Unsheathed

Shen Wen was the name of the city god honored in Blusher Prefecture’s city god pavilion. Before his death, he was an official from the Censorate, and he was renowned in the imperial court for his integrity and upright manner. He had also spoken the famous words “a loyal official during life, an upright ghost after death[1]”. It was already 300 years since his death, yet he still enjoyed abundant incense and offerings.

Because Chen Ping’an had visited the city god temple with Xu Yuanxia and Zhang Shanfeng before, he was quite familiar with the paths and locations of everything. There were four separate halls in the city god pavilion, and two painted clay statues of heavenly officials were standing in front of the first gate inside the temple. They had initially appeared mighty and impressive, yet they were in a miserable state at this moment, with snakes, rats, and other vermin all over them.

Chen Ping’an walked next to the exterior wall of the temple for a few dozen paces, but he was yet to encounter any demons or sinister spirits. He didn’t hesitate anymore and pulled out a Yang energy illumination talisman from his sleeve. The talisman hovered an arm’s length in front of him, and it gently swayed back and forth, then automatically flew toward the gate as Chen Ping’an took a step forward.

Chen Ping’an immediately felt much more at ease. Even though the city god pavilion had been attacked, and the city god temple square was ruined beyond recognition, there was definitely still remnant spiritual energy flowing through the buildings at the back of the temple. Otherwise, the illumination talisman wouldn’t have flown forward by itself. Instead, it would have retreated toward the walls.

The illumination talisman radiated with a soft yellow glow, and the pure light enveloped Chen Ping’an’s entire body. Wherever he walked, the centipedes, scorpions, and other poisonous vermin on the ground would quickly scuttle away. When Chen Ping’an walked past the first internal gate, the vermin on the two clay statues of heavenly officials were most likely affected by the radiance of this illumination talisman as well. The vermin all crawled to the statues’ backs or hid inside the statues’ hollow abdomens.

Chen Ping’an held his breath and gathered his concentration. He slowly continued forward.

Behind the first internal gate was the great hall with a plaque. The deity honored inside this hall wasn’t the city god, but instead a general who had played an important role in the founding of Colorful Garment Nation. The statue of the general was seated, and there were eight statues of subordinate officials standing to the two sides.

The golden characters on the plaque had been personally written by the founding emperor of Colorful Garment Nation, and more than half of the golden ink had already been chipped off. There was a black snake as thick as a bowl resting coiled on top of the plaque. Its head was hanging down, and it looked at Chen Ping’an and hissed at him as if showing off its might and warning him away.

When Chen Ping’an stepped inside the great hall, the black snake suddenly shot over and widened its maw. However, Chen Ping’an twisted his body and turned to the side without even looking up. He then grabbed the head of the black snake with his hand and gently flicked his wrist. The black snake instantly became limp as if it had no bones. Chen Ping’an threw it away, and by the time it hit the ground, it was already as dead as could be.

Chen Ping’an followed the swaying illumination talisman forward. After passing the hall, there was another square that was smaller than the first one. There were old trees all around, and there was a stone tablet that recorded the emperor of Colorful Garment Nation’s imperial edict to appoint a city god. The last time Chen Ping’an had come here, he had actually stood in front of this stone tablet and examined it for half a day. In the end, he had come to a single conclusion. The handwriting was truly mediocre, even inferior to the handwriting of the young Cui Chan.

Fortunately, the young Cui Chan — or rather Cui Dongshan — wasn’t present. Otherwise, he would definitely be angered by Chen Ping’an’s observation.

There was a god of wealth hall and a Tai Sui hall[2] to the left and right of the square. People could pray for fortune and wealth in the former hall, and they could pray for peace and safety in the latter. The residents in the city were probably more sincere when they prayed in these halls compared to the great hall.

The illumination talisman continued to fly forward, and Chen Ping’an continued to follow closely behind it.

However, after a few moments he suddenly turned around. He felt like a white shadow had flashed across the large stone tablet under the old cypress tree just then.

