Chapter 751: The Eleventh Realm's Fist
Jiang Shangzhen clenched his fists with both hands, squinting as he muttered, "We need to be careful."
When Han Jiangshu saw her father acting so humble and lowly, a miserable sight she had never seen in her life, something she couldn't even have imagined, she was instantly shaken to her very soul, nearly losing her Dao heart. It was only the sword energy ripples caused by the slight tremor of that willow leaf that made her suddenly snap awake. She forcefully swallowed a mouthful of blood, then suddenly reached out to seize that section of willow leaf. Without hesitation, she stirred her soul and the five elements' natal objects, using her sect's secret technique to lock down that world-famous willow leaf flying sword. Han Jiangshu was risking her life to stop Jiang Shangzhen from drawing his sword.
Even if it only bought a moment, Han Jiangshu didn't care.
The moment Han Yushu showed weakness and begged for mercy, just as he made a Daoist bow, he had already activated his true trump card—a hole-card skill of the highest order. He summoned the mountain-protecting formation of the Three Mountains Blessed Land.
It was that painting of the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram that had hung in the Wanyao Sect's ancestral hall for thousands of years. According to her father, this painting was even more ancient than Wanyao Sect's own history.
When the founding patriarch of Wanyao Sect was still a young woodcutter, he had accidentally broken through a crumbling restriction and stumbled into the Three Mountains Blessed Land, an obscure place in Haoran world's history. In the ancestral mountain where he would later establish his sect, he inadvertently discovered this immortal-rank painting, and from then on began his path of cultivation. Within that blessed land, rated as supreme, he summoned wind and rain, and along his ascending journey, he constantly absorbed the world's spiritual energy, eventually gathering nearly half the blessed land's spiritual qi into himself. But for some unknown reason, the patriarch ultimately failed in his secluded cultivation. As a flying ascension realm grand cultivator, his profound Dao intent and immense spiritual energy all returned to the blessed land.
As for who had the boldness, brushwork, and divine spirit to paint the Five Sacred Mountains and the Nine Rivers and Eight Streams on that scroll, the signature was an unverifiable name: Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Lords.
Outside the painting's realm, Han Jiangshu faced the mountain gate of Taiping Mountain, her back to the confrontation on the distant battlefield. But strange phenomena erupted there—the heavens and earth flipped, as if a ten-thousand-mile landscape painting were being casually folded, causing Han Yushu and that unfamiliar sword immortal to vanish from sight simultaneously, as if both had fallen into another cave heaven or blessed land, cut off from the world and disappearing without a trace.
Han Jiangshu truly felt a kind of fear. The life-and-death struggle between an immortal cultivator and a land-bound sword immortal was so perilous and unimaginable. Her father had almost never made a move within the Three Mountains Blessed Land. The times he had sparred in Dao techniques with old friends or visitors could be counted on one hand, and he never let outsiders know. Moreover, Han Yushu, who in Wanyao Sect's history possessed cultivation aptitude second only to the founding patriarch, seemed never to have "ascended" to wander the Haoran world.
Jiang Shangzhen sighed in admiration, "This sleeper's universe move, shaking it out so splendidly—even if I were in your shoes, I'd still fall into that pot of your father's gourd cave heaven trick. Looks like Patriarch Han, after hiding at the bottom of the pond for so many years as an old turtle, has learned quite a few superior Dao arts. Now that you've deigned to show your face, it seems you're indeed going all out, well-prepared. This ancestral painting of the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram should have been used to deal with other hostile immortals."
Jiang Shangzhen chuckled, bent down to pick up the wine flask at his feet, took a sip, and showed no intention of drawing his sword to break the heavenly restrictions. It was as if he hadn't even considered going to Chen Ping'an's aid. With a calm expression, he slowly said to Han Jiangshu, "I wasn't reminding a friend to be careful—that's unnecessary. I was just reminding myself that for the rest of my cultivation career, I must always be wary of cultivators like Han Yushu. And now I'll have to include a future Han Jiangshu as well. I need to apologize to you—I underestimated you earlier. Wait for it; after the storm settles, I'll take out half the patience I had when I returned your embroidered shoes back then, and have a proper game with your Wanyao Sect. Tongye Continent, even without some of its old-timers, is still not so easy to settle in."
Han Jiangshu just clenched that section of willow leaf tightly. The flying sword, with its sword energy circulating on its own, had already stripped the flesh from her hand, revealing bone—a gruesome sight.
"If the sword truly wants to leave, can you hold it?"
Jiang Shangzhen moved his mind slightly, recalling that willow leaf to hover before his eyes. He flicked it with his finger, as if disdainful of the blood from Sister Jiangshu staining his natal flying sword, showing a trace of reluctance.
Han Jiangshu tried to communicate with her father through secret heart-to-heart techniques, but it was futile. Indeed, he had dragged that sword immortal along with him into the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram.
Still, Han Jiangshu couldn't help but wonder: why would her father, so patient and forbearing, inexplicably want to fight to the death with a stranger sword immortal who had a close relationship with Taiping Mountain?
Jiang Shangzhen suddenly turned his head and said, "Yang Pu, you're a scholar. Teach me a more intimidating harsh word."
Yang Pu looked awkward but actually gave it serious thought, then said stiffly, "Anyway, the grudge is set; as soon as there's a chance, pick up a weapon and hit them from behind."
Jiang Shangzhen teased, "Not bad, not bad. Did you grow up in the mountains?"
Yang Pu was frank and actually nodded. "When I was little, kidnappers took me to the mountains. I stayed in a bandit's den for about half a month and learned a few rough phrases."
Jiang Shangzhen was pleasantly surprised. "Not bad at all! Survive a great disaster and you're bound to have good fortune. I'm the best example. Brother Yang Pu, later on, first become a gentleman and worthy man, then maybe a mountain head or a sage. Don't get too high and mighty then to look down on me and Mountain Lord Chen."
Yang Pu said helplessly, "Old Patriarch Jiang is joking. Aside from worthy man, I wouldn't dare think of the rest."
If not for this inexplicable encounter today, which felt like a dream to Yang Pu, he really couldn't have believed that Old Patriarch Jiang was such an interesting person—witty in speech and easy to get along with.
Jiang Shangzhen smiled, also helpless. He had probably spoken too many ghost stories and nonsense, so now when he said a few sincere words, nobody believed him. He was far inferior to Mountain Lord Chen in that regard.
Maybe that was why Chen Ping'an was the mountain lord and he was just an offering? At least he'd snagged the position of chief offering? Anyway, Tongye Continent was such a murky and chaotic mess. With Wei Ying in charge of the Yugui Sect, there wouldn't be any major problems. That kid was a smiling tiger, ruthless and cunning, no less than Jiang Shangzhen himself—more like a synthesis of Jiang Shangzhen and Old Man Xun. To be honest, Jiang Shangzhen had no regrets about voluntarily ceding his position to Wei Ying. It wasn't at all what the outside world imagined—Wei Ying staging a coup to seize the patriarch's position while Jiang Shangzhen was in seclusion healing. As for Jiang Shangzhen's 'melancholy' after 'emerging from seclusion,' that was deliberately put on. Wei Ying was an extremely clever junior; no hints were needed—he knew it well. From then on, he would naturally take better care of Jiang's Yunku Blessed Land.
So Jiang Shangzhen planned to find some excuse to follow Chen Ping'an back to Baoping Continent.
Yang Pu's thoughts drifted a bit. When he was little, in the bandit's den on the mountain, apart from inevitable scolding and beating, life was actually not bad. But in the end, the bandits thought he ate too much. No matter what—fish or meat—as long as it was put on the table, the starving ghost was better than the starving one. Especially the first meal; the child almost ate like it was New Year's, just eating furiously. Plus, his family was genuinely poor, couldn't afford the ransom, so they stuffed him back in a sack and threw him back. One old bandit, after untying the rope, kicked the sack and joked with the child, "You're so poor you're almost dead, and you're still babbling about scholarly honor? A few days of reading and you've lost your mind. Read a few more books and you'll be aiming to be a provincial graduate."
In the end, Yang Pu, who came out of a rural village school, passed the top scholar examination at eighteen.
Even while studying at the academy, Yang Pu occasionally thought back to those mountain days and felt grateful to that old bandit who had spoken those careless words.
Jiang Shangzhen pointed at Han Jiangshu and said, "Yang Pu, when you become an academy gentleman or worthy man in the future, don't learn to be as clever as them."
