Chapter 393: A Flash of Insight, Mountains Turn Green
The handsome fox demon who called himself Master Qing suddenly asked, "This outsider woman, are you really that famed Daoist from the Master's Blade Hall from the Central Lands?"
The middle-aged Daoist woman seemed to find this question amusing. With one hand on her knife hilt and the other lightly flicking the lotus crown atop her head, she replied, "Oh? Is someone impersonating us here in Bottle Gourd Continent? If so, name them, and I'll count it as a meritorious deed for you. I might even grant you a quick death."
The black-robed youth, who had single-handedly stirred up the chaos in Lion Garden, clicked his tongue. "So you really are from the Master's Blade Hall. I wonder if after I eat your precious golden core, it'll be enough to burst my stomach."
The female Daoist curled her lips. "As expected of the smallest continent in the Haoran World. Whether on or off the mountains, as long as it has anything to do with cultivators, everyone has little skill but big mouths. Come to think of it, my name is Liu Boqi. The reason I came here was initially for the surname Liu of the Lion Garden Liu clan. But it turns out that after a long streak of bad luck, my fortunes have finally turned. I have you to thank for that, so I'm telling you all this so that you, a slug demon in true form, can die knowing exactly what's what."
The youth's expression changed drastically. He racked his brains but couldn't figure out how this wretched woman had seen through his true form.
He didn't know that the vermillion gourd hanging at Chen Ping'an's waist—a decoy capable of blocking the detection of Core Formation Earth Immortals—had been immediately recognized by the female Daoist as a rare Sword-Nurturing Gourd of excellent quality after she used her divine abilities.
The middle-aged Daoist continued in that same flat tone. "That's why I said that willow tree spirit was as blind as a bat. With all your comings and goings in Lion Garden, and he still couldn't see through you. He believed your fox demon identity based on a bit of fox musk and a few fox-hair ropes. He really misled people. The person backing you up, the one behind all this trouble in Lion Garden, is just as blind. Otherwise, he would have skinned you long ago, right? This little bit of Liu clan literary fortune is nothing compared to the treasures in your belly."
The youth, who had once boasted he wouldn't be afraid even if pursued by an Nascent Soul cultivator, now felt fear for the first time. He asked in a conciliatory tone, "If I leave Lion Garden right now, will you spare me?"
The middle-aged Daoist didn't answer. She probably thought it beneath her to respond to such a stupid question. Instead, she tapped the hilt of her knife and said to herself, "This dharma knife I wear at my waist is called 'Mirror God.' It ranks seventeenth in the Master's Blade Hall of Inverted Suspension Mountain. As for my true life-bond treasure, it is still a blade, named 'Jia Zuo.' But don't worry—you won't get to see my life-bond treasure. That's your great fortune."
The youth's knees went weak.
He said pitifully, "The previous fox body I devoured was no good to begin with. He wanted to use marriage to achieve a golden core and siphon the Liu clan's literary fortune. He even had the audacity to think about taking the imperial exams. I killed him and swallowed him whole. In fact, I saved Lion Garden from a disaster. After that, there was an old immortal master from Qingluan Kingdom who coveted the Liu clan's heirloom—the jade seal of a fallen kingdom. He teamed up with a high official in the capital who has connections everywhere. So I just went with the flow. The three of us took what we needed. It's just a small transaction, nothing worth mentioning. Granny, you're a big person with a big heart. Just let me go like a fart, alright? If I've disturbed your enjoyment of the scenery, I'll offer you that half-formed golden core of the fox demon as an apology. How about it?"
Liu Boqi of the Master's Blade Hall laughed. "Are you sure you think I can't find your true form? Is that why you've been playing the fool all along?"
The youth's expression suddenly changed. He laughed loudly, "Oh my, you stinking woman, your brain isn't as waterlogged as I thought. So what if you're from the Master's Blade Hall? So what if your 'Mirror God' dharma knife from Inverted Suspension Mountain? Don't forget, this is Bottle Gourd Continent, the Qingluan Kingdom next to the Yunlin Jiang clan! Ugly freak, stinking hag—I tried to make a good deal with you, but you wouldn't agree. You had to wait until Master Qing cursed you out to feel comfortable? What a bitch! Hurry up and go pray to the gods in the capital. Otherwise, one day you'll fall into my hands here in Bottle Gourd Continent, and I'll flay you alive! Who knows, maybe you'll even enjoy it, right?"
