Botap (5)
The return of the absolute elite from Shaanxi’s great sects, who had been dispatched to the Southern Barbarians.
With the unexpected appearance of these forces, the battlefield at Botap entered a new phase.
Gakhyeon glanced sideways at Cheonhwa.
To think he had truly become a Peak Expert, just as the reports had said.
He was inwardly astonished, yet the situation was far too grim for pure admiration.
“What do you intend to do, Gakhyeon?”
Baekju, a first-generation disciple of Mount Hua and leader of the Plum Blossom Sword Masters—the Plum Blossom Sword Master himself—asked.
To this, Gakhyeon, the Sect Leader’s disciple of the Zhongnan Sect and the Heaven-Reaching Sword, replied.
“Why ask the obvious?”
His gaze, cold as a blade’s edge, turned toward the jiangshi and the Paegeommun disciples.
“We wipe them all out without leaving a single one.”
At those words, the elite forces began to unleash their qi auras in unison.
As befitting the absolute elite, their realms were at minimum Peak Expert. When they all released their auras at once, the demonic qi veil that had blanketed the surroundings was blown away.
The darkness lifted, and the forms of the jiangshi and Paegeommun disciples were laid bare for all to see.
“The demonic qi just vanished?!”
“Wait—over there…?!”
The moment they laid eyes on the elite of Zhongnan and Mount Hua, the faces of the Paegeommun disciples hardened like stone.
A lavish force that included not only numerous Peak Experts but Super Experts as well.
Why were those who should have been in the Southern Barbarians appearing at Botap?
While the Paegeommun disciples reeled in shock at the unexpected righteous reinforcements, the jiangshi were thrown into a different kind of chaos.
It was because of the many masters who had revealed their presence by sweeping away the demonic qi.
Had there been only Peak Experts, it might have been manageable—but the Super Experts were the problem.
Beings of an entirely different caliber now regarded them with open hostility. Instinctively, they understood that even flight was impossible.
As the Paegeommun disciples and the jiangshi horde froze for their respective reasons, the righteous masters seized the moment and charged as one.
Plum blossoms bloomed from the tips of the Plum Blossom Sword Masters’ blades, dyeing the space around them. The Tae-eul Sword Masters each unfolded the principles of different sword arts and cut the enemy down without mercy.
In an instant, Ink Corpse jiangshi found themselves not merely pressed but beheaded in droves. At the same time, the densely condensed demonic qi within them began to surge toward detonation—
“Petty tricks.”
Gakhyeon stepped in, circulating the Heaven-Containing Heart Method and drawing up his inner energy.
Centered on Balanced Heaven Qi, Dark Heaven Qi and Blue Heaven Qi fused into one. Changing Heaven Qi spread in every direction and sank into the Ink Corpses on the verge of exploding.
The jiangshi’s bodies twitched and shuddered—and the explosions simply stopped.
What in the world…?
Cheonhwa, resting from his wounds, blinked in astonishment. Even seeing it with his own eyes, he could scarcely believe it.
He interfered with the demonic qi and suppressed the explosion?
Interfering with another’s energy was already extremely difficult. Demonic qi, moreover, was a thoroughly alien force unlike ordinary true qi. Naturally, interfering with it should have been all but impossible.
That Gakhyeon could do so was thanks to Changing Heaven Qi.
Changing Heaven Qi was energy that could freely transform the properties of true qi. Just as water could become ice or mist, just as flowers followed the cycle of the four seasons through death and rebirth, the natures of Water Qi and Wood Qi had merged into a single force of infinite transformation.
With that property, it was theoretically possible to interfere even with another’s true qi. Of course, it demanded both the user’s own capability and relentless research.
Gakhyeon had not merely been killing time at the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
The reputation of being the second-greatest martial scholar in Zhongnan was no empty boast.
The Heaven-Reaching Sword—so named for a swordmaster whose intellect touched the heavens. He had not fully deciphered the structure of demonic arts, but against creatures that had simply crammed inner energy into themselves without discrimination, like these jiangshi, he could stop them at will.
Gakhyeon lifted the jiangshi on the brink of explosion with Object Control and hurled them in every direction.
Boom! Ka-boom!
Moments later came the successive blasts of the jiangshi detonating. He had not simply thrown them far away. He had entangled them with those still spreading demonic qi veils, destroying two at a stroke.
For the time being, demonic qi would not blanket the area again.
Cheonhwa stared at Gakhyeon with dazed eyes. Sensing that gaze, Gakhyeon gave a brief snort of laughter and turned back toward the battlefield.
Many Ink Corpses still remained to be dealt with; a Super Expert lending a hand would clear the field that much faster.
Changing Heaven sword qi rippled along the longsword in Gakhyeon’s grip.
Once the elite of Zhongnan and Mount Hua joined the battle, the tide tilted completely toward the righteous side.
The jiangshi horde that had launched the assault was swept away entirely. The Paegeommun martial artists who had tried to ride that chaos met death as well.
Gakhyeon and Baekju did not stop there; they joined the Super Experts’ battle. The once-even balance of power shattered, and the Five Defeating Swords began to be driven back one-sidedly.
As a result, Gwang-paegeom and Gi-paegeom among the Five Defeating Swords met their deaths, while Hui-paegeom and Bi-paegeom fled with mortal wounds.
By the outcome alone, it was a complete victory for Zhongnan and Mount Hua.
Yet behind that victory lay the deaths of countless people. The damage from the Ink Corpses and Paegeommun disciples’ assault had been especially severe. Many first-class martial artists had lost their lives, and even Peak Experts had been wounded or killed in numbers.
