At the precipice of half a Sword Qi Great Wall, a gray robe fluttered in the wind.

Liu Bai had come to bid farewell to Senior Dragon Lord. She had just entered the Nascent Soul realm and received two pure sword intent gifts.

Most of the ninety-odd Sword Immortal candidates from Mount Tuoyue who practiced their swordsmanship here had already broken through or received a sword intent before Liu Bai, allowing them to leave the city and travel to the vast world, heading to the battlefields of the Three Continents.

Those wisps of sword intent, pure and unbiased, that wandered between heaven and earth for hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, only recognized sword cultivators with clear sword hearts that resonated with them. These chosen ones would receive an opportunity, a pure inheritance without any claims of patronage or discipleship.

However, there was one type of existence that could never gain the favor of sword intent, no matter how high their talent or aptitude.

For example, She Yue, listed as one of the ten most promising young individuals in the Barbarian World, and the girl nicknamed “Doukou”.

Liu Bai softly said, “Senior Dragon Lord, I am about to leave this place to follow my teacher and senior brother to Tongye Continent. I wonder if you have any words you would like me to pass on to my teacher?”

The city walls were buffeted by fierce winds, but the figure in the gray robe remained silent.

Liu Bai didn’t dare to urge this eccentric senior. She wasn’t in a hurry to leave the city, so she looked towards the opposite cliff, but couldn’t see the figure in the bright red robe.

Commander Jiazi had placed a powerful landscape restriction on the opposite half of the Sword Qi Great Wall, completely isolating heaven and earth. Liu Bai could clearly see the scenery on the other side, but from the perspective of the other side, all they would see was a vast expanse of white mist.

The Dragon Lord Senior beside her was indeed too unpredictable. As one of the three old Sword Immortals who questioned Mount Tuoyue ten thousand years ago, he was once a close friend of Chen Qingdu, having drawn their swords together in the human world and questioned the heavens. After becoming a prisoner, he ultimately became a puppet of Mount Tuoyue along with Guan Zhao. However, unlike Guan Zhao, whose soul was scattered and mind unclear, the Dragon Lord had willingly abandoned his physical body and even allowed Wang Zuo Baiying to step on a head. On the battlefield, he had killed Gao Kui, the last Sword Immortal of his lineage.

Gao Kui questioned with his sword, and the Dragon Lord accepted with his sword, that was all.

In the end, the old man personally severed the last incense offering of the sword lineage.

Liu Bai truly didn’t understand the Dragon Lord’s thoughts and actions.

In fact, Liu Bai couldn’t even fathom Li Zhen. Li Zhen was still on the city walls, seemingly determined to fight to the death with that young Hidden Official.

As the Sword Immortal candidates of Mount Tuoyue gained their respective rewards, and the great flow of sword fate circulated, the opposite half of the Sword Qi Great Wall would naturally become thinner and weaker. This would make that person’s situation increasingly precarious, because the stability of that half of the Sword Qi Great Wall was closely related to the fate of the sword path. She believed that the young Hidden Official, who had merged with half of the Great Wall, would have the clearest and most sensitive perception of this.

The mortals at the foot of the mountain were ignorant and didn’t understand the destiny or lifespan, so they didn’t know when old age was approaching, or when their great limit would arrive.

But that young Hidden Official was like staring wide-eyed at an ancestral hall’s longevity lamp every day, only to watch the light of that lamp gradually dim.

The Dragon Lord spoke, “Have your teacher invite Liu Cha back here to unleash his sword with all his might. At the latest, within a year, you must force that kid to enter the Jade Purity realm. Any later, and things will change.”

Liu Bai was stunned, wondering why the Dragon Lord insisted on that person entering the Jade Purity realm. Could it be? No! She must not let that person’s words affect her state of mind. Senior Dragon Lord could never be on the same side as him.

Therefore, Liu Bai asked with her doubts, determined not to let herself become suspicious, and directly asked, “Senior Dragon Lord, why is that? Please explain!”

The Dragon Lord smiled and explained, “For Chen Pingan, shattering the Golden Core and forming the Golden Core are both natural occurrences. Becoming a Nascent Soul sword cultivator is not easy, but it’s not too difficult either. It just requires some time and effort. He’s not in a hurry to raise his cultivation realm at all. He puts more effort into increasing his fist intent. That’s probably what the little mad dog sees as an urgent matter. After all, cultivation depends on oneself. He has always been like climbing a mountain, but the matter of practicing his fists is unwavering. How can he not be anxious? In the vast world, mountain-top martial artists are indeed somewhat remarkable, but is that enough here?”

