Chapter 547 (3): Some Fist Training Is Different

Two hours later...

Chen Ping'an sat cross-legged on the stone chair, resting his cheek on one hand. There was already a small mountain of snowflake coins resting beside his arm.

By the looks of it, the two of them could still fight for a very long time.

Approximately two hours passed, and the tip of Chen Ping'an's mountain of snowflake coins had already been flattened.

A mighty figure threw in one grain rain coin and scolded with a chuckle, "What a detestable couple the two of you make! Even if you want to love each other and hate each other, is there any need to waste the immortal coins of everyone else? Huang Xi, you're a sword cultivator, so if you manage to leave Temper Mountain alive, you'll definitely have to face my sword stroke sooner or later!"

As it turned out, Vagrant Cultivator Huang Xi was actually a concealed sword cultivator as well.

Meanwhile, Martial Artist Xiu Niang had also given everyone a big surprise, unexpectedly being skilled at many immortal techniques.

Even though it looked like they were tempering each other's cultivation, they were actually filled with strong killing intent as they attacked each other, so much so that Chen Ping'an felt slightly curious about what had taken place between the two of them to nurture such intense hostility, one that caused them to choose Temper Mountain, a place under the watchful gazes of everyone, as the location to decide their life and death.

Fifteen minutes later, Chen Ping'an suddenly stood up and directly crushed a large pile of snowflake coins, transforming them into spiritual energy and doing his best to maintain the projection formed by the porcelain brush washer on the stone table.

Martial Artist Xiu Niang seemingly summoned an extremely high-grade treasure from the mountains, with a brilliant light appearing like the sun as it illuminated the entire Temper Mountain. Even looking at it through the enchanted picture scroll, Chen Ping'an still found the dazzling light a little blinding.

The mountain and water fortune of Temper Mountain was instantly stirred into a chaotic mess, also affecting the viewing experience of the cultivators spectating the battle through their enchanted picture scrolls.

Chen Ping'an could only vaguely see a thin black line slicing through the dazzling light enveloping heaven and earth.

A short moment later...

Atop the stone plateau of Temper Mountain...

Half of Huang Xi's flesh had disintegrated, making him look like half a skeleton. Even so, he was surprisingly still alive, while the astonishingly capable Xiu Niang was already nowhere to be seen. It was unknown whether both her body and her soul had been annihilated, or whether she had managed to successfully flee into the distance during that critical moment of life and death.

Huang Xi stumbled forward a few steps before soaring into the sky and leaving Temper Mountain.

Chen Ping'an couldn't help but sigh with emotion. As long as the cultivation bases of the two opponents were close enough, even a myriad of immortal techniques ultimately couldn't rival a single sword strike.

A sword could shatter a myriad techniques.

Chen Ping'an put away the porcelain brush washer and the small mountain of snowflake coins.

He had reaped some benefits from spectating this battle.

The fist techniques and the fundamental fist intent of Martial Artist Xiu Niang were hugely interesting, appearing to exist on another extreme compared to Gu You's Mountain Shaking Fist and Cui Cheng's fist technique.

Chen Ping'an crudely emulated Xiu Niang's fist stance in the pavilion, slowly practicing walking meditation and throwing punches based on the techniques of the female martial artist.

Chen Ping'an retracted his fists and stopped walking around the pavilion a short moment later, completely unable to capture the essence of Xiu Niang's fist technique. He wasn't able to emulate her fist intent at all.

However, the benefits hadn't come from the fist stance anyway, and this was something that Chen Ping'an had already predicted beforehand. Rather, the true benefit was Chen Ping'an's broader understanding of fist techniques in the world, allowing him to be more prepared when he faced enemies in the future.

Chen Ping'an shut his eyes and started to rest his mind, striving to better remember Xiu Niang's fist intent. This could serve as a good facade even if he were only able to roughly emulate her form.

Chen Ping'an started to stroll around after opening his eyes, practicing the fist technique a few more times. After he felt satisfied, he involuntarily recalled a sad matter.

He was running very short on gold paper talisman papers.

There were only the last ten sheets remaining.

He needed to be very careful about what he used them for.

Chen Ping'an was only a third tier Qi refiner right now, so apart from elementary talismans like the Yang Energy Illumination Talisman, he was completely unable to draw any of the other ancient talismans recorded in the

Authentic Death-Avoiding Book

.

