Unsheathed

After inspecting the old maidservant’s condition, Fu Qi was shocked to discover that her bonded flying sword had been destroyed. However, he didn’t reveal this to anyone, merely declaring that the old maidservant had suffered some injuries that had to be treated.

Fu Nanhua cast his gaze toward the city wall, where Chen Ping’an was already nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Chen Ping’an had died somewhere in the outer city or if he had somehow managed to survive this ordeal.

Fu Donghai and Fu Chunhua exchanged another glance with each other.

The two of them were still not willing to give up their claim over the position of city lord just yet, and from that perspective, the condition that the old maidservant was in was certainly not good news.

“Should I send someone to look for Chen Ping’an and Zheng Dafeng?” Fu Nanhua asked.

Fu Qi shook his head in response.

“There’s no point in doing that now. Our top priority is to find out exactly what happened and why Du Mao suddenly disappeared. Turn the carriage around; we’ll enter the city from the southern gate as opposed to the eastern one.”

The most flabbergasted person of all was Du Yan, the direct lineal descendant of Du Mao. He was still standing atop the city wall, looking on with a dumbstruck expression, unable to think of where Du Mao could’ve possibly gone.

Du Yan’s wife was very mediocre when it came to cultivation aptitude, but she was much calmer than the Golden Core Tier Du Yan, and she said, “Ancestor Du Mao is a dominant force to be reckoned with even on Parasol Leaf Continent, so there’s no way that anything could’ve happened to him on the tiny Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.”

Du Yan nodded as he latched onto her hand and smiled as he said, “My apologies for losing my composure. Once this is all over, our Parasol Leaf Sect will use Old Dragon City as a springboard to cast our net northward, roping in all of the immortal sects of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

“All those who submit themselves to our Parasol Leaf Sect will thrive, while those who oppose us will meet their demise. When that time comes, I’ll be responsible for overseeing one of the routes, while you will become the leader of the Ding Clan. In the future, the Fu Clan and the Ding Clan will be the only two major clans of Old Dragon City.”

The woman smiled in response.

The Ding, Fang, and Hou Clans had all sent out elders to intercept and kill Zheng Dafeng. This was a spur of the moment arrangement made by the Fu Clan.

As a result, the three clans were caught completely off guard. If they had been given more time to prepare, then they would’ve set up three blockades, one outside the city, one in the outer city, and one in the inner city. That would’ve been a much more discreet way of doing things that wouldn’t have left any traces behind. Instead, they had been forced to take a more rushed and disorganized approach.

Previously, the four major clans had banded together to fight against the Fu Clan, but after Sun Jiashu of the Sun Clan and Du Yan of the Ding Clan pledged their allegiance to the Fu Clan, the Fang and Hou Clans had no choice but to accept this arrangement and do whatever was asked of them by the Fu Clan. Even if they were going to be reduced to servants of the Fu Clan, that would at least be better than being completely eradicated altogether.

The young man from the Fang Clan who was the culprit behind all of this still hadn’t realized that something had gone wrong, and he was still planning out the celebratory banquet that he was going to throw once he returned to the city.

After a brief discussion between the decision-makers of the three clans, they decided to follow the Fu Clan to the southern city gate. As for the elders behind them that had been sent out to intercept Zheng Dafeng, they would be given free rein for now, and it was presumed that they would return to the city once they had claimed Zheng Dafeng’s head.

Fan Junmao woke up atop the sea of clouds, and sure enough, her cultivation base had fallen to the Golden Core Tier.

However, not only was she not resentful at all, she burst into hearty laughter. She took a glance down at the route leading to the Dragon Scaling Platform to discover that there were still some battles taking place.

Her brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and she clasped one hand over her own heart, then extended the middle and index fingers of her other hand before pointing downward a few times.

Several pillars of light descended from the sea of clouds, and due to the fact that she was drawing upon the power of the sea of clouds, these attacks from Fan Jumao weren’t inferior to those of the average Nascent Tier cultivator.

At this point, the elders of the Fang, Hou, and Ding Clans had already suffered severe casualties, so there were only five or six of them left, and all of a sudden, their heads were pierced through by beams of light shooting down from above.

Only one of the Fan Clan’s coach drivers still remained, while Lu Baixiang and Wei Xian were still alive as well.

Lu Baixiang’s entire body was drenched in blood, while Wei Xian was relatively more unscathed.

As for Zhu Lian and Sui Youbian, they had fallen in battle.

Lu Baixiang retrieved Sui Youbian’s Deep Infatuation, then plunged the sword into the hearts of the fallen elders from the three clans one after another, and only after that did he enter the carriage.

Inside Old Dragon City, the short old man who was still able to release his yin soul out into the world even after time had been brought to a standstill was currently standing under a tree, chortling in such a gleeful fashion that tears were beginning to well up in his eyes.

