Unsheathed

The Dragon Gate Tier Gu Mo and Duckweed Sword Lake’s Rong Chang both looked toward the young man who had just exited seclusion.

Gu Mo felt slightly astonished. This was a Lower Five Tier cultivator refining his bonded item, so it wasn’t reasonable for the commotion and aura to be so great.

Rong Chang was a Nascent Tier sword cultivator who stood even higher and could see even further, so he wasn’t just astonished, and he even felt a little stunned.

Qi Jinglong didn’t turn around, and he retracted the small world formed by his bonded flying sword. His flying sword hadn’t been visible when he had summoned the small world, and it wasn’t visible now either, now that he was retracting his small world.

“Sorry for the impoliteness,” Qi Jinglong said to Rong Chang.

Rong Chang was from Duckweed Sword Lake, and with Sword Immortal Li Cai being his master, it was difficult for him and the other internal disciples to suffer hardship and dissatisfaction even if they wanted to. As such, Rong Chang didn’t feel offended as he smiled and said, “It’s my great honor and fortune to personally experience the power of Mr. Liu’s bonded flying sword. If the opportunity arises in the future, why don’t we find a place to spar to our heart’s content?”

“As long as it’s not at Temper Mountain,” Qi Jinglong replied with a smile.

Chen Ping’an walked over to stand beside Qi Jinglong, and when he brushed past Sui Jingcheng, he said in a quiet voice, “There’s no need to worry.”

Sui Jingcheng felt much more reassured after hearing this.

It was as if the senior sword immortal’s appearance was more reassuring than Mr. Liu’s bonded flying sword.

This was the case even though she already knew that the senior sword immortal was only a Lower Five Tier cultivator, with his cultivation base temporarily lower than that of Qi Jinglong.

Chen Ping’an stood beside Qi Jinglong and said, “Thanks.”

“Don’t persuade me to drink wine if you truly want to thank me,” Qi Jinglong replied.

“Easy done,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile.

Afterward, Qi Jinglong roughly recounted the events, naturally leaving out the sensitive secrets that couldn’t be revealed. Meanwhile, Chen Ping’an had needed to remain fully focused when refining his bonded item, so he was unclear about what Qi Jinglong and the others had been discussing.

Even so, he had been able to roughly sense the tension over at the lotus pond, especially when Qi Jinglong had summoned his bonded flying sword. Chen Ping’an had managed to clearly sense this even though he had been fully immersed in refining his bonded item. However, the aura of this flying sword had possessed good affinity with Chen Ping’an’s mental state, so not only did it not detrimentally affect his refinement, but it was as if Qi Jinglong were providing further help to his cause.

Chen Ping’an turned around and said to Sui Jingcheng, “You can return to your room first. It won’t be helpful for you to learn some things too early. Mr. Liu and I need to discuss a few things with Celestial Maiden Gu and Sword Immortal Rong first, so make sure not to eavesdrop on our conversation. This pertains to the direction of your Great Dao, and it’s not something that can be treated carelessly.”

Sui Jingcheng nodded in understanding before directly returning to her room.

Rong Chang felt slightly solemn when he saw this.

After Sui Jingcheng lightly closed her door, there was no time for Chen Ping’an to even speak before Qi Jinglong silently set up a formation, blocking all of the sound and images from her room.

His movements were casual and smooth.

They were also extremely quick and stable.

Chen Ping’an seemingly didn’t show any signs of wanting to warn Qi Jinglong about anything, and he had already turned around to face the two esteemed immortals from the mountains the moment that Sui Jingcheng had closed her door and Qi Jinglong had set up his talismanic formation, asking, “Can Mr. Liu and I sit down to have a conversation with the two of you? We might not be able to reach a consensus very quickly, however.”

“Feel free,” Gu Mo replied with a nod.

Chen Ping’an sat on the long bench behind Qi Jinglong, following which Qi Jinglong also sat down. However, he shuffled slightly to the side, no longer sitting in the middle like before.

From the beginning to the end, Qi Jinglong had simply stood up, calmly spoken reason, summoned his bonded flying sword, and then retracted his bonded flying sword.

Rong Chang’s heart sank even further when the two young men in azure sat down. How did the two of them possess such a strong mental affinity? There was even a notion of principle and reason regarding how they were seated on the bench.

