Unsheathed

In the prefectural office, the old aide tugged Liu Gaohua along and walked to the back door of the government office. Liu Gaohua saw a horse-drawn carriage that was already prepared, and it looked like someone was about to embark on a long journey to someplace outside the prefecture. The old aide extended a hand and said with a wide smile, “Please enter the carriage, Young Master.”

A young woman opened the curtain of the carriage, and her face was stained with tears. Upon seeing that it was her younger brother, she released the curtain and felt a little bit better. She leaned against the wall of the carriage and started to think about Young Master Liu again.

Liu Gaohua was baffled, and he asked, “Uncle Song, what’s this all about?”

“The prefectural overseer told me to take you and your older sister out of the prefectural city,” the old aide replied with a stern expression.

Liu Gaohua was astonished and retorted, “Leaving the prefectural city now? Why? Is Blusher Prefecture genuinely facing a great catastrophe? Uncle Song, the more dangerous the situation is, the more that I can’t leave the prefectural city. What will I do if something happens to Father?”

The old aide who had worked in the prefectural office for many years smiled and answered, “If something truly happens, what can a feeble scholar like you do?”

Liu Gaohua was rendered speechless.

“Young Master, let’s leave. Young Mistress is still waiting for you,” the old aide urged.

Liu Gaohua shook his head and insisted, “I’m not leaving no matter what! You can tell my sister to leave by herself…”

Before he finished speaking, Liu Gaohua had already turned around to sprint to the back door. However, his vision suddenly became a blur, and he was surprised to find the old aide blocking the back door. As Liu Gaohua came to a stop, the old aide smiled like a sly old fox.

He looked the young man up and down and said, “Uncle Song has traveled around the world before, after all. It’s only natural that I know some moves. Are you going to enter the carriage yourself, or do you want me to knock you unconscious and carry you onto the carriage? Truth be told, I am already a bag of old bones. Can you bear to have me carry you around?”

“You’ll have to knock me out to stop me!” Liu Gaohua said stubbornly.

The old aide sighed and said, “Your father understands your stubborn temperament, so he initially told me to pass on a message. However, I purposely didn’t mention it straight away because I was afraid of damaging the relationship between the two of you. Now that you’re acting like this, however, I have no option but to tell the truth. Your father said, ‘Liu Gaohua, you’ve never done a single thing that’s satisfied me for the past twenty years. So, don’t stay in the prefectural office to cause more trouble, okay?’”

Liu Gaohua’s eyes became red, and his lips also started to tremble.

He fell silent for a moment before asking in a feeble voice, “What about my younger sister?”

The old aide shook his head and replied, “There’s no time to worry about her right now. You and Young Mistress should leave first. I’ve already sent someone to search for Second Young Mistress.”

Liu Gaohua was about to say something stubborn again, and the old aide also became impatient. He stomped his feet and snapped, “Oh, my dear Young Master Liu, don’t blame me for saying this, but how can a man achieve great things if they’re so hesitant and overemotional?”

“My parents don’t care about me, and my younger sister doesn’t care about me either. I’ll be shocked if a bastard as useless as me can achieve great things!” Liu Gaohua exclaimed in grief.

The old aide almost choked upon hearing this, and he huffed, “Leave, leave, leave, hurry up and leave.”

Liu Gaohua was slightly dazed, and he felt like he would be wrong no matter what he did.

At this moment, he couldn’t help but recall the things that had weighed heavily on his mind in the past. For example, his father always being busy with official matters and essays about morality, his father enjoying profound discussions with outsiders and being willing to play Go for an entire afternoon with guests, and his father never sparing words of praise for the sons and daughters of his good friends.

However, his father had always been indifferent toward him, especially after he had failed to do well in the imperial examination. Sometimes, his father would even ridicule him…

Only at this moment did Liu Gaohua realize that these were nothing more than trivial matters.

The old aide sighed and said, “Just leave, okay? You’ll only cause more trouble if you stay here. You’ll cause your parents to worry for nothing.”

