Unsheathed

Chapter 596 (2): Someone Has Challenged Chen Ping’an

On top of the city wall, Sword Immortal Ku Xia was instructing Lin Junbi, Yan Lü, and the others in their swordsmanship. Ku Xia was teaching a set of sword techniques that were permitted to be taught to outsiders on the Sword Qi Great Wall. Everyone sat on cushions, listening intently to Ku Xia’s guidance.

First, Ku Xia provided a rough breakdown of the meaning behind the sword mantra, then went into extremely meticulous detail about several other elements, including the route of spiritual energy circulation through the key acupoints, and the method that one should use to draw upon and recycle their spiritual energy.

After that, he took questions from everyone, but instead of answering them himself, he left the task to Lin Junbi, who possessed the greatest aptitude and learning ability among the students present. Only when Lin Junbi’s answers proved inadequate would Ku Xia make some additional remarks.

What was strange about this set of top-tier sword techniques was that they could only be used to their full potential in a place like the Sword Qi Great Wall, a small world that was teeming with sword qi. One could still use them in the Majestic World, but they would be much less effective there. Most of the outsiders who had the opportunity to learn these sword techniques generally weren’t missing top-tier sword techniques anyway, so there wasn’t much point for them in learning these sword techniques.

To put it in simpler terms, these sword techniques were too situational, and even for an exceptional prodigy like Lin Junbi, who was blessed with the fortune of an entire nation, he would only be able to make any meaningful progress in the sword techniques in question on the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Ku Xia was actually quite reluctant to teach this lesson, as the instructor on this occasion was actually supposed to be the native sword immortal, Sun Juyuan. However, Sun Juyuan was so disdainful of these future pillars of the Shaoyuan Empire that he simply shirked his responsibilities and refused to come. Ku Xia was quite a stubborn man, and he initially wasn’t willing to compromise and take Sun Juyuan’s place.

Eventually, Sun Juyuan became sick of his constant pestering, and he delivered an ultimatum to Ku Xia, telling him that if the Shaoyuan Empire still wanted the people they sent to the Sword Qi Great Wall to be able to stay in the Sun Manor in the future, then they had best not force him to do anything against his will.

Ku Xia took a glance at his direct disciple, Jiang Guancheng, and he couldn’t help but heave an internal sigh.

He was concerned about how simple-minded and straightforward his disciple was, but he also didn’t want his disciple to become too much like Lin Junbi in his cultivation and personality. Besides, he much preferred Jiang Guancheng to some of the petty and calculating young men and women around him.

Ku Xia naturally had his reasons for choosing Jiang Guancheng as his disciple, and one of his main considerations was that the Great Dao they each pursued was quite close in nature. However, Jiang Guancheng was like a rough gemstone that would require much more honing and refining.

Even though Lin Junbi was currently only seated on a cushion, with his hands folded over one another on his lap and a relaxed and composed smile on his face, he still had the appearance of an elegant and refined immortal.

Yan Lü had been constantly and meticulously learning from Lin Junbi, whether it be in the way that he treated others or the way in which he regarded and interacted with the world around him. Even though Lin Junbi was younger than him, Yan Lü felt like he had much to learn from him.

In the past, Yan Lü had adopted a very simple approach to how he saw others. He either saw someone as smart or stupid. As for their morals and values, he didn’t care about those things at all. Those who were useful to him were friends, while those who he couldn’t make use of were of no interest to him.

There were no stupid people among his peers on this journey; only those who were smart enough or not quite there.

The ones who were not quite there included Jiang Guancheng and the clueless girl who was infatuated with Lin Junbi, while those who were smart enough included the group of “foolish individuals” who had previously stood up for Lin Junbi.

It seemed like they were twisting the truth, but were those people really oblivious to reality? What were their true intentions? Their objective was simply to say meaningless things to appease Lin Junbi.

