Two days before Qi Jingchun put down his chopsticks, ominous signs began to appear in the small town. The water level in the Iron Lock Well dropped drastically. Locust branches snapped and fell from their trunks, their leaves withered and yellow, clearly defying the natural order of spring flourishing and autumn withering. Moreover, at the place outside the town where numerous mud and wood statues of deities lay scattered, explosive sounds like firecrackers erupted frequently in the dead of night. Those curious enough to investigate discovered that, near the town, a significant number of mud and wood deities that had certainly existed last winter had vanished.

Carts and carriages departing from Fulu Street and Taoye Lane were ceaseless. On the broad, flagstone-paved street, the sounds of hooves disturbed the peaceful dreams of the inhabitants even in the middle of the night.

Those gorgeously dressed outsiders, exuding wealth, also began to leave in a hurry, mostly looking displeased. They traveled in small groups, frequently pointing towards the town’s academy, their expressions filled with resentment.

Zheng Dafeng, the bachelor from the town’s east gate, disappeared. The Kiln Affairs Directorate did not seem to want to find a replacement. As a result, the town felt like a person missing two front teeth, making it difficult to speak without a lisp.

Liu Baqiao and Chen Songfeng returned along the same path. By the time they could see the silhouette of the covered bridge, it was already dusk. Liu Baqiao walked along a small path to the stream, squatted down, and cupped water to wash his face. Apparently dissatisfied, he simply bent over and plunged his entire head into the stream. Finally, he abruptly raised his head and exclaimed with pleasure. Turning to look at the sweating Chen Songfeng, Liu Baqiao joked, “A mere weak scholar, without the strength to truss a chicken.”

Chen Songfeng merely cupped his hands and drank a mouthful of stream water, his voice hoarse as he said, “The reason I painstakingly became a Qi Refiner was only to strengthen my body, so I could live a few more years and read more books. How can I compare to you sword cultivators? Besides, in this Lilizhu Small Grotto-Heaven, Qi Refiners other than sword cultivators are at a disadvantage. If one is careless in circulating their Qi, they will lose their Dao practice. The higher the realm, the greater the loss. I never imagined that my low cultivation would actually be a blessing.”

Liu Baqiao patted his shoulder. “Why not change your allegiance and join our Wind Thunder Garden to practice swordsmanship? I’ll look after you in the future. Think about it, becoming a sword cultivator, riding the sword against the wind, soaring through the sky, especially during thunderstorms, shuttling through the lightning…”

Chen Songfeng suddenly laughed. “I heard the sword cultivator who gets struck by lightning the most in Wind Thunder Garden is named…”

Liu Baqiao held up a hand. “Stop!”

Sword cultivators were also one type of Qi Refiner, except their physique was closer to the pure martial artists on another path. Simply put, it was about muscles, bones, flesh, Qi, spirit, and essence. Sword cultivators pursued both, while other Qi Refiners only cared that their physique didn’t hinder them. They didn’t deliberately temper it. Of course, Qi Refiners, while nourishing and refining Qi, would also gradually improve their bodies, like a gentle spring rain. But compared to sword cultivators, the strength and frequency of physique training were far less, and it was impossible to be as single-minded and diligent as martial artists.

For Qi Refiners in this world, there was a consensus that the physical body was ultimately something that would decay. It was enough if it sufficed. It was best if one could cultivate into an Indestructible Vajra Body or a Flawless Glazed Body. If not, it didn’t matter. Don’t get stuck in a rut and delay the fundamental principles of the Great Dao.

Liu Baqiao casually asked, “What realm is your distant relative, that martial artist?”

Chen Songfeng replied helplessly, “How would I know such important secrets?”

Liu Baqiao remembered the conflict that erupted in the main hall of the yamen that day and sighed, “Song Changjing is really too strong. What’s even more terrifying is how young this Dali Prince is. Most martial artists in the eighth or ninth realm are at least fifty or sixty years old, or even a hundred years old. But if I remember correctly, Song Changjing is only about forty. No wonder he was once ridiculed as needing to have his arrogance ‘suppressed.'”

