Unsheathed

Qi Jinglong was reading a miscellaneous book that he had purchased from Talisman Water Ferry Station, one that pertained to the imperial porcelain wares of various continents and nations. This book was printed by the Jade Forest Sect, the most business-savvy immortal force in the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

He suddenly furrowed his brows.

He closed the book and shut his eyes.

He had chatted with Chen Ping’an for a long time at Dragon Head Ferry Station’s Kingfisher Inn, and Chen Ping’an had gone over most matters very briefly, not getting into any fine details. He had talked about the intercontinental ship of Ceremony Mountain being destroyed, the Pi Fu located in the southeastern region of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and the bonded porcelain of his hometown, the Jewel Small World.[1]

These topics had been sandwiched between many other topics, making them less noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, Chen Ping’an hadn’t been explicitly seeking an answer on anything, and the conversation had been more like a casual and open chat between friends.

However, Qi Jinglong wasn’t stupid.

There was a thread hidden within their conversation, one that perhaps even Chen Ping’an hadn’t noticed himself.

It was unknown whether Mr. Sword Urn, one of the ten strangest people in the Northern Complete Reed Continent and the person who had brought down Ceremony Mountain’s intercontinental ship, was alive or dead. The intercontinental ship had plummeted into the Luminous Vermilion Empire, the most powerful empire in the central region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, enraging the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

Heavenly Lord Xie Shi had traveled south to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, returning to his home nation — the Great Li Empire’s Jewel Small World — first before traveling to the central region of the continent. He had restrained Lake View Academy, one of the seventy-two Confucian academies, accepting challenges from three people in a row. Meanwhile, the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire had marched south, with their dominance sweeping through the entire continent. At the same time, the bonded porcelain of the Jewel Small World was actually not a big secret among the large sects in the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

Chen Ping’an’s manner of referring to Qi Jinglong had also changed over time. He had initially referred to him as Mr. Qi, then Mr. Liu, and finally as Qi Jinglong, not Liu Jinglong. Chen Ping’an was only a third tier Qi refiner right now, and he needed to refine bonded items of the Five Elements to help him rebuild his bridge of immortality. His knowledge was diverse, but he strove for an equilibrium, exerting his full effort to cultivate his mind.

Qi Jinglong heaved a heavy sigh, standing up and walking to the window.

He believed that Chen Ping’an definitely had a very profound plan regarding his current journey around the Northern Complete Reed Continent. Moreover, he needed to take things one step at a time, needing to be even more cautious than he currently was as he traveled around the cultivation world with numerous layers of deception.

“Perhaps your bonded porcelain is currently in the hands of some large sect in the Northern Complete Reed Continent?” Qi Jinglong murmured to himself. “Then you need to be even more cautious now, and once your cultivation base advances in the future, you’ll need to be even more cautious again.”

This weighed heavily on Qi Jinglong’s mind. If this were the Pure White Continent, where commercialism was thriving, everything could be negotiated using money. However, this was the Northern Complete Reed Continent, making things far more difficult. This was especially the case for an outsider trying to speak reason in the continent.

Qi Jinglong naturally didn’t mind standing up for Chen Ping’an. However, the price to pay for this was either leaving the Great Emblem Sword Sect or ruining the reputation of the Great Emblem Sword Sect.

And once Qi Jinglong became involved, the already troublesome matters would become even more troublesome.

Perhaps his involvement would draw out many sword immortals from various factions who had initially chosen to stand on the sidelines and observe the situation.

This was the terrifying nature of rules and regulations.

Those in the Northern Complete Reed Continent liked to band together, and when it came to matters that didn’t pertain to absolute good and evil and were on the border of correct and incorrect, outsiders would innately be wrong if they tried to rely on their identity and status to get things done. To the many sword immortals of the Northern Complete Reed Continent, these outsiders would essentially be asking them to draw their swords.

Following the destruction of Ceremony Mountain’s intercontinental ship, the clan leader of the Pure White Continent’s Liu Clan and Daoist priests from Mount Longhu’s Heavenly Master Residence had all attempted to visit the Northern Complete Reed Continent to investigate the culprit. However, what was the outcome? A dozen or so Upper Five Tier sword immortals had blocked their paths, voluntarily gathering near the shore and not needing anyone to provide them with instructions. They had hovered in the sky on their swords, not saying a single word as they unleashed sword strikes at the uninvited visitors.

