Chapter 677 – Divine Sword’s Domain (7)

It was evening.

Around the time crimson twilight colored the pure white fortress walls like paint, Jeong Yeon-shin received a message from Hao Sect Master. It was content requesting a private audience with the Divine Sword Group Leader.

“Didn’t we say Hao Sect Master had become Fighting God’s hands and feet?”

Hyeon Won-chang, sitting in the General Administration meeting hall, frowned and said. Then he added as if bewildered.

“Even if he encompasses Central Plains’ rumors, what shamelessness does a fellow who can now only be elevated by Yao tribe have to send messages…?”

Northern Emperor Jeong Yeon-shin calmly opened his mouth.

“I’ll still receive him. It would be good to decide the location before dawn.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s written in the reply is only the date. Considering the sender is Fighting God, we don’t know where he might suddenly appear.”

Literary Star nodded from the side.

“He probably deliberately created a time gap to restrict Sword Heaven’s movements. Hao Sect Master… it’s worth meeting him at least briefly.”

“Why bother?”

He smiled at Hyeon Won-chang’s counter-question.

“It seems Fighting God has made him a strategist in place of me… If that’s truly the case, the current Hao Sect Master is an important enough figure to be counted among Central Plains’ most significant.”

Literary Star didn’t add the reasons.

There were many things anyone could consider: Fighting God’s infallible eye for people, the intelligence network dulled by Yu Ling’s death, the current noble clan Hao Sect Master having been sect master for a long time compared to Beggar Sect with its leader absent.

Suddenly Namgung Hwa-shin’s voice interjected into the round table with pleasant tones.

“Just before reclaiming the main fortress… we discovered Hao Sect Master’s traces in information Nether Stream Squad urgently obtained. He was a highly suspicious fellow. Not only were there consistent circumstances of him being with Thirteen Evil Sects Profound Martial Alliance, but he seemed to have provided main fortress information to sects that participated in Desolate Fortress conquest battle. A very dangerous person.”

“Are you just waking up now?”

Hyeon Won-chang asked, but Namgung Hwa-shin had fallen asleep again and couldn’t hear. His long eyelashes naturally fell like blades before drawing.

“There’s no normal person in the Wish for Peace Sword Hall.”

Literary Star’s voice calmly mixed with Hyeon Won-chang’s grumbling.

“I’ll meet him.”

“Didn’t you say your identity is better revealed later?”

When Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly, Literary Star smiled faintly.

“Since ancient times, the scenery reflected in dead men’s eyes has always been useless. Moreover, my martial learning is like a scholar’s writing – if not used daily, the blade path becomes dull.”

“Are you perhaps jealous of Fighting God’s new strategist?”

Literary Star’s blade path didn’t strike at Hyeon Won-chang who asked abruptly. Because another message from Hao Sect Master had arrived consecutively.

It was said to have been delivered to Desolate Fortress’s main gate through ignorant common people. If it was Hao Sect Master, he would have some knowledge of Turtle Breathing Great Method and Return to Origin, so finding the letter’s source across the vast Huguang region would be difficult.

[It’s Henan’s Muling Mountain.

Fighting God’s will is that you may bring all your Divine Sword Squad or come alone as you wish. Of course, if you bring full forces, amusement comparable to northern field battles will unfold.

As you know, Fighting God’s hit-and-run tactics are something even any peerless master can hardly handle, so anyone will ultimately have no choice but to fight him one-on-one to the death.

Anyway.

I originally planned to set foot in Desolate Fortress to directly witness and gauge the current Divine Sword Squad’s strength…

But it seems better to protect my own mind and body, so I’m only delivering the message and returning.

My word.

Desolate Day Extinction who succeeded in northern expedition.

Truly terrifying.]

Clearly a person requiring caution.

He didn’t hesitate to bend himself ridiculously low, and someone who manipulates information from across the world had entered under Fighting God’s command.

Hiss—

Jeong Yeon-shin burned the letter with Samadhi True Fire from his seat.

