Unsheathed

As if bound into place by a restriction technique, the beautiful female bone ghost stood still and didn’t move at all. There was disbelief on her face, and her movements were stiff as she turned her head around after a moment. She dazedly looked at the young boy who was charging toward her.

So be it if you’re a sword cultivator… But why do you have two flying swords? And why are you disguising yourself as a pure martial artist?

She could dodge First, but she couldn’t dodge Fifteenth[1]!

However, Chen Ping’an remained alert and on guard even though the female ghost’s neck had been sliced through from behind by Fifteenth, his other flying sword. He paid no heed to the other yin entities and female ghosts, and ignored them no matter how they charged over at him. He charged over to the beautiful female bone ghost as quickly as he could, and he resolutely used the Deity Drumming Technique to throw punch after punch. After throwing 20 punches, the bones under the white robes were smashed into smithereens.

In the end, the beautiful female bone ghost exploded apart along with her white robes. A yellow paper talisman with the drawing of a female slowly drifted to the ground.

The other yin entities and female ghost instantly lost their leader following her death, and they all rushed back inside the two side halls to hide. However, a fair portion of them were comprehensively disintegrated by the sun before they could flee back to the shade of the side halls. There were no longer the charming sounds of joking and giggling traveling out from the side halls, and there was instead only the sound of sobbing.

The blood-red sword fell to the ground, and the emerald green bracelet was like a lost puppy as it continued to circle around the area where the beautiful female bone ghost had disappeared.

Chen Ping’an stood still and didn’t rush over to grab the bracelet straight away. He didn’t reach over to grab the yellow paper talisman either.

He looked around, and after confirming that there was no more danger, he patted the Sword Nurturing Gourd and had First and Fifteenth fly back inside.

He squatted down and carefully examined the yellow paper talisman.

Chen Ping’an then retrieved the other evil-detecting talisman that Zhang Shanfeng had given him and held it near the yellow paper talisman on the ground. He waved it around, and the evil-detecting talisman did indeed self-combust. However, the flame was tiny, and it only burned a corner of the evil-detecting talisman before extinguishing.

Only after seeing this did Chen Ping’an truly pick the yellow paper talisman up using his fingertips. He quickly discovered that the yellow paper talisman wasn’t made from ordinary paper. The paper was incredibly smooth and soft, but it was also very tough, as if not even a strong man could tear it apart.

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment, then placing the yellow paper talisman with the illustration of the beautiful woman inside his sleeve. In reality, he was placing it inside his pocket treasure.

One very important reason behind the preciousness of pocket treasures was their ability to block detection from the outside world. Even though this wasn’t absolute, this was roughly what the situation was like.

When Chen Ping’an put the yellow paper talisman away, the emerald green bracelet also flew over to him by itself. Chen Ping’an held the evil-detecting talisman in his hand, and he saw that there wasn’t any reaction at all. He reached over to grab the bracelet and placed it in his pocket treasure as well.

When he walked over to retrieve the blood-red red sword, however, the evil-detecting talisman immediately burst into flames and burned to a crisp. Chen Ping’an felt slightly hesitant. He could definitely sell this sword for a handsome sum of money, but he was more worried about whether it would affect Fifteenth if he recklessly placed it inside this flying sword that doubled as a pocket treasure.

In the end, Chen Ping’an grabbed the sword and looked around for a while. He then looked up at the old cypress tree next to the stone tablet. He decided to temporarily hide the sword among the dense branches and leaves, so he ran up to the tree, leapt up to the branches, and concealed it there.

“Sir Immortal…” the young girl called timidly.

Chen Ping’an, only to see the young girl pointing at the ground beside her feet. The clay statues of the martial god and the scholarly god had collapsed and shattered into countless pieces. There was a small mound there, and there were a few silver shards glimmering among the shattered clay. These shards were extremely eye-catching.

However, there was something even more unexpected than this: a treasure-pagoda demon-suppressing talisman was quietly hovering next to the small mound. Apart from being slightly dimmer than before, it appeared completely undamaged otherwise.

It was a similar case for the other small mound of shattered clay. There were also silver shards, and the demon-suppressing talisman was also hovering next to the small mound. Like the steel truncheon of the martial god that had been obliterated by the fearsome lightning, the square official seal of the scholarly god had also been destroyed.

However, there was now a small and simple-looking azure wooden box sitting there. It was just big enough to fit in the hand of a small child.

