Chapter 703: Another Year on the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month
Xie Songhua wasn't in a hurry to return to Touni City by flying sword. Instead, she led Pei Qian southward on foot.
Even if a border town hid dragons and crouching tigers, it still had to weigh the flying sword of a female sword immortal. Her two direct disciples, though not yet in the Middle Five Realms, were sword cultivators, and moreover, sword immortal seeds from the Sword Qi Great Wall. Even if a minor accident occurred, Xie Songhua's flying sword would arrive in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, before entering Touni City, Xie Songhua had taken Zhaomu and Juxing to visit the Northern Peak of the Rain Worker Kingdom, where the Northern Peak Mountain Lord would naturally take good care of the two children. If, within his jurisdiction, any mishap befell the direct disciples of a sword immortal—especially Xie Songhua's disciples—and delayed their cultivation of the Great Dao, a small kingdom's mountain lord considered himself unable to bear the responsibility; he might even implicate the entire Rain Worker Kingdom in being remembered by Sword Immortal Xie. Because Xie Songhua's temper was notoriously not very good in the Aiai Continent.
After a casual chat with Pei Qian, Xie Songhua sighed with emotion, surprised that even she couldn't see through Pei Qian's martial depth. So this little girl, barely over twenty years old, was already a Far Traveling Realm pure martial artist! How rare was that? In the mountains, it would be equivalent to someone in their twenties already being an Nascent Soul sword cultivator.
If not for Cao Ci before and Chen Ping'an after, Xie Songhua might have doubted Pei Qian's identity. But more than anything, Xie Songhua felt gratified. In truth, she and Pei Qian had never met, nor were they related, but seeing Pei Qian traveling far with a staff and a bamboo box, Xie Songhua felt a natural familiarity. Whether it was love for the house and its crow didn't matter; if Xie Songhua took a liking to someone, heaven and earth had no right to interfere. If she disliked someone, they could try to stop her flying sword—provided they had the guts and the skill.
So Xie Songhua chuckled, "If you were worried that Aunt Xie's swordsmanship isn't good enough to get the better of Xiliu earlier, and that's why you played dumb, there's no need. Tell me the truth, and I'll go chop up Xiliu right now. It'll take at most half an incense stick's time round trip. Killing a Jade Pure realm sword cultivator who is a demon is not easy, but without the 'sword cultivator' part, it's not difficult."
Pei Qian quickly shook her head, "Aunt Xie, it's not like that. If Xiliu had really been aggressive and bullying by force, I would have asked for a boxing match then and there."
Xie Songhua nodded, "Then consider that Xiliu burned high incense and had good luck. Originally, I planned to take Zhaomu and Juxing to nourish their sword intent here on the southern border of the icefield, and I would definitely have had to meet Xiliu. Zhaomu has two natal flying swords, 'Rainbow Haze' and 'Torrential Rain'. 'Rainbow Haze' is quite suitable for nourishing here. Juxing's 'Thunder Marsh' doesn't benefit much on the icefield. So I'll need to visit Thunder God Temple and Aunt Pei Xiang later to see if Juxing has any Great Dao opportunities in the vicinity of Horse Lake Prefecture."
Pei Qian still wasn't entirely sure what "meeting Xiliu" and "visiting Thunder God Temple" meant for Aunt Xie—how exactly that "meeting" would go down. But the fact that Xie Songhua was willing to reveal the natal names of her two direct disciples' flying swords to Pei Qian showed her closeness, treating Pei Qian like family.
Xie Songhua had always had a poor impression of her homeland, the Aiai Continent. After she became a Land Immortal in her early years, she mostly traveled in the Flowing Sunset Continent and Golden Armor Continent. Before taking on direct disciples, every time she had to return home on business, she never revealed her whereabouts, let alone bothered to show off her identity as a sword immortal. So she had a few conflicts—some quite big—and Xie Songhua never considered herself someone who was reasonable. So every time, she fought the young and the old. If the founding ancestor was still alive, that was even better. So the cultivators of the Aiai Continent both revered and dreaded this local sword immortal.
Now, Xie Songhua's prestige in the Aiai Continent was at its zenith. As a female sword immortal, she had traveled to the Sword Qi Great Wall and achieved remarkable military exploits. She had beheaded a Jade Pure realm sword immortal great demon. And crucially, Xie Songhua had returned alive to the Righteousness World. For the mountains of the Aiai Continent, a dead female sword immortal was just that. The Aiai Continent didn't have the custom of offering swords to the dead.
