Chapter 644 (2): Leaving the City Wall

Most of the sword cultivators had already calmed down.

Chen Ping'an offered a final assessment on the matter, saying, "Those who are able to sit here today are all incredibly smart people, and each of you further has your own strengths where you shine even brighter.

"Because of this, you need to be even more principled and reasonable in your speech and actions, and you need to conduct yourself in a manner such that you're able to maintain a clear conscience. I'm sure that Xu Ning didn't harbor many ill intentions with his initial complaint, and to be very honest, I don't feel like he said anything unacceptable. Quite the contrary, in fact, and I feel like it's necessary to provide honest assessments of the situation. Xuan Can needs to understand that his mistakes won't be completely forgiven simply because his original intentions were well-meaning.

"And since Xuan Can made a mistake, we won't cover things up simply because we're all colleagues from the lineage of the Hidden Official. Rather, we're bluntly scolding you behind closed doors because we're friends. We've already joined this lineage for more than one year, so we should all be relatively familiar with each other's personalities. We're all smart people as well, so is it not easy to pick on mistakes and scold people? Which of you doesn't understand these things?"

"What we need to talk about most isn't the conflict between Xuan Can and Xu Ning, but instead, Cao Gun and Luo Zhenyi choosing to deflect from the shortcomings of their friends," Chou Miao immediately added. "Is a friendship only genuine if one insists on muddying the waters no matter the situation?"

Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "If it weren't for the divinely skilled Great Sword Immortal Chou Miao keeping a lid on things here, the few of you would have already hacked each other's brains out, huh? Thankfully, I had the foresight to split you up into groups to ascend the city wall and kill demons.

"Otherwise, if someone falls today and another falls tomorrow, it won't be long before the summer palace loses half of its members, forcing me to place censers with three sticks of incense on each of the empty tables. Who will pay for this expense? The summer palace will almost become a mourning hall, so should I scold the deceased for wasting my money, or should I praise them for their hard work and contributions?"

Here it was. It was happening again.

This was the Hidden Official's forte: speaking in a sarcastic and passive-aggressive manner.

"How noble and benevolent of Lord Hidden Official, even willing to take the largest share of the responsibility," Sword Immortal Chou Miao remarked.

Chen Ping'an turned his gaze to Gu Jianlong, who remained silent and turned around to look at Wang Xinshui. Wang Xinshui was unwilling to shoulder this heavy burden, so he looked in the direction of Guo Zhujiu. The young girl looked straight down at her table.

Chen Ping'an could only flip open a book and start to write. This was a book that specially recorded the merits and demerits of those belonging to the lineage of the Hidden Official.

"You've recorded the actions of Xu Ning and Luo Zhenyi, you've recorded the actions of Xuan Can and Cao Gun, and you've even written about the contents of the argument. So, why don't I see any mention of the Hidden Official or Chen Ping'an?" Chou Miao asked a brief moment later.

Chen Ping'an smiled and replied, "Why don't we make a bet, Sword Immortal Chou Miao? We'll bet on whether I recorded my own demerits in Book F."

"I'm in," Chou Miao replied with a nod.

Chen Ping'an smacked his table and said, "Everyone can make a bet."

Apart from Guo Zhujiu, everyone else followed Sword Immortal Chou Miao's lead and wagered on the Hidden Official having not recorded his own demerits. They would keep the stakes low and have some fun. It was nothing but a few lesser heat coins.

Chen Ping'an flipped to the previous page and raised the book, smiling widely as he displayed its contents and exclaimed, "Open your blurry eyes and take a good look, everyone! Now, hurry up and give me my money!"

Guo Zhujiu jumped up and exclaimed, "It's time to collect money!"

Everyone who had lost money looked at Chou Miao.

There was a look of helplessness on Chou Miao's face as he looked at Chen Ping'an and said with a bitter smile, "I didn't expect to pay with my reputation, so a forty-sixty split won't do anymore. Let's go with a fifty-fifty split instead."

"You're not my fucking shill, Chou Miao!" Chen Ping'an exclaimed in rage.

"Allow me to say something fair, Lord Hidden Official. Clear accounts make good friends, and you're acting slightly unreasonably at the moment," Gu Jianlong said in a timid voice.

Wang Xinshui nodded and concurred, "An expression of rage, and purposely acting shocked — the acting is too over the top."

Guo Zhujiu heaved a forlorn sigh.

Her master was truly working hard to earn some personal money.

