Chapter 215 – Flash (2)

Zhu Lianting’s conduct had been excessive.

After Ma Jin’s family management concluded, it would have been Ma Sei-in’s turn. It would have also been Zhu Lianting’s moment.

The position of the family head’s mother had been destined for her. Combined with her imperial lineage, her prestige would have soared.

In twenty or thirty years, it would have come to pass.

She could not wait.

She hastened her heart. As Ma Yeon-jeok’s condition improved, she sought to prevent the former Supreme Head’s influence from bolstering the current head.

Though from a collateral line, she was imperial. Power and control over relationships were everything to her.

She thought deeply yet acted shallowly. Such was Zhu Lianting’s nature.

She could not tolerate being outdone or pushed aside. In a martial world where human hierarchy was stark, she had lived as imperial kin.

Suppressed as a collateral descendant, she had conversely enjoyed greater freedom than the direct line. This was due to her distance from the throne.

Immediate glory mattered most to her. It was the same in Desolate Fortress.

Until she encountered the unexpected variable of Jeong Yeon-shin and faced the consequences of her karma.

“The Zhu Clan is numerous?”

Zhu Lianting spat blood yet revealed her indignation.

Even as the power she had amassed as a master of Golden Immortal Eight Methods scattered, she reacted not to the loss of martial prowess but to words that wounded her dignity.

Wrinkles creased her brow and lips.

“How dare you casually speak the imperial family name…!”

“I will no longer heed you.”

Ma Yeon-jeok spoke curtly.

A low hum resounded.

An intangible ripple surged from his index finger pointing at Zhu Lianting.

This time, the strike was visible. Perhaps because it was a punishment meant to strip her of any chance to recover as a martial artist.

It seemed as though a transparent current flowed from his fingertip.

It struck Zhu Lianting’s solar plexus directly. The few drops of blood dripping from her chin distorted under the heavy shockwave.

A thud echoed.

Tyrant Hero’s strike proceeded without hesitation.

He had said the middle dantian followed the lower one. True to his finger’s warning, a colorless energy wave from his hand plunged into Zhu Lianting’s solar plexus.

It targeted the Jade Hall acupoint of her middle dantian. The technique leaped through the air with a Void Palm strike, laced with an Internal Heavy Palm Technique that shook her insides.

It was a terrifying move. Supreme martial principles blended seamlessly. Zhu Lianting could not evade it and had to endure it.

A gasp burst forth.

She vomited blood. It was a violent cough, more intense than when her lower dantian shattered.

It was only natural. The center of her Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian, one of the twelve primary meridians, had been torn apart.

The strike focused entirely on obliterating her middle dantian, yet it was near her carotid artery. The pressure in her blood flow would spike sharply.

She had no choice but to retch as if her breath would fail, accompanied by excruciating pain.

Ma Yeon-jeok clenched his gaunt fingers once.

“As you said, you are imperial kin. Be grateful for your lineage. I will not kill you. However.”

His voice soon blazed from his mouth.

“As of this moment, I banish Ma Sei-in’s mother to confinement. She will no longer have any chance to meddle in the main house’s affairs. Lock her in the family’s dungeon and grant her two meals at three intervals. Breakfast and lunch. She will forgo dinner. Let her end each day in complete regret. It will be a pain that sears her heart and time. Establish this as the main house’s law, so even when Sei-in takes the head’s seat, she cannot alter it.”

It was a final decree.

The martial life of Zhu Lianting had ended. A feeble energy wave seeped from her bent frame. Her power dissipated.

The strength she had built with Golden Immortal Eight Methods settled into the air.

Stored through elixirs, it dispersed with dense richness. The foliage beneath her feet briefly turned opaque.

Only then.

Shock filled Zhu Lianting’s face.

A sudden rush of reality melded with the early winter moonlight and pierced her skin. Agony akin to torture struck alongside the chill.

The once-arrogant figure had lost everything to a more imperious absolute. She had been crushed and dismantled strand by strand.

“…”

Focus faded from her eyes.

It was as if her soul had fled. She was utterly irredeemable. Imperial Zhu Lianting fell into ruin alongside martial Zhu Lianting.

The naturalness of the process made it all the more hollow. She was ensnared in an inescapable grip.

In his prime, Tyrant Hero had been a god to the common folk. He would be again.

“And.”

The former Divine Sword Group Leader’s words did not cease.

It was right after he gazed once at his grandson, the master of Radiant Demon Wing, standing silently.

Tyrant Hero’s eyes swept over Desolate Ma Family’s masters.

Twenty kin prostrated with heads to the ground, and over ten warriors stood awkwardly around Zhu Lianting.

Ma Yeon-jeok’s lips twisted.

“You disloyal wretches. Should you not also pay a price? You know well the sins you have committed, do you not?”

His smooth, wrinkle-free face posed the question in an archaic tone.

