Chapter 366: Peerless Master
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 366: Peerless Master
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke.
“Stop right there.”
His voice, naturally infused with the Law-Transcending Halo Qi, rippled through the thicket.
Though spoken softly, it carried far. In an instant, the chirping of nearby insects fell dead silent.
Even if he currently required Qi Healing, his stature remained undiminished. Besides, compared to the breath of a Flood Dragon, his current opponents were nothing.
“…”
The martial artists, who had been running toward Jeong Yeon-shin before abruptly veering sideways to flee, flinched.
“Damn it!”
“I told you! I said something was off!”
None of them stopped.
Instead, they pushed their light-footwork techniques to even greater speeds. The unique spiritual pressure radiating from the divine art within his Halo Qi was pressing down on them.
It was more accurate to say they recognized his level. It was the same insurmountable wall Jeong Yeon-shin had felt when, as a White and Blue Rank, he faced the Unit Commanders of the Divine Sword Corps, his maternal uncle included.
‘The smell of oil on their weapons. They’ve been in and out of the city.’
They were worth interrogating.
Just as Jeong Yeon-shin’s fingers twitched, the middle-aged martial artists pursuing them from the opposite direction rapidly closed the distance.
A Taoist holding a sword and a Buddhist nun wielding an iron staff. Both possessed impressively deep waves of internal power. It was clear they had been narrowing the gap from the very beginning.
“Dammit! They never get tired…!”
“Scatter!”
The five experts, who had previously intended to take Jeong Yeon-shin hostage to escape their predicament, didn’t think twice. The moment they saw the character ‘Hwang’ embroidered on his black robe, they made a sharp, right-angle turn.
They were quick-witted. It made sense how they had survived so long in the Heterodox Sects to become experts. They prided themselves on a discernment that surpassed ordinary perception.
They were the Hojeong Five Heroes, as they called themselves. Known in the Sichuan Martial World for their decent weapon skills, they had banded together to survive the harsh reality of the Jianghu. Their goal was to crush the heads of well-fed hypocrites playing hero or to gain an upper hand when competing with other martial artists for plunder.
The Hojeong Five Heroes were formidable, and their teamwork was seamless—seamless enough to slip away before the mid-tier masters of the Nine Sects could even get close. Not long ago, they had even severed the limbs of several White-Ranked Warriors and Rising Stars from the Sichuan Branch of the Desolate Fortress.
Thus, the Hojeong Five Heroes changing their course at this moment was a stroke of luck for their pursuers. It meant they wouldn't have to waste their internal power on prey they had practically caught.
“Martial Uncle, over there…!”
“I hope the Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity shows no mercy…!”
Clear voices echoed sporadically from further down the path.
Leaving behind those trusting voices—imbued with the vibrant energy characteristic of the Rising Stars of prestigious Orthodox Factions—the middle-aged Taoist and the Buddhist nun leaped forward.
Whoosh!
Dust exploded from the heels of the Taoist in the blue robe. It was the Inscribed Flowing Drift, the movement technique of the Qingcheng Sect. His figure, which should have been soft and fluid in accordance with Taoist principles, instead cut through space at breakneck speed, leaving a long trail of cloud-like dust.
The nun with the iron staff kept pace perfectly, sprinting right beside him. It was the Great Silent Buddha Shadow, a divine art famous in the Emei Sect. A dark, phantom-like shadow flickered on her back, generating a powerful propulsive shockwave.
In the blink of an eye, the two closed the distance to the Hojeong Five Heroes.
Sensing the monstrous waves of internal power, the five martial artists panicked and threw themselves to the ground in a classic Lazy Donkey Rolling maneuver.
Swoosh!
The moment a chilling sound tore through the air, dozens of strands of hair were sliced off. A gust of sword wind had swept directly over where their five necks had been a split second ago—a strike unleashed from the Taoist’s sword.
“You crazy…! What a ruthless move, typical of a Qingcheng flat-nose!”
“Hey, you damn Taoist! Did your sect teach you to kill without hesitation?!”
The Hojeong Five Heroes, rolling across the ground in all directions, shouted whatever came to mind, some spitting out curses. There was no real meaning behind their words.
Expelling Demons and Eradicating Evil, Crushing Evil and Revealing the Truth.
These were phrases that originated from the Nine Great Sects, which held Buddhist and Taoist roots. Aside from the Shaolin Temple of Mount Song, virtually no sect among the Nine Sects showed mercy to the wicked. Their benevolence extended only to the common people.
The Hojeong Five Heroes knew this well. They were merely buying time to catch their breath.
Thud!
The iron staff of the Emei Sect's Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity gave them no such room. Unlike the stone staffs carried by non-martial monks, the staffs wielded by the martial monks of the Emei Sect were made of iron, capable of channeling immense internal power.
