Unsheathed

Instead of answering her question, the young Daoist priest only continued to stare and smile at her, and his eyes gradually became brighter and more unsettling, much to Jiu Niang’s dismay.

For some reason, the young Daoist priest suddenly burst into tears, but the smile on his face remained unchanged as he said, “Let’s go home together, Jiu Niang.”

Before Jiu Niang had a chance to erupt into a tantrum, the young Daoist priest wiped the tears on his face as he murmured in a self-deprecating fashion, “My apologies, I mistook you for someone else.”

He sat down beside a table, then pulled out a few pieces of loose silver and placed them on the table. He said with a smile, “I want however many flagons of wine these pieces of silver can fetch me.”

The inn was situated on the border, so there were all types of people coming through, and there were often travelers who exhibited rather strange behaviors.

Throughout the years that the lame young boy had been working at the inn, he had seen more than his fair share of enigmatic characters, so he didn’t think much of the young Daoist priest as he picked up the loose silver and said, “Our inn’s green plum wine is split up into three grades. If you want our finest green plum wine, then these pieces of loose silver will only be able to fetch you a single jar…”

“One jar of your finest green plum wine it is then,” the young Daoist priest interjected with a smile before the lame young boy had a chance to finish.

He was journeying through the vast world far away from home, and he couldn’t form any deep connections with anyone. Over the course of such a lonesome journey, wine was all but a necessity.

He had drunk virtually all of the wine that Parasol Leaf Continent had to offer, and not only was he an avid drinker, he also had a Sword Nurturing Gourd of a decent caliber that he could use as a wine gourd.

As for the two strange bonded flying swords in the Sword Nurturing Gourd, he would certainly like to keep them, but even if they were destroyed, he didn’t really care.

Once he returned home, he would give the flying swords to the juniors of his clan as a present to make up for missing their coming-of-age ceremony. For the people back home, there was no better present than a sword.

In the wake of the unforeseen turn of events on Parasol Leaf Continent, certain secrets were prematurely revealed, and his two subordinates weren’t able to keep themselves concealed to the very end. However, he was not to blame, it was simply a case of bad fortune. At this point, he could only hope that things would go a little smoother on Southern Whirl Continent and Circling Ascension Continent.

According to the original plan, both Peace and Tranquility Mountain and Planchette Writing Sect would’ve been razed to the ground, and the Sect Leader and Heavenly Lord of Peace and Tranquility Mountain would’ve both perished.

As for Noble Scholar Zhong Kui of the Great Subduing Academy, he was actually ranked very highly on the young Daoist priest’s list, and his death was no less significant than the demise of Peace and Tranquility Mountain.

Hence, he had instructed the sword-carrying white ape to sacrifice its own life for Zhong Kui’s if necessary. If it could successfully make its way into that broken mountain range after the event, then it would’ve emerged victorious, regardless of how severe its injuries. Once inside the dragon vein, it would have to stay there and keep a low profile.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to save the old ape. After all, he could only take one person with him from Majestic World, and if the old ape’s Dao foundation hadn’t been damaged, it would’ve still been a twelfth tier swordsman, in which case he would’ve perhaps taken it with him, as opposed to coming here to drink by himself.

Zhong Kui should’ve lived a little longer, and his infatuation should’ve been a little stronger.

The hunch-backed old man gave Jiu Niang a cautionary look, indicating for her to be wary of the young Daoist priest, but she brushed off her concerns and carried a wine jar and two bowls over to the table before sitting down across from the young Daoist priest.

She poured out two bowls of wine, then smiled as she asked, “Have you mistaken me for someone else, or are you actually familiar with me?”

The young Daoist priest took a sip from his bowl, then praised the wine before wiping his lips with the back of his hand, following which he replied, “I mistook you for someone else.”

A smile appeared on Jiu Niang’s face as she remarked, “You’re very brave for a Daoist priest, and you don’t speak with the modesty of a Daoist priest, either. Could it be that you’re a fake Daoist priest posing as an immortal of Peace and Tranquility Mountain?”

The young Daoist priest shook his head in response. “I’m as genuine as a Daoist priest can be. I picked out a body at random, then cultivated for over a century on Peace and Tranquility Mountain. Only then did I receive this jade tablet, but I later perished during a journey, and no trace of my body remained.

“Even the jade tablet given to me couldn’t be recovered, so you could say that I suffered quite a terrible fate. After that, I adopted a different appearance and began to roam the land. I began searching for wine to drink again, and in the end, I returned to the Great Quan Empire and visited many places, such as Burial River.

“I also met a scholar by the name of Wang Qi in Mirage City. At the time, he was already quite advanced in age. His name was truly brilliant. As explained by a sage, the Qi character in his name entails a tall and proportionate figure, and an earnest and resilient heart. It’s just a pity that he ultimately fell to his own greed.”

