Chapter 623 – Red Sky (4)

Jeong Yeon-shin sheathed Starry Night.

Sword-blue flames scattered like feathers from his grip, while his wrist meridians rang with a zing, revealing the tremendous burden placed upon them.

It was the aftermath of deploying an absurdly massive sword technique. It felt like the pollen ground by Lazy Flame Dragon’s extreme heat yang energy was dancing in his grip. It was ticklish yet very hot.

‘For this level of recoil, it’s minor.’

It was also a sword strike he could wield thanks to the Resonance Spirit. If he had unleashed it at any other time, even the three luminous wheels would have stopped rotating at once.

The Entering the Dao Vast Arts that supplied Jeong Yeon-shin with powerful energy, those invisible waves didn’t cease at all and only grew denser.

Because the Divine Sword Group was approaching Black Capital Old Palace.

Military strength that was pushing back a nation’s elite martial army forces, however slightly.

There could be nothing more reliable.

Haa…

Jeong Yeon-shin’s breath scattered white like clouds.

It was a time when spring would have arrived in the distant southern lands, but the demon realm’s winter showed no signs of retreating.

He slowly lowered his gaze.

“……”

The palace’s scenery had greatly changed. The breathtakingly continuous battle patterns had similarly transformed as if revolutionized.

The darkish mist still spread beneath his feet. Black fog flowing chaotically along the cracks in the spider web-like split floor.

But the walls of the old palace that had surrounded them were different. They had truly vanished without a trace, revealing an open vista.

Of course, the cool northern wind had begun flowing in. Black Return, who had been embedded with the ceremonial sword earlier, was now beyond the palace’s back garden.

Saaaa…

Wind cold enough to make the fighting briefly cease.

Only three enemies remained standing intact in that gap.

“……”

An emperor wrapped in black mist throughout his body, a giant in a bamboo hat who had somehow dismounted from his warhorse, a red crescent blade wielder whose long hair had been half severed.

They didn’t look back toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

It was likely because they were facing Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hye-myeong. Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword strike had not been aimed at them in the first place.

Dharma King, who had seemed like he would always survive even ridiculously, was battered and broken. Blood-red stains were spreading across his precious silken orange robes.

“This, sev-ering……”

He created his own words. Meaning having one’s waist severed. Perhaps Shame Extreme King’s death had left a deep impression.

[There is no one who can purely expand internal energy swords to that extent. The energy consumption is great, so it’s also difficult to continuously manifest them. It was simply that the sword strike shock waves were overwhelmingly long.]

The Southern Emperor’s will rumbled.

[It was appropriate decisiveness in targeting the formation, but it’s amazing that strength remained afterward. Kings, be on guard.]

Simultaneously, a breeze arose. Space curvature once more. The Southern Emperor and Dharma King’s positions had switched.

The Southern Emperor faced Jeong Yeon-shin while moving Dharma King to Yong Hye-myeong’s flank. Because Upright Star and Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor stood tall near Yong Hye-myeong, emanating tremendous presence.

But only Sanskrit curses difficult to understand flowed from Dharma King’s mouth.

What remained intact in the hall was just one ivory altar that had originally been low in height.

A barren landscape.

Only one person gave vitality to that scene. Yong Hye-myeong beyond the altar. At this moment, he wore an expression of bewilderment.

“…You completely severed the formation? What was that?”

“Yes, it was a formless sword.”

“I know that, but I mean the power. If I hadn’t received advance warning through sound transmission, I don’t know how my body would have reacted.”

He displayed speech and behavior utterly unsuited to a battlefield. The contemporary Enter The Divine Sword Master seemed too carefree for someone staking his life, but Jeong Yeon-shin knew.

That strange resonance was occurring in Yong Hye-myeong’s heart, which always seemed to embrace the universe.

He was preparing something. Within the time Jeong Yeon-shin had created.

It was upper energy center intuition.

Wanting to match Yong Hye-myeong’s rhythm, he posed a serious question.

“Isn’t it better than the Dragon Ring Sword?”

“Since it was forged by a guy who tries to overcome his superior whenever there’s a chance, that explosive power is understandable. Very dangerous.”

“The will when forging the sword was created by my deceased benefactor.”

