Chapter 210: Turbulence (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 210: Turbulence (4)
Baek Seo-gun had long reveled in the wealth and absolute power of a great sect within the Wicked Way.
As one of the supreme experts of the Thirteen Heavens, she had carved out a fearsome reputation as a monster of the Jianghu.
Unlike the Orthodox wulin, the Unorthodox Jianghu had no patience for trivial rules and stifling etiquette. As long as one's martial prowess and sect influence remained unrivaled, they could indulge in a life that even kings would envy.
Reigning as the Sword Venerable of the Heterodox Sects, she had buried her past as a lowly maidservant. She had no other choice. Although the Unorthodox world didn't scrutinize bloodlines as strictly as the Righteous Jianghu, she would still become a laughingstock among the great sect leaders if her humble origins were ever exposed.
A person's origin was their foundation. The hometown that raised them served as their roots.
This was a universal truth, even in the Jianghu. The martial world was filled with warriors who treated their sects as their homes. It was a world where a person's homeland carried profound weight.
The Jeong Family Manor of Xinye County. Baek Seo-gun of the Jeong Family Manor. Baek Seo-gun of Xinye County...
A deep ennui had settled over her heart, her senses dulled by years of unbridled wealth and glory. Unlike the elders of the Deep Martial Alliance, who indulged in worldly pleasures until their dying breaths, she had lost her passion early on.
Perhaps it was because she had turned her back on the years that formed her very foundation. At some point, even the finest Longjing tea tasted like plain water. Even Western Phoenix Wine, renowned as one of the finest liquors under heaven, could no longer warm her blood.
The Eldest Son of the Deep Martial Alliance, who had dared to cling to her with pathetic professions of love, was utterly trivial. She felt absolutely nothing when she carved a scar across his face. Had the Alliance Leader made an issue of it, she would have simply walked out of the Deep Martial Alliance on her own two feet.
She had no active desire to abandon the Alliance—she was far too accustomed to its luxury—but her days grew more tedious with each passing sunrise.
Then, an expert from the Jeong Family Manor made his debut in the martial world.
After requesting permission from the Alliance Leader, she had faced the sword of the Flash Art with a flutter of genuine anticipation.
She sensed a profound elegance in the boy. A deeply nostalgic scent drifted from the lofty stance of Flash Art Jeong Yeon-shin.
The Ten Commandments of Go.
It embodied one of the fundamental secrets of Go: the principle that one must sacrifice a stone to seize the initiative. This posture of sacrificing for the initiative also carried a "pivotal meaning."
Baek Seo-gun, the Yeongcheon Sword Ghost, was so peerless in her craft that she had literally earned the title of a sword ghost. She was uniquely sensitive to the intent woven into a sword technique. This was especially true because the swordsman she had clashed with was a blood relative who bore a striking resemblance to the noble features of Jeong Pan-ak.
She realized then that the years she had spent growing up in the Jeong Family Manor had not been in vain. The memories of Jeong Dae-myung, who had shown her kindness when she was a mere maidservant, and the teachings of Jeong Pan-ak returned to her in vivid detail.
In a sense, the Flash Art had restored her roots.
"How utterly absurd," she muttered, looking down at the second son of the Jeong Family.
Another face overlapped in her vision. A countenance imbued with Pan-ak's refined elegance.
Flash Art Jeong Yeon-shin. The third son of Jeong Pan-ak of Xinye County.
She had assumed he grew up receiving a peerless education. The traces of the dynamic art that brilliantly polished his entire body, his calm yet aggressive grip on the hilt, and a level of martial achievement that could easily establish a new sect—all of it seemed to speak of the pedigree of a prestigious clan.
She had regarded him as a noble young master raised with such grace that he would not envy even the Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult. Even his immense arrogance hadn't felt like a flaw. In fact, the casual, informal tone he used as a unit commander of the Desolate Fortress had been strangely endearing.
To think such a thing could happen...
Baek Seo-gun, the Yeongcheon Sword Ghost, recalled her drinking session with the Hao Sect Leader. She hadn't poured a single drop for him, only receiving his offerings. Sitting there as if it were her birthright, she had listened to a deeply shocking tale.
