Chapter 282: Free of Depraved Thoughts

Chapter 282: Free of Depraved Thoughts

Chen Ping'an calmly waited for things in Stork Inn. After leaving the Sword Qi Great Wall where no Dao existed, practicing his fist techniques became much easier in comparison. Before he knew it, he finished throwing the final 8000 punches.

On this day, Chen Ping'an finished performing walking meditation and quietly sat beside the table. He retrieved an adorable little bamboo slip that was emerald green and quite different from the other bamboo slips. There weren't any beautiful lines of poetry inscribed on the bamboo slip; instead, it was used by Chen Ping'an to record his progress. When he reached 100,000 punches, 200,000 punches, 500,000 punches, and so on — everything was roughly recorded on the bamboo slip.

Chen Ping'an extended a finger and lightly ran it over all of the inscriptions on the bamboo slip. Occasionally, he would come across inscriptions that recorded several hundred or a thousand punches. These often corresponded to the periods when Chen Ping'an was feeling the most upset or frustrated.

For example, when he had parted with Mr. Qi outside the old and rundown temple, the period after experiencing the great calamity on Osmanthus Island, and so on. There were many moments that were unknown to other people as well. To put things simply, Chen Ping'an wouldn't count his punches toward his goal of one million during these times of unease, no matter how many times he completed walking meditation.

Just like that, he reached one million punches.

Nothing special happened. He was still at the fourth tier, and he was still Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an put the bamboo slip away, allowing this old soldier to shed its armor and go into retirement. He then selected a brand new slip made from bamboo from the Azure Divine Mountain. He planned to record his next million punches on this one.

Rays of sunshine slipped into his room like a bunch of little children who didn't like to speak. After getting tired, they would lazily lie down on his table, the floor, and even his shoulder.

Chen Ping'an quietly sat there and didn't think about anything. Or perhaps he was thinking about things that he didn't need to remember. This was also quite good.

There was the familiar sound of knocking, waking Chen Ping'an up from his daydream. He didn't ask who it was this time. Chen Ping'an clearly remembered everything about the sword immortal guarding the gate in Stalactite Mountain, from his tone, expressions, sword intent, and so on.

In fact, Chen Ping'an even remembered seemingly unimportant details like the strength and pattern of the middle-aged man's knocking. When traveling outside, caution was the key to staying alive. The importance of caution was no lesser than the importance of practicing fist techniques.

Chen Ping'an directly stood up and walked over to open the door. Sure enough, it was that middle-aged sword immortal who liked to nod off during the day.

He entered the room and placed a thin and flexible golden rope on the table before smiling and saying, "This is a demon-binding chain forged from the golden whiskers of the old flood dragon. It's a genuine immortal treasure. I asked a powerful cultivator from the Daoist Sect's talismanic branch to forge this, and he kept two segments of the flood dragon whiskers each as long as a thumb.

"That was just symbolic payment, though. In reality, the amount of rare treasures that he used to forge this demon-binding chain were definitely worth much more than just that. Just the three cloud patterns that he carefully extracted from a Daoist memorial talisman were worth as much as the two segments of flood dragon whiskers. I'm not telling you this to ask for praise or credit. I'm simply telling you things as they are. At the end of the day, everything is still thanks to Little Ning's face. The other things are nowhere near able to compare with her."

Chen Ping'an remained standing the entire time. After hearing this, he cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, Senior Sword Immortal."

The middle-aged man who had once again left his sword on the hitching post waved his hand and pointed at the golden demon-binding chain, explaining, "You can control it with your mind once you refine it to the preliminary stage. Even demons at Middle Five Tiers will find it extremely difficult to escape once bound. However, it won't be able to restrict demons at the Golden Core Tier or Nascent Tier for too long. As for demons under the Golden Core Tier, they might not be able to break free from this demon-binding chain at all.

"Why are demon-binding chains so popular in the world, especially high-grade demon-binding chains? Why are Qi refiners who travel around the world so fond of them? This is because they're quite similar to Dragon King Baskets in the sense that they can capture the enemy in a single go. They can be regarded as high-grade immortal treasures incredibly good at their job."

The middle-aged man suddenly noticed Chen Ping'an's strange expression, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know how to refine immortal treasures," Chen Ping'an replied in embarrassment.

The middle-aged man laughed in anger and exclaimed, "Chen Ping'an, are you joking, or do you think I'm easy to trick? If you didn't achieve a state of consummate refinement with your Sword Nurturing Gourd and your two flying swords..."

