Chapter 441: Birds Vanish in the Ice Cave
Even someone like Zhang Yan, an old-timer from Shujian Lake, never expected today's snowfall to be particularly heavy and last so long.
The raging momentum was as if it intended to raise the water level of Shujian Lake by a full foot.
Heavy snow heralds a bountiful year.
This was not just a common proverb; in the eyes of tens of thousands of wild cultivators in Shujian Lake, it was equally applicable. Rootless waters like rain, snow, and morning dew were naturally beneficial for the spiritual energy and water fortune of Shujian Lake. The many islands probably wished that this heavy snow would fall only on their own heads—not snowflakes, but snowflake money, a pile of immortal coins.
In fact, quite a few Earth Immortal cultivators had already gone up to the heavens, using their divine abilities and signature techniques to seize tangible benefits for their own islands.
On the day of the Winter Solstice, following the customs of their hometown, the Chunting Mansion made dumplings.
The day before, the little mudfish had finally suppressed her injuries and secretly returned to the shore. Then today, Gu Can sent her to call Chen Ping'an to the mansion for dumplings. When speaking, Gu Can was busy with his mother at the stove. Now the kitchen of Chunting Mansion was larger than the combined ancestral houses of Gu Can and Chen Ping'an in Clay Vase Alley.
On her way to the mountain gate, the little mudfish was also curious. Gu Can said that Chen Ping'an might want to give her something. What could it be?
She had heard that Chen Ping'an had been living in seclusion for the past ten days, barely leaving his house. Occasionally, he would only open the door to look at the scenery of the lake sealed by heavy snow, quite different from his earlier habit of roaming around Shujian Lake.
She was still afraid of Chen Ping'an.
At first, when they met again in Chishui City, it was an instinctive awe related to the foundation of her own Great Path. After Chen Ping'an's battle with Liu Laocheng, the little mudfish, whom Chen Ping'an had named Tanxue, became even more afraid.
She genuinely liked Gu Can as her master and had always been glad that Chen Ping'an had gifted her to Gu Can back then.
By Chen Ping'an's side, she now felt constrained.
She arrived at the house and knocked gently.
Chen Ping'an's hoarse voice came from inside: "The door isn't bolted. Come in. Be careful not to step on the blue stone slab."
She opened the door, and the chill accumulated by the heavy winter snow outside rushed into the room.
At first, she didn't pay attention—she was naturally fond of the bitter cold of the changing seasons. But when she saw Chen Ping'an, his face deathly pale behind the desk, starting to cough, she immediately closed the door. She skirted around the large blue stone slab that was as big as the carpet in Gu Can's study and stood timidly near the desk. "Master, Gu Can sent me to invite you to Chunting Mansion for dumplings."
Chen Ping'an had already stopped writing. On his knees rested a bamboo-woven copper charcoal brazier he had made himself for warmth. He was warming his palms over the charcoal to dispel the cold. He said apologetically, "I won't go. Later, please help me apologize to Gu Can and Auntie."
She said softly, "Master, if you're worried about the wind and snow outside, Tanxue can help a little."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "Forget it."
She wanted to say something more, but when she looked into Chen Ping'an's eyes, she immediately gave up the idea.
Chen Ping'an asked, "Do you know why I named you Tanxue?"
She shook her head.
Chen Ping'an said slowly, "Ice and charcoal cannot share the same furnace. Even a child understands this truth, right?"
She nodded.
Chen Ping'an continued, "So charcoal and snow sharing a furnace—being able to get close and harmonious—is most precious. That's one reason. The other is that I had selfish motives. Seeing you reminds me that giving you to Gu Can was indeed an act of sending charcoal in snowy weather. If..."
Chen Ping'an stopped speaking. He raised one hand from the charcoal brazier and picked up an engraving knife on the table.
This movement made Tanxue, a severely wounded Nascent Soul cultivator—though a starved camel is bigger than a horse—involuntarily twitch her eyelids.
