Sword of Coming

Mao Xiaodong told Chen Ping'an that the undercurrents surging through the capital of the Great Sui Nation were no longer able to affect Mountain Cliff Academy. The happiest person was naturally Li Baoping, and she immediately dragged Chen Ping'an with her to wander around the capital. She treated her junior uncle to some dishes at the two small restaurants that she frequented, and they also visited several famous sites scattered around the city.

After wandering around the city for more than half a month, Li Baoping still claimed that they had only visited a little more than half of the interesting locations. However, through her casual chats with Cui Dongshan, she learned that her junior uncle had only just reached the second tier of Qi refinement, meaning that it was a critical time for him to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth at every available opportunity. Because of this, Li Baoping planned to follow the rules of her hometown, "saving" the remaining guided tours for later.

Chen Ping'an started to properly cultivate.

He used the pure yang energy of a certain period in the day to nurture his organs and bones and to resist sinister external auras and impure Qi from detrimentally affecting his acupoints.

He used the clear yin energy of a certain period at night to nurture the two acupoints that he had already unlocked and placed bonded items into.

Because the refinement of the golden scholarly core was deeply related to the cultivation of Confucian scholars, Mao Xiaodong personally retrieved a collection of poems to provide guidance to Chen Ping'an, reciting one hundred or so of the most renowned poems in history.

During this process, Mao Xiaodong also learned that Chen Ping'an hadn't visited a single ancient battlefield even though he had traveled so extensively through two continents. Instead, Chen Ping'an had only seen a group of monks reciting Buddhist scriptures on an ancient battlefield in the tiny Lotus Flower Blessed Land. Thus, Mao Xiaodong was forced to lecture Chen Ping'an again.

Mao Xiaodong had already deactivated Chen Ping'an's Day and Night Wandering Deity True Body Talisman. Otherwise, it would be a bad outcome for Chen Ping'an regardless of how high-grade the talisman was and how slowly the spiritual energy drained away.

As for how to reactivate the talisman, Cui Dongshan had gone away to experiment and mull over it after Chen Ping'an had given him a detailed description of the talisman and its origin. In the end, he had genuinely discovered a way to reactivate the talisman.

Cui Dongshan shamelessly asked to read the Authentic Death-Avoiding Book, and he said that he was willing to pay one lesser heat coin to his master for each page that he read.

However, Chen Ping'an turned down his request.

Pei Qian accompanied Chen Ping'an and Li Baoping a few times, yet she eventually decided that staying back at the academy was more relaxing. After all, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night would leave her completely exhausted. Indeed, it was nowhere near as relaxing as boating to Li Huai and playing five-in-a-row with him. Thus, she found an excuse to stay back at the academy afterward. Chen Ping'an didn't mind, as he felt like Pei Qian had already walked a very long distance with everyone else.

Chen Ping'an allowed Pei Qian to stay at the academy and play, but he continued to check her transcriptions every day and also asked Zhu Lian to supervise her as she practiced walking meditation and sword and saber techniques. Regarding martial arts cultivation, it wasn't important whether Pei Qian worked hard or not. Chen Ping'an didn't view this matter as a high priority. Even so, Pei Qian had to practice martial arts for at least fifteen minutes a day.

Mao Xiaodong frequently chatted with Chen Ping'an, and something that he once mentioned was, "Laws and decrees are merely tools used to govern a nation; they're not the fundamental reason behind whether one's governance is good or bad."[1]

It was most likely the case that Mao Xiaodong was afraid that his junior brother, Chen Ping'an, would accidentally stray further and further down the path of Legalism. Thus, he had no option but to give this warning.

At the time, Mao Xiaodong had smiled and added, "This isn't a statement made by a Confucian scholar, and it's not the case that we're purposely belittling Legalism to promote Confucianism. Rather, a historically renowned and ruthless Legalist from the Middle Earth Divine Continent said this himself."

Chen Ping'an had nodded in acknowledgment.

Pei Qian often hung out with Li Huai in Cui Dongshan's courtyard, and the two of them liked to read the several novels about the cultivation world again and again. However, their reading speeds were different, so they would always end up arguing about when to flip the pages. Li Baoping would occasionally read with them as well, but her interests were slightly different from those of Pei Qian and Li Huai, both of who liked to read about bloody battles and soul-stirring fights to the death.

Li Baoping also liked reading about these things, but she liked reading about those characters without a name even more. She liked to ponder on these characters, mulling over why they would appear at that specific location and act and speak in that specific manner.

One day, Zhu Lian retrieved a stack of drafts that he had written, and this was a story about numerous chivalrous women suffering misfortune in the cultivation world, being humiliated by both renowned individuals and nameless lackeys. Yu Lu secretly read these drafts, and he exclaimed that the story was simply amazing.

