Under the same moon, two peaks stood sentinel on the winding road of life.

In humble villages, tales of empires rising and falling were spun. Within the Forbidden City, the Chancellor, amidst the quiet of the night, nibbled on sugared pastries.

Scholars painted scenes of lone fishermen braving snowy landscapes, oblivious to the biting frost that turned the angler’s bones to brittle ice.

Suddenly, Xie Gou sighed, “Mountain Lord, truth be told, I sometimes envy you martial artists.”

Chen Ping An chuckled. “Why is that?”

Xie Gou pointed to the solitary warrior atop the neighboring peak. Unlike the meditating cultivators or gossiping Daoists, he slumbered fitfully, eyes darting open now and then, scanning his surroundings. He was clearly one who cultivated both body and spirit, his eyes gleaming with hidden power – a formidable fighter in the mundane world.

A pure martial artist, with their battle intent infused within, their true Qi permeating every pore, felt like they were blessed by the gods. That, Xie Gou confessed, was what she envied most: a warrior’s ability to sleep soundly!

Qi cultivators, save for those few who could carry their entire sanctums on their backs, always had to worry about being marked by enemies, ambushed at any moment, and struck down.

While in terms of Divine Sense, once a sufficient distance had been established, even the greatest martial grandmasters, regardless of their accomplishments, paled in comparison to a Land Immortal capable of holding mountains and rivers in their palm.

Especially when a swordsman faced a martial pugilist. One would think a flying sword, swift as thought, would take the pugilist’s head before they could blink. But the truth was that the martial artist’s innate defense, that sheer unwavering Qi, could negate the swordsman’s initial advantage of surprise.

Chen Ping An knew this well. Had he not possessed the rare ability, as an Immortal Realm swordsman, to nourish his body with his flying swords, and the physique of a peak-stage martial artist, those sneaky attacks from the Fourteenth Realm cultivator would have left a weaker Ascended Realm cultivator grievously wounded, their cultivation ruined. It was that combination that allowed him to leave the Daoist sanctum unscathed and wander these lands of the Tong Ye Continent.

Speaking of ambushes, Xie Gou was a master.

The nameless barbarian from the Wildlands, whose martial arts and immortal techniques were said to be unmatched, was an old acquaintance. Their first encounter was a brutal clash. Xie Gou, wanting to test the power of one who had reached the Godly Manifestation layer, had engaged the nameless barbarian in a silent, protracted battle of attack and defense that stretched over a month. She could not best him. Not only was he incredibly tough, but he always managed to evade the most lethal strikes from her flying swords. Eventually, Xie Gou grew bored and left.

Xie Gou murmured, “They say the Godly Manifestation layer is similar to the golden bodies of mountain and river deities, a vast difference.”

“It’s like Heaven and Earth, perhaps even greater than the gap between Qi Gathering and True Returning. But only those who experience it firsthand can truly understand.”

Chen Ping An nodded. “That’s why my only chance against Cao Ci was when we were both at the True Returning First Layer. I missed that opportunity, and Cao Ci won’t give me another.”

Xie Gou inquired, “Why not challenge him when you’re a realm higher? Surely you’d have a better chance.”

Chen Ping An retorted, “Why not two realms higher? Then victory would be assured, wouldn’t it?”

To even suggest such a shameless thing! No wonder someone had manipulated her into calling herself “Doggy.”

Xie Gou roared with laughter.

Then, out of the blue, Xie Gou asked, “If one day, Mountain Lord, you ascend to the Fourteenth Realm, will something still be missing?”

Chen Ping An replied honestly, “Not just something, but many things. Circumstances have conspired to leave me lacking in killing power. It renders everything else meaningless, a frustrating truth.”

Xie Gou made a sound of surprise. It was unlike the Mountain Lord, who always strived for “composure,” to express such frustration.

Chen Ping An smiled. “The books say not to blame Heaven or others, but they don’t tell us to abandon all emotions. A little grumbling is good for the soul. Besides, I can share these negative thoughts with you, Xie Gou, and with Xiao Mi Li, but not with Chen Ling Jun or Mi Yu.”

Xie Gou asked, “Why? Is it because Xiao Mi Li is easygoing, and I’m a bit reckless?”

Chen Ping An pulled out his long-stemmed pipe, expertly packing it with tobacco from his hometown. Smiling, he explained, “Mi Yu is too thoughtful. He takes what the people he cares about say to heart, making things even more significant. So, I avoid deep conversations with him; I only discuss matters of business. Chen Ling Jun has a strong sense of brotherhood; he’s always ready to jump in and help. Even a casual remark could send him down a rabbit hole, making a normally carefree person overly anxious. You and Xiao Mi Li are different. You can handle things because you see the good in the world.”

