Chapter 339: Fox Town

Walking to the door on the second floor, Pei Qian had already dashed past Chen Pingan and opened the door first, being quite the sycophant.

Chen Pingan strode inside. Pei Qian hesitated whether to follow, but Chen Pingan had already turned his head and instructed, "Go ask the inn for three more rooms. Have Jiu Niang charge the expense to the account first. Also, tell Wei Xian that I will be secluding myself for a few days, and I won't see anyone during this time. The five of you, it's best not to stray too far from the inn."

Pei Qian looked at Chen Pingan, "Are you alright?"

Chen Pingan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did he look like he was alright? He casually replied, "Not dying yet."

Pei Qian carefully closed the door, saying one last thing, "If anything happens, just shout for me. I'm right next door."

Chen Pingan nodded.

The two flying swords, Chuyi and Shiwu, hovered in the room. Chen Pingan first took out a stack of Dust-Cleansing Talismans and affixed them all over the room. Then, he took out two porcelain bottles of vastly different quality. One, a crimson-red porcelain bottle, was a gift from Lu Tai, capable of growing back bones. Chen Pingan had personally experienced the miraculous effects of this elixir during the battle in the mountains outside Flying Hawk Fortress. The other was a unique secret medicine from the Yang Family Shop, capable of stopping even the most excruciating pain. During his two journeys, encountering so many mountain spirits, strange creatures, demons, and monsters, Chen Pingan hadn't had the chance to use them. He never imagined he would take them out in a small border town.

Chen Pingan took off the severely damaged golden-glaze Daoist robe, Jin Li, which pulled at many bloody flesh and tendons, causing him to break out in a cold sweat. He sat at the table, his hand trembling as he opened the plain white porcelain bottle from the Yang Family Shop, poured out a black pill, and forced it down his throat. He even took a swig of plum wine from his gourd. Only then did he begin to apply the thick medicinal paste from the vermillion-red porcelain bottle to his hands, arms, and shoulders – another torment.

The power of the Great Quan's python-robed eunuch had exceeded Chen Pingan's expectations by far. To deal with this crisis, Chen Pingan had been cautious enough. Apart from the martial madman Zhu Lian, he had also successively summoned the remaining two from the painting: Sui Youbian and Lu Baixiang. But he hadn't expected Li Li, the Defender of the Palace Mulberry Tree of the Great Quan Dynasty, to be so unreasonable. Beyond the realm of Qi Refinement, his physique was actually comparable to a Sixth Realm pure martial artist.

Previously, Chen Pingan had only three Gu Yu coins left. Following the ideas of the old Daoist and the Daoist boy carrying the golden sword-nurturing gourd, Chen Pingan had gambled a little, throwing a Gu Yu coin at the painting of Sui Youbian, the one he was least likely to touch. As expected, only one Gu Yu coin was needed for the female Sword Immortal from Lotus Flower Paradise to stroll out of the painting and arrive in this world.

Clearly, the little lotus child had calculated that Chen Pingan would eventually summon Sui Youbian. If not for the "enlightenment" from the lotus child, according to Chen Pingan's own order of choice, he would have first summoned the martial madman Zhu Lian, who had lost to Ding Ying, followed by the founding emperor Wei Xian, the demonic Lu Baixiang, and then Sui Youbian. In that case, Zhu Lian, requiring a full fifteen Gu Yu coins, would have been a major setback, and Chen Pingan might have truly shelved the remaining three paintings.

Chen Pingan sat at the table, closed his eyes, and let his hands hang down naturally, while mentally visualizing himself sitting in the Sword Forge Stance. His breathing gradually became steady, like an old monk in meditation, a Daoist forgetting the world.

Two days later, at noon, Chen Pingan changed into a clean set of clothes and finally stepped out of his room. He stood by the railing and noticed something strange in the lobby on the first floor. The strangeness lay precisely in how calm the inn was. The old hunchback sat on the long bench by the curtain, puffing smoke. The little cripple was wiping tables and benches. The proprietress was attending to a table of boisterous, shouting customers. A downcast scholar in a green robe sat by the doorstep, his eyes filled with sorrow.

If Chen Pingan hadn't keenly sensed the four long, subtle breaths within the rooms on both sides, including Zhu Lian's, he would have mistakenly believed that nothing had happened, that there had been no encounter with the son of the Duke of Shen, no python-robed eunuch. Chen Pingan felt as if he had lived through another lifetime. This time, the tempering of martial arts amidst life and death, although yielding less benefit than the battle with Ding Ying, brought even more emotion, perhaps related to his state of mind and the outcome.