Liu Bai felt dizzy and stammered, “Didn’t he say he was about to reach the Jade Purity realm back then?”

“You believe everything he says?”

The Dragon Lord scoffed, “The truth is naturally that he was just bluffing you and Li Zhen. I originally wanted to say he was about to reach the Nascent Soul realm, but seeing that you believed it, I was too lazy to speak.”

Liu Bai sighed softly.

The Dragon Lord looked towards the opposite side, “Is that kid’s nature so difficult to see through? Everything that is considered visible to him, regardless of distance, regardless of difficulty, as long as his mind goes there and there is a way to do it, then he will not be anxious at all, just quietly doing things, and eventually, step by step, it becomes readily available. But don’t forget, this person’s greatest weakness is creating something out of nothing, relying on himself to find that ‘one’. He has the least confidence in that.”

Speaking of this, the Dragon Lord asked with a smile, “Don’t you believe this statement?”

Liu Bai didn’t know how to answer.

The Dragon Lord’s statement made her doubt it.

The Dragon Lord said helplessly, “It seems that you have really been frightened silly by his two natal flying swords. Let me ask you, such a young ninth-realm martial artist, who is also a smart person who became a Hidden Official as an outsider and can be trusted by the masses, travels, trains, and fights constantly. But has Chen Pingan ever comprehended a true fist technique that belongs to him? Does he have one? No.”

Liu Bai suddenly understood and nodded lightly.

The Dragon Lord said, “All actions are within the rules. You have all forgotten his other identity: a scholar. Self-reflection, self-discipline, and solitude are not only cultivating the mind, but also heavy restraints.”

Therefore, the more it is like this, the more this young man cannot be allowed to truly comprehend a fist one day, which means that the young Hidden Official, who values mind cultivation the most, has the opportunity to draw a framework for the world with his own strength. In particular, this person cannot be allowed to truly comprehend a sword, because when things are unfair, they cry out. This young man has accumulated enough grievances in his heart, anger, killing intent, hostility, grief…

If he gathers them together and delivers a sword, it may truly change the world.
Having spoken to this point, the Dragon Sovereign, with countless fine sword energies, condensed a blurred figure, resembling Chen Ping’an when he first appeared on the Great Wall of Sword Qi.

The Dragon Sovereign reached out and parted the landscape barrier, continuing, “He needs to cultivate his heart, progress step by step, so we must force him to take shortcuts, force him to be unreasonable. Even if he becomes a Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator, it will still be exceedingly difficult for this fellow to reach the Jade Purity Realm. In haste, he will most likely use a secret technique that sacrifices the height of his Great Dao as a price, forcing him to drink poison to quench his thirst. Once he reaches the Jade Purity Realm, he will be utterly bound to the remaining half of the Great Wall of Sword Qi, truly becoming a second Chen Qingdu.”

Liu Bai glanced at the opposite cliff, where that person was nowhere to be seen, and tentatively asked, “Even harder to leave the Great Wall of Sword Qi?”

“So you worry about him reaching the Jade Purity Realm, but he himself fears it even more.”

The Dragon Sovereign nodded, saying, “If he cannot reach the Jade Purity Realm, and can only defend the city with a genuine Nascent Soul, a fake Jade Purity’s mediocre realm, all the better. Liu Cha’s sword will cleave the opposite city head in two again, and he will be injured at the very root of his Great Dao, half-dead. Even if Liu Cha delivers a few more swords, the person will still not die, but his path of cultivation will be completely ruined. The sword path will reach a dead end before the martial path, and his harmonization with the Great Wall of Sword Qi will become a mere pretense. Even if he reaches the tenth realm of martial arts, what can he do? He will be at the mercy of others, waiting for death. Sooner or later, whether it is I, or you revisiting this old place, or Shou Chen, Fei Ran, whoever strikes with their sword, it will be the same. Every sword will injure the root of his Great Dao.”

“When others ascend the city, they ascend to a grave, and within that grave is a living person, but in reality, no different from a dead one.”

