Chapter 208 – Blue (2)

Radiant Demon Wing Leader Jeong Yeon-shin employs Tang Clan secret techniques.

Those in the know have long been aware of this fact. Within Desolate Fortress headquarters, it became widely recognized since his black-rank promotion ceremony.

He revealed this during the test for black-rank under Law Enforcement Squad Leader Woon So-yu at headquarters.

Those versed in rumors dug deeper. They uncovered that Jeong Yeon-shin had formed a master-disciple bond with the Tang Family Head in distant Sichuan Province.

Such connections among figures of this caliber border on fateful encounters.

The Tang Family Head’s support for Jeong Yeon-shin at the Martial Alliance alone proved this point. Their bond, forged through martial arts, was remarkable.

The Brilliant River technique was no exception. Information at the Desolate Fortress Leader level holds value akin to a thousand gold pieces.

This stems from overseeing countless martial world elites and even their demise. Facing it ignorantly meant death.

Jeong Yeon-shin and Brilliant River. Radiant Demon Wing Leader and Myriad Heavens Flower Rain.

Now, many know these techniques. They are inseparable from Jeong Yeon-shin.

However, simultaneous execution is another matter entirely. No such knowledge exists.

Manifesting two techniques at once is exceedingly difficult. Even wielding dual sword forms pales in comparison.

One must channel internal energy through the body’s meridians in opposing directions within a single breath.

Without profound insight piercing the twelve meridians, three hundred sixty-five blood points, and countless minor meridians, it verges on qi deviation.

The energy pathways must be seamlessly refined to prevent the two flows from clashing.

For techniques like Brilliant River and Myriad Heavens Flower Rain, the difficulty would escalate tremendously.

Even fully envisioning simultaneous execution poses challenges.

Dividing full-body muscle and energy movements to manifest both techniques is the pinnacle of form execution.

One must imbue hundreds of blood points with conflicting intents.

The efficiency would likely fall short of a single technique’s full potential.

Even most three-flowers gathering at crown masters would not dare attempt it.

Many spectators were masters themselves. Numerous ones noticed the extraordinary signs from the technique’s onset.

A gleam of astonishment flashed across the faces of these masters like lightning.

“Wudang Clan’s Dual Principles Mind Technique?” one asked.

“If he split his mind, it might make sense,” another replied.

“That’s still absurd,” a third countered.

“Wudang’s treasure wouldn’t fall into Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s hands,” someone reasoned.

“Then how do you explain Myriad Heavens Flower Rain?” another challenged.

“You can’t equate mind techniques with forms. Internal cultivation is far more complex,” a voice clarified.

The Desolate Fortress masters’ mouths moved rapidly. Their voices, bursting with energy waves, fired like rapid shots.

They used lip-speaking art. It was a method Desolate Fortress warriors, seasoned in group combat, employed for communication in extreme situations.

“Purely by instinct?” one questioned.

“It’s a difficulty beyond dual sword mastery,” another noted.

Despite their lightning-fast debate, the duel platform’s events unfolded swiftly.

No matter how quick the masters’ tongues, they lagged behind the Leaders’ strikes.

A resounding hiss filled the air.

Radiant Demon Wing Leader and Immortal Tree Spirit Leader stood enveloped.

The icy vortex around them scattered rainbow hues.

White crystals unfurled from Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s vicinity, swirling like a gale in a fantastical display.

Snowflake-like Myriad Heavens Flower Rain restricted Cheon So-so’s evasive movements. Its function was evident at a glance.

Though conjured hastily and unable to pierce her protective energy, constraining a black-rank master’s maneuvers was impressive in itself.

Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so’s Frost Heaven Flowless Ice Technique is a divine skill.

She elevated an already potent technique’s power with spiritual essence.

When mundane vapor froze into chilling energy, it transformed from mere frost into a weapon worthy of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain’s material.

Ice crystals hardened by energy became a relentless flurry of deadly snowflakes in that moment.

Amid the whirlwind whitening their vision, seven-colored gleams flickered. Even for a Leader who had roamed the continent, it was a startling technique.

Cheon So-so met Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s dark eyes calmly. Her right wrist, gripped by him, ached faintly.

‘He has trained in external arts. His grip is firm,’ she thought.

It might be the power of a dynamic technique enhancing external strength with internal energy.

