Chapter 400: Carpet (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 400: Carpet (9)
His friend from the Mount Hua Sect blinked.
The corner of Jeong Yeon-shin's mouth twitched. Over the crown of Yu-hyeon's head, he had a clear view of the sprawling forest scenery.
Nothing obstructed his vision aside from the crude village and the sparse, lush trees. The difference in their eye levels was like that between an adult and a young boy.
Yu-hyeon's fist, which had just unleashed the lofty Plum Blossom Fist, unfurled awkwardly.
The young Taoist shrugged his shoulders, hesitating over whether or not to point a finger at Jeong Yeon-shin.
"Is it really you...? It is you, right?"
"When are you going to grow up?"
"Seeing how you immediately get on my nerves, it really is you! This makes no sense!"
Reuniting with one of his few friends and seeing Yu-hyeon so utterly dumbfounded stirred a strange emotion within Jeong Yeon-shin.
Amidst the satisfaction and amusement, he was sharply reminded of the disparity in their allotted lifespans. Yu-hyeon would live a long, full life as the future Mount Hua Sect Leader, while he remained bound by borrowed time.
It was an inferiority complex that had taken root deep inside him like a withered, ancient tree.
Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at his friend, hiding his inner turmoil. He could tease Yu-hyeon with just a glance anyway.
They say he who nears ink turns black; lately, it wasn't hard for him to simply enjoy the moment, much like the Lazy Flame Dragon.
"You've become a Plum Blossom Swordsman," Jeong Yeon-shin noted. He had subtly released his Halo Qi the moment he sensed Yu-hyeon's presence earlier.
It would have been difficult to detect for anyone without an extraordinary sense of Qi, proving Yu-hyeon was indeed an elite of the Mount Hua Sect—far stronger than a White-Ranked expert of the Desolate Fortress.
"How did you undergo Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth already...? You achieved Shedding the Mortal Coil, right?"
"Yes."
"...Let me confirm one last thing. Do you remember the day we first sparred, when you lost to me in just five moves?"
"You must have practiced your Bedside Leg Technique for quite a while. Back then, you couldn't even last three moves..."
Jeong Yeon-shin was cut off. Yu-hyeon, stepping forward with legs that were far sturdier than before, began tapping Yeon-shin's arms and shoulders with the back of his fists.
His expression was far from serene. A look of sheer shock was written all over his face.
"What is with this... this extensor tendon? Did you graft a spirit beast's tendon onto yourself? And why is your radius bone so hard? If you channel internal power and swing a sword with a body like this, just how much sword force..."
"Don't touch me."
Jeong Yeon-shin stepped back, his face turning serious. He wondered what his friend was up to.
Yu-hyeon smirked and glanced at his waist.
The brilliant silver hilt of the Divine Sword: Lingering Thunder stood out no matter where he went. Yu-hyeon muttered, "What is that?"
"...Anyway, you've really become a big shot. The Perfected Ancient Sword came down from the Wudang Sect. He was traveling with us, but then he said he sensed the Yeoryeong Lord and the Lord of the Martial Dragon Association. Suddenly, his body split in two and he vanished. It was the Nascent Soul stage I'd only ever heard stories about."
It was while Yu-hyeon was rambling on.
Flutter—
One of the four Plum Blossom Swordsmen who had silently descended behind them grabbed Yu-hyeon by the scruff of his neck, scolding him to show proper etiquette.
The other three clasped their hands in a polite salute toward Jeong Yeon-shin. The plum blossoms embroidered on the edges of their white sleeves rustled softly along with their robes.
Soon, a woman with a cold, stern impression stepped forward.
"My junior brother has committed a discourtesy. This humble Taoist is Yu-hyang, a first-generation disciple under the lineage of the Mount Hua Sect Leader. You may consider me the representative of our group."
She seemed to be Yu-hyeon's senior sister. Returning the arching hand salute, Jeong Yeon-shin lightly scanned their surroundings.
The village had looked hastily built to begin with, but now it was utterly devastated.
The inn had completely collapsed, campfires were reduced to smoldering embers, and dozens of martial artists lay sprawled across the ground, groaning.
Among them was the shaggy-haired young man who had claimed he wasn't a direct disciple of the Lingering Spirit.
"Pant... pant..."
"My arm, my arm...!"
This was the handiwork of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen. It had happened in the brief moment Jeong Yeon-shin was catching up with Yu-hyeon.
No other noise had managed to interrupt the conversation between the two friends earlier, as the Mount Hua Sect's Dark Fragrance Drift and Body Protection Scripture were borderline divine ultimate techniques.
