Chapter 737 – With The Geniuses (8)

Jeong Yeon-shin gripped Starry Night tightly.

Across from the sword that blazed in dark blue like night sky or flames stood Wei Gun-hye. She held Enter The Extinction Sword that shadowed in ash gray. The power pushing Starry Night back was tremendous.

‘Kuk.’

He was barely enduring. Sword force that seemed ready to strike his body helplessly at any moment. Wei Gun-hye only quietly pushed the sword forward like a soundlessly tilting moon.

Natural Sword.

Extremely distant.

At least it was a standoff because it was Starry Night. Because he was ceaselessly burning the power contained in Enter The Extinction Sword. A blade flickering like a bonfire a wanderer carelessly lit.

All movements were the energy waves of a formless sword.

‘Can’t let her use techniques. There must be supreme strikes comparable to Commanding Puppet Brewing Steel Method’s true energy decomposition.’

Therefore he was even adding Myriad Heavens Flower Rain’s emission formula to Starry Night to push back. So Wei Gun-hye couldn’t withdraw the connected sword.

He felt presences behind him. Each presence was weighty like the Immovable Wisdom King of a temple hall. He also heard a low Buddhist invocation.

“Amitabha, what brings the Central Plains’ highest persons to a temple now?”

Old yet powerful.

Divine Monk, Shaolin Abbot Master Beom-heo. Though it was enough to be flustered like Divine Tree Beneficent King Hwangbo Gon he met earlier, he was only composed. The following question was the same.

“Did you come to offer prayers?”

Only then did Jeong Yeon-shin open his mouth with difficulty.

“Great Master.”

“If not offerings, are you planning to hold a memorial for your teacher? Though it would be endlessly close to impossible.”

A question tinged with mirth.

Though the situation was urgent, his heart became comfortable. Master Beom-heo was like this.

“I happened to stop by briefly. I’ll likely return soon…”

“While you’re here, leave behind the Gate Severing formula. Weren’t you without leisure last time?”

A tone lightly telling him to offer something.

In Wei Gun-hye’s nearby pupils, Jeong Yeon-shin’s face was reflected like a mirror. An appearance faintly smiling. Like when master and disciple rarely shared laughter.

Crunch.

Hell Deviation Beom-ryeol’s footsteps. It was together with the sign of Master Beom-heo grabbing his robe.

“Senior brother, why…?”

“Where are you going to do what?”

“Who would plot against such a monster alone? Coincidentally Benefactor Jeong’s martial arts and temperament correspond with mine, so we’ll coordinate well.”

Already magnificent waves were accumulating in layers like lotus flowers. Beom-ryeol’s energy waves. Moving the body with that was Diamond Immovable Divine Law, and extending a straight fist was a landslide exploding a hundred steps ahead.

Kurung.

Then Starry Night was pushed faintly. Jeong Yeon-shin had to immediately correct his balance. The moment his sole attached to the ground’s Bubbling Spring acupoint twisted slightly, the surroundings began blurring once more.

‘Form Shifting Void.’

He stared directly at Wei Gun-hye.

Her deep green pupils had no focus. They only glistened in sunlight like ground grass, yet the shadow of tremendous power like a natural disaster was felt. The World Tree’s divinity was pouring into her even more intensely.

An appearance of handling Jeong Yeon-shin without even consciously counting moves. Her entire body was wrapped in vastness like the universe. The World Tree’s virtue wasn’t there. It was entirely Wei Gun-hye’s non-action.

His teacher was still a great wall.

Kwaaaaaaaang—!

Golden waves that directly hit her waist like artillery shells burst metal-like fragments. It was Beom-ryeol’s Hundred Steps Divine Fist, but it was only swallowed without trace into the force field of the already completed Form Shifting Void.

“Fucking hell…!”

Leaving behind profanity that no longer even maintained the form of Buddhist invocation, Jeong Yeon-shin spoke to Beom-heo.

“I regret not having time to write down the formula.”

“It’s fine. Since I already heard Gate Severing’s key points, this old monk will try it alone in my own way. Isn’t it a life that survived thanks to you anyway?”

Hell’s Unsolved Mystery, Ashen Divinity’s Silent Annihilation.

A decisive strike that could only be counted among the first throughout Jeong Yeon-shin’s knowledge. Literally a Transcendent Martial Art reaching instant death, yet Gate doesn’t have evasion footwork like jianghu people. Meaning certain hit.

“I hear the World Tree took root in Nanjing. I intend to send the One Hundred Eight Arhats there, but this old monk will go to the Great Gate. Thanks to the main temple’s Muscle Changing Classic, the journey shouldn’t be too arduous.”

Great Gate.

Originally a place the Desolate Fortress Lord should be blocking, but now it had become the haven of previous generation Divine Sword Group Leaders.

Jeong Yeon-shin wanted to say it. That the Divine Monk was established in Central Plains in a role as great as Gate Severing. That the name Shaolin Abbot protected human jianghu, so there was no need to risk his life.

But the smile of Heaven Constellation Palace Lord that suddenly flashed through his mind blocked such words. It was a peerless master’s smile, not an ordinary person’s.

