Chapter 347: Enemies in the Same Boat (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 347: Enemies in the Same Boat (3)
"The Desolate Fortress is a sect of chivalrous heroes."
The Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult spoke, one corner of her mouth curving up beneath her silver mask.
"Yet, in the eyes of the martial world, they are nothing but fools. Possessing such martial arts, what is it but sheer stupidity to leap into a place that is clearly a death trap? Even if they were only of the Blue Rank, they could easily reign as kings of their local regions."
In any town they pleased.
She continued speaking, jet-black streams of flame draped around her body like a ceremonial sash.
It was a mythical sight. The black flames fluttering brilliantly around her body contrasted sharply with his pure white attire, making her flames look almost like ceremonial robes worn for a prestigious event.
"To receive a mere few taels of silver as a monthly salary, yet expend such high-level martial arts on chivalrous deeds? They even clash frequently with the great sects. Because of that, many of them end up dead."
"I don't understand your intent."
Jeong Yeon-shin, who had unfurled a colorless lotus beneath his feet, was already gripping the upper part of the Meteor Sword's scabbard at his waist. He was fully prepared for battle.
Since he had chosen the Ultimate Lightning instead of the Fan Dragon Lotus Art, he had to seize the upper hand before his martial art reached its time limit.
Fortunately, the energy of the Ultimate Lightning—which surged as if to tear his acupoints apart—no longer burdened Jeong Yeon-shin as it once had.
The Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth he had envisioned alongside the Lord of the Desolate Fortress in his mental space had vastly extended the duration of the Ultimate Lightning.
However.
There is nothing to read.
This was the reason he hesitated to strike.
It was an incredibly unfamiliar situation.
He had lived in a world where the forms targeting an opponent's vital points, the internal energy breathing that sustained a fight, and the directional movements of their footwork were always predictable. Yet, facing Yelu Jin now, the entire world was dead silent.
The Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult fully understood the implications of her own aura, breath, and extremely subtle habits.
By thoroughly controlling everything, she revealed absolutely no information. Her innate perception and control over internal energy were truly staggering.
If I rush in blindly, I will be caught by a counter-strike.
Yet, the Young Sect Leader also seemed to sense something similar from Jeong Yeon-shin.
The dark blue pupils visible through the eye slits of her silver mask swept over Jeong Yeon-shin's body, betraying a faint trace of bewilderment.
"...In any case, unless they are an anomaly like Namgung's First Sword, it is virtually impossible for a Desolate Fortress warrior to survive an encounter with a peerless expert in the Jianghu. Even in his case, it was said he only survived because he gained the insight to develop the Imperial Sword Form from the sword wind of the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword... Indeed, prior to that, the Namgung Clan Head's Emperor Sword had suppressed his brother, making him the undisputed number one in Southern Zhili."
On the other hand, her posture as she clenched and unclenched her hand—wrapped in black currents of energy—appeared incredibly relaxed at first glance.
"My point is, it is better to focus on visible events rather than a hopeless endeavor. If the Unit Commanders of the Desolate Fortress, who even lead reliable subordinates, cannot return on their own, then it must be a death trap for anyone. Why do you think the anecdote of the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword is so widely known? Because such occurrences are extremely rare."
Even as she delivered this lengthy speech, the ceremonial robe of jet-black flames surrounding the Young Sect Leader's body remained wildly fierce and magnificent.
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly stroked the scabbard of the Meteor Sword with his thumb. He thought to himself.
She isn't making the first move.
A pressure like ice water sliced at the back of his neck. His opponent felt exactly what he was feeling.
He had not realized that such a seemingly trivial fact could feel so terrifying.
I must strike before I destroy myself.
If nothing could be read, then he would simply thrust his sword regardless. He spun the halo of his heart even more violently.
The colorless lotus spread beneath his feet began to shake violently.
Oh?
The Young Sect Leader reacted.
