Unsheathed

Ding Ying raised his arm, and the silver-colored lotus flower hat on his head surprisingly bloomed like a real lotus. The originally closed lotus petals peeled back and extended outward, swaying in a lively manner. Ding Ying placed the miniature flying sword between his fingers inside the lotus, after which the lotus petals closed again, returning the Daoist hat to its original form.

The old man clasped his hands behind his back and peered down at the river of sword qi flowing near him. Even someone like Ding Ying couldn’t help but feel that this was a spectacularly beautiful sight that he had never seen before.

As he looked down at the snow-white stream of sword qi lingering in the human world, Ding Ying smiled and asked, “Chen Ping’an, is this the sword kinesis technique of sword experts? You and Feng Qingbai both used this technique before. I was careless, and I didn’t imagine that you could use sword kinesis from such a great distance.

“However, this doesn’t matter because the outcome is already set in stone. Moreover, this is an immortal sword, yet you’re not truly gripping the hilt with your hand? You’re only feigning the fact that you’re holding it? Is this not a great shame?”

Ding Ying withdrew his gaze from the lingering sword qi and turned his eyes to Chen Ping’an, continuing, “Or perhaps you’re unable to fully control this immortal sword? What an absolute pity. In any case, is all this mist-like and water-like matter sword qi? Shouldn’t sword qi dissipate very quickly?”

Chen Ping’an hadn’t imagined that Ding Ying would possess such keen observation skills and notice his outwardly harmonious but inwardly discordant relationship with the immortal sword so quickly.

One time outside the Flying Eagle Fortress, Chen Ping’an had drawn this sword, Lasting Qi, from its scabbard. However, the sword qi had instantly severed all of the flesh and blood from his arm, leaving only white bone. In the end, Chen Ping’an’s severe wounds had only healed after Lu Tai used mystical pills and medicines from the Naturalist Lu Clan to treat him.

Chen Ping’an naturally hadn’t summoned Lasting Qi to his side from such a great distance using some kind of divine sword kinesis technique. Instead, Lasting Qi’s sword qi had seeped into Chen Ping’an’s physique due to his interaction with it day and night for such a long period of time. At the same time, his soul also developed the ability to manipulate the sword qi. Thus, the two of them had remained linked even though they had been so far apart.

Ding Ying pointed at his lotus flower hat and said, “You’ve obtained your sword now, while I’ve temporarily lost the ability of my immortal Daoist hat. With you becoming stronger and me becoming weaker, our imminent fight is quite fair, can’t it?”

Chen Ping’an tightened his false grip on the hilt of his immortal sword, causing the river of sword qi that lingered from the small courtyard to Chen Ping’an’s hand to instantly gather together and funnel into the sword. After doing this, Lasting Qi no longer appeared peculiar in any way.

Chen Ping’an weighed the sword in his hand and felt like it was just right. It was heavier than Deep Infatuation, the sword stored inside Fifteenth. Ever since obtaining the Proper Sword Scripture from Old Dragon City and starting to practice the sword on Osmanthus Island, Chen Ping’an had always felt like his swords were too light. Even though he only feigned holding Lasting Qi right now, he still felt like the immortal sword’s weight was quite suitable.

Things would be fine as long as its weight was suitable.

Only at this moment did Ding Ying elevate his opinion of Chen Ping’an from the level of Lu Fang, Zhong Qiu, and the others to the level of Yu Zhenyi, someone who cultivated immortal techniques.

The difference lay in the fact that regardless of how mystical Lu Fang’s sword techniques were and how peerless Zhong Qiu’s fist techniques were, they would still appear like nothing more than little children waving willow branches around and drunk old men wildly throwing punches around in the eyes of Ding Ying.

In this world, only Yu Zhenyi had reached the pinnacle level of both offense and defense, and could hope to wound Ding Ying.

Chen Ping’an exhaled heavily.

The only good thing about fighting here was the fact that his opponents wouldn’t take advantage of him while he was replenishing his Qi.

It seemed like the martial artists in this world didn’t take the first step that all pure martial artists in Majestic World took. In Chen Ping’an’s home world, martial artists followed a path completely contradictory to that of Qi refiners in the sense that they needed to expel all of the spiritual energy from their bodies. They would then refine a breath of pure True Qi that was lively like a flood dragon and would swim through their organs, bones, and acupoints.

Like a group of elite cavalry expanding their nation’s territory, this breath of True Qi would also forge many paths for itself to travel through. Only after taking this step could one be considered a genuine martial artist who had set foot on the path of Martial Dao.

