He remarked, “Watching that made my eyes ache and my neck stiff.”

Just as Han Jiangshu was about to dispel the illusion of her Daoist robe, her heartstrings tightened. In that instant, she was about to activate a natal treasure, a piece of earth from the Five Elements, an old mountain range from the fallen kingdom of Tongyezhou that her father had relocated to the Three Mountains Blessed Land in his early years. Hence, Han Jiangshu’s earth-burrowing technique was exceedingly profound. Yet, just as she vanished into the earth, she was “smashed” back onto the surface. The array master, proficient in talismans, grabbed her head, forcefully pressing it downwards. Her back shattered the ground into a web-like pattern, the force precisely measured, both suppressing her key spiritual nodes and preventing her from sinking into a large pit.

Yang Pu sat blankly on the steps, never even seeing the Chen senior make a move. He only saw that figure in azure robes plant a heavy foot, right onto the woman’s face.

One foot stomped on Han Jiangshu’s face, “You dare look at Peaceful Mountain in front of me?!”

Again and again, he stomped, crushing the Jade Purity realm cultivator’s head until it caved in. The senior, addressed as “Mountain Master” by Elder Jiang, stomped and raged, “Look! Keep looking! Open your eyes wide and take a good look!”

Jiang Shangzhen saw nothing amiss, his expression calm as if admiring a beautiful landscape. It was only a pity he had no wine at hand, the only imperfection.

Brother Chen is truly a Peak realm…a bottlenecked martial artist, fully capable of being regarded as a tenth realm martial artist in Tongyezhou.

Jiang Shangzhen glanced at the dumbfounded Confucian scholar and smiled, still too young. He ought to know the notorious “Chen Pingan’s Pity-the-Fair-Sex Case” in Treasure Bottle Continent, right? It’s the young Mountain Master right before your eyes, Yang Pu. Fitting of the name, isn’t it?

Jiang Shangzhen coughed lightly, hiding his fist behind his mouth, his eyes crinkling in a smile.

In those unbearable years, in those years filled with daily life and death, there were occasional things that made Jiang Shangzhen happy.

Like meeting a cotton-clad, round-faced girl, with whom he got along quite well. Or the widespread belief within the demon race, the saying of a Southern Ribbon Official and a Northern Hidden Official. So much so that, on Tongyezhou, both above and below the mountain, those who survived, however they managed to survive, had heard of this weighty saying. Coupled with the list of the Ten Youngsters of the multiple continents, with the eleventh name being the “Hidden Official”. Hence, the peak cultivators of Tongyezhou lament the fate of that Sword Qi Great Wall’s genius swordsman. He was not yet forty, holding a high position at such a young age. A pity he went with the “Ascension City” to the Fifth Continent. Had he stayed in the Grand Bright World, joining forces with either Qi Tingji or Lu Zhi, or even establishing his own sect, then the Grand Bright World would have undoubtedly gained a rapidly rising young Sword Immortal Sect Master. Most importantly, he was young, very young!

As for the Tongyezhou cultivators halfway up the mountain, they knew little about the Sword Qi Great Wall and habitually considered the “Northern Hidden Official” to be a demon cultivator from the Wild Desolate World.

If a young, genius swordsman still faced too many unexpected dangers, possibly perishing halfway up the mountain, then a Hidden Official from the Sword Qi Great Wall, one of the Ten Youngsters blessed with luck, would never die so easily. Many had noticed that none of the Ten Youngsters, nor their substitutes, had definitively died on the battlefield, only gone missing. For example, Fei Ran, the head of the Hundred Swords Immortals of Mount Tuoyue in the Wild Desolate World, Zhuqie, who shone brightly on the Southern P娑 battlefield, Ma Kuxuan, fighting desperately in Treasure Bottle Continent, Xu Bai, with the reputation of “Young Jiang Taigong,” and Chun Qing from Green God Mountain, all were still alive and had boundless potential.

As for Cao Ci, the cultivators and martial artists of the Grand Bright World subconsciously no longer regarded him as one of the Ten Youngsters.

Before the ban on the Mountain and Water Gazette, a piece of trivial news, unrelated to the grand scheme of things, managed to stand out among the many gazette secrets and became a popular topic of conversation, all because of Cao Ci’s punches. A female martial artist named Zheng Qian, seemingly connected to Thunder God Temple of Aiyaizhou, though not a direct disciple of Pei Axiang, traveled to the Central Divine Continent and challenged Cao Ci to four fistfights atop the capital city walls of the Great End Dynasty, losing each time. There were few witnesses besides the Great End Dynasty’s national teacher, the female martial goddess Pei Bei, and the father-son pair of wealth gods, Liu Jubao and Liu Youzhou, from Aiyaizhou.

But happy things were too few, too many partings. Jiang Shangzhen was no longer a sentimental person, but there were still many things he found hard to let go.