Chapter 508: (1): Kind Young Girl

The Locust Flower Nation was a small and barren nation in the north, and everyone in the imperial court, from the top to the bottom, was poor. In fact, they were so poor that the emperor couldn't even dispatch officials to worship and give offerings to the mountain gods of the Five Mountains on time. Because of this, there eventually arose the saying that officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue didn't enter the mountains.

Perhaps due to the imperial court showing a lack of respect for the Five Mountains, with this problem being exacerbated by the lack of temples and shrines and worshippers in the regions, there were often demons and fiends causing trouble in the mortal cities and towns of the Locust Flower Nation. This led to many spiritual masters and eminent monks from different nations travelling around the Locust Flower Nation to rescue its citizens from catastrophe and hardship.

However, these capable individuals who were especially popular in the regions never entered the residences of true nobles and officials in the nation. In the end, they decided to directly avoid the capital of the nation altogether, lest they be treated poorly and given the cold shoulder.

On this day, a scholar in white and wearing a bamboo hat handed over his passport and entered the city located on the border of the Locust Flower Nation and the Silver Screen Nation. After wandering around the city for a while, he sat down on his bamboo case on a bridge located near a market, munching down on a spring onion pancake that he had purchased just then. Along with the local residents and some traveling merchants engaging in small business, he listened to a storyteller recount tales about weird and fantastical matters.

The storyteller was quite old, appearing to be in his seventies, but he was unexpectedly filled with energy and vigor, with his voice booming as his spittle flew everywhere. He said that an incredibly vicious great demon had appeared at Ornate Headpiece Prefecture a while ago, staying at the mountain top and transforming into a cloud of black smoke that snuck into the prefectural city whenever night fell. This great demon especially targeted young maidens, and the local government was completely powerless to stop it.

In the end, the prefectural overseer recruited the help of an elderly spiritual master, with the latter setting up an altar and performing a ritual to summon thunder and lightning. The night sky was initially clear, with the moon bright and the stars twinkling, yet there was suddenly booming thunder and a torrential downpour. With a loud crack, a bolt of lightning directly crashed into the lair of the great demon, which was located in a mountain full of miasma.

Afterward, a brave woodsman entered the mountain and navigated to the area of commotion, and he saw a large snake as thick as a well that had been brutally smashed to death by the ferocious bolt of lightning. However, it was a shame that none of the unfortunate young maidens could be saved, with skeletons littered around the mountain pass.

The audience gasped upon hearing this, with a cold chill running down their spines as their hairs stood on end.

The traveling scholar wearing a snow-white robe also gasped in astonishment like everyone else.

There was the clinking sound of money as a member of the audience stepped forward to tip the storyteller, after which a number of other listeners also walked forward to toss some copper coins in the large white bowl. The elderly storyteller stroked his beard and smiled as he glanced at the copper coins in his bowl. This was enough to buy two pots of wine.

Afterward, the elderly storyteller claimed that there were also demons and fiends causing trouble at Ritual Baton Prefecture, acting impudently as they wreaked havoc in the area. However, it was a shame that the prefectural overseer was a miserly person, having no networks and relationships and not willing to spend good money to recruit the help of a spiritual master or esteemed immortal to vanquish the demons either.

As a result, the pitiful residents of Ritual Baton Prefecture could only suffer the fate of being relentlessly disturbed by the demons. Thankfully, these demons didn't possess high cultivation bases even though they were wanton and unrestrained. They were far weaker than the snake demon that had been killed by lightning atop the mountain at Ornate Headpiece Prefecture, or else a truly great tragedy would have taken place at Ritual Baton Prefecture.

The residents of this border city enjoyed the lively atmosphere, so a man in the audience asked about the origin and background of the demons causing trouble in Ritual Baton Prefecture. The storyteller started to talk tirelessly about the culprits, saying that the white-clothed ghosts of people who had died by hanging liked to frighten the night watchmen of the region and bang on the doors of people at night. This resulted in people not daring to leave their houses and walk around the prefectural city at night.

In addition to this, there were also foxes and rabbits that appeared near the abandoned tombs, transforming into shapely and seductive women who liked to entice men and absorb their essence. There was yet another group of violent malicious ghosts that had occupied a temple and shooed away the monks, and there was also a young girl in green who resided in a section of the river near the dock and often summoned strong winds and large waves.

Someone started to question the storyteller, saying that the Silver Screen Nation and the Locust Flower Nation had always enjoyed peace and stability, with no demon or fiend having caused trouble for the past several hundred years. Taking this into account, how could so many demons and fiends have suddenly appeared in the area? Perhaps someone who was bored and with nothing better to do was purposely causing trouble to scam people out of their money?

