Unsheathed

Chapter 400 (2): Returning North from the Long Journey

Chapter 400 (2): Returning North from the Long Journey

Upon first arriving at the Great Sui Nation's Mountain Cliff Academy to study, Li Huai had been severely bullied by his classmates and the other students. However, there was always brightness after gloom, and not only did the bullying eventually stop, but he even managed to make two new friends. They were the same age as him, and one was a talented student from a poor family, Liu Guan.

The other was the descendant of a wealthy clan in the Great Sui Nation, Ma Lian.

Liu Guan was extremely bold and courageous even though he was from a poor family, and he would always come up with peculiar and unrestrained thoughts. On the other hand, it was surprisingly Ma Lian who was timid and cowardly even though he came from the most well-off family of the three friends. He was always hesitant and nervous, and this caused him to become a little lackey of Liu Guan and Li Huai, always following them around and playing with them.

Ma Lian was from a first-rate clan in the Great Sui Nation, one which was related through marriage to the Geyang Gao Clan. Not only that, but Ma Lian was also a direct descendant and the eldest grandson. Thus, many students in the Great Sui Nation's Mountain Cliff Academy ostracized and ridiculed him now that he was hanging out with Li Huai and Liu Guan, calling him a pathetic lackey and a money bag.

Summer arrived, and the three children who were in the same year, same class, and same dorm continued to sneak out of their dorm even when the academy started to enforce a night curfew. They went to the lakeside to cool down, and this was an act that would earn them a good scolding and the punishment of transcribing texts, standing in a corner, and rulers to the palm if they were caught by a teacher.

Liu Guan led the way tonight, and he walked with a confident swagger as if he were a teacher on night patrol on the academy grounds. Li Huai looked around in a relatively cautious manner, while Ma Lian had a reluctant expression as he hung his head and carefully followed behind Li Huai.

The three of them arrived at the lake without a hitch, and Liu Guan took off his boots and dipped his feet into the slightly cool lake water. However, he felt like something was still missing, so he turned to his relieved friend and said, "Ma Lian, it's so humid and hot in summer, and if I remember correctly, isn't your Ma Clan regarded as having the best fan collection in the capital? When you return home, remember to grab three fans and give Li Huai and me one fan each. That way, we can cool ourselves down when we do homework after class."

There was a pitiable expression on Ma Lian's face as he replied, "My grandpa cherishes those fans the most, and he treats each fan like a treasure close to his heart. He won't give them to me."

Liu Guan rolled his eyes and said, "Then just steal a few fans that your grandpa doesn't look at often. Even if he finds out, will he truly beat you to death?"

Ma Lian truly wanted to cry.

Li Huai smoothed things over and said, "Forget about it. Ma Lian is a scaredy-cat, and his expression always gives him away. If he truly goes home to steal a few fans, it's extremely likely that his mom and dad will immediately notice something amiss."

Ma Lian vigorously nodded in agreement.

Liu Guan sighed and lamented, "What a waste of your good background. You can't do this, and you don't dare to do that. If you ask me, Ma Lian, I'd say that you won't achieve much even when you grow older. At most, you'll simply continue to live off your clan's wealth. After all, your grandpa is the Ministry of Revenue's head minister and the great scholar of the Lingying Hall, while your father is only a prefectural overseer in the regions and your uncle is only a measly seal overseeing official even though he's still in the capital. Following this pattern, you'll probably be nothing more than a county magistrate when it's your turn to become an official."

Ma Lian sighed again and again, not retorting his friend as he spoke. He didn't have the courage to argue with Liu Guan, and he didn't think that Liu Guan was wrong in the first place.

Of the three of them, Liu Guan was scolded the most by the teachers, but even a blind idiot could tell that the teachers actually had the highest hopes and expectations for Liu Guan. They were neutral toward Ma Lian, and his results were slightly better than that of Li Huai, who was always at the bottom of the cohort.

Li Huai patted Ma Lian's shoulder and consoled, "Becoming a county magistrate is already very impressive. Over at my hometown, the highest-ranking official used to be a kiln supervision official, and it was only recently that we finally got a county magistrate. In any case, you'll still be our friend regardless of how high-ranking or low-ranking your official position is. If you become a low-ranking official, Liu Guan and I will definitely still be your friend. If you become a high-ranking official, however, make sure not to forget about us, okay?"