Spiritual Master Fire Dragon and the other paramount cultivators never concerned themselves with these matters. Even though Spiritual Master Fire Dragon was very likely a fabled external Great Heavenly Master of Mount Longhu, he still didn’t show any signs of wanting to step forward to help calm down the situation.

And when conflict arose, with the sword immortals unleashing the first sword strike, it would often lead to a situation where the feelings of animosity would continue until the death of one side.

Moreover, the death of each sword immortal would very likely lead to two new sword immortals to replace them.

This was why the Northern Complete Reed Continent was clearly located in the northeast, yet they were able to forcefully snatch the description of “North” from the Pure White Continent.

And if the Pure White Continent was dissatisfied with this?

After the conclusion of a huge battle in the past, the furious Northern Pure White Continent had made bold statements against the Complete Reed Continent, with some powerful cultivators even going as far as to humiliate several sword cultivators of the Complete Reed Continent who had battled to death at the Sword Qi Great Wall. Not only that, but they even claimed that the Northern Pure White Continent would kick out all cultivators from the Complete Reed Continent.

The Complete Reed Continent had still been called the Northeastern Complete Reed Continent at the time, and two hundred or so sword cultivators had immediately gathered together and prepared to travel to the Pure White Continent on their swords, with ten Upper Five Tier sword cultivators among them.

Before setting off, these sword cultivators hadn’t made a single threat toward the Pure White Continent, directly charging over and letting their actions do the talking.

Half of the Upper Five Tier sword cultivators had previously tempered their swords at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

When the Pure White Continent suddenly learned that two hundred sword cultivators from the Complete Reed Continent were just one thousand five hundred kilometers from their shore, almost all of the sect-level immortal forces in the continent felt like they were on the verge of collapse.

This was because the sword immortals had claimed that they were going to challenge the entire Pure White Continent from the east to the west, with each immortal force and each cultivator being given a turn. They didn’t need to worry about missing out. As for the title of “Northern,” didn’t the Pure White Continent like this very much? That being the case, they could feel free to keep it for themself.

Apart from the group of two hundred sword cultivators who were “expanding the territory” of the Complete Reed Continent, more and more sword cultivators also started to gradually travel west.

In the end, it was an old scholar who had blocked the path of the two hundred sword cultivators.

It was unknown what the old scholar had discussed with the two hundred sword cultivators.

However, the sword cultivators from the Complete Reed Continent had ultimately retreated without setting foot on the Pure White Continent.

Afterward, the Northern Pure White Continent had become just the Pure White Continent, losing the title of “Northern.”

Even though Qi Jinglong hadn’t experienced these matters himself, he still felt a sense of yearning as he recalled these events that he had heard about from his seniors in the sect.

Two sword immortals from the Great Emblem Sword Sect had been among the two hundred sword cultivators who had traveled to the Pure White Continent, yet they were unwilling to say much about their experience.

Qi Jinglong had only heard some elderly cultivators in the sect discussing this matter. The two sword immortals had argued about who should stay back to guard the sect and who should travel to the Pure White Continent to punish those impudent cultivators. One had argued that the sect leader should stay behind, while the other had argued that the stronger sword immortal should go, lest the other person embarrass themself.

Qi Jinglong started to mull over the various different possibilities.

He thought about the best possibility, the worst possibility, and the many possibilities in between.

This was identical to how Chen Ping’an treated big and small dilemmas.

No matter how Qi Jinglong thought about this, however, he felt like this was most likely an extremely complicated situation that involved many different forces.

Thus, he planned to gather some extra information before doing anything.

There was a very important point when it came to helping others in a well-intentioned manner. That was, one shouldn’t cause more trouble instead.

Qi Jinglong returned to his seat.

The Jade Forest Sect would be a very good starting point.

This was because the wealthy Jade Forest Sect was filled with all kinds of different people, making it possible to gather information without raising any suspicion.

There was also an immortal force that had a good relationship with the Great Emblem Sword Sect, and it was said that this immortal force had purchased bonded porcelain from the Jewel Small World before. As such, it would be worth trying to get some information about this as well.

In addition, Qi Jinglong also had some other thoughts and plans.

The crux of it was to take things slowly and avoid making mistakes, seeking to achieve success through steady progress.

Qi Jinglong poured himself a cup of tea after setting a rough direction in his mind.

Among the current top ten young cultivators in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, both Yang Ningzhen and Yang Ningxing from the Esteemed Mystery Department were innate talented cultivators.

Qi Jinglong was naturally very familiar with these two brothers.

He was especially familiar with Yang Ningzhen, someone who had run off to cultivate martial arts. He was a very stubborn person.