Liu Boqi wasn't angry at all. Instead, she smiled meaningfully. "As the old saying goes, 'A small temple may have big evil spirits.' Truly hits the mark. You, a slug spirit, talk quite interestingly. It's more amusing than those great demon lords who kowtow and beg for mercy, or those who scream madly before death, after I've drawn my blade."
The handsome youth seemed arrogant and domineering, but inside, he was suspicious. This woman was stalling—that wasn't her style. Could there be a trap?
But no one knew that he had tampered with the willow tree spirit, the local earth god. Any significant change in the feng shui of Lion Garden would immediately alert him.
If she had some scheme over at the embroidery tower, he could just lie low for now and not eat the woman with literary fortune yet. Let's see who could outlast whom. Could this Daoist nun from the Master's Blade Hall and that sword-wielding young man afford to guard Lion Garden for a year or two?
What unexpected support could this ugly Daoist have to give her so much patience and composure? She hadn't even sliced through this illusion of his like she did on the courtyard wall earlier.
Liu Boqi stood sideways on the bridge railing and gestured for the demon to cross the arched bridge freely. "If you reach the embroidery tower, you'll know the truth."
Earlier, when Liu Boqi blocked him, he desperately wanted to rush over to the embroidery tower to see. Now that she was letting him go, that small arched bridge seemed like a mountain of blades and a sea of fire.
The human heart and demon schemes—they were more terrifying than monsters.
He had been badly burned several times in his long life. Otherwise, he might have already been touching the threshold of the Fifth Realm.
This handsome youth, who had eaten a fox demon and used its skin as a decoy, was not only a rare slug demon in true form. There was another reason Liu Boqi was so relentless.
Because he was one of the "Transformation Treasures"—creatures born from the workings of heaven and earth, with infinite transformations. Slugs were already extremely rare in becoming spirits. To become a Transformation Treasure demon was even rarer in the world. This one loved to devour all kinds of spirits and ghosts. Its most extraordinary trait wasn't just its excellent camouflage, concealment, and escape abilities, nor its extreme resistance to being killed by magical treasures.
Rather, after devouring many spirits and ghosts, it could assimilate their cultivation paths. Using its original demon core as a stepping stone, it could gradually form multiple golden cores, advancing on several paths simultaneously.
It was like a treasure-eating whale on land. Whoever could kill it would strike it rich!
So even with Liu Boqi's high standards, she was determined to get this ridiculous slug Earth Immortal. If that young man surnamed Chen dared to compete, her waist knife "Mirror God" and her life-bond ancient blade "Jia Zuo" would be blind and kill without distinction.
Seeing this creature hesitating and looking around, Liu Boqi laughed. "I know your true form is somewhere deep underground nearby, hiding from my detection using the mountain's root veins."
The youth tilted his head. "Since you're so awesome, why don't you just chop around a bit? That mountain root vein hiding spot can't withstand half an incense stick of your digging. Then I'd have nowhere to hide. Why not do that? Is there something you care about?"
He answered his own question. "Oh, I think I might know one possibility. After all, I've been paying more attention to your every move these days than that young master who treats a sword cultivator as his maid."
Liu Boqi narrowed her eyes.
The youth raised his hands, grinning. "I know you won't let me say it. Come on, give me a slash. Get it over with. We'll meet again—the green hills remain, the rivers flow forever. Just wait and see!"
True to her word, Liu Boqi sliced through the youth's illusion at the bridgehead.
Another fox hair floated down and landed on the ground.
Liu Boqi looked into the distance. On all sides of Lion Garden were green mountains.
She saw the green mountains as alluring, and it was love at first sight.
Liu Boqi blushed a little. Fortunately, no one was around, and her skin was dark, so it wasn't noticeable.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she put back on her cold, hard face, feeling the subtle flow of qi in all directions. Liu Boqi waited for the show. That slug, with all its treasures, was about to take a big fall.
