Chapter 364: Ten Perfections (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 364: Ten Perfections (5)
The night was a deep blue.
By the time Jeong Yeon-shin and his companions arrived at Hahu Wi-jin's village, the sun had long since set. Softly glowing stars filled the pitch-black sky of the formation, making it impossible to tell if they were real.
“……”
In the faint night mist, Jeong Yeon-shin saw the Tang Clan siblings standing before a cold anvil. They were like empty shells, only their physical forms remaining. Though smiles graced their lips, they lacked their usual vivacity. With complexions paler than the starlight overhead, they stood unyielding, their hands still gripping their hammers.
“They passed away after completing the sword,” Hahu Wi-jin said, his tone calm. His voice was slightly raspy, perhaps due to the recent tragic news of the Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing.
Beside him, Cheon So-so was also composed. Not only did she have no personal acquaintance with the Tang siblings, but she had also witnessed countless comrades fall in battle over a very long time.
Jeong Yeon-shin was different.
Without a word, he took a step toward them.
Step.
His steps were slow. Before he could even begin to ponder how the siblings had met their end, his upper dantian whispered an intuitive realization into his mind.
Jeong Yeon-shin understood instantly.
Mental Power.
They had pushed the power of their upper dantians to its absolute limit. In the process of forging the blade, hammering its surface with meticulous attention to the finest balance, and pouring their spirituality into the weapon, they must have manifested a power far beyond their actual capabilities—just as he had when he first founded the Sword House.
Had the siblings felt it? With every strike of the hammer, death had taken another giant stride toward them.
“We tried to recover the bodies, but they wouldn't budge, even with four grown men lifting,” a short old man said, quietly walking over to stand beside the deceased siblings. “The trace of spirituality dwelling in your sword has taken root in the feet of those two.”
He was the former village chief. Possessing an extraordinary sharpness that belied his wrinkled face, he glanced at the King of Divine Wisdom before looking at Jeong Yeon-shin, unable to hide his awe.
“It seems you have finally changed the order of this land. The Desolate Fortress is true to its name, even here.”
“Did they leave any last words?” Jeong Yeon-shin asked, his eyes never leaving the siblings.
The chief smiled bitterly. “They said they would forge a sword for the Tang Clan's benefactor and demanded we tell them everything we knew about the True Silver Ore in this land. After practicing casting and forging a couple of times, they immediately began working the bellows.”
“……”
“That was all. I have never… seen such geniuses.”
As he spoke, he stared intently at the divine sword fastened to the waist of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly clasped his hands in a polite bow to the Ironfolk elder, who openly showed his admiration, then turned his attention away.
It meant there were no last words.
Only a single sword remained.
Rustle—
Jeong Yeon-shin silently welcomed the night air. A thin draft brushed coolly up his sleeves. In that moment, it was strangely difficult to tell where the tail of the wind ended.
“You will need time to mourn. I shall head inside first.”
Patting his shoulder, Hwangbo Gon trudged past him. Even with no one to guide him, he looked ready to sleep anywhere. The expression of the King of Divine Wisdom, who had just heard the news of the Hwangbo Clan's destruction, remained calm and shamelessly nonchalant. His true thoughts were impossible to read. The only time he had ever fully shown his emotions was when he marveled at Jeong Yeon-shin's Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth. He was a man whom no one but Jeong Yeon-shin could handle alone.
Glancing at the back of the King of Divine Wisdom's head, Hahu Wi-jin spoke to his junior.
“…I left the siblings as they were, fearing their bodies might be damaged if we tried to force them. The spirituality lingering in their bodies is so dense that there is no sign of decay. If there is absolutely no other way, we can dig deep into the ground and cut them out. I will help if needed.”
“Thank you for the consideration. Please get some rest,” Jeong Yeon-shin said softly.
Though his tone wasn't particularly firm, the Black Rank seniors did not press further. As Hahu Wi-jin and Cheon So-so walked away, the former village chief, who had been staring blankly at the divine sword, was also forced to leave—dragged away by the scruff of his neck by Hahu Wi-jin's massive hand.
“He is my junior. He is close to becoming the next Purple Rank of the Desolate Fortress, so don't be so shameless.”
“I get it, so let go…! The only thing shameless here is your broad forehead!”
A dark silence settled over them, but only for a moment.
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly. “Come out.”
“You are becoming harder and harder to deceive.” The voice was clear but carried a harsh resonance, as if a crystal-clear tone had been forcibly scraped by internal power.
Thud—
Suddenly, the hem of a snow-white cape appeared as someone landed, and soon her entire figure—including a silver mask covering her from forehead to nose—etched itself brightly against the darkness. She was shrouded in an aura of mystery.
The Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult.
“Have you just been playing around?” Jeong Yeon-shin asked.
The Young Sect Leader shrugged. “I had a lot to do. I had to manipulate the Life Gate and Death Gate of this formation to block the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect from crawling in, investigate the traces of the Flood Dragon… and occasionally bolster the sorcery that binds your wife to your shadow. This is a martial attainment that borders on defying heaven; do you realize just how extraordinary a task it is?”