Chen Songfeng whispered, “Born in response to fate, blessed by heaven.”

Upper Five Realm cultivators were rarely seen. However, the eighth and ninth realm martial artists were often known throughout the world and were not far removed from the secular dynasties. Moreover, martial arts ascension relied on life-and-death battles. Only by experiencing life and death could one break through life and death and obtain a transcendent state of mind similar to the Buddhist “ease” or the Taoist “purity.”

Apart from sparring between two Grandmasters, martial artists in the eighth and ninth realms liked to bully the top Qi Refiners in the Middle Five Realms. Especially someone like Song Changjing, the strongest in the ninth realm, could almost be said to be invincible below the Upper Five Realms. Only sword cultivators among Qi Refiners could fight him, but they could only try to lose less spectacularly and earn a “glorious defeat.”

However, there was a hidden reason why the ninth-realm martial artists were so unscrupulous, and that was that the last level in the Middle Five Realms, the tenth-level great cultivators, had no interest in worldly disputes. They didn’t even care about the survival of their families or the rise and fall of dynasties, only seeking the Great Dao.

Liu Baqiao was still immersed in his thoughts. “Song Changjing wants me to go after leaving the town and take the talisman sword based on my own ability. Should I give Wind Thunder Garden a heads-up so they can prepare a celebration feast?”

Chen Songfeng was amused and looked at the stream that was no deeper than his knees. Thinking about Song Changjing and the handsome young man by the Prince’s side, Chen Songfeng vaguely sensed a momentum gathering. He decided that after returning to the Chen family’s ancestral home in Longwei County, he must persuade his family to bet on the Dali Dynasty. Even if they couldn’t go all-in, they should let the Chen family members integrate into the Dali court as soon as possible.

Chen Songfeng murmured, “The Dali atmosphere is such that all the forces of heaven and earth are in alignment. Therefore, my Chen family must support the dragon, not compete with others to attach ourselves to the dragon.”

Liu Baqiao asked, “What are you muttering about?”

Chen Songfeng stood up, shook his hand, and smiled. “You seem to be quite fond of that Mud Bottle Lane boy.”

Liu Baqiao also stood up, casually saying, “We met by chance, and our paths may diverge at any time. Who knows if we’ll ever meet again?”

The two walked ashore together, stepping on the spring grass by the stream. Chen Songfeng asked, “I heard that the blessed land within the jurisdiction of the Nanjian Kingdom will be open to the public this winter, allowing dozens of people to enter. Aren’t you still unable to break through your bottleneck? Do you want to try your luck?”

Liu Baqiao sneered, “Absolutely not. To lord it over in an ant pile? I’d be ashamed.”

Chen Songfeng shook his head and said, “My teacher, Mr. Liu, once said that the state of mind is like a mirror, the more you wipe it, the brighter it becomes. Therefore, cultivation of the mind is greatly beneficial when sitting in meditation on the lotus platform of the Taoist Ancestor. But occasionally wallowing in a small mud pit may not be without its benefits. To go to a blessed land and become a banished immortal, forgetting your past life, whether you enjoy happiness or suffer hardship, more or less…”

Before Chen Songfeng could finish, Liu Baqiao interrupted, “I have a strong desire to win. Once I go to a blessed land with thin spiritual energy, if I can’t break the prohibition and return home on my own, I’ll definitely develop a knot in my heart. That would be more harmful than beneficial. Besides, if I’m accidentally bullied by the ‘locals’ in the blessed land, that would be another heart problem. When my soul returns, even if it takes a huge price, I’ll definitely have to descend in my ‘true self’ to feel satisfied. But wouldn’t that go against my original intention?”

Liu Baqiao put his hands behind his head, his face full of disdain. “To put it bluntly, who doesn’t know that those three blessed lands in our Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent have long changed their flavor? They’ve become places where the sons of wealthy and powerful families of the secular dynasties spend money to have fun. No wonder they’re said to be brothels under the rule of immortals, filled with filth.”

Chen Songfeng smiled. “You can’t generalize. Leaving aside us outsiders, just talking about the locals, there are many talented people.”