Aiming for the bodies of the Hojeong Five Heroes as they rolled frantically, each strike of the staff made the ground shake as if struck by an earthquake.
Thud! Bang! Crash!
“Amitabha! Amitabha!”
The Buddhist chants erupted like battle cries. The middle-aged nun's vermilion robe fluttered violently, creating a tremendous tearing sound in the air. The iron staff, relentlessly slamming down with terrifying momentum, cast countless shadows, and with each strike, plumes of dust shot upward.
The Body Protection Qi of the Hojeong Five Heroes, refined enough to emit a faint glow, gradually crumbled with the sound of cracking stone.
The middle-aged swordsman of the Qingcheng Sect, who had unleashed the first strike, now stood still. His hand would blur whenever one of the Hojeong Five Heroes showed any sign of rolling in a different direction. Simultaneously, a blue sword light would spread like a cloud, bursting open fresh streams of blood.
The Emei Sect and the Qingcheng Sect. They were two of the Nine Sects of Sichuan Province.
Their level was on an entirely different plane.
One by one, the targets collapsed with low groans, incapacitated. None of them were dead, but all five had their arms crushed and their legs pierced through. It was clear their tendons and meridians had been ruptured.
‘The Emei Sect's Thousand Sleeve Staff of Severing Affliction, and the Qingcheng Sect's Blue Cloud Sword Art.’
Before anyone realized it, Jeong Yeon-shin was standing ten paces away, quietly observing the scene.
The Jeong Family Manor was located in Xinye County, Henan Province. It was a place where he couldn't help but hear of the Shaolin Temple's towering reputation from a young age. Since he had no companions to play with, Jeong Yeon-shin had harbored a vague admiration for the martial monks of Shaolin.
Whenever he played alone, swinging tree branches, the immortals of the Nine Sects in his imagination would eventually become Bodhidharma or Zhang Sanfeng—transcendent, yet all-knowing.
A monk with flashing eyes slamming an iron staff into a person did not exist in those fantasies. Nor had he ever imagined a Taoist unleashing a Killing Sword.
‘There must be a reason… right?’
He felt somewhat uncomfortable, as if a crude, violent mark had been stamped onto his precious childhood memories.
It was then.
The nun and the Taoist, who had been inspecting the Hojeong Five Heroes now hovering between life and death, raised their heads. They looked toward Jeong Yeon-shin.
Slide.
As their eyes met, they slowly brought their hands together. Even though they were clearly much older than him, they were the first to offer a Buddhist gassho and a martial fist-palm salute. Their demeanor was elegant, a stark contrast to their ruthless actions moments ago.
“I am Purple Tenuity. I come from Emei,” the nun said.
“Primordial Pacification Mantra… I could not greet you properly in the confusion. This humble Taoist is Cheong-eun,” the Taoist added.
The Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity and Taoist Cheong-eun. They were renowned experts of the Nine Sects. Since their names were known even in the main fortress of the Desolate Fortress, they would be more knowledgeable about the martial world of Sichuan than anyone.
“May I ask for your name, fellow Taoist? I have not heard rumors of someone like you among the Unit Commanders of the Desolate Fortress…” Taoist Cheong-eun, the middle-aged Qingcheng Sect Taoist with thick eyebrows, trailed off.
The Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity, who appeared to be of a similar age, silently stared at Jeong Yeon-shin, her face expressionless.
“…”
A gentle breeze swept through the silence.
Jeong Yeon-shin inwardly chose his words. Would it be wise to reveal his identity? The work of the Desolate Fortress's Unit Commanders was most effective when a Black Rank’s identity remained shrouded in mystery.
‘Mid-tier experts of the Nine Sects…’
Though they looked calm on the surface, he could tell they weren’t entirely at ease. The interval between their breaths remained long and deep, just as it had been when they unleashed their ultimate techniques against the Hojeong Five Heroes. They had not let down their guard.
Ironically, it was Jeong Yeon-shin whose hairs were standing on end, though his reason was deep disappointment.
Just then, a group of younger martial artists arrived.
“Oh? They caught them! Those villains!”
“As expected of Martial Uncle!”
“Look at the ground. The sword marks of the Blue Cloud Sword Art… I’m lucky to witness this today.”
“What martial art did the Divine Nun use?”
“The Thousand Sleeve Staff of Severing Affliction.”
“Ah, indeed. Look at that swirl pattern. The traces of the shockwave are terrifyingly deep.”
“The forms are impossible to copy, and the internal power is even more so…”
The Rising Stars who had been following the Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity and Taoist Cheong-eun had caught up. There were about fifteen of them. Aside from those wearing Buddhist robes and Taoist habits, many were men and women dressed in silk, likely the young scions of Sichuan’s local martial clans.