“My experienced eye was caught by artistic swordwork. Didn’t you say you once wielded the Dark Night Brilliant Blood Demon Sword? I was the one who taught the key techniques of formless swords to Myeong-jo. Since he was wandering among those haughty noble clan members with one-sided equal swordsmanship…”

“You did well.”

“Impudent fellow.”

Then Yong Hye-myeong chuckled. He seemed to be enjoying the moment. Even though the three Six Star Lords and Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor who had stealthily moved were forming a circular encirclement.

“Look at your maternal grandfather. He’ll ascend soon.”

Ma Yeon-jeok was looking at Jeong Yeon-shin over Northern Blade’s massive shoulder. His face was full of mirth. Even wrinkles that no longer existed seemed visible.

Conversely, Northern Blade was staring down at the monster warhorse whose four legs were all broken and even its long neck was snapped.

Northern Blade had earlier overcome Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword strike together with his horse using void-treading mounted martial arts.

He was a peerless warrior who walked through instantaneous gaps like his own home. He couldn’t have failed to react to sword strikes aimed at all of Black Capital from the beginning. He would have dodged unconsciously.

Before the Tyrant Hero’s face.

The process of the warhorse crumpling with blue-green flashes would have been natural. Even if that horse had been a lifelong companion and beloved weapon.

Northern Blade’s shoulders straightened slightly.

[…Former third generation. Repay with your death.]

“Yeon-shin, this is the cycle of hatred. Human conflicts are something even the Divine Sword Group Leader cannot sever…”

Ma Yeon-jeok lowered his hand diagonally.

“That’s why the Great Wall was built.”

The sword that had originally been sheathed at his waist was somehow gripped in his right hand.

Unlike the formless swords forged by later Divine Sword Group Leaders, it was different. The name of the famous sword extending straight from hilt to blade tip was Moon Protector.

It was impossible to know when he had drawn it.

Natural sword drawing like the Southern Emperor’s strikes Jeong Yeon-shin had once experienced. Strong enough to seem capable of handling all under heaven with one blade.

Conversely, Northern Blade had multiple weapons.

Swish.

Not content with the crescent blade originally gripped in his right hand, he even drew the axe that had always been embedded largely behind his back with his left hand. As if he could simultaneously handle two giant weapons against Ma Yeon-jeok.

When there was one Six Star Lord.

It was said there was one called the War God who fought in place of the Fighting God at the battlefield’s vanguard. One who had never been defeated in great wars.

It was a story passed down under the name Northern Blade under heaven.

[You are the incarnation of supreme egoism, so you’ve probably never thought about death. That’s why I will kill you.]

“What are you constantly babbling about?”

The next moment, Northern Blade and Ma Yeon-jeok’s bodies disappeared. At the exact center where the two had been, absurdly massive ripples exploded.

The foundation supporting the palace was split lengthwise and crosswise. Indescribable furrows were created in the floor, bursting with sparks.

Their movements were invisible.

Even pure white sunlight couldn’t fully follow them. Only semi-transparent shock waves burst in succession from the extremely narrow close-combat realm.

And only after one breath did waves of force begin surging like a tsunami.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang—!

Semi-transparently interlocked shock waves soared skyward like lightning rewinding time. Of course, the bodies of the two constantly extending masterful strikes were carried in those trajectories.

They vanished into the void in an instant.

Only traces of space distorted in parabolic curves remained. While passing Young Heavenly Demon Invincible, who had been standing on the void until then, and Dragon Sound Sasa King, whose nape was held in her hand.

The Ming Cult Leader who failed to become a heavenly demon was staring down piercingly at only Jeong Yeon-shin beneath her ebony-flowing hair.

None of the Northern Kings expected anything from her now. No one trusted her.

“I’m gradually feeling it. All sorts of connections have become tangled like thread.”

In the overwhelming roar, Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor slowly took steps backward. Had the calculation changed? It was movement approaching Jeong Yeon-shin while distancing himself from Yong Hye-myeong.

The former Yuan Dynasty emperor.

He had somehow revealed his densely packed back muscles like armor. Because the trajectory of the formless sword had simultaneously torn apart his undergarments and Heaven Steel Light Armor.

He asked.

“The formation?”

[The supply of true energy has been cut off. This battle’s support will only be accomplished with the power remaining to me. Unless the technique formation is repaired in time.]

