Unsheathed

In the night sky, a trio of old men were flying together toward Palace Willow Island.

As was to be expected of a cultivator of the Upper Five Tiers, Liu Laocheng hadn't even broken a sweat in his battle against Chen Ping'an.

In fact, he had never really even gotten serious the entire time.

"Why didn't you kill that young man? It's not like you to leave loose ends untied like this," Gao Mian asked in a puzzled manner.

"You were so loud, and you were clearly intentionally speaking for me to hear," Liu Laocheng replied in an exasperated manner, while Xun Yuan remained silent with an amused smile on his face.

The three of them descended to the entrance of Palace Willow Island, then continued on foot from there.

"Seeing as I partially have him to thank for that colored glaze golden body fragment, I should spare him in repayment. Besides, this is a young man who was able to survive a battle against Du Mao, and I have no direct qualms with him, so why not spare him? I can establish authority by killing, but the same impact can be had by wounding someone as well. On top of that, he was quite a smart young man and agreed to make a deal with me," Liu Laocheng explained.

"Would you say you spared him more so out of gratitude or more so because you didn't dare to kill him?" Gao Mian asked with a smile, and Liu Laocheng's expression instantly darkened upon hearing this.

"If that young man hadn't cupped his fist in a salute just now, Old Man Liu would've definitely changed his mind and killed him on the spot," Xun Yuan suddenly interjected.

Liu Laocheng nodded in response.

"I know better than to allow a threat to grow into an adversary. I can tell if someone's being genuine with me or not, so in a way, he saved his own life."