Natural Enemy (4)
Moyong Gun offered a formal bow to the assembled leaders.
“I extend my deepest gratitude to the patriarchs of each sect who have gathered here despite the hasty invocation of the Great Convocation Token. Though some were unable to attend due to pressing duties, I shall send them personal letters of thanks.”
The gathering was a dazzling array of luminaries. From the Nine Great Sects came the heads of Shaolin, Wudang, Hwasan, Zhongnan, and Qingcheng. From the Seven Great Families attended the patriarchs of the Moyong, Jegal, Namgung, and Paeng houses. These were the top brass of the orthodox Murim, convened near Cheonjung Mountain in Hubei Province.
Other sect leaders had been too distant or preoccupied to join, but for such short notice, the turnout was impressive.
‘And...’
Moyong Gun’s gaze shifted to the heads of Shaolin and Wudang.
‘With those two here, we can consider all Nine Great Sects represented.’
Shaolin, the North Star of the North, and Wudang, the South Sovereign of the South. Known as the twin pillars of orthodox Murim, their presence alone made it as if every major leader had arrived.
“You’ve all traveled far—my thanks for your efforts. I was quite surprised. I never imagined House Moyong would invoke the Great Convocation Token.”
“Indeed. Usually, it’s the Dragon Head Pavilion Master who pulls it out most often. His absence means he must be terribly busy.”
They exchanged light-hearted remarks in hearty tones.
Moyong Gun smiled.
“I too avoid using it lightly, but the gravity of this crisis left me no choice.”
The room grew tense. Moyong Gun had uttered the word “crisis.” Its weight hung heavy in the air.
The Shaolin Abbot spoke up.
“Amitabha. If it’s so dire and urgent, perhaps we can dispense with further pleasantries.”
He meant to cut to the chase. Exactly what Moyong Gun wanted.
“Very well. Since you’re all busy, I’ll address the matter directly.”
“Proceed.”
“But first, know this: those gathered here must steel themselves for momentous decisions in the name of orthodox Murim’s future.”
“Hm?”
“I believe this incident warrants the official dissolution of a faction—declaring it a Murim Public Enemy.”
The leaders’ eyes widened.
A Murim Public Enemy was the common foe of all Murim. When an individual earned that title, the entire orthodox world mobilized to hunt them. For a faction, it meant immediate disbandment. Of course, none would comply meekly, but resistance only led to annihilation. It was a verdict that extinction was justified—no appeals, no mercy. The mere phrase struck terror into every heart in the orthodox paths.
The Wudang Patriarch asked cautiously.
“What faction do you mean? What sect could have committed such a grave sin?”
“Those here are aware of the recent upheaval in Henan’s Murim.”
Paengga’s patriarch from distant Hebei Province tilted his head. Henan was quite a ways off.
“Henan Murim? You mean the one with Shaolin and the Myeong Family?”
“Precisely.”
Moyong Gun’s eyes gleamed.
“The faction at the heart of what I must discuss today is none other than the Nine Provinces Myeong Family.”
* * *
‘Impressive.’
Woooong.
His white White Tiger Qi surged unbidden. The black Black Tortoise Qi stirred with a blue haze.
Tszzzt.
Bi-ra Jin-gyeol rose from his dantian, swiftly coursing through his body. Yet even its power couldn’t calm the two divine energies.
They stood on edge, like blades drawn in tension, roughening Yeon Hojeong’s aura.
‘Even if it’s fake, to have mastered it to such depths...’
Myeong Cheon, patriarch of the Nine Provinces Myeong Family.
Thirty zhang away, but the moment Yeon Hojeong locked onto him, his dual divine qi erupted.
It was the rage of the true toward the false—and wariness toward a counterfeit aura far stronger than imagined.
‘Vermilion Bird Qi. And so vividly pure.’
Yes, Vermilion Bird Qi.
Yet not quite. It was Vermilion Bird Qi, but twisted.
The Vermilion Bird Qi he knew burned like the sun itself—radiant fire qi cloaking the body, proclaiming divine sovereignty as the king of the heavens.
Myeong Cheon’s was different. The qi itself was warped. Like a fallen half-god of fire, stripped of divinity.
The same fire attribute, but narrow, perilous.
A league beyond the two who’d come with Myeong Hak. Deeper mastery meant greater power, but the flaws ran deeper still.
‘His skill will be unmatched, though.’
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
‘A fine opponent.’
And if things went well...
“You’re Yeon Hojeong?”
Myeong Cheon’s lips twisted in disdain.
“To show up here so fearlessly—couldn’t die, so you’ve gone mad?”
“Why didn’t you come when I called? Too scared?”
“What?!”
“You heard it all, right? Or did your unreliable underlings keep it from you?”
Killing intent flared in Myeong Cheon’s eyes.
Flaaash!
A ferocious glare shot across thirty zhang. Deadly enough to cleave a man in two with eyes alone.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed in response.
‘As expected.’
Probing that perilous killing intent, he realized Myeong Cheon was even more dangerous than thought.