Yang Ningxing was ranked ninth, while his older brother, Yang Ningzhen, was ranked tenth. In reality, however, Yang Ningzhen’s rank could be moved up a few spots.

The person ranked fourth, in the spot behind Qi Jinglong, was called Huang Xi.

Huang Xi was a vagrant cultivator, the youngest Nascent Tier vagrant cultivator in the history of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. He was a terrifying cultivator who could drag on a fight and slowly grind his opponent to death, making it extremely difficult for even Unpolished Jade Tier sword cultivators to kill him.

He relied on both his mystical abilities and his blood-stained pseudo-celestial tool, as well as another pseudo-celestial tool that he had “picked up” thanks to a fated opportunity in the past. One pseudo-celestial tool was for offense, while the other was for defense. Huang Xi was also a vicious and calculating person, seeking revenge for even the smallest grievances, earning him the title of the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Jiang Shangzhen.

One time, he had massacred an entire second-rate immortal force when exacting revenge, not leaving a single person alive.

What was terrifying was the fact that Huang Xi hadn’t chosen to openly charge into the territory of the immortal force, instead sneaking in three times and putting his terrifying shrewdness on full display.

When an Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal had arrived with a group of cultivators, Huang Xi had just finished his job and left the area. Meanwhile, the old ancestor of the immortal force had also drawn his final breath at the same time, with his golden core ripped out and his bonded nascent soul lit like a lamp, placed on the rooftop of the ancestral hall where it had burned strong and bright.

Numerous souls of the massacred cultivators had been burning like lamps inside the mountain and outside the mountain, with some of them extinguished and transformed into ashes, and some of them still burning away the last remnants of the cultivators’ souls.

The immortal force had initially been brimming with spiritual energy, yet Huang Xi had transformed it into an eerie land of death that resembled a ghost city.

Qi Jinglong had interacted with him one time.

He had even launched a sword strike.

However, Huang Xi had continued to retreat as he fought, even saying some sincere words to Qi Jinglong. At the same time, he had also revealed some secrets of the mountains that Qi Jinglong had never heard about before.

It was this person who had warned Qi Jinglong about being distracted from cultivation.

This vagrant cultivator’s name was Huang Xi.

Huang Xi had also achieved some mysterious but impressive feats before. To put things simply, it was forever difficult to determine the good and evil of this person’s actions.

As for the two people ranked above Qi Jinglong…

There was no need to think too much about the first person.

If he were willing to fight, then defeat was already guaranteed for his opponent. This would be the case even if his opponent were one cultivation tier higher.

Moreover, this was given that he didn’t use his celestial tool, one that had already recognized him as master.

Even Qi Jinglong couldn’t help but feel like this person was a towering and insurmountable mountain. However, he didn’t feel disheartened because of this.

There were always taller mountains on the path of the Great Dao. This had always been the case.

Anyhow, Qi Jinglong was confident that he had a chance to catch up as long as the gap between them wasn’t widened too much.

As for the person ranked second, this was a cultivator called Xu Xuan.

Before Xu Xuan’s birth, several sect-level immortal sects had already started to make their moves, and it was said that some paramount cultivators from the Middle Earth Divine Continent had also kept an eye on the situation.

It was clear that this pertained to many complicated relationships.

Xu Xuan had cultivated treasures of the Five Elements as his bonded items, and it could be said that these items were remarkably unique and boundlessly majestic.

He had two personal maidservants, with one responsible for carrying his saber, Jewel Speech, and one responsible for carrying his sword, Talisman Suppression.

Xu Xuan was the only disciple of Bai Shang, the number one sword immortal in the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

In other words, Xu Xuan was both the opening disciple and closing disciple of this sword immortal.

There were very few stories and rumors about Xu Xuan.

However, each one was astounding.

For example, he was actually half an owner of the Jade Forest Sect, a sect whose business had already reached the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and even the Parasol Leaf Continent long ago.

And for example, one of his biggest ambitions was to defeat his esteemed master, Bai Shang.

The biggest rumor making the rounds recently pertained to Xu Xuan wishing to become Dao partners with He Xiaoliang, the female sect leader of the Refreshing Sect. As long as He Xiaoliang agreed, Xu Xuan was willing to leave his sect and defect to the Refreshing Sect.

