Chapter 386: Another Year of Spring
Chen Ping'an went through a fierce internal struggle before allowing Cui Dongshan and Shi Rou, who were dwelling in that Yang Divine avatar, to enter the house.
Cui Dongshan still used that golden flying sword to draw a large circle. Chen Ping'an couldn't help but ask what kind of sorcery or divine ability this was. Cui Dongshan laughed and said it was a technique of the ancient godly beings, drawing a boundary to imprison—it could serve as a sanctuary or a prison, trapping others so they could neither enter nor leave. Hence, there was a saying about a "thunder pool." Later generations improved upon and evolved this into dozens of immortal arts, most of which deviated from the true path and were not worth mentioning.
After sitting down, they mentioned Shi Rou. Cui Dongshan spoke with great enthusiasm, praising Shi Rou's innate bone structure profusely. He said that aside from spending two bags of gold essence copper coins, this mountain-opening endeavor had been smooth sailing. This glazed golden body, stripped from a Flying Ascension realm great cultivator, had actually been successfully turned into a blessed grotto-heaven for Shi Rou's yin soul through her immense perseverance and great fortune. Although there was still some mutual rejection between Du Mao's physical shell and Shi Rou's soul, it was now just a matter of spending time and silver on some tedious work—no major obstacle remained.
After sharing this tremendous good news, Cui Dongshan began to pick out flaws. "Opening the door and turning guest into host is only the first barrier. Shi Rou's innate bone structure is exceptionally blessed. If someone with discerning eyes had recognized it earlier and been willing to spend money, helping her plan for a top-tier Five Mountains orthodox god in our Bottle Gourd Continent would have been no problem. Her foundation is good, so she was able to gain such a big advantage. But just because her bone structure is excellent doesn't mean her cultivation aptitude is superior. In fact, Shi Rou, as a lonely ghost surviving for hundreds of years, didn't manage to cultivate anything remarkable or become a ghost king. Besides her former master being unreliable, her own cultivation talent is honestly not outstanding. So Shi Rou's bottleneck is quite fatal; she is destined to be unable to break through the limitations of this glazed golden body, to take another step forward on a hundred-foot pole and truly attain great freedom."
Chen Ping'an took out a pot of osmanthus wine. After receiving it, Cui Dongshan tilted his head back and took a big gulp, then wiped his mouth. "But it's good to enter a gold mountain. Even if it's a pitiful little ghost moving treasure, no matter how little it moves each time, after decades or centuries of tireless effort, it can eventually amass enough to become a wealthy man. From then on, Shi Rou only needs to use clumsy methods to gnaw on hard bones—no major cultivation barriers remain. This is the most enviable aspect of an immortal's abandoned shell. Straight path to the Upper Five Realms, no need to condense a golden core, no need to nurture a nascent soul, no need to even pay attention to heavenly demons. Who wouldn't be jealous?"
Cui Dongshan grinned. "Of course, with the Master's tough mind, he wouldn't be jealous. As for me, your student, I already have a gem before me, so I don't need to be jealous. In the end, I'm still not as good as the Master."
Chen Ping'an reminded him, "No matter how much gold essence copper coins Shi Rou accumulates, I will keep six gold essence copper coins in my hands. Don't you dare try to get your hands on that money."
Cui Dongshan said solemnly, "With a kind-hearted Master like you, being the master of those four ants in the Lotus Flower Grotto-Heaven is a blessing they've cultivated over several lifetimes. If they don't cherish this blessing, they deserve to be struck by lightning. Master, rest assured. I do know some of the Dragon Tiger Mountain's Five Thunder Orthodox Magic. I might even be more proficient than some of the Purple-Gold nobles of the Heavenly Master Mansion. When the Master gives the order, I will act on behalf of heaven."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I still hope to have a good beginning and end with those four."
Cui Dongshan asked softly, "Master, why didn't you ask how to firmly control Shi Rou after sixty years?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "If I don't ask, won't you tell me? Just in terms of business and planning, I'm far inferior to you. I trust you, and I trust even more that you won't act sneakily outside the Great Path. That would be too much of an insult to you, Cui Dongshan."
Cui Dongshan said with tears of gratitude, "I never imagined that in the Master's eyes, I am already such an understanding person. If the Master is willing to trust me, how dare I not devote myself to the utmost?!"
Chen Ping'an looked at the withered bone beauty ghost who was about to walk the world in Du Mao's image, and asked, "No regrets?"
Shi Rou smiled. "Master doesn't know the various sufferings a yin soul endures. Hearing the sound of spring thunder, the morning bell and evening drum, the righteous wind and strong gale between heaven and earth, the autumn's killing aura, the martial spirit of the battlefield, the various mountain and river shrines and city god temples—all these are ordeals for us wild ghosts. And it's very easy to lose the last bit of spiritual wisdom, turning into a vengeful ghost that only knows slaughter..."
Shi Rou elaborated, speaking many rules and inside stories about the existence of yin entities.
Chen Ping'an listened carefully, which somewhat alleviated his discomfort in facing "Du Mao."
Cui Dongshan wore a faint smile throughout, accompanying Chen Ping'an in listening to Shi Rou's explanation.
The matter of inhabiting Du Mao's glazed golden body was largely settled.
Cui Dongshan only said that he would need another day of rest tomorrow, and Chen Ping'an agreed.