While searching for Sui Jingcheng, Rong Chang and Gu Mo had also conducted a thorough investigation on Chen Ping’an, the so-called Golden Core Tier Sword Immortal, beyond the bits and pieces revealed through the newspapers. There were many leads, yet most of them were disorderly, making things confusing and difficult to grasp.

As for Liu Jinglong, there was no need for the two of them to investigate anything.

He was the Terrestrial Flood Dragon, ranked third among the ten most powerful young cultivators in the Northern Complete Reed Continent. He was a supreme prodigy from the northern region’s Great Emblem Sword Sect who had rapidly ascended to lofty heights.

Two sword immortals from the Great Emblem Sword Sect had already traveled to the faraway Stalactite Mountain, and this was an extremely dangerous situation for a sect-level immortal force, especially one in the Northern Complete Reed Continent where a single disagreement could lead to a life and death conflict. Powerful immortal forces that had sword cultivators as their backbones all had a decent number of enemies in the mountains.

However, no one would underestimate the Great Emblem Sword Sect, even with their two sword immortals no longer present in the region. Those with weaker cultivation bases didn’t dare to underestimate the Great Emblem Sword Sect, while those with higher cultivation bases were unwilling to underestimate the Great Emblem Sword Sect.

Of the two sword immortals who went to the Sword Qi Great Wall, one was the sect leader of the Great Emblem Sword Sect, but he wasn’t Liu Jinglong’s Dao mentor. The other sword immortal was even more senior, but he wasn’t Liu Jinglong’s Dao guardian either. Rather, the person who had the honor of being Liu Jinglong’s Dao guardian was one of his senior sisters, yet she didn’t have a place in the list of top ten cultivators of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. This was because she had already been at the peak stage of the Golden Core Tier when Liu Jinglong had first entered the mountain, yet she was still at the same cultivation base now that Liu Jinglong had made a name for himself.

Even though the Great Emblem Sword Sect tried to suppress the news, there were still lingering rumors claiming that the Golden Core Tier sword cultivator, whom the sword sect had very high hopes for, had almost fallen to demonic ways during her cultivation. In the end, Liu Jinglong had personally helped her through the challenging situation, suffering severe wounds in the process.

Meanwhile, Liu Jinglong’s Dao mentor was merely an elderly Dragon Gate Tier sword cultivator in the sect. Due to the limit of his talent, he had already suffered the pitiful fate of having his Great Dao slowly decay and crumble, eventually leading to his passing.

Looking back at this now, this was an extremely strange matter to begin with, yet everything had appeared very reasonable at the time. This was because Liu Jinglong wasn’t a genuine innate sword talent, and during the early stages of his cultivation, almost no one in the Great Emblem Sword Sect or other immortal forces had imagined that he would advance at such a rapid pace.

A sword immortal who had a good relationship with the Great Emblem Sword Sect had once voiced his puzzlement when Liu Jinglong had advanced to the Abode Tier and been given the honor of becoming one of the very few direct disciples of the ancestral hall. He was worried about Liu Jinglong’s personality being too soft, which was in stark contrast to the Sword Dao tenets of the Great Emblem Sword Sect. This would make it very difficult for Liu Jinglong to reach great heights and achieve great feats, and it would be especially difficult for him to become a pillar of the sect.

Of course, reality proved that the Great Emblem Sword Sect’s decision to make an exception and allow Liu Jinglong to become a direct disciple of the ancestral hall was as correct as could be.

Chen Ping’an looked at the female cultivator from the Profound Dawn Branch and said, “I’m an outsider, and I’m sure that your investigations have already told you this. In reality, I come from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and rescuing Sui Jingcheng was only a coincidence.”

“Can you explain in more detail?” Rong Chang asked.

Chen Ping’an nodded in response and roughly explained the conflict that had taken place at the pavilion. Of course, he naturally didn’t mention anything about observing people to cultivate the mind, and he steered even further away from discussing the concepts of good people and bad people. Instead, he only mentioned the final actions of the people in the pavilion.

To say nothing of Duckweed Sword Lake’s Rong Chang, even the short-tempered Gu Mo wasn’t worried about this person telling lies.

This was because the young man in azure was sitting beside Liu Jinglong.

Even Upper Five Tier cultivators might utter a huge number of lies, with their unreliable words potentially carrying deadly dangers.

