Chapter 654 – Defying Heaven (2)

“Really?”

Azure Dragon Hall Master’s face was colored with bewilderment.

“Hall Master, this is…?”

The same went for Azure Dragon Hall masters who had been raising the elegant azure dragon banners high. They had just heard from Kaifeng Qing Family Head about the first Heavenly Demon’s primordial soul manifesting. They couldn’t help but be shocked beyond agitation.

Kaifeng Qing Family Head’s face was actually calm.

“This sword technique, the blade handling skill belongs to the Divine Sword Group Leader. Indeed, without such martial power, one cannot oppose the Heavenly Demon.”

“I’ve seen enough. I’ll return now.”

The tall, silently standing old man, Yue Bi-gang who had lost both arms to Jeong Yeon-shin, spoke. And he kicked up the Yue family’s head command weapon, Ink Refined Spear, and stuck it in his back pack.

Step.

As he slowly turned around, he suddenly glanced at Dan Jeong-jeong and smiled broadly.

“Right, Xiangyang would be good. If Desolate Fortress’s Heavenly Martial Arsenal is intact, there would be Great Circulation formulas suitable for one who lost arm acupoints. Anyway, the Divine Sword Group Leader’s lightness skills just need time for recovery.”

“……!”

“I might be able to obtain the famous Jeong Family Dynamic Technique. Yes, with that level of dynamic technique…”

Dan Jeong-jeong standing blankly while worried about the Group Leader’s safety. The former Spear King who had lost everything to Jeong Yeon-shin.

“Old man, where does that confidence come from?”

“What did you say?”

“Right now your energy center is also injured, so you’re only nominally one of the Seven New Enemies of Defeated Desolation? Die.”

Smack!

Dan Jeong-jeong suddenly rushed at Yue Bi-gang, but such commotion was small and insignificant compared to the waves that had spread through nature. No one even tried to stop her.

Rumble!

The sky rippled semi-transparently, and the earth roared.

The scale was tremendous.

The aftermath of the single sword that had swept across the horizon endlessly raced through the mountain slopes, advancing until it even reached Mount Hua Sect’s main mountain.

* * *

The earthquake spreads.

All halls and Taoist temples began swaying slightly. Sounds of cracking spread regardless of wood or stone, and heavy vibrations gradually thickened beneath Mount Hua disciples’ feet.

“Senior brothers who learned Dark Fragrance Steps, protect the disciples!”

“According to eye technique measurements, we cannot completely evacuate from this range!”

“We crouch without descending! We’ll activate the Leafless Purple Cloud Formation, so disciples evacuate to Dawn Pavilion!”

Elegant plum blossom robes fluttered violently.

Everyone was busy.

Having confirmed Zhongnan’s sect annihilation most closely, they first carried the young disciples. Only then could they gather a few spiritual pills including Purple Recovery Pills from the secret archives and precious martial arts books.

It was a natural disaster.

With Sect Leader Lady Lu and Acting Sect Leader Yu Hyeon absent, Sword Saint Taoist Cheon Ju, who had been leading Mount Hua alone, shouted resoundingly.

“Sect Leader Wei Zhi! You must lend a hand!”

“I heard another Taoist’s cry. If Mount Hua’s Dawn Pavilion is where young disciples stay, are protective formations installed there?”

“Exactly! Not just the quarters, but it will prevent the main mountain’s collapse!”

“Then it’s settled! It’s Lightning Genius Lord Jeong…! Taoist should also be able to recover dharma power!”

Wei Zhi Myo-hwa spoke without context. While holding young Mount Hua disciples about seven or eight years old in both arms, the power wave that suddenly surged with a thump of her true angle shattered a tree tilting in the air.

Taoist Cheon Ju, who had already drawn his sword, questioned.

“You mean the owner of that sword strike? The Divine Sword Group Leader did this to Mount Hua?”

“A being difficult to oppose without such sword strikes… Someone who could pressure current Lord Jeong so much must have appeared. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense.”

Crash!

Taoist Cheon Ju blew away roof tiles of collapsing halls with sword wind. It was silent agreement.

The connections between Mount Hua Hidden Dragon Yu Hyeon and Desolate Fortress Lightning Genius, and between Lady Lu Xian and Desolate Day Extinction were undeniably deep. Even after passing through an unusually dry and long winter, and despite the Divine Sword Group ultimately being excluded from jianghu, many gossip-mongers enjoyed talking about it.

Then.

Crash!

Large circular ripples rose in succession toward the sky, and Wei Zhi Myo-hwa and Taoist Cheon Ju’s pupils followed those hazy shock wave displays like lightning. Eye-lights emanating white and red light with Zhongnan and Mount Hua’s secret eye techniques. For a moment, Jeong Yeon-shin was reflected in both their eyes.

