Chapter 411: I Need to Think It Over Again

Chapter 411: I Need to Think It Over Again

Inside the study, the silence was so profound you could hear a pin drop.

Chen Ping'an was contemplating these two questions. Subconsciously, he wanted to pick up the sword-nurturing gourd containing the alley rice wine, but he quickly released his grip.

Cui Dongshan did not urge him.

Mao Xiaodong's fingers caressed that discipline ruler.

Chen Ping'an said, "I don't have an answer yet. I need to think it over."

Cui Dongshan nodded, smiling brightly. "This, don't rush. The student asks casually, the teacher answers casually."

Chen Ping'an rose to take his leave. Cui Dongshan said he wanted to stay and chat with Mao Xiaodong for a while about the upcoming situation in the Great Sui capital, so he remained in the study.

When Chen Ping'an reached the doorway, he turned around, raised his hand, and pointed at Cui Dongshan's forehead. "Aren't you going to wipe that off?"

Cui Dongshan looked as if he had just realized something. He quickly reached up to wipe away the vermillion seal imprint, his face showing embarrassment. "It's been a while since I left the academy, so my relationship with Little Baoping has grown somewhat distant. Actually, it wasn't like this before. Every time Little Baoping saw me, she was especially cordial."

Chen Ping'an closed the door, and the sound of his footsteps gradually faded away down the corridor.

Cui Dongshan tiptoed over to the door, pressed his ear against it, and then suddenly burst into loud laughter.

He straightened up, stretched his arms out sideways, and began shaking them vigorously. His two wide sleeves fluttered like waves as he rejoiced, "Won't have to get scolded or beaten anymore!"

Mao Xiaodong looked at that grinning, cheeky fellow with confusion. "When you were studying under the teacher, you weren't like this bird-like manner at all. When you were in Great Li, I heard Qi Jingchun talk about his earliest encounters with you. From the sound of it, you were quite proper and serious back then. You liked to put on airs?"

Cui Dongshan bounced up, hovering high in the air. Then he leaned forward, assuming a swimming posture, and began paddling with a doggy paddle style, swimming back and forth across Mao Xiaodong's solemn study. He muttered to himself, "When I was tricked into the old scholar's sect, I was already over twenty. If I remember correctly, just running away from my hometown on Baoping Continent and traveling to the Humble Alley where the old scholar was on Middle Earth Divine Continent took three years. The road was full of pitfalls, and I suffered no small amount of hardship. But I never imagined that after three years, instead of bitter turning to sweet and achieving the true fruit, I'd fall into the biggest pit of all. Every day was filled with anxiety, half-fed and half-starved, worrying that the two of us might starve to death any day. How could my mindset back then compare to now? Can you imagine the two of us, me and the old scholar, carrying two little stools, sitting in the doorway sunbathing on empty stomachs, counting our fingers and calculating when the Cui family would send us silver next? Can you imagine one time when a ferry broke down, and the two of us went digging for earthworms to go fishing by the river? That was when the old scholar came up with that famous line that made all the earthworm-kind under heaven grateful to him?"

"So you see, the old scholar's knowledge was all born from hunger. It's that saying about how literary work resents a fortunate fate. Look at how many good essays the old scholar produced after he gained fame later on, huh? Of course there were good ones, but in truth, whether in quantity or in intention, they generally couldn't compare with before he became famous. There's no helping it—he was busy afterward, participating in Three Teachings debates, receiving fervent invitations from the grand sacrificial officials of the academies, academy masters crying and shouting for him to come spread the Dao and give lectures, using his destiny characters to crush the golden body of a great mountain deity, then running over to the heavenly curtain to act recklessly with the Dao Ancestor, begging someone to chop him to death, diving into the bottom of the River of Time to fish out those shattered blessed lands. These were still the major matters. The minor matters were even more numerous than ox-hairs: going to an old friend's tavern to drink and chat, exchanging letters with people, bickering on paper—when did he have the time to write essays?"

