Chapter 461 – Heaven’s Movement (5)

The spot where Remaining Thunder disappeared.

Astonishment rippled through the crowd like clouds.

Those who had been hastily retreating or scurrying away as the battle broke out now hesitated.

Among them, not just the common folk who were a mere fraction of the crowd, but also various poets, scholars, and martial artists all gazed blankly at the sky.

“Just now…?”

“The divine sword moved on its own!”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“The sword, the sword ascended to the heavens, I tell you!”

The fierce battle came to an abrupt halt. Even those who had been exchanging swift strikes in the realm of transcendence took a step back.

The wind, which had been compressed in their intense movements, burst forth all at once.

Saaaa-

A yellow-earth whirlwind arose. It swept around the surroundings in one large circle and then slowly dispersed. The scene was incomparably gentler than the storm that the divine sword had caused earlier.

“……”

In the silence, the trouser hems of masters from various sects fluttered. Incomprehensible. That was the reaction of martial artists who had encountered something truly inexplicable.

Among them, Thunder Sword’s judgment was the swiftest.

Despite experiencing such an astonishing event, she had not completely sheathed her sword energy.

From her shoulder to her neck, her upper body, marked with short but lethal sword wounds, wrapped itself in colorless strong winds. Her black hair, which only came down to the nape of her neck, rippled like a summer haze.

“Pursue it.”

She lowered her body and shot forward, breaking the earth in a circular pattern.

In the direction where the divine sword Remaining Thunder had disappeared. A boom sound echoed belatedly from behind Thunder Sword’s dark leather shoes. It was an extraordinarily swift protective stepping technique.

The swordsmen of Heaven Conquering Sect who had formed the encirclement began to withdraw like the tide, following Thunder Sword.

Net Blade Venerable stood guarding their backs.

A man dressed in black clothing that clung to his body like an assassin’s attire. From his abdomen, where deep shadows revealed thick muscles, a powerful sword energy emanated.

He was a swordsman who had cultivated his lower dantian energy to the extreme.

“I trust the Tang Family Head won’t strike the backs of those in retreat.”

Net Blade Venerable spoke with a faint smile.

A middle-aged man with strong facial features and smooth skin above his long-grown beard. Both his swordsmanship and appearance were of one accord, hence his name Net Blade Venerable.

Heavenly Net. It meant that like a net cast by heaven, there were no gaps to escape through.

Yet even such a figure among the Five Central Swordsmen could not completely hide his surprise.

The traces of astonishment that had briefly appeared on his face earlier still remained.

Three shadows leapt over him.

Parahrak-

It was Shin So-bin, Hyeon Won-chang, and Yu Hyeon. The sound of their garments fluttering was loud due to the swift reverse wind of their lightness techniques.

They were all prodigies counted among the best of their generation. It was difficult to gauge what variables they might become in any given scenario.

“Senior Hyeon, was that just now really the divine sword…?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, it’s certain that heaven wouldn’t pointlessly shatter the small goal of Desolate Day Extinction. If you fall behind, I’ll leave you.”

“What goal?”

“…A great undertaking.”

“What are you two talking about? In any case, Yeon-shin…”

The voices faded away.

Net Blade Venerable couldn’t catch the three of them.

He couldn’t afford to be distracted with the Tang Family Head before him.

Though his martial prowess had declined after being defeated once by the mad Tyrant Hero and once by the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, Poison King Tang Yun-hwang’s Myriad Flowers Rain was an ultimate technique that no one could take lightly.

Even as the Net Blade Venerable of Heaven Conquering Sect, all he could do for now was furrow his brow.

“Impudent brats…”

“Who are you to talk?”

A middle-aged man of small stature stood before Net Blade Venerable.

He was the one who had taken the seventeen-year-old boy of Desolate Fortress as his family’s master. The hammer that Tang Yun-hwang gripped in his stone-like hands once again began to scatter like pale yellow flower petals.

Sasasa-

A chilling friction sound.

It was a divine skill secret technique that had once been passed from small hands to sturdy ones.

* * *

It was a port where a transparent waterway spread out as wide as the sea.

The land adjoining the river was made of soft-textured sand, and the brightly piercing sunlight often created a golden hue on the ground.

Kaiyun Port in Fuyang County, Hangzhou.

Originally, it had been filled with merchant ships that fed Hangzhou, but now only the sound of wind tickling the water’s surface echoed intermittently.

Along with the faint vibrations emitted by the thirty or so martial sorcery practitioners lined up at the port.

