Chapter 400 – Carpet (9)

The friend from Mount Hua Sect blinked his eyes.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips twitched slightly. He could clearly see the forest landscape spread out above Yu Hyeon’s head.

Besides the crude village and the blue, barren trees, nothing obstructed his view. It was a height difference befitting the gap between an adult and a child.

Yu Hyeon’s fist, which had earlier extended the magnificent Plum Blossom Fist, opened awkwardly.

Soon after, the young Taoist slightly raised his shoulders. He seemed unsure whether to point at Jeong Yeon-shin or not.

“Is it really you…? Is it you?”

“When will you grow taller.”

“That hot-tempered response confirms it’s you! Unbelievable!”

It was a reunion with one of his few friends.

The dumbfounded appearance of Yu Hyeon stirred strange emotions in Jeong Yeon-shin.

Somewhat satisfying and pleasant, yet he also felt the difference in innate time between himself and Yu Hyeon, who would likely enjoy a long life as the future Mount Hua Sect Leader.

It was an inferiority complex rooted like a withered old tree.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at his friend without showing any particular emotion. In any case, he could tease Yu Hyeon with just a glance.

These days, it wasn’t difficult to enjoy the moment like Lazy Flame Dragon would.

“So you’ve become a Plum Blossom Swordsman.”

Jeong Yeon-shin said. He had slightly revealed his Luminous Wheel Energy the moment he sensed Yu Hyeon’s presence.

It would have been difficult to detect with ordinary energy sense, but Yu Hyeon, an elite of Mount Hua Sect who surpassed even Desolate Fortress’s White-rank Martial Artists, had managed it.

“How did you already undergo bone transformation…? It is bone transformation, right?”

“Yes.”

“…Let me confirm one last thing. Do you remember losing to me in five moves when we first dueled?”

“You must have practiced your footwork in bed for a long time. Back then, you were three moves behind…”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s words were cut off. Yu Hyeon, who had approached with his now stronger legs, began tapping Jeong Yeon-shin’s arms and shoulders with his fist.

An expression far from serenity. His face showed utter shock.

“Here, here, what’s with these thigh muscles? Did you transplant some mystical creature’s tendons? And why is your radius so hard? With such a body, when you raise energy and wield a sword, how powerful would your sword energy be…”

“Don’t touch me.”

Jeong Yeon-shin stepped back with a serious expression. What was he doing?

Yu Hyeon grinned and glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin’s waist.

The brilliant silver sword energy of the divine sword Remaining Thunder was noticeable anywhere. Yu Hyeon muttered: What’s that?

“…Anyway, you’ve really become a big shot. The High Sword of Wudang came down with us, and after sensing the Yu Ling Leader and Martial Dragon Alliance Leader, his body suddenly split in two and disappeared. It was the Primal Spirit I’d only heard about.”

It was then that Yu Hyeon was speaking.

Rustle—

One of the four Plum Blossom Swordsmen who had suddenly appeared before them grabbed Yu Hyeon by the nape and pulled him back. Along with a reprimand to maintain propriety and decorum.

The other three raised their hands in a martial salute toward Jeong Yeon-shin. The plum blossoms embroidered on the edges of their white sleeves flowed down with a rustle along with their garments.

Then a woman with a stern expression stepped forward.

“My disciple has been disrespectful. This humble one is Yu Hyeon’s master, Yu Xiang of Mount Hua Sect. I represent our group.”

She seemed to be Yu Hyeon’s master. Jeong Yeon-shin returned her martial salute and briefly scanned his surroundings.

The village, which already looked hastily constructed, had now changed to be incomparably more desolate than before.

A completely collapsed inn, bonfires with only black embers remaining, and dozens of martial artists sprawled here and there, groaning.

Among them was the disheveled-haired young man who had said he wasn’t a direct disciple of Yu Ling.

“Huk… huk…”

“My arm, my arm…!”

It was the work of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen. They had done this while Jeong Yeon-shin was briefly catching up with Yu Hyeon.

No noise had interrupted the two friends’ conversation because Mount Hua Sect’s Secret Fragrance Protective Technique was close to divine skill.

“I congratulate you on your achievement.”

Plum Blossom Swordswoman Yu Xiang said. Her attitude was different from the divine immortals of the Nine Sects that Jeong Yeon-shin had encountered before.

