(A long-awaited small interlude…)

It was the third month in the desolate wilderness, and the jade crescent had already descended upon the mortal realm.

The former master of the Moon Palace, the Toad Palace, was already far away in the Great World. This round moon had become a land without an owner.

And in the middle of the once suspended “radiant” moon, there was a desolate and lifeless ancient immortal palace ruin. It seemed to have experienced a great battle of heaven-piercing magic. The vast mansion, with its hundreds of buildings that once stretched endlessly, seemed to have been leveled to the ground in one fell swoop, leaving only the foundations.

Even the efforts of several sword cultivators, including Qi Tingji, to tow the moon, did not cause any change to the ruins. It was not until Bai Ze appeared at the Yiluo River that a tremendous upheaval occurred.

A gigantic spider, occupying nearly a third of the moon’s territory, burst out of the earth. It instantly transformed into a hunched old man. With a single breath, it seemed to inhale all the moonlight into its belly, and then吐 (tǔ, spit) out a long sword.

It was this ancient demon sword cultivator who had suddenly struck with a sword, sending Ning Yao, who was responsible for opening the way, plummeting into the mortal realm.

After that, Ning Yao returned to the battlefield with her sword,劈 (pī, cleaving) him back into his old nest deep within the moon with a single strike.

He glanced up at the fierce little woman, operating a life-bound supernatural ability to probe her虚实 (xūshí, strengths and weaknesses). He was a little incredulous. A human sword cultivator who was not even a hundred years old?

This ancient great demon couldn’t help but骂骂咧咧 (màmālielie, mutter curses) in his ancient language, berating Bai Ze for his unethical actions.

He was apprehensive. Could it be that the aptitude and sword realm of sword cultivators ten thousand years later were all this terrifying?

Then what could he do upon awakening? He would be utterly useless, right?

He quickly scattered his mind and looked at the other sword cultivators. Fortunately, although their realms were high, they were all quite old compared to that murderous little girl.

Wouldn’t he be swarmed and beaten? Without another word, he cast a life-bound earth escape technique, directly passing through the entire moon from his lair. Then he looked into the distance and was greatly astonished. “Eh, why is there one less moon in the desolate wilderness?”

Then he would choose that Toad Palace.

A white light instantly connected Radiance and the Toad Palace.

As a result, that woman was relentlessly pressing the attack. Several times, the sword light scattered and re-converged, directly circling half the moon with her sword. The speed of the sword light was incomprehensible.

She blocked his path and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Since they were both sword cultivators, one sword strike was naturally not enough.

The short old man squinted and smiled, “Little girl, why are you so irritable? Be careful you can’t find a道侣 (dàolǚ, cultivation partner).”

The old man’s language was quite different from the current Great Elegant Speech of the desolate wilderness. Ning Yao could barely understand the general meaning.

Ning Yao was too lazy to waste words and was about to offer her sword when she suddenly shifted her gaze to a distant place behind the old man.

It was a fellow traveling from afar 御风 (yùfēng, riding the wind).

Ning Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out that Chen Ping’an did not directly return to the Sword Qi Great Wall. Instead, he first arrived at the Toad Palace Moon, which had relatively stable weather, with a Benyue Talisman in hand. Then, he followed the spider silk that seemed to build a bridge between the two moons, and at the same time, he once again used a Benyue Talisman, eventually arriving here.

Chen Ping’an’s face was pale, and his hands were in his sleeves, like a weakling who had not yet recovered from a serious illness. He was standing on the spider silk, his body swaying slightly. He smiled and said, “Just right here. No need to search.”

He looked at the ancient great demon at the peak of the Ascension Realm, who had used the depths of a moon as a hiding place and a place to recuperate.

Chen Ping’an smiled at Ning Yao and said in his heart, “Don’t worry about me. You guys just keep towing the moon.”

Ning Yao nodded and returned to the previous road without hesitation, continuing to thrust her sword without stopping, stabilizing the gate connecting the desolate wilderness and the Azure Nether World.

This act was similar to the Great Sword Immortal’s ascending of the entire city in the past.