The room felt somewhat like a celebration banquet, but there were only the three of them, with just a pot of osmanthus wine.
Finally, Cui Dongshan stood up to take his leave. Chen Ping'an saw them to the door of the room. After closing the door, the white-clad boy and the white-haired old man walked one after the other along the corridor.
Although Cui Dongshan's face was full of joy, Shi Rou, for some reason, felt increasingly frightened with each step. When they entered Cui Dongshan's room, sure enough, he grabbed "Du Mao's" head, his fingers like hooks, and pressed Shi Rou against the wall. With a fierce expression, he said, "A mere yin thing, even less than an ant, yet you dare to boast in front of my Master?! Who gave you the dog's courage?!"
This glazed golden body, equivalent to an immortal's physique and no less than a Ninth Realm martial artist's robust body, should have made Cui Dongshan's grab—now only at Earth Immortal realm—feel like a tickle to Shi Rou. But Cui Dongshan had obviously used some secret divine ability. Shi Rou's soul was agitated, as if five strong winds were blowing at the very root of her soul. The pain twisted her weathered face, and tears flowed endlessly.
Cui Dongshan raised his other hand, flicked his finger against Shi Rou's forehead, like a great bell tolling in her heart.
After releasing his fingers, Shi Rou collapsed to the ground, trembling all over, drenched in sweat.
Cui Dongshan stepped on her forehead, forcing the back of her head to hit the wall with a thud. He bent down, looking at her from above, and sneered, "Talent unworthy of virtue, virtue unworthy of status. You have both. Do you believe that I will now pull your soul out of this abandoned shell and let it suffer the washing of the righteous wind and the bathing of the sweet rain day and night? Or perhaps I'll simply use the abandoned shell as a lantern with your soul as the wick, making you completely unaware, then suddenly die sixty years later?!"
Cui Dongshan increased the pressure with his foot, and cracks slowly appeared in the wall behind Shi Rou's head.
Cui Dongshan's eyes were icy. "What, just because there's an extra bird in your crotch, you've forgotten yourself?"
Shi Rou's expression suddenly changed. Her eyes became indifferent. Even while enduring great humiliation and soul pain, she raised her head and met the gaze of the white-clad immortal master for the first time.
Cui Dongshan found it extremely interesting and smiled. "You, the remnant of a fallen kingdom six hundred years ago, the dead embers of a certain branch of the Daoist lineage. You've endured so many years of hardship, and this is all the patience you've accumulated? You dare to compete with me in the game of chess? Asking the Dao of others, answered with a song: 'Form like withered bones, heart like dead ashes.' How about that? I've caught your root, haven't I? Or else I'll use that Dao-seeking person's unique secret method from the founding master of your lineage to completely erase the remaining spiritual light of that Dao vein?"
Shi Rou's face was full of disbelief, and she finally showed immense terror—a fear greater than life and death.
She had once hummed a poem on a stone tablet in the Colorful Garment Country's city god temple, which Chen Ping'an had mistaken for an ancient folk song of Colorful Garment Country. She had thought that these centuries-old matters, with all traces destroyed by various forces in Bottle Gourd Continent, would be unknown to anyone. Even if someone happened to read fragments of these poems in miscellaneous books, how could they accurately deduce her true identity? And instantly grasp her real weak point?
Cui Dongshan extended two fingers, and the golden flying sword that emerged from between his brows spun around them, finally tracing a long-lost golden talisman that seemed to bloom like a solemn golden lotus at his fingertip.
Shi Rou wanted to beg for mercy, but found that no matter how she struggled, she couldn't make a sound. She could only watch helplessly as that person's finger kept approaching her brow.
Shi Rou closed her eyes, her lips moving slightly, silently reciting the opening song of the Daoist branch she had once belonged to.
Accepting her fate, Shi Rou slowly opened her eyes and found that the man had already withdrawn his hand, looking at her with a pitying gaze.
Cui Dongshan straightened up, rubbed the sole of his shoe on "Du Mao's" face, as if stepping in mud had dirtied his shoe and needed cleaning.
He glanced at Shi Rou, who had narrowly escaped death. "Don't let it happen again."
Shi Rou nodded gently.
Cui Dongshan had only taken a few steps when he suddenly turned around and kicked Shi Rou's head hard, driving half of it into the wall. He said angrily, "I spare your life, and you don't even thank me?"
Shi Rou pulled her head out of the wall, knelt silently, and kowtowed three times to Cui Dongshan.
Cui Dongshan sat at the table, said impatiently, "I won't accompany the Master all the way. After I leave, remember not to waste this body that can take the most beatings. If my Master gets hurt while you haven't done your utmost, no matter how serious, I'll pluck that seed of Dao from your soul's depths and plant it on a monk."
Shi Rou slowly raised her head, her face full of sorrow, looking at this immortal master who looked like a god but had a meticulous and vicious mind. She murmured, "How can there be such a terrifying person in this world?"
Cui Dongshan snorted. "This isn't something the Master taught me. I learned it myself."
Shi Rou stood up, only daring to lean against the wall.
Cui Dongshan slammed the table. "Get out of here and go to your own room! Are you asking for death by standing here? Do you believe I'll chop off that thing in your crotch and make you eat it?"
Filled with grief and indignation, Shi Rou lowered her head and quickly left this room that felt like a hell on earth.
