Chapter 456 (1): The True Bamboo Scroll Lake
On the journey back north.
Chen Ping'an was resting atop his horse on the summit of a nameless mountain. From here, he was planning to go to the nearest immortal ferry station to travel back to the Dragon Spring Prefecture by ship. Taking advantage of the bright sun hanging high up in the sky, he laid out the bamboo slips that had been left untouched for a very long time.
The slips were crafted from a diverse range of bamboo materials, including bamboo from Go Table Mountain and Azure Divine Mountain, as well as normal green bamboo found in the wilderness and purple bamboo from Purple Bamboo Island in Bamboo Scroll Lake.
The nearby area was filled with undulating mountains, but nestled between them was an ancient road for merchant use, and there were still some traveling merchants making use of this road.
Chen Ping'an intentionally chose a small path to follow, traveling over several kilometers of rugged mountain path to arrive on this mountain summit to lay out his bamboo slips under the sun.
After laying out all of his bamboo slips, Chen Ping'an sat on his haunches nearby with an absentminded look in his eyes.
He couldn't help but develop a throbbing headache whenever he thought of all of the debt that he accrued.
He took a sip of wine while internally consoling himself, telling himself that once he returned to the Dragon Spring Prefecture, he would be able to accumulate an incredible amount of wealth with Wei Bo's help, and at that point, these debts would be completely insignificant to him.
With that in mind, he gave himself a slap to the cheek as a gesture of encouragement and reinvigoration.
He then turned to discover an elderly Confucian scholar panting heavily as he stood in the distance. He had encountered the elderly scholar earlier on the way here, and at the moment, the scholar was looking at him with a bewildered expression, having just witnessed him slapping himself for no apparent reason, and it seemed that he was considering fleeing the scene for fear that he had run into a madman.
At the time, Chen Ping'an had passed the elderly scholar and his scholarly attendant on horseback, and judging from their breathing and footsteps, it seemed that they were both ordinary people. Of course, if they were actually powerful cultivators who were concealing their powers for some reason, then that was none of Chen Ping'an's business.