Unsheathed

There were seven or eight figures hovering in the air or standing on the walls on the edge of the imperial palace. All of them were raring to go, and all it would’ve required was a single instruction from the emperor for them to swoop in on Li Er at once.

These old immortals and grandmaster martial artists were all very familiar with one another and could work together very effectively. On a one-on-one basis, they knew that none of them would’ve been a match for Li Er, but they were certainly not so honorable that they wouldn’t exercise their numbers advantage.

Outside the walls around the plaza outside the Hall of Martial Valor, the chief eunuch rose to his feet. At this point, his red python robes were already in tatters, and his lips moved slightly as if to communicate something.

The emperor nodded in response as he cautioned, “Be careful.”

At the same time, there were things brewing in the entire imperial palace and the capital city of Great Sui Nation. Over at the Ministry of Astronomy, 12 shimmering golden-armored warriors had emerged from the earth in all directions. They were standing at 30 to 40 feet tall with runes inscribed all over their bodies, and each of them was holding a different divine weapon.

Over at a monastery, a bell toll rang out, accompanied by the sound of Buddhist chanting. At the same time, purple mist was rising up from a Daoist temple to form a massive talisman, while a white flood dragon was emerging from beneath a stone arch bridge, climbing up along its side before rearing its head above the bridge’s railing…

Inside the imperial palace, the Dragon Wall formation was protecting the imperial family, while outside the imperial palace, there was another vast, all-encompassing formation that had been nurtured by Great Sui Nation over the course of several centuries. The formation’s purpose was to protect the entire capital city so that it would be able to deal with formidable external threats.

If this formation were to be activated, then all of the cultivators and martial artists within the capital city would be suppressed by the Dragon Qi of the imperial clan, forcibly lowering their cultivation base by a tier or two.

If a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers were to try and wreak havoc throughout the capital city, even if that cultivator were ultimately hunted down and killed, the damage that they would’ve been able to inflict upon the city prior to their demise would’ve still been immeasurable.

However, if that same cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers were to be suppressed to only the 10th tier, then they would be far easier for Great Sui Nation to deal with. Even if everyone else also had their cultivation bases suppressed, the situation would’ve still been advantageous to Great Sui Nation as they would’ve had the numbers advantage.

Even if a 10th tier cultivator were to go all-out, trying to wreak as much havoc as possible without any regard for their own life, the damage that they would’ve been able to cause would’ve still been limited to an acceptable degree.

Essentially, this formation acted like an obstacle on one’s bridge of immortality, obstructing the circulation of Qi within the bodies of cultivators and martial artists, thereby restricting their power.

Back when Jewel Small World was suspended in the sky above the Great Li Empire, the formation that the four Sages had jointly created had been able to suppress the use of all mystical abilities in the small world, and anyone who dared to forcibly unleash any mystical abilities within the boundaries of the small world would’ve suffered extremely severe backlash.

Back then, the River Severing True Lord, Liu Zhimao, had only conducted some minor divination, but even so, he had several decades lopped off his lifespan, clearly indicating just how formidable the formation was.

After rising to his feet, the chief eunuch slammed his own fists together with ferocious power, and a fierce look appeared on his face as he yelled, “Come to me!”

The nine illusory golden flood dragons lurking within the Dragon Wall formation instantly converged toward the chief eunuch from all directions, transforming into tiny golden snakes, each of which was around the same length as a human finger. These tiny snakes passed through the seven orifices of the chief eunuch before fusing as one with his soul.

All of a sudden, it was as if the chief eunuch had transformed into a golden deity from an ancient divine court, and he strode toward the hole in the wall. With each step that he took, golden ripples would spread over the ground. Instead of lowering his head so that he could pass through the hole in the wall, he smashed the entire wall to bits with a single swat of his hand before returning to the plaza outside the Hall of Martial Valor.

Officials of the imperial court who assisted the emperor were known as dragon aides, while eunuchs who served the emperor were a tier below that, referred to as dragon servants. Both were able to sense the Dragon Qi of the emperor, but it was still extremely remarkable that the chief eunuch was able to control the Dragon Qi of the imperial clan and wield it for himself.

All of the cultivators and martial artists gathered on the edge of the imperial palace exchanged shocked glances with one another upon seeing this.

Clearly, there was some type of extremely important and confidential secret behind this.

