Chapter 663: Drunkenness
The Great Beast of the Throne who used the Sleeve Universe technique to forcibly roll away Zhu Qie and his group from the base of the Sword Qi Great Wall was Huang Luan, who had refined countless immortal ruins into his own courtyard.
Lu Zhi left the city wall with her sword to personally intercept this peak Great Beast, reputed to be the most otherworldly in the Wildlands World. Even with the sword immortal Mi Hu intercepting from the golden river, Huang Luan still managed to sacrifice his right sleeve half and a small world within his sleeve, and with the assistance of the Great Beast Yang Zhi, successfully escaped back to the Jiashen Account.
Lu Zhi stood atop that golden river, where sword immortals were growing ever scarcer. She did not return to the Sword Qi Great Wall but remained there, holding her ground.
Her earlier sword strikes had been too restrained, because the battlefield lay between the river and the city wall, with too many of their own sword cultivators present.
The old sword cultivator Yin Chen sat cross-legged within the strokes of a character, shaking his head with a dismissive sneer. He muttered to himself, "If I had that cultivation level, Huang Luan wouldn't have escaped. We've been fighting this war for so long, and you still don't know how to calculate profit? How did you become a Great Sword Immortal, Lu Zhi? A woman is a woman, with a woman's heart."
That was roughly how Yin Chen had earned his reputation on the Sword Qi Great Wall, one of respect and affection from all.
Outside the Jiashen Account, Huang Luan shook his right sleeve, scattering a few young sword cultivators like beans on the ground, each the size of a mustard seed.
Zhu Qie sheathed his sword and thanked him. Li Zhen's face was dark, Yu Si was disheveled and worn out, supporting the unconscious young man Jun Tan.
As for Liu Bai, her loss was the most severe, but fortunately her soul had been gathered up by Jun Tan.
The young leader of the Jiashen Account, who was not a sword cultivator but wore wooden clogs, upon learning of Liu Bai's condition, was frantic with worry, yet still bent in gratitude to the senior.
Huang Luan smiled. "Mu Ji, you are all the fate of our world. Your path is long. There will always be a chance to repay this life-saving grace."
Mu Ji's expression was resolute. "I dare not forget this great kindness today."
If the Jiashen Account truly lost a sword immortal seed in battle, then for Mu Ji as its leader, it would be more than just a matter of gains and losses on the ledger. So Huang Luan's action was no less than a life-saving grace to the young Mu Ji as well.
Yang Zhi waved her hand, directly binding Yu Si and shoving him back. She took his place, gently cradling the young man in her arms. She pressed a finger to Jun Tan's brow, and a flow of the purest water energy in heaven and earth flowed from her fingertip, irrigating the young man's various energy centers. Then she rubbed her two fingers together, condensing a gleaming white short sword—an ancient relic she had treasured for many years. She pressed it against Jun Tan's brow. The young man had destroyed one life-bound flying sword, so she would give him another.
After a moment, Jun Tan slowly awoke. Seeing the familiar face of the woman in an imperial crown and black dragon robe, the young man's eyes suddenly reddened. "Master," he choked out.
Yang Zhi said gently, "A small setback, don't let it weigh on your heart."
Jun Tan was still young at heart. Having suffered such a disaster and serious injury, though his Dao heart was intact—which was no small feat—he was truly heartbroken. "That guy was too treacherous. The five of us felt like we were fighting him one-on-one the whole time. What will happen to Sister Liu Bai now?"
At the core, the young man still cared deeply for Sister Liu Bai.
Yang Zhi smiled. "As for Liu Bai, I originally thought she wasn't pretty enough and didn't match you. Now it's perfect. Let Mr. Zhou give her a completely new set of features, and you two can become Dao companions."
The young man quickly shook his head. That wasn't what he meant.
Yang Zhi tousled his hair. "As you wish."
Huang Luan was greatly surprised. When had that woman Yang Zhi taken on a direct disciple?
The sword immortal Shou Chen hurried to the Jiashen Account. He took away his fellow disciple's soul from Jun Tan, confirmed that Liu Bai's golden core and nascent soul were not seriously damaged, then breathed a sigh of relief. He thanked everyone and carefully wrapped Liu Bai's soul with a technique before taking a detour to his master's side.
