Unsheathed

Chapter 391 (2): To Save or Not to Save

Inside one room of the small courtyard, Shi Rou was practicing a high-grade secret technique that Cui Dongshan had taught her.

Inside another room, Chen Ping'an was practicing the Heaven and Earth Stance and walking around on his hands. In fact, he was supporting his entire body with only two fingers.

At the same time, his mind was immersed in the so-called water palace where he had refined the water seal.

According to Cui Dongshan's explanation, the jade slip from Green Roving Residence that had given rise to a peculiar phenomenon while Chen Ping'an had refined it in the sea of clouds above Old Dragon City was most likely a precious relic from an ancient dragon palace of a large river. It was extremely likely that the jade slip was an embodiment of the water fortune formed by the condensation of the water essence.

Cui Dongshan smiled and joked that the river goddess of the Burial River was quite similar to Chen Ping'an in that she was also generously parting with precious treasures. As for the characters inscribed on the jade slip, Chen Ping'an had eventually managed to comprehend them after refining the jade slip.

He had activated these characters with a single thought, causing them to transform into an army of miniature people dressed in dark green garb. They carried the jade slip on their shoulders and brought it into Chen Ping'an's water palace acupoint, also helping him paint door gods at the so-called entrance of the acupoint. At the same time, they also illustrated a large river on the walls of his acupoint, providing him with a one-in-one-thousand-year fated opportunity of the Great Dao.

Upon seeing this, even the proud and haughty Cui Dongshan had to admit that it was incredibly difficult for Chen Ping'an to refine the golden scholarly core, his future second bonded item, in the Great Sui Nation and have it become as impressive as his first bonded item. This was unless both master and disciple were able to move the heavens with their sincerity. Otherwise, Cui Dongshan couldn't help his master even if he racked his brains and came up with the best plans possible.

Chen Ping'an was naturally very open-minded about these things. It would be his fortune if he succeeded, and it would be his fate if he failed.

However, when considering these intangible gains and losses, Chen Ping'an enjoyed the four words written on one of the four plaques decorating Crab Archway the most—Refrain from looking outward.

Before praying to gods and kowtowing to Buddhas, it was best to sincerely seek improvement from within. Only after doing this should one consider the mystical and intangible notion of destiny.

Having finished the medicinal wine in his Sword Nurturing Gourd and having also nursed himself the entire time while traveling to the capital of the Azure Phoenix Nation, Chen Ping'an had now passed the halfway mark of making a full recovery. His martial arts cultivation base had recovered to a level that was similar to his level in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land when he had battled against Ding Ying.

After writing the two sentences on the wall of the river guardian temple, Chen Ping'an could vaguely feel some subtle reaction from his acupoint that was like a water palace. The large river on the walls of his acupoint was flowing much quicker, causing mist to rise and blanket the surface of the river. Separate waterways would seep out from time to time, permeating through the acupoint yet being blocked in by the so-called entrance of the acupoint. Afterward, these waterways would return to the large river on the walls of his acupoint, allowing peace and calm to resume.

Today, Chen Ping'an attempted to look within himself using a crude technique from the mountains, wanting to properly observe the state of his acupoint.

Unexpectedly, however, he almost failed to enter the so-called water palace even though he was the owner of this acupoint. When this occurred, the breath of pure True Qi that had been born and nurtured in his body ferociously surged over, seemingly wanting to sacrifice itself for the sake of its master who was suffering humiliation right now. It wanted to fight against this injustice for Chen Ping'an.

However, Chen Ping'an naturally didn't dare to let this wisp of True Qi that was like a fiery dragon break into his acupoint. Otherwise, wouldn't that be a case of him smashing his own foot with a rock? This was one of the key reasons powerful cultivators in the world didn't cultivate two different paths at once even though they were capable of doing so.

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Chen Ping'an almost collapsed to the ground as he attempted to calm down the fiery dragon, so he had no option but to support himself with two fists instead of just two fingers.

Only after moving the fiery dragon to an acupoint elsewhere did Chen Ping'an recover and breathe slightly easier. At the same time, the miniature people formed from the characters inscribed on the jade slip and dressed in dark green garb hurriedly controlled the two door gods and had them open the door of the acupoint for Chen Ping'an. They bowed and profusely apologized to Chen Ping'an in shame and guilt.

A wisp of Chen Ping'an's consciousness walked inside the acupoint, and what opened up before him was an astonishingly beautiful small world. In fact, it was even more beautiful than the Lion Garden surrounded by green mountains.

The jade slip that Chen Ping'an had successfully refined before the water seal was hovering inside his acupoint, the so-called water palace. Meanwhile, the water seal was hovering even higher above the jade slip.

The miniature green-garbed people continued to earnestly build and improve the acupoint. Some of them were slightly larger, and they were much like masterful painters as they squatted on the banks of the large river on the wall and illustrated the outlines of rolling waves.

