Chapter 376: The Festival (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 376: The Festival (6)
Jeong Yeon-shin’s tone was flat.
It wasn't just a lack of inflection. His expression remained completely unchanged as he spoke, his lips barely moving.
It was because he was entirely sincere.
"The main force of the Divine Sword Corps. The Unit Commanders beneath the Corps Commander..."
The genial look faded from the face of the Lord of the Tenth Sect. Frowning slightly, he murmured to himself.
"I knew none of those bastards wearing pitch-black robes engraved with the character 'Hwang' were sane, but you take it too far."
"That is the perspective of a rebel."
"..."
Meanwhile, murmurs rippled through the surrounding crowd as they repeated Jeong Yeon-shin's words.
The word "macaque" slipped from the mouths of experts whose hearing had been sharpened by the Path of Senses. As the insult spread, some of the commoners gasped in admiration. That young master truly despises the Heterodox Sects—
"I said I would test your martial arts. I never said I would play along with the unwritten rules of the Jianghu," Jeong Yeon-shin added, lightly touching the hilt of Lingering Thunder. "Even if you step down, the duel will continue."
They were words that shattered the conventions of the Jianghu, but Jeong Yeon-shin thought nothing of it.
Wouldn't it be far stranger for a government constable to follow the customs of Black Way scoundrels?
It made no difference that his opponent was a Heavenly Pillar of the Thirteen Heavens.
Even if they possessed transcendent power, enough for a single individual to contend with the Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects, they were ultimately lesser than the ruffians dragged off to serve in the military. That was how Jeong Yeon-shin viewed them.
"Ha."
The corners of the Lord of the Tenth Sect's mouth suddenly curled upward.
"A monkey... It's fine because it's a monkey...?"
Muttering to himself, he gestured behind him.
Rumble!
A series of brief, overlapping vibrations shook the earth. The sound came from the disciples standing in attendance behind the Lord of the Tenth Sect.
They slammed a dozen large wooden chests into the ground before retreating far back. Their movements were orderly and precise, choreographed like a martial arts form.
"I am curious to see if the brat of the Desolate Fortress has accumulated enough cultivation to rival Unified Martial Transcendence."
Standing with his back to the chests, a mysterious wave of energy surged from the Lord of the Tenth Sect's body.
The moment Jeong Yeon-shin felt an energy wave hovering on the boundary between Sword Control and Void Grab, the wooden chests behind the Lord of the Tenth Sect exploded all at once.
Crash!
Weapons rose into the air, bursting through the shower of wooden splinters.
They were the Eighteen Weapons, said to be used on the northern front.
There was the gwaeja, a staff with a large hook instead of a handle; the wolgeuk, a crescent halberd with an axe blade attached below the spearhead; the flexible Nine-Section Whip; the Sky-Piercing Halberd, featuring crescent-shaped blades on both sides of the spear tip; and a heavy shield engraved with swirling patterns.
Divine energy flowed across the surfaces of all these short and long weapons. They floated in the air, brilliantly reflecting the sunlight.
Brought forth by a master of the Thirteen Heavens, even the most eccentric of these weapons were imbued with a profound spirituality.
Hummmmm—
The divine weaponry lined up behind the Lord of the Tenth Sect.
The retired peerless expert's fierce eyes flashed.
He possessed the temperament of a great general, thoroughly seasoned in field warfare. Now, he stood as an absolute master towering over a martial world that had only grown stronger and more advanced with the passage of time.
"Let us test our strength."
The noisy crowd fell dead silent. The air—not just on the hill, but all the way down the mountainside—pulled taut with suffocating tension.
Shring!
The Lord of the Tenth Sect drew the sword from his waist and reached back with his other hand to snatch the handle of the silver Nine-Section Whip.
But Jeong Yeon-shin was already holding Lingering Thunder low.
Seeing the blade leave its scabbard as naturally as flowing water, the Lord of the Tenth Sect let out an admiring "Oh?"
However, Jeong Yeon-shin, his sense of Qi fully heightened, did not even blink. He perceived his opponent as a powerful spirit beast.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven...
The crown of his head felt hot.
It wasn't just because of the Sword Control he had displayed earlier. It was because the martial arts of the Lord of the Tenth Sect, who commanded these divine weapons, exuded a pure spirituality.
Much like Jeong Yeon-shin's Fan Dragon Lotus Art, the Lord of the Tenth Sect's Ten Thousand Kinds Mixed Origin Art seemed to possess a secret technique for manipulating the Upper Dantian.
A profound wave of energy kept the weapons afloat, ready to be drawn into his grasp at any moment.
The Heavenly Army of Ten Thousand Weapons, the Emperor of All Weapons, the Lord of the Tenth Sect.
He had cultivated the True Qi of the Ten Thousand Kinds Mixed Origin Art to its absolute peak and mastered the divine ultimate technique, Jeung Cheon-mu. He was a being capable of launching a fatal counterattack even while being ambushed by the Blood Flame Cult Leader.
