Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an slowly strode forward, but instead of walking directly forward, he diverged slightly to the side as he smiled and said in a modest manner, “Granny Bai was too complacent.”

All of a sudden, Bai Lianshuang’s battle intent had been ignited a little. Even though she had briefly tested Chen Ping’an earlier, that had only been a fleeting exchange, and she didn’t truly regard him as an opponent that she would have to pay much attention to.

However, it seemed that a young martial artist who had managed to withstand three punches from an End Tier martial artist was not someone to be taken lightly.

The old woman took a barely noticeable step forward, and her fist stance was also rather dainty and subtle, but the fist intent within was certainly nothing to be scoffed at.

“Chen Ping’an, do you dare to take the initiative to come and attack me?” she challenged with a smile.

Chen Ping’an strode forward as he performed his six-step walking meditation, and with his final step, he launched himself forward with a resounding boom, his fist intent cascading around him like a waterfall.

The old woman swiveled around and slapped away Chen Ping’an’s fist, then thrust a palm into his forehead. It seemed like a rather casual and understated palm strike, but it landed with the force of a mallet viciously striking a gong.

Even from Nalan Yexing’s perspective, it felt to him like she was no longer holding back.

Chen Ping’an was sent flying by the palm strike, but not only was his fist intent not interrupted, it only became heavier and denser, swirling around him like deep water.

He landed on the ground on a single foot, then slid back several feet without displaying any signs of strain. In the instant that his second foot also made contact with the ground, he took several tiny shuffling steps, and his robes rippled and flapped as he shrugged off the residual fist aura in the old woman’s palm strike.

At the same time, he adopted his Deity Drumming Technique fist stance while simultaneously imitating the old woman’s fist intent, trying to maximize his own fist intent through small and subtle movements, just as she had done earlier.

“Even now, you’re still trying to copy my fist stance? It seems like you truly don’t see me as a threat at all, Young Master Chen,” the old woman remarked with an amused smile.

“Force of habit,” Chen Ping’an explained with a wry smile.

He was just about to restore his Deity Drumming Technique fist stance when the old woman pounced on the opportunity, springing forward like lightning with one fist tucked to her waist, while the other was fully extended in front of her.

To her surprise, this was exactly what Chen Ping’an was waiting for, and he threw a counterpunch of his own. Bai Lianshuang’s punch connected squarely with his face, but his fist also landed a solid blow on the old woman’s forehead.

The old woman was able to withstand the blow without backtracking, but some slight bruising had appeared on her forehead.

Once again, Chen Ping’an slid back until his back was against the wall, following which he crouched down slightly, and his entire body shuddered as he dispelled the old woman’s fist aura yet again.

As for the blood that was slowly seeping out of his face, he wasn’t just pretending to be unfazed by it. Instead, he was truly unfazed. As a matter of fact, the physical punishment made him feel right at home, granting him a sense of familiarity and security.

“How about from here onward, you use the speed of a ninth tier martial artist alongside the power of a peak-Far Roaming Tier martial artist?” Chen Ping’an proposed.

Nalan Yexing had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

The old woman was also rather amused, and she wasn’t angry or offended at all. Instead, she was simply curious as she asked, “Be honest with me, Chen Ping’an, how many other tenth tier martial artists have you been beaten by aside from the three punches that you told me about?”

Chen Ping’an considered the question for a moment, then replied, “I’ve been subjected to beatings by two other tenth tier martial artists lasting at least a month. During that time, they pummeled me without pause, only stopping when I was on the brink of death and dragged away to soak in medicinal baths.”

Nalan Yexing didn’t know what to say to that.

The old woman shook her head as she stood up from her fist stance and said, “In that case, there’s no need to continue this any longer. If I take this any further, we’ll have to prepare a medicinal bath for you in the middle of the night.”

Even though she had once been a tenth tier martial artist, even at her peak, she wasn’t able to go beyond the Thriving Qi Tier. This had nothing to do with her aptitude or training methods. Instead, she was simply condemned by her environment. All pure martial artists were naturally suppressed somewhat on the Sword Qi Great Wall, and it was already a huge surprise that she was able to reach the tenth tier at all.

