Unsheathed

In the Jia Shen Tent beyond the battlefield...

Even though most of the demons in this military tent were rather young, this large tent had some of the tightest security and possessed a huge number of rules compared to the fifty-nine other military tents. Unless one had critical military tasks to conduct, those who dared to wantonly enter the Jia Shen Tent would all be punished by death, even if they were great demons or sword immortals.

The Jia Shen Tent was hosting two esteemed guests with extremely renowned status today.

One was a burly elder wearing a large red robe, the bright color as dazzling as misty iridescent light. The red radiance was unpredictable as it cycled through birth and destruction. This was a celestial tool level Dao robe, and it was rumored that it had come from the Elite Cavalry River, one of the entrances to that deep pool. In fact, the Dao robe had once been a fundamental subjugation treasure of the great river.

The old man possessed lofty seniority, one that put him on level footing with Yang Zhi and Huang Luan. However, gratitude and grudges ran between them, making the web of relationships unbelievably complicated.

The old man was a great demon on the cusp of gaining one of the twelve thrones in the Savage World’s Heroic Spirit Hall, and he actually possessed superior combat power to Great Demon Zhong Guang. It was only because he had always acted alone that his fame was inferior to that of Zhong Guang.

The last time the old man had appeared in public was when A’Liang had traveled through the area. A’Liang had been unable to suppress his so-called sudden urge, so he had swung his sword and destroyed more than half of the old man’s abode. Only then had the old man joined forces with Zhong Guang to furiously pursue A’Liang for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. They only stopped upon reaching the Sword Qi Great Wall, and this had allowed them to face a sword strike from Dong Sangeng, who had left the great wall.

Standing beside the old man was a youthful great demon that had five swords strapped to his back. He was young and handsome, wearing a verdant green Dao robe of great renown. However, one of his eyes was a decayed white color and possessed no hint of vitality. The youthful great sword immortal didn’t try to conceal this, nor could he be bothered to use an illusion technique. Otherwise, if it weren’t for this eye ruining his appearance, he could perhaps rival the Sword Qi Great Wall’s Sword Immortal Mi Yu in terms of handsomeness.

What was most different between the Unpolished Jade Tier Mi Yu and this youthful demon sword immortal was the fact that the latter possessed remarkably lofty sword skills. He was the youngest among the Upper Five Tier sword immortals in the demon tribe, and he had once achieved a fair victory against the long-renowned Great Sword Immortal Zhang Lu in the thirteen battles, causing the latter to suffer absolute disgrace.

Indeed, Great Sword Immortal Zhang Lu needed to guard the gate at Stalactite Mountain to make up for his crime of losing, and he could only enjoy the company of the young Daoist priest who liked to sit on his straw mat and read. It was rumored that Zhang Lu had an extremely good relationship with the sword immortal couple from the Ning Residence, but it appeared that none of the three was able to enjoy a good fate. Two had fallen in battle, while one had become a laughing stock despite managing to survive.

Sword Cultivator Liu Bai accompanied Mu Ji, the leader of the Jia Shen Tent, to walk outside and welcome their guests.

”My respects to Old Ancestor Guan Xiang and Sword Immortal Shou Chen,” Mu Ji greeted in a respectful voice.

Liu Bai sounded more casual, even slightly intimate, as she smiled and said, ”Greetings, Old Man Guan Xiang and Senior Brother Shou Chen.”

Great Demon Guan Xiang smiled and nodded in response, saying, ”Little Liu Bai is growing more beautiful by the day. When we go to the Majestic World in the future, I’ll personally capture some noble scholars and virtuous scholars from the Confucian academies for you to pick from.”

This was the advantage of belonging to a powerful lineage.

