Chapter 573: Chen Ping'an Is the Most Annoying
Chen Ping'an quietly left the pavilion, walked down the Dragon-Slaying Platform, and arrived beside the old woman.
The old woman smiled. "I have met Young Master Chen. This old woman's surname is Bai, given name Lianshuang. Young Master Chen may call me Granny Bai, as the young lady does."
Chen Ping'an called out "Granny Bai" and said nothing more.
The old woman took the lead and moved forward, her footsteps soundless, her presence completely restrained like a dead, still ancient pond. Chen Ping'an followed her pace.
After a moment of silence, once they had gone more than a hundred paces, she spoke with a smile. "It seems that Young Master Chen's travels through the Haoran World over the years have not been easy."
She was currently only at the Mountain Summit Realm, but her insight was that of a Martial Forbearer. No matter how much a junior martial artist tried to conceal his strength, to her eyes it was like a child carrying a heavy load across a river—she knew exactly how much strength he had. But the young man beside her, with his sixth realm of martial arts, seemed quite authentic. This meant that he hadn't only just recently decided to suppress his realm upon arriving at the Sword Qi Great Wall, but had long since made a habit of it, so it was perfectly seamless.
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Not particularly smooth, but I've made it through."
The old woman stopped and asked with a smile, "Among your enemies, what was the highest realm for qi refiners, and what was the highest realm for pure martial artists?"
Chen Ping'an answered truthfully, "For qi refiners, Flying Ascension Realm. For martial artists, Tenth Realm. However, the former was a mortal enemy—of course, I didn't handle that alone; the situation ended quite miserably. The latter was a senior who intentionally guided my boxing techniques, suppressing himself to Ninth Realm, and delivered three punches."
Even the old woman, born and raised in a place like the Sword Qi Great Wall, couldn't help but be somewhat surprised, and she said bluntly, "And Young Master Chen still didn't die?"
She chuckled to herself. "That was somewhat rude. I hope Young Master Chen can forgive me."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "I was just lucky."
The old woman shook her head. "That's not quite right. Here on the Sword Qi Great Wall, the most feared thing is the saying 'lucky.' Those who seem lucky often die early. Luck can't be too good; you have to save up a little each time to truly live long."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'll remember that. I'll be more careful with my words from now on."
The old woman waved a hand. "Young Master Chen needn't be so reserved. Here, being too easygoing isn't a good thing."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "It's only here that I'm easygoing. Once I step outside, I might not say anything at all."
The old woman laughed heartily. "That's more like it. But there's still a small problem. This old woman, with dim eyes, has spent her whole life circling only the Yao family and the Ning estate. I haven't been to many other places—not even Inverted Mountain once. I've rarely been to the city wall or farther south. Now that Young Master Chen has entered the residence, there are many people outside watching us. I never beat around the bush. It's not that I look down on Young Master Chen—quite the opposite. To be so young and have such martial arts skill is truly remarkable. That old fellow surnamed Nalan and I are both very gratified. I myself have a relatively hard heart, but that half-dead old man actually secretly went to burn incense earlier. I reckon he shed quite a few tears. At his age, you'd think he'd be ashamed."
Chen Ping'an said, "Granny Bai, just throw your punches. If I can't take them, I'll honestly stay put in the residence."
The old woman took a step forward in a straight line, with no trace of qi flow, and delivered a punch. Chen Ping'an used his left elbow to press down that punch while sending his right fist toward her face, but he suddenly withdrew his boxing intent and stopped the fist.
The old woman, however, had no intention of pulling back her punch. Even though Chen Ping'an's elbow had pressed it down by about an inch, her fist still crashed into Chen Ping'an's body with a bang.
Chen Ping'an slid back several zhang along the corridor. With the peak boxing frame as the foundation of his intent, his ape-like form, which had seemed about to collapse, suddenly stretched out. His spine arched like a mighty dragon, and in an instant, he halted his momentum, standing steadily. If this had not been a sparring session limited to light touches, and if the old woman had not merely delivered a punch of the Distant Roaming Realm, Chen Ping'an could actually have countered the flow and even resisted the punch without retreating half a step.
The old woman nodded with a smile. "Let's consider that as receiving Young Master Chen's welcoming gift. Then this old woman won't delay Young Master Chen any further from enjoying the moonlight."
Chen Ping'an clasped his fists and took his leave.
The punch the old woman had thrown was genuinely at the pinnacle of the Distant Roaming Realm. Earlier, when Chen Ping'an had withdrawn his fist, she had also retracted some of her boxing intent, so it was no longer at its peak. But an ordinary Golden Body Realm practitioner taking a full-force Distant Roaming Realm punch probably wouldn't be enjoying the moonlight tonight.
