Chapter 691: King of the Sinners (2)
A lamp in the wind.
A swordsman’s life is always like that.
Some sword wielders change their beloved sword’s name like a flickering candle. When great gaps between life and death have passed like a tsunami while roaming the martial world, or when hoping for better fortune.
“……”
Recollection Sea Sword.
This was the inscription carved on the blade that rolled to a stop in Shaolin’s grounds. It meant remembering the great sea, proving the character of its sword master Mad Lord Gongsun Yue. An old swordsman who doesn’t let impressive moments pass by carelessly.
The three roughly engraved characters of the sword’s name rippled in the sunlight pouring into the temple grounds.
“Hah…!”
Zhuge Qing’s focus, who had been lying like a corpse for a moment, returned clearly. At the same time, ghostly energy settled in the old woman’s eyes.
“You killed my son! Trampled my pride and years! That Divine Sword Group Leader has made so many things futile, yet you, Gongsun family fellow! What are you ending on your own!”
“Pride.”
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly spoke.
“Did you think you had become the world’s greatest?”
Four people flashed through his mind. Master and enemy, cripple and mayfly. Though their studies were different from Zhuge Qing’s or Zhongnan Sword Immortal’s and wouldn’t handle gates, their caliber as strong ones was another story.
[TL Note- Enemy = Tyrant Sword, Cripple = Fighting God, Mayfly= Invincible Yelu Zhen.]
Zhuge Qing laughed.
“Then having defeated me today, are you the current world’s greatest?”
“That would need about seven weeks to know. If you asked because of the sword strike I just showed, it’s something you could do someday too.”
“What…?”
Zhuge Qing seemed to fall into deep thought.
It was then.
[Don’t overdo it. The dharma power wheel you created, I said it was like Taoism’s inner core studies.]
Master Beom-heo’s wise light mind speech continued.
[The method of accumulating precious foods and spiritual medicines in the body for a lifetime through secret alchemy, then bursting them in a single moment to seek immortality. But the power currently flooding your body… it’s like molding and eating several Great Recovery Pills like fasting pills, so it could be called the most luxurious suicide in the world.]
A trace of worry seeped through Master Beom-heo’s characteristically genial speech. Jeong Yeon-shin nodded faintly.
[I don’t know for now. Whether I’ll lie sick like this for a while, become stronger, or experience both…]
[I vividly remember visiting briefly before. That Desolate Fortress became incomplete and is in the midst of reconstruction.]
[The situation can hardly be called leisurely. Internally or externally.]
[Even if your absence occurs and dangerous things blow into Xiangyang in the near future because of it… please don’t regret it.]
The other eye of the old monk wearing a hemp eyepatch wrinkled gently.
[Shaolin won’t let that happen.]
By then, Great Righteous Alliance’s Third Wife Xing Lan was coldly glaring at Mad Lord Gongsun Yue. Unlike her alias Peony Immortal, her colorless eyes distorted even the air like frost.
“Elder Gongsun, will you truly do this?”
“Show dignity befitting your status. Sometimes it seems alliance figures forget they are the alliance leader’s face. Frivolously and rashly.”
“You’re the one who forgot the agreement, Elder. Will you leave your sword thrown away even before the alliance’s martial forces? You shouldn’t have joined this Mount Song journey…!”
Ten thousand great army.
Truly a scale where it would be difficult to return the way they came without causing major incidents. This was still true even now when Jeong Yeon-shin had cut the gate.
“No… you think about just one thing.”
The old swordsman quietly continued.
“Whether to announce Divine Sword Group Leader’s achievements to the alliance, or conceal them.”
“……”
“Though called martial forces, the ten thousand or so now climbing Mount Song are a nation’s foundation. Whether you deceive them to gain great profit, or treat them with truthfulness to gain righteousness, both are your portion as military leader…”
Gongsun Yue even put his hands behind his back. And slowly turned around.
“We’ll see at the alliance.”
“Elder!”
“Don’t press this old man to make him a coward who picks up a sword already offered to Divine Sword Group Leader. I must obtain a new blade.”
Step.
The sight of walking out of Shaolin grounds without lingering attachment. Finally, his aged voice settled down mixed with shallow yellowish dust.
“Something reasonably sharp and reasonably dull…”
A sword remained where the old swordsman had stood, and Third Wife Xing Lan was silent. The absence of a peerless swordsman was that great.