“…Muling Mountain.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly rose from his seat.

While white smoke rising brushed his shoulder. Sunlight pouring from the window was distorted over the jet-black character for Desolate.

* * *

Soon it was moonlit night.

The smoke that had circled his shoulder rose to the sky and seemed to become clouds covering the full moon. This year’s spring sunlight was particularly short.

“You look lonely.”

Rustle.

Lady Lu Xian’s bare feet carved shallow footprints in the garden full of earth. Where her heels fell, green sprouts faintly bloomed.

It was the realm of manifesting Living Sword with her whole body. Once, Jeong Yeon-shin had thought that if earth energy had been intact, Lady Lu Xian alone might have been able to eliminate famine.

“Thank you for making time when any sect leader would have no leisure.”

She continued slowly.

“From your appearance, weren’t you about to depart? Though your traveling party looks rather simple…”

“Because Lady called me.”

At Jeong Yeon-shin’s calm answer, the corners of Lady Lu Xian’s mouth rose in a grin.

“Some fellow comes looking for trouble without being called… Next time I’ll definitely call you to our main mountain’s Falling Goose Peak. Mount Hua’s Sect Leader never lies in promises involving Cinnabar Pills.”

“Falling Goose Peak was cut down.”

“What?”

“I apologize.”

“I heard from Abbot Master that there was great turmoil in Qinling Mountain Range…”

Lady Lu Xian trailed off. She seemed to struggle to refrain from asking deeper questions. It was probably because she felt Jeong Yeon-shin keeping his energy waves constantly low.

It was internal energy operation preparing for a great battle.

Breathing that raised the speed and explosive force of the first attack to maximum, and connected essence, energy, and spirit as organically as possible with a mind that had become calm like a clear mirror.

If the current Divine Sword Group Leader was preparing this much, no master who had opened energy perception would dare casually converse with Jeong Yeon-shin.

“I called because I felt your presence. There was something I absolutely had to discuss. Before I go up to find Yu Hyeon.”

“Please speak comfortably.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke while calculating the distance to Henan’s Muling Mountain. With Ten Li Gentle Light, which was just about to completely catch up with Divine Beggar Zhu Guang’s speed, it would be less than half a day without great effort.

‘That is…’

Soon he would encounter Fighting God.

As long as this fact filled his mind, he couldn’t devote great mental energy to Lady Lu Xian.

He had simply responded to her call to release tension from his whole body’s muscles. Whatever they discussed, Mount Hua Sect Leader’s characteristic flower-fragrant energy waves would gently tickle his skin.

Therefore, what Lady Lu Xian suddenly brought up was somewhat unexpected.

“What is being the world’s greatest?”

“……?”

“It’s what I thought the moment I saw that madman. That time was… after meeting Desolate Fortress Lord in Hangzhou, so it might have been worse. There were shocks in many ways.”

Even without specific designation, it was clear who she meant.

Tyrant Sword Sect Leader Dan Seong-eum.

Realizing that Jeong Yeon-shin was about to face a very great battle, she spoke of the being recently called World’s Greatest Sword. It would be her way of helping.

“That day was different.”

Lady Lu Xian’s story continued slowly.

“It had happened several times before, and when young, I had to teach that fellow things like Grappling Technique from my side. Every time we met during Shaanxi Dragon Phoenix Gathering or watching Mount Hua appointments…”

“……”

“But after that fellow became a Thirteen Evil Sects leader, his sword power became increasingly difficult to handle… That day, even with utmost Purple Mist Divine Art, it was difficult to receive his first sword. As if he had poured his soul into the sword hilt.”

It was an absurd story.

Living Sword was said to be the realm of making all things grow. Even by nurturing one’s own innate energy, sword power was greatly enhanced. That is, divine power like immortals was embodied in each of Mount Hua Sect’s characteristic brilliant sword paths.

Purple Mist Divine Art’s final destination.

The realm of overcoming various weighty sword momentum with only the mystery of change.

