Chapter 639 (1): A Murmur Echoed by All the Mountains

Out of the four most prominent private residences on Stalactite Mountain, the Plum Blossom Garden was the one with the most winding corridors and passageways. Of course, it was most renowned for its plum trees.

All of the plum trees inside have been allowed to grow naturally without any manipulation, so they were far from uniform in appearance, but even so, they were still renowned far and wide because the Plum Blossom Garden had purchased many immortal plum trees from the intercontinental ships from the eight continents at exorbitant prices to be planted in the residence.

There was a pergola in the Plum Blossom Garden that had the best view in the entire residence, and at this moment, Lady Tuoyan was kneeling down on a mat woven out of bamboo from Azure Divine Mountain with her hands folded over her lap and a composed smile on her face.

She turned to the three sword cultivators who were making their way up the steps of the pergola and declared, "I am willing to accept my punishment. All that I ask is that you grant me a swift and painless death, Sword Immortal Lu Zhi."

Chen Ping'an sat down on the ground across from her, then asked, "You're not going to try and save yourself? I can only imagine how difficult it was for a plant spirit like you to reach the Upper Five Tiers."

There was not a single Upper Five Tiers plant spirit in the entire history of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

"I won't bother," Lady Tuo Yan replied with a shake of her head. "Even Bian Jing has been plucked out and killed, so there's no way I can be spared."

"How do you know that Bian Jing is already dead? Could it be that the true body of that Ascension Tier great demon is buried in the Plum Blossom Garden?" Chen Ping'an asked.

Instead of answering the question, Lady Tuo Yan turned to Lu Zhi and said, "I've heard people say that out of all of the women on the Sword Qi Great Wall, Lu Zhi is the most beautiful. I can see that those claims are not exaggerated in the slightest."

Lu Zhi's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

"Let me ask you something," Chen Ping'an began. "You were born and spent your entire life in the Majestic World, so why do you yearn so much for the Savage World?"

"The Etiquette Sage established some very good rules, but unfortunately, those who came after him didn't do a great job of following those rules," Lady Tuo Yan replied with a smile. "How many people in the cultivation world truly have any respect or regard for plant spirits like me? I am extremely fortunate to have reached my current position, where I no longer have to deal with oppression and discrimination, but the same cannot be said for my peers, and this has been the case for thousands of years.

“Over time, I grew more and more bitter and resentful. It's not that I like the Savage World. A remote world ruled over by a bunch of imbeciles can't be much better than the Majestic World, but I just wanted to see what it would be like if everyone in the entire Majestic World was wiped out, while only plants continued to survive and thrive as if nothing had happened. Is that a valid enough reason, Lord Hidden Official?"

"It is if you say it is," Chen Ping'an replied.

"I don't have a use for all the battlefield accolades I've accumulated anyway, so I would like to redeem them now in exchange for her life," Lu Zhi suddenly interjected. "From now on, I will keep her with me. What do you say, Lord Hidden Official?"

Chou Miao was rather taken aback to hear this, and that was even more so the case for Lady Tuo Yan.

She had truly resolved herself to die just now, and in her mind, the only possible fate awaiting her other than death was one worse than death. Never had she imagined that Lu Zhi would extend her an olive branch.

"You can just stay by my side and cultivate; there's no need to make yourself my servant," Lu Zhi said to Lady Tuo Yan, then turned to Chen Ping'an, waiting for his answer.

"Sure," Chen Ping'an replied with a nod after some thought.

Lady Tuo Yan collapsed to the ground, tears of relief welling up in her eyes.

All of the countless plum blossoms in the entire Plum Blossom Garden bloomed at once. Lady Tuo Yan's life was connected to this small world, and the weight of her emotions was enough to trigger this spectacular phenomenon.

"Don't ever put on such a pitiful display in front of another man, even if your life is on the line!" Lu Zhi reprimanded with tightly furrowed brows. "That is the only thing that I ask of you, Tuo Yan."

Lady Tuo Yan turned to Lu Zhi on her knees, then kowtowed to her in gratitude before rising to her feet and standing up to join her.

Meanwhile, Chen Ping'an was already kneeling on the ground, rolling up the Azure Divine Mountain bamboo mat.

Chou Miao pretended not to have seen anything, but Lady Tuo Yan was unable to suppress her curiosity, and she asked through her mind's lake, "What is he doing?"

"Our Lord Hidden Official is too embarrassed to plunder the Spring Banner Inn, but now that the Plum Blossom Garden no longer has an owner, he'll be sure to take full advantage," Lu Zhi explained with a smile.

