Chapter 401: Peerless Realm
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 401: Peerless Realm
Grains of sand scraped and rustled across the ground.
A cool wind clung to the earth, dragging itself along. Dust rose from the deeply overturned soil like a heavy sigh.
Swaaa—
The clearing, once a dense forest, no longer felt desolate. Instead, a heavy, strangely vibrant silence had settled over it.
A young man stood with a purple silk robe draped over his shoulders like a cloak. On either side of him lay the bisected halves of a corpse, spewing crimson gore. A single sword was plunged into the earth at the center of this metallic stench of blood, radiating hot steam...
The silence was deafening.
The translucent shockwaves that had rippled along the sword's trajectory shattered into the ether. Sunlight, previously refracted in every direction, shimmered slowly as the air returned to normal.
About ten steps away from the carnage stood a youthful man, frozen with his hand still outstretched. This was Yeon So-ha, the Keen Broom of the Divine Sword. He was a member of the Divine Sword Squad and had been their youngest blue-robed warrior—until the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing joined.
The symbol of the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, which Yeon So-ha had long hoped to inherit, now rested upon another's shoulders.
Under normal circumstances, this realization would have been a monumental shock. But not today. A far more pressing question loomed over him. Swallowing hard, Yeon So-ha slowly spoke up.
"...Thank you for saving my life. But who might you be...?"
He had clearly seen the character for Desolate (荒) embroidered on his savior's shoulder, along with the tight-fitting black sleeves wrapping his forearms. It was unmistakably the uniform of Jin Myeong-jo, Commander of the Bloodkeeper Unit, suggesting a temporary exchange of garments between warriors of equal rank.
Yet, he had never seen this man's face before.
While it was common for the internal hierarchy of the main fortress to shift rapidly during missions, there had never been a case of a newly appointed Black Rank displaying such overwhelming martial prowess.
'This is a battlefield meant for the Purple Ranks...'
Yeon So-ha's eyes met the young man's. In that instant, he swallowed a curse of sheer admiration. He looks just like Ban-ak.
Crack—
The divine sword embedded in the dry earth formed a small fissure before rising into the air of its own accord, flying back into its master's grasp.
"Jeong, Commander of the Demonlight Wing."
Gripping the hilt of Lingering Thunder, Jeong Yeon-shin addressed the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps with a nod of relief. The dire situation did not afford him the luxury of a formal fist-and-palm salute.
"I greet the Commander," he said quietly.
Yeon So-ha gasped. Meanwhile, a peculiar gleam flickered in the eyes of Namgung's First Sword, who had lowered his blade.
Yong Hee-myung, Commander of the Divine Sword Corps, curled his lips into a smirk. He wore a scholar's white robe, now stained with vivid splatters of blood.
"You've grown quite a bit," Yong Hee-myung said. It was a remark loaded with double meanings.
His pupils were slit vertically, and a brilliant yellow light flickered within them like lightning. It carried a mystical aura, the unmistakable hallmark of a divine art. With the eye technique of the Divine Sword Corps' greatest expert, he was more than capable of seeing through to Jeong Yeon-shin's true identity.
"You're almost eye-to-eye with me now. When I first saw you, you only came up to here." Yong Hee-myung tapped the area just below his chest with the side of his hand.
Jeong Yeon-shin narrowed his eyes, ignoring his superior's playful banter. His direct commander's movements seemed subtly awkward.
The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps was the very incarnation of martial arts; every gesture should have flowed with perfect naturalness. Yet, his internal and external wounds were so severe that he momentarily resembled a stiff wooden puppet. His pale complexion also hinted at the presence of poison.
"The heterodox sects rarely engage in head-on battles. It seems you were caught off guard by the cheap tricks of some trivial pests," Jeong Yeon-shin remarked calmly.
"..."
The lips of Namgung's First Sword, who had been scanning the newcomer with interest, stiffened slightly. Yong Hee-myung chuckled.
"You certainly know how to scratch an itch. Truly worthy of the Ma bloodline."
"I wouldn't know..." Jeong Yeon-shin glossed over the comment. Had it been anyone other than his commander, he might have answered with a finger-force strike instead of a verbal deflection.
"Your martial arts have improved beyond recognition. No wonder that sword ghost of the Namgung Clan is hesitating to strike. Even I find it hard to believe... Ah, and that fellow far off, the archer of the Dark Night Hall, is watching us closely. He seems to be sizing you up," Yong Hee-myung said.
Indeed, Jeong Yeon-shin felt heavy gazes attempting to dissect his very being. They came from two distinct sources: the eye technique of the peerless swordsman, Namgung's First Sword, and the sharp glare of the Lord of the Dark Night Hall, a man hailed as the reincarnation of the legendary Hou Yi.
Jeong Yeon-shin met their scrutiny not with his eyes, but with his senses.
Wuuuung—
The air suddenly lashed out like a massive whip. The qi unleashed by Jeong Yeon-shin had violently clashed with the internal power waves of the peerless masters.
It was a phenomenon that indisputably proved his martial prowess. It meant that in a one-on-one fight, he was fully capable of matching either of them.
