Chapter 620 – Red Sky

Jeong Yeon-shin faced Young Heavenly Demon Invincible.

Her lips beneath the silver mask were strangely twisted. They looked like they were grimacing at a glance, but also seemed to be smiling faintly. It was a scene visible only to Jeong Yeon-shin.

She moved her lips.

—You’ve really gone mad. Completely and utterly mad.

—Why sound transmission? Afraid of being stabbed in the back by the Northern Kings?

Jeong Yeon-shin’s response was calm.

He had withdrawn Southern Splendor Radiant Taiji when entering Black Capital Old Palace earlier. It was to steal the demonic energy she had been operating and concentrate it into the two sheets of strange imperial paper.

It was a place with many threatening beings.

Even setting aside the other Northern Kings, it was right to keep Young Heavenly Demon Invincible as well as the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade in his vision.

Because Jeong Yeon-shin was now a divine sword who could restrain opponents just by standing still.

However, even so, it was numerical inferiority that inevitably brought to mind the battle of Clear Light Plain. How fierce and tragic that day’s battle had been.

‘But…’

Separate from the precarious situation, his mind remained as calm as a clear mirror and still water.

The silence blazed.

It was silence created by three sets of purple robes. In the midst of quiet like the northern ice seas, there existed a frighteningly intense feeling.

A palace with its roof pierced.

Black Capital Old Palace’s darkish atmosphere had cleared in the sunlight, and only its remnants remained hazily, flowing like clouds beneath the feet of the peerless masters.

Everyone was treading on a sea of clouds. As if they were truly beings above the clouds.

A gathering of living natural disasters.

“……”

No Northern King carelessly opened their mouth.

Even small talk could become a variable in some great battle. If only those whose upper energy center spirits had reached heaven were present, it was naturally right to be this careful.

There were those who weren’t.

Yong Hye-myeong, sitting on the stone seat, looked around and suddenly spoke calmly.

“Why are there so many monsters?”

Jeong Yeon-shin had nothing particular to answer, and rather Upright Star, holding a very large crescent blade, spoke from one side.

“…It was lightness skill that could only be seen from Divine Beggar. If such movement was possible, you deliberately received the Fighting God’s first strike, right?”

“Isn’t it something to be grateful for?”

Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked back. Since he was being bounced away to avoid joint attacks, there was no need to resist.

It had also induced the Bright Wind Spirit absolute masters in this place to completely perfect their formation.

The result was now.

Upright Star slowly closed her mouth.

Whoooong!

The bright red shaft began rotating on its own in her grip.

It started slowly, then gradually sped up with a few breaths, drawing large circles. The already unevenly half-destroyed ground was endlessly struck and carved out with bangs.

The wind pressure was tremendous.

Upright Star among the Six Star Lords’ signature technique, Towering Brilliance Ten Bindings. Divine martial learning that overwhelmed even Brilliant River’s palm techniques with pure brute force.

At this moment, the waves of explosive force were being transcendentally amplified, but no one paid fresh attention.

The Northern Kings cast their gazes only on the three men who had stretched strange shadows like twilight, and the three purple-clad men only looked at the Northern Kings.

The only noisy things were the smoke billowing like dark clouds from the floor and the strong wind Upright Star was creating.

Dharma King across from the ivory altar suddenly burst into hearty laughter. While looking at Yong Hye-myeong.

“One who matches the portrait exactly. That is the ruined sword. A funeral of light is being held in Black Capital. We will also be ruined.”

The old monk said while pulling up the sleeves of his orange robes to his forearms. Thick tendons writhing in his lean arms. The space around those joints was distorting with a faint five-colored tint.

Simultaneous activation of Esoteric Great Mudra and Five Thunder Divine Palm.

The absolute master of Western Region’s Potala Palace hadn’t learned studies that split thoughts like dual mind techniques, but had reached a realm where he could weave both together through mastery of divine arts alone.

Possessing overwhelming energy accumulation while also not being affected by compatibility in internal energy contests.

Meanwhile, Yong Hye-myeong’s eyes had reached Northern Blade’s warhorse and curved slyly.

While the monstrously huge steed fluttered its mane and snorted, Yong Hye-myeong asked without even looking at Jeong Yeon-shin.

“My junior exchanged blows with the limping man?”

“Yes, about one palm…”

At Jeong Yeon-shin’s brief answer, Yong Hye-myeong slightly raised the corners of his mouth like a wry smile.

“And your breathing is still fine? I wondered why your heart seemed to beat like mine, but you change every time I see you. You truly live earnestly.”

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t bother to say that his luminous wheel pulsation seemed a bit younger. There were three Divine Sword Group Leaders. It wasn’t something that needed to be discussed.

