Unsheathed

Chapter 437 (2): It’s Morning

It was around the autumnal equinox when Chen Ping’an had traveled from the Great Li Empire to Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Upon arriving in Bamboo Scroll Lake, he had traveled to Pond Water City by horse-drawn carriage.

After that, he met with Gu Can, and on Cyan Gorge Island, he was greeted by a piece of crisp and refreshing autumnal scenery. From that point onward, the dew had begun to bme more vius andndense. The days wereld and the nights were long in Bamboo Scroll Lake, and dense mist was ammon sight.

He had then paid a visit to Cloud Pagoda City before erting the assassin and his daughter to the border of the Stone Brush Nation. There, he witnessed that line, as well as another piece of scenery, one that heralded the imminent arrival of winter.

Upon his return to Cyan Gorge Island, Bamboo Scroll Lake began to slip into winter, and with that came the emergence of winter mirages.

In order to get a thorough understanding of the history, customs, and traditions of Bamboo Scroll Lake, Chen Ping’an had stayed on Brocade Pheasant Island for close to half a day during his exploration of the islands to try and catch a glimpse of the mirage of the wild pheasant entering the lake.

However, this was an extremely rare phenomenon, and whether he would get to witness it or not was entirely down to luck, just like back when he had captured that golden mountain crossing carp. Chen Ping’an didn’t have much time that heuld afford to waste on Brocade Pheasant Island trying his luck, and in the end, heuld only leave in disappointment.

It was especially important in times of adversity and suffering to find ways to entertain oneself in order to assuage the suffering.

One such attempt at self-recreation was his excursion to see the mirage of the wild pheasant entering the lake, and it was for the same reason that he had asked to hear Hong Su’s life story.

Ever sinceming to Cyan Gorge Island, he had very rarely indulged in drinking, and when he did, it was almost always just a sip or two to reinvigorate himself.

With the end of the year fast approaching, the winter chill was only beginning to deepen.

The island masters were still quarreling on Palace Willow Island, while Chen Ping’an was left to do his own thing in peace. He had thought that things wouldntinue in this fashion, and that one day, he would raise his head to diver that the winter chill had been replaced by the lush exuberance of spring, but the peace did not last.

One day, all of themmotion on Palace Willow Island suddenly ceased, and Gu Can returned to Cyan Gorge Island with Tan Xue to visit Chen Ping’an, who was busy studying a secret technique that had been bestowed upon him by Wei Bo.

Arding to Gu Can, the island masters of Azure Mound Island, Heavenly Governess Island, and Millet Grain Island, the three largest islands in opposition to Cyan Gorge Island, had proposed that each side send out three to five people, and whoever came out on top would get to choose the ruler of the cultivation world.

However, right as Cyan Gorge Island was planning to agree to this proposal, the master of Azure Mound Island and a chief guest elder of Heavenly Governess Island, two of the most powerful earth immortals in their three-island alliance, suddenly vanished without a trace overnight.

The situation took a rapid turn for the worse from there, and only the Millet Grain Island Master was left to hold down the fort. A privatenversation took place between him and Liu Zhimao, and it seemed that they had agreed upon a set ofnditions.

Thus, Liu Zhimao became the ruler of the cultivation world, and the title had all but fallen onto his lap. All of his disciples and the powerful cultivators on the eleven subsidiary islands had been prepared for a brutal battle in which anyoneuld lose their life.

Ofurse, Liu Zhimao and Gu Can were exceptions to that, and everyone was aware of this fact and hadme to accept it. Perhaps some were resentful of the fact that they were expendable, while Liu Zhimao and Gu Can were destined to benefit from their sacrifices, but that was simply the way things were.

Given how things had turned out, Liu Zhimao would likely laugh himself awake at night.

However, Chen Ping’an wasn’t relieved at all to hear this.

There were some things thatuld be deduced from this situation. For example, there was a very good chance that Millet Grain Island was a pawn of the Great Li Empire, and the heavy blows suffered by Azure Mound Island and Heavenly Governess Island had most likely been the result of some secret arrangements from Cui Chan.

However, there were some things that remained unknown to Chen Ping’an, such as whether the Luminous Vermilion Empire had any tricks up their sleeve, and if so, whatuld be? If such trump cards did exist, who would they target once they were unveiled? Liu Zhimao, Gu Can, or Tan Xue?