The storyteller was indignant upon being questioned, and he claimed that he had personally seen the corpse of the snake demon at Ornate Headpiece Prefecture, as well as the deathly pale appearance of the young water ghost who lived near the dock.

The audience laughed in ridicule, not believing the elderly storyteller's words.

The elderly storyteller looked around, and his gaze eventually landed on a scholar in white who had just finished eating the spring onion pancake in his hand. He pointed at the young man and said, "This traveling scholar from an outside region has definitely read many books and experienced many things, so why don't you ask him whether ghosts and spirits truly exist in the world? Scholar, even if you haven't personally seen them before, it still counts even if you've heard of them before."

Everyone looked toward the young scholar wearing a bamboo hat in unison, but the young man shook his head and replied, "I've never seen them before, and I've never heard of them before either."

Boos immediately rang out from the audience.

Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, the elderly storyteller hurriedly retrieved his large white bowl and packed up his belongings for the day. Fucking hell, these scholars were all pathetic and ill-intentioned bastards. So be it if they didn't tip any copper coins, and it would be fine if they just stood around and acted as a good audience member. This person clearly had no chance of becoming a champion scholar.

The audience naturally dispersed when they saw the elderly storyteller packing up and preparing to leave.

The elderly storyteller shot an angry glare at the traveling scholar.

Chen Ping'an smiled and stood up, putting the bamboo case on his back. He had already placed Sword Immortal, his Sword Nurturing Gourd, and his jade bamboo fan in the bamboo case beforehand, so there was only the verdant green hiking pole remaining in his hand right now. Chen Ping'an had already finished refining this hiking pole during his travels. At the same time, there were several ordinary yellow paper talismans hidden inside his sleeve, with all of them being ordinary Yang Energy Illumination Talismans, Cleansing Talismans, and Barrier-Shattering Talismans from the Authentic Death-Avoiding Book.

Chen Ping'an walked over to the elderly storyteller and said, "Old Mister, let me treat you to some wine. What do you say?"

The elderly storyteller shot a sideways glance at Chen Ping'an, thinking that he looked feeble and didn't appear like a criminal who could rob someone blind. However, it wasn't easy to travel around the cultivation world, and who knew whether a shallow-looking puddle could cause one to trip and fall?

Thus, even though the elderly scholar was very tempted, he still forcefully gulped and turned down the offer with a smile, saying, "There's no need. Thank you for your goodwill, Young Master, but I still need to make haste and travel to the Silver Screen Nation to make ends meet. The inns in this city charge exorbitantly high prices and treat guests as if they're animals to slaughter, but living on the streets will also invite unnecessary trouble. That being the case, I might as well cross the border to sleep in the wilderness of the Silver Screen Nation where neither heaven nor earth will care about me."

"Alright, then I won't keep Old Mister any longer," Chen Ping'an said in pity. "I'll just pretend that I've saved some money on a pot of Green Mountain Restaurant's fly whisk wine."

The elderly storyteller's eyes lit up, and the wine bugs in his stomach immediately started to cause trouble. His expression immediately changed as he glanced up at the sky and said with a laugh, "Looking at the time, it's still early, and there's no rush for me to get anywhere. Brother Kongfang and the others at the Silver Screen Nation can wait for a while longer, and I'll gladly accept Young Master's kind invitation. Come on, let's make our way to Green Mountain Restaurant. I've never tasted fly whisk wine before, but thanks to Young Master's generosity, I'll finally be able to enjoy a pot."

"Old Mister, you're not going to call your disciple over?" Chen Ping'an nodded and asked with a smile.

The elderly storyteller was slightly embarrassed as he turned around and waved a hand, gesturing for the person who had stepped forward and tipped first just then to come over to his side. "Young Master is quite astute," he said in a low voice.

After arriving at the largest restaurant in the city, the three people sat down at a table on the second floor after following the guidance of a waiter. Chen Ping'an ordered a table of food and three pots of fly whisk wine, and only when the wine was brought to the table did the elderly storyteller silently grab his disciple's pot of fly whisk wine and put it in front of himself, saying with a faint smile, "I forgot to tell Young Master just then, but my disciple doesn't drink wine. I'm sorry that Young Master spent more money than necessary."

A look of realization appeared on Chen Ping'an's face, and he replied, "Then let me ask the waiter to take away the extra pot of fly whisk wine. It costs two taels of silver, after all."

The elderly storyteller hurriedly placed his arms around the two pots of wine, saying, "Please don't do that, Young Master. How can wine be taken away after it's been served? Isn't this the same as asking a beauty to undress and lie down in bed before telling her to piss off? This is completely unacceptable!"

