CHAPTER 523: (1): ENCOUNTERING A TERRESTRIAL FLOOD DRAGON ON THE RIVER BANK

Sword of Coming

The terrain of the Northern Swallow Nation was relatively flat, and after the new emperor ascended the throne, he was working studiously to better the nation and make it more prosperous. The Northern Swallow Nation also had two regions that were good for raising horses, and this allowed the combat power of their cavalry units to be far superior to that of the Southern Thorn Nation and the Five Mountain Nation.

Located further north of the Northern Swallow Nation was the Green Oriole Nation, a nation that had many stories about the feats and deeds of immortals ever since ancient times. The literati notes and fantastical novels of the Green Oriole Nation also talked much about water spirits and flood dragons.

Sui Jingcheng was wearing a veiled hat and dressed in the Bamboo Robe Dao Robe, so it wasn't a big issue to ride during the day even though the blazing sun of midsummer was blasting down on them. Rather, it was Chen Ping'an and Sui Jingcheng who needed to look after their horses.

The two of them stopped under the shade of trees beside a riverbank today, and Sui Jingcheng decided to take off her veiled hat since there was no one else around the limpid river. She also took off her boots and socks and placed her feet in the water, exhaling in satisfaction.

The senior sword immortal was sitting nearby, and he retrieved a jade bamboo folding fan but didn't use it to push around any cool air. Instead, he opened the fan and gently swayed it back and forth, causing the characters on the fan to undulate like duckweed floating through a stream. Sui Jingcheng had seen this once before, and the senior sword immortal had explained that these were immortal characters extracted from a talismanic ship belonging to the Spring Dew Garden, a residence located atop some mountain.

Sui Jingcheng was actually slightly worried about the senior sword immortal's wounds. The powerful arrow of a cultivator had directly shot through his left shoulder, and his entire body had also been enveloped by a talismanic formation. Sui Jingcheng was unable to fathom how the senior sword immortal could remain so calm as if nothing had happened. Indeed, he had only been lightly massaging his right hand as they traveled.

Sui Jingcheng turned around and asked, "Senior, were those assassins sent over by Cao Fu's master and the Golden Scale Palace?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "I can only say that this is the greatest possibility. The assassins possessed a unique trait, that being their origin from a renowned cultivation force located in the southern region of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. I call this a force, but they don't actually have a base in the mountains and only have the name Deer Cutter Mountain. Because of this, all of the assassins hailing from this force are called 'faceless people.' Anyone from the Three Teachings and the Hundred Schools of Thought can join this force, but I've heard that there are quite a large number of rules that need to be followed. For example, there are rules regarding how one can join the force, how one should kill people, how much money one should accept, and so on."

Chen Ping'an smiled and continued, "Deer Cutter Mountain also has one paramount rule. They'll only dispatch assassins one time after taking money and accepting a job. If the assassination fails, then they'll only take half of the money regardless of how many assassins are wounded or killed. Moreover, Deer Cutter Mountain won't target the same individual twice if they manage to survive the first assassination. In other words, we don't need to worry about being targeted by Deer Cutter Mountain again, at the very least."

Sui Jingcheng sighed and said in slight sorrow and guilt, "At the end of the day, these people are all targeting me."

Even though the senior sword immortal had looked calm and carefree the entire time, Sui Jingcheng was extremely attentive and knew that it hadn't been easy for him to deal with that assassination attempt.

Chen Ping'an closed his folding fan and said slowly, "When walking on the path of cultivation, fortune and misfortune often come hand in hand. The large majority of Qi refiners need to overcome these forms of hardship and difficulties. The bumpiness of people's paths might vary, and the hardships faced by different people will also vary in level.

"I once came across a pair of Lower Five Tier cultivators from the mountains, and the female cultivator was unable to break through her cultivation barrier and advance to the next tier simply because she needed a few hundred snowflake coins. If things kept getting delayed, then a good situation would have eventually turned into a bad situation, even a life-threatening one.

"The couple was left with no option but to take a risk and enter the dangerous southern region of Skeleton Shoal, gambling with their lives for the sake of earning some money. Was their mental suffering not a form of hardship? It was, and it was quite a significant hardship. Their journey wasn't any easier than your journey to the pavilion."

Sui Jingcheng smiled and asked, "Did Senior coincidentally come across them and help them out?"

Chen Ping'an didn't say anything.

Sui Jingcheng knew the answer straight away.

Chen Ping'an used his folding fan to point at Sui Jingcheng.

