Chapter 336 – Tyrant

A village bathed in gentle sunlight.

The terrain is vast. A clear stream is large enough to comfortably divide the village in half as it flows down.

Dozens of corpses are strewn along the riverside, which occasionally becomes tinged with crimson in the twilight.

The lower part of what might have been called the Jade Stream is no longer blue.

Blood stains and muddy water mixed between hundreds of hoofprints. The sound of warhorses stamping their feet continues endlessly.

“So it has come to this. The Radiant Demon Wing Leader must be dead by now.”

A crisp voice flowed through the blue sky.

It came from a young noble with thick, distinct facial features.

Sitting upright on a white horse with an old-fashioned saddle, he gazed into the village, his posture notably more stable than the mounted warriors around him.

“What a pity.”

Though he merely muttered to himself, the hero’s headband embroidered with gold on a black background fluttered behind him.

His energy accumulation was tremendous. So much that power emanated from his voice.

Magnificent Flower Lord Goon Yu-cheon. He was the young lord of the Profound Martial Alliance.

“Blade Venerable, might we afford some leisure now?”

His resonant question carried internal energy.

After his voice passed several horse heads and reached the distant side, a plain response from a woman returned. As if she were speaking right beside the young noble.

“The young lord’s words are amusing. This is not damage that can be overlooked with empty display.”

“……”

Goon Yu-cheon’s eyes twitched. Strength entered his toes as they pressed against the stirrup at his horse’s side.

‘Not lifting a finger while…’

He deliberately avoided turning his head toward the Blade Venerable.

It was a matter of pride.

He had been entrusted with a major task from the main branch. Northern military provisions. They said the uprising of the powerful demon tribes had intensified during the famine.

Just delivering martial forces to the border would be recognized as a great achievement. It was also an opportunity to display the might of the Profound Martial Alliance.

Originally, five hundred would have sufficed. Even that was a formidable force.

Goon Yu-cheon had put his heart and soul into bringing another five hundred. This was possible because they were one of the most renowned martial forces in the world.

‘It should have been a thousand.’

The famine that made people pick up swords of plunder rather than ample sacks of grain.

The Yu Ling Leader who was undertaking the absurd task of uniting the Thirteen Evil Sects.

The devastated Shanxi martial world.

The rising master who had beheaded Zhuge Clan Leader.

The appearance of the Murong family head and the Profound Martial Alliance Leader.

With everything affecting the surrounding situation, it was impossible to know what variables might interfere with the military supply mission.

There might even be monstrous beings of incredible power, referred to as peerless masters, roaming the nearby martial world.

Those who, unlike major factions, do not establish territories but traverse the martial world with individual power close to one-person sects…

To handle unexpected situations, a thousand martial forces were necessary.

‘It didn’t even require foresight.’

It was five days ago. When the rear of the camp was suddenly ambushed, Goon Yu-cheon was busy examining the enemy rather than admiring his own preparedness.

Before a famine, there is no distinction between orthodox and evil paths. He needed to know their identity.

It was the Seventh Apostle of Blood Flame Cult.

It was irritating. He had been about to take revenge on the Radiant Demon Wing Leader who had cut the life threads of the Flying Blood Venerable and his betrothed.

Upon seeing the Seventh Apostle, his thoughts changed.

‘I want her.’

Words he couldn’t say to his subordinates welled up inside him. As he had heard, she possessed a beauty that could bewitch people and an astonishing talent.

If properly recruited, she would become not a concubine but the most beautiful divine sword in the world.

—”She is a supreme master essential for conquering the martial world. Even if we lose five hundred here, capturing her alone would be not just a fair trade but a profitable business.”

He had explained to the Blade Venerable.

It was a reasonable argument, so naturally it was accepted. The main branch of Blood Flame Cult had just been annihilated.

The Profound Martial Alliance, as one of the Sima Evil Path referred to as the Thirteen Evil Sects, had a tradition capable of accommodating outsiders to the sect.

It seemed fortunate. Even when a hundred riders were defeated, his thoughts remained unchanged. Because the value of a supreme master is difficult to measure in terms of soldiers.

“Indeed, it seems she has cultivated an incomplete martial art. Whether arrogant or foolish…”

The Blade Venerable’s muttering also played a significant role in his decision.

They had surrounded the Seventh Apostle in the empty village.

Her appearance was visibly incomplete. Her eyes lacked focus, and her solitary figure standing in the devastated village seemed precarious.

