Unsheathed

Nalan Shaowei, Yue Qing, Yao Lianyun, and all of the other sword immortals had held back the urge to go against the orders of the Hidden Official’s branch, but they definitely didn’t feel good about it, and even Yue Qing had been cursing in frustration, while Yao Lianyun’s expression was darker than any storm cloud.

Prior to this, Yao Lianyun had full freedom to do as he pleased on the battlefield, and that had suited him just fine, but ever since Chen Ping’an was appointed the new Hidden Official, all of the sword immortals had to follow the orders of the Hidden Official’s branch.

However, there were some young sword cultivators who were unable to stand the provocation, and they went against the orders of the Hidden Official’s branch. All of a sudden, several dozen flying swords were sent hurtling toward Yang Zhi.

If it weren’t for the timely intervention of several sword immortals, even more bonded flying swords would’ve flown out of the Sword Qi Great Wall toward Yang Zhi. If that were to happen, then a chain reaction would follow, with more and more flying swords racing out one after another, and there was a very good chance that the sword formations would be compromised as a result.

Yang Zhi’s reaction to the attacks was very surprising. Not only did she not destroy any of the bonded flying swords sent her way, she casually seized control of them, then had them fly near the tortured sword immortal, as if she were intentionally arranging a close-up encounter between the sword immortals and the young sword cultivators. Finally, she tossed the thirty-nine flying swords back to the city walls, allowing them to return safely to the sword formations.

Finally, Yang Zhi put the tortured sword immortal out of their misery, then sneered. ”So this is the Sword Qi Great Wall! All of your sword immortals stand by and do nothing while one of your own is killed in front of your eyes, so a bunch of small fry has to step up and try to play hero, even at the cost of their lives! I don’t know if I should denounce the former for their cowardice or respect the latter for their stupidity!”

The horrific show put on by Yang Zhi seemed to have been even more impactful on the psyche of everyone on the Sword Qi Great Wall than the betrayal of Xiao Xun.

Prior to this, everyone had already grown accustomed to following the orders of the Hidden Official’s branch, and everything had been operating smoothly like a well-oiled machine, but in the wake of this incident, some began to grow more resistant to following orders, and just as Chen Ping’an anticipated, many began to resent the Hidden Official’s branch.

In their words, ”It’s not like anyone from the Hidden Official’s branch has to put their lives on the line, so why stop others from stepping in? We’re willing to lay down our lives, so why won’t you let us?!”

This eventually gave rise to even more dissenting remarks, things along the lines of, ”Those sword immortals were willing to venture deep into the Savage World, knowing full well that it could be a suicide mission, and in repayment for their selflessness, we watch them die without even trying to save them. So are we to assume that, from now on, if something that the Savage World does looks even remotely like a trap, then the Hidden Official’s branch will order us not to save anyone?

“Even that great demon expressed a sense of respect for those who were willing to put their lives on the line and attack her, yet all of us were ordered to stand down and completely ignore the suffering of one of our own. Is a Hidden Official like this really beneficial to the Sword Qi Great Wall? How does he compare with his predecessor? At the very least, before she turned traitor, she dared to personally go into battle, and she slew countless demons on the battlefield!”

These were only the pieces of discourse that had been made public, and there were definitely more scathing gripes and complaints that people were keeping bottled up in their hearts.

Chen Ping’an returned to the main hall right as Song Gaoyuan, Cao Gun, and Xuan Can returned from the top of the city walls. Next, it was the turn of Luo Zhenyi, Xu Ning, and Chang Taiqing to go up to the top of the city walls.

Song Gaoyuan and Cao Gun were both looking rather depressed.

Even though Xuan Can was relatively young, he was the one who was least bothered, and he was even smiling as he advised, ”I think it would be best not to send Luo Zhenyi and the others to the top of the city walls for now, Lord Hidden Official.

“At the moment, everyone is intentionally ostracizing us, and there’s really not much of a meaningful impact that our groups of three can make on the state of the battlefield on our own anyway. While they didn’t say anything about us, they’ve been very critical of you, and they haven’t bothered to try and conceal their dissatisfaction at all.”

