Unsheathed

They came across a group of road-blocking bandits when they navigated through a relatively treacherous section of the road near the capital, and Sui Jingcheng felt like this group of haughty bandits was truly very fortunate...

Chen Ping'an told Sui Jingcheng to casually launch an attack, and a single flying-sword-like golden hairpin was all it took to make the bandits wet their pants in fright and scurry away.

Afterward, Chen Ping'an snuck near the mountain village with Sui Jingcheng, where they saw simple and crude houses, crowing roosters, barking dogs, curling smoke from chimneys, and a skinny child flying an old and torn paper kite. One of the bandits was squatting on the side of the path and grinning, and standing beside him was a short old man wearing tattered green clothes and angrily scolding the man for being incompetent.

If they failed to earn money soon, it wouldn't be long before the village was unable to put food on the table. At that time, the little pipsqueaks didn't need to dream about studying or whatnot, as their tummies would grumble even louder than their voices when they were reciting books at school. The man scratched his head sheepishly, replying that the young lady was truly very powerful and most likely a fabled immortal from the mountains. If it weren't for them running fast enough, then they would have been beaten to death today instead of being starved to death in the future.

Chen Ping'an silently left with Sui Jingcheng, returning to their carriage and continuing their journey to the capital of the Five Mountain Nation.

Sui Jingcheng didn't feel sleepy when night arrived, so she sat sideways outside the carriage and gazed at the forest beside the road.

"I initially wanted to kill all of those bandits when I saw them blocking the road to rob people. Senior, would I have made a mistake if I genuinely did that?" Sui Jingcheng murmured to herself.

"No, you wouldn't have been wrong," Chen Ping'an replied with a shake of his head.

"Then after witnessing their difficult life, would I be wrong to toss them a pouch of gold and silver coins if I encounter them on the road again?" Sui Jingcheng asked.

Chen Ping'an smiled and replied, "You wouldn't be wrong, but you wouldn't be right either."

Sui Jingcheng suddenly felt slightly diffident.

"I said before that I'm only lending those gold and silver coins to you, so I won't say anything about what you do with them. You don't need to worry about me interrogating you for secretly leaving the coins outside the mountain village."