Liu Baqiao rolled his eyes. “A blessed land with so many people, how many people can stand out each year? Not even one, maybe. Among those who successfully come to our world, how many are ultimately remembered by us after a hundred years? Very few, right? So I don’t understand why these blessed lands are so highly regarded. Some even claim that having part of the ruling power over a blessed land is more beneficial than having an Upper Five Realm cultivator. They’re crazy.”

Chen Songfeng smiled and said, “The income from a blessed land is a slow and steady stream. Occasionally, there may be a surprise or two. The most important thing is that all the benefits are effortless. Who wouldn’t be happy to get a piece of the pie?”

People who come from Grotto-Heavens are mostly lucky. People who rise from blessed lands have particularly tough lives.

Liu Baqiao asked, “You don’t seem to like that young man surnamed Chen?”

Chen Songfeng thought for a moment and chose to be candid. “Personally, I have no problem with the young man. But as a matter of fact, his existence makes our entire family very awkward. The Chen family members in the Lilizhu Small Grotto-Heaven were already a joke in this continent. A surname with a significant number of people in the small town, with only one left, and the rest all becoming slaves of other families, becoming a laughingstock, is normal. In the eyes of the Chen family in Longwei County, we and the Chen family members in the small town, although we have the same distant ancestors, that’s ancient history. There’s not the slightest bit of affection. But all the opponents of the Chen family in Longwei County wouldn’t see it that way. In this situation, if the Mud Bottle Lane boy had simply become a servant of a rich family, that would be the end of it. It would be hard for a big joke at that time to continue to be talked about for many years. But the young man’s perseverance, his solitary existence, makes him particularly noticeable. Many people outside are even betting on when this branch of the Chen family in the small town will no longer be the ‘only’ one.”

Liu Baqiao frowned. “That’s not the young man’s fault.”

Chen Songfeng smiled and said, “Of course, the young man has no fault. But there are some things in this world that are hard to explain.”

Liu Baqiao shook his head. “It’s not that the reason is hard to explain. In fact, you’re the ones who are unreasonable. It’s just that the young man is too weak, so you can appear to be justified. Plus, the Chen family in Longwei County is much bigger than the young man, but it’s just average compared to those who are watching the joke. So the situation is getting more and more awkward. In the end, you’re unwilling to admit your incompetence, so you turn around and suggest to yourself that the young man is the culprit. I believe that if this Lilizhu Grotto-Heaven wasn’t difficult to enter, the Mud Bottle Lane boy who embarrassed the Chen family in Longwei County would have been quietly killed by the Chen family members, or by someone from a vassal family, who would kill him to curry favor.”

Chen Songfeng’s face turned red, and he was somewhat embarrassed and angry.

Liu Baqiao put his hands behind his head, looked up at the sky, and still had a leisurely and lazy look. “I know you, Chen Songfeng, are not that kind of person. Unfortunately, there are few people like you, and there are many who are not like you.”

“Take that mountain-moving ape from Zhengyang Mountain. He couldn’t get the Sword Manual himself, and he was afraid that our Wind Thunder Garden would get it, so he wanted to kill that young man surnamed Liu with one punch. Do you think that’s reasonable? I think that’s very unreasonable. But is it useful? No, I don’t even dare to provoke the old ape head-on.”

Liu Baqiao sighed, released a hand, patted his stomach, and mocked himself. “I’m just clumsy and inarticulate, my fists are not hard enough, and my sword is not fast enough. Otherwise, I really have a lot of reasons stored in my stomach that I want to tell this world.”

Chen Songfeng exhaled. “So you think that young man is good?”

Liu Baqiao turned to look at the high mountains to the west, where the sun was setting. “Good? How is that possible?”

Chen Songfeng was a little puzzled.

Liu Baqiao laughed. “Whenever I see that young man, I feel ashamed of myself.”

Chen Songfeng found it unbelievable and shook his head, laughing. “Why would you say that?”

Liu Baqiao swallowed back some of the words that came to his mouth, so as not to hurt feelings. This Chen Songfeng, although he wasn’t that agreeable, was much better than ordinary scholars. He should be content.

The talkative Liu Baqiao was silent all the way.

