Chapter 544 (3): All Those In the Same Boat Are Enemies

Huai Qian was the foreign scholar who had come to the Northern Complete Reed Continent from another continent, and he had gotten swept up in this calamity under rather inexplicable circumstances.

In any case, Liu Guibao was very fond of him, particularly the way that he tried to pretend to be an experienced and knowledgeable cultivator that was wise beyond his years. It was adorably foolish and naive.

Perhaps it was because Liu Guibao was too shrewd and intelligent from a young age, but she had quickly grown fond of this young scholar who was a polar opposite to herself.

Just as her mistress said, if one had to think of many reasons for why they liked someone, then they didn't truly like that person, and they should hurry up and like someone else.

Whenever Sun Qing became inebriated after a few drinks, she would always tell this prized disciple of hers about Liu Jinglong. In the process, she would unconsciously put out colloquial nuggets of wisdom like this from time to time, and that was very adorable in Liu Guibao's eyes as well.

Meanwhile, the discussion between the six people on the other side of the bridge continued. They had agreed on who to kill, and now, it was time to decide how those people would be killed and by who.

Some of the smarter ones here could most likely already sense the impending peril.

Liu Guibao turned to look at everyone, and it seemed that there weren't many smart ones among them.

Meanwhile, a man was sitting on his own on the riverbank, feeling absolutely petrified.

He was making sure to keep his distance from everyone else. He was all on his own, and he could already count himself extremely fortunate not to have perished in the earlier battle.

The man was wearing a pair of extremely well-worn boots, boots that would've been a familiar sight to Chen Ping'an.

Right at this moment, someone yelled through their mind's lake that the six people had been convinced by Zhan Qing to kill all of the vagrant cultivators in the small world first.

No one knew if this was true, but no one dared to not believe it.

Hence, after a brief moment of stunned inactivity, everyone began retreating away from the arched bridge as quickly as they could.

Whoever had made this false declaration clearly didn't possess the same secret technique as Liu Guibao, and they had also underestimated just how sharp the senses of the six people on the other side of the bridge were.

As a result, he was immediately spotted.

Furthermore, he had chosen not to flee right away as doing so would've made him appear too conspicuous, and he only turned to flee once most of the others had already dispersed. However, by then, it was already too late. Gao Ling kicked up a sharp blade with his foot, then grabbed it by the hilt before hurling it through the air. The blade pierced straight through the man's head, killing him in an instant.

Zhan Qing wanted to stop him, but was unable to do so in a timely fashion.

This was a very crude method of drawing even more enmity to Zhan Qing, but the truth hardly mattered anyway.

Initially, he had entered this place with full confidence, treating it as almost a sightseeing trip in which he would do some treasure-hunting on the side, but since then, the situation had completely spiraled out of control, and at this point, he was already feeling a little numb to it all.

A hint of dejection appeared on Wu Qun's face, but she hid it very well.

The man that had just been killed was the leader of a small sect, an elderly cultivator who had ventured into this immortal abode in the hopes of extending his own life.

The old man knew that his fate was already sealed, so he had made a deal with Wu Qun, one that she would be sure to follow through on.

From here onward, the Rainbow Sparrow Residence would provide financial support to his sect in secret, and she had also promised to nurture at least three cultivators of the Middle Five Tiers for his sect over the next century, one of which had to be his final disciple.

The old man had earned this compensation at the cost of his own life.

Aside from Sun Qing and Wu Qun, the other four people on the other side of the arched bridge were all feeling quite perplexed.

Had someone secretly put the old man up to this, or had he gone insane? Alternatively, could it be that he had some type of vendetta against the feudal lord's manor of the Northern Pavilion Nation and wanted to make Zhan Qing suffer, even at the cost of his own life?

Of course, the answer hardly mattered, but the problem was that his words had caused everyone to flee in different directions, so the six of them would be forced to split up and hunt them down.

Gao Ling was definitely going to be the one most eager to take on the task.

He had been furious this entire time, and he was looking for an outlet to vent.

Even though he had suffered some rather severe injuries, a resilient physical constitution was a common trait among all martial artists, and he could still hunt down small groups of vagrant cultivators just fine.