Chen Ping'an suddenly glanced at the picture scroll on the floor and said in a solemn voice, "Prepare to have the sword immortals leave the city wall to help split the battlefield."

He then stood up and continued, "I let the rest of you take the opportunities to ascend the city wall the past few times, so my allowance to leave the summer palace and kill demons has accumulated to around twenty days. Chou Miao and Lin Junbi are responsible for overseeing things when I'm gone, and if you genuinely come across a difficult decision, you can send a messenger flying sword to Sword Immortal Wei Jin on the city wall using the name of the Hidden Official. He'll notify me to return to the summer palace to discuss matters."

Luo Zhenyi hesitated for a moment, and she was just about to persuade the young Hidden Official not to act rashly.

She had to admit that the sword cultivators belonging to the lineage of the Hidden Official were getting better and better at cooperating with each other. In reality, Chen Ping'an might not necessarily be able to change the overall situation too much as the Hidden Official overseeing the summer palace, but things were ultimately different with his presence. At the very least, there were far fewer unnecessary conflicts and arguments.

However, Chou Miao unexpectedly used his mind's lake to say to Luo Zhenyi, "Let him go. The gloomiest person here isn't us, and it's not easy to conceal the fluctuations of one's emotions for an entire year."

Luo Zhenyi came to a sudden realization. She would have overlooked this if it weren't for Chou Miao's reminder.

Chen Ping'an stood up and left the main hall, putting on the face mask of an old man when he reached the courtyard. He then wore a Dao robe from the garment market and strapped a standard sword from the sword market to his back.

"Lord Hidden Official, you can actually disguise yourself better if you use that other face mask," Gu Jianlong commented in a quiet voice.

Chen Ping'an smiled and turned around, with his back becoming slightly hunched and an elderly demeanor immediately replacing his original one. His voice was hoarse as he replied, "You're quite good at speaking, huh? The two of us can have a nice long chat when I return."

Before Gu Jianlong could utter any further nonsense, Chen Ping'an's sword had already flown out from its scabbard, after which he stepped onto the blade and flew far away.

Everyone in the main hall exchanged glances with one another.

He didn't look like a fake sword cultivator.

Apart from the young Hidden Official, everyone else in the summer palace was a sword cultivator and a prodigy, so they all had very decent judgment skills.

Chou Miao smiled and proposed, "How about we wager on whether the Hidden Official is a true sword cultivator or not? I'll host the bet this time."

He then immediately added, "Guo Zhujiu isn't allowed to place a bet."

Otherwise, to say nothing of making money, he would definitely lose money instead. Not only that, but he would most likely suffer a huge loss. Disregarding everything else, this young girl was truly quite wealthy.

Guo Zhujiu was just about to place a bet with all her wealth, but upon hearing this, she immediately widened her eyes in anger and exclaimed, "Why not?!"

This time, everyone wagered on Chen Ping'an being a sword cultivator, including Cao Gun and his companions, and even including Luo Zhenyi, Xu Ning, and Chang Taiqing.

Chou Miao waved a hand and scolded, "Still thinking about gambling? You're all young, yet your cultivation bases are pathetic and you're wasting your time on useless things. Are none of you going to hurry up and start working?! Guo Zhujiu, put your things back into your bamboo bookcase!"

Guo Zhujiu rolled her eyes.

He dared to host a bet without having a shill? Her master had said before that, including the host, a table of ten people needed to have eight shills.

Guo Zhujiu put away her belongings, but her brows were still knitted in an anxious frown as she looked around the hall. In the end, she reluctantly looked at Sword Immortal Chou Miao, who possessed a high cultivation base and okay brains, and asked, "Great Sword Immortal Chou Miao, my master won't come across any problems, right?"

"You can feel at ease," Chou Miao replied with a smile.

There were strange expressions on the faces of the other sword cultivators.

"I'm not sure whether your master will face problems or not, but those in the crosshairs of your master will definitely face many problems," Gu Jianlong said.

"I strongly agree with Brother Gu's assessment," Wang Xinshui concurred with a nod.

Everyone quickly fell silent again.

This was because they witnessed a major surprise through the picture scroll on the ground.

Many of the spectating great demons would frequently launch casual attacks toward the battlefield.

This time, it was Great Demon Bai Ying who channeled an unreasonably domineering mystical ability from his skeletal throne. More than one hundred thousand skeletal and corpse puppets instantly rose on the battlefield near the city wall, dispersing in four directions and attempting to form ramps that helped the demon army climb onto the city wall.

