Unsheathed

Over at the scripture library, Maidservant Meng Long was itching to get involved in the situation, with a fervent look in her eyes as she asked, “Young Master, can you allow me to fight the demon regardless of whether this is a decoy technique or not? Sitting around and doing nothing in the Lion Garden is far too boring.”

“Many people in the Azure Phoenix Nation have their eyes trained on the Lion Garden right now,” Young Master Dugu warned. “Since that’s the case, you’re not allowed to use your bonded flying sword. Otherwise, that will be a crime in and of itself in the eyes of certain jealous and ill-intentioned people. I don’t want to end up with even more troublesome matters to deal with. In addition to this, remember not to destroy too many buildings in the Lion Garden.”

Meng Long felt slightly disappointed, yet this was still a better option than standing around like a useless wooden puppet. With a tap of her foot, she gracefully leaped atop the railings before standing still and reciting a mantra, also forming hand seals as she did so. She extended one hand forward, and specks of golden light appeared in her lively eyes. In the end, she shouted softly, “Come out!”

A deity dressed in golden armor and measuring nine meters in height landed on the ground with a thud, sending plumes of dust flying everywhere.

Apart from its towering size, the large body of this deity was also surrounded by five colorful ribbons that were formed from condensed spiritual energy. There was a crown on its head, and the golden armor on one of its arms was radiating with miasma. Meanwhile, the golden armor on its other arm was inscribed with vicious-looking images of various types of ghosts and fiends.

However, the eyes of the deity remained closed the entire time.

As if receiving a command from Meng Long…

Even though the eyes of the night-wandering deity remained tightly shut as it walked forward, it was still able to purposely avoid all of the buildings in the Lion Garden. The earth shuddered as it moved around.

With a single kick, the night-wandering deity shattered the body of a young man in black who wasn’t able to dodge in time.

Like five flood dragons leaving their den, the five lengths of colorful ribbon that were no more than six meters in length rapidly surged forward and easily pierced through the bodies of the handsome young men.

With a swing of its arm, the night-wandering deity smacked to smithereens an illusory body of the demon that was soaring across the rooftops.

Meng Long shifted her stance and sat on top of the railings, saying in disdain, “The illusory bodies of the demon are this fragile?”

“The demon has already dispersed a wisp of its soul, so the fact that its illusory bodies can still move around so quickly and nimbly is actually not bad at all,” Young Master Dugu explained.

The other cultivators in the Lion Garden also witnessed the night-wandering deity easily crush the illusory bodies of the demon, achieving resounding victory while facing little danger. Thus, the master and disciple who were observing the battle from an elevated location elsewhere in the Lion Garden as well as the Dao partners also started to unleash their abilities to slay the illusory bodies of the demon. Whether intentionally or not, both parties were a beat slower to start than the night-wandering deity that had set off from the scripture library.

The small and fiery red fox sitting on the shoulder of the old man leaped into the air and shook its body, causing it to suddenly grow several times in size. When it landed on a roof ridge, it had already become a fiery fox that was as large as an ox. Flames flickered around its body.

Meanwhile, the tall and sturdy young man waved his arm, causing the verdant green snake on it to also jump forward and transform into a giant snake that measured six meters in length.

Both beasts lunged toward the young men in black robes who were fleeing from the Lion Garden.

The Dao partners acted together, choosing a location near the garden as one commanded the sword on their back to fly out and attack the illusory bodies of the fox demon. This was much like a sword expert manipulating their swords to slay enemies.

Meanwhile, the other person formed seals with their hands, striding forward at the same time as they exhaled a wisp of concentrated spiritual energy that permeated through the garden and enveloped the trees and plants like a layer of mist. The projections of all kinds of spirits of varying sizes and colors suddenly materialized in the garden and chased after the illusory bodies of the demon, exploding with a loud bang when they caught up.

Chen Ping’an and Shi Rou each guarded one side of the scripture library. Now that the master and disciple and the Dao partners were assisting as well, the four cultivators were able to guard the western side of the Lion Garden.

Chen Ping’an threw punches as he stood atop the wall, while Shi Rou used the demon-binding chain crafted from a golden flood dragon whisker to push back the illusory bodies of the demon.

However, there were far too many illusory bodies, and still close to forty young men in black robes standing around the outer perimeter of the Lion Garden, continually charging at the outer wall that had a golden talisman flood dragon swimming around its surface.

Standing outside the scripture library, Young Master Dugu didn’t allow Meng Long to use her bonded flying sword. At the same time, he also remained unmoving as he stood there and observed the situation with his hands behind his back.

As a result, many illusory bodies of the demon slipped through the cracks. Even so, the night-wandering deity was truly far too powerful, and it caused many of the young men in black robes who were fleeing toward the outer wall near the scripture library to immediately turn around and flee in a different direction.

