The grand gates to the celestial realm, guarded by the sages and worthies enshrined in the Confucian temples, were not interconnected. Thus, Chen Ping’an and his companions had to return to the outer heavens, then re-enter the Vast Sky through the gate in Treasure Bottle洲.

Now above Treasure Bottle洲, they no longer hurried. Descending leisurely towards Great Li’s Chu Prefecture, they seemed to be descending stairs.

Looking down upon the land and rivers of the continent, clouds floated in the azure sky, water rippled in the bottle’s depths.

The ever-energetic Xie Gou turned to look at Xiao Mo, exclaiming, “Xiao Mo, in truth, such attire should be rustic, yet on you, it’s different! Utterly lovely, truly fulfilling the verse, ‘A sight before my eyes, yet words fail me!'”

Xiao Mo remained silent.

Xie Gou strutted along, imitating the shoulder-swaying gait of a patrolling mountain imp, “Yellow hat, green shoes, bamboo cane in hand, a sword immortal treads the clouds of Long右.”

Having spent a long time in Fallen Phoenix Mountain, Xie Gou had learned many customs and social graces.

Xiao Mo restrained herself, barely.

Xie Gou’s inspiration seemed endless, unstoppable, “For three thousand years, seeking a swordsman, the Dao tree, a withered wood, blooms anew. Since first beholding the plum blossoms, until this very day, I harbor no doubt.”

Chen Ping’an chuckled, “Why not ‘ten thousand years’ at the start?”

Xie Gou scoffed, “Can it be better than ‘three thousand years’?”

Chen Ping’an nodded, “Indeed. It seems Mistress Xie has truly mastered the art of poetry.”

Xie Gou clasped her hands behind her back, slowly intoning, “Worldly affairs are as brief as a spring dream. Cast aside the hairpin, descend from the pavilion, retrieve the hairpin by the water’s edge. One must focus one’s eyes, all of you, see clearly, carefully recognize your true self.”

Chen Ping’an was silent for a moment, finding it all a bit much. He said, “Xiao Mo, just be yourself from now on.”

Xiao Mo hesitated, then said, “Bai Jing’s sentimental drivel is slightly better than doggerel.”

Chen Ping’an, walking between them, raised both thumbs, giving them each a thumbs-up. “You two are a match made in heaven.”

Xie Gou suddenly said, “It seems that Li Xisheng is on his way here.”

Chen Ping’an nodded, “You two can return to Fallen Phoenix Mountain first. After I speak with him, I’ll go directly to the village school.”

In truth, before being called away by Chen Ping’an, Xie Gou had secretly left a “greeting gift” at the Lu Clan’s Bureau of Celestial Observation and the Zhilan Bureau.

Only after they had left, and roughly half an incense stick’s worth of time had passed, did the entire Lu Clan experience tremors as if the earth had turned over and the celestial turtle had arched its back. It was likely that the Lu Clan was now in a frenzy to clean up the mess. The repair costs alone would be a significant fortune.

Not long after Xiao Mo and Xie Gou flew off to Fallen Phoenix Mountain, Li Xisheng appeared near Chen Ping’an, a smile on his face. He cut straight to the point, “Chen Ping’an, Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis asked me to bring you a message. He said you don’t need to guess anymore. He did indeed reside in Mud Bottle Lane during his travels in the Luminous Pearl Grotto-Heaven for a few years. As for the many events that followed, this senior wants you to know not to overthink it. It was ‘of your own making’.”

At this, Li Xisheng smiled and added, “Rest assured, this senior’s evaluation of your ‘of your own making’ is a compliment.”

Chen Ping’an breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Xisheng chuckled, “Geographically speaking, you were indeed neighbors. But so many years have passed, there’s no real Daoist lineage connection. You can set your mind at ease.”

Chen Ping’an had finally confirmed one of his suspicions through Li Xisheng.

Li Xisheng spoke in a hushed voice, “Chen Ping’an, I’ll just offer a guess. Listen and forget. Do you know that Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis cooperated with the Sage of Rites in an attempt to establish new rites for the Vast Sky?”

Chen Ping’an nodded, “The Master mentioned it. I know some of the inside story.”