Here I go.
Jeong Yeon-shin took a step.
Even though it was broad daylight, a purple light seemed to flicker at his heels. Not through some hidden formation of a Flood Dragon, but right in the middle of the endlessly spinning world.
Jeong Yeon-shin's figure blurred.
Thud!
In the next instant, he planted his feet right in front of the Lord of the Tenth Sect. His pitch-black robes, dark as the night sky, fluttered amidst faint fragments of white light.
He had instantly closed the distance using his lightness skill, the Ten-Mile Light Grace.
An immense recoil jolted his waist and legs, but only for a brief moment.
Twisting his True Qi and the muscles at the Mingmen point near his lumbar spine, he channeled all of that kinetic force into his right hand. At the same time, a sword move sprouted as naturally as a flash of lightning.
Lightning-Flash Sword Ridge Style: Qilin's Judgment.
He raised Lingering Thunder and struck straight down.
Claaaaang—!
An explosive boom erupted. A translucent shockwave tore violently across the ground. Heat radiated from the armor of the Lord of the Tenth Sect, who had barely managed to extend his sword to block the preemptive strike.
It was the result of hastily raising his internal power in an instant. It was a strike so fast it would have been impossible to react to had he not reached the absolute height of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak.
"This is surprising..."
The cold sweat on the Lord of the Tenth Sect's forehead evaporated into a white mist.
As their swords clashed, Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at the blade of Lingering Thunder, which partially obscured his face. It was wrapped in a nine-segmented iron whip.
The Nine-Section Whip.
The Lord of the Tenth Sect had extended it at the exact moment he swung his sword.
Jeong Yeon-shin watched his sword move being sealed before Qilin's Judgment could even reach its peak power. The Nine-Section Whip coiled around his blade like a small Imugi, suffocating the shockwave of the strike.
He had never seen such a technique before. It was incredibly profound.
"It's ruined now."
After just a single clash, the Lord of the Tenth Sect clicked his tongue and let go of the Nine-Section Whip. The gold plating on its handle had been completely stripped away by the force.
At the same time, a small axe was drawn into his grasp. He did not pull back the sword currently clashing in his other hand.
This time, it was an axe technique.
Swish!
It hacked toward Jeong Yeon-shin's flank with terrifying speed.
The bleak gray light radiating from the axe arrived first, followed by the sound. The force behind it was immense.
The chain of techniques was truly at the level of a grandmaster. There seemed to be no fixed form to his movements. It revealed an ultimate martial truth: simply killing the opponent was enough.
Jeong Yeon-shin spread his left hand wide and pressed it against the man's abdomen.
He's clad in Body Protection Qi.
He felt a powerful flow like a cascading waterfall. It was an invisible internal energy barrier, and the man had placed his absolute trust in it.
Jeong Yeon-shin did not care. The moment he recalled the mnemonic of the Brilliant River, a spiral current of air whipped up from his palm.
It was an operation of True Qi that summoned a compressed typhoon. Thanks to his Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth, as well as the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak, the dam that had once restricted his talent had completely collapsed. The technique manifested the very instant he thought of it.
KABOOM—!
An ear-splitting roar erupted.
A heavy vibration rippled across the wide hill. The ground supporting their feet collapsed in a massive crater, and dirt, sand, and shredded vegetation shot upward like an inverted waterfall.
A figure was violently blown back through the dust.
It was the Lord of the Tenth Sect.
"To think your martial lineage is better suited for killing people than the martial arts of my own sect...!"
With an incredulous expression, he waved both hands. Replacing the sword and axe that had been scattered in the distance, a crescent blade and a shield flew directly into his grasp.
"Your mouth is still lively," Jeong Yeon-shin said.
Jeong Yeon-shin swung Lingering Thunder in a wide arc to shake off the ruined Nine-Section Whip.
The arsenal of weapons his opponent constantly replenished was annoying. Though not as free-flowing as Sword Control, they clearly floated in the air according to the Lord of the Tenth Sect's will.
Even when the Brilliant River exploded just now, the weapons had merely scattered in all directions without breaking. Trying to target them individually would mean exposing his back to the Lord of the Tenth Sect.
He truly was a peerless expert of the Eighteen Weapons.
Even his method of blocking the Brilliant River had been unexpected. Sensing he was too late to evade, he had wrapped an internal energy barrier around the flat of his axe and pressed it against the palm strike's shockwave.
Then, using a technique of the Harmony Realm, he relaxed his body to redirect the kinetic force, moving as fluidly as a Taoist priest of the Wudang Sect renowned for Tai Chi Chuan.
The way he surrendered his body to a shockwave that was otherwise impossible to resist was impressive.
He was a grandmaster versed in all principles. This was the reason he could still reign as the ruler of Sichuan, even after having his essence absorbed by the Blood Flame Cult Leader.
