Chapter 651 – Arrival

A mountain range where it would be difficult to fathom how long the preparations had been without successive Ming Cult Leaders.

The mountain slopes composed of rocks were shattered as if the giant Pangu had struck them countless times. The early spring wind brushed such chaotic stone paths while blowing desolate whistles like ghost valley cries.

Jeong Yeon-shin sensed beneath his feet.

The mountain of thousands of jianghu people he had unintentionally stepped on was literally a scene of utter chaos. Each had begun spewing protective energy and power waves with the instinct to survive.

Wooooooong—!

The energy waves of those who cultivated different true energies entangled with each other like internal multiplication techniques. At the distance of extreme close combat with explosive force applied, it was binding their bodies rather than enabling escape.

It could be called martial forest hell not found even in Buddhist scriptures.

“What, what on earth is this…?”

“Aaaaah!”

“It’s the Heavenly Demon! The Heavenly Demon has cast sorcery!”

The devastation created by Little Heavenly Demon Invincible.

No matter how much they were jianghu people, when energy waves and bodies of this scale overlapped, the internal injuries would inevitably be heavier than ordinary fist strike light skills. Since they were all masters of internal multiplication arts, they would experience the pain of death without dying.

There were no familiar energy waves among them.

‘…I should consider it fortunate.’

Divine Sword Squad seemed to have resisted the suddenly deployed wide-area Form-shifting Void. It would be thanks to the function of Demon-Destroying Revealing Truth faintly formed in Radiant Art. Because it was martial arts derived from Luminous Wheel That Transcends Law Technique.

Literary Star wasn’t there either.

That monster would have shaken it off with force.

Unless Little Heavenly Demon Invincible struck directly in person, there was no way to handle Six Star Lord.

Moreover, the main disciples of Zhongnan and Mount Hua couldn’t be felt either. Such was the sacredness of Nine Sects’ immortal mountains. Or it might be because countless former masters had left mysterious miracles at their sects.

Completely opposite to Jeong Yeon-shin who couldn’t protect the main castle.

Therefore, the outcries echoing from the mountain of jianghu people were the commotion of those who had never been connected to Jeong Yeon-shin.

He thought.

‘I must save them.’

Screams growing ever thicker.

They reminded him of the Eight Hot Hells mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. Constricting his ears, adding bloody smell to the dry air… But that was also brief.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently lowered his gaze.

Radiant Demon Wing’s sister Baek Mi-ryeo, whose reunion he had longed for, was approaching with surprisingly light steps.

Jet-black long hair repeatedly spread like seamless silk then gathered, and even darker pupils swept up Jeong Yeon-shin with interesting eye-light.

Meanwhile, another footstep sound rang.

Step.

Walking unhesitatingly from below the mountain of bodies, but the distinctly audible footsteps were few.

Like play.

Every time worn leather shoes brushed the ground, the outcries of jianghu people piled like mountain peaks also ceased. As if throat sounds were forced by some sense of discord.

A feeling of plucking and grasping martial strongmen’s pain like a seven-string zither without different intention. By overlaying overwhelming influence onto space.

Jeong Yeon-shin had experienced similar footwork before.

‘Heavenly Demon Lord Arrival Step.’

The difference from Little Heavenly Demon Invincible was that it didn’t seem consciously deployed. All steps seemed to be divine techniques and secrets. A scene where it would be fine to say she created martial arts like breathing.

But there wasn’t the same sense of kinship as when first meeting Little Heavenly Demon Invincible.

Whether because she had lived much longer than Jeong Yeon-shin, or because constitution was meaningless as a being whose name was carved in eternity.

Step.

Finally, the being difficult to describe as she or he stood before the mountain of jianghu people.

Immediately looking up diagonally, but conversely Jeong Yeon-shin felt a gaze looking down.

All of that was natural.

‘Senior Baek’s consciousness isn’t there.’

As soon as he intuitively confirmed this, the first Heavenly Demon’s first words flowed out briefly.

“We’ve met before.”

Wearing a human body like clothing, speaking like a god with red lips.

Jeong Yeon-shin recalled the incomplete Heavenly Demon Divine Armor that Murong Family Head had once worn. Something positioned behind protective energy had once spoken to his upper energy center.

—Presumptuous.

It was the same tone.

