Unsheathed

In the southeastern region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, a young boy in white came to a halt in the mountain forest, standing in front of an inkstone mine that had already been abandoned for many years. There were obvious signs of quarrying, but this mine couldn’t be regarded as an old one that produced famous inkstones.

The mine belonged to a riverbank, though the river had already run dry. Cui Dongshan jumped down to the riverbed and vigorously dug through the stones and earth, eventually digging up a stone slate that could just barely be carved into an inkstone. He lightly tapped it with his knuckle and listened carefully, concluding that the sound quality was passable. Thus, he brushed away the dirt and grew increasingly fond of the stone slate. Items obtained by chance encounter were the most delightful, especially those that couldn’t be bought with money.

Cui Dongshan exhaled over the stone slate, cleaning off the stone textures and fine gaps, after which he used his cheek to rub the stone slate for a long time. The textures on the inkstone slate became increasingly fine and smooth. Meanwhile, the porcelain child was squatting on the riverbank with a blank look in his eyes, seemingly unable to understand what Cui Dongshan was doing.

As Cui Dongshan climbed ashore, a stone slate flew over and slammed into the little child’s head. After reaching the riverbank, Cui Dongshan instructed the little child to walk with the stone slate on his head, not allowing him to support it with his hands.

Cui Dongshan glanced back at the riverbed, clicking his tongue in wonder and saying in praise, ”Able to descend into the water, and able to climb onto land. What a truly gallant hero.”

They continued to wander around, and they stayed the night at a desolate, unmarked graveyard. Cui Dongshan lay on his belly and used a slender blade of grass to inscribe characters onto the inkstone.

After a while, a young scholar appeared beside him, squatting down and saying with a smile, ”I’ve had a look at him, and he’s a good talent. Perhaps my senior brother will truly take a fancy to him and be willing to recruit him as a disciple.”

Cui Dongshan continued to stare at the stone slate with the slender blade of grass in his hand as he asked, ”Don’t you need to thank me for helping you return to White Emperor City?”

The young scholar was none other than Liu Chicheng, who had once visited Bamboo Scroll Lake’s Cloud Pagoda City.

Liu Chicheng smiled and replied, ”I should have been stirring chaos in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent right now, but I’m choosing not to do anything instead. So, why don’t we call it even?”

Cui Dongshan chuckled in derision and scoffed, ”Piss off, why don’t you? How did you break through the restrictions after being locked up for one thousand years? Are you not aware? If it weren’t for me meticulously picking this host and guiding him down the right path, could he have coincidentally fumbled his way over and set you free? And you want to call it even? How about I lock you back up first before we discuss calling it even?”

Liu Chicheng plonked down on the ground and asked in curiosity, ”I’ve been away from White Emperor City for too long, so I’m curious about your thoughts on playing Go with my senior brother. Have his Go skills improved compared to before? Or have they gone backward?”

Cui Dongshan sat up and shook his sleeves, using his elbow to scrub the stone slate that was now inscribed with the characters: Bathing in sunlight and moonglow, body healthy and complete. Spirit full and energetic, achieving resonance with nature.

”Who told you to come to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent to seek refuge back then?” Cui Dongshan asked.

Liu Chicheng chuckled and replied, ”I can’t say. Chivalry and honor are of utmost importance in the outside world.”

Cui Dongshan nodded and ran his finger over the inscribed character, causing golden streamwater to instantly flow through the character strokes. ”I’m very impressed.”

”Your act of saving me is a greater embodiment of chivalry and honor, however, so I can indeed reveal that name,” Liu Chicheng immediately said.

The young boy in front of him was unmatched in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

This had little to do with his cultivation base, and it had everything to do with his brains.

————

On the first floor of the bamboo building...

After finishing her transcriptions for the day, Pei Qian dug through the bottom of her small bamboo bookcase, which was resting beside her feet. There were many books filled with records, and it took Pei Qian quite some effort to find a blank one to write in. She gave it a gentle shake before opening it on the table and bringing her hands down in a calming gesture. She was about to make some new records in this account book, records that pertained to the water goddess residence of the Fine Wine River.

