Unsheathed

Before sneaking into the prince’s residence, Empress Zhou Shuzhen—also the pagoda leader of Reverence Pagoda and a spy from Mirror Heart Hall—had hidden herself in the cool shadows of someplace and gazed toward the intense battle taking place atop the city wall to the south. She couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

The battle between Ding Ying and Chen Ping’an was earth-shattering.

Even if one flicked through the most dust-laden secret documents stored inside the Reverence Pagoda, one would discover that it had already been many cycles of sixty years since such a paramount and astounding battle had taken place in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

This was a fight between only two people, yet it appeared as if it were a battle between two armies of heavy cavalry along a battle line that stretched for thousands of kilometers, causing plumes of yellow sand to fly through the air.

Wei Xian, the founding emperor of Southern Garden Nation, had been invincible during his time. Afterward, Lu Baixiang had also achieved invincibility, relying on his own power to suppress and stifle the entire cultivation world for sixty years. The female sword immortal Sui Youbian had reached such levels of invincibility and loneliness that she could only soar upward on her sword and attempt to ascend with her physical body.

Finally, the martial arts maniac Zhu Lian had chosen to become enemies with the world, battling against the remaining nine members of the Upper Ten Elites. Moreover, he managed to kill more than half of the grandmasters from the list of Upper Ten Elites.

This time, however, Ding Ying had come across a young otherworldly immortal called Chen Ping’an.

It was as if they were the sun and moon competing for glory in the lofty heavens.

Everyone else could only crane their necks and look up, expectantly waiting for the final outcome.

Zhou Shuzhen sighed and glanced at the young man and young woman standing on the ridge of some roof. She didn’t leap over to approach them, and instead remained stealthy as she drifted down into a corridor and unhurriedly walked forward. She would walk behind the columns whenever she encountered maidservants and female stewards, hiding herself from the gazes of those mortals.

There were also times when she would gracefully leap onto the crossbeams, appearing like a colorful robe as she drifted forward. It wasn’t suitable for her to appear in the prince’s residence.

Even though she was the empress of Southern Garden Nation, she wasn’t actually the birth mother of the crown prince and the second prince. In fact, there were some imperceptible secrets floating around the imperial palace regarding the former empress’ death from illness, and all of these secrets contained shadows of Empress Zhou Shuzhen.

Zhou Shuzhen’s figure flashed across the corridor, yet this was just enough to make Wei Yan and Fan Wan’er discover her presence. The two of them jumped down from the roof ridge and came face to face with the empress whose beauty was renowned far and wide.

Fan Wan’er was feeling slightly curious and anxious because Zhou Shuzhen had shown up suddenly. Moreover, the empress had chosen to appear in front of Prince Wei Yan while she was still present.

In fact, Zhou Shuzhen was none other than the senior sister who had found Fan Wan’er and brought her to Mirror Heart Hall back then. Afterward, Zhou Shuzhen had quickly assumed the identity of a palace girl meticulously woven together by Mirror Heart Hall. She had seamlessly entered the imperial palace of Southern Garden Nation and slowly climbed to the position of empress.

There was exasperation in Zhou Shuzhen’s voice as she said, “The situation is tense and there’s no time to wait anymore. It’s your senior sister’s fault for not completing her task properly, and it’s also Old Demon Ding’s fault for appearing at such a coincidental moment.”

Wei Yan looked at his “mother empress” before turning his gaze to Fan Wan’er. There was heavy fog hanging over his heart.

He didn’t mind going through thick and thin with Fan Wan’er to defeat his younger brother, who was being supported by the demonic force’s Ya’er. Afterward, he would approach the throne step by step, eventually becoming emperor and finally working together with his empress to unite the four nations.

However, what if the entire Wei Clan of Southern Garden Nation was already being twirled around the little fingers of these women from Mirror Heart Hall like a mere plaything? What would it matter even if he ascended the throne and put on the dragon robe?

Zhou Shuzhen had no time to care about Prince Wei Yan’s growing ambition to become emperor, and she looked at Fan Wan’er and explained in a frank manner, “Apart from becoming the empress, Master also sent me to the capital of Southern Garden Nation for another purpose. I was tasked with obtaining that azure dress, and I needed to obtain it neither too early nor too late. I have to obtain it during the endgame stages of the current sixty years. However, I don’t dare to get too close nor show myself in front of Old Demon Ding at all, lest I offend and anger him.”

