Chapter 463: The Ten-Year Agreement Has Reached Its Halfway Point

Chapter 463: The Ten-Year Agreement Has Reached Its Halfway Point

After leaving the Yang Family Medicine Shop, Chen Ping'an went to that old schoolhouse that had neither been destroyed nor put to use. Holding an umbrella, he stood outside the window, gazing inside.

By his ears, there seemed to be the sound of clear, ringing reading voices, just like in the year he was young, squatting by the wall, eavesdropping on the teacher's lecture.

Leaving the schoolhouse, he went to the new school established by the Longwei Creek Chen Clan. It was far larger than the old one. Chen Ping'an stopped outside the archway and turned to leave.

Passing by the place the locals called the Crab Fang, Chen Ping'an looked up, walking a full circle around it. There were four horizontal plaques inscribed by Sages themselves: the Confucian "One Must Not Yield Even in the Face of Duty," the Buddhist "Seek Nothing Outside Yourself," the Daoist "The Profound Word Is Natural," and the Military Strategist "A Spirit That Rushes to the Stars."

After the Bead Lilac Cave Heaven shattered and fell, the Great Li court, using secret techniques, had the essence, energy, and spirit contained within those words layer by layer stripped and peeled away. As for whose hands these opportunities would ultimately fall into, no one knew.

During this time, looking up at the character "Profound," he thought of what Cui Dongshan had said in his letter. Chen Ping'an's gaze was dark and indistinct, his thoughts drifting.

Afterward, he passed by that Iron Lock Well. Now purchased by a private individual and turned into a forbidden ground, the local people were no longer allowed to draw water from it. A low fence had been built around its perimeter.

Chen Ping'an then thought of that young man from Bee Tail Ferry, the disciple of Liu Laocheng of Palace Willow Island. He was a tall, gentle-natured youth in black. It wasn't just Chen Ping'an who thought so; even Pei Qian felt that youth was a good person, so surely he must have been a good person indeed. Later, when Chen Ping'an dared to take the risk and set foot on Palace Willow Island, he owed much to him. He always felt that Liu Laocheng, a rogue cultivator who could teach such a disciple, couldn't be wholly rotten to the core. The facts proved Chen Ping'an had gambled correctly. But the mental chess game with Liu Laocheng, whenever he thought back on it afterward, still sent chills down Chen Ping'an's spine.

Chen Ping'an suddenly laughed. For some reason, standing outside the fence at this moment, looking at that water well, it was a bit like how it had been at Inverted Suspension Mountain, looking from afar at that "Heavenly Gate" leading to Sword Qi Great Wall. There, a man holding a sword sat atop a stone stele, and a little Daoist boy sat on a cushion, reading a book. Having traveled far and wide, Chen Ping'an felt that the only place that could rival this small town in terms of hidden dragons and crouching tigers was probably Inverted Suspension Mountain itself. As the largest mountain-character seal in the entire Haoran World, it was indeed a magnificent stroke of genius by Dao Number Two.

Chen Ping'an looked up at the sky.

Withdrawing his gaze, he went to take a distant look at the two temples, one Civil and one Martial, which enshrined the ancestors of the Yuan and Cao clans, respectively. One was located at Old Porcelain Mountain, the other at Immortal Grave. Both were very particular about their siting.

Chen Ping'an did not approach the temples, especially Old Porcelain Mountain, which he had rarely visited since childhood. He kept a great distance. However, over at the newly renovated Immortal Grave, Chen Ping'an wandered for a long time. Many of the Bodhisattva and Heavenly Official statues had been restored to their original state by the Great Li court's skilled artisans. Each and every one had been re-erected. However, the work was not yet fully complete, with many craftsmen still busy on high scaffolding.

It was said the Great Li court planned to continue expanding the Civil and Martial Temples, and would then place the Buddhist Bodhisattvas and Daoist Heavenly Officials each in separate temple halls. By then, even though these temples were at the county level, they would become the most magnificent and spectacular Civil and Martial Temples in the entire Great Li. They would surely attract an endless stream of high-ranking officials and nobles coming to burn incense and worship the spirits.

