Chapter 631 (7): The Light Breeze and the Shimmering Moonlight

Xu Yuanxia returned to his hometown and opened a martial arts academy. However, he had a secret hobby of writing books. One time, a servant who was cleaning his room happened upon his work, and his secret hobby was exposed, becoming the butt of many jokes.

Xu Yuanxia was no longer a young man, and his appearance was rather unsightly, but there were still many women who were willing to marry him.

After all, he was clearly not strapped for money, and even more importantly, he seemed to have connections everywhere, including with the local gangs and factions, the county magistrate, the officials of the prefectural office, and he seemed to be able to get in a word or two with everyone.

A single man with bulging coffers would never remain single for long unless they preferred it that way.

A bunch of immortals had arrived in the mountains around the city, and they had claimed a peaceful, scenic mountain for themselves. Before long, the mountain was completely enshrouded in cloud and mist.

Many of the local residents quickly swarmed to the mountain and gathered at its foot, begging for immortal fated opportunities or for the immortals to help them overcome certain hardships in life, but all of them were ignored.

While one of the immortals on the mountain was passing through the area, he spotted a cultivation prodigy. It was a young girl who had once been considered completely unremarkable in the prefectural city.

She vehemently refused to go with the immortal to cultivate on the mountain, wanting only to marry her childhood sweetheart and live a peaceful life together. The young man that she liked just so happened to have been an external disciple of Xu Yuanxia's at his martial arts academy.

At the young man's request, Xu Yuanxia made his way up the mountain, and using a combination of principles and the saber strapped to his waist, he was able to convince the Qi refiners not to take the girl by force. The cultivators weren't particularly advanced in cultivation base, and they were quite reasonable as well, quickly agreeing to his request.

However, shortly thereafter, the girl's parents stormed into Xu Yuanxia's martial arts academy and kicked up a massive fuss, proclaiming that he had ruined their daughter's future. In particular, there was an old woman who was so racked with grief that she fell unconscious, and she almost passed away on the spot.

Ultimately, the girl also changed her mind and agreed to go and cultivate on the mountain, perhaps convinced by her mother, or perhaps simply of her own accord.

As a result, Xu Yuanxia had offended both the immortals on the mountain and the girl's family with nothing to show for it. However, he had seen and experienced far too much during his travels, and this didn't really bother him.

Prior to parting ways, the young couple had vowed to remain loyal to one another, and they envisioned a bright future together.

One of them would continue to learn martial arts from Xu Yuanxia before establishing his own faction, while the other would become a cultivator, and the two of them could even help each other out in the future.

However, it only took a year before her visits became less frequent, and after another year, she didn't bother to come back at all. Even when the man went to find her, she refused to see him.

The young man didn't drink at all in the past, but he began to drown his sorrows.

Xu Yuanxia was very sympathetic to his situation, but there was nothing that he could do.

As it turned out, the girl really had the makings of a cultivator, and one time, she was spotted flying through the air over the prefectural city with her seniors and martial brothers and sisters.

It was close to dusk at the time, and as soon as the young man saw her flying overhead, tears immediately began to stream down his face.

There was nothing that Xu Yuanxia could say to make him feel better.

That night, Xu Yuanxia lay on the roof of his house, drinking wine, and he began to miss his two young friends, Zhang Shanfeng, who was both smart and stupid at the same time, and Chen Ping'an, who always seemed to have a million things on his mind.

He wondered how many flagons of wine he would have to drink when the three of them were next reunited.

At the moment, the world was a very strange place, and Xu Yuanxia could only hope that his two friends were safe and well.

As his thoughts began to stray, he decided that if he were to shave his beard, then he would be the most handsome one of the three.

***

Inside an alley in Cloud Pagoda City of Bamboo Scroll Lake, a young man and a snot-nosed boy who lived across from each other were squatting together in a yard, roasting a cob of corn.

The young man split the cob of corn into two and handed the boy one half.

The boy was furious, refusing to accept the corn as he complained, "Why do I get the smaller half?! You're older than me, and I'm still growing, so why can't you give me the bigger half? Do you want to marry my sister or not?!"

"I've never had the smaller half of corn in my life; always the bigger half, and I'm not about to make an exception for you," Gu Can said with a smile.

The boy could see that Gu Can didn't appear to have been kidding around, and he was getting free corn from Gu Can anyway, so he decided to relent, munching on his corn as he asked, "How come you still eat roasted corn so much when you're so rich?"

"Why not?" Gu Can countered. "I've gotten so hungry in the past that I've even eaten dirt before."

