Chapter 665 (2): Not Someone from a Book

In light of the ceasefire, business in the wine shop was booming again.

On their stroll, A'Liang and Chen Ping'an encountered some sword cultivators who were familiar with both of them, but none of them extended any warm greetings. At the very most, they only nodded at the two men as a gesture of acknowledgment.

Those who knew A'Liang weren't necessarily willing to interact with Chen Ping'an, while the regular patrons of Chen Ping'an's wine shop didn't dare to speak to A'Liang.

The two of them shared many similarities, but in the eyes of the Sword Qi Great Wall's native sword cultivator, they were both alike, yet also very different.

A'Liang didn't go to drink at Die Zhang's wine shop. Instead, he took Chen Ping'an to a wine shop on the corner of a street.

It was absolutely packed, thanks entirely to the beauty of the woman running the shop.

She had opened the wine shop after her bonded flying sword was destroyed in battle some years ago, and she gave A'Liang a very warm greeting, personally carrying his order to his table before giving him a vicious glare.

Her demeanor then completely changed as she turned to regard Chen Ping'an, putting on a vibrant smile as she exclaimed, "Fancy seeing you here, second shopkeeper! Have you grown sick of your own wine, or are you here for the view like everyone else?"

Chen Ping'an had no idea how to deal with someone like her, so he could only smile in silence.

"What're you thinking about?" A'Liang asked.

"Wei Bo told me some very convincing stories about you and Lady Zhu from Azure Divine Mountain," Chen Ping'an said. "Just how much of that is true?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense," A'Liang scoffed. "What could a little mountain god from Go Table Mountain possibly know?"

"I spoke to him about you once outside the bamboo building, and he referred to you with a great deal of praise and reverence," Chen Ping'an said.

A'Liang immediately changed tunes and said, "Brother Wei's not a bad guy. He was already a mountain god in the Divine Water Nation back when the ancient Shu Nation was around, so he definitely knows a thing or two. It's no wonder we got along so well."

By "getting along," A'Liang was referring to the "greeting" that he had extended to Wei Bo using his bamboo saber.

All of a sudden, A'Liang set down his bowl and continued, "The emergence of the Jewel Small World has many implications when it comes to flood dragons of the ancient Shu Nation. Have you considered what all of this has to do with that neighbor of yours on Clay Vase Alley?"

"I have," Chen Ping'an replied with a nod.

"I see. So you've thought about it, but you haven't managed to pick out the end of that hidden thread."

This was no surprise to A'Liang. There were certain secrets that were entirely impossible for the current Chen Ping'an to extrapolate on his own.

With that in mind, A'Liang couldn't help but shake his head, then asked, "Are there any really unremarkable-looking foreign cultivators on Downtrodden Mountain? I'm talking about someone who isn't a ghost or spirit and possesses a rather low cultivation base, low enough for you to ascertain, at least. This person most likely gets along very well with Chen Lingjun."

Chen Ping'an briefly considered these parameters, then nodded and replied, "There is someone who matches that description."

"In that case, it's not entirely a bad thing that you left Downtrodden Mountain to come to the Sword Qi Great Wall," A'Liang said with a smile.

"Can you tell me why?" Chen Ping'an asked with a puzzled expression.

A'Liang hesitated momentarily, then replied, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. In any case, this is only my speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. I think that the man who's slain the most flood dragons has perhaps already taken up residence on Downtrodden Mountain. He's a very easygoing guy. As long as you're not a flood dragon, he wouldn't retaliate even if a Lower Five Tiers Qi refiner set out to kill him. Even if he were killed, he would simply change his identity and appearance and continue traveling the world.

“However, if you're related in any way to the final True Dragon, then he becomes a complete nightmare to deal with. Even if you have only the slightest karmic tie to the final True Dragon, he will be sure to hunt you down. Three thousand years ago, flood dragons were still the masters of the Majestic World's water fortune, and they were protected by their merits, but unfortunately for them, none of that meant anything in the face of his sword.

“The Confucian temple tried to dissuade, but to no avail, and Lu Chen wasn't able to do anything, either. In the end, they could only settle for a compromise where the sages of the Three Teachings were forced to mop up his mess. Of course, no one under the heavens is truly invincible. There are many secrets that you're still not privy to right now, and once again, this is not something for you to worry about in the present."