This was because her sense of balance kept shifting. Flesh and blood were stuck in various places in her hair, which was black as ebony.

It was the result of holding back the martial forces for five days with Blood Flame Cult’s Elegant Lightness Skill.

“It’s already been several days. Will you continue to observe? It might be better for you to personally behead her…”

“The value of a Blood Flame Cult noble who has become a wanderer is difficult to measure in gold. Not to mention the Seventh Apostle with the Mara True Blood Body. She will be a great asset to our sect. That talent and power cannot be found anywhere else.”

“Then…?”

“The young lord’s decision wasn’t wrong. Feeding her poison would more than fill the vacancy left by the Flying Blood Venerable. No, I expect much more.”

“Yes.”

“I was trying to conserve my energy for the northern expedition… if I had known it would come to this, I should have dueled her one-on-one from the beginning.”

The Blade Venerable clicked her tongue as she conversed with her direct subordinate.

“Stay put.”

It was when she dismounted after stroking her horse’s neck.

Thud.

A footstep that somehow echoed dreamlike.

It wasn’t hers.

A strange sight reflected in the eyes of the Blade Venerable who had dismounted without even using the stirrup.

Constellations of light were imprinted on her retina.

A young man with muscles prominently visible on his unusually thin arms passed through the martial forces’ formation, his somewhat short black robe fluttering.

A whitish radiance followed beneath his feet. Due to his extremely swift steps, this sight was visible only to the Blade Venerable’s eyes.

After naturally breaking through the encirclement, the young man stood before the Seventh Apostle in the next moment.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

“Stop.”

The Blade Venerable commanded the mounted warriors. Goon Yu-cheon, who had been bewildered before raising his head convulsively, was ignored.

Even as the young lord shouted something, she merely raised one hand to restrain the martial forces.

She did this while drawing up the Brilliant Layered Energy that had earned her the title of Blade Venerable.

‘A master.’

After true energy filled the blood vessels of her eyes, she felt an uncommon tightness that she rarely experienced even in the north.

She was reluctant to draw her sword immediately. She had an intuition that he was powerful… Even young lord Goon Yu-cheon at the head of the formation had closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes.

Though he was said to be a tiger’s cub, he was still of the Profound Martial Alliance Leader’s bloodline. He couldn’t deny the presence of the master before him. It was right to observe the sudden intruder for a moment.

“Where did you just come from?”

“The Blade Venerable ordered us to stop. Are you a martial artist of our sect?”

“What kind of protective technique…!”

Confusion spread among the mounted masters.

There was no major disturbance. This was because the energy waves spreading from the Blade Venerable’s hand momentarily suppressed them.

Each displayed only bewilderment, curiosity, interest, and fear.

“How can he move so freely? Is he ignoring the blood attack energy waves?”

“Though that demon’s energy seems quite depleted… leaving him to handle it alone is another matter.”

“Young Lord, is that man truly our ally?”

But they soon closed their mouths.

A martial artist must maintain a learning attitude even before an enemy. This is to improve one’s martial arts.

What was before them was a confrontation that novices could hardly discuss.

Though something unexpected had occurred, since the young lord and the Blade Venerable remained silent, they needed to learn as novices to survive in the north.

In the center of the martial forces’ encirclement. In the village abandoned by commoners.

A man and woman faced each other. At a glance, there didn’t seem to be much difference in their ages.

Both had long black hair and features framed by sunlight. They both appeared somewhat thin, as if they hadn’t eaten for a long time.

“That’s an appearance I haven’t seen before.”

The young man muttered.

There was no response. The Seventh Apostle merely lowered her head slightly and let both hands hang at her sides. It was a stance that allowed free use of fist techniques and leg techniques.

Though they seemed acquainted, she didn’t recognize the young man. She was in a state of madness. The red eye opposite her eye patch gleamed red.

She was still trapped in madness. She merely appeared to be a master examining an opponent who had invaded her personal space.

As the crimson mist surrounding the Seventh Apostle grew thicker.

Whoosh—!

Suddenly, formless energy waves sporadically erupted from the young man’s entire body. The calm atmosphere he had originally possessed instantly disappeared.

Energy waves that tore the ground like shredded hemp. He surrounded his entire body with demonic energy that seemed capable of snatching away human souls.

The martial forces’ formation stirred.

His demeanor seemed to have changed due to the energy. His hands, which had been neatly hanging beneath his sword stance, took on a decadent quality.

