Chapter 266 – The Master of the Martial Book (3)

The Second Apostle’s lips twisted wickedly.

“The Sect Leader has vanished, yet these so-called Apostles manipulate the sect with shallow faith. Truly a lot deserving of death. Devotees, slay the Seventh Apostle with noble hearts.”

He spoke with an elegant poise, arms crossed. His body floated slightly in the air, buoyed by the protective energy of the Void-Treading Technique.

To anyone, it was a divine sight, yet he exuded the chaotic energy waves typical of the evil outer path, revealing a demon-god-like aspect across his entire form.

The god of the Blood Flame Sect’s Shaanxi Branch had issued a command.

The devotees of the Blood Flame Sect, spread out like a swarm of red ants, responded. Fanaticism naturally turned toward the one ruling nearby.

Shaanxi was their realm. Their hostility toward the Seventh Apostle, whose main sect had been destroyed, reflected this from the start.

“The Apostle has decreed.”

“Let us drink the traitor’s blood!”

“Kill her!”

Amid this, the head of the one shouting to drink blood exploded. It was accompanied by the aftermath of a fierce palm wind.

From a distance, the Second Apostle, arms still crossed, unleashed the Crimson Shadow Divine Palm with one hand and muttered. Not a single drop belongs to any but me.

The devotees of the Blood Flame Sect charged toward the Seventh Apostle, their red hair fluttering.

They paid no heed even as powerful energy waves erupted nearby, kicking off the ground. Their numbers easily reached the hundreds.

Together with the translucent, shimmering walls of the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array, it created a scene like a tale of snow blossoms. A story of monsters from the “Classic of Mountains and Seas’.

The Seventh Apostle did not evade. She merely glanced around as if the devotees were invisible. A mad glint shone through her distracted demeanor.

The Second Apostle laughed like an ancient sage.

“Seventh Apostle, noble bearer of true blood. Do not resist the devotees. They stem from your martial arts and blood.”

“You wield incantations with the solemnity of a high official.”

The Seventh Apostle replied curtly.

The Second Apostle’s incantations flowed like a rapid rhythm, a smile on his face.

“Would you spill the blood of your kin? Even if you escape here, no Apostle will welcome you, so do not rashly betray us. Better to become the sword of the Shaanxi Branch. How many pleasures can faith grant you?”

By then, five figures landed before the Seventh Apostle. Exceptionally powerful Blood Flame Swordmaster.

Their dark red hair fluttered as they each assumed stances, the lightly piled snow churned chaotically by the energy waves of their blood techniques.

“Traitor.”

“Sleep peacefully.”

Merciless energy waves emanated from the swords and throwing weapons they gripped.

Each had thoroughly mastered blood techniques. Some, seemingly born of noble blood, flashed bloodlust in their eyes.

Surrounded on all sides.

Even a supreme master would have to negotiate. The scale of the combined attack was extraordinary. Their strength was immense, and collision was imminent.

“Choose.”

The Second Apostle’s voice rang out from afar.

Suddenly.

The Seventh Apostle extended a leg long. Red energy waves spread along the hem of her pure blood robe.

Crunch.

In a brief moment, she stepped forward.

That was the spark.

Woo woo wooong!

Red light flared from her toes. A refined manifestation of true energy.

The snow beneath her feet trembled slightly. Soon, the red light began to ripple like mist.

At that instant, violent energy waves erupted from the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array behind her.

Boom!

The five Blood Flame Swordsmasters were flung back simultaneously. Despite summoning robust blood technique energy across their bodies, they carved furrows in the snow.

Bewilderment crossed the faces that had glinted with blind murderous intent.

The Seventh Apostle, lips curling upward, took another step.

Boom!

The red tide’s charge halted at once. The devotees rushing forward stumbled, losing balance.

The energy forming the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array ensnared their bodies. The Blood Flame Sect’s foundational true energy had blocked their massive advance.

“You, Seventh Apostle. What trickery have you wrought upon our sect’s secret sorcery array?”

The Second Apostle asked expressionlessly.

The Seventh Apostle blinked once.

“I took a stroll with a slightly younger Grandmaster. It was wonderful.”

On the day the main sect fell, many devotees died within the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array. It stemmed from Grandmaster Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand, reversing the sorcery array’s operation.

The Grandmaster had effortlessly shattered and repurposed the array guarding the main sect.