As for why the detour—it was because of that fellow A Liang.
Huang Luan rode the wind away, returning to those jade towers and pavilions. He chose a secluded spot to begin breathing and swallowing, devouring a huge amount of dense spiritual energy in one gulp.
In truth, this operation had cost him the most. He had used his carefully nurtured Hou Kui Sect as a puppet on the battlefield, as a first move targeting the young Hidden Officer. Not only had he lost an important piece, he had also taken two sword strikes from Lu Zhi and Mi Hu, shattering half of his Dharma robe sleeve and one small world. The key was that he had wasted three hundred years of his cultivation.
Huang Luan moved his mind, and a pavilion built from the corpses of numerous flood dragons as beams and corridors appeared from nowhere. He immediately opened the restrictions and stored it into his own world.
Huang Luan smiled. "Thank you, Old Ancestor, for the reward."
Mu Ji had already returned to the military tent.
Zhu Qie and Li Zhen stood side by side, watching the battle from afar.
In the earlier siege of the Hidden Officer, the two of them had never had a chance to go all out, so they hadn't even been injured. But compared to Liu Bai, Jun Tan, and Yu Si, they were probably the most frustrated.
Li Zhen communicated with Zhu Qie through the mind. "I never thought we'd lose because of the innate ability of a flying sword. If not for that, even if Chen Ping'an had two more life-bound flying swords, he would still have died!"
Zhu Qie said, "Complaining is fine, but I hope you won't take it out on Jun Tan and Yu Si."
Li Zhen sneered, "If you hadn't reminded me, I'd have forgotten they even participated in the battle. Three useless pieces. What did they do besides hold us back?"
Zhu Qie frowned. "Li Zhen, I dare say that in a hundred years, even Liu Bai, who was injured the worst, will have achieved more in the sword path than you will."
Li Zhen was silent for a moment, then laughed at himself. "Are you sure I'll live another hundred years?"
Zhu Qie countered, "Is being Li Zhen really that important? Are you sure you are a sword cultivator? Can you even deliver a sword for yourself?"
Zhu Qie was deeply puzzled. The Li Zhen from Tuoyue Mountain had been arrogant and looked down on everyone, but that sharp and brilliant spirit—Zhu Qie didn't think anything was wrong with that.
But somehow, after "dying" once, Li Zhen's temperament seemed to be growing more extreme, even disheartened.
Li Zhen rubbed his face with both hands, murmuring, "Have you ever walked the River of Time? Maybe not. Maybe you have. But you definitely haven't seen the riverbed of the River of Time. I have—that is fate."
Zhu Qie listened to Li Zhen's soft muttering, frowning deeply.
Yu Si stood alone in a corner, even more lost and dejected than the gloomy Li Zhen.
Being alone easily breeds loneliness, but loneliness often arises in a crowd.
A figure appeared beside him out of nowhere—a young woman with blood-red eyes. Her Dharma robe was interwoven with dense, fine "threads" of dark green—rivers, streams, and creeks she had refined over the long years.
She whispered consolingly, "Young master, it's all right. I'm here."
Then she glared fiercely at the graceful Yang Zhi, the two facing off as the former and current masters of the Yeluo River.
Yu Si reached out and pushed her hand away, stepping forward first. "Let's go," he said calmly.
The woman followed behind him.
Jun Tan saw this and was stunned.
Mu Ji, sitting in the military tent, looked up, then looked down again.
Mu Ji had always known the sects of Li Zhen, Zhu Qie, and Liu Bai. But only today did he learn the true backers of Jun Tan and Yu Si.
The young man scratched his head, wondering when he would be able to take on disciples and become their backer.
---
Chen Ping'an suddenly jolted awake, sitting up in bed. Fortunately, it was the small residence in the Ning Mansion, which he hadn't returned to in a long time, not the base of the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Chen Ping'an pressed his hand to his forehead, his head splitting with pain. He exhaled a heavy breath of turbid qi, but even that small movement caused his entire small human body world to churn violently. This shouldn't be a dream; there were too many strange immortal techniques in the world, and too many bizarre things, so he had to be cautious.
