Chapter 568 – Contest

[TL Note- the orginal title of this chapter is Nadaam which is Mongolian for ‘festival’ or ‘to play’ or ‘to compete’.]

—Upright Star, Upright Star, are you listening?

—……

—Is no one there? I have urgent news. Listen as king to king. This is a grave matter. Related to my Great Warrior.

—Upright Star is coming to me under the Southern Emperor’s command…

—Mm, Literary Star.

—He should arrive soon. Isn’t he the supreme master of the Towering Yellow Ten Knots after all? He must be coming straight down, shaking off the bothersome Northern Kings. Anyway, if I say this, Upright Star will butt in.

—I hear that brat has gone mad. Daring to try to fathom this king.

—As expected.

—Shall I tear off your limbs instead of Yelu’s?

—Come to think of it, it’s not Yelu but Ruinous Star. Northern King Ruinous Star is also listening. He’s right in front of me now.

—Ha! Listen, all of you.

—Yes, listen, Upright Star. This will be urgent news for Literary Star too. It’s none other than the story of my Great Warrior.

—Why does that damn madman keep…?

—My Great Warrior has accepted me. She said she needed time to contemplate, so I permitted her absence. She displayed the Cloud Dragon Eight Forms of Kunlun to the extreme. It was a dance of courtship.

—Self-destruction! You fool, you’ve lost your one and only Great Warrior. Now the kings of this Bright Wind Spirit will go to plunder your territory, and according to the Fighting God’s will, you won’t be able to make a move against their Great Warriors.

—Northern King Upright Star doesn’t understand pure affection.

—Please calm down, both of you. I’m looking at Ruinous Star right now. Haven’t the kings of this Bright Wind Spirit always been curious? Northern King Pure Affection, you may ask first.

—I’m curious what he looks like.

—You’d have to come here to know that, Upright Star. Without her Towering Pillar Great Genesis, it would be hard to see through the mask. However, his body looks solid. He seems to have many allies too, so he might unexpectedly like making connections.

—Ruinous Star’s silence had weight as advice. It would be good to meet him once. However, I wait. For my Great Warrior…

—……

—Ruinous Star, are you listening? Have I self-destructed…? Even now, if I pursue my Great Warrior…

* * *

A hill covered with pale frost.

Like most northern mountain ranges, it was a rocky mountain without vegetation.

Now it was only different in that cold, whitish ice energy flowed across its rough surface. White and translucent.

Occasionally, the sounds of scrawny mountain birds’ wingbeats would descend nearby before fluttering away. It was because of the cold air that rose in hazy vapor, sparkling rainbow colors in the sunlight.

Cold days have a way of drawing human warmth.

On that cold hill, a pair of man and woman were entwined. A man with his back against a tree stump that had only its base remaining, and a woman leaning diagonally in his embrace as if his arms were her bed.

Occasionally, hazy smoke flowed along their bodies. As if ice-cold ice had been placed against burning flames.

It was the married couple Lazy Flame Dragon and Ice Palace Master.

“Wife.”

“Mm.”

“How was it?”

“Hm?”

“That fellow called Yelu. The Northern King, I mean.”

“Ah, Ruinous Star? He was handsome. If that old swordsman hadn’t blocked my view with his sword wind back then, I might have taken him as a concubine…”

“It’s been bothering me, but didn’t you say you’d stop taking concubines? I asked about something else.”

“Mmm, he wasn’t particularly suspicious.”

“Not suspicious?”

“His purpose shows clearly, like he’s not wearing clothes. Even from a rough look, he was obviously someone who came to stir up the south. Like when my husband came to enter this palace.”

“How awkward. In my hometown, we call this place the north, not the south…”

“Changing the subject? How cute.”

Lazy Flame Dragon’s gaze, with his chin resting on the Ice Palace Master’s narrow shoulders, was fixed downward. None other than his wife’s lower abdomen.

Elegantly covered with blue silk and shining, still just the firm abdomen of a martial artist.

The Ice Palace Master traced Lazy Flame Dragon’s chin with her fingertips.

“Are you excited? It’s still far off.”

“…Rather, I was worried. Those things called priests of this land trying to kill our child—it’s no ordinary troublesome matter.”

“It’s because of my husband.”

Her voice was transparent.

Why had she treated Northern King Yelu favorably?

Though just a brief remark, it was clearly a reproach containing such meaning.

Northern Sea Ice Emperor.

The way of speaking of the Great Palace Master of the Northern Sea Ice Palace, who had experienced all sorts of dark struggles, was usually like this.

Those who couldn’t properly answer similar conversations would often freeze and shatter into pieces. Just as the character for palace suggested, the Ice Palace was a chilling place.

But Lazy Flame Dragon spoke smoothly.

“It was because my intuition was good. Didn’t you also acknowledge it, wife? The spirit of my upper dantian.”

