Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an opened his eyes, and four flying swords materialized around him in an instant. First was asking for praise and reward, Fifteenth was as obedient as always, while Pine Needle and Lightning Devourer were far less sentient and expressive than the other two due to being replica swords, even though they had already reached advanced refinement.

There was a familiar scent of medicine in the small room.

Glancing outside, he saw that it was already approaching dusk.

Chen Ping’an closed his eyes and sensed the hazy aura of the Sword Qi Great Wall in the distance, and when he opened his eyes again, he retracted his flying swords and focused his attention on his body, checking on the wounds from the battle and, more importantly, inspecting his four critical acupoints.

When it came to battles between cultivators, one’s Great Dao would be fundamentally damaged if one’s bonded acupoints became something resembling an ancient battlefield ruin.

An overbearing fire dragon swam over the instant that Chen Ping’an’s consciousness appeared inside his body, and standing on the head of the dragon was a small golden person dressed in Confucian robes as usual. In addition to carrying a sword, the small person was also carrying a golden scripture. However, he had become a small baldy now.

The small golden person glared intently at Chen Ping’an as he stood on the head of the dragon, clearly winding up to unleash on the young man.

Chen Ping’an attempted a bluff and said, ”Don’t scold me, okay? When I get angry, I can’t help but scold myself as well.”

Did the small baldy care about these things? He immediately unleashed a torrent of abuse at Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an naturally couldn’t engage in a shouting match with the small golden person, so he could only play deaf and mute and ignore his incisive remarks.

After all, if it weren’t for the small golden person helping to patrol his body and preventing his True Qi as a pure martial artist from interfering with the channeling of his spiritual energy in his acupoints, the intense battle just then would have put his mind into a slumber. His True Qi as a martial artist would have clashed violently with his spiritual energy as a Qi refiner, exacerbating the severity of his wounds and planting the seeds of countless future troubles.

The spiritual energy had already dried up completely at the water palace, with the water veins on the murals appearing dull and lifeless and the small pond having no more water. However, the foundations of the water seal, the murals, and the small pond weren’t damaged, not in the sense that they were completely unharmed, but in the sense that they could potentially be repaired in the future.

For example, some of the paint had peeled off from the murals, causing many initially unstable paintings of water gods to become increasingly faint and unstable. Among them, some of the livelier paintings of the water gods had initially radiated with a pure golden glow, but right now, their radiance also appeared much more muted than before.

The entire water palace felt a little gloomy, and the small children in green were all wandering around with nothing to do — they couldn’t repair the water palace without the necessary materials.

They looked up at Chen Ping’an’s consciousness, and despite not grumbling in displeasure, their worried frowns and sulky gazes silently voiced their protest. Seeing this, Chen Ping’an could only promise that he would try his best to provide them with materials to repair the vitality of the water palace as soon as possible. The small children in green hung their heads in despondence, clearly very skeptical of Chen Ping’an’s promise.

Over at the entrance of the water palace, the small golden person sat cross-legged on the fiery dragon’s head and shot a glare at the children in green.

The dispirited children in green immediately stood up straight and respectfully bid Chen Ping’an farewell.

After leaving the water palace, the small golden person continued to chase after Chen Ping’an on the fiery dragon and scold him.

The mountain shrine and the wood residence weren’t faring much better than the water palace, and Chen Ping’an would need to become a handyman and rely on a flow of immortal coins, as well as some corresponding treasures of the Five Elements, to slowly repair these critical acupoints.

Three of Chen Ping’an’s critical acupoints and bonded items were damaged, causing his cultivation base to fall three entire tiers. Thus, he was now a ”powerful” second tier cultivator.

The good news was that he no longer faced any obstacles with the Eighteen Stops Technique that A’Liang had modified.

First and Fifteenth occupied two critical acupoints and continued to sharpen their blades using the Dragon Slaying Platform.

Of the three acupoints that the three extremely small wisps of sword qi had initially occupied, only one remained, appearing like an empty residence waiting for an occupant.

It was waiting for Chen Ping’an to nurture a more legitimate bonded flying sword than First and Fifteenth; it was waiting for him to become a legitimate sword cultivator.

The main reason why Chen Ping’an had failed to overcome the final barrier of the Eighteen Stops Technique for so long was that the acupoint containing that final wisp of sword qi had formlessly become a ”mighty border pass” obstructing the advance of his sword intent.

Chen Ping’an suddenly chuckled to himself. The bald little head of the small golden person actually looked quite adorable.

Right after this thought appeared in his mind, however, it felt like a furious punch launched by the Deity Drumming Technique slammed into his chest, knocking the wind from him and causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood.

