Chapter 660 – Desolate Banner (4)

Jeong Yeon-shin felt it.

That he was approaching the edge of a great era. The world was still infinitely vast and difficult to grasp at a glance, but now anything seemed worth attempting.

“……”

The book that had come into his grasp proved this. Half had gone to Black Return, the other half to Little Heavenly Demon Invincible who had taken all possessions including the purple robe from Ming Cult’s main altar.

The treasure that had drawn countless jianghu people north, Zhongnan Sword Immortal’s secret manual, was a dharma treasure.

So thickly imbued was the spirituality of the upper energy center that the torn pieces stuck back together as soon as they were brought together.

The reason legends about Taoists’ divine powers had been passed down through generations among common people.

‘Sword Immortal elder…’

When Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyebrow twitched, perhaps observing even that minute movement through energy perception, Seventh Apostle grinned.

“Jeong Family Dynamic Technique would be the same, right? It might stick together even better than that.”

Jeong Yeon-shin skillfully ignored her.

At the same time, he briefly thought about where the original text of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique might be. With the main fortress fallen, there was a high possibility it had passed to someone else.

‘Unless Master always carried it in her bosom…’

Step.

Apart from such thoughts, Jeong Yeon-shin was already handing Zhongnan Sword Immortal’s secret manual to Wei Zhi Myo-hwa. Little Heavenly Demon Invincible, who had been passed by once again, let out a hollow laugh, but Jeong Yeon-shin only met eyes with the young Zhongnan Sect Leader.

“Diancang Sect Leader protected it from falling into Divine Thief’s hands. She’ll be coming down from the north soon, so it’s something the Sect Leader should know about.”

“Ah.”

Sword Dragon Wei Zhi Myo-hwa.

It wasn’t a look of bewilderment at the exchange between Jeong Yeon-shin and Little Heavenly Demon Invincible. Unlike when they first met, various storms could be seen, but her black eyes were calm like the center of some whirlpool.

She said.

“I won’t accept it. At least not now.”

It was as expected.

But now Jeong Yeon-shin knew that such matters must be preceded by propriety and law. So he asked quietly.

“Why is that?”

“Of course, since Hye-ah discovered and brought it out, we should naturally seek Hye-ah’s agreement too. But before that, if I as Sect Leader were to decide the treatment of our sect’s secret manual.”

Wei Zhi Myo-hwa slowly moved her lips.

“The founder of Radiant Sword Style should come first.”

She was speaking of the framework of Sword Thunder Rapid Style.

Radiant Sword Style originated from the sword traces of a former master called Sword Sect Nine Yang Heaven. It was also a branch sword technique of Nine Yang Single Style that had now established itself as Zhongnan’s martial art.

That Nine Yang Single Style too had been passed to Wei Zhi Myo-hwa through Jeong Yeon-shin’s reverse calculation of formulas, making Zhongnan Sect and Jeong Yeon-shin no longer strangers from then on.

With connections that had long become closer than any secular family of Zhongnan, the ability to unravel the true meaning of formulas, and simultaneously the world’s chaotic times. Circumstances and utility matched. No one could say anything about Wei Zhi Myo-hwa’s decision.

Rustle.

The hazy spring wind connected both their hair in one strand, like Jeong Yeon-shin’s jianghu journey and the time that had flowed. It was a breeze that seemed to advance toward some unknown destination.

Jeong Yeon-shin nodded slightly.

“…Actually, it was what I hoped for. I’m grateful for the Sect Leader’s permission.”

“What need for formality between comrades.”

Wei Zhi Myo-hwa’s lips curved gently. A cool smile like Zhongnan Mountain’s spring. Come to think of it, Qinling Mountain Range was land that had bestowed two comrades upon Jeong Yeon-shin.

‘Yu Hyeon must be coming down well.’

He thought of his friend whose limbs had grown considerably longer. He might have already crossed the Great Wall, and by the time Yu Hyeon arrived in Shaanxi, it would be after reclaiming Desolate Fortress from Xiangyang.

It had to be so.

‘Certainly.’

Jeong Yeon-shin silently stored the book in his bosom. While listening to Literary Star, who had pushed away Demon Contempt Blade with one hand, chattering to Jeong-hye.

“…Then you’re at an age when your perspective on formulas would greatly broaden. Would you like to learn various ways of reading texts from me?”

“From big uncle…?”

“I may look like this, but I’m the top scorer among those who passed the provincial examination. It’s my greatest pride and also a regret…”

“Regret? Why?”

“Because I couldn’t take the metropolitan and palace examinations.”

Anyway, it’s only until Lord Jeong finishes his business. Talk that naturally ignored the Zhongnan disciples’ intentions like a tyrant. It was when Jeong Yeon-shin was blocking Literary Star’s voice from his ears.

Rustle.

Golden light shimmered strand by strand in the transparent sunlight.

