Chapter 464: The Five Great Swords of the World (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 464: The Five Great Swords of the World (2)
The Lord of Heaven's Bane pulled off his bamboo hat, its shattered front brim allowing it to fall and hang against his back.
A soft, bleak rustle swept through the forest as shattered fragments of straw drifted down around the disheveled blind man's feet.
"To call that a Wisdom Sword... it is far too tyrannical," he muttered.
Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin gauged the nature of his opponent from the strike he'd just witnessed.
If I had aimed for his head, he would have dodged. There was enough of an opening for that.
The Mind's Eye of the First Sword of the Outer Paths was in no way inferior to Jeong Yeon-shin's Sight of the Lowly. The Lord of Heaven's Bane had immediately realized that Jeong Yeon-shin was aiming for his bamboo hat.
Yet, he hadn't even nudged his head, choosing instead to experience the sword strike at point-blank range. To experience a sword strike from a hair's breadth away was entirely different from observing it from ten feet. It was a level of audacity impossible to possess unless one was utterly mad for the sword.
This man is different.
The wall of martial prowess the Lord of Heaven's Bane had built was far too high for Jeong Yeon-shin to dismiss him as a mere monkey or a stone. The same was true of his temperament; he had clearly poured his entire soul into the Way of the Sword. He was the man the world hailed as a swordsman who could cut through providence, a madman no less formidable than the Seventh Apostle.
"In any case," the Lord of Heaven's Bane suddenly offered a broad grin. "I apologize for my slip of the tongue."
"What?"
"Your time is ten times denser than the years ordinary people drift through so wastefully. Like those maple leaves over there, teasing the tree as they fall."
"..."
"Thanks to you, my heart feels quite warm."
His gentle voice blended into the breeze. The autumn wind, carrying the crisp clarity that follows summer, raced through the woods as red-dyed maple leaves drifted down between the two men, brushing against the trunk of a tree stretching out its long, barren branches.
Rustle—
According to the Lord of Heaven's Bane, the tree represented ordinary people, and the reddish leaf was Jeong Yeon-shin. A fleeting fallen leaf, destined to become fertilizer before long, unlike the tree that would live for decades more.
As if by a stroke of blind luck, he had hit the mark perfectly. And this was despite the fact that no one had been able to see through Jeong Yeon-shin's lifespan since he had achieved Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak.
—We are destined to disappear, serving as stepping stones for history.
The dry voice of the Heaven-Smiling Invincible, the Ming Cult Leader who claimed to have truly realized the will of heaven, echoed in Jeong Yeon-shin's mind. For the first time since obtaining the Songmun Ancient Sword, Jeong Yeon-shin, who had maintained his composure until now, furrowed his brow.
"Bastard."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"That was the highest praise I've ever given in my life—" The Lord of Heaven's Bane's trailing words dissolved into the autumn wind.
As if his appreciation of the strike was over, the now-hatless blind man lowered his sword once more.
Jeong Yeon-shin looked at the maple leaves and the Lord of Heaven's Bane simultaneously, sensing the commoners who had now retreated completely into the distance.
As the red leaves fell, he began to reconstruct the swordplay of the First Sword of the Outer Paths, the man who had just driven him into a corner. The process occurred naturally within his overheated mind.
Incredibly bright, flashing trajectories of the blade carved themselves into his mind, running through his Baihui Point. The tingling at the back of his head felt as if he were enduring dozens of days of closed-door cultivation in a single instant.
And so, the moment a maple leaf, fluttering through the air, landed softly on a half-exposed tree root—
Crackle—
Jeong Yeon-shin vanished.
A bolt of colorless lightning crackled where he had stood—the afterimage of his Ultimate Lightning.
The Lord of Heaven's Bane raised his sword to his chest with a smile, holding the hilt with only one hand. Winter Dream, the cherished weapon of the First Sword of the Outer Paths, flashed a deep, chilling blue.
At that exact moment, Jeong Yeon-shin appeared right in front of the Lord of Heaven's Bane and swung his sword downward.
Shiiiing!
Lingering Thunder, deflected by Winter Dream, grazed past the Lord of Heaven's Bane's shoulder.
That alone unleashed a violent gale of sword-wind, shredding the falling maple leaves to tatters.
Unlike the restrained strike that had shattered the bamboo hat, this attack was wild and unrestrained.