It was often said that the swordsmen of the Majestic World were completely worthless in the eyes of those on the Sword Qi Great Wall, but, on the contrary, all of the pure martial artists of the Majestic World who reached the tenth tier were regarded with immense weight and respect.

Hence, Bai Lianshuang was already very content with her achievements. Her only regret was that she was never able to spar with another tenth tier martial artist in her prime.

As soon as Chen Ping’an made that request, he was immediately left regretting it, and he hurriedly tried to make amends as he said, “You’ve already done more than enough, Granny Bai. Your fist intent has shown me something that I’ve never seen before, and I’ll be sure to benefit immensely from our sparring match.”

Nalan Yexing gave a slight nod of approval at Chen Ping’an’s sensitivity and consideration, while the old woman was grinning from ear to ear.

All of a sudden, Chen Ping’an ducked to the side in evasion.

“Have you no shame?” the old woman snapped as she turned around to glower at the old man. “How could you direct your sword without warning at a junior like this?”

Nalan Yexing paid no heed to her as he turned to Chen Ping’an with a smile and said, “That is the level of speed you can expect from the flying swords of all Unpolished Jade Tier swordsmen on our Sword Qi Great Wall. You shouldn’t feel disappointed that you weren’t able to evade it. In fact, it’s already very impressive that you were able to react at all, albeit too late.”

Chen Ping’an cupped his fist in a grateful salute.

He had reacted purely on instinct, and in reality, he hadn’t even managed to catch a single glimpse of the flying sword.

“Have a good rest, Young Master Chen,” the old man said with a farewell wave, then instantly vanished from the pergola.

The old woman was also about to depart, but Chen Ping’an smiled as he requested, “Can we chat for a while longer, Granny Bai?”

The old woman was more than happy to keep him company, and the two of them returned to the pergola together.

Chen Ping’an wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, then asked, “Can I drink some wine, Granny Bai?”

“Why not? Go right ahead,” the old woman replied with a smile. “I’ll stand up for you if Young Mistress Ning complains.”

Chen Ping’an pulled out a flagon of rice wine, then set it down after taking a few sips, and began telling the old woman about the pure martial artists of the Majestic World, as well as what he had seen and experienced in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

Occasionally, he would stand up and demonstrate the fist stances that he had learned from others.

The old woman didn’t speak much, instead mostly listening in silence with a faint smile on her face, only contributing a nod here and there.

Chen Ping’an’s demeanor was very calm and steadfast, but there was also a sense of exuberance and excitement about him.

Nalan Yexing was standing in the distance, watching the two in the pergola from afar, and he smiled as he said, “You have just as good an eye for men as your mother did, Young Mistress Ning.”

Ning Yao was standing beside him, trying to maintain an unimpressed facade, but her eyes were glowing with pride and affection as she answered, “Perhaps I’m even better than Mother in that regard!”

***

After leaving the Ning Manor, Ning Yao’s group of friends had each returned to their own homes.

Yan Zhuo had returned to his clan’s resplendent manor, then chatted extensively with the elderly steward before making his way to a secret chamber that was riddled with Mohist mechanisms. There, he fought against three puppets comparable in combat prowess to Golden Core Tier swordsmen without using his bonded flying sword.

Unsurprisingly, it was a one-sided beating in favor of the puppets. After that, he enjoyed a lavish meal consisting of many precious Agrarian and Medicinist medicinal ingredients. Just that single meal alone cost a small fortune, but thankfully, Yan Zhuo was never short on money.

After satiating himself, Yan Zhuo squeezed his own flabby chin with a look of concern on his face. A’Liang had once praised him as someone who had it all. He was so rich at such a young age and had a good personality and a jovial appearance. If he could lose just a little bit of weight, then he would be the perfect embodiment of the word “handsome.”

At the time, Yan Zhuo had almost been moved to the point of tears, feeling like A’Liang was the only one able to see his brilliance and give him an honest assessment. Meanwhile, A’Liang had been weighing up the hefty money that he had just received with a vibrant smile on his face.

