Unsheathed

All of the green-robed children were busy at work, and they didn’t even bother to spare him a glance as they rushed back and forth in excitement and elation.

Chen Ping’an felt a little guilty and forlorn upon seeing this. The green-robed children were only this ecstatic because they had a master who had neglected them for so long, albeit not by choice.

He then paid a visit to his mountain shrine. There was actually an even thinner stream of water that flowed out of his water palace and into the key acupoint that was home to his mountain shrine.

Due to the fact that all of the water fortune had already been intercepted by the water palace, this stream of water was completely clear and colorless, with none of the green tinge from before. Upon entering the acupoint where the mountain shrine was situated, the stream of water would seep into the ground and nourish the earth as spiritual energy.

After some contemplation, Chen Ping’an withdrew his consciousness from his inner small world, and he didn’t linger in this palace any longer. Instead, he snuck his way to the bamboo tree that was extremely likely to have come from Azure Divine Mountain, making sure to display a level of speed fit for a Dragon Gate Tier cultivator that he was posing as the entire way there.

Upon his arrival, he gave the bamboo tree a slight shake, then guided all of the remaining water droplets clinging to its leaves into his Sword Nurturing Gourd.

Chen Ping’an was quite pleased with himself, and after strapping his Sword Nurturing Gourd back to his waist, he began climbing up the bamboo tree, but to his surprise, he was unable to snap the thin bamboo branches that looked as if they could’ve been snapped easily even by a child.

Chen Ping’an cast his gaze toward the Daoist temple in the distance, only to discover Huang Shi standing atop a wall, having already been observing him for quite some time.

Chen Ping’an feigned an embarrassed expression, pretending as if he had only just spotted Huang Shi, then gave him a smile and a wave.

Huang Shi dropped back down to the ground, shaking his head in dismay at how desperate and pathetic Chen Ping’an was.

Without having to worry about Huang Shi’s intrusive gaze, Chen Ping’an bent down a branch of the bamboo tree to try and pluck off some leaves. This task should’ve been just barely doable for a Dragon Gate Tier cultivator, and he plucked off handfuls after handfuls of leaves before stuffing them into one of the cloth bags slung over his shoulder.

The bag had been completely empty when he first started, but it was soon bulging with nothing but bamboo leaves.

Huang Shi had gone elsewhere to continue observing Chen Ping’an from afar, and he couldn’t help but admire the latter’s complete lack of shame. If, even after all of this, Chen Ping’an turned out to actually be an unfathomably powerful cultivator posing as an incompetent fool, then Huang Shi would chop his own head off using Di Yuanfeng’s Dao saber!

Only after Huang Shi had truly departed did Chen Ping’an join his index and middle fingers, using them as sharp blades and lashing out swiftly to chop off the bamboo branches at different heights before quickly stowing them away into his minimization treasure.

His pocket treasure and minimization treasure weren’t able to hold any more glazed roof tiles and floor bricks, but these slender bamboo branches were perfect for filling in the gaps, and after he was done, both treasures were truly completely filled to the brim.

Chen Ping’an wound his arms around the bamboo tree and stayed up there for a long while, reminiscing about climbing up trees to catch cicadas with his two closest childhood friends, one of whom had become accustomed to protecting him, while the other was someone that he was always protecting and considered to almost be family.

He had led a very impoverished life back then, but he seemed to never have any concerns or worries year after year.

Chen Ping’an heaved a faint sigh.

Before long, a mocking voice rang out in the distance.

“Whatcha doin’ up there, Brother Chen?”

“It’s nice and cool up here, and the view is great,” Chen Ping’an chuckled as he turned to discover none other than Di Yuanfeng.

Judging from his pale complexion, he was clearly still suffering from the effects of the injuries that he had sustained earlier.

Di Yuanfeng turned his gaze away from Chen Ping’an, who clearly had a screw loose, directing his attention toward the nearest cluster of buildings that made up the Daoist temple as he asked, “How have Daoist Master Sun and Brother Huang been faring?”

“The three of us are all doing quite well,” Chen Ping’an replied with a smile.

Di Yuanfeng couldn’t help but take a glance at Chen Ping’an’s cloth bags, all of which were filled with tiles and bricks, and really wanted to ask Chen Ping’an why he was so intent on collecting all these building supplies. Could it be that he intended to build himself a house with this stuff?

Unfortunately, Chen Ping’an wasn’t able to read minds. Otherwise, if he could glean Di Yuanfeng’s thoughts, then he would definitely be inclined to praise the latter as a clairvoyant.

————

Huan Yun had already made some very bountiful returns, having filled an entire pocket treasure.

