Chapter 303 – Tamed Nezha (2)

The wind at the end of winter was dry.

Saaaa—

It brushes transparently across the face. Perhaps because a peerless master stands smiling as an enemy before his eyes.

The low-lying dust swept coolly around his ankles like a bundle of knives. It was the aftermath of the battle between the black-robed seniors and Zhuge Clan Leader.

The two seniors said nothing.

Had they accepted Jeong Yeon-shin’s choice as equals in rank?

As the Ultimate Thunder lotus surrounding him deepened, Jin Myeong-jo hardened his gaze with concern for his junior, while Yue Shou-lin, who had clenched and unclenched her hands several times, took a step back.

The cold energy waves sweeping the surroundings seemed to be guarding against the intrusion of aristocrats.

‘I can’t let the two of them intervene.’

Though his seniors likely still had strength left, it wouldn’t be enough for a battle with a peerless master.

The moment Jeong Yeon-shin showed signs of faltering, they would intervene even at the cost of their lives, but that would be the moment both of them would perish.

He couldn’t allow that.

‘Absolutely not.’

Jeong Yeon-shin deliberately suppressed his impatience and anxiety.

—Today is the day.

Simultaneously, his upper dantian seemed to whisper in his mind.

That he must seize the concept of supreme martial arts in battle, connecting his senses, Yan Hwa-ryeon, the dharma treasure, and Zhuge Clan Leader like constellations.

He felt this was a rare moment of insight in his life. An intuitive realization.

His mind tingled.

It was similar yet different from when he had created other martial arts.

Beyond the corpses of Fan Dragon and Yan Hwa-ryeon etched in his mind, a massive wave of enlightenment was surging.

He felt an overwhelming inspiration whose form was difficult to grasp at the moment.

‘This is the turning point.’

Whether he would become one who judges the crimes of future great sect leaders and peerless masters, or whether he would live as the youngest black-rank who briefly shone brightly, unable to overcome his innate imbalance of essence, energy, and spirit.

A bright light illuminated everything from his experiences thus far to the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique of his childhood. It was the radiance of memory flowing through his mind.

In this moment, facing a life-or-death battle, he must create a martial art he had never possessed before. A mystical skill that could approach even transcendent peerless masters as a killing technique.

‘Is it possible?’

At that moment.

Swish.

The fingertip of Zhuge Clan Leader, standing twenty paces away, drew an elegant curve.

Like a fairy’s ceremonial robe, threads fluttered around him. Each strand of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip was more powerful than protective energy.

[Show me more. So that the martial brothers gathered here will remember how formidable you were. Through you, I shall raise the banner of Transcendence City. I will let the world know that Desolate Fortress, too, can be exterminated like any other sect.]

“Let’s begin.”

Zhuge Clan Leader talks too much. It feels like karma flowing from his mouth.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately took a step forward, intensifying the massive lotus of Ultimate Thunder surrounding his body.

The rapidly enhanced power raced through his body with a humming sound. The ground exploded as he took a single step.

Boom!

A dim cluster of light trailed like a comet behind his feet. It was the aftermath of Ten Li Gentle Light lightness skill. In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin closed the distance and planted a true step before Zhuge Clan Leader’s face.

Once more, with a kuung! sound, the ground sank deeply. Fragments of earth hazily rose up.

‘Judgment Qilin.’

A strong wind arose from his full-body release of energy.

Amidst the stone fragments flying in all directions, Zhuge Clan Leader’s black hat was swept away at the end of the pure white trajectory of Northern Light Divine Sword, raised simultaneously with the true step.

It happened right after colliding with five strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip that had descended like rays of light.

Jjeojeojeong―!

Tremendous shockwaves spread in all directions.

Jeong Yeon-shin swallowed a groan. The recoil that entered his grip was so immense that it felt like lightning tearing through his forearm.

In his narrowed field of vision, he saw the face of the one who had desecrated Azure Qilin’s corpse.

He looked remarkably similar to Fan Dragon Zhuge Xian. With his fine, distinct features.

‘It’s irritating.’

That man shouldn’t wield a fan. It’s a weapon that only suits refined figures like Zhuge Xian. That’s how it was for Jeong Yeon-shin, who had lived briefly in the martial world.

The one who had killed his son smiled.

[You are worthy of being the first example of Desolate Fortress’s extermination. You have earned that qualification.]

His voice hummed like a swarm of bees. Mystical six-directional spirit energy was mixed with incantations.

Ten strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip simultaneously overlapped above and below, and the air distorted hazily as it encountered a net of world-class power.

Jjeojeojeojeojeong!

He escaped by deflecting with Northern Light Divine Sword in all directions. He even had to employ the Wind Body Technique.

Jeong Yeon-shin rotated as if wrapping the surrounding wind around his body.

While avoiding the continuously striking strands of energy, sharp cold winds roughly scraped his skin.

If he were trapped, it would be the end.

Those Yin and Yang Divine Whips were forged through the harmony of mystical martial arts that had reached the extreme.

The internal energy and variations imbued in all ten strands were close to mind-controlled sword. It was as if he had created a divine weapon by himself.

