Chapter 302 – Tamed Nezha

Shortly after the fierce battle that would determine the direction of Shanxi’s martial world began.

It was in the distant sky above.

A bluish moonlight gently wrapped around the figure of a woman riding a sword.

Baek Seo-gun observed the scene below while standing on her sword blade.

Despite the roaring wind making her ears numb, she didn’t blink once.

She watched the battle from outside the mystical formation barrier deployed by Zhuge Clan Leader. Her eyes, which were following the battle between these rare supreme masters, continuously moved in small motions.

Boom! Crash!

The shockwaves extended beyond the formation barrier. Even the sword beneath her feet trembled slightly.

‘Reborn Hidden Dragon.’

Zhuge Clan Leader’s martial prowess was truly tremendous.

Was it because he had accumulated an immense amount of internal energy and received full support from Yu Ling and Tyrant Sword Sect?

In a situation without Sword Star’s restraint, after constructing mystical formations for a long time and nearly reaching Sword Star’s level, he might now be comparable even to the Heart Martial Alliance Leader.

Since the formation of the Martial Alliance, there had been much talk among the upper echelons of the martial world.

As a member of the Zhuge clan who required vast resources to reach completion as a martial artist, wasn’t he gathering the martial world’s resources to fulfill his own desires?

Indeed, later on, evidence emerged that a portion of the enormous flow of money into the Martial Alliance had mysteriously disappeared.

However, at that time, the banner of defeating Desolate Fortress was at its peak influence, and Zhuge Clan Leader was able to complete his martial arts even after leaving the alliance.

It was a result stemming from his position as the Martial Alliance’s Commander-in-Chief and his collusion with two of the Thirteen Evil Sects.

‘Zhuge Mystical Technique, Universal Transformation Divine Skill.’

Masters of mystical martial arts are generally beings who struggle to exert their full power.

Even lighting a single fireball requires meticulous internal energy manipulation and incantations, so many often have their heads cut off by swift sword masters before they can properly deploy their cultivated skills.

Zhuge Clan Leader was also known to be the lowest ranked among the Eight Clan Leaders in terms of his innate martial prowess.

However, if an absolute master of mystical arts fully constructs his domain.

If it’s Zhuge Clan Leader, who was called a peerless master even in unprepared normal times.

Clang! Boom boom boom―!

The battle unfolding beneath the barrier would soon shake the landscape of the martial world.

Although it was said that all the peerless masters who had lived long years as supreme talents in the world were continuously growing stronger, among them, Zhuge Clan Leader’s explosive increase in power was the most comprehensible as it transcended the realm of inspiration.

It was different from the Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s mysterious martial arts improvement.

The fluttering of messenger pigeons that had already flown in all directions from the Gongya family would immediately change the conduct of various sects.

‘But…’

Baek Seo-gun suddenly turned her gaze sideways, and her eyes narrowed.

Far below.

There was someone lurking at one side of the barrier that bothered her.

With long hair like black ebony and wearing a bright red robe. Her skin was unusually white, and not just because of the moonlight.

The way she stared at the interior of the mystical formation with an obsession bordering on madness was evident.

Extremely sinister. Her gaze, which was fixated on Lightning Genius, was particularly so.

A pure-blooded noble of Blood Flame Cult and a Mara True Blood Body revered as sacred by blood demons.

‘They say she now acts as a tyrant of her clan.’

The Shanxi branch of Blood Flame Cult had been destroyed by her hands. An extremely dangerous being.

According to Heart Martial Alliance’s informants, she was the next-generation cult leader who had inherited Blood Flame Cult Leader’s legacy.

She was also the one who had previously kidnapped Jeong Yeon-shin to Blood Flame Cult’s main base.

Baek Seo-gun had managed to obtain even the appearance of Seventh Apostle thanks to the activities of Lightning Genius that her subordinates had reported.

An invisible sword is the most dangerous. This is especially true for a supreme master of her caliber.

If she joins forces with Zhuge Clan Leader, who is supported by two of the Thirteen Evil Sects, Lightning Genius’s life would certainly be in danger.

The Sword Venerable’s lips parted slightly.

“How dare you.”

After a growl like that of a lion.

Whoosh!

The sword carrying Baek Seo-gun made a steep descent.

With the faint sword energy of mind-controlled sword and the hazy strong wind that swept up her short gray hair, the ground rapidly grew larger as her flight speed explosively increased.

The face of Seventh Apostle, who suddenly turned around, did the same.

“What is this?”

Her voice revealed a nervous surprise.

For a brief moment, a faint crimson light flashed at her feet, and then, as if to greatly avoid the diagonal downward strike, she cut through the distant void.

***

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Translated by Nine Heavens!

