# Chapter 861: Mountain Breaking
(This chapter was uploaded late. PS: There will be another update on the 15th.)
Chen Ping'an held a sword in his left hand.
Before him, a great mountain blocked the way.
Earlier at Xianzan City, Chen Ping'an's dharma manifestation had not used any sword techniques, choosing instead to shake the high city with only his fists—a reminder to the White Jade Capital's Third Patriarch that there was still an unsettled account between them.
Later, Lu Chen had painted a "Knowing Diagram" of a cicada clinging to a thread. Wasn't that a reciprocal gesture, hinting to Chen Ping'an that if he wanted to successfully deliver a sword strike at Tuoyue Mountain, the immortal-rank longsword Night Travel still wasn't enough—he needed to switch to another blade?
This was why Chen Ping'an, within that Xianzan City, couldn't help but recall a scene from his youth. Because he hadn't deliberately concealed his heart-mind, Lu Chen, borrowing a full set of Fourteen Realm dharma arts, had to live under someone else's roof, dwelling within Chen Ping'an's spirit. It was like watching a scroll of time slowly unroll—hence Lu Chen later hand-painting the "Knowing Diagram."
No matter.
In the future, when traveling through the White Jade Capital, even that Dao Second who was hailed as truly invincible would have to be chopped down.
Thinking back to that first journey far from home, young Chen Ping'an, wearing straw sandals and carrying a woodcutter's knife, was accustomed to entering the mountains and clearing paths for others.
They had once faced that great peak, later known as Sui Mountain, and had an exchange.
She asked Chen Ping'an what he would do if a mountain blocked the Great Dao.
At that time, Chen Ping'an answered that he would climb over it, not take a detour.
She asked again, what if he had a sword in hand? Chen Ping'an said he would break the mountain and pass through.
"Together!"
That time, before Chen Ping'an delivered his sword strike, at the moment when both spoke those two words with hearts in perfect harmony.
The longsword in the young man's hand trembled violently.
Like an autumn cicada in ten thousand years of solitude, at the highest branch of the human world, crying out to heaven and earth.
Before him stood Tuoyue Mountain, towering into the clouds. After the Barbaric Grand Progenitor had obtained one of its Ascension Platforms in the early years, it had not been alchemically refined, ultimately only being transformed into a medium-refined lifebound object. It was as if merged with both Tuoyue Mountain and the Ascension Platform, standing firm in the world for over ten thousand years.
Now, the great demon guarding Tuoyue Mountain was a yellow-robed man standing at the mountain peak, with the dao name Yuan Xiong—the first mountain keeper in Tuoyue Mountain's history. During the period when his master had vanished, it was he who was responsible for watching over an entire world. As the senior disciple of both Xin Zhuang and Li Zhen, as the Grand Progenitor's first disciple, Yuan Xiong was not well-known. Firstly, he rarely left Tuoyue Mountain, and secondly, he had never appeared at the Sixty-Year Tents or the Haoran World. As a result, the entire Barbaric World simply acted as if this Grand Progenitor's first disciple didn't exist.
At this moment, Yuan Xiong stood at the highest point of Tuoyue Mountain, hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the young Hidden Official holding a single sword. He glanced at the four sword cultivators stationed in the four directions and said, "Let them just deliver their sword strikes."
This great demon at the peak of the Flying Ascension Realm truly did not believe that this last Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall could cut out anything meaningful.
Unless these four sword cultivators, all from the Sword Qi Great Wall, could deliver over ten thousand sword strikes, and each one had to succeed, each time capable of breaking the mountain.
The great demon Yuan Xiong had long been merged with Tuoyue Mountain for over ten thousand years.
That was why he lived so deeply hidden, never showing his face.
How many years had it been since the young Chen Ping'an became a pure sword cultivator? And how many years since he merged with half of the Sword Qi Great Wall?
Yuan Xiong, along with all the past mountain keepers of Tuoyue Mountain, had only one dealing with the world outside the mountain: secretly gathering the souls of Dragon Lord and Guan Zhao.
Ten thousand years ago, during that sword challenge, Chen Qingdu had paid the price of losing his lifebound flying sword "Duckweed."
That fight—neither Tuoyue Mountain nor the Sword Qi Great Wall had any records of it. The reasons why the three sword cultivators drew their swords, the process of how they delivered their strikes, and what results they ultimately achieved—none of it had any written documentation. Otherwise, no matter which world's cultivators, whether sword cultivators or not, if they casually flipped open that page of old history, they would feel a rolling wave of sword qi rushing toward them.
Within tens of thousands of miles around Tuoyue Mountain, heaven and earth overturned, mountains and rivers shattered, stirred by sword qi into a lawless land unsuitable for cultivation.
Tuoyue Mountain itself had been directly cut in half by Dragon Lord, which allowed Xianzan City to later surpass it and become the tallest city in the Barbaric World.
Guan Zhao's final sword strike before his death had carved out the prototype of the later Yelo River in the Barbaric World.
At the same time, Chen Qingdu's single sword strike shattered the Ascension Platform's path to heaven. The greater consequence was that even ten thousand years later, the Barbaric Grand Progenitor still could not ascend to the Fifteenth Realm, always falling just one step short.
This resulted in the old blind man teasing him with the line, "Maybe you're just not gifted enough for cultivation."
