Chapter 720 – Stone Sword Group (10)

The perspective was different.

That was what Jeong Yeon-shin felt as soon as he sat in the grand master’s chair. Even though he merely gazed straight ahead, those seated in rows on both sides were blocking his view at this moment.

To Jeong Yeon-shin’s right were Elder Council figures like Shin Byeok, and to his left were core members of subordinate families like Ma Jin and Shin Seol-ha.

Fewer than ten people each.

Because they weren’t all present from the beginning.

The Elder Council’s forces were concentrated at the gate near Wuchang Prefecture in Huguang lands. Families like Desolate Xiahou and Desolate Yun were still finding people from the stronghold who had scattered during the Seven New Enemies of Defeated Desolation rebellion and sending them back to Xiangyang.

The seats across from Jeong Yeon-shin were similarly empty in places. There were seventeen stone seats, but only five had sat down following the new Desolate Fortress Lord.

Obeying Heaven Wing Lord Namgung Hwa-shin, Annihilation Team Leader Shin Hwang, Dragon Treading Leader Wei Ji-zhi, temporary Blood Guardian Leader Hyeon Won-chang, and Law Enforcement Leader Woon So-yu, who seemed to have forced herself to come, emitting energy waves from her lower back.

‘Why…?’

Woon So-yu’s face, glistening with cold sweat, caught in his vision like a thorn. She seemed to have prepared and come out immediately after Jeong Yeon-shin visited Divine Physician’s guest hall.

The burden grew heavier.

Even so.

Those filling the front and sides were like a well-woven fence. The sight of masters each seasoned enough to be familiar with jianghu sitting like vassals.

It was not a landscape permitted to a mere warrior.

From now on, his view on both sides would never open wide again. Unless he someday washed his hands in a golden basin and stepped down from Desolate Fortress Lord’s seat.

That was when it happened.

“There were those who felt cramped by their house’s fence. Ordinary people who were born with noble bloodlines by heaven’s fortune and sat in positions beyond their station did so.”

A man with grayish-white hair slowly spoke. It was from beyond Jeong Yeon-shin’s opposite side, and sounded somewhat languid.

The faded monarch.

“But you are not.”

The man’s lips, tinged with a smile, moved slowly. That thin smile seemed to contain even satisfaction.

“You seem to have found your true home. Fruit of chaotic times.”

Along with the incomprehensible designation for Jeong Yeon-shin, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Because sunlight flickered again centered on the man. It was a scene where it poured down brightly like lantern flames at night, then grew cloudy like polluted waterfall water.

“What an annoying bastard…?”

Hyeon Won-chang muttered to himself and threw his head back.

Not only that. Annihilation Team Leader Shin Hwang and Dragon Treading Leader Wei Ji-zhi were already staring intently at the man over their respective shoulders.

“Should we kill him?”

Wei Ji-zhi asked Jeong Yeon-shin.

It was after his speech had naturally changed to respectful form. It was Desolate Fortress’s tradition. Jeong Yeon-shin only slightly raised the hand resting on the armrest, and just that alone made the white light that had been flickering sharp as Wei Ji-zhi’s jawline disappear from the Cotton Rope Lasso.

Of course, Helian Feng-yue, whose ankle had been bound by that rope, unnecessarily clasped his hands behind his back.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin met eyes with the grayish-haired man.

Even at this moment, General Administration Ki Dae-seung’s sound transmission was pouring into his ears. Everything was information about the grayish-haired man, namely the faded monarch.

– …We newly obtained this from below the General Administration. Documents stating sword control techniques were possible with a total of seventy-two treasured swords. Additionally, this seems to be information that the lord alone should know first, but privately he was the previous lord’s betrothed. Though that engagement was never realized, as a person who influenced the founding of Desolate Fortress…

The faded monarch seemed to be hearing all of that sound transmission. Because even in that brief moment, his eyes curved gently.

Pupils like ground old grain.

Hence grayish.

They imparted ominousness without any particular eye technique. A premonition of unknown origin. It was the same even for the current Desolate Fortress Lord who had clearly come to compete for supremacy under heaven.

The reason was only one.

‘One who can harm those around me.’

When it came to sword control, Jeong Yeon-shin also had considerable knowledge. A skill that displayed the power of a strategic weapon at the Great Wall with just a single blade. If seventy-two fell, it would be like meteors.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked at him for a while before speaking quietly.

