Chapter 260: High-Level (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 260: High-Level (10)
The Seventh Apostle curled the corners of her lips.
"Your temperament has changed a bit, hasn't it? It's as turbulent as your sect's exclusive martial arts. Ah, now that I think about it, exactly how old is my Grand Preceptor...?"
"Turbulent?"
Jeong Yeon-shin repeated the word quietly. It was more of a monologue than a question.
He didn't react much otherwise. She seemed to be referring to the turbulent years of adolescence—a time of heightened sensitivity and shifting moods—but as the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing, such talk didn't resonate with him at all.
That was a phase only someone like Lazy Flame Dragon, who could never quite kick his poppy addiction, would go through.
Jeong Yeon-shin was an adult who had shared drinks with the Lord of the Desolate Fortress. Besides, the day he would surpass his seniors in the Demonlight Wing in height wasn't far off.
"I won't make a move against you. I shall repay my debt of gratitude," Jeong Yeon-shin said quietly.
It felt as though only the two of them existed on this pristine, snow-white peak.
Even as the Bukgung siblings and Jang Sun-il gradually approached from a distance, only the Seventh Apostle's presence remained distinct. She was like a single poppy blooming in a vast snowfield.
"What...?"
Yet, the Seventh Apostle's voice sounded utterly dazed.
Immediately after she spoke, her eyes trembled slightly, their focus growing hazy. Sharp fangs peeked out from her lips before vanishing again. It was a peculiar reaction.
Pain inflicted on the teeth was no less severe than a typical stab wound. A well-aimed flick of finger force could easily shatter an enemy's composure.
Since the mouth was necessary for breathing, it was also a difficult area to protect with Body Protection Qi. For this reason, unless they were greenhorns fresh to the Jianghu, martial artists rarely bared their teeth outside their own sects. Yet, the Seventh Apostle's demeanor was entirely unbefitting of a supreme master.
This was especially true with a Unit Commander of the Desolate Fortress standing right in front of her.
'She was always like this.'
Jeong Yeon-shin paid it no mind and continued speaking. To him, nothing weighed heavier than a life debt.
Since he was running through the Jianghu precisely to avoid dying young, how could he ignore the grace of someone who had saved his life? And it wasn't just his own life, either.
She had essentially saved all his comrades from the Desolate Fortress, including his uncle.
When he eventually died, Jeong Yeon-shin wanted to be able to look his mother in the eye and proudly say that he had lived a good life thanks to her, even if she had chosen her husband a bit poorly.
To do that, he couldn't take after his father. He had to cherish the connections that touched his life.
"The structure of your True Qi seems somewhat clumsy. Listen closely to what I say and supplement it. And do not show yourself before me so carelessly again. As long as you lead the Blood Ghosts, you and I cannot coexist. That is only natural."
"..."
"Let us settle our debts here. Listen. This is what you wanted—your very own Mara True-Blood Art."
It happened in an instant.
"Aaaah—!"
The Seventh Apostle slapped her hands over her ears and screamed.
—From the Governing Vessel, the Blood-Preserving Warm Essence, and from the Ren Meridian...?
Jeong Yeon-shin, who had just begun transmitting the first line of the mnemonic via telepathy, parted his lips slightly. What is she doing?
"Don't do it! Don't repay your debt!"
The long fingers that had just been tearing enemies apart pressed tightly against the sides of her head.
She had sealed her Ermen Points, where nerves were densely concentrated. It was not something to be done recklessly in a panic, yet she had temporarily deafened herself.
Not stopping there, she shrieked continuously to block out Jeong Yeon-shin's words. She sounded like a screeching bat.
"..."
Jeong Yeon-shin closed his mouth.
For the first time in his life, someone had rejected the martial arts of the Flash Art, Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
And it wasn't just any ordinary rejection. He had never, even in his dreams, imagined such an extreme reaction.
'How can this be? My mnemonic is clearly better.'
It was an experience entirely foreign to Jeong Yeon-shin.
Until now, he hadn't really known what pride was. Now, he felt he understood it a little. Was this what it felt like to be displeased? It was entirely different from when other supreme masters bragged about their Revered Flower Convergence.
It made no sense to him. To survive in the turbulent Jianghu, shouldn't one act rationally?
He opened his mouth again.
—The mental image brushing past the Ren Meridian must be cool. It runs on a completely different track from the Governing Vessel's Blood-Preserving Warm Essence mnemonic...