Jiu Niang’s wrist trembled slightly as she brought her bowl to her lips.

She downed all of the wine in the bowl in one go, then set down the bowl before asking, “Why are you telling me all of this? Are you going to kill me?”

The young Daoist priest erupted into laughter, as if he had just been told a hilarious joke, following which he murmured, “I already told you that I mistook you for someone else. The person that I mistook you for has nine lives, so how am I supposed to kill her? If I kill you once, I’ll attract the attention of Master Bai.

“You don’t know how fearsome Master Bai is to someone like me. Even if a Confucian sage were to kill me, I would only be half-dead, and that would only help me return home sooner. However, if Master Bai were to see me, he would be able to erase me out of existence even from an entire world away!”

A look of melancholy then appeared on his face as he continued, “I couldn’t bear to kill you anyway.”

The young Daoist priest put on a faint smile, then took another sip of wine out of his bowl as he said, “Parasol Leaf Continent has just endured a major ordeal, but if you look back on this ordeal with the clarity of hindsight, you’d find that it was actually a blessing in disguise.”

Jiu Niang was astonished to hear this.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already had my wine and complained to my heart’s content. Once I leave, none of you will remember anything.”

The young Daoist priest set down his bowl as he spoke, then rose to his feet and turned to leave.

As he did so, time seemed to have suddenly began flowing in reverse in the inn, and everything was reverting back to the point in time before he entered the inn.

Finally, as the young Daoist priest strode over the doorstep of the inn, everything returned to normal. The lame young boy was still dozing off at the table, the hunch-backed old man was still smoking his pipe, and Jiu Niang had gone back to working on her abacus.

Time stood completely still.

The only difference was that the young Daoist priest’s bowl still remained on the table.

He leaned back to cast his gaze toward the counter, and Jiu Niang looked back at him with a cold expression.

The young Daoist priest took a glance behind Jiu Niang, where a series of white tails that were as thick as pillars had appeared.

After counting the number of tails, the young Daoist priest’s brows furrowed slightly, but they quickly unfurrowed again as he smiled and departed.

“You’re going to be plucked out sooner or later,” Jiu Niang said in a cold voice.

At this point, the young Daoist priest was already far away from the inn, but his voice rang out within it as he replied, “That’s precisely what I desire. Otherwise, why would I be going out of my way to target a young boy that even Peace and Tranquility Mountain is trying to protect?”

A short moment later…

The lame young boy continued snoring, the smoke from the hunch-backed old man’s pipe continued to swirl through the air, and the sound of Jiu Niang’s abacus resumed.

Some time later, Jiu Niang spotted the bowl on the table, and she slammed a hand down onto her abacus as she snapped, “Are you blind?! Why haven’t you cleared away the bowl on that table?!”

The lame young boy instantly jolted wide awake, and he scratched his own head in befuddlement at the sight of the bowl that had inexplicably appeared on the table. He clearly recalled that he had already cleared that table, but he didn’t dare to argue with the shopkeeper when she was clearly not in a very good mood, so he picked up the bowl and made his way to the kitchen.

On the border, a young Daoist priest was walking along in a slightly shaky fashion as he quietly hummed a tune to himself.

————

Outside the run-down temple, it was still pouring, but even through the torrential downpour, one could smell the odor of blood in the air.

Sui Youbian darted away to the side. On this occasion, she wasn’t wielding a longsword as she had done during the battle in the inn. Instead, she was wielding Deep Infatuation, and she sprang through the forest like an agile monkey. With each slash of her sword, a burst of formidable sword qi would be unleashed, splitting the Great Quan Empire soldiers into two along with their suits of armor.

Lu Baixiang had gone in the opposite direction to Sui Youbian, and as soon as he was approached by any enemy soldiers, he would casually lash out with his saber. In contrast with Sui Youbian’s ostentatious swordsmanship, his attacks were much more understated, and he chose to target only the necks or the foreheads of the oncoming enemy soldiers.

There were many master martial artists and Militarian cultivators concealed within the forest on either side, and they were launching sneak attacks at Lu Baixiang and Sui Youbian whenever suitable opportunities arose.

On top of that, there were also volleys of crossbow arrows being fired at them.

Sui Youbian was giving off an incredibly sharp aura that was even more fierce than the sword qi from her Deep Infatuation, as expected of the first female Sword Immortal in the history of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land to have attempted ascension by splitting the heavens with her sword.

Meanwhile, Lu Baixiang looked as if he were taking a casual stroll.

There were a few slightly troublesome opponents to deal with interspersed throughout the armored soldiers of the Great Quan Empire, but overall, this was nothing more than a cake walk for him, particularly compared with the formidable lineup that had been assembled to face him for the final battle of his life.

Sui Youbian, Lu Baixiang, and Zhu Lian had all undergone drastic changes since their emergence from the inn outside Fox Town.