Alternatively,uld it be that the Luminous Vermilion Empire had simply given up? Perhaps it already had too much to deal with on its war-torn borders, and as a result, it had decided to simply abandon Bamboo Scroll Lake.

Perhaps even the impact of Chen Ping’an’s presence on Cyan Gorge Island had been taken into aunt by that Embroidered Tiger.

Chen Ping’an had cautioned Gu Can not to go out unless it was absolutely necessary for the near future as doing sould expose him to potential retaliative measures from the Luminous Vermilion Empire.

Gu Can had smiled and nodded in agreement, telling Chen Ping’an that he had alreadynsidered such a possibility. On top of that, Liu Zhimao had also warned him to be on his guard and forbade him from attending any celebratory banquets. All he had to do was wait out a period of two to three months, after which he would be allowed to do whatever he pleased.

Even if he were to go and take a piss in the ancestral halls of Azure Mound Island and Heavenly Governess Island, no one would dare to say anything. In fact, Liu Zhimao was taking such a cautious approach that he had even delayed his own inauguration ceremony to spring of the following year.

During the ceremony, Cyan Gorge Island would have to open up its protective formation to allow in all manners of attendees, and Liu Zhimao was very wary of the possibility that some of those ceremony attendeesuld potentially enter Cyan Gorge Island with less than friendly intentions.

At the time, Chen Ping’an and Gu Can had sat down on a pair of little bamboo chairs and chatted for a while.

Given that it was winter, there were barely birds flying over the lake, and it seemed that it was about to snow soon.

Following Gu Can’s departure, Chen Ping’an made his way over to the dock in antemplative silence.

On the same day, at around dusk, Chen Ping’an suddenly raised his head, then stood up from his desk and rushed over to the window.

An elderly cultivator was hovering in mid-air outside Cyan Gorge Island with ald sneer on his face, and he declared, “My name is Liu Laocheng, and I’m here to see Gu Can. Everyone else, piss off! Otherwise, I’m going to pick you off one by one until there’s no one left. If someone tries tome and retrieve your body, then I’m going to kill them as well!”

As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a series of yellow paper talismans that were glowing with a golden sheen, and they formed a massive circle around Cyan Gorge Island, much like a giant hand that had closed itself around the island’s throat.

A Dao Manifestation over a thousand feet tall appeared beside him, and it was clad in a suit of strange, fiery, black armor.

In one hand, it wielded a giant ax, while in the other hand, it was holding a seal called the Gold-Gilded Fire Spirit Divine Seal, which was one of Liu Laocheng’s most important bonded items. Bamboo Scroll Lake was a place abundant with water fortune, yet it was with this fire-attribute bonded item that Liu Laocheng had been able to wipe outuntless of his enemies.

The circle formed by the premium Barrier-Shattering Talismans that he had released shrank further and further, exploding one after another as they embedded themselves into the Cyan Gorge Island protective formation.

A series of massive holes were blown into the protective formation, and if it weren’t for the mountains of immortal currency that had been thrown into there of the formation and the desperate efforts of Tian Hujun and several other important guest elders to keep the formation intact, it would’ve alreadympletelyllapsed.

Even so, the entire island was still quaking violently, and the spiritual energy on the island had been thrown into a state of disarray.

Liu Laocheng wasted no time with words as the giant Dao Manifestation beside him swung its ax down with tremendous power at his behest, and the so-called indestructible protective array of Cyan Gorge Island was instantly shattered.

A black spot came flying out of the Spring Courtyard Mansion, then revealed its true form in the sky, transforming into a giant flood dragon that was over three thousand feet in length before pouncing at the Dao Manifestation.

The flood dragon wrapped itself around the Dao Manifestation, and together, the two of them plunged into Bamboo Scroll Lake to send massive waves erupting into the air.

As opposed to being knocked off balance by the flood dragon, the Dao Manifestation landed on its feet on the lakebed before sliding back through the lake.

Due to the fact that they were quite close to Cyan Gorge Island, the water in the lake wasn’t very deep, and it only reached up to around the Dao Manifestation’s waist.