Qi Tingji revealed his Dharma Image, covering the moon’s thousand-mile territory with his sword qi, like a rope, dragging it forward in front of the moon.

The Criminal Officer Hao Su was situated within a moon, offering his life-bound flying sword “Chanjuan,” a silver frost of ten thousand miles, merging with the moonlight. At the same time, he递剑 (dì jiàn, present/offer sword), one for attack and one for defense, together blocking the great traction between this皓彩 (hàocǎi, radiant) moon and the desolate world.

Lu Zhi was at the rear, using a life-bound flying sword “Baopu”, plus the eight swords in the wooden box gifted by Headmaster Lu. She only cared about劈砍 (pīkǎn, hacking) at the moon, pushing it forward.

The four sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall worked together to move the moon, with a clear division of labor, each fulfilling their own responsibilities.

Hao Su was relatively close to Qi Tingji. The two could barely communicate with heart sound, asking, “Should we just kill this ancient great demon while we’re at it?”

Qi Tingji shook his head and smiled, “Since Hidden Official hasn’t spoken, let’s not create unnecessary trouble.”

The great demon twisted his wrist, then circled it behind him like carrying a sword on his back,嘿嘿 (hēihēi, heh heh) laughing, “If we really fight, the odds, well, naturally you have the advantage because you have more people. Just be careful that your plans don’t backfire.”

He had no thoughts about the matter of several sword cultivators joining forces to move the moon. Bai Ze didn’t care, so why would he?

Damn it, I slept soundly for ten thousand years, and when I woke up, I was first startled by a little girl, and then I saw a scene of flirting that was more eloquent than words?

Earlier, the Third Headmaster of White Jade Capital was still nervous over at the Mountain of Towing Moon. Now, he’s using heart sound again: “Scare him! See who’s better at bluffing!”

Just at this moment.

Lu Chen suddenly said solemnly, “Be careful of Bai Ze!”

I knew I shouldn’t have come here to join the fun.

But Lu Chen quickly laughed again, “Looks like we don’t need to be careful anymore.”

Lucky I came to join the fun. This poor Daoist is quite prescient.

On the city wall, Wei Jin was refining those strands of ancient sword intent.

Cao Jun called it护道 (hù dào, protecting the Dao), but in reality, he was not focused on cultivation.

Because this great sword immortal of the Snow Wind Temple’s Immortal Platform had actually entered a state.

As a result, a senseless heavy snowfall began to fall near the two sword cultivators.

Cao Jun had nothing to do, so he squatted on the city wall and built a tall snowman. It looked extremely handsome. Then, he built a few old king’s throne demons the size of palms. He took out two pairs of bamboo chopsticks from his storage item and helped the handsome swordsman, who was sure to be an excellent swordsman within a hundred years, wear a sword at his waist. Then, the snowman held a sword in each hand, pressing them against the heads of the king’s thrones, probably asking them if they were afraid.

Cao Jun glanced at Wei Jin, who was like an old monk in meditation.

A forty-year-old Jade Purity Realm sword immortal.
Afterwards, he honed his swordplay by slaying demons on the Sword Qi Great Wall. Upon returning to his homeland at the age of sixty, he ascended to the realm of Immortals.

Rumor has it that A Liang had helped him break through the bottleneck of the nascent soul stage, and Zuo You had provided guidance on sword techniques. The Grand Sword Immortal lost a sword manual, and he eventually returned to the Sword Qi Great Wall, where he received several strands of Zong Yuan’s pure sword intent.

Envious, are you not?

You don’t even know A Liang, Zuo You once shattered your Dao heart with a few sword strikes, the Grand Sword Immortal praised you as a promising junior, and Zong Yuan’s pure sword intent didn’t bother to acknowledge you.

Frustrated, are you not?

Wei Jin suddenly opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

Cao Jun followed Wei Jin’s gaze, raised his head and looked into the distance, rubbing his eyes.

In their field of vision, a large moon gradually appeared in a huge outline, moving “slowly.”

The entire desolate land to the south would probably share the sight of this moon once again.

