Chapter 210 (1): Encounter and Reunion

Chapter 210 (1): Encounter and Reunion

Chen Ping'an had the status of an esteemed guest, but in reality, he wasn't a noble or wealthy person at all. Thus, he didn't require the twin maidservants to genuinely serve him or whatnot. Because of this, Qiu Shi turned her attention to the matters happening outside this premium room.

She was like a well-informed reporter as she told Chen Ping'an about the interesting people and matters on the Kun ship every day. She didn't care whether he wanted to listen or not, and this didn't matter anyway since the impoverished young boy from the Great Li Empire was an easy-going person.

The young girl continued to gossip, and she talked about how someone managed to obtain a rare piece of beautiful jade while gambling on stones at the gambling venue. This piece of jade had possessed rare jade essence, and after being extracted, it had glowed with a dazzling and eye-catching radiance. It was worth at least 30,000 snowflake jades, so that person had made a huge fortune.

Meanwhile, two wealthy customers had visited the weapon store owned by Mr. Liu. They had both set their eyes on the same spirit tool, and they had eventually started to bid with each other out of anger. They had raised the price again and again, and it was ultimately the customer who had boarded the Kun ship at the Great Li Empire's Parasol Tree Mountain that had offered a higher amount.

The Heaven Rivaling Painted Ji[1] had initially been priced at 8000 snowflake jades, but the customer had eventually ended up spending close to 20,000 snowflake jades to purchase it. Qiu Shi was extremely envious of this. After all, who in the world spent money so carelessly like this? Had his money been swept over by the wind?Trace the roots of this material to n0v★lbin

Someone had also put on a drunken show at Apricot Blossom Tavern, and they had continued to shout a lady's name in a heart-wrenching manner as they wailed in grief. The nearby guests had all been extremely irritated, and in the end, the manager of Apricot Blossom Tavern had dragged the person away and given them a good beating.

Two days later, however, the person had returned to the tavern again. He hadn't dared to make a scene, but rather squatted outside the tavern and chowed down on dry biscuits as he dazedly gazed at the room of the lady he had feelings for. Tears and snot had flowed down his face, adding the perfect mixture of condiments to his dry biscuits.

In fact, this young fourth tier cultivator had spent all of his savings on a beautiful entertainer[2] who was like a white lotus. He had spent all of his money on her these past two months, and the two of them had also been very close and intimate with each other. This was nothing. However, it was rumored that the young cultivator was obsessively in love with her, yet he hadn't even touched the hands of that entertainer yet. In this sense, he was truly a moral and righteous person.

Qiu Shi babbled non-stop about these peculiar matters, and she didn't forget to embellish these stories with her own opinions and descriptions to make them even more exaggerated and gripping. Indeed, her descriptions of these events were even more spectacular than the stories told by storytellers. However, Chen Ping'an treated them as nothing more than stories.

Right now, Chen Ping'an's interest wasn't in these people and matters that occurred on the ship. Instead, his interest lay in the world beneath them.

One night, the Kun ship was forced to descend to a lower altitude after coming across strong winds and turbulence in the sky. This allowed Chen Ping'an to discover raging fires tearing through an empire in the world beneath them. Columns of smoke rose into the air, as if they were crooked trees rising from the fields.

Chun Shui knew about many things in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and after searching through a geomantic map in the study, she quickly offered an answer about the situation beneath them. As it turned out, it was a bloody war that pertained to the fortunes of two empires that had been mortal enemies for many generations already.

After warring for several hundred years, the two empires had finally decided to go all out and gamble the power of their entire empire to decide victory. Hence, they had also dispatched many Qi refiners to the battlefields.

This battle had definitely wounded both empires to the core. Thus, when casting one's gaze over the region north of Lake View Academy in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, there were already few empires that could rival the northern barbarians in the Great Li Empire, with the exception of Great Sui Nation.

Chun Shui looked down at the land of death and misery and said with a soft sigh, "If the war becomes even more intense, then Eastern Treasured Vial Continent might gain a new ancient battlefield. In a few dozen years, when the aura here settles, sages from True Martial Mountain or Wind Snow Temple will most likely come over to transform this into a brand-new territory for the Militarian Sect."

Chen Ping'an also looked down at the land where brilliant flashes of light would appear from time to time. Meanwhile, he could also see warriors in golden and silver armor who only appeared as big as a fingernail from the Kun ship. Right now, they were doing battle against gigantic beasts that had crawled out from fissures in the land.

Chen Ping'an speculated that this was a battle between Qi refiners who could summon helpers with their mystical abilities.

Apart from this, he was stupefied by many other scenes.

A group of immortal cranes cried out as they slowly rose into the air. They rose through the sea of clouds, and they flapped their wings and soared into the sea of clouds even higher up, as if they were a moving painting.

A group of geese flew toward the south, and there was also a column of tumultuous clouds filled with thunder and lightning. Many flying Qi refiners hovered outside this column of clouds and used special immortal tools to extract the lightning from within it.

There were also Qi refiners riding azure phoenixes that were far quicker than the Kun ship. They were surrounded by treasured light, and they disappeared in a flash.

