Chapter 665: Not a Character in the Book

Chapter 665: Not a Character in the Book

Two outsiders, drinking wine from another land.
A Liang spoke first, teasing, "Recovering so fast—the physique of a pure martial artist is truly something remarkable."
The speed at which his bones, muscles, and blood healed, his chaotic soul stabilized, and his destined flying swords were repaired and nourished—all three were faster than A Liang had imagined.
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "I was hanging by a thread. I'm still a bit shaken."

It wasn't just Sword Qi Great Wall swordsmiths who, for various reasons, would secretly send messages to the military tents of the Barren Wastelands; among the great army of the demon race, there were also cultivators who would leak intelligence to the Sword Qi Great Wall.
After this battle, the Summer Retreat had produced a detailed combat evaluation of the five genius swordsmiths of the Jiashen Tent.
Of course, the young Hidden Officer's trump card of possessing two destined flying swords was now certainly well-known to the many military tents of the Barren Wastelands.

A Liang joked, "I can't just watch the thief eat meat without seeing the thief get beaten. I understand the principle."
For any outsider to gain a foothold on the Sword Qi Great Wall was no easy feat.
A Liang had been through it himself and knew it well.

A Liang stood up, stretched, and said, "Come on, I'll take you to wander around the city. A person's heartstrings can't always be taut."
Beside him, Chen Ping'an didn't even realize that since he started gathering herbs, from childhood to adulthood, his breathing had always "followed the rules."
Breathing meant living—this was the most important thing. Nearly all cultivators began their path by focusing on inhalation and exhalation, working hard at it, since they spent their whole lives striving for longevity and eternal vision.

In the Yang family shop at Lizhu Cave Heaven, the old man of incredibly high seniority had taught Chen Ping'an a breathing technique in his early years. It wasn't particularly advanced, mediocre in rank, but it was balanced, peaceful, and orderly. Thus, it was a method of nourishing through food, not medicine. Although it had become habitual and natural, it placed no burden on Chen Ping'an's physique; instead, it brought long-term benefits, like a babbling brook of living water nourishing the heart. But cultivation was cultivation, and being human was being human. Between the fields of the heart, the ridges were distinct, and walking had its paths, as if every step didn't overstep the rules. Every day, one could guard the harvest of the crops. Such restraint on the human heart was, of course, a good thing, but it also made a person seem dull. Hence, the straw-sandaled boy from Mud Vase Alley back then had, through subtle influence, always given an impression of being mature for his age.

After Chen Ping'an learned boxing, whenever he traveled the jianghu alone, he liked to deliberately control his breathing and footsteps, disguising a high realm as a low one. He could always pull it off effortlessly, acting like an old hand in the jianghu—it wasn't purely talent.
Chen Ping'an stood up as well and asked with a smile, "Can I bring a little follower?"
A Liang nodded. "Then let's each bring one."

Chen Ping'an called over Guo Zhujiu, who was still considered his youngest disciple, though at Chen Ping'an's age—just thirty, still a child in terms of cultivation—the possibility of Guo Zhujiu becoming the closed-door disciple of Fallen Mountain was very slim.
Guo Zhujiu once again shouldered her bookcase and grasped her mountain-traveling staff.
A Liang called over the young sword cultivator from Deer Antler Palace on Fuyao Continent, Song Gaoyuan. Deer Antler Palace was a first-rate immortal sect on Fuyao Continent. Several of its living founding patriarchs were women, so there were many female cultivators, making the male cultivators of Deer Antler Palace the envy of all others. Deer Antler Palace was famous across the continent for its water-element divine abilities, occupying a small portion of a major river that flowed into the sea. Among its domains were the Jealous Wife Ferry and the Rouge Ford, both renowned scenic spots. At the ferry, women and wives had to remove their makeup, change into plain skirts and wooden hairpins, or else the Water God Lady would stir up waves. At the other ford, the opposite was required: women had to apply rouge and dress alluringly before travelers could safely cross the water. Deer Antler Palace never interfered, letting the two capricious Water God Ladies set their strange rules based on personal whim.