The first two groups of sword cultivators sent up the top of the city walls had mostly returned bearing injuries, yet Xuan Can’s trio was completely unscathed. Clearly, they really had been ostracized by everyone else and kept out of the battle.

Luo Zhenyi’s trio was standing at the entrance, looking to Chen Ping’an to tell them whether they should go or not.

”Go,” Chen Ping’an instructed.

Luo Zhenyi nodded in response, then departed with the other two sword cultivators.

”Thank you for your hard work,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile as he turned his gaze back to Xuan Can’s trio.

”There’s no need to thank us; we didn’t do anything,” Cao Gun replied with a sullen expression.

”But that’s precisely why you had such a hard time. You’ve had to bear a heavier burden than all of your peers,” Chen Ping’an consoled.

Cao Gun put on a forced smile, and he wanted to say something, but ultimately held his tongue.

The three of them returned to the main hall and sat down at their workstations.

”The problem is that right now, we can’t just openly reveal to everyone that the nature of our business with the intercontinental ships from the eight continents of the Majestic World has changed,” Lin Junbi said with a hint of frustration in his voice. ”Given the recent developments, we have very good chances of extending this battle and forcing the Savage World to sacrifice even more resources, to the point that even those great demons are going to start having second thoughts.

“We’ve been planning and preparing for so long, and there’s now finally a glimmer of hope for victory; we can’t just allow all of that good work to be undone by a crude little trick from Yang Zhi!”

Everyone fell into a grim silence.

Lin Junbi turned to Chen Ping’an, then asked, ”Is there a solution to this predicament?”

”Of course,” Chen Ping’an replied with a nod.

”What’s the solution?” Lin Junbi asked.

”The solution is to first identify that there’s no solution,” Chen Ping’an replied.

Everyone was clearly bemused by this answer, with the exception of Lin Junbi, who seemed to have been somehow inspired.

After Pang Yuanji returned to his seat, Chen Ping’an began speaking to Chou Miao, Lin Junbi, and Pang Yuanji through his mind’s lake.

Chou Miao immediately refused.

Pang Yuanji was still very depressed and couldn’t be bothered to say anything.

”You’re the one who plucked out that Ascension Tier great demon; why would you choose to split the credit with the three of us?” Lin Junbi asked.

”You wanted a solution, didn’t you?” Chen Ping’an asked with a smile. ”Who would believe me if I told everyone that I was singlehandedly responsible for plucking out that Ascension Tier great demon? When morale among the young sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall is at an all-time low, for example, when they band together to protest outside the summer palace, that’s when Sword Immortal Chou Miao will scale to the top of the city walls with the head of that great demon to reciprocate the Savage World.”

”If I had known this was what I’d be returning to, I would’ve accepted your wine and drunk myself to death outside,” Pang Yuanji grumbled.

Guo Zhujiu had no idea who her master was speaking to, but she could tell that he was discussing something with someone.

She looked down at the minimization treasure and the pocket treasure that were on her desk. They had been assigned to her for safekeeping, and both of them came from the Mountain and Water Cave.

Her master had secretly told her in private that if they could accumulate sufficient battlefield contributions, then the two of them could keep these two treasures to themselves.

Dong Bude suddenly raised her head and declared, ”Lü Duan, I’ve had my eyes on that pocket treasure fan from the very beginning.”

”Would you still want it if it’s been used by Chen Sanqiu?” Guo Zhujiu asked.

”If Chen Sanqiu wants to even see this fan, then you’ll first have to smash straight through the walls of the summer palace to create a path for him to get here,” Dong Bude replied with a sneer.

”I’m sure I could do that with this hard head of mine!” Guo Zhujiu declared as she patted her own forehead in a smug manner. ”When it comes to hardheadedness, even Master can’t compare with me!”

”Nor do I want to,” Chen Ping’an said with a smile. ”Remember that I didn’t teach you this. Instead, it’s something that you figured out for yourself.”

”Senior Sister’s Deranged Demon Sword Techniques and my Iron Head Technique will definitely both be known far and wide someday!” Guo Zhujiu replied with a convincing nod.

