Unsheathed

Now that the great demon had been slain by the mysterious swordsman, Parasol Leaf Sect grand elder’s plans had completely fallen through, and that was exactly what he wanted to see. For the sake of his good friend, Lu Fang, he had traveled in secret to the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, and he had essentially gone missing from Parasol Leaf Continent for sixty years.

During that time, many dissenting voices against him had arisen in Jade Tablet Sect, and that was why he had been forced to re-emerge. However, they were expecting him to work without any compensation, so he was naturally taking a very halfhearted approach.

Song Mao was a little displeased by the swordsman’s rude demeanor, but he knew better than to let his emotions get in the way of his decision-making. The swordsman clearly wasn’t intimidated by the mention of Peace and Tranquility Mountain at all, and there had to be a reason for his haughtiness. The only problem was that Song Mao couldn’t think of any swordsman in Parasol Leaf Continent that matched this man’s description.

He couldn’t figure out who this man was, nor was he able to ascertain the man’s motives for stepping in to kill that great demon. Had he slain the great demon in order to claim the merits for the feat, or had he simply done so out of a sense of justice?

Alternatively, could it be that he wanted to claim certain prized parts of the great demon’s body, or even claim the entire body for himself? Song Mao naturally didn’t care about claiming the great demon’s body, but it was clear that this demon and Bai Yuan were the main culprits for the major unrest that had recently swept over Parasol Leaf Continent.

Hence, he had to take its body back with him to be inspected by a Confucian academy, then have the academy employ the services of a Naturalist to conduct divination on the body.

With that in mind, Song Mao was temporarily at a loss for how to approach this situation.

The strange swordsman turned to the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect and asked, “What’s that look you’re giving me?”

“This great demon would’ve been best kept alive so that I could take it back to Parasol Leaf Sect with me for interrogation. Perhaps I could’ve uncovered an even larger conspiracy. However, now that you’ve slain it, the leads have run dry, so how are we going to uncover the mastermind behind all of this now?

“Why do you think the three of us pursued it all the way out into the sea instead of finishing it off earlier? Also, did you really just so happen to run into us? The sea west of Parasol Leaf Sect is enormous, I’m not convinced that you just so happened to appear here precisely at the right place and the right time,” the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect replied, essentially making a barely concealed threat.

The smile on the face of the Jiang Clan Leader remained unchanged, and he was eager to see a conflict arise.

Song Mao was just about to say something when the swordsman declared in an indifferent voice, “If you’re not convinced, then fight me.”

This was completely unbecoming of a swordsman of his caliber. One would struggle to find even a Qi refiner of the Middle Five Tiers behaving in such an abrasive fashion. In fact, he was carrying himself much more like an uncouth martial artist.

Before Song Mao had a chance to try and play the role of mediator, the swordsman lashed out once again, this time at the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect.

The grand elder’s expression changed drastically as he hurriedly summoned a bonded treasure of his that he had been refining for over a thousand years, and it was an ancient ceremonial bell that he had obtained from a broken small world.

The bell was considered to be the foremost of the eight instruments. This one was an antiquated copper bell no taller than the length of a human arm, yet its Dao Manifestation was over a hundred feet tall, and it encompassed the grand elder’s entire body within it.

Engraved onto the outer wall of the bell was a sacred passage inscribed by an ancient Confucian sage, and at this moment, the fist-sized characters of the passage of text were rapidly revolving over the surface of the bell’s Dao Manifestation.

The grand elder thought that the bell’s Dao Manifestation would at least be able to contend momentarily against the streak of oncoming sword qi, but to his shock and alarm, the Dao Manifestation was instantly split apart, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat along with the antiquated bell, hoping that the sword qi would diminish once he retreated to a sufficient distance away.

In the end, he was forced to retreat for close to ten kilometers, and the entire sea was parted by the sword qi, creating a rift that stretched all the way from the swordsman to the grand elder.

By the time the streak of sword qi finally faded away, the grand elder was left rooted to the spot with a stunned expression on his deathly pale face. At the same time, a pained look flashed through his eyes at the sight of the tiny mark that had been scratched onto the surface of the copper bell.

This was going to take an astronomical amount of resources for him to repair!

How could such a casual sword strike from the swordsman have been imbued with such immense power?

Such a formidable sword immortal definitely didn’t exist even on Southern Whirl Continent, let alone Parasol Leaf Continent or Eastern Treasured Vial Continent! Even the likes of Cao Xi most certainly wouldn’t have been able to unleash such fearsome sword qi!

Having been forced back so far into retreat, the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect was no longer serving as an eyesore for the swordsman, so he turned his attention to the leader of the Jiang Clan as he remarked, “You seem to be thoroughly enjoying the show.”