The old steward came to the old woman's side and said hoarsely, "Why drag me into it?"
The old woman smiled. "What's the matter? Lost face in front of the future son-in-law? You, Nalan Yexing, you don't have any face left to speak of."
The old steward sighed.
Chen Ping'an returned to the pavilion. Ning Yao had already sat up.
Chen Ping'an said, "Why not sleep a little longer?"
Ning Yao sneered. "I wouldn't dare."
Chen Ping'an said aggrievedly, "Heaven and earth as my witness, I'm not that kind of person."
From whom had Pei Qian learned the most? Chen Ping'an was either oblivious or pretending to be dense.
Ning Yao ignored him. With one hand propping up a book, she used two fingers to flip open a page. The maid of Southern Garden Blessed Land, Huang Ting. She turned another page. The woman in the painting, Sui Youbian. After just a few more pages, quickly came Yao Jinzhi of the Great Spring Dynasty.
Chen Ping'an sat across from her, craning his neck as he watched Ning Yao turn page after page. He had written the book himself, so he roughly knew what was on which pages—what sights and travels. This immediately made him feel uneasy. Miss Ning, you can't read the book like this! There are so many long, strange passages and descriptions of scenic wonders that I wrote with great care. How can you skip them and only pick out trivial details, breaking sentences and destroying the meaning?
Ning Yao glanced at Chen Ping'an. "I've heard that when scholars write essays, they value the art of leaving white space and lingering aftertaste. The more concise and succinct the phrasing, the more it shows skill, conceals intent, and holds deep meaning."
Chen Ping'an said seriously, "Never heard of it. I don't know. Anyway, I'm not that kind of roundabout scholar. I say one thing, write two, think three—it's all clear and transparent in the book."
Ning Yao continued flipping through the book and asked, "Is there any woman who hasn't appeared in the book?"
Chen Ping'an said firmly, "No!"
Ning Yao looked up and asked with a smile, "So do you think I'm settling old scores, making unreasonable trouble, or being paranoid?"
Chen Ping'an smiled and shook his head.
Ning Yao nodded and finally deigned to close the book. She made her verdict: "Regarding the Water God Temple in the Northern Juzhou, the way you handled the fairy Gu Qing from Baodong Immortal Realm was very clean and decisive. Keep it up."
Chen Ping'an said, "There won't be any more such opportunities."
Ning Yao raised an eyebrow. "Chen Ping'an, you're so smooth-tongued now. Who taught you?"
Chen Ping'an answered without hesitation, "If I've learned anything bad, it must be from Zhu Lian and Zheng Dafeng of Fallen Mountain."
Ning Yao nodded. "It's hard to say about Zhu Lian since I haven't met him, but that Zheng Dafeng truly doesn't seem like a proper person."
However, Ning Yao added, "But Zheng Dafeng earned a new respect in the Old Dragon City battle. He may not seem proper, but he's actually the most proper. It's a pity that Zheng Dafeng had his martial path severed. He's watching the gate for you at Fallen Mountain—don't treat him poorly. As for certain men, they look proper but are full of crooked thoughts and frivolous ideas."
Chen Ping'an looked at Ning Yao. Ning Yao looked at him.
Chen Ping'an asked quietly, "You're not talking about me, are you?"
Ning Yao asked, "What do you think?"
Chen Ping'an said, "Then of course not."
Ning Yao smiled.
Chen Ping'an felt he was being wronged to death.
He walked the jianghu with pure righteousness, not a speck of rouge on him.
Ning Yao showed no intention of returning the book. She put it into her Sunflower Distance Pouch and stood up. "I'll take you to where you'll stay. The mansion is big. For years, it's just been me, Granny Bai, and Grandpa Nalan. You can pick any residence you like."
Chen Ping'an stood up too. "Where do you live?"
Ning Yao stopped walking and turned to look at Chen Ping'an. She squinted and clenched her fist. "Say that louder. I didn't hear clearly."
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "I meant I want to pick a residence close to yours."
Ning Yao blushed a little and glared at him. "Here, you'd better behave. Granny Bai was my mother's personal maid. If you dare to be handsy or break the rules, her Mountain Summit Realm martial fists will have you eating until you burp."
But having said that, Ning Yao remembered the things written in the book and felt that Granny Bai's fists might not scare him, so she changed her words. "Grandpa Nalan was once one of the Sword Qi Great Wall's best sword immortals at stealth assassinations. Although he was severely injured and half of his natal nascent soul was destroyed, causing his soul to decay, his combat power is still equivalent to a Jade Purity Realm sword cultivator. If he targets you from the shadows, Grandpa Nalan can fully be considered an Immortal Realm sword cultivator."
