Chapter 749 – Ashes (2)

—Ah, there was something I should have reported to the Lord first… I couldn’t tell you because there was no time.

—Please speak.

—Iron Demon Spring was annihilated. While hammering here.

—……

—Of course, it happened while enduring the pressure of this space. How could I have made this Myriad View Place alone? From the beginning, it was meant to observe World Tree’s fruit from the safest place. That thing over there.

* * *

“Come to think of it, this book.”

Hyeon Won-chang asked with deliberate composure even while turning his back on one of Imperial Three Great Masters. While subtly gripping the book where all kinds of names flickered ceaselessly.

“Why aren’t your names in here? Three Direction… now it’s two. Two Direction Great Generals are clearly written.”

“Not my concern.”

Simultaneously the drum sound rang again.

Kwang!

The pressure forcing Hyeon Won-chang to kneel swelled with power. From the rebound force, even the house’s floor cracked with creaking sounds as dirt surged up.

Triumph Sound Drum.

Gyo Cheon’s ultimate technique. They said it was the method of beating drums on the battlefield. Naturally it was sound technique.

‘They said the principles were absurd…’

He had heard from Grand Commander Lim Jin-ming. That it greatly boosted allies’ release force. The story was it was like the grim reaper not only in fortress defense battles but also in localized battles at the Great Wall.

—It was Gyo Cheon.

—Pardon?

—The reason the Imperial Army could stop Demon Realm jianghu people even wearing Heavenly Shield Light Armor… They said thousands of arrows flew like catapults with just a few drum beats and shattered the Yao tribe.

The formless energy pressing Hyeon Won-chang now was such martial arts. It wasn’t just hitting once with the drumstick and done. They said the profound meaning was precisely projecting and maintaining the burst release force at will.

Kuguugugugugung!

It was clearly sound technique, yet only Hyeon Won-chang bore the pressure. Sound masters like this compressed the range to raise that power to its limits. Hadn’t Jeong Yeon-shin’s Sword Song developed that way too?

“They say if we fight a fortress defense battle with Divine Sword Group, there are three who must be killed first.”

It was Gyo Cheon’s words. Her voice continued lightly yet clearly.

“Nether Flow Leader, Burning Abyss Leader, Blood Guardian Leader.”

Intelligence, scouts, supply.

Baek Mi-ryeo, Shin So-bin, and Hyeon Won-chang respectively.

“If we could also execute one of the two forward wings, that would be nothing short of perfect. The First Elder you killed said so. Now it’s a story that all the martial military forces and masters here have committed to memory.”

“…I’ve also heard a story.”

“You can speak? I didn’t hold back at all.”

“Divine Sword Strategist said this. That it would only become a fight if we somehow deal with Gyo Cheon’s head first. Whether beheading it or reversing the unity.”

Divine Sword Strategist Literary Star.

The title came naturally. Perhaps because of that. Gyo Cheon’s following words were tinged with laughter. As if dumbfounded.

“That would be correct advice. Isn’t it the words of one who personally plotted against Ming Dynasty? Of course, because of that… you’ve now become nothing but traitors. Did they bring in Demon Realm’s destroyer god because there was no one else to employ?”

Hyeon Won-chang’s answer was simple.

“How desperate must they have been? How desperate Lord Jeong must have been.”

“……”

Rather, because it was such a frank reply, Gyo Cheon seemed at a loss for words.

The hall filled with dust.

Zzzzzzzzing…

Hyeon Won-chang’s body was on the verge of being crushed.

‘Triumph Sound Drum… Even resisting with full body release force, this is what happens. What kind of sound technique is this?’

His neck bones seemed about to dislocate, yet Hyeon Won-chang tenaciously gripped the sword hilt. Thus at this moment, the sword naturally unsheathed itself. Though it smoothly descended under Triumph Sound Drum’s pressure, the blade clearly split the air.

That was enough.

“Crazy bastard, imitating Heavenly Soaring Guest…”

Now Gyo Cheon’s words were meaningless.

His vision was dyed pale white. Form Shifting Void’s sword draw. His body became semi-transparent and deflected Triumph Sound Drum’s pressure. There was no reason to directly confront it from the start. As if he would die.

“I think I understand.”

“What?”

“Imperial Three Great Masters… The reason your names aren’t in Northern Path’s book.”

