Unsheathed

There were many servants and maidservants in the large residence of the wealthy but modest Li Clan, and these servants had a variety of different surnames and ancestors. However, they were all generational servants of the Li Clan. Even so, the clan leaders of the Li Clan had always been very generous toward them, and Zhu He and Zhu Lu were good examples of this. In fact, some elders in the residence had joked that Zhu Lu was a maidservant, but she enjoyed the lifestyle of a young mistress.

Clan Leader Li Hong was someone who didn\'t pay much attention to anything, and he instead enjoyed collecting pottery pieces, reading, and making notes as he read. Apart from occasionally chatting with his eldest son Li Xisheng, Clan Leader Li Hong seldom ever showed himself. It was usually his wife who attended to the matters of the clan, whether major matters or small. She hadn\'t read many books, but she was still literate because she worked with the clan accounts.

There was a long-established tradition in the Li Clan, and whenever a festival arrived, the little children in the clan would need to remember an idiom or saying that contained a certain character. If the little children could smoothly recite these when questioned by the adults in the Li Clan, they would be rewarded with a red pocket. During New Year\'s Eve, the character "Jia" had been chosen[1]. And for this Lantern Festival, the character "Tao" was chosen[2].

On the day of the Lantern Festival, Li Hong\'s wife told her personal maidservant to bring a large stack of red pockets with her as they wandered around the residence. When she encountered those little children who were lying around in waiting, she would smile and ask them for idioms and sayings. The little children offered their well-prepared responses in crisp and childish voices, and this caused a faint smile to spread across the face of the graceful woman.

The little children offered a variety of idioms and sayings, for example, "peaches and pears don\'t speak, yet paths naturally form in front these trees[3]", "tender the peach flowers are[4]", "apricot face and peach cheeks[5]", and so on. These were all very beautiful and positive idioms and sayings. Even though a little child blurted out "common peach flowers and ordinary pear flowers[6]", an idiom with negative connotations which he had heard from heaven knows where, Li Hong\'s wife still didn\'t get angry, and she still smiled as she handed him a red pocket.

However, her smile seemingly became forced when she heard a little child utter the idiom "offer peaches and receive pears in return[7]". When she heard the idiom "sacrifice the pear tree for the peach tree[8]", something with slightly positive connotations and better than the idiom "common peach flowers and ordinary pear flowers", even though it wasn\'t especially beautiful or satisfactory, a look of anger spread across her face. The little child was terrified and completely flustered. After asking him for his surname — he replied Chen — Li Hong\'s wife still ultimately told her maidservant to give him a red pocket. However, her expression was extremely frosty when she walked away. This was a very rare sight.

Everyone in the Li Clan knew that Clan Leader Li Hong adored his youngest daughter, Li Baoping, the most. As the saying went, emperors adored their eldest sons, and commoners adored their youngest children.

When it came to his eldest son Li Xisheng and his second son Li Baozhen, however, the others in the Li Clan couldn\'t pick up any favoritism. Li Hong would read together with Li Xisheng, and he would also drink together with Li Baozhen. However, this was a different case for Li Hong\'s wife. Perhaps this was because Li Baozhen was her youngest son, and he was also someone with an innately likeable personality. He was also caring toward everyone else.

In contrast, Li Xisheng appeared far quieter and sterner. He didn\'t like to speak much, and this had been the case ever since he was young. Because of this, Li Hong\'s wife was far closer to their second son.

Ever since Li Baozhen had left home to live in the capital, she would often send letters to the capital to ask him when he was going to return home. They sent letters back and forth, and she would always laugh out loud when she read about the interesting things that her second son had seen or experienced in the capital. After putting the letters down, however, she would immediately feel a sense of melancholy and worry. She was always worried that Li Baozhen would face unjust treatment in a place as large as the Great Li Empire\'s capital.

She placed all of his letters in a neat stack in a small red box, and Li Hong had teased his wife about this before and said that there was no need to worry about Li Baozhen. He was a very intelligent child, after all, so he definitely wouldn\'t be tricked by others even though he was so far away from home. Instead of worrying about their son, perhaps she needed to worry about the other people instead.

Li Xisheng returned from the private school today, and he discovered his grandpa standing beside the small pond when he arrived in his courtyard. It appeared as if he had been waiting here for quite a while, so Li Xisheng quickened his pace and hurriedly walked over.

