Unsheathed - Chapter 542 (4): Everyone Is A Vagrant Cultivator on Narrow and Perilous Paths

Chapter 542 (4): Everyone Is A Vagrant Cultivator on Narrow and Perilous Paths

Zhan Qing cast his gaze toward the phenomenon unfolding in the distance, and his brows furrowed slightly as he mused, “How are all of these people coming in at once? Could it be that someone’s completely destroyed the restrictions in the chamber outside?”

“This place looks like trouble to me,” Bai Bi sighed. “I’ll go take a wander around the mountain to see if I can send a letter back to my sect via flying sword.”

“I’ll come with you,” Zhan Qing offered.

Bai Bi shook her head as she said, “You go to the foot of the mountain. Gao Ling is a very dutiful and reliable man, and he’ll be sure to protect you. Don’t be in a hurry to go to the mountain summit. You’ll be placing yourself in a lot of danger there, and I’ll be too worried to stray far away.”

With that, Bai Bi departed as a streak of light, while Zhan Qing looked on with an expression of longing and admiration.

This was the flair of a Golden Core Tier earth immortal.

Zhan Qing slowly made his way down the mountain. A Vajra Body Tier Gao Ling on his own couldn’t stand up to all of the treasure-hunters that had entered the immortal abode at once, but as long as everyone remained divided, with no one to unite everyone, then they would be completely at Zhan Qing’s mercy.

After entering the secret area and discussing his options with Bai Bi, Zhan Qing had changed plans.

Instead of going on a killing spree, he planned to make a deal with all of the treasure-hunters in the immortal abode.

He would permit them to scale the mountain, but once they came back down, they had to meet with Zhan Qing in private and hand over a treasure that caught his fancy.

Just a single one would suffice.

As for all of the other notable treasures, Bai Bi would catalog all of them into a list, then submit the list to the ancestral hall of the Water Dragon Sect, which would then send out people to capture those who had claimed the treasures and recover them one by one.

That way, Zhan Qing wouldn’t have any blood on his hands, and he could profit without any violence, thereby sparing himself a lot of trouble.

Generally speaking, vagrant cultivators were very afraid of death, and they were very easy to negotiate with unless they felt like they were in a situation where death was already a certainty.

In contrast, it was often the case that official immortals possessed less foresight when weighting up their options.

Zhan Qing’s Nascent Tier master had once been a vagrant cultivator, but was currently serving as a guest elder of the Water Dragon Sect, while Bai Bi was going to be his future Dao partner, so no matter how one looked at it, they were one family.

Hence, this immortal abode was there for the Water Dragon Sect’s taking.

Prior to this, he had devised a plan with Bai Bi, and they had decided to each pick out some prized treasures, ideally no more than five in order to avoid biting off more than they could chew. Otherwise, Bai Bi wouldn’t be able to answer to her sect. While obtaining those treasures, they had to be as secretive as possible, and they had to avoid treasures of such a high caliber that they were highly sought after even among Nascent Tier cultivators.

Otherwise, one or more of the patriarchs of the Water Dragon Sect would be sure to come here and take over the immortal abode, and they definitely wouldn’t spare anyone that had entered this place.

They had countless interrogation methods at their disposal, and if they were to learn that Zhan Qing had taken some prized treasures from this place, even Bai Bi would be implicated for helping him. The ancestral hall of the Water Dragon Sect would be sure to accuse her of being ungrateful for helping Zhan Qing over the sect that had raised and nurtured her.

However, they were the ones who were going to lead the Water Dragon Sect to this place, so if they were to take just a few treasures each, then everyone would simply turn a blind eye as long as the treasures weren’t overtly precious. Of course, they also had their masters to thank. If it weren’t for their master-and-disciple ties with two of the sect’s Nascent Tier cultivators, they would receive no reward even for discovering this place.

All official immortals were both protected and bound by the rules of their sects.

Upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, Zhan Qing revealed his plan to Gao Ling in an amicable fashion, and the latter raised no objections.

He had recently received a promotion in the officialdom, and the imperial edict stipulating his promotion had arrived on the very same day that he escorted Bai Bi back to the capital.

Through that experience, Gao Ling had learned that in the Sacred Lotus Nation, where battlefield accolades were extremely difficult to come by, establishing ties with the Water Dragon Sect was more beneficial to one’s political career than anything else.

Standing on one end of the arched bridge, Zhan Qing was gently tapping its railing with his folding fan, looking as handsome and dashing as ever.

Meanwhile, Gao Ling was loudly declaring the rules to everyone near the arched bridge, and of course, no one raised any objections.

There was a Qi refiner who didn’t dare to try and cross the bridge by force, so he went elsewhere and tried to leap over the green river channel that served as a moat around the mountain, only to be instantly struck down by Gao Ling, his body exploding into several pieces from just a single punch.

In order to set an example, Gao Ling hadn’t held back much in that punch, and as a result, all of the cultivators present instantly realized that they were dealing with a Vajra Body Tier martial artist, with some of them even identifying him as the number one general of the Sacred Lotus Nation.

