Chapter 398: The Thing Under Heaven That Is Least Feared

Chapter 398: The Thing Under Heaven That Is Least Feared

After Li Baozhen saw that young man who absolutely should not have been on that road, his mind raced.
Was Liu Qingfeng behind him setting him up, hoping to monopolize the control over the Qingluan Kingdom's behind-the-scenes rule? That shouldn't be. The State Preceptor wouldn't let Liu Qingfeng become dominant alone; having Li Baozhen and Liu Qingfeng counterbalance each other was the proper arrangement.
So was it a case of "no coincidence, no story"—just an unexpected encounter tonight?
Li Baozhen sighed. If his luck was this bad, he would rather someone had schemed against him. After all, in a battle of wits, one could rely on intelligence and strategy. But if it was just bad luck, was he supposed to go burn incense and pray to the Buddha?
Standing behind the old coachman, Li Baozhen asked quietly, "What's the situation?"
The old coachman said in a low voice, "One of the attendants behind that person, a stooped old man, is very likely a Far Roaming Realm martial artist, not lower than my own realm."
Li Baozhen slapped his forehead. "Intelligence reports have misled me."
According to the latest intelligence reports, Chen Ping'an was at the Baihua Yuan Inn in the capital. Of his four grandmaster attendants, three had left, leaving only two. One was named Zhu Lian, of unknown depth, possibly a Golden Body Realm martial artist. The other behaved oddly and had performed unremarkably during the Lion Garden incident; his strength should be inferior to Zhu Lian's. As for Chen Ping'an himself, based on his punch at the Lion Garden wall, he was at least a fifth-realm pure martial artist. He could draw talismans, wore a immortal robe of unascertainable rank, and carried a gourd at his waist, the sword-nurturing gourd "Jiang Hu," whether it contained flying swords was unknown for now.
Although piecing together the fragments of intelligence still hadn't revealed Chen Ping'an's true background,
it didn't matter. Li Baozhen had judged that Chen Ping'an was in the Qingluan Kingdom's capital. Even if he suddenly became a terrestrial immortal overnight, it still had nothing to do with him, Li Baozhen.
Li Baozhen was using the Great Li's momentum as his chessboard, toying with Chen Ping'an, who was trapped in the game.
The intelligence network of the Great Li's Green Wave Pavilion in the southeastern part of Bottle Gourd Continent moved like a spider's web being pulled, as the pieces were quietly deployed.
Before leaving Great Li, State Preceptor Cui Chan had given Li Baozhen three choices: go to Great Sui to monitor the Gao royal family and the old vassal states including Huangting Kingdom; go to the Zhuying Dynasty, the biggest stumbling block before the Great Li iron cavalry, where sword cultivators were numerous, and also keep an eye on the Southern Guanhu Academy's movements; or finally, choose Qingluan Kingdom. Compared to the first two, this was originally a remote rural place. But with the southward migration of scholars from central Bottle Gourd Continent, the Green Wave Pavilion had only increased investment in the last two years. Of course, these were just surface phenomena he had seen after taking office; otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to access even the old coachman's records. However, Li Baozhen was not stupid. With Tang Zhong, an old official from Qingluan Kingdom, in the bureaucratic arena, and martial artists like Zhu Fengxian of the Daze Gang in the underworld, and especially with State Preceptor Cui Chan himself visiting this place and even making an exception to meet Liu Qingfeng at the Lion Garden... all this showed that Li Baozhen's judgment was not bad. Choosing this place as his "dragon rising ground" in the Great Li court, temporarily away from the vortex that could crush anyone in the central Song clan of Great Li, was definitely a winning bet.
Li Baozhen was somewhat annoyed. If he could wait a few more days until a certain important figure responsible for his safety entered Qingluan Kingdom, the situation would be perfect, fearing nothing. What were Grand Commander Wei Liang, or the Tang clan's chief offering master Zhou Lingzhi? They were insignificant.
How did this mud-bottle alley brat pick such a perfect time and place?
Li Baozhen turned around, bent over, lifted the curtain, and smiled. "Mr. Liu, do you have any contingency plans?"
Liu Qingfeng shook his head with a smile. "Same as you, I need to wait a few days for a Great Li Military Secretary to become my personal escort."
Li Baozhen grimaced. "Mr. Liu, can you bear to see your ally die before achieving anything?"
Liu Qingfeng thought for a moment, then replied, "You must believe in the infallible calculations of State Preceptor Cui."
Li Baozhen sighed mournfully and let the curtain fall. Tonight, it seemed, whether it was fortune or calamity, he couldn't avoid it.