Chen Ping’an was delighted, and he hurriedly jumped down the cypress tree to grab the two talismans and the six silver shards first. He placed them inside his pocket treasure. After doing this, he carefully picked up the azure wooden box radiating with a warm and gentle aura. Even though he was only holding it lightly, Chen Ping’an still felt a mysterious sense of calmness and ease.

Chen Ping’an placed the small wooden box with unknown contents inside his sleeve. However, he didn’t place it inside his pocket treasure. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The young girl stood next to him and kept her eyes wide open as she stared at the “sword immortal” who had displayed his powerful mystical abilities and slayed demons and eliminated fiends.

Her master who taught her immortal techniques in secret had once told her that there existed many old immortals who had achieved great success in cultivation in the world. However, these old immortals had the appearance of children, and they were truly carefree and unrestricted by heaven and earth.

She had witnessed many strange things today, but none of these things were stranger than the young-looking immortal in front of her.

For example, how was it possible for a talisman to be preserved once it was activated?

Her master was mostly a cultivator in the cultivation world and somewhat of an immortal from the mountains, and he had told her many things about immortals in the mountains and immortals outside the mountains. However, she had genuinely never heard about a reusable talisman before.

Chen Ping’an had a fairly good impression of the young girl. As he walked toward the front entrance of the city god hall and prepared to use the Deity Drumming Technique to comprehensively shatter the seal formation around the hall, he turned around and asked in a quiet voice, “This place is very dangerous, so why did you come here to begin with?”

Wow! The immortal is speaking to me!

Moreover, he appears fairly friendly.

The young girl was super happy, and she flicked her wrist and caused the bell on it to tinkle as she replied, “Mr. Immortal, the four bells on my wrists and ankles can protect me. Master said that I can last for a short while even if I’m attacked by immortals at the Abode Tier. However, the biggest problem about this is—”

Hearing this, Chen Ping’an hurriedly shook his hands and interrupted the young girl’s foolish reply.

“Hey, hey. Don’t reveal the secrets pertaining to your immortal treasures to anyone,” he warned her. “Hurry up and leave. You shouldn’t stay in this place for too long. In fact, it’s best if you leave the prefectural city as soon as possible.”

The young girl shook her head and replied, “My parents are still in the prefectural city, so I won’t be going anywhere. Since I’ve learned some immortal techniques, I’m going to stay behind to protect them.”

Chen Ping’an could only drop the matter. He didn’t persuade her to leave anymore, and he simply told her to stand further back. He then started to attack the seal formation with ferocious punches.

His twenty-first punch shattered the icy surface of the seal formation with a massive explosion. Black smoke churned out, and countless wails of agony, resentment, fury, and hatred mixed together in the smoke. Chen Ping’an used the raging fist aura of the Rain Evaporation Technique to evaporate this black smoke. Even if he missed some, they would be destroyed by the young girl standing behind him.

Chen Ping’an suddenly turned around to look toward the eastern city wall. Even though he couldn’t see the city gate tower clearly, he had seemingly felt some kind of gaze coming over from that direction just then.

It was most likely that the destruction of the formation here had affected the formations in other places as well. Thus, the sinister masterminds behind this scheme had most likely discovered his existence.

Out of an abundance of caution, Chen Ping’an retrieved his last remaining Yang energy illumination talisman before stepping over the door threshold and entering the city god hall. He noticed that the young girl next to him wanted to say something, so he could only ask, “What is it? You know about something strange inside?”

There was a look of embarrassment on the young girl’s face, and she felt like she was perhaps a bit too naive. However, since Mr. Immortal was already asking her, she could only muster her courage and reply, “My parents said that when entering temples to offer incense, men should step over the door threshold with their left foot first, while women should step over with their right foot first.”

Chen Ping’an smiled and said, “Got it, thank you.”

He stepped over the door threshold with his left foot first and followed behind the hovering illumination talisman. He arrived beneath City God Shen Wen’s clay statue.

All of the golden shards on the floor had flown back to the clay statue of the city god. Between the time that Chen Ping’an shattered the seal formation and walked here, seventy or eighty percent of the gold gild had already returned to the statue. There was a faint golden glow radiating from the nine-meter-tall clay statue’s eyes, and it was as if it was peering down at the residents of the prefecture.

The city god’s first words were not very polite. Before Chen Ping’an could say anything, he commanded, “Young man, hurry up and hand the iron essence official seal over!”

His words instantly angered the young girl. However, people had respected and revered the city god for many hundreds of years, so the indignant young girl didn’t dare to voice her anger. She could only grumble in her mind.

