Chapter 450 – Den of Demons (3)

It was while the long wall was reflecting the bright sunlight.

Below the magnificent signboard of Great Heaven Sect.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not stop his hand despite hearing the somewhat grating voice. 

The Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect could be interrogated at any time, so what was urgent now was his sword seal, which was deeply imbued with the Luminous Wheel Technique.

“Is Senior Baek Mi-ryeo safe?”

[As I said before, she’s receiving quite lavish treatment! In a palace where she can enjoy all the world’s pleasures, with mountain and sea delicacies unimaginable in Desolate Fortress, attended by beautiful men and women… She probably doesn’t even think of you!]

‘Demon Extermination Light Trace.’

Jeong Yeon-shin used his two fingers as a sword to strike upward at Ming Cult Leader’s body. From her lower dantian abdomen to approximately her middle dantian at the solar plexus.

Swak!

Following that faint white trajectory, her form distorted like smoke before returning to its original appearance.

“Ugh!”

The sensation of meaninglessly slashing through the air. It felt like cutting through mere dust.

While the Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect retreated in shock, the corners of Ming Cult Leader’s mouth twisted slightly.

With her hands behind her back, she floated gently into the air.

[It’s useless. This is an illusion created with the help of a treasure. In other words, a ghost without any substance. Rather than that……]

Ming Cult Leader, looking down at Jeong Yeon-shin in this state, tilted her head slightly to the side.

[Aren’t your moves terribly crude? The striking point, trajectory, and force carried in the energy wave-none of it makes sense.]

She silently observed the unresponsive Jeong Yeon-shin before raising one corner of her mouth slightly. It was an expression suggesting she had guessed something.

[Could it be that you came here while utilizing upper dantian martial arts? All the way from Desolate Fortress?]

“……”

[I was wondering how the busy new Purple Rank arrived so quickly. I’m curious how many times you performed qi circulation on the way. Wasn’t your sword control technique designed for short, decisive battles? Like my Samadhi True Fire.]

At this moment, her behavior differed from the common assessment that she was cynical and excessively arrogant in all matters. For one thing, she was unusually talkative.

She showed great interest in Jeong Yeon-shin’s martial arts, plain for all to see.

He did not answer.

He merely took a long internal energy breath.

‘I will kill her.’

From the moment Baek Mi-ryeo was taken by Ming Cult Leader until now.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s time had frozen. His agitated energy sense had measured everything from that day.

It was the sixth day since Baek Mi-ryeo was taken. He had spent time restructuring the Divine Sword Group of Desolate Fortress, engaging in a psychological battle with King Qiong-ming, and rescuing Sword Star and Zhuge Qing-ya from the creatures of Taimo Mountain Castle, which took three days.

The remaining time was spent with the World Tree.

As he flew in a straight line through half of Huguang Province, crossing the southern part of South Zhili, and then through half of Zhejiang Province, a dragon in his mental imagery, holding a fan in its mouth, had coiled around Remaining Thunder.

Naturally, as Ming Cult Leader said, Jeong Yeon-shin was not at his full strength.

Exhaustion and energy depletion, followed by repeated use of supreme divine techniques, would have this effect on any peerless master.

But he was satisfied that he had arrived as quickly as possible. After all, his sister’s whereabouts were at stake.

And now.

‘I need to refine my heart sword further. I will kill her within three days.’

Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes flashed with blue light.

Ming Cult Leader was the same. She leaned her translucent waist slightly forward like a ghost and locked eyes with Jeong Yeon-shin.

A confrontation between those called the world’s finest geniuses from various regions.

The exploration continued.

In that brief moment, they analyzed each other’s physiques, assessed their current states, observed even the subtle movements of the bridge of the nose while seeking the texture of internal energy breathing, and then spoke.

[I hear there are two techniques that symbolize today’s Lotus Nezha.]

Ming Cult Leader continued slowly.

[Brilliant River and sword control technique… In my view, they’re complete yet unstable martial arts. Quite contradictory.]

Her insight was correct.

The Fan Dragon Flower Treading Technique is a martial art with clear limitations.

When the mental image of a dragon holding a fan overlaps with the sword, it becomes sword control technique, and when inserted into another’s Baihui acupoint, it can bring about the achievement of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, but…

It cannot be used together with Heavenly Cascade, which is a full-body Brilliant River. This is because even activating it puts strain on the acupoints.

Originally, it was a technique that exhausted one’s spirit, energy, and body. Like the mind and body of Fan Dragon Zhuge Xian, who had once died at his father’s hands.