The silvery voices of young women traveled out from the god of wealth hall and the Tai Sui hall. Their voices were extremely faint, and it sounded as if they were joking and giggling with each other. However, there was also a hint of chilliness behind their charming voices. It was as if they were female ghosts in the yin dimension transmitting their voices to the yang dimension, with their voices slowly seeping through the boundary between yin and yang bit by bit.

Borrowing the shade provided by the old cypress trees, the voices of these women floated through the windows of the two halls and entered the square between them. However, their voices melted like snow upon coming into contact with the scattered sunlight, so they became much softer than they initially were. However, Chen Ping’an was still able to vaguely hear them.

Chen Ping’an furrowed his brows as he turned around and continued forward.

The main hall of the city god pavilion was only a dozen or so steps in front of him. This was the city god hall where Shen Wen was honored.

The twin swords in his wooden scabbard were more for show right now; the two bonded flying swords in his Sword Nurturing Gourd were his main fighting force apart from his fists.

In terms of other external items, Chen Ping’an also had some talismans that were similar to the illumination talisman. These talismans had come from the ancient book that Li Xisheng had given him, the ‘Authentic Death-Avoiding Book’. He had two gold-colored treasure pagoda demon-suppressing talismans, and he had drawn these talismans just in case after destroying the yin entity in the oil-paper umbrella back at the old residence. Chen Ping’an had wanted to use them during his battle with the tree spirit from Ancient Elm Nation afterward, but the tree spirit had been defeated by First and Fifteenth before he had found the opportunity to do so.

Apart from this, Chen Ping’an also had one Yang energy illumination talisman and three land-shortening talismans. The latter could be used to assist his Deity Drumming Technique, and it could of course be used to flee from danger as well. His land-shortening talismans were definitely no inferior to Zhang Shanfeng’s divine movement talismans.

The instant that Chen Ping’an turned back around…

A woman in white appeared on top of the stone tablet. She was sitting there with her hair disheveled and covering her face.

She extended a finger that was all bone and no flesh, and she gently tapped the top of the stone tablet. A spring instantly burst forth, not with water but with bright red blood. The blood flowed down the tablet, and it wasn’t long before the thousand or so ancient characters on the stone tablet became blood red. It was as if the stone tablet had transformed into a blood letter.

Strangely, however, the white dress of the woman remained spotless and unsoiled. There wasn’t a single drop of blood on it.

With her hair still covering her face, the woman looked up and started to sing in a melodious voice. Perhaps this was an ancient ballad from Colorful Garment Nation that had already been lost with time, and the woman extended two bony fingers to twirl her hair as she sang in a low voice. She gently swayed her legs, and there was some blood and flesh on her bare feet, in contrast to her fleshless hands. As her feet swung back and forth, the blood flowing down the stone tablet also splashed into the surroundings.

Compared to the indistinct chattering and laughter from the god of wealth hall and the Tai Sui hall, the voice of the singing woman in white was far louder and clearer. The old cypress tree above her rustled in the wind as if it were singing in harmony with her.

The woman in white seemingly reached a joyful part of the song, so she raised her bony hand to gently play with her hair again.

The tightly shut doors of the god of wealth hall and the Tai Sui hall suddenly creaked open at this moment. A person stumbled out from each hall, and the person from the god of wealth hall was a young man who had one arm cleaved off at the shoulder.

However, his bleeding had already stopped, and there was an azure sword in his remaining hand. His face was deathly pale, and there was no sign of life or emotion in his eyes.

The person from the Tai Sui hall was a middle-aged man in azure. His head was hanging as he limped out of the hall, and upon closer inspection, it became apparent that his head had almost been chopped off by someone using a sharp weapon. In fact, his head was only held to his body by a sliver of flesh and skin.

The woman in white sitting on top of the stone tablet rotated her wrists, causing the movements of the two stumbling men to instantly become smooth and agile. They started to dance in the square. As it turned out, there were numerous transparent threads attached to the fingertips of the woman’s bony hands. These threads were like spiderwebs, and they were wrapped around the limbs of the two dead men and controlling their each and every movement.