“How about we go again?” the chief eunuch challenged as he looked directly at Li Er.

If he had been a weak ninth rank Go official prior to this, then with the injection of Dragon Qi, he had enjoyed a significant increase in his figurative go skills, making him one of the strongest ninth rank Go officials in Great Sui Nation.

Li Er was rather taken aback as he looked at the chief eunuch. It was as if his body had been filled by a large volume of golden liquid, much like the god-summoning techniques of the two Militarian ancestral sects, but was also somehow slightly different.

Li Er couldn’t be bothered to give this matter any deep thought, and he nodded as he said, “That’s much better.”

During his battle against Song Changjing in Jewel Small World, there had been two whetstones for him, one of which was Song Changjing, who had been at the pinnacle of the ninth tier at the time, while the second one was Jewel Small World itself. Even so, Li Er was still unable to make a breakthrough. Instead, he served as a catalyst for Song Changjing to make a breakthrough to the 10th tier.

He would’ve been lying if he said that he wasn’t disappointed at all by this, and that was why he had agreed to Old Man Yang’s suggestion for him to leave Eastern Treasured Vial Continent to find his Dao attainment catalyst.

At the time, Old Man Yang had told him that his breakthrough wouldn’t come in a situation of life and death.

Li Er’s gaze roamed over his surroundings, and he was suddenly struck by a faint glimmer of enlightenment.

Why had Old Man Yang intentionally suppressed Li Huai’s aptitude? And why was it that during that visit from Qi Jingchun, he had seemingly casually mentioned the phrase “the strong and courageous dare to draw their blade to challenge those more powerful than themselves” as they were drinking wine?

Looking back, Li Er now realized that in uttering this phrase, Qi Jingchun was acknowledging his Martial Dao. Even back then, Qi Jingchun had already told him everything that he needed to know, yet despite the fact that Li Er had been walking this path this entire time, he had never recognized it himself.

Indeed, his Dao attainment catalyst was to challenge those more powerful than himself!

During that battle against Song Changjing, Li Er held an advantage to begin with, so he wasn’t actually filled with much battle intent at all. Instead, he was only carrying out the instructions of his master. Furthermore, he also wanted to know just how he matched up against a martial artist at the pinnacle of the ninth tier.

The concluding stages of the battle had been satisfying, but deep down, Li Er had never felt like he was fighting in order to make some type of point.

However, at this moment, he was essentially facing the entire Great Sui Nation. The reason that he had come here was to stand up for his son, but now that he had ventured deep into enemy territory and was surrounded by formidable foes, he suddenly burst into carefree laughter.

Back on the summit of Eastern Splendor Mountain, he had wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the words to articulate what he wanted to say, so in the end, he could only depart without saying anything.

Having been a pushover in Jewel Small World his entire life, Li Er had suddenly come to a revelation. His son was such a thoughtful and obedient child, yet he was still being picked on. As Li Huai’s father, his current power as a ninth tier martial artist wasn’t guaranteed to be enough to beat his opponents into submission, so what he had to do was make a breakthrough and leave the ninth tier behind!

Li Er took a deep breath as he sensed the immense pressure weighing down upon him from all directions, and he thought to himself, Don’t rush things. Everything has to be done one step at a time. This whetstone still isn’t sufficiently heavy yet.

All Li Er had was a pair of fists, but he didn’t hesitate in the slightest as he rushed toward the chief eunuch, who had attained a godly body thanks to the Dragon Qi of Great Sui Nation, and the latter was also charging at Li Er.

At the pinnacle of the Martial Dao, there were no fancy techniques to speak of. Everything boiled down to speed, power, and accuracy. The objective was to strike the opponent’s most vulnerable spots at the fastest speed with the most tremendous power.

They were going to wear each other down like water dripping through stone, and it was a contest to see who would outlast the other. The one left standing would get to live, while the one who fell would die. It was that simple.

Both of the combatants were formidable martial artists at the pinnacle of the ninth tier, and with each blow that they landed on each other, all of the cultivators and martial artists on the edge of the imperial palace would feel their Qi and energy shuddering and being thrown into disarray.

The battle between Li Er and the chief eunuch was no less intense than a clash between immortals, and unlike battles between martial artists of a lower cultivation base, it was considered taboo to watch the battle from up close. This was an unspoken rule among immortal powers.