A seal came crashing down onto the flood dragon’s head, and even though the flood dragonmpletely dwarfed the Dao Manifestation in stature, it was slammed straight into the lake by the seal, following which the Dao Manifestation stomped a foot down onto its head before swinging its ax down once again.

He had been busy at work after obtaining such a largelored glaze golden body fragment, and prior to that, his cultivation base had been stagnant at the Unpolished Jade Tier bottleneck for over two hundred years. Even though he was still yet to reach the Immortal Tier, he was not far away.

On top of that, in order to deal with this Nascent Tier flood dragon, he had made an enormous investment of ninety grain rainins, which seemed like far too heavy a price to pay for the return.

The grain rainins had been spent tommission a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers to engrave a Daoist phrase onto the head of his Dao Manifestation’s ax, namely “If one fails to shoot a tiger, then they must hone their archery. If one fails to slay a dragon, then they must sharpen their sword!”

It was rather out of place to have the words “sharpen their sword” engraved onto an ax, but this was hardly ofnsequence, and a vagrant cultivator like Liu Laocheng was certainly not going to get hung up over such an insignificant detail.

The ax tore through the flood dragon’s flesh with ease, and the water of Bamboo Scroll Lake ran red with the blood that came gushing out of its wound.

However, flood dragons were renowned for their physical resilience, and Tan Xue was able to put up a fight, even managing to knock over the opposing Dao Manifestation several times during theurse of its struggles.

Liu Laocheng made a grabbing motion toward a certain spot on Cyan Gorge Island, anduntless cracks instantly appeared over the entire Spring Courtyard Mansion and the surrounding earth, as if the entire mansion were about to be plucked out of the ground.

“Still trying to hide? I’ve already found you!” Liu Laocheng sneered as he raised the palm of his other hand, then flicked a finger through the air, and Gu Can was forcibly wrenched out of the Spring Courtyard Mansion, then launched back like a cannonball before crashing into a mountain behind him.

Liu Laocheng turned his gaze to another spot on the island as he goaded, “What do you say, Liu Zhimao? I’m about to beat your disciple to death, are you still going to keep hiding like awardly turtle?”

His provocation was met withmplete silence.

“In that case, I’m not going to hold back anymore,” Liu Laocheng sneered, then joined his index and middle fingers before sweeping them through the air, and the seal that had been slammed into the flood dragon’s head by his Dao Manifestation rose up into the heavens before hurtling toward Gu Can, who was still embedded deep into the mountain face.

“Oh? It seems like there’s at least one Cyan Gorge Island cultivator who’s notmpletely spineless,” Liu Laocheng remarked with a smile, right as the golden-robed Chen Ping’an rose up into the air in front of Gu Can, standing atop a pair of flying swords.

He made a beckoning motion, and a long, golden line flew out of the Spring Courtyard Mansion.

Sword Immortal drew to a halt right in his grasp, but he didn’t truly close his hand around its hilt.

Liu Laocheng’s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and as opposed to allowing his bonded seal to crash headfirst into Sword Immortal’s tip, he brought it to a halt over a thousand feet away from Chen Ping’an.

As a vagrant cultivator, it was important to strike with decisiveness and brutality, but it was just as important to weigh up situations in ardance with changing circumstances.

However, it didn’t take long before Liu Laocheng realized that he was being faced with nothing more than an empty bluff. If Chen Ping’an had already fully refined Sword Immortal, then he would’ve been a somewhat troublesome opponent to deal with, but as things were, there was nothing for Liu Laocheng to fear.

————

On the summit of one of Cyan Gorge Island’s subsidiary islands stood a pair of old men, one of whom was dressed in a Confucian robe, while the other was quite short and stocky in stature.

Both of them were outsiders, and one of them was Sect Leader Xun Yuan of the Jade Tablet Sect, while hismpanion was Gao Mian, the leader of the Invincible Divine Fist Sect.

Gao Mianuld sense that Xun Yuan was a littlencerned, and he asked, “Is that an acquaintance of yours over there?”

Xun Yuan smiled and nodded in response.

“Youuld say that. He’s one of the first people that I met on your Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. I met him over in Old Dragon City, and he’s quite a fine young man. He was the one who brought about Du Mao’s downfall. Come to think of it, Liu Laocheng is indirectly indebted to him. Without him, Liu Laocheng wouldn’t have been able tome into possession of thatlored glaze golden body fragment.”