However, Great Sword Immortal Bai Shang remained unfazed about all this, regardless of whether it was his disciple wanting to defeat him or wanting to defect from the Jade Forest Sect. It was said that Bai Shang was cultivating in seclusion right now, attempting to overcome the barrier at the peak stage of the Immortal Tier. This was likely the reason behind Bai Shang not traveling to Stalactite Mountain with the others. No one would question Bai Shang’s courage, and this was because he had fought atop the city walls of the Sword Qi Great Wall two times, staying there for a total of almost seventy years.

Xu Xuan had never engaged in battle before, so the Northern Complete Reed Continent still didn’t dare to confirm whether he was a sword cultivator or not. In turn, there was naturally no information about Xu Xuan’s bonded flying sword or whatnot.

However, no one doubted Xu Xuan’s rank of second on the list of top ten young cultivators in the continent.

This was because majestic phenomena had taken place when Xu Xuan had broken through to the Abode Tier, the Golden Core Tier, and the Nascent Tier.

Some people claimed that Xu Xuan had already advanced to the Upper Five Tiers long ago. However, Bai Shang had personally suppressed and contained all of the mystical phenomena.

Xu Xuan was also the youngest member of the top ten young cultivators. He was three years younger than Huang Xi, who was ranked fourth.

The third youngest was the Great Emblem Sword Sect’s Liu Jinglong.

In fifth rank was a female martial artist, and disregarding Yang Ningzhen, she was the only pure martial artist on the list of top ten young cultivators.

In sixth rank was someone who had already suffered a violent death. His immortal force had investigated his death for a dozen or so years, yet to no avail.

In seventh rank was a cultivator who had suffered severe wounds during a battle with someone at Temper Mountain, with both parties coming out worse for wear. His cultivation foundation had also been damaged, so his ranking of seventh was in name only.

His opponent was an elderly Nascent Tier sword cultivator from an enemy sect, and it had been abundantly clear that he was sacrificing his life for the sake of destroying the bright future of the young cultivation prodigy.

The young cultivator had known that this was a trap, yet he had still failed to control his emotions and had chosen to accept the battle. This was the outcome. This was the cold and heartless nature of the Great Dao.

In seventh rank was Celestial Maiden Lu from Water Scripture Mountain.

However, there were some rumors floating around now, claiming that several new members of the mountains were entirely capable of ranking within the top ten young cultivators and potentially placing quite high.

Qi Jinglong unfurled some calligraphy works and paintings.

He had recently been investigating the styles and strokes of cursive script calligraphy works.

This was a process of practicing the sword.

Observing the spirit and simplicity of renowned paintings was also a method of practicing the sword.

When reading, coming across phrases like “The lush environment inviting moss to grow like bird-worm seal script” would also inspire a wisp of sword intent.[2]

Qi Jinglong had always firmly believed that him speaking reason would be a process of turning something complicated into something simple. This would be a smooth and natural process.

This was similar to reading, going from a thick book to a thin book, and then going to just two or three sentences that succinctly captured the fundamental essence. It was these short few sentences that could accompany one for life and benefit one for life.

The fundamental principles that supported one’s vast knowledge were like the structural pillars and beams of a house, with each supporting the other and never interfering with each other. In the end, one’s Dao Heart would be like the White Jade Capital, rising higher and higher with each level, soaring above the sea of clouds. Not only that, but the base could also be expanded, and as one grasped a larger number of rules and regulations, one’s so-called limited freedom could naturally grow and trend infinitesimally close to absolute freedom.

It was late at night, and Qi Jinglong continued to read under the illumination of a lamp.

Everyone felt like he was getting distracted from cultivation.

Thankfully, there was ultimately someone who thought otherwise.

————

A person in azure walked in the upstream direction of a large river.

It was early autumn, and after entering a market in the cultivation world, Chen Ping’an suddenly looked for a time-honored restaurant and asked for their signature hotpot.

Many customers were slurping in satisfaction, with their chopsticks flying around the table as beads of sweat flowed down their foreheads.

Among them was a member of the cultivation world who had read many books before. He was completely drunk as he inadvertently made some remark.

Hearing this, Chen Ping’an ordered another pot of wine.

The drunk person had remarked that weak people were clustered together and suffering in boiling oil, that being the hotpots which the powerful people were currently enjoying.

Chen Ping’an gulped down large bowls of wine, thinking that Senior Song’s comments were very correct. Hotpot was like wine, with its flavor unparalleled in the world.

1. Pi Fu is a type of large ant. ☜

2. This phrase is a line from one of Liu Zihui’s poems. Liu Zihui was a poet and neo-Confucian from the Southern Song Dynasty. Bird-worm seal script is a type of ancient seal script. ☜