Chapter 503: The Great War of the Desolate Fortress (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 503: The Great War of the Desolate Fortress (3)
Several experts fiercely traversing the battlefield witnessed the scene.
The sight of the Supreme Guardian of the Martial Dragon Association, his head crushed beneath the feet of a young man who had suddenly appeared, slicing through the empty air.
It was an incomprehensible sight. At this moment, it was no less mysterious than the absolute masters of the Thirteen Heavens, who were currently on the verge of occupying the vast eastern, southern, and western sides of the Desolate Fortress.
The manifestation of yet another peerless expert.
Wrooooooom!
In an instant, the atmosphere in all directions fluctuated violently.
It was the shockwave of surging energy. Not only the giant sects surrounding the Desolate Fortress, but even the warriors of the main fortress under the Divine Sword Corps simultaneously unleashed voice transmissions across the battlefield.
The experts of internal Qi gong used this most reliable method to announce the emergence of a massive variable—to their superiors, subordinates, comrades, masters, disciples, and fellow martial brothers.
—A Purple Rank has appeared thirty Zhang in front of the main gate!
—The Heaven-Scorching Elder is dead! Do not wait for orders!
—What madness... Weren't we told no Purple Rank would come?
—Hey! This isn't what we agreed to! We are mercenaries! Our lives are worth more than the bounty on our blades!
—I can't even tell what kind of technique that was...!
The main fortress of the Desolate Fortress.
The greatest citadel in the martial world, currently harboring ninety-nine large and small pavilions.
When fighting in such a vast expanse, even an internal expert with the widest sense of Qi would inevitably face limits in grasping the overall state of the battle.
That was why Sam-bok, a Blue-robed Warrior of the Netherflow Unit, was currently standing at the corner of the fortress wall.
"Hah..."
The distant right corner of the main gate.
Atop the rampart where the southern and eastern walls met perpendicularly.
The young warrior Sam-bok surveyed the battlefield from a vantage point where he could observe both sides. He kept his weight on his heels, silently reciting the mnemonic of the Radiant Wing Step so he could pull back at a moment's notice.
He was one of the few top rising stars of the Netherflow Unit. Thanks to his broad field of vision and a knack for playing the marketplace clown, he was frequently dispatched on espionage missions.
In a great sect war like this, his role was to assess the flow of the battle.
The Horde of Demons Green Forest...!
Sam-bok's eyes sharpened as he scanned the main gate.
Those bastards—mere bandits who wielded their horses like weapons—had brought almost all of their elite experts.
It was a force nearly equivalent to the entire strength of one of the Thirteen Heavens' great sects. The situation was already problematic enough with just the rogue martial artists of the Martial Dragon Association and Lingering Spirit.
If they ignored Jeong Yeon-shin, who had just manifested, and charged straight ahead, the plaque of the Desolate Fortress might truly be shattered. It was a dire situation.
There was another problem.
The main gate wasn't the only overwhelming front. Turning his head to the left, Sam-bok narrowed his eyes.
Beneath the roof of a distant pavilion sloping down in an elegant curve, a beggar woman with long, greasy black hair could be seen flickering in and out of sight.
Her movements were completely devoid of presence, contrasting sharply with her staggering gait.
Every time the warriors of the main fortress rushed toward her, their legs would shatter or their abdomens would be pierced by something unseen, causing them to collapse without a sound.
It was as if the air brushed by the woman's long legs swallowed all sound.
The Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon.
Ahhhhhh—
Occasionally pressing her lips against the mouth of a tilted gourd bottle, she hummed a messy, disjointed tune.
Though her movements resembled a drunkard taking a leisurely stroll, not a single person could stop her. She was, quite literally, matchless.
They said she had reached the absolute peak of feints...!
Sam-bok clenched his fists.
The eastern side of the Desolate Fortress was facing techniques whose profound principles were impossible to fathom.
Naturally, morale was bound to plummet. To make matters worse, the few figures of the main fortress capable of even exchanging blows with a peerless expert were currently locked in life-and-death duels with the leaders of the Thirteen Heavens' elites.
The arrival of the Horde of Demons Green Forest was a massive problem in itself, but it was not something that could be stopped by the hands of the acting Commander of the Divine Sword Corps alone.
It was then.
Suddenly, a figure soared from deep within the main fortress, radiating a highly tyrannical wave of energy. It was Ma Jin, the Ma Family Head.
He had abandoned his post directing the Ma Clan's formations and family warriors to step forward himself. It seemed he intended to clash directly with the Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon, even though he stood absolutely no chance of winning.
Such situations were unfolding all over the main fortress.
They were already outnumbered, and the means to repel a peerless expert were locked deep within the main fortress.
But if the enemies completely violate the interior of the Desolate Fortress, then in the future...
The symbolism of the character Hwang (荒)—meaning desolate—would fall to the ground.
The dignity carried by that character was a shield for the common people, which was exactly why the enemies were currently striving primarily to defile the main fortress and bring down its plaque.
Thud!
