Chapter 813 – Side Story – Huh, This is Maddening

Spring at Mount Wudang.

A clear breeze flowed.

The entire landscape was bright. Not only the mountain slopes lush with vegetation, but also the clearing in front of the shrine, emptied by Jeok Yu-ha’s single sword strike.

“…….”

Silent mountains and rivers. Only the roof of the very old shrine creaked occasionally, swaying slightly as if about to collapse.

“Hyeon Won hyung.”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked while feeling the old rafters like Wan Hui’s story.

“Could you summarize the situation? What kind of predicament is this?”

“Uh… yes.”

Hyeon Won-chang glanced at the shrine. More precisely, his gaze was directed at the woman with her back to the shrine.

Jeok Yu-ha.

Standing blankly, she stared up at Jeong Yeon-shin with eyes whose thoughts were unclear.

Red light rippled like smoke in her eyes. The Eye Technique of the unorthodox. Eye light that was by no means friendly.

“As you can see.”

Hyeon Won-chang continued cautiously.

“Red Robe Crazy Blood seems to be possessed by the Winter Dream.”

“I understand that much. It’s just that I’ve never seen those eyes before.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke calmly.

For some reason, he found it difficult to meet Jeok Yu-ha’s gaze. Those dry eyes approached him like a mind sword.

The red-light pupils, peeled away like dead skin yet still beautiful as precious jade, were difficult to watch for long.

Hyeon Won-chang’s explanation continued.

“It seems the Winter Dream is manifesting Heavenly Soaring Guest’s life. The behavior of those who’ve gripped the sword varies, even though they all speak like Heavenly Soaring Guest.”

“Even in death he’s troublesome.”

“So during his hero days called Seated Sword Hero, then when he started walking the unorthodox path, and when raising disciples at Heaven-Conquering Sect, in this flow I think it eventually reaches the point when Wan Hui was performing gate destruction.”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked back.

“In other words, it will calm down on its own?”

“Yes.”

Hyeon Won-chang, who had nodded, added, “But people are the problem. Those who covet that sword, and also the Winter Dream Sword Master who must endure the Winter Dream drawing on their power.”

“She won’t do.”

Jeong Yeon-shin gestured toward Jeok Yu-ha. Though her regenerative ability was overwhelming, if her internal energy dried up because of the Winter Dream it would be continuous suffering. Her upper dantian spiritual essence would be wrung out.

That would be close to torture, he thought.

Hyeon Won-chang nodded knowingly and said, “Excluding Lord Jeong, only two people on the current Mount Wudang can handle the Winter Dream.”

Lazy Flame Dragon with overwhelming energy accumulation, and Immortal Profound Void who made natural energy his limbs. Jianghu disasters Jeong Yeon-shin immediately thought of.

…….

At some point the mountain’s silence deepened.

Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly gazed at a distant hill.

A large old tree was visible. A tree wearing leaves like a raincoat. It was perfect for hiding one’s body even without much talent in Stealth Concealment Art.

He slowly opened his mouth.

“You’re purple now. Do you have time to waste here? If you still won’t go, I’ll drag you and forcibly seat you at the succession ceremony.”

“…….”

“Is the Winter Dream the problem? That sword was first used in the hands of a storyteller who wandered the marketplace. What would someone who calls himself a young master do with it?”

At those words, white smoke rose from the gaps between the old tree’s leaves. Simultaneously, Lazy Flame Dragon’s voice abruptly rang out.

“Don’t speak so easily. If the fortress lord starts a family, you’ll understand.”

“Come out and talk.”

“That’s a bit… Where is Geon-ryun? I definitely sensed him.”

“I came quickly, so I left him at Sword Disarming Pool.”

“In that case.”

Rustle.

Simultaneously, Lazy Flame Dragon stood on the highest leaf of the old tree, hovering swiftly above. The leaves that shot up around both shoulders of his folded arms burned.

Jeong Yeon-shin furrowed his brow. He felt sincerity.

He asked quietly, “If I told you to return to the fortress, would you listen?”

After pondering for a moment, Lazy Flame Dragon shrugged and smiled.

“If it’s an order.”

The temperament was exactly as Jeong Yeon-shin knew. Indeed, Lazy Flames or Blazing Discipline were laughable. The word Lazy Flame suited him.

Lazy fire.

Therefore Jeong Yeon-shin asked, “Why have you become diligent?”

“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“Answer.”

“Well, I’m simple as always. It’s probably because of family.”

The reason Lazy Flame Dragon showed greed was uncharacteristic. The least Lazy Flame Dragon-like story.

Even at this moment he pointed at the Seventh Apostle, who was only staring intently at Jeong Yeon-shin, and said, “My wife isn’t like that. She won’t abandon Ice Palace to follow me. I don’t want that either.”

He was talking about the Great Palace Lord of North Sea Ice Palace, Ice Emperor. Jeong Yeon-shin closed his mouth. Lazy Flame Dragon’s words continued smoothly.

“But I miss her.”

