Unsheathed

Chapter 404 (2): Longing

Chapter 404 (2): Longing

At the Cai Clan's manor in the capital.

At the moment, a large gathering of important figures was taking place.

After securing second place in the imperial examination, Cai Feng was currently considered to be a bright future star, but out of the seven or eight people gathered on this night, he was the one with the lowest official rank.

There was Left-Hand Minister Guo Xin of the Ministry of Rites, Right-Hand Minister Tao Jiu of the Ministry of War, General Miao Ren, who was a descendant of one of the nation's founding generals,Vice Commander Song Shan of the Infantry Commander's Office...

They were all very young officials of the Great Sui Nation, and even the oldest one among them, Tao Jiu, was only forty-five years of age.

Cai Feng was a tall and handsome young man with a very dignified aura, and he didn't appear out of place at all among these high-ranking officials.

He derived his confidence from two sources, namely his scholarly accomplishments and his family background. As the old ancestor of the Cai Clan, even if Cai Jingshen had already been reduced to a laughing stock, he was still a Nascent Tier earth immortal who had protected the capital city for many years.

Everyone was drinking either tea or wine, and all of the official matters between them had already been discussed. There was a very good chance that the future direction of the Great Sui Nation and even the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent could be decided by the outcome of this discussion.

The Thousand Elders Banquet was going to be held by the emperor in just five days, and this was the perfect time to strike!

Cai Feng rose to his feet as he said, "I worked so conscientiously in my studies so that I could ensure that my nation and its people are not oppressed by external forces. As scholars, this is when we must make a stand and prepare to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good!"

The newly crowned Zhuangyuan of the past imperial examination was also present, and he also sprang to his feet before hurling his cup to the ground, smashing it into pieces as he declared, "A son can have no second father, just as a subordinate can serve no second master! Death must come before dishonor! Don't forget that most of the thirty-six founding officials of our Great Sui Nation were Confucian scholars!"

Adrenaline was pumping through everyone's veins, and someone yelled, "Death to Mao Xiaodong!"

Someone else was shedding tears as he slammed a hand heavily down onto the armrest of his chair, and he yelled, "How could our Great Sui Nation bow down to the savage Song Clan? We conceded defeat without even putting up a fight! This is an utter disgrace!"

Shortly thereafter, everyone parted ways, and Cai Feng didn't escort anyone out of the manor as that would attract too much attention.

Song Shan had taken measures to ensure that all of the nightly patrols near the manor had been replaced with his most trusted subordinates, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

In the wake of everyone's departure, Cai Feng sat alone in the guest hall with a fervent look in his eyes.

In the Great Sui Nation's time of need, I must be the one to rise to the occasion!

Miao Ren and the newly crowned Zhuangyuan were departing in the same carriage, and as the two of them sat across from each other in the carriage, a self-deprecating look appeared on Miao Ren's face at the sight of the composed young man.

Even though he was many years the young man's senior, the latter was far more calm and collected than he was. As expected of someone who had been deemed to possess the makings of a prime minister. Alongside Li Changying of Mountain Cliff Academy, Chu Tong of Phoebe Creek, and Cai Feng, the four of them were referred to as the four spirits of the capital, renowned as the brightest prospects of the younger generation.

On top of that, there were also the four stars, which included the likes of Pan Yuanchun, the son of the deceased general, Pan Maozhen. However, they were all descendants of generals, and after the youngest Pan Yuanchun left the academy to join the border army, all four stars had officially become men of the military.

Out of the four spirits and four stars, four of them came from privileged backgrounds, such as Chu Tong and Pan Yuanchun, while the other four had to work their way up from nothing, such as Zhang Dai and Li Changying.

Miao Ren knew that there were as many as three of these brilliant young men with bright futures ahead that had been swept up in this plot, so he felt like all of the heroic spirits of the Great Sui Nation would grant them their blessings.

Miao Ren lifted the curtain of the carriage to take a glance outside, upon which he discovered that it was already very late at night, but still a very long time away from daybreak.

————

On the way back, Chen Ping'an was still contemplating what he had been told by Lin Shouyi, but no matter how he racked his own brains, he couldn't think of anything that he had done that warranted so much gratitude from Lin Shouyi.

Chen Ping'an wouldn't have been surprised at all to hear that Little Baoping and Li Huai had missed him greatly. After all, they were still very young.

However, Lin Shouyi was different. Perhaps it was due to his sensitive background, but he had always had great attention to detail and mental fortitude. On top of that, he harbored lofty ambitions, so Chen Ping'an wasn't taken aback at all to hear that he had set foot on the path of cultivation so early during his education.

Zhu Lian had a very sharp intuition, and instead of immediately returning to his own guest room, he followed Chen Ping'an into the latter's room before asking in a quiet voice, "Is something wrong?"

Having endured multiple battles of life and death together, the two of them had developed a great deal of tacit understanding with each other, and Chen Ping'an kept no secrets from Zhu Lian here, pouring out two bowls of wine before nodding as he replied, "Mountain Master Mao told me that some people in the Great Sui Nation's capital will be targeting the students of the academy in the near future, taking advantage of the timing of Thousand Elders Banquet to make their move.

“There will be envoys from the Great Li Empire in attendance, so if something goes wrong in the academy during this time, then the perpetrators will be able to pit the two nations against each other, thereby ruining the tenuous peace between them, and there's a very good chance that his could lead to a full blown war. All of the officials of the Great Sui Nation have already become very disgruntled by the policy of appeasement adopted by the emperor.

