Chapter 494 (1): White Jade Capital in the Sky

When morning arrived, the elder in black had already put away the fishing rod. Silver carp were innately fond of moonlight and afraid of sunlight, so they would only swim up from the bottom of the lake at nighttime, wandering around to look for food. In the off chance that they took the bait during daytime and were dragged ashore, silver carp that had developed intelligence would choose to sacrifice themselves and cause the spiritual energy in their two flood dragon whiskers to disperse. Even though the flood dragon whiskers wouldn't become completely worthless mortal items, they would definitely suffer a huge drop in quality and grade.

However, the group of three people didn't become discouraged because of the result. To say nothing of spiritual fish like silver carp, even some species of ordinary fish coveted by ordinary fishermen were extremely difficult to catch. It was very normal to yield no results after fishing for a night.

After the elder in black put away the fishing rod, he started to change the fishing line and the fishing hook. The biggest change was the fishing hook, going from a palm-sized hook to an especially small and exquisite hook that was only the size of a thumb. The young man started to make ground bait again, clearly using even more immortal coins this time. They were most likely preparing to fish for the rarer and more valuable Luo fish.

The young man suddenly recalled something, and he turned to the big tree and shouted, "Fellow Cultivator, fishing for Luo fish is purely down to luck, and there aren't any taboos relating to this. Do you want to head to the center of the lake to fish together with me? I have a bamboo raft, so we can fish from the raft together."

The young female martial artist wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.

The young man retrieved a thick and heavy copper coin that was as large as a child's hand, lightly rubbing it between his palms and causing a miniature bamboo raft the length of a finger to materialize in the air. He then gently exhaled on the bamboo raft before tossing it into the lake, causing the bamboo raft to suddenly grow in size as it landed in the water, sending a ripple through the lake.

Chen Ping'an hesitated briefly before eventually nodding and accepting the young man's offer. He jumped down from the big tree and walked to the shore of the lake.

Compressing her voice to a thread, the young female martial artist warned the elder in black that this young man was also a martial artist. Moreover, his cultivation base would only be higher than hers.

When he was sleeping on the big tree last night, his breathing had been calm and long like slowly flowing water. His fist intent was also pure and condensed, and it was clear that he was a martial arts elite who had genuinely set foot on the path of the Martial Dao.

Generally speaking, it was only after reaching the Three Mind Tempering Tiers that a martial artist could achieve a state of pseudo-sleep, with fist intent flowing through their entire body as if they were being protected by a deity.

Taking this into account, this young wanderer was most likely a descendant of a powerful clan.

The elder in black used his mind's voice to reply, "I'm only worried about those earth immortal vagrant cultivators with improper backgrounds, and I'm actually less worried about skillful young martial artists such as this young man. Our Three Official Attendant Temple is least afraid of those insolent immortal forces in the mountains. Rest assured, I'll keep an eye on him while we fish. Young Master is wearing both a Dao robe and an armor pellet at once, so he can block the full-power attack of Golden Core Tier sword immortals one or two times. Nothing can go wrong."

Chen Ping'an stepped onto the bamboo raft, and they slowly drifted toward the center of the lake as the young female martial artist adeptly steered with a bamboo pole. The young man offered Chen Ping'an a small chair, and Chen Ping'an accepted it and expressed his thanks before retrieving his own fishing pole from his minimization treasure. As for the special bait, he naturally had to borrow this from the young man.

There was a slightly surprised look in the young female martial artist's eyes. It wasn't common for martial artists to carry minimization treasures, so sure enough, this person was the descendant of a powerful clan. The elder in black didn't think too much about this, and his expression was calm and composed as he and his young master started to casually chat with the young wanderer wearing the bamboo hat. As if in tacit understanding, neither party mentioned their own surnames or background.

A martial artist wearing a Dao robe while traveling around signified that they were yet to advance to the Three Mind Tempering Tiers of martial arts.

It was clear that the young man was from a wealthy background and hadn't traveled much through the cultivation world before. After casting a line with Chen Ping'an, he directly said, "Young Master, I feel like there are few bad people among people who genuinely like to fish like us. What do you think? I feel like it's not very good for Grandpa Liu and Big Sister Fan to be so guarded against you."

The elder in black remained unfazed and carefree as he grabbed some ground bait from a wooden bowl and casually tossed it into the lake.

On the other hand, the young female martial artist with the surname Fan felt a little awkward.

Chen Ping'an didn't know how to respond, so he could only mull over his words for a moment before offering a diplomatic reply, saying, "There might still be bad people among them, but there will definitely be fewer. One can never be too careful when leaving the mountains to travel around the cultivation world."

