Chapter 244 – Punishment, Fate

One day prior.

The words left by the proxy of the Radiant Arts Squad Leader, True Brother, were exceedingly audacious.

It could be said that everyone near Xi’an had gathered. Regardless of status.

Commoners and martial artists alike had caught wind of the news. There was a chance that the elder overseer of Tyrant Sword Sect might descend to the ground.

Ghost White Divine Sword Yeo So-hyang.

She was a renowned figure even among the Thirteen Evil Sects. Often compared to Baek Seo-gun, known as the Sword Venerable in Henan Province.

In terms of age, the Swimming Heaven Sword Ghost was far junior. However, their martial prowess and fame were subjects of near-constant debate, neck and neck.

“Perhaps that child is still no match for her…”

Baek Seo-gun murmured.

She was perched atop the roof of some pavilion, one knee raised and resting casually.

Lately, her soliloquies had increased. Was it because the life at Jeong Family Manor, which she had regarded as her foundation yet deliberately ignored, had seeped into her heart?

Or perhaps the words written by that fellow True Brother had stirred her emotions.

“Chivalrous souls still pity the lacking, allowing their lofty ideals to bloom everywhere. This stems from the teachings of their sects and parents etched into their hearts.”

What teachings had Jeong Family Patriarch, Pan Yue Jeong Dae-myung, instilled in Lightning Genius? What mindset had driven Lightning Genius to join Desolate Fortress?

How had he grown into a martial artist who prioritized the stability of the people above all else? So upright and resolute.

Baek Seo-gun was a sword demon unparalleled with the blade, yet she could find no answers to the questions that had recently surfaced in her mind.

The tens of thousands of sword paths filling her head were all useless. She wished she had possessed the same candid demeanor and heart as Lightning Genius during their first meeting.

“Jeong Pan Yue, Jeong Pan Yue… If that mad wastrel had just done his duty as a father properly…”

“Surely it is because he lacked parents.”

A slight flinch.

A strand of gray hair fell, tickling her shoulder.

At that moment.

“Sword Venerable, the Alliance Leader urgently seeks you.”

A voice, exceedingly polite, rang out from below the roof. She did not need to look to know.

It was the commander of the martial forces of the Heart Martial Alliance Army. A figure of considerable rarity in the martial world, one who typically hesitated to even show themselves.

Such status meant little to Sword Venerable Baek Seo-gun.

She parted her lips slowly.

“I told the Alliance Leader about winter. The deadline is quite long, so explain why she calls me so soon.”

“…”

Baek Seo-gun let out a faint chuckle. She flicked her bangs upward and rubbed her neck, exuding an odd blend of authority and boldness.

“It is not the Alliance Leader, is it? That eldest young master has caused a ruckus, no doubt.”

“My apologies.”

“You interrupted my contemplation. What did you intend to offer as compensation?”

“I considered my left arm.”

“The eldest young master’s left arm. Quite fitting. I will consider it.”

“Sword Venerable…!”

“Begone. For daring to make me hear lies in my presence, I will sternly discipline that wretch the moment I return to the alliance. Even calling him a late bloomer is too generous. A wastrel who cannot even reach the toes of Desolate Fortress’s Radiant Demon Wing Leader.”

Her voice was chilling. As cold as the moonlight falling on her half-gray hair.

The commander of the Heart Martial Alliance Army could not respond immediately. He merely struggled to say he would return the next day.

***

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Translated by Nine Heavens!

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***

The Day of the Duel

“Come this way! Step here!”

“Do not cut in line. You might truly meet your end by my hand first.”

Before long, Zhuge Xian and Lazy Flame Dragon had arrived at the base of the opposite peak.

Amid the devastating landslide caused by Ghost White Divine Sword, they each shattered rocks and dispersed dust, aiding the commoners’ evacuation. The demeanor of righteous sect heroes.

The Radiant Demon Wing masters, widely scattered around Great Moon Gorge, did the same. They unleashed energy waves in various spots to create pathways.

Rather than masquerading as evil faction members, they focused on saving the lives of the crowd.

Rescue, aid. The inherent creed of Desolate Fortress. Seeing this, some martial artists began assisting them as well.

