Unsheathed

A short moment later, Yan Qing continued to look intently at the sword on Chen Ping’an’s back as she asked, “Are you a sword cultivator who’s purposely pretending to be a martial artist as you travel around the cultivation world?”

However, it was a shame that he simply responded with silence.

Du Yu chuckled to himself, with a spring in his step as he continued to walk forward. To have Celestial Maiden Yan Qing eat dust behind him was like enjoying a rich and delicious wine.

After walking approximately five hundred meters, Yan Qing asked, “Why do you insist on asking about a mortal case that took place so many years ago? Perhaps this is a critical clue needed to obtain that rare treasure?”

There was still no response from Chen Ping’an.

Even so, Yan Qing remained calm and collected as she asked again, “What’s your name? Since you’re a powerful cultivator, you’re not going to hide your identity the entire time, are you?”

Upon hearing this question, Du Yu couldn’t resist his urge to toy with Celestial Maiden Yan Qing anymore, turning around and replying with a smile, “I don’t dare to keep things hidden from Celestial Maiden Yan anymore. My big brother is called Chen Haoren, and even though he’s a vagrant cultivator, he’s an incredibly gallant and righteous person. As he travels around the cultivation world with his sword, he has to get involved whenever he comes across injustices in the mortal world.

“I’ve been acquainted with Brother Chen for many years, and it could be said that it was through blows that we became acquainted with each other. After fighting with him, it can be said that I deeply admire both Brother Haoren’s cultivation and character. Whenever it’s late at night and quiet, I always ask myself: How can there exist such an incredible man in the world?! Just how am I, Du Yu, worthy of being acquainted with him?”

Chen Ping’an continued to ignore their words.

Yan Qing shot a sideways glance at the pathetic Du Yu and chuckled coldly, “Met in the cultivation world and acquainted for many years? You mean in the water immortal shrine of Peony Stream’s canal master? Perhaps you’re spewing nonsense after having your head smacked silly over there?”

Du Yu roared with laughter, paying no heed to Yan Qing’s inflammatory remarks.

Yan Qing’s eyes were ice-cold as she continued, “This place is only a few steps away from Verdant Bamboo Lake, and even though the second old ancestor of the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm didn’t leave the mountains this time, there’s still a lot of time in the future. You were fortunate enough to become friends with this vagrant cultivator, but after he leaves this region, you’ll still remain here. Are you truly not afraid of inviting trouble with your unrestrained speech?”

I’m a courageous person who’s already teetered on the edge of death two times, so do I need to be afraid of someone like you?

Not only did Du Yu not restrain himself, but he even stared rudely at Celestial Maiden Yan Qing’s supple little mouth. He then smiled and didn’t say anything else.

“Ghost Axe Palace’s Du Yu, was it? I’ll remember you and your immortal force,” Yan Qing said with a faint smile.

Only after hearing this did Du Yu feel slightly nervous.

Chen Ping’an turned around and smiled at Du Yu, saying, “Brother Du Yu, you need to fix your habit of becoming too arrogant and getting carried away. Celestial maidens from the mountains aren’t the same as gallant heroines in the cultivation world — they have much longer memories.”

Du Yu nodded earnestly and replied, “Brother Chen is correct. Your good guidance is like a present worth ten thousand taels of gold, so I’ll definitely take good care of this wealth in the future.”

He had already gambled with his life before.

That being the case, he would make a huge gamble with his life one more time.

As long as this mighty senior managed to safely leave Verdant Bamboo Lake tonight, regardless of whether he offended the lake lord or not, then people definitely needed to weigh things up if they wanted to target Du Yu. They needed to consider his so-called vagrant cultivator friend whom he had gone through thick and thin with.

He and the Ghost Axe Palace naturally couldn’t relocate, but as long as Chen Haoren didn’t die at Verdant Bamboo Lake, which cultivator in the mountains wasn’t smart enough to understand the situation? They wouldn’t endanger themselves for no good reason.

At this moment, Du Yu finally came to a slow realization about why this mighty senior had said that he might make some small profits on this trip to Verdant Bamboo Lake.

Of course, the perilous dangers still existed, as did the endless future troubles.

However, this was the nature of traveling along the path of cultivation. Apart from a rare few exceptions like Yan Qing and He Lu, no one else could enjoy something as wonderful as lying down and enjoying fortune. Indeed, hadn’t Du Yu also experienced a few brushes with death outside the mountains tonight?

