Chapter 490: The Brightfolk Tree (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 490: The Brightfolk Tree (2)
Jeong Yeon-shin, the Lord of the Desolate Fortress, and the Divine Doctor.
Their fifteen-day journey had been strangely uneventful.
Although sword-wielding martial artists posed as bandits at every turn, and river thieves used Water Arts to hurl water like hidden weapons, the trio experienced none of this chaotic era's turmoil firsthand.
It was as if the chaotic fates of the world were actively avoiding them. Or, more accurately, as if they were steering clear of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress.
They walked the mountain paths in total peace, without a single incident.
It felt like a dream.
Moreover, his master never hastened her steps. One might even mistake them for a normal master and disciple traveling during an era of great peace.
Sharing Fasting Pills and dried jerky, resting by the fires they built, and leaning against rough tree trunks across the campfire to sleep when night fell—it was a picture of ordinary tranquility. Given the recent chaos engulfing the world, this leisurely pace was highly unusual.
They used no fine steeds, sedan chairs, or Lightness Skills.
Because of this, Jeong Yeon-shin was able to spend an extended period with his master for the very first time. Moving beyond the rigid dynamic of a Lord and her subordinate, they finally shared the quiet daily life of a true master and disciple.
— That's undercooked. But Master, do you eat meat as well? I heard from the Blue-Eyed Demon Sword that the Brightfolk are friends of the forest, not friends of horses and pigs...
— To cultivate and maintain sword force, nourishment comes first. The body exists before internal energy; one cannot reach the Limitless by eating only grass. You must not forget your fundamentals.
— You mean the Jeong Family Dynamic Art? I will keep that in mind. By the way, even wild boars have become scarce since last winter, so it's a relief I can hunt them using Sword Control. I was a bit worried because the winter wind felt harsher...
— Your Heart-Governed Sword is already excellent.
— Ah.
— However, a split-second gap occurs before you rouse your mind, so it is best to dedicate yourself to meditation. If you narrow the gap between mind and body, your Sword Control will become even swifter.
— Yes. Also, the inside of that meat is still raw. Please have this instead.
— Thank you.
It was the kind of experience any young martial artist with a master would naturally accumulate.
For fifteen days, Jeong Yeon-shin treasured that quiet tranquility in his heart. Spending time with his master was warmer than he had ever imagined. It was so warm that every passing moment etched itself into a deeply precious memory.
Whenever he stared blankly up at the deepening moonlight, the Divine Doctor would share stories about the World Tree.
— You've obviously heard that it's big, but the inside of that damnably massive tree is a giant city. You can't possibly describe it as just a village.
— Do they hollow out the tree and live inside it?
— The World Tree has two layers. You could say it's divided into a rounded Outer City and an Inner Castle. Just inside the outer bark, thousands of those big-eared bastards—like Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han—live. That's called the Outer City. The tree that can truly be called the World Tree's true body is further inside, at the deepest center... and even ordinary Brightfolk dare not enter. It's a place akin to the clan's reverse scale.
— They cannot enter...?
— They aren't allowed in. By masters who have filled their long lives with nothing but martial arts. In the first place, the collateral Ju clan acts as the guard warriors of the Outer City, so that says it all, doesn't it?
These were stories of beings completely detached from the established order of the martial world.
Listening to them, time couldn't help but fly by.
Just like that, as they crossed from one mountain peak to another, his master's voice suddenly rang out, clear as a bell.
"It is the World Tree."
It was as if they had bypassed the distance entirely, stepping only on the Life Gates of some mysterious Formation Art to arrive instantly at their destination.
The World Tree.
It seemed to pierce the very clouds.
There was no exaggeration in the title "World." It was so impossibly tall that it appeared to stitch heaven and earth together. Shreds of clouds, like torn white cotton, lingered around its trunk.
A dense, crushing silence surrounded it. The low, heavy blast of a horn seemed to echo faintly from somewhere, though its source was impossible to discern.
To call it overwhelming would be a severe understatement.
'This is...'
His mind grew slightly dazed. Just staring at the colossal structure made him feel as if his soul was being siphoned away. A sensation he used to feel as a child, quietly watching the night sky all alone, slowly welled up within him.
It was a true wonder of the martial world. It didn't look like a tree at all.
"But," Jeong Yeon-shin spoke, staring up at the deep brown fortress of bark, "how do we enter?"
