Unsheathed

Chapter 619: You Can't Manage Without Liu Xianyang

Qiu Long and Liu'e were both stunned by what they saw, because the Sword Qi Great Wall's second shopkeeper had never been bullied like this before. Rather, it was always the second shopkeeper tricking other people.

Tao Ban was a very stubborn child, and his biggest wish right now was to protect the wine shop's business and help Big Sister Die Zhang and the second shopkeeper make money every single day. At this moment, however, Tao Ban abandoned the opportunity to step forward and speak up for the second shopkeeper. He silently left the table with his plate and bowl, and he couldn't help but glance back at the tall and sturdy young man in azure, thinking that this person was truly very powerful.

He wanted to become like this person when he grew up, and he definitely didn't want to become someone like the second shopkeeper. Even though the second shopkeeper would often talk and laugh loudly with the customers, and despite making so much money every day and being so famous at the Sword Qi Great Wall, he would always appear like he did today when there were few customers at the wine shop. He didn't look very happy, as if something were weighing on his mind.

Liu Xianyang let go of Chen Ping'an's neck and sat down on the small space the latter had shuffled over and created for him. He then waved a hand at Tao Ban and said, "Bring us another pot of fine wine and another wine bowl. Put this under Chen Ping'an's tab."

Tao Ban looked at the second shopkeeper, who nodded lightly in response. Only after seeing this did Tao Ban retrieve a pot of the cheapest Bamboo Sea Small World Wine. Even though Tao Ban didn't want to become like the second shopkeeper, the second shopkeeper's business tactics were still the most impressive, regardless of whether it was selling wine, taking bets, engaging in fist fights, or engaging in sword duels. The little boy felt like this was something he could learn. Otherwise, how could he compete with Feng Kangle for that girl in the future?

Chen Ping'an's wine pot wasn't empty yet, so he poured Liu Xianyang a bowl of wine and asked, "Why have you come here?"

Liu Xianyang was in no hurry to answer this question, and he took a sip of wine before shuddering and lamenting, "Sure enough, I still can't grow accustomed to this so-called immortal wine. I'm not refined enough, and I still feel like rice wine is the best."

Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "I actually brought some of Dong Shuijing's rice wine over, but I've already finished all of it."

Liu Xianyang elbowed Chen Ping'an's shoulder and exclaimed, "Then why bother mentioning it?"

Chen Ping'an rubbed his shoulder and drank by himself.

Liu Xianyang took a large swig of wine and used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. He then raised a thumb and pointed at the street behind him, saying, "I've come here together with a few fellow disciples, and it was only on our way here that we heard about the Sword Qi Great Wall being at war with the Savage World again. I was half scared to death, and I was afraid that our teachers would become hotheaded and retrieve some righteous aura from their belly full of scholarly knowledge to show off to their students, charging onto the city wall to kill demons.

"If it were up to me, I would rather hide in the Spring Banner Inn, one of the four big private residences in Stalactite Mountain. I would diligently read books and take a few glances at the Ape Havoc Estate, the Plum Blossom Garden, and the Water Essence Palace, the three other private residences that are equally as renowned as the Spring Banner Inn.

"However, my master and my fellow disciples are filled with righteousness, and I also care greatly about my face. I can be beaten half-dead, but my face definitely can't be hit, so I've mustered my courage to come here with them.

"Of course, I heard about many of your feats while staying at the Spring Banner Inn, and this is my biggest reason for coming here. I need to give you a good talking to, and I can't allow you to continue like this."

Chen Ping'an didn't say anything, and he simply continued to drink wine.

The most talkative and rambling person in the world was Liu Xianyang.

Chen Ping'an had experienced this for many years.

When the three children had hung out together in the small town, Liu Xianyang and Gu Can would often get into arguments over the smallest of disagreements. Chen Ping'an couldn't be bothered breaking them apart, so he would simply sit nearby and listen. In any case, the arguments between the young boy and the little boy would never get too heated. Liu Xianyang had seemingly never lost an argument before, and this was because he never cared about winning or losing the arguments, always smiling and chuckling as he argued.

