Unsheathed

After returning to the Sword Qi Great Wall, Chen Ping’an chose a relatively quiet section of the wall measuring approximately five hundred meters in length to guard by himself.

Generally speaking, for sword immortals under the Unpolished Jade Tier, only Nascent Tier sword cultivators would have the right to guard a section of the great wall by themselves. For example, Qi Shou, who had recently broken through while cultivating in seclusion.

Among the younger generation of innate sword prodigies at the Sword Qi Great Wall, Qi Shou also became the first person to advance to the Nascent Tier.

This was an ironclad rule at the Sword Qi Great Wall, and it was also a prestigious honor.

Because of this, even Ning Yao needed to cooperate with Chen Sanqiu and the others when she fought on the great wall. Similarly, Pang Yuanji and Gao Yehou also needed to cooperate with their companions. Of course, the sections of the city wall guarded by these prodigious groups were longer than those guarded by ordinary Nascent Tier sword cultivators. In fact, they could even rival the lengths of the city wall guarded by many powerful sword immortals.

Chen Ping’an was an exception, yet this didn’t draw any protest or criticism. The reason was that he hadn’t technically broken any rules. He hadn’t become a sword cultivator yet, and he was only a pure martial artist who had nurtured a few flying swords.

In addition, Chen Ping’an was willing to take risks and act as bait, actively attracting the attention of those hiding great demons. Ning Yao didn’t say anything, Zuo You didn’t say anything, and Old Sword Immortal Yao Lianyun of the Yao Clan didn’t say anything, so the other sword immortals at the Sword Qi Great Wall naturally wouldn’t say anything or try to block Chen Ping’an either.

Chen Ping’an and Qi Shou coincidentally became neighbors on the great wall.

Qi Shou continued to wield his sword, and he only used a slight bit of his attention to glance at Chen Ping’an. He wasn’t wearing a random assortment of face masks today, and he was dressed in an azure Dao robe under the standard Dao robe from the garment market. There was a standard sword from the sword market resting horizontally across his knees, and he had yet to summon the two powerful celestial tools he had used to kill Li Zhen.

It was only the early stages of battle between the two sides, and the many bonded flying swords of the sword immortals were like a tidal wave that rushed at the forefront of the battlefield, obstructing the advance of the demon army. Beyond this army were some demons that had slipped through the cracks, and it was these enemies that the earth immortal sword cultivators needed to kill with their swords.

Afterward, if there were still demons that were fortunate enough to survive, most likely having managed to charge past the second sword formation, they would be met with a barrage of flying swords unleashed by Middle Five Tier sword cultivators.

This was also a form of sword practice at the Sword Qi Great Wall, and those belonging to the three tiers from the Abode Tier to the Dragon Gate Tier would gradually familiarize themselves with the battlefield even though their cultivation base was still relatively low. They would also develop stronger links with their bonded flying swords, allowing their attacks to become quicker and more natural.

Qi Shou shifted his gaze and glanced at Chen Ping’an’s sword attack. He had still been cultivating in seclusion during Chen Ping’an’s battle with Li Zhen beyond the city wall, so he hadn’t witnessed the exchange and had only heard about it afterward. As proud and haughty as Qi Shou was, he still had to admit that it was slightly disappointing to have missed the battle.

Chen Ping’an didn’t conceal anything today, unleashing all four flying swords at once. However, he had seemingly learned a new illusion skill from some unknown person in a hurry, and looking at the appearances of his four flying swords, they frequently shifted between different forms and colors.

Demons at the Nascent Tier and Upper Five Tiers could easily see through this crude illusion technique after a few glances, but it was more than enough to trick the large army of demons lowering their heads and charging forward. They would easily suffer a ruthless pummeling after being slowed down by the four flying swords.

There was another minor aspect to this, and once the demons charging in front were killed by his sword, the many demons behind them would continue to charge forward, but would involuntarily slow down.

Compared to the fully concentrating Chen Ping’an, Qi Shou appeared much more relaxed as he attacked the demons and slowed them down. Even distracting himself by glancing at Chen Ping’an didn’t affect his battlefield in the least.

