Chapter 522 (4): The Great Trends of the World Are but Small Matters

When summer arrived in the Water Combing Nation, Song Yushao left his mountain villa and visited the familiar restaurant in the small town, sitting in the same spot as always as he enjoyed a nice and steamy meal of hotpot.

There was a smug smile on his face as he murmured to himself, "Do you see this, young lad? This is the spiciest hotpot in the restaurant. I was still looking after you before. Your sword skills might be better than mine, but when it comes to eating spicy food, I alone can defeat several Chen Ping'ans."

————

At the Colorful Garment Nation, a gaunt old woman lay on her sickbed, with one of her dry and wrinkled hands lightly held by the woman sitting beside her bed.

The old woman was already on the verge of death, but she still summoned all of her energy to open her eyes as she murmured, "Master, Mistress, this year's wine still hasn't been made yet... Young Master Chen won't be able to drink any wine if he visits."

The woman's eyes were blurry with tears as she leaned down and replied softly, "There's no need to worry. I'll personally make this year's wine."

The old woman continued to murmur with the last of her energy, with her voice barely audible as she said, "And there's also Young Master Chen's favorite dish of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots. Mistress, remember to use a large white bowl instead of a cup to serve him wine... This maidservant should have been responsible for these trivial matters, but I can only trouble Mistress with doing these things now. Make sure not to forget, Mistress, make sure not to forget..."

————

When Cui Dongshan left Lake View Academy, Zhou Ju felt like this person was a very interesting and remarkable individual.

Both Lake View Academy and Mountain Cliff Academy, which was located further north in the Great Sui Nation, experienced some changes not long after Cui Dongshan left.

Starting from the sagely mountain master of the academies to the deputy mountain masters and all of the noble scholars and virtuous scholars, everyone needed to set aside a specified amount of time each year to teach in the various normal academies and imperial academies of the large empires.

It was no longer the case that sages taught noble scholars, noble scholars taught virtuous scholars, and virtuous scholars taught the disciples of the academies.

Apart from the private schools run individually by the large clans, all of the teachers in the cities, towns, regions, and vassal nations of the Great Li Empire received a pay rise. As for how much of a pay rise they received, this was dependent on the specific situation of each region. Those who had already taught for more than twenty years would receive an additional one-off compensation, and for every ten years they taught afterward, they would receive an additional pay rise and a one-off bonus.

On this day, an idling young boy in white finally finished observing an interesting show from the beginning to the end. He stepped forward and hovered down into the residence of a wealthy clan that was already devoid of life.

In the end, he and a young girl — a maidservant — sat together on the railings.

This young girl had already been implicated by the cheating woman who had ultimately been exposed. The sworn brothers of that man had charged into the back courtyard, and they had stabbed the young girl, who had coincidentally been walking past, to death.

The cheating woman had suffered an even more miserable fate, being forced to endure the torturous pain of being skinned alive by the furious master of the residence.

Back then, the saber-wielding hand of that man's sworn brother had trembled slightly as he had exposed the illicit relationship between the mistress of residence and his brother. There had also been a fervent look in his eyes.

The mistress had smiled beautifully the first time he had seen her, and after greeting him, she had casually returned to the internal courtyard and pushed aside the curtains to enter her residence. However, one of her embroidered shoes had hit the door threshold and fallen off when she had walked inside, causing her to stop and scoop up her embroidered shoes with her toes. She hadn't turned around, and she had slowly entered her residence and walked away after doing this.

Afterward, he had forcefully restrained himself the entire time, though he was unable to stop himself from stealing glances at her from time to time. Indeed, it was because of this that he had witnessed that detestable debauchery.

Cui Dongshan placed his hands on his knees, seemingly chatting in a casual manner with the pitiful young girl who was already dead as he said, "The world might become better in the future, but it might also become worse. Who can say for sure?"