The first of the "painted people" to walk out of their room was the old man, Zhu Lian, still hunched over, a smiling face, cupping his fist in front of Chen Pingan. "Young Master has turned misfortune into blessing, a cause for celebration."

Chen Pingan nodded, then asked, "What about the cavalry and Yao family members outside at the time?"

Zhu Lian leaned closer to Chen Pingan and whispered with a laugh, "That gentleman from Great Fu Academy quelled all three parties with a single move. That prince immediately left with his men, only taking the corpse of the young Duke Gao Shuyi. As for the corpse of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's eunuch, they didn't dare even mention it. Moreover, the older prince and the Yao family border troops, who had rushed to the inn, didn't dare to approach and turned back. After the innkeeper and the others woke up, that gentleman fabricated a reason, saying that Young Master had defeated everyone with his fists, and that another prince had intervened, turning the big issue into a small one. The gentleman then continued to stay here, freeloading. If all the scholars in the Great Sky were like this, that would be too interesting."

Zhu Lian then discussed some details of the incident.

Chen Pingan walked towards the stairs, puzzled. "Jiu Niang and the others are still in the dark? That's possible?"

Zhu Lian laughed. "That academy gentleman must have spoken to the three parties, forbidding them from revealing his identity, deliberately concealing it from everyone in the inn."

Chen Pingan asked, "Where's Pei Qian?"

Zhu Lian pointed towards Fox Town, saying, "She borrowed some copper coins and is enjoying herself over there in Fox Town."

Chen Pingan frowned, walked downstairs, and headed straight towards the scholar by the door. Zhu Lian didn't follow, looking very much like an old steward from a small household, remaining seated at the table closest to the doorstep.

Chen Pingan sat on the doorstep, took down his wine gourd, and offered it to the scholar.

The scholar named Zhong Kui shook his head, staring blankly at the woman laughing and joking with the customers. "I won't drink it. Without Jiu Niang handing it to me, the wine has no flavor."

Chen Pingan withdrew his hand and took a sip of wine for himself. "Who were the prisoners Gao Shuyi and the others were escorting back then? Some people from the Northern Jin Kingdom in the south?"

The scholar Zhong Kui didn't hide anything, casually saying, "It seems to be remnants of the Pine Needle Lake Water God Temple, and the legitimate Mountain God, Lord Jin Huang, and his wife and retainers. Anyway, it was a case of the snipe and the clam fighting, and the fisherman benefiting. The Third Prince of the Great Quan Dynasty took them all in one fell swoop. If you hadn't intervened, the prison cart would probably have included some Yao family members as well. But don't worry, I promised you that I would clean up the mess. You don't have to worry about the Great Quan Dynasty seeing you as an enemy. However, whether it's the Third Prince or the Duke of Shen's residence, they harbor resentment towards you. I can't stop that. If you can't even handle these…"

Chen Pingan laughed, "Handling these is fine. I believe it's unlikely that a second Li Li will appear in this Great Quan Dynasty."

This Great Quan Liu clan dynasty was indeed much stronger than the Combing Water Kingdom and Rainbow Clothes Kingdom in the central part of Treasure Bottle Continent.

As for why the Lord Jin Huang, whom he had a good impression of, had suddenly fallen from being a national mountain god to a prisoner of another country, even though that Azure Water Buffalo demon had already died at Chen Pingan's hands, and his home was raided afterward, Chen Pingan wasn't interested. He wouldn't pry into the details or get involved.

When Chen Pingan mentioned Li Li of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, the scholar's face also became gloomy, as if it were a troublesome matter.

Seeing the scholar's silence, Chen Pingan turned his head to look outside the inn, still worried. He stood up, came to the official road, and looked towards Fox Town, worried that Pei Qian would cause trouble there.

When Chen Pingan returned to the inn, he asked the proprietress for a table full of food, told Zhu Lian to call Lu Baixiang and the other two downstairs. Just as he finished eating, Pei Qian swaggered back to the inn, looking very happy. When she saw Chen Pingan, she felt a little guilty, her eyes darting around uncertainly. Chen Pingan didn't ask in detail, only asking if she had eaten. The little girl with a round belly shook her head and said she hadn't, then ate the leftovers on the table. Chen Pingan walked out of the inn alone, taking a walk to relax.

As a result, when Chen Pingan walked back to the inn, he found that the inn was blocked, with people cursing and yelling at the people inside, quite lively.