The most shocking news in the Aiai Continent was the rumor that Xie Songhua was extremely likely to break through the Jade Pure bottleneck within a few decades, ascend to the Immortal realm, and become the first great sword immortal in a thousand years in the Aiai Continent to successfully reach that realm. A few decades for a cultivator was just a brief nap for a transcendent being on the mountain peak.
Xie Songhua laughed and asked, "Since you're already an Eighth Realm martial artist, why don't you travel by wind?"
Pei Qian blushed a little, whispering, "My master said that when walking in the mortal world, one should first drop two realms. Never learn from someone who gives up one move in a martial contest as a courtesy."
Pei Qian said, "Aunt Xie, you can fly on your sword while I use the wind—rules are dead, people are alive. By Aunt Xie's side, there's no need to be so particular."
After all, Xie Songhua was a senior sword immortal, and this trip to the icefield was to impart sword techniques and the Great Dao to her two direct disciples.
Xie Songhua laughed heartily, "As expected of his first disciple! No matter, let's continue walking to Touni City. Consider it a stroll to relax."
Xie Songhua then asked curiously, "Who is that 'someone'? Can you tell me?"
Someone who the young Hidden Official often mentioned couldn't be simple. For instance, that wine-loving Sword Immortal Qi was now the sect master of the Taihui Sword Sect in the Northern Beggardom Continent.
Pei Qian smiled, "Aunt Xie, there's nothing I can't say. My master's friend is a military strategist from the Ghost Axe Palace in the Northern Beggardom Continent, named Du Yu. He likes to roam the martial world. When my master traveled the Northern Beggardom Continent in his early years, they hit it off, and Master even learned some talisman techniques from Senior Du."
Xie Songhua nodded, "Though I've never heard of any Ghost Axe Palace, since he could let your master have a move, he must be quite skilled. But the outcome of a boxing match probably wasn't good. Don't let anyone yield to your master."
Pei Qian scratched her head.
She was no longer the charcoal-black girl of yesteryears, not even a young girl anymore. This gesture was one of the few childish traces left in her.
On the southern border of the icefield, Xiliu, along with the old woman and the Autumn Water Daoist, returned to the mansion, also strolling leisurely through the vast blizzard.
The old woman asked softly, "Master, is it really that sword immortal Xie Songhua?"
Xiliu smiled and nodded, "That sword intent in the bamboo box on her back can't be faked."
The Autumn Water Daoist, wearing a crane feather cloak and regretting the lack of a plum branch, had lost all transcendent grace, grimacing, "That little girl has quite the fist! I'm still aching all over. When that fist landed, it felt like my natal qi mansion and my three souls and seven spirits were all turned upside down, like a ground ox turning over its back. That Earth Shrinking Talisman, used at close range by a pure martial artist, is deadly. No wonder the founding master who created that talisman lineage has been cursed for thousands of years."
Xiliu said, "Looking back, that little girl was probably deliberately hiding her strength the whole time. Even throwing punches at you all might have been to conceal her true strength, because after I showed up, her only enemy was me. I suspect that talisman was also a decoy. I'm guessing that once that little girl completely cuts loose, she'll be faster than when using the talisman. So, I have to thank the sword immortal for not letting me lose any soldiers, and also thank the little girl for averting a disaster."
Xiliu couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Heaven's justice is manifest; retribution is swift?"
The old woman asked doubtfully, "Master, you've traveled far here, your aura perfectly concealed, not much less than a Confucian sage sitting in his small world. Even I can't detect a thing. How did that little girl discover you?"
Xiliu said helplessly, "You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?"
Touni City was the prefectural seat of the Rain Bank Prefecture in the Rain Worker Kingdom, one of the two important ferry ports leading to the southern border of the icefield.
At the city gate, Pei Qian submitted her travel permit. During her previous travels in the Northern Beggardom Continent, she had accumulated many seals on her route guide. Senior Li Er from Lion's Peak had helped her forge a new mountain-and-water travel permit. These special route guides for mountain cultivators were also a popular collectible item among powerful families and connoisseurs in the mortal world.
Xie Songhua naturally had no customs clearance documents. Touni City took one look at Pei Qian and turned a blind eye to Xie Songhua, letting them both pass.