The first time Yan Zhuo left the city to step onto the battlefield with Ning Yao and the others, he discovered that even though the demons of the Savage World were inferior in cultivation base to the mechanical puppets in the secret chamber of his clan, they were extremely ruthless and struck fear deep into his heart.

As a result of his panic, both of the master swordsmen that his clan had sent to accompany him perished in order to protect him. After returning home, the traumatized Yan Zhuo was told that he would never have to step on the battlefield again. In fact, he wouldn’t even have to get close to the battlefield. This piece of news saddened him, but he also felt like it was for the best.

However, A’Liang then paid his clan a visit, and he didn’t know what A’Liang said to his seniors, but he was given another chance. However, as soon as he made his way onto the city walls again, his legs immediately began to tremble, as did his conviction. He wasn’t even able to keep his flying sword steady, let alone wield it to kill enemies.

Thankfully, A’Liang paid him a visit right before he was due to step onto the battlefield, telling him that all he had to worry about was killing enemies on the battlefield, and that A’Liang would personally ensure his survival. A’Liang wouldn’t help him slay demons, but he would keep him safe so that he could focus wholeheartedly on battle. If he still didn’t dare to go all-out even under these circumstances, then he wouldn’t be receiving any more chances.

Furthermore, A’Liang would never borrow money from him to buy wine again. Even the finest and most expensive wine wouldn’t taste good bought using money borrowed from such a coward.

What followed was a brilliant redemption for Yan Zhuo. Even the old ancestors of his clan, who had previously always regarded him with disdain, no longer directed any more barbed remarks at him. At the very least, they would no longer call him a useless pig to his face.

As he lay bedridden from his injuries in the aftermath of that battle, his mother was finally able to shed tears for him and feel completely justified.

In the past, whenever he was bullied by his peers, his father would never offer him any words of consolation when he returned home, if he had been beaten bloody and bruised. In fact, he would barely even spare his son a glance, seemingly looking down on him just as his bullies did.

He had lost both of his arms on the battlefield, and whenever his son returned home in disgrace, he would glare at his wife out of the corner of his eye with a cold sneer on his face, silently reprimanding her for her excessively soft style of parenting.

However, after that battle, Yan Zhuo’s father returned to the Sword Qi Great Wall for the first time in many years, then bent down so that his son could be placed onto his back before personally carrying Yan Zhuo back home.

At the time, Yan Zhuo had been lying on his bed, while A’Liang had been leaning in the doorway, watching him with a smile. Even though he was weeping from the agony of his injuries, he felt a sense of immense pride at the sight of the thumbs-up directed his way by A’Liang.

Among his peers, Yan Zhuo didn’t possess the loftiest cultivation base or the fastest flying sword, nor was he the one with the most kills to his name, but he was definitely the most annoying one to deal with because he had the most life-saving tricks up his sleeve.

After parting ways with her friends, Die Zhang returned to a squalid alley, where she had purchased a small house with the immortal coins that she had earned over the years. It was Die Zhang’s biggest wish in life to have a place that she could call her own, and after fulfilling that wish, she was fully content with her life.

She had thought that this wish of hers would never become reality. That was until she met that unkempt man by the name of A’Liang.

As a child, her favorite activity was to run around all over the city, buying different types of wine for him. According to A’Liang, one had to drink different types of wine depending on one’s mood. Some wines could drown sorrows and turn sadness to joy, while others could enhance already joyful emotions to further elevate one’s good mood. The best wines were the ones that allowed one to drink without thinking about anything else, focusing solely on the wine itself.

At the time, Die Zhang was still very young, so she didn’t really understand all of that, nor did she care to try to understand. All she cared about was whether she would be able to earn some scrap silver from her trips. Of course, there was also a chance that she could accumulate wine debts instead.

After she became more familiar with A’Liang, the latter told her that she was all grown up, and having grown into such a beautiful young woman, she had to develop a sense of responsibility. Thus, some of his wine debts were entrusted to Die Zhang.

