Chapter 48: Encounter (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 48: Encounter (2)
“We cannot simply leave that boy, Yeon-shin, to his own devices.”
An old voice echoed through the office of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress.
An elderly martial artist in a purple robe and Ma Jin, dressed in black martial attire, sat respectfully before the Lord.
Sunlight streamed through a wide-open wall, gathering in a pale green halo around the Lord’s hair.
Ma Jin shot a sideways glare at his father.
“The closer we try to get, the more he might pull away. He seemed to feel nothing for his blood relatives. I can only imagine how he grew up after Sister left. They said he was abandoned.”
“How dare a place like the Jeong Family Manor…”
Jeong Yeon-shin’s maternal grandfather, Ma Yeon-jeok, wore the exact same disgusted expression as his son.
“What right do we have to blame them?” Ma Jin’s voice, though not loud, was sharp with bitterness. “We didn’t even know their family had been destroyed. We only started talking about blood ties after we saw his talent. The fact that he didn’t curse out a grandfather he’s never met is a testament to his character.”
They were in the Lord’s presence, so Ma Jin maintained a cautious tone despite his harsh words.
“He has grown into a fine martial artist, but he’s still a boy, not yet twenty. Yet he’s so sensible and clear-headed that he’s harder to deal with than most adults. Don’t try to force him into your grasp.”
“You can tell just by how he refused to blindly leech off a great family,” Ma Yeon-jeok said, enunciating each word. “He must know that such reliance would only become a poison. He intends to stand on his own, unswayed by any storm. But that is precisely why…”
Finally, he looked at the Lord of the Desolate Fortress, whose expression remained unreadable.
“We must not leave him be. If the Son of Heaven, His Imperial Majesty, is the sky, then Yeon-shin can become the brightest sun in it. The current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps is not enough. Lord, Yeon-shin will easily become a precious sword worthy of being by your side.”
“That is for the Lord to decide,” Ma Jin cut in, rebuking his father. “It is not a matter for you to discuss, Father. You have already retired.”
Ma Jin turned his gaze to the most noble person in the fortress—the absolute ruler whom all revered and served.
The face of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress rarely betrayed emotion. It wasn’t without reason that rumors claimed she favored the Flash Art.
She was like the sun itself. Her warmth might seem within reach, but she was an indifferent light that illuminated the world. It had always been so.
Her red lips, which had been perfectly still, finally parted.
“Continue,” she said.
Though she was merely reclining against a tree trunk, her presence was on an entirely different plane of existence.
Ma Jin swallowed hard. Few were ignorant of her absolute martial prowess, a power so immense that even Purple Rank experts wouldn’t dare discuss their chances against her. The same was true of her appearance, which had remained that of a twenty-year-old since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
To the people of Xiangyang, she was a living Jade Emperor.
“It is still a distant matter,” Ma Yeon-jeok said, stroking his white beard. “However, it has been decades since you first spoke of retiring and washing your hands in a golden basin, Lord.”
“My thoughts are as follows. Instead of sending the boy on missions, we should keep him in the main fortress for ten years. We can teach him and complete his training, preventing him from being tainted by the vulgar ways of the Jianghu at such a young age. In the process, if we arrange a marriage and let him build his martial prowess, things will change. He will become a divine sword that only you, Lord, can wield.”
“…Yeon-jeok,” the Lord of the Desolate Fortress spoke, her beautiful face devoid of emotion.
“Yes, Lord.”
“Is there no selfishness in your heart?”
“Selfishness, you say…”
“You are not the former Commander of the Divine Sword Corps right now. You are merely a kinsman of the Desolate Ma Clan, seeking to elevate your family’s glory.”
“…”
Ma Jin knew his father’s personality. The man had never failed to obtain anything he set his mind to. It was that very temperament that had allowed him to rise to the position of Commander of the Divine Sword Corps.
Suddenly, Ma Yeon-jeok bowed his head.
“The Lord is correct. It was difficult to bear. Passing the precious sword of my position to the current Commander was agonizing. I have been your friend for decades, Lord. Allow me to speak frankly.”
“Father! Watch your words!” The heavily built Ma Jin fidgeted anxiously.
“You have never shown such an attitude except when it concerned your sister. You do not have to forgive me. The family must endure. Even when we die and turn to dust, we must be revered, enjoying an immortal legacy. In the end, all that remains of a person is their name.”
