Unsheathed

Chapter 367 (1): A Long Journey for Li Er

Following the inexplicable disappearance of Du Mao, a peculiar period of tranquility descended upon the entirety of Old Dragon City. At least, that was what appeared to be the case on the surface.

No one knew what had happened, but it was presumed that Du Mao had easily defeated Zheng Dafeng and Chen Ping'an, and even though he had gone missing, his authority was standing hanging over the entire city like the sea of clouds, making all of the five major clans feel very apprehensive and uneasy.

After witnessing Du Mao's unfathomable immortal powers, some extremely significant events were made to appear completely trivial. Of course, for those that were directly involved, those events were far from trivialities. For example, the Fu Clan had instructed the Ding, Fang, and Hou Clans to send out their elders to intercept Zheng Dafeng and the others, and every single one of them had perished.

According to a Dragon Gate Tier scout who was fortunate enough to have survived, all four of Chen Ping'an's martial artist servants displayed incredible combat prowess, and they didn't seem to fear death at all, often displaying no hesitation at all to strike down their opponents even at the cost of sustaining grievous injuries.

Two of them had perished, namely a beautiful woman wielding a sword, and a deranged old man who liked to tear people apart with his bare hands. After that, a series of pillars of light had suddenly descended out of the sea of clouds like the bonded flying swords of swordsmen, killing the rest of the three clans' elders.

If it wasn't for that, they would've almost definitely been able to kill Chen Ping'an's two remaining servants. What was even more terrible news for the three clans was that following the battle, one of Chen Ping'an's two remaining servants had picked up the sword of his deceased female comrade and plunged it into the hearts of the fallen elders one after another.

After learning of this terrible news, the three clans hurriedly arranged a secret meeting. Du Yan was invited, but he didn't show up. Hence, everyone began to speculate about whether this was a separate plot that the Fu Clan had hatched with Du Yan, one that used Zheng Dafeng as bait to lure out all of the three clans' most powerful elders before having them killed, thereby dealing an extremely heavy blow to the three clans at the lowest possible cost.

The more they considered this notion, the more it made sense to them. Fu Qi was the lord of Old Dragon City and the leader of the Fu Clan, yet for some reason, he had cast aside all of his pride, shamelessly surrendering halfway through what was supposed to be a battle to the death before leaving Zheng Dafeng to be picked off by Du Mao.

On top of that, he had also put the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan to shame with his unscrupulous actions. It seemed completely unreasonable that he would do something like this, and the only plausible explanation seemed to be that this was a plot against the three clans all along. If that was the case, then it seemed that the Fu Clan's ambitions had been underestimated, and that they were determined to eliminate the three clans altogether.

At the meeting, someone had slammed the table with their fist and loudly declared that if the Fu Clan were going to resort to such underhanded tactics, then the three clans would unite against them in a final stand and aim to take down half of Old Dragon City with them.

Of course, this was nothing more than an empty bluff, and all of the truly authoritative figures at the meeting remained silent, refusing to echo such a nonsensical sentiment.

The true foundation of Old Dragon City had always laid in its wealth, rather than the powers of individual cultivators and martial artists.

All of a sudden, a steward announced that Fu Nanhua had come to visit.

Fu Nanhua had brought several servants with him, but he made his way into the meeting hall on his own, and he only delivered a very brief address before departing, barely even taking a moment to sit down.

In the wake of Fu Nanhua's visit, everyone in the hall began to weigh up their options, trying to think of the best course of action.

Fu Nanhua had been very brief and concise with his address, announcing that on top of the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan, Parasol Leaf Sect had also forged an alliance with the Fu Clan. On top of that, the Fu Clan was going to take over all of the four intercontinental ships that traveled to Stalactite Mountain that were currently outside of the Fu Clan's control.

The three clans were going to offer up 30% of their annual profits to the Fu Clan from here onward as "rent" for them to continue to remain in Old Dragon City. Of course, from here onward, the Fu Clan was going to borrow the power of its new allies to embark on a northward expansion, conquering all of the mortal empires, immortal sects and clans, and martial arts powers along the way.

