Unsheathed

The next day, the two steeds visited the neighboring mountain god shrine and water god shrine before continuing their journey north.

They were already getting close to the Green Oriole Nation, which was located on the eastern shore of the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

The two steeds traveled slowly, and Chen Ping'an sighed with emotion and remarked, "Heaven and earth like a scorching kiln, the heat of summer like blazing coals; all matter melted and tempered, no human spared from the suffering."[1]

Sui Jingcheng was already on the verge of dozing off, but upon hearing a rare remark from the senior sword immortal, she immediately regained her spirit and asked, "Senior, is this a saying from the mountains? Is there some profound meaning behind this saying?"

Chen Ping'an smiled and shook his head, replying, "No, this is a saying that one of my best friends heard from the old teacher who taught us pottery firing. We were both young at the time, so we simply treated this as an amusing saying. The old man never said these things in front of me, and in reality, it's more accurate to say that he was almost never willing to even speak to me. Even when we ventured deep into the mountains to search for suitable clay for making pottery, staying in the wilderness for ten days to half a month, we would still seldom say more than two or three sentences to each other."

"Senior's immortal force even needed to fire pottery?" Sui Jingcheng exclaimed in astonishment. "These kinds of immortal forces actually exist in the mountains?"

Chen Ping'an suppressed a chuckle and nodded in response, replying, "Yes, of course they exist."

"If that's the case, then doesn't this mean that Senior's good friend possesses even higher cultivation talent?" Sui Jingcheng asked in a careful voice.

"It's hard to say for sure regarding cultivation talent, but my pottery firing skills will never catch up to his in my lifetime," Chen Ping'an replied with a smile. "He might understand the required techniques and processes with a few glances, but I'll need to slowly investigate things for an entire month to reach a decent level of understanding. Even so, my understanding will still be inferior to his."

"Senior, won't there be a lot of pressure being friends with these kinds of people?" Sui Jingcheng asked.

Chen Ping'an merely smiled and offered no response.

The two steeds crossed the border of the Northern Swallow Nation and the Green Oriole Nation, making their way to the immortal ferry station that was only one hundred or so kilometers away.