Chapter 308 (1): Danger at Every Turn

Chapter 308 (1): Danger at Every Turn

It was the same woman with the Fan surname, and at first glance, it appeared that her attire was quite simple and modest, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that there were elegant clouds embroidered onto her clothes, and they were just barely visible under the light of the moon and the nearby lanterns. It was a very refined and understated display of wealth.

However, at this moment, she appeared to be wearing a disguise that masked much of her beauty, so she didn't attract too much attention from the bystanders nearby.

She was still staring intently at Chen Ping'an, who set down his bowl and chopsticks in exasperation as he asked, "Can I help you?"

All of a sudden, she raised a hand to rub her own forehead, then looked around with a furrowed brow.

A conflict had arisen between some people at a neighboring table, and they were hurling abuse at one another while slamming the table. One of them was pointing at the nose of the other while denouncing all of the women in his family as sluts and prostitutes, and that his house may as well have been a brothel.

Both were speaking with a strong Southern Garden Nation capital dialect, and they were being extremely vulgar and crass.

The woman gently massaged her own temples for a moment to compose herself, then turned back to Chen Ping'an with a look of intrigue and admiration in her eyes as she asked through voice transmission, "Young Master, are you, by any chance, an otherworldly immortal?"

Chen Ping'an was very amused to hear this, and he shook his head as he replied, "I'm not an otherworldly immortal, I'm just an outsider traveling through Southern Garden Nation."

A disappointed look appeared on the woman's face, and she said in an apologetic manner, "Please pardon my intrusion."

"It's fine," Chen Ping'an replied with a wave of his hand.

The woman hesitated momentarily, then continued, "The capital has not been a very safe place of late. Someone of your exceptional talents could easily become a target, so do be careful."

"Thank you for looking out for me, Ms. Fan," Chen Ping'an replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.

Fan Wan'er wasn't the type to prolong unnecessary interactions, and she promptly departed without another world. Some young thugs tried to grab her as she passed by, but she was able to evade them with ease, much like a fish in water swimming through their grasping hands in an agile fashion. Chen Ping'an was feeling rather perplexed.

According to Cui Chan's grandfather, one's martial arts aptitude could be gleaned from whether they were able to derive the most profound fist intent from the lowliest of fist techniques, and that was one of the reasons why he had chosen Chen Ping'an.

However, the old man was very stubborn and refused to admit that the Mountain Shaking Fist actually had many strong points, and Chen Ping'an didn't want to expose him.

This woman was most likely Fan Wan'er, and judging from what Chen Ping'an had overhead from Ya'er, Zhou Shi, and the old man with the Ding surname, she seemed to be comparable to someone like He Xiaoliang back on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Fan Wan'er was clearly already displaying signs of approaching the Great Dao, but for some reason, her martial arts cultivation base was unable to improve, as if there were a massive mountain weighing down upon it, inhibiting its growth.

One could conceal one's aura to condense their cultivation base and strive for a stronger foundation, but over time, telltale signs would begin to emerge, even from actions as mundane as taking a breath or lifting a finger.

Earlier, the old man with the Ding surname appeared to have been quite casual as he made his way into White River Temple, but Chen Ping'an was immediately able to sense the stirring of heaven and earth.

Having emerged from Jewel Small World, Chen Ping'an had witnessed more than his fair share of unfathomably powerful figures, so someone that even he regarded as powerful was definitely no slouch. After all, his fist technique instructor was a martial artist who had once been at the pinnacle of the tenth tier, while his sword technique mentor was an old Golden Core Tier swordsman.

Following Fan Wan'er's departure, Chen Ping'an also left the bustling market shortly thereafter.

Southern Garden Nation's capital city was split up into eighty-one areas of different sizes, and the general layout was much the same compared with many of the nations that Chen Ping'an had passed through. The northern part of the city was quite wealthy, while the south was impoverished, and the east was filled with martial artists, while the west was primarily inhabited by scholars. Updated chapters at novelhall.com

White River Temple was situated in the western part of the city, which was home to the manors of many mid-level scholarly officials and wealthy merchants.

He stopped in his tracks, then sped up so that he could walk alongside her, and he wanted to grab onto her delicate hand, but didn't have the courage.

All of a sudden, Fan Wan'er stopped and turned her gaze to the distance, and a concerned look appeared on her face as she said, "The reason why I brought this up is because I want to talk to you about something that's always befuddled me."

"Go ahead," Wei Yan prompted in an intrigued manner.

Fan Wan'er began massaging her own glabella, and Wei Yan asked in a concerned voice, "What's wrong? Did that white-robed swordsman do something to you?"

Fan Wan'er shook her head with a smile, then asked, "Your Highness, have you ever heard of otherworldly immortals from your master?"

"My master is an unrefined martial artist, and he never mentions such topics," Wei Yan replied with a smile. "He detests scholars and denounces them as a bunch of cowards with no balls. Whenever I have a chat with my master, if I use any idioms or any form of what he considers to be refined language, then I'll be sure to receive a beating. Hence, I could only ever read about otherworldly immortals in poems and scriptures."

Seeing as Wei Yan had no useful information to offer, Fan Wan'er didn't dwell on this topic, and she turned her gaze to the distance again as she changed the subject and asked, "Your Highness, do you ever get the feeling that when we experience something, go to a place, or meet a person, that it feels a little familiar, even though those should be first-time experiences?"

"I have had that feeling before," Wei Yan replied with a nod, following which he asked with an amused smile, "Could it be that you believe in the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, Celestial Maiden Fan?"

Fan Wan'er shook her head in response.

————

On this particular night, there were seven or eight people standing on Bull Mountain, one of whom was the childlike Yu Zhenyi, who was looking out at the capital city in the distance with a solemn look on his face.

There was also the disheveled drunkard who had even pawned his sword to the woman running the wine shop, and his name was Lu Fang.

Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu of Southern Garden Nation was also present. He was a thin and serious-looking man with a scholarly demeanor, and it was hard to imagine that he was the leading figure among the four grandmasters.

Yu Zhenyi's voice was just as tender as his appearance suggested it would be, and he said, "It looks like we're going to have to kill an additional person outside of Old Demon Ding, Zhou Fei, Feng Qingbai, and Tong Qingqing."

"It's not going to be me, is it?" Lu Fang asked in a self-deprecating voice, and he was met with a cold glare from Zhong Qiu.

An exasperated look appeared on Lu Fang's face as he asked, "So I'm not even allowed to crack jokes now?"

Aside from these three, there were also some figures on the mountain summit that definitely shouldn't have appeared here.

All of them were either among the Upper Ten Elites, or were martial arts masters of the same caliber as Wei Yan's master.

On this particular night, righteous and evil forces were coming together for a joint cause.

Yu Zhenyi was staring intently at a certain spot in the capital city as he said in a quiet voice, "Lu Fang, go and take care of that outsider. As for whether you work together to kill him or kill him on your own, I don't care, but failure is not an option. Bring that person's head to me within three days, and just like always, the one who kills him gets to keep all of his possessions."

Lu Fang rubbed the back of his own head as he heaved a faint sigh, while a burst of eager cackling rang out in the distance.

————

Instead of returning to his residence, Chen Ping'an was roaming the capital city at night like a lost spirit, and as he did so, he snuck into the scripture library of a well-educated clan and began to read through the books there.

He departed before daybreak, then went to eavesdrop on the lessons being delivered at the capital city's imperial academy. Only at noon did he return to Champion Scholar Alley, and he intentionally avoided the residence that the old man with the Ding surname and Zhou Shi were staying in.