Unsheathed

At this moment, the leader of the Jia Shen Tent, Mu Ji, was with Liu Cha’s only disciple, Bei Qie, and the closing disciple of Holding Moon Mountain, Li Zhen. The three of them had appeared on the southernmost point of the battlefield alongside Yu Si, Tun Tan, and the female sword cultivator, Liu Bai.

Yu Si crouched down and pinched some soil between his middle and index fingers, instantly crushing it into powder.

He then clapped his hands together and stood up before declaring, ”The sword intent from both sides has been constantly whittling away at each other, and the degree of conversion is about what we expected. That’s the only piece of good news.”

”Why are we jumping into this when we know that it’s a trap?” Liu Bai asked with tightly furrowed brows. ”It’s not like our Jia Shen Tent is the only one that realizes that something isn’t right; why do you think it is that the Jia Zi Tent has been ignoring that side this entire time? Clearly, our earth immortal sword cultivators are being targeted, and quite a few of them have already perished in battle; nine over the course of just two days, to be exact.

“Are we just going to keep offering them up to the Sword Qi Great Wall? How can we just play right into our enemy’s hands when we can already clearly see what they’re up to? What is going on, Mu Ji? You haven’t told us anything since you came back. If you’ve been picked on by the others over there, Li Zhen, Bei Qie, and I can all speak to our masters for you.”

”Don’t keep it all to yourself, Mu Ji,” Yu Si chimed in. ”You can tell us anything.”

”The Jia Zi Tent didn’t give an exact reason; all they told me was that after the battle, several seniors, including Yang Zhi and Huang Luan, would carry the heads of all of the sword immortals that they slew in the Savage World and hurl them at the Sword Qi Great Wall as a form of retaliation,” Mu Ji revealed.

”How is that supposed to be retaliation?!” Liu Bai snapped in an enraged voice. ”Would we not have slain those sword immortals if our earth immortal sword cultivators hadn’t been killed? Those two things have nothing to do with each other!”

”I don’t get it, either.” Mu Ji sighed. ”I don’t understand why so many of our sword cultivators are dying here, almost as if they have to die for some reason.”

”At this point, there’s not much we can do,” Tun Tan said with a smile. ”We’ll just have to keep watching the situation unfold.”

On the distant battlefield up ahead, a sword immortal of the Savage World had revealed their enormous true form, and they were standing alone on the battlefield with both hands resting on the hilt of their sword, while the tip of their sword was plunged into the ground.

Several hundred bolts of bright red lightning instantly came raining down from the sky above the sword formations of the Sword Qi Great Wall, as if the lightning gods were displaying their wrath.

The sword immortals of the Sword Qi Great Wall immediately sprang into action, using the cloud of sword qi to intercept the lightning and shield all of the Middle Five Tiers sword cultivators below.

Elsewhere on the battlefield was a slender female sword immortal who wasn’t carrying a sword. However, as she swept her sleeves through the air, thousands of flying swords formed by sword qi were conjured up around her before hurtling toward the Sword Qi Great Wall’s sword formations.

She was opposed by Sword Immortal Yue Qing, who was wielding one of his flying swords, namely Soaring Cloud Sparrow.

On the two battlefields, several cultivators from the Savage World that had previously been completely unheard of had risen to prominence, as if by the will of the heavens.

One of them was a demonic cultivator who wasn’t even a sword cultivator. Instead, he had only been an Abode Tier Qi refiner, and he had previously been just another insignificant cog in the sword formations of the Savage World. However, he inadvertently obtained two bursts of ancient sword intent from the Sword Qi Great Wall, both of which were of an extremely high caliber.

From there, he was destined to become an extremely formidable sword immortal, and massive sums of cultivation resources were invested into him. If he were to reach the Majestic World, then he had very good chances of establishing his own sect or faction.

There was also a Golden Core Tier sword cultivator, whose bonded flying sword had previously been considered to be largely useless, but had somehow made some significant battlefield contributions on this occasion.

Not only was he able to save two earth immortal sword cultivators from all-out attacks unleashed by two enemy sword immortals, but he was also somehow able to redirect their attacks to strike the sword formations of the Sword Qi Great Wall. As a result, two Golden Core Tier sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall instantly perished on the spot, and there were many more casualties and injuries suffered by the Middle Five Tiers sword cultivators as well.