Yang Pu shook his head. "Can't learn that."
Jiang Shangzhen smiled. "Then think about it more in the future, take it as a warning."
Yang Pu nodded. "I will. Reading itself can resolve doubts—use the past to interpret the present, use the distant to interpret the near, use events in books to interpret people outside books."
Han Jiangshu, already past caring, spat at Jiang Shangzhen and said contemptuously, "And where are you, Jiang Shangzhen, any better? Notorious and infamous, the heartless seed of the Yugui Sect, the butcher of Yunku Blessed Land. Do you really think that with enough war merits, you can change your face and become a hero? When people praise you to your face with polite words, do you take it seriously? Do you need me to 'enlighten' Old Patriarch Jiang on what they say behind your back?"
Jiang Shangzhen rolled his eyes and fanned the air with his hand, slapping that immortal's spit onto the face of an earthly immortal gate god, saying, "Daoist friend, no need to thank me." Then, with a flick of his finger, he sent Han Jiangshu flying and knocked her unconscious.
Actually, Jiang Shangzhen was also very curious why Han Yushu had suddenly turned hostile. A Luopo Mountain, barely known even on Baoping Continent, or the name Chen Ping'an—neither should have made Han Yushu develop murderous intent, to the death. That Chen Ping'an had been the final Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall—news of that, on the present Haoran world, apart from the Central Earth Confucian Temple, few cultivators knew. For one thing, the Sword Qi Great Wall had long been isolated. Inverted Mountain and cross-continent ferry ships only knew that the new Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall was a young man in whom Chen Qingdu placed great hopes. Over the years, occasional rumors quietly circulated among the peak cultivators—all vague and flowery words: genius sword cultivator, astonishing brilliance, talent chasing after Ning Yao, appearing out of nowhere, 'well-mannered,' good with an abacus, kind to others, appearing a few times at the Spring Breeze Pavilion on Inverted Mountain, peerless elegance...
Plus, the sword immortals returning to various continents from the Sword Qi Great Wall either didn't like talking about old times with friends back home, or when they did mention it, they all without exception intentionally bypassed that Hidden Officer, as if they had an unspoken agreement or had received certain reminders from the Summer Palace on the Sword Qi Great Wall.
The only relatively certain statement came from the Sword Qi Great Wall's native grand sword immortal Lu Zhi, who said that young Hidden Officer really got along best with the old sword immortal, could be considered half his lineage, and that the Hidden Officer was no outsider but one of their own from the Sword Qi Great Wall.
If Han Yushu didn't know Chen Ping'an was the Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall, there was no reason for him to behave like a reckless old bastard who cared about face but not his life, going straight to life-or-death. Even if Han Yushu did know Chen Ping'an was the Hidden Officer, there was even less reason to tear up all pretense and gamble the entire Wanyao Sect's thousand-year enterprise. If he won, wouldn't the Three Mountains Blessed Land still end up losing everything? Just consider Jiang Shangzhen himself—would he let Wanyao Sect off easily afterward?
Jiang Shangzhen had actually been calculating the time. Once that moment passed and Chen Ping'an still couldn't escape that ancestral Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram, he would draw his sword to save him.
As for whether it would diminish his Dao cultivation or shorten his lifespan—he couldn't care less. There was nothing to weigh in gains and losses. One lived in this world for satisfaction. This wasn't something Jiang Shangzhen just decided today; it had always been his way.
Just as Han Jiangshu had said, Jiang Shangzhen admitted he was no hero or gallant man. He had a terrible reputation, wandered through flower gardens, caused trouble everywhere, and acted tyrannically in Yunku Blessed Land.
He only frolicked in the mortal world, betraying countless true hearts.
Inside the painted realm.
Chen Ping'an and Han Yushu still hovered in place, but the thirty-step distance had become like the ends of the earth, thanks to an immortal's divine power combined with the painted realm.
Chen Ping'an looked around. Besides the earlier talisman restrictions, there was now an even vaster, boundless white-ink painted realm trapping him. Within this painted landscape, five ancient mountains towered between heaven and earth. Additionally, there were nine rivers flowing silent and deep, and eight great rivers with surging currents—a scene of myriad manifestations, with endless Dao intent.
Chen Ping'an sighed, slightly annoyed, "What is Fellow Daoist Han doing? Earlier, Wanyao Sect's hospitality was already sincere enough. When I said I wanted to ask Wanyao Sect about swordsmanship, it was just a moment of anger. Why must Fellow Daoist Han move mountains and shift waters, truly bringing half of Wanyao Sect over? Before the fight even starts, there's already a loss of over a hundred Grain Rain coins. Who's supposed to pay for that? Fellow Daoist Han, your step is too big. When the dust settles and you want to backtrack and find a way to save face, a simple 'Fellow Daoist Chen's swordsmanship is divine' won't settle things."
Han Yushu's expression was gloomy, seemingly even more furious than Chen Ping'an. "Chen Ping'an, with your level of cultivation, this matter today could have been settled properly."
This immortal didn't need to send his yin spirit wandering far. Within his own small realm, the goddess hidden in the clouds earlier was clearly some ancient deity of the cloud master type—an illusory manifestation of some Great Dao. Now her form was clearer and more stable, her golden eyes purer, her cloud mounds as large as small hills. She seemed like a cultivator's golden body dharma form, holding a small mallet to strike a cloud chime, her ribbons fluttering. Each strike on the cloud mound created a sea of clouds in the heavens, with lightning and thunder, and faint dragons swimming within.
A golden lightning whip suddenly blasted out of the cloud sea, changing trajectory several times as it crashed toward Chen Ping'an.
Chen Ping'an didn't even lift a hand. His fist intent flowed like a divine being protecting him on all sides, facing that goddess like two ancient deities reuniting after ten thousand years, using divine way against divine way.
The lightning hit his fist force and shattered, and a golden rain fell around Chen Ping'an.
Cloud thunder formations surrounded Chen Ping'an, constructing a natural execution platform. The cloud chime had twelve gongs, so there were twelve cloud mounds imbued with thunder intent, and each of the twelve thunderclouds had a golden thread connecting to the cloud chime.
Chen Ping'an remained floating in the wind, standing still, letting twelve golden bolts of lightning bombard him continuously. The goddess struck the cloud chime faster and faster, making the twelve lightning whips from the thunderclouds straighter and more direct, with no interval between spells. Yet Chen Ping'an didn't budge. His fist intent poured out, forming a perfect circle, like a person inside a bright moon.
Chen Ping'an laughed. "Fellow Daoist Han, why not let this sister eat her fill before beating the drum?"
The young sword immortal in the green shirt—for a dozen or so miles around, besides the twelve dense rivers of lightning, all was scattered electric light weaving into a net.
Chen Ping'an pressed his thumb against the narrow saber Zhan Kan at his waist, pushed it out of the sheath a few inches, then slowly pushed it back in, looking thoroughly bored. He clicked his tongue. "Too bad this Cloud Commanding Goddess has lost her consciousness. If she dared to commit such an act of rebellion, it would be a violation of heavenly law, and the consequences would be severe."
Han Yushu sneered. "Rebellion? Who do you think you are?"
A dark green blade light flashed between the lightning gaps.
Chen Ping'an finally drew his saber, casually slashing diagonally downward and sent the dharma blade Qingxia crashing to the ground.
The dharma blade Qingxia paused a thousand feet away, then vanished again. Chen Ping'an turned sideways, blocking with his narrow saber Zhan Kan in front of him. Qingxia first shattered the moon-like vast fist intent, struck the Zhan Kan blade, and Chen Ping'an stepped back one pace while raising his arm to politely see off that unpredictable dharma blade.
A mountain inverted like a giant flying sword came down. Chen Ping'an held the saber in his right hand and made a fist with his left, sending a punch toward the crushing mountain.
The mountain cracked and collapsed.
Four more mountains fell in succession, their "tips" aimed at Chen Ping'an.
Han Yushu laughed. "Does this count as asking swordsmanship from Fellow Daoist Chen?"
Chen Ping'an sent two more punches in succession. With each punch, he shattered a mountain and descended a dozen or so zhang.
But Chen Ping'an still had the leisure to speak. "What, does Fellow Daoist Han want to determine my martial realm?"
"Fellow Daoist Chen reminds me."