A Liang, who had traveled Fuyao Continent for several years, had naturally visited both the Jealous Wife Ferry and the Rouge Ford, and had even gotten along quite well with the two Water God Ladies. One was lively, the other shy—both were good girls.
As for the chance encounter at Deer Antler Palace, it happened on a bright moonlit night. A Liang had promised the Water God Lady of the Jealous Wife Ferry a belated gift—to help that poor woman restore her shattered face. So he went to the forbidden lotus pond of Deer Antler Palace. Every lotus leaf there was incredibly useful. Countless female cultivators dissatisfied with their own appearances yearned for a single leaf from Deer Antler Palace but couldn't buy one even if they had money—it was a seller's market. The mountain and water restrictions at Deer Antler Palace were quite interesting. A Liang had to crawl all the way, wriggling and twisting, before he sneaked to the pond's edge. With his butt in the air, he lay peeling lotus seeds and picking leaves. Unexpectedly, a girl suddenly sat on a large lotus leaf far away, as big as a green bed mat. She stared wide-eyed at the ragged man stuffing small lotus leaves into his bosom, lying on the ground peeling lotus seeds and munching on them. When he saw her, A Liang reached out and asked if she wanted to try some.
The woman was courteous to her guest—she promptly dropped a magnificent water technique right on his head.
The past could be pursued and remembered.

The four of them left the Summer Retreat on foot. Chen Ping'an, always meticulous, noticed that among the people in the room earlier, Dong Bude and Pang Yuanji seemed to have undergone some subtle changes in mood. He wondered what A Liang had said to them separately before he arrived.

Once outside, Song Gaoyuan mustered his courage, face flushed red, and asked softly, "Senior A Liang, will you ever come to our Deer Antler Palace again?"
A Liang asked with a smile, "Tell me, which senior of your sect has been thinking of me all these years? I can't guarantee whether I'll go to Deer Antler Palace or not."

Out of respect for his elder, Song Gaoyuan spoke to A Liang through mental communication, "It's Patriarch Rongguan who often mentions you."
In fact, that patriarch, who had been away from the mundane world for over a hundred years, would always visit the lotus pond whenever she emerged from seclusion, often muttering that lotus seeds were bitter but good for the heart.

Just as I thought. A Liang sighed. "It's her."

Song Gaoyuan hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "Before I set out on my journey, Patriarch Rongguan instructed me: if I saw Senior A Liang at the Sword Qi Great Wall, I should tell you something."
A Liang remained silent.
Song Gaoyuan said, "Patriarch Rongguan wants to tell you, 'At the time, I thought it was ordinary.'"

A Liang scratched his head and didn't say much.
Song Gaoyuan didn't dare press Senior A Liang further.
Besides, some things couldn't be reasoned with; pressing only made things more difficult.

They wandered casually toward the city, passing two private residences of sword immortals. A Liang explained that one house's foundation was a white jade slab carved with a poem about a flying immortal and the bright moon, refined by a sword immortal. The owner of the other house liked collecting ancient inkstones from the Haoran World. But the old masters of both houses were gone. One house was completely empty and uninhabited; the other house now housed three disciples taken in by a certain sword immortal, all fairly young. Before dying, the sword immortal had given them a strict order: the three direct disciples were not allowed to leave the house even half a step until they reached the Nascent Soul realm as sword cultivators. A Liang gazed into the distance at the wall of that private residence and sighed, "What painstaking effort."

Chen Ping'an's expression turned strange.
The three Golden Core sword cultivators inside that house were all male. Not only were they unable to leave the private residence, but they were also said to be forced to wear women's clothing—a strange affair at the Sword Qi Great Wall. They had once sent a flying sword message to the Summer Retreat, requesting to go out and fight. However, the Hidden Officer lineage had checked the archives and found that the deceased sword immortal had long ago made a written agreement with the Summer Retreat. There was the old sword immortal's name and a small palm print, likely the "handiwork" of the previous Hidden Officer, Xiao Xun.
Chen Ping'an had no choice but to decline the requests of those three Golden Core sword cultivators.

On the Sword Qi Great Wall, the commissions left by fallen sword immortals carried the greatest weight. As long as they were put down in writing, they had to be followed—no negotiation.

On the other side of the wall, a head poked out. It was a sword cultivator with a youthful face but a thick beard. He began cursing A Liang.
A Liang started cursing back, saying, "I only told your master an anecdote. If he decided to follow suit, what does that have to do with me?"
The young sword cultivator shouted angrily, "You son of a bitch, dare to come in here and fight it out?"
A Liang jumped up and spat in that direction.

