Chapter 278: Martial Prowess (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 278: Martial Prowess (6)
An assassin of the Thirteen Heavens confronted the Desolate Fortress Unit Commander.
The Infinite Group of the Dark Night Hall was one of the world's premier assassination factions. Its members were not mere tools; they were master assassins who walked the Jianghu alone.
This inevitably meant they possessed a vast intelligence network. They had even considered the possibility that the Commander of the Demonlight Wing had entered the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar, which housed the lake of the World Tree.
“……”
Son Sang-myeong calmed his agitation with a silent exhale, carefully examining the youthful figure before him.
An assassin's starting stance changed depending on their opponent's martial arts and prowess. He needed certainty.
A realm capable of walking on water, and black trousers.
Through the gaps in the long cotton cloth, tightly knit abdominal muscles were visible. He wore only bandages wrapped roughly over the black trousers of his martial uniform.
Bluish moonlight draped over his shoulders and arms. Every time his toes slowly lifted from the water's surface, transparent ripples spread outward in perfect circles.
There was no room for doubt.
The physical description matches.
The drawing had failed to capture his true appearance, yet he was undoubtedly the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
He was a man said to have no peers of his age in the world, save for the Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult and the monster of the Blood Flame Cult.
In truth, he was so young that it was difficult to even place him on the same level as the Heaven-Smiling Invincible or the Seventh Apostle, yet rumors circulated that his talent might far surpass theirs.
It was even said that he was an orthodox martial artist progressing toward absolute perfection in every aspect of combat.
Such was the dazzling strength of the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
A man who built stable martial power at a speed faster than any heterodox practitioner.
The might of orthodox martial arts that had surpassed a certain realm was well-renowned throughout the history of the martial world. There was no telling how sharp his senses might be.
Judging by how he was soaking in the lake, he must have sustained internal injuries during his journey to Shaanxi. What should he do?
“You must be from the Dark Night Hall,” the leader of the Desolate Fortress's Demonlight Wing asked quietly.
It was chilling.
Son Sang-myeong did not answer. Warming his chilled neck with true qi, he pondered how to smear the youth with the tracking incense of the Ten-Mile One Kill.
His hesitation lasted only a brief moment. An assassin's thoughts were driven by instinct.
He opened his mouth.
“This is clan business.”
“……!”
The woman in the white martial uniform, who had been stealing glances at the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, flinched. Her reaction was terribly slow.
Tempered by the harsh winds of the Jianghu, the Dark Night Hall had long possessed strength far superior to that of the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar.
By the time she twisted her waist and swung the back of her left hand upward, Son Sang-myeong had already grabbed her forearm and pressed a dagger to her throat.
A powerful wave of internal power surged from his pale, dark-gray palm.
Whoosh!
Their collars fluttered briefly as the incomplete propulsion shockwave dissipated colorlessly.
The Moon-Preserving Piercing Method of the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar hadn't even had the chance to manifest.
The subdued martial artist shuddered.
“Your clumsy All-Encompassing Tree Steps and shallow internal power are glaringly obvious. That dull golden hair must be the symbol of the clan's inbreeding. You are Gi Geom-hyang's disciple.”
Son Sang-myeong continued, moving only his lips.
“Son Hye-hyang. I heard you are my distant niece. My great-grandfather is your great-great-grandfather... yet your achievements are pathetic. Would it have been different if it were the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword?”
“Son Sang-myeong of the Dark Night Hall...! Let me go!”
“Your spirited words are laughable. Unlike your mouth, your body cannot move an inch. As expected, the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar is still nothing more than a greenhouse flower. Unaware of the impending destruction of your sect, you wave your arms like leaves and call it training.”
Immediately after, Son Sang-myeong stared at the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
A distance of six zhang, on the water's surface... I cannot reach him instantly. The Water-Walking Technique is not a method that can be executed at high speed.
His eyes met those of the young commander.
The reflection of himself in those pitch-black eyes felt foreign. His skin looked as if ash would rub off it, appearing exceptionally dark.
In those mirror-like eyes, Son Sang-myeong wore a despicable, expressionless face.
The face of one prepared for death did not look as resolute as he had thought. At least, that was how it felt to him.
“If you do not wish to become a target of the Ten-Mile One Kill, do not interfere. Since ancient times, several peak experts of the Black Rank have died by it. Every single one of them was a swordsman who shook the history of the martial world.”
Son Sang-myeong spoke in a whisper.
It was a provocation. There was no expert in the Jianghu who lacked pride.
He had to draw this lofty young prodigy as close as possible. The distance was still too great to scatter the tracking incense.
Splash.
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing took a step forward, parting his lips.
“Are you speaking of my seniors?”
“I have lived a long life. The astonished looks on their faces are still vivid in my mind. To see those who reigned supreme with their reputation and martial arts slowly look down at the arrow shafts piercing their chests...”
Son Sang-myeong's voice carried a dry laugh.
He continued, “Our sect's Ten-Mile One Kill is a peerless secret technique. It was the first to tarnish the reputation of the peak experts who had reigned absolute since the early Ming Dynasty.”