[That technique must be putting considerable strain on your body. How much longer can you maintain it? Wrapped in power that doesn’t match your capacity.]

Zhuge Clan Leader smiled and waved his hand again.

The Yin and Yang Divine Whips extended, drawing all sorts of trajectories.

He no longer put tricks into his strikes. It was because Jeong Yeon-shin, who had activated Ultimate Thunder, couldn’t fully concentrate dharma power on his sword blade.

Northern Light Divine Sword no longer glowed blue.

It was as if he had sealed off the advantage of compatibility that Demon Destroying Azure Unyielding Sword possessed, but he needed to maintain Ultimate Thunder to respond to Zhuge Clan Leader’s striking speed.

It was only because he was emitting a translucent lotus with his entire body that a one-on-one exchange was even possible.

The protective energy power overflowing from his entire body was forcibly keeping pace with the extreme swiftness generated by the state of unity of essence, energy, and spirit.

[You don’t understand. The harm Desolate Fortress inflicts upon the world. A fortress that must be exterminated stands brazenly disrupting order in the martial world, pretending to act for the common people—how ridiculous it is.]

‘Ultimate Thunder will soon dissipate. This won’t do. I’ll die.’

As his exhalations and inhalations repeated, one side of his head darkened with despair. Watching a colorless whip cut off his earlobe and fall away.

Amid the boom― as the ground exploded, a burning pain struck his ear. He nearly died. Evasions as precarious as walking a tightrope continued.

It was as if he were trapped in a mystical formation.

That’s how Zhuge Clan Leader’s connected techniques were… With his lips forming a beautiful arc, the way he flicked his fingers in the air as if playing a zither was elegant.

Jjeojeojeong! Kwaaaang―!

The trajectories of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip, gradually tightening, were not. They struck, hit, and stabbed from all directions.

They completely penetrated the ray-like trajectories of Thunder-Annihilation Sword Style and even perfectly blocked the left-hand movements of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain.

Meanwhile, the shockwaves that erupted only ruffled Zhuge Clan Leader’s long, flowing hair.

The one who had derived methods to break down Lightning Genius’s martial arts from Azure Qilin’s corpse.

It was a situation where even a master’s martial arts were being seen through. With each exchange, his wounds increased. The long robe inherited from his maternal uncle was gradually being torn strand by strand.

The areas darkening black here and there were evidence of bleeding. Blood scattered by the fierce wind of protective energy was imprinted on the ground in dots.

The lotus surrounding his body was fading.

The efficacy of Ultimate Thunder was waning.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

[Grand Thunder.]

Suddenly, a dim beam of light rose from the side of his vision. The sight came first, and the intense pain followed like a shadow.

Only after feeling the sensation of flesh being deeply gouged did he realize his shoulder had been pierced.

‘I saw it…!’

Puhwak― With fierce pain, blood burst from various parts of his body. While the pillar of mystical martial arts was striking down, the Yin and Yang Divine Whips had also deeply cut into the flesh of his abdomen.

This was the first time he had been cornered to this extent since becoming a martial artist.

Even amid the intense pain shooting up to his head, he felt indignation. His internal energy deployment speed wasn’t keeping up with his perception.

If he had moved just a bit faster, he could have avoided everything.

Hweeeuuuung―!

Before he knew it, everything in his field of vision had blurred. He was completely enveloped in the Yin and Yang Divine Whip.

The trajectories drawn by Zhuge Clan Leader were truly tightening like a meticulous mystical formation.

Now the shockwaves encountered by his sword, which had been pushed to the point of defensive techniques, rapidly intensified. The extreme pain was enough to make him contemplate death.

The black-robed seniors might enter at any moment, dragging their bodies that had reached their limits.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s heart raced. Overheated blood flow and internal energy rushed to the crown of his head.

He didn’t want to be alone in a foreign land. The same was true for seeking warmth through books and martial arts.

His mother had been enough.

Woong.

Suddenly.

Hwak― A hot sensation came, and a flower-shaped feeling bloomed in his upper dantian.

From beneath his feet, concentric waves of ripples spread out as if a flower bud had been placed on water. For a moment, his mental imagery overflowed.

‘Why can only you bloom the lotus of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown?’

Is it because heaven didn’t strike him with the hammer of short life?

Isn’t that too much? The damn heaven had given him only limitations due to imbalance and a short life.

If that was really the case.

‘I’ll become a little more equal. Even if I have to step on your lotuses to rise.’

Hwaaaak―!

The formless ripples spreading like waves poured forward. It was amid the ten strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip striking toward him like rays of light.

The energy from his upper dantian, which had begun to burn white-hot in his mind, surged fiercely forward.

Like a gale pushing the sea, it extended and drove invisible waves into Zhuge Clan Leader’s head.

Jjeoeng!

It was a sound only Jeong Yeon-shin heard.

He recreated the resonance phenomenon he had felt from Yan Hwa-ryeon’s dharma treasure. He had forged the capabilities of his upper dantian into a great path and connected it with Zhuge Clan Leader.

It was a channel that directly drew in the intimate structure of the sensation, the transcendent feeling created by unity of essence, energy, and spirit.