All significant powers outside of Old Dragon City were going to be oppressed and eventually eliminated, and this was naturally going to present a massive number of opportunities. Perhaps the Ding, Fang, and Hou Clans would be able to profit immensely and reach even greater heights, or perhaps they would fall into unprecedented lows, unable to even afford paying the rent required to remain in Old Dragon City.

As for which of those outcomes would eventually come to pass, that would depend on whether the three clans would be able to capitalize on the opportunities that came their way. After declaring all of this, Fu Nanhua had left without another word, leaving the decision-makers of the three clans to continue their meeting.

An elderly man present in the room smiled as he said, "Risk and reward have always come hand in hand. I think we should take a gamble."

Someone else smiled and said, "The Great Li Empire's army is about to reach the central region of our Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, right? If our northward expansion proves to be successful, I wonder if we'll clash against those northern savages."

A self-deprecating look appeared on an old woman's face as she sighed, "The Fu Clan is planning to use us as dogs to bite their opposers. Having said that, if we can bite off a few chunks of good flesh, then we'll be able to profit immensely, so this is indeed an opportunity for all of us."

The youngest person in the room was a man with a rather unremarkable appearance, but a unique aura that commanded attention and respect, and even though he was surrounded by a bunch of shrewd old foxes, he was clearly still able to hold his own. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and looked up at a lantern overhead as he murmured, "No matter how we try to spin it, we're completely at the mercy of the Fu Clan."

At the Dust Medicinal Shop, the Fan Clan had spent a huge sum of money to hire several exceptional doctors, most of whom were cultivators who were followers of Medicinism or Daoist cultivators who excelled in the field of medicine, and they were all busy at work.

Meanwhile, a chaotic argument was unfolding in the Fan Clan's ancestral hall, and what had initially been constructive criticism directed toward the clan leader was gradually turning into blatant accusations. In the end, many of the clan's elders broke down into tears, howling about how they were letting down their ancestors, and having such a clan leader was the misfortune of the entire clan.

The reason for their despair was that the leader of the Fan Clan had chosen a path that, in their eyes, was going to lead to the clan's demise. In their eyes, it was utterly inexplicable that he would choose to oppose the Fu Clan at a time like this and try to protect Zheng Dafeng, who had already been reduced to a cripple. In the face of all of these accusations, Fan Junmao and the leader of the Fan Clan merely sipped on tea in silence.

Over at the medicinal shop.

Zheng Dafeng had already woken up and was able to speak. Aside from the treatment that he was receiving from the doctors hired by the Fan Clan, his recovery was also being aided by some of the things that the Zhao Clan yin soul had brought with him from Jewel Small World. Thanks to their combined efforts, the holes in Zheng Dafeng's soul were mended, so his condition didn't rapidly deteriorate.

Zheng Dafeng didn't wallow in despair. Even though he didn't speak much, he appeared to be quite relaxed. Occasionally, Pei Qian would come to visit him in his room, and he would have a chat with her, seemingly in decently high spirits. She would always squat down on the ground, using a stool as a table so that she could make her daily transcriptions.

The act of talking irritated Zheng Dafeng's wounds, so it hurt him very much to speak, but he was always happy to speak to Pei Qian.

However, Pei Qian wasn't grateful for this at all. She was always very focused on her work while making her transcriptions, and if Zheng Dafeng were to say too much, then she would complain, saying something along the lines of: "Can you be quiet? If I accidentally mess up even a single character, my father will make me copy the whole passage again!"

Zheng Dafeng would always chuckle at this, but his chuckles would be very short-lived as he would immediately grimace and sweat profusely from the agony that followed. However, the presence of Pei Qian never failed to put him in a good mood.

Chen Ping'an would also occasionally come to visit Zheng Dafeng, but due to the fact that both of them had sustained severe injuries, there would never be much conversation between them.

On this day, at around dusk, Chen Ping'an left Zheng Dafeng's room and made his way out into the courtyard. Zhu Lian was busy cooking up a meal, while Pei Qian was practicing her Deranged Demon Sword Techniques.

A table had been placed in the courtyard, and Lu Baixiang and Sui Youbian were playing a game of Go, while Wei Xian stood beside the table to spectate. He still didn't understand the game, but he would patiently wait for the outcome.

