The mountain where the dilapidated temple stood was lashed by a torrential downpour, the relentless rain drumming against the armor of the Great Spring’s Northern Frontier soldiers with a cacophonous din.

Their armor, worn and weathered, bore the scars of countless battles – the etched lines of blades, the pockmarks of arrows and spears.

New rain on old armor.

A nobleman’s son avoids standing near a collapsing wall. To allow Xu Qingzhou and Xu Tong the freedom to seize this fleeting opportunity to slay Chen Ping’an’s four retainers, the First Prince, Liu Cong, had retreated to the mountainside, surrounded by dozens of his trusted battlefield comrades. These staunch loyalists were clad in armor even heavier than that of the soldiers besieging the temple, the standard-issue iron armor of heavy infantry. Accompanying them were three exceptionally skilled itinerant cultivators: a Sea Gazing Realm swordsman whose natal flying sword was honed to a razor’s edge, a talisman Daoist adept at conjuring formations, and a military strategist clad in the Dew Armor.

Liu Cong was determined to claim Chen Ping’an’s head, but caution was paramount. He had no desire to stumble on this nameless mountain.

Since the hidden scholar of the academy, Wang Qi, was willing to personally involve himself in this conspiracy, Liu Cong harbored a deep mistrust for this highly respected leader of the Great Spring’s literati. If not for the exceedingly tempting conditions offered by Gao Shi, and the inclusion of the Xu family’s military lineage and the Herb Cottage, Liu Cong would never have dared to take such a risk. He was consumed by curiosity regarding the rumored treasures of the Azure Lux Palace, wondering how invaluable they must be to compel a scholar of the academy to betray his conscience and orchestrate this assassination.

Even though Wang Qi could later justify his actions to the Grand Decree Academy Headmaster, claiming he was capturing a “heretical” imposter posing as a direct disciple of the Peace Mountain Ancestral Hall, he could also smear Chen Ping’an further by suggesting the foreigner was a fiendish overlord who had escaped from the Abyss Prison and changed his identity. He might even insist that the Northern Frontier’s five thousand armored soldiers were needed to encircle the mountain. Yet, Liu Cong doubted the airtightness of this explanation.

However, this was not his concern. Wang Qi remained a true scholar of the Grand Decree Academy. Even emperors and rulers of secular dynasties had to heed the words of a scholar. Moreover, as a prince, his leading the troops up the mountain complied with the rules established by the Confucian academy. How Wang Qi would explain himself to the academy after slaying Chen Ping’an was beyond Liu Cong’s involvement.

But when Wang Qi secretly left Mirage City and sought him out at the border, entrusting him with all of Eunuch Li Li’s hidden pawns, Liu Cong was astonished upon receiving the files of these death-defying figures scattered throughout the capital’s mansions, the Great Spring’s local Jianghu, and the mountain sects. How could Eunuch Li Li, the “Sentinel Cypress of the Great Spring,” have infiltrated the entire Great Spring territory to such an extent?

And why would Wang Qi, a seasoned scholar revered throughout the Tongye Continent’s central region, have aligned himself with an eunuch of the palace?

No matter how esteemed Eunuch Li Li was in the court and among the common people, he was merely an old, neutered servant, worlds apart from a scholar like Wang Qi.

Yet, Li Li’s death was opportune. The old eunuch had long admired the cunning Third Prince. How pathetic that the Third Prince had toiled for over a decade, risking himself by venturing deep into Northern Jin territory, only to have his plans thwarted at the Yaos’ domain when Gao Shuyi was slain. Even Li Li, who was considered invincible within the country, had been outmaneuvered. One wrong move had cost him everything. Human calculations were no match for the heavens! Destiny was truly on Liu Cong’s side!

However, after years of fighting on the border, commanding tens of thousands of elite frontier troops, and fearlessly charging into battle, Liu Cong found himself overcome with an uncontrollable tension.

