Back then, when Qi Jingchun used Li Baoping to move the locust tree branch, he secretly whittled a locust wood sword and quietly placed it in Chen Ping’an’s bamboo basket. Within it resided a golden incense figurine of unknown origin.

However, after two brief appearances at the Autumn Reed Inn and the Cao family’s Zhilan Manor, the shy incense figurine never appeared again. Chen Ping’an allowed it to be, not forcing anything.

As night deepened, in the Yang family’s shop, the old man smacked his pipe and furrowed his brow. With a grab, the incense figurine fell from the void to the ground.

Old Man Yang coldly said, “Qi Jingchun painstakingly hid you away. What did he intend to do?”

She stood on the ground, timid, seemingly afraid of the old man, clutching her clothes tightly, her lips moving slightly.

The more Old Man Yang listened, the more his face wrinkled. He pondered for a long time, then said, “I agree.”

He tapped the ground with his pipe, and a small shrine rolled out, standing before the incense figurine.

The incense figurine’s face lit up with joy. Just as she was about to enter, she suddenly looked up, hesitating.

Old Man Yang’s expression was indifferent. “Knowing everything is, of course, best. But if you can’t achieve that, then know nothing at all. Only then can you live well.”

The incense figurine still seemed hesitant, wanting to return to Mud Bottle Lane to at least bid farewell to that young man.

Old Man Yang raised his pipe again, exhaling heavy smoke. “Keeping all your cleverness to yourself is true cleverness. Do you really think that kid thinks about nothing but practicing his fist and doing good deeds all day long, acting like a benevolent child? After following him all this way, you’re truly foolish. He’s not stupid.”

The incense figurine pouted, somewhat deflated. However, when she entered the small shrine, she was immediately stunned.

She was like a tiny grain of rice, placed inside a giant vat.

On the tall walls of the small shrine, names shimmered, radiating different colors of light.

Above the incense figurine’s head, stars shone brightly, illuminating everything.

The old man put away his pipe, clasped his hands behind his back, and hobbled out of the apothecary, leaving the small town. When he passed the stone arch bridge, he sighed, full of regret and incomprehension. He slowly descended the bridge and came to the blacksmith’s shop along the Dragon Beard River. He didn’t enter, but went to the riverbank. With a light stomp, the river god woman immediately flew backward from the riverbed, her divine soul trembling, feeling dizzy. Upon discovering it was Old Man Yang, she immediately fawned, “Immortal, there’s no need to use such supreme divine powers. A simple call would have sufficed.”

Old Man Yang said expressionlessly, “You are to immediately go to the source of the Dragon Beard River and actively dissipate half of your golden body, merging it with the river water, helping Ruan Qiong increase the weight of the water element.”

The young woman was dumbfounded.

Shedding half of her golden body was something the old man spoke of so lightly, but the pain suffered during the process, and the damage to the Great Dao, were immeasurable.

The woman wished she could flee hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape.

Old Man Yang added, “If you succeed, when Ruan Qiong successfully forges the sword, I’ll help you obtain a River God Temple. In at most fifty or sixty years, you’ll be able to restore your complete golden body. After that, for hundreds and thousands of years, incense will never cease. This is a long-term benefit, you’ll definitely profit.”

The woman replied meekly, her voice barely audible, “Dissipating half of my golden body is too painful, I’m afraid of pain…”

The old man said nothing, merely gazing at the shimmering surface of the Dragon Beard River.

The woman cautiously asked, “Immortal, can I refuse?”

Old Man Yang nodded. “You can.”

The woman was overjoyed, but also surprised. When had this immortal become so reasonable?

Old Man Yang sneered, “I could just shatter your entire golden body; the effect would be even better. Don’t worry, after your divine soul dissipates tonight, I’ll compensate your descendants in the future.”

The woman was filled with despair. After some deliberation, she tremblingly asked, “Immortal, would it be possible for the blessing to fall solely on my grandson, Ma Kuxuan?”

She was filled with luck, because she knew that no matter how fairly this immortal acted, he treated her grandson, Ma Kuxuan, differently.

But Old Man Yang still refused on the spot, “No.”

The woman’s face turned ashen. “Then I’ll go to the source of the Dragon Beard River.”

Old Man Yang remained noncommittal.

The river god woman gritted her teeth and began to go upstream, passing through the stone arch bridge, which was no longer strange, heading straight for the deep mountains.

Ruan Qiong came to the shore and stood beside the old man, asking, “Regarding the matter of forging a sword for that girl, whether it succeeds or not, I’m not anxious at all. I have no intention of making a deal with you.”