He was temporarily sharing Zhuge Clan Leader’s state of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

A technique that transcends the principles set by heaven. Why? Even though it clearly violated the natural order, his entire body rapidly lightened.

His body, tempered by the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, and his senses, honed like a divine sword, began to hold onto the resonance phenomenon. As if his entire body had become a dharma treasure.

It was then.

Had it taken a bit too long to instantaneously establish an unprecedented martial art?

His vision filled with beams of light. It was the Yin and Yang Divine Whip. Additionally, he saw the back of a girl with short hair who had rushed in.

“Lightning Genius! Go!”

Yue Shou-lin had broken through Zhuge Clan Leader’s net. She was spitting black blood due to her already severe internal injuries.

Her lips, stained black from the dead blood she had swallowed, moved slightly, and to Jeong Yeon-shin, the scene appeared very slow. She seemed to be saying she was sorry.

[Well met, Desolate Spear.]

Suddenly, the surrounding scenery became clear. It was because the Yin and Yang Divine Whips had been completely sucked back toward Zhuge Clan Leader’s grip.

The completely ruined Gongya family estate, the crowds watching from a distance in all directions, Jin Myeong-jo staggering forward…

And the White Crane Fan that had somehow regained its form in Zhuge Clan Leader’s hand.

He seemed to be gathering strength to extend an unstoppable strike. The title of Desolate Spear carried such weight.

Zhuge Clan Leader, who had suddenly closed the distance in a single step, raised the fan ribs to strike Yue Shou-lin’s neck. The air shook along the long trajectory. It was as if an earthquake had occurred in empty space.

At that moment.

Kuung―!

A pair of leather shoes trampled down on the White Crane Fan.

[What?]

They had fallen from above. Dim clusters of light like constellations scattered down from the air. It was the aftermath of lightness skill.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s two feet, striking down with Ten Li Gentle Light, had completely stepped on the fan from the air.

At this moment, the adhesion of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain was flowing like a circulating typhoon.

[What is this…?]

“Lightning Genius…?”

Radiant Demon Wing Leader Jeong Yeon-shin quietly looked down at Zhuge Clan Leader. With Yue Shou-lin behind him.

His two feet standing on the fan were generating the technique of Thousand-Pound Weight.

Despite the disaster-like energy waves surging from the White Crane Fan, he didn’t fall, creating a strange standoff with a balance flowing like lightning.

Pararak―

The black long robe fluttering at length on the peerless master’s fan bore the extreme of mysticism.

The way it fluttered like a fairy’s garment, partly due to the small tears throughout, was also mystical.

“……”

Zhuge Clan Leader, now with green light in his eyes, held the fan extended without wavering.

On top of it stood Radiant Demon Wing Leader, nobly positioned with his feet placed front and back.

Tension gripped the atmosphere. It seemed as if a single strike would determine life and death for both. Not a single word flowed even from the crowd surrounding the battlefield from afar… Zhuge Clan Leader only raised his pupils to glare at the current Radiant Demon Wing Leader.

[…You shouldn’t live long. You would be a great obstacle to marching on Desolate Fortress.]

He sensed a terrible quality as one of the Eight Clan Leaders. Would Tyrant Hero Ma Yeon-jeok have grown like this if refined as a divine sword?

“Marching, you say?”

Jeong Yeon-shin slightly lowered his eyelids as he applied force to his two feet.

At this moment, even the gesture of bringing both hands behind his back transformed into part of a technique, and Radiant Demon Wing Leader Lightning Genius thought as he parted his lips.

“You speak nonsense.”

Under the same conditions.

“This is Desolate Fortress.”

How well could a monkey follow my senses?

[Arrogant b*st*rd!]

Zhuge Clan Leader, rarely enraged, bared his teeth widely.

Kweeeuuung―!

When the White Crane Fan’s ribs, split into strands again, created a tremendous energy wave while surrounding themselves with colorless protective energy.

‘Upper dantian resonance… Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.’

Jeong Yeon-shin, stepping on the tip of one fan rib, closed his eyes. It was a recollection close to an instant.

He took the familiar sensation from the opponent’s upper dantian and completely assimilated it into his body.

The sensation of unity of essence, energy, and spirit he had once felt from the fist master Yan Hwa-ryeon, the exhilaration as if Fan Dragon holding the fan were endlessly soaring beyond the lotus.

Mystical Secret Technique.

Fan Dragon Treading Lotus Formation.

Wooooooong!

It began from the tip of Jeong Yeon-shin’s foot, with his hands behind his back.

The speed at which the power waves spread instantly caught up with the manifestation of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip.

Suddenly, a massive colorless lotus bloomed like lightning over the ribs of the White Crane Fan.

It was close to hundreds of strands of sword energy waves. His internal energy manipulation had reached the realm of divine skill.

[……!]

Before Zhuge Clan Leader’s long fingers could adjust the strands of protective energy.

The foot energy released from the Yongquan acupoint on Jeong Yeon-shin’s sole made a thunder-like roar, then instantly consumed all ten strands of the Yin and Yang Divine Whip in the form of rapidly expanding flower petals.

So that it would never become a fan again.