"I definitely won't forget you guys," Ma Lian hurriedly promised. "I'll always treat the two of you as my best friends."

Liu Guan chuckled and asked, "Between me and Li Huai, who would you say your best friend is?"

Ma Lian was dumbfounded, and he felt like his answer would be wrong no matter what he said. Even though he admired Liu Guan's talent and smarts as well as his maturity and resoluteness, deep down in his heart, he still enjoyed hanging out with Li Huai more. Li Huai was more easy-going and less incisive, and he wouldn't pick on him and make him feel ashamed and inferior all the time.

Li Huai smiled and placed his feet in the water, causing him to immediately shiver and draw a sharp. He laughed and said, "I'll take second place and give first place to Liu Guan. I won't compete with him, especially since he comes first in everything anyway."

Liu Guan wrapped his arm around Li Huai's shoulders and chuckled, "You're speaking as if you're purposely conceding first place to me. Can you beat me anyway?"

Li Huai hurriedly begged for mercy, replying, "No, I can't beat you. Anyway, why are you trying to compete with someone whose results are always at the bottom of the cohort, Liu Guan? Don't you find this embarrassing?"

Ma Lian smiled in secret.

At the end of the day, this was a peaceful and carefree period of the three children's lives.

The angry bellow of a teacher suddenly traveled over from the distance. Liu Guan pushed Li Huai and Ma Lian's shoulders, saying, "You guys run first, I'll hold the bulbous-nosed Mr. Han back!"

Ma Lian immediately sprinted for his life without uttering a single word. In fact, he was running away barefoot.

Li Huai picked Ma Lian's boots up and asked, "Then what about you?"

Liu Guan shot a glare at him and exclaimed, "Hurry up and run! Or else our punishment will be even more severe if we're all caught together! We'll be absolutely screwed tomorrow!"

Li Huai hurriedly put on his boots and ran away in a steadier manner than Ma Lian. He had walked all the way from the Great Li Empire's Dragon Spring Prefecture to the Great Sui Nation's Mountain Cliff Academy, after all.

In the end, Liu Guan stayed back by himself to face the wrath of Mr. Han who was on night patrol duty today. If it weren't for Liu Guan correctly answering all of Mr. Han's questions regarding his studies, the old teacher could have punished him to standing beside the lake for the entire night.

Li Huai opened the door for Liu Guan when his friend returned to the dorm, and he asked, "How was it?"

Liu Guan raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, replying with a smug expression, "There's nothing in the world that I, Liu Guan, can't deal with."

Li Huai was extremely perceptive, and he asked, "Aren't you left-handed?"

Liu Guan immediately cursed and sat down beside the table, spreading open his left hand which was already red and swollen. There was anger on his face as he replied, "Old Drunkard Han was definitely suppressing his anger about something. Either the wine in the capital went up in price, or his two unworthy grandchildren went and caused trouble again. He used me to vent his anger, and he swung his ruler especially hard tonight."

There were many sets of eyes on him, and there were also numerous trivial matters for him to deal with daily.

As an illegitimate son of a petty official from Dragon Spring Prefecture, Lin Shouyi neither felt conceited and satisfied nor annoyed and troubled.

Cultivating the mind was also one aspect of cultivation.

The harder one was willing to work to temper one's mind, the fewer imperfections one would have when advancing tiers in the future.

Due to his many journeys around the nation, Lin Shouyi had seen and heard a lot regarding the winds of change sweeping through the imperial court of the Great Sui Nation. Once the most prosperous and flourishing nation in the northern region of the continent, the Great Sui Nation was now gripped by an atmosphere of grief and sorrow.

However, Lin Shouyi wasn't interested in any of these things.

In fact, he wasn't even interested in the heavy cavalry of his home nation, the Great Li Empire, marching south and smashing through enemy nations like a sword splitting bamboo.

Apart from the lightning techniques taught to him by that old teacher from the academy, Lin Shouyi also spent a lot of time and effort to diligently study the Recite Atop Clouds Scripture which he had obtained from Go Table Mountain.

Not long ago, Lin Shouyi had traveled to the Northern Mountain of the Great Sui Nation and an immortal abode called Divine Cloud Mountain with the old teacher. Their journey had taken three months, and Lin Shouyi had traveled on an immortal boat for the first time in his life. This was in order to observe a thundercloud from close up.