A distance of two paces.
The sword of the Lord of Heaven's Bane rose first. In an instant, he executed a continuous form, swinging Winter Dream ten times.
The air tore again and again under the onslaught of his monstrously fast sword. Jeong Yeon-shin deflected three forms with his left hand—shrouded in the translucent energy of the Ultimate Lightning—and delivered six sword strikes of his own.
Every single one of those sword forms was Qilin's Judgment. He wielded his left hand and right-hand sword with absolute freedom.
Clash-clash-clash-clash-clash!
Violent sparks dyed both their bodies red as fragments of qi, born of explosive Fa Jin, erupted in all directions.
The Lord of Heaven's Bane stepped forward through the shower of sparks. As the distance between them vanished, a powerful gale erupted from where Winter Dream and Lingering Thunder were locked, a testament to their sheer sword force.
Crunch.
Jeong Yeon-shin's feet dug deep furrows into the ground as he was pushed back. This was despite the power of the Ultimate Lightning overflowing through his body. The man truly lived up to his reputation as one of the few in the Wicked Way capable of matching the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps.
Amidst this clash of strength, the Lord of Heaven's Bane spoke.
"If, by some chance, you stop me here, this damnably vast land of Hangzhou will face a cataclysm. It would mean the Dark Sky Emperor, who suddenly entered the Dragon Summoning Formula, loses his one and only diamond armor. After all, how many Leaders of the Nine Sects have abandoned their duties and rushed here like a disorganized mob?"
"What are you planning to achieve with the Flood Dragon?" asked Jeong Yeon-shin, exhaling a white breath of Law-Transcending Halo Qi.
A smile crinkled the cataracts in the eyes of the Lord of Heaven's Bane. "An even more chaotic age."
"..."
"I don't know about Cho-yeol, but that is my wish. I want this vast world to be rich with stories."
Even as he pushed back Lingering Thunder with the sword held in his single hand, his breathing remained steady. The Lord of Heaven's Bane continued slowly.
"A sword is, by nature, an instrument whose mastery grows only when blood is spilled. But under the oppression of an Imperial Family that shuns the martial world, very few strong warriors can emerge to serve as my stepping stones to the next realm. This is unfortunate, as reaching the Limitless is a matter of grave importance acknowledged by the entire Jianghu."
"Spoken like a martial artist who is utterly useless to the world," Jeong Yeon-shin spat dryly, digging his back foot into the ground.
"I won't deny it." A faint curve formed on the lips of the Lord of Heaven's Bane. "I am beyond saving. I have been for a very long time."
Jeong Yeon-shin could faintly sense the dense, winding passage of time woven into his opponent's voice, but it was not his concern.
The Lord of Heaven's Bane was a man who sought satisfaction by melting those years into his martial arts, whereas Jeong Yeon-shin was a mayfly struggling to melt his life into a longer span of time.
From the moment he began facing those who had grown formidable through decades of training, Jeong Yeon-shin had suppressed the inferiority complex etched deep into his bones by dismissing them as mere monkeys or stones.
Even after obtaining the Songmun Ancient Sword, that fundamental complex had not been resolved. He had merely found a sliver of consolation by encountering a certain path.
"You spoiled bastard."
He instantly channeled power into his pivot foot, lashing out with the Night Shame Leg Technique. His toes, sharp as a blade, sliced through the air.
Boom!
The Lord of Heaven's Bane chuckled, blocking the kick by stepping on the very tip of Jeong Yeon-shin's foot. "Why is the force wave of your kick so sharp? It feels as though you trained all through the night."
That was the beginning.
Leaning his upper body slightly forward, the Lord of Heaven's Bane deflected the sword and lunged inward, his blade poised to brush past Jeong Yeon-shin's flank. Jeong Yeon-shin pulled his foot back and spun to the side.
Clash-clash-clash! Boom! Crash!
Their figures crossed like beams of light.
The blue light of Winter Dream and the milky-white Lingering Thunder clashed repeatedly. Heavy shockwaves exploded in layers, and the ground sank continuously as if struck by meteors.
In less than the blink of an eye, hundreds of sword forms fell and carved themselves into the air.
Jeong Yeon-shin felt a strange sensation within the storm of sword light raging around him. It was as if he were facing dozens of swordsmen at once.