Mao Xiaodong snorted coldly. "Stop showing off old history in front of me, you teacher-betraying, ancestor-destroying piece of trash. You have the nerve to reminisce about your past days of study?"

Cui Dongshan hovered in the air, leisurely swimming a circle around Mao Xiaodong, who was sitting stiffly upright in his chair. "Little Dong, you have a good heart. Afraid that me and that old bastard might conspire against my teacher, you were busy trying to seek a 'blocking is worse than channeling' approach on the matter of the Mind Lake for the teacher. It's just that... your foundation in scholarship is ultimately a bit thin. Still, I have to thank you. I, Cui Dongshan, am not the kind of scholar nowadays who has honey on his lips but a sword in his heart and a knife in his hand. I remember your kindness, so I genuinely helped you kill that Nascent Soul sword cultivator without damaging the academy's buildings much. If it had been you guarding the academy, could you have managed? Could you have kept Donghua Mountain's literary fortune from taking serious damage?"

Mao Xiaodong chuckled. "Then I suppose I should thank your parents for giving birth to such a great philanthropist as you, huh?"

Cui Dongshan flipped his body over, assuming a backstroke posture, and said indignantly, "If we're going to argue, then argue. If we're going to curse people out, then curse them out. But what kind of skill is it to drag someone's parents and ancestors into it?"

Mao Xiaodong clicked his tongue. "You, Cui Dongshan, after betraying your teacher's sect and wandering alone through Middle Earth Divine Continent, what deeds did you do, what dirty words did you say? You know in your own heart, don't you? I only learned a bit of the superficial knowledge from you."

Cui Dongshan drifted down to the ground, laughing. "Little Dong, you're not my disciple, so why imitate me? If you're willing to pay, I wouldn't mind teaching you. Otherwise, let me tell you, for a scholar, stealing knowledge is still stealing!"

Mao Xiaodong suddenly stood up and walked to the window, his brow deeply furrowed. In a flash, he disappeared, and Cui Dongshan vanished along with him.

The two of them stood atop that large tree at the peak of Donghua Mountain. Mao Xiaodong asked, "I can only vaguely sense some elusive signs through the literary fortune of Great Sui, but it's very difficult for me to truly drag them out. Do you actually know who the person behind the scenes is? Can you name names?"

Cui Dongshan sat on a high branch, taking out that facial mask crafted by a Mohist mechanism master with the aid of yin-yang arts. He caressed it fondly. Truly a top-tier treasure for wild cultivators to kill and steal—definitely worth a sky-high price. In response to Mao Xiaodong's question, Cui Dongshan mocked him, "I advise you not to go looking for trouble. They haven't deliberately targeted anyone, which is already quite considerate. You, Mao Xiaodong, aren't the emperor of Great Sui, and Shanya Academy no longer has the title of 'one of the seventy-two' nowadays. What if you run into some great cultivator who has merged with the Dao and belongs to an 'upper lineage' among the Hundred Schools? They act according to their own lineage's great Dao principles. If you charge headfirst into them, you're just seeking death. The Middle Earth Academy won't cry foul for you. Historically, such tragic incidents have occurred before."

Mao Xiaodong sneered coldly. "The School of Vertical and Horizontal Alliances is naturally a first-class 'upper lineage.' But that School of Commerce isn't even ranked among the Hundred Schools. If not for the Saint of Rites personally interceding back then, they would have almost been completely expelled from the Hundred Schools by the lineage of the Second Sage, wouldn't they?"

Cui Dongshan sighed emotionally. "You only see the surface, not the interior. Have you never considered why the Saint of Rites, who almost never shows himself, would break precedent to appear? Do you think the Saint of Rites coveted the School of Commerce's offerings and wealth?"

Mao Xiaodong flew into a rage. "Cui Dongshan, do not insult a meritorious saint!"