Zhou Shuzhen offered Fan Wan’er an apologetic smile and continued with a bitter expression, “Thus, I had no option but to settle for the next best option. Before Zhou Fei left the mountains, he said that he would treat you as a spoil of battle, especially since he had already coveted your beauty for a long time.

“When I learned of this, I purposely had someone reveal a secret to Spring Tide Palace, saying that you’re intent on obtaining that azure dress. Sure enough, Zhou Fei directly visited Monk Yunni in Vajra Temple to obtain the azure dress. Because of Zhou Fei’s temper, he’ll definitely be willing to offer the azure dress to you once you fall into his hands and ask for it, regardless of what his original intentions for obtaining the dress were.”

Fan Wan’er was still extremely confused, and she asked, “So what if I obtain that azure dress? Perhaps I’ll experience a stroke of fortune after obtaining one of the four greatest fated opportunities and ascend from this world? But didn’t Senior Sister say this to me before? About Master’s warning and how I wasn’t allowed to deliberately seek fated opportunities for the sake of ascension?”

“Yes, and it’s a shame that Zhou Fei has given that azure dress to the demonic force’s Ya’er without a second thought,” Zhou Shuzhen revealed. “Things have already come to this… but thankfully Master predicted this outcome as well.”

She solemnly took out the small copper mirror and explained, “Master told me to hand this mirror to you when this happened.”

Fan Wan’er accepted the mirror and turned it around in her hands, examining it from all angles. However, she couldn’t find anything special about it.

Zhou Shuzhen shook her head and said, “I’ve carefully studied it for many years, but I couldn’t find anything peculiar about it either. It seems as if it’s just an ordinary mirror.”

Zhou Shuzhen turned to Wei Yan and said with a smile, “Your Highness, there’s no need to worry about becoming a puppet of Mirror Heart Hall. We have no ambition of transforming you into a puppet, nor do we have the strength to support this ambition to begin with.

“Master once said that Ding Ying, Yu Zhenyi, and Zhong Qiu are three insurmountable mountains in this world, especially the former two. The schemes of Mirror Heart Hall are like the plans of children in front of them. They’re completely meaningless in the grand schemes of this world.”

Zhou Shuzhen left out some things. One needed to respect one’s elders, so she was unwilling to say too much about her master, Tong Qingqing, in front of an outsider like Wei Yan.

In fact, Tong Qingqing had also said some heartfelt words to her the last time they had met. “I did all of this simply because I’m afraid of death. Thus, I want to know who’s doing what in every corner of the world. That way, I can avoid all dangers.”

However, Zhou Shuzhen wasn’t convinced that this was her master’s true intention.

Tong Qingqing’s cultivation base was so profound, and she had also become one of the four most powerful superior grandmasters so long ago. Others might be unaware of her master’s martial arts talent, but Zhou Shuzhen was well aware that Tong Qingqing’s martial arts talent was second to only Old Demon Ding!

If her master were willing to put in the effort, then she could definitely become one of the top three elites in this world. In any case, her master also had the support of the entire Mirror Heart Hall. In addition, she also had so many loyal subordinates and spies in the imperial courts of the four nations. What did she need to fear? It was this world that needed to fear her master, Tong Qingqing, no?

Prince Wei Yan carefully ruminated over Zhou Shuzhen’s words. He didn’t believe them. More precisely, he didn’t believe all of them.

Fan Wan’er fell into deep thought as she held the copper mirror.

————

The old monk in the Vajra Temple removed his Buddhist robes and changed into ordinary clothes. He seemed somewhat awkward, as if he’d grown unaccustomed to this. He then headed toward the imperial palace to ask the emperor for White River Temple’s Golden Arhat Body. Before entering the palace, he held his hands together and said “Amitabha” as he waited for the emperor to summon him.

The emperor was sitting in his imperial study and personally waiting for him. Before the recent events and revelations, even the emperor of Southern Garden Nation hadn’t known about this lecturing monk from Vajra Temple. The emperor only learned of the monk after the list of Upper Ten Elites was revealed. It seemed that this monk had mastered numerous profound and mystical Buddhist abilities.

The emperor didn’t hesitate at all when he agreed to give the Golden Arhat Body to Monk Yunni. He told the old monk to take it as he pleased.

The old monk had just returned to a secular life, and was slightly puzzled by the emperor’s readiness to offer him the Golden Vajra Body. He had already come up with many explanations and potential concessions, for example, agreeing to serve Southern Garden Nation for thirty years and so on.