No matter where he looked, there was no entrance, yet it hardly seemed like a place meant to test a visitor's Fa Jin by having them smash their way in. Seeing Yeon-shin unconsciously twitch his fingers, the Divine Doctor hurriedly stepped forward.
"No, wait."
"I didn't do anything," Jeong Yeon-shin replied reflexively.
A gentleman would never act rashly in the presence of his master, but he felt as though the wild rumors about him had been multiplying lately. Even though he had intentionally dulled his hearing to ignore them, he still felt self-conscious beside the Lord of the Desolate Fortress. This was a situation where showing anything less than his absolute best simply wouldn't do.
"May I advise you on a few things?" the Divine Doctor asked, though he continued without waiting for confirmation. "First. Refrain from taking deep breaths."
"Excuse me?"
"An inhalation from a peerless master of your caliber draws in an immense amount of Natural Qi. In times like these, when Earth Qi has already plummeted, if you take a deep breath right here in the World Tree's domain for all to see...? That is a provocation. A highly effective one. Of course, I've heard you are skilled in goading tactics, but this is on a slightly different level."
"Who says such things?" Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly.
He had once asked Cheong-myeong what a certain nickname starting with "Wild" meant. But even as they returned to the main fortress, Cheong-myeong had only offered his trademark ambiguous smile. Ak Su-rim and Shin So-bin, who were usually far more talkative, had also glossed over it or feigned ignorance.
"Hmm?" The Divine Doctor, who had been rambling with an arrogant air, flinched. Ultimately, he didn't give a concrete answer either. "Well, I'm not sure. It's just a rumor, so don't pay it any mind. Anyway, the second thing is your footsteps. Once we go inside, walk as quietly as possible."
"……."
"This place is full of lunatics whose five senses are sharper than most people's sense of Qi. They are unspeakably sensitive, so you might get dragged into unnecessary trouble. They aren't bound by worldly status or laws either... so you might end up seeing things you'd rather not see. You must stay on your guard."
"Things I'd rather not see...?"
"You probably don't want to hear it. Finally, the third is—"
"If you have nothing more to say, I will stop listening here. Master, I shall announce our arrival."
Jeong Yeon-shin took a slow step forward. Even if he hadn't come to overcome his Heavenly Mandate right this instant, the World Tree was right before his eyes.
It was impossible to maintain his usual composure.
"There is no compromise in their vigilance! If you rashly take even one more step—!"
Just as the uncharacteristically flustered Divine Doctor waved his hands and tried to approach, a thin beam of light flashed in the sky and plummeted, trailing a pure white ripple behind it.
KRA-BOOM!
It struck exactly in front of Jeong Yeon-shin's feet.
With a thunderous roar, the ground collapsed into a perfect circle. Violent vibrations spread, carving fine spiderweb cracks in all directions, while fragments of earth flew outward, scraping the surroundings like shrapnel.
It took several breaths for the massive cloud of dust to settle.
"……."
In the center of the sunken crater, a long iron shaft was embedded like an arrow. At its top, a white flag vibrated violently, leaving blurry afterimages in the air. The sheer force packed into the strike felt as though it had pierced the very axis of the earth.
Rumble—
The ground shook faintly in time with the quivering flag. A shockwave akin to a natural disaster seeped into the earth, delivering a stern warning.
Standing right in front of it, Jeong Yeon-shin spoke.
"They could have just used their words."
His body remained perfectly intact despite taking the massive shockwave head-on. Since the strike hadn't been aimed directly at him in the first place, his robe—overlaid with a faint, starlight-like glow—didn't even flutter. He was completely still.
He silently raised his gaze.
High above, a figure stood vertically on the deep brown bark of the World Tree.
Holding a great bow as large as their own body, the figure exuded the intense, suffocating pressure unique to a peerless master. Even though the distance between them was nearly half a mile, the energy rippled down like a physical breeze, brushing against Jeong Yeon-shin's skin. The spirituality amplifying their full-body internal energy was incredibly dense.
Even with the cirrus clouds and glaring sunlight at their back, the silhouette remained distinct. Sleek, resilient, and honed to absolute mastery—it was a physique perfected by one who had reached the pinnacle of archery.
"...I believe the Lord of the Dark Night Hall was said to be the greatest bowman under heaven," Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly. "Was that an empty title?"
At those words, the Divine Doctor—who had retreated a safe distance away at some point—shook his head.
"Some rumors in the secular world are true, and some are false. Sword-wielding ruffians rarely acknowledge masters who haven't made a name for themselves, acting as if their own little world is everything... but the deeper one's martial arts, the stronger their pride. Were you, perhaps, also drunk on the fame of having slain the greatest bowman under heaven?" he asked in a teasing tone.