Thus, only a small number of illusory bodies charged toward the outer wall near the scripture library.

Meanwhile, even though the western side of the Lion Garden was guarded by more cultivators, it was actually the area where the largest number of illusory bodies was rushing over to, causing the situation to become very precarious.

At the same time, Shi Rou was also slightly flustered since she wasn’t a yin entity that was skilled at fighting and killing foes. Moreover, how could she dare to use the trump card that Cui Dongshan had given her? Thus, close to ten young men in black crashed into the outer wall before being disintegrated by the river of golden light. Some of the illusory bodies were fortunate enough to survive, and they continued to charge toward the wall and rush toward death without any hesitation.

Even though Shi Rou was slightly flustered, she was thankfully able to dispose of these illusory bodies without too much trouble.

Chen Ping’an’s punches looked slow on the surface, yet he was the one who was most at ease as he blocked the young men in black robes.

He walked back and forth along the wall using the six-step walking meditation, his sleeves also billowing as his fist aura soared outward with vigor.

However, the golden flood dragon that was swimming around and treating the snow-white outer wall of the Lion Garden like a river had already become much dimmer than before. Because of this, countless so-called tiny doors had been created in the outer wall by the charging illusory bodies of the demon.

By the looks of it, Chen Ping’an’s breath of True Qi was no longer sufficient to deal with the large number of young men in black robes after drawing so many talismans around the Lion Garden. As a result, he needed to stop to replenish his breath of True Qi.

Right at this moment…

…It was as if an Ao were turning its body near the ancestral hall of the Liu Clan, causing the surrounding area to tremor loudly as if there were an earthquake[1].

The commotion was the most serious in the western region of the Lion Garden.

Meng Long suddenly stood up and formed seals with her hands, closing her eyes and using a secret technique to allow her soul to leave her body. She then entered the body of the night-wandering deity, causing the deity in golden armor to open its eyes. It bent its knees slightly and shot up from the ground, leaving a large crater in the location where it had been standing just then. The night-wandering deity that measured nine meters tall soared toward the western side of the Lion Garden.

The deity landed inside the garden with tall walls located in the west, and its feet sunk into the ground as it squatted down and swung its arms, furiously smashing the earth and sending clumps of dirt flying everywhere.

It violently severed a small mountain root located underground in the Lion Garden.

Young Master Dugu hesitated for a brief moment, yet he ultimately decided against doing anything.

Near the scripture library, a handsome young man who measured fifteen to eighteen meters in height suddenly rose through the soil and gracefully hovered out. The slug demon was almost as tall as the scripture library, and it immediately charged toward the outer wall nearby.

However, the golden flood dragon swimming around the outer wall was like a rope especially used for tripping the young man in black, yet the slug demon that had finally revealed its true body bellowed as it continued to stride forward, causing the golden light of the talismans in other areas to be dragged toward it as well.

The slug demon had already managed to knock a section of the outer wall down, yet a thread of golden talismanic rope remained stubbornly attached to its knee.

It raised its foot high up, yet it was still unable to break free from that annoying golden rope. That being the case, it decided to ignore it and continue to charge forward.

The golden flood dragon was immediately torn into two, with one half of it being dragged forward along the ground by the Golden Dao Manifestation of the great demon.

The slug demon was like a large fish that had failed to remove the fishing hook from its mouth, yet was powerful enough to break free from the fisherman and swim away with the fishing rod.

Chen Ping’an reached down and placed his hand over the opening of his Sword Nurturing Gourd, saying in his mind, Something isn’t right. Wait for a little longer.

A slender figure that had stood atop the roof of a pavilion the entire time suddenly soared into the air, leaving a brilliant white trail in the sky and causing the pavilion underfoot to collapse with a loud rumble. She then launched a fearsome saber strike.

Daoist Nun Liu Boqi finally made a move, and her body soared even higher than the scripture library as she directly cleaved the Golden Dao Manifestation of the demon slug into two with her saber.

She didn’t so much as glance at the pitiful state of the legitimate golden body as she chuckled coldly and commanded, “Go!”

A saber-wielding man hovered out from behind her back. He was as tall as an ordinary person, yet it looked as if his body were formed from mercury and crackling lighting. In his hand was a thin black saber that was even longer than he was tall.

The saber-wielding man vanished with a flash.

In the next moment, the tip of his long saber pierced into a small hole in the wall, after which he stood still and stopped moving.

Shi Rou gulped and looked down.

What she saw was the tip of the long saber sticking through a squirming demon that was snow-white and the size of a palm.

Liu Boqi leaped over to the foot of the wall close to where Shi Rou was standing, and she walked over to the saber-wielding deity and had the two of them fuse back into one again. There was only Shi Rou and no more saber-wielding man.