Perhaps the achievements he had accumulated were beginning to spread throughout the world. In her eyes, there was a faint astonishment she couldn’t quite hide.

“I have felt your energy waves at the Martial Alliance gathering. My disciple’s discernment and energy sense are among the finest among the sect leader’s disciples, so you must indeed be the Radiant Demon Wing Leader himself.”

That was why the Plum Blossom Swordsmen had left Yu Hyeon alone.

Jeong Yeon-shin responded with praise that the Dark Fragrance Step was truly supreme. It wasn’t just a formality.

The profound depth of orthodox sects inevitably reveals itself regardless of the practitioner’s achievement.

“Hmm…”

The tense demeanor of the Mount Hua Sect masters softened somewhat. It had been just a few years since the Twenty-four Plum Blossom Swordsmen had matched evenly with Radiant Demon Wing Ma Jin.

Meeting the current Radiant Demon Wing Leader, whose reputation was soaring endlessly, face to face was burdensome even for the swordsmen of a major orthodox sect.

‘This elegant youth is the boy who caused a stir at the Alliance gathering…’

Yu Xiang immediately got to the point.

“The message that you activated the Mount Hua Agreement has been safely delivered to our sect leader. Our presence is his answer.”

Jeong Yeon-shin recalled Jade Flower Sword God Lu Xian, who possessed an extremely noble yet humble demeanor. So she refused.

‘Someone of her caliber can transcend fame and fortune.’

It was still vivid in his memory. The Jade Heaven-Dividing Strike of the Underworld. Though Jeong Yeon-shin deeply respected her extraordinary martial arts, he wasn’t entirely comfortable.

How should he track the Group Leader? There must be more than just one or two villages like this.

“You now…?”

Just as Yu Hyeon, who had somehow come to his side, looked up at him with a puzzled expression, Yu Xiang nodded.

“The promise of the previous generation must naturally be kept, she said. There will be a competition within our sect to determine who to send. Unlike Desolate Fortress, the Nine Sects don’t have clear hierarchies, so we must decide whether to use distribution or seniority as the criterion for matching White, Blue, and Black.”

“Ah.”

“Meanwhile, it became known that you had designated the Divine Sword Group Leader as purple, which caused controversy, but our sect has decided to acknowledge it. After all, one of the two divine weapons that once symbolized chivalry, the Entering Divine Sword, has been passed down to the Divine Sword Group Leader.”

The spirit of Mount Hua was magnificent and unobstructed. They showed great character even though they could guess that Jeong Yeon-shin was using them as chess pieces.

They had dispatched elite swordsmen to find the leader of the opposing side for the martial competition.

‘The Nine Sects are truly prestigious major factions.’

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly realized his maternal grandfather’s virtue. If one merely pitied the powerless common people who were detached from the martial world like his younger self, the rest could somehow be managed with tyrannical martial arts.

It was then that a rustling sound was heard.

It was because Yu Xiang had taken out a piece of paper from her bosom.

“Please look at this. Since their objective hasn’t been quickly achieved, we’ve gathered quite a few clues.”

It was yellowish paper stained with the dye of pagoda tree flowers, with a path drawn from north of the Yellow River, passing through South Zhili and extending to Hubei. Along with rows of dots marked in circles.

Jeong Yeon-shin and Yu Hyeon’s eyes widened.

“Huh? Master, when did you make something like this?”

“Be quiet.”

Yu Xiang glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin. Creating maps was a serious crime forbidden by the imperial court. It wasn’t something to proudly show to a high official of Desolate Fortress.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t mind. His long index finger pointed at the yellow paper.

“A formation coming down from the northeast…”

“That was the problem. Their formation. In my limited experience, I’ve never encountered such a scale. It’s difficult to break the formation’s axis or tear the formation itself. To completely dismantle something so vast in a short time and examine the inside, not just one but several of our sect’s Sword Saint would need to be present…”

Yu Xiang spoke of impossibility.

This was because Mount Hua Sword Saint Taoist Cheon Ju was a swordsman who had achieved Dark Fragrance Immovable Flower, and it was said that in Shaanxi, fewer than five people could match swords with him.

But she couldn’t finish her words.

Rumble—

Suddenly, a faint thunder spread from the void. It was literally like thunder striking from afar.

“What…!”

As the Plum Blossom Swordsmen all turned their heads toward the back, Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision, with the Lowly Revelation Technique activated in his eyes, expanded relentlessly through the distant forest.