“That is enough.”
The low voice of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress cut through Ma Yeon-jeok’s passionate plea.
“I will decide the matter of the Flash Art. Do not brandish the authority of your bloodline any longer.”
Her clear, resonant voice carried a strange transcendence. Her hem rustled against the tree rooted at the apex of the world.
Rustle.
Extending her snow-white bare feet, the Lord of the Desolate Fortress slowly stepped down and raised her head. Sunlight settled gently upon her translucent face.
“The Commander of the Demonlight Wing should depart now,” she said to Ma Jin. “Look after the Flash Art.”
“I accept your command.”
Ma Jin adjusted his posture to be even more respectful, raising his clasped hands in salute.
* * *
Jeong Yeon-shin stood still, lost in thought.
This was different from when he had beheaded the rising star of the Deep Martial Alliance. Here, there were too many watching eyes. The official road to Huizhou was wide and teeming with travelers.
This was the territory of the Orthodox Martial World. Killing someone here would be hard to justify.
I might end up making an enemy of the Namgung Clan as well. I won’t be able to handle that in Huizhou.
He couldn’t kill him. That was fine. He would just have to inflict a corresponding level of humiliation instead.
Yeon-shin recalled what Do Yu-won of the Chief Steward’s Office had said about the Desolate Fortress often providing portraits of mission targets. It had been the same for the mission involving the Seventh Apostle of the Blood Flame Cult. For a long-planned operation, it was a given.
A portrait was a drawing of a person’s face, and the image that came to mind strongly resembled the man before him. It was an unexpected encounter, and because he’d been caught off guard, he hadn’t immediately made the comparison.
What if he had just walked past?
Yeon-shin reflected on his mistake. Between his mission and his training, the mission always came first. He shouldn’t have been so careless about his surroundings.
While he was lost in thought, the young man from the Hwangbo Clan smirked.
“Not curious about my title? How laughable. A rootless bastard putting on such ridiculous airs.”
Yeon-shin slowly shook his head. “There’s a limit to how delusional you can be. The Hwangbo Clan? In the grand scheme of things, it’s small. And you are insignificant.”
“…You’re insane. A simple lesson won’t be enough.”
The corners of the young man’s mouth turned down as he strode forward. His steps seemed reckless, but they followed a precise discipline. Yeon-shin could immediately tell that a high-level movement technique was woven into them, and the fluctuations of his true qi were anything but ordinary. His posture suggested he could respond to any attack, even while walking.
Good.
Yeon-shin’s gaze locked onto the young man’s body. The duel had begun. He paid no mind to the onlookers who had gathered at the mention of the Hwangbo Clan, their pitiful gazes landing on him.
He was finally facing the martial arts of one of the Eight Great Families of the Orthodox Faction. He was curious to see the power that supposedly represented the pinnacle of secular martial arts.
Yeon-shin took a step forward. The true qi of the Jeong Family Dynamic Art gathered at the Yongquan point on the sole of his foot. It was the first step of the Radiant Wing Step. A light puff of dust rose from his heel.
He intended to gauge the difference between himself and the martial arts of the Eight Great Families.
Shring! Thud!
The young man from the Hwangbo Clan drew his sword and stamped his foot. The dazzling blade of a fine sword surged from his forward-leaning waist, thrusting straight ahead in a narrow ellipse.
Yeon-shin raised his right hand.
Clang!
He deflected the flat of the blade with the back of his hand. The eyes of the watching martial artists widened in disbelief.
Yeon-shin shook his hand. The force that vibrated from the blade felt surprisingly light. His Radiant Wing Step had already carried him diagonally, allowing him to completely deflect the strike and slip past its shockwave.
“What?!”
The young man’s expression went blank, unable to process what had just happened.
This time, Yeon-shin advanced.
Bam!
Amplified by the Scripture of Initial Overcoming, the power of the Infinite Flower of Time Fist exploded from his extended left arm. The sword the young man reflexively raised was knocked straight up.
The true qi already circulating through Yeon-shin’s body raced through his acupoints. The Shenshu point on the right side of his waist burned with internal energy.
In an instant, his erector spinae and psoas major swelled with immense power. The subsequent chain of movements happened in a split second.
Twisting his body, he thrust his right fist forward. A dull thud echoed from the young man’s solar plexus.