“Should I send a message to Laocheng? It sounds like he’s repaying kindness with ingratitude,” Gao Mian said.

Xun Yuan shook his head as he smiled and replied, “There’s no need for that, it’s not like Liu Laocheng is truly indebted to him. Otherwise, the entirety of our Jade Tablet Sect, including myself, will have to revere him like a living Bodhisattva.”

“Are you sure?” Gao Mian asked with a grin. “Once Laocheng starts seeing red, even I can’t stop him. If that happens, the only way to save that young man will be for you to intervene, and in doing so, you’ll be making an enemy out of someone that would’ve surely bme a chief guest elder of your lower sect.”

“That young man shares a certain opinion with you and me, which is that when out traveling the world, everyone is responsible for their survival,” Xun Yuan replied. “With that being the case, why would I go out of my way to save him and entangle myself in so much messy karma? For fun?”

Gao Mian gave Xun Yuan a stern glare, furious that Xun Yuan dared to speak to him like this, and the latter hurriedly cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.

Only then was Gao Mianntent to let him off the hook, and he turned his attention back to thenfrontation taking place on Cyan Gorge Island. The oume was already a foregonenclusion. Gu Can and that young man stood no chance against Liu Laocheng, and given Liu Laocheng’s earlier warning, no one would even dare to go and retrieve their bodies once they were killed.

“What a pity. I’ve taken a liking to him just for the fact that he’s the only one on Cyan Gorge Island who dared to oppose Laocheng,” Gao Mian sighed.

“Both of us have seen more than our fair share of things like this,” Xun Yuan said in an indifferent manner. “Out of all of the cultivators who’ve died at our hands, sure, there were some who deserved to die, but were there not some who didn’t deserve to die, but had to, nonetheless? There certainly were, and I daresay there were quite a few of them. If I went around lamenting every single one of them, then I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”

Gao Mian crossed his arms and pursed his lips.

“The selection of Bamboo Scroll Lake as the site for our lower sect is an event of the utmost importance for our Jade Tablet Sect, one that will have extremely significant and far-reachingnnotations,” Xun Yuanntinued. “If that young man’s actionsme intonflict with the Great Dao of our Jade Tablet Sect, then I wouldn’t mind bming the snd Du Mao.

“Du Mao was a fool for thinking that heuld do whatever he pleased on the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent with his cultivation base, so he lashed out in ampletely unreasonable manner. However, if I were to do the same, then I would at least be justified in my actions as I would be acting within the boundaries of the rules established by the Etiquette Sage.

“Ofurse, as for which one of us ultimatelymes out on top, that willme down to our individual abilities.”

“Honestly, I’m a little impressed that you’re able to say something like this,” Gao Mian remarked with a nod.

Xun Yuan smiled as he said, “Liu Laocheng wants to kill those two to establish his authority, but he may have to pay a rather heavy price to do so, one that’s far heavier than you think.”

“Is he going to beat the little ones tonight or beat the old ones later?” Gao Mian asked.

“It’ll be tonight,” Xun Yuan replied.

Gao Mian was finally beginning to grow a little curious upon hearing this.

Over on Cyan Gorge Island.

Chen Ping’an gently tossed out his Day and Night Wandering Deity True Body Talisman, and the two wandering deities emerged.

He entrusted his golden demon-binding chain to the night-wandering deity, then truly closed his hand around the hilt of Sword Immortal for the first time.

Liu Zhimao burst into laughter, but there was a dark look in his eyes as he said, “The word spreading around Bamboo Scroll Lake at the moment is that you’re a very strange swordsman. In any case, I’m very interested in you, no less than Liu Zhimao. Let’s see what it takes to make me lose money again!”

All of a sudden, droplets of golden flames began to drip down from the Gold-Gilded Fire Spirit Divine Seal that was hovering in mid-air, and every single drop of golden fire transformed into a warrior clad in a suit of golden armor. There were several dozen of these armorclad warriors in total, and they were wielding all types of different weapons. Upon landing on Cyan Gorge Island, all of them instantlynverged toward the pair of wandering deities.