Originally, it was Chen Ping'an who had entrusted Ruan Xiu to help, providing money for this matter—repairing the statues, setting up sheds. However, the task was soon taken over by the Great Li government, after which no private individual was allowed to intervene. Among the statues, three had originally collapsed. Chen Ping'an had once thrown three Golden Essence Copper Coins into their bases. Although Chen Ping'an was now in dire need of such coins, he had no intention of seeking any clues about them. If they were still there, it would be fate, a three-part bond of incense fire. If they had been found by some child or villager, becoming their unexpected fortune, that too would be fate. However, Chen Ping'an felt the latter possibility was more likely. After all, in the past few years, the local people had been searching high and low, turning over every box and chest, digging three feet into the ground, to find heirloom treasures and natural celestial materials. Then they would take them to Ox Horn Mountain to sell at the Baofu Stall, and use the money to buy grand mansions in Dragon Spring City, adding maids and servants, living comfortable lives they had never even dared to dream of before.

Chen Ping'an didn't think they were wrong to do this. He just felt that even if they were going to sell, they should have waited a bit longer, the prices would only have been higher. With a celestial artifact, selling it a few years later might multiply its value several times over.

Why had the Baofu Stall of Ox Horn Mountain, just like the Xu Clan of Breeze Wind City, voluntarily withdrawn from Dragon Spring Commandery in the first place, abandoning a celestial ferry that had cost a fortune, giving it all away for the benefit of the Great Li Song Clan?

At first, Chen Ping'an thought the Baofu Stall had bet on the wrong horse, wager on the Zhu Ying Dynasty. Now it seemed highly likely that they had acquired too many treasures from the small town at low prices, making such a vast amount of immortal spirit money that even they felt embarrassed by the profit margin. So, when the situation in Vase Bottle Continent's central region became clear, the Baofu Stall weighed the pros and cons, using a single celestial ferry to trade for a protective talisman with the Great Li Iron Cavalry for their various shops. This was also equivalent to renewing a bond of incense fire with the Great Li Song Clan. In the long run, the Baofu Stall might even end up making more.

Chen Ping'an felt that this idea of his was mostly likely the truth.

Doing shady business with the government brings quick money, but it ends just as quickly; it's ultimately not the right path. As for how to do legitimate business, Chen Ping'an naturally wasn't clear about that at present. He assumed Sun Jiashu from Old Dragon City, Liu Chongrun from Pearl Hairpin Island, and a few others, would be more familiar with the rules. He could ask them when he had the chance.

The layout of Immortal Grave had changed a great deal. Returning to this familiar place, many places he wanted to go were inaccessible, while places he couldn't go before now had pavilions and viewing platforms.

Chen Ping'an rested in a small pavilion with upturned eaves.

Among the many assistants to the craftsmen were quite a few Lu clan remnants who had migrated to Dragon Spring Commandery years ago. Chen Ping'an had seen many convict laborers before, when the construction of the mountain god temple and the incense-burning sacred path on Fallen Mountain had used them. Compared to back then, the remnants now busy doing odd jobs at Immortal Grave were mostly youths and young adults. They still spoke little, but they no longer had that look of utter despair they had at the very beginning. As the years passed, they seemed to have each managed to find small hopes amidst their harsh lives.

Yu Lu, and Xie Xie. One was a fallen crown prince of a Lu dynasty; the other was a favored child of heaven from a mountain immortal clan. One couldn't exactly call them fish that slipped through the net; rather, they were chess pieces selected by Cui Chan and the Great Li Empress Dowager respectively. After some behind-the-scenes deal-making, they both ended up as students at the Cliff Academy of the Great Sui. Yu Lu got along very well with Gao Xuan, like brothers in adversity—one living in exile, the other serving as a hostage in an enemy state.

As for Xie Xie, in the earlier years he had indeed been tormented terribly by Cui Dongshan.

But just as the old man surnamed Cui wouldn't interfere in matters between him, Chen Ping'an, and Pei Qian, Chen Ping'an wouldn't take advantage of being Cui Dongshan's "teacher" to start bossing him around.

