Chapter 360: Ten Perfections
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 360: Ten Perfections
First was the Qi-Filled Sword.
The Law-Transcending Halo Qi pierced into the blade, forming a perfectly straight axis.
This technique infused the sword with internal power to keep it from snapping. He had already been maintaining it, but now, he condensed his True Qi even further.
He was forcefully extending the lifespan of the Meteor Sword, which was already fracturing from the inside.
But Jeong Yeon-shin pushed it further.
In a flash, he flooded the blade with his Halo Qi once more, filling both of its edges. With the True Qi of the Qi-Filled Sword acting as the central axis, two undulating streams of internal power surged.
Following a specific mnemonic, two long threads of True Qi violently coursed down the sides of the blade. Their vibration emitted a massive resonance, echoing even in a moment split into countless fractions of a second.
Wuuuung—!
This was an ultimate technique he had abandoned; the sheer heat generated in his Upper Dantian would fatally rupture his Baihui Point the moment he attempted to cast it.
‘Spread far and wide.’
At that very moment, the Wind Lord Lee Si-myeong’s kick grazed his collarbone, leaving behind a searing burn. Yet, Jeong Yeon-shin silently whipped the streams of internal power through the Meteor Sword, holding the blade at a sharp angle.
The flow of time warped.
His mind perceived everything around him in agonizingly slow motion. His innate control over internal energy, bolstered by the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak, accelerated the flow of his Law-Transcending Halo Qi to its absolute limit.
Finally, it was unleashed.
Right here, an ultimate technique of absolute perfection was born.
“...?”
The first to sense the anomaly was the Ghost-Howling Hegemon, Peng Yeo-ran. She was in the middle of lifting the edge of Cheon So-so’s veil with her long fingers.
Enraptured by the breathtaking scenery beyond the cliff and Cheon So-so’s sheer beauty, she tilted her slender chin slightly.
That brief tilt of Peng Yeo-ran’s head moved on a time axis even faster than the full-powered kick unleashed by the Wind Lord, Lee Si-myeong.
‘I was thinking of taking him as a concubine.’
Her fingertips slowly grazed down the crimson veil.
Before Cheon So-so—her face hidden behind the translucent cloth—could even flinch, Peng Yeo-ran shifted her gaze to Jeong Yeon-shin, who appeared to be offering his neck to Lee Si-myeong’s kick.
An unfamiliar Black Rank brat from the Desolate Fortress.
A young man whose exceptionally handsome features had made her secretly earmark him as her next concubine.
That was why she hadn't cared whether the old monsters under her command died by his hands.
Much like the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect—the only person in her life to ever defeat her—the Ghost-Howling Hegemon had no interest in hideously wrinkled faces. She only cared for beautiful men and women who were a feast for the eyes.
If they possessed high-level martial arts on top of that, it was absolute perfection.
Right now, this peerlessly handsome young man, his pitch-black robes fluttering as his sword cast a hazy wave of energy, was worth more than a hundred old monsters.
Had it not been for the Flood Dragon's formation, he might have seemed even more precious to her than Cheon So-so.
In the fleeting instant that Jeong Yeon-shin activated his unfamiliar technique...
‘What kind of martial art is this?’
Peng Yeo-ran contemplated whether she should temporarily give up the soft, addictive touch of the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit's shoulder.
Taking her hand off the veil, she lightly brushed the area just below Cheon So-so’s neck.
The number of old experts from the Hidden-Realm Peng Clan that Jeong Yeon-shin had slain so far was thirty-five.
Up to that point, it was acceptable.
This land was a Peach Blossom Spring for the experts of the previous generation. Such fighting strength could easily be replenished.
But no more. If they suffered any more severe damage and the foundation of the Hidden-Realm Peng Clan was shaken, it would fracture the authority of the Ghost-Howling Hegemon.
Peng Yeo-ran had long enjoyed her position as the self-proclaimed order of this land.
Her Five Tigers Severing Door Saber Technique was an incredibly practical divine art. Yet, as an ultimate technique of the Eight Great Families, it was also an Orthodox martial art that prioritized the cultivation of pure internal power.
To one day develop martial arts capable of overwhelming the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect's Heaven-Overturning Dragon-Slaying Formula, she first had to calm her mind. Destined from birth to rule the greatest martial clan of Hebei, Peng Yeo-ran could not maintain Clear Mirror, Still Water without absolute power and endless pleasure.
Her divine might was forged amidst pools of wine and forests of meat.
The same was true for this peerless domain, which was currently stretching and fragmenting time like pulling taffy.
