Unsheathed

For now, the Savage World remained unaware that the most powerful Hidden Official in the history of the Sword Qi Great Wall had just been replaced by a successor with the lowest cultivation base of the entire Hidden Official lineage. Even if they were to be made aware of this, they would most likely only treat it as a massive joke.

The reality was that even on the Sword Qi Great Wall, not many people were taking this seriously. In particular, all of the sword immortals felt like this was a completely unnecessary arrangement made by the old great sword immortal.

After becoming the new Hidden Official, Chen Ping’an did exactly three things.

The Hidden Official’s branch owned two private residences, both outside the city, one to escape the heat in summer, and the other to avoid the winter chill. All of the secret files stored in those two private residences over the past century were transported to the carriageway, forming a massive pile of documents behind Chen Ping’an.

The previous Hidden Official hadn’t taken away the ancient Hidden Official jade tablet, nor had she destroyed the archives of the Hidden Official’s branch that had been around for thousands of years.

In addition to the mountain of files, Chen Ping’an also made a request to the sword chamber for two messenger flying swords per person, then asked the blacksmiths of the sword market to engrave each person’s name onto their respective swords: Chen Ping’an, Mi Yu, Pang Yuanji, Dong Bude, Gu Jianlong, Wang Xinshui, Guo Zhujiu, Lin Junbi, Deng Liang, Song Gaoyuan, Cao Gun, Xuan Can.

At the moment, that was the entire roster of swordsmen under the Hidden Official’s branch.

However, the two flying swords that belonged to Chen Ping’an were all engraved with the words ”Hidden Official” as opposed to his name.

The third and final thing that Chen Ping’an did as the new Hidden Official was to deliver a frank and candid address to his ”subordinates.”

”In total, there are twelve of us, including myself. All of you are very intelligent, and I’m sure it’s already become apparent to you that all of us share some common traits. Our cultivation bases are rather lacking, and none of us possess the combat prowess to make any difference in the ongoing battle, but we all have decent heads on our shoulders and a penchant for thinking.

“Something that the average sword cultivator would only think about once may be something that we think about over and over again, and as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The fact that we’ve all been assigned to the Hidden Official’s branch is a great show of confidence in our abilities, but that is no reason for us to grow complacent.

“Every suggestion that we make, particularly the ones that will ultimately impact the entire sword formation, will influence the strategy of tens of thousands of swordsmen, and even sword immortals, on the battlefield. All I ask is that all of you do your best to come up with the best strategies possible. If I deem any of you to be too incompetent for this role, then I will cast you out of the Hidden Official’s branch.

“I would much rather harm your ego than play games with the lives and bonded flying swords of so many swordsmen. This is most definitely not going to be an easy task, so make sure you’re mentally prepared for what’s to come. We have to take responsibility for every single sword cultivator that falls on the battlefield, but the even more difficult part of this job is having to face the swordsmen who’ve suffered fates worse than death, or have had close friends and relatives perish in battle.

“They may even come to resent us for doing nothing but giving suggestions while everyone else risks their lives on the front lines. That is simply a part of human nature, and it is not something that we can hope to change. However, we must never lose faith in ourselves, not even a little bit. If I detect that any of you have become bitter and resentful in your role and intentionally try to sabotage the swordsmen on the front lines in retaliation, then I will ask Sword Immortal Mi Yu to cut you down where you stand.

“I won’t listen to excuses. Once I’ve made my decision, it will be final, and you will be killed on the spot. With all of that made clear, would any of you like to back out of the Hidden Official’s branch? It’s still not too late to do so now. If you think that you can rely on your cunning to get the better of me, then I’d say you’re better off leaving the city right now to kill some demons. At the very least, you’ll be securing some battlefield accolades for yourself before you die, rather than staying here to doom both yourself and others.”

The other eleven swordsmen all remained silent with looks of resolve in their eyes.

”Good,” Chen Ping’an said with a nod of approval. ”A young prodigy like Lin Junbi has so much potential and so much ahead of him, yet even he is willing to pledge his life and Great Dao here without any hesitation, and that inspires a great deal of confidence in me.”