Knowing how to show kindness to others is a great subject of study.

It's not something where the words "I think" can make up for all the consequences of good intentions leading to bad results.

The place where he had once fought for his life with Ma Kuxuan had completely changed in layout; outsiders could no longer set foot there. Wei Bo had mentioned it once: the two places, Immortal Grave and Old Porcelain Mountain, were open for anyone to visit freely during the day, with no restrictions. But at night, great cultivators from the Yin Yang School and the Mohist School would appear, setting up formations responsible for connecting the mountain veins and water channels, making night-time excursions unsuitable.

Unable to return to that "battlefield ruins" where he had fought Ma Kuxuan to the death, Chen Ping'an felt some regret. Following a familiar route that often appeared in his dreams, he walked slowly. Halfway, he crouched down, grabbed a handful of soil, lingered for a moment, then set off again. He went to the sword forging shop that hadn't been moved to Divine Elegance Mountain together with the others. He'd heard it was a woman expelled from Wind Snow Temple who had acknowledged Ruan Qiong as her master, cultivating here while also keeping an eye on the "ancestral legacy." She had even cut off her own thumb on the hand that held her sword, just to prove to Ruan Qiong that she had made a clean break with her past.

Chen Ping'an walked slowly along the Dragon Whisker River. He was destined not to find any snakesstone gallbladder rocks. Opportunities come and go in a flash. Chen Ping'an still had a few high-grade snakesstone gallbladder rocks—five or six, was it? As for ordinary snakesstone gallbladder rocks, he had once had a great many, but now there were few left.

Chen Ping'an did not immediately return to Fallen Mountain. Instead, he crossed the stone arch bridge that had long since had its covered walkway removed and been restored to its original appearance, to go find that small temple. Years ago, many names had been written on the walls inside that temple, including his own, Chen Ping'an. He, Liu Xianyang, and Gu Can had been clustered together in the highest empty space on the wall. Liu Xianyang had stolen the ladder; the charcoal had been brought from Gu Can's home. But when he got there, he found the small temple, which had once served as a rest stop, had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed. He then remembered that it seemed Old Man Yang had taken it. He just didn't know what game was afoot there.

Returning to the bank of the Dragon Whisker River, Chen Ping'an followed the current downstream. The road on the opposite side had been widened into one of the post roads of Dragon Spring Commandery. It was once the road he had taken when leaving home for the first time in his life, back when the only one by his side was a little girl in a red cotton-padded jacket.

He had taken care of the little girl the whole way, walking through green hills and clear waters.

But in truth, wasn't it the little girl who had silently supported the willpower of that mud-legged young Junior Uncle Liu, that allowed him to travel far from home and never give up?

Chen Ping'an passed a Water God temple that had been brought under the orthodox system by the Great Li court. It had almost no incense fire. Its title was also strange. It seemed to have merely a gilded statue and a temple hall, yet was even lesser than the unorthodox shrines found in other countries. It didn't even have a proper plaque. To this day, few people could figure out whether this was a River God temple or a River Goddess shrine of the lowest rank. In contrast, the River God temple for the Iron Talisman River further downstream was built magnificently. The townsfolk would rather walk over a hundred extra li to go burn incense and pray to the River Empress over there. Of course, there was another very important reason. According to the old folks of the town, the statue of the empress in that temple looked too much like an old woman from Apricot Flower Alley when she was young. The elders, especially the old women in the alleys, would always nag their younger ones whenever they had the chance: "Don't go burn incense there, it's easy to attract evil."

Chen Ping'an did not enter the temple. He continued downstream, intending to walk all the way to the Iron Talisman River River God temple.

The Iron Talisman River was now one of the Great Li's premier rivers, its divine rank highly esteemed. Thus, its ritual specifications were extremely high, far surpassing those of the Embroidered River and the Jade Liquid River. If Dragon Spring weren't still just a commandery, it wouldn't be Commandery Governor Wu Yuan offering sacrifices; rather, a Regional Inspector, a feudal lord, would personally come here each year to venerate the River God, praying for favorable winds and rains for the people under his jurisdiction, with no droughts or floods. Conversely, for the Embroidered and Jade Liquid Rivers, a single Grand Administrator visiting the River God temple was sufficient. Occasionally, if official business was too busy, sending a subordinate official to perform the rites wasn't even considered disrespectful.