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***

The dark sphere that suddenly swallowed Radiant Demon Wing Leader. This was the core of the Sky-Connecting Falling Formation, a mystical technique of the Zhuge clan.

The battle took place centered around this strange form.

Zhuge Clan Leader trying to cut Jeong Yeon-shin into pieces with ten strands of colorless threads, the Yin and Yang Divine Whip.

Two black-ranks from Desolate Fortress protecting their youngest.

The various crowds watching, including aristocrats, gradually couldn’t hide their astonished expressions.

Most were elegantly arranged on rooftops or walls, and despite their glossy appearance and quality silk clothes, they showed signs of anxiety.

“We chose the right side. It was good to seek the elder’s opinion.”

“Zhuge Clan Leader truly is the reincarnation of the Hidden Dragon. How could anyone defeat him?”

“Truly an invincible presence… The landscape of the martial world will change.”

“Family Head! I’ve sent a letter to the Beggar Sect branch!”

“Well done. I’ll pay you generously. You’ll likely access even more valuable information in the future.”

It had already been over a hundred exchanges.

The earth-shattering battle continued for a long time.

The life-or-death duel’s pattern gradually converged into one form.

When the ten strands of Yin and Yang Divine Whip were inscribed in all directions in the air following the principles of the Eight Trigrams, Yue Shou-lin and Jin Myeong-jo, who stood with their backs to the sphere, would draw long trajectories of the Yue Family Spear’s Extreme Strike and Flash Blood Claw Technique.

Each time, the ground would rupture.

Clang! Boom!

Along with Zhuge Clan Leader’s laughter.

[Arrogant rabble, how dare you value a junior! Behave like the imperial court’s hunting dogs that you are!]

Blood sprayed along with the sword energy from Jin Myeong-jo’s nails, creating a fierce cold wind. Immediately, a massive shockwave exploded with a boom.

Two strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip that had deeply approached the side of the sphere were deflected away.

Jin Myeong-jo’s arm, with its long black sleeve hanging down, trembled intermittently. This was due to the penetrating wound he had suffered at the beginning of the battle, which he hadn’t fully recovered from.

This was now the limit. Only his blood-red eyes continued to burn coldly.

“……”

[Your eyes seem to speak of dignity. But is that an expression those who engage in joint attacks should wear?]… As Zhuge Clan Leader brushed down the Yin and Yang Divine Whip that had touched his white front lapel, two strands merged into one and then, with explosively increased sword energy surrounding it, were swung in a long arc.

It was the marvel of mystical arts and mind-controlled sword. The sound of the air being torn was tremendously loud. It extended directly toward the sphere containing Jeong Yeon-shin.

Just before the sphere was about to be bisected, a small figure holding a spear landed in front of the strike.

Boom―!

She had already made her first step a true step. A subtle whirlpool rose from her elastically twisted waist to the spear tip.

It was a warrior spirit technique that spread earthquake-like vibrations through the air. Yue Family Spear, General’s Thunder. In the continuous flow, there was no waste, and the foot energy was repeatedly amplified in an instant.

The spear shaft bent like a ray of light and struck the thread, creating fierce waves.

At that moment, the corners of Zhuge Clan Leader’s mouth smoothly rose.

Boom!

Cough―!

The girl with short black hair in a black robe coughed blood. Both her shoulders had been pierced by two strands of the thread.

Only three strands of the mostly shattered Yin and Yang Divine Whip returned to Zhuge Clan Leader and swayed.

[There were thirty-six variations in a single trajectory. It was enough to defend against all ten strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip.]

Six-directional spirit energy transformed into sound transmission and flowed only to Yue Shou-lin.

[But the method to break the Yue Family Spear was the first secret manual I created after you left home. Your spear strikes cannot escape my eye technique. Isn’t that what you’ve been experiencing all along? I’m very grateful for it, though.]

Thud.

Yue Shou-lin, supporting herself with her spear shaft, exhaled her disrupted internal energy breathing with a wheeze. A peerless master’s strike doesn’t end with just a penetrating wound.

Since weight-increasing techniques are constantly applied, she also had to face the sword energy flowing into her body.

The same was true for Jin Myeong-jo standing beside her. Convulsions visited his entire body as well.

Yue Shou-lin’s lips twisted painfully.

“I wondered why Yu-lin and Fan Dragon seemed close… You used the children’s interactions like that? How many martial arts did you steal by watching? The filth truly reaches the heavens. Like father, like son.”

[When a supreme master from the Eight Great Clans enters Desolate Fortress, is there any reason to consider the ethics of the martial world? If it had been Annihilation Team Leader instead of you, the situation might have been different. Wish-fulfilling Spring Lord might also have had a chance of victory along with your two juniors.]