Since she was helping others and helping herself, Liu Boqi drew the famous dharma knife "Mirror God" from the Master's Blade Hall. She dashed across Lion Garden, striking precisely in a series of places—either cutting off the connection between mountain roots and water veins, stabbing at the most likely hiding spots, or deliberately stirring up noise to disrupt the feng shui of Lion Garden temporarily.
All to buy more time for that white-robed young man with the Sword-Nurturing Gourd at his waist.
Dealing with a slippery creature like this slug demon, which was easier to kill than to catch, Liu Boqi could only hold her nose and do such boring work.
---
Outside a tightly closed study door, the handsome youth's illusion appeared again. With his hands behind his back, he kicked the door open and strode over the threshold.
He sniffed the air, felt slightly uncomfortable, and rolled his eyes. Muttering, "I really don't know what good deeds the Liu clan ancestors did to accumulate such dense literary fortune lingering in Lion Garden. No wonder that Dragon Gate Realm fox demon was so envious. Too bad—bad luck. All for nothing."
He started tapping things, knocking on walls, stomping his feet to see if there were any hidden compartments or secret rooms. Finding none, he began rummaging through cabinets and boxes in likely hiding spots.
That treasure was definitely supposed to be in this study.
He had dealt with the two big shots behind this Lion Garden disaster before. They were troublesome characters—one high in cultivation, the other wielding great power. Even he didn't want to get too close to them.
That old man who liked to collect imperial seals from various Bottle Gourd Continent kingdoms had a hooked nose. His laugh was more sinister than any ghost. The physiognomists had a saying that fit him perfectly: "Nose like an eagle's beak, pecking at people's hearts and marrow." Right on the mark.
That old pervert followed the path of a great recluse hiding within the court. He loved to collect remnants of fallen kingdoms—the closer to the last emperor, the better. The older the item, the higher the price he'd pay.
It was said the man had collected nearly a hundred imperial seals from various dynasties. He had everything, but he had two major regrets. One was that he was missing one piece from a complete set of jade seals. Some rumors said it appeared at Bee Tail Ferry, but the old man seemed wary of that street, which had once produced a Fifth Realm cultivator. He didn't dare put on a disguise and go robbing.
The second regret was his desperate desire for this treasure, which had been passed down through generations in Lion Garden—the "Seal of Patrol Through the World." This national heirloom of a great dynasty that had fallen in southern Bottle Gourd Continent wasn't big—just two inches square, made of gold. This tiny piece of gold, however, was engraved with the words: "Encompassing Heaven and Earth, Praising the Gods, Golden Armor Shining, Autumn Hunt in All Directions."
Occasionally, he would look up and glance out the window.
That stinking woman really wouldn't let it go. She had started using the stupidest method to find his true form. Hah, if she found it, that would be something!
He felt smug. This he owed to a novel about wandering martial heroes, which said the most dangerous place is the safest. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
He continued searching for that little gold block, getting a bit irritated.
That little cripple Liu sure knew how to hide things.
Even if he found it, he couldn't take it away for now. But at least he could feast his eyes on it first.
It was ridiculous—now that he had some connection with Lion Garden's feng shui, he had become a pitiful creature who couldn't even lift that little gold block.
If he wanted to do it regardless of consequences, he could, but he didn't want to. On the demon's path of cultivation, time was the one thing they never lacked.
That was probably heaven's compensation for the difficulty of demon cultivation. Becoming a spirit and gaining intelligence was one threshold. Then you had to transform into human form to cultivate—another threshold. Finally, finding a secret immortal manual that pointed straight to the Great Way, or even greater luck—being 'sealed and legitimized' by a higher power—that was the third threshold. According to historical records, the Celestial Master's Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain had a ridiculously lucky Fifth Realm fox demon. The Celestial Master's seal just lightly touched its fur, and it blocked all the thunder tribulations that should have come with breaking through to Nascent Soul. It skipped and hopped right across that almost insurmountable chasm. Which demon in the human world wasn't envious?
He had only heard about it, and he was already dying of envy.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a couplet hanging on the study wall. It was written by the little cripple Liu Qingshan himself. Whether the content was copied from the sages' books or invented by the cripple himself, he had read only a few books, so he didn't know.
On one side: "Under the brush, a thousand-army formation; in poetry, ten-thousand-horse troops."
