Qi Jingchun and Chen Ping'an walked to the Twelve-Foot Crab Memorial Archway.
Currently, Chen Ping'an was blessed by the Yao family's locust leaves, and his luck would soon turn around. Once he left the bottled-heaven town in the future, even greater opportunities might await him.
Master Qi plucked an ancient, unadorned jade hairpin from his hair and handed it to Chen Ping'an. Chen Ping'an anxiously tried to refuse.
Master Qi said gently, "My students will be leaving the town one after another, and I have given each of them something—nothing too precious, just a farewell gift. Although you only audited my lectures, you still count as my student. All principles are found in books, but walking the path of life is done with one's own feet."
Deeply moved, Ping'an respectfully received it with both hands.
After bidding farewell to Master Qi, Chen Ping'an returned to his humble abode in Mud-Bottle Alley.
Ning Yao, the black-robed, hair-tied young woman, had already recovered. She was already strikingly pretty to begin with, and now that her complexion had improved, she looked even more valiant and spirited.
Glancing at the two bags of gold-essence copper coins and a manual of boxing techniques on the table, she said to Chen Ping'an, "Gu Can gave these to you. He said he was going somewhere called Jianjian Lake. He looked all over for you, and when he couldn't find you, he cried his eyes out."
Chen Ping'an nodded. Master Qi had already told him about it: the outlander Liu Zhimou, who was Gu Can's master, had intentionally pulled strings and planted a death-seeking talisman in the boy's heart.
The grudges involving Fu Nanhu and Cai Jinjian were all thanks to him. Chen Ping'an had worried that if Gu Can acknowledged such a master, he wouldn't learn anything good, but Master Qi had said that everyone had their own destiny, and besides, there was no stopping Gu Can's mother.
Neither Cai Jinjian nor Fu Nanhu had died. Master Qi had notified Cloud-Mists Mountain and Old Dragon City, and after mediating between them, the two had already been taken away.
This move was to help Chen Ping'an, preventing him from being beaten to death the moment he stepped out of the town.
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Liu Xianyang was utterly stifled, yet Ruan Qiong, the blacksmith master, still wouldn't allow him to cross the Covered Bridge.
He had originally thought he'd have a companion in misery, Wang Jing, to keep him company, but who would have thought that Wang Jing had actually become addicted to reading!
Regarding this "bad habit" Wang Jing had contracted, Liu Xianyang had racked his brains and tried to persuade him with earnest, well-meaning words, drawing upon the few principles he knew:
"Wang Jing, it's not that I want to lecture you, but you've actually caught the reading bug. Haven't you ever heard the saying that of all pursuits, scholars are the most useless?"
Wang Jing glanced at him sideways, looking at him as if he were an idiot. "Get lost and stop disturbing my studies."
Looking at the yellowed book clutched in Wang Jing's hands, Liu Xianyang said huffily, "Well, stay here and read your dirty books then. I'm going to wander around."
Before he had walked very far, Lu Zhengchun hurried over in the company of some outlanders.
Sensing the commotion, Wang Jing turned his head to look, and his heart instantly skipped a beat. "It's the Xu family mother and son from Clearwind City, along with the Mountain-Moving Ape from True Yang Mountain, and that little girl!"
Internally, he cried out that it was bad and hurriedly tried to wake up the system. The system prompt chimed: "Ding! Installation 50% complete, please wait..."
"What the hell!"
He instantly felt danger approaching!
Not far away, Lu Zhengchun was bowing and scraping before Liu Xianyang, who stood with his arms crossed and his body leaning crookedly.
Suddenly, Lu Zhengchun dropped to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly to Liu Xianyang as he cried out loudly, "Liu Xianyang, just agree to their demands and give them both the treasured armor and the sword manual! I'm begging you, they're willing to pay any amount of money!"
The death of his younger brother Lu Zhengyang had left an indelible shadow on this once lofty young master of the Lu family. He had long since lost his former arrogance and overbearing manner, and was now even willing to wag his tail and beg for pity like a dog!
Seeing the blood on Lu Zhengchun's split forehead, Liu Xianyang felt a pang of pity and was about to help him up when the Mountain-Moving Ape swept out with a kick, sending Lu Zhengchun flying several meters away!
The little boy in the red robe burst into loud laughter, and Tao Zi, the little girl riding on the Mountain-Moving Ape's shoulders, clapped and cheered as well!