Chen Ping'an rubbed his forehead, unable to bear the sight.
He suspected that the ultimate moves in the cursing matches between the old sword cultivators Cheng Quan and Zhao Geyi on the city wall had been learned from A Liang.

Then the man noticed Guo Zhujiu, who was staring wide-eyed, and Song Gaoyuan, who seemed frozen. He quickly smoothed his hair, muttering about losing composure, that it shouldn't have happened.

When Chen Ping'an asked, he finally unraveled the mystery of that unresolved case on the Sword Qi Great Wall. It turned out that the old sword immortal had a strange divine ability, most skilled at finding sword dao seeds. In fact, about half of the young geniuses of the current generation on the Sword Qi Great Wall had been singled out by the old sword immortal at first sight. For high-ranking clans like Taixiang Street and Yuhu Street, it was manageable, but in common alleys like Lingxi Lane and Suoli Lane, any sword cultivator embryo with the potential to nurture a destined flying sword might easily be missed. Moreover, not just sword cultivators—all cultivators, of course, achieved higher future accomplishments the earlier they started on the path of cultivation. Diezhang, for instance, was a good seedling that A Liang had found using the technique taught by that sword immortal. Many swordsmen who later became sword immortals had obscure, hidden aptitudes in childhood.

Once, when A Liang was drinking with the old sword immortal, who was grievously wounded and near death, he casually mentioned a story from a scholarly family in the Haoran World. The family's ancestor had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations and was humiliated by his colleagues who had succeeded. Frustrated, he returned to his hometown, taught his own children, and made all the men in the family wear women's clothing while studying hard. They weren't allowed to wear anything else until they passed the examinations, before the age of forty. At first, it became a laughingstock both in court and among the people, but in the end, they actually produced six graduates and three who received posthumous honors.

A Liang laughed. "Don't you think it's ridiculous? It made those three young geniuses a laughingstock for decades, to the point where they would rather die in battle just to get out."

A Liang continued, "The old man's lineage of swordsmanship had always been a path of injuring the enemy and himself, so they tended to have short lives. They became sword immortals quickly, and once they became sword immortals, they died the fastest. When the old man was alive, he could still protect his disciples a bit. Once he was gone, even if he had taken thirty disciples instead of three, with that fighting style, like the previous house, there would be no one left. Taking disciples, treating them like children, that's a bond. Every master and teacher has to take some responsibility for their disciples' lives."

A Liang took off his gourd, took a sip, and laughed. "By the way, let me tell you an old story. In the early years, an old sword immortal came to the old man and asked if that technique could be made public, so the Sword Qi Great Wall could discover more young geniuses. The old man refused, saying the technique wouldn't be passed on. Even if Chen Qingdu himself came down from the city wall to beg him, it wouldn't work. In the end, he shut down the sword immortal, who was acting out of public spirit, with one sentence: 'Who the hell says becoming a sword cultivator is necessarily a good thing? Did Qi Tingji decree that?'"

When he said this, A Liang laughed,
more joy than sorrow. "I asked him privately if it was really true that he wouldn't agree even if the Great Sword Immortal himself asked. He said, 'How could that be? If the Great Sword Immortal asked, that's a huge honor. No need to keep secrets. After we talk business, I'd invite the Great Sword Immortal for a little drink, and that's a lifetime complete.' I asked again what if Dong San'geng came knocking. The old man said, 'Then I'd play dead.'"

Finally, A Liang sighed, "In the Haoran World, there are such sword immortals, but far too few."

Song Gaoyuan nodded, deeply agreeing.
After that, A Liang didn't say much.

In truth, A Liang had never been fond of serious talks with his juniors. When they were young, their worries should be small. The big matters of the Sword Qi Great Wall were for those with high swordsmanship to shoulder.
But times were different now. The future would be a brand-new situation never seen in ten thousand years. Almost every young person on the Sword Qi Great Wall, even children, was closely connected to it. They all had to grow up quickly. When the tide surges, worry comes regardless of age.

The group arrived at the entrance of the Guo residence on Yuhu Street. Chen Ping'an told Guo Zhujiu to go home, then had Song Gaoyuan, who had taken the initiative to take his leave and return to the Summer Retreat, inform all the sword cultivators of the Hidden Officer lineage that they were free to walk around and relax for the next couple of days.