Xie Gou blushed, giving a thumbs up. “Mountain Lord, you can spin even my recklessness into something beautiful! Amazing.”

She realized that she had another strength besides her sword skills! The Mountain Lord had just elevated her entire existence by seven or eight stories.

Did Xiao Mo know this?

No matter. If the Mountain Lord said it, Xiao Mo would eventually find out. A gentleman cultivated beauty in others. And their Mountain Lord was a Confucian gentleman!

Chen Ping An chuckled. “I once heard Old Immortal Jia say something insightful at a banquet. He said that as long as we had a sense of right and wrong, we wouldn’t become wrongdoers. He said some people are like drowned ghosts, eager to drag others down. Prolonged association with them leads to darkness and corruption. Old Immortal Jia always offered a solution, though, often quoting a sage: ‘I cultivate my noble spirit.’ It allows you to stand on the shore, firm in your principles, and resist being dragged under. You might even pull those drowning friends back to safety. Chen Ling Jun laughed when he heard that, but I thought it was profound. Every home has its own style, every Daoist temple and Buddhist monastery has its own spirit. Every mortal carries a trace of it.”

“Those with steadfast hearts are unyielding as mountains. But what that mountain looks like – whether it’s a dilapidated shrine or a verdant paradise – is determined by our own cultivation and strength.”

“Everyone’s sincerity has edges and sharpness, which might be jarring at first, but ultimately make them more enduring.”

“But sincerity is a double-edged sword. Self-centered sincerity wounds both self and others; it’s a neighbor of selfishness. Sincerity with empathy, generosity, and skillful application is true kindness.”

“Whether it’s Xie Gou or Bai Jing, whether they truly like Fallen Phoenix Mountain, or endure it for Xiao Mo’s sake…”

Xie Gou interrupted quietly, “Are you finally lecturing me about life because we’re alone? Afraid I’ll mess up and Fallen Phoenix Mountain will have to clean up after me?”

Chen Ping An paused, then said earnestly, “I see endless possibilities in the swordsman Xie Gou.”

Xie Gou looked puzzled. “You’re treating me like a junior, Mountain Lord.”

A young man, not even fifty years old, saying that to a ten-thousand-year-old monster? Something felt off.

Chen Ping An couldn’t help but laugh. “If you always showed your true face, I wouldn’t dare say that.”

He would at least be more… careful? He would never have taken her on this journey alone. Not because of any worldly concerns about a man and woman being alone, but because it would create a huge problem for Xiao Mo. Whether she cared or not, Xie Gou would see it as a significant issue. If she cared, she’d be insecure. If she didn’t, did she even like him?

Xie Gou didn’t dwell on it. She could convince herself otherwise.

If “Bai Jing” had had such a smooth cultivation path but a disappointing love life, could “Xie Gou” achieve the opposite – a bumpy cultivation but a fulfilling love life?

That was a good trade.

You didn’t know the price of firewood and rice until you ran the household. Those used to living frugally knew their own worth.

Xie Gou admired her Mountain Lord’s ability to manage everything. No wonder the Wildlands wanted so badly to lure him to their side, to emulate Xiao Xun and betray the Verdant World.

Having the Natal Sword Cage Bird, like carrying a secure formation without expending any Immortal Coins, was a great advantage. But his various innovations and unique creations would… consume his spirit.

That was his only, but greatest, limitation. An ancient Daoist saying went: “Supreme is nourishing the spirit, next is nourishing the nature, and lastly, nourishing the form.” It showed how difficult it was to nourish the spirit.

The higher one’s cultivation, the harder it was to replenish the spirit. There were countless ways to strengthen the body, nourish the soul, and accumulate power, but the Daoist’s spirit had always been difficult to gather once scattered.

The Cage Bird, coupled with Well Moon, could divide the sword into millions, making it quite deadly. But to Chen Ping An and Xie Gou, it still wasn’t enough.

Against someone of the same realm, he would have the advantage of time, place, and people, ensuring a high chance of victory.

Against a higher realm, even if facing Xie Gou and Xiao Mo, they might only break through the Cage Bird’s barrier with a single strike or a few… and then be pulled back into his world.

Whether an Immortal Realm opponent could escape depended on their sincerity at the ancestral hall and the luck of their ancestors’ graves.

But against a true Fourteenth Realm cultivator, it became pointless.

