Chapter 220 (1): Mountain and Water Seals

Chapter 220 (1): Mountain and Water Seals

The old woman was busy cooking in the kitchen, and she was rather surprised to see Chen Ping'an. According to the teachings of sages, noble gentlemen were supposed to stay out of the kitchen. [1] While the sagely teachings advised using the best possible ingredients and preparing food as meticulously as possible, that didn't mean that noble and virtuous individuals would cook in person.

However, the old woman was only surprised for a moment before realizing that for someone like Chen Ping'an, who clearly traveled extensively, he would've had no choice but to cook and fend for himself. On top of that, he didn't seem to be a child from a highly educated family.

Having said that, the old woman didn't think that Chen Ping'an would be able to help her much, so he assigned him with the simple tasks of cleaning the vegetables while also keeping an eye on the stove.

Chen Ping'an readily accepted these chores, helping out wherever he could, and it didn't take long before the rhythmic sound of the old woman's chopping rang out in the warm kitchen. Meanwhile, Chen Ping'an was seated on a little stool, peeling some spring bamboo shoots.

"What happened to your left hand, Young Master Chen?" the old woman asked.

Chen Ping'an took a glance down at his own bandaged left hand, then replied with a smile, "I fell over by accident and injured it a little, but it's no big deal."

The old woman was happy to have someone chatting with her, and she smiled as she said, "You have to be more careful when walking on the slick ground while it's raining. This estate has already been around for a very long time, and we were in a very difficult predicament prior to this, so we had to keep a low profile.

“At the very most, all we did was perform some simple repairs on the yard walls. We also very rarely hang up lanterns in the night, and we didn't dare to hire any skilled artisans to come and help us for fear that we would scare them, so all the repairs on the estate were done by me, and they're only serviceable, at best.

“Many of the bricks on the ground are quite bumpy and uneven, and if we were an affluent clan in the large cities, not only would that be an embarrassing sight for us, we would quickly become the laughing stock of the entire city if someone else were to see it.

“Thankfully, my masters never cared much for what people said behind their backs, and they've been willing to tolerate my shoddy repair jobs. I'm very fortunate to be serving such a pair of kind and gracious masters."

The old woman spoke in a mellow and placid voice that resembled a calmly flowing river. All of the emotions that she had experienced over the course of the past century had condensed at the bottom of her heart bit by bit, and despite all of the hardships that she had to endure, she felt very blessed and fortunate.

"Master Yang and his wife are very fortunate to have you," Chen Ping'an said in a quiet voice.

The old woman faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to Chen Ping'an with a smile as she jibed, "You look like such an honest and down-to-earth kid, where did you learn to sweet talk others like that? "

At this point, Chen Ping'an had already finished peeling all of the spring bamboo shoots and placed them into a clean bamboo basket, and he raised his head as he replied, "I'm telling the truth!"

The old woman looked into Chen Ping'an's clear and earnest eyes for a moment, then turned back to her cooking. Her smile had grown even wider, and she asked, "Do you have a girl that you like, Young Master Chen? The girls over in the nearby prefectural city are renowned for their good looks in our Colorful Garment Nation.

“If you're not in a hurry to go anywhere, I suggest you visit a temple fair or something like that. Who knows? Perhaps you'll be able to find your future wife there. You may not be all that accomplished a martial artist, but Rouge City is just a small place with no deities or immortals, so you'll already be standing above most of your peers.

“If you're willing to settle permanently here, you could easily serve as a general or an admiral or something like that, and you could marry a young maiden from a good family. Doesn't that sound like a good life to lead?"

A shy look appeared on Chen Ping'an's face, and he didn't know how to respond.

The old woman turned to take a glance at Chen Ping'an, and a knowing smile appeared on her face as she mused, "Oh, I get it. You must already have someone you like."

A deep blush appeared on Chen Ping'an's face, and said, "The girl that I like once asked me if I like her, and at the time, I said I didn't like her, so if I go to her now and tell her that I do like her, do you think that she'll think of me as a liar?"

"That sounds like a tongue twister, Young Master Chen," the old woman chuckled with an amused expression.

The dish that she was cooking was simmering over the stove, so she sat down on a small stool beside the stove and smiled. "Why did you tell her that you didn't like her at the time? Were you afraid or embarrassed? Or did you think that admitting to your feelings would make the girl look down on you, so you decided to put on a stoic facade?"

Chen Ping'an considered this question carefully for a moment, then gave a very candid and earnest answer. "Because I'm stupid."

Yang Huang was very candid about this inevitable eventuality, and Zhuo Jing had also accepted her fate. The two of them had already made an agreement that when that day arrived, they would both put an end to their own lives so that they didn't become a menace to the people in the area.

The wood core of the ancestral elm tree was actually a very pure object, but at the time, Yang Huang had been desperate to save Zhuo Jing's soul, and the drastic measures that he had taken had resulted in her soul progressively becoming more and more tainted.