At a celestial inn, Pei Qian met the two sword immortal seeds. They were both about seven or eight years old, a girl and a boy. The girl was called Zhaomu, the boy Juxing, both very bright and clever.
However, Juxing seemed slightly more composed, his gaze calm, a bit out of keeping with his age.
As per custom, Pei Qian gave each of them two specially made bookmarks from Fallen Mountain as a greeting gift.
After hearing that Sister Pei Qian was the first disciple of the Hidden Official, Juxing's eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. Zhaomu was also happy, because the little girl lived on the same street as Guo Zhujiu, and Guo Zhujiu liked to call herself "the Hidden Official's current temporary sealed disciple." Moreover, there were far too many stories and legends about that Hidden Official. Cheating people at games, selling wine and still cheating money, writing calligraphy on fans, his belly full of countless tales of gods and monsters, mountain and river stories, being a perfect immortal couple with Ning Yao. He traveled millions of miles twice for her, passed three trials, defeated even Qi Shou and Pang Yuanji with his fists, voluntarily took Ning Yao's place to fight Li Zhen alone on Top Moon Mountain, became famous overnight, becoming the youngest and first outsider Hidden Official in the history of the Sword Qi Great Wall. He took Yu Juanfu's fist challenge, knocked her down with one punch, yet still won three consecutive matches. His sarcastic remarks were countless, enough to make great sword immortals worry. He personally wrote the "Two Hundred Sword Immortal Seal Manual," commanded from the Summer Resort Palace, strategized. On the battlefield, he was even more cunning than the great demon Shou Chen. He even once dressed as a woman and liked to pick up trash everywhere...
The little girl with two natal flying swords, "Rainbow Haze" and "Torrential Rain," pinched the bamboo-leaf bookmark between two fingers, lifted it high, and gently twisted it in the sunlight. She really liked this gift.
Earlier, when receiving gifts, she had glanced cautiously at Juxing. Only after he accepted his gift did she dare to accept hers.
Because since following their master to the Righteousness World, their master had taken them through the Golden Armor, Flowing Sunset, and Aiai Continents, passing by many celestial mansions. Many kindly elders wanted to give them gifts. Juxing would just look indifferent, his hands tucked in his sleeves. The master didn't say anything, so the little girl would also refuse. Once, the little girl asked Juxing privately why he refused. Juxing, who usually didn't talk much, suddenly got very angry. He just asked her if she still had any shame. Zhaomu was both scared and hurt, and she burst into tears. Seeing her cry, Juxing became even more annoyed. He said something and told Zhaomu not to speak to him again, or he'd beat her up. Later, it was their master who came to comfort her, and Zhaomu felt a little better. Actually, during their travels in the Aiai Continent, Juxing really didn't speak a single word to her. Zhaomu didn't not want to talk to Juxing, but she didn't dare. A few times, she tried to find reasons to get close to him, but Juxing just pretended to be deaf.
So today, Juxing accepting a gift was an unprecedented event.
Juxing had already carefully put the bookmark—verdant and inscribed with a beautiful line of text—into his sleeve, planning to treasure it. In this Righteousness World, reading was the most common thing.
Xie Songhua teased, "One pretends to be deaf and dumb every day, the other cries at the drop of a hat. Raising two kids is really hard. Pei Qian, to be honest, your master raising a child is top-notch—even better than being a Hidden Official."
Xie Songhua gave a thumbs up.
Pei Qian was a bit embarrassed.
Those years when her master took her on travels were indeed arduous.
Though Xie Songhua complained verbally, in her heart she was more proud. She really didn't think that Chen Li and Gao Youqing from Li Cai, Wild Ford and Snow Boat from Pu He, Sun Zao and Jin Luan from Song Pin, and the other children scattered across the Righteousness World would be better than her two disciples. Absolutely not! She, Xie Songhua, had only taken these two disciples. She would teach them everything she knew. In sixty years, they would definitely be even more accomplished than Chen Li, who had already earned the nickname 'Little Hidden Official.' They would be even greater little sword immortals.
Even if not, so what? Zhaomu and Juxing were still her beloved disciples.
Juxing sat on the corridor railing, arms crossed, gently swinging his legs. Back home, he used to like sitting like this on the city wall. This habit would never change for life.