Before the dilapidated temple, Wei Xian stood firm, just as he had during the inn encounter, his sole task to guard the entrance. Any Great Spring soldiers foolish enough to seek death would receive no mercy.

Clad in the Dew Armor, Xi Yue was impervious to ordinary blades and arrows. He allowed them to strike and pierce his armor, then unleashed a single punch, sending any soldier daring to approach him flying far away. Corpses near the temple gate were flicked away with the tip of his foot. In his imperial mindset, he would not allow anyone to snore beside his bed, and now, he would not allow any corpses to mar his presence.

Only the occasional specially crafted arrows, imbued with hidden mechanisms, did Wei Xian evade, each one launched from a powerful bow by a border sharpshooter hidden in the forest.

Compared to the carnage wrought by the “mad martial,” Wei Xian’s actions could be described as “gentle and yielding.”

Dodging and closing the distance, each move interlocking. Once Zhu Lian was within striking distance, the surrounding soldiers met gruesome ends. Armor shattered, embedded into flesh, turning into a bloody mess. They died instantly, their deaths horrific.

At Sui Youbian’s battlefield, sword light bloomed repeatedly in the forest. With a single sweep, several soldiers and trees would be bisected. In the end, no tall trees remained within hundreds of steps of Sui Youbian.

On Lu Baixiang’s side, the Stop Snow, a ancestral treasure of the Huan clan of Flying Eagle Fort, moved haltingly, lightly treading on tree trunks like a dragonfly skimming the water. His form flashed and vanished, leaving only a trail of Stop Snow’s flowing Sword Qi, a lingering, snow-white line in the dark, rainy curtain.

In the span of a short incense stick’s burning time, the Great Spring’s elite frontier troops had left behind six hundred corpses, and that was only because the forest was unsuitable for a massed infantry assault.

Standing at the temple entrance, Chen Ping’an lowered his head and smiled.

A small lotus figurine hopped out from the ground, waving its only remaining lotus root arm, babbling incoherently, and pointed Chen Ping’an in a direction.

Chen Ping’an followed the direction the little figure indicated, towards the highest peak of the mountain. The lotus figurine implied that there were two formidable individuals watching from that side, so powerful that it dared not approach that hill.

Chen Ping’an asked softly, “Did you see a young man with a hibiscus crown on his head and wearing a Daoist robe?”

The lotus figurine vigorously shook its head.

Chen Ping’an gave it a thumbs up and said softly with a smile, “Go hide in the temple.”
The lotus sprite nodded vigorously, walking with rapid strides. With a leap, it jumped high over the threshold and saw Pei Qian, who was currently belching contentedly. The sprite felt somewhat unwilling; it hadn’t liked her much upon their first meeting. Later, perhaps it wasn’t quite so averse. Occasionally, it would appear near Chen Ping An. Once, it had just emerged from the earth when Pei Qian, wielding her walking stick, had brought it down upon the sprite’s head. It had dodged quickly, peeking out elsewhere, while Pei Qian ran wildly in pursuit, only to be exhausted by the sprite’s teasing, never managing to hit it once. In the end, Chen Ping An had dragged her away by the ear for a li, causing her to cry out in pain.

Seeing Pei Qian acting furtively, as if she wanted to grab her walking stick, the lotus sprite became somewhat indignant. This time, it showed no fear of her, walking right up to Pei Qian’s feet and lying flat on the ground.

Pei Qian held the walking stick, hesitating for a long while, glancing at Chen Ping An’s figure at the temple entrance. Finally, she discarded the walking stick, squatted down, and said with a sweet smile, “You, you’re a little money-losing thing, utterly useless. My dad will definitely sell you for money later, then I can buy a whole bunch of candied haws, tsk tsk tsk, so delicious.”

The lotus sprite sulked, turning on its side and refusing to look at the dark-skinned little girl.

Pei Qian extended a finger and poked the little thing’s ticklish spot. “Little money-losing thing, if you become my little follower, I won’t let Dad sell you for money, how about that?”

