Chapter 283: (1): Rising Incense Smoke

Over in Old Dragon City...

A storm was brewing.

This was especially the case for the Ding Clan, one of the largest clans in the city. It was as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

This was because a useless descendant from the Ding Clan had seemingly killed a young mortal girl in the city.

Generally speaking, these kinds of matters wouldn't cause a single ripple. This wasn't to say that one should fully embrace evil if they had done something bad, going as far as to kill others and eliminate all witnesses. Rather, this was because the Ding Clan was extremely wealthy and also willing to spend its wealth. If a problem could be solved with money, then it wouldn't be a problem at all, regardless of how large or small the matter was.

However, the problem was that the murdered girl had some relationship with Dust Medicinal Shop, a shop owned by the Fan Clan. More importantly, someone was truly taking this minor relationship seriously and asking for an explanation.

This person was a highly esteemed guest of the Fan Clan.

Recently, the Hou Clan and the Fang Clan who had enjoyed close relationships with the Ding Clan for many generations frequently visited and communicated with the latter.

Meanwhile, the Old Dragon City's Fu Clan, which had just become linked to the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan through marriage, was extremely busy welcoming and farewelling guests. Thus, they had no time to deal with these useless matters.

As for the Sun Clan led by the young Sun Jiashu, they stood on the sidelines and were most likely planning to watch the fire from far away.

In the Sun Clan's ancestral residence, Sun Jiashu had just received a secret letter.

Today, the cultivator from Parasol Leaf Sect who had helped the Ding Clan recover from the brink of collapse back then returned to Old Dragon City with that woman from the Ding Clan. Because he had a respected standing in Parasol Leaf Sect, there was even a Nascent Tier earth immortal among his subordinates. Moreover, he was also an earth immortal himself.

Thus, almost everyone felt like the conclusion was already foregone.

Nowadays, Sun Jiashu had developed a fondness for fishing. He liked to fish in the location where the young boy from the Great Li Empire had fished before. If there weren't any pressing clan matters for him to deal with, Sun Jiashu would always find some time out of his busy schedule to come here and sit for a while.

He was slightly hesitant, not knowing whether he should take a gamble or not regarding this matter. If he took a gamble, then how large should his wager be?

Sun Jiashu had recently come across a powerful being who came and went without a trace. This person had only said a single sentence, yet he had allowed Sun Jiashu to remove the slight blemish from his mind's realm. Not only that, but Sun Jiashu was even able to improve his mind's realm further.

That person had smiled and asked, "Sun Jiashu, how did you decide that you were wrong?"

This sentence had been like a Buddhist wake-up call.

However, only those with roots of wisdom and enough knowledge could awaken after hearing these wake-up calls. Otherwise, even hundreds upon thousands of wake-up calls would be useless.

Sun Jiashu put his fishing rod away and poured all of the fish in the fish basket back into the river.

Sun Jiashu ultimately decided against taking a gamble this time.

————

Further above the sea of clouds that lay above Old Dragon City, there was a woman wearing a green dress nimbly jumping around and playing hopscotch. When she landed, splashes of mist and clouds would jump into the air. Sometimes, she tossed around a fist-sized colored glaze orb.

In the end, she aimed at someplace in the sea of clouds and flew over in a flash. With her arms tightly against her body and her hands tightly against her thighs, she put her legs together and plummeted directly downward toward someplace in Old Dragon City.

She was like a green scallion falling from the sky...

Her speed was incredible, yet she stopped herself the exact moment before she hit the ground, landing in a slow and graceful manner.

She was in the backyard of the Dust Medicinal Shop. Shopkeeper Zheng Dafeng was smoking on the steps.

"What are you up to?" Fan Junmao asked.

It was difficult to make out Zheng Dafeng's appearance and expression through the wafting smoke, and she could only hear him reply slowly, "Those who owe money need to pay money, and those who owe lives need to pay with their lives. I'm not the same as Li Er. He only looks for the old ones, while I look for both the young ones and the old ones."

There was an amused look in Fan Junmao's eyes as she looked at the man who always used to joke and laugh.

