Once one is camping in the wilderness, keeping watch at night is essential. Before Red Candle Town’s Pillow Inn, Chen Ping’an guarded the first half of the night. Zhu He, as a Fifth Realm martial artist with a robust physique, was better at staying up late, so he was responsible for the latter half. Now that Zhu He has left, it has changed to Lin Shiyi guarding the first half and Chen Ping’an the latter, trying their best to keep the bonfire burning to prevent unexpected intrusions.

Chen Ping’an was no stranger to this. When firing porcelain in a kiln, watching the kiln fire was a matter of utmost importance. Chen Ping’an had been a kiln apprentice for so many years, and although Old Man Yao considered him untalented and unwilling to teach him his prized porcelain firing techniques, Chen Ping’an rarely made mistakes in other laborious tasks. Therefore, Chen Ping’an was very familiar with the kind of night watch that tested patience and perseverance.

Moreover, he could take advantage of the quiet late-night hours to practice the “Earthshaking Manual” stepping and standing postures over and over again alone. Occasionally, he could weave straw sandals or take out the small Dragon-Slaying Platform to help Li Bao Ping sharpen that narrow-bladed auspicious charm knife.

As the Sword Furnace stance training improved, especially with the fiery dragon of Qi within him finally choosing two Qi reservoirs as its dwelling place, whenever Chen Ping’an made a sword furnace hand seal, his mind would slowly sink into a mysterious state of half-sleep and half-wake with each breath. Even though this year’s spring cold was unusually long, and the summer heat was late in arriving, Chen Ping’an never felt any dampness or coldness whenever he watched the latter half of the night, even if the bonfire accidentally went out. Every time he put away the Sword Furnace and got up to stretch his muscles and bones with stepping stances, his entire body felt warm, and he showed no signs of fatigue during the day’s journey.

Tonight, Chen Ping’an continued to sit cross-legged by the bonfire, diligently practicing the Sword Furnace. The Qi within his body quickly followed the Qi reservoir in his dantian, like a carp swimming upstream, heading towards the Dragon Gate little by little. Then, it would linger in the acupoint where the sword Qi had departed, like a traveler lodging at an inn or a mountaineer catching their breath halfway up the mountain, before gathering momentum to continue its sprint, circling to the back of his neck, and finally rushing straight to the space between his eyebrows.

After Chen Ping’an opened his eyes, he exhaled a mouthful of stale air and stood up. He lightly hopped a few times, quickly turning his head to look and saw Yu Lu getting out of the carriage and walking over slowly, holding some branches that were not very dry in his arms. He squatted down by the bonfire, imitating Chen Ping’an’s construction of a “furnace” and carefully adding firewood instead of throwing it in casually. The fire quickly grew bigger.

Yu Lu reached out to warm his hands near the fire and turned his head to smile. “Chen Ping’an, can I participate in the night watch in the future? You need to concentrate on practicing this fist-stance. My body is actually alright, I think you can see that. So, if you’re willing to trust me, you can give me the two hours before dawn.”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and said, “Yu Lu, I appreciate your kindness, but I don’t need you to keep watch for the time being.”

Yu Lu understood Chen Ping’an’s unspoken meaning, which was that he was not yet comfortable entrusting everyone’s safety to him. The tall youth did not become angry or embarrassed but nodded and said, “When you need me, you can tell me. I also want to do something for everyone, otherwise, I’ll feel guilty.”

Chen Ping’an looked at the face illuminated by the firelight, with its distinct features and bright eyes, which clearly conveyed his goodwill.

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “Okay.”

Yu Lu casually said, “According to the calendar, it’s summer now, but the weather is still like late spring.”

Chen Ping’an agreed, “It’s a bit strange this year.”

After a few casual words, Yu Lu got up to leave. Chen Ping’an watched the tall youth depart.

According to Lin Shiyi in private, Yu Lu’s chess playing seemed to lack killing power and never had strokes of divine inspiration, but in reality, it was actually more powerful than the violent and bloody playing style of the girl Xie Xie.

Chen Ping’an had long noticed that Yu Lu was extremely meticulous in his work, leaving no room for error. Lin Shiyi said that Yu Lu’s work was even more steady and reliable than the most experienced clerks in the yamen.

