Chen Ping'an grabbed his small stool and entered the dark and gloomy alley.
He suddenly squinted his eyes.
An emaciated little girl was standing outside the courtyard.
She subconsciously stepped back before looking up and carefully observing Chen Ping'an's expression. She had already thought up many excuses, yet surprisingly didn't dare to utter a single word at this moment.
"Where are those books?" Chen Ping'an asked.
The little girl blinked before shaking her head in earnest and replying, "I don't know!"
As if afraid that Chen Ping'an didn't believe her, she put on an aggrieved expression and explained, "The battle between you and those bad people was so violent, and that man and woman also walked out from this alley back then. How could I dare to return? I obediently sat on the small stool the entire time, but I couldn't see you anymore afterward, so I didn't wait for you to return and hurriedly ran away instead. I was afraid that those bad people would come back for me."
Chen Ping'an waved his hand, signaling that she could leave. He didn't want to see this scheming little girl anymore.
However, the skinny little girl appeared extremely pitiful as she continued, "I'm begging you, can you please let me stay for a meal before shooing me away?"
Chen Ping'an ignored her, locking the gate after he entered the courtyard. Cao Qinglang had surprisingly prepared dinner for himself. The little boy was intelligent and dutiful, and even though he had never cooked before, he had seen his parents cook many times in the past. Now that he was forced to cook for himself, the dishes that he made naturally wouldn't be delicious. However, they would at least be edible.
In fact, Cao Qinglang had cooked for himself for the past two days.
Chen Ping'an never went over to help, and he would often choose to leave the courtyard whenever Cao Qinglang entered the kitchen. Today was no different.
In the past, the little boy would have already finished eating and cleaned up the dining table when Chen Ping'an returned. He would then return to his room and stay there, and might occasionally come out at night only if he needed to cool down a little. However, today was different, and Cao Qinglang was eating very slowly as he sat at the dining table. Not only that, but an additional set of bowl and chopsticks were placed opposite him.
Chen Ping'an quietly walked inside and sat down. He chewed slowly and didn't make a single sound.
A thud traveled over from the courtyard.
The skinny little girl stood up and patted the dust from her clothes before slowly tiptoeing over. However, she didn't dare to enter the dining room, and instead squatted there and craned her neck to stare at the table of food.
Cao Qinglang thought for a moment, and eventually decided to walk to the kitchen to grab a bowl of rice for her. He handed her the bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks and said, "Let's eat together."
Chen Ping'an put his bowl and chopsticks down and looked at her.
Tears brimmed in the little girl's eyes, and she also put her bowl of rice and chopsticks down on the table. She remained sitting there, unmoving.
Cao Qinglang felt a little exasperated, and he said, "It's okay, you can eat."
However, the eyes of the skinny little girl remained fixed on Chen Ping'an.
Chen Ping'an picked up his bowl and chopsticks, not wanting to look at the little girl anymore.
Only then did she lower her head and start to eat. She occasionally grabbed some food from the dishes in the middle of the table, but would appear as furtive as a thief when she did so.
The three of them finished eating at around the same time, and Cao Qinglang stood up to collect the bowls and dishes. The skinny little girl glanced at Chen Ping'an before standing up and pretending to help.
The two children of around the same age each carried some bowls and dishes with them as they walked to the kitchen. The skinny little girl glanced back at the courtyard, and upon seeing that Chen Ping'an wasn't there anymore, she lowered her voice and complained, "There's no oil in the food, and it was also so salty. Do you actually know how to cook?! You're already so old, so can you please get your act together?"
Cao Qinglang was rendered speechless. Seeing that she wasn't going to relent, however, he could only reply, "Okay, I'll keep this in mind next time."
Chen Ping'an suddenly appeared in front of the kitchen door, causing the skinny little girl to immediately shut up. She was just about to deny any wrongdoing and ignore Chen Ping'an, yet she saw him waving his hand with a stern expression and gesturing for her to go over.