Chen Ping'an stared blankly toward the doorway.
A man sat on the threshold, tilting his head back to drink from a wine flask.
The dense medicinal smell filling the room couldn't mask the aroma of the wine.
The man stood up, leaning against the doorframe, and laughed. "Don't worry. A guy like me only shows up in a girl's dreams."
Having said that, he wiped his mouth and chuckled to himself.
The world is as short as a spring dream, a spring dream leaves no trace... a spring dream, the millet not yet cooked, the deer already fled... The scholar was just recalling some beautiful lines from books. Perfectly innocent.
Chen Ping'an let out a sigh of relief. He must be real.
Chen Ping'an met A Liang's gaze for a long time. His first question was a complete mood-killer: "A Liang, when are you leaving?"
He hoped A Liang would return to the Sword Qi Great Wall, but he didn't want A Liang to stay there—he would die.
In this war, the only one who could claim he would never die was the gray-clad old man from the Jiazi Account in the Wildlands World.
Even the Great Beasts of the Throne like Yang Zhi and Huang Luan, of the Wildlands World, dared not be so certain.
On the Sword Qi Great Wall, no one was an exception.
"If I want to go, a bunch of Flying Ascension realm cultivators can't stop me. If I don't want to go, even the Great Sword Immortal can't kick me out. Can you, a little brat, persuade me?"
A Liang sighed, shaking the wine flask in his hand. "Still the same as always. Why do you think so much? You can't take care of everything anyway. Back then, you weren't young enough to be a youth, and now, you're still not old enough to be a young man. You think after crossing this threshold, you'll have an easy life? Dream on."
The result of today's affairs may seem to resolve the causes of yesterday, but often they become the causes of tomorrow.
Why do people go up the mountain to cultivate? It's not just to occupy a piece of auspicious land.
A Liang pointed the wine flask at the young man. "I shouldn't have let you start practicing both boxing and cultivation so early. Zuo You hasn't been a good senior brother. Next time I see him, I'll give him a talking to."
Cultivators use their minds, not their strength. Pure martial artists use their strength, not their minds. But this kid was doing both—wasn't that asking for trouble?
Still, A Liang didn't say anything too harsh. Some of his own words were like standing without a backache. But that was better than standing with a backache; otherwise, a man might have nothing to look forward to in life.
A Liang motioned for Chen Ping'an to lie back down and rest. He sat back on the threshold and continued drinking. This flask of immortal brew was borrowed along the way from Sword Immortal Sun Juyuan's residence. If no one was home, that wasn't his problem.
Chen Ping'an asked curiously, "Did you fight?"
A Liang faced the courtyard, looking lazy, his back to Chen Ping'an. "Not much. Just two. If I'd fought any more, the Jiazi Account probably would have completely erupted. I've been afraid of wasp nests since I was a kid, so I hurried over here to have a few drinks and calm my nerves."
It wasn't a fight where he was surrounded; that kind of thing just didn't get him excited.
But it was hard to revisit old haunts. The taste of the wine was the same, but many old friends had become memories, which was more saddening.
It seemed that in this life, he had always been this way. No matter how much he drank, he could never truly feel joyful.
A Liang asked casually, "Kid, did you promise the Great Sword Immortal something?"
Chen Ping'an said, "The Sword Qi Great Wall can be defended for an extra three years."
Unknowingly, he had spent several years on the Sword Qi Great Wall. If he were in the Haoran World, that would be enough time for Chen Ping'an to finish visiting the Bookcase Lake again. If he were traveling alone, he could have covered the entire Northern Juju Prefecture or Tongye Prefecture.
After becoming the Hidden Officer, every day in the Summer Resort was like a year. The only thing he did to relax was go to the Winter Resort to teach boxing to those children.
"Then you're really stupid."
A Liang shook his head. "Have you ever thought that if Chou Miao had been the Hidden Officer and you were his deputy, you'd have been much more relaxed? The outcome for the Sword Qi Great Wall wouldn't have been much different. Now that the Fifth World has been opened, and there's a mirage to the north of the city, has the Great Sword Immortal told you about the inside story?"
