Chapter 385: A Ghost Dwells in the Immortal's Remains

Chapter 385: A Ghost Dwells in the Immortal's Remains

Sui Youbian refused to open the door for Cui Dongshan. Even when Cui Dongshan told her that he could elevate her swordsmanship, sword intent, and even her sword path by three feet, essentially granting her an extra immortal sword embryo out of thin air, Sui Youbian still did not change her mind.

Cui Dongshan rubbed his chin outside the door and changed his approach. He asked Sui Youbian if she wanted to know what the true bearing of a genuine sword immortal of the Haoran World was like.

Sui Youbian remained unmoved. Inside the room, she was using a piece of Dragon-Slaying Platform to hone her Infatuation Sword. This piece of Dragon-Slaying Platform was bought from Chen Ping'an, and by the time it reached her hands, it was only as thick as a palm—what was left over after the flying swords "First Fifteen" and "Middle Fifteen" had "eaten" their fill.

Although the Infatuation Sword was originally a mortal-forged immortal treasure and had the potential to increase in quality, it was ultimately not a lifebound flying sword conceived by a sword cultivator. It still fell into the category of a dead object. So unlike Chen Ping'an's two flying swords, which could be thrown onto the Dragon-Slaying Platform and left unattended, Sui Youbian's refinement of the Infatuation Sword required a great deal of focused effort.

As she honed the sword, sparks flew in all directions, shooting out mysterious five-colored star fire. Sui Youbian only knew that the Dragon-Slaying Platform was reputed to be the most precious whetstone in the world, but she did not yet know the reason behind it. Yet the process of grinding the sword on the Dragon-Slaying Platform greatly benefited her—the subtle and delicate flow of sword qi was like clouds gathering and dispersing, with certain agile patterns coming and going, and a sharp, brilliant luster flashing across the blade.

It seemed that what was being honed, besides the dharma sword Infatuation, was also her sword heart, which was already bright and clear.

Cui Dongshan found it strange. Someone like Sui Youbian, who could be called a sword fanatic devoted to the sword, he had seen dozens, if not hundreds. Their temperament was actually the simplest—to put it nicely, they were sincere in spirit, and to put it bluntly, they were single-minded, unable to take detours, which was euphemistically called the self-cultivation of the sword path. Moreover, seeing how she spent her days nurturing sword qi, what she truly sought was sword intent, not the pursuits of a mere sword master. Sui Youbian clearly intended to transition from a martial artist to a Qi refiner, aiming to join the ranks of the top sword immortals of the Haoran World. And she was a foolhardy woman who believed the world revolved around her. By all logic, she shouldn't be so unyielding.

Having been shut out, Cui Dongshan had no way to deal with her for the moment. If it were Xie Xie, he would have already broken down the door and slapped her, but with Sui Youbian having Chen Ping'an as her protective charm, Cui Dongshan inevitably had his hands tied. Many of his exquisite methods for molding people's hearts couldn't be employed, so he had no choice but to leave.

Actually, he still had one more thing to say, which would surely make Sui Youbian's heart stir, but he wasn't yet willing to reveal his hand.

Returning to his own room and closing the door, Cui Dongshan stomped heavily, summoning the local Earth God. It turned out to be a voluptuous, richly adorned woman, which was quite rare. Cui Dongshan stood by the bed, fell backward onto it, kicked off his boots, and ordered the Earth Goddess, the most lowly of divine positions, to massage his legs. The woman knelt obediently by this immortal master's feet, her movements gentle and extremely submissive.

The cold of winter, the cycle of seasons, birth, aging, sickness, death—all were driven by Qi.

Those who consume Qi live long; this is one of the origins of Qi refiners, touching upon the true foundation of the Great Dao.

The sages have said: Those who eat meat are brave and fierce; those who eat grains are wise and skillful; those who consume Qi are divine and long-lived; those who do not eat do not die and become gods.

The first three are easy to understand, but the last sentence is elliptical and incomplete. Partly it is because "the Dao cannot be spoken," and partly because the taboos here are too great. There are the dead ends of pure martial artists, and the sages of all sides do not wish later generations to trace the origins of the divine path of incense offerings.