The sight of him wrapping Enter The Divine Sword in dark blue flames, soaring with Void Treading Technique while extending his sword pole straight in the posture of body-sword unity.

A peerless master’s movement had been captured.

Though Wei Zhi Myo-hwa and Taoist Cheon Ju were super masters of Three Flowers Gathering at The Crown difficult for any strongmen to disparage, it still held great meaning. Because it meant he had become very slow.

Not only his energy accumulation but also his fine muscles and whole body’s acupoints weren’t intact.

In a way, it was natural. Taoist Cheon Ju had trembled while preparing for Qinling Mountain Range’s great turmoil. At the one-sided decisive battle between Jeong Yeon-shin and two former masters.

After such a fight, he should be recuperating immediately, but his current appearance of swimming through the void didn’t make sense. It was literally Fighting God-like endurance.

The opponent was also problematic.

‘…It’s an event rare in ancient and modern times.’

As the leader of plum blossom swordsmen, Taoist Cheon Ju had deep experience, energy perception, and even internal cultivation. Enough to fathom the overwhelming demonic energy of the woman who followed Jeong Yeon-shin with her hands behind her back at this moment.

Saaaa—

The energy waves weren’t particularly thick.

Comparing energy accumulation, she would fall far short of even Lady Lu. Since she was more identifiable than Jeong Yeon-shin at speed, her initial strike’s explosive force had to be weaker than any Nine Sects sect leader.

Yet Taoist Cheon Ju uttered like a groan.

“Heavenly, Demon…”

The heart that had wanted to lend Jeong Yeon-shin a hand folded by itself as if struck by some demonic art. It was irresistible.

[Swing that formless sword more.]

A voice resonating as if enjoying play.

The sight of jet-black hair fluttering like a waterfall was sacred. She seemed to be the incarnation of the word unapproachable.

Despite being Radiant Demon Wing’s Bewitching Sword Demon’s appearance.

Clang!

She waved her hand from distant sky, and that vibration split the sea of clouds like waves and shook even the main mountain. Young disciples’ groans burst from various mountain slopes.

Rumble!

The hall complex’s collapse accelerated. Nature itself seemed to convulse. Clearly all palm force had struck the Divine Sword Group Leader, and there had been no rebound from that point.

That is, it meant wide-area explosive force was possible without using other power. Like all fist and palm angles carrying the mysteries of Heavenly Demon Lord Arrival Step.

Incomprehensible.

‘That’s a martial god.’

Taoist Cheon Ju turned his steps north.

The direction where Mount Hua’s Gates were. The Nine Sects’ true power was there.

“Sect Leader Wei Zhi, this poor monk must summon our sect’s elders. Even shamelessly asking you to care for the disciples’ safety… Sect Leader Wei Zhi!”

Bang!

Wei Zhi Myo-hwa leaped into the void. It was a sudden occurrence, but the destination of her lightness skill leap was obviously toward the Heavenly Demon and Jeong Yeon-shin. She had already handed over even the Mount Hua disciples in her arms to others.

She seemed unable to feel the demon’s presence. She just moved as soon as she felt Jeong Yeon-shin’s disadvantage after assessing the situation.

‘Absurd temperament…!’

Thus Taoist Cheon Ju prayed for both their martial fortune and quickly reached deep into the main mountain. Right before the ‘Gates’ where whitish mist pooled like a lake.

Rumble! Rumble!

Blue-green flames spread vastly like lightning from the sky then faded, and Wild Goose Fall Peak that had been cut by one sword was supporting itself with the power of Taoist formations like Mount Hua’s Leafless Purple Cloud Formation.

Mysteries passed down since before sect founding patriarch Vast Peace Master had unified Mount Hua’s temples into one.

Taoist Cheon Ju had to protect it.

So he opened his mouth toward the misty lake.

“A crisis has befallen the sacred mountain.”

One sentence.

This was enough.

What was the reason former sword immortals had entered the Gates? Though they had certainly sacrificed themselves to protect the world’s safety, before that they were Mount Hua disciples born and raised at Mount Hua. They couldn’t turn away from their sect.

‘No matter how great a duty they shouldered…’

Even that Desolate Fortress was the same. If it was the Divine Sword Group Leader’s request, there would be several former masters who would come running from Gates or private life.

“Cheon Ju.”

It rang from within the Gates.

“Must we truly put down the burden we shouldered ourselves?”

An aged voice contained a soothing resonance that comforted the heart. Naturally it was a voice he knew. Brilliant Jade Flame Sword God Lady Lu’s senior uncle, Dawn Sword Master who had once competed with Lady Lu’s master for the position of previous sect leader disciple.