Cui Dongshan, who was rarely addressed by his full name by Mao Xiaodong, remained composed. "You say that. Since you revere the Saint of Rites so deeply in your heart, why, when the old scholar fell back then, didn't you simply switch allegiances? The lineage of the Saint of Rites did come looking for you, didn't they? Why did you instead follow Qi Jingchun to Great Li and establish an academy right under my nose—isn't that just mutually disgusting each other? Why go through the trouble? If you had changed scholarly lineages, you, Mao Xiaodong, would have long been a solid Jade Marrow realm cultivator. The rumors in the martial world say that the old scholar, in order to convince you to take a position at the Rites Academy, said things like, 'Hurry over to the academy and grab a spot. Later, if your teacher falls on hard times, at least I can go over to your place and beg for a meal.' Even words like that, the old scholar could say, and you still wouldn't go? What's the result now? Within Confucianism, you, Mao Xiaodong, are still just a Worthy. On the path of cultivation, you haven't advanced an inch, wasting a hundred years of time."

Mao Xiaodong murmured, "For a cultivator, does the level of one's realm really matter that much?"

Mao Xiaodong answered his own question. "Of course it matters a lot. But for me, Mao Xiaodong, it's not the most important thing. So when it comes to making choices, it's not difficult at all."

Cui Dongshan sighed with feeling. "Foolish child."

Mao Xiaodong's face darkened. "Little bastard, say that again?!"

Cui Dongshan weighed the situation in his mind and decided that if they really fought, now that Mao Xiaodong had gotten his jade tablet back, he would definitely be pinned down and beaten on the ground. Within a small heavenly realm, there were mechanisms and formations that could restrain a qi refiner's magic treasures and techniques.

So Cui Dongshan smiled ingratiatingly and changed the subject. "Do you really think there's no hidden significance in the Great Li envoys participating in the Great Sui Thousand Elders Banquet this time?"

Mao Xiaodong asked, "What do you mean?"

Cui Dongshan pulled out a folding fan with text on both sides and gently fanned himself with a cool breeze. "Completely shattering the wishful thinking of the Geyang Gao clan, forcing Great Sui to abide by the treaty, and obediently shrink back within its borders for a hundred years."

Mao Xiaodong said doubtfully, "If the person behind this scheme truly has as great a background as you say, would they be willing to sit down and negotiate properly? Even a Daoist Heavenly Lord from Northern Julu Continent, like Xie Shi, might not have that much weight, right?"

Mao Xiaodong quickly nodded. "The chivalrous hero Xu Ruo. Being able to persuade the main lineage of the Mohist school to set aside past grievances with his collateral branch, and to go all in on betting on Great Li—this Xu Ruo is indeed no simple figure."

Cui Dongshan rustled his folding fan. "Little Dong, it's not that I'm praising you, but you're getting smarter and smarter now. Sure enough, it's from spending too much time with me, like being in a room full of orchids for a long time—the body naturally becomes fragrant."

Mao Xiaodong glanced at Cui Dongshan. On the side of the fan facing him were written four big characters: "Use Virtue to Convince Others."

Cui Dongshan also glanced at Mao Xiaodong. "Not convinced?"

Mao Xiaodong asked with a beaming smile, "If I'm not convinced, what then? Why don't you explain it to me?"

Cui Dongshan twisted his fingers and flipped the fan to the other side. There were another four characters written on it, which were probably the answer. Mao Xiaodong looked and laughed. "Beat to Death If Unconvinced."

With a flick of his sleeve, Mao Xiaodong sent Cui Dongshan, that little bastard, flying from the tree branch at the mountain's peak, crashing straight toward the lake surface halfway down the mountain.

Cui Dongshan deliberately didn't dodge. Instead of plunging into the lake, his white-robed figure spun rapidly in place, tracing out circles that grew larger and larger. Finally, the entire lake surface became a scene of dazzling white, as if a heavy goose-feather snow had fallen, accumulating snow that pressed down upon the lake.