"I congratulate you on your great attainment," Taoist Yu-hyang, the Plum Blossom Swordsman, said. Her attitude was noticeably different from the other immortals of the Nine Sects Jeong Yeon-shin had encountered so far.
Perhaps his accumulated achievements had truly begun to spread throughout the world. A faint trace of astonishment lingered in her eyes, one she couldn't quite hide.
"I have felt your aura before at the Martial World Alliance. Since my junior brother's discernment and sense of Qi are also among the best of the Sect Leader's disciples, you must indeed be the Commander of the Demonlight Wing himself."
This was why the Plum Blossom Swordsmen had let Yu-hyeon be.
Jeong Yeon-shin replied with praise, saying that the Dark Fragrance Drift was indeed peerless. It was not mere empty courtesy.
The profound depth of an orthodox, prestigious sect naturally revealed itself, regardless of the practitioner's individual achievements.
"Mmh..."
The stiff tension of the Mount Hua Sect experts softened slightly. It was only a few years ago that twenty-four Plum Blossom Swordsmen had clashed with the Demonlight Wing of the Naraka Reaper Ma Jin and fought to a draw.
Facing the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing, whose martial fame was soaring endlessly, was a daunting task even for the swordsmen of the Nine Great Sects.
To think this young man, who is the spitting image of the old Ban-ak, is the very boy who caused such a stir at the Alliance...
Taoist Yu-hyang got straight to the point.
"The message that you invoked the Mount Hua Agreement has safely reached our Sect Leader. Our presence here is her answer."
Jeong Yeon-shin thought of the Saint Flower Sword God, Yul Ha-nang-rang, who possessed an incredibly noble yet free-spirited nature. She refused.
A person like her would easily transcend fame and fortune.
It was still vivid in his mind. The single strike of Purple Mist that split heaven and earth. Jeong Yeon-shin deeply respected her dazzling, peerless martial arts, but he did not feel at ease.
How was he to track down the Commander? There had to be more than just one or two villages like this.
"Are you...?"
While Yu-hyeon, who had slipped back to his side, stared up at him with a sullen look, Taoist Yu-hyang nodded.
"She said the promise of the predecessors must naturally be kept. A competition will be held within the sect to decide who to send out. Unlike the Desolate Fortress, the Nine Sects do not have a strict hierarchy, so we must also decide whether to match your White, Blue, Black, and Purple ranks based on generational standing or age."
"Ah."
"In the process, it caused quite a stir when it became known that you designated the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps for the Purple Rank, but our sect has decided to recognize it. After all, the Sword of Divine Attainment, one of the two divine weapons that were once the symbols of the Hegemon Hero, has been inherited by the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps."
The spirit of the great Mount Hua Sect was grand and unobstructed. Even though they likely guessed that Jeong Yeon-shin was using them as pawns, they showed the magnanimity of a great sect.
They had dispatched their elite swordsmen just to help locate the opposing leader of the martial tournament.
The Nine Sects are indeed prestigious and great sects.
Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly realized the virtue of his maternal grandfather. If one simply pitied the powerless commoners who were isolated from the martial world, just as he had in his childhood, the rest could be resolved somehow through tyrannical martial arts.
Just then, a rustling sound broke the silence.
Taoist Yu-hyang had pulled a sheet of paper from her robes.
"Please look at this. Perhaps because the bastards haven't achieved their goal quickly, we have gathered quite a few clues."
It was a sheet of Sophora paper dyed yellowish with pagoda tree sap. Drawn upon it was a route winding down from Northern Henan, passing through Southern Zhili, and reaching all the way to Huguang, marked with a series of circular dots.
Jeong Yeon-shin and Yu-hyeon's eyes widened.
"Huh? Senior Sister, when did you make something like that?"
"Quiet."
Taoist Yu-hyang cast a quick glance at Jeong Yeon-shin. Mapmaking was a capital offense strictly forbidden by the imperial court. It was not something to be proudly shown to a high-ranking official of the Desolate Fortress.
Jeong Yeon-shin did not mind. His long index finger pointed to the Sophora paper.
"A formation descending from the northeast..."
"That is the problem. Their formation. With my narrow experience, I have never encountered one of such scale. It is difficult to destroy the formation's core, and equally hard to tear the formation itself apart. To dismantle something this vast so quickly and inspect the inside, we would need not just one, but several of our sect's Sword Absolutes..."
Taoist Yu-hyang spoke of an impossibility.
The Mount Hua Sword Absolute, the Perfected Heavenly Pillar, was a swordsman who had achieved the Dark Fragrance Floating Flower. It was said that not even five people in all of Shaanxi could exchange swords with him.
However, she could not finish her sentence.
