Chapter 515: Sunset (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 515: Sunset (6)
Just how formidable were the movements of the successive Commanders of the Divine Sword Corps when fully prepared for battle? Before Shin Cheon-hwa could even finish saying they had arrived safely, Jeong Yeon-shin was forced to witness an astonishing sight.
Purple filled his vision.
Yong Hee-myung and Ma Yeon-jeok materialized right before his eyes, as if their bodies had melted into the void and re-emerged in a fraction of a second.
It was a reaction speed capable of perfectly countering a sudden, transcendent ambush.
'Fast...!'
Even to Jeong Yeon-shin, who had instantly activated the Sight of the Lowly, they did not appear slow. Before the blue glow could fully consume his sclera, the two men’s feet were already stepping onto the stone floor.
The ground collapsed entirely, bursting with pale ripples—
"...!"
Suddenly, Ma Yeon-jeok's eyes widened to their limits. The motion of him thrusting a palm toward Yong Hee-myung's flank flashed by like lightning.
So did the sight of Yong Hee-myung, who had already twisted his body, spinning as elegantly as a scholar performing a fan dance.
Kabaaaang! Flutter—
Ma Yeon-jeok's palm force instantly ruptured the air in rapid succession, triggering a violent tremor. Meanwhile, Yong Hee-myung's wide sleeves fluttered broadly as he flawlessly redirected the impact.
A metallic scent of blood drifted from the endless, straight line of dust kicked up beside them.
This was a land untouched by sunlight.
In the next moment, Jeong Yeon-shin felt his shoulder gripped by his maternal grandfather's large hand.
"Yeon-shin! Are you alright...!"
"What a temper."
To the side, Yong Hee-myung brushed off the hem of his robe near his flank. "I was already stopping on my own."
"Have you been well?"
Jeong Yeon-shin offered a polite greeting, but his mind momentarily drifted into deep thought.
If he had faced the reflexive opening moves of these two head-on, how much of their onslaught could he have countered with his current level of achievement?
Considering it was a joint attack, perhaps about thirty percent?
That was by no means a small amount. In fact, it was high enough to surprise even Jeong Yeon-shin himself.
'Did I estimate too generously...?'
Just then.
"It seems a ghost has possessed the Elder Council Head. Between the Void Displacement and everything else, this is all quite sudden."
It was Yong Hee-myung's voice.
As Jeong Yeon-shin turned his head, the face of the current Commander of the Divine Sword Corps came into view.
Yong Hee-myung's pupils were faintly slit vertically. That alone seemed to freeze the air like ice.
'He has grown stronger, if only slightly.'
Jeong Yeon-shin momentarily fell into self-doubt, reflecting on whether he truly possessed the martial prowess to challenge the Commander.
Meanwhile, following Yong Hee-myung's gaze, Shin Cheon-hwa stood with her arms crossed. Her lips parted.
[So, you are the current one? You have been blessed with an absurdly vast amount of talent. You don't even feel human... Our Lord truly is blessed with good people.]
Her voice seeped leisurely into the air. Yong Hee-myung shrugged.
"You flatter me. And who might you be?"
It was a conversation between individuals born with overwhelmingly powerful Qi.
Though he didn't show it, Jeong Yeon-shin began to wonder if placing the past and present of the Main Fortress in the same room was truly a good idea.
'As expected, I must be the one to pacify the Main Fortress...'
Meanwhile, Ma Yeon-jeok—who had been firmly squeezing Jeong Yeon-shin's shoulder a few times, not quite daring to shake him—turned his head. Their eyes met, and Ma Yeon-jeok immediately spoke.
"Yeon-shin."
"Yes, Grandfather."
"Are you not weary?"
"A little..."
"For that thing to have been released means the Main Fortress was driven into a corner. How did you manage?"
[What a brat.]
The corners of Shin Cheon-hwa's mouth curled slightly.
[You've certainly grown a lot.]
Ma Yeon-jeok completely ignored her. It was as if he had erased the very existence of the former-former Commander of the Divine Sword Corps from his consciousness.
He continued to examine Jeong Yeon-shin's entire body as he spoke.
"Your acupoints are fine, but I see traces of a fierce battle."
"Yes, well..."
"Those bastards deserve to be beaten to death... What is the extent of the damage to the Main Fortress? And what kind of scum dared to violate Xiangyang?"
It was then.
Hum.
Suddenly, Shin Cheon-hwa floated a sphere made of soil above their heads.
It was Void Grab, a technique that was nothing out of the ordinary in this place. Ma Yeon-jeok asked abruptly with an annoyed expression, "What is it?"
[I have something to discuss regarding your grandson—that is to say, the future of the Main Fortress.]
Snap.
The moment Shin Cheon-hwa snapped her fingers, a translucent haze of light began to distort the twilight, projecting an image from the earthen sphere.
A massive main gate with fortress walls stretching wide to the left and right, a dried-up moat, Jeong Yeon-shin stepping down as he crushed an old man's head underfoot, robes fluttering violently in all directions, and weapons flashing with brilliant light...
