Chapter 446 (5): Feeling Wonderful in the Wind and Snow

The old ancestor of Yellow Barrier Mountain quickly walked out from his residence, bringing with him several important cultivators from the immortal force. He personally made his way over to welcome the incredibly lofty Guest Elder Chen.

Of the one thousand or so islands in Bamboo Scroll Lake and of the tens of thousands of unrestrained vagrant cultivators, the Stone Brush Nation needed to firmly keep in mind the name of one hundred or so islands. Among these one hundred or so islands, they needed to sear into their memory the names of a dozen or so large islands, including Azure Mound Island, Millet Grain Island, Heavenly Governess Island, and so on.

As for Cyan Gorge Island which was controlled by the River Severing True Lord, a Nascent Tier cultivator, this was essentially the highest peak of the mountain, one that housed the loftiest of terrestrial immortals. Yellow Barrier Mountain had no way of knowing about the tumultuous events that had swept through Bamboo Scroll Lake during the past two months, but apart from those ill-informed and secluded low-level immortal forces, almost all of the cultivators in the Stone Brush Nation had heard about Liu Zhimao successfully ascending the throne and becoming the ruler of Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Tears welled up in Su Xinzhai's eyes when she saw the familiar old ancestor of Yellow Barrier Mountain, and she immediately fell to her knees before breaking down into sobs.

The old ancestor and the other cultivators of Yellow Barrier Mountain were given a huge fright.

Chen Ping'an spoke tactfully and repeated to them what he had said to the two cultivators guarding the entrance of the mountain.

These explanations were all thought up by Su Xinzhai herself.

Chen Ping'an was simply repeating what Su Xinzhai had told him to say.

After learning of the "truth," everyone in Yellow Barrier Mountain felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders. After they sat down, the Sea Observation Tier old ancestor who was still unable to advance to the Dragon Gate Tier after all these years started to ask Su Xinzhai — who had a completely different appearance from before — how she was doing. There was some sense of sincerity in his words, and this wasn't something that could be faked. The cultivators from Yellow Barrier Mountain also sighed with emotion when they saw how much Su Xinzhai treasured the past.

Afterward, Su Xinzhai visited the ancestral hall of the immortal force to respectfully offer three sticks of incense. In fact, it was the old ancestor of Yellow Barrier Mountain who personally handed her the incense sticks.

In the end, Su Xinzhai went to her master's grave with only Chen Ping'an and Zeng Ye accompanying her. She politely turned down the offer for Yellow Barrier Mountain's old ancestor and the several other cultivators to accompany her.

Looking at the disappearing figures of the three people, a middle-aged cultivator couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "This Guest Elder Chen who's come from the distant Cyan Gorge Island... A person truly can't be judged by their appearance."

The old ancestor of Yellow Barrier Mountain smiled and said, "What are you trying to say? Are you praising him or belittling him? Thank heavens Guest Elder Chen isn't here, or else your comment could have brought great trouble to our small Yellow Barrier Mountain."

However, the old ancestor immediately stroked his beard and chuckled, "In any case, it's genuinely true that people can't be judged by their appearance. His appearance is normal, and he's not carrying a single dazzling immortal treasure on him. If it weren't for that guest elder jade tablet, it would have been exceedingly difficult to believe that such a young cultivator is already a high-ranking guest elder at Cyan Gorge Island! How impressive! Compared to him, we're nothing more than a bunch of good-for-nothing old bones. We can't compare at all."

Before the middle-aged cultivator could say anything else...

The old ancestor shot a glance at him and shook his head lightly, saying, "Things are going swimmingly, so is there any need for Yellow Barrier Mountain to do anything extra? Perhaps we're not satisfied enough with how well things are going, so we decide to gild the lily out of boredom?"

The middle-aged cultivator immediately nodded in understanding.

Even though they had already walked far away, Su Xinzhai still astutely noticed the look of exasperation on Chen Ping'an's face. She smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Is the old ancestor saying something about me behind my back?"