Liu Bai’s master was the great demon with the pseudonym Zhou Mi, who referred to himself as Old Bookworm and possessed the second-highest throne in the Heroic Spirit Hall. He was regarded as the Savage World’s Sea of Knowledge, and Sword Immortal Shou Chen was also Zhou Mi’s disciple, making him the senior brother of Liu Bai. In fact, all of Zhou Mi’s disciples were sword cultivators, with Shou Chen, Cai Ying, Tong Xuan, Tong Yin, Yu Zao, and Liu Bai all being rated as members of the one hundred innate sword talents by Holding Moon Mountain.

These ratings by Holding Moon Mountain weren’t based on the cultivation bases of the sword cultivators. Shou Chen had a relatively low cultivation base right now, yet he enjoyed a very high ranking in the list of one hundred innate sword talents, neck-and-neck with Zhu Qie and Li Zhen. The former was Liu Cha’s direct disciple, while the latter was Holding Moon Mountain’s closing disciple.

Liu Bai noticed something amiss about Shou Chen, and she asked in concern, ”Are you okay, Senior Brother Shou Chen?”

After not seeing him for just a few years, she didn’t understand how Senior Brother Shou Chen had suffered such severe wounds. The last time they had parted ways, Senior Brother Shou Chen had apparently been embarking on a distant journey at the instruction of their master.

Shou Chen pointed at his replaced eyeball. Great demons possessed tough physiques, especially Upper Five Tier great demons. However, Shou Chen hadn’t chosen to grow a new eyeball, nor had he refined his replacement eyeball, seemingly as if he wanted to purposely tell others that he had gone blind in one eye.

He smiled and replied, ”The blind old man dug out one of my eyes and fed it to his guard dog as a snack. It was utterly humiliating, but nothing more than that. My heart won’t be at ease until I exact revenge, but trying to do so won’t be an easy task. That being the case, I can only show this wound to outsiders as a reminder, lest I forget about it after a long time passes.”

Mu Ji was stunned upon hearing this.

To say nothing of the blind old man who liked to command the golden-armored puppets to move the one hundred thousand tall mountains, just the so-called guard dog alone was supposedly an Ascension Tier great demon that had gone to challenge the blind old man after breaking through. However, its challenge had failed, so it had stayed behind and become a genuine guard dog for the blind old man.

Back then, Great Demon Guan Xiang had brought Sword Immortal Shou Chen with him to visit the blind old man and discuss some proper matters, hoping that the blind old man could offer his strength and join their offensive on the Majestic World. Unexpectedly, however, their talks had fallen apart and led to a sour parting.

Even if twelve Immortal Tier cultivators had no chance of victory against thirteen Ascension Tier cultivators, they would at least still have the option to flee. ℯℯ𝘭.

However, it would genuinely be very unreasonable for those at the twelfth tier or thirteenth tier to fight against those at the next tier above. Of course, Ascension Tier sword immortals might still have a chance to compete as long as their swords were quick enough, allowing them to breach the small world manifested by the Great Dao.

Those at the fabled fourteenth tier would have the ability to manifest a small world wherever they were present, meaning that the suppression from the Great Dao would follow them around. This definitely wasn’t as simple as a small world that served as nothing more than a barrier, and besides sword immortals, Qi refiners at the Ascension Tier would all feel extreme discomfort.

Thus, the Immortal Tier Shou Chen had suffered greatly, and this wasn’t a reflection of his Sword Dao being fragile or lowly. Rather, the blind old man was far too powerful, so much so that as an outsider in the Savage World, he was still the so-called heavens of the one hundred thousand tall mountains that covered a vast swathe of land.

A’Liang had once made a very interesting comparison, describing the blind old man as the Savage World’s second master. If the master, who had already disappeared for ten thousand years, didn’t become unhappy and personally suppress the blind old man, all of the other immortal techniques and magical powers in the Savage World would be nothing more than futile and insignificant noise.

Great Demon Guan Xiang smiled and said, ”Let’s discuss the proper matters first. The Jia Zi Tent is afraid of you children feeling too stifled and hard done by. According to the records of the military tent, the Jia Zi Tent has already rejected two major suggestions by the Jia Shen Tent, so I’m personally visiting you to explain some insider information for this decision. Only those in the Jia Shen Tent need to know this information, and it definitely shouldn’t be shared with anyone else.”