It was a clean hit. The moment the smooth fabric of the Hwangbo Clan uniform wrapped around his fist, the shockwave of the Infinite Flower of Time Fist’s second form, Advancing Thunder, erupted.
Boom!
The young man’s body flew backward as if struck by a cannonball.
Yeon-shin slowly uncurled the fingers of his right hand and looked down. The forms were becoming clear. The Demonlight Formula was seamlessly merging with his sect’s martial arts.
“The martial arts of the Hwangbo Clan seem profound,” he said, his voice calm but tinged with disappointment. “But you are nothing special.”
The face certainly resembled the portrait from the Desolate Fortress, but there was no way a man like this was the Young Master of the Hwangbo Clan. The Young Master was said to be a genius of the Solar Divine Pulse. He’d even heard that the White Qilin, Namgung Hwa-shin, had avoided a duel with him, expecting certain defeat due to their age difference.
“You can’t be the Young Master. Are you the Second Young Master, perhaps?”
There was no answer. Everyone had fallen silent, seemingly at a loss for words. A substantial crowd had gathered on the road without anyone realizing it.
He slowly turned his gaze. The woman who had started the fight with the young man was staring blankly, disbelief etched across her face as she looked at the convulsing figure on the ground.
“How could a rootless bastard… This makes no sense…”
“I didn’t kill him. If you’re from the Hwangbo Clan, you must have some healing pills. Give him one, and he’ll be back on his feet.”
“You…!”
The woman whipped her head around, her eyes sharp and fierce. The upward slant of her eyes was cold enough to send a chill down one’s spine.
“I will remember you. I am Hwangbo Myeong-rin, a disciple of the Pursuing Truth Sect. I won’t forget this.”
“I have more than enough strength to deal with you, too. Shall we continue?”
“…”
“As a martial clan, surely you didn’t send only greenhorns. Are there no elders? Where is the Young Master?”
Just then, Shin So-bin grabbed his arm, her eyes wide with shock. A wave of energy rippled from her lips—telepathy.
—Senior! Aren’t you provoking them too much? We need to check the terrain first. If the Hwangbo Clan swarms us, we’ll be hunted down!
Even through telepathy, she was whispering, clearly terrified.
Yeon-shin tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.
Provoking them? I haven’t even started.
He took a slow step forward.
The mission is everything.
There was one thing he particularly liked about the Desolate Fortress: its clear justification of protecting the people. The merits he had to accumulate to survive were clean—at least, so far.
Sects that were neither Orthodox nor Unorthodox were said to exist between the Righteous and the Wicked. The Pursuing Truth Sect, their current disguise, was exactly that. They avoided evil deeds but didn’t fly the banner of righteousness either. They lived in the Jianghu for profit and reputation.
Then I should act the part.
Before long, retainers of the Hwangbo Clan had gathered, surrounding the fallen young man and Hwangbo Myeong-rin.
Yeon-shin circulated true qi throughout his body. The moment his foot touched the ground, a gentle breeze brushed past his ears. Instantly, the figures of the Hwangbo Clan members ballooned in his vision. Using a movement technique like a leaf riding the wind, he slipped right between them.
“Huh?!”
“What?!”
Gasps of surprise sounded behind him.
Yeon-shin saw Hwangbo Myeong-rin feeding a pill to the fallen man. Feeling his presence, she looked up, her face contorting in anger.
“I challenge you to a duel as well. You were the one who brought up roots. If you are a person of the Jianghu, then accept.”
Yeon-shin grabbed Hwangbo Myeong-rin by the scruff of her neck and hauled her to her feet. His momentum was so terrifying that no one dared interfere.
It was then that a new voice cut in.
“Wait. Let’s stop there.”
From the side, a young man holding a gourd bottle spoke with a lazy smile. The strong scent of alcohol wafted from him. He looked about ten years older than Yeon-shin, and though he wore a silk martial uniform, he had a shabby air about him. With a raw poppy clamped between his teeth, he was a handsome man who looked like a complete degenerate.
His languid smile didn’t quite reach his shadowed eyes.
“My younger siblings may have spoken out of turn, but this is a bit harsh.”
A scorching energy blazed from the man’s entire body. He exuded a formidable momentum, as if he had mastered some profound divine art of pure yang.
Solar Divine Pulse.
The term flashed through Yeon-shin’s mind.
He was a perfect match for the portrait. This man was undoubtedly the Young Master of the Hwangbo Clan.