With this in mind, a young lady like Yan Qing was still lacking in experience compared to Brother Chen Haoren, a mighty senior from the pinnacle of the mountains who had already lived for hundreds upon thousands of years. She was still too weak and inexperienced to challenge someone like him.

Yan Qing also fell silent afterward, simply walking behind the three of them without saying a word.

They drew closer and closer to the bank of Verdant Bamboo Lake.

The view in front of them gradually opened up.

Sure enough, this was the largest body of water in the Silver Screen Nation.

The moon was round tonight.

The turquoise ripples stretched for hundreds of kilometers, with the soft glow of the moonlight merging together with the glistening lake water.

This was where Algae Stream flowed into Verdant Bamboo Lake, so there was a dock constructed on the bank to facilitate travel. However, the canal master of Algae Stream especially used this dock for welcoming and transporting esteemed guests from the capital, and mortal humans from the nearby towns and cities were prohibited from setting foot on the dock.

A gentle breeze brushed past their faces as they stood on the dock, and Chen Ping’an leaned against his hiking pole and gazed into the distance, asking, “Du Yu, if I unleash a fist and accidentally kill one hundred people like the two canal masters of Algae Stream and Peony Stream, plus you as well, how many people will I be killing unjustly?”

Du Yu blinked as he took this in. This question was quite difficult to answer, and he didn’t dare to respond too rashly.

Verdant Bamboo Lake was right in front of them, after all.

Yan Qing’s threat toward him just then hadn’t been an empty one. These were the rules in the mountains, and they had been the same for hundreds upon thousands of years.

The canal master of Algae Stream started to feel extremely anxious after seeing no response from Verdant Bamboo Lake. Standing in front of everyone else at the dock, she finally started to feel flustered and panicked when she heard the question posed by the bastard vagrant cultivator.

If there were pills for regret in the world, she could buy several kilograms and swallow them all in a single mouthful.

If she had been slightly more polite in her water goddess shrine just then and answered that bastard vagrant cultivator’s questions in a perfunctory manner, then things wouldn’t have come to such a dire point of life and death.

Thinking back, this vagrant cultivator had asked Du Yu to enter her water goddess shrine first to notify her of their visit, only entering afterward. His questions and statements at the time had also sounded laughable and irritating, but thinking of them now, this vagrant cultivator actually seemed like… somewhat of a reasonable person?

Yan Qing suddenly spoke, “It’s best that you don’t wantonly kill anyone here to vent your anger. Doing so will be completely meaningless.”

Chen Ping’an slowly walked forward, arriving beside the canal master of Algae Stream. It was as if the two of them were standing side by side and enjoying the night scenery of the lake together.

Chen Ping’an leaned against his hiking pole and asked in a quiet voice, “Of those beautiful young girls who were thrown into the water as sacrifices to become maidservants for the lake lord, were any of them unwilling to die and vowed to resist until the end? Yet you threatened them with their friends and families, and only then did they put on the wedding dresses with tears in their eyes? Were there any parents who felt grief and indignance and died in depression? Were there any lovers of theirs who tried to seek revenge, yet were killed by you and your accomplices with a single finger? Answer me honestly. Were there any such cases? The answer is yes if any of this happened a single time.”

The canal master of Algae Stream started to tremble as she gritted her teeth in silence.

“Will you change? Can this be remedied? Will Verdant Bamboo Lake change?” Chen Ping’an asked.

The canal master nodded earnestly and replied with tears brimming in her eyes, “I’ll definitely strive to correct my past wrongdoings as long as Great Esteemed Immortal gives the word…”

However, the person wearing the bamboo hat simply responded, “I wasn’t asking you. I already know the answer.”

Just as the canal master of Algae Stream was about to go weak at the knees and kneel down to beg for forgiveness…

She suddenly turned around to look toward Verdant Bamboo Lake, with a bright glimmer in her eyes and wild delight in her heart.

She immediately stood up straight.

Du Yu shrank back slightly and gulped in apprehension.

A tall and sturdy man wearing a dragon robe appeared on the surface of Verdant Bamboo Lake. His complexion was as fair as jade, and he was wearing a royal crown as he traveled over like a moon surrounded by stars. There were the three river gods, the canal master of Peony Stream who had an elated smile, as well as dozens of scholarly and martial officials of varying ranks. They appeared overbearing and formidable, and further behind them were hundreds of shrimp soldiers and crab generals marching in formation.

In addition, there was also a small group of cultivators with extraordinary auras standing closest to the middle-aged man in dragon robes.

