Chapter 532: Southern Splendor Radiant Taiji (3)

In the quiet room.

Jeong Yeon-shin and Zhu Se-hwa sat facing each other. It was right after a sudden question had fallen from Zhu Se-hwa’s lips.

“Do you know about Dream Demon Body?”

Though faint moonlight was seeping into the paper window, it wasn’t the tone for discussing such refined aesthetics. It was also a question that went beyond Jeong Yeon-shin’s expectations.

He immediately opened his mouth.

“Next to you.”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t you see anything?”

“There’s a wall.”

Zhu Se-hwa answered matter-of-factly. It was extremely ordinary speech and conduct.

For a moment, Jeong Yeon-shin saw in her his own appearance of treating the senile Profound Void Immortal indifferently.

The wisdom of not giving one’s whole heart to someone who had lost their mind was evident. Naturally his mood became uncomfortable, but it would be strange to show it deliberately.

In any case, Zhu Se-hwa could not see the old Taoist.

Even though he was clearly beside her.

Likewise, the old Taoist never once looked at Zhu Se-hwa either.

Even now he was only moving his head slightly this way and that as if surveying the scenery beyond the wall. Jeong Yeon-shin confirmed this appearance at the edge of his vision.

Zhu Se-hwa’s words continued.

“There are those who can attack the upper dantian of sleeping people from a distance. Though they possess human bodies, they are actually close to supernatural monsters. Like the Blood Flame Cult’s bloodline, their appearances are also extraordinary.”

“Attack the upper dantian of sleeping people…?”

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had asked back thus, muttered briefly. Demonic arts?

Zhu Se-hwa nodded.

“Yes, so they’re also called demons. Those born with the skill to tear through people’s dreams. I know there are not many under heaven. According to our sect’s understanding, only Divine Theft and Super Mad Dream Demon.”

“Super Mad Dream Demon?”

“The expelled disciple who caused deviation of mind to the Sect Leader Immortal… truly many things happened, and our sect learned belatedly that he too possessed Dream Demon Body. With no demonic energy, he accomplished such things with only the pure abilities of his bloodline.”

Zhu Se-hwa’s voice, which had always been lofty, flowed out as if crushed between her teeth.

“Super Mad Dream Demon is the epithet our sect attached after stripping that person of his Taoist name. Now he’s a monster who have inherited all of Divine Theft’s skills and the Sect Leader Immortal’s teachings. He is our sect’s main enemy. Excluding the supernatural monsters beyond the gates.”

Wudang Sect’s troubles were fully revealed.

But there was a part that wasn’t convincing. Jeong Yeon-shin immediately asked.

“Wudang Sect couldn’t handle a single demon so they gave him an epithet and made him their main enemy?”

Of course, even in the Divine Sword Group there were those whose skills were outstanding compared to their martial realm. Lazy Flame Dragon was one, possessing sufficient qualities yet unable to achieve Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

A half-wit who hadn’t achieved Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, the proof of a dignified martial artist, yet whose lightness skills and combat senses even Jeong Yeon-shin acknowledged.

If focused only on escape, even ordinary peerless masters would find him difficult to catch. There was no law saying Super Mad Dream Demon couldn’t be such a person.

“Sometimes it was said to be dull flower gathering.”

Shin Cheon-hwa’s voice flew in from outside the door like a ghost. This time the voice didn’t echo like reverberations.

Saaaa—

Suddenly clear wind seeped into his breath.

Soon after, Jeong Yeon-shin wondered. How had she read the deep thoughts in his heart and the past that had grown dim in his mind? He couldn’t help but feel goosebumps momentarily.

‘Could it be Dream Demon Body…?’

No, that couldn’t be.

When blue light flashed in the eyes of Jeong Yeon-shin, who had denied it himself.

“What Wudang truly couldn’t handle was not a single demon. It was precisely the Sect Leader Immortal’s heart.”

Phoenix Palm Zhu Se-hwa’s pupils were also glowing white. The eye light generated by anger from a martial artist of unified essence, energy, and spirit.

“Every time we cornered Super Mad Dream Demon in Wudang’s mountain slopes and reached the point of killing him, our sect’s power was blocked by just one person. None other than our sect’s leader blocked us! His martial arts and sect leader’s authority were the problem. Even High Sword great-uncle’s determination to finish off Super Mad Dream Demon was repeatedly thwarted.”

The agitated words continued in a definitive tone.

“The warmth of being unable to sever the master-disciple relationship once formed. That kindness, which has now become madness, is Wudang’s burden. Now regret about High Sword great-uncle would be added to it.”