"What a load of nonsense!" the boy scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "No girl is ever going to like you if you keep lying like that!"

The boy was completely oblivious to the fact that the young man eating corn with him was once considered a ubiquitous nightmare for just about everyone in Bamboo Scroll Lake. There was a time when he faded out of the spotlight, but it didn't take long before he once again became an important figure in Bamboo Scroll Lake, and his current way of life was much more sustainable. Instead of killing everyone that he didn't like the look of as he had in the past, he had learned to coexist with others, and he did so very well.

In the wake of that meeting with Gu Can before Liu Zhimao went into seclusion, the latter had already become completely convinced that Gu Can was fit to become his own direct disciple, and he had even left the all-important River Severing Sutra to him.

On top of that, Tian Hujun also saw Gu Can as the only one who could possibly save her.

The young general of the Great Li Empire who had been previously stationed in Cloud Pagoda City, Guan Yiran, was already gone, and the new general sent by the Great Li Empire to fill his place was clearly a friend of his. Gu Can knew that this was a friend, but also not a friend, but it wasn't actually important anyway.

The new emperor of the Stone Brush Nation, Han Jingling, the youngest assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites in the Stone Brush Nation, Huang He, and many "old friends" of Gu Can's had come to see him in secret at one point or another.

Most importantly, Gu Can had once received a visit from an unexpected guest. He was immediately able to identify the visitor, even though they had cast an illusion on themselves.

Gu Can didn't bother to play dumb, immediately extending a respectful bow as he greeted, "Gu Can pays his respects to Sect Leader Jiang."

Jiang Shangzhen had been in quite a good mood at the time, and not only did he make his way inside, he even shared a drink with Gu Can. He made the room into an isolated small world, then said some shocking things to Gu Can, seemingly treating him as a trusted confidant.

Jiang Shangzhen complained that he was living in constant distress, having to deal with someone snoring loudly at his bedside.

He also denounced the old leader of the Jade Tablet Sect for his terrible site selection. He could've chosen any other place, yet he insisted on choosing this godforsaken place, seemingly intentionally to prevent Jiang Shangzhen from being able to sleep soundly at night.

Gu Can merely listened and held his cup in both hands, refusing to speak or drink.

The intentions behind Gu Can's actions, or lack thereof, were very simple. Essentially, he was conceding that while he was in Bamboo Scroll Lake, he would do everything that Jiang Shangzhen saw fit for him to do. As for what he thought and what he wanted to do, none of that was important.

With Gu Can completely unresponsive, Jiang Shangzhen only had a few cups of wine before departing.

Aside from certain things that Jiang Shangzhen told him, Gu Can never kept any secrets from Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi. However, in the beginning, the two of them were still very concerned, worried that he would revert back to the Gu Can of old, the Gu Can from Cyan Gorge Island, as opposed to the Gu Can who had embarked on that long journey with Chen Ping'an.

Thankfully, Gu Can quickly laid their concerns to rest. Even though he was very busy attending to all types of social engagements, he still made sure to dedicate at least six months of each year to traveling the world near Bamboo Scroll Lake with Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi.

During their travels, they encountered many unexpected conflicts, and there was one occasion when they encountered a horrific tragedy.

On that occasion, Gu Can didn't try to smooth things over or simply ignore everything as he had done in the past. Instead, he single-handedly slew the twelve Qi refiners who were the perpetrators at the heart of the incident, killing each one of them with just a single attack. Among them was a Dragon Gate Tier cultivator that Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi had been quite wary of, but he was no match for Gu Can, even though the latter didn't even count as a swordsman.

Even Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi were very satisfied with that outcome. Those cultivators deserved everything that had come to them.

After making short work of the group of cultivators, Gu Can held his sword in one hand before making a fist with his other hand. He gently struck his sword-wielding hand with his fist, shaking off the blood on the blade, and by the time he turned around to face Zeng Ye and Ma Duyi, the sword was already sheathed.

"Let's go," Gu Can said with a smile. "They were born from heaven and earth, and now, heaven and earth get to reclaim their bodies, so we can just leave them here."

At this point, Gu Can had already accumulated a great deal of wealth for himself. In addition to Cyan Gorge Island, which Liu Zhimao had secured for him, quite a few other islands were also recorded under his name, so he very rarely visited this residence in the small alley. However, each time he returned from his travels, he would always make sure to come and spend a night here.

There was enough corn for both of them, and even though the boy was only able to get the smaller half each time, he was still able to eat until his stomach was round and full.

