Chapter: 643: Waiting for Someone
In the southeastern region of Bottle Gourd Continent, a white-clad young boy stopped in a deep mountain wilderness, at the riverbed of an inkstone quarry that had been abandoned for years. The marks of excavation and stone quarrying were clearly visible, but it was hardly some famous old pit with fine stones. The stream had dried up. Cui Dongshan jumped into the riverbed, frantically pulling at rocks and dirt, and finally dug out a stone slab that could barely be fashioned into a flat inkstone. He flicked it with his finger, listening closely. The sound quality was acceptable. He brushed off the mud, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it. Chance encounters with things are most delightful—you can't buy them with money. Cui Dongshan breathed on it, blowing flat the stone’s grain folds and tiny crevices, then rubbed his cheek against it for a long time. The inkstone’s grain became increasingly fine. He carried it in his hand. The child squatting on the bank stared blankly, apparently not understanding what Cui Dongshan was doing. When Cui Dongshan climbed ashore, he smacked the inkstone slab onto the child's head. In the end, Cui Dongshan got up on the bank and made the child walk with the stone slab balanced on his head, hands not allowed to steady it.
Looking back at the riverbed, Cui Dongshan clicked his tongue in admiration: “Going down into the water, coming up on the bank—truly a hero.”
They wandered along, spending the night at a mass grave in a desolate wilderness. Lying on the ground, he used a slender blade of grass to carve an inscription on the inkstone.
Then a young scholar appeared, squatting beside him, laughing, “I’ve seen the person. Not bad, a good foundation. That senior brother of mine might actually take a liking and be willing to accept him as a direct disciple.”
Holding the blade of grass, Cui Dongshan stared at the stone slab and asked, “Helping you return to White Emperor City—don’t you owe me thanks?”
The young scholar was none other than Liu Chicheng, who had once visited Cloud-Locked Tower on Book-Bamboo Lake.
Liu Chicheng laughed, “I was supposed to be here to stir up the situation in Bottle Gourd Continent, but now I’m not doing anything. Let’s call it even?”
Cui Dongshan sneered, “Oh, cut it out. Locked up for a thousand years, how did you break the formation? Do you have any idea? This shell of yours—if I hadn’t carefully selected it and then cleared the way for him, could you have stumbled your way out by luck? Even? How about I lock you back in, and then we’ll talk about even?”
Liu Chicheng plopped down on the ground, curious, “I’ve been away from White Emperor City too long. Playing chess with my senior brother—how did it feel? Is his skill higher or lower than before?”
Cui Dongshan sat up, shook his sleeves, and wiped the stone slab with his arm. The inkstone inscription was sixteen characters: Bathed in sunlight, washed in moonlight, form and substance complete, spirit and energy full, then return to heaven as its counterpart.
Cui Dongshan asked, “Back then, who sent you to take refuge in Bottle Gourd Continent?”
Liu Chicheng grinned, “Can’t tell you that. When you’re out in the world, righteousness comes first.”
Cui Dongshan nodded, ran his finger over the sixteen-character inscription, and instantly every stroke and dot was like a riverbed, with golden stream water flowing within. “Admirable, admirable.”
Liu Chicheng immediately said, “Saving my life is a greater righteousness. That name—I can tell you, I can tell.”
In Bottle Gourd Continent, the boy before him was unmatched, regardless of realm.
It was all about brains.
——
On the first floor of the Bamboo Tower at Mountain of Fallen.
After copying her books today, Pei Qian reached into the bottom of the small bamboo box at her feet, where among a thick stack of densely written pamphlets and slips, she finally dug out a blank pamphlet, shook it gently, spread it on the table, and assumed a pose of sinking qi into the elixir field, ready to start keeping accounts. Everything was related to the Jade Liquid River Water God’s Mansion.
Zhou Mi’li, carrying a little golden carrying pole, sprinted into the room in a flash. Pei Qian quickly reached out to block the actually blank account book, frowning, “How outrageous! This is the number one important place on our Mountain of Fallen, and you don’t even know to knock before entering?”
Zhou Mi’li hurriedly turned back outside, knocked on the door, and only after Pei Qian said “Come in” did the black-clad little girl trot across the threshold, run to the other side of the desk, and quietly report military intelligence: “That Old Cook’s big brother Feng went to Red Candle Town and bought a whole sack of books back. Big expense!”
