Chapter 497 (1): I Can Also Split Apart the Sky With My Sword

Chen Ping'an quickly returned Sword Immortal to its scabbard after leaving the territory of Sheep Intestine Palace, and he hovered down to a mountain peak that was covered in thick miasma. He had scanned this area from above just then, and he would likely be able to reach the tall city walls of Copper Stench City once he left this mountain range and traveled southeast for approximately twenty-five kilometers. Once he reached Copper Stench City, then the Flax Robe Sect's Green Cottage Town wouldn't be far away either.

Emulating the sword flight of immortals was a very interesting thing. The seas of clouds in the world were ever-changing, and Chen Ping'an never grew tired of enjoying such views. He could also use these opportunities to alleviate his boredom. When leaving Sheep Intestine Palace just then, Chen Ping'an had purposely flown below a sea of clouds whose bottom layer appeared extremely straight as if it had been cut by a knife. As he slowly flew forward, only his head had poked into the sea of clouds, with the rest of his body remaining outside.

If some ghost or spirit on the mountains below had looked up and witnessed this scene, they would have most likely thought... Was this "headless" Qi refiner okay in the head? Apart from these childish and laughable forms of self-entertainment, Chen Ping'an also liked to sink into the seas of clouds with only his head sticking out the top. He would then flap his arms as if he were swimming.

In reality, these forms of entertainment were very similar to Pei Qian placing her head on the counters in the two shops in Dragon Riding Alley. This was as expected of a master and his disciple.

The desolate mountain range was sparsely populated, and the trees in the mountain forest were full of knots and all kinds of other sicknesses. When walking past a mountain cliff, he looked up and saw a skinny bayberry tree growing from the cracks in the stone. Clouds and smoke swirled around the cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was a large pile of crushed bones. This bayberry tree was most likely a tree spirit that had the potential to cultivate further and become more powerful. It had gained some sentience, and it had already learned to hunt small birds and small animals.

Generally speaking, it was the most difficult for trees and plants to become spirits. When these spirits managed to assume human form, the vast majority of them would have already reached the end of their cultivation path. For example, the adorable little spirits that had stood on the potted tree in the Green Beetle Shop located at the Water Combing Nation's ferry station were destined to have no chance at cultivation. They could only rely on the innately long lifespan of trees and plants to while away their time. These kinds of spirits were usually raised by cultivators simply because they looked adorable and joyous.

Before the Jewel Small World had plummeted to the ground, the elders standing under the locust tree in the small town had liked to tell those fictional stories about ghosts and fiends in the mountain forests and marshes. They had purposely tricked and frightened the young children. However, the elders would usually also say that it was already a rare fortune to become a human, so they needed to cherish their lives as much as they could. Otherwise, if they took things for granted and didn't become a good person, then they would reincarnate as pigs or dogs in their future life.

When Chen Ping'an was little, he had liked to squat in the distance to listen to these stories. Meanwhile, the fearless Liu Xianyang had never liked listening to these things, always saying that these stories about ghosts and gods were nothing more than lies. As such, it had often been Gu Can accompanying Chen Ping'an in the locust shade, and he would only stand up and leave when that aunty in Clay Vase Alley shouted loudly for him to eat or go to bed.

Chen Ping'an leaped onto the stone cliff, with his fingers like hooks as they stabbed into the cliff face. He hung in the air just like that, and he retrieved three snowflake coins and held them in his hand, using the refinement mantra that the water goddess of the Burial River had bestowed upon him to refine the spiritual energy contained within the snowflake coins into drops of emerald green water droplets.

These water droplets flowed through his fingers and dripped onto the connection point between the old bayberry tree and the crack in the stone cliff. After doing this, Chen Ping'an gently slapped the cliff face with his palm and slowly hovered to the ground. He then continued his journey to Copper Stench City.

