Unsheathed

Hovering in the glow of dawn, the small and exquisite flying sword glistened with a dazzling and eye-catching radiance.

Chen Ping\'an faltered for a long moment before finally asking, "What\'s the matter, you want to fly out for some fresh air because it\'s New Year? Say, do flying swords like you pay particular attention to festivals as well?"

The tip of the flying sword rotated slightly.

Chen Ping\'an tensed up, and he prepared to flee at any moment.

After rotating a full 360 degrees, the tip of the sword tilted slightly upward, while the hilt of the sword tilted slightly downward. It was as if the flying sword were familiarizing itself with this slightly unfamiliar world.

The sound of the little boy in azure waking up and yawning traveled over from inside the house. With a whoosh, the flying sword flew toward Chen Ping\'an\'s glabella, with its speed so quick that it left an afterimage in its original spot. A thin arc of light appeared in the air, and the speed and nimbleness of the flying sword were far beyond Chen Ping\'an\'s imagination. He couldn\'t dodge it at all, and he immediately felt a cool sensation on his glabella. The young boy reached up to touch his forehead. However, there was no bloody hole there, and there wasn\'t even so much as a scratch.

The flying sword easily flew into his body and returned to the acupoints.

It was as if the flying sword were a peerless terrestrial sword immortal carving a path through the battlefield — it was simply unstoppable.

Chen Ping\'an planned to ask Ruan Xiu about this when he got the chance. Were all flying swords in the world this mystical and impressive?

Near the front door, the eagerly excited little boy in azure was already carrying a large bundle of bamboo tubes that had been prepared a while ago. As he walked out the front door with the bleary-eyed little girl in pink, he lightly kicked her in the back. The little girl hurriedly patted her clothes clean. These were brand new clothes that Master had only just bought for her! She glared at the little boy and asked, "What are you doing?!"

Standing in the courtyard, the little boy in azure sighed and replied, "Are you stupid? As a fire python, you have an innate ability to wield fire-element mystical abilities. So, are you going to hurry up and light the firecrackers?"

The little girl in pink blinked upon hearing this. As it turned out, fire-element mystical abilities could be used like this as well?

During their trip back to the small town, Chen Ping\'an had always been the one lighting fires to cook. This had been the case even if it were raining or snowing. As a result, the little girl in pink had never considered using her abilities to light fires before.

Chen Ping\'an had never raised this issue before, and she had never thought of this possibility either. Meanwhile, the little boy in azure most likely couldn\'t be bothered mentioning it.

With the help of the little boy and the little girl, the firecrackers were set off, with each bang bidding farewell to the old year.

It wasn\'t long before the explosions of firecrackers started to ring out in other houses on Clay Vase Alley. It was as if the firecrackers were echoing each other from afar.

The little boy in azure enjoyed himself immensely. After the little girl in pink finished setting off the final firecracker, she went inside the house to grab a broom and was just about to sweep up the scraps. However, Chen Ping\'an smiled and took the broom from her before putting it upside down against the wall. As it turned out, the small town had a custom where every family would place their brooms upside down on the first day of the Lunar New Year. This signified that they wouldn\'t do anything for the day. This was a day for resting.

Chen Ping\'an stood beside the wall and looked at the empty courtyard next door. He was filled with mixed emotions. After hesitating for a moment, he eventually decided to grab the extra set of couplets and two "spring" characters from his house and stick them on the front gate next door.

The little boy in azure smiled and asked, "Master, are they very good friends of yours?"

"Hopefully we\'re not enemies," Chen Ping\'an replied softly.

After returning to his own courtyard, Chen Ping\'an stood in the alley outside his front gate and looked at the two colorful door gods. One represented civil affairs, while one represented martial arts affairs. The civil god held a jade ritual baton, and the martial arts god held a steel truncheon. No matter how Chen Ping\'an looked at them, he couldn\'t help but feel that they looked strange. In the past, the small town had sold all kinds of paper-based door god stickers. Apart from the civil god and martial arts god, there had also been a fortune god and many other types of gods.

This year, however, all of the door god stickers in the small town were regulated and forced to be the same. According to the shopkeeper, this was a rule established by the local official. Moreover, the golden statues of gods that would be worshipped in the new, yet-to-be-built, Wenchang pavilion and martial sage temple in the small town would be none other than statues of the two gods illustrated on the door god stickers.

Chen Ping\'an recalled what Old Man Yang had told him, and his impression of those words became deeper and deeper.

Chen Ping\'an pushed these gloomy thoughts out of his mind. He then walked over to sit in the courtyard and bask in the sun. He didn\'t think of anything else.