It could be said that the large army of demons from the Savage World was suffering heavy casualties, but even so, it was still very far away from the city wall. Sword cultivators like Qi Shou, who had already taken part in three large-scale battles, appeared relaxed and composed as they continued to defend their sections of the wall.

Qi Shou also had three bonded flying swords, with Flying Kite being the quickest and enjoying an advantage when it came to one-on-one battles. Heartstring was most suited to drawn-out battles, and it was least afraid of demons with extremely thick skin and tough physiques.

As for the most mystical Jumping Spider, a Daoist sage had further remarked, ”Owner of the stars, rain upon the mortal world. Similar to Great Sword Immortal Yue Qing’s bonded flying sword, Soaring Cloud Sparrow, and Yao Lianyun’s bonded flying sword that could summon numerous seas of clouds, Depths of the Clouds, Jumping Spider was best at dealing large-scale damage to the enemies.”

Thus, Qi Shou was able to easily defend his small section of the city wall even though he had only just advanced to the Nascent Tier. Generally speaking, only when the overall defensive line of sword cultivators began to feel fatigued — including the sword immortals who started with abundant spiritual energy and the Middle Five Tier sword cultivators who had relatively less spiritual energy to begin with — would the battle enter dangerous territory. Things would become very dangerous on the city wall, with some sword cultivators being forced to retreat and an increasing number of sword cultivators being killed by the demons.

Regardless of whether it was demons that had embarked on the path of cultivation and assumed human form or beastly demons that were still yet to develop the ability to assume human form, those that were unlucky or dared to change their paths and stray into Qi Shou’s defensive jurisdiction would all be brutally killed by Flying Kite.

Qi Shou had always been cruel when killing enemies with Flying Kite, and he liked to gradually slice off the flesh of the demons until their bones were completely exposed. He enjoyed making them suffer a greater pain than death.

He would leave the more troublesome demons to his second flying sword, Heartstring, and the longer these battles dragged on, the less chance of victory his enemies would have. This was because Heartstring would have more time to accumulate energy. This flying sword could travel even more quickly than Flying Kite, and it could use the small wisps of circulating spiritual energy on the battlefield to automatically look for the critical acupoints of its enemies.

Qi Shou glanced at the sea of corpses on the battlefield in the distance. He had witnessed the same thing when ascending the city wall and unleashing sword strikes against the demon army for the first time, and back then, he couldn’t help but ask, ”Why are these vile beasts unafraid of death?”

A sword immortal had smiled and explained, ”It’s not that they’re unafraid of death. However, life is cheap in the Savage World, and the same is true even if they become cultivators. Only by becoming sword cultivators can they change their fates and become slightly more valuable, giving them a greater chance of survival when they attack the great wall.”

Qi Shou was yet to summon Jumping Spider. There was no need to do so.

When it came to battles between the Sword Qi Great Wall and the Savage World, the most critical aspect was never the overwhelming power of some sword immortal or the astounding true body and mystical power of some great demon. The most critical aspect was always defined by a single word: attrition.

Each side would slowly weaken and grind down the other, and it was a competition to see who would comprehensively grind down the other first. The Savage World relied on its overwhelming strength in numbers, while the Sword Qi Great Wall relied on the accumulated spiritual energy of the sword cultivators.

The Sword Qi Great Wall had suffered heavy losses and almost fallen the previous time it had enjoyed a prodigious generation of innate sword talent, with all of the young sword cultivators either dying or suffering severe wounds. This was because the Savage World had stubbornly continued to attack and had almost held on until the very end.

It was also after that brutal lesson that an increasing number of intercontinental ships traveled to Stalactite Mountain, allowing the Sword Qi Great Wall’s Nalan Clan and Yan Clan to enjoy significant rises as they did more and more business with the Majestic World, purchasing huge amounts of alchemical pills, talismans, and immortal treasures. These were goods that sword cultivators had looked down on in the past, yet would now purchase as an extra layer of security.