All the while, there had been something on Gu Can's mind, namely the two pawns that he had painstakingly planted on Sun Scorch Mountain and in the Light Breeze City Xu Clan. Even though he didn't know when they would come in useful, there was no hurry, so he would just have to take things one step at a time.

The boy burped loudly, then plopped down onto the ground, turning his gaze to Gu Can as he asked, "Who else aside from me would be so kind as to always let you have the bigger half of corn?"

Gu Can took a glance at the boy, and the latter suddenly felt a little afraid.

Gu Can smiled as he pointed at the boy's face and said, "Wipe the snot from your face."

The boy immediately sucked the snot back up his nostrils, not even bothering to wipe with his sleeve or the back of his hand.

After some thought, Gu Can said, "It's probably going to be very difficult for that person and me to return to the way things once were, but that's fine. As long as I don't make any big mistakes, he'll continue to think of me. Many good friends eventually grow apart. Right now, my relationship with him is neither close nor distant, and that's actually quite comforting to me."

He turned to the fearful boy sitting on the ground as he smiled and asked, "What do you think?"

For some reason, the current Gu Can felt completely unfamiliar to the boy, so he was instinctively treading with caution as he said in a quiet voice, "Whatever you say, I guess. I'm too young to know anything."

"You're not as smart as me, but you're plenty smart as well," Gu Can said with a smile.

The boy immediately regained his courage, rolling his eyes as he scoffed. "You think I'm smart? Tell that to my teachers!"

All of a sudden, Gu Can stood up and instructed, "Go and stay in my room for a bit. Make sure you don't go through my stuff."

The boy didn't know what was happening, but he still obediently did as he was told. However, after entering Gu Can's room, he got up onto the tips of his toes to look over the windowsill, worried that something would happen to Gu Can.

"It's fine if you don't want to come in; I'll come out to meet you," Gu Can said as he turned to the entrance of the courtyard with a smile.

A timid-looking scholar appeared at the entrance of the courtyard, then said in a slightly feeble voice, "My name is Liu Chicheng, and I come from the White Mountain Nation, the one that's really close to Lake View Academy. I've been traveling through Bamboo Scroll Lake, and I don't know how I ended up here, but I assure you this is all a misunderstanding! I'm not a thief; I'm a legitimate scholar! I swear!"

Gu Can's eyes narrowed slightly, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "If you don't need me to come out, then please come in yourself, Senior."

The scholar stepped into the courtyard, and as he did so, his disposition completely changed.

"What an impressive young man you are," Liu Chicheng mused.

"I'd gladly take this praise from you as long as what you're about to say next isn't 'impressive young men like you need to be nipped in the bud and killed early,'" Gu Can said with a smile.

Liu Chicheng burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"A brilliant young man you are, indeed! I came here to retrieve the River Severing Sutra as I was worried that it may have fallen into the hands of someone unfit to inherit it, but I can now see that this is a match made in heaven! You look quite young, but your cultivation base is nothing to sneeze at. What's your name, kid?"

A thought occurred to Gu Can, and a peculiar look appeared on his face as he asked, "Are you trying to find another disciple, Senior?"

A slightly awkward look appeared on Liu Chicheng's face at this question, and he sighed, "Well, this is a little awkward."

"I implore you to be civilized, Senior," Gu Can said, and all of a sudden, the respectful look faded from his face as he concluded, "Otherwise, your joy may turn to sorrow soon."

"I don't doubt that," Liu Chicheng mused with a smile. "You shouldn't stay in a little pond like this one. Instead, you should go to White Emperor City on the Middle Earth Divine Continent."

***

The Great Li Empire was on the up and up.

Recently, a light shower had rained down on the territory of the Great Li Empire's former Central Mountain.

At this point, all of the gods of the Great Li Empire's former Five Mountains had been demoted to normal mountain gods. Furthermore, three mountains were about to be selected as subsidiary mountains to the new Northern Mountain, Cloud Drape Mountain, and that was a very heart-wrenching turn of events for certain mountain gods.

Previously, there had been no such precedent on the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but similar things had happened in the past on the Middle Earth Divine Continent. However, the outcome had never been very good. Not only was this an endeavor that required significant investments of money and resources, but it was also very likely that something would go wrong in the process.

The reason for this was very simple. The subsidiary mountains were often extremely far away from the Five Mountains, as opposed to being close neighbors. The existing mountain gods were already inferior in status to the gods of the Five Mountains, and once their mountains became subsidiaries to the Five Mountains, there would be even more rules and restrictions imposed upon them.

The gods of the Five Mountains would be able to travel to any of their five subsidiary mountains extremely quickly and assess the merits and transgressions of the mountain god, whereas in the past, according to the rules established by the Confucian sages, only the Ministry of Rites had the authority to do this.