He hadn’t laughed this hard in the past one thousand years!

That’s what you get, Du Mao, you old bastard!

He had only embarked on a northbound trip for leisure and to go and meet a friend of his, and never had he thought that he would get to witness such a marvelous spectacle along the way.

The old man was from Parasol Leaf Continent, yet he was vastly renowned in some medium and small cultivation sects on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, particularly in the hearts of all of the celestial maidens of those sects. To them, he was known as “Foot-Long Spear,” and he was known to be extremely generous.

He and a certain “Handsome Chivalrous Young Man” from the Invincible Divine Fist Sect often battled it out over certain celestial maidens while observing them through enchanted picture scrolls. Of course, they didn’t engage in any actual battles. Instead, they fought over who could give the most money, and instead of paying in snowflake coins, they used lesser heat coins!

After the old man’s laughter subsided, a serious look appeared on his face as he declared to himself, “Today is a good day, so I can’t be so stingy anymore. I have to really show my generosity and knock that guy down a peg! I can’t let him keep strutting around like he’s better than me! It’s just a pity that something so tragic had to happen to Celestial Maiden Su Jia of Sun Scorch Mountain.

“She was such a beautiful girl! I was planning to make a trip to Sun Scorch Mountain to give her a treasure, but it looks like I won’t get the chance to do that anymore. How unfortunate… Then there’s also He Xiaoliang of Divine Edict Sect. Why did she decide to leave Eastern Treasured Vial Continent all of a sudden? I wanted to go and see her for myself, even if it’s only from afar…”

Inside Zheng Dafeng’s room in the Dust Medicinal Shop, Chen Ping’an remained seated on the chair by the side of the bed.

He had heard that even if Zheng Dafeng could regain the ability to walk, he would be hunch-backed for the rest of his life.

Thinking back to the time that they had spent together in Jewel Small World, there was one occasion where Zheng Dafeng had sat in front of the gate of the small town, watching the immortals entering the town as he exclaimed, “That woman just now had a pair of killer legs!”

At the time, Chen Ping’an had failed to understand the sexual innuendo that Zheng Dafeng had made, and he asked in a naive manner, “Is she a martial arts practitioner?”

Back then, Zheng Dafeng was an eighth tier martial artist, but now…

“Zheng Dafeng, I’ve traveled very far and met many people, but out of all of them, you are the one who possesses the most courage and has gone the greatest lengths to uphold justice. I’m sorry, I really am,” Chen Ping’an said in a hoarse voice.

At this moment, Zheng Dafeng was lying in a completely silent and still manner beneath his blood-soaked blankets.

Out on the sea outside of the island ferry station of Old Dragon City, the young Daoist priest standing on the giant golden gourd had his hands extended outward with their palms facing up, and there was a pitiable look on his face as the Scholarly Sage lashed his palms over and over again with a tree branch.

Tears were swimming in the young Daoist priest’s eyes as he protested, “It’s not my fault, Master Scholarly Sage! I didn’t try to screw over Chen Ping’an this time; he was the one who decided to oppose Du Mao! I couldn’t even foresee this through divination! Du Mao is a twelfth tier Qi refiner; you can’t expect me to go to Old Dragon City to oppose him. I would be throwing my life away! It’s not fair that you’re targeting me… Ow!”

The more the young Daoist priest complained, the more enraged the Scholarly Sage became, and he began swinging his tree branch with even more force as he yelled, “You ungrateful little bastard! You were referring to me as your brother not so long ago, yet now, you turn around and bite the hand that fed you!

“That old fart clearly isn’t doing a very good job of teaching you right from wrong, so let me educate you in his stead! Dodge one more time and I’ll hit your face! Stand still and extend your hands!”

The little Daoist priest had no choice but to oblige, extending his palms forward once again as he sobbed, “Master Scholarly Sage, if you keep this up, I’m going to complain to my master about you! He’ll stand up for me, just like you’re standing up for Chen Ping’an…”

“How dare you talk back to me!” the Scholarly Sage snapped. “You think I don’t know what that old bastard is up to? It’s exactly because you have such an incompetent master that you turned out this way! If I don’t beat you into submission today, then I’ll take on your surname!”

The young Daoist priest erupted into tears as he protested, “But Master Scholarly Sage, we share the same surname to begin with! Even if we’re not from the same family, the two of us go way back, so please spare me of this physical punishment…”

The Scholarly Sage harrumphed coldly as he tossed the tree branch aside, then scolded, “Don’t go causing any more trouble after you move to Heavenly World! You think you’re smarter than everyone else, and that’s going to be your downfall.