“Forging the sword is not a transaction.”

Old Man Yang shook his head, “However, I can help conceal the true identity of your daughter for thirty years, but you must ensure that you forge that sword as soon as possible. That’s the deal I want to make.”

Ruan Qiong’s expression remained unchanged as he smiled. “True identity?”

The old man said calmly, “Ruan Qiong, you only need to nod or shake your head.”

Ruan Qiong felt somewhat stifled, but still nodded.

The old man smiled. “Looking back, it will be worth it.”

Ruan Qiong asked a strange question, “Then what counts as ‘not worth it’?”

The old man laughed, “Ruan Qiong, eavesdropping on others is not a good habit.”

Ruan Qiong frankly admitted, “You, the eldest grandson of the Li family, Wei Bo, the three of you, I must keep an eye on you.”

The old man nodded and then shook his head. “Reversing my position with Li Xisheng might be better.”

Ruan Qiong asked with a smile, “A thousand years, or ten thousand years from now?”

The old man stopped speaking.

Once entering a chaotic world of a hundred schools of thought contending, heroes and villains, geniuses and heretics, would emerge like bamboo shoots after rain, erupting from the ground crazily. Overnight, there would be a brand new scene that changes the world.

The old man had seen that magnificent scene, and more than once.

Ruan Qiong was ultimately only a sage of the military, not a sage of the Yin-Yang school. Although he had seen far, such as the growth of his daughter Ruan Xiu, it was still not far enough.

The old man suddenly blurted out, “Of course it’s not worth it. What use is it to gather the souls of two ordinary mortals? The price that needs to be paid is not small. If it were Ma Kuxuan, it would be a different story.”

Ruan Qiong asked with a smile, “Senior, you didn’t think highly of Chen Ping’an from the beginning?”

Old Man Yang said expressionlessly, “It’s enough if someone thinks highly of him.”

The reopening of the northward post road made the already lively Red Candle Town even more prosperous.
As night descended, a painted pleasure boat, adorned with a verdant bamboo curtain, gracefully glided from the cove, heading towards the town. Just as it entered the river that bisected the settlement, opportunity knocked. A wealthy elder, clad in silk brocade, stood alongside a sturdily built middle-aged man in coarse linen – a clear picture of a moneyed master and his guard, seeking nighttime entertainment.

The pleasure boat was of moderate size, staffed by five boat girls. Two steered the vessel, two played music and prepared wine, and the most alluring beauty of them all sat beside the silk-clad elder, attending to him like a clinging bird. This pleased the old man greatly, who pointed at the rustic man across from him, “Well, Lao Xie, what do you say? Clothes make the man, as the saying goes!”

Whether out of embarrassment or plainspokenness, the burly man took a cup of wine from the wine-serving girl, offered a curt thanks, and said to the elder, “Stop calling me Lao Xie, I don’t know you that well.”

The elder, blessed with thick skin, seized the opportunity to graze the boat girl’s hand as he accepted his wine, winking suggestively at the woman. Disgusted, she forced a smile. The elder, oblivious, savored his wine. “You may not know me, but I know you! Your name, Lao Xie, has spread from the Northeast all the way down to the South. Whenever I mention you to my old friends, and they learn you’re from the same hometown as me, they all beg me to introduce you. They say it would be a great regret not to meet such a hero, a grand figure!”

The man merely frowned, drinking in silence.

The elder, sporting a neatly trimmed mustache, now sat cross-legged, tilting his head to gaze at the town’s glittering lights. He swirled his wine cup in one hand, stroking his mustache with the other. His demeanor was utterly lecherous. Sitting cross-legged, he deliberately pressed his knee against the ample backside of the woman beside him. Even she, seasoned by countless nights of revelry, regretted not sitting beside the taciturn man.

As the elder raised his arm to stroke his mustache, revealing a section of his sleeve, the observant boat girls were visibly disappointed. Around the old man’s wrist was a length of jade-green cord. It might have seemed delicate and charming on a child, but on the wrist of an old man, it was simply incongruous.

The elder suddenly refocused, asking the beautiful woman beside him, “Do you girls of the pleasure quarter believe in oaths of mountains and seas?”

Not only was she unsure how to answer, but the other boat girls exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of the old man’s intentions.

The elder chuckled, pointing towards the burly man. “Look to him, it truly works. He’s a mountain king, ruling over many mountains. Oaths of mountains and seas, ‘mountain’ referring to the mountains…”

The man frowned, silently drinking his wine, seemingly lost in thought.