Zhu Lian felt like Yu Lu was indeed a like-minded person, so he developed a very good relationship with the young man.

Cui Dongshan's study was filled with ancient paintings that radiated with immortal auras, and there were paintings of birds and flowers, mountains and rain, and also old men fishing in a river during winter.

That night, however, Li Huai and Pei Qian decided to gild the lily, adding their own modifications to the renowned paintings without permission and completely ruining the paintings.

For example, Pei Qian drew crooked cages around the birds, and her inspiration was drawn from the so-called phoenix cage owned by Miss Liu in the Azure Phoenix Nation's Lion Garden.

On the painting with an old man wearing a raincoat and standing on a lone boat, Li Huai drew a strange fish that was even larger than the boat.

Cui Dongshan didn't get angry after seeing this.

One day, Cui Dongshan obtained a peculiar painting from the palace, one which depicted skeletons and ghosts escaping from the summer heat. Cui Dongshan was extremely proud of obtaining this painting, and he said that he was going to show it off to Pei Qian and allow her to broaden her horizons.

Pei Qian examined the painting very carefully, yet one of the skeletons suddenly came to life and rushed forward as if it were about to leap out from the painting. Pei Qian was scared out of her wits, so much so that she could only stand there in shock and sob silently.

Her lips remained pursed even when she eventually reunited with Chen Ping'an.

In the end, Chen Ping'an chased Cui Dongshan around the courtyard, using both his fists and legs to beat him up as he unleashed a torrent of abuse and swear words, going so far that he even started to use the dialect of his hometown, the Dragon Spring Prefecture. Chen Ping'an eventually grabbed a broom and smashed it into the back of Cui Dongshan's head, sending him sprawling forward and crashing to the ground. Cui Dongshan lay there and played dead, and only then did he finally manage to escape further punishment.

Cui Dongshan would occasionally discuss some proper matters as well.

On this day, they somehow started to discuss the lifespan of humans. Cui Dongshan smiled and said, "I assume that you've heard about snakes shedding their skin, Master? You grew up in a regional area, so you've probably witnessed it many times already."

Chen Ping'an nodded in confirmation, and Li Baoping, Pei Qian, and Li Huai also nodded in response.

Cui Dongshan smiled with squinted eyes and said, "If we view a person's soul as their foundation and their flesh, skin, and bones as an outer garment, then guess how many times a mortal person sheds their so-called garment if they live to sixty years old?"

Pei Qian found this line of questioning quite harrowing.

Cui Dongshan smiled widely and raised a single finger.

Pei Qian widened her eyes and asked, "Ten times?"

Li Baoping frowned and guessed, "One hundred times?"

Li Huai was purposely messing around, especially since he liked to oppose Li Baoping and Pei Qian for fun. "One thousand!" he exclaimed with confidence.

Cui Dongshan nodded and said, "Mortal humans will subconsciously shed their skin one thousand times."

He then continued, "Add to that the human acupoints that possess an incredible affinity with heaven and earth, and it's no wonder that all of the sentient creatures in the world are willing to adopt human form after becoming spirits.

"The imperial wares crafted by the dragon kilns in your hometown were clearly very fragile and unable to withstand a single strike, so why did the emperor still order people to continue running the dragon kilns? Why didn't he use clay from the mountains or ask for porcelain wares with a tougher so-called physique?"

Li Huai chuckled and replied, "Because they looked good and were valuable, of course. Cui Dongshan, why are you asking such brainless questions?"

"Yes, yes, yes, you're the only one with a brain. You have a tiger head and a tiger brain," Cui Dongshan scolded.[2]

Li Huai pulled a face before giggling and saying, "I'm not listening, I can't hear you!"

Chen Ping'an smiled upon seeing this.

One day, Chen Ping'an sat in the corridor in Cui Dongshan's courtyard and grabbed his Sword Nurturing Gourd. However, he didn't drink any wine, and he instead rested his palm on the opening of the gourd as he gently swirled it around.

There was no one else in the small courtyard right now, affording it a rare moment of peace and quiet.

After refining bonded items that corresponded to the water element and the metal element, trying to refine a third bonded item that belonged to another of the Five Elements became an insurmountable challenge.

According to Zhang Shanfeng's explanation, however, three bonded items were already enough for ordinary Qi refiners. One bonded item would be offense and one would be for defense, while the final one would be used to help Qi refiners absorb spiritual energy even quicker. Achieving this would be quite an impressive feat for cultivators under the level of earth immortal.