With intercontinental ships being able to make huge profits by traveling to Stalactite Mountain, many new clans and immortal forces enjoyed rapid rises in the nine continents of the Majestic World, becoming so rich that they were almost breathing money. Among these forces was the Pure White Continent’s Liu Clan, the Circling Ascension Continent’s Mountain and Water Cave, the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Jade Forest Sect, the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent’s Old Dragon City, the Rain Dragon Sect which acted as an important hub, and so on.

On the other side of Chen Ping’an was Xie Songhua, a female sword immortal from the Pure White Continent. She had only arrived at the Sword Qi Great Wall at the end of winter, and she had kept a low profile the entire time.

She was staying in the private residence of a deceased sword immortal between the great wall and the main city, and because she had only just arrived and had no military merit to her name, she was only staying there on a temporary basis. Xie Songhua almost never interacted with other people, and she would seldom show up at places that were bustling with noise.

After she summoned her bonded flying sword, its aura and strength could only be regarded as extremely mediocre. The flying sword traveled at a middling speed, with its sword light and sword intent also very ordinary. It appeared as if the flying sword were only just powerful enough to kill its enemies.

Qi Shou couldn’t help but take a glance at the bamboo sword case on Xie Songhua’s back.

She was presumably the person helping to scoop in the larger prey as Chen Ping’an fished. It was said that she was only at the Unpolished Jade Tier, and this caused Qi Shou to feel slightly puzzled. If a demon took the bait and required Xie Songhua to unleash a sword strike using her full power, this would most certainly be a large fish. Thus, even if she were a sword immortal at the peak stage of the Unpolished Jade Tier, would she truly be able to subdue the great demon and prevent it from dragging Chen Ping’an away along with his fishing rod?

Could it be that Xie Songhua was the type of sword cultivator that pursued extremes, yearning to achieve maximum destructive power with a single sword strike? Such kinds of strange sword immortals had appeared at the Sword Qi Great Wall before, but only very rarely. They were best at fighting to the death, and they liked to determine victory and defeat in a single exchange. If their opponent managed to survive their attack, however, then they would very likely lose and be killed. Because of this, these kinds of sword immortals seldom survived for long at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

From right to left, there were Qi Shou, Chen Ping’an, and Xie Songhua, with each guarding a section of the wall.

There were no substitute sword cultivators standing behind the three of them.

As they defended the great wall, Fan Dache secretly visited Chen Ping’an once, not daring to stay for too long as he put down a pot of wine before running away.

Chen Ping’an cracked open the clay seal and took small sips of wine, keeping his eyes on the movements of the demons on the battlefield the entire time.

In contrast to Qi Shou’s incisive and almost cruel attacks, Chen Ping’an tried his best to kill his enemies in a single blow, or at least severely wound their physical bodies with each sword strike. At worst, he would try to inhibit the movement of the demons.

Chen Ping’an had fallen three tiers following his battle with Li Zhen, meaning there was no easy way to recover his relatively impressive store of spiritual energy. For example, he couldn’t restore his water palace to its peak state simply by refining some water elixirs.

If Chen Ping’an ignored the potential costs and continued to channel spiritual energy, he would essentially be overexerting himself, thereby worsening the fractures on the water seal that initially could have been repaired. The colorful water god murals would also peel off quicker, and the small pond beneath the water seal would start to leak.

Simply put, the water palace could be viewed as a vessel that was initially able to hold half a liter of water fortune, for example. Following Chen Ping’an’s battle, it was now only able to hold less than two hundred milliliters of water fortune. If he exhausted too much sword intent and drew on the very last drops of his spiritual energy to support his sword strikes, he would inevitably fall into a vicious cycle. Relying on medicines and elixirs to replenish the spiritual energy in his water palace would only result in more water fortune being wasted and dissipated, ultimately wasting the incredibly valuable water elixirs of Mirage Lake’s water god palace.

This wasn’t the most troublesome matter.