Watching a battle of this caliber while standing too close could easily result in the loss of one’s life, and clapping and cheering, or making remarks about the unfolding battle were even more frowned upon. Battles between cultivators often involved a vast array of treasures, unleashing attacks that affected large areas, and the more ferocious the battle, the further the combatants were likely to travel.

They could easily move across multiple battlefields over the course of a battle, and it was often the case that everything in a radius of several kilometers or even several dozen kilometers would be razed to the ground, so it would’ve been utterly suicidal to try and watch such a battle for entertainment.

As for why there were people willing to watch such riveting battles, despite the severe risk that they were taking on, that was because it was important for powerful cultivators and martial artists to observe others in battle while engaging in self-reflection, identifying their own weaknesses and flaws, and it was certainly not just for entertainment or to make comments on what the combatants could’ve been doing better.

Hence, even as he was in the midst of such a fierce battle, the chief eunuch still made sure to find a moment in between exchanging blows to establish a rule with Li Er for the sake of the safety of the bystanders. “Leaving this plaza is considered an automatic loss!”

Thankfully, Li Er nodded in agreement, and thus, their spectacular battle continued.

The plaza outside the Hall of Martial Valor was originally very flat and even, but at this point, it was already completely unrecognizable, riddled with craters and trenches.

Even the tall walls on either side of the plaza were riddled with around a dozen huge holes. The wall behind Li Er only had four or five holes, but the wall behind the chief eunuch had clearly suffered more damage.

There was one section of the wall that had three holes punched into it right next to one another, causing that section of the wall to completely collapse, and it was as if a gateway had been created. However, neither of them had retreated out of the boundaries of the walls, so the outcome of the battle was still yet to be decided.

The chief eunuch was most definitely on the back foot, but he was only growing stronger as the battle progressed, and he wasn’t displaying any signs of tiring. His red python robes were being torn apart further and further, but his indestructible godly body was still glowing as brightly as ever. In the imperial palace, the chief eunuch held all of the advantages.

Not only had he been elevated from a weak ninth tier martial artist to an extremely formidable one, the seemingly endless supply of Dragon Qi that was directly interconnected with the fortune of Great Sui Nation meant that he was essentially invincible.

During the latest exchange of blows, the chief eunuch struck Li Er with a punch to the head, while Li Er’s fist landed on his chest.

Li Er was sent flying back before stomping down onto the wall behind him, launching himself forward at an alarming speed. The section of the wall that he had used as a launching pad instantly collapsed.

Meanwhile, the chief eunuch was also forced back by the clash, and with each backward step that he took, his feet would sink deeper and deeper into the ground, creating a trench that was over 100 feet in length. As Li Er pounced at him once again, all he could do was cross his arms above his own head in passive defense.

With another ferocious punch, the chief eunuch was forced down to one knee and sank over 20 feet into the ground, while a massive crater had appeared around him.

Li Er refused to let up, leaping high up into the air as he clenched both hands into tight fists before slamming them down upon the chief eunuch over and over again.

A rapid string of dull thumps rang out within the crater, much like the sound of thundering horse hooves.

With each violent tremor that ran through the ground, the crater would continue to expand, and chunks of bricks were sent flying in all directions from the surface of the plaza.

It was as if Li Er were using the chief eunuch to bore a well into the earth!

The chief eunuch was completely powerless to retaliate, and he continued to sink deeper and deeper into the ground while the golden light radiating from his body shuddered incessantly.

A wry smile appeared on the face of a 10th tier cultivator standing atop a flying sword, and he sighed, “Only now am I witnessing for the first time just how unreasonable and ruthless the fighting style of a martial artist at the pinnacle of the ninth tier can be.”

As he was speaking, the flying sword beneath his feet was swaying slightly like a small raft in a turbulent sea, and if any lesser cultivator had been in his place, they would’ve most likely already lost control and been blown away into the distance.

As a top-tier cultivator, observing a battle between pure martial artists had no benefits for him whatsoever, so if it weren’t for the fact that he was bound by duty to be present, he would’ve departed long ago.

Inside the imperial palace of Great Sui Nation was a secret passageway that branched off into many places, such as the offices of the Six Ministries and the new Mountain Cliff Academy on Eastern Splendor Mountain. The emperor was able to traverse through the secret passageway without alerting the officials of the imperial court or the people of the city.