"No, they're just praising me," Chen Ping'an shook his head and replied with a chuckle.

"What are they saying?" Su Xinzhai asked in curiosity. "It's passable if they're praising Mr. Chen as young and accomplished, so Mr. Chen can wholeheartedly accept this praise. But if they're praising Mr. Chen as handsome and extraordinary in demeanor? Please don't believe their nonsense."

"Sure enough, only like-minded people join the same immortal force. Cultivators in Yellow Barrier Mountain all think and act the same way," Chen Ping'an said in helplessness.

Su Xinzhai smiled in response.

She walked very slowly afterward.

Chen Ping'an also slowed down.

There was a relatively beautiful area at the back of the Yellow Barrier Mountain, though the spiritual energy here was far thinner than that on Cyan Gorge Island. They stood in front of a grave.

Su Xinzhai offered three sticks of incense and kowtowed to pay respects to her late master.

She was unwilling to stand up for a long time.

Chen Ping'an squatted down in the distance and casually picked up a small handful of soil, gently squeezing it in his hand.

Zeng Ye gazed at Su Xinzhai from a distance, feeling a shared sense of sadness as he did so.

After Su Xinzhai eventually stood up, she wiped the tears from her face before walking over to Chen Ping'an. There was relief on her face, and her brows were no longer knitted in a melancholy frown.

Chen Ping'an tossed the soil away and stood back up.

Su Xinzhai smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Chen, you can put the talisman away now."

Chen Ping'an wanted to say something, but he couldn't help but hesitate. In the end, he remained silent and placed the Fox Skin Beauty Talisman back inside his sleeve.

Standing in front of him was the female yin entity who had reverted to her original appearance.

"Are you sure you don't want to live in the Fox Skin Beauty Talisman anymore?" Chen Ping'an asked. "You don't want to live in it even if there's the Heavenly Worship Ceremony, the Liberation Rite of Water and Land, a means for better reincarnation, or..."

Su Xinzhai shook her head before Chen Ping'an could finish, interrupting him and saying, "I have no regrets, not a single one."

She took several steps back and smiled beautifully as she performed a graceful curtsy to the bookkeeper who was no less pale than yin entities.

Su Xinzhai turned around and smiled at the teary Zeng Ye, saying, "Silly young boy, remember to cultivate earnestly with Mr. Chen in the future. Make sure to advance to the Middle Five Tiers and become an earth immortal!"

Zeng Ye nodded earnestly in response.

Su Xinzhai then turned to Chen Ping'an and said in a soft voice, "May all of Mr. Chen's wishes come true, and may Mr. Chen Ping'an be free from all worries."

"You don't want to reconsider?" Chen Ping'an asked in a hoarse voice.

"May Mr. Chen become immortal Dao partners with the girl whom you like," Su Xinzhai finished.

Chen Ping'an took a deep breath and cupped his fists in farewell, saying, "May fate let us cross paths again in the future."

Tears streamed down Su Xinzhai's face, yet she was smiling happily as she requested, "Mr. Chen, please, please make sure to recognize me at that time, okay?"

Chen Ping'an nodded lightly in response.

Su Xinzhai cocked her head slightly and gazed at the young man's eyes, seemingly wanting to confirm that he wasn't lying. In the end, she smiled widely and remarked, "Hah, I just realized that our Mr. Chen is actually very handsome."

Chen Ping'an squeezed out a smile, shakily raising a thumb and replying, "This young lady has quite decent taste."

With no more regrets and attachments, Su Xinzhai's soul started to fade away bit by bit, making her appear like a beautiful lady in a painting that was burning to ashes and scattering in the wind, ultimately returning to the embrace of heaven and earth.

Chen Ping'an waved goodbye to her.

Zeng Ye covered his face and sobbed.

In the end, Chen Ping'an patted the young boy's shoulder and said, "Let's go."

Zeng Ye nodded softly and hung his head in dejection.