It was the hair of a noble clan woman who had suddenly appeared before Jeong Yeon-shin. A color like stretched gold. It was so sudden that the usually composed Divine Sword Squad members convulsively burst energy waves around them.

Rumble!

When dust exploded in various places, Jeong Yeon-shin gazed quietly at the beauty who looked young as a fairy. And slowly opened his mouth.

“Grand Elder.”

“…Lightning Genius, it’s been a long time.”

Yeo Il-shin spoke with strange distinctness.

“I heard you underwent transformation, and you’ve grown magnificently. It’s very gratifying.”

Though her tone had no highs and lows, she seemed like someone pressed by deep drowsiness trying to regain consciousness.

Come to think of it, it also felt like she was suppressing power waves of the same density as a peerless master on her own. Though Yeo Il-shin was clearly not a peerless master.

‘The internal energy emission power of protective energy, energy accumulation, upper energy center spirit… everything is strange.’

All of it felt absurdly bloated and swollen. Like a tree that contained spirituality like water rather than a person. That is, she was in a state where she could deploy threatening ultimate techniques against even Jeong Yeon-shin at any time.

‘Lowly Revelation.’

For a moment, Jeong Yeon-shin’s eye-light flickered dark blue.

Swish.

Her ears stood up sharp as blades, then tinted the formless protective energy surrounding her body semi-transparently. At the same time, she in Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision became completely distorted.

“……”

On the other hand, other scenery remained intact. An internal energy barrier that blocked eye technique functions. It was an unprecedented technique. If they directly exchanged moves, it would be quite troublesome.

“Oh my.”

It was Yeo Il-shin’s voice.

The next moment, her appearance returned to normal. She seemed to have lowered the density of her protective energy herself.

Yeo Il-shin’s lips were raised somewhat bitterly. A feeling like fallen leaves layered on late autumn ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“I was the one who committed discourtesy.”

“Not at all. Anyone would do the same.”

Yeo Il-shin slowly shook her head and continued.

“Before I leave our sect forever, I very much wanted to meet you once. Let’s have a cup of tea.”

Wei Zhi Myo-hwa’s expression beside them became grave. Though she couldn’t know what this was about for now, she would learn soon.

Step.

As soon as Jeong Yeon-shin began following her as she turned around, Little Heavenly Demon Invincible’s voice scattered, struck by sunlight from behind.

“Even if I’m an unwelcome guest.”

Instantly, Zhongnan’s hall complex was tinted with silence. Though Literary Star and Seventh Apostle stood close to her, no one considered the world’s Ming Cult Leader’s movements completely blocked.

“Such cold treatment goes against propriety.”

Such were the words the Ming Cult Leader spouted in the heart of the Nine Sects. No one could call her sane.

Therefore, Jeong Yeon-shin opened his mouth. While flowing the demonic energy of the third light wheel dark as breath.

“Wait.”

He began moving his steps again.

That was as far as it went.

No other movement existed in the hall. Even until Jeong Yeon-shin and Yeo Il-shin had completely moved quite far away. The gathering could only blankly alternate between looking at Little Heavenly Demon Invincible standing blankly and Jeong Yeon-shin’s retreating figure.

* * *

Two people sitting across from each other.

They had placed a small tea table in the center.

“Come to think of it, it’s truly an old connection.”

Yeo Il-shin’s voice mixed with the sound of tea water trickling down. At this moment, a stream of water connecting golden like her hair from the teapot. Jeong Yeon-shin silently looked down at the teacup for a while.

She called it Jingwei Fu tea.

He slowly opened his mouth.

“…Though I now owe my life to so many people it’s hard to count on my hands, the first was you, Grand Elder.”

Yeo Il-shin laughed purely and clearly for the first time.

“Where is my virtue? It’s still vivid in my eyes. The sight of a young boy wielding his sword as if possessed.”

While taking a sip of the tea she had poured herself, for this moment at least Yeo Il-shin’s throat moved with natural curves.

With fragrant tea scent spreading and a very tranquil atmosphere. Just like when he first came to Zhongnan Sect.

There were many memories.

—I’d like to take this golden tea when I return.

Hyeon Won-chang had once brewed tea that he had earnestly obtained from Zhongnan for Ma Jin, who was then Radiant Demon Wing Leader. It was the night when the Radiant Demon Wing seniors had held quite a large drinking gathering on the day of Jeong Yeon-shin’s coming-of-age ceremony.

Ma Jin, who had rarely gotten drunk, wasn’t interested in hangovers. He had simply accepted the precious tea as something scooped from a chamber pot.

—If it came from that frivolous fellow, it must be poisonous. Bring a silver needle.

—Hah, I must tell Zhongnan Grand Elder about this…

—There’s a slim possibility she already knows without you saying anything. Noble clans are unpleasant tribes because the more noble they are, the less they don’t know. How else would Zhongnan have known about Tyrant Sword Sect’s attack on Jeong Family Manor in advance?

—Noble… unpleasant… Fortress Lord…?

—Bring a silver needle.

Harbinger of Hell Ma Jin.

