Unsheathed

The spirit holding the folding fan referred to himself as a noble scholar, and he started to discuss the commotion that had taken place in the northern region of Malicious Ghost Valley with the elder who had a goatee.

The spirit had gone on a distant trip recently, and he had heard some whispers while traveling through Copper Stench City. The contents of these rumors were extremely exaggerated, but they were full of detail and seemingly very logical.

He had initially planned to show off and recount these rumors after seeing Lady Bishu, but walking along the seemingly endless mountain paths was far too boring and monotonous. As a result, he started to recount these stories as he walked, saying, “It was said that there were two unbelievably beautiful women from outside of Malicious Ghost Valley traveling on an immortal ship, with one of them very possibly being the Deer Rider Divine Maiden from Mural City.

“They were incredibly arrogant, and they actually dared to fly directly to Skeleton Wall City. However, their aura was mighty and overwhelming, and not a single city lord along their route dared to step forward and block them. In the end, it was only when they arrived near Skeleton Wall City that a city lord made use of a powerful city defense weapon to unleash one hundred and eighty flying swords with a roaring whoosh.”

The elder with a goatee was astounded, and he exclaimed, “Good heavens! If that were us, we would be transformed into porcupines straight away!”

“You? Do you know how many immortal coins it takes to fire those sword crossbows in unison? Only someone like Lady Bishu could be afforded such incredible treatment.”

The spirit holding the folding fan chuckled before continuing, “Returning to the story, an ugly guardian unexpectedly appeared at this critical moment. He referred to himself as Zhou Fei, and his appearance was just as terrible as his name suggested.[1] However, he was a very capable person, and he directly tossed a huge net into the sky. According to the rumors, that bastard claimed that the net was refined from many thousands of snowflake coins. Anyhow, there was a loud ringing as the net voraciously engulfed all of the flying swords. It was as if the net were a large hemp sack filled with buzzing flies and mosquitoes. The city lord was unwilling to accept this outcome, so they unleashed another volley of flying swords. And guess what happened?”

One of their underlings confidently piped up and declared, “They obviously ran away. What else could they do?”

The spirit holding the folding fan raised a leg and kicked the underling, sending him flying more than a dozen meters away. He then got back into storytelling mode and revealed, “That ugly man retrieved another net, and just like the previous one, this net was also made from exhausting a huge pile of immortal coins. The ugly man also said that he didn’t have any other abilities, but even he was scared of his own ability to make money. Thankfully, this man was quite ugly, or else even I would have wanted to take a piss on his head.”

The group of spirits exclaimed in astonishment upon hearing this.

It was as if they were listening to a fictional story.

“And what happened afterward?” the elder with the goatee asked in a quiet voice. “Did the fight become even more intense after they arrived at Skeleton Wall City? It would be best if both sides went all out and ended up killing each other!”

“Old Goat, you rival that Zhou Fei in terms of looks, yet you’re actually having such fanciful thoughts? This is no good, and you should really change this bad habit of yours,” the spirit holding the folding fan jested.

After saying this, there was a slight look of disappointment on the spirit’s face as he continued, “Nothing much happened afterward, and many vassal cities of Skeleton Wall City started to issue martial law. As a result, no more news traveled from the northern region to our southern region, so this was everything I managed to gather from Copper Stench City. Sigh, those two beautiful women most likely became prey in Skeleton Wall City. Regardless of how powerful the immortal treasures of that ugly man were, could he possibly rival the lofty cultivation base of Skeleton Wall City’s city lord?”

Chen Ping’an continued to follow them from far away.

He felt slightly puzzled about why Jiang Shangzhen had returned to the Northern Complete Reed Continent. Not only that, but why was he barging into Malicious Ghost Valley’s Skeleton Wall City along with the Deer Rider Divine Maiden who had walked out from her mural?

Perhaps the Deer Rider Divine Maiden had turned around and chosen Jiang Shangzhen as her new owner after facing the rejection at the ferry station of Swaying River?

And who was the other female cultivator traveling with them?