However, Liu Jinglong definitely wouldn’t tell such lies.

This person was able to become Liu Jinglong’s friend, so he most likely wouldn’t tell such lies either.

This was a formless principle and an intangible rule.

This was the case even if Liu Jinglong simply sat there without uttering a single word.

“I made a worst-case prediction before, speculating that you had tricked Sui Jingcheng into following you and loyally cultivating with you. After all, Sui Jingcheng is still inexperienced regarding these worldly matters, yet possesses extremely valuable treasures. The Golden Scale Palace’s actions were crude and a waste of talent, so we actually weren’t worried at all after learning of this matter. On the other hand, what we witnessed just then had the potential to cause us the biggest headaches.”

Rong Chang paused for a moment before saying honestly, “However, Mr. Chen was unexpectedly able to guess the secret regarding Sui Jingcheng’s Dao mentorship, even leaving her an option that favored the two of us. By the looks of it, I was being too pessimistic with my initial assessment.”

“I’ve already explained my side of the story, so can the two of you explain your side now? You can leave out any sensitive secrets,” Chen Ping’an asked.

Rong Chang and Gu Mo exchanged a glance, with both of them feeling slightly conflicted.

Gu Mo gracefully jumped onto the small boat in the lotus pond and sat down cross-legged, surprisingly pushing all of the responsibility onto Rong Chang as she said, “You can discuss this with them, Sword Immortal Rong. I’m not good with these complicated and roundabout matters. They’re annoying as heck.”

Rong Chang felt slightly helpless. In reality, he couldn’t accuse Gu Mo of being unreasonable for wiping her hands of this matter. After all, the Profound Dawn Primordial Lord had been helping his master, Sword Immortal Li Cai, by giving Sui Jingcheng those fated opportunities. To be more precise, Li Yu had been helping the future leader of Duckweed Sword Lake.

This was because Li Cai would definitely travel to Stalactite Mountain in the future, and the only reason she had stayed back at the Northern Complete Reed Continent was because she had wanted to wait for the Profound Dawn Primordial Lord to exit seclusion first. At that time, the two of them could travel to the Sword Qi Great Wall together to slay great demons.

Now that Li Yu had unfortunately passed away, Li Cai would most likely still travel to Stalactite Mountain by herself. Moreover, she had already said before that the future leader of Duckweed Sword Lake wouldn’t be Rong Chang, even if he became an Upper Five Tier sword immortal. The other experienced and relatively talented elders of Duckweed Sword Lake would assume the position of leader either. Instead, this was a position reserved for his junior sister who had already been “cultivating in seclusion for thirty years.”

In other words, the “Jade Person of the Sui Clan” from the Five Mountain Nation.

Rong Chang didn’t feel any resentment or have any complaints about this.

He believed that the cultivators of Duckweed Sword Lake all felt the same way. The reason for this was very simple: they were obviously afraid of Sect Leader Li Cai smacking them to death with a single palm strike.

As for the Profound Dawn Branch, it was said that Li Yu was skilled in several mystical abilities, with people claiming that these were Dao inheritances from Spiritual Master Fire Dragon.

His junior sister’s true body was genuinely cultivating in seclusion and comprehending Dao at Duckweed Sword Lake, but with the help of the Profound Dawn Primordial Lord’s mystical ability, she was able to achieve something similar to having her yin soul leave her body and travel around the world, “reincarnating” into Sui Jingcheng. This wouldn’t injure her actual soul at all, so it could be said that Sui Jingcheng was indeed still the daughter of Old Assistant Minister Sui Xinyu. However, she wasn’t a complete person.

In any case, she was currently in a mystical state that made Rong Chang develop a headache every time he tried to think a little deeper about it. As for the final outcome, and regarding how his junior sister could take advantage of this to practice the sword, Rong Chang had already given up on trying to figure out these matters.

His master, Li Cai, hadn’t said much about this at the time, and she had seemingly still been withholding a lot of information. Regardless, Rong Chang’s task was to suppress and eliminate the small mishap over at Sui Jingcheng’s side, a mishap that was caused by the large and unexpected mishap of the Profound Dawn Primordial Lord passing away while cultivating in seclusion. He needed to keep Sui Jingcheng in the Northern Complete Reed Continent and wait for his master to return from another continent.

