Chapter 616: Moonlight Washing Sword for Beheading Bandits
Chen Ping'an opened his eyes, and almost instantly, four flying swords appeared simultaneously. First was taking credit, Fifteen remained obedient as always; Pine Needle and Coughing Thunder, after all, were imitation swords, and even after great refinement, they were still far from being this spirited.
The small room had the most familiar scent of medicine.
Looking at the sky outside the window, it was near dusk.
Closing his eyes, he sensed the vague aura of the distant Sword Qi Great Wall for a moment, then opened his eyes again. Chen Ping'an withdrew his flying swords, immersed his mind into the minor world within his body, and inspected the aftermath of that great battle, mainly patrolling four crucial acupoints.
In a battle between cultivators, one-on-one combat, if one's natal spirit palace became a ruin similar to a battlefield site, it would mean fundamental damage to the Great Path.
But just as the mustard seed of his mind appeared, a ferocious fire dragon slithered over. Standing atop the dragon's head was that little golden figure, still wearing a Confucian scholar's robe. Besides a sword at its waist, it also had a golden scripture, but it had become a little bald head.
The little golden figure stood on the fire dragon's head, glaring fiercely at Chen Ping'an, poised to strike.
Chen Ping'an bluffed, "Don't curse at me. When I get fierce, I even curse myself."
Did that little bald head care about that? It cursed loudly.
Chen Ping'an couldn't really trade curses with the golden figure, so he had to pretend to be deaf and dumb. After all, without its help patrolling the minor world and controlling that single breath of true qi from a pure martial artist, not interfering with the circulation of spiritual qi in the spirit palaces, then after such a great battle where his mind slept as if in a minor death, the martial artist's true qi and the cultivator's spiritual qi would have been fighting fiercely within the minor world. That would have added insult to injury, causing endless trouble.
Over at the Water Palace, the spiritual qi had been completely exhausted. The water patterns on the murals were dim, and the small pond had dried up. But the water character seal, the painted murals, and the small pond had not had their foundations damaged. It wasn't a case of being unscathed, just that there was an opportunity for repair. For example, some of the painted murals had flaked off, and many of the already unstable water god portraits were even more wavering and scattered. Among them, a few water gods that seemed to have had their eyes dotted in—their originally pure and bright golden light had also become somewhat dim.
The entire Water Palace seemed lifeless and gloomy. The green-clad child attendants had nothing to do. A clever woman cannot cook a meal without rice. They looked up at the mustard seed of Chen Ping'an's mind. Though they didn't complain out loud, each one was downcast, with resentful eyes. Chen Ping'an had to promise them that he would try his best and as soon as possible to help replenish the household and restore the vitality here. The green-clad children all drooped their heads, not quite believing him.
At the gate of the Water Palace, the little golden figure sat cross-legged on the dragon's head, glaring at the green-clad children.
Those listless little ones immediately stood up and respectfully saw Chen Ping'an off.
After leaving the Water Palace, the little golden figure started riding the fire dragon again, chasing after Chen Ping'an and cursing.
The Mountain Shrine and Wood Dwelling were in similar condition to the Water Palace. He would have to act as a mender, using immortal money and corresponding Five Elements treasures to slowly fill the holes.
The damage to three crucial acupoints and natal objects caused Chen Ping'an to drop three realms at once, so now he was a Second Realm grand cultivator.
The good news was that the Eighteen Stops of Sword Qi, modified by A'Liang, no longer had any obstacles.
First and Fifteen occupied two crucial spirit palaces, continuing to hone their sword edges on the Dragon-Slaying Platform.
Of the acupoints where the earliest three "extremely tiny" strands of sword qi had lingered, only one remained, like an empty house waiting for occupancy.
He was just waiting for Chen Ping'an to nurture a natal flying sword more worthy of the name than First and Fifteen, to become a true sword cultivator in name and reality.
Among the Ten Elegant Swordsmen, very few carved self-portraits.
But this Dharmaseal was engraved with patterns of many ancient deities: Thunder General, Lightning Mother, Wind Earl, Rain Master, Cloud Official, Spirit Officer, Heavenly Beings, and others.
The seal script consisted of sixteen characters in seal script imitating birds and insects: "Gather the Five Thunders, Command All Methods. Sever the Five Leakages, Pivot of Heaven and Earth."
These sixteen words were quite exaggerated seal script content, simply monumental in scope, swallowing heaven and earth.
As long as one cultivated the orthodox lineage of the Five Thunder True Method and was a true Daoist high adept who had genuinely attained the Great Path, they could indeed claim, "This body and heaven and earth are mutually internal and external; all creation is within my palm."
The Yellow-Purple nobles of the Celestial Master Mansion on Mount Dragon-Tiger in the Central Earth were the cream of the crop.
There was a renowned couplet famous throughout the world, not written by the Longhu Mountain Daoists themselves, but gifted by outsiders.