Regarding the two flying swords First and Fifteenth, Cui Dongshan was relatively ambiguous when he discussed whether or not they could be refined into Chen Ping'an's bonded items. He simply said that after giving the Li Fire flying sword of the Nascent Tier sword cultivator to Xie Xie, it would indeed appear similar to the bonded flying swords of sword cultivators if she managed to refine it into her bonded item. Even so, it would actually be quite useless and significantly pale in comparison to genuine bonded swords.

Of course, this notion of uselessness was relative to cultivators at the Upper Five Tiers. Ordinary earth immortals could thank the heavens if they encountered such a fated opportunity and managed to obtain the bonded flying sword of an earth immortal sword cultivator.

Fire, earth, and wood.

These were the elements that Chen Ping'an's three remaining bonded items needed to correspond to.

Chen Ping'an had already decided against using the five-colored state soil of the Great Li Empire as one of his bonded items.

The old temple master of the Observing Dao Temple had once instructed the young Daoist priest with the huge gourd on his back to deliver a message to Chen Ping'an, and one thing that he mentioned was that Ruan Xiu's fire dragon could be refined into a bonded item. However, Chen Ping'an hadn't gone mad yet. To say nothing of going mad and engaging in such debauchery, Chen Ping'an already felt a sense of helplessness just thinking about Ruan Qiong's vigilant expression. If the Militarian sage learned that Chen Ping'an had such sinister thoughts, he would definitely grab his sword-forging hammer to smash Chen Ping'an into a pile of minced meat.

That being the case, he would put the fire element aside first.

Thus, the last remaining element to consider was the wood element.

In reality, Chen Ping'an already had plans regarding this, and his plan pertained to the old locust tree in the small town that had been cut down. However, the felled tree had already been divided up among the residents of the small town, and the locust wood sword that he had left behind at the Sword Qi Great Wall was crafted from a large locust tree branch that he had asked Little Baoping to collect back then.

Song Jixin had mentioned the transformation of their hometown before, and it was clear that the residents of the small town were all extremely savvy. Ox Horn Mountain's Cloth Wrapper Shop was also very sharp when it came to valuable items, so Chen Ping'an wouldn't necessarily have a chance to obtain valuable items at a low price.

Chen Ping'an scratched his head in anxiousness.

He leaned back and lay down.

He was a pure martial artist at the peak stage of the fifth tier.

At the same time, he was also a second tier Qi refiner. Things were always the most difficult in the beginning, and Chen Ping'an was keenly aware of just how difficult it had been for him to become a Qi refiner and advance to the second tier.

He was carrying Sword Immortal, a pseudo-celestial tool, on his back, but it would be incredibly difficult for him to draw this sword unless he were facing a life-and-death situation.

There were two flying swords in his Sword Nurturing Gourd, and Fifteenth was quite calm and obedient as it resided there. However, First — initially called Little Capital — was already on the verge of launching a rebellion. It had a mental connection with Chen Ping'an, and it shouted about wanting to eat the last and also the biggest piece of Dragon Slaying Platform almost every single day.

Chen Ping'an was also wearing his Dao robe, Golden Sweet Wine, and he was lucky in the sense that wearing the Dao robe wouldn't cause him any issues before he reached the seventh tier. Instead, it would help Chen Ping'an absorb spiritual energy at a quicker pace, to a large degree making up for the critical shortcoming in cultivation talent that he had after having his bridge of immortality shattered during his childhood.

However, each time he performed internal observation of his acupoints, he could see that the tiny green-robed children formed from water fortune still had expressions of sulkiness. It was clear that they were dissatisfied with the state of the water palace where the amount of absorbed spiritual energy was nowhere near the amount required for expenditure. As a result, they were stuck in an awkward situation where their skills couldn't be put to good use, causing them to feel extremely aggrieved.

On the other hand, the small Confucian scholar manifested from the golden scholarly core gave Chen Ping'an a pleasant surprise. It rode on the fiery dragon formed from pure True Qi every day, traveling around in a carefree manner and showing off its might. While doing so, it also helped Chen Ping'an patrol the small world that was his body, bringing benefits to his soul and also helping him grow his tendons and blood vessels.

Meanwhile, there were many illnesses and impurities in Chen Ping'an's body that had been left behind following his numerous intense battles, and these harmful matters were hiding in the depths of his soul like bandits hiding deep inside the mountains. Like a great general, the small Confucian scholar rode on the fiery dragon and charged around to attack the strongholds and exterminate the enemies by himself, working extremely earnestly to gradually clear out the illnesses and impurities.

However, it was clear that the small Confucian scholar and the fiery dragon didn't get along with the equally hardworking green-robed children. Both sides were acting as if they would never interact with each other all the way until their deaths.

After stumbling around and finally becoming a Qi refiner after overcoming a plethora of difficulties, this was the first time that Chen Ping'an was feeling a little lost.

