Chapter 721 – Great and Small Affairs

The words that he would leave.

They were the precursor to Wudang Taiji Wisdom Sword.

The bushes that had been casting vast shadows were suddenly parted in all directions. It was accompanied by the aged old Taoist’s voice.

“Indeed… this poor Taoist has become quite ashamed of this place.”

The cause was the hand placed on Pine Pattern Ancient Sword’s hilt. The scene of hazy wind drawing circles centered on that wrinkled back of his hand.

Whoosh!

Two people were revealed in the transparently pouring sunlight. An old Taoist who had grown an abundant white beard and an old woman gaunt as a withered tree.

They were those with long names.

Wudang Sect Leader Immortal Profound Void. The noble clan’s chieftain, Grand Empress Dowager Wei Yeon. The latter, a tall old woman, reprimanded Profound Void with archaic speech.

“Were the pine and cloud symbols of Wudang Sect? That sect leader’s promise is as fleeting as mist and clouds. I didn’t know you were such a frivolous person, so I thoroughly misjudged you.”

“Senile old crone, what nonsense when we didn’t even link pinkies.”

Semi-transparent energy waves swelled like clouds at the feet of Profound Void, who answered calmly.

The precursor to Wudang Ladder Cloud Step. Originally it was named for movements that appeared graceful as if treading on clouds, but the propulsive energy waves of Wudang’s sect leader were inevitably as thick as clouds.

Semi-transparent wind streams flickered like flames following Wei Yeon’s sharp eyes. She appeared greatly enraged. However, Profound Void’s eyes, which rolled back halfway showing the whites and glistened, deflected even the intimidating presence of a founding jianghu person.

Wei Yeon spoke calmly.

“You intend to go to Huguang Province. To join hands with the Jeong family fellow.”

“That’s right, well said. Jeong family… the Lightning family boy needs hands.”

“Jeong family?”

Wei Yeon asked back, and Profound Void pretended not to hear. Because what was truly important was not the severity of the old Taoist’s dementia, but Wudang Sect Leader’s whereabouts. Both were clearly the same person, but their weight was different.

It would be the same for Wei Yeon. Even though Profound Void had committed all manner of refusals and rudeness using his precarious mental state as a shield.

“Did you say Jeong family?”

It didn’t seem so.

“Lightning family.”

“What will you do about Wudang’s sword ghosts?”

“They’ll become free. The vast Huguang Province will now pass to the responsibility of the Lightning family subordinates. That province with the most cities under heaven will also bow its head like a reed field under Stone Sword Group. Just as it has been for hundreds of years.”

“Your mind truly does wander. I can feel the temperament of a madman in your words and breathing. However, what I asked about is Wudang Sect’s future whereabouts after releasing their own reins.”

“On their own…? No.”

Profound Void shook his head and said.

“The era has released humanity’s reins. That’s why you people have also abandoned the people’s livelihood and focus on domination, isn’t it?”

“That’s wrong. The problem is the foolish masses trying to scheme for World Tree without any proper alternatives. If we want to protect the main tree, we have no choice but to cut them down, do we?”

“You say that even after experiencing the true gate?”

“If the masters under heaven are more numerous than the gates reaching to the Western Regions. If among those masters, as many are willing to commit suicide as there are gates. Then I will acknowledge that I was wrong.”

Cunning politicians package even their own trivial acknowledgments as something grand. Wei Yeon continued her story slowly.

“However, humans cannot do so. If human nature were truly upright and orderly, how can you explain that the sword strike of the true gate is only now being discovered?”

Wei Yeon asked archaically, and Profound Void shook his head.

“You seem to hate Mencius and worship Xunzi. Befitting an old ruler. So there seems to be no more to discuss.”

“Do you think you can leave?”

“Looking at the vitality remaining to you now, it doesn’t seem impossible. The price of unifying noble masters like the Imperial Three Great Masters couldn’t be small.”

Wei Yeon suddenly stepped forward with advancing footwork, and Profound Void retreated by the same amount at the same speed. Both movements were as if sliding. Of course, both elders were standing on the tips of grass blades.

Profound Void laughed.

“Are your knee cartilages well? Honestly, if you’ve lived that long, you should wash your hands in a golden basin…”

Wei Yeon moved her wrinkled lips.

[Capture him.]

Six Harmonies Uniting Heaven Sound that echoed resoundingly throughout the forest as vast as a field. It took only an instant for Profound Void to catch up to the bushes spread wide at that sound. Even with a body afflicted by demonic possession, Ladder Cloud Step’s protective nerves were literally sonic speed.

Boom!

Profound Void was racing through more than a hundred zhang in a flash.

He didn’t care how wide an area of ground erupted behind him. The abundance of this forest was something common people couldn’t enjoy anyway.

Because it was at the very center of jianghu’s greatest mystery.

World Tree’s main trunk. It was inevitable that ghostly pursuers would catch up. First, a single point that crossed the distant sky flickered hazily, instantly revealing the form of an arrow and stabbing down at Profound Void’s feet.