The smile on the Jiang Clan Leader’s face instantly stiffened as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.

“Please forgive me for my rudeness, Senior.”

“Senior? You’re far older than I am,” the swordsman scoffed.

The leader of the Jiang Clan was renowned for his shamelessness in the cultivation circles of Parasol Leaf Continent, and his expression remained unchanged as he replied in a serious voice, “On the path of cultivation, seniority is decided by power, not age. I wouldn’t dare to compare myself to you, Senior.”

The swordsman paid no further heed to the leader of the Jiang Clan as he cast his gaze toward the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect in the distance.

“You seem to be carrying an offensive treasure of a decent caliber. Let me take a look at it.”

At this point, it had become abundantly clear that the swordsman had a very short temper, even more so than the Heavenly Lord of Peace and Tranquility Mountain, so the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect naturally didn’t dare to reveal the treasure. If he were to do so, the followup from the swordsman would most likely be something along the lines of: “That’s quite a nice treasure, I wonder how it matches up against my sword.”

In that situation, what was he supposed to do? If he backed down from the challenge, then he would be embarrassing himself in front of people from both Jade Tablet Sect and Peace and Tranquility Mountain. However, if he were to accept the challenge, there was no guarantee that he would be able to emerge unscathed. In fact, it was much more likely that he suffered the same fate as that great demon.

With that in mind, the grand elder hurriedly replied, “This is an important treasure of our sect that I’ve brought with me to slay this great demon, and it’s not to be displayed for no good reason.”

At the same time, he was fuming internally.

How could there be such an unreasonable swordsman in this world? And why weren’t the Confucian sages doing anything to keep him in check?!

The grand elder felt like he had already done enough to concede his inferiority, yet right as he was hoping that the swordsman would let him off the hook, the man asked, “If you don’t bring out that treasure, how are you going to withstand my second attack?”

The grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect was furious to hear this, and he could barely contain his temper.

Meanwhile, Jiang Shangzhen was looking on with a serious expression, but internally, he was chortling with glee.

He had always found the cultivators of Parasol Leaf Sect to be completely insufferable, and that was an opinion shared by everyone in the entire Jade Tablet Sect, particularly the sect leader. The Jade Tablet Sect Leader had only gotten truly angry a handful of times in his life, and almost all of those temper tantrums had been caused by Parasol Leaf Sect cultivators.

“Right now, Parasol Leaf Continent is in a state of great turmoil, so I implore you to lay down your sword, Senior,” Song Mao said in a serious voice.

“Will you take my second attack in his stead then?” the swordsman asked.

“I will!” Song Mao replied without any hesitation. “Regardless of whether I can withstand the attack, there are people from both Parasol Leaf Sect and Jade Tablet Sect present to bear witness and report the outcome to Peace and Tranquility Mountain. Even if I die here, I will only have my own weakness to blame, and Peace and Tranquility Mountain certainly won’t seek retribution against you!”

A reminiscent look appeared on the swordsman’s face at the mention of Peace and Tranquility Mountain, and he suddenly burst into laughter as he said, “As expected of a cultivator from Peace and Tranquility Mountain, you have some backbone. Peace and Tranquility Mountain is the only passable sect on the entire Parasol Leaf Continent; I can’t even remember the others.”

Song Mao didn’t know what to make of this response.

The swordsman suppressed his sword qi somewhat, indicating that he wasn’t going to be unleashing any further attacks.

He had decided to let Song Mao off the hook as he recalled hearing Little Qi mention that the cultivators of Peace and Tranquility Mountain all had a traditional heroic spirit about them.

With that in mind, the swordsman said, “You can take the great demon’s body.”

Song Mao was very relieved to hear this, and he sheathed his sword before cupping his fist in a salute.

“Thank you, Senior.”

After a brief hesitation, the swordsman turned to the three men and asked, “Do any of you know of a young man by the name of Chen Ping’an?”

Song Mao and the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect both exchanged blank looks with one another, while Jiang Shangzhen quickly weighed up his options for a moment before replying with a smile, “I do.”

“What’s he been up to?” the swordsman asked.

Jiang Shangzhen gave the swordsman a concise recount of everything that he had seen in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land through voice transmission.

The swordsman nodded in response, then remarked in an unimpressed manner, “I suppose climbing to the top of a blessed land is a decent achievement.”

“Do you need me to look out for him, Senior?” Jiang Shangzhen asked.

“Don’t bother, you barely even possess the power to look after yourself,” the swordsman scoffed.

Jiang Shangzhen fell silent as a wry smile appeared on his face, and the swordsman promptly departed, traveling further and further away from Parasol Leaf Continent.

He had no intention of serving as a Dao guardian for anyone.