“……”

“Don’t keep your mouth shut so frighteningly. It makes me anxious.”

“…I don’t want to take away a father from my child.”

“I think I heard similar words from a comrade I served as superior. Something about not wanting to form a family without a father.”

“Comrade?”

“A quite young friend. Interesting in many ways but quite pitiful, someone with much fear inside yet who could be called a brave Great Warrior. Of course, he doesn’t have the capacity to become a substitute warrior for someone else. Because his temperament is bad.”

“Changing the subject again. Keep doing that and you’ll die earlier.”

“I wasn’t changing the subject.”

“…Ah.”

The Ice Emperor, who had been squirming in her husband’s embrace, opened her eyes slightly wider. She seemed to have realized something.

The corners of Lazy Flame Dragon’s mouth rose slightly.

“There should be no lies in front of the child. My original family had too many dirty secrets behind it, so I exterminated the clan.”

“…This palace’s mental restraint technique didn’t work on my husband. How…?”

“Didn’t you also acknowledge it, wife? The spirit of my upper dantian. Besides, when you’re close to death, many things become laughable.”

“I thought you’d become a Northern Sea person by now.”

Rustle.

Lazy Flame Dragon gently wrapped both hands around her lower abdomen as she tried to rise from her position.

“My attendants… when the Northern Palace siblings discussed recent famines, they said this. The wolves of the Northern Sea never abandon their companions even when suffering from hunger. I am the Ice Emperor’s husband, but I haven’t been expelled from the Desolate Fortress yet.”

“……”

It was then, as silent vapor rose from the frozen hill.

Kugugugugung—

It was heard from a very distant point.

A sound that echoed faintly like beating giant drums repeatedly. It was a signal arranged dozens of days ago.

The Northern Sea Ice Emperor rose, pressing Lazy Flame Dragon’s abdominal muscles with her frost-covered palm.

“Wife?”

“Let’s go. Your lifeline is calling.”

She said.

* * *

A hazy fortress existed.

It was rippling like a mirage. As if it might be swallowed by the horizon painted with faintly bright sunlight.

It was Yeoktru Castle, far from Clear Light Plain.

In the middle of the sandy plain with nothing but sand, only four things were clear.

A bare-handed youth wearing a silver mask, a woman with gray hair wrapped in white sunlight like palace robes all over her body, a nine-foot giant Yao tribesman, and the sandy ground carved into layers by the thin wind.

Buaaaang!

A tearing sound was rushing from somewhere even farther than Yeoktru Castle with a distant feeling.

It must be the Sword Star keeping the Young Heavenly Demon Invincible in check, and occasionally thunderous sounds of collision with something occurred.

Perhaps he had encountered Upright Star, the only old woman among the Six Star Lords.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin was confronting two people.

‘No.’

They couldn’t be called people. Those at the level of the Five Swords under Heaven and Six Star Lords were ominous signs that spoke human words. Literally, beings like malevolent divinations that could not be defied.

If they were close to the Fighting God’s confidants, they would be even more so.

Divine Thief under heaven. The Fighting God’s strategist.

“……”

The northern monsters like the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader who had completely pierced through the body of the rain dragon that hung over the great city of Hangzhou, and the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader who needed no description, were silently looking at Jeong Yeon-shin.

It had been a while since his breathing became stifled under their gazes.

Was it because there were two monsters of supernatural strength?

Long exhales caught in his throat with clicking sounds. Their energy waves were actually interfering with Jeong Yeon-shin’s internal breathing.

‘Battlefield martial arts.’

He could feel it with his whole body. All martial principles were concentrated on slaughtering the Ming Dynasty. Even the Divine Thief’s energy waves, said to be able to steal anything under heaven, had such qualities.

Conversely, they also seemed to be trying to see through Jeong Yeon-shin’s Return to Origin. Since this was a realm where hasty moves would summon death for both sides.

What martial art would herald the beginning of war?

Which side’s allies would arrive first?

They were too far from each other. The world was absurdly vast, and there were equally many strongmen who dominated nations. That was also the number of variables.

Anyone would need luck to seize the initiative here.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately opened his mouth.

“Do you see something?”

With one hand, he lightly touched inside his bosom. The outline of thin paper bundles brushed his palm, somehow feeling warm. It even felt as if spirituality was dwelling within.

At the same time, his upper dantian in his head became hot.

—What did you see?

An aged voice rose from his memories.

It was definitely familiar.

The Zhongnan Sword Immortal, said to have annihilated the monsters of southern Shaanxi Province and passed away. The old man who had first seen through Jeong Yeon-shin’s lifespan outside the Desolate Fortress. He had literally been consistently kind to Jeong Yeon-shin throughout.

The mental image of the only one who had cut through a Gate.

And the importance of the book that the Sword Empress had mentioned even while losing consciousness.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked at the Divine Thief and asked.