"…He was not raised gently. Such are the rumors regarding the Flash Art of the Desolate Fortress. Quite bizarre, isn't it? To think he built such martial prowess entirely on his own at that age. Of course, Xinye County became a backwater village after that demon ran rampant at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, so I cannot say how much of the peasants' gossip we should truly believe."
She had received information on the whereabouts of the second son of the Jeong Family from the Hao Sect Leader. She had come to him to verify the truth of those rumors. Even as she soared across the land using her lightness skill, she had remained skeptical.
Could a child who traced such an elegant sword path truly have grown up unloved?
Though the Flash Art's eyes had seemed somewhat lonely when they met, she had assumed his temperament was merely shaped by the tragic downfall of his clan. To her, the Jeong Family Manor had been a relatively warm martial home.
And Flash Art Jeong Yeon-shin...
...was the legacy left behind by the Jeong Family Head before his passing. A jewel polished to a brilliant luster. He had risen from a third-rate martial family to become a unit commander of the Desolate Fortress, a towering figure who commanded the attention of the world. He was a child who brought even greater glory to the Jeong Family Manor—the very place where Baek Seo-gun had spent her youth.
She had refused to believe the Hao Sect Leader's words. That was, until a panicked Jeong Jung-san opened his mouth.
"Father kept him at a distance. It was like that from the moment he was born."
The confession came straight from the mouth of a Jeong blood relative. It was a revelation more shocking than the strike of any supreme expert.
"Pan-ak truly did...? This seat has mastered an eye technique far beyond what your small mind can fathom. The moment I sense a single falsehood in your demeanor, I will subject you to muscle-splitting and bone-dislocating torture. Pan-ak kept the Flash Art at a distance? Why on earth would he do that?"
"I—I am only telling the truth! In our county, they said any child whose birth killed their mother was an unclean child!"
"Continue."
"There is a Taoist temple called the Numinous Mystery Temple in our village! The priest who ran the place said the same thing. He said the child would harm the energy of the land... No one wanted to associate with Yeon-shin. Father made it so, claiming it was his responsibility as a great landowner."
"Surely, not such foolishness...?"
For several days, she had given the Zhongnan disciple, Jeong Jung-san, nothing but water. She listened to his endless babbling and interrogated him even more thoroughly.
Baek Seo-gun, the Yeongcheon Sword Ghost, was the second-ranked supreme expert of the Deep Martial Alliance. As a powerful figure of the Heterodox Sects, she was intimately versed in the art of tormenting others.
The sheltered Jeong Jung-san was far too fragile to withstand her interrogation. Day and night, he was forced to spill every single detail of his younger brother's life.
His trembling voice etched itself deeply into Baek Seo-gun's mind.
Everything was far worse than she could have ever imagined.
A sharp, colorless shockwave flared from her brow. The divine sword fastened to her waist writhed of its own accord. It was the result of her mind and true qi achieving perfect synchronization. A state where the secret technique of sword kinesis manifested through the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak—a realm where her blade responded directly to her emotions.
Baek Seo-gun's lower lip trembled slightly.
"That bastard's stubbornness actually...!"
Jeong Pan-ak was a wretched bastard. He had gifted the maidservant Baek Seo-gun with fond memories, only to inflict immeasurable shame upon the Sword Venerable Baek Seo-gun.
Her hands trembled. The brief time she had shared with the Flash Art still felt like yesterday. The sunset that had cast their long shadows across the Seven Crowds Gorge remained one of her most cherished memories.
Yet that child...
She stood up.
"Had this seat not made a grand choice, I might have walked through Xinye County holding your hand. But this is fine too. Seeing how healthy your complexion is, you must have received plenty of the love I could never give you."
The words she had spoken to the Flash Art echoed in her mind. What else had she said to him?
"I am truly curious as to how they raised you."
"..."
Her lips parted slightly. A long, slow breath escaped her, sounding almost like a silent groan.
The Sword Venerable of the Deep Martial Alliance could no longer face herself with pride. A gnawing sensation clawed at her chest.
