Chapter 211 – Blue (5)

A muffled sound echoed.

The sunset light streaming in a single band broke against the stone sliding door.

The heavy noise accompanied the firmly shut door, and it seemed to urge the new Radiant Demon Wing Leader to steel himself. Jeong Yeon-shin took it as such.

His fingertips brushed the rough door handle.

Step.

He entered the inner chamber of the pavilion. It was a space arranged by Desolate Ma Family Head Ma Jin.

His uncle was busy with various matters.

That was expected of a new head.

They said the discipline of a martial family became harder to maintain as the martial prowess of its members grew.

Desolate Ma Family was a prestigious clan where even the one-armed Ma Jin would struggle.

Even in the letter he sent to Jeong Yeon-shin, weariness was palpable. It bore words about proving many things.

He had not even come to watch the duel between Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so and Jeong Yeon-shin.

‘He couldn’t, more likely.’

Cheong Myeong’s strike brought back what he had said.

He claimed that the mysterious eyes of their noble clan could somewhat pierce an opponent’s heart. It was a well-known fact.

The man Cheong Myeong had just subdued was undoubtedly a Desolate Ma Family warrior.

If there was a troubling reason, only one came to mind.

‘Zhu Lianting.’

Moving a purple-rank master was akin to a major mission.

At Jeong Yeon-shin’s request, Ma Jin had overstepped.

He had secretly spirited Ma Yeon-jeok away. It clearly exceeded a family head’s authority. If this became known, evading responsibility would be difficult.

‘It might be what Zhu Lianting aims for.’

If no notable achievements emerged, that would happen.

Given Desolate Fortress’s lawful nature, ordinary accomplishments wouldn’t suffice.

It was fine.

Jeong Yeon-shin regarded this matter gravely. Yet he did not consider it overly difficult.

He possessed Jeong Family Dynamic Technique and the Great Rejuvenation Pill.

He was certain vitality would sprout in his grandfather’s body. That was why he hadn’t bothered requesting the Desolate Fortress Lord’s protection.

She was a master before being an utterly unapproachable figure. The term “exalted” fit her.

He couldn’t envision seeking aid for something he and Radiant Demon Wing could handle.

Confronting Zhu Lianting directly seemed a hundred times preferable.

Such unilateral action was no longer mere recklessness.

It was discretion exercised as Ma Yeon-jeok’s grandson and a Desolate Fortress Leader.

With these thoughts, he entered the room nearest the door. Ma Yeon-jeok’s face, lying on a large bed, caught his eye first.

A gaunt, closed-eyed figure. Even the once-lustrous white beard looked dry. The aura of a peerless master was hard to discern.

“Grandfather.”

Jeong Yeon-shin whispered cautiously.

No reply came.

Only after approaching the head of the bed did Ma Yeon-jeok’s wrinkled eyelids tremble. Soon, hazy eyes opened.

The old man’s gaze settled on his grandson’s refined face. His softening eyes etched into Jeong Yeon-shin’s heart.

“You’ve… returned…”

Ma Yeon-jeok’s lips curved into a faint smile.

It was a tender smile. Jeong Yeon-shin felt the familial warmth he had craved since childhood.

Because of that, he struggled to speak.

“I left the Minor Rejuvenation Pill, so why didn’t you take it?”

He had learned this from Ma Jin’s letter.

Shaolin Minor Rejuvenation Pill.

It remained untouched, he wrote. The note asked him to visit sometime and retrieve it.

Upon realizing the Minor Rejuvenation Pill was his grandson’s mission reward, Ma Yeon-jeok had staunchly refused to consume it.

‘Yeon-shin, I can’t overcome your grandfather’s stubbornness.’

Ma Jin’s letter mentioned Ma Yeon-jeok’s stern warning. He had threatened to disown him if forced to eat it.

Recalling Ma Jin’s words, Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips dipped slightly.

Ma Yeon-jeok’s smile deepened a little.

“It was… your mission’s reward, wasn’t it? How could I take it?”

“I wanted you to have it, grandfather.”

“What… did you just say?”

Ma Yeon-jeok’s white eyebrows rose slightly.

He reacted instantly to “grandfather.” His trembling eyelids showed a touch of emotion.

It was a term Jeong Yeon-shin had never used before. A ticklish awkwardness rose to the crown of his head.

Unconsciously stern-faced, Jeong Yeon-shin quickly changed the subject.

“I came today for another matter.”

“No, what did you say?”

“I obtained the Great Rejuvenation Pill from the Martial Alliance. Now I intend to restore your strength.”