Pei Qian nodded, “We’ll go check the accounts later. This is official business. If it hurts Old Cook’s feelings, there’s no help for it.”
Zhou Mi’li stood on tiptoe, craning her neck, trying to see what Pei Qian was doing. “Whatcha writing?”
Pei Qian waved her hand, “Go stand guard at the door. No one’s allowed in except Nuanshu.”
Zhou Mi’li said “Oh,” then suddenly turned back and leaned on the table, furrowing her faint, sparse little eyebrows, hesitating to speak.
Pei Qian asked, puzzled, “What?”
Zhou Mi’li lowered her voice, “You know that little incense-fire figure from the City God’s Pavilion in the prefectural city, right? We’re friends. He wants to take over my old position as Right Dharma Protector of Dragon-Riding Alley. Is that okay?”
Pei Qian thought for a moment, then shook her head, “No way in hell, no, no. Even though I alone can decide the positions of Left and Right Dharma Protectors of Dragon-Riding Alley, we can’t just nod when that little guy asks. We’ll wait a bit, test him first, then talk.”
Zhou Mi’li made a mournful face. Earlier, she had already guaranteed it to him, patting her chest.
Pei Qian sighed, “Alright, alright. Go tell him I agree, but the responsibilities are heavy. He’s not allowed to neglect his duties. He has to report to me once every month. As for tribute or anything, forget it—he’s a poor wretch too.”
Zhou Mi’li straightened up, “Orders received!”
——
A horseman left the Great Sui capital, traveling south for a distant journey.
A young woman in red robes wore a narrow saber at her waist and a silver sword-nourishing gourd.
She looked up at the sea of clouds.
She remembered when she was little, one glance at the clouds and she would think they were the goddesses who loved to dress up, constantly changing their clothes.
As a child, it seemed she had these messy thoughts every day, a noisy crowd like a bunch of mischievous little people. She couldn’t manage them or stop them.
Now, she took off the sword-nourishing gourd, took a sip of wine.
Li Baoping felt a little sad.
Little Uncle-Master, after growing up, I never seem to have those thoughts anymore. It’s as if they all ran away from home without saying goodbye, never coming back to find her.
——
After the sword cultivators from both sides had exchanged sword duels, wave after wave of the yao clan’s northward-migrating army arrived at the battlefield.
The great demon presiding over the army this time was the Lotus Pond Abbot, along with the Golden Armor Deity.
This was the first time on the battlefield that two Throne-ranked great demons jointly commanded a battle.
The Lotus Pond Abbot had refined half the moon’s essence of one of the moons in the Savage Wasteland. Earlier on the battlefield, he had crossed blows once with the pure Confucian Chen Chun’an of Po-So Continent, who was touring the Sword Qi Great Wall. It wasn’t a clear victory or defeat, but it was obvious that the Lotus Pond Abbot had suffered a slight loss. This had to do with both sides not going all out, or rather, the battlefield situation was so complex that neither side could afford to exert full force.
In the previous four battles, only one great demon had been in charge: the Bone Demon Bai Ying, the former master of the Falling River, Yang Zhi; Huang Luan, who loved to refine buildings to create sky cities; and the big-bearded man responsible for the Savage Wasteland’s sword duels against the Sword Qi Great Wall, the heroic Liu Cha, who was both enemy and friend to A Liang. Liu Cha carried a sword on his back and a saber at his waist, but he was even more perfunctory than great demons like Bai Ying, simply taking a few glances at the sword formations from behind the battlefield. After the great battle ended, he selected a dozen or so young sword cultivators as his nominal disciples.
Liu Cha’s founding disciple and only direct heir was the sword cultivator Zhu Qie.
These young sword cultivators, each feeling like they were dreaming, still had two major thresholds to cross before becoming Liu Cha’s true direct disciples: first entry into the door, then entering the chamber.
After being nominal disciples, if the disciple succeeded in learning the Way and passed the test, they could enter the gate. Only then would they be received into the hall and become true disciples—the direct disciples—able to receive their teacher’s true method and orthodox transmission.
Even though the Great Way was still far off, more than ten of them were still elated, instantly forming a small faction.
