Unsheathed

Huang Luan’s proposal of joining forces was indeed very alluring.

The sword formations on the Sword Qi Great Wall were so closely packed together that there were barely any spare sword immortals around.

Yang Zhi was standing on the railing, and she had even revealed her true form.

However, she didn’t immediately make a move.

Instead, she cast her gaze toward the young man standing atop the city wall and said, ”I’ve never seen the sword formations on the Sword Qi Great Wall operating so smoothly before. Is it because of him? Why are they all willing to follow his instructions? Isn’t he an outsider? Since when did the Scholarly Sage’s branch command this much respect on the Sword Qi Great Wall? I’ve heard that Lu Zhi has never been fond of scholars.”

All of the most powerful great demons of the Savage World had witnessed the battle that took place between Chen Ping’an and Li Zhen, but at the time, none of them had been convinced that Chen Ping’an possessed any abilities that would allow him to influence the state of the war. It was a clash between an entire world and the Sword Qi Great Wall.

In the grand scheme of things, even Upper Five Tiers sword immortals couldn’t be considered indispensable. Earlier, three sword immortals from the Sword Qi Great Wall had perished, and it had hardly mattered at all.

There was once a great demon who had made it to the top of the city walls, but sustained severe injuries that ultimately led to his demise. Prior to his passing, he declared that no one on the Sword Qi Great Wall was worth anything aside from Chen Qingdu, and that the same applied to the Savage World and the old man in gray.

”He’s really asking for it, isn’t he?” Huang Luan chuckled. ”I wonder how much longer he’s going to survive if he keeps this up.”

”Looks like he harbors a lot of resentment toward me,” Huang Luan remarked. ”It’s probably because of that little gift I gave him during his battle against Li Zhen, and he’s definitely also less than pleased about the injuries his senior brother suffered. If he wants to have a go at me, then I’d be happy to oblige.”

All of a sudden, an ancient palace disappeared from the city in the sky at Huang Luan’s behest, alongside a lone mountain with a stone tablet erected on its summit.

The palace was sent to the top of the city wall where Lu Zhi and Chen Ping’an were situated, while the mountain traveled to the two thatched cottages.

The ancient palace was split into two by a slash of Lu Zhi’s sword, and the two halves crashed heavily down onto the city wall beneath their feet before disintegrating into dust.

Wei Jin appeared on the summit of the mountain beside the stone tablet, and in the next instant, the entire mountain was erased from existence by an eruption of sword light.

Back when Wei Jin first arrived on the Sword Qi Great Wall, he had still been an Unpolished Jade Tier cultivator. Since then, only a few years had passed, and he had only taken part in one battle, but simply practicing his sword techniques in close proximity to the old great sword immortal and Zuo You had taken him to the doorstep of the Immortal Tier.

Yang Zhi called out to Huang Luan, and before she departed, she took one final glance at Chen Ping’an to commit his face to memory.

In response, Chen Ping’an closed his folding fan, then made a throat-slitting gesture with it, and he did so very slowly, which made the threatening gesture all the more insulting.

Huang Luan had to suppress an amused chuckle. Yang Zhi was the former owner of Elite Cavalry River and a great demon at the pinnacle of the Ascension Tier. If she threw all caution to the wind and insisted on going after Chen Ping’an, then their conflict would undoubtedly get many people involved, and it was something that Huang Luan would be happy to see.

After all, Yang Zhi would be suffering all the losses, while Huang Luan would collect all the accolades. Once they reached the Majestic World, all of them would be busy claiming their own territories, and whoever had more troops under their command would naturally be better equipped to claim more of the Majestic World.

Not only did the great demons have to contend against the Sword Qi Great Wall, but they also had to prepare to compete against one another upon reaching the Majestic World, and this was certainly not a trivial matter.

However, Huang Luan wasn’t going to go as far as to make any inflammatory remarks to try and goad Yang Zhi. Doing so would only have the opposite of the intended effect, alerting Yang Zhi to the fact that she was doing something irrational, and it would also make Yang Zhi resent her.

There were no rules in the Savage World, and that was a blessing most of the time, but it could also occasionally prove to be a bit of a pain.

”Huang Luan, if you can capture him and hand him over to me, then I’ll compensate you for whatever price you had to pay to capture him, and on top of that, I’ll throw in a first-rate sect from the Majestic World and the capital city of a large empire. What do you say?” Yang Zhi proposed with a smile.

