Chapter 35: Licorice

After Liu Xianyang and Chen Ping'an exited Mud Bottle Alley, they noticed two groups of people standing on either side. A little girl rode on the shoulders of a burly old man, while an arrogant boy in bright red robes stood beside a woman of elegant demeanor. Liu Xianyang walked between them with composure, which, in the eyes of the white-haired old man, showed some semblance of a general's bearing. However, the caution and restraint that the straw sandal-wearing boy tried so hard to conceal were quite unappealing.

After bidding farewell to the two youths, Lu Zhengchun remained behind, trembling, and cautiously reported, "Liu Xianyang suggested that you immortal masters offer a suitable price, and next time he will reluctantly part with his family heirloom."

The woman looked towards the white-haired old man from Righteous Sun Mountain and asked with a smile, "Senior Ape, what do you think?"

The old man pondered briefly and said in a deep voice, "No more than three times. Before then, give him the immense wealth Liu Xianyang spoke of. Righteous Sun Mountain can grant this young man the status of a true disciple within the sect. In addition, I will personally lend him a magic treasure for a century. As for your Xu family from Qingfeng City, handle it as you see fit."

The woman exclaimed in shock, "The status of a true disciple of Righteous Sun Mountain is already extremely honorable. Senior Ape, are you even willing to offer a magic treasure? Could this young man named Liu be a cultivation genius whose potential was overlooked when he was nine years old?"

The old man ignored her, simply smiling at his young master, "Many shops in the town have their origins and history. Miss, you can take a look around; you might find a bargain."

The little girl childishly cried out, "Giddy up, giddy up!" The old man, the chief consecrator of Righteous Sun Mountain, laughed heartily and began to jog slowly, like a mountain moving.

The boy scoffed, "Righteous Sun Mountain certainly has a great presence!"

The woman signaled for Lu Zhengchun to return home first. She herself walked along the street with her son, explaining the background to him, "Besides the ordinary main path up the mountain, Righteous Sun Mountain also has a special 'Sword Path'. Over the years, they have opened up six paths to the summit, which means that Righteous Sun Mountain has produced six genuine Sword Immortals who have attained enlightenment."

The boy sneered, "What's the use of old history? How long can they live off their past glory? The qi refiners who can enter the town, even those who came after us, every family, who hasn't had ancestors who were wealthy?"

The woman took her child's hand and smiled, "Then do you know that in the last hundred years, two brand-new Sword Paths are about to reach the summit of Righteous Sun Mountain? What's extraordinary about that little girl your age is that she can freely move and stay for extended periods on that 'Sword Peak' filled with sword energy, even longer than some of the old ancestors of Righteous Sun Mountain."

The boy was stunned for a moment, then stopped in his tracks, extremely annoyed, "Since that stupid girl has such an extraordinary background, why didn't you tell me sooner, mother? I wouldn't have been constantly at odds with her, provoking her to contradict me all the time. If I were to marry her as my wife in a few years and then form a Daoist partnership, wouldn't that be a great benefit to our Qingfeng City?!"

The woman looked at the still childish, handsome face, full of anger like a fledgling tiger, and instead of being angry, she smiled, "Both you and that little girl are cultivation prodigies with the potential to reach the 'Upper Five Realms', so your karmic connections will be more complex and changeable. Being headstrong and deliberate is not ideal. Do you really think that girl only hates you right now?"

The boy frowned, "Otherwise?"

The woman said softly, "Let it be."

The boy suddenly said seriously, "Mother, I don't like the guy following Liu Xianyang. I didn't like him from the first moment I saw him!"

The woman asked curiously, "Why is that?"

The child thought carefully for a moment and replied, "That guy is a bit strange. He's different from Lu Zhengchun, who seems to understand everything, and Liu Xianyang, who doesn't understand anything. And I especially hate his eyes!"

The woman just thought her son was being childish again and comforted him, "You can't do whatever you want within the town, but if you think about it, the fate of everyone here after this world collapses, doesn't that make you feel a lot better?"

The child nodded and subconsciously repeated the two words he had said when he first saw the straw sandal-wearing boy, "Ants!"