“Not only that, but countless scholars across the nation are also furious, while the ordinary citizens of the nation are unable to understand why their nation is bowing down to the Great Li Empire. The stage is already set, and all that's required is a catalyst to set things into motion..."

"If that happens, then the Great Sui Nation's hand will be forced, and the emperor will have no choice but to revoke the alliance between the two nations," Zhu Lian mused.

Chen Ping'an poured Zhu Lian another bowl of wine, then said with an amused smile, "It feels like you haven't been able to spend even a single day in peace ever since you've been with me."

Zhu Lian gulped down a large swig of wine, then wiped the back of his hand across his lips as he chuckled, "You wouldn't say that if you had visited the Lotus Flower Blessed Land earlier and seen me during my prime. Back then, I led an even more hectic and perilous life than I do now."

"Honestly, I was only able to defeat Ding Ying in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land because he took me too lightly. If I had encountered someone as ruthless as you, then I would've most likely been the one to perish in that battle," Chen Ping'an said with a smile.

Zhu Lian hurriedly finished the wine in his bowl, then extended his bowl toward Chen Ping'an in a shameless manner as he said, "Indeed, a ruthless barbarian like myself needs to be punished with an extra bowl of wine."

Chen Ping'an duly obliged, pouring another bowl of wine for Zhu Lian as he sighed, "I hope that you and I will often have chances to drink and chat like this over the next decade, or even the next century."

"I'm certainly always keen for a drink," Zhu Lian replied with a grin.

On this night, Chen Ping'an drank far more than normally did.

After the two of them parted ways, Chen Ping'an paid a visit to Mao Xiaodong's study to discuss the matter of his next bonded item refinement. This was an extremely important matter, so it had to be discussed extensively.

————

Meanwhile, in Li Baoping's dormitory room.

"Big Sister Baoping, I have to warn you that I'm a bit of a restless sleeper," Pei Qian said in an embarrassed manner.

Li Baoping thought about this for a moment, then picked up a small mountain of transcriptions, which had taken up an entire bed, before placing it onto another small mountain of transcriptions.

After each of them laid down onto their own beds, Li Baoping declared, "Time to sleep."

Immediately thereafter, she fell sound asleep in an instant, while Pei Qian tossed and turned for a long while, only falling asleep very late into the night.

Upon waking up the next morning, Pei Qian discovered that she had been wrapped up in a snug cocoon of blankets like a zongzi. [1] She took a glance at Li Baoping's bed to discover that her blankets had been folded up to a ridiculously neat standard, looking like a large block of tofu that had been meticulously cut out with a knife.

A pang of guilt welled up in Pei Qian's heart as she thought of the messy state that she always let her blankets in, but the thought quickly drifted out of her mind as she nodded off once again. Only after having a good sleep would she be able to continue fooling Li Huai and his two friends, who were even dumber than him.

As for competing against Li Baoping, Pei Qian decided that could wait until she was the same age as her. After all, there was no shame in losing to Li Baoping, considering she was the younger of the two.

Next year, she was going to be twelve years old, while Li Baoping was going to be thirteen, so Li Baoping would still be a year older than her, but that didn't matter to her. There was always next year, then the year after that. Eventually, she would catch up to her.

As soon as she woke up in the morning, Li Baoping immediately rushed off to visit Chen Ping'an. However, he wasn't in his guest room, so she rushed to Mountain Master Mao's courtyard, where she waited by the entrance.

As the Confucian sage presiding over the academy, Mao Xiaodong was able to see everything that took place in the academy at any given moment, so he informed Chen Ping'an that Li Baoping was waiting outside for him.

Chen Ping'an left Mao Xiaodong's study to pick up Li Baoping, and on the way back to the study, he told her that he wasn't going to have time to go on a tour of the capital city with her on this day.

After learning that Chen Ping'an was planning to stay at the academy for at least a month, she decided that there was no hurry in taking Chen Ping'an on a tour of the city, so she had a change of plans to visit some of the places that she had never been to instead. Chen Ping'an suggested that she could take Pei Qian on a tour of the academy, the scripture library, and other notable attractions on Eastern Splendor Mountain.

Li Baoping felt like this was a good idea, and she rushed away like a cat on a hot tin roof even before reaching Mao Xiaodong's study, telling Chen Ping'an that she was going to have breakfast with Pei Qian.

"You must be facing quite a predicament. You're worried that an assassination attempt could be made on Li Baoping if you leave the academy with her, but you also don't want to disappoint her, right?" Mao Xiaodong asked with a smile, and Chen Ping'an nodded in response.

"Are you not going to ask me if I know which of the prominent figures in the Great Sui Nation are responsible for hatching this plot?" Mao Xiaodong asked.

Chen Ping'an shook his head in response.

"We may be in the academy right now, but this is still the Great Sui Nation's territory."

"Forget about all of that," Mao Xiaodong said with a dismissive wave. "Right now, our top priority is your bonded item refinement. The teachings of Buddhism tell us that if we can discard our worldly fixations, then what we currently regard as adversity and suffering will no longer appear that way to us, thereby achieving a state of perpetual bliss.

“Similarly, Daoists pursue peace and tranquility, and they regard adversity and suffering as a vessel that can take one away from the mortal world to the ultimate promised land of transcendent freedom.

“In contrast, us Confucians believe in facing adversity and suffering head-on. We struggle our way upstream against the tide of hardship, and along the way, the sagely teachings of our Confucian predecessors serve as beacons that light our path."

"Even if the entire world is in opposition, one must still strive toward what they believe is right," Chen Ping'an mused.

"That's exactly right!" Mao Xiaodong agreed with an earnest nod.

1. A zongzi is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ☜