Chapter 703 – Desolate Fortress Lord (3)

When he lifted his eyelids, dim light rippled forth.

It was radiance that stood out because everywhere around was dark. Only a single lamp flame was flickering. In a place that blocked out all external elements to the point where even sunlight could not penetrate, protecting Jeong Yeon-shin.

What Jeong Yeon-shin saw was the back of a monk’s head silhouetted against the firelight. Forming a flawless circle like Taiji, it was also a familiar-looking skull.

‘He’s standing guard for me.’

The moment Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyebrows twitched faintly, the figure turned around. The face of a monk with generous features and long ears was immediately revealed.

“You’ve awakened! Even after cutting a gate, so quickly…!”

A brightly smiling expression suited him well.

A young martial monk.

He was truly unchanged. Just as he had been when he gave sermons that led to the creation of Demon-Destroying Unyielding Palm. The young monk Gak-jeong whom Jeong Yeon-shin had met during the period when he treated the Seventh Apostle as his great enemy.

One of the Eighteen Arhats.

“…Master.”

Jeong Yeon-shin suppressed the energy that had been slumbering within his body before it could fully stir. Simultaneously, he dispersed the absurdly powerful energy waves that even he could feel with Return to Origin technique.

Energy liberated from broken luminous wheels.

It had permeated evenly throughout his entire meridian system and even fine muscles, as if his body had become a single energy center. As if the concept of martial arts had been molded into the physical form called Jeong Yeon-shin.

Even holding such power, his body felt comfortable.

This was because his achievement in Jeong Family Dynamic Technique had advanced endlessly by acknowledging his father, and the living sword energy of Lady Lu Xian that had unified the three luminous wheels remained faintly. A feeling as if hot spring water had gently caressed his body. There was no backlash at all.

Meanwhile, Gak-jeong trembled as if he had felt Jeong Yeon-shin’s energy waves in that brief moment.

“It’s like facing strange powers and chaotic spirits within a gate.”

Should this be called fitting for a latecomer bearing a name that only had the character ‘small’ added to the Shaolin Abbot’s title? His conduct was also without formality.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly.

“This place is…?”

“Shaolin’s inner courtyard Prosperity Hall.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It could be called a kind of guest pavilion. Outside, Great-Uncle Hell Deviation has created an energy barrier with supreme great power, so no one can disturb the donor’s tranquility.”

Was it because of that?

There was no sign of activity outside. A feeling like Buddha’s palm full of calluses embracing the hall. It seemed even enemies with transcendent energy senses, let alone World Tree, would not be able to peer inside.

Beom-ryeol’s sullen face came to mind. Along with the Buddhist staff that frequently united with curses.

“That person seemed to be wary of me…”

Gak-jeong smiled wryly.

“Great-Uncle Beom-ryeol’s eccentricity makes even our temple’s martial monks tire. But how could the benefactor who solved Henan’s long-standing troubles be the same as us bald monks? It wouldn’t be enough even if we served you respectfully.”

Then Jeong Yeon-shin was looking not at Gak-jeong’s eyes but at the side of his temple. Ears sharp like a blade, unlike those of Han Chinese, which had now become Jeong Yeon-shin’s concern. Not as sharp as his young master’s, but sufficiently pointed.

“Ah, this poor monk avoided the threat of unification.”

Gak-jeong spoke as if to say not to worry.

“All the noble clan brothers of Mount Song are like that. Four Great Vajra Won-jeok took all of the main tree’s attention. Moreover, this poor monk has relatively thin clan blood. Thanks to that, I grew quickly.”

Had this person always been so talkative?

No. The face of a monk freed from the karma Shaolin had borne for hundreds of years was bright enough that Jeong Yeon-shin himself wanted to smile exactly like that someday.

“…Truly.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly moved his mouth.

“Fortunate.”

Many things were mixed in those words. Longing, worry, anxiety, bewilderment, and at the same time, sorrow.

Was it because of the energy waves that had briefly erupted from Jeong Yeon-shin’s body just now? Gak-jeong had an expression of slight incomprehension.