There were many times when Gu Can had clearly won the argument already, having cursed all of Liu Xianyang's relatives and ancestors. However, he would somehow feel even more vexed, and he would chase after Liu Xianyang to hit him. When he ran out of breath, Gu Can would start to throw sticks and stones. Liu Xianyang wouldn't become angry even if he were accidentally hit by the stones.

Gu Can had once said that there wasn't a single good thing about Liu Xianyang, and that Liu Xianyang was destined for a life of poverty, suffering, and loneliness. The only redeeming feature of Liu Xianyang was that he didn't hold grudges and wouldn't take advantage of his strength to beat others up.

The three of them each had their own method of survival in the past, with neither method being superior to the others. There was no clear notion of right and wrong either, with Liu Xianyang liking to use false reasoning, Chen Ping'an feeling like he didn't understand principles and reasons at all, and Gu Can believing that might was right. In the mind of the little boy, whoever was stronger, richer, and had more lackeys would be the embodiment of reason.

Liu Xianyang and Chen Ping'an were only slightly older than him, and it was difficult to say whether these poor bastards could even find themselves wives in the future, so just what kind of principles or reasons could they be in possession of?

Back then, they would climb trees to steal bird eggs, dive into rivers to catch fish, transplant rice seedlings and steal water, and grab sprouts from between the fences of the grain drying fields. The three of them had generally been happy most of the time.

Seizing the moment when Liu Xianyang was drinking, Chen Ping'an was finally able to ask, "How has studying at the Pure Confucian Chen Clan been?"

"What do you mean by ' how has it been'?" Liu Xianyang replied with a chuckle. "I've already studied there for more than a decade, and could it possibly be worse than the small town?"

He was seemingly unaccustomed to the Bamboo Sea Small World Wine, so he only took small sips as he continued, "Which is to say, I don't regret leaving the small town at all. Only when I'm bored might I think about our hometown: the fields, the messy living quarters of the dragon kilns, the chicken and dog shit in the alleys, and so on.

"I do reminisce about these things, but nothing more than that. I don't feel any strong attachment. If it weren't for some old debts needing to be paid and some people needing to be visited, I wouldn't even feel the need to return to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Why would I return? There's nothing interesting at all."

Liu Xianyang shook his head and repeated, "There's truly nothing interesting at all."

Chen Ping'an suddenly said a name before falling silent. "Gu Can."

Liu Xianyang snickered and said, "The snotty little kid always wanted you to become his dad from a young age, and you truly ended up pretending to be his dad. Is your head screwed on right? So be it if you didn't kill him, and you asked for this yourself, so just endure it if your conscience feels uneasy. And if you killed him and felt strong regret, then I would have told you to endure that as well.

"What's up with you now? Haven't you endured challenges and hardships from childhood all the way until now? What, you're more capable now, so you regard yourself as a noble scholar after reading a few books? And you view yourself as an immortal in the mountains after learning fist techniques and embarking on the path of cultivation?"

Liu Xianyang became increasingly angry as he spoke, and he pushed Chen Ping'an's head and scolded, "Gu Can? You aren't even willing to call him the snotty little kid anymore?!"

He became angrier and angrier, not even drinking the wine in his bowl as he exclaimed, "You're always worrying about this and worrying about that, and you love to find trouble where there isn't any. If it were me, would Gu Can's rising capabilities and subsequent actions after he left the small town have anything to do with me? I'm only familiar with Clay Vase Alley's snotty little kid, so if he became a little devil who wantonly killed innocent people at Bamboo Scroll Lake, then he can seek death and receive death.

"It was the snotty little kid's ability to enjoy a better life than everyone else through his bad deeds, and this was helped by the sinister environment of Bamboo Scroll Lake. However, is anyone obliged to help him against perilous danger? After all, did I, Liu Xianyang, kill anyone or harm anyone?

"Yet, after reading just a few books, you, Chen Ping'an, are trying to hold yourself to the standards of sagely morality? You were a complete novice who couldn't even be regarded as a Confucian disciple at the time, yet you were already so energetic and confident?