To show me so much.
Jeong Yeon-shin admired him inwardly.
He was a man who could draw out one hundred percent of a technique's utility under any circumstance. His skill was deep, heavily imbued with the passage of years.
It was enough to suddenly bring to mind the words of the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect.
"Yours is nothing but mere trickery."
It was the passing remark she had made after witnessing Jeong Yeon-shin's Myriad Blossoms Rain.
"The Myriad Blossoms Rain is a technique where an expert of the Tang Clan unleashes the poison and throwing weapon arts they have cultivated over a lifetime all at once, like the Milky Way. It is a martial art of accumulated years. A genius who accomplishes everything easily would find it hard to understand."
Those words resonated deeply with him now, even before the Lord of the Tenth Sect had unleashed his Unified Martial Transcendence.
This was likely because, unlike the Ghost-Howling Hegemon who had merely played king within the Flood Dragon's formation, the lords of the Thirteen Heavens constantly clashed with the world to refine their martial arts.
Jeong Yeon-shin parted his lips unconsciously.
"You must live your entire life with the attitude of one in secluded cultivation."
Those born with ordinary senses had to carve the traces of their lives into their martial arts to reach Unified Martial Transcendence. Naturally, it required painstaking patience.
It was different for Jeong Yeon-shin, who had only recently taken an interest in the fact that other martial artists actually set aside separate time for training.
"Since your body is slow, you must have felt the storms of the world all the more intensely."
"Hmm?"
"You are impressive, Sect Lord. You have worked hard to survive," Jeong Yeon-shin said.
The Lord of the Tenth Sect stared at him blankly for a moment, then burst into a hearty laugh.
"I have heard all kinds of curses on countless battlefields, but this is the first time I have met a brat who uses such absurd provocations. I wonder if that would work on the Fighting God of the North as well."
"Provocation...?"
"Raise your sword so you do not regret it. Your techniques have all been astonishing, but looking closely, it seems you will find it difficult to withstand my ultimate technique."
"Are you referring to Unified Martial Transcendence?"
The Lord of the Tenth Sect substituted his answer with a silent curl of his lips. Something truly spectacular was coming. Just as Jeong Yeon-shin felt a slight flutter of anticipation, the Lord of the Tenth Sect spoke.
"Open."
His voice echoed with a heavy reverberation. It carried a quality that dreamily unraveled the minds of those who heard it, thick with spirituality.
This was the prerequisite of a divine art.
It was said that martial arts that reached a world-shaking realm were difficult to distinguish from sorcery.
As the Lord of the Tenth Sect trudged toward Jeong Yeon-shin, his Eighteen Weapons scattered outward. They formed a wide perimeter around the two. The air split with a bleak chill.
Shhhhh—
The hooked staff, the Sky-Piercing Halberd, the large axe, the crescent halberd, the hook, and the long staff began to spin in a wide circle like a sorcery formation, slowly narrowing the distance.
"I never really had what one would call an ultimate technique," the Lord of the Tenth Sect said with a genial smile. "Since I mastered every skill to a level more than sufficient for killing people, there was no reason for me to seek out something grandiose to use as a life-saving technique."
"Sufficient?"
The Lord of the Tenth Sect did not lose his smile even as Jeong Yeon-shin tilted his head slightly. It was a smile steeped in killing intent from the very beginning.
"So..."
He took a step.
"I decided to unleash all eighteen skills at once. It was the folly of my youth."
Thump—
It was the sound that echoed as his foot struck the ground. It sounded like a heavy drum being beaten in a deep cave. At the same time, the Lord of the Tenth Sect came to a halt.
Then, another Lord of the Tenth Sect split off from that spot and took another step. His figure appeared somewhat blurred.
"Sword."
He spoke and stood in place. As he reached out, the sword that Jeong Yeon-shin had deflected earlier flew into his hand.
"Saber."
Yet another Lord of the Tenth Sect split off and took a step. Just as he spoke, a massive saber was drawn into his grasp.
The surreal sight continued. One by one, clones split off as he called out each of the Eighteen Weapons. It was a divine skill. It was nothing short of the cloning technique of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
While the crowd stirred as if they were having an audience with the Jade Emperor himself, a faint thrill flickered in Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes.
It had finally come. The true realm of the Purple Rank.
"It is Transposition."
Eleven Lords of the Tenth Sect spoke in unison. They slowly shifted their positions, forming a circular square formation.
It was an overwhelming sight that seemed to transcend reality. It was entirely different from the Transposition known to the world as a high-speed lightness skill.
This skill, transformed into the Unified Martial Transcendence of a peerless expert, was literally transcendent.
"And this is..."
Just as yet another Lord of the Tenth Sect was about to take a step, Jeong Yeon-shin snatched the final weapon before he could.
Beneath his feet, the propulsion shockwave of the Ten-Mile Light Grace was distorting like starlight.
"Axe," he said.