The lotus sprite scrambled away, sitting cross-legged in the distance, looking just like Chen Ping An when he was reading.

Pei Qian rolled her eyes and said earnestly, “Do you know how rich I am now? I have a box that’s supposedly a treasure pavilion, filled with so many treasures. You better show me some respect in the future, understand? If you’re good and become my follower, maybe one day I’ll be generous and take out a pretty copper coin from it, and like Old Wei, wave my hand grandly and reward you!”

The lotus sprite remained unmoved.

Pei Qian said angrily, “You little money-losing thing, why are you so insensible? Do you believe I’ll learn some amazing swordplay tonight, and every time you pop out, I’ll poke you full of holes? Don’t you know I can see where you’re hiding underground?”

The lotus sprite felt somewhat fearful, turning its head pitifully to look at Chen Ping An.

Pei Qian immediately offered a conciliatory smile. “I’m just teasing you, why are you so sensitive to jokes?”

At the temple entrance, Chen Ping An’s thoughts settled slightly.

Now that he knew there were two people watching from across the mountains, at least he had some awareness and wouldn’t be caught off guard.

He guessed that one of them was likely the Gentleman of the Academy who was in charge of the Mirage City.

A virtuous gentleman, he had already met, Zhong Kui.

The Academy Sage’s pronouncements that carried the weight of heaven had also been heard in the Sword Manor of Combing Water Country.

Presumably, this time he had merely encountered a hypocrite, nothing to be alarmed about.

The extent of one’s knowledge wasn’t necessarily linked to the extent of one’s morality, let alone the fact that Academy disciples were also cultivators. On the path of cultivation, the higher one climbed to become an immortal, the greater the winds and rains on the mountain, naturally leading to more temptations and dangers. It wasn’t easy to maintain one’s original intention throughout.

Back in the Biyou Estate, when he saw the great demon in the river battling the Water Goddess, he had found it strange that the Great Spring Dynasty had allowed this demon to run rampant.

Perhaps what that Gentleman sought was no longer the principles of the sages, no longer the single-minded pursuit of guiding the common people towards goodness, but the pursuit of his own immortality, or other external things, such as… the immortal incantation on that bamboo slip, “capable of refining all things.”

Wealth moved people’s hearts.

The desire for longevity made an aging Academy Gentleman’s heart flutter, leading him astray, and what was so strange about that?

Cui Chan, a peak twelfth-realm immortal and a great disciple of the Sage, hadn’t he also taken a path of deceiving his master and betraying his ancestors?

But what Chen Ping An was most wary of was the “young Daoist of Mount Taiping” who had single-handedly put him in this dangerous situation.

It was this person who had visited the post station in Riding Crane City and personally handed the ancestral hall’s direct lineage jade pendant to Chen Ping An.

It wasn’t until Liu Cong, believing he was completely in control, revealed a trace of heavenly secrets that Chen Ping An realized something was wrong.

Chen Ping An, who was naturally cautious and meticulous in everything he did, had stumbled so badly this time because he had previously had such a good impression of that Mount Taiping.

Bearing the long Qi sword of the Great Sword Immortal Chen Qingdu, it had mistakenly entered the Lotus Root Blessed Land. Tong Qingqing and Fan Wan’er of the Mirror Heart Studio used that mirror to merge the female Daoist Huang Ting’s soul and body.

Chen Ping An had a very good impression of her.

Then there was the Ancestor Lord of Mount Taiping, who, in order to kill the White Ape with the Sword on its back, had not hesitated to destroy two immortal swords of the mountain-protecting array. To save Zhong Kui’s remnant soul, he had even fallen from his realm.

His impression became even better.

