Unsheathed

There were all kinds of strange and fantastical scenes on the battlefield.

A sea of clouds suddenly materialized and covered an area of fifty kilometers in radius over the battlefield, and gazing afar from the city wall, a speck of light instantly burst into existence and tore apart the sea of clouds, with another ray of light sinking into the clouds immediately afterward. These attacks then collided with the earth, triggering a thunderous rumble.

Some demon cultivators furtively snuck past the first sword formation established by the sword immortals, and when they suddenly reappeared, they would all be dressed in silver armor without exception. As they charged forward, these suits of armor could repel the flying swords of several earth immortal sword cultivators. Before they were targeted and killed by powerful sword immortals, they would attempt to create talismanic formations not above the battlefield, but deep underground instead.

The mountain-moving demons personally led by Great Demon Zhong Guang continued to maintain their colossal true forms as they ceaselessly threw mountains at the great wall, making them appear like catapults from the battlefields of the mortal world.

There was also a great demon, whose name wasn’t known, hovering extremely high up in the sky and holding a crystalline white jade vase in its hand. The vase was tilted downward, with its opening pointing at the Sword Qi Great Wall and a river rushing down. The river looked like a length of white silk cloth descending from the skies, yet it never reached the ground, instead colliding with the tidal wave of sword qi unleashed from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Elsewhere, a great demon hid deep underground and revealed its gigantic true body measuring several hundred meters in length when it suddenly emerged from the earth. The great demon looked like a mix of a snake and a flood dragon, and it attempted to destroy the bonded flying swords of many Middle Five Tier sword cultivators in a single strike.

However, this great demon was instantly noticed by Great Sword Immortal Li Tuimi on the city wall and promptly pushed back with a single sword strike, forcing it to retreat underground with its gigantic body. It attempted to leave the battlefield, but the flying sword continued to pursue it, with blinding sword light rushing through the ground and causing it to tremor. In fact, the sword light was so brilliant that it was visible even through the thick earth.

There were also the demon cultivators that arrived in the second sword formation after running around and navigating through the flying swords of the first formation. These demon cultivators would throw some gravel-like substances onto the battlefield, instantly summoning hundreds of large skeletal puppets dressed in suits of armor. These puppets would use their huge bodies to capture the bonded flying swords of the sword cultivators, and they would immediately explode after netting a catch.

Because these puppets were located near the boundary of the first and second sword formations, their violently exploding bones and armors would affect both earth immortal sword cultivators and Middle Five Tier sword cultivators. When it came to the earth immortals, perhaps only the sharpness of their flying swords would be affected by these explosions. As for the Middle Five Tier sword immortals, however, many of their flying swords would be severely damaged, and some would even be completely destroyed.

Standing on the battlefield, some sword cultivators would completely forget about the flow of time. On the other end of the extreme, some sword cultivators would tremble with fear and trepidation, feeling like each passing second was hours or even days.

The sun set, and the moons rose.

The Sword Qi Great Wall was extremely familiar with the three moons of the Savage World, and they were seemingly becoming brighter and brighter. It was as if the moonlight were shifting toward the battlefield and especially favoring the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Qi Shou glanced at Chen Ping’an and said in warning, ”Be careful of failing to catch any big fish and being tired to death instead. If this continues, you’ll only have the ability to retract your swords a single time.”

Chen Ping’an definitely wouldn’t have needed to expend so much mental energy if he were simply wielding his blade against normal enemies.

Now, however, Chen Ping’an was on high alert the entire time, guarding against any potential surprises. He didn’t know where his enemy was hiding, nor did he know when some great demon would suddenly make a move against him. If the great demon were sinister and didn’t strive to kill Chen Ping’an, only striving to destroy his four flying swords, this would still leave him with severe wounds.

Chen Ping’an raised his Sword Nurturing Gourd and took a large swig of wine, replying with a whisper, ”And that’s why this is a competition of patience and acting. If our enemies still don’t dare to take a bigger risk for a bigger reward and truly end up making me feel impatient, then I’ll just retrieve my flying swords and ask someone else to replace me on this section of the wall. It’s no big deal, and I’ll simply abandon this plan of acting as bait.”

There were countless damaged souls wandering around the battlefield, and they were continuously shredded to bits by the permeating sword light. This was another tragedy ringing through the battlefield.

Corpses piled up into mountains again and again, only for the ferocious attacks of the sword immortals to pulverize the battlefield and flatten these mountains of corpses time and time again. The entire earth sank, and the formation cultivators from the Savage World weren’t allowed to freely stabilize the earth to gradually elevate the height of the battlefield.

The atmosphere of bloodshed and malice from death grew thicker and thicker, unable to be purified and swept away even though the sword immortals already had a plan and were channeling unique mystical abilities with their flying swords.

