Chapter 399 (2): Present

Chen Ping'an held Pei Qian's hand and returned to his room on the immortal ship.

In an extremely rare display, Pei Qian surprisingly said that she was going to transcribe an extra five hundred characters today.

Chen Ping'an didn't stop her, and he simply reminded her that the extra characters she transcribed today wouldn't count towards the quota for tomorrow.

Pei Qian stood straight and puffed her chest out, replying that she naturally understood this.

She placed the miniature yellow gourd beside her hand as she transcribed the characters.

Chen Ping'an sat opposite her and continued to read a Legalist book that he had purchased following Cui Dongshan's suggestions. This wasn't a rare or valuable book, but could be regarded as a so-called proper scripture that acted as a foundation for the three teachings and the hundred schools of thought.

Lu Tai had given Chen Ping'an some suggestions regarding the act of reading, and Chen Ping'an had committed all of these suggestions to memory. For example, one needed to read and understand a broad range of books before summarizing everything into a few common principles. One also needed to follow the clues to uncover the truth.

In terms of choosing the correct books to read, one shouldn't have the biased view that the hundred schools of thought were a hodgepodge of theories and principles with an endless sea of scriptures. In reality, even the three teachings in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—the most widespread teachings in the world—weren't exempt from this problem. Only fewer than fifty books in total could be regarded as genuinely beneficial to the reader. In other words, even the elderly mortals in the world could read these books in great detail and re-read them again and again.

Because of these considerations, Chen Ping'an had only chosen three Legalist books and made sure that there were no print issues that affected their contents.

Regarding the incident just then, there was one aspect of Pei Qian's reaction that pleased Chen Ping'an the most. This pertained to the notion of sincerity that Chen Ping'an had mentioned to Pei Qian after her close call with Liu Qingfeng's ox-drawn carriage.

After making a mistake, her first reaction was to sincerely apologize to the burly man.

In addition, the Pei Qian of today was completely different from the Pei Qian that Chen Ping'an had first encountered in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. For example, when experiencing the incident today, there had only been a single thought in Pei Qian's mind the entire time—transcribing texts.

She hadn't turned around and cursed those people to a miserable death.

"Pei Qian, were you angry when that man grabbed your head and almost threw you aside?" Chen Ping'an asked.

"Of course I was angry!" Pei Qian exclaimed. "When we were coming back, I cursed them to death in my mind. In fact, I gave each of those eight baddies a different death. For example, the person whom Master punished accidentally tripped when walking out of his room and fell down the immortal ship, landing on the ground with a splat and becoming a pile of mush.

"That stinky lady who has big eyebags according to the face reading techniques that the old cook taught me suddenly got into a fight with someone, and she ended up being slapped again and again, ultimately causing her to lose all of her teeth. Haha, and there was also that person with a pointy mouth and a monkey face. He got food poisoning, but there was no doctor on the ship to treat his ailment. In the end, he wailed in agony as he squirmed on the ground..."

Pei Qian was completely focused on transcribing texts, so she accidentally started to voice her true thoughts to Chen Ping'an. She suddenly jolted to her senses at this moment, and she said with a pained expression, "Master, whether it's a knuckle to the forehead or twisting my ears, do as you see fit."

Chen Ping'an wasn't angry at her, and he asked with a smile, "Then what if.."

As if predicting what Chen Ping'an was going to ask, Pei Qian sat up straight and said, "Rest assured, Master, I was only thinking about those things to amuse myself. Even if I master a peerless sword technique and an invincible fist technique one day, I won't genuinely abuse those people even if I come across them in the future! At most, I'll only kick them aside similar to what Master did just then."

"Why is that?" Chen Ping'an asked in curiosity.

There was a look of righteousness on Pei Qian's face as she replied, "Because I'm Master's disciple! Not only that, but I'm also your opening disciple! That being the case, won't I be embarrassing my master if I stoop to the same level as them? In any case, that incident was quite minor, especially since I was kicked and bashed so many times when I was little. However, I'm a rich person now, and I can also be considered half a member of the cultivation world. So, I'm super generous and magnanimous now!"

Zhu Lian coincidentally walked in with Shi Rou at this moment, and he immediately raised a thumb and remarked, "Gallant Heroine Pei Qian is becoming increasingly skilled at flattering other people now."