The elder pointed at himself. “Actually, finding me works too. There’s a very, very tall building in this world. It has a truly domineering name, called the Townsea Tower. It’s by the sea, and my home is near the Townsea Tower.”

Finally, the man lost his patience, his face clouded with displeasure. “Cao, what are you bragging about to them?”

The elder sipped his wine, picking up some appetizers with his chopsticks, and squinted at the man. “It’s precisely because they don’t understand any of this that it’s interesting to talk about. Showing off to a mountain man is just dull.”

Darkness gathered between the man’s brows, and he sullenly drank his wine.

In the mundane world’s marketplaces, the concept of oaths of mountains and seas was now primarily used by traveling storytellers in tales of romance. Its true meaning had long been forgotten by ordinary folk.

In truth, this concept was of great importance to those who cultivated the Dao. It referred to oaths sworn by cultivators, either to the mountains or the seas. Such oaths possessed an indescribable binding power, even more potent than written contracts among the common people.

Any mountain within the imperial borders, officially recognized by the court as one of the Five Sacred Mountains, would suffice. The higher the cultivator’s level, the higher the rank of the mountain required. These oaths were often used in alliances between great powers, or contracts in business. Over time, matchmakers and marriage contracts gradually took precedence. Sea oaths, however, had already lost most of their meaning. With the fall of the last true dragon, the Five Lakes and Four Seas of the Great Vast World, and the Nine Territories beyond the Nine Provinces, were all without a master. The mundane dynasties lacked the authority to bestow titles upon the true gods of the Five Lakes and Four Seas. Thus, there was no legitimate water deity to govern those five great lakes and the four boundless seas.

Legend held that the sun rose in the east and set in the western mountains, and that this place of sunrise was somewhere within the Eastern Sea.

The Cao-named elder paid no heed to the man’s feelings, munching loudly on his appetizers. He placed his hand on the thigh of the woman beside him, asking with a smile, “My beautiful lady, have you heard of the Heroic Garrison Tower?”

The woman shook her head.

“That won’t do!” The elder lightly patted the woman’s firm thigh. “Allow me to explain. In this human realm, there exist nine great Towers of Fortune, built by some unknown hand, each standing in a different location. They are the Towers of Garrisoning Mountains, Garrisoning the Nation, Garrisoning the Seas, Garrisoning Demons, Garrisoning Monsters, Garrisoning Immortals, Garrisoning Swords, and Garrisoning Dragons. These eight towering structures, reaching the clouds, are all two-character names. Only the last one has three characters, and is the strangest of all. It’s called…”

The man slammed his chopsticks on the table, his face flushed with anger. “Enough, Cao Xi! Are you ever going to shut up?!”

As the chopsticks hit the table, all the boat girls entered a strange state. They continued to breathe, their hands moved with practiced ease, but they seemed to completely ignore the two out-of-town guests on the boat. They could neither see nor hear them.

“Now that we’re here, our identities will soon be discovered. You, Xie Shi, at least came from the Li Zhu Cave Heaven. Trying to deliberately conceal your identity would only arouse suspicion. It’s better to do as I do, strut into town without a care. We might even have to fight a little, let the Great Li Dynasty see what’s what, so they don’t take a Land Sword Immortal lightly.”

Cao Xi glanced at the man across from him, grinning. “Everyone says that Xie Shi of Julu Continent is upright and honorable, like the great sun hanging in the sky, never doing a single thing he’d regret. What, are you making an exception this time?”

Cao Xi leaned forward, picking up a pickled radish from a small, pinkish-green porcelain dish and popping it into his mouth. “It’s just a broken piece of porcelain, you know. As long as you speak up, just nod your head, and I’ll help you solve it. Xie Shi, Xie Shi, truly, it’s not my place to say, but we’ve reached this level, how can you still be led by the nose? Isn’t that pathetic?”
The burly man scoffed, “Aren’t you afraid of biting off more than you can chew? The one who bought your natal porcelain, is he an easygoing character?”

Cao Xi feigned surprise, “What, old Xie, is your information network lacking? Haven’t you heard that a junior of my family just got engaged to a direct descendant of the Chen Clan of Refined Scholars? The Chens asked a master from the Lu family to cast a divination, and guess what? Eight auspicious characters! A match made in heaven! I’m not boasting here, but in our continent, this isn’t a small matter.”

Xie Shi sneered, “You, Cao Xi, shouldn’t be embarrassed by such a thing, yet you look so smug? What gives you the audacity?”

