Unsheathed

The old boatman continued to steer the boat with his bamboo pole, causing it to rapidly shoot downstream like a lively fish in water.

This water appeared dark and murky in the eyes of ordinary mortals, yet the old boatman could easily see through it, with the sparkling water fortune essence an absolute delight to look at.

Lone ghosts would occasionally swim past him on this river that led to the river god temple, and they would immediately kneel down and kowtow when they saw the old boatman.

The Swaying River possessed abundant water fortune, and thanks to the fact that the river god didn’t seize much of this water fortune and allowed it to flow into the river god temple instead, those who had drowned and become ghosts here would be far more unlikely to lose their minds and devolve into malicious ghosts. As such, this could be regarded as a virtuous act by the river god.

However, the river god temple of the Swaying River had to pay a corresponding price for this, that being the slower nurturing of incense essence. As incense essence slowly accumulated over time, it was inevitable that a relatively significant portion that should have been used to shape and temper his godly body would go missing. In the eyes of the other river gods, the river god of the Swaying River most likely appeared to be mentally challenged.

This river god wasn’t a cultivator and survived on the incense offerings of the mortal world. More importantly, the Swaying River only recognized Skeleton Shoal as its foundation, and it wasn’t recognized in the genealogical records of any mortal empire.

Because of this, the emperors and rulers of territories located upstream of the Swaying River all had very peculiar attitudes toward the river god temple that existed outside their jurisdictions. They neither recognized the temple nor banned it, and the passes along the river neither supported their southward-traveling citizens offering the incense at the temple nor did they prohibit it.

Due to these reasons, River God Xue Yuansheng was the river god of an illegal temple that didn’t belong to the official etiquette structure of any continent. Yet, he was actually working in vain to pursue that elusive hidden virtue? Could he retain any of this? He was working hard for the benefit of someone else, so what was the point of this?

Merit and virtue were the most unpredictable things in the world, while being recognized in the genealogical records of mortal empires would make things predictable and transparent. As long as the mountains and rivers were stable and the Ministry of Rites was in proper order, deities would receive their deserved rewards following each evaluation cycle. This would avoid many negative side effects, and the imperial court of a nation would formlessly help the deities resist and eliminate a significant amount of bad karma. This was the benefit of being able to receive compensation regardless of whether things were going well or not.

Without this status and support, however, things would be much more difficult to predict. Once a certain person succeeded in their prayers, who could guarantee that this wouldn’t lead to a complicated web of karmic consequences?

The divine woman who had walked out from a wall mural had a brooding look.

This pertained to their Great Dao, so it wasn’t appropriate for the old boatman to say too much about his old neighbor, the divine woman. Consoling her right now could very well be an act of pouring salt on her wounds.

There were eight wall paintings of female heavenly officials in Mural City, and these paintings had existed for a long time and actually had a longer history than even the Flax Robe Sect. The old ancestors of the Flax Robe Sect had gone through great hardships to travel across continents and arrive at the Northern Complete Reed Continent in the past, and they had chosen to establish their sect at the southernmost region of the continent out of necessity rather than choice.

The Flax Robe Sect had offended several domineering sword immortals based in the northern regions at the time, so they were naturally unable to settle down in that area. As such, they had chosen to settle down in the southern region instead. This was only one of the reasons, and the mysterious ancient murals that they had uncovered were another major reason. It was because of the latter reason that they viewed Skeleton Shoal as an area with incredible feng shui.

However, the hardships and challenges involved in founding the sect were unknown to others. The old boatman had personally witnessed the gradual growth of the Flax Robe Sect, and just dealing with the yin soldiers and yin generals who were ruling over the ancient battlefields had caused the sect to lose no fewer than twenty earth immortals. In fact, they had even lost two powerful Unpolished Jade Tier cultivators.

It could be said that if they hadn’t been pushed out by the other forces, they could have established their sect in the central region of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. If that were the case, then the Flax Robe Sect might very well have risen to become one of the five largest sects in the continent. This was taking into account the fact that the Flax Robe Sect never produced any sword immortals, nor did they invite any sword immortals to become their guest elders.

This was actually the old boatman’s first time seeing the divine woman’s true form. Of the eight female heavenly officials, Spring Official had been able to travel during her dreams, similar to how powerful cultivators could travel around using their yin souls. Spring Official could ignore many types of restrictions, allowing her to have temporary conversations with cultivators in the world.