Everyone in the Jia Shen Tent stood up to respectfully welcome the two seniors. One was an Ascension Tier great demon who had lived for many moons, and the old lunar almanacs in the Savage World recorded his pseudonym and had many pages dedicated to recounting the old man’s feats.

The other was young and possessed incredible military merit, also being a sword immortal on top of that.

The old man smiled and nodded in acknowledgment, gesturing for everyone to sit down. There was no need to be so polite.

Sword Immortal Shou Chen looked around, glancing over the youths who weren’t sword cultivators and taking longer looks at those who were.

There was Li Zhen, Zhu Qie, Yu Si, Tun Tan, and Liu Bai — the Jia Shen Tent had five innate sword talents.

”According to your plans, where the Ascension Tier and Immortal Tier cultivators, including Zhong Guang and me, all join the battle, how many enemy sword immortals can we kill at most?” Great Demon Guan Xiang asked.

”According to our strategy, only the Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortals of the Sword Qi Great Wall will be killed to begin with, and it’s critical that we kill Yuan Qingshu, Pu He, and the other outsider sword immortals first,” Mu Ji replied.

”The local sword immortals of the Sword Qi Great Wall definitely won’t retreat after two deaths, and we won’t allow them to leave the battlefield either. In that case, the best outcome will be us killing four to five Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortals and two additional great sword immortals, and the worst outcome will be us killing three Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortals and a single great sword immortal. Afterward, the sword immortals guarding the river will need to retreat no matter what.”

Great Demon Guan Xiang nodded and said, ”That is indeed a very good outcome, and the Jia Zi Tent has carefully reviewed this proposal. The strategy is sound, and we’ll be able to withstand the losses even if the Sword Qi Great Wall manages to kill an equivalent number of great demons. Is this why you’re unsatisfied about your proposal getting rejected?”

Mu Ji nodded and replied, ”Yes, that’s correct. We’ve finally forced a large number of sword immortals to leave the city wall after so much difficulty, making them risk their lives on the battlefield. The sages from the Three Teachings might have created a small world for those sword immortals, offering them some protection, but this is not an indestructible cage.

”Senior, if you and the others unleash your full might, yet you kill fewer than four sword immortals, then I’m willing to have Li Zhen chop off my head and bring it to the Jia Zi Tent to express my apology for my crime.”

Guan Xiang smiled and asked, ”How many times can the sages of the Three Teachings summon this long river and sever the battlefield into two, reducing the pressure on the sword cultivators atop the city wall? Have you performed any simulations regarding this?”

Mu Ji shook his head and replied, ”We had some speculations, but this is far too mystical. We don’t dare to use our speculations as a foundation to perform further analysis and simulation of the battle.”

”You and the others indeed can’t be blamed for this,” Guan Xiang said. ”Only the Jia Zi Tent can offer answers regarding these major matters, and children like you can only rely on making guesses even if you aimlessly rack your brains for one hundred years. The answer reached by the Jia Zi Tent was three times. And after three times, the sages of the Three Teachings will suffer damage to the foundations of their Great Dao.”

”Does the Jia Zi Tent want to directly kill the sages of the Three Teachings here?” Mu Ji asked in puzzlement.

Guan Xiang nodded and replied, ”We won’t be able to stop the actions of the accompanying sages overseeing things from the heavens after we breach the Sword Qi Great Wall and enter the Majestic World, but these sages of the Three Teachings must die at the Sword Qi Great Wall. The Jia Zi Tent has reached a new decision because of this.

”We won’t accept your proposal in full, but we won’t push it aside and completely ignore it either, allowing those sword immortals to freely show off their might. I, Zhong Guang, Shou Chen, and a dozen or so demons with suitable cultivation bases will attack with our full strength. However, Shou Chen and Liu Bai’s master, as well as Zhu Qie’s master, still won’t participate in the battle.”

