Unsheathed

Right now, there were three people standing atop the mountain that had the engravings made by the Heavenly Lord of Lightning. There was also that woman who was extremely skilled with the sword hiding in some unknown place. They could hear her voice, but they couldn’t see?her person.

Among them, the person with the?lowest?cultivation base, Lake View Academy’s Cui Minghuang, was experiencing the biggest headache. If it were anywhere else, he would definitely be regarded as a powerful and top-notch immortal. He would be treated as a most esteemed guest, and he would hear so many words of flattery that his ears would start to grow calluses. However, it was a pity that Cui Minghuang had become the most unremarkable ant tonight. In fact, he was perhaps even inferior to an ant.

After becoming accustomed to his high and lofty status, Cui Minghuang couldn’t help but feel stifled by this terrible feeling. He could only silently recite the Confucian classics in his mind to suppress these distracting thoughts.

He glanced at the old man who had returned from the sea of stars in the sky. Right now, the old man was disguised as the former assistant minister of Yellow Court Nation. In reality, however, he was an old flood dragon who had lived for a terrifyingly long time.

He was far calmer than Cui Minghuang at this moment, and he stroked his beard with one hand as he gazed at the sword qi cage with great interest. He murmured to himself as he clucked his tongue in wonder.

Cui Minghuang had secretly traveled south by the order of the imperial preceptor, and the aim of his trip was to discuss a secret matter with the old flood dragon who was lying low here. The imperial preceptor of the Great Li Empire wanted to invite this old man who was temporarily disguised as the former assistant minister of Yellow Court Nation to become the first mountain master of the new academy being constructed on Cloud Drape Mountain. Meanwhile, Cui Minghuang would remain in the position of?assistant?mountain master as promised before.

Add to that another reputable scholar from the Great Li Empire, and the three of them would jointly be in charge of the new academy that was going to fill the void left by Mountain Cliff Academy. Considering just how ambitious and bold the emperor of the Great Li Empire was, it was a certainty that the?yet-to-be-named?academy on Cloud Drape Mountain would become far grander and filled?with a more literary?atmosphere than Qi Jingchun’s Mountain Cliff Academy.

Regarding the position of mountain master of Lake View Academy that was initially promised, it was rumored that the emperor of the Great Li Empire would offer him some other compensation in private.

Before receiving the secret letter from Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan, Cui Minghuang had been completely unaware that the small and measly Yellow Court Nation actually housed such a powerful flood dragon. Taking into account the uniquely tough physique of flood dragons and their innate ability to wield water element mystical powers, it could be said that the power of 10th tier flood dragons would definitely be no weaker than that of 11th tier Qi refiners.

Cui Chan’s letter also revealed that after that astounding battle to slay the dragon, blood had flowed for tens of millions of kilometers through the mountains and rivers of?the?ancient Shu Nation?which?was renowned for its large population of flood dragons. The severed limbs and broken bones of flood dragons had littered the land, creating?an?extremely tragic and harrowing scene.

Afterward, this old flood dragon had kept himself extremely well concealed throughout the many years, continually shifting his form and taking on different disguises — he had been a general and an official, a peddler and a normal soldier, a warrior and a gallant?traveler, … He had experienced all kinds of positions and treatments, and he had experienced all kinds of vicissitudes of life.

The old flood dragon was uninterested in leaving?descendants, and as a result, he only had very few children. Casting one’s gaze across the entire Yellow Court Nation, the old flood dragon only had a single daughter and two sons. Among them, his?youngest?son was none other than the great river god who resided in the Great Water Palace under the Cold Food River.

Meanwhile, his daughter was the founder of Purple Sun Residence, the force that Autumn Reed Inn’s Liu Jiahui belonged to. However, she had kept her identity a secret the entire time, and even the first generation of her disciples at Purple Sun Residence were mostly unaware of her true form. Following the gradual death of these elders, the truth regarding her identity had already been lost.

As for the old flood dragon’s eldest son, this was a virtuous and pure-hearted person whose personality was in stark contrast to most flood dragons. He had loved travel and adventure ever since a young age, and right now, there was completely no news about his whereabouts. In fact, it was difficult to say whether he was even still in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

With his luggage still on his back, the impoverished old scholar had only just arrived from the seashore using the land-shortening technique of the Daoist Sect. After arriving here, he hadn’t imagined that he would actually be blocked by someone else. Most importantly, this was genuinely a very troublesome situation. This caused the frown on his face to grow deeper and deeper. The soaring wall of sword qi completely severed the aura of heaven and earth, and this meant that even the old scholar was temporarily unable to sense the events that were going on behind it.

He stroked his chin and mumbled, “Goodness gracious me! The women in the world are all this impressively powerful now?”

The old scholar sighed before raising a hand and making a knocking motion with his finger. “Freeze,” he said softly.