After that single punch, the commotion instantly died down, and even those who were talking were doing so in secret.

Right at this moment, a hoarse voice rang out in everyone’s minds’ lakes: “We have a massive numbers advantage here, so why don’t we all join forces and kill these two, then scale the mountain and plunder treasures as we please? Why do we have to allow these two to dictate terms?

“What if some of us are not so lucky and only end up securing one treasure? Does that mean we’ll have to hand over our only treasure just to be able to leave? What gives him the right to demand this of us? If we don’t unite now, we’ll be completely at their mercy!”

Many people were tempted by this proposition.

Two of the cultivators present were Rainbow Sparrow Residence cultivators in disguise, and they exchanged a pleased smile with each other.

The one who had just spoken directly into everyone’s minds’ lakes was a direct disciple of their ancestral hall, whom they were serving as Dao guardians of.

She was quite young, but she was already very cunning.

The two Rainbow Sparrow Residence cultivators were none other than Residence Head Sun Qing and Disciplinary Elder Wu Qun.

Initially, the plan was for Wu Qun to serve as the sole Dao guardian, but Sun Qin was feeling very bored in the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, so she decided to tag along, and she certainly wasn’t expecting to stumble into such an enormous fated opportunity.

“Was that young earth immortal from earlier Bai Bi of the Sacred Lotus Nation?” Wu Qun asked through her mind’s lake.

“So what if she is?” Sun Qing sneered. “If she dies in here, then she only has herself to blame for her own incompetence. The same applies to us two as well.”

There was a concerned look on Wu Qun’s face as she mused, “Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence that the restrictions in the chamber outside were blown open at a time like this, allowing so many people to come in at once?”

Sun Qing took a glance up at the sky, then replied in a composed manner, “We’re already here, so there’s no use in weighing ourselves down with such concerns.”

Wu Qun heaved a forlorn sigh as she took a glance at the calm and steadfast young residence head beside her. No wonder she was the youngest Golden Core Tier residence head in the history of the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, while she was only a disciplinary elder despite being many years Sun Qing’s senior.

The people gathered near the bridge were beginning to grow quite rowdy, with many people hurling verbal threats and insults at Zhan Qing and Gao Ling, saying that they would skin the two of them alive.

However, Zhan Qing remained completely unfazed, smiling widely as he opened his folding fan with a loud snap, then began fanning himself as he said, “You can come kill me if you want, but there’s only one of me, so it’s first come, first serve.”

Sun Qing smiled as she nudged Wu Qun with her elbow and said, “You make the first move. Otherwise, these people could stand here making empty threats for years.”

Wu Qun stepped forward, wearing both a veiled hat and an illusory disguise, and she emerged from the crowd before stepping onto the arched bridge, doing so at a leisurely pace.

For this trip, she was wearing two Dao robes. The one on the inside was a top-tier Lustrous Robe from the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, while the outer one was a Dao robe that she had gotten someone to purchase from Cloudtop City in her stead.

The outer Cloudtop City Dao robe obviously served as a disguise in itself, but it was not a very sophisticated disguise, and one would be a fool to believe that the fact that she was wearing a Cloudtop City Dao robe eliminated any possibility of her being a Rainbow Sparrow Residence cultivator.

As it turned out, Shen Zhenze’s two direct disciples had also adopted a similar plan, except they had Wu Qun’s setup reversed, with a Cloudtop City Dao robe on the inside and a Rainbow Sparrow Residence Dao robe on the outside.

Even though Wu Qun was advancing quite slowly, the people that had begun shuffling along behind her were even slower.

They were worried that if they advanced too quickly and got ahead of her, they would become the ones leading the charge, thereby placing them front and center before Gao Ling’s fists.

However, everyone’s doubts about Wu Qun quickly evaporated before being replaced by a sense of excitement as she began to accelerate as she walked.

By the end, she was practically flying over the ground while unleashing an offensive mystical technique with one hand. Gao Ling responded with two punches, one to break her mystical technique, while the other was intended to take her life.

She was sent crashing back down to the opposite shore on the other side of the arched bridge, but she was incredibly tough and resilient, struggling to her feet in silence before making her way toward the bridge again.

With her leading by example, everyone sprang into action without any further hesitation, letting loose loud roars to grant themselves courage as they stormed toward the bridge all at once.

Zhan Qing was furious, and he was internally cursing the woman that had led the charge.

Without any hesitation, then turned around and placed the tips of his thumb and index finger into his mouth before letting loose an almighty whistle.

The Vajra Body Tier guest elder on the mountain summit raced down the mountain, then leaped high up into the air from the white jade plaza before crashing heavily down onto the staircase leading up the mountain.

The people at the foot of the mountain were very intimidated to see that Zhan Qing had a second Vajra Body Tier martial artist at his disposal, and their conviction was shaken once again.

Right at this moment, that same hoarse voice rang out in their minds once again, urging, “Kill the two at the bridge first! After that, it doesn’t matter if another Vajra Body Tier martial artist comes. If we attack him all at once, he’ll stand no chance at survival!”

