Unsheathed

There was no response from the Jia Zi Tent, causing Chen Qingdu to feel slightly disappointed. Almost the entire Savage World belonged to the old man in gray, while only the Sword Qi Great Wall fell under his control. Even so, the old man in gray still didn’t dare to ascend the city wall for a battle?

Sure enough, men who weren’t sword cultivators would all be quite incapable.

Chen Qingdu remained silent for a moment before suddenly asking, ”Is it that difficult to overcome the barrier at the peak stage of the Unpolished Jade Tier?”

”It’s very difficult for me,” Wei Jin replied honestly. ”I was already lucky to meet A’Liang and advance to the Unpolished Jade Tier back then, and I’ve always felt guilty about attributing this luck to my own abilities.”

Wei Jin initially thought that the old great sword immortal would take this opportunity to take another jab at him, but Chen Qingdu unexpectedly nodded and said, ”It’s indeed difficult to advance to the Immortal Tier. In fact, every tier is difficult for sword cultivators.”

”Can you give me some guidance, Old Great Sword Immortal?” Wei Jin asked.

Chen Qingdu turned to the number one swordsman of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, a young man who had candidly admitted to being troubled by romantic feelings.

Wei Jin had managed to become an Upper Five Tier sword immortal at forty years old, doing so in the Majestic World where fortune pertaining to the Sword Dao was relatively sparse. This would be an extraordinary achievement even at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

How had Wei Jin managed to achieve this? Apart from his aptitude being good, this was also largely thanks to the brilliant advice from the bastardly A’Liang. Casually flipping through the old lunar almanac of the Sword Qi Great Wall would be of significant help to sword cultivators in the Majestic World.

Of course, the prerequisite was that they had the ability to flip through this old lunar almanac. A’Liang naturally had no issues with this, while those who were able to flip through most of the old lunar almanac would be regarded as ”refined thieves,” scholars who were so-called stealing the book.

A’Liang had helped Wei Jin advance earlier than expected, using the risky method of utilizing his future potential and forcefully obtaining the necessary conditions. This had allowed Wei Jin to become the number one swordsman of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, but strictly speaking, his actions had been fairly crude and disgraceful.

Chen Qingdu had lived for more than ten thousand years, so he was naturally able to see through Wei Jin’s cultivation foundation in a single glance. A powerful cultivator enjoying abundant fortune was indeed a fairly reasonable assessment. After advancing to the Upper Five Tiers, Wei Jin could choose to stay at the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and occupy the pinnacle of the continent, allowing him to control the climate and wantonly absorb the sword fortune of the continent.

Wei Jin only needed to go with the flow, especially given that his talent was already sufficient. Afterward, he could slowly refine his cultivation for one hundred years, and if everything went smoothly, it was inevitable that he would eventually advance to the Immortal Tier.

Wei Jin was brilliant in the sense that he understood when to stop. When engaging in a sword duel with the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, he had immediately abandoned the opportunity of the Great Dao right in front of him after slightly stabilizing his Unpolished Jade Tier cultivation base.

Instead, Wei Jin had run over to the Sword Qi Great Wall, and it was extremely likely that he would have fallen in battle in this foreign land if it weren’t for the sudden appointment of the new Hidden Official. If that were the case, then he would have at most only left behind a distant fated opportunity for the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and left behind some hazy stories of his achievements.

Chen Qingdu had always been fond of these types of youths.

They dared to fight for fated opportunities, and they were also willing to die!

On the other hand, a certain little bastard was truly very unwilling to die. Rather, he preferred to suffer pain even worse than death. This was acceptable in Chen Qingdu’s eyes — this was much like himself, after all.

Chen Qingdu was in no hurry to provide an answer after hearing Wei Jin’s request, and he instead asked with a smile, ”Why did you wait until today to ask this question? You’re very smart, Wei Jin, and you should be well aware that I’ve given you tacit approval by allowing you to reside in the small thatched cottage behind me. First it was Cao Ci, then it was Chen Ping’an, and now it’s you. Not everyone has the opportunity to become neighbors with me.”

