Chapter 510: Sunset
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 510: Sunset
Oh Il-hwan, the managing scholar of the Gold-Piercing Martial Library, was nearly thrown off his feet by a sudden, violent gust of palm force. Fortunately, the guard warriors caught him, helping him find his footing.
The violent fluttering of everyone's robes gradually subsided.
The warriors were not entirely unscathed either; each of them seemed to be barely enduring the overwhelming wave of internal power. Scholar Oh quickly made his decision.
"Into the library! We must deploy the Gate Protection Formation!"
The Gate Protection Formation of the Gold-Piercing Martial Library.
It was an array designed to protect the Desolate Fortress's martial arts manuals, a collection that had grown vast over generations of continuous development. True to its name, it guarded the gates.
By drawing upon the deep internal energy of the guard warriors, it enveloped the library in a barrier akin to body protection Qi. It was a defensive measure designed for a Great Sect War, meant to be activated when they anticipated turning the tide of battle rather than facing the total destruction of the main fortress.
`[Yes, the foundation of the Desolate Fortress lies in its scholars.]`
Shin Cheon-hwa laughed.
`[Excellent judgment. The Gold-Piercing Martial Library is the repository of our fortress's history, so there is no reason to burn it down prematurely now that a Purple Rank has arrived. Take cover.]`
"May fortune be with..."
They had just witnessed Elder Council Head Shin Byeok transform into her. Scholar Oh and the library guards immediately retreated into the depths of the Gold-Piercing Martial Library, vanishing from sight.
Flutter.
Shin Cheon-hwa shook out the hand she had used to unleash the palm strike, her smile deepening.
`[Nephew, your body is a complete mess.]`
Her intent hummed, scattering the dust swirling on the ground.
Even with the Nascent Soul of the Former Former Commander of the Divine Sword Corps overlaid upon it, the physical body was still that of the current Elder Council Head. It was a foundation far from whole. There was no way the full power of the ancient Commander of the Divine Sword Corps could be unleashed.
`[I'll have to use some tricks. It should be quite fun to move around in this state.]`
It was not a monologue, but merely a voice flowing from the dense thoughts of her Nascent Soul.
She was already staring intently at Tidal Fist Heaven. He had closed the distance between them, twisting his waist and pulling back his fist.
Whoosh!
The fist shot forward in an instant, distorting the surrounding space into a pale blur.
The compression and explosion of the scorching energy characteristic of Fervent Yang True Qi occurred in a split second. But before the fist could even touch her abdomen, Shin Cheon-hwa merely flicked her long index finger upward.
`[Thousand Shields, Reckless Thunder.]`
Clang-clank-clank—
An internal energy barrier suddenly manifested as a translucent veil between the two. It collided with Tidal Fist Heaven's fist and shattered into dozens of layers.
The resulting recoil rose so violently it threatened to destroy the nearby Gold-Piercing Martial Library, but it was sucked into the fragments of the internal energy barrier, failing to burst outward.
Crackle!
At the same time, deep blue streaks of light flickered among the fragments of colorless True Qi.
"...!"
In the brief moment Tidal Fist Heaven widened his eyes behind his ghost mask, those streaks instantly swelled into thick, deep blue cords, binding him like ropes.
They took the shape of the binding ropes used by government constables to tie up criminals—a net of internal energy generated purely by using the shockwave of his own fist strike as its power source.
`[Very sturdy. It's a body protection Qi that one would expect to see in the Northern Jianghu. Furthermore, your attire and movements show traces of the Imperial Army.]`
Shin Cheon-hwa spoke, locking eyes with him.
`[If you are a grand general fitting that attire, you did a poor job of hiding your identity. If you are merely a commoner who learned martial arts, then you are mocking those who protect this country.]`
She asked in a low voice, `[Which is it?]`
"Both are correct," Tidal Fist Heaven replied, his voice leaking out like smoke.
He spread his arms to both sides as if the ropes of True Qi binding him were nothing. However, before he could tear the bindings apart, Shin Cheon-hwa snapped her fingers.
Snap.
`[Puppet's Amusement.]`
Instantly, the ropes of internal energy, glowing deep blue like the fuse of a fire bomb, dispersed on their own and unleashed a transcendent resonance.
Boom!
A shockwave shot vertically high into the sky with a monstrous roar. Tidal Fist Heaven's body was swept up in it, soaring into the distant sky like a puppet in a clumsy street opera.
