Chapter 304 (1): A Well Down Below, the Sky Up Above

What Chen Ping'an failed to anticipate was that this journey would take him half a year to complete. It wasn't because the Observing Dao Temple had been too far away. Instead, it was because Chen Ping'an had followed Lasting Qi's instructions and walked in circles in a majestic city for three whole months without finding the so-called Observing Dao Temple.

In the capital city of Southern Garden Nation, Chen Ping'an asked everyone that he could, including merchants, soldiers, traveling martial artists, leaders of escort agencies, and officials from local authorities, but none of them had heard of this Observing Dao Temple.

Chen Ping'an also read through all types of historical records, local chronicles, and private records, but none of those had yielded any leads, either. The only thing that he had to show for his efforts was that he was now fluent in the official dialect of Southern Garden Nation.

Late autumn gave way to winter, which then transitioned into spring, and only at the beginning of summer was Chen Ping'an able to ascertain that the entrance of the Observing Dao Temple was right in this capital city, but he still wasn't able to find it.

Even with his immense mental fortitude, he was starting to waver and grow a little frustrated.

During this time, Chen Ping'an encountered many strange sights and stories. One night, he saw a hovering azure dress drifting through the air as if it were draped over the body of an invisible dancer.

One time, he unintentionally saw through an illusion, and he witnessed a section of the inner city's city wall that was supported by human remains, and every single brick had Buddhist scriptures inscribed upon them.

He also encountered a traveling monk, which was a rare sight in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Buddhism was much more prevalent in Southern Garden Nation, and there were Buddhist temples everywhere.

From this traveling monk, Chen Ping'an learned about the intricacies of kasayas, as well as the differences between reciting monks, lecturing monks, mentor monks, and guardian monks. One time, he left the capital city to get some fresh air, and he followed a group of monks that were carrying out some secret instruction for the imperial court from afar.

He visited a horrific battlefield, where he saw over a hundred reciting monks seated on lotus flower cushions. Several of them took off their shoes to walk barefoot with their heads lowered and their palms clasped together, and whenever they spoke, pristine white lotus flowers would emerge from their mouths.

Each of the monks had a set of prayer beads, and if they were to ever be harassed by evil spirits, the prayer beads would release bursts of golden light to repel them.

The monks slowly strode over the ground, leaving a trail of lotus flowers in their wake as they guided the tens of thousands of resentful souls toward the entrance to the afterlife.

In the end, Chen Ping'an sat far away from the monks, imitating them in their prayers as he joined his palms and lowered his head in silence.

After returning to the capital city, Chen Ping'an was still unable to find the Observing Dao Temple. Right as he was about to steel himself to sneak into the imperial palace, he arrived at a well on a bright and sunny day, and he looked into the well to find that it was completely dark, and its bottom was nowhere in sight.

After observing the well for a while, he wasn't able to find anything special about it, so he continued to wander around aimlessly.

He then looked back at the well, and he felt like the air was slightly cooler beside the well.

————

Following his battle against Cai Jingshen, Cui Dongshan had earned himself the mock title of Cai Clan Patriarch, earning him a great deal of reverence in Mountain Cliff Academy. On top of that, his handsome and cheerful appearance also made him a very popular figure.

Cui Dongshan had permission to go wherever he pleased in the academy, and he was always accompanied by his maidservant, Xie Xie. On this day, the two of them went to eavesdrop on a lesson from Teacher Ge, and halfway through the lesson, Cui Dongshan fell asleep with his chin resting on the windowsill outside.

Xie Xie stood beside him, not daring to wake him up from his beauty sleep, and all of the students in the room were having a very hard time suppressing their laughter. Teacher Ge was so furious that he wanted nothing more than to beat Cui Dongshan with his wooden ruler, but as soon as he thought of how Cai Jingshen had moved out of the capital city with his entire clan, he immediately suppressed his anger.

However, he decided that he was going to tell Mao Xiaodong about this and get him to prohibit Cui Dongshan from ever approaching his classroom again.

All of a sudden, Cui Dongshan jolted awake as if he had been snapped out of his slumber by a nightmare, and it took him a long while to gather his bearings before he returned to his living quarters with Xie Xie.

After Xie Xie closed the gate of the courtyard, Cui Dongshan took off his boots before striding over the doorstep, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a cloud of mist, out of which emerged a map of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Cui Dongshan had one arm across his chest while squeezing his chin with his other hand, and he first stood at the northernmost Great Sui Nation on the map, then slowly moved his gaze southward, past Yellow Court Nation and Great Sui Nation's border before resting on the central region, which contained Lake View Academy, Colorful Garment Nation, and Water Combing Nation.

In the end, he suddenly sat on the ground and began to look around.