A flower blooming amid chaos.

Though his heart was heavy, Jeong Yeon-shin felt a measure of relief.

“…”

He looked upward.

The elder overseer of the Thirteen Evil Sects.

A pinnacle figure of the martial world. Someone anyone would mark as a person of caution.

Even the wind blowing from the hill’s foliage seemed to say as much. The sound of leaves rustling at his feet carried an eerie chill.

A strange laugh flowed from the mouth of the old woman standing atop her sword, the elder overseer of Tyrant Sword Sect. It sounded like a cackle for a moment before stopping abruptly, as if it had never happened.

“You see all of me…”

Her words carried a hollow chuckle.

“Such arrogance to judge the evil factions. Compared to our sect leader, who reached the supreme realm yet remained humble, even calling you conceited falls short. You fail to know your place.”

Her wrinkled face appeared indifferent.

Ghost White Divine Sword Yeo So-hyang was an enigmatic figure.

She seemed easily provoked yet scrutinized her opponent carefully. Even upon seeing Jeong Yeon-shin’s blazing eyes, she did not guard herself excessively.

Though a veteran master who should understand the utility of vision techniques, she acted this way. She knew the disparity in their sword power was clear.

“You are unrefined.”

Yeo So-hyang’s eyes glinted fiercely. A mad insight paired with a terrifyingly potent aura.

At a glance, her defeat seemed unimaginable. Fitting for one who had served as nursemaid to the Thirteen Evil Sect Leader.

“Your vision is lacking. As expected of one who poorly raised the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader.”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s reply was calm. The logic he had learned from Hyeon Won-chang flowed smoothly from his tongue.

He felt it might even be worth adopting True Brother as a moniker. Far more worthy of being an elder brother than his second brother, Jeong Jung-san.

“…”

As the old woman fell silent, Jeong Yeon-shin gauged the distance in advance.

The gap from the Northern Light Sword at his waist to Yeo So-hyang was considerable. A sensation felt through a swordsman’s instincts. It could be called a divide.

She was formidable. Having forged his vision technique, he realized this all the more clearly.

The Radiant Demon Wing Leader paid it no mind.

The black rank of Desolate Fortress knew no fear.

Their foremost virtue existed. They clashed with the valor befitting a squad leader’s rank. Warriors who charged through the martial world with a soldier’s spirit.

Even at a disadvantage, it was so. The question was not the superiority of martial arts but maximizing one’s strengths. That was why he had created the Lowly Revelation Technique.

He parted his lips slowly. There were words he needed to hear before beginning.

“Do you remember Jeong Family Manor? It was in Xinye County, Henan.”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked calmly.

“The household that produced the Divine Archer and the Swiftest Under Heaven? No, if it is Henan…”

Yeo So-hyang’s eyes narrowed. Only for a moment.

Soon, her wrinkles curved up to her temples. A silent smirk.

“Yes, that is how it was. You were that child. No wonder your strength is absurd for your age. The sect leader’s foresight was indeed remarkable.”

“Was it your doing that set the villains upon us?”

“I was on a journey abroad. I looked down upon land that exceeded its worth. Fertile soil is destined to become prey for the World Tree, so your family deserved to be laid waste.”

“For just that reason? The household my mother chose had many commoners too.”

Jeong Family Manor was a prominent landowning family in Xinye County. Beyond kin, servants and guests frequently came and went in the inner quarters.

There had been a servant who always called Jeong Yeon-shin “young master” and offered him meals.

Now dead. Slaughtered.

Faint veins rose on the back of Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand gripping the sword hilt at his waist. The old woman atop her sword cackled.

“Pitiful. You ought to be grateful for contributing to the sect leader’s grand purpose, yet you cannot.”

The gaze of the evil faction crone confirmed she had stained Jeong Family Manor with blood.

Jeong Yeon-shin resolved not to honor his foe. A deep hue flashed through his blue eyes.

‘Distance: three feet. The energy wave is warping southeast. Her first strike will plunge straight down.

She will retrieve her sword from flight with a downward swing. Altitude unchanged. A long-range slash.’