————

A bastard young boy carrying a huge sword case on his back, with the numerous broken swords making him look like a peacock flaunting its bright tail, slowly walked toward the Sword Qi Great Wall with his master.

Not long ago, his master had taken him to the most restricted place in that world, a place where all of the thrones were hovering in the air at different heights.

His master had led him to the throne that belonged to his master.

"Master, whose sword strikes are quicker? Is that old great sword immortal quicker, or is Master's friend, A'Liang, quicker?"

"That's difficult to say."

"Master, why did you pick me to become your disciple? I've never understood this, and I actually didn't even dare to think about this before today."

"Because you have the potential to launch the quickest sword strike out of everyone in our Savage World. Perhaps you won't become a swordsman who stands at the forefront of the battlefield in the future, but you can definitely become a swordsman who stands at the back and holds up the entire formation."

"How can I possibly compare to Master?" the young boy exclaimed in panic.

The young boy's master grabbed him by the neck and slowly lifted him into the air, replying, "You can doubt yourself and view yourself as a talentless piece of trash who's slow at cultivating, and you can also view yourself as a bastard who has a bad background. However, you're in no position to doubt my assessment."

With his hand still around the young boy's neck, the man pointed at the hovering thrones and explained who each of the thrones belonged to.

In the end, he let go of the young boy's neck and said without expression, "What you need to achieve is to be able to launch one fewer sword strike than your master when you feel irritated at them one day.

"If there comes a day when I'm sure that you won't be able to achieve this in your lifetime, then that will be the day of your death. Not everyone who possesses the same talent as you is able to come across a precious fated opportunity like this, so you would do well to cherish every moment of your life.

————

A young Daoist priest wearing a lotus flower hat started to travel around the world with a young Daoist priest who wasn't wearing a Daoist hat.

They had both changed into Daoist robes that concealed their Dao branches.

The former only had a single requirement for the latter. He was to do as he pleased, and as long as he followed his heart, he wouldn't need to worry about the consequences of his actions.

Of course, the condition was that he acted within his abilities and didn't actively seek death.

The young Daoist priest was slightly hesitant as he asked, "Am I allowed to wantonly kill innocent people?"

The young Daoist priest wearing a lotus flower hat nodded with a squinted smile, replying, "Of course."

After pausing for a moment, he added, "This would be best."

The young Daoist priest nodded in understanding.

The young Daoist priest wearing a lotus flower hat asked, "Do you know what innocent means? Do you understand what wanton killing means?"

The young Daoist priest fell deep into thought.

The young Daoist priest wearing a lotus flower hat shook his head and replied, "You understood these concepts before, even if your understanding was only shallow. However, you've completely lost your understanding of these concepts now. Which is to say, it's also bad for a person to become too smart. I also asked a similar question before, and the answer that I obtained was better than yours. Much better than yours."

The young Daoist priest became as pale as a sheet.

This was because his senior brother was Branch Master Lu Chen, the current owner of White Jade Capital.

Even though the young Daoist priest was the Dao Ancestor's final disciple, he still felt sincere respect and fear toward his senior brother, someone who could smash him into mincemeat with a single palm strike.

When leaving White Jade Capital, Lu Chen had smiled and said, "You've suffered the small pains of struggling to survive at the bottom, you've enjoyed the immense immortal fortunes of White Jade Capital, and you've also experienced death once. Now, it's time for you to learn how to live a good life. You need to walk the path between the mountains and the mortal world."

At the time, the young Daoist priest had asked Lu Chen, "Will this take many years, Senior Brother?"

Lu Chen had replied that a few decades would be enough if he were a quick learner, but a few hundred years to one thousand years would be completely normal if he were a slow learner.

In the end, Lu Chen had chuckled and said, "Rest assured, your senior brother's Dao power is fairly good if you do die. I can save you one more time."

In reality, the physical body of the young Daoist priest, following his death and rebirth, was an extremely rare innate Dao body, allowing him to advance his cultivation in leaps and bounds. In fact, he had been reborn as an Abode Tier cultivator.

