Chapter 527: Honoured One of the South (6)

In the beautiful mountain scenery.

The technique contained in my hand through the internal energy structure of sonic arts. The waves of Luminous Wheel Technique undulated with a hot sensation in my palm. If this enters from the handle to the blade, it will transform into sword song.

—Won’t you come here?

Containing mental intent to convey to the Wudang Sect Leader.

There is no mistake.

The formula created while forming friendship with His Highness the Crown Prince has continued to develop.

Moreover, since achieving Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, unless I overexert myself particularly, not even a trace of stimulation reaches the Baihui acupoint. The time at the Desolate Grand Hall was the only exception.

That’s when it happened.

[Is that right?]

The voice of the former former generation elder strikes my head. Momentarily, a gentle breeze coincidentally penetrated the hair at my temples. It was a cool-feeling wind current.

‘Hm?’

I suddenly released the strength in my grip.

Whoosh!

The force that had been tightly drawn into my palm was released at once.

Naturally, the ground was chaotically carved out, raising grayish dust. My sleeve edges also fluttered noisily once.

‘This isn’t right.’

Sword song is a technique that damages weapons, and Remaining Thunder is Li-li and Li-hua.

It’s originally an art that discusses elegance with others’ weapons. If I’m not going to carry extra weapons cumbersomely, it would be proper to unfold it by seizing the enemy’s sword on the battlefield.

Swish.

I slightly raised my head.

Those who had accompanied me to Wudang Sectdang came into view. Phoenix Palm, Taoist Jade Face, Taoist Jade Radiance. Each had stepped back one step while wrapping their entire bodies in mysterious gentle breezes.

“……”

Before I knew it, Phoenix Palm was observing my mood.

The semi-transparent silk covering below her eyes fluttered with weak exhalation. She had handled the momentum of sword song at close range with internal energy breathing.

I don’t know what kind of cultivation method it is. It doesn’t seem to be Yang Intention Divine Technique. Could it be that famous Heavenly Yang Saving Yin Energy?

“As someone who invited you as a guest, this is certainly something I feel apologetic about.”

She spoke gently. I lightly shook my head and opened my mouth.

“Is there perhaps a blade that wouldn’t matter if broken? Just one would do. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a sword.”

“……”

Her face.

I recall the expression So-bin would occasionally make when looking at me after the Mount Hua Agreement incident. A sign of vaguely realizing something. A somewhat anxious face.

At this moment, such a look was gathered in Phoenix Palm’s eyes, but it was an expression I was seeing for the first time from her.

“Within our sect as well, opinions are divided on bringing Lord Jeong into Wudang… I apologize repeatedly. Please be understanding.”

“Opinions are divided?”

When I asked back briefly, Phoenix Palm’s lips showed a little below the silk.

It was because she nodded for a moment, and for a while her weak breath penetrated thickly into my energy sense. The energy waves of Taoist lineage with a void-like feeling.

Something feels familiar. Not strange at all.

Why is that?

Meanwhile, Phoenix Palm’s answer continued quietly.

“There is no one within our sect who cares about their own face. But there are many who value precious people’s shame more than their own. This matter was the same. The Sect Leader has fallen into deviation of mind, and that heart demon has deepened… There are those who are reluctant to deeply reveal such circumstances to outsiders of the sect. There are also many questions about whether it’s proper for the Sect Leader in a state of deviation to meet with someone of purple rank status. Of course, finding the Sect Leader’s whereabouts should come first.”

She rarely bent her waist slightly and brought both hands together. And apologized repeatedly.

For inviting as a guest in a situation where the sect’s opinions were not unified, she said she was sorry.

“What a trivial matter.”

I brushed the knot in my hand with my thumb. Being silk woven from heavenly silkworms, it was extremely soft. I think I could feel the warmth of Taoist High Sword too.

Naturally, I thought of Master.

‘Though it wouldn’t happen.’

If something happened to the Fortress Lord, I too would mobilize all possible means to solve the problem.

There would be no need to consider etiquette and procedures. I would gather everyone I had connections with to solve the problem.

I nodded and changed my thoughts.

Phoenix Palm is different from So-bin. She’s worried about the mountain slopes of Wudang that would be damaged when her sect’s elders and I come into conflict.

I could feel the footsteps of Taoist Three Peaks deeply embedded in the blue mountain scenery.

Phoenix Palm would have carved her own taiji with the valley water here, leaving deep handprints on the strange rocks throughout Wudang Sectdang while training Cotton Palm and such. Together with the immortals of Wudang who had cared for her since childhood.

‘Before being royalty…’

She was a complete Wudang disciple.

It’s natural, but Taoist Three Peaks must have taught his disciples as well as I do. Otherwise, it would be difficult for someone like Phoenix Palm to emerge.

Of course, she can’t compare to So-bin, who will become as strong as the former former generation elder. Radiant Demon Wing Blood Radiance Successor is the only such person under heaven.