After Chen Ping'an had walked far away, inside that temple without a plaque, the clay statue of the god, whose incense fire was all but extinguished, rippled, and a watery mist filled the air. The face of a young woman appeared. She sighed, her brows knit in anxiety.

Having virtually no incense fire, she couldn't help but blame heaven and curse others. But after cursing for a while, she lost the spirit she'd had when cursing people out in Apricot Flower Alley. Truly, hunger cures all ills.

Chen Ping'an quickened his pace, walking faster and faster.

Finally, he began the six-step stake-standing drill. He hadn't practiced the three fist stances of the Mountain-Shaking Manual for a full three years, so he was a bit rusty.

According to the professional opinion of the old man surnamed Cui, Chen Ping'an's physical condition now had both good and bad aspects. The good was that his martial artist's physique, having lain dormant for three years in Letter Bamboo Lake, was fundamentally still unimpaired. The three "pointers" sent from the sky by Fiery Dragon True Man from North Clam Continent had been of immense benefit. Otherwise, Chen Ping'an would probably have walked into Green Gorge Island and been carried out of Letter Bamboo Lake lying down.

However, his path of cultivation had been fraught with misfortune. After shattering that Golden Body Civil Heart, the aftereffects were severe. When he had originally forged the Five-Phase category destiny objects as the key to rebuilding the Bridge of Everlasting Life, the higher their quality, the more intimately connected they were. When it all collapsed, the higher you had climbed, the harder you fell. This aspect was similar to the "Sword Immortal brilliance" the old man surnamed Cui claimed to have witnessed time and again, which would poke big holes in Chen Ping'an's state of mind. Shattering and then rebuilding was extremely difficult. So refining the third destiny object as soon as possible had become an urgent matter.

Therefore, in the secret letter he had left in the bamboo tower, Cui Dongshan had changed his original intention. He suggested that for the Earth element of the Five Phases destiny object, his "teacher" should still choose the soils from the Great Li's New Five Sacred Peaks, which Chen Ping'an had previously abandoned. Cui Dongshan didn't go into detail about the reasons, simply asking his teacher to trust him this once. As the Great Li's "State Preceptor," once they annexed the entire Vase Bottle Continent and it became the territory of the Great Li state, choosing which five mountains to designate as the New Five Sacred Peaks was naturally something he had long had a clear plan for. For instance, in the Great Li's home territory of Dragon Spring Commandery, Cloak Cloud Mountain would be promoted to the Northern Sacred Peak. Within the entire Great Li, the number of people who knew of this, including the late emperor Song Zhengchun, could be counted on one hand.

The Central Sacred Peak would be the former central sacred peak of the Zhu Ying Dynasty. Not only that, the great mountain god who, compelled by the general situation, had to change his allegiance would still be allowed to maintain his temple and gilded statue, and would advance further a hundred feet from his original position, becoming the Central Sacred Peak of the continent. In return for this "untouched" status, this deity had to help the Great Li Song Clan stabilize the mountain and river qi of the new territory. Any cultivator within the jurisdiction could be sheltered by the Central Sacred Peak, but they also had to be bound by its constraints. Otherwise, they could not blame the Great Li Iron Cavalry for turning hostile even against the deity's gilded form.

The Mohist chivalrous swordsman Xu Ruo personally handled this matter, stationing himself near the mountain god temple.

At that time, Ruan Qiong would also leave Dragon Spring Commandery to go to the New Western Sacred Peak, which wasn't too far from Wind Snow Temple. The new Western Sacred Peak was named Gan Province Mountain. It had never been among the five sacred peaks of that region before, so this promotion was a sudden leap to prominence.

A group of the Great Li's top-rank honored officials, all Earth Immortal cultivators of the Golden Core or Nascent Soul levels, would go to the new Eastern Sacred Peak, named Qi Mountain, to inspect the borders together. They would prevent remnants of fallen national cultivators from infiltrating and destroying the local mountains and rivers at the cost of their own lives.