Until then, Ma Yeon-jeok had not opened his mouth.

“……”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s young maternal grandfather was silently surveying the hall with fierce eyes without a trace of eye-light.

Occasionally his gaze would touch Jeong Yeon-shin’s blood-stained shoulder. It was the area that had been struck by Northern Blade’s axe earlier.

There was no special momentum.

Just some atmosphere was pressing down on the air in the hall. Separate from Upright Star’s rotational shock waves, strange pressure began to occur.

Something that didn’t exist yet stepped on their skin. Something that could only be felt with a greatly developed upper energy center spirit.

It was then that the Southern Emperor’s heavy gaze fixed on Ma Yeon-jeok.

The Qing Dynasty’s founding emperor who wrapped his entire body in darkish clouds. The voice of the monster already in battle stance rumbled. With faint surprise.

[Purple robes, and Jeong Family Dynamic Technique energy waves… You must be closely connected to the Northern Emperor. And you arrived through Form-Shifting Void activated beyond the Gate. You are Ma Yeon-jeok who succeeded in rejuvenation.]

A conclusion was drawn in an instant. It was also the insight of the sole emperor who looked down on all the people of the demon realm. Only then did the Tyrant Hero Ma Yeon-jeok slowly open his mouth.

“…You see correctly.”

[It’s an utterly absurd matter. Heaven has been favoring Qian-ling this much.]

“Worthless axe work has been placed on precious shoulders. A tragic matter. Those are shoulders that support a nation.”

Before the military strength of a nation.

He spoke only his own words while keeping his gaze on Jeong Yeon-shin. Words that continued with gradually increasing force.

“You people know nothing. What kind of years those shoulders experienced while growing.”

[I know you didn’t raise them.]

Ma Yeon-jeok didn’t answer.

Meanwhile, the Southern Emperor was an absolute ruler who received reports on all things as the demon realm’s emperor. He had no choice but to deeply understand the danger of the rejuvenated Tyrant Hero more than anyone.

It was also a natural sequence not to allow the Divine Sword Group Leaders under heaven to strike first.

[Rather, this turned out well. We’ll cut Ming Dynasty’s lifeline here.]

As soon as words commanding the Northern Kings to strike fell, Aisin-Gioro Black Return reacted.

The only Northern King among the Southern Emperor’s children, exalted enough to be certain as the second founder of the Qing Empire. A being who had no choice but to move with history.

Crackle!

He flashed streams of dark lightning throughout his body. Sensory paths that raised reaction speed to the limit with thunder energy techniques. Naturally, he had no hesitation in competing with anyone in combat range.

He had penetrated to within ten paces of Ma Yeon-jeok’s flank in an instant.

The palace floor breaking in succession behind Black Return’s heels. Thunder sounds followed through the stone fragments with rumbling.

At that moment Black Return flew like a thrown spear and was striking Ma Yeon-jeok’s head with his giant shoulder.

Claaaang!

Dense shock waves burst from his temple. Instantly, black lightning even flowed between the concentric ripples. Of course, the half-destroyed palace floor was scorched black.

The Close Combat Technique explosive force had properly connected.

Ma Yeon-jeok’s response earlier had been only slightly thrusting his head toward Black Return’s shoulder.

That alone was enough for Black Return to be naturally bouncing in the opposite direction at this moment. While scattering the shock waves he had burst himself.

Crash!

He embedded in the palace’s remaining intact wall. Looking as if he had received a full-power counterattack technique from his opponent. Ma Yeon-jeok only stood in place with his arms folded. He had never once placed his gaze on Black Return.

“……”

Even now, the previous-previous Divine Sword Group Leader’s gaze was slowly going back and forth between the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade.

An atmosphere suggesting that if they took a step toward any one person, he would definitely sever one neck even if he suffered great damage. The exchange they had just shared couldn’t affect his behavior at all.

He had sealed the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade by existing.

A different situation would unfold if the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade joined forces under heaven, but humans inevitably cherished their own lives for some reason.

The Southern Emperor for his people and nation. Northern Blade with the thought that he alone was his clan’s hope.

Meanwhile.

Thump!

Black Return stepped down below the wall surface with a thump.

His shoulder had cracks spreading like broken glass. Blood also flowed from the crushed skin.

The semi-transparent Heaven Steel Light Armor had been completely crumpled and even pushed the humerus to violate his own body.

It was like attacking Black Return with Black Return’s armor. Overwhelming tyrannical force was in itself complex and precise technique. Alternatively, power that required no thought at all.

“Monster…”

When the speechless Black Return banged his shoulder joint once to fit it back together.

Dharma King and Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor were already approaching Yong Hye-myeong. Yong Hye-myeong, still sitting on the stone chair, only grinned.

