Chapter 614 – Three Swords (7)

Something had descended. On the mountain range that crossed the opposite side of Black Capital.

The nature of the northern wind changed.

It no longer blew dryly. It was a little fresher than before, and a little heavier.

It was definitely a very distant point.

Because after crossing a width that could fit four or five more giant cities like Black Capital, an echo mentioning the ‘Southern Emperor’ had arisen.

An immeasurably distant distance, as if forcibly breaking through what the sky had constrained to descend. Since it was literally an untimely manifestation, the word “emergency landing” was fitting.

It also felt as if there had been movement techniques that departed from providence.

[…It was a distance you could not reach. The so-called Divine Sword Group Leader has attempted to defy heaven.]

The Southern Emperor’s voice that instantly echoed from Black Capital Old Palace pointed this out. Shin So-bin felt that he was rarely surprised.

[Rather admirable. Truly pleasing. But you must know that the time it takes for you to arrive is like gold to me. I do not waste anything carelessly.]

Words tinged with delight. There was no hostility. Only the bearing of welcoming a young comrade.

Had he projected himself onto Jeong Yeon-shin?

But such sympathy was like sunlight that only made noise on a river’s surface. The Southern Emperor’s actual composure was as calm as a lake.

—I do not waste anything carelessly.

Meaning he would end the war before Jeong Yeon-shin arrived.

But no answer came from the Divine Sword Group Leader. He had not continued the Thousand Li Earth Listening Technique to hear the Southern Emperor’s words.

Viewed differently, it also meant he was at a point distant enough for the Thousand Li Earth Listening Technique to be necessary.

Having said only what he wanted to say, it was enough that he had broken the morale of many Yao tribe members.

A distance where he had to conserve his power to arrive in perfect condition. Those with wide experience could have guessed that there had been flaws in the ‘heaven-defying movement technique.’

Therefore, what had just happened settled on Black Capital like some dreamlike feeling.

Nevertheless, everyone on the battlefield would have felt it. Because it was a presence and voice that they had no choice but to feel.

Shin So-bin, who smiled brilliantly while revealing her neat teeth.

The black ranks inside and outside the fortress walls.

Other Divine Sword Group blue masters, as well as the Northern Kings of ‘Black Capital Old Palace’ at the vast northern edge of Black Capital would have sensed it.

Saaaaaaa—

Was it the aftermath of the Divine Sword Group Leader’s manifestation?

White clouds rolling slowly like a tsunami from the distant ridge.

It seemed as if a storm had burst where the sea of clouds had originally spread. Sunlight slowly but surely being covered piece by piece. Then sharp wind rushed in with a whoosh.

Toward the Divine Sword Group standing tall on the official road.

It carried a faintly familiar aura. What practitioners of one lineage inevitably felt toward their grandmaster.

“…Right?”

“From where roughly…?”

It was when the Desolate Fortress’s young talents, Yeon So-ha and Sambok, were looking around behind them.

A large shadow fell on the road. Shade provided by the rolling clouds. The cold air of late winter became even more chilly, and Shin So-bin’s breath also turned a deep white.

Haa—

Exhale was Brilliant River, inhale was Jeong Family Dynamic Technique. The energy circulation path felt more solid.

She almost unconsciously laughed out loud with delight. But what actually leaked from her lips was a sigh of relief.

“Ah.”

She couldn’t do without a master. Not now.

‘I just need to focus on the mission.’

Shin So-bin thought.

The momentums that had been rising tyrannically from various parts of Black Capital hesitated like a lie. Their morale had been broken, if only briefly. Before the name Northern Emperor.

Naturally, it happened because Black Capital’s martial army forces all possessed excellent energy perception. She mustn’t be careless.

“Let’s go.”

Crimson Day Sword opened his mouth. His lips scarred all over were raised.

“We can go. Continue advancing. Whatever tricks the Southern Emperor pulls.”

“Right.”

Radiant Demon Wing’s Wu Yue-xiang answered.

She couldn’t compose her sunset-tinged eyes. Because she was a one-armed blade master. At this moment, if she removed the hand gripping her sword hilt, she had no remaining arm.

But Wu Yue-xiang didn’t sheathe her long blade. Rather, she seemed to regard the scabbard lying behind her as something that had never existed from the beginning. The same was true for other Divine Sword Group masters.

Because of the presences closing in from all directions of the vast city at this moment.