Chen Ping'an deliberately ignored the first question. Softly, he said, "He did. The entire mirage is a replica of an Ascension Platform built intermittently over thousands of years. Together with the Summer Resort and Winter Resort of the Hidden Officer lineage, it forms an ancient three-mountain formation. It will carry a batch of sword dao seeds from the Sword Qi Great Wall, break through the sky, and go to the newest world. But there's a big problem: the mirage is like a small temple, too small for buddha-like sword immortals of the Upper Five Realms. So those leaving must be sword cultivators of the Middle and Lower Five Realms. Also, the Great Sword Immortal doesn't trust certain sword immortals to be stationed within it."
A Liang clicked his tongue in wonder. "The Great Sword Immortal is deep. I didn't even know about this. When I was wandering around in the early years, I could only guess a rough outline. The Great Sword Immortal doesn't mind forcing all the local sword immortals onto a path to death, but he has one good quality: he's always generous to the young, and he'll definitely leave them a way out. What you're saying makes sense. For five hundred years, the newest world won't allow any Upper Five Realm Qi refiners to enter, to avoid it getting smashed to pieces."
Indeed, every wealthy household has a jug or two of silver buried in their courtyard.
Such a world-shaking method of ascension—who would guard the formation? Naturally, the Great Sword Immortal himself would deliver the sword strikes.
A Liang couldn't help but take a deep drink, sighing with emotion. "Our Great Sword Immortal is the most frustrated of all sword cultivators. Half-dead, living a pathetic life for ten thousand years, just to deliver two sword strikes. So the Great Sword Immortal has done some things that aren't right. You can scold him, but don't hate him."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I won't hate him. I dare not scold him."
A Liang laughed. "Cursing him a few times now and then is fine."
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "The Great Sword Immortal holds grudges. If I curse him, I won't be able to escape."
A Liang nodded earnestly. "So you have to flatter him, butter him up, rub his shoulders and knock his back, and say 'thank you for your hard work' at every chance. And since you're so badly injured, you should limp over to the hut on the city wall and look at the scenery. Silence speaks louder than words then. Playing pitiful? As if you need to play—you're already pitiful enough. If it were me, I'd borrow a straw mat from a friend and sleep right outside the Great Sword Immortal's hut!"
Chen Ping'an laughed, then felt drowsy and fell into a peaceful sleep.
A Liang sat alone on the threshold, making no move to leave. He just slowly drank, muttering to himself, "In the end, the principle is simple: the crying child gets the candy. Chen Ping'an, you never understood that as a kid, and it's put you at a disadvantage."
The capable are always burdened with more work. Over time, it's easy for others to take it for granted.
The lineage of the Sage of Literature.
The old scholar has a share of fortune and merit in the Fifth World.
His eldest disciple, Cui Chan, sits in Bottle Gourd Prefecture.
Zuo You stands with his sword in Tongye Prefecture.
The youngest disciple, Chen Ping'an, is on the Sword Qi Great Wall, serving as the Hidden Officer for two and a half years now.
And the entire Sword Qi Great Wall of sword cultivators.
Every single truth, whether held by the strong or the weak, brings real good and real bad to this shaky world.
A moment later, Chen Ping'an woke from his dream again, sitting up instantly, his face covered in sweat.
A Liang didn't turn around. "This won't do. Heart demons will come."
Chen Ping'an raised his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His face pale, he lay back down and closed his eyes.
A Liang remained silent.
Still alone, he sat drinking.
Probably finding the threshold hard on his backside, he changed his posture and squatted to drink.
Back in Bottle Gourd Prefecture, that man in the straw hat had tricked the barefoot kid into drinking.
In truth, there has never been a wine immortal who could drink himself into a stupor and still be carefree. There are only drunkards, either dead drunk or not yet dead drunk.
On the city wall of the Sword Qi Great Wall, that swing was no longer there.
A certain sword immortal no longer had to stare at a bowl of plain noodles, afraid to pick up his chopsticks.
The outland sword immortal Yuan Qingshu died at the prime of his life, full of spirit.
Han Huaizi, the sect leader of Taihui Sword Sect in Northern Juju Prefecture, died with no words before and after.
An old white-haired woman stood at the entrance of the Ning Mansion, murmuring softly, "Old dog, old dog. Come back and guard the door."