Elsewhere, Arm Sage Cheng Yuanshan didn’t go over to reunite with his disciples. That would be far too obvious, and it would make it far too easy for others to find him.

However, it wouldn’t make sense for him to wander around with his spear either. Thus, he picked a stone arch bridge and walked over to enjoy the shade under it.

He had made up his mind, and he would only show himself if at least half of the people on the list of Upper Ten Elites were dead when the heavenly drum was struck for the second time on Bull Mountain, which was located outside the capital. Otherwise, he would rather forfeit this opportunity to ascend.

Cheng Yuanshan dearly hoped that all of the grandmasters on the list of Upper Ten Elites would be killed.

Cheng Yuanshan didn’t care if this went against his martial arts Dao Heart or not. He only cared about the results. Looking through the tens of millions of words in the history books, what else was eternal but the bloody words “the victor becomes king, the defeated become outlaws”?

Tang Tieyi, who had always wanted to hone his saber skills by disposing of Cheng Yuanshan, failed to find the Arm Sage despite looking everywhere. In the end, he had no option but to give up. He pondered for a moment, and realized that the biggest variable right now was actually his own identity.

Things would become very troublesome if it was revealed that the Dragon General of Northern Jin Nation was leisurely wandering around the capital of Southern Garden Nation. Even though the relationship between the two nations was relatively good, Southern Garden Nation had long since revealed its grand ambitions and its desire to unite the four nations.

That being the case, Tang Tieyi wasn’t silly enough to believe that he would be politely sent out of Southern Garden Nation. Either he surrendered to the Wei Clan and served them in the future, or he would die a violent death in the capital.

Personally speaking, surrendering to Southern Garden Nation naturally wouldn’t be a good outcome. However, it wouldn’t necessarily be a terrible outcome either. After all, Southern Garden Nation was the most powerful nation with the strongest troops and healthiest horses.

However, all of Tang Tieyi’s power and relationships were in Northern Jin Nation. If he surrendered to Southern Garden Nation, then his clan, his wives and mistresses, his military power, and his reputation would all vanish into nothingness. Moreover, just how much respect would the scholarly officials and military generals in Southern Garden Nation show to him, an outsider?

Tang Tieyi was a powerful and courageous elite, after all, and as a pillar member of Northern Jin Nation who was still yet to reach forty, he clearly possessed more resolve and bravery than the aging Arm Sage. Not only did he refuse to go into hiding like Arm Sage Cheng Yuanshan, but he even chose a bustling tavern to sit down and ask for a pot of fine wine, listening to the tales spun by the storyteller.

The old storyteller in his twilight years was repeating the same old stories as always, yet Tang Tieyi listened to them with keen relish as he drank. He felt like surrendering to Southern Garden Nation and becoming an official here would be quite acceptable as well.

One day, everyone in the four nations would be talking about his glorious military career.

Tang Tieyi drank a sip of wine and narrowed his eyes, longing to make this a reality.

Meanwhile, Zhou Fei and Lu Fang were still drinking the lowest quality wine in that wine shop located on the corner of the street, waiting for the battle atop the city wall to draw to a close.

Following Old Demon Ding and Yu Zhenyi’s entrance into the conflict, one certain person who had already exited the conflict started to become an interesting variable again.

Tong Qingqing, the superior grandmaster from the Mirror Heart Hall.

Not long ago, Zhou Fei and Lu Fang had turned a deaf ear to Ya’er’s question. However, when the girl wearing the azure dress fell silent, Zhou Fei suddenly chuckled and started to voluntarily talk about this extremely interesting otherworldly immortal. As if coming around to something, Zhou Fei glanced at Ya’er before explaining some of Tong Qingqing’s deeds in another world to his son, Zhou Shi.

After listening to his father’s recollections, Zhou Shi couldn’t help but feel like things were utterly ridiculous.

One was an ambitious and indomitable female sword cultivator, and one was the timid leader of Mirror Heart Hall who only knew how to hide.

The two of them were polar opposites of each other.

In his father’s native world, there was a sect called Peace and Tranquility Mountain. Here, there was a female Daoist who possessed immense talent and incredibly good fortune. She was the envy of everyone else.

There was a force called Divine Edict Sect in Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and in this sect was a female a generation younger than her, yet also possessed similarly immense talent and good fortune. Thus, she was often regarded as the second coming of the female Daoist.