Sure enough, the middle-aged man was a top-notch sword immortal from the Sword Qi Great Wall. His expression turned solemn, and he took another glance at the Sword Nurturing Gourd tied to Chen Ping'an's waist. He nodded and didn't dwell on this matter any longer. He didn't try to dig for Chen Ping'an's secrets either. Instead, he directly said, "Never mind, I'll teach you a common mantra for refining immortal treasures. Rest assured, you don't need to owe me any favor, this is a mantra that everyone in the Sword Qi Great Wall knows. You can treat this as a buy-one-get-one-free.

"The good thing about this mantra is that it's easy to master and use. The bad thing about it is that it will be very easy for earth immortals to remove the restrictions you place on the demon-binding chain if they manage to snatch it away. In the blink of an eye, the demon-binding chain will become their immortal treasure instead of yours."

The middle-aged man smiled and continued, "With this in mind, if you come across powerful demons in Majestic World in the future, you should run if you can. It's best that you don't take out this treasure and attempt to battle your enemies with it, lest you become a boon for your enemies. Alright, I can't stay here for too long. I'll use the voice of my mind to teach you the mantra as well as some things to look out for. If one time isn't enough, then I can repeat it two more times."

Chen Ping'an nodded, and gentle ripples immediately appeared in his mind's lake. The rich voice of the sword immortal slowly sounded in his mind. Chen Ping'an silently committed everything to memory.

"How much of it have you remembered?" the sword immortal asked.

"I've remembered everything," Chen Ping'an replied honestly. "However, can I ask Senior Sword Immortal to please repeat it again?"

"You're not the overly polite type, are you?" the sword immortal remarked with a chuckle.

The middle-aged sword immortal didn't think of this as a hassle. Instead, he appreciated Chen Ping'an's frankness. He repeated the mantra again, and compared to the first time, he even added some comments about his own understanding. These comments were naturally very deep and profound. In his current state, Chen Ping'an definitely couldn't comprehend the wisdom behind these comments. As such, he could only forcefully commit them to memory.

The middle-aged man was a straightforward person, so he immediately stood up to leave after teaching Chen Ping'an the mantra. However, before walking out of the room, he looked at Chen Ping'an and said, "The youths in Little Ning's generation truly possess incredible cultivation aptitude. Their aptitude is so good that all of the old geezers smile widely even when they're dreaming. Moreover, it isn't just five or ten of them with such outstanding aptitude. There are almost thirty of them.

"This being the case, the demon tribe in that world definitely won't sit on their hands and do nothing. They won't wait for death. In addition, the young great demon who defeated me is incredibly renowned, yet he might not even be the most powerful prodigy from the past century.

"The Sword Qi Great Wall is indeed welcoming a generation of rare talents. However, I've also discovered something very strange after observing the many assaults from the demon tribe throughout the past few hundred years. It's as if all of their prodigies have gone into hiding, even those who are only slightly inferior to Little Ning. This is very abnormal. So, I'm a little worried, and I have a nagging feeling that Savage World is planning something big. The thirteen battles were only the prelude."

Seeing Chen Ping'an's serious expression as he listened, the middle-aged man chuckled in self-ridicule and said, "It's seemingly pointless to tell you about these things. Don't think about it too much."

Chen Ping'an insisted on seeing the sword immortal off to the front door of Stork Inn. After arriving in the alley outside the inn, the sword immortal said in an exasperated voice, "I just commented that you weren't overly polite, yet you're now acting as polite as you possibly can. Then I won't be too polite either."

After saying this, the sword immortal transformed into a ray of light that shot up from the ground and flew to the foot of Lone Peak. His vast and peerless sword qi instantly vanished into the distance.

Chen Ping'an felt a slight headache. Sure enough, a few guests in the inn exchanged surprised glances with each other. The young innkeeper stood behind the front counter and continued to clack away at his abacus, and it was as if he were completely unfazed by this matter. In reality, however, there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

It definitely wasn't a bad thing for a guest of his inn to have an extraordinary background. Rare and esteemed guests could shine luster on his inn.

When Chen Ping'an walked inside the inn again, the immortals from the mountains who no longer seemed so special in Stalactite Mountain — or else they wouldn't be staying in the small and modest Stork Inn — instinctively cleared a path for Chen Ping'an even though the lobby was more than spacious enough. Chen Ping'an could only pretend that he didn't see anything at all.

