Chapter 385 (1): Ghost Living in an Immortals Avatar

Chapter 385 (1): Ghost Living in an Immortal's Avatar

Sui Youbian didn't open the door for Cui Dongshan. Even when Cui Dongshan told her that he could elevate her sword techniques, sword intent, and perhaps even her Sword Dao by a significant amount, allowing her to essentially gain an immortal sword billet for free, Sui Youbian still remained steadfast and refused to open the door.

Cui Dongshan stood outside her room and rubbed his chin. After pondering for a while, he changed his tactic and asked Sui Youbian whether she wanted to learn about the demeanor of true sword immortals in the Majestic World.

Sui Youbian remained indifferent, and she used a small Dragon Slaying Platform to sharpen Deep Infatuation in her room. She had purchased this piece of Dragon Slaying Platform from Chen Ping'an, and it was only as thick as her hand. This Dragon Slaying Platform could be regarded as a leftover piece from First and Fifteenth's so-called meals.

Even though Deep Infatuation was an immortal treasure crafted by a cultivator to begin with, and it was possible to increase its quality even further, it wasn't a bonded flying sword nurtured by a sword cultivator. In other words, it was still an inanimate object. Thus, Sui Youbian couldn't toss her Dragon Slaying Platform to Deep Infatuation and let the sword do its own thing like how Chen Ping'an could toss his Dragon Slaying Platform to First and Fifteenth. Sui Youbian needed to spend time and effort to temper Deep Infatuation.

Brilliant and mystical sparks of various colors flew through the air as Sui Youbian sharpened her blade.

She was aware that Dragon Slaying Platforms were regarded as the most precious sword whetstones in the world, yet she did not know why this was the case. Even so, Sui Youbian still reaped great benefits through the process of using her Dragon Slaying Platform to sharpen Deep Infatuation. Like gathering and dispersing clouds, wisps of fine and exquisite sword qi shimmered and formed some agile patterns that quickly appeared and disappeared on the blade of her sword. Deep Infatuation radiated with intensity.

It was as if she wasn't sharpening Deep Infatuation alone. It was as if she was also tempering her own sword heart, which was already bright and pure to begin with.

Cui Dongshan found the situation slightly strange. He had come across dozens if not hundreds of people who were extremely passionate about swords like Sui Youbian, and he knew that the minds of these people were actually very simple. To put it in a positive way, their mindset could be described as sincere; to put it negatively, it could be called stubborn. In any case, it was a mindset solely focused on pursuing the Sword Dao.

Observing how Sui Youbian nurtured her sword qi every day, however, it was clear that her true pursuit was sword intent, something that differed greatly from the pursuits of sword experts. It was clear that Sui Youbian intended to switch paths, going from a martial artist to a Qi refiner. She was determined to become a top-notch sword immortal in the Majestic World. Moreover, she was a naive lady who felt like the world revolved around her. Taking all of these things into account, she shouldn't have been as dithering as she was right now.

Cui Dongshan was temporarily out of ideas regarding how to deal with Sui Youbian after being refused entry to her room. If it had been Xie Xie instead, he would have already kicked the door open and punished her with a proper slap to the face. However, there was Chen Ping'an to support Sui Youbian, so Cui Dongshan had no option but to restrain himself. Unable to use his exquisite educational techniques, he could only turn around and leave.

In reality, Cui Dongshan could have revealed something that would have definitely tempted Sui Youbian. However, he was unwilling to use up all of his trump cards so soon.

After returning to his room and closing the door, Cui Dongshan forcefully stomped his foot and summoned the local mountain lord.

The mountain lord was a shapely woman dressed in bold and vibrant attire, quite a rare sight indeed. Cui Dongshan stood beside his bed before leaning back and sprawling himself across the bed. He then kicked his boots off, and he instructed the lowly ranked mountain lord to massage his feet for him. The shapely woman obediently squatted down beside his feet and gently massaged them.

The heavens chilly and the earth freezing, the four seasons cycled one after another; birth, aging, sickness, and death, such was the natural cycle of life.

Those who ingested Qi survived, and this was one of the origins of Qi refiners. This pertained to the true foundations of the Great Dao.

The sages once said that those who eat meat possess courage and boldness, those who eat grains possess wisdom and shrewdness, those who ingest Qi gain the lifespan of deities, and those who ingest nothing gain godhood before death.

