Unsheathed

Chapter 357 (1): Cessation of the Rain

After securing approval from Chen Ping'an, Wei Xian sprang forward in his West Mountain Dew Armor, attempting to charge straight into the enemy ranks to slay Liu Cong, even preparing to lose his own life in the process.

Meanwhile, Xu Qingzhou had immediately decided to retreat after Xu Tong was killed by Sui Youbian, even though he knew that doing so would bring down the wrath of Liu Cong upon his clan. Upon his return to Mirage City, he was planning to discuss how to proceed from here with his grandfather, who was a great general in his own right.

As one of the most prominent military clans of the Great Quan Empire, the Xu Clan had already established itself for several generations in Mirage City, so even though Xu Qingzhou was wary of Liu Cong, the Xu Clan was certainly not going to be a pushover.

At this point, the emperor was still Liu Zhen, not Liu Cong. Even if Liu Cong really did insist on turning on the Xu Clan, the Xu Clan would just have to pledge its allegiance to the second prince instead.

Over where Lu Baixiang was on the battlefield, the battle was still raging with ferocious intensity. As expected of Liu Cong's most trusted soldiers, these five thousand troops were aware of just how unforgiving martial law was, and even though they were absolutely terrified as they watched their comrades being cut down one after another, they were still charging ahead with single-minded determination, despite knowing that they were rushing straight to their deaths.

Even the martial arts masters and cultivators lurking in the shadows could hardly bear to watch any longer, and tears were streaming down the faces of even some of the most battle-hardened commanders, mixing with the rain that was still pelting down from above. Even so, they still performed their duties with the utmost diligence, executing any deserters on the spot.

There were some poems that could perhaps capture the ethereal grace and flair of immortals, but no poem had ever been able to truly encapsulate just how brutal and horrific a battlefield could be.

After jumping off the other mountain, the water demon from Burial River made a beeline straight for the mountain where Chen Ping'an was, slapping away all of the trees in his path.

Chen Ping'an was already prepared to take on this new assailant, and as an extra precautionary measure, his right hand was now holding three talismans stacked together rather than a single one.

Back in Green Roving Residence, Zhong Kui had borrowed the Wind and Snow Awl to inscribe a total of six talismans for Chen Ping'an, and out of those six talismans, three of the pieces of talisman paper belonged to him. Using those pieces of talisman paper, he had inscribed three weapon talismans that were also known as "Cavalry Circling City Talismans."

Prior to inscribing the talismans, Zhong Kui had taken in a breath of righteous energy, and his inscriptions consisted of over a hundred cavalry clad in suits of silver armor, riding white horses. The long string of tiny cavalry rushed out onto the sheet of talisman paper and arranged themselves into a formation, where they remained, waiting for the talisman to be used.

After that, Chen Ping'an had supplied Zhong Kui with three more pieces of talisman paper out of his own pocket, two pieces of golden paper and a piece of azure paper.

Zhong Kui had reluctantly complied with Chen Ping'an's requests, inscribing a Five Lightning Righteous Technique Talisman from Heavenly Master Residence of Mount Longhu, a Barrier-Shattering Talisman that prevented the phenomenon of ghosts hitting the wall, and one final Sword Suppressing Talisman of tremendous power, one that Zhong Kui proclaimed was capable of stirring up all of the seas of the nine continents.

At this point, the Burial River water demon was already no more than a hundred steps away from Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an slowly emerged from under the eaves of the temple and turned to his right.

Fifty steps.

With a flick of Chen Ping'an's wrist, all three of the talismans in his hand were ignited by a breath of pure True Qi, and he thrust them toward his approaching assailant.

The brawny man continued to charge onward without pause as he erupted into laughter, and he sprang up into the air. "What's a martial artist like you doing playing with talismans? Are you trying to defeat me by making me laugh to death?"

However, his laughter then quickly subsided.

After the three golden talismans had been incinerated into nothingness, the brawny man discovered that three talismanic projections were now revolving around him. At this point, he was still high up in the air, and he hurriedly sank his True Qi into his dantian to accelerate his own fall.

As soon as he crashed down onto the ground, a projection of a silver-armored general on horseback sprang out of each of the three talismans before charging at him.

"Die!" the brawny man roared as he spun around in a circle while throwing three punches in rapid succession at the oncoming assailants.

However, more and more cavalry continued to rush out of the talismans in batches of three at a time, and it seemed that there was no end to them.

