Chapter 812 – Side Story – This Is Embarrassing

Blue-green ridgelines, whirling mountain winds, jianghu monsters, his insignificant self, a backpack weighing as much as a person, or rather, a coffin.

Hyeon Won-chang regretted it.

The geniuses’ jianghu was difficult to handle: their martial talent, of course, and the aftereffects that came with it.

I shouldn’t have interfered unnecessarily, he thought.

He shook his head. He held a different demonic sword in each hand. His jet-black sleeves kept brushing the hilts.

His Beloved sword Spring Horn. Wan Hui’s Winter Dream.

The Winter Dream was much longer. Spring Horn had been made for assassination techniques, whereas the Winter Dream was an iron sword meant for heavy, general use.

For Hyeon Won-chang, the difference also emphasized the gap between himself and Wan Hui.

The longer blade felt more overwhelming. Its trembling resonance near Spring Horn felt like madness.

Was it because the Unorthodox Finest Swordsman had wielded it before dying? Its spiritual essence was tremendously thick. Because he needed to soothe the Winter Dream, Hyeon Won-chang carefully opened his mouth.

“An orphan acting so fussy.”

Woooong!

“The master sleeps in you? That cannot be. He has gone to the afterlife.”

The sword’s resonance rolled like thunder.

He had just snatched it from Jeok Yu-ha’s grasp. He needed to flee, but he had paused to control the Winter Dream. Naturally, it was difficult to maintain the Stealth Concealment Art as well.

Eventually he was discovered.

“You, why are you fine?”

“……!”

When he quickly lifted his head, he saw the Seventh Apostle.

She hung from a high branch with her feet hooked like a bat’s. Her black hair fell naturally upside down, and both eyes were brilliantly red.

She was a peerless beauty; connoisseurs might call her the world’s most beautiful. She gave off something like Jeong Yeon-shin’s aura.

Red Robe Crazy Blood, he thought.

He had been uncertain even when stealing the Winter Dream, because her impression had changed. Now she had an atmosphere that made it seem worth trying to speak with her.

The madwoman who had made Jeong Yeon-shin her dance companion had lived with him for three years.

How full her heart must have been.

She was a master whose mind transformed her body; her temperament and features had become extremely harmonious. Her human scent was strong. She felt like a deeply flawed human, like Jeong Yeon-shin.

Of course, she was dangerous like him as well.

Hyeon Won-chang managed to speak.

“That… Miss Jeok, Young Hero. First, please calm down. Let’s talk calmly about what to do with this Winter Dream.”

“Young Hero?”

“To call you just Miss would be insufficient for a martial world hero who played a great role in the World Tree Felling Incidient, and calling you merely a great hero would undersell you.”

“Ah.”

The ends of the Seventh Apostle’s jet-black hair rippled toward the ground. She nodded slightly, as if convinced.

Better than Jeong Yeon-shin, Hyeon Won-chang thought, surprised.

Worse than Blood Flame Cult, he quickly added in his head.

He needed to think fast. How should he guide his sworn brother, who was no different from family?

Then the Seventh Apostle pointed at the Winter Dream and asked again.

“Why don’t you move to another place? When I grabbed it, the location kept changing.”

“It’s because it’s a familiar technique. I can handle spatial absolute techniques a bit. Right now I’m barely blocking it.”

“I see. You were included in the package too.”

She spoke as if Hyeon Won-chang were the Winter Dream’s scabbard. He smiled. Jeong Yeon-shin would still be better than someone from Blood Flame Cult.

At that moment a red afterimage streaked through the area. The Seventh Apostle was already gone from the tree.

Damn, Hyeon Won-chang realized. She’d struck an acupoint as she passed with her Graceful Body Technique. Was she trying to use him literally as a scabbard to control the Winter Dream?

“Hm?”

The Seventh Apostle sounded puzzled, because the Winter Dream was now in her hand.

“A minor trick,” Hyeon Won-chang said, relieved. Since his speech acupoint had not been struck, words flowed smoothly.

“The Winter Dream created spatial gaps violently on its own. It’s over half a zhang within my hand.”

“What?”

“Honestly, rather than confronting you directly, wouldn’t it be a hundred times easier to aim for the Winter Dream you’re holding again?”

“You…!”

Hyeon Won-chang waved his hand.

“See you again.”

The Winter Dream hummed, and the Seventh Apostle suddenly vanished from her spot.

Only then did Hyeon Won-chang breathe a sigh of relief. He exhaled internal energy, muttering dejectedly.

“Even if I open this, it’ll be a difficult fight. Someone might die.”

He tapped the coffin on his back with Spring Horn’s scabbard. Inside, Namgung Hwa-shin did not respond as if he were dead.