The five sword cultivators of the Tongye Sect, Yu Xin, Wang Shizi, Li Wanyong, Du Yan, and Qin Shuihu, had traveled together after leaving the ruins of the Sword Qi Great Wall, heading straight for the setting sun to visit Song Changjing of the Great Li Dynasty and Wei Ying of the Yu Gui Sect.

Therefore, they missed the opportunity to witness the Grand Sword Immortal’s sword strike up close.

The group merely stopped halfway, looking back at the rainbow-like sword Qi on the northern city wall.

Qin Shuihu laughed and scolded, “Who was in such a hurry to get on the road earlier? Step forward.”

Even from a distance, the sword cultivators could still feel the vast sword Qi that soared into the heavens.

Li Wanyong felt dizzy and took a long breath, vigorously rubbing his face. “Perhaps only this sword is worthy of the title ‘purest’.”

Du Yan’s eyes were dazed, and he murmured, “Can we, who have practiced the sword for a hundred, a thousand, or even more years, deliver such a sword in the end?”

Even if it’s just one sword in this lifetime, that would be enough.

Wang Shizi said, “In fact, Mr. Zuo’s swordplay is closest to that of the Grand Sword Immortal.”

At the mention of Zuo You, the several old men all looked at the only woman in unison.

Yu Xin pretended not to notice.

In fact, it was not bad that she did not see Mr. Zuo at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

Yu Xin couldn’t bear to see Zuo You in a difficult position.

She then mocked herself, would Mr. Zuo be troubled in the slightest by her unrequited love?

Mr. Zuo would only trouble both the vast world and the desolate world.

Chen Sanqiu and Diezhang followed Shao Yunyan and Madam Tuoyan, along with the eighteen sword disciples of the Dragon Elephant Sword Sect, to the ferry in the south, riding their swords.

When the Grand Sword Immortal traveled from the Sword Qi Great Wall to the desolate lands, he deliberately slowed down, looked down, and nodded to Chen Sanqiu and Diezhang.

The two young juniors… were forced to look up, and then only caught a fleeting glimpse before the Grand Sword Immortal disappeared from sight.

Ma Kuhuan clapped his hands after beating someone up, feeling refreshed.

The most interesting thing was that the old nascent soul cultivator, filled with grief and indignation, looked up at the sky and shouted, “Master He, are you just going to let this fellow injure people at will?”

The Sage of the Confucian Temple who was presiding over the sky didn’t even bother with mental communication, directly saying aloud, “I’m not here.”

Ma Kuhuan laughed upon hearing this, never expecting that this Master He, who was qualified to eat cold pork head meat, was quite humorous.

No longer paying attention to that group of pitiful pedigree immortals, Ma Kuhuan went to sit with Yu Shiwu.

Gao Ming asked, “Old Ma, I have something to discuss with you.”

Ma Kuhuan laughed, “Spit it out.”

Gao Ming asked, “Can I switch to the Fallen Mountain and become a disciple of Chen Ping An? I think following the Hidden Official there might lead to greater success.”

The maid Shudian and the young senior apprentice-brother looked at each other.

They all knew that this young man either kept his mouth shut, or he would say something outrageous as soon as he spoke. But they didn’t expect him to be so bold and daring, saying whatever came to his mind.

Gao Ming lowered his head and touched his beloved firewood knife, saying to himself, “At least it’s respectable to go out. Unlike following Old Ma as we travel around, the mountain immortals we encounter, both men and women, look at me with strange eyes. Senior Apprentice-Uncle Yu, what was that saying?”

Yu Shiwu laughed, “A crooked beam casts a crooked shadow.”

Gao Ming nodded vigorously, “That’s right!”

“You can’t choose where you’re born, and it’s almost the same with choosing a master, so just accept your fate.”

Ma Kuhuan didn’t get angry, but laughed instead, and laughed heartily, not pretending. He patted the young man’s head. “Besides, your master hasn’t treated you too badly. He said he’d take you up the mountain to cultivate and become an immortal, and that you’d eat spicy food and drink good wine with me. Both things have been accomplished.”

