Unsheathed

Chapter 347 (1): True Teacher

After the water goddess asked this question, she noticed that she didn't receive a response for a long time. She eventually looked up, and didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. As it turned out, Chen Ping'an had already fallen asleep in a sitting position, snoring quietly as he slept.

A smile spread across her face. Chen Ping'an's relaxed and carefree nature appeared slightly casual, yet in her eyes, he was no inferior to those impressive cultivators who were supremely deadly and unstoppable.

After pondering for a moment, the water goddess of Burial River was just about to walk over and carry Chen Ping'an to a room in her residence so that he could have a good rest. However, Pei Qian hurriedly dashed over to Chen Ping'an's side as if she were facing a huge enemy.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked.

The water goddess rolled her eyes and replied, "Perhaps you want him to sleep here until morning? He at least needs a comfortable bed, does he not? Otherwise, just what kind of hospitality is my Green Roving Residence showing?"

"Oh, then make sure to be careful. Don't wake my dad up," Pei Qian warned.

While saying this, Pei Qian carefully grabbed the Sword Nurturing Gourd and tied it back to Chen Ping'an's waist.

If this wine gourd was lost, then she would probably be scolded to death by Chen Ping'an even if she wasn't beaten to death.

This was inevitable. After all, she was the most worthless thing in Chen Ping'an's mind.

The water goddess didn't correct Pei Qian regarding how she addressed Chen Ping'an even though she could easily tell that the young scholar most definitely didn't have any blood relation with this little girl. As for why the young boy and the little girl were traveling together... This was perhaps due to fate.

Reunions and partings caused by fate, and the coming and going of fate... These were some of the most mysterious things in the world.

The events of last night and this morning were a perfect example of this. This was Chen Ping'an's first visit to Green Roving Residence, yet who would have imagined that he would bestow such a huge fated opportunity to the water goddess? One needed to understand that gods and deities were essentially limited to the slow accumulation of incense offerings to advance their cultivation. As a result, it was far more difficult for them to improve their cultivation compared to Qi refiners and pure martial artists.

Apart from being appointed by the imperial court or receiving an imperial edict from the emperor, allowing a deity to advance using the fortunes of an entire nation, gods and deities could only advance their cultivation little by little by accumulating the essence of the incense offerings from their worshippers.

The water goddess gently picked Chen Ping'an up and placed him on her back. This young boy was the best-behaved drunk in the world, and he wasn't too heavy either. The water goddess didn't use any mystical powers such as land-shortening techniques to directly arrive inside a courtyard in a single step, and she instead walked one step at a time with Chen Ping'an on her back. This was an incredibly rare display of patience for the oft-impatient water goddess of Burial River.

The water goddess was extremely curious. How was such a young boy able to house so many grand principles inside his head? Why was he viewed as a successor by the Scholarly Sage and Qi Jingchun? He would have been very young back then, no?

If Chen Ping'an had truly listened to Dao and learned these principles from a very young age, then just how impressive was his background? Just how impressive was his talent? Perhaps he was the reincarnation of a god, allowing him to be born with immense knowledge?

On second thought, however, the water goddess immediately felt like she was incorrect. After all, the Scholarly Sage would have come across all kinds of talented prodigies before, so he most likely wouldn't be as shallow as her.

While walking beside the water goddess, Pei Qian kept her head raised to observe the deity's expression. Upon seeing the slightly strange smile on the water goddess' face, the skinny little girl finally couldn't help but ask, "You're not attracted to my dad, are you?"

The water goddess shook her head and replied in a gentle voice, "No, I neither like him nor do I think I'm worthy of him. If I had to choose a scholar in the world to become my husband... I would probably be more attracted to that disheveled noble scholar from before. Marrying and living with a man like that would probably be easier. On the other hand, things would be more difficult with Young Master Chen."

Pei Qian would have become angry if the water goddess had replied that she liked Chen Ping'an. However, she became even angrier when she heard the water goddess reveal that she didn't like Chen Ping'an.

"Are you blind?!" the little girl instinctively exclaimed.

The water goddess turned around to glance at the fuming little girl, and she chuckled, "Oh? Perhaps all of the women in the world have to like Chen Ping'an to not be considered blind?"

Pei Qian humphed coldly in reply. Her expression was haughty, and it was as if she were saying, "I'm not going to waste my breath on a foolish woman like you."

The water goddess was already in a good mood to begin with, so she couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw Pei Qian's expression. Pei Qian felt like she was being belittled, so she became even angrier as she fumed, "What are you laughing at? My dad is your benefactor, and I'm his daughter, so that makes me your young benefactor! Show some respect!"

The water goddess slowed down a little and asked in a quiet voice, "Should I offer you a thank-you gift?"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up, yet they quickly became dim again. She appeared slightly listless as she replied, "Forget about it, you can directly offer the gift to Chen Ping'an. I don't dare to carelessly accept any gift. Otherwise, he'll definitely scold me for lacking manners again when he wakes up. My kindness will be regarded as bad manners, so why should I trouble myself with this? Don't you agree?"

The water goddess was extremely amused, and it took her a lot of willpower to finally suppress her smile. She put on a serious expression and explained, "It's okay, I'll naturally prepare a more valuable thank-you gift for Chen Ping'an. Since you're Chen Ping'an's daughter, however, it only makes sense for me to give you something in our first meeting since I'm somewhat of a senior.

"It won't be too unreasonable for you to hide this present from Chen Ping'an either. After all, this isn't a significant matter with big implications. It's not like you'll use this item to do bad things either, so Chen Ping'an will only scold you at most if he finds out about this in the future. This won't hurt at all, so what are you afraid of?"