Dragon Lord lost one soul and two spirits. Whether in the Heroic Spirit Hall meetings or on the Sword Qi Great Wall battlefield, Dragon Lord appeared only in the bleak image of a gray robe. His head had even been stepped on by Bai Ying—the old Throne great demon who sat upon the Bone Throne, whose true identity was Zhou Mi's Yang Spirit external incarnation.
As for Li Zhen's former self, the sword cultivator Guan Zhao, his fate was even worse than Dragon Lord's. Truly a case of body dead and dao extinguished. His physical body had been utterly annihilated after that sword challenge, his soul scattered across heaven and earth. Later, the Tuoyue Mountain keeper managed to find his most crucial one soul and one spirit, then patched together the remaining soul fragments, creating the new Heavenly Court Armor Bearer.
So when the Sword Qi Great Wall was split in two by the Barbaric Grand Progenitor back then, Chen Qingdu, Dragon Lord, and Guan Zhao—these three sword cultivators—were, in a sense, experiencing the strangest sort of reunion after long separation.
Qi Tingji took out a standard sword from his sleeve, intending to deliver the first strike with it, to remotely pay respects to the Great Sword Immortal, and to the two predecessors from ten thousand years ago, Dragon Lord and Guan Zhao.
Ning Yao held one of the four immortal swords, Innocence.
The Executioner Hao Su unleashed his lifebound flying sword. Within a hundred miles, it was as if a mirror of bright moonlight had been placed flat on the ground. The heavenly moon above, frost covered the earth below, with only Hao Su standing amidst it.
Lu Zhi was reluctant to part with Nanming and Youren, those two swords. Besides, these two swords weren't suitable for mountain cutting. Even if she had to let the blades curl and the swords break, that could only be saved for last. Nanming and Youren, transformed from dao swords, Lu Zhi stepped onto a "Heavenly Mind, Square Staff" Nanming Heavenly Lake grand formation of the Daoist tradition. A green fish, born from "sword that moves with ease," drew water fortune from it. She took out the long sword Cicada Shell—the relic of a Flying Ascension Realm female Daoist from the White Jade Capital. To pursue more sword strikes, Lu Zhi had to endure the inner discomfort and put it on. In that instant, as if by divinely granted insight, she had already mastered two superior Dao techniques from the White Jade Capital.
Thinking further, she took out Autumn Water and Chisel Mountain, which she had grown accustomed to using earlier at White Flower City. Then she also brought out Mountain Wood and Ke Yi, suspending them beside her hand, so she could grab another whenever one broke. After all eight swords from the box had been taken out one by one, using them all at once resulted in a complete set that resembled a Daoist sword immortal lineage sword formation. It was not only balanced in offense and defense—it was like a self-operating moving heavenly realm. Like a Daoist sage who could carry a Daoist temple while traveling the world, or a military cultivator who could shoulder an entire battlefield site while running around.
She nodded. She hadn't been wrong before. Lu Chen's dao arts were indeed quite interesting.
The demon cultivators of Tuoyue Mountain, whether on the mountain or at its foot, every single one had their heartstrings tightly pulled. This kind of battle, where only Flying Ascension Realm cultivators from either side were qualified to show their faces, meant that anyone who got involved would die. If Tuoyue Mountain could hold, then fine. But if it couldn't hold, then they could only wait for death.
Chen Ping'an suddenly tightened his grip on the long sword in his hand, silently repeating in his heart: "Together, break the mountain!"
When they encountered Xianzan City, they destroyed the city. When they encountered the Yelo River, they pulled the river.
So when meeting Tuoyue Mountain, of course they would move the mountain!
Chen Ping'an manifested a ten-thousand-foot dharma manifestation.
With one sword, he cut open the Time River grand formation.
Additionally, four beams of sword light from Qi Tingji, Ning Yao, Lu Zhi, and Hao Su collectively struck Tuoyue Mountain.
After that single sword strike, the great demon Yuan Xiong, standing at the mountain peak, had his form scatter. But it instantly coalesced back together, as if those few sword strikes had all missed, never landing on Tuoyue Mountain at all.
Those demon cultivators of the Barbaric World who had no choice but to watch from the sidelines hadn't even had time to cheer Yuan Xiong's heaven-reaching methods when they discovered that within the mountain, countless sword qi filled the air like rainbows. At the mountain peak, sword qi cascaded like a waterfall; at the mountain's foot, sword qi flowed backward like a flood. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to avoid it. Instantly, over a hundred demon sword cultivators—aside from a few Immortal Realm cultivators who had lifesaving measures, and including those within the Jade Realm—were all slaughtered on the spot, each transformed into portions of world spiritual qi that Tuoyue Mountain absorbed.
Only at this moment did a few Immortal Realm demon cultivators visiting here realize belatedly why the direct disciples of Tuoyue Mountain had long since disappeared. It turned out that Yuan Xiong had seemingly anticipated this sword challenge from sword cultivators that would bring a mountain-breaking calamity.
But after a dozen or so sword strikes, aside from Yuan Xiong at the mountain peak and a handful of remaining Immortal Realm cultivators, there were no surviving cultivators left on the mountain.
Yuan Xiong, whose true body was repeatedly severed by the young Hidden Official's sword strikes, never budged. This great demon at the peak of Flying Ascension Realm simply maintained the transcendent posture of a realm-less person, passing through life and death a dozen times.
Tuoyue Mountain was like a cultivator who had accumulated ten thousand years of dao practice—only after being continuously mountain-broken ten thousand times could its mountain peak be relocated.
If Yuan Xiong could be said to be temporarily in an undefeatable position, then the sword-holder in Yuan Xiong's field of vision was in an even higher posture—holding a sword meant being invincible.