Saying they’d met before meant sensing Ming Cult studies scattered throughout the world. As if the dead one’s spirituality had achieved immortality, passed from formula to formula.

The Heavenly Demon’s lips rose diagonally.

“You could do it too.”

Despite the consistently dreamlike temperament, it was a matter-of-fact tone. Whether joke or advice was indistinguishable.

But at this moment, what was important to Jeong Yeon-shin was Baek Mi-ryeo’s body containing the Heavenly Demon.

A snow-white face because extreme Bare Hand Demon Art had affected her entire body. The beautiful and sharp impression as always.

Yet it was hard to find the usual sisterly feeling. Not only was she wearing Ming Cult’s pure white cape, but even her expression and temperament were different.

‘This is… senior’s choice…’

Jeong Yeon-shin hid his inner thoughts from flowing beyond his upper energy center.

And he spoke.

[Seeing it’s not a living body, you couldn’t properly create the soul garment.]

None other than evaluating the first Heavenly Demon.

The body of a being who seemed to look down on earth even from underground, the ancient and modern greatest demon who naturally performed all paradoxes.

But facts were facts.

Even Elder Council Head Shin Byeok during the Desolate Great War had been different. All true energy structures had been completely reconstructed in Shin Cheon-hwa’s appearance. In contrast, the first Heavenly Demon’s body could be said to have been woven but left incomplete.

The omnipotent being fell silent with a strange smile.

“……”

At this moment, Jeong Yeon-shin was looking down at her from atop the mountain of jianghu people.

The great cause erected like a sword in his heart created that scene with a fitting feeling. Even if the dignity of existence or the level of martial arts might still be different.

Rumble—

The sound of three luminous wheels forcibly rotating ceaselessly inside his body. To make internal energy flow as smoothly as possible. He had held down his entire muscles trying to convulse with full-body explosive force.

“Noisy.”

The Heavenly Demon playfully covered her ears with long fingers. In the seemingly humorous motion, dignity tinged with demonic nature seeped through. The following words were the same.

“Three is many. You should try reducing it to one.”

Words unclear whether petty complaint or lifelong advice. She had certainly seen through the luminous wheels.

She would have also perceived Jeong Yeon-shin’s physical condition.

He had suppressed all masters of nearby mountain slopes with Silent Radiant Sword Mirror and Ten Li Gentle Light, and neutralized two aged peerless masters from past generations. At this point, it would be strange to be standing. He couldn’t help but be far from perfect condition.

It was what Jeong Yeon-shin had anticipated.

He had prevented complete manifestation, and conditions were now equal. Now no excuses were acceptable to him. He had to be able to discuss the world even with his current body.

‘Qinling Mountain Range is under my dominion.’

Divine Sword Squad and Literary Star occupied the west, Jeong Yeon-shin and Seventh Apostle the east. There were no other variables.

Now only the Heavenly Demon remained.

“Quite an interesting body. Energy is empty so the mind wavers…”

The Heavenly Demon clenched and opened her white hand while chuckling.

Compared to her own godlike body, it would literally feel like being trapped in dust. Yet she seemed to rather enjoy the clearly disadvantageous situation.

“The pleasure of filling incompleteness.”

Slowly.

“Is life’s diversion.”

The Heavenly Demon’s palm rising into the void. Long fingers spread wide, touching the sky.

It would be the flag formation of demonic path Star-Absorbing Great Method, martial arts as famous as Heavenly Demon Divine Technique throughout ancient and modern times. World-opening ultimate learning said to absorb all energy between heaven and earth.

Suddenly her gaze brushed the half-corpses dimmed by Jeong Yeon-shin’s starlight, and took in thousands of jianghu people with severed arms or his sword stuck in their energy centers.

Soon she formed a crescent moon-like smile with eyes full of interest. As if seeing madness that could rival her own.

“A superb view.”

[As long as their lifelines are tenacious, there’s no energy for you to take.]

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly continued.

[We have much to discuss. First, acknowledge that you’re a ghost who descended to the land of the living. If you’ll share wine with me and return, I’m prepared to dine together.]

“Nothing to take? Isn’t a feast laid out in the sky? You’re a first-rate cook.”

What that meant could be known immediately. Because suddenly the star clusters of Silent Radiant Sword Mirror poured down like meteor showers.

Crash—!

She had cast demonic path Star-Absorbing Great Method not on corpses but on the night sky.

