Chapter 386 – Divine Sword Group (2)

Propulsive energy waves exploded beneath Jeong Yeon-shin’s feet. He had just unleashed the Radiant Wing Step. His knee strike was bound to be incredibly swift.

The Golden Wing Sect Leader, suddenly alert, quickly crossed her hands in front of her abdomen.

Right after the internal energy weaponry shaped like a raptor’s talons scattered golden afterimages as they crossed, Jeong Yeon-shin’s knee, which had risen as if tearing through space, embedded itself there.

Kwaaaaaaang—!

The ground’s surface overturned widely, scattering grayish-white stone powder in all directions.

Some of the finely crushed powder momentarily clumped together again in mid-air and burrowed in all directions, but it was buried in the shockwave caused by the exchange of a single strike.

“Can’t you feel anything? It should be a bit thicker now.”

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly asked.

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s brow furrowed slightly. It was her first visible reaction. Perhaps because the life-or-death duel wasn’t unfolding as she had expected.

“Your energy waves don’t accumulate in my body. They dissipate each time they touch me.”

She said.

It was about the accumulation of energy. Basically, when repeatedly enduring strikes imbued with internal weight technique, the inside of one’s body tends to become a mess. This is because the opponent’s energy waves accumulate in the acupoints.

This didn’t apply to the Golden Wing Sect Leader. Because she countered the dragon’s qualities with the Dragon-Slaying Heaven-Treading Technique.

Jeong Yeon-shin nodded his head slightly. It was a nod with multiple meanings. His father Jeong Pan Yue’s  old words flashed through his mind.

—When things reach their extreme, they reverse. When a person’s hardships and adversities reach their peak, they inevitably experience a reversal, but your mother… my wife’s life ended in pain that would put legends to shame. Entirely, entirely because of you… I had wanted to give her happiness.

The principle of reversal at the extreme. It would be the decisive key to hunting the Golden Wing Sect Leader today.

“If you treat your body so recklessly, it will become unusable.”

She said. The sight of her blocking Jeong Yeon-shin’s knee with her crossed arms. It was different from before when she had only been on the offensive.

The foremost beauty of Sichuan had properly deployed a defensive technique.

It held great significance. Even though Jeong Yeon-shin’s leg bones seemed twisted out of place at this moment.

The blue flames enveloping the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s entire body crackled, scattering sparks like feathers. Her protective energy had become incredibly dense.

A cold smile formed at the corners of Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes.

“Isn’t it enough if just my heart remains intact?”

“I’m worried your heart might be strained too.”

“Your concern is excessive.”

Crack—

The knee that had been dislocated from the recoil of a single strike twisted back into place. Internal energy had bound the muscles to realign the broken bone.

The mental imagery of his mother imbued in his primal energy. It had stayed with Jeong Yeon-shin throughout today’s battle.

“Dynamic Technique…”

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s eyes widened slightly. While the internal energy operation of beings called peerless masters is all close to miracles, the robustness and constant regenerative power possessed by the Radiant Demon Wing Leader’s body was clearly noticeable.

The limitation of being unable to regenerate burst flesh was nothing compared to his formidable strength.

“Did you create it? How did you structure the incantation?”

“Just think of your deceased parents.”

The conversation between world-class geniuses obsessed with martial arts was calm. Jeong Yeon-shin spoke again.

It was toward the Golden Wing Sect Leader, who seemed to be briefly pondering his words. Question and answer. He had something to ask after being given precious information.

“Is your Transcendent Martial Art twofold?”

“…Transcendent Martial Art is time. It can’t be twofold. You wouldn’t understand.”

The Golden Wing Sect Leader, who had one sleeve cut earlier revealing her bare shoulder, said. Jeong Yeon-shin expanded his vision while keeping her in sight.

The endlessly blue plateau, the mountainside and cave created by the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s enormous primal energy and spell power, the sunlight pouring down blue even though it should be evening outside by now.

“Why did you aim the Transcendent Martial Art at people instead of the rain dragon?”

“Because the mortal world is chaotic. There were many times I had to use the power meant for dragons on strong humans.”

Had she recalled an unpleasant memory?

