The two of them walked down the mountain. Without any warning, a fine rain began to fall. Smiling, Lu Chen conjured two oiled paper umbrellas and asked Chen Ping'an whether he needed a rain cape. Chen Ping'an shook his head, accepted an oiled paper umbrella, hesitated for a moment, then slowly headed down the mountain. He took the initiative to ask Lu Chen for a jug of wine. The two drank as they walked, truly carrying wine into the mountain rain. Holding their umbrellas, they walked out of the Dragon Palace ruins and abruptly returned to the country road leading to the Village School. Chen Ping'an put away his oiled paper umbrella and said, "Whether one has a flying sword and whether one can become a Sword Cultivator, the crux lies with Zhu Lian?"
Lu Chen vigorously shook the rainwater from his umbrella and said with a smile, "See through it but do not expose it. Expose it, and there are no friends left."
Chen Ping'an glanced at his cloth shoes, soaked through by rainwater and smeared with mud. After concentrating for a moment, he sighed, raised his head, and smiled. "That makes me a forthright friend."
There was no need to doubt Lu Chen's mind or methods. His Dao was lofty and his arts numerous; this was acknowledged throughout the world. Had he been born seven thousand years earlier, he would certainly have held a place among the Ancient World Ten Heroes.
In a sense, Chen Ping'an's use of talisman clones this time to temper his realm, to fuse as much learning from the Three Teachings and Hundred Schools of Thought as possible into a single furnace, and ultimately lay the groundwork for matching Cage Sparrow and Well Bottom Moon with three thousand embryonic small worlds, was itself an