In the end, she had no option but to hang her head and walk out. Chen Ping'an grabbed her by the collar, holding her as if he were holding a little chick as he opened the courtyard door and placed her outside. Before shutting the door, he warned, "I'll throw you all the way outside the capital if you dare to climb the wall again."
When night arrived, Chen Ping'an sat with his eyes closed as he rested his mind. Not long after walking into the courtyard to enjoy the cool breeze, Cao Qinglang heard the sound of coughing traveling over from outside the courtyard door.
He walked over to open the door, only to see the skinny little girl squatting there with her head tilted upward and her arms crossed in front of her chest. There was a wide smile on her face as she said, "Don't mind me, it's even cooler out here in the alley."
Cao Qinglang scratched his head in reply. He was truly afraid of this little girl.
Chen Ping'an looked up and furrowed his brow. Under the soft glow of the moon, there was a saber-carrying man dressed in a black robe standing on a roof ridge in the distance. He possessed an elegant disposition, and held a pot of wine in one hand as he smiled faintly at Chen Ping'an.
Since Chen Ping'an didn't say anything, he decided to tap his foot and gracefully glide toward the courtyard where the young boy was sitting.
Seizing the opportunity when Cao Qinglang was still outside, Chen Ping'an immediately threw a punch, one that appeared completely smooth and natural.
Tang Tieyi, the mighty Dragon General from Northern Jin Nation, was struck in the chest and directly sent flying backward by the silent burst of fist aura. He landed back on the same roof ridge in the distance.
Chen Ping'an's fist aura was incredibly refined and perfectly weighted. Tang Tieyi was one of few top-notch superior grandmasters in this world, yet he was left extremely disheveled even though he wasn't wounded by Chen Ping'an's attack.
However, not only was Tang Tieyi not embarrassed into rage, but he even gave an apologetic smile to Chen Ping'an, seemingly expressing guilt for disturbing the young boy and coming here without invitation. With Refiner hanging by his waist, Tang Tieyi turned around and left just like that.
Chen Ping'an didn't have strong impressions of this person, and he didn't want to become overly involved with him either.
He thought for a moment before telling Cao Qinglang not to wait for him tonight. He then left the nameless alley and headed toward Champion Scholar Alley.
There was no wine left in his Sword Nurturing Gourd, so this would be a good opportunity to refill it as well.
It was already midnight, yet a quiet restaurant in Champion Scholar Alley was still brightly lit. There was only one table of customers.
This could be considered a family dinner because even the chefs had been brought over by this table of customers.
There were three men and three women.
It wasn't just this restaurant, but the entire Champion Scholar Alley was heavily guarded as well. Apart from armored soldiers standing three paces apart, there were also many elites with concealed identities keeping watch in the surroundings. Unless it were a superior grandmaster from the list of Upper Ten Elites, it would essentially be impossible for anyone to charge over and assassinate one of the customers. In fact, they wouldn't even be able to get close.
The six customers were Emperor Wei Liang of Southern Garden Nation, Empress Zhou Shuzhen, Crown Prince Wei Yan, the second prince, and the youngest princess.
In addition to them, there was also Huang Ting, the Daoist nun from Peace and Tranquility Mountain who had now changed into elegant Daoist robes. She had once been Mirror Heart Hall's Fan Wan'er and Tong Qingqing.
Princess Wei Zhen had inherited her parents' good looks, and was indeed a rare beauty in this world. However, she still felt very inferior in front of that Daoist nun. She was a lively and energetic person, yet barely dared to say anything tonight.
Instead, she clung to her mother, Zhou Shuzhen, the entire time. Meanwhile, she felt immense admiration for the stunningly beautiful Daoist nun who appeared even more confident and straightforward than Imperial Preceptor Zhong when speaking to her father!
She had collected many prohibited books over the years, all obtained after her two older brothers were unable to withstand her pleading. She had gotten her hands on all kinds of mystical and historical novels from the markets and bookstores.
What was the cultivation world? In her dreams, the cultivation world was somewhere where a gallant immortal couple would charge into the den of some chillingly evil person during a dark and windy night. When the first ray of light peeked over the horizon again, the evildoers and sinister people would all be dead as the man and woman exchanged a smile with each other. They would then leave on horseback, continuing their adventure through the cultivation world.