Humankind had once hoped for the emergence of a “Lord of Humanity.”

Li Xisheng glanced at Chen Ping’an, then nodded. Since he already knew the truth, there was no need to elaborate. He changed the subject, “Heard of the difficulties on Leap Month Peak?”

Chen Ping’an smiled, “Headmaster Lu mentioned him many times, full of envy.”

“The hardships of the martial artists of Azure Heavens are the same as the harsh moments in the Barbarian Desolation.”

Li Xisheng said, “Every realm has such an existence. And the one in our Vast Sky does not agree with the Sage of Rites’ methods, which is why the new rites could not be implemented.”

Chen Ping’an offered no comment, daring not to make rash judgments.

After hesitating, Chen Ping’an carefully asked, “Zhong Kui?”

If Chen Ping’an, as the last hidden official of the Sword Qi Great Wall, was a variable,

Then, on the Tongye洲 continent, there were two variables, one hidden and one visible: the odd-job disciple of the Fuyi Sect and the gentleman Zhong Kui of the Great Hidden Book Academy.

Chen Ping’an wanted to know if Zhong Kui was one of the Daoist legacies of Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis.

Li Xisheng smiled, “Since these are all guesses, why not be bolder?”

Chen Ping’an was shocked, “Zhong Kui is one of Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis’ avatars?!”

He had at most guessed that Zhong Kui was the reincarnation of a deceased disciple of the senior.

As Lu Chen said, if Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis did not appear so rarely, those ghost immortals who had violated the “Heavenly Laws of the Previous Dynasty” would be slain one by one.

This understated Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis was extremely secretive in his cultivation path, Daoist inheritance, and disciple selection.

Because Aunt Feng, who was temporarily residing in the Fire God Temple in the capital, had previously leaked some heavenly secrets to Chen Ping’an, he knew of one personal disciple and two relatively younger, unnamed disciples.

The “verifiable” personal disciple was Qing Jun, whose administration was located on Fangzhu Mountain. The status of the ancient Three Mountains was even higher than the current Five Sacred Mountains of the Vast Sky, including Sui Mountain.

The other two unnamed disciples were the Daoist Wang Min, an alchemist of the same era as Bai Ye, who went to sea to seek immortals by imperial decree.

The other sword cultivator, Lu Yue, appeared and disappeared extremely quickly in the Vast Sky.

The old coachman, who came from the Thunder Department of the ancient Heavenly Court, mentioned Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis in the capital and recounted some old stories, saying that Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis had once resided in the Luminous Pearl Grotto-Heaven, but the length of stay was unknown. However, it could be determined that Fulu Street and Peach Leaf Lane in the Luminous Pearl Grotto-Heaven were ultimately due to him.

Fulu Street was naturally the street of talismans. The peach blossoms in Peach Leaf Lane were also planted casually by Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis.

In fact, even the three types of copper coins cast by the Great Li Dynasty were all master dies given by Mister Three Mountains Nine Marquis.
The swordsman Lu Yue hailed from the Lu family of Fortune Street, a clan deeply intertwined with the now-fallen Lu Dynasty. That the Lu family of Fortune Street was spared after the dynasty’s collapse hinted at Lu Yue’s potential influence. Chen Ping’an suspected that Lu Yue, despite his fleeting fame, had likely lived on, perhaps through a *bingjie* reincarnation, retaining his past life’s memories via some secret art. This was why the Great Li Dynasty was wary of eradicating the Lu family of Fortune Street.

Li Xisheng wryly remarked, “You dare cause a ruckus at the Lu family in the Central Earth Continent, yet Mountain Master Chen is so timid?”

Chen Ping’an was taken aback, glancing at Li Xisheng, who nodded. He had guessed correctly.

Of course, not entirely.

Li Xisheng asked, “Do you remember how you met Liu Xianyang?”

Chen Ping’an nodded. Liu Xianyang was being chased to Mud Bottle Alley by a group of peers from wealthy families. The young scions were fearless and ruthless, nearly beating Liu Xianyang to death.

The leader was a Lu family scion from Fortune Street, currently seeking fortune and advancement in Qingfeng City.