And the earliest he knew of Mount Taiping was when he and Lu Tai entered the Flying Eagle Fortress, exposing and destroying the century-long plan of that Golden Core evil cultivator. The culprit behind all the disasters in the Flying Eagle Fortress, that Golden Core evil cultivator who had almost suppressed Chen Ping An with a mountain, had tried to nurture a nascent soul ghost fetus in the heart aperture of the Flying Eagle Fortress Lord’s wife. Before that, the young Daoist of Mount Taiping who was chasing this old Golden Core cultivator should have been Huang Ting, who had not yet gone to the Blessed Land as a banished immortal.

Even earlier, according to Lu Tai, a Nascent Soul great cultivator of Mount Taiping, who had no hope of longevity, his body and soul were decaying and unbearable. Knowing that his lifespan was coming to an end, he began to travel around, thinking of doing as many good deeds as possible for the people below the mountain.

For some unknown reason, he had a conflict with a Golden Core Earth Immortal of the Spirit Medium Sect, who was full of baleful Qi. The two sides fought fiercely, and the latter never expected that the other party, whose vitality was so weak, was actually a Nascent Soul.

He was chased to the vicinity of the mountain where the predecessor of the Flying Eagle Fortress was located. At the cost of mutual destruction, he used the Spirit Medium Sect’s method of inviting gods to descend, but he did not invite a single god. Instead, he used his life essence as a price to perform a forbidden technique, summoning an incarnation of a primordial demonic behemoth, fighting to the end, and dying together.

The land beneath their feet was filled with Yin Qi, no different from a battlefield ruins where hundreds of thousands of soldiers had been buried.

Only then did the Golden Core evil cultivator have the chance to carry out that insidious scheme.

Everything about the Daoists of Mount Taiping, whether heard or seen in person, made Chen Ping An’s heart yearn for it.

Even the narrow blade, Stopping Snow, in Lu Baixiang’s hand, was a relic of that valiant and dead Nascent Soul Earth Immortal.

Therefore, after obtaining that ancestral hall jade pendant, Chen Ping An didn’t think much about it. He only thought that the Ancestor Lord of Mount Taiping had been moved by a sense of care after leaving the post station, or that Zhong Kui had helped to plead his case, which resulted in the hasty flying sword transmission, entrusting the Daoist on the nearby mountain to give Chen Ping An a protective jade pendant.
It seemed Chen Ping An had been too naive.

Chen Ping An removed the jade pendant Liu Cong claimed was “genuine,” its material excellent, making it difficult to refine into nothingness or destroy in short order. He turned and tossed it to Pei Qian, “Put this jade pendant inside the oil-paper umbrella, and remember to close the umbrella and don’t open it again.”

Pei Qian caught the beautiful jade pendant she had long coveted and obediently did as she was told, her movements nimble and without the slightest hesitation.

She was clear-headed about important matters.

Pei Qian dared not disobey, afraid of angering Chen Ping An.

The only time Chen Ping An had been angry, if not for Zhong Kui’s pleading, she would most likely still be in that rundown inn in Fox Town, sweeping floors and fetching water, working like a beast of burden for that buxom old woman.

The old Confucian scholar on the mountaintop sneered, “Chen Ping An has discovered our whereabouts.”

The burly man didn’t care. “This guy was never simple. The commotion at Azure Billow Manor, wasn’t that his doing? Otherwise, why would my master bother with such an immature martial artist? Master jested before leaving, saying the sword-nurturing gourd on Chen Ping An’s waist was just a small bonus. What Master truly values is who is willing to give him a treasure that can obscure heavenly secrets. If it weren’t too risky, Master would have liked to borrow it for a while, but he fears that once he makes a move, the entire Tongye Continent would be affected. So he wants us to scout ahead and deduce the identity of the person behind the scenes. If it’s truly the handiwork of some Confucian Sage, or even that divine move specifically meant to deal with the chaos in Tongye Continent…”

The burly man stopped abruptly, not daring to say another word.

The scholarly gentleman, Wang Qi, asked, “What would happen?”

The burly man chuckled evasively, “I’ve forgotten.”

