Sword of Coming

Sword of Coming

Pang Yuanji faltered slightly at this response, then gave Chen Ping’an a thumbs-up.

Even on the Sword Qi Great Wall, the only people who dared to speak to him like this were at least Nascent Tier swordsmen.

It wasn’t that Pang Yuanji was looking down on Chen Ping’an. Instead, he simply looked down on the entire Majestic World.

Most of his negative feelings toward the Majestic World consisted of a sense of resentment, interspersed with a hint of enmity.

If it weren’t for people like A’Liang, Zuo You, and the swordsmen of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, who represented the Majestic World in a positive light, Pang Yuanji’s resentment of the prosperous and complacent Majestic World would’ve been nothing short of unadulterated hatred.

There was clearly no need for any further conversation, so Pang Yuanji finished what remained of his bowl of wine, then stood up from his table and slowly made his way out onto the street.

The big-bearded man, missing an eye, continued to drink without even looking up.

Pang Yuanji had no interest in romance, and even though he was considered one of the two young prodigies of the Sword Qi Great Wall most worthy of becoming Ning Yao’s Dao partner, he could hardly care less about who she liked.

The only things that Pang Yuanji cared about were his status as a swordsman of the Sword Qi Great Wall and the Lord Hidden Official’s disciple.

Pang Yuanji stood in the middle of the street with an air of jaded maturity about him that was completely unbefitting a young man only twenty-five years of age, and he said, “Chen Ping’an, I have nothing against you, but I have a lot of gripes against the Majestic World.”

In the cultivation world of the Majestic World, even if Pang Yuanji had only been an Abode Tier or Sea Observation Tier cultivator at his current age, he would’ve already easily been considered the top prodigy of the average immortal power.

Even in the mortal world of the Majestic World, his talents for academics would’ve almost certainly allowed him to perform exceptionally in the imperial examination, thereby granting him a bright future in politics.

However, he was relegated to the Sword Qi Great Wall, which many people had denounced as a godforsaken place that even birds wouldn’t care to shit on. This was only a figurative statement, but it actually held some truth. Due to the immense pervasive sword qi present all over the Sword Qi Great Wall, there were never any birds around.

Back when A’Liang was still around, he had told Pang Yuanji, among a bunch of other children his age at the time, that if they ever had the chance to do so, then they had to go to Stalactite Mountain, then go even further beyond. According to him, every single continent in the Majestic World was teeming with beautiful women, and all of them would quickly be able to find wives for themselves.

Every child on the Sword Qi Great Wall, as long as they weren’t blind, saw more sword immortals throughout their lifetime than the average Upper Five Tiers cultivator of the Majestic World.

Even when they played out on the streets, they would frequently run into sword immortals purchasing wine from the street-side shops, not to mention the fact that sword immortals soaring through the heavens atop their flying swords was a very common sight here.

“I have nothing against you, either, but I don’t like how people talk about you and Ning Yao,” Chen Ping’an answered with a smile.

The chatter in the wine shops and restaurants that lined the street instantly became louder and more animated.

Even the arrogant young swordsmen of the Northern Complete Reed Continent would not dare to behave with such conceited insolence upon first arriving at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Such a brash and bullheaded outsider was one that hadn’t been seen on the Sword Qi Great Wall for at least the past century.

The Northern Complete Reed Continent was the continent of the Majestic World that had the strongest ties with the Sword Qi Great Wall, but every single young swordsman of the Northern Complete Reed Continent was sure to receive a stern warning from their seniors prior to their arrival on Stalactite Mountain.

These warnings came in different forms depending on the personalities of these seniors, but they all essentially espoused the same message: “Make sure to rein in your temper on the Sword Qi Great Wall. Avoid conflict as much as possible and do not be rude to anyone. There are extremely few rules on the Sword Qi Great Wall, which seems like a good thing, but it also means that you won’t be granted any protection if you get yourself in trouble.”

The Sword Qi Great Wall was perhaps the only place under the heavens treated with such a high degree of caution and reverence by the normally reckless swordsmen of the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

Dong Bude was standing on the second floor of a nearby restaurant, surrounded by a bunch of other young women her age, as well as some younger girls who were still rather tender and childlike in appearance. Almost all of them were staring at Pang Yuanji with looks in their eyes ranging from admiration to infatuation. In their eyes, as long as Ning Yao didn’t want him, all of them still had chances.

At this moment, Dong Bude was feeling a little concerned, worried that her foolish brother would somehow get himself swept up into this conflict.

Qi Shou had a small faction of his own, and the young swordsmen in his circle were not inferior to those in Ning Yao’s faction in the slightest. In fact, his faction was likely the stronger one on an overall basis, and that wasn’t even to mention the fact that he had the backing of the formidable Qi Clan.

