Chapter 337: The Tyrannical Way (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 337: The Tyrannical Way (2)
The battle had been fought amidst rocks, thickets, streams, and corpses.
Sitting atop his fine steed, Gun Yu-cheon looked down at the Seventh Apostle and the young man, doubting his own eyes. The scent of blood, once sharp, had long since faded, lost in the chaos of the close-quarters battle that had warped his sense of reality.
‘What in the world is that man?’
Gun Yu-cheon sat tall with a majestic posture, but his mind was in utter disarray.
He was the Eldest Son of the Deep Martial Alliance. To command a martial army, one had to see the battlefield with absolute clarity, which was why he had mastered a supreme eye technique called the Flourishing Might Sight. It was passed down directly from his father, and he had trained day and night to perfect it. Thanks to his outstanding talent, he had achieved a profound level of mastery.
Before him, two supreme experts were locked in a clash of techniques.
Every exchange was so blindingly fast that it appeared as a mere blur, yet his Flourishing Might Sight allowed him to perceive the high-level martial principles embedded within their trajectories.
The movements of the Seventh Apostle, her Pure Blood Robe fluttering around her, were completely different from when she had faced his army. Though the shockwaves she produced were weaker due to her exhausted energy, an elegant grace flowed from her pale fingertips. It was a mesmerizing display of power and beauty.
He stared, so captivated that he nearly lost his composure.
But the young man’s martial prowess surpassed even that of the Seventh Apostle, who was already suffering from Qi Deviation. The movements he used to subdue her bordered on the absolute pinnacle of the Harmony Realm. For a fleeting moment, they even reminded him of the Wudang Sect.
There was a reason the Radiant Blade Venerable had stopped him.
—Eldest Son.
A telepathic voice echoed in his mind, accompanied by the heavy thud of a footstep on the earth. A powerful presence settled beside the head of his white horse.
It was the aura of a supreme expert, a rarity in a place like this. Geum Min, the Radiant Blade Venerable of the Deep Martial Alliance, had approached.
—I believe we must act with caution.
—What do you mean? he sent back.
—Do not judge that man hastily. Judging by his aura, he seems to have trained in a Blood Art, but I have never heard any rumors of such an apostle existing within the Blood Flame Cult.
Gun Yu-cheon did not answer, merely glancing at her.
Radiant Blade Venerable Geum Min.
Her hair was tied back in a single, graceful ponytail, and the great saber slung across her back was imposing. Like all of the Three Martial Venerables of the Deep Martial Alliance, her appearance belied her true martial prowess. Her cool, striking beauty easily won the favor of high-ranking officials and nobles, regardless of gender.
She was much like the Twin-Wing Blood Venerable, who had frequented the noble quarters of Beijing before dying under the joint attack of the Four Great Vajras and the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
However, Gun Yu-cheon did not treat the Radiant Blade Venerable warmly. Excluding the Sword Venerable—who was imprisoned by the Leader of the Deep Martial Alliance for ignoring recall orders—Geum Min was the only supreme expert left who could exert a massive influence on the line of succession.
This was because she was his younger sister Gun Yurin’s master, and in the martial world, the bond between master and disciple took precedence over all else. Furthermore, Geum Min's personality was as stubbornly upright as a northern general; she had humiliated Gun Yu-cheon with repeated rejections every time he tried to win her over.
‘Act with caution? I know that without you telling me.’
The void left by the Twin-Wing Blood Venerable was vast. He had been the only one among the Three Martial Venerables who had supported Gun Yu-cheon. The news of his death—his limbs’ meridians and dantian utterly destroyed—had been a tragic blow.
Once he returned to the Alliance, he would have to win over the Sword Venerable by any means necessary. With that in mind, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the Seventh Apostle, who was young, powerful, and possessed extraordinary talent.
Gun Yu-cheon drew his True Qi up to his throat.
—If we fail to capture that woman here, I will have no excuse to offer the Alliance Leader. Our army of one thousand has been reduced to nine hundred, and we’re just going to let the Seventh Apostle slip away when she’s practically in our grasp? Even you, Blade Sovereign, will not be free from the Alliance Leader's wrath.
The Radiant Blade Venerable's brow furrowed.
