Unsheathed

Chapter 213 (1): Longing

By the time Chen Ping'an made his way down the staircase and returned to his seat, he had already missed two major battles.

Daoist Priest Zhang Shan, who was seated on the adjacent chair, hurriedly rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a grateful salute upon spotting Chen Ping'an, who returned the salute before accepting the jade badge that was being returned to him.

For this publicly disclosed battle between sworn enemies, the battlefield hadn't been set in either Wind Lightning Field or on Sun Scorch Mountain in order to ensure fairness. Instead, the designated battlefield was the Divine Platform of Wind Snow Temple. As a Militarian sacred land, Wind Snow Temple was on friendly terms with more powers than True Martial Mountain, and it had also always kept a lower profile.

The disciples who left the sect to go on long journeys mostly did so for exploration and training purposes rather than to step onto any battlefields, so Wind Snow Temple had good relations with both sects and wasn't going to be biased toward either one.

As for why Wind Snow Temple had chosen the Divine Platform, one of the reasons was because it was situated on the summit of a tall mountain, thereby providing a stunning view and wide horizons. Purely visually speaking, the Divine Platform was the most scenic location in the entirety of Wind Snow Temple.

On top of that, the Divine Platform had very few disciples and was being propped up almost solely by Wei Jin, but due to reasons surrounding Wei Jin's master, he didn't have very close ties with the sect, so it was presumably the case that Wind Snow Temple was trying to take advantage of this opportunity to add some numbers to the Divine Platform's ranks. Please visit 𝓃𝑜vel-𝒏𝑒xt.𝒸𝑜𝔪 website to read fastest update

After hearing the outcomes of the first two battles from Qiu Shi, Chen Ping'an was astonished. Wind Lightning Field had lost both battles, losing a pair of renowned and formidable swordsmen in the process, both of whom had perished to their Sun Scorch Mountain opponents.

For the second battle, both of the combatants had perished, but the cultivator of Sun Scorch Mountain had managed to survive just a little longer than his Wind Lightning Field opponent, so according to the rules, Wind Snow Temple assigned the victory to Sun Scorch Mountain.

Despite how vast the Divine Platform was, there weren't many people who had come to spectate the battles. There was a small cluster of buildings situated in the Divine Platform's northeastern corner, and only the Qi refiners of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent who possessed sufficient status and cultivation base were permitted to spectate the battles from those buildings.

As for everyone else who wished to spectate, they could only do so from afar from the other mountains in Wind Snow Temple.

Hence, the two opposing sects occupied virtually the entirety of the Divine Platform.

Only after some conversation did Chen Ping'an discover that Zhang Shan hadn't even heard of Wind Lightning Field and Sun Scorch Mountain before. However, this wasn't all that unexpected. The Qi refiners of Complete Reed Continent had always held themselves in very high regard, and as the smallest of the nine continents, Eastern Treasured Vial Continent had perpetually been looked down on.

Perhaps only the likes of Mountain Cliff Academy, Lake View Academy, and people like Cui Chan, Song Changjing, and Wei Jin were worthy of any degree of respect in the eyes of Complete Reed Continent's cultivators.

Furthermore, given Zhang Shan's cultivation base and the fact that he was from a different continent, it would've been much stranger if he had known so much about Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

The entire continent was aware that Wind Lightning Field and Sun Scorch Mountain were sworn enemies. In the sword spar arena in the deepest part of Wind Lightning Field were the remains of the Sun Scorch Mountain matriarch.

Following her demise in battle, she had been exposed to the elements to this very day, and not only was Wind Lightning Field unwilling to return the body so that the disciples of Sun Scorch Mountain could hold a proper burial, even the longsword that impaled her head to put an end to her life hadn't been pulled out.

Her body remained in the sword spar arena for all disciples and visitors of Wind Lightning Field to gawk and jeer at, and it had already been this way for 300 years.

This was humiliation of the highest order!

Sun Scorch Mountain stood at the pinnacle of swordsmanship on the continent, and it had been going from strength to strength during the past 300 years. Its three youngest generations of disciple were already more exceptional than those of Wind Lightning Field, and roughly once every 60 years, someone from Sun Scorch Mountain would issue a challenge to Wind Lightning Field in an attempt to recover the remains of their matriarch.

However, the master of Wind Lightning Field, the very same person who had slain Sun Scorch Mountain’s matriarch, lived for 300 more years after that battle. Even though Sun Scorch Mountain had churned out a whole host of prodigies during this time, none of them were able to defeat the field master.

When it came to those who came to challenge him, he dealt with them more humanely than he did with Sun Scorch Mountain’s matriarch, but he certainly wasn't kind or benevolent by any stretch of the imagination, either snapping the bridge of immortality of the challenger, or destroying their bonded swords.

In reality, for the cultivators of Sun Scorch Mountain, this was a fate worse than death, and they would've much rather died a valiant death in battle than be relegated to such a terrible fate.

Perhaps these people were going to stand in his way during his future ascent to the mountaintop, so they were all potential enemies of his. Of course, he was still very far away from reaching that point. After all, at this moment, he was still only a third-tier martial artist.