In the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, however, martial artists didn’t have such a custom at all. Perhaps this was due to the sparse spiritual energy in this world. Because of this, martial artists here lacked tempering and possessed relatively weak foundations.

The so-called “return to natural simplicity” that many martial arts grandmasters in this world pursued was, in fact, just the ordinary path of martial arts that existed in Majestic World. However, martial artists born in this world would only become enlightened and aware of this fact after they had already reached a certain height. Only then would they retroactively try to temper their cultivation.

Even so, the cultivation world had still produced many extraordinary prodigies in the past one hundred years. For example, people like Ding Ying, Yu Zhenyi, and the others. Flicking through the history books, there was also Wei Xian, Lu Baixiang, Sui Youbian, and other astonishing talents.

Ding Ying smiled faintly and said, “Apart from the lotus flower hat on my head, the immortal sword in your hand is the second thing in the world that I want to obtain.”

Chen Ping’an advanced using the six-step walking meditation stance of the Mountain Shaking Fist. Contained within his stance was the top-notch fist intent of Zhong Qiu’s fist stance.

There were slight variations in each of Chen Ping’an’s steps, yet they still seemed extremely coherent and natural especially since he had already practiced fist techniques more than one million times. Fist intent had already taken root in Chen Ping’an’s bones and become part of his identity.

Not only that, but Zhong Qiu had secretly taught Chen Ping’an his fist stance, Mountain Peak, while pretending to fight with him as well. This fist stance was graceful and natural like the water and clouds, allowing it to mesh flawlessly with the six-step walking meditation stance of the Mountain Shaking Fist.

Hawk-eyed though Ding Ying was, he was surprisingly still unable to locate a single weak point in Chen Ping’an’s six-step walking meditation. Indeed, this fist stance was genuinely one with the heavens and aligned with the Great Dao.

During the past sixty years, Ding Ying unrestrainedly purchased and collected all kinds of martial arts techniques in the world. He was a one-in-one-hundred-year prodigy to begin with, so he was able to learn and integrate all of these techniques together. He was attempting to compile a treasured scripture that would allow martial arts to become the paramount art of this world.

There was a bright glimmer in Ding Ying’s eyes as he watched Chen Ping’an perform the seemingly unremarkable six-step walking meditation. By the looks of it, his secret scripture still required further rework and refinement.

Since there was no opportunity for him to kill Chen Ping’an in a single blow, and seeing that there were martial arts techniques of the outside world he could learn from the young boy, Ding Ying decided to avoid Chen Ping’an’s attack.

However, Ding Ying quickly realized that stepping back in retreat was the wrong choice.

After taking the sixth step, Chen Ping’an’s aura had already risen to the pinnacle, with his fist intent so concentrated that it was almost tangible and liquid-like, similar to beads of water rolling across a lotus leaf. Meanwhile, having carried Lasting Qi on his back to temper his soul day after day and night after night, the sword intent that had slowly seeped into his body was now like the veins of a lotus leaf.

Chen Ping’an leaped high into the sky and slashed down with his sword.

He then held Lasting Qi with both hands, and the blade of the sword shifted from a vertical position to a horizontal position as it swept down through the air, disappearing in a flash.

The wide street was sliced into two by the sword qi, and if anyone were present on either side of the street at this moment, they would discover that things on the opposite side of the street had suddenly become blurry and contorted at this instant.

Ding Ying had already retreated ninety meters into the distance, pirouetting on the spot and turning his body to the side as a burst of snow-white sword qi rushed past in front of him.

It was as if he were a traveler marveling at the huge tides surging toward the shore.

Standing side-on when facing Chen Ping’an’s second sword strike, Ding Ying launched a palm strike and jumped up, hanging in midair as he dodged Chen Ping’an’s vicious burst sword qi that was aiming to cut him into two at the waist. At the same time, Ding Ying’s palm strike smashed into the blade of the sword, with the collision between the two appearing like two whetstones grinding against each other.

Ding Ying frowned as his palm became a mangled mess of flesh and blood. He suddenly increased his power, driving a finger into Lasting Qi and borrowing the backward momentum to backflip and hover back in retreat.

However, it wouldn’t be easy for Ding Ying to break free from Chen Ping’an’s grasp, especially since he had lost the upper hand.

Chen Ping’an went through the six-step walking meditation for the second time, with his first step landing in midair one inch from the ground. His second step was one foot from the ground, and he continued to climb higher and higher with each subsequent step. At the same time, he released his grip on Lasting Qi, allowing it to transform into a streak of white that soared down and hunted Ding Ying.