However, Cui Dongshan knew the three realms of a Tenth Realm martial artist: Qi Flourishing, Returning to Truth, and Divine Arrival. Currently, the Great Li Prince Song Changjing should only be at Qi Flourishing. Yet Li Er, who had only recently reached the Stopping Realm, had already entered Returning to Truth. This greatly surprised Cui Dongshan when he first heard the news, to the point that he went to teach Yu Lu a lesson—Yu Lu was accompanying the Great Sui Prince Gao Xuan on his aimless wanderings and ended up with a swollen face, not daring to fight back. Yu Lu probably still couldn't figure out why he got that beating. Even less did he understand Cui Dongshan's so-called "Be careful, or one day you'll have toilet paper in hand but no latrine to shit in."

Cui Dongshan was anxious for this underling of his. A nation has its ebb and flow of martial fortune, thick or thin, so how could a continent not? Bottle Gourd Continent was already the smallest continent in the Haoran World. First, Song Changjing reached the Stopping Realm at a young age; then Li Er took a trip to North Juju Continent and quickly surpassed him, now becoming a Tenth Realm martial artist in the Returning to Truth realm. Not to mention the existence of that old man, who was said to have truly changed his temperament and was now living like a carefree hermit in the bamboo tower of the Fallen Mountain Sect.

So if it weren't for the Ninth Realm martial artist Zheng Dafeng suffering a major setback at Old Dragon City, falling from someone with hopes of reaching the Stopping Realm to a cripple, then in the next hundred years, the dead end for pure martial artists on Bottle Gourd Continent might not be the Tenth Realm but would directly drop to the Ninth. Plus, with Chen Ping'an and the four attendants who appeared out of nowhere on Bottle Gourd Continent, you, Yu Lu and Xie Xie, as my servants under Cui Dongshan, should have at least some sense to quickly secure a spot in the Tenth Realm martial artist's "latrine." Otherwise, in the future, you won't even have a place to shit.

Yu Lu. Yu Lu. The remnant of the Lu clan. As the crown prince of the fallen Lu dynasty, what else could he be but a remnant of the Lu clan?

Yu Lu's martial realm had been climbing steadily, and the key was that each step was relatively stable. Besides his excellent innate martial talent, it was more because the Lu emperor, in a fit of madness, had unhesitatingly transferred half the nation's martial fortune onto the crown prince Yu Lu.

Pure martial artists—aren't they just the stones in the sage's latrine, both stinky and hard, and unfit for the grand stage?

Cui Dongshan was very sorrowful. There were too many fools under heaven who simply didn't understand his long-term concerns. In the past, there were Xie Xie and Yu Lu, those little brats; now there were Zhu Lian, Lu Baixiang, and other people around Chen Ping'an.

Xiao Baoping was still good, ah.

It was just that the little red-cotton-padded-jacket girl had a bit of a bad temper.

Cui Dongshan lay on the bed, touched his forehead, then, in a bad mood, kicked the Earth Goddess of this county's landscape away.

The woman crashed against the wall. Even at the lowest level, she was still a deity who could enjoy the incense offerings of the mortal world. She made no sound, quickly stood up silently, trembling with fear, and said, "This maidservant is stupid. I beg the immortal master to calm his anger."

Earlier, this foreign immortal master of unknown origin, at the county's Martial Temple, had first detained her from her crude "residence" underground, then with a wave of his sleeve, dragged the Martial Saint's golden body out of the statue, asked about the matter, and settled the irreconcilable feud that very night. The two incense-offering sages of the Civil and Martial Temples, with this person's help, had their golden bodies restored to purity. Even more baffling was that the family which had produced an immortal disciple was overjoyed from top to bottom, as if they had gained some great advantage.

She had to be afraid.

A young mountain Qi refiner at the Cave Abode realm had nearly turned the county's feng shui upside down. This outsider, whom she estimated to be at least an Earth Immortal, she could not afford to provoke. The two orthodox deities of the Civil and Martial Temples, who had been extremely unbending in life, were now willing to serve as his door gods, standing outside the inn all night to repay a great debt. She was just a lowly Earth God who ate scraps, and a woman at that—how could she dare to show any backbone?

Cui Dongshan sat at the table, on which was a stack of literary books he had bought on the way—mostly works by famous scholars and writers of the Blue Luan Kingdom. He casually opened one, read a few pages, then began to yawn.

He beckoned, "Come, turn the pages for me."

She quickly went over to turn the pages for this handsome "young master." It was a skilled job—she had to carefully follow the immortal master's gaze. Turning too early or too late would surely displease him.

Cui Dongshan read a few more pages, then waved his hand, "You're dismissed."