Cui Dongshan opened the books written by scholars of the Azure Luan Kingdom on the table. The more he read, the angrier he got. He slammed the book shut, cursing, "Bullshit 'Three days without reading, and your words become tasteless, your face hateful.' Reading this stuff makes me feel like someone smeared a big pile of shit on my face, and it's even runny shit."
Cui Dongshan couldn't sleep, so out of boredom, he quietly left the inn and wandered around the county town.
By chance, he saw a poor, low-level wild cultivator of the Lower Five Realms using a petty ghost money-stealing technique, directing a dozen or so clever little spirits to steal money from the savings of a common household. Like ants moving things, they worked in twos and threes to carry copper coins and bits of silver. The cultivator crouched by a wall, weighing two or three of the most valuable pieces of silver in his hand, grinning from ear to ear.
Small gains add up; he didn't despise the little.
But when he turned around and saw a white-clad boy squatting beside him, as if keeping him company under the moonlight, the wild cultivator trembled in fear.
Cui Dongshan said with a smile, "You can bring yourself to do this? Why not steal from the rich families?"
The wild cultivator swallowed his saliva and said timidly, "It's just that those rich families' door gods are too hard to deal with. They'd kill my hard-raised money-moving ghosts for nothing—a losing business."
Cui Dongshan nodded. "True enough."
The wild cultivator's eyes darted around, thinking about running away. Should he kill this strange boy to silence him? For a few taels of silver, was it worth it? Besides, who knew who would kill whom?
Cui Dongshan extended two fingers, picked up a thumb-sized money-stealing ghost, placed it on his palm, and rubbed his hands together, kneading it carelessly. The wild cultivator's eyes twitched—well, there went one of his generals. How could it survive being rolled and squeezed like that? The money-stealing ghosts he raised were of very low quality; otherwise, they wouldn't have trouble even getting past the door gods of moderately well-off families.
As the wild cultivator grieved, Cui Dongshan opened his hands. The grimacing money-stealing ghost now seemed to be wearing an extra red garment. He dropped it to the ground and commanded, "Go, steal a piece of gold from a wealthy family."
The little fellow clenched its fists, puffed out its cheeks, and ran off energetically.
After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, it actually came back carrying a fingernail-sized piece of gold.
The wild cultivator stared in amazement. Coming to his senses, he quickly clasped his fists. "Immortal master, your divine powers are vast and truly eye-opening."
Cui Dongshan stood up, flashed away, and disappeared, leaving behind an ecstatic wild cultivator.
He went to the county's civil and military temples, couldn't stand their extreme reverence, talked some nonsense, and soon left.
Still terribly bored, Cui Dongshan casually used a technique akin to "dotting the eyes" on a family's painted door gods, giving them the ability to condense a nascent golden body. It was still a far cry from a true deity, just enough to scare off the most useless yin things and deflect more baleful aura. He also went to the second-wealthiest family in the county, twisted off the ridge beast statues on their eaves one by one, and threw them away.
Aimless, doing as he pleased.
An Earth Immortal being this bored was probably unique to Cui Dongshan.
That night, after Cui Dongshan left with Shi Rou, Chen Ping'an finished practicing the Heaven and Earth Stance and walked out of his room. He gently knocked on the door next door and said with a laugh, "It's so late, why aren't you sleeping?"
Pei Qian was reading a newly acquired martial arts novel by lamplight. When she heard the knock, she quickly blew out the oil lamp and threw herself onto the bed, pretending to have just been woken up. "I was sleeping. Why isn't Master asleep yet? Do you need me to open the door?"
Chen Ping'an smiled, not bothering to expose her lie, and reminded her, "No need to open the door. You can read books any time. Don't hurt your eyes. We don't need to travel tomorrow, so you can read during the day."
He turned to leave, but suddenly remembered something and said at the door, "After I leave, don't read with an oil lamp hidden under the covers."
Inside the room, Pei Qian's mouth fell open. Master was really something—he could even guess that?
She had to agree. "Got it."
After Chen Ping'an left, though she still yearned for the martial world's grudges and swordplay in the novel, Pei Qian resisted temptation and started to sleep. But she lay with her eyes wide open, unable to fall asleep. Drowsy, it took a long time before she finally drifted off.
The next day, after breakfast, in Chen Ping'an's room, Cui Dongshan was teaching him to play Go, once again going over and over the small diagonal move.
First, Lu Baixiang watched from the sidelines, soon captivated. Eventually, in a break, he hurried away and called Sui Youbian to come watch the game, saying it was wonderfully subtle. Sui Youbian had once been defeated badly in a game by Lu Baixiang using the small diagonal opening. She refused to believe it and let him use that pattern three games in a row, only to lose the initiative and be thoroughly crushed. She even broke her usual style by making a series of unreasonable moves but still couldn't turn the tide. So when Lu Baixiang said his earlier understanding of that world-famous small diagonal was only three or four tenths of its essence, Sui Youbian became interested and came to see how Cui Dongshan taught and how Chen Ping'an learned.
Soon, Zhu Lian also came to join the fun, and Wei Xian was the last to enter the room.