Liu Bai seemed to have exhausted his resources, but suddenly saw the light, encountering picturesque scenery.

The only eyesore was the scarlet robe of the Dragon Sovereign, deliberately opening the barrier. It seemed to have arrived as expected. He held a narrow blade, lightly tapping his shoulder as he walked slowly, finally standing on the opposite cliff.

Shoulder carrying a narrow blade, standing in opposition.

Although Liu Bai had previously reached the Nascent Soul Realm, he did not feel much joy. Instead, he was filled with worry, which was worse than falling in realm.

As a former top-ranked figure among the hundred sword immortals of Mount Tuoyue, because of the encirclement and killing, the accident of reaching the upper five realms of sword immortals suddenly became more significant than anything else. Without truly reaching the Jade Purity Realm, Liu Bai would find it difficult to rest easy. Especially when he thought about how he would need to face that inner demon in the future to break through the Nascent Soul bottleneck, it was as if he had taken a big step closer to that person by reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. The dreadfulness of inner demons lies in the elusive principle of ‘the Dao rises one foot, the demon rises ten.’ Aptitude, Dao techniques, realm, and even temperament, all seem like drifting clouds, how can they be lower than that unshakeable inner demon?

And the reason why many enlightened people who have reached the upper five realms can subdue their inner demons is largely because they did not know what the specific inner demon was in the first place. Embracing it as it comes, they can break through the bottleneck more easily.

Once they know what the inner demon is early on, all the prepared methods to overcome it are, in fact, methods to nourish and strengthen it for the inner demon.

But if the young Hidden Official had already perished when Liu Bai faced his inner demon, then Liu Bai would rather his inner demon was Chen Ping’an when he reached the upper five realms.

Because at that time, deep down, Liu Bai could maintain a glimmer of light, knowing that the inner demon was something that had already died.

Today, after hearing the words of the Dragon Sovereign, Liu Bai’s Dao heart was greatly stabilized. Looking at the person on the opposite side, he smiled and said, “Say goodbye to the Hidden Official, I hope there will be a time to meet again.”

Having this Dao heart at the moment, Liu Bai only felt that his sword heart was becoming clearer and clearer. He was becoming eager to try that sword challenge, which was originally a battle with a disparity in strength.

That person had a smile on his face, and for the first time, he remained silent, not disturbing her Dao heart with words.

Liu Bai could see that the other party had not been well these past few years. After finally reaching the Mountain Peak Realm, which stabilized his appearance, he became more and more haggard day by day.

It is not strange for a cultivator who has lived in the mountains for a long time to be unaware of the cold and heat, sleeping soundly for several years, or even decades, like a dead dragon lying in a deep pool, like a deity sitting withered in a temple.

For example, the Fire Dragon True Man of Pa Di Peak in the Northern Ju Luzhou is known throughout the world for his skill in deep sleep, wearing snow as clothes.

And Meng Youke, one of the newly selected ten young people from Liuxia Continent, should also be a kindred spirit of the Fire Dragon True Man.

Or perhaps they have forgotten their physical form, diligently cultivating the Dao for several years, during which they only take brief naps to nourish their souls, which is also not strange. These types of naps are very particular, conforming to the saying “the great death of the human body.” It is a sleeping method highly advocated by mountain cultivators, truly without a single thought arising. According to Buddhist teachings, it allows people to stay away from all inverted dreams. Therefore, compared to the most ordinary night sleep of secular Confucians, it can truly benefit the three souls and seven spirits, giving the divine soul a great rest. Hence, it gives Qi Refiners an extraordinarily sweet feeling.

Eyes closed, meaning to sit and sleep, cultivators sitting quietly to nourish their spirits, sleeping without dreams, is a sign of Qi Refiners reaching the middle five realms.

But it is rare for a Qi Refiner to be awake for seven whole years, and to be in a state of excessive thinking every moment, naturally damaging their mind and spirit greatly.

Therefore, they have only realm, while their mind and spirit are becoming increasingly haggard.

Chen Ping’an asked with a smile, “Dragon Sovereign, I just don’t understand. Did I kick you in the alley, or did I stop you from snatching bones from Li Zhen? Why do you two have to chase after me and bite me?”