Lin Junbi was immediately left feeling very uneasy by this remark, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Chen Ping’an was going to take this opportunity to get back at him.

Chen Ping’an’s eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze roamed over the faces of the swordsmen standing before him, and he said, ”Right now, we are making a deal with the Savage World on behalf of the Sword Qi Great Wall, and we have to ensure that this deal is as profitable for the tens of thousands of swordsmen on the Sword Qi Great Wall as possible. Our goal is to sacrifice as few of our allies as possible in exchange for the greatest number of enemy casualties!

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In fact, even in the next lifetime, such an opportunity will not present itself. Even if you ascend to the pinnacle of the Great Dao, reaching the Immortal Tier or the Ascension Tier, when will you get another opportunity to have so many sword cultivators and sword immortals at your beck and call?

“Make sure you cherish this opportunity because the twelve of us have been granted the utmost honor, one that hasn’t been granted to anyone else before us and won’t be given to anyone after us!”

Guo Zhujiu sat behind her desk with a resolute look on her face, and for once, she was silent as she cupped her fist in a salute.

Dong Bude also did the same, looking very much inspired by Chen Ping’an’s speech.

Everyone else, including even Mi Yu, quickly followed suit, cupping their fists in a collective salute.

In particular, the young swordsmen who weren’t native to the Sword Qi Great Wall were extremely excited by this opportunity.

It was already a commendable show of courage for outsiders who dared to come to the Sword Qi Great Wall in the first place, and those who chose to stay even after the war broke out were all swordsmen of great pride and pure hearts.

”There’s no hurry for us to issue orders to the Sword Qi Great Wall,” Chen Ping’an said. ”For now, let’s familiarize ourselves with the battlefield. Do as Lin Junbi says for the moment, and I’ll come up with a plan in an hour.”

Given the urgency of the situation, everyone would just have to follow Lin Junbi’s instructions for now, but if they still couldn’t come up with any better strategies in an hour, then in Chen Ping’an’s eyes, the Sword Qi Great Wall had next to no chance of victory against the demonic army.

Chen Ping’an began browsing through the mountain of files, doing so extremely quickly. Whenever he saw something important, he would record it in one of the blank account books. At the same time, he was keeping an eye on the picture scrolls of the battlefield while also occasionally observing the eleven other swordsmen to gauge their expressions.

The more mellow and elegant handwriting belonged to Sword Immortal Zhu An, while, surprisingly, the more angular and forceful handwriting belonged to the female sword immortal, Luo Shan.

Seeing their handwriting was like directly seeing them.

The contents of the files were clean, concise, and impeccable.

Even though the three sword immortals had betrayed the Sword Qi Great Wall, they had certainly been diligent in their record-keeping.

Exactly an hour later, Chen Ping’an raised his folding fan, then slammed it down onto the table and said, ”Keep observing the battlefield; just multi-task and listen to me at the same time. From now on, each of you must simultaneously focus on three things at once. Firstly, you must keep a constant eye on the picture scrolls. Secondly, you must begin keeping records that others can view. If the need arises, you can request each other’s records for reference purposes.

“Thirdly, you must send letters by flying sword to certain places at certain times. The flying swords from the Hidden Official’s sword market are extremely fast, and they will serve as a vital tool for us to communicate with other parts of the battlefield. There are some important decisions that I will personally convey through flying sword letters, but I will need all of you to convey the minor changes we want to make to the sword formation.

“Mi Yu, Dong Bude, and Gu Jianlong will be responsible for corresponding with all of the native swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall via flying sword letters. You will split the Sword Qi Great Wall into three major territories, and each of you will be responsible for one territory. Meanwhile, Guo Zhujiu and Wang Xinshui will be tasked with communicating with the Upper Five Tiers sword immortals.”

Mi Yu’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. This arrangement didn’t make much sense to him. He was the only sword immortal in the group, so was it not better for him to be tasked with communicating with the other sword immortals?

Chen Ping’an could see that Mi Yu had some reservations, so he explained, ”I understand that you’re the only sword immortal among us, Mi Yu, but that’s precisely the problem. There is an established hierarchy among sword immortals based on cultivation base, and with such preconceived notions in the way, you may not be able to communicate with them as freely as you’d like.