`[The pests of the Jianghu known as peerless masters tend to have terribly stubborn lifespans. Naturally, you will be the same.]`
Hum.
Clasping her hands behind her back, Shin Cheon-hwa floated upward using Void Treading and followed him. Her laughter-tinged voice lingered on the ground like an echo.
`[The south looks rather quiet...]`
*
The East of the Desolate Fortress.
The moon raised by the Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon did not disappear for a while. The twilight that dyed the sky a pale black remained as well.
Her body was the same.
Even after losing her head, she remained suspended in the air for over fifteen minutes, just as a person's consciousness floats aimlessly in a dream.
Just like that.
Master Golden Thunder stared silently at the body of the Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon for a long time, holding her severed head in his grasp.
He did not know what final command her intent—which had been on the verge of unleashing the Unified Martial Transcendence—might have given to her body. Such was the nature of a peerless master who had deeply achieved the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak.
Yawn—
By the time he finally let out a yawn, the early moon dispersed like smoke. The sky, which had been dim and colorless as if shrouded in twilight, slowly regained its blue hue.
Rustle.
The source of the internal energy that had been deploying the Unified Martial Transcendence finally lost its vitality.
The headless body of the Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon fell from the sky, rushing past the friction of the air. The wave of energy that had flowed as intensely as a dream scattered weakly into gray dust along with the fragments of the moon.
"Sigh."
Master Golden Thunder slumped his shoulders in midair, still holding the severed head.
His eyes, which had glowed with a golden light for a brief moment earlier, lost their brilliance once more, and his focus slowly blurred.
Only two things had changed since before the life-and-death duel: his face was now heavy with fatigue, and his appearance was close to a complete wreck.
He muttered.
"No more. I can't do this."
Whoosh!
Master Golden Thunder released the body protection scripture of Void Treading right then and there, beginning to fall toward the ground. He seemed poised to catch up with the falling body of the Lord of the Dreaming Mortal Moon, his expression deeply exhausted.
The nameless Unified Martial Transcendence.
A technique where the body flickered like thunder and lightning.
Though it displayed overwhelming divine power for a mere instant, he had no choice but to bear the full brunt of the backlash from invoking a mystery unique in all the world.
The two hit the ground one after another with a split-second difference.
Thud.
With a dull impact, a small cloud of dust billowed up nearby.
That sight was engraved into the pitch-black eyes of the white swallow spirit beast, White Swallow, who was looking down from the distant sky.
So was the sight of the Desolate Fortress warriors overwhelming dozens of Dreaming Mortal Moon experts in the Heaven-Aligned Wing training ground, surrounded by white walls.
Clang! Boom!
"The Lord...!"
"Don't say it. I know."
"We must retreat. First, we save Junior Brother Jo, then we plan for the future..."
The experts of the Dreaming Mortal Moon.
In an instant, waves of telepathic energy surged among them. They flipped themselves into the air, escaping the battlefield in a flash.
Fruit wine sloshed noisily in the gourds hanging from their belts. At the same time, a faint wave of internal power spread from their bodies.
White Butterfly Forgets the World.
Whoosh!
A veil of Qi spread out, intending to disrupt the enemies' sense of Qi and even seal their sleep acupoints.
At its source was a middle-aged giant carrying a young man whose entire side had been torn open on his shoulder. They were the Demonic Illusion Divine Killer and the Nine Provinces Dream Demon, respectively, representing the future and past of the Dreaming Mortal Moon in the lands of Guangxi.
However, White Swallow merely glanced at the scene below before turning its small head to the west.
At the edge of that brief turn, it caught a momentary glimpse of Ma Jin tearing through the energy barrier with his bare body, charging toward the Dreaming Mortal Moon experts.
Tucking its wings back, the white swallow shot like an arrow toward the west of the main fortress, as if there was no need to watch any further.
Swoosh!
White Swallow was incredibly fast.
The pavilions of the Desolate Fortress reflected in the small bird's eyes shrank into insignificance, and its sheer speed stretched the entire landscape into countless long threads.
Just as it was passing the center of the Desolate Fortress, White Swallow stole a quick glance toward the southern main gate.
A ruin stained with corpses.
Hundreds of bodies lay strewn haphazardly along the fortress walls and within craters.
Instead of the shockwaves characteristic of those who stole and used natural Qi, only a few wisps of faint dust, like mist rising from a river, drifted over the corpses.
The people of the Desolate Fortress, who had receded like the tide, had turned their blades toward the enemies who had penetrated deep into the main fortress. None of them looked back at the main gate.