—

As night fell, Chen Ping An made three torches himself, and the three walked with them lit.

Finally, they arrived at the foot of a high mountain. Chen Ping An wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Ning Yao, “Miss Ning, tell her that this is a mountain sealed by the imperial court. Does she have any taboos?”

Ning Yao told Chen Dui, who shook her head.

Chen Dui looked up. She was absolutely sure that the ancestral graves of the Yingyin Chen family were definitely here.

A traveler returning home has a feeling.

Chen Dui slowly closed her eyes. After a moment, she squatted down and wrote a long string of characters on the ground with her finger. After writing, her lips moved slightly. Finally, she slowly smoothed out all traces with her palm. After getting up, her footsteps bypassed the place where the runes were destroyed, and she took the lead in climbing the mountain, not even needing Chen Ping An to point the way.

The three arrived at a certain place on the mountainside. Chen Ping An pointed not far away, to a small mound with a tree growing on it. The trunk was strange, extremely straight, even straighter than bamboo. Chen Ping An breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, “It’s here.”

Chen Dui said in a low voice, “You go down the mountain and wait for me.”

Ning Yao tugged at Chen Ping An’s sleeve, signaling to go down the mountain together.

Chen Dui put down her bookcase and carefully took out the meticulously prepared sacrificial items one by one, for offering to the gods and ancestors.

Halfway through, Chen Dui had a moment of trance, staring blankly at the small tree, tears welling up in her eyes, overwhelmed with joy, and muttering, “As expected, as expected.”

Finally, the woman performed a three kowtows and nine bows to the small mound with utmost devotion.

After that, Chen Dui prostrated herself on the ground and said in a trembling voice, “I, the Yingyin Chen family, thank our founding ancestor for his protection!”

At the foot of the mountain, Chen Ping An and Ning Yao sat back to back, one on each side of the bamboo basket. Ning Yao asked, “Why did you deliberately take a detour on some of the roads earlier?”

Chen Ping An was stunned and shocked. “Miss Ning, even you could see it?”

Ning Yao gripped the hilt of her saber and pushed it back, the top of the hilt hitting the young man’s lower back. “Remove the word ‘even’!”

The straw sandal boy grimaced, gently rubbed his waist, and lowered his voice. “Didn’t I tell you? There’s a large cliff, full of the black stones you call Dragon Slaying Platforms. I was afraid she would see it, and if she knew what they were worth, what if she got greedy? One can’t have a heart to harm others, but one must have a heart to guard against others. I still understand this principle.”

Ning Yao smiled and said, “Miser, aren’t you worried that she’ll find a way to move it away, leaving you empty-handed?”

Chen Ping An smiled foolishly. “Miss Ning, you’re so straightforward, you must not have many friends, right?”

Ouch.

Suddenly, Chen Ping An felt another pang of pain and quickly freed a hand to rub the other side of his waist.

Chen Ping An suddenly gently nudged Ning Yao’s back with his elbow and asked, “Do you want to eat wild fruit? I picked three on the way here, and I hid them in my sleeves. She shouldn’t have seen them.”

Ning Yao said unhappily, “Can mountain fruit in this season be delicious?”

Chen Ping An turned around, handed over two peach-sized, bright red wild fruits, and smiled. “Miss Ning, you don’t know. This kind of fruit can only be eaten in the spring. It bears fruit in late winter and ripens in early spring. At this time, it’s completely ripe. One bite, and the taste is so good that you can accidentally bite off your tongue. What’s even stranger is that we have so many mountains here, but the fruit only grows around here. I used to come with Grandpa Yao to find a kind of soil, and he told me about it. There are also some wild fruits that taste good in other places, but after eating this and that, I feel that none of them are as good as this kind.”

Ning Yao took the two fruits, determined that if they were unappetizing, she would definitely return the remaining one. “Eat this and that? Are you a wild boar from the mountains?”

Chen Ping An bit into the wild fruit and said, “When I was young, my family was poor, so I ate whatever I could find. Don’t even mention, I actually got sick once from eating random things, and it hurt so much that I was rolling on the ground in the alley. That was the first time I heard my heartbeat, like thunder and drums.”