These flying swords swept through the battlefield and tried their best to wash away the auras of violence and brutality, but they still struggled immensely to obstruct the formation of some great trend as the battle continued to drag on, causing the initially clear view that the sword cultivators had over the battlefield to gradually become hazier.

This was a fight for favorable conditions on the battlefield.

On the other side, the large army of demons from the Savage World became increasingly fearless and deranged as it charged forward and pushed toward the great wall. In fact, more and more demon cultivators were feeling a purer sense of conviction and sacrifice as they stepped onto the battlefield.

Indeed, it wasn’t just sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall who could bravely march toward death.

And thus, the Daoist sage overseeing the skies plucked a hair out from his snow-white horsetail whisk, throwing it to the ground and summoning a sudden burst of torrential rain over the battlefield, clearing away the sanguine atmosphere and replacing it with a more refreshing one.

There was a stunningly beautiful great demon sitting atop the clouds, making her appear much like a noble maiden of the Majestic World. She was wearing two dazzling jade bracelets on each of her wrists, one black and one white, and they delicately hovered around her skin without making much contact. A five-colored ribbon gently hovered around her, and her billowing black hair was seemingly held together by a golden hairband that was actually suspended in the air.

She immediately retrieved an ancient scroll from her sleeve, lightly unfurling it to reveal a painting of undulating mountain ranges. There were dense collections of large peaks and powerful rivers rushing through them, and it was as if some immortal mystical power had been used to trap this scenery inside the scroll. It looked to be much more than just a simple painting.

Dressed in a rose-colored Dao robe, the beautiful great demon smiled as she retrieved a seal and exhaled a breath of True Qi onto the inscribed characters. She then lightly stamped the scroll, causing rays of iridescent light to shoot tens of thousands of meters into the surroundings. At the same time, the green mountains and blue rivers in the scroll gradually started to lose their luster.

The great demon lightly pushed the ancient scroll, causing it to instantly vanish from the spot, leaving behind only the stamped vermilion characters.

A majestic painting measuring five hundred kilometers in length and fifty kilometers in width materialized over the battlefield, and not only that, but spiritual energy emanated from the painting and attempted to block the torrential downpour summoned by the Daoist sage.

The heavy rain thundered into the painting of mountains and rivers.

Following the collision, not a single drop of rain was able to reach the battlefield below.

However, heavy rainfall suffused with spiritual energy immediately fell in the Savage World, lashing the mountain ranges depicted in the majestic painting hanging over the battlefield.

The Daoist sage flicked his horsetail whisk and shattered the painting, allowing the torrential downpour formed by horsetail hair to land on the battlefield below again. The beautiful great demon stabilized the painting in response, once again blocking the rain. However, the Daoist sage used his horsetail whisk to shatter the painting a second time.

This process played out again and again, and when the vermilion stamp in front of the great demon finally lost its glow and shattered into pieces, she smiled widely and said, ”I’ll gratefully accept your precious gift.”

When she retrieved the seal again, a streak of sword light blasted through the air toward her. The bracelets on her wrists and her golden hairband automatically soared into the sky and collided with the sword light, leading to a blinding explosion of sparks and flames that rained down onto the earth below.

The great demon was forced to retreat more than fifty kilometers despite blocking the sword light, and glancing down at her bracelets, it was fortunate that there was only some very minor damage. This being the case, she no longer blocked the torrential rain with her painting scroll, and she continued to observe the battle from afar.

The person who had unleashed the sword strike from the Sword Qi Great Wall was Lu Zhi.

The beautiful great demon committed this to memory.

When women developed grudges against other women, they would often become even more vicious and spiteful than normal.

Chen Ping’an was eventually forced to retrieve all of his flying swords at once, unable to have any great demon take his bait. This was unexpected, but it was also very reasonable at the same time.

There was no need for Xie Songhua and Qi Shou to communicate with each other as they immediately joined hands to take over Chen Ping’an’s battlefield, half and half. This would allow Chen Ping’an to rest for a moment before drawing his blades again.

The large-scale battle had only just begun, and the large majority of the demon army were measly ants using their lives to push the front lines forward. There weren’t many demon cultivators, and it could be said that the Savage World was exhibiting more patience this time compared to their three previous assaults on the Sword Qi Great Wall.

The sword formations established by the sword cultivators were interlinked and strategically placed, and the attacking demon army was seemingly displaying an indescribable sense of order as well. They were no longer as crude and chaotic as before. However, there would occasionally still be some disjunction on the battlefield, almost as if the mastermind behind the scenes wasn’t experienced enough when it came to commanding armies in battles.