Given that Ren Yi had just been thoroughly humiliated by Chen Ping’an, Dong Bude’s worry was that this could easily escalate into a full-blown conflict between the two factions, at which point Dong Huafu would have no choice but to get involved.

Having said that, her concern was also interspersed with a hint of excitement and anticipation. She loved a good fight just as much as everyone else on the Sword Qi Great Wall, and if a conflict did break out, she would be the first one to charge into the fray.

A young girl with a chubby, childish face was standing on the tips of her toes, peering over the windowsill as she nodded in approval and remarked, “That guy’s pretty handsome! You can all like Pang Yuanji all you want, but from now on, I’ve decided to like Chen Ping’an! Big Sister Dong, make sure to tell me right away if Big Sister Ning decides to dump him someday.

“That way, I’ll be able to swoop in and take him. I can’t wait to get married! The wedding gowns that they sell in the shops are so beautiful, and they’re so smooth and slippery to touch!”

Dong Bude kicked the little girl in the backside as she scoffed in amusement, “Normally, girls become infatuated with men, but you’re just infatuated with the idea of getting to wear a wedding gown!”

The young girl rubbed her own sore backside in indignation, then pushed away the other girls around her who were having a good laugh at her expense as she yelled, “You’re one to talk, Big Sister Dong! My mother says you’re an old maid who’s past the age for marriage and will never get to put on a wedding gown!”

“I’m an old maid, is that right?” Dong Bude asked through gritted teeth as she grabbed onto the little girl’s head and slammed it repeatedly down onto the windowsill.

After she finally relented, the young girl rubbed her own forehead as she hurriedly turned to Dong Bude with a fawning smile and amended, “I misspoke just now, Big Sister Dong. What I meant to say is that you’re a fair young maiden! You’ll be eighteen forever!”

More like eighty forever! the girl scoffed to herself internally.

Dong Bude grabbed onto her head and began slamming it down repeatedly again as she scoffed, “More like eighty forever, right? You’re as easy to read as an open book!”

All of a sudden, Dong Bude released the little girl’s head as she exclaimed, “I knew it! There’s no way Qi Shou would’ve gone to so much effort, only to give Pang Yuanji the chance to take all the glory!”

The little girl’s eyes instantly lit up once she heard that Qi Shou was also getting involved, and she shoved aside another young girl who was blocking her view as she put on a mature facade and mused, “If I were Qi Shou, I would already be fighting Chen Ping’an by now.”

A third person had appeared on the street, and it was none other than Qi Shou.

He was a tall and imposing young man with a handsome and clean-shaven appearance, and he smiled as he said, “Let me have a go, Yuanji. He’s already humiliated two of my subordinates, so I have to stand up for them. Otherwise, everyone will think I’m scared of him.”

Pang Yuanji turned to him with a conflicted expression.

Qi Shou directed his gaze past Pang Yuanji toward Chen Ping’an. From what he had heard, Chen Ping’an was quite young and had come from the tiny Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. He had visited the Sword Qi Great Wall once around ten years ago, but during that visit, he had stayed atop the city walls the entire time to practice his fist techniques.

The feat that he was most renowned for was his three consecutive losses to Cao Ci, and the other thing that had gained him some renown was a story that had initially spread from the Dong Clan, claiming that Ning Yao had once declared that she could beat up a hundred Chen Ping’ans with just a single hand. Needless to say, neither of these stories painted him in a particularly flattering light.

Truth be told, it wasn’t really much of an embarrassment to lose to Cao Ci or to be teased by Ning Yao, but the fact that Ning Yao was willing to make such a joke at Chen Ping’an’s expense had Qi Shou feeling very disgruntled.

“Only one of us will be able to challenge him, so why don’t we also take this opportunity to settle the score between us? The two of us can fight first, and the winner will get to challenge Chen Ping’an,” Pang Yuanji suggested with a smile.

A hesitant look appeared on Qi Shou’s face.

Everyone immediately began cheering at this proposal, encouraging the two swordsmen to engage in a battle first. Some people were already preparing to take bets on the outcome of their clash, as well as how many exchanges it would take for a decisive outcome to be reached. These were all tricks of the trade that they had picked up from A’Liang.

Prior to A’Liang’s influence, bets were only made on the outcomes of battles, but he had opened everyone’s eyes to a whole new world of gambling, and ever since then, gambling stations had begun taking bets on over a dozen different things.