Whenever invisible energy waves collided, a noise like a snake’s hiss arose.

The young man slowly stepped forward.

Thud.

The mist created by the Seventh Apostle’s energy wavered. That his footsteps couldn’t be stopped even for a moment suggested he was treating her as one of his kind.

“…?”

Their qualities were similar. Both were surrounded by irregularly spreading energy waves. True energy that was both sinister and elegant. The term “noble” would be fitting.

The young man who had appeared with a strange movement technique now looked like a fellow disciple of the Seventh Apostle from the same sect.

It wouldn’t have been strange if he had addressed her as senior or junior sister at that moment.

The Seventh Apostle made a strange expression.

It was different from before when she could barely stand. Her ruby-like eyes moved slightly upward as if scanning the past.

“Mara, Mara True Blood Technique?”

After muttering disjointedly, she soon drew a smooth arc with her bright red lips.

At the same time, her body became blurred.

Jjeojeong—!

It was right after the two had pressed their palms together. A semi-transparent concentric circle swept through all eight directions.

The aftermath of the strike was fierce. The stream flowing behind them erupted explosively with a roaring sound.

It didn’t end with just one exchange.

The man and woman began to exchange techniques. Following the faintly intertwining trajectories of their limbs, a storm of energy waves swept through.

The upper part of a thick old tree was shattered with a crash, and the stream continuously surged up and fell like rain.

The young man did not draw the sword at his waist.

With bare hands, he freely extended long and short trajectories with his strong-looking limbs. His fist techniques and leg techniques drew unhindered straight and curved lines.

It was the martial forces who flinched whenever fragments of energy waves flew like sparks. Even as the ground was roughly split, the techniques couldn’t be properly seen.

Hundreds of trajectories were etched in the air and then faded, until the edge of the sunset dyed the clothes of the young man and the Seventh Apostle reddish.

Crack!

The base of an old tree as tall as a person was roughly split. It was above the shoulder of the young man who had his back to the tree.

As tree bark fragments fell with a crisp sound, the Seventh Apostle who had driven her opponent back smiled red. The madness of her deranged state was evident.

“Young Grandmaster.”

She examined the young man intently. A gaze that seemed to tickle his skin. The distance was close. The Seventh Apostle’s red eyes filled his vision.

The focus of her red eye was unclear. She was sensing her opponent through energy waves rather than sight.

A strange heat writhed in her white face and the distinctive gleam of a supreme master’s eyes. Her mind was wandering in the past.

Like when she had honored the young Taesa at the Blood Flame Cult’s main branch, the Seventh Apostle exhaled a smooth breath and whispered.

“You are mine. You are my possession. Create my martial arts, be contained only in my eyes. Burn all your talent and perish.”

“……”

“No, that’s not right? Can’t you not perish?”

She who had been speaking like a Blood Flame Cult noble began to ramble.

The expression on her pale face changed several times in a single breath.

Her white face would be filled with possessiveness, then suddenly she would make a fearful expression and take a step back, then approach again with a rustle and gently stroke the back of the young man’s head.

“You too will practice leg techniques at midnight.”

It was when the young man spoke calmly.

Rustle.

The Seventh Apostle’s long fingertips brushed his collar, then gently wrapped around his neck.

She moved her lips.

“I’ll show you everything. True energy circulation, energy release, even the movement of a single muscle strand in creating protective techniques.”

She was completely dwelling in some point in the past. Acting as a powerful figure as she always had.

Whoosh.

Red mist stirred beneath the Seventh Apostle’s feet again. It was in the form of blood attack energy waves layered dozens of times.

It was a technique to bind an opponent who had entered her personal space. At that moment, the young man’s fingers twitched.

A roaring sound erupted. It was as if dozens of mirrors had been shattered… The mist was torn apart and scattered in all directions with a reddish hue. It had penetrated the structure of the energy waves and shattered the internal energy technique from its foundation.

This would be impossible without completely understanding the origin of the opponent’s martial arts.

At the same time.

Rustle—

It was instantaneous. In that brief moment, muscle fibers collided, and formless energy waves of harmonious state bloomed in streams between the gaps of their touching clothes.

In an instant, the positions of the two were reversed.

The Seventh Apostle’s back touched the tree.

As Jeong Yeon-shin slightly lowered his head, his lips were positioned by her ear. His breath, completely devoid of Luminous Wheel energy, brushed against her fine hair.

“You are the novice.”

The young man said in a low voice.

[TL Note- JYS is a freak!?]