Chen Ping’an deeply appreciated this. For example, after only watching him weave straw sandals once or twice, Yu Lu was quickly able to weave them himself, with a semblance of skill. The pair he was wearing was Yu Lu’s own creation. Or, for example, whenever Chen Ping’an went fishing, Yu Lu would often stand by and watch silently, observing what time of day, in what section of the water he cast his line, how he cast and retrieved the rod, and how to play a big fish, keeping its head above the water, and how to carefully shake it off the hook when the fish saw the light for the first time, and so on. Then, once, when Chen Ping’an had to attend to other matters, Yu Lu would ask if he could try. After taking the fishing rod from Chen Ping’an, Yu Lu, who had never had any fishing experience, actually had a decent catch.

Chen Ping’an said nothing about all of this but watched and remembered it in his heart. He felt that if this tall youth, whose real name he didn’t even know, was a good person, then he would definitely be very good. If he were a bad person, Chen Ping’an couldn’t imagine what it would be like.

Nothing happened overnight.

Besides the dwindling bonfire beside Chen Ping’an, a lamp had been lit early in the carriage in the distance and had stayed on all night. It was unknown what books the white-robed youth was engrossed in.

At dawn, Chen Ping’an began to focus his mind and spirit, coming to the widest point of view on the waist of this Hengshan Mountain, and began to practice boxing with the sunrise. Li Bao Ping and Lin Shiyi joined in one after another, except for the erratic Li Huai, who ran off after practicing for a while. Yu Lu and Xie Xie were used to this. Today, the white-robed youth lifted the curtain and stood on the carriage, watching them practice boxing in a measured manner. At first, he would scoff and glance away, never watching again, but as time went on, the young national master’s time watching from afar with his hands in his sleeves grew longer and longer.

After the group had breakfast, they began to walk along the mountain road towards the summit. They passed the Qing Niangniang Temple recorded in the local county annals. The old cypress tree that depended on the small temple, if only looking at the size of the green shade and not talking about the depth of the opportunity, was already comparable to the locust tree of the Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven.

Lin Shiyi had thought that Chen Ping’an would continue on his way, but he didn’t expect Chen Ping’an to go to the temple to take a look and then call him, Li Bao Ping, and Li Huai in. It turned out that the small temple was in a mess everywhere, filled with the smell of alcohol. The clay statue standing in the shrine, no matter how Li Huai craned his neck, did not look like the female ghost he and Lin Shiyi had played chess with last night. Lin Shiyi had interacted the most with that Yin deity along the way and knew many inside stories, so he explained to Li Huai that many locals, grateful for the blessing of the local spirits, erected statues and sacrifices to enjoy the incense, but the golden statues were often distorted and might not even resemble their true appearance, but this would not affect the incense offering to the spirits.

After spending half an hour cleaning up the small temple, Chen Ping’an and his group continued on their way. Before leaving, Lin Shiyi stood alone near the futon under the altar and bowed to Qing Niangniang, who had given him a rare chess manual.

At the same time, the white-robed youth led Yu Lu across the threshold. Cui Chan looked around, then walked to the altar and looked at the small incense burner covered with ashes. It was an ordinary bronze burner. It may have been through the accumulation of hundreds of years that the surface of the bronze burner shone brightly. The burning incense ends in the burner were densely packed together, which showed that this small temple, even if it was not included in the Huang Ting Kingdom’s mountains and rivers register, was strictly speaking a lewd shrine that should be banned. Considering the small area occupied by the temple, it could be said to be very prosperous.

The white-robed youth suddenly said, “Yu Lu, when you encounter temples and shrines, pay your respects. This is a good deed to connect with the mountains and rivers.”

Although Yu Lu did not understand the reason, he still symbolically bowed three times.

The girl Xie Xie stood outside the door with the bamboo flute tied around her waist.

After leaving the Hengshan area, the team arrived at a county town of the Huang Ting Kingdom. Fortunately, Chen Ping’an and others had seen the magnificent style of Yefu Pass before, and the three rivers confluence of Red Candle Town was prosperous enough, so they were mentally prepared for the high city towns of the outside world. However, Li Huai was still a little restrained, and even the colorful wooden puppets he often held in his hand were secretly hidden back in his small book box.

The records of Chen Ping’an and others were of Longquan County, Great Li Dynasty, and the entry procedures were handled very smoothly and quickly. Although the upper country of the Huang Ting Kingdom was the Great Sui Gao family and not the Great Li Song family, with the Great Li annexing the vast territory of the entire northern continent, the trend of southward movement has become a foregone conclusion. Huang Ting Kingdom has always treated the Great Li scholars who went out to study with courtesy in recent years, only lacking to worship them as passing living Buddhas, after all, maybe one day the land of the Huang Ting Kingdom will become a continent of the Great Li Dynasty.