That way, Rong Chang would be spared from punishment after his master arrived back at the sect. As for the Golden Scale Palace, Cao Fu, and whatnot, he had never even heard of these useless bastards before. Rong Chang felt like he would be dirtying his hands if he drew his sword to deal with these measly beings.

After mulling over these matters for a moment, Rong Chang was still unwilling to reveal too much. The two people in front of him liked to speak reason and were good at speaking reason, but if he dared to treat them like fools because of this, then the true fool would end up being himself. If he revealed some small clues, perhaps these two people would be able to follow them to uncover even more truths. In the end, these two outsiders might even be able to see more and see further than him. They wouldn’t necessarily threaten him or blackmail him with this information, but it would ultimately still be a bad outcome.

There were two things that were most unacceptable at Duckweed Sword Lake: being bad with the sword and being too stupid.

Of course, everyone was a fool with terrible sword skills in the eyes of his master, Li Cai.

Each time she got angry and physically punished her students, she couldn’t help but remark at the same time, “If you’re slow and stupid, then you should at least practice the sword as if your life depends on it. Yet, you still have the gall to slack off?”

What kind of reasoning was this?

And thus, Rong Chang carefully mulled over his words before saying, “Things have already come to this, so the most important thing right now is how to resolve the current dilemma. Sui Jingcheng is clearly attached to Mr. Chen already, and severing one’s romantic feelings with the sword of wisdom is easier said than done. It can’t be said that no one has succeeded in using tribulations of romance to temper their sword skills, but only a very small number of sword cultivators have succeeded.”

Chen Ping’an nodded and concurred, “That’s indeed the case.”

During his time in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, the Spring Tide Palace’s Zhou Fei — or Jiang Shangzhen, to be exact — had employed all kinds of techniques for the sake of helping his friend, Lu Fang, untie the knot of romance in his heart. Many of his actions had been shocking, and they could already be regarded as some of the most cold-hearted actions in the world. Even so, the outcome had still been far from ideal.

Lu Fang had ultimately failed to gain a spot among the Upper Ten Elites, even losing to Chen Ping’an in the process. In reality, the most important reason was Lu Fang’s mental state failing to reach a state of completeness and perfection. As such, he would have essentially wasted sixty years of his life even if he had managed to “transcend” and leave the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

“I’m not accusing Mr. Chen of anything, and I’m simply focusing on the reality of the current situation. Mr. Chen has tied the knot in Sui Jingcheng’s heart, so are you willing to untie it now?” Rong Chang asked.

“That’s quite difficult,” Chen Ping’an replied with a shake of his head.

Rong Chang frowned upon hearing this.

Gu Mo, who had initially planned to remain silent, couldn’t help but exclaim, “What kind of attitude is this?! Cultivators indulging in beautiful women are stooping to a very low level. Or perhaps you have even greater plans, and you want to become immortal Dao partners with Sui Jingcheng? And that way, you’ll essentially gain a relationship with the Profound Dawn Branch and Duckweed Sword Lake? Goodness me, what an impressive plan!”

However, Chen Ping’an shook his head again and said, “That’s not the case.”

Some words were very unpleasant to the ear.

However, being willing to utter these words was actually not a bad thing.

Truly unpleasant remarks were always hiding in people’s minds or hiding in the shadowy corners. People would speak in a taunting manner and utter some so-called fair remarks, and it was these seemingly harmless words that were the most repulsive.

“This is a very difficult situation,” Qi Jinglong concurred with a nod.

“Let me raise some possibilities,” Chen Ping’an suddenly said. “I’ll talk about the two extremes first. As Buddhism spread east, it gradually split into Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism. Rather than overcoming self-attachment, it was better to have no self-attachment at all. When Sui Jingcheng successfully cultivates her mind, her attachments of today will become the indifference of tomorrow — that will be a true case of severing her romantic attachments.

“Of course, the other extreme is Sui Jingcheng’s feelings being extremely deep-rooted, so much so that they continue to linger in her mind even if she’s tens of thousands of kilometers away from me. Her feelings might be difficult to sever even if she manages to become an Upper Five Tier sword immortal.

“Now, taking a look between these two extremes, the two of you are both mighty figures from sect-level immortal forces, so you probably know some mystical abilities that specifically target romantic tribulations and sever romantic ties. However, I feel like we also need to look after Sui Jingcheng’s feelings and mental state…”

Gu Mo could feel a headache forming again, and she exclaimed, “Can you speak more directly and say what we need to do? Is there any need to waffle on like this?!”