Zhou Mili ran into the room with a gold shoulder pole, causing Pei Qian to hurriedly block the account book, which was actually still blank, with her hands. Pei Qian furrowed her brows and scolded, ”How impudent. This is a critical area of Downtrodden Mountain, so how can you just barge in without even knocking?”

Zhou Mili hurriedly turned around and ran outside, knocking on the door and only giddily stepping over the door threshold after Pei Qian told her to enter. She ran over to the opposite side of the table and reported in a quiet voice, ”The old cook’s Brother Dafeng visited Red Candle Town and brought an entire sack of books back. He must have spent a fortune!”

Pei Qian nodded and replied, ”We’ll go over and check in a moment. This is a public matter, so it can’t be helped even if we cause the old cook to feel grief.”

Zhou Mili stood on her tippy-toes and craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of what Pei Qian was writing. She asked, ”What are you writing?”

Pei Qian waved a hand and instructed, ”Stand guard at the door. No one is allowed to enter apart from Nuanshu.”

Zhou Mili nodded in response, but she suddenly turned around and rested her arms on the table, furrowing her thin and slightly yellow brows. She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t help but hesitate.

”What’s wrong?” Pei Qian asked in puzzlement.

Zhou Mili lowered her voice and replied, ”Both of us are acquainted and even friends with that little incense person at the provincial city’s city god pavilion, right? He wants to step into my previous position as the right guardian of Dragon Riding Alley. What do you think?”

Pei Qian thought about this for a moment before shaking her head and saying, ”No, that bloody well won’t do. No, no, no. Even though there are two positions I have the full say on, the left guardian and the right guardian of Dragon Riding Alley, we can’t agree to that little incense person’s request so readily at the first asking. We need to examine him for a while first.”

There was a sullen expression on Zhou Mili’s face. She had already patted her chest and promised the little incense person that this was no problem.

Pei Qian sighed and said, ”Okay, okay, you can tell him that I’ve agreed. However, this is a major role with significant responsibilities, so he’s not allowed to neglect them. He needs to report to me once a month. Gifts and whatnot won’t be necessary, seeing that he’s just a poor little bugger.”

Zhou Mili immediately stood up straight and said, ”Understood!”

————

A steed left the capital of the Great Sui Nation and traveled south.

The young woman was dressed in red, with a saber and a silver Sword Nurturing Gourd hanging by her waist.

She glanced up at the sea of clouds.

She remembered that when she was little, any random cloud would appear like a unique garment that the celestial maidens, who liked to dress themselves up, could wear.

When she was little, she would have all kinds of strange and interesting thoughts every single day. These thoughts would be like a chaotic procession causing a racket in her mind, so mischievous that she couldn’t stop or control them no matter how hard she tried.

She grabbed her Sword Nurturing Gourd and took a swig of wine.

Li Baoping felt a twinge of sadness.

Junior Uncle, I don’t seem to have those thoughts anymore after growing up.

These thoughts had seemingly left home without saying goodbye, never returning to visit her again.

————

Hordes of northward-marching armies of the demon tribe gradually arrived at the battlefield following the duels between the sword cultivators of the two sides.

The great demons responsible for overseeing the army this time were the Lotus Flower Nunnery Master, as well as the deity in golden armor.

This was the first time that two great demons from the twelve thrones were overseeing a battle together.

The Lotus Flower Nunnery Master had refined half of the moon essence belonging to one of the three moons in the Savage World, and it had also engaged in a single exchange with the Southern Whirl Continent’s Chen Chun’an during the previous battle, when the pure Confucian had traveled to the Sword Qi Great Wall. There hadn’t been any notion of victory or defeat, but the Lotus Flower Nunnery Master had evidently come out slightly worse off in the exchange. This was influenced by neither party using their full strength; more precisely, the extraordinary complexity of the battlefield hadn’t allowed them to use their full strength.