On the table lay a bamboo sheath and bamboo knife he had made just last night. Originally, he had wanted Zeng Ye, who liked snowy scenery, to go to Purple Bamboo Island to ask for or buy a bamboo stalk. But then he thought that green bamboo might look better for a bamboo knife, and the purple sheath and knife hanging at the waist seemed a bit too flashy. So he changed his mind and had Zeng Ye chop down a green bamboo stalk from Green Gorge Island and bring it back. Chen Ping'an worked through the night to make the knife and sheath. From the leftover scraps, he also carved a pile of small bamboo slips. On the table were several blank slips without any characters, but unlike the previously carved ones, these new slips from Green Gorge Island were no longer uniform in size—they varied in length and thickness.
At this moment, Chen Ping'an picked up the engraving knife that had come as a free gift from a shop in the Great Sui capital. He selected the longest bamboo slip and, near one end, made a single clean cut, severing it into two pieces of vastly different lengths. Then he cut the longer piece multiple times, the gaps between cuts resembling the joints of a green bamboo.
Chimney smoke curling in the alleys; sunlight high over the ridges; between the two ancestral houses in Clay Vase Alley; the resplendent Chunting Mansion; the lawless land of Shujian Lake.
This scene—though she had no idea what Chen Ping'an was doing or what he was pondering—still made Tanxue's heart pound with fear.
This descendant of a true dragon, who had shown no fear even toward Liu Laocheng, now looked like a naughty child about to be punished, waiting for the ruler to fall on her palm before a teacher settling scores after autumn.
Chen Ping'an didn't look up, just stared at the repeatedly severed bamboo slip. "In our hometown, there's a saying: 'Lotus roots don't cross bridges; bamboo doesn't cross ditches.' Have you heard it?"
Tanxue hesitated, then said softly, "In Lizhu Cave Heaven, my intellect hadn't awakened. It was only after arriving at Green Gorge Island that I truly began to remember things. Later, at Chunting Mansion, I heard Gu Can's mother mention it in passing."
Chen Ping'an finally looked up and smiled. "Your temper is just like Gu Can's, but this knack for words—did you learn it from Auntie?"
Tanxue remained silent, her eyelashes trembling, appearing pitiful.
Chen Ping'an said, "With Gu Can, I've already felt guilty twice. As for Auntie, I've squared accounts. Now only you remain, little mudfish."
Tanxue slowly raised her head, her golden vertical pupils fixed on the accountant sitting behind the desk.
The killing intent inside the room was so heavy that the wind and snow outside howled fiercely.
She was severely weakened now, but how much better was he? He was even more of a sickly weakling than she!
When it came to the Great Path and life and death, she would not hesitate in the slightest. Outside of that, she could even serve Chen Ping'an diligently, obey him humbly, treat him as half a master, and respect him greatly.
In this, she and Gu Can were naturally fated and harmonized on the Great Path.
Chen Ping'an coughed once, flicked his wrist, and placed a golden rope on the table. He sneered, "What, trying to scare me? Why don't you take a look at the fate of your kind?"
Tanxue saw through the origin of that golden rope at a glance and was immediately terrified to the core.
Other wild cultivators of Shujian Lake—even a great Nascent Soul cultivator like Liu Zhimao, or Golden Core Earth Immortals like Yu Gui—would not be as horrified as she was upon seeing this treasure.
Chen Ping'an put down the engraving knife, picked up the Demon Binding Rope made from the whiskers of an old Nascent Soul flood dragon from Dragon Trench, walked around the desk, and slowly approached her. "Of course, I didn't personally kill that old Nascent Soul flood dragon. The Demon Binding Rope was even refined for me by someone at Daoxuan Mountain, a friend asked by another. The one who killed that old dragon was a Great Sword Immortal, and the one who passed it along for refinement was another Great Sword Immortal. That old dragon, who guarded a minor realm and was about to step into the Jade Purity realm, ended up like this. Gu Can might not know, but surely you do? Shujian Lake is too small for you. It will only get smaller."
He stood before her. "You help Gu Can kill this one and that one, getting carried away, feeling exhilarated. For what? Of course, your Great Paths are intertwined, so you won't harm Gu Can. But besides following your own nature and causing trouble every day, aren't you foolishly thinking about helping Gu Can establish himself, then helping Liu Zhimao and Green Gorge Island swallow the entire Shujian Lake, so you can gobble up half the lake's water fortune as the foundation for your risky gamble to break into the Jade Purity realm?"