Both Zhu Lian and Sui Youbian had perished outside Old Dragon City, so Chen Ping'an had to spend two more gold essence copper coins to resurrect them.

According to the rule established by the old Daoist priest from the East Sea, Zhu Lian's ceiling was capped at the tenth tier due to the demise that he had suffered.

As for Sui Youbian, she was in an even worse position. She had already died twice outside the rundown temple, and on this occasion, she had sacrificed herself to take down an enemy Golden Core Tier cultivator. As a result, her ceiling was capped at the ninth tier.

Regardless of how Chen Ping'an and the four martial artists from the picture scrolls felt about the abbot of the Observing Dao Temple, none of them could deny that he possessed unfathomable powers.

On this day, the Zhao Clan yin soul was nowhere to be seen.

As a Nascent Tier yin soul, he possessed Unpolished Jade Tier power in the medicinal shop, so everyone had thought that he would be the decisive piece that would ultimately turn the tables, but in an ironic twist of fate, he turned out to be the most useless one of all, doing nothing the entire time. Cheng Ping'an had sustained severe injuries, Zheng Dafeng had been reduced to a cripple, while Zhu Lian and Sui Youbian had perished altogether.

Even though Lu Baixiang and Wei Xian had survived, it was only just barely by the skin of their teeth. In contrast, all the yin soul did was chat briefly with Pei Qian at the entrance of the medicinal shop, following which he was completely frozen in time. By the time the flow of time was restored, everything was already over.

Chen Ping'an strode over to the doorstep of the medicinal shop before taking a seat.

Inside the courtyard, Pei Qian was holding onto her hiking pole with both hands, panting heavily as she asked, "What do you think of my swordsmanship, Old Man Wei?"

Wei Xian's gaze was focused on the Go board in front of him. In his eyes, the game was much more difficult to understand than a strategic simulation of two armies doing battle, and he replied to Pei Qian's question in an half-hearted manner, "Great."

Pei Qian wasn't very pleased, and she raised her voice as she asked, "How great is it?!"

"Invincible," Wei Xian replied.

Pei Qian was furious to hear this, and she snapped, "Do you take me for an idiot, Old Man Wei? Who would believe that?"

"Do you believe it then?" Wei Xian asked as he took a glance at Pei Qian out of the corner of his eye.

A smile immediately broke through Pei Qian's furious expression as she replied, "A little."

With that boost in confidence from Wei Xian's praise, she raised her hiking pole and pointed it at Lu Baixiang as she asked, "Little Bai, are you going to save your energy and surrender right now, or are you going to stay seated and fight me from where you are?

"I surrender," Lu Baixiang chuckled with his back facing Pei Qian.

Pei Qian then turned to Sui Youbian as she asked, "Big Sister Sui, I may only be less than ten years old, but are you willing to face me in a fair and square battle?

"I'll pass," Sui Youbian replied in an indifferent manner.

Pei Qian turned to the kitchen as she raised her voice even further and yelled, "You're the only one left, Zhu Lian! Your cooking skills may be unmatched, but don't expect me to go easy on you because of that! Come out and face me!"

"I'm too scared!" Zhu Lian exclaimed with an apron around his waist and a spatula in his hand.

Pei Qian raised her hiking pole up high as she declared triumphantly, "As expected, no one can defeat me aside from my father! I'm suddenly feeling a little lonely. Looks like I won't have to practice my sword techniques tomorrow."

Chen Ping'an had moved his bench over to take a seat in the courtyard, and he smiled as he said, "You have to keep your efforts consistent."

Pei Qian skipped over to Chen Ping'an's side, then sat down as she asked with an expectant expression, "Am I your first-ever disciple, Master?"

Chen Ping'an smiled as he replied, "I have an unofficial disciple by the name of Cui Dongshan. Right now, he's at Mountain Cliff Academy in the Great Sui Empire, so if you want to take his place as my most senior disciple, then you'll have to ask his permission. Having said that, he doesn't seem to enjoy being referred to as senior brother very much, so I think there's a good chance that he'll agree."