She manipulated the energy of the earth and its spirituality at will. It was a sight that transcended the word "mystical"—a sorcery martial art that was nothing short of a divine ultimate technique.
[Shall we enjoy this first before we talk? I haven't properly watched it yet either.]
*
The Desolate Fortress Chief Steward's Office.
It had been a long time since the scent of ink from the scholars had mingled with the raw, metallic smell of beasts.
It was the unique scent of spirit beasts. Into the room where such contrasting aromas mingled, transparent sunlight rippled in.
The movements of the spirit beasts, which had been frantically darting in and out of the Chief Steward's Office as messengers, were also gradually slowing down.
At the head of the room, past dozens of desks and even more sets of the four treasures of the study, the scholars of the Chief Steward's Office were making rapid brush strokes, their intelligent eyes flashing clearly—
Whew—
Grand Steward Im Jin-myeong slowly exhaled and opened his eyes. The Qi meditation of the supreme master, who had overseen every battlefield as the central pillar of the Main Fortress, had come to an end.
Instantly, the heavily distorted air around him dispersed with a rush, lightly rustling the stacks of paper on his desk.
Throughout the Great Sect War, Im Jin-myeong had kept the vast Desolate Fortress in his mind's eye, holding every detail within his head.
Naturally, this was impossible without squeezing out every drop of True Qi in his body and pushing his Upper Dantian to the absolute limit.
He desperately needed time to soothe his internal injuries, even if only a little. That was also why he had abruptly cut off the telepathic transmission he had been sending to Jeong Yeon-shin earlier.
—The Imperial Family ultimately did not send any reinforcements. I heard a massive number of Imperial masters came down from the north, but where did all those monsters who were fighting the Northern Jianghu head-on go?
—I have news here. It seems a large number of them have hurriedly gathered in Shaanxi. Hmm, searching for the legacy of the deceased Sword Immortal of Zhongnan...? They truly are an unpredictable bunch.
—Could it be that they measured Lord Jeong's martial prowess more accurately than we did...?
Before long, the scholars in the room were conversing with each other via telepathy.
The Sun-and-Moon Protective Qi Art of the Chief Steward's Office was indeed a highly sensitive internal cultivation art.
Soon, beside the straight-backed Im Jin-myeong, a young man dressed as a scholar who had been guarding his side slowly spoke.
"The martial artists gathered in the south of the Main Fortress are rapidly dispersing. Furthermore, it is said that Lord Jeong has declared victory."
"Yes, if he says so, then it is a victory. Ah... how long has it been since Lord Jeong manifested?"
Im Jin-myeong asked, as if seeking confirmation. The young scholar answered without hesitation.
"About an hour and fifteen minutes have passed."
"...He is no longer a newly appointed Purple Rank."
Im Jin-myeong muttered somewhat blankly, then focused his gaze and asked another question.
"What is the situation at the East and West Gates? Have the martial world ruffians who infiltrated the Main Fortress been properly dealt with?"
"Have you not already seen? With the Ordered Eye... the greatest eye technique of the Desolate Fortress."
The young scholar replied dryly. His voice was literally somewhat parched.
However, the nearby scholars did not react to this bizarre behavior.
They did not even realize that Im Jin-myeong had opened his eyes, nor that he was conversing with the young scholar.
A brief silence ensued.
"..."
Turning his head to the side, Im Jin-myeong's gaze slowly drifted upward.
The mouth of the Grand Overseer of the Desolate Fortress slowly opened.
"You speak the Huguang dialect quite well. For a demonfolk bastard, you sound just like a native of this country."
"You've figured out that much?" the young scholar asked back in a flat tone. On one side of his otherwise unremarkable face, the skin near his cheek momentarily became as transparent as glass.
Above his head, a bamboo hat that hadn't been there before shimmered into existence like a mirage in a great desert.
The Grand Overseer did not answer. Instead, he calmly posed another question.
"A truly simple trick. Infiltrating during the chaos of the Great Sect War to pierce the heart of the Main Fortress... Is that the Unified Martial Transcendence of the Thirteen Heavens' Yeoryeong Lord?"
[My life is what reflects you all.]
Even though the young man's voice began to reverberate, work in the Desolate Fortress Chief Steward's Office proceeded as normal.
Only the two of them were isolated from it all. It was as if a mirror, reflecting the inside and outside completely differently, had surrounded them.
It was all due to the transparent wave of energy emanating from the young scholar's body. He had manifested a transcendent phenomenon through his sheer skill in manipulating internal energy.
The corners of Im Jin-myeong's beard twitched slightly upward.
"An enviable technique. Truly fatal."
[I asked how you knew my identity.]
"I wondered if the Yeoryeong Lord's Unified Martial Transcendence was merely an energy barrier, but on second thought, it must be incredibly effective in actual combat. It certainly cannot be compared to a cheap trick like a human skin mask."
[We have pitted our wits against each other for quite some time. In the end, I have significantly depleted the forces of this land, so it is only natural that you are upset. But shouldn't our exchange be fair? I have already answered you once.]
Both of them sarcastically mocked each other with an air of leisure. In terms of Go, it was checkmate. Naturally, Im Jin-myeong was the one driven into a corner.
