Chapter 295: Lotus (14)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 295: Lotus (14)
Kwoooooom!
The spectating local aristocrats were utterly overwhelmed.
The venue had been in chaos ever since the wanderer Geom Un-bi revealed his true identity. Those from weaker clans, or those burdened by guilty consciences, had already fled far away.
Very few in the Jianghu possessed the courage to face a Black Rank of the Desolate Fortress.
Even those who had initially feigned composure could no longer mask their bewilderment as the duel progressed.
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
"They are evenly matched—no, isn't he actually pushing her back? The woman who earned the title of Duke through her martial reputation is being suppressed."
"To think such a monster existed in this world, aside from the Strange, Violent, Chaotic, and Supernatural of the Ming Cult..."
"Even after hearing the rumors, I never believed such a person actually existed."
"Gongya Clan Leader! What is the meaning of this?"
"Have you truly allied with the sword of the Imperial Family? That choice will bring you no benefit. The Desolate Fortress is powerful, but they are stretched thin, and the Jegal Clan Leader has claimed this entire region as his domain... How do you plan to handle his sorcery martial arts?"
The surrounding aristocrats glared with open hostility. The arrival of a high-ranking figure from the Desolate Fortress had finally become a terrifying reality to them.
Only two people reacted differently: Second Young Master Gongya Su, whose jaw hung slack before his eyes began to sparkle, and Grand Lady Gongya Jeong, who stared intently at the stage in sheer disbelief.
"I knew his identity was extraordinary! No, looking at his face, he looks like one of the Brightfolk, so how does it make sense that he grew up in such harsh conditions? Only a blood relative of the Hegemon Hero Ma Yeon-jeok could remain so indifferent to everything! I told you I was on brotherly terms with Flash Art of the Desolate Fortress! The Commander of the Demonlight Wing! To think he is the Commander of the Demonlight Wing!"
"Su-a, quiet."
Gongya Jeong tugged at her younger brother's sleeve, her eyes deep with concern as she tried to calm him down.
She could feel the surrounding gazes trapping them like iron bars.
Whether they were close friends, renowned figures, or guests who had freely enjoyed banquets hosted by their family, everyone now stared coldly at the Gongya kin.
From now on, the local aristocrats of Shanxi would shun the Gongya Clan.
This was the inevitable fate of any faction entangled with the Desolate Fortress.
Unless they held absolute hegemony over the region, or belonged to the widely revered Eight Families or Nine Sects, this was a trial they had to endure. The Non-Interference between Government and Martial World, the cherished freedom of Jianghu martial artists...
'As long as the Jegal Clan Leader is alive, it won't be easy for our main family to remain intact.'
Grand Lady Gongya Jeong forcefully suppressed her resentment. She recalled the ten years' worth of martial insights that the Commander of the Demonlight Wing had passed down to her.
They had exchanged martial arts. Right now, she chose to think not as a member of her clan, but as a martial artist.
"Hmm..."
The Gongya Clan Leader said nothing.
He merely stared at the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing with a solemn expression.
Boom! Clang! Crash!
The figures of the two combatants blurred continuously. As if they possessed no solid form, they clashed and parted, unleashing thunderous roars.
With every collision, expanding waves of energy whipped up a gale, tearing the venue's canopies to shreds.
The shockwaves rippling from the trajectories of their Forms were immense.
They resembled tangled skeins of lightning. This was no longer a battle between mortals.
"This is no time to worry about our clan... Shanxi has become a battleground where dragons and tigers contend," the Gongya Clan Leader murmured quietly.
Although the land of Shanxi was smaller than Huguang or Shaanxi, it was still a province.
It was one of the empire's vast administrative territories, not some mere brick-walled castle.
It was expansive enough to rival most foreign nations. Yet, the powerful local aristocrats of Shanxi were now caught in the tidal wave of the Desolate Fortress and the Eight Families, hooting in panic like startled owls.
They had been swept up in this storm before they could even find a way to navigate it. It was entirely unavoidable.
'What are we to do...'
Soon, as the spectators activated their Eye Techniques and strained to follow the movements of the two peerless experts, the nature of the sublime battle unfolding on the stage shifted.
Crash!
Eon Hwa-ryeon's upward kick was deflected by the edge of Jeong Yeon-shin's palm, forcing her back.
Her dangling left arm was now visibly crippled, mangled so severely that raw red flesh was exposed. It seemed she could no longer exert any strength through it.
Thus, she unleashed her Kicking Technique. She had instantly restored her innate sense of balance.
She was known as a master of striking and kicking techniques, the Eon Family's Number One Fist. This meant she was an absolute master of physical movement.
Swish! Whoosh—Boom!
Her Kicking Technique was exquisite. She wielded her long legs like swords.
She moved so fast that the sound of her cutting through the air was barely audible, yet every time a sharp shockwave exploded, a laceration appeared on Jeong Yeon-shin's skin. The pain burned like a searing scald.
