Chapter 396: Carpet (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 396: Carpet (5)
The chirping from afar didn't stop with a single cry. It came once, then again, overlapping several times. There were at least two of them.
The Elder Council Head paused.
“……”
The debate among the leaders in the meeting hall, who had been discussing the dismissal of the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, ground to a halt.
The long, drawn-out cries meant only one thing.
They were spirit swallows, raised by the Desolate Hahu Clan using their secret arts and a symbol of high-ranking figures within the Divine Sword Corps. No one below the Black Rank would dare possess one.
The Hahu Clan Leader's large ears perked up like blades. He was a rare eccentric in the Jianghu, known for his encyclopedic knowledge of every spirit beast in the Desolate Fortress.
As all eyes in the room turned to him, the Hahu Clan Leader slowly opened his half-closed eyes and spoke.
“It is the Black Swallow of the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit. And that’s not all. The Vault Swallow of the Commander of the Dragon-Treading Unit and the Thunder Swallow of the Vice Commander of the Divine Sword Corps are approaching as well. Two of them are the youngest of the next generation's Three Black Strengths, so it makes sense for them to act as messengers, but why the old Divine Spear…?”
“She’s a veteran, isn’t she? She must have been worried about the letters getting lost.”
“This must be a matter of great importance. Since the mobilization order was issued in Sichuan, there must be news about the Commander of the Demonlight Wing. Didn’t he take on the biggest task of all recent missions?”
“Since the Black Ranks have gathered, it must have been settled one way or another.”
“Finally…”
Expressions of anticipation and anxiety flickered across their faces.
Ma Jin stretched his metallic, dark-blue hand upward. It was a prosthetic powered by internal energy, crafted by the Ironfolk of the City of Master Craftsmen in Sichuan.
Controlling its five fingers required more mastery of internal energy than wielding a divine weapon. The moment those fingers spread wide, a translucent energy surged into the air from his palm.
Crash!
The center of the ceiling shattered, raining debris large and small.
Above the heads of the leaders, who had each deployed a protective energy barrier, three swallows descended against the backdrop of the blue sky. They passed through the hole without a hint of panic, behaving exactly like the spirit beasts they were.
Grand Steward Im Jin-myeong gestured to the White-Ranked Warrior standing beside him.
“Send word to the blacksmiths. Tell them it’s a roof job; they’ll understand.”
Then, he reached his hand into the air.
An azure swallow landed on his forearm with a sharp chirp. It was the ‘Thunder Swallow’ belonging to Ak Su-rim, the Divine Spear of the Desolate Fortress. A message tube larger than its own body was tied to its leg.
The Grand Steward immediately pulled the scroll from the tube and unrolled it. A dense cluster of incredibly cramped characters was revealed.
It was written in a cursive script that was practically chicken scratch, as if the writer’s train of thought had been directly transcribed onto the page.
He shook his head.
“Shin Clan Head, let’s trade.”
Shin Seol-ha, standing to one side, nodded. She had just received a letter from the Hahu Clan Leader—the report from the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit.
The document brought by the white swallow of the Commander of the Dragon-Treading Unit was placed between the Hahu Clan Leader and the Ma Family Head.
The Elder Council Head, sitting in the seat of honor, crossed his arms. He had returned to his seat at some point and was now glaring at his subordinates with fierce eyes. The old man, the only one in the hall with a rank higher than the Grand Steward himself, remained silent, urging them on with his gaze alone.
“I will report at once,” Grand Steward Im Jin-myeong said as he opened the report from the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit.
The letter was filled with elegant handwriting in a semi-cursive script, the ends of the strokes flowing naturally. At a glance, it appeared to contain only the most essential information.
The Grand Steward’s eyes scanned the text.
“…Ha Do-un, Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing, passed away during a mission inside the formation of the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect. The culprit is… Ghost-Howling Hegemon Peng Yeo-ran.”
His voice was unwavering, befitting a supreme expert renowned for both literary and martial excellence, as well as an iron-blooded temperament.
The others reacted differently. Low groans echoed from all around.
There was no one present who didn’t know the former Peng Clan Leader. The only reason grief and indignation didn't immediately erupt upon hearing the tragic news was that the sheer weight of the peerless expert’s name crushed all other emotions.
With the immortals of the Nine Sects keeping their distance from the Desolate Fortress and the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps missing, the world seemed filled with nothing but bad news. Even the leadership of the main fortress could not help but feel suffocated.
Someone muttered as if groaning, “Sichuan was a pandemonium.”