After leaving the town, Chen Ping'an and Liu Xianyang soon saw the covered bridge. Liu Xianyang casually asked, "Why do you think Song Jixin's old man built this covered bridge? And why did he have to cover up the old stone arch bridge? I heard the stone bridge wasn't torn down, it's like it's wearing a coat. Won't it get hot in the summer? Hahaha..."

By the end, the tall boy was amused by his own words.

A gilded plaque hung at the entrance to the covered bridge, bearing four characters in large calligraphy, "Wind and Water Thrive." The calligraphy's origin was unknown.

As the two boys walked up the steps, Liu Xianyang stomped his feet heavily and said mysteriously, "Old Yao told me once that there's something strange under these steps. He said that when the covered bridge was first being built, Song Jixin's dad had people dig a big hole here late one night and bury a large porcelain jar as tall as a person. Are you scared?"

Chen Ping'an said irritably, "What's there to be afraid of?"

The two walked into the shady covered bridge. Liu Xianyang whispered, "Do you think it's because the deep pool under the bridge has drowned several people, and they need to invite monks and Taoists to perform rituals to suppress evil?"

Chen Ping'an never made rash statements about ghosts and gods.

Liu Xianyang lost interest when he didn't get an answer.

The newly built wooden covered bridge still had a faint scent of wood and paint. The wood used for the main beams and pillars was all cut from ancient forests deep in the mountains, extremely difficult to transport out. The stream winding around the mountain usually had a low water level, not enough to float those huge logs. They had to choose times of heavy rain, when the mountain roads were muddy and slippery, and one could easily fall into the floodwaters, which was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, no young or middle-aged people drowned in that trip. Some people said that during that trip to transport the wood out of the mountains, the school teacher, Qi Jingchun, personally went to help, teaching people how to operate, so they were blessed by Mr. Qi, and everything went smoothly.

At the northern steps of the covered bridge, Liu Xianyang suddenly sat down on the huge stone bench. Chen Ping'an had no choice but to squat down beside him.

Liu Xianyang asked with a smile, "If it weren't for me, would you and Song Jixin have become good friends?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head, "Maybe the relationship would be a little better, but not much better."Liu Xianyang asked curiously, "Why? You two are neighbors, and roughly the same age. Truth be told, Song Jixin likes to flaunt his knowledge and can be abrasive, but he doesn't seem to do anything truly heinous. And you're usually easy to get along with, so what's the problem?"

Chen Pingan smiled, "Let's not talk about that. When we get to the blacksmith shop later, don't act like a goof. Whether or not your family's treasured armor is saved depends on whether you can become Master Ruan's apprentice."

"Alright, alright, Chen Pingan, to be honest, you really need to change your nagging personality. Otherwise, you'll annoy people to death."

Liu Xianyang leaned back, resting the back of his head on the highest step of the covered bridge, gazing at the azure sky. "You've followed old man Yao far and climbed mountains high. How far can you see from up there?"

Chen Pingan casually pulled out a licorice root, brushed off the dirt, and put it in his mouth to chew, speaking unclearly, "The furthest was probably the year before last. Old man Yao and I went on a trip that took about ten days. We绕passed more than a dozen mountains with forbidden peaks. Finally, we reached a very strange mountain, terrifyingly tall. You might not believe it, but when you climbed to the halfway point, all you could see was clouds and mist. Old man Yao and I finally managed to reach the summit, and then..."

Liu Xianyang waited for a long time, but didn't hear the conclusion. He turned his head and laughed, "Don't be like someone who starts to defecate, then pulls up his pants halfway through!"

Chen Pingan was a little sentimental, and said softly, "You know, old man Yao has a very bad impression of me. He almost never explains things to me, and he's unwilling to teach me the real skills of firing porcelain. Every time we go into the mountains, old man Yao doesn't like to talk. From the time we enter the mountains to the time we return to the dragon kiln, he doesn't say much at all. But that time, after we reached the summit, old man Yao was probably in a good mood, so he said a little more. He told me to look at the scenery there, and once I'd seen it, not to say much about it after we got down the mountain. He said that people should focus on doing things, and that just flapping your lips will make you a laughingstock even if you leave the small town."