The Dragon Gate Tier guest elder from Cloudtop City was clearly also very pleased, carrying a large bag on his back and two more in his hands with a look of unbridled joy on his face.

After the two old men reconvened, they stood together on the top floor of a pavilion to observe the battle taking place down below.

“It really is a dog-eat-dog world,” the guest elder chuckled.

Huan Yun merely smiled and said nothing.

On the path of cultivation, it was often the case that falling behind one step meant that one would continue to fall behind every step of the way.

If Shen Zhenze’s two direct disciples didn’t have Huan Yun as a Dao guardian, they would’ve very likely entered this place after Zhan Qing’s group, in which case they would’ve been swept up into that battle like everyone else.

However, Huan Yun had a very keen pair of eyes, and he immediately saw through the disguises of the two Rainbow Sparrow Residence cultivators, identifying that they were most likely Sun Qing and Wu Qun.

As for the guqin-wielding female cultivator up in the sky, Huan Yun had also been able to identify the instrument in her hand as the legendary Scattered Snow.

The guqin was once a bonded item of a Nascent Tier female cultivator of the Water Dragon Sect. This female cultivator was renowned for a breathtaking battle that she had taken part in on the bank of the vast river. At the time, she was able to completely dominate another Nascent Tier cultivator thanks to this very same guqin and the environmental advantage of being in close proximity to the vast river.

At the moment, its new owner was only able to unleash around half of the guqin’s full power.

“Should we leave this place in secret and get through that caisson ceiling, or should we go around to the back of the mountain and take a look there?” the guest elder asked.

“We are the Dao guardians, so we should let the two kids decide,” Huan Yun replied with a smile. “As long as we conceal ourselves well and don’t voluntarily enter the fray, we should have nothing to worry about.”

Huan Yun took a glance up at the sky overhead, then turned his gaze to the distance, where the boundary of the small world lay.

The unsettling observations that Bai Bi had made naturally hadn’t escaped Huan Yun’s notice.

However, he had already secretly buried a talisman underground where the caisson ceiling at the entrance of this immortal abode was, and as long as that talisman was still there, they would have a way out.

Furthermore, even though there were many suspicious and concerning signs littered throughout this place, its aura wasn’t tainted by any sinister energies, and that was very reassuring to Huan Yun.

A facade was easy to create, but it was very difficult to disguise the aura of a place.

Even if a Nascent Tier great demon were to conjure up an illusion of an immortal paradise, a cultivator like Huan Yun, who was a master of the talisman branch, would still be able to identify some telltale signs and quickly realize that there was foul play afoot.

In the beginning, there were actually many branches of Daoism in the Majestic World, and all of them coexisted in harmony.

However, at this point, many previously thriving branches had gradually fallen into ignominy or died out altogether.

An example was the sword immortal branch, which had once been the most prominent Daoist branch on the Middle Earth Divine Continent. That had been a truly mighty entity that dwarfed almost all others. Even though at the time, the Northern Complete Reed Continent was rife with swordsmen and had many sword immortals, the swordsmen of the continent still didn’t dare to declare that they had claim over most of the Sword Dao fortune in this world.

Back then, Daoist sword immortals had been one of the top four factions of the cultivation world that one didn’t want to make an enemy out of, ranking alongside swordsmen and saber-lending cultivators. At the time, the Daoist Saber Room still hadn’t risen to prominence, and the Daoist sword immortal faction had never identified themselves as swordsmen.

After briefly reminiscing about the history of the Daoist branches, Huan Yun couldn’t help but feel a hint of sorrow at the sight of the brutal skirmish taking place at the foot of the mountain.

From his perspective, all those putting their lives on the line to fight for fated opportunities at the foot of the mountain were at the age of juniors and children.

For some reason, he thought of a quote from a sage among poets: “All I see are children, all with rocky intent.”

An annotation was later made on this particular phrase, reading: “Rocky is the antonym to smooth. Hence, this quote denotes the complexity of human nature and how rocky and unpredictable the human heart can be, far more so than a rugged path stretching for thousands of kilometers deep through the mountains.”

Huan Yun thought back to the hint of greed and killing intent that he had almost been overcome by earlier, and he felt even more forlorn.

In the eyes of the sages of Three Teachings, they were all children.

All of a sudden, Huan Yun said, “You go keep an eye on those two, I’ll go to the foot of the mountain to try and mediate. The fewer the lives lost, the better.”

The old guest elder wanted to say something to discourage him, but he quickly understood Huan Yun’s intentions, and he nodded in response.