"If you truly like Miss Su that much, it doesn't matter even if you were eventually unable to express your feelings to her in the end," Chen Ping'an said in a quiet voice. "In the next tens upon hundreds of years, you need to find her again and loudly confess your feelings, even if this means scouring the entire world. If one hundred years isn't enough, then you need to work hard and strive to become an earth immortal, competing with heaven and earth to see who has a longer lifespan. If you still like her at that time, what does it matter that you travel far and wide for thousands of years to look for her while cultivating earnestly at the same time?"

Zeng Ye suddenly looked up and said through sobs, "But my cultivation aptitude is bad."

Chen Ping'an's voice became solemn as he scolded, "Zeng Ye, before you've put in effort that far exceeds ordinary people, you don't have any right to claim that your aptitude is bad or that you lack talent! I don't care if you say this one thousand times or ten thousand times to other people, but I don't want to hear it a second time if you want to keep cultivating with me!"

Zeng Ye was slightly dazed as he listened to Chen Ping'an's rebuke.

Chen Ping'an walked forward first, saying to Zeng Ye, "I'll wait for you at the entrance of the mountain. Before that, I'll bid farewell to the cultivators of Yellow Barrier Mountain, and you don't need to come along with me for this. You can stay here by yourself, and it's up to you whether you speak the thoughts in your mind or not. It won't make any difference. It's whether you can genuinely remember and cherish Miss Su that will be the best proof of your feelings for her.

"However, let me say something that you might not want to hear right now. I won't hold you in lower regard even if you end up liking another girl in a few months or several years. If you can genuinely remember Miss Su for as long as you live, however... then I'll definitely hold you, Zeng Ye, in higher regard!"

Chen Ping'an left Zeng Ye by himself, returning to the other side of the mountain to thank the cultivators of Yellow Barrier Mountain and bid farewell to them.

He then slowly descended the mountain.

Reaching the bottom, he sat on the steps at the mountain entrance to wait for Zeng Ye.

Turning around and looking up, he saw a tall and sturdy young boy sprinting down the mountain.

————

Located on Pine and Crane Street, a street where many officials and nobles from one of the Stone Brush Nation's provincial city lived, there was the residence of the Ma Clan which had an incredibly tall door threshold. It had already been a top-notch clan to begin with, yet its standing was elevated even further thanks to the birth of a daughter who was even more precious than royal family members. The Ma Clan was extremely renowned in the provincial city, and even the proud and haughty governor would make sure to send some subordinates over whenever it was the New Year or there was a festival.

The New Year was around the corner, and the clip-clop of hooves reverberated down the bluestone slabs of the wide street in the morning. Three steeds had entered the city and arrived at Pine and Crane Street very early in the day.

The flames of war were tearing through the Stone Brush Nation, and now this omen of destruction had spread to the central region of the nation, only one province away from the province in which Pine and Crane Street was located. The street was no longer as lively and full of joyful celebrations as the previous years.

The three people dismounted their horses.

One was a listless young man wearing an azure cotton robe and carrying both a saber and a sword like those wanderers.

He was accompanied by a male and a female, with the former being a tall and sturdy young boy carrying a bamboo case and the latter being a lithe young woman who was unfortunately wearing a veiled hat.

The steward of the Ma Clan was a middle-aged man dressed no less fancy than a noble from the prefectural cities, and he let out a yawn as he shot a sideways glance at the young outsider standing at the forefront of the three people. He felt slightly impatient, but he immediately shuddered and became wide awake after hearing that the young man had come from Bamboo Scroll Lake's Cyan Gorge Island.

He hastily lowered his head and bowed, asking the esteemed immortals to wait for a moment as he went to inform the clan leader of their arrival. As the steward ran off, he didn't forget to turn around with a smile and kindly request the esteemed immortals to wait patiently. He would definitely return as soon as possible.

The Ma Clan's residence was large, and the profusely sweating steward returned to the entrance after six or seven minutes. Hurriedly walking beside him was a skinny and refined man with graying sideburns.

