After emerging from the mountains, Chen Ping'an made a trip to the blacksmith shop. As he passed over the stone bridge, he brought his palms together and crossed the bridge as quickly as he could with an extremely solemn and earnest expression as he murmured, "Esteemed immortals or whatever you may be, if you have something to say, then please be civilized and don't resort to violence. 

“If you want me to do something for you, please tell me through a dream at night instead of coming to me in a dream during the day. I don't think my heart can handle much more!"

Thankfully, Chen Ping'an was able to make it to the other side of the bridge without any incident, and he was ecstatic as he skipped away to find Master Ruan and Ruan Xiu.

Just like last time, Ruan Qiong was waiting for Chen Ping'an while seated on one of the bamboo chairs, while Chen Ping'an was seated on the other chair, and Ruan Xiu was standing behind her father with an undisguised look of elation on her face.

After taking a seat, the dirty and disheveled Chen Ping'an carefully set his basket down in front of him, then carefully rummaged through the basketful of medicinal herbs before pulling out a cloth pouch containing the pair of maps that had been given to him. 

As he handed the maps back to Ruan Qiong, a guilty look appeared on his face, and he said, "While climbing up Lamp Bearer Mountain, I was stopped in my tracks by a waterfall. I hid the basket in a pit near the waterfall, and I even constructed a frame out of branches to protect the basket from the rain, but not long after I climbed to the top of the waterfall, heavy rain began to fall. 

“By the time I rushed back down to the pit, the frame I constructed had already been crushed by the rain and the wind, and the basket and the cloth pouch were soaked. Thankfully, I wrapped the maps quite tightly in parchment paper beforehand. After the sun came out, I pulled them out to take a look, and only the corners were wet, but even after they were dried, it's still quite clearly noticeable."

Ruan Qiong opened the cloth pouch and removed the parchment paper to find that the pair of maps were still virtually in the same condition as before. Besides, these were just two copies that he didn't have to return to the kiln supervision office or the Dragon Spring County office. 

However, Ruan Qiong wasn't about to console Chen Ping'an by...