Chapter 706 – Desolate Fortress Lord (6)

Jeong Yeon-shin stood blankly on a precipitous peak. He had just raced across the vast mountain range. He was looking down at the canyon beneath his feet.

The smoke that was rising hazily toward the sky seemed frozen like clouds. Everything in all directions was sluggish, like the leaves that had gently settled on young Desolate Fortress Lord’s head.

He had already entered the domain of the peerless.

‘Master.’

The canyon was already close to ruins.

The cliffs that even revealed their pale inner flesh were cracked here and there by all sorts of backlash and propulsive energy waves to the point of showing signs of landslides, and descending to the origin point of those long scars, three people were immediately visible.

Desolate Fortress Lord.

Fighting God.

Tyrant Sword Sect Master.

Too close. They were gathered together forming the range of close combat. Centered on the grayish-white afterimage of Enter The Divine Sword that Jeong Yeon-shin had suddenly thrust in.

Desolate Fortress Lord and Fighting God facing each other, with Tyrant Sword Sect Master driving down from midair toward them.

……

The eyes of the three people slowly moved toward Jeong Yeon-shin, as if piercing through the stopped time axis.

Jeong Yeon-shin received their gazes expressionlessly.

The metal fragments that had been Enter The Divine Sword for a very long time were blocking them scattered about. Crumbled into particles fine as sand, having completely lost the form of a sword. If they had only withstood one strike it would be understandable, but they had received the energy waves of three supreme masters.

‘I’m sorry.’

Though the Energy Control Sword Charging that had made Enter The Divine Sword sturdy earlier was meaningless, even the hardest metal in the world was nothing but a wooden shield among them. Rather, it was surprising that the figures competing for supremacy under heaven had stopped even momentarily without particular damage.

He spread his hands wide toward them.

“Stand back.”

Woooooooooong!

The fragments of Enter The Divine Sword that had transformed into silver flower rain of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain spread in three directions as if drawing on the long history of Divine Sword Group Leaders as strength. Simultaneously, the three absolute beings swept away by the galaxy-like flow were pushed back toward their respective rear sides.

It would be an unbelievable sight to anyone.

Miraculous.

Something no one else under heaven could do.

Tyrant Sword Sect Master Dan Seong-eum floated up, losing the falling momentum of his sword-body unity, and Fighting God’s large feet made rough furrows with crunching sounds. At the same time, Desolate Fortress Lord stood on the sparse brownish-yellow grass blades with gliding lightness technique, then quietly looked up at Jeong Yeon-shin.

“……”

Their eyes met.

In the deep green eyes that still seemed ready to absorb souls, a transparent and strange rippling reflected. Jeong Yeon-shin found it hard to grasp. Whether even a small fragment of his master remained in her eyes, or only blade-sharp tree branches.

It was a heart he couldn’t reveal now. Because this was a situation where he couldn’t give any openings.

Whoosh.

He landed in one step.

Though he had fallen from considerable height to the ground, the three people who met Jeong Yeon-shin at eye level were truly the vastness of jianghu.

Step.

He moved his footsteps toward them.

While Fighting God, who had only turned his head sideways, watched him with sidelong glances, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly grew larger in Desolate Fortress Lord’s pupils.

Above their heads, Tyrant Sword Sect Master, supporting his body with a single sword, examined Jeong Yeon-shin with an expressionless face, seeming to unconsciously calculate what kind of variable Jeong Yeon-shin would become.

Thus there were four people.

Hissss.

The silver sword fragments returned to Jeong Yeon-shin and took position at his feet and behind his back. An appearance that made the star clusters floating on earth into ceremonial dress. The hem of his faded purple robe began fluttering, mixed with the whirlwind of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain.

“Other jianghu people aside, at least you all…”

Jeong Yeon-shin moved his mouth slowly.

“Should not gather like this.”

While questioning his own choice of throwing Enter The Divine Sword without hesitation at this moment, he slowly continued speaking.

“The aftereffects are too great. Many innocent people will inevitably be harmed, so I hope you will disperse here. Meet in pairs later if you must. Preferably where no common people can be seen.”

“Crazy bastard. Catch this.”

Fighting God suddenly kicked the ground lightly. Without any energy waves, the slightly raised ground bounced something toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

It was the old hilt of Enter The Divine Sword.

Unlike the sword body, it had miraculously survived intact. Thanks to Myriad Heavens Flower Rain being activated immediately, he had been able to draw only the energy waves of the three people into the sword body fragments. It was also something possible because it was a divine martial secret technique.

Rustle.

Jeong Yeon-shin caught the hilt-only Enter The Divine Sword and smoothly put it into his robe.

Fighting God chuckled at the sight.

“Strange robe. Storage seems remarkably convenient. Doesn’t even show.”

“All robes from our sect are like this. Relying only on bundles gets you ambushed and ganged up on a lot.”