Star-absorbing. Drinking stars.

The trajectory of thought was different.

She absorbed the condensed explosive forces Jeong Yeon-shin had floated in the sky as if they were hers, and embodied the power thus absorbed with Towering Ancestor Northern Darkness Great Shift in truly an instant. Rather than demon, the word martial god would be fitting.

Whoosh!

Giant pillars of light pierced the night sky one by one and struck down, then unraveled the darkness like lies.

“Quite… flavorful.”

The Heavenly Demon stood under brightly pouring sunlight.

“Though it’s base without your actual life, the mental image of reed fields is pleasing. High caliber.”

While her lips reddened further in sunlight formed a satisfied smile, dazzling radiance flowed long along her hair.

A form that bewitched all things.

Her appearance of summoning day fit strangely well. The strangeness of demons said to have reached heaven.

“It’s become decent enough to move. I express gratitude to you.”

With those words, she disappeared from her spot like a dream. Naturally, great silence remained on the mountain slopes.

Extremely free.

Beginning and ending were chaotic, and intention and purpose were hard to fathom. If chaos took human form, it would be like the Heavenly Demon.

Jeong Yeon-shin had been standing blankly until then, then slowly drew Enter The Divine Sword. Only then did Dan Jeong-jeong, who had come to her senses, shout with a face as if she had lost her soul.

“Lord Jeong! Why, why did you only watch…!”

Former Spear King Yue Bi-gang also reproached Jeong Yeon-shin with a powerful voice.

“While rumors spread of the north’s Fighting God moving south, tree-legged beings run wild, and the madness and strength of the world’s noble clans increase beyond measure, even the first Heavenly Demon’s manifestation… The Central Plains are finished. You were played by the ancient and modern greatest demon.”

“You don’t mention Great Righteous Orthodox Alliance and Four Province Martial Alliance. Is it because you’re the tail end of Great Righteous Orthodox Alliance’s former peerless masters?”

“……”

Though Jeong Yeon-shin looked at him calmly, Yue Bi-gang only wrinkled his eye creases with a now haggard complexion. At the same time, Kaifeng Qing Family Head made a strange expression.

“Earlier I heard the Ming Cult Leader’s cry about predecessor wisdom. And you spoke to Acquired Heaven Radiant Saint about Gates and famine. If it’s the first Heavenly Demon, he’s one who makes all ancient and modern mysteries meaningless, so I can guess what you’re scheming. You must plan to hold sword discussions in a kind of three-way confrontation.”

The old man continued with an unprecedentedly polite tone.

“But that’s only possible with recognition from none other than the ancient and modern greatest demon…”

His words stopped.

Jeong Yeon-shin had already reached the stone floor where the Heavenly Demon had disappeared through Form-shifting Void and was drawing his sword down. It was delicate swordwork as if seeking some pattern.

“……?”

When that sword strike reached the fourth time.

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly disappeared as if squeezing into space through the carved colorless trajectory. He simultaneously felt his vision change in the blink of an eye.

It was a spacious cave.

Night pearls were embedded throughout underground space hundreds of zhang in diameter. Two people were reflected in the center of those whitish light clusters.

Little Heavenly Demon Invincible kneeling on one knee.

The Heavenly Demon looking down at her with an indifferent face.

“……!”

He had never seen Little Heavenly Demon Invincible in a lowered posture, but it didn’t seem she had knelt voluntarily. Because all eight directions were blackened and scorched. Even the scarf and cape she always wore had lost their original pure white color and were torn in various places.

The always perfect being in a defeated state.

After manifesting Ming Cult’s sect founding patriarch, her martial arts couldn’t be intact. It would be the same as Jeong Yeon-shin.

Then.

The Heavenly Demon suddenly raised her head.

“You followed? You have many talents.”

“I thought you were on the same side.”

As soon as Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice lowered, Little Heavenly Demon Invincible’s back trembled slightly. Natural if natural. She was the world’s Ming Cult Leader. She wouldn’t want to show such a state to anyone.

A smile settled on the Heavenly Demon’s lips.

“I cannot acknowledge this thing, this Little Heavenly Demon Invincible, as a successor.”

“……”

“Reading the memories of this body, Baek Mi-ryeo, you also have connections with her. Then you should be able to guess my feelings. Very disappointing.”

“I acknowledge it.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly nodded.