Spring Official had visited the river god temple of the Swaying River in the past, but it hadn’t been long before she had chosen someone she fancied to serve, just like Lamp Stand and Surveyor. Before leaving Skeleton Shoal, she and the old boatman had made a secret promise with each other, with the latter agreeing to set up a symbolic trial for her and her companions. In exchange, the women from the murals were willing to rescue him from danger three times.

Afterward, Treasured Top and Ganoderma also left the mural one after another. Following this, three of the murals fell into a slumber for five hundred entire years. During this time, the Swaying River had already exhausted two of its three opportunities to receive help, overcoming significant challenges thanks to this. As a result, the old boatman was very invested in this matter, hoping that a new fated opportunity could present itself to a mortal or a cultivator. He would be very glad to see this happen.

One thousand years passed, with things changing constantly during this time. Of the five divine female heavenly officials who left their murals, one died in battle for her master, while two chose to die together with their masters. Only Surveyor, who was known in the mortal world as Immortal Cane, remained alongside Spring Official who had disappeared for some unknown reason.

Surveyor had chosen to serve an impoverished scholar who had already grown up to become an Immortal Tier cultivator standing at the mountain summit of a continent. Many sword cultivators had gathered together to travel far away to Stalactite Mountain before, and Surveyor had been one of the few cultivators who wasn’t a sword cultivator.

Surveyor was traveling on the old boatman’s boat right now, but she wasn’t accompanied by the seven-colored deer that was also depicted in her mural.

Perhaps it was because of this that the mural hadn’t lost its color yet. Otherwise, the old boatman would have to wallow in awkwardness together with the female heavenly official.

After waiting for a long time and going through much difficulty to finally choose a master to live and die together with, it turned out that the chosen person had terrible judgement skills and failed to pass even the simplest of trials. Not only that, but they directly turned around and ran away as well.

If the wall painting in Mural City became a blank line drawing, then wouldn’t this female heavenly official essentially have no home to return to? How would she be any different from the ghosts of drowning victims in the Swaying River or the many wandering yin spirits at Skeleton Shoal and Malicious Ghost Valley?

As for the true origin and background of these eight female heavenly officials, the old boatman was completely oblivious even though he was the river god of the Swaying River.

If there were no unexpected surprises, then the cultivators of the Flax Robe Sect also knew very little about these female heavenly officials. In fact, even the three extremely old ancestors of the sect likely only knew bits and pieces about them.

The strangest thing about all this was that Spring Official had engaged in a secret but frank meeting with the old boatman back then, revealing that the eight of them had also lost their own memories. They had slumbered for an unknown length of time, all the way until the cultivators of the Flax Robe Sect established their new sect and affected the formations in the area, causing them to finally wake up.

The eight murals appeared to be evenly spaced around Mural City, yet they were actually linked together as one. According to a cultivator from the past, this place was actually a shattered mystical realm. Moreover, the female heavenly officials had attempted to figure out their own origins and backgrounds by observing the structures, flora, books, and other remnant materials in the area. However, it was a shame that there appeared to be an insurmountable gulf in front of them, with everything remaining murky and unresolvable.

The old boatman couldn’t help but heave a long sigh as he approached his river god temple.

The female heavenly official standing on the other end of the boat also sighed softly. Her sigh was pained and tragic, yet it was mellow and pleasant to the ear like an ethereal voice that didn’t exist in the mortal world.

The old boatman couldn’t help but grumble in his mind about that young junior. Just what in the world was he thinking? This young man had appeared quite sharp and smart when the old boatman had secretly observed him before, and he was also someone who adhered to rules and didn’t appear stingy.

That being the case, why had he suddenly started to act foolishly when a huge fated opportunity had descended upon him? Perhaps it was against his destiny to receive this fated opportunity, so he hadn’t been able to grab it even when it landed in his hands? But this couldn’t be the case! The fact that the female heavenly official had taken a fancy to him and decided to leave the mural with her esteemed physical body already said a lot.

The female heavenly official turned around and glanced at the old boatman, saying, “Was the male cultivator standing on the bank of the river just then one of the three old ancestors of the Flax Robe Sect?”

The old boatman shook his head and replied, “I’m familiar with all three of the old ancestors from the mountains, and they’re proud individuals who dislike using illusion techniques even when they leave the mountains and appear in front of others.”