“…!”

The ground he should have stepped on collapsed. Land that was carved out to a radius of dozens of zhang like a crater. The roar and shockwave of that ultra-long-range archery shot pushed Profound Void up like continuous fire.

Kwaaaaaaaaang!

It was Heaven-Reaching Bow Count’s arrow that competed for supremacy under heaven, limited to a single shot. The only comparable techniques were things like Tyrant Sword Sect Leader’s Three Forms of Breaking Desolation and a fully drunk Fighting God’s fist strikes.

“My goodness.”

Fragments of bushes and stones shattered to pieces shot up together. Profound Void, who had trampled on them like stepping stones a couple times, merely continued stretching forward silently. The stride of movements that appeared leisurely was dozens of zhang with each step.

He flew like clouds swept by a gale.

In the midst of this, hazy wind streams fluttered around Profound Void like celestial maiden’s robes. Because Wisdom Sword’s sword strike energy waves were flowing out from Pine Pattern Ancient Sword that hadn’t even been drawn. He had distorted the atmosphere cloudily to make it his protective strong energy.

Deflecting the arrows was also Wisdom Sword’s mystery. He could read when they would arrive, and it was possible because they flew from so far away.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!

Arrows stabbing down in a line following the trajectory Profound Void moved. All directions were hazily dyed by an unseasonable typhoon. Though the wind pressure had extremely short intervals, it grew stronger as it went, tearing and crunching even Profound Void’s protective strong energy and robes.

Even while chasing and firing continuously, it was this much.

As a faint smell of blood began seeping into the strong wind, Profound Void muttered with a wow of admiration.

“Refreshing.”

Straight-line path strong strikes posed no threat whatsoever to Wudang Sect Leader.

Heaven-Reaching Bow Count was inevitably a death god to most peerless masters, but not so for the current greatest person of Sanfeng’s martial lineage. Even if her arrows poured down like rain, they only added speed to Profound Void’s leisurely treading of empty air.

They only slowed his escape somewhat.

Even now it was so.

Thump!

He trampled diagonally on an arrow shaft that had stabbed down at an angle and soared up. His stepping foot possessed the softness of Gentle Strong Energy.

The dim horizon rapidly approached.

It was also then that the arrows suddenly stopped and both sides of his vision were filled with some shields. Just before those compressed both temples, Profound Void kicked upward over his head.

Zzzzzing!

He shot up following the sword energy of pure white Line Pattern Ancient Sword. They were shields engraved with white lion and golden lion faces respectively, but they were as small as children’s toys to be called weapons. Blade edges protruded from the bottom edges of the shields.

Beast shields.

Rare shields.

However, Profound Void’s gaze had risen further above. Beast shields embedding like arm guards into the arms of a woman who had somehow done a handstand in the sky. Weapon handling that was skilled to the point of beauty.

Profound Void quietly called her.

“Moon Direction Grand General.”

“Grand General… is an inappropriate title for a traitor like me.”

The woman said.

She wore light leather armor, and her face was covered with scars. Profound Void knew most had been carved by northern kings of the Demon Realm.

And three shields.

She wore a large round rattan shield on her back, large and round enough to surround her entire body with plenty to spare, and wore blade-equipped beast shields on both arms. They were shields that had originated from the southern barbarians and the east respectively.

Their owner would also not discriminate means in battle.

“Not Three Directions Grand General, but a warrior who can commit treason at any time… yes, being a jianghu person seems sufficient. Won’t Sect Leader give me an alias?”

“Don’t stall for time.”

“Ah, Prolongation. Good. Thank you.”

She was an eccentric.

People who eat blade rice in jianghu inevitably go mad. It was difficult for one from the battlefield who had handled Yao tribe jianghu people, all manner of northern kings, and even Six Star Lords to be in their right mind. Even more so if she had seen her son whose waist exploded from Northern Evil Path’s kick.

“I wouldn’t do that. Few jianghu people live up to their names.”

Profound Void shook his head and said, but Prolongation smiled faintly while treading empty air.

“I didn’t even fulfill my duty.”

“What about the other two? Sun Direction and Star Direction.”

“They said to send you off.”

Prolongation descended step by step to face Profound Void. Each step exuded wildness. The discipline characteristic of military gates was nowhere to be found, and fierce temperament like the Yao tribe was refined in her bearing.

Her lips moved.

“I hope to send you off once, and that there won’t be a second meeting. They say then they won’t be able to let you wash your hands in a golden basin with your body intact.”

“Aren’t you people disciples of Old Crone Wei?”

“We’re common masters.”

Wei Yeon and Emperor Qian-ling.

Three Directions Grand General were military weapons born from their combined efforts and blocked the Great Wall. The talents under heaven selected and chosen from throughout the Central Plains by Ming Dynasty’s emperor in his prime.

Prolongation was also a widow who lost her husband who had been New Directions Grand General and her son who had almost grown into the military sect’s strongest rising talent. They were respectively torn apart alive by Literary Star and Northern Path.