Not only that, but the gods of the Five Mountains could take mountain and water fortune from their subsidiary mountains as they pleased. Of course, they could also do the opposite and reciprocate their subsidiary mountains, but no matter how convincing the promises that they made sounded, could they really be trusted?

A woman in green was making her way down a mountain path while holding an oil-paper umbrella. She was going to reason with someone, and if that didn't work, then she would eat something. After all, the entire territory of the former Central Mountain now belonged to the Dragon Spring Sword Sect.

On her northbound journey, she picked up a little girl along the way and brought her along with her.

The little girl was a spirit, and she asked with a wide smile, "Do you know the alternate name that we have for umbrellas, Big Sister Xiuxiu?"

"No," Ruan Xiu replied in a distracted manner.

"We call them flower canopies. Isn't that a really nice name?"

"Yep."

"Why do you not seem to have any energy, Big Sister Xiuxiu?"

"I finished all my pastries, so I'm hungry."

"That explains it. Have you heard that if you eat bayberries without spitting out the core and watermelon without spitting out the seeds, they'll keep you full for longer?"

"Well, aren't you a smart little girl?" Ruan Xiu chuckled as she patted the little girl on the head.

The little girl raised her foot to look down at her mud-caked shoe and sighed. "What a pain."

"It really is," Ruan Xiu replied with a nod.

The little girl distanced herself from Ruan Xiu a lot, then began stomping through the mud with a series of loud squelches as she asked, "Do you have someone you like, Big Sister Xiuxiu?"

"I do," Ruan Xiu replied with a smile.

The little girl turned to look at her from the side for a long while, then asked, "Why isn't he with you, Big Sister Xiuxiu?"

Ruan Xiu thought about it for a moment, then replied, "He is with me. He's always in my heart."

The little girl pressed a finger against her cheek and made a funny face as she scoffed. "Don't you feel embarrassed saying that as a girl?"

"Should I?" Ruan Xiu asked, once again looking distracted and absentminded.

***

On this day, the girl who wore red all year round didn't stay in Mountain Cliff Academy. Instead, she went to an ordinary mandarin garden on the outskirts of the Great Sui Nation's capital.

It was a pity that it still wasn't winter yet. Otherwise, the mandarins hanging on the trees would resemble little girls dressed in red.

Li Baoping had only come here on a whim after recalling that she had once passed by this place, and now that she had seen it, she was satisfied, so she began to return the same way she had come from.

On the way back, she ran into two people whom she was ecstatic to see.

They were Pei Qian and Cui Dongshan.

Pei Qian immediately launched herself at Li Baoping, who patted her on the head and remarked, "Looks like you've grown a little taller yet again. Make sure you don't grow too fast. Otherwise, you're going to turn from a short pear into a thin reed."

The elation on Pei Qian's face instantly turned to concern.

Li Baoping pinched Pei Qian's cheeks as she chuckled. "I was just kidding. You've grown in stature, but you're still not all that bright."

Pei Qian had so many things that she wanted to say to Li Baoping, but the latter gestured for her to wait, then turned to Cui Dongshan and asked, "Is my junior uncle doing well?"

"He is," Cui Dongshan replied with a smile and a nod. "He'll be coming back."

Li Baoping looked at her two surprise visitors, and it felt to her like a real shame that her junior uncle wasn't here. Otherwise, they would've been able to have a snow fight.

Ever since she grew up, she felt like she had barely gotten to see her junior uncle at all.

***

Li Baoping, Pei Qian, and Cui Dongshan climbed up onto the tree on the mountain summit of Mountain Cliff Academy one by one, looking as if they had all climbed the same tree a million times. They sat side by side on a branch.

Pei Qian wanted to sit in the middle, and Cui Dongshan was shoved out of the way, while Li Baoping was happy to indulge her, so she managed to get her way, and she was ecstatic.

Pei Qian had been telling Li Baoping about the journey she had taken here, and she told her story very slowly, having only just finished telling Li Baoping about the leg of the journey from Ox Horn Mountain to Old Dragon City.

Cui Dongshan's fingers were interlaced behind the back of his head, and he was swinging his legs back and forth.

Even in the darkness of the night, the capital of the Great Sui Nation was still filled with radiant lights.

The faint breeze rustled, and the moonlight shimmered.

These were peaceful and prosperous times.

Cui Dongshan had seen far too much of this, and he didn't want to see any more, so he closed his eyes.

His only hope was that his teacher would be able to return home soon.

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