Sui Jingcheng smiled knowingly, crossing her legs and closing her eyes before focusing her attention and starting to cultivate according to the immortal technique recorded in the Upper Lofty Mystical Mystery.

When cultivators meditated and performed breathing techniques, mystical ripples would appear in the surroundings and repel insects as well as the harsh elements.

Even though Sui Jingcheng was yet to achieve mastery in cultivation, she was already able to achieve this phenomenon, a very impressive feat. This was similar to Chen Ping'an's experience when he had practiced the Mountain Shaking Fist in the small town back then, with fist intent flowing through his body even though his fist stance was still unstable. Chen Ping'an had been oblivious to this, but Ma Kuxuan's Dao guardian from True Martial Mountain had seen through it in a single glance.

In other words, Sui Jingcheng's cultivation talent was genuinely outstanding. For some unknown reason, however, the traveling mighty figure had vanished without a trace after gifting her three items, with not a single word from him in thirty or so years. This year was clearly a huge tribulation on Sui Jingcheng's path of cultivation, so even if the mighty figure were tens of thousands of kilometers away, they should have theoretically still been able to sense this through some extremely mystical means.

Things were even stranger regarding the mighty figure's voice and appearance, and similar to the small book that she could read quietly but not read out loud, she was unable to fully comprehend the mighty figure's voice and appearance. Otherwise, she would feel dizzy and her aura would become chaotic if she tried.

Sui Jingcheng had asked the old seniors in her clan about this before, but all of them had responded that they couldn't remember these things clearly. Even Old Assistant Minister Sui Xinyu, who had possessed a flawless memory ever since a young age when it came to reading, had been no exception.

Chen Ping'an knew that this wasn't some ordinary illusion technique from the mountains.

An hour had already passed when Sui Jingcheng opened her eyes again, with iridescent light flowing across her upper body and spiritual energy exuding from her Bamboo Robe Dao Robe. The two aided one another like water mixing harmoniously with fire, yet this was a sight that would appear very blurry to ordinary people. However, Chen Ping'an was able to see this clearly, and the phenomenon around Sui Jingcheng's body instantly disappeared when she stopped the circulation of her Qi.

It was clear that the mighty figure had meticulously chosen the Bamboo Robe Dao Robe for Sui Jingcheng, with the immortal techniques recorded in the small book also allowing her to achieve double the results with half the effort. It could be said that the mighty figure had given a lot of thought to their three gifts for Sui Jingcheng.

Her cultivation aura was lofty and righteous.

Taking this into account, Chen Ping'an leaned towards the belief that the mighty figure didn't possess any ill intentions toward Sui Jingcheng.

However, she still needed to take things one step at a time. After all, regardless of how careful one was on the path of cultivation, all it took was one small mistake for everything to come crashing down.

Not only did Chen Ping'an and Sui Jingcheng not conceal their tracks as they traveled, but they even chose to purposely leave behind some traces and clues. For example, their visit to the small town near Sweeping Villa. If the mighty figure still didn't appear even after they arrived at the Green Oriole Nation, then Chen Ping'an would have no option but to put Sui Jingcheng on an immortal ship to Skeleton Shoal's Flax Robe Sect. Afterward, she would need to take an intercontinental ship to the immortal ferry station located at the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent's Ox Horn Mountain.

According to Sui Jingcheng's own will, she would then become Cui Dongshan's unofficial disciple and cultivate together with him. If there truly existed fate between Sui Jingcheng and the mighty figure, then there would naturally come a day when they reunited and became legitimate master and disciple.

Before Chen Ping'an arrived at the ferry station located in the Green Oriole Nation, of which Senior Wang Dun had provided him the address to, the matter that he wanted to know about most was the movement of the flood dragon residing in the Jade Seal River near the capital of the Great Seal Script Empire.

Had Sword Immortal Ji Yue of Ape Call Mountain already fought with that tenth tier martial artist?

Sui Jingcheng put her socks and boots on before standing up. She glanced up at the sky, and the blazing sun that had initially been hanging high up and scorching the earth had already been replaced by a thick sea of dark clouds. It looked like a torrential downpour was just around the corner.

Chen Ping'an was already walking over to the hitched horses, saying, "We need to keep going. There are at most fifteen minutes before it starts raining. You can also put on your raincoat first."

Sui Jingcheng jogged over and asked with a smile, "Can Senior read the meteorological signs as well? When we were at the pavilion before, Senior was also able to accurately predict when the rain would stop. My father said that only the lofty figures in the Ministry of Astronomy of the Five Mountain Nation are able to possess such abilities."