“The Lord of the Immortal Wood Spirit and the Commander of the Forest-Treading Unit are safe. Furthermore…”
“What is it?”
The Grand Steward didn't answer for a moment. His expression flickered with a storm of unexpected emotions. On the other side, the Hahu Clan Leader, who had been huddled with Ma Jin, widened his eyes.
“The Commander of the Demonlight Wing defeated and killed Peng Yeo-ran! He severed the neck of that old Peng monster all by himself!”
His large hand clanged against Ma Jin’s prosthetic arm. A heavy vibration and a stir ran through the crowd.
“That kid took down another head of the Eight Families?”
“The Peng Clan’s martial arts are orthodox. As a living former head of the Eight Families, she would have been slightly superior to the Moyong Clan Head…”
While the Elder Council warrior who had called him a “kid” was struck by Ma Jin’s fist wind and sent tumbling backward with a thud, Shin Seol-ha, the Shin Clan Head, furrowed her brow and spoke. She had been reading through Ak Su-rim’s nearly indecipherable letter without any hesitation.
“The decisiveness to settle grudges on the spot.”
It was a strange monologue. She said no more.
As if trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere brought by the death of the Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing, someone joked, “Aren’t you being a bit too generous to the commander who has your daughter as his subordinate?” The remark was laced with the lingering shock of the Commander of the Demonlight Wing’s achievements.
“……”
The Shin Clan Head did not answer. Her lips parted slightly, unable to hide the tremble in her eyes.
“A divine power that will establish the prestige of our fortress throughout the world.”
Shin Seol-ha was the master of the first family of the Desolate Fortress. She had mastered the eye technique of a prestigious family that had produced Elder Council Heads for generations. No matter how messy Ak Su-rim’s letter was, she could decipher it in a single glance.
She had already read all of it.
“An achievement that no one can easily match.”
Just as she spoke those words…
Rustle.
The Grand Steward lowered the letter from the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit onto the table. He had already committed its entire contents to memory in that brief moment. His hand, well-tempered by both fist techniques and brushwork, trembled slightly.
“Th-this…”
As the Grand Steward stammered, a look of doubt crossed the face of the Elder Council Head, who was looking down at them.
“Why have you stopped reporting? I understand there’s a mix of good and bad news. I also see how much the Shin Clan Head dotes on her daughter’s commander.”
“……”
“Yes, in a way, she is right. The Flash Art is indeed the future of our fortress. To think he just entered our gates the other day, alongside the black-robed White Qilin.”
Leaning back in his grandmaster’s chair, the Elder Council Head looked at him sternly.
“There must be more about their actions before the unit commanders gathered. Do not dally. Shall this old man read it himself?”
The Grand Steward’s pupils regained their focus. A moment later, his next words landed like a quiet thunderbolt.
“…It is said that he single-handedly drove out the Tenth Sect and the Pure Demon Alliance, who were active in the Tang Clan’s territory, and hosted a martial arts tournament with the cooperation of Emei and Qingcheng. He defeated the Lord of the Tenth Sect, the Leader of the Pure Demon Alliance, and the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect in succession. The Leader of the Pure Demon Alliance fled, and the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit confirmed the deaths of the Lord of the Tenth Sect and the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect…”
He said it all in a single breath.
This was a place where servants had fainted from sheer pressure alone. Since everyone present was an expert with outstanding senses, there was no way anyone had misheard.
The moment the Grand Steward finished speaking, time in the meeting hall froze. The Elder Council Head’s gaze shot down like lightning toward the letter on the table.
“……!”
The handwriting of Jin Myeong-jo, the Divine Blood Ultimate Demon.
Only the section discussing the deaths of the Thirteen Heavens Lords had a different script. The elegant semi-cursive had changed to a straight, formal regular script.
The four characters for ‘Commander of the Demonlight Wing’ written before the names of the dead lords spoke an indisputable truth. It was written by the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit, a man considered the best in the Desolate Fortress in terms of dignity and resolve.
“…The Black Ranks have gathered there. Aside from the fortress's greatest hidden sword and the unit commanders who followed the Lord of the Fortress to the World Tree, thirteen of them have annihilated three of the Thirteen Heavens and are currently heading northeast,” the Grand Steward said.
But the leadership of the Desolate Fortress did not speak.
The presence of the current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, who was not even in the room, swallowed the meeting hall whole. The world-shaking achievements of the young unit commander and the long-dormant power of the Divine Sword Corps… an overwhelming tremor of awe swept through the crowd.