Either way, it surpassed his age’s limits. Rumors claimed the Desolate Fortress Lord favored him; perhaps he consumed a fragment of the world tree’s pinnacle fruit.

No. That cannot be.

Cheon So-so dismissed the fleeting thought.

Such an elixir exceeds the new Leader’s capacity.

Even a fragment would be the same. The clan’s treasure is not easily ingested by anyone.

Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so differs from Han folk who reached this realm.

She honed her clan’s keen senses like a treasured blade.

Through northern ocular techniques, she gained uncanny insight, instantly discerning upon facing Radiant Demon Wing Leader.

He has not yet united essence, energy, and spirit, she concluded.

She could not probe further internally.

Like her, Radiant Demon Wing Leader tempered his energy into a divine skill.

Its ethereal power blocked eyes piercing beyond temperament.

Unless honed to rival purple-rank masters, observing him yielded little more than surface insights.

She did not relax her guard.

This was no time for complacency. Even if he lacked the three-flowers gathering at crown state.

Immortal Tree Spirit Leader’s cultivation was not as shallow as evil faction or family masters.

She approached all missions coldly.

She knew knowing oneself and the enemy outweighed most techniques.

Though she had no intent to bond with Radiant Demon Wing Leader personally, as a Desolate Fortress Leader, she reviewed all his feats among fellow black-ranks.

She acknowledged his extraordinaryness at once.

“His martial temperament is strikingly clear. Speed and strength incantations,” she mused.

Her consciousness flowed like lightning.

It was the realm of the supreme. This surging perception was the domain of top masters.

The cold breeze brushing her protective energy felt like silk. It lingered long. She perceived all things in slow clarity.

Amid this, Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s palm aimed at her abdomen moved unusually fast.

It seemed a strike unleashed without thought.

The energy in his palm, though unstable, would strike her abdomen upon reaching its peak.

It approached with immeasurable force. She must not take it unguarded.

He called it Brilliant River.

It overcame the delayed execution of palm techniques in three ways.

Myriad Heavens Flower Rain restrained Cheon So-so’s movements, his grip on her extended right arm sealed her energy flow, and his innately swift energy control formed the palm technique’s essence rapidly.

The instincts of a born fighter.

She understood why he became a Leader so young. He matched Desolate Fortress’s nature as a grand faction.

***

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Translated by Nine Heavens!

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***

A fierce ripple shook the air.

The texture of his fluttering black robes reached her abdomen slowly.

It was inches away now. The palm technique’s aftermath alone tensed her abdominal muscles.

In that fleeting realm.

She deliberated. Supreme masters in this realm planned their next move lucidly even in a breath’s urgency.

Countless thoughts flowed instinctively.

“How should I proceed?” she wondered.

Countering with her free left hand was half a breath too late. She never expected her divine ice to shatter with one exhale.

His energy, filling his minor meridians, must have vibrated with tremendous force.

She couldn’t fathom how his blood points withstood such dynamism. It astonished her.

“Rise,” she intoned inwardly.

Simultaneously, the frigid energy of Frost Heaven Flowless Ice Technique surged from her dantian like light.

A three-flowers gathering at crown master’s intent flows with energy. Her energy control neared the speed of thought.

A deep hum resonated.

Energy raced from her navel to the Yin Intersection acupoint, spreading to her rectus abdominis.

She wove her internal energy framework faster than Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s palm.

Such was orthodox black-rank energy mastery.

Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so was an ice technique virtuoso.

Chilling energy’s essence lies in a subtle stillness amid motion. Reaching divine skill, it bestowed myriad abilities.

An internal energy barrier was one. She elevated her protective energy to divine levels more easily than other lineages.

Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield.

An intangible energy barrier encircled her abdomen.

Forged with the imagery of eternal snow, this protective energy was formidable.

Another of Immortal Tree Spirit Leader’s techniques, its ten-layered defense was staggering.

It recently withstood Yang Family Spear master’s combined strikes.

Even renowned warriors rarely breached one layer.

Her black robes remained spotless outside, proof of Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield’s strength.

As this divine skill fully formed.

Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s right hand struck her abdomen.

A thunderous shockwave exploded. Both masters’ hair whipped upward.

Even Myriad Heavens Flower Rain’s petals scattered in all directions. The palm technique’s force surged downward too.

