Truth in a Dream, an Immortal Feeds Him Fists

(A note: the seven-volume print edition of Sword Come has been published.)

Jiang Shangzhen leaned forward and looked past Chen Ping'an, who sat between them. Smiling at the academy student, he asked, "A scholar from Great Fu Academy? Do you hold the title of gentleman?"

The young man in Confucian robes immediately rose, descended several steps, and bowed with utmost respect. "Yang Pu, a student of Great Fu Academy, greets Old Sect Master Jiang."

"No need for all that courtesy. I'm not a scholar."

Jiang Shangzhen remained seated and returned the greeting with cupped fists. Then recognition dawned. "Yang Pu. I remember a little. You're a man, at least. From now on, I'll count us as acquaintances."

Chen Ping'an could not resist teasing him. "Brother Zhou Fei, your reputation travels far these days. Have those racy books about you found their way into the academies?"

Jiang Shangzhen burst out laughing. "There's been so much happening in the mountains these past years that it's held up a lot of proper work."

"Old Sect Master?" Chen Ping'an asked.

Jiang Shangzhen nodded. "Run a household for three years and even the dogs will despise you. I've thin skin; I couldn't stand being cursed to my face every day. So I handed the position to that lad Wei Ying."

Before entering seclusion, Jiang Shangzhen had formally stepped down as Sect Master in the Patriarch Hall, now filled almost entirely with new faces. Jade Guizong's new Sect Master was Wei Ying, the former master of Jiuyi Peak and an Immortal Realm Sword Cultivator. Wei Ying, in turn, had resigned as Sect Master of True Realm Sect and yielded the position to its Chief Guardian, Old Man Liu Cheng, an Immortal Realm cultivator who had begun as a Rogue Cultivator at Book Scroll Lake.

That was