Li Xisheng chuckled, “If my deductions are correct, Lu Yue’s reincarnation is that Bai Chang.”

Bai Chang, the foremost swordsman of the Northern Entirety Continent?!

In that case, Xu Xuan was a student of the Three Mountains Nine Marquis, a re-transmission! No wonder Xu Xuan acted so wildly and arrogantly, daring to run amok in the Northern Entirety Continent.

Chen Ping’an retrieved a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Li Xisheng.

Taking it, Li Xisheng smiled, “Undoubtedly authentic. Cherish it.”

The Lu family of Fortune Street had gifted Empress Nan Zan, back when she held the title of Great Li Empress, with several pages of ancient texts, ancestral heirlooms.

One page seemingly recorded a simple mountain-dwelling technique: the art of passing through walls.

“Heaven and earth connect, mountain walls intertwine, soft as apricot blossoms, thin as paper, I point my sword, swiftly opening a door, by the decree of the Three Mountains Nine Marquis.”

At that time, Nan Zan, or rather, Lu Jiang from the Lu family lineage of the Central Earth Continent’s Yin-Yang School, before using the Spirit Convergence Beads, and due to the Great Li Emperor’s constraints, did not comprehend the page’s true value.

The two chatted as they descended from the sky. As they neared the ground, the Great Li’s Chu Prefecture spread before them. Only the airspace above their hometown remained shrouded in mist, unclear and indescribable.

He had last reunited with Zhigui within the ruins of an old Great Water Dragon Palace in the Tongye Continent.

He had asked her if she knew of the Three Mountains Nine Marquis. Though Zhigui didn’t provide a definite answer, it was clear that she not only knew him, but also both hated and feared him.

An iron-locked well was precisely where the “lingering” True Dragon King Zhu drew life, connecting her to the outside world.

The Pearl Mountain, bordering the town and the western mountains, was where the “Li Pearl” held by the True Dragon was located. The Dragon Whisker Creek and the town’s main street were the hidden and visible Dragon Whiskers. Fortune Street and Peach Leaf Lane formed the dragon’s neck and a section of the dragon’s spine. Each mansion on the street was a talisman, their sizes carefully calculated. The roots of every peach tree in Peach Leaf Lane were like dragon-trapping nails driven into the earth. Fortune Street suppressed the qi nodes in the dragon’s neck, preventing it from “raising its head,” while the latter confined the spine, preventing its body from moving even slightly.

The dozens of kilns firing porcelain, known for their eternal flames, were a true fiery ordeal for Wang Zhu, like being immersed in a boiling oil cauldron. Every time the town’s kiln workers opened the kilns to fire porcelain, it was like pouring scalding broth into the oil, a “karmic fire” constantly searing Wang Zhu’s soul.

Such talismanic methods were not only suppressing a True Dragon, but also suppressing the entire human world’s flood dragon destiny.

A single misstep could lead to a violent backlash against the “instigator” of the suppression, the consequences of which were unimaginable. It was no exaggeration that cultivators feared entanglement with mortal karma.

Li Xisheng explained, “It’s both a long, cruel torture, and a forced tempering for Wang Zhu. Only by enduring it can she shed her mortal coil. When she sees the light of day again, she will be free.”

“The town wasn’t always the current Four Families Ten Clans. The earliest Qi practitioners who settled in this ancient battlefield branched out. Over time, their respective fortunes waxed and waned. For example, a certain family declined and had to sell their ancestral property, moving to places like Two-Lance Alley or Apricot Blossom Alley. Every change of ownership, every demolition of a wall, meant a talisman was loosened. This was Wang Zhu’s hope and expectation. She endured countless ordeals over three thousand years through this.”

“Back then, Mr. Qi felt pity for her and often protected her.”

“But Wang Zhu was still unenlightened at that time and didn’t appreciate it.”

“So, in Wang Zhu’s eyes, Mr. Qi, and you, her neighbor, are very special.”

Li Xisheng paused, then held out his hand, asking, “Do you have wine?”

Chen Ping’an chuckled, taking out two jars of wine. He simply sat cross-legged, clinked jars with Li Xisheng, and they drank.