But thanks to this, it was possible to directly acquire another’s Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown state and gain sword control technique without any particular enlightenment.

Even after his metamorphosis, Azure Qilin and Fan Dragon had rarely been contained within a single body.

The burden on his body when displaying each technique had merely diminished significantly compared to before.

That’s why Jeong Yeon-shin’s Void Soaring Step was still something distant.

It was also a task to be resolved someday.

When the many branches of his winding martial journey bend and converge into one, Jeong Yeon-shin would have his own Void Soaring Step.

‘Has Ming Cult Leader perfected Void Soaring Step?’

It was the most important consideration. Especially if it was certain that Ming Cult Leader was still somewhere in Hangzhou.

At that moment, she suddenly approached very close.

Swish.

Then she extended her long, semi-transparent index finger and slowly traced it down Jeong Yeon-shin’s forehead.

As if trying to feel the upper dantian and Baihui acupoint in his head.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not avoid it.

Because they could not affect each other.

But Ming Cult Leader lowered her eyelashes as if she had felt something.

She also cleared her snow-white throat. Like preparing for a ridiculous opera performance.

[Your sword control is different from the techniques used by other swordsmen. Starting with its instantaneous explosive power. In exchange for fierceness, it seems you’re chased by time from the moment you deploy it.]

“……”

[It’s just the quality I sense, but am I wrong? When my true self arrives here… I think it would be quite difficult for you in your current state to withstand it.]

“It’s just the quality I sense.”

It meant she had analyzed Jeong Yeon-shin’s martial arts with energy sense alone. There was a mocking tone, looking down on people.

Jeong Yeon-shin had a strange feeling. It was like seeing himself reflected in a broken mirror.

“Are you certain I cannot cut through martial sorcery?”

[I still don’t understand what kind of audacity this is. Is it because your life thread is so short that you have no attachment to living?]

Each only uttered their own words. The language of those who had never experienced equal talent throughout their lives.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently scanned the surroundings with his energy sense, feeling the weight and warmth of the wooden box inside his chest.

It was something his maternal grandfather Ma Yeon-jeok had left behind.

A fragment of a serpent’s inner core.

He had kept it only in his bosom, not swallowing it, for fear of what might happen after. If he lost consciousness for days while trying to digest even part of the serpent’s spirituality, he feared Baek Mi-ryeo would be taken that much farther away.

But facing a hostile peerless master, he couldn’t worry about what would happen after consuming the inner core. As soon as things went awry, he would have to put it in his mouth.

“……”

A moment of silence passed.

The two people staring intently at each other.

A wind carrying the late summer heat brushed past them.

White and transparent sunlight pouring down. Jeong Yeon-shin felt the air caressing his skin, passing through Ming Cult Leader’s illusion.

It was very humid. It contained much.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly parted his lips.

“…Even if you completely unravel my martial arts.”

At this moment, he realized. That for now, he had no means to deal with Ming Cult Leader immediately.

But.

“You will not die as you wish.”

[Ha.]

Ming Cult Leader’s eyes momentarily widened, then curved narrowly like crescent moons.

[Do you realize that you just discussed the life and death of the world’s Ming Cult Leader? Word should have reached Desolate Fortress by now. The information that my sect has absorbed the Pure Demon Alliance, and that I have formally taken the position of cult leader.]

“Ming Cult Leader?”

The corner of Jeong Yeon-shin’s mouth twisted slightly.

“The death of one demonic path practitioner will not produce anything, but.”

[Hmm?]

“If I die, the world will move.”

Said the Purple Rank of Desolate Fortress.

[……]

For the first time, Ming Cult Leader offered no particular response.

She merely strangely examined Jeong Yeon-shin with her lustrous dark blue eyes, and only after a few breaths had passed, showed a smirk.

[It seems you’ll be an entertaining companion. Indeed, you’re different from me in many ways.]

“What?”

[Youthful vigor and passion, and every martial art you create is somehow strangely twisted… It will be interesting to observe.]

“Are you insane?”

From one side, the Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect made the same mouth shape as Jeong Yeon-shin’s words, but neither of them paid him any attention.

* * *

The situation had become bizarre. Naturally, it needed to be sorted out.

Jeong Yeon-shin ignored Ming Cult Leader, who was hovering around like a particularly malevolent spirit. She showed absolutely no intention of coming in her true form.

‘I need to find a connection.’

Jeong Yeon-shin pressed the acupoint of the Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect and dragged him to a deserted mountain path.

This was because he had heard the man proudly speak of Taimo Mountain Castle earlier.

“Sir, please forgive me! Sir!”