The Golden Wing Sect Leader, who had suddenly furrowed her brow, spread both arms wide.

Bang!

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had been flung back over ten zhang through the hazy dust, planted both legs in the ground. Even though he had properly realigned the bones, it was a knee that had once been broken.

A faint pain rose from his feet up to his legs, but he first gauged the truth in the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s words.

Human sacrifices and plundering dharma treasures. These were the Golden Wing Sect’s actions. They were things done to open the formation created by the rain dragon.

‘It’s probably true that the Transcendent Martial Art is singular.’

The spirituality residing below his Baihui acupoint whispered this too.

That was enough now. There was nothing left to be concerned about.

Just as he was thinking this.

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s small face rapidly grew larger. The Dragon-Climbing Heaven-Treading Art, close to teleportation over short distances.

Right after her scent like wine fragrance struck him sharply, the golden light talons that had sprouted in three streams from each of her hands elongated like sword blades, distorting the atmosphere.

Kuuung—!

The ground undulated below. A natural disaster that greatly boosted the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s stance as she planted her feet on the earth at this moment, while conversely disrupting Jeong Yeon-shin’s balance.

While kneading space at will with the Transcendent Martial Art, she engraved six golden light streams in the void. In that brief moment, the variations in her technique that she had created targeted Jeong Yeon-shin’s entire body with trajectories that bent dozens of times.

Jjeojeojeojeong!

Jeong Yeon-shin’s divine sword Remaining Thunder was mixed into that.

Shockwaves burst from dozens of layers in all directions. The black long robe made of heavenly silkworm thread was completely torn apart.

The sensation of cloth fragments brushing against his skin came along with the pain.

[You curse me as Sima Evil Path, but.]

“…!”

[I’m the one protecting you. Do you know how many monstrous beings with extraordinary powers have descended on this land since the founding of the country? The rain dragon is at the pinnacle of those creatures.]

A voice that rang out from all directions like the Six Harmonies Technique. The ground shook and vegetation and rocks spewed energy waves.

The realm of the Transcendent Martial Art created by the Golden Wing Sect Leader was responding to her.

For the first time, emotion was felt. It was as if she was performing a ritual for an equal being who would soon die.

Jeong Yeon-shin felt as if the world was opposing him.

Wooooong— Kwaaaang!

All of her strikes began to cut through instants. The power of her energy waves was truly explosive.

Perhaps she had realized Jeong Yeon-shin’s talent and the power of the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique through their repeated exchanges. She seemed intent on leaving no reserves.

Every strike was an ultimate move. The golden light streams flashing like metal were like the bars of a lightning prison… The momentum with which they caged Jeong Yeon-shin’s body and burst his flesh was terrifying. He couldn’t properly deflect them.

It was different from before. The number of exchanges increased rapidly.

One hundred and twenty moves, one hundred and fifty moves, two hundred moves… Her movements were as swift as the golden pheasant transformed into light. She didn’t give Jeong Yeon-shin time to reverse her counters in turn.

Puhwak— Chwaaaak!

Blood droplets layered in semi-transparent ripples continued to scatter in all directions.

Until Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice suddenly rang out from all directions.

[Aren’t you one of those monstrous beings too?]

[What…?!]

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s eyes widened. Jeong Yeon-shin reflected in her golden pupils was clearly not moving his lips.

[You sacrificed the martial artists of Desolate Fortress including Obeying Heaven Wing Leader alive in spell formations, and destroyed the homes of common people to dig up dharma treasures. You’ve committed countless atrocities over the long years. Moreover, when you actually opened the formation you created, the rain dragon had disappeared elsewhere.]

The ground spoke. The vegetation and rocks covered in dirt piles said the same.

Even the distant cave was rumbling along with Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice.

It was the same as the Golden Wing Sect Leader. Her hands stopped.

“……”

[Even if your excuse lies in a greater cause, you deserve to die.]

Jeong Yeon-shin, gripping his sword, said.

His appearance.

His long robe was completely torn. Blood flowed down his clearly split abdominal muscles. The hem of his black martial outfit was dyed pitch black with blood.