The first three points were very easy to understand, yet the final point was quite subtle and difficult to understand. This was due to the fact that the Dao couldn't be revealed, and it was also because the implications behind this point were far too big of a taboo. This pertained to the dead end faced by pure martial artists, and it also pertained to the sages' desire to prevent those in the future generations from tracing the roots of the Dao of gods and deities.

However, Cui Dongshan was aware of the three minor tiers that belonged to the tenth tier of martial arts. There was the Thriving Qi Tier, the Simplification Tier, and the Divinity Tier. The Great Li Empire's Song Changjing was most likely still at the Thriving Qi Tier, yet Li Er—who had advanced to the End Tier after Song Changjing—had already advanced to the Simplification Tier. Cui Dongshan had been astonished when he had first heard this news.

In fact, Cui Dongshan had been so astonished that he had run over to pummel Yu Lu, the young man who was aimlessly wandering around with Prince Gao Xuan of the Great Sui Nation all the time. The battered and bruised Yu Lu didn't dare to fight back, and it was very likely that he was still completely stumped as to why Cui Dongshan was suddenly punishing him. He was even more baffled by what Cui Dongshan said afterward: "You might have toilet paper in your hand in the future, but beware that there might not be a toilet for you to take a shit in."

Cui Dongshan was feeling worried for his little lackey! Different empires and nations would have varying levels of martial fortune, so was it not the case that different continents would also have differing levels of martial fortune? The Eastern Treasured Vial Continent was the smallest continent in the Majestic World to begin with, yet Song Changjing had already reached the End Tier of martial arts at such a young age. Soon afterward, Li Er had traveled to the Complete Reed Continent and surprisingly overtaken Song Changjing, advancing to the Simplification Tier of the tenth tier of martial arts.

Moreover, there was still that old man. It was said that his temperament had changed considerably, and he had now become a carefree and secluded cultivator in the bamboo building in Downtrodden Mountain.

Thus, if it weren't for Zheng Dafeng suffering great misfortune in Old Dragon City and being turned from someone with the potential to reach the End Tier into a useless cripple, then it was very likely that the dead end faced by pure martial artists in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent wouldn't be the tenth tier anymore. Instead, it would directly plummet to the ninth tier.

Of course, there was also Chen Ping'an to consider now, and there were also his four subordinates who had left the Lotus Flower Blessed Land and suddenly materialized in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. As Cui Dongshan's two servants, couldn't Yu Lu and Xie Xie pay some attention and hurry over to a toilet reserved for tenth-tier martial artists? Otherwise, they would have nowhere to take a shit in the future!

Yu Lu was a remnant evil of the Lu Clan. He was the crown prince of the destroyed Lu Empire, after all, so it was only natural that he was viewed that way.

His martial arts cultivation base was continually climbing, and the most critical point was that his footsteps were relatively solid and stable. Apart from possessing extraordinary martial arts talent, this was also in large part thanks to his father, the emperor of the Lu Empire, going crazy and transferring half of the empire's martial fortune to his son.

In the eyes of sages, were pure martial artists not pieces of rock in a cesspit?[1] Were they not hard, foul-smelling, and pathetic?

Cui Dongshan felt very anxious and upset. There were far too many idiots in the world, and these idiots didn't understand his foresight and worries at all. In the past, it was shitty little children like Xie Xie and Yu Lu. And now, there were also these four subordinates following Chen Ping'an around.

Chen Ping'an opened the door and asked, "Is something the matter?"

Cui Dongshan nodded vigorously and replied, "I have a hugely important matter to discuss with you, Master!"

Chen Ping'an shot a glance at him, and Cui Dongshan smiled faintly as he continued, "However, it's up to your luck whether this succeeds or not."

Chen Ping'an started to shut the door, yet Cui Dongshan reacted very quickly and hurriedly extended both hands, forcefully keeping the wooden door open.

"Please allow me to slowly explain, Master," he begged in an aggrieved voice. "If things are as I suspect, yet you are unwilling to listen to me, then you will squander a huge treasure! In fact, two precious treasures will be wasted at once, and you will pointlessly let slip a profound fated opportunity that you should have been destined to receive! I promise, I'm definitely not speaking a single lie!"