Song Gaoyuan looked back at the two figures.

That Senior A Liang was quite famous at Deer Antler Palace. Back then, when Patriarch Rongguan and her junior sister chased after him, the man never fought back. He just kept shouting that he was a close friend of Xu Dian, the Great Sword Immortal of Fuyao Continent, and begged the immortal masters of Deer Antler Palace to give that Sword Immortal Xu face. Xu Dian was a registered immortal master from the second-largest sect on Fuyao Continent. He was also a notable rising star, young yet already a Nascent Soul sword cultivator. But the cultivators of Deer Antler Palace had always done as they pleased. Xu Dian might have a promising path, but he wasn't yet a true sword immortal, and his seniority wasn't high. Furthermore, the palace master of Deer Antler Palace was among the top ten on Fuyao Continent, highly respected, with divine water abilities reaching the heavens, and she doted on her junior sister Rongguan. So the man's panic-stricken attempt to invoke a minor backer as he fled was completely useless. In the end, he managed to slip away without leaving his name, but he did recite quite a few poems.

Afterward, Deer Antler Palace sent a flying sword message to Xu Dian's sect, along with a portrait of the man, demanding to know Xu Dian's origins and whereabouts.
Xu Dian was baffled. The victim of an undeserved disaster, this sword dao genius quickly replied to Deer Antler Palace, saying he had no idea who the man in the portrait was.
To his surprise, an old patriarch of Xu Dian's sect, who often frolicked among mortals and looked like a child despite having long returned to his true state—in fact, his cultivation was even higher than the Deer Antler Palace master's—heard of the matter. He rushed over in person on his flying sword, saying that Xu Dian didn't recognize the man, but he did. "That A Liang is my sworn brother—we'd trade lives for each other."
Outsiders only knew that when this far-traveling old senior descended the mountain, he had one hand covering his flushed face, cursing and grumbling, muttering "son of a bitch" to himself. After leaving Deer Antler Palace's mountain gate, he shouted loudly, "A Liang, you owe me a drink!"

After Guo Zhujiu and Song Gaoyuan left, Chen Ping'an told A Liang some of his own stories from the mountains and rivers—scattered, whatever came to mind.
His first journey to the Sword Qi Great Wall, riding the Guihua Island ferry from Old Dragon City, he nearly died in Dragon Trench. His senior brother Zuo You had broken the deadlock with his sword.
His three boxing matches with his peer Cao Ci—he lost all three, utterly helpless.
Entering the Lotus Flower Blessed Land on Tongye Continent by mistake, he experienced a true jianghu, accepting Cao Qinglang and Pei Qian as his students and disciples. But he didn't really know how to teach Cao Qinglang, and he worried about Pei Qian growing up too fast.
A few years ago, he and Diezhang had run a wineshop together, selling Bamboo Sea Cave Heaven wine. Business was good—slower money than acting as a bookmaker, but steady. No one believed the wine actually had anything to do with the Green God Mountain, so A Liang had to speak a few honest words for the shop. A Liang knew the Lady of Green God Mountain well, and they were friends, so how could his wine have nothing to do with the Bamboo Sea Cave Heaven?
At the Capture-and-Release Pavilion of Inverted Suspension Mountain, that great demon who was captured and then released by the Second Dao Ancestor had attached itself to a young sword cultivator named Border. The Hidden Officer lineage had rooted him out and killed him at sea.
Now Fallen Mountain not only had its bamboo tower, named as agreed, but also a Patriarch's Hall on Jise Peak, the founding of a new sect. A Liang, you absolutely must come see it someday.

They walked through streets and alleys.
A Liang knew every place like the back of his hand. He mostly listened to the young man's stories, occasionally asking about things he was interested in—like which was prettier, the female Daoist Huang Ting of Taiping Mountain or Yao Jinzhi of the Great Spring Dynasty.
Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Both are beautiful, but in my eyes, together they can't compare to Ning Yao's beauty."
A Liang said, "Ning girl isn't here. Won't you say something manly to me?" Chen Ping'an looked around, thought for a moment, grinned, but still said nothing.