"...!"
Their shock registered vividly against his skin. He could even feel the Lord of the Dark Night Hall's eyebrows twitching from a distance of at least twenty li.
"My word..." Namgung's First Sword let out a sigh, his expression complex. "Commander Yong, you have indeed raised a highly dependable junior. Please, continue your conversation. I shall wait."
"You'll regret that," Yong Hee-myung smirked.
He saw right through the swordsman's intentions. Compared to the other absolute masters of the Jianghu, very little was known about Jeong Yeon-shin, Commander of the Demonlight Wing.
Opinions were highly divided among the gossips who loved to babble about martial rankings. They fervently debated whether he had truly ascended to the Peerless Realm. Although most fell silent upon hearing the rumor that he had single-handedly slain the Moyong Clan Head, the Star-Brilliance Great Sword Lord, it was only natural that people still disputed the veracity of such a claim.
After all, his rise had occurred over far too short a span of time across this endlessly vast land.
Information regarding the current Commander of the Demonlight Wing was bound to be scarce compared to the extensive dossiers on peerless masters who had reigned over the Jianghu for decades. This remained true even in an era where great sects waged covert wars simply to uncover an enemy master's signature ultimate technique and Unified Martial Transcendence. In fact, even Yong Hee-myung did not yet know the nature of Jeong Yeon-shin's Unified Martial Transcendence.
'The Martial Dragon Association, the Dark Night Hall, Lingering Spirit... they are all cowards who value their own skins.'
Furthermore, they preferred absolute certainty. Now, the heterodox sects of the Thirteen Heavens would expect the orthodox great sects to busy themselves with sizing up Jeong Yeon-shin—completely overlooking the fact that the Flash Art was also observing them.
Yong Hee-myung thought, Go ahead and watch all you want.
'He seems to respect Myeong-jo more than me, so he must be a master at concealing his true strength.'
Their opponents possessed the transcendent, ultimate Imperial Sword Form, as well as the arrows of the Lord of the Dark Night Hall, which were said to pierce even the sun. Thus, Yong Hee-myung wanted to buy Jeong Yeon-shin some time.
"How did the mission in Sichuan go?" Yong Hee-myung asked.
Jeong Yeon-shin answered immediately.
"Senior Ha, Commander of the Heaven-Aligned Wing, has passed away. The culprits are the Former Peng Clan Leader, the Golden Wing Sect, and the Tenth Sect. There were also reports that the Pure Demon Alliance clashed with the Heaven-Aligned Wing prior to that."
It was a concise report, yet it contained the most critical piece of information that needed to be delivered first.
To Jeong Yeon-shin, nothing else mattered as much. No matter how many enemy heads he claimed, it could never make up for the death of someone who had been like a brother to him.
A brief silence fell. Yong Hee-myung's mouth opened and closed a few times. Though countless thoughts surely swirled in his mind, he briefly looked like a tongue-tied scholar.
"...And the culprits?" the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps finally asked.
Jeong Yeon-shin flicked Lingering Thunder with a swift motion. A straight line of blood splattered onto the ground—the blood of the assailant who had targeted the blue-robed warrior Yeon So-ha.
A faint smile touched Yong Hee-myung's lips. "You are better than me."
"Let us return to the main fortress. I will escort you," Jeong Yeon-shin said, boldly placing his hand on the Commander's back. His tone was deliberately familiar, and his gesture mirrored the time he had stabilized the Commander's internal injuries after the latter had slain the Namgung Clan Head in a single strike.
The spot where Jeong Yeon-shin's palm rested was Yong Hee-myung's Mingmen Point.
'Mother.'
Channeling the core principles of the Jeong Family Dynamic Art, energy surged from his palm and flowed inward. It entered the Commander's body with a gentle grace, reminiscent of the elegance he had always observed and learned from the Divine Blood Ultimate Demon.
Back when he was a Blue Rank, Jeong Yeon-shin would have felt as if he were touching the vast universe during this process.
Now, it was different.
The elasticity and width of the Commander's meridians were now comparable to his own. The middle dantian, which had once felt as unfathomable as a dragon's inner core, was surprisingly similar to a halo infused with the Law-Transcending Halo Qi.
The same went for the seemingly infinite accumulation of qi. It was no longer a mystery to him. Having undergone Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth, Jeong Yeon-shin's own body was no less profound than the Commander's Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
'There is an impurity inside him. Is it the Energy-Dispersing Poison?'
The only shocking thing was the Commander's actual condition. His internal energy was continuously dispersing like fine powder, and his blood flow was extremely unstable. It was a miracle he had even been able to fight in this state. There was definitely something to be learned from this resilience.
"Haha—"
Yong Hee-myung let out a dry laugh. "I've completely lost face here. It's almost fascinating."
Though spoken casually, his voice carried a trace of genuine astonishment. Perhaps he had realized that his junior's guidance of true qi was no longer constrained by the limits of his own vessel.
Whoosh!