"Aaaah! Aaaaaah—!"
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly furrowed his brow. What is wrong with her?
"What are you trying to do? You were the one who said you needed the mnemonic."
He hadn't forgotten the Seventh Apostle who had pressed down on his shoulders, smiling with her crimson eyes.
My Grand Preceptor, my young Grand Preceptor. Those words had rung in his ears back at the main fortress. Her composure, madness, and obsession that day had been thick and cloying, perfectly befitting a noble of the Blood Flame Cult.
Yet, at this moment...
Her screaming continued without pause. She seemed to have lost her mind.
A chilling madness emanated from her as she kept her hands clamped over her ears, repeatedly turning away from Jeong Yeon-shin only to steal panicked glances at him. Even so, she pointedly avoided looking at his lips.
"Companion! Is there a problem...!"
"The creature in front of you is a monster equivalent to a Great Warrior of our land! Assume your starting stance!"
The shouts of Bukgung-hu and Bukgung-rin echoed from behind. Despite the clear disparity in their martial prowess, they had begun rushing forward the moment the Seventh Apostle started screaming.
Accompanied by a gradually spreading chill, they seemed to have pushed their Body Protection Scripture to its absolute limit.
'All we did was share a campfire.'
Jeong Yeon-shin stepped between them and the Seventh Apostle's gaze.
"Do not follow me any further. A noble of the Blood Flame Cult cannot walk the same path as me."
"I can't see! I can't hear anything!" She shook her head violently, her hands still clamped over her ears.
Finally, she broke.
"Don't speak! I'll kill you! I won't kill you, but I'll kill you! Please stop! Just stop!"
Spouting gibberish, the Seventh Apostle's Pure Blood Robe fluttered wildly.
Her True Qi resonated with her chaotic state of mind.
Irregular waves of internal power rippled in all directions, flashing with a blood-red aura. In an instant, a formidable energy wrapped around her legs. It was a completely different level of internal energy manipulation. The power boosting her movement surged inside and out.
Thud!
The Seventh Apostle leaped off the ground, her hands still covering her ears.
The moment dust spread in concentric circles beneath her feet, her crimson figure vanished with a sharp whoosh cutting through the air. It was as if she were using the Earth-Shrinking Art. She leaped more than a hundred feet in a single bound.
As she receded in a massive parabola, utilizing her Body Protection Scripture, there was no trace of the elegant and sinister poise characteristic of the Blood Flame Cult.
By all accounts, it was a desperate flight.
An Apostle of the Thirteen Heavens' Blood Flame Cult was running away. It was hard to believe even when seeing it with one's own eyes.
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing felt a slight shock. It was because his mnemonic had ultimately been rejected. Was the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak really that good?
"Companion."
Bukgung-hu, who had approached his side before he knew it, glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin with eyes shimmering with silver light.
Their companion did not pursue the noble of the Heterodox Sects. He merely stared quietly in her direction.
A strange sentiment flickered across his expressionless face, which Bukgung-hu assumed must be the noble contemplation of a Great Warrior.
The temperament of the frozen northern lands—which, despite discussing etiquette and rationality, respected the strong above all else—prompted Bukgung-hu to speak.
"Please accept my apology. How embarrassing it is that I offered to escort a Great Warrior. It is because my eyes are no better than those of a dead wolf."
His tone was rough, which made it feel all the more sincere.
The same went for Bukgung-rin, who stood on his other side and placed a hand on Jeong Yeon-shin's shoulder.
A faint tremor rose from her heavily calloused palm, yet she remained dignified.
"Won't you marry me?" the blue-and-white-haired noble of the Ice Palace asked.
"..."
"Ah, I heard that in your tongue, a man calls it 'taking a wife.' But according to the concepts of your land, my true intention is closer to you marrying into my family. When we honor the strong in our frozen lands..."
Bukgung-rin's words, which would normally have been shocking, did not reach Jeong Yeon-shin. They didn't even register as a trivial joke.
His talent for creating martial arts was the only true friend Jeong Yeon-shin possessed.
Back in the Jeong Family Manor, where he had been treated as if he didn't exist, it had given him a sense of maternal warmth. That was how much it meant to him.
'Anyone could see my mnemonic is better.'
Jeong Yeon-shin stood still for a long while, right up until Bukgung-rin finally shut her mouth.
* * *
The mountain ridge leading to the Seven Maiden Peaks was high and long. They had to traverse snow-covered peaks several times.