Chen Ping'an felt somewhat relieved and asked, "Did Grandpa Nalan fall in realm to protect you too?"
If it were anyone else, Chen Ping'an would never ask so directly, but Ning Yao was different. Back in the Pear Blossom Cave Heaven, Chen Ping'an had learned a lot from her straightforward style.
Ning Yao nodded, her expression calm. "Just like Granny Bai, it was for me. Except Granny Bai stopped an unidentified assassin inside the city, while Grandpa Nalan blocked a great demon lurking in the shadows on the battlefield south of the city wall. If it weren't for Grandpa Nalan, all of us—me, Diezhang, and the others—would have died."
Ning Yao paused for a moment. "Don't feel too guilty. Don't even think about it. The only useful thing to do is break through realms and kill enemies. Granny Bai and Grandpa Nalan already got off relatively easily. If they hadn't been able to protect me, imagine how regretful they would be. You have to think positively. But how you think or whether you think at all isn't the most important thing. On the Sword Qi Great Wall, if you don't break through realms, don't kill demons, and don't dare to die, then you're just a useless decoration with no realm or natal flying sword. On the Sword Qi Great Wall, everyone's life can be measured in value: at the moment of death in battle, what is your realm, how many demons have you personally killed, how many great demons have you lured into ambushes set by sword masters—then subtract your own realm and the sword masters you lost along the way. You can clearly see whether you made a profit or a loss."
Chen Ping'an said, "Every young genius on the Sword Qi Great Wall is a bright, open bait cast out."
Ning Yao nodded solemnly. "Yes! Me, Diezhang, Yan Zhuo, Chen Sanqiu, Dong Huafu, the deceased Little Guoguo, and all the others our age—we all know this very well, but that doesn't stop us from fighting with all our might. Each of us keeps a private ledger. As long as the realm difference isn't too great, whoever can earn 'money' the earliest and most—the heads of demons are the only currency in the eyes of sword cultivators of the Haoran World—wins."
Ning Yao pointed in a random direction. "The Yan fat guy's family has a lot of immortal money from the Haoran World, right? A lot. But when Yan Zhuo was a child, he was the most bullied kid. Nobody respected him. The worst time was when he put on a new dharma robe and went out to show off. A group of peers cornered him in an alley. When he came home, the sobbing little fat guy was covered in the stench of piss and shit. Later, after he joined us, things got better. Yan fatso also made his own efforts. The first time he went to the battlefield, we despised him. But after that, it was only him despising others."
Chen Ping'an looked around and murmured, "It's a good place—neither lonely in life nor in death."
Ning Yao asked, "Have you chosen a residence yet?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Not yet. I'll be staying for quite some time, so I can't be careless. Let me walk around a bit more."
Ning Yao complained, "You're the most annoying."
Even as she said "annoying," the girl, full of heroic spirit, didn't walk quickly.
Chen Ping'an was lost in thought.
Some matters that closely concerned them both.
He also asked about recent events on the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Suddenly, Ning Yao kicked him on the foot.
Chen Ping'an snapped back to attention and gave the address of a residence. Ning Yao told him to go there himself, and she left alone.
Chen Ping'an arrived at the chosen residence, not far from Ning Yao's quarters, but not adjacent either.
The elusive old woman Bai Lianshuang appeared, opened the door for him, and handed him a large set of keys, naming various rooms and buildings. It was clear that these were places Chen Ping'an could enter freely.
After handing over the keys, she teased, "The young lady's residence key really can't be given to Young Master Chen."
Chen Ping'an's scalp tingled, and he quickly said, "No need, no need."
He entered the quiet two-courtyard residence and picked a side room. He took off the Sword Immortal from his back and retrieved the dharma robe Golden Nectar, placing them both on the table.
Chen Ping'an sat at the table, reaching out to stroke the dharma robe.
If the Sword Immortal had mysteriously become an immortal artifact, then he knew exactly how the Golden Nectar robe had returned to immortal-grade rank—every expense was clear.
The answer was simple: it had been fed with a steady stream of Golden Essence Copper Coins. Golden Nectar had once been the "dragon robe" worn by the evil dragon in the Dragon Lair Gully. Earlier still, it had been a relic left behind by a Celestial Master from Dragon Tiger Mountain after a failed retreat on an overseas immortal mountain. When it fell into Chen Ping'an's hands, it was only a dharma treasure. Over countless miles of travel, it had consumed many Golden Essence Copper Coins and gradually become a semi-immortal artifact. Before this trip to Inverted Mountain, it was still at semi-immortal grade, lingering there for years. Then, Chen Ping'an used the last remaining piece of Glass Golden Body fragment to quietly make a deal with Wei Bo. The Northern Mountain Lord, who had just received a hundred Golden Essence Copper Coins from the Great Li court, had a "big gamble" with our Fallen Mountain Mountain Lord, each relying on their own skill and insight.