If the Dao partners who were desperate for immortal coins for the sake of survival had arrived here and seen this peculiar bayberry tree, perhaps their first thought would have been curiosity about the value of the tree. In the end, they would have mustered their courage and risked their safety to scale up the mountain cliff to cut down the bayberry tree, with the sound of their blades reverberating through the desolate mountains.

As for whether the fated opportunity of the bayberry tree itself would be severed because of their actions? Would they have any time or effort to worry about such matters? If their cultivation were a bit higher and they were still desperate for immortal coins, would they not engage in a battle of life and death no inferior to a battle of the Great Dao if they encountered the two spirits on the suspension bridge?

Chen Ping'an never resented those cultivators for engaging in life and death battles to advance their cultivation. In fact, Chen Ping'an could understand them even if they used more ruthless techniques. However, Chen Ping'an disliked and even loathed those people who were already lofty immortals standing atop the mountains and enjoying a myriad of benefits, appearing life paramount flood dragons hidden in the sea of clouds, yet they still failed to show an ounce of pity toward the mortal world. In their eyes, those who were weaker than them were nothing more than mere ants whom they could casually crush on a whim. After killing those whom they deemed eyesores, they would nonchalantly remark that the Great Dao was heartless, thereby allowing them to safeguard their Dao Heart.

Just what kind of Dao were they cultivating?

Walking through the mountain forest by himself, Chen Ping'an murmured, "Are the things that I dislike necessarily wrong? Chen Ping'an, do you not find yourself a bit too haughty and domineering? Just who in the world do you think you are?"

"Those who are benevolent can't lead an army effectively, and those who are too virtuous can't manage wealth properly. Is this correct?" Chen Ping'an asked himself.

Chen Ping'an shook his head in response.

Chen Ping'an felt like a lot of people only quoted things in halves, with the quotes not being genuine words of enlightenment. Some sayings were quoted out of context and held up as guiding principles for how to cultivate oneself and interact with the world, but these sayings could indeed help people avoid many difficulties and hardships in life. As such, these misquoted sayings weren't necessarily bad, but they were ultimately blemished and imperfect.

For example, the books also said this.

Those who are benevolent can't lead an army effectively, but after obtaining great power and influence, a general must show great benevolence.[1]

Those who are too virtuous can't manage wealth properly, but after obtaining great fortune and riches, one must show great virtue.[2]

Chen Ping'an stopped and leaped onto a high branch, retrieving his carving knife and a bamboo slip — two items that he hadn't touched for a very long time — as he sat on the tree. He then inscribed these two sentences onto the bamboo slip.

After thinking for a moment, he also engraved the sentence regarding cultivating the heart and cultivating strength that he had said to the small rat spirit at Sheep Intestine Palace on another bamboo slip.

Chen Ping'an put away his carving knife and held one bamboo slip in each hand, raising them high into the air as he said with a dazzling smile, "Now these are genuinely 'sayings from the books!'"

How interesting...

As it turned out, these were principles that Chen Ping'an had made up by himself.[3]

Casting one's gaze over the entire world, perhaps only those masters of flattery at Downtrodden Mountain would be willing to take these sayings seriously, right?

Chen Ping'an was in a brilliant mood as he carefully put the two bamboo slips away.

Afterward, Chen Ping'an was in no rush to make his way to Copper Stench City.

Moreover, after taking a few sips of wine, there was still quite a lot of wine left in the wine pot that he had taken out at Sheep Intestine Palace.

Chen Ping'an started to carefully take inventory of his belongings in his mind. He had enjoyed a bountiful yield after entering Malicious Ghost Valley from Skeleton Shoal.

However, the loss of his Spring Grass Dao Robe wasn't a small one, and Chen Ping'an estimated that it would cost at least five thousand to six thousand snowflake coins to completely repair.