Of course, it naturally wasn’t that Chen Ping’an had already advanced to the eighth tier, the Wing Formation Tier. Instead, he was borrowing the power of Lasting Qi and using the linked aura between them to climb into midair.

When battling with Zhong Qiu before, Chen Ping’an had also taken a few steps in midair after successfully breaking through via Examining the Dragon and advancing to the fifth tier. He had strode past the ditch in the ground formed by Lu Fang’s sword strike, yet his aura and Qi hadn’t been truly stabilized yet.

Both of them had been surging outward like chaotic floods, and it was because Zhong Qiu had noticed this that he had unleashed several more punches to help Chen Ping’an temper and stabilize his Martial Dao.

Ding Ying stomped down, causing an explosion as he leaned forward and shot up into the air. He took another step, and the same process repeated itself again. Ding Ying was releasing astral energy and gathering it underfoot, using it as a platform and allowing him to walk anywhere he wanted in midair.

This was almost a rudimentary form of Majestic World’s Wing Formation Tier.

If Ding Ying managed to ascend and leave the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, then the lofty heights of his achievements would be simply unfathomable.

The remaining members of the Upper Ten Elites and Lower Ten Elites ranked below Ding Ying all regarded becoming one with the heavens as the peak level in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. Reaching this level was extremely difficult and required immense effort and sacrifice.

However, Ding Ying had remained in this world for so many years because he was waiting for others to climb the mountains and stand alongside him. He had already stood on the mountain peak for many years, peering down at the world and feeling as if life was completely uninteresting and meaningless.

Ding Ying viewed the rules and Great Dao of this heaven and earth as his true opponent.

An astonishing battle was playing out in midair.

Chen Ping’an was using sword kinesis and controlling his sword like a sword expert. His attacks were being supplemented by the Avalanche Technique from the Proper Sword Scripture.

He refused to let Ding Ying retreat too far away from him, yet at the same time, he also didn’t allow Ding Ying to come too close to him. He maintained a distance of at least two arms’ length between them.

The two of them relentlessly exchanged blows above the capital of Southern Garden Nation, continually moving toward the south of the capital as they did so.

Sword qi collided with fist aura, releasing rumbling explosions that shook the world like thunder. The residents in the capital couldn’t help but crane their necks and gaze up at this stunning scene.

The boy in the snow-white robe wielded a sword that looked like a streak of brilliant white light. This was a spectacular sight to behold, as if heavy snow were falling above the city, yet not a single snowflake would descend.

Among the onlookers was the emperor of Southern Garden Nation, standing amid layers of imperial guards.

The old cook from the prince’s residence also ran outside the kitchen, still wearing his apron.

There was also Prince Wei Yan and the Mirror Heart Hall’s Fan Wan’er.

On the corner of the street near the wine shop, Zhou Fei and Lu Fang were standing side-by-side.

The pipa woman was destined not to reach the young scholar with the surname Jiang in time. She was slumped against a wall, her face filled with disappointment as she glanced at the peculiar phenomenon overhead. She slowly closed her eyes, truly feeling a little tired.

What could she do even if she knocked on the door of that small courtyard and saw her beloved again? To show him her bloodied and disheveled appearance? Forget about it. It was best to not see him again. Even if he felt like she was a bad person from the conversations of others, she would still, at the very least, be a good-looking woman.

And thus, the woman cocked her head and fell into eternal slumber with a smile on her face.

Empress Zhou Shuzhen didn’t return to the imperial palace. Instead, she snuck into the prince’s residence with a copper mirror in her pocket.

In the courtyard, Cao Qinglang was alone and helpless. He tossed his hatchet away before squatting down and burying his head in his arms, bawling his eyes out.

With no one else in the surroundings anymore, the skinny little girl grabbed her small stool and swayed back and forth as she turned into a small alley. Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she looked all around.

Above the southern region of the capital of Southern Garden Nation…

Chen Ping’an became increasingly familiar and adept at controlling his sword.

His sword blade was too sharp, his sword qi was too intense, and his sword techniques were too strange.

This was the first time that Ding Ying had become so disheveled in the past sixty years. He had no option but to focus all of his effort on defense.

Ding Ying felt slightly frustrated. However, he quickly suppressed his feeling of exasperation and calmed his mind. He wanted to see just how long this young otherworldly immortal could maintain his flawless form for. Ding Ying would strike swiftly and severely wound Chen Ping’an the moment that he showed a weak point.