“You’re too talkative.”
“Indeed. As expected of my sole confidant, you understand me.”
Behind the mask, the Young Sect Leader's dark blue eyes followed Jeong Yeon-shin's gaze, lingering on the Tang Clan siblings for a moment.
“Ah. So it was because of those two.”
“What was?”
“The reason your wife was so terrified. I thought the wave structure of the upper dantian the Tang siblings possessed was strikingly similar to yours. Upon examining their acupoints, it turned out to be a joint creation of the Blood Flame Cult and the Tang Clan.”
“……”
“You stayed at the Blood Flame Cult's main headquarters for quite a long time, did you not? Your sharp-eyed wife, in her attempt to care for you, must have drawn up a flawed human body diagram and handed it to the Tang Clan. Then, the Blood Flame Cult Leader and the Tang Sect Supreme Elder followed it to turn the twins into… that.”
“I told you. She is not my wife.”
“Inside there.” The Young Sect Leader's long finger pointed at Jeong Yeon-shin's shadow. “She is hiding, trembling. It must be because you are furious right now.”
The Young Sect Leader concluded, curling one corner of her mouth slightly. The wavy sheen reflecting off her silver mask seemed to deepen her smirk.
“Spit out your real intention,” Jeong Yeon-shin said quietly. He sensed a hidden motive behind her words. Some martial artists of the Heterodox Path who excelled at provocation would casually throw out words to draw out their opponent's blind fighting spirit, making the battle easier for themselves. The Young Sect Leader was likely no different. Unlike the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing, she probably hadn't grown up on a righteous path.
Whether she knew what he was thinking or not, the Young Sect Leader clapped her hands. Her snow-white hero's scarf fluttered in the sharp gusts of wind that had begun to radiate from Jeong Yeon-shin's body.
“What incredible momentum. Even after reducing the Old Monsters of the Biyeok Peng Clan, Peng Yeo-ran, and Lee Si-myeong to such a state.”
“The Wind Lord was executed by my seniors.”
“In any case,” the Young Sect Leader waved her hand dismissively. “I was testing your remaining strength because we might have to face the husk of the Flood Dragon, but it seems my worries were entirely unfounded.”
“Explain.”
“First of all, I came up empty-handed. No matter where I searched in the formation, I couldn't find a single scale of the Flood Dragon. It would have been nice if it had at least left its inner core behind.”
“I'm not interested.”
“Thank you for the comfort.” The Young Sect Leader slowly continued. “Anyway, now that we have seen everything we came to see, we must leave. But the moment we open this space to the outside, the spirituality remaining in the Flood Dragon's formation will react.”
“In what way?” Jeong Yeon-shin asked, slowly taking his hand off his sword hilt.
Seeing this, the Young Sect Leader's shoulders dropped in an exaggerated display of relief, even though Jeong Yeon-shin himself had not yet calculated his exact chances of victory against her.
“Keep in mind that the Flood Dragon's Nascent Soul might manifest.”
“And you’re only telling me this now?”
“A spirit beast that failed to ascend is extremely greedy. It will leave prey alone when they enter its territory, but it never tolerates anything leaving.”
The Nascent Soul. It was a realm passed down in Taoism, a state where spirituality, which amplifies the power of True Qi, completely unites with internal power through some mysterious harmony to create another body. Among the common folk, it was famous through rumors that the Perfected Ancient Sword of the Wudang Sect could perform cloning techniques. How many people in the world could withstand the Ten Stages of Brocade unleashed by two identical peerless masters?
If so, what about the clone of a Flood Dragon?
“Of course, it will fall far short of its true body, and perhaps it won't even appear… but it is worth keeping in mind, is it not?”
“I understand.”
“Then, as soon as day breaks tomorrow, we will immediately—”
“Two days from now.”
“What?”
“We leave with the commoners,” Jeong Yeon-shin said, his eyes still fixed on the Tang Clan siblings.
*
Things proceeded rapidly.
Hahu Wi-jin and Cheon So-so took the lead in gathering the people scattered throughout the formation. It was a space that would soon perish; once the formation vanished, it was impossible to predict what would happen to those left behind. The Immortal Wood Spirit and the Forest-Treading Unit were mobilized, and the Heaven-Aligned Wing, who had been halfway inside, also gathered.
“That person is the Flash Art?”
“Did he truly face the Biyeok Peng Clan alone…?!”
A crowd of nearly sixty people marveled at Jeong Yeon-shin's appearance while rounding up the commoners. From time to time, those who rushed in to seize the sapling held by Cheon So-so were kicked away by the King of Divine Wisdom the moment they crossed the village fence.
“Since I have never washed my hands in a golden basin, it is no great shame for me to get some fresh air.” Hwangbo Gon, lying like an idler on the high wooden barricade, was a man unbound by the orders of the Jianghu’s orthodox and heterodox factions. Even after learning the identity of the Young Sect Leader of the Ming Cult, he merely left a casual remark, telling her to take good care of them as if instructing a carriage driver.
Two days passed in this manner.