When breaking free from the encirclement of demons with Yang Ningxing at Gushing Earth Mountain, Chen Ping'an had purposely suppressed the breath of True Qi in his body in order to conceal his strength to the demons and the scholar. He hadn't dared to reveal the fact that he was a pure martial artist too early. As such, he had relied solely on his Dao robe to withstand a powerful hammer attack from the Mountain Moving Great Sage.

Afterward, he had battled against the Imperial Thunder Divine General at Accumulating Cloud Mountain and stayed in the manifestation of the thunder pool for a long time, causing the Spring Grass Dao Robe to suffer severe damage as it was endlessly pummeled by the powerful bolts of lightning. Chen Ping'an felt slightly irritated about having to spend so much to repair his Dao robe.

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

In the end, he could only console himself by saying, "Even the smallest cloth wrapper shops in the world need to spend some capital to do business. I shouldn't have this mindset of making a fortune without spending a single copper coin."

Moreover, standing in the thunder pool had been like using flames and boiling oil to temper his body and soul. This was what he had come here for — training at Malicious Ghost Valley.

Even though the effectiveness had been slightly inferior to what Chen Ping'an was accustomed to in Downtrodden Mountain's bamboo building, he had still benefited greatly. Moreover, thunder pools were the most torturous prisons in heaven and earth to begin with, so enduring this hardship had come with other mystical benefits. In fact, Chen Ping'an could already sense that his muscles, bones, and soul had become slightly tougher than before.

He had snatched the Snowflake Dao Robe from Meticulous Skin City's Lady Bai at Crow Peak, and according to the words of City Lord Fan Yunluo, this Dao robe was worth two to three grain rain coins on the market.

If he sold the Dao robe back to Meticulous Skin City, he would most likely make a premium of one to two grain rain coins.

However, Chen Ping'an immediately felt gloomy upon thinking of Lady Bai, someone who liked to play mind games on other people.

She had manifested a certain appearance to tempt Chen Ping'an at the time, causing him to feel both extremely furious and slightly guilty at the same time.

Apart from the five skeletons that Chen Ping'an had asked the Lower Five Tier Dao partners to bring out of Malicious Ghost Valley, there were also the dozen or so jade-like skeletons of the female officials and attendants from Meticulous Skin City in his minimization treasure.

Regarding how much he could sell these skeletons for at Skeleton Shoal after he left Malicious Ghost Valley, Chen Ping'an had no clue or confidence at all.

Upon thinking of this, Chen Ping'an couldn't help but look toward the south, wondering about whether the Dao partners had sold the five skeletons for a good price.

The so-called promise of one month was nothing more than an excuse.

Chen Ping'an had never taken this promise seriously, and he had simply used it as an excuse for the Dao partners to feel at ease when they took the immortal coins after one month. In fact, he didn't even care whether the Dao partners who were struggling greatly to make money in Malicious Ghost Valley waited for a full month at the market of Helpless Pass.

This was because Chen Ping'an wouldn't show himself at the market of Helpless Pass regardless of whether the Dao partners waited for a full month or not after selling the five skeletons from Meticulous Skin City. If they didn't wait for a month and fled with the money, then they would need to continuously worry about being caught by him. This would weigh on their minds to some extent. Of course, it would naturally be best if they waited for a month, as they would be able to feel justified and at ease when they left with the immortal coins.

The female cultivator at the fifth tier would be able to advance to the Abode Tier of the Middle Five Tiers, and there would presumably still be many immortal coins left over to help her stabilize her cultivation base. As for the immortal coins left over after that, it was up to fate and the will of the heavens whether the male cultivator could also break through as well.

As for why Chen Ping'an had done this...

The answer was very simple.

This was similar to how Chen Ping'an had insisted on retrieving the skeletons of the emperor and his lover who were holding hands in death in the underground treasure chamber of Lady Bishu. He hadn't done this for the sake of seeking wealth, and he most certainly hadn't coveted the skeletons of the Longxi Nation's emperor and the Lofty Moral Sect's female cultivator. Rather, his only thought was to find their home nation and bury them together amid the green mountains and limpid waters.

