The Anti-Dragon King Faction (4)

The moment the duel ended, the righteous sect vessels of Shaanxi moved as one.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Drums thundered. On the beat the ships drove their oars in perfect unison.

Not to be outdone, the Anti-Dragon King Faction answered with drums of their own and surged forward.

"It is too dangerous to remain here. I will withdraw!"

"Please do."

The old boatman read the situation at a glance, spun his skiff about, and raced back toward the vessel they had come from. Cheonhwa returned to his own ship without mishap.

Cheong-ha was waiting on deck and greeted him with open relief.

"Well fought. I never expected you to settle it that way—on a battlefield that favored him so heavily."

"If the board itself is against you, the best move is simply to overturn the board."

"Easy enough to think. Actually doing it is another matter entirely."

"I won, yet I still feel a little regret. If I could have fully unleashed the Water-Treading Technique, the duel would have gone far more smoothly."

Muryeokdapsu—also called Water-Surface Flight—was an exalted realm of lightness skill that let a martial artist race freely across open water. Only Peak Experts could even attempt it, and Cheonhwa had not yet mastered the art completely.

The heart of the Water-Treading Technique is to pour true qi into the natural surface itself and form footholds.

Creating those footholds demanded precise emission and recovery of internal energy. Fail, and either no foothold formed at all—or the drain became ruinous.

At present Cheonhwa could manage only the latter method. Had the duel been a single bout, the cost might have been acceptable. With the full battle still ahead, however, reckless expenditure was unwise.

Cheong-ha gave a short laugh.

"Then just be happy you won, pure and simple. You can polish the rough edges later."

"Fair enough. The real fight starts now."

Cheonhwa fixed his gaze on the waters ahead. The ships were accelerating, charging as though they no longer cared what lay behind them.

Crewmen shouted from every deck.

"Collision!"

"All hands, brace for impact!"

The cries had barely faded when a chain of impacts shuddered through the fleet. The crash of hulls, the groan of timber, the splintering of planks rose on every side. Spray exploded upward; decks heaved.

Before the rocking had even settled, warriors already aboard leaped for the enemy ships.

Shipboard combat had begun in earnest.

"Target the ones who still can't keep their feet!"

"If they're green at river fighting, go for the hull itself!"

"They're trying to sink us—stop them!"

"They've got Heat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yang practitioners! They mean to burn the ships!"

Shouts rolled across the water. Side by side, Cheonhwa and Cheong-ha sprang toward an Anti-Dragon King vessel.

The unorthodox fighters reacted at once.

"It's the Flash Sword Dragon!"

"Young swordsman in a robe embroidered with plum blossoms—that has to be the Plum Sword Dragon!"

"Cut down the next generation of the righteous path!"

They knew Cheonhwa on sight and recognized Cheong-ha as well; the fierce final of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering had spread far and wide.

"Hah—being famous myself still feels strange. I expected it for you, Cheonhwa, but me?"

Cheong-ha grinned as if the notoriety delighted him and drew the Jade Plum Sword. Clear resonance sang from the blade as true qi flooded the steel.

"Th-that sound—sword cry?!"

"How can a First-class martial artist already have reached Unity of Mind and Sword…?!"

"No need to look so shocked. My friend is already far ahead. I can't lag forever, can I?"

His eyes flicked toward Cheonhwa. The look said everything: he had pushed himself precisely so he would not fall behind.

Sensing the glance, Cheonhwa answered without words. He tightened his grip on Okgyeong, loosed the Qi-Charged Sword, and answered with a sword cry of his own—a silent pledge that he would trust his back to his friend.

Cheong-ha responded in kind. Qi auras collided and burst into a shower of blossoms.

Fragments of force-edge tore through the air without warning. The unorthodox ranks recoiled in shock.

"Aaaagh!"

"Damn it, what is this?!"

"Don't panic—it's a mountain sword laced with feints!"

"Raise defensive qi! The force itself isn't that strong!"

Those slow to react bled before they could raise a guard. Those who understood the form erected internal barriers and weathered the shards. Unorthodox practitioners normally found pure defensive qi difficult, their energy rarely pure enough—but every fighter here had cultivated demonic arts, and that gave them the margin they needed.

"Haha! Is that all?!"

"The righteous path is nothing special after all!"

Having blocked the Flower Origin Sword Formula with demonic power, they shouted in high spirits, clearly thrilled to have stopped a technique from a rising star of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

Cheong-ha, far from angry or surprised, only smiled. The entire opening had been a feint.

While their eyes were dazzled by the brilliant blossoms, Cheonhwa closed the distance in a heartbeat. Jade light spiraled along his blade; the vortex of force-edge smashed through the barriers without mercy and snuffed out three lives in a single stroke.

The Six Harmony Sensory Path let him move freely even when force-edge fragments clouded every sight line. To the unorthodox fighters it must have seemed as though Cheonhwa had simply materialized and taken their heads.

"The Flash Sword Dragon?!"

"He's a Peak Expert! Stay sharp!"

