Ten-thousand-word chapter.

Wei Xian, clad in the Western Peak Nectar Armor, received Chen Ping’an’s approval. While Wei Xian occupied the majority of the accompanying cultivators, he attempted to strike directly at the heart of the matter, seeking an opportunity to slay the imperial prince Liu Cong, even if it meant exchanging his own life.

After Sui Youbian had slain the Caomu Temple immortal master Xu Tong, Xu Qingzhou, despite knowing that Liu Cong would vent his anger on his entire family, left the mountain peak without hesitation. He returned to Mirage City to discuss countermeasures with his grandfather, who served as the Generalissimo of the West. As a prominent military lineage of the Great Quan Dynasty, deeply rooted in Mirage City for generations, the Xu family was wary of the eldest prince Liu Cong, but not to the point of submitting without a fight.

The one sitting on the dragon throne was still the current Emperor Liu Zhen, not Liu Cong. If they truly broke ties with Liu Cong, the Xu family could wholeheartedly support the second prince, hoping to help a true dragon ascend.

The battle where Lu Baixiang was stationed remained in a stalemate. The five thousand deathsworn soldiers of the Great Quan border army, truly worthy of being Liu Cong’s direct subordinates, knew the severity of military law. Even as they were slaughtered and watched their comrades fall one by one under the blade of their opponent, they still desperately charged forward, heedless of their lives. The martial arts grandmasters and accompanying cultivators hidden in the shadows couldn’t bear to watch; it was simply too tragic. Even the stony-hearted supervising officers were filled with tears and rain, yet they remained steadfast in their duties. Anyone who dared to retreat in fear would be executed on the spot!

The ethereal and graceful wandering immortal poems might capture the divine essence of the mountains.

But no frontier poem could truly convey the brutal and bloody reality of the battlefield.

The Buried River water demon, after falling from another mountain peak, strode forward, charging directly. If trees blocked its path, it simply brushed them aside with a single hand.

Seeing the approaching figure’s imposing presence, Chen Ping’an made a decision.

He swapped the single talisman held between the fingers of his right hand in his sleeve for three talismans stacked together.

Back in the Azure Void Mansion, Zhong Kui had borrowed his Snow Awl. In return, he wrote a total of six talismans for Chen Ping’an. Three were his own, the Three Talents Soldier Talismans capable of forming an array, also known as the “Iron Cavalry Circling City Talisman.” Before drawing the talisman, Zhong Kui released a breath of righteous qi, and under his brush appeared over a hundred mounted generals clad in silver armor and riding white horses. The strings of rice-grain-sized cavalrymen charged forth on the talisman paper, ultimately forming a battle formation, halting their horses, and transforming into the strokes and patterns of the talisman.

Afterward, Chen Ping’an personally paid for two gold-material talismans and one azure talisman made of Saint’s manuscript. Zhong Kui reluctantly followed Chen Ping’an’s instructions, writing the Five Thunder Righteous Law Talisman of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Master’s Mansion, the Obstacle-Breaking Talisman to prevent ghost ambushes both up and down the mountain, and the final Sword-Suppressing Talisman, whose rank and power far surpassed the Well-Character Talisman, praised by Zhong Kui as “With a throw of the sleeve and rise of the sword, the Nine Continents and Seas shall boil.”

The Buried River water demon, not daring to reveal its true form, charged closer, now less than a hundred paces away.

Chen Ping’an slowly stepped out from under the eaves, moving to his right, and soon the distance between them was only fifty paces.

With a flick of his wrist, the three talismans were ignited by a pure burst of true qi, swiftly exiting his sleeve. He silently chanted, “Form ranks before me!”

The burly man laughed loudly, his pace unwavering, and with a leap, he charged toward the young man holding the withered branch. “A martial artist wielding talismans? Aren’t you afraid of making this grandpa laugh his teeth out?”

But soon, this Buried River water demon couldn’t laugh at all.

After the three golden talismans had completely burned away, the muscular brute, still in mid-air, was shocked to discover that the ethereal talismans had begun to rapidly rotate around him. The brute sank his qi into his dantian, used Thousand-Pound Drop, and in the urgency of his grounding, from each of the three talismans, a white horse, silver-armored, spectral horseman with spears charged forth!

The brute yelled sharply, “Die!”

He twisted his body, spun around, and with three swift punches, shattered the three horsemen.

