Unsheathed

During the journey of life, one would inevitably face a few thunderstorms and heavy downpours. It was as if the heavens were reminding people that they were powerless and subject to the whims of a higher entity, so they needed to bow their heads and remain obedient.

For example, Chen Ping’an encountered Cai Jinjian in front of his own home in Clay Vase Alley. Afterward, he faced off against the elderly golden flood dragon in the Flood Dragon Trench, the original owner of Golden Sweet Wine. He then wandered into the depths of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land by accident, where he was hunted by a group of martial arts grandmasters.

The heavens threw him many challenges, and it was up to him whether he could overcome them or not.

If he overcame these challenges, then the rain would clear to reveal the glorious sun. If he failed to overcome these challenges, however, then he could only act like those defeated martial artists. He could only shout at the sky and promise that he would definitely become stronger in a decade or two.

One’s master could only teach one the basics, and it was up to one’s talent and hard work to decide how far one could eventually go.

This was the situation that Zhong Kui was facing today. The heavens were unleashing a thunderstorm upon him.

Before today, the noble scholar from Great Subduing Academy had cultivated far too quickly and far too well. His cultivation speed was simply astonishing, and he had shot forward on the path of the Great Dao and left everyone else to eat dust. In fact, the Confucian disciples in Parasol Leaf Continent could barely catch a glimpse of his back.

Today, however, Bai Yuan had appeared in front of him.

This sword-carrying white ape was a mortal enemy.

In fact, Bai Yuan was even more dangerous than the great demon that had hidden itself near Planchette Writing Sect, the one that Zhong Kui’s teacher—the mountain master of Great Subduing Academy—had gone to stop.

The current situation was exactly what Zhong Kui’s teacher had wanted to avoid. Namely, a situation where Zhong Kui faced certain death.

There was apathy in Bai Yuan’s eyes as he looked at the young noble scholar, someone who had the talent to become the mountain master of a Confucian school.

Zhong Kui took a deep breath.

Even though Bai Yuan hadn’t broken through to the Immortal Tier, and he wasn’t the kind of great demon renowned for having an innately powerful physique, he was still a profoundly powerful sword cultivator at the Unpolished Jade Tier.

If Qi refiners were viewed as the most rebellious thieves in the world who dared to challenge the predetermined cycle of life and death maintained by the Heavenly Dao, then sword cultivators would undoubtedly be viewed as the most unreasonably rebellious thieves out of them all.

Noble people wouldn’t remove their jade pendants for no reason[1].

However, Bai Yuan’s first strike after unsheathing his sword immediately shattered Zhong Kui’s protective jade pendant into smithereens. This was a jade pendant given to every noble scholar in Great Subduing Academy.

After the jade pendant that contained the true intent of sagely Confucian essays crumbled between the great demon and the noble scholar, hundreds of golden characters slowly dissipated from the world, appearing like golden raindrops as they gradually evaporated into the air.

Zhong Kui instantly shot back in retreat, arriving near the perimeter of the well prison located more than thirty meters away. His azure sleeves billowed in the murderous autumn wind, and they were quickly filled with a mighty and indomitable aura.

The so-called well prison in Peace and Tranquility Mountain was a gigantic structure that looked like a well. There was a spiral staircase carved into the inside wall of the well, leading further and further down into the cold and eerie depths. It was as if the gigantic well were a bottomless pit that led directly to the netherworld.

In fact, cultivators at the Lower Five Tiers would suffer detrimental consequences if they dared to approach the well prison. Their aura would become chaotic, and the murderous aura that had accumulated in the well prison for countless years would gradually corrode their physiques.

There was a type of challenging cultivation for junior Daoist priests in Peace and Tranquility Mountain, and this cultivation method involved meditating near the well prison to temper one’s physique. This was an indescribably painful process.

Daoist Nun Huang Ting was viewed as a prodigious cultivation talent because of her performance when she had followed her fellow sect disciples to the well prison for the first time. While everyone else was bitterly struggling to prevent the murderous aura from entering their acupoints, Huang Ting sat there completely unfazed and unaffected.

Not only that, but Huang Ting quietly sneaked to the entrance of the well prison as well. If it weren’t for the senior Daoist priest who was responsible for keeping an eye on the junior Daoist priests hurriedly rushing over to grab the little girl by the collar, Huang Ting might well have entered the well prison for the first time at just nine years old.

Afterward, Huang Ting continued to have battles of wits and courage with her seniors at Peace and Tranquility Mountain. In the end, she finally managed to sneak into the well prison when she was eleven years old. However, she almost died in the depths of the well prison, unable to venture further down yet also unable to climb back up. She lost her consciousness after becoming trapped.

In the end, it was a white ape in black robes that tossed her out of the well prison.

Bai Yuan slowly walked forward, and appeared like he was taking a casual stroll as he arrived on the opposite side of the well prison.

The sword qi of his ancient sword was far too powerful, so much so that it completely concealed the true appearance of the sword. After shattering Zhong Kui’s jade pendant—which was equivalent to a high-grade immortal treasure—with a single strike, Bai Yuan’s flying sword was actually no longer in Peace and Tranquility Mountain. Peering into the distance, one could vaguely see a streak of white light shooting into the distance like a slender white snake nimbly slithering across a black screen.

Because of this, the mountain protection formation of Peace and Tranquility Mountain, which was just about to activate, instantly ground to a halt. Not only that, but it also became abnormally chaotic.

Zhong Kui was surprisingly unable to activate the mountain protection formation to suppress the great demon.

The old ancestor of Peace and Tranquility Mountain had gone to the Lotus Flower Blessed Land to bring Huang Ting back, the sect leader had gone to Planchette Writing Sect to block the twelfth tier great demon, and the Nascent Tier earth immortal responsible for managing affairs in Peace and Tranquility Mountain had also left the mountain to deal with other matters.