It wasn't that Li Baozhen doubted the chess skills of that "Embroidery Tiger," but rather that the State Preceptor might not really care about him, a mere fence-sitter. Li Baozhen even firmly believed that if Cui Chan had to choose between him and Liu Qingfeng, at least for now, Cui Chan would unhesitatingly keep Liu Qingfeng on the board and casually pick up Li Baozhen to toss back into the chess pot. Wasn't that how the mountain of shattered porcelain in his hometown had been built—from discarded, insignificant pieces that had been ground to dust in the great path struggles?
Li Baozhen had long enjoyed going alone to climb to the top of that porcelain mountain, always feeling as if he was stepping on piles of white bones to reach the summit. It felt good.
Chen Ping'an had Shi Rou protect Pei Qian and stand at a distance, while he continued forward with only Zhu Lian.
Cui Dongshan had suddenly sent him a secret letter, saying that Li Baozhen had appeared at the Lion Garden, with brief words ending in "can be killed."
Without any doubt or hesitation, Chen Ping'an swiftly left the capital and headed straight for the Lion Garden.
In matters that did not involve the fundamentals of his path, Chen Ping'an chose to trust Cui Dongshan, such as choosing the withered bone female ghost Shi Rou to inhabit Du Mao's remaining shell, and this time too.
When he was less than fifty paces from the carriage, Chen Ping'an slowed his pace. He could already clearly see the young master standing behind the coachman.
This was the man who, using Zhu Lu's admiration and girlish infatuation, had dangled the bait of freeing her father and daughter from their lowly status and securing a title of honored lady for her, making Zhu Lu walk toward Chen Ping'an with a smiling face in that corridor back then, her hands behind her back, both filled with lethal intent.
That was the first time in Chen Ping'an's life, after leaving Lizhu Cave Heaven, that he felt more keenly the subtlety and malice of human hearts than when he had faced the mountain-moving old ape of Zhengyang Mountain in the small town.
"Chen Ping'an, this is our first meeting, isn't it?"
Li Baozhen, standing behind the old coachman, greeted with a smile. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Li Baozhen, Li Xisheng's younger brother, Li Baoping's older brother."
Chen Ping'an stopped. "If you die here tonight, will you regret it?"
Li Baozhen nodded. "I'd definitely regret it to the point of my intestines turning green."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Regret not being careful enough?"
Li Baozhen, as if giving up on salvaging the situation, admitted frankly, "Yeah, as soon as I left Fulu Street in Longquan County and our Great Li dynasty, I thought I could fly high and free. Too unwise. Chen Ping'an, you've taught me two valuable lessons about how to conduct oneself, back to back. Third time's the charm—let's part ways, you on your sunny path, me on my log bridge. How about that?"
Zhu Lian raised his arms, rubbing his palms together, eager to act. He smiled. "That old coachman is a Far Roaming Realm martial artist. This old servant can handle him perfectly, young master. After all, we're at the same realm. If I accidentally can't hold back, don't blame me."
The old coachman's eyes burned as he stared intently at the stooped old man. The Qingluan, Qingshan, and Yunxiao kingdoms, along with the surrounding small states, had shallow martial arts circles, and with his duty-bound obligations, he couldn't just go roaming far away, wasting the title of the eighth realm of pure martial artists. Tonight, he finally encountered an opponent he couldn't miss. But with that rotten seed Li Baozhen behind him and Mr. Liu inside the carriage, he was inevitably constrained. He asked, "Dealing with this attendant alone is already tough enough. Lord Li, do you have any brilliant plan to teach me? One that can both keep you alive and let me have a satisfying fight?"
Li Baozhen smiled bitterly. "Who could have foreseen this? My brilliant schemes only harm others, not save myself."
The coachman stood up and sneered. "So that means you have nothing? All that scheming and calculating, dazzling to watch, and in the end, this is all you amount to."
Li Baozhen laughed. "Then I'll trouble you to put in extra effort tonight and earn me a chance to mend the fold after the sheep is lost."
The old coachman, as the number one martial artist on Bottle Gourd Continent, naturally had heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. He wouldn't kick someone when they were down just because he detested Li Baozhen; he wouldn't just walk away.
The carriage trembled slightly. Li Baozhen felt a light breeze brush his face as the old coachman had already shot forward, charging straight at Chen Ping'an.
Reeds on both sides of the path bent toward Chen Ping'an and Zhu Lian.
Zhu Lian, in his habitual stoop, stepped forward several paces with the speed of a thunderbolt, extending a palm.
He caught the old coachman's fierce punch, which was filled with surging fist energy and inflated sleeves.
Zhu Lian slid backward, landing exactly shoulder to shoulder with Chen Ping'an, while the old coachman used the momentum to drift back and land on the ground.
The reeds on both sides of the road rustled as they bent left and right, making a sharp, piercing sound in the otherwise silent night.
