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Chapter 727 – Time Limit (2)
by Heavenly CatCorpses that sank like clay in an instant spewed white smoke, then began burning themselves with crackling sounds. While glowing as if about to spit out reddish embers here and there.
“……”
The acrid smell was thick.
The green-robed warriors behind who had been treating Xiahou Wei-jin like a criminal wore expressions as if they had snapped to attention. Despite seeing incomprehensible martial arts, they didn’t freeze and had already all drawn their blades.
A reaction like elite martial military forces.
Three in total.
They were as good as nothing. They vanished.
Zzzzt…
It was simultaneous with the footsteps of a handsome youth who suddenly landed holding a single blade. Great Righteous’s masters melting down like dirt piles once more.
The next moment, the youth’s sword mixed into the heat haze and returned to its sheath. Clearly unfamiliar handling of blade work, yet mischievous wit oozed from the sword-sheathing trajectory.
Soon genius.
“Old man, are you alright?”
A question directed not at Xiahou Wei-jin but at the old man who had been wiping his empty ankle. The shabby old man hurriedly nodded his head.
“Of course, of course! Not a single hot wind splashed! Truly like Zhurong (god of fire)…!”
“Mm.”
The youth raised one corner of his mouth crookedly as if relieved.
“Well, even if my blade work is a bit clumsy, it’s better than the pubescent group leader…”
A feeling of distant past forming beneath faint shadows under his eyes.
Xiahou Wei-jin noticed what the youth was reminiscing about. It would be Jeong Yeon-shin going through his storm and stress period. From the beginning, the martial arts discussed among Divine Sword Group members were usually compared to Jeong Yeon-shin regardless of their level.
It wouldn’t be different from Ming Cult when First Heavenly Demon was alive. Therefore Xiahou Wei-jin corrected the title first.
“He’s lord.”
“What does that mean?”
“An imperial command came down to Mount Song where Lord Jeong had gone for some matter. To appoint Lord Jeong as Desolate Fortress Lord. There are many witnesses.”
The youth’s head tilted slightly to the side.
“What about the real lord?”
“Quite a lot happened.”
Xiahou Wei-jin briefly explained the situation so far. Great Righteous, World Tree unification, the collision of One Emperor Three Sovereigns, even jianghu divided into four. When all those stories ended, the heat haze sweeping the ground flickered like mockery from the youth’s lips.
“Dog fight.”
“Right.”
“That’s what I’m good at.”
“I know.”
Xiahou Wei-jin answered while tearing off the bindings on both arms himself. He succeeded in whole-body energy projection by absorbing through the Yongquan acupoints on his soles the aftermath of the Fierce Scorching Energy that had melted the green-robed men.
Whoosh!
With that, even the martial power restriction on his acupoints melted away like snow. Since it was truly amazing, Xiahou Wei-jin’s mouth fell open.
“…You crazy scoundrel, what did you pick up and eat in the north?”
“Abandoned time?”
After answering roughly, he kicked up the hardened ground with the front of his foot. Lazy Flame Dragon catching the stone that shot up like a wastrel.
Having come down from the north, he was dressed in sleeveless black robes. But his bare skin wasn’t prominent. Because his sturdy muscular arms were filled with soot.
Crackle, crackle…
Traces where tremendous lightning had run like tattoos. Even now, bluish energy still lingered. Xiahou Wei-jin had no choice but to ask.
“Looking at that state, you seem to have had a scuffle with Southern Emperor’s son, the current Demon Realm emperor Black Return… how exactly are you alive? How did you hold onto your sanity?”
“With love.”
“Upper energy center studies.”
“Something greater than that. Senior will know too if you start a family.”
It was as if the world’s sword saint was bestowing teachings on a novice sword attendant.
It was when Xiahou Wei-jin shook his head at the unchanged impudent speech. Suddenly the shabby old man’s shoulder burst from a stone Lazy Flame Dragon threw.
Pwack!
“Aaagh!”
“Oops, sorry. I thought you were Wandering Star… They said that fellow’s refusals and returns surpass even Divine Blood Extreme Demon.”
“You crazy bastard!”
Whether Xiahou Wei-jin urgently intervened and pressed the old man’s acupoints or not, Lazy Flame Dragon muttered languidly, “Is that not right?” Only then did Xiahou Wei-jin realize Hwangbo family’s scoundrel had gone half mad.
‘His eyes have gone wild.’
The burning pain of Scorching Divine Meridian would still remain. On top of that, even scars that seemed permanently etched by Black Return’s Lightning Art were added.
