Chapter 268: The Master of the Martial Book (5)
“Hngh…”
The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s last disciple could not move. He only let out a groan.
He extended his arm, stepped on by the Radiant Demon Wing Leader, as if it were a support. He did not shake off the unprecedentedly weakened Jeong Yeon-shin.
This was so despite Qi Tu-you’s eye technique accurately assessing the current Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s physical state.
Indeed, Jeong Yeon-shin’s energy waves were faint and unstable.
Internal injuries nearing qi deviation, external wounds staining his upper body with blood. He had faced powerful supreme masters in succession.
How could he easily handle Qi Tu-you, who ascended as if strolling with his master? The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s last disciple was a master who wielded the Transcendent Flight Technique effortlessly.
Beneath Qi Tu-you’s feet, the grass still held its head high. It was an odd phenomenon.
“Stay still.”
Jeong Yeon-shin said, standing with both feet together.
The second teaching of the Desolate Fortress Leader. The feint she taught disrupted an opponent master’s aura perception.
Jeong Yeon-shin aligned his energy waves with Qi Tu-you’s inner power fluctuations.
He recalled a shadow puppet troupe that once visited his hometown, Xinye County. Facing the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader brought it to mind suddenly.
Chasing the heels of village children who outran him, he had observed puppets tied to multiple strings moving from a distance.
A trinket shadow play. He had watched, entranced.
‘The profound meaning was within me too.’
A martial artist’s martial arts were tied to their life.
Jeong Yeon-shin toyed with Qi Tu-you’s emitted energy waves using the imagery of his childhood.
He delicately manipulated the faint fluctuations of the Dharma Luminous Wheel Technique like threads, robbing him of inner power perception.
A master’s aura perception was linked to the five senses. The deeper the mental cultivation, the quicker the response to a strike from behind.
Disrupting aura perception meant confusing the senses too. That was the profound essence of the Mind Sword Feint.
“Mind Sword, you say…?”
Qi Tu-you’s composed demeanor turned to dismay. There were two reasons he could not respond properly.
The instinct that moving his arm might shift another joint, and the insight that the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s weakened kick could shatter his skull.
A Squad Leader under the Divine Sword Group would possess all manner of countermeasures.
Jeong Yeon-shin suppressed the danger with a caliber befitting a Desolate Fortress black robe. A supreme master’s stance.
While casually scattering Qi Tu-you’s aura perception, he observed the battle between the Mount Hua Sect Leader and the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader.
Their sword paths intertwined in hundreds of strands around them.
To the eye, it resembled a storm of threads. In a life-and-death duel deciding Shaanxi’s best, terrifying killing intent surged.
Clang!
Sunlight warped along the sword trajectories of the two peerless masters.
Swift sword streaks, their explosive force trailing far behind.
Even single strikes unleashed shockwaves stronger than the Brilliant River, making it hard to track their paths even with the Lowly Revelation Technique activated.
He could barely follow due to a familiar quality in Lu Xian’s movements. The sword path, swaying like flower branches, bore the essence of the Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation.
‘She’s pressing him.’
Peerless masters lived in a different time. Hundreds of exchanges passed in moments.
The difference was minute, but Lu Xian’s sword seemed to reach its peak slightly sooner.
Had it helped somewhat? The sword intent recorded in the Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation appeared embedded in the strikes now repelling the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader.
Since a single sect often branched into dozens of martial arts, it was truly fortunate.
“You… don’t know… the Sect Leader…”
Qi Tu-you’s voice rose from below. Jeong Yeon-shin did not lower his gaze.
“Lightning Genius. A peerless prodigy like you… can never know…”
Then.
The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s sword momentum shifted suddenly. His greatsword, shimmering colorlessly, multiplied into dozens, then fused back into a single blade in an instant.
It was as if a sword strike was completed in an entirely different dimension.
Whoosh!
Immense pressure crushed the skin.