Earlier, the only bets made on Chen Ping’an pertained to whether he would even leave the Ning Manor at all. There were no other bets made on him because the popular opinion was that he most likely wouldn’t leave the Ning Manor, so it would be pointless to consider anything else.

However, not only had he left the Ning Manor, but he had also won two battles in the blink of an eye, before the betting stations even had a chance to take bets on the outcomes of the two battles. Only then did everyone come to realize that gambling simply felt a bit dull and uninspired without A’Liang running the betting stations.

Back then, all those who sat down at the betting table were guaranteed an exhilarating experience, regardless of whether they won or lost. The only problem was that A’Liang had been very unscrupulous in the way that he ran his betting stations. On one occasion, he had worked with an accomplice to set a trap for everyone. This accomplice of his was constantly betting on the smaller odds and winning every single time.

Swayed by his winnings, most of the other gamblers decided to copy him, determined to make A’Liang lose so much that he would have to sell even the clothes on his back. However, that was when the trap was sprung, and not only did A’Liang recover all of the money that he had lost up to that point in one fell swoop, but he had even earned himself close to a year’s worth of wine money.

His accomplice had put on a very convincing act. For that final bet, he had gambled everything that he had, and after losing, he fell unconscious on the spot, having apparently just gone completely bankrupt with that single loss. However, it was later discovered that he had received a large cut of the profits from A’Liang, consisting of a sum of dozens of grain rain coins, but by the time the ruse was uncovered, he had already gone into hiding.

After that, A’Liang had snuck him to the gates in the dead of night, and the two old friends had parted ways with both their coffers bulging with grain rain coins. If it weren’t for the fact that the old woman from the Daoist Saber Room had revealed the truth to everyone in a fit of disgruntled exasperation, all of the scammed gamblers would’ve most likely still been completely in the dark even to this day.

Even though A’Liang had done many things to infuriate the men of the Sword Qi Great Wall, they still missed him dearly for the joy and excitement that he had brought to everyone.

As Pang Yuanji and Qi Shou made their way onto the street, Chen Ping’an had examined both of them closely, making mental notes of details like their stride lengths, the weight of their footsteps, their postures, the subtle shifts in their auras, and the cadence of their breathing.

It seemed like a lot, but it was only a matter of taking a few glances.

From his brief observation, Chen Ping’an found it more difficult to make an assessment of Pang Yuanji. Of course, that was perhaps simply because Qi Shou didn’t care to disguise himself, or his disguise was even better than Pang Yuanji’s.

Chen Ping’an had made these observations purely out of habit, just to give himself something to do.

He stood in a composed silence, waiting patiently for Pang Yuanji and Qi Shou to reach an outcome in their negotiation.

It didn’t matter to him who he had to fight first.

He already had around a dozen plans prepared for any sequence that transpired, and thus, he closed his eyes to rest as he waited for an outcome.

With one hand clasped behind his back and the other clenched into a loose fist against his abdomen, there was an air of composed elegance about him.

Some people had begun hurling insults at him for his conceited display, daring to close his eyes in the face of such formidable rivals, but there were clearly also more people cheering for him.

Ning Yao’s gaze remained fixed solely on him this entire time.

Die Zhang gently tugged on Ning Yao’s sleeve. As usual, she was wearing her dark green robe.

She had been wearing the same robe ever since she returned from the Majestic World. Even though wearing a Dao robe had its benefits, it was a little absurd that a young woman like her had been wearing the same outfit every day for so many years.

Feeling the tug on her sleeve, Ning Yao turned to Die Zhang with an inquisitive look, and the latter pointed at Chen Ping’an with her chin before giving him a thumbs-up.

Ning Yao’s expression remained unchanged, and it seemed that she wasn’t surprised or impressed at all by Chen Ping’an’s relaxed display.

Die Zhang and the others were impressed because they didn’t know Chen Ping’an as well as she did, but for her, this was exactly how she expected him to behave.

Chen Sanqiu gently patted Yan Zhuo on his chubby cheek as he jibed, “To think you were showing off your shitty fist techniques to him earlier. I bet you feel like a fool now!”

Yan Zhuo slapped Chen Sanqiu’s hand away as he gloated in a triumphant manner, “What did I tell you? I knew he was a master martial artist! My eye for talent is truly unmatched!”

“Ren Yi and Pu Yu were clearly sent out by Qi Shou to challenge Chen Ping’an, and there’s a reason why he chose those two,” Dong Huafu analyzed. “Among the Dragon Gate Tier swordsmen, Ren Yi is quite young, but has a very fast flying sword. If Chen Ping’an lost that battle, then that would be that, and he would be completely humiliated. However, after being Ren Yi, Pu Yu immediately stepped up to challenge him.”