Where might he be now?

As the current Desolate Demon Wing Leader, there was a slim possibility. In a situation where all of jianghu had rushed in, the possibility that he had died together with countless enemies while trying to defend the main fortress by force.

The same went for other Desolate Fortress warriors. They were all like Jeong Yeon-shin’s uncles.

Family no less than blood relatives. Though Jeong Yeon-shin had silently suppressed worry about them since returning to Central Plains, it was concern that could lead to rage at any time.

‘I must find them all.’

Just as Jeong Yeon-shin was about to speak again, Yeo Il-shin’s lips moved first.

“My body has been taken by that person. Even now it’s hard to maintain my right mind.”

He had briefly overlooked it. She too had business.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t ask who ‘that person’ was. It was a being he had already conversed with in Beijing. It had spoken as if dwelling in Desolate Fortress Lord’s body.

‘World Tree.’

The edge of all the world’s mysteries.

“I’ll speak only the essentials. I don’t have much time left.”

“I’ll listen.”

“If one has much noble clan blood mixed and has contacted World Tree’s branches, anyone can have a new personality conceived like a soul garment. Transforming into something that is a mixture of oneself and World Tree… and along with that, four things are forcibly bestowed.”

Yeo Il-shin spread her long fingers wide then folded only her thumb. A habit of matching eye level with young disciples that had become ingrained after Tyrant Sword Sect’s attack on Zhongnan Mountain. Come to think of it, her words and actions were also mysteriously intuitive.

“Energy, Spirit, Sensation, Life. The rise of energy accumulation, upper energy center spirituality, whole body sensation and regeneration functions. It would be right to say it supplied realms unreachable even through martial madness like tree roots. That is World Tree.”

“Though unable to construct nine-fate ultimate techniques reaching Transcendent Martial Art, the strength is in the peerless realm…?”

“That’s right. Of course, even so, I ended up losing to the Divine Sword Squad that doesn’t even have special purple ranks.”

“That was natural.”

Jeong Yeon-shin calmly passed over her words.

Yeo Il-shin, who had been gazing at him quietly for a moment, smiled faintly.

“Anyway… this is like incomprehensible demonic arts. It doesn’t even trigger some potential. What would be the price for gaining excessive martial power with just clan bloodline and the great tree’s decision?”

“……”

“If we’re talking about the world’s most mysterious and extreme demonic arts, the end would naturally be prematurely hastened death.”

Soon after, Yeo Il-shin said. But what would be the meaning? The world would die first.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly.

“What is World Tree’s purpose?”

“Though I became part of the great tree, I still don’t know. To know, there’s no choice but to break through the Four Great Dharma Protectors of Duke, Marquis, Earl, and Viscount and face that person directly.”

Praising Earth Sword Duke, Northern Darkness Fist Marquis, Heaven Reaching Bow Count, Golden Thunder Viscount.

[TL Note- Names of Four Protectors of World Tree has changed a bit. Author only provided more context right now.]

“They too must have been swallowed and achieved greater ascension than me. With such caliber and such positions, they had no choice.”

All were close to the walking tree and cherished World Tree more than any other figures. Not to mention bloodline. Jeong Yeon-shin nodded slightly.

And asked.

“You said you became part of World Tree. Can you also confirm at a glance all areas where tree roots reach?”

In other words, places like these: The walking tree, Desolate Fortress main castle, all mountains of the world’s Nine Sects, places where masters had no choice but to gather due to spiritual earth energy.

But Yeo Il-shin shook her head.

“As you’d know, isn’t that too great a power? Examining forbidden mysterious places from one’s seat without any danger, fathoming the current state of various masters… it would be a function impossible without World Tree’s main body.”

Her words continued calmly.

“I’m merely one of the walking roots. ‘That person’ also knows the world’s vastness and the importance of information better than anyone. To protect the world’s greatest power, one must naturally erect mental barriers with the world’s greatest upper energy center techniques…”

“Being a root is sufficient.”

“Hmm?”

“That function.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly moved his arms.

His hand, advancing through the whitish steam of both teacups, began interlacing fingers with Yeo Il-shin without rudeness.

“I will obtain it.”

It was natural Seizing Hand.

Rustle.

Both people’s finger joints, full of calluses, gently rubbed in place. Jeong Yeon-shin drew hundreds of layers of energy waves in one breath with Jeong Family Dynamic Technique’s full-body explosive force, and all those streams of true energy pierced into Yeo Il-shin’s energy waves in colorless, transparent form.

Like the Desolate Fortress Lord of the past.

For a moment, Yeo Il-shin’s eyes rolled back white like a winter tree that had lost its leaves.

Wooong—

Activated with a two-character formula as power.

‘Mind Sword.’

Leaving the tranquil tea fragrance, the mind soon began racing across thousands of li. It was one breath until the Divine Sword Group Leader’s eyes cast over all of Central Plains.

A very few jianghu transcendents raised their heads at that gaze.