Chen Ping'an put on his bamboo hat and raincoat before jumping on his horse and asking, "Do you want to learn this mystical ability?"

Sui Jingcheng nodded and replied, "Of course!"

Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Then you can work in the fields for a dozen or so years, relying on the heavens to make a living. After experiencing this, you'll naturally know how to read the weather as well."

Sui Jingcheng was rendered speechless.

In reality, Chen Ping'an only revealed half of the answer to her. The other half of the answer pertained to the ability of martial artists to clearly sense the many subtle movements amid heaven and earth. For example, the gentle breeze brushing past the leaves, the beating wings of insects, dragonflies lightly touching the surface of the water, and so on were all easily visible and audible to Chen Ping'an. However, he would be wasting his breath if he tried to explain these matters to Sui Jingcheng, a Qi refiner.

A huge downpour arrived as expected.

The two steeds slowly traveled forward, not attempting to avoid the rain. Sui Jingcheng never complained about the strong wind, blazing sun, or pouring rain as they traveled north, and it wasn't long before she realized that this was also a form of cultivation. If she were able to find a suitable form of cultivation even as she experienced the bumpy horse ride, then she would naturally be able to maintain a clear vision even in the pouring rain.

When it was scorching hot in midsummer, she could even occasionally catch sight of those thin "streams" hidden in the hazy mist. The senior sword immortal told her that this was the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. After learning of this, Sui Jingcheng would often ride forward in circles and zigzags as she attempted to catch the fleeting wisps of spiritual energy. She naturally wasn't able to catch them, but the Bamboo Robe Dao Robe that she was wearing could indeed absorb the spiritual energy.

Torrential downpours seldom lasted for a long time, with the rain subsiding as quickly as it had arrived.

Chen Ping'an and Sui Jingcheng took off their raincoats as they continued to travel north.

They managed to reach a prefectural city built around water before the night curfew set in, allowing them to rest there for the night. There was a water god shrine located at the upstream region of the river, but this wasn't the most important reason for visiting this prefectural city. Rather, it was because the river and the mountain were beside one another, with the river called the Lofty River and the mountain called Soaring Mountain. The river god shrine and the mountain god temple were also located close together, with less than two kilometers between the two sites. Chen Ping'an said that this was extremely rare, so they needed to make their way over to have a look.

In reality, Sui Jingcheng still didn't understand why the senior sword immortal had such a strong interest in visiting ancient sites and famous landmarks. However, she was afraid that this pertained to some rules of the mountains, so she kept this curiosity hidden in her mind.

Cricket fights were extremely popular in the towns and cities of the Northern Swallow Nation.

Many residents ventured out of the cities at night to catch crickets in the wilderness, selling them for money when they returned in the morning. Countless poems and works about crickets had also been composed by scholars and literati, sweeping throughout the entire Northern Swallow Nation. However, many of these poems criticized the current situation and subtly derided the popularity of cricket fights. Even so, the anxiousness of these scholars and literati could only be slightly alleviated through the form of composing poems and essays.

Meanwhile, the extravagant residences of officials and nobles and the small homes of ordinary residents were still filled with the chirps of crickets and the delighted shouts of spectators, with these sounds reverberating throughout the entire nation.

Thus, even though the two steeds had entered the prefectural city during the evening, the number of people leaving the city was far greater than the number of people entering the city. Those leaving the city were all carrying cricket cages of various shapes and sizes, and the sight of this was truly quite strange.

The inn they were staying at was very large, and it was said that the inn had been repurposed from a large but decommissioned relay station. The owner of the inn was a wealthy descendant from the capital, and after purchasing the relay station for a low price and spending a large sum of money to renovate it, he was now enjoying booming business and good income. There were the calligraphy works of literati left on many of the walls, and there was even a lush bamboo forest and a pond at the back.

Chen Ping'an left his room at night, taking a stroll along the small path beside the pond and the swaying willows. When he returned to his room to practice fist techniques, he said to Sui Jingcheng who was wearing her veiled hat and standing on the small path, "There aren't any major issues. You can take a stroll by yourself without a problem."

Sui Jingcheng nodded in understanding and watched the senior sword immortal leave. She then took a stroll around the pond before returning to her room.

Chen Ping'an continued to practice the six-step walking meditation and channel the Eighteen Stops Technique. However, he was still yet to overcome that final barrier.