Only a single great demon had overseen each of the four previous battles, and they were, respectively, Skeletal Great Demon Bai Ying; the former ruler of the Elite Cavalry River, Yang Zhi; the demon who liked to refine buildings and construct a city in the sky, Huang Luan; and the big-bearded man who was responsible for the Savage World challenging the Sword Qi Great Wall to a sword duel, Liu Cha. Liu Cha carried both a sword and a saber, and he was part friend and part enemy with A’Liang.

However, he was even more perfunctory than the other great demons like Bai Ying, and he only took a few glances at the sword formations of the two armies from the rear of the battlefield. Following the conclusion of the battle, however, he chose a dozen or so young sword cultivators to become his unofficial disciples.

Liu Cha’s opening disciple, and his only direct disciple, was Sword Cultivator Zhu Qie.

The young sword cultivators felt like they were in a dream, but they still needed to pass two big trials if they wanted to become direct disciples of Liu Cha. They needed to so-called step through the door before having the chance to be elevated to the position of direct disciple.

After becoming unofficial disciples, the young sword cultivators could advance to the next level if they were good learners and managed to pass a trial. Only after that could they work toward becoming official disciples — or direct disciples — of Liu Cha, after which they would receive official teachings of his lineage.

The Great Dao was still extremely distant, but the dozen or so unofficial disciples were still overcome with delight, instantly forming a close group and becoming a so-called small mountain.

Their master, Sword Cultivator Liu Cha, represented the pinnacle of the Sword Dao in the Savage World, after all, so the ability to become his disciple — even an unofficial one — was something to be incredibly proud of.

As for becoming a closing disciple? This was no easier than becoming an opening disciple. Masters often only took closing disciples when they felt comfortable that they had passed down their skills and knowledge, and thus decided that it was time to rest. The closing disciple would figuratively close the door, allowing no more outsiders to enter. Indeed, this was the reason why they were called closing disciples.

Choosing a master was like choosing a rebirth, while choosing a disciple was like giving birth to a child. This was a critical choice for both parties.

Qi Shou had already advanced to the Nascent Tier prior to the commencement of the battle, and the cultivation barrier that Gao Yehou was facing was also starting to loosen, meaning that he was imminently about to advance and become a Nascent Tier sword cultivator. Pang Yuanji possessed better aptitude than Gao Yehou, and his Great Dao was also regarded as superior to Gao Yehou’s, but his sword heart was now covered in dust, and his cultivation base was unstable. This was perhaps a display of the impermanence of the Great Dao.

The great battle was magnificent, and the measly Dragon Gate Tier Fan Dache also managed to take a step forward and advance to the Golden Core Tier. This was actually a minor matter, but Die Zhang and the rest of his companions still used a break in battle to celebrate his achievement with a pot of wine each.

The cultivators of the demon tribe rushed onto the battlefield again, continuing to use a myriad of immortal treasures to attack the sword formation.

However, the sword cultivators of the demon tribe didn’t participate in this offensive. They were far too valuable, so the demon tribe was unwilling to sacrifice them before they breached the city wall.

If the demons that didn’t possess the ability to assume human form were viewed as the most worthless copper coins from the mortal world, then itinerant cultivators from the demon tribe could be compared to snowflake coins, cultivators that had attained success in cultivating the heart could be regarded as lesser heat coins, and sword cultivators could be held up as the most valuable grain rain coins.

This wasn’t to say that it was pointless to challenge the Sword Qi Great Wall to further sword duels, but rather, it was possible to achieve identical outcomes on the battlefield by sacrificing the endless supply of so-called copper coins. That being the case, why would the demon tribe waste their incredibly rare grain rain coins?

If this were in the Majestic World, would the generals dare to trivialize the lives of their soldiers and launch offensives like this, leading to hundreds of thousands of pointless deaths? Corpses would pile up into mountains, and it was inevitable that the offending generals would be strongly criticized for tens of thousands of years. However, this was not an issue in the Savage World.

Indeed, the Savage World finally managed to implement its sloped wall strategy for the first time, with a mountain of corpses forming a ramp that led up the city wall.