"Wind, thunder, cloud, and rain rise from within the palm; thousands of Dharma gates open from here."
Chen Ping'an held this Daoist heavy artifact that had "only dropped one realm," and said with a smile, "This is the ancestor of the Great Number and the center of the Five. You have the chance to restore your rank as a half-immortal weapon. In the past, you met with an unworthy master who didn't keep faith. Now that you've fallen into my hands, it's fortune for both of us. Later, when I become a proper Middle Five Realm mountain immortal and learn the Thunder Method, you can follow me to slay demons and vanquish evil."
Chen Ping'an wiped it carefully with his sleeve, then gently placed it on the table. Later, he could undergo great refinement and hang it outside the gate of the Wood Dwelling, just like how in the market towns, ordinary households hung bronze mirrors to ward off evil.
He took out another celestial treasure that had also been reduced to a Dharma artifact: the bronze pagoda modeled after the White Jade Capital.
Seeing this item, having obtained it, Chen Ping'an was most delighted.
After great refinement, it would be placed in the Mountain Shrine.
Chen Ping'an didn't have many thoughts about opening more crucial acupoints to place cultivator natal objects. Now that he was a Second Realm cultivator, even thinking about it was useless.
Finally, there was the scroll with its split wooden roller and damaged painting. The lifelike depictions of eighteen sword immortals were the top sword cultivators in the history of the Barbaric World.
It was just that the scroll was too damaged at the moment, with hardly any quality to speak of.
Chen Ping'an had initially thought not to play favorites; after refining it, he could give it to the little golden figure. Unexpectedly, he immediately felt a pang in his heart.
What a lord it was—it couldn't even be bothered to look at it, outright disdain.
Chen Ping'an had to change his plan and place it together with the bronze pagoda in the Mountain Shrine.
Chen Ping'an put away all the items, returned them to his Cunjing object, walked out of the room, reached the small courtyard gate, then walked back into the yard.
In the end, he still couldn't rest easy about the city wall.
So he began the six-step standing stake practice.
But after going through several rounds of fist stances, even wearing his Dharma robe, he could still barely conceal a faint smell of blood.
Would dropping in realm as a cultivator be easy?
The reason Chen Ping'an had previously made that unnecessary move to ask White Granny whether the process of that fight had been leaked had little to do with conspiracies.
It was just that Chen Ping'an didn't want too many people on the Sword Qi Great Wall to be aware of his other side.
When the raised Thunder Pool and the descending Sea of Clouds had connected heaven and earth, Chen Ping'an's true body and Yin spirit had actually already become indistinguishable.
So at that time, Chen Ping'an, though in a desperate situation, felt an unrestrained, exhilarating pleasure.
As if life should be exactly like this.
Sitting still made his heart uneasy; even standing stake practice couldn't calm his mind.
Chen Ping'an had to go back into the house and sit down to carve seals. Even if he earned money, he still wouldn't keep a single cent; all of it would be repaid to the Sword Qi Great Wall. But the process of earning money itself was a joyful thing. The learning in this was not for outsiders to understand.
There were countless sword cultivators on the Sword Qi Great Wall, but very few scholars. Whether carving seals or inscribing fan faces, if the person wielding the knife and brush wasn't steady enough, carving poorly or writing badly didn't matter.
Chen Ping'an sat by the table, took out the Nourishing Sword Gourd, and took occasional sips of wine.
Holding the flying sword Fifteen, he newly carved a snow-white jade-like stone seal.
The side inscription read: "Worldly affairs are all predictable, men rush endlessly for fame and profit, teaching this old rogue in the rivers and lakes to look on with disdain."
The seal text: "Go drink wine."
He carved another seal.
The side inscription: "Since ancient times, poets and lyricists have wished they could beat to death a single 'love' character. Only I resent that love-sorrow does not come knocking. Drink his mother's wine, anger grows from the gall, a single club smashes the book, beating the tender lyric words to pieces."
The seal text: "Sorrow kills a bachelor."
He carved another seal.
The side inscription: "A penniless sword immortal has no wine to get drunk on; a graceful beauty suddenly gains autumn fat."
The seal text: "What to do."
Finally, he carved one more seal.
The side inscription: "Lush moss beneath the steps, a noble son fans himself. Withered yellow vegetables by the well, tears and snot stream down."
Just as Chen Ping'an was about to engrave the seal text, he suddenly gripped this seal in his hand and crushed it into powder.
Chen Ping'an took a deep breath.
He stood up and left the room. In the night, he went to the main room's table and took that sword immortal blade.
He drew the sword from its sheath. Moonlight was like water, shining on the blade, as if washing the sword.
Chen Ping'an sheathed the sword. Instead of carrying it on his back, he hung it at his waist. Then he summoned his talisman boat and set off for the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Heroes behead bandits; sword cultivators slay demons. How could I not yearn for that? Then let's go and do his mother's work.