Heaven and earth instantly fell silent, with the roar of the river ceasing and the subtle shattering sound of the mountain wind crashing into the wall of sword qi subsiding.

Inside a radius of five kilometers, the flow of time came to a complete standstill.

The aura of a Confucian Sage suffused into the surroundings, majestic and mighty.

Cui Minghuang’s expression of astonishment and fear instantly transformed into one of wild delight. He started to loudly recite the teachings of the sages in his mind, using this to strengthen his aura of righteousness.

This was a?once-in-a-blue-moon?opportunity for a Confucian noble who yearned to become a sage.

In fact, even the experienced and knowledgeable old flood dragon was stunned at this moment. He instinctively took several steps back, increasing the distance between himself and that old scholar who looked completely unremarkable. Even though this would make no difference, the old flood dragon still chose to do it anyway. This was in order to demonstrate his humble respect.

In the ancient past, before the dragon was slain and while the old flood dragon was still young, he had heard his elders talking about a Confucian Sage whose statue was placed only a spot behind Confucious in the Confucian temples. This sage had once agreed upon an unwritten rule with the Dragon Kings of the four directions, dictating that once flood dragons came onshore, they had to step aside when they came across virtuous people and hide underwater when they came across sages.

Once upon a time, a?powerful?dragon who was only weaker than the four Dragon Kings had challenged a sage traveling by the lakeside. It had felt confident because it was still in the lake, and it had purposely created crashing waves that soared even higher than the fields of the nearby city. It had terrified the residents and beings by the lakeside, and it had used this as a means to provoke the sage. It had stayed in the lake and not broken the rule, so what could the Confucian Sage do about it?

At that time, the old flood dragon who was still young had felt that this was an incredibly satisfying act. However, his elders had been filled with sorrow as they told the rest of the story. The Confucian Sage had extended a finger and said something similar to what the old scholar had chanted just then. Unleashing a powerful technique that could control the lands and freeze the surroundings, the Confucian?Sage?had frozen the True Dragon in the air before commanding the lake to recede dozens of kilometers.

And thus, the True Dragon had wantonly wandered onshore and refused to hide underwater even when coming across a sage. As punishment, the sage had skinned the dragon and plucked its tendons before suppressing it under a boulder in the lake that was as large as an entire mountain. The sage had left the dragon there for 1000 years.

After telling this story, the elders had warned the young flood dragons that the temper of the Confucian Sages, especially those who had statues in the Confucian temples, was actually quite bad. Otherwise, why would the saying “sanctimonious?and holier-than-thou” exist?

When he heard this, the old flood dragon had asked with a puzzled expression that,?weren’t the Confucian Sages flouting the rules by doing this?

However, his elders had been filled with?indignation?as they scolded him for being a fool and reminded him of who had personally created these rules.

Standing above the mountain face, the old flood dragon felt slightly sentimental as he recalled these events of the past. “Flood dragons act on behalf of the heavens, controlling both the clouds and the rain and providing an invaluable service,” he murmured. “We can almost be regarded as independent rulers of regions who listen to orders but still maintain our independence. In the end, however, we’ve fallen to such a miserable state and are even facing extinction. We can’t blame the sages for this. It’s because we’re far too ambitious and greedy. This is nothing more than self-inflicted demise.”

“Huh?” The old scholar turned around to look at the old flood dragon who was dressed as a scholar in his seventies. He smiled faintly and said with a nod, “To acknowledge a wrong and correct it is the greatest good that a person can perform. Mhm, there was once a noble person, a noble person, mind you! Little Qi once… Ah, so be it. To cross paths is fate… However, it’s a shame that I don’t have time to talk with you two right now. Off you go.”

After murmuring to himself, the old scholar lightly swept his finger outward.

The old flood dragon and Cui Minghuang were forcefully removed from the mountaintop.

The person?and the flood?dragon arrived on the surface of the river far away. They both opened their palms and looked down, after which they immediately closed their hands at almost the exact same time, carefully concealing the golden characters that had appeared on them. They were naturally unwilling to reveal these golden characters to others.

Standing atop the mountain that was enveloped by the sword formation, the old scholar looked around before laughing loudly and announcing, “Hiding?oneself?isn’t the behavior of a brave and heroic person!”

However, the old scholar quickly realized that his?proclamation?wasn’t exactly correct. He became speechless, and he was unsure of how to dig himself out of this hole.

A tall woman in white appeared on the side of the mountain cliff that was facing the river. There was a large lotus leaf in her hand, one that was so big that it could be viewed as an umbrella. However, the stem of the leaf was snow-white, and it perfectly complemented the spotless white dress and shoes of the woman.