Chen Ping’an gave her a dismissive wave as he continued staring at the picture scroll on the ground, while Guo Zhujiu patted the head of the little snowman, which was steadily shrinking in size.

”Lu Zhi should be about to return to Stalactite Mountain soon, right?” Chen Ping’an suddenly asked.

”Barring any mishaps, she should be back with Shao Yunyan today,” Lin Junbi confirmed with a nod.

”Chou Miao, come with me to Stalactite Mountain,” Chen Ping’an instructed as he stood up from his chair.

At the Spring Banner Inn, Mi Yu was diligently going through the account books.

This was not his forte. These account books had already passed through the hands of Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan, and if the two of them really wanted to falsify records or embezzle funds, then the only way Mi Yu could possibly expose them would be if Chen Ping’an had already read through the account books and then told Mi Yu exactly what to say.

Thus, Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan were both working together and also keeping each other in check, while Mi Yu had only been planted in the Spring Banner Inn by Chen Ping’an for show. In Nalan Caihuan’s eyes, Mi Yu was just a second Gao Kui. As far as she was concerned, anyone who had any ties with Chen Ping’an was an enemy of hers.

As Mi Yu read through the account books, he frequently encountered things that he didn’t understand, and whenever he did, he would ask Yan Ming for answers.

Yan Ming had a terrible opinion of Mi Yu, so while he answered the latter’s questions, his attitude was certainly far from friendly.

Mi Yu was universally looked down on by everyone on the Sword Qi Great Wall with any aspirations, regardless of cultivation base or age.

After asking several questions, it seemed that Mi Yu was only going to ask more, and this was very bizarre to Nalan Caihuan. Never had she seen Mi Yu do anything so diligently aside from chasing women.

She couldn’t be bothered to mince her words with Mi Yu, so she asked in a direct and straightforward manner, ”Did you get kicked in the head by a mule, Mi Yu?”

”Wouldn’t be the first time,” Mi Yu replied dryly.

Inside the room was another person who was keeping to himself.

It was a young man by the name of Wei Wenlong, a direct disciple of Shao Yunyan’s and an accounting prodigy.

He only truly thrived whenever he was sitting in a room on his own, going through account books that others found mind-numbingly boring.

To put it simply, Wei Wenlong was not good at dealing with people, and he was destined to only have two friends: numbers and immortal coins.

Throughout history, accounting had always been seen as a lowly occupation, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were even insultingly referred to as ”wretched officials.” This was the same in both the mortal world and the cultivation world. For example, barring extraordinary circumstances, all of the intercontinental ship administrators from the eight continents were cultivators who were unable to overcome their bottlenecks and had no hope for future progression in their cultivation.

Furthermore, Wei Wenlong was only a Golden Core Tier cultivator, while the other three people in the room consisted of two well-established Nascent Tier sword cultivators and an Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal, so he was feeling very tense and apprehensive.

For the Qi refiners who were born and bred on Stalactite Mountain, the Sword Qi Great Wall was both familiar and unfamiliar.

They were often not even as familiar as the outsiders who traveled to Stalactite Mountain, as most of them had the Sword Qi Great Wall as their final destination, with Stalactite Mountain only a stop along the way.

There were many natives on Stalactite Mountain who had never been to the Sword Qi Great Wall, and Wei Wenlong was one of them.

Out of everyone in the room, Wei Wenlong was most afraid of Mi Yu, whose reputation preceded him.

Promiscuous womanizers were often cruel and heartless, and it certainly didn’t help Wei Wenlong’s nerves that Mi Yu was also a sword immortal.

”You’re not suited for this, Mi Yu,” Nalan Caihuan said in a blunt manner. ”By staying here, you’re only distracting Clan Leader Yan from performing his duties.”

Mi Yu agreed with Nalan Caihuan’s assessment of the situation, so he heeded her advice and stood up to leave the room.

Prior to his departure, Mi Yu turned to Wei Wenlong with a benevolent and earnest expression and said, ”Wenlong, you are a bright talent that even Lord Hidden Official holds in very high regard, so do not look down on yourself. Work hard, and you have a bright future ahead. From now on, you and I are friends.”

