Chapter 767 – Light Flame (2)

A space where pure white sparks whirled like feathers.

Jeong Yeon-shin stared intently at the scenery of Myriad View Place where black and white outlines rippled. While he was confident in Lazy Flame Dragon’s superiority in life’s density, it was difficult to disregard Wei Yeon, whose long life was composed of regrets and obstinacy.

The World Tree’s Clan Leader.

There was reason for her loftiness.

‘Is it truly enough…?’

A question that habitually intruded whenever he thought about the remaining time. It must be a question that had settled like a habit in Lazy Flame Dragon too.

Wei Yeon.

After being struck down and killed repeatedly by Fighting God, she overcame him through repeated Transcendent Martial Art, reached death’s threshold even with the transformed Literary Star, and in combined attack breathing, suffered a wheels battle against three formidable warriors counted among Transcendent Peak.

All in a single day.

The jianghu Jeong Yeon-shin had summoned.

Presumably, the regeneration ability also restored a considerable amount of the upper energy center’s spirituality. That was why the World Tree masters’ divine arts and supreme strikes remained consistently fierce.

‘But, even if they speak of Blood Flame Cult Leader from centuries past…’

They couldn’t truly be the same as Blood Flame Cult Leader Baek Rak. Because it wasn’t an ability they cultivated themselves. How could they perfectly weave the extremely complex framework of the upper energy center every time?

The same was true for the mind that moved spirituality. Operating the upper energy center fundamentally consumed great mental power. Now it must be consumed to the extreme limit.

Otherwise, the World Tree’s martial military forces that clashed with Literary Star in the south wouldn’t have given up on regeneration.

‘…But.’

Even so, could they kill the Ming Dynasty’s history?

Was it because of the Scorching True Energy waves that exploded with transcendent density? Jeong Yeon-shin quietly stared at the scenery that repeatedly plunged into pitch-black darkness then filled with bright light.

Of course, he assessed unconsciously.

‘Infinite Scorching Divine Energy, the Hwangbo Family’s Brilliant Heavenly King Dance release force bursting with explosive momentum, Lazy Flame’s release force amplification, the pressure discharge of Radiant Wing Seven Steps separately transmitted through the Black Capital previously, and Radiant Art Formation…’

The ultimate mystery of emission principles.

Invincible, who had been beside him, muttered in a voice tinged with laughter.

“That guy isn’t ordinarily crazy either.”

With that much energy wave power.

The movements inside could only appear choppy. Moreover, because it was force with substance, those positioned inside would sense even time slowly. With bodies that had actually slowed like leisurely idlers.

It was also like a supreme strike one of Lazy Flame Dragon’s few close friends had possessed. None other than Azure Qilin Namgung Se-jin’s Emperor Sword Form.

[That bastard…!]

Wei Yeon’s intent.

It was after Lazy Flame Dragon’s techniques interlocked to construct a black and white space. It clearly bore the flow of Radiant Art Formation. A domain that naturally boosted all Lightning Genius techniques to extend naturally like Demon Light Secret, yet more fiercely than any overlapping release force.

Only the Lightning Genius martial lineage was free.

Thus it was a Radiant Art Formation space that far surpassed Radiant Art Formation.

—Zzzejejejejejejejejeong!

Sluggish spacetime.

The distance between them was about two hundred zhang in diameter.

Cheong Myeong and Baek Mi-ryeo’s afterimages swelled in layers. The movements of masters respectively perfected with Jeong Family Dynamic Technique and Heavenly Demon Divine Formula constantly adjusted their tempo to freely cross the swift speeds of Transcendent Peak’s white-blue-black-purple ranks. Below Lazy Flame Dragon who stood on her head, pressing Wei Yeon’s shoulders down like a thousand-weight hammer.

‘How can that bastard…?’

Deploying a killing strike of Transcendent Martial Art caliber was like stacking a tall and complex stone tower in an instant. Spirituality and internal energy had to be arranged in the right places in one breath.