The little girl in pink continued to sit on her small stool and eat roasted sunflower seeds. As for the little boy in azure, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked in circles around the courtyard. He was filled with lofty ambitions, and he shouted that he was going to cultivate earnestly this year. He would definitely blow Master and the silly girl away. When the next year rolled around, he would be able to freely roam around the small town and do anything he wanted. He wouldn\'t need to be afraid of anyone, not even shitty swordsmen at the eighth or ninth tier.

After saying all this, the little boy in azure smiled obsequiously and said, "Master, you only need to give me a few more good-quality snake gall pebbles. To say nothing of next year, I\'ll become invincible in the small town tomorrow! At that time, Master can bring me around and do anything you want. You can bully men and grab women, and you can enjoy life as a wanton tyrant who doesn\'t need to abide by any rules. If you come across any beautiful girls you like, you can directly drag them into Clay Vase Alley and... Wahahaha! Master, does thinking about this make you happy?"

Chen Ping\'an grabbed a handful of roasted sunflower seeds from the little girl in pink\'s side of the table and replied with a nod, "As long as you\'re happy."

The yearning smile on the little boy\'s face immediately froze and disappeared. He sighed and groaned as he sat down next to Chen Ping\'an. With him to the left and the little girl in pink to the right, it was as if they were two mini door gods. However, the little boy in azure felt like it was an ill omen for him to make a bad start on the first day of the new year. Thus, he retrieved an ordinary snake gall pebble and started to loudly crunch down on it. He had no option but to create a good omen for himself.

It was also at this moment that Chen Ping\'an suddenly retrieved two small and exquisite pouches from his sleeves. These were some Spring Festival goods from his pastry shop in Dragon Riding Alley. He handed them to the two little children and said in amusement, "Here, some lucky money from your master."

The little boy in azure didn\'t feel any delight, yet upon opening the pouch, his eyes bulged as far out as they could. As it turned out, this was a top-quality snake gall pebble that was as colorful as the iridescent clouds of twilight.

The little girl in pink also received a top-quality snake gall pebble.

After returning to Chen Ping\'an\'s ancestral home in Clay Vase Alley back then, the little boy in azure had seen things very clearly. Apart from the 90-odd ordinary snake gall pebbles, there had also been 11 remaining top-quality snake gall pebbles in Chen Ping\'an\'s pouch. At that time, he had given them two top-quality snake gall pebbles each, and this had reduced his number of top-quality snake gall pebbles from 11 to seven. And now, he was giving them another top-quality snake gall pebble each. Didn\'t this mean that he had already given away half of his top-quality snake gall pebbles?

Chen Ping\'an, do you genuinely see yourself as a charity that\'s going around to cultivate good relationships?

Even though he was tightly gripping the snake gall pebble in his hand, the little boy in azure still couldn\'t help but warn, "Master, if you keep giving things away like this, how can you accumulate enough wealth to find yourself a wife in the future?"

The little girl in pink held the "lucky money" in her hands with her head lowered and her lips pursed. Tears pitter-pattered down her soft and delicate cheeks.

The little boy in azure felt slightly conflicted, but he just had to spit the thoughts out from his mind. "Master, aren\'t you afraid of my cultivation rising explosively after eating these three top-quality snake gall pebbles? Aren\'t you afraid that you\'ll never be able to catch up to me in your lifetime?"

"If you have a friend who\'s living a good life, will you be happy for them or not?" Chen Ping\'an countered.

The little boy in azure nodded and replied, "Of course I\'ll be happy for them. The friends and brothers that I\'ve made are all genuine."

"Then what if your friend is living a much better life than you? Will you still be happy for them?" Chen Ping\'an asked.

The little boy in azure became slightly hesitant.

Chen Ping\'an popped a roasted sunflower seed into his mouth and chuckled, "I\'ll be even happier."

The little boy in azure fell into a slight trance at this moment. He suddenly felt like the world that he had roamed for hundreds of years was seemingly different from the world that Chen Ping\'an was living in. Was his world too profound and deep? Or was Chen Ping\'an\'s world too simple and shallow?

After giving his opinion, Chen Ping\'an didn\'t ponder much about this topic anymore. His conversation with the little boy in azure had only been a casual one, after all.

However, the little boy in azure remained glum and in low spirits. Meanwhile, the little girl in pink also became quiet after putting her snake gall pebble away.

Chen Ping\'an felt a slight sense of regret. Perhaps he was wrong to give them this lucky money? Or perhaps he should have given it to them later?

How worrisome...