Rumble—
Suddenly, a faint roll of thunder echoed through the air. It was literally the sound of distant thunder.
"What...!"
As the Plum Blossom Swordsmen turned their heads in unison, Jeong Yeon-shin activated the Sight of the Lowly. His vision expanded relentlessly, piercing straight through the distant forest.
He could see the figures of his seniors, composed of a faint light.
He saw Ak Su-rim's spear tearing through a translucent barrier like a sheet of paper and continuing far beyond. He saw the Master of the Martial Apex Hall shattering a massive tree with his iron prosthetic leg. He saw a fine crack racing violently through the earth the moment Hahu Wi-jin slammed his massive fist into the ground. And he saw the Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit, the Divine Blood Ultimate Demon, hovering in the sky with his hands behind his back, calmly stepping down upon a hemispherical barrier...
A path was being cleared. It felt as if a carpet were unfolding before his eyes.
* * *
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, Yong Hee-myung, was born in Chenzhou, Huguang Province, but he had no notable family or parents to speak of. Or so he was known to the world.
A man of unknown origin.
It was a derogatory term used for the current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps.
It was not entirely without merit. Yong Hee-myung's past was somewhat known, free of any vague, floating rumors.
All kinds of heterodox sects, rogue martial artists, and occasionally even massive factions had dug into Chenzhou to uncover his weaknesses or fated encounters.
A hometown suddenly crowded with visitors after he inherited the Sword of Divine Attainment, and villagers suffering harsh trials. This was something every Commander of the Divine Sword Corps throughout history had experienced.
Yong Hee-myung was no exception.
Rumor had it that when he was found as a newborn, he was lying amidst pieces of shell-like fragments.
Along with this was the fact that the villagers who found and raised him had revered him as an incredibly divine being.
A few busybodies, who by some miraculous stroke of luck managed to sit and drink with Yong Hee-myung by the lakeside, would sometimes disregard their own lives and ask rude questions. Were you truly born from an egg, without any parents?
Every time, Yong Hee-myung would offer an ambiguous smile. Then, he would say, "I am a human."
It was a phrase that had eventually become second nature to him.
He had been powerful since childhood. With an appearance that made him look like a natural-born scholar, he was born with physical strength close to that of a legendary giant.
An unfathomable amount of True Qi always overflowed like a tidal wave from his heart and middle Dantian.
Whenever he tried to ride swings or fly kites with the village children, he would inevitably break them. Everyone said it was fine.
Yet, no one could look Yong Hee-myung in the eye from an equal height. After seeing the children off to their homes, he would be left alone in the sunset.
The rumors were true.
His dwelling was a Guandi Temple. Yong Hee-myung was revered alongside Guan Yunchang as a being who governed the village's blessings and fortune.
— Are you the ghost who lives off Guan Yu's charity?
That was, until one day, a man clad in a purple robe suddenly visited and looked down at him with an indifferent face.
— I am not a ghost, but a human.
The young Yong Hee-myung had replied to the Hegemon Hero, Ma Yeon-jeok. Little did he know that now, he would come to think the exact opposite.
Originally, the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps had to be an inhuman existence that brooked no comparison. That was the only way one could protect the lives of the common people with just a name in a martial world where all kinds of strange, violent, chaotic, and supernatural forces roamed.
Yes, to those people, I must be a ghost, not a human.
Just like the boy who lived alongside the stone statue of Guan Yu in the Guandi Temple.
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, Yong Hee-myung, tilted his head slightly to the side. It was right after his childhood memories flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
Whoosh!
A pale gale brushed past his ear. It was the sharp wind of the Imperial Sword Form, which had reached the stage of great completion. A stinging pain spread down his neck.
"Your sword has quite a bite," Yong Hee-myung said with feigned nonchalance.
It didn't do much to hide his state, however, as five or six trees shredded by the sword wind collapsed with a loud crash behind him.
A thick cloud of dust billowed up. A stream of dirt slowly crept up one of Yong Hee-myung's bare feet.
His surroundings were completely devastated.
The dense forest was now no different from a flat plain, and hundreds of corpses, each severed in half, were gradually swallowed by the rising dust.
In contrast, the Commander's purple silk robe merely fluttered gently, as if to taunt his enemies.
Only the young man in blue martial robes beside him, coughing up blood, bore witness to their disadvantage in strength.
This was the result of a battle of attrition that had lasted over a thousand exchanges.
Namgung's First Sword, who was staring at him, suddenly gestured with his chin to the side. A scrawny, middle-aged man straightened his back and spoke haltingly.
"T-There is still no sign of anyone! Is this not the battle of attrition formation that the Lord of our main sect poured his heart and soul into?!"
