Chapter 194 – Lightning-Annihilation Sword Style (2)

“Didn’t you sense anything strange when you faced the Yan Family’s First Fist?”

Zhuge Qing-ya’s voice was clear and pleasant to hear. Its resonance, reminiscent of the Lord of Desolate Fortress, tickled the ears.

Perhaps due to her mastery of the secret ocular technique, the energy in her Pupil Prominence acupoint seemed to extend to the back of her head.

Yet her expression contrasted with her steady tone. Her impassive face was subtly tense.

“Strange?”

Jeong Yeon-shin echoed, rubbing his left hand where the sleeve was missing. The black robe inherited from Ma Jin had its left sleeve torn off along with his arm.

Whenever he faced or recalled a formidable foe, he’d feel the absence of that sleeveless side anew.

The bare left arm made him keenly aware of the weight borne by a Desolate Fortress Leader’s rank.

“You said I’d have to face elite warriors. Does it tie to Valor Fist Lord Yan Hwa-ryeon?”

“Yes, certainly.”

Zhuge Qing-ya replied quietly.

There was intent.

She knew her words needed persuasive force. Moving the Radiant Demon Wing Leader of Desolate Fortress was no small feat.

Even Jeong Yeon-shin himself couldn’t act lightly. A black-rank supreme master served as a strategic weapon in faction wars.

Though not outwardly shown, the Martial Alliance’s wariness of the Radiant Demon Wing Leader was immense. It was as if he carried a thunderbolt in his heart.

A supreme master even the Eight Great Families rarely possessed more than two of.

Even with a martial clan’s towering prestige, it was so. Below the family head, they were the ones truly elevating the clan’s fame.

He couldn’t be seen merely as a peer of the same age. Zhuge Qing-ya recognized this precisely.

‘Not an opponent swayed by a single person’s testimony.’

Treating him carelessly could bring reprimand even to the Zhuge Family’s treasured daughter. She needed to pinpoint elements he’d find convincing.

Swallowing dryly, Zhuge Qing-ya fixed her gaze on the boy before her.

“She neatly countered my fist techniques. A decent warrior.”

The boy replied calmly. It had been some time since he devised the Eternal Blossom Fist.

Unable to achieve unity of essence, energy, and spirit, he relied on diverse martial arts to endure the black-rank realm, and Yan Hwa-ryeon’s moves had taught him new patterns. The Eternal Blossom Fist could advance further. The Martial Alliance had achieved what Desolate Fortress’s Disciplinary Corps couldn’t.

His tone inevitably carried favor. Regardless of Yan Hwa-ryeon’s demeanor, he respected her as a warrior.

“A decent warrior…”

Zhuge Qing-ya bit her lower lip faintly. An expression she’d never shown before.

Born with exceptional intuition, she’d lived suppressed under the Zhuge Family Head’s tyranny.

Even now, she gauged the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s mood. An anxious thought looped endlessly: What if he refused? Other options were murky.

But the boy possessed a sensitivity that read intent. He narrowed his brow slightly.

“I told you not to ramble. I said don’t grasp at clouds. State your purpose. This Leader will judge.”

Zhuge Qing-ya’s eyelashes trembled. Words she’d never encountered outside her family.

Was it the divine energy in his voice?

Though plain, unlike her father, the Zhuge Family Head, her lips parted instinctively.

“…I examined the bodies you struck down. It was the Zhuge Family Head’s order. I deeply traced the sword techniques from the scars’ paths and scanned the energy wave patterns from the crushed marks. Yan Hwa-ryeon received the means to counter them.”

“Bodies?”

“The body of Azure Qilin, Young Hero Namgung, bearing those scars, is here in the Alliance too.”

The girl uttered quietly, yet with effort.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s brows, which had furrowed at “bodies,” smoothed out. He didn’t counter.

In an instant, his upper dantian beneath the Hundred Meetings acupoint dissected Zhuge Qing-ya’s demeanor.

Was her claim true? What intent lay beneath? No, intent didn’t matter. His upper dantian intuition accepted her words as truth.

Had his Hundred Meetings acupoint widened further? It came with the clarity of a noble clan’s innate ability.

Slowly.

The boy savored the unfamiliar sensation.

Suddenly, the autumn breeze turned cold. It seemed to pierce his crown like a blunt strike. A wave in his mind settled like a mirror-still lake.

