Chapter 234: Precious Sword (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 234: Precious Sword (7)
The air was crystal clear. It was the time of day when the wind, having scaled the courtyard walls, seeped through the cracks in the door.
In the room where winter had forced its way in, the Commander of the Demonlight Wing sat with a perfectly straight posture. Resting his elbow on the armrest of his wooden chair, he cut a haughty figure.
The slight, relaxed tilt of his chin carried the same air of arrogance. It was enough to make Lazy Flame Dragon, who had left the room earlier, feign admiration and call him the very incarnation of a raging storm.
The World.
It was not a word to be uttered lightly. The Jianghu was incredibly vast. Across its endlessly sprawling lands lived all manner of eccentrics, alongside the strange, the violent, the chaotic, and the supernatural.
Jeong Yeon-shin had also spoken in broad strokes.
His experience was still limited; he had not even laid eyes on half of the great sects within the Thirteen Heavens. The counter-formulas of the Sanha Martial Lineage alone would hardly suffice to shake the power structure of the Thirteen Heavens.
‘It's fine.’
Shaking Xi'an of Shaanxi would be more than enough for now.
His immediate priority was to use the counter-formulas to divert the attention of the heterodox sects in Xi'an. This would allow the orthodox martial artists, who were currently holding their breath, to deal with them more easily.
He hoped it would give Jeong Hye and Wiji Myo-hwa, who were likely in hiding, some breathing room—both in terms of their martial arts and their immediate circumstances.
"Thank you."
Jeong Yeon-shin expressed his gratitude to Jegal Cheong-a once again.
This was after Lazy Flame Dragon and Heonwon Chang had driven out the remaining lackeys of the Exalted Remaining Lands Sect from the inn.
The two had bound Gal Do-jin and So Yu-rang. After sealing their acupoints and locking them in a guest room, they arranged for their Commander to use the inn's attached annex.
They had only just arrived after riding for over ten days straight from the main stronghold of the Desolate Fortress.
"A grueling journey is bound to fatigue a martial artist's muscles. Rest a full day in the annex."
Leaving Lazy Flame Dragon's words behind, he had fallen fast asleep.
The quality of the bed was excellent. The blanket, embroidered with the Ten Symbols of Longevity, was incredibly plush, as if stuffed to the brim with premium cotton.
Sleeping alone, Jeong Yeon-shin could curl up as much as he pleased. He slept undisturbed until he opened his eyes at dawn.
"Shouldn't we extract information first? News from places where the Thirteen Heavens hold sway is hard to get from the outside. It seems even the government officials have all been bribed."
"A message came from Senior Baek. She says everyone arrived safely and has dispersed. So-bin led the white-ranked warriors here."
While Lazy Flame Dragon went to interrogate the two unorthodox bastards, Heonwon Chang went to fetch breakfast.
Both of them were clearly individuals who had been raised in luxury. After getting a proper place to sleep, their complexions had visibly brightened.
And now, the same could be said for Jegal Cheong-a, who sat facing her Commander across a red sandalwood tea table. Her pale face was full of vitality.
Even though it was her first time having a private audience with the Commander, her expression remained perfectly calm. As she swept her black hair, tied with sky-blue silk, to the side of her neck, Jeong Yeon-shin watched her with a slight frown.
"Even so..."
"Pardon?"
"It still seems like it would be easy to grab in close-quarters combat. Is the utility of a perfected eye technique really that outstanding?"
"..."
Jegal Cheong-a blinked once, staring blankly at her Commander.
Her expression, which closely resembled that of the Jegal Clan Leader, remained hard to read. She simply seemed unable to find the words to reply.
"Never mind."
Jeong Yeon-shin fell silent.
He didn't understand why she would leave such a vulnerability when her physical movements were so slow. Perhaps he had simply grown more prone to worrying since taking responsibility for the Demonlight Wing.
It was not meddling for no reason; it was a Commander's genuine concern. If something bad happened to her, his heart would break.
‘I should discuss this with the Demonlight First Team.’
The new Commander pushed his thoughts aside.
He was currently listening to Jegal Cheong-a explain the principles of eye techniques. There was much to learn. While creating new martial arts was always a profound endeavor, eye techniques were exceptionally deep.
Perhaps because they did not rely on physical strikes, the principles to examine and reflect upon felt virtually endless.
It was then.
Creak.
Heonwon Chang nudged the door open with his toe and walked in, carrying a breakfast tray with both hands. The Divine Hero of the Desolate Fortress was said to be well-versed in poison arts as well.
Since the streets of Xi'an were currently serving as the headquarters for the heterodox sects, he had personally monitored the waiter and the cook to check for poison.
"The food is safe. However..."
He placed the wide tray in the center of the tea table.
Due to the famine, the selection of dishes was sparse. Only the bowls of Kung Pao Chicken and wide Knife-cut Noodles gave off a fragrant aroma.
Heonwon Chang handed a letter over the tray.