Chen Ping'an, holding the Demon Binding Rope in one hand, stretched out a finger and jabbed her hard on the forehead. "A bowl of a certain size holds a certain amount of rice. Don't you understand such a simple truth? Aren't you afraid of choking to death?!"
Her face full of fury, she trembled all over. She desperately wanted to extend a claw and rip out the heart of this sickly weakling before her.
But she dared not.
One very important reason was that half-immortal weapon hanging on the wall.
It wasn't about affection or goodwill.
Deep down, she even sensed a strange aura of natural suppression coming from Chen Ping'an.
At first, she mistakenly thought it was due to the karmic opportunity from the past.
Only later did she realize it wasn't just that.
Because of her limited vision and time, she was far inferior to a fellow creature in this regard—Wu Yi, the founding patriarch of the Ziyang Mansion in Huangting Kingdom. Wu Yi was only a Golden Core Earth Immortal, yet he could see through the truth at a glance: Chen Ping'an was entangled with the karma of killing flood dragons. Why it was so profound, Wu Yi didn't know and couldn't understand. The only one who could roughly guess the general outline was her father, the ten-thousand-year-old old dragon who had gone to the Piyun Mountain Linlu Academy to serve as Vice Dean. But he would never speak plainly to this daughter.
Chen Ping'an jabbed her head again and again. "You can't even figure out how to be a clever villain, and you think you can live long? Go take a look at the Sword Qi Great Wall. Every hundred years' battle, how many Earth Immortal sword cultivators die? Have you seen the sword of Wei Jin from Wind Snow Temple? Have you seen A Liang, who punched Dao Lao'er back into Brightmoon World and then threw another punch that sent Dao Lao'er into Azure Firmament World? Have you seen the sword cultivator Zuo You level Dragon Trench with a single strike? Have you seen Du Mao, the number one cultivator of Tongye Continent in the Ascension Realm, how he perished and his Great Path ended?!"
Chen Ping'an withdrew his hand, coughing continuously, his voice hoarse. "You only saw a Jade Purity realm Liu Laocheng, and you almost died."
She was furious and humiliated, grinding her teeth.
The killing intent in those golden eyes grew thicker, and she made no attempt to hide it.
Chen Ping'an curled his lips and stared at this so-called descendant of a true dragon who had always had smooth sailing. "Why is it that you and Gu Can think that killing people is not wrong, and being killed is no regret? People like Gu Can, dragon like you, and even Gu Can's mother who seems shrewd—if I didn't know you, even if I just passed through Shujian Lake with this cultivation base, even if I didn't throw a single punch or offer a single sword, just drinking tea and chatting with Liu Zhimao, Liu Laocheng, and the island master of Lisu Island, making deals with them—if I stayed in Shujian Lake for a few years, you could die several times over."
She sneered. "Then go ahead and kill! Why don't you?"
She suddenly seemed very happy, smiling. "I know, Chen Ping'an, you've come this far. You're far more clever than Gu Can. You're meticulous, calculating every step, even probing the subtlest of human hearts. But so what? Hasn't your Great Path collapsed? Chen Ping'an, do you really know how Gu Can felt that night? You said you had a mishap in cultivation and coughed up blood. Gu Can may not be as smart as you, but he's not stupid. Does he really not know you're lying? I'm at least a Nascent Soul cultivator. Can't I see that something's terribly wrong with your body? But Gu Can is soft-hearted. He's still just a child. He dared not ask. And I didn't want to say. The weaker you are, the less I have to fear you. And I've been proven right—neither more nor less. You barely managed to stop Liu Laocheng. I survived. You were severely injured. Now that the balance has shifted, I could slap you to death right now, just like slapping to death those ants that can't even be used as nourishment. Exactly the same."
Chen Ping'an casually tossed the Demon Binding Rope onto the table, pressed his palms together, and also smiled. "That's right. If you hadn't said those words, I'd feel tired for you. You don't fake it well, and I see through it clearly. We're both mentally exhausted. Now, we're actually on the same line."
She narrowed her eyes. "Stop playing tricks here."
Chen Ping'an extended a hand, spreading five fingers. "Adding Zeng Ye, you and I—just the two of us—can actually be considered a separate fifth line."