Not only that, but some clouds of impure mist also continued to funnel in from the entrance of the acupoint, and most of this mist slowly dissipated by itself. Out of each cloud of mist dissipating, an extremely tiny wisp would fly into the waves being illustrated, causing the waves to immediately flow and become lively.

Unfortunately, most of the tiny and adorable people actually had nothing to do. Moreover, they had illustrated a large number of waves, yet only a tiny percentage of them actually came to life.

Thus, the miniature people couldn't help but appear a little aggrieved when they saw Chen Ping'an. It was as if they were saying that they couldn't make bricks without straws. In other words, they wanted Chen Ping'an to absorb and refine more spiritual energy.

Chen Ping'an was naturally aware that his cultivation aptitude had been severely damaged after his bridge of immortality was shattered, resulting in far too little spiritual energy reaching this water palace. Moreover, he was nowhere close to cultivation prodigies in terms of how fast he could absorb and refine spiritual energy.

Combining these two things together, the situation naturally became even worse. As a result, the miniature people could only while away their time, not having the ability to busy themselves and do something useful. Upon seeing this, Chen Ping'an could only retreat and leave his acupoint in guilt and embarrassment.

After Chen Ping'an left the water palace, several of the largest miniature people in dark green garb gathered together to secretly discuss something.

Chen Ping'an didn't finish his internal trip here, and he instead started to stroll through his acupoints following the path taken by the fiery dragon.

His wisp of consciousness was tiny, while the fiery dragon formed from his True Qi could travel dozens of kilometers in an instant. Thus, it could be said that Chen Ping'an was embarking on an extremely long journey as he walked along his meridians. Even though he knew where the fiery dragon was, it would be impossible for him to ever catch up.

Of course, this was partly because Chen Ping'an had been severely wounded by Du Mao's Sword Devouring Ark. Otherwise, he could have used this wisp of consciousness to command the fiery dragon and have it swim over to him. In fact, Chen Ping'an might have even been able to use the fiery dragon as his mount, allowing him to soar around his own body and patrol his acupoints.

In the end, Chen Ping'an returned to the space outside the water palace where he sat down cross-legged and started to refine spiritual energy.

He would cultivate diligently to make up for his shortcomings.

Chen Ping'an was good at this; he was very good at this.

Even until today, Chen Ping'an was still unaware of the significance of A'Liang saying that all Dao was the same in essence, and when reaching the pinnacle state, practicing the fist was equivalent to practicing the sword. In reality, this was a huge form of approval.

There were hundreds of thousands of martial artists in the world, yet there was only a single Chen Ping'an.

————

Inside the exquisite residence of a young lady who was yet to be married...

The anxious-looking young lady was like a beautiful flower that had already withered. She walked over and sat down in front of her makeup mirror with the help of her personal maidservant, and her eyes were still bright and full of spirit even though she appeared pitiful and sickly beyond cure. She would remain hopeful and spirited as long as there was something to cherish and look forward to.

This pitiful young lady was none other than Liu Qingqing, Assistant Minister Liu's youngest daughter. According to the genealogical records of the Liu Clan, Assistant Minister Liu belonged to the "Jing" generation while his daughter Liu Qingqing belonged to the "Qing" generation.[1]

Even though Liu Qingqing's older sister, Liu Qingya, was already married, she had still been dragged into this mess by her younger sister and forced to stay in the Lion Garden with her husband.

Her second brother, Liu Qingshan, used to frequently visit and chat with her. However, it had been a long time since he had last visited, so Liu Qingqing couldn't help but feel a little sad. This was especially the case since she was the closest with Liu Qingshan out of all of her siblings.

As for her third brother, Liu Qingyu, he did indeed come over to play very often. However, he was too young and too noisy, and he was also someone who couldn't control his hands and would grab everything that he came across. Liu Qingqing was too sickly and frail right now, so she was very worried that her little brother would accidentally shatter or sully one of her most beloved belongings. This was something that caused her much grief.

As for Liu Qingqing's maidservant, she was none other than Zhao Ya, the daughter of the Lion Garden's old steward. When she saw her mistress trying to act strong, Zhao Ya—the young girl with a few freckles on the tip of her nose, who had served her mistress ever since a young age—could only suppress her grief and pain and try her best to console her mistress. For example, she would say that there was more color in her mistress' face today, or since it was starting to become warmer, her mistress could very likely head outside to take a stroll around the garden tomorrow.

Zhao Ya carried a bucket of hot water with her as she walked upstairs—she had agreed to wash Liu Qingqing's hair today.

Sitting on her chair, Liu Qingqing reached up to touch her skinny face before turning around and saying to Zhao Ya, "Ya'er, let them wash my hair today. You can rest for a while and read a passage from the books for me."

Zhao Ya nodded in understanding before quietly walking over to the table and opening the small door of an exquisite birdcage.