Wei Jin gazed south and replied in a quiet voice, ”As the only sword immortal from the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, I hoped to come to the Sword Qi Great Wall without any selfish desires, and I wish to eventually leave here in a gallant manner. This is the first reason. Additionally, I hope to launch sword strikes in exchange for receiving guidance from Old Great Sword Immortal.

”Senior A’Liang pointed me in the right direction back then, and I don’t want him to think that he helped a useless piece of trash when he sees me again, with the piece of untalented trash becoming a pathetic sword immortal who’s resting on his laurels and peacefully waiting for death.”

There were some things that Wei Jin didn’t say.

When drinking with him one time, Senior A’Liang had teased him by saying that lovesick individuals would often find it very difficult to become partners with the person whom they loved. Even if the matchmaking deity were randomly matching people together, he still wouldn’t be able to force people into marriage.

Taking a step back, one should first improve themself and live a better life. This way, perhaps the person whom they loved would feel a slight sense of disappointment in the future when they thought about this lost opportunity. In fact, they might even make a comment about so-and-so being their admirer when they argued with their partner in the future.

Chen Qingdu liked Wei Jin’s frank honesty, so he smiled and said, ”I’ll occasionally teach you a sword technique every time you earn enough military merit. These techniques will be of a decent grade, and they formed the foundation of one of my old friend’s Great Dao.”

Wei Jin cupped his fists in gratitude, not saying anything else.

In Wei Jin’s view, the feelings and words of a sword cultivator could all be expressed through their sword.

Chen Qingdu shook his head and remarked, ”You’re not very bright, huh?”

The old man then rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue in wonder, continuing, ”A’Liang was like a fly droning next to my ear for one hundred years, and the second shopkeeper quickly took over this role after A’Liang left. By the looks of it, it’s truly difficult to go from abundance to paucity.”

”I can’t emulate them,” Wei Jin replied in helplessness.

”There’s no need. And you’re correct that you can’t emulate them,” Chen Qingdu said with a chuckle.

”Will Senior A’Liang return to the Sword Qi Great Wall?” Wei Jin asked.

”Did you ever consider why A’Liang taught you how to cultivate in seclusion and how to advance?” Chen Qingdu asked in response.

”I mulled over this before, but I was unable to reach a satisfactory answer,” Wei Jin replied.

”The meeting between you and A’Liang wasn’t a chance encounter, but rather, A’Liang purposely sought you out to teach you sword techniques. There wasn’t an ulterior motive behind this, and he didn’t feel like you would definitely come to the Sword Qi Great Wall. He certainly wasn’t acting in a casual and charitable manner because he felt like your cultivation base was middling, hoping that you, someone who would eventually obtain the fortune pertaining to the Sword Dao of an entire continent, would feel immense gratitude toward him in the future.

”A’Liang sincerely hopes that you, Wei Jin, can stand shoulder to shoulder with him one day. He feels this way toward you, and he also feels the same way toward the like-minded cultivators who are walking the same path behind him.”

Chen Qingdu paused for a moment before continuing, ”This answer represents the fundamental tenet of the sword technique I taught you. Sword cultivators need to join forces with the weak, and they need to challenge those who are strong. Those who view others as ants are nothing more than ants themselves. Thinking back to the ancient past, which being on the land wasn’t a measly ant?”

Wei Jin seemingly came to some sort of realization.

The old great sword immortal clasped his hands behind his back and glanced up at the sky. He then shifted his gaze toward the vast lands to the south.

Swordsmen — what did this title mean? Sword techniques from the heavens, utilized by mankind in the world.

Thus, it was quite interesting when a sword cultivator, who was clearly a sword immortal, was willing to sincerely refer to himself as a swordsman.

In Chen Qingdu’s eyes, Wei Jin was a bit lacking in this regard. Even if this young sword immortal had been traveling around the martial world the entire time, in reality, Wei Jin never felt like he truly belonged to the martial world. He viewed himself as a visitor, a passerby, someone who would eventually enter the mountains to become an immortal. He would enter the mountains with his sword and comprehensively sever his relationships with all mortal matters. He was most afraid of those distracting karmic ties.

However, Chen Qingdu was reminded of a picture scroll from his youth as he gazed into the distance.