Whether he could trap them or not became meaningless. Even if they escaped, could an Ascended Realm cultivator ever outlast a Harmonious Dao cultivator who was nearly one with the world?

Of course, looking at the Upper Five Realms, there were few who could truly consider the Fourteenth Realm an enemy beyond their reach.

Everyone yearned for power. Like Wu Shuangjiang on the Night Boat, who needed to meticulously craft four immortal swords to compensate for his shortcomings.

Chen Ping An said softly, “With no shortcuts, I can only focus on talismans and lightning spells before reaching the Godly Manifestation layer.”

Xie Gou hesitated, then said, “Studying fire might be more effective than talismans and lightning. I know a fair bit about the ancient Heavenly Court’s Lightning Department. It’s powerful, and creating lightning arrays for area-of-effect attacks is formidable, but it seems lacking in pure power.”

“Any Daoist alchemist knows that there’s a limit to how cold things can get, but the heat can reach near infinity.”

“Hence, it’s said that Daoists who only cultivate water can’t reach the Fourteenth Realm. Fire cultivation offers a sliver of hope. So, purely in terms of destructive power, fire has greater potential.”

The Mountain Lord had many skills.

If the Fourteenth Realm was the goal, all methods were pathways to heaven.

But when thrown into the bottomless pit of the Fourteenth Realm, everything seemed inadequate, every skill half-baked.

Chen Ping An put away his pipe. Some people on the mountain enjoyed it, like Mountain Lord Tong and the female sect leader of Mountain Sea Sect.

Xie Gou asked curiously, “You predicted that Fan Tong and Xie Sanniang would come here, so you set a trap. But did you calculate the outcome after giving them the Immortal Coins?”

Chen Ping An shook his head. “I didn’t calculate that.”

Xie Gou raised her hand to her brow, pretending to look into the distance. “Then I can tell you, Fan Tong and Xie Sanniang won’t come here. They’re heading for an Immortal ferry. With two Grain Rain Coins, they must be afraid the local mountain god will get greedy and steal their heads instead of giving them jobs. Don’t waste your time here.”

Chen Ping An nodded. “Then we’ll rest for a moment and move on.”

Xie Gou watched as the Mountain Lord took out a blank notebook and recorded the details. A dull pencil was better than a sharp memory. Besides, Xie Gou would occasionally chat with Chen Ping An about the Cage Bird’s formations during her breaks while guarding the Floating Cloud Shrine. But she didn’t understand why he cared so much about those Qi cultivators on the neighboring mountain, who were as common as weeds. His notes seemed to be focused on finding something “different” in everyone, like the old sachet hanging from Duan Yuhu’s waist or Liang Zheng’s thick accent and stutter.

So, Xie Gou couldn’t help but ask, “You’ve traveled a lot, Mountain Lord. You must remember many people and things. Why bother with these ordinary folks?”

Chen Ping An explained, “I wasn’t paying much attention back then. My understanding of people was superficial; it doesn’t count as a foundation.”

Xie Gou looked dubious. Did he take her for a fool?

Chen Ping An added, “By ‘superficial,’ I mean I was more concerned with whether someone was good or bad, right or wrong. It’s easy to miss things and not understand the underlying nature.”

Xie Gou frowned. “Underlying nature?”

Chen Ping An smiled. “Like a perfect Ascended Realm female sword immortal asking others about ‘underlying nature’ right now. The ‘why’ of Xie Gou or Bai Jing is part of their underlying nature.”

Xie Gou changed the subject. “Yu Shiwu and the others seem to be putting all their effort into inanimate objects. No matter how many they make, they won’t come to life. When it comes to people, especially complicated personalities, they’ll each have their own emotional responses, with good reasons. You need a way to support their thinking, don’t you? This basic method must be more fundamental than ‘underlying nature,’ right?”

Chen Ping An clapped softly. “Based on initial calculations, I need to roll the dice six times.”

Xie Gou was puzzled. “Dice? Like those gambling things?”

Chen Ping An said it wasn’t quite the same, taking out a Lesser Heat Coin from his sleeve, tossing it into his hand, closing his fist, and shaking it gently. “It’s just an example.”

Xie Gou asked, “First separate the good and bad people to categorize the good and bad deeds?”

Chen Ping An shook his head. “I thought so at first, but I quickly realized it was wrong.”

Xie Gou waited for him to elaborate.

Chen Ping An smiled. “Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed. Let’s skip that step.”

