Unsheathed

Liu Xianyang’s eyes were narrowed as he observed the faint ripples running over the length of the sword’s blade, and he was able to glean the secrets that it harbored. This had nothing to do with his cultivation. Instead, it was because he had visited many ancient battlefields in his dreams and witnessed countless fine swords in the process, some of which he was about to pull out of the ground, while others refused to budge, even as he strained with all his might.

There were even some snapped swords that Liu Xianyang was still unable to lift up from the ground to this day. However, he had habitually memorized every single detail about those swords, including their appearance, the names engraved upon them, the rippling patterns of their sword qi, and the sword intent that they gave off.

What made his dreams an even more profound experience was that through them, he was able to witness a mysterious man capable of completely disregarding the flow of time. On many occasions, as soon as that man lashed out with his sword, Liu Xianyang would instantly be snapped wide awake from his dream, sweating profusely.

To make matters even worse, he would immediately begin throwing up blood incessantly from the backlash, and he would feel dizzy and groggy for the next few days.

Hence, Liu Xianyang was already an expert in swords.

In fact, when it came to his expertise and experience in swords, even many of the sword immortals of the Northern Complete Reed Continent would have to concede to him.

Liu Xianyang gently returned the sword to its scabbard.

He had never personally seen this sword in his dreams before, but he felt like he had previously clearly sensed it on the largest ancient battlefield that he had ever visited, one that struck him with a sense of gravity as soon as he set foot upon it.

As for whether this sword really was that one, that was difficult to say. Perhaps it was such a fine replica that it had even managed to replicate some of the sword intent of the original.

Zhang Shanfeng replaced True Martial on his back, then turned back to Liu Xianyang, only to discover what appeared to have been a look of deep sorrow on his face.

This left Zhang Shanfeng feeling rather perplexed. Why was it that Liu Xianyang’s sadness appeared to outweigh his joy after hearing that his best friend from his hometown was doing so well?

Liu Xianyang rested his fists on his knees as he cast his gaze into the distance and said, “You met Chen Ping’an later than I did, so you probably don’t know that his biggest wish in life is to be safe. That’s it. He’s a massive coward, and he’s deathly afraid of illness and calamity. However, in the beginning, he was also the least afraid of ghosts out of everyone I know. Isn’t that strange?

“Back then, it felt like his mindset was something like, I’m already doing my very best to survive, so if I still die, then I can die content in the knowledge that I did everything in my power to avoid death. Perhaps he was even a little looking forward to death because death would reunite him with certain people.

“Hence, the fact that the Chen Ping’an that you met has become so cautious tells me that he’s definitely found a reason for which he must live, no matter what. You may wonder, isn’t that a good thing? I also think it’s a great thing, but I also know that this is going to make his life so much harder and more exhausting.

“Back on Clay Vase Alley, where we both lived in our hometown, there was a mother-and-son household that once did him a kindness. Perhaps I’m the only one who knows just how much he did, how much thought and effort he invested, and how many grievances he had to bear in order to try and repay them. I’ve only ever seen him cry twice in my life.

“The second time was when I was on the brink of death, while the first time was a very long time ago. It was back when we were both working as apprentices at a dragon kiln. I had heard some rumors from Apricot Blossom Alley, stating that he had a disgusting romantic relationship with the mother of that household on Clay Vase Alley, and that’s why he was doing so much for them.

“I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the lavatory, and he wasn’t in his bed. Only after leaving the room did I discover him sitting outside, crying on his own. I’ve always been someone who never really let anything weigh on my mind, particularly not the things that people said about me, so when he told me why he was crying after I asked him, I initially found it really funny and felt like he was too sensitive.

“Hence, I jokingly asked him whether he really was sleeping with the woman, but he was so distraught that he completely ignored me. That’s when I knew that he had truly been hurt by those rumors, and I knew not to joke around with him anymore. I don’t know how to console people, so I could only keep him company.

“In the end, he managed to console himself. He told me that he would never be able to repay Gu Can and his mother for as long as he lived, so he would have to be more careful when he did things for them in the future. He couldn’t just recklessly do things for them to make himself feel better when his actions could potentially lead to slanderous rumors that could harm the reputation of his benefactor.