What could a demented old man whose revenge was even stolen by Unorthodox Finest Sword say?

“…When chaos erupted at Stone Sword Fortress, weren’t you people the ones who arranged so no one died? Don’t you want to remarry somewhere besides World Tree? If it becomes known you were mistakenly identified as Seven New Enemies of Defeated Desolation while searching for the emperor, men wanting to marry you will fill a cart.”

There was much to say.

Prolongation smiled politely and trailed off.

“Marriage is damn…”

Simultaneously her arms blurred. She also simultaneously took advancing footwork to Profound Void’s immediate vicinity. Though it was treading empty air, the speed seemed like a moon halo flickering, with no hesitation in close combat.

Following her fist strikes, the blade edges of the beast shields on the backs of her hands slashed in with curved fist strikes.

Zzzzzzing!

Pine Pattern Ancient Sword, which rotated like performing tricks by itself in the narrow interval, swept away the blades. In an instant, the atmosphere around the two people folded and unfolded like white lightning. It was the aftermath of the collision.

It didn’t end with once.

With martial arts against Six Star Lords, killing techniques that would sever the throat in one blow if they properly struck were deployed.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing!

When actually fighting, she showed no mercy in her hand movements. Military sect origins had no choice but to be so.

However, Profound Void was World’s Five Swords. Even with an unsound body, he could more than handle her alone. Other things were merely the problem.

Kugugugugugugugugung!

As soon as combat broke out, dozens of arrows racing across the sky.

Fine archery coordination was complete.

She was confident she wouldn’t be hit by a single arrow, but the prowess of Three Directions Grand General receiving Heaven-Reaching Bow Count’s cover was an unknown quantity. Because no one more capable of supplementary skills than the world’s greatest archer was yet known.

“So it’s a power battle.”

When Profound Void muttered distantly.

The entire forest shook with a rumble as if hit by an earthquake. Not just one or two. Just before the world’s greatest power vomited forth its full strength.

Jiiiiiiiiing.

A strange vibration sound spread from far away. A phenomenon where just the sound seemed to crush skin. If lightning were brought to the ground, it would be like this.

“Golden Thunder Viscount…!”

It was the instant Prolongation’s cry burst out.

A human-shaped lightning that rippled right up close drawing golden concentric circles kicked up sharply under Profound Void’s chin with a knee. Lightning art knee strike, the natural enemy of all metal. In that instant, Profound Void also blocked his energy center with a palm wrapped in the palm force of Wudang Cotton Palm rather than Pine Pattern Ancient Sword.

Bang!

He was instantly bounced away until he became a dot.

Brilliant golden sparks scattered crackling in streams. The leaves that had been swirling in all directions hissed and were charred black.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!

Arrows that rained down futilely at the spot where Profound Void’s head had originally been. The wind pressure was tremendous. Golden hair appeared out of nowhere and fluttered together with Prolongation’s rough hair.

“What are you doing?”

Prolongation stopped moving her lips.

The golden-haired handsome youth, Golden Thunder Viscount, was sleeping while lying in the air. Along with barely audible sleep-talking. I wanted to kick Elder Sanfeng…

After a moment of silence, Wei Yeon’s sound transmission flowed into Prolongation like spring wind.

“In the future, if I show symptoms of senility, kill me.”

Prolongation nodded that she would do so.

* * *

There are situations where anyone has no choice but to nod repeatedly. Such was the son-in-law who married into the royal family with slave-like bloodlines.

That was Jin Myeong-jo’s situation.

He thought with an expressionless face.

‘I want to take it back.’

Blood Flame Sect’s main altar. The ruins of the palace that had once been swept by Jeong Yeon-shin’s Demon-Destroying Azure Unyielding Formation.

Rustle.

A woman with red face and short hair was arranging his clothing. Her tightly closed lips passed teasingly by Jin Myeong-jo’s eyes. At least it only seemed that way to him.

Blood King Jeok Family’s Jeok Lee-seo.

Privately Seventh Apostle’s older sister, she had become Jin Myeong-jo’s wife through some major transaction.

Cold fingertips to the point of being chilling repeatedly brushed his nape. Each time he had to skillfully suppress his body from flinching on its own as mixed blood. It was at the level of completely freezing his instincts.

Suddenly Jeok Lee-seo moved her lips.

“It’s a daughter.”

“Pardon…?”

“Our child. You can know immediately upon conception. Those of the royal bloodline can.”

Jin Myeong-jo froze. It had been one night.

He almost asked “Pardon?” again, but was blocked by behavior ingrained in his body. Jeok Lee-seo glanced at him with a face cold beyond calm.

“…Never mind. The Pure Blood Brilliant Flame Robe fits well.”

She said quietly.

It meant Blood Flame Sect Leader’s sacred robe had tightened to fit Jin Myeong-jo’s body. Long robes that were only bright red without any flaws, glistening as if about to drip blood at any moment.

It was fabric that also appeared purplish when shadowed.