“Your wife, Ice Palace’s Grand Palace Master, where is she? You wouldn’t have come alone.”
“She’s carrying a baby. She should be in the peaceful north, what use would it be to walk to the dirty and chaotic Central Plains. The rest of the Yao tribe fellows are far from coming. They’re all ridiculously slow.”
Simultaneously he took out a dried flower from his bosom and suddenly put it in his mouth and chewed it. He spread extremely faint energy waves for an instant, then his face changed peacefully. Thanks to quickly absorbing all nutrients with Jeong Family Dynamic Technique’s Great Circulation.
He was still a flower person.
Eyes that hazily regained focus turned to the old man suffering. Simultaneously tinged with deep regret too. An emotion difficult to extract from the past opium poppy addict.
Xiahou Wei-jin first moved, taking Lazy Flame Dragon and the old man with him. It was after thoroughly mixing the corpses’ remains with the earth using palm force.
The ruined Forbidden City was still vast, but no one knew when or where Wandering Star or the former Eight Family Heads would appear. It would be disastrous to be surrounded by martial military forces led by Seven Treasure Divine Lords and Four Great Wives.
So he asked through sound transmission.
– They say you overcame the heavenly affliction…?
– My created ‘Yin Yang Mutual Power Great Method’ always requires my wife to be together. Without her I’m half a coin. In many ways.
– Then you should have brought your wife even if she were full-term. Masters’ battlefields are precisely places suited for prenatal education of babies who will grow greatly. Your problem is being careless unlike stronghold warriors.
– Ah, I predicted from long ago that Wish for Peace Sword Hall would have many problems. Starting with Senior Xiahou.
– What do you mean?
All directions were heavily guarded.
They passed the golden roof where a plaque reading Xuanzhimen hung precariously, and crossed over like shadows one corner of the wall of Taihe Palace, the Forbidden City’s main hall. Of course they had to avoid the energy perception and eye techniques of guard warriors every moment. The number of masters filling the palace interior was at least several hundred.
But.
It wasn’t the direction to leave.
The old man embraced in Xiahou Wei-jin’s arms groaned and whispered to him.
“The high ones will be shocked if they know, so why aren’t you fleeing? No matter how formidable that Zhurong-like young master is, as long as he’s human, he can’t handle a nation…”
“Old man, that’s the problem.”
Xiahou Wei-jin answered while surrounding them with a transparent energy barrier. Likewise while glaring at the collapsed Taihe Palace like a toy.
Several powerful energy waves within it.
No doubt.
Great Righteous’ main force was in that place. Half of the former Eight Family Heads, three of the Four Great Wives, even the military lord of the martial military forces said to have used Tyrant Sword Sect Leader like a puppet.
“They said everything besides Desolate Fortress, World Tree, and Fighting God’s forces is Great Righteous’. Things like jianghu interfering with the stronghold have always happened, but if we turn away with those upper heads before our eyes.”
Thud…
The moment Xiahou Wei-jin’s knee that had stamped the ground with his empty ankle lifted again, a stone carved in the shape of a foot came up attached from the cracked floor. It was connected to his originally empty ankle with internal energy.
A prosthetic leg mimicking Jin Myeong-jo’s Formless Sword with Wind God Movement Technique’s propulsive energy waves.
“Wouldn’t the story to tell Lord Jeong later drag on too long?”
He was leading Lazy Flame Dragon like a weapon.
* * *
Old Taihe Palace.
The collapsed palace had worn a small pavilion like clothing. Great Righteous’ new palace rapidly built by Grappling Technique and Footwork Technique masters. The burnt smell peculiar to Samadhi True Fire flowed down from the smoothly carved brick seams.
Along with the eerily distinct voices of women sitting around a rosewood table.
“The palace atmosphere isn’t good.”
“Just before founding the nation, we suffered devastating defeat not elsewhere but at Central Peak of Mount Song, so isn’t it natural? Defeats of that scale can absolutely never be hidden. They can’t be concealed by any means. Naturally morale must have been broken…”
The woman who first mentioned atmosphere, Great Black Immortal Han Lyeo, pulled down the round hat connected to her crimson robe to below her eyes. Just that made her presence fade like Wandering Star’s refusals and returns. An achievement originating from long assassination work.
The figure who spoke about defeat, a woman whose soft blue palace robes draped to her feet, shook her head.