Chen Ping'an nodded in response.

He didn't try to get to the bottom of things because, on the one hand, this wasn't something that he would be able to figure out no matter how much brainpower he dedicated to the cause, and on the other hand, the worst outcome hadn't transpired. In any case, he wasn't going to be able to return to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, so there was no point in pondering this matter.

Unsurprisingly, A'Liang was immediately back to his braggadocious ways, raising a thumb to point at himself as he declared, "Even if you get into a conflict with him, just mention my name, and he'll be sure to stand down. The higher the cultivation base of the person that you're dealing with, the more useful my name becomes."

Generally speaking, all those whom A'Liang referred to as brothers, such as Xu Dian of the Circling Ascension Continent, were people that he had screwed over. It was a rather facetious way of referring to people that he didn't like the look of.

Following that debacle, Xu Dian was treated with collective disdain by all of the female cultivators of the Antler Palace. Unfortunately for him, the female cultivators of the Antler Palace had many connections, and as a result, this disdain quickly became shared by all of the female cultivators across half of the Circling Ascension Continent.

All of a sudden, he had become public enemy number one to the entire female community at large! In the words of his amused ancestor, it was like A'Liang had poured a bucket of piss and shit over his head. Even if he washed himself clean, the stench would still remain, so he would just have to accept his fate.

However, anyone who dared to proclaim themselves a friend of A'Liang's would perhaps still be met with disdain from virtually all of the sects in the Majestic World, but it would certainly shield them from much mishap and misfortune.

"You and Ning Yao are starting to become more and more alike," A'Liang suddenly remarked out of the blue.

Chen Ping'an raised his bowl of wine, then suddenly asked, "Ma'am, do you offer any free snacks with your wine?"

This was very much unlike anything Ning Yao would do.

A'Liang had always felt like Chen Ping'an and Ning Yao were a great fit for each other. Back then, they had still been apart, with Ning Yao staying on the Sword Qi Great Wall, while Chen Ping'an was out traveling the world.

A girl who never liked to think about anything and a boy who liked to think about everything; could there possibly be a better match under the heavens?

"I'm afraid not, second shopkeeper," the woman replied with a smile. "My humble wine shop doesn't rake in anywhere near as much profit as your wine shop, so I can't afford to be handing out free snacks. Besides, with your wine shop and all the betting stations that you run, surely you're not short on money."

Once again, Chen Ping'an could only offer a resigned smile.

"Your words have to be able to match your actions, do you agree?" A'Liang asked. "If you can't back up your words with your actions, even if you regurgitate the principles that you've read, no one will listen to you, so you may as well have not said anything, isn't that right?"

Chen Ping'an nodded in agreement. "Oftentimes, when the need to espouse principles arises, it's already too late, and your principles fall on deaf ears. Even if you know all the best principles in the world, you still have to stoop to their level, and you're left wondering why you even bothered to make the effort to learn all those principles in the first place."

"It's really disheartening, isn't it?" A'Liang asked with a smile.

"Not really," Chen Ping'an replied with a shake of his head. "It's exactly because this is the way things are that we should strive to be better and make the world a safer and more prosperous place. I've never been to the Savage World, but I know that among the demons who've perished at my fists and my swords on the battlefield, a considerable portion of them were weak and vulnerable people who were forced onto the battlefield."

A'Liang knew what Chen Ping'an was about to say next. On the surface, it appeared like Chen Ping'an was talking about himself, but in reality, he was more so trying to comfort A'Liang.

"If the Sword Qi Great Wall is breached, then those who are considered weak in the Savage World will be forced to become strong all the same," Chen Ping'an continued.

"Does that mean they deserve to die?" A'Liang asked with a smile.

He was extremely well-versed with the customs and traditions of the Savage World. As a matter of fact, he even had friends like Liu Cha there, and even outside of Liu Cha, he knew many cultivators from the Savage World, all of whom he saw as no different from humans.

Chen Ping'an had already finished two bowls of wine, and he poured himself a third bowl, then downed the entire bowl in one go before sighing. "At the end of the day, I'm just not strong enough. Otherwise, I wouldn't even let anyone get close to the Sword Qi Great Wall! I'd kill all the great demons on the battlefield, and if I ever have the chance to return to the Majestic World, I'm leaving nothing to chance. If I encounter anyone who dares to sympathize with the Savage World, I'll..."