Pei Qian continued to transcribe texts. She was in a very good mood today, so she decided not to argue with the old cook and lower herself to the same level as him.

"Those people will definitely visit to apologize in a moment, so help me stop them and shoo them away." Chen Ping'an said to Zhu Lian.

"Master, why don't you meet them and explain the principles and reasons to them?" Pei Qian suddenly asked.

"You don't understand shit," Zhu Lian scoffed.

Pei Qian surprisingly didn't retort him, and she instead grinned to herself in secret.

When leaving the Lion Garden and walking along that small road back then, she had indeed grabbed a fart and asked Zhu Lian and Shi Rou to guess what was in her hand. So, it was this old cook who truly didn't understand shit.

Zhu Lian stood beside Pei Qian and watched her transcribing texts. She had most likely learned how to write from Chen Ping'an, and her handwriting could just barely be considered proper and legible now.

As he watched the little girl transcribing texts in earnest, he explained, "If Young Master meets with those people and kindly explains the principles and reasons to them, they'll definitely nod and accept his teachings on the surface. They'll agree to never make the same mistake in the future.

"After turning around and leaving, however, they'll try to push their luck and might even treat their encounter with Young Master as something to be proud of. They'll tell everyone that they're acquainted with Young Master, and after disembarking the immortal ship, they'll continue to live their merry lives in the cultivation world. At that time, they'll have a so-called sword cultivator friend, and everyone on this immortal ship can vouch that they're telling the truth. As such, will other people not feel apprehensive of them? Do you think this is a trivial matter?"

Pei Qian looked up and asked in confusion, "How are they suddenly friends? Are we not enemies with each other?"

Zhu Lian sat down and replied in a calm voice, "We know this, but the cultivation world doesn't know this."

Pei Qian stopped writing, and she felt so angry that she slammed the table with her other hand as she exclaimed, "How is the cultivation world so screwed up?!"

"Focus on transcribing texts and aim to complete the task in a single go. It's best that you don't lose focus in the middle of the task," Chen Ping'an interjected with a smile.

Pei Qian nodded in understanding before continuing to transcribe texts.

Sure enough...

Footsteps traveled over from the corridor outside, and the group of people mostly consisted of third or fourth tier pure martial artists. There was only a single fifth tier martial artist.

There was a knock on the door.

Zhu Lian opened the door and immediately sent the door-knocking martial artist flying with a single kick. "Piss off and don't come here to disturb my young master's peace and quiet. If anyone dares to come again, then I'll make sure to smack you to death."

The group of martial artists was terrified, and they immediately bowed and apologized before scurrying off in fear.

Almost half of the room doors along this corridor were open, and everyone was curious about whether this encounter would lead to conflict and bloodshed or end up as a so-called moving story that was praised and talked about by everyone in the cultivation world.

However, the actual outcome left them slightly bored and disappointed.

Even so, there were several vagrant cultivators who felt slightly better after seeing this outcome.

After all, they would have felt incredibly jealous if the group of crude martial artists had truly managed to transform misfortune into fortune and become acquainted with this profoundly talented young sword cultivator.

Looking at Chen Ping'an who was quietly watching Pei Qian transcribe texts and judging whether she was making any mistakes...

...Shi Rou suddenly felt like she had wasted several hundred years of her life as a yin entity.

Wasn't Chen Ping'an yet to turn twenty?

That being the case, how was he so good at seeing through the intricate human mind?

Chen Ping'an suddenly turned around and asked with a smile, "Is something the matter? You've been staring at me for half a day now."

Shi Rou shook her head in slight embarrassment.

However, she was afraid that Chen Ping'an had the wrong idea about the situation after seeing his strange expression, and she was worried that he was mistakenly thinking that she was having impure thoughts about him. Shi Rou became increasingly uneasy, and she suddenly stood up after a while and turned around to leave.

Chen Ping'an was completely stumped.

He had goosebumps after being stared at by "Du Mao" for so long.

Zhu Lian was extremely amused, and he chuckled, "Young Master is truly a dragon among men. After coming across someone as impressive as Young Master, all of the women in the world are bound to fall head over heels for you and be unable to marry anyone else."

Chen Ping'an sighed and said, "Zhu Lian, sometimes your words of flattery are truly inferior to Pei Qian's."

"That's inevitable," Zhu Lian said with a chuckle. "After all, Pei Qian is innately talented at sucking up to others, while this old servant has needed to work hard to hone this skill."