“I’ve experienced Sword Venerable Swimming Heaven Sword Ghost’s Eight Ring Divine Art. You created it?”

“So?”

To the faded monarch’s composed counter-question, he asked back in an even more peaceful tone.

“Mind Sword Control is certainly fast, but does it exert its abilities even after the swordsman dies?”

The woman who had been staring intently at Jeong Yeon-shin from beside the faded monarch flinched. Sword Venerable Baek Seo-gun. She had an expression that seemed to be groping for Jeong Family Head Jeong Pan-yue rather than the current Desolate Fortress Lord, but became expressionless as if asking when that was.

However, Jeong Yeon-shin did not meet her eyes even after mentioning it himself. In his memory, Desolate Fortress Lord only opened her mouth to the enemy’s leader.

The faded monarch laughed once more.

“You resemble her.”

He said.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“You must indeed be master and disciple. You two also resemble each other.”

“Hmm?”

“You take me in with your eyes, but see someone else. You’re difficult people to associate with.”

Dignified breathing arose from the Divine Sword Vice-Leader seat like laughter. It was Obeying Heaven Wing Lord Namgung Hwa-shin’s exhaling breath while still asleep, and Hyeon Won-chang in the next seat tilted his head. Was it flattery?

“Despite having the scale of a martial alliance among yourselves, you’re like family. That’s an enviable thing. Quite marvelous too.”

The faded monarch continued speaking.

“I’ve heard rumors about the true gate. Is it fact?”

Jeong Yeon-shin answered with an indifferent face.

“It’s a fact.”

“…So I hear it’s true. Then that will be the greatest sword strike in jianghu, and will have an even bigger impact than you ascending to the position of Desolate Fortress Lord in the future. Better than Taoist Sanfeng who suddenly disappeared after conducting some unknown machination at World Tree’s main trunk. So you are indeed the greatest swordsman of all time.”

A story that continued like a tune with gentle rhythm, present yet absent.

In the tone peculiar to old noble clans, the faded monarch’s transcendent insight was embedded. Enough to feel why figures like Martial Dragon Alliance Leader were with him.

But Jeong Yeon-shin only smiled faintly.

“You know nothing.”

“Your words are unrestrained. Even Taoist Sanfeng didn’t speak to me like that.”

“What business Taoist Sanfeng had at World Tree’s main trunk, and what happened there.”

“……”

“How many of the strong ones at the peerless master level will stand before the gate on the premise of suicide.”

Having said that much, Jeong Yeon-shin leaned his weary body diagonally against the grand master’s chair’s backrest like his heart. His chin, tilted slightly upward, pointed at three people like a sword strike. The faded monarch, Baek Seo-gun, Helian Feng-yue.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s jet-black pupils looked down on them.

“People like you are my troubles.”

He said.

Deep silence spread.

He could feel it even without upper energy center insight. That the assembly was seeing his master reflected in his appearance.

Jeong Yeon-shin also suddenly recalled the moment he first faced his master. Her pupils that seemed to suck in even souls.

‘Do I also look like that?’

Meanwhile, even until then Helian Feng-yue did not turn to look at Jeong Yeon-shin. He just appeared to be gazing up at distant mountains as if viewing geomancy.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked.

“Martial Dragon Alliance Leader, what did you come here for?”

“…Friend, I too am a sect leader, so show at least minimal respect. If possible, also tell me about that Yong family fellow’s whereabouts. I ask this politely.”

Simultaneously, a huge shadow was cast.

Literary Star, who was tilting his head near Helian Feng-yue’s ear, was reflected. The sight of him whispering with his hands clasped behind his back in a stooped posture, Mencius said…

“…That speech without courtesy is self-destruction, and not managing one’s own life is called self-abandonment. And he connected these two sayings. Isn’t it truly exquisite?”

Veins bulged on Helian Feng-yue’s forearms wearing sleeveless robes. It certainly wasn’t an ordinary matter. Because if it was Transcendent Martial Art that had nearly torn off even Fighting God’s upper body recently, it might deal a fatal injury unwittingly.

“Hmm.”

But his arms ultimately loosened all their veins.