A special horn lazily echoed throughout the battlefield to mark this breakthrough, with the piercing sound greatly increasing the morale of the Savage World.

Pure Martial Artist Yu Juanfu had waited bitterly for a long time, and at this moment, she was finally able to freely unleash her vigorous fist intent to slaughter the demons.

The sword cultivators belonging to the Hidden Official’s lineage continued to take turns defending the great wall, with each group consisting of three sword cultivators.

Both sides recorded their losses in detail every day, with Guo Zhujiu responsible for compiling the summary. The atmosphere in the great hall of the summer palace became increasingly solemn, with everyone completely overwhelmed with work. Even Guo Zhujiu needed to stay at her table from morning until night.

Over at Stalactite Mountain, almost all of the administrators who managed intercontinental ships of the eight continents that did business with Stalactite Mountain had already visited the Spring Banner Inn.

Yan Ming, Nalan Caihuan, Mi Yu, Shao Yunyan, and Wei Wenlong weren’t sitting around either.

Beyond the death and destruction on the battlefield, there was also a battlefield in the account books.

The Sword Qi Great Wall was trialing a brand-new method of trade with the intercontinental ships from the eight continents, and this led to a huge number of small disagreements. Meanwhile, the intercontinental ships of the Pure White Continent were also facing some issues as they collected snowflake coins. This was mainly caused by the Pure White Continent’s Liu Clan not offering their opinion on this matter, yet they maintained control over all of the mines and profits related to snowflake coins in the world. They didn’t say anything, nor were they willing to give a discount.

In any case, the intercontinental ships wouldn’t dare to boldly sail through the various continents even if they managed to collect snowflake coins. After all, even Upper Five Tier cultivators would be swayed and tempted by entire ships of snowflake coins, and it would be a huge disaster if they gathered some friends and hid along the routes to ambush the intercontinental ships.

The Pure White Continent didn’t dare to take such risks, and the Sword Qi Great Wall was also unwilling to see such an outcome. Thus, the intercontinental ships of the Pure White Continent didn’t transport any snowflake coins the first time they made a return trip to and from the continent. Instead, they had only transported some other goods listed in the catalog of the Spring Banner Inn.

Including Jiang Gaotai, the administrators of the intercontinental ships from the Pure White Continent all made a request to the Spring Banner Inn, hoping that the Sword Qi Great Wall could deploy some sword immortals to protect their ships. Moreover, this protection needed to be for the entire journey, both to and from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Both Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan felt like this request wasn’t feasible, and they hoped that the intercontinental ships could fork out the money to hire one or two Upper Five Tier guards on their own. The intercontinental ships from the Pure White Continent would earn huge profits if they successfully transported the snowflake coins, after all, so it wasn’t reasonable of them to expect the Spring Banner Inn to further provide sword immortals to offer protection. Otherwise, a return trip would often take half a year to one year, including the stop at the Pure White Continent, and the sword immortals would be needlessly dragged away from the Sword Qi Great Wall just like that.

Shao Yunyan proposed a middle ground of sorts, saying that the intercontinental ships didn’t need to place all of their eggs in one basket and transport nothing but snowflake coins. There were many other rich resources that the intercontinental ships could transport and make big profits on.

The two parties needed to further negotiate the smaller transactions that sat under these major transactions, and even a single disagreement in the fine details could lead to the collapse of an entire transaction.

It was already scorching summer at the Spring Banner Inn, with heaven and earth feeling like a large kiln that was baking all matter. Winter had passed with no snow at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

This caused Guo Zhujiu to feel slightly disappointed. She had already reached an agreement with her master, saying that they would build a good fifteen to twenty snowmen when winter arrived, with all of the sword cultivators belonging to the Hidden Official’s lineage being able to take part.

Only one thing made the sword cultivators from the Hidden Official’s lineage feel better, and it related to the significant criticism that had arisen from the young Hidden Official’s action of using the ”Hidden Official” flying sword to deliver a message to the city wall, dying down by itself. Or perhaps these criticisms still lingered in people’s minds, but they just didn’t have the time or effort to voice them anymore.