Zhaomu whispered in protest, "Master, it was only three times. Not 'at the drop of a hat.'"
Juxing snorted derisively.
Zhaomu immediately wilted.
Xie Songhua stood up, "Pei Qian, you chat with them. I'll go talk to someone and arrange a meeting. We had an appointment to meet here. It's about time she arrived."
Pei Qian chatted with the two children.
Zhaomu chirped like a little sparrow. After Pei Qian asked, the little girl told Sister Pei Qian in detail about the huge excitement around the Top Ten Young Cultivators.
Of course, Juxing had to defend the Hidden Official's honor. He said that aside from Ning Yao, and at most Cao Ci, the other eight had no right to push the Hidden Official out of the top ten, only giving him the 'eleventh' spot.
Pei Qian asked curiously, "What's this about Ascension City?"
Zhaomu smiled, "In the Fifth World, the reign era is 'Jiachun'. The city where our homeland descended at the dawn of the world was named Ascension City."
Juxing said, "There are reports that Sister Ning Yao wasn't only the first Jade Pure realm sword cultivator in that world, but now she's already in the Immortal Realm."
Pei Qian watched the cute and lively little girl in front of her and felt a pang of homesickness for Little Rice on Fallen Mountain, and also for Nuan Shu, who seemed like she would never grow up.
Only at this moment did Pei Qian finally realize belatedly that Treasure Vase Sister had grown up, and she herself had also grown up.
If Treasure Vase Sister's little master, her own master, knew about this, would he be happy or sad?
Pei Qian opened her book box and began copying texts.
Zhaomu sat beside her, quietly resting her chin on her hand, watching Sister Pei write.
Juxing was thinking about the second opening of the Fifth World's gate. Then he could go home. He had heard that the gate to the Fifth World would open for thirty years, then close completely. From then on, to travel between the two worlds, one could only become a Flying Ascension realm grand cultivator.
Juxing was a bit envious of Sister Pei's walking staff and bamboo box. The little boy, imitating the Hidden Official, tucked his hands in his sleeves and sat on the railing, staring blankly.
The selected Top Ten Young Cultivators were all under fifty years old. There was no ranking among them. The reason was simple: they were too young. When climbing the mountain of cultivation and seeking the Dao of longevity, one needed at least another hundred years to judge.
Ning Yao of Ascension City. In the Fifth World, she had broken through two realms in a row, entering the Immortal Realm.
Cao Ci, martial artist of Great Duan. He had entered the Tenth Realm of martial arts beyond the landscape grotto sea of Fuyao Continent.
Shan Qing, Daoist of the White Jade Capital. Jade Pure realm. He had not a single magic treasure on him, because all his natal objects were immortal weapons or half-immortal weapons. He followed the path of the Five Elements, and his rank was considered the best in the current age.
Fei Ran, top of the hundred sword immortals on Top Moon Mountain. Jade Pure realm sword cultivator. It was said he liked to suppress his realm to fight.
There was also a direct descendant of Second Sage. It was said that young scholar was originally from the Green Underworld Continent. The Second Sage brought him back to the Righteousness World in his early years. Not only did he acquire a 'book-turning wind', he also had the rudiment of a Destiny Word.
A young monk who had entered the Fifth World, holding a twelve-ring pilgrim's staff.
From the Green Underworld Continent, a female Daoist who was previously unknown. She was less than twenty years old and had only been cultivating for eight years. She had stagnated in the Willow Sinew Realm—a realm that often trapped people—for six years. Then she soared, breaking into the Jade Pure realm in one step.
In the Righteousness World, a similarly obscure itinerant cultivator, Liu Cai. His current realm wasn't high, just a Core Formation realm sword cultivator. But the killing power of his flying sword was beyond imagination. Even cultivators reading the reports were astounded. People like Ning Yao, Cao Ci, and Shan Qing were well-deserved darlings of heaven, with high realms. But Liu Cai was only Core Formation. Generally speaking, even Nascent Soul sword cultivators under fifty years old weren't considered all that remarkable, let alone Core Formation ones. He had no right to be on the list at all.
But with his sudden emergence, two lost sword-nourishing gourds surfaced. They were 'Heartfelt Thought' and 'Immediately'. Liu Cai had two natal flying swords. The gourd 'Heartfelt Thought' nourished his flying sword 'Azure Sky'. A sword cultivator was already said to break all techniques with one sword, but 'Azure Sky' could break all swords with one sword. The gourd 'Immediately' helped nourish Liu Cai's second flying sword 'White Colt'. This flying sword was so tiny and swift that it could ignore the resistance of the River of Time.