Not only that, but pillars of water that were as thick as wells had erupted out of Bamboo Scroll Lake before hurtling toward Chen Ping’an.

In response, Chen Ping’an slashed Sword Immortal through the air over and over again, eradicating all of the oming pillars of water.

Liu Laocheng wasmpletely unbothered by this. It was only taking a little spiritual energy for him tonjure up these pillars of water, but Chen Ping’an was having to resist with all his might to oppose them, and he also had tonstantly be wary of a sneak attack from Liu Laocheng’s bonded seal.

At this point, Chen Ping’an’s sword-wielding hand had already been stripped of its skin and flesh to reveal bare bones, while Liu Laocheng was merely toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse.

Occasionally, he would throw in a surprise for Chen Ping’an in the form of a flying rock or a speeding tree branch, and the longer the battle wore on, the more intrigued Liu Laocheng became.

Chen Ping’an’s expression was simply far too calm.

It was as if all of his energy, essence, and spirit had already been spent, leaving him as nothing more than an empty husk that wasmpletely dead inside.

Should I kill him and be done with it, or…

This was a rare display of hesitation from Liu Laocheng, yet even as he weighed up his options, the pressure that he was exerting upon Chen Ping’an didn’t lessen in the slightest.

He wanted to see just how much longer thismpletely spent young man would be able to last.

Inside Bamboo Scroll Lake, the battle between Tan Xue and the Dao Manifestationntinued, and at this point, Tan Xue’s body was already riddled with wounds, while the surrounding water had turnedmpletely red from its blood.

The golden light emanating from the pair of wandering deities was beginning to fade, while more and more drops of golden firentinued to descend from the Gold-Gilded Fire Spirit Divine Seal, and it seemed that it would never run out.

The oumes of these two battles were nothing more than foregonenclusions.

As Chen Ping’anntinued to swing his sword through the air, the entire area around him was filled with lingering strands of golden light.

As his resistancentinued, the killing intent in Liu Laocheng’s heart gradually intensified, and he was bming more and more inclined toward the option of putting an end to Chen Ping’an’s life.

Finally, Chen Ping’an’s aura faltered slightly, and Liu Laocheng immediately pounced on this opportunity without any hesitation, drawing upon his virtually bottomless spiritual energy reserves to send hundreds of pillars of water erupting out of the lake around Cyan Gorge Island at once.

Chen Ping’an took a deep breath, then recited two characters in his heart as hentinued to grip tightly onto Sword Immortal.

The pillars of water that had risen up from Bamboo Scroll Lakenverged toward him in unison, forming a giant ball of water the size of a mountain with him trapped at its center.

Moments later, the ball of water fellmpletely still as it remained suspended in mid-air, but Chen Ping’an was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone on Cyan Gorge Island and its eleven subsidiary islands werenvinced that he was dead, and there wereuntless more people observing the riveting battle from even further away.

Some were relieved, some took pleasure in Chen Ping’an’s perceived demise, and there were also some, albeit very few, who lamented his passing, even though they hadn’t known him for very long.

For example, Liu Chongrun of Bejeweled Hairpin Island and some of the maidservants who had interacted with him in the past were of the opinion that he was somewhat different from the average high and mighty immortal. Some were filled with mixed emotions, such as the ghostly cultivator in the Vermilion Chord Residence, and some were even grief-stricken, such as Hong Su.

High up in the sky, a barely audible crack rang out, following which a golden line appeared over the surface of the enormous ball of water.

More and more cracks began to ring out at a higher and higher frequency, and it began to sound like the firecrackers being set off on the day of Lunar New Year.

All of a sudden, it was as if a winter storm were falling upon Cyan Gorge Island.

Liu Laocheng’s expression remained unchanged as he raised a question to Chen Ping’an through his mind’s lake, and he nodded after receiving an answer.

From the perspective of the terrified Cyan Gorge Island cultivators, all they saw was Chen Ping’anntinuing to stand still on the spot before making a strange gesture. With a flick of his wrist, he held his sword upside-down as he silently cupped his fist toward Liu Laocheng, seemingly in a salute of gratitude.

Liu Laocheng nodded in response, then withdrew his Dao Manifestation and his bonded seal before flying away without a word.