But Sui Youbian quickly lost interest in watching the game. Chen Ping'an's Go talent was too mediocre. No matter how masterfully Cui Dongshan taught, with Chen Ping'an being so slow to catch on, it was inevitably frustrating and boring for Sui Youbian, who had already made decent progress in Go. So she silently left. During this time, Sui Youbian couldn't help but glance a few times at the old man standing behind Cui Dongshan. He looked awkward no matter how she looked at it—even more disgusting than Zhu Lian's foppishness. A grown man, afraid to meet others' eyes, pursing his lips, playing with the hem of his clothes with a delicate finger—what was that about?
After Sui Youbian left, Zhu Lian and Wei Xian also left the room one after another.
During the battle at Old Dragon City, the battlefield had been severely fragmented, so the four from the painting had never seen Tongye Sect's Du Mao. As for the withered bone beauty ghost Shi Rou, who had always been trapped in yellow paper talismans, they hadn't seen her either. So when Du Mao's immortal abandoned shell appeared, Sui Youbian and the others were completely in the dark, thinking it was just some outsider Cui Dongshan had pulled out of some unknown corner.
After lunch that day, Cui Dongshan shut himself in his room and didn't come out.
The next morning, the group continued their journey toward the capital of Azure Luan Kingdom.
Originally, the presence of the yellow ox in the entourage was quite conspicuous. But now that Cui Dongshan was riding the ox, though it still drew attention, passersby who saw this scene only guessed that the handsome young boy must be from a wealthy and noble family, traveling the martial world with his entourage. It was a bit strange, but he already had some of the charm of a famous scholar at a young age.
With Cui Dongshan around, the journey became more casual and free-spirited.
The four from the painting also savored the change. If Chen Ping'an's encounters with his two friends, Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia, made him lively and upbeat, shedding his old seriousness, then reuniting with this disciple gave him a measured and leisurely state. The relationship between master and student, though not conventional, seemed to lighten the burden on Chen Ping'an's shoulders. And as a teacher, besides learning Go, Chen Ping'an also consulted this disciple on Legalist philosophy.
Throughout the journey, Cui Dongshan insisted on paying for everything, never letting his Master spend a single copper coin.
While Cui Dongshan chatted with Chen Ping'an, the four from the painting also gained a lot, deepening their understanding of this vast world of Haoran.
For instance, Lu Baixiang learned that in this wondrous realm, besides the single-minded pursuit of the Dao and the martial pinnacle, there was also the profound cultivation of pure Confucianism, focusing on scholarship and mind cultivation.
There were also many cultivators from various philosophical schools who were regarded as true Daoists, valuing the transmission of their tradition over cultivation strength.
Sui Youbian saw how Cui Dongshan displayed a dazzling array of immortal arts, seamlessly blending with daily life.
Zhu Lian, when no one was around, consulted Cui Dongshan twice more, simply trying to determine how many immortal treasures this guy actually owned.
Wei Xian remained the most taciturn, getting along best with Pei Qian. The two, big and small, were informal with each other.
Cui Dongshan, as he had done during their travels after leaving the Great Sui capital, occasionally disappeared for a while, and Chen Ping'an never asked.
The "old man" Shi Rou finally shed some of her girlish mannerisms. She no longer swayed her hips like a woman when walking, didn't unconsciously cast flirtatious glances, and stopped automatically raising a delicate finger. She finally looked like a proper white-haired old man.
But Shi Rou was still the least liked member of the group, with a status probably even lower than the yellow ox.
Pei Qian practiced the White Ape Sword-Carrying Technique and the Dragging Blade Style fairly diligently. They were just forms, and looked impressive, requiring no painful tendon-stretching or bone-cracking. She preferred practicing this set of sword and blade techniques taught by the female Daoist Huang Ting over the Six-Step Stance. But once, Cui Dongshan, sitting cross-legged on the ox's back, ridiculed her sword-carrying technique with a sarcastic tone, tearing it apart completely. He laughed so hard he fell off the ox, which crushed Pei Qian's spirits for several days. After that, she only dared to practice the stance.
The group arrived at a prefectural city, the closest to the Azure Luan Kingdom's capital.
Somehow, Cui Dongshan found an immortal's inn located in a quiet spot within the bustling city.
The inn was called the Hundred Flowers Garden. It was said the innkeeper was a mid-level Observation Realm cultivator with the face of a middle-aged man, but he did not show himself before Chen Ping'an and the others. The inn was quite large and filled with a variety of exotic flowers and plants, their fragrance refreshing. Because the Buddhist-Daoist debate was about to take place in the capital nearby, there were few rooms left in this prefectural city's immortal inn. Once again, Pei Qian shared a room with Sui Youbian, Lu Baixiang, Zhu Lian, and Wei Xian squeezed into one room, while Cui Dongshan and Shi Rou each had their own—Chen Ping'an was the only one with a room to himself.
Staying here was very expensive, but it was worth it, offering many benefits that money couldn't easily buy. For example, each day, inn servants delivered news-like bulletins about inside stories of the Buddhist-Daoist debate, similar to official government gazettes. Additionally, each room had a few clever little spiritual devices, billed as immortal tools but mostly made from scraps and odds and ends, worth a total of two or three Snowflake Coins, which guests could take with them.
This delighted Pei Qian.