”I would’ve surely agreed to your proposal before seeing Chen Ping’an today, but now, I think that price is a bit too low,” Huang Luan refused with a shake of her head.

Yang Zhi’s smile instantly faded, but Huang Luan paid no heed to her discontent.

Shortly thereafter, Yang Zhi departed, and as she did so, she left behind a warning. ”I hope you’re not going to regret this decision. Remember this: if you dare to try and claim any capital city of any of the mortal empires, then you will be my enemy.”

Huang Luan had not just refused to capture Chen Ping’an, but also turned down Yang Zhi’s implicit offer to form an alliance. She wasn’t fazed at all by Yang Zhi’s threat.

The torrent of immortal treasures flowing out of the demonic army was still as mighty and impressive as ever, but compared with the orderly river of sword qi surging out of the Sword Qi Great Wall, it was made to appear rather chaotic and disjointed.

At this point, all of the sword immortals had begun to follow Chen Ping’an’s orders. They were no longer throwing caution to the wind and doing as they pleased with no regard for those around them. Instead, every single attack that they unleashed was much more calculated than before, striving to best conform with the sword formation’s needs while simultaneously protecting their allied Middle Five Tiers swordsmen as much as possible.

In addition to that, they were also working toward other objectives, such as destroying a certain key treasure in the opposing camp, or slaying certain earth immortal demonic cultivators.

Huang Luan was naturally feeling a little dismayed, but this wasn’t a true cause for concern for her. Instead, her main concern at the moment was the tents in her own camp.

The old man in gray had set a rule for the fourteen great demons in their siege of the city. He had told them that if they ever grew bored, then they could personally stage an attack on the city walls. However, they had been instructed not to go all-out unless it was absolutely necessary to do so. In particular, they were heavily discouraged from using their innate abilities and other trump cards before reaching the Majestic World.

The longsword in Lu Zhi’s hand had been forged by the sword market, and it was unable to bear her sword intent and survive the clash against the oncoming palace, instantly disintegrating in her hand.

She turned to take a glance at Chen Ping’an and asked, ”Are you that eager for an early death, or do you plan to take no further part in this battle? I’ve been stationed here under the old great sword immortal’s orders, but my instructions were to protect the entire Hidden Official’s branch, not to serve as your personal bodyguard, so you better be careful not to put yourself in a position where I won’t be able to protect you.”

The great demons of the Savage World never cared much for looking at concepts like right and wrong in the grand scheme of things, but they took personal grudges very seriously, and the higher their cultivation base, the more offense they took to personal slights. Hence, it was no exaggeration to say that Chen Ping’an had just made sworn enemies out of the two great demons with his provocative gestures.

However, he was a little disappointed to see that his provocation hadn’t been enough to goad the two great demons into launching an all-out attack on the city wall.

If they had taken the bait, then Lu Zhi would’ve only needed to hold them off for a moment, and three other sword immortals that had already been notified in advance would’ve instantly sprung out of hiding to cut off any and all paths of retreat for the two great demons. The trio consisted of Yue Qing, Yuan Qingshu, and Wu Chengpei, but they weren’t going to be the ones to slay the two great demons.

Instead, Yang Zhi and Huang Luan would’ve found themselves swarmed by a whole host of sword immortals. Prior to stepping onto the city wall, Chen Ping’an had instructed Guo Zhujiu and Wang Xinshui to immediately send out flying sword messages to all of the native sword immortals if any great demon dared to approach the city walls.

At the moment, all of the Sword Qi Great Wall’s sword immortals were busy playing their roles in the sword formations atop the city walls, but if the Hidden Official’s branch were to send out those flying sword messages, dozens of sword immortals would instantly converge onto the scene. Even if abandoning their posts meant that the sword formations were going to be compromised, they still had to follow the orders of the Hidden Official’s branch.

”It’s fine,” Chen Ping’an said with a nonchalant smile. ”There are plenty of people out to get me; it hardly matters if I throw a couple more into the mix. If Huang Luan and Yang Zhi had allowed their impulses to get the better of them, then there’s a very good chance that they would’ve both met their demise here.”