Breaking through Lady Lu Xian’s defensive techniques with a single move other than Transcendent Martial Art would be extremely difficult even for current Jeong Yeon-shin. Unless he rotated three luminous wheels simultaneously and thrust Thunder-Annihilation Sword Style’s Thunder with full power.

“Is that about Tyrant Sword Sect Leader? I have a melody in my repertoire that weaves stories of Mount Hua Sect Leader and Tyrant Sword Sect Leader…”

Wol-yo’s voice flowed from the traveling pack on Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder. Though Lady Lu Xian’s words stopped momentarily, Jeong Yeon-shin spun the pack greatly like Yue Shou-lin and urged the conversation.

“It’s the main fortress’s dharma treasure. Please ignore it.”

“…Anyway, that single sword clearly transcended normal logic. It wasn’t human sword power, and his eyes had human-specific reason extremely dimmed. As if he had experienced eons of time. He had given himself extreme pain and lost the greatest thing.”

“His soul…?”

“In my view, current jianghu is too perilous. In such a world, to attach the words ‘world’s greatest’ before one’s name, one must inevitably lose something tremendously great. Senses, persistence, birth, mental power. Whatever one was born with.”

It meant Dan Seong-eum was like that, Desolate Fortress Lord was like that, and Fighting God would also be like that.

“And also. In my view…”

Lady Lu Xian smiled slightly at Jeong Yeon-shin who had been silently listening to her words.

“You don’t seem to need to lose more. You already seem sufficient.”

Rustle.

Suddenly her palm approached soundlessly and lightly pressed against Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest. The hem of his purple robe naturally wrinkled slightly.

“What you lack is only time. Though you live in the same era as those competing for world’s greatest, you’ve been given far less time than them.”

The place where three luminous wheels resided.

“But I too have made progress in my own achievements. Now I can temporarily advance your time.”

Lady Lu Xian’s calluses, hard as a sword ghost’s hands, briefly shared heartbeat and pulse with Jeong Yeon-shin. The moment thin pulse and strong beating overlapped like one body.

‘Living Sword.’

Suddenly the luminous wheels began spinning like spinning wheels on their own, with movement as smooth as if lubricated.

Perfect Accommodation Without Obstruction.

Literally without hindrance, seeming unstoppable. A feeling of becoming extremely free like northern Natural Body or Desolate Fortress Lord’s Natural Sword.

It was then.

“When did you achieve Three Pure Forces…?”

Lady Lu Xian, who had opened her eyes wide, soon slowly moved her lips.

“With this, for about half a day.”

“Lady, this is…”

“You too can discuss being world’s greatest.”

Thanks to sharing life and death with Mount Hua Sect Leader, laughter was contained in her voice. Along with a feeling distant and upright like the peaks of Western Sacred Mount Hua.

* * *

The ridgeline was plain ash-gray.

Henan’s Muling Mountain.

One of the mountain ranges that blocked Xinye County, hometown of Divine Sword Group Leader Lightning Genius, terrain that had risen from battles of monster spirits during the Yuan-Ming transition period.

Though dawn time had long passed, sunlight couldn’t descend to the ground. All eight directions were only divided into black and white as if stained with half-burned ash powder.

A clearing large enough to generously build thatched houses.

“……”

The noble clan who had slightly exposed his robe’s chest remained silent. While glancing at some figure casually sitting on a log.

The scene where colors refracted chaotically or bounced off centered on the large crippled figure.

The center of the world.

At this moment he silently repeated throwing and catching a pebble, and watching that movement somehow made the sky seem to shake.

The noble clan man, current Hao Sect Master, thought in the colorless world.

‘It’s the right choice. Unless joining World Tree, excluding Profound Martial Alliance…’

He was certainly convinced.

Step.

Until suddenly some footsteps brightened the vicinity. Looking obliquely into the distance, purple robes fluttering in spring wind were reflected. They clearly had color.

And slowly deepened.

“……!”

Dimly.

Dawn poured into the mountainside.