Han Yushu performed a foot ritual and hand seal. Where Chen Ping'an stood, all mountain and river spiritual energy was drained completely. Not only that, but within both layers of realm restrictions, the spiritual energy along with the feng shui fortune was all swallowed into Han Yushu's belly.
Clearly, he intended to strip the realm into a "lawless place"—the thing qi cultivators feared most—and then absorb spiritual energy, building momentum. This would both drain Chen Ping'an's qi cultivation and allow Han Yushu to fight long-term, unleashing several of the Three Mountains Blessed Land's most pressing divine skills—killing two birds with one stone. After Bai Ye's battle in Fuyang Continent, many peak cultivators on the Haoran world had carefully deduced and reconstructed the situation. In the end, they had to admit that Wenhai Zhoumi's "clumsy method" was actually the best—and only viable—approach.
But such peak-level battles were extremely hard to replicate; the threshold was too high. Even imitating a fraction was incredibly difficult.
Yet today, Han Yushu had the advantage of time, place, and harmony, and could follow the example. He didn't have Wenhai Zhoumi's heaven-and-earth Great Dao method, but this young man was no Bai Ye either.
A Five Sacred Mountains talisman—five mountains.
When the second-to-last mountain came crashing down, Chen Ping'an habitually threw a punch, but only made the mountain shake slightly. The next moment, he was pressed into the earth by the mountain.
This mountain was extremely strange. It seemed to actively connect with the qi mechanisms of the person being suppressed, giving no chance for Chen Ping'an to escape using the shrinking earth technique. Man moved, mountain followed. This young man's reactions were fast enough, but in the end, he couldn't escape disaster.
Han Yushu smiled faintly. Being suppressed by a nearly real "Tai Mountain"—whether a limit-breaking martial artist or a sword immortal—was painful.
Han Yushu used sword techniques to write golden talismans on the mountain from afar, cliff carvings from summit to middle to base. Along one line was a golden text of authentic Three Mountains Dao formula. Han Yushu was continuously adding weight of Great Dao intent to this Tai Mountain, one of the Five Sacred Mountains. That mountain method Dao formula, only transmitted in the Three Mountains Blessed Land—if someone approached to look closely, the thin golden line Han Yushu had drawn would actually be a river flowing down from the summit.
Using a Tai Mountain as talisman paper, Immortal Han Yushu used the Three Mountains Dao formula as a secret talisman.
After the talisman was complete, the talisman Tai Mountain appeared even more majestic and imposing.
Han Yushu smiled carelessly. "You shouldn't have done it—you shouldn't have announced your name and let me know you're from Luopo Mountain, named Chen Ping'an."
The root of the Tai Mountain talisman had already connected to the white-drawn landscape scroll.
Han Yushu frowned slightly. Why was that guy making no move at all? The physique of a martial grandmaster definitely shouldn't be so... paper-thin.
At the foot of Tai Mountain, ripples spread faintly. Someone stepped out from the "gate"—it was Chen Ping'an himself. "This golden formula Dao technique, which should have been passed heart-to-heart only to the Three Mountains Blessed Land patriarch, I'll take it, thank you."
Han Yushu didn't immediately withdraw the ancestral mountain authentic talisman that was extremely draining on spiritual energy. He even let Chen Ping'an continue studying the content of the Dao formula text.
He suspected it was a lifesaving illusion technique, meant to make him withdraw this mountain talisman.
Sure enough, the "Chen Ping'an" began to become illusory, his body starting to waver.
Chen Ping'an turned his head to look at Han Yushu. "Are you really set on killing me?"
Han Yushu smiled and nodded. "What else?"
Chen Ping'an looked back at the golden stream, sighed, and slowly rose on the wind. Following the example, he used his fingers as a sword seal, drawing a second mountain talisman from the foot to the summit.
Compared to Han Yushu's talisman, which formed a thick golden stream, Chen Ping'an's first attempt was crooked and messy, a strange sight, and the golden formula line was as thin as a small ditch. But it made Han Yushu's expression change. Whether a talisman cultivator's drawing is just a ghostly scrawl to make people laugh, or an immortal pointing the way to scare ghosts, is actually simple—it depends on whether the talisman is completed. Incomplete, it's just random branches wasting spiritual energy and paper. Completed, it's a talisman's essence, differing only in grade. And that green-shirted person, after rising to the summit height, actually managed to draw an extremely difficult Three Mountains Talisman.
Han Yushu's expression alternated between overcast and clear. "Before today, you must have encountered some branch of the Three Mountains Talisman! The one who taught you talisman arts, the opening leader, must be a talisman grandmaster!"
Chen Ping'an looked at the golden ditch as it suddenly vanished, feeling quite satisfied. He turned and nodded. "If I say it, I'm afraid it would scare an immortal's guts out. Oh, but you probably have a guess already. You people who like to pull strings behind the scenes—not only are your realms high, but your brains are pretty good too. Much harder to deal with than Zhengyang Mountain or Qingfeng City. Yes, much, much harder. Hard is good—otherwise, having learned all these eighteen martial arts, wouldn't it be a waste?"
Han Yushu still dared not withdraw the Three Mountains Talisman, and that fellow simply turned around and continued studying the details of that talisman.
For the first time, Han Yushu hesitated.
Would he really have to expend the remaining broken golden body of that ancient deity? This ancient being was Han Yushu's future opportunity to achieve the flying ascension realm.
Killing this young man would mean the Three Mountains Blessed Land could never establish a sect openly in the Haoran world. Han Yushu could actually accept that—Wanyao Sect's honor and survival were far less important than his own breakthrough, going further beyond the current peak. After the great war, flying ascension realm cultivators in the Haoran world had decreased considerably, so every new one would gain a bit more of the intangible Great Dao fortune.
If he let this deity, equivalent to half a flying ascension realm, dissipate in exchange for the merit of killing Chen Ping'an, Han Yushu truly was unwilling and couldn't bear it. For an immortal to try and reach that carefree flying ascension realm—how arduous was it? Especially when a easily obtained Great Dao opportunity turned into a near hopeless hope, leaving him in the same position as ordinary immortal realm cultivators, where every closed cultivation session is like walking through the gates of hell—this tortured Han Yushu's Dao heart even more.
Chen Ping'an clapped his hands and laughed. "I get it, I get it. Fellow Daoist Han and that sneaky fellow from Zhengyang Mountain are of the same kind. They can tolerate a Luopo Mountain martial artist named Chen Ping'an making a temple in a snail shell, unlikely to amount to much. But they cannot tolerate a returning man with the title of Hidden Officer, fearing I'll settle accounts after autumn, pull up a radish and bring out the mud. What if one day I sweep them all away? Wouldn't that be capsizing in a ditch? Fellow Daoist Han, am I right or not?"
Han Yushu's expression returned to normal. "Things have come to this, Fellow Daoist Chen, don't bother with verbal probes. It's meaningless."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "If having control over these two realms could let Fellow Daoist Han elevate a realm and fight as a flying ascension cultivator against an enemy, I'd immediately admit defeat, apologize, and pay up to buy peace."
Han Yushu's expression was intriguing as he slowly said, "The deadly knot can indeed be untied, and it won't cost a single coin."
Chen Ping'an followed up. "As long as I join you?"
Han Yushu laughed loudly. "Worthy of being the Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall!"
Han Yushu finally withdrew that Tai Mountain.
Underneath Tai Mountain, a dusty, disheveled "Chen Ping'an" sat up, laughing heartily. With a flicker, he moved.
The hovering Chen Ping'an was about to use the shrinking earth technique to meet him halfway.
Tai Mountain appeared again out of thin air, crashing to the ground with a thunderous noise.
Chen Ping'an stopped in his tracks, helpless. "Alright, alright, I won't tease Fellow Daoist Han anymore."
He snapped his fingers, and a natal flying sword brought up slight ripples as it returned to his natal acupoint.
Han Yushu's eyes gleamed. "Great fortune, great fortune! No wonder you could be the Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall. You've indeed nurtured two natal flying swords, each with its own divine power. The first can transform into thousands of swords; the current one can silently create small realms. Combine the powers of both swords, and you're truly unmatched within the same realm... But there is one chance—interesting, interesting. It seems that Fellow Daoist Liu Cai, one of the same ten youths, with his natal flying swords 'Heart's Affairs' and 'Immediately,' just happen to counter the Hidden Officer's two? No matter. As long as the Hidden Officer sincerely joins our camp, first untie today's deadly knot. Surely such a death trap can be resolved as well."