An instantaneous reaction. Yelu Jin flared her ink-colored flames even higher, a chilling, dark blue light flashing in her eyes.
It was a gaze that had been turbulent like lightning from the moment she sensed the Dharma power of his Halo Qi.
"So, there are other matters that we—the only two of our kind under heaven—should properly turn our eyes to. For starters, perhaps while tearing into a wild boar..."
A majestic dignity lingered in her tone, but it did not match the words leaving her lips—regardless of the profound mystery carried by the phrase "the only two under heaven."
Is she provoking me?
Jeong Yeon-shin ignored it and stomped the ground.
He was a martial artist.
There was no surer way to seize the initiative in a conversation than by comparing the heights of their martial arts.
His Jianghu had always been that way. Moreover, this was a matter concerning the safety of his fellow Unit Commanders.
Thud!
The moment his right foot struck the ground, the Seventh Apostle standing nearby took a step back. It seemed she, too, had no intention of joining forces.
Whether it was due to her martial-obsessed nature or out of consideration for the Grand Preceptor's dignity was unclear. Whatever the reason, it was exactly what Jeong Yeon-shin wanted.
Lightning-Flash Sword Ridge Style.
He drew the Meteor Sword and thrust it straight ahead. The opening move, as always, was Qilin's Judgment.
The gale generated by his full-body Fa Jin pushed aside the satchel slung across his shoulder and heavily shoved his back. The trajectory of the pure white blade, starting from his waist, tore through the air and surged forward.
The sword strike reached the Young Sect Leader's solar plexus in a straight line. Immediately after, the booming roar of the sword draw followed the blade like artillery fire.
Boom!
The Meteor Sword collided with the back of the Young Sect Leader's hand as she swiped upward.
At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin saw it clearly—the black flames wrapped like an abyss around the Young Sect Leader's hand instantly tore apart in all directions.
Crash!
Jeong Yeon-shin's body bounced upward by about half a zhang.
The sword, despite being protected by his internal energy, had almost shattered in a single clash.
Fragments of jet-black flames dug into the blade, causing a monstrous vibration. The recoil that instantly shot up to his forearm was immense.
It was true.
The news that the Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult had recently slain the Master of the 13th Heaven Pure Demon Alliance alone was by no means an empty rumor. Jeong Yeon-shin was convinced of it by this single clash.
Floating in the air for a brief moment, he showed no sign of surprise and struck down with the Meteor Sword in rapid succession.
He did so immediately after dissipating the recoil that had sent his body soaring, using muscles finely tuned in a split second.
Lightning-Flash Sword Ridge Style: Nine Azure Rivers.
In an instant, the aftermath of the power humming from the sword swept through the surrounding trees like a tempest, shattering them to pieces.
Perhaps she had not expected a continuous form. Looking up at the Meteor Sword rushing toward her crown, the Young Sect Leader sent a telepathic thought directly into Jeong Yeon-shin's Upper Dantian: You have forged an absurd amount of internal power.
And then, she thrust the sleeve of her thick cloak forward.
Time slowed to the absolute limit. Their Upper Dantians resonated with a shiver, splitting the urgent moment into fractions of a second.
Thump—
The Young Sect Leader's hand emitted a translucent vibration like a heartbeat.
Suddenly, a blue beam of light appeared before her palm, sizzling as if to burn the air as it drew a large circle. Characters presumed to be from ancient times and bizarre patterns instantly filled the space within.
The speed at which she drew the magic formation was abnormal.
The moment internal energy manifested from her palm, she completed a certain technique. It felt as if she had literally pulled a pre-made sheet of paper out of thin air.
The casting was faster than any physical strike. It was a sight that shattered the limits of the sorcery martial arts commonly spoken of by gossips.
An extreme Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak? That is true, but there is more.
Jeong Yeon-shin, immersed in the same swamp of slowed time as the Young Sect Leader, thought as he struck down hard with his sword.