Jeong Yeon-shin had learned bone-crushing torture from Blue-Eyed Demon Sword Cheong Myeong. A method of torture that protects the opponent’s blood vessels with true energy while finely crushing only the joints.

He had never used it before. Whenever he found himself in a situation where he needed to gather information personally, his comrades had willingly dirtied their own hands.

Trying it himself, he found it wasn’t difficult. With an expressionless face, Jeong Yeon-shin crushed the scapula and humerus extending from the Outer Hall Master’s shoulder to forearm.

The screams continued before stopping. This was because Jeong Yeon-shin had pressed his qi meridian.

Even as he interrogated the Outer Hall Master in the grass, Ming Cult Leader was floating around nearby, lying down with her arms folded behind her head.

[It’s a futile effort. I have no connection whatsoever with those scraps who broke away from the Ming Mountain faction.]

“That’s a lie.”

[Oh my… I forgot that your Baihui acupoint is similar to mine from two years, two hundred thirty-nine days, and half a time unit ago. The woman who will live with you won’t be able to speak falsehoods even when going to the privy. I’d say any marriage arrangement is doomed.]

“Shut up.”

[Ah, perhaps I should marry a peerless master who has achieved great qi circulation and has no need for privies. In the end, the issue is your lifespan, isn’t it?]

Ming Cult Leader used formal speech whenever she mocked her opponent. Jeong Yeon-shin deliberately did not respond.

He merely extracted information from the Outer Hall Master, who wore an expression mixed with terror and panic.

“I’ll tell you everything! Please… please ask me anything!”

Hangzhou.

It was a city where all kinds of interests were entangled.

Until this spring, it had been dominated by Great Heaven Sect, he said.

It was due to the sect leader’s accomplishment.

Having mastered the Divine Skill of Emptiness and Fullness at Will that inflates one’s imposing presence like clouds, the poets and scholars of Hangzhou who carried swords voluntarily put down their blades and took up brushes to praise the martial prowess of the Great Heaven Sect Leader.

Hangzhou, finding peace without a single drop of blood shed.

Recently, with a single sheet of strange yellow paper that fell from the sky, a change occurred.

Iron Clan artisans.

Craftsmen who sold their skills.

Numerous martial lineages in the martial world, including single-succession martial arts.

All the heroes who constituted Hangzhou-scholars and merchants who discussed the world while overlooking scenic views, famous noble clans and beautiful people, and reclusive talents-knelt before the silent arrival of Taimo Mountain Castle.

Even officials were no exception.

Not only the city’s magistrate, but also the naval admiral who controlled the waterways outside the city, and the criminal prosecutor who was responsible for the punishments in Zhejiang Province, all brought food offerings to the Taimo Mountain Castle Lord.

It was said to be for praying to the Jade Emperor of Taimo Mountain Castle for the country’s prosperity.

Dark Heaven Emperor Cho Yeol.

It was the name of a man with an epithet almost too difficult to mention.

He remained hidden as if in an abyss.

He merely cast a suffocating presence while entrusting all matters to his son, the Young Castle Lord Great Black Divine Hand Cho Baek-gwang.

The dry sword energy of swordsmen from Heaven Conquering Sect also contributed to oppressing Hangzhou.

This was because the Five Central Swordsmen, said to be as powerful as the disciples of Blood Flame Cult, roamed the vast marketplace. It was even said that the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader personally wandered around the outskirts of the city.

Hangzhou continued like that, holding its breath. Only those addicted to alcohol and gambling lived as before, unable to distinguish heaven from earth.

“They say, they say they’re calling a divine dragon to quell the famine…!”

The Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect, who had been rolling on the ground, cried out.

Perhaps due to his pain exceeding its limits?

He appeared deeply aggrieved. Even his manner of speech had changed.

“They merely requested large quantities of strange yellow paper and writing materials, and asked us to keep people’s mouths shut! What nerve would our sect have to refuse Taimo Mountain Castle’s orders? Even the sword-carrying scholars of Hangzhou, who used to recite the principles of martial arts, elegance, and reason, have fallen silent!”

The Outer Hall Master was speaking of supplies for martial sorcery. Jeong Yeon-shin met his gaze with clear eyes.

The Outer Hall Master, who had been shouting despite trembling with intense pain, closed his mouth.

The newly appointed Purple Rank was a martial artist.

“Divine dragon.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke. Recalling the voices of the guest children who had been massacred at the Jeong Family estate long ago.

-Recite Chapter 1, Verse 4 of the Great Ming Code.

