Unsheathed

As one of the Lu Empire’s earliest subordinate empires, the early history of the Great Li Empire’s rise had been one that was filled with humiliation and oppression. After successfully destroying the seemingly invincible Lu Empire, the Great Li Empire had been given an immense boost in power and confidence.

In the wake of that long and grueling war, all of the Great Li Empire’s citizens, whether they be high-ranking officials or the average person, had been instilled with unmatched confidence.

It was this confidence that was the main driving force behind the Great Li Empire’s southward expansion.

However, it was only when this southward expansion commenced that an unexpected problem arose. The Great Li Empire’s soldiers were accustomed to grueling and deadly battles, while the leading officials of the Ministry of War had devised all types of strategies and tactics for the anticipated battles, but they soon discovered that they were all overprepared.

Great Sui Nation was meant to be the Great Li Empire’s most formidable enemy in the north, yet the Gao Clan had cowered into its shell like a timid turtle. After that, Yellow Court Nation and Great Sui Nation’s other subsidiary nations had all handed over their imperial jade seals to the generals of the Great Li Empire without putting up a fight.

The resistance that they had encountered thus far had been downright pitiful, and the seasoned warriors of the Great Li Empire had all been left feeling a little dumbstruck and redundant.

As they progressed further southward, the battles became slightly more frequent, and sizable armies began to gather in open areas to face the Great Li Empire’s army, or remain behind the tall city walls of their fortresses to resist the army’s march. There had even been a few small nations that had joined forces to oppose the Great Li Empire’s army together.

In response to this, the Great Li Empire’s army only chose to engage in a few direct battles, but in most cases, they chose to adopt a more strategic approach, weakening their enemies from the inside. It was during this time that the countless Great Li Empire spies scattered across the continent began to make their presence known, turning countless close-knit families and friends against one another.

Revolutions began to arise with startling regularity, and important officials of these nations were killed off one after another.

Hence, the Great Li Empire’s southward expansion had been extremely smooth, and it was almost laughable how easy it had been for them to conquer entire nations.

The branches of the Great Li Empire’s army were all advancing southward with unstoppable might, and it seemed that the unification of the continent was unavoidable.

The emperor of the Great Li Empire had released a secret edict that had been sent to all of the army’s important generals.

Prior to reaching the northern border of Colorful Garment Nation, the generals of the Great Li Empire’s army had full autonomy to do what they saw fit without having to secure permission from the Ministry of War.

“Onward at full speed, everyone! Use the skulls of your enemies as bowls and drink their blood as wine!”

The emperor very rarely made any displays of emotions, yet he was using such emotive language on his imperial edict.

The generals of the Great Li Empire were already brimming with bloodlust, and this call to action only further fueled the flames burning in their hearts.

Following behind the army of the Great Li Empire was a second army led by Song Changjing, which was advancing at a slow and steady pace.

Behind that army was Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan, who was overseeing a cohort of Great Li Empire scholarly officials, who were responsible for occupying all of the newly conquered cities.

The nations of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s northern region had all been stomped to bits, and finally, an important city that had gathered the most elite troops of Western River Nation had been conquered.

This battle had worn on for three months, and it had proven to be extremely arduous. However, with the number one border city of the Western River Nation conquered, the reign of the nation’s imperial Han Clan was as good as over.

Despite this victory, this branch of the Great Li Empire’s army was not in the mood to celebrate. Not only had they suffered severe casualties during the course of the battle, another branch of the Great Li Empire had snuck into Western River Nation while this branch had been tackling the most formidable foe, and that branch had managed to conquer around a dozen cities virtually overnight.

On top of that, it was said that they were about to storm into the capital city of Western River Nation.

It was naturally not a good feeling to do all the hard work, only for someone else to reap the spoils, and many soldiers went to complain to their general while still drenched in blood, but the general merely listened to their complaints and offered no response.

Under the protection of a unit of several dozen elite guards, a man wearing an ordinary suit of generic armor slowly made his way into the city while observing his war-torn surroundings, and he was completely unaffected by the mass outrage from his subordinates.

This general, Song Feng, was a member of the Great Li Empire’s imperial clan.