With the fighting paused, business at the city's wineshops was good.
Along the way, they encountered certain sword cultivators familiar to either A Liang or the young Hidden Officer, but hardly anyone greeted them—just a nod to show they meant it.
Those who knew A Liang might not be willing to deal with the young Hidden Officer; those who were regular customers at Chen Ping'an's wineshop might not dare to speak with A Liang.
Although the two outsiders had many points in common, in the eyes of the native sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall, that damned A Liang and that damned Second Shopkeeper were both similar and not.

A Liang didn't go to Diezhang's wineshop for a drink, but he took Chen Ping'an to a corner tavern.
It was packed.
Because the woman selling wine was beautiful.
She was a woman whose destined flying sword had been destroyed long ago.
When she saw A Liang, she was very warm. She personally brought the wine to the table, shot him a sharp glance, and grumbled, "You heartless bastard."
Then she smiled brightly at the young Hidden Officer, speaking as if they were old friends. "Oh, isn't this our Second Shopkeeper? Got tired of your own wine and want a change of taste? Meeting a pretty woman and fainting with one punch—how useless."

Chen Ping'an felt a headache coming on and could only smile silently.

A Liang raised his bowl and clinked it with Chen Ping'an's, then said out of nowhere, "When I was young and read miscellaneous books, I once came across a warning: 'The heavy ears of grain bow low.' But without truly walking the jianghu, you can't deeply understand it. Only after really walking the jianghu do you realize that full ears of grain naturally bow low—truly golden words."

Chen Ping'an's expression was strange.
A Liang, with one foot on the bench, grinned mischievously. "What are you thinking? Twisting a good principle, aren't you?"

Chen Ping'an asked, "The rumors about you and the Lady of Green God Mountain—Wei Bo always speaks with conviction. How much is true and how much is false?"
A Liang laughed. "What does that little mountain god of Qidun Mountain know?"
Chen Ping'an said, "Outside the bamboo tower, when you were mentioned once, Great Mountain Lord Wei rarely showed true emotion and said a lot of good things about you."
A Liang immediately changed his tune. "As the former mountain lord of the Divine Water Kingdom, part of the ancient Shu kingdom's territory, Brother Wei does have some substance. His speech is very insightful. No wonder I felt like an old friend the moment we met."
Probably what A Liang meant by "felt like an old friend" was that he had hit Wei Bo with a bamboo knife.

Speaking of this, A Liang suddenly put down his wine bowl. "The appearance of the Lizhu Cave Heaven, the internal connections with the plethora of dragons in the ancient Shu kingdom, plus your neighbor from Mud Vase Alley—have you thought about it?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I have."
"Then you've thought, but you haven't pulled the thread of that hidden connection."
A Liang glanced at Chen Ping'an. It couldn't be helped; some inside stories were beyond Chen Ping'an's imagination no matter how hard he racked his brains. A Liang couldn't help shaking his head and asked a question, "On your Fallen Mountain, are there any very inconspicuous outsider cultivators, excluding spirits and ghosts? Definitely low realm, especially people you can be sure are low realm. And this person should have a pretty good relationship with Chen Lingjun, the one Lu Chen took a liking to."

Chen Ping'an ran through his mind and nodded. "Yes."
A Liang smiled. "Then your leaving Fallen Mountain and coming to the Sword Qi Great Wall isn't entirely bad."
Chen Ping'an asked doubtfully, "Can you tell me why?"
A Liang hesitated for a moment, then said, "It's not that I can't say it. Besides, it's just a guess on my part, hardly reliable. I suspect that the one who has killed the most dragons might have already placed himself near Fallen Mountain."

A Liang took a drink. "This person is very easy to get along with. As long as dragons aren't involved, even a fifth-tier cultivator could kill him and he wouldn't fight back. At worst, he'd change his identity and skin and continue walking the world. But if it involves the last true dragon, he becomes the most difficult person imaginable. Three thousand years ago, the dragon race was still the master of water fortune in the Haoran World, protected by merit and virtue. But under his sword, everything was illusory. The Confucian Temple tried to persuade him—no discussion, no negotiation. Even Lu Chen could be saved, but there was no saving that. In the end, what could they do? They barely came up with a compromise. The saints of the Three Teachings all had to help clean up after that guy."

A Liang laughed. "Of course, there's never been a truly invincible person in the world. As for more inside details, it's better you don't know them now. I'll say it again: you can't take care of everything."

