Unsheathed

Anyone who had ventured into the world for any substantial period of time had some trump cards up their sleeve.

As soon as the scholar with the Chu surname heard Chen Ping’an utter the word “First,” he felt a sense of foreboding, and he knew that this was most likely one of Chen Ping’an’s trump cards.

However, he couldn’t identify where this sense of peril was coming from. His mind was racing, and he gritted his teeth as a white ball slid out of his sleeve. The ball was glowing brightly even in the darkness of the night, and it was clear that it was no ordinary object.

The scholar clutched the ball tightly in his hand, and it melted like wax in the face of fire, turning into a liquid as viscous as mercury. The stream of liquid then quickly spread over his arm and soon covered his entire body. All of a sudden, it was as if he had put on a suit of pristine white armor.

The breastplate at the center of the suit of armor was shimmering brightly, and it had been forged to resemble the suits of radiant armo worn by deity statues in the temples and monasteries of the mortal world.

If it weren’t for the fact that the scholar could sense that his life was under threat, he would’ve sooner reverted back to his true form than use this priceless armor pellet. Armor pellets were supreme Militarian treasures extremely revered and sought after, and there was no ceiling to how expensive they could be.

Furthermore, demand had always far outweighed supply for these things, and they were generally jointly forged by Mohist mechanists and cultivators from the talismanic branch of Daoism.

In their normal state, armor pellets were fist-sized balls that were very portable and didn’t take up much space. Upon being injected with True Qi, they instantly transformed into an all-encompassing suit of indestructible armor.

The armor protecting the scholar was giving off a layer of faintly rippling white light, illuminating the surrounding rain-covered ground a bright white color, and as he rose to his feet, he appeared far calmer than before as he said with a wry smile, “You’ve truly screwed me over, kid.

“I prepared this suit of radiant armor in the potential case of a disagreement when splitting the spoils and both Daoist White Deer and that mountain god turned on me, but now that I’ve been forced to reveal it, they’ll already know that I have this suit of armor in my possession, so what am I to do now?”

Despite the casual tone of his voice, the scholar didn’t dare to let down his guard in the slightest. He was rather perplexed about why there had been no followup after Chen Ping’an had uttered the word “First”. No sword had flown out of the opposite room from his wooden box, nor had any allies lurking in the shadows sprang forth to make their presence known.

The scholar knew that Chen Ping’an definitely wasn’t the type of person who liked to make jokes.

With just two punches, Chen Ping’an had almost forced him to revert back to his true form, and he was confident that even that brash saber-wielding man with his fourth tier powers wouldn’t have been able to achieve the same feat.

Hence, even though this “First” was yet to make an appearance, the scholar knew that as soon as it appeared, it would definitely be a formidable opponent, or a powerful treasure, either of which would be sure to pose a serious threat to him.

Meanwhile, a slightly frustrated look appeared on Chen Ping’an’s face as he gave the Sword Nurturing Gourd hanging from his waist a firm slap.

Inside the Sword Nurturing Gourd, First had inexplicably undergone a drastic change in personality. Prior to this, it had been very violent and short-tempered, often administering physical punishment upon Chen Ping’an for no reason.

However, upon leaving Downtrodden Mountain, it had become extremely lazy, laying around and doing nothing all day, and it couldn’t even be bothered to punish Chen Ping’an anymore. Even after that firm slap of the Sword Nurturing Gourd, First remained completely unmoved, hovering in a stationary manner in the space within the Sword Nurturing Gourd.

In contrast, Fifteenth was buzzing around incessantly, voluntarily engaging in communication with Chen Ping’an to the best of its abilities, as if it were telling him that if First didn’t want to heed his call, then it would be happy to fight in First’s stead.

After attaining sentience, the pair of flying swords resembled infants that were still not yet able to speak. They possessed intelligence, but not to a very high degree, and they still acted mostly according to their instincts.

They could clearly sense Chen Ping’an’s intentions and emotions, but communication was often quite difficult between them. Furthermore, Chen Ping’an only had a vague sense of what they were feeling at any given point in time, which further impeded their communication.

Upon spotting Chen Ping’an’s gesture, the scholar immediately turned his gaze toward the red wine gourd that was hanging from Chen Ping’an’s waist. However, he discovered that it was completely devoid of luster and didn’t appear to be remarkable in any way.

Prior to this, when they had first met in the stormy mountains outside the estate, the scholar with the Chu surname had carefully sized up Chen Ping’an and Zhang Shan. His verdict was that the two most likely weren’t particularly formidable martial artists or cultivators.