At only thirty years of age, his bloodline was actually rather far removed from His Majesty’s official main branch, but he had an exceptional reputation. He had been serving in the army for close to ten years, and during that time, he had rarely ever returned to the capital city.

Song Feng wasn’t the type of fierce general who would lead the way into battle. After all, he was a member of the imperial clan, and even if he were willing to put himself in harm’s way, all of his subordinates would do everything in their power to dissuade him.

If he were to die, everyone would be held culpable. Thankfully, Song Feng wasn’t the type to insist on leading the way into battle just so that he could have a reputation as a brave general, even if it meant placing his subordinates in a very difficult situation.

Over his military career, he had spent countless days and nights with his fellow comrades. Initially, he had only been a lowly commander, but he had since become a respected border general, and all of his troops would gladly lay down their lives for him.

The battle that had just concluded had been an extremely grueling one.

In total, Song Feng’s branch of the army had been accompanied by over thirty Qi refiners, close to half of whom had perished during the recently concluded battle.

It was a loss as severe as everything that his troops had suffered up to this point in its southward march combined, and at this moment, Song Feng was only accompanied by two Qi refiners.

One of them was an imposing, half-naked man who was nine feet tall, with a Great Li Empire Peace and Safety Tablet hanging from his waist. He was holding a pair of enormous maces, and his steed was far larger than even the ones ridden by the heavy cavalry.

Aside from the jade table, the man also had two bloody heads hanging from his waist. These were the most prized spoils that he had reaped during this battle, and the two heads both belonged to vastly renowned Qi refiners of Western River Nation.

In contrast with the brawny man’s eye-catching appearance, the other Qi refiner was far more inconspicuous. He appeared to be even younger than Song Feng, and he was quite a handsome man, dressed in a gray cotton robe. There was a perpetual smile on his face, and two swords strapped to his waist, one having a white scabbard, while the other’s was black.

The young man’s hands were tucked up his sleeves, and was walking along in a lackadaisical fashion.

All of a sudden, a burst of sword light erupted into the sky in the distance somewhere in the city, and the brawny man immediately rode off in that direction while turning to Song Feng with a smile as he said, “The battle has already been won, but there will inevitably still be some enemy survivors. If I get there late, then there won’t be any spoils for me to reap! Look after yourself and take care that you don’t fall off your horse, General.”

The brawny man was a powerful Qi refiner who had only recently joined this branch of the army, and it was said that he had once been the right hand man to a very important figure in the imperial court.

Due to that important figure’s fall from grace, he had no choice but to leave the capital city to earn some accolades on the battlefield. He had seen more than his fair share of powerful figures in the capital city, so he didn’t have a lot of respect for Song Feng.

The brawny man then turned to the gray-robed young man beside Song Feng as he continued, “And you there, wash your little arse and come find me, and I’ll hand over whatever spoils I’m about to reap to you free of charge. What do you say?”

Despite the humiliating remark that had been directed at him, the young cultivator’s smile remained unchanged, and he merely waved a hand in the brawny man’s direction, urging him to hurry instead of wasting any more time here.

The brawny man burst into laughter as he raised his backside high up off his saddle, then gave it a hearty slap and waved it from side to side a few times. Only then did he sit back down onto his saddle before galloping away in the direction of the eruption of sword light.

The elite cavalry accompanying Song Feng were all furious, but Song Feng and the gray-robed young man were completely unbothered.

The cavalry unit slowly made its way toward the general’s manor at the center of the city.

Inside a crude shop near the city gates were three people who had concealed their auras throughout the entire duration of the battle, doing nothing even as the city gates were broken, and the troops of the Great Li Empire stormed into the city to kill everyone who dared to put up any resistance.

One of them was the number one cultivator in this city. Before the city was surrounded by the Great Li Empire’s troops, the general stationed in the city had declared that he was going to the capital city to request reinforcements from the emperor.

As for the other two, one of them was a leading figure among the immortal sects of Western River Nation, while the other was a Golden Core Tier imperial guest elder from a neighboring nation.

The three cultivators, two at the Golden Core Tier and one at the Dragon Gate Tier, had made no effort to save the city, and even if they had, their efforts would’ve been futile anyway.