The scent of ink, not yet dry, lingered on the rolled-up paper.
Receiving it silently, Jeong Yeon-shin raised an eyebrow. He had just felt a wave of energy approaching from the outside.
The internal power wave was quite powerful, and its nature was exceptionally solid. Since the source had suddenly turned back, he had been contemplating whether to capture them.
Jeong Yeon-shin unfolded the letter.
"I will not ask where you came from. At noon on Minor Snow, let us contest our strength beneath the Great Moon Gorge. The losing side shall withdraw."
After scanning the short text, he slowly spoke.
"How cautious."
Heonwon Chang shrugged.
"Indeed. Coming here with such momentum, as if they were about to start a war, only to do this."
He spoke with complete politeness in front of Jegal Cheong-a. Jeong Yeon-shin smiled faintly and stood up.
Step.
He headed straight to the window.
Since the room occupied the entire third floor, the view was wide open. Looking down slightly, he could see people carrying bundles, A-frames, and pulling carts.
They were busily coming and going. Even during the famine, the city was remarkably lively. It was likely because of its wealth.
‘That must be why the unorthodox martial artists have multiplied.’
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes narrowed. The shops and pavilions lining both sides of the wide official road came into view at a glance.
He could even see the swordswoman walking in the distance, surrounded by the subordinates escorting her.
The Lord of the Exalted Remaining Lands Sect, Demon-Sprinkling Sword Wi Il-hwa.
True to her moniker, which meant sprinkling demonic energy, a sinister aura was spreading through her disheveled hair.
It was a robust yet irregular wave. It could be felt even from this considerable distance.
Jeong Yeon-shin parted his lips, looking out the window.
"Mokmi, please write this down for me."
"Yes."
Jegal Cheong-a, addressed by her alias, laid out the Four Treasures of the Study. She ground ink on the inkstone and prepared the brush and paper.
It did not take long. She finished preparing to write in just a few breaths.
Jeong Yeon-shin leaned casually against the window frame.
‘Rise.’
The blood vessels extending from both sides of his throat to his solar plexus twitched in response. It was the internal carotid artery.
Along with the nerve pathways, they were filled with a faint Halo Qi. Even the fine vessels leading straight to the eyeballs and into the brain were enveloped in the wave of energy.
Hum.
Jeong Yeon-shin circulated his energy with extreme delicacy.
It was a circuit that flowed from the Qingming Point at the temples to the Sibai Point under the eyes, the Tongziliao Point at the corners of the eyes, and the Cuanzhu Point between the eyebrows. His eyes grew incredibly hot.
Everything was meant to eventually converge at the Baihui Point on the crown of his head, but at this stage, he still had to worry about Qi Deviation. The structure of the energy circulation was still incomplete.
‘Observe.’
The moment he channeled the intent of insight and contemplation...
A blurry image formed in his vision. The vitality of the people passing along the official road rushed into his eyes. There was no distinct shape.
It was merely a feeling that the largest sensory organ in his body had become slightly more sensitive, rather than actually perceiving something previously invisible.
It was likely because he had failed to guide the flow into the sensory pathway of the Baihui Point.
He spoke without thinking.
"It's no different from usual."
"...Other geniuses experience a drastic transformation in their dynamic visual acuity at that stage. They spend decades of training just to weave such a flow of energy."
"It's not usable yet, then."
Jeong Yeon-shin calmly accepted Jegal Cheong-a's words.
Gazing at her Commander with green eyes, she lowered her head again.
As she gripped the brush with her pale fingers, a small crease formed between her straight eyebrows. Heonwon Chang smirked as he watched her.
It was a smirk of satisfaction. The Great Tongue Sword had previously ghostwritten the Compendium of Crushing the Righteous, but he had just lost his turn to the master calligrapher, Jegal Cheong-a.
"Exalted Remaining Lands Sect, physical movement."
The Commander's voice rang out. Glancing at him as he leaned against the window with his arms crossed, Jegal Cheong-a began to write.
"She uses the muscles of her entire body evenly when walking. Her quadriceps do not rise high. Since no single part protrudes, it is inherently a stealthy Body Protection Scripture. Because the center of gravity of her internal energy is low, if you execute a sudden change of direction as a variation, you can easily break her balance. I will recite the directions. Later Heaven Eight Trigrams. Kan, Kun, Qian."
"...I have written it."
"Both arms sway minutely at her waist. The leaking energy wave is quiet compared to her internal energy. One must watch out for surprise sword strikes. Since she has trained the extensor retinaculum and biceps brachii of her right arm, she will be skilled in upward fast sword strikes, but the energy in the Neiguan Point of her wrist is not strong."
"Just a moment."
"...Done?"
"Yes."
"It is a sword style that relies on the sharp energy of the blade and favors flashiness. If you meet the first clash with a heavy sword, victory is guaranteed. It is not dangerous to bet on a single-strike showdown. I will tell you the true qi structure of the counter-shockwave, so write it down separately."