Xie Gou raised her hand, casually gathering the Five Elements of different colors. Even drawing from heaven and earth at Xie Gou’s speed was extremely difficult, and Chen Ping An couldn’t do it yet. She was truly extracting essences. She shaped the pure Five Elements into different dice, tetrahedral, cubic, dodecahedral.

Chen Ping An asked curiously, “Can I learn that?”

Xie Gou looked embarrassed. “You can learn it, but I can’t teach it.”

She had seen the Three Mountains Nine Marquises giving a sermon and learned it through association.

In other words, the Mountain Lord had to rely on his own comprehension; she couldn’t teach him.

Besides, it was always the Mountain Lord’s strength to learn from others.

Xie Gou still didn’t want the Mountain Lord to avoid the key point, asking, “You don’t have to reveal heaven’s secrets, can you give me an overview?”

“I can only say a few vague words.”

Chen Ping An picked up the Lesser Heat Coin, thought for a moment, and said, “Heaven, human. Or ‘me,’ my world, and the rest of the universe, the vast world. The inspiration comes from Dao Ancestor’s saying, ‘The way of Heaven takes from the excess and gives to the deficient; the way of man takes from the deficient to give to the excess.’ There are many positive and negative sides. Outward, inward. Selfish, selfless. Life-affirming, death-seeking…”

“Wait, wait! Let me pause!

Xie Gou quickly held up her hand, signaling the Mountain Lord to stop. She widened her eyes and asked, “I have a question, first of all, the desire to live and the desire to die are, of course, opposites, but why do you consider them equal in… size, weight? Whether in the city or in the mountains, isn’t everyone intensely wanting to live, to be healthy, to live forever?”

“Mountain Lord, you can’t get me in over my head with your scholarly talk”

Chen Ping An smiled. “Okay, forget I said that for now.”

Xie Gou straightened her mink hat, habitually smoothing her chin with her palm. “I see what you’re getting at.”

She shook her head and continued, “Going back to the earliest conclusion, whether it’s Dao Ancestor’s distinction between the way of humans and the way of heaven, or comparing me to the world outside me, isn’t it unbalanced? Wouldn’t the first die, ‘Me vs. Little-Heaven vs. Big-Heaven,’ be far too uneven?”

Chen Ping An said, “It follows that, if you don’t see it as ‘Nothing’ but see it as ‘Everything,’ then everything I don’t have is, everything the heavens have!”

Xie Gou was about to blurt out, “You’re doing this on purpose”

Chen Ping An smiled. “I learned that the best part came from what Guo Zhujiu and Pei Qian told one another (Chapter 611)

Wanting to transcend the barrier of words, you had to cross so many fences, you had to be willing to break your ingrained ideas.

While the Gods and spirits were still present in the world, that was what allowed essence to be transmuted into qi and qi to be turned into the magic of the immortals, at the root of it all lay the possibility for humans to attain immortalhood

Xie Gou suddenly asked, “Chen Ping An, have you seen a real Daoist Yin-Yang fish?”

Chen Ping An said in confusion, “How does it work? Is there something wrong?”

Since Xie Gou called him by his first name, it had to be something important.

But Xie Gou blinked and immediately changed the subject, exclaiming, “That was quite an introduction! Heaven’s separation and Heaven’s union, that’s the starting point for the Fourteenth Realm!”

Chen Ping An laughed, “Either start from the top down, or from the bottom up, by slowly accumulating. It takes one’s personality and history and the path they walked, but the latter is exactly the sort of slow path that’d take a century before I was able to lay that ‘groundwork’ with perfection. But this is the end of an era, so I am unable to wait. So many new XIV rank cultivators came to light and a hundred years later, it wouldn’t be as extraordinary, said Old Taoist, who said that in ancient times, there were only one or two in each prefecture and now he would not be surprised that in the future, they will spawn Fourteenth rank cultivators from each prefecture. When I retire, maybe I could tear down the building and rebuild from another path. Before, inside the Little Heaven, I’d laid out seven steps for Yu Shiwu and the others.”

Xie Gou laughed, “That’s more fun than sweeping the ground with two shoes attached”

The Mountain Lord could easily see through the polite lie of the first and could see through the heart’s desire

Chen Ping An laughed “That’s quite the metaphor!”

Xie Gou waved her hand and did a Xiao Mi Li impression “We don’t give backhanded compliments over at Fallen Phoenix Mountain”

Chen Ping An suppressed his laughter and stored the notebook, then pulled out a wooden box filled with more than a dozen miniature swords made of different materials, from jade and bronze to timber, to silver and gold

Xie Gou took one look and thought that her eyes deceived her but took another and realized that they were all fakes! What did the Mountain Lord want?