Not only that, but there were three celestial tools quietly lying in three of his bonded acupoints, waiting for him to slowly refine them.

According to Senior Brother Lu Chen's explanation, these were presents prepared by his three senior brothers, so he could rest assured and accept them.

Apart from these celestial tools, the young Daoist priest's least valuable possession was his pseudo-celestial Dao robe, Lotus Seed.

The grade of this Dao robe was relatively low, but apart from an extremely small number of immortals who had attained Dao, there was perhaps no one else in the entire Heavenly World who knew the background and history of this Dao robe.

To put it simply, wearing this Dao robe would keep the young Daoist priest safe even if he ventured to the most dangerous locations in the three other worlds. In fact, the stronger the immortals in those areas, the safer he would be.

Even if the young Daoist priest stuck his neck out and asked to be killed, the powerful immortals would still need to reluctantly but obediently send him away in a respectful manner.

With nothing better to do one day, Lu Chen sat above the sea of clouds and played out a game of Go from the manuals by himself, with the young Daoist priest sitting cross-legged beside him.

Lu Chen smiled faintly and said, "The final game of Go that Qi Jingchun played was one where the black stones and the white stones were separated clearly, with the complicated state of the board following very strict rules. It was already the endgame, with the outcome a foregone conclusion, when he decided to break out of these rules for the first time in his life. This was also the only time that he made an unreasonable move. He didn't place any more stones after this, but what he saw was dazzling iridescent light on the Go board."

"Did Senior Brother personally witness this, or did Senior Brother deduce this?" the young Daoist priest asked in curiosity.

Lu Chen shook his head and replied, "No, it was our master who told me this, and it was Qi Jingchun who told our master."

The young Daoist priest was stunned upon hearing this.

Lu Chen smiled with squinted eyes, reaching over and lightly placing his hand on his junior brother's head as he continued, "Qi Jingchun dared to give a young country bumpkin such a huge opportunity! What about you?! And what about me?"

The young Daoist priest had already become much more mature after traveling around the mortal world for a long time, and a stroke of inspiration struck him as he instinctively replied, "This has got nothing to do with me."

Lu Chen retracted his hand and laughed heartily.

The two of them continued to travel around the Heavenly World.

One day, the young Daost priest asked in curiosity, "Senior Brother, will leaving White Jade Capital to accompany me around the Heavenly World not delay your important matters?"

Lu Chen shook his head and replied with a smile, "There are no important matters in the world."

————

At Downtrodden Mountain's bamboo building...

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Cui Cheng walked out from the second floor in a rare occurrence.

Zhu Lian, Zheng Dafeng, and Wei Bo were already gathered at Downtrodden Mountain.

Wei Bo was holding the parasol leaf umbrella that Chen Ping'an had obtained in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land back then.

Cui Cheng nodded and said, "Bring Pei Qian over, and then we can enter together. Since the Lotus Flower Blessed Land is being split into four, with us obtaining one part of it, we should let Zhu Lian and Pei Qian take a look inside first."

Wei Bo activated his bonded mystical ability, and the tanned young girl who was practicing her Deranged Demon Sword Technique in a backyard of Dragon Riding Alley discovered that she had suddenly arrived outside the bamboo building after leaping into the air and landing on the ground. "What the hell?! I still need to make some transcriptions after I finish practicing my sword technique!" she fumed.

"You and Zhu Lian need to pay a visit to the Lotus Flower Blessed Land's Southern Garden Nation," Wei Bo said with a serious expression.

Pei Qian widened her eyes and gaped in shock.

Wei Bo opened the parasol leaf umbrella and let go.

Treasured light continued to flow from the umbrella.

Zhu Lian walked into the treasured light, dragging Pei Qian along with him.

In the next moment, Zhu Lian and Pei Qian arrived at the capital of the Southern Garden Nation in a single step. Pei Qian rubbed her eyes. They were surprisingly standing on that extremely familiar street, one that was very close to that small alley.