Jeong Yeon-shin continuously channeled the true qi of the Jeong Family Dynamic Art, guiding it through the Great Heavenly Cycle. The speed of his internal power delivery was nearly instantaneous, akin to a flash of light.
Starting from the Mingmen Point at the center of the back and passing through the Shenzhu Point above it, the energy circulated in a seamless, unhindered loop. The internal cultivation power that had sustained Jeong Yeon-shin since childhood—capable of embracing any form of true qi—planted a vital spark within the Commander in the blink of an eye.
"Hey, brat, this is getting awkward."
Yong Hee-myung pulled away, seemingly conscious of Namgung's First Sword watching them. It was also his way of saying that he had received enough. With this much infused qi, even if one had practiced the dynamic art as mindlessly as a monkey peeling a banana, it would have been enough to soothe their internal injuries.
'Now, I just need to buy time,' Jeong Yeon-shin thought.
He was in a position where he had to protect both a blue-robed warrior and his direct superior. In such a state, he lacked the confidence to simultaneously face two peerless masters of the Thirteen Heavens lords' caliber.
He had yet to inherit the Sword of Divine Attainment, nor had he even been formally bestowed his purple robe. He did not even know the exact difference in power between an unranked purple-robed expert and the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps. For now, he could only do his utmost.
'Why is it acting like this?'
Jeong Yeon-shin found it strange how the purple silk robe clung so perfectly to his shoulders. The silk hem draped smoothly down to the back of his calves. It felt entirely different from his black robe woven from precious heavenly silkworm thread. It seemed to be a dharma treasure possessing a faint trace of spirituality.
"It seems you have finished catching up."
The middle-aged swordsman, who had been watching the senior and junior of the Divine Sword Corps, took a step forward. Beneath his sky-blue sleeves, the milky-white blade dangling from his hand emitted a low, resonant sword hum.
"I hear you took the lives of my nephew and niece. If I recall, their titles were... the Azure Qilin and the Chivalrous Lady."
There was only one man who had the Azure Qilin, Namgung Se-jin, as his nephew: the Sword Howling Emperor, Namgung Mu-jin.
For the past twenty years, he had been hailed as the finest swordsman in Southern Zhili. Despite carrying the full weight of his family's expectations, he had suddenly abandoned his position as successor to become a Taoist monk. Now, he was the sworn brother of the Lord of the Martial Dragon Association of the Thirteen Heavens.
—Namgung's First Sword is with the Martial Dragon Association. He is the White Qilin's uncle.
The memory suddenly flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin's mind. It was a piece of information Cheong-myeong of the Demonlight Wing had shared with him.
"Our association's spies in the Martial World Alliance reported that the child born of my brother's concubine serves you as his superior. This is despite the fact that Se-jin and Mi-ah met their ends at your hands. I suppose one could say he found his proper place..."
"The affairs of the Jianghu are truly unpredictable." Shaking his head, the middle-aged man let out a faint chuckle. "Come to think of it, the mortal enemies of my family are gathered in one place. The Commander of the Divine Sword Corps who slew our Clan Head, and the Commander of the Demonlight Wing who severed our direct lineage. Despite my appearance, I am the First Sword of the main family. Had I not witnessed this, I might have let it slide, but since we have crossed paths like this, how could I possibly let you go?"
"First Sword...?" Jeong Yeon-shin muttered. You?
Young Master Namgung Se-jin had treated the concubine-born Namgung Hwa-shin as his true brother, going so far as to openly express how heartbreaking his situation was. That was the level of dignity Jeong Yeon-shin had recognized in the Namgung Clan.
Concubine. Roots.
Even if it was meant as a provocation, those were words he should never have uttered. Jeong Yeon-shin thought of his own mother.
Sssring.
The blade of the Sword Howling Emperor, Namgung Mu-jin, let out a chilling ring.
"Our conversation has dragged on. The Lord of the Dark Night Hall may be a peerless archer, but he is not known for his patience."
Right on cue, something suddenly hurtled toward them from the far distance. Through Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes, which were currently channeling the Sight of the Lowly, its form was captured with absolute clarity.
It was a long arrow. The moment it entered his field of vision, it expanded at a terrifying speed, violently shaking the sky as if an earthquake were tearing through the clouds.
Rumble—
It was the Lord of the Dark Night Hall's Ten-Mile One Kill.
Jeong Yeon-shin lowered his gaze from the sky, slowly clenching and unclenching his left hand. A low, vibrating resonance echoed from his heart.
Suddenly, a cluster of starlight bloomed from the earth, enveloping his entire body. For a brief moment, the surrounding area was washed in a brilliant, pale glow.
Boom—
In the next instant, a muffled explosion erupted from his palm. The ground caved in deeply, yielding to the circular shockwave.
The eyes of both Yeon So-ha and Namgung's First Sword widened in sheer disbelief.
Starlight shimmered and waned across the purple silk robe draped over Jeong Yeon-shin. It was a deeply mystical sight—so much so that the dark iron arrow now gripped firmly in his hand looked completely out of place.
Snap.
With a faint sound, the terrifying arrow in his grasp bent as easily as soft clay.