He could see the forms of his seniors wrapped in faint light.

Senior Yue’s spear tearing through a semi-transparent membrane like paper and advancing far beyond, the Supreme Martial Hall Leader shattering an enormous tree with his iron artificial leg, the massive cracks racing roughly through the soil as soon as Forest-Treading Squad Leader Xiahou Wei-jin embedded his giant fist into the ground, the sight of Blood Guardian Squad Leader Jin Myeong-jo gently stepping on a hemispherical barrier in the air with his hands behind his back…

A path was being opened. It was as if a carpet was being unrolled before his eyes.

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hui-myeong was born in Chenzhou, Hubei, with no notable family or parents. This was widely known throughout the world.

A man of unknown origin.

This was a derogatory term for the current Divine Sword Group Leader.

There was some truth to it. Yong Hui-myeong’s past was somewhat exposed without even baseless rumors.

This was because all sorts of Sima Evil Path and ronin groups, and occasionally even major factions, had dug through Chenzhou trying to find his weaknesses or connections.

A hometown suddenly becoming crowded with visitors after he inherited the Entering Divine Sword. The people of the village suffering severe hardships. This was something all Divine Sword Group Leaders throughout history had experienced.

Yong Hui-myeong was no exception.

Rumors spread that when he was found as a newborn, he was lying on fragments of shells like an egg.

Along with the fact that the villagers who found and raised him revered him as an extremely divine being.

Those few connoisseurs who, through the tremendous luck of the ages, had shared a drink with Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hui-myeong by the riverside would ask disrespectful questions at the risk of their lives. Were you really born from an egg without parents?

Each time, Yong Hui-myeong would show an ambiguous smile. Then he would say: I am human.

A phrase that had somehow stuck.

He had been extraordinarily powerful since childhood. With an appearance befitting a born scholar and strength close to that of a world champion.

Immeasurable primal energy always overflowed like a tidal wave from his heart and middle dantian.

Whenever he rode swings or flew kites with the village children, he would inevitably break something. Everyone said it was fine.

But no one could meet Yong Hui-myeong’s eyes at an equal level, and after seeing off the children returning home, he would often be left alone in the sunset.

The rumors were true.

His residence was the Guan Di Temple. Yong Hui-myeong was revered as a being who governed the village’s fortune and prosperity alongside Guan Yu.

[TL note- Guan Yu, courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.]

—Are you the ghost they say eats at Guan Yu’s table?

Until one day when a man in a purple robe suddenly visited and looked down at him with a disinterested face.

—Not a ghost, but a human.

That’s how the young Yong Hui-myeong answered Tyrant Hero Ma Yeon-jeok. Little did he know that he would come to think the exact opposite in the future.

Originally, a Divine Sword Group Leader had to be a superhuman being beyond comparison. To protect the people’s livelihood with just their name in a martial world where all sorts of monstrous powers roamed.

‘Yes, to them I must be not a human but a ghost.’

Like the boy who lived with the Guan Yu statue in the Guan Di Temple.

Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hui-myeong slightly tilted his head to the side. It was right after memories of his childhood had flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope.

Kwaaaa—!

A grayish-white gust of wind brushed past his ear. The wind of the Emperor Sword Form that had reached completion. A dull pain spread up his nape.

“Your sword tastes quite good.”

Yong Hui-myeong said with feigned nonchalance.

It was of no particular use. This was because six or seven trees behind him had collapsed with a loud noise, chewed up by the sword wind.

A thick cloud of dust rose with a whoosh. A stream of dirt slowly climbed up one of Yong Hui-myeong’s bare feet.

His surroundings were completely devastated.

The dense forest was now virtually a plain, and hundreds of corpses, each split in half, were gradually being swallowed by the rising dust.

In contrast, the Divine Sword Group Leader’s purple robe merely fluttered gently, as if mocking the enemies.

Only the young man in blue martial attire beside him, vomiting blood, testified to their disadvantage in power.

The result of a battle of more than a thousand exchanges.

Namgung First Sword, who had been staring at him, suddenly gestured with his chin toward one side. A skinny middle-aged man straightened his back and stammered:

“Ah, th-there’s still no sign! Isn’t this the wheel formation that our Leader put his heart and soul into!”

Strange Official Poison Cup Chu Gu-jin.

