Chapter 168 – Implementation (4)

They rode for a full day.

They moved using lightness techniques rather than horses. Eliminating the Heart Martial Alliance couldn’t be taken lightly.

They had to approach stealthily, risking their lives.

Namgung Hwa-shin was left at headquarters. This was in case something happened to Jeong Yeon-shin.

At least one Desolate Fortress envoy needed to remain at the Martial Alliance.

Only a blue rank could temporarily act as a black rank.

Namgung Hwa-shin was ranked right below Jeong Yeon-shin. He was also the most trusted companion.

‘He’ll watch the Alliance’s internal affairs well too.’

The boy thought highly of White Qilin’s martial power, adaptability, character, and reputation.

The Heart Martial Alliance was a formidable opponent. They were masters of a major sect that couldn’t guarantee victory against.

They had to consider the possibility of total defeat or delays. That’s why Namgung Hwa-shin stayed behind.

“Why not just skip it? Fighting the Thirteen Evil Sects isn’t a small matter.”

Lazy Flame Dragon said while patting his chest. He had somehow come beside them.

The bundle of opium poppies he had quickly bought two days ago was in his chest. Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head.

He suddenly felt Namgung Hwa-shin’s absence strongly. He had been reliable.

“To avoid humiliation, we must face them. Without sword techniques honed in real combat, I can’t handle that person’s sword. At this rate, Desolate Fortress’s black rank dignity will be damaged.”

The boy said. Lazy Flame Dragon bit off a poppy stem.

“Is losing to Sword Star shameful? He’s not just some ordinary master.”

“Even if the opponent is the Alliance Leader, it’s the same. If I show a weak defeat… that itself is mission failure. Coming to save face but instead receiving teachings would be the outcome.”

“The Alliance that was wary of the Leader schemed this. They can maintain face even after giving up the Opening Tournament.”

It was Hyeon Won-chang standing straight.

He spoke while needlessly glaring at the Martial Alliance warriors walking ahead who were essentially hostages, but one hand was lightly gripping Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder area.

He was boldly running his mouth while using the Young Leader as a shield. The boy silently shook off his arm.

Lazy Flame Dragon’s lips twisted up.

“True, refusing ‘teachings’ would also look strange. When a master who won the Opening Tournament offers to teach sword techniques…”

“Radiant Sword Style can’t handle even one of Sword Star’s moves. The sword techniques that broke against Law Enforcement Leader’s strikes.”

“Eternal Blossom Fist would be tough too? Even with something like Radiant Demon Energy.”

Lazy Flame Dragon asked. Jeong Yeon-shin stared at him blankly for a moment.

This guy who seemed bored with everything appeared to understand his unique martial arts.

He had talked about talent at first meeting, but was particularly sharp regarding martial arts.

The boy slowly nodded.

“Distance is the problem. The moment I close in with fist techniques, my arms would be severed. My protective energy can’t handle Sword Star’s strikes.”

“In the end, using the sword skillfully seems right. The Hwangbo family had a decent sword technique too… the Southern Flower Sword Form. After my great-grandfather mastered it, he was called Shandong’s greatest swordsman for ten years. There’s a famous story of dozens of Yue family masters’ spears all retreating before one sword.”

“Nonsense!”

A clear voice cut in.

“The reality was different! It was a shameful act of exerting power over a rising talent! The young master couldn’t have been unaware of that, could he?”

It was Yue Yu-lin wearing refined pure white martial clothes. She had a long spear strapped to her back.

The spear shaft swayed with each step along with her long braided hair. The Yue family spear techniques she had cultivated were Shandong Yue family martial arts.

The Yue family.

They had competed for fame with Lazy Flame Dragon’s family who had also settled in Jinan, Shandong.

Until three of Desolate Fortress’s military forces swept through Jinan, the Yue family had been at a disadvantage. They greatly benefited from the Hwangbo family’s annihilation.

The Shandong Yue family was originally only counted among the Eight Families north of the Yangtze, but they came to Hanzhong seeking recognition from all under heaven along with the Alliance’s formation.

The current Yue family was in desperate need of masters.

This was why the Yue family head’s elder sister Yue Shou-lin had joined Desolate Fortress.

Decades ago, there was a major loss of power. The story of Yue Shou-lin abandoning her right to succeed as family head for some reason was very famous.

Lazy Flame Dragon snickered.

“Do you know shame to act that way? Looking at you was quite a sight.”

“What?”

“Our Leader is nearly ten years younger than you, yet you tried to question a fair duel’s responsibility at the banquet. Such obvious schemes. Everyone knows how much you loved Se-jin. If I had dreamed of acting like that, I would have bitten my tongue and killed myself right after waking up.”

“You…!”

Yue Yu-lin opened her eyes fiercely then suddenly closed her mouth.

Her gaze moved. Complex emotions filled her eyes as she glanced slightly at Jeong Yeon-shin.