The vision of the Lowly Revelation Technique. The flood of information pouring into his mind was immense. It melded his innate senses directly into his brain.

Like supreme masters of the Three Flowers Gathering at Crown who wielded power the moment they willed it, he had inversely pushed his physical reaction speed to its limits.

He drew his talent inward. Insight arose in the realm of instinct.

“Ghost White Divine Sword.”

The Radiant Demon Wing Leader moved his lips.

“Come down.”

He stood atop a single thread sword encircling the trees.

As the clear winter breeze teased the hem of his black robes, sunlight gathered elegantly on his raised jawline.

A striking presence. In outward mystique, he rivaled Ghost White Divine Sword.

“There, over there!”

“Don’t push! Calm down!”

“No! Ghost White Divine Sword is there!”

“The Radiant Arts Squad Leader and Ghost White Divine Sword have met!”

Those descending the hill formed by the landslide hesitated. People bold enough to approach, eager to witness a duel between supreme evil faction masters firsthand.

Even with death before their eyes, they could not turn away from such a rare spectacle.

Some even turned back. A few martial artists climbed the cliffs like spiders with wall-tiger techniques.

A confrontation between a rising star and a veteran master.

Facing each other, a suffocating tension radiated outward.

The onlookers, gazing up or watching from afar, swallowed dryly, their eyes fixed on the pair.

Few had directly witnessed the elder overseer of Tyrant Sword Sect in action. It was merely widely acknowledged that she possessed swordsmanship capable of contending with the world.

The Radiant Arts Squad Leader, who had subdued Xi’an’s seven great sect leaders, was also a focal point of attention.

At last, they clashed.

The tension born of supreme masters scraped at the skin. It spread slowly.

The sound of falling rock debris and the frantic footsteps of fleeing commoners faded in that moment.

A colorless sword wind tore through the air as it descended. Yeo So-hyang had already swung her sword downward from the sky. The energy wave of the slash extended from the blade’s tip.

The crowd could not even see her treasured sword rise from beneath her feet. Her movements appeared fragmented, as if disjointed. The realm of a supreme master.

‘Loyal-Shattering Desolation Sword, Shattering Thunder.’

Jeong Yeon-shin saw everything. The technique that cleaved mountain peaks.

Ghost White Divine Sword Yeo So-hyang. Though rapidly declining as one who had mastered tyrant swordsmanship, she retained fragments of a realm rivaling purple-rank supreme masters.

A frontal clash was untenable. Jeong Yeon-shin scanned the texture of the sword wind with a brief glance.

The trajectory in his vision matched the predicted information. He now unraveled even the precursors of techniques from higher-tier martial artists.

Blue brilliance shone from the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s eyes.

A soft step.

He shifted sideways. Still atop a thread sword. In that brief moment, he dismantled the entire web encircling the area.

As the bundle of thread swords was drawn into his sleeve, the recoil pulled his body to the left.

A booming crash.

The slash grazed past him sideways. His hair whipped sharply. A hair’s breadth.

The moment it struck the ground directly, an earthquake-like rumble erupted. As if the earth roared.

“For an old body soon bound for hell to wield such sword power, truly remarkable. Show me more.”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice pierced the wind. The slash had focused on cutting him, not the peak.

Its nature was such. Insufficient to sever the largest hill in Great Moon Gorge. He had chosen this spot with that in mind.

“Insolent!”

A loud impact.

At last, Yeo So-hyang landed right before Jeong Yeon-shin. Cracks from her two-foot landing spread outward.

The landing itself was like a seismic stomp. Abruptly, her sword thrust forward.

A white flash gleamed. An astonishingly swift strike. Though instantaneous, the intangible energy gathered on the blade warped the air, as if premeditated.

In that moment, Jeong Yeon-shin lunged into the old woman’s embrace. This was the preemptive strike.

He knew he could not yet match the elder overseer of Tyrant Sword Sect’s sword speed. So he saw and advanced first, seizing the wrist of the arm wielding her sword.

The wrinkled texture wrapped around his grip. A perfectly executed tendon-snaring hand.

“You…?”

Their eyes met up close. Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips curved into a faint arc.

No words were needed; the clear intent reached Yeo So-hyang. This will do.