Chapter 399 (4): Present

Chen Ping'an had traveled on intercontinental ships three times in the past, so he knew that this immortal ship, Azure Garb, was already slow to begin with. Unexpectedly, however, the immortal ship took many detours along the north and northeastern border of the Azure Phoenix Nation, allowing many groups of passengers to disembark.

After leaving the Azure Phoenix Nation, Chen Ping'an initially thought that the immortal ship could finally speed up. However, this was not the case, and the immortal ship continued to dock at many ferry stations in a vassal state located to the north of the Lofty Sky Nation. In the end, it directly came to a hovering stop above the Central Mountain of the vassal at noon, with an announcement made to the passengers that they would rest here and continue their journey tomorrow morning.

Passengers could disembark to enjoy the scenery on the Central Mountain, and there was coincidentally a rock gambling event that was held four times every year. As such, passengers could also take this opportunity to make some small bets and have some fun. It would naturally be best if they enjoyed great fortune and made a huge return on their investments.

The lamplight rocks in the Central Mountain of the Sky Holding Nation were referred to as "mini Dawn Cloud Mountains," and if one gambled correctly, they could use a few snowflake coins to obtain some high-grade lamplight rock essence. If the rock essence were as large as a fist, then one could become filthy rich in a single night.

Ten years ago, a vagrant cultivator had used his entire savings of twenty-six snowflake coins to purchase a large block of lamplight rock that no one else fancied. In the end, however, the rock was cut to reveal fiery crimson lamplight rock essence that was worth an impressive thirty lesser heat coins.

Of course, passengers could also choose to remain on the immortal ship to rest if they didn't want to disembark.

Chen Ping'an was rendered speechless after listening to the explanation of a maidservant on the immortal ship. Chen Ping'an walked to the window after the maidservant left, and he glanced at the so-called Central Mountain of the Sky Holding Nation in the distance, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

It was called Central Mountain, yet to say nothing of Cloud Drape Mountain in his hometown, it couldn't even compare to Downtrodden Mountain which was his private property. Indeed, Downtrodden Mountain was much more majestic than this so-called Central Mountain.

Chen Ping'an and the others prepared to disembark, and they waited for the small immortal boats to return to bring them to the "large and impressive" Central Mountain of the Sky Holding Nation.

Even thinking with his backside, Chen Ping'an knew that the deity of this Central Mountain had a mutually beneficial business relationship with the owner of the immortal ship.

While Chen Ping'an and his companions waited for a small immortal boat to arrive, the other passengers in the surroundings subconsciously moved out of their way. They didn't point and stare, but it was inevitable that they whispered to each other in hushed voices.

After failing to gain an audience with Chen Ping'an, the so-called young sword cultivator, the group of martial artists had already disembarked and left with their tails between their legs, not daring to stay on the immortal ship for any longer.

The passengers all had different thoughts about this.

Official immortals, regardless of their age, mainly felt a strong sense of jealousy toward Chen Ping'an and his two bonded flying swords. However, they were able to conceal their feelings very well.

Meanwhile, vagrant cultivators were extremely fearful of him.

After discussing their thoughts with many people on the immortal ship, the wealthy mortal passengers were mostly of the opinion that sword cultivators were indeed as arrogant and domineering as the rumors said.

Following the incident, the immortal ship was extremely respectful to Chen Ping'an and his companions, especially picking out a beautiful maidservant to occasionally knock on their doors and offer some immortal fruit.

There was also a small pagoda called the Immortal Qi Hall on the immortal ship, and this pagoda was especially used to host esteemed guests of the immortal ship, allowing them to create valuable works of ink.

Chen Ping'an had politely turned down the invitation and asked Zhu Lian to head over in his place.

After waiting for a while, they stepped onto a small immortal boat that had glowing golden talismanic symbols inscribed on its hull, following which they were transported to the foot of the Central Mountain.

There were few genuine worshippers in the mountain god temple, and the large majority of visitors in the Central Mountain were wealthy individuals from the Sky Holding Nation and guests from the cultivation world who had come here to gamble on rocks.

The wealthy individuals from the mortal nation were accustomed to looking down on others, yet they would walk slower and speak softer whenever they came across someone who had stepped down from the small immortal boats.

There were three incense providers belonging to different shrines of the Central Mountain on the immortal ship, and they had almost gotten into a fight with each other in order to win over more customers. The incense provider from the mountain god temple was the most short-tempered, while the incense providers from the Daoist temple located at the mountain waist and Buddhist temple located at the mountain foot spoke amiably on the surface, yet were actually launching hidden barbs in their words.