Even though Pine Needle and Lightning Devourer were only replica swords from Hatred Sword Mountain, the sharpness of these flying swords couldn’t be faulted after they reached advanced refinement. However, they lacked the innate mystical ability unique to flying swords, and in some sense, this was also true for First and Fifteenth. Whether or not one was a sword cultivator, and whether or not one’s bonded flying swords were naturally nurtured, would make a huge difference.

There was no need to say anything more about Qi Shou, as Chen Ping’an had personally faced his three bonded flying swords before. As for Gu Jianlong’s flying sword, Arsenic, this was a legitimate bonded sword of extremely high grade, so it would very often kill its targets once it struck them. Once Arsenic properly pierced into its target’s body, its sword intent would seep into the victim’s acupoints and become very difficult to remove.

In any case, overcoming troublesome matters was also a form of cultivation.

Chen Ping’an carefully controlled the expenditure of spiritual energy in his four critical acupoints while simultaneously repairing his water palace, mountain shrine, and wood residence. These critical acupoints were almost completely depleted of spiritual energy, and, looking at the water palace, for example, many blemishes became increasingly clear compared to normal conditions.

Thus, Chen Ping’an immediately closed the gates of the water palace, no longer using spiritual energy from this critical acupoint. At the same time, the green-robed children started to busily carry out repair works. Meanwhile, there was a manifestation of a yin god guarding the wood residence, and there was the small golden person patrolling around the mountain shrine.

The situation at the Sword Qi Great Wall was urgent, so Chen Ping’an didn’t have the luxury of resting and recuperating in the city. That being the case, he took the next best option of tempering himself through battle, seizing this opportunity to identify all of the small blemishes and shortcomings in the foundation of his cultivation. He didn’t need to worry too much even if this decision would exhaust a large number of water elixirs from Mirage Lake’s water god palace, as well as a huge number of pills from the Ning Residence’s storage.

He could earn money by killing demons on the battlefield.

This was especially the case given that there were two written rules at the Sword Qi Great Wall that greatly benefited Chen Ping’an. When it came to killing demons, cultivators at different cultivation bases would receive different monetary rewards for killing demons at the same cultivation base. For example, a Middle Five Tier sword cultivator would receive far more money for killing a Golden Core Tier demon than what a sword immortal would receive for killing a Golden Core Tier demon.

And right now, Chen Ping’an was killing demons and earning money as a second tier Qi refiner.

The military supervisors and the battlefield recorders belonging to the Hidden Official’s lineage and the Confucian Sect had no issues with this.

He had suffered a drop in cultivation base due to his abilities, and he was also acting as bait thanks to his abilities. Taking this into account, both the military supervisors and the battlefield recorders felt like Chen Ping’an deserved the additional rewards.

Chen Ping’an was seemingly focused on controlling his four flying swords to navigate through the battlefield and kill enemies, but in reality, he was actually focusing some of his attention on the two battlefields beside him as well. Having reached the Nascent Tier now, Qi Shou’s sword strikes were markedly different from before, when he had battled against Chen Ping’an on the street.

As for Sword Immortal Xie Songhua’s sword strikes, they were comparatively more basic and simple, and she simply relied on the sharpness of her bonded flying sword — which Chen Ping’an didn’t know the name of — to kill her enemies. This actually allowed Chen Ping’an to comprehend a few more things.

Chen Ping’an ultimately wasn’t a pure sword cultivator, so controlling two flying swords required a lot of focus and spiritual energy, much more than if he were a sword cultivator. There were naturally benefits to having the physique of a Vajra Body Tier martial artist, not least that he could strengthen his soul and spirit. Even so, this couldn’t compare to the sword strikes of legitimate sword cultivators.

On the other side of the battlefield, the tidal wave of demons continued to surge forward, refusing to give the Sword Qi Great Wall any reprieve no matter how many demons were killed.

Because of this, Chen Ping’an needed to frequently drink wine, and not just any normal wine.