The female heavenly official pondered for a moment before saying, “Looking at his demeanor, I was reminded of a person whom one of my sisters took an interest in back then. He was a young Golden Core Tier cultivator from another nation, and my sister almost made the decision to serve him. However, this person was far too heartless, so even though following him wouldn’t lead to any hardships or frustrations, things would be far too uninteresting for her liking.”

The old boatman faltered for a moment before asking for the approximate time period that this had occurred.

After receiving the response, the old boatman immediately started to feel a slight headache, murmuring to himself, “It can’t be that pervert with the surname Jiang, right? That person is the epitome of bad.”

The female heavenly official unexpectedly nodded and replied, “His surname indeed seemed to be Jiang. The young man was quite bold, and he said that even if none of us took an interest in him in the future, he would still take all eight murals and display them well regardless of whether he was at home or not. He would then eat and drink in front of the murals every single day. His speech was frivolous, but his heart was quite extraordinary.”

“This person was a libertine who had countless relationships back then, so how could he be described as heartless and uninteresting?” the old boatman asked in puzzlement.

The female heavenly official shook her head and replied, “We look directly at a person’s heart and character when we observe them. This is vastly different from the observation method of cultivators, and it’s seemingly quite different from the methods of mountain gods and river gods as well. This is a mystical ability that we’re born with, and we actually feel like this isn’t necessarily all good.

“Casting our gazes at other people, what we see is a vast expanse of murkiness and filthy thoughts. There are burrows overrun with snakes and scorpions, there are entangled bodies of seductive beings with human heads and demon bodies, and there are all kinds of other repulsive and unsightly scenes.

“As a result, we often slumber on purpose, freeing ourselves from frustration and irritation by not witnessing these things to begin with. If we suddenly wake up one day, we’ll be roughly aware that a fated opportunity has arrived, so only then will we open our eyes and look around.”

The old boatman sighed in admiration and remarked, “There are all kinds of mysterious and incredible abilities in the myriad worlds.”

Surveyor, the female heavenly official who was riding a seven-colored deer in her mural, suddenly turned around to look toward Mural City, narrowing her eyes and saying with a cold expression, “This bastard dares to barge into the residence without permission?!”

The old boatman was completely expressionless.

He thought to himself that there was no need to speculate, and there was no doubt that the intruder was the notorious Jiang Shangzhen.

Over at Mural City, a huge swathe of lanterns made using secret methods from the mountains suddenly extinguished at the same time. These lanterns should have remained radiant for long periods of time, only needing to be changed once every one hundred years, so their sudden and premature failure naturally triggered panic and fright among those in the city.

If powerful cultivators clashed in the city and damaged the foundation of the Flax Robe Sect’s mountain and water formation, then the consequences would be unimaginable once Mural City collapsed. As such, several direct disciples from the ancestral hall of the Flax Robe Sect who were responsible for looking after the three murals immediately rose into the sky and looked toward the source of the commotion, attempting to locate the perpetrator.

Once they confirmed that some cultivator was trying to cause harm to Mural City and seize the opportunity to steal a mural, they would have the power to punish the perpetrator on the spot, executing them first and reporting the matter later.

While one of the guarding cultivators from the Flax Robe Sect was distracted and gazing far away, a wisp of azure smoke climbed up a wall near one of the murals, slithering up like a snake before instantly dashing over and entering the mural. Using some unknown technique, they directly shattered the immortal restriction on the mural and disappeared in a flash, with their movement subtle like a raindrop into the lake.

Even so, the nearby earth immortal cultivator from the Flax Robe Sect still frowned and looked back. He didn’t notice anything amiss, but he still felt a little worried. Thus, he apologized to the female heavenly official in the mural before flying over on the wind and stopping three meters in front of the mural, channeling a special mystical ability of the Flax Robe Sect and causing his eyes to become a light shade of gold. He examined the entire mural, lest he let slip any small clues. However, he didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary even after looking over the mural two times.

This was one of the three remaining ancient murals in Mural City that were yet to give away their fated opportunity, and this specific mural was incredibly important even among the eight murals. In the secret records of the Flax Robe Sect, the female heavenly official illustrated in this mural rode a seven-colored deer and carried a wooden sword on her back, one side of which was inscribed with the characters, “Blissful Winds.”

She possessed a noble status, and she was ranked second out of the eight female heavenly officials. However, her importance was even above that of the female heavenly official who was known in the mortal world as Immortal Cane and known by the Flax Robe Sect as Surveyor. It was because of this that the Flax Robe Sect entrusted a Golden Core Tier earth immortal who had hopes of advancing to the Upper Five Tiers with the task of guarding this mural.