However, people like Liu Guibao and Huai Qian didn't get away, and Wu Qun began treating her own injuries once she joined them.

There were two more groups of people who were clearly very uneasy, but also didn't go anywhere.

They were the entourages of the Dragon Gate Tier vagrant cultivator and the martial arts master on the other side of the river.

Among the people fleeing for their lives was a vagrant cultivator who was praying to the heavens that he could grow an additional pair of legs to grant him extra speed. He was gradually distancing himself from everyone else because he trusted no one, and it seemed to him like anyone else could kill him.

Earlier, he had used the expensive lightning talisman that he had purchased for eight snowflake coins during the battle at the bridge, and it really had saved his life. However, after using up the talisman, he truly had no trump cards left up his sleeve.

All of a sudden, he heard a somewhat familiar voice ring out from behind him.

"You were at the Cloudtop City market, right?"

The man continued to race along as he turned his head with an alarmed expression, only to discover that a stranger had appeared beside him, and he asked in a tentative manner, "You're the guy that was selling the talismans?"

The stranger smiled and nodded in response, and the man almost burst into tears.

Finally, he had found an ally for himself.

He slowed down slightly as he asked in a cautious manner, "You're not going to kill me, are you?"

In his panicked state of mind, he had failed to consider how strange it was that the traveling salesman from back in the Cloudtop City market had somehow managed to appear beside him without any warning, as if he had materialized out of thin air.

Furthermore, his appearance had also changed, but the man merely attributed that to a good disguise.

Chen Ping'an shook his head as he asked, "Would I be able to earn money by killing you? Even if I could, would I be able to outcompete all of those powerful cultivators?"

The man heaved a sigh of relief and didn't speak any further.

From there, the two of them began to focus wholeheartedly on making an escape.

All of a sudden, someone up ahead spotted the boundless expanse of white mist, and a look of shock and alarm appeared on their face as they exclaimed, "Is this already the end?!"

The misty boundary of the immortal abode quickly receded like the falling tide, gradually revealing the landscape that had originally been concealed, and the immortal abode rapidly expanded.

Huan Yun had no intention of killing anyone, and he quickly departed from the arched bridge, making his way up the mountain to search for Shen Zhenze's two disciples.

Sun Qing also didn't intend to get her hands dirty for now, and she instructed Wu Qun's trio to take a look in the south.

Bai Bi and Zhan Qing had instructed Gao Ling to kill as he pleased, while the imperial guest elder of the Sacred Lotus Nation had been called to Bai Bi's side.

Gao Ling took off his suit of Dew Armor, reverting it back to an armor pellet before tucking it up his sleeve, then picked up the saber of an already deceased martial artist before racing away.

Within the white mist, the tall and imposing old man had already put away the book in his hands, and he began to slide back through the air, ensuring that he remained concealed even as the white mist retreated. His hands were clasped behind his back, and a smile had appeared on his face as he mused, "If the territory is too small, you'll all end up dead before too long, and that would deprive me of a good show."

After five days, he had several more very interesting new rules to announce to everyone.

For example, the one who killed the most people would be accepted as the second direct disciple among the final five.

Huan Yun and Sun Qing were clearly unwilling to get their hands dirty for now, but would they be able to hold back once that rule was announced?

The old man turned to cast his gaze toward a young man in the distance, who had already dug a hole on the boundary and buried himself inside, then mused to himself, "It'll also be interesting to see whether you possess the fortune and wherewithal to become my first-ever disciple."

Di Yuanfeng had already buried himself on the original boundary, only to discover that the boundary had suddenly begun to expand. He cursed under his breath as he tore his way out of the soil, and he didn't even take a moment to dust himself off before racing deeper into the mountains.

Shortly thereafter, Huang Shi suddenly stopped in his tracks, then veered off his original course and arrived by the hole that Di Yuanfeng had just dug himself out of. He crouched down beside the hole to pick up some soil, then raised his head and smiled as he cast his gaze toward the tiny figure racing away in the distance.

Killing Chen Ping'an was perhaps going to be a rather risky endeavor, but killing Di Yuanfeng certainly wasn't going to be a difficult task.