There was one more thing that Chen Ping’an hadn’t revealed, which was that one of the two flying swords that he had been assigned as the Hidden Official had been sent to the old great sword immortal. If any great demons had taken his bait, then not only would they have faced the collective wrath of dozens of sword immortals, but the old great sword immortal would’ve also issued an order to Chen Xi and Qi Tingji to ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that the great demons were slain.

With so many sword immortals on the scene serving as witnesses, Chen Xi and Qi Tingji wouldn’t have dared to hold back, and Huang Luan and Yang Zhi would’ve certainly been killed.

Not only had Chen Ping’an predicted Xiao Xun’s betrayal, but he also didn’t have much trust in those two old sword immortals, either. This seemed like it would be massively detrimental to his plans, but in reality, he simply had to make some adjustments to the way that he did things. Just because he didn’t trust them didn’t mean that he couldn’t still find ways to use them.

If Yang Zhi and Huang Luan were of the opinion that the current Sword Qi Great Wall was still the same Sword Qi Great Wall of old, and that they would be able to stage an attack before retreating unscathed, then they would’ve been made to pay the ultimate price.

”You’re far too naive and optimistic,” Lu Zhi remarked with a shake of her head. ”There’s no way someone as old as Yang Zhi would’ve fallen for such a simple trick.”

”Perhaps, but we don’t lose anything in trying, so why not make an attempt?” Chen Ping’an countered with a smile.

”You may return to your duties, Lord Hidden Official,” Lu Zhi said with a dismissive wave. ”Rest assured, I’ll continue to keep watch here.”

Thus far, Lu Zhi felt like Chen Ping’an had been quite competent as the new Hidden Official. In fact, he had performed beyond her expectations, but her personal opinion of Chen Ping’an was still less than stellar, and the reason for this was very simple: he wasn’t a sword immortal. In fact, he wasn’t even a swordsman at all.

Chen Ping’an jumped down from the wall and returned to his seat at the desk, then smiled and said, ”They didn’t take the bait this time, but it was always going to be a long shot, so there’s no need to be disappointed. At this point, the Savage World’s attack on the city has already entered the third stage. The first attack led by Great Demon Bai Ying was more of a probing attack than anything else, designed to assess the defenses of our Sword Qi Great Wall.

“In the process, he was fed information via flying sword messages by certain traitors of the city, and that allowed the Savage World to gain the upper hand. This is actually a very delicate task that requires skillful handling, and it makes sense that the duty fell upon Bai Ying. Among the fourteen great demons, Bai Ying has always preferred to achieve his goals through strategic means, rather than by using brute force.

“Hence, if Bai Ying had been leading this attack, then I wouldn’t even have bothered to try and provoke him at all. Next, we have to talk about the five mountains that Yang Zhi was tasked with guarding on the battlefield. Compared with Bai Ying, who needs to constantly communicate with the sixty tents, Yang Zhi clearly doesn’t need to make as many adjustments on the fly on the battlefield.

“The five mountains concealed five great demons for the purpose of killing our Immortal Tier sword immortals, and they don’t have much to do with Yang Zhi herself. Then there’s Huang Luan. Clearly, Yang Zhi is the most direct and straightforward of the great demons, so she was the one that I deemed to be most prone to falling for our trap.

“If we had successfully lured in and managed to kill either one of them, then that would’ve served as a massive morale boost for everyone, enough to make up for the drop in morale from Xiao Xun’s defection. Of course, I never believed that Yang Zhi would be foolish enough to fall for this trap. However, I was hoping that she would be eager to make amends after her previous failure, and I was also hoping that Huang Luan would give us a helping hand by goading her just a little.

“Let’s say the Sword Qi Great Wall falls, and the demon tribe manages to infiltrate the Majestic World. What do the great demons stand to gain from this? Of course, it’s the vast new territory that would help elevate them in their pursuit of the Great Dao. However, that’s not something for them to compete over. At the end of the day, the cut of the pie that each of them receives is entirely dependent on how much the patriarch of the demon tribe decides to give them, so I’m sure Yang Zhi is desperate to make amends to get back into the demon tribe patriarch’s good graces.

“Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to convince her to take the bait. This shows us that the great demons of the Savage World are extremely pragmatic, and that is something that we can learn from them, as well as something that we must be wary of. From here onward, we can actually somewhat predict the strategies that the Savage World is going to employ going forward.

“However, with sixty tents’ worth of brainpower on their side, they’re going to undoubtedly have a strategic advantage over us, so there’s not much point to making such predictions.”