The sword forms of the Lord of Heaven's Bane would be fiercely powerful one moment, only to curve subtly and tear at his forearm the next. They would flicker weakly before his eyes like illusions, only to suddenly unleash a monstrous gale and deflect Lingering Thunder.
Illusion swords, changing forms, feints, strong swords, silk-reeling power, the Harmony Realm...
All kinds of techniques coexisted within a single body. Even Jeong Yeon-shin found himself wondering if this was truly just one person. The nature of every single sword form was entirely different.
Yet, Jeong Yeon-shin did not simply fall back.
Whenever the Lord of Heaven's Bane's sword path—so fast it appeared as light—unraveled like a spool of thread, Jeong Yeon-shin would sever the continuous form with the Phosphorescent Light Sword and carve a wound into his opponent's waist.
The moment the Lord of Heaven's Bane retreated ten paces and unleashed a slash, Jeong Yeon-shin rushed forward with the thrust of Sky Torrent, shattering the sword qi.
Slash!
But then, a blade found his torso. His opponent had a counter-form prepared. A sword wound cut diagonally from his chest to his waist. Fortunately, it was shallow.
Jeong Yeon-shin locked his opponent in his sight, his eyes flashing with a brilliant white light.
He saw the shape of the Lord of Heaven's Bane's lips.
He is utterly possessed.
Jeong Yeon-shin didn't care. His own forms were as stable as the completed Eight Trigrams of Taoism. Even at the moment he was struck, he stepped into the Radiant Wing Step, shattering the ground beneath him.
Rumble!
A long pillar of rock shot up from beneath the feet of the Lord of Heaven's Bane as he unleashed another sword form. Jeong Yeon-shin was unconsciously wielding even his stomps like sorcery.
Leaping far back, the Lord of Heaven's Bane burst into a hearty laugh. Taking a mere rock head-on would have been nothing to him, but he seemed wary of Lingering Thunder, which would strike the moment his balance was even slightly disrupted.
And then, energies began closing in from all directions.
There was Ak Su-rim, the Divine Spear of the Desolate Fortress, whose presence was familiar to Jeong Yeon-shin. There was also an energy flying in from extremely far away like a meteor with monstrous momentum. Judging by its transcendentally heavy nature, it was the Divine Monk Beomheo.
In addition, Lady Yul-ha was likely using her Dark Fragrance Drift—a technique so subtle that even the current Jeong Yeon-shin couldn't perceive it unless she was right beside him. Other masters were surely activating their Body Protection Scriptures, but he couldn't afford to focus on their presences now.
"It seems I have no choice but to show my hand," the Lord of Heaven's Bane said, shaking his head like a gambler at a mahjong table. "I am, by nature, a damn heterodox martial artist. My personal safety is extremely precious to me. A safe Limitless is my creed."
The moment he casually stamped his foot onto the ground, a concentric circle rippled out from beneath his shabby straw sandal.
Thrum—
It was an instant.
The ground all around Jeong Yeon-shin turned a pale, ghostly white. The faintly colored ripple instantly filled the surroundings with dozens of Invisible Swords, which then multiplied like clouds into a sea of blades too numerous to count.
Hummm—
It sounded like a buzzing swarm of bees.
Each one seemed to possess a physical reality. The sunlight bent and refracted in every direction, filling the entire area with blinding light.
This, too, was a transcendent sight.
The master of all those swords was a single man. The Lord of Heaven's Bane stood atop the cloud of Invisible Swords, his posture elegant as he held the deep blue Winter Dream downward.
"..."
Jeong Yeon-shin felt the momentum radiating from his opponent as he controlled the energy of the Ultimate Lightning, which surged as if it would tear his body apart. A sheepish smile played on the lips of the Lord of Heaven's Bane.
The telepathic intent of the Lord of Heaven's Bane spread through the air, spirituality overflowing—a mysterious energy that exponentially boosted the efficacy of true qi.
I've won this battle of wits. In truth, my Life-Saving Herb doesn't take long to deploy like this. It is because a thousand swords already dwell within my heart.
To reach the pinnacle of the sword, I must execute every technique I have learned in a single strike, but a single sword was simply not enough. I suppose that is the limit of my talent.
"Is it Unified Martial Transcendence?" Jeong Yeon-shin asked, staring at him.
