Unsheathed

It was early dawn when a group of travelers from the cultivation world arrived at the city gates of the Colorful Garment Nation's Blusher Prefecture, waiting on their horses for the gates to open. Among them was a well-renowned individual from the martial arts world of the Water Combing Nation, and he slowly rubbed a jade ornament in his palm as he sat on his horse.

He had nothing better to do at this moment, so he looked around at his surroundings, catching sight of a travel-worn young man walking over from the distance. There was a look of exhaustion in his eyes, yet his eyes weren't murky at all. The old man thought to himself that the young man was probably a martial artist, but judging by the imprints left by his footsteps, he most likely wasn't very strong.

The old man's gaze continued to wander around, looking at some women and young maidens nearby. However, it was a shame that most of them were women from the countryside, with their skin dry and their looks ordinary. The old man hoped that the women inside the prefectural city weren't as mediocre as this.

The young man in azure gazed at the large crowd gathered outside the city gates, and he decided to walk over to a breakfast stall rather than squeezing in front of the city gates with everyone else. There were already no empty seats left at the stall, but the young man still asked the stall owner for a serving of steamed white sugar sponge cake and a bowl of congee anyway. After the young man collected his food, the stall owner initially wanted to remind him that he needed to return the bowls and chopsticks after he ate. Upon seeing the sword on the young man's back, however, the stall owner decided to swallow his words and show some extra politeness to this member of the cultivation world.

The young wanderer squatted by the side of the road to eat after paying and collecting his food, and the sponge cake and congee were breakfast sorted for him. He ate extremely slowly, however, and the city gates had already opened by the time he finished eating and returned the cutlery to the stall owner. He then stood in line outside the city gates.

The old man put away the beautiful jade ornament in his hand, and he couldn't help but steal a glance at that junior from the cultivation world again. He smiled to himself, thinking that he had already broken free from such an abject state when he was the same age as this young cultivator.

Chen Ping'an ignored the judgmental gaze of the old man, following the line of people and handing over his travel documents to enter the prefectural city. It wasn't that Chen Ping'an didn't want to ride atop his sword and return to that residence, but he was genuinely exhausted after making a return trip from Blusher Prefecture to Misty Mountain.

If he tried to push on, then he wouldn't be practicing Corpse Sitting anymore, and he would genuinely be a corpse falling down from the sky. Even though sitting meditation would allow him to temper his soul simply by sitting still, damaging his physical body and wounding his vital energy for the sake of this was obviously a bad trade-off. Going too far would also lead to negative consequences.

However, performing sitting meditation when he traveled on his sword in the future was indeed a very good idea.

This was definitely fine in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but it wouldn't necessarily be okay once he arrived at the Northern Complete Reed Continent which was brimming with sword cultivators. After all, that was a place where one could smash the brains out of someone simply because of a reason as absurd as not liking the look of someone.

Chen Ping'an didn't directly go to Wu Shuowen's residence, and he instead paid a visit to the city god pavilion first. Upon arriving, he found that the city god had already been replaced by someone else, and it was no longer the Golden City God, Shen Wen. Chen Ping'an heaved a soft sigh. This couldn't be regarded as the imperial court of the Colorful Garment Nation kicking Shen Wen to the curb after the city god outlived his usefulness, especially since Blusher Prefecture was a critical region of the nation. Following Shen Wen's death, it was necessary for a new city god to be appointed and take responsibility for overseeing the mountains and rivers of the prefecture.