Unsheathed

It took them around an hour to go to the river guardian temple to offer incense. The temple wasn't close, but Chen Ping'an wasn't feeling too worried about this. Instead, it was the incense provider who started to feel a little guilty. At the same time, he became increasingly curious about Chen Ping'an's background.

Old farmers went into the fields to look at their crops, while woodsmen went into the mountains to search for firewood. Since mountain dwellers lived off the mountain and shore dwellers lived off the waters, it was only natural that different people saw things very differently. This man was a vagrant cultivator from the mountains, and he was also working as an incense provider at the same time. As a result, he would come across more cultivators than ordinary people.

Moreover, the Azure Phoenix Nation was quite different from most of the other empires and nations in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. The imperial court had a very close relationship with the mountains, and it would never deliberately elevate the standings of immortal forces and clans for no reason.

There were still many conflicts inside the mountains and outside the mountains, but the emperor would always display his impressive boldness and might to resolve these issues. As a result, those in the Azure Phoenix Nation—especially those from wealthy clans—were all extremely familiar with all manner of strange and peculiar spirits and ghosts.

Because of this, citizens of the Azure Phoenix Nation were particularly haughty and thought very highly of themselves.

Today, as with the past few days, countless officials and wealthy nobles surged into the Azure Phoenix Nation again. Thanks to the grand debate between Buddhism and Daoism that had captured the attention of the entire nation, the Azure Phoenix Nation was now the hottest topic in the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

The incense provider's cultivation base was low, only at the third tier. When he had enough coins in his money pouch, he would invite two or three good friends over to drink and chat. During their times, he discovered that his sense of superiority as a citizen of the Azure Phoenix Nation was no inferior to his sense of superiority as a third-tier Qi refiner.

This was most likely a sense of pride for his home nation.

However, the incense provider didn't dare to guarantee whether or not he would become like those official immortals after he advanced to the Middle Five Tiers.

Even though he daydreamed about this, he understood that his beautiful dreams were nothing more than that—distant dreams, at this moment. At the end of the day, he had to take things one step at a time, just like he had to eat the rice in his bowl one mouthful at a time. For example, his current priority was to do his best to win over these outsiders.

Of the four travelers, the young man carrying a bamboo bookcase and a sword on his back was walking in front. He was clearly the leader, and his nimble footsteps and dignified aura signified that he was most likely an official immortal. However, he was undoubtedly from a wealthy noble family. Moreover, he definitely hadn't entered the mountains to cultivate at a young age.