She didn't dare show any hint of joy. Just as she was about to take her leave, she suddenly remembered something. Weighing the matter, she steeled herself and told Cui Dongshan the whole story of what she had seen earlier.

It was about Chen Ping'an's brief excursion from the inn. He had gone to the Martial Temple, and after leaving, had met a talisman beauty in a secluded alley.

She was, after all, the Earth God; being underground was akin to concealing herself within the local feng shui. Unless one was an Earth Immortal or a mid-five-realm cultivator, it was extremely difficult to detect her presence.

After listening, Cui Dongshan said it was a great merit. With a laugh, he flicked his sleeve, nearly sending this Earth Goddess's soul flying. But at the last moment, he withdrew his hand and helped stabilize her golden body, costing her only seven or eight taels of pure incense essence. Otherwise, the county would have had to replace the Earth God. Even so, seven or eight taels of pure incense essence would take her nearly sixty years to accumulate. Her heart trembled, and she inwardly wept blood, but she still dared not show any anger. She knelt and begged for mercy, weeping, "Immortal master, forgive my sin."

Cui Dongshan pondered for a moment, then smiled radiantly. "Since you have rendered such great merit, I should reward you with an orthodox divine appointment as a landscape deity of the Blue Luan Kingdom. However, your unauthorized spying on my master is a capital crime. Merit is merit, crime is crime. Merit does not offset crime; rewards and punishments must be clear. Originally, you would have been dead, and even if I wanted to improve your divine rank, it wouldn't have fallen to you. As it is now, just go home and wait for good fortune to come knocking."

As for why he spared her at the last moment, Cui Dongshan did not say.

The Earth Goddess, overjoyed, returned underground.

The upheaval in the Colored Garment Kingdom had been one of the many chess pieces in the grand scheme of "theirs" back then.

However, that old lecherous cultivator who liked to collect beautiful ghosts was not a significant piece. Cui Dongshan hadn't spent much thought on him back then. But through countless spy letters that flooded into the Great Li capital like snowflakes, Cui Dongshan had noted a record. It was only twenty-odd characters, a brief mention, and probably not something the Great Li spy who reported it had paid much attention to.

In the past, such trivial matters, used by the Great Li National Teacher to pass the time, would have been sealed away year after year, just like the mountain of secret letters piled up in the Great Li treasury.

Having nothing better to do, Cui Dongshan meticulously analyzed the matter. Since Cui Chan had mastered countless inside secrets of Bottle Gourd Continent, he dared to say he knew more about the female ghost's background and origins than her former master.

Seeking phrases and sentences, the old bookworm; following the vine to find the gourd, the Yin-Yang School.

National Teacher Cui Chan was skilled in both.

Cui Dongshan left his room and knocked on Chen Ping'an's door.

Chen Ping'an opened the door and asked, "Something wrong?"

Cui Dongshan nodded vigorously. "Master, I have a great matter to discuss with you!"

Chen Ping'an glanced at him. Cui Dongshan smiled. "But whether it succeeds or not depends on Master's luck."

Chen Ping'an then closed the door, but Cui Dongshan was quick with his eyes and hands, thrusting his hands out to hold the wooden doors firmly, and pleaded, "Master, allow me to speak slowly! If it's as I suspect, and Master is unwilling to listen, then it would truly be a waste of a heavenly gift—spoiling two good things at once, missing a destined great opportunity. I swear I am not lying!"

Cui Dongshan had thought he would have to wait for another chance, but unexpectedly, Chen Ping'an let him into the room.

Cui Dongshan closed the door, sat down with a grin, poured tea for both Chen Ping'an and himself, then set up a restriction. He summoned the flying sword he had won from a Central Earth sword cultivator through a game of chess. A bolt of swift golden light streaked around the floor in a fast circle, then the flying sword flew back into Cui Dongshan's brow. The suspended golden light on the ground did not disperse; it seemed like golden powder had drawn the mouth of a golden well on the floor.

Cui Dongshan smiled and asked, "The Earth Goddess here has grown bold, not knowing her place. She dared to follow Master on your trip to the Martial Temple and saw some things she shouldn't have. Even worse, she had the audacity to take credit for it in front of me. Doesn't she know the order of Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parent, Teacher…"

Chen Ping'an interrupted directly, "So you killed the Earth Goddess?"