Even if it didn’t work, it wasn’t like they stood to lose anything. Deep down, there was a very good chance they were hoping their support would get to Lin Junbi’s head, giving him a rush of blood to the head and convincing him to challenge Chen Ping’an to a battle to the death. Even if neither side perished in battle, ideally, Lin Junbi would be outmatched by Chen Ping’an and suffer a setback to his Dao Heart as a result of his defeat.

On the path of cultivation, Lin Junbi was undoubtedly going to be a fierce competitor of theirs, so if they could use Chen Ping’an to get rid of him, then that would certainly be a desirable end result.

There were extremely complex networks of relationships in the Shaoyuan Empire, and Lin Junbi had put on a far too spectacular display on this trip thus far. Even though everyone had come from the Shaoyuan Empire, they had all realized one thing, which was that if Lin Junbi were allowed to fulfill his potential, then for at least the next few centuries, all of the swordsmen of the Shaoyuan Empire would be put in an awkward position where they would only be able to fight over second place.

Lin Junbi of the Shaoyuan Empire was going to be the equivalent of Cao Ci of the Middle Earth Divine Continent in the martial arts world, and all of his contemporaries would be completely outshone by his brilliance.

Aside from those people, Zhu Mei and Jin Zhenmeng fell into another category of their own, and they were relatively less calculating.

However, Yan Lü didn’t like to deal with people like them.

As opposed to Zhu Mei and Jin Zhenmeng, Yan Lü much preferred to try and win over the calculating scoundrels who were constantly plotting the downfalls of those around them.

Zhu Mei’s background was not inferior to his own, while Jin Zhenmeng was someone who possessed a resolute Dao Heart and pure sword intent. In order to try to win them over, Yan Lü would have to give up many things he was unwilling or unable to give up.

While serving as half a Dao mentor to his peers, Lin Junbi’s mind was already elsewhere.

There were sword immortals situated at set intervals along these city walls.

As for those around him, Lin Junbi had never regarded them as his own contemporaries, and that included even Yan Lü. In his eyes, they were too weak in mental fortitude, too lacking in aptitude, and too pitiful in intelligence.

Hence, their backers and backgrounds meant nothing. There were even times when Lin Junbi was struck with the urge to laugh and tell them that they should cherish this precious opportunity to travel and cultivate alongside him. At the very least, he had still not left them so far behind on the path of cultivation that he was completely out of sight, and they were certainly very fortunate to be sitting with him as equals atop these city walls.

Bian Jing wasn’t attending Ku Xia’s lesson with everyone else. Instead, he had gone to the Mirage Market. There was what was supposedly a sparring arena there, but in reality, it was more like the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Temper Mountain, where all battles were to the death.

However, it was also different from Temper Mountain in that only individuals of the same cultivation base could face off against each other in this sparring arena. Both combatants put their lives on the line, and the winner would obtain the loser’s entire wealth, as well as a considerable cut of the gambling profits generated from the battle.

Battles between swordsmen were generally not the most spectacular, and they didn’t happen here all that often. Unless there was a sworn vendetta between two swordsmen, they generally wouldn’t come here to settle their differences. Furthermore, battles between swordsmen often ended instantaneously, so there really wasn’t much to be seen.

The truly spectacular battles were the ones between swordsmen and other Qi refiners, and of course, the best outcome for the spectators would be if the Qi refiner were fortunate enough to take down a swordsman of the same cultivation base at the cost of their own life.

A small group of swordsmen would come here to frequently do battle, and some did so to hone themselves by placing themselves in life-threatening peril, while others were simply here to earn money in order to better nurture their flying swords.

As for why other Qi refiners were willing to set foot in the sparring arena even at the risk of their own lives, that was naturally not because they all had a death wish. Instead, they simply had no choice in the matter. Almost all of these Qi refiners had been transported here in secret on intercontinental ships, and they were vagrant cultivators from all of the Majestic World’s continents, or survivors from destroyed immortal sects.

If they could win three battles against other Qi refiners of the same cultivation base, then they would get to live. If they still dared to participate in more battles after that, they would be able to win money in accordance with the rules. If they could kill a swordsman, then that single victory alone would be enough to grant them their freedom.

