Chapter 546 – Demon Realm

Jeong Yeon-shin lightly clenched his fist.

It was the hand gesture of Eternal Blossom Fist’s Blossoming Fist that spreads true energy before striking, and in that instant the wind currents tangled in the withered bushes burst forth with a puhwak!

Simultaneously, the Grand Empress Dowager’s gaze that had been giving him a tickling sensation was crushed. By the presence that clearly existed even though it couldn’t be seen.

“Huh?”

Shin So-bin, who had been walking step by step carefully while shoulder to shoulder with Jeong Yeon-shin, opened her eyes wide.

“Lord Jeong, should I stop practicing lightness skill?”

“No. The wind was just being stubborn.”

Jeong Yeon-shin roughly brushed off his words.

Shin So-bin, who had been observing him carefully for a moment, began walking again with movements imbued with the mysteries of Ten-Li Gentle Light.

“Our Shin family’s Heaven-Reaching Martial Scripture is effective for deviation of mind.”

Sabak.

Between her heels and the hem of her pants, the pale light of Radiant Art Bond’s propulsive energy waves continued again.

Those thread-like wisps of white smoke were the mysteries of propulsive energy waves devised by Jeong Yeon-shin, Yong Hye-myeong, Ma Yeon-jeok, and Shin Cheon-hwa.

Shin So-bin clasped her hands behind her back with mock solemnity and smiled brightly.

“I haven’t learned it deeply, but if Lord Jeong asks, our family head would gladly provide it.”

“It’s not entering demonhood.”

“Lord Jeong has experienced much on the front lines. Moreover, they say people whose heads truly hurt don’t know they’re in pain.”

“We can stop talking about that.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke quietly. It was because he remembered himself spitting harsh words at the Wudang Sect Leader.

Come to think of it, he had also made mistakes while drunk with Taoist High Sword upon their first meeting, so Wudang was truly the sect that had contributed most to his self-reflection techniques.

‘I could further improve my footwork achievements too… if I mixed it with Radiant Wing Steps, it might produce good movements.’

Jeong Yeon-shin’s contemplation went that far.

Under the sky where moonlight settled like light powder mixed with ebony.

Suddenly his vision opened up.

A long earthen rampart began to overlap on the distant horizon.

Walls of truly strange design. On the deep ochre surface, patterns that undulated in curves like ancient characters were carved.

Tremendous human presence could be felt from within.

A scale beyond that of a single village. Not an ordinary number of people.

It was a point beyond even the northern Bright Sky Fortress and Knee Sea Pass, and was actually the first northern city where Jeong Yeon-shin had set foot.

[Yeoktru Castle. The most sordid things on our land gather there.]

A voice that rang out like an echo scraping across the wilderness from behind him. It was Northern Blade sitting atop his war horse.

From beneath the extremely wide-brimmed bamboo hat, calm words flowed from a face that greatly distorted the atmosphere.

[Mostly fugitives who came from your land. Han Chinese wanderers who sell their sword skills seeking shelter, Ming cowards who can no longer call themselves bright. The name Yeoktru attached to that castle means our tribe’s gesture of treating humans from your land as lowly servants.]

Jeong Yeon-shin only slightly tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth.

“What’s the real reason you’ve been traveling with us so far? Your true purpose, I mean. It seems time to speak of it now.”

[I said it was because of the Fighting God. The rest is for you, who have just set foot on this vast land, to learn directly…]

“If you don’t speak in detail, I’ll cut my way in.”

Jeong Yeon-shin knew. When the Grand Empress Dowager’s gaze blew like wind, Northern Blade’s massive hand had twitched like Jeong Yeon-shin’s.

A being who had been the Fighting God’s left arm.

Even if no immediate falsehood or hostility was felt, he was extremely dangerous.

Naturally, he couldn’t keep him behind his back forever. The jianghu journey of the Divine Sword Group Leader shouldn’t be so careless.

Northern Blade spoke leisurely.

[…Though you sit in a high position, you distinguish between curiosity and recklessness. It’s a rare virtue in our land, and it would be the same in your jianghu. It’s also why I chose you.]

He possessed sharp insight. Jeong Yeon-shin hadn’t seen such a person since the Young Lady of Profound Martial Alliance.

Northern Blade even possessed extreme martial power. If he didn’t speak his purpose to the end, he was strong enough that it would be right to shake him off here.

Actually, Shin So-bin beside him was ambiguously pursing her lips as if she had something to say or not, but it would be because this was beyond her experience.