Chen Ping’an, on the other hand, was unperturbed. As he was about to take out the azure wooden box left over after the iron essence official seal disintegrated, he explained, “The official seal was already destroyed by my talisman—”

Chen Ping’an was only able to say half a sentence.

“Nonsense!”

The clay statue of the city god was enraged, and plumes of dust spread into the surroundings as he raised a foot high up into the air. The clay statue had become golden again, and its mighty appearance certainly lived up to its title of Golden City God.

“Do you truly think you can act wantonly in front of me simply because you defeated a few small fry?! If it weren’t for three of them joining forces and my subordinates betraying me, how could I have been suppressed and trapped inside the city god hall? How could they have found the opportunity to act so impudently? Make haste and hand the iron essence official seal over to me! Don’t waste any more time. The situation is dire, and I need to enter the city to suppress the demons!”

Before the seal formation around the city god hall was shattered, City God Shen Wen had been busy protecting the last wisp of his divine consciousness and preventing it from being destroyed. Moreover, the seal formation filled with filth had sealed the city god hall off from the outside world, so the city god inside had naturally been unable to detect what was going on outside.

In his mind, the enemy wouldn’t have left any powerful subordinates here after the three great demons and demonic cultivators left. This was because they didn’t understand the mysterious nature of this place. Because of this, the city god was only curious about how the young boy with the wooden scabbard had shattered the seal formation on the door. Perhaps he was a sect disciple who was skilled at divination and formations?

No matter what, the sovereignty of Colorful Garment Nation and the life and death of the more than 100,000 residents in Blusher Prefecture were intricately linked with that item from the city god pavilion. Thus, the city god couldn’t allow anything to happen to it.

The giant clay statue strode off its divine platform and heavily stomped its foot three meters in front of Chen Ping’an. The bluestone tiles shattered into pieces as the clay statue bent down and extended a hand toward the young boy. “Hurry up and hand the official seal over!”

Chen Ping’an didn’t move, and he asked, “Is it really that difficult to say thank you to those who helped you?”

The city god faltered upon hearing this, and he tried to find the right words for a long time before eventually sighing and nodding. “I made a mistake because I was too impatient. I do indeed need to thank you.”

Chen Ping’an retrieved the azure wooden box and said, “The iron essence official seal has indeed been destroyed, and it’s become one with the mound of clay remains of the scholarly god. However, it left this small wooden box behind. Is this what you’re looking for?”

The city god nodded slowly.

Chen Ping’an tossed the wooden box high into the air. The city god caught it and said with a faint smile, “This is exactly what I’m after.”

Chen Ping’an turned around to leave, and the young girl immediately followed after him.

However, the sound of rushing wind suddenly traveled over from behind them, and Chen Ping’an immediately knew that things were bad. He quickly channeled his True Qi, which circulated several hundred kilometers around his body like a fiery dragon soaring through his meridians.

The young girl, who had just reached the door threshold, was stupefied.

She turned around, only to see the city god’s giant leg viciously slamming into the young boy’s back. The young boy was forced to bend over, and he was almost pushed to his knees. However, he forcefully held his breath and prevented the nine-meter-tall clay statue of the city god from crushing him to the floor.

Chen Ping’an’s face was beet red, and he said in a quivering voice, “Leave, now!”

The young girl didn’t dare to hesitate, and she hurriedly dashed out of the door and arrived in the square. Looking back, she could see wisps of pitch-black smoke drifting around the clay statue of the city god. These wisps of black smoke entered and exited the seven orifices on his face, and the eyes of the clay statue also became an eerie faint golden color.

“Be careful! The city god has fallen to demonic ways!” the young girl screamed.

Chen Ping’an bent his knees slightly, and he gritted his teeth. The pressure on his back continued to increase, yet he also continued to straighten his stance bit by bit.

He then reached down and patted his Sword Nurturing Gourd. At the same time, two gold-colored treasure-pagoda demon-suppressing talismans slipped out from his sleeves. He held the talismans between his fingers, and he inadvertently glanced at his straw sandals as he looked down.

He felt that things were truly satisfying and wonderful.

He felt that his journey around the mortal world was truly interesting and full of spectacular encounters.

He roared with laughter and exclaimed, “First and Fifteenth, eliminate fiends with me!”

1. This is a legitimate Chinese saying meaning that one can’t avoid something (a bad thing such as debt collection) forever. “First” and “fifteenth” refer to days of the month on the lunar calendar. ?