He was a master ranked among the top five in Yu Ling. With his unremarkable appearance, powerful martial arts, and conduct that was easily underestimated, it was said he could accomplish anything.

He was deeply skilled in tracking techniques and spreading his energy sense widely, and so far had never lost track of the Divine Sword Group Leader’s movements.

It was the power of the Nine Provinces All-Encompassing Divine Technique that Chu Gu-jin had refined to the realm of mastery.

Hee, heehee.

He let out a strange laugh through his somewhat twisted mouth. Perhaps he thought he had made the greatest contribution to killing the Divine Sword Group Leader.

Divine Sword Prodigy Yeon So-ha, who had been vomiting blood, bit his lip.

“That rat of a man…”

Meanwhile, Namgung First Sword showed no interest in the mere Blue-rank Martial Artist. He slowly opened his mouth toward Yong Hui-myeong.

“Desolate Fortress seems to trust you greatly. To have come this far without arriving yet.”

Yong Hui-myeong’s lips curled upward.

“It’s because my orders are strict. When a single word from the Divine Sword Group Leader makes even mountains and rivers bow their heads, how could the precious Black-ranks of the main fortress who received my command merely play into the schemes of the Sima Evil Path?”

He said.

Immediately, Strange Official Poison Cup Chu Gu-jin, who was standing far from the clearing, cackled.

“A man about to die talks too much! If you quietly stick out your neck, whether it’s the Dark Night Palace Leader’s arrow or Namgung hero’s sword, they’ll take your head in one strike!”

A voice like a squawk. But his narrow eyes were emitting a light like blue sword energy.

Chu Gu-jin was a core figure of Yu Ling. He had been entrusted with the greatest scheme in the martial world and had brought Namgung First Sword and the Dark Night Palace Leader to the right places.

Every word he uttered could cut off an opponent’s breath, and rightfully so.

“How annoying.”

The Divine Sword Group Leader muttered.

He meant it. The masters he had cut down on his way from the Peng family to this place easily numbered over a thousand. The qi-dispersing poison that interfered with the concentration of primal energy was slowly approaching his heart.

If given proper time to regulate his energy, it would be nothing, but the dragnet that Yu Ling Leader had devised with all his might didn’t even give him proper time to sleep.

“I wonder if the Divine Sword Group Leader of Desolate Fortress will swim or elegantly take a boat when crossing the Sanzu River.”

Chu Gu-jin’s loose smile deepened.

Namgung First Sword held the blade in his hand up to the sunlight, turning it this way and that.

“You seem to have rested enough, let’s cross swords again. This time I’ll show you my Transcendent Martial Art.”

“I thought the Namgung family didn’t have a separate Transcendent Martial Art? Isn’t your martial lineage busy just maintaining the domain of the Emperor Sword Form?”

Yong Hui-myeong said with a frown. Namgung First Sword shook his head and gripped his family’s precious sword.

“That was before I gained enlightenment. The Martial Dragon Alliance pursues the most complete martial extremity. I was able to fill in the last strand of inspiration by watching the swordsmanship of your friend from Desolate Fortress… Lightning Genius. I was so delighted that it was the first time I’d ever spared a martial artist from Desolate Fortress.”

Thud—

Suddenly, a heartbeat-like reverberation arose. Something invisible began to fill the desolate forest.

“I call it Sword Night Painting Moonlight.”

Namgung First Sword said quietly. In that moment, Yong Hui-myeong’s purple robe was stripped away on its own.

“Yeon So-ha, So-ha.”

“Yes?”

“Wear this and step back. It will serve as a fairly solid protective energy once. Take it.”

“You said I was fifty years too early.”

Yeon So-ha grumbled but still moved slightly to the side.

The Group Leader would normally have handed over the clothes with void absorption.

It seemed he wasn’t in a position to do so now. Either his internal energy deployment wasn’t working as intended, or he was busy keeping the Dark Night Palace Leader, who might be aiming the Ten Li Instant Kill from afar, and Namgung First Sword in check.

Indeed, the Dark Night Palace Leader’s arrows that had poured down during the chaotic battle had been like artillery bombardment.

It was then.

Suddenly, Chu Gu-jin’s expression changed.

He was the central axis of the dragnet. He could sense with his divine technique all the formations, mechanism formations, and traps that the Yu Ling Leader had entrusted to him.

