Unsheathed

The terrain of the Northern Swallow Nation was relatively flat, and after the new emperor ascended the throne, he was working studiously to better the nation and make it more prosperous. The Northern Swallow Nation also had two regions that were good for raising horses, and this allowed the combat power of their cavalry units to be far superior to that of the Southern Thorn Nation and the Five Mountain Nation.

Located further north of the Northern Swallow Nation was the Green Oriole Nation, a nation that had many stories about the feats and deeds of immortals ever since ancient times. The literati notes and fantastical novels of the Green Oriole Nation also talked much about water spirits and flood dragons.

Sui Jingcheng was wearing a veiled hat and dressed in the Bamboo Robe Dao Robe, so it wasn't a big issue to ride during the day even though the blazing sun of midsummer was blasting down on them. Rather, it was Chen Ping'an and Sui Jingcheng who needed to look after their horses.

The two of them stopped under the shade of trees beside a riverbank today, and Sui Jingcheng decided to take off her veiled hat since there was no one else around the limpid river. She also took off her boots and socks and placed her feet in the water, exhaling in satisfaction.

The senior sword immortal was sitting nearby, and he retrieved a jade bamboo folding fan but didn't use it to push around any cool air. Instead, he opened the fan and gently swayed it back and forth, causing the characters on the fan to undulate like duckweed floating through a stream. Sui Jingcheng had seen this once before, and the senior sword immortal had explained that these were immortal characters extracted from a talismanic ship belonging to the Spring Dew Garden, a residence located atop some mountain.

Sui Jingcheng was actually slightly worried about the senior sword immortal's wounds. The powerful arrow of a cultivator had directly shot through his left shoulder, and his entire body had also been enveloped by a talismanic formation. Sui Jingcheng was unable to fathom how the senior sword immortal could remain so calm as if nothing had happened. Indeed, he had only been lightly massaging his right hand as they traveled.

Sui Jingcheng turned around and asked, "Senior, were those assassins sent over by Cao Fu's master and the Golden Scale Palace?"

Chen Ping'an nodded and replied, "I can only say that this is the greatest possibility. The assassins possessed a unique trait, that being their origin from a renowned cultivation force located in the southern region of the Northern Complete Reed Continent. I call this a force, but they don't actually have a base in the mountains and only have the name Deer Cutter Mountain. Because of this, all of the assassins hailing from this force are called 'faceless people.' Anyone from the Three Teachings and the Hundred Schools of Thought can join this force, but I've heard that there are quite a large number of rules that need to be followed. For example, there are rules regarding how one can join the force, how one should kill people, how much money one should accept, and so on."

Chen Ping'an smiled and continued, "Deer Cutter Mountain also has one paramount rule. They'll only dispatch assassins one time after taking money and accepting a job. If the assassination fails, then they'll only take half of the money regardless of how many assassins are wounded or killed. Moreover, Deer Cutter Mountain won't target the same individual twice if they manage to survive the first assassination. In other words, we don't need to worry about being targeted by Deer Cutter Mountain again, at the very least."

Sui Jingcheng sighed and said in slight sorrow and guilt, "At the end of the day, these people are all targeting me."

Even though the senior sword immortal had looked calm and carefree the entire time, Sui Jingcheng was extremely attentive and knew that it hadn't been easy for him to deal with that assassination attempt.

Chen Ping'an closed his folding fan and said slowly, "When walking on the path of cultivation, fortune and misfortune often come hand in hand. The large majority of Qi refiners need to overcome these forms of hardship and difficulties. The bumpiness of people's paths might vary, and the hardships faced by different people will also vary in level.