"That being the case, shouldn't all of the Confucian sages and noble scholars ascend to the heavens? Shouldn't I, a legitimate Confucian disciple, and the old ancestor of the Chen Clan, who carries the sun and moon on his shoulders, have come to the Sword Qi Great Wall seven or eight hundred years earlier to kill demons? Otherwise, won't we feel frustrated and vexed to death?

"I seriously don't understand how you've become like this, Chen Ping'an. I remember you weren't like this when you were little. You didn't want anything to do with outside matters, and you didn't like to speak a single extra word. Who taught you to become like this?

"The private school's Mr. Qi? He's already dead, so I can't criticize him. In any case, the dead should be respected. Was it the Scholarly Sage? Okay, then I'll scold him later. And what about Great Sword Immortal Zuo You? Actually, forget about him. He's too close, and I'm afraid of getting beaten up."

Chen Ping'an finally opened his mouth and said, "I've always stayed the same."

Liu Xianyang raised a hand, and Chen Ping'an instinctively shrank back.

Liu Xianyang rolled his eyes and took a sip of wine, after which he continued, "Do you know what has surprised me the most? It's not the fact that you're filthy rich now, becoming the richest out of all our companions from back then, because I knew from the very beginning that you would definitely become rich, very rich. It's also not the fact that you appear to be doing extremely well but are actually quite pitiful, because I'm well aware of how stubborn you are, getting hung up on all sorts of things."

The tall and sturdy young man raised his wine bowl and revealed, "What surprised me the most was that you've learned to drink, and you genuinely enjoy drinking."

Liu Xianyang placed the wine bowl back on the table — he truly didn't enjoy drinking wine. He sighed and continued, "The snotty little kid has turned out that way, but what can Chen Ping'an and Liu Xianyang actually do about this? Which person doesn't have their own life to live? There are many things we can't do or can't do well regardless of how hard we try and how much effort we put in. This has always been the case, and this will perhaps continue to be the case in the future. However, didn't we manage to overcome the most difficult and pitiful phases in our lives all the same?"

He reached over and placed a hand on Chen Ping'an's head, saying, "It's very good that you helped the snotty little kid do so many things to make up for his wrongs. You couldn't have done any better. I have indeed studied a few sagely scriptures, so I'm aware that the world is lacking people like you, fools who actively take on difficult problems."

Liu Xianyang slowly raised his hand before suddenly smacking the table, scolding, "However, it's very bad that you still feel so distressed now. It can't be any worse. Just look at me. Liu Xianyang is, first and foremost, Liu Xianyang, a half-assed scholar. So, I don't want you to become that kind of fool. You might feel like this is selfish, but there's nothing to be afraid of as long as you don't harm other people."

"I understand all the principles and theories," Chen Ping'an said.

Liu Xianyang laughed bitterly and continued, "But you can't act on them, or you feel like you can't adhere to them well enough, am I correct? So you end up feeling even worse?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "Regarding Gu Can's situation, I actually passed the mental barrier a long time ago. However, I recall our childhood whenever I see all those lone and wandering ghosts, so I can't help but empathize and feel their pain.

"I'm reminded of Gu Can being kicked, causing the little boy to writhe in pain on the ground, wounded and on the verge of death. I'm reminded of you almost being beaten to death in Clay Vase Alley, and I'm also reminded of myself almost starving to death. It was thanks to all my neighbors that I was able to push through that difficult period.

"So, when I was at Bamboo Scroll Lake, I wanted to do something more. I didn't harm anyone, and I also did my best to protect myself. I wanted to do something, and I was able to do a little bit here and there, so why not seize that opportunity?"

Liu Xianyang also felt bad, and he said slowly, "I wouldn't have left our hometown if I had known this earlier. Sure enough, you can't manage without me."

People often needed to leave home when they had ambitions.

After overcoming many challenges and difficulties to achieve their dreams, however, people would very often dream of their hometowns.

But, as Liu Xianyang had revealed just then, he didn't feel too many emotional attachments to his hometown, and there wasn't anything he found difficult to let go of.