Why was the small golden person so good at holding grudges? Who had he learned this from? He had most likely learned this from his opening disciple, right?

Chen Ping’an put on his boots, displaying no signs of struggle as he got up from bed and walked around.

Grandma Bai, who had been standing guard in the corridor outside the entire time, smiled and asked, ”You’re awake?”

Chen Ping’an opened the door and asked, ”How long have I been sleeping, Grandma Bai?”

”Not long. Only three days and three nights,” Grandma Bai replied.

Chen Ping’an breathed a sigh of relief and asked, ”How is the battle at the city wall going?”

”This might sound strange, but their assault is just as lackluster as before, a far cry from the domineering formation they put forward in the beginning,” Grandma Bai replied in amusement. ”Their assault this time is quite similar to the previous two assaults — they’re essentially charging over to seek death.”

Chen Ping’an nodded in response and turned around to carry a bench into the corridor, allowing him to sit down and chat with Grandma Bai.

Grandma Bai was naturally trying to put his mind at ease.

Moreover, this was indeed the case on the surface, and Grandma Bai wouldn’t lie about something as significant as the demons’ assault on the Sword Qi Great Wall. However, there was no way she would be oblivious to the truth behind the veil: the stifling feeling as if dark clouds were bearing down on the city and waiting to unleash a storm.

The loud commotion, but unexpectedly muted battles, were simply the calm before the storm.

The fourteen great demons definitely hadn’t appeared to simply accompany the old man in gray and take a few glances at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Grandma Bai looked at the solemn and composed Chen Ping’an and asked in amusement, ”You’re not in a hurry to go to the city wall?”

”Hurrying won’t help, so I’m not in a hurry,” Chen Ping’an replied. ”I’ll recuperate for a while before finding a disguised method to help out at the city wall. Otherwise, if I stay by Ning Yao’s side, the results will be much worse than my expectations, and that’s if I don’t make things worse. Give me two days maximum, and I’ll be able to recover more than half of my combat power and ascend the city wall to help.”

Grandma Bai nodded and said, ”That’s a good point. You’re in the top three on the to-kill list, so if you’re not careful, you’ll easily attract the attention of one or two great demons.”

”My name shot up the ranks that quickly?” Chen Ping’an asked with a chuckle. ”The Savage World is holding a second tier Qi refiner in such high regard? Oh, I understand now. How sinister of them. They’re clearly trying to anger Pang Yuanji, Qi Shou, and Gao Yehou to death.”

Grandma Bai smiled in understanding and said with emotion, ”There are many principles that I understand, but I ultimately can’t bring myself to properly adhere to them. For example, it would be more beneficial for me to use more power when sparring fist techniques with you, but I just can’t bring myself to be as ruthless as Old Bastard Nalan. In any case, you’ve traveled extensively through the martial world, giving you a wealth of experience in conflicts and fights to the death, so it’s actually not my place to feel worried for you.”

Chen Ping’an shook his head and said, ”Every Go game starts on a fresh board, and the dangers of the martial world and the deadly conflicts in the mountains don’t come anywhere close to rivaling the large-scale battles at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

”Indeed, even the death of an earth immortal cultivator is generally a huge matter in the Majestic World. To say nothing of Grandma Bai feeling worried, I also feel very afraid. However, it’s precisely because of this fear that I like to think about some small and trivial matters all the time.”

Chen Ping’an extended his hands and drew a Go board in the air, after which he circled a small region on the board and continued in a soft voice, ”If the Go board is this big, and the two players of the Go game are the Savage World and the Sword Qi Great Wall, then the old man in gray will represent the former, and the old great sword immortal will represent the latter. The old man in gray will understandably possess immense skills and have many Go stones.

”My cultivation base is low, so when I enter the battlefield later, my role will be to hide and appear weak on the Go board, secretly carving out a smaller Go board that I can control in the meantime. By creating a smaller world in the big world, I’ll be able to enjoy fewer unexpected surprises and better chances at victory.

”So, if things hadn’t been so tense before, not giving me any time to think, I wouldn’t have jumped down the city wall so early to engage in battle. Rather, I would have wanted those vile beasts in the Savage World to remain completely oblivious to the existence of someone called Chen Ping’an at the Sword Qi Great Wall, from the beginning of the battle all the way until the end.”

After saying this, Chen Ping’an grabbed his Sword Nurturing Gourd and swirled it around, saying with a faint smile, ”Thankfully, my force of habit made me think a bit more when I left the city wall.”

There was actually a much deeper implication to the wager between the old great sword immortal and the old man in gray.