As for the Southern Sacred Peak, Fan Junmao would be the proper mountain god there.

Cui Dongshan had been cryptic about the location of the Great Li's new Southern Sacred Peak, saying his teacher could wait and see, and then he would understand what "accumulating earth to form a mountain" truly meant.

So in his letter, Cui Dongshan frankly admitted that he would take this opportunity to scoop up earth from the mountain roots of the other four new sacred peaks early on. Could a scholar's actions be called stealing? Besides, even if his teacher ultimately refused to choose the five-colored soil of the sacred peaks as his next destiny object, at least a basketful of rare soil, or enough to fill a Cunchu Artifact, would be a huge pile of Lesser Heat Coins. Since the supervision wasn't strict yet, why not take it? As for the Northern Sacred Peak, Wei Bo, his teacher was thick as thieves with him anyway, so why be polite?

Before he knew it, Chen Ping'an had arrived at that impressively solemn River God temple.

The incense fire here wasn't overly abundant, not comparable to the Burial River Water God Temple. Even in the middle of the night, there weren't over a thousand pilgrims waiting outside, eager to enter and burn incense. After all, the population around Dragon Spring Commandery was still relatively small. But when Dragon Spring was promoted from a commandery to a province and the Great Li court continuously moved people here, one could easily imagine the bustling scene at this Great Li River God temple.

Chen Ping'an hesitated for a moment, then stepped inside. The area was filled with lush, ancient cypress trees, mostly transplanted from the great mountains to the west.

Arriving at the main hall, Chen Ping'an crossed the threshold and looked up at the painted clay statue. It was about four zhang tall, incredibly lifelike, with colored ribbons swirling around it as if it were about to ascend to the sky.

The height of a gilded statue largely determined a deity's rank in the hierarchy of mountains and rivers within a national court.

For example, the statue in the temple Chen Ping'an had passed earlier was no more than one zhang tall.

Chen Ping'an knew the secret of this place.

This River Empress's original name was Yang Hua. She had once been a personal maid to the Great Li Empress Dowager, clutching an ancient sword with a golden long tassel. For some reason, she had later abandoned her human body, dying to become a deity, becoming the spirit of this river. While enduring immense pain in the water, when she was sculpting her own divine gilded body, she had drawn omens. The rank of her gilded form was extremely high, which led the Great Li court to pay it great attention. First, they promoted the river to a full river, and then directly elevated this Water Queen to the highest rank among River Gods.

Chen Ping'an neither requested incense to burn nor performed any act of reverence. After staying for a short while, he left the hall, walked out of the extensive temple grounds, and returned the same way he came.

From start to finish, the River God temple was filled with a silent majesty, only the incense smoke curling upward.

Chen Ping'an did not trouble Wei Bo this time. By the time he finished walking back to Fallen Mountain, it was already dusk the next day. Along the way, he had also visited a few hilltops. He thought back to the year he had received several pouches of Golden Essence Copper Coins. Ruan Qiong had suggested he purchase some mountains. Chen Ping'an had taken the feng shui maps drawn by the Kiln Affairs Supervision Office and walked all over the mountain ranges, finally choosing five peaks, including Fallen Mountain and True Pearl Mountain. Thinking of it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.

After ascending the mountain, Chen Ping'an first went to the bamboo tower. He couldn't avoid the old man forever, and besides, even if the old man wanted to beat him, he couldn't escape anyway.

On the first floor, Chen Ping'an wrote several letters. He planned to send them to Cliff Academy, Green Gorge Island for Liu Zhimao and Gu Can, and the mountain villa where Song Yushao was in Comb Water Country. The letter to Gu Can would also need to pass a message to Liu Chongrun of Pearl Hairpin Island. As for the flying sword message to Liu Zhimao, he mentioned the situation of the female official Red Crisp in Spring Courtyard Manor.