Sui Youbian had been diligently honing her swordsmanship while quickly acclimating herself to the new environment of Majestic World, while Zhu Lian and Lu Baixiang had also been hard at work. A sixth tier martial artist who had to grow accustomed to the spiritual energy of this world being funneled into their body was a completely different concept from a martial artist who was at the pinnacle of the sixth tier and had a stable cultivation base.

Chen Ping’an was standing directly in front of the entrance of the temple, and he only assisted Zhu Lian once by attacking Liu Cong with First and Fifteenth. After that, he took no further part in the battle.

Liu Cong was under the protection of Xu Qingzhou, Xu Tong, and the group of cultivators accompanying his troops, and they were able to withstand the assault at the price of one of Xu Tong’s talismanic warriors and the life of one of the aforementioned cultivators.

Chen Ping’an had already pulled out all the stops against Li Li, so Xu Qingzhou and Xu Tong were aware of all of his tricks, and First and Fifteenth weren’t able to catch them off guard at all.

Liu Cong continued to retreat as the battle wore on, while Xu Qingzhou and Xu Tong remained firmly by his side.

As for the other seasoned cultivators, they had to do everything in their power to keep Zhu Lian at bay, while also keeping an eye on the short man clad in the suit of white armor, who was still yet to make a move.

There were two thousand soldiers on the mountain, as well as three thousand more that could scale the mountain at any moment to serve as reinforcements.

Additionally, there were also all of the cultivators accompanying the troops and the master martial artists that Liu Cong had hired, and he knew that such a lineup wouldn’t be sufficient to kill Chen Ping’an and his four subordinates, but if he could just kill or severely wound two or three of them, then that would be enough to seal his victory.

At this moment, Zhu Lian was truly living up to his nickname of Martial Arts Maniac.

His entire body was like a coiled spring, and he moved as fast as lightning.

All of the sneak attacks thrown at him by the cultivators under Liu Cong’s command were evaded with ease, as if he had anticipated everything.

As he charged forward, he hunched his back even further to lower his center of gravity, to the point that his hands were trailing along the ground. Whenever he stomped a foot down onto the ground, he would shoot forward like a speeding arrow, displaying incredible speed and explosiveness.

Pouncing on an opening, Zhu Lian appeared in front of a middle-aged enemy cultivator in a wraith-like fashion, then plunged his fist straight through the man’s abdomen. He then used the man’s lifeless body as a shield, warding off an attack from one of Xu Tong’s talismanic warriors before tossing the body aside.

After that, he abruptly sprang several steps to the side, and without even looking, he swung an arm into another enemy cultivator’s head, causing it to explode like a watermelon. The headless body of the unfortunate cultivator flew through the air before landing heavily on the ground dozens of feet away.

Clad in his suit of West Mountain armor, Wei Xian reached out to grab the enemy spirit tools that were just barely glancing past Zhu Lian with his bare hands. Any spirit tool caught in his grasp would either be pulverized by his crushing grip or bent beyond repair.

Additionally, more and more of Liu Cong’s forces were beginning to rush out from the paths on either side, and in response, Wei Xian began to retreat.

Zhu Lian was often either slapping or kicking the spirit tools wielded by the enemy cultivators Wei Xian’s way, so not only did he have to ward off the soldiers charging toward the run-down temple, he also had to deal with the trash that Zhu Lian was tossing at him.

Far away in the distance, Liu Cong’s expression remained unchanged as he observed the unfolding battle while murmuring to himself, “Will I really have to sacrifice all five thousand of my men here? Is that what it’s going to take to wear them down to their deaths?”

“We have no other option,” Xu Qingzhou said. “Xu Tong and I, as well as the three people that you arranged in advance, will wait for the window of opportunity when those four replenish their breaths of True Qi to deliver lethal blows. We’ll do everything in our power to ensure that the deaths of these men won’t be in vain.”

Liu Cong grabbed onto the hilt of his saber, and veins were bulging on the back of his hand as he spat through gritted teeth, “Why is it that those four master martial artists are so much more formidable than our intelligence suggested?!”

A sullen look appeared on Xu Tong’s face as he replied, “General Xu and I are even more perplexed about that than you, Your Highness. Back in the inn, we were still able to fight them on equal terms, but if we were to challenge them again tonight, General Xu and I would undoubtedly be killed.”

Liu Cong heaved a resigned sigh as he said, “You’re not to blame. Chen Ping’an must’ve somehow had the foresight to instruct them to conceal their true power from the very beginning. Having said that, it doesn’t matter. No matter how severe our losses are, the spoils that we reap from him will be more than enough to make up for it!”

Under the eaves of the run-down temple, Chen Ping’an looked down at the ancestral hall jade tablet gifted to him by the young Daoist priest from Peace and Tranquility Mountain, and he couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.