“……”
Meanwhile, the one-armed one-legged man in a bamboo hat was gazing down at the Recollection Sea Sword. Standing crookedly using the bluish sword including its scabbard as a cane. The touch caressing Winter Dream’s handle was strange.
He spread his five fingers in order, then lightly grasped again. The mouth under the bamboo hat opened after that.
“I thought I was still better at sword strikes that cut principles like space, but I’m getting a bit dazed. I understand that old Gongsun’s feelings too.”
“I’ll teach you this too.”
Jeong Yeon-shin said mysteriously.
“You might be able to master it easily.”
“Oh…?”
He responded with a small exclamation. It meant how could such a fool exist in the world. Master Beom-heo’s face naturally became strange.
[Are you serious?]
[Whether he uses it or not is his choice, isn’t it? Anyway, he’s someone who values his own survival, so even if it’s seemingly wondrous swordsmanship, he won’t rashly imitate it. He’ll just broaden his knowledge.]
[Really…?]
[Yes.]
Right after Jeong Yeon-shin hid his elaborate killing scheme with a blank expression, suddenly storm-like military energy began pouring into Shaolin grounds.
“……!”
Energy waves that struck the high, long walls continuously for a moment then shattered them to pieces. In an instant, spider web-like cracks rushed in from outside to the ground.
Rumble—
Thick dust spread through the temple grounds.
Simultaneously, the fishy smell of blood, metallic odor, and murky air filled all directions. Because countless crowds that could appear as clouds in landscape paintings were breathing out internal energy. The sight of Central Mountain Song’s characteristically endlessly vast mountain slope horizons filled with human shadows.
Those who maintained balance with various lightness techniques on precipitously steep terrain. People who gathered orderly like military gates yet displayed free movements like jianghu people.
Hah—
Each one exhaled white breath. Whitish cloud mist settled on the bare forest without leaves and grayish-white ridges.
The army itself was a monster.
This was the presence of martial forces numbering in the tens of thousands. What you hear and what you see are completely different. Perhaps it was even more so because it was the power of a new nation that had occupied Luoyang.
‘During the Yuan-Ming dynastic change period… they said the first Divine Sword Group Leader cared for Master in the midst of such things.’
Jeong Yeon-shin thought. Wasn’t human society already like one great gate?
[Flag bearer!]
It was Xing Lan’s shout.
Rumble.
The stone mountain’s peaks dropped stone fragments with rustling sounds to the characteristic echoes of Six Union Battlefield Formation.
Simultaneously, the outline of some flagpole swayed in the grayish-white collective energy wave mist and black crowds. The flag filled with internal energy like a mirage illuminated the words Great Righteous in whitish light. As if waiting for orders.
The following Six Union Battlefield Formation was calm.
[Withdraw.]
“……?”
Simultaneously, dim radiance flashed in the distant sky, then some meteor fell on the opposite peak, seemingly penetrating the stone wall completely. Belatedly, five or six layers of shock waves were drawn following that trajectory. Tremendous vibrations and roars naturally rose from the ground to the ears.
Crash!
[Why won’t this break? Do I have to chew it to tear it? Are all Muscle-Changing Marrow-Washing Classics like this?]
It was Northern Six Star Lords Martial Star’s mental transmission. The sight of pushing Beom-ryeol’s body against the half-destroyed stone peak and crushing him with giant knees. Beom-ryeol bared his teeth and laughed heartily.
“There were many in the gate who had insights in short-term decisive battles. But how could savage beasts cut it? Even the Great Sage Equal to Heaven called it damn annoying, Buddha’s skin and breathing.”
Hell Deviation the defrocked monk said.
“Guard your eye sockets well. I will someday crush and burst them like grinding fasting pills.”
[That’s no fun.]
Crack!
Martial Star bouncing Beom-ryeol beyond the peak and landing among the martial forces. Suddenly, a semi-transparent trajectory rushed out wave-like from Shaolin grounds toward that giant simultaneously.
[Unorthodox Finest Sword’s Energy? Hey, my energy is currently…]
The thick armor of Great Righteous Alliance martial soldiers in the front ranks, as well as their defensive energy and bodies, were penetrated by one sword then struck Martial Star directly, and a chilling cutting sound exploded.
Splash!
Dark red blood spurted up like a fountain.
[Still spicy? Hey, let’s withdraw! I’m hungry!]
Martial Star, covered in blood and giggling, leaped beyond the cliff. On one ridge, Beom-ryeol who had stood up released earthquake-like resonance from his throat with a roar “Kah!”