She sneered. "Chen Ping'an, have you been dealing too much with those ghosts and gone mad? Lost your way? Have you decided to plunge headlong into the demonic path? What, ambitious enough to imitate the City Lord of White Emperor City? Starting by becoming the overlord of Shujian Lake? It's not impossible. Chief Chen knows so many powerful people. With them behind you, what can't you do? I, this little mudfish you don't even deign to notice, am just waiting to be crushed under the fingers of your towering backstage supporters."
Chen Ping'an smiled. He genuinely found these words quite interesting, as they provided him with another cognitive possibility. This way, the line between them would become clearer.
His smile eased the tense atmosphere in the room.
Chen Ping'an gestured for her to sit down and talk, then turned and walked straight back to the desk.
His back was exposed to her.
She neither attacked nor moved. "Since Chief Chen is a scholar who likes to follow rules, I'll just stand and talk."
Chen Ping'an sat back in his chair, picked up the charcoal brazier, warmed his hands, rubbed them together, and exhaled a breath. "Let me tell you a small matter. Back when I first left Lizhu Cave Heaven and journeyed to Great Sui, not long after leaving Hongzhu Town, I met an elderly scholar on a ferry. He also spoke up for justice once. It was clearly the other party who was unreasonable first, yet he tried to stop me from reasoning later. At the time, I couldn't understand it. That doubt weighed on my heart. Now, thanks to your Shujian Lake, I can somewhat understand his thinking. He may not have been right, but he was definitely not as wrong as I initially thought. And at that time, at most, I was merely not wrong, but I wasn't necessarily right either."
Chen Ping'an smiled, extending a finger and drawing a circle.
"In the jianghu, drinking is jianghu, committing violence is jianghu, chivalry and righteousness are jianghu, and bloody winds and rains are also jianghu. On the battlefield, you kill me, I kill you; dying bravely and being built into a skull pyramid is the battlefield; burying alive a hundred thousand surrendered soldiers is also the battlefield; ancient battlefields where heroic spirits and ghost soldiers refuse to disperse are also battlefields. In the court, governing the state and serving the people with utmost dedication is the court; interfering in politics, causing chaos, with wolves blocking the path is also the court; when the ruler is young and the state is doubted, with a woman behind the curtain ruling, that is still the court. Someone once told me that in their hometown in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, there was a man who, to save his criminal father, called his friends and killed all the government soldiers. He was regarded as a man of great filial piety, eventually became a high official, and left his name in history. Another man, for the sake of friendship, upon hearing of a friend's death, traveled a thousand li in one night, killed the enemy's entire household, and withdrew under the moonlight. He was regarded as a chivalrous hero of the age. Pursued by the authorities for a thousand li, everyone along the way helped him. Before his death, he was admired by countless people; after death, he was even listed in the biographies of wandering knights."
Chen Ping'an drew a larger circle. "At first, I also found it unconvincing, thinking that if I met such people, one extra punch would be too many. But now I've come to understand. In that era, this was the prevailing custom and folk tradition of the entire world, the sum of all learning. It was like the collision, fusion, and manifestation of knowledge in countless Clay Vase Alleys, Hongzhu Towns, and Yunlou Cities. That was the family precepts, village covenants, and public order and good customs recognized by the whole world at that time. But as the river of time flows on, things change with the passage of time. If I had lived in that era, I too would have admired such people. Not to mention killing them with one punch; I might even have saluted them with cupped fists when meeting them."
"There is an old Daoist who calculated against me most deeply precisely here. He only showed me three hundred years of flowing time. And I dare assert that it was a stretch of slower time, a relatively complete segment of the river, just enough for me to see enough—neither too little nor too much. Too little, and I wouldn't see the subtlety of the old Daoist's promoted contextual learning; too much, and I would have to return to the scholarly lineage of an old master."
Chen Ping'an seemed to be very sensitive to cold now, slumping his shoulders, his hands never leaving the charcoal brazier. He smiled. "Whether it's you or Liu Zhimao, compared to him and another 'young' Daoist—these Daoist immortals truly standing at the mountaintop—you're thousands of times worse."