“…Please take care.”

“You survive too.”

Whoosh!

Once more.

An invisible painter strikes a transparent brush. The vicinity was erased like white paint.

Simultaneously Wei Gun-hye’s eyes regained focus, and her blurred bare feet bang,  trampled down on Jeong Yeon-shin’s knee. A body that lay in midair with Iron Plate Bridge the moment Starry Night pushed away Enter The Extinction Sword.

“……!”

She used Jeong Yeon-shin’s leg as a foothold. Movement that extremely penetrated the essence of martial arts where dodging well and hitting well was sufficient. That’s why she was the Martial God.

‘Close-range hundred strikes.’

While lifting the knee trampled by Wei Gun-hye, it was the moment of striking down her instep with left hand Brilliant River. Her long leg that rose as if segmented in an instant gracefully wrapped around his left arm.

Tukwang!

The bent knee pit broke Jeong Yeon-shin’s arm together with protective strong energy. Of course, the agony of dislocation immediately struck inside his head. Naturally Wei Gun-hye was looking down at Jeong Yeon-shin like a noble clan girl hanging from a tree with only her legs.

While resting her hand on his head.

Moon Protection Piercing Law.

Soft radiance pressed down on his forehead. When one seat among the Six Greatest Palm Laws Under Heaven sprouted from the world’s number one’s hands.

“Uaaaaaaaaaak!”

Kkwaeaeaeaek! Jjaeng! Kuguguguguung—!

Some shaggy-haired boy flew like a skipping stone and bounced into Wei Gun-hye’s shoulder before being flung far away.

Flesh like a flood dragon’s scales. A body absurdly sturdy, yet clearly thrown at speed greatly exceeding even that. Enough that Wei Gun-hye descended with one Wind God movement technique from Jeong Yeon-shin who rotated without missing the opportunity.

Crunch.

Visible beyond her shoulder as she stepped on the blackish ground. The scenery had changed at some point.

Land entirely twilit.

The horizon was bluish. Because a bright blue fireball was blazing like the sun just beginning to rise. While sending faint blue-tinted sparks flowing in the dry wind.

Aftereffects originating from someone’s energy circulation meditation. Very far away. As if predators’ territories were divided.

Great Gate.

They said inside the Gate was another world under heaven. Nine Sects’ gatekeeper masters don’t leave the Gate’s front, but Desolate Fortress had even this land’s map. The identity of the person who created that blue horizon was also guessed.

‘How is your body?’

On one side of that blue-green radiance was the shadow of a scholar-robed figure. Clearly the man who threw the shaggy-haired boy earlier, with the scene of two flood dragon corpses large and small draped like ramparts to his left and right standing out. The epitome of splendor.

Huk, hueok… hu.

Was it because he had his back to the bright blue sun? The appearance of exhaling pure white breath with a shadowed face was unfamiliar. It was this domain’s master.

A man whose achievement speed stood out even in Desolate Fortress that detested stagnation.

“Another brawl ended, and as you see I’m exhausted…”

A mysterious voice continued as if he cultivated a sacred dragon’s insight, or was an ordinary scholar. A tone saying it was exasperating.

“The main fortress is in chaos too.”

“The Divine Monk will come. Rest until then. Right now…”

Jeong Yeon-shin said.

“It’s my burden to bear.”

“…Will it work?”

After Yong Hye-myeong’s low question back, moonlight arose. The twilit land brightened softly. A cool feeling like solitary dawn. One strand of Wei Gun-hye’s sword path filled Jeong Yeon-shin’s vision. The moment surroundings blurred once more into sporadic Form Shifting Void, he struck back with Starry Night.

Puhwak!

Wrong. It wasn’t one strand.

He realized right after a sword wound was carved into his abdomen. The blade shadows he thought were feints because they were faint were all real strikes. Flowing even Starry Night’s defensive strikes with non-action naturalness realm, and carrying blurred vibrations in the trajectory of the bent Moon Spirit Divine Energy Opening Light Stroke. The sword that faintly trembled like that only swelled into dozens of sword strikes upon reaching Jeong Yeon-shin’s presence.

‘Evasion footwork, Radiant Wing Five Steps.’

The two crossed like soft meteors. Naturally in the realm of extreme speed raised to the limit once more. Soon after, Jeong Yeon-shin was trapped in the moon ring the sword bloomed.

Zzjejejejejejejejeong! Kwang! Kureureureureng—!

Now there were only roars without even shockwaves. The Martial God’s divine art mystery pressing all aftereffects down onto Jeong Yeon-shin. Starry Night and Enter The Extinction Sword repeatedly collided and separated like hundreds of strands of thread, and each time the dark blue sparks that flew from Starry Night fell into different scenery.

Saaaaa—

When he unfolded variable sword technique bending dozens of times in space, Winter Dream Sword thrust into Wudang Mountain’s nameless hill fell silent.

When all variable strikes were swept away by moon-like Moon Spirit Sword Energy, the two were piercing through Desolate Fortress’s Lord Hall and rising into the sky. Of course, Wudang Sect Leader Immortal Profound Void’s Daoist invocation resonated distantly from the main fortress.