Even though these non-sentient puppets would possess inferior combat power compared to when they were alive, more than one hundred thousand soldiers instantly appearing on the front lines understandably put the sword cultivators on the city wall under great pressure.

Before these puppets could swarm the city wall, however, Unpolished Jade Tier Sword Immortal Wu Chengpei finally summoned his bonded flying sword, Sweet Dew, for the first time.

Once Wu Chengpei's flying sword appeared over the battlefield, the blood on the ground immediately transformed into "rain" that flowed toward the sky, creating a torrential rainfall that thundered up instead of down. It appeared as if heaven and earth had been flipped around, with only Wu Chengpei's sword intent flowing in the right direction.

Almost all of the puppets and demons at the foot of the city wall were killed following the torrential "downpour."

Afterward, Wu Chengpei channeled his bonded flying sword again and again, pushing the bouts of torrential rain further and further out from the city wall. Five "downpours" later, fewer than one in ten corpse puppets and demons in the affected areas managed to survive, with those that did survive either possessing relatively high cultivation bases or having innately tough physiques. However, these survivors quickly became sitting ducks for the sword cultivators on the city wall, causing the assault of the demon army to falter as a result.

Wu Chengpei retracted his flying sword and quietly went to another section of the city wall, continuing to refine his blades.

It was extremely difficult to imagine that this was the attack of an Unpolished Jade Tier sword immortal.

An old sword cultivator had sneakily ascended the city wall, allowing him to witness this incredible feat from up close.

Afterward, numerous sword immortals had unleashed formations and entered the battlefield, a captivating display that made people feel a sense of yearning.

There was Dong Sangeng, Chen Xi, and Qi Tingji, the three elderly sword immortals who had engraved characters on the great wall.

Lu Zhi, Nalan Shaowei, Yue Qing, Yao Lianyun, Mi Hu, and several other great sword immortals also left the city wall.

Apart from them, there was also Zhou Cheng, Yuan Qingshu, Tao Wen, and the other sword immortals.

The three sages guarding the Sword Qi Great Wall — one each from the Confucian Sect, the Buddhist Sect, and the Daoist Sect — also started to channel mystical powers to transform heaven and earth.

Thus, there were extremely nuanced reasons for the battle line maintained by the sword immortals after they ventured deep into enemy territory.

There was seemingly a powerful river flowing along the earth and following the battleline of the sword immortals, and this was a phenomenon summoned by the horsetail whisk in the Daoist sage's hand. There were golden characters along the two banks of the river, forming two embankments. Meanwhile, golden lotus flowers bloomed in the river.

The old sword cultivator jumped on his sword and left the city wall with the impressive group of Middle Five Tier sword cultivators.

He didn't dare charge to the frontline after landing on the ground, and he did have a flying sword to summon in addition to the sword in his hand. He looked around, only to see the bonded flying swords of the others around him shooting forward without hesitation. As if feeling guilty, he controlled his flying sword to rush forward with the others, killing a half-dead demon that had already been struck by another flying sword.

A Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator nearby shot a glare at him, and the old sword cultivator let loose a string of curses as he controlled his flying sword to attack another half-dead demon. When it came to demon cultivators under the earth immortal tier on the battlefield, only those who landed the killing blow would receive military merit.

The armies of the demon tribe were colossal, but only a relatively small number of them were cultivators. Thus, the old sword cultivator would grumble and curse if he failed to snatch the relatively valuable military merits from those around them.

After persisting for a while, the old sword cultivator was eventually able to kill several severely wounded demons and snatch the corresponding military merit. A wide smile immediately spread across his face, but the Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator nearby scolded in a loud voice, "Get the fuck away from me!"

"I fucking refuse!" the old sword cultivator responded.

On the battlefield in front of them, a Dragon Gate Tier demon cultivator had purposely maintained its true form the entire time. Seizing the opportunity when the Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator and the old sword cultivator were arguing, the demon cultivator suddenly assumed human form and lunged forward, throwing a palm strike at the Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator's head.

The young Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator was indeed experienced in battle, and he had only been minimally distracted by his argument with the unreasonable old sword cultivator, not enough to detrimentally affect his observation of the battlefield. He rapidly commanded his flying sword to thrust at the demon cultivator's glabella, an attack that was blocked by the latter's reaching hand.