After arriving in his room, he started to refine the demon-binding chain using the mantra that the middle-aged sword immortal had taught him. This was similar to drawing talismans, and he wouldn't be able to control this high-grade immortal treasure for too long at a time. Everything was dependent on the single breath of True Qi of pure martial artists.

The longer his True Qi lasted, the more power he could wield.

Compared to drawing talismans, however, the method of controlling the demon-binding chain was more troublesome for Chen Ping'an, as his bridge of immortality had been shattered. Fortunately, he was able to replenish his Qi in a quicker and more hidden manner after advancing to the fourth tier. Indeed, it was much quicker than it had been at the third tier.

Thus, he could use the demon-binding chain against demons at the first three of the Middle Five Tiers: the Abode Tier, the Sea Observation Tier, and the Dragon Gate Tier. He could use it as a trump card. After trapping his opponent, he could unleash his most powerful fist techniques in the shortest amount of time.

Of course, the demon-binding chain was effective against all Qi refiners, not just demons. It was just more effective against the latter.

If he could combine this demon-binding chain with a few talismans that adapted to the terrain and his opponent, and if he could align these with his deadly fist techniques, then Chen Ping'an felt like he would be much more confident.

Chen Ping'an spent an entire six hours to slowly refine the demon-binding chain bit by bit. When he finally succeeded, he was already completely drenched in sweat. Fortunately, he had the tried and tested cleaning talisman with him.

Afterward, Chen Ping'an removed his Sword Nurturing Gourd and placed it on the table. He stared at it and started to zone out.

Regarding the thirteen battles, Ning Yao hadn't kept anything a secret.

She had been willing to carefully explain everything in a calm and nonchalant manner.

Chen Ping'an had listened to her speak, and hadn't dared to ask anything at all. Not only that, but he had to act as if he were simply listening to a soul-stirring story.

In fact, Ning Yao had directly told him, "I was very sad after my mom and dad left me. However, I simply need to slay the enemies and exact revenge for them. I won't overthink this, and you don't need to overthink it either."

After saying this, Ning Yao had tilted her head and drank some wine. Her other hand had lightly rested on her heart.

In Chen Ping'an's mind, Ning Yao's radiance and intensity at that moment were far greater and much more direct than the first time he had seen her flying on her sword.

During those times, Ning Yao had always sat on that Dragon Slaying Platform by herself.

The man had felt incredibly pained whenever he saw this.

He hesitated for a moment, and his expression couldn't be considered genial at all. "Will you truly not let Ning Yao down? You should know that Ning Yao is very different from ordinary girls. She's different in every sense."

Even though Chen Ping'an was sweating in nervousness and tension, he still had a serious expression as he replied, "I've thought about this before. In the worst-case scenario, Ning Yao will regret her decision in the future and fall in love with someone else. If that person treats her better than I do, then I won't look for her anymore.

"However, if Ning Yao continues to like me, then I'll also work hard and strive to be different the next time I meet her. It won't be like this time, where I'm nothing more than a burden for her. No matter if she's in the city to the north, on the parapet of the Sword Qi Great Wall, or on the battlefield further south, I'll definitely be by her side. I'll do everything in my ability to protect her."

Chen Ping'an's sweat was clouding his vision. He hurriedly wiped his eyes and forehead and continued, "During times of peace when there are no battles, perhaps I'll feel like she's perfect when we're together because I like her so much. However, when we live together in the future, I have to learn to accept her shortcomings as well. I understand this principle.

"When I was very little, my mom and dad would also argue at times. However, they would never argue in front of me. After having an argument, my dad would sulk in the courtyard by himself. However, my parents would be good with each other again the very next day.

"Even though I've always felt like my parents are the best people in the world, how can there be people who are truly good in all senses in the world? This definitely can't be the case. However, I'll do my best to understand what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad. And then I'll leave the very best for Ning Yao."

There was a dazed expression on the man's face.

Kid, you've already said everything, so what else can I say? Also, just how old are you, Chen Ping'an? How do you understand these principles as well?

The woman used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. She then smiled warmly and said in a gentle voice, "Chen Ping'an, you endured a lot of pain and hardships during your childhood, am I right?"

Chen Ping'an hesitated briefly before eventually nodding in silence.