Swaaaa—
Even this Black Rank brat of the Desolate Fortress, possessing a beauty rare under heaven, was nothing more than a stepping stone toward the Martial Apex.
There was no reason to sit quietly and wait for him to complete that strange technique.
‘Five Tigers Blade. Severing Gate Anguish.’
She raised her calloused right hand—which otherwise looked like a sleek, flawless sculpture—and softly chanted the core principles of the Five Tigers Severing Door Saber.
Her mastery of the Invisible Sword was shallow.
However, for a peerless expert on the level of the Former Peng Clan Leader, simply visualizing her lifelong martial arts was enough to manifest a solid blade of shockwave energy.
In this world of extreme speed—a realm most high-level experts couldn't even enter—it was a technique that would instantly obliterate any lesser martial artist before they could even think to defend themselves.
A hazy wave of energy rose from her palm like a ray of light, forming the long outline of a great saber.
The saber qi of the Five Tigers Severing Door Saber.
With a single, minute gesture, it would graze the Wind Lord's neck and pierce straight through the brat's solar plexus. However, in that brief moment, Peng Yeo-ran adjusted the wave of energy, infusing it with the subtle principles of the Internal Heavy Hand Technique.
Judging by the brat's dazzling physique, he would likely offset most impacts with his energy-infused muscles. Rather than ruining that smooth skin with a clumsy attack, it was better to shred his insides and turn him into a beautifully stuffed specimen.
‘Farewell.’
With her bare hands, she unleashed a world-shaking, rapid saber strike.
She flicked her wrist toward Jeong Yeon-shin, who stood in the distance as if frozen in time. It was a gesture tinged with a hint of regret.
Sss—
Then, suddenly.
Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes moved. They darted straight toward her fingertips.
Slowly but surely, his gaze tracked the rapid saber strike that the Ghost-Howling Hegemon had spent her entire life refining to surpass the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect.
Before she knew it, his pupils—glowing with a brilliant azure light—were shifting, tracking her movements through the sluggish flow of time.
It was a shock she had never imagined experiencing in her entire life.
“...!”
As Peng Yeo-ran’s eyelashes slowly lifted in disbelief...
—Thank you.
Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips moved slightly.
—So there was a flow like this as well.
The combat senses of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing, forged through countless high-level battles on the front lines, had reached an extraordinary realm.
Following a sensation that felt like a gaze tickling his skin, he had rearranged the True Qi in his Upper Dantian into a fan shape. Then, using the thread of spirituality cultivated through the Fan Dragon Lotus Art, he connected the Ghost-Howling Hegemon to his own crown.
It was as if he had locked eyes with a predator spying on him from the shadows.
The Meteor Sword Art of the Moyong Clan Head he had faced previously dominated space with a sword sphere. But the Former Peng Clan Leader’s Five Tigers Severing Door Saber contained the subtle principle of stretching the profound, unique time perception of top experts to its absolute limit.
Severing Gate. Just as the name implied, it meant cutting off and destroying the gate. In this context, it meant shattering the very limits of cognitive ability.
‘Though it seems she can’t maintain it for more than a few breaths.’
The Purple Rank of the Jianghu was truly this astonishing. Had he not been paying absolute attention to his minute senses, he would have been struck down without anyone ever knowing.
However, Jeong Yeon-shin’s martial arts were also evolving, developing all-encompassing capabilities to counter these unfamiliar divine arts and secret techniques.
‘Rise.’
The moment he muttered to the Meteor Sword, a tidal wave surged inside the blade. The flow rate of his True Qi became incomparably faster than before.
Gwoooooong—!
It was a mystical resonance. A vibration like the cry of a newborn Imugi. The groan of an Imugi hatching from its egg in an invisible sea of swords instantly transformed into the deafening roar of a dragon.
Whoosh—
At the same time, the flow of time that had been sluggishly brushing against him snapped back to normal. The wind scraped harshly against his skin.
A booming crash grazed the ear of Jeong Yeon-shin, who had already tilted his head out of the way. It was the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s strike.
Meanwhile, the Wind Lord, Lee Si-myeong, who had been extending his foot directly toward him, suddenly tilted backward.
To say he was violently repelled would be more accurate. His right foot, which had been rushing toward Jeong Yeon-shin, fell away, only grazing the hem of the youth's robe.
“What...!”
He let out a sharp gasp, entirely unable to unleash his next move.
This was because the hazy wave rising from the blade of the Meteor Sword had already spread in all directions like a tempestuous tidal wave.
The Sword Song.
While the terrified Wind Lord pushed his internal energy to its absolute peak, wrapping his entire body in layers of faint energy armor, the wave of melody manifested from the realm of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak reached the old experts lunging at Jeong Yeon-shin from behind.