‘I wonder if they’re safe…?’

I deliberately suppressed my worries about my precious peer successor and Radiant Demon Wing seniors. And stared up the mountain path.

I can see the silhouette of the Taoist who had shouted at Phoenix Palm from quite far away earlier.

Hwaaaak—

A faint breaking sound.

Even though coming down the steep path quickly, there’s no particular dust.

I could also feel remarkably stable balance.

A feeling that could even withstand tremendous force. It was incomparable to when Senior Ak once brought three plates of Five Cloud Mountain wild vegetables while slightly wobbling.

[Wudang… tremendous reserves. Even though they must have devoted more than half their forces to the gates here.]

A pleasant low-toned beautiful voice echoes in my head.

Step.

As always, a presence that approached confidently behind me. It was the former former generation elder. At the same time, the silhouette coming down from the mountain had reached right before my eyes. I immediately felt it. He was an exceptionally strong person.

“Yun-hyeon, there are errors in your words!”

A middle-aged Taoist who bowed silently to me then burst out shouting at Phoenix Palm.

“Reluctant to reveal shame? Nonsense!”

His momentum was tremendous.

When thinking of Wudang, one would naturally think of proudly flowing rivers or endlessly circulating circles.

But that Taoist’s temperament brought to mind rings of blazing flames.

Sharp-eyed features and lips that showed stubbornness. It was fierce enough to remind me of my childhood writing teacher.

—The Master ordered me to teach strictly. Only memorize the parts I point out, and don’t touch other books. You can never inherit the Jeong family estate even if heaven collapses.

If you covet excellence and cause trouble for the young master, you will have to handle both my rod and the Master’s fist and palm simultaneously…

‘I was very scared.’

I couldn’t even show him Jeong Family Dynamic Technique because of that severity.

Now he’s said to have opened a very large academy in Shaanxi and is teaching many disciples, being someone who left before the Jeong family was annihilated. He should be considered blessed by heavenly fortune.

Someday I might meet Sword Dragon Wei Zhi or his niece Hye-ah.

Zhongnan Sect is a long-standing Taoist lineage. Since they need to accept many students for sect reconstruction, they would be looking for young children with literary eyes.

“Then isn’t it because of shame?”

Surprisingly, at this moment Phoenix Palm’s head was stiff. Should I say it’s befitting royalty? How tremendous her courage is.

‘You can’t reason with such a person.’

The middle-aged Taoist who was tall enough to look down at her. With an impressive stubborn face, even careful excuses would return as beatings.

I know from experience. I’m familiar with people trapped in their own obstinacy. Phoenix Palm’s words and actions were foolish.

Indeed, an even fiercer scolding returned.

“If not burdening outsiders of the sect unnecessarily, then what is it? Moreover, they’re already the leaders of those who are working tirelessly for all under heaven! What do you intend by dragging purple rank into our sect’s private affairs?”

A true Immortal.

Someone who had deeply learned Taoist scriptures.

“This is Great Senior Brother Jade Cliff. As the leader of those who learned Seven Star Sword Formation… Se-hwa, that is, he’s Yun-hyeon’s grand-uncle. As the immediate disciple of the Sect Leader Taoist, he’s also the next Wudang Sect Leader.”

Another Taoist nearby whispered to me.

Taoist Jade Face with an always smiling face. We had become quite close while traveling together from Xiangyang to here, but not to the degree of exchanging whispers.

I stepped aside one step.

In any case.

‘The next generation Wudang Sect Leader…?’

I finally realize that I’ve set foot on the immortal mountain Wudang. There probably isn’t a single person in the jianghu who doesn’t know the epithet of the person scolding Phoenix Palm before my eyes.

Profound Silence.

It was a title given by those noble imperial masters. It was also a name that had saved countless common prisoner from the northern jianghu.

The story of unfolding Taiji Wisdom Sword among Yao tribe forces was passed from mouth to mouth among storytellers. Along with Shaolin’s Four Great Vajras, he was someone I had admired since childhood.

“Our sect has long since become capable of handling the main mountain gates even without the Sect Leader Taoist! Have you no shame? If you have a mouth, try babbling more.”

Kugugung—

The ground shook. For a moment, an optical illusion occurred. A feeling as if the mountain path undulated like a serpent’s body.

It’s not Profound Silence Taoist Jade Cliff’s own internal energy. The nearby natural earth energy had responded to his words, and in this case, he could exert power beyond the accumulated energy in his body.

Taoist Jade Face’s smiling face clouded.

“Peach Garden Power…”

He muttered.

It’s a name I’ve heard before. The power said to be handled when the Taoist enlightenment commonly called the Profound Gate Orthodox Lineage reaches its extreme.

If Taoist Three Clear Powers exists at its end, the mastery of Peach Garden Power was said to be the realm that martial world Taoists realistically hoped to reach.