The old man’s speech in a youthful visage felt seamless. It was a martial marvel. Power imbued the query that sought no reply.

The energy wave that surged anew could be called domineering force. It was energy fit to claim supremacy.

With each word he uttered, the surrounding air warped, and dust rose from the ground.

“…We are without words.”

Ma Jin-yoon, the green-robed warrior, turned and knelt toward Ma Yeon-jeok.

He had maintained his posture even as the former Supreme Head passed them to approach Zhu Lianting.

Thus, he paid respects again. His hands rested neatly on his knees, exuding the dignity of a prestigious clan master.

He briefly turned to bow silently to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Then he looked up at Ma Yeon-jeok.

“We have fully witnessed Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s grace. The term ‘benefactor’ is apt. We coveted Golden Immortal Eight Methods and sinned, yet today we see you restored, former Supreme Head. Only after erring in our conduct did we realize Golden Immortal Eight Methods was an external art. It was foolish and base. We will accept your judgment willingly.”

“Destroy your lower and middle dantians, all of you.”

Ma Yeon-jeok commanded.

For grand faction masters, martial arts were their life’s devotion. The exhilaration of lightening the body and amassing superhuman strength surpassed even opium.

It was a fate worse than death.

Such was the order that flowed casually from Tyrant Hero’s mouth. It severed the path of ascetics.

As the warriors near Zhu Lianting flinched, the Ma Family masters who had raised their heads lowered them calmly.

They had seen their clan’s long-held wish fulfilled. That sufficed.

Ma Jin-yoon asked.

“Shall we sever our limbs’ meridians too?”

“A question befitting a lowly, ignorant fool. Do you worthless lot dare covet the labors of the main house’s servants? Feel exhaustion fully and live. You should not have touched my grandson.”

Tyrant Hero spat out as if chewing his words.

His grandson’s safety had been threatened. In this moment, he was both former Divine Sword Group Leader and Grandfather Ma Yeon-jeok.

In a martial world descending into chaos, he accepted a reduction in strength despite knowing the threats to Desolate Fortress.

He had to enforce rewards and punishments strictly to maintain discipline.

He had to punish those who nearly became his grandson’s enemies.

Two intents intertwined. None could stop him.

Tyrant Hero Ma Yeon-jeok had returned. Only the Desolate Fortress Lord, Elder Council Leader, or current Divine Sword Group Leader could even attempt to intervene.

“Execute it.”

Ma Yeon-jeok declared.

The command was brief, the response immediate.

Gasp!

Wheeze!

Twenty began vomiting blood. They had reversed their own energy flow.

Their dantians tore apart amid the raging energy waves. It was the ethos of a prestigious clan honed in domineering arts.

Ordered by the fully returned former Supreme Head, they had no hesitation in ending their martial lives.

A scene of hell unfolded.

The garden’s grass stained with blood streaks. Those unable to stand staggered forth.

Among the kneeling prostrators, a youth trembled.

White-rank warrior Ma Woong, subdued by Cheong Myeong while on sentry duty. He had prepared himself but was afraid.

‘Now, I must shatter my dantian…’

At that moment.

His eyes met another’s.

The noble Radiant Demon Wing Leader gazed down at him silently.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

Mount Zhongnan, one of Taoism’s cradles.

Its ranges stretched in verdant curves. A ridge dividing Shaanxi’s north and south.

Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries dotted its gentle slopes. Pavilions once added pure celestial energy to the mountain’s aura.

Not now.

Thick smoke rose from scattered points along the ridge. It mingled with dark red wildfires.

The blazing inferno’s orange fury was relentless.

The widespread flames persisted unabated, as if signaling an extraordinary event.

“Your motives… are petty.”

A man of refined beauty spoke. His sharp, blade-like ears stood out.

Blood seeped from his tattered yellow robe. He sat amid shattered tile fragments.

Western Heaven Sword Master Ouyang Chen.

[TL Note- this was previously translated as Western Heavens Sword Lord Ou Yang Chen in chapter 31.]

Zhongnan Sect’s Leader. A supreme master incongruous with the broken sword sprawled beside him.

“You overlooked that I, too, am half noble clan. You closely monitored this sect’s energy, did you not?”

He spoke, looking up at a man standing against the flames.

Shadows danced hugely across Ouyang Chen’s face.

Their flickering with the wildfire was eerie. An unfathomably robust figure seemed drunk on thrill.

Blood drenched him from Ouyang Chen’s strikes, yet his balance was astonishingly steady.

Western Heaven Sword Master Ouyang Chen was a Nine Sect Leader. No supreme master could dominate him one-sidedly.

This time was no exception. Victory had hinged on a fleeting strike.

“Didn’t you target the moment right after my uncle ascended? As a sect’s leader, are you not ashamed? True to an evil faction overlord. Even with such an enlightened sword art.”

Ouyang Chen asked in a fading voice.

Instead of an answer, a faint laugh emerged. The shadowed figure chuckled.