Any passing Great cultivator from another land, with sufficient realm and good eyesight, could discern some clues of varying depths.

Like Xiao Mo, in his eyes, the Fallen Pearl Paradise, reduced to a blessed land, could give Xiao Mo the illusion of facing a Fourteenth Realm pure swordsman at close range.

That’s why, when the Young Master first mentioned the idea of two flying swords, Xiao Mo suggested carefully studying the town’s landscape, which would be akin to seeking guidance from the Three Mountains Nine Marquis. Because the town was filled with hidden mysteries, all filled with knowledge, it was somewhat similar to the Martial Ancestor’s Eleventh Realm punch, the boxing manual engraved within Chen Ping’an’s own human microcosm.

At the time, Chen Ping’an had retreated, saying, “I can’t even make a single flower bloom in my small world, and you expect me to imitate this grand formation? That’s a bit too ambitious.”
“Nevertheless, this is the direction indicated by the Great Dao, so there’s definitely no issue. If worse comes to worst, I’ll just spend more time, relying on the persistence of dripping water, dismantling it bit by bit.”

In truth, Liu Jinglong, proficient in formations, had long discovered that the town’s very existence was a treasure trove, essentially a wordless Daoist scripture.

After all, that Mister Sanshan Jiuhou was revered as the founding ancestor of all talisman lineages under Heaven. At least half of the so-called seventy-two schools of talisman techniques in later generations were pioneered by this predecessor.

Chen Ping’an pondered for a moment, then extracted a piece of paper from his heart lake, a scroll with both colored paintings and line drawings, resembling a scroll depicting the passage of time.

The colored parts of the paper were all scenes that Chen Ping’an remembered vividly, while the line drawings and rough areas represented people and events from his hazy memories.

Li Xisheng received the paper, glanced at it, and asked, “Is this the Ghost Valley of Beiju Luzhou?”

Chen Ping’an nodded, recalling his first journey to the Ghost Valley of Bones Beach. There, at Treasure Mirror Mountain, he had encountered Yang Ningzhen, then a Golden Body Realm martial artist, who was wasting his days in the mountains to obtain the so-called Sanshan Jiuhou Mirror. However, after acquiring it, Yang Ningzhen gifted it to his younger brother, Yang Ningxing, who was lauded as “Little Celestial Lord” and had since entered the White Jade Capital for cultivation.

On the Night Voyage ship, Wu Shuangjiang had also mentioned a secret matter to Chen Ping’an. In his early years, Wei She, a great cultivator from Aiai Continent who had surpassed all his peers, began attempting to merge with the Dao and ascend to the Fourteenth Realm a century after reaching the Ascended Realm. After his first attempt failed, Mister Sanshan Jiuhou personally made a trip to Aiai Continent, seemingly yielding and leaving half a path open for Wei She, according to Wu Shuangjiang. Unfortunately, Wei She failed to seize the opportunity. After two failed attempts, Wei She seemed to have lost the will to try a third time.

Li Xisheng returned the scroll to Chen Ping’an, chuckling, “I finally understand why Mister Sanshan Jiuhou told me ‘Don’t be constrained, feel free to do as you please’ before leaving. It turns out it was an assessment of you, which led me to wildly deduce things along the way, resulting in a tangled mess.”

Chen Ping’an mocked himself, “Regarding that one, the clues I’ve obtained so far are too few. If I use Tian Wan of Zhuyu Peak as an anchor point for a river of time, attempting to develop various veins from there, I feel it would only be a misguided path from the start. After much thought, I wanted to find a cultivator who has both intersection with the town and sufficient weight as a coordinate, so as not to be scattered by the waves of the long river stirred up by that one’s own Dao techniques.”

Even with Li Xisheng by his side, Chen Ping’an still dared not directly utter the two words “Zou Zi.”

Previously, in the outer heavens, Chen Ping’an had almost spoken the words several times, but he didn’t dare to open his mouth, fearing a negative answer from Mister Sanshan Jiuhou.

That would mean Chen Ping’an would have to start all over, seeking another candidate. Speaking of Lu Chen, his realm was certainly sufficient, but it definitely wouldn’t work.