She sweet-talked Sui Youbian into letting her have the small items from their room, then ran over to Old Wei and Xiao Bai's room, asking them to snack on melon seeds and fruits, dawdling and refusing to leave. Finally, Zhu Lian got annoyed and told Pei Qian to take the three small items from their room and disappear. Adding the four from Chen Ping'an's room, Pei Qian suddenly had ten low-grade spiritual tools. High-level cultivators of the Middle Five Realms looked down on these flashy but useless trinkets, while low-level cultivators of the Lower Five Realms couldn't afford to stay here. As a result, Pei Qian became "rich overnight." Her multi-treasure box couldn't hold so many, so she had to store them temporarily in Chen Ping'an's Within-Reach Object.
An immortal's lodging was inevitably quiet and secluded. After greasing the palms of the local authorities, they could set up a formation to gather wind and water, making the spiritual energy far richer than in ordinary neighborhoods.
Moreover, the two painted door gods at the inn's entrance were genuine talisman door gods. If any evil being approached, armored divine warriors could emerge, capable of capturing and devouring ghosts and demons.
In addition, each day, a small plate of immortal fruits and vegetables was placed on the table, a specialty of a farmer cultivator from the Hundred Flowers Garden, which was also the inn's hallmark—an inn built on the mountain yet located at its foot.
When Pei Qian was copying texts, she would occasionally put down her brush to rest, shaking her wrist, and noticed that Chen Ping'an was staring blankly at the plate of dates and pears.
She couldn't quite figure it out.
She just felt that Master seemed to be thinking of something not so happy.
When she finished copying, she found Chen Ping'an still sitting in the same spot, but now looking out the window.
A bit worried, Pei Qian joked, "Master, what's wrong? Missing the mistress?"
Chen Ping'an snapped back to reality and smiled. "Want to copy another five hundred characters?"
Pei Qian made a face.
Chen Ping'an stood up, patted Pei Qian's head, and began practicing the Six-Step Stance around the table.
Pei Qian found it even stranger. By now, Chen Ping'an mostly practiced the combined Heaven and Earth Stance of the three stances, rarely practicing this most basic and simplest boxing stance alone.
Pei Qian put away her brush and paper, rested her chin on the table, and asked casually, "Master, were you never afraid of ghosts when you were little?"
Chen Ping'an, moving slowly in the stance, replied, "Not like you. I wasn't afraid even when I was very young. In fact, I hoped ghosts really existed. I often went alone to the Immortal's Grave outside my hometown. When I got a bit older, I would go into the mountains with others to chop wood and make charcoal, or go alone to find soil suitable for making porcelain. I was never afraid."
Pei Qian said, "Wow! Master is truly gifted."
Chen Ping'an laughed it off and didn't explain further.
At noon that day, an inn servant delivered another immortal's gazette. The content was varied, but one item interested Chen Ping'an the most. After finishing his Go lesson with Cui Dongshan, he asked for Cui Dongshan's opinion.
The Azure Luan Kingdom's Grand Commander Wei Liang, while leading troops north, passed through a prefectural city. Because of a minor matter, he exposed two corrupt officials: a military officer who had embezzled and accepted bribes totaling over a hundred thousand taels of silver, and a civil official who had manipulated documents. The former was merely demoted, but the latter was executed first and reported later.
Cui Dongshan didn't think long before blurting out, "That's the Legalist style. Ordinary people would often consider the latter's crime lighter than the former's, but the Legalists would add an extra layer of guilt."
He laughed and asked, "Master, can you understand the logic behind it?"
After deep thought, Chen Ping'an sighed in admiration. "Truly formidable."
Cui Dongshan said casually, "Among the Hundred Schools outside the Three Teachings, those that have stood for millennia and survived to this day all have their foundations and unique aspects. So someone long ago said, 'Our life is limited, while knowledge is limitless. To pursue the limitless with the limited is exhausting.' Ordinary people like the first half of that saying, but Daoists find the latter half profound. In the end, among the studies of the Three Teachings and Hundred Schools, even a cultivator devoting a lifetime to a single discipline might not dare to claim to have reached the end of knowledge. It's all about choices—what you take, how much of that knowledge truly becomes your own ability, and what you discard, whether you're picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons."
Chen Ping'an nodded.
Cui Dongshan grabbed a pear, bit into it, and said indistinctly, "But learning is learning, and being human is being human. There's some connection, but no absolute correlation. That's what makes the world complicated. How a person lives, what books they read, and whether reading is useful—all are their own fate and karma. There are too many fools in the world who don't realize that reading's first purpose is to help us better understand this world. They've wasted the earnest exhortations of the sages of the Three Teachings and Hundred Schools. The sages impart knowledge, and each scripture is like a lantern hung in the night. The paths differ, the lanterns vary in brightness and size. Unfortunately, people themselves are blind."
Chen Ping'an didn't comment.
Cui Dongshan was just making conversation anyway, so he changed the subject and talked about some of Li Baoping's glorious deeds.
He said that at the end of last year, the reckless kid Li Huai got into an argument with a classmate. Another student took a book that had just been distributed by the academy, claiming it was his. Li Huai couldn't produce evidence. Li Baoping happened to pass by and quickly settled the matter. She used a method: she took the book and said to Li Huai and the other kid, "Since you can't agree, I'll tear it in half, one half each." Li Huai was frantic, but the other kid happily agreed. So Li Baoping threw the book to Li Huai and gave the other kid a thorough beating. An old scholar who had been watching from a distance burst out laughing. The other kid didn't understand what went wrong and ran crying to the old scholar to complain, only to get another beating with a bamboo strip.
After hearing this, Chen Ping'an laughed heartily.