Disregarding these matters — it wasn’t like Chen Ping’an could do anything about this even if he wanted to — he was well aware that it would have been a genuine fight between immortals if Jiang Shangzhen had truly decided to get physical with Skeleton Wall City.

In any case, he would pay a visit to Lady Bishu first.

————

Yang Chongxuan sat beside the deep mountain stream located at the waist of Treasure Mirror Mountain, appearing extremely bored as he massaged his cheeks. He was truly feeling a little frustrated and gloomy after sitting around and waiting for his prey for so many years.

After he obtained the fated opportunity, he definitely needed to travel around the northern regions of Malicious Ghost Valley, and it would be best if he could indulge in a few hearty fights atop Temper Mountain.

He hadn’t shown himself for many years, and the might of his other fake identity had already been suppressed by quite a few up-and-coming cultivators.

Yang Chongxuan scratched his head again. He had grown accustomed to his bald head a few years ago, but he was genuinely starting to become slightly unfamiliar with it again.

Was that prophecy accurate or not? Even though waiting around here was also a form of cultivation — bathing in the stream when he was bored could temper his soul — the degree of cultivation was far inferior to the time when he had tempered his physique in the volcanic lava. Moreover, he was someone who was unwilling to be restrained, so if it wasn’t for his clan issuing a strict order and his mother almost bringing up the principles of filial piety to suppress him, Yang Chongxuan would have genuinely been unwilling to make this trip.

Would it not have been better to hand this task to his treasured younger brother who was more reliable, also possessed a fairly high cultivation base, and was extremely renowned? In any case, wouldn’t his clan eventually hand the Three Mountain Mirror to his younger brother to refine into his bonded item even if he managed to obtain it?

Yang Chongxuan didn’t have any qualms about this, and he didn’t have any complaints about his younger brother obtaining the benefits. Rather, staying in this secluded Treasure Mirror Mountain was far too dull for his liking. In fact, this was one of the main reasons why that old fox from West Mountain was still able to jump around and cause trouble. Yang Chongxuan treated the old fox as a form of amusement to alleviate his boredom.

With a casual motion, Yang Chongxuan easily grabbed a handful of stones from the snow-white stone cliff. He then crushed these stones in his hand before lightly tossing them into the stream.

There were only some disagreements between him and his widely renowned and successful younger brother, and they were far from becoming enemies who detested each other.

As the older brother, Yang Chongxuan disliked his younger brother’s bookish nature and habit of acting mature ever since a young age. Meanwhile, his younger brother had always taken exception to his habit of causing trouble everywhere.

Perhaps there would be much fewer headaches if the two brothers switched identities.

Fucking hell… If he had known this earlier, and if he were capable, he would have hurriedly crawled back to his mother’s womb after accidentally popping out first.

Yang Chongxuan sighed in grief before looking up toward the north and loudly lamenting, “Oh, my dear mother, when can I break free from these hard days?”

A sturdy young man giddily ran out from the mountain forest on the opposite side of the stream, with a large pile of freshly picked wild fruits in his arms as he shouted, “Big Brother Yang, do you also miss your mom?”

Yang Chongxuan rested his cheeks in his hands, not bothering to say anything in reply. He felt mentally tired every single day.

The sturdy young man jumped over the deep stream and landed beside Yang Chongxuan, handing him a wild fruit and saying, “Try this, Big Brother Yang. It’s remarkably crunchy and criminally delicious.”

Yang Chongxuan accepted the wild fruit that looked like a white pear and started to crunch down on it, asking in a muffled voice, “Wei Gaowu, does your older sister have a man whom she secretly likes?”

As it turned out, the sturdy young man who had giddily run over and obsequiously offered a wild fruit to Yang Chongxuan was none other than the youngest son of the old fox from West Mountain. Wei Gaowu was the younger brother of Wei Taizhen, the beautiful fox spirit who always carried a small umbrella with her. As for their names, these naturally weren’t the kindred names of the two fox spirits.