Chen Ping'an nodded.
For one thing, it was beyond his ability to speculate; for another, the worst outcome hadn't occurred. Besides, he was destined never to return to Bottle Gourd Continent, so overthinking was useless.

Then A Liang started bragging again, pointing his thumb at himself. "Besides, if there's ever a conflict in the future, just drop my name. The higher the opponent's realm, the more effective it is."

Generally speaking, those whom A Liang actively called "brother," like Fuyao Continent's sword cultivator Xu Dian, were all people he had badly screwed over, people he took a dislike to.
After that incident, every time Xu Dian went down the mountain to travel, as long as he met a female cultivator from Deer Antler Palace, no one would give him a good look. And the female cultivators of Deer Antler Palace had wide networks, so eventually, half the female cultivators of Fuyao Continent's sects looked down on Xu Dian. As Xu Dian's gloating patriarch put it, "A bucket of shit has been poured over your head. Even if you wash it off, you're still the guy who had a bucket of shit poured over you. Accept your fate."

But if you claimed to be A Liang's friend, then in almost all sects of the Haoran World, you might still not be particularly welcome, but you would definitely ward off many disasters and accidents.

A Liang suddenly smacked his lips. "You and Ning girl are starting to look more and more like a married couple."

Chen Ping'an raised his wine bowl, then turned his head and asked, "Boss lady, do you have any free appetizers to go with the wine?"
This was quite unlike Ning girl.

As for Chen Ping'an and Ning Yao, A Liang had long felt they were a perfect match. Back then, one was still Ning Yao of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the other a straw-sandaled boy just starting out in the jianghu.
A girl who didn't want to think too much, meeting a boy who wanted to think about everything—was there anything more fitting?
Not every man realizes that the person by his side, the one he loves, is the only one in ten thousand years to have such a bond.

The woman smiled. "Our small business can't compare to the Second Shopkeeper's thriving wine trade. Besides, the Second Shopkeeper acts as a bookmaker, sells wine, and picks up treasures everywhere. Are you short on money?"
Chen Ping'an could only smile it off.

A Liang looked at Chen Ping'an across from him and slowly said, "When a person can only do things weighing three taels, he can't speak truths weighing half a catty. Even if he has read books and can speak them, if others don't listen, isn't it the same as not speaking? Isn't that the principle?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "When we need to reason with people, it's often when reason is already useless. The latter secretly precedes the former, and the former openly follows, so life is full of helplessness."

A Liang laughed. "Not very exciting?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "It is exciting. Interesting. The more it is like this, the more we should live our lives well, trying to make the world a little more stable."

Then Chen Ping'an took a big gulp of wine, his expression calm, his eyes bright. "Just like a person, if his alcohol tolerance is good enough, he can drink away all the troublesome things in his bowl without needing to say drunken words to anyone else."

A Liang laughed heartily, very pleased.
Because in Chen Ping'an before him, he saw the shadow of another person.
That person's unwalked jianghu had already been helped to walk far by this hopeful young man.

Chen Ping'an suddenly said, "I've never been to the Barren Wastelands, but I know that on the battlefield, the demons I kill with my fists and sword—outside the battlefield, quite a few of them are also the weak, even genuinely powerless weak ones."

A Liang grinned, knowing what the kid was trying to say. Chen Ping'an seemed to be talking about himself, but in fact, he was comforting A Liang.

Chen Ping'an continued, "Once the Sword Qi Great Wall is breached, the real weak ones in the Barren Wastelands will also become strongmen who have no choice."

A Liang didn't exactly appreciate the sentiment and asked with a smile, "So they deserve to die?"
In fact, he was probably the sword cultivator in the world who understood the customs and habits of the Barren Wastelands the best, or at least one of them.
A Liang even had friends there, outside the battlefield, like Liu Cha. Besides Liu Cha, A Liang knew many cultivators from the Barren Wastelands who were already indistinguishable from humans.

Chen Ping'an had already finished two bowls of wine and poured a third. The wine bowls in this tavern were a bit bigger than those in his shop. He should have bought by the bowl.