Though they had briefly stopped at Jeong Yeon-shin’s presence, the enemies’ power waves were still tremendous. It was natural since the Southern Emperor had earlier encouraged their explosive forces with true words.

There were even martial army forces that had nearly clashed with the Divine Sword Group outside Black Capital. Right now, horse hoof sounds began echoing again from the rear.

It was simple.

They were being blocked front, back, and both sides.

Then breaking through the front was correct.

Crash!

The Divine Sword Group struck the official road again. Another earthquake occurred from the propulsive shock waves bursting from the blue ranks’ soles.

The target was Black Capital Old Palace. If they could disturb the Fighting God’s return formation even a little, their Group Leader would handle the rest.

“The enemies are just shaken for a moment. By now they would have more than enough time to reorganize their battle lines.”

“There are over ten Northern Kings. There will be that many types of Northern King armies too. Even excluding the Southern Emperor’s Black Capital forces, it’s absurd. We need to quickly enter the palace. Whether we die or live there.”

It was a conversation between Sambok and Yeon So-ha.

Nearly seven hundred enemy martial army forces were running toward them. All with distorted faces, lightly carrying giant weapons like axes and crescent blades like reed leaves.

Kugugugugugung—

The violently rumbling earth. The roofs of nearby pavilions swayed flexibly like spear shafts. The entire city seemed to vibrate.

From then on.

Shin So-bin began to perceive the world slowly among her seniors. She didn’t know why. All the scenes in her eyes became hazily blurred like a dream.

In a very unstable state of obsessive martial disorder.

She gained extreme relief.

Her upper energy center spirit was elevated. It was following the emotions that had already risen to her head. This was possible because her mind’s fluctuations were great due to her master. Her breath became even thicker.

Haa—

Her body, cultivated by Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, briefly convulsed. The power that was already sufficient as a prestigious family’s successor rippled in her lower energy center, then widely opened her middle energy center in her chest and shot up to the top of her head.

Bang!

Lightning burst from her crown. Even her black hair, which now only covered up to her nape, whooshed upward.

At the same time, Shin So-bin’s vision changed. The pavilion complex that had been spread far away just before, at this moment she was kicking off and flying with the Divine Sword Group.

She had lost consciousness for a moment. Even though her body was moving perfectly fine.

“Are you opening your governing and conception vessels right now? Really in this situation? How deeply did you delve into moving cultivation…”

Yeon So-ha’s voice.

“Shut up.”

It was a response that naturally leaked from her lips. She fully revealed her possessed state. She didn’t have the leisure to look at her senior.

—Since you chose the Jeong family.

Because another roar burst in her head.

Bang!

Her leather shoes squelched. Fishy smell was drawn in with her inhale.

“…!”

This time blood was on her body. Her right shoulder blade was also numb to the bone, as if she had finally used Brilliant River once.

At her feet, an unrecognizable Yao tribe jianghu person’s corpse was making a pool with bright red blood.

Bang!

It changed again.

On the roof of some giant pavilion.

Shin So-bin passed by the scene of Great King Vajra’s left arm shattering while frozen.

Ultimate Martial Hall Master Geum Cheong-won’s prosthetic leg was being pulled out along with thigh tendons, and Dragon-Treading Squad Leader Wei Zhi-ji was grabbing Vajra’s ankle with his body that had burst at the side from lightning and striking down to the rafters.

Meanwhile, Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so appeared to have lost consciousness while standing.

It wasn’t a battle where one group could delicately intervene. At least not for Shin So-bin now.

Bang!

The martial army forces that had been spread beyond Vajra’s shoulder were right before their noses. Of course, it was the Divine Sword Group side that had charged in. Before Black Capital jianghu people could lend strength to Great King Vajra.

Bang!

It was after annihilating them. The Radiant Art Bond’s collective charge was trailing star-like afterimages in broad daylight. Like an early dawn.

Meanwhile, the front was filled with more formal pavilion complexes than before.

The residential area of Black Capital’s high officials.

More than halfway there.

‘…Ah.’

Now both of Shin So-bin’s arms ached. The feeling of recoil reaching to the bone. It literally felt like her shoulders would fall off.

Meanwhile, Yeon So-ha, Sambok, and Wu Yue-xiang glanced at her with shocked eyes. Everyone was still safe so far. Though they didn’t know how long such a state would continue.