While some flinched and stopped upon seeing Jeong Yeon-shin, others couldn't take their eyes off the traces of martial arts left by their seniors, or they glared at the bloodied, sprawled bodies of the Hojeong Five Heroes.
Among them, a young man and woman snapped out of their daze and stood behind the Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity and Taoist Cheong-eun. A young Taoist and a young Buddhist nun. Both emitted an intangible wave of energy, as if they had recently ingested their respective sects' spirit medicines.
“Martial Uncle, now that we've captured them, we must return quickly. Aren't these guys rogue mercenaries hired by the Thirteen Heavens? They might be marked with Tracking Incense,” the young Taoist, who had sharp and focused eyes, spoke.
He called Taoist Cheong-eun—one of the Five Great Swords of the Qingcheng Sect—his Martial Uncle. This young man was likely a renowned Rising Star in the Sichuan Martial World himself.
The young nun standing beside him nodded deeply, a shadow falling beneath her high nose bridge. “They aren't the only ones. There have been many cases of people harming Desolate Fortress warriors or disciples of Orthodox sects and then fleeing into the mountains…”
The Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity cut her junior off. “The Tenth Sect, the Golden Wing Sect, the Pure Demon Alliance, the Hegemon Sword Sect, and even Lingering Spirit must have entered Sichuan. Which side do you think these bastards belong to?”
“They say a new Alliance Leader has taken the throne of the Pure Demon Alliance while the Heaven-Smiling Invincible is missing,” the young Taoist replied. “It would make sense for them to target experts of our Emei and Qingcheng sects as a diversion. They need to prove themselves, after all.”
The young nun added, “If the two of you are the opponents, the Pure Demon Alliance Leader himself might even show up. Didn't they lose the Blade-Fist Demon and the Pure Demon God Hand to the Commander of the Demonlight Wing?”
Even as this serious discussion took place, the eyes of the Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity and Taoist Cheong-eun never wavered from Jeong Yeon-shin. They looked as if they were on guard against a formidable enemy.
Not all experts of the Nine Sects accepted the Desolate Fortress without reservation. Many of the Nine Sects had lay sects, and it was not uncommon for martial sects persecuted by the government to trace their roots back to them. As a result, the Desolate Fortress and the Nine Sects would occasionally clash despite sharing similar goals.
Jeong Yeon-shin had heard about this from his maternal uncle, Ma Jin, when he inherited the position of Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
—You ask why we clashed with the Plum Blossom Swordsmen? Some of those bastards who brandished their swords in civilian areas under the guise of being heroes belonged to Mount Hua's lay sects. When we tried to bind them for interrogation, the Sword Absolute himself came looking for us, spouting nonsense about how they would conduct the questioning themselves.
This was why the Demonlight Wing and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen of the Mount Hua Sect had clashed before Jeong Yeon-shin even joined the Desolate Fortress. Mount Hua was fair and just, yet behaved like a typical martial world sect, while his maternal uncle, true to his alias of the Naraka Reaper, never showed any leniency toward the circumstances of martial artists.
‘Even if I reveal my identity, will they believe me?’ Jeong Yeon-shin thought.
The Commander of the Demonlight Wing of the Desolate Fortress was a key figure in the martial world. Those at the helm of the Nine Sects had no choice but to keep track of his characteristics. This was especially true for Flash Art, the youngest Black Rank, who was known in Sichuan by the alias of the Hidden King Amidst Flowers.
“Why do you hesitate to speak? The character ‘Hwang’ is written on your shoulder,” Taoist Cheong-eun pressed.
“If the writing is golden, isn’t he a direct disciple of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress?” his disciple-nephew chimed in. “Among the Unit Commanders of the Divine Sword Corps, the only one like that is Flash Art, the Hidden King Amidst Flowers, and I heard he is a youth of around seventeen.”
As expected, martial artists at the very peak were well-informed. It would be no easy task to get anything from them.
“Could it be that he is an imposter, posing as the Hidden King Amidst Flowers…?”
The young nun's words didn't register in Jeong Yeon-shin's ears.
He was well-versed in etiquette and propriety. Having received their gassho and fist-palm salute, he believed it was only proper to return the gesture. He slowly began to raise both hands.
Rustle.
Jeong Yeon-shin paused mid-gesture, just as he was about to offer the polite fist-palm salute he typically used when facing monks and Taoists.
He paused because he found it difficult to accept the people before him as a true nun and Taoist. The brutal actions of the Divine Nun of Purple Tenuity and Taoist Cheong-eun flickered before his eyes. They had certainly done the right thing, but their manner was unsightly. One could even say it lacked dignity.
“I am the Commander of the Demonlight Wing.”
He dropped his hands and spoke down to them.