Unsheathed

Chapter 68: Spring Under the Heavens

Qi Jingchun's enormous Dao Manifestation stood like a pristine and ethereal monolith in the northernmost region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

The clouds up above were surging incessantly while slowly descending toward his head.

Qi Jingchun looked up with a placid smile.

Right at this moment, an authoritative voice rang out from above the clouds. "Qi Jingchun, you must understand that the Heavenly Dao extends no sympathy to anyone. As someone who follows in the teachings of Daoism, it's understandable that you would be sympathetic toward the Jewel Small World. If you change your mind now, you can still be forgiven."

Accompanying this celestial immortal's voice were bursts of rumbling thunderclaps ringing out within the clouds, as well as brief flashes of lightning.

"Why are you wasting your time trying to reason with this fool? If he wants to oppose the will of the heavens, then he'll have to ask my fists for permission first!"

At the same time, an enormous golden hand reached down from the heavens, piercing a hole through the clouds, and a pillar of light descended right in front of Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation.

A sympathetic voice that resembled a Buddhist prayer rang out in the west. "Benefactor Qi, you must see the light of reason."

Qi Jingchun declared in a solemn voice, "Following the dragon-slaying battle, the town was blessed with immense fortune for 3,000 years, producing countless exceptional talents, but it's been severely overexploited. However, the rules were established by the four Sages, and the earliest group of cultivators who chose to settle in Jewel Small World raised no objections, so I naturally don't have any right to impose my will on this matter. Now that the Heavenly Dao is about to subjugate this place, then let it come. I will be the one to endure this tribulation in the place of the town's residents, so the rules will still be followed, and the Heavenly Dao will not be opposed. Why do you insist on trying to stop me?"

The immortal who had just punched a hole through the clouds immediately burst into laughter. "Do you really not know the reasons behind this, or are you just playing dumb?"

Qi Jingchun extended a hand of his own, holding the bead that contained Jewel Small World within a closed fist.

Inside the small world sitting on his palm, day abruptly transitioned into night, presenting a wondrous spectacle to behold.

At this moment, the pristine white hand that was protecting Jewel Small World seemed to be under attack from invisible forces from all directions. Arcs of white lightning were constantly erupted from the hand amid strings of incessant crackling, and "snowflakes" that appeared to be as tiny as feathers, but were actually as massive as mountains, were constantly falling from the back of Qi Jingchun's hand, only to dissipate into nothingness before they had a chance to fall onto the ground.

The immortal situated near the hole in the clouds up above sneered, "To think that a mere scholar like yourself would dare to oppose the Great Dao. What insolence! Let me see what's given you the audacity to act like this!"

If one could stand from afar and see through the concealment formation collectively created by the immortals, then they would be treated to an incredibly breathtaking spectacle. First, a black dot emerged from the enormous hole in the sea of clouds. The black dot descended directly downward, quickly revealing itself to be the tip of a sword. Finally, the entire sword was revealed, and it was a "miniature" flying sword that was comparable in length to one of the fingers of Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation.

As soon as the first sword emerged, a second one immediately followed, and this was followed by several more swords that descended from the sea of clouds elsewhere one after another, amounting to a total of 12 flying swords.

All of the swords were arranged in a line, hovering high up in the sky, resembling a formidable army of cavaliers that could be let loose at any instant with a single command.

A giant golden figure was seated casually with his legs crossed atop the sea of clouds. His massive golden eyes were open, and his fists were resting on his knees. The golden figure slowly extended the index finger on his right hand, then flicked it through the air.

A flying sword instantly shot down from the heavens, hurtling toward the Qi Jingchun's arm, the one that was connected to the palm holding Jewel Small World.

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The flying sword descended as fast as lightning, leaving a continuous cloud trail in its wake.

The sword instantly pierced through the arm of Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation, then drew to an abrupt halt mere inches away from the ground.

Above the sea of clouds, the golden giant gently twirled his right index finger, and the flying sword circled around before returning to the sky. At the same time, the golden figure flicked his left index finger, and another one of the suspended flying swords came crashing down to pierce through Qi Jingchun's arm once again.

Using his two index fingers, the golden figure was able to control the 12 flying swords, sending them hurtling down before rising up over and over again.

Before long, Qi Jingchun's arm had already become riddled with countless black holes from the relentless assault, presenting a harrowing sight to behold, particularly compared with the rest of his pristine white Dao Manifestation.

Qi Jingchun remained calm and collected, watching as the flying swords began a new round of assault, not allowing him any respite.