However, after holding back for a long time, Chen Ping'an's face scrunched up and the corners of his mouth turned downward. His voice quivered as he said, "I was almost pained to death when Mother passed away. I was too young back then, so there were far too few things I could do. I did all I could, but in the end, Mother still left me."

Going into the mountains to collect medicinal ingredients, pawning off things in the house, cooking rice and making dishes, collecting water from the well, brewing medicine, secretly going to the immortal tomb to pray, placing wild berries in his bamboo basket, fixing his mother's blanket late at night and asking her if she was feeling better...

It didn't help. None of this helped.

However, Chen Ping'an didn't say anything else.

That was the concluding remark to evaluate himself: he was too young, so he could do far too little.

The woman lowered her head and raised a hand to her eyes again.

The man heaved a soft sigh.

Just how many pains and hardships were there in the world? Was there anything strange about this? Which child who had gone through a rough and challenging childhood lacked these things?

Beyond this, however, there was also the consideration of how one endured pains and hardships.

Everyone knew about the hardships of life; everyone knew it was inevitable. But even with that in mind, how did they handle these hardships?

The woman exhaled softly and looked up, squeezing out a smile as she said, "Chen Ping'an, we'll leave Ning Yao to you in the future. If she does anything wrong, as a man, you should definitely be more tolerant."

"Are the two of you going to leave now? What's Ning Yao going to do after you leave?" Chen Ping'an asked in a quivering voice.

The woman stood up and smiled faintly, replying, "Ning Yao knows about this. She knows about everything. So, you don't need to worry about this. I'm not praising Ning Yao simply because I'm her mother. Rather, I believe that the girl that Chen Ping'an likes has to be a very good person."

Chen Ping'an could only nod.

The woman looked at the man who had stood up alongside her. "There's something you want to say?" she asked.

The man nodded in reply.

"Then I'll wait for you outside?" the woman asked in a considerate manner.

"Mhm," the man replied.

The woman left the room and stood in the corner of the hallway.

The man looked at the young boy and called in a solemn voice, "Chen Ping'an!"

He had been indifferent toward Chen Ping'an the entire time, but now, he suddenly started to laugh. He made his way around the table and extended a large palm, solidly patting the young boy's shoulder before retracting his hand and taking a single step back. His hand was still raised, and his palm was facing Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an faltered for a moment before hurriedly raising a hand and high-fiving the man.

The man firmly grabbed the young boy's hand and asked, "Chen Ping'an, I'll hand my daughter, Ning Yao, to you in the future! Can you look after her?"

"Even if I die!" Chen Ping'an replied loudly, choking back sobs.

The man released his grip and chuckled, "What do you mean even if you die? The two of you need to live on well!"

He looked Chen Ping'an up and down and said in satisfaction, "Mhm, you're worthy of my daughter."

He then turned around and strode out. Chen Ping'an wanted to see him off, yet the man had already raised a hand and gestured that the young boy didn't need to follow him.

The man didn't turn around as he slowly walked toward the door. "The next time you go to the Sword Qi Great Wall, ask Ning Yao to bring you to our graves. You can offer us wine and let us know that you're safe," he chuckled.

After striding out of the door, the man suddenly turned around and said with a smile, "What's wrong with drinking wine? Why hide your wine gourd? The most carefree sword immortals in the world all like to drink wine."

The man extended a fist and raised a thumb, pointing at himself and saying, "For example, me, your father-in-law!"

Chen Ping'an remained standing in the same spot for a long time.

————

Today, a Treasure Swallowing Whale was going to set off from the ferry station near the Incense Offering Tower and head to Parasol Leaf Continent.

Before heading to the ferry station, Chen Ping'an first went to the plaza at the foot of Lone Peak. However, he didn't have a jade tablet that would allow him to enter the Sword Qi Great Wall, so he could only stand outside the railings and glance at that large gate. His lips moved slightly, and it was as if he were talking to himself.

The sword-hugging middle-aged man on the hitching post was still dozing off even though it was morning. However, he murmured to himself and said another three words. Compared to this first time, however, he simply changed the word "approaching" to the word "leaving."

When Chen Ping’an had first approached this gate, he had remarked, "Sword qi approaching."

Now that Chen Ping’an was leaving Stalactite Mountain, he remarked, "Sword qi leaving."

Today, Chen Ping’an was dressed in a snow-white robe with a long sword strapped to his back and a Sword Nurturing Gourd tied to his waist. He appeared extremely graceful and outstanding.

A young boy who was free of depraved thoughts was the most moving thing in the world.