Liu Zhimao had survived the great calamity. Not only had he safely emerged from the water prison of Palace Willow Island and returned to Green Gorge Island, but he had also transformed himself, becoming, like Liu Laocheng, a honored official of the Jade Sceptre Sect's subordinate sect, ranking third. The many forces around Letter Bamboo Lake that had kicked Green Gorge Island when it was down were probably in for a rough time. As for the disciples and honored officials within Green Gorge Island, they would probably suffer even more, especially those clever ones who had made all their plans on the premise that their master Liu Laocheng was dead, such as the Golden Core cultivator Tian Hujun of Suave Scale Island.

So the old saying "Leave some room when dealing with others" makes a lot of sense.

The last letter was written to Zhong Kui of Peace Mountain on Parasol Leaf Continent. It needed to be sent first to Old Dragon City, then transmitted via cross-continent flying sword. For the other letters, Ox Horn Mountain ferry had a sword house. Within a single continent, as long as the destination wasn't too remote or the recipient's mountain too weak, the flying swords could reach it smoothly. However, the flying swords in the sword house were now strictly controlled by the Great Li military. So he still needed to borrow Wei Bo's banner, so to speak. There was no way around it. If it were Ruan Qiong, he wouldn't need to go to all this trouble. In the end, it was still because Fallen Mountain hadn't yet developed into a force to be reckoned with.

After finishing the letters, he found Pei Qian and Zhu Lian and told them to deliver them to Ox Horn Mountain.

Pei Qian was all excited.

She wanted to call the little boy in blue and the little girl in pink to go with her. The more, the merrier, right?

But Chen Ping'an stopped them, so Pei Qian had to go down the mountain with the old cook. However, she asked her master if she could lead the Qu Yellow horse, and Chen Ping'an said yes. Pei Qian then swaggered out of the courtyard.

She had originally thought that only the next time she ventured out into the martial world could she ask her master for a little donkey. She didn't expect to be riding a tall horse now. Maybe she shouldn't bother with the jianghu anymore. Just riding a horse around the vicinity of Fallen Mountain was a kind of jianghu life, wasn't it? And she wouldn't have to run into so many unpleasant bad people. If she got hungry, she could just run back to Fallen Mountain. She wouldn't have to worry about food or clothing. Such a jianghu, though small, was very much to her liking.

Zheng Dafeng was no longer on the mountain. He was said to have gone to Dragon Spring City to settle a few accounts, then he would come to live on Fallen Mountain. It was estimated that Zheng Dafeng owed a huge pile of debt to the taverns and inns. He had borrowed money from Zhu Lian, but whether he would repay it, and when, heaven only knew.

The girl named Cen Yuanji stood in the courtyard, at a complete loss. Her face was bright red, and she didn't dare to look directly at the young master of Fallen Mountain.

Chen Ping'an naturally wouldn't mind a little misunderstanding like that. To tell the truth, at first he had read too much into it, mistakenly thinking Zhu Lian had hit the nail on the head, only to have the naive girl give him a rude awakening. Chen Ping'an had felt a little disappointed.

It wasn't that Chen Ping'an had a roving eye, but what man wouldn't be pleased to think he was handsome and not unpleasant to look at?

Chen Ping'an didn't deliberately snub Cen Yuanji either. He repeated what he had said at the entrance to the Cen family home in Dragon Spring City. Since she was on Fallen Mountain and here to learn martial arts, there had to be rules. The best thing for her to do was to ask Zhu Lian about them, one by one. As long as she stayed within the rules, there would be no restrictions on what she did or said. And even if she was punished in the future and felt she was in the right, she didn't need to worry. She could come directly to him, Chen Ping'an, and state her case. No one would stop her. If what she said made sense, Chen Ping'an would acknowledge her reasoning.

Cen Yuanji nodded, confused, still not speaking.

She was both relieved and worried. Relieved because Fallen Mountain wasn't a dragon's pool or tiger's den. Worried because, besides Old Immortal Zhu, the young master of the mountain, his first disciple, and even the two little bookboys in blue and pink, were all so different from the mountain cultivators she had imagined. The only one who fit her image of an immortal, "Wei Bo," wasn't even a cultivator on Fallen Mountain.

As for that old man named Shi Rou, he didn't like to talk and was even more strange. Just looking at him sent chills down her spine.