Nearby, Lu Zhi couldn’t help but shake her head in exasperation.

Clearly, Chen Ping’an could tell that she had no interest in hearing his plans and rationale, so instead of telling her all of this to her face, he was speaking indirectly to her while addressing the others, and in doing so, he was making her hear what he had to say whether she liked it or not.

Her impression of Chen Ping’an didn’t improve at all, but she had become even more impressed with how he was handling himself as Hidden Official.

She cast her gaze toward the southern battlefield, then took a glance back at the group of young swordsmen behind her, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

This group of young individuals was likely the ones that the old great sword immortal had the highest hopes for.

Chen Ping’an cast his gaze toward the Hidden Official’s branch, and a stunned look appeared on his face as he exclaimed, ”I just said all of that, and none of you have anything to say in response? Have all of my words fallen upon deaf ears this entire time?”

After a brief silence, Deng Liang said in a grim voice, ”The next army that the demon tribe is going to assemble will consist entirely of swordsmen, and they’ll have undoubtedly learned from observing us. For example, they’ll have learned how to maximize the overall power of a sword formation by having the sword immortals hold back and refrain from using their full power, as well as how to have sword immortals strike down enemy earth immortals without any warning.

“By putting our strategies on display, we’ve essentially provided them with a blueprint for how they should arrange their sword formations. Even if they don’t manage to learn all of our tricks, if we do not prepare any countermeasures, then we’ll be sure to suffer heavy losses in the next battle.”

Chen Ping’an pointed his folding fan at Lin Junbi with a smile and prompted, ”Go ahead, Junbi. Tell us what’s on your mind.”

Lin Junbi immediately came up with an idea, and he smiled and said, ”Right now, the Savage World has the upper hand, so we can’t afford to alter our sword formations. However, what we can do is set a series of concealed traps around all of our key earth immortal swordsmen. From this point onward, all of our sword immortals will be assigned a new task, which would be to protect a certain earth immortal swordsman.

“However, that doesn’t mean that they should focus solely on passive defense, as that would be completely pointless. Instead, everything that we do should pave the way for a counterattack, and this time, we will not just be targeting the earth immortal cultivators in the enemy camp. Instead, we will be going after their sword immortals!”

Chen Ping’an nodded in response.

Even though he had failed to kill Yang Zhi and Huang Luan with his trap, claiming the lives of several enemy sword immortals would certainly not be a bad compromise.

Chen Ping’an had been waiting for Deng Liang and Lin Junbi to speak up this entire time, and now that a concrete plan had been laid out, everyone immediately began working.

Gu Jianlong took a glance at the clashing torrent of flying swords and immortal treasures on the picture scroll, then opened one of the books on his desk and said, ”In that case, we’ll need to go through the entirety of Book C and select ten to twenty of our earth immortal swordsmen to serve as bait. Up to this point, Wang Xinshui has been the one solely responsible for updating Book C, but going forward, he’s going to require some help with that task.

“This is also a good opportunity for us to assess our sword immortals and try out more possibilities. In the past, our sword immortals have been too averse to working with others on the battlefield. At the very most, you’ll only see small groups of maybe two or three sword immortals who are close friends working with one another to slay demons.

“However, just because they’re close friends doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll have the best synergy in battle. Going forward, Book C is going to become extremely important, and it would be unfair to have Wang Xinshui carry such a heavy responsibility alone. What do you think, Lord Hidden Official?”

Chen Ping’an was supporting his chin with his hand, while his elbow was resting on the desk, and he seemed to have been writing something down on a sheet of paper.

Beside the sheet of paper was Book F, which already had many other sheets of paper tucked between its pages, and he continued writing as he nodded and said, ”That’s a fair assessment. From now on, I will personally be helping Wang Xinshui manage Book C and select twenty earth immortal swordsmen to be used as bait.”

”Prior to this, we’ve only had very limited opportunities to examine the effectiveness of different combinations of sword immortals working together with one another,” Xuan Can said. ”Going forward with this plan, we’ll have more opportunities to try out different combinations and have our sword immortals become more and more skilled at and accustomed to working with one another.

“Initially, they may be resistant to the idea, but once they begin to see the benefits of working together with one another, I’m sure they’ll come around very quickly. Right now, the sword immortals are willing to follow our orders because the strategies that we’ve implemented have been very effective, but if we don’t make any further contributions beyond this, then the sword immortals will quickly begin to look down on us, and they’ll become more and more averse to following our instructions.