Even that Peach Garden Power was said to be supreme.

It was power befitting the next Wudang Sect Leader, the writing teacher. Worthy of being the leader of the Jade generation, who are disciples of the Sect Leader. The foremost among Wudang’s current actual forces.

The moment Taoist Jade Face, whose approach had gone quite awry while trying to whisper in my ear again, spoke.

“…He seems very angry.”

It appeared so even at a glance.

The vibrations shaking the ground gradually intensified, and Phoenix Palm’s head, which had been staring up at Taoist Jade Cliff, was also slowly bending down.

Like when I greeted my tenth birthday with a rod.

“How could you not know that the moment the path to our main sect opened to outsiders, even that demon who had been trying to entice the Sect Leader Taoist with wicked words entered here! All the forces remaining in our main sect have been scattered!”

“…I have nothing to say.”

Is this Wudang?

Their own world exists. Immortals living within the duty of Taoist Three Peaks’s peerless studies and blocking supernatural forces. In this beautiful mountain scenery, even purple rank of Desolate Fortress was merely an outsider.

They weren’t being rude, but they weren’t paying more attention to me than that either.

‘However.’

It’s a bit frustrating. I didn’t come to Wudang Sectdang to see such a scene.

That’s when the former former generation elder crossed her arms.

Swish.

Following her forearms, the tightly folded garment edges wrinkled in purple. Status and presence that even Wudang’s immortals would find difficult to speak to carelessly.

[Even if it’s a pure Taoist sect or the world’s foremost sword sect, it’s ultimately a place where people live. How important the leader of a sect becomes like this. Do you understand the weight of your position?]

“…Yes.”

I answered quietly. While sending an apologetic glance to the Wudang group instead.

At the former former generation elder’s sharp words, not only Taoist Jade Face but even Taoist Jade Eyelid, who had been quietly present until now, flinched.

Unlike other Taoists, Taoist Jade Eyelid, who didn’t wear her hair up, was said to be a master of eye techniques.

“What are you trying to do?”

She asks me with a cracked voice.

She was the youngest of the Jade generation, only about ten years older than Phoenix Palm, yet had disheveled hair like some mountain Taoist. Along with eyes that flashed grayish light.

Smiling-faced Taoist Jade Face.

Taoist Jade Eyelid whose eyes constantly shone with radiance.

Taoist Jade Cliff who survived in the north as the next Sect Leader.

Every time stories were exchanged, I felt temperaments different from mine. From Xiangyang until now, and even at this moment.

If I’m someone who stands firmly on the ground as a person who could rival Ma Family Noble Ma Se-in, these are people who entrust their bodies to the clouds called Wudang and place no great meaning in anything other than chivalrous acts and sect affairs. All their words and actions were like that.

In other words, they were immortals of a separate world.

‘Even so.’

It’s true that I need their help until I meet the Wudang Sect Leader Taoist, but I can’t waste any more time than this.

Above all, the fact that the box containing Taoist High Sword’s head was still in my hands was bothersome.

Befitting immortals who study the principle of non-action and naturalness, they might not place great meaning on the body of Taoist High Sword who had already passed away.

“……”

I thought that shouldn’t be so.

Step.

Since it’s interfering in another sect’s affairs, I carefully step forward. Toward the next generation Wudang Sect Leader who was already trapping Phoenix Palm in grayish clouds.

Already momentum close to a peerless master. When that dense fog of internal energy is used in Cloud Transformation Dance, wouldn’t Honoured One of the South Wudang welcome a new Sect Leader?

Taoist Jade Face’s eyes grew slightly larger…

“Lord Jeong, Jade Cliff Senior Brother’s Peach Garden Power is different from the Wudang internal energy known to the world. Far from being gentle, it’s very oppressive, so whatever way you make a move, it will inevitably become a situation where our main sect and Desolate Fortress collide…”

Step.

Another step.

It was light Radiant Wing Steps, but an unknown feeling was contained. Something clear and refreshing wind undulated and disappeared. Why is that? The former former generation elder’s interested exclamation burst from behind me was also brief.

Hwaaaaaaaaak—!

The fortress-like internal energy clouds where Taoist Jade Cliff had been lecturing Phoenix Palm were instantly unraveled. They literally disappeared without a trace.

At the same time, above my head.

A much more vast area.

Even the clouds that had been casting tranquil shadows over the broad mountain slopes made a thunderous friction sound with a rumble, then scattered into pieces like feathers.

As if a single step was accompanied by a giant sword strike like Invincible’s Heavenly Demon Dominating Steps.

“……”

When the mountainside fell into silence.

Suddenly, an tremendously intense gaze poured from a distant peak.

A look that made protective energy useless. It was momentum that would tear apart even my skin, which was always covered with the calluses of the Tang siblings.

There was no room for doubt.

It was Wudang Sect Leader, Taoist Profound Void.

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