“Is that something an ambusher should say?”

“Disperse.”

Behind Jeong Yeon-shin, who calmly repeated the same words, the abundant silver powder of Myriad Heavens Flower Rain was floating like sand. Through the gaps, the crowds filling the distant ridges were small as dots, but therefore repeatedly filled the empty spaces of the Enter The Divine Sword flower rain or darkly stained them.

“……”

Whenever the dry spring wind seeped into Jeong Yeon-shin’s Tang Sect secret technique, it split with crackling sounds.

There were no gaps.

Finally Fighting God turned his body. It was a posture with Desolate Fortress Lord to his left and Jeong Yeon-shin to his right.

“If we disperse here as you say, what will you do?”

“I’ll seek each of you out one by one and see it through. Take time, and wait until then.”

Brief silence fell.

Though he had calmly uttered absurd words, Jeong Yeon-shin was sincere. Because the crowds that had flocked to the mountain slopes like a dead reed field were vivid in his mind. With their fight, they would crumble like grain stalks and more.

“…Wrong.”

Fighting God, who shook his head, spoke.

“Rather, since such people have gathered, now is right to kill that thing.”

It was words spoken while naturally gesturing toward Jeong Yeon-shin with his chin, but it was precisely the moment when Desolate Fortress Lord appeared before her disciple’s eyes. Dead grass blades were rustling at her bare heels. Leaves drawn by the extreme speed lightness technique.

“……!”

Simultaneously, starlight was added to all those grass blades. Jeong Yeon-shin had already struck outward the sword surface of Enter The Extinction Sword that had come down to his forehead, and masses of light from Myriad Heavens Flower Rain poured down like a waterfall in the same direction as his combat path.

Zzzzzzzzzzzing!

The masses of light that had penetrated between the grass blade starlight and the sword blade absorbed even the shock waves burst by the Brilliant River energy on the back of his hand while greatly pushing away Enter The Extinction Sword. Desolate Fortress Lord’s chest opened wide. Due to the grip technique of the world’s greatest who never let go of a sword hilt under any circumstances, conversely Jeong Yeon-shin, who had approached her and touched her abdomen, whispered in her ear.

“Not now.”

The moment his gathered fingers curved like a dragon’s front paw while brushing against her firm abdominal muscles.

Hwaaaaaak!

Just before bursting the tension of Heaven-Breaking Palm, a hazy fierce wind blew in. Wind carrying extremely complex sword winds. Everything surged aggressively like sword paths.

It was the energy waves of Tyrant Sword Sect Master’s sword strike.

Just touching a few strands made his protective strong energy Radiant Star buzz and emit violent vibrations. In the eyes of Jeong Yeon-shin, who immediately withdrew his hand and body to the side, the sword work of the gaunt swordsman reflected. Along with Tyrant Sword Sect Master’s colorless pupils.

Coming to completely sever the waists of both master and disciple, the Moon Spirit Sword Energy of Desolate Fortress Lord, which had already crossed the space where Jeong Yeon-shin’s wrist had been, curved like a tidal wave behind her back.

Truly divine technique.

Zzzzzzzzing!

It was the sound of all the invisible sword winds being cut away. Of course, orange sparks from friction between energy waves cut the ground and cliffs like lightning. If he had fully executed Heaven-Breaking Palm here, Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand would have been severed just the same.

‘It’s not over. There’s a second move.’

The moment the edge of the Moon Spirit Sword Energy, which had been faint like a moon halo, condensed like a jade bead, Tyrant Sword Sect Master disappeared, piercing through to the end of the canyon with the shock wave that burst along with the formation of that sword orb. The sight of a straight line afterimage scattering like lightning along the long trajectory. Rock masses began pouring down from the dizzyingly high cliffs.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!

Desolate Fortress Lord turning her back on the landslide with a peaceful face.

“Sword orb. I’m seeing all the old Yuan Dynasty techniques. Even the Former Heaven Emperor doesn’t use techniques now pushed aside by Transcendent Martial Art.”

Fighting God was walking toward her with hearty laughter. While delivering an apology to Jeong Yeon-shin that carried no particular regret.

“You were right. It’s impossible to coordinate attacks with such people.”

That was when it happened.

The condensed energy mass derived from Moon Spirit Sword Energy rolled around on Enter The Extinction Sword like dancing, then in an instant approached within three steps of Fighting God and gently fell like dew at his feet.

The result of flawlessly handling blade, range, and sword domain.

“……!”

Was it because the roar was too loud?

There was no sound.

Only everything turned hazy white. Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision was the same.

‘Natural Sword.’

It seemed to be presupposed in all of Desolate Fortress Lord’s attack moves, just as he had heard from Taoist Sanfeng.