“Lord Hidden Official is right. Our main enemy right now is the Savage World, but another battle that we have to fight is against our own sword immortals. We have to constantly be aware of their thoughts, feelings, and attitude, and we need to act accordingly. On top of that, we can’t just adjust on the fly. Instead, we have to take a more preemptive approach.

“Otherwise, if they become resistant to following our orders, then fleeting opportunities on the battlefield could pass us by. I think we need to assign someone specifically to this role.”

”Leave it to me,” Dong Bude volunteered.

A hesitant look appeared on Lin Junbi’s face.

”Dong Bude will only be responsible for the sword immortals native to the Sword Qi Great Wall, while Lin Junbi will be responsible for all foreign sword immortals,” Chen Ping’an decided. ”Junbi, if you have any questions, then all of the foreign swordsmen, including Deng Liang, are obligated to answer you to the best of their abilities, even if what you’re asking concerns private secrets of certain sword immortals.

“Some sword immortals may become angry or resentful at having their secrets exposed, but their resentment will only be directed toward me, the Hidden Official, so none of you need to be concerned. If I can’t even protect all of you, then I will have been an utter failure of a Hidden Official.”

”What if the enemy has already come up with the same plan as us?” Guo Zhujiu suddenly proposed. ”What if they also come after our sword immortals instead of taking the bait to hunt down our earth immortal swordsmen? If that happens, then we could end up trading sword immortals with them. They have far more sword immortals than us, so that would play right into their hands!”

Guo Zhujiu turned to Chen Ping’an with a concerned expression as she spoke.

”That’s a very good point that Guo Zhujiu has just raised,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. ”We always have to be more careful and prudent than the Savage World. Even if things go wrong for them, they can bear the consequences, but the same doesn’t apply to us. Pang Yuanji, it’s time for you to begin thinking about which combinations of the sword immortals in Primary Book A would work best in battle. As usual, you come up with the plans, and I’ll issue all the orders so that if there’s any discontentment from the sword immortals, it’ll only be directed toward me.”

Pang Yuanji nodded in response.

”At the rate things are going, it’ll only take half a month at the very most before we reach a very awkward position, one in which we’re going to run out of optimizations to make,” Chen Ping’an said. ”At that point, we’ll have become so familiar with all of the sword immortals and earth immortal swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall that we’ll know them like the backs of our hands. What should we do then?

“Perhaps we can learn more about the Abode Tier, Sea Observation Tier, and Dragon Gate Tier swordsmen, but that definitely shouldn’t be our main focus. Instead, our main focus should still be on the southern battlefield and on the primary and secondary editions of Book B, as well as Book D. For all of us in the Hidden Official’s branch, it’s inevitable that we’ll become disappointed and disillusioned at some point, but you must draw upon your mental fortitude and persevere.

“None of us are perfect; we’ll all make mistakes, and the mistakes that we make will not be ones that we can fix. Any mistake on our end will result in mass casualties, and once we make even a single misstep, all of our past merits and contributions will be instantly forgotten by everyone. Our job is a thankless one where faultless perfection is the baseline expectation, and anything that falls short of that will immediately be met with resentment from all directions.”

Everyone nodded in response with solemn expressions.

Chen Ping’an closed his folding fan, then set it down on the desk beside him and declared, ”Let’s get to work!”

Meanwhile, a talismanic boat had just drifted over to the top of the city wall in the north, and a young man disembarked. He had a pale complexion and a weary expression, as if he had only just recovered from a major illness, and he stowed the talismanic boat away up his sleeve before slowly making his way toward the Hidden Official’s branch.

Not only were all of the swordsmen of the Hidden Official’s branch stunned to see him, but even the Unpolished Jade Tier Mi Yu had also been caught completely off guard.

This entire time, not a single one of them had realized that the Hidden Official was nothing more than Chen Ping’an’s yin soul.

They were certain that the old great sword immortal had to have personally cast an illusion to keep them in the dark.

Chen Ping’an’s yin soul rose to its feet with a smile, then picked up the folding fan on the desk and began walking backward until it became one with the true Chen Ping’an.

From there, Chen Ping’an returned to the desk, then sat down with his legs crossed with a smile and said, ”I’ve really missed you all.”