Six of the nations in the area, including Western River Nation, had hatched a secret plot to assassinate Song Feng here.

They were going to slay a member of the imperial Song Clan on the battlefield!

If they were to succeed, then even if Western River Nation fell, the morale of the other nations would still receive a huge boost. Even if the six nations were still inevitably going to be crushed by the Great Li Empire’s army, there would be countless brave individuals standing up to oppose them, and that would surely take its toll on the Great Li Empire’s forces.

They would constantly be harrassed without rest, and it would be impossible for them to digest the resources of the six nations in a short time and convert them into assets to fund their ongoing southward expansion.

As for whether this plan was actually going to work, that was a question that the three cultivators hiding here and the emperors of the six nations did their best to avoid contemplating.

At this point, they had to make a final roll of the dice. Their nations were about to fall, and they had to do something.

If they could succeed, then they would earn themselves a resounding reputation. They could then abandon their nations and flee to the south, where they would be regarded as heroes and treated as esteemed guests by the large empires there.

There was no hope for further progression on the path of cultivation, and their lifespans were about to run out. There was nothing for them to lose, and it was time to go out with a bang.

The three cultivators were all lost in their own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Song Feng appeared to be quite relaxed, but in reality, he was holding his horse whip in a white-knuckled grip, and his palms were sweating profusely.

The gray-robed man beside him turned to him with a smile and assured, “Don’t forget that you have the great Cao Jun by your side. As long as I’m here, no one can kill you. Having said that, I’m helping you here, so you have to also help me once in return.

“You don’t need to do anything difficult, just add a Qi refiner to the list of casualties that you’re going to submit to the imperial court. What do you say? It’ll be a piece of cake. Just say that I perished by the hands of the enemy cultivators who are in hiding right now, and that I was a loyal servant who sacrificed myself valiantly to save his master.”

Song Feng nodded in response.

Cao Jun extended his hands out of his sleeves, then grabbed onto the hilts of his swords before slowly drawing them out of their scabbards.

A loud thump rang out as the spine of his steed was snapped, and it instantly fell dead on the spot.

As for Cao Jun, he had already sprung up into the air and vanished out of sight, leaving only two long streaks of light lingering in the air behind him.

Around fifteen minutes later.

The final surviving enemy Golden Core Tier cultivator had just had arms and legs severed, and he had no choice but to detonate his own Golden Core in a fit of grief and indignation.

As for Cao Jun, there wasn’t even a single drop of blood on his cotton robe, and as the Golden Core Tier cultivator put an end to his own life, Cao Jun flew away gracefully atop his sword, and all of the buildings within a radius of a thousand feet beneath him were instantly razed to the ground, sending a huge cloud of dust rising up into the sky.

Song Feng looked up into the air with a relieved expression, and only then did he pick up the pace.

After a brief hesitation, he decided to go to the spot where the eruption of sword light had just emerged.

Upon his arrival, he caught sight of the mace-wielding brawny man among the wreckage. His lifeless body was laying in a puddle of his own blood, and he had a spear impaled through his rear end. Cao Jun was standing on top of the spear, yawning lazily to himself, and he smiled and waved at Song Feng upon spotting his arrival.

From that day forth, Cao Jun voluntarily relegated himself to a normal scout team instead of remaining by Song Feng’s side.

There was a prodigious Dragon Gate Tier cultivator constantly trailing the Great Li Empire’s forces from afar, collecting a steady stream of minor accolades.

On another battlefield in a neighboring nation, he was constantly harvesting the lives of the Great Li Empire’s soldiers through underhanded means, but was very secretive about his work, managing to avoid exposure this entire time. In the short span of just half a year, he had killed 160 of the Great Li Empire’s elite scouts.

All scouts were considered to be the cream of the crop among the Great Li Empire’s troops.

Due to the fact that he was constantly traveling from one battlefield to another, the young Militarian cultivator didn’t attract much attention from the Great Li Empire’s cultivators.

However, as the deaths racked up, the Great Li Empire’s forces gradually became aware of his existence, and more and more cultivators were sent to accompany the troops, concealing themselves among the normal soldiers in the hope that they would be able to catch the culprit in the act.