“It’s absurd. A so-called martial artist of Desolate Fortress has truly blocked the waterway? At this rate, the supply of Locust Yellow Paper…”

Cho Il-seo muttered, with subordinates flanking him on both sides.

In fact, he knew. It had been a long time since the Myriad Upper Road Stronghold, newly counted among the Thirteen Evil Sects following the Green Forest, had begun controlling Zhejiang with their elite water martial groups.

But he gestured with his chin, prompting a response from one of the martial sorcery practitioners.

“…It’s Cheong Myeong from the Heaven’s Pillar Sect. I’ve heard he’s been infamous for his vicious techniques since ancient times.”

His subordinate spoke with a slight bow of his head. Cho Il-seo nodded while seated in a palanquin carried by four servants.

“Indeed. He was too focused on achievements and neglected the common people. We should place the responsibility for Hangzhou’s deteriorating livelihood on him. Desolate Blue-Eyed Demon Sword… If I mention him to the Provincial Governor, he’ll know what to do. How dare he betray his nature after having eaten so much already? You go. You may use threats if necessary.”

“Yes.”

The subordinate immediately departed, carrying an armful of yellowish Locust Yellow Papers in his bosom.

All of these would boost his lacking martial sorcery skills, allowing him to meet the Provincial Governor without much difficulty.

Cho Il-seo nodded to himself. This was killing two birds with one stone.

Binding a master suspected of having achieved the unity of spirit, energy, and body to the government office, and receiving back the full quantity of Locust Yellow Paper that had originally been promised to the Myriad Upper Road Stronghold. All without expending any significant force.

“Blue-Eyed Demon Sword has been dealt with.”

Cho Il-seo, the young ruler of Hangzhou, declared.

He was devoting his full attention to ensuring that his grandfather, Dark Heaven Emperor’s Dragon Summoning Ritual Formation, continued without interruption.

“The woman with the red robe and single eye… if she truly is a peerless master, I’d need at least two of the Five Central Swordsmen right now…”

“Based on her appearance, she’s likely the Seventh Apostle, known as the greatest prodigy of all time in the Blood Flame Cult. The existing forces would be insufficient.”

Another martial sorcery practitioner, catching the young master’s gaze, added. The corners of Cho Il-seo’s mouth curved upward.

“Yes, the red lady of true blood. I, too, was well aware of her. I had even thought we might have to hold a wedding ceremony someday, but I heard she’s turned completely mad and is fighting the Blood Flame Cult alone. She should know it’s like trying to strike a vast beach with a single rock.”

“The reason for her hostility toward our sect is unknown, but she’s someone even the First Apostle of the Blood Flame Cult couldn’t handle despite ascending to the position of cult leader.”

“It’s fine. I’m not fixated solely on Heaven Conquering Sect.”

At that moment.

The sunlight, which had been shimmering golden on the port, began to distort. It was due to hands breaking through the sand floor. Bloodless skins emerged from beneath the ground, and soon corpses began to rise one by one, using the earth for support. Some of them were moving despite being composed only of white bones.

It was the art of defying heaven.

Tak, tadak.

Their footsteps carried a dry sensation.

A subtle sentiment appeared on the faces of the martial sorcery practitioners who had been standing expressionless throughout. The Overflow Corpse Grand Law. A technique once used by practitioners of the old Mo Mountain Faction to transport corpses.

Today, it had been newly consolidated into a divine skill and philosophical learning by the prodigies of Taimo Mountain Castle.

In other words, they were called jiangshi (stiff corpses).

Cho Il-seo had merely activated what his sect had long prepared using his internal energy.

At this moment, dozens of corpses surrounded him. All of them had a bluish energy flowing on their surface. It was the extremely cold yin energy.

That wasn’t all. They had absorbed the powder of ten-thousand-year cold iron through the grand method, imitating the Vajra Indestructibility of Shaolin monks.

Each and every one was close to being a dharma treasure, and there were fifty of them. Unlike the jiangshi passed down in oral tradition, they weren’t slow either. Naturally, they were worthy of being one pillar in hunting peerless masters.

“Let’s go.”

“Like this?”

One subordinate asked without being prompted by Cho Il-seo.

It was very rare but natural.

What was the reason the Ming Cult was wiped out long ago after being accused of being a heretical religion? It was because they wielded all sorts of arts with demonic energy.

Among them were many things that surpassed human imagination. For example, manipulating a newborn’s body with strange marrow washing and hair cutting techniques to create an adult body in just one year.