Li Baozhen watched the scattered currents of fist energy drift toward the motionless Chen Ping'an. When they reached him, they seemed like a slanting breeze and fine rain encountering an oil-paper umbrella—not a single drop touched the umbrella holder.
Li Baozhen's eyelids twitched. Truly worthy of being at least a fifth-realm martial artist.
That little bastard from Mud Vase Alley seemed to have had some good fortune after leaving Lizhu Cave Heaven.
Li Baozhen felt some regret. Should he have taken the path of cultivation back then?
A peak fifth-realm pure martial artist under eighteen—even in Great Li, where martial artists were abundant, that would probably deserve the title of genius, right?
Could it be that the surging martial fortune from the collapse of Lizhu Cave Heaven had all been monopolized by this guy? That couldn't be right. The princely lord Song Changjing, Li Er, and Zheng Dafeng—the three of them would have divided it, leaving only scraps for the rest.
Zhu Lian shook his wrist and chuckled. "Hey, brother, your fists are a bit soft. What, still being polite with me? Afraid you'll kill me with one punch and there'll be no fun? No need, no need—go ahead and punch, beat me to death. I've got thick skin and tough flesh, I can take a beating. If you keep holding back like that, I won't be polite with you!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
Zhu Lian shot forward like a wild mountain monkey, moving with such speed that he seemed like an immortal using an inch-to-a-thousand-miles spatial artifact. In the blink of an eye, he was before the old coachman, returning the favor with a straight punch.
Li Baozhen's eyesight was limited; he only saw Zhu Lian's punch, and then the two of them clashed in a small area, exchanging blows until he was dizzy and disoriented.
Soon, Li Baozhen's ears started to hurt. He swallowed some saliva, which gave him a little relief.
The old coachman let out a light shout. With his hands, he grabbed and deflected, tossing Zhu Lian into the reeds. He himself took a step back, stomping hard, and lifted one foot slightly to steady his stance.
If it weren't for worrying about Li Baozhen behind him, the old coachman could have thrown more unrestrained punches.
Zhu Lian's body stretched in midair. He landed on one foot on a slender reed stalk, swaying left and right a few times. He smiled. "Brother, it seems your journey since reaching the eighth realm hasn't been smooth. That path upward—did you crawl it?"
The old coachman sneered. "Isn't that a bit premature?"
Zhu Lian walked across the tops of clusters of reeds like a dragonfly skimming water. As his body stretched and flexed more, a series of cracking sounds like beans popping came from his joints. He chuckled. "Not premature, not at all. I'm just worried that if we really do fight to the death, you might not leave a dying message. I hear that eighth-realm martial artists under heaven are quite rare. If you drop dead like this, I'll feel sorry for you—like a fox mourning the death of a hare. Since my young master hasn't found you an eyesore yet, I'd better chat with you a bit."
The old coachman remained silent.
Inside the carriage, Liu Qingfeng started to rise.
A streak of white light suddenly appeared from Chen Ping'an's waist gourd, formed a swift arc, pierced through the carriage wall without any obstruction, and hovered at the center of Liu Qingfeng's brow.
Liu Qingfeng smiled and sat back in his seat.
Li Baozhen had just made a subtle move with his hand hidden in his sleeve when a flash of dark green sword light flickered, pierced his cuff, and then pinned a talisman into the carriage wall behind him.
That golden talisman was extremely strange. It had red talismanic script written on both sides. Not only that, but in the center of the talisman, on both sides, were depictions of a black-armored and a white-armored divine general.
It was a Day Night Traveling Deity True Form Talisman, a type long lost in the Haoran Heaven.
Li Baozhen sighed and said to the old coachman, "Stop. No need to fight. I, Li Baozhen, will just wait to die."
Zhu Lian said hastily, "No, don't! Brother, we fight our fight—it won't interfere with the main business between my young master and your master."
The old coachman nodded and shot toward Zhu Lian.
Chen Ping'an walked to the side of the carriage. Li Baozhen sat in the carriage, adopting a posture of offering his neck for the blade.
But Chen Ping'an looked toward the carriage curtain. "I initially thought it was like what the books say: 'in a house of cunning, ghosts watch the door.' But it turns out it's another saying from the book."
From inside the carriage, Liu Qingfeng said, "'Blessings and calamities have no doors; people summon them themselves'?"
Chen Ping'an said nothing more.
Big principles and small principles—scholars actually understand them all.
Especially someone like Liu Qingfeng, who had been well-read since childhood and had experience in officialdom.
Figures like Zhu Fengxian, the underworld tyrant, were actually easier for an observer to see through.
Life and death, honor and disgrace—straightforward.
Li Baozhen looked at Chen Ping'an.
He was sitting; Chen Ping'an was standing. Their eyes met.