“What do thieves call stolen goods that get stolen from them?”

“……”

“Is this also stolen property?”

Saaaa—

In the hazy sandstorm.

The confrontation between the three continued for a while. Until none other than the Fighting God’s strategist, Literary Star among the Six Star Lords, suddenly opened his mouth.

“King Yelu, I’m curious about your purpose. I really intended to mediate between you and the Southern Emperor…”

His respectful speech was so refined it didn’t suit his thick voice. It inevitably raised goosebumps with natural revulsion and came across as very ominous.

Jeong Yeon-shin smiled faintly.

“That’s a lie.”

“Ah.”

At the same time, Literary Star imitated his smile exactly. But only the curve of their lips was the same—Literary Star’s thick gray skin only added grotesqueness to his eeriness.

“I said two things. At least one might be true. By the way, what is this book that the Divine Thief and Ruinous Star have split between them?”

The one who immediately answered that question was the Divine Thief, who had only been staring at Jeong Yeon-shin. Her crystalline voice was somewhat sharply grating.

“Something from Zhongnan Mountain that the Southern Emperor’s niece told me to watch. Swordwork that tears through Gates. It might help us find the Fighting God.”

Whatever the circumstances.

The Fighting God might return.

At her words, which were unprecedentedly candid, Literary Star’s eyes changed.

The colorless internal energy radiance filling his black pupils darkened to gray. Soon that light left long afterimages in the air, indicating that Literary Star had disappeared.

The Divine Thief stepping toward Jeong Yeon-shin was simultaneous.

With both of them moving.

The feeling of the world approaching.

In the silver-masked Yelu King’s eyes, the forms of Literary Star and the Divine Thief were clearly reflected. They were rapidly growing larger in an instant—it was tremendously fast approach.

The national power of the north that had confronted the Ming Dynasty all this time was moving. He was facing two of the southern Five Swords under Heaven simultaneously. Naturally, he couldn’t discuss victory odds alone.

Bang!

His right hand, which blocked Literary Star’s shoulder strike—that is, his body technique—rose on its own.

It was because Literary Star’s giant hand, leaning forward like an arrow, had grabbed and lifted Jeong Yeon-shin’s wrist with Grappling Hand technique.

Peoeoeoeoek!

The sandy ground stretched out in a straight yellowish furrow along that trajectory.

It was an tremendously long interval.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately tried to strike up at Literary Star’s solar plexus with leg technique, but before he knew it, the Divine Thief was standing lightly with both feet together on top of his raised foot.

She held both toes of her feet straight up.

Her hair, which seemed to have luster mixed with ash powder, fluttered.

The world’s greatest lightness skill.

He had allowed an opening to the peerless masters for whom an instant was an eternity. The gap had also been forcibly torn open.

Either way, there would be a price to pay.

It was only an instant before divine strength entered Literary Star’s grip, where blue-green veins stood out.

Zzeojeok!

The muscle fibers of Yelu King’s right armpit were torn up strand by strand, nearly half of them.

He had clearly intended to tear off the right arm bone and all, but when the move didn’t go as planned, Literary Star’s eyes slightly wavered.

“Yao tribe…?”

“Nonsense.”

Jeong Yeon-shin had already lost his left arm once.

There was no way he hadn’t prepared defenses. The Tang siblings’ calluses, the protective energy True Radiance Brilliant Star Heaven, were sparkling within the meridians of both arms like the starlight their name suggested.

Along with the Spiritual Dharma Luminous Wheel Energy flowing ceaselessly through the mysteries of the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.

‘Right arm unusable. Not completely lost.’

Jeong Yeon-shin chewed the pain of his shoulder being butchered with fierce eyes. While observing quantitatively in an instant.

The shock currently being transmitted to his brain below his upper dantian was less than when he’d seen the heads of senior leaders.

That was enough.

In an extremely brief moment, Jeong Yeon-shin and Literary Star’s gazes met. They were at similar eye level. Because the giant Literary Star had bent his upper body greatly when charging in with body technique earlier.

Kurung!

Thunder-like vibrations formed in his leg acupoints. The Ultimate Thunder of Return to Origin, where not even a trace of energy waves leaked outside. That power rushed along the rising trajectory of his leg shooting up like a whip.

As soon as the Divine Thief, who had been standing on his foot, fell downward, in the very center of his suddenly widened field of vision.

Zzeoeoeoeoeng!

The tip of Jeong Yeon-shin’s foot stuck into Literary Star’s large Adam’s apple like a spear.

A death acupoint that could sever the opponent’s lifeline if properly pierced. At this moment, the mirages of blue Heaven Silk Steel Armor writhed with crashing sounds, spitting out streams of black-blue sparks. They were all Literary Star’s.

The killing thrust had properly entered.

Crack—

But Literary Star was expressionlessly raising his massive upper body.