Yuan Xiong, whether intentionally or not, glanced at the pair of golden eyes of that young Hidden Official.
Lu Chen stood within the Lotus Daoist Ground, eyes wide open, looking around. He shouted with his heart voice: "Hey hey hey, that 'One,' is it really you? This little Daoist Lu Chen has worked so hard, shamelessly clinging like a stubborn ghost beside Chen Ping'an, waiting only for today to ask you one question. Is it I, Lu Chen alone who dreams? Or are all living beings dreams created by you alone? Don't stay silent. Little Daoist can assert that you must have heard me!"
If for ten thousand years, the countless millions of people were all the dream of one person—not only was Chen Ping'an that 'One,' but in fact, all sentient beings of the human world for ten thousand years were also that 'One'—then what meaning was there in Lu Chen's cultivation? If aside from waking from the dream, there was no human race ascending to heaven, and never had been any collapse of the Heavenly Dao?
Chen Ping'an's first disciple, Pei Qian, only learned later that the tall building in Old Cook's heart-mind was modeled after the White Jade Capital of the Qingming World.
On the journey away from Lotus Flower Blessed Land, Chen Ping'an had once casually asked the four people from the painting a question. Only Zhu Lian persisted to the end, saying that even if killing one person could save the world, he still wouldn't do it, because he feared he might be that 'One.' Back then, when Zhu Lian returned to Fallen Mountain with the Fox Country ruler Pei Xiang, at a high slope on Chess Pier Mountain, Zhu Lian said for no reason that waking from a dream was like jumping off a cliff. He said he was increasingly unsure whether he and heaven and earth were real. He said Pei Xiang couldn't give him the answer. Finally, Zhu Lian raised his finger to point into the distance, saying that he needed a person he trusted to tell him the answer before he would believe it.
The real reason Lu Chen was willing to lend Chen Ping'an a set of Dao arts was that he hoped the prototype of that 'One' could resolve his doubts for him!
No matter what answer that existence gave, as long as it was willing to speak—whether affirmation or negation—Lu Chen had his own means. Regardless of which answer he received, he could make it into the most important dream-waking, one dream wake, dream after dream wake.
Unfortunately, no one responded to Lu Chen's inquiry.
It was as if that 'One' simply wasn't on Chen Ping'an.
Lu Chen felt somewhat sad. Do you look down on a Fourteenth Realm cultivator that much?
Or perhaps, was it that Chen Ping'an had suppressed that 'One'?
Between East Bottle Gourd Continent and North Jambu Continent, the bridge that once spanned the sea between the two continents had been dismantled; otherwise it would have confused the fortunes of the two continents.
A young Daoist boy and a tall old Daoist left Dragon Province, walking together over the sea.
The old temple master looked back at the land of Bottle Gourd Continent. "This Embroidered Tiger has indeed performed a truly pillar-of-heaven, bridge-across-sea feat for the Confucian school."
"Rather than letting Zhou Mi have his way, it's better for Chen Ping'an to accept his fate."
The Dao Ancestor smiled. "Let him claim this 'One.' As a caged sparrow, if he chooses to maneuver within the cage for one year, then for one year he cannot leave the cage. If he can maneuver for ten thousand years, then it is a ten-thousand-year cage."
The old temple master laughed. "Maneuver? 'I maneuver with myself for long.'"
It was like making Zhou Mi, who was contending for that 'One,' spin in place, following Chen Ping'an within the cage, both caught in a ghostly wall-circling.
Cui Chan and Qi Jingchun allowed Zhou Mi to ascend to heaven, to take charge of the old Heavenly Court ruins—it was both a trap inviting the tiger into the mountain.
Who would have thought that this human world also had a different kind of cage, waiting for Zhou Mi.
The lineage of the Literary Sage—three senior and junior brothers.
All were ruthless enough with themselves.
Why was this?
Probably because the three of them had always harbored a piece of hope for this world.
It wasn't that the world was good enough to give people hope, but precisely because the world still wasn't good enough, and nothing in the human world was trivial, that the world needed more hope.
The old temple master asked curiously: "Zhou Mi instructed that Yuan Xiong to foolishly stand still with Tuoyue Mountain, letting Chen Ping'an hold his sword and strike ten thousand times, all for that divinity that scatters and disperses with each sword strike?"
The Dao Ancestor nodded. "Dealing with clever people, often only clumsy methods have marvelous effects."
As long as Chen Ping'an believed himself to be a sword cultivator, he was destined to be unable to bypass that Tuoyue Mountain.
The old temple master scooped up a handful of water, gently shaking it in his palm, using this to measure the weight of the Rites Sage and the current rituals and rules of the Haoran World. "Regardless of whether Chen Ping'an can move the mountain, the peak cultivators of several worlds will witness the process. This way, Chen Ping'an might beat Yu Dou in becoming the target of everyone's arrows."
Wu Shuangjiang had once given Dao Second Yu Dou a prophecy: "If you do not cultivate virtue, you have a path to death."
Because all the people in the boat become enemies of the state.
The old temple master sneered: "The ancient merit sages established great merits, achieved great transformations, took the world, and won it with people's hearts. Today's Zhou Mi wants to take the world from heaven, using human lives."
The Dao Ancestor asked with a smile: "Do you think this Haoran Jia Sheng, the moment he crossed the Sword Qi Great Wall back then, what was he thinking?"