He had said it was the realm of controlling the flow of vast natural energy with a single blade. It aimed for pure advancement of sword power. The technique where not only the hand gripping the sword hilt but all of nature pushed the sword.

– Even when it was hard to chew even a single grain of Cliff Valley Pill, only the sword moved properly. If you ride the wind, it just flows. Yes… that’s all I can say. You too would be the same, but I also lack the talent for explaining enlightenment well. Isn’t it ‘The Tao that can be spoken is not the constant Tao’ anyway?

– I teach well.

– Dancing with the universe until you collapse is the natural body, and the technique of sword work together with all creation is Natural Sword. Perfect body movement and extreme sword power respectively.

– Perfect body movement… to me it feels like tautology. Somehow the natural body doesn’t appeal to me.

– Of course, that’s not the only way to refine my martial arts. Long ago, Dharma Master seemed to be simply robust, and that fellow called the First Heavenly Demon couldn’t have walked the orthodox path either… How about it? Will you try making one too?

Jeong Yeon-shin quickly made a judgment.

‘An unblockable sword move.’

Internal energy barriers were meaningless. Shame Extreme King whom he had once killed with Enter The Dao Transcend Together’s triple strike in the black capital, her protective strong energy would require someone like Literary Star to face with bare body.

A good thing.

Anyway, Jeong Yeon-shin’s body currently had no protective strong energy. He had long since sent it overlaid on the Myriad Heavens Flower Rain that had gone far away.

Hwak!

Suddenly his vision cleared.

Zzzzzzzzzing!

The bloodied Fighting God was exchanging moves with Desolate Fortress Lord at speeds that seemed to tear space apart. Shock waves that had soared to the distant sky in one breath burst lightning in the clouds, and on the ground, they sank the winding valleys of the canyon even deeper. Everyone’s vision shook endlessly.

‘Fighting God…’

He had finally brought about the range of close combat.

But Desolate Fortress Lord’s sword paths didn’t shorten. Because Fighting God’s limbs were so long. The movements of the two people only appeared hazily even to Jeong Yeon-shin’s eye techniques.

Bang!

The shadow of the gaunt swordsman mixed into that. Naturally it was Tyrant Sword Sect Master. Of course, the hazy combat path trajectories swelled as if to devour the vicinity, and the void gradually began cracking semi-transparently here and there like an earthquake racing through clouds.

The same as Desolate Fortress Lord’s current epithet.

Chaotic Heaven Emperor. Master of the turbid heaven.

What she was creating at this moment together with the two people was chaos. As if fighting to show that even the unruthless Jeong Yeon-shin lacked the power to lead the great situation. As if their own order had been created.

The word “masterful” was insufficient. Even if Jeong Yeon-shin intervened here, only the same pattern would repeat.

Then the master of the battlefield should be changed.

‘To my order.’

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth. While feeling the masses of light flowing down like bright dawn, riding the sky he had turned his back to.

[Morning Star.]

Protective strong energy and Myriad Heavens Flower Rain.

And the unification technique of Controlling Qi and Sword abilities.

It was greater than when he had once awakened the dharma power of Dharma’s Scripture through Golden Wing Sect Master’s Transcendent Martial Art. Though it might not instantly kill Mount Song’s peerless masters, it was enough to forcibly constrain their freedom momentarily and drag them up to this place.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

Three more human shadows drove down into the domain created by the three absolute beings. In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin confirmed that Literary Star was barely holding onto Praising Earth Sword Duke and Northern Darkness Fist Marquis. Naturally, tremendous weight and energy waves shook the earth’s axis.

In the sudden dust cloud, the figures of Desolate Fortress Lord and Tyrant Sword Sect Master appeared.

“……”

Even though masters of the World’s Five Swords level had fallen, the balance wasn’t disturbed. Jeong Yeon-shin immediately moved the Morning Star above. He had immediately struck down another one from nothingness like Emperor Qian-ling, who was said to draw weapons from the void.

[Primordial Peace Pacifier, you bastard! What are you doing!]

Bluish and reddish Azure Cloud Crimson Cloud Sword Energy descended to the ground and struck hundreds of sword attacks regardless of friend or foe.

Kugugugugugugung!

“I’ll walk on my own feet. Though I’m still missing one leg…”

The blind swordsman who had been standing in Morning Star’s silver light swayed unsteadily, then roughly landed to Jeong Yeon-shin’s left. And grimaced as if his knees hurt under his bamboo hat.

Unorthodox Finest Sword was last.

Little Heavenly Demon Invincible was sitting on a silver cloud with arms crossed like Great Sage Sun Wukong riding the Somersault Cloud.

Her brain lightning rang quietly. Is this right?

Jeong Yeon-shin spread his empty hands.

“Everyone’s here.”

Crack!

Green-blue flames flickered in his palm, and space began splitting in the form of a single blade. Simultaneously he moved his lips.

“Now it’s ready. Do as you please.”