Cen Yuanji sighed inwardly. Whatever. She'd just focus on learning martial arts.

Chen Ping'an led the little boy in blue and the little girl in pink towards the cliff-side stone table near the bamboo tower.

The little girl in pink sat next to Chen Ping'an, on the north side. That way, she wouldn't block her master's view when he looked south.

The little boy in blue sat across from Chen Ping'an. He stretched out his hand, and the little girl in pink produced a handful of melon seeds. Having spent so much time with Pei Qian, who loved to crack seeds, she had become something of a melon seed vendor herself.

Chen Ping'an said seriously, "The two of you not having formal names isn't right. In the future, Fallen Mountain might become a real sect. We might even have a Founder's Hall. But you should keep your true names to yourselves. I haven't asked you for them all these years, and I won't in the future. Even if Fallen Mountain becomes a true cultivation peak, we won't demand them from you. I can state that clearly right now. If anyone ever gossips about it, you come tell me, and I'll have a chat with them. But you will eventually need to have names that can be recorded in the Founder's Hall registry. So, do either of you have any chosen aliases you like?"

Creatures and goblins of the mountains, rivers, and marshes have true names that must be carefully inscribed somewhere in their heart lake, their heart door, their heart field.

Especially after transforming into human form, this name was indispensable. It was equivalent to "announcing to the world," like the founding name of a nation.

According to secret mountain teachings, if a goblin or creature refused to be "registered," they would be ostracized by the Great Dao of the Haoran World, facing endless obstacles. Many mountain and marsh goblins far from the human world were ignorant of this principle. That was one of the fundamental reasons why they found it so difficult to achieve enlightenment, why they remained nameless, stumbling along for centuries or millennia, progressing slowly in their cultivation, never accepted by the Haoran World.

But once a cultivator obtained a goblin's true name, the goblin was effectively in their grip.

That was why Chen Ping'an had never asked the little boy in blue or the little girl in pink for their true names.

Chen Ping'an suddenly smiled, full of confidence. "If you can't think of anything yourself, it's okay. I can help you choose a name. I'm good at this!"

The little boy in blue, who was shaking his head and cracking melon seeds, looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. He dropped the seeds on the table, propped his hands on the stone table, and wailed, "Please, no! I can think of a name on my own, Master! You're already so hard at work, don't trouble yourself any further..."

Even the little girl in pink, who was closest to Chen Ping'an, her cute, pink little face stiffened.

Chen Ping'an looked at the little boy in blue, then at the little girl in pink. "You really don't want my help? Don't miss this chance. Don't regret it later."

The little boy in blue quickly rubbed his face and muttered, "Goddamn, what a narrow escape."

The little girl in pink, afraid of hurting her master's feelings, pretended she wasn't that happy, her tender little face tight.

Chen Ping'an, still unwilling to give up, tentatively asked, "On my way home, I came up with several names. Why don't you have a listen first?"

The little boy in blue looked about to cry. "Master, I've heard that a scholar's knowledge decreases with use. With those four swords, First and Fifteen, Subduing Demons and Vanquishing Evils, I think your learning and talent must be pretty much used up. Better save what's left."

The little boy in blue banged his head on the stone table, playing dead. But finding it too boring, he occasionally reached out, grabbed a melon seed, tilted his head slightly, and cracked it on the sly.

Chen Ping'an sighed. "Alright then. Whenever you regret it, just let me know."

The little boy in blue, his cheek pressed against the table, made a funny face at the little girl in pink.

The little girl in pink covered her mouth and giggled.

Chen Ping'an smiled warmly and gently rubbed her little head.

On his way home, Chen Ping'an had ridden his horse while flipping through bamboo slips, carefully reading the beautiful words on them, all in the hopes of finding nice names for these two little ones.

A pity. A hero with no place to use his talent.

After they finished their business, the two little ones excused themselves and ran off at lightning speed.

Chen Ping'an laughed softly.

He sat where he was. The melon seeds the little boy in blue hadn't finished were still on the table. He picked them up one by one and cracked them himself.

