Chapter 775 – To My Younger Brother, From The Heavenly Demon (8)

The Jeong Family Estate, Tyrant Sword Sect Leader.

It was the beginning of his turbulent jianghu journey.

Jeong Yeon-shin vividly remembered the dreamlike scent of blood from that time. Tyrant Sword Sect Leader Dan Sung-eum, who seemed to push aside even the moon’s halo. The profundity that suppressed even the shock of his short-lived fate.

Suddenly, he became curious.

Right now.

What did he appear as to Dan Sung-eum?

Jeong Yeon-shin gripped the ropes of the Dragon Boat Festival swing and slowly brought it to a stop. At the same time, he silently met Dan Sung-eum’s eyes.

“You, here of all places.”

Dan Sung-eum’s bloodless lips moved slightly.

That movement continued extremely slowly. It brought to mind a hundred years of wind eroding massive rock.

“If you throw yourself into the demonic path, karma will one day decide major matters… That was what our homeland’s Affectionate Sword said.”

That was all.

Dan Sung-eum’s words ended there.

Jeong Yeon-shin released the swing and asked back.

“If someone called Affectionate Sword existed to teach you, why did you become like this?”

“She lost that name.”

“But aren’t you still a prince even after losing your kingdom? Enough to regard Yunnan Province as the Dali Kingdom.”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked again, but Dan Sung-eum didn’t answer. He merely withdrew his sword from the green-haired girl who appeared to be about sixteen years old.

Screech…

Following Silent Art Sword’s trajectory, the night air groaned like rusted hinges.

It was due to the collision between upper dantian spirits. Jeong Yeon-shin had struck down Fan Dragon Flower Treading Formula onto Silent Art Sword that had thrust toward the girl’s throat. It was a method of controlling another’s weapon through sword control.

‘Against him, it only works momentarily.’

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth. To the green-haired, green-eyed girl who turned toward him while holding Enter The Extinction Sword.

“Master.”

Two voices overlapped. Because both Jeong Yeon-shin and the girl had muttered the same thing. In that instant, the girl’s eyes curved gently, and her manner changed.

“I worried greatly.”

Jeong Yeon-shin intuited it. That something had gone wrong in his master’s head. Just looking at her appearance having undergone bone transformation as if reversing time made it obvious.

He asked her.

“Could bone transformation break?”

“That won’t happen to Shou-lin or Yeon-jeok.”

The girl, Wei Gun-hye’s youthful voice continued quietly as if seeping into moonlight.

“It can only happen to you and me. Because it wasn’t orthodox bone transformation.”

Step.

The girl stood beside Jeong Yeon-shin. It was an extremely natural movement.

Was it because she’d lost sight of her? Dan Sung-eum shattered the Fan Dragon Flower Treading Formula caught on Silent Art Sword with a single swing.

Kwang!

The night air rippled hazily.

Jeong Yeon-shin furrowed his brow at the faint headache. His sword control seemed to have been broken by Three Desolate-Breaking Strikes’ First Strike. He also intuited it wouldn’t work twice.

‘His upper dantian spirituality is as dense as if accumulated over eons.’

Just then, Bright Wind Cave’s transmission flowed into Jeong Yeon-shin’s ears.

[Fortress Lord, the World Tree’s movements are unusual. From now on, I’ll speak through upper dantian intent. Please forgive me if my words aren’t refined…]

It was Grand Administrator Lim Jin-ming’s report. Words that one root had begun writhing like a flood dragon. Additionally, he conveyed Taoist Sanfeng’s words. That he would now yield his body to the fruit.

[There was also a message for the previous Fortress Lord. ‘May you find peace’… And I report now that Pine Pattern Ancient Sword has been drawn. The encirclement is established. Tyrant Hero is engaging…!]

Jeong Yeon-shin asked his master.

“Are you still suppressing the World Tree?”

The girl nodded faintly and parted her lips.

“The upper dantian suffices, so half a day more is possible. However, the tree’s branch avatars are separate. They must be overcome through martial arts.”

Nothing surprising. That was why it was a ‘fruit’ to begin with. Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t care even though Wandering Star was staring at the girl with surprised eyes from one side.

He merely stood still and asked another question.

“Master, the unification’s backlash…”

“This is the result of suppressing it as much as possible, so you need not worry anymore.”

Rustle.

Behind her waist, sleeve fabric draped down like a palace robe. Her hem had probably grown long enough to make swinging a sword difficult.

‘That body.’

It was already a miracle that she could still suppress the World Tree. All the more so because it was time worth gold to Jeong Yeon-shin, who had begun looking back on his life. Therefore, she truly was the world’s greatest of this generation.