The old temple master casually replied: "Probably something like 'My fate and time oppose each other, not tolerated by the world.' This scholar also had a heart higher than heaven, so only the path to heaven remained. I guessed that not long after crossing the Sword Qi Great Wall, Zhou Mi must have looked up at the sky, convinced that the heights were where his heart's home lay."
The old temple master released his hand, letting the accumulated water return to the sea. "If Chen Ping'an really moves the mountain and sword-cuts the great demon Yuan Xiong, will he inscribe words on the city wall? What words? 'Peace' and 'Safety'? Adding to the 'Chen' character Chen Xi carved earlier—if he can also slay a Flying Ascension Realm demon, tsk tsk, with this kid collecting all the characters of his name, just for this matter alone, for the next ten thousand years, his name Chen Ping'an might overshadow Yu Dou's. Not entirely selfishness—it will help the Sword Qi Great Wall ruins be mentioned more and longer by later generations of cultivators."
There was a saying circulating among the mountains: being completely forgotten by the world is another kind of death after death.
The Dao Ancestor shook his head. "If he truly inscribes characters, it will only be that 'Duckweed' character—the 'Ping.'"
The old temple master nodded.
The Dao Ancestor suddenly said: "Say 'Zhou Mi' a few less times. Standing and talking, you don't feel the backache."
The old temple master laughed freely.
A golden arch bridge.
Ruan Xiu watched that traveling sword light. In the vast, boundless outer void, countless stars were as small as mustard seeds scattered on the ground—immeasurable. Some were clustered densely together, forming brilliant, majestic Milky Ways. That sword light, unmatched in momentum, shuttled through them like fire in stone, like a white colt passing a gap—the speed of the sword light surpassing even the flow of the Time River.
Zhou Mi, squinting, looked down at the human world.
Li Zhen leaned on the railing, blinked, and said: "Eh? The river changed course? Is this... unprecedented?"
Zhou Mi smiled faintly. "Gloating over someone else's misfortune right in front of them isn't a good habit."
Li Zhen turned his head to look at Zhou Mi. Even knowing his background well, each extra glance made him admire this "Heaven-Penetrating Old Fox" who had devoured the master Qie Yun, Lu Fayan, and the Literary Sea of the world, a few degrees more.
Li Zhen withdrew his gaze and looked beyond the golden arch bridge.
In the eyes of high-ranking deities, the Time River was like the mountain-and-water dao qi seen through qi-watching techniques—apart from the deities' own divine golden bodies, it was everywhere.
But in the eyes of the supreme deity, it appeared as another kind of scene altogether: like a room with no walls, composed of countless tiny 'ones.' One move and billions all shift; seemingly orderly, yet in truth without order.
But the four other Supremes besides the Heavenly Court's Master all knew in their hearts that within the great chaos of heaven and earth, there was actually a singular order hidden.
Ten thousand years ago, whether one could become an ancient high-ranking deity depended on whether they could personally see that which could no longer be divided.
And each brief, orderly trajectory, similar to a section of the Time River's tributary bed, was a divine ability—what later generations of human cultivators called dao arts that accord with heaven and earth.
All the dao techniques and immortal formulas recorded in books or memorized in hearts by later mountain-climbing cultivators across the various worlds followed this heavenly principle. Every written character, every unspoken thought, was a precise anchor point, attempting to shape a unique existence.
But in the eyes of the supreme deities, this act by human cultivators was still just a reluctant "carving marks on a moving boat"—the boat moving with the water, dragging the anchors thrown into the water slowly along—hence it was difficult to prove immortality, impossible to share heaven and earth's longevity.
Within the Time River, there were no completely anchored or suspended boats.
Thus, naturally, there were no inherently righteous matters or objects.
"What Qi Jingchun truly sought back then during his sixty years of teaching at the Li Zhu Cave Heaven school was this matter, this object."
Zhou Mi seemed to be talking to himself. "So-called Three Teachings Convergence, attempting to establish a school and become an ancestor? That would be vastly underestimating Qi Jingchun's ambition. But unfortunately, his path diverges from mine—we are not fellow travelers."
What Qi Jingchun truly sought was to first have a small group emerge from the human world, then lead a larger wave of cultivators to, as it were, remake the act of ascending to heaven, so that both below the mountain and in the human world would have no worries. Those who climbed the mountain would become those who traveled beyond the heavens, truly pursuing the Great Dao. This aligned in principle with his senior brother Cui Chan's "pursuit of a larger chessboard."
But that 'One,' which first began to operate, had always been in the hands of the old Heavenly Court Master.
What the Dao Ancestor sought was precisely this 'One,' eventually forcible-naming it as the Dao.
He had sought it, even personally seen it. But with the Dao Ancestor's level of Dao arts, he still could not capture it in hand—it vanished in an instant.
The Dao Ancestor had seen it three times in total, even witnessing the earliest operation of the Great Dao brought by this 'One.' Hence, Daoism has the saying: "Three gives birth to all things."
It was a scene beyond the limits of cultivators' imagination—both magnificent and terrifying, both simple and mysterious, impossible to describe its form, impossible to speak of its beauty.
Transcending all being and non-being, large and small, real and unreal—all worldly language became an obstacle to perceiving its wonder.
Whether the Dao Ancestor or the Buddha, in order to pass down the teachings to later generations and explain their origins, they could neither avoid establishing written words nor explain their meanings in detail with words, because the more words, the further one strays.
Zhou Mi turned his head to look at that woman standing on the railing.