Xie Xie was seated on the doorstep. The map filled virtually the entire room, so if she were to go in, then she would definitely be scolded, perhaps even beaten.

Cui Dongshan continued to sit on the ground as he casually asked, "Do you think there's anyone in Great Sui Nation right now that's denouncing the emperor for being an incompetent ruler who rolled over and conceded without even putting up a fight?"

"I don't know much about what's happening outside the academy, but all of the teachers of the academy are constantly lamenting the nation's state of affairs. Having said that, I haven't heard any of them verbally denounce the emperor," Xie Xie replied in a truthful manner.

Cui Dongshan rose to his feet with a smile as he said, "That's one of the annoying things about scholars: they never denounce the emperor. Instead, they only curse the crooked officials, the seductive vixens, the heavens, the earth... anything but the emperor.

“Of course, there are always exceptions, and there are definitely some scholars who dare to denounce the emperor, but only very rarely will you find one that can raise concise and coherent criticism that strikes the nail right on the head."

Xie Xie was already accustomed to Cui Dongshan's ramblings, and she chimed in in a placating manner, "Indeed, Young Master."

She made no attempt at all to disguise her placating attitude, to the point that even someone as clueless as Li Huai would've been able to see through her halfhearted response, let alone someone as shrewd as Cui Dongshan.

However, he didn't seem bothered by this.

All of a sudden, he put his hands on his hips, then opened his mouth and sucked the entire cloud of mist into his belly along with the map.

After that, he raised his hands and curled his fingers into claws, then put on a menacing expression to feign a tiger's roar, while Xie Xie struggled to contain her disdain.

Cui Dongshan then patted his own belly with a gleeful expression as he sighed, "To think that there exists a man like myself, who's simultaneously as fierce as a tiger and as shrewd as a fox."

Xie Xie had to muster up all of her self control just to not roll her eyes.

She turned her gaze to the wall of the courtyard. Regardless of how much unrest was brewing in Great Sui Nation's imperial court, it was yet another tranquil and uneventful day in the academy.

All of a sudden, a silent golden thread shot forth from outside the courtyard as fast as lightning.

It was extraordinarily thin, even more so than a strand of Xie Xie's hair, but as soon as this delicate-looking golden thread appeared, the air temperature in the entire courtyard was instantly elevated significantly, replacing the cold chill of autumn with the sweltering heat of summer.

Xie Xie was completely dumbstruck, and her mind went blank. Despite the sweltering heat in the courtyard, she felt as if her entire body had been plunged into a glacial pit. She turned around in a stiff and wooden fashion, right in time to see the golden thread pierce through Cui Dongshan's glabella, following which he toppled to the ground.

This had to have been an assassination attempt from an earth immortal!

In the distance, an elated voice rang out. "That's what you get for bringing disaster to our nation!"

Even further away in the distance, Mao Xiaodong's enraged voice reverberated across the heavens. "Who dares to kill in my academy?!"

Xie Xie was completely dazed as she remained seated on the doorstep, staring at Cui Dongshan's lifeless body.

Is he really dead just like that?

All of a sudden, she felt a pat on the shoulder, and she was immediately snapped out of her reverie as she swiveled around while swinging an arm through the air, only to then hurriedly withdraw her hand as her mouth gaped open in shock.

As it turned out, Cui Dongshan was standing right in front of her, bending down to look her in the eyes. With one hand clasped behind his back, he extended the index finger of his other hand, tapping it against Xie Xie's forehead to push her into the room.

However, even though Xie Xie's body had fallen to the ground in the room, her soul remained in its original spot, having been extracted out of her body by a secret technique from Cui Dongshan. Her soul was unable to withstand the ravages of the yang energy in the air, and it was on the verge of dissipating.

Cui Dongshan examined Xie Xie's soul for a moment, then discovered something amiss in one of her acupoints.

A smile then appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "You're not getting me with such a crude little trick."

After that, he reached out to pluck a speck of dark green light out of Xie Xie's soul, then casually squeezed it between his fingers until it burst.

Cui Dongshan slapped Xie Xie's soul across the face he scoffed, "What do I even keep you around for? Get back into your body!"

With her soul restored, Xie Xie slowly awakened with a splitting headache. She struggled to a seated position, pressing one hand against the ground for support while holding her other hand over her forehead; she was in so much pain that tears were flowing down her face.

Cui Dongshan then strode over the doorstep before picking up a substitution puppet talisman of an extremely high caliber. He gnashed the talisman into powder between his fingers, then turned around with a smile as he yelled, "You're just going to take that, Mao Xiaodong?! Someone just took a shit in your house!"

Mao Xiaodong was in the process of pursuing the assassin, and his sneering voice rang out within the courtyard.

"Indeed, you are that pile of shit!"