He wished for the lovers in the world to remain together forever, and he wished for the lovers who were loyal until death to remain together in the afterlife.

The path of the Great Dao was extremely long, as was the journey to reach longevity and immortality. While cultivating, Chen Ping'an had earnestly practiced fist techniques and sword techniques and expressed no fear for fighting against powerful foes. In addition to this, he had also insisted on stopping in his tracks to do many little things that other people were largely unwilling to do. Was this not a great joy of life?

When visiting Peeling Mountain's Moon Hall, he had obtained treasures at both Lady Bishu's residence and her treasure chamber.

He had obtained more than one thousand snowflake coins from the scholar, Yang Ningxing.

However, Chen Ping'an felt like the most valuable treasure was the piece of frost iron that had been used as an entrance mechanism, a miniature Moon Palace that had been meticulously forged by the Mechanists of the Mohist Sect.

As for the jars and vials that Chen Ping'an had retrieved from Lady Bishu's room, he actually regarded them with quite some importance as well. After all, heavens knew whether he would come across some noble lady from a large clan or a celestial maiden from the mountains who had too much money when he left Skeleton Shoal and continued to travel north. Perhaps they would suddenly be blinded by impulse and purchase these jars and vials for a high price? After all, Zhu Lian had said with confidence that there wasn't a single woman in the world who didn't want to become more beautiful. If there was, then this was simply because they hadn't come across a man who was worthy of them developing such thoughts yet.

As for the large box of military books hidden by the Demon Hunting Immortal at the end of the underground passageway of Sheep Intestine Palace...

Chen Ping'an hadn't had the time to carefully read these books yet, and he planned to flick through them one by one after he arrived at Green Cottage Town and settled down. These were probably books that had been left behind at Skeleton Shoal by the two great empires and their dozen or so vassal states, and they had been stored in the Sheep Intestine Palace for one thousand years afterward. And now, these military books were part of Chen Ping'an's assets, but he still needed to carefully select the best ones to add to his collection at Downtrodden Mountain in the future.

Chen Ping'an could almost imagine a disciple of Downtrodden Mountain entering the scripture library to borrow books in the future. The elder looking after the scripture library would tell the disciple that these were books that the mountain master had obtained from Skeleton Shoal during his distant journey to the Northern Complete Reed Continent in the past, and the elder would further embellish the story and remind the disciple to be extremely careful when reading the book. After all, these were treasures that the mountain master had retrieved from the perilous dens of ghosts and demons...

At that time, would the disciple feel like they needed to be more earnest and studious when they read the book? And when they became tired after reading for a long time, would they more or less feel some admiration toward their mountain master who had traversed countless mountains and rivers at such a young age?

Sitting on the tall branch, Chen Ping'an involuntarily started to chuckle to himself.

He continued to take inventory of his belongings.

He was still a young bookkeeper dressed in azure, but he had only been able to think about how to lose less during his time at Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Meanwhile, he could think about how to earn more during his time in Malicious Ghost Valley.

Things were truly getting better and better.

He had obtained five golden lightning whips of varying sizes at Accumulating Cloud Mountain, the territory of the Imperial Thunder Divine General.

These were rare natural treasures, and Chen Ping'an was temporarily unaware of how much these golden lightning whips were truly worth.

However, why had the demon with the two golden eagle heads accused him of stealing the thunder pool before?

Chen Ping'an was worried about there being significant unforeseen events at Accumulating Cloud Mountain because of this, so he purposely took a detour around the mountain after he left the Black River.

In reality, he could investigate further at Accumulating Cloud Mountain if he were genuinely unafraid of death, and he might even come away with some unexpected rewards. The same was true for the Old Dragon Cave.

Of course, doing so would be emulating the decisions of the Dao partners who both had a low cultivation base — he would be gambling with his life for the sake of making some money.