-Long-eared, small-statured kinsmen returned from the heavenly gate, destroyed the wicked Yuan, and established Great Ming with the founding emperor.

-Chapter 1, Verse 8.

-A massive evil spirit pursued the kinsmen, but by closing the gate in time, it could be annihilated.

Rain dragon, serpent.

Names that had been entangled with Jeong Yeon-shin in some way.

The Phoenix Palm of Wudang had said earlier. That the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects would be heading to Hangzhou.

Dark Heaven Emperor, the Taimo Mountain Castle Lord, and the Unorthodox Path’s Finest Sword, the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, were planning something. Judging from the Outer Hall Master’s words, they seemed to be performing a sorcery to draw down a rain dragon from the sky.

And Ming Cult Leader was caught in between. Whatever she was aiming for.

The immortals of the Nine Great Sects.

The absolute masters of the demonic martial world.

An unprecedentedly large and chaotic battlefield was about to be created. It might be recorded not in martial history but in the country’s history.

‘That’s why.’

King Qiong-ming had told Jeong Yeon-shin to leave all those matters to the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects, and Jeong Yeon-shin had set foot on this land solely to recover Baek Mi-ryeo.

And at this moment, he was certain of one thing.

Ming Cult Leader was in communication with Taimo Mountain Castle. Whatever her intention, there must be something that connected these practitioners of martial sorcery.

Then he needed to obtain clues held by Taimo Mountain Castle. In the end, everything was connected.

“…I understand that you are Desolate Day Extinction. But even high officials, not to mention the Annihilation Team Leader of Desolate Fortress, have been spending days negotiating with Great Black Divine Hand Cho Baek-gwang at Meditation Spring Pavilion, so how could our sect not cooperate with Taimo Mountain Castle……”

Jeong Yeon-shin paused upon hearing the Outer Hall Master’s excuse that began with “even high officials.”

“Annihilation Team Leader?”

“Damn it……”

Was it a secret? The Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect cursed. In the end, he revealed that all his numerous excuses until now had been mere hypocrisy.

It was true.

Among the Black Ranks of Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hye-myeong scattered across the world, the only one who had headed toward Zhejiang was Shin Hwang.

After the gathering of the Divine Sword Squad Leaders, he had departed alone, without even bringing his subordinates from the Annihilation Team. Jeong Yeon-shin clearly remembered that sight.

It was with the statement that it’s better to be alone when retreating via a life-saving route in case of emergency.

Taimo Mountain Castle. Heaven Conquering Sect.

The upper echelon of the Demonic Path, known as Heaven Beyond Heaven.

‘Again, again.’

The nape of Jeong Yeon-shin’s neck began to turn red. Even white steam seeped through the gaps in his purple sleeve cuffs. It was due to true energy boiling as hot as Scorching Dragon’s internal energy.

By now, he was sick of it.

Once again.

Once again, a warrior of Desolate Fortress had stepped into dangerous territory. Into a land of death filled with malice, created by those who devoured the country.

“Where is it.”

“Yes, yes…?”

“Meditation Spring Pavilion.”

“That, over there, that place… But it’s impossible! All the immortals of Taimo Mountain Castle are there…! If a disturbance occurs, who knows how much havoc the Five Central Swordsmen will wreak…!”

The place the Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect pointed to with his intact hand.

An enormously tall pavilion stood towering at the very center of the vast land of Hangzhou.

It was so high that it almost appeared like a spire, seemingly close to twenty stories tall at a glance. It undoubtedly incorporated the marvelous skills of Iron Clan artisans without restraint.

A pavilion that made the vast Hangzhou into another world.

Blue lightning was flickering between the roof tiles.

Was it truly a dwelling of immortals? It appeared to be protected by countless arrays and martial sorcery techniques.

Jeong Yeon-shin did not know what signal would trigger a mythical battle between theabsolute masters of the righteous and unorthodox paths. It was something he could not guess, nor did he care at this moment.

All he felt was the rage welling up in his chest.

Swish.

He took out the wooden box from within his garment and opened it, ignoring Ming Cult Leader who had somehow approached him closely.

Something resting on a small cotton ball was revealed. It looked like a piece of bark that had been partially burned.

[Couldn’t you exercise a bit of restraint? The Taimo Mountain Castle Lord is a far more troublesome old monster than you think. You shouldn’t forget that the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader is nearby… Huh?]

Jeong Yeon-shin silently swallowed it.

It was an instant.

Suddenly, the ground below collapsed with a “Boom-” sound in a hemispherical shape, and the body of the Outer Hall Master of Great Heaven Sect, compressed by the shockwave, was crushed beyond recognition.