At least until just moments ago.

“…After dawn breaks.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly continued.

“Even if you lose many memories, you will always be my master.”

“You were like that to me.”

A moon-halo-like laugh tinged the girl’s voice.

“It was truly joyful.”

Step.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at Dan Sung-eum’s feet approaching them. His downward-tilted eyelashes supported the dusky moonlight. So it wouldn’t flow out of view.

The mouth corners of the girl beside him rose like a crescent moon.

“You walk ahead.”

“Master.”

“Now I will watch your back.”

As soon as he heard those words, Jeong Yeon-shin’s mouth opened.

“So-bin.”

Flash!

Suddenly, a cluster of stars briefly brightened the estate before scattering.

Where dusk settled, his master was gone. Divine Sword Group Burning Abyss Squad Leader had carried her away with Ten Li Gentle Light Technique. So he could face a one-on-one life-and-death duel.

[Tyrant Hero’s Azure Flame collides with Pine Pattern Ancient Sword…! Wudang’s Great Harmony Seven Venerable Stars surround the two. Shaolin deploys the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation again, and a Nether Stream report came in. The unified nobles have become wooden puppets…!]

Crackle.

Jeong Yeon-shin re-gripped Starry Night. Dan Sung-eum was already close at hand, yet his faded eyes looked over Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder. It was the direction Shin So-bin had disappeared.

Wandering Star asked like a mischievous peasant.

“Do you want me to help?”

It was probably a question asked because he might ultimately have to face ‘Zhang Sanfeng.’ If so, he’d need to conserve strength.

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head and answered.

“You just need to watch me until the Ninth Step. Then, when the moment comes, deliver a natural answer.”

That was all.

[Tyrant Hero repels ‘Zhang Sanfeng’ to the World Tree’s peak and follows! All strikes are done with palm force from a distance!]

Lim Jin-ming’s report flowed in along with the sound of Starry Night’s firewood burning. At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin knew Dan Sung-eum’s senses had swept over him countless times in an instant. Truly astonishing speed. Not the realm of conventional absolute mastery, but the feeling of being observed from beyond, in that distant time period.

[Group Leader Dream Flight’s Enter The Divine Spear with Divine Sword Deputy Leader and Desolate Jeok Family Head clinging to the spear soared together. Enter The Divine Spear , raising Dark Night Brilliant Blood Demon Sword throughout their bodies…!]

‘He’s coming from below.’

Kwang!

Just from the feeling, Starry Night struck out and crushed Silent Art Sword’s mysterious trajectory. A straight sword path like his maternal grandfather’s immediate-strike type. Sparks erupted from the two clashing blades like a tidal wave, and space rippled.

Was even this scene drawn in Dan Sung-eum’s mind? Jeong Yeon-shin knew as soon as their swords met. That the distorted space was a precursor to Three Desolate-Breaking Strikes’ Second Strike.

Kurung!

Sword strike energy waves explosively amplified by extraordinary spirituality created a torrential, oppressively forceful flow. Like being trapped in an invisible waterfall. The only permitted movement was lateral footwork.

Even for the current Jeong Yeon-shin, it was the same.

Time that became endlessly slow. Thoughts flowed like light beams.

‘A method that minimizes variables. Being this skilled at counting moves, yet deliberately creating such a force field…?’

If calculations were wrong, couldn’t he immediately change them? When he couldn’t understand using such absurdly dense upper dantian power this way.

Hwak!

Dan Sung-eum was at his flank.

A moment where he had no choice but to expose his shoulder. Compared to his distant sensory paths, it was an extremely simple yet lethal martial art.

Already descending Silent Art Sword diagonally, it felt less like a person’s sword dance and more like a door hinge. Even as Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder tilted back like Ancient Sword Immortal’s loose sleeve.

Kurururung!

Just the aftermath of the blade shredded the purple sleeve downward. Simultaneously, Heavenly Steel Light Armor shield burst out a lightning-like shockwave.

Kwang!

Dan Sung-eum, flung away like a cannonball along with his sword, rotated once and mounted his blade. Extremely elegant sword flight, yet Jeong Yeon-shin felt subtle awkwardness.

‘Not smooth.’

Like a genius such as Yelu Zhen, the feeling of deriving all manner of methods in an instant. Literally exchanging moves with an ancient genius. Thoughts far preceding the body.

It continued afterward as well.

Zzjejejejejejejeong!

Sword paths filling the moonlit night hazily like thread.

