After returning to the blacksmith shop and completing his manual labor duties, Chen Ping'an carried his bowl and approached Ruan Xiu and Master Ruan during mealtime. He told Master Ruan that he wanted to borrow some money, 15 or 16 taels of silver, to be precise. Ruan Qiong didn't even bother to ask Chen Ping'an the reason why he wanted to borrow money. Instead, he merely took a glance at Chen Ping'an out of the corner of his eyes, then said, "Piss off!"

Chen Ping'an hurriedly rushed away in a sheepish manner.

"Father, can't you be nicer to him?" Ruan Xiu protested with furrowed brows.

"I'm already being very nice to him by not beating his ass to a pulp!" Ruan Qiong harrumphed coldly.

Ruan Xiu couldn't help but want to stand up for Chen Ping'an. "He's working so diligently as your apprentice for not a single copper coin of pay! At night, when everyone else is either sleeping or chatting in their rooms, he's the only one who's still carrying soil out of the well one trip after another. 

“He works harder than anyone else here! Can you not see what he's been doing? Have you no conscience? Is it really too much for him to ask to borrow a few taels of silver from you for all the hard work he's done?"

Ruan Qiong remained silent with a dark expression, thinking to himself, It's exactly because I know what he's been doing that I want to chop that little bastard up into 1,000 pieces! If he had the cultivation base of that Mountain-moving Ape from Sun Scorch Mountain, I would've done the same thing as Qi Jingchun and given him a vicious beating!

The thought of what Qi Jingchun had done to Bai Yuan immediately left him feeling a little dejected. Even if he weren't the Sage overseeing this small world, he would've still definitely been able to defeat Bai Yuan, but it would've been impossible for him to defeat such a formidable foe with just a single stomp, as Qi Jingchun had done.

Ruan Qiong could only engage in self-consolation by telling himself that even though he was supposed to be a Militarian swordsman, his true pursuit wasn't to become as formidable in battle as possible. 

Instead, it was to become the best swordsmith in the world and forge a living sword that possessed sentience and intelligence. Essentially, his ultimate goal was to create a true living being that could cultivate, die, enter the cycle of reincarnation, and even pursue the Great Dao.

Ruan Qiong set down his bowl and chopsticks as he raised his head to look up at the sky, then suddenly erupted into a furious tirade out of nowhere. "Do you bastards think you can do whatever you want now that Qi...