Otherwise, whenever he left the palace, a huge fuss would be made, and the people of the city would have to sweep all of the streets clean in anticipation for his arrival.

At this moment, Mao Xiaodong was walking slowly through the secret passageway, accompanied by a chief eunuch who was sweating profusely. Just like the chief eunuch who was battling Li Er on the plaza outside the Hall of Martial Valor, he was also wearing a red python robe, but despite that both of them occupied the same official position, there was actually a vast disparity in status between the two.

The chief eunuch did dare to get mad at Mao Xiaodong, so he could only carefully urge Mao Xiaodong to pick up the pace over and over again. However, despite the fact that Mao Xiaodong verbally obliged each time, he wasn’t walking any faster at all, and the chief eunuch was feeling so agitated that he was seriously considering picking up Mao Xiaodong and carrying him to the imperial palace.

Meanwhile, back in Mountain Cliff Academy, Cui Dongshan began to walk back to his own dormitory in a lackadaisical fashion after departing from the summit of Eastern Splendor Mountain. He had a peaceful little courtyard to himself, and at this point, Xie Xie’s identity as the prodigious cultivator of the Lu Empire, Xie Lingyue, had already been revealed.

It was also declared that she was a disciple to Cui Dongshan, so she had moved into the same courtyard to serve him.

Cui Dongshan made his way into the courtyard, and with a graceful sweep of his sleeve, a go board and two boxes of stones appeared on the stone table. There were already stone stones placed on the board, presenting an extremely complex middlegame position.

Cui Dongshan was standing in front of the stone table as he picked up a white stone with a contemplative expression, seemingly pondering the best move to play in the position.

Having already had half of the Dragon Restricting Nails in her body removed, Xie Xie had already recovered to the fifth tier, and if one were to look closely at her, they would be able to see light surging all over her entire body.

Cui Dongshan heaved a faint sigh as he placed the white stone back into the box, turning away from the position as he made his way back into the room. There, he sat down and opened a Confucian classic before interlacing his fingers together and placing his hands down onto his legs.

A gentle breeze blew past to flip over the page of the book sitting in front of him.

Xie Xie was standing at the entrance of the room with a look of veneration and envy in her eyes.

That gentle breeze was a gust of book flipping wind that was found only in Confucian schools and academies.

Unfathomable and unpredictable.

That was the assessment that both she and Yu Lu had of Cui Dongshan.

They could never tell what he was thinking or what he was going to do next.

All of a sudden, the thought of Chen Ping’an sprang into her mind, and she couldn’t help but wonder how Chen Ping’an had been able to make Cui Dongshan submit to him this entire time. Was it really just because of that inexplicable title of teacher that he had somehow managed to obtain?

A contest of wills was no different from a tug of war, and there had to be a decisive outcome.

Cui Dongshan remained completely still, allowing the book flipping wind to flip through the pages of the book in front of him. He looked down at the teachings of the Confucian sages on the book’s pages as he smiled and said, “A’Liang once had a mantra: ‘when out in the world, we have to win people over with our morality and defeat our enemies with our handsome looks’.

“My teacher is executing this mantra to perfection, and as his disciple, I am earnestly willing to admit defeat to him.”

Xie Xie lowered her head, not daring to reveal her expression.

Cui Dongshan’s head remained lowered as he snapped, “Get away from me, you ugly bitch! Don’t you feel ashamed staying in the same room as someone as outrageously handsome as myself? If I were you, I would’ve already killed myself from shame and inferiority long ago!”

Xie Xie extended a curtsey as she said in a quiet voice, “Please pardon this humble servant.”

“If you’re going to die, don’t die in the courtyard,” Cui Dongshan added. “There’s a tall ginkgo tree on the mountain summit that you can hang yourself from.”

Xie Xie departed in silence, then sat down onto a stone stool in the yard. As she looked at the position on the go board, her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had thought of a way out of her current predicament.

Upon sensing the abnormal fluctuations in Xie Xie’s aura, Cui Dongshan instantly burst into laughter within the room. He hurriedly clasped a hand over his own belly while wiping the tears from his eyes as he guffawed, “You’re thinking that you could marry Chen Ping’an to become my master’s wife? Holy shit, I’m about to die from laughing…”

Xie Xie was instantly plunged back into the depths of despair, while Cui Dongshan was rolling on the ground with mirth.