Unsheathed

Chapter 555 (1): Both Master and Disciple Are Pitiful While Practicing Fist Techniques

Li Er couldn’t help but mumble when he arrived at the dinner table. This was only the second time his wife had told him to drink more and drink to his heart’s content. The previous time was already many years ago.

He saw that Chen Ping’an was purposely suppressing his fist intent, with his cheeks quickly flushing red after having two or three cups of wine. Li Er felt like something was amiss. What was this? Chen Ping’an was trying to get drunk and fall asleep so that he could avoid as many feasts of fists as possible? However, this seemed quite unlike Chen Ping’an.

In any case, Li Er was very happy that someone was willing to drink to their heart’s content with him. Thus, he raised a leg and placed his foot on the bench. He leaned forward and was just about to grab some stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots that was placed far away from him, yet Aunt Liu immediately glared at him and gave him a scolding, telling him to act like a proper senior.

Li Er felt extremely vexed, but he had no option but to put his leg down and sit in a proper manner. He had never seen her act so pedantically in the past, and she generally wouldn’t care when he occasionally had a few cups of wine to drink. This had always been the case in their household, and Li Huai had liked to squat on the bench and munch on chicken drumsticks and pork knuckle when he was little. They didn’t have any so-called family teachings either, and they certainly didn’t have any rules about females not being allowed to eat at the dinner table.

Li Er glanced at the dish that had been purposely placed in front of Chen Ping’an, and he immediately noticed his wife shooting a glance at him. He understood what this meant. This plate of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots had nothing to do with him.

The meat dishes and flavorful dishes were all on Chen Ping’an’s side, while the vegetable dishes and bland dishes were all on Li Er’s side. Li Er smiled and took a sip of wine. In reality, he was quite accustomed to this treatment.

This had always been the case at home before Li Huai had embarked on a distant journey to study at Mountain Cliff Academy.

While Li Huai was studying at the Great Sui Nation’s Mountain Cliff Academy, the three of them had moved to the foot of the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Lion Peak. Even though Li Liu often left the mountains to eat with her parents, Li Er always felt like there was something missing without Li Huai sitting there and causing trouble. Li Er didn’t discriminate between males and females, and his feelings also had nothing to do with the kind of person his daughter was. In all these years, Li Er only had a single ask of his daughter: She should deal with outside matters outside, and she should refrain from bringing these matters home. Of course, his future son-in-law would be an exception.

Chen Ping’an drank until he was slightly inebriated, but not so much that his teeth would chatter as he talked. He also had no problem walking, so he stood up and left the table and the main room, going to Li Huai’s room to rest. He took off his boots and gently lay down, closing his eyes before suddenly sitting up and re-orienting his boots, turning their tips toward the bed. Only then did he lie down and continue to sleep.

As it turned out, he was thinking about his hometown’s Downtrodden Mountain and his opening disciple.

Li Er collected the bowls and chopsticks, while Aunt Liu remained sitting in the same spot as she suddenly asked, “Li Er, what do you think about Chen Ping’an?”

“He’s great,” Li Er replied with a smile.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tried to privately sell the Dragon King Basket and the golden carp to Chen Ping’an back then. In fact, he had even received a scolding from Old Man Yang for doing so.

“Do you think this child will take a fancy to our daughter?” Aunt Liu asked in a soft voice.

Li Er stopped what he was doing and replied in helplessness, “This has got nothing to do with whether he fancies our daughter or not. Chen Ping’an has already found someone he likes a long time ago.”

“Our daughter doesn’t have good fortune,” Aunt Liu replied in great disappointment.

Li Er smiled and didn’t say anything.

Aunt Liu smacked the table and fumed, “What are you smiling about? Is Li Liu your daughter or not? Perhaps you think she’s someone else’s daughter?”

“What nonsense are you saying?” Li Er shrank back and replied in a muffled voice.

“Our daughter is scatter-brained, and her father is also a good-for-nothing,” Aunt Liu lamented in grief. “Not only that, but he’s not taking things seriously either. Just what kind of sin did our daughter commit in her previous life to be reincarnated into our family to suffer hardships? Don’t tell me that Li Huai will need to look after his parents, his wife, and even his married sister in the future?”