On the other side: "Virtue equal to the ancients and moderns; books teach sons and grandsons."
One side exuded outward momentum, the other restrained ambition.
That much, he could understand.
He looked up, left and right, and spat at each side of the couplet on the wall.
Then he laughed heartily.
Seeing a well-read, spirited scholar now fallen into the mud, worse than a drowned chicken or a beaten dog—it was truly satisfying.
He strutted around the desk, cluttered with scholarly offerings, and sat down on the chair. He leaned his head back, wiggled his butt, but still found it uncomfortable. He started cursing. Damn it, these scholars had too much time on their hands. They wouldn't even make a comfortable chair. They had to make people sit upright and suffer.
He stared blankly at the ceiling.
He remembered the other big shot behind the scenes: an old man named Tang, who held power in Qingluan Kingdom.
He had disliked Liu Jingting for a long time.
That was strange. Even an outsider like him knew that Liu Jingting, a clean-handed capable minister, was a pillar supporting the court. How could you, the current emperor's uncle, see Liu Jingting as an enemy?
In the last two years, how many southern scholars had come here attracted by the good reputation of the old Vice Minister Liu?
He racked his brains but couldn't figure it out.
He recalled a wine party at Lion Garden at the end of last year—a father-son chat he had eavesdropped on while lying on the roof beam.
Liu Jingting and his two sons drank and chatted. Topics included Liu Jingting's worries about the country, the eldest son's latest news, and Liu Qingshan's critical comments on current politics.
The literati and officials who hated Liu Jingting the most were amusing. They weren't his long-time political enemies in court. Instead, they were scholars who tried to attach themselves to Old Vice Minister Liu but failed, who tried to flatter him endlessly to no avail. Then there were those who argued bitterly with Liu Jingting's disciples and students in the literary world, lost their tempers, and ended up hating Liu Jingting himself deeply.
Liu Jingting probably found it all confusing. In his dealings with others, he never treated people differently based on high or low official positions or background. At most, he would not comment on overly flattering writings and would ignore deliberate sycophancy. But it was precisely this attitude that stung some people the most. After he retired from office, Liu Jingting once chatted with his eldest son about officialdom. That son, who appeared far less impressive than his younger brother Liu Qingshan, was a small county magistrate. He explained these things to his father, making them clear. Liu Jingting just drank a cup of wine in silence.
Liu Qingshan disagreed and bluntly criticized his elder brother, who had been close to him since childhood.
Fortunately, that elder brother knew Liu Qingshan's temperament and wasn't angry. He only said that he had fallen into the dye vat of officialdom and hoped Liu Qingshan wouldn't follow his example.
What a harmonious family—father kind, sons filial; elder brother good, younger brother respectful.
At that time, the demon had actually wondered: Could the fox demon he had eaten have genuinely wanted to integrate into the Liu clan of Lion Garden? Was it possible that by participating in the imperial exams, it hoped to become Liu Jingting's son-in-law, achieve something in officialdom and literature, and eventually give back to the Liu clan's literary fortune?
But at the time, he was only interested in eating. He swallowed the fox demon, which hadn't yet formed a golden core, in one bite. He remembered burping a few times.
He turned his head, feeling the futile slashes of the stinking woman from the Master's Blade Hall outside, and snarled, "Ugly as she is, she's a perfect match for that cripple!"
Unfortunately, he wasn't a Confucian sage who spoke with authority from heaven.
Sighing, he withdrew his attention, bored, and let his gaze wander over the worthless stationery items.
Suddenly, his eyes widened. He reached out to touch a small box next to a rectangular wooden paperweight.
Hot!
He quickly pulled back his hand, feeling pleased. He cursed with a laugh, "That Liu Qingshan, you sly devil!"
---
At the Liu clan ancestral hall.
Two private tutors were present. The old man stayed near Liu Jingting.
Liu Jingting said bitterly, "I've implicated Mr. Fu."
The old man just shook his head.
Aside from teaching, this old scholar barely spoke and rarely changed his expression.
The entire Lion Garden was actually a bit afraid of this old scholar.