It was the Eccentric Official of the Poisoned Cup, Chu Gu-jin.
He was an expert ranked among the top five within the Lingering Spirit.
With his shabby appearance, high-reaching martial arts, and speech and behavior that were easily underestimated, it was said there was nothing he could not achieve.
He was highly skilled not only in tracking techniques but also in expanding his sense of Qi, which was why he had never once lost track of the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps.
This was the capability of the Nine Provinces' Knowledge Divine Art, which Chu Gu-jin had mastered to perfection.
Heh, hehe.
He let out a bizarre laugh through his slightly twisted mouth. Was it because he believed he had made the greatest contribution to slaying the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps?
Beside the Commander, the Keen Broom of the Divine Sword, Yeon So-ha, bit his lip as he coughed up blood.
"You absolute rat..."
Meanwhile, Namgung's First Sword paid no attention to a mere blue-robed warrior. He spoke slowly to Yong Hee-myung.
"The Desolate Fortress seems to trust you deeply. To not have arrived even when you are in such a state."
The corners of Yong Hee-myung's mouth curled upward.
"Because my orders are absolute. With a single word from the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, even the mountains and rivers bow. How could the precious Black Ranks of our fortress, having received my command, merely dance to the tune of heterodox schemes?" he said.
Immediately, the Eccentric Official of the Poisoned Cup, Chu Gu-jin, who was standing far off from the clearing, cackled.
"A dying man sure has a lot to say! If you just stretch out your neck quietly, whether it's the arrow of the Lord of the Dark Night Hall or the sword of Great Hero Namgung, your head will be taken off in a single stroke!"
His voice sounded like a squawk. However, his narrow eyes were flashing with a light akin to a deep blue sword-glow.
Chu Gu-jin was a core figure of the Lingering Spirit. Entrusted with the grandest scheme in the martial world, he had positioned Namgung's First Sword and the Lord of the Dark Night Hall in the perfect spots.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that every word he uttered was meant to choke the breath out of his opponent.
"Annoying," the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps muttered.
He meant it. The number of experts he had cut down from the Peng clan all the way to this place easily exceeded a thousand. The Energy-Dispersing Poison, which disrupted the gathering of True Qi, was slowly creeping toward his heart.
If he were given proper time to meditate and regulate his Qi, it would be nothing, but the Net of Heaven and Earth devised by the Yeoryeong Lord with all his might did not even grant him a moment to sleep.
"I wonder if the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps of the Desolate Fortress will swim across the Sanzu River, or take a boat elegantly," Chu Gu-jin sneered, his loose smile widening.
Namgung's First Sword reflected the sunlight off his blade this way and that.
"It seems you've rested enough, so let us cross swords again. This time, I shall unleash the Unified Martial Transcendence."
"I thought the Namgung clan had no Unified Martial Transcendence of their own? Is yours not a martial lineage that is barely busy maintaining the domain of the Imperial Sword Form?" Yong Hee-myung said, frowning.
Namgung's First Sword shook his head and lowered his family's precious sword.
"That was before I gained enlightenment. The Martial Dragon Association pursues an utterly perfect Limitless. After seeing the swordplay of that Demonlight Wing from the Desolate Fortress... yes, the fellow called the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword, I was able to fill in the final piece of my inspiration. I was so delighted, it was the first time I ever let a warrior of the Desolate Fortress leave in one piece."
Thump—
Suddenly, a resonance like a heartbeat echoed. Something invisible began to fill the desolate forest.
"It is called the Sword Night Painted in Moonlight," Namgung's First Sword said quietly.
In that instant, Yong Hee-myung's purple silk robe slipped off his shoulders on its own.
"Yeon So-ha. So-ha."
"Yes?"
"Put this on and fall back. It will serve as a fairly sturdy Body Protection Qi at least once. Take it."
"And here you said it was fifty years too early for me," Yeon So-ha grumbled, sliding a step to the side.
Normally, the Commander would have handed over the clothes using Void Grab. But it seemed he was in no position to do so now. Whether it was because his control over his internal energy was failing, or because he had to keep his guard up against Namgung's First Sword and the Lord of the Dark Night Hall—who was likely aiming his Ten-Mile One Kill from afar—remained unclear.
Indeed, the arrows unleashed by the Lord of the Dark Night Hall throughout this chaotic battle had struck with the devastating force of artillery fire.
It was then that Chu Gu-jin's complexion suddenly changed.
He was the central axis of the Net of Heaven and Earth. Through his divine art, he could sense all the formations, mechanisms, and traps entrusted to him by the Yeoryeong Lord.