“Seems you’ve heard of the Three Black Pillars. You couldn’t even plant spies in the main fortress while spouting such things.”

[It’s been long enough. Die now.]

It was then.

Behind Yue Shou-lin.

Cracks appeared in the black sphere.

Boom―

Light spread. Along with violent vibrations that struck even the ground beneath their feet. As radiance extended in all directions, it was like a flower bud blooming.

Finally, when the sphere shattered into pieces, the crowd greatly stirred.

[Hmm?]

As Zhuge Clan Leader uttered a questioning sound, the shattered Yin and Yang Divine Whip strands rose around him.

The threads of energy restored themselves and floated in the air, creating a truly marvelous sight. Enough to make the murmuring crowd quickly find stability.

“It’s over.”

“Even if Radiant Demon Wing Leader emerges from there…”

“Desolate Spear is in that state. So is Divine Blood Extreme Demon.”

“Now it’s one-on-one.”

“The youngest black-rank against that Zhuge Clan Leader.”

“Let’s go in. To meet Transcendence City Sect’s demands… We should first recheck the ledgers of our subordinate merchant groups.”

Thud.

The figure of the peerless young master with his sword lowered was extraordinarily exceptional.

He was surrounded by a translucent lotus flower.

Looking at his appearance and bearing under the fluttering moonlight, with hair that distorted reality, one would need to reach back to ancient legends rather than consider him a living person of this world.

If it were just his appearance, one might compare him to Song Yu or Pan An, but the aura that seemed to cut into one’s skin was different.

The martial world is a place where people elevate each other’s reputations with exaggerated nicknames.

“That lotus and that beautiful appearance. It reminds me of a Buddhist guardian deity. I mean Prince Nezha. Though he doesn’t have three heads, his aura and dignity…”

“What a pitiful life that will be lost.”

As some in the crowd exclaimed and whispered.

Zhuge Clan Leader let out a clear laugh.

[It would have been better if you had died in there. For your sake, I mean. Isn’t it better than closing your eyes surrounded by a sense of powerlessness you’ve never experienced in your life?]

“Senior Yue, Senior Jin, how are your bodies?”

Jeong Yeon-shin, who momentarily made the lotus hazy, looked at his seniors on either side. While containing Zhuge Clan Leader with his raised energy sense.

There was melancholy in his gaze as he surveyed their wounds, but Jin Myeong-jo didn’t answer while Yue Shou-lin made a fuss.

“That should be enough to escape.”

“Where to?”

“I told you to run away if the balance of the joint attack breaks! Think about your age! It’s not a disgrace at all! We’ve lived as much as we needed to and killed as much as we needed to! I have few regrets about crossing the River Styx.”

“Senior Yue, Senior Jin, how are your bodies?”

“Are you going to keep repeating that?”

She wheezed and gave a weak smile.

Rustle.

On the other side, snow-white sleeves fluttered. Was he celebrating the first step of his long-cherished ambition?

Zhuge Clan Leader, with his hands behind his back, appeared relaxed enough to allow an intermission during a life-or-death battle.

The two faced each other. It was truly one-on-one.

[You cannot escape. I will not miss the number one target for elimination, and with your dull internal energy manipulation, you cannot escape the Yin and Yang Divine Whip. Even if you’ve wrapped yourself in that strange power. You’re a child who hasn’t achieved unity of essence, energy, and spirit.]

“Dull…?”

It was as Jeong Yeon-shin was gazing at him.

The pebble in his bosom reacted. The dharma treasure that had belonged to Valor Fist Lord.

As blood rushed to the crown of his head without him realizing it amid Zhuge Clan Leader’s words, a strange sensation flowed into his upper dantian, which had been warmed by blood pressure.

It was an extremely peculiar feeling.

The resonance phenomenon that had occurred during the life-or-death battle with the fist master naturally came to mind. The world that Yan Hwa-ryeon had felt, the five senses that Valor Fist Lord had possessed.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s talent missed nothing.

―Your senses will remember me.

For a moment, it was as if he heard her voice. Like a spring breeze entering his mind and stimulating an old topic.

“…I don’t need you to worry about the state of my unity of essence, energy, and spirit.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly moved his lips.

“Because it’s unnecessary.”

***

Over a vast complex of grand halls, an expansive moonlight draped down.

Even the castle-like fortress in the center was surrounded by a dim twilight.

Hazy light clusters shimmered on each marble wall, but the young maid who had entered the inner castle had a face frozen with tension.

She held a book wrapped in silk brocade in her arms.

‘Is this possible?’

She repeatedly muttered three questions to herself. Me? Really? Is this possible…?