But Shin So-bin only thought of Jeong Yeon-shin.

‘Using this Brilliant River so much while traveling around.’

Her mind was entirely filled with her master. The euphoria of obsessive martial disorder was tremendous. Each time her vision changed, she mentally grew closer to Jeong Yeon-shin.

She was delighted enough by another explosion beginning to rush to her crown chakra. Come to me, come more.

—This should properly be called Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.

Bang!

Her vision changed again.

She faced a massive hemispherical depression in the ground. The official road had sunken, with some steel spear shaft trembling its tail in the center. Looking closely, it also seemed like an arrow.

With just one strike, it had created an overwhelming trace as if a meteor had fallen. The Divine Sword Group that had entered Black Capital stopped for the first time due to external cause.

It had definitely been shot from Black Capital Old Palace.

If the distance of Thirteen Evil Sects Dark Night Palace Lord’s Ten Li One Kill was reduced and power increased, it would be like this. It was transcendent bombardment.

“Heaven Palace King…!”

Crimson Day Sword mentioned another Bright Wind Spirit Northern King’s name. One known to have cultivated the old Yuan Dynasty’s archery divine arts. He was said to perform all sorts of extraordinary tricks with a single arrow.

With the Divine Sword Group changing direction, Shin So-bin’s vision briefly went dark.

Bang!

When she opened her eyes again, the Divine Sword Group’s formation had collapsed. How many times had they changed direction? The comrades around her as well as Shin So-bin herself were breathing heavily.

A familiar Northern King stood before her eyes.

‘Shame Extreme King…!’

A woman who had covered her face with black silk and was completely transparent below her neck.

She alone blocked the wide alley.

She was said to possess protective energy close to the world’s greatest. Only by combining Literary Star among the Six Star Lords’ skin and internal energy barrier would it equal her Heaven Steel Light Armor.

“Blood Radiance Queen Shin So-bin.”

Her silk fluttered slightly.

“Tell me what conversation you had with Dragon Sound Sasa King previously. I cannot determine whether she is ally or enemy.”

“You don’t need to know that, but why did you betray us?”

To Shin So-bin’s counter-question, Shame Extreme King said.

“I pondered for quite some time, but judged that the Northern Emperor’s cause and ability are insufficient compared to the Southern Emperor. The Divine Sword Group Leader ultimately lacks the capacity to embrace Yao tribe, and above all, his military strategy cannot compare to the Southern Emperor’s. As you know, I am a Northern King for whom self-preservation is important, and the Southern Emperor is a perfect emperor’s vessel.”

Crimson Day Sword’s groan followed.

“Bright Wind Spirit…! We were being hunted!”

The same realization came to Shin So-bin.

The Southern Emperor had trapped the Divine Sword Group in Black Capital and was toying with them like playthings so they couldn’t affect the Fighting God’s manifestation.

Right time, right place. Literally deploying appropriate masters at the right time and place.

Meanwhile, Shame Extreme King’s words were indifferent.

“It’s a battle on a grand scale. That strategy and tactics are necessary is obvious without asking. The Northern Emperor, who has written achievements through solitary fighting until now, has no chance of victory. He is merely a young man with extraordinary martial arts.”

[Shame Extreme, that is wrong.]

Suddenly the Southern Emperor’s voice intervened.

Kugugung—

Perhaps because he was closer than before, his Six Harmonies Battle Voice also made the earth vibrate much more greatly.

[Operating martial army forces is not greatly different from martial arts, so do not belittle the Divine Sword Group Leader before me. At least he is of different caliber from one like you who repeatedly breaks loyalty.]

“……”

[He is one who can dirty his own hands. Unlike you, he sees the great cause. So you need only prove your loyalty to me. Hurry.]

“…Understood.”

That was all.

Nothing particularly worth calling internal strife. Meanwhile, now that the Divine Sword Group couldn’t break through Shame Extreme King, the forces that had risen from various parts of Black Capital were approaching this alley moment by moment. Shin So-bin’s mind became distant once again.

Bang!

Her vision that had briefly gone dark cleared. But Shame Extreme King was still before her eyes. Only a little blood had gotten on her semi-transparent black silk.

Her consciousness went out again.

Bang!

“…!”

Shame Extreme King again.