Cui Dongshan drifted out of the lake and stood by its shore, admiring the beautiful scene before him—a summer day transformed into winter after snow. Quite pleased with himself, he nodded and said, "Beautifully done! I am convinced!"

---

Chen Ping'an arrived at Cui Dongshan's courtyard.

Zhu Lian had already bandaged his wounds. Though a faint smell of blood emanated from him, Zhu Lian was talking and laughing as usual, sitting on the steps, telling Li Huai and Pei Qian, those two little rascals, about how that great battle was so thrilling and soul-stirring.

Lin Shouyi was busy stabilizing his mind and qi flow. It was quite difficult, as entering and exiting the River of Time two or three times in succession would greatly benefit any cultivator—as long as it didn't leave behind root problems or lingering ailments—especially in helping them break through to the Golden Core earthly immortal realm in the future.

Xie Xie had a ghastly pale complexion and was not lightly injured. More than that, her soul had previously been thrown into turmoil along with the small heavenly realm and the flowing waters of time. Yet she wasn't sitting on the green bamboo corridor recuperating. Instead, she sat not far from Pei Qian, occasionally glancing toward the courtyard entrance.

Shi Rou had been pulled out from the broken floorboards by Yu Lu. She was now lying flat on the corridor, having regained consciousness. However, within her belly there "lived" a departing fire flying sword that had belonged to that Nascent Soul sword cultivator, and it was currently churning her insides, causing severe abdominal pain. She was waiting eagerly for Cui Dongshan to return and rescue her from this sea of suffering.

Li Baoping was squatting beside "Du Mao," asking with curiosity, "Pei Qian said I should call you Sister Shi Rou. Why is that?"

Shi Rou was about to speak, but Li Baoping considerately said, "We can talk after that flying sword in your stomach comes out."

Shi Rou smiled bitterly and nodded.

Yu Lu was sweeping the courtyard with a broom. His injured hand had also been properly bandaged.

Chen Ping'an breathed a sigh of relief.

On his way here, he had seen that white deer belonging to the old master Zhao Shi. It had been hit by the secret technique prohibition of the person behind the scenes and was still lying stiffly on the ground.

Chen Ping'an didn't dare move it recklessly, so he could only leave it for Cui Dongshan to handle.

Chen Ping'an stopped beside Yu Lu and raised his hand. Earlier, when he had grasped the hilt of the sword immortal on his back, his hand had been reduced to a bloody mess. He had applied some hemostatic herbs gathered from the mountains and some flesh-regenerating ointment from mountain immortal families, then bandaged it up with practiced ease. Now he shook his hand at Yu Lu and laughed. "Brothers in misery?"

Yu Lu smiled and asked, "How did you get injured?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head. "It's too embarrassing to talk about. Let's just drop it."

Chen Ping'an turned his head to look at Li Baoping and Pei Qian. "Go ahead and keep playing. There probably won't be any more trouble. But for now, you still need to stay here. Since you're staying in someone else's home, remember not to be too familiar."

Li Huai said, "Chen Ping'an, what are you saying? Cui Dongshan and I are old friends. My friend is your friend, and your friend is Pei Qian's friend. Since we're all friends, not being familiar with each other is the right thing."

Chen Ping'an laughed. "Take that twisted logic of yours and say it to someone else."

Li Huai abruptly turned his head and said to Pei Qian, "Pei Qian, do you think my reasoning makes sense?"

Pei Qian decisively said, "My master is right. It's twisted logic!"

Li Huai said with a pained heart, "Pei Qian, I never thought you'd be this kind of person. What about your martial arts code? Didn't we agree to travel the jianghu together and dig for treasures everywhere? And here we haven't even started walking the jianghu to earn big money yet, and we're already breaking up our partnership?"

Pei Qian chuckled. "After we finish our partnership-breaking meal, we can form a new partnership."

Li Huai rubbed his chin. "That... also kind of makes sense."