He had openly defended Azure Qilin before many young martial artists.

No one expected him to defend Azure Qilin at that time. No one could have known.

His words that they would be equals even at purple rank became a topic of discussion among them.

‘Was it sincere?’

That alone wasn’t enough to fade Yue Yu-lin’s hatred. She wasn’t inhumanly righteous like White Qilin.

She wasn’t an eccentric who would abandon her family for commoners like her great-aunt Yue Shou-lin.

She belonged to the common masses despite being from a prestigious martial family.

‘Radiant Demon Wing Leader, White Qilin.’

She was confused. Unlike Namgung Mi, Namgung Se-jin had been a good brother to White Qilin.

What reason could there be to travel the martial world with someone who killed his own brother?

She didn’t see Desolate Fortress as a sect of heroes. She saw it as the martial world’s military.

Wasn’t there only one reason Desolate Fortress protected commoners?

It was to stabilize the tribute flowing to the imperial court.

Yue Yu-lin had originally wanted to meet White Qilin alone. She wanted to ask him face to face.

If Radiant Demon Wing and Desolate Fortress were any different from his family. If he thought they were a sect that purely pursued righteousness.

She really would have. If the Desolate Fortress warriors hadn’t suddenly arrived with the Alliance Leader’s orders.

“So, where are we going?”

She asked. The question wasn’t directed at the Radiant Demon Wing Leader.

She would have to use honorifics to speak to Desolate Fortress’s Leader, so Yue Yu-lin chose to ask the Hwangbo young master instead… But Lazy Flame Dragon was mischievous. He remained silent without answering.

He had clearly seen through the Yue family martial artist’s intentions. He just blankly watched the two boys talking.

The Gong family’s youth had approached beside the young Leader.

“My fiancée is very interested in you. So am I. Before, we were there at Clear Night Valley. When Desolate Fortress and the Namgung family had their duel.”

The boy with flashing eyes in his gaze said. He was about the same height as Jeong Yeon-shin.

Gong Sun-min.

He was the young master of the Gong family, part of the Eight Families. Perhaps he liked darting around with lightness techniques.

He had vibrant energy. His stained white silk martial clothes strangely suited him.

“Clear Night Valley?”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked back. He remembered many spectators surrounding the valley. Both martial artists and commoners had gathered in great numbers.

Gong Sun-min nodded greatly.

“Yes. It was a huge event. Actually, I went more to see the Divine Sword Group Leader and Namgung family head’s martial arts… but separate from their transcendence, your life-and-death duel with Azure Qilin was incredibly impressive.”

“What.”

“There was so much to learn from that life-and-death duel. Despite the flow being unpredictable, the exchanges were unbelievably precise, and the sight of you wrapping Azure Qilin’s sword energy waves around your hand to reversely strengthen your palm techniques was terrifying!”

He didn’t hide his admiration. His feelings showed on his face. It was an attitude Jeong Yeon-shin hadn’t encountered at the Martial Alliance before.

With over a hundred sects gathered at the Alliance, there truly seemed to be all kinds of people.

“It’s nothing…”

Jeong Yeon-shin turned his head. He tried not to show his awkwardness.

It was time to be tense. The group had entered a village. Fragments of shrunken wooden fences were trampled with each step.

Smoke rose from between houses. It was bleak like burning incense in bundles to honor the dead.

‘No one alive.’

The wind blowing ominously proved the massacre. Even the last trace of vitality in the village seemed buried with the hastily made graves.

It was like entering a different space. The stench of rotting corpses was overwhelming.

This was a very familiar sight to martial artists facing famine.

Those with power plunder food and strangle the weak.

This would never change throughout the ages. Many used their cultivated martial arts to secure their own lives.

The Heart Martial Alliance was the same.

If they did this in Henan where their sect was based, it would upset their patron the regional king.

So they came to Shaanxi. They plundered outside their sect’s territory to eat, drink and train martial arts.

If they could damage the orthodox righteous path’s alliance too, that would be perfect.

That’s what was written in Sword Star’s letter. Jeong Yeon-shin thought it made sense.

“There are many graves everywhere. Who made them?”

“Probably heroes passing by or villagers.”

It was a conversation between Lazy Flame Dragon and Hyeon Won-chang.

***

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Translated by Nine Heavens!

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***

The boy slowly opened his mouth.

“We’ll track the Heart Martial Alliance’s trail itself. Kill everyone we see, until we take the head of the military force leader who led the plundering. According to Sword Star’s documents, he’s a Heart Martial Alliance elder. Swimming Heaven Sword Ghost Baek Seo-gun.”

He spoke as Radiant Demon Wing Leader while wearing black robes.

Murong Ming-jun who had been following silently as if lost in thought, immediately raised his head.

“Swimming Heaven Sword Ghost? Is it the one I know?”