“Very delightful. I’ll face humans after a long time.”

“Do we look human to you?”

The former Yuan Dynasty emperor. On Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor’s face, which had normal features unlike the Yao tribe Northern Kings, a dim smile crystallized. It was simultaneous with him plucking a feather from his broad hat.

“Then that’s fortunate.”

With calm muttering, the bluish feather swelled in size. Sword energy. Dense internal energy light clusters surrounded the feather and swelled like a star.

There were no particular sounds.

A monster whose resentment of national ruin had led to two rejuvenations. It was natural for him to operate such massive true energy like now.

Yuan Dynasty sword energy studies were martial learning that created a powerful empire along with inspired mounted martial arts. It wouldn’t be strange for great pride to dwell in divine martial learning.

But Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor didn’t point out Yong Hye-myeong’s slovenly posture, and Yong Hye-myeong also showed no sign of getting down from the stone seat.

Woooooong!!

Unlike Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor, Yong Hye-myeong’s hand spat out noisy resonant sounds, then suddenly pulled out a rainbow-colored sword from space that was breaking lengthily.

Instantly, massive pressure descended on the hall.

Stone fragments that had been broken and scattered here and there crumbled with rustling sounds. The only thing not crushed at this moment was the Southern Emperor’s dark clouds spread low on the floor.

Yong Hye-myeong posed a question mixed with laughter.

“There are three Divine Sword Group Leaders in the same place. Is there anyone who knows what this means?”

[Don’t assess high-caliber enemies one by one. You must move as if facing a battlefield. No one else should die beyond this point.]

Before the Southern Emperor’s words could even finish, Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor had soared to Yong Hye-myeong’s face and was looking down at him.

A sword energy feather large as a blade fell vertically, and Yong Hye-myeong flicked his Dragon Ring Sword with his finger as if playing a zither while sitting.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

Fragments of the rainbow-colored formless sword bounced in all directions, drawing dozens of layers of ripples.

Hazy shock waves struck Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor’s sword energy in succession, and Dharma King, who had been charging from beyond his shoulder, also had to endlessly strike away all fragments with both hands.

Each collision violently shook the entire palace.

Meanwhile, Upright Star, who had been rotating her shaft like a storm until then, suddenly rushed past Jeong Yeon-shin’s back toward Yong Hye-myeong.

Bright red afterimages embroidering space lengthily. It was the Form Transposition unique to masters who had trained various weapon techniques, with the crescent blade’s tremendous wind pressure used intact as propulsive shock waves.

Thump!

It was simultaneous with Jeong Yeon-shin following her like a lie.

Movement that left hazy light clusters with his entire body. It was bold as if treating Young Heavenly Demon Invincible in front as a scarecrow, and Young Heavenly Demon Invincible stood blankly as if fallen into possession due to the recoil of having her demonic energy stolen earlier.

A battlefield where all causes became entangled.

A palace that the entire assembly sensed as endlessly slow.

Whoooosh!

Jeong Yeon-shin reached for Upright Star’s back in an instant. The bright red crescent blade’s shaft was rotating while emitting transcendent wind pressure, but rather than putting effort into meaningless acceleration, Upright Star rotated the crescent blade behind her back even faster.

It was momentum to pulverize if a hand was inserted.

Yong Hye-myeong, who had suddenly risen from the stone seat, threw his Dragon Ring Sword with a whoosh as if discarding it.

Thump! Clang!

The rainbow-colored blade struck Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor’s sword energy, bounced off Dharma King’s five-colored palm, exquisitely grazed Upright Star’s crescent blade, and was caught in Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand.

A sword path that had raced through the extremes of mockery. Following that trajectory, shock waves that burst in succession briefly slowed all movement in the hall.

Flash!

Jeong Yeon-shin reverse-gripped the Dragon Ring Sword that had changed color to sword-blue flames in his grasp, and as soon as the sword tip drew a brilliant semicircle and came down toward the ground, he stabbed behind his waist.

Bright red blood burst out like a cannonball.

Aisin-Gioro Black Return, who had somehow been covering Jeong Yeon-shin’s back, had been pierced through the torso along with his Heaven Steel Light Armor. The roar spread belatedly.

Kugugung! Crash—!

It was the sound of history being pierced.

“…I now respect you people. I also know what the great cause is.”

Jeong Yeon-shin continued slowly without looking back.

“If you want to stop fighting here, speak up anytime. The condition is unconditional surrender.”

[What words are these after opening naadam. You are the true symbol of battle.]

Northern Blade’s will along with his warhorse bursting out thunderous snorting. It was a moment when the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade had no choice but to move.

Simultaneously.

Ma Yeon-jeok took a step.