Cui Dongshan laughed heartily. "How could that be? I merely reasoned with her politely, telling her to be careful not to do it again. This Earth Goddess is also a reasonable one; she obviously took it to heart. So I gave her a bit of fortune, counting it as a small good deed."

Chen Ping'an pierced through Cui Dongshan's intention. "If you weren't going to come to see me again, I suspect this Earth Goddess who tried to take credit would have already been struck off the Blue Luan Kingdom's register of landscape deities."

Cui Dongshan chuckled awkwardly. "Master, you misunderstand me too much. I am now, at all times and in all things, trying to be good to others."

Chen Ping'an took a sip of tea. "Then let's get down to business."

Cui Dongshan moistened his throat with tea, carefully choosing his words. "Regarding that set of immortal remains that seemed like a chicken rib—if Master is a bit lucky, perhaps we can have the best of both worlds."

Chen Ping'an's eyes widened. "Cui Dongshan, have you gone mad?! The female ghost in the talisman—let's not even discuss whether her bones are hard enough in the eyes of the Yin-Yang School, or if you've used your weighing method and found her too tough. But a thousand words, ten thousand words—she's a female ghost! A female ghost! And that set of immortal remains is Du Mao's Yang Spirit External Incarnation!"

Cui Dongshan lightly twisted his teacup between his fingers, his expression calm as he stared straight at Chen Ping'an. "Why care about these things? Even if you care, shouldn't it be the female ghost in the talisman who should worry? Why should Master exhaust himself?"

Chen Ping'an was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "That's reasonable."

Cui Dongshan chuckled. "No 'but' this time, right?"

With a thought, a special yellow paper talisman appeared on the table, fluttering slightly. Chen Ping'an used a relatively simple "door-opening" technique of the Talisman School to release the withered-bone beautiful ghost Shi Rou from the talisman paper, which was both her shelter and her prison.

Shi Rou hovered above the table, her colorful robe trailing on the surface. Cui Dongshan looked up.

Shi Rou looked down and saw a handsome young man with a red mole between his eyebrows. Though he said nothing, his eyes clearly conveyed four words to her: Do you want to die?

Although Shi Rou did not know this person's identity or background, and could not even discern his cultivation level, a surge of instinctive fear rose from the depths of her heart. She immediately floated down, turned away, not daring to meet the young man's gaze, and faced Chen Ping'an. But even so, she still felt a prickling sensation on her back. She lowered her eyes, and for the first time, put on a relatively sincere and delicate expression as she said to Chen Ping'an, "This maidservant greets her master."

Cui Dongshan stood up, rubbing his hands and smiling, looking eager to try.

Chen Ping'an nodded at him.

Cui Dongshan reached out and pressed the shoulder of the colorful-clothed female ghost. She recoiled as if struck by lightning, a vast torrent of yin energy pouring out. Her face twisted, her long hair wildly flying. Cui Dongshan paid it no heed. He gently lifted her, raising her a foot off the ground, then increased the pressure on his fingers, lifting her another foot. He then raised her a third time. The female ghost's skeleton instantly loosened, as if all her bones had been removed, like rotten flesh. She was like a marionette suspended in the air by strings; otherwise, she would have collapsed to the ground.

Cui Dongshan released his hand, and the female ghost remained suspended in place, her soul trembling and unsteady. Thread-like wisps of her primal yin energy flowed from her seven orifices, much like a living person bleeding from all seven. Her mouth was wide open as if she were wailing, but no sound came out.

Cui Dongshan walked around her in a circle. Each of the three times he had raised her, there was a specific technique. The first was the fortune-teller's "weighing the bones" method, gauging her backbone. The second was an ancient shaman's "sprout-pulling" technique. The third was even more hidden—an improved "grasping the key link" method, derived from a unique reading technique created by a Confucian sage. It was similar to the "Eight-Sided Sharpening Reading Method," both being means that only a Confucian academy head or higher could wield.

Cui Dongshan had many treasures, but the number of secret arts he mastered was second to none in the entire Haoran World.

He glanced at Chen Ping'an and found the latter's expression unchanged.

He was no longer just the straw-sandal boy of those years.

Cui Dongshan collected his thoughts and flicked a Small Summer Coin at the female ghost's forehead. She fell to the ground, her bony hands supporting her, shoulders heaving, unable even to lift her head. Clearly, she had suffered greatly.

Fortunately, the Small Summer Coin, which had dissolved into pure spiritual energy mid-air, soothed the pain deep in her ghostly soul somewhat.