—That young man… His attire is that of a vagabond, but his aura and bearing are no different from a noble of the Blood Flame Cult. Perhaps another True Blood Physique survived the destruction of their main headquarters. I will speak with him first. A man like that doesn't even view those with low martial prowess as human.
Step.
She took a step forward without looking back, completely ignoring Gun Yu-cheon, who was clenching his fists so hard that veins bulged on their backs. She treated him like a half-witted fool, an attitude she’d maintained ever since the rumor spread that the Eldest Son had sent a love letter to Sword Saint Baek Seo-gun.
The Radiant Blade Venerable walked forward to confront the man and woman who had just finished their clash.
‘His limbs… I must be careful of his first strike,’ she thought.
The muscles of the young man's arms and legs, clearly visible through his short sleeves and trousers, were magnificent. He didn't seem to be exerting any particular strength, yet his entire being seemed to pulse with intense energy and physical power. His limbs weren't exceptionally thick, yet the pressure radiating from him was no less than that of a Shaolin divine monk who had achieved great completion in the Muscle Tendon Changing Classic.
“I am Geum Min of the Deep Martial Alliance.”
Taking in his entire figure at a glance, the Radiant Blade Venerable spoke slowly. They stood ten steps apart.
The Seventh Apostle was breathing raggedly, her sleep acupoint likely having been struck. The young man supported her against his shoulder, staring quietly back at Geum Min.
“……”
The silence stretched, and no one moved.
It was an incredibly arrogant silence. Although the Radiant Blade Venerable was known for wielding the fastest and most destructive blade in the Deep Martial Alliance, the young man seemed to feel no need to release the Seventh Apostle from his embrace.
“The Deep Martial Alliance,” he finally repeated, his voice low. “On a long journey?”
“…We are.”
“Military supplies for the Northern Region, I presume.”
“You’re well-informed.”
“And your other purpose?” the young man asked calmly. His voice was so quiet it was nearly swallowed by the sound of the nearby stream.
Yet, the Radiant Blade Venerable heard him perfectly. She did not answer immediately.
The journeys of the martial world's great powers never had just a single purpose. That was true for her and the Eldest Son right now. If they encountered hostile forces, they fought to the death. If they saw useful talent, they recruited them by any means necessary.
Capturing a rogue apostle of the Blood Flame Cult was no different. Besides, no martial artist would criticize how one treated a supreme expert from the heterodox sects.
The young man surely knew this. His question was a challenge, forcing a choice upon a massive martial army: retreat or fight.
It was absurd.
‘No wonder… my saber felt exceptionally light today.’
The Radiant Blade Venerable’s right hand twitched. Her priority should have been to probe the opponent's identity, but her battle instincts were screaming. Her sense of Qi was sharper than ever, and her grip on her weapon felt incredibly light.
As a martial artist, she was in peak condition. The saber techniques she could unleash today would surely be half a second faster than the swordplay of her old friend, the Sword Venerable.
‘Though Seo-gun would deny it.’
Her saber forms were as relentless as the rumors claimed, a result of her innate senses and eye technique allowing her to anticipate her opponent’s moves.
And so, she slowly opened her mouth.
“…The Deep Martial Alliance is a loyal military force of this land. We have no other purpose.”
Her answer was delivered amidst the loud snorting of the warhorses surrounding the village.
Something utterly absurd had just happened.
Extremely few could survive a direct clash with a martial army nearly a thousand strong. Even the Seventh Apostle, a master of the Blood Flame Cult's Graceful Body Technique—one of the top five body protection scriptures in the world—had only managed to hold them off through repeated retreats before finally succumbing to Qi Deviation.
Yet, this young man seemed entirely unfazed by the scale of their army.
The Radiant Blade Venerable understood why. With the body protection scripture he had displayed—his steps tracing the constellations—he could easily decapitate the commanders and escape unscathed. The death of the Eldest Son would be a foregone conclusion.
It was then that the young man tilted his head, looking past her shoulder.
“A loyal military force? That fellow over there doesn't seem to think so.”
The Radiant Blade Venerable knew who he meant without looking back. The furious expression on the Eldest Son's face was vividly painted in her mind.
That damn, pathetic fool, she thought.