Dogs couldn't change their habit of eating shit.

So many years had already passed, yet his personality was still the same as always. He was never serious, and it was as if he were always saving his seriousness for that one particular time.

In some place extremely far away, there were once four heavenly gates. Three of the divine generals guarding them had abandoned their positions for one reason or another, stepping aside and creating a path for the unstoppable rebel army. Only the divine general in the south, the one viewed as the most cowardly and goofy by everyone, had refused to step aside. He had refused to do so even in the face of death.

Of course, the consequence of not stepping aside in the face of death was...naturally, death.

Someone had impaled him to death on the large pillar of the heavenly gate with a single sword strike.

Everyone found this inexplicable, regardless of whether they were friend or foe. People were genuinely unable to find any reason to explain why the divine general had stubbornly sought death.

Fan Junmao sighed in her mind. She truly didn't want to know either, yet it was a shame that she knew exactly why this was.

————

Sage Ruan Qiong had officially founded a sect in the large mountain to the west already. Right now, he only had three official disciples.

The blacksmith sword shop beside the Dragon Whisker River was still open as normal. It didn't shut down, and Ruan Qiong tasked a young girl, one of his opening disciples, with looking after the place. She was missing the thumb of her sword-wielding hand, so she went from hanging her sword on her left hip to hanging it on her right hip. She also started to wield her sword using her left hand.

When Ruan Qiong's only child, Xiuxiu, had moved to Divine Elegance Mountain, it was said that she had brought a cage of chickens with her. She had held it in her hands just like that, causing many immortals to involuntarily look over. They had mistakenly thought that the chickens were some kind of extraordinary spirit beasts.

Afterward, some Qi refiners who had visited Divine Elegance Mountain after the fact all wanted to laugh when they mentioned this matter. As it turned out, the coop of old hens and young chicks had indeed been nothing more than normal, mortal chickens.

Thereupon, some immortal sects from the surrounding mountains felt like this was a case of Ruan Xiu maintaining her childlike innocence. In other words, preserving a genuine Dao Heart.

They were fully serious about this. Thus, some young cultivators who had just moved into the brand-new immortal residences also started to contemplate the deeper meaning behind this. They felt like there was profound knowledge to be uncovered.

As expected of Xiuxiu. As expected of a prodigious cultivator whom Wind Snow Temple had placed high hopes on.

Sure enough, everything she did carried with it a sense of mysticality. Sure enough, her actions all aligned with the Great Dao.

Long Eyebrows, the young boy with the surname Xie, had found this quite interesting. Thus, he had mentioned it to Sister Xiuxiu as a joke. Ruan Xiu had been sitting on a small emerald-green bamboo chair at the time, and she had been looking at the arrogant old hen leading a brood of small chicks around and pecking at grains on the ground. She had simply replied, "Is that so?" and said nothing more.

Long Eyebrows, a young boy blessed with good fortune and fate, had furrowed his brow while looking at the absent-minded young girl. However, this expression had made his eyebrows appear even longer.

Ruan Qiong was a cultivator at the Unpolished Jade Tier. He also had Wind Snow Temple as his backer, and his ability to forge swords had made him even more friends. Thus, he was able to use the title of sect for his new force. He called it Dragon Spring Sword Sect.

In reality, Ruan Qiong had initially wanted to name his force "Sword Sect." This name was extremely imposing, and it could stand tall in the world. Firstly, however, a Sword Sect had already existed in Middle Earth Divine Continent since long ago. Thus, naming his force "Sword Sect" would have gone against the rules established by the Confucian sages.

Secondly, some good friends of Ruan Qiong's had privately persuaded him against doing this while visiting to congratulate him. Founding a sect in the Great Li Empire was already a significant move. Indeed, tall trees would naturally catch more wind. With this in mind, it was best not to be too forceful when it came to naming his force.

Even though Ruan Qiong eventually settled on Dragon Spring Sword Sect, he still felt like something was a little off in his mind. When he entered and exited the mountain, he disliked doing so from the archway where the name of his sect was hanging. Thus, he asked the imperial court of the Great Li Empire to open a small side path for him, relying on the labor of the Lu Clan convicts. This led to many discussions and debates, with many people feeling like this was a bad omen. After all, didn't this signify abandoning the Great Dao for a heretical path?