There was a pitiful smile on Liu Gaohua’s face as he replied, “Okay, I’ll leave then.”

The old aide nodded and waited for Liu Gaohua to enter the carriage. He then sat in the driver’s seat and slowly navigated the carriage along the street where everyone’s door was tightly shut. The hooves of the horse clip-clopped toward the south of the city.

Liu Gaohua gazed out at the scenery in the prefectural city as the horse-drawn carriage trundled along. Most streets were still as busy as always, and there were many travelers as well as a large number of shops. Things were extremely lively, and people were blissfully unaware of the perilous danger that was already lurking over the entire prefectural city.

According to General Ma, the demons were definitely well-prepared since they dared to act in such a brash and wanton manner. In the worst-case scenario, the death toll would definitely be more than just a few hundred people. In the past, many catastrophes had been labeled as plagues by the imperial court of Colorful Garment Nation. These so-called plagues had killed tens of thousands of people, and many of these catastrophes had actually been demonic cultivators deploying sinister formations or sullied immortal treasures breaking free from control.

It was often the case that the corpses of the victims would be left alone to face the elements. This was because no one dared to collect the corpses to bury. The so-called plague that had infected Blusher Prefecture back then was also one such situation. It was because of this that the gigantic unmarked burial ground of several hundred kilometers in radius had appeared.

If the sky truly collapsed, who among the naive and clueless commoners could escape? This was unless there was a powerful cultivator to hold the sky up for them. If the cultivator couldn’t hold it up, however, then they could only wait for death.

The old aide sighed in his mind. The actions of the prefectural office and Prefectural Overseer Liu truly caused him to view them with increased respect.

Prefectural Overseer Liu had indeed paid Daoist Chong Miao to deliver a message using a flying sword. Moreover, the Spiritual Horn Force would indeed send people over as reinforcements. This wasn’t false either. The claim that the colored luan could rapidly fly south with cultivators on its back also wasn’t false.

However, Prefectural Overseer Liu had lied about how quick it truly was. If the colored luan flew with no passengers, it could indeed arrive above the prefectural city by the following noon. If it were carrying two or three people, however, then it might not arrive in the northern region of Blusher Prefecture even when tomorrow night fell.

Prefectural Overseer Liu lied on purpose because he was the highest-ranking official in the prefecture. As such, he needed to step forward in this moment of great danger and inspire his subordinates and allies to hold on until the colored luan arrived with reinforcements. The best outcome was naturally if they could hold on until tomorrow noon.

That way, everyone would have already stepped forward to fight with the demons and demonic cultivators. At that time, they would no longer have the option to retreat and leave, especially since they would have already become enemies with the demons. In other words, they would be forced to fight for their own survival as well as the survival of the prefectural city.

If the demons hiding in the city remained unmoving until tomorrow noon, that wouldn’t matter either. When the time came, Prefectural Overseer Liu naturally had his own methods to force the demons out.

If the demons and demonic cultivators were still able to remain quietly hidden after Prefectural Overseer Liu actively declared war on them, then there would be even less cause for worry. After all, the prefectural city would already have reinforcements from several forces by then. Most importantly, the esteemed immortals from the Spiritual Horn Force would also be close to arriving. As such, the situation would become even less worrisome for Prefectural Overseer Liu.

And this was why people said that the schemes and calculations of scholars could drown people to death once they were pushed into a corner and forced to fight.

This was also the first time that the old aide had truly seen his superior, Prefectural Overseer Liu, for who he was. The old man wasn’t disappointed at all. Instead, he felt like this was deserving of a hearty drink.

However, it was a shame that there was most likely little opportunity to do so.

Before tricking Young Master Liu to the back door, the old aide had engaged in a heart-to-heart conversation with Prefectural Overseer Liu.

Prefectural Overseer Liu had spoken honestly and said that if this was a matter of one or two hundred lives lost, he’d abandon things and flee. However, with such a huge number of innocent commoners at stake, he could no longer do that.