As for the middle-aged Confucian scholar, Mr. Liu, although he wasn't exactly approachable and had many rules—almost every Liu clan descendant and servant's child who attended the school had been hit by his ruler and scolded—he was still easier to get close to than the old man named Fu.
At that moment, the middle-aged Confucian quietly walked to the ancestral hall door, waiting for Liu Qingshan to return.
When he saw Liu Qingshan emerge unharmed from the embroidery tower, Mr. Liu showed no expression. He only nodded in acknowledgment after the limping Liu Qingshan performed a student's bow to him.
Liu Qingshan crossed the threshold and went to his father Liu Jingting.
The middle-aged Confucian stood at the door. Then he looked up and saw two figures on the library building—a master and servant from central Bottle Gourd Continent.
Whether because his eyesight wasn't good enough or he chose not to see, the middle-aged Confucian quickly turned around and went back into the ancestral hall.
On the corridor railing of the library building's eaves, the maid Meng Long smiled and asked, "Young master, do you think Fu Sheng and this Mr. Liu could be reclusive experts like us?"
The lone young master smiled. "First, explain to me when we became reclusive experts."
Meng Long chuckled knowingly and leaned on the railing, looking into the distance.
In Bottle Gourd Continent, weren't they?
The young master was just being modest.
The Zhuying Dynasty she belonged to had a multitude of sword cultivators, the most in the continent. It was a powerful state, with over a dozen vassal kingdoms.
Among the dragon descendants who had long given up their claim to the throne, there was one Tenth Realm sword cultivator. He had sparred three times with the former number one Nascent Soul cultivator of Bottle Gourd Continent, Li Tuanjing of Wind Thunder Garden. He lost every time, but no one dared to question this sword cultivator's combat power. How many Earth Immortals in Bottle Gourd Continent would dare to block Li Tuanjing's strike? Li Tuanjing, with one man and one sword, had suppressed Zhengyang Mountain for centuries. That this Zhuying Dynasty sword cultivator, after losing, could make Li Tuanjing agree to two more bouts shows the height of his swordsmanship.
There were also two Ninth Realm sword cultivators, a pair of immortal lovers who had broken with the Zhuying Dynasty—at least publicly. The couple rarely appeared, focusing on the sword path. Rumors had it that the old emperor's treasury was actually managed by these two. They had close ties with several major families in the Old Dragon City to the south, raking in money.
Meng Long said angrily, "Young master, the cultivators from Beiju Continent are too domineering. Especially that damned Daoist Heavenly Lord."
The lone young master smiled. "In the eyes of those mountain monsters we wiped out, aren't we the same? Were all those servants and maids who died under your Night Parade god guilty of a capital offense? Of course not. We just couldn't be bothered to care."
Meng Long was momentarily speechless.
She could only sulkily kick the high building's railing with her toes.
---
Chen Ping'an, accompanied by Shi Rou, did not draw talismans near the embroidery tower. Instead, he headed straight for Lion Garden's main gate.
The two painted door gods had weak spiritual energy and could no longer support protecting the Liu clan.
Chen Ping'an muttered some apologies and began drawing Pagoda Subduing Demon talismans on the two doors.
Unlike the "small-scale" work at the embroidery tower, these two talismans on the main gate were done in one go, bold and freehand, like splashing ink.
Standing behind Chen Ping'an, Shi Rou nodded silently. If not for the mediocre quality of the brush and the gold paint in the clay pot, the talismans Chen Ping'an drew—with their full talisman cores—could have been even more powerful.
After finishing, Chen Ping'an stepped back a few paces, standing side by side with Shi Rou. Confirming there were no flaws, he walked along the outer wall's stone path, drawing another talisman about fifty paces away.
As he walked, Chen Ping'an said to the silent Shi Rou, "When I'm drawing talismans, I need to concentrate fully. I might not immediately detect the demon's presence. So keep a sharp eye out."
Shi Rou said calmly, "Not to mention my duty to share the master's worries, this involves my own life. Of course, I won't let my guard down. The master worries too much."
Chen Ping'an turned to look at her. "Is it that when a person has been poor for too long, suddenly getting rich makes them stingy?"
Shi Rou caught the subtle sarcasm but didn't bother to argue.
It wasn't because she felt guilty or ashamed, but because of that note.