Gao Ming thought for a moment and nodded, “That’s true.”

The young man, before running away from the tavern in the small town, didn’t forget to wipe the blood off his firewood knife on the corpse.

In fact, those fellow villagers didn’t drive him away or blame him for recklessly hacking people and causing a great disaster.

Probably because this stubborn guy, who had grown up with them, was the fiercest in fights and liked to be at the forefront.

But when the young man saw the guilt, fear, and cowardice in their eyes, he felt it was quite boring.

If Ma Kuhuan and his party hadn’t appeared, he would have continued to hang out with his fellow villagers. After all, he had nowhere else to go.

But since Ma Kuhuan said at the time that he could follow him up the mountain to become an immortal, the firewood knife boy wanted to know what an immortal was.

Gao Ming asked curiously, “Old Ma, aren’t you and Chen Ping An from the same hometown? Why are you competing with each other? You can provoke anyone, why did you have to provoke him?”

Ma Kuhuan raised his hands, hugged the back of his head, squinted, and smiled, “Among people of the same age, it seems I’m the only one who has beaten him twice?”

The young man looked up in admiration and said, “Then you’re pretty good, Old Ma. You’ve had your glory days too.”

Ma Kuhuan pointed to Yu Shiwu. “But the person Chen Ping An is truly wary of now is your Senior Apprentice-Uncle Yu.”

Alone, with three shares of martial fortune.

A true divine blessing.

Yu Shiwu looked at those younger disciples and shook his head with a smile, “Do you really believe that?”

The maid Shudian and the disciple Wangzu were dubious.

Only the firewood knife boy nodded, “Believe it, why wouldn’t I believe it?”

Yu Shiwu smiled and dismissed it, turning his head to look south.

In his eyes, all sentient beings in the world, their lives and deaths as insignificant as ants, were beautiful as gods.

In the Merit Forest, a mountain and water secret realm within the Central Earth Confucian Temple, the sword cultivator Liu Cha, from a heroic and bearded rogue who roamed the desolate world, had become a fishing enthusiast.

Fishing is indeed addictive.

Liu Cha became increasingly particular about fishing. Not to mention the fishing rod and fish basket, but also the choice of fishing spot, hook, line, fishing at the bottom or floating, and the use of bait – all of which were learned skills. Now, Liu Cha’s “Dao arts” had improved countless times, and he knew everything.
Of course, the premise was that Liu Cha deliberately suppressed his cultivation, using the eyesight and strength of an ordinary scholar to fish here. Otherwise, there would be no joy in fishing at all.

Today’s catch was quite abundant. Liu Cha cooked himself a pot of fish soup. He had previously asked for some firewood, rice, oil, and salt from the Confucian Temple. He planned to buy some fish fry and release them into the lake. If the Confucian Temple was stingy about that, then Liu Cha would pay for it himself, covering both the cost of the fish fry and the travel expenses.

The ancient demon king, Yang Zhi, was imprisoned in a desolate volcanic region, rumored to once be an alchemy furnace of the Dao Ancestor.

A woman in simple linen clothes and with plain looks, unexpectedly opened a wine shop in a secluded place near the water and mountains. Even without a single customer, she didn’t seem to mind.

The Ritual Sage had only made one agreement with her: besides not crossing the boundary, she could not harm human life. Otherwise, she could travel freely within a thousand miles.

Today, an unprecedented group had gathered at her shop, forming a table. There was a mountain god who fancied himself cultured, a river goddess who looked like a young girl, and two mountain spirits who had successfully refined their forms.

However, these four drinkers were unaware of Yang Zhi’s true background, simply regarding the wine shop owner as a minor water spirit who had achieved some level of cultivation.

Today, Yang Zhi sat alone at a table, idly flipping through a copy of “New Book,” which had long been banned in the Great Alignment of the Celestial Way. There was a fable about slaying a two-headed serpent, which made Yang Zhi sigh with emotion.