In the meantime, Ding Ying didn’t idle around either. Rather, he casually unleashed all kinds of techniques that he had learned. He threw crooked punches that weren’t aimed at Chen Ping’an at all, yet his fist aura would explode beside Chen Ping’an, perhaps near his glabella, shoulder, or chest.

The old man’s punches came from all kinds of strange and sharp angles, making them extremely unpredictable and difficult to dodge. This was a case of Ding Ying fusing his divination techniques with his fist techniques. Compared to Ding Ying, Smiley Face’s strange and elusive movements were nothing more than the tumbles of a clown.

Ding Ying held two fingers together and flicked them outward, unleashing wisps of astral energy that appeared like long swords.

Meanwhile, he formed seals with his other hand, activating techniques that had the ability to move mountains and shift seas. A significant number of houses and a large number of trees were ripped up from the ground and used to block the formidable currents of snow-white sword qi.

In the end, the two of them landed on the tall city wall of the capital.

Along the carriageway, the arrow slits and the face of the entire wall fractured and crumbled, causing dust and rubble to fly through the air and rain down on both the inside and outside of the capital.

Chen Ping’an had finally broken free from some shackle. He was finally unleashing his full power without any reservations.

His sword kinesis technique was almost as powerful as the ability of immortals to manipulate their swords with their minds.

The long carriageway was utterly annihilated by Lasting Sword Qi’s overwhelming sword qi.

There were occasionally minor gaps and pauses, yet Ding Ying would immediately be smashed back into the cage of sword qi by Chen Ping’an’s ruthless fists whenever he attempted to break free.

Ding Ying was the most powerful person in the world, having sat on the throne of the cultivation world for the past sixty years. Today, however, he was being completely suppressed for the first time, suffering such a disadvantage that he had no option but to defend with all his might.

Even though Ding Ying wasn’t injured, several tears had already appeared on the cuffs of his sleeves.

Chen Ping’an was quick and agile on his feet as he continued to calmly dance around the obliterated carriageway, maintaining a middling distance from Ding Ying.

It was clear that Ding Ying was infuriated as well, with several jabs from his fingers striking Lasting Qi on the blade or hilt, causing its sword qi to collapse and explode into the surroundings. However, the sword qi radiating from the blade was so abundant that it could condense into a long stream, rendering this amount of damage entirely negligible. This was analogous to a boulder smashing into a river and causing water to splash onto the shore—the amount of spilled water was simply negligible.

A thought suddenly occurred to Chen Ping’an, and he jumped on top of an arrow slit that had already been smashed in half. He held two fingers together in a standing meditation pose, the Sword Furnace Stance of the Mountain Shaking Guide.

Lasting Qi, which had been furiously circling around Ding Ying, suddenly rose more than thirty meters into the sky. The flying sword was already lightning-quick to begin with, yet it sped up even further to an unfathomable speed. It genuinely vanished from sight before transforming into a column of white light that descended from the sky, complete with wild wind and thunderous lightning.

The sword split the city wall of Southern Garden Nation into two before exiting at the foot of the wall and arriving beside Chen Ping’an in a flash. It rang as it hovered beside the young boy.

The dust settled, revealing Ding Ying’s figure. The old man raised his hand, exposing the cuff of his right sleeve that was now in tatters.

Chen Ping’an reached out and feigned grabbing the hilt of Lasting Qi. His palm touched the hilt of the sword for a brief moment, yet he immediately loosened his grip afterward.

Ding Ying roared with laughter and exclaimed, “I’ve never been able to stretch and relax my bones and muscles so much in the past sixty years.”

Chen Ping’an posed the same question as before, asking, “Don’t you just feel amazing?”

Ding Ying had remained unfazed the previous time. This time, however, he couldn’t help but feel slightly humiliated.

He stomped his feet, after which his figure started to become fleeting and elusive. Chen Ping’an could vaguely see him assuming an unknown fist stance.

Behind Chen Ping’an, there was also the blurry shadow of the old man wearing the lotus flower hat, this one forming an ancient heavenly official seal with his fingers.

To his right, in the sky above the capital of Southern Garden Nation, Ding Ying twisted his arms and massaged an orb of blinding light between his palms.

To his left, hovering above the city wall of the capital, Ding Ying extended his arms and swiped down with his hook-like fingers, causing two fractures that each measured more than thirty meters in length to race down along the city wall.