He paid no heed to it.

He had exchanged enough moves. It was time to end this.

Swish.

He half-closed his eyes even with a great enemy before him.

He had closely observed the Golden Wing Sect Leader when she activated the rain dragon’s formation.

The sight of her wielding natural energy in a way different from the Zhuge Clan Leader. It was much more intuitive and faster. She freely manipulated the flow of mystical energy.

He couldn’t help but have the intuition that it would harmonize with her martial arts.

Since a collision was inevitable, he had to think of a way to break it.

That was why he had behaved properly for several days after entering the rain dragon’s formation. While pondering the incantation for protective energy, he had thought of the Golden Wing Sect Leader.

‘Breaking it wasn’t enough.’

Her martial arts level endlessly approached purple. It meant she was close to perfection as a martial artist.

It was impossible to break down the thick and vast wall of martial arts built up with just a few counters.

He had to properly ascend it.

This wasn’t a short decisive battle. It was time to add depth to the martial arts he possessed.

So he had grasped the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s Transcendent Martial Art that kept pressing down on him.

[Let me ask one thing.]

[How did you…?]

[You said your internal energy subdues all auspicious things in the world.]

[……]

[Could you say the same thing in front of Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng?]

[What?]

[Implanting the dragon’s qualities in me was a mistake.]

Woong—

Jeong Yeon-shin rotated the Luminous Wheel. There was something that immediately responded. The spirituality that completes the qualities of divine skills and divine martial arts. It was spiritual energy.

The dragon’s qualities that the Golden Wing Sect Leader had personally created and implanted were crying out within the Luminous Wheel Energy.

Once it enters the body, everything becomes his. Even if it’s spirituality that will only stay briefly before disappearing.

Earlier, right after the Transcendent Martial Art was deployed, Jeong Yeon-shin had suddenly recalled his father Jeong Pan Yue’s drunken ramblings about “reversal at the extreme”.

What would happen if the dragon’s spirituality was added to the Luminous Wheel that Transcends Law? Auspicious energy with auspicious spirituality. The material nature would reach its extreme.

He also knows Blood Extreme Demon Jin Myeong-jo, who appears ordinary despite reaching the extreme of internal energy cultivation.

A state of not extending energy waves. It was a realm called “returning to origin at the pinnacle” in the martial world.

Reversal at the extreme and returning to origin at the pinnacle.

They meant one thing.

—Being supremely spiritual, that there is no trace.

It was when he began exchanging moves with the Golden Wing Sect Leader. He had briefly unified the dragon’s spirituality with the Luminous Wheel by drawing it in, but she didn’t seem to notice anything.

Even when he secretly planted primal energy in the ground each time he launched a move, she didn’t particularly react.

Just like the Blood Flame Cult who didn’t realize their formation was being imbued with Buddhist power.

Jeong Yeon-shin finally unleashed the Luminous Wheel that Transcends Law in its entirety.

[This must be what Bodhidharma’s Dharma power was like.]

Wooooooong—!

Faintly white ripples began to spread in several layers from beneath his feet. It was as if white waves had manifested on the ground.

The energy waves drew massive concentric circles, extending even to the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s feet without being crushed.

It was transparent like the Buddha’s breath. There was nothing binding it.

“…!”

As her eyes widened, Jeong Yeon-shin triggered the energy he had planted throughout the spell barrier in all directions.

Kuguuuung—

Vibrations violently racing up to his feet.

He didn’t know exactly how the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s Transcendent Martial Art was structured. Because it contained mental imagery and years incomparable to even Ghost Cry Hegemon King, the former Peng family head.

That was fine.

It was enough to simply read the foundation of the spell formation with his intuition and completely shatter the points forming the axis of the formation.

So that the Golden Wing Sect Leader, who had poured massive energy into the Transcendent Martial Art, couldn’t recover her power.

Bang! Kuguung—! Kwaaang!

The false scenery was breaking apart. The distant cave that had been opening its huge mouth collapsed, dropping stone fragments, and the trees that had soared high in the sky snapped and fell with a crash.

Rustle.

The two people began to walk toward each other while facing the oncoming dust.

