Unsheathed

To the surprise of Zhu Lian and Zheng Dafeng, Chen Ping'an ended up walking out of the bamboo building completely unscathed.

Chen Ping'an then sat at a stone bench near the mountain cliff for an entire night, only returning to the first floor of the bamboo building to sleep when morning arrived.

Zhu Lian continued to visit the second floor to enjoy himself for the next two days, and just as they expected, Chen Ping'an indeed went to look for Zheng Dafeng. However, he wasn't able to find him, so he hesitated for a short while before returning to the mountain peak.

Over at the sword chamber located at Ox Horn Mountain's ferry station, messenger flying swords for Chen Ping'an started to gradually arrive one after another.

The first letter was a reply from Cyan Gorge Island's Liu Zhimao, saying that the Spring Courtyard Mansion's Hong Su was no longer working as an official in the residence. She had returned to the Vermilion Chord Residence to work as a doorkeeper, and Liu Laocheng's only remark was that he would go with the flow of nature. Cyan Gorge Island only needed to guarantee that she wouldn't suffer any hardships and calamities in her life.

In addition, construction work to rebuild the Hengbo Residence had already commenced, yet Zhang Ye had seemingly taken the wrong medicine and had surprisingly chosen to leave Cyan Gorge Island. He had only asked Liu Zhimao for a low-level guest elder jade tablet as well as a secret immortal scripture and one immortal treasure. Afterward, he ran off to the small and unknown force located on Descending Falcon Mountain, concealing his true identity and becoming a guest elder.

At the end of the letter, Liu Zhimao offered Chen Ping'an two choices. He had promised Chen Ping'an abundant gifts if he managed to make it through this difficult time safely, so Chen Ping'an could either wait for him to instruct his subordinates to deliver these abundant gifts to Dragon Spring Prefecture, or he could directly wipe off the debts that he owed Cyan Gorge Island for the two transactions that he had made with the secret chamber.

Chen Ping'an gave a very simple and concise reply using a messenger flying sword: The debts between us are clear.

As for the fate of White Fish Island's Tian Hujun and the others, Chen Ping'an didn't ask about them at all.

The second letter was from Bejeweled Hairpin Island's Liu Chongrun. She revealed a secret to Chen Ping'an, saying that the old woman at the Golden Core Tier had only been forcefully holding on by a single breath. Her golden core had already decayed, and her heart had been tense for far too long.

When the dust settled in Bamboo Scroll Lake, with Bejeweled Hairpin Island surprisingly obtaining many benefits instead of suffering calamity, the tense heartstrings of the old woman had finally relaxed. However, the extreme emotion swings from anxiety to delight caused the old woman to finally exhaust the last of her life force, and she eventually passed away this year at the beginning of autumn.