He at most felt worried about Chen Ping'an and the snotty little kid. Of course, he missed Chen Ping'an far more than he missed Gu Can.

For Liu Xianyang, managing to live a decent life was actually the best way to respect the Liu Clan. Ever since he was young, he had never cared about visiting the graves and offering wine in respect, putting up spring couplets and door gods, repairing the ancestral residence, or the like. He had done all of this in a perfunctory manner, and he would always like to borrow some paper money from Chen Ping'an whenever they visited the graves during the first lunar month or the Tomb Sweeping Festival.

Chen Ping'an had once grumbled about this, but Liu Xianyang had promptly rebutted all of his complaints, saying that he was the sole descendant of the Liu Clan, someone who could continue the bloodline and expand the family tree for the clan. As such, his old ancestors should be smiling in delight underground. Would they dare to ask too much of their pitiful and lonesome descendant?

If they truly cared about their descendant, then they should hurry up and appear in his dreams, telling him where in the small town the large jars of silver were hidden. After Liu Xianyang became rich, he would even go as far as to burn several large cauldrons of paper horses and paper people for them, to say nothing of a small cauldron of paper money.

Liu Xianyang had always been quite easy-going in some regards, so much so that he could make jokes about how he was almost beaten to death back then. He wouldn't care at all even if the snotty little kid used this matter to target him. On the other hand, the snotty little kid had always been extremely petty and narrow-minded.

Many people would eventually let go of their grudges, treating them as inconsequential matters to be forgotten. However, some people would always keep their eyes wide open and stare intently at their account books, flipping through them all the time to keep track of their grudges. They would genuinely feel happy doing this, and they wouldn't feel stressed or uncomfortable in the least. Rather, this would be very satisfying and fulfilling.

"If you ask a lot of yourself, then the world will eventually ask a lot of you as well," Liu Xianyang said. "The more time that passes, the more people will nitpick the actions of good people when they have nothing better to do. And the better the world becomes, the more people will nitpick. This is because they'll have more time and energy to do so if the world is a better place, and the world will also become increasingly tolerant of these selfish people.

"However, these people will naturally shut up if the world truly becomes a bad place. Even enjoying a proper meal will be difficult, with war and chaos reigning; so will they have the time to care about the good and bad of other people? They can barely control their own lives and deaths, after all. Do you understand this concept?"

Chen Ping'an nodded in response.

"If you feel like being morally vigilant, even when alone, is the most important thing, feeling like you should become a better person, then I can't be bothered trying to persuade you," Liu Xianyang continued. "I'll be happy as long as you don't die. So, I only have a single request for you — don't die."

"There are too many unexpected circumstances, but I'll try my best," Chen Ping'an replied.

Liu Xianyang frowned and said, "The private school's Mr. Qi chose you to accompany those children on a journey to seek knowledge, the Scholarly Sage chose you because of this to become his closing disciple, many people at Downtrodden Mountain have chosen you to become the mountain master, and Ning Yao has chosen you to become her immortal Dao partner.

"Regardless of how grand and how good these reasons are, they aren't reasons for you to die here on this battlefield. To put things bluntly, none of these people who have chosen you want to see you die at the Sword Qi Great Wall. Who do you think you are? Can the Sword Qi Great Wall definitely remain standing just because you, Chen Ping'an, are here? Will it definitely fall simply if you're not here? That's complete and utter rubbish.

"And don't give me your nonsense about doing every little bit you can or whatnot, Chen Ping'an. Do I not understand you well enough? Will you ever lack reasons if you want to do something? You were already able to rattle off an entire list of reasons when you hadn't studied or read any books back then, so now that you have, you'll definitely be able to delude yourself even more.

"Let me ask you one thing. Have you ever thought about leaving this place alive? Are you doing everything for the sake of leaving the Sword Qi Great Wall alive?"

Chen Ping'an fell silent.

"I take that as a no. Then are you gambling on luck?" Liu Xianyang asked. "Are you gambling that the Sword Qi Great Wall can be defended, Ning Yao will survive, Zuo You will survive, and all of your new friends here will survive as well?