Inside the water goddess shrine on the bank of the Black River, he had sat together with the scholar to split up the treasures that the scholar had obtained from the underwater cave abode of the Sea Turning Primordial Lord.

He had obtained six spirit tools.

At the same time, Chen Ping'an had forsaken the jade hairpin immortal treasure and only taken the pitiful eight hundred snowflake coins.

He had also taken a pile of "trash and trinkets" that the scholar had conveniently swept into his minimization treasure, similar to the jars and vials that he had obtained at Lady Bishu's residence.

Even though he was aware that his Great Dao had affinity with water after returning to Downtrodden Mountain from Bamboo Scroll Lake, Chen Ping'an had still turned down the immortal treasure that was specifically beneficial to cultivators who possessed a strong affinity with water.

It was indeed the case that fortune would sometimes fall from the heavens and smack one on the head.

However, Chen Ping'an couldn't bring himself to trust the scholar, a speck of the purest evil that the Esteemed Mystery Department's Yang Ningxing had condensed from all of the evil in his heart using a mystical Dao power.

Even so, Chen Ping'an was very curious about this unique Dao power of the Lofty Cloud Palace's Yang Ningxing. How had he managed to refine his heart and his mind as if he were refining a physical item?

After taking inventory of his belongings, Chen Ping'an was surprised to discover that he had obtained so much new wealth during his journey through Malicious Ghost Valley.

Chen Ping'an had also noticed the shattering mountains and waters at Treasure Mirror Mountain while traveling to Green Cottage Town, and it was extremely likely that Yang Chongxuan had finally obtained the fated opportunity of the treasure mirror. Meanwhile, someone had also obtained a huge fated opportunity by secretly stealing the thunder pool of Accumulating Cloud Mountain.

However, Chen Ping'an didn't feel like he would become envious because of other people's bountiful yields.

The scholar had been scheming the entire time, yet he had still lost to Chen Ping'an time and time again. In reality, however, he would leave Malicious Ghost Valley with an impressive yield even when disregarding the Three Mountain Mirror that Yang Ningzhen had worked so hard to obtain for him. He had obtained the golden Luo fish from the Old Dragon Cave, and had also obtained the ancestor coin personally crafted by a mighty hidden immortal of the Lofty Moral Sect. Just these two treasures alone could be regarded as a bountiful yield.

However, knowing the truth still didn't bother Chen Ping'an in the least.

He would continue to walk his own path as others embarked on their paths of riches.

They could obtain their huge fate opportunities, and he would continue to collect his trash and trinkets.

Chen Ping'an suddenly chuckled to himself, with his smile so wide that it couldn't be concealed. "The more trash and trinkets like this, the better!" he remarked delightedly.

He then shook his sleeve and continued, "In any case, you guys aren't trash and trinkets at all. You're piles and piles of immortal coins."

Moreover, the Hundred Eye Taotie Dao robe that he had snatched from Yang Ningxing still had three incredibly valuable-looking talismans inside its sleeve.

Chen Ping'an jumped down from the tall branch, with his footsteps sprightly as he swung his large sleeves like Cui Dongshan. He even copied Pei Qian's manner of walking, perfectly capturing both the form and the essence.

Chen Ping'an felt like he was indeed getting a bit too carried away at this moment.

However, what did this matter? He was feeling very happy right now.

1. This refers to the fact that benevolent people might be too indecisive to lead an army, but a general with great power must also have benevolence lest they ruthlessly kill innocent people. ☜

2. This refers to the fact that virtuous people might be too easily swayed into lending money to friends and family and end up losing money if it isn't returned. However, those with great wealth must also have virtue lest they heartlessly swindle others of their money. ☜

3. The initial saying about those who are benevolent not being able to lead an army effectively, and those who are too virtuous not being able to manage wealth properly is a genuine saying. However, what Chen Ping'an added on afterward isn't (beyond some blog posts). ☜