However, Ruan Xiu and the three opening disciples all understood the reason behind this.

Ruan Qiong had left the four of them with these words: "Whoever can rightfully remove the characters 'Dragon Spring' from the signboard will become the next sect leader."

Right now, the attention on Dragon Spring Sword Sect was unrivaled in the Great Li Empire.

Apart from the mountains that the Great Li Empire's Imperial Song Clan had gifted Ruan Qiong, as well as the main mountain of his sect, Divine Elegance Mountain, there were also the three surrounding mountains that Chen Ping'an was loaning to him for 300 years — Treasured Scripture Mountain, Rainbow Cloud Mountain, and Immortal Herb Mountain. These mountains were part of Dragon Spring Sword Sect's territory as well.

This was a good deal.

When it came to other people, they might not be able to find the temple even if they brought pig heads to offer. After finding the temple, it would be another difficult task to truly succeed in offering incense.

Thus, Chen Ping'an — someone whose cultivation base was barely worth a mention yet was a large landlord in Dragon Spring Prefecture — had truly struck gold with the deal.

Not only that, but Wei Bo, the newly appointed formal god of Northern Mountain, had once brought Chen Ping'an around the different mountains in the surrounding area as well. This was another dazzling golden shield for the young boy.

According to rumors, his young scholarly attendant and maidservant in Downtrodden Mountain also had Peace and Safety Tablets hanging from their waists now. These were tablets that the Great Li Empire only awarded to Qi refiners with great merit. This was another shield.

With these three shields, the extremely fortunate Chen Ping'an could even walk backward in Dragon Spring Prefecture, to say nothing of walking sideways[1].

However, it was a shame that the young boy had vanished at some point. It was said that he had left on a long journey.

He was most likely someone who didn't understand how to enjoy fortune.

One side of Divine Elegance Mountain was a large cliff, one which was extremely steep and with no foothold.

There was an ancient engraving of four characters that read "Heaven Creates Divine Elegance." After Ruan Qiong founded his sect, Qi refiners would soar through the sky and come here almost every day to admire the elegance of the four characters. They felt like Ruan Qiong's choice of Divine Elegance Mountain as the main mountain of his sect was perhaps a profoundly mystical one that pertained to the divine will of the heavens.

However, Ruan Xiu never went to the steep cliff to join in on the commotion. She had seemingly never gone there a single time.

Ruan Xiu, who wasn't fond of moving, had seemingly grown a little taller and chubbier. Her chin was slightly rounder than before.

Ruan Qiong felt like this was quite good.

In reality, fathers in the world probably felt like their daughters were quite good no matter what.

Ruan Xiu would occasionally go to the pavilion located on the peak of Divine Elegance Mountain. She would pick a sunny day to stand there and gaze into the distance, looking at those winding streams that eventually converged into the Dragon Whisker River and then the turbulent Iron Talisman River.

Ruan Xiu wasn't fond of looking at these streams and rivers. Quite the opposite, in fact, and she felt like they were a massive eyesore.

River guardians, river gods, rain gods, cloud guardians, and so on... Ever since a young age, she had disliked these many deities who were related to water. She would feel irritated whenever she heard these titles.

She wanted to deal with them the same way she dealt with sword blades that were fresh out of the furnace — she wanted to smash them with a hammer and end them once and for all.

Today, Ruan Xiu was yawning as she lazily rested her arms and head on the railings.

The soft and choppy sound of footsteps traveled over from beyond the pavilion. Ruan Xiu turned around, and she saw four people in Confucian robes walking over from a distance.

Ruan Xiu glanced at them, and she was able to recognize all of them. There was Prefectural Overseer Wu Yuan, a young man who was climbing the official ranks fairly quickly. He was the prized disciple of the Great Li Empire's Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan.