Even though there was chirping inside the birdcage, with the atmosphere appearing very lively, the chirping was actually very quiet and not enough to bother her mistress most of the time.

Moreover, even though this was called a birdcage and looked like one from the outside, the inside actually looked much like a miniature building. Almost all of the young ladies in wealthy clans owned one of these "phoenix cages," a local specialty of the capital. However, the young ladies weren't raising birds inside these cages, but rather all kinds of miniature and nimble spirits.

There were spirits with the body of a dragonfly and the head of a human girl, and these spirits were innately attracted to pure water and were fond of using their tiny limbs to wash the hair of young ladies. They were extremely attentive, and they could also help the young ladies nurture their hair, preventing them from graying too early.

There were also butterfly spirits that were renowned for drawing eyebrows. As long as they were given a set of miniature makeup brushes and a collection of eyebrow styles to look at, they could skillfully paint the most attractive eyebrows for their owners.

In addition to this, there were also spirits that liked to eat rouge. These spirits had a human body and bird claws, and they also had a pair of feathery wings. They could carefully apply rouge for their young mistresses, and the young ladies would end up looking more beautiful than if they had applied the rouge by themselves.

After Zhao Ya opened the door of the birdcage, dozens of spirits living inside the miniature buildings flew out in an orderly fashion and started to attend to their owner, Liu Qingqing, washing her hair and applying makeup for her. They appeared extremely skillful and experienced.

Zhao Ya sat nearby and flicked through a book, using her mellow voice to narrate a collection of poems that had become very popular in the imperial court of the Azure Phoenix Nation recently.

There was a creak as the door opened, yet there was no sign of anyone walking inside.

Zhao Ya sighed in her mind, pretending that she hadn't noticed anything at all. She continued to narrate a poem about mountains and rivers.

A gentle breeze brushed across the book, and it wasn't long before a handsome young man dressed in black robes appeared behind Liu Qingqing. He gently flicked away the miniature spirit that was attending to the young lady's hair, and he personally started to wash Liu Qingqing's hair instead.

The young woman didn't turn around or look up, and she instead smiled faintly and said, "Oh, you're here."

There was a mesmerizing smile on the face of the fox demon that was wreaking havoc in the Lion Garden, and he remarked, "The rules of the mortal world are harming our relationship and keeping us apart. However, this is doing nothing but bringing pain to my lady."

Liu Qingqing gently shook her head.

"Don't move, be careful of getting yourself wet," the fox demon said in a soft voice.

Liu Qingqing heeded his instruction and remained still, with her head resting on its side as she allowed the handsome young man to clean and comb her hair in a gentle and loving manner. She felt extremely calm and relaxed at this moment.

The fox demon didn't stop at washing Liu Qingqing's hair, and he also applied rouge and painted eyebrows for the young woman.

In the end, they sat side-by-side and leaned against each other's shoulders. "I heard Ya'er say that another group of people has arrived in the Lion Garden," Liu Qingqing said softly.

The fox demon who referred to himself as Master Qing outside smiled and replied, "I wasn't able to determine their strength, but it's possible that they're even more troublesome than that Daoist nun who wields a Dao saber. It doesn't matter, though; I'll still be able to come and go as I please even if a Nascent Tier immortal arrives. They can't stop me from visiting you, not even once."

Liu Qingqing flushed slightly red, and she turned to Zhao Ya and instructed, "Ya'er, head downstairs and help me stand guard. Don't let anyone enter and come upstairs."

Zhao Ya nodded and closed the book, putting it away and also closing the door of the phoenix cage. She then walked outside and went downstairs.

Liu Qingqing pricked her ears up, and only after confirming that Zhao Ya had left did she ask in a soft voice, "Darling, can we truly stay together forever?"

The fox demon extended a finger and lovingly caressed the young woman's forehead, replying with a smile, "Naturally. We can stay together for as long as heaven and earth exist, and we can stay together for a hundred years after another hundred years."

"But what about my father? And what about the Lion Garden?" Liu Qingqing asked with a dejected look.

"I already said this earlier. We're a match made in heaven, and your father will also become my father-in-law once he agrees to our marriage. That being the case, how could I possibly treat the Lion Garden badly?" the fox demon replied in a confident voice.

Liu Qingqing lovingly snuggled up in his embrace and closed her eyes, with her eyelashes fluttering slightly as she said, "I simply wish that you not let me down."

The fox demon looked down at Liu Qingqing's slightly more relaxed face, and he smiled faintly and said, "Everyone in the world is aware of the loyalty and love displayed by fox spirits. Why do foxes and rabbits often appear around the abandoned tombs and graves? Is this not because the foxes are guarding the spirits and the rabbits are guarding the burial sites?"

1. A reminder that each generation in a clan traditionally has one shared character in the given names. ☜