Chapter 333: Grandfather and Grandson (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 333: Grandfather and Grandson (6)
Light engulfed everything as the Sword Sphere materialized from the divine art.
The Heart Sword, bestowed by the Lord of the Desolate Fortress, was fundamentally a technique to attune and manipulate an opponent's energy. Jeong Yeon-shin seized control of the Sword Sphere, hijacking the resonance it shared with the Moyong Clan Head's energy and claiming it as his own.
The power of Moyong Jung-rak's Life-Saving Herb, which fortified his sword strikes, was nothing more than fragments of true qi—something Jeong Yeon-shin could easily commandeer with his Law-Transcending Halo Qi.
Fwooooosh!
The deep blue flames wreathing the Northern Light sword erupted into a blade-shaped shockwave—a Flame Flower that seared the very air with a deafening roar.
[How dare you...!]
Moyong Jung-rak's telepathic will faded like an echo.
Just after plunging his prized sword into Jeong Yeon-shin's abdomen, Moyong Jung-rak was engulfed. The fiery shockwave surged up his body like a wildfire. The layered forces of Fa Jin unleashed a tempestuous aftershock that tore at the surroundings.
This was no longer a single technique. It was as if Jeong Yeon-shin had swallowed one of the suns that gazed down upon the Jianghu and was now unleashing its power.
They were at close quarters. Conveniently, Jeong Yeon-shin's sword was short.
The roar was incessant. A blur of hands translated into a storm of catastrophic sword strikes, hacking Moyong Jung-rak to pieces.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Blue sparks flew violently. The impact of each and every strike was colossal.
Throughout it all, the Commander of the Demonlight Wing simply tightened his grip on his sword. Spasms from the penetrating wound flared, only to be suppressed by the Jeong Family Dynamic Art. He didn't let out a single groan.
The talent of a Fighting God, one who never missed the vital point of a technique. This monstrous spirit made the Star-Brilliance Great Sword Lord's brow furrow deeply.
'This cannot be.'
He, too, was one of the preeminent geniuses of the Liaodong region, raised as a swordsman destined to save his clan from the incomprehensible threat of the Northern Demonfolk. He had not coveted the Heavenly Demon Lineage for personal glory. He needed the legendary armor of true qi, woven by the Heavenly Demon in a bygone era, just to withstand a single blow from the Northern Fighting God.
The sacrifice of the trivial Killing Gate was inevitable.
The moment the Commander's sword strikes descended, Moyong Jung-rak altered the nature of his Body Protection Qi. The divine shockwave burned like fire the instant it touched his collar, and in that same moment, the Moyong Clan Head unleashed his peerless internal energy. The outer layer of the shroud of light transformed into a solid barrier of the Moyong Clan's Bright Heaven Divine Qi.
Boom!
Even so, the Commander of the Demonlight Wing's Fa Jin force penetrated deep into his body. The Heavenly Demon Divine Armor, reinforced by the Bright Heaven Divine Qi, only acted as kindling, maximizing the impact of the blow. Moyong Jung-rak's vision shook uncontrollably.
Within the Peerless Realm, their eyes locked.
As he endlessly restructured the framework of his Body Protection Qi, a bizarre sensation washed over him.
'This brat...?'
The young man's gaze was strange. Even as he unleashed a relentless torrent of strikes to shatter the Body Protection Qi, his blue-tinted eyes stared blankly, taking in Moyong Jung-rak's entire body. His retinas were filled with blue light, making it impossible to tell what they reflected.
A Peerless Master's senses are sharper than a needle's point, and Moyong Jung-rak felt an incredibly eerie sensation.
He felt like a frog he'd seen as a child, playing by a well in the Moyong Clan's courtyard. A curious boy, fascinated by its legs, had suddenly squatted down, casting a massive shadow. The frog could only blink, frozen in place, before its limbs were crushed by a clumsy, innocent swing of a toy sword.
His mind contracted with a chilling dread. He was falling into an indescribable abyss.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Before Moyong Jung-rak's muscles could even twitch, the sword of blue flame struck those exact spots. The Neiguan Point on his right wrist, the Jianyu Point on his shoulder, and even the Xuehai and Liangqiu Points on both knees, just as a kicking technique was about to spring forth.
The moment he tried to move any part of his body, it was sealed by dozens of lightning-fast strikes.
