Unsheathed

Chapter 326 (1): In the Small Alley

When Chen Ping'an regained consciousness, the moon was already hanging high in the sky. Perhaps it was due to the saber and sword by his hips, but the owner of the wine shop hadn't dared to shoo him away. Instead, he had pinched his nose and allowed this traveler to occupy the table without buying anything else. In the end, Chen Ping'an had given the owner some extra silver coins, with the sudden wealth falling from the skies causing the owner to become very happy.

Chen Ping'an slowly strolled back to Champion Scholar Alley. The brothels had little business, and the beautiful women who worked there were mostly leaning over the railings in a lazy manner. Chen Ping'an glanced up, and he discovered that these women were wearing much lighter makeup than usual. However, they somehow appeared more attractive compared to when they put on layers upon layers of heavy makeup.

As he walked along the alley, many women tried to strike up a conversation or playfully tease him. In fact, a woman even directly threw her embroidered handkerchief at him and shouted, "Handsome little brother, why don't you come up and take a seat? I'll treat you to some tea, and you can sit directly on big sister's legs."

The women in her brothel and the surrounding brothels instantly started to make noise and shout at each other, not holding back as they swore and threw around lewd words. Chen Ping'an easily dodged the embroidered handkerchief.

However, he glanced back at the embroidered handkerchief on the ground before picking it up and rolling it into a ball, tossing it back to that woman in the brothel. The women in the brothels fell silent for a moment before immediately breaking into loud laughter.

Chen Ping'an's mind was as calm as still water as he returned to the alley with no name. When he reached the alley corner, a man and a woman dressed in commoner clothes were standing there and waiting for him. They were quite young, and appeared to be less than thirty years old. However, their breathing was calm and their aura was stable.

In the context of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, they could be regarded as young elites who possessed good talent and a solid foundation. Of course, there was still a huge gulf between them and prodigies such as Smiley Face, Zhou Shi, and the others.

The two of them revealed their names and told Chen Ping'an that they were spies in the capital, under the direct command of Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu. The man handed two packages to Chen Ping'an, one of which held the stolen books that they had found in a bookshop in a neighboring district. The other package contained some books related to building bridges that they had chosen from the Ministry of Works.

Afterward, the woman handed Chen Ping'an a secret official document that contained information on the impoverished scholar with the surname Jiang as well as the pipa woman.

Regardless of whether it was the man or the woman, Chen Ping'an discovered that both of them were extremely unstable as they handed him the packages and document. Both their hands and minds were unstable.

Chen Ping'an smiled and thanked them before returning to Cao Qinglang's house.

He had killed Pink Vajra Ma Xuan and the pipa woman on the street, and had almost killed Bird's Eye View Peak's Lu Fang soon afterward. He had then defeated Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu, and had finally killed the demon force's Paramount Leader Ding Ying.

Just like that time on the city wall when Old General Lü Xiao had personally witnessed Daoist Nun Huang Ting's paramount battle against Yu Zhenyi, these spies of Southern Garden Nation who traveled on the boundary between the imperial court and the cultivation world would also feel the urge to remark, "That's the power of true immortals," when they learned of these incredible battles and feats. Right now, Chen Ping'an's fame and power in this world were even greater than what Ding Ying had experienced during his peak.

When Chen Ping'an slowly pushed the courtyard door open and disappeared into the house, the young woman finally exhaled before taking a deep breath. As it turned out, she had held her breath and not dared to breathe the entire time. Her voice was extremely soft as she said, "So he truly is that young..."

The young man remained silent, feeling slightly helpless.

"He's truly so handsome," the young woman added with a smile.

However, even she felt a little embarrassed after saying this.

Right at this moment, that person suddenly walked backward out of the house, leaned back, and raised his thumb at the young woman, saying with a faint smile, "You have very good taste."

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The young woman was completely stupefied, and even the unsmiling young man was slightly caught off guard.

When the courtyard door finally swung shut with a soft thud, the young woman furiously covered her face with her hands and forcefully stomped the ground.