The old man led the way and walked toward his grandson\'s house, and he said, "We\'ll chat in your study."

After arriving in the small and tidy scripture library with the plaque "Humble Abode" hanging above its door, the old man gestured for Li Xisheng to sit down to chat with him. He smiled and said, "Baozhen is an adventurous person, and he\'s left home and gone to a very distant place. He\'s also the younger son, so it\'s only natural that your mother is worried about him. Don\'t feel she\'s showing favoritism toward him, and don\'t feel sad because of this."

"Of course not," Li Xisheng replied with a faint smile.

"Xie Shi explicitly asked for three people, and I\'m not surprised at all that you\'re one of the three," the patriarch of the Li Clan said slowly. Your father is unaware of your talent, but that\'s just because he\'s blind. In fact, I feel like you\'re no inferior to Divine Edict Sect\'s He Xiaoliang. So what if she\'s the Jade Girl of this continent\'s Daoist orthodoxy? Is that something impressive? My grandson is simply missing the backing and nurturing of a sect. Otherwise, you might have become the Golden Boy, and the two of you might have become an immortal couple in the future. Heh, that would be fairly good..."

The old man happily chuckled to himself after saying this.

Li Xisheng felt slightly exasperated. It was impossible for his grandpa to fix his habit of always trying to compete with others. In order to become the first 10th tier cultivator among Jewel Small World\'s Four Families and Ten Clans, he had endured quite a bumpy and treacherous cultivation journey before eventually succeeding. However, no one had been able to dissuade him, and even Li Xisheng had failed to dissuade his grandpa. If he hadn\'t performed a divination in secret and divined an upper-middle fortune, Li Xisheng truly wouldn\'t have dared to let his grandpa charge headfirst into absolute seclusion.

Patriarch Li chuckled coldly and said, "As for that child Ma Kuxuan... Don\'t blame me for talking behind his back and badmouthing him, but his family is nothing more than a nest of thieves and sinful people. Hmph, I don\'t believe that he\'ll reach any great height. Paramount virtue is like water, and being overly rigid will expose one to snapping. This has been the case ever since ancient times.

"Failing to understand the need to keep a low profile, and openly displaying his talent and advancing three tiers in a single year... So what? If he\'s so capable, then why doesn\'t he try to advance three tiers in a single year after reaching the Sea Observation Tier?"

Li Xisheng remained silent.

"Why did you give the Wind and Snow Awl and those talisman papers to Chen Ping\'an?" the old man suddenly asked.

"Why didn\'t you leave half for yourself?!" the old man exclaimed with an annoyed and slightly angry chuckle. "Do you believe me when I say that Chen Ping\'an doesn\'t realize the lofty value of that calligraphy brush and those talisman papers?"

Li Xisheng smiled and said, "By the looks of it, Grandpa, you don\'t actually care about Baoping all that much."

The old man was slightly deflated by this response, and his embarrassment quickly turned into anger. "Who said that?! If I don\'t care about Baoping, then who cares about her? Alright, you\'ve already given those things away, and I was only mentioning it in passing as well. Does it look like I\'ll tell you to ask for those items back?"

Li Xisheng smiled knowingly.

When Patriarch Li saw his eldest grandson\'s expression, he raised a hand and made two tapping motions in mid-air. "So be it if you gave our clan treasure away, and Grandpa didn\'t stop you from doing so. I won\'t force you to repent either. However, this won\'t stop me from scolding you and calling you a prodigal grandson."

The corners of Li Xisheng\'s lips curled up into a smile.

The old man placed his hands on the armrests of the chair, and he appeared slightly tired as he remarked in emotion, "This is the limit of my abilities, and I only advanced to the 10th tier after gambling with my life and experiencing many dangers. There\'s no need for me to dream about reaching the Upper Five Tiers. Xisheng, Grandpa won\'t be able to do anything for you in the future."

Li Xisheng hurriedly stood up and said in a quiet voice, "Don\'t say this, Grandpa. You\'ve already done your absolute best."