The Dragon Sovereign smiled, “Although there is only half of the Great Wall of Sword Qi left, Chen Qingdu’s old bones are indeed a bit difficult to gnaw on. It is indeed worthy of pride that you have endured these many years.”

Chen Ping’an shifted his gaze and said to Liu Bai, “Aren’t you leaving yet? Even if I cherish the fairer sex, there is a limit.”

Liu Bai’s eyes were firm, “Today, our farewell is very likely to be a separation of life and death. You can just say more, after all, when I challenge my inner demon with my sword in the future, it won’t be the real Chen Ping’an.”

Chen Ping’an waved his hand, “I advise you to know when to stop, and take advantage of the fact that I’m in a good mood today, get the hell out of here.”

Liu Bai did not move, her figure remained motionless.
The Dragon Lord scoffed, “So you’ve merely grasped a superficial understanding of the White Bone Contemplation, using it to cleanse the hostility within your mind, and now you feel a bit better? Zen is intangible, a stagnant pool cannot harbor a dragon. True meditation isn’t confined to specific times or places. You’re still leagues away. To be frank, the White Bone Contemplation is nothing more than a heretical path for you. You could gradually awaken for ten thousand years and still fail to have an epiphany. Even if you perceive yourself transforming into utterly pure bone, your thoughts collapsing, from destruction to completion, bones sprouting flesh, eventually radiating a dazzling light, and your mind reaching outwards, an infinite expanse of mingled bones, it’s all ultimately incompatible with your grand Dao, nothing but illusion! Are you suggesting that all those who died unjustly in Qingzhu Lake were truly just skeletons?”

Saying this, the Dragon Lord glanced at Chen Ping’an, shaking his head with disapproval. “If you want to deceive yourself, scattering your myriad thoughts upon a pile of bones, hoping for a moment’s respite, then you should hide yourself away and not come here seeking trouble.”

In truth, Chen Ping’an certainly wouldn’t tread far down the path of White Bone Contemplation. As the Dragon Lord said, it was merely a convenient method to “nap” temporarily. Therefore, even if Chen Ping’an hadn’t come today, the Dragon Lord would have seen through him and shattered his illusion, refusing to give him any chance to nurture his soul.

Chen Ping’an frowned slightly, then laughed heartily, holding the Demon Subduing Stake, pointing remotely at the vague old man within the grey robe. “Dragon Lord, your profound Dharma is truly astounding. You guide this junior away from delusion, preventing me from straying down a mistaken path. How should I thank you? All these years of painstaking protection, helping me temper my Dao heart. If not for your hideous visage, I might have mistaken you for the Left Guardian from my hometown’s Riding Dragon Lane.”

The Dragon Lord chuckled, “It is said that a man’s words are kind when he is about to die, but you go against the grain.”

Chen Ping’an turned again, asking curiously, “You really won’t leave? You truly believe that standing still, watching me a few more times, will temper your Dao heart and sword intent?”

Liu Bai gazed at the young man, inexplicably sighing, “You are truly pitiful.”

Chen Ping’an smiled, his eyes narrowed.

The Dragon Lord suddenly used an overwhelming sword energy to instantly isolate heaven and earth, preventing Chen Ping’an’s words from reaching Liu Bai’s ears, even preventing her from looking at him any further.

Without the Dragon Lord’s sword energy suppression, the mountain and river restriction, which had been concealing half of the Sword Qi Great Wall, closed again.

Liu Bai realized her vision was blurred, unable to see anything opposite her. She was taken aback. “Dragon Lord, why is this?”

The Dragon Lord said, “You only need to know this: he was right to tell you to quit while you were ahead. And he said those words only as a setup for the last sentence. If he had said it, and you had heard it, your inner demons could have surged uncontrollably.”

Liu Bai shook her head. “I don’t believe it!”

The figure of the old man, formed from crisscrossing sword energy, gradually dissipated, once again becoming an empty grey robe. The Dragon Lord said earnestly, “Go. There’s no need to argue with a mad dog. Train your sword skills diligently in the future. If you can truly sever the inner demons manifested by this man, it will be greatly beneficial to you, turning misfortune into blessing, and your Dao achievement may be even higher than before.”

Although Liu Bai didn’t understand and was filled with curiosity about Chen Ping’an’s words, she wouldn’t defy the Dragon Lord’s teachings, nor would she treat her sword Dao as child’s play, engaging in a meaningless squabble with Chen Ping’an. She immediately controlled her sword and left the city wall.