After all, half a teacher—Swordsman Liu Cha—was the highest peak of the sword path in the Savage Wasteland. Becoming his disciple, even temporarily as a nominal one, was enough to be proud of.
As for the final closed-door disciple, it was no less significant than the founding disciple. Often, it meant the teacher believed he could entrust his life’s skills and learning without worry, and thus stop here. The disciple closed the door, outsiders stopped—hence, closed-door disciple.
Seeking a teacher is like seeking rebirth; choosing a disciple is like having a child. For both sides, it was a major event.
Before the great battle began, Qi Shou had already broken into the Nascent Soul realm. Gao Ye’s bottleneck was now loosening, and he was about to become a Nascent Soul sword cultivator. Pang Yuanji, whose talent was deemed superior to Gao Ye’s and whose eventual achievement on the Great Way was considered even higher than Qi Shou’s, had instead had his sword heart defiled and his realm unstable. This was probably what they called the inconstancy of the Great Way.
The great battle was magnificent. Fan Dache, a mere Dragon Gate realm cultivator, took a step further and broke into the Golden Core realm. Actually, it was a small matter—just that during a lull in the battle, Die Zhang and a few other friends shared a celebratory drink with Fan Dache.
That batch of yao clan cultivators returned to the battlefield, continuing to clash their torrent of treasures against the sword formations.
The yao clan sword cultivators, however, did not participate. They were simply too precious, and they didn’t want to waste too much in siege warfare.
If the yao clan creatures of the Savage Wasteland that had not yet taken human form were the cheapest copper coins in the marketplace, then the yao clan rogue cultivators who had opened their spiritual wisdom and cultivated the Way were snowflake coins. Those who had accomplished cultivation of the mind were the lesser summer coins that possessed spirit artifacts and treasures. The yao clan sword cultivators were the most cherished grain-rain coins. It wasn’t that continuing to duel the Sword Qi Great Wall was meaningless, but if they could achieve the same results with an endless supply of copper coins, why waste the sword cultivator grain-rain coins, of which it was extremely difficult to produce a second after using one?
In the Bright World, if a war camp dared to deploy troops like this, ignoring countless lives, sending hundreds of thousands to die, piling bones on the battlefield before the city, it would surely be reviled for ten thousand years. But in the Savage Wasteland, there was no problem at all.
For the first time, the Savage Wasteland employed an ant-attach siege.
For this, a special bugle call sounded melodiously, echoing through the clouds, greatly boosting the morale of the Savage Wasteland army.
The pure martial artist Yu Juanfu had been waiting long for this. His fist intent blazed, finally able to fight and kill demons to his heart’s content.
The sword cultivators of the Hidden Official lineage still went up to the city wall in groups of three, taking turns to unleash their swords.
Every day’s casualties on both sides were meticulously recorded. Guo Zhujiu was responsible for compiling the reports. In the main hall of the Summer Retreat Palace, the atmosphere grew increasingly heavy. Everyone was busy to the point of distraction. Even Guo Zhujiu stayed at his desk all day long.
On the Inverted Mountain side, almost all the managers of the eight-continent ferry ships doing business at Inverted Mountain had already visited the Spring Pennant Studio once.
Yan Ming, Nalan Caihuan, and Mi Yu, along with Shao Yunyan and his direct disciple Wei Wenlong, were also not idle.
War wasn’t just about fighting and killing on the battlefield; the battlefield was also in the account books.
This was a new way for the Sword Qi Great Wall and the eight-continent ferries to try trading, and there were many small frictions. Moreover, the collection of snowflake coins by the Ai-Ai Continent ferries was not going particularly smoothly. The main issue was that the Liu Clan of Ai-Ai Continent had not yet expressed its stance on this, and the Liu Clan controlled all the mines and shares of snowflake coins in the world. Without the Liu Clan’s approval, unwilling to offer discounts, and given that only a few cross-continent ferries could gather snowflake coins, they dared not brazenly travel across continents. A ship full of snowflake coins would tempt even cultivators of the Upper Five Realms. If they called a few friends, hid at sea, and intercepted the ferry, it would be a huge disaster. The Ai-Ai Continent ferries dared not take such risks, and the Sword Qi Great Wall didn’t want to see that outcome either. So when the Ai-Ai Continent ferries returned and then set out again for Inverted Mountain, they did not carry snowflake coins. Instead, they brought only the other supplies listed in the Spring Pennant Studio’s booklet. The ferry owners from Ai-Ai Continent, including Jiang Gaotai, made a request to Spring Pennant Studio: they hoped the Sword Qi Great Wall could dispatch sword immortals to escort the ferries, and it had to be sword immortals stationed on board for both the outbound and return trips.
Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan both felt this was infeasible. They hoped the ferries could hire one or two Fifth Realm cultivators themselves. After all, if even one such snowflake coin deal succeeded, the Ai-Ai Continent ferries would earn enough. They shouldn’t expect Spring Pennant Studio to send sword immortals to protect their formations. Otherwise, a round trip, including a layover at Ai-Ai Continent, often took half a year or even a year, keeping a sword immortal far from the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Shao Yunyan offered a compromise: each ferry didn’t have to invest entirely in snowflake coin trade. Ai-Ai Continent had abundant resources—there was plenty of profit to be made.
These small unexpected issues within the big business required both sides to grind them out. If just one link went wrong, the deal was essentially dead.
At Spring Pennant Studio, it was already scorching summer—a great kiln of heaven and earth, smelting all things. Here at the Sword Qi Great Wall, this year there was no snow in winter.
This made Guo Zhujiu a little regretful. She had long since agreed with her master that when the heavy snow fell, they would build seventeen or eighteen snowmen, one for every sword cultivator of the Hidden Official lineage.
The only thing that eased the sword cultivators of the Hidden Official lineage was that the huge controversy caused by the young Hidden Official when he used the flying sword “Hidden Official” to transmit messages to the city wall had dissipated on its own. Or maybe the controversy still lingered in their hearts, but they had no time to speak of it.
The war was brutal. Too many died.
So much so that Sword Immortal Chou Miao, along with Pang Yuanji and Lin Junbi, simply dragged the true body of that Ascension-level great demon, chose a lull in the battle, and made a trip to the city wall. They announced that this great demon had been hiding at Inverted Mountain, attempting to cause chaos. The three of them had followed the clues, discovered its origin, and decisively joined forces with several sword immortals including Lu Zhi to surround and kill it at sea.
Killing an Ascension-level great demon.
This was hardly a trivial matter. The Sword Qi Great Wall buzzed with noise. Countless cheers erupted.
In the end, Lin Junbi couldn’t bear to cut off its head to return the courtesy to the Savage Wasteland, so he brazenly took the initiative and preserved the entire true body of the Ascension-level great demon, dragging it back to the Summer Retreat Palace.
After returning, the young Hidden Official saw the great demon’s true body with the head still attached. He laughed so hard his mouth wouldn’t close. While scolding Lin Junbi for being petty and stingy, tarnishing the reputation of the Hidden Official lineage, he immediately stored the true body into his foot-length item, heavily patting Lin Junbi’s shoulder, laughing like a sneaky child who had found money on the road and quickly stuffed it into his pocket.
Gu Jianlong and Wang Xinshui exchanged a glance, knowing that Lin Junbi, that little lackey, would surely earn a merit from the Hidden Official.
That day, Chen Ping’an left the main hall of the Summer Retreat Palace to go for a walk. Lin Junbi followed.
Chen Ping’an smiled, “Got something on your mind?”
Lin Junbi said, “For now, things are going fairly smoothly, but the biggest problem isn’t between buyers and sellers—it’s the views of the academies and schools in the Bright World.”
Chen Ping’an seemed curious, “Tell me about it.”
Lin Junbi said worriedly, “Before, the eight-continent ferries, if they hadn’t changed their trading methods with the Sword Qi Great Wall, still scattered and going their own ways, the Confucian Temple probably wouldn’t have interfered much. But now that we’ve changed the situation, the Confucian Temple might push back. To be honest, we’ve touched many fundamental interests of the Bright World. Every bit more supplies sent to Inverted Mountain means one bit less in the Bright World.”
Chen Ping’an nodded, “That makes sense.”
Lin Junbi asked, “If the Confucian Temple orders the eight-continent ferries heading to Inverted Mountain to only circulate supplies within the Bright World, what do we do?”