Even to maximum power.

Not to mention such a wide-area supreme technique. She had thought someone with Lazy Flame Dragon’s temperament would produce only a simple single strike. Because he wasn’t someone who could endure tremendous mental power consumption.

Wrong.

—Kwakwakwakwakwakwa!

Two shadows mixed in the intersecting light and darkness. It looked like watching Peking opera with endlessly fluttering awnings, but all movements were subsiding. Centered on Wei Yeon’s battered shadow.

That was as far as it went.

[These bastards….]

Wei Yeon’s Wooden Blade Sword couldn’t unleash her Transcendent Martial Art. Like a rock bluntly worn down beneath an endlessly fierce waterfall.

‘In the end.’

Was consecutive battles the problem? But Jeong Yeon-shin also thought differently. What truly wore Wei Yeon down might have been the years that poured out without her husband.

If he had received that much support from the World Tree, he would have unleashed Enter The Dao Transcend Together ten times and still held onto his mind. He muttered unconsciously in Myriad View Place.

[It was already a defeated life.]

“Suddenly picking a fight…?”

Invincible’s words only scattered by his ears. Because Wei Yeon’s shadow stood vacantly in the black and white scenery. Like an ancient tree hundreds of years old rooted in an ink painting.

Lazy Flame Dragon’s intent rang out.

[She’s enduring this…?]

It was like avoiding all fatal injuries from the combined attack of one of Nine Sects leader and two of Eight Families heads who coordinated overwhelmingly well.

Even after repeated fierce battles. It couldn’t be done with the World Tree’s supply alone.

‘The realm martial warrior Wei Yeon achieved.’

Lazy Flame Dragon had said previously. The moment his Three Flowers Gathering at Crown achievement deepened, the damn heat in his meridians became poisonous.

Now the heat wounds generated by his release force didn’t recover. It was a stage surpassing principle like Heavenly Soaring Guest Wan Hui’s blade work.

Yet Wei Yeon was moving her sword, albeit slowly. As if her protective strong energy had already been restored, she seemed about to unleash her Transcendent Martial Art. Together with intent shot out like a ray of light.

[How could I die to mere soldiers? When you’re not even Lightning Genius.]

Wood among the Five Elements was energy symbolizing defense in internal martial arts. Not only did it boost protective strong energy, but also bodily solidity, and Wei Yeon must be the person who handled Wood Energy best in the current all under heaven. Jeong Yeon-shin intuited.

‘If that sword strike extends.’

Cheong Myeong, Baek Mi-ryeo, Lazy Flame Dragon. Two of the three would certainly die instantly. The sword path concluding Wei Yeon’s life would be such a killing strike.

[No, that won’t do.]

Lazy Flame Dragon’s laughter flowed through the instant.

[You mustn’t bear fruit. At least these youngsters’ lives….]

Vine ground flickering colorlessly and ephemerally like an idler’s life. During the fierce battle, the four people’s positions had shifted. Behind something shadowed large like a rock.

The quality of dominating battle’s flow.

It was after the rock mass rose like a mirage.

[……!]

Xiahou Wei-jin who had been sprawled dealing with internal injuries. Within Transcendent Martial Art Light Wings’ distance, it meant explosive power increase. His massive fist was already charging in, accelerated repeatedly with lightness technique Wind God.

—Kugugugugugugung!

Using the white sparks whirling like feathers as propulsive energy waves, he crushed Wei Yeon’s waist along with her ribs. By then, Baek Mi-ryeo’s shadow had already split the protective strong energy after touching Wei Yeon’s chest, and Cheong Myeong’s blade shadow indifferently penetrated through her ribs.

Wei Yeon’s sword strike couldn’t be concluded.

—Flutter.

When three jet-black robes imprisoned her shadow like a prison.

Lazy Flame Dragon’s sleeves were dyed the reddish tint of dawn. The Light Wings domain had already begun crumbling like ash. Sunlight was streaming down in rays.