But an unending stream of horsemen charged out of the talismans, no more, no less, three at a time, silently.

The brute seemed trapped in the center of a battlefield, yet he remained unafraid, his punches like rainbows, repeatedly striking down the horsemen charging from the talismans.

Whenever the brute moved his position, the three Talismans of the Three Powers would follow, always maintaining their original distance.

The hulking water demon, increasingly excited by the fight, showed his ruthless side, and only felt that it was exhilarating and enjoyable, shouting in delight.

The Three Talismans of Iron Cavalry Circling the City could temporarily trap and consume the energies of the River Demon who had nearly reached the Golden Core. This was not difficult. Even forcing it to show its true form would be possible, but it was utterly impossible to kill the great water demon.

Chen Ping’an naturally knew this and didn’t expect the three talismans to trap and kill the brutish man.

Wang Qi, the scholar of the academy who remained on the mountain peak, was patiently awaiting Chen Ping’an’s weakness. Chen Ping’an, similarly, was seeking a sliver of opportunity to kill the brutish man in the formation with a talisman or a single sword strike.

The heavy rain continued, showing no signs of easing.

The Buried River water demon was, however, exceedingly annoyed by the three strange talismans. How could the horsemen conjured from the talisman spirit be so relentlessly struck down, only to reappear? How many horsemen had it already shattered, scattering them back into spiritual energy? A hundred and fifty? Two hundred?

It increasingly felt that the situation was ominous. The young man who had stopped thirty paces away, holding a withered branch, was definitely not waiting for it to break the talisman formation, just to have some gentleman’s duel!

Especially that withered branch in the corner of its eye made it feel uneasy, something was wrong, something was definitely wrong!

Nevermind.

You, Wang Qi, can be a shrinking turtle, refusing to act, and I don’t care how you explain things to the Great Fu Academy.

The Buried River water demon, already with many small wounds on its body, watched as the heavy rain began to subside. If it did not take full advantage of the favorable weather, the power of revealing its true form would be greatly reduced.

The water demon’s eyes turned completely snow white, and its knotted muscles began to contort wildly.

Wang Qi on the mountain peak clearly saw the Buried River water demon’s plan, angrily shouting, “No!”

The water demon cared nothing. The earth suddenly trembled, and it revealed its massive true form, its eyes as large as lanterns, its body a hundred zhang long, its head in the place where the “brutish man” had stood.

The Iron Cavalry Circling City Talismans, whose spiritual energy was not yet exhausted, moved away.

Still, the cavalry charged at the great river demon.

Some of the Great Quan border soldiers hiding on both sides, waiting for their chance to attack, were sent flying by the great eel demon’s body, blood streaming from their seven orifices, dozens injured or killed.

The rain poured onto the river demon, slid down the mountain, and without seeping into the mud, quickly gathered into a stream.

Chen Ping’an recognized the identity of the great demon. It was the great eel demon that fought with the Water Goddess in the depths of the Buried River.
It seemed the hidden master at the mountain peak was none other than the scholarly gentleman Wang Qi of the academy.

He pinched the Dragon-Tiger Mountain exorcism talisman, which Zhong Kui called “Five Dragons Holding Pearls,” between his fingers, infused it with true qi, and tossed it towards the River Burial water demon’s head.

Sure enough, five “slender” flood dragons, each over a hundred feet long, spiraled in the air, mouths holding white pearls crackling with lightning.

The River Burial water demon, who had just thought it was time to unleash its divine powers, never expected five dragons faintly imbued with celestial might to appear overhead. Its mind momentarily stagnated, and it let out a heaven-shaking roar as it began to struggle violently, trying to break free from the encirclement of the Iron Cavalry Besieging the City talisman and minimize the number of “lightning pearls” it would have to endure.

The iron cavalry, spears in hand, repeatedly pierced the eel demon’s body, allowing the River Burial water demon to sweep them away, their forms and spiritual qi dissipating into the world.

One flood dragon opened its massive maw, and a snow-white lightning pearl shot out, slamming into the River Burial water demon’s head.

The mountain trembled.

Two more pearls struck, one on the demon’s seven-inch spot and the other on its tail.

Not only did the demon’s body writhe in pain, but its soul and golden core trembled as well.

The only upside was that the tremendous force unleashed shattered the three damned soldier talismans.