Pei Qian, listening on the side, sighed. "That book thief is way too stupid. Sigh, there are really too many fools in the world. No way around it."
Chen Ping'an gave her a knock on the head. "It's not about being smart or stupid. Stealing the book was wrong to begin with. And if he had been clever enough to hide his tracks, that would be even more wrong."
Pei Qian said indignantly, "I didn't say stealing was right."
Cui Dongshan smiled. "There are plenty of people in the world who are both stupid and wicked. Confucian learning can't teach those types."
Pei Qian nodded deeply. "The Legalism you two were just talking about is pretty good. Dealing with bad people, it seems very effective."
Having said that, Pei Qian immediately shut up, afraid of making Chen Ping'an angry.
Chen Ping'an laughed. "It's fine to think that way now, but you still need to read more books. Don't think you've already found the right answer."
Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Then Confucianism is probably better."
She was already tired enough copying that Confucian classic. Adding a Legalist book would be asking for trouble.
Cui Dongshan gave her a thumbs up. "As Zhu Lian said, 'Iron backbone.'"
Pei Qian pretended not to hear.
Cui Dongshan asked with a smile, "Pei Qian, you get along well with Wei Xian?"
Feeling wary, Pei Qian smiled sweetly. "Not really."
Cui Dongshan said sarcastically, "Ah, you're quick to adapt. Very flexible."
Pei Qian rolled her eyes.
In front of the Master, flattery after flattery. In front of her, it was like a dog's mouth couldn't spit out ivory—no good words at all. This guy was really annoying.
One day, if this guy surnamed Cui ever pissed off the Master, and she, as the senior disciple, had mastered peerless sword and blade techniques by then, she would follow the martial arts novels and "clean house"!
Cui Dongshan seemed to read Pei Qian's mind, and said with a chuckle, "What, with your lousy sword and blade skills, you're thinking of challenging me one day?"
Pei Qian looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
Cui Dongshan picked up a date from the small plate and gently tossed it onto Pei Qian's forehead. "Little one, trying to mess with me?"
Pei Qian caught the falling date and pretended to throw it back. Cui Dongshan sat motionless, smiling. Pei Qian made a few feints, but Cui Dongshan didn't budge. Thinking she probably couldn't hit him anyway, and even if she did, she'd be the one to suffer in the end, she simply shoved the date into her mouth and glared at him.
Cui Dongshan suddenly looked panicked. "Oh no, this date is a descendant of the date tree spirit in the Hundred Flowers Garden. We cultivators aren't afraid of that spirit bothering us, but you, little Pei Qian—it'll think you're an easy target to bully. So be sure to lock your doors and windows before you sleep. Otherwise, branches might crawl into your room in the middle of the night—it's terrifying..."
As he spoke, Cui Dongshan deliberately twisted his arm, vividly imitating how a tree spirit might sneak into a room to harm people.
Terrified, Pei Qian immediately took out her beloved talisman, pressed it firmly on her forehead, then crossed her arms over her chest.
Cui Dongshan sighed. "No good. That talisman of yours is a Pagoda-Suppressing Demon talisman. It doesn't work on plants that have become spirits."
Pei Qian took out another talisman Chen Ping'an had given her later, the Yang Qi Lamp-Lighting Talisman, and stuck it on her forehead as well.
Cui Dongshan slapped his fist into his palm, looking worried. "Don't do that! This talisman is a guiding talisman. It can't ward off ghosts and spirits. On the contrary, it might attract other tree spirits, making them think you're provoking them. Then all the flower and grass spirits will follow the date tree spirit to visit your room. By then, your bedside and under your bed will be full of them."
Pei Qian pursed her lips, her charcoal-black little face scrunched up, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
Chen Ping'an slapped Cui Dongshan on the head and scolded, "Stop scaring Pei Qian."
Cui Dongshan said, "Oh, okay," then bent over, holding his stomach, and pointed at Pei Qian, who had suddenly caught on. "Ha! Little dummy!"
Pei Qian, furious and embarrassed, was about to rush to the next room to get her mountain-walking staff—she still thought her self-created Crazy Demon Sword Technique was more powerful—and fight him!
Cui Dongshan, sensing trouble, had already escaped.
After Cui Dongshan slipped away, Pei Qian forced a smile at Chen Ping'an and said, "Master, I was just pretending to be scared just now. Even without these two talismans, I recite the sages' books before bed every night. I'm sure nothing evil can touch me, right?"
Chen Ping'an looked at the little one with two talismans still stuck on her forehead, held back a laugh, and nodded. "Probably."
Pei Qian was flustered. "Just 'probably'?"
Chen Ping'an laughed. "This is an immortal's inn. What spirit would dare to harm the guests?"
Pei Qian said pitifully, "What if?"
Chen Ping'an paused, then patted her head. "Don't worry. I'm right next door. What's there to be afraid of?"
Pei Qian's eyes lit up. She quickly removed the talismans, tucked them into her sleeve, ran to the window, stood on tiptoe, and muttered to the garden outside, things like "My master is Chen Ping'an" and "Let's keep to ourselves"—innocent words.
Elsewhere in the inn, Sui Youbian voluntarily sought out Cui Dongshan and asked, "Do you have a secret method to cultivate a natal flying sword?"
Cui Dongshan smiled without speaking.
Sui Youbian asked directly, "What do I have to pay?"