The young demon smiled brilliantly and said, ”The juniors in the Jia Shen Tent wholeheartedly accept the far-sighted plans of the seniors in the Jia Zi Tent.”

”You and the other youths are the future of the Savage World. We’re already old and decaying,” Guan Xiang remarked with emotion.

The old man then turned around and added with a smile, ”This doesn’t include Shou Chen, of course. He’s still very young.”

”Old Ancestor Guan Xiang, Sword Immortal Shou Chen, I still have one more request,” Mu Ji suddenly said.

”Go ahead,” Guan Xiang said.

Mu Ji carefully explained another plan, which the Jia Shen Tent had already discussed and agreed upon, to the old man, hoping that all five sword cultivators of the Jia Shen Tent could participate in the next battle when the enemy sword immortals oversaw the long river. They would hide amid the large army and work together to surround and kill Chen Ping’an, the new Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall.

With this in mind, Mu Ji hoped that the Jia Zi Tent could deploy one senior to help them carve out a path of retreat. Of course, the Jia Shen Tent would also keep an eye on the situation and refrain from exposing their identities too hastily, lest they create too much danger for the senior responsible for guarding them and helping them retreat.

”This is a major matter, so the decision won’t be final even if I agree to your request now,” Guan Xiang replied. ”This needs to be discussed in the Jia Zi Tent, so sit tight and wait for our reply.”

The young demon expressed his gratitude.

”Senior Brother Shou Chen, you have to convince Master to agree to this,” Liu Bai said.

”This depends on the effectiveness of the two other plans proposed by the Jia Shen Tent, one major and one minor,” Shou Chen replied helplessly. ”Otherwise, it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with Master’s temperament.”

Apart from the major plan targeting the golden river and the sword immortals leaving the city wall, there would also be a tussle between the younger generation of the two sides. Hidden undercurrents were already swirling, and everyone was prepared to unleash everything.

With the Jia Shen Tent as the leader, several military tents had participated in the planning, meticulously choosing a large group of sacrificial demons. These demons mainly consisted of earth immortal sword cultivators who had stagnated at the Golden Core Tier or the Nascent Tier for many years.

Before marching to the battlefield, these powerful demons, reduced to sacrificial soldiers despite becoming sword cultivators, would each be given a small booklet written by the Jia Shen Tent, inside which the information of fifty prodigious sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall was recorded.

Ning Yao was on the first page.

There were also Qi Shou, Gao Yehou, Pang Yuanji, Situ Weiran, Luo Zhenyi, Chen Sanqiu, Dong Huafu, Die Zhang, Yan Zhuo, Xu Ning, Chang Taiqing, Gu Jianlong, Guo Zhujiu, Gao Youqing...

There was a long list of names, under which their cultivation bases, flying swords, bonded mystical abilities of the flying swords, temperament, fighting style, likely companions who would appear alongside them, and so on were all described in detail. It could be said that these descriptions were bordering on tedious.

In fact, these descriptions most likely wouldn’t be too different from those recorded by the lineage of the Hidden Official at the Sword Qi Great Wall, even if there were some slight discrepancies.

Pang Yuanji was listed in the booklet by the Jia Shen Tent, yet his name had been crossed out afterward, with three bright red words reading: Do not kill.

Afterward, an elderly Golden Core Tier sword cultivator who had voluntarily asked to become a sacrificial demon was suddenly found by demon cultivators from the military tents and executed on the spot before he could enter the battlefield.

The nearby demon sword cultivators had been astonished, but they hadn’t thought anymore of the matter. Those that had already died simply died earlier. Those that weren’t dead yet shouldn’t laugh at the deceased either — they were next in line.

The executed demon sword cultivator was presumably a traitor who had wanted to deliver intelligence to the Sword Qi Great Wall.