"Cui Dongshan? I can tell just from his name that he's nothing more than a piece of small fry,” Pei Qian scoffed. "Once I meet him, I'll tell him to call me his senior sister, and he can be my junior brother. Rest assured, Master, I won't bully him just because I am higher up than him in seniority, nor will I bribe him into conceding his position as my senior brother."

A peculiar smile appeared on Chen Ping'an's face as he said, "Sure, you can give it a try."

Right at this moment, the Zhao Clan yin soul appeared at the entrance of the medicinal shop, and he said, "Chen Ping'an, I have something that I need to speak to you about."

Chen Ping'an stood up and made his way into the medicinal shop.

The yin soul led him out of the front entrance and into the alley outside. Somehow he was able to use the formation to transform himself into the equivalent of an Unpolished Jade Tier cultivator presiding over a small world, and the light in the alley became very dim.

Even though his facial features were rather blurry, Chen Ping'an could still clearly sense how timid and uneasy he was, emotions that he had rarely ever seen the yin soul display.

After isolating this area from the outside world to keep out prying eyes, he hovered in front of Chen Ping'an as he said, "An old Confucian scholar who claims to have had ties with Qi Jingchun approached me recently. Well, to put it more accurately, he abducted me out of the blue, and he told me that your... unofficial teacher..."

An amused look appeared on the yin soul's face here, but he didn't dare to laugh.

He had only ever heard of the concept of unofficial disciples, and never had he heard of an unofficial teacher before.

Respecting one's teacher was a golden edict that was not to be trodden upon lightly in Majestic World, and anyone who crossed this line often found themselves suffering severe consequences far worse than just having their reputation ruined.

Chen Ping'an nodded in response, refusing to elaborate any further.

The yin soul didn't try to pry any further, just like Chen Ping'an had never asked him which branch of the Zhao Clan in Jewel Small World he was an ancestor of.

"The old gentleman told me to tell you to stay in Old Dragon City until at least the end of the year. He said that he had some things that he was going to bring to you later, and that you can go wherever you want come next spring," the yin soul continued.

"Sure," Chen Ping'an replied with a smile.

He then hesitated momentarily before asking, "Is Senior Yang really just going to ignore what happened to Zheng Dafeng?"

The yin soul was normally very reluctant to discuss any matters regarding the old divine lord, but after some hesitation, he made an exception on this occasion, replying, "The old divine lord sees further than us all, so he might appear rather cold and callous from our perspectives.

“If I can be so brave as to comment on his relationship with Li Er and Zheng Dafeng, even though the two of them are only his disciples in name, and he doesn't actually instruct them directly, I still think that he treats them far differently than he does everyone else."

"I think so as well," Chen Ping'an replied with a nod.

"Even though Zheng Dafeng has lost his martial arts cultivation base, his mental state still appears to be in a good place, so we don't have to be overly concerned. If all of us walk around with pity and sympathy in our eyes, that's only going to annoy him," the yin soul continued.

"I'm aware of that," Chen Ping'an replied with a smile.

"I'm sure you are. In fact, you've done very well in this regard," the yin soul praised.

Chen Ping'an hurriedly waved his hands as he asked, "What's going on? Could it be that everyone that arrives in the Dust Medicinal Shop develops a habit of sucking up to others?"

The yin soul burst into laughter before vanishing from the spot, and the surrounding formation also faded away, upon which Chen Ping'an spotted Fan Junmao at the intersection between the alley and the street outside.

Chen Ping'an didn't know why she had decided to help Lu Baixiang and Wei Xian at the end of the battle against the elders from the three clans. Was it because she no longer regarded Du Mao as a threat, so she had swooped in to try and appease the Dust Medicinal Shop?

That didn't seem like something she would do.

Fan Junmao made her way into the alley, then tossed a wine flagon at Chen Ping'an as she said, "I've carried out basic refinement on the old flood dragon's golden core, and it's inside this flagon. You and Zheng Dafeng both need this right now. It's going to hurt a lot, but make sure to take a few sips of this wine every day, and it'll help you recover from your injuries better than any pills or elixirs could.

“Wine brewed from basic refinement of a twelfth-tier great demon's demon core would be too strong, and it'd probably kill you in your current state, while wine brewed from a Golden Core Tier demon wouldn't be strong enough, so this wine is the perfect middle ground."