Liu Xianyang comforted him, "It's not that I'm trying to say good things about old man Yao. He doesn't like you, but he doesn't hate you either. He's got a bad temper with everyone, and only treats me a little better."

Chen Pingan nodded, "So I'm actually very grateful to old man Yao in my heart."

Liu Xianyang suddenly raged, "After all that talk, you still haven't said what you saw!"

Chen Pingan pointed to the east, "The mountain we climbed was already very high, but when I looked from the summit, there was another mountain to the east, even higher. I can't even describe how tall it was."

Liu Xianyang cursed, "So you just saw a tall mountain? I thought you saw immortals riding the clouds!"

Chen Pingan thought for a moment, and said with longing, "Maybe there really are immortals on that mountain?"

Liu Xianyang asked with a smile, "Chen Pingan, do you think immortals need to eat, drink, and excrete?"

Chen Pingan rubbed his chin, "If immortals also have to poop, that's not very immortal-like."

Liu Xianyang slapped Chen Pingan hard on the head, then stood up and ran, "Then the immortals just pooped on your head!"

Liu Xianyang hadn't been gentle, and Chen Pingan was a little dizzy from the blow. He didn't even think about chasing the tall teenager. After getting up, he muttered to himself, "Is thunder the sound of immortals snoring in their sleep? If it's raining, that shouldn't be immortals peeing, right? That would be too tragic for us..."

Chen Pingan quickened his pace and soon caught up with Liu Xianyang.

Jostling and joking, they finally arrived at the blacksmith shop by the stream. There were already seven or eight buildings, including mud houses and thatched huts. In Chen Pingan's eyes, these were all stacks of copper coins.

A large group of young people and adults from the town were digging wells. Most of the people were from the dragon kiln, like Liu Xianyang. Now that the imperial court had stopped giving out the rice bowl of porcelain making, being able to continue to have an iron rice bowl at the blacksmith shop was already very lucky. However, according to Liu Xianyang, most of these helpers were temporary laborers. Master Ruan said that he would only take a few personal disciples, and the rest would only be hired hands.

Liu Xianyang waved his hand and said, "You wait here. I'll go say hello to Master Ruan and see if he'll let me show you what it's like to see blacksmithing. Tsk, tsk, if you see his daughter swinging the hammer, I guarantee it'll scare you to death!"

Chen Pingan stood still, not moving around casually.

Looking around, there were already the beginnings of seven wells. The wellheads still had the winch frames and railings. At some wells, people were constantly popping out with bamboo baskets on their heads.

Watching the busy well diggers, Chen Pingan habitually squatted down, picked up a handful of dirt, and slowly rubbed it between his fingers.

It felt relatively moist, but it wasn't actually water-retentive soil. On the contrary, it was fire-type soil, but the last type of fire-type soil. According to old man Yao, this was called "July Meteorite Soil." The soil type would naturally change to cool and mild, not too dry, and with strong plasticity. Furthermore, this meant that it would not be easy for the well walls to collapse when they were reinforced, which was a good thing.

Obviously, even if the blacksmith Master Ruan wasn't an expert in digging wells, he definitely wasn't an amateur either.

Chen Pingan just didn't understand why they were digging so many wells in such a small place.

Chen Pingan turned his head to look in the direction of the stream, grinning.

In the eyes of the straw sandal boy, this nameless stream was now a treasure trove filled with gold, silver, and copper coins.

However, after touching the snake gallstone tonight, Chen Pingan had to secretly go to Mud Bottle Alley to dig something from under the large water tank at Gu Can's house, according to what Gu Can had whispered before leaving town. Gu Can had left in a hurry at the time and hadn't said much, only that it was his family's treasure and even his mother didn't know it was hidden there.

Chen Pingan couldn't help but smile when he thought of that snot-nosed kid.

Chen Pingan used to be the tagalong behind Liu Xianyang, following Liu Xianyang to catch fish, snakes, and raid bird nests. After Chen Pingan became a teenager, he also had a little follower behind him.

For the solitary straw sandal boy, one was his brother, and one was his younger brother.

One needed him to repay a debt of gratitude, and one needed him to take care of him.

So over the years, Chen Pingan had lived a difficult life, but it wasn't bitter.