It was the Southern Emperor’s answer.

A very exceptional occurrence. Because the exchange of opinions had taken place aloud.

Evidence that Jeong Yeon-shin’s formless sword had severed even Bright Wind Spirit’s sound caves. It was also recognition that ordinary sound transmission would inevitably be caught by the contemporary Divine Sword Group Leader’s senses.

‘Even the Great Warriors’ chatter has stopped.’

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had faintly raised his lips, said.

“I’m still commanding the Divine Sword Group. Aren’t you the one who’s become impatient?”

Sound transmission imitating the mysteries of Earth King Word Crossing Method was different from Bright Wind Spirit. Because it sent sound like an earthquake rather than creating sound transmission space.

The Southern Emperor’s laughter faintly spread.

[Time is also pressing for you. Beyond the wilderness, don’t you feel massive military energy? Our nation’s imperial army is returning. You must end the battle before they arrive.]

It wasn’t wrong.

Because the Divine Sword Group had charged in with lightning speed, they faced swift elite few, but originally their opponents were a nation.

It was as massive and soundless as the figure that had somehow filled their vision completely.

[Heavenly Soul.]

The Southern Emperor’s hand that struck down quietly. Black mist flowed out in streams, carving dark afterimages in space.

‘Heaven Breaking.’

Instantly, Jeong Yeon-shin’s right hand became hazy and soared as if clawing the void with blue light.

Crash!

The overwhelming jet-black palm force was completely shattered, spitting black sparks like feathers in all directions. It was an instant until the Southern Emperor’s ashen palm revealed bare skin through those gaps.

The Southern Emperor’s true words carved the void.

[Deception.]

[Military Armor Transformation.]

[Dark Deep Thunder.]

Triple simultaneous will. Meanwhile, the palm that had been about to touch Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand was withdrawn at the same speed as when it came down.

Simultaneously, black mist tore out in dozens of streams like lightning from the Southern Emperor’s opposite hand.

Crash!

The Southern Emperor’s Heaven Steel Light Armor, Deception’s energy, struck Jeong Yeon-shin all at once. The earth pile that had been firmly hardened deep in the palace burst up like a tsunami.

Tearing through that yellowish dust, sword-blue flames took the shape of a long sword in Jeong Yeon-shin’s grip as he soared.

Kugugugugung!

In an instant, the two luminous wheels that had been converted to protective energy were reconstructed in his heart with earthquake-like resonance, and as natural earth energy gathered into blade form through the black luminous wheel’s fierce rotation, he was at the Southern Emperor’s eye level.

The instant Starry Night was swung from top to bottom.

[Space Curvature.]

For the first time, the Southern Emperor evaded.

Dharma King’s arm was caught instead in the dark blue burning sword path. It was a vertical line that unhesitatingly severed semi-transparent Heaven Steel Light Armor.

Below Dharma King’s shoulder blade was completely torn away with crackling sounds.

“Heok…!”

“You called it naadam, but it’s quite fun. I could do this all day.”

When Dharma King, who had switched positions with the Southern Emperor, burst out a flustered groan, and Yong Hye-myeong, who faced the two Six Star Lords again, wielded his rainbow-colored sword like an eternal shield.

Beyond the ivory altar.

[Towering Pillar Great Genesis.]

The will of Six Star Lord Upright Star flowed out as if declaring the end of battle here.

It was Transcendent Martial Art.

Woooooooong!

Semi-transparent colors spread from her crescent blade, then grew helplessly large while overlaying the old site of Black Capital Old Palace.

Dreamlike temperament began flowing through all space.

According to what Jeong Yeon-shin had once been reported by the black ranks, it was an absolute sword circle that made all twisting trajectories and illusions useless. Literally a blade realm that permitted only frontal attack techniques.

Indeed, the seven-colored afterimages that had been released from Yong Hye-myeong’s sword tip were immediately scattered.

Space that became absurdly empty due to the overwhelming feeling disappearing. It proved both beings’ transcendence bilaterally.

Upright Star’s expression became strange.

She smiled broadly with furrowed brows.

[All of that was change and emptiness?]

Upright Star among the Big Dipper.

According to old folk religion, it was said to be a star that confined, forced, oppressed, and also checked and captured people.