Then following her gaze, he saw the Barbaric World, and that White Flower City that had been thoroughly reduced to ruins.
Li Zhen clicked his tongue in wonder: "Truly worthy of my most admired Hidden Official—wherever he passes, not a blade of grass grows."
That clan leader whose yin spirit had been forcibly dissolved had not only fallen from the Immortal Realm, even the Jade Realm was teetering. This kind of damage to the very foundation of the Great Dao was no light matter like wearing down a few decades or centuries of cultivation.
Risking the tremendous danger of waiting for the enemy, it had sneaked back to its ancestral mountain. After roughly determining that Qi Tingji and Lu Zhi had already traveled far away, it gathered its remaining forces—only to find that there were truly only some useless shrimp soldiers and crab generals left. It toured several treasury vaults and finally sat on the steps at the mountain gate, heart twisting like a knife wound. Its clan title probably couldn't be preserved anymore.
These sword immortals from the Sword Qi Great Wall were each more ruthless than the last.
They were ruthless enough at chopping vegetables and slicing melons, but who would have thought they were even more ruthless at looting.
It had only been heard that the young Hidden Official, back on the battlefield of the Sword Qi Great Wall, could "quit while he was ahead" even in front of the old Throne demons with all eyes upon him.
But it had never been heard that Qi Tingji and Lu Zhi were this greedy for wealth!
At another mountain market, an ancient battlefield site, Ning Yao's sword strike and Qi Tingji's Soul-Calling Banner and Thunder-Lightning Bamboo Sea had come in succession. A Golden Core Realm female ghost who had narrowly escaped both great catastrophes—neither killed by sword qi nor collected into Qi Tingji's banner—was suddenly ecstatic with surprise. She had just inspected her alchemy chamber and somehow miraculously nurtured a lifebound flying sword?!
There, within the alchemy chamber, was a miniature flying sword embryo, shaped like a stalk of green bamboo, graceful as bamboo, standing tall and slender, with faint thunder-cloud patterns on the bamboo joints.
As if every drink and every peck were predetermined by some unseen force.
She suddenly knelt on the ground, first facing the direction where Ning Yao had suspended her sword strike, then facing the mountain peak where Qi Tingji had stood, each time kowtowing nine solid times.
In the Barbaric World, this was already considered a grand ceremony of apprenticeship.
This female ghost, who went by the alias Yuan Cai, while kowtowing, murmured in her heart, making two pious wishes to heaven and earth.
Earlier, when Ning Yao had unleashed her sword, Yuan Cai had actually prepared to stretch out her neck for the blade. She just stood in place. But for some reason, those sword qi strands seemed to have received their master's intent and command, all bypassing her.
As for revenge?
In this lawless battlefield site, fierce battles happened almost daily, each against the other as enemies. Even among the hundreds of ghost creatures and spirit beings under her command, who didn't have grievances with her?
The great mountain Green Cloud—a group of sword cultivators passed through, and it remained safe and sound.
Mountain Lord Bi Wu, in his study, took out a forbidden item—a map of the Barbaric World that he had secretly drawn himself. The more or less mountain-and-water fortune of each clan would light up different degrees of brilliance on the terrain map. Bi Wu was surprised to find that White Flower City, Cloud Pattern Dynasty, and Xianzan City all showed varying degrees of dimness on the map. White Flower City had almost become pitch black, while Xianzan City was split in two.
That friend with the dao name Shou Mei was currently traveling in Xianzan City. He wondered if any accident would befall him.
In Bi Wu's mountain god temple, nearly twenty lifebound lamps were secretly enshrined. In the mountain cultivation world, this represented a life-or-death friendship.
From this, it could be seen that Mountain Lord Bi Wu indeed had a good reputation in the Barbaric World.
Many demon cultivators didn't trust their own clan's ancestral halls but actually trusted Green Cloud's Bi Wu.
This was why Bi Wu had been so nervous earlier when facing Ning Yao who was climbing the mountain. He was truly afraid that Ning Yao might, without a word, casually cut open the temple's mountain-and-water restrictions, then chop the temple along with those lifebound lamps to pieces.
Once the temple was shattered by Ning Yao, those lifebound lamps, closely connected to the great mountain's water-and-mountain fortune, would certainly be exposed all at once.
Such a series of battle merits—one Immortal Realm, nine Jade Realm, and the rest at least Earth Immortals—if all their lifebound lamps were destroyed, each would fall at least one realm. Together, it would be almost equivalent to the merit of slaying a Flying Ascension Realm cultivator.
Logically, the Sword Qi Great Wall's Summer Retreat Palace should have heard of this matter, already recorded in the books.
Ning Yao, the Sword Immortal, might not know of this, but that Chen Ping'an, who had served as Hidden Official for many years, absolutely knew of this inside story.
So Bi Wu couldn't understand why this most calculating young Hidden Official, having clearly passed by this place, would be willing to spare Green Cloud?
Bi Wu thought for a moment, walked out of the house, went to another place, and stood under an old plum tree. Fortunately, the lifebound lamp within the temple was unharmed, and this tree before him had not withered.
This meant that the old friend Shou Mei had not only survived but seemed to have lost none of his cultivation.
Without a breeze passing by, the ancient tree swayed gracefully, and a cultivator's form emerged. Bi Wu cupped his fists and smiled: "Friend Shou Mei."