Chen Ping'an lifted his chin slightly, pointing toward her. "In your original nature and heart, there should be a piece of heartland that is most muddy. No matter how clear the source water is, like ditch water, once it flows into the fields, it will become turbid. For example, almost everyone has inner contradictions they themselves don't realize. Shujian Lake is the best example. It is exactly the opposite extreme to the carefree realm of Aiai Island during the 'Three-Four Debate' of the past. What, you don't understand? Then let me say something you can barely understand."
"When faced with right and wrong, when a person is an outsider, many will ignore the right and wrong and blindly favor the weak, instinctively disliking the strong, desperately wanting them to fall from their pedestal. They will even blame the good, desperately hoping for a moral saint to have flaws. Meanwhile, they greatly admire the occasional good deeds of the wicked. The reason is not complicated: we are contending for that small 'One,' trying to balance as much as possible, preventing a small group from taking too much. This has little to do with good and evil anymore. To go further, this actually benefits all of us, allowing us to share the large 'One' more evenly, so that no one goes too high or too far, and no one stays too low. It's like... grasshoppers on a string. The bigger ones hop higher and farther; the weaker ones are dragged along, even if they are bumped and bruised along the way, bleeding, but they don't fall behind. They can huddle together for warmth and won't be easily pecked by birds. That's why so many people in the world like to reason, but when those close to them are in the wrong, they still secretly rejoice. It's because of the nature of this heartland. When the world begins to require more cost to reason, unreasonableness becomes the capital for survival. Staying beside such 'strong' people allows one to strive for more material goods. The so-called 'helping family regardless of reason' is exactly that. Gu Can's mother feels secure beside Gu Can and you, even beside Liu Zhimao, for the same reason. This doesn't mean she... in this matter, she's particularly wrong. It's just that a thread that wasn't initially wrong, as it extends, like lotus roots and bamboo, will encounter various conflicts with established rules. But you people don't care about those trivial details. You only think about smashing bridges and filling ditches. So I told Gu Can that all those innocent people he killed were actually like me from the old days in Clay Vase Alley—Chen Ping'an and him, Gu Can. He still won't listen."
"I've been here, doing all this, and one day it will come to light. I want Gu Can to open his eyes wide and watch carefully. If he won't listen to reason, so be it. But here, other than helping him—and helping myself—to correct mistakes and make amends, I also want him to understand a truth beyond books: In Shujian Lake, within at most two years, when a cultivator stands at a high position, he doesn't need to rely on indiscriminate killing to establish authority. I can live more steadily than him and stand higher."
She seemed about to speak but hesitated.
Chen Ping'an smiled. "What, you're going to say again that I have too many backers and too many treasures? That you and Gu Can can't compare? Have you ever thought about how I acquired these? If I tell you word by word, you still won't understand. Because I've said it, you know the principle, but you just can't do it. Isn't that interesting? It's due to your nature. When your personalities were being formed like a porcelain embryo, there was no one to advise you. But none of that matters. Even if there were such a person, I think it would be a waste of effort. Saying these things is no longer helpful. The important thing is that you don't even know how to be a slightly smarter villain, so you're even less willing and less able to figure out how to be a slightly smarter good person."
That little mudfish bit her lips tightly. After a moment of silence, her first words were: "Chen Ping'an, don't force me to kill you today!"
Chen Ping'an tilted his head slightly and asked with a smile, "Why kill me? If you kill me, you and Gu Can, and Chunting Mansion, wouldn't you lose a backer? See, I just said you were stupid, bad in a foolish way, and you still won't admit it."
The sound of her boots lightly scuffing the ground came from beneath her feet.
Chen Ping'an pretended not to see or hear, pointing to the next room—the dwelling of the youth Zeng Ye.
"That one is a good person. He's also not old, learns things slowly, but I still hope he can live well in Shujian Lake as a good person. It won't be easy, but there is still hope. Of course, if I find that I can't change him, or that my so-called cunning and calculations can't guarantee his survival, then I'll let him be. He can live or die in Shujian Lake in his own way, the way he knows best."
There had been a detail: Chen Ping'an had brought a stool, but Zeng Ye, unaware, had forgotten to bring his stool into the house.