This was because the white swallow's master remained there.
Fluttering his pitch-black sleeves, he stood back-to-back with the girl holding the silver spear, surrounded by powerful figures possessing truly immense waves of energy.
`[Seven and a half minutes remain. I once showed an hour of mercy to that Yong fellow, but you are not the Commander of the Divine Sword Corps... and since this is strictly a battlefield, you will have to be satisfied with fifteen minutes.]`
The powerful figure of the Martial Dragon Association, renowned for his escape skills, spoke loudly.
On the other hand, the man next to him—a scholar-like figure with the massive build of a bandit—did not seem to agree with those words.
Instead, as if he had just unleashed a massive blow, he caught his breath while spinning a large axe. Following its rotation, a typhoon-like wind clawed at the ground, kicking up a vast cloud of dust.
The white-feathered spirit beast instantly saw through it: each of them was waiting for a fatal opening.
Meanwhile, Ak Su-rim guarded the surroundings like Jeong Yeon-shin's shield with extreme vigilance, while the youth in the purple robe—the only one on the battlefield—had his eyes closed for some reason.
For a brief moment, White Swallow tilted its head quickly. Is he sleeping standing up too?
Chirp!
It let out a long cry that its master could not possibly hear, and flapped its wings even harder.
The status of the Desolate Fortress's spirit beast was equal to its master's rank.
Rather than its master, whom it could not easily help right now, it was more urgent to fulfill the request of the bearded scholar holding a brush.
Thus, the swallow of the Wilderness Sunfall folded the tips of its wings and dove.
"There! Look over there!"
"It's White Swallow!"
Cheers!
An overwhelming cheer erupted from the white-ranked warriors and nameless disciples of the Desolate Fortress, who had been catching their breath after a fierce battle.
The muscles of their entire bodies, which had relaxed with their exhales, contracted once more. The meridians and acupoints constricted by that movement heated up their internal energy once again.
It was a momentum rising like a wildfire—enough to make the plunderers of the Jianghu, who were approaching from afar through the completely collapsed western wall, flinch.
The incarnation of the Wilderness Sunfall.
Its mere existence boosted the morale of the main fortress's experts while keeping them on edge.
Puffing out its snow-white belly, White Swallow flew across the inner castle for a long time before soaring toward an ancient tree towering high into the sky.
The tallest tree in the main fortress.
It was the Arborvitae Tree that the Lord of the Desolate Fortress had personally watered and cared for.
A figure stood on the branch, long hair fluttering in the wind. She held a great bow as large as her own body.
Stroke.
Her fingertips, which had tamed White Swallow as a spirit beast long ago, stroked the swallow's small chin.
"Have you come to rush me?"
Even though it was a question, the end of her voice trailed off indifferently. There was not even a shred of emotion.
White Swallow let out a small chirp.
"If you want to make sure of anything, wait a little longer."
Then, the owner of the great bow continued softly.
"The Soul-Transcending Archery is a one-shot deal. The life of the target, and my internal energy sucked into that single arrow."
Soon after, she looked down from the tree.
"...Would you like to choose?"
Her gaze calmly swept over two extremely distant places. It passed over the Grand Steward's office in the center of the Desolate Fortress, and then toward the main gate of the main fortress.
Taking advantage of the chaos, a figure was calmly crossing the threshold of the Grand Steward's office.
It was a man wearing a bamboo hat and clad in pitch-black clothing, whom the Jianghu called the Yeoryeong Lord.
Meanwhile, beyond the still-sturdy main gate of the main fortress, there were dots charging forward, kicking off the horizon carved into the land of Xiangyang.
At a glance, their numbers were not going to end in the hundreds. The same went for the waves of energy that shook the ground, overlapping faintly but powerfully from afar.
Rumble—
The Jianghu sects that wished for nothing more than the destruction of the Desolate Fortress.
After the secret communications and various intelligence reports spread with extreme stealth by the Thirteen Heavens Yeoryeong overlapped, the entire world was flocking here.
Chirp!
Spreading its wings wide, White Swallow suddenly felt through its connection with Jeong Yeon-shin that its master had opened his eyes.
At the same time.
Boom!
Something suddenly plunged from the sky, carving a massive, long furrow into the ground, and a woman stepped down in front of it.
Her pitch-black hair, tied in a single ponytail, fluttered long behind her.
"..."
At the main gate of the Desolate Fortress, just before facing the entire martial world.
Two Purple Ranks stood.