It echoed like it rose from a cave’s depths. A deep voice.

“Zhongnan Sword Immortal.”

Tyrant Sword Sect Leader recalled the old man dubbed the sword’s celestial.

“I know it was not ascension.”

He said.

Zhongnan Sword Immortal hadn’t ascended through Taoist enlightenment.

A celestial force struck him down, too potent for his upper dantian to withstand.

What had such a deeply cultivated man coveted to meet that fate?

He’d sought answers, but no Zhongnan disciple spoke.

It was laughable yet tragic. Tyrant Sword Sect Leader thought briefly. He had intended to behead him.

Then.

Ouyang Chen’s lips quivered.

“This sect’s lineage endures. You can raze Zhongnan’s gates and shatter its plaques. But you cannot touch Zhongnan Mountain’s spirit. That’s your limit.”

“You mean the escaped Zhongnan disciples. I know. I’ve sent men to capture two.”

The shadowed face moved its lips.

“Sword Dragon Wei Ji Myo-hwa. Sword Immortal’s direct disciple Jeong Hye. Potential threats to our sect. The girl Sword Immortal cherished in his final years is Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s kin, isn’t she? You hope for Desolate Fortress’s intervention.”

“…!”

“Your sword art was wondrous. Die now.”

Tyrant Sword Sect Leader moved his sword-wielding hand.

A whoosh sounded.

His massive greatsword melded into the flame-flickering shadows.

—

Jeong Yeon-shin walked toward Radiant Demon Wing’s quarters. He was accompanied by subordinates, all his seniors.

“Headquarters will be turned upside down.”

“Leader, were you skilled in medicine?”

“No, that’s not it. Did you not see his dynamic technique training daily? His internal mastery was immense from the start.”

“Tyrant Hero’s rejuvenation… I froze and could not move.”

“Will things ease up a bit?”

“Do not think lightly of it. The Central Plains are vast, and we have only two purple-ranks now.”

“Who knows how the imperial family will react.”

Their chatter held no falsehoods.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently agreed.

His grandfather’s actions were extraordinary. Zhu Lianting, though a collateral descendant, was undeniably imperial.

Even if Ma Yeon-jeok imposed a justified punishment, matters remained to be settled with the imperial family.

The Zhu name was sacrosanct.

The Ming Dynasty was an empire. It prized imperial dignity above all.

Zhu Lianting, married into Desolate Fortress, would have been under imperial scrutiny.

They could not punish a rejuvenated Ma Yeon-jeok.

But how they might exploit this was uncertain. Thus, Ma Yeon-jeok sought to shield his grandson from messy politics.

He had spoken of sharing tea on a boat later.

“I will find a way to lend you strength. This old man intends to see you clad in purple robes, whatever it takes. But first… I am truly ashamed. This foolish grandfather failed to govern our kin.”

“You are safe, and that suffices.”

“Yeon-shin, may I embrace you once?”

“No.”

Jeong Yeon-shin recalled his curt reply. It had slipped out instinctively. Too many eyes watched.

He pictured his grandfather’s face, sheepish after shedding his lion-like aura.

‘He will live long and well.’

Warmth filled his heart. It persisted as two nameless disciples guarding Radiant Demon Wing’s gate flung it open.

“Leader, people from Blood Guardian Squad have come.”

Baek Shun-wook, a sturdy seventeen-year-old nameless disciple, spoke.

An honest youth devoted to Eternal Blossom Fist training.

“Blood Guardian Squad?”

The moment Jeong Yeon-shin questioned, the gate opened.

The guests Baek Shun-wook mentioned approached directly. A man and woman in blue robes.

How long had they waited? They had not entered the inner quarters, lingering outside.

“Blood Guardian Squad, Luo Yi-qian.”

“Feng Lan.”

They resembled Blood Guardian Leader Jin Myeong-jo. Both had strikingly pale complexions and slender jawlines.

Even their clasped-fist salutes were gentle, exuding a unique air paired with blue-rank status.

A glance revealed their excellence.

The woman, Feng Lan, with a thin curved saber on her back, spoke.

“Blood Guardian Leader ordered our transfer to Radiant Demon Wing. He sent a message too.”

She presented a letter with both hands. A scroll wrapped in white silk.

Meticulously sealed, its edges were razor-sharp. It bore a near-reverent air.

“What?”

As Jeong Yeon-shin faltered in surprise.

Another event unfolded immediately. From afar.

“Is the Breaking Guide’s master at his quarters!”

A booming shout erupted. It roared across all directions like a lion’s bellow.

An explosive voice with immeasurable stored energy rattled the gate’s handle.

Xiahou Wei-zhen’s voice.

The formidable energy waves unique to Desolate Fortress Leaders surged forth. The fiery current pushed the air before their arrival.

It was an overwhelming momentum. They seemed to race with refined lightness skill.

Not just one or two.