“Didn’t Dong Shuijing and Lin Shouyi, Li Huai’s classmates in the private school, both like our daughter from a young age? You didn’t seem to care about this very much in the past, and you even felt like the scholar who traveled with us for a while was quite decent, no?” Li Er asked in curiosity.

Aunt Liu shook her head and replied, “That was different. After looking at all of them, I still feel like Chen Ping’an is most similar to the private school’s Mr. Qi. I can’t explain it in words, but I’m very good when it comes to judging people.”

Li Er didn’t say anything else, nodding in response before continuing to collect the bowls and chopsticks.

The first time his wife had let him drink to his heart’s content was when Mr. Qi had visited.

“Does our daughter truly not have a chance?” Aunt Liu asked in an uncertain voice.

Li Er felt slightly guilty. Later, when he fed Chen Ping’an a feast of fists, their daughter most likely wouldn’t have a chance even if she did in the past, right?

The next day, Chen Ping’an woke up at dawn and helped to draw some water from the well. When he was questioned by the neighbors, he simply replied that he was a distant relative of the Li Family.

Afterward, Li Er left with Chen Ping’an to take him to Lion Peak, explaining to Aunt Liu that they were going to wander around the mountain. Aunt Liu smiled widely and didn’t say anything. Li Er was a little confused, not knowing what his wife was thinking.

Li Er directly led Chen Ping’an to the ancestral hall of Lion Peak.

They chatted as they walked, and Li Er thanked Chen Ping’an for Zheng Dafeng being able to work as a gatekeeper for Downtrodden Mountain.

Chen Ping’an replied that this was nothing much.

Li Er said that with Zheng Dafeng’s temper, he definitely wouldn’t have been willing to return to the Yang Family’s medicine shop in the past if he had become a cripple while traveling outside. Instead, he would sit around and wait for death, truly wasting away his entire life. If that were the case, then Zheng Dafeng would suffer a disappointing life where his master ultimately didn’t look at him properly even a single time, and he didn’t dare to view himself as Old Man Yang’s disciple either. Zheng Dafeng was indeed despondent right now, but there was at least a master and disciple relationship between him and Old Man Yang.

In reality, Chen Ping’an had always felt like Uncle Li had one of the clearest perspectives on life in the world.

Looking at it again now, this was indeed the case.

Mountain Master Huang Cai of Lion Peak was an old immortal with an ethereal aura.

He was renowned for his combat prowess among the Nascent Tier cultivators in the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

Li Er didn’t make any polite small talk, and he directly told the extremely renowned Nascent Tier mountain master to seal the mountain.

Huang Cai didn’t ask any questions, immediately issuing a command for Lion Peak to seal the mountains. Moreover, there was no mention of when the mountains would be unsealed.

Sealing the mountains was a huge deal for immortal forces.

Generally speaking, this was only done when they were facing a formidable foe or when their old ancestor was cultivating in seclusion and undergoing a breakthrough.

Li Er handed the extremely respectful mountain master of Lion Peak a piece of paper, asking him to purchase medicinal ingredients according to the note.

Just like before, Huang Cai didn’t ask any questions.

However, there was a slightly strange expression in his eyes as he looked at the young man from outside of town.

If Chen Ping’an were a bit oblivious at the shop at the foot of the mountain before, then he was immediately coming to his senses now that he was interacting with someone unfamiliar. However, he didn’t try to explain anything.

Everything could wait until Li Liu returned to Lion Peak.

Li Er led Chen Ping’an to the large entrance of an ancient residence at the mountaintop of Lion Peak, one that led to the cultivation abode of Lion Peak’s founding ancestor. This cultivation abode hadn’t been opened again following the passing of the founding ancestor, and it was only following the return of Li Liu that the residence had reopened. It was almost like another world inside, and even Mountain Master Huang Cai didn’t have the right to set foot in this residence.

Chen Ping’an walked inside, only to discover that it was actually a stream in a karst cave. There was a dock after passing through the water restriction at the entrance of the residence, and a small boat was moored in the dark green water. Li Er personally rowed the boat with the bamboo pole, steering it through the karst cave that was as bright as day, even though it wasn’t illuminated by the sun or moon, nor by any glowing immortal stones or flames.