Each strike came with a shockwave that shook the atmosphere, yet even the flow of that recoil was perfectly absorbed by the Commander's eyes. He was forced to bear the full recoil of his own ultimate technique.
The Moyong Clan Head's condition was now far worse than it had been just after he'd pierced the Commander with the Divine Star Halberd Construction. Internal injuries were piling up, layer by layer.
This was impossible. It would require lightning-fast senses, profound insight, and an exhaustive study of the human body, all in one person.
A man who was an uncanny master of the human body.
The Commander's deep blue eyes were seeing straight through him. It was enough to send goosebumps crawling over the skin of the Moyong Clan's Peerless Swordsman. Strength drained from his hands.
Despite his youth, his abdominal muscles and internal organs were profoundly trained. He stood as unmoving as a thousand-year-old boulder, even with Moyong Jung-rak's sword embedded in him. It was as if his entire body was forged from martial arts.
Moyong Jung-rak cried out with his telepathic will.
[Do you have any idea what you are doing?!]
Anyone who single-handedly slays the leader of a sect with a long history becomes the target of the entire Central Plains' martial world.
Slaughtering one of the Eight Clan Heads.
This was not just crossing a line drawn by the Jianghu, but snapping it in half.
The unspoken law of Non-Interference between Government and Martial World was still held sacred. It was why the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps had no friends in the martial world. Without support, he would be completely alone wherever he went.
He would draw the attention of the Peerless Masters who dominated the Jianghu. Many who wielded the Strange, Violent, Chaotic, and Supernatural powers of martial arts were wanderers. Those who tested their skills against the swaying of branches would not ignore rumors of such an unprecedented rising star. He would face endless challenges from the strong seeking fame. How high would the pile of duel requests grow?
[Can you handle the weight of the Jianghu?!]
Moyong Jung-rak felt no shame. His lifelong wish had nothing to do with saving face in the martial world. His only goal was to reclaim the glory of the Yan State for the Moyong Xianbei clan and to free his family from the shadow of the Northern Fighting God. That was all.
Yet, Jeong Yeon-shin heard none of it.
'This is the subtlety of the Harmony Realm. Near the kneecap, the true qi of the Inner Knee Eye point bends freely, creating a structure that makes it easy to employ the Body Protection Scripture...'
Even as he struck his opponent down, he was dissecting the composition of the Heavenly Demon Divine Armor's true qi, thread by thread. This was the ultimate technique the Star-Brilliance Great Sword Lord had spent his life weaving. It unfolded before his eyes, whether he wanted to see it or not. Through the hilt of the sword lodged in his gut, he could feel the shape of an extremely fine net.
The Body Protection Qi, which at first glance flowed like a shroud of light, was woven into an incredibly dense framework. It was astral qi tailored like an elegant garment, almost as if it were boasting for all to see. From this alone, one could guess the temperament of the Heavenly Demon.
The mental image embedded in the mnemonic seemed to tickle his entire body. It was different from Zen Master Bodhidharma. It was the will to engrave one's presence upon all creation and achieve immortality—a desire that transcended loftiness and bordered on the miraculous.
In a split second that stretched into an eternity, something residing behind the ultimate technique spoke to Jeong Yeon-shin's Upper Dantian.
[Impudent.]
It defied comprehension. Was it a spiritual echo infused within the formless mnemonic of the divine art? Something passed down through the vast river of time...
Without realizing it, Jeong Yeon-shin thought, I could weave this well, too.
'Into a Body Protection Qi that suits the Halo Qi...'
Crash!
Fragments of dark blue true qi fluttered before his eyes. The Moyong Clan Head's Body Protection Qi was shattering into pieces. A hazy current of air, like a cluster of stars scattered across the night sky, swept up through Jeong Yeon-shin's hair.
He thought he heard a faint laugh.
And before he knew it, Jeong Yeon-shin found himself standing on a devastated mountainside.
The Moyong Clan Head lay at his feet, having borne the full force of the Flame Flower. His body was no longer intact.
His mouth flickered open.
"The Northern... Fighting God... the Liaodong... invader..."
His voice drifted out in faint, ragged breaths.
Glancing down at him, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly began to pull out the sword lodged in his own abdomen. He used the Jeong Family Dynamic Art to adjust his internal organs and preserve his energy, tightly binding the severed areas with his Dynamic-Art True Qi.
Clang—
The blood-stained sword clattered to the ground.
Moyong Jung-rak's muttering ceased.