Chen Ping'an went over and sat down beside Lin Shouyi. He asked softly, "How is it?"

Lin Shouyi sighed and mocked himself. "When gods fight, the ants suffer."

Chen Ping'an didn't say anything further.

Lin Shouyi smiled slightly. "When Cui Dongshan comes back, tell him I'll still come here often in the future. Remember to phrase it carefully—say it's your idea. Since Cui Dongshan dares not disobey a teacher's command, I'll come."

Chen Ping'an held back for a moment. Since Xie Xie was also present, he didn't expose the truth—that it had been Cui Dongshan who had invited Lin Shouyi here for cultivation in the first place. He said, "If you asked him yourself, it would work just fine too."

Lin Shouyi lowered his voice. "Owing Cui Dongshan a favor has to be repaid someday, and he gets to decide how. It's better to owe you a favor. That still has to be repaid, but at least I can decide the terms myself."

Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "Isn't this bullying the weak and fearing the strong?"

Lin Shouyi shook his head. "This is called bullying the good and not the evil."

Chen Ping'an took off his sword-nurturing gourd and drank the mellow rice wine inside.

Lin Shouyi asked, "The academy's library building is not bad. I'm pretty familiar with it. If you plan to go look for books there later, I can help show you the way."

Chen Ping'an said, "Probably won't go. I can't take in that much knowledge anymore."

Lin Shouyi laughed indignantly. "You could at least pretend to nod and agree, just so I can repay a small favor to you first. How can you be so clueless about the ways of the world?"

Chen Ping'an coughed a couple of times, wiped the corner of his mouth, and turned his head. "Lin Shouyi, did you enter a fake Shanya Academy and read fake sacred texts for several years?"

Lin Shouyi burst out laughing.

Pei Qian nudged Li Huai with her elbow and asked quietly, "Is my master really that close with Lin Shouyi?"

Li Huai didn't look up, busy fiddling with his painted wooden puppet. He said casually, "Not at all. Chen Ping'an is only close with me. His relationship with everyone else is just so-so."

Li Baoping silently came up behind Li Huai and kicked him to the ground.

Li Huai sat up, his face crumpled. "Li Baoping, if you keep this up, I'll take Pei Qian and set up our own independent sect. I won't recognize you as our martial arts alliance leader anymore!"

Li Baoping curled her lip, looking utterly contemptuous.

Nowadays, as for Li Huai and Pei Qian, the former had landed the position of Little Master of Some Schoolhouse, East Hua Mountain Branch, under the Longquan Commandery General Headquarters. He had been expelled once, but after Chen Ping'an arrived at the academy and thanks to Li Huai's shameless persistence, coupled with his promise not to rank last in his next academic assessment, Li Baoping had shown leniency and restored Li Huai's jianghu identity.

As for Pei Qian, Li Baoping said they had to be impartial. Pei Qian's qualifications were still shallow, so she could only be temporarily attached to the lowest-level schoolhouse branch, merely as an apprentice. Pei Qian thought this was fine. Li Huai thought it was even better—it made him one rank higher than Pei Qian, this exiled folk princess. As a result, Liu Guan and Ma Lian had both become apprentice disciples under the martial arts alliance leader Li Baoping. However, Li Huai's two classmates had ulterior motives. Liu Guan, who was as sly as a ghost, was after Pei Qian's noble lineage as a princess. As for Ma Lian, who came from one of Great Sui's top powerful clans, he blushed every time he saw Li Baoping, and couldn't even speak clearly.

Cui Dongshan swaggered into the courtyard, dragging the poor white deer by one leg. He casually tossed it into the yard.

The white deer seemed to have had its prohibitions broken by Cui Dongshan, restoring it to its true nature as a spiritual creature. However, its spirit and energy had not yet recovered, and it appeared somewhat listless. It slid a short distance across the yard, letting out a series of mournful cries.

There was none of that beautiful "yōu yōu deer cry" recorded in the books.

