“Is Ying truly your personally-instructed disciple? At first, I didn’t quite grasp her self-destructive behavior, but now I understand. To encounter a mentor like you… Forget it, there’s no point in talking to you. Anyway, your Full Moon Peak will have to change its name in the future.”

The grand ferry of the Great Li dynasty still hovered outside One Line Peak, but Cao Ping had already departed on a talisman vessel. He made no ostentatious display, nor did he deliberately conceal his tracks, yet any discerning individual understood the significance.

To a large extent, Cao Ping’s participation in the ceremony carried more weight than the congratulations from the Yunlin Jiang clan. Furthermore, the officials accompanying the Inspector on the Great Li court ferry were limited to a mere Vice Minister of Rites, certainly not the Minister who nominally oversaw the landscapes and registers of the entire kingdom. Even if the Capital’s Minister of Rites, Lord Yuan, were to break the Great Li bureaucracy’s “Yuan and Cao do not walk the same path” rule and personally visit the Proper Sun Mountain alongside Cao Ping, a member of the same Pillar of State clan, the Proper Sun Mountain would still not dare to show any favoritism.

The Vice Minister of Rites, “forced” to remain alone on the ferry, could only hastily send a flying sword message back to the Great Li capital, hoping that Lord Yuan would provide clear instructions to avoid making any mistakes.

Guan Yiran and Liu Xunmei, scions of prominent families from Meaningful Lane and Reed Pipe Street, watched the excitement together on the ferry’s observation deck. Yu Shanfang, from the side, nudged Qi Qi in the ribs with an elbow, forcing him to ask Guan Yiran, “Did that kid really cause this commotion?”

Years ago, at Shujian Lake, they had shared drinks at the table with a gaunt accountant with bright eyes. That fellow possessed an extraordinary capacity and style for drinking. His persuasion skills were even more remarkable. Others, when drunk, would desperately insist that they were sober, but that guy, despite appearing as if another half bowl would send him spinning beneath the table, somehow managed to leave the table on his own two feet every time.

Guan Yiran simply smiled without speaking.

Not far from the ferry, the Wind and Snow Temple cultivator Yu Huiting stood beside a handsome man who, by seniority, was her grand-uncle. The woman, known among the Great Li’s military cultivators for her perpetually cold face and ruthless enemy-slaying, blushed slightly and softly asked, “Uncle Wei, why have you come?”

The man replied nonchalantly, “Just killing time, taking a leisurely stroll.”

He had long regretted becoming an unrecorded guest elder. The Yuan Spirit Hall of Pointing Finger Peak, after all, belonged to cultivators from the Northern Entire Reed Continent. He, Wei Jin, did not. It was neither too close nor too far from Fallen Phoenix Mountain. Therefore, Wei Jin resolved that once he left the territory of Proper Sun Mountain, he would cross the ocean and return to the Great Wall of Sword Qi. Last time he was there, it was a city defense battle. This time, returning to familiar ground, he could travel further south to unsheathe his sword.

Aboard a talisman vessel departing from the ferry, Inspector Cao Ping once again retrieved the secret letter.

The talisman vessel was actually a colossal warship, heavily guarded, manned not only by Cao’s personal retinue, but also by accompanying cultivators from the Great Li border army and Great Li’s royal offerings arranged by the Song Dynasty court.

Cao Ping poured himself a bowl of wine and drank it slowly, rereading the secret letter signed “Chen Ping’an, Mountain Lord of Fallen Phoenix Mountain.”

The letter stated that within three hundred years, Fallen Phoenix Mountain would ensure that the Cao clan, a Pillar of State, would not suffer the worst possible misfortunes. Furthermore, within three hundred years, whether publicly or privately, any candidate vetted by the Cao clan with the potential to reach the seventh realm martial artist or Golden Core earth immortal could be sent to Fallen Phoenix Mountain for cultivation, be they jade ornaments for Daoist cultivation or sword immortal embryos.

The handwriting was meticulously neat, all sharp edges concealed. If it were true that the writing reflected the heart, then the young mountain lord who penned this letter was either a deeply cunning and treacherous individual, or someone who adhered strictly to the rules.

The letter also stated that if the Cao clan did not wish to be too closely associated with Fallen Phoenix Mountain, Fallen Phoenix Mountain could secretly assist with introductions, sending them to the Taiwei Sword Sect, Floating Duckweed Sword Lake, or the Hemp Robe Sect of the Northern Entire Reed Continent, or even the Dragon Elephant Sword Sect of the Southern Abundance Continent.

Cao Ping set down the letter and lightly tapped his fingers on the table.

The Cao clan was already a Pillar of State clan of Great Li, and more importantly, it had produced him, an Inspector whose military achievements had reached their zenith. For a family to receive both civil and military honors, both reaching the highest ranks of officialdom.

Could they rest easy from now on? On the contrary, the next stage would be a true test of the Cao family’s skills in officialdom. One wrong move could lead to complete defeat. If the Cao clan wanted stability and to maintain its hard-earned glory, the answer did not lie in the imperial court, but in the mountains, and only in the mountains.