Chen Ping'an asked, "How is it?"

Cui Dongshan sighed. "Passable. Master's luck… is mediocre."

The two sat facing each other again.

Chen Ping'an said to the staggering female ghost, "I have a set of remains equivalent to an Immortal Realm. Are you willing to inhabit it?"

The female ghost was shocked beyond words. She couldn't believe it. For a moment, she was speechless.

Such immense fortune—how could she, a mere female ghost, yin creature, be worthy of it? Forget Golden Core or Nascent Soul—those so-called earthly immortals in the mundane world—even an immortal's remains were something a Jade Perfection cultivator would drool over! Even a great cultivator of the Immortal Realm would be envious. To painstakingly refine a set of immortal remains to use as armor for an out-of-body yin spirit was both an offensive and defensive boon—a truly advantageous feat.

Although she was a low-level yin creature, otherwise she wouldn't have been trapped by a cultivator who hadn't even reached Earth Immortal, she actually had considerable insight due to certain circumstances.

The female ghost Shi Rou suddenly floated to the door, knelt down, and began to kowtow. She was probably begging both Chen Ping'an and Cui Dongshan together, sobbing, "I beg your mercy! Grant this maidservant a physical body, so I can walk in the yang world openly and honestly! I am willing to serve, for life after life, as a beast of burden…"

Cui Dongshan flew into a rage. From a distance, he slapped the withered-bone female ghost, twisting her head to face only Chen Ping'an. "Why are you kowtowing to me, a little ghost? Don't you know the rules? When you enter a temple to burn incense, you worship the Bodhisattva, the true god! If a living person enters the Civil and Martial Temples, would they kneel and kowtow to the temple priest? I think you, Shi Rou, have been a ghost for six hundred years, and your whole brain has rotted into fireflies!"

The female ghost kowtowed even more frantically, repeating the same plea over and over—begging for mercy, begging to be granted the remains.

Chen Ping'an suddenly asked, "Earlier in that alley, neither I nor she mentioned the name Shi Rou. How did you know it, Cui Dongshan? Was the catastrophe in the Colored Garment Kingdom's Rouge Province a secret scheme between you and Great Li?"

Cui Dongshan's face stiffened. This time, he had truly been carried away by success and appeared to have made a damnable slip. Ah, indeed, playing chess with a lousy player like Lu Baixiang would cause his own skill to plummet. Cui Dongshan quickly stood up, bowed deeply, and defended himself, "It was the handiwork of National Teacher Cui Chan. Master, your keen insight is unmatched—it has nothing to do with your student Cui Dongshan! Not even half a copper coin's worth of connection!"

Such shameless nonsense—Chen Ping'an couldn't even find a major fault with it.

Chen Ping'an was silent for a moment, then said helplessly, "Get up."

Cui Dongshan pretended to wipe the non-existent sweat from his forehead.

But he found Chen Ping'an looking at the female ghost, so Cui Dongshan had to bow again.

The female ghost still refused to get up, kowtowing continuously. This sincerity needed no words.

Chen Ping'an turned to Cui Dongshan and said, "Then she's in your hands. If possible, help her 'open a path' into the immortal remains. If not, don't force it."

Cui Dongshan pounded his chest in assurance. "Master can rest assured. Even if it ultimately fails, I guarantee it will still be a sure-win deal."

Chen Ping'an smiled. "If it succeeds, what compensation do I need to give you?"

Cui Dongshan said in surprise, "Respecting the teacher and upholding the Dao, relieving Master of worries—that is the student's duty. What compensation is needed?"

Chen Ping'an sneered. "Do you believe that yourself?"

Cui Dongshan smiled shyly. "Master, not only are your studies deepening, but you are also well-versed in worldly affairs. Following the master in seeking the Dao, your student…"

Chen Ping'an had to interrupt Cui Dongshan's cringeworthy flattery. "Stop. Let's just speak plainly."

Cui Dongshan thought for a moment, sat back on the bench, took a sip of tea, and tentatively asked, "If the student says he must take all of Master's Gold Essence Coins, and the more the merrier—would Master agree?"

Chen Ping'an nodded.

Cui Dongshan asked, "Master isn't afraid that fortune and misfortune are interdependent? That this female ghost, under my guidance, will successfully usurp the nest, refine the immortal remains, but be tampered with by me, losing loyalty to Master? Master is willing to trust me, Cui Dongshan, with such a big matter?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I don't trust you, Cui Dongshan. I trust the master who gave you another chance."