She was receiving the Divine Sword Group’s explosive forces with her entire body. Whenever several blue ranks tried to leave the battlefield through the sky or walls, Heaven Palace King’s arrows inevitably pierced through clouds and struck down with a bang.

Crash!

While fragments of bricks and roof tiles mixed with blood and scattered in all directions.

Shin So-bin suddenly felt heat behind her.

Even the ground rapidly embraced heat, enough to disorder the true energy of the Bubbling Spring acupoints on her soles in an instant.

‘Molten Rock Castle Lord…!’

The Northern King who had previously fled from the black ranks’ joint attack. Completely closing in. It was the web the Southern Emperor had created.

Shin So-bin’s crown chakra spat out another explosive sound.

Bang!

She quickly opened her eyes, but there was no change.

Shame Extreme King remained the same.

Like Great King Yama, silently fluttering her silk and receiving all of the Divine Sword Group’s breakthroughs with only transparent Heaven Steel Light Armor. She didn’t even give room for counterattack with hasty attack techniques.

There was no gap to apply grappling to joints. Even bleeding her to death would be better than this.

Her silk lifted like lips.

“You must die for our nation to live. There is no compromise.”

It was distant.

Transcendentally solid protective energy.

It was no different from diamond. The words “world’s greatest” might be correct. If it had been another Northern King instead, they wouldn’t have been trapped like this.

Sambok shouted.

“Large amounts of shock waves in the left sky…! It’s Heaven Palace King again!”

Finally it began. The Southern Emperor’s martial army force operation that he had spoken of as if it were insignificant.

Not blocking deserters, but archery strikes falling directly on the completely blocked Divine Sword Group at this moment. It was confidence that Shame Extreme King’s Heaven Steel Light Armor wouldn’t be penetrated by such bombardment.

The intention was that only the Divine Sword Group would be pierced and die.

Instantly, Shin So-bin kicked the ground with a bang and soared.

With a vortex swirling in spirals hanging from her right hand. She didn’t even dare look at Shame Extreme King.

‘First, I have to counter the arrows with Brilliant River…!’

This was the only method. Because her Eternal Blossom Fist couldn’t penetrate Shame Extreme King’s internal energy barrier.

The problem was reaction speed.

Could she properly strike down Heaven Palace King’s arrows that were pouring down in dozens of branches like meteors from above at the right moment? Might she not be pierced through and reach instant death?

That’s when it happened.

Thump!

Her vision flickered. Another shock had struck her crown chakra. But this time it was brief.

Her body was still rising.

Dozens of shock waves were charging in layers from the direction of Black Capital Old Palace. Suddenly Shin So-bin felt it. For an instant, her surroundings had become even slower as if fallen into a swamp.

Thump!

In her vision that went out and brightened again, something strange was reflected. The scene of a bluish line of light racing across the plain and even surrounding Black Capital. A transcendentally wide range. It was literally light-speed.

Even in a world where all things had slowed due to the precursor of spirit-energy-spirit unity.

‘Taiji…?’

Before she could form the question.

[Enter the Dao Transcend Together.]

[Enter the Dao Transcend Together.]

[Enter the Dao Transcend Together.]

From the distant mountain range, it echoed in layers like an echo. It was a familiar will. It definitely struck through her mind three times in a row.

Thump—!

As soon as she regained consciousness again, she saw three streams of light. Spanning absurdly long distances, tearing the dense white sea of clouds to shreds as they fell.

Shock waves bursting in succession along that trajectory. It was an instant before they swallowed Heaven Palace King’s bombardment all at once.

Shin So-bin hastily lowered her pupils to the ground.

Woong—!

Sword-blue sparks were explosively soaring from Shame Extreme King’s chest. For some reason, a blue sword that also appeared to be the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s beloved weapon had directly struck her solar plexus.

While cracks spread through the transparent body from that first strike.

Two more fell.

Crash!

Shame Extreme King’s upper body was swept away in tremendous shock waves. Long-distance sword strikes even carried internal weight techniques.

As soon as completely shattering the Heaven Steel Light Armor and embedding in the ground, three sword hilts trembling shortly after.

Her lower body was not visible.

She couldn’t even leave blood.

“……”

For a moment the city held its breath. It was deep silence enough to stop even Heaven Palace King’s archery.

[I will take command from now on.]

It was Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice. It echoed calmly from a junior’s position, then settled like clouds with the Divine Sword Group Leader’s words and actions.

[Follow the order.]