It was early spring.

Pei Qian chaotically brandished her hiking pole around as she laughed loudly.

An old scholar in azure robes soared over from the sky. He was none other than Zhong Qiu, the imperial preceptor of the Southern Garden Nation.

Zhu Lian shot a glance at him and remarked, "Oh, look, a powerful elite."

Zhong Qiu seemingly wasn't puzzled after seeing the two "otherworldly immortals" appearing in the capital of the Southern Garden Nation, and he instead asked with a smile, "Where's Chen Ping'an?"

Pei Qian raised an eyebrow and stood up straight, puffing out her chest as she said with a feigned demeanor of maturity, "My master is busy, so he asked me, his opening disciple, to visit you and the others first!"

However, Pei Qian suddenly lost her energy and her haughtiness, appearing as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

In fact, even her hands and her feet became ice-cold.

Afterward, she became dazed and adrift the entire time, and it was only after leaving the Lotus Flower Blessed Land that she somewhat regained her senses.

Both Wei Bo and Zheng Dafeng found this very strange.

Zhu Lian shook his head, signalling that they didn't need to ask about this matter.

On this day, it was the first time in Pei Qian's life that she actively walked up to the second floor of the bamboo building, only taking off her shoes and neatly placing them beside the door after greeting the old man and receiving his permission. In fact, she even leaned her hiking pole diagonally against the wall, not bringing it with her as she entered the bamboo building. She then closed the door and sat down cross-legged opposite the barefoot old man.

"Why are you visiting me? Perhaps you still want to learn fist techniques from me?" Cui Cheng asked.

For some unknown reason, the tanned young girl who was still yet to grow up after all these years nodded vigorously and replied, "Yes, I want to learn fist techniques!"

"You're not afraid of pain and hardship?" Cui Cheng asked.

"I'm not afraid even if it kills me!" Pei Qian replied with a determined expression.

"Such a bold claim," Cui Cheng scoffed. "Chen Ping'an isn't at Downtrodden Mountain to help you when you bawl your eyes out in the future. There's no backing out once you decide to learn fist techniques from me."

"I've already thought about this," Pei Qian replied in a solemn voice. "Even if I cry and regret my decision in the future, you definitely need to beat me up until I don't dare to cry and don't dare to regret my decision anymore!"

Cui Cheng was seemingly surprised by this answer, and he laughed heartily before looking at Pei Qian's eyes and saying, "This is the last question. Why do you want to learn fist techniques?"

Pei Qian clenched her hands into fists, falling silent for a long time before finally replying, "I can lose to anyone, but there's one person whom I can't lose to! I definitely can't lose to him!"

"Okay, then you're my direct disciple starting from today," Cui Cheng said. "Don't worry, there's no need to adhere to those nonsensical master and disciple relationships or whatnot."

Pei Qian raised a hand and wiped away her tears, nodding seriously before standing up and bowing in gratitude to the old man.

Cui Cheng, who almost never adhered to any etiquette in front of Chen Ping'an, surprisingly stood up and clasped his hands behind his back, solemnly accepting Pei Qian's bow.

Pei Qian placed one foot in front and one foot behind, assuming a fist stance as she exclaimed, "I'm ready!"

Cui Cheng became a blur as he dashed forward, grabbing the tanned young girl's head with a single hand and pushing her into the wall. Blood flowed from Pei Qian's face as her bones groaned and creaked in exertion.

"Do you still want to learn?!" the old man asked with a faint smile.

"I want to learn even if it means death!" Pei Qian furiously roared in reply.

"Very well," Cui Cheng replied with a nod.

In the small alley in the capital of the Southern Garden Nation, a young boy dressed in azure had walked over with an oil-paper umbrella, smiling in a warm manner and appearing slightly astonished when he saw Pei Qian. He had then said in a warm and gentle voice, "Long time no see, Pei Qian."