Tilting his head up toward the figure who had fired the warning shot, the Divine Doctor continued in a grandiose tone without waiting for Jeong Yeon-shin's reply.
"This place is completely cut off from worldly rumors, so the fame of the Wilderness Sunfall shouldn't have reached here... Why has the Heaven-Piercing Bow Spirit, who resides deep within the World Tree, come all the way out to the entrance?"
It was hard to tell if he was shouting at the figure or merely muttering to himself. Jeong Yeon-shin looked back at the Lord of the Desolate Fortress.
Swoosh.
A gentleman who was considered the greatest of the Purple Rank through his rigorous cultivation of mind and body. Even though anger rushed to his head after being subjected to a preemptive strike, his first instinct was to seek his master's permission. He needed to know if he could take action here and now.
"Master."
"Those of the Purple Rank," she slowly parted her lips, "may act on their own discretion."
"If I act rashly and disgrace your honor..."
"Honor." The Lord of the Desolate Fortress repeated the word. The corners of her mouth curled up ever so slightly. It was just like the time she had told Jeong Yeon-shin that it would be nice to grow his hair long once he became a true master. "It is trivial compared to your intent."
Jeong Yeon-shin asked no further.
Boom!
He kicked off the ground and soared.
The already cratered earth sank even deeper with a thunderous roar, and Jeong Yeon-shin's figure blurred like a flash of purple lightning before shooting vertically upward. A harsh, scraping screech echoed as his trajectory drew a parallel line right up the towering bark of the World Tree.
'There is no other entrance,' Jeong Yeon-shin thought as he surged upward faster than a gale.
He had already heard the Divine Doctor's various stories. Although the status of the Lord of the Desolate Fortress was supreme—unmatched even among the noble clans—there would be very few within the World Tree who would welcome an outsider as a guest. The doctor had mentioned that this place was even more closed-off than the Forbidden City in Beijing.
A true Pandemonium.
He still didn't know exactly what the Lord of the Desolate Fortress wanted here, but it was a place he had to enter regardless. He had to try and speak with them, even if it meant laying bare his desperation.
Swoosh.
By the time he reached the height, the figure with the great bow was already sinking into the bark as if stepping into a swamp. It was as if an invisible door existed right there in the wood.
"This is not a place permitted to you," a dry voice rang out.
The Heaven-Piercing Bow Spirit of the World Tree. Wearing a crown woven from bluish leaves and grass, she turned her back without hesitation, revealing flowing green hair that strikingly resembled the Lord of the Desolate Fortress's.
Was she a blood relative? At the very least, it was certain she held a significant position within the World Tree—the greatest mysterious land in the Central Plains.
Rustle.
Without so much as a final glance at Jeong Yeon-shin, she dissolved completely into the bark.
Only a few strands of her green hair remained, brushing against the surface like delicate threads before snapping away. It felt as if she were mocking Jeong Yeon-shin for reaching her a step too late. Her presence vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the solid bark of the World Tree, said to be harder than most diamonds.
A moment later, the Divine Doctor's lament echoed from far below.
"You'll have no choice but to take the test...!"
In that split second, time slowed down.
At least, it did in Jeong Yeon-shin's mind. The words the Divine Doctor had casually tossed out earlier flowed through his head like a rushing river.
— For an outsider to enter the World Tree, they must undergo all sorts of tests. Martial prowess, character, scholarship, master-disciple relationships, past deeds in the martial world... They weigh so many things before granting qualification. Well, isn't that obvious? As far as I know, even the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps under heaven—the Death Sword Yong Hee-myung—was no exception. The problem is that those tests... are reminiscent of Shaolin's 36 Gates of Universal Motion. Naturally, even if one has the martial prowess to handle it, it takes dozens of days just to break through. So I have absolutely no idea what your master, who has so little time left, is thinking...
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly drew Lingering Thunder.
Shring.
A faint line was carved into the bark along the trajectory of his sword draw. It was the exact spot where a trace of the internal power wave—unleashed by the Heaven-Piercing Bow Spirit as she looked down on the world—still lingered.
Suspended in midair just before gravity could pull him down, Jeong Yeon-shin slid his foot toward the fresh sword mark. In that same instant, his body was sucked into the crevice like smoke.
Just as the Lord of Heaven's Bane had once done.
There would be no test.