"If you're willing to discuss reason, everything is negotiable—that's always been my principle in walking the jianghu."
Chen Ping'an nodded, stepped heavenward higher, glanced at the female form of the ancient deity, then withdrew his gaze and smiled. "No wonder Fellow Daoist Han acted so rashly—you were betting big to win big. If you win me over and turn Luopo Mountain from foe to friend, at least half of the goodwill the Sword Qi Great Wall left in the Haoran world can be used by you."
Han Yushu clasped his hands behind his back, holding two stacked scroll shafts. This Wanyao Sect immortal's eyes were filled with undisguised admiration. "Chen Ping'an, you are a very strange person. After becoming the Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall, Inverted Mountain and the cross-continent ferries are full of illusions and chaos, impossible to get a handle on. Even we had to spend considerable effort, cautiously gathering intelligence from all sides, and it wasn't until recent years that we managed to determine your true identity. No wonder some say that Luopo Mountain's Chen Ping'an surviving the Pearl Draining Grotto isn't scary; becoming the Hidden Officer of the Sword Qi Great Wall isn't scary; being one of the ten youths still isn't scary. The only scary thing is how Luopo Mountain's Chen Ping'an of Baoping Continent could step by step become the Chen Ping'an of the Sword Qi Great Wall. Luck? Opportunity? Fate? Intelligence? Temperament? It seems that when everything adds up, any mistake would have prevented you from becoming who you are today. Chen Ping'an, do you really think I don't know that you reached the limit from the mountain peak realm? I just pretended not to know. The Hidden Officer's eleventh on the list is clearly a ninth-level martial artist. The reason I've been so patient with you is that I sincerely hope that from today on, I can call you 'Fellow Daoist Chen' and you can call me 'Fellow Daoist Han'—all from the bottom of my heart. Truly, we are fellow travelers on the same path. Rest assured, with your intelligence and position, it won't take many years before I'll have to sincerely call you 'Senior Chen' or 'Great Sword Immortal Chen.'"
Chen Ping'an asked suspiciously, "Has Fellow Daoist Han never considered the possibility that we might not come to an agreement, and that I might escape? Shouldn't you know even better that the very fact I could return alive to the Haoran world is itself a 'what if'? In your eyes, my whole life is about dodging these 'what ifs' while becoming certain 'what ifs'."
Han Yushu smiled. "We mountain folk have our own Dao methods to entertain the Hidden Officer. There will be no slip-ups. Spending money to avoid disaster and guard against the 'what if'—surely the Hidden Officer, young and in a high position, doesn't think only he can deal with 'what ifs'?"
Chen Ping'an laughed but spoke of something off-topic. "Last time I returned home from the Sword Qi Great Wall, a friend of mine said something after drinking. It was just drunk talk, but at the time, my two good friends had poor capacity for alcohol—one probably wouldn't remember saying it, and the other was face-down on the table snoring, so he didn't hear it. My friend said that the Sword Qi Great Wall is a place of clear enmity and gratitude, a land of vengeance and settlements, by no means a den of filth and evil."
Han Yushu sneered. "Does the Hidden Officer mean there's nothing to talk about?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Fellow Daoist Han, your mouth is full of shit. Lucky we're far apart, so none of it splashed on me."
Han Yushu sighed. "Then don't blame me for being ruthless. It's just a pity to waste a Wanyao Sect ancestral legacy."
Since that was the case, he would have to find another way to establish an independent sect. Killing Chen Ping'an would have huge aftereffects—such a mess. Just to clean up the aftermath, so that he could change his appearance and reappear on some continent of the Haoran world in the future, would waste half the merit of killing the Hidden Officer. As for Wanyao Sect and the Three Mountains Blessed Land, without much thought, they would have to continue closing their doors and hiding from the world for at least a few hundred years.
As Han Yushu spoke, his fingers twisted the scroll shafts behind his back. The large sleeves of his dharma robe rustled. Clearly, even as an immortal realm cultivator, even within these two realms where he played the role of the lord of heaven, this was not easy.
Because it was the great divine power of reversing the river of time.
After this, the Hidden Officer, who had only returned to the Haoran world after years away, would have to face an immortal and half a flying ascension realm alone, relying only on his martial body and two flying swords.
A moment later, Han Yushu looked at the young man, who seemed slightly dazed, with a complex expression. Young—too young. So young it made others jealous.
Time reversed. The two stood facing each other again from afar.
The young man seemed to sense something wrong, immediately reached out as if cupping water, gently shaking a ball of water energy in his hand. He lowered his head to concentrate, then suddenly looked up, enraged. "Han Yushu, you can alter the river of time?! What did you do just now? What did you say?!"
Really quite cautious—noticed the anomaly so quickly.
Han Yushu gave back in kind with a mocking smile. "Guess?"
Chen Ping'an suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Does Fellow Daoist Han mean there's nothing to talk about?"
Han Yushu's heart trembled.
"Paper immortal, nothing more."
Chen Ping'an shook his head, looking at that immortal with pity. "Your methods are tens of thousands of miles behind Wenhai Zhoumi's. Let me take you to a good place."
The next moment, Han Yushu found himself inside two layers of realm restrictions: one layer was a small sword qi realm. Han Yushu couldn't bother to be surprised, because in an instant, this young man gave him back the same treatment. A grand immortal realm cultivator was actually forcibly torn out a bit of his heart-mind, involuntarily dragged to a mountain peak outside.
And the bit of Chen Ping'an's heart-mind that had been left here—after his true body brought Han Yushu to this place, it seemed to have played a trick on someone. It shot forward like a rainbow, as if being chased by a fourteenth-realm cultivator, fleeing madly. But it still took a punch to the head and was thrown out of the realm.
Han Yushu sensed something was wrong. Then he felt as if the weight of the entire Haoran world had been pressed down on him alone. He only heard a majestic voice like a great bell, resounding through heaven and earth, completely shattering that bit of Han Yushu's heart-mind, as well as all his other soul fragments. Outside the realm, his golden core and nascent soul also turned to powder, leaving only a walking corpse of flesh.
In his dying moments, Immortal Han Yushu heard only four words in his life: "Ant, still stupid."
Inside the painted realm, Chen Ping'an, beaten until blood flowed from his seven orifices—almost having his head split open—first steadied his mind and stood. He witnessed with his own eyes that within his flying sword "Cage Sparrow," the "Han Yushu" had a bundle of threads instantly snap and dissipate. That being on the mountain peak had, with one punch, made Immortal Han Yushu's karma and fate patterns vanish? Seeing this, Chen Ping'an was greatly relieved. Now he could prioritize profit over life. Without bothering to wipe off the blood, he quickly reached out and grabbed the two scroll shafts that had slipped from "Han Yushu"'s hands. Spreading the scrolls with both hands, about a hundred zhang apart, Chen Ping'an began to guide the landscape somewhat clumsily, following secret records and techniques from the Summer Palace archives, along with some talisman insights from years of studying the "True Tracts of the Cinnabar Book" on the city wall, plus the Great Dao benefit from the earlier Three Mountains talisman. He operated the landscape and two natal objects, acting as proxy for Fellow Daoist Han, presiding over the circulation of the Five Mountains and rivers' fortune, so the landscape scroll wouldn't leak to Han Jiangshu's side. Meanwhile, he took a measured amount of spiritual energy to replenish his five-element natal objects. In his own small human realm, all his natal qi mansions and those mountain-like storages were like parched land receiving sweet rain, finally able to feast without worry.
Chen Ping'an, after all, was performing an immortal-level feat for the first time, and it was very chaotic. Suddenly he flicked his toe upward, bringing a natal object that had burst from "Han Yushu"'s body under his control. It was that dharma blade Qingxia that nearly cut off his head. Chen Ping'an immediately stored it in his dharma robe's sleeve. Freed up in both hands, he had more to do. He reached out again and captured an ancestral mountain talisman that was about to merge into the landscape scroll on its own, storing it like Qingxia in his inner robe's sleeve universe. If any of Fellow Daoist Han's 'comrades' later tried to deduce his cause of death, spending a great effort to calculate the heavenly secrets, Chen Ping'an wouldn't mind if their minds crashed into a 'relic site,' like being on a battlefield where the Sword Qi Great Wall and the Barbarian world's luck was entangled and confused. To find Chen Ping'an bearing his true name, they might have to continuously unravel threads, encountering the Dragon Lord, 'Lu Fayan,' or even the old sword immortal, and have some 'interesting conversations'...
Oh my, this immortal's family assets really were a lot—so busy, every treasure heavy in hand!
This experience of picking up junk over and over, like a burden-laden monk, was quite similar to when he sparred with Li Zhen and 'took the good and stopped.'
Too bad Immortal Han's dimensional item, along with the seven or eight high-grade natal objects that glowed with treasure light—since his soul, golden core, and nascent soul had all shattered—none could be kept. Well, well, at least the fat water didn't flow into outsiders' fields. It all turned into heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, staying in the painted realm. In the end, Chen Ping'an held the two scrolls, ready to withdraw the landscape realm.
As for the cloud mound where that deity puppet had hidden itself, the dharma blade Qingxia, the two fundamental mountain-water talismans of Wanyao Sect's ancestral mountain, a purple-red gourd warming the samadhi true fire... all were already in Chen Ping'an's dharma robe sleeves. He still didn't dare to casually put them into his dimensional item or his flying sword "Fifteen." This sleeve universe skill was free to use—truly the first natal divine skill of a burden-laden monk.
Chen Ping'an's shoulder suddenly tilted. The sleeves really were heavy.
He couldn't help sighing: more paper immortals like this, the merrier!
As for why that being on the mountain summit had left a shell of Han Yushu's body, Chen Ping'an didn't need to guess. It was a promise from that being after hearing his answer.
But Chen Ping'an's earlier request was that he himself must withstand the punch of the eleventh realm. He couldn't die from that punch, nor miss the moment and die under Han Yushu's techniques.
That being on the mountain summit had agreed to it.
Otherwise, if the summit had been closed to visitors, Chen Ping'an, even as a flying ascension realm cultivator, wouldn't have been able to bring a bit of Han Yushu's heart-mind there.
As for what the eleventh realm's punch was, any limit-breaking martial artist would know at a glance. Because the current Han Yushu himself was a boxing manual.
Chen Ping'an had killed two birds with one stone.
Back at Taiping Mountain, just as Jiang Shangzhen was about to get up, he heard a heart-to-heart message. He immediately sat back down on the steps, flicked his finger to obey that cunning... brilliant mountain lord's instructions. He woke Han Jiangshu, but wasn't in a hurry to chat with her.
Then Jiang Shangzhen fixed the souls of the two earth-immortal gate gods. Some private matters with Sister Jiangshu—having two rough men overhear would spoil the mood.
A moment later.
Han Jiangshu was not restrained, her movements unimpeded, but she still didn't dare to move. She grew more anxious, standing with her back to Taiping Mountain, not knowing the outcome of the immortal-versus-sword-immortal fight.
About half an incense stick later, a figure holding a saber flew straight down from the sky, breaking through the realm's restrictions, crashing violently into the earth. The impact was so great it seemed like an earth-ox turning over, and the man even dropped his narrow saber elsewhere.
Han Jiangshu was relieved, but her heart-to-heart messages kept landing empty. She still couldn't find her father.
Jiang Shangzhen immediately stood up. A section of willow leaf hovered near the large crater, like a guardian.
A green-shirted figure, covered in blood, staggered out of the crater. He put away his narrow saber Zhan Kan, raised an arm to wipe his face, then touched his toe and used the shrinking earth technique to directly arrive at the mountain gate.
Jiang Shangzhen's expression was solemn. "Han Yushu?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "In the end, he couldn't bear to part with that Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram. It's completely reduced to a wasteland of hills and rivers. Otherwise, the fight could have gone on."
Jiang Shangzhen nodded and asked, "Where is he now?"
Actually, Jiang Shangzhen was very curious. That tactic of being thrown out of the "painted realm" was probably Chen Ping'an's own finale, meaning Han Yushu definitely hadn't gained any advantage. But the severe injury on Chen Ping'an's head, and the shaking of all his qi mansions as a qi cultivator—none of that could be faked. Their Mountain Lord Chen was indeed seriously wounded. So why had Han Yushu disappeared? If Chen Ping'an had killed this man, Jiang Shangzhen really couldn't believe it. By common reasoning, having activated the protective treasure of the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Diagram, Han Yushu should have been invincible.
Damn this Jiang Shangzhen, his acting was really genuine! Back then, why had he been so bewitched as to agree to let him enter Luopo Mountain as an offering? He'd ruin Luopo Mountain's simple and honest atmosphere.
In the future, he especially needed to keep Cao Qinglang away from him.
Chen Ping'an turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Just as he was about to speak, he reached up to hold his forehead, cursed, flicked his sleeve, and several talismans flew out, rotating slowly around Han Jiangshu, causing the surrounding landscape to become hazy, preventing her from seeing or hearing the scene and conversation at the mountain gate. If she dared to use her technique of observing mountains and rivers from a distance under the noses of two sword immortals, then perhaps this sword immortal surnamed Chen wouldn't mind using her head as bait.
Chen Ping'an sat down on the steps and said softly, "Let's not talk about him for now. I need to heal quickly. If you hadn't been guarding here, I'd be finished today. Damn Wanyao Sect, Immortal Han Yushu—I'll remember this. Han Yushu is very likely hiding in the shadows, Patriarch Jiang, keep an eye out. If you can take him out, do it. When the time comes, put all this bad debt on me. He's already the founding patriarch of Wanyao Sect. But I, your Dao master, have backing—I have more than one senior master! Last time my friend Huai Qian had trouble in Beiju Luzhou, I laughed at him for being too careless. Damn, this time it's my turn. Our ancestral hall almost needed to light a life lamp. Anyway, this isn't over!"
Jiang Shangzhen was extremely impressed.
His mountain lord's tone and expression were a perfect imitation of a celestial master from a large sect who had suffered grievances.
Probably because the young mountain lord had dealt with too many such people? So he'd learned to imitate them perfectly.
And that "your Dao master" remark was the finishing touch.
Jiang Shangzhen suddenly made a throat-slitting gesture and whispered, "How about?"
Chen Ping'an hesitated, not even glancing at Han Jiangshu, and shook his head. "Don't rush. No need to completely fall out with Wanyao Sect yet. One man, one deed. I can't drag Patriarch Jiang into this. Wait, your Dao master will have his own methods. Without drawing a single sword, I'll waltz right into the Three Mountains Blessed Land and they'll kowtow and apologize."
While speaking aloud, Chen Ping'an was actually chatting with Jiang Shangzhen via heart-to-heart in a very calm tone, but every statement sent tidal waves crashing through Jiang Shangzhen's mind.
"Han Yushu is already dead—dead as dead can be. Most of his precious immortal artifacts are in my pocket."
"I didn't kill him myself. I truly couldn't. Only chance could let me exchange a realm drop for his life. The reason I could kill him was by taking advantage. I can't go into detail, but I can tell you one thing: this is my first time taking an outsider along the reverse river of time, plus I withstood a punch equivalent to... the eleventh realm. So I'm seriously injured. The injury is real, but not a problem—it's a good thing."
"That trip, retracing my steps upstream along the river of time—and that was just along an existing path, taking a bit of Han Yushu's heart-mind—almost made me lose my mind. Before the flying ascension realm, doing such things... if possible, better not. Han Yushu's death is extremely concealed. I wouldn't say the entire Haoran world will never know, but certainly no one will detect it anytime soon. Han Yushu's own two small realms, plus the magical power of one of my flying swords, makes another realm—enough to obscure the heavenly secrets for years. Besides, I have a not-small welcoming gift waiting for some flying ascension cultivator from the other side to come collect. So when they discover the truth, I'll have some sense of it. Around that time, we should meet and have a chat."
Yang Pu suddenly whispered, "Two seniors, that Han Jiangshu seems to be spying on your conversation."
Because Sword Immortal Senior Chen was too injured to use heart-to-heart with Old Patriarch Jiang, Yang Pu noticed that Han Jiangshu had been staring intently, roughly judging the content of their words by their lip movements.
Chen Ping'an immediately turned his head and stared at Han Jiangshu.
Jiang Shangzhen, without waiting for Chen Ping'an to say more, cupped his hands toward the sky somewhere and laughed, "Patriarch Han leaving already? Not taking Sister Jiangshu along? A woman of such beauty, falling into my hands—her reputation might suffer. Why not have Patriarch Han join me and Fellow Daoist Chen back to Shenzhuan Peak? Some small misunderstandings can be cleared up."
Between their casual conversation, the fate of Wanyao Sect and the Three Mountains Blessed Land hung in the balance.
Chen Ping'an hadn't imagined this scene before. Jiang Shangzhen had imagined it, just not so soon.
Han Jiangshu said solemnly, "I'll stay here. Accompanying Old Patriarch Jiang on a trip to Shenzhuan Peak is no problem."
This statement was clearly directed at Han Yushu.
Although Han Jiangshu had never been able to detect her father's presence, she wasn't too surprised. If she could find traces of an immortal, the two sword immortals on the steps would only find him sooner. If Jiang Shangzhen went mad, who wouldn't he dare kill? That must be one reason her father showed mercy to that Daoist sword immortal. This biggest mad dog of Tongye Continent would bite anyone! During the great battle, Jiang Shangzhen had personally faced throne-level great demons like Crimson Consort, Yuan Shou, and the sword immortal Shou Chen who replaced a throne, plus the great demon Zhong Guang who had faced off against the mountain forces for years. This demon, too, had been elevated to a high throne position in the Barbarian world in the later stages of the war.
What truly made Han Jiangshu wary was the Daoist sword immortal's words after the battle ended today. He had addressed Jiang Shangzhen as "Patriarch Jiang," while Jiang Shangzhen had repeatedly called him "my friend" or "brother." This was more troublesome than "your Dao master," because it was obvious that one term carried a hint of distance while the other bordered on flattery. This meant the Daoist sword immortal surnamed Chen came from a sect that was even more colossal than the Yugui Sect... But Luopo Mountain? Chen Ping'an?
Han Jiangshu suddenly fainted again, forced into a mysterious state where both body and mind were still.
Jiang Shangzhen's willow leaf, capable of slaying immortals, had more than just killing power—its mysteries were endless. Unfortunately, those who had been Jiang Shangzhen's enemies mostly couldn't speak to tell of that willow leaf's uncanny powers.
Why was Jiang Shangzhen so wary of the Baidi City lord, even more so than of the Dragon Tiger Mountain grand celestial master? Naturally, because Jiang Shangzhen and Zheng Juzhong were of the same kind on certain matters, and Jiang Shangzhen admitted he was inferior in skill, a junior.
First taking the liberty of freezing Han Jiangshu's mind and soul, Jiang Shangzhen said via heart-to-heart, "The name 'Luopo Mountain's Chen Ping'an' has already been spoken. Han Jiangshu may be a bit dull, but she's not stupid beyond cure. Eventually, she'll figure it out. So there's a little trouble. Want me to solve it for you?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "What else? I was waiting for you to say that. Get it done, and we can talk about chief offering."
Jiang Shangzhen said, "You're the mountain lord. Who becomes chief offering is just a word from you."
Chen Ping'an couldn't help but laugh and curse, "Bullshit! My Luopo Mountain is no one-man show."
Jiang Shangzhen tossed him a flask of wine. "While Sister Jiangshu is sleeping soundly, let's have a drink first."
Han Yushu and Han Jiangshu, this father-daughter pair of the fifth realm and above, running into Chen Ping'an and Jiang Shangzhen, this mountain lord and offering pair—truly they hadn't burned incense or checked the almanac before leaving.
That's why mountain cultivation requires refining the heart, and one cannot skip the trials of the mortal world.
Chen Ping'an suddenly said, "I had my reasons for killing Han Yushu. It's not just about Wanyao Sect eyeing Taiping Mountain."
Jiang Shangzhen smiled. "That's distant, isn't it? Hurts the feelings."
Chen Ping'an reached out and patted Jiang Shangzhen's arm but said nothing.
Jiang Shangzhen patted the back of Chen Ping'an's hand and smiled. "Does Jiang Shangzhen need anyone's pity? That would be too pathetic. Not necessary."
Chen Ping'an nodded and began to drink.
A willow leaf that slew immortals.
Now only a section remains.
In his early years, Jiang Shangzhen deliberately suppressed his realm at the jade pendant realm bottleneck for many years, just to avoid being caught by Old Man Xun to do work under the excuse of "the capable do more." In terms of cultivation aptitude, Jiang Shangzhen was truly excellent—otherwise, as a youth, he wouldn't have been considered the future mountain lord of Nine Chess Peak. If he hadn't eventually failed to take that seat, there wouldn't have been so much schadenfreude.
Simple logic: if he had no qualifications to occupy Shenzhuan Peak, what meaning would others' gloating have? It was precisely because the cooked duck flew away that Jiang Shangzhen, who had sat at the table with chopsticks for so many years, was worth laughing at.
Xun Yuan's methods of controlling people were also excellent, yet he showed special favor to Jiang Shangzhen, who wasn't his disciple, even allowing Yunku Blessed Land to become like a vassal state. Even after Wei Ying succeeded as patriarch, he still held Jiang Shangzhen in awe—not just because if they were enemies, Wei Ying still had very little chance of winning. But because everything Jiang Shangzhen had done was something Wei Ying sincerely envied and admired. For example, when Wei Ying was patriarch of Zhenjing Sect, the chief offering Liu Laocheng, even after Xun Yuan's death, could make an immortal realm cultivator of wild origin genuinely fear someone—that was Jiang Shangzhen, the first patriarch of Zhenjing Sect, who had spent a few years wandering and playing in Shujian Lake. Wei Ying knew well that as long as Jiang Shangzhen remained a registered celestial master of the Yugui Sect, even if he gave up the seat of Yunku Blessed Land's master, no one in the Tongye Continent Yugui Sect or its Baoping Continent branch, Zhenjing Sect, would dare to rebel or challenge authority. They wouldn't even dare to have such thoughts—from Liu Laocheng, to Liu Zhimao, to Li Fuqu, all were the same.
The only reason Wei Ying had no resentment was simple: Wei Ying had already regarded the flying ascension realm as something in his pocket. Not ambition, but truth.
Jiang Shangzhen's thoughts, words, celestial bearing, money-making skills, spending habits, and each crucial decision—were always too... ethereal.
At the most critical moment of the sect war, Jiang Shangzhen used a secret technique of the Yugui Sect, breaking a major taboo, to forcibly become a flying ascension realm.
It was a path similar to the old patriarch of Tongye Sect, with similar consequences—both were forced realm ascensions at great cost. His originally extremely stable cultivator's bridge of longevity was thoroughly severed at the bridgehead after the realm drop. Subsequent cultivation would only go to the dead end, wandering in place. It was as if he were only a few steps from the flying ascension realm, but it had become a gap he could never cross in his lifetime.
So once the situation was settled, Jiang Shangzhen retired and rarely appeared even in the Yugui Sect. For one thing, Jiang Shangzhen did need to go into seclusion for healing. For another, as Jiang Shangzhen put it, "After three years as master, even the dogs find him annoying." The situation in Tongye Continent was now chaotic—no longer the kind where both sides identified themselves and fought to the death with rolled-up sleeves. It was after the storm, survivors greeting each other on the surface with smiles and polite bowing, while hidden knives flashed in sleeves—cutting not to kill, but to bite off a profit. Otherwise, it was immortals like Han Yushu maneuvering behind the scenes.
In recent years, many celestial masters from Tongye Continent who had visited Shenzhuan Peak claimed to admire Old Patriarch Jiang's heroic spirit and deeply lamented his realm drop. But as soon as they turned around and drank with their own people, they'd talk until they couldn't stop smiling, wasting plenty of wine.
Jiang Shangzhen, however, never really felt stifled. He had the clearest self-awareness: on the path of cultivation, he had laughed at plenty of others. Whenever he got the chance, he would openly set up a feast to celebrate. Back then, the flying ascension realm grand cultivator of Tongye Continent, Du Mao, had been elevated to the position of "Revival Patriarch of the Yugui Sect"—wasn't that thanks to Jiang Shangzhen hosting a banquet on the sea of clouds in Tongye Sect territory to entertain friends from all directions?
And he wondered what others saw when they looked at the landscape of one continent. At least he himself couldn't bear to look too many times. A thousand miles of rivers and mountains like a chess game in ruins, a vast mind alone in sadness. He had to know that when Jiang Shangzhen scurried around accumulating battle merit, he had seriously looked at every inch of the continent. Now, if he looked again, what could he see? Ruins everywhere, countless graves, unburied corpses both on and off the mountains still scattered everywhere. Just look at Taiping Mountain—could he bear to look more?
Chen Ping'an cleaned his face and said, "Don't lose heart. Otherwise, you wouldn't be the Jiang Shangzhen I know. Take me, for example. I got to the mountain peak realm by dropping realms a dozen times and shattering my golden core again and again. Think of this as me rambling. You shouldn't need me to comfort you."
Jiang Shangzhen looked up at the sky. "Of course. Jiang Shangzhen, from the very first day he started cultivating, regarded the flying ascension realm as something in his hand. So I've never spent these recent years cultivating seriously."
He turned to Chen Ping'an, clinked their flasks lightly, and after each drank, wiped his mouth. Gazing into the distance, he smiled. "If not for your flying sword message, even if the Dragon Tiger Mountain grand celestial master came in person, I might not have seen him. Originally, I planned to heal up, then make a trip to Qushan Ferry, to play chess with Guaiyai, and search for a sword by Xu Jun's side."
Chen Ping'an stood up. "I'll go up the mountain alone for a bit."
Jiang Shangzhen waved his hand. "Mountain Lord, don't disturb my romantic affair with Sister Jiangshu."
After Chen Ping'an ascended the mountain, Jiang Shangzhen looked at that fifth-realm female cultivator who had yet to hear 'Luopo Mountain's Chen Ping'an.' He hadn't seen her in years—her realm had risen, and she had become less cute.
When he first met her, she was still a girl with faint melancholy, wanting to run away from home but not daring, her cheeks rosy like morning clouds, her eyes charming like autumn waves, and she carried the fragrance of plants from long dwelling in the mountains. She was truly cute when cute. After she wasn't cute, she truly was not cute at all.
Jiang Shangzhen stood up and stretched. The sky was high, the earth vast, his spirit fresh and clear.
He walked up to a golden core earth immortal whose soul and body were separated, and turned his head to ask, "Yang Pu, do you know this fellow's origin?"
Yang Pu shook his head. "I don't know. This man has been hiding all along. I never saw him."
Jiang Shangzhen rubbed his chin. The ruins of Taiping Mountain, with shattered landscape and scattered spiritual energy, had almost no fortune left. For a large sect like the Yugui Sect, setting aside morality, it was a bit of a chicken rib—not very valuable. But for sects like Wanyao Sect and Gold Summit Temple, or sect candidates, it was the first choice for a location. Because no matter how far it had fallen from its former glory, Taiping Mountain was still Taiping Mountain, with a territory spanning a thousand miles. With proper management, even if they took it as-is, for any sect to invest several thousand Grain Rain coins in such a geomantically blessed location, with proper management and enough money, within at most two or three hundred years, temples could be built, mountain and river deities given golden bodies, taking residence in temples across the land—gathering, condensing, and binding mountain and river fortune—it would once again become one of the few outstanding sect locations on Tongye Continent.
But to truly return to its former peak glory—impossible. The logic was simple: even if the landscape remained, the people were all gone. If any cultivator came to live and cultivate here, they wouldn't be the same Taiping Mountain cultivators who cultivated the true self.
Little Dragon Falls had received the founding patriarch's decree from the Central Earth sect, aiming for the residual Dao charm of that ancient mirror. It might not succeed, but it was worth a try. If they could also take the Taiping Mountain territory, even better. Gold Summit Temple had the same plan. They were just lucky today that their guarding cultivator hadn't run into Chen Ping'an. Otherwise, there would be another gate god here now. Jiang Shangzhen hadn't wanted to become a mortal enemy with Chen Ping'an even back in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land. So before returning to the Haoran world, he had voluntarily given way early. That was an extremely rare thing. And Chen Ping'an at that time probably didn't truly know how troublesome Jiang Shangzhen was. As for later events, him shamelessly glomming on wasn't just because Jiang Shangzhen knew about Zuo You's relationship with Chen Ping'an.
Among mountain cultivators, Han Yushu was slightly better—his mind was quite good. But someone like Han Jiangshu, even at the jade pendant realm, would often only stop at fearing that Chen Ping'an had a senior brother named Zuo You who was a great sword immortal. She would miss several steps, like a chess player who only mechanically copied standard patterns—better than a terrible player, but not by much. For example, she wouldn't think about why Chen Ping'an could become Zuo You's junior brother, or how Zuo You, a great sword immortal of such solitary nature, would be willing to favor his junior brother Chen Ping'an in his unique way.
Worldly affairs are complex. One truth often covers many truths.
Take Jiang Shangzhen himself—was it only after becoming patriarch of the Yugui Sect that he was considered a friend by the Dragon Tiger Mountain grand celestial master, one of the ten of the Haoran world? Of course not. It was before that, with Jiang Shangzhen risking himself to draw his sword time and again, earning battle merits with his life. So even if Wei Ying served as patriarch for another thousand years, as long as Jiang Shangzhen wasn't on Shenzhuan Peak, the grand celestial master would never set foot there. If Jiang Shangzhen were forced out of the Yugui Sect, Dragon Tiger Mountain's Celestial Master Mansion's view of the entire Yugui Sect would turn from good to bad. Fortunately, these small matters were something Wei Ying understood very clearly and without resentment. That was also the foundation for Jiang Shangzhen to confidently hand over the Yugui Sect to Wei Ying.
Jiang Shangzhen suddenly smiled and said, "Yang Pu, when the day comes that you become a gentleman, or I return to the flying ascension realm, then we'll invite Mountain Lord Chen and have another good drink together. You choose the place—even Dafu Academy is no problem."
Someone as naive and reckless as Yang Pu, Jiang Shangzhen normally wouldn't bother with pleasantries—at most, he wouldn't bully him. But to get the chief offering position, Jiang Shangzhen would even be willing to burn incense and swear brotherhood with Yang Pu.
Yang Pu stood up and made a bow. "This junior is most willing."
Who said he was stupid? Getting to know Old Patriarch Jiang and Sword Immortal Mountain Lord Chen—Yang Pu was secretly delighted.
Jiang Shangzhen sat back down on the steps. Perhaps because the only person around was this scholar, he had a rare outburst of scholarly sentiment. "Reading more isn't just so when you see something in the world, you sigh, 'So that's how it is.' Rather, it's so you suddenly realize, 'Ah, so this is how it is,' and always firmly believe that it shouldn't be this way. That is what Mountain Lord Chen said to you earlier: 'some things to do, some things not to do.' And why he wanted you to understand one thing, know the 'so this is how it is,' and then make your decision."
Yang Pu stood up again, turned sideways on the steps, and once more bowed. "Your student receives your teaching."
Jiang Shangzhen laughed. "It's not my reasoning. Why thank me? And you have no sense of what's important. I have to call him mountain lord. What use is flattering me?"
Yang Pu thought seriously, glanced at the flask with a talisman stuck to it on the steps, and said, "Then this junior will accept the flask."
A teachable young man.
Jiang Shangzhen laughed heartily. He looked into the distance again but raised his hand high, giving that academy Confucian scholar a thumbs-up.
That Sister Jiangshu had also woken up. She reached up to press her brow. "Old thief Jiang, what did you do to me?!"
Jiang Shangzhen grinned. "Sister Jiangshu can call me little thief Jiang—more intimate."
By now Yang Pu had adapted. He sat quietly beside Old Patriarch Jiang, leisurely sipping a little wine.
Jiang Shangzhen said, "If you want to leave, that's fine. Follow the method I'll teach you and swear an oath. Han Jiangshu, you know Jiang Shangzhen's temper."
Han Jiangshu was silent.
Jiang Shangzhen told her a heart-oath secret method for the ancestral hall, which came from Tongye Sect.
Han Jiangshu did it. Matters were out of her hands; she wouldn't provoke a serious Jiang Shangzhen.
Jiang Shangzhen extended a hand, indicating Han Jiangshu could leave as she wished.
Jiang Shangzhen lost his usual carefree expression, stood up, and reminded her via heart-to-heart, "Patriarch Han was also seriously injured. Then, after listening to my advice and accepting the old principle of 'no acquaintance without a fight,' he had a sudden idea after receiving a secret letter from my friend. He plans to immediately go to Central Earth Shenzhou. Strange, it seems Patriarch Han has an extraordinary old friend there too? From his tone, he wasn't any weaker than my friend who announced his name. Could it be that the Three Mountains Blessed Land's selection of Taiping Mountain is because they have a big tree in Central Earth Shenzhou to lean on?"