Just as his own martial studies possessed a unique system, that must be a strength unique to the Young Sect Leader's sect-exclusive martial arts.
Screeech—
It took only an instant for the characters and patterns arranged in the blue-light magic formation to rotate, chasing each other's tails.
Before long, the streams of black flames hiding behind it were sucked into the magic formation, colliding with it. From the gaps, brilliant blue lightning reared its thick body and surged outside the formation.
Crackle!
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyelashes twitched slightly. He, too, was capable of thinking like a flash of light in the realm of split seconds.
That technique...
That was not the energy of the heterodox sects that would be destroyed by Dharma power, but lightning itself. The Young Sect Leader had manipulated the demonic qi unique to the Heavenly Demon Lineage in her own way, transforming it into natural qi.
A feat accomplished the very moment they exchanged a single move. She was truly the greatest genius under heaven. The sight of the blue lightning climbing up toward the Meteor Sword in thick streams was truly terrifying.
A pure white light flashed in Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes.
He was still floating in the air, maintaining his posture of striking down with the sword.
The Sight of the Lowly, which he had activated before they even crossed hands, began to dissect the nature of the lightning and transmit the information to his mind.
It's possible.
The Halo Qi of his Baihui Point, flowing faster than his bloodstream, created a spring of analysis and reverse calculation in his mind, accompanied by the roaring sound of a cluster of light heard only in his head.
An insight close to instinct arose.
What must he do to receive that blue lightning without difficulty?
The repelling properties, the extremely subtle differences in temperament...
Gauging solely through his senses the nature and structure of the lightning that had arrived close enough to blur his vision, he fitted that raw insight into the hundreds of lines of mnemonics he had created so far.
At the same time, the Halo Qi—running down to the Yongquan Point of his soles along the phrases of the Ten-Mile Light Grace and the Radiant Wing Fifth Step—formed an extremely thin barrier of qi on his leather shoes.
It bore a flow so bizarre that even Jeong Yeon-shin himself found it difficult to comprehend with reason.
An irregular crackling friction sound spread from beneath his feet.
This will do.
The next moment, Jeong Yeon-shin traversed the air, stepping on the lightning that had split into hundreds of streams. The slowed time returned to its normal speed.
The relentlessly surging electrical strikes were crushed beneath his feet, bursting into blue clusters of light with a buzzing sound.
He was walking on lightning.
It was not even Void Stepping. Gasps of shock were exhaled from various places around them. They were the experts of the Ming Cult lying in ambush with the Stealth Technique.
Jeong Yeon-shin, who had stepped on and suppressed the surging lightning bolts in two steps, landed behind the Young Sect Leader. The Young Sect Leader glanced back at him and curled her lips.
"I've never seen a bastard like me before. There really is another one."
"..."
Jeong Yeon-shin did not reply.
It was said that in the distant past, it was not uncommon for the ancestral grandmasters of the Nine Sects to create martial arts by observing the laws of all creation or the phenomena of Mother Nature.
Martial arts of the immortal path, such as the Taiji Wisdom Sword, the Purple Mist Divine Art, the Azure Cloud Red Sunset Sword, and the Cloud Dragon Eight Forms.
Above all, at this moment, he could feel a sense of leisure from the Young Sect Leader.
This was likely something the Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult had been doing for much longer than the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
Twisting and untwisting the subtleties of martial arts, then reverse-calculating them to repeatedly forge mnemonics fatal to the enemy's techniques.
If Jeong Yeon-shin attempted to walk on lightning again, the Young Sect Leader would surely apply a fatal variation to that technique.
In the end, it was a cycle.
Whose skill was superior?
He did not know yet. The current Commander of the Demonlight Wing decided not to hastily judge the Young Sect Leader, who must have lived at least three years longer than himself.
The technique of drawing natural qi from demonic qi in such a brief moment was just that shocking.
He slowly parted his lips.
"I felt the intent of your Upper Dantian. It connected strongly. If you wish to deceive me, you will have to be extremely careful."