“Have you really lived a long life? Your accumulated qi doesn't seem all that impressive. I suppose it doesn't just pile up simply because you try to accumulate it. This is the first time I'm realizing that.”
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing walked forward, tilting his head slightly.
“...Your commander made a move against our Hall Master. It was a grave mistake. It set in motion the grand undertaking we had delayed for so long. The destruction of the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar is the first step. We have come to need the lake of the World Tree upon which you stand.”
With every word uttered, the distance closed.
With each step, Son Sang-myeong's gaze grew colder. An assassin's sense of distance was second to no swordsman.
Every time the bare feet of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, traced with blue veins, parted the water, Son Sang-myeong felt a surging wave of energy. It was overwhelmingly dense.
It was fine.
His goal was not victory. It was premeditated mutual destruction. He had come prepared to throw away his life.
To pierce the body of a Desolate Fortress Black Rank expert when their own Hall Master had been mortally wounded, the Dark Night Hall had to resort to such extreme measures.
Quietly.
Very slowly, he channeled his internal power into his hand. Dust that slipped through his sleeve gathered in Son Sang-myeong's palm.
Swoosh—
The moment the wind that toyed with the moonlight slowly held its breath—
Suddenly, the space beneath the feet of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing blurred. It was a kicking technique unleashed without warning. A massive burst of foam erupted from his kick against the water.
Through the gap, a transparent, razor-sharp wave surged forward violently. It swept through the air at a ferocious speed, as if a cannonball had been launched.
The water current, infused with the internal power of a peak expert, was practically a deadly slash in its own right.
Crash!
“Ugh...!”
It happened just as Son Sang-myeong was about to fling the dust over Son Hye-hyang's head.
The crest of the wave flared like blue flames, then suddenly accelerated like a spark flying from a lightning strike.
The sound of the air tearing apart in that instant was deafening. Belatedly, Son Sang-myeong recalled the subtle principles of the Myriad Blossoms Rain. But he was, quite literally, too late.
Slash!
It was a mere instant. A long, swollen stream of water split his vision in half. Before his eyes, scattered water droplets caught the moonlight, flickering as they fell.
The master assassin of the Dark Night Hall had one final thought. Let even a single grain of the tracking incense have reached him.
* * *
The teaching that followed took place by the lakeshore. Damp gusts of wind swept through the gaps in the bushes.
Dewdrops carrying a faint glow occasionally rolled down leaves and blades of grass.
A clear, resonant voice rang out.
“Since your movements pierce through the core of the Brightfolk's lightness skill, aligning your feet with the water using the true qi of the Gushing Spring point shouldn't be that difficult. Yes. For you, the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing, walking on water was never hard to begin with. It's just that stomping down to execute a heavy step from there is a problem for anyone.”
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, lying on his side, spoke with his back to the water.
Propping his head up with one arm, he looked like an idler lying down to read a book. He was completely at ease.
To Jeong Yeon-shin, it appeared to be a realm where body and mind were bound by nothing.
The adaptability of mind and body without obstruction.
The highest-ranking figures of the Desolate Fortress carried themselves with such freedom. His maternal grandfather, Ma Yeon-jeok, and Ak Su-rim, the fastest of the Black Rank, were the same; the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps simply had a different temperament.
Jeong Yeon-shin learned the dignity of the strong from them. Under the banner of protecting the people's livelihood, the precious figures of the Desolate Fortress acted exactly as their hearts pleased.
And they protect the commoners well, Jeong Yeon-shin thought.
He was in the presence of his lifelong goal. The representative of the Desolate Fortress's Purple Rank. The conduct and energy waves of the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps were being etched directly into his vision.
His eyes, dyed blue by the Sight of the Lowly, meticulously scanned his direct superior's habitual gestures, the internal power fluctuations of his acupoints, and the structure of his muscles.
It was a peerless realm worthy of holding the fruit of the World Tree.
To handle the natural order of a crescent moon waxing into a full moon, and the Hundred Meetings point expanding like an absolute destiny, he had to reach this man's realm.
“I understand you're doing that because there are many eyes watching, but...” The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps glanced back, gesturing with his eyes as he spoke. “The glare in your eyes is quite burdensome. Are all kids these days like this? Incredibly audacious.”
“My apologies.”
“Don't say things you don't mean. Your eyes are practically sparkling.”
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps spoke with a look of lingering discomfort. He isn't learning something strange, is he?
It was a concern that did not register with the young Commander of the Demonlight Wing. Jeong Yeon-shin merely stared blankly at the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps with an innocent expression.
Rustle.
Sighing, the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps sat up.
“Though I have a great desire to teach even one more thing to an outstanding junior...”
“This junior's vessel is sufficiently empty.”
“Don't say that so calmly. You already look so diligent that it makes me feel all the more regretful. In any case, I studied a single-successor martial lineage from a sect called the Dragon Ring Sect. Understand that I cannot simply pass down just anything. Senior Hegemon Sword likely didn't want to taint his precious grandson with the side effects of the Tyrannical Way's martial arts, but my reasons are slightly different.”