It was the old cultivator with the dao name Shou Mei, the one at Xianzan City's Dragon Gate. He gasped for breath, making no attempt to hide his lingering fear. "Earlier, standing on top of the Dragon Gate archway, that young Hidden Official just pointed a finger. With that single point, the Xianzan City's second-seat offering elder who was beside me exploded on the spot. Not a scrap of his golden core or nascent soul remained. And he was a Jade Realm cultivator! With no power to resist at all, no escape technique could be used in time."
Bi Wu was somewhat puzzled.
The old cultivator waved his hand: "Don't ask anything."
The Mountain Lord nodded with a smile.
Then the old cultivator said solemnly: "Mountain Lord Bi Wu, I must immediately make another long journey. The matter is urgent, and I'm afraid I need to borrow your fire chariot."
Bi Wu didn't ask why, and without hesitation lent the vehicle to his friend. With a wave of his hand, that immortal-rank vehicle flew from the rear courtyard of the mountain-top temple. It was palm-sized, flames rising, lightning interweaving. Bi Wu gently pushed it, simultaneously imparting a dao formula for controlling the fire chariot to his friend through heart voice.
The old cultivator smiled bitterly: "Mountain Lord Bi Wu, if there's an accident, even if I give my life, I couldn't repay this."
Bi Wu laughed: "This trip to Tuoyue Mountain—if you truly encounter danger, friend Shou Mei, just abandon the object to save your life. Don't talk about repayment. Just consider that Green Cloud's fate with this treasure has run its course."
The old cultivator stamped his foot, didn't exchange more pleasantries, and mounted the fire chariot, hurrying toward Tuoyue Mountain. According to the agreement with that young Hidden Official, he had to deliver a message to Fei Ran.
Mountain Lord Bi Wu, twisting his prayer beads all the way, walked to that Manjushri Temple and piously offered three incense sticks.
The capital of Cloud Pattern Dynasty.
Flying Ascension Realm great cultivator Ye Pu, along with the female martial artist Bai Ren, returned together to Jade Slab City.
A palace treasury—a miserable sight to behold.
Plus a large number of Cloud Pattern Dynasty capital officials' treasure vaults. Those who held high positions in the court, families who had painstakingly accumulated treasures over generations of cultivation, had all been looted clean. Some old money that had never been moved, probably dating back to the founding of Cloud Pattern Dynasty, which successive emperors over the dynasties hadn't managed to have taken—it had instead been emptied out by two sword immortals from the Sword Qi Great Wall who, damn it all, hadn't traded lives with the old or new Thrones. They had no choice—any hesitation meant a sword light.
At this moment, in the capital's court, many old cultivators who hadn't had time to put on their official robes were beating their chests and stamping their feet. Some female cultivators holding prominent official positions were sobbing uncontrollably. Both sides hoped the emperor would help them seek justice.
Ye Pu, who had lost a sword formation, grew increasingly irritable and troubled. In this Jade Slab City, the one who had suffered the most crippling loss was actually him, the emperor.
Bai Ren's face was deathly pale, her lips trembling, her hands clenched into fists. Earlier, in the corridor of the building where the sword formation was located, she had been struck on the forehead by a finger from that Daoist-robed Chen Ping'an, sent flying straight out of the capital, falling from the Ascending Realm martial artist to the Mountain Summit Realm!
She glanced at a woman who was privately entangled with Ye Pu. One step and she delivered a punch to the head, then several more strikes that utterly annihilated that Golden Core fox vixen.
Bai Ren flicked her sleeve to disperse the fox musk, then turned to coldly look at those caught off guard. She casually gave an excuse: "Daring to collude with foreign sword cultivators, attempting to secretly usurp the throne—ignorant thing seeking death."
Ye Pu, sitting on the dragon throne, nodded: "Then confiscate all family assets to the state."
Whatever could be recovered, even a little, was something.
Wine Spring Sect.
The sect leader had the dao name Ling You, an old Immortal Realm cultivator. The old sect leader and the Jade Realm Discipline Ancestor Mi Zhi left the mountain together, riding the wind to that tavern.
The tavern keeper handed over the Small Solar coin left by Lu Zhi, and the Grain Rain coin left by old Sword Immortal Qi Tingji.
Ling You accepted the two immortal coins with a smile.
Mi Zhi was full of worry, wanting to speak but hesitating, as if she didn't approve of the old sect leader accepting the immortal coins.
Ling You chuckled: "Getting porridge, don't complain it's thin. A mosquito's leg is still meat. Besides, there's a Grain Rain coin."
Mi Zhi sat at a table. Though she wasn't skilled in combat, the so-called tragic scene at the tavern didn't concern her much. She wasn't greatly alarmed. In the Barbaric World, what did such scenes amount to? She took out a bottle of wine she had brewed herself, sipped some immortal brew, and communicated with heart voice: "If Wine Spring Sect accepts these two immortal coins deliberately left by Qi Tingji and Lu Zhi, will Tuoyue Mountain pursue the matter afterward, deliberately using these two immortal coins to make trouble for us? At the small end, it's that Wine Spring Sect couldn't stop them; at the large end, it's colluding with the Sword Qi Great Wall remnants. Can we afford that charge?"
Ling You still wore an unconcerned expression, stroking his beard and laughing: "Since ancient times, gold and silver haven't weighed down the hand, and immortal coins don't bite. We should trust Sword Immortal Fei Ran's breadth of mind."
Mi Zhi frowned deeply: "We were already a small, minor sect. I simply can't believe that so many sword immortals would penetrate deep into the Barbaric heartland just to drink a few jugs of wine at our Wine Spring Sect."