The middle-aged cultivator failed to uncover any answers, but he still didn’t dare to let his guard down. After hesitating for a moment, he looked toward the store located near the mural of Flash, using his mind’s voice to tell the young man to immediately return to the ancestral mountain of the sect and inform the ancestral hall that something had happened near the mural of the deer-riding heavenly official. It was imperative that an old ancestor came here to personally examine the situation.

Even though the young man had been very slow and block-headed when leaving the mountains to help his childhood sweetheart with running her store, his mind and heart were extremely stable when he dealt with major matters. He walked out of the store with a solemn expression, forming a hand seal with two fingers before lightly stomping on the ground. A mountain lord who belonged to the jurisdiction of the Flax Robe Sect immediately emerged from the ground, and this mountain lord was surprisingly a slender and beautiful young girl of around thirteen years old.

The mountain lord raised her arms high into the air, lifting up a scabbardless ancient sword which was exuding awe-inspiring sword qi. However, from the moment that she left the Flax Robe Sect’s mountain root earth palace located deep underground to the moment that she emerged with the sword and respectfully offered it, the mountain lord who appeared young and beautiful had used an illusion technique, preventing those under the level of earth immortal from seeing her.

The scabbardless ancient sword was a sword that needed to be sharpened underground all year round.

The young man expressed his thanks and held his index finger and middle finger together, lightly running them across the ancient sword and causing it to ring before it soared into the sky. The young man stepped onto the sword, and the sword tip was surprisingly pointing almost straight up at the sky above Mural City as it rapidly ascended.

The dense earth enhanced by the mountain and water formation was unable to hinder the young man and his sword, with the two of them soaring into the sky and breaking through the sea of clouds, which was like a white jade belt around the ancestral hall, in one swift motion as they quickly flew toward the ancestral hall.

The middle-aged cultivator landed on the ground and smiled as he stroked his beard. Even though this junior was from a different branch of the ancestral hall, everyone in the sect valued him and was fond of him.

There were many pedantic rules in the Flax Robe Sect, and apart from a select few people, all remaining cultivators had to descend to the ground and climb the mountain on foot once they reached Sword Hanging Pavilion located at the waist of the mountain. They had to abide by this rule even if the heavens were about to collapse.

However, this young man who had been recognized by the pseudo-celestial sword as its master ever since a young age was one of the exceptions. It wasn’t that the middle-aged cultivator couldn’t use a messenger flying sword to notify the ancestral hall about the situation, but there were many hidden and complicated relationships in the sect.

Perhaps the young man was completely unaware of these matters, but this was also the mysterious thing about cultivating in the mountains: knowing but not knowing. If outsiders exposed this, one might appear to understand the situation, but one would in fact lose the fated opportunity that had already landed in one’s hands.

As such, it was best for the young man to report this matter to the ancestral hall, allowing him to shoulder more of the karmic fate. This might not necessarily succeed, but it at least wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Even though the Flax Robe Sect was extremely generous, allowing outsiders to collect the fated opportunities from the eight murals in the city, this young man had the best opportunity of any disciple since the founding of the sect to obtain a fated opportunity of the Great Dao from one of the murals by himself.

When constructing the sect formation back then, the Flax Robe Sect had used hundreds of powerful mountain-opening puppets as well as a dozen or so mountain-moving apes and mountain-shifting dogs, digging more than five kilometers deep in the entire Mural City.

Even so, the many great cultivators who were honored in the ancestral records of the Flax Robe Sect had still failed to find the ancient sword left behind by the founder of the sect. At the same time, it was said that this pseudo-celestial tool had many ties to the deer-riding heavenly official.

Thus, the fated opportunity of this specific mural was one which the Flax Robe Sect would fight for. To turn down a blessing from the heavens was to ask for divine punishment.

The young man flew over the sea of clouds on his sword, heading straight to the ancestral hall.

Of the three old ancestors of the Flax Robe Sect, one was cultivating in seclusion and one was stationed at Malicious Ghost Valley and continuing to expand their territory.

The last remaining old ancestor was responsible for protecting the sect, and he stood at the entrance of the ancestral hall at this moment and asked with a smile, “What’s the big hurry, Lanxi? Has something gone wrong at Mural City?”

The young man held the pseudo-celestial tool in his hand and repeated his Golden Core Tier senior brother’s words to the old ancestor.