It seemed that every cultivator who mentioned Mister Sanshan Jiuhou would, to varying degrees, carry a sense of respect that arose spontaneously.

Even Lu Chen, a scoundrel, would speak “big words” to Chunyang Lu Yan, who was traveling with him in the White Jade Capital, back when he had just become the little disciple of the Dao Ancestor, claiming that all Daoist techniques under Heaven naturally originated from his master, the Dao Ancestor, then were passed on to his senior brother, and would flourish under Lu Chen, who would then return this magnificent spectacle to the world in the future. But when Lu Chen mentioned Mister Sanshan Jiuhou, he was similarly respectful.

Well, there was one exception.

It was Zheng Dafeng, the first gatekeeper of Fallen Mountain.

Zou Zi had once traveled to the Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven and set up a candied hawthorn stall in Apricot Blossom Lane. And this person’s junior sister, Tian Wan, the peak master of Zhuyu Peak of Zhengyang Mountain, had also secretly entered the town and found the old man who ran the auspicious events shop, whose real name was Cai Daohuang, who was also Hu Feng’s grandfather. His true identity was the owner of all the matchmaking shops in the past, and he had only half of the Marriage Register left in his hands, which had somehow fallen into Liu Qi’s hands after a long journey, and then taken by the latter to the Azure Underworld. But Tian Wan still obtained a batch of “Old Man Under the Moon” red threads, which she used to manipulate people’s hearts, and then controlled the flow of the Sword Dao fortune of Treasure Bottle Continent through the marriage lines of Li Tuanjing, Wei Jin, Liu Xianyang and others, as a means of tempering her own Great Dao.

Bai Shang, whose previous life was Lu Yue, was a native of the Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven in Treasure Bottle Continent, which made even more sense.

Equivalent to one overt and one covert Sword Dao leader of the two continents?

And this red rope could not be refined or imitated, so Zheng Dafeng used a term with both praise and criticism at the time, “Even Mister Sanshan Jiuhou, his old man’s Dao techniques are enough to reach the heavens, right? He still can’t refine it.”

Especially when saying this, Zheng Dafeng seemed to have a playful expression, as if recalling some old events.

Chen Ping’an asked curiously, “Is Mister Liu Qi traveling to the Azure Underworld in the hope of piecing together a complete Marriage Register as an opportunity to merge with the Dao?”

Li Xisheng nodded, “Because the second half of the register is in the hands of Chao Ge, whose Daoist name is Fu Kan. She is the reincarnation of an ancient Marriage God.”

Li Xisheng said something irrelevant with a smile, “The crucian carp of the Qi River is very delicious, absolutely no less delicious than the apricot blossom bass of the Jumping Wave River. You must try it when you have the chance.”

Chen Ping’an nodded.

Li Xisheng took a sip of wine and asked, “Having taken a trip to the outer heavens and experienced this battle, what are your thoughts?”

Chen Ping’an recalled the inscriptions on the Sword Qi Great Wall, a horizontal line, just like a mountain plank road. After a moment of thought, he said, “It seems that there are nets spread throughout the heavens and earth, with large gaps. Ordinary mortals are like small fish, close to the nets, quickly shuttle through the grids, seemingly free to come and go, and even able to use those ropes as a place to live. But cultivators are like big fish, the higher the realm, the larger the size, but they cannot swim through the nets, but can only forcibly break free, such as becoming Land Immortals, and merging with the Dao in the Fourteenth Realm.”

“Great minds think alike.”

Li Xisheng smiled knowingly, put down the wine pot, took out an ordinary hemp rope ring, and then tied many knots on it, and said with a smile, “Before dispersing the Dao in Azure City of the White Jade Capital, I thought this was the world we lived in.”

“But later I felt that the whole world is a book. But the original version has never been in our hands.”

“Just like someone can casually extract a page of paper alone, and can extend a series of brand new stories. Reading is like trees, turning pages is like enjoying the shade.”

Hearing this, Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but ask, “Now that you think about it?”
Li Xisheng chuckled, shaking his head. “I haven’t a clue.”