Chen Ping’an feigned holding Lasting Qi and unleashed the Avalanche Technique using his sword qi, aiming to smash through his opponent’s defenses. At the same time, he blocked Ding Ying’s attacks using the Proper Sword Scripture’s Deity Suppression Technique with Lasting Qi. He was focusing on two things at once.

The next moment, a gigantic hole measuring eighteen meters in height and fifteen meters in width appeared on the city wall of the capital. Dust and rubble blotted out heaven and earth.

Like a towering mountain and like a deep pool, Ding Ying appeared like an indomitable grandmaster as he stood on the fringes of the gaping hole in the wall.

Clouds and mists billowed behind Ding Ying now that he was no longer suppressing his boundless astral energy on purpose. The clouds and mists continued to gather and disperse, eventually condensing together to form the outline of a deity. It was as if a god were descending from the heavens.

Chen Ping’an’s expression remained calm and unfazed. Standing opposite Ding Ying, he didn’t so much as glance at the peculiar phenomenon of heaven and earth that the old man had triggered.

Instead, he simply held Lasting Qi in one hand and brought the index finger and middle finger of his other hand together, lightly running them across the blade of his sword from left to right.

Chen Ping’an was emulating her sword strike, the sword strike that she had performed in the Scholarly Sage’s picture scroll.[1]

…Even if he was only able to emulate an iota of her aura.

The unruly Lasting Qi rang softly, seemingly achieving resonance with Chen Ping’an.

It was as if Lasting Qi were finally acknowledging Chen Ping’an and asking him, “Do you have something to say to this heaven and earth? Then don’t hold back and let them hear your voice!”

Before this moment, Chen Ping’an had never been able to physically grab the hilt of Lasting Qi. Thus, it could be said that he had only been close to its sword qi but not genuinely one with the sword.

Now, however, he was genuinely wielding the sword.

Chen Ping’an furiously grabbed the hilt of Lasting Qi, with rays of spectacular light seeping from the gaps between the fingers of his left hand.

As if a bright moon were rising from the earth, it completely illuminated heaven and earth as its brilliant radiance surged toward the surroundings like an unstoppable tide.

The blazing sun was already hanging in the sky and offering light to the world, yet the entire capital of Southern Garden Nation became even brighter.

It was as if the sun and the moon were coexisting in the sky.

Lasting Qi was already unsheathed, yet Chen Ping’an still performed the motion of drawing the sword from its scabbard.

Ding Ying was astonished to discover that he couldn’t step through that gaping hole in the wall no matter what. However, he didn’t panic or get frightened. The nine-meter tall projection of a deity formed from astral energy towered behind him and peered down at the measly human and sword.

Ding Ying was well aware that he couldn’t retreat any further.

He was clearly unmoving like a mountain, yet his arms surprisingly transformed into dozens of arms in front of him, unleashing a dazzling and dizzying display. There were Buddhist seals—the lecturing seal, the Chan seal, the demon-subduing seal, the benevolence seal, and the fearless seal.[2] Each seal shone with a dazzling golden glow.

There were Daoist seals—the Three Pure Ones Seal, the five-lightning seal, the heaven-turning seal, and the Heavenly Master Seal. Each seal exuded astral wind and the rumbling of thunder.

There was also Yu Zhenyi’s astral cuff aura, Zhong Qiu’s shattering fist, the Mirror Heart Hall’s finger sword, Liu Zong’s knife, Cheng Yuanshan’s lone spear, and so on and so forth…

The towering projection of the deity followed suit, emulating Ding Ying’s actions and forming the same seals and assuming the stances. Moreover, its might appeared even more formidable.

Ding Ying’s martial arts cultivation was a culmination of the top-notch techniques of all schools of thought.

Yu Zhenyi stood at the pinnacle of Dao power in this world, Lu Fang stood at the pinnacle of sword techniques, Zhong Qiu stood at the pinnacle of fist techniques, and Liu Zong stood at the pinnacle of knife techniques…

However, further above all of these peaks, there actually stood someone who had already ascended into the sky—Ding Ying. Ding Ying was like the rising sun in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

This was far too unreasonable.

As for Chen Ping’an… he only had a single sword. And he simply needed to unleash a sword strike.

Yet after this sword strike, the projection of the deity collapsed.

The myriad seals shattered, and Ding Ying was nowhere to be seen.

1. This is referring to Big Sister Immortal’s sword strike. ☜

2. Chan (禅) refers to the school of meditation of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China. It is more commonly known as Zen, the Japanese pronunciation of Chan. ☜