Unsheathed

Chapter 364 (3): Irresolvable Conundrum

After traveling for close to ten kilometers, two guest elders from the Fang Clan appeared up ahead, namely a seventh-tier martial artist and a Golden Core Tier cultivator.

Zheng Dafeng stood up to exit the carriage, but Chen Ping'an raised a hand to stop him.

Sui Youbian got out of her carriage first, followed by Lu Baixiang. Sui Youbian was going to face the two guest elders on her own for now, while Lu Baixiang slowly trailed along behind two of the carriages, ready to back up Sui Youbian at any moment.

The remaining carriage had drawn to a halt, and it was soon also intercepted, this time by guest elders of the Hou Clan.

Zhu Lian jumped out of his carriage.

Another carriage drew to a halt, and Wei Xian began trailing along the carriage that Chen Ping'an and Zheng Dafeng were in on foot.

After that came the guest elders of the Ding Clan.

Wei Xian was dressed in his imperial dragon robe, outside of which was his West Mountain armor pellet, and he stopped in place, while the carriage continued onward.

Zheng Dafeng shook his head as he said with tightly furrowed brows, "Things have already escalated beyond our expectations. The battle on the Dragon Scaling Platform went far better than any of us could've imagined, but the situation right now is even worse than the worst case scenario that we envisioned. The Fu Clan doesn't even care about upholding the dignity of the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan anymore! What on earth is going on?"

As they drew close to the eastern gate of Old Dragon City's outer city, Chen Ping'an lifted the curtain of the carriage, then said, "This tells us that the cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers that's lurking behind the scenes has finally made an appearance. On top of that, they're most likely above the Unpolished Jade Tier.

“If not, then at very least, they have to be an Unpolished Jade Tier swordsman, and that's why even the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan is willing to swallow its pride and tolerate this. If I had to guess, whoever is waiting for us must've already gotten involved with Old Dragon City a long time ago, and they're only killing you on the side as a small bonus in addition to the more important deal that's taking place.

“As for the Fan Clan, there's a good chance that they've already been excluded from this deal and are going to be dealt with separately. Regardless of whether Fan Junmao intervenes or not, the Fan Clan could well be in dire straits already."

A self-deprecating look appeared on Zheng Dafeng's face as he sighed, "In that case, I was never going to be able to live past today. I suppose the only thing that I can hope for now is that whoever's waiting for us will give me the chance to reach the tenth tier."

The carriage slowly drew to a halt, and Chen Ping'an raised the curtain to look up at the top of the city wall as he mused, "I doubt that's going to happen."

Zheng Dafeng and Chen Ping'an stood side by side on the road leading into the city, and atop the city wall stood Du Yan and his wife from the Ding Clan, as well as an unremarkable looking old man.

Du Yan smiled as he asked, "Isn't it a little too unfair for these two that you're coming after them in person, Old Ancestor?"

The old man smiled as he replied, "Unfair? Why did I work so hard in my cultivation if I can't even bully those beneath me? Besides, did my current cultivation base grow on a tree? I had to earn my cultivation base through countless battles of life and death, so how is it unfair that my cultivation base is superior to theirs?"

"You're as correct as ever, Old Ancestor," Du Yan replied with a smile.

A hesitant look then appeared on his face as he asked, "What should we do with Chen Ping'an?"

The old man smiled as he said, "I've heard his name before. Even after that idiot from our clan borrowed our clan's most powerful artifact, he still failed to kill that great demon that had wreaked havoc in Planchette Writing Sect. Instead, a swordsman dealt the killing blow before him, and somehow, Jiang Shangzhen was the one who reaped the rewards.

“I've heard of that swordsman before, he's a real powerful guy. His name is Zuo You, and he's a disciple of the Scholarly Sage. Over the past century, he shattered the sword hearts of many exceptionally talented young swordsmen from all of the continents, such as Cao Jun from Southern Whirl Continent.

“Back then, you could hardly find anyone that hadn't heard of him, but ever since the Scholarly Sage imprisoned himself in the Forest of Virtue, Zuo You seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. His swordsmanship is perhaps the best under the heavens. After he killed that great demon, he asked about Chen Ping'an, so it's clear that this Chen Ping'an must have some strong ties to the Scholarly Sage."