The old sect leader kicked aside the severed limbs and broken bones at his feet, sat down on a bench, tugged at his beard, and pondered a moment. "Let's see if, besides us, there are any other major sects that suffered. If there are, then Wine Spring Sect has nothing to worry about. If there aren't, then it's precarious. Let's just pray that some great cultivator or major sect can help share the burden for Wine Spring Sect."
The old sect leader poured himself a bowl of wine and laughed heartily: "How can one be such a person? Too unkind."
Soon, a flying sword message arrived from the sect. The old immortal caught the flying sword and sighed: "That Ye Pu's Jade Slab City was ransacked by Qi Tingji and Lu Zhi. As for Xianzan City... a Hidden Official who had transformed into a Daoist simply split it into two halves. As to whether it was truly Chen Ping'an, there's no definitive account. Traveling cultivators who fled in all directions from Xianzan City assert emphatically that it was definitely the young Hidden Official. As for Xianzan City's ancestral hall... forget it, there's no ancestral hall anymore. It seems someone smashed it to pieces."
"It must be Chen Ping'an, no doubt."
"Just don't know if this Hidden Official passed by here before or not."
Hearing this, Mi Zhi asked with confusion: "Why must it be him?"
The old immortal swirled the wine in his bowl: "Only the Hidden Official of the Sword Qi Great Wall could mobilize Qi Tingji, Ning Yao, and Lu Zhi to accompany him on a long journey to deliver swords in the Barbaric World."
Mi Zhi suddenly realized: "That really does make sense."
The old immortal stroked his beard and smiled: "As it turns out, our Wine Spring Sect has the greatest face."
A Liang, Qi Tingji, Lu Zhi. If we could add the last Hidden Official Chen Ping'an?
Mi Zhi drank her wine and turned to look at the street outside, which had grown desolate. "I wonder if I'll ever see Mi Yu again."
Mi Zhi had long heard of this sword cultivator who shared the same surname as her, but had never met him.
Ling You glanced at the stunningly beautiful Discipline Ancestor cultivator and teased: "What would you want to see that Mi 'Waist-Blocker' for? Your waist is so slim, I doubt it could withstand a few of his sword strikes."
Mi Zhi took a heavy gulp of wine and laughed loudly: "I've only heard of an ox being worn out, never of a field being ruined by plowing."
The old immortal's face showed a look of sudden realization. He rubbed his wine-reddened nose and sighed wistfully: "I suddenly miss A Liang's bawdy tavern talk."
Xianzan City.
Deputy City Lord Yin Lu himself didn't know why he had been spared death. However, one soul and one spirit had been taken away by that person using secret arts, causing the Immortal Realm Yin Lu to fall to the Jade Realm.
Those two halves of the city, once called the tallest in the world, were now separated by two mountain-and-water talismans, several hundred li apart, unable to be pieced back together.
And even if Yin Lu had the means, he wouldn't dare restore Xianzan City to its original state. The new city lord, already frightened out of his wits, felt that even if he were also Fourteenth Realm, facing that one, he would be like paper.
Yelo River waters.
Fei Fei, disregarding the damage to her Great Dao, followed that aura and instantly contracted the earth, arriving beneath a tree. Suppressing her inner discomfort and somewhat awkwardly, she imitated a mortal woman's curtsy, and said with utmost respect: "Fei Fei pays respects to Mr. Bai."
Even earlier at the Heroic Spirit Hall meetings, facing Tuoyue Mountain Grand Progenitor, Literary Sea Zhou Mi, and other high-ranking Thrones, she had never behaved so affectedly.
Bai Ze stepped out, landing on the ground, standing beside Fei Fei. He shook his head. "Just call me by name directly."
Bai Ze turned to look at Fei Fei, his pair of crimson eyes seemingly filled with hopeful expectation.
Bai Ze asked: "Shouldn't you be harboring resentment?"
Fei Fei's face was haggard and pale. She grinned, raised the back of her hand to wipe the blood and grime from her face, and shook her head: "I dare not, and I won't."
Bai Ze walked slowly forward. Fei Fei immediately followed, not daring to walk shoulder to shoulder with this "greatest traitor" of the Barbaric World, staying half a step behind.
"That fortune originally belonging to Yang Zhi—I'll give it to you instead."
Bai Ze communicated with heart voice: "But you must promise me one thing. If—I'm saying if—you and Yang Zhi still have a day of reunion, don't think of killing her. Spare her life and let her walk a Great Dao. What do you think? Can you do it?"
Fei Fei thought for a moment, then nodded: "Since Mr. Bai has spoken, Fei Fei can certainly do it."
In truth, Fei Fei and Yang Zhi had two kinds of Great Dao conflicts. One was competing over the Barbaric World's water fortune. The other, more hidden, was that Fei Fei's Great Dao foundation involved a conflict between water and fire.
So in Bai Ze's view, Fei Fei's Great Dao height was meant to surpass Yang Zhi's.
Bai Ze said: "Then remember this well. I'll only recite it once—a little cultivation insight I worked out in my idle early years, about four thousand characters."
"Great Dao primal chaos, sun moon yin yang, six lines eight trigrams... A thousand words ten thousand phrases, spiritual treasure body, only at the ridge and water. Complete the pre-natal, mud-water golden elixir, regulate fire phases, heaven and earth endless..."