Chen Ping'an used the Glass Golden Body fragment as payment to upgrade Golden Nectar to immortal grade. The fragment, which would only appear after a Flying Ascension Realm qi refiner's death, was something Wei Bo needed far more than Golden Essence Copper Coins. Wei Bo gambled that he wouldn't have to use up all one hundred Golden Essence Copper Coins to help the oddly-originated Golden Nectar advance to immortal grade and reach the next level, becoming a legendary immortal artifact.
In the end, how many Golden Essence Copper Coins Wei Bo spent—Chen Ping'an didn't ask, and Wei Bo didn't say.
As the first mountain god in Bottle Gourd Continent's history to break into the Upper Five Realms, it was only natural for Wei Bo to receive such a congratulatory gift from the Great Li Emperor.
Rumor had it that the Middle Mountain Lord Jin Qing, who had left his domain to go to the capital and meet the emperor, also received fifty Golden Essence Copper Coins.
The other three new Great Li mountain lords should also have received at least fifty.
Whether Wei Bo could gain more was hard to say. After all, the number of improper mountain and river shrines banned by the Great Li Iron Cavalry and the shattered deities' golden bodies was finite. They couldn't go on a massive killing spree of various gods just to strengthen the Five Mountain Lords' golden bodies—that would only invite unnecessary wrath from heaven and men. Especially now, with the situation changing across Bottle Gourd Continent. The remnants of fallen nations, along with mountain-dwelling cultivators whose sects had been destroyed and had turned into rogue cultivators, were rising in unrest everywhere. While they weren't yet a major force that would keep the redirected Great Li Iron Cavalry busy, this inevitably involved mountain and river gods from various states. Some brave spirits, not forgetting their country's kindness, were willing to use their golden bodies to smash against the hooves of the Great Li Iron Cavalry, while others might just be caught in the crossfire. Still, the Great Li would definitely focus on pacifying the remaining gods who had already been "sorted."
Chen Ping'an's expression turned grave.
There was something he had to discuss with the Elder Sword Immortal Chen Qingdu, and it had to be in secret.
Back then, on the Sword Qi Great Wall, the Elder Sword Immortal had personally struck down an Upper Five Realm traitor within the city. The situation had nearly deteriorated, with heroes gathering from all sides and several great clan patriarchs appearing. At the time, Chen Ping'an had watched from atop the city wall, acting like a junior just observing the sword immortals' splendor to broaden his horizons. But he had long sensed the undercurrents on the Sword Qi Great Wall—estrangement between sword immortals and between clans.
However, Chen Ping'an had to be patient and find a justifiable opportunity to meet the Elder Sword Immortal on the city wall.
A piece of news he had heard earlier from Ning Yao might confirm his thoughts. Among this generation of prodigies around Ning Yao's age, very few had fallen on the battlefield in two extremely brutal campaigns. This generation of young people was recognized as an unprecedented era of genius. As many as thirty children were said to have the potential to become sword immortals, with Ning Yao leading. All had already been thrown into battle and had safely made it to the Middle Five Realms of sword cultivation. This was a great-era occurrence unseen in the Sword Qi Great Wall's ten-thousand-year history.
Thus, the Sword Qi Great Wall might indeed have detected signs and begun preparations.
Chen Ping'an was both worried and relieved.
A storm of emotions.
It was like when Chen Ping'an had traveled thousands of miles to Inverted Mountain and saw the guilty sword immortal hugging his sword and sleeping. He would still stand quietly aside, waiting for the man to speak on his own.
When young, likes and dislikes were written on the face, spoken by the mouth, telling the world what one was thinking.
After growing up, it was hard to be so free.
Chen Ping'an stood up, went to the courtyard, and practiced boxing and standing postures to calm his mind.
As for those troubling major matters at hand—pounding mountains and breaking fortresses—Chen Ping'an was always resolute, steady-handed, and able to endure.
He just missed Miss Ning a little.
As for the girl Chen Ping'an missed, she sat at the table with her hands cupping her cheeks. A single page of the book was spread open under the lamp, and she sat there for a long, long time, unwilling to turn to the next page.
On the densely packed page, written in neat small standard script, was a sentence, like a shy child hiding around a street corner, only daring to poke out his head to peek at Ning Yao, who had turned to this page and now met that child. She could never tire of looking at it.
The book said—that is, Chen Ping'an said.
At the time, he hadn't been drinking, but when he saw Miss Ning's profile, her eyelashes trembling slightly, then the ten-thousand-year-standing Sword Qi Great Wall seemed to sway.