And just like that, a small story about demons and humans, swords and fate, the Savage World and the Sword Qi Great Wall, was forever washed away by the river of time. It was like a rootless duckweed, floating on the river for a long time before swirling around and sinking to the bottom.

There was an abundance of prodigies among the current generation of sword cultivators at the Sword Qi Great Wall, so much so that it enjoyed the second-largest number of innate sword talents over the past ten thousand years. What the Savage World needed to do was simple: Using the lives of earth immortal sword cultivators as a price, the demon tribe would forcefully grind away at this talented generation and mercilessly transform a bountiful generation into a lackluster generation.

Perhaps it appeared like the Savage World wouldn’t be better off even if this plan of theirs succeeded.

However, this wasn’t the case.

Reality had proved that the wisps of pure sword intent left behind by the Sword Qi Great Wall would become less resistant toward sword cultivators from the Savage World the longer they lingered. Indeed, demon sword cultivators could also win the favor of the primordial sword intent as long as their sword hearts were pure and limpid. They could also obtain these fated opportunities of the Great Dao.

In terms of fortune pertaining to the Sword Dao, the Sword Qi Great Wall was undoubtedly the most plentiful out of the several large worlds.

Once the Sword Qi Great Wall was breached and the sword immortals were killed, with the number of surviving sword prodigies also dwindling, the Savage World would naturally be able to obtain more and more of the sword intent. As if receiving intangible sweet rain, the one hundred innate sword talents from the Savage World could then rapidly mature as a result.

————

Pu Yu wasn’t lazing around on the battlefield, and he controlled Rain Curtain with his full strength. Even if he couldn’t provide much help, he still tried his best to assist the old sword cultivator, making sure he wouldn’t face perilous danger after stepping in to help them.

When nurturing flying swords, sword cultivators would be able to temper their own physiques on top of refining their sword intent and nurturing the sword itself. Demons already possessed powerful physiques to begin with, so if they were sword cultivators as well, then the toughness of their physiques would reach a staggering level.

Ren Yi cooperated with the bonded mystical ability of Pu Yu’s flying sword, using his extremely quick flying sword to attack the demon cultivators. However, the Golden Core Tier demon cultivators purposely ignored Pu Yu and Ren Yi unless they had to block attacks from their flying swords, instead focusing their full attention on the young sword cultivators with relatively low cultivation bases. As a result, the two talented sword cultivators found it very difficult to unleash sword strikes in a satisfying manner.

The young sword cultivators had already received warnings from Pu Yu and Ren Yi, and they could only work together to protect themselves using their flying swords.

The old sword cultivator, who had secretly obtained a golden core and hidden it inside his sleeve, was seemingly struck by a heavy blow at this moment, sending him flying back. He tumbled along the ground before standing up and ”vomiting blood” into his palm. He then summoned another flying sword, randomly stabbing the corpse of the demon cultivator without any rhyme or reason. It wasn’t long before he flew sideways again, sliding a dozen meters along the ground before shakily standing back up and wiping blood onto his face.

The old sword cultivator reached forward and grabbed the standard sword from the sword market, which had been lying on the ground.

Another ray of incisive sword light instantly shot over.

It was another Golden Core Tier sword cultivator from the demon tribe!

The old sword cultivator used the standard sword to block the sword light, causing him to slide backward and dig a deep ditch into the ground with his feet. The further back he slid, the shallower the ditch became.

In the end, the standard sword was snapped by the sword light. The old sword cultivator formed hand seals and drew the broken sword into the scabbard on his back, first the blade and then the hilt. Meanwhile, he faced off against the lone Golden Core Tier demon sword cultivator in the distance.

Not only were the young sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall surprised, but even the Golden Core Tier demon cultivators and their subordinates were extremely baffled. Since when had two demon sword cultivators, the most valuable cultivators in the Savage World, arrived to join forces with them?

Chen Ping’an roughly understood the situation.