Chen Ping'an's heated spiel abruptly trailed off into a loud burp.

"What're you gonna do about those people?" A'Liang asked with a wide grin. "They have their reasons as well. It's not like anyone forced so many people to die on the Sword Qi Great Wall."

"What would you do, A'Liang? I want to learn from you," Chen Ping'an said as he set down his empty bowl, then tucked his hands up their opposite sleeves and leaned against the table.

Learning the virtues of others had always been a strength of Chen Ping'an's.

As an accountant, he had learned from Zhong Kui back in that small inn in Fox Town on the border of the Great Quan Empire.

As a traveling salesman, he had learned from Daoist Master Sun, who had truly opened his eyes to what being a traveling salesman entailed.

Going even further back, Chen Ping'an's handwriting, which had often been criticized for being too rigid and lacking in flair, was something that he had picked up from the three medicinal recipes left to him by Lu Chen. Back then, Lu Chen had told him three things, but he had only clarified two of them, one of which was to encourage Chen Ping'an to go try his luck and pick out snake gall pebbles from the stream.

At the time, Chen Ping'an had asked about the third thing, but Lu Chen had refrained from giving him an answer. In hindsight, it turned out that learning from his handwriting was the third thing.

"I simply don't care," A'Liang replied with a smile.

Chen Ping'an was rendered momentarily speechless by this response, and he extended a hand out of his sleeve to pick up his bowl, then took a sip of wine before scratching his head with his other hand as he mused, "That's going to be a bit difficult to replicate."

"It's fine, you don't have to take after me," A'Liang said with a smile.

Those who first set out on the path of cultivation would look up at the sky and think to themselves that it didn't appear all that far away. The closer a cultivator got to the mountain summit, the more impatient they would become.

There were exceptions, but they were unfortunately few and far between.

A'Liang was worried Chen Ping'an would also follow that same path.

He was not unaware of Lu Chen's intentions for gifting Chen Ping'an those medicinal recipes. Clearly, from the very beginning, he wanted Chen Ping'an to learn from his handwriting. Why was it that Chen Ping'an was able to inscribe talismans so smoothly, almost as if he had a god-given gift? It was certainly not because it was a simple craft to master. In fact, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

However, it wasn't A'Liang's place to directly point out these things. Instead, Chen Ping'an would have to figure it out on his own.

Possessing exceptional swordsmanship didn't make life any easier, even for a swordsman of A'Liang's caliber.

The two continued drinking, but they were slowing down with each passing bowl of wine. A'Liang was in no hurry. He was never one to turn down a drink, and Chen Ping'an also wanted to drink a little more than usual.

The woman running the shop was an old acquaintance of A'Liang's, and she sent someone to buy some dishes from a nearby restaurant before taking them to A'Liang's table, assuring Chen Ping'an that they were on the house.

The two continued to drink all the way into the night. At this point, the customers in the wine shop had become far sparser than during the day. Occasionally, a sword cultivator came to greet A'Liang and Chen Ping'an and strike up a conversation, and they were welcomed with open arms, so long as they paid for their own drinks.

Hence, even though the two of them had been drinking for hours, they only needed to pay for the solitary flagon of wine on the table.

A'Liang's face was already bright red from inebriation, and he pointed at the moon in the sky as he turned to the woman with a smile and said, "Would you believe me if I told you I've been up there?"

The woman was resting behind the counter, and she took a glance up at the moon before asking, "Are there girls up there?"

"A woman like you shouldn't be making all these suggestive remarks," A'Liang grumbled as he waved a hand in dismay.

"Hurry up and finish your wine!" the woman snapped. "I need to close the shop."

After finishing the final flagon of wine on the table, Chen Ping'an and A'Liang stood up to leave.

Given that they were both running wine shops, the woman was technically a competitor of Chen Ping'an's, but for some reason, she was very gracious on this occasion, smiling as she said, "Don't worry about the bill; the wine's on the house today."

Chen Ping'an didn't ask why. Instead, he put his snowflake coins back into his money bag and gave the woman his thanks.

Both Chen Ping'an and A'Liang were a little unsteady on their feet as they made their way down the quiet street in the darkness of the night, but neither of them channeled their cultivation bases to cure their inebriation.