The Golden Core Tier sword cultivator in question was immediately ordered to leave the battlefield, following which an illusion was cast onto him by an Ascension Tier senior. From there, he was sent back onto the battlefield multiple times, specifically to oppose all-out attacks unleashed by enemy sword immortals.

As for how a Golden Core Tier sword cultivator was able to anticipate attacks from sword immortals, that was something known only to the Jia Zi Tent, and none of the other tents were privy to this information.

Additionally, a pair of Nascent Tier sword cultivator Dao partners had made breakthroughs to the Upper Five Tiers one after another in battle.

If it weren’t for these unexpected bright spots, the challenge laid down by the sword cultivators of the Savage World would’ve been nothing more than a joke because the rate at which the Sword Qi Great Wall’s sword cultivators were suffering casualties was far slower than the tents had anticipated.

”There are only two things that truly matter in a battle: personnel and money,” Mu Ji said. ”The enemy sword cultivators are suffering casualties at a slower rate than expected, but that doesn’t mean that they’re suffering no casualties. On top of that, we also have to look at immortal coins, and that’s actually an even more important factor than the sword cultivators. Right now, most of the sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall are beginning to run out of spiritual energy.

“The spiritual energy on the battlefield is extremely murky, so neither side will be able to harness it. The difference is that we have the entire Savage World behind us, and our two seniors are channeling two almighty rivers of spiritual energy onto the battlefield from the Savage World to constantly replenish our cultivators.

“In contrast, how much spiritual energy could there possibly be in a comparatively tiny place like the Sword Qi Great Wall? How much longer will they be able to last before they run out of spiritual energy? Our tents have already carried out meticulous calculations, and as long as there aren’t any mishaps, all of the sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall will eventually run out of spiritual energy. Once that happens, we’ll be able to cut them down in large swathes.”

”But as you said, that’s only barring any mishaps,” Liu Bai said in a grim voice. ”We’re assuming that the Sword Qi Great Wall won’t have any other sources of spiritual energy, but given how many surprises they’ve already given us over the course of this battle, I’m not so confident that they don’t have any more tricks up their sleeves.”

”In that case, let’s factor in the intercontinental ships from the eight continents of the Majestic World,” Mu Ji said. ”The Northern Complete Reed Continent is likely going to be our main concern because I think they’d be willing to fork out just about everything they have to support the Sword Qi Great Wall. Thankfully, the Northern Complete Reed Continent is the only continent that would be so selfless.

“The Parasol Leaf Continent doesn’t have any intercontinental ships, so the nearest continents to the Sword Qi Great Wall are the Southern Whirl Continent and the Circling Ascension Continent. The largest intercontinental ship on the Circling Ascension Continent belongs to the Mountain and Water Cave, which has some bad blood with the Sword Qi Great Wall, so they won’t be easy to do business with.

“In fact, perhaps they’re even helping us out as we speak. As for the Southern Whirl Continent, even if the intercontinental ship administrators have a collective rush of blood to the head and are willing to sacrifice everything to help the Sword Qi Great Wall, they’ll still need to secure approval from their sects and backers. The good news for us is that the Sword Qi Great Wall has never been good at dealing with the Majestic World.”

”What if things are different this time?” Liu Bai asked. ”What if someone on the Sword Qi Great Wall is able to convince the intercontinental ships from the eight continents to give the Sword Qi Great Wall their unreserved support?”

”And how would they do that? By getting their sword immortals to beg the intercontinental ships for their support?” Tun Tan sneered. ”Those who can make money, but choose not to, would never have become administrators of the intercontinental ships, and they certainly wouldn’t have been sent to do business with Stalactite Mountain.

“Is the Sword Qi Great Wall supposed to bribe the intercontinental ship administrators with immortal coins? That’s not going to help them because immortal coins are precisely what they’re in dire shortage of right now!”

”If the opportunity arises, I would really like to meet that person and have a chat with them on top of the city walls,” Mu Ji mused.

”That’s assuming that he can survive until then,” Li Zhen scoffed.

All of a sudden, an idea occurred to Liu Bai, and she was just about to speak, but Mu Ji seemed to have gleaned her thoughts.

”Mishaps can only be corrected through other mishaps,” he said with a shake of his head. ”There are some people on Stalactite Mountain who are only passive observers for the moment, but that’s not going to remain the case forever.”