Why the Tenth Sect?
Why had he told them to gather there?
Because it was a land of constant turmoil. Sichuan, where six great sects were in chaos. It was a central point for the unit commanders who went on missions throughout the Ming Dynasty and beyond its borders.
Starting with the annihilation of the bellicose Tenth Sect, they had demonstrated the martial might of the various unit commanders in that chaotic land. It was done to make the Jianghu, which had begun to see the Desolate Fortress as a mere supply depot, stop and take notice.
It didn't take long for a commotion to break out.
Suddenly, Ma Family Head Ma Jin burst into wild laughter. Even though they had just received the news of the Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing’s death, no one could stop him.
Veins bulged on the back of the Elder Council Head’s wrinkled hand as he gripped the table. It was not out of jealousy or anger. He was an old man who loved and respected the Desolate Fortress more than anyone else. A grip born of an immeasurable surge of emotion crushed the table.
Crack—
“We must go to Beijing. Clan heads, prepare yourselves.”
“What do you intend to do?” the Grand Steward asked.
The Elder Council Head replied without even looking at him.
“Something has arisen that we must prepare for. Let us go see the strange, the violent, the chaotic, and the supernatural of the imperial court.”
“…I will remain to guard the main fortress,” the Grand Steward said.
*
The inner chamber of the Lord of the Dark Night Hall.
Bows of all shapes and sizes were mounted on the walls.
Jeong Yeon-shin sat facing the two sect leaders, a small tea table placed between them. Steam carrying a subtle fragrance brushed past his face.
None of the three touched their teacups. They had just begun to speak of Jeong Yeon-shin’s maternal grandfather, a past he did not know, and the Mount Hua Agreement.
The two sect leaders seemed to have made a very significant decision. They had made a meaningful remark earlier, saying that after hearing this story, whatever Jeong Yeon-shin chose to do next would become much easier.
“It happened when this old nun was young,” Abbess Baekyak began. “Seven disciples from the Nine Sects and One Gang once gathered in one place. Even back then, they were already called the geniuses of the world.”
Herself and the former sect leader of Qingcheng.
The Ancient Sword of Wudang.
The master of the Mount Hua Sect's Saint Flower Sword God.
The Sword Empress of Diancang.
The Shaolin Abbot.
The Beggar Sect Leader.
“We had nothing to fear. We paid no mind to events like the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, instead roaming the world on chivalrous adventures, repeatedly gathering and dispersing. At that time, we were not humans, but dragons. Yes, at least, that was how we viewed ourselves.”
They were the successors who would inherit the legacy of the Nine Sects, the young immortals of the Jianghu whom everyone revered. In other words, they were those with the talent to become the leaders of their respective sects. They only had eyes for each other.
“That was until we met a certain handsome young man from the Desolate Fortress. It was after his master—the master of the Dragon Slaying Alliance Leader, who was recently killed by the Lord of the Golden Wing Sect—had lost his life at our hands.”
The slaying of a Thirteen Heavens Lord.
It was a time when their pride in their martial arts outstripped their mental cultivation. Vigorous young experts had met. A natural sequence of events followed.
“The beggar youth, who is now the Beggar Sect Leader, said back then, ‘The martial arts of the Desolate Ma Clan follow the Tyrannical Way. There is no need for us to share drinks.’ It was a provocation, implying his mind was always in a daze from his own techniques.”
“How amateurish.”
Jeong Yeon-shin, who had replied without thinking, tilted his head inwardly. Am I really in a position to judge others?
“Did you say amateurish?”
“…Don’t elders usually build relationships over drinks when they first meet? I simply don’t understand behavior that needlessly makes enemies…”
“You could certainly say that, my friend,” the Twin-Wall Sword Lord, sitting to one side, said with a curl of his lips. He held Jeong Yeon-shin’s character in extremely high regard.
Abbess Baekyak also smiled, quietly drinking in the Dharma power emanating from Jeong Yeon-shin’s body instead of the tea.
“In any case, the young man from the Desolate Fortress gave a biting reply. He said they were talking nonsense, claiming they looked like they'd lose to him even if he used Drunken Fist.”
Abbess Baekyak’s gentle voice could not fully capture the crude manner of the young Ma Yeon-jeok. This only made Jeong Yeon-shin feel more embarrassed. What would have become of the Ma Clan if not for him and Ma Se-in?
They only have me to rely on.
He did his best to suppress his embarrassment.