So there was now a saying in the Righteousness World: the only sword cultivator who could contend with Ning Yao at the same realm would be Liu Cai in a hundred years.
The junior junior brother of Heavenly Master Qi Zhen from the Divine Warning Sect. In his early years, he went to the Middle Earth Divine Continent's parent sect to serve as a librarian. Legend has it that within three years, he read all the Daoist texts.
From the Barbaric World, a young cultivator who, like Liu Cai and the female Daoist, seemed to violently burst into the world's view: She Yue.
And finally, as if adding a consolation prize to a transaction, the 'Hidden Official'.
A young man who had finally gained some fame in other continents, but only because of 'Chen Ping'an's Case', and was infamous for it.
Earlier, there were said to be ten alternates, but they were never announced.
Zhaomu plucked up her courage, turned her head, and secretly looked at Juxing, who hadn't paid her any attention for a long time. In fact, he was younger than her, same month, but a few days later. Yet the little girl always felt that Juxing was much older than her.
Juxing sensed Zhaomu's gaze and immediately glared at her. Zhaomu blinked as if to say: I'm not talking to you, and you still want to control me? That's unreasonable.
Juxing put his two fingers together and made a horizontal cutting gesture, signaling the little girl to obediently turn away.
Zhaomu turned her head, lay down on the table, and continued watching Sister Pei copy books.
The little girl really wanted to ask this sister: since this was her homeland, why did she leave? If she could stay in her homeland, she definitely wouldn't go far away.
Sister Pei was all alone. What courage, and how much hardship she could endure.
Zhaomu certainly didn't know that this tall, thin, slightly dark sister in front of her, who made her feel so safe, had, when she first started learning boxing, while helping Huang Ting with a shoulder rub in the medicine shop in Old Dragon City, let out a scream from the pain. She had been far more pathetic than Zhaomu, crying and running to complain to her master. At that time, Pei Qian was actually a bit older than Zhaomu. As for courage, Pei Qian as a child really didn't have much. Possibly even less than Little Rice. Even now, she still carried that ordinary yellow paper talisman with her.
Sister Pei was very focused on her copying.
Then Zhaomu suddenly panicked. She quickly turned to look at Juxing.
Juxing looked towards Zhaomu, raised a finger to his lips, and shook his head, signaling Zhaomu not to speak.
Zhaomu tiptoed to her feet. It turned out that Sister Pei, while copying, had somehow started to cry.
Pei Qian was sad. In the future, when her master rapped her on the head with his knuckles, he wouldn't need to bend down anymore.
From then on, even if master and disciple were finally reunited, and they traveled the landscapes together again, her master probably wouldn't reach out to hold a little girl's hand again.
How had she grown up?
Once, her senior brother, the Great White Goose, told a joke. He asked her, as the senior sister, if she knew who in the world had the most worries. Pei Qian of course said her master, because her master liked to think and take care of others. But her senior brother shook his head with a smile and gave a very reckless answer—he said it was the guy called "Growing Up."
—
In the Great Li capital, the old Minister Guan sat on a wicker chair on the porch. Even though the old man was dressed warmly and thickly, he still feared the cold. He held a hand warmer in his hands, staring at the Chinese parasol tree in the yard. The old man grinned, put his thumb on a tooth, and sighed woefully.
His great-grandson Guan Yiran, dusty from travel, had returned to the capital this time. He had officially resigned as the supervising officer for Qi Ferry and was about to fill a vacancy in the Ministry of Revenue. However, unlike Liu Qingfeng's promotion to a vice minister, Guan Yiran's promotion seemed far too insignificant and petty from the Emperor. Honestly, compared to a noble scion like Liu Xunmei, Guan Yiran's promotion was downright stingy. Although Guan Yiran, who had been a military cultivator at the border, was not entirely willing to return—not that he looked down on the low rank, but he had become accustomed to the harsh battlefield from the bone—he still followed his great-grandfather's instructions and chose to return to the capital for office. As soon as he came home this time, Guan Yiran immediately came to the old man's side.
Guan Yiran squatted by the old man's feet, pressing his hand against the hand warmer.