Liu Xianyang wore a look of astonishment. His shoulders were pinned down by the Mountain-Moving Ape's long arms, and a voice like a booming bell left him feeling somewhat dizzy: "Liu Xianyang, you can ignore that stray dog. Hand the sword manual over to my True Yang Mountain, and I guarantee you immense wealth and prosperity in your next life!"
The Xu family of Clearwind City first cast a glance at Wang Jing not far away, their eyes filled with hatred. The little boy also spotted Wang Jing and wanted to walk over, but he was firmly grabbed by the hand by Madam Xu and couldn't break free. "My son, put the overall situation first..."
Beaming with joy, Madam Xu said to Liu Xianyang, "I'll give you gold-essence copper coins in exchange for your family's treasured armor. Look how open this creek is, with hardly any pedestrians around. That friend of yours in the distance seems trapped right here—if something unfortunate were to happen to him, what would you do?!"
Liu Xianyang turned pale with fright. "Are you threatening me?!"
Madam Xu's smile remained as she continued, "How could that be? We also know you have a brother named Chen Ping'an, and you guys are the 'Four Gods' gang or something..."
Liu Xianyang was boiling with rage!
Clearly knowing the trickiness of the eastern bank of the creek, the Mountain-Moving Ape grabbed Liu Xianyang and leaped across to the western bank.
Madam Xu of Clearwind City shouted at Lu Zhengchun, "Useless cowardly dog, get up already and go notify Chen Ping'an to bring the treasured armor and sword manual over. I'm going to use this creek as a boundary to settle this matter once and for all!"
Lu Zhengchun quickly scrambled to his feet in what could be called a medical miracle. He had originally wanted to play dead or pretend to faint to avoid getting mixed up in such a headache-inducing mess, but he had been found out anyway!
Before Ruan Qiong confined him to the grounds, Liu Xianyang had handed his house keys to Chen Ping'an and instructed him: "In case of absolute necessity, the armor can be sold, but the sword manual cannot. However, if there's a real threat to life, both can be sold! After all, grandfather is gone; ancestral teachings are important, but a living person's life is even more crucial."
The Lu family's informants had learned of all this. They had first sent people to plead with Chen Ping'an, but that boy simply wouldn't budge and was too close to Qi Jingchun, so they had no choice but to come directly to Liu Xianyang.
A few miles south of the Covered Bridge, Ruan Qiong, a powerhouse of the Upper Five Realms, was firing up a furnace to forge swords, and everything east of the creek was already his territory. Out of awe and dread for Ruan Qiong, they had brought Liu Xianyang to the western bank of the creek instead.
Trouble must not happen on Ruan Qiong's turf!
Most crucially, because Liu Xianyang had not yet formally become a disciple, Clearwind City and True Yang Mountain dared to be so audacious!
The struggle for the Great Dao had reached a critical, hair-trigger juncture.
Both Clearwind City and True Yang Mountain had received messages from their sects: the suppression artifact was about to be taken away, and the collapse of this realm was certain. Fight quickly and resolve this promptly!
Originally, Clearwind City and True Yang Mountain had joined forces, with the informants of the town's Lu and Li families spreading everywhere step by step, thinking that haste makes waste and that they should advance steadily.
However, after observing and understanding things for a few days, they realized that even if they broke the rules and crossed the boundary, the punishment seemed to be nothing much!
That noble young master, the Great Sui prince Gao Zhen, and his old servant Old Eunuch Wu had obtained the opportunities of the golden dragon and the imperial jade seal, yet Ning Yao, who had injured the Sword Qi Great Wall, was merely banished?
What about that sanctimonious Daoist heterodox who styled himself a True Lord, Liu Zhimou? Using despicable means to scheme against the town's youths and treating human lives like grass to create a tragedy of mutual slaughter—what consequences had he suffered for obtaining the water dragon's opportunity and the exceptionally talented disciple Gu Can?
And what about Huan Shu of True Martial Mountain, the Military strategists' faction member who protected at all costs the lawless and unruly town youth Ma Kuxuan...
What had Qi Jingchun done? Minor reprimands and punishments, useless principles, a light breeze and a drifting cloud—nothing heavy or light. Therefore, Clearwind City and True Yang Mountain decided to adopt thunderous tactics to bring matters to a swift conclusion!
With various factors compounding, the ones suffering were the "Three Gods" gang: Liu Xianyang, Wang Jing, and Chen Ping'an.
This seemed to be a kind of karmic affinity spoken of in Buddhism—the fate binding the three of them had begun at the dragon kilns firing porcelain, and perhaps it was destined to end in the town?