At the same time, women in white continued to appear from the two halls which now had their doors wide open. They exited with clouds of black smoke behind them, and they continued to rapidly hover around the doors of the halls. They quietly giggled as they looked at the two men, and their faces were filled with expressions of taunting and hatred. However, the scattered rays of sunshine were like a natural barrier that they didn’t dare to recklessly cross.

Even so, there were still four or five women in white who couldn’t suppress their urge. They rapidly dashed forward with clouds of black smoke behind them, and they quickly flew around and circled the corpses of the two men. While doing so, they used their fingers to toy with the deathly pale faces of the two men.

They would shuffle behind the two men at times, and they would also dash up from under the two men at other times. However, the price they paid for this short moment of joy was being brutally disintegrated by the sunlight.

Chen Ping’an stood at the door threshold of the main hall, as if the Yang energy illumination talisman had run into a brick wall that prevented it from advancing forward. It dashed forward and came to an abrupt halt again and again, and it was unable to advance forward no matter what.

The Yang energy in the yellow paper talisman continued to drain away.

Chen Ping’an held his hand out, and it was as if his palm were resting against the frozen surface of a lake in winter. He pushed harder, yet he was still unable to break through the barrier.

Chen Ping’an put his index finger and middle finger together. As he turned around, he viciously flicked his wrist and caused the illumination talisman that had little spiritual energy remaining to rapidly shoot toward the square. The talisman spun around the two puppet corpses once, and the two deceased men collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. The transparent threads attached to their bodies were severed, and blood started to stream from their bodies after they collapsed to the ground.

The woman in white retracted her hands. She wasn’t angered, and it was instead the women who had exited the two halls who waved their arms and bared their teeth at Chen Ping’an. There was deep hatred in their eyes as they glared at him.

Regardless of how kind a person was during their life, they could no longer be viewed through the Second Sage’s lens of fundamental goodness once they became an evil spirit. Just like how bamboo baskets couldn’t collect water, such evil spirits couldn’t maintain kindness any longer.

This was the intangible and undetectable will of the heavens.

Chen Ping’an looked toward the back of the woman on the stone tablet and said in a soft voice, “Young lady, we should show some basic respect toward deceased people. No matter what kind of hostility existed between you and them back then, why not let bygones be bygones?”

The woman in white ignored him and continued to sing. However, she used the official dialect of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent this time, and this was something that Chen Ping’an could understand.

“A form like a withered husk, a heart like extinguished ashes… True knowledge he possesses, yet free from conceit he remains. Confused he appears, and no schemes can penetrate his heart. Oh, what kind of person is he…?[3]”

The woman’s voice was calm, and it surprisingly possessed a sense of tranquility and peacefulness. There was no hint of anger or hatred at all.

Chen Ping’an could understand the words, but he couldn’t understand the deeper meaning behind the words.

In any case, he wasn’t in the mood to mull over this either. The main hall of the city god pavilion was sealed off from the outside world using some kind of formation, and it was very likely that the city god was trapped inside. This prevented him from patrolling the prefectural city and helping Blusher Prefecture overcome the imminent calamity.

The main hall behind Chen Ping’an was the city god hall where City God Shen Wen and two other gods were honored. The statue of Shen Wen was more than nine meters tall, and visitors needed to raise their heads to gaze up at him.

To his left and right were the statues of a scholarly god and a martial god who were both six meters tall. They were holding an official seal and a steel truncheon, respectively.

According to rumors, a Daoist priest with the surname Zhang had come here from another continent more than 200 years ago. He had come to some realization after experiencing the simple and honest nature of Blusher Prefecture, and after returning home, it wasn’t long before Mount Longhu’s Heavenly Master Residence had bestowed the “Colorful Garment Nation Blusher Prefecture City God Protection Seal” upon Colorful Garment Nation.