"Chen Ping'an, do you feel like things are going swimmingly after you left home, and it's finally about bloody time that your fortune is turning around for the better? Do you feel like you've gone from being the most unfortunate person to being the most fortunate person? Then have you considered this before? The more things you possess right now, the more you'll end up losing if you die? And at that time, you'll have become the most pitiful and unfortunate person again?"

Chen Ping'an became angry in an uncharacteristic display, and he exclaimed in frustration, "Then what should I do?! What would you do if you were in my position?!"

Liu Xianyang was calm and composed as he replied, "The solution is simple. I would first tell Ning Yao that the two of us have to stay alive even if the Sword Qi Great Wall falls. In the meantime, we'll do everything in our power and fight with our full strength. It's also important to ask Ning Yao what she thinks.

"Does she want to die together with you here, becoming a pair of tragic lovers, or does she want to go with the flow, where staying alive is viewed as a fortunate outcome? Or perhaps she wants to work together with you and leave this place alive, with no regrets and no guilt weighing on your conscience. Even if you owe the Sword Qi Great Wall today, you'll be willing to make up for this in the future.

"After understanding Ning Yao's thoughts, regardless of what her answer is right now, you still need to ask your Senior Brother Zuo You for his opinion. What does he want his junior brother to do? Should you carry on the Scholarly Sage's lineage and keep it alive, or should you die a heroic death on the battlefield as the closing disciple of the Scholarly Sage? If it's the latter, then perhaps it's only a matter of whether you die first or whether your senior brother dies first.

"And lastly, you need to consult with the old great sword immortal, Chen Qingdu. If Chen Ping'an wants to live, will the old great sword immortal get in the way to prevent this? If not, then can he provide some help instead? Life and death are a huge matter, so what does it matter to lose some face and act more shamelessly?"

Liu Xianyang pushed his wine bowl to Chen Ping'an and continued, "Have you forgotten already? Back in the small town, which of us among the three had the right to maintain face? Would other people grant our wishes even if we begged them? And if begging were useful, would the three of us have treated the corresponding matters as difficult?

"The snotty little kid begged others not to hurl insults at his mom, and if his pleading had succeeded, just how many times would he have kowtowed back then? If you were able to master the skills of pottery firing by kneeling on the floor and kowtowing a few times, would you have done this? If kowtowing and splitting my head in two would have made me rich and influential, you would have seen me kowtowing until a large crater appeared in the ground.

"What, you've become successful now, and the pitiful little boy from Clay Vase Alley has now become the young master of Downtrodden Mountain and the second shopkeeper of the Sword Qi Great Wall. Yet, you would rather keep your face and sacrifice your life instead now? Well then, I can't afford to drink your wine. I've read many books now, but I'm still a fairly shameless person. I can't compare to your lofty self, and I'm truly not worthy of being your friend."

Chen Ping'an appeared slightly adrift as he reached forward and pushed the bowl of wine back toward Liu Xianyang.

It felt like this was the only thing he could do.

Liu Xianyang grabbed the bowl and casually tossed it to the ground, causing it to shatter. He chuckled coldly and said, "Peace and prosperity, my ass. In any case, I'm not going to throw my life away here. Rest assured, I'll pay respects at Uncle and Aunty's graves when I return home, and I'll tell them that their son and daughter-in-law were both very good people. However, it's a pity that they're both dead. Chen Ping'an, do you think they'll be happy to hear this?"

Chen Ping'an instantly deflated like a balloon, with his energy, spirit, and fist intent all deflating as he murmured, "I don't know. In all these years, I haven't dreamed of my parents a single time. Not a single time..."

Liu Xianyang suddenly smiled, turning around and asking, "What do you say, Sister-in-Law?"

Standing behind Chen Ping'an was a travel-worn young lady who had just rushed over. She stood in the small world and remained silent for a long time, after which she finally replied, "I'll kill those who want Chen Ping'an to die. If Chen Ping'an is seeking death himself, then I'll only beat him half-dead because I like him."