Wei Gaowu shook his head and replied, “Of course not. My older sister has extremely high standards. After all, she didn’t pick Big Brother Yang either, did she? I surmise that my older sister is destined to become an old lady who never gets married.”

Yang Chongxuan didn’t ask any further questions.

This sturdy young man looked naive and simple, and he was someone who was accustomed to being bullied by the mountain spirits of Treasure Mirror Mountain. Even the underling ghosts responsible for bearing flags and patrolling the mountains could shout at him and order him around. If it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t handsome, perhaps he might even need to wash his bumhole every single day.

In reality, however, Wei Gaowu wasn’t stupid at all.

In fact, it could be said that he was the smartest fox in the family of three.

He was smart enough to guess that his older sister’s eventual fate might not be very good.

Wei Gaowu was doing everything that he could. At the same time, he hadn’t done a single thing that he shouldn’t have done.

Even so, this was still not enough to change his older sister’s fate.

Yang Chongxuan was very curious about whether Wei Gaowu could still continue to play dumb when that day truly arrived. Or would he fight with his life on the line? Or perhaps he would endure the humiliation and struggle on with life in Malicious Ghost Valley, fighting and scrapping with the hope that he could one day exact revenge against Yang Chongxuan?

Thinking about this was also a way for Yang Chongxuan to alleviate his boredom. These were trivial matters for him, yet they were tragic life-and-death matters for other people. This was quite interesting.

Yang Chongxuan accepted another wild fruit, wiping it clean with his torn sleeves before casually asking, “What did those people at Pink Gentleman City say?”

Wei Gaowu chuckled and replied, “After the city lord had an open and honest conversation with Big Brother Yang last time, I met with him at the rundown temple, and he even praised me for being a person with good fortune seeing that I was able to become acquainted with a gallant and heroic person like Big Brother Yang. He even invited me to visit Pink Gentleman City.”

Yang Chongxuan smiled and said, “This means that the city lord of Pink Gentleman City is an easy-going person.”

Wei Gaowu cracked a grin and replied, “I’m aware that this is actually thanks to Big Brother Yang’s influence. Otherwise, the city lord would feel like he’s dirtying his eyes if he accidentally takes so much as a single glance at me.”

“Has anything interesting happened elsewhere recently?” Yang Chongxuan asked.

Wei Gaowu’s job was to run around and gather information for Yang Chongxuan. This fox spirit appeared even more cowardly than a child, and it was as if he had never once become angry in his life. In reality, however, his courage wasn’t small at all. He was brave enough to venture to the nearby mountains, Pink Gentleman City, and even Orchid Scent Town.

Of course, Wei Gaowu could only interact with the lowest-level ghosts, spirits, and vagrant cultivators of Malicious Ghost Valley. Yang Chongxuan could easily imagine how Wei Gaowu would normally interact with other beings, always bowing his back and lowering his head as he smiled in a naive and lowly manner.

Wei Gaowu nodded and replied, “Yes, there have been some interesting events. I traveled to Orchid Scent Town recently, and I heard that a violent scuffle broke out near Temper Mountain not too long ago. That Liu Jinglong, who Big Brother Yang finds extremely annoying, engaged in a huge fight with an incredibly beautiful Daoist nun from outside of Malicious Ghost City.”

“Liu Jinglong was actually willing to fight to the death with someone? Not only that, but he even chose to fight at Temper Mountain, one of the most prominent locations? How many strikes did it take for Liu Jinglong to kill his opponent?” Yang Chongxuan asked.

“Both of them suffered severe wounds and fought to within an inch of their life,” Wei Gaowu replied softly. “They collapsed in the large pool of blood, and they lay there for a long time without being able to get up. In the end, Liu Jinglong was just barely considered the victor because he managed to stand up first. The Daoist nun stood up ever so slightly after him.”

Yang Chongxuan furrowed his brows.

Liu Jinglong was even more renowned than his younger brother.

Everyone was filled with competitive spirit in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and people liked to come up with rankings whether they were from the mountains or from outside the mountains. It was also because of this that the fights here would often be bloodier and more brutal.