The new Radiant Demon Wing Leader spoke of the martial world’s treasure as casually as a tonic.

He did so deliberately. It had no greater purpose.

Three-flowers gathering at crown was a realm he would inevitably reach. Even with his short lifespan, it was so.

There was no reason to prioritize it over his grandfather, who might breathe his last any moment.

“I’ve heard of your feats. Truly admirable. Your prowess, Yeon-shin, already contends with the martial world. Sword Maniac Hyeon So-baek, that old fool isn’t ordinary…”

Ma Yeon-jeok smiled faintly with wide eyes. He swapped “Sword Star” for “Sword Maniac.”

It was the character for foolishness. Only Ma Yeon-jeok could say such a thing.

“Anyway, the Great Rejuvenation Pill… In my reckless youth, I might have coveted it once. Apart from merits, it was an elixir unobtainable due to its rarity. But…”

The old man continued with a smiling face.

“That too is rightfully yours. It belongs to you, doesn’t it? This old man can’t take it.”

“You saved me from the Blood Flame Sect Leader’s grasp. Had your actions been delayed, I’d have perished. Give me a chance to repay you. I’m now Radiant Demon Wing’s Leader. I don’t wish to live indebted.”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s words grew unusually long. A conviction that it must be so infused his even tone.

His rare exploits in the rigid Martial Alliance bore fruit today.

He felt a kin’s love in Ma Yeon-jeok’s Demon-Destroying Azure Unyielding Palm. Restoring his grandfather’s vigor was the true reward.

“Even so, I can’t take it. It’s a matter of principle and reason.”

“No such reason exists in the martial world.”

He didn’t need to consume it himself. Restoring purple-rank vigor and earning merits would suffice.

That alone would let him somewhat catch up to his seniors. If he looked to the future, that was enough.

Yet Ma Yeon-jeok turned his gaze aside slightly.

It was stubborn disregard.

“This grandfather… never fully played that role for you. Yet shamelessly, I can’t accept such a thing. Ma Jin, that brat, needs a scolding. How dare he move this old body for this…”

His halting words and pallid, wrinkled face showed it.

Yet a clear anger furrowed Ma Yeon-jeok’s brow. It was fury toward his son Ma Jin.

Jeong Yeon-shin decided not to prolong the debate.

He glimpsed his grandfather’s youth in that resolute refusal.

Even in battle, didn’t he turn foes’ garb inside out? His demeanor with headquarters comrades must have been similar.

‘I mustn’t become like Grandfather.’

He parted his lips slowly.

“As you say, Grandfather, the Great Rejuvenation Pill is mine. If I wish to use it as I see fit, I believe you have no grounds to interfere. I’ll handle it myself.”

“…”

“I’ll open it.”

He drew the wooden box containing the Great Rejuvenation Pill from his robes.

It was a small rosewood case, smaller than his palm.

A faint fragrance wafted up. Even sealed, a distinct divine energy was palpable.

They said the elixir’s potency, infused with noble clan monks’ secret arts, was profoundly mystical.

He knew it was true since receiving it from Lady Ye of the Martial Alliance.

This elixir was indeed a treasure.

Click.

He lifted the lid of the box, warmed by his robes.

At once, the medicinal scent vanished. The white, pebble-like pill seemed to guard its own energy.

As if imbued with spirit, it withheld its potency. It was a marvel of the martial world, just as he’d heard since childhood.

Yet Ma Yeon-jeok didn’t even glance at the Great Rejuvenation Pill.

The old man’s eyes fixed straight on his grandson.

“I said I won’t take it. Surely you don’t intend to force it into my mouth…?”

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t reply.

He had once helped Mount Hua’s Yu Hyeon absorb the Great Violet Pill. That was during his white-rank days.

Now, more adept at internal arts through Luminous Wheel Technique, it would be different.

He could do it as before, but better.

Swish.

Jeong Yeon-shin boldly took Shaolin’s Great Rejuvenation Pill and swallowed it. It had no scent or taste.

The elixir melted naturally down his throat. It carried a calm yet extraordinary presence. It seemed to reach his lower abdomen instantly.

“Grandfather, I’ll briefly breach etiquette.”

Jeong Yeon-shin carefully pushed aside the silk quilt covering his grandfather.

The old man’s eyes, wide with surprise, hardened as he watched his grandson. It was likely due to the hand soon pressing his lower abdomen.

“Body-Isolated Energy Transfer…!”

Ma Yeon-jeok muttered with a groan.

A technique to transfer energy to another. It was a secret art demanding extreme stamina.

It was fine. For Jeong Yeon-shin now, such side effects wouldn’t arise.