In any case, the three incense providers each showed their wares and each won over some guests. After traveling to the immortal ship on the small immortal boats, they were all able to disembark with a group of passengers who were willing to visit the temples to offer incense.

The steward of the immortal ship personally led the incense provider from the mountain god temple to Chen Ping'an and the others, introducing the two parties to each other.

The incense provider remained amiable and smiling even after Chen Ping'an said that he had no intention of purchasing and offering incense for the moment, and he gave a huge spiel about how incredibly fortunate he would be if Young Master Chen could simply visit the temple.

When Chen Ping'an and the others stepped off the small immortal boat onto the Central Mountain, the incense provider still on the immortal ship stood beside the railing and furiously spat toward the ground.

Zhu Lian smiled with squinted eyes and asked, "What do you say, Young Master? Should this old servant fly for the first time to reward this brave man?"

Chen Ping'an waved his hand and replied, "This might be the only encounter we have in our entire lives. There's also no animosity between us, so why dwell on this and kick up a fuss?"

"What's going on?" Pei Qian asked in curiosity.

"Someone's pissing and shitting on your head. Hurry, look up," Zhu Lian replied with a chuckle.

Pei Qian rolled her eyes in response.

There was a street that specialized in rock gambling at the foot of the mountain, and there were dozens of shops of varying sizes located along the street.

The shops were filled with gray lamplight rocks, with the smallest rocks measuring as large as a palm and the biggest rocks measuring as tall as a person and weighing upward five thousand kilograms. These gigantic lamplight rocks were often the most valuable rocks in the shops.

Lamplight rocks were a special local product of the Sky Holding Nation's Central Mountain, and the reason for their name was due to a legend about the highest-quality lamplight rock essence being as bright red as blood and incredibly viscous yet pure. This rock essence would flicker like lamplight, and holding a piece of lamplight rock would allow one to deter sinister ghosts and spirits.

Surprisingly, however, even earth immortals would be unable to see through these rocks and determine their quality before they were split open.

Chen Ping'an wasn't interested in these things, so he gave Pei Qian, Zhu Lian, and Shi Rou ten snowflake coins each, allowing them to pick and split open some lamplight rocks.

Meanwhile, he climbed the Central Mountain by himself, wanting to visit the mountain god temple at the mountain peak to take a look. They agreed to meet up at an inn located at the foot of the mountain during the evening.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Pei Qian was a little hesitant, and she asked if she could not buy any lamplight rocks.

Chen Ping'an smiled and pinched her cheeks, replying, "The ten snowflake coins are yours now, so you can spend them however you want."

Pei Qian nodded in understanding.

After Chen Ping'an walked far away and started to climb the mountain...

...Pei Qian immediately jumped up in delight and bared her teeth, wildly unleashing her Deranged Demon Sword Technique in happiness.

Zhu Lian had yet to finish wandering through the second shop when he bought a piece of lamplight rock that he liked the look of. After cutting it open, it was revealed that he had lost his gamble.

Pei Qian was so angry that she almost fought him to the death.

Zhu Lian pressed down on her head and allowed her to wildly flail about.

Shi Rou held the ten snowflake coins in her hand and examined the rocks carefully, wandering through shop after shop and frequently studying a rock for a long time before eventually putting it back down. She had examined many lamplight rocks, yet she was still yet to spend a single snowflake coin.

"You're truly skilled at subsisting," Zhu Lian praised.

Pei Qian walked beside Shi Rou, and each time she stared at a lamplight rock, it was as if she wanted to stick her eyes into the rock.

Zhu Lian kicked Pei Qian in the backside several times, and he even jested that she only had eyes for material wealth. Not only that, but her eyes were even getting stuck on rocks now. Just how laughable was this?

However, it wasn't long before Zhu Lian started to regret his decision of not following Chen Ping'an into the mountain.

Shi Rou and Pei Qian truly showed outstanding perseverance as they wandered through the shops, and they not only insisted on visiting each and every shop, but they even made a point to examine each and every lamplight rock. Moreover, they would definitely stop and watch on if anyone bought a rock and asked the shopkeeper to help slice it open. They would watch from the beginning to the end with serious expressions, and it was as if they cared more about the outcome than the actual customer who had spent an exorbitant amount of money to gamble on a piece of rock.