Cui Dongshan fell silent.

The female ghost Shi Rou listened in confusion.

She had no idea what kind of exchange this teacher and student were having.

Cui Dongshan extended two fingers and picked up the yellow paper talisman. At the same time, the female ghost Shi Rou was pulled into the talisman, which he then tucked into his snow-white sleeve.

Keep in mind, this talisman was already something Chen Ping'an had refined.

The restless female ghost floated in the dark void, feeling even more awestruck by that handsome young god with the mole between his brows.

As for her nominal true master, Chen Ping'an, with whom she had even signed a life-and-death contract, she actually had little fear and even less respect.

As to why.

Because such is the way of the world.

After putting away the talisman, Cui Dongshan said, "Master, can you stay a few more days? At most three days, and there will be a result. Good or bad, we can continue the journey then."

Chen Ping'an nodded. "Okay."

Cui Dongshan looked a bit embarrassed and guilty. He extended a hand toward Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an took out from his dimensional storage the several pouches of Gold Essence Coins that the Great Li dynasty had given as an apology gift.

Really, before he could even warm them in his hands, they were gone. Once the female ghost successfully entered the immortal remains, it would become a terrifying bottomless pit that would swallow up Gold Essence Coins.

Then, from his dimensional items, Chen Ping'an took out Du Mao's Yang Spirit External Incarnation and let Cui Dongshan put it into his own dimensional storage.

At the door, Cui Dongshan stopped and turned to smile. "Master, even though we agreed beforehand, aren't you angry that I'm handling these people like this?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head. "As long as it's not a matter of major right or wrong, you may go ahead and do as you see fit."

Cui Dongshan asked again, "And Pei Qian?"

Chen Ping'an sighed. "All I can tell myself is that it's better to know the mistake early than to have to mend the fold after she commits a great error."

Cui Dongshan seemed to have more to say, and it was definitely not a feigned hesitation. He finally let out a sigh, imitating Chen Ping'an. "Master might do well to read more of the Legalist sages' works in the near future. Measuring the actions of the mountain and secular worlds by Confucian ritual rules and moral standards is too tedious and exhausting. For instance, the Legalist tenets: 'Ruler and subject, high and low, noble and base, all follow the law,' and 'Make no distinction between close and distant, no difference between noble and base; decide all by the law'—these are good remedies for governing the world and can save many unnecessary troubles. Even if Master doesn't wish to practice Legalism, using it to pass the time and supplement Confucian 'dietary supplementation' with Legalist 'medicinal supplementation' shouldn't be a bad thing."

Chen Ping'an smiled. "Alright. Since I'm staying a few days in the county, I'll go find some Legalist classics to read."

Cui Dongshan made a bow. "Master follows what is good as water flows. Your student is ashamed of his inferiority. I am humbled by this lesson."

Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "Why don't you compete with Wei Xian and the others in flattery? I'm sure the four of them would admit defeat."

Cui Dongshan beamed as he closed the door. "Master, another time, why don't I teach you to play chess?"

Chen Ping'an was taken aback. "Let's talk about it later."

Cui Dongshan left, smiling.

The golden flowing circle in the room dissipated.

Back in his own room, Cui Dongshan sat with his eyes closed.

Then, with great solemnity, he took out a painting scroll, made of the same material as the Gold Essence Coins.

When Cui Dongshan unrolled it, the painted surface flowed like the river of time, scenes unfolding one after another, like the truest people and things in the world.

And the person in the painting was Chen Ping'an.

The figures "intercepted" from the river of time in the painting were mostly Chen Ping'an and Song Jixin, neighbors of Mud Vase Alley.

One involved the personal Dao of National Teacher Cui Chan; the other involved the trend of the Great Li state.

This kind of miraculous scroll, which used flowing time as "paper," was called a "Racing Steed Scroll" by mountain immortals and was extremely precious.

Only great cultivators of the Flying Ascension Realm or certain Immortal Realm cultivators who understood ancient secret arts had such divine powers.

Immortal mountain sect leaders with deep foundations and ample wealth secretly protected the reincarnated souls of their sect founders and often had such scrolls, carefully preserved. The flowing scroll, the Racing Steed Scroll, was no mere trivial pastime. It was enormously costly and involved Dao cultivation.