[Suddenly, Tyrant Hero fell covered in blood, caught by the Deputy Administrator who ascended to the peak. To Deputy Administrator Literary Star, whose energy gathered again, Tyrant Hero seems to have demonstrated the principle of Radiant Art Technique. Transmitting overlapping energy waves… The Deputy Administrator wrapped Azure Flame of Harmonious Flower Annihilation Technique, but Bright Wind Cave… can hear? The energy waves of Deputy Administrator and Tyrant Hero, Bright Wind Cave’s transmission space cannot withstand, it seems…]

Jeong Yeon-shin’s ears were full of voices, yet Dan Sung-eum seemed to read densely written countermeasure manuals mid-life-and-death duel. Three Desolate-Breaking Strikes’ First Strike was an extremely simple sword path, yet it exploited Jeong Yeon-shin’s openings each moment. As if he’d trained and studied only that for decades.

Dan Sung-eum of Three Desolate-Breaking Strikes.

A sword and swordsman that shattered natural talent.

Because that loneliness penetrated to the bone marrow, Jeong Yeon-shin’s blade tip unraveled connections.

When Silent Art Sword cut in, he grandly repelled it with Heavenly Steel Light Armor shield. Just before offering his throat to a thrust, a sword curtain draped down as if weaving the night sky like fabric. Also, the moment Dan Sung-eum flew up with sword flight to avoid the Jeong Family Estate’s roof tiles from Myriad Heavens Flower Rain, a blade racing mischievously like Eastern Dream burst sword resonance on Silent Art Sword’s blade surface.

Kwang! Kurururung! Zzjejejejejejeong…!

Jeong Yeon-shin shattered Dan Sung-eum’s temporal profundity with an indifferent face. Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword no longer flaunted natural talent. Entangled connections merely created a dense martial arts net.

During sword flight, a crack appeared in Dan Sung-eum’s expressionless face.

Dan Sung-eum, who strongly stomped the sword point he’d been standing on, had the hilt bounce into his grip. A direct overhead stance.

As Jeong Yeon-shin looked up at him blankly, Wandering Star tossed out casually.

“When exactly will you take the Eighth Step? You’ve only walked where your feet touched so far, isn’t this the place?”

“I’ve sufficiently examined the past.”

Jeong Yeon-shin, who still hadn’t moved a step, said. It was while powerfully striking upward with Starry Night against Silent Art Sword descending in an instant.

“Let’s advance.”

A translucent ripple spread from the point of impact, then colored the vicinity like an ink painting. Formless sword Starry Night was an art that smoothly unraveled everything about Jeong Yeon-shin. The single sword stroke just exchanged contained the principle of wide-area Form Shifting Void.

“……!”

Where the ripple disappeared, the Jeong Family Estate was nowhere to be found. The three men stood in a quiet marketplace under moon and clouds. Like turning pages of a picture book, like a warrior painting depicting sword dance.

Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked Dan Sung-eum.

“How do I appear to you now?”

Yunnan Province.

On the old Dali Kingdom’s land.

* * *

Dan Sung-eum descended to the earthen ground.

In the distance, the ruined royal capital was visible. The deed of Emperor Qian-ling, a monarch of iron and blood. Meaning don’t scheme warfare through rebellion.

Jeong Yeon-shin hoped for one thing.

That the Dan Sung-eum his childhood self saw at the Jeong Family Estate and himself reflected in Dan Sung-eum’s eyes now were the same. And that a heart remained not to strike in his hometown.

Therefore, he spoke softly.

“In my thinking, jianghu people’s grudges are like grain stalks.”

“……”

“Grudges are husks, and the hearts that had no choice but to harbor grudges are kernels. The two are inseparable, so without kernels, grudges are meaningless.”

He continued speaking while lowering Starry Night. The swords the two exchanged had crossed eons. Jeong Yeon-shin had naturally discerned Dan Sung-eum’s strange ultimate technique.

During that distant exchange.

How many thoughts did he have, and how long did he gaze at himself? How greatly did Jeong Yeon-shin, who was a stepping stone to reach an enemy, stand as the karma that the person called Affectionate Sword spoke of?

Jeong Yeon-shin couldn’t know, but nevertheless had to speak. The beginning of jianghu person Lightning Genius stood before his eyes.

“I ask.”

Jeong Yeon-shin looked around and spoke.

“Do you have kernels remaining? If so, our swords must not swallow this kingdom.”

Devouring Kingdom.

……

The silence Jeong Yeon-shin felt at that moment was far more distant than all previous moves. Even though Dan Sung-eum’s lips and even his grip on Silent Art Sword showed not the slightest movement.

Soon, Wandering Star’s eyes widened in shock.

Because Dan Sung-eum slowly withdrew his steps as if reversing time.

It was the Eighth Step.