Unfortunately, Ning Yao was busy eating the fruit and didn’t hear what the boy said at the end. The first bite made her feel that the fruit was extremely sweet. After the pulp entered her stomach, her whole body felt warm, and her body was like a house with underfloor heating. The wild fruit was like bags of charcoal. Ning Yao closed her eyes and felt her internal organs. Although her whole body was comfortable, there were no other abnormalities. This meant that this kind of wild fruit could generally be ranked among the things on the mountains at the feet of the gods, but that was all. It could definitely be sold at a high price in the secular dynasties, but it wouldn’t make cultivators envious.

For the ordinary people at the foot of the mountain, it was undoubtedly an unparalleled treasure for prolonging life.

If she had known this, Ning Yao wouldn’t have taken the fruit.

Ning Yao felt a little regretful, wiped her mouth, turned around, and handed back the remaining wild fruit. “Not delicious. Here, I’ll give it back to you.”

Chen Ping An reluctantly took it back, feeling a little disappointed. He thought Miss Ning would think it was good.

Ning Yao gently kicked the bamboo basket with her feet and casually asked, “Are you saving it for that woman named Chen Dui?”

Chen Ping An shook his head. “Why would I give it to her? She’s not a relative or a friend. Of course, I’m saving it for Liu Xianyang.”

Ning Yao suddenly asked curiously, “If Ruan Xiu was here, would you not give it to Chen Dui and give it to Ruan Xiu?”

Chen Ping An nodded. “Of course.”

Ning Yao asked again, “Then if you only had two wild fruits, would you give them to me or to Ruan Xiu?”

Chen Ping An said without hesitation, “One to you and one to Ruan Xiu. I can just watch you eat them.”

Chen Ping An was ambushed again and rubbed his lower back, saying innocently, “Miss Ning, why are you doing this?”

Ning Yao asked again, “If there was only one?”

Chen Ping An smiled and said, “I’d give it to you.”

Ning Yao: “Why?”

Chen Ping An said cunningly and honestly, “Ruan Xiu isn’t here, but Miss Ning, you are.”

The boy’s lower back was instantly hit twice, and Chen Ping An was in so much pain that he quickly got up and jumped around. As a result, Ning Yao fell into the big bamboo basket.

Chen Ping An quickly pulled her out of the basket.

Ning Yao didn’t get angry, just glared at Chen Ping An.

Chen Ping An straightened the bamboo basket again, and the two sat back to back again.

Ning Yao asked, “Do you know what kind of tree that is?”

Chen Ping An shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve only seen it in this place. It doesn’t seem to grow on other mountains.”

Ning Yao said in a low voice, “Legend has it that if a scholar tree grows in a family mausoleum, it is an auspicious sign that a Confucian sage is about to be born. Moreover, this sage will be extremely upright and full of righteousness, so he will definitely receive extra favor in your world.”

Chen Ping An said oh.

What Confucian sage, auspicious sign, and righteousness, the straw sandal boy didn’t understand.

Ning Yao asked, “Aren’t you envious of the woman on the mountain? Haven’t you ever wondered why this scholar tree didn’t grow on your ancestors’ grave?”

Chen Ping An answered irrelevantly and happily, “I can still visit my parents’ graves during the Qingming Festival this year. It’s great.”

Ning Yao suddenly stood up, and this time Chen Ping An fell into the bamboo basket.

Ning Yao burst out laughing.

—

The small town schoolhouse had only five students left, of different backgrounds, different ages. Among them, a little girl in a big red cotton-padded jacket, although from Fulu Street, never bullied anyone in the schoolhouse, but she also didn’t like to join in the fun, and only liked to wander around on her own. Li Er’s son, Li Huai, from the westernmost house in the small town, also studied in this rural school. His parents and sister left the small town, leaving him alone. Li Huai not only didn’t cry, but was overjoyed. He didn’t have to be controlled by anyone anymore. But at night, the child, who was living with his aunt and uncle, had nightmares and woke up screaming. As a result, his aunt and uncle, who had been awakened, joined forces to suppress him, one using a feather duster and the other using a broom.