At that instant, the noble clan monk Four Great Vajra Won-jeok, who had been constantly pressed by numerous warrior monks, exploded with tremendous energy and roared like a monster with Shaolin’s Lion’s Roar. Simultaneously, part of the martial forces’ front ranks covered their ears with semi-transparent defensive energy. While belatedly turning their steps according to Xing Lan’s orders as commanded.
Signs of World Tree unification.
“Ah.”
Xing Lan suddenly disappeared from her spot and appeared before the martial forces. The palace robes characteristic of noble ladies fluttered softly, and smooth laughter flowed along that trajectory.
“Whether there are gates or not, Shaolin is already a demon realm. There’s no need to suffer more damage. You bring Thousand Fan Martial Empress.”
She commanded the nearby martial soldiers, but Master Beom-heo’s immediate answer came.
“Leave Benefactor Zhuge and go.”
Xing Lan whirled around. Flashing colorless light in both eyes.
“You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking we’re withdrawing. I’m not foolish either, so I’m keeping in mind that Divine Sword Group Leader might not be able to move now. Since he learned ‘Jeong Family Dynamic Technique,’ he might be busily circulating energy at this moment. Originally, even Zhongnan Sword Immortal passed away, didn’t he? If I revoke the withdrawal here…”
“Leave her.”
One hundred and eight monks stomped their feet.
Bang!
Fierce ripples spread.
Not a single point touched Jeong Yeon-shin. All power waves collapsed centered on Divine Sword Group Leader, and even distorted themselves to leave no trace of echo.
Incarnations of the Seventy-Two Arts stand guard.
Xing Lan’s complexion darkened.
“They said everyone was just in gates, but all have Marrow-Washing Classic…?”
“Watch yourself going.”
Master Beom-heo said.
* * *
“Are you looking around as you go? I know from experiencing my downfall, but this path isn’t so smooth… I say, Lady Gao.”
“As Elder served as family head, you know well, but right now isn’t a path to look around. Above all, we must go quickly. Only after that is it right to observe the opponent.”
A pair of old and young were running in semi-transparent energy barriers. The old man was someone who revealed skinny arms in sleeveless clothing, looking more like someone who couldn’t even get a bowl of porridge than a martial artist.
In contrast, the young woman constantly tore at dried meat while silently racing vertically down the long fortress wall’s side. The elegant jade-colored palace robes endlessly fluttering at her feet.
“Divine Sword Group Leader’s absence is certain. Desolate Fortress has again made the mistake of scattering to look after the safety of all Central Plains as it always has. The current Divine Sword Vice Leader Divine Blood Extreme Demon is someone with mixed underestimation and overestimation, so whether he’s in the fortress or not is irrelevant while Elder is here. What we must be wary of are the unidentified Yao tribe and White Qilin Namgung Hwa-shin.”
It was a precise tone.
She wore a round glass ball in her right eye socket, making only that eye appear smaller. It was called a monocle that amplified eye technique abilities. They said Thousand Fan Martial Empress Zhuge Qing had brought it from the Western Regions.
The skinny old man’s head tilted.
“While Divine Sword Group Leader has vacated the main fortress, we’ll hinder Desolate Divine Spear’s great awakening, kill Grand Administrator Lin Jin-ming, and if possible clarify White Qilin’s life-saving moment then escape… Though a nation’s strategy always presumes diversionary tactics, isn’t it quite petty?”
“Desolate Divine Spear is someone we’ve been watching since we prepared our great work underwater. Even if World Tree disappears, the person who will trouble Great Righteous longest… needless to say about Lin Jin-ming. He’s Desolate Fortress’ strategist. Power that lost its head will always be subordinated to a ‘nation.’ If we can clearly reveal that Desolate Fortress and the Yao tribe joined hands as well, nothing could be better.”
“Will things be that easy? Divine Sword Group Leaders were trash for generations but weren’t fools. He wouldn’t have vacated the fortress for nothing.”
“There’s a chance of victory with my eye techniques and Elder’s Soul-Silencing Seven Steps. In one breath, without necessarily facing White Qilin…”
Suddenly the glass ball of the woman who had been seeing through the fortress interior like Heavenly Eye Penetration darkened. Because some giant hand had approached, crushing the fortress wall like buckwheat jelly.
“Yao tribe…! Let’s begin!”
“Mm, try your best!”
The old man answered while kicking off the fortress wall in the opposite direction.
It was retreat footwork.
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