A streak of azure light descended from another mountain peak, landing on a tree trunk on this mountain, and a voice pleaded with Chen Ping An telepathically, “Let us both cease hostilities here. I will have Liu Cong withdraw his troops immediately, how about it?”

Wang Qi gritted his teeth as he spoke these words.

That River Burial water demon was truly a failure!

After a pearl-bearing flood dragon spewed out its lightning treasure, it would automatically dissipate.

Chen Ping An had no intention of stopping.

The last two flood dragons naturally and without hesitation spat out the treasures containing the most righteous thunder law, the head of all creation.

The five dragons were gone, but the five pearls were embedded firmly in the River Burial water demon’s body, from its head to its tail. When they finally formed a line, they shone brilliantly, and lightning surged violently through the demon’s body, eventually forming a massive bolt almost as thick as the demon itself.

Chu Yi and Shi Wu, in tune with Chen Ping An’s mind, changed their original strategy, drawing two streaks of light that pierced the River Burial water demon’s lantern-sized eyes.

Sui Youbian also wielded the Infatuation Sword, which had pierced countless hearts, accurately nailing it into the River Burial water demon’s head, piercing straight through, the entire sword burying itself in the ground below, testament to its sharpness.

Both Wang Qi and Chen Ping An struck almost simultaneously, each with killing intent.

Chen Ping An held a withered branch as a sword and swept forward.

And the rain, as if the scholarly gentleman Wang Qi was controlling it, changed trajectory, countless raindrops streaking towards Chen Ping An.

After a single sword strike.

Wang Qi was gone,陈Ping Anstood where the scholarly gentleman had stood. He shook his shoulder, and the golden ripples of his robe knocked away the rain drops.

The distinguished scholarly gentleman Wang Qi had actually retreated from the battle.

The barely alive River Burial water demon could no longer control the rainwater that had formed streams beneath it, blood and rainwater seeping into the soil.

The withered branch in Chen Ping An’s hand turned to dust.

He swept to the River Burial water demon’s head, reached out, grabbed the Infatuation Sword, and directly severed the River Burial water demon’s entire head.

The heavy rain gradually stopped.

Soon, the armored soldiers began to retreat down the mountain.

Wei Xian ultimately failed to capture the First Prince, Liu Cong, only killing one sword cultivator who had sworn to protect him. He had no choice but to let Liu Cong retreat to the foot of the mountain, storing the soldier talismans in his sleeve.

Zhu Lian was the most severely injured, but he never died. As Lu Baixiang walked toward the River Burial water demon’s corpse, he finally had the chance to pull out the specially crafted arrows, but instead of throwing them away, he clutched them in his hand, the narrow saber Stopping Snow already back in its sheath.

On the Western Sea of Tongye Continent, the great demon who had revealed its true form and fled for its life was inexplicably slain with a single sword strike. Its head, as large as a mountain peak, fell neatly into the sea after being severed by a single strand of silk, while its body, as long as a mountain range, floated on the sea, rising and falling.

The three great cultivators of Tongye Continent who had pursued it all the way here each had their own thoughts.

Song Mao, the current Sect Master of Mount Taiping, held his long sword in reverse, the tip pointing backward, as a sign of sincerity and gratitude, and said loudly, “Song Mao of Mount Taiping, thanks to senior for helping us kill the great demon!”

However, the sword cultivator, whose sword qi flowed wildly like a waterfall, ignored the friendly gesture of the Sect Master of Mount Taiping.

One of the ancestral masters of the Tongye Sect, in charge of the sect’s precepts and lineage, had a fluctuating expression.

Throughout the chase, only Song Mao had put forth all his effort, disregarding his own life, wishing to perish with the great demon. However, although Song Mao was the nominal first in command of Mount Taiping, his cultivation was not very high. Because of the turmoil in the mountain gate, he did not dare to carry one of the sect’s guardian immortal swords, so his heart was willing but his strength was insufficient. As for the Tongye Sect ancestral master, the leader of the Tongye Continent immortal families, he was unwilling to risk damaging his cultivation to kill the great demon. A great demon who had dropped in realm but was still at the eleventh realm, with a huge and especially resilient true form, was not easy to deal with. Now that the situation was set, the beast would inevitably not escape their sight. He would cut the meat slowly, there was no need to rush.