However, the extremely long saber remained hovering in the air, and Liu Boqi walked over to the tip of the saber and chuckled, “I’ve caught you.”

Liu Boqi didn’t immediately collect and put away the treasure-creation demon, and she instead looked up at the tall wall in the distance, training her gaze on the young man in white whose hand had already left his Sword Nurturing Gourd. “What do you say? There are several of you and only one of me, so do you want to fight me for this demon?” she asked.

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, “Don’t act all innocent after taking advantage of the situation.”

Liu Boqi was especially “understanding” as she said, “In fact, you also contributed quite a bit in the process of allowing me to capture this demon. I don’t deny this. However, I’ve never been in the habit of sharing my spoils with other people, so we can have a battle to decide the ownership of this demon if you’re unhappy with the current outcome. I can agree not to kill anyone.

“Afterward, when you’ve had a taste of my strength and willingly yielded to me, perhaps you might be secretly glad that you were ultimately able to survive. After all, even though you didn’t obtain the demon, being able to stay alive is already a very good outcome.”

Hearing this, Chen Ping’an walked along the wall toward the Daoist saber nun.

Zhu Lian also leaped out from Liu Qingqing’s residence, landing on a curved eave not far from where Liu Boqi was standing. The face-off between Zhu Lian and Daoist Nun Liu Boqi was identical to the first time when they had encountered each other in the former’s small courtyard.

Shi Rou took several steps forward and stopped in mid-air, freeing up the wall for Chen Ping’an and allowing him to walk over first. Only when Chen Ping’an brushed past her did she continue to walk behind him.

Chen Ping’an shook his hand at Zhu Lian.

Liu Boqi also jumped onto the tall wall and walked toward Chen Ping’an.

She left her bonded saber, Jiazuo, behind, and she only held the unsheathed saber, Jing God, in her hand.

There was a strange look in her eyes as she asked, “You’re going to challenge me alone?”

Chen Ping’an reached behind and continued to walk forward, with his hand wrapping around the hilt of his sword, Sword Immortal.

On one side was a Daoist nun from the Daoist Saber Room.

On the other side was a pure martial artist carrying a pseudo-celestial tool on his back.

There were only fifty paces between the two cultivators.

Liu Boqi suddenly turned around and looked toward the peak of a green mountain.

Chen Ping’an turned around at almost exactly the same time, just in time to see the figure of an elderly man disappearing.

Liu Boqi retracted her gaze, and she could see that members of the Liu Clan were already running over out of the corners of her eyes. Among them was a pitiful scholar with a crippled leg.

The Daoist nun sheathed her saber and said, “We’ll split the treasure-creation demon seventy-thirty in my favor.”

There was a look of confusion on Chen Ping’an’s face.

Liu Boqi became slightly irritated, and she snapped, “What’s wrong? You don’t want it?!”

Chen Ping’an recalled the direction of her gaze just then, causing a brilliant thought to suddenly occur to him. He removed his hand from the hilt of his sword, clasping it behind his back. He rubbed his Sword Nurturing Gourd with his other hand and replied with a faint smile, “I’ll agree to a fifty-fifty split.”

Liu Boqi narrowed her eyes and warned, “Don’t push your luck, it’s a good habit to quit when you’re ahead.”

Shi Rou heaved a sigh, a look of disappointment on her face. It was as if she were persuading Chen Ping’an, yet it was also as if she were afraid that Chen Ping’an would truly start to fight with Liu Boqi. Her voice was soft and gentle as she said, “Master, why don’t we leave it as this? At the end of the day, Master isn’t simply a person from the mountains. Earning a good reputation is also a fairly good outcome, so why don’t we let this senior immortal get the better end of the deal?

“After the matters here are resolved, Master still needs to remain in the Azure Phoenix Nation to watch the debate between Buddhism and Daoism. At the same time, Master also needs to visit some acquaintances. It’s important to keep in mind that having a good reputation is extremely important to those scholars who care greatly about face.”

Using the hand clasped behind his back, Chen Ping’an silently gave a thumbs-up to Shi Rou.

Liu Boqi glanced at Shi Rou and scoffed, “You’re a female ghost, yet you’re actually hiding inside the body of a disheveled old geezer? Don’t you find this repulsive?”

Shi Rou smiled faintly and didn’t say anything.

The group of people from the Lion Garden’s Liu Clan drew closer and closer.

Liu Boqi raised a hand and made a grabbing motion, causing her bonded saber, Jiazuo, to fly into her hand. She then retrieved an extremely small gourd from her sleeve and placed the slug demon inside. She lowered her voice and angrily said to Chen Ping’an, “We’ll divide the spoils afterward.”

“Alright,” Chen Ping’an smiled and replied with a nod.

1. Ao is a mythical creature with a dragon head and fish body. ☜