After two Sea Observation Tier cultivators were killed, the higher-ups of the Great Li Empire’s army finally realized that they were dealing with a serious threat, but before they could act, the Militarian cultivator ran away, going around in a massive circle before arriving on the battlefield where Song Feng’s forces were.

For Cao Jun, running into him was a coincidence, but for him, running into Cao Jun was an inevitability.

One who frequently played with fire was inevitably going to get burned.

Cao Jun watched as he killed the seven scouts with him, then put an end to his life.

For cultivators who were adept in battle, it seemed that earning accolades and rising up the ranks would be easy and virtually risk-free, but that was not the case.

There was always a taller mountain.

Cao Jun imitated the mace-wielding brawny man, decapitating the prodigious Dragon Gate Tier cultivator, but instead of stringing it to his own waist, he hung the head from the side of his saddle. After that, he made his way down south on his own, and he imitated the Dragon Gate Tier cultivator in assassinating the generals of Western River Nation.

He didn’t think that he would have better luck than the owner of the head currently hanging from his saddle, but the difference between the two of them was that he had a Dao guardian, so he didn’t have to worry about putting himself in harm’s way.

All he had to do was kill as he pleased, and if he got into trouble, someone would be there to bail him out.

He lowered his head with a smile as he patted the head, which had already been completely drained of blood, and its hair resembled a spruce of withered thatch.

“It’s a pity that you don’t have one,” Cao Jun mused.

Right at this moment, a slightly displeased voice rang out.

“Why didn’t you save those scouts? You fought alongside them, so they’re your comrades.”

Cao Jun smiled as he replied, “If I wasn’t with them, then they would’ve died for nothing. At the very least, I was able to exact revenge for them. Should they not be thanking me?”

Cultivators were often heartless individuals as they had simply been removed from the mortal world for far too long.

Over time, they gradually became detached and insensitive, and they felt no obligation to prevent the shedding of innocent blood.

————

Somewhere in the capital city of Southern Garden Nation, an emaciated little girl was standing in front of a steamed bun shop, salivating incessantly as she stared at the stacks of piping hot bamboo steamers in front of her.

The shopkeeper found her to be an eyesore, and he angrily told her to go away, but the little girl stood up straight and spread her hand open to reveal her five copper coins.

The shopkeeper didn’t even bother to take a glance at the money, and he insisted that she go away, threatening to beat her with a bench if she didn’t comply.

The little girl hurriedly scurried away, then turned to look back at the shop with a dark expression from afar.

She then made her way to a pancake stall, where she purchased two large pancakes, leaving her with a single copper coin.

Just a single pancake would’ve been enough to sustain her for the day, and initially, she really did only eat one, but as she walked along, she became more and more conflicted.

In the end, she squatted down at the foot of a wall, then ate the pancake that was supposed to have been her food for the next day.

After that, she was immediately overcome by remorse and pinched her own arm viciously as a form of self-administered punishment. However, after rising to her feet, she felt full for the first time in a long time, and that put her in a good mood. She began to rush along the street while occasionally raising her head to look up at the paper kites in the sky with an envious expression.

On this night, she didn’t return to her little den. The summer night was nice and cool, and she could sleep anywhere without fear of freezing to death. The only downside was that there were many mosquitoes, which was a little vexing.

There was a pair of crudely crafted stone lions placed on either side of the gates of a wealthy household, and they were very strange in appearance. Instead of resting on their haunches, these two stone lions were standing on all four legs, looking up into the distance.

The stone lions were at just the right height for the little girl to climb onto the back of one of them, and there, she sat for a while, looking up at the night sky before fishing out her only remaining copper coin.

She peered at the night sky through the small square hole at the center of the coin, and a wide smile appeared on her face.

She then hid the copper coin before laying down to sleep, and before long, she was snoring gently.

Chen Ping’an was sitting with his legs crossed on the neighboring stone lion, and he turned to look at the sleeping little girl with his brows tightly furrowed, seemingly grappling with some rather conflicted emotions.

In the end, he set those emotions aside and closed his eyes to practice his standing meditation, while the little girl slept soundly on the stone lion’s back.