Du Yan's skin was crawling slightly upon hearing this.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how exceptional a swordsman Zuo You had to be in order to earn such glowing praise from Du Mao. On top of that, Chen Ping'an's "strong ties to the Scholarly Sage" was most likely going to ensure that he would emerge from this ordeal unharmed, but Zheng Dafeng was most definitely going to die here.

However, to his surprise, Du Mao continued, "Otherwise, why would I have asked you to bring along that ship? I'm waiting for Zuo You to come! I'm not afraid of him, the only thing that I'm worried about is that he won't show up, and that I'll have brought my bonded item in vain!"

Du Yan's eyes immediately lit up with excitement upon hearing this, and he extended a respectful bow as he praised, "Your courage and flair are truly unmatched, Old Ancestor!"

"Stop trying to suck up to me," Du Mao scoffed. "If you have what it takes, then strive to reach the same heights as I have so that your descendants will all clamber over each other to suck up to you as well."

"Such lofty aspirations are far beyond me," Du Yan replied in an uneasy manner.

"That's why you're also destined to be a useless piece of trash," Du Man scoffed with a disappointed shake of his head. "You're just lucky that you have the same surname as me."

Not only was Du Yan not disheartened in the slightest upon hearing this, a bright smile appeared on his face as he asked, "Having good luck is a skill in itself, is it not?"

"You're not wrong there," Du Mao replied with a nod before taking a step forward, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived right in front of Zheng Dafeng.

The two of them were only separated by about two or three steps, and due to his diminutive frame, Du Mao was forced to look up slightly at Zheng Dafeng.

He smiled as he said, "I heard that you used to be the gatekeeper of Jewel Small World, and that you're serving that old fart with the Yang surname. I wonder if he'll dare to leave that cage of his to come after me if I kill you here."

Zheng Dafeng remained completely unmoved as he threw a punch at Du Mao, who clasped his hands behind his back and took the punch head-on.

After being struck by Zheng Dafeng's fist, he slid back a few steps, but his entire body remained as still as a mountain.

As for Zheng Dafeng, his abdomen had been pierced through by what appeared to be a miniature ark around twice the length of a human arm.

Du Mao wiped the blood from the corner of his lips as he scoffed, "That's all you've got? I'm not a pure martial artist. Don't you pure martial artists always say that the bodies of Qi refiners are as fragile as paper? I can't say I'm very convinced."

He then flicked away the blood on his hand before pointing at Zheng Dafeng's abdomen as he continued, "Just to make things clear, that's not a swordsman's bonded flying sword. I've always detested swordsmen more than anyone else. All they do is show off, and in particular, all of those so-called sword immortals are as arrogant as arrogant can be.

“Whenever I see them, I'm struck by the urge to gouge out their eyeballs and stick them up their arses! It's a pity that once I attained sufficient power to accomplish this feat, I had to obey the rules of this world and resign myself to being trapped in a massive cage. How frustrating is that?"

Du Mao took a disdainful glance up at the sky as he spoke.

Zheng Dafeng launched himself forward before throwing another punch at Du Mao, only for the latter to evade the punch by stepping to the side, following which he pressed a hand against Zheng Dafeng's head before shoving him backward.

Zheng Dafeng was sent flying back over a thousand feet with the miniature ark still lodged firmly in his abdomen, and he fell onto a puddle of his own blood, trying to struggle to his feet over and over again in futility.

"Can you summon Zuo You to save you?" Du Mao asked as he turned to Chen Ping'an, then swept a sleeve toward him without giving him a chance to reply.

Chen Ping'an flew back through the air, then twisted around in mid-air in an agile fashion before drifting down onto the ground. Only after stomping one foot firmly into the ground was he able to arrest his own momentum.

A hint of surprise appeared on Du Mao's face as he remarked, "You're much more competent than I imagined! In fact, you have the potential to not be completely useless. Having said that, your surname isn't Du, so even if you die, it won't be a pity."

He then raised a hand before bringing it down gently, and a giant golden hand the size of a mountain descended through the sea of clouds above Old Dragon City to crash down upon Chen Ping'an.