Li Huai's eyes widened in disbelief. "This is the white deer belonging to Old Master Zhao Shi? Cui Dongshan, did you steal it and bring it here? Are Pei Qian and I supposed to eat this for our partnership-breaking dinner tonight? Seems a bit inappropriate?"

Pei Qian almost drooled. She wiped her mouth and quickly signaled Li Huai with her eyes.

Li Huai coughed a few times. "Eating roasted venison isn't completely out of the question. I've never had it before."

Li Huai turned his head and shouted at Chen Ping'an, "Chen Ping'an, you brought salt and oil, right?!"

Chen Ping'an cursed with a laugh, "Eating venison? Do you want to get beaten with the academy master's discipline ruler for a whole year?"

Li Huai blinked his eyes. "Cui Dongshan stole it. Old Chef Zhu killed it. You, Chen Ping'an, roasted it. I just couldn't resist the temptation and, egged on by Lin Shouyi, took a few bites of venison. Is that against the law too?"

Cui Dongshan suddenly cried out in surprise. He crouched down, staring at the white deer, and noticed that it was staring at Li Huai.

Li Huai also noticed this. He always felt that the white deer's gaze was too much like a living person's, so he felt a bit guilty.

The white deer swayed as it stood up and slowly walked toward Li Huai.

Li Huai was so scared he lost control of his bowels and bladder. He turned around and scrambled toward the main house on all fours, crawling as fast as he could.

The white deer made a light, agile leap and landed on the green bamboo corridor, following Li Huai into the house.

Chen Ping'an looked at Cui Dongshan with confusion.

Cui Dongshan smiled slightly. "Teacher doesn't need to worry. It's just that this kid Li Huai was born with a dog-shit luck—good fortune falls from heaven right into his lap while he's sitting at home. This spiritual white deer feels a natural closeness to Li Huai. When Zhao Shi is found by the Great Sui, I'll talk to that fellow about this matter. I believe that from now on, Shanya Academy will have one more white deer."

Chen Ping'an rubbed his forehead.

As expected of Li Huai.

A moment later, Li Huai rode the white deer out of the main house, laughing heartily. He showed off to Li Baoping and Pei Qian, "Pretty impressive, huh?"

Li Baoping couldn't be bothered with him. She sat down beside Little Master.

Pei Qian nodded, a little envious. Then she turned to look at Chen Ping'an, her face pitiful. "Master, when will I get a little donkey?"

Chen Ping'an smiled. "Later, when we get to Longquan Commandery, I'll try to find a suitable one for you."

Pei Qian beamed with joy.

Cui Dongshan walked over to Shi Rou. Shi Rou had already propped herself up against the wall, sitting in the corridor. Standing up was still quite difficult. Facing Cui Dongshan, she was very fearful—she didn't even dare raise her head to meet his eyes.

Cui Dongshan crouched down, shifted his position a little, making sure his back was turned to Chen Ping'an.

He was about to say some comforting words while doing some small movements that would make Shi Rou wish she were dead but unable to utter a sound.

Shi Rou was horrified to find that she could no longer move. She saw Cui Dongshan's face, which was sinisterly cold.

Fortunately, from a distance, Chen Ping'an spoke words that sounded like heavenly music to Shi Rou's ears. "If you're taking out the sword, take the sword. No unnecessary hands and feet."

Cui Dongshan's face scrunched up. "Ah..."

Chen Ping'an sat there slowly drinking his wine, looking at the slightly cramped little courtyard. Compared to his days studying and traveling in Great Sui back then, this time there was Zhu Lian and Pei Qian, and Shi Rou. The only thing missing was a swordsman wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a saber.

Chen Ping'an put away his thoughts. Suddenly he looked at Cui Dongshan's back and said, "I need to think it over again."

Cui Dongshan was concentrating intently on subduing that departing fire flying sword, which had begun hiding and dodging inside the immortal's abandoned shell. It seemed he hadn't heard this sentence.