Only then did people find out that the young Daoist priest had actually been Esteemed Daoist Huangzi from Mount Longhu’s Heavenly Master Residence. This enthralling story spread through half of the continent, and it was rumored that the gold seal was now secretly stored in the imperial treasury of Colorful Garment Nation.

There was also a giant mural that illustrated 81 beautiful women dancing with large sleeves.

People praised this mural as “ink that seems alive, and just a single breath away from coming alive”.

Chen Ping’an didn’t say anything else after seeing the woman in white ignore his words. He quietly patted the Sword Nurturing Gourd on his waist.

After doing this, he turned around and threw a punch at the “frozen surface” sealing off the city god hall. Ripples danced across the seal formation, and the three statues inside the main hall also appeared to shudder.

Chen Ping’an slowly walked using the six-step walking meditation stance as he threw punch after punch at the seal formation. He was using none other than the Deity Drumming Technique.

Of course, he was also on guard against any sudden attacks from the women in the square.

A sigh traveled over from atop an old and towering cypress tree, and a young girl said, “Idiot, that’s a seal formation formed by two powerful cultivators at the fifth tier. Even my master won’t be able to shatter it in a short amount of time. Otherwise, how can the city god still be trapped inside? Yet, you want to forcefully shatter it with a martial arts technique?

“Save yourself some strength and leave this place before the female ghosts develop killing intent toward you. Otherwise, you’ll be the corpse puppet dancing around the next time some fool comes barging in.”

Perhaps Chen Ping’an’s punches were far too casual in her eyes, so they were unable to give off any sense of power or might.

This caused the strange young girl atop the cypress tree to look down on him.

After his fight with Ma Kuxuan in the street, Chen Ping’an’s fist intent was increasingly hidden now. He also performed walking meditation slower than before, and his manner of walking was more aligned with the notion of nourishment. The reason why many low-level martial arts techniques would end up cursing their own body for its deficiencies was that they were chaotic and unrefined. Thus, the more diligently they trained, the more they would damage their body and soul.

However, even though Chen Ping’an’s physical movements were slower when he performed walking meditation, his circulation of Qi was countless times quicker than before when he performed standing meditation. If his circulation of Qi were compared to the delivery of letters from relay stations, then his speed had only been that of a single quick horse before. Now, however, it was the speed of several quick horses running in relay[4].

This nature of concealing his fist intent was extremely mystical, and it was something that definitely couldn’t be detected by martial artists under the sixth or seventh tier.

The woman in white suddenly stopped singing. She turned around and stared intently at Chen Ping’an’s eighteenth punch.

The young boy’s fist surged forward like the ringing of a large bell, and the aura of the entire square was shaken into action. A fracturing sound instantly rang out from the blood-soaked stone tablet.

The woman in white unleashed a high-pitched shriek that could piece through one’s eardrums. It was as if she were a general issuing a command, and the hovering young women in front of the two halls immediately transformed into two columns of surging black smoke. One column fused into the seal formation and used the remnant yin souls of the young women to fortify the formation, while one column surged toward Chen Ping’an and tried its utmost to interrupt his flowing fist intent. It tried to stop him from throwing the nineteenth punch using the Deity Drumming Technique.

“You reckless fool, you’ll drag me to my death! If I die here today, then see how I scold you to death when we meet again on the path to the afterlife! But we would already be dead… Damn, I haven’t died yet and you’re pissing me off to death!”

The young girl finished her angry grumbling atop the old cypress tree. She didn’t hesitate anymore; she dashed forward, producing a series of crisp tinkling sounds. The sounds circulated around her, and they also gave rise to rings of faint golden flowers. Her lithe figure was truly pleasing to the eye.

Hidden under her thick hair, the corners of the woman in white’s lips curled up into a slight smile. There was a cold and mocking look in her eyes.

She extended her bony hands and clapped them together.

Inside the main hall of the city god pavilion, the scholarly god and the martial god to the left and right of City God Shen Wen creaked and groaned as if coming to life. Huge amounts of dust were shaken off their bodies, and they both took a step forward and walked down from their platform. There was a loud boom as their feet stomped onto the bluestone floor of the main hall.