The old scholar frowned upon seeing the lotus leaf. His mind whirred as he performed some divinations, and he eventually?sighed?with a dejected expression on his face. He gazed up at the sky, and he was unwilling to retract his gaze for a long while. “Where did we go during our final trip?” he murmured. “Back in the day, the lively and energetic young boy kept saying how noble people would act with integrity and follow the path of the Dao, unyielding and choosing to break rather than to bend. In the end… You were the one who was troubled.”

The old scholar looked at the tall woman in white and said, “It’s not a good thing for Chen Ping’an to kill the young Cui Chan.”

The woman smiled faintly and replied, “Is that so? But I can’t do anything about it. If you’re capable enough, then we can discuss this after you make your way out of this sword formation. Trying to reason with me won’t work. In fact, it might be more useful if you try to reason with my Little Ping’an instead.”

She paused for a moment before chuckling coldly and continuing, “However, the prerequisite remains the same and you still have to make your way out of this formation first. You were only able to send those two people out of the formation because I couldn’t be bothered blocking you.”

“I was never skilled at fighting back when I was alive, and this is even more the case now. So, why do you insist on making things difficult for me?” the old scholar asked in exasperation. “In any case, Chen Ping’an and the young Cui Chan can be regarded as… half a disciple and half a disciple’s disciple. Who do you think I’ll help? Even though I’m heading over there with the intention of keeping Cui Chan alive, is my goal not to ultimately help Chen Ping’an?”

“That sounds very reasonable,” the woman in white said with a nod.

However, she then shook her head and continued, “However, I didn’t come out today to speak reason with others.”

The old scholar became increasingly exasperated, and he persuaded, “Can you take into consideration my relationship with your Little Ping’an and make an exception for me? I’m nothing more than a teacher, so I won’t be able to do anything with my knowledge if you refuse to listen to my reasoning. Meanwhile, you’re one?of?the people… swords who are the best at fighting in the four worlds. No, calling you a sword isn’t entirely correct either. Forget about it, there’s no use worrying about?your?identity. In conclusion, doing this is very unfair to me!”

The tall woman held her strange umbrella and replied with an indifferent expression, “Then defeat the formation.”

The old man was incredibly exasperated, and in the end, he could only ask in a careful voice, “Do you know who I am?”

“Sure I do. You’re the Scholarly Sage,” the tall woman in white replied as the corners of her lips curled up into a slight smile.

The old man was stunned. She was aware of his identity, yet she still refused to give him any face? She was taking things a bit too far…

There were currently three sages in this Majestic World — the Paramount Sage, the Etiquette Sage, and the Second Sage.

The Paramount Sage?referred?to the sect master of the Confucian Sect. This old man was the greatest sage and the esteemed master of all Confucian disciples in the world. His statue was placed in the highest and the most central location of the Confucian temples.

To the left and right of his statue was the Etiquette Sage, the second-generation sect master, and the Second Sage, the sage who had carried forward the teachings pioneered by his predecessors and forged ahead into the future.

The former had received the most praise and?commendation?from the Paramount Sage, and he was viewed as a model of good morals and the master of etiquette. It was this Etiquette Sage who had drawn up the most rigorous and complicated rules of the Confucian Sect. Meanwhile, the latter was widely regarded as the closest to the Paramount Sage in terms of knowledge. Moreover, it was his innovation and transformation of the Confucian teachings that had allowed it to become the singular “teaching for emperors and rulers” in?the world.

After these three sages, the fourth most esteemed sage in the Confucian temples was the Scholarly Sage.

Of course, these were all things from the distant past. Right now, this fourth spot had already become vacant for a very long time. This was because the statue of the Scholarly Sage had been demoted time and time again, eventually being directly removed from the Confucian temples. So be it if the mighty fourth sage was simply kicked out from the Confucian temples. Yet, even his statues weren’t spared in the end, and the miserable statues that had already been forced to seek shelter elsewhere were ruthlessly smashed into smithereens by a bunch of Confucian disciples who regarded themselves as protectors of Dao.

The old scholar reached behind himself and patted his luggage, causing it to vanish into thin air.

He then asked in a patient manner, “Why don’t we discuss this in a civil manner? Can we please not fight?”

The tall woman in white thought about this for a moment before nodding and replying, “Sure, then I’ll show you a little more respect?”

“Yes, that would be best,” the old scholar replied with a delighted chuckle.

The sword qi in the sword formation instantly became even more intense and majestic than before. It was as if that peerless sword formation was yearning to sever the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

It was rumored that many sword immortals existed in the ancient past, with exceptional prodigies appearing one after another. These were sword immortals who dared to stand up against the founders of the three teachings and wantonly travel through the different worlds; these were sword immortals who wielded the End Tier Sword Technique, mastered the Paramount Tier Sword Dao, and possessed invincible sword spirits as they journeyed through the lands.

The tall woman in white cracked a grin and said, “Please defeat the formation, Scholarly Sage! Is asking you like this a little more respectful?”