Emperor Wei Liang smiled and asked, "There's Yu Zhenyi outside my nation and there's Chen Ping'an inside, so is this truly not a problem?"
Huang Ting's reply wasn't exactly polite, and she explained, "In fact, it won't be a problem even if both of them are inside the capital. One is unusually determined in his pursuit of cultivating Dao, while one can't be bothered interacting with you guys at all. However, emperors like you are fond of the saying, 'How can one allow others to snore beside their bed?'[1] I can understand the discomfort that you feel. In any case, Yu Zhenyi has been an eyesore for me as well, so I might as well charge over and have a fight with him."
Huang Ting's words became increasingly unrestrained and impudent as she continued, "I guarantee that I'll fight Yu Zhenyi with my full strength. If I lose, and if the so-called elite army of Southern Garden Nation fails to stop Yu Zhenyi as well, allowing him to charge into the imperial palace and kill your entire family, then the most I can do is try my best to avenge you before I ascend from this world."
Wei Liang shook his head with a wry smile, drinking wine to quash his worries.
In reality, the person who felt the most awkward right now was actually Empress Zhou Shuzhen. Not only had her junior sister become her master, but she had even become Peace and Tranquility Mountain's Huang Ting.
Meanwhile, the most disappointed person was most likely Crown Prince Wei Yan.
The Fan Wan'er whom he loved would never return again. Even though the Daoist nun in front of him was more breathtakingly beautiful than Fan Wan'er, Wei Yan couldn't bring himself to like her no matter what.
As for the person who felt the most uneasy, this was the second prince who looked almost exactly like his father. From Grand Leader Ding Ying to Ya'er and then to the elites who had concealed themselves in the capital, all remaining members of the demonic force had either been killed or captured and thrown into jail by the joint force of Imperial Preceptor Zhong, the celestial maidens from Mirror Heart Hall, and the guest elders of the imperial court.
The three factions of the demonic force all had extremely close ties to the second prince.
All of the delicacies seemed dull and tasteless to him right now. It was as if he were eating wax.
He felt slightly envious of his little sister's naivety, and felt even more jealous of his older brother's divine fortune.
Who could have imagined that the peerless Old Demon Ding would actually be killed?
That stinky girl, Ya'er, had once patted her chest and said with confidence that her grandmaster might not be dead even when they died of old age.
There was the sound of unusual commotion traveling over from outside the restaurant.
Huang Ting smiled and said, "Our esteemed guest has arrived."
Emperor Wei Liang immediately looked outside the window. He was extremely tense and anxious, and was feeling slightly regretful that he hadn't invited Imperial Preceptor Zhong Qiu. After all, Zhong Qiu had a fairly good relationship with that person. There was indeed some form of friendship between them.
After sitting there and waiting for a long time, he discovered that the young otherworldly immortal was walking over from the stairs. He had surprisingly kept a low profile, entering the restaurant through the front door and walking to their table via the normal stairs.
The young otherworldly immortal was none other than Chen Ping'an. He wasn't wearing that eye-catching white robe; instead, he was dressed in the garment of ordinary, somewhat well-off commoners of Southern Garden Nation.
Wei Liang composed himself before standing up.
Even the emperor had stood up, so Zhou Shuzhen and her three children hurriedly stood up as well.
Huang Ting didn't put on airs, but she was clearly less keen than the imperial family as she stood up. However, she didn't remain in the same spot, and she instead walked to the window, seemingly removing herself from the situation. She would leave the discussion and the decision-making to the ruler of this land and the passing otherworldly immortal. She wouldn't favor anyone.
Wei Liang laughed heartily and said, "My Wei Clan failed to welcome you properly, and we even allowed such a huge commotion to take place in the capital. Please forgive us, Esteemed Immortal Chen."
Chen Ping'an shook his head and replied, "There's no need to worry about these things, Your Majesty. This commotion had little to do with Southern Garden Nation."