“Many opportunities on the battlefield will only present themselves for extremely short windows of time, and even the slightest hesitation could prove very costly. Does that make sense?”

Mi Yu nodded in response.

Chen Ping’an was already being very delicate with his words to look after Mi Yu’s feelings. The more important and perhaps more valid reason was the terrible impression that all of the other sword immortals on the Sword Qi Great Wall had of Mi Yu.

In comparison, Guo Zhujiu and Wang Xinshui were indeed much more suited to the task. Their cultivation bases were so lowly that they would serve purely as messengers, whereas if someone like Mi Yu were to try and issue orders to the other sword immortals, then there was a very good chance that he would be ignored simply because no one respected him.

”If any of you have similar questions going forward, just raise them to me right away,” Chen Ping’an continued. ”If you can come up with better ideas and convince me to change my mind, then that would be very much welcome. Pang Yuanji, I will put you in charge of contacting the military supervisors under the former Hidden Official, as well as the Confucian battlefield recorders.

“There aren’t many of them, so on top of that, I’ll also have you contact the swordsmen of the Middle Earth Divine Continent. Lin Junbi will contact the swordsmen of the Southern Whirl Continent, Deng Liang will contact all of the Northern Complete Reed Continent’s swordsmen, Song Gaoyuan will contact everyone from the Golden Armor Continent, and Xuan Can and Cao Gun will be responsible for the Flowing Dawn Continent and the Pure White Continent, respectively.”

Most of the swordsmen present possessed exceptional calculation abilities and were very accomplished Go players. For example, Lin Junbi and Xuan Can were both among the cream of the crop when it came to the best Go players from their respective nations.

”Why not have everyone contact the swordsmen from their own continents? Wouldn’t that ensure smoother communication?” Mi Yu asked.

”All of these outsiders have already gotten the short end of the stick, getting stuck on the Sword Qi Great Wall in the midst of a war, and now, they’ve been assigned to the Hidden Official’s branch, which is really quite a thankless position. It’s only right that I give them a chance to make some new connections as compensation,” Chen Ping’an explained. He was being very direct and straightforward here, making his intentions abundantly clear.

A faint smile appeared on Lin Junbi’s face, while the other foreign swordsmen were a little embarrassed, but of course, they were also overjoyed at this opportunity, and they felt a sense of genuine gratitude toward Chen Ping’an.

Who would want to die if they could live? And if they could live, then they had to think about paving the way for their future. It was all perfectly justified.

Mi Yu quickly understood Chen Ping’an’s considerations, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Chen Ping’an and raised no further questions.

The native swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall had all been tasked with communicating with other native swordsmen, but special considerations had been made when it came to all of the foreign swordsmen. For example, Lin Junbi had been assigned to the Southern Whirl Continent, which was situated to the south of the Middle Earth Divine Continent, and Deng Liang of the Pure White Continent was responsible for the Northern Complete Reed Continent, which was situated in the northeastern part of the Majestic World.

The same applied to the other foreign swordsmen as well, all of whom had been tasked with communicating with swordsmen from neighboring continents. Deep and meaningful bonds would surely be built if they could all survive this war as comrades, and these intercontinental bonds could prove to be very useful in the future.

As for all of the native swordsmen, they had already been granted superior status from being assigned to the Hidden Official’s branch, so they required no further compensation from Chen Ping’an.

All of the young swordsmen who had been selected for the Hidden Official’s branch were very sharp and intelligent, so they were quick to figure everything out for themselves. Thus, it made sense that Mi Yu was the only one who questioned Chen Ping’an’s arrangements.

Chen Ping’an picked up a stack of books beside him. There were over ten of them, and each one only had a name written upon it.

”What I’m about to tell you all next is of the utmost importance, so make sure you listen carefully.”

Chen Ping’an picked up the two books at the very top of the pile, which were named ”Primary Book A” and ”Secondary Book A.”

”These two books will contain detailed records of the names, bonded flying swords, and flying sword innate abilities of all of the Upper Five Tiers sword immortals on our side. The primary book will hold information on the native swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall, while the secondary book will keep records on all foreign sword immortals.