Sam-bok used a straight punch from the Infinite Flower of Time Fist's Advancing Thunder to crush the skull of a rogue martial artist who had crept up behind him. Then, he drew his entire body's internal power all the way up to his throat.
\[Lord Jeong.\]
It was time to create a massive variable.
\[Has arrived.\]
He announced.
At the same time, the resonance of the Six Harmonies Sound Transmission bounced between the fortress walls, spreading in all directions.
In a battlefield of experts where silence was an unwritten rule, it shattered that pseudo-taboo and surged outward in great waves.
In that instant, Sam-bok witnessed it.
The Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon, who had been flailing her limbs, coming to a sudden halt.
* * *
A young man, with two swords slung at his waist and the long hem of his purple robe trailing behind him, stepped onto the ruins.
Shhh—
Jeong Yeon-shin casually rubbed his well-worn leather shoes against the ground. He had just hastened the passing of an old man who would have died soon anyway.
Finely crushed bone fragments and flesh ground beneath his feet with a harsh, grating sound. It was a blessed passing.
He silently looked around. While spreading his sense of Qi to grasp the battlefield unfolding across the entire main fortress, he engraved the sights before his eyes into his mind.
The extremely wide official road. It was a path that led straight to Jeong Yeon-shin's cradle.
It was the place where he had once taken the Desolate Fortress Entrance Exam alongside Heonwon Chang, making it the starting point of their journey in the martial world.
Naturally, to Jeong Yeon-shin, this was now the most familiar official road in the world. It was the path he had no choice but to take every time he returned from a mission.
He remembered exactly which merchants sold sweets, trinkets, and accessories at which stalls.
He also held in his mind the exact points where the official road subtly bent and curved, carrying a deeply tranquil feeling.
"..."
It was different now.
It was filled with a smoky, coppery scent.
A smell that should not exist here. It was the scent conjured by the swift strikes unique to experts and the wounds burst open by them.
Moreover, the deeply gouged ground in various places, the roaring sounds echoing from all directions, the violently moving presences, and the complete disappearance of the common folk did not belong here.
"Flash Art...?"
It was the whisper of a woman.
Turning around, Jeong Yeon-shin met the eyes of his most reliable senior.
"It really is you, Flash Art."
Ak Su-rim, the Divine Spear of the Desolate Fortress, quietly examined Jeong Yeon-shin's entire body with her pitch-black eyes. She seemed to care more about his physical condition than his bizarre method of movement.
From that alone, Jeong Yeon-shin felt a warmth as cozy as a cloud. Somehow, he felt energized.
It was as if the vast amount of energy he had consumed by mimicking the sword strikes of the First Sword of the Outer Paths after unifying with the World Tree was returning to him.
He asked in a low voice,
"Did you intend to face them alone?"
"You know how it is. There are never enough people in the main fortress,"
Ak Su-rim said. Her tone was somewhat flat.
It was very different from her usual self. The same went for her face, where any trace of playfulness was hard to find.
Solitude clung to her figure as she stood with her back to the Desolate Fortress, holding only a single spear—a disposition typically acquired by the main fortress's warriors who had traveled the martial world many times.
Meanwhile, behind Jeong Yeon-shin, the presence of numerous cavalry was rapidly growing, bringing with it a massive vibration that threatened to deafen the ears.
"Who were those friends?"
Tighten.
Ak Su-rim asked, tightening her grip on her spear shaft.
She seemed to have seen the figures that had faintly soared and vanished alongside Jeong Yeon-shin earlier. Even among peerless experts, it was difficult to fully capture each other's Body Protection Scripture.
The eye technique of the main fortress's Second Black Rank had improved compared to before, regardless of her age.
"They are helpers who will assist us briefly."
Having answered thus, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly turned back around.
Before he knew it, a horde of men and horses rushed in, filling his vision.
The waist of the man leading the charge on a massive horse caught his eye.
The sight of two round shapes hanging there was somehow unpleasant. It was even more so because they could not be properly identified through the yellow-brown dust mist.
It was a special divine art.
The Horde of Demons Green Forest.
A giant sect that had stolen some of the divine ultimate techniques from the northern region's martial world—known as another world—and instantly ascended to become one of the Thirteen Heavens.
Even though they must have seen Jeong Yeon-shin, they did not halt their charge. Instead, they kicked up dust clouds like crashing waves, intensifying the vibrations.
It felt as if an earthquake were approaching; every time the horses' hooves struck the ground, the internal power waves of the experts riding the fine steeds rippled outward.
At the same time,
at the very front, the lips of the Leader of the Horde of Demons Green Forest moved faintly. It felt as though he were showing courtesy, like a highly educated scholar.
'I pay my respects to you.'
Mounted martial arts: Grasping Wei, Surveying the World.
The sound of the horse hooves turned into a thunderous roar.
Crack!
The ground cracked and was pushed back. It was a continuous process of immense pressure overlapping with more pressure, creating a translucent force field.
It was as if they were using an energy barrier, formed as heavily as a fortress wall, as an overwhelming offensive move. The man who raised a massive axe at the front of this charge was none other than Je Gang-cheon, the Great White Axe King.