Chen Ping'an downed the third bowl in one gulp, shook his head to clear it, and said, "I just don't have enough skill. Otherwise, anyone who dared come near the Sword Qi Great Wall—all the great demons on the battlefield—I'd kill them all with one fist, cut them all down with one sword. To hell with the throne great demons... If I ever have the chance to return to the Haoran World, anyone who dares to stay aloof and then feel pity for the Barren Wastelands—I'll see one..."

He burped, then started pouring again. Drinking was something A Liang had first encouraged him to do. As for what he would do when he saw one, he didn't finish.

A Liang didn't stop him.
A Liang just grinned and said, "What can you do to those people, Chen Ping'an? They have their own reasons. After all, no one forced the Sword Qi Great Wall to have so many dead."

Chen Ping'an stopped drinking, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and leaned against the table. "A Liang, tell me, what would you do? I want to learn."

Learning from others' strengths had always been Chen Ping'an's specialty.
He had learned about bookkeeping from Zhong Kui at the small inn in Fox Town on the border of the Great Spring Dynasty.
He had learned the true art of being a ragpicker—sneaking around picking up scraps—from Daoist Sun during their travels together in Beiju Continent.
Even earlier, Lin Shouyi's casual words—roughly meaning that when you're out in the world, you can mind things, but don't mind too much—had resonated more and more with Chen Ping'an as time went on.

Even earlier, Chen Ping'an's calligraphy, which many experts considered "skilled but lacking in spirit," had actually been unconsciously learned from the three sheets of prescript Lu Chen had given him. Lu Chen had mentioned three things back then but only told him two explicitly, including going to pick snake gallstones for luck. Chen Ping'an had asked then, but Lu Chen hadn't revealed it. It turned out that learning calligraphy was the last thing.

A Liang smiled and gave the answer: "I simply don't care."

Chen Ping'an fell silent, recalling those "thoughts" he had vaguely heard at Dragon Trench, as well as Suijia City after the tribulation.
He took his hand out of his sleeve, took a sip of wine, one hand holding the bowl, the other scratching his head. "A bit hard to learn."

A Liang laughed. "You don't need to learn."

After ascending the mountain and cultivating, lifting your head, the sky is not far.
The closer cultivators get to the mountain peak, the less patience they have for the mortal world.
There are exceptions, but unfortunately not many.
A Liang also worried that Chen Ping'an would become that kind of immortal on the mountain.
Like the matter of Chen Ping'an learning calligraphy—A Liang wasn't unaware of Lu Chen's deep intentions in giving the prescript. Just look at Chen Ping'an's talisman drawing—why was it so smooth? As if there were no barriers at all, crossing in one step? And talisman arts, whether for Dao lineage cultivators or not, were considered a natural moat, just like becoming a sword cultivator. If it works, it works; if not, it doesn't.

But such matters, he, A Liang, simply couldn't point out. Chen Ping'an had to figure it out himself.
If your sword techniques are high, do you think everything in the world is easy? No such luck. Even A Liang was no exception.

That drinking session grew slower and slower. A Liang wasn't in a hurry—he had good tolerance—and Chen Ping'an wanted to drink more.
The woman selling wine was an old acquaintance of A Liang's after all. She had someone bring a steamer basket of appetizers from the restaurant and told the Second Shopkeeper with a smile that it was on the house.

And so, the two of them drank until the sky grew dark and heavy, the surroundings dim. The other drinkers grew sparser. Occasionally, some sword cultivators came over to make polite conversation, but they were all welcomed to sit and drink, as long as they settled their own bills.
So by now, the two only needed to pay for the single pot of wine on their table.
On the Sword Qi Great Wall, no one used their sword cultivator abilities to drink; it was purely natural tolerance.

A Liang's face was already bright red. He pointed to one of the bright moons in the sky and said to the woman with a laugh, "Sister Xie, I've been there. Would you believe it?"
When out and about, if you meet someone younger, calling them "sister" or "girl" is fine. If you meet an older woman, regardless of whether she's a few years or a few hundred years older, always call her "big sister"—a good habit.

The woman leaned on the counter, glanced at the moon, and said bluntly, "Any females there?"
A Liang waved his hand. "A young lady like you shouldn't be cracking such cheeky jokes."

The woman said impatiently, "We're closing. Finish that pot and get the hell out."