"Yang fire yin talisman, two secret pacts, capture the sun and moon within a year. Stars arrayed, the Dao's guiding warp. Heart monkey, will horse, discuss true cultivation. Water nurtures spirit mist, fire nurtures spirit spring. Li pearl first emerges from water, volcano burns the sky. Mysterious pearl pulls lightning, thunder light flies, overturning the Yellow River, circling the Dipper Pivot. White snow, yellow sprouts, paired with ridge and water. Sun and moon, within a pot, refine heaven and earth..."
Bai Ze only recited the Dao formula once. For Fei Fei, an old Throne great demon, memorizing the words was naturally not difficult. What was commendable was that during the recitation, Fei Fei already gained some enlightenment, to the point of triggering a resonance between heaven and earth from that fragmentary, broken water fortune of the Yelo River.
"The Great Dao is subtle and profound, the art of longevity. Without a teacher's guidance, this matter is hard to know."
For someone at Fei Fei's height, a peak cultivator, it was actually difficult for anyone to guide her cultivation anymore.
Bai Ze was the exception.
Fei Fei once again sincerely performed a curtsy, thanking Bai Ze for the kindness of transmitting the Dao.
Bai Ze remained silent.
Fei Fei asked with concern: "Mr. Bai, has our Barbaric World fallen to such a state that we must allow a few sword immortals to run rampant?"
Bai Ze shook his head: "Tuoyue Mountain needs to surround and kill A Liang and Zuo You, so they can't spare attention for Chen Ping'an's group for now. And they, relying on the Three Mountain Talisman, appear and disappear mysteriously in the Barbaric heartland—that can probably be counted as a considerable surprise."
The top combat forces of the two worlds, Tuoyue Mountain and the Central Earth Confucian Temple, each had their own arrangements, each performing their respective duties. During this time, aside from Fire Dragon True Person who made a solo long journey, wielding both water and fire methods, no other peak cultivators from the Haoran World acted on personal whim.
For example, at the Qing Ji site, there was Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City, the female martial god Pei Bei of the Great Duan, Huai Yin—one of the Central Earth Ten—and the Flying Ascension Realm demon cultivator Guo Outing of Iron Tree Mountain. Additionally, there was Liu Tui of Celestial Songs Township in Fuyao Continent, and the female immortal Cong Qian of Flowing Xia Continent. None of them made any superfluous moves, simply following the established agenda from the Confucian Temple meetings, proceeding step by step, acting according to the rules. Beyond them, the Immortal Realm cultivators of the Haoran World no longer dared to act on their own, because there had already been a precedent. If Immortal Realm cultivators were this cautious, then Jade Realm cultivators were even more so.
Fei Fei asked cautiously: "Mr. Bai, can you go a step further?"
Could he merge with the Barbaric World and ascend to that legendary Fifteenth Realm?
Unfortunately, Bai Ze turned a deaf ear, not giving Fei Fei the answer she wanted.
Fei Fei didn't press further.
Bai Ze was silent for a moment, then said self-deprecatingly: "Don't think that just because I'm here, the Barbaric World can really amount to much."
Fei Fei said: "It's enough that Mr. Bai is in his homeland."
In her view, there were only three cultivators in the world most likely to become new Fifteenth Realm cultivators.
The Rites Sage, who established the rules for the Haoran World.
The whereabouts-unknown Great Patriarch of the White Jade Capital.
And Bai Ze, who had returned to the Barbaric World.
Bai Ze suddenly showed a hint of a smile. Back when he traveled through Bottle Gourd Continent with his maidservant Qing Ying, someone had teased him—of course, a harmless joke.
"A fox traveling with me—I must be depraved."
At that time, Bai Ze had replied: "Boundless snow, the caged sparrow flies high."
Fei Fei's heart suddenly jolted. She immediately turned her head toward the direction of Tuoyue Mountain. Even straining her eyes to the utmost, she couldn't see the mountain's outline. But the aura that affected an entire world made Fei Fei feel a suffocating sensation, like a fish in a pond caught in a wildfire. "Mr. Bai, this is?"
Bai Ze's steps became slightly heavier. His expression was calm as he revealed the heavenly secret to Fei Fei: "Someone is sword-opening Tuoyue Mountain."
A moment later.
Chen Ping'an alone had already delivered three thousand sword strikes. This meant Yuan Xiong had died three thousand times.
Bai Ze seemed unconcerned about Tuoyue Mountain's safety. He abruptly looked up, gazing at that moon that once hung suspended in the center of the sky.
Five sword cultivators, plus Lu Chen—besides moving the mountain, they were also dragging the moon.
This wasn't strange. Earlier, in Executioner Hao Su's Flying Ascension bright moon, Bai Ze had already sensed something. That moon seemed to be the cultivation ground of that little girl She Yue.
But what surprised even Bai Ze were two things: first, that Chen Ping'an seemed confident he alone could wield his sword to move the mountain and cut down the Flying Ascension Realm peak great demon Yuan Xiong.
Second, that Ning Yao, Qi Tingji, Lu Zhi, and Executioner Hao Su were about to jointly deliver sword strikes to drag down the moon—clearly a change of plan from the moon Hao Su had visited.
As Ning Yao departed, she looked down at the earth.
Chen Ping'an looked up and met her gaze from afar, then casually delivered a sword strike toward Tuoyue Mountain.
As if to say that at present, his wielding a sword at the Fourteenth Realm to break a mountain was definitely no more difficult than when he was a youth practicing a million punches.
Bai Ze couldn't help but laugh.
Was he supposed to appear and block this, thereby accepting this sword challenge?