Cui Dongshan thought that Chen Ping'an would definitely shut the door on him, meaning that he would need to find another opportunity in the future. Unexpectedly, however, Chen Ping'an actually opened the door and let him in.

Cui Dongshan entered and shut the door behind him. He grinned as he sat down, and he poured a cup of tea for Chen Ping'an and himself. He then set up a restriction, summoning the flying sword that he had won from a sword cultivator from the Middle Earth Divine Continent in a gamble. A flash of golden light rapidly flew around in a circle just above the ground before returning to Cui Dongshan's glabella. The golden light on the floor didn't disperse, and it was as if someone had used golden powder to draw a golden well on the floor.

Cui Dongshan smiled and explained, "The female mountain lord here was quite bold and impertinent, and she actually dared to tail you during your trip to the martial sage temple. She witnessed some things that she shouldn't have witnessed, and even worse than that, she actually dared to ask me for a reward afterward. Does she not understand the concept of respect toward heaven, earth, rulers, parents, and teachers?"

"So you killed her?" Chen Ping'an asked.

Cui Dongshan chuckled and replied, "Why, of course not. I simply explained some reasons and principles to her in a calm and friendly manner, telling her not to make the same mistake again in the future. The mountain lord was also an understanding individual, and it was quite clear that she took my words to heart. Because of this, I blessed her with some fortune and essentially formed a small but positive karmic bond between us."

Chen Ping'an wasted no time to expose his bullshit. "If you hadn't needed to come here to look for me, I assume this female mountain lord would have already been wiped from the genealogical records of the Azure Phoenix Nation."

Cui Dongshan smiled sheepishly and replied, "You have a deeply wrong impression of me, Master. Regardless of the time or the matter, your disciple is always treating others with kindness and respect now."

Chen Ping'an drank a sip of tea and said, "Right, right. Anyway, since you're here, let's discuss the proper matters."

Cui Dongshan also drank some tea to moisten his throat before weighing each word and saying carefully, "Regarding that seemingly useless immortal body... If you're lucky, perhaps you can do something that will please everyone."

Chen Ping'an widened his eyes in shock and exclaimed, "Cui Dongshan, have you gone mad?! To say nothing of whether that female ghost has strong enough bones by Naturalist standards, it won't make a difference even if you ignore these important matters and focus on the more trivial aspects instead. No matter how you slice it, you can't change the fact that she's a female ghost! A woman! And this immortal body is Du Mao's yang soul avatar!"

Cui Dongshan gently twirled the teacup in his hand, with his expression calm and composed as he looked at Chen Ping'an and asked, "Why are you worrying about these things? Even if someone needs to worry about them, it should be the ghost herself, no? Is there any need for you to worry in her place?"

Chen Ping'an was taken aback upon hearing this, yet he surprisingly nodded and said, "That makes sense."

"You're not going to say 'but?'" Cui Dongshan asked with a chuckle.

With a single thought, Chen Ping'an summoned a yellow paper talisman made from special materials and caused it to materialize on the table. The talisman fluttered a little, and Chen Ping'an used a relatively normal "door-opening" technique belonging to the talismanic branch, releasing Shi Rou from the talisman that was both her home and her cage.

Shi Rou materialized on the table, with her colorful garment draping over its surface. Cui Dongshan looked up at her.

Shi Rou looked down, only to see a handsome young boy with a birthmark on his glabella. Even though he didn't speak, it was very clear that his eyes were asking her a simple question: Do you want to die?

Shi Rou had no clue about this person's background, and she couldn't even determine the level of his cultivation base. Even so, a sense of instinctive fear still welled up in her heart. She immediately hovered to the ground and turned around, not daring to face that handsome young boy anymore. She faced Chen Ping'an instead, yet she still felt as if a piercing gaze were stabbing through her back.

Shi Rou lowered her gaze, and she put on a relatively sincere and gentle expression in a rare display. She then said to Chen Ping'an, "This humble servant pays her respects to Master."

Cui Dongshan stood up, smiling as he rubbed his hands together in eagerness.

Chen Ping'an nodded to him, gesturing for him to go ahead.

1. "A stone covered in shit" is basically something or someone that is incredibly annoying to deal with. ☜

2. They as in Cui Dongshan and Cui Chan. ☜