Meanwhile, the five people at the foot of the mountain had agreed to scale the mountain together and reconvene at the summit, at which point they would set off in search of the other four people outside of the two Cloudtop City cultivators.

They would find them first, then decide whether to kill them or not thereafter.

Deep in the mountains, Chen Ping'an was fleeing for his life with his new companion, Jin Shan.

Elsewhere, Gao Ling was on an unstoppable rampage, and anyone that wasn't fast enough to get away from him was split into two by a single swing of his saber.

Wu Qun and Liu Guibao were traveling together, and they were doing so at a rather leisurely pace in order to cater to Huai Qian's lackluster speed.

Meanwhile, the two groups of people under the Dragon Gate Tier vagrant cultivator and the martial arts master had joined forces to hunt down the fleeing stragglers, taking to the task with much zeal and vigor.

Huan Yun was able to track down the two Cloudtop City disciples, who had already accepted their fates, and he told them that there was no need for them to fear for their lives, and that they could choose to remain here or continue searching for treasures.

After that, Huan Yun noticed the Dragon Gate Tier guest elder, who had concealed himself, but he pretended not to have noticed and continued scaling the mountain.

On the white jade plaza on the mountain summit, Bai Bi couldn't help but be stunned by the sight of the glazed green tiles and bricks strewn among the wreckage of the destroyed Daoist temple.

However, a wry smile then appeared on her face as she didn't dare to take anything from this vast mountain of riches. In the end, she only picked up a brick from the ground and began absorbing the water fortune spiritual energy inside to replenish her depleted spiritual energy reserves.

With Huan Yun leading the way, the six of them quickly tracked down Daoist Master Sun, who immediately surrendered himself over to them without a fight.

The three of them were split evenly in a three-to-three vote on whether Daoist Master Sun should be spared.

All the while, Daoist Master Sun remained seated on the ground in a slumped and defeated fashion, having already accepted his fate.

In the end, the old martial artist was the one to come up with a way to break the three-on-three stalemate, proposing that they flip a coin to decide Daoist Master Sun's fate.

At the same time, he was communicating to the other five people in secret, declaring that he would kill Daoist Master Sun on the spot if the latter dared to try and use spiritual energy to manipulate the outcome of the coin flip.

As it turned out, Daoist Master Sun's luck was still as brilliant as ever. Not only did he not try to play any tricks, the coin ultimately landed on the side that granted his survival.

Thus, the group of six told him to carry his two bags to the Daoist temple on the mountain summit, after which he was free to go anywhere that he pleased.

Daoist Master Sun was in a complete daze, so stunned by this outcome that he had forgotten to even celebrate.

"If that old man is still at the top of the list after five days, then we have to find him and kill him!" Bai Bi said to the others through her mind's lake, and this time, not even Huan Yun or Sun Qing raised any objections.

Following the departure of the group of six, Daoist Master Sun began scaling the mountain with his two bags on his back, wiping away tears as he did so.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

While passing by the green bamboo tree, he began missing Chen Ping'an.

As for Chen Ping'an himself, he had leaped onto a tall branch after verifying that there was no one around, and he began scouring his surroundings from his vantage point.

Jin Shan didn't dare to get up there for fear of taking a long-range attack out of the blue.

Chen Ping'an turned to him and said, "This is as far as I can take you. Staying with me is only going to put you in an early grave. Make sure to use those two concealment talismans well. Just plaster one onto your body and go somewhere you feel is safe and quiet, then stay put somewhere and try to move around as little as possible."

Before Jin Shan had a chance to say anything, Chen Ping'an had already vanished from the spot.

A panicked look appeared on Jin Shan's face, but in the wake of Chen Ping'an's departure, five talismans had come drifting down from above, consisting of one each of the three types of offensive talismans and two other talismans that Jin Shan didn't recognize.

Jin Shan gripped the five talismans tightly in his hands as he erupted into tears, but he only allowed himself a brief outpouring of emotions before continuing his journey.

Chen Ping'an found a mountain summit with a wide and open view in the distance, then plastered a Stele Carrying Talisman to himself and remained completely still as he inspected his surroundings.

This had truly been a very eventful treasure-hunting trip, to say the least.

There were quite a few familiar faces, including Jin Shan, Huan Yun, and Wu Qun.