There was also a tall and sturdy old woman whose physique was no inferior to the middle-aged man in dragon robes. Her golden crown was similar to Yan Qing’s, and the only difference was that it glowed with more treasure light and appeared more dazzling under the radiance of the moon.

Standing behind the old woman were a dozen or so cultivators who were breathing calmly and bathed in iridescent light.

It was none other than Lake Lord Yin Hou of Verdant Bamboo Lake as well as Old Ancestor Fan Weiran of the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm who had left the banquet hosted at the dragon palace together. They were here to take a look at the so-called sword immortal from an outside place that the canal master of Peony Stream had talked about.

The old woman was one of the two most powerful beings in the nearby dozen or so nations.

The middle-aged man was the most powerful being in the Silver Screen Nation.

The two of them had initially been enjoying a hearty discussion at the luxurious banquet that had countless delicacies and intoxicating immortal wine.

This was until the disheveled canal master of Peony Stream had rushed over and given them some mood-killing news.

She had informed them that a powerful individual of unknown origin had arrived at her water immortal shrine and shockingly killed the Ghost Axe Palace’s Du Yu in a casual manner. Afterward, he had even proclaimed that he was going to flatten the dragon palace of Verdant Bamboo Lake and forcefully kidnap all of the beautiful maidservants to become his playthings. This wasn’t all, and he had even gone further to say that the esteemed immortals from the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm were nothing in his eyes, and that he would ruthlessly kill them all if they dared to stand in his way.

Lake Lord Yin Hou had already overseen the water fortune here for one thousand years, and he wasn’t a naive fool who was so easy to trick. At the same time, he was also familiar with this lowly maidservant’s tendency to add flavor to her stories. Thus, he had directly struck the canal master of Peony Stream with his sleeve, causing her godly body to shudder violently as she collapsed to the ground and wailed in agony. Afterward, the pathetically incompetent canal master hadn’t dared to exaggerate the story anymore as she recounted the events at the water immortal shrine to the lake lord.

At the time, the group of Qi refiners from the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm had simply treated this as an interesting show to go with their wine. As for the canal master’s claim about the person being a sword immortal or whatnot, they naturally hadn’t believed this nonsense at all.

One of the maidservants serving the canal master of Peony Stream had apparently seen a miniature flying sword soar out from the wine gourd of that person, but could the words of a measly maidservant be believed? Being able to believe ten to twenty percent of their words was already a very good result. Meanwhile, Old Ancestor Fan Weiran of the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm hadn’t said a single word.

She had heard about the dirty matters that had been committed by Imperial Accompanying City’s city god temple many years ago, but hadn’t paid much heed to these matters at the time and had only instructed her subordinates to investigate further following signs of a rare treasure appearing in Imperial Accompanying City. She was now roughly aware of the motives and outcomes of the case.

In fact, the two cultivators of the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm responsible for investigating this matter had even become involved in a conflict with some local immortal forces of the Silver Screen Nation who had put two and two together and made sense of the situation. They had clashed at a residence belonging to the descendants of the person who had received the secret letter in the capital back then.

The local immortal forces had naturally been defeated and forced to scuttle away with their tails between their legs.

“Little Qing?” Fan Weiran said with a frown.

Standing at the dock, Yan Qing smiled faintly and replied, “Rest assured, Old Ancestor, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Lake Lord Yin Hou narrowed his eyes.

Sure enough, she was a breathtakingly beautiful cultivator. If he were fortunate enough to make love with her, then he could advance his cultivation by at least one hundred years.

However, it was a pity that the Treasure Basin Immortal Realm viewed her as a jewel in their palm. Moreover, this shapely and supple young lady was also the darling disciple of Fan Weiran, the sturdy old woman standing beside him. As such, Verdant Bamboo Lake couldn’t do anything to her.

In any case, he had also heard that Yan Qing and Yellow Axe City’s He Lu were a pair of young lovers? However, judging by Yan Qing’s aura and posture, she was fortunately yet to be sullied by He Lu.

Lake Lord Yin Hou secretly gulped in lust.

Over at the dock…

The canal master of Algae Stream had no time to worry about anything else as she lunged toward Verdant Bamboo Lake and shouted, “Save me, Lake Lord!”

Hearing this, Yin Hou laughed loudly and asked, “Do you need any saving?”

In the next moment…

Lake Lord Yin Hou, who was like a dignified ruler of a mortal empire, suddenly flared up in rage.