Walking in a slow and unhurried manner behind the two of them was an old man who looked like the teacher of a private school.

The young woman wearing the veiled hat was on the verge of tears, yet she bit her lips tight and didn't make a single sound.

Chen Ping'an retrieved his jade tablet and handed it to the old man who carefully examined both the front side and backside. He then respectfully returned the jade tablet to Chen Ping'an and said in a quiet voice, "I didn't foresee this esteemed guest elder's visit, so please forgive me for the improper welcome."

The clan leader of the Ma Clan suppressed his delight, respect, and apprehension and quickly invited the three guests from the faraway Cyan Gorge Island into his residence.

The clan leader initially wanted to give his guests a ceremonious welcome to express his sincerity, but the young immortal walking in front politely declined his offer.

According to what he had discussed with the precious daughter of the Ma Clan who had once brought immense honor and glory to her clan, Chen Ping'an frankly said to the clan leader who was healthy even as he approached fifty, "Back at Bamboo Scroll Lake, Ma Duyi was initially a cultivator on Pine Wind Island cultivating in an immortal force led by an old cultivator called Shao Dongtian. She had no hope of attaining the Great Dao at that time, but she came across another fated opportunity later and genuinely entered the proper path of cultivation. She was fortunate enough to join my lineage, and she can be regarded as a junior niece of mine now. This is the reason why I've especially come to visit the Ma Clan this time."

Chen Ping'an was the guest, yet his words were very firm and arguably impolite, with his haughty manner extremely fitting for his identity as a cultivator from Bamboo Scroll Lake. His tone was also consistent with that of top-notch official immortals from the mountains of the Stone Brush Nation.

However, the clan leader and the guest elder of the Ma Clan found this completely reasonable and expected.

Otherwise, they would have genuinely started to question the veracity of the young man's claim. Perhaps he was an imposter trying to act as a guest elder from Bamboo Scroll Lake to take advantage of the Ma Clan's currently precarious situation and trick them? If that were the case, the Ma Clan would at most treat their guests to good food and good drink and serve them well for a period of time before hurriedly seeing them off. Doing so would be for the sake of reducing risks, lest they invite any more troubles onto themselves. After all, what the Ma Clan needed right now was tangible help in a dire time. They didn't need anyone to gild the lily.

Even though they were still slightly skeptical of the young man's identity as a so-called guest elder of Cyan Gorge Island, they ultimately believed it more than they doubted it. Thus, they became increasingly polite toward their guests, so much so that they were bordering on being obsequious.

In any case, speaking bucketloads of polite words wouldn't cost them a single silver coin.

The Ma Clan hadn't become so powerful and wealthy today simply by relying on their ancestors and descendants studying sagely texts.

The only trouble was that the Ma Clan had been enjoying far too much fame and doing business with far too many people during the past few decades. They wanted to earn as much money as they could, yet what they eventually earned was very big trouble. The Ma Clan wasn't afraid of spending silver to resolve troubles, and what they feared was spending huge sums of money but not receiving any life-saving talismans to quash the troubles. They feared that they might receive a death-accelerating talisman instead.

However, things would truly take a turn for the best if this person were genuinely Ma Duyi's new senior!

There was huge commotion throughout the Stone Brush Nation right now, and from the capital to the regions, the words of a decently powerful immortal were far more effective than the words of the pitiful officials belonging to the Six Ministries.

Chen Ping'an maintained his frankness and conciseness after entering the main hall of the Ma Clan's residence, saying that he had a fairly good relationship with Ma Duyi so he could do his best to provide some minor help to the Ma Clan if they encountered any troubles.

Since the Ma Clan was doing quite well right now, he could see if the clan had any members who had good cultivation aptitude. If someone were truly fortunate enough, they could decide in the future whether they wanted to go to Bamboo Scroll Lake to cultivate or whether they wanted to stay and receive some immortal coins instead.