A harmony of reason and heart. Had he grown since his uncle lost an arm?

Or perhaps his lengthening limbs and unsettled mind had heated his Hundred Meetings acupoint lately.

Jeong Yeon-shin secured two justifications.

He solidified his reasons before acting. The negligence of the Heart Martial Alliance’s pillaging of commoners, and the study of counters through corpses.

With both, he could topple the Zhuge Family Head, no matter his fame. The boy rationalized.

The Radiant Demon Wing Leader wasn’t moving from personal rage now.

Jeong Yeon-shin opened his mouth slowly.

“I know your family’s formations are spread everywhere. Guide me.”

“Sneaking in is impossible. Only a frontal breakthrough works.”

“Due to the formations?”

“Yes. Without entering per the set patterns, the guard warriors will know. Even if the mystical and mechanical formations break, it’s the same. Following an open path is faster.”

The tale of Zhuge Qian testing the Radiant Demon Wing Leader with formations and being humbled was already famed.

Zhuge Qing-ya planned assuming Jeong Yeon-shin had means to counter mystical formations. Still, peak-level prowess was essential.

“My father and the Murong Family Head are away. I don’t know why, but even during the Opening Tournament, they left the Alliance around this time. It has to be now. Delay even a bit, and the returning family heads will block us. We need the body for justification to act and stay safe.”

Then, Zhuge Qing-ya’s gaze, whispering rapidly, flicked around.

“But the others…? White Qilin, Young Hero Namgung, and Lazy Flame Dragon would be a great help…”

“They went to greet distinguished guests in my stead, as I prepare for a duel.”

“Ah, the Sichuan Tang Clan…”

The boy stepped forward, leaving Zhuge Qing-ya’s sigh behind. He flung open Fragrant Melody Courtyard’s gate and strode over the threshold.

The girl hurriedly followed, taking the lead. She didn’t hand over an Alliance map.

Acting against protocol to replace her ousted father required her, as a chivalrous hero, to expose his misdeeds.

Having mastered the ocular technique, she’d planned everything ahead. Trusting the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s nature gleaned from Azure Qilin’s scars.

Central Plains folk enjoyed gambling, it was said. Zhuge Qing-ya shared that trait.

‘If I fail, I’ll never see light again.’

She thought. She’d be used like a slave with ocular talents.

She’d staked her life on the Radiant Demon Wing Leader. For her and her brother’s sake.

She wanted to live uprightly as a righteous martial artist.

“This way.”

Zhuge Qing-ya’s fingertips brushed Jeong Yeon-shin’s wrist. A soft touch met.

She then gently grasped his wrist with her fingers.

Feeling the clear gaze on her nape, she lowered her head slightly and explained.

“We need to draw attention. Stealing a body from nowhere, only for the pursuing family heads to bury it swiftly, would be futile. If word spreads that the Zhuge Family’s daughter and the Radiant Demon Wing Leader are smitten… people will follow anywhere. The crowd’s larger than ever thanks to the Opening Tournament. I’ll clarify it later.”

“Don’t you practice lightness techniques? Just walk faster.”

To Jeong Yeon-shin now, it held no significance.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***  

Even stepping onto the Alliance’s pavilion-lined avenue, it was the same. He cared not for any stares.

The white heat in his upper dantian gnawed at his reason. Azure Qilin was a lifelong rival he’d never face again.

A deep wound scarred the martial artist Jeong Yeon-shin’s proud ego. Alongside righteous fury.

With his course set, he needs to only swing his sword.

The whispering, sneaking crowd trailing behind was trivial.

He had no time to heed the juicy rumors his peers in the martial world’s upper echelon might spread.

Those dozens would chew idle gossip until he passed twenty.

Now, the boy.

Fixed his gaze solely on the Zhuge Family warriors barring his path.

They guarded the only gate in the wall encircling the pavilion cluster like a fortress.

The sprawling pavilions beyond testified to the family’s might. Even the rooflines’ curves were sculpted elegantly.

“Young lady and Radiant Demon Wing Leader, halt here.”

Five of them. They looked past Jeong Yeon-shin and Zhuge Qing-ya’s shoulders. Prioritizing duty over their young mistress.

The trailing crowd seemed to concern them more. All bore stern faces.

Except the middle-aged man in green robes at the fore. His angular jaw stood out.