If this was just the youth Zeng Ye being inexperienced, young, simple-hearted, and not noticing things.
Then during cultivation, he would get distracted, following Chen Ping'an's gaze out the window. This made Chen Ping'an somewhat helpless. But it could also be explained—youthful inexperience, lack of sufficient tempering. Chen Ping'an could still wait for Zeng Ye to grow. On a chessboard, as long as every move is slow and without mistakes, the outcome doesn't need much thought; the winning chance is ultimately greater. But if Heaven decrees death, then it's fate. Just as Chen Ping'an said to Zeng Ye, at that time, just be at peace with oneself, whether blaming heaven or others.
But what made Chen Ping'an most emotional was that he had noticed the signs and had to state things plainly. He had to subtly warn that youth, whose heart had stirred slightly, and tell Zeng Ye bluntly: their relationship was merely transactional, not that of master and disciple. Chen Ping'an was not his teacher or his guardian.
To say that Zeng Ye had bad character—absolutely not. On the contrary, after surviving a life-and-death ordeal, he still held attachment to his master and Maoyue Island. This was one of the fundamental reasons Chen Ping'an was willing to keep him by his side. Its weight was no less than Zeng Ye's cultivation aptitude and ghostly talent.
Yet even such a Zeng Ye—a youth from Shujian Lake who allowed Chen Ping'an to vaguely see his own younger self—if carefully examined, could not withstand even a moderately forceful scrutiny.
Zeng Ye's temperament seemed opposite to Gu Can's, but the fourth line that Chen Ping'an originally wanted to observe carefully was the future words, actions, and mental journey of Zeng Ye.
But when it truly came to it, Chen Ping'an still went against his original intention. He still hoped that Zeng Ye would not stray. He hoped that, between the two measuring sticks of "taking oneself" and "being given by others," Zeng Ye would find a foothold where his heart would not waver or swing.
But it didn't matter. By intervening, he had altered the course of that thread slightly. The thread was still the same, just a slight change in trajectory. He could still continue to watch its direction, just with a small deviation from expectations.
Compared to the woman before him, who was drenched in blood and would likely go down a single dark path, Zeng Ye's line—the boy's life—was still full of countless possibilities, still with opportunities for goodness.
As for whether Zeng Ye's heartland waters would one day encounter disaster and calamity, flowing from a place of pure goodness to extreme self-centered opposition, Chen Ping'an would not force it.
Within the rules, there is freedom. Everyone pays and should pay their respective prices.
Human strength always has its limits. Even with Gu Can, Chen Ping'an had admitted defeat. On the premise of stopping killing and mistakes, he had made relatively thorough cuts and demarcations with Gu Can, beginning to do things for himself.
What difference would one more Zeng Ye make?
Chen Ping'an's expression was dazed.
Back in the earliest days in Lizhu Cave Heaven, at the wooden fence gate of that town.
Inside the gate was a barefoot youth in straw sandals.
Outside were Cai Jinjian, Fu Nanhua, the Qingfeng City Xu clan, the Zhengyang Mountain Mountain-Moving Ape, and that girl who clamored to move Piyun Mountain home to be her little garden.
That was Chen Ping'an's first contact with outsiders from beyond the town, all of them mountain folk, immortals in the eyes of ordinary mortals.
Fortunately, among those people, there was a girl who had said, "The Great Path should not be so narrow."
Chen Ping'an arrived at Shujian Lake.
When his own good and evil collided into a bloody mess, he discovered that his heart-mirror had so many flaws, was so broken.
For example, he had to begin to acknowledge that he himself was now a mountain person, at least half of one.
Otherwise, just because of the existence of the Mountain-Moving Ape and others, his constant internal rejection—that was a flaw in his Great Path.
So, back in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, on the river of time, he had built a golden bridge. But his own heart clearly told him:
If he truly walked on it, the bridge would collapse, and he would surely fall into the river.
Chen Ping'an sighed. "One turn away, this time lost in thought, little mudfish. I gave you two chances, yet you still didn't dare to kill me?"