The young monk of Shaolin was unchanged as a latecomer, but Jeong Yeon-shin was already living like an elderly peerless master. One who knew that no matter how strong one became, one could not escape from the heavenly net of relationships.

Then Great Master Beom-heo entered by opening the door with just his sleeve. His wrinkled bare feet made the guest hall floor creak.

“Was the journey enjoyable?”

He asked casually.

Jeong Yeon-shin was not surprised.

The Shaolin Abbot’s heavenly eye penetration was something beyond internal energy cultivation. A figure who might have surpassed even Desolate Fortress Lord and Fighting God in mental and physical cultivation and peaceful methods.

“Did you know this would happen?”

To Jeong Yeon-shin’s question, Great Master Beom-heo smiled slightly and quietly asked back.

“How is your body? When divine power equal to the strongest external cultivator’s strength suddenly dwells like this, anyone under heaven would find adaptation difficult. Rather than martial prowess rising, only precision would drop extremely, and one might have to enter wall-facing meditation for several years.”

Divine power of the strongest external cultivator.

It was still like that now.

If Literary Star successfully grasped Jeong Yeon-shin’s forearm properly, that arm would certainly be crushed. That much would not change even if Jeong Yeon-shin reached the realm of greatest in ancient and modern times. He would have to avoid being caught in the first place or prepare counterattack techniques.

Such was jianghu.

‘An era where the strong are unprecedentedly powerful.’

He knew this because he had seen the end of Yuan and beginning of Ming.

Such power had also dwelt in Jeong Yeon-shin’s body. Great Master Beom-heo’s words were not unfounded worry. At least that had been the case until he met and returned from the young Desolate Fortress Lord.

Suddenly Great Master Beom-heo’s smile deepened. He didn’t even listen for Jeong Yeon-shin’s answer. He merely quietly posed his final question.

“Will you go?”

“Thank you for watching over me.”

“Shaolin’s repayment has not even begun yet.”

Soon Great Master Beom-heo muttered as if talking to himself. The Nine Great Sects freed from karma return wholly as jianghu sects.

Jeong Yeon-shin clasped his hands together before him and headed for the door, and Great Master Beom-heo’s brief words about the situation near Mount Song followed.

“The benefactor who possessed the demonic sword made from Heaven-Conquering Sect Leader’s arm stayed close by your side all along, then headed that way.”

“Brother Hyeon Won…”

“At the foot of Lotus Heaven Peak, Desolate Fortress warriors are blocking the Great Righteous Alliance. The scale is different, so they’re being greatly pushed back… but they’re holding out with the advantage of terrain. At a glance, they seem more experienced in battlefield fighting than in military formations. One can tell what kinds of experiences they had in the north.”

“I see.”

“Tyrant Sword Sect Master has reached the mountain gate, and Desolate Fortress Lord and Fighting God who suddenly burst up through the mountain slopes stepped on clouds. From what I could see, your master first received Fighting God who broke through the ground to reach here. Meanwhile, your ‘prisoners’ each faced opponents suited to them… In this midst, World Tree seems to have sent more masters too. Mount Song might be turned into a wasteland.”

Jeong Yeon-shin paused briefly and asked quietly.

“May I ask how Shaolin will move?”

“Though I’m greatly sorry we can’t immediately join the battle, you will soon see the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation. Since some preparation is necessary, please hold out just a little longer.”

“I’ll need to move quickly.”

He kicked off from the floor.

Immediately a sensation like moving alone in all under heaven pressed down on his shoulders. He entered a domain where space felt cumbersomely like a swamp, and naturally his vision became blurred too.

Whiiiiing!

A strange air-breaking sound clung to his entire body.

It was after he had soared skyward the moment he made up his mind. Not only the roof of Prosperity Hall but also the energy barrier of Hell Deviation Beom-ryeol that had been flowing leisurely like mist was naturally pierced. From his feet that had grown distant far below, it seemed a roar of encouragement sounded. Something about trees.