Pei Qian was slightly swayed by the water goddess’ words, yet she quickly sniggered and replied, "How do you know I won't do bad things? I'm a very bad person! If I receive a super powerful immortal treasure or learn some incredibly powerful immortal technique, then I'll immediately kill whomever I don't like. Even Chen Ping'an won't be able to stop me!

"However, I'll definitely look after Chen Ping'an's face if I become stronger than him in the future. I'll only kill, kill, and kill when I'm by myself. I'll be even more ruthless and resolute than that big old baddy with the surname Zhu and that stern-faced woman with the name Youbian. I'll kill people just as easily as I eat, just like how I get Chen Ping'an to refill my bowl of rice in the blink of an eye!"

The little girl became happier and happier as she spoke.

Meanwhile, the water goddess became increasingly shocked as she listened. Only at this moment did she realize what a crazy person Chen Ping'an was bringing around with him.

Pei Qian was comparing killing people to eating rice, and she wasn't just pretending to be scary like ordinary and naive little children. No... she was being honest.

The look in the water goddess' eyes changed as she started to carefully observe Pei Qian again.

Pei Qian suddenly flared up in rage and exclaimed, "You're such an evil person, Miss Water Goddess! You're repaying kindness with evil intentions! Are you purposely trying to screw me over? You want me to make a huge mistake in front of Chen Ping'an so he abandons me, aren't you? That way, you can seize the opportunity to act like a kind person and take me in, forcing me to become a little maidservant who serves you in Green Roving Residence, right?"

The water goddess remained silent as she carried the sleeping Chen Ping'an and looked down to observe the tanned little girl.

She purposely caused her eyes to become ice-cold, pretending to conceal this yet also allowing it to slip through at the same time. She smiled and asked, "Is that how you view me?"

Sure enough, Pei Qian immediately retreated a single step and pretended to be relaxed as she smiled and replied, "I'm just joking with you, Miss Water Goddess."

The water goddess nodded in understanding.

This little girl who possessed a Golden Physique was definitely no simple person. Moreover, it would practically be impossible to control her nature.

The water goddess involuntarily recalled the situation last night when Pei Qian had run over with water cupped in her hands. Chen Ping'an had only given a simple instruction, yet Pei Qian had immediately run back to the spirit wall to return the water. Not only that, but everything had seemed normal and in line with her nature. She hadn't appeared rebellious in the least.

The water goddess finally understood some things as she ruminated on this.

She couldn't help but praise the young boy on her back.

Pei Qian chuckled in amusement and remarked, "You were trying to scare me just then."

The water goddess felt slightly helpless. Did this little girl truly possess the keen instinct to see through the fluctuating thoughts of other people? Just how tiring would it be to interact with her day after day?

The water goddess carried Chen Ping'an to one of the most refined courtyards in Green Roving Residence, and all of the courtyard doors and building doors automatically opened to let them inside. After the water goddess placed Chen Ping'an on a bed with extravagant blankets, Pei Qian hollered for her to move aside. The skinny little girl then walked over to help Chen Ping'an take his shoes off and tuck him into bed. Only then did she sit down on the edge of the bed and stare at the water goddess.

The water goddess smiled and said, "You have your own place to sleep. I'll bring you over straight away."

Pei Qian furiously shook her head, saying, "I need to guard the night for my dad. I need to protect him from bad people."

"Alright, there's no need to flatter him anymore; Chen Ping'an is genuinely asleep now," the water goddess said in a joking voice.

Pei Qian was slightly skeptical, and she glanced back at Chen Ping'an before standing up and saying with a grin, "Then I'll head off for some shut-eye. I'm completely beat. However, you definitely, definitely have to remember to immediately come over to inform me when my dad wakes up. We're in a hurry to continue our journey. We promised to meet up with the group today, and my dad is someone who always keeps his promises."

The water goddess had no option but to surrender to this unbelievably mischievous little girl. After leading Pei Qian out of Chen Ping'an's room, she asked in curiosity, "The group? What's going on?"

Pei Qian hesitated for a moment before roughly explaining the situation with the Yao Clan's convoy.

The water goddess nodded and replied, "No problem, the two of you can sleep in peace for four hours, and I'll bring you upstream of Burial River when you wake up just like last night."

Pei Qian finally felt at ease, and she followed the short but incredibly rich water goddess to a nearby courtyard. She was extremely picky, and there was also an expression of disdain on her face. In reality, however, she was feeling as envious as could be. She thought to herself that she definitely needed to buy a residence as large and extravagant as this when she had enough silver in the future. Not only that, but she would even use gold and silver to pave the floor and slap yellow paper talismans all over the insides of the buildings.

After bringing Chen Ping'an and the mischievous little girl to their rooms, the water goddess arrived outside Green Roving Residence in a single step. She was in a trance as she looked up at the plaque.

She took another step, instantly arriving inside the water god temple where her gold statue was worshiped. There were roughly fifteen minutes until the temple opened to the worshipers outside when she walked inside the main hall.

A peculiar phenomenon of heaven and earth had appeared from her temple when she had formed her Golden Core just then, causing the hundreds of worshipers waiting outside to fall to their knees and pray in utmost sincerity. The water goddess had sensed their sincerity all the way from Green Roving Residence in the distance, and this had allowed her to obtain slight enlightenment regarding incense offerings and the Dao of gods and deities.

The golden clay statue on the altar inside the main hall had already returned to normal, no longer glowing with divine light that illuminated Burial River.

In reality, the statue barely resembled the water goddess. The clay statue was tall and slender, with its sleeves also appearing lively as if they were billowing in the wind. It was as if the statue were a goddess wearing a divine dress and standing in the breeze.

The water goddess had always felt like the gold statue didn't represent her at all. It was far too beautified, but this was due to the rules dictating how the statues of mountain gods and river gods should be made.

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