Li Baozhen asked curiously, "No matter how you found me, after you kill me tonight, how will you go back to Great Li? Don't you want your ancestral home in Mud Vase Alley, Longquan County?"
Chen Ping'an looked at this member of the Li clan from Fulu Street, whom he had never met before but who had wholeheartedly wanted to kill him.
Same family—how were Li Xisheng and Little Baoping so different in character?
Seeing Chen Ping'an silent, Li Baozhen laughed. "I'm just a scholar. I can't withstand even one punch from you. Times really have changed, but in just a few years, the wheel has turned too fast. If I had known you'd change so much, I would have won over Zhu He back then. I wouldn't have had to leave my homeland and die in a foreign land."
One punch.
Li Baozhen clutched his stomach, his body curling up, almost vomiting bile.
Chen Ping'an had used only the strength of a second-realm martial artist for that punch.
Chen Ping'an grabbed Li Baozhen by the hair, yanked him off the carriage, and threw him aside. Li Baozhen rolled on the muddy road, finally lying spread-eagled, his face covered in tears—not from sadness or regret, but purely from the physical pain. He laughed loudly. "I never thought I, Li Baozhen, would see this day! Liu Qingfeng, remember to collect my corpse and send it back to Great Li, Longquan County!"
Chen Ping'an crouched down.
Li Baozhen met his gaze.
He saw a pair of eyes both familiar and strange.
This kind of expression was different from State Preceptor Cui Chan's unfathomable abyss. Li Baozhen was glad he couldn't see the bottom; otherwise, he would probably already be a corpse. Because 'discerning the fish in the deep water brings misfortune'—he was nowhere near qualified to probe the depths of that Embroidery Tiger's inner thoughts.
But the only similarity between Chen Ping'an's current gaze and the Great Li State Preceptor's was deeply ingrained in Li Baozhen's memory.
Vaguely, from one abyss and from the bottom of an old well, both had evil dragons lurking, ready to raise their heads.
Suddenly, a flash of pleasure filled Li Baozhen's eyes. He said softly, "Chen Ping'an, I'm waiting for you to become someone like me. I'm looking forward to that day."
Chen Ping'an grabbed a handful of mud from the ground. With one hand, he used a knife-hand strike to lightly tap Li Baozhen's Adam's apple. The moment the latter involuntarily opened his mouth, Chen Ping'an shoved the mud inside, then covered Li Baozhen's mouth with his palm. "Does it taste good?"
Li Baozhen struggled with his hands and feet, his face turning red.
Chen Ping'an tilted his head slightly. "What? I can't hear you. Why don't you speak up?"
Li Baozhen abruptly stopped struggling and, bit by bit, forced himself to swallow that large mouthful of mud, his eyes fixed on that indifferent young face.
Chen Ping'an lifted his hand. Li Baozhen's face contorted as he slurred, "Not bad!"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Right now, it's not easy to eat shit, but what's so hard about eating dirt?"
Exactly as before, Li Baozhen consumed another big handful of mud, and Chen Ping'an covered his mouth again, this time with more force. The back of Li Baozhen's head began to sink slightly into the muddy ground.
When Chen Ping'an let go, Li Baozhen's chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, then he started coughing violently, spitting out a lot of dirt.
Chen Ping'an raised his right hand and lightly flicked his sleeve, dispersing the mud that splattered toward him.
At the same time, Li Baozhen let out a miserable scream.
Chen Ping'an's left hand gripped Li Baozhen's left hand, which made a crackling sound. In Li Baozhen's palm, which had been quietly clenched into a fist, was a jade pendant he had secretly pulled from his waist.
It was a piece of ancestral mutton-fat jade inscribed with the archaic characters "Dragon Palace." Originally inconspicuous, it was now crystal clear, with a thin, thread-like light rapidly flowing inside it.
After Chen Ping'an crushed the bones in Li Baozhen's wrist, Li Baozhen's arm went limp and fell to the ground. The jade talisman, which had been just one step away from activating its spell, was now in Chen Ping'an's hand. "Thanks for that."
The flying swords First and Fifteenth returned from Liu Qingfeng's brow and the outer carriage wall, respectively. That rare talisman, which ordinary people might not recognize but Chen Ping'an had immediately seen through, was put into his storage artifact along with the "Dragon Palace" jade pendant.
In that book "True Traces of the Vermilion Book," this Day Night Traveling Deity True Form Talisman was of extremely high rank, recorded in detail on the third-to-last page.
Li Baozhen held his right hand over his left wrist, laughing bitterly. "You're ruthless. I'm afraid of you."
Those two items—the Dragon Palace jade pendant was one of the Li clan's ancestral life-saving talismans, and that talisman was a parting gift from his elder brother Li Xisheng.