The depth of her martial arts was extraordinary. She truly lived up to the reputation of the Eight Great Families, the very sky of the secular Martial World.
Jeong Yeon-shin continued to trace the trajectories of her limbs. He had activated his divine eye technique, the Sight of the Lowly.
His eyes glowed with a deep blue light, darting rapidly up, down, left, and right, leaving azure afterimages in their wake.
'Next, right fist.'
Clang!
He deflected Eon Hwa-ryeon's right hand upward.
The strain extending from the back of his hand to his shoulder was immense. The recoil from his multiple deployments of Brilliant River still lingered.
Withstanding her fist strikes was no easy task. Her Accumulated Qi Amount far surpassed his own.
Yet, he did not care.
With every exchange of blows, a strange sensation grew stronger within him.
Thud!
He stomped down on Eon Hwa-ryeon's rising Knee Strike and whipped the back of his hand against her temple.
Crack!
It felt as if lightning had struck his hand.
An intense numbness surged through him. Shards of internal power scattered in all directions. The recoil from striking her Body Protection Qi whipped up a small tempest.
'Again.'
Jeong Yeon-shin saw an overlapping illusion, as if he himself had been slapped across the cheek.
They were communing with every clash. This was the function of the Upper Dantian. Judging by the occasional tremor in Eon Hwa-ryeon's eyes, she too seemed to have realized this, albeit belatedly.
Was it because of the Dharma Treasure discarded before their prolonged exchange? Or perhaps it was because both of them were peerless experts who pushed their Upper Dantians to the absolute limit.
'Is this a fated encounter?'
He thought as he flipped backward through the air. At the edge of his vision, he saw Eon Hwa-ryeon rising, shaking him off with a powerful shout.
A mystical power seemed to flow along her disheveled, pitch-black short hair. She was truly a powerhouse.
'So... I think I understand it vaguely now.'
The sensation of how the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak was structured.
It was different from the cognitive ability of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress, which felt like looking down from an unimaginably high place.
Though his hands, shoulders, and waist throbbed intensely from his repeated use of Brilliant River, the pain did not register as suffering.
He could finally grasp the mechanism of how those annoyingly fast monkeys circulated their internal energy.
It was different from before, when they had merely seemed fast. If he were to personally undergo their "closed-door training," he would evolve even further.
'Though I don't have the luxury for that right now.'
Regardless, once he grasped a sensation, he would never let it go.
Sring.
He drew the Northern Light Sword.
He could not afford to overuse Brilliant River any further here. Nor could he unleash the Ultimate Lightning. He had to preserve his strength to face the Jegal Clan Leader.
Since his opponent showed no signs of backing down, his only option was to end this with the Lightning-Flash Sword Ridge Style.
Standing tall, Eon Hwa-ryeon stared at him quietly.
"..."
Neither of them spoke another word.
As the clear sunlight caressed the ruined martial duel stage, a dry winter wind swept across their skin.
Suddenly, Eon Hwa-ryeon's body vanished.
Boom!
There was not even a precursor of accumulating Fa Jin.
She abruptly stamped her foot on the ground right before Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes, appearing in a fragmented motion with a colorless, smoldering shockwave wrapped tightly around her right fist.
It was a Fa Jin force capable of crushing a mountain with a single punch. She truly lived up to her reputation as the Eon Family's Number One Expert, the one who made the Jegal Clan Leader invincible.
In that split second, space itself warped and distorted.
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes flashed bright blue. It was a fist strike he had never even heard of.
The Form, extending in a straight line as if bypassing conscious thought entirely, appeared strangely complex.
It held the subtle principle of the Blunt Sword, forcing the opponent into an unavoidable state. As if declaring that it would only end after a collision, the distorting streams of shockwaves gouged the earth and tore the atmosphere apart.
Whoosh!
At the same time, the realm of Super-Ascension unfolded.
Time slowed down for the two of them. The passing moment stretched into an eternity, to the point where they could feel every single thread of the freezing wind brushing against their cheeks.
'My lord.'
Eon Hwa-ryeon recalled the contemptuous gaze the Jegal Clan Leader had directed at her.
"With what confidence did you refuse the countermeasure? In the end, it has come to this."
It was after her defeat by Flash Art at the Martial World Alliance.
She had loved an evil man. By ultimately making a choice she could be proud of as a martial artist, she had ended up sinning against her beloved.
She turned her consciousness back to the opponent thrusting his sword toward her.
An incredibly handsome youth. His eyes, flashing with a deep blue light, were like an unstoppable bolt of lightning. He was worthy of bringing about the end of the direct successor to the Eon Family Divine Fist.
It was but an instant.
From afar.
Hummmmm—
The pebble that had fallen before the Shanxi local aristocrats glowed faintly.
At the same time, Eon Hwa-ryeon's Upper Dantian Mental Power, synchronized with her Lower Dantian internal energy, glowed with a white light. For a brief moment, she felt a wave of melancholy.
It was not her own heart, but that of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing. She could even sense the direction of his emotions. She was reminded of the young man who had died holding a fan.