She said coldly, "Isn't it still within your calculations? According to your own words, rules are everywhere. Here, you have your own hidden rules—maybe a secret formation you laid, maybe that Demon Binding Rope that naturally restrains me. It's all possible. Besides, you said it yourself: if I kill you, what benefit do I get? I just lose a backer, a protective charm."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Doesn't that mean I've convinced you with reason?"
She said sarcastically, "So you're saying that people like me only pick the reasons we want?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head gently.
She gave a false smile. "Master, please instruct me. Tanxue is all ears."
Chen Ping'an spoke. "You're not human, just a beast. If I had known this earlier, back in Lizhu Cave Heaven, I wouldn't have given you to Little Snot. I would have boiled and eaten you. Then there wouldn't be all these troubles now."
She smiled. "I won't get angry. I'll just not let you have your way. I won't give you the chance to make cuts and demarcations with me."
Chen Ping'an clicked his tongue in admiration. "You've improved. But aren't you suspicious that I'm bluffing?"
She shook her head. "Anyway, after our frank talk, I've benefited greatly. I've also absorbed one truth: Chief Chen is now doing good deeds for himself. I can't do that. But I can be obedient by your side, just not continue to make mistakes. That way, I can annoy you even more, can't I? Chief Chen, who is very smart and likes to follow rules and reason? If you kill me, Gu Can's Great Path will be damaged, his bridge of longevity will surely break. He doesn't have your perseverance and tenacity; he can't get back up step by step. He might become a cripple for life. Can Chief Chen really bear that?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Indeed. How can Little Snot compare to me? He can't even see clearly what kind of person his own mother is, can't understand the thoughts of a beast connected to his Great Path, can't grasp how Liu Zhimao, besides his iron-handed tactics, truly controls people's hearts, doesn't know how Lu Caisang really builds alliances, won't even take the time to think about whether the fool Fan Yan is truly foolish, and doesn't worry about the worst-case scenario. Such a Gu Can—what does he have to compare with me? He's still young now, but give him another ten or twenty years in Shujian Lake, and he'll still be the same—won't think any deeper."
He spoke these words calmly and lightly.
Chen Ping'an leaned back in his chair, his hands warm. "The world is so strange. I killed the eel river demon and incurred karma, yet Gu Can killed so many innocent people in Shujian Lake, and among them, he happened to kill some who deserved it—just a very small handful. Beyond the great cause and effect, he even gained a little blessings. Your Shujian Lake is truly a place that makes one want to laugh and cry at the same time. If someone only killed wild cultivators of the mountains and lakes, and spared ordinary mortals, maybe even if they killed them all, at worst it would be merits balancing faults? Of course, I can't be sure. It's just a guess from a bored moment."
Laugh and cry.
This phrase, when applied to Shujian Lake, could be chewed over repeatedly.
The living are like this, and the dead are no exception.
She was still smiling. "These messy things—I'm not Chief Chen, so I don't care. As for being called a beast, if Chief Chen is happy, that's fine. Besides, Tanxue is indeed a beast."
Chen Ping'an laughed brightly. "Back in my hometown, even after two journeys through the vast jianghu, I never thought I was a good person. Even when two very important people called me a soft-hearted fool, I still didn't believe it. Now, in your damned Shujian Lake, I'm about to become a moral saint. Damn world. Damn Shujian Lake rules. Are you people addicted to eating shit?"
The young accountant spoke slowly, with hardly any rise and fall in his tone, as if telling a small joke despite his questioning words.
She covered her mouth and giggled. "Chief Chen, if you have the guts, say that to Gu Can. I can't take it in; it just goes in one ear and out the other. Gu Can's heart is unstable now. Why not pick a sunny day after the snow, sit with Little Snot on little bamboo chairs, him talking and you listening? Like at the dinner table before. Gu Can is probably willing to listen now. He still may not take it seriously, but at least he's willing to listen."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'll consider it. After all this talk, have we both forgotten our original purpose?"
Tanxue smiled and nodded. "Today is the Winter Solstice. I came to call Chief Chen for a family reunion meal of dumplings."
Chen Ping'an nodded again. "As for me, I promised Gu Can to give you something. Take it."
It was that jade plaque engraved with "I am adept at nurturing the vast and righteous spirit."
She frowned, her heart moved slightly. She didn't reach out to take that "hot coal" but suspended it in front of her, looking puzzled.