After Liu Bai left the city wall, Li Zhen, who had been standing not far away, came to the Dragon Lord’s side.

Li Zhen said resentfully, “You treat that little girl Liu Bai much better than you treat me.”

The Dragon Lord simply turned and looked towards the ruins of the city to the north.

Ten thousand years ago, convicts sentenced to exile were relocated here, and everything was created from nothing.

Li Zhen asked, “Why are you so hostile towards Chen Ping’an?”

The Dragon Lord said indifferently, “What enmity could I have with a young man? It’s just that any swordsman who wants to become the second Chen Qingdu deserves to die.”

Li Zhen asked again, “Although I am not an Observer, I know that the Observers are merely disappointed. Why are you so…?”

The Observers’ mentality was similar to that of the old blind man in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and the Sword Immortals like Zhang Lu were probably the same. They held the same attitude towards both the old and new Vast Heaven.

The Dragon Lord withdrew his gaze, remaining silent.

Li Zhen asked, “Is our Lord Protector truly not yet a Nascent Soul cultivator, still just a broken Golden Core?”

The Dragon Lord was too lazy to speak.

Li Zhen muttered to himself, “It’s not surprising that Liu Bai sincerely pities him, though.”

The world was desolate, and he was all alone. Why didn’t the sun and moon shine upon him?

Occasionally, birds flew towards the city wall, passing through the mountain and river array before quickly darting over the city. Since there was no sun or moon, there was no distinction between day and night, nor any cycle of seasons.

A transformation of bones and flesh, a condensation of the mind, a body outside the body – this was a Yang Spirit, delighting in light, the perfect place for a Golden Core to reside.

A speck of spiritual light, venturing from darkness into obscurity, free and unrestrained – this was a Yin Spirit, delighting in nocturnal wandering, the place for a Nascent Soul to cultivate in dreams.

Chen Ping’an’s resonance with the Sword Qi Great Wall came at a great price.

The three were already fused into one, otherwise he couldn’t bear the weight of the Great Demon’s true name, and therefore could not truly resonate with the Sword Qi Great Wall. It was just that the young Protector was destined to have no more Yin Spirit excursions, and as for the Confucian Sage’s Natal Character, that was even more impossible.

Li Zhen laughed. “Liu Bai is a bit foolish, but it’s good that she’s foolish. Her future inner demons won’t be too deeply entrenched to resolve.”

The Dragon Lord’s decisive severing of heaven and earth was equivalent to saving Liu Bai’s life.

Otherwise, the Lord Protector only needed to say one sentence to cost Liu Bai half her life.

It was simple, a sentence like “Why would you like me?” would be enough to collapse most of Liu Bai’s Dao heart.

Whether Liu Bai truly liked him or not was completely unimportant, and that was precisely the most thorny problem.

After all, a lack of affection in the world was merely something one didn’t care about, but there were a hundred different kinds of affection, and a thousand reasons for it.

The Dragon Lord suddenly isolated a small, inconspicuous space with sword energy, and asked, “What did you actually see?”

Li Zhen retorted, “What are you talking about?”

The Dragon Lord said in a deep voice, “Your Natal Flying Sword is named ‘Time’.”

Li Zhen laughed. “So what? Aren’t you clearer than anyone else that I am the most idle swordsman in the world, or at least one of them? With my level of cultivation, what can I see, and what can I do?”

Li Zhen shook his head on his own, mocking himself. “I didn’t see anything, and I didn’t do anything.”

The reason why Li Zhen stubbornly refused to become an Observer was rooted in that Natal Flying Sword, which was like a great prison of heaven and earth.
In the days of the Jiashen Account, many young sword cultivators besieged Chen Ping’an alone. Afterward, Zhu Xie sensed Li Zhen’s flagging spirits and directly advised him, saying that with his current state of mind, his future achievements might not even surpass Liu Bai’s within a hundred years. Zhu Xie even asked Li Zhen, who was single-mindedly pursuing “detachment from observation to attain true self,” whether in this life he could forsake observation and detachment, focus solely on his identity as a sword cultivator, and truly deliver a single sword strike. Li Zhen’s response at the time was quite strange, questioning Zhu Xie in turn about whether he had walked the River of Time. Ultimately, Li Zhen offered the notions of “riverbed” and “fate.”