It was a grateful thing.

Crossing Shaolin’s vast grounds and shifting his gaze toward the mountain gate, he could not help but first notice the largest figure of Literary Star. The scene of being surrounded by afterimages of seven noble clan boxers like the Big Dipper. Even by Jeong Yeon-shin’s energy sense at this moment, it was shape-shifting no different from reality.

“Northern Darkness Fist Marquis? She was a friend who terribly insisted on pure blood. The Xiahou clan is nothing.”

Her appearance matched the impression he had once heard from Yong Hui-myeong.

“She’s a master of transformation and illusion. If you don’t pin her in place with sword paths or force, she’s difficult to handle. With your temperament, you’ll definitely clash with her at least once, so I’m telling you. Her whole body is a weapon.”

“A master of transformation and illusion… like you, senior?”

“I’m a bit different in nature. If we must compare, she’s more orthodox.”

Zzzzzing!

Blue-black sparks and white smoke simultaneously erupted from Literary Star’s entire body.

His Heaven Steel Light Armor was turning its owner’s blood to steam, and Jeong Yeon-shin noticed in a brief moment. Northern Darkness Fist Marquis, taking all sorts of bizarre stances, had squeezed between Literary Star’s massive hands and feet from above and below, landing thirty-two techniques in one breath. Every fist and foot strike hit properly.

‘Natural stance.’

It was impossible without the ability to unleash ten-tenths explosive power regardless of stance. If one entered Literary Star’s gap with broken stances like hers, normally all strikes would be swallowed like a downpour and limbs would be caught in the giant’s grasp.

Even so.

Thud-

The place where Jeong Yeon-shin, who had stepped on empty air, arrived was unrelated to Literary Star. A forest about three hundred steps to the left from where Northern Darkness Fist Marquis was active. None other than the side of Heaven-Conquering Sect Leader.

No roaring sounds, no dazzling sword energy.

Only trajectories of bladework everywhere.

It was a domain entangled like thread in sharp heat shimmer, where early summer sunlight seemed to shine down only on this spot.

Within it, the one-armed blind man was being helplessly pushed back. It was remarkable that his tattered old bamboo hat was still intact.

“You’re quite the unorthodox practitioner too?”

The opponent was not Qingcheng Sect Leader.

Taoist Qingshu was leaning against one side of Shaolin’s mountain gate. He seemed to have sustained sword wounds difficult to staunch with World Tree’s regenerative ability. Probably struck by the blind man’s sword attack, his appearance of silently circulating energy in the midst of enemy territory was bold.

Separately from that.

Jeong Yeon-shin stared blankly ahead.

‘Unorthodox Finest Sword.’

Had it been too short a time to fully master Great Master Beom-heo’s Formless Hands and Feet?

Shock waves that seemed to blind the eyes continuously burst forth thickly. Each time he used the bounced Winter Dream Sword as a staff to support his body for an instant, then naturally raised the sword in counterbeat to continue chain techniques, a succession of divine skills. A series of techniques unfolded at overwhelming speed.

But when he pressed close to his opponent, he became ghostly slow. Before the face of a swordsman with an eerily thin frame draped in entirely distorted air like clothing.

The scene of blue sword Winter Dream entering a sword domain where only blunt swords were permitted. Due to the pressure waves emitted from a great sword disproportionately large for the swordsman’s frame.

Invisible sword winds were spreading profound trajectories like paintings. Sword winds felt only by energy sense, not skin. A feeling of concentrating and unleashing enlightened martial arts like Great Master Beom-heo’s heavenly eye penetration only in swordplay.

The thin swordsman urged Unorthodox Finest Sword to retreat without even swinging his sword a few times. Without any words at all.

“……”

With each step that rang out, the blind man’s feet slid back with thud sounds, and when dry grass leaves crumbled again with steps, thud sounds followed. Retreating backward like that, then backward again, a steady rhythm. No killing intent, not even any emotion emerged.

The next moment.