Chen Ping An said with a grin “Impersonate a small grandmaster who can manipulate qi with swords, who can take heads with swords from afar”

Xie Gou expressed her agreement

Chen Ping An said “When the matters in Treasure Bottle Continent are over, you will know I will be heading to the Verdant World’s nine prefectures”

Attending Liu Xianyang’s wedding, which will be the most important matter, there is no number two. Officially being instated as Great Li’s tutor, speaking in private to His Majesty about the compensation, hopefully with an agreement on gold. Strive to help Taoist Ding ascend into the Ascended Realm so that he might pave the way for the future. Recapture Dragon Slaying Platform from True Martial Mountain and reforge and mend garments so that he may forge a Little Heaven in the shape of a Cage Bird and finally have a drink with Zhang Shanfeng, request a preface by Su Shi and get a bookstore to carve his memoir, with a trip back to Five-Color World

Xie Gou nodded “Xiao Mo had stated that you had made a pact to travel the Prefectures with Liu Jinglong, without any escorts and later allowed Xiao Mo to come in with you. It was clear that Xiao Mo had taken that to heart without saying it aloud”

Chen Ping An laughed and said honestly “That wasn’t being lenient but more worrying about becoming the center of attention. The cultivation and name didn’t match and the dangers were amplified. With Xiao Mo, I can wander at ease”

Xie Gou said, “If Mountain Lord hadn’t had so many identities and was just a casual Treasure Bottle Cultivator, Gold would have been the basis for a more pain-free journey. The Nascent Soul Realm would have been all right, barely enough. Plus, being a swordsman is already good enough. But Mountain Lord is not just anyone. Before ‘the world changed,’ it would have been easy to feel uneasy if I wasn’t in Jade and it’s probably easier to abandon him.”

Xiao Mo’s greatest asset was when he wanted to hide his energy, others could believe that he was an invisible entity and would take his place as the flower. No matter where he was, he could elevate the Mountain Lord. It wasn’t that he didn’t hog the spotlight but that he stood like a shadow. In the night, it’s even less obvious, but if he had to, he’d be illuminated, just like a shadow in the sun, just like Qing Tong.

Of course, those were just the words of Old Cook and not something Xie Gou could say. It would be far too flashy like Chief Cui or First Zhou to be next to Mountain Lord Chen.

Chen Ping An said with a grin, “Maybe I’ll take both of you together, meeting up now and then, just like those others over at the next mountain, so that we don’t need to be together all the time.”

Xie Gou’s eyes lit up, The Mountain Lord truly values my role

Recalling Xie Gou’s words about the Yin-Yang fish, Chen Ping An said, “Xie Gou, have you ever seen a shadow’s shadow?”

Xie Gou blankly looked and said, “Is that what Lu Chen said?”

“I’m not talking about that”

Chen Ping An shook his head and said, “So you know that too”

Xie Gou laughed ” I learn from Immortal Wei to spend my free time by learning some things! It just looks that I am just like the Great Sword Immortal Mi, but I am truly different, I have ambition”

Chen Ping An smiled, “I nearly made Hallmaster Lu cry from a single sentence at the Hall of Great Union”

Xie Gou felt a sense of shock and curiosity “Do tell”

Chen Ping An said, “He sought an answer so badly, that he valued it more than his immortality or life. That’s to say, even if he could obtain the 15th rank by dream traveling, he would forsake it.”

Xie Gou nodded “Lu Chen would think that”

Xie Gou surmised the answer and said “There’s something of someone above the 15th rank for that Daoist, who is chasing after it,”

Chen Ping An lost his smile and looked complex, “In my heart, Head Taoist Lu is someone akin to the Daoist incarnate on earth and is of great importance”

Chen Ping An looked at Xie Gou and softly said “If Chen Ping An and Zhou Mi are each half, the result would be a shadow’s shadow”

Xie Gou glanced over as though they were just joking but from his expression, he was serious.

Both parties fell silent and for some reason Chen Ping An looked at the Mink Girl and said “That’s a quote from my master, from Qi Wu, ‘Heaven and Earth are one, all things co-exist'”

Xie Gou froze and said in a loud voice “Halt Mountain Lord! I don’t want to talk about that anymore, I want to concentrate and become XIV rank!”

Chen Ping An’s meaning was very simple

Weren’t you, Lu Chen, looking for that one? Then that’s just like chasing a horse while riding it. You are a proctor but are you trying to answer your own question?

It was very clear from Chen Ping An’s expression that no one could escape, just like Xie Gou

That all of us were on the path to the One.