In fact, it could be said that Chen Qingdu’s wager was the reason behind Chen Ping’an making a decision on how to face his enemy in almost a split second.

The reason for this was very simple. The old great sword immortal fully understood Chen Ping’an’s capabilities, perhaps even more so than his own senior brother, Zuo You.

Similarly, Chen Qingdu could also gauge the approximate strength of the little boy, Li Zhen.

And so, Chen Ping’an instantly knew at that moment that he didn’t need to go all out and fight to the death with his opponent.

At the same time, he shouldn’t fight to stay alive, and he should instead fight to achieve victory.

As for Li Zhen, he had severely overestimated his standing in the old man in gray’s heart.

The disciple that the old man in gray actually wanted was a completely new ”Guan Zhao,” one who had comprehensively changed his Dao Heart and was able to inherit all of his past sword intent.

Li Zhen was the direct disciple of the old man in gray, the manifestation of the Savage World’s Great Dao, but his standing in his master’s heart was at most only equivalent to that of the Sword Qi Great Wall’s Ning Yao.

As a stone on the Go board that was oblivious to its own standing as a sacrificial piece, failing to fundamentally change its standing and situation would only lead it toward peril.

Chen Ping’an needed to remember this lesson.

First, it was Huai Qian losing his life in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and now, it was Li Zhen being killed outside the Sword Qi Great Wall.

One was a prodigy from the Middle Earth Divine Continent, and another was a destined individual in the Savage World.

Chen Ping’an raised his Sword Nurturing Gourd and said, ”I’ll take a few sips in secret, and I definitely won’t drink too much, so please don’t dob on me, Grandma Bai.”

”It’s okay for you to drink a bit more as long as you don’t become drunk. You’re always able to make people feel at ease regardless of whether it’s a big matter or small,” Grandma Bai replied slowly with a kindly expression.

Chen Ping’an broke into a coughing fit after drinking a few sips of wine, so he quickly put away the Sword Nurturing Gourd.

This small hiccup wasn’t enough to make Grandma Bai feel worried, especially since Chen Ping’an had enjoyed significant benefits to his physique as a martial artist in the previous battle.

From now onward, Yu Juanfu might end up slamming into the wall each time she challenged Chen Ping’an to a fistfight.

”The tribulations of heaven and earth are incredibly dangerous, so why did you take such a huge risk?” Grandma Bai asked in a quiet voice.

She had felt a sense of lingering apprehension after hearing about the battle from Nalan Yexing.

”I previously traveled around the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and I already became relatively accustomed to heavenly tribulations descending from the sea of clouds, as well as constructs such as thunder pools,” Chen Ping’an replied softly.

”In reality, the fundamental Great Dao channeling these two phenomena possesses similar rules and regulations, and this allowed me to be calmer and more composed when I faced them before. So, luck is actually quite important in many scenarios.

”Li Zhen also considered many things during the battle, but his luck couldn’t be regarded as very good. However, if I were Li Zhen, I would definitely include luck and subjugation abilities in my calculations when fighting against someone at the Sword Qi Great Wall. At the end of the day, Li Zhen was still... too young. He would have become a terrifying opponent if he had grown a bit older and experienced a few more battles with the Sword Qi Great Wall.”

Chen Ping’an couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

Throwing punches and unleashing sword strikes with his full power to kill Li Zhen was ultimately a very satisfying feeling.

The next so-called Li Zhen that Holding Moon Mountain put together with remnant souls and a reconstructed body wouldn’t be the same Li Zhen anymore. Disregarding cultivation base and only focusing on the ”true self” of the soul, Li Zhen would fare even worse than Huai Qian, who had stayed alive thanks to having a wisp of his soul in a bonded lamp.

Li Zhen... His name was indeed a bad omen.[1]

Chen Ping’an interlaced his fingers, appearing slightly idle as he pushed his thumbs together. He naturally wasn’t relaxed and unworried, but rather, he was simply able to contain his thoughts.

Old Man Yao was the first person to teach him this kind of so-called mental ability, but the old man had spoken too vaguely and had barely explained the principles. This was no surprise, as the old man cherished his words like gold when he spoke to Chen Ping’an, who had only been an apprentice and not his disciple.

Thus, Chen Ping’an would always think a lot when molding pottery and firing pottery back then, but he would often become more worried the more he thought about these tasks. Similarly, he would end up becoming more distracted the more he tried to focus. This was caused by his frail physique, with his mind being quicker than his hands, resulting in him always making mistakes.

1. Li Zhen (离真) literally means departing from truth. ☜