Every word, every movement, every joy, every sorrow, every trial, every tribulation of the observed person, along with the accompanying fluctuations of heart and ripples in the mind lake, were completely recorded on the scroll.

Even the Great Li emperor and Cui Chan's former ally, Song Jixin's birth mother, had never seen this scroll.

Looking at the images of Chen Ping'an and his peer Song Jixin slowly growing from children to youths, Cui Dongshan sank into deep thought. But the matters he was pondering were no longer about the two people on the scroll.

When he had stayed in the town in his current guise, after the final reckoning, after Qi Jingchun had perished in body and Dao, Cui Dongshan had discovered that the flow of time in the Pear Blossom Cave Heaven had been thinned by a layer by some great divine power. This was extremely subtle, imperceptible even to the mortals and Earth Immortal cultivators in the town, and likely even to cultivators at the Immortal Realm.

This meant that someone should possess a "flowing" scroll with a longer time span.

Who it was that acted so against heaven was hard to say. It could be Lu Chen, one of the three Patriarchs of the Daoist School, for the sake of his "senior brother" Li Xisheng, or for the long-browed child, descendant of Heavenly Lord Xie Shi. It could be Ruan Qiong, who succeeded Qi Jingchun as the overseeing sage, for his daughter Ruan Xiu. It could be Old Man Yang of the medicine shop, for the extraordinarily lucky Ma Kuxuan, or for some young figure he had secretly bet on.

Cui Dongshan put away the scroll, carefully hiding it in his dimensional storage.

Then, using his flying sword, he drew a circle to isolate a small world, and only then did he take out the yellow paper talisman, several pouches of Gold Essence Coins, and… that priceless set of immortal remains.

Cui Dongshan rubbed his brow.

Compared to when he had pieced together that broken porcelain boy in the Pear Blossom Cave Heaven, this was no easier, only harder.

Cui Dongshan sighed mournfully. "The student worries for the master, generously opens his purse for the master—it's only natural. Damn it. Twice I've sought a master to study under, and both times I end up as a pathetic moneybag. I, Cui Dongshan, and Cui Chan are truly one and the same person."

---

Chen Ping'an indeed went to a few bookshops in the county and bought back two classics of Legalist doctrine. He burned the midnight oil reading them.

On the evening of the first day, Cui Dongshan, looking haggard, came to Chen Ping'an's room to complain, begged for a pot of osmanthus wine to drink, and shamelessly made off with another pot.

On the second day, Cui Dongshan, ashen-faced, staggered into Chen Ping'an's room. Pei Qian was diligently copying books, her head down. Cui Dongshan told the little girl to scoot over, then slumped onto the table and slept soundly for half an hour before waking up. He saw Chen Ping'an practicing the Heaven-Earth Pile by walking upside down, and Pei Qian practicing the Six-Step Pile. He silently left, not forgetting to take the pot of peach blossom wine on the table.

On the third day, Cui Dongshan said they would set out the day after tomorrow. He was elated. When he came to the door, he brought along Lu Baixiang's Go set. He said it was to relieve boredom, that he would teach the master to play Go. With the master's talent, he was sure to surpass Lu Baixiang within two or three days, and could beat him, Cui Dongshan, to a pulp in five or six days.

Before they formally began playing, Cui Dongshan looked at Chen Ping'an sitting upright across the table, his expression serious, and for a moment, his mind wandered.

Cui Dongshan taught the "small nose" pattern from the "Colored Clouds Manual."

This pattern, however brilliant or unprecedented, however unparalleled in later generations, was still just a single pattern.

But Chen Ping'an stubbornly focused on this one pattern.

As a result, an entire hour was spent explaining the essence of the pattern and its many variations. If it were Lu Baixiang or any of the Great Li Go players-in-waiting being so "dull," they would have been cursed at long ago. But perhaps because of Chen Ping'an's "master" status, Cui Dongshan was remarkably patient. Or perhaps it was that Chen Ping'an, who had given Cui Dongshan so much trouble, had never asked him to teach a subject like this before.

In short, Cui Dongshan taught, Chen Ping'an learned. The crisp sounds of stones being placed, the back-and-forth of questions and answers, rose and fell in a leisurely rhythm.

Late on the fourth night.

When Chen Ping'an opened the door, his hair stood on end, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

There stood a shyly smiling "Du Mao" beside Cui Dongshan, who said timidly, "This maidservant greets her master."