The old man laughed, "The Ministry of Revenue is an unpopular yamen. Get used to it. Forget about the Ministry of Personnel—don't ever think about being an official there in this life. Others think the Great Li Ministry of Revenue belongs to the Guan family, but if you Guan children think that way, it's a path to ruin. In life, you need to leave a path for others. Squatting in the latrine without shitting, or squatting there too long shitting, will get you pelted with stones. Then you'll splash your own ass and have no one to blame."
Guan Yiran smiled. The earliest high-ranking officials of the Great Li court were not very refined, even the ones from scholarly backgrounds.
The old man looked up at the beautiful evening clouds in the sky and sighed, "Teeth falling out, hair falling out, can't walk. Annoying. Seeing pretty young girls, no desire and no ability. At most, I can think back to the old days and recall the bravery of heroes. Youth is good; there are official positions to be promoted to. Those flying, soaring gods in the sky are truly enviable."
The old man muttered to himself, the youth listened.
"Though the country is broken, mountains and rivers remain; in the city in spring, grass and trees grow deep. The one rolling up the curtain says it's still the same." This was a line from a collection of poems by a literary giant who was a remnant of the Lu clan. It was beautifully written. But unfortunately, the man was good at writing essays but poor at being an official.
"The fragrance of food when hungry, the scent of a young woman's cosmetics when young. Actually, there's another fragrance, too—a good one. Do you know what it is? It's the smell of picking your toes on a cool mat in the summer heat."
"Go, get me a jug of wine. The ones I hid in the study earlier were all secretly taken by your father. He put them in his own study. Damn it. After you bring the wine, let me sit alone for a while. Ha, 'Having wine, I chew with great relish, not letting the young ones know.'"
Guan Yiran said "Hm," turned around, and left.
The old man suddenly called out, "Yiran."
Guan Yiran turned around immediately.
The old man smiled without speaking.
Guan Yiran understood without needing words, "Got it. Two jugs."
The old man nodded, "Be a good official, but don't forget to be a good person first. Don't learn from those vice supervisors of great rivers. They never go out on ordinary days, but whenever they have a chance to follow someone with a bigger official hat on a river inspection, they first borrow a pair of badly worn boots. Those clever things clever people do, don't you do them. Otherwise, your great-grandfather will really not sleep well in the future."
Guan Yiran's eyes were slightly red. He nodded emphatically, "Got it!"
After the youth left the yard.
Old Master Guan lightly tapped the armrest of the wicker chair and called softly, "State Preceptor? Are you busy? If not, have a chat with me?"
The Great Li State Preceptor, Cui Chan, appeared.
Old Master Guan didn't bow or even greet him. The old man just continued looking at the darkening sky, murmuring, "Mr. Cui, will the world be better? When I was young, I asked you this question. You just told me to see for myself. Now I'm old, my eyes are blurry, I can't see far even with my eyes wide open. Soon I won't be able to see at all. Mr. Cui, tell me so I can go peacefully."
Cui Chan said, "At least when Guan Yingche is an official, the world of Great Li is better."
The old man whispered, "But there are still many grievances that make people uncomfortable. I don't even know how to say them or who to say them to."
Cui Chan said, "Each household's meals, each door's Spring Festival couplets—they are all answers to the grievances in the hearts of scholars."
The old man nodded, "There was once a young scholar full of poetry and books who said that flowers blooming and falling, grass withering and flourishing, are all the earthly responses of the moon in the sky. Mr. Cui, your words are not at all wrong."
Cui Chan chuckled, "Who says they aren't?"
There was once a poor scholar from Great Li who went to the capital for the imperial exams. At just twenty, he dared to say he was the only literary master in the country. But in truth, his poetry and literary talent were quite average.
The old man said regretfully, "It's not that I'm afraid of death, but I can't help feeling reluctant to part from this life."
That youth came from the Cliffside Academy to study.
The old man said, "Mr. Cui, I am very glad to have met Mr. Qi and you. During my academy days, I learned from Mr. Qi. As an official in the court, I worked alongside you."
Cui Chan nodded, "I believe Qi Jingchun also considered himself fortunate to have a student like Guan Yingche among his disciples."
The old man asked, "Then can I, for Mr. Qi, scold the Great Li State Preceptor a few times?"
