Unsheathed

Chapter 368 (3): Unspeakable Hardships

The elderly Confucian scholar was one of the seventy-two saints of the Confucian temple, yet even he had done something so unreasonable and completely against Confucian etiquette.

And yet despite his transgressions, was it fair to say that his knowledge and principles hadn't had any positive effect on Majestic World? That was naturally not the case. In fact, he definitely had quite a significant positive impact on Majestic World.

The elderly scholar had proclaimed that he was targeting Chen Ping'an for the sake of the bigger picture and what was best for the continuation of the heritage of Confucianism. Was he wrong to say that?

Not necessarily.

Recently, Chen Ping'an had been frequently pondering the major principles that he had no time to mull over in the past. Given his injuries, it wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway.

The old foreigner visiting the medicinal shop was a very talkative man, and he was selecting medicinal ingredients to buy while chatting with Chen Ping'an, who was filling in as shopkeeper.

While paying for his purchase, the old man smiled as he asked, "Would you like to hear a piece of advice from me, young man?"

The Zhao Clan yin soul was lurking in the shadows, and he immediately tensed up slightly upon hearing this.

"Go ahead," Chen Ping'an prompted with a smile.

The old man looked around momentarily, then said in a serious manner, "I understand that you think the quality of your products alone will be enough to draw customers to your door, but sometimes, you need a little more than that. Why don't you hire some pretty ladies to help you out?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head in response.

"It's alright. Even if business is a little slow, it's enough to get by."

"It's not good for someone your age to sound so much like a jaded old man," the old man chuckled.

Chen Ping'an smiled and offered no response.

"You can probably tell from my accent that I'm not from these parts," the old man continued. "Having said that, I've heard about what's recently happened in Old Dragon City, and that's why I came to visit this shop. You're clearly no fool, so I'm sure you're aware that no local from Old Dragon City would come to visit your shop at a time like this. The only people who would visit your shop now are unfathomable outsiders like myself, isn't that right?"

Chen Ping'an didn't know what to make of this, and he could only reply, "You're certainly very open and honest."

The old man pointed in the direction of the street outside as he said, "I'm currently living in a small inn not far away from here. Rest assured, I don't harbor any ill will."

All of a sudden, he revealed his Golden Core Tier cultivation base as he smiled and asked, "Can you give me a little discount, seeing as I'm a Golden Core Tier earth immortal?"

The Zhao Clan yin soul almost sprang out of hiding upon seeing this.

Chen Ping'an shook his head in response.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. If you want to come and have a chat, then you're free to visit our shop at any time, but we don't offer any discounts here."

The old man picked up the packages of medicinal ingredients that he had purchased, then took a glance at Chen Ping'an as he sighed, "Why would I come and chat with you? It's not like you're a pretty woman."

Right at this moment, Sui Youbian made her way into the shop. Even though the old man had only released his Golden Core Tier aura for an instant, she was still alerted and immediately arrived on the scene.

As soon as the old man caught sight of Sui Youbian, he immediately turned back to Chen Ping'an with a serious expression as he said, "I'm actually a merchant who specializes in selling medicinal ingredients, so I'll be coming here every day from now on. Make sure to open up early and close late for me!"

Chen Ping'an smiled as he nodded in response.

As the old man left the medicinal shop, he seemed to be in very high spirits, so much so that there was a bounce in his step.

Sui Youbian had already returned to her room, and Wei Xian and Zhu Lian also departed, while Lu Baixiang strode over to the counter as he asked, "Was that old man really only at the Golden Core Tier?"

The Zhao Clan yin soul revealed himself as he answered, "He's either a Golden Core Tier cultivator, or he's an Immortal Tier cultivator in disguise."

"Surely not," Lu Baixiang said with a wry smile. "There aren't that many Immortal Tier cultivators even on the entirety of Parasol Leaf Continent."

The old man returned that very same afternoon to purchase more medicinal ingredients, granting the Dust Medicinal Shop close to thirty taels of silver of additional earnings.

As he departed, he was still looking around, trying to find Sui Youbian.

That night, while everyone was having dinner together, Chen Ping'an declared, "I'm sure the old man who came to visit today would get along very well with Zheng Dafeng and Zhu Lian."

Zhu Lian was eager to make himself useful, and he volunteered, "If he comes again tomorrow, then I'll have a chat with him to see what he's all about. Rest assured, it won't take me long at all to find out if he's a good man or not."

"Make sure you don't overdo it and cause trouble," Chen Ping'an cautioned.

"You can count on me," Zhu Lian replied with a smile.

The next morning, the old man entered the alley, and at this point, the medicinal shop still wasn't open yet, so he squatted down outside to wait.