The key point was that these two priceless immortal artifacts required Li Baozhen himself to "open the door" before anyone else could investigate them. Otherwise, for anyone below the Upper Five Realms, even a terrestrial immortal, they were worthless dead objects.
Chen Ping'an kicked Li Baozhen in the ribs. The latter rolled into the reeds and fell into the lake.
A broken bone needing a hundred days to heal.
Liu Qingfeng stood up, left the carriage, and jumped down. "Whatever the reason, I still thank Young Master Chen for sparing Li Baozhen's life."
Chen Ping'an asked, "What about Lion Garden? What about Liu Qingshan?"
Liu Qingfeng said, "I've already arranged a way out for them."
Chen Ping'an looked somewhat weary. He hadn't wanted to say much to the eldest son of the old vice minister, but thinking of that limping young scholar, he asked, "I believe the outcome you want is probably good. Liu Qingfeng, you should know yourself better now—you've changed paths. But how can you guarantee that you'll keep walking this path and not drift further and further from the result you want?"
Liu Qingfeng's smile was bitter. He looked into the distance and sighed. "I can only try walking it. Otherwise, from the Emperor down to the scholars and common people in our Qingluan Kingdom, everyone's backbone will soon be broken. Then we won't even be able to walk. Drinking poison to quench thirst—everyone knows it's bad. But if someone is dying of thirst, who wouldn't drink? It's like in the Lion Garden ancestral hall, when that Willow Tree Lady I dislike so much incited my father to involve you. If I were just a player in the game, I wouldn't have been able to stand up like Liu Qingshan and uphold the Liu family tradition. After weighing the pros and cons, I would have only gone against my conscience."
Liu Qingfeng withdrew his gaze and smiled. "Fortunately, things haven't reached the worst point. Every family has a hard scripture to recite. As the elder brother, I'll recite the hard scripture. Let my younger brother read the good books."
Chen Ping'an glanced toward the direction where Li Baozhen had fallen into the water. "You're still much better than that guy."
Chen Ping'an looked toward the distant fight in the reeds and called out, "Let's go."
Then he said to Liu Qingfeng, "You can go rescue him now."
Liu Qingfeng asked, "Why didn't you just kill Li Baozhen?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I promised someone before that I would spare Li Baozhen once."
Zhu Lian arrived in a flash, his face full of regret. He wiped the blood from his face. He had just gotten warmed up; the old coachman was about to go limp and enjoy some exquisite pain.
But seeing that Chen Ping'an didn't look like he wanted to talk, Zhu Lian didn't crack any jokes. He just followed silently.
Liu Qingfeng suddenly called out to Chen Ping'an's back, "Young Master Chen, after this, it's best not to stay near the capital waiting for an opportunity, thinking you can both keep your promise and run into Li Baozhen again."
Chen Ping'an turned his head and smiled. "Why?"
Liu Qingfeng smiled and shook his head, not revealing more.
The Great Li dynasty was about to send two people to be escorts for him and Li Baozhen, respectively. It was said that one of them was a former pillar of the Lu Dynasty's battlefield.
But that wasn't the most important part. The truly fatal point was that the Great Li State Preceptor, Cui Chan, was very likely still in Qingluan Kingdom at this moment.
Chen Ping'an and his group walked out of sight.
The old coachman rescued the barely alive Li Baozhen and gently helped him expel the water from his stomach.
It took Li Baozhen a long time to recover.
After taking a spin at death's door, he sat on the road, staring blankly.
The old coachman stood beside Li Baozhen and turned to look at Liu Qingfeng.
Liu Qingfeng smiled and shook his head.
So Li Baozhen took another spin at death's door.
Li Baozhen, with his back to the two who were exchanging glances, slapped his face vigorously a few times, then turned around with a smile. "It seems Mr. Liu still cares a lot about the State Preceptor's opinion."
Liu Qingfeng crouched down and smiled. "If someone else had come to Qingluan Kingdom, they might not have done better than you."
Li Baozhen burped theatrically. "Ate dirt and drank water—feeling a bit full. The martial world is indeed deep, and it's easy to die. Almost ended up cold at the bottom."
Liu Qingfeng helped Li Baozhen to his feet. "Looks like we need to go back to Lion Garden to get you a change of clothes."
Li Baozhen tilted his head, hopped a few times to shake the water out of his ears, and said with a brilliant smile, "No need to change. Let it be a lesson to me, so I won't go around thinking that after Heaven and the State Preceptor, it's me in third place!"
Liu Qingfeng said nothing.
After getting back into the carriage, Li Baozhen shivered.
The carriage moved slowly, leaving the reeds and entering the main road without encountering Chen Ping'an and his group again.