Among the Four Great Wives, Peony Immortal Hyeong Lan. She had built the foundation for Wandering Star’s uprising. At this moment she parted her lips with an elegant sigh, yet even in the midst of that, sparkling wit oozed from her eyes.
“That defeat is precisely why we must strictly control the military discipline within the palace now. A quarter of the nation’s military power flew away in an instant, so we must preserve authority as if there’s an ailment. My husband’s coronation ceremony will also happen soon.”
Coronation ceremony.
Many jianghu people have claimed to be kings and emperors, but the only martial forest person who truly ascended to the throne in a palace is Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang. A grandmaster born as a farmer’s son like Wandering Star Li Chuang.
They were part of the stories being woven as Wandering Star’s coronation narrative.
Great Black Immortal Han Lyeo pressed her hat even deeper down as if to crawl into a mouse hole. Then moved only her lips that appeared taciturn.
“I eavesdropped on marketplace rumors, and public sentiment is unusual. Because of Desolate Fortress.”
“Say more.”
“They’re distributing Fasting Pills. Without eating either.”
“Crazy saints.”
Peony Immortal Hyeong Lan spat out the harshest curse of the age, then immediately continued speaking.
“Desolate Fortress’s granaries won’t run dry thanks to Kaifeng Qing Family Head. And since that old man is said to be traveling between Kaifeng and Xiangyang, the former Yan Family Head should quickly assassinate him…”
Whoosh.
From the index finger of the woman in white sitting between the two, Blazing Virtue True Immortal Du Qing, a bluish flame drew a stroke.
And wrote one phrase.
The character yao (要) meaning essential.
Also used when referring to something important. Meaning to return to the core. It was the expression method of her who was congenitally inarticulate.
Peony Immortal Hyeong Lan nodded.
“Right. We should prepare immediate matters first.”
Simultaneously she firmly stepped on the knee of the gray-robed youth frozen with pressed acupoints beside her, Profound Martial Alliance’s One Sword Tiger.
“Huuuuuugh!”
Bone-grinding force shattered even cartilage.
They were in the middle of interrogating him for being with Desolate Fortress Forest Treading Leader. It was also a means to pressure Profound Martial Alliance Leader who kept wavering this way and that.
“There’s much to do. Starting from fabricating stories to tilt public sentiment from Desolate Fortress to our nation, while hastening my husband’s coronation ceremony, sending Eight Family elders to Profound Martial Alliance whose inner thoughts are hard to fathom… That monster of World Tree, how did that Wei Yeon handle these matters?”
She glanced across the table at the bundle of letters piled large as a bowl. Intelligence that came up from throughout under heaven. Each with an urgent marker attached, and she was in the middle of opening the one placed on top.
She could only let out another sigh.
“Everything is full of things to prepare.”
“Preparation is certainly important, but war victories are decided without context. Recently it was Divine Sword Group that violated Black Capital.”
A voice that fell out of nowhere. Mixed with the metallic sound peculiar to Yao tribe.
The three of the Four Great Wives who had already detected the intruder’s invasion turned their heads leisurely toward the ceiling, then their eyes widened.
A man hanging from a roof beam.
Noticeably large stature, with slightly tilted features centered on thick facial skin. At his waist, two axes hung with handles down like icicles.
The Yao tribe man spoke.
“I am called Do Hyo. One of countless lackeys of the Demon Realm following Northern Emperor, a barbarian who will plunder and burn everything of yours today.”
Peony Immortal Hyeong Lan’s lips, who had silently listened to the introduction like an old jianghu person, curved in an arc.
“A third-rate who hasn’t even reached Three Flower Gathering at Crown.”
Thud!
Flames that instantly shot up like light rays then bounced off the man’s body and fell. It was Blazing Virtue True Immortal Du Qing’s finger wind, but without any gain, only blade winds extended in all directions. Among several strands, one of the urgent-marked letters unfolded itself.
– Chaotic Heaven Emperor Wei family’s martial god, the master of Desolate Day Extinction appeared in a seaside village marketplace in Dongzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. It is presumed she crossed the land of Divine Bow, Wang Dynasty’s land. She seems about to head straight to World Tree.
No one read the letter’s contents.
Outside the palace seemed covered by an untimely storm. In all directions, faintly similar yet different energy waves were rising like wildfire.
Wooooong!
Semi-transparent protective strong energy from the Yao tribe man’s body scattered light. For a third-rate to have, the weave was so dense it was eerie.
It was Heavenly Steel Light Armor.
The Forbidden City was surrounded by over ten thousand similar energy waves.
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