Chen Ping’an looked toward her and said, “This is only a matter of acting once or twice for you, but for Sui Jingcheng, this is something that will decide the direction of her Great Dao and the limit of her achievements. That being the case, does it hurt for us to chat for a short while longer? In fact, what does it matter even if we have to chat for several more days? “Those cultivating in the mountains become oblivious to the cycling seasons in the mortal world, so is this short amount of time truly too much to ask of you?! If it weren’t Mr. Liu and me here right now, and if it were two cultivators at the same cultivation base as Mr. Liu instead, then perhaps the two of you would have already retreated from this courtyard with severe wounds.”

“Not wounded, but dead,” Qi Jinglong corrected in a calm voice.

“Do you know how to speak properly?” Chen Ping’an asked in exasperation.

“Mhm, please continue,” Qi Jinglong said.

Chen Ping’an retrieved two pots of wine, tossing one to Qi Jinglong and cracking open the other himself to take a sip. Qi Jinglong simply held the pot of wine in his hand, not cracking it open to enjoy. He genuinely didn’t like to drink wine.

Rong Chang smiled upon hearing Qi Jinglong’s remarks.

His words were quite unpleasant to the ear.

However, his reasoning was spot on.

Rong Chang was fairly capable of accepting these harsh truths.

On the other hand, Gu Mo was most likely feeling quite dissatisfied.

Sure enough, she immediately stood up and exclaimed with a cold chuckle, “Would I have joined the Profound Dawn Branch if I were cowardly and afraid of death?! Would I leave the mountains to vanquish demons and slay fiends?! Why not just hide in the mountains to cultivate and save myself the trouble? That way, I wouldn’t need to deal with people like you either! Even if I die, I’m nothing more than a Dragon Gate Tier cultivator. However, the Northern Complete Reed Continent will also lose two bastards who have a higher cultivation base than me. Who’s losing and who’s winning in this exchange?!”

Chen Ping’an hesitated for a moment before asking, “Aren’t you personally losing as well?”

“Losing your head!” Gu Mo cursed loudly.

Chen Ping’an didn’t get angry at all, and he turned around and chuckled, “Your cultivation base is higher, so why don’t you reason with the two of them instead?”

Qi Jinglong smiled faintly and suggested, “Your temper is better, so it makes more sense for you to reason with them.”

The sleeves of Gu Mo’s Profound Dawn Dao Robe billowed violently, with her expression livid as she shouted, “Enough with the bullshit! One of you can get the fuck over here to fight with me! Any one of you will do!”

“Your immortal sect is too powerful, so I don’t dare to fight with you,” Chen Ping’an responded.

Gu Mo chuckled in anger and replied, “I’m not crazy, so I’ll only spar with you and not fight to the death!”

Qi Jinglong smiled faintly and remarked, “So you’re purposely picking on the weak. This isn’t very good.”

Gu Mo didn’t feel embarrassed at all, and she said with confidence, “I would accept death if I were slaying demons and vanquishing fiends. However, this is nothing more than a sparring session, so wouldn’t I be seeking humiliation if I challenged you, Liu Jinglong?”

Gu Mo then looked toward the Lower Five Tier cultivator and continued, “You’ve been disguising yourself as a Golden Core Tier sword cultivator this entire time, and you also engaged in several intense conflicts recently, even defeating the Vajra Body Tier martial artist from the Great Guan Empire. In fact, you even managed to kill that saber-wielding cultivator called Xiao Shuye or whatnot. By the looks of it, you aren’t a pushover at all. In any case, the sparring session is between us and not between our immortal forces.”

A look of puzzlement quickly spread over Gu Mo’s face as she asked, “Are the two of you mumbling about something?”

Chen Ping’an nodded and replied, “I was asking Mr. Liu whether your Dao robe could block the full power strike of an earth immortal sword cultivator, and it’s because of this that you’re so confident. Mr. Liu replied that this is naturally the case.”

“How utterly shameless!” Gu Mo roared in rage.

Rong Chang pinched his glabella.

What in the world was going on?

If he had known that this matter would become so difficult, he would have let someone else leave Duckweed Sword Lake to deal with it.