Swish.

Jeong Yeon-shin placed his palm on Remaining Thunder’s sword hilt. The same gesture ordinary martial artists made when sending warnings.

But when the one taking that hand position was the Acting Divine Sword Group Leader, the weight couldn’t help but be different.

Even Northern Blade had to thoroughly prepare. Even though he was famous as one of the handful of monsters and supernatural beings of the north.

Paaaaang!

A massive crescent blade was drawn down, bursting forth strong wind. The invisible blade energy that naturally seeped into those wind currents wildly carved up the dirt ground.

At the center of the pattern carved like a temple mandala.

Northern Blade, hanging his crescent blade diagonally, looked down at Jeong Yeon-shin obliquely from atop his war horse.

The physiques of both man and horse were fearsome large, with an inhuman presence.

“……”

Northern martial arts.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes narrowed.

For some reason, no regularity could be detected from the traces of blade energy. It was impossible to even guess what kind of attack would extend at what speed and trajectory.

It seemed like there were no fixed techniques, like Radiant Demon Wing’s Radiant Demon Technique.

‘No-technique style…?’

It was difficult to rashly gauge chances of victory. It felt like he could sufficiently win, but perhaps there might be cases where he’d lose due to bad luck. It was truly new.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought. Were all northerners’ temperaments like this?

Then Northern Blade briefly snorted.

[A futile standoff.]

“I told you to speak your purpose properly.”

[In preparation for when the Fighting God returns in the future, leading Six is my duty. You have the qualifications.]

“Lead? Where to?”

[To a higher place.]

Jeong Yeon-shin knew what Northern Blade’s designation for him meant.

Six.

Setting aside how accurate his judgment was, it meant five more steps forward from here would reach the world’s greatest.

Jeong Yeon-shin smiled faintly.

“You’re making a mistake.”

[What?]

“Desolate Fortress’s banner comes first. Making sure the lives of people living well aren’t disrupted by ruffians comes first. That’s the path of the main fortress’s white, blue, and black warriors, and I never aimed for being the world’s greatest in the first place.”

[Then you must have thought of being the greatest of all time. With your achievements and qualifications, you couldn’t not have thought of future matters.]

“No, just…”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly parted his lips. Strangely, his mouth felt light. Whether it was because Shin So-bin was beside him or thanks to overcoming deviation of mind, he didn’t know.

“Walking along, I’ll pass any kind of greatest.”

Because there are many troublesome fellows. Jeong Yeon-shin concluded his words thus. It was an extremely plain tone.

Northern Blade was silent for the first time.

Shin So-bin also drew in a small breath and didn’t exhale for a while.

It would be because she knew what kind of strong people were roaming the world. Naturally, it was Jeong Yeon-shin who continued the conversation.

“But more than that…”

[…Say anything. You can speak to me without reservation.]

Northern Blade’s attitude changed slightly.

The feeling of one who had been stepping back to observe Jeong Yeon-shin now coming much closer. It was a small but greatly approaching change.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked openly.

“What is it?”

[The attitude of making martial arts a tool for people’s livelihood is also like the Fighting God’s childhood. I respect you, and I hope you will perish together with him.]

Northern Blade went one step further. From the face that spoke of mutual destruction without hesitation, winter wind fluttered crookedly. It seemed as if he was smiling.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t bother asking what kind of story he had or what his reason for betraying the Fighting God was. Because there was something else he needed to know immediately.

“Are there many like you in the north?”

[Extremely few. However, when adding schemes… the masters of military domains who might attempt you or me exceed ten hands. The Ming Dynasty, established by completely crushing your jianghu, and the power that competed evenly with that Ming Dynasty at the Great Wall is such.]

It was natural for the northern lands to be strong.

What was the reason the southern lands were in disorder with jianghu sects? Because the powerful national strength of that mighty Ming Dynasty was concentrated on the northern lands.

A national-level matter beyond the martial jianghu. So Jeong Yeon-shin’s question was elsewhere.

“Masters of military domains?”

[Those who command the lords of military camps. They are called kings differently, and those who worship the Fighting God and those who oppose him are all mixed together.]

“Are they peerless masters?”

[That’s right. Since numerous great warriors communicate by wind, they beheaded countless Ming great warriors’ heads through coordinated attacks and troop movements where distance was meaningless. Of course, there are also particularly strong ones on your side, so we’ve suffered much damage as well.]