Wei Wenlong hurriedly stood up, looking very timid and apprehensive, and he wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. Mi Yu was growing fonder of the young man by the second, and he told him to sit down and be at ease.

After that, Mi Yu made his way into the empty main hall, and his gaze lingered momentarily on the seats previously occupied by the female intercontinental ship administrators.

Finally, he sat down on his own chair, then pulled out a jade tablet that he was planning to give to someone else.

The jade tablet that he was holding was the one that bore the number 99, and before leaving Stalactite Mountain, Chen Ping’an had instructed him to gift the jade tablet to the Osmanthus Island intercontinental ship that belonged to the Fan Clan of Old Dragon City.

Both Shao Yunyan and Jiang Gaotai had specifically requested this jade tablet for themselves, yet both of them had been denied.

The administrator of the Ding Clan’s intercontinental ship had actually come to Chen Ping’an in private and offered him a price that felt surprisingly ”fair” even to Mi Yu.

However, the Ding Clan earnestly requested Chen Ping’an to keep their deal a secret. Otherwise, the Ding Clan’s intercontinental ship ran the risk of drawing resentment from everyone else.

Chen Ping’an happily agreed to this, assuring the administrator of the Ding Clan’s intercontinental ship that the Spring Banner Inn would be sure to reciprocate them.

Mi Yu asked Chen Ping’an about this after the event, and the latter merely told him that everyone had their own hardships to deal with, and that the Ding Clan essentially had no choice but to do this.

The Ding Clan had no female intercontinental ship administrator, so Mi Yu quickly lost interest in them.

However, Mi Yu knew quite a bit about the Fan Clan’s Osmanthus Island. How could he not when the Osmanthus Island was home to Lady Gui, who was renowned for her profound beauty that went beyond just her physical appearance.

Mi Yu wasn’t an unsophisticated vulgarian who only judged women on their looks.

Those who only ogled at pretty faces, voluptuous breasts, curvaceous bottoms, and long legs didn’t know the first thing about the wonders of a woman, and Mi Yu had nothing but disdain for such vulgar individuals.

Among all of the intercontinental ships, the Fan Clan’s Osmanthus Island wasn’t anything special.

As a matter of fact, the Fu Clan’s intercontinental ship was the only one with any level of importance, while the intercontinental ships of the other major clans of Old Dragon City were completely insignificant.

In terms of status, the intercontinental ship administrator of the Ding Clan couldn’t even compare with Liu Shen, the administrator of the Rainbow Raiment.

Mi Yu was moved by all captivating women, and he was never one to forget a fine beauty.

He quickly recalled that there was an osmanthus girl on the Osmanthus Island by the name of Jin Su who was also very beautiful.

Of course, Mi Yu had never seen her before, and he wouldn’t go out of his way to do anything just to meet her.

It was not just a simple coincidence that so many intercontinental ship administrators had managed to gather at Spring Banner Inn.

Wu Qiu, Bai Xi, and the other sly old foxes had all played a role, as well as Plum Blossom Garden and the Rain Dragon Sect, which owned the Water Essence Palace on Stalactite Mountain.

However, Chen Ping’an never brought up this matter, and he wasn’t even planning to get back at all of the parties involved because ultimately, it was only a trivial matter.

On this occasion, only twelve intercontinental ship administrators had been invited to the Spring Banner Inn for a meeting in the evening, and the invitations had only just been sent out.

Most of the intercontinental ship administrators had chosen to remain on Stalactite Mountain for some time. They were in no hurry to leave or unload their cargo, and they had all been waiting for an invitation from the Spring Banner Inn.

Aside from the Southern Whirl Continent, which was situated closest to Stalactite Mountain, the other intercontinental ships should still be on the way back to their home continents.

In addition to the Fan Clan’s Osmanthus Island, there was also an intercontinental ship from the Hou Clan by the name of Smoke Spirit.

They seemed to have received a message via flying sword from either the Fu Clan or the Ding Clan, and it only took two days for the two intercontinental ships to return to Stalactite Mountain.