His mountain contract with the Great Li Song Clan would require a Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Rites to be dispatched by the court.

Chen Ping'an clapped his hands, took out the Day and Night Traveling Spirit Incarnation Talisman, hesitating slightly.

Wei Bo had said that although the Li Clan of Fortune and Prosperity Street had a deep foundation, their ancestor had forced a breakthrough in the Golden Core bottleneck to reach the Nascent Soul level, exhausting a great deal of the family's resources. Moreover, this Nascent Soul cultivator, who was "extremely young" compared to cultivators elsewhere, had become used to the small world of the Bead Lilac Cave Heaven after its restrictions were lifted. The blessings he had once enjoyed there, upon returning to the greater world, had become a curse. His foundation was too shallow, his realm too high, creating a precarious situation like seawater flowing backward. He needed to consume immortal spirit money to build a dike, to prevent the continuous invasion of yin sha and turbid qi.

Besides this, the Li Clan had also taken over a large mansion belonging to a fallen noble's descendant in the Great Li capital. Expenses like this were massive. So the Li family was genuinely short of money now.

The four great surnames and ten great clans of Fortune and Prosperity Street and Peach Leaf Alley in the small town had already changed drastically.

Some had moved away and were never heard from again. Some had fallen silent, whether they were biding their time or had been wounded behind the scenes in unknown conspiracies. Some families not originally in this group, like the Xie Clan of Peach Leaf Alley, which had produced Xie Shi, had now become the leading clan of the alley, due to the appearance of their ancestor, the Northern Clam Continent Heavenly Lord Xie Shi.

Upstairs, the old man's voice rang out: "Start practicing your fists tomorrow."

Chen Ping'an responded, stood up, and went to the small pond behind the bamboo tower. The water was crystal clear, so clear you could see the bottom. After Wei Bo had created this small pond, it had a source of living water, which was not a simple matter. It came directly from Cloak Cloud Mountain. He had then thrown a golden lotus seed into it.

Chen Ping'an crouched down, gently slapped the ground, and said, "Come out."

A little lotus person emerged from the earth, without a speck of mud on it. It giggled, grabbed hold of Chen Ping'an's blue robe, and immediately sat on his shoulder.

Chen Ping'an had already asked Wei Bo to take care of the little lotus person. Wei Bo's gaze had been dazed at the time; he only nodded.

Chen Ping'an looked at the small pond for a while, but naturally didn't see a flower bloom.

He stood up and carried the little lotus person to the first floor. This was considered Chen Ping'an's official residence.

Many of his belongings were kept here. When Chen Ping'an was away from Fallen Mountain, the little girl in pink would clean every day until there wasn't a speck of dust. She also wouldn't let the little boy in blue come in casually.

Chen Ping'an sat down at the table and suddenly smiled. Still in his blue robe, should he be an accountant again for a time, carefully taking stock of his current assets?

The little lotus person jumped onto the table and started running around, checking if the items and books on it were neatly arranged. It was very meticulous. If anything was slightly out of order, it would carefully move it. The little thing was very busy.

Chen Ping'an suddenly noticed a seal box on the table. Opening it, he found a personal seal. He hadn't brought it with him on his numerous travels. By accident, it had become what could be considered the mountain-guarding treasure of Fallen Mountain.

Chen Ping'an held the seal high. It was engraved with three characters.

Chen Shi Yi.

Chen Ping'an just stared at those three ancient seal script characters.

He laid the seal horizontally on the table, rested his chin on his folded arms, and gazed at the seal script on the bottom of the seal.

He sat up, twisted his wrist, concentrated his mind, and from his personal Water Prefecture, he "took out" the Water word seal, a piece from his destiny object. He gently placed it beside the other seal.

The two seals were no longer alone.

Chen Ping'an lay back down on the table, muttering to himself, "I hope that one day, when someone comes to reason with me using unreasonableness, they'll first ask my fists and my sword if they agree. But my fist technique is still poor, my swordsmanship inadequate. The ten-year agreement is already half over. What am I going to do?"

At that very moment, the Sword Immortal in the sheath behind his back vibrated like a finishing dragon, humming a clear note.