Unless their group of Cloudtop City cultivators could leave this place right away, it was very likely that they would be implicated by the battle taking place down below. In particular, if that direct disciple of the Water Dragon Sect were to perish, then the wrath of the Water Dragon Sect’s Upper Five Tiers patriarch would come crashing down upon the Northern Pavilion Nation and the Sacred Lotus Nation in full force, and neither the Rainbow Sparrow Residence nor Cloudtop City would be spared.

In fact, it was very likely that whoever reaped the most benefits here would be dealt the heaviest blow. Furthermore, if Huan Yun could mediate this conflict and convince everyone to come up with an agreeable compromise for both sides through peaceful negotiation, then he would be doing a favor to all factions involved, including the Water Dragon Sect, the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, and the feudal lord’s manor.

Huan Yun pulled out a talisman before handing it to the old Cloudtop City guest elder, then smiled as he said, “If you encounter any trouble, use this talisman, and I’ll arrive on the scene right away.”

The Dragon Gate Tier guest elder tucked the talisman away, then vanished from the spot in a flash.

Left on his own, Huan Yun was mentally preparing himself for the task that he was about to undertake. Serving as mediator in a heated battle was not an easy undertaking, and even a slight misstep could result in him becoming an enemy to both opposing factions.

————

After arriving on the battlefield, Huan Yun assisted neither side while also helping both sides, unleashing a flurry of talismans to try and interfere with everyone and draw the battle to a forced conclusion.

At the same time, he was speaking to everyone in earnest, telling them that there were plenty of fated opportunities to be claimed in this place, and that if they trusted him, then they could all scale the mountain to search for treasures together instead of engaging in further senseless bloodshed here.

Thus, the state of the battle quickly turned from a turbulent river into a tranquil lake, and everyone was suddenly willing to listen to reason.

After the battle had died down, Huan Yun called upon five people for a private discussion.

The five people consisted of Zhan Qing, Sun Qing, Bai Bi, and two prominent figureheads among all of the vagrant cultivators present.

It was agreed upon by everyone that both sides would take a step back from the arched bridge. Of course, Zhan Qing and Bai Bi’s group had to take a bigger step back, and the reason for this was very simple: if the battle continued in this fashion, then it was very likely the case that the only one that would survive would be Bai Bi, who would be forced to flee the scene.

Of course, the other side was sure to suffer severe casualties as well. At the very most, only ten of them would survive, and if they were unlucky, perhaps so few of them would survive that the final number of survivors could be counted off on one hand.

Hence, Huan Yun’s intervention was a godsent blessing for everyone.

Otherwise, no one could back down in the midst of such a heated battle, and the conflict would only be settled once one side had been completely annihilated.

At the same time, under Huan Yun’s watch, the two sides worked out a rough compensation scheme for all those who had perished in the battle.

After a private conversation between Huan Yun and Bai Bi through their minds’ lakes, the latter immediately forked out a sum of immortal coins to Sun Qing and the two figureheads of the vagrant cultivators for them to hand out as compensation as they saw fit.

On Zhan Qing and Bai Bi’s side, the Vajra Body Tier guest elder of the feudal lord’s manor had perished, while Gao Ling had also sustained severe injuries, with his suit of Dew Armor already on the verge of destruction. As for the imperial guest elder from the Sacred Lotus Nation, he wasn’t faring much better.

On top of that, Zhan Qing had lost his prized folding fan, which he was still yet to refine into a bonded item, and only the heavens knew if it had fallen into the river or been taken in secret by some conniving vagrant cultivator.

At the moment, Zhan Qing was looking completely bedraggled, with his Dao robe torn to shreds, and he had completely lost his elegance and flair as the young master of the feudal lord’s manor.

Even though his clan had lost an all-important Vajra Body Tier guest elder, Zhan Qing didn’t complain to Bai Bi at all. Instead, he remained as composed as ever and allowed Bai Bi to make all of the decisions in his stead, something that pleased Bai Bi greatly.

During this time, Sun Qing had also spoken to Bai Bi in secret through her mind’s lake, declaring, “Our Rainbow Sparrow Residence is willing to help you hold out until the seniors of your Water Dragon Sect arrive to claim ownership of this place, and we’ll do our best to prevent Cloudtop City from leaking the news to other sects.

“However, if Shen Zhenze arrives with formidable cultivators from other sects before the cultivators of your Water Dragon Sect can get here, then the cultivators of our Rainbow Sparrow Residence will leave right away and play no further role in all of this.”

Bai Bi’s impression of Sun Qing took a drastic turn at this proposal.

Earlier, both of them had held back during their battle, but for everyone else aside from Huan Yun, it was very difficult to identify this fact. Thus, after they established this verbal agreement, Bai Bi decided that perhaps it was worth establishing some private ties with the Rainbow Sparrow Residence in the future.