"In that case, with me walking around every day, doesn't that make our Mountain Cliff Academy a giant toilet?" Cui Dongshan chuckled.

Xie Xie remained silent, and Cui Dongshan couldn't be bothered to talk to her, either. He sat down with his legs crossed and fell into deep thought. Why was Lake View Academy being so passive?

The southbound march of the Great Li Empire's army hadn't progressed in accordance with his plan at all.

He had originally projected that the army would have to endure at least four grueling battles, one against the mortal empires near the central region of the continent, one against Lake View Academy, one against the White Frost Empire, and one against the immortal powers in the southern region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Could it be that many powers outside of the Great Li Empire's Mohist powers had snuck into Eastern Treasured Vial Continent?

Unfortunately, he was no longer the imperial preceptor of the Great Li Empire, so he was no longer privy to the insider information at the very top. As a result, he had no idea who was behind this and what their intentions were.

"Have you ever thought about permanently settling in the Dragon Spring Prefecture of the Great Li Empire?" Cui Dongshan suddenly asked.

"No," Xie Xie replied with a shake of her head.

Right at this moment, Mao Xiaodong made his way into the courtyard and declared, "It was a Nascent Tier cultivator of unknown origins. He managed to get away."

Cui Dongshan was completely unbothered, and he smiled as he said, "That was only an initial probe, you should be more worried about the teachers and students of the academy.

"There are always some people in this world who think of themselves as saviors, and that the world should be a certain way. If Mountain Cliff Academy comes into opposition against the capital city of Great Sui Nation, it's not impossible for the alliance between the Gao Clan and the Song Clan to be abolished."

"Will I have to put the mountain under lockdown?" Mao Xiaodong murmured with tightly furrowed brows.

It didn't really make much of a difference whether the assassin had been sent by certain powers of Great Sui Nation or by Cui Chan's personal enemies. In any case, the possibility that Cui Dongshan had raised was definitely one that had to be taken seriously.

"What? Do you feel like you'd be losing face by doing that?" Cui Dongshan asked with a cold sneer.

Mao Xiaodong offered no response, making up his mind before departing.

Cui Dongshan smiled as he called out after him, "Mao Xiaodong, if you call yourself a pile of shit right now, I can help protect the academy if something happens."

"I'm a pile of shit," Mao Xiaodong immediately declared without any hesitation.

A look of regret appeared on Cui Dongshan's face as he negotiated, "If I call myself two piles of shit, can I take back what I said just now and stay out of this conflict?"

"No," Mao Xiaodong replied in a categorical voice, then quickly departed, leaving Cui Dongshan to lament his rash decision.

He then dropped down onto his backside before laying back onto the ground and rolling from side to side.

After a while, Cui Dongshan seemed to have gotten sick of rolling around like a child, and he laid as still as a board on the ground as he sighed, "When are you coming back, Teacher? Your disciple is being bullied."

Xie Xie was left feeling completely exasperated.

Cui Dongshan raised his head as he asked, "You think it sounds like I'm joking, right?"

Xie Xie hesitated momentarily, but ultimately nodded in response.

Cui Dongshan rolled onto his side, supporting his head with one hand as he smiled and said, "Chen Ping'an's cultivation base may not be very high, but with him here, I wouldn't have to think about anything. If I do something wrong, he'll scold me, and if I do something right, then I'll be spared a scolding.

“You'll be able to take fewer beatings from me, and as for Yu Lu, he can just stand by and watch as usual. Lin Shouyi will be more focused on his cultivation, while Li Huai will be able to justify his own cowardice as he'll have Chen Ping'an to protect him. All of the hard work will fall onto his shoulders, while I can kick back and relax."

Cui Dongshan's voice trailed off there, and Xie Xie was left wondering why he had left out Li Baoping.

After a while, Cui Dongshan sighed, "Our little Baoping is probably the only one who'll feel bad for my teacher."

————

After the brief assassination debacle, Mountain Cliff Academy was placed under lockdown under the insistence of Mao Xiaodong. No one from the academy was allowed to leave, whether they be teachers, students, or janitors.

The official mountain master, Great Sui Nation's Minister of Rites, was strongly opposed to this, but the emperor supported this decision and even sent a few elders in secret to bolster the academy's defenses. On top of that, he also officially enrolled Gao Xuan in the academy.

On this day, Gao Xuan was fishing at the lake with his good friend, Yu Lu.

As time passed, Yu Lu was finally willing to come clean to Gao Xuan, revealing to him that he was once the prince of the Lu Empire and that he was also a seventh tier martial artist.

Gao Xuan wasn't all that surprised to hear about Yu Lu's past identity, but was amazed by Yu Lu's martial arts cultivation base, and his eyes were glittering with pride for having chosen such a great friend.