After unsealing the paper horse from Cui Dongshan to Zhu Lian, the message was concise—just one sentence, six words.
"Sis, don't seek death."
It sounded like a joke, but it made even Shi Rou, in her immortal relic body, shiver with cold.
Chen Ping'an drew talismans very quickly, showing he had put in hard work or had learned from a master.
Shi Rou had to admit that Chen Ping'an's endurance—both the steadiness of his breath and the stability of his physical body—played a huge role. Neither could be lacking.
Drawing talismans consumes one's spirit.
That was a widely circulated maxim in the talisman school.
After a quarter of an hour, as Chen Ping'an finished another talisman and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily, Shi Rou asked softly, "Master, are you forming an array?"
Chen Ping'an glared at her and quickly put a finger to his lips, signaling that heavenly secrets must not be revealed. As he stepped forward, still annoyed, he gave the loose-lipped Shi Rou another glare.
Holding a clay pot of sticky gold paint with one hand, Shi Rou obediently followed behind Chen Ping'an. Seeing him flustered like that, a faint smile flickered at the corner of her mouth, but she quickly suppressed it.
Lion Garden was quite large, so Chen Ping'an, trying to quietly draw talismans and form an array, had to work desperately on the white walls to finish before the great demon noticed.
It was no easier than a one-on-one fight.
Unlike the four members of the painting, Shi Rou hadn't experienced wave after wave of storms or a long journey across two continents. So she was far less familiar with Chen Ping'an's true strength and temperament than Zhu Lian and the others. She knew quite a bit about Chen Ping'an's assets—a Yang Spirit clone of a Flying Ascension Realm great cultivator, a student-disciple Cui Dongshan—that was about it.
But now, watching Chen Ping'an try to "close the door and beat the dog," combined with the arrangements at the embroidery tower and ancestral hall, Shi Rou genuinely admired his style.
Watertight.
If a gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall, then Chen Ping'an, once he decided to approach that dangerous wall, would—regardless of his initial intentions—set up every possible precaution: an umbrella, a hat, armor, whatever it took.
Chen Ping'an certainly wasn't trying to guess Shi Rou's thoughts.
One thing defeats another. He would leave Shi Rou to Cui Dongshan.
When Chen Ping'an finished the last talisman on the perimeter of Lion Garden, he still felt it might not be enough. So he made another round, pasting many treasured talismans he had prepared earlier but hadn't used—regardless of cost—infusing them with true qi and sticking them on walls and atop walls.
A losing business, bleeding money.
Chen Ping'an leaped onto the wall top, thinking that later he must find an excuse to tug Pei Qian's ears.
After all, she was his first disciple. It was fine to be a little unreasonable with her!
Chen Ping'an stretched lazily and smiled as he looked around.
It was already late spring, and the green mountains were gradually turning greener.
Standing beside Chen Ping'an, Shi Rou still held two clay pots.
Seeing Chen Ping'an's strange expression, she grew curious.
Chen Ping'an looped his hands behind his shoulders, interlacing his fingers, with his palms just touching the hilt of the "Sword Immortal" sword on his back.
Carrying a sword immortal—when would he become a true sword immortal?
He remembered once on a ferry overlooking the map of Bottle Gourd Continent, someone had smiled and pointed at the earth, saying that the Zhuying Dynasty under their feet had the most sword cultivators, but compared to her homeland, it was just a drizzle. She told Chen Ping'an that if he ever had the chance, he must go to Beiju Continent to see for himself—that was where sword cultivators truly stood like a forest, unparalleled in the world. Nothing like being the best in one continent.
Chen Ping'an felt some longing for Beiju Continent.
Putting away these thoughts, he took down the Sword-Nurturing Gourd "Jiang Hu," only to find it empty.
A little awkward.
He silently put it away, hoping Shi Rou hadn't noticed.
Shi Rou found it amusing but chose an inopportune time to ask, "Should I bring you a jar of wine, Master?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head and stamped his foot.
All at once, the talismans on the outer walls of Lion Garden burst forth with spiritual light from their cores.
As if receiving an imperial decree, they all blazed with dazzling golden light.
In an instant, it was as if a golden dragon coiled around Lion Garden.