The two clay statues strode forward and charged toward the door, with the martial god raising his steel truncheon and smashing it down at Chen Ping’an’s head. Meanwhile, the scholarly god who was holding an iron essence official seal strode out the door without hesitation. It raised its iron seal and thrust it toward the slender young girl.

Initially, shattering the seal formation on the main hall should have returned freedom to the city god. This would have been the most logical progression of events. Unexpectedly, however, the true killing intent wasn’t coming from the square in front of the city god hall, nor was it coming from the menacing women in white who were filled with eerie yin energy. Instead, it was coming from inside the city god hall where their hopes and helpers should have been?!

Then…where in the world was City God Shen Wen? Where was his godly body?

The tallest and mightiest clay statue inside the city god hall was the initially golden and dazzling statue of the city god. It was dull and devoid of luster now, and the ground surrounding it was filled with golden shards. Only a few specks of gold remained in its eyes. If the locals of Blusher Prefecture were present, they most likely wouldn’t dare to believe that this was the “Golden City God” of Blusher Prefecture that they were all extremely proud of.

This was because according to the Local County Chronicle of Blusher Prefecture, gold leaf worth almost a hundred taels of gold had been used to gild the statue of the city god. In order to achieve this, the prefectural overseer of that generation had begged the wealthy forces and clans in the prefecture for help. After successfully raising enough money, he had specially asked someone to carve a merit tablet to record the names and clans of those people who had helped.

The statue of the city god that was now missing almost all of its gold exterior spoke with great difficulty. Its hoarse voice traveled over to the door threshold, saying, “Hurry up and leave, you two. There are many demonic and heretical cultivators with unknown backgrounds in the prefecture, but there are only the female ghosts in white here.

“If the two of you manage to escape, you definitely have to look for the esteemed immortals from Divine Edict Sect or the noble scholars or virtuous scholars from Lake View Academy. Tell them that Colorful Garment Nation is facing a great catastrophe. If Colorful Garment Nation falls, then none of the six surrounding nations, including Ancient Elm Nation, will be spared!”

As it turned out, the city god pavilion meant to protect the residents of the prefectural city was barely able to protect itself at the moment.

Outside the main hall…

The young girl who had bells tied to her arms and legs helped Chen Ping’an block the column of black smoke formed by the female ghosts in white. As her four bells sounded, countless faint golden flowers bloomed in the air, creating a dazzling scene. The fearsome column of black smoke was immediately sliced up and shattered into pieces.

However, the young girl was also struck by several wisps of chaotic black smoke. She vomited blood, yet she still refused to retreat. She stood near the reckless fool and lightly shook her wrist. Her bells chimed, and golden flowers bloomed, continuing to disintegrate the wisps of smoke that were echoing with wails of agony.

As she did this, Chen Ping’an calmly threw his 19th punch.

The other column of black smoke ferociously surged into the “icy surface” that was sealing the main hall off from the outside world. It helped the seal formation block the accumulated might of the 19th punch of the Deity Drumming Technique.

At the same time, the two traitorous statues of the scholarly god and the martial god continued to attack Chen Ping’an and the young girl. The martial god continued to swing its steel truncheon at Chen Ping’an’s head, while the scholarly god continued to thrust its official seal toward the back of the young girl’s head.

Chen Ping’an was unfazed, and he quickly threw his 20th punch in quick succession. The seal formation shuddered violently. Even though it was yet to shatter, it was already showing signs of buckling under pressure. It could only withstand one more punch at most. However, there was a feeling of helplessness and exasperation in Chen Ping’an’s mind. He could no longer throw the 21st punch of the Deity Drumming Technique. After all, he couldn’t stand idly by and watch the young girl be smacked to death by the official seal of the scholarly god, could he? Otherwise, he did indeed have the opportunity to throw the 21st punch.