The issue was the madness in that gaze.
‘Confirmed. Vermilion Bird Qi has invaded the upper dantian.’
The Four Divine Beasts represented the four cardinal directions—sacred beasts akin to gods, energies too divine for mortal vessels.
Like medicine turning to poison if misused, their qi could harm the user without perfect comprehension and gradual cultivation.
Yeon Hojeong wielded Black Tortoise and White Tiger flawlessly thanks to insights from his Black Emperor days. Full mastery of Four Gods Martial Arts allowed safe operation without incremental steps.
Myeong Cheon hadn’t achieved that. Nor had any of his fifty elites—they’d only skimmed the surface, hastily forging twisted qi without true understanding. Body and mind alike were fraying.
Thud!
Yeon Hojeong’s foot shook the earth.
“No need for words, right?”
“......”
“Come. I’ll split your skull.”
Myeong Cheon was dumbfounded. Rage boiled over into incredulous laughter.
“You think we’ve spared you out of fear?”
“If you’re coming, come. Quit yapping.”
“That brat?!”
His impudence was beyond measure. Amid surging fury, though, it suited him fine. The family had suffered rumors over this punk already.
He was heading to raze Yeon anyway. No need to hold back.
Myeong Cheon bellowed.
“Someone drag that whelp here! I’ll rip his head off myself!”
No sooner said than a warrior spurred his One-Blood Horse.
Thoom!
A sky-high leap—free as wind, yet weighted with iron strength.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes lit up.
‘White Tiger!’
Thud!
Landing three zhang ahead, Myeong Ro spoke coldly.
“To spew such insolence at the patriarch—I’ll shatter your limbs.”
Slaaash!
Myeong Ro charged. Blinding speed, like a gale incarnate.
Impressive footwork, but Yeon Hojeong saw every gap and flaw crystal clear.
BOOM!
Myeong Ro’s eyes bulged. As he swung Qilin Claw, the foe had slipped into his guard—exploiting Qilin Step’s blind spot with eerie naturalness.
Crunch!
“Gahk!”
Yeon Hojeong’s left hand clamped his wrist.
“A total mess.”
Black Tortoise Qi surged into his grip.
BOOM!
“Arrrgh!”
Myeong Ro’s wrist exploded like a powder keg, shredded by the Triple Turtle Wall of North Heaven Twelve Walls.
His offensive qi couldn’t withstand the cataclysmic rebound; his hand was pulverized.
Yeon Hojeong raised his axe.
“Learn to walk again in your next life.”
“No...!”
Splurt!
The axe cleaved his skull to the sternum.
Yeon Hojeong booted his chest.
Whoom!
The corpse tumbled across the dirt, halting before a One-Blood Horse. It twitched repeatedly.
Silence fell.
Even Myeong Cheon stared in shock.
‘What the hell is that guy?!’
His Four Inspectors were elite masters, versed in the Four Divine Arts—far beyond late-stage peaks.
He’d handpicked the best, yet this one died in mere exchanges?
Yeon Hojeong wiped blood from his axe blade with his sleeve.
“Thought you could storm the main house with these clowns and call it done?”
“W-what?!”
“Quick on the uptake. My hunch was right.”
Sizzle.
Bi-ra Jin-gyeol coated the blade, vaporizing the blood.
Fearsome killing intent bloomed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.
“Even through layered pasts, you cling as my eternal nemesis.”
Before regression, Myeong had exterminated Yeon.
After, he’d thwarted it alone—yet here they were, dispatching forces again.
An viciously entangled grudge. No righteousness from the start, and now all patience was spent.
BOOM!
His mightiest step yet. Explosive killing intent erupted from Yeon Hojeong.
“Today, you pay in full for your presumptuous rampage.”
Myeong Cheon roared.
“Kill him!”
Swoosh!
A dozen Four Inspectors lunged. Lightning-fast, lethal even to grandmasters.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes blazed with Black Tortoise and White Tiger qi—the black-and-white divine energies.
‘Here!’
Whirrr!
His body wove through their strikes with exquisite precision, dodging ten peak masters’ blades in one motion.
Onlookers gasped in awe.
But he hadn’t merely dodged. Reading their assaults via Black Tortoise’s Spirit Phantom Divine Art and White Tiger’s Qilin Divine Art, he’d advanced via White Tiger Overlord Step to their weakest point.
BOOM! BOOM!
One step forward, two killing blows.
His axe became a mountain’s fangs, a beast king’s claws.
Splatter!
Three Four Inspectors caught in Tiger King Nine Thunder Strikes were torn asunder.
“Hngh!”
“Keep attacking!”
Swoosh!
The remaining seven struck again, but Yeon Hojeong was already gone.
BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!
Ruthless advance. Explosive charge.
Leaving seven behind, he stormed forward like a tempest. Forty-odd masters loomed larger in his vision, drawn inexorably.
He swung his axe with full might.
Rumble!
The Four Gods Martial General pierced straight through the enemy lines.