“The Daoist priests in the White Jade Capital are more free and unrestrained compared with the twelfth tier cultivators of our Majestic World, but that also means that they’re not going to follow the rules. In fact, the last thing they want is to have to follow rules.”

The young Daoist priest sat down onto the golden gourd as he wiped the tears from his eyes, then began shaking his hands out with a pained expression as he asked, “Move to Heavenly World? But my master never said we were going there.”

“You don’t know shit!” the Scholarly Sage snapped.

“You’re the one who doesn’t know shit!” the young Daoist priest grumbled under his breath.

He had thought that he had spoken too quietly for the Scholarly Sage to hear him, but that was clearly not the case as the Scholarly Sage immediately retrieved the branch that was drifting away on the surface of the sea.

A look of despair appeared on the young Daoist priest’s face as he stood up and extended his palms out, bracing himself for another beating.

It was just an ordinary little branch, but in the hands of the Scholarly Sage, it was no less powerful than a sword immortal’s flying sword!

The Scholarly Sage cast his gaze toward the southwest, then tossed the branch aside and gave the young Daoist priest a slap on the head as he grumbled, “Piss off! Don’t go causing any more trouble from now on, you hear me?”

The giant golden gourd drifted away into the distance, and all of a sudden, the young Daoist priest began wiggling his bottom at the Scholarly Sage in a provocative fashion while also sticking out his tongue and making a face.

The Scholarly Sage lifted a finger, and the branch immediately flew up into the air to pierce into one of the young Daoist priest’s buttcheeks with unerring accuracy.

The young Daoist priest plucked out the branch and tossed it aside, then hopped up and down in pain as he hurriedly sped away atop his Sword Nurturing Gourd.

As he did so, he wiped the tears from his face, then yelled in a furious voice, “How could you humiliate me like this?! You’re no brother of mine!”

The branch doubled back and pierced into his other buttcheek.

Only after that did the Scholarly Sage let the young Daoist priest off the hook and departed toward the southwest.

Before long, he crossed paths with a certain swordsman flying toward Old Dragon City, and he jumped up with a furious expression to slap the swordsman on the forehead.

One slap wasn’t enough either; he slapped the swordsman on the head over and over again as he yelled, “You useless piece of trash! I can excuse you for not saving Little Qi because you were far away and didn’t know what was happening in Jewel Small World, but what were you doing just now when your junior brother was about to be killed right under your nose?

“All you do is practice your sword techniques all day long. What’s the fucking point?! You screwed over Little Ping’an twice already, do you know that? The first time was when your presence affected his mental state, and the second time was when you gave him that twelfth-tier demon core without considering any of the consequences.

“Little Ping’an came this close to dying because of you! Have you heard of Du Mao? He’s a shameless Ascension Tier old fart, and he went after Little Ping’an in person in Old Dragon City! Your junior brother is only a fifth-tier martial artist right now, yet Du Mao personally went after him, do you understand?!

“He wasn’t taking part in the Great Li Empire’s plans on behalf of his sect or probing Divine Lord Yang, that’s all bullshit! His goal was to kill Little Ping’an!”

In the face of others, including that young Daoist priest and those two Confucian cultivators from earlier, the Scholarly Sage always made sure to rein in his temper a little, no matter how enraged he truly was. However, he wasn’t holding back at all in the presence of this swordsman.

The swordsman remained completely still, allowing the Scholarly Sage to slap him on the head over and over again without dodging or retaliating.

The Scholarly Sage continued to slap him as he yelled, “Where were you all this time? You pissed off to who-knows-where! What a free-spirited man you are, huh, Zuo You? Qi Jingchun could never be like you, nor could your junior brother! No one can be as free-spirited as you are! If you give so little of a crap about everyone else, then why don’t you just fuck off and ascend?!”

Zuo You continued to stand still on the spot, taking the beating in silence.

This was the first time he had ever seen his teacher so angry and disappointed.

Zuo You had been by the Scholarly Sage’s side back when the latter was forced to imprison himself in the Forest of Virtue, and even then, he had remained as cheerful as ever, completely unfazed by his circumstances.

Even after his statues were removed from Confucian temples and smashed into pieces, he wasn’t bothered at all.

That wasn’t just a cheerful act that he was putting on. Instead, he was truly unbothered by all of that, and Zuo You knew that his teacher wasn’t the type of person who would put on a false cheerful facade for anyone.

“What should I do, Teacher?” Zuo You asked with a calm expression.

“Oh, so you finally remember that I’m your teacher? You saw how I dealt with the mountain gods of Middle Earth Divine Continent’s Five Mountains all those years ago, didn’t you? You have a sword, don’t you? Go after him! Go fuck his mom! Do something!”

Zuo You nodded in response before flying away atop his flying sword, parting the sea with his tremendous sword qi along the way.