If she could absorb the spiritual energy of a pure and untainted land over a prolonged period of time, then she could have been able to recover her spirituality and even reciprocate the fortune of the land, becoming an existence similar to the illegitimate mountain god. The only difference was that due to the ancestral elm tree, her divine nature would've been completely different from the illegitimate mountain god.

She would've served to benefit the area, while that illegitimate mountain god could only spoil and taint the land even further.

In the end, Yang Huang mused that in 30 years at most, he and Zhuo Jing would no longer be around, so he urged Xu Yuanxia, Zhang Shanfeng, and Chen Ping'an to come and visit as frequently as possible before time was up for them. At the very least, they would have a clean place to stay, and he and Zhuo Jing would certainly enjoy the company and pleasant conversation.

This was a matter that concerned the enormous fortune of the entire area in a radius of hundreds of kilometers, so neither Xu Yuanxia nor Zhang Shanfeng were able to think of any feasible solutions. Only Qi refiners who had reached the 10th tier had the power to influence the fortune of the land.

It was an unspoken rule that all 10th tier Qi refiners could refer to themselves as Sages. Initially, this was a title of reverence coined by mortal empires. Immortals of the Upper Five Tiers were simply far too rare, while 10th tier cultivators had to occupy a blessed land with abundant spiritual energy and cultivate for extensive periods of time in order to make a breakthrough.

Occasionally, they would interact with mortal emperors and other important figures of the mortal world, and over time, 10th tier Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist Qi refiners all became colloquially known as Sages.

While it was true that Chen Ping'an had become an avid drinker, he never drank very much in any single sitting. In contrast, Xu Yuanxia preferred to eat and drink to his heart's content whenever the opportunity arose. As for Zhang Shanfeng, his tolerance for alcohol was even inferior to Chen Ping'an's, yet he was very susceptible to persuasion. It didn't take much convincing from Yang Huang and Xu Yuanxia for him to down one bowl of wine after another.

In the end, Chen Ping'an only dared to pour very small amounts of wine for him at a time, yet even so, it still didn't take long before he was completely inebriated, stumbling around with rosy cheeks and heavy-lidded eyes. In his drunken state, he had become a lot louder, and he was happily discussing things that he had seen during his travels with Xu Yuanxia, while also reciting poetry with Yang Huang.

The old woman would periodically bring in new dishes, and with one jar of wine emptied, she immediately brought in another one.

It was a very joyous occasion for everyone present, yet right as the second jar of wine was about to run dry, an anguished wail suddenly rang out.

"Where have you gone, Brother Chu? Don't leave me here on my own! Daoist Priest Zhang, Young Master Chen, why are you two also nowhere to be seen? Have you been eaten by demons and spirits? Curse you, abhorrent demons! If you're going to eat us, then eat all of us together! Don't save me for last!"

The old woman set down a dish onto the table, and she was just about to go to the scholar with the Liu surname and explain to him what had happened, but Chen Ping'an hurriedly rose to his feet and volunteered to go in her stead.

The old woman quickly decided that this was for the best. After all, if she were to go, the cowardly scholar would most likely be so frightened that he would fall unconscious.

Before long, the scholar with the Liu surname was led to the main hall by Chen Ping'an. His legs were trembling, while his lips had turned blue, but he was slightly reassured at the sight of Xu Yuanxia.

However, he then spotted the terrifying tree roots snaking into the main hall from the boudoir, and his eyes instantly rolled back into his head. Right before he fell unconscious, Chen Ping'an tightened his grip around the scholar's arm, sending a sharp jolt of pain running through his arm that snapped him back to his senses.

The scholar was on the verge of tears as he turned to Chen Ping'an and complained, "Just let me faint!"

An exasperated look appeared on Chen Ping'an's face as he said, "If you're too scared to stay sober, then have some wine. If you drink yourself to death, then so be it. Surely you have at least that much courage."

"Can I refuse?" the scholar asked with a pitiful expression.

"No!" Chen Ping'an replied in a stern voice.

The scholar took a careful glance at Chen Ping'an's face, and he could tell that Chen Ping'an was serious, so he could only heave a forlorn sigh before declaring, "Fine, if you want me to drink, then that's what I'll do! Even if this wine is going to kill me, it's still wine!"

After taking a seat at the table, the scholar with the Liu surname didn't dare to look at anyone, and all he did was drink in silence.

Xu Yuanxia smiled as he asked, "How did you end up becoming friends with that tree spirit? I can't believe you traveled all the way here with him. Now that I think about it, you're very blessed to have survived to this point and be drinking with us right now. Judging from your attire, you must be from quite an affluent clan of Colorful Garment Nation, right?"

1. There's more context and nuance to the actual saying, which states that a noble individual stays out of the kitchen not because they think cooking is beneath them, but instead because they can't bear to see living creatures being killed for food. ?