Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 14 Going down the mountain
It's impossible for me not to want revenge.

However, Chang Ping'an knew that his chances of revenge were slim, so he suppressed his hatred in his heart.

Although he is now out of the martial arts world, he has learned immortal arts. How could he possibly let go of his hatred?
His grudge was with Xie Yan, an inner disciple of the Sword Forging Manor, who was only three years older than Chang Ping'an.

The feud between the two men can be traced back to their fathers.

Chang Ping'an's father was Chang Boqing, a well-known swordsman in the martial arts world. When he became famous, he was already a seventh-rank martial artist, which could barely be called a master.

Chang's mother, Fang Yunying, was a master swordsmith at the Sword Forging Manor, just like Xie Yan's father, Xie Tieshi. Their skills were equally matched, and they were highly respected in the manor.

Initially, the feud between the Chang and Xie families stemmed from an order that shouldn't have happened.

Sixteen years ago, Zhuang Wansong, a renowned fourth-rank Venerable in the martial arts world, asked the old master of the Sword Forging Manor to reforge his natal sword in hopes of breaking through his realm and advancing to the third-rank Innate Venerable.

However, the old master of the manor was over seventy years old and his physical strength was failing, so he was unable to undertake the reforging work that would last for several days. Therefore, he carefully selected several swordsmiths and let Zhuang Wansong decide for himself. Among them were Xie Tieshi and Fang Yunying.

The rest of the story is quite cliché. After a series of bitter feuds, Fang Yunying emerges slightly stronger and wins the opportunity to forge the sword. For this sword, and to prove herself, she exhausts her life force and dies after completing the forging.

Of course, this sword also became another golden brand for the Sword Forging Manor, ranking among the world's divine weapons and becoming the thirteenth "first-grade divine weapon".

Later, Chang Boqing suspected that Xie Tieshi was behind Fang Yunying's death, so he went to Xie's house to demand an explanation. In the heat of the moment, the two got into a fight.

Xie Tieshi, a swordsmith, was naturally no match for a renowned swordsman. It was only after the old manor lord intervened and mediated that the two sides stopped fighting.

Afterwards, Xie Tieshi became increasingly unwilling to live in Fang Yunying's shadow for the rest of his life. So he spent several years and exhausted his life essence to forge a peerless natal sword for his son Xie Yan. Although it was not as good as the sword Zhuang Wansong used, it was not much different.

In the end, Xie Tieshi died of a relapse of his old illness in the second month after forging the sword. Xie Yan then deliberately lured Chang Boqing's enemies to his door, killed Chang Boqing, and also deliberately took the opportunity to sever Chang Ping'an's true qi meridian, destroying his natal sword and making him unable to practice martial arts again.

At that time, Chang Ping'an had just entered the Sword Forging Manor as an outer disciple with his father's approval. According to the rules of the manor, as long as one is promoted to the eighth-rank martial artist, one can become an inner disciple under the elders of the manor, which is a leap to the top.

Unfortunately, losing his natal sword was bad enough, but the severing of his true energy channels meant that Chang Ping'an would never have a chance to pursue martial arts again, and he was thus demoted to a swordsmith—for the sake of his mother.

The stewards and elders of the manor made nice promises, saying things like "a son inherits his mother's business and will surely achieve great things," but in reality, they only took care of him for the first few years. After Xie Yan began to stand out in the manor with his natal sword, Chang Ping'an was trampled into the mud by Xie Yan's followers.

Do I hate him? Of course I hate him. How could I not hate the murder of my father?
But more than anything, there was resentment. Resentment towards the Sword Forging Manor for protecting the criminals, and resentment towards his own incompetence, having toiled for years and still remaining just an ordinary sword-forging laborer.

Unfortunately, he did not inherit his mother's extraordinary talent at all. He performed only moderately in the art of sword making, and even if he wanted to pursue the path of sword making, he could never find the right way.

He thought he had no hope of revenge in this lifetime, but unexpectedly he met his master, this old immortal.

Well... because Zhang Chengdao has always had a head of white hair, Chang Ping'an still thinks that his master is very old, and that he only has white hair and a youthful face because of his successful cultivation.

The memory flashed through his mind for only a moment, and Chang Ping'an couldn't help but ask his master, "How do we settle the accounts?"

Zhang Chengdao glanced at his cheap apprentice, feeling somewhat disappointed. This apprentice didn't quite fit the protagonist mold. The good-natured characters in other novels weren't truly good-natured, so why did his own protagonist apprentice lack any initiative?
He snorted coldly and asked, "How do you intend to settle this? Kill all those who stood by and did nothing back then?" Chang Ping'an shook his head and hesitated before answering, "The only person I have a grudge against is Xie Yan. The inappropriate behavior of others is merely a consequence of this. Instead of settling scores with Xie Yan, we should investigate the rights and wrongs of those who are subservient to him. I think that is putting the cart before the horse."

Zhang Chengdao sighed upon hearing this.

Although the apprentice was soft-hearted, what he said didn't seem to be wrong.

In fact, even if he were to face the Sword Casting Manor head-on, Zhang Chengdao would not be intimidated.

If Chang Ping'an, a mere Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator, is this powerful, then wouldn't I, a mere Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator, be able to take off immediately?

Although Zhang Chengdao did not learn the three sword techniques, he could skillfully control spiritual power!

As long as one has spiritual power, plucking leaves and flying flowers is an easy task. The purer and more abundant the spiritual power, the greater the destructive power. My level four Qi Refining is definitely stronger than my cheap disciple's level one Qi Refining, right?
Moreover, just by looking at the quality of the longsword made by that golden finger, one can tell that the cloth armor on his body must also be quite good, so at least he doesn't need to worry too much about his personal safety.

Considering that his apprentice was the one who suffered the most, Zhang Chengdao did not interfere with Chang Ping'an's thoughts. Instead, he nodded casually and led him down the mountain without comment.

The bamboo forest wasn't far from the foot of the mountain. After walking for less than half an hour, we saw a boundary stone with red characters that read "Baishi Mountain".

Following the dirt road eastward, it wasn't long before we arrived at the territory of the Sword Casting Manor.

Although it is called a manor, the Sword Casting Manor is not a closed manor, but a whole complex of buildings.

This complex of buildings is nestled against the mountains and beside the water, with thousands of acres of fertile land and countless industries such as mines and forest farms.

If it weren't for the fact that Baishi Mountain is some distance from the Sword Casting Manor, it would probably have been incorporated into the manor's assets long ago. Even so, the people of the manor often claim that Baishi Mountain belongs to them.

The first place we arrived at was Baishi Post Station, a hub for the Sword Casting Manor to travel southwest. Originally established by the Xiao Kingdom government, it was gradually incorporated into the Sword Casting Manor. Although it is still nominally a government property, it has long since become primarily a service to the Sword Casting Manor.

The postmaster of Baishi Post Station certainly recognized Chang Ping'an's face and was startled when he saw him.

Not many people go to Baishi Mountain. The postmaster remembers it clearly: first, Chang Ping'an went up the mountain and disappeared without a trace, and then another outer disciple went up the mountain and has not returned. He thought that the two of them had accidentally fallen and died in the mountains!

After so many days, Chang Ping'an actually returned, and he even brought with him an elderly man with white hair.

Just as he was about to ask what was going on, he heard Chang Ping'an say to the white-haired man at the entrance of the post station, "Master, would you like to rest at the post station?"

Master!?
What kind of master?!

The postmaster stared wide-eyed at Chang Ping'an and his companion, speechless.

(End of this chapter)