His trusted subordinate was just about to land on the surface of the lake, yet the young man dressed in azure and wearing a bamboo hat made a grabbing motion and caused the canal master to fly back toward the dock. He grabbed her head with five fingers and pulled backward, causing countless golden threads to suddenly erupt from the body of the deity. In the next instant, the canal master’s godly body was forcefully dragged out from her refined and regal body.

The two entities were comprehensively separated from one another.

The body in palatial robes limply collapsed to the ground.

The canal master of Algae Stream screeched in pitiful agony as she was forced to expose her godly body. She furiously smacked the bastard vagrant cultivator’s arms with her hands.

Standing before the lake lord of Verdant Bamboo Lake, Chen Ping’an suddenly tightened his grip and shattered the head of the canal master’s godly body, causing her to transform into specks of golden light that rained down on the dock. She was only a river guardian, after all, so she failed to produce even a fingernail-sized piece of golden shard.

“She indeed doesn’t need any saving,” Chen Ping’an remarked calmly.

Du Yu looked up at the moon and played stupid.

I didn’t see that. I didn’t see anything at all.

Yan Qing’s heart shuddered violently, even more than just then in the water goddess shrine of Algae Stream’s canal master. Her heart was churning violently as if someone were hammering it with all their strength.

Fan Weiran pursed her lips and disappeared with a flash.

Under the watchful gazes of his own subordinates and another powerful force, Lake Lord Yin Hou of Verdant Bamboo Lake had been brutally slapped in the face and had lost all dignity. That being the case, he was left with no option but to go all out against the young man dressed in azure and wearing a bamboo hat.

Lake Lord Yin Hou was filled with rage, and as the domineering ruler of Verdant Bamboo Lake who controlled the large majority of water fortune in the nation, his strong emotions caused violent waves to surge forward and slam into the dock.

Afterward, the young man who had shocked everyone straight away said something that was most definitely a joke. “Do you want to speak reason?”

Chen Ping’an glanced at Lake Lord Yin Hou before glancing at Old Ancestor Fan Weiran who had an amused smile, and he eventually answered his own question and said, “It looks like you don’t. I like this.”

Heaven and earth fell deathly silent, just as the shining moon in the sky was eternally silent.

Du Yu felt a soaring sense of pride and satisfaction in his mind. Fucking hell, it would be worth dying to obtain such incredible aura and power in the future! Of course, it would be best if he were only left half dead. That way, he would still have half his life remaining to experience this incredible feeling again!

Fucking hell, gallant heroes could do something like this as well? Then what the fuck were the small arguments and conflicts that he had experienced in the cultivation world in the past?

There was a complicated expression on Yan Qing’s face as a surge of emotions rushed through her mind.

She looked at the young man standing in front of her.

He was like a small speck standing alone amid the vast heaven and earth. He didn’t appear like a vagrant cultivator, and he appeared even less like an official immortal from the mountains. Instead, he appeared like a genuine wanderer who traveled around the mountains and rivers with a sword on his back. At the same time, he also appeared… a little lonely?

Yan Qing was extremely annoyed at herself for developing these mysterious thoughts, so she hurriedly recited an immortal mantra to calm down her mind.

She then saw the person take off his bamboo case and gently place it on the ground beside him. He then took off his bamboo hat and placed it on top of the bamboo case.

Afterward, he thrust his hiking pole down and had it slightly embed itself into the dock.

Then, he started to slowly roll up one sleeve.

When he stood still, there was only the sword on his back and the wine gourd by his waist.

In the end, he looked toward Verdant Bamboo Lake and said slowly, “There’s no need to hold back. All of you can come at me together. We’ll find out whether my fist is stronger or whether you have more immortal treasures to throw at me. If I dare to flee from battle today, then my name isn’t Chen Haoren anymore.”

Du Yu was conflicted.

How good would it have been if the mighty senior had stopped halfway? The first half of his words had been so domineering and impressive. As for the second half of his words… They were completely unnecessary, no? Those words did nothing but reduce his aura and grow his opponent’s confidence.

However, Du Yu immediately felt like he was overthinking things.

Sure enough, the mighty senior never disappointed him.

This was because what he said wasn’t important at all.

The most important thing was what he did.

Before the lake lord of Verdant Bamboo Lake could even utter a single threat, the young man in azure carrying a sword on his back and wearing a wine gourd by his waist had already left a crater in the dock and charged into the distance with a loud boom.

The violent waves pummeling the dock started to recede into the lake.

Dressed in azure armor and wielding a long saber, a river god charged forward to meet the enemy.

There was a single punch and a loud crunch.

Including his azure armor, the river god’s physical and godly body instantly disintegrated into dust.