While saying this, the scholar in official garb pointed at his heart and said that he wouldn’t feel right there.

He also said that after reading sagely books for so many years, he felt like they were old friends who had known each other for many years. If he cowered and fled to save his own skin, then he was afraid that he wouldn’t have the face to read these books again. He wouldn’t be able to see his old friends again.

“If I don’t read again, then what’s the point of staying alive?”

Having never experienced warfare before, the prefectural overseer’s teeth chattered as he said those sincere words. His face was pale, and his knees were wobbling. He was unable to hide his fear no matter what.

The old aide clearly saw fear written all over his body.

To utter such brave words in such a cowardly manner…

It was truly quite the comical sight.

However, the old aide was simply unable to laugh. He hadn’t found the situation laughable either.

Some scholars who had become officials were indeed very different from those impoverished and self-pitying scholars who felt like their talents were unrecognized and unappreciated.

The old aide acting as a driver pushed these thoughts aside and had the horse trot faster out of the city.

He couldn’t help but glance back. Where had the mischievous disciple whom he had secretly taken run off to? Where were they playing now? He hadn’t been able to find them no matter how he looked, so he could only pray that they stayed safe and out of trouble. The catastrophe looming over Blusher Prefecture definitely wasn’t something that they could become involved in.

The old aide shook his head and lamented in exasperation, “The cultivation world is murky, while the mountains are filled with strong winds. Neither place is calm and easy to settle down in. Is it really that difficult to lead a quiet and peaceful life?”

————

There was a rice shop in the north of the prefectural city, and a tall and skinny old man had opened and run this shop for twenty years or so. He didn’t speak much, and the two shop attendants who also lived in the prefectural city alongside him didn’t like to speak much either.

However, they often visited the city god pavilion to offer incense, and thanks to this, their neighbors had a somewhat good impression of them. The rice and miscellaneous items in the rice shop were also of good quality and sold at a cheap price, so business here had always been fairly decent.

Today, the rice shop welcomed two customers from outside the prefectural city. They were a middle-aged couple who looked honest and dutiful. The rice shop closed very early, and a young shop attendant who had been newly hired last winter explained that the shop owner had relatives visiting from afar. No one found this strange. After all, it was only normal for relatives who hadn’t seen each other for a long time to chat for a bit longer.

After closing the rice shop, the owner of the shop and the middle-aged couple sat around a table of mouthwatering dishes. The fragrance of the food wafted through the air. Meanwhile, the three shop attendants sat together in a corner and snacked on sunflower seeds. It was clear that they didn’t have the right to sit at the table.

The man who had come from afar directly reached over to grab an oily drumstick. He ravenously chowed down on it, and he held a pot of wine in his other hand as he ate. When he tilted his head back to drink wine, half of the contents would enter his mouth, while the other half of the contents would spill.

The woman cocked her head slightly, pinched her chin with two fingers, and made a gentle tearing motion. A thin face mask was surprisingly torn off and slapped down onto the table. Only then did she lean back into the chair and heave a huge breath. “Wearing this piece of shit is so uncomfortable. I can’t even breathe properly. To think that I actually spent 30 snowflake coins for it…”

The three shop attendants drew a sharp breath. The maskless woman was truly very ugly!

The three of them exchanged a smile. They felt like the woman had caught a bargain by buying the face mask for 30 snowflake coins.

As the woman spoke, she reached up with her other hand to tear off a second face mask and throw it onto the table.

The three shop attendants were instantly astonished. They all gulped as they looked at the woman.

She was criminally beautiful, and the three shop attendants prayed that there wouldn’t be a third face mask. However, they couldn’t help but wail in their minds when the woman raised her hand again. Alrighty then, so she really is an ugly woman, after all.

To their surprise, the extremely beautiful woman winked at them and said in a sweet voice, “There’s no more face mask; this is big sister’s true appearance. Am I beautiful?”

The owner of the rice shop huffed and said, “Hurry up and discuss the proper matters.”

The man tilted his chin and signaled for the woman to speak. He was still busy eating and drinking.