A Liang and Chen Ping'an finished the last pot of wine and got up to leave. Chen Ping'an took out money to pay, but the woman, who should have been a rival in trade, smiled and waved her hand. "Chen Ping'an, this one's on me."
Chen Ping'an didn't ask why. He put away the Snowflake Coins and thanked her.

The two walked down the deserted street late at night, their steps a bit unsteady, the smell of alcohol still strong around them.
Near the Ning residence.

A Liang said, "Chen Ping'an, we're not in the White Paper Blessed Land. The people by our side aren't characters in a book. Remembering now isn't impressive—remember it even more in the future."
Chen Ping'an hummed in acknowledgment.

A Liang suddenly proclaimed, "I won't tell Ning girl that you didn't spend a cent on the drink. And I definitely won't tell her that you said Huang Ting and Yao Jinzhi are very good-looking."
Chen Ping'an put his hands behind his head. "You think I'd be scared if you told her? Are you kidding? A Liang, I'm not bragging..."

At the entrance of the Ning residence, a figure appeared. The young Hidden Officer immediately took a deep breath to dispel the effects of the alcohol, instantly dispersing all the wine fumes. He trotted over eagerly, one hand behind his back signaling the man behind him to go cool off somewhere. He ran up the steps, saw her, stopped, and said, "Sorry I'm late. I really didn't drink too much. A Liang kept urging me, and I said I had injuries, but it didn't work. It won't happen again."

A Liang stood there, ears perked, listening to the conversation. Then he stood dumbfounded. The Second Shopkeeper was no empty name—he had surpassed the master! Ning Yao turned her head and glanced at A Liang.
He was unwanted.
A Liang slunk away, muttering to himself, "Being able to drink for free at Sister Xie's tavern on the Sword Qi Great Wall for the first time ever—even I can't do that."

By the door.
Ning Yao didn't speak.
Chen Ping'an felt a bit guilty.
Ning Yao paid no attention to A Liang's tattling. She just looked at Chen Ping'an.
How had he seemed to get taller again?
She stood on her tiptoes to level her eyes with his.

Chen Ping'an tilted his head, squinting with a smile, and said, "Come on, tell me who you are. If you're this cute, I might stop liking Ning Yao and start liking you!"

Ning Yao still didn't speak.
By the time Chen Ping'an understood what was happening, Ning Yao had already turned and walked away.

On the city wall of the Sword Qi Great Wall, Wei Jin was forced to use the divine ability of "Viewing Mountains and Rivers in the Palm." The scene in the scroll was exactly the entrance to the Ning residence. A Liang beat his chest and stamped his feet. "Stupid boy, blockhead!"
The Great Sword Immortal stood with his hands behind his back, bending over to look at the scroll in the image, and nodded. "Yeah, he's pretty dumb."

Originally somewhat unwilling, Wei Jin now smiled and chimed in, "The Second Shopkeeper's lack of romantic sensibility really spoils the mood."

A Liang coughed and gently pushed Wei Jin's hand away. "Wei Jin, a dignified sword immortal, doing something like this? Too unscrupulous! Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

The Great Sword Immortal turned and left. "It's not right."

Only the Snowstorm Temple sword immortal, who had originally been practicing his sword, remained on the battlefield.

On the city wall near the Great Sword Immortal's thatched hut, A Liang sat cross-legged. "Can't you switch to someone else? Like me?"
Chen Qingdu shook his head. "No."
A Liang said angrily, "Aren't I of a higher realm?"
Chen Qingdu said, "When you reach our height, realm means nothing. If you didn't understand before, that's one thing. Now you still don't?"
A Liang fell silent.
The Great Sword Immortal's words were coarse but not unreasonable.

They were silent for a long time. Chen Qingdu sat down beside A Liang.
A Liang was slightly surprised.
The Great Sword Immortal rarely did such things.

Chen Qingdu said softly, "I'm a little tired."
But the old man smiled again. "Sword cultivator Chen Qingdu is fortunate to have met you all."

A Liang laughed loudly. "Say that kind of thing loudly, at the top of your lungs!"
Chen Qingdu looked at him sideways.
A Liang immediately acted shamelessly, "I've been drinking and talking drunk—can't I even do that?"

Chen Qingdu said softly, "I wonder what it'll be like ten thousand years from now."
A Liang said, "Always both disappointing and hopeful, I suppose."
Chen Qingdu nodded. "That's greatly comforting."