The young man shook his head and sighed, lamenting, "I know that you're saying this out of goodwill, but my great-grandpa, my grandpa, and my parents all speak like this whenever I leave home to travel outside. I'm genuinely getting a bit annoyed about this."

Chen Ping'an didn't say anything in response.

This was only a chance encounter, so it wasn't suitable for Chen Ping'an to comment on the family affairs of the young man.

However, was this young man a bit too open and honest?

Just how good was his family background for him to be so naive and careless?

Something tugged at Chen Ping'an's mind, but he purposely pretended to not notice anything as he continued to stare at the surface of the lake.

The elder in black turned around and gazed into the distance, saying with a faint smile, "Young Master, the Flax Robe Sect's Du Wensi is about to arrive. We stayed at Orchid Scent Town for too long, and this likely caused our schedule to be delayed for a few days. This young Golden Core Tier cultivator is probably feeling a bit worried because he's afraid that we encountered some mishap."

The young man felt a slight sense of grief and annoyance. He detested these kinds of social interactions. Things would be relatively okay if the other party were young and had similar interests, but he was genuinely not good at maintaining the relationship and the social niceties if the other party was of a senior generation.

"Young Master, I've heard that Du Wensi is an amicable and good-natured person who doesn't seek conflict with others," the young female martial artist said quietly. "He passed by our clan when leaving Skeleton Shoal and traveling around the northern regions back then, and he developed a good rapport with Great-grandfather, becoming good friends with him. He'll presumably have a good rapport with Young Master as well."

The young man nodded and made a face at the young woman, chuckling, "Big Sister Fan, I understand the social etiquette that I need to adhere to when traveling around in the outside world."

There was a gentle look in the young woman's eyes as the corners of her mouth curled up into a slight smile.

Chen Ping'an took a quick glance before retracting his gaze.

Alrighty then.

The naive young man beside him was probably yet to realize the silent message hidden behind his Big Sister Fan's gentle gaze.

A Qi refiner dressed in snow-white hemp robes appeared free and unfettered as he flew over on the wind. There was a thunderous rumble in the distant horizon, sounding as if the winter thunder were rolling over.

After arriving near Copper Green Lake, the earth immortal from the Flax Robe Sect slowed down his flying sword. His speed was still very quick, but there was almost no commotion and close to absolute silence.

However, Du Wensi didn't directly land on the bamboo raft, and he instead chose to land on the shore of the lake and quietly wait for them there. He didn't say anything either, presumably afraid that he would frighten the fish in Copper Green Lake.

He was clearly a good-tempered person.

Chen Ping'an was just about to reel in his line and put away his fishing rod.

However, the young man unexpectedly turned around and offered with a smile, "You can continue to fish if you want. I can leave this bamboo raft with you, and I might need to make a trip to Green Cottage Town first before returning to Copper Green Lake to continue fishing for some silver carp. In any case, you also have a pocket treasure, so I can teach you the mantra to release and retract the bamboo raft. It's extremely simple. Afterward, you can hand the bamboo raft to any cultivator from the Flax Robe Sect when you travel to Green Cottage Town."

Chen Ping'an shook his head and replied, "I'm about to set off again, so there's no need. I boarded the raft and fished in order to relax my mind."

The young man wouldn't go as far as to force other people to accept his goodwill.

After returning to the shore together, the young man put away his bamboo raft and bowed in respect to the young Golden Core Tier cultivator from the Flax Robe Sect, greeting with a dazzling smile, "The Three Official Attendant Temple's Yuan Xuan pays his respects to Uncle Du."

Du Wensi smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, saying, "I guessed that you would be fishing here at Copper Green Lake, so I initially planned to look for you a little later. However, Sect Leader Zhu was rushing me, so I didn't dare to not come. Anyhow, is your great-grandfather still doing well?"

Yuan Xuan smiled and replied, "He's as healthy and strong as can be."

Du Wensi smiled upon hearing this.

Chen Ping'an cupped his fists and bade farewell.

When Chen Ping'an and Du Wensi locked gazes, the two of them nodded in acknowledgement at almost exactly the same time.

Chen Ping'an had only taken a few steps when Yuan Xuan caught up to him and said in a quiet voice, "If you're traveling to Green Cottage Town, then it's best that you take the official road. It might be long and winding, but it's at least safe. If you want to travel quicker, then you'll need to traverse across that desolate land that's permeating with miasma and roamed by great demons.