Cao Xi, thick-skinned as a wall, retorted, “Why would it be embarrassing? My descendants are capable enough to woo a wife, so why shouldn’t I, as their ancestor, be happy?”

Xie Shi crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, “Speak your mind. If it’s about the porcelain, don’t bother, I won’t agree. Everyone should handle their own affairs, and besides, I don’t trust you, Cao Xi.”

Cao Xi let out a dramatic sigh and began to rub his eyes. “Worthy of being the renowned Great Hero Xie of the continent, your righteous aura is truly dazzling. I must quickly rub my eyes, or I won’t be able to withstand it…”

The green silk cord on the old eccentric’s wrist reappeared.

Everyone in Southern P婆娑洲 (Po Suo Continent) knew that Cao Xi’s swordsmanship was not the most outstanding among the Land Immortals, but his sword, as a magical artifact, was among the top ten in the continent.

Cao Xi wore a veritable river, a torrent of water, on his wrist.

This river was Cao Xi’s sword.

Xie Shi had long heard of such news from other continents, not exactly secret knowledge, but still directly asked, “Do you need a fight to shut up?”

Cao Xi simply ate and drank, shaking his head. “Everyone in Po Suo Continent says that I, Cao Xi, am temperamental and eccentric. Xie Shi, do you think I’m a difficult person to deal with?”

Xie Shi closed his eyes to rest.

Whenever a pleasure boat had a guest and a deal was struck, the boat girl would remove a lantern from its fixed position at the bow, signaling that the boat was full and no longer accepting passengers.

Cao Xi waved his chopsticks. “Wrong, utterly wrong. The most difficult person to deal with in this world is someone like you, Xie Shi, too hard to open up to.”

Xie Shi, with his eyes still closed, said, “My patience is limited.”

Cao Xi rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s get down to business. Some people don’t want to see the rise of the Great Li Song Clan, but you, Xie Shi, are stubborn and keep your promises, so you have to come out of seclusion, even delaying your trip to the Inverted Mountain.”

“Coincidentally, the Chen Clan of Refined Scholars didn’t like Qi Jingchun’s ways, and previously had a very poor impression of Great Li, but now they’ve changed their minds for some unknown reason. I don’t care about that anyway. The Chen Clan not only opened a school in the town in the name of the Chen Clan of Longwei County of Treasure Bottle Continent, but also sent me on this long trip as part of the dowry for my descendant, to stop you, Xie Shi.”

“Although I don’t know the specific plan, I will continue to appear here, and will keep a close eye on you.”

Xie Shi didn’t open his eyes, but a hint of mockery appeared on his lips. “Are you sure you can stop me?”

Cao Xi finally finished the various dishes in the small plates, put down his chopsticks, and said with confidence, “I’m not sure if I can beat you, but I’m sure I can stop you.”

Xie Shi suddenly opened his eyes and turned to look.

A young-looking swordsman, without a sword hanging at his waist or on his back, but with his long sword placed horizontally behind him, his elbows resting lazily on the scabbard, was smiling and looking at Xie Shi.

This person, at the residence of the Ghost Bride under the plaque “Exquisite Scenery, Lofty Virtue”, had only drawn his sword an inch, yet he had used a miniature mountain range that he had moved in front of himself to block the fierce sword strike of the Land Immortal Wei Jin.

In Red Candle Town, he had met and drank with Ah Liang. On the Embroidered River ferry, he had greeted Chen Ping’an, which seemed to be the first time Chen Ping’an had clasped his fists in a greeting. Finally, he and a subordinate, Liu Yu, had taken Wei Bo of Chessboard Mountain to Dragon Spring.

Wei Jin of Divine Immortal Platform had called him “that someone from the Mo School.”

Chen Ping’an sat in the house for a long time, staring at the locust wood sword, but he found that he couldn’t calm down no matter what he did. Reading was impossible, practicing calligraphy was impossible, and even walking the stake and using the sword furnace were impossible.

So Chen Ping’an packed the locust wood sword into his basket, left his ancestral home, and after walking out of Mud Bottle Alley, went straight to Ruopo Mountain.

When he appeared in front of the bamboo building, the green-clad boy and the pink-skirted girl were both shocked.

Chen Ping’an walked up to the second floor of the bamboo building, and his heart immediately calmed down.

The pink-skirted girl wanted to follow, but the green-clad boy grabbed her by the neck. He lightly chided, “Are you stupid? Can’t you see that the Old Master is not in a good mood?”

The pink-skirted girl looked blank.