In fact, Chen Ping'an found it easier to draw talismans — even higher-grade talismans — as a pure martial artist rather than a Qi refiner.

However, it was a shame that talismans drawn by martial artists couldn't be sealed shut, leading to the spiritual light of the talismanic cores flowing away too quickly.

Chen Ping'an retrieved the ten gold paper talisman papers from his pocket treasure and counted them one by one, again and again. Of course, there was no way that an extra talisman paper would suddenly appear from out of thin air.

He left the pavilion and returned to his room, sitting down on the cushion after grabbing Sword Immortal from the wall. He placed the sword horizontally across his knees and took out his Sword Nurturing Gourd, carefully guiding the orb of shattered sword qi out from the gourd.

For ten entire days afterward, that young wandering merchant no longer appeared in the market outside Cloudtop City to set up a stall and sell his talismans.

————

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

In the capital of the Great Li Empire, the young emperor summoned his subjects to hold a small imperial meeting in his imperial study.

Twenty or so officials and generals gathered in the imperial study, causing the room, which wasn't very big, to appear slightly cramped.

The eldest person in the imperial study was the Old Man Guan, the head minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and it appeared like the main imperial meeting before this had already drained too much of the old man's energy and spirit. He was nodding off in his chair right now, with a small and exquisite charcoal basket wrapped in cotton cloth sitting in his lap. This was an item bestowed upon him by the late emperor, and it was something that the eunuchs in the palace would help him look after. Whenever there were small imperial meetings during winter, someone in the palace would naturally bring this charcoal basket to Old Man Guan, who was already over one hundred years old, without needing his reminder.

Old Man Guan was already snoring softly at this moment, but no one from the emperor to the high-ranking officials of the Great Li Empire showed any signs of wanting to wake him up. In any case, the elderly head minister would naturally wake up and give his input when they started to discuss topics that he regarded as important.

A young assistant minister from the Ministry of Justice was currently reporting the conclusion of a critical matter to the important officials in attendance.

The female cultivator with the pseudonym Shi Qiu had already been rescued and taken away by someone, with her current whereabouts unknown.

The cultivation bases of those in the two groups of guest elders and pawns from the Luminous Vermilion Empire had varied from high to low, but without exception, all of them had been extremely cautious and meticulous, carrying out their tasks as steadily as experienced spies. They had first embarked on an intercontinental journey, traveling to the Northern Complete Reed Continent's Ceremony Mountain to investigate the records of everyone on that downed intercontinental ship, hoping to find some critical clues and leads that pointed to the Great Li Empire colluding with Ceremony Mountain to assassinate the sword cultivator of the Luminous Vermilion Empire.

In reality, one of the two groups had already succeeded, and they had decided against taking an intercontinental ship back to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, instead choosing to take a detour and travel across the sea. However, they had still been caught and killed by cultivators from the Great Li Empire.

The most troublesome matter was that young woman from Ceremony Mountain, the one whose real name was Qiu Shi.

She had unexpectedly exposed the truth through the enchanted picture scrolls, saying that it was Mr. Sword Urn from the Northern Complete Reed Continent who had committed the crime and was framing the Luminous Vermilion Empire. Qiu Shi hoped that someone could deliver this news to Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, and she was even willing to die to prove the veracity of her account.

The immortal force that had taken Qiu Shi in had already been sealed off and put under martial law by cultivators from the Great Li Empire.

The pillar official from the Yuan Clan was an old man with a thin face, and he rubbed his palms together as he commented with a faint smile, "Heh, this small act truly has far-reaching consequences. I wonder what the esteemed imperial preceptor's Green Ripple Pavilion is busy with these days?"

The burly clan leader of the Cao Clan was sitting back in his chair as he chuckled coldly, "Even if the Green Ripple Pavilion makes some careless mistakes, it's still better than you, Yuan Yunshui, who only knows how to launch spittle in the imperial court. The Green Ripple Pavilion can at least make some tangible contributions, unlike Pillar Official Yuan who can only scold the heavens, scold the earth, and scold his colleagues every single day. Yuan Yunshui, you're clearly the most capable when it comes to nitpicking things."

The clan leader of the Yuan Clan smiled faintly and replied, "Cao Qiao, I'm currently still a pillar official, but as for you, I can't say for sure whether you still view yourself as a pillar official."

The mind of the Ministry of Rites' head minister was adrift the entire time.

This was always the case.