The view suddenly opened up after the small boat traveled for five or so kilometers, and what appeared in the distance was a strange mirror that appeared as large as a lake. It was floating slightly below the surface of the lake, causing the lake water to rush over before vanishing.

“This mirror is the entrance of an ancient small world,” Li Er explained. “Someone wasn’t very fond of this small world, so they set up this formation to continuously pour water into it. The surface of this mirror is fairly tough, and even the punch of an ordinary tenth tier martial artist of the Thriving Qi Tier won’t be able to damage it. I managed to shatter the mirror momentarily with eighty Simplification Tier punches in the past, but it still repaired itself completely in the end. It’s said that only those who reach the final Divinity Tier of the tenth tier will be able to comprehensively shatter this mirror. However, I still need to temper my fist intent for a very long time before I have the chance to advance to the Divinity Tier. Only after that can I shatter the dead end of martial arts and truly embark on a path toward the heavens.”

Chen Ping’an hesitated for a moment, but he eventually couldn’t help but say, “It would be such a shame to comprehensively shatter this precious immortal treasure.”

As for the three sub-tiers of the tenth tier of martial arts, just hearing them and remembering them would be enough for the moment.

Li Er smiled and replied, “Only when you have the power to shatter this mirror with your fists will you have the right to comment on whether it’s a shame or not.”

It was at this moment that Chen Ping’an felt like the person standing beside him was no longer Li Er, but instead a tenth tier martial artist.

Li Er suddenly vanished from view, and Chen Ping’an knew that this was a bad sign. Sure enough, an attack rushed toward his back without warning.

Chen Ping’an’s body seemingly collapsed as he retracted his fist intent, not caring about his demeanor at all as he attempted to lunge forward. However, he was still unexpectedly struck in the lower back by the vicious kick, resulting in a series of loud cracking sounds that almost sounded like firecrackers.

Chen Ping’an could view the physiques of ordinary Vajra Body Tier martial artists as wet paper, yet his entire body arched like a drawn bowstring as a result of Li Er’s kick. Following the heavy impact, Chen Ping’an should have theoretically flown dozens of meters into the distance. However, Li Er’s punch was much quicker than Chen Ping’an’s momentum, and he stood to the young man’s side and unleashed a downward punch, striking his arched chest.

Chen Ping’an plummeted toward the ground.

Li Er stuck a foot out and twisted his toes, flicking the falling Chen Ping’an onto the surface of the large mirror.

Chen Ping’an felt like his breath of True Qi was about to collapse, and he crashed into the surface of the mirror and bounced a few times before he forcefully smacked the mirror with his hands, leaping up and standing still. However, he couldn’t help but vomit large mouthfuls of blood.

Li Er was still standing on the small boat, with neither he nor the boat moving as he said slowly, “Be careful. I can’t control the power of my punches very well, and when I fought with Song Changjing in the Jewel Small World back then, with both of us at the peak stage of the ninth tier, I felt extremely satisfied and almost pummeled him to death by accident.”

Chen Ping’an took a deep breath, calmly rolling up his sleeves when he saw that Li Er wasn’t intending to attack straight away. He twisted his toes against the surface of the mirror, and sure enough, the mirror was incredibly tough and sturdy. This feeling was the same as someone who was accustomed to the muddy paths of Clay Vase Alley suddenly setting foot on the paved streets of Fortune Street and Peach Leaf Alley. What did this signify? This signified that Li Er’s punches would be painful, and crashing into the mirror afterward would be akin to rubbing salt in his wounds. It would be even more torturous than crashing into the walls of Downtrodden Mountain’s bamboo building.

Chen Ping’an swayed back and forth as he smiled bitterly and asked, “Uncle Li, are you going to launch ninth tier punches the entire time?”

Li Er shook his head and replied, “Of course not.”

Before Chen Ping’an even had time to feel slightly more at ease, Li Er added, “There will also be tenth tier punches.”

He couldn’t shortchange Chen Ping’an, seeing that the young man was referring to him as Uncle Li.

Li Er felt like it was necessary to be generous.