So this time, being ordered to leave the mountain, this Jade Purity Realm Tongye Sect ancestral master saw it as a good assignment. Killing the great demon who had wreaked havoc on the Fuju Sect would not only bring him merit in the dark, but also make Ji Hai, the Sect Master of the Fuju Sect, who had lost his Dao partner, grateful. So, although he had concealed himself throughout the chase and did not use the sect’s treasured weapon, deep down, he was determined to get the great demon.

The Jiang Clan Head of the Yugui Sect, who controlled the Cloud Grotto blessed land, had a face like jade. In terms of appearance alone, he was younger and more handsome than his son, Jiang Beihai. At this moment, he was smiling broadly, obviously pleased that the sword cultivator on the sea had killed the great demon, foiling the Tongye Sect ancestral master’s plans. After all, he had not brought any of the sect’s immortal weapons with great killing power. For the sake of his good friend Lu Fang’s sword path, he had secretly gone to the Lotus Root blessed land, which was equivalent to disappearing from the Tongye Continent for sixty years, and there were many complaints within the Yugui Sect. So they pushed him out, wanting the horse to run but not feeding it grass, how could this Jiang Clan Head not shirk his duties?
The True Lord Song Mao of Mount Taiping, clad in a Daoist robe and crowned with a hibiscus coronet, felt a slight displeasure in his heart. However, he clearly understood the gravity of the situation. The other party held himself in high regard, completely disregarding him and Mount Taiping, but he had the strength to back it up. He simply couldn’t fathom when such a heaven-defying swordsman had appeared in Tongye Continent. Song Mao was somewhat unable to decipher the person’s disposition and background. He didn’t know why the man had drawn his sword. Was he seizing the opportunity to slay a demon to prove his Dao and share in the merit, or was it purely an act of righteous intervention? Did he covet the great demon’s corpse, a treasure trove in itself? Or did he intend to take everything, not allowing the three of them to touch even a hair? Song Mao naturally didn’t care about the great demon’s corpse, but this demon was the chief culprit behind the current chaos in Tongye Continent, echoing the actions of that old beast, the White Ape with the Sword on its back, which had allowed demons and monsters to run rampant in central Tongye Continent. It had to be brought back so that the Confucian academies could examine it and request the Yin-Yang School to deduce celestial secrets.

Therefore, Song Mao was momentarily at a loss for words.

The strange swordsman looked at the founder of the Tongye Sect and uttered two words: “Unconvinced?”

The old patriarch, a figure of great renown throughout the entire Tongye Sect, spoke with veiled threat: “It would be best to keep this great demon alive and bring it back to the Tongye Sect. Perhaps we can extract an even greater conspiracy. By killing the severely wounded demon with a single sword, you have severed the thread. How can we follow the clues and find the mastermind behind it? Otherwise, why would the three of us have pursued it so far? Isn’t it a little too coincidental that you just happened to appear on the great demon’s escape route in the vast Western Sea of Tongye Sect?”

The Jiang family head of Yu Gui Sect maintained his unchanging smile, never one to shy away from excitement.

Song Mao was about to speak.

The unfamiliar swordsman, who looked to be only middle-aged, said calmly: “Then let’s fight.”

From beginning to end, the swordsman had only said these two things.

Unconvinced.

Then fight.

This was hardly the manner of an immortal atop a mountain. Even the Qi refiners in the middle five realms halfway up the mountainside were not so crude. It was more like the low-level martial artists of the mundane world.

Song Mao had no time to act as a peacemaker.

Another sword strike.

This time, it was aimed at the “unconvinced” Tongye Sect patriarch.

The old immortal’s expression changed drastically. He couldn’t utter a single word and hurriedly summoned a natal magical treasure he had refined for thousands of years. It was an ancient ritual bell, the head of the eight musical instruments, obtained from a broken cave heaven. This bronze bell, no taller than an arm after refinement, hung above the Tongye Sect patriarch’s head. The bell’s Dharma manifestation reached dozens of feet high, enveloping the old man within it. An inscription of an ancient Confucian virtuous sage was engraved on the outer wall of the ancient bell. At this moment, fist-sized characters rapidly flowed, and the old man stood within, appearing dignified and solemn.

However, after the sword qi struck from above, the old man, who thought he could at least resist for a moment, found that the Dharma manifestation of the ancient bell in front of him was directly cleaved open. Daring not to be complacent in the slightest, he retreated, along with his natal bronze bell, hoping that the sword qi would weaken as he retreated thousands of feet.