It had been after Hyeon Won-chang had used up his waking time outside missions for Jeong Jung-san’s wedding ceremony.

He always sighed.

There was something I wanted to test, he thought.

Long ago, when the Seven New Enemies of the Defeated Desolation had conquered Desolate Fortress, Namgung Hwa-shin had expanded his forbidden realm on his own. That had been possible only because Namgung Hwa-shin’s condition was extraordinary.

He recalled the words Spirit Hand Divine Physician spoke when diagnosing Namgung Hwa-shin after returning to the Han people.

“It’s a disparity between mind and upper dantian. A rare punishment even among martial world scoundrels. The price of overheating the upper dantian purely through willpower. Normally one can’t do that. I don’t know what was so desperate, but literally his soul has left him. Until he enters a coffin, most of his time will be spent wandering dreams.”

Hyeon Won-chang muttered, “If Namgung hyung could properly grip the Winter Dream even once, who knows…”

A demonic sword that steals dreams. Stories of those who gripped such wicked swords and went mad were common. Of course, the owner could not sleep.

Therefore the name Winter Dream was odd in many ways.

Was what was trapped in winter dream the Unorthodox Finest Sword’s cherished wish or his past?

It was not for Hyeon Won-chang to know.

What mattered was that Spring Horn had not awakened Namgung Hwa-shin. Perhaps the Winter Dream would do otherwise. That was the gap between Hyeon Won-chang and Wan Hui.

He began to move, muttering the principles of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique.

“Desolate Divine Hero Hyeon Won-chang. An assassin swayed by swords…”

To steal the Winter Dream from the Seventh Apostle again, his luck needed to align. Because he would have to use Spring Horn a lot, recovering accumulated energy came first.

Easy, he thought.

He was the legitimate successor of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, a warrior of Wish for Peace Sword Hall and Jeong Yeon-shin’s sworn brother. In other words, he had mastered dynamic energy accumulation.

A hundred steps would be sufficient.

Then suddenly, a voice resonated from the coffin.

“Hyeon Won hyung.”

“It’s not mealtime yet…?”

“If we find the Winter Dream, we must break it immediately.”

Namgung Hwa-shin sounded calm. His voice echoed from inside the large coffin, but his pronunciation was clear and easy to hear.

“It’s a divine weapon that even Wudang couldn’t hold. How great a danger will it be to jianghu and to the people’s livelihood in the future? Return the Winter Dream to Wudang’s bosom again…? That’s just Wudang’s delusion.”

“I understand.”

Hyeon Won-chang waved his hand dismissively.

“I understand, so sleep. You won’t be able to get up when needed.”

“Yes.”

Namgung Hwa-shin’s internal energy breathing lengthened. He fell asleep again.

Hyeon Won-chang felt relieved.

If Namgung Hwa-shin himself wasn’t unhappy, that was enough. Desolate Fortress didn’t pity its comrades.

Only the mission remained.

–You fellows are the fortress’s black ranks. Act as you please.

That had been Grand Administrator Lim Jin-ming’s addendum. After filling his accumulated energy with Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, Hyeon Won-chang began moving independently like any other Desolate Fortress black rank.

Whoosh!

The scenery changed in a single step.

A mountain peak stood before him. Since full Form Shifting Void was burdensome, he used Earth Shrinking Step, weaving footwork and spatial absolute techniques. Each step came with Spring Horn’s blade strokes.

Whoosh!

Another step. Lazy Flame Dragon Hwangbo Je-yul’s haughty face passed by, his mental transmission warming Hyeon Won-chang’s ears.

–The scramble needs to end quickly. If you interfere, Won-chang, you’ll only make things more chaotic.

Hyeon Won-chang didn’t care.

Whoosh!

This time he stood before an old Taoist.

Immortal Profound Void. One of the Five Swords Under Heaven who could wield a sword the longest in the world.

Even before properly confirming Hyeon Won-chang’s appearance, the old man’s wrinkled lips were moving. He had foreseen one breath in advance that Hyeon Won-chang would arrive.

“You dare?”

“Desolate Fortress’s Blood Guardian Leader greets Wudang’s previous Sect Leader. Since there’s no time for propriety now, I’ll properly pay respects to Immortal’s tomb later.”

“That technique, on Mount Wudang?”

“I’ll pay respects later at Immortal’s tomb.”

Whoosh!

Hyeon Won-chang could vaguely sense the Winter Dream’s presence because he had touched it once. Since Spring Horn and the Winter Dream were demonic swords with similar energies, there was no hesitation in his Earth Shrinking Sword Step movements.

Even when reaching a remote peak.

True Martial Peak,  one of Mount Wudang’s dozens of summits. A shrine said to enshrine Taoism’s Dark Heaven Supreme Emperor stood there. Perhaps because it was somewhat distant from Wudang Sect’s main palace, the shrine seemed poorly maintained, its small roof broken here and there.