Although Lin Junbi was a sword cultivator, his techniques were diverse. He formed a hand seal with two fingers, using an earthy method of talismans to press soil into a mountain, shaping a suspended map of the world situation. It moved slowly with the two of them. Lin Junbi pointed at the map, condensed Qi into water, and drew new shipping routes between the continents. “Ferries from the Central Earth Divine Continent and Ai-Ai Continent are only allowed to ship to South Po-So Continent. The ferries of Liuxia Continent and Golden Armor Continent are to reinforce Southwest Fuyao Continent. The ferries of North Julu Continent and Bottle Gourd Continent can only go to Southeast Tongye Continent, to build and reinforce the coastal defenses of those three continents. Even if the price is ten or even thirty percent lower than at the Sword Qi Great Wall, I believe the eight-continent ferries will have no choice but to comply. As for the original ferries of Po-So Continent and the other two continents, they’d be even less likely to come to Inverted Mountain.”
Chen Ping’an took Lin Junbi for a walk together. “Regarding this matter, the worst-case scenario you mentioned—Sword Immortal Chou Miao actually warned me about it from the start. But there’s no other choice. We can’t just do nothing for fear of that outcome. We’ll take it one step at a time. Every time a ferry docks at Inverted Mountain, we treat it as an extra batch of supplies. I just hope the Confucian Temple takes its time coming to a decision.”
Lin Junbi asked, “Could Master Wen Sheng put in a word at the Confucian Temple on such a big matter?”
Chen Ping’an shook his head, “That’s quite difficult. The Confucians value name and status. They emphasize having a proper reason for action.”
Lin Junbi pressed, “Even with the help of the pure Confucian Chen family, it’s still not enough?”
Chen Ping’an shook his head again, “Each has their own difficulties.”
Lin Junbi gritted his teeth, “What if I write a secret letter to my own master and ask him to say a word or two?”
Chen Ping’an stopped in his tracks, “Remember, here at the Sword Qi Great Wall, you are only the sword cultivator Lin Junbi. Don’t drag your own scholarly lineage into this, and don’t drag the Shao Yuan Dynasty into it. Not only will it be useless, but it will also be a waste of your effort, and may even ruin things.”
Chen Ping’an smiled, “But I appreciate the goodwill.”
In fact, Chen Ping’an could have agreed. Regardless of whether Lin Junbi was acting on impulse or calculating, he could have let Lin Junbi write the letter, send it by flying sword to the Shao Yuan Dynasty, then have a sword immortal intercept it halfway. Chen Ping’an would read the contents first and decide whether to keep the letter, file it in the Summer Retreat Palace’s records accessible only to the Hidden Official, or continue sending it to the Central Earth Divine Continent.
But having spent time together, Chen Ping’an had a fair understanding of Lin Junbi’s temperament. He pursued accomplishments and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Yet Lin Junbi’s ambitions were not merely personal gain. He was brilliant and ambitious, but also had the cultivation and governance of family, country, and world in mind.
Thinking this, Chen Ping’an told Lin Junbi frankly: let him write the letter, go through the motions, then finally archive it under the Hidden Official lineage. He would find an opportunity to let the Bright World know about this little secret in a way that left no trace.
Perhaps one day in the future, it would add a touch of glory to Lin Junbi when he returned to the Bright World.
Lin Junbi was stunned for a long time, then sighed, “Is it really necessary to go this far?”
Chen Ping’an smiled, “Good deeds deserve good returns. What’s so strange about that? The best is to do good without leaving a trace, but since the world cannot yet be so pure in everything and hearts cannot be so clear, the next best is fine. Haven’t I heard that in calligraphy and painting, there is the reputation of ‘the next best after the original’? I think it’s good enough to be like that. Junbi, you don’t need to be troubled about this. It’s not that only good deeds done with the pure heart of a child count as good deeds.”
Lin Junbi thought for a moment, then without any awkwardness, readily nodded in agreement.
Chen Ping’an said, “If the Confucian Temple actually acts like this, it’s not out of personal selfishness or prejudice against the Sword Qi Great Wall.”