The young man couldn't help but sigh. In reality, it was extremely out of character for the young woman to act like this. She had worked as a spy for seven years, and was extremely skilled at hiding herself. She was always meticulous and reliable, and she had completed many important tasks for the imperial court of Southern Garden Nation.

Even Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu was very impressed by her, and his trust in her was reflected in the fact that he had assigned her and the young man to keep an eye on Northern Jin Nation's Dragon General Tang Tieyi this time.

Inside the courtyard, Cao Qinglang and the skinny little girl whose name was yet unknown were both sitting on small stools. They were the same age as each other, yet they weren't talking to each other at this moment. The skinny little girl was snacking on roasted sunflower seeds which she had most likely obtained from Cao Qinglang.

The ground was filled with shells that she had casually tossed aside, and she immediately became a little panicked when she saw Chen Ping'an. Chen Ping'an glanced at the shells on the ground, after which the skinny little girl immediately shoved the remaining sunflower seeds into her pockets and started to clean up the mess.

Chen Ping'an greeted Cao Qinglang before returning to his room and lighting the oil lamp. He opened the two packages, and saw that the stack of books that the skinny little girl had stolen and sold was still in pristine condition. He returned them to their original position on the desk. He then placed the books from the Ministry of Works on the other side of the table. There were two stacks of books on the table now, and they were like two small mountains or two mighty door gods.

After putting the books aside, Chen Ping'an opened the secret official document and scanned through the detailed records of the impoverished scholar with the surname Jiang as well as the pipa woman.

He then placed the secret official document back inside the envelope before slipping it inside one of the many books.

Chen Ping'an started to review this mysterious and inexplicable game of Go.

Even though his journey through the Lotus Flower Blessed Land had been filled with deadly dangers, he had ultimately ended up reaping many huge rewards.

Not only had he broken through the barrier of the fourth tier and reached the fifth tier during his first battle against Superior Grandmaster Zhong Qiu, but Zhong Qiu had even put his status aside and chosen to voluntarily spar with him the second time around. This had allowed Chen Ping'an to stabilize his fifth tier cultivation base.

Even though Zhong Qiu also had his own considerations at the time—for example, he had speculated that Ding Ying and Yu Zhenyi had most likely formed an alliance, one which he was unwilling to see succeed—this didn't take away from his magnanimity as a grandmaster, his strength as a martial artist, or his nature as a person. These were all qualities that Chen Ping'an sincerely admired.

Afterward, Chen Ping'an had experienced a hearty battle full of twists and turns with Ding Ying. Chen Ping'an had properly wielded a sword against an enemy for the first time in his life, and sure enough, he had realized that pure martial artists indeed needed to temper their physiques through critical moments of life and death.

Chen Ping'an wasn't sure about the fifth-tier cultivation base of other people in Majestic World, but he was confident that he had tempered his own to quite a decent level.

This was the foundation of his strength and everything else, so Chen Ping'an naturally wouldn't give it away no matter how much money he was offered. This was saying something seeing how big of a miser he was.

Taking tens thousand steps back, he wouldn't have wasted his time traveling through the Lotus Flower Blessed Land even if he ultimately failed to rebuild his bridge of immortality. Compared to his initial plan of traveling to ancient battlefield ruins or martial sage temples to try his luck in advancing to the fifth tier, his achievements in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land were already amazing and far beyond his expectations.

However, there were obviously hidden dangers lurking in the shadows of his immense success.

The problem lay in the fact that Ding Ying's yin soul had been pummeled from the peak of Bull Mountain to that huge crater in the ground, especially the pool of lightning inside it.

In the end, the abundant spiritual energy and the shattered martial fortune that had been attracted to the region around Bull Mountain had all funneled into Chen Ping'an's body and seeped into his soul.

Even now, Chen Ping'an could still vaguely detect the lingering haze over his mind's lake. There was also rumbling thunder and flashing lightning, as if there were flood dragons soaring through the mists and flashes of sword light slashing through the haze. Indeed, it appeared as if numerous swords were slashing down at the many flood dragons.