Northern Kings under the Fighting God.

The Ming Dynasty’s strong ones who stood against such peerless masters.

‘If they’re particularly strong ones…’

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately thought of two groups. The Imperial Three Great Masters and the Three Direction Grand Commanders. The former were originally famous, and regarding the latter, he had heard from Emperor Qian-ling when wearing purple long robes.

If the Desolate Fortress Lord hadn’t blocked it, he would have appointed Jeong Yeon-shin to one of the Three Direction Grand Commanders’ seats.

Those six.

Strong ones who defended the long Great Wall to the end during Emperor Qian-ling’s lifetime. The Zhu masters who followed them also willingly died under the north wind, they said.

—The Three Direction Grand Commanders are loyal. Regardless of what happens to the throne, each blocks the various passes of the Great Wall. On the other hand, the Imperial Three Great Masters, despite gaining the title of Reverent Triple Bow, have temperaments like jianghu people, so they just endlessly wander the northern lands where the late emperor passed away. It’s truly a damn affair.

These were Grand Commander Quan Yu-li’s words. If he happened to meet them, he said he’d like them brought back even if it meant using force.

His request was unrestrained.

—Let Lightning Genius Jeong do as he pleases.

It was because the Grand Empress Dowager’s voice had already echoed mixed in the wind this morning. It was an edict from the imperial family’s highest elder permitting Jeong Yeon-shin’s northern expedition.

Jeong Yeon-shin erased his thoughts.

“Your northern kings communicate by handling wind like the Ming people, so if I rashly touch them, I might be surrounded by multiple peerless masters.”

[Of course. You must carefully observe the geography. How many military camps are around, and how many kings are wandering nearby. Know this. Right now in that Yeoktru Castle there are two lords and one northern king. One of the lords would be Demon Contempt Blade whom you pushed back.]

“I understand.”

Now Jeong Yeon-shin was completely engaging in conversation as the Divine Sword Group Leader. Speech and conduct that calmly inquired as if he had never tried to give Northern Blade a dismissal order.

Just as Yong Hye-myeong swept through the Thirteen Evil Sects’ dragnet in the south, he too would have times when he’d have to race through the northern lands.

Perhaps in the near future.

‘However treacherous this land may be.’

It might become the destination of his long jianghu journey.

At a time when Sima unorthodox path major sects had lost considerable power.

If the northern threat disappeared, the burden of people’s livelihood stability that Desolate Fortress had been shouldering would also greatly decrease.

Because the Ming imperial family’s national power would spread throughout the entire jianghu.

Of course, Jeong Yeon-shin couldn’t pacify the north alone. No one had done such a thing, and rather he was currently in a position where he had to roam this land like a ghost. So that the northern kings couldn’t gather toward him.

Truly, with the first city entering the north, Yeoktru Castle, before his eyes now.

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly felt fatigue.

If he thought wrongly, it seemed his breath might be completely blocked. As someone who would somehow influence the great empire in the future.

Simultaneously, Northern Blade spoke.

[You will certainly need my help. Permit me to accompany you. Until the Fighting God arrives, I will not harm you or your companions.]

“No.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly shook his head.

He was not alone.

When coming down from Mount Wudang, he had sent a summons order for the Divine Sword Squad through Radiant Demon Wing.

It was a message calling up many of the martial artists belonging to the Divine Sword Squad newly organized directly under Jeong Yeon-shin.

The strongest military force among the seventeen units.

They would come up most quickly.

No sect under heaven could block the Divine Sword Squad led by the Divine Sword Group Leader. At least not individually.

‘But…’

Would it be the same in a completely different world? When the stage was different.

Swish.

The reason Jeong Yeon-shin lightly touched Shin So-bin’s shoulder at this moment lay there. A word of concern. Anxiety that his colleagues might die in vain on a mission created by the Divine Sword Group Leader’s qualifications.

“Grand Leader…?”

Shin So-bin looked up at him. The old form of address meant she was somewhat flustered.

“Since the imperial masters who were at the Great Wall have gone down to Beijing, the common people will become safer.”

Sarak—

His hand moved, brushing the ends of Shin So-bin’s hair. Soon reaching the bundle she carried on one shoulder.

“The imperial family failed in this land. Then it’s time to take turns.”

He took out the Four Treasures of the Study including paper and brush and ink. Soon after, floating them all with Void Grasping on the spot, he slowly began brushwork.

The opening was as follows: