Chapter 860: The True Sword Bearer
The city next to the Jiuquan Sect was bustling with people, even more lively than the capital of the Cloud Pattern Dynasty. Most of the cultivators there were lower-five-realm demon cultivators with incomplete physical refinement. Aside from those selling and drinking alcohol, almost all were outsiders who had come to do liquor business or to travel. The countless taverns and wine shops, large and small, greatly resembled the early Sword Qi Great Wall—earn some money, find some wine, sit before the cup while awake, and sleep under the table once drunk.
How much strength a faction in the Barren Wild World possessed was immediately apparent—it all depended on the number of "people." However, the Jiuquan Sect itself had little power. Both in the open and in secret, it was far inferior to the Immortal Hairpin City. Within the sect, there were only two upper-five-realm cultivators: an old immortal realm sect leader who thought about yielding his position every day, and a Jade Pure realm disciplinary patriarch who would rather die than inherit the sect leadership. The rest of the sect's registered cultivators, regardless of gender, were almost all alcoholics skilled in brewing and fond of drinking—truly soaked in wine vats their entire lives.
Qi Tingji, who was visiting as a guest, habitually sipped his wine slowly, while Lu Zhi gulped down large bowls, her face flushed red.
Earlier, Qi Tingji had specially picked two types of Jiuquan Sect fine wines that A Liang had called "staple wines"—one jug for each of them, cheap and good.
Every time A Liang secretly traveled through the Barren Wild World, he would spend a few days hanging around the Jiuquan Sect before reluctantly returning, never going home without getting drunk.
Lu Zhi wiped her mouth with her thumb and said, "In all those years on the Sword Qi Great Wall, I never really felt particularly happy or particularly sad."
Someone once said that when drinking, you either drink with great anger and great desire and get dead drunk, or drink amid great joy and great sorrow until you are utterly inebriated—only then can you truly taste the flavor of wine, letting the sorrows of life connect with heaven and earth.
Qi Tingji smiled. "So you've never truly been drunk. That's quite a regret. I look forward to seeing Lu Zhi drunk one day at the Dragon Spring Sword Sect—cursing heaven and earth is fine, but crying your eyes out would be even better."
Lu Zhi shook her head, not believing she would ever lose her composure like that. She glanced at Qi Tingji. "You really seem willing to settle down in the Bright World."
Among the sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall, there had always been no shortage of handsome men and beautiful women. This old sword immortal before her definitely counted as one.
Qi Tingji gave that answer: "In my view, the Bright World is like a person's body—if the heart and abdomen are full, even if the limbs are sick, there is ultimately no major danger. Moreover, every recovery from illness is a form of strengthening. So that place is indeed suitable for founding a sect and spreading branches. Besides, we will have sub-sects in the future—one in the Barren Wild World and one in the Five-Colored World. Managing a clan or expanding a sect is completely different from cultivating alone in seclusion."
Lu Zhi was annoyed as soon as she heard such serious matters, so she picked up her wine bowl again, tilted her head back, and drained it in one gulp.
Lu Zhi suddenly turned her head, and Qi Tingji frowned slightly. A moment ago, there had been a fleeting alternation of day and night, a dislocation of yin and yang, causing heaven and earth to tremble violently.
Such an anomaly could only be produced by a fourteenth-realm grand cultivator. Judging by the general direction, it seemed to be deliberately targeting the Guixu and Qingji areas?
Lu Zhi quickly stopped caring and didn't want to think about it. Among their group, there was the shrewd and calculating Qi Tingji and the meticulous young Hidden Official—why should she waste her brainpower?
At another table in the tavern, a demon cultivator's eyes lit up. He lifted his hips slightly, let his gaze drop, and stared at the alluring scenery below the woman's waist, greedily taking several glances. "This bitch's face is ugly as sin, but she has a pair of long legs! If you cover her face..."
His tablemate immediately chimed in, "Covering her face is too much trouble. Just make the bitch bend over and lie there."
Lu Zhi slapped her thigh without turning her head and said, "Come and touch."
The tavern erupted in jeers and table-slapping, encouraging the demon cultivator who had started the conversation.
The tavern owner was used to this. When you've drunk enough wine, everyone is a sword immortal; drink enough, and you're a new throne.
The demon cultivator laughed loudly. "Really? You're begging me for this?"
Qi Tingji smiled without speaking.
This was something even A Liang wouldn't dare to do.
Qi Tingji poured himself a bowl of wine. The jug was almost empty. After drinking this bowl, he should head to that Wuding River to see what Chen Ping'an was seeking there.
Just as the demon cultivator stood up, the long-legged woman kept drinking, but in an instant, the tavern was filled with crisscrossing sword light, dazzlingly bright.
The cultivator who had stood up was sliced from head to toe like a knife cutting meat, bisected into three pieces on the spot.
The other drinking cultivators had their heads severed by a line of light that passed over them, or were cut in half at the waist.
Only the tavern owner remained unharmed, but his legs gave way, and he had to prop himself up against the counter to avoid collapsing. He didn't dare make any sudden moves, lest the female sword immortal mistake it for a provocation. As for the other dozens of demon cultivators drinking there, they were all dead in an instant.
Friendly fire? Wrongful killing?
This wasn't a drinking table on the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Lu Zhi glanced at the two empty wine jugs on the table and said, "Check, please."
The tavern owner, an old cultivator at the Dragon Gate realm, was dry-mouthed and tongue-tied, unable to speak.
Lu Zhi took out a Minor Heat coin and placed it on the table.
Skipping out on a wine bill was too damaging to one's character—Lu Zhi couldn't do such a thing.
As Qi Tingji stood up, he pulled out a Grain Rain coin and said to the owner, "Tell the Jiuquan Sect that I'm paying off the wine debts A Liang owes here."
Lu Zhi smiled. "What if this little money isn't enough to cover the debt? How embarrassing."
Qi Tingji said, "If it's too much, no refund; if it's too little, no supplement."
Then the two sword cultivators went together to the next mountain market, located on a mountain beside the Wuding River in the Yeluoluo River territory. At the foot of the mountain stood a shrine with almost no incense offerings. The mountain god's shrine didn't even dare to be built on the open mountain top, showing the vast difference in status between mountain and water spirits within the Yeluoluo River jurisdiction.
As soon as the two appeared, they witnessed a strange scene: a great body of water hung in the air, reflecting the mountains and rivers for tens of thousands of miles in billowing green. A network of rivers crossed through the air like a giant tree toppled, with hundreds of branches prostrate on the ground. Each "branch" that had left its riverbed and was being dragged through the air was a tributary of the Yeluoluo River.
Qi Tingji ascended on his sword and looked into the distance. Following the main channel of the Yeluoluo River, he saw the old throne great demon Fei Fei. She had not revealed her true demon form but relied on her seated minor world and water-based innate divine ability to manifest a ten-thousand-zhang dharma image, seemingly no less grand than the Lotus Crown Daoist's. Fei Fei's dharma image stood with its feet on two Yeluoluo River Water Mansion buildings, far apart, crushing through their roofs. The ruins at its feet were scattered with bright yellow and emerald green glazed tiles.
At this moment, Fei Fei's knees were slightly bent, and she was reaching out to grab the suspended Yeluoluo River, leaning back.
Her appearance was that of a young woman with a pair of crimson eyes. The dharma robe she wore was called "Water Veins." The thousands of warp and weft threads were rivers she had refined, some from the Barren Wild World and some from Tongye Prefecture that she had absorbed. Around her wrist, as white as congealed fat, was a string of golden bracelets, refined from dozens of innate treasures of dragon and flood-dragon lineage, rippling with circles of green waves like divine halo rings. On her feet were a pair of embroidered shoes with two huge black pearls dangling from the tips. At that moment, the black pearls were fiercely competing with the Daoist's dharma image for water fortune, stabilizing the Yeluoluo River's water fortune.
In the Barren Wild World, certain great Dao conflicts were extremely cruel—small fish ate shrimp, big fish ate the small fish, devouring everything clean. The cultivator at the peak of the Dao best hoped that behind him on the mountain path of cultivation, there was no other traveler; at most, there were some non-threatening existences halfway up the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, there would be a dense crowd. When hungry, go down the mountain; when full, refine what you've eaten into your own Dao fortune.
Previously, Yangzhi and Fei Fei had split eighty percent of the Barren Wild World's water fortune, but neither had been able to merge with the Dao and ascend to the fourteenth realm. They had stagnated at the peak of the Flying Ascension realm for millennia.
The suspended rivers shattered on the spot from the tug-of-war, causing torrential rain and widespread flooding on the ground.
But every river that fell to the ground had its water fortune already divided and drained by both sides, surging into the Daoist's sleeves and the tips of Fei Fei's shoes.
Lu Zhi came to Qi Tingji's side and said, "Comparing this, the way we sword cultivators fight is indeed not as impressive."
Qi Tingji teased, "It looks like the village fields fighting over water."
Lu Zhi nodded. "No wonder our Hidden Official is so good at it—he's practicing his old trade."
Fei Fei roared in fury, "Chen Ping'an, do I have a grudge with you? You have to come to the Yeluoluo River to cause trouble?!"
If it had been a sword cultivator from the Sword Qi Great Wall challenging her—even an old engraving sword immortal like Dong San'geng—even if the sword was fierce, the damage to the Yeluoluo River's water fortune would be limited. Even if a hundred rivers were sliced and shattered, the sword cultivator couldn't take away the water fortune. It would at most cost Fei Fei centuries of cultivation and delay her breakthrough to Dao integration. Fei Fei could just go elsewhere to seize water fortune, robbing Peter to pay Paul. As long as Tuoyue Mountain didn't stop her, she could always make up the loss. But she had never expected to encounter this young Hidden Official, who seemed naturally close to the Dao of water, engaging in a Dao struggle with her no less intense than that with the old woman Yangzhi.
Fei Fei's dharma image clenched the turbulent Yeluoluo River, pulling it back hard, and gritted her teeth. "If you've got the guts, go make trouble at Tuoyue Mountain!"
First, Fei Fei's Dao was water-attribute; second, she was an old throne great demon. Her vision was certainly sharper than that half-baked Flying Ascension cultivator Xuanpu, confirming that the true body behind the ten-thousand-zhang dharma image was none other than the final Hidden Official, Chen Ping'an.
As for how Chen Ping'an had become a fourteenth-realm grand cultivator, Fei Fei had no interest in digging into it. She just cursed Tuoyue Mountain in her heart for allowing this guy to penetrate deep into the Barren Wild World's interior.
Beside Qi Tingji and Lu Zhi, each hovered a purple-gold lotus, its spiritual energy slowly dissipating, as if it could last for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, during which it would shield the two sword cultivators from heavenly secrets.
It was definitely Lu Chen's handiwork.
Ning Yao stood on the bank of the Wuding River, which had no water left in its riverbed. A lotus also revolved slowly around her.
Having attended that Middle Earth Confucian Temple assembly, Chen Ping'an had actually said that since he was back home, he wouldn't bother with anything—anyway, he couldn't manage it even if he wanted to—and would only focus on his own cultivation.
Yet look at him now: still exhausting himself mentally and physically. He was born to be a workhorse.
The Daoist's ten-thousand-zhang dharma image, together with Fei Fei, gathered the hundreds of rivers in the entire Yeluoluo River territory back into the main channel, stretching it into a suspended river tens of thousands of miles long.
The Daoist began to stride forward, continuously wrapping the main channel of the Yeluoluo River around his arms like a rope, slaughtering countless water-born spirits and monsters in it.
A blue-robed Daoist with a hazy, indistinct figure stood on the shoulder of the Lotus Crown Daoist's dharma image, holding the dust whisk called "Duster." He waved the whisk, pointing into the distance toward the Yeluoluo River Water Mansion, and said with a smile, "Layers of heavens, rearrange the constellations; stars obey the decree and return to their positions; sun and moon command the restoration of light."
Within the hundreds of dried riverbeds of the Yeluoluo River territory, three thousand six hundred green bamboo poles stood upright, exactly matching the highest Daoist ritual number for a Grand Universal Salvation.
A bald little novice monk, riding a fire dragon, with a long sword and a golden scripture leaf at his waist, stood on the dragon's head, palms together, silently reciting, "The Buddha's Dharma spreads through the human world, walking among the multitude like a lion."
His words carried divine authority. A golden lion, as large as a mountain, landed on the ground, spirit renewed, raised its head and roared, killing countless water spirits and ghosts in the Yeluoluo River. This lion, imbued with Buddhist Dharma, radiated splendid holy light and leaped toward Fei Fei's dharma image.
Amid these celestial phenomena, an inconspicuous figure descended from the sky, was slightly deflected midway by qi attraction, and arrived at a desolate wilderness on the edge of the Yeluoluo River territory. It was the Executioner Hao Su, returning to the human world from the moon.
A grain of mind incarnated as Lu Chen's clone was sitting on a tree trunk, swinging his legs, watching from afar the young Hidden Official's battle with Fei Fei. Since ancient times, the busy man rests his spirit, right? The Third Master of the Jade Capital recited softly, "This wisdom sees through the ten directions in the eye; this wisdom benefits the three worlds in the heart. The three worlds and ten directions are immeasurable; hands and eyes manifest in thousands of forms. Such wondrous functions are like water and moon, clearly visible yet ungraspable. If one sees the bodhisattva in this, that person is the child of the bodhisattva."
Lu Chen gently patted the tree trunk, smiled to himself, and nodded. "If one seeks miraculous things apart from this, that is heretical corruption of the true Dharma."
Hao Su was not surprised by Lu Chen's Buddhist talk.
Lu Chen asked with a smile, "Was that Moon-Running Talisman good to use?"
Not in the Azure World, his Moon-Running Talisman would be greatly diminished here.
Hao Su nodded. "Very effective. Truly worthy of being called Zhang's Master Talisman."
Lu Chen's Moon-Running Talisman, along with the Jade Axe Talisman of Sieve Removal Palace Master Wu Shuangjiang, and the Supreme Corpse Release Talisman also known as the White Day Ascension Treasure Register, were all undeniably "Master Talismans." Among talisman masters, there was an unwritten rule: whether one had created an original talisman and gained recognition as a "Master Talisman."
In the Azure World: the Grand Master of Jade Capital, Daoist Sun Xuan; the old temple master's junior brother killed by Yu Dou's sword; Yu Xuan of the Bright World; successive Grand Heavenly Masters of Dragon Tiger Mountain; the old throne great demon Huang Luan of the Barren Wild World; the Lotus Flower Cove Master; and the long-vanished Jade Talisman Palace Master—all were recognized as the most top-tier talisman masters.
It seemed that aside from the sword Dao, where he was all thumbs, Lu Chen was proficient in all other Daoist techniques. There was no esoteric art that Lu Chen hadn't dabbled in.
But this Third Master of the Jade Capital had no recorded feats of battling any fourteenth-realm grand cultivator in the Azure World.
The Dao Ancestor's three disciples took turns managing the Jade Capital for a hundred years each. Every time it was Lu Chen's turn to oversee the Jade Capital, he almost never handled affairs. Occasionally, some grand cultivator violated the rules or trespassed, and Lu Chen would just go to their door to write down the debt. If refused entry, he never forced his way in but only reminded them outside, saying a set of similar words: "You must live a few more years; wait for my Second Senior Brother to return from beyond the heavens to catch up."
Lu Chen shook his sleeves and quipped, "It was the Hidden Official's gift to the Executioner. I'm really envious of you. Old Sword Immortal Qi and Sister Lu still have to bend down to pick up leftovers, but you got it the easiest."
From his Daoist robe sleeve, he shook out the true body of Xuanpu. The Flying Ascension demon core was still intact. With this military merit, Hao Su would have an explanation at the Confucian Temple.
Hao Su put the black snake into his sleeve, raised an eyebrow, "On another's territory, Chen Ping'an can kill a Flying Ascension cultivator and preserve a complete demon core?"
He had thought this trip deep into the Barren Wild World would net at most two or three Immortal realm demons, but he had never expected such a pleasant surprise.
Lu Chen smiled and shook his head, roughly explaining to the Executioner that this Immortal Hairpin City master was killed by his own master, Wuti.
Hao Su grew even more puzzled, "Xuanpu was that lousy at fighting? He was completely killed by Wuti in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick? Xuanpu couldn't even escape the ancestral hall?"
This Flying Ascension great demon felt like a Nan Guangzhao from the Bright World.
In Hao Su's impression, Flying Ascension grand cultivators in the Barren Wild World were still quite capable. Even if their killing power wasn't outstanding, they were at least good at escaping.
Lu Chen slapped his thighs and squinted, smiling, "The Immortal Hairpin City's harvest hasn't been good. The crops in the fields are worse with each season. You haven't seen that Immortal realm silver deer—even more flimsy than paper. There's no way around it. If in the Bright World, the craft is that teaching a apprentice starves the master, then here in the mountains, it's often that teaching a disciple leads to the disciple killing the master. The old ones all keep a few tricks up their sleeves. The young ones all try to secretly break the vows made in the ancestral hall years ago. Right, after all, they aren't human—why trust human hearts?"
Hao Su looked at the tug-of-war between the two sides and asked casually, "When do we draw our swords? We won't just watch the show forever, will we?"