He tapped the table with his index finger.
They had won the battle.
'But...'
Looking at the entire Jianghu, the victory or defeat became ambiguous.
Such was the opponent's position. While it would have been ideal for them if the Desolate Fortress was destroyed, they had nothing to lose even if it wasn't. That was the Northern Jianghu for you.
Hum.
Im Jin-myeong secretly drew down the True Qi—which he had instantly raised to his Baihui Point—to the back of his eyes.
"To be honest, I only became certain of your identity just now. Of course, I had my suspicions. A fellow who failed every single time he tried to produce results, yet dared to pull off something of this scale again without even caring about his own prestige... No matter how I thought about it, your temperament was entirely different from the Jianghu here."
He spoke slowly, adding that he had closely investigated the movements of the Yeoryeong Lord—a peerless expert they could never manage to capture.
The mouth of the young scholar—the Yeoryeong Lord—curved into a faint arc.
[I admit it. I have failed as a Lord of the Thirteen Heavens.]
"Indeed. It is quite amusing to see an incompetent fool smiling so happily."
[You've lost your mind.]
The Yeoryeong Lord muttered briefly as he raised his hand. It was the prelude to an attack. In that instant, a colorless light flashed in Im Jin-myeong's eyes.
"It seems you are mistaken about something."
A low, growling voice rumbled out.
It was a demeanor similar to what the acting Commander of the Divine Sword Corps had shown in the Main Fortress today. The smile vanished from the face of the Yeoryeong Lord, whose index finger was now dyed in a pure white glow.
[A dying man sure talks big. Everything that happens in this land is merely your mutual destruction; it does not affect us in the slightest.]
"We did not deplete the forces of this land. We merely crushed a band of thieves who prey on the lives of commoners. Under the leather boots of Lord Jeong, the Flash Art."
As always, Im Jin-myeong spat out his next words.
"Of course, you don't need to blame yourself too much. No one in this Jianghu could have foreseen the emergence of Lord Jeong."
[A name that will die young before even reaching the Fighting God.]
"And naturally, no one could have guessed what he was capable of arranging."
[Once you die, this land will fall into even greater chaos.]
Both only spoke their own minds.
Im Jin-myeong did not even stand up as the Yeoryeong Lord's hand plunged down toward him.
He was already suppressing severe internal injuries. In a situation where any resistance was meaningless, only two things moved.
The palm force slicing through space like a flickering snake's tongue, and another hand that suddenly glided smoothly across space to grip the Yeoryeong Lord's throat.
Shatter!
It was the sound of the surrounding energy barrier and the Yeoryeong Lord's Body Protection Qi being crushed. Blue veins writhed on the back of a hand that was pale to the point of being white.
Beside the Yeoryeong Lord stood a woman in a red robe, her pitch-black hair hanging down like the night sky. A dense wave of Blood Art Qi emanated from her smiling lips.
"Who is dying young?"
A voice similar to the Yeoryeong Lord's flowed from the lips of the Seventh Apostle. She had completely copied his voice through the hand gripping his throat. It was not particularly intentional.
It was simply due to the overwhelming internal power overflowing from the Seventh Apostle's body and her innate senses.
The Yeoryeong Lord smiled back.
[Blood Ghost, you who are practically the secret guardian of the Wilderness Sunfall, did you think I wouldn't prepare for you?]
The martial arts of a peerless expert were bound to encompass all situations. It was extremely rare for them to die in vain.
Whoosh!
The Yeoryeong Lord's body blurred like smoke.
Almost simultaneously, Im Jin-myeong's martial art was activated. The Divine Art Secret Technique: Ordered Eye.
His vision soared, bridging the split second with the greatest eye technique of the Desolate Fortress. The scene reflected in his eyes crumpled entirely, only to unfold again from atop a distant tree.
It was a view looking down at the pavilion of the Chief Steward's Office, its roof wide open due to the constant coming and going of spirit beasts.
He was sharing his vision with none other than the White Swallow. At this moment, the pure white spirit swallow was pecking at the air with its tiny beak, perched on the shoulder of a woman who had notched an arrow to a massive bow.
—This way!
Im Jin-myeong's telepathic transmission, which he had already sent while activating his eye technique, raced through the air like lightning. The hand of the World Tree's Heaven-Piercing Bow Spirit instantly released the bowstring.
Twang—!
Her light green hair fluttered along with her body as she absorbed the explosive recoil, and a single streak of light was faintly etched from the tree branch to the Chief Steward's Office like moonlight.
The sight captured by the tiny eyes of the white swallow.
First was the figure of the Yeoryeong Lord, who had suddenly turned his head precisely toward them.
Within the time of peerless experts, which stretched a split second into eternity, his eyebrows began to rise. It was a look unbefitting of one who had toyed with the world with his dry, cold gaze.
Hum—
Just before the energy barrier of his Unified Martial Transcendence could rise again like shards of a mirror to fill the gap with a gesture that left afterimages, a blood-red haze ruthlessly blocked his movement.
In the brief moment panic surged like a tidal wave in the Yeoryeong Lord's eyes—
Splat—!
His head exploded into pieces.