Thankfully, this abundant spiritual energy that conflicted with the True Qi of pure martial artists was located in a relatively remote area of his body. As a result, the two bursts of power were yet to clash with each other. One had to remember that Qi refiners and pure martial artists in Majestic World chose two very different paths right from the very beginning.

Martial artists needed to disperse all of their spiritual energy and cultivate a burst of pure True Qi that was like a fire dragon patrolling their acupoints.

Meanwhile, the more spiritual energy of heaven and earth that Qi refiners could absorb the better. Afterward, Qi refiners would simply eliminate the bad and keep the good, opening up new territories and transforming their acupoints into cities and mini worlds that were like gigantic lakes located next to rivers.

Regardless of whether they experienced floods or droughts, Qi refiners would remain capable of interacting with these small worlds inside their bodies and thus obtain a continuous supply of spiritual energy. Afterward, they could construct a core abode and refine a golden core. They could then nurture their yin soul and yang soul, after which they could finally become an earth immortal.

The situation inside Chen Ping'an's body was that of his pure True Qi facing off against the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They were like two opposing armies standing in formation and just barely avoiding an all-out conflict.

Chen Ping'an pushed these thoughts out of his mind and grabbed his Sword Nurturing Gourd from the table, drinking a mouthful of wine.

Was it actually this difficult to rebuild one's bridge of immortality? It was truly the case that destroying things was easy while rebuilding things was difficult. Not only that, but he had almost died in this Lotus Flower Blessed Land as well. Chen Ping'an couldn't help but feel a sense of lingering fear upon thinking of this possibility.

Even if sixty years in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land were shorter than sixty years in Majestic World, it was still certain that he would fail to uphold his promise of ten years with Ning Yao. Moreover, just how old would Li Baoping and Li Huai be in ten years? Would they be bullied by others during this time?

And what about Bamboo Scroll Lake's Gu Can? Would Liu Xianyang have returned home in splendor yet failed to find him in the small town? What would happen to Dragon Spring Prefecture's Downtrodden Mountain? What would happen to the bamboo building and his home in Clay Vase Alley? What would happen to his two shops in Dragon Riding Alley?

Chen Ping'an stood up, and it wasn't long before he heard someone knocking on the courtyard door. The skinny little girl immediately ran over to Chen Ping'an's wing room as if seeking praise, and she was just about to inform him of a guest's arrival. However, Chen Ping'an had already walked out and opened the courtyard door.

The visitor was the young female spy from Southern Garden Nation, and she was carrying a long case as she stood there. "These are the belongings left behind by the pipa woman. The imperial preceptor just instructed someone to bring them over, and they asked me to deliver them to Esteemed Immortal Chen," she explained in a soft voice.

Before Chen Ping'an could say anything, she had already flushed a slight shade of red and turned around to run away in panic.

Cao Qinglang simply felt a sense of curiosity when he saw this. However, the skinny little girl's eyes immediately started to dart around in thought.

Chen Ping'an placed the broken pipa in his room. Cao Qinglang returned to his room to read under the glow of the oil lamp, while the skinny little girl continued to sit on the small stool and snack on the roasted sunflower seeds. However, she was smarter about her actions this time, and she didn't toss the shells onto the ground as if she were a divine maiden scattering flowers into the world. Instead, she placed the shells in a neat pile beside her feet.

Chen Ping'an walked toward the small stools, and discovered that Cao Qinglang had left his straw fan on his stool. He gently picked it up before sitting down and saying to the skinny little girl, "You can go home now."

She blinked as she ate the sunflower seeds, and she shook her head and replied, "Home? What home? I don't have a home. I'm nothing more than a little beggar, so how can I have a home? There are heaps of bad people among the beggars, and they always like to beat me. I'm too young, and I often can't eat enough to fill my stomach. I'm also very weak, so I naturally can't beat any of them in a fight.

"The good locations in the capital have all been occupied by them, and I obviously don't have the ability to take any of these locations off them. As a result, I can only look for random places like areas under bridges or on top of the stone lions of wealthy families."

"What about your parents?" Chen Ping'an asked.