Even though Chen Ping'an was already awake at this point, he still waited until the normal opening time before opening the shop's doors.

While Chen Ping'an was helping the old man pick out medicinal ingredients, Zhu Lian approached them, acting as if he were absorbed in his own thoughts as he mused, "Beautiful maidens can be found even on the most mundane of streets."

The old man's eyes lit up as he answered, "Just as they can be found in the most opulent of settings."

Their eyes met, and in that instant, both were convinced that they had just made a friend for life.

After that, Chen Ping'an was completely kicked to the side as the two old men began chatting with each other as if they had been close friends for decades. That morning, the Dust Medicinal Shop made a profit of eighty taels of silver.

Chen Ping'an didn't eavesdrop on the conversation as he didn't want to be rude, so after the old man departed, he asked Zhu Lian what the two of them had discussed.

Zhu Lian smiled as he replied, "I spoke with that old senior about some reading materials and the books that we both like to read."

As Zhu Lian was making his way out into the backyard, he slammed a fist into his own hand as he murmured to himself, "What an impressive man he is! I can tell that he's truly dedicated to his art!"

Chen Ping'an shook his head in response.

He had presumed that these two would get along well, but not this well!

Once Zheng Dafeng was sufficiently recovered to join in on their conversations, there would never be a quiet moment in the shop anymore.

A few days ago, Zheng Dafeng had almost been cut down by Sui Youbian's sword.

The reason for this was that his disciple, Fan Er, had commissioned an extremely lifelike portrait for him. After getting his hands on the portrait, Zheng Dafeng hung it up on the wall of his room, and he was all but worshiping it every single day.

In the end, Pei Qian was the one who spilled the beans, and Sui Youbian stormed into Zheng Dafeng's room to discover that it really was a portrait of her!

Not only that, but she was depicted to be extremely scantily dressed with a seductive smile on her face.

If Chen Ping'an hadn't gotten in between them, Zheng Dafeng would've been in serious danger of being cut down on the spot.

In the end, Chen Ping'an plucked the portrait down from the wall, despite Zheng Dafeng's pitiable pleas for him not to, and he gave the portrait to Sui Youbian for her to do as she saw fit. Only then was the conflict defused, but Sui Youbian's already terrible impression of Zheng Dafeng was worsened even further in the wake of that incident.

Despite his efforts in mediating the conflict, Chen Ping'an didn't fare any better than Zheng Dafeng. Instead of destroying the portrait, Sui Youbian gave it to him with a cold sneer, saying that he should keep it, considering he and Zheng Dafeng were both lecherous pieces of scum anyway.

After mulling over the sequence of events leading up to the incident, Chen Ping'an decided that Pei Qian was at fault for spilling the beans, and he dragged her away by the ear to make her complete a transcription of one thousand five hundred characters.

Fan Er had been quite smart in that he refrained from paying any further visits to the shop after delivering the portrait. Otherwise, Chen Ping'an would've been sure to give him a good beating.

The end of the year was coming up, and some preparations had to be made for the festive season.

Fan Junmao paid the shop a visit, informing Chen Ping'an that the Fu Clan had approached the Fan Clan in private. Fu Qi had personally visited Fan Junmao and promised her that the Fu Clan was going to offer a tremendous sum of compensation to the Dust Medicinal Shop.

Pei Qian, Wei Xian, and Sui Youbian went out to do some shopping.

Sui Youbian had only decided to go as she couldn't stand Pei Qian's insistent begging.

On this day, the old man who would come to the medicinal shop to chat with Zhu Lian every day was seated at the intersection between the street and the alley outside the shop, pretending to mind his own business while stealing glances at Sui Youbian as she walked past.

Recently, Zhu Lian had become even more diligent and conscientious with his reading. The old man had gifted him many brand new books clearly very high quality, and he had been staying up to read almost every night in the past few days.

By the time Pei Qian's trio returned for their shopping trip, it was already nighttime. Chen Ping'an closed the shop, then sat down on a bench before taking a sip of the basic refinement medicinal wine in his Sword Nurturing Gourd.

After playing the entire day outside, Pei Qian had gone to bed very early. Of course, she had completed her transcriptions before that.

Lu Baixiang strode over to Chen Ping'an's side, then sat down beside him, and the two of them chatted about some of the interesting stories of this world.

Lu Baixiang found these stories to be very eye-opening, and he mused that the prominent powers in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land could certainly do worse than emulate some of the practices employed by the sects in this world.

Lu Baixiang heaved a faint sigh, then said in an earnest voice, "This really is a completely different world. There are so many nuances to consider even when it comes to accepting disciples here. The Lotus Flower Blessed Land can't compare."