“……”

Jeong Yeon-shin quietly placed his gaze on Yong Hye-myeong. He was somehow standing on Dharma King.

Saaaa—

While the Southern Emperor was recovering his entire body’s black mist while emanating overwhelming presence.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“…That Transcendent Martial Art has no particular meaning to me. Would you face the Southern Emperor?”

But Yong Hye-myeong shook his head and even scattered the Dragon Ring Sword in his grip into pieces.

“Forget it. You handle that bipedal emperor. After mingling ‘alone’ with three peerless masters, I was starting to run out of strength. Lu Ban Heavenly Emperor is a variable… survive well and report back.”

Of course, you must prioritize protecting me afterward. Yong Hye-myeong concluded his words while throwing something long to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Thump—

Jeong Yeon-shin caught it and immediately stuck it at his waist. Because it was a divine sword. Though some other sword seemed to be humming somewhere, he was a young man who distinguished between public and private matters.

“I’ll entrust this briefly. Keep it well.”

“I shall do so.”

“What?”

“Witness to the washing hand in golden basin.”

In the space where peerless masters’ leisure and dignity flowed even amid the emergency, Upright Star approached Yong Hye-myeong.

Step.

[Ruined sword. You speak as if mutual destruction with me is possible. But it’s difficult with the sword you’ve learned.]

“Too definitive.”

[Because there aren’t many sword techniques good for opposing my Transcendent Martial Art. Strong swords that have directly weathered time’s storms, or sword curtains that have maintained conviction despite much anguish… Still, you called yourself the Divine Sword Group Leader? You who were busy deceiving others won’t do.]

Upright Star turned the crescent blade gripped diagonally behind her back. Instantly, all sorts of mysteries permeated the reddish shaft.

Towering Brilliance Ten Bindings.

Moving Cultivation Great Circulation.

Energy Control Blade Filling.

Space that received tremendous energy silently warped crookedly. A round colorless mandala like a temple hall’s circle spread centered on her.

Upright Star said.

[Southern Emperor, don’t intervene. That guy’s years mean nothing to me.]

[The Northern Emperor’s toes point toward me. The fastest under heaven. I naturally cannot intervene.]

The Six Star Lords’ voices seemed to fall from distant sky stars like epithets. The rumbling resonance was transcendent each time.

Then.

[Then it’s my turn.]

Another echo casually interjected.

Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hye-myeong.

[You spoke of deception, but the one I truly deceive is separate.]

He simply smiled like a scholar out for a walk with empty bare hands.

Doong—

At this moment, from the most worn Divine Sword Group Leader’s leather shoes, some ripples were spreading like a lakeside.

[None other than myself. All sorts of desires and conflicts circle in my head. Always complex.]

What seemed like a distant roar rang faintly.

[……!]

Upright Star, who had been charging toward Yong Hye-myeong, suddenly hesitated. Because a giant shadow had fallen over her head.

Before long.

The palace was completely dyed in different scenery.

Space constructed by Yong Hye-myeong’s mystical power waves harmonizing with upper energy center spirit.

It rippled as if in a dream.

Groves of old trees that surrounded them and rose endlessly, very thick grass scents, even the shape of short figures diligently hammering at the base of distant mountain slopes.

For some reason, Yong Hye-myeong was nowhere to be seen.

Only some cave stood behind Upright Star.

A cavern larger than any fortress opened its maw like an abyss. To gauge its height, it was overwhelmingly large enough to require craning one’s neck vertically.

[This fellow, what has he harbored in his heart while living…!]

With shocked will, Upright Star’s body became hazy in place.

Just before she found Yong Hye-myeong with overwhelming lightness skill mobility.

It activated as if mocking the instant.

Transcendent Martial Art.

[Dragon Sword Gazing Homeward.]

—Can I live as a human?

Will like giant breath rang behind Upright Star. It was the precursor to pure explosive force with no technique existing.

After sending chills racing down her nape, the darkness filling the cave suddenly became full of crimson.

Woooooooong!

In an instant, Upright Star’s crescent blade that turned like lightning darkly distorted the cave’s interior.

Simultaneously, the frictional heat of sword wind that could only be seen as bright red fire lightning completely swallowed and pressed down Upright Star.

Crash—!

It plunged deeply all the way to the underground.