The great sword the thin swordsman extended penetrated Heaven-Conquering Sect Leader’s abdomen like natural law. There was no friction between protective energy and sword tip. All of Heaven-Conquering Sect Leader’s sword paths felt sucked into distant ages like useless tangled thread.

“Oh my.”

Crack-

The sound of the blind man’s abdominal muscles tightening the great sword along with his energy. His muscles were as hard as resentment ungrounded by time.

“You came?”

Beyond the hair the swordsman who stabbed him let hang long, the blind man smiled. He was gazing straight at Jeong Yeon-shin as if the bamboo hat’s brim were eyes.

“My other motto is ‘a gentleman’s revenge is not late even after ten years,’ but on days like today there’s no other recourse. Even hopping around on one leg, when would I find a chance to flee?”

“……”

“Did you see everything?”

It was the question of a peerless swordsman who had survived multiple encounters with contemporary Enter The Divine Sword Master. Jeong Yeon-shin read the underlying meaning. It meant whether he was ready to break through this greatest battlefield of ancient and modern times.

He slowly nodded.

The smile that had formed beneath the bamboo hat held both irritation and pleasure simultaneously. There was no resentment. They weren’t in such a relationship to begin with.

“Since it’s so vast and full of monsters, I thought it would take time even for you. Isn’t safe battlefields your motto? Because of that, preparations are sluggish, and you’ve lost much because of it. To my hands, and to jianghu people’s hands.”

“True words.”

“One sword, dry ground.”

From the voice beneath the bamboo hat, some indefinable emotion faintly emerged. Only one thing was certain: that heart was not particularly agitated.

“Add a failed revenge to this, and it’s truly a trinity. The most common jianghu.”

The tall and thin swordsman like an old tree, Tyrant Sword Sect Master Dan Seong-eum, had not moved until then. Only the sunlight that had been pouring down around him began stopping strand by strand like heavy rain. A scene where nearby time seemed to gradually halt.

“I heard he easily creates unique martial arts.”

Words Dan Seong-eum had once spoken.

“I cannot do so, so I’m creating one with difficulty.”

‘Three Desolate-Breaking Forms.’

Jeong Yeon-shin felt that all the nerves of the ‘World’s Greatest Sword who lost his soul’ had been inclined toward him. Certainly since he emerged from Prosperity Hall.

Whether this was due to Lady Lu Xian’s living sword or traces of young Desolate Fortress Lord remaining like fragrance in his upper energy center was unknown.

Rummmmmble!

Even at this moment, a festival of all kinds of pressure waves rolling in like thunder from all directions. An unprecedentedly powerful battlefield.

Jeong Yeon-shin was the same.

He was the strongest among all Jeong Yeon-shins and Divine Sword Group Leaders to date. Perfect preparation like never before.

“Tyrant Sword Sect Master, turn back as you are.”

His voice burst out as a spoken word, becoming an echo that struck all of Mount Song like a temple bell one breath later.

[Silent Radiant Sword Constellation.]

[Southern Splendor Radiant Taiji.]

The sky was overlaid with faint constellations and became completely dark, while the earth brightened with bluish Taiji’s rush. It was an instant before a domain neither day nor night enveloped Mount Song’s seventy-two peaks.

Within it, Jeong Yeon-shin smelled scents like a certain night at Jeong Manor. Fishy blood smell, metal, earth smell on broken rope.

Instantly a huge crater was created beside him as if a meteor had struck.

Craaaaaash!

Amid tremendous vibration and roaring, a large human shadow leisurely rose. When the shadow glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin, the dust around its head curved slyly following the shadow’s mouth shape.

It was Fighting God.

“There’s been no better conversation than this.”

“……”

In Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes looking upward, the moon reflected. No, taking one breath, Desolate Fortress Lord was treading on darkness. She had driven Fighting God down from the distant sky.

Step.

The northern Fighting God who emerged through the dust walked beside Jeong Yeon-shin. When Jeong Yeon-shin showed no particular reaction, a strange composition formed.

The two stood side by side.