“Each sword immortal will only have one page dedicated to them, and there will be a page number at the bottom right corner of each page. You must have the page numbers and their corresponding sword immortals memorized like the back of your hand.”

Chen Ping’an set down those two books, then explained the purposes of the other books.

Book B would contain records of all of the Upper Five Tiers great demons from the Savage World to have made an appearance on the battlefield, and it was also split up into two: one primary and one secondary.

The primary book kept records of all Ascension Tier and Immortal Tier great demons outside of the peak great demons who occupied the fourteen thrones in the Heroic Spirit Hall, as well as all demons who were Unpolished Jade Tier swordsmen.

The secondary book would contain information on all Unpolished Jade Tier demonic cultivators who weren’t swordsmen.

If the names of any of them were unknown, then they were simply to be given an alias. The books were to contain information like physical descriptions of their human forms, physical descriptions of their true forms, their key treasures, their innate abilities, which faction of the Savage World they belonged to, who they partnered up with in battle... The more information, the better.

Book C had no secondary book, and it kept records of all earth immortal swordsmen of the Sword Qi Great Wall, particularly those who possessed bonded flying swords that naturally thrived on the battlefield. The whole purpose was to figure out how those flying swords could be used in conjunction with one another to maximize their effectiveness on the battlefield.

Chen Ping’an had already raised a few examples, one of which was the Nascent Tier swordsman, Cheng Quan. He was a special earth immortal swordsman similar to the Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal, Wu Chengpei, and special attention had to be paid to people like him.

Similarly, Book D was a record of all of the earth immortal demons to have appeared on the battlefield.

Chen Ping’an placed special emphasis on this book, declaring that this demographic of demonic cultivators was extremely impactful on the battlefield, but also relatively easier to kill compared with great demons. In the past, the Sword Qi Great Wall had often made the mistake of discounting their importance.

It never seemed like they posed a particularly potent threat at any particular stage of a battlefield, but upon reflection, it was always discovered that the longer the battle wore on, the more destructive these earth immortal demons proved to be, perhaps causing even more damage to the Sword Qi Great Wall than any particular Upper Five Tiers great demon.

In Chen Ping’an’s words, killing this demographic of demonic cultivators was the best value for money. For the sword immortals of the Sword Qi Great Wall, killing them wasn’t a particularly difficult task, and the more earth immortal demons that were slain, the more the state of the battle would tilt in the Sword Qi Great Wall’s favor over the long term.

”Book D is extremely important. We need to gather as much information on as many of these earth immortal demonic cultivators as possible, then request the sword immortal seniors in the primary and secondary Book A to target and kill the demonic cultivators in Book D. Right now, this is the most impactful thing that we can do. Every single name that we manage to eliminate in Book D is a contribution that we’ve made to the Sword Qi Great Wall!”

”What if the sword immortal seniors refuse to go after them for whatever reason?” Xuan Can asked. ”What if they refuse to follow our instructions? The two sides have accumulated a lot of bad blood over time, and some sword immortals may feel more inclined to go after their personal enemies rather than follow our instructions. What should we do then?”

”In that scenario, you need to emphasize that the instructions being issued to them are coming directly from the Hidden Official’s branch,” Chen Ping’an said. ”These are military orders, not suggestions or requests. If that still doesn’t work, then employ a three-strikes system. If instructions have been issued to a sword immortal twice via flying swords, only to be ignored on both occasions, then I will send a more powerful sword immortal to confront them. If they still refuse to comply with our orders, then they will be made to suffer the consequences.”

The mood had suddenly gotten a little heavy.

Chen Ping’an had spoken in a rather joking tone, but this was most definitely no laughing matter.

In the wake of the previous Hidden Official’s defection and the severe injuries suffered by Zuo You, morale on the Sword Qi Great Wall was at an all-time low, and in this situation, they couldn’t afford any further mishaps.

”What’re you all looking at me for?” Chen Ping’an chuckled. ”I’m the Hidden Official; I can’t just be going around personally issuing instructions. I don’t care about embarrassing myself, but I would certainly feel bad if I embarrassed all of you as well. Wouldn’t you agree, Brother Gu?”

Gu Jianlong hurriedly nodded in response.