At the neighboring table, the mountain god was boasting that he was now in charge of overseeing the “old hag” of the great demon, Yang Zhi. He claimed he patrolled a certain volcano twice a day, and that old crone was so terrified that she didn’t dare to look him in the eye.

The river goddess, with her hands supporting her cheeks, gazed wistfully at the desolate land outside, saying that a woman’s life was like a rapeseed, scattered wherever it fell, destined for bitterness.

In Northern Ju Continent, a wandering martial artist who always did good deeds anonymously spent money at an immortal ferry to buy a book of Seal Impressions of the Hundred Sword Immortals. He originally thought it was a cheap way to pass the time, but unexpectedly, he found a pleasant surprise. Turning to one page, he saw that the inscription on the bottom of one seal read, “Allow Three Moves.”

Du Yu’s eyes lit up. This Hidden Official was a remarkable person indeed.

If good-hearted predecessors were to travel to the Sword Qi Great Wall, they would certainly get along well.

At the Fire God Temple in the capital, the old coachman found Feng Yi.

She was still sitting drunkenly on the steps of the flower trellis, hiccuping.

The old coachman muttered, “What exactly is going on?”

Recently, the Great Li capital had inexplicably experienced such a huge commotion, at least Ascension Realm level, perhaps even the legendary Fourteenth Realm, if one wasn’t careful.

Although that astonishing aura was fleeting, to them, old antiques who had lived for countless years, such control was all the more impressive.

Feng Yi laughed, “Finally realized you should be afraid?”

The old coachman crossed his arms and scoffed, “Of course I’m afraid!”

Anyone would be afraid of such a thing, there was no point in arguing.

Besides, there were no outsiders here.

Feng Yi made no attempt to hide her schadenfreude, shaking her wine pot and teasing, “It’s one thing for outsiders to see only a blurry picture, but we are all old folks who have watched the youngsters of the Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven grow up step by step. How could you be so careless?”

“Then please pass a message to that kid, tell him I’m a coward, and I promise to take a detour whenever I see him in the future.”

“Why don’t you go and tell him yourself?”

“Seeing that kid just makes me angry, it’s best to avoid him.”

Mainly because that kid was dishonest, never giving anyone a chance for disagreement. Before, they had only exchanged a glance and already formed a grudge.

The old coachman became increasingly frustrated, extending a hand, “Since you’re idle anyway, give me a pot of Hundred Flower Brew.”

Somewhat surprised, Feng Yi actually gave him a pot, “Generous today, huh.”

Feng Yi chuckled, “It’s not thieves stealing that you fear, but thieves eyeing you.”

On the path between the Desolate Lands and a bright moon, a point of light suddenly bloomed.

It turned out that Bai Ze, Xudao, traversing the long river of time, had set off from the Ye Luo River and finally intervened to stop the four sword cultivators’ attempt to drag the moon.

Bai Ze offered a Dharmic Image, his white robes fluttering. Just a single hand of the Dharmic Image was enough to grasp the moon.

In an instant, someone from the Sword Qi Great Wall secretly moved, ascending to the sky in one step, revealing an equally tall and imposing Dharmic Image, wearing a Confucian robe.

One hand pressed down on Bai Ze’s Dharmic Image’s head, forcefully pushing it back to earth.

Bai Ze’s Dharmic Image shattered with a bang, only to reappear in an even better position in the sky, raising a fist and fiercely smashing it down on the head of the Confucian Dharmic Image.

The Confucian Dharmic Image exploded with a thunderous roar.

The next moment, it appeared behind Bai Ze’s Dharmic Image, snapping the latter’s neck.

One was a world of Great Alignment of the Celestial Way, the other a world of the Desolate Lands.

The heavens trembled.

A seemingly simple and unostentatious “battle of magic” was in fact, the residual power of both sides’ Dao arts, which had surged into the Azure Firmament World with a fierce momentum.

That ancient great demon was shaken to its core. It was time to flee, or it would be waiting for death here.

It didn’t even dare to go to the Lunar Palace, but instead concealed its form and plummeted straight down to earth.

Damn it, it was actually that small Confucian scholar with the worst temper and the best fighting skills!