Hyeon Won-chang spoke leisurely. And suddenly realized. Where the leisure of unorthodox masters came from.

They don’t die unless they kill themselves.

‘For the most part.’

Meanwhile, Gyo Cheon seemed unconcerned about losing Hyeon Won-chang. She calmly replied while trying to strike Hyeon Won-chang’s head, now faint as smoke, with her drumstick.

“Whether Northern Blade’s book or your knowledge, I’m not curious. If you’ve tucked your tail, get lost.”

“Not curious? That can’t be. Aren’t you also a master seeking Martial Ultimate? You must have been inwardly uneasy…?”

“Your tongue flapping is more bothersome than your swordplay. As if an idle fellow who engages in sitting discussions would be suitable for Desolate Fortress…”

Somehow it was when Gyo Cheon stopped speaking on her own. Hyeon Won-chang spoke with a faint smile.

“Those who can’t keep their sanity don’t seem to be martial artists. At least in Northern Blade’s eyes… Thus I have a question. Is it possible to escape unity by one’s own power?”

Finally he added.

“Does even the monster World Tree have human trust?”

* * *

Right after that.

When Hyeon Won-chang opened his eyes again, his vision was filled with sword light. Sharp blue light beams were striking in.

Kwang!

Though he quickly deflected it with his sword, the shock alone was tremendous. He immediately began flying, unable to just be bounced away.

Zzzzzzzzing—!

The tearing sound at his ears, floating sensation fierce as a cannonball. His wrist bones ached from the terrifying release force. It even felt like both arms’ acupoints were burning.

‘Came to the wrong place again.’

Hyeon Won-chang thought. This damn demon sword technique. He might die a tragic death during training.

Though he planted his feet in the dirt with one aerial flip, he was pushed back for a long while creating furrows.

“That was Sun Direction General’s swordplay, how did our Desolate Divine Hero block it?”

It rang right beside him. A somehow languid, unlucky voice. Hyeon Won-chang knew it was the poppy addict without even turning his head.

It was a dark wilderness.

Endless tree shadows under moonlight.

Enemies were descending as if sliding on the night wind, and a pungent smell pierced his nose as if a campfire had been wrongly built. The latter was Scorching Yang Art’s unique trace.

‘Terrifying.’

The scoundrel who only caused trouble at Dragon Phoenix Assembly was right before ascending World Tree. The end times were truly the end times.

“Report, what about the Yao tribe?”

At that question, Lazy Flame Dragon’s presence moved. A reaction tilting his head sideways.

“Your manner of speech is strange?”

“I’m now officially Blood Guardian Squad Leader.”

“Ah, I see.”

Strange amusement was tinged in it.

In a brief moment Hyeon Won-chang surveyed the long-eared masters. Martial military forces whose numbers were hard to count at a glance. Those who came to intercept Lazy Flame Dragon alone numbered easily over three thousand. He had to ask again.

“When are the Demon Realm jianghu people coming?”

“It’ll take a while. With only bodies hard as stones, they’re all slow as hell.”

“We’re screwed…”

Zzzzzzzzzzing!

The front.

It was a whirlpool of bright blue lightning.

Inside it, figures repeatedly clashing then scattering were visible. Their dancing-like forms also occasionally showed.

Four people.

It was tremendous.

The one-armed woman wrapped in blue lightning like clothing, the giant with bleached white hair striking down a greatsword. Great King Vajra and Gao Yao Holy Sword Lord who had been nightmares in the north.

‘The opponents are…’

The old general dancing with all kinds of weapons floating around him, grabbing whatever came to hand, and the noble clan Taoist whose cyan-red sword energy overflowed like tidal waves each time he swung his sword once.

Sun Direction General and Qingcheng Sect Leader.

The roar was deafening. Still a feast of speed and principles hard to follow. Lightness Skill was the same. Because afterimages of Form Transposition were tangled like thread and flickered.

Our side is being pushed back. Hyeon Won-chang thought.

‘It’s because Vajra lost an arm to the black-rank seniors of the main sect. Sun Direction General and Qingcheng Taoist are also too formidable. Considering that, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be decided easily though…’

Hyeon Won-chang asked while managing his acupoints shaken by repeated Form Shifting Void.

“Why aren’t you joining?”

“Catching my breath.”

Lazy Flame Dragon’s finger pointed at his feet.

There was charcoal.