Instantly, everyone’s movements ground to a dead halt.
“Ugh...?!”
“Fall back...!”
These were masters who had undergone rigorous training to become the core strength of the Hidden-Realm Peng Clan.
They intuitively perceived the sheer power of the technique washing over their skin, but the only thing permitted to them was a sense of utter helplessness echoing deep within their bones.
Doubt. Shock. Panic.
In a brief instant, their eyes lost focus, as though they were standing defenseless before a natural disaster.
The translucent shockwave engulfed the old monsters, surging over them in a massive wave.
The faint tidal wave, chewing through dozens of yards with Jeong Yeon-shin at the epicenter, only seemed to move slowly because of its sheer scale. In reality, it expanded in all directions at a terrifying speed, instantly obliterating the yellow soil beneath them.
Kwahhhhhhh—!
An explosion violently expanded in a massive hemisphere, turning the earth upside down.
Every single one of the Hidden-Realm Peng Clan's old experts was swept up in the blast.
One after another, they collapsed, blood bursting from their eyes, noses, and mouths. The massive reserves of internal energy within their bodies flared up in dense auras before vanishing entirely.
None of those who had been leisurely enjoying the banquet on the eve of the wedding remained standing.
After the overwhelming roar swept past the old experts, the only person left standing was the Wind Lord, Lee Si-myeong.
Yet, even he could not hide the stream of blood trickling from his ear. He had clearly taken a severe internal blow to the head.
The rest lay scattered across the ruined earth, their eyes soaked in blood and their lips stained red.
The number of corpses reached over a hundred and twenty.
Instant death.
The previous generation's experts of the Hidden-Realm Peng Clan had been utterly annihilated. The backdraft blown by the recoil of the Sword Song swept up the hems of the corpses' clothes.
It was a bleak, desolate wind.
It would be hard to call it a futile death.
Jeong Yeon-shin thought that since they had died to a martial art that had never before appeared under the heavens, they were in a far better position than the warriors of the Desolate Fortress, who frequently died lonely deaths in the wild mountains.
“I went to unnecessary trouble,” he murmured.
“They would have died soon anyway, even if left alone.”
“...”
The Wind Lord remained silent, his expression completely blank with shock.
Anyone in his position would have reacted the same way.
Amidst the occasional thuds of rolling dirt and rocks...
Jeong Yeon-shin stared blankly at the Meteor Sword. The blade had completely vanished, leaving only the hilt in his grasp. Without a word, he tossed the ruined hilt behind him.
At the dull thud, the distant onlookers flinched.
The young man paid them no mind, lost in thought.
‘It’s not a martial art I can use repeatedly.’
Even with the preexisting cracks, it had been the cherished sword of the Moyong Clan Head.
It was certainly as sturdy as most precious swords, yet it couldn't withstand a single strike of this technique, even when reinforced by Jeong Yeon-shin’s Qi-Filled Sword.
This meant the Sword Song itself severely devoured a sword's lifespan.
But if he just grabbed any random weapon, the technique wouldn't display sufficient power. It was a constraint, of sorts.
However, the strike just now held immense significance.
‘My Baihui Point is perfectly fine.’
The damned acupoint on the crown of his head had not ruptured. He hadn't even felt any major strain while casting the Sword Song.
Everything proved one thing.
The complete unity of essence, qi, and spirit.
The physical state of his body had finally caught up with the spirit of his Upper Dantian and his Law-Transcending Halo Qi. It meant his physical body could fully endure the burden of his innate senses.
Jeong Yeon-shin stared past the Wind Lord's shoulder, locking eyes with the Ghost-Howling Hegemon and Cheon So-so.
The Ghost-Howling Hegemon, Peng Yeo-ran, had now turned completely toward Jeong Yeon-shin with an expressionless face. Beside her, Cheon So-so’s eyes were wide with shock after sensing the Halo Qi that had spread without restraint.
“You...”
“Quiet.”
Peng Yeo-ran reached back, cutting off Cheon So-so’s words. She then nodded toward Jeong Yeon-shin, the cold sunlight catching her slender jawline.
“So you finally took revenge for the Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing. Can you handle the consequences?”
“...Revenge?”
Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked back, feeling an ominous sensation—as if the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s malice was brushing against the back of his neck.
“You didn't know, I see.”
Peng Yeo-ran’s lips curved into a cruel smile.
“That brat Ha Do-un died by my hand long ago. He came to protest about the enslavement of the Ironfolk, and actually dared to draw his blade against me.”