The demon cultivator possessed a remarkably tough physique, and it was able to slow down and grab the flying sword despite it piercing through its hand. At the same time, it dashed forward at the retreating sword cultivator, risking the destruction of its hand to complete its palm strike, which would obliterate the latter's head.

The Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator still possessed a long sword from the sword market, which he drew from its scabbard and slashed horizontally forward in a defensive move. Unexpectedly, however, the ferocious Dragon Gate Tier demon cultivator suddenly shifted sideways and arrived at the sword cultivator's side at an even quicker speed, sweeping its arm sideways and imminently about to behead the sword cultivator.

Yet, it was at this critical moment that an old sword cultivator mysteriously arrived between the sword cultivator and the demon cultivator, using two fingers to stop the demon's attack. The Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator instantly came to his senses and sent his flying sword through the demon cultivator's head.

The old sword cultivator immediately turned around and scolded, "You fucking stole my military merit! This is a bloody great demon, I'm telling you..."

The Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator was just about to thank the old bastard, yet he immediately swallowed his words of gratitude upon hearing this. He walked away, grumbling in his mind as he did so.

Great demon my ass.

However, the old sword cultivator shamelessly followed after the young sword cultivator.

The two of them formed a spontaneous partnership, fighting side by side and avoiding injury the entire time. When the Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator felt like it was necessary for him to thank the old sword cultivator, however, he discovered that the old man had already disappeared at some unknown time.

He glanced into the distance, only to see the old sword cultivator seemingly taking a ferocious punch from a Golden Core Tier demon for someone else. He flew backward and tumbled along the ground, completely covered in dirt as he stood back up. Meanwhile, the Golden Core Tier demon was already being attacked by a group of sword cultivators, forcing it to stumble back and run away.

The Sea Observation Tier sword cultivator found this quite strange. There were indeed some Nascent Tier and Golden Core Tier seniors at the Sword Qi Great Wall who were as shameless as this, but they were few in number and each more renowned than the other. For example, the senior sword cultivator who had suddenly gained the ability to recite poems after drinking Bamboo Sea Small World Wine was one of the most outstanding among these shameless sword cultivators. However, the appearance of this old sword cultivator was very unfamiliar.

The old sword cultivator continued to wander around, occasionally stealing a few kills from other sword cultivators. In the end, he was engaged by a Golden Core Tier demon who pursued him for several hundred meters. The old sword cultivator surprisingly summoned another bonded flying sword with an aura almost identical to his other one, continuing to dodge the domineering melee attacks of the great demon as he scolded, "Don't make me use my full power! I have a lot of flying swords, you know!"

This only succeeded in increasing the ferocity of the Golden Core Tier demon, and it was actually preparing to summon a bonded offensive immortal treasure despite its attacks appearing relatively casual. However, the demon suddenly faltered upon hearing the old sword cultivator using his mind's lake to say in the official dialect of the Savage World, "Make haste and grab one of the flying swords, then strive to stay alive and deliver it to the Jia Zi Tent."

The Golden Core Tier demon was slightly skeptical, but no matter what, it decided to grab the flying sword first before asking any other questions. Sure enough, the flying sword slowed down ever so slightly as the demon reached forward to grab it. Yet, it unexpectedly accelerated again, directly piercing through the demon's head and bursting one of its eyes.

This was excruciatingly painful for the Golden Core Tier demon, and it revealed its true body and summoned its offensive bonded item at the same time, roaring in fury as it attempted to gather its subordinates to surround and attack this sickeningly cunning bastard. Glancing over again, however, the godforsaken old sword cultivator had already vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, the Golden Core Tier demon was naturally targeted by several nearby sword cultivators after gathering seventy to eighty demons from the surroundings.

Elsewhere, at some faraway battlefield, a young sword cultivator was shouldered by some unknown person and sent flying sideways. The bonded item of a demon immediately smashed into his original spot, leaving a huge crater in the ground. The young sword cultivator was helped up by an old sword cultivator, and at the same time, the surrounding demons rushed over to attack them. Some lowered their head and charged forward, while others jumped into the air and lunged over. They came thick and fast, forming a ferocious wall that seemingly flooded heaven and earth.

The old sword cultivator, who had a sword strapped to his back, didn't draw his sword or summon his flying sword. Instead, he simply pushed the young sword cultivator with his palm, causing the latter to instantly leave the battlefield.

Afterward, the old sword cultivator casually assumed a fist stance, with his permeating fist intent annihilating all matter in his surroundings.

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