As they drew close to the Ning Residence, A'Liang said, "Remember this, Chen Ping'an: We are not in the White Paper Blessed Land, and the people around us aren't people from books. You may remember this now, but you must make sure not to forget it."

Chen Ping'an nodded in response.

All of a sudden, A'Liang put on a serious expression and said, "Rest assured, I won't tell Ning Yao that you didn't have to pay for the wine today, and I definitely won't tell her that you said that both Huang Ting and Yao Jinzhi are very beautiful."

"So what if you tell her?" Chen Ping'an scoffed, completely unfazed. "You think I'd be scared? What a joke! Let me tell you something, A'Liang—"

All of a sudden, a figure appeared at the entrance of the Ning Residence. Chen Ping'an immediately took a deep breath to ward off his inebriation, then shook out his entire body to expel the stench of alcohol clinging to his clothes. After making himself presentable, he rushed over to the figure like an obedient dog while waving a dismissive hand at A'Liang, gesturing for him to leave.

He ran up the steps, then came to a stop before Ning Yao and said, "Sorry for coming back so late. I didn't actually have all that much to drink. A'Liang kept telling me to drink more, even though I already told him I couldn't drink much because of my injuries. I won't let it happen again."

A'Liang was completely rooted to the spot, listening to Chen Ping'an's lies with a dumbstruck expression.

Ning Yao turned to take a glance at A'Liang, and he could tell that he was not welcome.

He sheepishly turned to depart, but as he did so, he made sure to mumble something about how strange it was that the woman had waived their bill at the wine shop, and that he had never heard of anyone else on the Sword Qi Great Wall receiving the same treatment.

At the entrance of the Ning Manor, Ning Yao remained standing in silence, and as the silence dragged on, Chen Ping'an was beginning to feel a little uneasy.

She paid no heed to A'Liang's mumblings, instead focusing her gaze solely on Chen Ping'an. It seemed that he had grown a little taller yet again.

She got up onto the tips of her toes so that her eyes were level with his.

Chen Ping'an cocked his head to the side with an affectionate smile as he asked in a joking voice, "Who are you? You're the most adorable girl I've ever seen! I'm tempted to abandon Ning Yao for you."

Ning Yao continued to remain silent, and by the time Chen Ping'an realized his missed opportunity, Ning Yao had already turned to make her way back into the courtyard.

Over on the city walls, Wei Jin had been forced to use an observation technique to conjure up an image of the entrance of the Ning Residence on the palm of his hand. Beside him, A'Liang was stomping his feet and pounding his chest in frustration.

"That idiot! She practically served herself up to him on a silver platter, and all he could come up with was that lame joke!"

The old great sword immortal was also peering down at the image with his hands clasped behind his back, and he nodded in agreement and said, "He is a little stupid."

Initially, Wei Jin had been a little reluctant to intrude on Chen Ping'an and Ning Yao's privacy, but his reluctance had since turned to amusement, and he chuckled. "That really was quite a letdown."

A'Liang cleared his throat, then gently pushed Wei Jin's hand away and reprimanded, "A sword immortal of your caliber really shouldn't be doing things like this. Don't you feel guilty or ashamed at all?"

"I agree," the old great sword immortal chimed in as he turned to depart, leaving Wei Jin to shake his head with a wry smile.

Outside the old great sword immortal's thatched cottage, A'Liang sat down with his legs crossed, then asked, "Can someone else do it? How about me?"

"No," Chen Qingdu replied with a shake of his head.

"Why not?" A'Liang asked in an angry voice. "Isn't my cultivation base even higher?"

"At our level, cultivation base means nothing," Chen Qingdu said. "You could be forgiven for not knowing that in the past, but you expect me to believe that you're still unaware of this?"

A'Liang fell silent. He knew that the old great sword immortal was right.

The two of them were silent for a long while before, to A'Liang's surprise, Chen Qingdu sat down beside him. He very rarely did anything like this.

"I'm a little tired," Chen Qingdu sighed quietly. "I'm very fortunate to have met people like you."

"Speak up when you say things like that!" A'Liang encouraged with a wide grin.

"I wonder what things will be like in another ten thousand years," Chen Qingdu mused.

"The future always holds both hope and disappointment," A'Liang said.

"That's very encouraging to hear," Chen Qingdu replied with a nod.