Considering only Clay Vase Alley, many people in the alley had already left. There was Song Jixin and Zhi Gui, and there was also Gu Can and his mother. However, a new person had now moved in. Late last year, this person had taken out a title deed from his ancestors and handed it to the government office in Dragon Spring Prefecture. The officials had initially wanted to carefully verify this title deed, and this was because land in the small town was extremely valuable right now. Countless outsiders wanted to move into the small town, and they were even willing to rent if they couldn\'t directly buy a house. Thus, the officials had treated this matter with utmost care and caution. They couldn\'t allow some scheming and deceitful person to trick their way into a house.

However, it wasn\'t long before Wu Yuan, the first county magistrate of Dragon Spring County — now the first prefectural overseer of Dragon Spring Prefecture — personally charged to the county office to take full control of this matter.

A short while later, the Clay Vase Alley gained a new resident, a young man named Cao Jun. His ancestors had moved out from the small town, and now he was returning to his ancestral home to work hard and make a living.

The residents in the alley were all quite curious about Cao Jun, the young man who rarely left his house. Because many of the local residents were involved in the construction of the offices and temples in the mountains, and because the county offices and prefecture office had both put out many official statements confirming the existence of gods and immortals in the world, the residents in Dragon Spring Prefecture were left with no option but to accept this reality.

In the beginning, the residents of the small town speculated whether the handsome and extraordinary Cao Jun was also an immortal. Upon further thought, however, they realized something amiss. An immortal living in Clay Vase Alley? That would be trampling on the value of immortals, no?

On this day, two unfamiliar people walked into Clay Vase Alley.

One was an elderly man with a thin green rope around his wrist, and one was a young man with a sword strapped horizontally behind his back. They walked into Clay Vase Alley together, entering from the side where Gu Can\'s house was located. While walking past Song Jixin and Chen Ping\'an\'s courtyards, the old man peered over the short walls and looked at the little boy in azure and the little girl in pink. There was a mystical smile on his face.

The little girl in pink was slightly baffled, but she didn\'t think much about this. Meanwhile, the little boy in azure looked calm and relaxed, yet he was actually praying in his mind that this wasn\'t another old immortal or powerful demon.

The young swordsman smiled and waved, saying, "Chen Ping\'an, we meet again."

Chen Ping\'an stood up and opened the courtyard door. He smiled and asked, "Are you here to wish a happy new year to the residents?"

The young swordsman shook his head and replied, "No, I have some matters that I need to deal with. However, I can indeed wish people a happy new year on the way."

The old man smiled with squinted eyes and asked, "Young lad, I heard that the roof of my ancestral home was destroyed by a Mountain-moving Ape because of you? And it was also you who paid to get it fixed?"

Swordsman Cao Jun\'s clan elder?

Chen Ping\'an felt slightly tense, and he said in apology, "I\'m so sorry about that, Mister. It was indeed my fault."

The old man waved a hand and said, "I understand the situation. The house was already old and rundown, so it would have definitely collapsed by itself if it wasn\'t fixed sometime soon. There\'s no need to apologize. In fact, it\'s the Cao Clan that should be thanking you. That young man Cao Jun wanted to snatch something from you before, correct? Rest assured, I\'ll head over to discipline him right now... Oh, haha, I forgot to say, Happy New Year."

As he said this, the affable old man surprisingly cupped his fists and shook them slightly. This was his way of wishing Chen Ping\'an a happy new year.

Chen Ping\'an hurriedly returned the gesture.

The young swordsman frowned slightly, and he took a subtle step forward and coincidentally arrived between the old man and Chen Ping\'an. He wrapped his arm around the young boy\'s shoulder and smiled as he walked toward the courtyard door. He then turned around and said to the old man, "Mr. Cao, why don\'t you return home first? I\'ll visit you a little later."

The old man squinted and nodded in acknowledgment. He didn\'t pay much heed to this, and he slowly left by himself. After heaven knows how many hundreds of years, he had finally returned home to this alley again.

After Chen Ping\'an and the young swordsman stepped over the door threshold and entered the courtyard, the spiritual glow in the eyes of the two colorful door gods that were invisible to mortal eyes had already vanished without a trace.

Standing in the courtyard, the young swordsman warned in a soft voice, "When traveling around the world in the future, remember that males need to wrap their left hand around their right hand when cupping their fists to pay respect. This is called paying auspicious respects. If done the other way around, this is violating a taboo and wishing misfortune upon others."

Chen Ping\'an abruptly looked over at the young swordsman, who continued in a seemingly casual manner, "You simply need to keep these etiquettes in mind."