Colorful Garment Nation wasn’t a very large nation, and there weren’t many formidable figures in its territory. In fact, even the likes of Daoist White Deer were considered to be one of the most powerful immortals of the land.

Barring any mishaps, there shouldn’t have been anyone capable of opposing him here.

He had left his residence and made the southbound journey from Ancient Elm Nation to Colorful Garment Nation all for the sake of what was in this estate. He had been plotting extensively for this day, and even though his victory was all but assured, he had still decided to take a cautious approach, recruiting Daoist White Deer and that illegitimate mountain god to his cause.

The three of them all had their own objectives, and he had befriended the scholar with the Liu surname and lured him onto a trip to this place. He then told his two allies that he was volunteering to scout the estate at the risk of his own personal safety, and he was using the righteous energy that the scholar with the Liu surname had accumulated from a young age to conceal the faint demonic energy emanating from his body.

His true objective was to examine the ley lines that the formation had been built upon so that he could take advantage of the chaos of the upcoming battle to steal the treasure that he had come to obtain.

After that, he would flee the scene and leave Daoist White Deer and the mountain god behind, using the armor pellet as a surprise trump card to protect himself and facilitate his escape. From there, he would return to Ancient Elm Nation to continue his cultivation.

As for why Xu Yuanxia had arrived at the estate, that wasn’t just a coincidence. Instead, it was because the scholar with the Chu surname had been spreading rumors in the nearby cities and towns, giving the estate a demonic and sinister reputation. In reality, while it was true that the estate was rife with Yin energy, it had never actually harmed the nearby people or had any negative impact in general.

The reason that the scholar had done this was to further complicate the situation so that it would be easier for him to make his escape. It would be good if Xu Yuanxia could weaken the owner of this estate, and it would be even better if he could last until Daoist White Deer and the mountain god arrived.

The valiant and heroic Xu Yuanxia was naturally completely oblivious to all of this, and he had believed all of the rumors. After downing two large bowls of wine in a nearby town, his blood rushed to his head, and he could sense that something wasn’t quite right about this storm, so he had immediately stormed to the estate to slay the so-called demons here.

The mountain god had personally applied oil to that torch, while the oil-paper umbrella had concealed Daoist White Deer’s copper coin ghost, and neither of them had appeared all that remarkable, but there was actually a great deal of thought put into both of them.

The torch had been assigned with the task of helping the mountain god inspect the internal layout of the estate from up close, while the copper coin ghost’s job was to infiltrate the estate, then find an opportunity to emerge from the oil-paper umbrella to destroy the measures that had been set up in the estate to ward off external threats, including things like the remnants of the runic talismans that had been inscribed onto the window sills and the shadow wall that still contained a hint of the righteous aura of Daoism.

These things had allowed the estate to weather many a storm and endure numerous sinister attacks.

None of the three parties involved in the alliance were easy to deal with, but that was only to be expected.

Among itinerant cultivators, competition was fierce, and it was very much a game of survival of the fittest, so anyone who was lacking in power would’ve already perished, serving as stepping stones for more formidable cultivators.

Were there Qi refiners who didn’t compete with others and simply kept to themselves? Of course there were. For example, the three inhabitants of this estate, the male and female owners and the elderly female servant, had remained in this estate and kept a low profile for the past century, yet they still couldn’t escape the fate of being targeted by others.

The scholar with the Chu surname didn’t want to attract any unnecessary trouble, so he decided to back down, smiling as he said, “There’s no bad blood between us, Young Master Chen, so there’s certainly no need for us to fight to the death. As long as you’re willing to leave this estate tonight, I’ll be sure to treat you to fine wine and exceptional hospitality if you ever pass through Ancient Elm Nation at any point in the future.

“Even if you want to drink in the imperial palace of Ancient Elm Nation, I can easily take you there on a snowy night, and we can sit atop the rooftop of the imperial palace and share a drink together while appreciating the snowy scenery. With me in accompaniment, you won’t have to worry about drawing the ire of the imperial clan.”

The scholar with the Chu surname was a spirit of rather illegitimate origins, but the human form that he had attained was extraordinarily handsome and refined, even more so than the young masters from the most affluent clans of the nearby cities and towns. This was definitely not just down to mere coincidence, and there had to have been some fated blessings bestowed upon him that had allowed him to attain his looks and disposition.

Chen Ping’an finally spoke upon hearing this. “I heard that the emperor of Ancient Elm Nation also has the Chu surname. Are you related to him?”

The scholar with the Chu surname hesitated momentarily, then seemingly as a gesture to display his sincerity, he nodded with a smile as he replied, “There are some ties between us, but no blood ties. It’s a long story, but in summary, we both rely on one another but are also wary of each other at the same time.”