In response, Chen Ping'an unleashed his Rain Evaporation Technique, and a huge cloud of dust rose up into the air within a radius of a thousand feet, casting a huge shadow over the entire area.

Chen Ping'an slowly made his way up the slanted slope to the top of the crater, reappearing in Du Mao's field of view.

Du Mao inspected his surroundings briefly, then remarked, "It looks like Zuo You isn't your Dao guardian. In that case, no one is coming to save you..."

At this point, Golden Sweet Wine's true form had already been revealed, and all of a sudden, Chen Ping'an was sent flying back, as if he had been picked up and hurled forth by a giant, invisible hand, tumbling through the air in an arc before crashing into the city wall of Old Dragon City behind Du Mao.

"So what if you have all the potential in the world? You haven't even reached the Upper Five Tiers yet, so you're still just a useless piece of trash," Du Mao scoffed as he flicked a finger toward the city wall behind him without even taking a backward glance, and a series of giant cracks instantly appeared on the city wall.

In the wake of Du Mao's flick, Chen Ping'an crashed straight through the city wall before landing in the outer city.

Du Mao scratched his own head and waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

Finally, Zheng Dafeng was able to struggle up to one knee, and he raised his head to look at Du Mao, who smiled as he said, "You can try snapping that old pipe. I'm really curious to see if that old fart will come to save you in person, or if he's just going to try and play some little trick on me."

Zheng Dafeng threw up a large mouthful of blood as he said in a strained voice, "Kill me and spare Chen Ping'an."

Du Mao shook his head in response.

"If that old geezer from Jewel Small World were standing before me to make the same request, perhaps I would consider it, but..."

All of a sudden, his voice trailed off as he turned around with slightly furrowed brows.

To his surprise, Chen Ping'an had reappeared in the massive hole in the city wall, and he was only just barely able to remain on his feet as he held a certain object aloft in his hand.

The expression of the old maidservant from the Cloud Forest Jiang Clan darkened slightly upon seeing this, and she said in a grim voice, "That's the core of a beast of the Upper Five Tiers. If it's been refined, then it can be detonated to destroy half of Old Dragon City!"

"There's no way he would do something like that," Fu Nanhua declared with a confident smile.

The old maidservant raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at him, and he explained, "That's just how much of an idiot he is. Even if he has to die, he wouldn't risk the lives of so many others."

Sun Jiashu heaved a forlorn sigh. Indeed, Chen Ping'an wouldn't do something so selfish.

He had only just taken a step forward when the Sun Clan's Nascent Tier ancestor grabbed onto his shoulder and warned, "Now's not the time. If you step forward now, our Sun Clan's entire plan will go down the drain."

Sun Jiashu struggled against the old man's hand, but the latter refused to budge.

"I can allow you to be reckless and wilful in other matters, but you have to listen to me on this matter! This concerns more than just yourself."

Sun Jiashu opened his mouth to raise some objections, but he was knocked unconscious by the old man before he had a chance to say anything.

Chen Ping'an sat down onto the edge of the hole in the city wall as he declared, "I would like to offer this beast core in exchange for Zheng Dafeng's life."

Even though they were situated quite far away from each other, Du Mao was able to hear him loud and clear, and an amused look appeared on his face as he chuckled, "Since when was the life of a ninth tier martial artist worth this much?"

After a brief moment of contemplation, he nodded as he continued, "Ninth tier martial artists may be rare, but they're not as rare as twelfth tier beast cores, so I accept your offer."

He then reached out to grab the beast core from afar before stowing it away, following which a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, "I'll spare Zheng Dafeng's life, but I'll be taking his cultivation base."

He stomped a foot down onto Zheng Dafeng's back as he spoke, and a string of cracks and pops instantly rang out from Zheng Dafeng's spine.

He limply collapsed to the ground, as if all of the bones had been pulled out of his body.

Du Mao then turned back to Chen Ping'an as he asked, "Alright, what are you going to offer me in exchange for your own life now? Remember that it has to be something even more precious than a twelfth tier beast core."

Chen Ping'an sat down with his legs crossed, and his entire body was drenched in blood, to the point that it was impossible to make out his facial features.