He retreated again and again.

A long ravine, more than ten miles long, appeared on the sea surface, and it took a long time to fill.

When the sword qi finally disappeared, the Tongye Sect patriarch’s face was devoid of color. Besides shock, he was also filled with heartache, holding the natal ancient bell in his hand, seeing a tiny scratch appear on it.

How many rare and precious materials would he have to spend to repair it to its original state?!

How could the swordsman’s casual sword strike possess such power?

Not to mention Tongye Continent, let alone the small place of Baoping Continent to the north, even in the Posa Continent, there shouldn’t be such a sword immortal! Even Cao Xi, who refines a large river into a flying sword on his wrist and is responsible for guarding the Zhenhai Tower, doesn’t possess such sword qi!

The swordsman casually repelled the old cultivator, sending him rolling far away, finally out of his way. He turned to the other person and asked, “Is the show good?”

The smile on the Jiang family head’s face immediately froze. He cupped his fist and apologized: “I was rude. I hope the Sword Immortal senior will forgive me.”

The swordsman sneered: “Senior? You’re much older than me.”

This Jiang family head, known for being thick-skinned in the Tongye Continent mountains, said solemnly: “On the path of cultivation, the accomplished comes first. How dare I, Jiang Shangzhen, compare myself to senior?”

The swordsman ignored Jiang Shangzhen, whose name he had never heard of, and looked towards the old man further away, still with lingering fear, “You seem to be carrying a heavy treasure that is good at attacking. Not bad. Let me have a look?”

The old patriarch, who had experienced great suffering, roughly understood the swordsman’s temper. He was even more fiery than the Old Celestial Sovereign of Mount Taiping. How could he be foolish enough to show off the sect’s heavy treasure? Even with a simple thought, he knew the swordsman wouldn’t let it go. What if he said, “Since you’ve already taken it out, don’t waste it. Let’s exchange a move to test its weight”? Would he accept or not? If he didn’t accept, the people from Yu Gui Sect and Mount Taiping were watching. If he did, it would be fine if he could withstand the opponent’s sword strike. If he couldn’t, would he be buried with the dead great demon?

The old cultivator dared not put on airs any longer and quickly said: “Carrying the sect’s heavy treasure is only for successfully slaying demons. It cannot be easily shown to the world.”

He cursed inwardly.

How could there be such an arrogant and unreasonable swordsman in the world? What were the Confucian sages doing? Were they not going to manage this?!

Before the old cultivator could feel that his concession and show of weakness meant that the swordsman, with a little bit of sense, should know when to stop…

The swordsman had already asked: “If you don’t take it out, how can you withstand my second sword?”

The Tongye Sect patriarch was furious. Did he really think he was a clay figure with no temper at all?

Jiang Shangzhen wore a straight face, secretly rejoicing in his heart.

He had long disliked the annoying faces of the Tongye Sect cultivators. Not only him, but the entire Yu Gui Sect felt the same way, especially his own old sect master. The few times he had lost his temper in his life were almost all thanks to the Tongye Sect cultivators.

The True Lord Song Mao of Mount Taiping said in a deep voice: “Now that the Tongye Continent is in a chaotic world of demons, I implore the Sword Immortal senior not to draw his sword today.”

The swordsman retracted his gaze. “Then you come and receive this sword?”

Song Mao said without hesitation: “I can! Whether I can withstand it or not, the people from Tongye Sect and Yu Gui Sect are here. They will send a message to my Mount Taiping. It will be that Song Mao is not skilled enough. Even if I die here, Mount Taiping will never resent senior!”

The swordsman muttered “Mount Taiping” a few times, as if he remembered something. He laughed for the first time: “As expected of the Daoist cultivators of Mount Taiping, not bad. In Tongye Continent, only you are worthy of mention. The rest are not worth mentioning.”

Song Mao was stunned and didn’t know what to make of it.

The swordsman suppressed his sword qi a bit, as a sign that he would no longer draw his sword.
Forget it. I recall Xiao Qi mentioning this Mount Taiping, saying something like it possessed an ancient chivalrous spirit?

The sword cultivator said, “You can have the corpse of the great demon.”

Song Mao felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. After sheathing his sword, he clasped his fist and said, “Thank you, Sword Immortal Senior, for slaying the demon.”

