Chapter 520 (1): Pleased to Meet You
It was late at night, and after pushing through her initial exhaustion, Sui Jingcheng surprisingly didn't feel sleepy anymore. The fantastical novels talked about a type of people called night owls, and she felt like she belonged to this category of people right now.
The breathing techniques recorded in the small book all required cultivation at noon, although the specific time for cultivation would vary slightly depending on the different solar terms. There were four extremely moving words at the end of the book: Ascending during the day.
When parting ways on the official road before, the old assistant minister had taken off the extremely thin bamboo Dao robe and returned it to his daughter. While reluctantly bidding farewell, the old assistant minister had privately warned his daughter that she needed to conduct herself in a proper manner and maintain a good attitude since it was thanks to the blessings of the Sui Clan's ancestors that she was now fortunate enough to cultivate immortal techniques with a sword immortal. She shouldn't act all high and mighty like the young maiden of a wealthy family anymore, or else she would be trampling on the hidden virtue of her ancestors.
Chen Ping'an continued to practice the monotonous fist stance the entire time.
Sui Jingcheng stood up and collected some more dry branches from the surroundings, emulating Chen Ping'an's behavior from before and drying them out beside the campfire first, making sure all of the moisture was evaporated. She didn't toss the branches into the campfire straight away.
Sui Jingcheng had faced a bumpy ride when cultivating over the past few years, encountering many obstacles on the way. She had also lacked a good teacher to guide her, so she had only managed to somewhat master the mystical ability that allowed her to use the three golden hairpins as if they were flying swords.
As for the rest of the small book, it was as if the contents were stating the purpose and principles of some Daoist scripture, appearing far too lofty and high-level. This caused her to feel extremely confused. Just as the sword immortal had said before, the principles were inevitably lofty and intangible. With no one to help her review these principles and explain their meaning to her, Sui Jingcheng was unable to make heads or tails of them even though she had started to earnestly study the small book ever since she was very young. As a result, she was still stuck at the pinnacle of the second tier even though she was already in her early thirties.
In reality, Sui Jingcheng was slightly hesitant about whether she should actively take out the bamboo Dao robe, the golden hairpins, and the small book, the three immortal items in her possession. She didn't mind showing these items to the incredibly powerful sword immortal, but she was very afraid that the senior would mistake her actions for being a small trick with ulterior motives. After all, she had already overcooked things more than once.
Chen Ping'an stopped his fist stance and sat back down in front of the campfire, reaching his hand over and saying, "Show me the items. I'll help you clear up this matter on your mind."
Sui Jingcheng carefully reached into her sleeve and retrieved three golden hairpins as well as a flawless small book that appeared as good as new. The small book had no sign of wear, and its title was written in ancient seal script and read, Upper Lofty Mystical Mystery.
"Senior, these hairpins are quite strange," Sui Jingcheng said in a quiet voice. "They've been attached to me ever since I was young, and they'll heat up and become scalding hot whenever someone else holds them. A maidservant attempted to steal the golden hairpins in the past, yet her entire palm was severely burned as a result, causing her to collapse to the ground and roll around in pain. Even though the wound on her palm healed afterward, it was as if she had lost her soul, going between states of clear-headedness and mindlessness. I don't know why this was."
"That's no problem," Chen Ping'an said.