At that moment, Qi Tu-you’s body moved too. As if determined to kill, he thrust his other hand.
By then, Jeong Yeon-shin had already concentrated the Dharma Luminous Wheel Technique into his right foot.
Enduring the brief pain of his acupoints being sliced by a blade, he unleashed his internal energy through the Yongquan acupoint on his sole.
Crack!
A solid sensation met his toes, followed by the feeling of it being crushed and shattered.
The moment he landed after bursting Qi Tu-you’s head, Jeong Yeon-shin saw Lu Xian falling backward.
Blood spurted. Her abdomen seemed diagonally cleaved. The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s eyes flashed with ferocity as he swung his greatsword.
Boom!
Terrifying energy writhed around him. An absolute master’s internal energy.
Beyond Lu Xian’s shoulder, his gaze toward Jeong Yeon-shin encroached upon the space.
Undisputedly Shaanxi’s foremost.
Their eyes met.
The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s black pupils remained unshaken despite losing a disciple. A calmness bordering on madness.
“I heard you easily craft exclusive martial arts.”
He said with a deep resonance.
“I cannot, so I am laboriously creating one. The Three Forms of Desolation Breaking. That was the first form.”
“…”
“I did not kill her. In Shaanxi, only Brilliant Jade can challenge me.”
Jeong Yeon-shin did not reply. He focused on holding Lu Xian and tapping her abdominal acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
Yet he kept the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader in his sight. Blue lightning crackled in the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s eyes.
Gazing down at him steadily, the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader spoke.
“A brat who has exchanged much with me.”
Step.
He turned away.
“I await the day you become a divine sword.”
***
***
Many emerged alive from where Yu Ling’s Young Lord died. Masters of Shaanxi’s Thirteen Heavens, Water King Sect members, white path warriors on the outskirts at the time…
Few spoke of the fact that there were two thousand-year ginseng roots.
Most did not follow the Radiant Demon Wing Leader, either ascending Seven Ladies Peak or descending directly.
The masters present remained tight-lipped about their gains, and only the spectacle shown by the current Radiant Demon Wing Leader lingered as a shock, passing from mouth to mouth. It reached the mountain’s base swiftly.
“Yu Ling’s Young Lord had the thousand-year ginseng stolen!”
Winged spirit creatures and several messenger pigeons took flight. Wings brushing bare branches headed down the vast slopes.
The moment the Blood Flame Cult’s Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array vanished, the mountainside, stretched like a horizon, filled with people.
Rumors of Desolate Fortress’s Radiant Demon Wing Leader spread.
It was inevitable.
Those barred by the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array climbed the mountain.
Rogues, masters from prestigious sects, and caravan folk with escorts left countless footprints in the snow with their lightness techniques.
The sound of trampling bushes was loud. They leaped over corpses with vivid neck bite marks and ignored piles of blood demon remains whose causes of death were hard to deduce.
Those originally roaming Mount Taibai. Newcomers entering afresh.
Many sought one person, searching tirelessly.
A vast movement of herb-gathering martial artists converged toward a point on the ridge. A net of heaven and earth formed naturally.
At its center.
“Sect Leader, you must not lose consciousness.”
A low voice flowed with white breath.
Crunch.
Jeong Yeon-shin passed snow-clad trees, carrying Lu Xian on his back.
His collar dragged long. The sensation was unusually vivid.
His steps were heavy. His aura perception was not as broad as before.
From the Ghost White Divine Sword and Shaanxi’s Top Demon to the Thirteen Heavens’ joint attack and supreme masters on Mount Taibai. Accumulated internal and external injuries seemed to erode even a body forged by the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.
Even the Dharma Luminous Wheel Technique did not move as he willed, merely drifting like faint haze through his entire body acupoints.
Irksome figures were a problem too.
“The blood demons were wiped out. They say a blood-drenched woman staggered away.”
“Some guess it’s internal strife. Those who scanned from afar with eye techniques said so.”