Huan Yun was very relieved to see negotiations going so smoothly.

It was easy to play the role of mediator, but it was a role that was very difficult to play well. It wasn’t just a simple matter of dissuading people from battle, the key was understanding everyone’s wants and intentions and using that understanding to orchestrate a peaceful resolution.

On the mountain summit where the Daoist temple once stood, a tall and imposing old man appeared out of thin air, then took a glance at the mountainous pile of ruins that was all that remained of the temple with a forlorn shake of his head.

From there, he slowly made his way to the top of the steps, then sneered, “They think that’s the end of the matter? Are there really fated opportunities in this world that are this easy to come by? Human nature dictates that humans will be the ones to kill the most humans. Otherwise, where’s the fun in watching a bunch of children fight and squabble?”

He was only able to linger at the top of the steps and look down at the two sides that had reached a truce for a brief moment before his ethereal body was destroyed by that streak of sword qi. However, right before that, he gently stomped a foot down onto the ground, and the green river at the foot of the mountain instantly began to display a reaction. First, the surface began rippling incessantly, and before long, the entire river was churning violently.

Huan Yun was the first to detect this disturbance, and he swept both sleeves through the air to release a flurry of talismans.

However, the water of the river under the bridge abruptly fell still, following which an azure-robed deity that stood at over fifty feet tall emerged from each end of the arched bridge. One was wielding a silver spear, while the other was holding a steel truncheon, and they both stepped ashore before stopping where they stood.

At the same time, an ethereal mass of cloud and mist appeared on the arched bridge before forming a divine maiden in white. She had a pair of expressionless golden eyes, and she was holding a scroll that resembled a prized Daoist edict.

She drifted up into the air before unfurling the scroll, then began to speak in a voice as delightful as a heavenly choir.

Even someone of Huan Yun’s immense knowledge and experience felt the words from the divine maiden to be utterly absurd, but at the same time, he did believe her to an extent.

According to her, this was the place from which an ancient Spiritual Master once ascended after attaining the Great Dao, and at some point it had been ranked the thirty-sixth small world and seventy-first blessed land. It was a sacred place of peace, so by barging their way into this place, Huan Yun and everyone else had both stumbled upon a fated opportunity and committed a severe transgression.

Prior to this Spiritual Master’s ascension, he had passed down an edict upon this trio, which decreed that for all the cultivators who entered this place following his ascension, the magnitude of the fated opportunity that they attained would be determined by the number of treasures they managed to obtain.

At the end, five people would be left, and not only would they get to keep all of the treasures that they had obtained, the first and foremost one among them would become a direct disciple of the ascended Spiritual Master, while the other four would temporarily be unofficial disciples. Additionally, they would all be granted a Daoist cultivation art that would support their cultivation all the way to the Immortal Tier.

Over the next ten days, only five people could survive. Otherwise, all of the aforementioned terms would be scrapped. Not only would no one be able to leave with any fated opportunities, everyone would be struck down on the spot by a heavenly tribulation.

As direct and unofficial disciples, they had to take it upon themselves to eradicate all of the other intruders that had dared to desecrate this sacred place. Otherwise, they were not worthy of attaining this fated opportunity.

All of a sudden, the unfurled scroll swelled drastically in size and transformed into a screen of water that cascaded down from the heavens to the earth like a waterfall. There were five portraits displayed upon the screen of water, depicting the five people who had claimed the most treasures up to this point.

Elsewhere, slightly smaller screens of water had appeared over other parts of the mountain wherever there were people, and even though the divine maiden in white wasn’t speaking very loudly, her voice was clearly audible throughout the entire immortal abode.

Shen Zhenze’s male disciple, the one in possession of the white jade brush pocket treasure, was completely rooted to the spot. Not only was among the top five beneficiaries, he was ranked second.

His female companion was both elated and concerned at this revelation.

The one who ranked at the very bottom among the five was none other than Di Yuanfeng.

His complexion was still slightly pale from his injuries, and just like Shen Zhenze’s male disciple, he was astonished to see himself on the list.

The fourth-ranked treasure-hunter was Huang Shi, who was standing in front of a stone plaque in the Daoist temple with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

Ranked above him in third was Daoist Master Sun, who was already sweating profusely from the exertion of having to carry such a heavy load of treasures.

As for the top-ranked treasure hunter on the list, that was none other than the black-robed old man who was still clinging to the bamboo tree high up from the ground.

It was Chen Ping’an.

The scroll displayed an image of Chen Ping’an in real time, and he scratched his head with a look of genuine shock and befuddlement on his face as he exclaimed, “There must be a mistake!”