―You’re worthy of receiving at least as much favor from the Lord as the dirt under your fingernails. You were born with quite a pure innate true energy. Small mistakes won’t reach her. They’ll only sound loud to my ears. Do well.

The admonition of the chief attendant with a boyish face had long since passed to the back of her mind.

The touch of the strangely warm and pure white hemp cloth worn by Desolate Fortress workers felt newly unfamiliar. Was it always this rough?

She didn’t know how she had climbed the stairs that curved upward like a dragon’s body in a legend. The cool scent characteristic of marble brushed against her skin.

Creak―

When she suddenly came to her senses, she faced the sight of a massive stone door opening by itself.

‘Ah.’

I’m dreaming.

That’s what it seems like.

Her vision distorted as if swimming through a dream.

From the moment the fragrant scent of grass touched her nose, from the instant she vaguely saw a figure leaning against a tree trunk, her soul seemed to fall into a sea of dreams.

It was as if her consciousness was overflowing.

It was literally like losing one’s mind. Her head couldn’t fully accommodate the overwhelming presence before her eyes.

She avoided clearly recognizing the superior being who was as lofty as a celestial deity.

Swish.

With her consciousness floating, she unwrapped the brocade in her arms and took out the book. While walking toward the celestial being.

At the same time, she began to turn the pages of the book. She seemed to have heard which page it was. The Lord already knew the entire book by heart.

Rustle.

Before she knew it, the maid had daringly sat down beside Desolate Fortress Lord, and she realized that the old secret manual in the celestial being’s hand was the original of the book she had just opened.

Soon after, both books floated in the air, opened to the same section. Though it was an extremely mystical sight, the maid breathed naturally as if in a dream.

The text written in the original immediately caught her eye.

It was in a clumsy regular script.

The ink application and strength were a mess. The characters formed perfect lines while the strokes repeatedly darkened and lightened.

It was unclear whether the writer had never seen good calligraphy or whether the person who taught the writing method had been careless.

At that moment.

Desolate Fortress Lord suddenly raised her arm.

Swish.

Her long, extended fingertip lightly touched the character “Magpie Bridge.”

As her skin, white as porcelain, starkly contrasted with the ink-black characters, Desolate Fortress Lord’s finger slowly traced down to the end of the incantation.

[From here, extract the incantations that suit your mind. There are three core principles. Blessing Born in Subtlety, Energy and Life Connect to Acupoints, and Great Magpie Bridge. You won’t need the human body diagram. You’ll feel it. If I show the completed version with unnecessary additions to my brothers, I might be scolded.]

“Call for Radiant Demon Wing Leader.”

After the ethereal voice tickled the maid’s ear.

The white finger that had been at the end of the incantation moved back up, then lightly brushed the old paper as it came down again.

Without paying attention to the maid who had lost focus and risen from her seat.

[It’s the Double Seventh Festival.

The cowherd from the eastern distant star cluster meets the weaver girl from the opposite side.

The village is excited. Young adults are laughing.

They say it’s a day for people who like each other. It seems silly but looks fun. It’s amusing to see them deliberately trying to tangle the strings while flying kites together.

My eldest brother was given a kite modeled after a hawk. He said he would fly it with the daughter of the Kang merchant group leader.

I don’t have one. I tried to get some wooden sticks to make one, but the steward stopped me.

Father said that the evil energy that devoured my mother has spread widely and might reach the farmland… It seems like a correct assessment.]

[I need to create a Magpie Bridge within myself.

How sturdy would a bridge connecting both sides of the sky be?

I thought of the Qihai acupoint in my navel and the Mingmen acupoint on my back. They are the acupoints with the greatest utility among the internal energy pathways. I wonder what would happen if the energies were combined.

It doesn’t seem like I would enter a state of deviation. It feels like it would protect my internal organs… My intuition has never been wrong. That’s what makes it interesting. Shall I try moving carefully past the abdominal artery? With mother.]

[Qihai acupoint and Mingmen acupoint.

Even if they don’t directly connect, if I layer internal energy bridges over the three meridians in between, they would effectively be connected.

I tried it and it works. I should weave it into the part of the Small Heavenly Circuit that belongs to the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.

Mother’s mental imagery reaches here too. The imagery for handling true energy must be gentle, or injury is likely.

On the other side of my Magpie Bridge is where you reside.

It’s warm.

I don’t need a kite.]

For a while, moonlight bathed the silence.

But it didn’t last long.

“You may speak freely.”

A gentle, warm whisper brushed through the leaves in the hall.

“Your life has already repaid me.”

Dong—

The book touched by the fingertip of Desolate Fortress Lord pulsed once, creating a faint afterimage.

It was a dharma treasure that had accumulated the mental imagery of ascension over many years, finally gaining a mystical spirituality.