The old ancestor frowned and asked, “The problem is with the mural of the deer-riding heavenly official?”

Lanxi nodded in confirmation.

The old ancestor grabbed Lanxi’s shoulder, shortening the mountains and waters to an inch as he instantly arrived at Mural City. He took Lanxi back to the store before walking to the mural by himself, a solemn expression on his face.

Only at this moment did the Golden Core Tier cultivator realize that the matter was far direr than he had imagined.

The old ancestor smiled coldly and mused, “How impressive. This person was able to silently breach both of the restrictions and barge into the mystical realm.”

The Golden Core Tier cultivator’s expression changed slightly.

The old ancestor waved his hand and said, “Be careful of this being a plan to draw our attention away from somewhere more important. Go and protect Lanxi. There’s no need to be too tense, as this is our home territory, after all. I need to make a trip back to the ancestral hall so that I can adhere to the rules and burn incense and knock on the door.”

The Golden Core Tier cultivator nodded and went to the store.

Over at the store…

“What’s going on?” the young woman asked quietly.

“I visited the ancestral hall just then,” Lanxi replied with a smile.

The middle-aged Golden Core Tier cultivator walked into the store, causing Lanxi to ask in puzzlement, “What brings you here, Senior Brother Yang?”

“I’m just taking a look around,” the middle-aged cultivator replied with a smile.

Lanxi’s full name was Pang Lanxi, and he was the middle-aged cultivator’s junior brother and was only at the Abode Tier right now. Pang Lanxi’s grandfather was a guest elder of the Flax Robe Sect, and he was the illustrator of all the female heavenly official picture books in the store.

Pang Lanxi was exceptionally talented, and he was the most prodigious sword immortal to have ever appeared in the sect. In fact, he was the opening disciple and also closing disciple of one of the three old ancestors, and the reason for this quirk was because the Unpolished Jade Tier old ancestor who was widely regarded as the top ten most destructive cultivators in the southern regions of the Northern Complete Reed Continent had once vowed in the ancestral hall that he would only take one disciple in his lifetime.

Taking this into account, it should have been a joyous cause for celebration when the old ancestor had taken the little boy, Pang Lanxi, as his disciple back then. However, the eccentric old ancestor had told the Flax Robe Sect not to make a huge fuss out of the matter, saying something that was very true to his strange temper: “There’s no hurry to celebrate, and we can send out invitations for the banquet when my disciple advances to the Golden Core Tier. In any case, this won’t take too many years.”

The middle-aged cultivator looked at the carefree Pang Lanxi and smiled bitterly in his mind. This was a critical moment for his junior brother’s Great Dao.

Inside a mystical realm that appeared much like an immortal palace, a middle-aged man suddenly materialized and stumbled forward, following which he shook the dust off his sleeves and chuckled, “My wish has finally come true, and I’m finally able to take a look at the peerless beauty of these immortal big sisters.

“Oi, is there anybody here?” he shouted softly.

He slowly strolled forward, looking around and enjoying the ethereal scenery as he did so. However, he suddenly raised a hand and covered his eyes, murmuring, “This is the private chamber of the immortal big sisters, so I shouldn’t look around and see things that I shouldn’t see.”

To the north of Skeleton Shoal, a young Daoist nun left her sect that was just starting to take shape. As the youngest sect leader of an immortal force in the history of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, she traveled by herself on an immortal ship that her Heavenly Lord Senior Brother had given to her, quickly darting toward the south. The Flowing Iridescent Boat was a paramount immortal treasure that was even quicker than intercontinental ships, and it could surprisingly jump between two iridescent clouds located hundreds upon thousands of kilometers away, similar to how cultivators could use land-shortening techniques. Their flight was silent and rapid.

Meanwhile, on the border of Skeleton Shoal and Malicious Ghost Valley, the young swordsman wearing a bamboo hat visited a store run by a cultivator guarding the area and purchased a thick and hefty book that especially explained the things to be aware of in Malicious Ghost Valley. The book had detailed records of many taboos and the dangers of each area, and the young swordsman basked in the sun as he slowly flicked through the many pages. He was in no hurry to pay the road toll and enter the Malicious Ghost Valley to train. Sharpening one’s blade wouldn’t delay one’s work of cutting firewood.

The winter sun was warm, and the young man glanced up at the sky that was clear and blue for tens of thousands of kilometers. The weather today was truly very good.