil, one cannot know good." It was an old tune, one Lu Tai had brought up before on the Treasure-Swallowing Whale.
Before leaving, Lu Tai said he might really stay here for a long time and wouldn't return to the Central Continent anytime soon.
When Lu Tai brought the Demon Binding Rope for the last time, Chen Ping'an had also recovered enough.
Parting was imminent.
Neither felt particularly sad.
One harbored dreams, the other was at the beginning of his Great Dao. There was no reason to be overly sentimental.
And so, they parted cleanly. One stayed behind in the foreign land of Flying Eagle Fort, the other carried his sword and headed north.
Lu Tai didn't even see him off. He just stood on that Upper Sun Terrace, watching from afar as Chen Ping'an, in his white robe, slowly departed.
He had previously urged Chen Ping'an to hang the longsword Foolish Heart and the narrow-blade Snowfall Stop on his waist—it would certainly give him an air of a wandering hero. Unfortunately, Chen Ping'an didn't fall for it, saying, "I'm not running a weapons shop."
Lu Tai felt a bit regretful.
If Chen Ping'an had actually done it, Lu Tai could have openly laughed at him, calling him an idiot.
Stepping out the main gate and walking down the main road, Chen Ping'an couldn't help but glance back at Flying Eagle Fort. But it wasn't to look at Lu Tai. He remembered something he found a bit strange, but in the end, he shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
On his way out of Flying Eagle Fort, he passed a middle-aged man on the street. Although Chen Ping'an was sure he had never seen him before, he felt as if he had seen him somewhere.
The simple-looking man also noticed Chen Ping'an's gaze, grinned sheepishly, and looked every bit an ordinary town fellow.
After Chen Ping'an had left Flying Eagle Fort far behind, the unremarkable man, who had been wandering around, lightly stamped his foot. Across thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, the forbidden spells ceased to exist.
Otherwise, the enormous commotion from the previous battle in the cloud sea would not have gone unnoticed by the Fuji Sect.
Lu Tai leaned on the railing, squinting as he watched the shifting of mountain and river qi, full of mysteries. Worthy of his Dao-teaching master—still quite a bit stronger than his other teaching master.
At a mountaintop a hundred miles away, during a break from walking the stake, Chen Ping'an inexplicably found himself missing the taste of sugar-coated hawthorns for the first time. He found this a bit amusing. Thinking that he was now quite wealthy, he decided that when he reached the next market town, he would find a hawthorn vendor and buy two skewers—one in each hand!