“Namgung hero, Namgung hero…!”

“What is it?”

“From ten li away, something… something is coming…!”

“Ten li?”

Namgung First Sword tilted his head slightly to the side. Chu Gu-jin’s eyes were not looking at him.

His frivolous conduct had unconsciously become serious, and Strange Official Poison Cup Chu Gu-jin’s senses were burning with the presence of a monstrous being approaching like a comet from very far away.

Boom—

At first, it was like that. A distant sound like someone playfully beating a drum.

Chu Gu-jin’s mouth fell open. A dazed voice flowed out.

“Twelfth Village, Martial Dragon Alliance’s Revered Heaven Eight Soul Formation penetrated… in a straight line…!”

“What did you just say?”

Namgung First Sword’s question rang out along with an even louder rumble.

Kuwoong—

“Fourteenth Village, Taimo Mountain Fortress’ Heavenly Killing Old Monster slain…!”

Chu Gu-jin muttered as if spitting out phlegm.

Something was racing toward them like a beam of light. At an incredible speed. It seemed to be flying rather than running.

By then, even the peerless masters who had limited their energy sense to each other, and the severely injured Blue-rank Martial Artist So-ha, could feel the presence from outside.

Kugoong— Kwakwakwakwa—!

The ground shook violently. The thunder that had started from afar simply wouldn’t stop. It rapidly approached, shaking the vision of those present up and down.

Growing increasingly intense.

Chu Gu-jin said no more.

Not when the whirlwind of energy waves that swept like the Milky Way through the Fifteenth Village shattered the sword formation of eighteen sects under Yu Ling, nor when some figure leaped over the overlapping artilleries of Ten Li Instant Kill laid at the Sixteenth Village point in a single step, not even when that person finally contained all the explosions of the Lightning Bomb Formation that circled this Seventeenth Village within a much more powerful vortex of forms.

Kugugugugung—!

The entire ground shook.

Chu Gu-jin frantically turned his head.

He saw the youthful Blue-rank Martial Artist. A youngster receiving the most precious purple robe in the martial world. A strange expectation was forming on his bewildered face.

That is Desolate Fortress’ future. No matter what variables arise, he must die. The current Divine Sword Group Leader can be handled by peerless masters one way or another.

Bang!

Dust exploded from Chu Gu-jin’s heel. It took only a moment for his form to distort.

On one side, Namgung First Sword responded by raising his precious sword. Formless sword energy arose and spread as if to fill the sky. In the distance, the Dark Night Palace Leader was likely about to unleash the world’s finest Ten Li Instant Kill.

Extraordinary ultimate moves were aimed at Yong Hui-myeong.

“Put it on!”

The Divine Sword Group Leader shouted. So urgent was his tone that he used oral technique.

‘That works too.’

Chu Gu-jin’s eyes curved into half-moons. A triumphant expression. He would tear apart the purple garment that symbolized Desolate Fortress’ Divine Sword Group with his own hands.

That too would be an achievement hard to find in the martial world.

He firmly activated his faintly white protective energy while extending his hand. At the end of his trajectory was So-ha, who hadn’t yet fully donned the purple robe.

Chu Gu-jin’s fingertips stood straight up. While emitting energy waves that would precisely pierce through So-ha’s solar plexus.

‘The end…’

At that moment.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the void. The sunlight that had been pouring down without pause wobbled and distorted.

Chu Gu-jin, who had been rushing like an arrow toward So-ha, suddenly turned his pupils to the side.

A semi-transparent membrane was charging toward him. It was the veil of the Emperor Sword Form that Namgung First Sword had deployed a few steps away. It would have more utility than an ordinary protective energy.

A moment that seemed endlessly fragmented in time.

A vertical line of light was etched on Chu Gu-jin’s face, which had greatly relaxed. It was a brilliant silver beam of light.

“…?”

A thunderous explosion erupted beneath his feet. It came with a deafening recoil as if grabbing and shaking his ears.

A silver sword was vertically embedded beneath his feet, which split him in half from crown to groin.

Whaaak—!

The backwind from the recoil of the sword strike rose violently. The two halves of Chu Gu-jin’s body flipped upward and sprawled out.

The scene reflected in one of his already unfocused eyes.

A young man with long hair was stepping down onto the ground.

The purple robe that had soared up in the strong wind settled on both shoulders of the black-robed youth with a rustle.