The remaining three came from Taoye Lane, Qilong Lane, and Xinghua Lane, two boys and one girl.

After class, Mr. Qi gave each of them a calligraphy work, asking them to keep it safe and carefully copy it, saying that he would check their homework in three days.

It was the character “Qi.”

After the school was dismissed, the stooped old sweeper, after taking a bath and changing his clothes, came to Mr. Qi’s study and sat on the ground.

The old man asked a question about the Confucian classic “Spring King First Month.”

Qi Jingchun smiled knowingly and explained it to him, explaining what spring, king, justice, and month meant.

This was the “Holding Sutras and Asking Questions” unique to the major Confucian academies. In class, there would be a “Question Master” who would ask the lecturer questions. There could be one question, several questions, ten questions, or even hundreds of questions.

This question and answer took place during the first meeting between Mr. Qi and the old man.

That was already an old story from eighty years ago.

However, at that time, Qi Jingchun was the one asking the questions, and the one answering the questions was their common teacher.

After the old man asked all the questions, he looked at Qi Jingchun. “Do you still remember the teacher’s parting words before we went to Yanya Academy?”

Qi Jingchun smiled without saying a word.

The old man answered himself, “The sentence for me was ‘Heaven and earth give birth to gentlemen, and gentlemen manage heaven and earth.’ The sentence for you was ‘Learning cannot be stopped. Blue is taken from indigo, but it is bluer than indigo.'”

The old man suddenly became very excited. “The teacher valued you so much, hoping that you would surpass him! Why do you have to be here, not turning back until you hit the south wall? Why would you give up all of your century of cultivation and millennium of the Great Dao for a small town with only five or six thousand people?! If it were an ordinary scholar, it would be fine, but you are Qi Jingchun, the teacher’s most valued and proud disciple! You are a scholar who is expected to open up new avenues and even establish a religion!”

The old man trembled. “I know, it was Buddhism that misled you! What equality for all beings! Have you forgotten what the teacher said about clarifying the noble and the lowly…”

Qi Jingchun shook his head with a smile and said, “Although the teacher is the teacher, his knowledge is naturally vast, but his reasoning may not be entirely correct.”

The old man was shocked beyond words, his face full of astonishment, and then he shouted angrily, “Rites are what we use to correct ourselves!”

Qi Jingchun replied with a smile, “A gentleman bends when the time is right, and stretches when the time is right.”

It seemed irrelevant and far removed, but after the old man heard it, his expression changed drastically, full of suspicion.

Qi Jingchun sighed, looked at his fellow disciple who had followed him here for sixty years, and said solemnly, “Things have come to this. The children are entrusted to you to send to Yanya Academy.”

The old man nodded, got up with a complex expression, and left.

Qi Jingchun said to himself, “Teacher, is there true justice in the world?”

—

Two carriages departed from Fulu Street before dawn, leaving the small town early.

At dawn, a straw sandal boy, carrying two large cloth bags, set off to wait outside the Kiln Affairs Directorate.

One bag was filled with bags of copper coins, and the other was filled with snake gallstones, which he thought were the most valuable.

But when it was bright, the doorman of the yamen came out to sweep the streets, the boy didn’t see the departing carriage.

He had to ask shamelessly when the group of guests named Chen Dui would depart from Fulu Street.

The doorman smiled and said that they had left the small town long ago.

The straw sandal boy was dumbfounded. Didn’t Liu Xianyang agree to leave after dawn?

At that moment, the boy’s vision became a little blurry.

After thanking the doorman, the boy turned around and ran wildly.

Running out of the small town, the boy ran nearly sixty li in one breath. Finally, along a slope, the exhausted boy walked to the top of the slope, looking at the winding road, stretching forward.

The boy squatted on the top of the mountain, with the copper coins and stones that he hadn’t sent out beside his feet.

A girl with a sword and saber sitting beside him silently, panting, and said angrily, “Aren’t you a money-grubber? Why are you so generous? You’re sending out all your belongings? Even if Liu Xianyang is your friend, you’re not that generous.”

The boy just hugged his head and looked into the distance.