Sword cultivators practiced sword techniques, while demons largely practiced martial arts.

The three moons hung high in the sky.

An unfamiliar old man wearing Confucian robes appeared beside the Confucian sage, and he was currently gazing up at the glowing moons in the sky.

He was none other than the Pure Confucian Chen Clan’s Chen Chun’an, the number one individual of the Southern Whirl Continent.

Chen Chun’an retracted his gaze and said to the traveling disciples and descendants in the distance, ”Go and help. Remember to abide by the local customs.”

The young cultivators scattered along the great wall.

The Confucian sage, who also belonged to the lineage of the Second Sage, commented, ”There are quite a few scholarly talents among them.”

”The Southern Whirl Continent has many more exceptional talents like this,” Chen Chun’an replied.

The Confucian sage smiled and said, ”This isn’t the Majestic World, after all, so I won’t be able to speak with the old great sword immortal if I don’t do something.”

Chen Chun’an nodded and raised one hand into the air.

One of the moons in the sky of the Savage World surprisingly started to sway slightly, appearing as if it were about to be dragged over to the old man’s side and eventually drawn into his sleeve.

A great demon stood up from their throne and materialized between the moon and the old man.

After resting for a while, Chen Ping’an returned to the city wall and continued to wield his swords. Seeing this, Xie Songhua and Qi Shou returned the section of the wall to Chen Ping’an to defend.

A tall and sturdy young man in Confucian robes quietly sat to the side, not saying anything and not disturbing Chen Ping’an from launching his sword strikes. He simply stared at the battlefield for a long time before finally saying, ”Just pretend you’re running out of energy and let all of the demons through. The closer to the city wall they get, the better.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t hesitate at all, and he immediately commanded the four flying swords to retreat.

He allowed the demons in his defensive jurisdiction to freely surge forward.

Liu Xianyang closed his eyes as if he were entering a dream.

Qi Shou turned around and glanced at the unfamiliar young scholar who was seemingly drifting off to sleep. He then glanced at the raucous demons surging forward along that section of the wall.

Qi Shou was just about to summon his flying sword, Jumping Spider.

However, it was also at this moment that Liu Xianyang opened his eyes.

Without exception, all of the demons along Chen Ping’an’s section of the wall were killed in an instant.

Even Sword Immortal Xie Songhua couldn’t help but turn around and glance at Liu Xianyang.

This was because she hadn’t detected any ripple of spiritual energy, nor had she noticed any wisp of sword qi. In fact, there wasn’t a single sign of sword intent to be found on the battlefield.

Chen Ping’an carefully observed the battlefield that had suddenly fallen deathly silent. There were truly no surviving demons along this stretch of the battlefield.

Liu Xianyang was seemingly caught by surprise as well, and he rubbed his chin and murmured, ”Are they truly so fragile?”

Xie Songhua and Chen Ping’an’s minds were stirred slightly at almost the exact same moment.

”It’s coming!” Qi Shou exclaimed in a quiet voice.

Liu Xianyang, who was only carrying a standard sword from the sword market, nodded and commanded his sword to automatically leave the scabbard on his back, after which it drew a long arc through the sky. A small golden deity of unknown origin materialized in the sky, catching the standard sword and continuously gathering primordial sword intent that had a strong affinity with the Great Dao from the surroundings as it descended toward the ground.

After descending for a while, the small golden deity eventually slashed down and struck a thin ray of sword light that had burst forth from a corpse and was ferociously shooting toward Chen Ping’an. The ray of sword light, which wasn’t especially far from the city wall, was deflected and pushed toward the ground. Following this, the small golden deity also disappeared with its standard sword.

Rays of sword light shot out from the sword case on Xie Songhua’s back, racing into the distance with astounding speed.

In the end, she successfully shattered the bonded flying sword of the attacking demon sword immortal.

Xie Songhua only managed to retrieve half of her sword light, and she returned them to their positions in her sword case before standing up and saying, ”Chen Ping’an, you’re on your own in the short-term — I need to rest and recuperate for a while. Otherwise, my trip here will be pointless if I don’t manage to kill any Upper Five Tier demons.”

Chen Ping’an nodded in response.

Liu Xianyang turned around and walked toward Xie Songhua, appearing as if he were going to take over the battlefield of the female sword immortal.

Chen Ping’an wanted to say something, but he couldn’t help but hesitate.

Liu Xianyang bent down and smacked Chen Ping’an’s head when he walked past behind him, chuckling and saying, ”Same old rules as always. Just watch and learn.”

Ever since meeting each other and becoming friends, it had always been Liu Xianyang teaching Chen Ping’an all kinds of things. After leaving home and only just reuniting after ten years, things were still exactly the same as before.