Chen Ping'an cracked open the clay seal on his pot of wine, pouring himself a bowl and asking with a smile, "Old Mister, you're not from the Blissful Dream Nation, are you?"

The elderly storyteller shook his head and replied, "I come from the westernmost Azure Essence Nation, and I have been working as a storyteller ever since I was twenty-six years old. I've traveled to more than half of the dozen or so nations, and I've also traveled to the Blissful Dream Nation once. It's a rare paradise in the world, and I'm thinking about settling down in the Blissful Dream Nation after I retire. I have no family and no attachments in my hometown anymore, so it doesn't matter if I relocate to another nation. If my disciple is capable and able to earn enough gold and silver, then I can indeed be buried back at my hometown after I close my eyes for the final time."

"Then please feel free to drink to your heart's content," Chen Ping'an said with a smile.

Chen Ping'an could only tell that the elderly storyteller in front of him was a third tier Qi refiner, but this implied two possibilities. Either the old man was genuinely a cultivator at the Lower Five Tiers traveling around the nations, or he was a lofty cultivator whose cultivation base far exceeded that of Ye Han and Fan Weiran, two papier-mache Golden Core Tier cultivators. Apart from the two masterminds hiding behind the scenes, Ye Han and Fan Weiran could already be regarded as cultivators from the so-called pinnacle of the mountains.

A few days ago, spiritual energy had rippled continuously at the borders of the dozen or so nations, appearing like spring thunder and catching the attention of Chen Ping'an. He had immediately stepped on his sword and flown into the sky, only to see an extremely long golden thread suddenly appear from the earth before burning to ashes. By the looks of it, one of the two powerful cultivators had retracted the mystical restriction ability that had been caging the dozen or so nations, and Chen Ping'an surmised that it was most likely the cultivator from the Blissful Dream Nation who had obtained the valuable treasure from Imperial Accompanying City.

As for the other powerful cultivator called Xia Zhen, whom Chen Ping'an temporarily knew nothing about, he had still yet to appear and cause trouble for Chen Ping'an. Theoretically speaking, this was very unusual, especially since Fan Weiran's Treasure Basin Immortal Realm and Ye Han's Yellow Axe City, as well as all of their subordinate immortal forces, were very likely underlings raised by Xia Zhen. Taking this into account, there were only two possible reasons why he hadn't made a move yet. The first reason was that a lion needed to go all out even when hunting a rabbit, so Xia Zhen was potentially waiting for him at some undisclosed location right now.

Alternatively... Jiang Shangzhen had already dealt with the mess after appearing at Imperial Accompanying City, either killing Xia Zhen or allowing him to luckily escape with his life but be too severely wounded to target and kill Chen Ping'an.

If the elderly storyteller in front of him was truly the powerful cultivator from the Blissful Dream Nation and had especially come here to meet him, then Chen Ping'an couldn't be bothered speaking in riddles with him and playing mind games. He would prefer to roll up his sleeves and engage in battle.

The elderly storyteller smiled and said, "Why does Young Master ask? Does Young Master have an acquaintance in the Blissful Dream Nation? Or perhaps it's a mortal enemy or a dear friend? If it's the latter, then I can help Young Master pass on a message after I complete my travels around the Silver Screen Nation and go to the Blissful Dream Nation with my foolish disciple. However..."

The old man raised two fingers and grinned as he rubbed them together.

Chen Ping'an shook his head and replied, "There's no strong feeling of hostility, and neither of us interferes with the other. I simply admire the lofty abilities of a powerful individual from the Blissful Dream Nation, as well as his meticulous manner of doing things. I hope to sincerely treat him to a pot of wine. Everything is settled already, but there are still some small and regrettable matters.

"This powerful individual was very forceful and domineering at the start of the chess game, very calm and steady in the middle of the game, and left many wonderful formations at the end of the game. However, there was surprisingly no one to acknowledge this and cheer for him. This would be analogous to everyone falling silent after Old Mister finished telling his stories just then. Even if Old Mister obtained a bowl full of copper coins, the silence at the end would still be disappointing and regrettable, no?"

The elderly storyteller took a sip of wine and said, "Even though I don't really understand what Young Master is saying, this does indeed sound quite reasonable. So, how about a toast?"

Chen Ping'an raised his wine bowl and touched it with the elderly storyteller's, after which they both started to drink by themselves.

Drinking fine wine with like-minded people added to the enjoyment.

However, drinking with mortal enemies, with deadly schemes hiding in the shadows and killing intent lurking in the wine bowls, was also a form of cultivation.