Before leaving, the Nascent Tier earth immortal had given control of the mountain protection formation to Zhong Kui, an outsider, without any hesitation. This wasn’t because Zhong Kui was a noble scholar from Great Subduing Academy, but simply because he trusted Zhong Kui. In reality, the Nascent Tier earth immortal could be accused of overstepping his authority by doing this; since it was extremely likely that the biggest secrets of Peace and Tranquility Mountain would be revealed to Zhong Kui as well. However, no one in Peace and Tranquility Mountain questioned this decision.

Once upon a time, a sage had remarked that Daoist priests from Peace and Tranquility Mountain possessed a gallant and chivalrous aura. Considering the situation right now, they indeed lived up to these beautiful words of praise.

However, it was often the case that the demonic forces were one step ahead. As expected of a guest elder who had guarded Peace and Tranquility Mountain for three thousand years, Bai Yuan was surprisingly able to bring the mountain protection formation to a temporary stop.

A solemn expression appeared on Zhong Kui’s face as he silently recited a sagely essay in his mind.

The autumn wind in his azure sleeves was even higher grade than the incredibly rare book-flipping wind.

Zhong Kui had become a virtuous scholar in Great Subduing Academy before the age of twenty, yet his unrestrained behavior during that period had left him with a “tattered” reputation in the academy. He was disliked by many stubborn and pedantic old scholars. In fact, he would have lost his title of virtuous scholar very early on if it weren’t for the mountain master standing up for him in an almost doting manner.

One had to realize that becoming a virtuous scholar or a noble scholar wasn’t a once-and-done kind of process. Rather, virtuous scholars and noble scholars needed to take an important exam once every few years. However, Zhong Kui had become dead drunk and passed out for three entire days, completely missing his exam.

Among the elderly scholars in Great Subduing Academy, some were unable to stand Zhong Kui’s carefree and unrestrained nature, some felt enraged by how he was wasting his talent, and some were of the belief that one needed to face significant challenges if one wanted to achieve great things in the future.

Thus, all of the virtuous scholars and noble scholars had written a joint letter to the mountain master, requesting that he strip Zhong Kui of his title as a virtuous scholar.

That was a snowy winter day, and Zhong Kui walked through the snow barefoot while loudly reciting the essays of some sage. He looked very haughty and unrestrained as he tread the snow, looking up at the sky and asking that sage for clarifications about his essay.

In the end, he answered his own questions with a very self-satisfied expression.

Before Zhong Kui stopped walking, a gust of autumn wind surprisingly appeared even though it was the middle of winter, carrying with it the personal praise and approval of that sage. The words “very good” echoed throughout the entire Great Subduing Academy.

The gust of autumn wind entered his sleeves.

On that day, Zhong Kui was promoted to the position of noble scholar. No one had dared to question this.

Legends said that the creation of written characters by sages had caused ghosts to sob and spirits to weep.[2]

Indeed, written characters possessed immense power. At the very least, this was most certainly the case for scholarly disciples in Confucian academies.

The kindred characters of sages from the so-called temples of decorum were the epitome display of the power of written characters. These powerful sages had been enshrined and worshiped in the Confucian temples for countless years, and they were enjoying eternal incense offerings while their scholarly lineages also remained healthy.

However, even sages enshrined and worshiped in the temples of decorum only possessed a single kindred character. Of course, this was disregarding the Paramount Sage who was placed on the central altar as well as the five sages who were placed to his left and right—in fact, only four of them remained now.

There was only a single exception in the world.

Mountain Cliff Academy’s Qi Jingchun.

He possessed two kindred characters, “Chun” and “Jing.”[3] Moreover, these two characters were extremely profound and powerful.

Ranked below the kindred characters of sages were the spoken words of mountain masters from the Confucian academies. Their words contained the decree of the heavens, and their aura of righteousness could attract resonance with heaven and earth.

Ranked further below this were the poems and literary works of virtuous scholars and the others. These poems and literary works could summon astral winds that possessed the power to reduce one to a rack of bones. In fact, these astral winds could directly destroy the souls of ghosts and yin entities.

With an empty sword scabbard on his back, Bai Yuan stood far away on the opposite side of the well prison. He didn’t say anything, and he simply raised three fingers.

Perhaps he was saying that he would only need three sword strikes to kill Zhong Kui?

Zhong Kui remained silent, not engaging in a war of words with Bai Yuan.

His jade pendant, which signified his status as a noble scholar of Great Subduing Academy, had already relayed his current situation back to the academy.

Numerous snow-white waterfalls appeared all around Zhong Kui, and looking closely, one could see that the brilliant curtains of water were actually made up of countless tiny and dazzling characters.

It was as if gigantic pages of characters had been erected beside the well prison in Peace and Tranquility Mountain.

So powerful were these pages of characters that even the murderous aura rising from the well prison was forcefully pushed down, suppressing the demons and ghosts that were imprisoned within. This caused the demons and ghosts to howl in rage.

The sound of countless iron chains violently thrashing around in the bottom of the well prison boomed like explosive thunder.

1. This is a line from the Book of Rites (礼记). In ancient China, the character of noble people was compared to the quality of jade. Thus, wearing a jade pendant is a constant reminder that one needs to remain virtuous and upright. ☜

2. This refers to Cangjie’s feat of inventing Chinese characters. Cangjie is a legendary Chinese figure, the official historian of the Yellow Emperor. His invention of written characters caused ghosts to sob and spirits to weep because of the power of written language to record knowledge and pass down experience. ☜

3. Chun (春) means spring and Jing (静) means tranquil. ☜