The Super Experts who had fought so fiercely were far from whole themselves. That was why they had not pursued the fleeing enemy and had simply let them go.
“We won the battle, but the losses are heavy.”
Gakhyeon spoke as he surveyed the battlefield still being cleared. Cheonhwa nodded in agreement.
The chaotic melee caused by the jiangshi unit’s assault had been the greatest cause of the casualties. Without the elite forces of Zhongnan and Mount Hua returning from the Southern Barbarians, the result might well have been the opposite.
“It is thanks to Martial Uncle Gakhyeon returning from the Southern Barbarians.”
“As if it were my effort alone. You held out well yourself.”
Gakhyeon offered rare praise. That alone spoke to how great Cheonhwa’s contribution had been. Had Cheonhwa not risked his life to draw their attention, the losses would have been far worse.
“Even so, you were too reckless. There are times one must stake one’s life, but you are the Great Disciple. Keep in mind the consequences that would follow if you fell.”
Undertaking something so reckless that he might have died was worthy of rebuke—yet finding the courage to save his allies was equally worthy of praise. The two canceled each other out, and Gakhyeon did not scold him further.
“How will the war proceed from here?”
“We will likely push north as we are.”
Paegeommun had suffered just as heavily as Zhongnan and Mount Hua in this battle. Of their five Super Experts, they had lost two, and their Peak Experts had taken near-total losses. A considerable portion of Paegeommun’s strength had been carved away.
“On our side, we have the sects’ elite who returned from the Southern Barbarians.”
Ordinarily, when both sides were this exhausted, a war would settle into a temporary lull. But the return of the elite forces had given them room to move. With the enemy drained, they might—if fortune favored them—drive all the way to the main stronghold.
“When we strike the main base we will need every last ounce of strength again, so those who fought in this battle will be given rest.”
Gakhyeon said this while looking at Cheonhwa. The gaze carried a silent question: And what will you do?
Any other martial artist would rest while the front was pushed forward. One needed only look at how utterly spent the third-generation disciples were.
But Cheonhwa was different.
Dark Heaven True Qi, which accelerated recovery through qi circulation. The restorative power gained upon mastering Dark Heaven True Qi. A body that, through successive fortuitous encounters and repeated tempering, had reached the realm of blade-and-sword immunity.
These three factors interlocking allowed him to recover swiftly and rejoin the field. Cheonhwa answered at once.
“This is a situation where even one more pair of hands is precious. I intend to rejoin as soon as I recover.”
“You will be all right without rest?”
“Qi circulation is rest enough. More than that…”
Cheonhwa looked out over the battlefield still being cleared. Bodies of the dead were being gathered and carried away. Among those corpses were not only sect brothers with whom he had shared hardship, but faces he had met while carrying out missions during the war.
“…I simply hope that even one fewer person has to die.”
“Do you regret it, as if their deaths were your fault?”
“No.”
Cheonhwa shook his head. He had done the best he could. There might be lingering attachment, but there was no regret. Even having become a Peak Expert, he was still only a man—an individual. There was a limit to what one person could do.
“I simply want to do what I can, to the best of my ability.”
“And that means actively joining the war to reduce our side’s losses?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“…”
Gakhyeon regarded Cheonhwa steadily. There was no sign that the deaths of his sect brothers had driven him into heart-demons. Nor did he seem to have grown detached from death.
He mourned those close to him, yet carried that grief and quickened his steps—as if the moment those steps stopped, he himself would die.
That was likely the personal enlightenment and resolve Cheonhwa had engraved upon gaining Spiritual Nature.
He’s grown a great deal while I wasn’t looking.
Not merely in martial rank, but in many other ways. Truly a case of rubbing one’s eyes and looking again.
His body, though he seemed to have learned no particular external arts, had advanced to blade-and-sword immunity. His inner energy had taken up Blue Heaven Qi Art—the third of the Four Directions Heaven Arts—and reached minor completion. Of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, he could now handle eight of the final twelve forms.
He focused his training on Blue Heaven Qi Art and the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. It matches exactly the direction I had in mind.
As a martial scholar, Gakhyeon had already considered what he would teach once Cheonhwa became a Peak Expert. That plan had centered on strengthening his foundations. Even with Spiritual Nature, Cheonhwa’s natural talent remained thoroughly ordinary. Better to grow by extending what he had already learned than to rashly take up higher arts.
But this… far surpasses the growth I envisioned.
Such abnormal progress surely meant there had been a fortuitous encounter—and that he had digested it alone, without anyone’s help.
I should revise the training plan completely.
Were it not for the war, he would have taken Cheonhwa aside and tested the extent of his growth himself. There was no leisure for that now.
As soon as the aftermath at Botap was settled, they would push north, seize Yan’an, and head for Yulin, where Paegeommun’s stronghold lay.
Gakhyeon’s gaze turned northward.
How would Paegeommun respond to this situation?
At Paegeommun’s stronghold in Yulin, Shaanxi, the Paegeommunju was receiving the report that the battle at Botap had ended in defeat.
“Defeat in battle, and two of the Five Defeating Swords dead.”
Even hearing of the loss, the Paegeommunju did not rage. He answered with indifference, as if victory and defeat were of no concern.
“What of the righteous side’s movements?”
“They occupied Botap, finished the cleanup, and are already advancing north.”
“Is that so. With the elite returned from the Southern Barbarians, pushing up is only natural.”
The Paegeommunju rose from his seat.
“Prepare to march.”
The man who ruled the unorthodox martial world of Shaanxi spoke. He would personally receive the approaching enemy.
The war that had begun with spring was racing toward its end as summer reached its midpoint.