Despite this, the brawny man was completely unfazed as he continued to lash out with his fists, killing the oncoming cavalry over and over again.

Whenever he tried to go anywhere, the three talismans would follow him while continuing to maintain the same distance from him.

The three talismans almost served as a training aide that allowed the brawny man to fight to his heart's content, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

The three Cavalry Circling City Talismans were more than capable of temporarily trapping a river demon on the cusp of the Golden Core Tier, and they could perhaps even force the river demon to reveal its true form, but they were definitely not going to be able to kill the river demon on their own.

Chen Ping'an was naturally well aware of this, and he was never under the illusion that the three talismans would be enough to kill the brawny man.

Wang Qi was patiently waiting for any sign of weakness from Chen Ping'an that he could exploit, and Chen Ping'an was also doing the same, waiting for an opportunity that he could pounce on to land a killing blow on the brawny man.

The rain was still pelting down with no signs of abating anytime soon, but the brawny man was already becoming very frustrated.

Was there truly no end to the troops rushing out of these talismans? He had already lost count of how many of them he had killed. Was it a hundred fifty? Two hundred?

As the battle wore on, a sense of foreboding began to well up in his heart. Chen Ping'an had been constantly standing a safe distance away, and it was clear that he wasn't waiting for him to break through the formation of talismans so that they could have a fair and square one on one battle.

In particular, the branch in Chen Ping'an's hand was very unsettling in his eyes. It didn't appear to be remarkable in any way, but he was convinced that there was more to it than met the eye.

It was clear that Wang Qi wasn't going to get involved in this matter, and the brawny man had no obligation to answer to Great Subduing Academy.

At this point, he had already sustained many tiny wounds, and the rain was about to die down soon, which meant that there was only a small window of time left during which he would be at the height of his powers.

With that in mind, the brawny man's eyes turned fully white, and his muscles also began to bulge and warp.

His intentions were very clear, and Wang Qi immediately yelled out in a furious voice, "Stop!"

However, the brawny man paid no heed to Wang Qi as he fully transformed into his true form. His body swelled to over three hundred meters, and his eyes were as large as lanterns.

The ground was trembling beneath his feet, and as he had grown in stature, the three Cavalry Circling City Talismans had distanced themselves further and further away from him, but they were still releasing a steady stream of cavalry at him.

Some of the Great Quan Empire's soldiers were lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike, but they were sent flying by the eel demon's enormous body, and dozens of them were injured or killed on the spot.

The rain flowed down the river demon's body, but instead of seeping into the mud, it quickly formed a pool around the great demon.

Chen Ping'an was able to identify the great demon as the same eel demon that had battled against the Burial River Goddess, and that confirmed to him beyond a doubt that the other figure still hiding on the other mountain summit was none other than Wang Qi.

Chen Ping'an held the Five Dragons Holding Jewels talisman between his fingers, injected it with True Qi, then tossed it at the river demon.

Sure enough, five slender dragons over thirty meters in length flew out of the talisman. Each of them had a white jewel clasped in its mouth, and lightning revolved around the jewels.

The river demon was thinking that it would be able to dominate the rest of the battle now that it had revealed its true form, only to discover that five formidable flood dragons had appeared above its head. After a brief moment of stunned silence, it let loose a thunderous roar and began to struggle with all its might, trying to break free from the encirclement of Cavalry Circling City Talismans so that it could escape from the flood dragons overhead.

The cavalry units continued to charge forward and thrust their spears into the eel demon's body over and over again, even as they continued to be eradicated by the great demon.

One of the flood dragons opened its mouth up wide, and a white lightning jewel shot out from within before smashing into the river demon's head.

The mountain summit shuddered as two more lightning jewels struck the river demon on the neck and tail, causing the river demon's soul and Golden Core to tremble along with its body.

The only silver lining for him was the tremendous force of the explosions had finally destroyed those three accursed Cavalry Circling City Talismans.

A long streak of azure light flew over from the other mountain summit, then descended onto a tree branch near Chen Ping'an before proposing, "Let's both take a step back and end things here, and I'll convince Liu Cong to retreat with his troops right away. What do you say?"

Wang Qi was making this proposal through tightly gritted teeth, and he wanted nothing more than to skin the bullheaded river demon alive!

With each lightning jewel that was released, the corresponding flood dragon would fade away on its own, yet Chen Ping'an displayed no intention of stopping.