The view had been magnificent and soul-stirring, and the old teacher had left the swaying immortal boat and soared through the sky, displaying his mystical abilities that allowed him to catch lightning with his bare hands. He placed the crackling arcs of lightning into an immortal bottle — a Thunder Belly Bottle — that was especially used to hold lightning, and he gave it to Lin Shouyi as a present, telling the young man that he could use it to absorb spiritual energy when he returned to the academy to cultivate.

Today, Lin Shouyi walked under the night sky by himself, heading to the scripture library to study some texts. The teachers on night patrol duty naturally wouldn't stop him. The Confucian academy had many rules, but it wasn't pedantic and stubborn about upholding them regardless of the situation.

Lin Shouyi entered the scripture library and lit a lamp, reading all the way until the following morning.

After becoming a Qi refiner, Lin Shouyi could read for an entire night without becoming tired as long as he nurtured his mind and Qi properly.

Lin Shouyi put a book away and walked to the window. This was exactly the moment when the murky Qi of heaven and earth was sinking and the fresh Qi was rising.

The world seen by Qi refiners was completely different from the world seen by mortal humans.

The naked eyes of mortal humans couldn't see the circulation of spiritual energy, the rising of murderous aura, the gathering of yang energy, or the dispersion of yin energy.

With the front gates to their internal cave abodes tightly shut, mortal humans were unable to absorb spiritual energy and temper their bodies, thereby being unable to extend their lifespan. At the same time, however, this also meant that mortal humans wouldn't be affected by the numerous types of chaotic astral wind blustering through the world. Their birth, old age, illnesses, and deaths would all be decided by the heavens.

Cui Dongshan had once composed a poem.

It was a poem that made Lin Shouyi feel a strong sense of yearning.

Winds howling and waves roaring, I ride atop the Moon Palace and freely travel ten thousand li. Soaring through magnificent immortal abodes, gazing down at the misty lands below. Drunk, I shake the osmanthus tree on the moon, giving rise to a cool breeze in the mortal world.[1]

After entering Mountain Cliff Academy and flipping through those yellowing ancient texts, Lin Shouyi discovered many legends about ancient immortals genuinely being able to travel to the Sun Palace and Moon Palace, where they would then enjoy immortal wine with the gods and become drunk for hundreds upon thousands of years.

Lin Shouyi was filled with yearning for such an experience.

However, he suddenly heaved a soft sight.

If such a day truly came, then he wished that a certain beautiful young woman would be accompanying him as well.

A smile involuntarily stretched across Lin Shouyi's face when he thought of her.

If the young women in the capital of the Great Sui Nation saw this, it was very likely that their hearts would flutter in adoration.

During these past few years, Lin Shouyi would occasionally recall the long journey that he had embarked on during his youth. He was slightly befuddled at the time, and they had faced more surprises than actual dangers on the way.

Everything had been new and exciting to him, and it was the first time that he had come across ghosts and spirits in the mountains and rivers, the first time he had seen a mountain lord, the first time he had obtained a fated opportunity pertaining to cultivation, the first time he had stayed in an immortal inn brimming with immortal qi, the first time he had seen painted door gods that were as tall as people, the first time he had received a small bookcase and a jade hairpin as gifts, and the first time he had banded together with his travel companions in the unfamiliar academy of the Great Sui Nation to overcome challenges and adversaries together.

Lin Shouyi suddenly felt a slight sense of disappointment.

It was as if everyone had scattered and grown distant following the departure of that person. Even though they were studying in the same academy and would often meet up, it was without a doubt that they had already drifted apart.

It was as if a clear spring were splitting apart and going in several different directions, with each body of water growing larger and more powerful. There were cheerful streams like Li Huai, there were vast and mighty rivers like him, and there were calm and voluntarily unmoving lakes like Li Baoping. Of course, there were also deep wells and underground rivers like Yu Lu and Xie Xie.

Looking back, however, all of them had been boisterous while stumbling over a myriad of obstacles back then. They had all been knee-deep in mud, and they had all been wearing straw sandals and carrying bamboo bookcases while camping in the wilderness and guarding the night for each other...

Lin Shouyi heaved a soft sigh.

There was no going back.

1. This is a poem (清平乐·五月十五夜玩月) by Liu Kezhuang, a Song Dynasty Chinese poet and literary critic. ☜