The female Daoist was innately considerate, warm-hearted, extremely upright, and unyielding. If she encountered injustice, then she would definitely pursue the matter until the very end. She also viewed life and death as a minor matter; a position completely contrary to that of most cultivators.

Her esteemed master had gone to great lengths and spoken many sincere words in an attempt to enlighten her, yet the female Daoist couldn’t be enlightened. Each time she was lectured, she would only restrain herself for a short while before returning to her original ways.

She would definitely rush over to become involved as long as she caught sight of any such injustice. Moreover, she would only be willing to relent once she dragged out the main culprit hiding in the background.

She didn’t care if this would delay her cultivation. In terms of potentially putting her in grave danger? She would simply roll her eyes.

Because of this, Peace and Tranquility Mountain had an extremely strained relationship with Parasol Leaf Sect and Jade Tablet Sect. Its relationship with Planchette Writing Sect was even worse, and they were as incompatible as fire and water. However, to give some face to the Confucian academy, both forces tried to restrain themselves as much as possible and hold back from throwing hands.

The female Daoist meddled and fought wherever she went, yet she was surprisingly able to pull herself back from the brink of death every single time, eventually advancing to the tenth tier, the Nascent Tier.

Such was the remarkable nature of this that even the reclusive grand elder of Peace and Tranquility Mountain—the only remaining grand elder who had made humongous contributions and the grand uncle master of the current sect leader—was astonished.

A whopping nine Golden Core Tier cultivators and Nascent Tier cultivators were in Peace and Tranquility Mountain, cultivators whom mortal humans regarded as earth immortals. This was unrivaled in the continent. However, there was surprisingly not a single eleventh tier cultivator in the sect.

There was only one at the twelfth tier, the Immortal Tier, holding up the entire sect—the reclusive grand elder.

Looking at Parasol Leaf Sect and Jade Tablet Sect, however, these sects had both Immortal Tier cultivators and Unpolished Jade Tier cultivators.

As for Planchette Writing Sect, they had the husband and wife who were both at the Unpolished Jade Tier. At the very least, these three sects were able to raise future generations and avoid a huge gap in power between the older and younger generations.

Thus, it was of critical importance whether the female Daoist from Peace and Tranquility Mountain could advance to the Upper Five Tiers or not.

Once she successfully advanced to the Unpolished Jade Tier, her innate fortune would be such that her eventual achievements would even suppress that of Wei Jin from Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Wind Snow Temple.

Such a powerful individual would be as rare as phoenix feathers and dragon horns even in Middle Earth Divine Continent. This was because the Great Dao was within reach for them. This was something that everyone could see clearly.

To put it simply, such an individual would have the chance to one day stand near those ten people or perhaps even replace one of them.

Moreover, currently among those ten individuals was the Great Heavenly Master from Mount Longhu, the leader of White Emperor City, and most recently promoted, Martial Goddess Pei Bei from the Great Duan Empire.

Apart from these ten people, the remaining eight continents of Majestic World naturally had rankings for their own supreme elites as well. For example, there was Chen Chun’an from Southern Whirl Continent’s Pure Confucian Chen Clan, and the so-called God of Wealth from Pure White Continent.[1] Compared to Middle Earth Divine Continent, however, the overall cultivation level of the remaining eight states was still far inferior.

————

The skinny little girl carried a large stack of books in her arms as she swiftly ran out of the courtyard and through the streets and alleys.

She was still little, yet she had already come across many bad people doing many bad things. Some bad things were done toward other people, and some things were done toward her. She had also come across the occasional good person, yet none of them had managed to enjoy good karma for their good deeds. In fact, some good people had even turned into bad people.

She had once come across an old maniac wandering around the streets with a lantern even though it was day. He had muttered that the world was too dark, so he wouldn’t be able to see the streets or people if he didn’t carry a lantern.

She had run away as quickly as she could, all the way until she was drenched in sweat. Looking up at the blazing sun in the sky, it was as if a large and brilliant lantern were hanging high up in the sky, seemingly ever-present no matter how heaven and earth spun.

However, she only liked the sun when it was winter or spring. If the world could remain warm through all four seasons though, then she would wish that the sun never existed at all. The sky was too bright with the sun hanging there, and this would make it very easy for others to discover her when she was doing some certain things. For example, stealing food.