Cui Dongshan sat at the table, looking at the sword-carrying woman standing at the door, and smiled. "Very simple: don't forget your roots."
Sui Youbian frowned. "What do you mean?"
Cui Dongshan made a face of disgust and waved his hand dismissively. "You can't even figure that out, and you still dare to hope to nurture the embryo of a natal flying sword early as a pure martial artist?"
Sui Youbian's face turned icy, and she turned to leave.
Cui Dongshan was unbothered. After thinking for a moment, he went to Wei Xian's room.
Zhu Lian was strolling through Hundred Flowers Garden and happened not to be in the room. The door wasn't locked, so Cui Dongshan pushed it open and walked in.
Wei Xian was reading some local county gazetteers and unofficial histories he had bought along the way. He put down the book and asked, "Something on your mind?"
Cui Dongshan's wide sleeves fluttered as he stepped over the threshold, and the door closed by itself.
He extended one hand and gently made a fist. "You, Wei Xian, only care about results, not the process. Among the four, you are the worst at chess, yet you are also the one who unintentionally comes closest to the principles of the game. There will eventually be a fist that will slam into my Master's vital point. I might as well kill you today and be done with it."
Wei Xian said indifferently, "If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext."
Cui Dongshan waved his sleeve, and a scroll fell onto the table beside Wei Xian, along with three gold essence copper coins.
Cui Dongshan strode forward, one hand behind his back, the other clenched. "If I kill the wrong person, so be it. I'll beat you down to a realm so low you can't go lower. When my Master's injuries heal, he will break through the Fifth Realm bottleneck. By then, you won't be able to make a move even if you want to."
Wei Xian sneered. "Let's see which loss is greater: your fall in realm or your loss of master-disciple status. Do you really think I don't know that this scroll is your Cui Dongshan's smokescreen? What kind of person Chen Ping'an is, I'm sure we both know well."
Cui Dongshan was slightly surprised and slowed his pace. "I underestimated you, the founding emperor of Southern Light Country. But let's be honest—you, Wei Xian, are the real hidden danger. So why haven't you made a move yet? I'm very curious. Is it because of... Pei Qian?"
Wei Xian's face was expressionless, silent.
Cui Dongshan sat down with a smile. "When my Master played Go with me, I helped him review his games, covering every detail. I asked him everything about the four of you from the Lotus Flower Grotto-Heaven—everything he knew, I know. The traces he didn't notice, I pay attention to."
He pointed to a low-grade unofficial history on the table. "For example, according to later unofficial histories of Southern Light Country, their iron-fisted founding emperor doted most on a young princess who died early. For her sake, he sent out all the court alchemists to seek immortals. So in your eyes, Wei Xian, how much does Pei Qian resemble your daughter? If you kill Chen Ping'an, can you make her revive in Lotus Flower Grotto-Heaven? Or perhaps attach her soul to Pei Qian's body and be reunited with your daughter in this Haoran world? Hmm, maybe you, Wei Xian, will still die, but at least she can live another life. Whether it's in your old homeland of Southern Light Country or not doesn't matter—your relatives are already bones. In this Haoran world, she might achieve even more. So you, Wei Xian, choose to wait silently, hoping to pave more roads for her, accumulate more resources to avoid another early death? So Chen Ping'an must die, but all his treasures must also be yours, to leave for the new Pei Qian as her cultivation foundation?"
Under the table, Wei Xian clenched his fist.
Cui Dongshan clicked his tongue. "My Master said it well: that old senior's Dao arts are truly divine, his calculations flawless. Within the rules, he gave Chen Ping'an, Pei Qian, and you, Wei Xian, each your own choices, planning the Great Path within certain bounds."
Wei Xian sincerely praised, "I don't understand Go, but Mr. Cui's skill is indeed superb."
Then he smiled. "But if I deny everything in front of Chen Ping'an, what can Mr. Cui do?"
Cui Dongshan laughed heartily. "You really think you understand Chen Ping'an? Never mind my unique methods of extracting souls and forcing you to speak the truth. I'm certain that if I relay all these deductions to Chen Ping'an intact, your fate will be... I'll draw a circle with my flying sword to block out heaven and earth, and then Chen Ping'an, with his current cultivation, will beat you, Wei Xian, to death three times. More importantly, you'll never see the person you most want to see in this life."
Wei Xian unclenched his fist under the table and said frankly, "That's true."
This was probably the first time Cui Dongshan had directly called Chen Ping'an by name in front of the four from the painting.
Cui Dongshan summoned his flying sword, drew a golden circle, then took out the Running Horse Scroll, unrolled it, and extracted a segment of time-flow. He said with a smile, "Let's make peace and prosper, no need for fighting. You, Wei Xian, have a good nature, but you're still limited by your narrow vision. Come, let me show you, you hick, how I once used a pile of broken, tattered natal porcelain shards in the Pear Blossom Grotto-Heaven to painstakingly piece together a lively, bouncing person. Open your dog eyes wide and watch carefully, so you know that besides that stinking Daoist Heavenly Lord of your Lotus Flower Grotto-Heaven, I, Cui Dongshan, also have the means to let you get what you want. I can't guarantee success, but the chance is certainly greater than you, a founding emperor, taking a risky move right under my nose, don't you think?"
Half an incense stick later.
Wei Xian stood up, bowed with clasped fists, saying nothing.