“…Deviation of mind is frightening.”

Jeong Yeon-shin muttered quietly. Zhu Se-hwa, who was a master of Wudang internal energy breathing yet had been gasping roughly, flinched. Jeong Yeon-shin roughly accepted her strange gaze.

But he couldn’t let the next words slip by.

“And now, someone with the appearance of the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader is on the main mountain.”

“What?”

Huuuook—!

Sword wind was released from Jeong Yeon-shin’s body. Sword wind of Judgement Qilin that occurred regardless of intention.

Instantly the floor and walls of the room split and cracked in all directions with a squelching sound, and the old Taoist of the Pine Gate Ancient Sword also glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin very briefly.

Zhu Se-hwa received that momentum head-on and resolutely continued speaking.

“I think it’s Super Mad Dream Demon. Having inherited Divine Theft’s true transmission and become a master of transformation… but the elders of our sect don’t listen to my words. They say the momentum is different.”

Jeong Yeon-shin recalled a certain sect at those words.

Great Heaven Sect.

The place that had once dominated Hangzhou with the skill of empty pretense and full reality. That martial art’s name was Empty Full Self-Mastery Divine Art.

He pressed his newly cleared Baihui acupoint at the crown with his hand.

A cool feeling in his head. The energy between heaven and earth activated the premonition ability of his upper dantian. The outline immediately emerged.

‘What if Super Mad Dream Demon has a separately affiliated group, and they spare no support to bind Profound Void Immortal and Wudang? If they plan to deepen Profound Void Immortal’s deviation of mind by imitating the one who cut High Sword Immortal’s head?’

Malice as sticky as a swamp could be felt.

It was the same as what had faintly emanated from Yu Ling Leader’s actions sometime ago. It was the scent of the northern jianghu.

Meanwhile.

“…The fact that we’re still in standoff with that one person is frustrating beyond being cautious.”

The silk veil that semi-transparently covered Zhu Se-hwa’s face fluttered constantly. It was because her exhalations had grown thick. Jeong Yeon-shin thought while watching that appearance. Was she such a personality?

“What nonsense…”

It was her muttering.

For a moment Jeong Yeon-shin was confused whether he had spoken those words, but didn’t show it.

He just shattered another layer of the mist that had been hazily floating in his mind. It was a kind of negative example.

his world was gradually becoming clear.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked with gratitude.

“So, you’re telling me to be careful of Super Mad Dream Demon too?”

Immediately Zhu Se-hwa’s beautiful jawline moved.

“Please kill him. Even if he reveals his identity at the moment before meeting his end and uses our sect’s leader as a shield.”

“……”

“Lord Jeong would surely be able to pierce through the Sect Leader Immortal’s sword curtain and cut that person’s neck. You only need to succeed once.”

She spoke in a voice like winter wind. At this moment Zhu Se-hwa was not Wudang’s Yun-hyeon but a dignified member of the Zhu imperial family.

“Our sect’s Acting Sect Leader has already commanded. In exchange for entrusting the ‘Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’ to Lord Jeong, open our sect’s Heavenly Tao Hall. I want to go one step further. Even if he’s not the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, please cut his neck by all means. I’ll listen to any request possible…”

By the time she finished speaking, she somehow hesitated a little. Was it due to the imperial family’s way of thinking, which contained nothing but marriage alliances?

Jeong Yeon-shin raised his eyebrows.

Wudang’s Heavenly Tao Hall.

‘The martial arts library as famous as Shaolin’s Scripture Repository…’

It was said to house all sorts of divine arts and secret techniques including Ten-Stage Brocade and Yang Intention Divine Technique. It was a proposal anyone would be tempted by.

“What comes after?”

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly asked.

“What happens after killing him? Should I receive the Sect Leader’s wrath with my whole body?”

“……”

Zhu Se-hwa was silent.

There was no alternative. That was the answer.

He asked again.

“…The direction? I can’t feel any energy waves.”

“It’s because our sect’s formations have blocked all power fluctuations. From this residence, seventeen li southwest, at a place called Upper Clear Pass they’re in standoff…”

“Let’s go.”

“Really…?”

Zhu Se-hwa asked back with an expression of disbelief. Even though she had proposed it herself earlier.

Immortal Border (仙際) Profound Void.

Not the emperor’s “di” (帝) but the border’s “ji” (際). The absolute master called the general headquarters of Central Plains Taoist martial arts with a human body.