The Lord of Heaven's Bane nodded.
As you see. Heaven-Filling Sword Sea. That is the name of the Life-Saving Herb that will send you to the Sanzu River.
"...There is one thing I want to ask."
I will listen, provided it is under twenty words.
"If there is someone who has only learned two martial arts in their life, can they achieve Unified Martial Transcendence by combining just those two divine arts?" Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly.
The Lord of Heaven's Bane, who had been nodding and counting his words, offered a warm smile.
It would depend on the depth. Martial arts are relative, but Unified Martial Transcendence depends entirely on oneself. As is widely known, the essence is to contain every martial art one has mastered into a single strike.
At those words, Jeong Yeon-shin nodded for the first time.
"Then I cannot achieve it."
How intriguing. Why do you think so?
"Because to me, every single moment is a martial art. The number of techniques multiplies endlessly."
Ah... The Lord of Heaven's Bane sighed, amusement in his expression. The destiny of a heaven-sent Great Grandmaster. It is regrettable, yet a highly unique form of limitation.
Jeong Yeon-shin stared at him silently.
For most peerless masters, there existed layers of accumulated time—the stream of alternating sun and moon that all mortals inevitably possess. A dazzling life unfolding beneath the sun and moon.
As he navigated the purple-ranked Jianghu, he had felt a despair that seeped into him like rainwater. It was due to his martial arts, which multiplied naturally, endlessly, without his conscious effort.
Heaven had bestowed upon a mayfly a talent that did not suit it. The Five Qi Converging to the Origin and Unified Martial Transcendence, realms said to be completed only when one's entire life was poured into them, were not permitted to Jeong Yeon-shin as an individual.
But after obtaining the Songmun Ancient Sword, he had realized something.
He, too, possessed something that could rival the time of others.
It was the bonds he had forged. The time traversed by those whose paths had crossed with his, the culmination of their years and the history of the hearts they had poured into him—all of it had become the martial arts of the young Great Grandmaster.
One was a single person's life.
Combine two, and it became the lives of two people.
Beyond three, it was impossible to know. For now, his limit was two.
Such was the Unified Martial Transcendence defined by Jeong Yeon-shin. Though he felt inferior as a person, what he possessed was not lacking. By virtue of Perfected Zhang Sanfeng's Taiji, he had entered his own state of Unity.
It was his greatest fated encounter.
The cradle of martial arts that would bind the connections Jeong Yeon-shin had gained.
Great Taiji.
The Taiji that Perfected Zhang Sanfeng had engraved with the body of an Imugi drew a massive circle within his mind's eye.
The young man who died by his father's hand holding a folded White Crane Fan, and the young swordsman who met his end on his own terms—both blended into the image like smoke.
In an instant, a fan and a precious sword folded into a straight line within Jeong Yeon-shin's dark eyes. Simultaneously, a dragon holding a White Crane Fan in its mouth overlapped with the flow of the Ultimate Lightning that ran from his waist, to his shoulder, and down to his right arm.
Your momentum is extraordinary. My ultimate technique is ready as well, so let us settle this.
Shiiiing.
The moment the Lord of Heaven's Bane lifted his foot from the metal sea, intangible spirituality began to overflow from Jeong Yeon-shin's body. The atmosphere hummed and vibrated. The name of a technique, a single phrase, echoed like a foghorn.
Enter the Way: Unified Transcendence.
A space of blades, where the very air rippled with sharp metal.
Jeong Yeon-shin slightly shifted the arm holding Lingering Thunder and took a step forward. And he instinctively knew.
It will reach.
Though his own movements felt as slow as swimming through space, in reality, his speed was equal to that of the Lord of Heaven's Bane, who was currently pouring down dozens of swords from all directions with every kind of mastery, while delivering sword strikes of his own at an incomprehensibly blinding speed.
Even the widening of those cataract-covered eyes was clearly visible, albeit in slow motion.
With this, I—
Jeong Yeon-shin drew Lingering Thunder sideways along the straight line etched in his vision.
—can rival your years.
The trajectory he drew instantly crossed the countless sea of swords created by the Lord of Heaven's Bane, transforming it into a single, clean horizon.
Rumbleeeee—!!
Amidst the heavy thunder and waves of light, a single arm soared into the air.