Lu Chen glanced at Fei Fei's dharma image in the distance. "No rush yet. We wait for the Hidden Official to find the right moment and give the order. Sister Fei Fei is still cautious at the moment, with several avenues of retreat open. I suppose the Hidden Official first wanted to make sure your trip wasn't wasted, and now he's planning for Lu Zhi. Doesn't she want to engrave a character on the city wall? If she can really kill the old throne Fei Fei with one sword and return to the Sword Qi Great Wall, engraving the character 'Lu'... haha, that would be brilliant! I'll go talk to Sister Lu soon and, as long as she's willing to engrave 'Lu' instead of 'Zhi,' she won't have to return the sword box."
Lu Chen sighed and rubbed his chin. "But the opportunity to engrave is there; success isn't guaranteed. For you to jointly slay Fei Fei, who temporarily holds the position of water fortune master of one world, it won't be because your swordsmanship is lacking—it might be a matter of luck."
Hao Su recalled something and asked, "Since the silver deer was caught, why didn't Chen Ping'an take the chance to kill the ghost immortal Wuti too?"
It wasn't that Hao Su was greedy for this military merit, but given the sworn enmity between the Immortal Hairpin City and the Sword Qi Great Wall, logically, they shouldn't let Wuti off.
Lu Chen smiled and explained, "Xuanpu deserved to die; he had to die. Keeping him in the Immortal Hairpin City was a disaster. Wuti is more or less expendable. A ghost immortal barely surviving on the gloomy road—not worth causing trouble over for this trip. Besides, Chen Ping'an has his own considerations. He doesn't want to remove a useless guy from the Barren Wild World. If Wuti vacates a Dao position and it just adds another Flying Ascension cultivator to fill the gap, fine. But what if the deaths of Xuanpu and Wuti in succession release enough fortune to break the Dao bottleneck of some peak Flying Ascension cultivator, creating a brand new fourteenth realm out of thin air?"
Hao Su nodded. "Apart from choosing me as Executioner, the old Sword Immortal's judgment in picking people has indeed been very good."
Lu Chen asked curiously, "How did the old Sword Immortal persuade you to stay?"
Hao Su didn't seem like someone who took advice easily, and Chen Qingdu wouldn't have forced him to stay.
Hao Su was silent for a moment, then pulled out a jug of wine, removed the seal, took a big gulp, and said, "The old Sword Immortal only said two sentences to me back then."
Lu Chen grew even more curious. "What two sentences?"
Hao Su gave the answer.
"I don't care if the Barren Wild World gains a Flying Ascension sword cultivator."
"Revenge, if you go to kill as a demon cultivator, is a different matter from taking your enemy's head while maintaining your identity as a Bright World sword cultivator."
Lu Chen nodded vigorously. "That does sound like something the old Sword Immortal would say."
"He persuaded me with those two sentences. There was also one heartfelt remark."
Hao Su smiled. "The old Sword Immortal warned me that if I insisted on going to the Barren Wild World to practice my sword, I could go—he wouldn't stop me. But the day I happened to break through to the fourteenth realm as a sword cultivator and then dared to appear on the battlefield of the Sword Qi Great Wall, he would kill me first."
Lu Chen sincerely praised, "The old Sword Immortal is truly a good elder who encourages people to be good and is kind and amiable!"
Hao Su gave a faint smile. There was another part he really didn't want to go into detail about.
Back then, the old Sword Immortal had finally patted the young sword cultivator's shoulder. "It's good for a young man to have vigor, but don't be in a hurry to show off your sharpness. That's no different from a brat running around the streets in open-crotch pants—exposing both butt and dick."
After that, Chen Qingdu had clasped his hands behind his back and gone for a walk alone on the city wall.
Hao Su crouched on a tree branch, casually tossing away the empty wine jug. "Why did he single me out for special treatment?"
Lu Chen had come to the Barren Wild World planning only to travel with the Executioner to the Azure World, but he had accidentally boarded the young Hidden Official's pirate ship.
Lu Chen smiled. "You're a high realm cultivator. A Flying Ascension sword cultivator—do you think there are many in the Azure World? Not many. Also... we kind of sympathize with each other. Because we both have a not-so-small regret in our hearts."
Lu Chen's regret was his failure to that dragon girl.
And Hao Su, before he soared from his home cave world with his sword, had made a promise to a woman he loved that he would return to find her.
Hao Su suddenly asked, "What is the real Lu Chen like?"
This Third Master of the Jade Capital before him might share the same Dao path as the one from the Bright World who once rode a boat overseas seeking immortals, but his words and actions were as different as clouds and mud.