He showed anxiety despite being dressed most like a young noble.

Unlike his bright pink martial clothes, shadows fell across his expression.

“There are many rumors he wields Sword Control Through Energy. They say the Sword Ghost’s blade swims through the heavens. At the Henan regional king’s sixtieth birthday banquet, he showed the sight of handling a hundred master archers’ arrows with one sword. Seeing that, the regional king bestowed the title Sword Ghost. They say it wasn’t human realm.”

Murong Ming-jun said while keeping his gaze on Jeong Yeon-shin.

Unlike Yue Yu-lin he showed proper respect without avoiding the boy, but he seemed to hide different intentions behind his polite attitude.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t answer.

“I’ve heard of him too. They say no swordsman from Shaolin’s secular disciples could handle the Sword Ghost’s flying sword. Since the Heart Martial Alliance’s headquarters is in Henan, masters from neighboring Mount Hua or Zhongnan would know better… Can’t trust the eye techniques of mediocre small sects…”

Gong Sun-min trailed off.

Besides Mount Hua and Diancang, no other Nine Great Sects attended the Martial Alliance. Their advice was missed.

This was a mission to kill an elder commanding military force of the Thirteen Evil Sects. No matter how he thought about it, their strength was lacking.

How could such personnel be chosen when the Alliance had so many sects? Gong Sun-min thought.

It seemed the Alliance leadership had conspired to kill the Radiant Demon Wing Leader.

“I know.”

The boy said. His voice was calm.

Lazy Flame Dragon smiled slightly. He seemed satisfied with Jeong Yeon-shin’s brief answer.

“Right. No time to worry about flying swords. Even if it’s really Sword Control. Young Gong. For a swordsman famous enough to make a name across the Central Plains, they’re most fearsome when directly wielding a sword. Their energy operation is strongest when palm and sword are in direct contact. Unless there’s some special mantra.”

“If it’s a flying sword operated by specific mantras, it can’t even be called the legendary Sword Control Through Energy.”

Hyeon Won-chang nodded and said.

By then, one question had risen in the Martial Alliance martial artists’ minds.

From Zhuge Xian, Gong Sun-min, and Murong Ming-jun to Little Sword Queen Qu Su-yu, they briefly looked at Desolate Fortress’s Young Leader.

Yue Yu-lin stared intently as if to bore through him. As if trying to take in every flaw and strength with her eyes.

They each had different inner thoughts.

But there was a common interest. Just one. How strong was the new Radiant Demon Wing Leader?

They were masters who would lead the Alliance in the future.

Their status meant they would have to compete with Desolate Fortress’s young Leader throughout their lives. Exploration wasn’t just Jeong Yeon-shin’s task.

The young martial artists representing the orthodox righteous path had to examine the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s every move.

What was his character like?

In what situations did his martial arts show their greatest power?

Conversely, were there any clear weaknesses?

‘Their gazes are like awls…’ Jeong Yeon-shin was aware of this too. The fan play with Zhuge Xian alone wouldn’t be enough to feel it.

He recalled his original mission. It was Yue Shou-lin’s words. She had told him to pour cold water on the Martial Alliance’s rising momentum from their formation.

The boy hadn’t forgotten his main mission.

“Come out.”

He suddenly said. Through the Luminous Wheel’s energy sense, the demonic path’s internal energy traces were clear.

The Heart Martial Alliance group that had swept through the village hadn’t left a single grain of rice. Instead they had stationed troops. A small number.

Under the grass three zhang away, behind intact house roofs – those were nothing.

Boldly, there was even someone standing on one foot atop a watchtower looking down at them.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked up. His eyes met with the one on the watchtower.

It was a man wearing yellow clothes while keeping his legs and waist straight. He just grinned.

He seemed to possess quite powerful martial arts. Just his motionless appearance suggested the realm of body protection techniques.

Were they tasked with blocking pursuit?

The boy said no more. He slightly extended his left hand downward.

Toward the sword at Murong Ming-jun’s waist across from him.

He operated different mantras in two acupoints at the center of his palm.

Absorption and emission. The principles of sucking in and spewing out intersected instantly.

Suddenly.

Murong Ming-jun’s sword drew itself.

The eyes of Gong Sun-min and Murong Ming-jun, as well as the Heart Martial Alliance master on the watchtower and other martial artists widened.

The small ringing of the sword drawing created a silent shock.

The supreme master’s sword draw was instantaneous.

The young Radiant Demon Wing Leader shook his sleeve once. For a moment light flickered on the blade.

The pitch-black robe hem rose greatly, and a sword that shot up with a whoosh transformed into a chilling beam of light.

Pure white sword light extended toward the sky.

BOOM-!

The waist of the man standing on the watchtower bent. His body was forcibly thrown up. Along with the sword that had pierced his abdomen.

[TL Note- Now he is just showing off.]