[Our energy levels have become equal.]

Jeong Yeon-shin opened his mouth to speak. While holding onto the dragon’s spirituality that was trying to dissipate in his heart.

Each time he took a step, white ripples spread from his heel in succession.

The Golden Wing Sect Leader, who had used tremendous internal energy on the Transcendent Martial Art, had now lost her absolute advantageous position. She had to compete with skill.

Whooooosh—

Wind rushed toward her body. Natural energy swirling with a dim golden light. She was preparing an ultimate move she hadn’t shown during the fight.

The protective energy surrounding her body in a flame-like shape began to take on a golden hue.

If the mythical golden phoenix took human form, would it look like that? Even at a glance, the ferocity of her internal energy transcended reason.

‘If even a single move lands, it’s instant death.’

The time had come. One strike remained.

While exchanging an unusually long series of moves since beginning his martial world journey, Jeong Yeon-shin had prepared to hunt the golden phoenix of the martial world.

‘Whatever spell technique she uses.’

Crack—… The Luminous Wheel shattered in his heart.

Fragments of light flowed out from his body like the Milky Way. All the acupoints and muscles in his body breathed with the incantation of the Myriad Heavens Flower Rain, and immediately a garment made of light clusters covered his entire body.

Huwook—

By then, the Golden Wing Sect Leader was already swinging down both hands right in front of Jeong Yeon-shin.

The golden radiance surrounding her arms was now closer to massive wings rather than talons. Space greatly distorted along the trajectories of both her hands.

Their gazes met.

There was no warmth in the Golden Wing Sect Leader’s golden eye light. It seemed to say this was not a move that could be withstood by a person’s protective energy.

The time of peerless masters that endlessly stretches an instant.

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly glanced upward.

He saw the sky.

It was clear. A false firmament.

It should already be twilight. The night sky should be spread out.

Wooooong—!

A dragon rose in his mind. The fan-mouthed creature coiled around the starlight that enveloped Jeong Yeon-shin like silk robes.

The Fan Dragon Treading Lotus Technique was overlaid on top of the already deployed protective energy, Precious Radiant Star Heaven. It was just for an instant. Light clusters flickering like a dragon’s body spread out in all directions.

“…!”

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s body, which had been rushing in at extreme speed, was lifted into the air. She was enveloped in starlight.

The martial talent that flashed along with the technique’s activation. It had instantly shattered the opponent’s sense of balance as if it were his own.

[You said my Myriad Heavens Flower Rain lacked years.]

At this moment, Jeong Yeon-shin’s mental imagery resonated far faster than oral technique.

“You…?!”

The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s lips contorted. Her voice fell to mere vocalization. Like the world starting to shatter like pottery shards around them.

Saaaa—!

The currents of starlight surrounding the two people shone faintly white. It was as if constellations hidden in the blue sky had been pulled down to earth.

At the same time, due to the spirituality of the Transcendent Martial Art now controlled by Jeong Yeon-shin, his mental imagery flowed out.

[Your grace compared my children to stars, and that inspiration reached you to become a set of robes… how about Bright Dawn?]

[It doesn’t sound very good to me.]

It was his and the Tang Clan Leader’s voices. A conversation they had once had.

The mental imagery forming the framework of martial arts must ultimately originate from a person’s memories.

The ultimate move of Precious Radiant Star Heaven that had taken the offensive was named thus. No matter how much he pondered, there was only one conclusion.

There are too many miscellaneous beings in the martial world. The best protection was to ensure there were no opponents who could harm one’s body.

[Bright Dawn.]

Jeong Yeon-shin uttered briefly. Bright dawn. It was a flash of insight bringing spell techniques he had never learned into the realm of martial arts.

Kwaaaaaaaa—

The fragments of protective energy swirled upward at length. It seemed they would reach even the low sky of the Transcendent Martial Art Formation. The Golden Wing Sect Leader’s eyes, trapped within, widened in shock.

“No…! It can’t be!”

The moment the star cluster surrounding them sparkled in the shape of an ascending rain dragon.

Kwiyuuuuung—!

A dragon ascension made of starlight connected heaven and earth in a single streak.