Qi Shou was slightly amused as he looked at this. Things were truly difficult for the second shopkeeper, who was fighting on the city wall at his own cost. It would be quite unfortunate if he collapsed from exhaustion before some big fish took his bait.

However, there was a bright glimmer in the eyes of the increasingly pale young man, and disregarding Chen Ping’an’s slight struggle to maintain control of his flying swords to kill demons and only focusing on his tenacity, as well as his clever choices regarding some finer details, his performance was genuinely quite impressive in the eyes of Qi Shou. Even though they had almost fought to the death before, Qi Shou wouldn’t be so petty as to wish Chen Ping’an injury after injury on the city wall, and eventually injury to the foundation of his Great Dao.

Thus, Qi Shou used his mind’s lake to say in suggestion, ”If you don’t mind, you can purposely allow a group of vile beasts to charge through the four battlefields of your flying swords and allow them to get closer to the city wall. That way, I can summon Jumping Spider and kill them in one fell swoop, giving me a nice amount of military merit. Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep on top of your battlefields in the long run.”

Chen Ping’an was only a second tier cultivator right now, rendering him unable to even communicate using his mind’s lake. He could only use the martial arts technique of compressing his voice into a thread to reply, ”I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t currently need your help. I can only catch big fish if I appear more pitiful. At that time, I’ll ask you for help even if you don’t offer.”

He had wasted one or two water elixirs, and even his four critical acupoints were more wounded than before, making it increasingly difficult for him to control his flying swords and attack the demons. However, he would make a fortune if he were able to successfully reel in an Upper Five Tier great demon.

This was the way to calculate gains and losses.

Just like Qi Shou had guessed, Sword Immortal Xie Songhua was indeed the type of sword cultivator that pursued an extreme form of sword intent, seeking to end all battles in a single sword strike.

Xie Songhua was very pragmatic and straightforward, and after the old great sword immortal chose her to help Chen Ping’an net his catch, Xie Songhua had engaged in an open and honest conversation with the young man. She didn’t beat around the bush or try to hide anything, and she directly told Chen Ping’an that she had come to the Sword Qi Great Wall to feed her sword one or two great demons. Once she accomplished this goal and received both the monetary and reputational benefits, she would immediately leave the great wall and return to the Pure White Continent.

This actually made Chen Ping’an feel more at ease.

Qi Shou smiled and asked, ”Aren’t you going to ask your ally, Sword Immortal Xie Songhua, to help you?”

”If I owe a sword immortal a favor, I won’t dare not return it,” Chen Ping’an replied. ”Not only that, but how I repay the favor will also become a very challenging problem. On the other hand, owing you a favor is easier to manage and return. This battle is also destined to drag on for a long time, so when all is said and done, it’s difficult to say which of us will owe the other more favors.”

Qi Shou felt like Chen Ping’an was as annoying as always, and he fell silent for a moment and wordlessly conceded this point. He then asked in curiosity, ”What percentage of your current struggle is real?”

Chen Ping’an smiled and replied, ”You won’t believe my answer no matter what, so why are you even asking?”

Qi Shou feigned exasperation and lamented, ”I’m bored and have nothing better to do. As a Nascent Tier sword cultivator, none of these enemies is my match. It feels quite lonely over here.”

Chen Ping’an chuckled and said, ”I’m able to employ a Nascent Tier sword cultivator and a sword immortal as my door gods. I feel even more solitude.”

Qi Shou raised his middle finger.

Chen Ping’an seized this spare moment to drink another sip of wine, and inside the wine pot was Bamboo Sea Small World Wine from his wine shop.

As for the Sword Nurturing Gourd by his waist, there was a water elixir mixed into the wine inside, so Chen Ping’an wouldn’t drink this wine until things became dangerous. In any case, the pots of wine that Fan Dache occasionally brought over could help Chen Ping’an replenish his spiritual energy, so there was temporarily no need to worry.

As for the several valuable alchemical pills inside Fifteenth, which also doubled as a pocket treasure, these were more targeted and would mainly be used for situations where his mountain shrine and wood residence were almost completely exhausted of spiritual energy.