“That is likely the overabundant vigor of youth,” she said smoothly. “He is immature and lacking in virtue, which makes him poor at discerning when to draw his blade. Do not pay him any mind.”
“He needs humility more than martial arts. Otherwise, he might die in a ditch somewhere.”
“You speak the truth. I will be sure to engrave those words into his mind.”
The young man merely nodded. He subtly shifted his chin away from the Seventh Apostle's ebony hair, which was tickling his cheek. He remained still as the Radiant Blade Venerable carefully stepped back and returned to her ranks.
Jeong Yeon-shin paid no attention to the faint, angry shouts echoing from afar. He ignored the nine hundred men and horses kicking up thick clouds of dust as they departed with the thunder of hooves.
At this moment, the beating of the Seventh Apostle's heart drew all of his attention. It felt as if it were whispering strange words against his chest.
‘Qi Deviation… Her blood flow is too rapid. Her True Qi is unstable as well.’
He began to devise a method of Qi healing to restore this woman he both loved and hated. It seemed he would need to incorporate something new into the grand heavenly cycle of the Mara True-Blood Art. The Seventh Apostle's aura was subtly different from that of the True-Blood Art.
* * *
On the vast wilderness stretching out from Gojin Village, the column of men and horses formed a long line, trailing a thick cloud of dust that made for a spectacular sight.
“Blade Sovereign, does that make any sense to you?!”
“Why wouldn't it? I saved your life. Even if we poured our entire army into slaying him, what would be the point if you, the successor, died in the process? That young man was just that powerful,” replied the Radiant Blade Venerable, riding side-by-side with the Eldest Son.
Atop his white horse, which stamped rhythmically in the dirt, Gun Yu-cheon snorted in disbelief. His grip on the reins tightened.
He had no idea what he would tell his father. Losing one hundred men from his martial army to the Seventh Apostle was a loss equivalent to that of an entire mid-sized sect. Having achieved absolutely nothing, he would be unable to escape the wrath of the Monarch Martial Emperor.
“Weren't we originally on our way to strike down the Commander of the Demonlight Wing? Rumors say he escaped the Ten-Mile One Kill of the Dark Night Hall. If what you say is true, Blade Sovereign, we should have changed our course long ago. After all, I wouldn't have been able to handle his body protection scripture either.”
“That man is different from the unit commanders of the Desolate Fortress. His bearing was entirely different.”
“To think the great Blade Sovereign of the world would be so utterly helpless! Is the position of the Three Martial Venerables so cheap?”
“Watch your mouth. My patience has its limits.”
“I find this highly suspicious. Are you perhaps plotting to have Yurin succeed the leadership?”
“I have told you repeatedly, if you want to capture someone like him, you must bring peerless experts or a small group of supreme experts, not an army…”
“I cannot agree! Let us wait and see! Once we inspect the corpse of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, we will see that you were merely overreacting, Blade Sovereign!”
[Whose corpse are you talking about?]
A voice pressed down from all directions.
It was the Six Harmonies Sound Transmission. A cunning, aged temperament bled through the overbearing voice.
Rumble—!
The Radiant Blade Venerable flinched. The moment Gun Yu-cheon raised his head toward the sky, a monstrous sound like thunder rushed in, threatening to burst their eardrums.
In an instant, all nine hundred men and their horses panicked, heads whipping around in every direction. It felt as though the very heavens were collapsing.
“What in the—!”
By the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late.
Gun Yu-cheon's eyes instantly filled with a deep pink hue. With a sickening rip, both of his arms tore apart in a spray of blood.
A horrifying rainbow formed in the air, arcing over the geysers of blood that erupted in that split second.
“Aaaaargh—!”
As the agonizing scream filled the wilderness, the carcasses of three wild boars fell from the sky, thudding heavily onto the ground.
* * *
After the mounted experts of the Deep Martial Alliance departed, a faint twilight settled over Gojin Village.
Jeong Yeon-shin leaned his back against a tree trunk, one knee drawn up.
He glanced back and forth between the fading embers of the sunset in the distance and the Seventh Apostle, who lay nearby, wrapped in her bright red Pure Blood Robe like a sleeping bag.
“Hey,” he said slowly.
“You're awake, aren't you?”
“……”