“If he focused solely on his own feelings, then Gu Can and his mother would be the only ones to suffer. At the time, I really wanted to present a possibility to him. Perhaps Gu Can’s mother couldn’t even care less about those rumors, and perhaps he was simply overthinking things, to the point that he was driving himself to tears.

“However, I couldn’t bear to say something like that because I couldn’t bear to see any change in the Chen Ping’an from that time. I was afraid that if he realized his own excessive kindness and virtuosity, then he wouldn’t be so good to me anymore. I knew that if he began caring less for Gu Can and his mother, then eventually, he would also begin to care less for me.

“However, after journeying across an entire continent to get here, I look back on that decision with a great deal of regret. I shouldn’t have allowed the Chen Ping’an from back then to remain the same. I should’ve asked him to think about why. For what reason did he always live for the sake of others? How is that fair? Why can’t he just live for himself for once?”

As dusk fell, a light breeze began to blow over the cliff.

Zhang Shanfeng was silent for a long while, then quietly asked, “When do you plan to make a visit back home?”

Liu Xianyang was laying on his back with his eyes closed as he replied, “I’ll try to go back as early as I can. Ten years from now at the earliest.”

“You should indeed make an effort to go back as soon as you can,” Zhang Shanfeng sighed. “Life is actually not easy at all for us cultivators. Things can change so quickly in the cultivation world, and we could lose everything in the blink of an eye. If that happens, who will we be able to brag to when we return home? Even if our clan is still standing, and we can meet our descendants, what can we say to them?”

“I have no emotional ties to my hometown,” Liu Xianyang said. “I’m not going back to prove anything to anyone. Hence, the first place that I’m going to visit after returning to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent isn’t my hometown, and the first person that I’m going to see isn’t Chen Ping’an.”

“Are you going for vengeance?” Zhang Shanfeng guessed.

Liu Xianyang’s eyes remained closed, and he offered no response.

All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and he abruptly sat up as he declared, “Once I get back to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, I’m going to choose a night with a full moon to lay down my challenge to Sun Scorch Mountain!”

“You’re not going to wait for Chen Ping’an to join you?” Zhang Shanfeng asked.

Liu Xianyang crossed his arms as he chortled, “Of course not! Don’t forget that I’ve always been the one looking after him, not the other way around!”

However, Liu Xianyang also didn’t forget that it was Chen Ping’an who had saved his life the first day that they ever met.

Zhang Shanfeng didn’t feel like Liu Xianyang was bragging because Chen Ping’an had personally told him that Liu Xianyang had looked after him a lot and also taught him a great deal of things.

However, Chen Ping’an hadn’t said anything about how they had met and how they had gone their separate ways.

All of a sudden, Liu Xianyang turned his gaze to the southeast, seemingly having sensed something.

“I have to sleep for a bit,” he said.

Zhang Shanfeng felt a little exasperated. This was precisely something that his master would do.

In the distance, both of the old men heaved a forlorn sigh in unison, and in particular, Spiritual Master Fire Dragon’s sigh seemed especially laden with sorrow.

As it turned out, the old friend that had previously traveled from Stalactite Mountain to visit him on the Ground Lying Peak was the first sword immortal from the Northern Complete Reed Continent to have perished in battle to the south of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

After receiving this news, all of the swordsmen across the entire continent had released their sword qi to the heavens in a gesture of solidarity in accordance with an ancient tradition of the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

————

Chen Ping’an stayed for three days on that small mountain in the Sacred Lotus Nation, taking the time to both cultivate and practice his fist techniques.

Chen Ping’an had never been focused so single-mindedly on his breathing techniques before, and he was able to enter a completely immersive state as soon as he sat down with his legs crossed.

Once time was up, the formation that Liu Jinglong had set up around the mountain, which was capable of withstanding three attacks from a Nascent Tier cultivator, faded away on its own, and only then was Chen Ping’an roused from his immersive state.

Previously, he had already taken off his black Dao robe and changed into a normal robe, and after hoisting the bamboo case onto his back, he pulled out his bamboo hiking pole and began making his way down the mountain.