“This is the family’s private domain. How you two grew close aside, if you’re out for a stroll, I recommend the lake shore west of the Alliance.”

His smiling face mixed unease and curiosity.

Jeong Yeon-shin parted his lips.

“I hear you’ve defiled Azure Qilin Namgung Se-jin’s body.”

“…”

“As a warrior inheriting his sword intent, I must verify. Step aside.”

“A baseless claim I’ve never heard…”

The man said with an impassive face. Jeong Yeon-shin tightened his grip on his wooden sword.

He saw the man’s crumbling expression recover swiftly. Suspicion deepened.

“The conqueror of the Opening Tournament can’t be so lawless. Are you serious?”

“No long talk. I won’t say more.”

“Your jest is grim. Don’t do this. This is a key Alliance site. Even a Desolate Fortress Leader will regret it.”

Contrary to his words, his tone was playful. His next words followed suit.

“By the way… I’ve honed swift swordplay too. Your duel with Taoist Cheon Ju impressed me greatly. More than the destructive sword technique at the end, the swift upper stance strike caught my eye. A strike wieldable at will, yet so lightning-fast. A sword technique I’ve never seen in my life—does it have a name?”

A topic shift.

His eyes belied his tone. Mid-speech, he assumed a hostile stance.

The four behind, gripping sword hilts, did the same. They’d fight rather than yield.

—Leave, or we cut you down.

The family warriors spoke through energy waves.

“Is a sword technique’s name weightier than this Leader’s purpose?”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked with a smile. With his free hand, he grabbed Zhuge Qing-ya’s sleeve and pulled her back.

The soft silk coiled in his grip, then slipped free.

The man’s question.

Revived the meaning of a new sword technique.

The initial technique often tests an opponent.

A swordmaster’s focused gaze reaches a realm judging an adversary’s honed skill, and a peak swift sword drives them to their limit, forcing their worth to surface.

There’s a term, “Judgment and Conquest”.

To judge right from wrong, superior from inferior. To fully assess the opponent.

Meanwhile, the intent in the hand gripping the wooden sword wholly honored one figure.

Even the autumn air’s chill couldn’t quell the veins on his hand.

The sword technique’s name was set. A statement from Radiant Demon Wing Leader Jeong Yeon-shin to the Martial Alliance. How you and I regard the dead differs greatly.

First Technique.

“Judgment Qilin.”

The boy answered. Words slipped through his teeth.

Step.

Rage surged with his advancing steps, and the full-body energy emission’s wave rose fiercer than ever.

The guards reacted swiftly. They seemed to grasp instantly there’d be no compromise.

“Don’t let him through!”

“Don’t yield the first move!”

Rapid sword draws ensued. The five moved as one, perfectly synced.

Zhuge Family’s Three Methods Five Elements Sword Formation. A secret formation for joint attacks. Their momentum merged as one.

Dust billowed heavily from the charging warriors’ feet. It swelled endlessly with formless energy waves.

The young Radiant Demon Wing Leader paid no mind. He merely raised his wooden sword overhead. An upright upper stance reaching skyward.

His legs stomped the ground.

Boom!

Cracks spread like an earthquake from his leather boots.

A firm rebound came from his soles.

Whoosh!

The energy from the stomp fueled a fierce vibration in the wooden sword. His black robe began flapping wildly.

The speed at which full-body energy converged into a single sword technique was staggering. A gale settled onto the upright wooden sword.

A fleeting moment. As his gaze sank, the brown sword strike in his right hand tore the air apart and descended.

Kwaaang—!

Like a firebomb exploding. The wooden sword scattered like dust amid a storm-like energy wave.

The warriors, struck as if by a compressed typhoon, crashed through several walls and collapsed.

None were directly hit by the sword technique, yet none of the sprawled figures rose.

Only a couple with strong protective energy gasped in shock.

The massive wall began crumbling.

Rumble—

A thunderous roar accompanied thick dust clouds. The ground’s vibration rose like rebounding rain.

Step.

Jeong Yeon-shin walked silently, then glanced back at Zhuge Qing-ya.

The girl’s body flinched.

The Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s eyes gleamed jet-black.

Veins stood out on his bare left forearm beneath the sleeveless side, pulsing from the energy surge.

The pristine right sleeve contrasted sharply.

A power breathing in the realm of faction war strategic weapons.

“Keep walking.”

The boy said.