The Lu Dynasty, as the overlord of the northern territory of the Treasure Bottle Continent in the past, now not only has its mountains and rivers broken, but even the royal family has been degraded to criminal slaves. The bloody lessons of the past are vivid in our minds.

Before entering the city, Chen Ping’an carefully asked the local people about the scenic spots inside and outside the city. Because Chen Ping’an hoped that Li Bao Ping and their study tour could see as many famous mountains, rivers, Taoist temples, and ancient city sites as possible, while ensuring personal safety, rather than just skimming the surface, so that in the end, when they arrived at the Great Sui Academy, they would not have seen anything but sleeping in the open air and rushing on their way.

Like entering the city this time, they were going to visit the oldest city god temple in Huang Ting Kingdom, where the murals depicted the scenes of the eighteen levels of hell, which were rumored to allow people to feel as if they were there, which was extremely famous.

The group asked for directions and walked along a wide street towards the city god temple.

Suddenly, there was a commotion behind the crowd. Chen Ping’an turned his head and looked, somewhat shocked. He saw a novel scene that would never appear in the territory of the Great Li Dynasty. There was a group of majestic young men and women, about seven or eight people, all dressed in flowing clothes, led by a white-haired old man, swaggering through the streets. Some people were riding on huge black tigers, some were followed by red giant snakes more than two feet long, and some were carrying huge ox-horn bows.

The originally crowded and lively street quickly dodged to both sides. Some ignorant children were dragged away from the street and into the shops on both sides by their parents. The bright red snake, without any deliberate restraint from its master, shook its head and tail, and its two ends were covered with scarlet armor, which made the pet raised by the mountain immortals even more arrogant. It did not move forward in a straight line, but would occasionally swim towards the shops, occasionally stopping and raising its head, showing off its power to the trembling county city people.

Among them, some timid children were frightened and cried loudly under the close gaze of the giant snake, and their parents quickly covered their mouths.

The giant snake continued to move forward, but suddenly flicked its tail and smashed it on the face of the man who had just breathed a sigh of relief. The man spun in the air several times and fell heavily to the ground. After vomiting a mouthful of blood, he struggled to get up and fled in panic with his pale wife and children.

Standing in the distance, Chen Ping’an saw that the surrounding passers-by were gloating, some were trembling, some were marveling, but no one felt that there was anything wrong with the animal’s wounding behavior.

Lin Shiyi squeezed out a talisman from his sleeve and stood beside Chen Ping’an. Li Bao Ping and Li Huai stood close to the shop.

The carriage that the white-robed youth was riding in, driven by the coachman Yu Lu, also deviated from its original path and stopped near the roadside.

The mountain immortals in the eyes of the Huang Ting Kingdom’s people soon came to Chen Ping’an’s group. The old man’s lips moved slightly, and then all the young people looked over, with provocation and curiosity in their eyes, without exception. However, the owner of the red snake finally gave a soft shout and called the rampant animal to his side. Obviously, the elders of the sect responsible for this trip down the mountain had just reminded them that when encountering mountain forces of the same path, they should not be too arrogant and unreasonable.

When the old man passed by Chen Ping’an and his group, he smiled slightly with the demeanor of a high-ranking person and nodded to the young Lin Shiyi to show his respect.

The two sides separated peacefully, without interfering with each other.

The young Cui Chan walked out of the carriage, kicked open Xie Xie, who was not actually blocking the way, jumped out of the carriage, and said indifferently in a voice that Chen Ping’an could hear, “Outside of the Great Li, it’s all like this.”

Chen Ping’an saw that after the group had left, officials with knives came out to maintain order, but it was just a formality.

Chen Ping’an asked, “Doesn’t the imperial court care?”

Cui Chan smiled and said, “Either they don’t want to care, or they don’t dare to care, or… they can’t wait to do something for the mountain immortals.”

Chen Ping’an turned his head to look at Li Bao Ping and Li Huai, and said softly, “Continue on our way.”

Cui Chan no longer rode in the carriage but walked slowly between the four people and the carriage.

The young man in white robes, with cinnabar between his eyebrows and fluttering sleeves, had the appearance of an immortal.
(End of this chapter)