“...”
“He held out quite well. Unlike the old servants of my clan who just lost their lives to your bizarre single strike.”
She disparaged the old experts who had served as her subordinates without a moment's hesitation. Did she think doing so would shake Jeong Yeon-shin’s composure?
Only then did the surrounding silence finally break.
“What on earth just happened...?”
“Is that even a human technique...?”
Just as the onlookers gathered to watch the grand wedding ceremony began to whisper in horror, Peng Yeo-ran’s figure suddenly blurred.
Fwoosh!
The sound of tearing air erupted directly behind Jeong Yeon-shin.
Before he could even blink, the Ghost-Howling Hegemon had taken a position behind his back, her aura burning as bleakly as hellfire rising from the underworld.
Five Tigers Severing Door Saber, Tiger Immortal’s Emergence.
Before anyone realized it, she was swinging down a massive great saber with both hands. Where she had retrieved it from was a complete mystery.
The red sleeves symbolizing her status as the groom of the grand wedding ceremony fluttered wildly in the wind.
Chwaaaaaak—!
A shockwave tore through the air along a massive trajectory. A truly terrifying weight pressed down from all sides.
Amidst the crushing pressure, Jeong Yeon-shin smoothly twisted his body backward.
Nothing could hinder his movements.
The muscles twitching minutely throughout his body squeezed out the explosive force of Fa Jin. The wind of the Wind God Movement Technique freely fluttered the hem of his robe, entirely unaffected by the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s oppressive saber wind.
At that exact moment, his eyes—burning with a deep azure light from the Sight of the Lowly—clashed directly with the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s gaze.
“...!”
She instantly pulled the saber back to her chest and leaped backward. It was a profound evasive footwork. She widened the distance by ten paces in an instant, as if using the Earth-Shrinking Art.
Soon after, a breathless, mad laughter erupted from a distant mountain ridge.
“Bwahahaha—!”
“The Hidden-Realm Peng Clan, which ran rampant claiming the formation was too narrow, has been annihilated! And now, the great Hegemon of the world is taking a step back! Leaving you aside, would it be alright for this old man to have a chat with the Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit?”
Atop a conspicuously large boulder...
...an old man clad in tattered rags lay sideways.
Supporting his head with one arm and scratching his belly, he looked like a beggar born and bred, but the gaze he cast downward was chillingly dark.
Ghost Lord Man Hu-gae.
He was the junior disciple of Ju Gwang-singae, Leader of the Beggar Sect, who was said to have stolen the secret manuals for the Dog-Beating Staff and the Eight Drunken Immortals Steps before fleeing.
“That beggar always babbles from afar.”
The voice came from above the heads of the Ghost-Howling Hegemon and Jeong Yeon-shin.
“Brat of the Desolate Fortress, that was quite an impressive ultimate technique.”
A handsome young man with a cheerful disposition spoke as he crouched on a tree branch.
Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced up at him. For a split second, it felt like looking at the Lazy Flame Dragon.
That arrogant yet straightforward aura was familiar. It was the Elegant Heavenly King Martial Art of the Hwangbo Clan.
Hwangbo Gon, King of Divine Wisdom.
He was said to be the former Hwangbo Clan Head. The grandfather of the poppy addict from the Demonlight Wing was right there, carrying an extremely crooked attitude.
There were more unfamiliar faces.
A figure floated just beneath the branch where Hwangbo Gon sat.
An old Taoist wearing a traditional head crown parted his lips, speaking as if to himself.
“In the end, ruin has arrived...”
He spoke with archaic phrasing.
He possessed incredibly deep eyes. The fluttering hem of his Taoist robe made him look like a true immortal descending through Void Treading.
He was at a realm where he constantly employed the Eight Cloud Dragon Forms of the annihilated Kunlun Sect.
“Perfected Emptiness!”
“Even the Dark Lord...!”
Groans of disbelief rippled across the mountainside.
The absolute rulers of this land had appeared.
The Twin Kings and Three Lords, surrounding the area from various heights, all stared down at Jeong Yeon-shin.
In their respective gazes, emotions such as hostility, intrigue, indifference, and wariness were laid bare.
The sheer weight of their collective gaze was immense.
It was enough to force any ordinary being in this place to their knees. The pressure was so suffocating that many of the onlookers who had come to watch the grand wedding ceremony immediately began fleeing down the mountain.
“I don’t know what will become of this land.”
“I wondered if such a monstrous junior existed in the outside Jianghu, but to think the Twin Kings and Three Lords would all gather here...”
It was a convergence akin to a cataclysm.