He promised her that there was no way he would run away from his debts, encouraging her to go to the Majestic World and ask around to see if anyone had a bad word to say about him. At the time, Die Zhang still had both her arms, and she was convinced by A’Liang’s spirited promise.

The name of Die Zhang had actually been given to her by A’Liang. According to A’Liang, the scenery in the Majestic World was much, much better than the scenery in this godforsaken place. He particularly enjoyed seeing those lush, layered mountains that presented a stunning sight to behold. Every single one of those mountains was an elegant woman, and they were so tall that it was difficult for men not to see them, even if they wanted to avoid it.[1]

Die Zhang opened the gate, then sat down in the courtyard. Perhaps she was inspired after seeing Ning Yao’s reunion with her beloved, but in that moment, she thought of the Confucian scholar who took Righteous Aura with him. Back then, he had been a noble scholar who had come to the Sword Qi Great Wall to experience the world, and once he went back, he was a virtuous scholar.

She didn’t know if she would get to see him again before she lost her life on the battlefield. There were some things that she wanted to tell him straight from her heart, some feelings that she wanted to inform him of, regardless of whether that would lead to anything.

Dong and Chen were two of the most powerful surnames on the Sword Qi Great Wall.

The Yan Clan’s power and prestige came from its immense wealth, while the foundation of the Dong and Chen Clans was built up by generation after generation of sword immortals.

Dong Huafu’s residence was very close to Chen Sanqiu’s. The two manors were on the same street.

For many young girls, their round and childish faces would eventually grow thinner and more angular as they grew up over time. However, Dong Huafu’s older sister was an exception. Even after all these years, her face remained as round as ever, but even so, she still had many secret admirers thanks to her exceptional swordsmanship and tremendous combat prowess.

In battle, Dong Bude enjoyed deploying a reckless style where she put her life on the line in order to secure a decisive outcome as quickly as possible, and she was someone who had earned the respect of even a proud prodigy like Ning Yao.

Dong Huafu had no interest in romantic affairs, nor did he understand the subject in the slightest, but he was aware that his good friend, Chen Sanqiu, had always been in love with his older sister. The two of them were very close in age, and apparently, they had grown up as close childhood friends.

Unfortunately, Chen Sanqiu’s feelings weren’t reciprocated by Dong Bude. In private, Dong Bude had told her brother that she didn’t like Chen Sanqiu because he was too handsome. Even for someone as clueless and oblivious as Dong Huafu, he felt like this was not a legitimate reason. Dong Huafu was worried that if his sister were to marry someone else someday, then Chen Sanqiu would become a depressed alcoholic.

As a child, Chen Sanqiu had always liked to follow A’Liang around, trying to get free wine out of the latter. He hadn’t learned much swordsmanship from A’Liang, but he had picked up plenty of bad habits. Strangely enough, Chen Sanqiu had always been extremely devoted to Dong Bude, only to be met with constant rejection, but he was very popular with many women who were clearly superior to Dong Bude in the looks department.

In particular, over the past few years, the wine saleswoman would practically begin salivating whenever she saw Chen Sanqiu, and she allowed him to purchase as much wine on credit as he pleased.

Standing at the entrance of the Dong Manor was Dong Bude, alongside an excited woman, none other than the mother of the two siblings.

With a sense of exasperation, Dong Huafu realized that the two women had to have somehow received wind of Chen Ping’an’s arrival and were eager to pry some information out of him. He couldn’t help but wonder if all of the women under the heavens were so infatuated with gossip.

Dong Huafu turned to take a glance at Chen Sanqiu, then turned back to look at his sister, who was eagerly beckoning to him, and he was struck by a sense of sorrow and sympathy. Chen Sanqiu really wasn’t a bad guy, so why didn’t his sister like him?

Desperate to avoid being forcibly dragged onto the gossip train, Dong Huafu immediately said, “I’m not going to say anything about what happened between Big Sister Ning and Chen Ping’an. If you want to know, then go to the Ning Manor and ask for yourselves.”

1. Die Zhang (叠嶂) translates to layered mountains. ☜