Chen Ping'an heard that there was a letter shop on the Kun ship that could use flying swords to deliver letters, and its function was much the same as relay stations in the mortal world. Thus, he wrote two letters and asked Qiu Shi to head over to the letter station to deliver them for him. There weren't any secrets in the letters, and the main point of them was to tell everyone that he was safe and sound. In addition, the letters also contained some peculiar and interesting stories that he had heard from Qiu Shi. As such, it didn't matter even if other people read these letters.

However, it was truly expensive to deliver these letters, and a letter sent to the Great Li Empire's Dragon Spring County would cost him 10 snowflake jade coins. This was the currency used by immortals in the mountains. Sending a letter to Great Sui Nation's Mountain Cliff Academy was even more expensive, and this would cost him an entire 20 snowflake jade coins.

Chen Ping'an was shocked, and the reason why he had only written two letters instead of a letter for everyone. One letter was addressed to Wei Bo in the Great Li Empire, while the other letter was addressed to Li Baoping in Great Sui Nation's Mountain Cliff Academy. He asked the two of them to deliver his message to the others.

Moreover, even though only a few morsels of information made it out, this was still enough to make everyone feel a cold chill.

The two top-notch sword cultivation forces in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent were going to choose three sword cultivators each — one old, one middle-aged, and one young.

The young sword cultivators wouldn't fight to the death, and they would simply fight until a victor was determined.

The middle-aged sword cultivators could either fight to the death or fight until a victor was determined. This was subject to the will of the two sword cultivators. However, everyone in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent knew that whenever sword cultivators from these two forces came across each other in the outside world, they would engage in battles to the death anyway.

Since this was a critical battle that would bring either glory or humiliation to their force, the temper of the sword immortals from Sun Scorch Mountain and Wind Lightning Field would most likely push them to fight to the death.

As for the old sword cultivators, their only option was to fight to the death!

Killing intent permeated the air.

Swords were yet to be drawn, yet it was as if everyone could already smell the metallic stench of blood.

The young sword cultivator chosen by Sun Scorch Mountain was none other than Celestial Maiden Su Jia, a cultivation prodigy who possessed a high-grade Sword Nurturing Gourd.

Meanwhile, Wind Lightning Field had chosen a direct disciple who wasn't well-known. In fact, it could be said that he was completely unknown. He was even less famous than his junior brother, Liu Baqiao. However, since this was a pinnacle battle that was attracting gazes from all over the continent, how could Wind Lightning Field possibly be mucking around?

Chen Ping'an led his maidservants downstairs and headed to the bow of the Kun ship.

The Flower and Bird Scroll passed down by the ancestors of Ceremony Mountain was decorated with all kinds of lively and colorful birds. These painted birds flew around inside the scroll, and they would even release a variety of crisp and ethereal chirps and cries.

When the scroll was fully unfurled high above the bow of the ship, it measured approximately 15 meters in length and six meters in height. It was gigantic from up close, and the Qi refiners could see it even if they chose to remain in their rooms. However, that naturally wouldn't be satisfying enough.

Moreover, the attacks of sword cultivators were as quick as lightning and as imperceptible as strands of hair.

At the same time, the profound and subtle sword intent possessed by their Sword Dao would exist for but a split second. Because of this, it was naturally the best choice to observe these battles from up close.

And thus, the seats for the guests were also divided into different tiers. The guests in the three detached residences were offered seats in the front row. Not only were fruits and snacks prepared for them, but there were even beautiful maidservants nurtured and trained by some heretical forces as well as the highest-ranking prostitutes from Peach Blossom Tavern. As for whether the three groups of people appreciated this, this was a different matter altogether.

Behind them were people like Chen Ping'an, guests from the premium rooms. If these guests were in a good mood, they could naturally bring their maidservants along to the event. If they wanted to come alone, however, this was naturally fine as well.

The Kun ship prohibited its guests from using mystical powers without permission, and it would be too unrefined for these cultivators to hover in the sky to observe the battles anyway. If everyone wanted to gain a better vantage point, it was inevitable that things would become messy and chaotic. In fact, there was even the possibility that conflict might occur. Thus, the Kun ship strictly prohibited everyone from manipulating the wind to fly into the air. This wasn't negotiable.

Due to these rules, most people brought chairs and stools over, and this made it seem like they were a bunch of mortal commoners gathering together and getting ready to watch a show.

Chun Shui and Qiu Shi were still quite young, but they were already very familiar with these kinds of events and matters. There were also attendants clearing the path for them, so they managed to arrive at their assigned location smoothly and without a hitch. This was an extremely optimal location.

Thus, the young boy in straw sandals instantly drew many curious gazes.

Perhaps this was a strange-tempered descendant from a wealthy clan who liked to act as an impoverished person?

Otherwise, why was he wearing a pair of straw sandals? Perhaps he was planning to go outside to remove weeds? Or was he planning to go to the fields to transplant seedlings?

1. A Chinese polearm similar to the halberd. ☜

2. The exact term used (清倌 - qingguan) refers to a profession more or less the same as that of a geisha. ☜