Cui Chan smiled, "You'd have to scold the Minister of Personnel first, then scold me."
The old man laughed as well, shaking his head, "Forget it, then."
Many heart-to-heart talks between old people are basically the final judgment on their lives.
By the time Guan Yiran brought two jugs of wine, only the State Preceptor was left to drink.
—
In the Fifth World, the sixth year of the Jiachun era.
Half of the Sword Qi Great Wall in the Barbaric World had been sealed off from heaven and earth by a formation, truly isolated. Year after year, it drifted alone.
After Fei Ran left, he would walk along the steep cliffs, occasionally using his narrow saber to cut through the formation for a moment, taking a look at the vast army of demons marching north. Six years later, he still hadn't seen the demons retreat south. In the end, he simply sat in a cave—barely worthy of the name—in a cliff face, drawing his sword from time to time to break the barrier. With nothing to do, he could only watch the demons continue north.
But every time Chen Ping'an drew his sword, the barrier would soon mend itself.
After Li Zhen learned of this, he suggested to Top Moon Mountain that they should be stricter. They could set up a stable formation between the two cliffs, one that even a Jade Pure realm sword cultivator couldn't break, denying the young Hidden Official even the pleasure of looking.
But the Sixty-Year Tent put the plan on hold for now, saying they were too busy to bother. They'd discuss it later.
That day, the young Hidden Official in his bright red robe sat cross-legged, his sword resting across his knees, gently tapping the scabbard.
In one of his wide sleeves was the entire miniature script of a travelogue, densely packed, like an army mustered for deployment.
In fact, the moment Chen Ping'an finished flipping through the book, he realized it was hiding secrets. That was why he thought, "Good thing I didn't write down what I truly care about; otherwise I wouldn't be able to speak properly."
Because Chen Ping'an was extremely sensitive to the number "eleven," and he also knew the character "zai." All those bamboo slips he had carved were not in vain. He was even more interested in collecting rare and obscure characters than many scholars who had studied from childhood. Especially when it came to interpreting characters. In his early days at the wine shop, at the corner of the street, when he told stories as a raconteur, those children had long learned the boss's formidable skills.
Now, cutting through the barrier with his sword, in addition to observing the number of demons and deducing the battle situation, Chen Ping'an was also trying to determine whether the great gate might occasionally close. He worried that Top Moon Mountain had already noticed the clues in the travelogue and might close the gate to isolate the two worlds, or set up other barriers early. If Chen Ping'an made a hasty move, it would ruin Cui Chan's secret plan.
Knowing that the travelogue was unusual was ultimately meaningless. That was also where Cui Chan was most meticulous.
Over the years, after writing all the characters in miniature on the talisman, Chen Ping'an had racked his brains trying to decipher the secret letter, arranging the characters like troops in various formations. It was very laborious. He repeatedly read the travelogue, perhaps in a certain chapter, taking every eleventh character to see if they could form a secret letter. Perhaps he worked on the characters "chan" and "yan," branching out through various contexts. Perhaps he used reverse narrative to trace clues...
Cui Dongshan had said that anyone without a sick mind couldn't pull on the thread of this path.
But in truth, his master had not only pulled the thread upon first reading the travelogue—the act of throwing away the book and retrieving it was also a diversion. Later, while refining the characters, his thoughts traveled millions of miles.
All the trivial things in life that feel uncomfortable and burdensome might converge somewhere on the future road, like scattered lamps, eventually gathering together to shine brightly.
Chen Ping'an curled up, his hands tucked in his sleeves, staring blankly.
Today, in the Righteousness World, was the fifth day of the fifth month.
When there were people around him, Chen Ping'an wouldn't care much about whether it was the fifth day of the fifth month.
But when he was alone, he always remembered.
After his parents left, one day a family moved into the end of Mud Vase Alley. Later, that family got a little snot-nosed kid. Then he met Song Jixin and Zhigui, his neighbors. Later, he met Liu Xianyang.
Later, he left home, had Li Baoping and Li Huai, and later Zhang Shanfeng and Liu Yuanxia, and then Pei Qian and the others, and Fallen Mountain. Even in Bookcase Lake and on the Sword Qi Great Wall, there were people who mattered by his side.
Only in these recent years was Chen Ping'an once again alone.
Chen Ping'an let out a soft breath, lightly tapped his chest. At least alone, he could also talk to himself.