Chapter 379: (1): Omen
There was abnormal yin energy and a murderous aura contained within the heavy downpour, and Chen Ping'an had revealed this to the others with a few simple words. But what proved critical in having the Great Marsh Gang and Blusher Hall stop their trivial argument wasn't Chen Ping'an persuading them against burning bridges and making their cultivation paths narrower, nor was it the Yang Energy Illumination Talisman that he had used. Instead, it was his remark that the immortals from the Golden Osmanthus Temple hadn't come out to address the situation yet.
This implied that the Golden Osmanthus Temple was either planning first and making a move later, purposely appearing weak to draw their enemies out, or the Daoists there were genuinely weaker than their enemies and could only hide in the temple to avoid any conflict.
No matter which of these two situations was true, the women from the Lofty Sky Nation's Blusher Hall were unwilling to become involved in a fight between immortals and potentially sacrifice themselves, even if they were acquainted with the old immortal from the Golden Osmanthus Temple.
As for Old Demon Zhu Fengxian who had once caused bloodshed in the cultivation worlds of several nations, he was even more experienced and prudent. He was climbing Azure Waist Mountain in the hopes of building a relationship with the temple for the sake of his granddaughter's cultivation. The Daoist temple would also gain a prized disciple, so this was simply a case of both parties satisfying their own needs. The Great Marsh Gang would never bow its head to other people, and Zhu Fengxian naturally wasn't willing to become a lackey for the Golden Osmanthus Temple.
Chen Ping'an returned to his original spot, and Pei Qian appeared like an obsequious lackey as she brought a small stone slab from some unknown place and offered it to Chen Ping'an as a small stool. She squatted on the ground and furiously cleaned the dirt from the stone slab as she looked up and consoled, "It's okay, Master, you still appeared very elegant and refined. There were only some slight blemishes during the end game, but these blemishes can be ignored and treated as negligible."
Pei Qian had learned the concept of end game from constantly watching games of Go between Lu Baixiang and other people. In fact, Pei Qian had learned many things through her constant interaction with the four martial artists from the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. For example, she had learned about military formations from Old Man Wei, who had claimed that there was no such thing as single-line formations or dragon gate formations on the battlefield. Rather, formations simply came down to organizing the ranks and making sure that the vertical lines and horizontal lines were adhered to. In the end, it was down to each person's own ability to kill their enemies amid the chaos.
Pei Qian had also learned some rules about musical instruments and Go from Little Bai, and she had learned how to cook a few wine-accompanying dishes from Zhu Lian. Seeing that Pei Qian always helped and was relatively hard-working, Zhu Lian had rewarded her with a novel about wandering martial artists in the cultivation world. Pei Qian was engrossed by this novel, so much so that she almost forgot to eat and sleep. In addition to this, she had also learned many code phrases pertaining to the cultivation world from Sui Youbian. For example, "This road is mine, and these trees were planted by me. If you want to pass, then pay up!" There was also "Impudent bandit, you dare to block my path and rob me? Eat my spear!" and so on.
Zhang Shanfeng glanced at the thick curtain of rain outside, and he felt slightly anxious as he said in a quiet voice, "This downpour filled with yin energy has been going on for such a long time already. Even Qi refiners at the Sea Observation Tier might not be able to sustain it for such a long time. Of course, this is unless they set up a rain-summoning formation.
"However, if this downpour is genuinely caused by a formation rather than the mystical abilities of Qi refiners, then the amount of money required is so exorbitant that they may as well scatter snowflake coins from the sky. In other words, it's more likely that this is being orchestrated by a Qi refiner at the Dragon Gate Tier. I wonder what cultivation bases the Daoist priests from the Golden Osmanthus Temple have? Can they deal with this yin rain that's affecting the fortune of this area?"