The stone tiles under Chen Ping’an’s feet cracked under pressure as he suddenly disappeared and dodged the strike from the martial god’s steel truncheon. He instantly arrived beside the scholarly god, and he used the Heavy Cavalry Formation Shattering Technique to throw a punch at the clay statue’s waist.

This was a life-saving punch, so Chen Ping’an didn’t dare to hold back at all. Because of this, snow-white fist intent swirled around his arm as his fist surged forward. A fearsome fist aura was formed, and there was also the vague sound of ferocious wind and lightning.

The six-meter tall clay statue was forced to step sideways after being struck by Chen Ping’an’s powerful punch. Its large feet carved a deep trench into the ground.

The young girl turned around to see what was going on after hearing the commotion behind her. Only then did she roughly understand the situation. There was a slightly dazed expression on her face when she looked at the unremarkable young boy with the wooden scabbard on his back again.

Chen Ping’an paid no heed to the young girl’s thoughts, and he paused the movements of his arms as if he were preparing to throw another punch. However, he retrieved two gold-colored treasure-pagoda demon-suppressing talismans from his sleeves instead, and he secretly stuck these talismans to his palm. The steel truncheon in the martial god’s hand missed its target and obliterated the stone tiles on the ground instead. The martial god straightened his back and swung his steel truncheon at Chen Ping’an again.

Chen Ping’an had practiced his slow-paced walking meditation countless times during his journey down south.

However, when he wanted to be quick…

…he could genuinely be very quick!

The steel truncheon missed again, and Chen Ping’an had already arrived in front of the clay statue of the martial god at some unknown time. With a tap of his feet, he leaped up and forcefully struck the forehead of the martial god with his palm.

There was dazzling golden light!

A golden treasure pagoda materialized around the clay statue of the martial god. It was slightly taller and larger than the martial god, and arcs of lightning flashed through the pagoda like countless soaring dragons.

It was as if the clay statue were being enshrined inside the treasure pagoda.

Just what kind of feeling was this? This could be determined by observing the shattering body of the large clay statue. Regardless of how the martial god struggled, and how ferociously he attacked the treasure pagoda with his steel truncheon, the treasure pagoda demon-suppressing talisman remained firm and unwavering as it suppressed him.

Immediately after using the first gold-colored treasure-pagoda demon-suppressing talisman, Chen Ping’an had thrust his feet into the martial god’s chest and used him as a platform to leap toward the scholarly god. In a flash, he arrived before the scholarly god who was rapidly charging toward the young girl. With another smack, he stuck the remaining gold-colored talisman onto the iron essence official seal of the scholarly god.

The towering clay statue bent its knees as if a mountain was bearing down on it. Shards of clay continued to break free from its knees, and it was almost forced to stumble forward and fall to the ground.

Chen Ping’an’s feet were yet to touch the ground. After using his two dazzling golden talismans, he continued to soar upward, all the way until he reached the clay statue’s head. He stood on the head of the scholarly god and looked toward the woman in white who was standing atop the stone tablet.

Chen Ping’an didn’t pause, and he charged toward the stone tablet under the old cypress tree as if he was running on the wind. While soaring through the air, he reached behind his back and lightly patted his sword case, saying in a quiet voice, “Eliminating Fiends!”

The locust wood sword flew out of the case and landed in Chen Ping’an’s hand.

Chen Ping’an swung his sword down.

His movements were smooth and completed in a single breath, and he appeared fairly carefree and dashing.

1. A quote from Fang Xioaru’s 豫让论. Fang Xiaoru was a Chinese official and Confucian scholar of the Ming dynasty. ?

2. Tai Sui is a Chinese name for stars directly opposite the planet Jupiter in its roughly 12-year orbital cycle. Personified as deities, they are important features of Chinese astrology, feng shui, and Daoism. ?

3. An extract from Zhuangzi’s ‘Knowledge Rambling in the North’. This extract describes a knowledgeable person who is free from conceit and unmoved by desires or vested interests. ?

4. This references the method of delivering letters/messages in the past. Over long distances, swapping to a new horse at each relay station will naturally result in a quicker speed than simply using the same horse. ?