***

After making the snowwoman, Mi Yu plucked some leaves and flowers from the flowerbed to dress it in some floral garments, the color and style of which precisely matched what she had worn back when they first met.

Upon arriving at the main hall, Mi Yu spotted Chen Ping’an inside, squatting down to examine the eight immortals table.

He strode over the doorstep, then asked with a curious expression, ”Why have you taken an interest in this table, Lord Hidden Official? Could it be that it’s a priceless treasure that you’re planning to move to the summer palace?”

”Let’s take a walk together,” Chen Ping’an said as he rose to his feet.

Mi Yu took a glance at the eight immortals table before leaving the main hall with Chen Ping’an. It appeared that the table wasn’t worth much, after all.

As one of the four most prominent private residences on Stalactite Mountain, the Spring Banner Inn was enormous, and it was filled with many scenic landmarks, both natural and artificial. Together, Chen Ping’an and Mi Yu made their way down a paved stone path, one that was teeming with spiritual energy.

”I’m sure you know what you’re doing, Lord Hidden Official, but I still feel the need to issue you a warning,” Mi Yu said. ”Right now, the intercontinental ship administrators may appear very obedient and cooperative, but if you don’t do anything to keep them in check, then I fear that they won’t be cooperative for long.”

”Are you blaming me for assembling all of those sword immortals, only to end up killing no one?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile.

”I wouldn’t dare,” Mi Yu replied.

”The killing intent displayed by the sword immortals earlier wasn’t just an act,” Chen Ping’an said. ”However, in the end, they didn’t kill anyone. Do you believe that?”

”I don’t,” Mi Yu replied.

”Wu Qiu, Bai Xi, and the others wouldn’t have believed it, either,” Chen Ping’an said. ”While it may seem like they were fully focused on discussing business after I let them off the hook, the reality is that all of them were still fearing for their lives. If you had paid closer attention to them instead of ogling the female administrators, you would’ve realized this yourself.”

A sheepish look appeared on Mi Yu’s face. Old habits were hard to kill.

Chen Ping’an stopped in his tracks, then turned to a nearby waterside pavilion and said, ”One option is to really go all-out and set an example. In that scenario, we’ll kill Wu Qiu from the Middle Earth Divine Continent, Jiang Gaotai, who’s the most formidable cultivator of all of the administrators present, Bai Xi, who has the most bad blood with the Sword Qi Great Wall, and Liu Shen, who possesses the lowest cultivation base and is the most worthless of all of the administrators.

“These are the people that all of the other administrators are convinced will live, and only after killing them all can we drive them into a corner with no path for retreat. Alternatively, I can spare them all and have them speculate endlessly about who’s going to be killed. As soon as I display any sign of killing intent, there will be people who will help me select who to kill.

“They’ll tell me which administrators can be killed at the least cost, where Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan will have to issue the least compensation, and perhaps we won’t even need to send Sword Immortal Sun Juyuan to issue any apologies. Honestly, killing people is not fun. If I could have my way, then it would please me to no end to kill all of the administrators in the Spring Banner Inn right now, but if you actually stop to think about it, which of them actually deserve to die?

“Bai Xi? He’s not the patriarch of the Mountain and Water Cave. Wu Qiu? Why does he deserve to die? Jiang Gaotai? If it wasn’t for my intentional provocation and his desire to help the intercontinental ships and himself gain as much leverage over the Sword Qi Great Wall as possible, would he have ended up in the situation that he’s in right now?”

Mi Yu was silent for a moment, then said in a solemn voice, ”All of them are trying to profit as much as possible from the ongoing war, essentially holding our Sword Qi Great Wall at ransom, and in my opinion, that’s more than enough reason to kill them all. If I were in your place, they would all already be dead right now, but of course, my actions would bring about some terrible consequences for the Sword Qi Great Wall.”

”Sword immortals need only focus on what sword immortals should do,” Chen Ping’an said. ”If I recall correctly, you were already a Golden Core Tier sword cultivator at my age, and you reached the Nascent Tier at sixty-four, then the Unpolished Jade Tier at 196. Out of all of the sword immortals, your aptitude ranks far from the bottom. In fact, I’d say you’re ranked much closer to the top than the bottom.