The battlefield had been severed by the Sword Qi Great Wall, but the Savage World had also made some preparations beforehand.

For example, Pu Yu and Ren Yi had each attracted a sacrificial demon at the Golden Core Tier.

These were older demons who very likely wouldn’t be able to overcome their cultivation barriers for the rest of their lives. Indeed, demon sword cultivators with no hope of attaining the Great Dao were the most suitable candidates for becoming sacrificial assassins.

Once a large number of sacrificial demon assassins appeared everywhere on the battlefield, following a meticulous plan by the Savage World, things would become extraordinarily challenging for the young and prodigious sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Thus, Chen Ping’an didn’t plan to stay here for too long. After dealing with this area of the battlefield, he would first send a messenger flying sword to Wei Jin, asking him to deliver this news from the city wall to the summer palace. Following this, Chen Ping’an would need to make his way to another area of the battlefield as soon as possible.

He was Fan Dache’s guardian sword cultivator, after all, so he naturally needed to honor his promises.

Chen Ping’an rolled up his sleeves and stomped his foot, instantly disappearing from the spot.

The Golden Core Tier demon sword cultivator was clearly at a loss. It had already released its flying sword, so what should it do if it couldn’t locate its target?

A split second later, the aged Golden Core Tier demon sword cultivator was sent flying backward, with its extremely tough body directly smashing through the layers of encircling demons, pulverizing their bodies and killing them in an instant.

The old sword cultivator carrying a standard sword from the sword market and wearing a Dao robe from the garment market stalked the Golden Core Tier demon like a shadow, throwing a second punch before it had even landed on the ground, causing both the demon’s body and its golden core to erupt.

The old sword cultivator gracefully landed on the ground, after which he secretly sent a messenger flying sword to the city wall. A portion of earth immortal sword cultivators guarding the city wall needed to conceal their auras and join the battlefield, where they should strive to block and kill the sacrificial demon sword cultivators from the Savage World.

The demons in this area of the battlefield scattered and fled in a frenzy, with the Golden Core Tier demons racing away on the wind and not forgetting to summon their defensive bonded treasures as they did so. This wouldn’t be a crime as long as they didn’t retreat too far south, and given that they continued to battle in other areas of the battlefield.

In any case, the battlefield had already been severed into two, so the military supervisors from the Savage World genuinely wouldn’t be able to deal with those who shirked from battle. Even though the demons on the battlefield were all fighting ferociously and risking their lives for military merit, they wouldn’t be so foolish as to seek death for no good reason. After all, even touching the great wall would be better than dying for nothing — the former would at least count as military merit.

Pu Yu and the other sword cultivators chased after the fleeing demons.

There was a complicated expression on Ren Yi’s face as he glanced at the old sword cultivator flying into the distance.

”There’s no need to guess; he’s indeed the godforsaken second shopkeeper,” Pu Yu said in exasperation.

After not seeing Chen Ping’an for just one year, neither of them understood how the young and newly appointed Hidden Official had seemingly become a completely new person.

This was especially the case regarding the overwhelming killing intent contained within his final punch. Even the young prodigies from the Sword Qi Great Wall had felt discomfort and stifling pressure from this attack.

That being the case, how would it feel to face Chen Ping’an on the battlefield?

The two prodigious sword cultivators, who were very experienced on the battlefield, quickly pushed aside these distracting thoughts. Their mental states became clear, and their sword hearts became limpid, and they continued to unleash sword strikes as quickly as they could.

As for whether the young Hidden Official had become a sword cultivator already, or if this was a new disguise he was using, Pu Yu and Ren Yi didn’t try to guess. They wouldn’t be able to guess correctly anyway, and only Chen Ping’an himself would know the truth.

No matter what, they were now aware that the second shopkeeper, who was actually a similar age to them, could kill Golden Core Tier cultivators as if he were stomping ants.

Those facing his fists and swords were nothing more than mere insects.