Taoist Cheon Ju slowly nodded.

“Though the current Divine Sword Group Leader is blocking disaster, he has already done much. Moreover, the disaster that befell the main mountain is presumed to be the first Heavenly Demon’s primordial soul created by the Ming Cult Leader…”

That was as far as he got.

Before he knew it, three human shadows were carved like an immortal painting in the mist gaps. A feeling like plum blossom petals scattering on the rocky mountain still shaking in all directions.

Taoist Cheon Ju felt sorrowful emotion.

Because he had drawn out Mount Hua’s true power himself. Now it couldn’t be reversed. All sects that had been weighing the world’s and their sect’s safety would begin pouring out former elders, and at the forefront would stand Great Righteous Orthodox Alliance with the great cause of survival.

‘There will be no chivalry in the newly reorganized world.’

Just like how Mount Hua had turned its back on the Gates today.

“I have no leisure now. What happened to Lady Lu?”

One of the three shadows asked quietly with hands behind his back.

Then the old Taoist’s shadow naturally gazed at the void, and just then his robe fluttered long in the sword wind of the Divine Sword Group Leader who landed with a bang. Despite surrounding himself with an overwhelmingly detached atmosphere, he seemed quite surprised.

“The Sect Leader…”

Taoist Cheon Ju lowered his thick eyebrows.

“…Was defeated after engaging in a life-and-death battle with Tyrant Sword Sect Leader, thus reaching the brink of death. At the same time, World Tree’s dharma protectors carried away the dying Sect Leader. Saying she could survive if she dwelt in the ‘Tree’…”

“Right at that time? Isn’t the timing too coincidental?”

“I felt the same, but couldn’t follow Dragon Flight Sword Art and Sky-Reaching Palace White’s lightness skills. Rather, Tyrant Sword Sect Leader Dan Seong-eum chased like mad. After that, a message came from World Tree. ‘Please take care of the main mountain’… It was the Sect Leader’s handwriting.”

“Then your circumstances became chaotic and you let go. World Tree’s Grand Elder isn’t trustworthy… No, now in this jianghu no one should be trusted.”

Since we became like this first— It was when the old Taoist’s shadow clicked his tongue self-mockingly.

Rumble!

The mountain range shook once more.

“……!”

Taoist Cheon Ju deployed lightness skill Dark Fragrance Steps without movement. Because he had nearly fallen. Literally an unopposable natural disaster was gradually descending from heaven.

The Heavenly Demon and Divine Sword Group Leader.

Now they would face Mount Hua’s former elders.

“However, that child called Divine Sword Group Leader has strange divine techniques.”

Was it to extinguish even a little of the fundamental fear toward the being called Heavenly Demon? One of the three old Taoists, Dawn Sword Master’s voice continued slowly.

“His dharma power and Three Taoist Energy are shocking beyond measure… but he wields demonic energy. Very deep demonic energy of orthodox demon lineage.”

It was a voice like withered leaves crumbling.

“How did he obtain that? Through what connection?”

“……”

Suddenly ice-cold goosebumps ran down Taoist Cheon Ju’s spine.

The person who had been pushed aside by Lady Lu’s master and couldn’t become sect leader disciple. What was the reason? Perhaps the elders had seen Dawn Sword Master’s temperament closer to sword than Tao.

“Perhaps those two.”

Dawn Sword Master said.

“Are competing over orthodoxy?”

Though all eight directions were tumultuous, the area near the Gates gradually fell into silence.

Then some woman’s voice spread.

—Senior uncle, instead of talking nonsense, how about lending a hand?

Taoist Cheon Ju’s mouth fell open.

“Sect Leader…?!”

—That young man is a friend who privately promised to enter Purple Recovery Pill bath water with me. Don’t doubt his character. If you want to burst your nephew’s insides, do as you please.

A melodious voice. It was Lady Lu.

—World Tree is watching everything right now. That friend seems to be handling it well, so do just one thing— either return to the Gates or lend a hand. This is a sect leader’s command.

Her speech was the same. Always uttering only righteous words was also the same.

Something hard to believe had happened.

‘What in the world…!’

At this moment.

From all corners of the world, by what methods, and how many were watching this place was unknown.

The Heavenly Demon’s manifestation carried such weight.

Crash!

Jeong Yeon-shin and the Heavenly Demon landed with pressure that seemed to crush souls. As if the match had already tilted to one side.

“……”

In the distant silence, one person’s shadow staggered like dancing.

Rustle.

Movement as if swayed by intoxication.

It wasn’t Jeong Yeon-shin.

It was the Heavenly Demon.