He drew sorcery into the realm of martial arts, punishing the sect’s underlings mercilessly with dazzling execution. He forgave no challenge to dignity.

She meticulously etched that radiant trace into her lone eye.

Tracing the Grandmaster’s senses, she felt the ecstasy of walking atop clouds.

In that supremely joyful and refreshing sensation, she unraveled the Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array’s manipulation herself.

The Seventh Apostle.

At seventeen, she donned an Apostle’s robe. Born of pure blood.

She was a supreme master of true blood. A talent unprecedented in sect history, they said.

A brilliance that saw the Grandmaster as uniquely dazzling. The one who would mourn his death most was her.

Not some fate akin to the Hwangbo Family’s Scorching Divine Meridian.

“I pondered long. I wondered why the Grandmaster avoided me. I could not comprehend it. We connected through martial arts. Only we could understand each other. Only I could carve words on the Grandmaster’s tombstone…”

Her lips, muttering as if mad, traced a smooth arc.

“Listening to the Grandmaster’s words, I realized.”

Swish.

Raising an arm slightly, her red sleeve fell downward.

“It was because of you lot.”

She had to reclaim the feeling from when she posed as Lady Ye at the Hanzhong Martial Alliance Conference.

The Grandmaster’s unprecedented gentleness in words and actions had pleased her. Like an unbreakable herb, it melted her mind and body. Faith in the sect was trivial.

The Seventh Apostle murmured as if whispering. I alone am the noble true blood, so why do I need you?

A faint reddish blood technique energy stirred in her pale grip.

Boom!

The sorcery array’s walls surged like waves, following her energy waves.

The barrier, crafted to confine Lightning Genius across Mount Taibai, split like a horizon, soon dyeing a subtle blood-red like her true energy.

The Grandmaster’s technique from that day across the main sect manifested anew.

Transformed by the Seventh Apostle’s method. The blade honed to kill Jeong Yeon-shin now turned its edge backward.

“What is this…”

“Divine punishment… It’s divine punishment…!”

The Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array, towering behind the Seventh Apostle, pulsed. It danced, swayed by her inner energy mastery.

The array’s walls, once rippling faintly, began descending toward Mount Taibai’s base.

Her forward direction. A translucent red tidal wave cast shadows, vast enough to envelop the mountainside.

Woo woo wooong.

In an instant, it blotted out the sunlight, rushing forth. The ground quaked.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

“O Blood Buddha! O Flame God!”

Those turning to flee multiplied. But it was too close.

A heavy rumble resounded.

It was like a net cast by the mountain spirit of the Qinling Range.

Falling from snow-covered slopes, it reached Mount Taibai’s entrance and corpse piles, passing through the Seventh Apostle to engulf and topple hundreds massively.

A fleeting moment. The Blood Flame devotees, who had smeared martial artists’ and commoners’ blood on their lips, convulsed in unison.

The resonance of true energy was immense. A vast kindred force drew their internal energy through their skin.

The principle of energy absorption turned against the blood demons. Unable to endure, their bodies began bursting one by one.

Pop! Splat! Boom!

Unlike those they killed with absorption, instant death followed as if struck by thunderbolts, most leaving no corpses.

A fierce reverse wind blew, stirring a snowstorm. The blood demons exploded ceaselessly.

The Seventh Apostle’s lips curved into a red smile.

Ahahaha!

Her mad voice carried a question for the Grandmaster. Is it fine to act as an evil outer path member against these fools?

“Seventh—Apostle!”

The Second Apostle flew forward, eyes flashing wildly. His disheveled hair fluttered dully with his pure blood robe.

Like the Seventh Apostle, he was a supreme master who heightened inner energy purity without absorption, yet he seemed on the verge of qi deviation. His energy waves were not as formidable as before.

The Seventh Apostle gestured once lightly.

Crack.

The snow beneath her feet crumpled. In that instant, her form scattered forward.

Sunlight rippled from the ends of her jet-black hair.

The next moment, she stood atop the Second Apostle’s shoulder.

The Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array’s red mist had risen to his knees by then. The Second Apostle, movements sealed, let out a groan.

The Seventh Apostle exhaled a smooth breath. From her pale face and the supreme master’s distinctive gleam, a strange heat writhed.

“My Grandmaster, my radiant comet.”

Next time, I can see you from a higher place. She smiled.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

“The encirclement has collapsed.”

Bei Gong-hui, from the Ice Palace, muttered.