“Is that why there is only one?”
“It is an unrivaled, incomplete lightness skill. It should be worthy of your standards. Many said that if it were completed, it would be the greatest movement technique of the era... but the mnemonic was largely lost, leaving only a few techniques.”
Dusting off his purple sleeves, the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps grinned.
“It happened a long time ago. Listen.”
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, an Ironfolk blacksmith who had settled in the Central Plains alongside the Brightfolk coveted the horn of a yellow dragon.
The reason was never passed down. In the first place, a dragon was a spirit beast whose very existence was uncertain.
No one knew whether the blacksmith had actually seen a yellow dragon, or if he was simply deeply infatuated with ancient legends.
There were only stories that all kinds of strange, violent, chaotic, and supernatural phenomena ran rampant as the supreme clans descended.
The blacksmith wandered the Jianghu to catch a dragon. He befriended countless martial artists and chivalrous heroes, practicing lightness skills and martial arts.
Since his lifelong goal was to approach a dragon, break its horn, and claim it, a lofty movement technique was essential.
He befriended righteous heroes and refined his martial arts through the experts of the heterodox sects.
In the process, he also associated with the immortals of the Nine Sects, eventually meeting Perfected Dragon Vessel of the Kunlun Sect, who was renowned for his movement technique that glided through the air.
It was an era when survival was highly valued. If martial artists got along, they would even share their techniques.
At that time, the blacksmith wove a piece of teaching derived from Perfected Dragon Vessel's Cloud Dragon Eight Forms together with the stride of the Brightfolk and the powerful footwork of the Ironfolk to create the 'Dragon Ascent Lightness Skill.'
While searching for a martial arts master as a master blacksmith, he had ended up becoming a grandmaster himself.
He departed after boasting that he would break off the dragon's horn, and he never returned.
Whether the blacksmith actually succeeded in forging a divine weapon, or how his story truly ended, was never passed down.
There was only word that Perfected Dragon Vessel had carefully preserved the manual of the Dragon Ascent Lightness Skill he left behind.
The manual weathered the passage of time.
Eventually, it was plundered by the Ming Cult, which had destroyed the Kunlun Sect. It then passed to the imperial family, and finally flowed into the hands of the current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, suffering much loss along the way.
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps' story ended there.
Jeong Yeon-shin wore a peculiar expression.
“It's a vagabond martial art.”
“The ultimate secrets are gone, and only the concepts of handling the body and qi are preserved. Is this what you wanted?”
“I like the story. In any case, that blacksmith must have drawn close to his goal. Since he never returned,” Jeong Yeon-shin spoke softly.
The martial art that would yield great utility the moment it was completed was Body Protection Qi. It would significantly extend the time limit of the Ultimate Lightning.
However, Body Protection Qi was a technique that had to encompass the entire body.
To complete it within the realm of a divine art, it had to be woven stitch by stitch. It required a long-term approach.
“Since you've mastered the basics with the Water-Walking Technique, I shall recite it to you right away. By the way...”
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps raised an eyebrow. He was looking past Jeong Yeon-shin's shoulder, toward the retreating figure of Son Hye-hyang, who was heading to the opposite side of the lake to deliver her report.
He had remained lying down leisurely even at the moment the assassin of the Dark Night Hall invaded.
“It seems that Lady Son has an interest in you. Do you have any intention of building an acquaintance?”
“Pardon?”
“As they say, a martial artist's rest must encompass both body and mind. The peace shared with a companion cannot be bought with a thousand gold pieces. It is like spreading out bedding inside your mind. For someone like you, who must run without pause, it might be all the more necessary.”
“Are you married?”
“No. Who knows when I'll die? Why would I make an innocent person a widow?”
“What...?”
“Once you reach the Purple Rank of the main fortress, it's hard to even count how many enemies you have. The moment I announce to the martial world that I am washing my hands in a golden basin to retire, all kinds of scoundrels in the world will swarm in, shouting that they must take my head.”
“I will also become a Purple Rank. I intend to challenge you, Commander, within two years.”
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps curled the corners of his lips.
“I don't know about two years, but you might indeed become a Purple Rank stronger than me. That is, if you frequently ease your tension like you are doing now. At that point, you could truly start a family.”
“Ah...”
Jeong Yeon-shin parted his lips slightly. The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps continued.
“Aren't you only cooling your body in the lake? Muscle aches of the heart are hard to soothe with qi meditation. The utterly dumbfounded look you had just now was quite a sight. If you want to face the Ten-Mile One Kill, you must relax your mind and body like that. It is a terrifying martial art.”
The atmosphere of exchanging techniques flowed as naturally as the waves.
Thus, the days passed.
The lake of the World Tree repeatedly swallowed and spat out the full moon. Over the course of basking in seven cycles of moonlight, Jeong Yeon-shin's legs grew slightly longer, harboring yet another peerless secret technique. It was upon the calm surface of the water.
Before long, the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar was swept into a state of chaos. The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps spoke of it as if it were of little consequence.
“Inherit my martial lineage. I shall give you more than Grandpa Ma.”