It was the right judgment. The pressure covering the central training ground now wasn’t created by just one or two strong figures. Besides Literary Star who straightened his waist with a smile, there were many figures.

The faded monarch, who had looked around the assembly, opened his mouth.

“Premised on a peerless master’s suicide… so the true gate is ultimately dying together with the gate? A master who has gone mad for martial arts and can only have the most attachment to life. I’ve obtained a great answer thanks to you.”

“That’s why I’ve kept you criminals standing until now.”

“While pondering what will make us walk to our own deaths?”

The gray man asked with a smiling face, but Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head and answered.

“I’m thinking of ways to coerce you. Because I don’t trust you.”

“Imperial factions have no choice. Your distrust of jianghu people runs deep. It was the same during Yuan Dynasty times.”

“First I’ll declare this isn’t a curse, but are your parents alive?”

The faded monarch’s clasped hands loosened like spring wind.

“What did you say…?”

“The Sword Venerable who could be called your successor seems to be nothing to you. What about other blood relatives or those equivalent? The stronghold can protect them.”

Because it was a tone calm as a still pond, it probably didn’t seem like a threat. Lim Jin-ming, who had been standing close by, suddenly sent a sound transmission.

– I report to the current lord. If there are those worth using as hostages, there was evidence that Martial Dragon Alliance Leader’s direct disciple Hua Yan-fei returned alive during the Desolate Fortress Great War. If you command, I will track his whereabouts. And in the cases of Sword Venerable Baek Seo-gun and the faded monarch, there are considerable difficulties…

– Whoever it is, capture them and treat them courteously.

– That would be the lord and the previous lord. We’re already treating the former with utmost care.

As if he had eavesdropped on even this conversation, the faded monarch muttered softly.

“Is this place a demonic sect?”

Jeong Yeon-shin tapped the grand master’s chair’s armrest. It was a place to discuss jianghu’s great affairs immediately upon taking office as lord. He had no choice but to handle problems as a ruler rather than a mere warrior.

“Thus you stand at the very center of all under heaven’s great affairs. Because I’m discussing your treatment.”

They were the current Desolate Fortress Lord’s words. Then that’s how it was.

Now Helian Feng-yue’s expression seemed to see something beyond even bewilderment, but Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t care because it was plain fact. Wasn’t the lord the direct superior of the leaders?

The faded monarch raised his lips ambiguously.

“If he were a monarch, he’d be an absurdly hardline king. Distrusting and looking down on people so much, gaining allies will be an arduous task. Right now even Wudang Sect of these Hubei lands has its hands and feet bound, doesn’t it? Even though you personally established friendly relations with Taoist Sanfeng’s sect.”

“I simply don’t trust the Unorthodox Path. Like the riffraff who caused trouble in my house.”

“Well… in chaotic times, a noble person makes even a murderer into a companion on mountain paths. Because they were always fleeing, they would read mountain paths well, would have become good at selecting edible weeds, and if lucky might even make them die together with merciless bandits. You must have done many such things. I hear there were even criminals your Divine Sword Group privately employed.”

“That was only when they were in my grasp. Not anymore. They’ve each gone to find their own lives.”

One never knows about people’s lives. One shouldn’t assert how they’ll flow.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly rose from his seat.

Before he could fully stand, everyone in the assembly was standing. A rising that even employed protective nerves. Momentarily countless energy waves entangled like murky thread, then roughly shook the marble floor with a thud. From that rebound, even Namgung Hwa-shin’s body floated up.

“Answers to questions end here. From now I’ll conduct interrogations, so Elder Council, subordinate families, and Divine Sword Group, please guard the stronghold.”

At Jeong Yeon-shin’s words, the atmosphere rippled, and soon semi-transparent energy barriers sporadically shot up and overlaid the sky.

Kuguuuguuuguung!

Easily hundreds of layers.

The shadow the faded monarch had been creating vanished without a trace. Because darkness as thick as a prison had painted over all directions.

Yet not one uninvited guest took a battle-ready stance.

Everyone exchanged questions and answers with Jeong Yeon-shin as if water flowing. Whether that posture was gentle like the faded monarch, or had somehow become flattened like Gun Yu-rin lying prostrate like Shin So-bin’s cushion.

For a very long time.

Until the current Desolate Fortress Lord was satisfied.

* * *

“By now he would have become Desolate Fortress Lord. Lightning Genius is our greatest enemy.”