Although Wang Qi didn’t press the matter, his mood improved.

This hulking brute considered himself just a minor demon, a mere ant without a Golden Core.

However, once he entered the water, his battle prowess would rival those on the mountain whose Daoist cultivation was relatively weak.

Tonight’s torrential rain was a timely downpour.

Before meeting his master, he had thought himself a local tyrant, ruling the lake as king, leading a stinking horde of shrimp soldiers and crab generals, acting as a petty emperor. Later, his master gave him a few pointers, and he attained his current fortune. By using the buried river, a remnant of an ancient waterway connected to the sea, as a dragon’s path, his cultivation soared. If that stinking bitch of a buried river water goddess hadn’t stopped him at the upper reaches of the river, near Azure Billow Manor and the Water God Temple, all because of the worthless lives of some mortals, refusing to let him pass, he would already be at the Golden Core realm! If he entered the sea again, the Nascent Soul realm would be within reach!

Originally, if that woman had allowed him to complete the entire buried river journey, it would have been a great karmic connection for both sides. In the future, even if he achieved the Great Dao, regardless of his cold nature or innate brutality, he would have to find an opportunity to repay this favor, otherwise, the cycle of karma would create all sorts of obstacles on his path of cultivation. He couldn’t understand why that woman was so determined to hinder his path, just because he had harmed those mortal Confucians? Was it really that ridiculous? He firmly believed there was an unknown truth behind this. Perhaps the men and women who became his meals just happened to have a deep connection with the Water God Temple, which was why she flew into a rage, repeatedly engaging in losing battles, vowing to never rest until one of them was dead.

Over the years of fighting to the death, he knew the buried river Water Goddess’s own cultivation wasn’t high, but she had refined too many magical artifacts, and their quality was too good, allowing her to suppress him with a constant stream of weapons. Later, she even inexplicably obtained two great opportunities. First, her damaged golden statue was not only repaired, but its quality was directly raised a great deal. Then, Azure Billow Manor experienced a surge of water energy overnight, becoming a divine immortal abode filled with spiritual energy!

What Wang Qi sought was precisely that “direct path to the Great Dao” refining incantation.

His master had personally told them, a gentleman and a water demon, that it was the fundamental Dao of an ancient immortal, and it was filled with vast righteousness, also suitable for Confucian scholars to cultivate.

In this way, it meant that once Wang Qi, whose lifespan was nearing its end, obtained the immortal incantation and successfully cultivated it, he could not only live longer, but might even have a chance to contend for the title of Vice Mountain Master of the academy.

Over the years, Wang Qi had used both hard and soft tactics on Azure Billow Manor. He had this river demon wreak havoc on the buried river, even flooding Azure Billow Manor and damaging that Water God Temple’s golden statue. Wang Qi hoped the Water Goddess would know what was good for her and seek help from the Great Spring Dynasty. Wang Qi even made a special trip away from the capital to “travel” to the buried river Water God Temple, deliberately revealing some of his gentlemanly powers, but the Water Goddess turned a blind eye! She didn’t even complain to him, this gentleman, about her difficulties.

Afterwards, Wang Qi bestowed great favor, doing his best to persuade the Great Spring Dynasty’s Emperor Liu to upgrade Azure Billow Manor into a palace, hoping the Water Goddess would remember his kindness and actively hand over that immortal incantation on the rain-summoning stele, the true meaning of which only she had understood.

The buried river Water Goddess remained unmoved, even declaring that she wanted the Sage’s books of that Wen Sheng to be enshrined in her temple, sharing her incense offerings, otherwise she would rather stick with that broken plaque of Azure Billow Manor.

This Water Goddess was truly unyielding and dense in the head!

The dilapidated temple on the mountain was uneasy.

And Mount Taiping was no more peaceful.

On the banks of the most famous river in the Central Earth Divine Continent, things were also a little unsettled today.