Chen Pingan rattled the wine gourd. Without realizing it, he had finished one, and took out another. Li Xisheng waved his hand. “You drink. I can’t hold my liquor. It’s rare for me to drink.”

If human affection is as fickle as water, and worldly affairs are a treacherous path, then one should drink. Only in drunken oblivion can one find solace.

Li Xisheng watched Chen Pingan, who was constantly drinking. He truly couldn’t imagine that the boy from Mud Bottle Lane would become such a lover of wine. He asked with a smile, “Have you figured out how to refine your two flying swords?”

Chen Pingan wiped the corner of his mouth and said, “Besides constantly consuming gold essence copper coins, I also need to continuously add bricks and tiles.”

“Buddhism speaks of a single mote containing countless kalpas, and Daoism speaks of one embracing all things. Different paths, same destination.”

Li Xisheng nodded, saying, “A caged sparrow encompasses heaven and earth in all directions, and a moon in a well achieves a river of endless time, gathering a thousand small chiliocosms.”

For example, Chen Pingan planned to purchase those extremely rare phoenix tree leaves from Daoist Qing Tong, who was a guest elder of the Azure Ripple Sword Sect.

However, he wasn’t confident. He estimated that Qing Tong wouldn’t agree. At most, he would give them away without selling, and he would certainly only be willing to give a few phoenix tree leaves, no more than ten, to get rid of him.

Chen Pingan’s expectation was at least three leaves, and of course, the more the better.

As for how to repay Qing Tong, that wasn’t difficult. After all, they would be neighbors in the future, and there would be plenty of opportunities to interact.

Chen Pingan could see that Qing Tong clearly wanted to establish his own sect, but he was rather apprehensive and didn’t dare to proactively mention it to the Confucian Temple.

Previously, at Seven Li Creek, which belonged to the old Qian Tang magistrate Cao Yong, after obtaining the consent of this Grand Protector of Torrential Rains, Chen Pingan extracted the poetry and prose recorded in the local chronicles, totaling hundreds of thousands of words, from the books and transformed them into a golden river that flowed into his sleeve.

In addition, Chen Pingan had also obtained a book that no one had cared about at the immortal mansion ruins in Northern Ju Continent. It contained many tales of joy and sorrow, different life stories.

Since ancient times, people have enjoyed reading books late into the night.

Chen Pingan, as a teacher in the village school, personally wrote every night a series of landscape stories about a young wandering swordsman and a great water monster from the Mute Lake.

He believed it would certainly give Xiao Mi Li a surprise, just like watching a vivid mirage. The mountains, rivers, people, gods, ghosts, and immortals would all seem real as one passed by.

A young, supremely skilled swordsman, together with the great water monster of Mute Lake who served as a strategist and advisor, would fight side by side, matching wits and courage with all kinds of demons and monsters…

However, this long story could only be watched by Xiao Mi Li and the Little Hilltop lineage. No one else could even think about it.

Unlike that unlearned Silken Deer, who would find writing books too difficult, Chen Pingan found it more difficult for someone to patiently read a book for a long time.

Li Xisheng said, “Chen Pingan, to be precise, we are of the same surname.”

Actually, both of them were named Chen, but they shared the same surname while coming from different places.

Chen Pingan was naturally a native of the Luminous Pearl Grotto Heaven, while Li Xisheng’s ancestral home was in the Northern Ju Continent.

Chen Pingan nodded, having known this for a long time.

The three siblings were Li Baoping, Li Baozhen, and their older brother was named Li Xisheng.

Li Xisheng stood up, the breeze caressing his face, and smiled. “An ancient poem says, ‘Why hide my name when the task is complete? I am no thief to walk at night.'”

Chen Pingan said, “That’s a line worth remembering.”

With nothing else to do, the two of them walked side by side in the void, the celestial wind cool and refreshing, both with peaceful states of mind.

Li Xisheng, gradually recovering the memories of his past life, was thinking of his two junior brothers at the White Jade Capital.

Chen Pingan was worried about A Liang and his martial brother Zuo You’s situation.

The reason he wasn’t overwhelmed with worry was because his intuition told Chen Pingan that the outcome wouldn’t be the best, but it certainly wouldn’t be the worst.