The old man stood up and walked around the table. He helped his eldest grandson straighten his collar, and he said, "Regardless of whether you go to Complete Reed Continent or not, and whether you abandon Confucianism to pursue Daoism in the future or not, you\'ll always be grandpa\'s good grandson. There are countless principles pertaining to how one should conduct oneself in the world, but I\'m confident that my grandson will definitely be a very upright person — always, no matter what!"

Li Xisheng could feel his eyes becoming slightly watery, and he nodded in earnest before taking two steps back and bowing as deep as he could. "To teach through words and deeds, and to have a sincere heart and a righteous attitude — our Li Clan won\'t lose to anyone in this area!"

"Of course you won\'t, and of course Little Baoping won\'t either," the old man murmured.

However, he made no mention of Li Baozhen, who was widely regarded as the smartest of his three grandchildren.

————

The Great Li Empire\'s Palace of Eternal Spring was the only top-notch force in the Great Li Empire where there were more female cultivators than males.

Thus, the imperial concubine[9] of the Great Li Empire who had once wielded great power decided to cultivate in this place. She seldom went out, and she was accompanied by her son, Prince Song He.

The emperor of the Great Li Empire didn\'t have many children, and he only had a dozen or so sons and daughters in total. There weren\'t too many, and he didn\'t need to worry about the continuation of his lineage either. Ever since the death of the previous empress, the emperor had left the position of empress vacant. The officials in the imperial court had indeed complained about this, and this was especially the case with the officials from the Ministry of Rites. They had privately raised this with the emperor many times, yet he had casually tossed their letters aside each time.

Moreover, the Great Li Empire\'s expedition to the south was progressing smoothly at the moment, and this helped to attract much of the imperial court\'s attention. Thus, there were only some odd conversations here and there, and there weren\'t any large-scale conversations or debates regarding who should become the next empress and crown prince.

However, once the result of the expedition became a foregone conclusion, the officials of the Great Li Empire would have the right to dream about ruling over half of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent even if they didn\'t dare to claim it as theirs yet. At that time, the imperial court would naturally feel an urge to appoint a new empress and to appoint the crown prince.

This was for the benefit of the Great Li Empire, and this was also an extremely large gamble for everyone involved. This was a test of who had better judgment. The earlier one placed a correct wager, the higher one\'s position would be in the future imperial court of the Great Li Empire.

However, the situation with the Imperial Song Clan was truly confusing and elusive at this moment, so even the most intelligent and cunning officials in the imperial court didn\'t dare to carelessly make a wager.

Song Changjing had an extremely good reputation in the army, and he even had the right to act on the emperor\'s behalf now. Indeed, this power had been given to him by none other than the emperor himself. This was simply unfathomable.

Perhaps the emperor intended to abdicate and pass his position to his younger brother? Perhaps he wasn\'t planning to give the throne to any of the princes?

However, even though the emperor wasn\'t necessarily very hard-working or closely involved with everything, and he was more than willing to delegate many important responsibilities to his officials, he definitely wasn’t a lazy emperor who shirked his responsibilities. If anyone dared to think this, then they would either be a madman or a fool. In the talented imperial court of the Great Li Empire, there was genuinely no one who belonged to these two categories.

The 15th day of the first lunar month arrived, and this was the day of the Lantern Festival where there was still a strong atmosphere of the new year. Everyone came out to celebrate, and many people went to enjoy the light shows and festive atmosphere. However, it was at this moment that the Great Li Empire experienced a sudden and unexpected change.

Squad after squad of elite soldiers from the Great Li Empire rushed out in unison from all places in the capital city — the imperial palace, the imperial city, the inner city, the outer city, the extravagant mansions of wealthy clans, the unremarkable homes of ordinary commoners, many time-honored taverns and restaurants, and numerous shops and Daoist temples.

In addition to the soldiers, there were also high-level martial secretaries who were extremely skilled at close-quarter combat, warriors who were secretly raised by the Ministry of Rites and didn\'t fear death, as well as many Qi refiners from the Ministry of Astronomy and other places. These people were divided among all of the different groups of soldiers, and they all forcefully barged into their target locations and killed anyone who dared to resist.

If no one came forward to greet them, the officials from the Ministry of Astronomy would guide the soldiers and others to dismantle and remove all kinds of items — the tall archways, the peach wood talismans hanging outside the gates, the stone lions sitting beside the gates, the plaques hanging above the ancestral halls as well as the memorial tablets inside, and so on and so forth. They targeted all kinds of items, and they didn\'t let anything escape their grasp.