"Gleeful spring breeze," Qi Jingchun said in a placid voice.

Right as one of the flying swords was about to pierce through his arm again, it was blown off course like a pine needle being swept away by a gentle breeze, thereby failing to strike its target. The rest of the 12 flying swords fell one after another, but they also failed to strike their target, and they began revolving slowly around Qi Jingchun in a set trajectory, vibrating and ringing incessantly as they waited for an opportunity to strike.

At the same time, gusts of spring breeze were sweeping through heaven and earth, arresting the downward momentum of the sea of clouds in a subtle manner.

The golden giant's bare chest was exposed, and he were looking down at Qi Jingchun with a scornful expression, but a hint of surprise quickly appeared in his eyes as he discovered that there were no holes in Qi Jingchun's defenses for the 12 flying swords to exploit.

These flying swords would've been unfathomably powerful to mortal cultivators, but Qi Jingchun didn't pay much heed to them, continuing to focus his attention on his clenched fist instead.

The bead that Jewel Small World was encompassed in had already been hovering above Eastern Treasured Vial Continent for 3,000 years, and the outer wall protecting the bead was supposed to completely break in 60 years, when it was due to fall into the hands of the next Sage, Ruan Qiong.

It was going to be like a piece of porcelain, with the outermost layer of glaze completely peeling away. Once that happened, the small world would be left to face the wrath of the Heavenly Dao, and its inhabitants weren't going to perish right away, but all of the town's residents would lose their chance at being reincarnated. Qi Jingchun had consulted Buddhist scriptures specifically for this matter, and he had arrived at a terrifying conclusion.

All of the residents of the town, of which there were over 6,000, were going to be made into scapegoats to bear the wrath of the heavens. There was a chance that they would be eternally relegated to the Path of the Hungry Ghost in the six paths of reincarnation, where they would be tormented for all of eternity without respite.

As the final Sage responsible for overseeing Jewel Small World, Ruan Qiong's duty at that time wouldn't have been to protect the town's residents. Instead, his job would've been to ensure that not a single one of the town's residents managed to avoid this retribution from the Heavenly Dao.

The voice of the golden giant was rumbling like thunder as he chortled, "People have always proclaimed that you're a remarkable man, possessing a pair of kindred characters. Aside from the 'Chun' character, you also possess a kindred 'Jing' character, which goes against the rules. Come and show me just how remarkable you are!"

The golden giant slammed his fist into his own knee as he spoke, and after three strikes, the sea of clouds began to churn violently like a cauldron of boiling water.

The invisible gusts of spring breeze beneath the sea of clouds also began to waver and fluctuate in brightness.

The giant continued, "You have your spring breeze, while I have a storm of flying swords to rain on your parade!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, countless golden threads passed through the sea of clouds before piercing through the spring breeze.

Compared with the stature of the golden giant, those golden threads were like tiny needles the length of fingernails, but there were too many of them to count, and they converged to present an extremely intimidating sight.

Qi Jingchun's expression remained unchanged as he continued to stare at his own fist, and he said in a quiet voice, "The finest rain falls right when the plants are beginning to sprout in spring."

Droplets of rain began to emerge from the ground surrounding Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation as he spoke, and each raindrop appeared to be tiny and insignificant, but in reality, they were all massive pools of water.

Following their emergence, these droplets of rain cascaded up toward the heavens, completely going against the natural order.

Just a single phrase of poetry recited by Qi Jingchun had been enough to give rise to this unfathomable phenomenon.

The resplendent storm of golden flying swords was raining down from above, while the droplets of rain on the ground were rising up from below.

The two forces clashed violently, creating a marvelous spectacle to behold, but Qi Jingchun paid no heed to the scene that was unfolding above him.

A series of lightning flood dragons emerged out of thin air around his closed fist, then crashed into the back of his hand.

The lightning was of three different colors, namely red, cyan, and white, and they appeared to be completely random and haphazard in their distribution, but the divide between the three types of lightning was extremely clear, and they didn't intertwine in the slightest as they formed three huge nets.

Debris continued to fly in all directions from the fist of the Dao Manifestation, and it was constantly being whittled down further and further.

"Calmness and tranquility," Qi Jingchun said in a quiet voice.

All of a sudden, the net of white lightning abruptly fell completely still without any warning, while the other two types of lightning were still moving as normal. As a result, the balance between the three types of lightning was disrupted, and a bolt of red lightning smashed through a bolt of white lightning, while a bolt of cyan lightning wound itself around a bolt of red lightning, plunging the entire system into complete chaos.