Liu Qingfeng said calmly, "First, I advise you to return to Lion Garden. Otherwise, you'll end up in the county office, and I'll have to take care of you while you're bedridden. Second, I also advise myself with a saying: 'Those who harm others with words are sharper than knives and axes; those who harm others with schemes are more poisonous than tigers and wolves.'"
Li Baozhen's lips were pale. He stared at this man, his teeth chattering. "Liu Qingfeng, do you know what I lost tonight when I crossed paths with Chen Ping'an? Do you need to tell me these insubstantial words?"
Liu Qingfeng asked, "Is it heavier than your life?"
Li Baozhen grinned. "That, it is not."
He turned and shouted to the old coachman, "Turn around! Back to Lion Garden!"
Liu Qingfeng began to rest with his eyes closed.
It was only at this moment that Li Baozhen truly regarded this man as an equal ally.
Or perhaps, Li Baozhen admitted that at present, he was indeed inferior to this Liu Qingfeng. Named "Clear Breeze," his heart was like dead ashes, yet there were signs of revival.
In dealing with the world, those who focus their minds do not hear the thunder's shock.
Who would have thought that such a character could emerge from a small place like Qingluan Kingdom?

Shi Rou was the most relaxed-minded of the group.
For some inexplicable reason, they had left the city in the middle of the night, and Chen Ping'an said they were going to see a fellow townsman.
Pei Qian hadn't thought much of it, but Shi Rou had sensed the unfamiliar aura—the killing intent—hidden in Chen Ping'an.
Sure enough, Zhu Lian had gotten into a big fight.
Fortunately, after Chen Ping'an and Zhu Lian returned, they said it was nothing.
Shi Rou didn't ask further. As long as Chen Ping'an himself said it was nothing, it was credible. If Zhu Lian had slapped his chest and guaranteed there were no worries, Shi Rou wouldn't have believed him.
Although Pei Qian didn't understand the details, the faint smell of blood on Zhu Lian was still quite frightening.
Pei Qian asked softly, "Master, was that an enemy from our hometown?"
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment, exhaled a long-held breath of stale air, took off his sword-nurturing gourd, drank some Foggy Pine wine bought from a tavern in the Qingluan capital, and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's over for now."
Pei Qian nodded, then asked with a smile, "Master, did you come out ahead or lose this time?"
Zhu Lian knew that Chen Ping'an had obtained a talisman and a jade pendant.
Though he hadn't looked at them carefully, Zhu Lian was certain that any of Chen Ping'an's fellow townsmen wandering outside were probably not ordinary people. For example, Zheng Dafeng of Old Dragon City, and Li Er, who had made a brief appearance before leaving—one was at the ninth realm, the other at the tenth. So the two things Chen Ping'an had taken from that guy were definitely valuable.
But Chen Ping'an said, "No gain, no loss. The two items I got, I'm going to give them to someone who's more suited to hold them."
Pei Qian said, "Oh."
As long as everything was fine.
She turned and looked far into the distance toward the Qingluan capital.
In one hand, she held her walking stick; in the other, she held her little hand-twisted gourd.
Zhu Lian turned his head, and Shi Rou's gaze shifted as well.
Zhu Lian smiled and asked, "Miss Shi Rou, were you worried about me?"
Shi Rou remained silent.
Zhu Lian clicked his tongue. "Miss Shi Rou, you don't know this, but the man I fought was a Far Roaming Realm martial grandmaster, with peak cultivation. One punch could shatter mountains, another could move seas..."
Shi Rou sneered. "And he still didn't manage to kill you. That means Zhu Lian, your fist techniques are divine and unmatched in the world?"
Zhu Lian chuckled. "You don't understand. That brother was too polite. He never wanted to trade lives with me from start to finish. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here beside you in one piece. You would have seen me with my skin torn open and bones exposed, a miserable sight. Then you'd be moved by the scene and shed tears of sorrow, and I'd be heartbroken, so furious that I'd go back, gather up that brother's scattered body parts, piece them together, and flog the corpse again..."
Shi Rou ignored him as if it were wind in her ears.
Chen Ping'an suddenly said, "After we visit the Cliff Academy in Great Sui and on the way back to Longquan County, we might need to find a female ghost in a wedding dress whose mansion is hidden in the mountains. Her cultivation isn't weak, but we might not find her."
Zhu Lian was delighted. "Young master, is that wedding-dress ghost pretty? Compared to Miss Shi Rou's appearance in life?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "The first time I saw her, she was wearing a bright red wedding dress with a pale white face. I only found it creepy. I didn't pay much attention to what she actually looked like."
Pei Qian secretly swallowed some saliva and stuck a talisman on her forehead.
Chen Ping'an asked softly, "That eighth-realm old man—how much of your strength would it take to beat him?"