"Great Hero Namgung, Great Hero Namgung...!"
"What is it?"
"From ten miles away, something... something is coming...!"
"Ten miles?"
Namgung's First Sword tilted his head slightly to the side. Chu Gu-jin's eyes were not on him.
His typically frivolous demeanor unconsciously turned solemn. The senses of the Eccentric Official of the Poisoned Cup, Chu Gu-jin, flared up at the presence of a strange, violent, chaotic, and supernatural force exploding toward them like a comet from afar.
Thud—
That was how it began. It sounded like someone playfully beating a drum in the distance.
Chu Gu-jin's mouth fell open. A dazed voice escaped his lips.
"The 12th Village... the Martial Dragon Association's Imperial Eight Souls Formation has been pierced... in a straight line...!"
"What did you just say?"
Namgung's First Sword's question was drowned out by a slightly louder roar.
Boom—
"The 14th Village... the Heavenly Killing Old Monster of Taemo Mountain Fortress has been slain...!" Chu Gu-jin muttered, the words sounding more like a groan.
Something was rushing toward them like a beam of light. It was moving at an incredible speed. It was practically flying.
By then, even the peerless experts who had restricted their senses of Qi to each other, as well as Yeon So-ha, who was suffering from severe internal and external injuries, could feel the approaching presence.
Rumble— Crash, crash, crash!
The ground vibrated violently. The thunderous roaring that had started from afar showed no signs of stopping. It shook the vision of everyone present, violently shuddering up and down as it rapidly drew closer. The intensity was growing by the second.
Chu Gu-jin said no more.
Not even when a whirlwind of shockwaves, raging like the Milky Way through the 15th Village, shattered the sword formations of the eighteen sects under the Lingering Spirit. Not even when a single figure leaped over the overlapping batteries of the Ten-Mile Light Grace deployed at the 16th Village in a single bound. And not even when that person finally trapped the entire explosion of the Thunderbolt Bomb formation surrounding this 17th Village within the vortex of an overwhelmingly powerful palm technique.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The entire ground shook. Chu Gu-jin hurriedly turned his head.
He looked at the young blue-robed warrior. A greenhorn holding the most precious purple silk robe in the martial world. A strange anticipation was written across his bewildered face.
That boy is the future of the Desolate Fortress. No matter what variables arise, he must die. In any case, the peerless experts can handle the current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps somehow.
Bang!
Dust exploded from Chu Gu-jin's heels. It took only an instant for his figure to blur out of sight.
On one side, Namgung's First Sword responded by raising his precious sword. An invisible sword force rose, spreading outward as if to fill the sky. In the distance, the Lord of the Dark Night Hall would be on the verge of unleashing the world's greatest Ten-Mile One Kill.
Unrivaled ultimate techniques were aimed squarely at Yong Hee-myung.
"Put it on!" the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps shouted. He was in such a hurry that he used the Lip-Reading Technique.
That works too.
Chu Gu-jin's eyes curved into crescents. He looked triumphant. To tear that purple garment, the very symbol of the Desolate Fortress's Divine Sword Corps, with his own two hands... That, too, would be an achievement rarely seen in the martial world.
He firmly activated his pale Body Protection Qi and reached out. At the end of his trajectory was Yeon So-ha, who had not yet finished putting on the purple robe.
Chu Gu-jin's fingertips straightened into a deadly point. He unleashed a shockwave aimed precisely to pierce Yeon So-ha's solar plexus.
It's over...
At that exact moment.
Suddenly, a brilliant light flashed in the air. The relentlessly pouring sunlight warped and distorted.
Chu Gu-jin, who was rushing toward Yeon So-ha like an arrow, suddenly darted his eyes to the side.
A translucent barrier was racing toward him. It was the shroud of the Imperial Sword Form deployed by Namgung's First Sword just a few steps away. It would be more effective than almost any Body Protection Qi.
An instant fragmented into endless moments.
A vertical line of light was etched across the face of the greatly relieved Chu Gu-jin. It was a brilliant silver beam of light.
"......?"
A roar exploded beneath his feet. It came with a deafening recoil, as if someone had physically grabbed and shaken his ears.
A silver sword was plunged vertically into the ground beneath his feet. His body had been cleanly split in half, from the crown of his head straight down to his groin.
Whoosh!
The backdraft from the recoil of the Sword Kinesis surged violently. The two halves of Chu Gu-jin's body flipped upward and collapsed onto the dirt.
A final scene reflected in one of his eyes, which had already lost focus.
A young man with long hair was stepping down onto the ground.
The purple silk robe, swept up and soaring in the strong wind, draped softly over the shoulders of the black-robed youth with a gentle rustle.