A human shape, from which pale steam rose in streams. It was also the source of the acrid smell.

“They use strange incantations. Saying Literary Star failed the exam, that the Southern Emperor should only look north… The art masters are absurdly formidable, so it was disconcerting.”

Anyway, these so-called peerless masters… Lazy Flame Dragon grumbled.

The Failed Scholar Literary Star and Northern-Facing Southern Emperor he mentioned, Hyeon Won-chang had also heard of. Because they were Star Direction General’s techniques that the General Administration Office obtained. The techniques of the man who had been the strategist of the military from the days of Four Generals of Sun Moon Star Spirit.

Hyeon Won-chang finally acknowledged it.

“It’s true you defeated the new emperor of Demon Realm. The Southern Emperor’s son, Aisin Gioro Black Return…”

Lazy Flame Dragon silently tapped one of the swords at his waist. The sword that had been bathing in gentle silver light under the moon hummed. Evidence that the north and Jeong Yeon-shin had made peace.

‘Remaining Thunder…!’

Hyeon Won-chang immediately reached out his hand.

“Give it.”

“No way, it was my mission. Naturally returning it is also my body’s duty.”

“Hwangbo so-and-so.”

“Ah, it’ll be soon.”

“……?”

“The day when my personal name will surpass this pathetic family’s surname.”

Lazy Flame Dragon looked up at the vast tree while slightly raising one corner of his mouth.

“Then it’ll be fine to engrave it on all under heaven.”

When he exhaled with a whoof, hot smoke scattered palely. His inner art breathing seemed to be returning to perfect condition.

Scorching Divine Meridian that mastered Divine Sword Group’s Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.

Perhaps in internal energy endurance alone, he might have already surpassed Jeong Yeon-shin. Even if the world ended, that one alone would survive.

“Does our official Blood Guardian Leader know why they aren’t drawing their bowstrings?”

“Who knows.”

“As soon as they saw the arrows flying at me turn to ash on their own, they stopped shooting. Those bastards are conserving true energy.”

Words meaning various things.

Though World Tree’s accumulated energy seemed vast at first feeling, it was limited. With such earth energy, what they were plotting would have to be assessed.

Kiling…

“Hm?”

At the small bell sound, Lazy Flame Dragon tilted his head. Conversely, Hyeon Won-chang’s complexion changed slightly.

“World Tree, Nine Complete Guests!”

Two figures walked out from among the noble clan masters who formed a wall. They wore identically large bows and curved willow leaf sabers, and exuded temperament as if trained in the same school.

The bell sound rang from the willow leaf sabers’ hilts they wore. Sword handles with small bells hanging. They said every swordplay disrupted the opponent’s mind. Divine secret art that synthesized ‘Wind General’s’ sound technique and World Tree’s noble clan sword methods.

—If they combine attacks, don’t engage.

It was the Grand Administrator’s story. Hyeon Won-chang slowly opened his mouth.

“Nine Complete Guests… Though the ages that can be assessed by their faces vary, they’re noble clan masters of Three Flowers Gathering at Crown who had been secluded at World Tree. They were already so even before being unified. Anyone who’s careless will lose their head. Other Nine Complete Guests must have also come forward as scouts like this.”

“Can our official Blood Guardian Leader handle one of the two? Since I’m not yet at full strength.”

“Of course. What do you take a superior officer for?”

Hyeon Won-chang assumed a vigorous low stance with fully raised cultivation, and the atmosphere split from that breathing technique. It was simultaneous that an untimely Form Shifting Void trajectory sucked in Hyeon Won-chang.

Only his lament remained.

“Oh no…”

The moment he put strength in both eyes, it was already a different location. He thought he might have heard Lazy Flame Dragon’s hollow laugh.

It wasn’t important.

The scene before his eyes was the problem. So was the thick bloody scent that wafted over.

“……”

Two bell willow leaf sabers lay scattered. On top of torn and exploded flesh respectively. The remains of what must have been World Tree Nine Complete Guests. Two beings standing face to face in the middle of it all.

It was an age of chaos that made even those who shouldn’t meet confront each other without hesitation.

Hyeon Won-chang felt the era’s torrent from the one-legged stance of the one-eyed cripple among the two. A wave of connections close to irresistible. It seemed to scatter into foam when reaching the man wearing pink long robes.

It was Fighting God and Tyrant Hero.