The past she thought she had reclaimed was now tainted. The Flash Art had not been polished by Jeong Pan-ak's hands; he had been scarred by them.
"...It seems you are not completely useless. The pursuers from the Zhongnan Sect have caught up. The presences surrounding us are quite chaotic," she murmured, still lost in her thoughts.
Startled, Jeong Jung-san looked up at her from his knees, but she didn't even spare him a glance.
How could she ever assuage the burning shame and guilt in her heart?
"You said Zhongnan is preparing for an attack by the Hegemon Sword Sect. This seat shall lend a hand."
If she brought back a few heads of the Hegemon Sword Sect's experts, perhaps she could earn a sliver of goodwill from her young master. She was even willing to join forces with those Zhongnan mongrels to stand against the Lord of the Hegemon Sword Sect.
I cannot possibly go to meet him empty-handed.
She had witnessed how deeply the Flash Art cherished his subordinates. Though he hid it well, he was a man of deep affection; he might very well hold his brother in the Zhongnan Sect in special regard.
Even if she was mistaken, it mattered not. It was a well-known fact that Jeong Yeon-shin and the Hegemon Sword Sect had clashed on Mount Zhongnan. The heads of those Hegemon Sword Sect bastards would serve as a decent peace offering.
The Sword Venerable's thoughts flowed freely.
She had heard that the Flash Art had recently dealt with the Namgung Clan of Southern Zhili. Even before their official deployment, the Demonlight Wing was already gaining fame under its new commander through various rumors.
At the level of the Thirteen Heavens' leadership, one had access to highly classified intelligence. One such rumor was that the White Qilin, born of the clan's assassin, the Hidden Sword, was serving as a subordinate to the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
Swoosh.
Gently, Baek Seo-gun brushed her silver-gray hair behind her ear with a pale hand.
She thought to herself:
Then I shall become your Hidden Sword.
*
The White-Ranked Warrior Ma Ung was an expert of the Desolate Ma Clan. He was a rising star who had donned the white martial uniform at the tender age of twenty.
His future was exceptionally bright. It was only because of monstrous anomalies like Flash Art Jeong Yeon-shin of the Demonlight Wing and the White Cat, Shin So-bin, that his achievements seemed ordinary by comparison. Should he wish to join the Divine Sword Corps in the future, numerous martial units would eagerly extend their hands to recruit him.
I refuse to wither away.
Amidst the fierce conflict between Ju Yeon-jeong, the clan's imperial daughter-in-law, and Ma Jin, the newly inaugurated clan head, Ma Ung had aligned himself with Ju Yeon-jeong's faction. He had done so despite being Ma Jin's collateral cousin. It was a decision born of long, agonizing deliberation.
He had watched the martial arts of the clan elders deteriorate miserably over time. The epitome of this decline was the former clan head.
Hegemon Hero Ma Yeon-jeok.
He had shocked the world by ascending to the Purple Rank at the age of thirty. Ma Yeon-jeok's youth was the stuff of legends. It was said that he had capably stood in for the Castle Lord, who rarely made public appearances, and had raised the banner of the Desolate Fortress high across the land since his youth.
But...
Even such a peerless, absolute master could not escape the inevitable decline.
Such was the nature of the Ma Clan's martial arts. It was a tyrannical style that rapidly consumed the practitioner's life force in exchange for early power, all out of loyalty to the Lord of the Desolate Fortress. Those who practiced the Harmonious Bloom Divine Art soared to great heights rapidly, only to plummet just as quickly.
In truth, its nature was not much different from the martial arts of the Heterodox Sects. Because it was the clan's internal affair and tradition, even the Castle Lord did not intervene. It was a family matter in which only blood relatives had a say.
Yet, the clan could not abandon the Harmonious Bloom Divine Art. Their ancient heirloom martial art was the very treasure that had earned them the reputation of being the greatest martial family in the Desolate Fortress. Instead, they sought to offset its flaws by incorporating the principles of other martial arts. That was how valuable it was to them.