[The battle over great causes and such ended in the north. Your side has low dignity.]

He said.

A sight of correcting his handstand as if performing acrobatics.

[That bastard… this bastard…!]

He gripped Wei Yeon’s head and stepped on the sun upside down. Both sleeves burned in dark purple flames. Arms revealing bare flesh like candle wicks.

Kureureureurereung.

Simultaneously, a tremendous resonance penetrated even Myriad View Place. Because the World Tree had burst out a massive pulse.

The same vibration seemed to strike Lazy Flame Dragon. He raised one corner of his mouth. Was it begging him not to kill?

[I can even listen to the World Tree’s pleading. As expected, it pays to live long enough to see everything.]

A hand squeezing like bursting fruit, the cracking sound of a skull rupturing, Wei Yeon’s pupils creating afterimages in all directions as if sensing that instant as an eternity….

“That friend seems like the orthodox inheritor?”

With Invincible’s words, Jeong Yeon-shin turned around in place.

He saw a man who had stained the blue hem of Four Clawed Dragon stained with blood. The sight of him entering Myriad View Place with some old Taoist’s support. King Qiong-ming Zhu Yue and Wudang’s Immortal Profound Void.

[Desolate Fortress Lord Lightning Genius.]

King Qiong-ming’s heavy intent spread.

[We will help you escape this place.]

* * *

Wei Yeon couldn’t escape.

She only stretched the instant like eternity with her upper energy center spirit. In a state where only consciousness floated in her crumbling head, she sensed death slowly approaching.

—What have you all been doing? I said support was needed. Qingshui, Golden Thunder, Heaven-reaching! And what have the youngsters from the Three Houses been doing?

She had been endlessly sending commands through Wind King technique’s transmission network. They would have thundered in everyone’s ears, yet few answered. Only a few words returned from Four Protector Dharma Kings Heaven-reaching and Qingcheng sect leader.

—I died three times to Ominous Dream. To use Ultra-Soul Archery, I need to widen the distance a bit… Is the Clan Leader dying too?

—Please don’t worry, Clan Leader Wei. Though the Northern Kings’ blade edges are extremely fierce, I’ll somehow shake them off and come.

No one came.

It was a time of facing what Lightning Genius left behind. How many times had she urged that they could only win by moving like her limbs?

[……!]

Wei Yeon’s pupils convulsed.

The feeling of a swordsman who achieved nothing special facing a swordsman who mastered Transcendent Martial Art. That’s how it was as head of one sect.

Puhwak—

A foreign sensation pierced around her Baihui acupoint. Lazy Flame Dragon’s two thumbs, together with pure white Light Flame that forbade regeneration. The remaining eight fingers were melting her jawbone along with protective strong energy as they rose.

Literally skull-crushing agony followed. Copious saliva that flowed down then evaporated with a hiss and rose as steam.

[Lightning Genius… Lightning Genius…!]

Wei Yeon sensed the rapidly changing battlefield. The Demon Realm martial military forces beginning to ascend the World Tree with lightness skill and mounted martial arts from the northwest, at the peak Ominous Dream and Dream Flight massacring the Law Enforcement Department, from the northeast the Radiant Art Formation energy waves of the Divine Sword Group accumulated with force shaking the entire World Tree.

‘Up above.’

While the world breathed and lived, Wei Yeon felt her lifeline racing toward the end. Her end was as a warrior who couldn’t unleash Transcendent Martial Art, as a Clan Leader.

[…If I had made you, not the tree, my ending. On the day you left, if I had expelled myself from the clan.]

Saaaaa—

Ash flowing down from Lazy Flame Dragon’s half-vanished sleeves.

[Would I have been completed too….]

In Wei Yeon’s distorted vision, it appeared as falling flower petals. The ones she and her husband had stepped on while dancing as an excuse to teach lightness skill once.

Suddenly her crushed mouth formed an arc, and.