Amidst this overwhelming pressure, Jeong Yeon-shin simply stared quietly at the Ghost-Howling Hegemon.
The one who claimed to have killed Ha Do-un, Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing. He paid absolutely no attention to the legendary figures known as the Twin Kings and Three Lords.
He simply reached his hand forward.
He didn't care that Peng Yeo-ran, blocking his view, narrowed her eyes and emitted an incredibly dense wave of internal power. Nor did he care how the Twin Kings and Three Lords looking down at him would react.
[Flash— Art—!]
It was a deep voice. A very familiar voice.
Even from a considerable distance across the chaotic, blood-soaked battlefield, Jeong Yeon-shin’s heightened senses picked up a distinct and rapidly approaching presence. It was Hahu Wi-jin, the imposing Commander of the Forest-Treading Unit. Through the thick haze of killing intent and swirling dust, Yeon-shin could clearly make out the silhouette of the massive warrior. Gripped firmly in Hahu Wi-jin’s enormous, battle-scarred hand was a long, meticulously wrapped object.
The long-awaited supply had finally arrived.
Without missing a single beat, Jeong Yeon-shin instinctively spread his mental senses outward, unfolding his awareness like a delicate yet expansive fan to lock onto the approaching object. It wasn't merely a conscious tactical decision, but rather a profound premonition—a deep, undeniable instinct woven into the very fabric of his martial path that told him he absolutely had to do this right now.
His cold eyes remained fixed on the formidable enemy standing before him, but his soul reached backward. He muttered a single, silent command within the depths of his mind:
Come.
Bwoooooong—!
A monstrous, deafening roar tore through the atmosphere, the sound of the very air being violently ripped apart by sheer velocity. The projectile closed the vast distance in a mere instant. It was, quite literally, a split second of absolute devastation. A sharp, chilling streak of light flashed across the battlefield, moving with such terrifying speed that the naked eye could barely track its trajectory.
With a sickening, dull thud, that streak of piercing light slammed right through the dead center of the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s abdomen.
The sheer momentum of the strike defied all worldly logic. The gruesome explosion of blood and shattered flesh that erupted from the Hegemon’s back in that instant couldn't even touch the tail end of the blinding ray of light. The weapon had already passed completely through him before his body could even register the catastrophic trauma.
“Cough...?!”
A wet, bewildered gasp escaped the Ghost-Howling Hegemon’s lips. His eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated disbelief as he stared down at the gaping hole in his core, entirely unable to comprehend the fatal blow that had just bypassed all of his formidable defenses.
In that exact same heartbeat, Jeong Yeon-shin executed a flawless, imperceptible twist of his waist. With a single, fluid motion that blurred the lines between thought and action, he reached out and snatched the hilt of the flying weapon right out of the air.
Tak—
The sound of the catch was crisp and final. As his fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt, an astonishing realization washed over him: it was unbelievably light.
The sensation that immediately bloomed across his palm was profoundly warm, almost welcoming. In response to that touch, the Halo Qi coursing throughout his entire body began to vibrate violently. It was a fierce, joyous resonance, as if his internal energy had finally reunited with a long-lost soulmate. The surging energy emitted a scorching, radiant heat that pulsed rapidly through his meridians.
The absolute sense of balance was nothing short of a martial masterpiece. The weapon felt as though it had completely bypassed the boundaries of forged metal and flesh, fusing seamlessly into a single, unbreakable line with the muscles and tendons of his arm. This perfect harmony instantly elevated his state of mind, stoking the fires of his internal power and heating it to its absolute, devastating peak.
It was the legendary realm of martial prowess: The Unity of Body and Sword.
Wuuung!
A deep, resonant hum echoed from his form. The large, golden character for "Desolate" (荒) painted proudly upon his shoulder seemed to melt under the sheer intensity of his aura. The golden pigment liquefied into pure light, filling the area around the character in a radiant, glowing circle. Despite the overwhelming surge of destructive energy radiating from his core, the unit commander's robe—masterfully woven from indestructible Heavenly Silkworm thread—remained perfectly intact, rippling majestically in the unseen currents of power.
He felt the heavy weight of his long hair fluttering wildly behind his back, dancing in the localized storm of his own making.
Saaaa—
A gentle, sweeping breeze swept through the devastated landscape. The stray dandelion seeds that had been rolling aimlessly around the blood-stained earth were suddenly caught in the updraft. One by one, they absorbed the scattered, shimmering fragments of his overflowing Halo Qi. Illuminated from within, the seeds soon began to drift and scatter across the battlefield, looking exactly like a flurry of ethereal, glowing white flower petals descending upon the grim reality of the martial world.