When sword cultivators strove to climb higher and challenge the heavens with their blades, the higher one’s cultivation base and the more ties one had with the mortal world, the more one would be slowed down as one climbed higher and higher. It was as if they were held back by a complicated web of mortal relationships, seemingly forced to drag the entire world with them as they advanced.

This was the earliest state of sword cultivators; this embodied the purity of the sword heart.

This was a process of exhibiting great resolve and grand ambition, willingly shouldering a huge burden and enduring immense difficulties to elevate the entire world to a higher level.

Looking at the current sword cultivators and Qi refiners, however, which of them didn’t want to sever their desires and break free from the mortal world? Which of them didn’t want to become an ethereal immortal atop the mountains?

Things would still be okay even if the large majority of cultivators in the world had this mindset. However, things would become extremely troublesome if every single cultivator adopted this mindset.

Chen Qingdu clasped his hands behind his back and lightly tapped his hands, musing to himself, ”It’s okay to have more of the former, and it’s okay to have less of the latter, but it’s important to have both types of people. Both are indispensable.”

————

On the battlefield to the south...

The sacrificial Unpolished Jade Tier demon sword immortal suffered some minor injuries after exchanging a sword strike with Ning Yao, but it refused to be drawn into battle, immediately using a strange secret technique to rapidly move far away. Extremely faint ripples appeared on some bodies of blood on the battlefield, and this was clearly caused by the soul of the sacrificial demon sword immortal. It wasn’t fleeing in a straight line, and was seemingly using some type of formation.

Ning Yao’s second sword strike surprisingly failed to hit its target. Not only that, but a slight ripple traveled across a pool of blood approximately two hundred meters behind her. This was an extremely close distance for sword cultivators, and the sacrificial demon sword immortal was surprisingly risking its life to launch this attack.

Ning Yao was even more vicious, and she decided to suffer some wounds for the sake of killing this demon. She had enough time to dodge, but she still faltered on purpose to create this opportunity for the sacrificial demon sword immortal.

However, the sacrificial demon quickly abandoned this opportunity, giving up any thoughts of assassinating Ning Yao and choosing to leave this section of the battlefield.

According to the booklet from the Jia Zi Tent, the golden Dao robe worn by Ning Yao was undoubtedly a celestial tool, the biggest nemesis to top-notch assassins who aimed to kill with a single strike.

Ning Yao couldn’t track the sacrificial demon’s movements, and she was also unable to find its presence in the surroundings, so she decided to let this matter go.

However, she had already remembered the route of the sacrificial demon sword immortal’s retreat and silently performed some simulations in her mind.

Ning Yao’s sword strikes would be more precise if they had the opportunity to do battle again.

What truly angered Ning Yao was the fact that the Nascent Tier demon sword cultivator targeting Chen Ping’an had also retreated in a resolute manner after failing to achieve its goal in a single strike, with the colossal army of the demon tribe acting as a natural barrier.

Ning Yao’s third sword strike was just barely dodged by the Nascent Tier demon sword cultivator, and the latter immediately formed a sword seal with its hands and transformed into hundreds upon thousands of rays of sword light, rapidly shooting away in all directions. Ning Yao raised a hand, manipulating the myriad of abandoned and broken weapons on the ground and causing them to shoot after the sword light like flying swords.

It was as if a torrential downpour of broken flying swords was descending upon the battlefield.

At the same time, Ning Yao dashed dozens of meters sideways, avoiding the distant Chen Ping’an as she slashed down.

The flying sword of the Nascent Tier demon sword cultivator had indeed failed to kill Chen Ping’an just then, but the latter had still been forced into a huge formation of demons. Moreover, Chen Ping’an had been unable to dodge the Nascent Tier demon sword cultivator’s ferocious attack, and he had simply avoided suffering any life-threatening injuries. The demon sword cultivator’s flying sword had pierced through his shoulder, destroying more than half of it.

Flying swords didn’t only rely on their sharpness to cause injuries, and they relied even more on their sword qi. These wisps of complicated sword qi would treat the bodies of their wounded victims as battlegrounds, appearing like countless dragons crashing through the levees and assaulting the acupoints.