It was just that he didn’t know why Fei Ran and Chu Sheng had already appeared in the Wilderness, yet there was still no news of the two of them.

Before leaving, Zheng Juzhong gave a strange explanation: one in the distant past, one in the distant future.

Chen Pingan and his martial brother Zuo You, aside from their brief initial meeting, only truly resembled martial brothers during their time at the Great Wall of Sword Qi.

Although Zuo You also taught this little martial brother swordsmanship, Chen Pingan could clearly sense that his martial brother didn’t value his identity as a sword cultivator.

His martial brother Zuo You was more like a diligent and scholarly Confucian, committed to pursuing the three imperishables of a scholar: establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing words.

Actually, Chen Pingan had been curious from the beginning, but he was afraid to ask due to his martial brother’s temper.

Later, Chen Pingan couldn’t help but ask what his martial brother’s natal flying sword was called.

As expected, Zuo You’s face immediately darkened, and he blocked Chen Pingan with just one sentence.

“Why didn’t you ask when the master was here?”

Chen Pingan didn’t dare to continue asking anything. Asking any further would surely have consequences.

Chen Pingan suddenly felt a tremor in his heart, and then he was relieved, because Li Xisheng had already bid farewell and hurried to Tongye Continent.

Xiao Mo’s figure landed in the small town, and Xie Gou, who was following, asked suspiciously, “Aren’t we going straight back to Fallen Peak?”

Xiao Mo said, “Let’s find a roadside stall and have a late-night snack before going back.”

Xie Gou frowned, a little uncomfortable.

Picking a night snack stall set up on the main street of the town, Xiao Mo sat down and ordered two bowls of pork and shepherd’s purse wontons from the stall owner. He took out a pair of chopsticks from the bamboo holder on the table, handed them to Xie Gou, and softly asked, “When are you returning to the Wilderness?”

Xie Gou remained silent, wiping the bamboo chopsticks with his sleeve, as if sulking.

When the stall owner brought over two steaming bowls of wontons, Xiao Mo then took a pair of chopsticks and said, “Don’t stand there blankly, eat it while it’s hot.”

Xie Gou held a chopstick in each hand, poking each chopstick into a wonton and putting them in his mouth, his cheeks bulging. This is so awful, I’m not paying!

Xiao Mo chewed slowly, savoring the flavor, and slowly said, “I know you haven’t separated your soul. You have always been you, always been Bai Jing.”

In short, the so-called “Xie Gou” was just a clumsy disguise.

Xie Gou said “Oh” with a straight face.

Xiao Mo continued, “If it’s a matter of accommodation, I don’t think it’s necessary. If it’s a playful stance towards the world, you can continue as before.”

Xie Gou asked, “Then which one do you find more pleasing to the eye?”

“To be honest, neither is pleasing to the eye.”

Xiao Mo had always been honest with people. He paused for a moment and smiled, “But I admire that Bai Jing who seems to be running forward forever, as it was ten thousand years ago, and as it still is ten thousand years later.”
Recalling the past, the first time he saw Bai Jing, he spotted a sword cultivator from afar, besieged on all sides. Her swordplay was sharp and fierce. In the end, she stood atop the corpse of a deity she had personally slain, a slender woman with her long hair tied into a ponytail, encircling her neck. She raised her head high, murmuring something inaudible. Then, with a flicker of her form, her sword light soared like a rainbow, drawing an immensely long arc across the sky, while thunderous roars echoed across the land.

Xie Gou wore a complicated expression. The first half of Xiao Mo’s words were unsurprising, but the latter half made her somewhat uneasy. She picked up her bowl and took a sip of the clear soup.

The wontons were subpar, but the soup was passable.

She’d have to add a few extra copper coins when paying the bill later.

Xie Gou muttered, “I don’t even know how to like someone.”

This kind of infuriating, messy business was far more difficult than practicing swordsmanship.

For Xie Gou to admit her incompetence in something wasn’t easy.

Xiao Mo said, “Don’t feel wronged. Just try to put yourself in my shoes and think about how I feel?”

Xie Gou grinned. In the end, Xiao Mo paid the bill, and she didn’t even fight for the honor.