The old man wearing the mink fur hat mused, "That lass by the name of Su Jia is most likely not in for a good time."

The young swordsman situated to the far right was habitually patting the scabbard of his swords as he nodded in agreement. "Her loss is sealed. It's too bad that the Sword Nurturing Gourd fell into her hands. I don't think you'd be able to find a third such Sword Nurturing Gourd even on the entire Complete Reed Continent."

Sure enough, the battle concluded after only three exchanges. Su Jia had drawn her sword and released the bonded flying sword from her Sword Nurturing Gourd, but she was still comprehensively defeated by Huang He. As it turned out, the huge sword casket on his back was filled with small swords, and it was as if he were carrying a hornet's nest on his back. There was no single bonded flying sword.

Instead, he excelled in controlling a large number of flying swords at once, and Su Jia was completely powerless to retaliate. One sword pierced through her sword-wielding arm, another severed the red rope that tied her Sword Nurturing Gourd to her belt, and finally, a pair of flying swords pierced through her wrists. By the time she fell onto the ground in a puddle of her own blood, she had already fallen unconscious.

There weren't that many truly widely admired celestial maidens on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. The former Jade Girl, He Xiaoliang, was undoubtedly at the top of the list, following which were Su Jia and three or four other women.

They were goddesses who had descended into the mortal realm in the eyes of countless young male Qi refiners, and they were showered with love and admiration. There were even some who jokingly claimed that ever since Su Jia made a name for herself, the yearly new disciple intake for Sun Scorch Mountain had increased by as much as 30%.

Huang He was standing beside Su Jia, and he raised a foot before stepping down onto that exceptional Sword Nurturing Gourd, gently rolling it back and forth underfoot.

The corners of his lips then curled up slightly as he swept his gaze across her surroundings, then finally settled his gaze on the pavilion where all of the esteemed figures of Sun Scorch Mountain were gathered.

An inky-black bonded flying sword flew out of his glabella, and it was buzzing audibly. As soon as the flying sword emerged, the originally tranquil wind and clouds around the entire Divine Platform were instantly swept up into a chaotic frenzy.

After that public display of provocation, Huang He withdrew his bonded flying sword, then declared toward the pavilion, "In 60 years, I'll be visiting Sun Scorch Mountain to issue a challenge, and I'll be claiming another head to be placed in our Wind Lightning Field."

An elderly founder of Sun Scorch Mountain standing on the top floor of the pavilion was furious to hear this, and he was barely able to suppress the urge to storm onto the plaza and stomp this arrogant little bastard to death.

All of a sudden, the doors of the top floor of the pavilion where Wind Lightning Field's cultivators were situated opened, and a handsome black-robed swordsman emerged, from within, then cast his gaze toward the elderly founder of Sun Scorch Mountain as he jibed, "It's not good for old men like us to pick on these juniors. If you want a fight, then how about I be your opponent?"

As soon as this swordsman emerged from the pavilion, not only was that elderly founder of Sun Scorch Mountain stunned into silence, all of the other Sun Scorch Mountain cultivators were also completely astonished, and a hint of despair had surfaced in their eyes.

This man was none other than the master of Wind Lightning Field, Li Tuanjing. He was truly a prodigious swordsman, reaching the 10th tier at just 40 years of age, but what was very strange about him was that he hadn't advanced any further in his cultivation base during the next few centuries after that.

However, even though he hadn't advanced to the Upper Five Tiers, he was still considered to be among the handful of most formidable swordsmen on the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, certainly the most fearsome of all of the continent's 10th tier swordsmen.

Prior to reaching the 11th tier, Wei Jin had also admitted that he was no match for Li Tuanjing.

Wasn't he supposed to have passed away?

Li Tuanjing paid no further heed to the bewildered Sun Scorch Mountain cultivators as he raised his head with a smile, seemingly casting his gaze toward all of the people spectating the battles from behind the scenes. He then clasped a hand behind his back before joining the index and middle fingers of his other hand, then gently swept those two fingers through the air with a flick of his wrist.

A gentle breeze was instantly released from his fingertips before transforming into a streak of vast sword Qi, and it circled around in the sky above the Divine Platform, severing the connection between the Divine Platform and the outside world.

All of the people in the scroll were completely astonished, while those outside of it were just as flabbergasted.

Standing on the tall pavilion on the Divine Platform, Li Tuanjing didn't attack the Sun Scorch Mountain cultivators, nor did he issue any threats. Instead, he merely observed the drifting clouds in the distance, seemingly in a daze.

The cultivators of Wind Snow Temple were quite relieved to see this.

As the most formidable 10th tier swordsman, Li Tuanjing's powers were nearly unmatched. Whenever a Qi refiner was considered to be the best among a certain group, especially in the context of an entire continent, then they were sure to be extremely fearsome.

For example, back when Song Changjing was considered to be the most formidable ninth tier martial artist on the continent, it was said that he had already displayed 10th tier combat prowess during that battle in the capital city.

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