Chou Miao was rather taken aback. Judging from the tone of Lu Zhi's voice, it seemed like her current impression of Chen Ping'an wasn't too bad.

After rolling up the mat, Chen Ping'an tucked it under his arm, then rose to his feet and said, "Let me make this clear to you, Lu Zhi: Lady Tuo Yan's cultivation base isn't the only reason why the Plum Blossom Garden was able to establish itself on Stalactite Mountain. Her wiles and cunning played just as important a role, so make sure to be on your guard."

"That's fine," Lu Zhi replied as she took a glance at Lady Tuo Yan. "If she wants to throw her life away, then it'll only take a single slash of my sword to send her on her way. I'll admit that wiles and cunning aren't my strong suits, but that's where you come in. I expect you to help me keep an eye on her going forward, Chen Ping'an."

She then turned to Lady Tuo Yan and continued, "I'm going to be honest with you; I don't trust you right now. However, I can promise to grant you your freedom in a thousand years. If I die before those one thousand years are up, then it'll be up to Chen Ping'an what he decides to do with you. If you think a thousand years is too long, you can negotiate with me, but I'm not going to budge."

Lady Tuo Yan merely smiled and extended a curtsy toward Lu Zhi.

Sword cultivators of Lu Zhi's cultivation base possessed exceptionally clear sword hearts, and Lady Tuo Yan had heard of many of Lu Zhi's feats, so she was willing to trust her.

Chou Miao gave Chen Ping'an a thumbs-up. Sure enough, bringing a woman along had been a good idea.

Chen Ping'an stowed the bamboo mat in his minimization treasure, then told Lu Zhi and Chou Miao to leave for a moment, as he wanted to speak with Lady Tuo Yan alone.

The two sword immortals left the pergola.

An intrigued look appeared on Lady Tuo Yan's face as she inspected her surroundings and exclaimed, "Have you already become a sword cultivator, Lord Hidden Official? This innate ability of your bonded flying sword is exceptionally rare too."

Chen Ping'an cut straight to the point, asking, "Why did Jiang Heng of the Jade Tablet Sect come to visit the Plum Blossom Garden last time?"

"Why not ask me directly about the Osmanthus Island of Old Dragon City?" Lady Tuo Yan asked. "Can you not bring yourself to ask about it, or are you not going to ask because you're too afraid to ask?"

"There's no need for me to ask about that," Chen Ping'an replied with slightly furrowed brows.

"Let me ask you this then, Lord Hidden Official," Lady Gui began with a smile. "If you go to the Osmanthus Island now, do you refer to her as Aunt Gui or Lady Gui?"

Chen Ping'an didn't answer the question. Instead, he changed the subject and said, "Make sure to look out for Lu Zhi when you're with her. As a sword immortal, her heart is too pure, but without this sword heart, she wouldn't be where she is today. The problem is that it's likely that not everything will go her way in the Majestic World."

Lady Tuo Yan's eyes instantly lit up. "Does that mean I don't have to stay on the Sword Qi Great Wall?"

"You will be traveling with Lu Zhi to the Southern Whirl Continent," Chen Ping'an confirmed with a nod.

"In that case, I'm happy to answer your questions," Lady Tuo Yan said with a smile. "Firstly, regarding Jiang Heng, he's a man whose ambitions far exceed his talents. Compared with Bian Jing, he's just an incompetent fool. In the beginning, he had his sights set on the Fan Clan's Osmanthus Island, but Lady Gui turned him down, so he turned to my Plum Blossom Garden instead, trying to convince me to help the Jade Tablet Sect establish a new trade route, with Reed Flower Island serving as the intermediary ferry station."

"Why not the Rain Dragon Sect?" Chen Ping'an asked.

"Do you really not know, or are you just playing dumb?" Lady Tuo Yan asked.

"Continue," Chen Ping'an prompted.

"The Rain Dragon Sect has a female ancestor who traveled to the Parasol Leaf Continent many years ago and had her heart broken so badly by Jiang Shangzhen that her cultivation base plummeted by several tiers," Lady Tuo Yan explained with a smile. "Back then, she was at the Immortal Tier, yet several hundred years have passed, and she's only just returned to the Unpolished Jade Tier.

“Jiang Heng is Jiang Shangzhen's son, so he had better stay away from the Rain Dragon Sect unless he has a death wish. Having said that, the times have changed. Right now, even if Jiang Heng goes to the Rain Dragon Sect, fully intending to die, it'll be very difficult for him to have his wish granted."