She arrived near a well, and decided to take a break and sit on the edge of the well to rest for a while. She was panting heavily.

The skinny little girl shot a glance down the deep and dark well. She was just about to spit into the well, yet she suddenly turned around and looked up, only to see a tall old man standing beside her.

He was wearing something that was probably called a Daoist robe, and craning her neck to look up at him, the skinny little girl didn’t dare to move at all. It was as if a single twitch of her finger or even a single thought in her mind would lead to her death.

In all her life, she had never feared someone as much as she feared this old man.

The Daoist priest was tall and sturdy, and the style of his Daoist robes and his Daoist hat were both extremely rare.

Illuminated by the bright rays of sunshine, the skin of the old Daoist priest shone with a golden and jade-like luster, while his Daoist robes appeared completely pure and spotless; as if he weren’t standing in this world at all.

The old Daoist priest shot a glance at the skinny little girl before raising his arm and making a casual grabbing motion at the sky. The skinny little girl, who had been secretly glancing at him the entire time, suddenly wailed in agony and threw away all of the books in her arms, furiously covering her eyes that were already filled with tears. She started to roll around the ground in pain.

This was because she had clearly seen that old man grab the sun from the sky and hold it between his fingers just then.

As she writhed in agony, the head of the skinny little girl violently slammed into the well.

The old Daoist priest was unmoved, feeling neither pity nor annoyance toward the little girl. He simply felt apathy. When it came to the joys and sorrows of the mortal world, witnessing them once or a handful of times was starkly different from witnessing them hundreds upon thousands of times.

The old Daoist priest simply looked down at the bright sun between his fingers.

This wasn’t a projection; it was genuinely the true sun from the sky. The illusion was actually the bright sun hanging in the sky.

The old Daoist priest temporarily placed the “jewel” inside his sleeve before looking up at the city wall to the south of the capital.

Ding Ying had left him slightly disappointed, while Yu Zhenyi and Zhong Qiu were still passable. However, this evaluation of “passable” wasn’t because of how impressive Yu Zhenyi or Zhong Qiu’s performance was. Instead, it was because the old Daoist priest’s expectations of them had been rock-bottom to begin with.

However, Ding Ying was different.

Whether it was aptitude or disposition, Ding Ying was like an unrefined billet or embryo closest to the Daoist second disciple. In other words, he was like a counterfeit most similar to the genuine item.

Even though Ding Ying’s performance was slightly disappointing, it was still without a doubt that he could advance to the twelfth tier in Majestic World, no matter where he went. However, this would also be the limit of his achievement. The barrier was far too obvious. A decent-quality counterfeit would often have few blemishes, yet just how good could it actually be?

The old Daoist priest still felt unsatisfied.

Putting together the personalities of Wei Xian, Lu Baixiang, and Zhu Lian and all of their strengths into a single person, Ding Ying, resulted in something unexpectedly fragile and disappointing.

Just as he was about to flick his sleeve and crush Ding Ying’s head, the old Daoist priest suddenly hesitated for a brief moment before looking up at the sky.

Standing in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, the old Daoist priest saw the Lotus Flower World.

The blessed land and the small world were linked, and such a strange existence was only present in two places out of the four worlds.

Standing beside the well, the old Daoist priest exchanged a glance with the Daoist priest peering down at his blessed land from above. And thus, a gulf that measured dozens of kilometers in width instantly appeared at the border between the Lotus Flower Blessed Land and the Lotus Flower World.

The old Daoist priest humphed coldly.

The “jewel” in his sleeve burned a hole in his Daoist robe.

However, many withered lotus petals also appeared in the small world filled with countless lotus flowers.

The old Daoist priest standing beside the well retracted his gaze, with the sleeve of his Daoist robe quickly returning to normal. It was without a doubt that the lotus flowers in that small world were also returning to normal.

The skinny little girl lying on the ground beside his feet was still crying loudly. The feeling of staring at the blinding radiance of the sun from such a close distance was already seared deep into her soul. If she hadn’t been so fortunate as to coincidentally hide in the “shade” provided by the old Daoist priest, even her past lives and future lives would have decayed in an instant and transformed into nothingness.

The old Daoist priest exclaimed resentfully, “Old scholar, just how annoying can you be?!”

1. The God of Wealth is most likely referring to Liu Youzhou’s father, Liu Youzhou being the rich boy whom Chen Ping’an met on Osmanthus Island/Stalactite Mountain. ☜