While staying overnight in the wilderness, it was imperative for someone to be on lookout duty throughout the night. Prior to reaching the Pillow Relay Station of Red Candle Town, Chen Ping'an had been responsible for lookout duty during the first half of the night, while Zhu He had taken over for the second half of the night. 

Now that Zhu He was no longer with the group, Lin Shouyi was the one on lookout duty for the first half of the night, while Chen Ping'an stayed up for the second half of the night, and their role was to keep the campfire going and look out for unexpected attacks.

Chen Ping'an was quite familiar with this task. During the process of pottery firing, maintaining the fire was of the utmost importance. Chen Ping'an had served as an apprentice in the kilns for many years, and even though Old Man Yao had never taught him any of the important pottery firing skills as he regarded Chen Ping'an to be lacking in aptitude, Chen Ping'an rarely ever made a mistake while performing all of the other manual labor tasks. 

Hence, he couldn't have been more familiar with a task like nightly lookout duty, which was a stern test of one's patience and willpower.

Furthermore, while staying up in the night, he was left to his own devices in a quiet setting, so he was free to practice the walking and standing meditation stipulated in the Mountain Shaking Guide. Occasionally, he would also be able to weave some straw sandals, or pull out that small chunk of Dragon Slaying Platform to sharpen Li Baoping's saber. 

As he had become more proficient in his standing meditation, the fiery-dragon-like burst of qi in his body had ultimately chosen a pair of acupoints to reside in. The standing meditation, coupled with Chen Ping'an's breathing techniques, would put him...