Jeong Yeon-shin spent two days and two nights with the Dragon-Phoenix Twin Poisons, sitting cross-legged before the siblings. Lost in meditation with his eyes half-closed, he would occasionally look up at the two of them when the star-studded night arrived. The starlight, more so than the overly bright sun, made their figures stand out more clearly.
Resting the divine sword on his knees, Jeong Yeon-shin occasionally pondered. Would he, like the Dragon-Phoenix Twin Poisons, be able to carve his own trace so deeply into the world? The divine sword they left behind as their final masterpiece would surely become incredibly famous, never to be broken.
“Why don't you get up now?”
The voice came from above. Jeong Yeon-shin opened his eyes at the Young Sect Leader's call.
Beneath the orange-hued twilight, he saw the surrounding crowd. It was a massive gathering of martial artists, Ironfolk, and half-bloods of various clans. Had the incidents he caused become so widely known? No one in the crowd dared to speak hastily. They merely watched him with eyes full of curiosity and fear. Unlike in the outside Jianghu, everyone here knew of his true martial prowess.
Jeong Yeon-shin stood up, leaving the still-standing bodies of the Tang Clan siblings behind him.
There are so many.
The village was bustling with people. He stood at the very center of the densely packed crowd, all waiting to be included in the sorcery formation the Young Sect Leader was about to cast. He could sense the presences of Hahu Wi-jin and Cheon So-so far off on either side, in a battle formation to protect the commoners. Their subordinates were scattered throughout, keeping a vigilant watch against any approach by the old monsters who had sought to steal the sapling.
It was extremely quiet.
Standing beside him, the Young Sect Leader spread her arms. “I told you. It will be over in an instant.”
“Yes,” Jeong Yeon-shin nodded. He had already heard. The Flood Dragon was a supernatural entity that freely traversed eternity and an instant.
“It really is just an instant,” the Young Sect Leader spoke again, like a nagging older sibling. “It is highly likely that no one but you and I, with our innate senses, will be able to react. Keep that in mind.”
Jeong Yeon-shin remained silent, thinking, She talks too much.
The Young Sect Leader's lips curled up. “Let us begin.”
The moment her leather boot stomped on the ground—
Rumble—!
A sudden, thunderous roar raced from the perimeter, tracing a single, curving line. The lumps of True Silver Ore, placed along the fence as ritual implements, shattered one by one.
It was literally an instant.
Unintelligible ancient characters and intricate patterns carved themselves into the crushed soil, quickly forming a massive circular sorcery formation.
Just as some of the Ironfolk with sensitive Qi were about to let out silent cheers—
Whoosh—
Suddenly, the sky darkened as if submerged in an abyss. A shadow had fallen over them.
Jeong Yeon-shin raised his head. A chillingly dense concentration of Natural Qi covered the entire formation before anyone could even react.
VROOOOOOM—!
From the sky, an impossibly long and thick shadow looked down upon the earth, its maw gaping wide. Countless teeth protruded from its long snout, a chilling gaze set above them, and eyes flashed like massive obsidian stones.
Impossible to oppose. Its head alone was nearly half the size of the village.
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes widened.
So this is…
The Jianghu where the Purple Ranks of the Desolate Fortress resided, where all kinds of supernatural entities, spirit beasts, and absolute masters roamed.
“The Flood Dragon! The Flood Dragon…!”
“The Dragon God is angry!”
“N-No…”
“How can this be!”
Many who had fallen into a mindless panic vanished into thin air. The power of the sorcery formation had flung open the invisible Life Gate, and the people in front of Jeong Yeon-shin began to disappear one after another in the blink of an eye. The queue vanished so quickly that it reached him before he could even blink again.
“It really did show up. Well, at least the sorcery formation is complete.”
Right after the Young Sect Leader's nonchalant voice rang out, it happened. The moment the last of the commoners had escaped and even the figure of the Young Sect Leader, who had glanced upward, began to fade—
BOOM—!
The space ahead filled with a crimson storm of fire—the breath exhaled by the shadow of the Flood Dragon. It was colossal. In an instant, the air warped violently, and the fiery storm surged right before Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes, sending out monstrous vibrations.
By then, he could feel the pull of the sorcery formation drawing him away, but with a single rotation of the halo in his heart, he weakened the spell's power.
Not yet.
The siblings were behind him. There were still people left.
In the split second that the others gasped in inevitable terror, the world in Jeong Yeon-shin's vision slowed to a crawl—the realm of super-ascension.
Step.
He took a step forward. Feeling the urgent presences of his seniors rushing toward him, he recalled the image of the breathless siblings bathed in starlight.
Crack—
The sound came from his heart. A layer of the halo peeled away, and countless fragments of soft light spilled from his body. At the same time, all the acupoints in his body breathed in accordance with the mnemonic of the Myriad Blossoms Rain, weaving a garment from that light. It took only an instant to envelop his entire body.
Clad in a silken robe of faint starlight, Jeong Yeon-shin met the colossal storm of fire head-on, shielding the Tang Clan siblings with his own back.