Certain Confucians had once expressed vehement opposition to this arrangement, regarding it as a horrific violation of human rights. They questioned why the Sword Qi Great Wall didn’t enforce regulations to stamp out this practice, instead allowing vagrant cultivators to be transported there by the shipful just to lose their lives.

There was even once a woman from a wealthy clan on the Middle Earth Divine Continent who had come to Stalactite Mountain on her clan’s intercontinental ship to stay at the Ape Rub Residence. She had extremely powerful backers, and she went on an extravagant shopping spree at the Ganoderma Inn, attracting a great deal of attention in the process.

She was accompanied by two servants, a ninth tier martial artist who was constantly with her, and an Upper Five Tiers Militarian cultivator who protected her from the shadows. After watching the battles that took place in the Mirage Market’s sparring arena, she felt not only sympathetic toward the Qi refiners who had been abducted to the Sword Qi Great Wall from the Majestic World, but also the swordsmen from the demon tribe who were being used as “whetstones.”

In her eyes, they had taken on human forms, so they were already humans, and it was entirely far too inhumane to be treating them with such cruelty and brutality. Thus, she kicked up a big fuss at the sparring arena before departing in a proud fashion, feeling as if she had come out on top.

That same day, her Militarian cultivator servant was brutally beaten by a native sword immortal, while the ninth tier martial artist didn’t even dare to get involved because there were clearly more sword immortals eagerly waiting in the wings.

The woman had no choice but to turn to Sword Immortal Sun Juyuan, who was on good terms with her clan, but wasn’t even able to secure an audience with him. All of her belongings were thrown onto the street outside the Sun Manor, and Sun Juyuan had dismissed her with a very concise and to-the-point message. “Piss off.”

The woman was distraught and left the Sword Qi Great Wall in tears with her servants. After returning to the Majestic World, she used the power and wealth of her clan to gather up a bunch of prestigious scholars in the literati world, calling upon them to openly denounce the Sword Qi Great Wall’s savage customs and traditions.

In her words, “How are the swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall any different from the demons of the Savage World?” In the wake of her shenanigans, no one from her clan, her sect, and her entire empire was ever permitted to set foot on Stalactite Mountain again. Indeed, not just the Sword Qi Great Wall, but even Stalactite Mountain had been made off-limits.

Anyone who was discovered trying to step onto Stalactite Mountain in secret would be instantly struck down into the sea by the gatekeeper sword immortal, and whether they lived or died would be entirely up to the will of the heavens.

This had been a massive incident at the time, but the old great sword immortal never said anything, so the Dong Clan had been very confident in their handling of the matter, taking the old great sword immortal’s silence as a sign of approval for them to do as they pleased.

Not only did Bian Jing spectate some of the battles in the sparring arena, but he had also placed some bets. There were different things that one could bet on, most notably the outcomes of the battles and which combatants would live or die. There normally wasn’t much profit to be made betting on the outcomes of the battles.

The regular gamblers here all possessed extremely keen eyes, so their success rates at guessing the outcomes of battles were extremely high. Hence, the bets that one could really stand to win or lose large sums of money on were the bets on how long it would take for one or both of the combatants to perish.

If one were fortunate enough to correctly guess that both combatants would lose their lives, then they would often win enough money to cover their wine costs for two or three years. This was quite a significant sum, considering how expensive the immortal wine on the Sword Qi Great Wall was.

Bian Jing was sitting in a corner of the packed spectator stands, drinking some wine as he waited in silence for the next battle to commence.

The first combatant was a Sea Observation Tier swordsman who had come here from the Majestic World for training purposes, and his opponent was a demonic swordsman of the same cultivation base. The latter’s clothes were in tatters, and his entire body was riddled with injuries.

However, that didn’t seem to affect his combat prowess at all. Demons were extremely physically resilient to begin with, and those injuries seemed to have only ignited his savage nature, working to further enhance his powers as a swordsman.