Chen Ping'an would occasionally mull over this by himself. Was his sword cultivation aptitude truly this terrible?

After traveling past Stalactite Mountain back then, the young prodigies at the Sword Qi Great Wall had seemingly comprehended the essence of the Sword Qi Eighteen Stops Technique extremely quickly.

However, Chen Ping'an also found a reason to console himself. There were three small wisps of sword qi residing in the critical acupoints that the Eighteen Stops Technique passed through, causing significant resistance whenever he channeled the technique. The final obstruction was being caused by one of these critical acupoints, with his Qi grinding to a halt every time he tried to channel it through this area.

Chen Ping'an stopped practicing fist techniques and started to draw talismans instead, using the most ordinary yellow paper talisman. However, compared to ordinary traveling cultivators at the Lower Five Tiers, who could at most only use gold dust or silver dust as their talisman ink, Chen Ping'an had purchased quite a lot of immortal vermilion sand at the Spring Dew Garden's Old Locust Street.

He had a large collection of jars and bottles, and most of these had cost two or three snowflake coins each. The most expensive pot of sand had cost one lesser heat coin. Chen Ping'an had used at least three hundred talismans of various colors during this trip, for example, when they had faced the assassins in the mountain valley. Thus, it was clear that using an advantage in numbers to achieve victory was sometimes logical and reasonable.

Sui Jingcheng's luck was fairly good, and she had managed to obtain two secret texts from the formation cultivator's corpse. One text was an illustrated talisman guide, and another text was a formation guide that was missing some pages. In addition to this, there was also a notebook with some casual scrawls pertaining to the formation cultivator's comprehension, carefully detailing all of his learnings and comprehension from the time that he had started learning talismans. Chen Ping'an valued this notebook the most out of the three books.

Of course, they had also obtained a relatively high-grade Divine Dewbearing Armor from the burly assassin, as well as his large bow and all of his talismanic arrows.

There were the two talismanic sabers of the female assassin as well, one inscribed with the characters "Morning Dew" and one inscribed with the characters "Evening Glow."

However, it was a shame that these assassins hadn't possessed a single copper coin.

During Chen Ping'an's many trips, this sudden battle with the assassins in the mountain valley had come closest to his intense battle in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

Chen Ping'an had suffered severe wounds, but he had also received many benefits in return.

When reviewing some matters using a Go board with Sui Jingcheng during their free time, Sui Jingcheng had asked in curiosity, "Senior is actually left-handed?"

Chen Ping'an had nodded and replied, "Yes, ever since I was little. However, ever since I started practicing fist techniques, and not long after I left my hometown, I started to pretend that I wasn't."

The leader of the group of assassins from Deer Cutter Mountain, the sword cultivator who had stood on the stream surface to silently observe the battle, had repeatedly analyzed the distribution of the corpses of the Northern Swallow Nation's cavalrymen to thoroughly understand their target's abilities and avoid facing any nasty surprises. Moreover, Chen Ping'an had used his right hand to wield the saber as he had stabbed the cavalry general to death.

Taking all of this information into account, the assassin had confirmed that Chen Ping'an was indeed right-handed, after which he had instructed the other assassin to use their trump card, activating a Buddhist mystical ability to immobilize Chen Ping'an's right hand. Chen Ping'an was still experiencing some after-effects of the ability, a clear reflection of its immense power.

In reality, Chen Ping'an was completely oblivious to this kind of strange mystical ability from the mountains.

As a result, it appeared like the assassins had miscalculated due to sheer good luck on Chen Ping'an's behalf.

In actual fact, this was due to the manner in which Chen Ping'an traveled around the cultivation world. He always conducted himself as if he were being surrounded and attacked.

"Isn't this tiring, Senior?" Sui Jingcheng couldn't help but ask.

Chen Ping'an had smiled and replied, "It's already become second nature. Didn't I say to you before? Expounding on complicated principles and reasons might appear mentally and physically draining, but after growing familiar with this process, things actually become quite easy and relaxing. When you throw punches and unleash sword strikes at that time, you'll also move closer and closer to the state of being unburdened and unrestrained. This involves more than just the destructive power of your fists and sword strikes, and it's a form of... acknowledgment from heaven and earth and harmony with the Great Dao."

Sui Jingcheng definitely wouldn't have understood the nature and demeanor of being unburdened and unrestrained at the time. She most definitely wouldn't have understood the profound significance of being in harmony with the Great Dao either.