There was someone with the surname Cao, the current kiln supervision official. There was also someone with the surname Yuan. In fact, the surnames Cao and Yuan both belonged to clans of pillar generals. The individuals honored in the Wenchang pavilion and the martial sage temple constructed in the mountain of porcelain and the immortal tomb were none other than the old ancestors of these two officials.

The final person was an assistant mountain master from Cloud Drape Mountain's Forest Deer Academy. His pseudonym was Cheng Shuidong, and he had once been the assistant minister of Yellow Court Nation. In reality, he was not a human, but an old flood dragon.

Ruan Xiu stood up and walked out of the pavilion. She offered the best spot for enjoying the scenery to the four people in Confucian robes.

The four people exchanged a smile, yet none of them acted too obsequiously toward the young girl. After all, Ruan Xiu was a girl by herself right now, so it wouldn't be appropriate for them to act too familiar with her.

If it were some other Qi refiner, they would definitely thank Ruan Xiu at the very least. They might also announce their name and use this opportunity to make acquaintance with the young girl.

The four people had agreed to come here together to play Go. Wu Yuan wanted to play against Mountain Master Cheng. Wu Yuan's master, Cui Chan, was the undisputed number one Go master in the Great Li Empire. While studying under Cui Chan's tutelage, Wu Yuan's Go skills had advanced in leaps and bounds. Because of this, he was also a renowned Go master in the capital of the empire. Meanwhile, Kiln Supervisor Cao and the person with the surname Yuan were simply here to spectate the game.

The ancestors of the Cao Clan and the Yuan Clan were good friends who had been the twin jade pendants of the Great Li Empire. Several hundred years later, however, the relationship between the two clans was like the relationship between fire and water. Even though Kiln Supervisor Cao and the person with the surname Yuan were sitting opposite each other, they almost never made any eye contact with each other.

Now that Great Sui Nation and the Great Li Empire had become allies, with the two parties signing pacts on the Great Li Empire's Cloud Drape Mountain and Great Sui Nation's East Mountain, it could be said that the Great Li Empire was dominant in the entire northern region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Including Yellow Court Nation, several vassal states of Great Sui Nation started to change their allegiance to the Great Li Empire, paying tributes to the latter instead of the former. Of course, there were also some slight bumps along the way, as many powerful clans felt like this was an act of treachery.

Thus, the iron hooves of the Great Li Empire's warhorses started to thunder across the land. When the sound of galloping subsided, the heads of many high-ranking officials and renowned individuals had fallen to the ground.

The entire Great Sui Nation was caught in an eerie and subdued atmosphere, from the imperial court to the local governments, and from the mountains to the cultivation world.

The mighty Great Sui Nation, a powerful nation that was the inheritor of the scholarly lineage, shockingly surrendered without a fight! They ceded territory to seek peace!

A renowned scholar fell drunk, climbed a mountain and composing a poem. Before throwing himself off a cliff to commit suicide, he left behind these last words: "Since the founding of Great Sui Nation by the Gao Clan, when have we scholars suffered such humiliation as today? Only through death can we prove our loyalty and innocence."

A Go master from Great Sui Nation who was renowned throughout half of the continent used his favorite Go table as firewood, burning it to ashes.

One after another, many officials resigned from their positions in the capital of the Great Sui Nation. From high-ranking officials in the Six Ministries to low-ranking external officials, more than a hundred people resigned from their jobs. It was rumored that the government offices of the Six Ministries in the capital were now half vacant.

With little concern for all these things, the warhorses of the Great Li Empire were now starting to march south.

Chaos was already taking root in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Over at the pavilion, the crisp sound of stone pieces landing on the Go table occasionally traveled over.

Ruan Xiu arrived under an old pine tree next to the cliff. While walking here, she had picked up stones from the ground and lightly tossed them down the cliff.

Clouds and mist slowly rolled by like the water of large rivers. Heaven and earth were vast and blurry.

The young girl suddenly threw away the remaining stones in her hand.

I need to help father forge iron today! This is not good...I'm already so late, so I definitely won't get stewed pork with dried bamboo shoots to eat tonight...

1. Being able to walk sideways refers to being able to do anything one wants. ?