In return, Gao Xuan also told Yu Lu about many of his troubles and concerns. Whenever he was with women, he would do his best to present the best side of himself, even if he didn't necessarily have romantic feelings for them. In contrast, when he was with men, he could reveal all of his flaws and display the most genuine side of himself, and he truly did consider Yu Lu to be a friend.

Each of them was holding a green bamboo fishing rod, waiting for a fish to bite, and Gao Xuan suddenly asked, "Didn't you say that Baoping was going to arrange a martial gathering? Why is it that I've never seen you attend one, even though I've already been in the academy for so long?"

Yu Lu smiled as he replied, "Baoping arranged three martial gatherings, but didn't organize any more after that. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little disappointed."

"Li Huai's over there," Gao Xuan said with a smile as he pointed at a small path on the bank of the lake.

Yu Lu didn't turn to look.

Even without looking, he knew that Li Huai was definitely playing with his two friends. One of them was a rather crass child from a humble upbringing, while the other came from a wealthy and powerful clan, but had a very timid and introverted personality.

It was a very unlikely trio, but somehow, they got along extremely well and spent virtually all of their waking hours together. Apparently, the aforementioned crass child had proposed that they become brothers by holding a ceremony of chopping off chicken heads and burning yellow paper.

The "chickens" were actually just sparrows that they had caught from trees, while the yellow paper were pages that they had torn out books in the scripture library in secret. After it was revealed what they had done, they had received a thorough beating from their teacher.

The three of them were having a swordfight by the lake using tree branches, and it didn't take long before Li Huai spotted Yu Lu fishing by the river, but after some hesitation, he ultimately decided not to greet Yu Lu.

If it were Lin Shouyi, perhaps Li Huai would approach him for a chat, but he wasn't all that close with Yu Lu and Xie Xie.

Li Huai, Li Baoping, and Lin Shouyi had grown up together and also made the journey to Great Sui Nation together, so Li Huai shared a far closer bond with them than he did with Yu Lu and Xie Xie.

At the moment, Lin Shouyi wasn't visiting the scripture library much. Outside of his daily lessons, he spent most of his time cultivating in his own independent courtyard, which had been secured for him from the academy by a very well-respected teacher.

The teacher was a cultivator himself, and he wasn't stingy at all when it came to imparting his knowledge upon Lin Shouyi. Not only did he explain all of the intricacies of the Recite Atop Clouds Scripture, he also brought him several immortal scriptures from his own collection for Lin Shouyi to read. Whenever he had time, he would be sure to visit the courtyard to answer all of Lin Shouyi's questions.

Officially, they weren't teacher and disciple, but that was very much the nature of their relationship.

Aside from his studies, Lin Shouyi dedicated most of his energy and attention to cultivation.

————

In the chill of autumn, Li Baoping had exchanged her usual thin red dress for a slightly thicker one, but her usual red jacket was still not required yet.

As usual, she would often climb to the top of a tall tree on the mountain by herself and sit on a branch to stare off into space, or eat some pastries to satisfy her cravings. Occasionally, she would also bring some books up to trees to memorize certain passages so that she wouldn't be punished by her teachers the next day.

Thankfully, whenever she had some spare time, she would transcribe copies of certain scriptures in advance so that she could submit them whenever she did receive a punishment.

At this point, she had already accumulated a neat stack of these pre-copied scriptures in her dormitory room, and for that, she had earned herself the nickname of the "transcription girl."

On this day, she was swinging her feet back and forth while seated on her branch, counting on her fingers the number of days since she had last seen her junior uncle.

It's been so long, why is he still not back?

A slightly dejected look appeared in her eyes.

Hold on, if it's already been so long, doesn't that mean that it's closer to the next time that we meet?

A cheerful look appeared on her face at this thought, and she began to skip up and down on her branch, trying to see as far into the distance as possible. Perhaps her junior uncle was already standing at the foot of the mountain.

A loud thump rang out as she fell onto the ground.

Thankfully, with all her experience in falling, she knew how to fall while hurting herself as little as possible, so she was able to avoid injury, but bruises were inevitable.

She hurriedly looked around, and only after ensuring that no one had seen her embarrassing display did she begin hobbling down the mountain.

Many people greeted her along the way, and she returned all of their greetings.

After returning to her dormitory room, she had nothing to do, so she began transcribing books again. She took a glance at the pile of transcriptions that she had already accumulated, and a bright smile appeared on her face.

The next time her junior uncle came to visit her, she would be able to flunk her lessons for a whole ten days, and her supply of transcriptions would be sufficient to deal with any punishment handed down upon her.

With that in mind, she felt herself to be a genius, and while making transcriptions with one hand in a well-rehearsed manner, she gave herself a thumbs-up with her other hand as she murmured, "As expected of the alliance leader, I'm so smart and badass!"