All of a sudden, an elderly voice rang out from above the sea of clouds. "There is order in both motion and rest!"

In the blink of an eye, order was restored in the three lightning nets that had been thrown into complete disarray, and they continued to strike at the first of Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation over and over again.

Qi Jingchun heaved a faint sigh.

"We've been playing around for long enough, Qi Jingchun. How about you take a punch from me?"

A golden fist came crashing down toward Qi Jingchun's head through the hole in the clouds.

Qi Jingchun raised his spare right hand high above his head with the palm facing upward to oppose the descending fist.

All of a sudden, Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation abruptly sank down by 1,000 feet, but the sea of clouds was also lifted by 1,000 feet by a stiff breeze.

It was as if 2,000 feet had opened up between heaven and earth.

"Again!"

One punch after another came raining down from the golden immortal, and each punch was imbued with tremendous power. Even the tallest and most majestic of mountains on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent wouldn't have been able to withstand a single one of his punches.

Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation merely kept his palm raised to ward off the attacks.

First, a huge hole was blown into the palm of the Dao Manifestation, and it didn't take long before the entire hand was destroyed, immediately following which the arm that the hand was connected to was smashed to bits by the golden fist.

Despite the severe damage Qi Jingchun had sustained to his Dao Manifestation, he still remained completely unfazed, continuing to focus his attention on his clenched left fist.

Daoist runes that were crackling with lightning extended along his entire arm up to his shoulder, and every single rune was the size of a house.

The elderly voice continued, "Don't be so stubborn, Qi Jingchun. I can allow you to cultivate under me if you so wish."

Qi Jingchun turned slightly to look down at his own arm, which was riddled with countless holes and the peerless runes inscribed by the Master Sage of Daoism, and he gently exhaled as he said in a defiant voice, "Be quiet..."

The owner of the elderly voice instantly flew into a thunderous rage. "Qi Jingchun! How dare you!"

His enraged voice drowned out what Qi Jingchun was about to say next.

A pair of fingers were brought together up above before slashing down like a sword, easily breaking through the sea of clouds and severing Qi Jingchun's remaining arm at the shoulder.

Far away in the distance, a barely audible wistful sigh rang out.

The Sages of Confucianism had to follow the established rules, and Qi Jingchun had made a grave mistake by overstepping those boundaries.

Even after severing Qi Jingchun's arm, the owner of the elderly voice still seemed to be in a fit of rage, and the pair of fingers were quickly pulled back, but that wasn't the end. Instead, they were immediately plunged down once again at an even faster speed, aimed at Qi Jingchun's already detached left fist.

Qi Jingchun withdrew what remained of his right arm from above his head and quickly positioned it above the bead as a shield, then quickly pulled the bead to himself and tucked it to his chest.

The fingers of the immortal continued onward with unstoppable force, piercing through the arm of Qi Jingchun's Dao Manifestation with ease, while the fist of the golden giant crashed heavily down upon Qi Jingchun's head, leaving his Dao Manifestation swaying unsteadily, looking as if it could fall at any moment.

Even though he was missing both of his arms, his sleeves were still flapping in the wind, and he remained standing as resolutely as ever, but that only served to present an even more tragic sight.

Another punch came crashing down onto Qi Jingchun's head, causing his Dao Manifestation to sink down even further.

One punch came raining down after another, and it seemed that the golden giant was determined to not stop until Qi Jingchun had been completely smashed deep into the ground.

Despite the horrific condition the Dao Manifestation was in, Qi Jingchun was still stubbornly protecting the bead enclosed within the fist, guarding Jewel Small World and the residents inside with his life.

The lips of the Dao Manifestation were moving slightly as it recited in silence, "The stars follow and revolve alongside one another, while the sun and the moon replace one another in a perpetual cycle. The seasons take turns controlling the weather, while Yin and Yang give rise to the world. The wind and the rain nurture all things, providing them with the vitality required to grow..."

Inside the small world, there wasn't a single child left in the school.

The only one left there was Qi Jingchun, seated on his own, and not only had his hair turned completely white, he was bleeding out of all of his orifices, and his body had been reduced to a gruesome mess.

His soul had been shattered even more completely than a piece of porcelain that had been dashed to the ground, but despite the terrible condition he was in, there was a satisfied smile on his face, and his eyes were closed in contentment.

I, Qi Jingchun, exist in this world. So long as this world prospers, so do I.

On this year, spring lingered until very late in this world, and the arrival of summer was significantly delayed.