“That one, it’s Brilliant Jade Sword God for sure! A golden chance…”
“Yu Ling’s Young Lord and his protector died, the Ronin was found as a corpse. The Water King Sect lost its leader…”
“His strength must be waning. No, standing is a miracle, isn’t it? How did he beat them? Astonishing beyond measure.”
“Look at that gait. Does it feel strong?”
A massive encirclement descended with Jeong Yeon-shin. Some whispered, while others did not bother lowering their voices.
The ridge lay wide open since the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array dissipated.
At first, they gathered stealthily in ones and twos, but by the time whistling arrows and spirit creatures’ wingbeats grew loud, hundreds surrounded Jeong Yeon-shin.
To some ignorant fools, the exhausted Radiant Demon Wing Leader was delectable prey.
Carrying a thousand-year ginseng and bearing the Mount Hua Sect Leader on his back. A spirit creature promising both rare herbs and fame.
Even those versed in worldly affairs were little different.
Martial artists bearing grudges against the imperial divine sword were common in this era. Where else could one find a black robe commander’s head? Desolate Fortress’s retaliation could be pushed aside.
A pack of jackals.
All manner of weapons clattered.
The sounds of stepping on snow varied. Careless, stealthy, eager to charge, and refined like honed blades, they formed an enormous circle descending.
It trapped Jeong Yeon-shin at the center.
He occasionally adjusted Lu Xian on his back, stepping silently.
Whoosh.
A sudden winter wind pushed back the hair at his nape. His breath trailed along his jawline.
At the same time, a faint breath brushed his nape. The sweet scent typical of one with severe internal injuries.
“Radiant… Demon Wing Leader…”
It was Lu Xian on his back. Jeong Yeon-shin parted his lips calmly.
“Sect Leader.”
“Leave me.”
“The evil outer path is strewn everywhere. Many are deranged, so you will surely be harmed. It will be the same if I leave the ginseng here.”
“Your nature… and talent are precious. You must not perish in a place like this. Cannot you escape alone?”
Her voice, breaking intermittently, carried stubbornness.
Her words, meant to make the other relent, resembled his grandfather’s, suggesting peerless masters often had strong wills.
The current Radiant Demon Wing Leader had resolved long ago. He would not become like his grandfather.
“I will manage.”
“…”
Exhaling, Jeong Yeon-shin sharpened his senses. A brown pine needle brushing his face revealed a distorted airflow beneath, unseen to the eye.
Energy waves hid in the air’s flow. The surrounding killing intent grew denser.
“If I strike first, will I die?”
“Even so, he’s the Radiant Demon Wing Leader. He could kill the likes of you in one move.”
“Shall we test it? Wait a bit.”
“If we’re doing it, block the descent first. Self-proclaimed white path orthodox types know no shame. They often piggyback on the imperial assassin’s grand feats.”
“Strike before his exploits spread widely? Yes… that makes sense. How many evil outer path supreme masters has he slain…”
A conversation between noble sons in sleek robes layered with fur.
It came from above. Men in ghost masks trod branches like immortals, following Jeong Yeon-shin, calling each other Golden Hero and Golden Fist.
Likely aliases for a caravan’s leaders.
The attire of the dozen escorts trailing them exuded wealth.
“All sorts are flocking. Rabble or masters alike.”
“About two hundred fifty now. Getting harder to count.”
“I’m getting anxious. That’s my achievement. Taking a thousand-year ginseng could let me surpass my sister in the succession.”
“A boy drawing all of Shaanxi’s lawless to him.”
“Golden Fist, does that look like a boy to you?”
“Hm?”
“So careless. He’s a Desolate Fortress black robe. Don’t think of him as human.”
“Oh, hard to deny that now.”
“We move last. Aim for the fisherman’s profit. Ignorant fools will wear the Radiant Demon Wing Leader down.”