Jeong Yeon-shin sensed it immediately. The vast Twin Flame Blood Spirit Array had disintegrated.

It felt as if one side of a fortress wall had toppled to the opposite direction and vanished, though he had a faint guess. Still, he was uncertain.

‘Surely not. No matter how mad a person is…’

Martial world history was said to be as intricate as the Yangtze’s currents. It was wiser to refrain from hasty guesses and focus on the future.

The affair was concluding. With an escape route secured, shaking off the pursuing Tyrant Sword Sect Leader would end it. The hardest task.

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at Jang Sun-il and the Ice Palace noble siblings.

“Go down first. I have business left.”

They did not hesitate. All three possessed keen perception. They knew when to retreat.

“Young Master, may you prevail.”

Jang Sun-il seemed more accustomed to bowing than saluting with clasped hands.

Jeong Yeon-shin hoped this kind herb gatherer would not die in a foreign land. Both faced similar plights, needing vengeance.

He patted his shoulder silently. With a grip imbued with the Dharma Luminous Wheel Technique, he stimulated the pursuit meridian.

“Ugh…!”

“I moderately roused your entire body acupoints. Better than the soil where ginseng grows. People need to eat.”

Jang Sun-il’s eyes widened mid-groan. Jeong Yeon-shin pushed the boy’s shoulder onward.

“Do not look back. Prevail.”

He glanced at the Bei Gong siblings, implying a request to accompany him. They nodded.

“We will wait in the North Sea. Thank you.”

“This is a major merit. Expect repayment.”

Bei Gong-hui awkwardly performed a Ming-style fist salute, while Bei Gong-lin waved the Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation in farewell.

Crunch.

The three descended side by side. They occasionally glanced back at Jeong Yeon-shin.

Sunlight gleamed white over their three sets of trailing footprints. Clear traces remained in the snow. A simple bond.

He glanced beside him. Lu Xian sat on a snow-covered rock, engrossed in the Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation.

She raised her head just then.

“You are full of affection.”

“Yes…?”

“Your comrades in the text too. I am the same.”

“The Tyrant Sword Sect Leader approaches. Rather than idle words…”

“Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation.”

Lu Xian cut Jeong Yeon-shin off.

“For the next ten years, Shaanxi’s evil outer path cannot withstand the plum blossom sword. At least a decade. Prestigious sects’ martial arts, righteous or evil, are studies amassed over long ages. They cannot easily alter martial frameworks like you.”

She continued slowly.

“You saved my disciple Yu Hyeon a few times. Mount Hua, a sword sect of strict discipline, must duly honor you as a benefactor.”

“You read it quickly.”

Jeong Yeon-shin realized at once. The Mount Hua Sect Leader had deciphered the Tyrant Sword Sect’s counter-techniques.

What would happen next? His cooled upper dantian offered no answers in this moment.

Lu Xian’s lips rose gently. A playful smile.

“Do you know how tedious and lengthy Taoist scriptures are? Your handwriting is neat, the content direct, and it was immensely enjoyable. It felt like returning to my youth after a long while. A time when even reading a single line of an incantation thrilled me…”

Then.

“The imperial hound must receive the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s procession!”

A young man’s voice rang out loudly. Likely a master escorting the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader, it carried considerable inner power.

Jeong Yeon-shin ignored it and shifted his gaze. An immeasurable force was steadily ascending.

The nearby shout’s presence was imperceptible. At last, the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader arrived.

‘If I observe with the Lowly Revelation Technique now, next time…’

Jeong Yeon-shin subtly moved his index finger like a shadow puppet.

‘Preemptive strike, lateral slash first.’

<Complete Compendium of Evil Sect Annihilation—Tyrant Sword Sect Section.>

[Those with developed deltoid muscles beside the chest.

The energy at the shoulder’s Jianyu and Zhongfu acupoints is uniformly robust. They excel at lateral slashes over downward strikes, meaning they adeptly deflect vertical blows.

A preemptive lateral slash is advantageous for seizing a fleeting moment. A principle even a moderately dull monkey would grasp, their true energy structure is generally…]

Suddenly.

The sky darkened.

Before the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s crown fully appeared.

Whoosh!

Following Jeong Yeon-shin’s unconscious finger motion, a reddish sunset etched long across the hill’s ridge.

Lu Xian’s sleeve fluttered as she extended her white divine sword laterally. An elegant pink hue.