Cultivation for cultivators of the Lower Five Tiers involved taking spiritual energy from the world around them to nourish their inner small worlds, and in the process, they would also be strengthening their bodies. Upon reaching the Abode Tier, a Qi refiner’s body would be far stronger and more resilient than that of the average person.

Upon reaching the Golden Core Tier, a Qi refiner’s bones, tendons, and meridians would begin to resemble golden branches and jade leaves. There would also be lingering clouds permeating throughout their bodies both inside and outside of their acupoints.

Once a Qi refiner reached the Nascent Tier, their key acupoints would become like individual small worlds, harnessing the liquefied spiritual energy from their golden core to give rise to a miniature nascent soul that corresponded with their Great Dao. This was the basis of the yang soul avatar of an Upper Five Tiers cultivator. However, just like with the golden, there was also variance in the quality and caliber of nascent souls.

These comprised a Qi refiner’s potential and aptitude.

A cultivator’s potential essentially boiled down to how large their inner small world was as one’s inner small world was their vessel for holding spiritual energy.

As for aptitude, that determined whether a Qi refiner would be able to become an earth immortal, as well as the caliber of their golden core and nascent soul if they were able to reach that level. The rate at which a Qi refiner could progress in their cultivation made an enormous difference.

Regarding temperament, that concerned mental cultivation, and it was a very abstract and intangible thing, but it often played a decisive role in the most crucial moments in one’s cultivation journey.

For example, Liu Laocheng’s mental fortitude was just about second to none, but the tiny bit of inner demons that had arisen within his heart from his past romantic entanglements had almost led to the early demise of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s only Upper Five Tiers vagrant cultivator.

Lu Fang of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land was also bogged down by romantic factors, and even though Jiang Shangzhen served as his Dao guardian for sixty years under the alias of Zhou Fei, he was still unable to completely banish his inner demons.

In contrast, Jiang Shangzhen was constantly getting himself into romantic flings, yet he didn’t seem to have any inner demons at all, and that was simply down to a matter of temperament and personality.

When it came to fated opportunities, that was, as the name suggested, seemingly entirely down to fate.

He Xiaoliang of the Divine Edict Sect, Huang Ting of Peace and Tranquility Mountain on the Parasol Leaf Continent, and Li Huai were all examples of people who were blessed by fate to an absurd extent.

Now that Chen Ping’an had successfully refined two bonded items, namely the water seal and the five-colored soil of the Great Li Empire, the conditions of his inner small world had improved significantly, allowing him to make much faster progress in his cultivation.

His intake and refinement of spiritual energy was becoming faster and more stable, and if he were willing to find a location that was abundant in spiritual energy and stay there, he could advance his cultivation base just by simply doing nothing other than cultivating through stationary seated meditation.

Hence, it made sense that the more prodigious a Qi refiner was, the less they were seen out in the world. It was often the case that they would only go on journeys upon encountering bottlenecks. The combination of a still body and an active mind was key to mental cultivation, and it was most conducive to preventing one from straying down the wrong path.

Many seemingly insurmountable obstacles were actually very tenuous. Perhaps one only had to take a single step, and they would find themselves on the other side of the obstacle. However, when it came to other obstacles, perhaps it was necessary to go on lengthy journeys to all parts of the world before one would finally be struck by a flash of enlightenment, allowing them to overcome the bottleneck.

For the average cultivator, the third tier was not exactly a major obstacle, but it certainly wasn’t a minor one, either, and it was referred to as the Cultivator Trapping Tier.

However, this was a completely nonexistent concept in established immortal sects, and that was why vagrant cultivators were so envious of official immortals.

Some vagrant cultivators could put their lives on the line and still be mercilessly denied by the third-tier obstacle, whereas for disciples of immortal sects, making such a breakthrough was akin in difficulty to taking a stroll.

Chen Ping’an was no different from a vagrant cultivator in this regard because he had never received guidance from anyone in his cultivation.

First, his bridge of immortality had been shattered, and after that, he had turned to fist and sword techniques.