Once the swordsman was far out of earshot, a cheeky grin appeared on Jiang Shangzhen’s face as he remarked, “As expected, things are much more exciting in our Majestic World.”

“Do you know who that senior was?” Song Mao asked with a curious expression.

Jiang Shangzhen smiled and offered no response.

The grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect cautiously made his way back to the two men, then harrumphed coldly, “His swordsmanship may be exceptional, but he’s nothing more than…”

“Nothing more than what?” Jiang Shangzhen goaded with a provocative smile.

The old man was forced to swallow the words that were about to come out of his mouth next.

He was truly terrified of the unreasonable swordsman.

He was extremely thankful for his decision to hold his tongue as in the next instant, the swordsman suddenly returned without any warning. He took a glance at the old man, then said to Jiang Shangzhen, “You can have this thing’s demon core.”

Jiang Shangzhen immediately cupped his fist in a salute and replied, “Thank you, Senior.”

With that, Zuo You departed once again.

————

Inside that underground palace on Parasol Leaf Continent, Bai Yuan was greeted by the sight of a tall old man in a Daoist robe.

An awkward smile appeared on the young Daoist priest’s face.

“You got what you wished for. Are you happy now?” the old Daoist priest asked.

“I’m certainly very surprised, that’s for sure,” the young Daoist priest replied with a wry smile.

Even though they had never met before, Bai Yuan could immediately tell who the old Daoist priest was.

It was the enigmatic Observing Dao Temple abbot that no one could find, the old Daoist priest of the East Sea.

If anyone wanted to enter the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, they had no choice but to negotiate with that child with the golden gourd on his back. Even almighty earth immortals had no option but to barter with the child.

The young Daoist priest rose to his feet as he asked, “Have you come to kill me to uphold the Heavenly Dao?”

“Uphold the Heavenly Dao? The Heavenly Dao is already in ruins, what is there to uphold?” the old Daoist priest sneered. “I only came here because I wanted to see who it was that had the courage to go after the parasol leaf umbrella that I gave out.”

A look of realization appeared on the young Daoist priest’s face as he asked, “Are you referring to the oil-paper umbrella carried by that little girl? If I had known that Chen Ping’an had ties to you, I would’ve never gone after him.”

The old Daoist priest strode past the young Daoist priest and made his way up the steps onto the Dragon Locking Platform as he said, “I have no interest in the affairs of the world, and I’m not going to kill you. It’s about time that certain complacent little rascals were taught a lesson. Otherwise, they’re going to forget what those old geezers did for them all those years ago.”

The young Daoist priest also made his way onto the stone platform behind the old Daoist priest, and he smiled as he said, “Thank you, Senior.”

With this declaration from the old Daoist priest, his plans in Parasol Leaf Sect had already come halfway into fruition, even though they had been prematurely exposed.

At the very least, once he returned to Savage World, he wouldn’t be banished into that mountain range and be forced to carry mountains for that blind man year after year. From an outsider’s perspective, perhaps this seemed like a rather fun task, but all of the great demons that were actually subjected to this terrible fate suffered immensely.

Most importantly, for some reason, the rulers of Savage World seemed to have never considered combining their powers to pull out this thorn in their side and toss it over to the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Upon stepping onto the Dragon Locking Platform, the old Daoist priest took a glance at the apprehensive Bai Yuan, then nodded as he remarked, “You’re an interesting little fellow. I suppose I’ll send you on your way. Remember to use your White Ape Sword-Carrying Technique in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.”

In the blink of an eye, Bai Yuan vanished from the Dragon Locking Platform.

The young Daoist priest’s mind was racing as he said, “Now that Bai Yuan is gone, please be direct with me and tell me what you would like me to do, Senior.”

“What do you want to do?” the old Daoist priest asked.

“If I say it, I’ll die here on this Dragon Locking Platform, so I won’t,” the young Daoist priest replied in a candid fashion.

A disappointed look appeared on the old Daoist priest’s face as he said, “I already gave you a chance. At your peak, you were a great demon only a hair’s breadth away from the thirteenth tier, yet you didn’t even dare to kill Chen Ping’an. In your failure to do so, you missed out on an enormous fated opportunity. Back on the Sword Qi Great Wall, Chen Qingdu lent Chen Ping’an a sword with the intention of passing on some karma to Chen Ping’an.

“If you had killed him, you and Savage World would’ve both done a great deed, and I would’ve been able to take advantage of the opportunity to usher Chen Ping’an into my temple. Not only would that infuriate that old scholar to no end, it would also significantly elevate the height of my position.”

The young Daoist priest was stunned to hear this, while the old Daoist priest concluded, “But it’s all too late now.”

The young Daoist priest stomped a foot down onto the ground in remorse and frustration, and the Dragon Locking Platform trembled beneath his feet, while lightning flashed in the space outside.