A chaotic battle had already ensued at the foot of the mountain, while Bai Bi had flown to a boundary of the small world, and she was hovering high up in the air.

Beyond the boundary was a seemingly boundless expanse of white mist, and she was unable to see anything regardless of what observation mystical abilities she employed.

She slowly descended to the ground, then sent a stone flying into the white mist, and it vanished without a trace.

After that, she tore up a large section of the earth before sending it flying into the mist, and it met the same fate as the stone.

The unknown nature of this boundless sea of white mist made it even more disconcerting than a normal mountain and water restriction.

On one occasion in the history of the Water Dragon Sect, an Unpolished Jade Tier patriarch and a Nascent Tier cultivator had both perished in a secret area, and after the event, the Water Dragon Sect wasn’t even able to recover their remains.

This was a very sobering thought for Bai Bi, and she felt like it was time for her to consider finding a way out.

Prior to entering this secret area, she had regarded it as some paltry immortal abode that was hardly worthy of her interest, but she now knew that she had been completely incorrect in her assessment.

The great river that ran straight through the center of the Northern Complete Reed Continent from east to west was the foundation of the Water Dragon Sect, and the sect’s all-important ancestral hall was once one of the three ancient temples situated on the bank of the great river.

As for the other two, one had been taken over by the Great Origin Empire and was regarded as the official temple of the great river, while the final one was occupied for a long time by a sect that had since met its demise. Just like the Water Dragon Sect, that sect had also made the temple its ancestral hall, but the temple was destroyed by a sect of swordsmen along with the sect during a battle between the two sects.

This place was rather similar to the ancestral hall of the Water Dragon Sect in some ways, and that was what had given Bai Bi the confidence to encourage Zhan Qing to take four treasures for himself.

If this turned out to be the ruins of a temple situated on the bank of some ancient vast river, then she and Zhan Qing would’ve made an enormous contribution to the sect by discovering this place.

However, for some reason, Bai Bi couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy, and she was fearing the worst-possible outcome, which went beyond just her own inability to leave this place.

If she and Zhan Qing were trapped in here for too long, the Water Dragon Sect would be sure to send people after them, and her biggest fear was that this place would become a new grave for the sect’s most powerful cultivators.

What if the sets of skeletal remains in this place actually belonged to treasure-hunters that had previously ventured into this secret area, as opposed to the past inhabitants of this immortal abode?

That would mean that this place was actually one massive trap that presented itself as a godsent fated opportunity, only to serve as the final resting place for all those who tried to claim a piece of this tantalizing fated opportunity.

Of course, that was only one possibility among many, but for some reason, Bai Bi was unable to cast this harrowing possibility out of her mind.

The more she tried to compose herself, the more unsettled she became, and she didn’t dare to linger at the boundary of the small world any longer. She set off back to the mountain, on the verge of panic, where she would reconvene with Zhan Qing and come up with a plan together.

Following Bai Bi’s departure, a tall and imposing old man with a rather indistinct and ethereal body emerged from the white mist, and he smiled as he remarked to himself, “Three Golden Core Tier cultivators, two Vajra Body Tier martial artists, and a rather strange a little guy. That should be enough for a splendid meal.”

A streak of sword qi came racing down from the heavens, piercing straight through the top of the old man’s head to scatter his ethereal body.

However, the old man simply reappeared elsewhere, completely unharmed, and he smiled as he mused, “We’ve already been neighbors here for so many years, yet your temper remains as fiery as ever. Why don’t you settle down a little? With those accursed restrictions in place, I’m unable to refine this small world, but the roots of all of the mountains outside are connected to this place.

“You’ve been opposing me for all these years, but you can’t do anything to me. All you can do is ensure that this place isn’t lost for now, but your efforts will ultimately prove futile.”

The old man’s head was pierced through by the streak of sword Qi once again, but just like last time, he simply reappeared elsewhere with a composed expression and continued, “Just like always, I’ll leave one final person and allow them to die a little later than the others so that they can tell me about what’s been happening in the outside world. I will also be revealing to them just how exquisite a trap it is that they’ve walked into.

“How laughable it is that they’re fighting over all these treasures when none of them will even be able to leave this place alive. I suppose it’s a blessing in itself to be able to claim a blessed land as their final resting place. It’s just a pity that the temple on the mountain had to be destroyed.

“That boy with the sword on his back has quite a keen eye, but unfortunately, he’s not going to be able to leave this place, either. After all is said and done, I have to reassemble everything again. How many times have I had to do this? What a pain in the backside…”

Once again, the old man’s body was torn to shreds by the relentless streak of sword qi, and after reforming again, he slowly stepped back into the white mist, patting his own belly in a gleeful manner as he chuckled, “The Majestic World is truly an interesting place. In any other world, everyone would’ve already turned on one another by now, and the events that follow are always far too boring and predictable.”

Even after the old man was long gone, the streak of sword qi continued to roam the area for a long time before racing back up into the heavens.

Chen Ping’an instantly turned his head and cast his gaze into the distance. He was perhaps the only one in the entire immortal abode that had detected the presence of that streak of sword qi.