It was most difficult to achieve full recovery from wounds caused by flying swords, and this was a widely acknowledged fact. Indeed, it was with good reason that sword cultivators were regarded as the first-ranked of the four most difficult types of cultivators to deal with.

Fan Dache could no longer see Chen Ping’an’s figure on the battlefield.

The colossal demon army surged over from all directions, blotting out heaven and earth and clearly intending to surround and kill that young man.

When a demon cultivator had recognized the young Hidden Official and exposed his identity, the large demon army had immediately retreated out of survival instinct.

One reason for this was the young Hidden Official defeating Li Zhen, the closing disciple of Holding Moon Mountain, in battle. Not only that, but he had completely crushed the soul of the top-notch prodigy from the Savage World.

News of this had already spread throughout the demon army, and it was destined to spread further south, becoming a hot topic for discussion in the mountains and marshes, majestic cities, and streets and alleys of the Savage World. Year after year, this topic would wither and grow like grass on the vast plains, perhaps even being raised and spiritedly discussed by someone one hundred years into the future.

Another reason was that the Sword Qi Great Wall’s Hidden Official had been equivalent to Xiao Xun, the ”young girl” with twin braids, for far too many years.

However, the large demon army eventually came to its senses, remembering that the young Hidden Official was different from the former Hidden Official. Moreover, Chen Ping’an had ventured far too deep into their ranks by himself, with Ning Yao seemingly showing no signs of wanting to provide reinforcement for this new Hidden Official.

Some demon cultivators were also determined to fight to the death and exact revenge after having their good friends killed by this young martial artist. They were willing to give up their lives for the sake of wounding him further. Others felt like he was only a single person, while they were an army of countless. As such, it was definitely safe for them to seize this opportunity to secretly launch an immortal technique or unleash a bonded item.

Of course, there were also the Golden Core Tier demon cultivators and sacrificial demon sword cultivators, each harboring different feelings and emotions as they attacked with precision and viciousness. They didn’t seek to kill in a single strike, and they simply sought to slowly wound and wear the Hidden Official down.

The atmosphere on the battlefield was hugely infectious, with individuals on the battlefield often moving with the masses. This was true for collapse and retreat, sudden changes in morale, and boldly charging forward without fear of death.

The final straw was the young Hidden Official being wounded by the flying sword of the Nascent Tier demon sword cultivator.

Killing intent rushed over from all directions.

”He shouldn’t be breaking open the formation like this. It’s far too risky and dangerous. Unexpected surprises are hiding around every corner of the battlefield, so it’s ultimately not an ideal location for martial artists to unleash their fists,” Fan Dache murmured in the distance.

If it weren’t for Ning Yao holding the rear, there was no doubt that the second shopkeeper would face certain death by recklessly advancing like this.

”It’s specifically because of my presence that he’s choosing to throw punches like this. This is the sequential order in which this matter should be viewed,” Ning Yao explained.

She was naturally aware of why Fan Dache was feeling so tense and uneasy — at the end of the day, he was simply worried about Chen Ping’an’s safety.

Ning Yao didn’t explain the details, especially since Fan Dache wasn’t a pure martial artist. On the surface, it looked like the path of sword cultivators and the gradual advance of pure martial artists were very similar, but in reality, the difference between the two was huge.

This was the true embodiment of a martial artist challenging others with their fists. Fighting with others was only a minor Dao of martial arts, while relying on one’s fists to challenge heaven and earth was a true reflection of the Great Dao.

At the center of the dense encirclement in the distance, a small mountain was seemingly crawling slowly along the battlefield.

While retracting his sword, Fan Dache couldn’t help but ask, ”Is it truly okay for things to continue like this?”

”It won’t be okay for our enemies,” Ning Yao replied.

Fan Dache was rendered speechless.

He could only continue to launch sword strikes on the fringes of the battlefield, trying his best to alleviate some pressure for Chen Ping’an.

This was very insignificant, but he had to do something no matter what.

Even if one wasn’t strong enough to provide decisive help, one should at least do as much as possible to feel at ease. This was a good habit.