As they traveled, the number of martial artists they encountered grew. It was no ordinary gathering.
There were people of all descriptions. There was even a handsome man who smiled as he passed by, riding in a palanquin carried on the shoulders of four men.
"He is doing well. It seems that fellow failed. No, leave him be. He appears to be concerned about the high-ranking monsters of the Thirteen Heavens, which works out well for me."
"Is there any reason to wait?"
"He is thoroughly hiding his identity. For me, it means I have more cards to play. It's enough to keep our losses to a minimum."
"How so?"
"If we orchestrate the situation properly, I can wield that precious sword as I please. Just thinking about it excites me. To exert my influence over a lofty genius I've only read about in documents... it feels like meeting the protagonist of a heroic tale in person. I feel like turning the palanquin around right now just to have a chat."
"Hmm..."
The momentum of the escort swordswoman standing beside him was immense. Frost-like intangible sword qi flashed from the hilt at her waist, yet her face remained completely calm.
Even as she cleared a path with a display of force, her expression remained taciturn.
Their voices did not carry.
As befitted a battleground of extraordinary individuals, everyone moved while maintaining their own energy barriers. To the crowd, only the faint movement of their lips was visible.
Even that was difficult to decipher because they spoke subtly using the Lip-Reading Technique. It was especially impossible if they were not facing each other directly.
"They must be martial artists from a great sect, right?"
"They look like influential local aristocrats."
The crowd gathered was as dense as branches on a tree. They were packed incredibly tight.
Just those who came into Jeong Yeon-shin's view as he passed the palanquin procession numbered at least several hundred, and every single one of them glared at his group while exuding an extraordinary aura.
"It must have life-preserving properties. The Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root, I mean."
"Rumor has it that eating just one root keeps you full for a hundred days. Not to mention the boost to one's internal energy."
"If a young child consumes it, they might grow up harboring a thousand pounds of latent potential."
"Don't wag your tongue so carelessly...! There are rumors that all sorts of noble figures have arrived! Who knows if that person over there is the Commander of the Demonlight Wing from the Sect Founding Ceremony?"
"Even so, this is the edge of Shaanxi. Aren't they just people who will return once their mission is over? There's no way the Desolate Fortress would have come all the way here."
"Would the imperial family's hunting dogs just stand by and let the people of the Jianghu have all the fun?"
No one picked a fight with him just because he looked young.
It was a situation where everyone was sizing each other up.
The riffraff couldn't even make it past the entrance. Among those for whom boasting and bickering were daily routines, having reached the halfway point to their destination was already highly telling.
One had to assume that almost everyone here possessed some profound technique—be it a sinister hidden weapon or a life-saving herb.
Everyone on this ridge was like that.
The moment anyone rashly made a move, they would inevitably suffer a loss. The saying 'striking first brings victory' only applied when the line between ally and enemy was clearly drawn. No one wanted to be the one to trigger a chaotic brawl.
Only those with thick skin conversed casually, as if the tension meant nothing. The siblings of the Ice Palace were among them.
Just as Jeong Yeon-shin adjusted the knapsack slung loosely across his back, Bukgung-hu, walking beside him, spoke up while casually brushing off the frost clinging to his hair.
"What is that? Weren't you wrapping it in your Body Protection Qi even while fighting?"
"Books."
"It doesn't look like just one or two. Are they secret manuals?"
"No. Just miscellaneous books with a lot of annotations. They're a bit messy."
"Why carry such things around? Wouldn't they be better used as firewood?"
"I'm going to take them out soon."
The face of Hahu Wi-jin, Commander of the Forest-Treading Unit, flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin's mind.
The Unit Commanders of the Desolate Fortress's Divine Sword Corps would have had no need for annotations, yet Hahu Wi-jin had cast aside his pride to help him understand the perspective of lesser martial artists.
He was a senior to be grateful for. His boldness was also quite remarkable.
The Bukgung siblings had been showing a great deal of interest in their companion. It had been that way ever since he defeated and killed the Wolf King.
"And this?" Bukgung-rin's finger pointed toward Jeong Yeon-shin's shoulder.
It was bound with a wide, pitch-black cloth. It clearly revealed the elegant lines of his upper arm muscles, looking more like a tight layer of fabric than a bandage.
"You will find out," Jeong Yeon-shin replied calmly, complaining inwardly. Did I ask them to weave it too large for no reason?
It was then.
A strange movement stirred within the crowd.