Chen Ping'an sat down on the bench and began massaging his glabella in vexation.

It seemed that whenever Jiang Shangzhen was involved in something, nasty surprises were sure to follow.

However, the biggest surprise of all was that Jiang Shangzhen had become the leader of the Jade Tablet Sect.

Xun Yuan was a truly terrifying man. In Chen Ping'an's eyes, Jiang Shangzhen had Xun Yuan to thank for everything that he had accomplished thus far.

Setting aside personal differences, Xun Yuan was the best sect leader that Chen Ping'an had ever seen, and even now, a sense of lingering fear would still well up in his heart whenever he thought of the plot that Xun Yuan had previously hatched against him.

Lady Tuo Yan made a hand seal, and the body of an old man appeared in the pergola. That was also stowed away by Chen Ping'an in his minimization treasure.

From there onward, Lady Tuo Yan answered all of Chen Ping'an's questions, as promised, and the group left the Plum Blossom Garden together.

According to the secrets that Lady Tuo Yan had revealed, the Plum Blossom Garden was capable of "running away," but at this point, where could it possibly go, especially when Lady Tuo Yan herself was bound to Lu Zhi?

Lu Zhi took her straight to the Sword Qi Great Wall, where she had a private residence in the southern part of the city, and that was where Lady Tuo Yan would temporarily stay.

Meanwhile, Chen Ping'an traveled to the Spring Banner Inn with Chou Miao. Lady Tuo Yan had agreed to compile a catalog of all of the precious items in the Plum Blossom Garden's collection. It was most likely going to be quite a thick log, and it would be sent to the summer palace once completed.

Chen Ping'an arrived at the Spring Banner Inn, and Mi Yu's trio went to the main hall for a meeting, while Shao Yunyan had yet to return to Stalactite Mountain.

It wasn't that he didn't want to return with Lu Zhi; he simply couldn't keep up with her.

He had decided not to travel by intercontinental ship in order to prioritize speed, but traveling all the way from the Circling Ascension Continent to Stalactite Mountain via flying sword was not an easy endeavor.

Not all of the twelve intercontinental ship administrators visiting the Spring Banner Inn on this occasion would leave with jade tablets. Generally speaking, unless there were some really close allies among them, none of the administrators who received jade tablets would reveal this information to anyone else, while those who didn't receive jade tablets would most likely try to make it appear as if they had.

Instead of going to the main hall, Chen Ping'an went to the account room to visit Wei Wenlong.

Chou Miao had no interest in seeing a bunch of account books. He had been forced to read through many account books in the summer palace, and in the words of Cao Gun, "Once I leave this place, I never wanna see another book for the rest of my life!"

However, Chen Ping'an forced him to come along, and Wen Weilong felt very much overawed, being visited by both the Hidden Official and a sword immortal.

Wei Wenlong brought over some miscellaneous books for his two guests to read, and Chen Ping'an was very pleasantly surprised to see that one of them was a secret file from the Ministry of Revenue of the former Lu Empire on the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

Wei Wenlong was feeling a little uneasy, and he explained, "Whenever I have no work to do, I like to read these records from the Ministries of Revenue of fallen empires from all the continents. These records are not expensive at all, and they're sold by the rucksack. Thanks to my connection to my master, the six intercontinental ships from Old Dragon City are all very good to me, and they're almost giving this stuff to me for free."

Chen Ping'an patted Wei Wenlong on the shoulder with a bright smile as he praised, "That's very impressive!"

Wei Wenlong staggered slightly under the weight of Chen Ping'an's hand, more so because he was frightened than anything else.

Chen Ping'an dragged over a chair and sat down beside Wei Wenlong, then began asking the latter questions about taxation in past years in the Great Li Empire.

Wei Wenlong was able to answer all of Chen Ping'an's questions, and he even spoke about some of the little tricks employed by the officials of the Ministry of Revenue in past years.

However, he also stated that over the past century, the taxation of the Great Li Empire's Ministry of Revenue had become more and more mysterious and confusing with each passing year. For an empire of this caliber, the official records were all fake, and the truly important records were the secret account books inaccessible to the public.

If one looked only at the publicly available account books, they would be completely oblivious to the Great Li Empire's expenditures on things like the White Jade Capital replica and the mountain intercontinental ship and sword boat constructed for the empire by the Mohist Mechanists.