The final two flood dragons also released their lightning jewels without any hesitation, and even after all five of the flood dragons had disappeared, the five jewels could still be seen embedded firmly into the river demon's body, extending all the way from its head to its tail to form a line.

Lightning was traveling along the five jewels, forming a thick bolt of lightning that was almost the same size as the river demon's enormous body.

At the same time, First and Fifteenth had also been summoned onto the battlefield at Chen Ping'an's behest, and each of them pierced its way into one of the river demon's eyes.

Simultaneously, Sui Youbian had plunged Deep Infatuation into the river demon's head with unerring accuracy. The sword simply passed straight through before piercing into the ground below, displaying its incredible sharpness.

Meanwhile, Wang Qi and Chen Ping'an had sprung into action at almost the exact same moment, both with the intent to kill.

Chen Ping'an slashed his branch through the air like a sword, while all of the storm seemed to have completely fallen under Wang Qi's control, with all of the rain droplets veering off their original trajectories to converge toward Chen Ping'an.

In the next instant, Wang Qi could no longer be seen on the tree branch, and Chen Ping'an was standing where the noble scholar had been just a moment ago. A burst of ripples then erupted out of his Dao robe, scattering all of the rain droplets clinging to it.

Wang Qi had fled the battle.

The river demon was on the brink of death, and it was no longer able to control the pool of rainwater that had collected around it, so the water was seeping into the soil along with its profusely flowing blood.

The branch in Chen Ping'an's hand disintegrated into dust.

He sprang onto the river demon's head, then made a grabbing motion to summon Deep Infatuation into his grasp, following which he decapitated the river demon in a single swift slash.

The rain slowly subsided, and the Great Quan Empire's troops began to retreat back down the mountain.

Ultimately, Wei Xian was unable to capture Liu Cong. Instead, Liu Cong was able to retreat to the foot of the mountain, while one of the swordsmen under his command held off Wei Xian at the cost of his own life.

Out of the four, Zhu Lian was the one with the most severe injuries, but he didn't die even a single time. Lu Baixiang began to make his way toward the body of the river demon, and only now did he get a chance to sheathe Halting Snow and pull out the arrows that had pierced him. Instead of throwing the arrows away, he held onto them.

————

On the sea to the west of Parasol Leaf Continent, the great demon fleeing for its life had just been slain on the spot by a single sword strike, and its gargantuan head fell off its shoulders before sinking into the sea, while its mountainous body remained floating on the surface of the sea, bobbing up and down with the waves.

The three Parasol Leaf Continent cultivators who had pursued the great demon up to this point were unsure what to make of this situation.

Sect Leader Song Mao of Peace and Tranquility Mountain cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he greeted, "Thank you for helping us slay that great demon, Senior. I am Song Mao of Peace and Tranquility Mountain, may I ask your name?"

However, the swordsman flatly ignored Song Mao's greeting.

One of the people accompanying Song Mao was a grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect responsible for overseeing the rules and the genealogical records of the sect, and there was currently an uncertain look on his face.

During the hunt for this great demon, Song Mao was the only one who had wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the cause, determined to hunt down the great demon even if it meant having to forfeit his own life in the process.

However, even though he was the sect leader of Peace and Tranquility Mountain, his cultivation base wasn't actually all that advanced, and due to the recent incident that had taken place in the well prison on the mountain, he didn't dare to bring one of the mountain guarding immortal swords with him, so there simply wasn't much that he could do with his limited abilities.

As for the grand elder of Parasol Leaf Sect, he didn't want to take any excessive risks in hunting down the great demon, which had still been at the eleventh tier even after falling down a tier. Its body was enormous and extremely resilient, making it very difficult to take down.

However, its fate was already sealed, and there was no way that it would've been able to escape from the trio, so his plan was to take things slowly and wear down the great demon over time.

Hence, from his perspective, this was a mission with minimal risk involved, yet great rewards to be reaped. Not only would he be doing a great deed by slaying this great demon that had wreaked havoc in Planchette Writing Sect, he would also become a benefactor to Sect Leader Ji Hai of Planchette Writing Sect.

Hence, even though he hadn't truly gone all-out to hunt down this great demon, he had still been very much determined to take it down.

The third person to round out the trio was the leader of the Jiang Clan from the Cloud Cave Blessed Land. In terms of physical appearance, he was even younger and more handsome than his only son, Jiang Beihai. At this moment, there was a wide smile on his face, and he was clearly in a very good mood.