Two men and women, travelers from afar, had arrived. The woman was dressed in brocade palace attire. Although her face was hidden by a veiled hat, one could tell from her figure and demeanor that she was certainly a femme fatale.

The man was tall and slender, with a gaunt face. He wore a snow-white sable fur coat and a vermilion wine gourd hung from his waist.

If Chen Ping An and the green-clad little boy and pink-skirted girl were here, they would have recognized them as the master and servant who had encountered them on the cliffside plank road on a snowy night on the border between the Yellow Court Kingdom and the Great Li Dynasty.

The palace-attired woman was named Qing Ying.

After separating from Chen Ping An and the others that time, in the canyon, the woman revealed her true form as a white fox, its size as large as a mountain peak. The man, who was as small as a grain of rice in front of her, only lightly spoke her name, and the woman, who had already grown eight fox tails, lost one of them.

She called the man “Old Master Bai.”

At this moment, the man looked up, and among the colorful clouds was White Emperor City. The demonic hero, the Lord of White Emperor City, who was regarded as the universally acknowledged number one chess player in the world, had erected a flagpole with the words “Offering to Yield the First Move to the World.” To this day, no one had been able to make that city lord lower his flag. How domineering!

The man smiled slightly, “It’s a pity that the Glazed Pavilion is gone.”
The woman in palace attire said softly, “Master, I heard that fellow who loves to wear pink Daoist robes greatly admires you.”

The man remained indifferent. Before retracting his gaze, he smiled and said, “The City Lord need not leave the city. I am merely passing by.”

The woman in palace attire was thrilled and felt a sense of honor!

In the past thousand years, only one person had ever caused the White Emperor City Lord to personally leave the city!

It was only the disciple of the Sage of Literature.

Yet, their Master Bai had so simply refused!

The man slowly walked along the bank of the Yellow River, which seemed to flow from the heavens, and sighed softly, saying to her, “Leave for a moment.”

The woman in palace attire tensed up, not daring to question, and immediately darted away.

The man stood in place.

An elderly scholar in Confucian robes, with a solemn expression, appeared beside the man, bowed respectfully, and said, “Lü Xi of the Liji Academy pays respects to Master Bai.”

The man remained expressionless.

Lü Xi.

The Grand Master of the Liji Academy, one of the three great Confucian academies in the vast world!

A Confucian sage destined to be enshrined alongside the Supreme Sage and whose statue would be erected in the Temple of Literature.

Yet, such a Confucian sage, nearly achieving the “Three Imperishables,” was still so respectful and courteous to the man who had traveled from afar, recently arriving in the Divine Continent of the Central Earth from the Bottle Continent.

Lü Xi was at a loss for words, unsure how to begin.

The matter they wished to discuss was too difficult and too important.

The slender man, whom people seemed to call “Master Bai” after recognizing his identity, murmured to himself, “Back then, I told that little instructor all the true names of the world’s great demons, helping him forge the Nine Cauldrons atop the nine great mountains of the world, hoping that both sides could coexist peacefully.”

“After that, all the demons of the world lay dormant, retreating into the mountains, living in seclusion, allowing your human race to ascend the mountains and cultivate, giving rise to the immortals on the mountains. Only then did the magnificent scenery of this world come to be.”

“Back then, that little instructor, who had just obtained the merit of humanity, vowed to me, ‘Since you treat all living beings with propriety, our Confucian school will surely treat you with propriety on behalf of the world.'”

At this point, the man turned his head to look at the Grand Master of the academy, a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his lips. “The title ‘Teacher’ is now almost exclusively claimed by your Confucian school, ha ha.”

Lü Xi wanted to speak but stopped, his expression heavy.

The man continued to gaze at the surging river that flowed to the sea and never returned, saying, “Later, there was the Search Mountain Diagram, and later still, there were nine majestic town towers in the vast world, one of which was the Town of Bai Ze. Now you come to me, asking me to go to the continents of Pōshā, Tóngyè, and Fúyáo to help you ‘search the mountains’ for great demons? On what basis, those two calls of ‘Teacher’ from the Sage of Propriety back then? Or that tall building you helped me build? A place for me to stand in this vast world?”