Wei Wenlong speculated that Commercialists were definitely supporting the Great Li Empire's finances behind the scenes, in addition to the Mohists. Otherwise, both the immortal coin economy and the gold and silver economy should've completely collapsed long ago.

In order to truly understand the intricacies of taxation, Wei Wenlong had gone out of his way to develop a deep understanding of the relevant rules.

Chen Ping'an mostly asked very open-ended questions and allowed Wei Wenlong to share his expertise.

On the subject of finances and money, Wei Wenlong was a completely different person.

He was logical, confident, and extremely competent, and Chen Ping'an listened with full focus and concentration to what he had to say.

This was truly some very valuable knowledge.

Chou Miao had never seen Chen Ping'an look so animated and enraptured before.

The more they spoke to one another, the more they realized how much they saw eye to eye when it came to matters related to money and finance, and all of a sudden, Wei Wenlong slammed a fist down onto his desk in exultation before reaching out to shake Chen Ping'an's hand, only to catch himself at the last minute and withdraw his hand with an awkward and sheepish expression.

"Please forgive me, Lord Hidden Official."

"Forgive you for what? You have nothing to apologize for," Chen Ping'an said with a smile. "From now on, just call me Brother Chen, or Brother Haoren works too!"

"Are you two discussing Commercialist teachings?" Chou Miao asked.

"What we're discussing is very much relevant, but you can't lump the two together," Chen Ping'an replied with a wave of his hand.

Wei Wenlong took a glance at the clueless Chou Miao, and he was almost unable to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Clearly, he was a complete novice in this field, and it was no wonder he hadn't been appointed the Hidden Official despite his status as a sword immortal.

It was getting a little late, so Chen Ping'an stood up and left a flagon of osmanthus wine on the desk, then smiled and said, "You're welcome to visit our summer palace at any time, and you can even stay on a long-term basis if you like. I can reserve a place for you there, but it'll have to wait until after all of the business dealings with the intercontinental ships from the eight continents have been finalized.

“Otherwise, we could both get distracted from the truly important matters at hand. For now, I'm going to return to the summer palace and clean up a separate residence for you to stay in."

"I can't accept that, Lord Hidden Official!" Wei Wenlong hurriedly said as he stood up from his chair. "That would be too much of an honor for me to bear!"

"I've already made up my mind," Chen Ping'an said with a dismissive wave.

After leaving the account room, Chou Miao smiled and remarked, "You seem to be in a very good mood."

"Indeed, I am," Chen Ping'an replied with a smile.

He was already planning to take Wei Wenlong to Downtrodden Mountain in the future, and he intended to assign the Lotus Root Blessed Land to him for practice.

"Is he really that good at what he does?" Chou Miao asked.

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "Let me put it this way for you: I wouldn't trade him even for the entire Spring Banner Inn."

"What about the Spring Banner Inn and the Plum Blossom Garden?" Chou Miao asked.

"Well, now you're just being ridiculous, Sword Immortal Chou," Chen Ping'an complained.

"All of the plans of the Hidden Official's branch can delay things for half a year, and if nothing goes wrong in our business dealings with the intercontinental ships from the eight continents, that should be another year, so we'll have roughly a year and a half," Chou Miao suddenly said through his mind's lake.

There was a reason why Chou Miao had been deemed one of the top candidates to become the next Hidden Official.

Chen Ping'an cursed under his breath.

"Who're you cursing?" Chou Miao asked with a smile.

"Not the old great sword immortal, that's for sure," Chen Ping'an replied.

"I advise you not to treat me like I'm Sword Immortal Mi Yu," Chou Miao said with a smile.

"Alright, I won't let it happen again," Chen Ping'an replied.

"Wei Wenlong was looking at me a bit funny at the end there," Chou Miao remarked.

"What do you mean?" Chen Ping'an argued. "I saw nothing but admiration in his eyes whenever he looked at you."

"Would you like to return to the summer palace bruised and battered, or would you prefer it if I hacked Wei Wenlong to death instead?" Chou Miao asked with a smile.

"Alright, I won't let it happen again, starting from now," Chen Ping'an amended with a smile.

Prior to becoming the Hidden Official, Chen Ping'an had spoken with the old great sword immortal at the thatched cottage.

"As Hidden Official, you only have to buy three years of extra time for the Sword Qi Great Wall."

"Only?"

"Would you prefer thirty years instead? If you think you can pull it off, you can tell me, and I'll go to the Ning Clan and the Yao Clan to ask for Ning Yao's hand in marriage for you right now."

"Sure, I can do it."

"Get out of my sight."

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