This was not a common match-up.

Bian Jing had heard that in the Savage World, anyone who was able to become a swordsman was referred to as a Great Dao talent, much like the scholarly talents of the Majestic World.

Apparently, this demonic swordsman had secretly ventured onto a battlefield in the wake of a major battle to try his luck at picking up some broken swords. In the process, he was captured by the patrolling swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall and taken back here to be imprisoned.

From there, he ended up just like many of the other captured demons, thrown into the arena to provide entertainment to the spectators. If he died, then that would be that, and if he lived, then he would be taken back to the prison to recover from his injuries and await his next battle.

Bian Jing was not surprised at all that many of the people who traveled here from the Majestic World felt sympathetic toward these demonic prisoners.

He wondered if those so-called kind-hearted people would still be feeling sympathetic toward the demons when they breached the Sword Qi Great Wall’s defenses and took over the Majestic World.

Bian Jing’s mind was entirely immersed in his internal small world, and there was a being that was capable of seeing all of his thoughts lurking deep within his mind’s lake. The being grinned after reading Bian Jing’s thoughts, and its entire body was filled with an unmatched aura of savagery.

Even though Bian Jing was a swordsman at the Golden Core Tier bottleneck, just that slight grin from that almighty being was enough to create a massive disturbance in his internal small world, causing all of the spiritual energy in his acupoints to bubble and churn like boiling water. Thankfully, even without Bian Jing’s intervention, the being suppressed its aura in order to avoid being detected.

If it were exposed in a place like this, then it would undoubtedly be surrounded and killed by a whole host of sword immortals. If these sword immortals were just some Unpolished Jade Tier small fry, then they wouldn’t be a concern at all, as the being would be able to gobble them up with ease. Instead, what the being was worried about was the possibility of being confronted by those old farts from the Dong, Qi, and Chen Clans.

The being began communicating with Bian Jing through his mind’s lake, declaring, “Once we succeed, my contribution will be enough for you to secure a certain celestial weapon. On top of that, I’ll fulfill our earlier agreement and ensure that you become an Immortal Tier sword immortal. As for whether you can reach the Ascension Tier, that will be up to you.

“Once you reach the Ascension Tier and obtain a good sword, who cares about the Majestic World or the Savage World? You’ll be able to go anywhere you please, and anywhere you go, the mountain summit will be beneath your feet! When that time comes, the likes of Lin Junbi and Chen Ping’an will be nothing more than mere ants that won’t even be worthy of you to look down on.”

***

At the moment, there were two gates that granted passage between Stalactite Mountain and the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Qi Jinglong and Bai Shou entered the Sword Qi Great Wall together with Lu Sui and Ren Lingcong.

Bai Shou was so dizzy that he felt as if the entire world were spinning around him, and he was resting on his haunches, dry-retching incessantly, while Qi Jinglong gently held onto his shoulders to steady him.

Ren Lingcong wasn’t faring much better, but she was forcing herself to maintain a composed facade. Lu Sui was holding onto her hand, helping her stabilize the spiritual energy in her acupoints, and only then did some color return to her deathly pale complexion.

At almost the exact same time, a woman left the Water Essence Palace on her own through another gate to arrive on the Sword Qi Great Wall. As soon as she arrived, her fist intent immediately began to flow over her entire body, and she felt no discomfort whatsoever from the pervasive aura of oppression and subjugation on the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Her original intention for this trip to the Sword Qi Great Wall was to follow in Cao Ci’s footsteps, staying in the thatched cottage that he had constructed atop the city walls to hone her Vajra Body Tier cultivation base. Her ultimate objective was to progress to the Far Roaming Tier as the strongest seventh tier martial artist under the heavens.

However, after hearing some things in the Water Essence Palace, she felt like the will of the heavens was urging her to change her plans. Thus, her current goal was to seek out the man that Cao Ci and Liu Youzhou had mentioned on multiple occasions and challenge him. She was going to make him lose three battles in a row once again!