The grand sword immortal Chen Qingdu, after meeting an “old friend,” also expressed a sentiment that if he traveled upstream in the River of Time for ten thousand years, returning to the battlefield, he could challenge any “predecessor” with his sword.

Li Zhen gazed across and murmured, “I truly envy you.”

The young Hidden Official whom Li Zhen envied had the Zhan Kan sword hanging at his waist and was slowly practicing his punches on the city wall.

Just like in the old days, he walked and punched alone. Back then, on the city wall of the Great Wall of Swords, there were still two thatched huts, large and small. The old sword immortal was still there, and so was Cao Ci, who had won three matches against him.

Compared to Chen Ping’an’s constantly racing thoughts, the flow of the River of Time was far too slow. Thus, his punches were even slower. Each punch felt like a journey back and forth between the mountain peak and its base, scooping up a handful of soil each time, ultimately moving a mountain.

On the opposite half of the Great Wall of Swords, the Wild Desolate World would inscribe a large character on the city wall for every human race great cultivator they killed. Moreover, the Jiashen Account seemed to have changed its mind, no longer requiring the slaying of an Ascendant Realm cultivator. Even killing an Immortal Realm cultivator or the master of a great sect would suffice to have a character carved, recording both the demon’s alias and the name of the person they killed.

Because the demons’ inscription of characters caused such a stir, especially with the shifts in the fortune of heaven and earth, even separated by a mountain and river formation, Chen Ping’an, who controlled half of the Great Wall of Swords, could still vaguely perceive the abnormality on the other side. Chen Ping’an occasionally breaking through the formation with a punch or a blade was not some idle whim.

The martial uncle of Bitter Summer Sword Immortal was Zhou Shenzhi, one of the ten from the Central Earth Divine Continent.

An Ascendant Realm cultivator from Floating Cloud Continent. In addition, there was the Old Celestial Sovereign of Taiping Mountain on Tongye Continent, the master of Taiping Mountain, and Ji Hai, the sect master of the Fuluan Sect. Three sage scholars from the academies, including the teacher of Gentleman Zhong Kui, the master of the Dafu Academy…

All had fallen in battle.

Fortunately, Chen Chunan from Southern Posuo Continent and his senior apprentice brother, Zuo You, were safe.

Xun Yuan of the Yu Gui Sect on Tongye Continent and Jiang Shangzhen were also unharmed.

Through these, Chen Ping’an could roughly judge the speed of the demon race’s advance in the Magnificent Heaven.

Originally, it would have been meaningless, only increasing烦恼.

However, after obtaining that “Mountain and Water Travelogue” and refining all the words within it, obtaining that secret letter from the Great Li’s national preceptor, it became crucial.

Then, a feeling arose in Chen Ping’an’s heart that unless Cui Chan was insane, he could not have devised such a method to send a message.

Cui Chan’s true brilliance lay not even in betting that Chen Ping’an could piece together this secret letter, but in being certain that the old fox who could communicate with the heavens, Zhou Mi, who called himself the Old Bookworm, would learn of this secret letter after him! What was especially terrifying was that in Cui Chan’s view, whether Zhou Mi knew of this matter or not would not change the predetermined grand scheme in Cui Chan’s heart. If Zhou Mi was completely unaware, of course, that would be best. But even if Zhou Mi was truly learned in the ways of heaven and man and learned of this matter, it would not hinder the grand scheme.

However, there were still several meanings hidden within, making Chen Ping’an regret that his brain was as diseased as Cui Chan’s, inadvertently deciphering this secret letter.

Knowing was worse than not knowing.

At the old site of the Dafu Academy on Tongye Continent, a king-level demon in the guise of a green-robed scholar had a thought. He immediately ordered someone to fetch a “Mountain and Water Travelogue”. After refining all the words in the travelogue and thinking for a moment, he successively mid-refined five characters, including Cui, Chan, 瀺, Shi, and Yi, and tried all combinations. Finally, in his heart lake, Zhou Mi also obtained the secret letter of only eight characters: “When the time is right, mountains and rivers are inverted.”

Zhou Mi smiled wryly and addressed Cui Chan with a mental voice, then extended a hand, “Please, National Preceptor Cui, let’s chat for a moment.”