“Thanks to your exceptional aptitude, you were able to reach the Upper Five Tiers, but in the process, your priorities shifted, and you began to pursue something outside of swordsmanship, something that you truly enjoyed. From the perspective of others, the outcome of this decision was not a good one, but you don’t think there’s any issue with it. The only drawback for you is that you feel guilty toward your brother, Mi Hu.”

”There’s no need to be so tactful about it, Lord Hidden Official,” Mi Yu said with a slightly awkward expression. ”I fully admit that I’m more interested in women and romance than swordsmanship, and I’m also just better at it.”

”Different environments give rise to different types of people,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. ”The Majestic World can’t produce that many swordsmen, but the Sword Qi Great Wall needs an outsider who’s familiar with the rules of the Majestic World to serve as Hidden Official. However, this is also a double-edged sword for me. As Hidden Official, I wield a lot of authority and can do many things for the Sword Qi Great Wall, but performing my duties as Hidden Official also tarnishes my Dao Heart.

“If I become too invested in hatching schemes and plotting against others, then my future cultivation bottlenecks will become more and more difficult to overcome. However, barring any major mishaps, I can promise that I should still be able to surpass you in my pursuit of the Great Dao, particularly when it comes to combat prowess.”

”Cultivation base isn’t the answer to everything, but it can certainly solve a lot of problems,” Mi Yu replied with a nod.

”Cultivation base can solve a lot of problems, but not all problems,” Chen Ping’an countered.

”There’s a reason why you’re the Hidden Official,” Mi Yu praised.

Chen Ping’an offered no response, instead smiling as he changed the subject and said, ”I spoke to Shao Yunyan earlier, and he told me his stance on the matter in a rather roundabout way. He holds the exact opposite opinion to you, advising not to let my emotions get the better of me and kill everyone on a whim.

“He was very tactful and delicate in the way that he spoke to me, but the general gist of what he said was that if I don’t heed his advice, then we’ll most likely have to move our future discussions to the Water Essence Palace or the Ganoderma Inn. You think Shao Yunyan was really content just to sit at the entrance and serve as a door god for our Sword Qi Great Wall? All sword immortals have a certain degree of pride, and he’s no exception.”

A displeased look appeared on Mi Yu’s face upon hearing this.

”There’s no need to resent Shao Yunyan for this,” Chen Ping’an continued. ”As long as his advice is sound, we should heed it. Besides, he’s not opposed to the idea of using some cruel methods to get back at the administrators.

“I asked him his thoughts on the matter, and he was open to the idea. Not only that, but he’s even agreed to help find that business prodigy who excels at fabricating fake accounts, so at the end of the day, we’ll ultimately still reach the outcome that I desire.”

”But it’ll be a lot harder work for you,” Mi Yu lamented.

”We can’t just keep making empty threats,” Chen Ping’an declared. ”It’s about time we actually made them suffer a little. Otherwise, once they realize that I was just bluffing, they’ll start to resort to their little tricks again. I can deal with everything they have to throw at me, but our Sword Qi Great Wall can’t afford any delays.”

By the time Chen Ping’an and Mi Yu returned to the main hall of the Spring Banner Inn, all of the administrators were already seated inside.

Chen Ping’an sat down on the main chair with a smile and said, ”All true friends have arguments once in a while. Now that we’ve argued, we’re all friends now, and I have a little present for you all.”

Not only were the administrators in the hall not enthused or relieved to hear this, but all of them had also become extremely tense and apprehensive. In fact, many of them had already concealed their hands up their sleeves, preparing to flee for their lives at the first sign of danger.

Was the Hidden Official finally going to begin killing now that the sword immortals were no longer here? It sounded counterintuitive, but if the administrators had learned anything about the Hidden Official, it was that he was very unique in the way that he liked to do things, so this was definitely a possibility!

”There’s no need to be so tense and anxious, everyone; it’s just a little gift, one for each of you,” Chen Ping’an reassured with a smile.

Mi Yu rose to his feet, and some of the more fearful administrators present reflexively began to stand up as well. However, as soon as their bottoms left their chairs, they realized they were overreacting, and they sat down again.

Mi Yu clasped one hand behind his back as he swept his other sleeve through the air, releasing a series of strange jade tablets that were enveloped in sword qi. The jade tablets were scattered throughout the room, ultimately coming to a rest to hover in mid-air before the fifty-four administrators.