Cui Dongshan put away the time-flow Running Horse Scroll, also remaining silent.
Wei Xian raised his head, still bowing. "The Master is the Great Sui National Teacher, Embroidery Tiger Cui Chan, isn't he?"
Cui Dongshan raised an eyebrow. "As expected of a man who was an emperor. You see the subtle details and are much sharper than Lu Baixiang."
Wei Xian's eyes burned with enthusiasm. "Lord National Teacher, could you tell me how you managed to swallow half a continent from a corner of Great Sui?"
Cui Dongshan's smile was meaningful. "What makes you think you can ask that?"
Wei Xian dropped the pose and sat back down. "Because the Lord National Teacher was willing to waste so much saliva on me, a sure loser, in this room. There must be something on me that the National Teacher considers valuable. If not today, then there will be in the future."
Cui Dongshan nodded. "Old Wei, you're quite savvy. Talking to you, my heart isn't too tired."
Wei Xian hesitated for a moment, about to speak.
Cui Dongshan waved his hand. "I know what you're going to say. That's what truly kept you alive. Pei Qian is my Master's senior disciple. If you could really harden your heart and plot against her, treating her as a mere puppet shell—once you showed any trace, you would have died long ago. Not by my hand, but by Chen Ping'an's."
Cui Dongshan's eyes were deep. "You're waiting for an opportunity. Chen Ping'an is waiting for you to make a move. Maybe it's like that, maybe not. But it's quite possible."
Wei Xian shook his head. "I don't believe that."
Cui Dongshan clasped his hands behind his head, leaning back. "That's because you don't know who Chen Ping'an has 'tugged his heart' against, who he's wrestled with in spirit. See, I told you, Wei Xian—your vision is narrow."
Wei Xian asked, "And what does the National Teacher want?"
Cui Dongshan sighed. "Hard to say. Let's wait and see. Remember, don't call me National Teacher from now on. I'm half an enemy to myself now."
He stood up, waved his sleeve, and a map of Bottle Gourd Continent appeared on the floor—the map before Great Sui Song had devoured the Lu dynasty. Walking to the northernmost part of the continent, Cui Dongshan was in high spirits. "Since I'm free, let me tell you about my glorious achievements back then—how I marched south, and how I will turn the entire continent into one kingdom in the future!"
After Pei Qian left the room.
Chen Ping'an sat alone, resting with his eyes closed, looking somewhat tired.
He opened his eyes, stood up, and walked to the window.
Another year of spring was coming to an end.
Chen Ping'an leaned on the windowsill, smiling as he looked outside.
At Cloud Rosy Mountain, a newly opened immortal's residence was the current cultivation dwelling of the immortal Cai Jinjian.
The residence was near a cliff, with a wide view into the distance.
Dismissing the maidservants with decent cultivation aptitude, she sat alone on a cushion, holding a scroll she never showed anyone.
Cai Jinjian had recently become famous at Cloud Rosy Mountain, and even among many immortal sects in Bottle Gourd Continent, she was considered a young talent qualified to stand alongside Earth Immortal seniors.
This was not only because her realm had skyrocketed after returning from Pear Blossom Grotto-Heaven, but also due to many secret matters unknown to others—for instance, her close friendship with Fu Nanhua of Old Dragon City.
After experiencing great ups and downs, especially that life-and-death trial she hadn't even told her sect's founder about, Cai Jinjian had undergone a complete transformation in both cultivation and character, earning admiration.
In previous years, Cai Jinjian often traveled down the mountain, but in the past two years, she frequently went into seclusion.
Cai Jinjian opened the scroll in her hand, which depicted a green-robed Confucian scholar with graying temples.
She had painted it herself.
To others, Cai Jinjian—with an increasingly firm Dao heart and a promising future—lowered her head, her eyelashes trembling, and whispered softly, "Mr. Qi."
She slowly rolled up the scroll, held it to her chest, and let her mind wander a thousand miles.
Back when she had been resurrected from the dead and parted from Mr. Qi, he had asked her a favor.
Cai Jinjian was, of course, willing.
Mr. Qi asked her to help send a time-flow Running Horse Scroll to the Sword Qi Great Wall at Inverted Suspension Mountain.
After that, Mr. Qi had her help send several more scrolls.
The main subject of the scrolls was that boy from Mud Vase Alley. The contents ranged from the child Chen Ping'an in Pear Blossom Grotto-Heaven, to his travels in Great Sui, to his journey south alone to deliver a sword, and finally up to the point before he reached Colorful Garment Country. After that, Mr. Qi thanked Cai Jinjian and said goodbye.
Cai Jinjian had once been bold enough to ask if she could view the scrolls.
That Mr. Qi had smiled gently and nodded, saying she could.
On the last scroll, Mr. Qi appeared and left some parting words.
Words meant for the listener at the Sword Qi Great Wall.
"I have an inopportune request, and I earnestly ask Miss Ning to consider it."
"Chen Ping'an like this will treat the world well. So I ask Miss Ning to treat Chen Ping'an well."
"If, in the end, Miss Ning still does not like Chen Ping'an, that's fine. Only, please do not let my junior brother be too heartbroken over the word 'love.' Qi Jingchun here bows in thanks."
At this moment, Cai Jinjian raised her head, staring blankly into the distance.
Mr. Qi always made people feel like a spring breeze.