The head minister of the Ministry of Justice, who also managed many matters pertaining to mountains, waters, deities, and ghosts, appeared much like an unremarkable middle-aged man if it weren't for the extremely eye-catching official robe that he was wearing. He actively spoke and injected himself into the spiteful argument between the two bickering pillar officials, saying with a stern expression, "Lord Cao, Lord Yuan, each word in this small imperial meeting can decide the fate and fortune of the Great Li Empire's citizens. That being the case, perhaps the two of you should put aside your differences for the moment?"

An old man from the Imperial Song Clan, who managed the imperial genealogical records of the Great Li Empire's royal family, chuckled and exclaimed, "Goodness gracious me! I almost thought the surname of the Great Li Empire's royal family was Yuan or Cao! As an old man with the surname Song, that truly scared me to death."

There was a short but extremely stocky general who hadn't been able to go on an expedition south like Cao Ping and Su Gaoshan, and he looked quite strange and funny as he sat on his chair. However, the weight of his words couldn't be scoffed at, and he said in a solemn voice, "If we have so much free time to bicker, then we should make haste and dispose of that troublesome female cultivator from Ceremony Mountain. If the Green Ripple Pavilion likes to sit on its hands, then we can instruct my subordinate cultivators to take on this task. I can guarantee that even the mastermind who rescued her will be disposed of as well."

The young emperor wasn't sitting behind his study table, and he had instead moved his chair closer to the other officials. Moreover, he had remained silent the entire time, sitting beside the fireplace and hunching over with his arms extended to warm them up.

There was an ordinary boxwood chair beside him, and it had already been placed in this imperial study for one hundred or so years.

Several emperors of the Great Li Empire had grown up under the "watchful gaze" of this chair.

The late emperor had touched the boxwood chair but never sat on it when he was little, and the same was also true for Song He.

The dragon throne had already been through several emperors, but the seldom-used boxwood chair had only been used by a single person this entire time.

Standing in the corridor outside the imperial study, an old eunuch said softly, "The imperial preceptor has arrived."

The high-ranking officials who had the right to participate in this small imperial meeting all stood up, with even Old Man Guan shifting his posture slightly and placing his hands on the armrests. It looked like he was finally awake, and he also stood up to welcome the arrival of Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan.

The young emperor didn't stand up, but he retracted his hands and sat up straight.

An old Confucian scholar stepped into the imperial study, bowing in respect to the emperor and not appearing haughty in the least.

Emperor Song He smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

Cui Chan sat down and turned his head to look at the elderly head minister of the Ministry of Personnel who still had his hands on the armrests of his chair, asking with a smile, "Head Minister Guan, are you trying to stand up, or are you trying to sit down?"

Old Man Guan smiled with squinted eyes and replied, "Please forgive me, Imperial Preceptor. After growing old, everything becomes more difficult apart from occupying a spot and doing shit all."

"Let's discuss the proper matters," Cui Chan said with a wave of his hand.

The atmosphere in the imperial study instantly became solemn once Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan arrived.

Everyone involuntarily gathered one hundred and twenty percent of their attention.

"I want to take the opportunity today to explain the current state and future trends of the Luminous Vermilion Empire, Bamboo Scroll Lake, and the Azure Phoenix Nation to everyone present," Cui Chan said. "If we're able to agree on the plan for each, then we'll have something to refer back to in the future regarding both the mountains and the regions outside the mountains in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Which is to say, today's meeting can be viewed as one that will decide the Great Li Empire's direction for the next one hundred years.

"With this in mind, every single word uttered in this meeting will be recorded without fail. Who coughed how many times, who nodded off, who drank however many cups of tea, who uttered foolish and empty words that will detrimentally affect the nation, and who proposed far-sighted ideas that will build the fortune of the Great Li Empire — all of these records will be clearly visible to the rulers and officials who have the right to sit in this room in the future."

In the end, Cui Chan continued, "Whether or not His Majesty can become the number one ruler in the history of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and whether or not the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire can tell everyone in the Majestic World to obediently open their eyes wide and take a proper look at the Great Li Empire and remember the names of our emperor and his outstanding officials and generals, all of this will depend on the words and actions of everyone present today."

At the small imperial meeting in the imperial study...

...The young emperor slowly stood up, with a burning vigor raging in his chest.

The scholarly officials stood up and bowed in respect.

The military generals stood up and cupped their fists in respect.