Unsheathed

Chapter 258 (2): The Martial Goddess Stands at the Mountain Summit

The tallest and most majestic of the deity statues was one of the Buddha, and prior to its collapse, it seemed to have depicted the Buddha smiling while holding a flower between his fingers. However, the arm of the statue had been snapped at the shoulder and only three of its five fingers remained, while the flower once held between its fingers was completely destroyed.

One of those fingers was pointed up at the sky, and just that finger alone was several dozen meters tall, giving one an idea of just how enormous the statue was back when it was standing in its full glory.

There was a barefoot young girl in white standing atop the finger with her eyes tightly shut, allowing the wind to ruffle her hair. The girl was quite ordinary in appearance.

A gust of astral wind was sweeping like a wave toward her and the finger that she was standing on.

The girl's eyes remained closed, and all she did was utter a single word in a certain dialect from Golden Armor Continent.

"Open."

The gust of astral wind was instantly split into two down the middle before blowing past either side of the Buddha's statue's finger. A small part of the gust of wind still managed to glide over the girls' face, slicing a series of gashes into her cheeks, but in the blink of an eye, those injuries were completely healed.

The wind continued to blow, carrying the girl's faint fragrance into the distance.

————

In the sea near Complete Reed Continent stood a tall mountain that resembled a spike pointing directly up at the sky. However, the mountain summit was a circular pond that resembled a bottomless well, and the light of flames could be seen illuminating the walls of the well. This was the opening of an active volcano, and inside was a completely nude man with a brawny physique.

He was seated in silence, with his legs crossed, atop a black rock. He was supporting his chin with one hand, and he seemed to be in deep thought. There were flames and molten lava churning all around him, but he seemed to be completely oblivious.

The most remarkable thing about the man was that he had two pupils in each eye.

There was a frustrated look on his face as he murmured to himself, "It's been quite difficult trying to progress to the Vajra Body Tier. I suppose I can only blame myself for eating too many pills. How much did I eat? 100 kilograms? 200?

“Once I reach the Vajra Body Tier, I really have to stop munching down pills like food. Setting aside everything else, just having to poop every day is a real pain in the arse, and it's downright shameful for a sixth tier martial artist like myself!"

All of a sudden, a flying sword swooped into the well at an astonishing speed, and the brawny man immediately slumped to the ground before falling into the sea of molten lava around him.

The flying sword wasn't particularly large, and even though its target already appeared to have been struck down, it still didn't relent, flying rapidly around the volcanic crater to send countless rocks tumbling into the lava down below.

Given the cultivation base of the owner of the flying sword and how sharp the flying sword was, it would've most likely been able to pierce through the entire mountain had this been any other place on Complete Reed Continent, but here, the flying sword was encountering significant resistance.

An elderly man was standing on the edge of the volcanic crater with a longsword strapped to his back, and after striking down the brawny man, the old man roared in a thunderous voice, "I've finally found you, you despicable bastard!

“Don't play dead, I know that wasn't enough to kill you! You chose to trap yourself in this place where there can be no escape. Once you die here, nothing will remain of your body, and perhaps that will go some way to atoning for your sins!"

The old man then extended his index and middle fingers and swiped them over the scabbard of the sword on his back, and the sword immediately flew out of the scabbard before rising up into the heavens, then rapidly plunged downward, piercing into the sea of lava with a resounding boom to send waves erupting several dozen feet upward.

Within the sea of lava, a rapidly moving figure could be seen, and they were being pursued by the longsword.

At the foot of the volcano, a figure was slowly scaling the mountain from each of the four directions.

There was an elderly Daoist priest plastering talismans onto the rocks on the mountain, and a monk making hand seals before thrusting his palms toward the ground. There was also a person holding a scroll that seemed to have no end, unfurling it all the way from the foot of the mountain to resemble a long carpet, and an azure-robed elderly man holding a brush, which he was using to inscribe the teachings of Confucian sages onto the mountain.

While the old man on the mountain summit was attempting to slay his target with his two swords, he murmured to himself with a self-deprecating expression, "To think that a Golden Core Tier swordsman like myself would have so much trouble hunting down a martial artist who hasn't even reached the seventh tier yet."

Thoughts of all of the heinous crimes that the man had committed sprang into the old man's mind. Not only had his sect been put through a horrific ordeal, countless other innocent people, both mortals and cultivators, had also lost their lives, and a sense of fury welled up in the old man's heart as he condemned, "A demon like you, who kills only for fun, deserves to die a thousand deaths!"

————

Elsewhere, two armies were facing off against each other.

A raised platform had been temporarily set up in one of the armies, and lying lazily on a narrow bed on the raised platform was a brocade-robed man who appeared to be in his twenties. Two gorgeous young women were seated on either side of the bed, and one of them was massaging the man's temples, while the other was hunched over to massage his calves.