It was said he was the person who could deploy sword techniques for the longest time under heaven. Because all the natural earth energy in the world was on his side.

He could be called the greatest mad swordsman under heaven.

‘…No.’

Jeong Yeon-shin, who momentarily recalled the members of the Five Greatest Swords under Heaven, inwardly shook his head. There were at least two more. Excluding Lightning Genius and Yong fellow, Five Mad Swords under Heaven was correct.

That’s when it happened.

Kugugugugugugung—!

Thunder sounds rolled distantly.

The walls of the room where the two people sat also trembled with a rustling sound. Zhu Se-hwa’s complexion changed completely.

The formation that Wudang had deployed to hide their shame had been completely shattered.

It was one of two things.

Either the one they had been surrounding was truly the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, or Profound Void Immortal had manifested sensing his disciple’s danger.

Kugugugugung!

Another earthquake-like rumbling.

A tremendous commotion had erupted at the world’s greatest sword sect.

He could feel countless presences arising from numerous peaks.

Had even the Taoists who had been hiding deep in the mountains broken their seclusion? It seemed as if all the Wudang masters like stars in the mountains were about to be mobilized as much as possible.

“I must go see…!”

“Wait.”

Jeong Yeon-shin restrained her.

Then he briefly closed his eyes and opened them. While carefully pushing aside the stone box he had brought from Desolate Fortress. High Sword Immortal should rightfully be embraced by Wudang’s Sect Leader.

‘Right.’

He slowly turned his head to Zhu Se-hwa’s left.

Where his gaze was directed.

There was an old man.

The greatest swordsman of ancient and modern times wearing Taoist robes stained gray with dirt.

An old Taoist whose very existence was unbelievable.

‘Immortal Sanfeng.’

Crack—

Before he could fully take him in with his eyes, the sound of glass breaking rang in his mind. Opposite sensations occurred simultaneously. His head was very painful yet refreshing.

“Lord Jeong…?”

“Wait a little.”

As soon as Jeong Yeon-shin’s quiet words ended.

Swish.

It was the sound of Immortal Sanfeng turning his body toward Jeong Yeon-shin. His Taoist robe hem had swayed slightly.

The old Taoist thus moved only his feet slightly while maintaining his posture with hands clasped behind his back. Instantly the fragrant pine scent spread sweetly.

This time Zhu Se-hwa seemed to feel it too.

“What?”

She let out a rarely surprised voice.

It was an instant.

Jeong Yeon-shin and Immortal Sanfeng’s gazes met.

Suddenly the old Taoist smiled broadly.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind filled with hot clouds.

‘On this Wudang Sectdang…’

Once again, pain that seemed to explode his head came over him. A feeling of cracks forming in his mind. It seemed it would simply be smashed.

‘…I must become the strongest.’

Jeong Yeon-shin did not avoid his gaze. Rather, to ensure he would absolutely not close his eyes, in an instant he struck both sides of his eyes himself to hit pressure points.

He was confident he could become stronger than the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader even if he became blind here.

Thwack, thwack!

It was conduct that contained two things.

—Briefly, but I will.

It was the recklessness of an eighteen-year-old youth who had already been greatly disappointed several times. At the same time, it was also the sense of responsibility of the Acting Divine Sword Group Leader of Desolate Fortress.

Such opposing things were connected as one like a circle that turned and turned. As was the case with every person’s life, whether that life was long or short.

—I will look at you.

Hwaaak!

The intent that arose like a tidal wave from his upper dantian crashed into Immortal Sanfeng’s entire body. The air in the room rumbled and cried.

At the same time, centered on Jeong Yeon-shin sitting, a large circle began to be carved while shooting blue sparks. As if friction between life and death.

Pop.

Zhu Se-hwa, extremely flustered, quickly rose and stepped back.

Crackle crackle crack—!

It was completed very quickly.

Faint ash scattered in all directions, and the belated smell of burning swallowed the pine scent.

Thus ten breaths of time passed.

It felt very long.

“……”

Silence spread.

It was after everything had subsided.

Deep doubt appeared on Zhu Se-hwa’s face. What had happened? At this moment, the scene reflected in her eyes was very strange.

“Now we can go.”

The Acting Divine Sword Group Leader’s voice continued weakly as if it might break at any moment.

“To whoever is below.”

Jeong Yeon-shin was shedding blood-red tears while sitting cross-legged. Around him existed some pattern. What remained on the quiet room floor was not ash and the smell of burning.

It was a charred taiji.

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