So Hao Su had always suspected that this Lu Chen was not some true body of Lu Chen at all.
Lu Chen clasped his hands behind his head and gave three statements in succession.
"Sailing on green waters, traveler on green mountains, a thousand years weary of the world, ascend to immortality, ride those white clouds to the imperial homeland."
This was Lu Chen speaking of his own cultivation journey: when he no longer wanted to stay in the Bright World, he would go elsewhere. A Dao practitioner's hometown is where his Dao heart settles.
"Wise men vex themselves; mountain trees invite their own plunder. Though heaven and earth are vast and the ten thousand things many, I know only the cicada's wing—single-minded, focused."
This was probably Lu Chen's perspective on the world.
"Hide the world within the world, be the disciple of heaven—this is called the true person."
This might be the foundation of Lu Chen's Dao, but it seemed no outsider could learn it.
After the tug-of-war, the ten-thousand-zhang Daoist dharma image had already seized forty percent of the Yeluoluo River territory's water fortune.
Lu Chen clicked his tongue. "The native cultivators of the Barren Wild World, plus us outsiders—maybe there are too many fourteenth-realm grand cultivators."
Besides Lu Chen himself, there were also the Great Ancestor Chusheng returning from beyond the heavens, Xiao Xun, the former Hidden Official who had betrayed the Sword Qi Great Wall.
The blind old man who continued to stay neutral, the sword cultivator Chen Qingliu who had slain the dragon, and Wu Shuangjiang, the military strategist who had merely come to travel.
And of course, there was the deeply hidden Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City.
If Lu Chen's deductions along the way were not flawed, the Barren Wild World highly likely might also gain a new fourteenth-realm sword cultivator—a brand new "Zongyuan" specifically designed by Tuoyue Mountain to target A Liang and Zuo You. This was Tuoyue Mountain's trump card, presumably a key trump card left behind by Wenhai Zhou Mi in the human world.
In all the world, what type of qi refiner was best at killing Flying Ascension sword cultivators? Simple—a fourteenth-realm pure sword cultivator.
Moreover, besides these, there was actually a fourteenth-realm peak grand cultivator who had not set foot in the Barren Wild World's mountains and rivers for ten thousand years.
Bai Ze!
This time, Bai Ze would choose to side with the Barren Wild World. There was no suspense.
Lu Chen suddenly stood up, sighed, and said, "Let's go. Since we can't kill Fei Fei, let's save our strength for something bigger."
Hao Su frowned. "Why?"
Chen Ping'an had clearly completely stalled Fei Fei. How could they leave the Yeluoluo River without even drawing a single sword?
Lu Chen didn't give an answer. He just smiled and turned to bow in Daoist greeting toward someone in the distance. Then, his grain of mind incarnation returned to the Lotus Flower Dojo.
Hao Su hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not draw his sword.
After Lu Chen and Hao Su left, on the large branch beside them, a tall, slender man appeared out of thin air. It was Bai Ze, his expression desolate.
Tuoyue Mountain's grand formation was instantly activated. Within ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers, mist and fog rose. A river of time that had surrounded the mountain for ten thousand years became like a moat.
The demon cultivators in Tuoyue Mountain were on high alert. Without exception, all fixed their gazes on a spot at the mountain's foot. Mist billowed, blotting out the sun.
One person walked out of the river of time first, followed by Ning Yao, Lu Zhi. Finally, Qi Tingji and Executioner Hao Su.
Ten thousand years ago, three exiled sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall—with Chen Qingdu in the center, leading Longjun and Guanzhao—collectively attacked Tuoyue Mountain.
Ten thousand years later, five sword cultivators from the Sword Qi Great Wall came together to visit this mountain as guests.
This was a gift in return for the Barren Wild World's ten-thousand-year assault on the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Beyond the heavens, a woman in white casually twisting a star between two fingers gradually faded away, eventually transforming into a brilliant pillar of light from the vast, boundless void, hurtling straight toward the Barren Wild World, which was, in fact, incredibly tiny.
At the foot of Tuoyue Mountain, the one in the center, Chen Ping'an, stood on his sword Night Travel, hovering in midair. With his right hand, he formed a sword finger and slowly drew it across to the right, and before him appeared a golden line.
A sword with killing power exceeding the heavens came from beyond the heavens to this human world.
Chen Ping'an held the sword in his left hand.
At this moment, Chen Ping'an was like the true sword bearer of ten thousand years ago—the earliest sword bearer among the Five Supremes of the ancient heavenly court.