Right behind the man was a flag that represented his status as the general of the army, flapping audibly in the wind.

One of the stunning maidservants, the one that was massaging the man's calves, took a glance at the woman, then smiled in amusement as she said, "Young Master, I've heard that there's an eighth tier swordsman and a ninth tier Militarian cultivator in the opposing army.

“It looks like our Xie Xiu's ex-husband really, really loves her, so much so that he's willing to go to war for her. It's almost a little poetic. How about you return Xie Xiu to him, Young Master? It would certainly make for a great love story."

She raised a hand to cover her lips, then chuckled as she continued, "In any case, you've already had a good taste of her, and she's always so stingy, never willing to share you with any of us. Isn't that frustrating for you? I've never seen any maidservant that's even half as demanding as her."

The other woman by the name of Xie Xiu paid no heed to her as she continued to gently massage the man's temples in soft and careful motions.

The brocade-robed man's eyes narrowed slightly with a smile as he said, "Xie Xiu is really shy, so I have to look after her feelings. In contrast, you're far more shameless than she is. If I were to dote on you without discretion, you would eventually become so inflated with confidence that you would rebel!"

Despite his criticisms, the man's voice was full of affection, and the woman raised her eyebrow at Xie Xiu in a provocative gesture, while the latter continued to stoically ignore her.

Right at this moment, the brocade-robed man raised his foot slightly as he ordered, "Take off my boots."

A fervent look instantly appeared in the woman's eyes as she fell to her knees in front of the bed before removing the brocade-robed man's boots with trembling hands.

The man sat up before stretching lazily as he sighed, "To think that our Circling Ascension Continent is only slightly larger than Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. How disappointing."

With his feet bare, he reached into Xie Xiu's collar, then pulled out a golden ball, one that still carried the warmth of Xie Xiu's body. He then gently squeezed the golden ball between his fingers, and a suit of silver armor often misidentified as a suit of Divine Dewbearing Armor instantly materialized over him.

What was rather interesting about this suit of armor was that it was riddled with all types of gashes, and there was also a small hole right where the suit of armor sat over the wearer's heart, as if it had been pierced through by a longsword.

After putting on the suit of armor, the young man slowly strode forward a few steps, then suddenly turned to Xie Xiu as he smiled and said, "Your ex-husband is inferior to me in all things, but there's one thing that I'll never be able to match him in, and that's telling jokes."

He reached out to point a finger at the opposing general's flag in the distance, then smiled with amusement as he said to Xie Xiu, "For example, here's one of his best jokes. Not only did he invite a swordsman, he recruited a Militarian cultivator as well! How hilarious is this man!"

The woman who had taken off the man's boots immediately sat onto the ground with her back against the bed, chortling with mirth as if she had just heard the most hilarious thing in the world.

Meanwhile, the young man turned to the opposing army as he chuckled, "The wives of others are like fine wines, while the widows of others are even better!"

Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the sky before flying through the air, quickly passing over his own army as a streak of white light.

————

The northernmost region of Pure White Continent was a boundless land of ice and snow, and the snowstorm here was so heavy that it was impossible to see the sky through it.

A figure in a white fur coat was standing amid the ice and snow. Occasionally, the wind would cause the fur coat to press tightly against her body, revealing a slender yet curvaceous physique. The hood of the fur coat was pressed quite low, but a pair of bright eyes could still be seen within it.

A small section of a long saber in a black scabbard could be seen hanging from her waist, and she would occasionally reach a hand out of the sleeve of her fur coat to gently stroke the hilt of the saber.

In doing so, she would reveal a slender wrist even fairer than the snow around her, and it would gleam with a colorful sheen.

It appeared that beneath the fur coat was a young woman, yet she had dared to brave the elements of such an inhospitable region on her own, making her way to the northernmost region of Pure White Continent, which, in turn, was the northernmost one of the nine continents.

Even a Golden Core Tier Qi refiner wouldn't necessarily have the courage to make such a journey on their own.

The woman pulled out a steamed bun so frozen that it was as hard as iron, and she ate it in silence while continuing to stare directly up ahead.

This region of Pure White Continent was completely devoid of human habitation, but great demons would often appear here, and the fact that they were able to take advantage of the natural environment here made them very difficult to deal with.

Generally speaking, among those who were at the Golden Core Tier, only swordsmen were willing to come here and take their chances against the cunning and persistent great demons. If one were to become a public enemy of the great demons, they would often find themselves surrounded, and that was truly a dire situation to be in.

The woman stopped in her tracks, having just finished her steamed bun, and the enormous head of a snow wolf slowly emerged from the raging snow storm up ahead.

As soon as the snow wolf appeared, the snowstorm in a radius of several hundred meters instantly subsided.

The woman removed her hood and raised her head to look up at the snow wolf, which resembled a small mountain.

She burped, then drew her saber once.

As she began to sheath her saber, it appeared as if nothing had happened.