He turned his head slightly. His gaze, which had been fixed on the distant sky, shifted to meet Jeong Yeon-shin's as the youth stood looking down at him.
"Indeed..."
The Star-Brilliance Great Sword Lord slightly curled one corner of his mouth.
"I, too, was but a frog."
His final breath dispersed with a clear voice.
* * *
The Piercing Thrust Sword of the Moyong Clan kicked off a tree branch and took flight once more. His mission: to deliver the disastrous news to the main family.
'How could this happen!'
It was completely unimaginable. He had never expected the Commander of the Demonlight Wing to slay the Clan Head.
The presence of a single Peerless Master in the Jianghu was immense. As a messenger, the Piercing Thrust Sword had to deliver the news before anyone else. The main family would no longer be safe. The moment the death of the Star-Brilliance Great Sword Lord became known, martial artists with grudges against the Moyong Clan would swarm in.
The same was true for their countless northern adversaries. Having lost both their successor and Clan Head, the clan now faced a battle for survival, not succession.
'The Commander of the Demonlight Wing! The Commander of the Demonlight Wing...!'
Anger welled up inside him. He thought of revenge. What could he do?
He'd heard the Successor of the Beggar Sect was wary of the Commander. The sword fanatics of the Hegemon Sword Sect and the Bow Ghosts of the Dark Night Hall wouldn't look kindly on the Desolate Fortress's Flash Art either. If he searched, he could find countless other enemies.
'The Commander of the Demonlight Wing's movements...'
Whoosh!
Suddenly, his vision plummeted. A hand grabbed the back of his head, slamming him downward and halting his lightness skill in one fluid motion.
He fell straight out of the air.
He couldn't react. A cold dagger pressed against his nape as an unfamiliar true qi pierced the paralysis point on his neck.
Thud.
He sprawled onto the ground, his entire body paralyzed. His vision swam, settling on a mouth curved into a smirk. It belonged to an assassin in a Black Bamboo Hat.
It was the Slaying Hero Geum Jon-hwi.
"I'll interrogate you later. I have urgent business."
The Piercing Thrust Sword was dragged back the way he came, held by the scruff of his neck.
The first thing he saw was the Commander of the Demonlight Wing. He lay beside the Clan Head's corpse, his closed eyes looking ominous.
Was his injury severe? He had definitely lost consciousness.
'Of course he did.'
Just as the Piercing Thrust Sword twisted his lips in a sneer, Geum Jon-hwi spoke.
"According to my subordinates, a Martial Arts Army of one thousand is marching north. Their pretext is reinforcing the northern region, but..."
He trailed off as the man in the pink robe gave a slight nod. Ma Yeon-jeok sat by his grandson's head, his expression heavy.
"That is enough. Hand it over."
The words were not directed at Geum Jon-hwi. The three experts of the Demonlight Wing, whose faces were equally grim, reacted.
"Should we call this a stroke of luck?" the Lazy Flame Dragon muttered, pulling a gourd bottle from his bosom. His hand movements were as swift as a flash of light.
In his hand was a treasure from the Gate of the Heavenly Pillar: water from the lake where the World Tree had taken root, said to have an immediate effect on internal injuries. Jeong Yeon-shin had tossed it into the Lazy Flame Dragon's satchel despite his refusal, telling him to drink it instead of alcohol and stop smelling of booze.
"Elder, here it is." From Heonwon Chang came a Small Restoration Pill. It was a reward for a mission he had received long ago. The Hero of the Desolate Fortress had received it with the insistence that he take care of his body, since his focus on preaching meant his martial arts were bound to be lacking. Knowing refusal was futile against the Unit Commander, he had kept it safely stored.
Now, it could be used.
A wooden box engraved with plum blossoms appeared from Shin So-bin's robes as she fumbled awkwardly. "Wait, isn't this the Mount Hua Sect's Purple Grace Pill? When did you...?"
Ma Yeon-jeok poured all the elixirs into his grandson's mouth.
Normally, this wasn't the way. Secret elixirs had proper protocols for consumption.
But the Jeong Family Dynamic Art cared for no such rules.
A hand, smooth as if it had turned back time, pressed against Jeong Yeon-shin's heart.
"Wake up."
Upon the back of the grandfather's hand, the mother's hand overlapped.
An immediate reaction followed. A cracking sound echoed from Jeong Yeon-shin's body.
It was a strange omen.