Radiant Demon Wing Leader Jeong Yeon-shin paid it no mind. A more urgent task loomed.

‘It’s fast.’

He had no time to gauge his grandfather’s state.

Unlike the Great Violet Pill, the Great Rejuvenation Pill dissolved into his body instantly upon ingestion.

It felt as if a wildfire flared from his Stone Gate acupoint at his lower abdomen.

Before he could circulate it through the upper body’s major cycle, an immense energy surged first.

A low hum reverberated.

A deep resonance rose within him. His entire musculature felt hollow, like a cavern.

An unprecedented energy filled his meridians, minor meridians, and blood points.

The Great Rejuvenation Pill’s potency was.

Vast beyond measure.

He understood why Shaolin of Mount Song was called the martial world’s foremost. The Great Rejuvenation Pill was Shaolin’s secret elixir.

It was said noble clan monks spent decades crafting a single one.

The power now spreading through his minor meridians felt odd to call medicinal. It came as a pristine sensation, already refined.

It was unbelievably pure. It barely needed cycles of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique’s energy flow.

Heavy pulses thudded several times below Jeong Yeon-shin’s navel.

“You must use Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, not Harmony Flower Divine Technique.”

Even speaking mid-energy circulation, his energy didn’t waver.

It was a feat of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique’s ability to refine internal energy through movement, paired with his innate energy control.

He drew the energy forth. A transparent ripple spread from the fingertips pressing his grandfather’s lower abdomen.

A soft hum sounded.

If rejected here, both risked qi deviation.

“Well…”

Ma Yeon-jeok let out a faint sigh and closed his eyes.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips curved faintly upward.

For the second time, he probed a purple-rank supreme master’s body. After the Divine Sword Group Leader, now the former supreme leader.

His consciousness sank into the cosmic expanse of a purple-rank master’s form.

Merely observing flooded him with revelations.

How robust were his muscles and minor meridians in their prime, which blood points and muscle groups did he favor, what system governed his physicality based on those traces, how were his three dantians structured…

He gathered all this knowledge and began guiding the Great Rejuvenation Pill’s energy into his grandfather’s blood points for circulation.

He recited the most vital incantations of the technique needed now.

‘Mother…’

The intent of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique infused the energy delving into Ma Yeon-jeok’s body.

A daughter embraced her father.

Suddenly, Ma Yeon-jeok’s eyebrows darkened briefly. Even the wrinkles around his eyes tightened momentarily.

It was the harbinger of a transformation.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

“It seems a support request came from Azure Sky Squad. They’re struggling quite a bit.”

“I heard. They say Golden Wing Sect’s momentum is unusual, and who knows what those lunatics are plotting. At least Tang Clan’s cooperating with Azure Sky Squad for joint training… Word is Azure Sky Squad Leader lost to Golden Wing Sect Leader. I wonder if he survived.”

“Is Obeying Heaven Wing still out of contact? They say no messenger hawks returned.”

“With no branch in Xinjiang, well…”

“That place is practically a demon realm to begin with. It’s where the previous Leader lost his manhood too.”

“Do we really need that story…”

Radiant Demon Wing’s blue-rank masters conversed.

Even while encircling the pavilion with senses sharp as blades, they remained at ease.

Most had more martial world experience than their Leader, Jeong Yeon-shin. Their knowledge far exceeded his.

It meant they handled missions diligently yet knew how to relax.

“The real threat’s the evil faction grandmasters. Rumors say Yu Ling and Heaven Conquering Sect Leader are touring the Thirteen Evil Sects. Seems the clan b*st*rds forming the Martial Alliance left quite an impression.”

“The Thirteen Evil Sects forming an alliance? That’s horrifying…”

“If that happens, even headquarters couldn’t handle it.”

“Enough. That’s beyond evil faction riffraff.”

“Still, it’s an unprecedented chaos. Likely due to famine. They say food’s scarcer than silver, so grand faction leaders have no choice but to get bold…”

At that moment.

From beyond the main gate, far off.

“You’re right. Chaos is coming.”

A voice rang clear without shouting.

The blue-rank masters had already sensed the presence. They turned their heads without surprise.

A middle-aged woman clad in jet-black palace robes approached.

Silk wrapped her form, dyed with pitch-black pigment. Elegance flowed from her slender face.

She bore the overwhelming aura of the imperial Golden Immortal Eight Methods, her demeanor as if overlooking the world.

Zhu Lianting of Desolate Ma Family.

“Yet you foment division. Meddling in family affairs without shame, don’t you feel disgrace?”

She spoke, her red lips moving slightly.