His voice was completely flat, flowing out with extreme indifference. The tone of his follow-up question was exactly the same.
"Is there enough margin? Anyone would know this much, but I hear some people have an obsession with annotations."
"..."
Jegal Cheong-a's expressionless face cracked slightly. She raised her thick eyelashes.
It was a moment where she couldn't help but wonder. What kind of power would an eye technique created by such a person possess?
‘I have no idea.’
Tightening her lips slightly, she picked up the brush again.
* * *
‘That is a monster.’
Demon-Sprinkling Sword Wi Il-hwa hurried her steps.
She retreated, relying entirely on the survival instincts that had saved her life hundreds of times in the heterodox sects.
The Exalted Remaining Lands Sect was a branch of Lingering Spirit. The information network of the Thirteen Heavens' Lingering Spirit was comparable even to that of the Beggar Sect. Their secret eye techniques were exceptionally profound.
She had been bestowed the Dark Movement Time-Transcending Vision by the Yeoryeong Lord. It was a peerless eye technique. It could truly be called a divine grace.
With her pitch-black, flashing eyes, she had peered at the one who was their leader. It was a power close to clairvoyance. She had examined the energy he possessed right through the walls and stone barriers.
And then she had immediately turned back, calming her pounding heart with deep internal energy breathing.
‘For there to be another such monster in the world...!’
The density of his internal energy was immense. It was absolutely staggering.
She had not been able to discern its nature. It was not that the Dark Movement Time-Transcending Vision was lacking; it was simply the limit of Wi Il-hwa's own abilities.
If she possessed the level of achievement required to pierce through the nature of the internal energy suppressed and hidden by a supreme master, she would have united the Xi'an martial world long ago.
She returned straight to the Northern Light Inn.
She went straight up to the private room on the top floor and sat in the Grandmaster's Chair. It was a base they had secured after driving out the Zhongnan Lay Sect.
The chair, carved out of a single piece of ebony, was Wi Il-hwa's throne. Its ink-colored armrests were extraordinary, restoring her usual sense of omnipotence.
The king of the heterodox sects of Xi'an.
Sssss—
The cool touch of the wood warmed up in an instant.
Fervent Yang Energy flowed from her entire body. Sweat broke out on the backs of the dozen or so disciples kneeling at her feet.
Her slightly wrinkled eyes narrowed gently. Wi Il-hwa muttered briefly to herself. This is who I am.
"Send out a message. To all of Xi'an," she commanded.
"Do not care about the faction, whether it is the Hegemon Sword Sect or whatever. Burnt-White Sect, Severing Pavilion, Great Spirit Awe Sect, Sword Demon Sect, End-of-Heaven Saber Sect, Hwiwol Clan... notify everyone. Tell them a supreme master whom we cannot face individually has arrived."
* * *
Three days passed.
The weather was fine. The dense mountain range wore a long shroud of early winter fog.
The grass, bowing toward the earth, exhaled a hazy breath.
It was a scene of basking in the clear sunlight in silence. Wild beasts that had filled their bellies early were retreating into the deep forest.
Thin ice had formed sparsely on the lakeshore, which rumbled with the rush of a waterfall. Atop one of those icy patches stood a man wrapped in a pitch-black cape.
It was the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit, Jin Myeong-jo.
He stood with perfect stability upon the thin ice shimmering with rainbow colors.
Even though he stood with only the balls of his feet touching the ice, he did not look the least bit precarious. The precarious part was, in fact, inside his mind.
Jin Myeong-jo opened his lips, his face remaining expressionless.
‘Damn it.’
He could not bring himself to say it out loud, only mouthing the words silently.
He felt the energy of his junior ascending the mountain ridge. It was incredibly vicious. An extremely fine wave of Dharma Power was already slicing his skin to shreds.
Because he possessed the sharp senses of a supreme master, the sensation was all the more vivid. He could not get used to it. Rather, it was terrifying.
The way his junior's eyes occasionally flashed recently was also deeply bizarre. It was an ordeal every time they met, but he could not show it for the sake of his dignity as a senior.
Honestly, he wasn't sure.
His junior had been screaming so loudly inside. It wasn't just for a day or two, either.
Did his junior really not know? Or was he actually enjoying all of this? The Divine Blood Ultimate Demon, Jin Myeong-jo, conjured up all kinds of thoughts, denied them, and conjured them up again.
It was a thought process he had repeated dozens of times. In the end, it converged to a single conclusion, just as it had many times before.
Damn it, surely not.
‘He's coming.’
He forced tension into his lips.
An expressionless face was not something to be assumed carelessly.
He targeted the muscle groups extending from his buccinator to his zygomaticus minor and levator anguli oris as if practicing external martial arts. There was a precise formula for maintaining a noble demeanor.
It was a manufactured coldness.
Before his junior's head could even rise above the ridge, Jin Myeong-jo muttered coldly.
"You're late."