He had a decent impression of both Huan Yun and Wu Qun, but it was difficult to say whether his impression of them would remain positive from here onward.

Regardless of their status, reputation, or cultivation base, it was only to be expected that they would turn on the other treasure-hunters in the immortal abode given the situation that they were in. Even those who were killed by them would perhaps be full of resentment and indignation, but they would hardly be surprised.

Chen Ping'an began staring off into the distance in a daze.

Why was it that the integrity of humanity was so fragile and quick to waver?

What truly made Chen Ping'an uncomfortable wasn't how fragile humanity was in others. Instead, it was the fragile nature of his own humanity.

The fact that he was having these thoughts meant that he was also grappling with the same inner conflict.

Ever since he arrived on the Northern Complete Reed Continent, he had been constantly cultivating, focusing particularly on the cultivation of the heart, trying to become a true cultivator.

All of a sudden, he thought of something that he had read in a Daoist scripture, something that a Militarian sage had later remarked on in a book of their own, providing their unique insights on the subject.

Both of those quotes had been engraved onto bamboo slips by Chen Ping'an.

The latter of those quotes was: "All those in the same boat are enemies."

It served as a cautionary reminder to the rulers of mortal empires that they had to serve with prudence and morality, and that no physical barriers could truly ward off the enemy.

As for the phrase from the Daoist scripture, it was one that had more significant implications, and Chen Ping'an felt like it applied perfectly to the situation that he was currently in.

"One can hide their moat in a ravine, thinking it to be safe, only for it to be taken in the night, with the owner none the wiser."

This perilous small world appeared to have been vastly different from the Majestic World, which was protected by various rules, but Chen Ping'an couldn't help but wonder if the two were actually fundamentally the same.

The boat had already been moved from the ravine, but no one was aware.

All of a sudden, Chen Ping'an was beginning to understand just how difficult it was to achieve the state of tranquility that Daoists pursued.

It was like being suspended in a void of nothingness, with no one else around you, nor any rules to bind you or karma to ensnare you.

Chen Ping'an heaved a faint sigh.

When it came to certain paths, only once they were taken would one come to discover just how lonely and confounding a pursuit it was.

Chen Ping'an began practicing his breathing techniques as he waited silently.

If he were discovered, then the perpetrator would definitely be the old talisman master that had purchased all those talismans from him back in Cloudtop City.

Five days later, eighteen people had perished, and by some miracle, Jin Shan wasn't on that list.

The divine maiden in white reappeared with the two azure-robed deities to display the screen of water, and immediately brought about another sharp spike in the number of casualties.

With the latest update to the rules stating that the one among the final five survivors who had killed the most people would be made into the second direct disciple, the Dragon Gate Tier vagrant cultivator and the martial arts master had turned on their own entourages without any hesitation, even though many of them were family and friends.

They were doomed to perish here anyway, so as opposed to having them perish later at the hands of others, the two men decided that it was better for them to die in this fashion.

Liu Guibao observed this scene with a look of frosty disdain, while Huai Qian heaved a distraught sigh.

"Why must they all be so cruel and violent?"

Sure enough, just as the young male cultivator from Cloudtop City anticipated, the Dragon Gate Tier elder reappeared before them right as the first five days were about to pass. He knocked the woman unconscious, then used a mystical technique to immobilize the young man, rendering him unable to move or speak.

After that, he placed the jade brush pocket treasure into the young man's grasp before swiftly departing and concealing himself nearby. As for all of the other treasures that he had obtained thus far, those had been temporarily hidden.

However, that wasn't what caused the young man the most despair. What truly made his heart sink was the fact that Huan Yun didn't make an appearance at all to save them.

It was very likely that he wasn't far away, but had chosen to serve as a passive observer.

Hence, the young man was still ranked second on the list, while the bottom-ranked figure on the list was Huan Yun. At this point, it no longer mattered whether he stayed off the list or not.

The fourth treasure-hunter on the list was a white-robed young man with a bright smile on his face. However, his robes were stained with blood, and he seemed to have been situated in an elegant study. Hanging on the wall in the study was a pail fashioned from half a gourd, and it was displaying a yellow complexion from age.