The Desolate Ma Clan had produced the greatest number of experts among the prestigious families under the main fortress. Even the haughty Chief Steward's Office constantly relied on the martial power supplied by the Ma Clan. Their influence was as unstoppable as an eight-horse carriage.
"Flanks are clear."
"Let's rotate positions."
They were in a garden surrounding a small pavilion.
Five martial artists shifted to their respective positions. One leaped onto the roof of the pavilion, while the other four silently guarded the perimeter. Ma Ung took his post at the main gate.
The Desolate Fortress was a vast territory, containing many such secluded corners.
The chirping of crickets echoed clearly in the night. A faint, hazy light filtered through the dense pine needles. The transparent glow of the setting sun carried the faint, crisp scent of approaching winter.
Autumn had departed, taking a piece of Ma Ung's heart with it.
Madam Ju is correct.
Ju Yeon-jeong, who possessed the imperial martial art known as the Golden Immortal Eight Methods, had summoned Ma Ung in secret to give him his orders. Since the behavior of Ma Jin, who had hastily seized the position of clan head, was highly suspicious, Ma Ung was to keep a close eye on the Supreme Elder, Ma Yeon-jeok.
In essence, Ma Ung was a spy for Ju Yeon-jeong's faction. He had chosen to serve her of his own free will. It was all to fully integrate the Golden Immortal Eight Methods into their clan. He truly believed it was for the greater good of the family.
He had already left several markers along the way to this location. Ju Yeon-jeong's subordinates would surely be tracking his trail.
The custody of the former clan head, Ma Yeon-jeok, was a matter of grave importance. He was a figure requiring the utmost protection. It was not something the new clan head, Ma Jin, could decide to move around on his own whim, even under the guise of absolute secrecy. It required the explicit consent of the Ma Clan's Elder Council.
Now, it was only a matter of time.
The political fallout for Ma Jin would be catastrophic. Ju Yeon-jeong, who had cultivated extensive connections using the Golden Immortal Eight Methods, would ensure it. That haughty imperial noblewoman never failed to achieve her goals. Even the renowned masters of the Desolate Ma Clan who had joined her faction would view this outcome as inevitable.
Clan Head, please forgive me. But our family must change.
Just as Ma Ung was offering his silent apologies—
A sudden, violent gust of wind swept across his face.
Thud!
His vision blurred. A Blue-Ranked Expert had descended right before his eyes like an illusion, radiating a terrifying wave of energy.
Behind him, a woman with exceptionally long, dark hair parted her lips. She, too, wore a blue robe.
"Cheong-myeong, why did you strike without seeking permission?"
It was the Sun Lotus Sword Enchantress, Baek Mi-ryeo. Renowned for her razor-sharp character, peerless martial arts, and striking beauty, there was no one in the main fortress who didn't know her name.
"Don't get mad, just listen. The Unit Commander authorized me to strike first and report later. Only to me, of course. Anyway... this guy gives off a bad vibe. At least to me."
The handsome man wearing a blue bandana seemed to drift upward. Had he deployed his Body Protection Scripture?
No.
Ma Ung realized a moment too late—it only appeared that way because Ma Ung was the one collapsing to the ground.
The Demonlight Wing... the Brightfolk Magic Sword...!
He barely managed to turn his head. Ma Ung's eyes widened to their absolute limits.
When had he even arrived?
The hem of a pitch-black robe fluttered elegantly in the wind.
Whoosh!
Before he could even register their presence, over a dozen Blue-Ranked Experts descended on all sides, forming an impenetrable wall around the perimeter.
They were the familiar warriors of the Demonlight Wing. At that moment, the collective energy radiating from their bodies swept through the surrounding foliage like a tidal wave.
A protective wall formed by such formidable elite warriors was a privilege reserved solely for Black-Ranked Experts. It was a display of power far more potent than any individual martial art, representing an almost mythical authority to the common folk.
A force capable of utterly crushing any scheme in an instant.
The Unit Commander had arrived.
Step.
Flash Art, Commander of the Demonlight Wing, crossed the threshold of the pavilion with a calm, measured stride.
And there was no one who could stand in his way.