"These great demons have carved up the land to become kings of their own territories, and they're astonishingly bold and actually refer to themselves as the Six Sages. They're extremely ruthless and violent, and they've banded together to rival the city lords in the central region of Malicious Ghost Valley. The ghosts from the cities often do battle with these demons, and it's as if they're two armies facing off on a battlefield. In fact, it's said that one of the great demons is collecting a huge number of military books to study military tactics, which truly seems quite comical."

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "I'll keep this in mind and make sure to be careful. Here's wishing you good luck and an abundant yield with your fishing. May you catch many Luo fish and silver carp."

Yuan Xuan nodded earnestly in response. Since he had accidentally revealed his name just then, he decided that he might as well go ahead and introduce himself, saying, "I'm Yuan Xuan, and I'm a disciple of the Three Official Attendant Temple."

Chen Ping'an hesitated for a moment before smiling and saying, "I'm Chen Ping'an from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent."

Yuan Xuan chuckled and remarked, "In fact, I could tell from your accent that you were from another continent."

Chen Ping'an smiled and praised, "You're an experienced member of the cultivation world."

Yuan Xuan faltered upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are you saying this sincerely?"

"No, just out of politeness," Chen Ping'an replied.

Yuan Xuan chortled with laughter, appearing as happy as could be.

It was just as he had said — all of the fishermen in the world were one big family. There were few bad people among them.

He had liked to fish ever since a young age, and he had naturally been taught by his great-grandpa who was extremely skilled at fishing. His great-grandpa had said a long time ago that the wise enjoyed the water, and those who liked to fish were even rarer and more praiseworthy. This was because those who were wise and astute actually found it harder to calm their minds. Meanwhile, fishing most tested a person's patience and stillness.

Yuan Xuan and Chen Ping'an bade farewell to each other.

The Three Official Attendant Temple's Yuan Xuan and his two subordinates walked along the official road and followed Du Wensi to Green Cottage Town.

Meanwhile, Chen Ping'an made his way to Copper Official Mountain.

He was going to take a look at the mountain-moving apes and mountain-chasing dogs over there, and he especially wanted to test out the extremely tough physiques of the former.

As for the Three Official Attendant Temple that Yuan Xuan was from, Chen Ping'an had already learned about it when he was still at the Dragon Spring Prefecture and studying the traditions and customs of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. The Three Official Attendant Temple was the largest weapons shop in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and it enjoyed a brilliant reputation and genuinely had friends throughout the world. Of course, the cultivators of the Three Official Attendant Temple were also most renowned for their impressive fighting skills.

No wonder.

Now it made sense why the young man, Yuan Xuan, was so naive and kind-hearted.

He was a bit similar to Old Dragon City's Fan Er.

He appeared a little similar to the Pure White Continent's Liu Youzhou as well, someone who owned the Ape Havoc Estate at Stalactite Mountain.

Yuan Xuan was a disciple of the Three Official Attendant Temple whom even Sect Leader Zhu Quan of the Flax Robe Sect paid attention to, and he was now being personally welcomed by Du Wensi, a Golden Core Tier cultivator. As such, could the ghosts and yin entities in Malicious Ghost Valley truly appear like ruthless and violent great demons in his eyes?

At the end of the day, he was merely giving a friendly reminder to Chen Ping'an.

The world would perhaps be a much more peaceful place if the descendants of rich clans were all like Yuan Xuan.

However, it was a shame that there were many wealthy and powerful descendants like Bamboo Scroll Lake's Huang He, the prince whom Chen Ping'an had encountered at the border inn located in the Parasol Leaf Continent's Great Quan Empire, and the prince who had attempted to kill Chen Ping'an that snowy and windy night yet was killed by Chen Ping'an instead.

Chen Ping'an had come across many people who deserved death and were given death, yet he was seemingly never able to kill enough of them to eliminate them completely. These people would leverage their relationships and networks to reach prominent positions, and they would continuously pop up one after another like sprouting bamboo shoots after the spring rain. Even if they were razed to the ground, they would still come back to life with the spring wind.

Were there far too few people like Mr. Qi in the world? Or was it necessary for people like Cui Chan to exist?

Walking along a small and secluded path in the mountain wilderness, Chen Ping'an grabbed his Sword Nurturing Gourd and took a swig of its contents. However, he discovered that it was water from the mountain stream instead of wine.

Chen Ping'an glanced back at his shadow cast on the ground by the sun.

With a tap of his feet, Chen Ping'an sprinted across the top of the thatched grass and rapidly made his way to Copper Official Mountain.

The Mountain-Moving Great Sage, one of the so-called Six Sages of Malicious Ghost Valley, hailed from the Copper Official Mountain, and this mountain-moving ape possessed an incredibly tough and refined physique and wielded a pair of meteor hammers.