When Golden Hero’s smooth jaw stilled after mentioning the fisherman’s gain.
Slash!
Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder jerked back sharply as he descended the slope.
Blood sprayed like a blade. He gritted his teeth against the fresh surge of pain.
“…”
Instantly, the warriors forming the net of heaven and earth fell silent.
A silence born of realization swept around like a vortex. The Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s condition was truly dire.
A swordsman ahead, raising his blade, smirked.
“Did you see… The Desolate Fortress commander, struck by my sword wind, ugh…!”
At that moment, a snowball Jeong Yeon-shin kicked smashed into the man’s eye.
With a splat, it burst with a trace of the Dharma Luminous Wheel Technique, though the dull thud seemed to stir little excitement in anyone.
Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes narrowed.
‘My counter was fully visible to them. Allowing that strike is a problem too.’
The heat filling the net of heaven and earth intensified. Even after the swordsman’s corpse fell back.
The jackals had fully grasped the tiger’s state. From below, a new cluster of warriors surged up.
“It’s true! He’s there!”
“The ginseng! The thousand-year ginseng is in his grasp!”
“The woman on his back, her robe looks like Mount Hua’s? Her status…?”
“Who cares about some Taoist hag’s status when we’re here to take down the Radiant Demon Wing Leader! Taking their heads could get us into the Thirteen Heavens!”
The encirclement thickened endlessly. The wall of warriors emitted fierce energy waves.
The fighting spirit and killing intent, surging with inner power fluctuations, tore at the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s robes like tangible wind.
“Golden Hero, when do we strike?”
“Wait a bit more. It’ll erupt soon.”
Conversations from various spots carried ease and excitement.
Those stoking their momentum from all directions, above and below, soon began checking their surroundings more than the Radiant Demon Wing Leader.
The raw martial world.
Jeong Yeon-shin carried the Mount Hua Sect Leader and stepped silently.
She spoke.
“I said I’d get down…”
“You’re not the Fortress Leader.”
He replied curtly, preparing for an inevitable assault. Head slightly bowed, he sharpened his close-range aura perception.
Crunch, crunch.
He could not abandon someone with whom he had shared goodwill. It was unrelated to Lu Xian’s status.
He had learned the value of kindness at his mother’s settlement. It was worth protecting.
The Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s chivalry. In this moment, it deepened with the white footprints.
Seventeen steps later.
‘Hm?’
Jeong Yeon-shin raised his head suddenly. The surroundings had grown quiet.
A stillness colder than winter wind lingered. The once-raucous crowd had frozen, all speech halted.
Only the sound of pine needles rolling on the snow stood out sharply.
He scanned around and realized why.
“…”
Twenty figures had surrounded the three hundred in the net of heaven and earth.
A black-haired beauty standing upright with her sword plunged into the ground at her feet, a noble son chewing red poppies with a furrowed brow, a heroic youth with an indignant face sweeping the crowd, a noblewoman holding a bow while stepping upside-down on a branch.
Each in their own stance.
Robes, as if dipped in the sky and withdrawn, fluttered in the wind.
All their garments shone a brilliant blue, the “Desolate” (荒) on their shoulders standing out silently.
The heroic youth spoke.
“I’ve little to say. You all should descend quickly.”
“No.”
It rang from high above.
A branch above the ghost-masked noble sons. A one-eyed noble youth in a hood shook his head, stroking his sword hilt.
His fresh demeanor bore no expression.
“Kill them all.”
Crack!
Directly below, a black sword tip plunged into a frozen rogue’s abdomen.
Baek Mi-ryeo’s blade, her deep black hair trailing. It was wreathed in darkly manifested demonic energy.
“Squad Leader, shall we return now?”
White veins rose on the back of her hand gripping the sword hilt. Right after her brief words.
She twisted her waist, cleaving the rogue’s upper body upward. Snap—ribs broke apart with a single sound as a torrent of blood sprayed.
A strike that froze time.
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