The jade tablets hovered vertically in the air, slowly revolving so the administrators could clearly see what was inscribed on both sides.

The jade tablets were fashioned in the style of the most ordinary safety tablets from the Majestic World, and on one side was etched the words ”Sword Qi Great Wall,” while the other side read ”Majestic World.” However, the side that bore the inscription of ”Sword Qi Great Wall” also featured the words ”Hidden Official” in smaller text, as well as a number. As Wu Qiu closely inspected his jade tablet, he discovered that his number was 9.

Wu Qiu quickly examined the jade tablets of Tang Feiqian and Jiang Gaotai to discover that they bore the numbers of 12 and 16, respectively, while the number on Bai Xi’s jade tablet was 13.

The administrator of the Rainbow Raiment, Liu Shen, who was seated nearest to the entrance, had the number 96 on her jade tablet.

”Ignore the numbers on the tablets,” Mi Yu said. ”All you need to know is that your tablet is completely unique to yourself. These jade tablets were personally engraved by Lord Hidden Official himself, and each one contains the sword qi of two or three sword immortals. As for which sword immortals have injected their sword qi into which tablets, that is known only to Lord Hidden Official.

“If you think you can find out the answer, then you’re free to go ahead and try, but we can confidently say that no one in the entire Majestic World is able to make convincing forgeries of these tablets. Strictly speaking, they’re not particularly valuable. All of you have been doing business for a very long time, and I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of things far more valuable than these tablets.

“However, their value lies in the fact that they’re all completely one-of-a-kind. If anyone else wants to secure one of these jade tablets in the future, then it’ll come down to whether they’ll have a chance to meet Lord Hidden Official and whether they’ll have what it takes to be welcomed as an esteemed guest of the Spring Banner Inn. What I can tell you for certain is that those two conditions will be very difficult to satisfy.

“Only ninety-nine of these tablets were created in total, and no more will be made beyond that, so the largest number any of them can bear is 99. If any of you see a tablet with the number 100 on it in the future, then just treat it as a joke.”

”I’m a guest as well, so why am I the only one who hasn’t received a jade tablet?” Shao Yunyan suddenly asked with a smile. ”It looks to me like the smaller the number, the higher the status of the recipient, so I’ll just have the jade tablet with the number 99.”

Mi Yu didn’t dare to make the decision on his own, so he turned his gaze to Chen Ping’an.

All of a sudden, Jiang Gaotai stood up and cupped his fist in a salute as he asked in a formal manner, ”Lord Hidden Official, would I be able to exchange my jade tablet for the one with the number 99?”

Chen Ping’an hadn’t said anything to him on this occasion. Instead, he genuinely wanted to have the jade tablet with the highest number.

Call it a gamble or a whim, but Jiang Gaotai had always believed in his own intuition, and his instincts had helped him at many key junctures on his cultivation journey, playing a major role in the vast wealth that he had been able to accumulate thus far.

”Is this really something to be fighting over, Administrator Jiang?” Shao Yunyan asked with a smile. ”Isn’t that a little unbecoming of a sword immortal of your status? Besides, as I observed just now, it seems like the smaller the number, the higher the status of the recipient, so why would you want the jade tablet with the largest number?”

”Please let me have this one, Sword Immortal Shao,” Jiang Gaotai requested with a smile as he turned to Shao Yunyan and cupped his fist in a salute.

”Nope, this is not up for negotiation,” Shao Yunyan refused with a shake of his head.

”These jade tablets are just a little gift for all of you, and you can use them to play a little game,” Chen Ping’an said. ”You can make bets on which sword immortals you think injected their sword qi into your tablet, and it’s up to you whether you try to exchange your tablet for someone else’s, or choose to believe that you have the tablet that’s best for you.

“You can discuss that in private on your own, but at the end of it all, I have to keep records of which tablet you’ve ended up with, so make sure to inform Sword Immortal Mi before you leave the Spring Banner Inn. As for what you choose to do with these tablets, whether it be to keep them for yourselves, give them to others, or even sell them, that’s up to you to decide. For now, it’s time to continue our business discussions from earlier.”

Mi Yu sat back down, as did Shao Yunyan and Jiang Gaotai.