Suddenly, a chill went through her heart. Sure enough, the blue stone slab on the ground showed subtle anomalies. Not only that, but the Demon Binding Rope flashed and wrapped around her waist.
She sneered coldly.
Then she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
She looked down, then looked up.
An extremely fine golden thread extended from the wall all the way to her heart, and then a sharp half-immortal weapon pierced through her body.
Chen Ping'an reached out, pulled out a porcelain bottle, poured out a secret pill from the Water Palace, swallowed it, then gently placed the bottle on the table. First, he raised a finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture toward her. "Advise you not to make a sound, or you'll die immediately."
He saw that she dared not move at all. Having a half-immortal weapon pierce her heart—even for a peak Nascent Soul, this was a severe injury.
Chen Ping'an showed no concern for her misery. He silently digested and absorbed the pill's spiritual energy, then said slowly, "Today is the Winter Solstice. In our hometown custom, we sit together and eat dumplings. I had discussed this with Gu Can earlier. I calculated the approximate healing speed of a Nascent Soul flood dragon like you, and I've been monitoring Gu Can's physical condition. Combined, I determined when you could come ashore. I remembered the approximate dinner time at Chunting Mansion. I also thought about how you probably wouldn't want to appear before the cultivators of Green Gorge Island, and would only come knock on my door using Earth Immortal divine abilities. So, not too early, not too late—about one incense stick's time before you knocked, I took three Qi-replenishing pills. And you didn't know my true background. Relying on your Nascent Soul cultivation, you were even less willing to carefully investigate my base life-water mansion. So you didn't know that at this moment, I can fully control this sword immortal—it just costs a bit more, but it's worth it. For example, just now, when I scared you into not moving or you'd die, that was also a bluff. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to replenish my spiritual energy. As for now, if you move, you will truly die."
Chen Ping'an stood up, walked around the desk, and with a gesture, commanded the jade plaque to fly up from the ground, gently grasping it in his hand.
He seemed utterly unafraid of the mudfish's desperate struggle or deathbed counterattack. He simply walked directly to within a few steps of her and asked with a smile, "A Nascent Soul with only an empty shell, the cultivation of a Golden Core Earth Immortal. I wonder who gave you the guts to openly harbor killing intent toward me. Even if you have killing intent, do you have the ability to support it? Look at me. I started calculating against you almost from the moment I set foot on Green Gorge Island. After the battle with Liu Laocheng, when I realized you were even harder to teach than Gu Can, I began the real setup. From start to finish in this room, I've been reasoning with you. So, as you see, reasoning is still useful, isn't it? It's just that the way of reasoning differs between good people and bad people. Many good people just don't understand this, which is why they suffer so much and let the world owe them."
Chen Ping'an extended a hand, but not to grasp the sword immortal.
Instead, he pressed his palm against the hilt and pushed forward bit by bit, inch by inch.
The blade kept moving forward.
Chen Ping'an said, "Actually, after eating that pill, I still couldn't really kill you. But now... well, now I can. If you don't believe me, try to struggle. What, you Shujian Lake people love to bet on your lives, don't you?"
He waited a moment, then smiled. "You're not smart at all, but your luck isn't bad."
"Do you know why I never told you or Gu Can the name of this sword? It's called 'Sword Immortal'—the sword immortal of a land sword immortal. So I deliberately didn't say."
"Think about it, in the ancient times of our Precious Vase Continent, where did sword immortals appear most frequently?"
"Ancient Shu Kingdom."
"Why so many sword immortals? Because there were many flood dragons there, perfect for sword immortals to sharpen their swords."
Chen Ping'an concluded, "So, your decision not to bet your life was correct. Even if I hadn't taken that last pill, after tasting the blood from your heart's aperture, this sword was already eager to stir, impatient to churn up your heart's aperture. I wouldn't need to expend spiritual energy or concentration to control it. The reason I took the pill was actually to restrain it, to prevent it from killing you immediately."
She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave, her face filled with pity and supplication.
Chen Ping'an assumed a listen-at-the-side pose. "So you also have a reason to present?"
He dropped the pose, stood up straight, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and smiled. "But did you ask me if I wanted to hear it?"