Han Jiangshu frowned slightly, thinking. She snorted coldly, instantly earth-traveled several hundred li, then used a water technique to dive into a great river. Eventually, she was wind-riding thousands of li away, needing to hurry back to the Three Mountains Blessed Land, whose entrance was located on the east sea of Tongye Continent, to discuss this secretly with several founding patriarchs.
Watching those flashy escape techniques, Jiang Shangzhen covered his forehead with his hand. This Sister Jiangshu was a little cute again.
On the summit of Taiping Mountain, outside the site of the ancestral hall leveled to the ground, Chen Ping'an pinched out three incense sticks—three mountain-water incense—and they burned suspended in the air.
After the three incense sticks burned out, Chen Ping'an turned and walked all the way to the cliff edge at the mountaintop. The vista suddenly opened up magnificently.
A bright moon flies out of the sea; the Yellow River flows up to heaven. White sun is far from home; green mountains in fine verses.
Taiping Mountain cultivates the true self. The ancestral hall continues its incense.
He would need to keep this Taiping Mountain for Sword Cultivator Huang Ting within these eighty years.
That would require a trip to Dafu Academy, which he had deliberately avoided last time.
Chen Ping'an walked down the mountain.
As for Han Jiangshu's departure—he didn't stop her. He didn't even bother to hide a wisp of sword intent in one of her natal qi mansions, which Jiang Shangzhen's willow leaf could have done to deceive heaven and sea, allowing him to dig out the Three Mountains Blessed Land. But it wasn't necessary—no need to alert the enemy. In the entire Wanyao Sect, there was likely only one immortal, Han Yushu, qualified to occupy a seat in that "camp." Given Han Yushu's caution, he would definitely have deliberately concealed it even from his own daughter Han Jiangshu.
At the mountain gate, Chen Ping'an walked up to that golden core earth immortal of unknown origin, pressed a hand on the mass of soul, and gave a light slap.
That golden core master trembled, too terrified even to beg for mercy.
Chen Ping'an smiled and asked, "Do you know who I am?"
The golden core cultivator nodded. Chen Ping'an—this senior had said it himself. He wouldn't dare forget.
Chen Ping'an said, "Can you make sure you don't remember the name?"
The golden core cultivator put on a pained expression, then inspiration struck. He swore earnestly via heart-to-heart, "This junior can swear an oath: I will never speak of anything that happened today!"
In fact, with his soul stripped from his body and stuck here as a gate god, all he could do was guard a little bit of spiritual light. He hadn't actually seen or heard anything unnecessary.
Chen Ping'an said, "I am a guest elder of the Yugui Sect. I can ask Patriarch Jiang to teach you a heart-oath secret technique, to compensate for your loss of cultivation."
The golden core cultivator felt like he'd been struck by lightning. Patriarch Jiang?! Yugui Sect's Jiang Shangzhen?!
He turned his head in a daze and indeed saw a man on the steps waving at him, with that signature cheap smile and expression—unmistakable! More convincing than any words.
This golden core cultivator's knees went weak. It wasn't that he had no spine, but today he had been struck by lightning too many times. A small golden core couldn't take it.
Jiang Shangzhen had no choice but to teach a Yugui Sect oath secret technique. This was a treatment that even a fifth-realm female immortal hadn't received. Compared to a cultivator swearing by their true name before their own ancestral hall, this was naturally more effective.
Chen Ping'an watched the golden core cultivator, whose forehead was beaded with sweat. He put his hands in his sleeves and smiled. "Tell me, where are you from? Be specific. Maybe one day I'll visit as a guest."
That golden core cultivator naturally didn't dare to hide anything. He spilled everything like beans from a bamboo tube—whether he should say it or not, to hell with it. He needed to save his life first. So every detail, large and small, he told completely.
It turned out that this golden core earth immortal named Dai Yuan was an inner curtain offering of the Yu Dynasty. Though his status within the inner curtain wasn't high, it was much better than outer curtain offerings or guest elders because he had more actual power. Back when the Yu Dynasty's land changed color, the emperor fled with the crown prince, but not northward, nor toward the gate to the fifth world. There was no time. So he hastily took refuge in a very hidden landscape secret realm. The territory wasn't large—it was the protective treasure of Dai Yuan's sect, enough for a few thousand imperial relatives and assorted registered celestial masters from the entire nation to hide from the disaster. A common born prince was left behind, put on the dragon robe and given the imperial jade, to rule in name as the leader of the country. In the end, the Barbarian world occupied the continent, and the Yu Dynasty naturally couldn't escape calamity. After that, it was nothing but ugly scenes. The new emperor first welcomed a military tent demon cultivator as his 'father emperor,' demoting himself to 'son emperor.' Then, under the careful planning of the Sixty-Year Tent, almost all the major nations of Tongye Continent—from court to capital to local prefectures, from officialdom to mountains to jianghu—suffered a shocking collapse of rites and music. In just a few short years, the darkness and danger of human hearts were laid bare.
So when peace was restored, the old emperor of the Yu Dynasty brought the crown prince and a group of the nation's pillars to naturally pick up the old landscape. He didn't forget to issue several self-blaming edicts full of anguish.
Now, the Yu Dynasty and Dai Yuan's sect had attached themselves to a large sect from a neighboring northern continent. In less than a few years, they were thriving again.
While speaking, Dai Yuan kept carefully watching this senior's expression. Fortunately, the senior kept his hands in his sleeves, smiling, not seeming angry.
Chen Ping'an smiled. "You said that secret realm controlled by your sect has four great sights: Green Pearl Well, Dragon-Calling Pool, White Jade Mountain Market, and Sword-Hanging Tree, right? Please tell me in detail, Brother Dai. I love hearing these strange tales and mountain-water secrets. And your founding patriarch, Gao Taishu—good name—and a golden core old earth immortal who might break through his bottleneck? Brother Dai is indeed from a distinguished immortal family—two golden cores in one sect. No wonder you could help the Yu Dynasty continue its mandate."
Dai Yuan's smile was awkward. That's how he used to think.
As one of the two golden cores, with his patriarch and sect as backing, he was only slightly inferior in the Yu Dynasty to a hidden state-protecting true man and a far-roaming realm martial general. The number of immortal mountain peaks on Tongye Continent, though still few relative to the vast landscape, meant power was more concentrated, making it easier for experts to emerge. But those were all old stories not worth mentioning. Nowadays, cultivators of Tongye—except for the fifth realm and above—when meeting cultivators from other continents, would lower their realm by one. Especially when meeting cultivators from Baoping Continent and Beiju Luzhou, they needed to lower by two realms.
Chen Ping'an listened to the four sights and marveled. "Brother Dai, your sect has a good way of making money."
The water of Green Pearl Well could preserve female cultivators' looks. As for Dragon-Calling Pool, it naturally couldn't be real dragons—just close descendants of dragon kind.
As for that mountain market, the peaks were marvelously steep, the cliffs white as jade throughout, with thirty-six large and small caves. At the summit was a snow lake, with snow thousands of years old accumulation. Though acclaimed as White Jade Grotto Heaven, it wasn't actually among the Thirty-Six Lesser Grotto Heavens—naturally, Dai Yuan's sect was blowing their own horn. But the mountain market was indeed extraordinary: there was a half-real, half-fake White Jade Palace, with red towers towering, figures moving, flags and horses and brocade curtains. Every hundred years, an opportunity would manifest—either heavenly treasures or cultivation secrets—for the sect's direct disciples to seek.
As for Sword-Hanging Tree, Dai Yuan thought it had the least substance. Actually, it was just that in earlier years, a very young nascent soul sword immortal had gotten drunk and rested there, looking out at the White Jade Grotto and enjoying the market. He casually hung his sword on a tree. Later, when that nascent soul sword immortal broke through to the fifth realm, Ancestor Gao Wenshu received a landscape gazette that very day and had someone erect a "Sword-Hanging Stele" under the tree.
Chen Ping'an asked, "Can Green Pearl Well truly preserve a woman's beauty?"
Dai Yuan said quietly, "To be honest with senior, it's pure nonsense. It's just a well where we move several hundred catties of snow from the mountain market snow lake every year to make the water fortune slightly richer. Then we quietly grind up several rare flowers and herbs and toss them in to make the water more colorful. Then we ask a few famous female registered cultivators and each empress of the Yu Dynasty to speak well of Green Pearl