“…….”

“Being able to embrace my spouse from thousands of miles away anytime, while watching my child’s antics? Who would give this up?”

“It’s a situation where you should be acting cute for Geon-ryun.”

“…Since Wudang coincidentally failed to manage that blade, there’s plenty of justification. This young master will be able to control it someday.”

“Your intent is too transparent.”

“Always has been.”

“The reason you avoided the succession ceremony when I wasn’t around?”

“That’s fine now. I’m about to gradually accept it, so let it slide.”

“……?”

Jeong Yeon-shin tilted his head but didn’t ask more. He needed to check the other side.

“Immortal.”

He spoke toward the spot right next to him.

Immortal Profound Void was there. It was the movement of Wudang’s Cloud Ladder Movement Technique, but he had suddenly appeared as if imitating Wan Hui. The Five Swords Under Heaven whose progress never stopped, he was already looking down at the Seventh Apostle alongside Jeong Yeon-shin.

“That thing.”

Immortal Profound Void’s snow-white beard swayed following his chin gesture. At its end was the Winter Dream Sword gripped by the Seventh Apostle.

“Must receive suffering endlessly,” 

Immortal Profound Void said. Wan Hui facing Wu-gok came to mind. 

Jeong Yeon-shin calmly asked back, “Is it because that sword wore Wan Hui’s spiritual essence like a scabbard? Because that is the same as Wan Hui, and can make up for a failed revenge?”

Rustle.

For the first time, Immortal Profound Void turned toward Jeong Yeon-shin. The old Taoist’s eyes were clear as mountain wind. It was chilling precisely because he was clearly sane.

“You always speak like a sword.”

“If you feel that way, it must be because there is a sword in Immortal’s heart.”

Jeong Yeon-shin was calm.

Whoosh.

The next moment, Immortal Profound Void skipped the sword-drawing motion and held the blade downward, like turning a page in a portrait painting. Nature Sword not only amplified sword force but even boosted movements.

“That is correct. There is a blade in my heart,” Immortal Profound Void said, his words flowing naturally like clouds. “Its name is High Sword.”

Taoist High Sword. Always one of the reverberations that made Jeong Yeon-shin hesitate. Meanwhile, Immortal Profound Void fell toward Jeok Yu-ha at tremendous speed. His will resonated loudly.

[Blood demon who must live in suffering, this is not a sword for you to hold.]

Rummmble!

It would be difficult to block.

It was right after Jeong Yeon-shin made that judgment that he raised his upper dantian ability to the limit for the first time since the tree felling by activating the Dan Family Time Transcendence Technique on himself.

Woooong…

Instantly the atmosphere around Jeong Yeon-shin became muffled as if submerged in water.

…….

The mountain was desolate.

Even the spring breeze caught on the leaves. The domain where Dan Seong-eum had swum with Silent Art Sword. The silence of time that choked one’s breath.

Everything stopped.

Immortal Profound Void, just before bisecting Jeok Yu-ha with one sword, found Jeok Yu-ha already half-vanished transparently. Lazy Flame Dragon, who had somehow been passing by Jeong Yeon-shin’s side, simultaneously…

Of course, it was a spacetime where even Jeong Yeon-shin couldn’t move. Even Lazy Flame Dragon’s lightness skill, which had reached the highest speed, had stopped.

In Dan Seong-eum’s silence only Jeong Yeon-shin thought. What would Taoist High Sword have moved and said?

–Don’t compromise.

An increasingly ambiguous theme. Between killing villains and guiding them correctly, which was more difficult? Also, how far are jianghu people’s revenge acts correct?

Finally Jeong Yeon-shin asked in his mind.

–What is compromise?

Below, a Taoist youth stepped on the raised Pine Pattern Ancient Sword of Immortal Profound Void like a swing. Looking peaceful with his hands clasped behind his back, he smiled broadly when his eyes met Jeong Yeon-shin’s.

It was Taoist High Sword.

It was something he’d already done during the tree felling.

An upper dantian that manifested the dead from memory intact. It was possible because it was a Baihui point that sucked in even the world’s providence.

Taoist High Sword exclaimed in admiration.

 “To even read the records of all creation under heaven, it’s what all Taoists wanted. Truly the world’s greatest upper dantian.”

–Ancient and modern greatest.

“Let’s say so.”

Taoist High Sword firmly stepped on his senior brother Immortal Profound Void’s blade tip. Then, while raising one short leg, he asked.

“What is compromise?”

–Yes.

“How can this poor one make assertions? Struggling to distinguish and discern that is life.”

Then Taoist High Sword examined Wan Hui’s Winter Dream Sword that had killed him with interest, scratching his plump cheeks with his knuckles.

Jeong Yeon-shin was silent for a moment. Though there was absolutely no wind, somehow a cool spring breeze seemed to blow and tell him the answer.

–…That’s why I don’t know. 

Looking at Immortal Profound Void’s mood, it seems he’ll be greatly angered if Jeong Yeon-shin blocked him.