It resembled a compressed thunderbolt unleashed. Cracks raced across the duel platform.

She grunted inwardly.

Cheon So-so met the palm strike with poise. Her free left hand readied the next move.

Outwardly, she stood erect, her fluttering robes contrasting her grace.

A mystical sight often born from supreme masters’ clashes.

She narrowed her eyes. Even as Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s signature Brilliant River shattered six layers of Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield instantly, she observed him coldly.

This too was a fleeting moment.

She needed this strike to end for a meaningful counter.

Prolonging the fight would entangle her in his battle instincts.

She resolved to prepare a grand technique to end the duel swiftly, trusting Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield’s divine prowess.

A resonant hum vibrated.

The power in his palm was undeniably monstrous. Its aftermath threatened to break the seventh layer soon.

Yet it would not penetrate to cause internal injury.

‘This Han man is strong. He countered my first move to create this situation. Remarkably instinctive strikes. If I don’t respond properly next, I’ll take another direct hit,’ she thought like lightning.

She aimed to seize the initiative by the third exchange.

Radiant Demon Wing Leader was no mere boy. He loomed as a formidable master. Thus, a man.

Even as Brilliant River’s fiery force kept shattering Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield layers in that fleeting realm.

Its emission persisted. He stretched the brief rhythm of close-range strikes astonishingly long.

The palm’s force at her abdomen showed no sign of fading.

Like lightning relentlessly striking an eternal snow peak.

The storm of palm energy at her abdomen and his unwavering gaze in her heightened perception locked eyes with hers.

Cheon So-so’s blue eyes widened. Her noble clan’s crystalline gaze fully emerged.

‘He’s adding more energy control…?’ she realized like a thunderbolt.

It wasn’t dual execution of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain and Brilliant River. He had woven a triple energy counter from the start.

He loaded successive Brilliant River strikes into his Inner Gate acupoint like cannon shells.

Rumors claimed he favored short battles, but this bordered on severing thought itself. She hadn’t expected a two-move gambit against a peer black-rank.

Did he not consider the fallout if this strike failed?

No stamina would remain then. Hence why few favor short battles.

His meridians withstanding such energy strain and his bold combat instincts defied belief.

A fierce tremor shook her vision.

Deep Wall Heavenly Ice Shield layers shattered in succession. Rapid, unrelenting jolts struck her abdomen.

Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s palm, as if crashing into the air before her, was terrifying. Brilliant River’s energy wave peaked instantly.

‘Too late to counter now,’ the swirling energy storm seemed to say.

Amid violent vibrations, her bangs swept back. The upper dantian energy on her exposed forehead flickered, urging a counter.

Frost Heaven Flowless Ice Technique’s signature frost formed. Preparing a grand technique with protective energy was no longer viable. As her left hand rose slightly.

Seven layers, eight layers, nine layers broke.

Boom-boom-boom!

Even with her consciousness in the supreme realm, they shattered at a fearsome pace.

No matter how swift a three-flowers gathering at crown strike, it lagged behind his unleashed might.

A deafening crack resounded.

The final layer broke in one breath.

A small cough escaped Cheon So-so’s lips. Clear blood splattered Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder.

Silence fell as if her ice technique had spread. The masters’ relentless chatter halted.

A stillness, like frost, dyed the surroundings.

Then.

Beyond Cheon So-so’s trapezius, gracefully honed from neck to shoulder.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze met a figure in the distant stands.

A handsome man with snow-white skin.

His loose-sleeved black robes contrasted tight cuffs, revealing taut forearm muscles beneath.

A sharply honed physique.

He ranked high among Divine Sword Group’s beauty paragons, Jeong Yeon-shin recalled.

“Blood Guardian Leader Jin Myeong-jo,” he identified.

Pale complexion, slender jawline.

His black robes exuded a cold texture. Arms crossed, he tilted his chin slightly toward the platform.

His mastery of evil faction arts was unfathomable. An eerie aura seeped from him.

He moved his lips briefly. Whether to himself or Radiant Demon Wing Leader, it was unclear.

Jeong Yeon-shin scrutinized Blood Guardian Leader’s lip movements in that fleeting moment.

“Damn it. Bloody Hell. Damn it all.” Jin Myeong-jo mouthed impassively.