Chen Ping’an said helplessly, “Opening the door to invite the robber in—that’s just to close the door and beat the dog, to eliminate the great hidden danger of the Savage Wasteland once and for all. Since ancient times, the Confucian Temple has had this idea. But debating this behind closed doors is fine; it can’t be spoken of externally—not a single word can be leaked. The burden of benevolence and righteousness is too heavy. Just the matter of ‘opening the door to invite the robber’—which scholarly lineage will bear the infamy? Someone has to start it, to initiate it, right? The records in the Confucian Temple will be perfectly clear. Once the door is opened and the people of several continents suffer devastation, even if the final result is good, what then? How will all the Confucian disciples of that lineage get through their conscience? Won’t they be utterly disappointed in the sages of their own lineage? A moral sage enshrined in the Confucian Temple—how could he be so reckless with human lives? How is he any different from those petty merit-seekers? Could the lineage’s literary fortune and orthodox transmission not collapse because of this? When it comes to contention between lineages, the sages may maintain the bottom line of gentlemanly competition, but the countless Confucian students—those half-baked scholars—how could they all be so noble and magnanimous?”
“The bigger trouble is that within a lineage, there are those who only care about the honor and disgrace of their own lineage and disregard right and wrong. At that point, these people will definitely argue the most fiercely with outsiders, making bad things worse, wrong things more wrong. How will the sages handle it? Do they first deal with outside criticism, or suppress the indignant clamor of their own disciples? Would they have to say, ‘We were wrong first, so you shut up and don’t curse us’?”
“Scholars, cultivators—in the end, aren’t they still just people?”
Saying this, Chen Ping’an patted Lin Junbi’s shoulder, “Just look at the people around you. That Mr. Xilu, your friend of different generations—didn’t he go smash some statues, seize an opportunity, and afterward become wildly famous? If he had no learning or skill, could he have written the “Kuaiyi Pavilion Chess Manual”? Would you say he didn’t contribute to the literary fortune of the Shao Yuan Dynasty? I think not.”
Certain scholars’ sycophancy was truly beautiful as clusters of flowers, but at root, they were already rotten. Once such people put their minds to scheming, they easily reached high positions. It’s not that they did nothing at all; they just occupied positions without doing real work. The world is complex because bad people do good things and good people make mistakes. The quality of some matters also varies by region and by person.
When people of this age can obtain information more easily, can string facts into truth, and are used to doing so, the world should get better and better.
Probably that’s the “when granaries are full, they know propriety and righteousness.”
Knowing nothing, it’s hard not to be disappointed. Knowing more, even if still disappointed, at least one can see a little hope.
What’s feared is a person using their own despair to casually kill others’ hope.
Chen Ping’an smiled and asked, “Lin Junbi, do you genuinely approve of this man?”
Lin Junbi looked awkward and said nothing.
Regarding the statue-smashing incident, Lin Junbi truly did not approve, but he wouldn’t join the young Hidden Official in cursing him here. That would make Lin Junbi too petty a man.
Besides, Lin Junbi did have some appreciation for Mr. Xilu.
Autumn was crisp and clear; they were cutting down countless enemies.
Guo Zhujiu looked over the Geng volume today, flipping through the pages, sweat beading on the little girl’s forehead.
Her master had said that when the casualties reached half, all sword cultivators of the Hidden Official lineage would have to hold a council.
Someone visited the Summer Retreat Palace that day, observing the rules—only staying outside the gate.
Sword Immortal Kuxia would leave the Sword Qi Great Wall for a while, needing to escort Jin Zhenmeng, Yu Juanfu, and Zhu Mei to Inverted Mountain, then to the borders of South Po-So Continent before returning.
Before leaving, Sword Immortal Kuxia brought the three to visit the Summer Retreat Palace. By their side were three young children: two sword cultivation seeds and a relatively rare pure martial artist candidate.
Lin Junbi received special permission from the Hidden Official to go outside and see them off.
This showed that Lin Junbi indeed held a special place in the Hidden Official’s heart.
As Lin Junbi walked toward the palace gate, he felt somewhat emotional. Even Mr. Cui had not calculated today’s events, had he?
Had he fought with his life on the line, his head tied to his belt, only to barely turn the tables on the chessboard left by Mr. Cui, where Mr. Cui no longer placed pieces?
Reaching the gate, Lin Junbi made a bow and did not speak first, silently saying goodbye.
Yu Juanfu, for the first time, took the initiative to say a word to Lin Junbi.
Yu Juanfu laughed, “Lin Junbi, if you can avoid dying, don’t die. When you return to the Central Earth Divine Continent, you’re welcome to take a detour and visit House Yu first. There are people of my generation in the family who have been good at chess since childhood.”