“Primal Peace and True Stability.”

He didn’t hear properly.

Because Wei Gun-hye had rotated with full body tilt. Even the vast cirrus clouds were torn to shreds, but that scene was also brief. At the tip of her light green sleeve that whirled like dancing, the Great Wall unfolded.

“What is that…!”

Mount Hua Sect’s Yu Hyeon’s faint exclamation and the ramparts extending to the horizon were hidden by the colorless lotus that wrapped around Jeong Yeon-shin’s entire body. The moment his left hand blade descended with Brilliant River Ultimate Thunder was blocked by Wei Gun-hye’s elbow.

The energy wave fragments scattering from that impact settled on some old-fashioned roof.

Kureureureurung!

The golden powder of roof tiles that shattered completely then fell like rain.

The ruined Forbidden City.

It seemed as if war had occurred. Fragrant flower scent mixed into the burning smell. Jeong Yeon-shin sensed presences behind him. The poppy addict kneeling on one knee and the old man with left sword, right sword looking down at him.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke without looking back.

“Did you lose?”

“I won.”

It was Lazy Flame Dragon’s answer.

The two energy waves positioned on either side of him proved it wasn’t a lie. Ceaselessly crackling lightning and a great sword standing tall and massive. Northern King Vajra and Gao Yao Holy Sword Lord.

“Day and night, maybe about seven days and nights. I was so distracted… A fight only I or the demon realm could endure.”

“Stop exaggerating.”

“You became Lord. Communications kept coming even during the fighting. You did Gate Severing or something? The original Lord over there isn’t in his right mind.”

“Just advance to Nanjing.”

“Will the new Lord still be alive by then?”

“……”

Jeong Yeon-shin fell silent for a moment while pushing away Wei Gun-hye’s elbow with his hand blade. Because he had never uttered lies to Lazy Flame Dragon.

Then a lion’s roar-like shout burst from the distant palace.

[Lord…!]

It was Xiahou Wei-jin. Clearly addressing Wei Gun-hye. Jeong Yeon-shin felt relieved he was alive. Simultaneously he grabbed Wei Gun-hye’s sleeve and stepped Radiant Wing Six Steps’ retreating footwork. So the exhausted Lazy Flame Dragon wouldn’t be struck by her blind sword.

Whoosh!

The next moment what was painted between the two people was trees. An endlessly massive ancient tree city. Everything green with a feeling completely divorced from this famine. It could only be the World Tree’s main trunk.

Tremendous Natural Energy flowed in with even a small breath.

Together with low voices.

“Prepare archery. With Ultra-Soul Archery.”

“Identity confirmed, current Desolate Fortress Lord Jeong Yeon-shin. We’ll imprint to unified upper energy center the list of supreme strikes to prepare for. Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, Luminous Wheel That Transcends Law Energy, blood art variant techniques, Controlled Sword’s Fan Dragon Flower Treading Technique, Eternal Blossom Fist, strike unification form Taiji technique. Additionally of course demonic arts, and must be wary of the formless sword currently being unfolded. We received intelligence that wide-area sword strikes are possible.”

“Continuing immediately. Thunder Annihilation Sword Style, Mind Sword, Ten Li Gentle Light reaching ‘World’s Fastest,’ movement technique Wind God imitating the tribe, protective strong energy Brilliant Star Radiance Heaven that’s rebound defense, among eye techniques Lowly Revelation, Tang Family’s Myriad Heavens Flower Rain… judging from northern activities, Radiant Wing Steps totaling Eight Steps.”

“Internal and external condition confirmed. Not perfect condition.”

“More than half a day until the Divine Sword Group from Yangzhou arrives.”

Noble clan masters filling the vast forest’s ancient trees like leaves. Unlike when Jeong Yeon-shin was expelled, there must be ten thousand. Thus a scene appearing as dense branches rather than people.

The atmosphere in all directions distorted semi-transparently.

They had already loaded archery energy wave strikes.

Intent was glimpsed. To definitely kill. On the highest tree branch stood a tall old woman with hands clasped behind her back.

Grand Empress Dowager Wei Yeon moved her wrinkled lips.

“…Since even a master of quick decisive battle couldn’t finish the match before reaching here, you can only die away from home like any jianghu person.”

“Is that so?”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked quietly.

Was it the World Tree’s will? Wei Gun-hye retreating with elegant backward steps was captured in his eyes. Jeong Yeon-shin stared only at her intently, but actually only Wei Yeon continued speaking.

“Accept it. You should have hurried more.”

That was all.

Without any particular signal, tremendous pressure struck down. Right after the archery masters released their hands from bowstrings. The moment an arrow rain appeared in scale that even Myriad Heavens Flower Rain couldn’t handle.

“I’ve lived hurrying sufficiently.”

Jeong Yeon-shin moved his lips slowly.

“Now you stop.”

Radiant Wing Nine Steps.

Crunch.

He only took one step. It felt like stopping the world. Instantly all movement within a radius of about a hundred zhang ceased.

The pouring rain was the same.

“……”

Time was trampled.

Jeong Yeon-shin began walking beneath the steel rain lines that had been descending countless times.