Below it, the Seventh Apostle sat cross-legged with the Winter Dream on her thighs.

Truly a swordsman’s posture.

That was why it was strange. Hyeon Won-chang had no information that the Seventh Apostle used a sword. Surely she was possessed by the demonic sword. He therefore hid while holding his breath.

After a somewhat lonely silence, she suddenly asked, “Did the disciple come?”

Unfamiliar words and behavior. To Hyeon Won-chang it sounded surprisingly familiar. Even the falling leaves seemed to dance around the Seventh Apostle.

[Hmm, ahem.]

He deployed Six Harmonies Sound Transmission, a voice echoing from all directions, used to hide one’s exact location from a formidable opponent.

Why would I be your disciple? he projected.

“Aren’t you material suited to my blade strokes? You might be able to cut me down in the future. Then you must naturally learn Eternal Sleep Sword Way. Only then can you kill me for certain.”

She spoke like Wan Hui.

Hyeon Won-chang immediately realized the Winter Dream remembered its owner’s sword techniques, Wan Hui’s martial arts unknown to the world, even its name.

[Why should I cut you down?]

“One day I suddenly realized I was walking the unorthodox path.”

[So?]

“After resolving grudges, it seems no one can kill me. Only with my own sword will this life end. This martial art is inevitably so.”

[Couldn’t you just take your own life? Of course, I don’t mean you should die. Just grab an appropriate artery.]

“I said unorthodox. What demonic heretic would give up their life? If such a person exists, they’re lucky to have come to their senses. I’m not confident I could do that.”

[Young Hero Jeok, you’ve already come to your senses. You’ve lived a hero’s life for a long time. You even enjoyed it quite a bit.]

“I’ll surely transform into a typical demonic heretic. Please forgive me if I teach somewhat harshly. Mm… They say the teacher-disciple bond is like parent and child. Since I must commit a crime against heaven in the future, it’s Heaven Conquering.”

Very talkative, in Wan Hui’s voice.

Likewise, in her grasp was the Unorthodox Finest Sword Art.

Hyeon Won-chang held his breath. A shudder ran down his spine. Something was seriously wrong.

That Winter Dream had clearly been grabbed without much resistance by Lazy Flame Dragon. It gave the impression of Wan Hui in his Seated Sword Hero days casually lending an iron sword.

And now it sounded like the Heaven-Conquering Sect Leader from his disciple-raising period, Wan Hui when he harvested the most human necks.

In other words, the Winter Dream showed Wan Hui from different periods.

As befitting the world’s demonic sword, it was hard to pin down.

Hyeon Won-chang gripped Spring Horn in a reverse hold within the lush leaves. Immediately, the Greater Circulation’s flow initiated assassination techniques. His presence began to sever from the world along with spatial absolute techniques.

It was a Stealth Concealment Art far surpassing the Turtle Breath Great Technique. He had not intended a frontal confrontation. In the first place, no one expected the Winter Dream Blood Incident to end quickly.

I’ll have to aim for a sleeping gap, he thought. If I endure for about two weeks, she’ll close her eyes for a moment.

At that moment his thought was cut off. A sword strike flashed as a semi-transparent horizontal line. The old trees above Hyeon Won-chang’s head fell, along with a nearby rocky mountain.

“……!”

Kuguuuuung!

A small commotion compared to Mount Wudang’s vastness, but to absolute masters with wide sensory perception realms it would sound like thunder. They could arrive here in only a few breaths.

Then I’ll have to fight, he thought as he drew breath. Already, from the coffin on his back, Divine Sword Namgung Hwa-shin stirred.

In an instant three presences budded from a distant ridge, each with a distinct energy style evoking the sun, spring wind, and tempest.

Lazy Flame Dragon Hwangbo Je-yul.

Immortal Profound Void.

Wudang’s Sect Leader.

At the same time another human presence overtook those three at a distance and descended to the shrine riding sunlight.

Step.

A figure silently looked down at the Seventh Apostle. A bright red long robe fluttered on the roof. On the shoulder, the word Desolate was embroidered in brilliant gold.

Another participant.

This time the weight was different.

Since it was broad daylight and masters sensed all directions with energy perception, Hyeon Won-chang knelt on one knee.

“I greet the Fortress Lord.”

“Hyeon Won hyung, I hear sounds.”

“Probably the sound of lightness skill cutting through air. Many masters are participating in the Winter Dream Blood Incident.”

“Yes, please also observe whether the fortress’s dignity is rolling on the ground.”

Rustle.

Hyeon Won-chang heard another sound. Namgung Hwa-shin, who had been raising his upper body, lay back down in the coffin.