Lin Junbi replied with a bitter smile, “I implore Miss Yu, don’t make a poor matchmaker!”
Yu Juanfu beamed, “We’ll see once we meet.”
Lin Junbi hesitated for a moment, then stepped back, bowed, and said apologetically, “There were some unsavory calculations in the past. Junbi offers his apologies here to Miss Yu.”
Yu Juanfu laughed, “Your master has good eyes, but unfortunately, his student’s skills are lacking. Lin Junbi, with such straightforwardness, I’m definitely going to be that matchmaker.”
There it was. Just as Master Cui had said.
Close call.
Don’t be fooled by Yu Juanfu being a female martial artist who had her head slammed against the wall by the Hidden Official. In truth, the daughter of House Yu was anything but simple.
Yu Juanfu said no more, rubbed the head of a little girl beside her. From now on, this little girl would be her nominal disciple, learning boxing and traveling the Bright World together.
As for the other two sword cultivation seeds of about the same age, their talent wasn’t top-notch on the Sword Qi Great Wall, but they were still quite remarkable in the Bright World. Which sect would complain about having too many sword cultivators? Moreover, “not top-notch” was relative to geniuses like Qi Shou, Pang Yuanji, Situ Weiran, and Guo Zhujiu. Earth Immortal sword cultivators in the Bright World were still rare.
Jin Zhenmeng said, “Junbi, when you get home, if you don’t despise me for deserting, and still consider me a friend, I’ll find you for a drink!”
Lin Junbi nodded, “I do despise you a little, but if the wine is really good, I’ll pinch my nose, drink it, and then curse you.”
Jin Zhenmeng, usually introverted and sparing with words, laughed heartily, stepped forward, patted Lin Junbi on the shoulder, “The young man before me is the Lin Junbi in my heart! The foremost talent of our Shao Yuan Dynasty.”
Sword Immortal Kuxia was very pleased.
Zhu Mei was also a little happy. It was harmonious. Should have been like this long ago.
Zhu Mei’s words were very concise, “Junbi, see you at home.”
Lin Junbi smiled and nodded.
Once inside, Chen Ping’an was leaning against the screen wall, drinking from his sword-nourishing gourd. He tucked it behind his waist and said softly, “Junbi, if you left the Sword Qi Great Wall right now, you’d already have made a good profit. You haven’t lost anything so far. From now on, you can earn more, but you might also lose more. Generally speaking, it’s time to leave the gambling table.”
The white-clad youth from the Central Earth Divine Continent, a genius sword cultivator, his brows flying high, said, “Bet big, win big!”
Lin Junbi then grinned, “Besides, I’ve calculated that the Hidden Official won’t let me die on the Sword Qi Great Wall.”
Chen Ping’an asked, “Out there, calculating people’s hearts, that’s still you. But compared to playing chess with others in the past, are you a little happier now?”
Lin Junbi hummed in affirmation.
Chen Ping’an said softly, “Don’t throw away the old skills. And get used to this kind of thing outside the door. That would be very good.”
Lin Junbi nodded.
Chen Ping’an said, “Those who see deeper into the human heart are themselves fish in the deep pool, dragons in the well. No need to fear that.”
Lin Junbi asked, “What does that mean?”
Chen Ping’an smiled, “The bright moon is in the water. As long as you’re willing to open your eyes and look, you’ll see it, within reach.”
Lin Junbi hesitated, then spoke frankly, “Hidden Official, when you see people like Yan Lü and Jiang Guancheng, don’t you feel disgusted?”
Chen Ping’an said, “Aren’t there also people like Yu Juanfu and Zhu Mei beside them? Moreover, the true majority are those who are unwilling to speak or are unable to speak.”
Lin Junbi asked, “Hidden Official, when will you go to the battlefield?”
Chen Ping’an laughed, “Even if I go, it has to be sneaky.”
Then Lin Junbi saw the young Hidden Official make a strange gesture: he raised both hands and smoothed his hair.
Lin Junbi didn’t dare ask more. He looked around—there was no woman present. It was normal for Mi Yu and Gu Jianlong, but the young Hidden Official doing this was a bit awkward.
Chen Ping’an looked at the sky-screen and said, “I’m waiting for someone. He is a swordsman.”