Back in the Dragon Head Ferry Station of the Green Oriole Nation, Qi Jinglong had given him a detailed rundown of the key points in cultivation for cultivators of the Lower Five Tiers. However, they came from different branches of cultivation, and bound by the rules and taboos of the cultivation world, Qi Jinglong couldn’t examine the state of Chen Ping’an’s major acupoints to provide advice specifically tailored for him.

Hence, much of the instructions from Qi Jinglong were quite general and non-specific. Even so, these pieces of advice were still nothing short of invaluable to Chen Ping’an because they were most certainly correct.

Qi Jinglong was only able to provide such clear and thorough instructions to Chen Ping’an because the former was already such an accomplished cultivator, and Chen Ping’an was naturally going to commit his advice firmly to memory.

At the moment, he was drinking from one of the flagons of wine left for him by Qi Jinglong, and he was taking small and slow sips, planning to leave at least half a flagon for later.

Refining First and Fifteenth was proving to be an arduous undertaking.

At the moment, he was still far from fully recovered from his injuries, so he was proceeding with even more care and caution than usual.

As Chen Ping’an approached the border of the Peony Prefecture, he sensed something amiss, but he pretended to be oblivious.

He didn’t dare to call himself an expert when it came to handling situations in which he was being followed in secret, but he was certainly very skilled in the task among people his age.

Previously, when he was being followed by Li Fuqu of Bamboo Scroll Lake, he had detected her presence very early on. After that, he had to play extensive mind games with Gao Cheng of Skeleton Wall City, and that was followed by the second group of Deer Cutter Mountain assassins.

The assassin in question on this occasion didn’t possess a particularly lofty cultivation base, and he was far less well-concealed than he thought. However, he was extremely patient, managing to hold back the urge to strike on many seemingly golden opportunities.

Chen Ping’an allowed the assassin to tag along on his journey, choosing not to make a move as long as the assassin didn’t do anything.

The Peony Prefecture was the home of Lu Dun, the impoverished scholar that Chen Ping’an had previously encountered by chance.

However, Chen Ping’an wasn’t planning to pay him a visit. Even if he intended to do so, he may not have been able to track Lu Dun down.

Perhaps it was deemed an appropriate precautionary measure, but Lu Dun hadn’t revealed his true surname to Chen Ping’an. However, Chen Ping’an felt like this was the right decision.

Being truly candid and sincere with someone was never about opening up to them and telling them everything.

An excessively eagerness to trust others and put everything on full display to them could often lead to detrimental consequences to oneself.

If one weren’t even taking responsibility for oneself, how could they be expected to take responsibility for others and the world at large?

Having said that, it was certainly not a good thing that the state of the world had become one in which it was wrong to be sincere and earnest to everyone at all times.

A small town appeared up ahead, but Chen Ping’an skirted around it. He didn’t want to play this game of cat and mouse with the assassin any longer.

Hence, he abruptly vanished while walking down a peaceful path, appearing silently beside the assassin, who was laying on his belly in a thicket of reeds. Chen Ping’an stood on the tip of a single reed, and as the reed swayed in the wind, so did he. He looked down to discover that the assassin appeared to have been a young boy.

He was dressed in a black robe with a white mask on his face, and his attire indicated that he was definitely a cultivator of Deer Cutter Mountain. This was a rather thought-provoking turn of events in Chen Ping’an’s eyes. This young assassin from Deer Cutter Mountain had gone to great lengths to follow him all this way.

Perhaps Qi Jinglong had failed to find the founder of Deer Cutter Mountain or failed to convince them to continue targeting Chen Ping’an, and they had actually sent out a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers to kill him. Alternatively, Qi Jinglong had managed to convince them, but Deer Cutter Mountain was, for some reason, obligated to stage a third assassination Chen Ping’an.

Hence, they had sent this boy after him just so they could say that they had made a third attempt. After this, they would accept no further requests to assassinate Chen Ping’an, even if the client were to offer them entire mountains of immortal coins.

If this were the case, then why hadn’t Qi Jinglong made an appearance this entire time?

“Your target has vanished. You’re not going to look for him?” Chen Ping’an asked.

The assassin instantly stiffened, then slowly turned his head to face Chen Ping’an.

He wanted to run, but his instincts told him that any attempt to escape would result in instant death, whereas remaining where he was could grant him a slim chance at survival.