Zhu Lian looked a little embarrassed. "Young master, when I fight someone one-on-one, once I get warmed up, I go all out. So if you had called me back just a little later, that brother would have been chopped into pieces. Whether he'd even become a water ghost is debatable."
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "That's... a good habit."
Zhu Lian looked sheepish.
Pei Qian gloated. "Old cook, not sucking up this time? Not saying you learned it from my master?"
Zhu Lian chuckled and kicked Pei Qian on the backside. Pei Qian lunged forward, but instinctively jabbed her walking stick into the ground, spinning her body around it quickly. She didn't bother to yell at Zhu Lian, nor was she curious about why she hadn't fallen. She just pulled out that walking stick, which had been her constant companion for a long time, ran to Chen Ping'an's side, and asked puzzledly, "Master, why hasn't this 'Mountain God Scepter' of mine broken yet? Look, not even a single crack! Did I find a treasure from the start? Is it really a divine tree planted by some mountain god?"
Chen Ping'an smiled without speaking.
Zhu Lian laughed heartily. "The young master long ago refined this walking stick using an immortal's small refinement method. Otherwise, it would have shattered long ago. Could an ordinary branch withstand the abuse of your crazy demon sword technique?"
Pei Qian scratched her head. "Oh."
It felt unexpected, yet perfectly logical.
Then, with her typical wild imagination, Pei Qian looked up at the night sky and asked, "Why isn't it raining yet?"
Chen Ping'an was practicing his six-step stance as he walked and asked, "Why should it rain?"
Pei Qian, also practicing the White Ape Back Sword technique with her walking stick as a sword, replied, "If it rains, I can hold an umbrella for you, Master."
Zhu Lian kicked at her again, but she dodged nimbly. He cursed with a laugh, "You little dwarf who only eats and doesn't grow—how are you supposed to hold an umbrella for the young master?"
Pei Qian was deeply troubled and dejected. "You're right."
Chen Ping'an comforted her. "The thought is what matters."
Zhu Lian chuckled. "That little money-loser only has her thoughts left."
Pei Qian glared at Zhu Lian. "If not for the fact that you're injured, I'd make you taste my self-created Crazy Demon Sword Technique."
"Come on, come on. Let's spar."
Zhu Lian took a step forward. Pei Qian laughed loudly and started running around Chen Ping'an.
Shi Rou was momentarily lost in thought.
Pei Qian, always at Chen Ping'an's side, whether climbing mountains or fording rivers, was still a little lump of charcoal.
But when she ran on the broad road under the bright moonlight, the little girl was covered in a thin layer of pure, white radiance.
Shi Rou wondered whether, one day, when Pei Qian traveled the martial world alone, she would present a completely different scene.
Like a blazing sun, so bright that people would feel their eyes burn just by looking at it from afar.
But this complicated emotion soon faded as they continued their journey. Shi Rou began to regret having such a pointless thought.
That Pei Qian was just too much of a wild girl.
It had been summer for a while now, and they were approaching the immortal ferry at the eastern border of Qingluan Kingdom.
One day, deep in the mountains and forests, Pei Qian ran a little farther away to gather dead twigs for a fire. When she came back, she was covered in mud, her hair full of grass, and she had caught a wild gray rabbit. Holding it by the ears, she sprinted back, stood beside Chen Ping'an, and shook the poor rabbit vigorously. "Master! Look what I caught! A legendary 'mountain leaper'! Runs super fast!"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Today we're only eating vegetarian, no meat. Let it go."
Pei Qian was stunned. Then she felt a little reluctant—she had worked so hard to catch it. She asked, "Master, can we fatten it up first before killing and eating it? I'll find a long rope to tie it up, and I'll take it along on the journey."
Chen Ping'an waved his hand. "If you really want to eat meat, I'll have Zhu Lian catch you a wild boar later."
Pei Qian thought it over. It was still a sure-win deal. Let it go then. She nodded, took a deep breath, spun around, and threw the rabbit in her hand with all her might. With a whoosh, the rabbit—lucky or unlucky—instantly disappeared. "Fly, little bro!"
Shi Rou put her hand to her forehead.
Pei Qian clapped her hands, crouched beside Chen Ping'an, who was building a stove, and asked curiously, "Master, is today some special day? Is there a rule? Like it's the birthday of some powerful mountain god, so we can't eat meat in the mountains?"
Chen Ping'an just smiled. "No rule."
The immortal ferry on the border was the least pretentious one Chen Ping'an had ever seen.
Not only did it have no hidden mountain and water restrictions, it even seemed afraid that secular rich people wouldn't want to come. Dozens of miles away, it started advertising. It turned out that this ferry had many strange routes. For example, to go to some immortal cave near Qingluan Kingdom, one could go to the "Fishing Platform" on the mountain peak and cast a line into the sea of clouds to catch certain rare birds and flying fish.
