Unsheathed

After Chen Ping'an returned to the plank roads, Zhu Lian discovered that his young master who had used some small tricks to soar through the sky was radiating with a slightly different aura.

This was an extremely mystical feeling.

In fact, it was only after interacting with Chen Ping'an for an extended period of time that Zhu Lian could notice these kinds of subtle changes. It was like... the spring breeze sending ripples through a pond.

Chen Ping'an told Pei Qian, who had waited a very long time for him, to go to bed first, and he surprisingly called Zhu Lian over for a drink in a very rare display. The two of them sat cross-legged on the cliff beyond the plank road, and Zhu Lian asked with a smile, "Young Master, you look quite happy? Is this because it felt very good to soar through the sky on your sword?"

"Do you still remember Cao Ci?" Chen Ping'an asked.

Zhu Lian smiled and replied, "How can I forget this name? Young Master lost three consecutive battles against him at the Sword Qi Great Wall, and he managed to make Young Master accept the defeats wholeheartedly. I feel a strong urge to visit him tomorrow and smash him to death with one or two punches, lest he compete with Young Master for the martial fortune of the world in the future. That way, he won't delay Young Master from reaching the Martial God Tier, the legendary eleventh tier."

Chen Ping'an paid no heed to Zhu Lian's obsequious words of praise and jokes, and he casually took a sip of wine as he replied, "I don't know whether it's a false perception or not, but it seems like Cao Ci might have broken through again."

"Then why is Young Master still feeling happy?" Zhu Lian asked in puzzlement. "The title of number one in the world can't belong to two people at the same time. Of course, it's still far too early for Young Master and Cao Ci to consider this title."

Chen Ping'an took a sip of Old Flood Dragon Yearning Wine from his Sword Nurturing Gourd and asked, "Why do pure martial artists like us practice fist techniques and other martial arts techniques?"

Zhu Lian smiled and replied, "Naturally for the sake of achieving great liberation and great freedom — we can do whatever we want to do, and we can say no to whatever we don't want to do. Even though the strongest individuals in the history of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land each had their own goals and aspirations, they were all aligned in their pursuit of these overarching notions of liberation and freedom.

"In this sense, Sui Youbian, Lu Baixiang, Wei Xian, and I were all the same. However, the Lotus Flower Blessed Land was only a small place, after all, so our understanding of longevity and immortality was shallow even though we were already standing at the apex of the world. As such, we never pondered too deeply on this matter, especially since we were oblivious to the existence of a so-called higher world.