Zhu Lian wasn't physically tired, but he was rather mentally exhausted.

When Zhu Lian finally glanced up at the sky, he figured that it was almost time for Young Master Chen to descend the mountain and arrive at the inn.

Shi Rou finally bought a lamplight rock that was the size of her palm, parting with two snowflake coins as per the listed price.

After the rock was sliced open, there was surprisingly a piece of bright red rock essence the size of a thumb resting inside. Even the shopkeeper was sincerely astounded by this.

It wasn't that the lamplight rock essence was worth a lot, but rather that it was indeed very rare for such a small piece of lamplight rock to produce such a large amount of rock essence.

Shi Rou smiled faintly, and she had no intention of selling the bright red and viscous lamplight rock essence.

After leaving the shop, Pei Qian suddenly tugged on Shi Rou's sleeve and asked in a quiet voice, "Big Sister Shi Rou, can you lend me eight snowflake coins?"

"You're not buying any rocks, so why do you need to borrow this money?" Shi Rou asked in curiosity.

"I am going to buy a rock!" Pei Qian replied with a serious expression.

Shi Rou was even more puzzled, and she asked, "We've already visited all of the shops and looked at so many rocks, so do you still remember which one you want to buy?"

Pei Qian nodded earnestly in response.

Shi Rou smiled and handed her eight remaining snowflake coins to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian took a deep breath and started to sprint down the street.

Shi Rou and Zhu Lian exchanged a glance before quickly catching up with the little girl.

They didn't know what Pei Qian was playing at.

In the end, the two of them discovered Pei Qian standing in a large shop that had lamplight rocks of various sizes stacked as tall as a mountain. Standing in a corner, Pei Qian struggled mightily to extract a lamplight rock that was most likely too large for her to wrap her arms around.

Even though people were unable to see through lamplight rocks, there was a history of several hundred years of mining and slicing open these rocks. In addition to this, there were also various factors regarding the mountain roots and veins that would affect the quality of the rocks.

Add to that the rich experience of the shopkeepers gained from slicing open countless lamplight rocks, it was only natural that the appraisers working in each shop would have a fairly good idea of how much each rock was worth. They would inevitably make some mistakes, but such mistakes would usually be minor and infrequent. They would almost never make any big mistakes and allow their customers to walk away with a huge win.

Because of this, some large lamplight rocks were very cheap, while some small lamplight rocks were surprisingly very expensive.

Pei Qian was squatting down on the floor, and the large lamplight rock resting beside her feet was priced at twenty snowflake coins.

This lamplight rock had already been sitting in the shop for more than one hundred years, with no one interested in gambling on it the entire time.

Pei Qian started to haggle with the shopkeeper, saying that she only had fifteen snowflake coins to spend. She had worked hard for many years, and this was the entirety of her savings.

The old shopkeeper found the little girl very amusing, and she didn't look like the child of a wealthy family at all, especially with how tanned she was. Yet, she was in possession of fifteen snowflake coins, which equated to fifteen thousand taels of silver in mortal currency. In other words, she could already be regarded as a wealthy individual in the prefectures of the Sky Holding Nation.

In reality, the old shopkeeper felt like reducing the price to fifteen snowflake coins was still acceptable. After all, his appraiser had privately estimated that this large rock was only worth ten snowflake coins. Moreover, if he didn't sell it today, it was very possible that this lamplight rock would sit in his shop for another one hundred years. At that time, this shop would have already been passed down to his grandson.

However, the old shopkeeper still insisted on haggling with Pei Qian, with one asking for an unreasonable price and one making very unreasonable offers. They haggled for seven or eight minutes, and the old shopkeeper wanted to see what excuses and explanations the little girl could come up with in order to save five snowflake coins.

In the end, the old shopkeeper laughed heartily and agreed to drop the price by five snowflake coins. However, what he saw was the tanned little girl retrieving a large handful of snowflake coins and picking out three to put back into her sleeve. She then handed the remaining fifteen snowflake coins to him.

The old shopkeeper grimaced upon seeing this.

Young Lady, that's a little disrespectful of you...

Pei Qian smiled and played dumb.

Shi Rou pretended to not recognize Pei Qian.

Zhu Lian gave her a thumbs up and praised, "As expected of Young Master's opening disciple."

The old shopkeeper wasn't angry, and he instead felt like this mischievous little girl was very good at doing business. He smiled and asked, "Do you want the shop to open up the rock for you?"