The other party’s scheme was a yang conspiracy, betting on whether Treasure Bottle Continent could ultimately decide the direction of the world’s affairs.

If Treasure Bottle Continent could be defended, the so-called inversion of mountains and rivers would have meaning. After all, the remaining half of the Great Wall of Swords in the Wild Desolate World still belonged to the territory of the Magnificent Heaven. If it could not be defended, Cui Chan would at most trade his life for another, saving at most a young man, and even then, it would depend on whether the other party was willing to leave the Great Wall of Swords and switch places with Cui Chan. The most interesting point was that Zhou Mi dared to assert that if Chen Ping’an truly sought help from Cui Chan, who had lost Treasure Bottle Continent, he would likely be greatly disappointed and ignored by Cui Chan. That would truly be an interesting trial of conscience.

Cui Chan’s figure slowly condensed before Zhou Mi.

Zhou Mi asked, “Is the so-called ‘when the time is right’ when Treasure Bottle Continent successfully halts the Wild Desolate World’s army from advancing north, ultimately leading to a stalemate between the two worlds?”

The old scholar, whose Dharma Aspect had descended upon the Dafu Academy on Tongye Continent, nodded with a smile.

It was none other than Cui Chan, the national preceptor of Great Li.

If Zhou Mi were not at the academy’s ruins, Cui Chan would naturally not have appeared.

Zhou Mi asked again, “Is National Preceptor Cui so certain that Chen Ping’an has already obtained the secret letter first, and so certain that Treasure Bottle Continent will be defended, and still certain that Chen Ping’an can survive until that day? Especially needing to be certain that Chen Ping’an can endure the threat to his life, not switching places with you early, and not causing your previous efforts to be in vain?”

Cui Chan said, “The closed-door disciple of the lineage of the Sage of Literature still has this bit of brains and courage.”

Zhou Mi asked with a smile, “National Preceptor Cui, I only have one last question. How can you be sure that half of the Great Wall of Swords will survive until the opportune moment you speak of? Are you not worried that I will free up my hands and personally target him?”

Cui Chan said calmly, “Between you and me, we are contesting for the grand scheme of more than just two worlds. If you don’t even have this bit of ambition, you are not qualified to talk about reforming the Confucian orthodoxy, gathering the literary heritage, establishing a religion, and being called an ancestor.”

Zhou Mi was silent for a moment, then shook his head and sighed, “Cui Chan, so you want to use Chen Ping’an’s life, plus half of the Great Wall of Swords, as bait, to exchange for the Rite Sage… No, is it for the Lesser Sage to exchange lives with me?”

Cui Chan smiled and said, “It could also be the Supreme Sage himself making a move.”

Zhou Mi smiled and said, “I couldn’t ask for more.”
Cui Chan said, “Quickly have that Great Ancestor of Mount Tuoyue shatter the firmament’s hole. I’m eager to see what those ancient deities, hindered by the Sage of Rites, can stir up in my Treasure Bottle Continent.”

Zhou Mi nodded, “As you wish.”

Then, almost simultaneously, the two looked towards the direction of Floating Cloud Continent. Zhou Mi chuckled, “Why provoke him?”

The old blind man in the Ten Thousand Mountains of the Wildlands had long declared he would remain a bystander.

The stinky Taoist from the Eastern Sea Guan Dao Temple had mostly chosen to stay out of it. Before the temple ascended, he even offered a small kindness.

The old monk’s whereabouts were uncertain, most likely already in the Treasure Bottle Continent, yet this was still within Mount Tuoyue’s calculations.

Only that esteemed scholar from Central Earth Divine Continent, hailed as the most accomplished of men, was originally predicted to stay in the Fifth World after his departure and return the sword to the Xuandu Temple of Azure Firmament World.

He shouldn’t have returned to the Vast Expanse with the sword.

Never would have thought, this person still drew his blade.

The Fourteenth Realm cultivator, the scholar Bai Ye, wielding a celestial sword, appeared in the southwest Floating Cloud Continent, now considered part of the Wildlands’ territory. He delivered a total of three strikes: one sword forced the foe to retreat from Floating Cloud Continent, one crossed the sea, and one landed near the old site of Upside-down Mountain, slaying a great demon on its throne.