On this night, Song Changjing personally sat guard on the main road in the outer city all the way from dusk until dawn. He was sitting on a chair in an unrestrained manner, and his eyes were shut as he rested his mind.

Standing beside Song Changjing was the leading figure of Mohism who had now left the White Jade Capital, Luan Changye.

Song Changjing had only attacked a single time during the night, and he had blocked a streak of light that had been attempting to flee. The monarch of the Great Li Empire had shattered that streak of light with a single punch.

Afterward, Song Changjing had engaged in a hearty battle with that person in the northwestern region of the outer city. His punches had been magnificent, and they had caused bursts of treasured light to soar into the air and illuminate the light sky. In fact, these bursts of treasured light were even more radiant than tens of thousands of lights put together. Their battle had obliterated a thousand or so buildings and killed almost 10,000 people. Wails of agony and grief echoed across the streets of the outer city.

The emperor had already left the capital city to visit Cloud Drape Mountain, so the atmosphere in the capital became extremely delicate and peculiar after the unexpected and earth-shaking battle. In fact, many of the central officials wouldn\'t feel too astonished even if Song Changjing immediately dispatched subordinates around the city to declare to everyone that he was the new emperor of the Great Li Empire from now on.

Everyone in the capital feared for their own safety.

In the Palace of Eternal Spring not far away from the capital of the Great Li Empire, powerful Qi refiners of high seniority slowly returned from the capital one after another. All of them were calm and unfazed even though they reeked of blood and radiated murderous auras. As such, the Palace of Eternal Spring remained largely peaceful and undisturbed.

Inside a thatched cottage located halfway up the mountain, a woman who had removed her exquisite palace attire gazed out at the numerous figures who were returning to locations all over the Palace of Eternal Spring. She felt slightly aggrieved and angry because she had been demoted from a Go player to nothing more than a spectator. Moreover, she was a pitiful spectator who could only observe the Go game from very far away. Indeed, she was angry at the fact that she had actually let slip this opportunity to achieve an ambitious goal, one that would have etched her name in the history books.

The woman gritted her teeth. However, a graceful young boy smiled and walked over, and he lightly held her hand and consoled her. "Mother, the wind is too strong outside, and it\'s much warmer inside the cottage. It won\'t be too late to observe things when the wind subsides."

The woman grabbed her son\'s hand, and she squinted her beautiful and intense eyes and replied in a low voice, "He\'er, I\'ll definitely give you what should have originally belonged to you. You\'ll get everything back, with interest!"

The young boy had a childish and innocent appearance that was seemingly innate, and he said in a pure voice, "But Mother, didn\'t the emperor tell us that regardless of how big or small the matter, only he could decide whether to give it away or not? And that we would never have the right to decide whether we wanted it or not?"

The woman\'s lips trembled slightly, and it was as if she were experiencing so much grief and pain that she wanted to cry. However, her long eyebrows were also raised, as if she were happily daydreaming about something.

1. The character in question (嘉) means good, happiness, splendid, and so on. ☜

2. The character in question (桃) means peach. ☜

3. A saying from the \'Records of the Grand Historian\', a monumental history of China that is the first of China\'s 24 dynastic histories. On a surface level, this means that peaches and pears are delicious, so many people walk over to pick the fruits, eventually causing a path to form. On a symbolic level, this represents sincere and honest people being able to win the hearts of others. ☜

4. A partial line from the \'Classic of Poetry\' that is a metaphor for the beauty of a young girl. ☜

5. Another idiom to describe a girl\'s beauty. ☜

6. An idiom used to describe someone or something as extremely ordinary and unremarkable. The Chinese character for pear (李) is also the surname Li. ☜

7. An idiom that refers to the reciprocation of gifts or goodwill. Again, the character for pear (李) is the same as the surname Li. ☜

8. As the idiom suggests, this means to sacrifice something of lesser value to save something of greater value. This is also one of the \'Thirty-Six Stratagems\' in ancient China, a work similar to the \'Art of War\'. As explained before, the character for pear is the same as the surname Li, hence the anger from Li Hong\'s wife. ☜

9. Song Jixin\'s mother, who was incorrectly referred to as the empress before. ☜