The sword cultivator hesitated for a moment, glanced at the three, and asked, “Does anyone know a young man named Chen Ping’an? Do you know where he is?”

Song Mao and the Founding Ancestor of the Tongye Sect were both bewildered and didn’t know.

Jiang Shangzhen quickly weighed his options in his heart and smiled, “I happen to know.”

The sword cultivator asked, “How so?”

Jiang Shangzhen used a sound transmission to inform this strange sword cultivator, whose swordsmanship was divine, of his experiences and encounters in the Lotus Flower Paradise in a concise manner.

The sword cultivator nodded, unimpressed, and said, “The so-called number one in a small Paradise… barely passable, I suppose.”

Jiang Shangzhen tentatively asked, “Senior, do you need me to help keep an eye on him?”

The sword cultivator squinted, “Are you worthy?”

Jiang Shangzhen smiled wryly and stopped talking.

The sword cultivator left.

Moving further and further away from Tongye Continent.

He wasn’t inclined to be anyone’s protector.

Once the sword cultivator was far away, Jiang Shangzhen said with a mischievous smile, “Indeed, our Vast Expanse is much more interesting.”

Song Mao asked curiously, “Do you know this Great Sword Immortal?”

Jiang Shangzhen smiled but remained silent.

The old cultivator of the Tongye Sect, who had carefully returned to their side, snorted, “His swordsmanship is high, but…”

Jiang Shangzhen gloated, “But what?”

The old cultivator swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

He was truly afraid of that person’s sword strikes, they were too unreasonable.

The next moment, the old cultivator felt as if his ancestral graves were smoking with good fortune.

The sword cultivator had returned in an instant, glanced at the old cultivator, and left a word for Jiang, “The demon core of this great demon is yours.”

Jiang Shangzhen clasped his fist and smiled, “Junior knows what to do.”

The sword cultivator turned and once again left the mortal realm.

In a separate palace within the broken Dragon Vein of Tongye Continent, a white ape saw a tall old man dressed in Daoist robes.

The young Daoist had an awkward smile.

The old Daoist asked with a smile, “Your wish has come true, are you not happy?”

The young Daoist said with a bitter smile, “It was quite unexpected.”

The white ape, sitting on the Dragon Locking Platform, although unable to execute the young Daoist’s conspiracy to wreak havoc on half the continent, still had the insight of a cultivator of thousands of years.

The Abbot of Guandao Temple, the old Daoist of the Eastern Sea whom no one could find.

If mortals wanted to enter the Lotus Flower Paradise, they could only find the little Daoist boy carrying a golden gourd, and a group of true terrestrial immortals would patiently bargain with a little fellow.

The young Daoist stood up and asked, “Did the old Daoist come here to uphold justice and kill me to end this matter?”

The old Daoist sneered, “The sky has already fallen, where is there any upholding of justice? I came here to see who has the gall and ability to covet the Tongye umbrella I sent out.”

The young Daoist realized, “Is it the oiled paper umbrella that little girl casually held in her hand?”

He sighed, “Had I known that Chen Ping’an was related to the old Daoist, I wouldn’t have dared to offend him and court trouble.”

The old Daoist brushed past the young Daoist and walked step by step up the Dragon Locking Platform. “I have no interest in the human world. I won’t kill you. It’s also time for the people in those comfortable nests to refresh their memories, otherwise, they’ll forget what those old bones did back then.”

The young Daoist turned around, smiling, and followed behind the old Daoist of Donghai Guandao, step by step ascending the platform. “Thank you, Senior, for showing mercy.”

With the old Daoist’s words.

His plans in Tongye Continent, even if leaked beforehand, could still be considered half successful, a blessing in disguise perhaps.

After returning to the Savage Desolate World, at least he wouldn’t be exiled to that mountain range, working as a coolie for a blind man, moving mountains year after year, placing them here and there. Everyone else thought it was fun, but which great demon within didn’t feel like they were living a fate worse than death? The key was that the overlords of the Savage Desolate World never seemed to have considered joining forces to pull out this big nail and throw it over to the Great Wall of Sword Qi.

The old Daoist walked to the Dragon Locking Platform, glanced at the white ape who was facing a formidable enemy, and nodded, “This little beast is somewhat interesting, I might as well go along with it. Remember to use your Back-Sword Art in the Lotus Flower Paradise.”