The man turned his head again, slightly emphasizing his tone, “Hmm?”

Lü Xi could not utter a single word.

Fortunately, Master Bai revealed a smile and sighed, “However, I believe in him and understand his difficulties. So, for so many years, I have still followed the rules you set. As for you, you are too unreasonable. Scholars should not be so domineering. You should use the principles of the sages to educate the common people, like a gentle breeze and nourishing rain, silently nurturing all things.”

Lü Xi, as if being pressed down by the Five Great Mountains of the Central Earth, felt slightly relieved.

The man mocked himself, “The demon race has me, Bai Ze; it is a great misfortune.”

Lü Xi’s scalp began to tingle again.

The man was unwilling to haggle with this junior and slowly said, “This time, I broke the rules, leaving that building without permission, traveling the world, just to see with my own eyes whether the world that little instructor described to me back then has arrived after so many years.”

“May I ask you, Teacher, what is the result? Is it better or worse?”

Lü Xi’s question even had a tremor in it.

It should be known that Master Bai’s perception was related to the trend of not just one world, but two!

The man smiled and said, “I want to see more.”

He finally said, “May I?”

Although it seemed like a question, he did not even look at the Grand Master of the academy. Yet, merely the aura contained in Master Bai’s words caused Lü Xi’s Abode Domain to be unable to conceal his presence. The great Yellow River surged and rose, with waves crashing against the shore, and the colorful clouds overhead gathered and scattered, revealing the majestic appearance of the White Emperor City.

Lü Xi finally said in a deep voice, “You may!”

Wei Xian still firmly guarded the open space in front of the dilapidated temple, standing tall and unyielding.

Zhu Lian was even more fierce and terrifying. The more severely injured he was, the greater his killing power.

Like a madman.

Invincible.

However, Sui Youbian, with her sweeping swordplay, after independently breaking through nine hundred armor sets, two hundred more than Lu Baixiang, was about to catch her breath when she was jointly ambushed by Xu Qingzhou and Xu Tong of the Caomu Hermitage. Even so, Sui Youbian still risked her last remaining aura to kill more than one hundred and twenty armored frontier soldiers under their very noses. Only then was she beheaded by Xu Qingzhou with a single slash, and her body and soul were shattered by the reclusive cultivator Xu Tong with his trump card technique. Apart from the infatuated sword that fell miserably to the ground, the world should no longer have the sword-wielding beauty Sui Youbian.

But just as Xu Qingzhou bent down, about to pick up the spoils of war.

A stunningly beautiful woman with a cold expression walked out of the dilapidated temple, none other than Sui Youbian!

When she brushed past Chen Ping An, she said coldly, “I have already broken through one thousand one hundred armors.”

Chen Ping An helplessly said, “One Golden Essence Copper Coin is enough for me to buy another Pearl Mountain in my hometown.”

Sui Youbian snorted coldly, her mood greatly soured, and she darted away, gracefully like a startled swan. She reached out and grabbed at a distance, and the infatuated sword had already returned through the air, firmly grasped in her hand. A majestic sword aura shot straight ahead, scaring Xu Qingzhou and Xu Tong to separate by dozens of feet.

It turned out that the secret Wei Xian spoke of before the great battle was that if Chen Ping An died, all four would die. If Chen Ping An did not die, after the four died, a Golden Essence Copper Coin could once again walk out of the painting, and their realm would not decline in the slightest.

The two great enemies still watching from the mountaintop had yet to show themselves.

Chen Ping An, with nothing to do, shook the withered branch in his hand, feeling both heartache for the Golden Essence Copper Coin and somewhat amused. He said softly, “Senior is indeed infinitely proficient in Daoist arts.”