So the roads were crowded and packed with people.
Here, Chen Ping'an heard many pieces of news from the capital.
For instance, the Tang Emperor had followed the people's will and established Confucianism as the state religion.
As for which of Buddhism and Taoism would come second, it was said that a decision was still pending.
A small capital Taoist temple called White Cloud Temple had suddenly become the Qingluan royal family's exclusive temple for burning incense and worshiping gods.
A young monk from White Water Temple, previously unknown, had begun preaching to the world. In temples, on main roads, and in the markets and alleyways, it was said that his sermons were extremely simple and basic, understandable even by children in kindergarten.
Smoothly, they boarded the medium-sized immortal ferry.
Pei Qian seemed a bit down, in a bad mood. After copying books in Chen Ping'an's room, she silently returned to her own, a far cry from the usual Pei Qian.
So Chen Ping'an went to ask Zhu Lian, but Zhu Lian couldn't figure it out either. He had to ask Shi Rou, who offered her own insight.
So that day, after Pei Qian finished copying her books, she was about to leave.
Chen Ping'an stopped her and took her out of the room to enjoy the cloud sea scenery from the bow.
The two of them, one big and one small, stood by the railing. Chen Ping'an took off his sword-nurturing gourd, ready to drink.
Pei Qian pulled out her little hand-twisted gourd, held it high above her head, and looked at it left and right.
Chen Ping'an still didn't drink. He tucked the wine gourd back at his waist and turned to ask with a smile, "Something on your mind?"
Pei Qian stood on tiptoe, leaning on the railing, and asked softly, "Master, when we get to the Cliff Academy, will you only like that Little Baoping who calls you 'Little Uncle' and not like me anymore?"
Chen Ping'an looked into the distance and shook his head. "No, that won't happen."
Pei Qian plopped down on the ground, crossing her arms. "I don't believe it!"
Chen Ping'an sat beside her, lifted his foot a little, and gave her a meaningful look.
As soon as Pei Qian saw the boots on his feet, she immediately smiled, her eyes squinting. She pinched her little yellow-skinned gourd with two fingers and shook it. "Master, let's drink!"
Chen Ping'an laughed heartily, took off his sword-nurturing gourd again, and gently clinked it against her little gourd. He took a sip.
Pei Qian pretended that there was wine in her own little gourd. She mimicked taking a drink, then stood up, took a few steps back, and staggered around as if she were drunk, a little tipsy girl. "Oh, Master, I'm too drunk, too drunk..."
Chen Ping'an watched this scene and couldn't help but smile.
He was just about to warn her.
Pei Qian lightly bumped into a burly man passing by. The man, with a long saber at his waist, sneered. "Blind little thing! Get the hell away from me!"
The man reached out and pressed his palm on Pei Qian's head, twisting his wrist as if to throw her aside.
But before he could exert force, his wrist was caught by the young man, who had been seen from behind with a sword on his back.
Pei Qian quickly apologized to the man. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you coming. I'm sorry."
The man frowned. Probably feeling that being stopped like this had made him lose face, he refused to believe it. He suddenly increased his strength, intending to use his martial energy to throw off this clueless weakling and then toss that annoying little charcoal lump aside.
But in an instant, a sharp pain shot through his wrist, so intense that the burly, saber-wielding man directly fell to one knee with a thud, drenched in sweat.
Chen Ping'an smiled slightly at Pei Qian, signaling her to stand behind him.
With one hand holding the gourd behind him, Chen Ping'an changed from gripping the pure martial artist's wrist to clawing at the top of the man's head with his five fingers. He bent down and asked expressionlessly, "Are you looking for death?"
His five fingers were like hooks.
The burly man's face turned pale. He gritted his teeth and refused to beg for mercy.
Unable to bear the pain, the man growled angrily, "A grudge is set! This isn't over!"
Along with the seven or eight traveling companions who had boarded the ferry with him, they all surged forward, intending to use their numbers to have some fun—beating this big and little pair to pass the time.
But then two flying swords suddenly halted at the brow of the man in the lead.
At that, everyone felt as if they had fallen into an ice cavern, chilled to the bone in the midsummer heat.
Under heaven, sword cultivators killed with the most righteous justification!
However, that group probably didn't know that, setting aside the matter of being a sword cultivator, Chen Ping'an had made plenty of enemies. And the backgrounds of those deadly foes were not small.
So this was the thing Chen Ping'an least feared.
Chen Ping'an lifted the kneeling burly man with one hand, then kicked him in the chest. The man flew backward, knocking down several companions, causing a chaotic scramble. Then the sorry band of brothers scrambled away desperately.
Chen Ping'an turned back to Pei Qian and smiled. "Don't be afraid. In the future, when you travel the martial world and someone bullies you, just come home. Find your master."