"I told you so," the Young Sect Leader chuckled. It was a strangely self-deprecating smile.
"Now that we've had our bout, shall we get to the main point? I don't know what the Unit Commanders of the Desolate Fortress who came this way are doing, or where they are lying. However..."
"Speak."
"They might be entangled with whatever the Golden Wing Sect is up to. Unless your colleagues were defeated and killed by some passing peerless expert, they might be trapped in the world where the Flood Dragon resides."
"The Flood Dragon's world?"
"It's a kind of sorcery formation. A dragon is a spirit beast that hides itself in another world after spreading formations across the entire realm. To drag such a strange, violent, chaotic, and supernatural entity down to our lower world, one must offer human sacrifices of practitioners who have refined outstanding energy..."
The Young Sect Leader slowly gestured with her chin toward Jeong Yeon-shin.
"And the sect that possesses the most of such people is the Desolate Fortress. As I said earlier, there are no repercussions these days either."
"..."
"Did you know that the Golden Wing Sect was originally an alliance? It's a damn massive sect. There's also a high probability that the Tenth Sect is involved in this. Although the Lord of the Tenth Sect was defeated by the Blood Flame Cult Leader, he didn't die, being a Lord of the Thirteen Heavens after all. The wish-fulfilling jewel or the inner core of a Flood Dragon would be more than enough to restore him."
"Even now, they are more than capable of suppressing at least one of your Black Ranks—" Speaking in an archaic tone, the Young Sect Leader spread her arms wide in an exaggerated gesture.
"Won't you search for the truth with me? I've even set up a fairly decent plan. If a moment comes when you think this isn't right, you are welcome to point your sword at me."
*
Several days passed like that.
Jeong Yeon-shin arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan, accompanied by the Seventh Apostle at his side. The Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult was with them as well.
The official roads inside the city, which should have been bustling with crowds, were quiet.
It was because a massive rumor had spread.
The Sichuan Tang Clan.
The Golden Wing Sect.
The Tenth Sect.
"They say the Myriad Blossoms Rain was useless. It couldn't keep up with the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect's Dragon Slaying Scale-Treading Movement Technique..."
"Keep your voice down. Do you think the Tang Clan is just a toothless beast?"
"A fact is a fact. Though even if we saw it with our own eyes, what would we understand?"
"For the time being, the heterodox sects will dominate Sichuan... I wonder if Huguang is a bit better to live in."
"Only the Tang Clan twins have become pitiful."
"Why don't you worry about your own storehouse instead?"
The story of the three great sects holding a meeting in full view of the public, and the Tang Clan Leader, Poison Lord Tang Un-hwang, being miserably defeated by the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect.
It was a topic that shook the Jianghu.
The meeting, currently taking place at the Phoenix Stay Hall—the finest inn in Sichuan—was said to be a gathering to extort forced support from the Tang Clan before going to hunt the Flood Dragon.
"Where are you going? First, we should unpack at an inn..."
Jeong Yeon-shin ignored the Young Sect Leader's words and silently walked on.
The heterodox sects of Sichuan.
Who had they offered as sacrifices to manifest the ancient Flood Dragon? Were they already dead and gone?
Step.
The dust beneath his feet scattered bleakly in all directions.
The invisible pressure unique to a peerless expert began to layer over his footsteps. An incredibly dense, intangible presence was blooming to a size fitting his stature.
Since he had increased his food intake following his maternal grandfather's advice, the state of the Unity of Essence, Qi, and Spirit—which had remained incomplete until now—was on the verge of finding a diamond-like stability.
"Uh...?"
"What's wrong?"
"Look, look over there."
Pedestrians walking along the road flinched and turned around as they felt that sharp aura, whispering to one another as they laid eyes on Jeong Yeon-shin.
He paid them no mind and put strength into his legs.
He was heading straight for the Phoenix Stay Hall. He had no intention of waiting.