In an instant, the Taiping Mountain white ape, with no immortal sword to carry, disappeared from the Dragon Locking Platform.

The young Daoist’s mind raced, silently deducing, and asked, “Since the white ape is no longer here, Senior might as well be straightforward, what do you want me to do?”

The old Daoist asked in return, “What does your heart truly desire to do?”

The young Daoist frankly admitted, “Saying it would mean death on this Dragon Locking Platform, so I’ll refrain.”

The old Daoist was somewhat disappointed, “I already gave you the opportunity, you, a great demon at the peak of True Body and only a hair’s breadth away from the Thirteenth Realm, yet you didn’t even dare to kill a Chen Ping’an, so you missed a great opportunity. Back then, Chen Qingdu of the Great Wall of Sword Qi borrowed Chen Ping’an’s sword, just to transfer some karma onto Chen Ping’an’s shoulders. If you had killed him, you would have gained great merit with the Savage Desolate World, and I could have taken the opportunity to bring Chen Ping’an into my Daoist temple, which would both infuriate that old scholar and allow me to raise my futon by a big step.”

The young Daoist’s heart shook greatly.

The old Daoist smiled, “It’s too late now.”

The young Daoist stamped his foot, filled with regret.

The ancient Dragon Locking Platform beneath their feet rumbled, and the dark void outside the platform was constantly filled with lightning and thunder.

The old Daoist said, “If you were human, you would have a good future as a strategist in the Vast Expanse, but as a Yin-Yangist, your talent is lacking.”

The young Daoist nodded helplessly, “Indeed, that’s true.”

The old Daoist suddenly said something with profound meaning, “In fact, if you juniors of these two worlds had been born earlier and then managed to survive to this day, many of you could have been quite remarkable.”

The young Daoist fell into contemplation.

The old Daoist put his hands behind his back and reached out. The lightning and thunder outside the Dragon Locking Platform broke through the restrictions and rules, and rushed into the platform, gathering into a ball in the old Daoist’s palm, eventually forming a fist-sized sphere of lightning.

This scene forced the young Daoist to stop thinking and smile bitterly.

This was the difference.

It was even unrelated to the level of cultivation.
The old Daoist priest stored the lightning bolt into his sleeve and said softly, “One of the Hundred Schools of Thought, that Old Scholar despises, actually had a person who leaked the greatest secret of this world.”

The young Daoist’s eyes burned with fervor. “I implore you, Senior, to enlighten this junior!”

The old Daoist turned his head, his gaze cold and aloof. “You, a demon race, call me ‘Senior’ and refer to yourself as ‘Junior’? Are you calling me an old beast in disguise?”

Without giving the young Daoist any chance to explain, the incomplete soul drifted out of the carefully selected skin, its neck grabbed by the old Daoist’s hand. The body of the “young Daoist of Taiping Mountain” slumped to the ground and vanished like the white ape before, without a trace.

Only the hibiscus coronet, emblematic of the Three Teachings of Daoism, remained on the Lock Dragon Platform.

With a casual flick of his wrist, the old Daoist slammed the transformed form of the great demon soul, still bearing the likeness of the young Daoist, onto the ground. Pain contorted its face, yet it hastily manipulated the hibiscus coronet into its grasp and placed it upon its head.

In the past, to successfully cross the Sword Qi Great Wall, he had to hide one soul and four spirits away so it could be smuggled out of the desolate lands into the Inverted Mountain, and finally to this Tongye Continent.

After cultivating in the vast world for so long, with such an outstanding physique, he had eventually ascended to the Twelfth Realm, the Immortal Realm.

Yet, before the old Daoist, he was utterly powerless.

The old Daoist slowly said, “Someone once said, ‘Take half of a foot-long rod each day, and it will never be exhausted in ten thousand generations.'”

The great demon, using the hibiscus coronet to stabilize its soul, struggled to speak. “That’s one of the less famous theories of the founder of the School of Names. I’ve seen it many times in various books but never considered it seriously.”

The old Daoist sneered, “That’s why you’re all so foolish.”

The great demon, only a soul now, wearing the hibiscus coronet, felt apprehensive, never so nostalgic for its homeland.

The old Daoist turned his head, smiling faintly. “That narrow blade, ‘Stopping Snow,’ a relic from the past, I’ve already removed the restrictions on it. Do you mind?”

The great demon shook its head, speechless.