Du Mao smiled as he said, "I'm normally not so mild-tempered, but I'll make an exception today and wait for you for a little while."

Du Mao's bonded celestial weapon was called the Sword Devouring Ark, and it had been refined using the complete carcass of a giant ancient Treasure Swallowing Whale over the course of six hundred years. During those six hundred years, Parasol Leaf Sect had pledged countless resources into the refinement process.

That was the only period in history in which Parasol Leaf Sect had been forced to bow its head to Jade Tablet Sect. It all began with the demise of their sect leader, who had perished during an accident while traveling through Middle Earth Divine Continent.

In the wake of his death, there were no other Immortal Tier cultivators in the sect, resulting in a very rough transition period. After that, Du Mao had exhausted all of the sect's wealth to refine his bonded celestial weapon before going into seclusion for centuries.

However, the first thing that he did after coming out of seclusion was travel to the Jade Tablet Sect atop his giant ark to challenge an Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal in a battle to the death. In the end, that sword immortal was killed, and even his bonded flying sword was devoured by Du Mao's giant ark.

If something was capable of devouring even a sword immortal's flying sword, then it stood to reason that there was hardly anything under the heavens that it wasn't capable of devouring.

Du Mao waited for a while, then asked, "Have you thought of anything?"

"I don't have anything left," Chen Ping'an replied with a shake of his head.

A smile appeared on Du Mao's face as he mused, "That Sword Nurturing Gourd of yours is decent, and that jade tablet looks quite dated. Is it a minimization treasure? Unfortunately for you, even those two things combined won't be enough to save your life. On top of that, once you're dead, those two things will be mine anyway."

Chen Ping'an lowered his head and patted his Sword Nurturing Gourd as he forced a smile onto his own face and said, "Looks like this is where my life will come to an end. If you can run, then get out of here."

He then reached out with his trembling and blooded left hand to remove the jade tablet from his waist, and he squeezed it with all his might, trying to destroy it because he absolutely did not want it to fall into the hands of anyone else.

The minimization treasure remained completely unharmed.

A guilt-ridden look appeared on Chen Ping'an's face, and at the same time, a hint of indignation welled up in his heart.

He was never one to blame fate or other people, but in this moment, he couldn't help but feel like it was all so unfair.

He raised his left arm and brought it to his own face as the tears began to flow from his eyes, not wanting anyone else to see him in his moment of vulnerability.

After that, he lowered his arms and took a glance toward the south before closing his eyes.

"I have a sword... capable of moving mountains, splitting rivers, churning seas..."

An amused look appeared on Du Mao's face as he scoffed, "What on earth are you mumbling about? Shouldn't your final words be spent cursing me for beating down on someone as weak as yourself?"

His bonded celestial weapon pierced through Chen Ping'an's abdomen as he spoke, and for some reason, the jade tablet was shattered in the same instant.

Du Mao's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but ultimately, the loss of a single minimization treasure wasn't enough to have too much of an emotional impact on him.

On the summit of Tassel Mountain, the old scholar had been quietly conducting divination this entire time, and all of a sudden, his expression changed drastically as he sprang to his feet.

In a rare display, a serious look appeared on his face as he demanded, "Help me slice through the barriers between the two continents! Don't ask why, just hurry!"

The armorclad Tassel Mountain God merely nodded in response without asking any questions, then revealed his mountainous Golden Dao Manifestation before lashing out with his sword, slicing through the very fabric of time and space.

The old scholar immediately set off, and the rift in time and space slowly closed behind him.

Meanwhile, the land and water fortune of the entirety of Tassel Mountain churned violently.

At the same time, it was as if someone had heard the words being uttered by Chen Ping'an over in Old Dragon City, and a gentle female voice rang out in response.

"Here I come."

The entirety of Jewel Small World began to tremble and sway violently, while Ruan Qiong did everything in his power to hold the small world intact.

A tall white figure flew out from a cliff face that was riddled with Dragon Slaying Platform, and she rose up into the air with her large white sleeves flapping behind her.

She paused momentarily as she stood atop the heavens above Majestic World, then cast her gaze toward the southernmost region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent before hurtling through the air like a flying sword, leaving a chorus of rumbling thunderclaps in her wake.