It felt as if an entire massive fortress wall were being pushed forward. It was not a charge that anyone could withstand alone.
On the other hand, Jeong Yeon-shin was in a state where he needed a brief moment to regulate his internal energy breathing—the aftermath of unleashing his transcendental sword strike.
Rumbleeee!
They were now within arm's reach.
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes met the Leader's plainly. At the same time, the moment Jeong Yeon-shin's hand moved with an afterimage to grip the hilt of the Wudang Sect's Songmun Ancient Sword—
—a movement flashed from behind his shoulder.
Thud!
Fluttering her long sleeves like a painting, Ak Su-rim spun around once and hurled her long spear.
In an instant, space warped and distorted in her grasp, and a long streak of silver light shot forward, bursting with explosive ripples.
Claaaaang!
The silver spear, flying like a bolt of lightning, struck dead center into the faint energy barrier of the charging cavalry.
Sparks erupted violently at the point of impact, but only for a brief moment.
Boom!
Ak Su-rim's long spear tore through, exploding the torsos of five cavalry experts in a row before passing entirely through them.
At the same time, if only minutely,
the cavalry charge of the Horde of Demons Green Forest slowed down. It was fair to say that the momentum of a natural disaster had been broken for a split second.
Even so, the rush of the divine ultimate technique 'Grasping Wei, Surveying the World' surged forward like a tempest after a mere instant. However, standing before the horde that would have originally clashed with Ak Su-rim was Jeong Yeon-shin, who had already drawn the Songmun Ancient Sword.
He had fully swallowed a long inhalation of the Law-Transcending Halo Qi.
Thump.
He stomped on the ground once.
The shockwave of his stomp flowed into the earth. For a split second, the halo of his heart roared and spun fiercely.
Simultaneously, within his mental image, the forms of the Heaven-Smiling Invincible, the Dark Sky Emperor, and the Songmun Ancient Sword were sculpted out of light.
Rumble!
It happened in an instant.
Beneath the horde of men and horses charging right before his nose, the ground shattered and erupted upward.
The legs of the powerfully galloping steeds were forcibly buckled upward. As if that weren't enough, the ground itself rose like a tidal wave, lifting all five hundred pairs of men and horses into the air.
It was a sight that could only be described as a peerless sorcery martial art.
The warhorses, which had been snorting heavily and staring at Jeong Yeon-shin with murderous eyes until the very end, suddenly let out shrill cries.
Neighhhh!
The experts of the Horde of Demons Green Forest suddenly soared diagonally mid-gallop. The hooves that had previously trampled the Gongson Clan, the Shandong Ak Clan, and the Namgung Clan in succession now kicked futilely at the empty air.
Among them, only a couple of people, including the Leader, managed to stand fully upright by stepping on the stirrups on both sides of their airborne warhorses.
Even so, a faint trace of bewilderment appeared for the first time in their eyes, which had previously been uniformly indifferent.
Just like their subordinates, who had been cast adrift in the air for a fleeting moment.
"...!"
Beneath them.
The worn blade of the Songmun Ancient Sword rose upward.
Whoosh!
A bizarre suction force arose along the iron sword as Jeong Yeon-shin struck straight down.
The power originating from the mysteries of Taiji gathered the headwind blowing in all directions at this moment, relentlessly pulling the axe of one of the Horde of Demons Green Forest's experts.
Clack.
In Jeong Yeon-shin's grasp, having naturally snatched the axe handle, a resonance like a heartbeat sprouted.
The vibration of the Sword Song, activated immediately, extended above his head, thoroughly dense like a hazy fog.
Thud! Rumble!
Over five hundred pairs of warhorses and experts fell, spraying blood from their eyes, noses, and mouths. Heavy vibrations thudded and rumbled, settling on the ground like the lingering resonance of the Sword Song.
Soon,
the pulses of the men and horses, which had been beating furiously in their respective bodies, faintly faded away.
It was damage equivalent to total annihilation.
The movements of the experts traversing the southern battlefield stopped all at once.
In that instant, the blade and head of the axe held in Jeong Yeon-shin's hand crumbled into powder and scattered, but it could not break the silence that deeply dyed the battlefield.
"..."
Step.
Two peak experts under the Leader of the Horde of Demons Green Forest abandoned their horses in midair and landed.
They wore elegant silver armor. They were a middle-aged man and woman holding an axe and a spear respectively, and their faces had lost all expression, looking like plain white porcelain.
On one side, the Leader, who was the only one to land perfectly intact with his warhorse, had bypassed Jeong Yeon-shin and Ak Su-rim and was now showing his back.
In the midst of this,
the young man wearing the purple robe slowly parted his lips. He sheathed the Songmun Ancient Sword and casually discarded the handle-only axe onto the ground.
Thud.
\[Desolate Fortress.\]
It was a voice overflowing with power.
\[Hold your ground.\]
Jeong Yeon-shin's voice quietly filled the battlefield like an echo.