He needed to make some trade-offs.

In order to stay alive, Chen Ping'an hadn't hesitated to practice fist techniques and endure immense hardship.

Now that he wasn't facing any life-threatening danger, he could immediately advance to the sixth tier of martial arts without much difficulty if he wanted to. It was as if he were a wealthy person who needed to worry about earning more gold and silver. Chen Ping'an was very unaccustomed to this feeling.

He was used to being impoverished, and he always felt like the pouch of copper coins tightly gripped in his hands or the thin layer of rice that remained in his rice vat were the only things that truly belonged to him.

Even if Chen Ping'an owned mountains of gold or silver, he would still feel like his wealth would become someone else's when he woke up the next morning.

Chen Ping'an knew that this mindset was wrong, but it was extremely difficult to change his nature even though his situation had already changed significantly. It couldn't be said that he was making no progress in this area, but it was certainly the case that his progress was incredibly slow.

In reality, Chen Ping'an had already made many changes in the past few years. For example, he no longer wore straw sandals like before, and he no longer felt awkward and forgot how to walk after putting on boots. He was also wearing a Dao robe and a jade hairpin in his hair now, and he no longer felt as if he were a so-called monkey in scholarly clothes. Of course, there was also the ambition that he had once mentioned to Lu Tai, saying that he would buy many expensive but useless items to achieve his dream, one in which he could have a big family and successful business in the Dragon Spring Prefecture in the future.

Chen Ping'an crossed one leg over another and gently swung it back and forth.

The little lotus spirit furtively poked its head out from the ground before quickly sprinting onto the steps and eventually climbing onto the back of Chen Ping'an's foot where it sat down.

Chen Ping'an raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for the little lotus spirit to remain silent.

Ever since Cui Dongshan had appeared in that village in the Azure Phoenix Nation for the first time, the little lotus spirit had almost never shown itself again. This was at Chen Ping'an's request, so the little lotus spirit listened to him even though it didn't understand the reason.

The little lotus spirit raised its only arm and covered its mouth, smiling as it nodded in earnest.

Chen Ping'an continued to swing his leg, and it was as if the little lotus spirit were sitting on a swing as it rocked back and forth. If it weren't covering its mouth the entire time, then it would have already broken into giggles.

Chen Ping'an immediately felt much more at ease after looking at the delighted little lotus spirit, with the distracting thoughts and worries in his mind being completely washed aside.

Chen Ping'an closed his eyes, and it wasn't long before he noticed the weight disappearing from his foot. Turning around and looking down, he found the little lotus spirit copying his posture, lying there with one leg crossed over another.

The little lotus spirit smiled widely when it realized that Chen Ping'an was looking over.

Chen Ping'an turned to his side, and the little lotus spirit once again copied him.

Chen Ping'an started to bob his head as if he were reading, but he didn't make any sound at all.

The little lotus spirit continued to copy Chen Ping'an's actions.

In reality, neither of them knew what they were reading in silence.

What Chen Ping'an didn't know was this.

Cui Dongshan was outside the wall of the small courtyard, and his head was pressed against the wall and his body was like a... slope.

He knew why Chen Ping'an was purposely telling the little lotus spirit to avoid him.

This was because in Chen Ping'an's eyes, the carefree little lotus spirit was already in its best state.

Chen Ping'an didn't want to — wasn't willing to — learn about the little lotus spirit's true identity and whether or not it was very rare, valuable, or useful.

Thus, Cui Dongshan was feeling very stifled having to hold everything in.

This was because he really wanted to tell Chen Ping'an that the little lotus spirit was genuinely very special.

Cui Dongshan mulled over this matter again and again, and he knew that the outcome would be the same regardless of whether he told Chen Ping'an the truth or not. After contemplating things for a long time, however, Cui Dongshan suddenly decided for some unknown reason that it wouldn't matter even if he didn't tell Chen Ping'an. Things were quite good as they were.

After making up his mind, a wide smile immediately appeared on Cui Dongshan's face as he returned to normal. He removed his head from the wall and stood up straight, silently moving forward and leaving the courtyard.

If there's any unhappiness in the world, then it must be because one doesn't know my master.

Cui Dongshan was extremely happy at this moment, thinking that he could perhaps suffer one less seal strike to the head if he offered this saying to Little Baoping.

And thus, Cui Dongshan sprinted to the classroom window and made faces at the little girl in red.

What he received was an angry bellow from the teacher.

1. This is a line from one of Sima Qian's works. Sima Qian was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. ☜

2. Having a tiger head and a tiger brain (虎头虎脑) means that one is strong but simple-minded in an adorable sense. This description is usually used for young boys. ☜