The old Daoist chuckled. “You can’t even flatter me. No wonder you suffered such a calamity.”

The great demon was utterly confused.

The old Daoist had already stepped into the void and vanished.

When Chen Ping’an unfurled Sui Youbian’s natal painting and dropped in a gold essence coin, a light rain began to fall in the capital of Nanyuan Kingdom within the Lotus Root Paradise.

In early winter, the rain, though light, was still annoying.

A group of four walked down the street. The leader, a young man of androgynous beauty, held a folding fan in his hand, tapping it lightly against his palm. To the people of Nanyuan Kingdom, if he weren’t so handsome, he’d seem like a philistine pretending to be cultured.

The four walked down a main street, the young man looking around, clicking his tongue in wonder.

A young scholar named Cao Qinglang, who had originally left his humble alley, had to return home for an oil-paper umbrella because of the sudden rain. Reaching the street corner, he peered at the group with hope, but upon seeing the young master’s face, he realized it wasn’t the person he hoped for. Disappointed, Cao Qinglang hurried toward the school. Master Zhong disliked tardiness the most.

Cao Qinglang couldn’t see the young master clearly.

The latter, however, saw him perfectly clearly. As a banished immortal retaining his full cultivation, landing in the Lotus Root Paradise with both body and soul intact, Lu Tai immediately joined the ranks of the top ten experts in the world.

As for the three attendants behind him, they received the same treatment, but were limited by their weak foundations in the vast world and their youth. At best, they were top-tier experts in this Jianghu, still some distance from becoming first-rate grandmasters.

Huan Yin, the young Daoist Huang Shang, who nearly had his mind shattered in that calamity, had changed his allegiance and joined Lu Tai.

Tao Xiyang, the cunning and handsome prodigy from Feiying Fort, was a golden core cultivator who had infiltrated Feiying Fort as a pawn, wearing the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Coronet.

Now, all three were Lu Tai’s disciples.

Lu Tai arrived near Scholar Lane and a street where a martial arts school was located. He looked at a small house, once the lodging of Ding Ying and Ya’er when they entered the capital, a base for the Demonic Sect in Nanyuan Kingdom. After the great battle, however, State Preceptor Zhong Qiu had kept the house. Lu Tai smiled and said, “From now on, this is my private residence.”

He turned to the three and instructed, “Huang Shang, go to Lakeside Sect. How much you can learn from Yu Zhenyi depends on your own fortune.”

“As for Tao Xiyang and Huan Yin, wander around this blessed land. Tao Xiyang can pay attention to Great General Long Wu, Tang Tieyi, and Huan Yin can approach Arm Saint Cheng Yuanshan beyond the borders.”

“If you can’t enter the top ten in the world in sixty years, then obediently become nourishment for this blessed land. Good luck to you. I’ve already given you items to protect your lives. If you still drown in this small Jianghu, I’ll think I wasted money bringing you down here.”

Lu Tai waved his hand, and the three respectfully took their leave.

Not far away stood a blue-robed scholar with greying temples, the very Master Zhong in Cao Qinglang’s eyes. It wasn’t the naughty, sleepy students who were late today, but the stern old teacher himself.

Lu Tai smiled at State Preceptor Zhong Qiu. “I am friends with Chen Ping’an. I have personally witnessed the grace of State Preceptor Zhong, so I chose to settle down in Nanyuan Kingdom.”

Zhong Qiu nodded. “Since that’s the case, I’ll wait and see. I still hope you won’t be reckless, even if you are Chen Ping’an’s friend.”

With a *snap*, Lu Tai opened his elegant bamboo fan, gently fanning the light rain, and said with a smile, “Have you ever thought about seeing the scenery outside in sixty years?”

Zhong Qiu shook his head and turned to leave.

Lu Tai didn’t mind, turned to look at the door of the house. After a year of wind and sun, the door gods pasted there were slightly worn. He muttered to himself, “The new year is coming soon. The door gods need to be changed, the spring couplets need to be pasted, and I need to find some pleasing and pretty maids. Or should I go to the Spring Tide Palace and ask Zanhua Lang Zhou Shi for a few?”

After Chen Ping’an dropped the second gold essence coin into the painting, a drizzling sun shower fell over Lakeside Sect in Songlai Kingdom. No one was surprised, except for the Sect Master, Great Person Yu Zhenyi, who looked like a child and was flying on his sword.