Pei Qian continued to transcribe texts, and she didn't so much as glance up as she exclaimed with an angry expression, "Just you wait, Old Cook, I still have 125 characters until I finish, so prepare yourself and get ready to face my wrath."

Zhu Lian smiled and replied, "Oh? What are you going to do? Are we going to have a shit-eating competition, or are we going to have a cursing competition?"

Chen Ping'an couldn't bear to listen on, so he decided to retrieve the incredibly valuable Day and Night Wandering Deity True Body Talisman as well as the Dragon Palace Jade Pendant.

Li Baozhen had "unlocked" these treasures, and Chen Ping'an didn't know how to "lock" them back up. As a result, spiritual energy continued to drain from the talisman and the jade pendant. However, the speed and amount of spiritual energy drain were almost negligible compared to the total amount of spiritual energy contained by the two treasures.

It was as if someone had used a hoe to dig out a small ditch next to the large lake surrounded by a thicket of reeds outside the Lion Garden.

At the same time, this also highlighted the significant shortcomings of talismans created by pure martial artists.

The talismans created by pure martial artists were like boiling oil in a wok and like the four ever-cycling seasons—they would become useless if they weren't used in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, the talismans created by Qi refiners would be like flowing streams and like immortal abodes—they would remain fresh and full of energy even if they were left unused for a long time.

Zhang Clan clicked his tongue in wonder and remarked, "I'm unable to see anything special about the jade pendant, but this precious talisman from the Second Young Master of the Li Clan... can probably be regarded as an immortal treasure among immortal treasures?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "The Talisman Branch is a major branch of the Daoist Sect, and the myriad of transformations created by them all adhere to the heavenly secrets. After mastering their talismans, cultivators will be able to travel around the world without fear.

"Even if one comes across powerful sword cultivators who consume the most wealth and possess the strongest destructive ability, one will still be able to use Dry Well Talismans and Sword Suppressing Talismans to target their foes. This is already a very good outcome compared to other Qi refiners who fear sword cultivators like prey fear their predators.

"In any case, one can also use talismans to suppress ghosts and deities, so generally speaking, ordinary cultivators will all carry a few talismans with them just in case they come across any such danger. As for the amount and the quality of the talismans they carry, this naturally depends on how deep their pockets are."

Chen Ping'an noticed Zhu Lian staring at him.

Apart from using gold ink to draw talismans, Chen Ping'an had also used a large stack of precious high-grade talismans during the battle in the Lion Garden.

Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Regarding the stories behind this, I'll tell them to you and Pei Qian after we arrive at Downtrodden Mountain in the Dragon Spring Prefecture. Simply put, the existence of those talismans was the main reason why I didn't kill Li Baozhen."

Zhu Lian didn't inquire any further, and he rubbed his hands and asked, "Young Master, why don't you give me an opportunity to act as your training partner and spar with you?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and stood up, replying, "Zhu Lian, you can go harder on me this time, and there's no need to worry about me not being able to handle your power. You didn't see how I sparred back then, and if you did, you would understand that Zheng Dafeng was... truly going easy on you guys back in Old Dragon City's Dust Medicinal Shop. Mhm, to borrow your words, he was being extremely gentle as if he were a man drawing eyebrows for a woman."

Zhu Lian smiled and said, "I see. I felt quite unsatisfied back then, but with Sui Youbian present, it didn't feel right for me to complain."

Pei Qian had already completed her transcriptions for the day.

"You should go back to your room. Otherwise, you'll definitely yelp in astonishment in a moment," Chen Ping'an said.

"I won't!" Pei Qian promised loudly.

Chen Ping'an first retrieved a Cleansing Talisman and stuck it on a wall.

After fifteen minutes, Pei Qian was already drenched in sweat merely from watching the two of them spar. Things were truly intense, and in the end, she decided to run to the corner of the room and open up Chen Ping'an's bamboo bookcase, retrieving her treasure box.

If she were also required to practice fist techniques like this to fulfill her dream of becoming a peerless elite, then Pei Qian would definitely pretend that the cultivation world didn't exist. There was no cultivation world, and she could simply read stories about this mythical place in the novels.

Chen Ping'an was wearing his Dao robe, Golden Sweet Wine, right now, and this saved him a lot of trouble.