An aged old woman’s voice spread.

“We’ve confirmed we cannot coexist, and the true gate was fact.”

It was a forest in full bloom. Literally a landscape where flowers of all colors and rare plants extended like mountain slopes. Several tree branches even had unripe figs prematurely bearing fruit.

As if the season had advanced.

Whoooosh… Cloud-like large shadows, the particularly thick shadows of two people rippled once on the ground. They were the silhouettes of an old woman and an old Taoist respectively.

The old Taoist’s shadow spoke.

“Defeated by the Jeong family elite… the Stone Sword leader.”

“I suppose so.”

“How unfortunate.”

“It would have been different if you had come along. Isn’t Wudang Sect Leader such an existence? No matter how addled by senility.”

“This poor Taoist guards the main trunk, and the main trunk controls Wudang Mountain’s gate without any variables. Wasn’t that the original pact? Don’t dare try to violate it. I’m not that pitiful boy Yong Hye-myeong who was deceived by Ma Yeon-jeok and dragged to Desolate Fortress.”

“Understand me. I’m having trouble controlling the Imperial Three Great Masters. Starting with Golden Thunder Viscount being a huge headache, Heaven-Reaching Bow Count has no interest in the main trunk’s internal affairs. Should I say it’s fortunate that Three Directions General returned?”

“What about Whistle Lord and beggar Sword Duke? What about Fist Marquis who got his head beaten by Yong family boy’s blade’s flat side? Did he mutually wound with that crippled fighting demon?”

“They were all repelled by the joint attack of Heaven Soaring Guest and Lightning Genius. The key is which side returns first. It becomes troublesome if Desolate Fortress finds the main trunk.”

“What worry for a tree that always crawls. Wait, Heaven Soaring Guest? Heaven Soaring Guest…?”

“That’s the one who killed Wudang’s High Sword.”

“That damned bastard. Where has that fellow who should be torn into a thousand pieces by the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword gone…?”

Whoosh!

The shadows spread on the grass floor swayed askew. Even though they were merely silhouettes created by sunlight and tree shade. A distortion originating from the old Taoist’s sword shadow. It was the precursor of Wudang Taiji Wisdom Sword that distorted even providence.

Faint laughter tinged the old woman’s voice.

“Immortal Profound Void. I was just about to tour throughout the Central Plains. If I ask Wind King about Heaven Soaring Guest’s whereabouts for you, promise to move according to the main trunk’s will just once.”

“You withered old tree elder, I’m already doing so.”

“Promise.”

“I promise.”

The old Taoist’s silhouette extended his little finger, and the old woman’s shadow that looked down at it flicked her finger.

“I’ve long inscribed my wind on Winter Dream Sword.”

Swish!

The nearby grass field lay down flat like huge scholar’s studio treasures. Simultaneously spring wind began writing characters. Wind containing Grand Empress Dowager Wei Yeon’s spirit was creating an intelligence report like her. It was also a type of primordial spirit avatar.

“How could I not keep such a dangerous person under my eye? I should have kept watching like a jianghu name register.”

Wind King Technique that had received Fighting God’s Bright Wind Cave in the Great Wall war. A method with extremely reduced power consumption that encompassed the Central Plains’ situation without needing to look directly.

Green waves arose in the grass field.

Characters were completed.

Penmanship that broke off choppily like a child who had just learned the thousand-character classic. The sentences were also crude. They were phrases requiring Wei Yeon’s interpretation.

〈 Mount Wudang. Wan Hui, Gate. None. 〉

At Mount Wudang, Wan Hui is gone along with the gate.

The two shadows’ rippling stopped. Only after a moment did the old woman’s questioning voice follow.

“How without even the oral instructions…?”

After other phrases were inscribed matter-of-factly.

〈 Spatial Prey, Died Together. Ground, Remaining Sword. 〉

Died together as spatial prey. One sword remaining on the ground.

The gently undulating spring wind stopped, and the grass field soon didn’t move. Only the aged voice flowed out as if suppressed.

“Jeong family elite takes any sword as his own. A stone sword through and through. What am I to do?”

“Profound Void, don’t move.”

“I halt the encampment. I must leave here.”

[TL Note- I’m as confused as you are but author left a note that he will resolve all the unanswered questions in side stories.]