There were the top ten cultivators from the mountains, among which Heavenly Lord Xie Shi occupied a position.

There were also the top ten young talents of the continent, of which Liu Jinglong was a member. Yang Chongxuan’s younger brother ranked ninth on this list.

Meanwhile, Liu Jinglong ranked highly at number three.

He was also known as the Terrestrial Flood Dragon of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and it was without a doubt that he would become one of the top ten cultivators from the mountains in the future.

Yang Chongxuan was annoyed at Liu Jinglong because of a private sparring session that had taken place during their youth. Back then, Yang Chongxuan had failed to breach one of Liu Jinglong’s simplest formations no matter how hard he tried.

One had to realize that Liu Jinglong was a sword cultivator and not a formation cultivator.

Moreover, Yang Chongxuan felt like Liu Jinglong was even more annoying than his younger brother in the sense that he always liked to speak reason. He wasn’t speaking about those lofty and mystical principles either, and he was instead speaking about those most basic and simple principles. As such, Yang Chongxuan would sometimes feel so stifled that he would almost give himself internal injuries.

Yang Chongxuan smiled and said, “This battle has once again allowed the Jade Forest Sect to earn a lot of silver.”

“Big Brother Yang, what kind of immortal force is the Jade Forest Sect?” Wei Gaowu asked in curiosity.

“Malicious Ghost Valley’s Copper Stench City can be regarded as a city that’s good at making money, right? However, they’ll have to fall to their knees and kowtow to their new ancestor if they come across the Jade Forest Sect,” Yang Chongxuan explained.

Wei Gaowu appeared slightly adrift as he listened to this, and he continued to hold the wild fruits in his arms as he squatted beside Yang Chongxuan and gazed into the distance.

“There is always a taller mountain, and there is always a higher heaven. If your fist isn’t strong enough, then you’ll merely remain as Malicious Ghost Valley’s Wei Gaowu no matter where you go. Apart from being slightly taller and having the character Gao in your name, you won’t be high-ranking in anything else.[2] There’s nothing to yearn for in the outside world, so you’re better off meandering around in Malicious Ghost Valley,” Yang Chongxuan said.

“Big Brother Yang,” Wei Gaowu shouted softly.

Yang Chongxuan patted the sturdy young man’s shoulder and replied, “You can piss off now.”

Wei Gaowu heaved a heavy sigh, lightly putting down the wild fruit in his arms before jumping over the stream and taking his leave. After arriving at the edge of the mountain forest on the opposite side of the stream, the naive young man didn’t forget to turn around and wave goodbye.

Yang Chongxuan extended a hand and lightly spat into it. A grain-sized drop of sanguine liquid appeared in his palm, causing Yang Chongxuan to smile and shake his head. This sturdy young man still wasn’t smart enough.

Wei Gaowu still hadn’t figured out whether he was a Qi refiner or a pure martial artist, yet he actually dared to use these kinds of crude tricks against him?

However, Wei Gaowu definitely wouldn’t be able to guess the truth no matter what, not even if he were given two chances.

Was Yang Chongxuan a Qi refiner?

Or was he a pure martial artist?

Wei Gaowu would definitely guess wrong because Yang Chongxuan was actually both. Moreover, he was highly successful in both fields.

This was thanks to his battle with Liu Jinglong in the past. Back then, they were cultivators of the same age and somewhat friends with each other as well.

Liu Jinglong might not have thought much about that sparring session, but the carefree Yang Chongxuan had undergone a complete transformation as a result.

Yang Chongxuan was merely a pseudonym.

The name Yang Jinshan that he used when traveling through the cultivation world was also a pseudonym.

The main difference was that almost no one cared about the name Yang Chongxuan. On the other hand, Wanderer Yang Jinshan, also nicknamed Butcher Yang, was widely renowned in the mountains of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. This pseudonym of his was far more renowned in the continent than his real name.

1. The character Fei (肥) in Zhou Fei literally means fat. ☜

2. The character Gao (高) literally means tall or high. ☜