The Chu character 楚 consisted of a forest 林 on top and a foot 疋 on the bottom, and the scholar had chosen the Chu surname for himself to imply his true identity as a tree spirit.

However, this was not so obvious to Chen Ping’an as he had only just begun to learn to read and was still only at the stage of learning the pronunciations and definitions of characters, so he was still far from the stage where he could dissect characters and glean their implicit meanings. After all, he was nowhere near as well-read as the likes of Cui Chan or Wei Bo.

Chen Ping’an took a moment to examine the suit of armor worn by the scholar with the Chu surname, then decided not to use Fifteenth for now. Instead, he was going to take this opportunity to test out the power of his fists so that he could gauge what level he was at as a third tier martial artist.

With that in mind, he asked, “What tier of Qi refinement have you reached?”

“I’m only at the fifth tier,” the scholar replied with a smile.

Of course, he was being modest in his use of the word “only.”

He was only one tier away from reaching the Middle Five Tiers, and that was certainly nothing to be scoffed at. Even in major cultivating sects, cultivators of the Middle Five Tiers were considered to be extremely valuable assets, and they were either elders of lofty status or figures with substantial administrative power in their respective sects, and this was even more true for tiny nations like Ancient Elm Nation and Colorful Garment Nation.

However, Chen Ping’an was rather ignorant to such intricacies, and he took the scholar’s statement at face value. Thus, the scholar’s attempt at modesty fell upon deaf ears. To Chen Ping’an, his interlocutor was one of the fifth tier “great demons” that Zhang Shan had spoken of, and the young man flexed his wrists from side to side as a faint smile appeared on his face.

He couldn’t beat the female ghost in the red wedding dress, but he could certainly try his hand at this opponent. If he could beat the scholar to death with his fists, then that would naturally be best, but even if he couldn’t, he always had his flying swords to bail him out.

Even back when Chen Ping’an had only just begun practicing fist techniques, he had dared to lead that Mountain-moving Ape of Sun Scorch Mountain on a wild goose chase. Setting aside how much power he possessed, he was certainly not lacking in courage.

In fact, very few martial artists in this world could match him in this regard. Of course, that didn’t mean that he was brash and reckless. On the contrary, his caution and intelligence in battles were also strong suits of his.

An exasperated look appeared on the scholar’s face. “Why do you still insist on a fight?”

Chen Ping’an gave him a very straightforward answer: “If I don’t beat you, my friend and that man with the saber will be in a lot of danger.”

A cold look appeared in the scholar’s eyes. He was a fifth tier cultivator who was used to being respected and revered, even by the imperial clan of Ancient Elm Nation, so he was naturally no pushover.

“It sounds like you’re not going to repent until you’ve met an early grave! Let me tell you this: there are still two other people just as formidable as myself waiting to pounce outside the estate. Are you sure you want to get involved in this? Do you really think I’m scared of you?”

Chen Ping’an’s response instantly had the scholar fuming.

“Whether you’re scared of me or not has nothing to do with whether I’m going to fight you.”

Chen Ping’an took a deep breath, and he had wasted this much time talking to the scholar not because he was trying to show off or anything like that. Instead, he was taking this time to gauge the attitudes of the two flying swords in his Sword Nurturing Gourd.

That was a key factor that determined how he was going to approach this fight.

Back when it first appeared in Chen Ping’an’s house on Clay Vase Alley, First had emerged in the form of a tiny streak of white light suspended in mid-air. Even though its blade was very slender, it was filled with a vast aura of righteousness, and it had displayed itself in its full power and glory without making any attempt at concealment.

In contrast, Fifteenth, which Chen Ping’an had obtained from Old Man Yang, was less direct and confrontational. It had a more peaceful disposition, and whenever it moved around inside the Sword Nurturing Gourd, it would always do so in a jerky manner, moving extremely quickly with abrupt stops and starts.

Furthermore, whenever it drew close to the inner wall of the Sword Nurturing Gourd, it would always come to an abrupt halt just short of striking the wall, in stark contrast with First, which would always fly around wildly inside the gourd, crashing into its walls with reckless abandon.

Hence, Chen Ping’an had determined that Little Capital—or, as Chen Ping’an had renamed it, First—was sharper than Fifteenth and also more sturdy. Its flaws, however, were also very clear, namely its lackluster speed and how difficult it was for Chen Ping’an to control. Hence, whenever Chen Ping’an used it, he would always find it to be lacking in precision and accuracy.