'Ah, so that was it. You were the one who was angry. Not my lord, but you.'
Faint white lights flared in succession.
Blooming from the Dharma Treasure, it rose to the crown of Eon Hwa-ryeon's head, which was unleashing the power of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak without limit. Then, passing through the Eye Technique activated by the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, it reached his Upper Dantian, which was glowing with an extraordinarily brilliant light.
The mystical energy clashed violently, connecting like a constellation.
Hummmmm!
A flower bud sprouted in Jeong Yeon-shin's mind. It was a mental image akin to a lotus, one that had not yet bloomed.
Slash—
At that moment, his sword tore through the shockwave of Eon Hwa-ryeon's fist strike, reaching her flank.
Between the two Upper Dantians resonating in that split second, the Commander of the Demonlight Wing's was far more powerful.
It was strong enough to comprehend the extremely tangled storm of shockwaves as if they were his own.
The hundreds of sword paths that had arisen in his mental space finally converged into a single line. Having finished his calculations, the Northern Light Sword drew a pale curve like a will-o'-the-wisp.
Lightning-Flash Sword Ridge Style: Phosphorescent Light Sword.
Hum.
A pure white trajectory was carved into the air.
The brilliance of the internal power flashing on the blade resembled a river bathed in sunlight.
It was as if the Sanzu River, shining on the path to the afterlife, was flowing toward her. The fragments of force were like petals scattering light.
Spurt!
Eon Hwa-ryeon's abdomen was slashed diagonally.
The cut was incredibly deep. Her internal organs were completely severed. Meanwhile, the shockwave of Eon Hwa-ryeon's fist strike, which she had failed to extend properly, dispersed into a faint haze.
The two stood facing each other in silence.
Eon Hwa-ryeon was the first to speak.
"Did you feel it?"
"Yes."
"I have learned the secret of your talent. Such a mystical talent... To think it was to this extent."
"Thank you. I felt something I hadn't expected," Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly.
Eon Hwa-ryeon's chin lifted slightly.
"Good. Very good. Your senses will remember me."
"Yes."
"There is a secret manual in my robes. The Eon Family Fist Manual. If you ever stop by Jinju, could I ask you to... deliver it to my family?"
"If I don't die in some far-off land," he replied briefly.
Eon Hwa-ryeon laughed silently.
"At the very end, at least... I was right."
Her dark red lips curved into a faint arc.
"If I had stayed by the side of the Reincarnated Crouching Dragon... I would have been forgotten as just another ordinary person. With no one to remember me, buried deep in the memories of an indifferent beloved. That would be... far too fleeting a death."
Her soliloquy was slurred by the blood pooling in her throat. It was a quiet whisper, as if saying, If so, I must escape into the martial arts that have accompanied me my entire life.
Eon Hwa-ryeon's staggering feet planted themselves firmly on the earth.
Thud.
The colorless shockwave flowing from her calves to the soles of her feet gripped the ground. At the same time, the tendons throughout her body went slack.
It was her final Fa Jin. Her superhuman sense of balance seemed to declare that a great aristocrat of the Eight Families would not lose her grace even in death.
Thus, she stood upright.
Her spirit was immense. It was a perfectly beautiful posture for a martial artist.
Whew...
Locking eyes with the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, she exhaled her final breath.
The representative fist master of the Eight Great Families, whose name was renowned throughout the land, kept her eyes shining brightly even as she died. Jeong Yeon-shin did not look away.
Soon, the tail end of Eon Hwa-ryeon's breath slowly dispersed.
The internal energy-infused breath of a peerless expert flowed no longer. Only the striking image of her blood-stained fists hanging loosely at her waist remained.
The corners of Eon Hwa-ryeon's mouth, slightly curved upward, slowly froze in place.
Stepping upon the lotus of the Sanzu River, she looked toward the person who would be proudest of her current self.
Within her fading vision, as time wound backward, a young and handsome scholar of the Jegal Clan, cradling the Four Books and Three Classics in his arms, smiled warmly at her.
"..."
Silence fell over the area surrounding the martial duel stage.
The private lives of the peerless experts of the Eight Families were closely guarded secrets, yet they garnered immense interest. Because everyone knew their names, even their smallest actions were the focus of attention.
The Duke of Eminent Fists, Eon Hwa-ryeon. The Eon Family's Number One Fist.
She was forty-three years of age.
"Farewell."
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing of the Desolate Fortress took up the silent question posed by the Eon Family's Number One Fist. Beholding a life forged of conflict and martial arts, Jeong Yeon-shin witnessed her choice.
It was something to be remembered for a long time. How should a martial artist of the Jianghu die to leave the fewest regrets?
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly took a step forward. Unconcerned by the silent shock of the surrounding crowd, he sought to find the whereabouts of his seniors.
Step.
Silence was crushed beneath his feet.
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing crossed the final stage of his monumental task alone. Now, he had to kill the Leader of the Eight Families.