The skinny little girl continued to crunch on roasted sunflower seeds as she smiled and replied, "They died ages ago. I'm not from the capital, I came from a place thousands of kilometers away from here. My hometown was struck by some plague, and I was still very little at that time. I fled with my mom and dad, but my mom died during the journey. It was my dad who brought me here, and the officials in the capital were truly quite kind. They set up many porridge stalls outside the city, and my dad only died after drinking a large bowl of porridge."

"How old are you this year?" Chen Ping'an asked.

After finishing off the rest of her roasted sunflower seeds, the skinny little girl held up both hands and bent a single thumb, waving her fingers around as she replied, "I'm nine years old."

Chen Ping'an didn't say anything else.

The skinny little girl laughed and said, "I don't look like I'm nine years old, right? This can't be helped. I'm always hungry, so I naturally can't grow tall. Did you see the girl who gave me a small snowman before? She was only six years old, yet she was already a bit taller than me. The little scholar in this courtyard, that Cao Qinglang, he's also younger than me."

Chen Ping'an lightly rocked the straw fan back and forth, appearing unmoved and apathetic.

The skinny little girl was actually observing Chen Ping'an's expression the entire time, so she couldn't help but grumble in her mind when she saw his cold indifference toward her plight.

Sure enough, rich people were all bad people! They never cared about the life and death of others, regardless of how wealthy and influential they were. He could clearly give her a good life if he just allowed a few pieces of silver to slip out from between his fingers, yet he stubbornly refused to offer her any help.

She was already nine years old, yet she was so emaciated and short that she appeared like a five or six-year-old child instead. However, Chen Ping'an didn't find this strange because he had also gone through the same thing when he was her age.

It was only after he left Clay Vase Alley and the small town and started to work as an apprentice in Old Man Yao's dragon kiln that he started to grow taller and stronger. Before that, Chen Ping'an had been half a head shorter than the other children the same age as him.

Chen Ping'an didn't remove Deep Infatuation and Halting Snow from his hips today, so he appeared extremely dignified and mighty even though he was sitting on a small stool.

It was also because of this that the skinny little girl was behaving so well tonight.

A gentle breeze brushed over Chen Ping'an as he rocked the straw fan, and he asked, "How much did you sell those stolen books for?"

The skinny little girl scrunched up her face, trying to force some tears from her eyes. However, she failed to produce any tears, so she could only raise a hand and cry injustice with a sobbing tone, saying, "I genuinely didn't steal any books! I swear! If I'm lying, then the heavens will unleash thunder and lightning and deal the punishment of a wretched death!"

Chen Ping'an chuckled and asked, "If you're lying, then who's going to be punished with a wretched death by the thunder and lightning of the heavens? I don't think you made this clear."

The skinny little girl's expression changed slightly, and she smiled dryly as she replied, "Me, of course. Who else could it be?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and asked, "Then who are you? What's your name?"

The skinny little girl leaned down and lowered her head, using her finger to push the pile of shells around as she replied, "I have a surname, but I don't have a name. My parents died too early, and they didn't have the chance to give me a name."

After saying this, she looked up with a dazzling smile and continued, "But my dad once told me that our ancestors were extremely rich. Some of them were very, very powerful officials, and they were responsible for managing many thousands of people!"

Chen Ping'an stopped rocking the straw fan, and he swirled his wine gourd around as he asked, "Do you miss your parents?"

"Why would I miss them? I don't even remember their faces," the skinny little girl replied instinctively.

However, she was most likely aware that such a reply wouldn't sit well with most people, so she immediately changed her tune and added, "In fact, I do think about them all the time. Say, I often dream about them, but it's a shame that I can't see their appearances clearly. Every time I dream of them, I'll wake up in the morning with tears drenching my face. It makes me so sad."

Chen Ping'an turned around to look at her.

The skinny little girl raised her hand and exclaimed, "I swear!"

"Are you truly unafraid of the heavens?" Chen Ping'an asked.

This skinny little girl was slightly angry, yet she still didn't dare to talk back to Chen Ping'an. She hurriedly lowered her head and mumbled, "The heavens my ass."