The green-clad boy dragged her to sit on a small bamboo chair on the first floor, and said confidently, “With our Old Master’s temper, there are only two situations that can make him so off.”

The pink-skirted girl perked up her ears, listening intently.

The green-clad boy held up a finger, lowering his voice, “One situation is that he lost money, and a considerable amount.”

The pink-skirted girl agreed wholeheartedly.

The green-clad boy grinned, “The other is that the Old Master suffered a heavy emotional blow, like tossing and turning in bed alone, having a sudden idea, running to confess to Miss Ruan Xiu, and being rejected. Or when confessing to his beloved girl, he overstepped his bounds, wanting to kiss and hug her tightly, and then got slapped by Miss Ruan and called a pervert, making our Old Master very angry, so he had to come to the bamboo building to cool off.”

The pink-skirted girl was skeptical. “The Old Master wouldn’t do such things.”

The green-clad boy sighed. “You don’t understand us men.”

Chen Ping’an sat cross-legged on the second floor, looking out at the distance through the gaps in the railing.

The locust wood sword lay across his lap.

He took out the silver sword embryo and stared down at it. Unlike the strange movements in Mud Bottle Alley, the sword embryo was now as still as a dead object.

For some reason, Chen Ping’an was already at peace, even more stable and clear-headed than when he usually practiced his fist techniques.
Chen Pingan lifted his head once more, clenching the sword embryo in his palm, his voice calm as he said, “If it’s not mine, even if it lies at my feet, I will pick it up and actively seek its owner, returning it to them. But if it is mine, then it is mine, and nowhere shall you go. Even if you flee to the ends of the heavens, I will still seize you and bring you back.”

The silvery sword embryo gradually grew warm, and before long, it was scalding hot.

Chen Pingan gritted his teeth, gripping it tightly with one hand, while the other gently rested on the locust wood sword, as if for emotional support. Eventually, he had to clutch the sword hilt tightly.

His palm was already burned a fiery red.

The pain was excruciating, his very soul trembled.

The searing pain from the sword embryo was more than just a torment of flesh and blood; it felt like molten copper being poured onto the center of his heart.

The Eighteen Stops Sword Qi Circulation method began to flow naturally, repeatedly assaulting the qi reservoirs and acupoints with names unfamiliar to this era, desperately resisting the fiery shock.

Previously, Chen Pingan had been stuck between the sixth and seventh stages, unable to break through the threshold no matter what he tried.

No matter how Chen Pingan practiced his fist forms and stances, or how he sparred with the green-robed boy to temper his physique, he could not find the correct method, and thus could not enter the gate.

To alleviate the pain as much as possible, Chen Pingan, his body trembling violently, began to desperately try to distract himself, thinking of the Confucian classics that Cui Dongshan loudly recited, the calligraphy of the young Daoist Lu Chen’s prescriptions, Wei Jin’s sword strike that shattered the void and broke all laws in the Wind and Snow Temple, imagining the bizarre scene of the white rainbow sword striking the spring leaves and autumn winds in Mud Bottle Alley today…

One thing after another, yet none of it helped.

Besides his palm being a bloody mess, stuck to the sword embryo, Chen Pingan’s seven orifices began to bleed. And it didn’t stop there; the tiny pores of his entire body began to seep blood, finally coalescing into beads of blood that were shocking to the eye.

As miserable as the exterior was, the interior was even more wretched. The meridians between the qi reservoirs within his body were like mud splattered in all directions by iron cavalry hooves.

Finally, Chen Pingan thought of a girl.

He smiled knowingly.

It was all he could do.

For Chen Pingan’s face had already twisted into a rigid, wooden, hideous expression, impossible to change in the slightest.

Chen Pingan continued to silently endure the immense pain.

From beginning to end, he did not utter a single sound.

His consciousness was blurred, dazed and confused. Chen Pingan thought of one name after another, a fleeting panorama. Familiar names and scenes would linger slightly longer, while unfamiliar ones would flash by in an instant.

There was affection, admiration, respect, fear, disgust, aversion, pity, hatred, doubt…

咚咚咚…

As if someone was knocking on the door of the young man’s heart.

As if asking something.

Reaching to the very core of his being.

The young man, with only a sliver of consciousness supporting his unwillingness to concede, could only answer with his heart, an answer he himself would not know.

Human strength has its limits.

Chen Pingan finally could not bear it any longer, falling backward. The back of his head struck the green bamboo ground, slightly clearing his mind.

嗡嗡嗡.

He felt a strange movement coming from his abdomen.

The human body is a miniature world; a sword’s cry suddenly rises, an unsettling sound!