"Hey now—forgetting me would be rude!"

They scrambled to form ranks against Cheonhwa, yet Cheong-ha gave them no room to breathe. He scattered a mountain sword laced with a dozen subtle principles, again veiling their vision; Cheonhwa drove into every gap that appeared.

Their hands and feet meshed as though they had trained together for years. Under the twin assault the number of unorthodox fighters still standing dwindled with frightening speed.

"What in the world…?! There are only two of them!"

"Just two men—and they're clearing an entire ship?!"

The unorthodox martial artists reeled. They had known their opponents stood at the very peak of the righteous younger generation, yet the gulf still stunned them. Having gained power nearly equal to the orthodox path through demonic arts only made the disparity harder to accept.

What difference could possibly produce such a gap?

It was more than raw talent. Even on decks that pitched and rolled with every collision and wave, their centers never wavered. Their sword force remained razor-sharp no matter the chaos. What had forged such results?

They had pursued power alone and never once considered the foundation of martial arts, so they could not know. The difference between two rising stars of the righteous path and unorthodox fighters swollen with demonic arts lay in the very basics they had scorned—and they never understood it, not even in the moment their breath left them.

Overall, the tide of battle favored the righteous forces of Shaanxi. Cheonhwa's victory in the single duel had lifted morale, yet the deeper reason was simple: the quality of their fighters was superior.

True, the Anti-Dragon King Faction and their allies had cultivated demonic arts—but those arts were far from flawless, perfect techniques without counters. One by one the righteous side began to prepare answers, and none shone brighter than the Zhongnan Sect.

"That one is using the Heavenly Yang Divine Art!"

"Anyone who can perform Heaven-Under Flash, ready yourselves!"

"Use Dark Heaven True Qi to keep the fire from spreading!"

One unorthodox fighter unleashed the Heavenly Yang Divine Art in an attempt to set the ships ablaze. Without solid footing the righteous forces would be at a severe disadvantage—and Zhongnan knew the weakness well. They answered with crisp coordination: the cold of Dark Heaven True Qi canceled as much of the heat as possible, while any residual flame was drawn into the tips of longswords thrust forward in unison.

The disciples of Zhongnan hurled the absorbed heat straight back toward the enemy ships. Arcing flames struck sails and hulls dead-on. In trying to burn the righteous vessels they had set their own ships alight.

"What…?!"

The unorthodox fighter who had released the Heavenly Yang Divine Art stared in disbelief. Its heat was nothing like ordinary Heat Yang arts—yet the Zhongnan disciples had met it without fear and answered with precise counters. They were dismantling the demonic technique with ruthless efficiency.

Nor was the scene unique.

"A dense internal barrier—Heaven-Overturning Qi Armor!"

"Deploy Wind Flow Cloud Mountain!"

An unorthodox fighter charged, trusting the hardness of the Heaven-Overturning Qi Armor. Multiple streams of force-edge coiled around longsword blades and ground the defensive qi to powder.

"Black wind—Black Wind Divine Art!"

"Surround him and cancel the black wind with force-edge!"

When the wide-ranging Black Wind Divine Art tried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to sweep the deck, swordsmen closed in from every side. Continuous sword-winds of Heaven-Under Elegant Flow canceled the darkness as much as possible; the instant a hole opened in the wrapping aura, the forms of Heaven-Under Wind Demon stabbed into the gap.

Heavenly Yang Divine Art, Heaven-Overturning Qi Armor, Black Wind Divine Art—every demonic technique that had been identified. Cheonhwa had described in detail how he had overcome each of them, and the martial scholars of Zhongnan had forged counters from those accounts. The foundation of every counter was the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven.

Because the Thirty-Six Swords were Zhongnan's most basic sword art, the entire sect mastered the counters in short order.

Looking at it now, it was only natural.

Myeonghwa watched his sect brothers at work and smiled. Demonic arts offered enormous power in a short time if one simply ignored the monstrous side effects. No wonder unorthodox fighters had scrambled after them with bloodshot eyes.

But that is all they are.

Demonic arts were powerful, yet they also mastered the practitioner just as easily. Not one of the unorthodox fighters here truly controlled the force he wielded. It was not the man using the art—it was the art using the man.

Below a certain level, raw power alone can decide a fight. Once that line is crossed, it no longer can.

As if to prove the point, the foundation-first Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven were crushing the demonic arts. The Thirty-Six Swords scaled entirely with the martial artist's own ability—the exact opposite of demonic techniques that produced overwhelming results no matter who used them.

Therefore, the moment a martial artist's own capacity surpasses the mere function of a demonic art, this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kind of domination becomes possible.

It was living proof that every drop of blood and sweat shed until now had not been wasted. Effort had taken root in secret and finally borne fruit; how could anyone keep from smiling?

Junior Brother Cheonhwa—we'll hold this side somehow. The rest is in your hands.

Thinking of Cheonhwa already moving to seize the Anti-Dragon King Faction's leadership, Myeonghwa formed the silent wish in his heart.