Pei Qian nodded and replied, "Yes, I'll open it here. Otherwise, it will be too large and heavy for me to carry. According to your rules, lamplight rocks that cost under twenty snowflake coins can all be sliced open for free. In addition, it's up to the buyer's discretion whether they give a tip or not if they open up a valuable rock. Old Mister, you can't get angry at me if I don't give you a tip in a while."

The old shopkeeper was thoroughly amused as he nodded and agreed to the little girl's request.

Pei Qian suddenly asked the old shopkeeper to hold on for a second, following which she turned around to look at Zhu Lian.

As if in tacit understanding, Zhu Lian nodded and said, "We'll open the rock here. Young Master isn't here, but I am."

Pei Qian cocked her head and smiled brilliantly. She then suddenly turned around and waved her hand at the old shopkeeper, announcing, "Slice open the rock!"

After doing this, she returned the three remaining snowflake coins to Shi Rou, saying in a quiet voice, "I still owe you five snowflake coins, and I'll return them to you in the future."

Fifteen minutes later...

The entire street was stunned.

Pei Qian had already been carrying a luggage sack diagonally across her body to begin with, and she was now walking along the street with a hefty new bag.

Behind her, the old shopkeeper was beating his chest and stomping his feet in utter regret.

That was an incredibly rare lamplight rock essence that would only appear once every one hundred years!

It was worth a whopping three grain rain coins![1]

Zhu Lian smiled with squinted eyes and held his hands inside his opposite sleeves as he walked behind the confidently swaggering Pei Qian.

Shi Rou simply felt like this was inconceivable.

Chen Ping'an coincidentally descended from the Central Mountain and arrived at the other end of the street at this moment.

He was completely baffled when he saw Pei Qian swaggering over at the center of everyone's attention.

Pei Qian immediately sprinted over upon seeing the familiar figure of her master, and she panted heavily as she screeched to a halt in front of him.

Chen Ping'an smiled and asked, "What's going on? Was it Zhu Lian or Shi Rou who won their gamble."

Pei Qian simply smiled in response.

Zhu Lian and Shi Rou walked over to the master and disciple, and the former chuckled and explained quietly, "Young Master, it was this money loser who spent fifteen snowflake coins to open up a lamplight rock that contained lamplight rock essence worth at least three grain rain coins."

Chen Ping'an smiled and patted Pei Qian's head, praising, "How impressive."

He was indeed happy, but he wasn't especially astonished or delighted.

Pei Qian was smiling so widely that her eyes became squinted crescents. She cocked her head and removed the bag from her shoulder with some difficulty, handing it to Chen Ping'an and saying, "Master, this is a present for you."

Chen Ping'an smiled and shook his hand, replying, "It's okay, you can keep it for yourself. When you save enough money to buy a treasure shelf in the future, you can place it at the top in the most eye-catching location. That will be quite good, and everyone will be envious of you when they see it. They'll all know that you're a rich young lady."

Pei Qian shook her head vigorously, explaining, "I suddenly remembered that the day I caught the wild hare and released it again was coincidentally Master's birthday. So, this is my birthday present to Master."

Chen Ping'an was astonished, and he fell silent for a long time before placing a hand on Pei Qian's head. He also smiled so widely that his eyes became squinted in a rare display, and he replied, "Is that so? Then Master will accept it?"

This was the first time Zhu Lian had seen Chen Ping'an become so happy.

Chen Ping'an had naturally been very happy when reuniting with Zhang Shanfeng and Xu Yuanxia as well, but his type of happiness back then wasn't the same as his type of happiness right now.

Pei Qian nodded and said in an apologetic voice, "But Master, I might not be able to give you such a nice birthday present on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month next year, okay?"

Chen Ping'an accepted the bag and placed it inside his bamboo bookcase. He then held Pei Qian's hand and walked along the street with her.

Pei Qian was exuberant as she recounted the shocked reactions of everyone following her lamplight rock being sliced open to reveal the incredible rock essence.

Chen Ping'an smiled faintly as he listened to Pei Qian excitedly recount the event.

The sun dipped below the horizon.

The lingering rays of sunshine elongated the shadows of the young man and the little girl.

Zhu Lian continued to walk behind them with his hands inside his opposite sleeves, while Shi Rou watched on with a gentle look in her eyes.

1. Reminder that one grain rain coin = ten lesser heat coins = one thousand snowflake coins. ☜