The woman continued onward with a smile as she said, "Pardon me, but I'll have to take your head to earn myself some money for makeup."

Only as she arrived in front of the snow wolf did its mountainous body finally collapse to the ground.

She looked at the snow wolf's massive decapitated head, and a slightly troubled look appeared on her face. This was an enormous head, was she going to have to carry it back herself?

With that in mind, she turned to the wind and snow in the distance, then raised a hand to make a beckoning motion as she instructed, "You, come over here and carry this head back for me and I'll spare your life. As a reward for your efforts, you can have the rest of this snow wolf's carcass."

After that, the woman continued to trudge through the snow and ice, while a Mountain-moving Ape trailed along behind her, carrying the bloody head of the wolf with both hands.

Several great demons gathered around the snow wolf's headless carcass, and they were itching to sink their teeth into it, but none of them dared to do so.

————

The Majestic World had Five Lakes and Four Seas, all of which were incredibly vast.

At the bottom of one of those lakes was an ancient battlefield, and a man was there, hunting for the heroic spirits that still remained on the battlefield. As he captured them, he placed them into the small fish basket hanging from his waist.

————

High up in the sky above the sea was a thin and wizened old man with a pair of long eyebrows. He was so high up that it was as if he could touch the top of Majestic World's heavens just by reaching upward. There were two layers of clouds here that were separated by close to a hundred kilometers, and the old man was seated with his legs crossed at a completely unremarkable hole in the clouds. There was a bright green fishing rod in his hands, but no line trailing down from the rod.

On the lower sea of clouds, around thirty kilometers away from the old man, a large pod of Cloud and Mist Whales was passing by.

The old man swung his fishing rod forward, motioning as if he were casting his line, and an extremely thin white line that resembled a thread of silk appeared on the tip of the fishing rod.

The line was only just barely visible thanks to the light of the sun, and it wrapped itself around a massive Cloud and Mist Whale several kilometers in length.

All Cloud and Mist Whales innately possessed tremendous strength, and this one immediately began to struggle with all its might.

The old man reared back and tugged violently on his fishing rod while also rising to his feet, and the fishing rod was bent to a ridiculous curvature, looking as if it could snap at any moment.

The old man chortled with glee as he exclaimed to himself, "There's a strong one on the line!"

The battle between fish and fisherman raged on for about fifteen minutes, during which time the old man was frantically rushing back and forth on the sea of clouds while spitting out a steady stream of profanities, presenting a rather comical sight to behold.

The fact that a pure martial artist had ascended to such lofty heights indicated that the old man had to be at least at the eighth tier.

An eighth tier martial artist could kill a Cloud and Mist Whale with ease, and even in a battle against an entire pod of such whales, they were still all but assured of victory.

However, the key to the old man's fishing was the incredible fishing line on the end of his rod, which had been manifested using his True Qi. The most extraordinary thing about all of this was the line was able to remain intact, even against the tremendous strength and weight of a Cloud and Mist Whale.

————

On Middle Earth Divine Continent, there existed the ruins of a vast nation that was once one of the nine major empires of Majestic World.

Generally speaking, the only entity capable of destroying such a powerful empire would be another one of the nine major empires, but that was not the case on this occasion.

At the center of the fallen empire was a once resplendent imperial palace that had since been razed to the ground. There was a horse slowly advancing through the palace, and all of the generals and soldiers in the path of the horse hurriedly scurried away.

The horse was making its way toward the prestigious palace renowned across all nine continents.

Instead of making its way into the palace by scaling the steps on either side of the dragon wall, the horse stepped onto the dragon wall itself, and it did so with no more trouble than the average horse scaling up a small hill.

A tall and imposing person rode atop the horse, clad in a suit of golden armor, and their face was concealed behind a visor.

They held a shimmering golden spear riddled with runes, one far longer than the average spear.

As for the steed, it was a Dragon Horse that was a descendant of flood dragons, an extremely rare beast.

Hanging from the waist of the rider was a sword with no scabbard. It also had no sharp edges, and it was covered in rust. There was a pair of tiny ancient characters engraved onto its surface, but they were so worn with age that they were barely even visible at all.

Prior to entering the palace, the general who had brought down this nation suddenly raised an arm up high, then extended their middle finger up at the sky.

After that, they remained still on the spot, seemingly waiting for a response from the heavens, but there was no response, so after a brief pause, they gently nudged their steed with their legs, and it continued onward. After the Dragon Horse strode over the doorstep of the palace, its rider cast their gaze toward the dragon throne proclaimed to be the most precious berth under the heavens.

They then lowered their head to take a glance at the sheathless longsword strapped to their waist.

They had heard that the scabbard of the sword was in a small place called Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and they were wondering if they should send someone to retrieve it or make the trip themselves.

The general removed their helmet and visor, and a head of long hair came spilling down.

It was a woman, a martial goddess.

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