He then turned to Chen Ping'an with a smile as he said, "No wonder you're being so strict with Pei Qian."

Chen Ping'an nodded as he replied, "Taking on a disciple is indeed a very difficult task. It's not just about teaching whatever you please. Initially, I didn't want to teach Pei Qian. After that, I changed my mind, but I didn't dare to teach her. Now, I don't know what or how to teach her."

Chen Ping'an raised his head to look up at the night sky as he continued, "Zhu Lian always like to joke about how much of a fence sitter Pei Qian is, about how she sways from side to side like a blade of grass depending on which direction the wind blows. However, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Everyone is as delicate as a blade of grass as a child, but at that stage, it's extremely important for the blade of grass to take root firmly.

“A blade of grass will always sway with the wind, but as long as it's firmly rooted to the ground, it'll never lose its way. After that, the blade of grass develops into a bamboo shoot. Some people detest bamboo and vow to cut down all of the bamboo under the heavens, but many scholars are very fond of bamboo, and there's even a Bamboo Sea Small World in this world.

“After that, the bamboo shoot grows into a mighty tree. During a past journey of mine, I was accompanied for some time by an extremely powerful swordsman. Thinking back now, I feel like he regarded me much like I regard Pei Qian now. Just as I'm currently assessing Pei Qian's character, he was also silently assessing mine.

“At the time, I had only just begun practicing fist techniques. Could he not have taught me advanced swordsmanship? Could he not have given me a sip of some medicinal wine brewed using a beast core? Could he not have taught me a top-tier bodily refinement cultivation art? Could he not have given me a bunch of treasures? He could've easily done all of that without even batting an eyelid, but he didn't. Why didn't he do that?

“I never considered this question before, and even after I began to consider it, I couldn't think of an answer. That, until Pei Qian came into my life. The Scholarly Sage told me that we live in a very complicated world, and that we'll encounter many different pieces of scenery in the walk of life. Sometimes, we'll stumble upon good times, while other times, we'll have to trudge our way through dark times."

Chen Ping'an's voice trailed off here, and he drank his last sip of medicinal wine for the night. At this point, his cheeks were already flushed bright red.

Chen Ping'an very rarely discussed matters like these with outsiders, and he was only willing to open up to Lu Baixiang as he felt like Lu Baixiang was the type of person who would be able to understand.

He didn't understand why he felt this way, but he did, nonetheless. It was just a gut feeling, just like how Old Man Yao and Ruan Qiong instinctively didn't want to accept him as their disciple.

Chen Ping'an secured his Sword Nurturing Gourd to his waist, then rubbed his hands over his face and heaved a faint sigh.

"Regardless of what I see in the world, whether it be good or bad, I always want to see deeper, to see a little clearer. If it's a person or thing that doesn't matter much, then I try my best to see the good in it. Just because someone doesn't like me or holds conflicting ideals with mine doesn't mean that they're necessarily a bad person.

“There's a master martial artist by the name of Liu Zong in your Lotus Flower Blessed Land, and he said something to me that I think is very interesting. He said: 'The road beneath our feet is very wide, so we can each go our own way without any problems.' I think he's perfectly correct in saying that.

“However, there are always going to be good or bad people in this world, and outside of things that are absolutely right or wrong, everything else is in a gray area. For example, that Ascension Tier cultivator, Du Mao, must've done many bad things in life, but he must've also done some good things. In fact, there's a very good chance that in Parasol Leaf Sect, he's considered to be a saint that countless disciples would be willing to sacrifice themselves for."

Lu Baixiang gently placed his hands onto his knees as he smiled and said, "Do you think everyone is a glutton for punishment like yourself? Spending all day pondering concepts like right or wrong like you do is an extremely tortuous endeavor. Many people learn martial arts, sword techniques, and immortal abilities only for their own sake.

“In the process of standing up for others, so-called heroes often end up killing perceived evil-doers who they don't even know, yet they're widely lauded for their actions. Is that right or wrong? If someone breaks their father out of prison, killing many wardens in the process, only to go on to become a high-ranking official that goes down in the history books as a man of the people and an impeccable son, is that right or wrong?

“There are many people out there who are only wronged by a single person, but decide to take their vengeance on the entire world. Some people have managed to do this, while others were unable to, but they would've if they could.

“In the walk of life, some people see a flower in the wilderness, and that could inspire hope within them. Meanwhile, others are extremely bitter and envious, so all they can see on the ground is shit. They're forced to eat shit all the time due to how bitter and unhappy they are, and they can't stand to see others not having to eat shit. After all, even shit can fill one's belly."

"How do you know that? Have you eaten it before?" Chen Ping'an asked in a very unceremonious manner.

Then, he hurriedly added, "Forget I ever asked that."