“Mm, you obtained the Blood Flame Cult noble and a seat of the Six Star Lords alive. Yet doesn’t senior brother want to at least take the dead’s sword? At least the Central Plains people who lost their brothers and sisters to Heavenly Soaring Guest won’t want your mediation. Of course, senior brother will be the same.”

–That would be so.

“But that’s their circumstance. You sharpened the Central Plains’s enemies as sharply as Remaining Thunder, and ultimately wielded them well to protect the world. Doesn’t everyone acknowledge at least this?”

Taoist High Sword grinned. He looked like a boy with a crafty Taoist’s feeling.

“It must have been very arduous. Because that is groping to distinguish in the darkness. Whether they’re people who’ll melt well once entered into the furnace called you or not.”

–I was just without composure. It was a chaotic era, lives facing death, no time to rest….

“It’s already sufficient. What you must do from now on is just steadily oil your blades so they don’t fade like demonic swords, since you’ve brought them out well from the darkness.”

Then another Taoist High Sword patted Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder. Primal Infant Spirit, who had been known in life as Wudang High Sword’s Life Absolute Technique.

“Aren’t you the world’s greatest? I’ll give different advice now. Just, as you have until now….”

Rustle.

Primal Infant Spirit stopped speaking, and Taoist High Sword’s true body suddenly descended beside Jeok Yu-ha.

“Live like a kind-hearted blind person.”

Having said that, Taoist High Sword already gripped the Winter Dream with his transparent hand.

Divine art secret technique.

Fan Dragon Flower Treading Technique.

Whoosh!

It was the instant Jeong Yeon-shin released the Dan Family Time Transcendence Technique. Immortal Profound Void’s Pine Pattern Ancient Sword that had been splitting Jeok Yu-ha accelerated rapidly. In time that returned to its original speed in one breath, Taoist High Sword, visible only to Jeong Yeon-shin, swung the Winter Dream.

A trajectory gently drawing a semicircle.

It appeared differently in Immortal Profound Void’s eyes. Very skilled Sword Control. The Winter Dream escaped from Jeok Yu-ha’s grasp on its own.

[Jeong Family Lightning Genius, finally!]

The moment anger formed in Immortal Profound Void’s wrinkled eyes.

Clang!

A resonance like a clear bell sound. It came after the Winter Dream deflected the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword upward and flew off. It had clearly drawn Taiji’s sword path.

Taoist High Sword’s Taiji was free, because he’d let go of all attachments and must have reached rejuvenation without dementia.

On the other hand, Immortal Profound Void was a peerless swordsman who could sense all of that in one sword.

[……!]

“Senior brother, live like that sword too.” 

Taoist High Sword disappeared with a quiet murmur. Somehow Jeong Yeon-shin felt it had been heard by Immortal Profound Void as well.

[Just now, what on earth….]

Immortal Profound Void, who had whipped his head toward Jeong Yeon-shin, cut off his words. The old tree that had grown through the ceiling like a shrine pillar, in an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin had pulled Jeok Yu-ha out of Form Shifting Void with Heaven Breaking hand movements and was gently pushing her against the old tree so she could lean her back on it.

Rustle.

“Come to your senses.”

“…Mm, Yeon-shin. Wait a little.”

Their noses nearly touched. Jeong Yeon-shin silently met the gaze of eyes regaining their bright red light.

Was it because he’d elevated his upper dantian to the extreme? A feeling of souls entangling through the red pupils as a medium. Even Jeok Yu-ha’s thoughts flowed in. Jeong Yeon-shin, who’d been silent for three years after hearing the name, worried that it might be because Blood Flame Cult hadn’t been sufficiently destroyed, hoped that Bamboo Hat Blind Swordsman’s blade could annihilate even Blood Flame Cult’s main branch on a distant island nation.

Suddenly Jeong Yeon-shin recalled words Jeok Yu-ha had once mentioned in passing.

“I have a different name received after the coming-of-age ceremony. I can only tell you at important times.”

Suddenly, a murmur flowed out of Jeong Yeon-shin’s mouth.

“You’re my demonic sword.”

“Hm?”

Instantly, Taoist High Sword’s Primal Infant Spirit kicked off Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder and soared up, then kicked the Winter Dream downward and disappeared. A voice saying to steadily oil it echoed like laughter.

“That’s sufficient.”

Crack!

The Winter Dream embedded itself beside Jeok Yu-ha’s face. Jeong Yeon-shin spoke amid bark fragments flying up like sparks.

“When not controlled, the danger isn’t just the Winter Dream. Rather, you’re worse. Because you’ve become too formidable.”

Jeok Yu-ha smiled with her eyes, befitting a madwoman obsessed with martial arts. She whispered words he couldn’t tell were sincere or not.

“Then, shall I die?”

“I’ll have to guide you forever.”

[TL Note- is that a proposal i hear?]

The red sleeves tangled violently in the backwind from Sword Control. It was a wind as fierce as the surprise blooming in Jeok Yu-ha’s red pupils.