Chiiiiiiiiiiik—

The ash flowers blurred in the moisture that evaporated like clouds from her entire body. Her mouth corners didn’t move once they dropped fast as a swift sword.

* * *

Instant death.

Lazy Flame Dragon used the crushed head as a foothold and came down with a whoosh.

Thud.

Wei Yeon, dried and twisted like a mummy, belatedly collapsed. The white steam rising from various parts of her body bent with a whoosh. Then Lazy Flame Dragon also collapsed powerlessly like a piece of firewood.

And said.

“Wow, we won this. I honestly saw the odds at about ten percent….”

He slowly turned only his head then hesitated. Because three black-ranks were sitting cross-legged on the scorched ground.

They hadn’t collapsed.

They were attempting energy circulation. Despite being unable to continue fighting.

A situation where they not only bathed in Wei Yeon’s overwhelming Wooden Blade Sword Energy with their entire bodies, but even had all their meridians torn apart. Especially Xiahou Wei-jin might become unable to circulate energy itself, like Council Elder Shin Byeok.

Lazy Flame Dragon asked blankly.

“What are you all doing now?”

He swallowed the rest. Never mind not settling acupoints—

Suddenly Baek Mi-ryeo spoke with closed eyes.

“Shut up and breathe properly.”

At that, Cheong Myeong, who gave a slight smile despite circulating energy. He wasn’t just sitting, it wasn’t seated meditation. He appeared to be gathering Jeong Family Dynamic Technique true energy as much as possible.

Cheong Myeong’s mouth moved.

“Poppy addict, to save you.”

“…Where under heaven is there a master who dies from unfolding Transcendent Martial Art once?”

Lazy Flame Dragon deflected, but Cheong Myeong only muttered indifferently.

“A short-lived weakling would quite often do so.”

“Can you say that to the Lord too?”

“No reason I can’t. He has the temperament to survive one more breath from spite.”

Saying so, Cheong Myeong sent a transmission through Bright Wind Cave.

—Won-chang, do you have leisure to unfold the Northern Blade’s dharma treasure? If you’re okay, could you check where the poppy addict is positioned right now?

Was it to stir up competitive spirit?

There was actually an effect. Because Lazy Flame Dragon’s ears, which had seemed about to burrow into the ground like a corpse, twitched. Immediately Hyeon Won-chang’s answer returned.

—Yes, Poppy Flame Moth… Poppy Flame Moth… right now is sixteen again. Among people, only he keeps moving about alone. Honestly, you can’t call the Divine Sword Strategist who was suddenly registered at four a person.

—From eighteenth to sixteenth place already? See, I told you he’s a friend who can do it if he tries. Good thing we didn’t bury him in Shaanxi land.

“Why are you being like that?”

When Lazy Flame Dragon shook his head.

—Hm? This is a bit strange now. The previous Lord’s name descended to two and became incredibly faint… This is really, no, one is also a problem.

—What do you mean?

—How long has it been like this, the name keeps getting erased then scrawled over. Fruit Northern Emperor, fruit, fruit… only the character for fruit is intact. The remaining text keeps changing as if about to be carved or not, Qian-ling, Yue Feng, Myo Lian, Heaven-reaching, Obeying Heaven Invincible, Wei Gun-hye… Northern Emperor again? What’s this? Hm? The brush strokes stop! Three characters, three characters…!

[TL Note- Myo Lian is the second Divine Sword Group Leader’s name. Previously mentioned in chapter 719, I did mistranslate it but I have fixed it.]

—You’re making me suffocate. You wanted to go to the Administration Office too. Organize and speak.

—Three characters, and now it’s not moving, this is… damn, this doesn’t make sense…?

Suddenly Cheong Myeong’s eyes flashed bluish. Lazy Flame Dragon’s expression also sank. Even while unable to move further, his upper energy center insight fulfilled its role. All the more because the feeling was ominous.

Cheong Myeong’s voice coldly cut through the empty atmosphere.

—Enough. Just recite it as is.

—Zhang Sanfeng (張三丰).