‘People who attempted to surpass the World Tree were punished for treason.’

Of course, such a child wouldn’t live more than a few years. But that wasn’t Cho Il-seo’s immediate concern.

He was a martial sorcery practitioner. One who applied past learning to the present.

“Kill all who witness it. Coincidentally, isn’t there someone who was born as a blood demon in Hangzhou? For some reason, she’s been helping the common households, killing various blood demons and unorthodox martial artists, but regardless, her karma won’t disappear. We can just say her madness has flared up. The winner creates the context.”

Soon after, the Young Castle Lord’s orders continued.

“Follow me.”

Saak-

The sound of legs dragging. Damp earth split open in various places. The living and the dead began to advance together.

* * *

Hangzhou is a land of pleasure.

Even if the aura of war from the martial world hangs in the air, the naturally playful speech of the people doesn’t fade away.

In a world with few amusements, they enjoy rumors.

It was under a large cypress tree.

“I tell you! That’s when Lotus Nezha pushed aside the Zhang family’s grandson! Even though the Jade Emperor of Taimo Mountain Castle was dropping an ice mountain from above his head!”

A storyteller wearing a wide-brimmed conical hat spoke in an extremely excited tone.

A villager listening from a distance shook his head.

“I heard all peerless masters have incredible strength and divine skills, so if he had pushed the child with that strength, he would have turned him into a bloody mess right there.”

“This is why they call you country bumpkins…”

The storyteller clicked his tongue. The man who had been challenged became indignant.

“How can someone born in Hangzhou be a country bumpkin? If anything, you’re the wandering storyteller who’s rolled in from who knows where!”

The storyteller looked at him with eyes that seemed to find him pathetic.

“In times like these, being ignorant of the martial world’s affairs makes you a country bumpkin. Haven’t you heard about the Jung family in the lower village? They say he went shopping and came back without both his money pouch and his head.”

The villager hesitated.

“I… haven’t heard such a story.”

A strange silence briefly flowed. The red garment of a woman lying on the thick branch of the cypress tree above the storyteller’s head made a sasak- sound.

It was due to a gentle breeze that suddenly swept through the open space. Her pitch-black eye patch rose and fell slightly along her jade-like cheek.

There was another. On the other side of the open space.

A woman who was holding a sword in her arms slightly raised her head.

Her long hair and pink Taoist robe were clinging to her body, soaked with water, and her bloodshot eyes made her otherwise gentle impression not at all gentle.

Rather, she only exuded an eerie quality.

‘Do such people often wander outside the village too? I should come here more often.’

The village man, born in Hangzhou and accustomed to all sorts of martial artists, thought it strange. Where did such beauties of national-toppling beauty come from?

“Anyway, Lotus Nezha Jeong Yeon-shin was a person with unexpectedly delicate techniques. Whatever eye technique he had learned, it had an energy that was both incredibly gentle and strong, and without delving deeply into the principles of flow, he was able to push away the Zhang family’s grandson and Mount Hua’s Brilliant Jade Sword God. Just like the divine sword Remaining Thunder that’s said to be stuck somewhere over there.”

The storyteller skillfully continued his words.

“In any case, he was a man worthy of becoming a legend in the martial world. If only he hadn’t been defeated by the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, he truly would have become one.”

“Oh, speaking of that.”

The village man, who was often told he was dull, brightened.

“Did the purple of Desolate Fortress really lose? What I mean is, even if the Unorthodox Path’s Finest Sword is counted among the best swordsmen in the world… there are variables, right? Frankly, it’s not like when similar-level men fight ten times, all ten results would be the same.”

“Hmm, that’s not without reason.”

“I still can’t believe Lotus Nezha was killed. I heard he was a child immortal with all sorts of divine techniques and secret skills…”

“Divine techniques and secret skills!”

The storyteller, with a sword at his waist, pressed down on the crown of his conical hat and laughed loudly.

“Indeed, Lotus Nezha had two formidable arts. One made his body, and the other made his sword as swift as lightning. Unfortunately, each was such a massive technique that he couldn’t contain both in one body. In fact, neither of them could inflict any significant wound on the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader.”

“Hmm…”

“Moreover.”

Suddenly, he lowered his voice. As if conveying a secret story.

“While the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader is a grown man, Lotus Nezha was just a boy.”

“I heard the late Sir Jeong was a superbly handsome youth… What was it, having reached the realm of complete transformation, he wasn’t a boy but a man. Just young in years.”

“Our country bumpkin doesn’t seem to understand what a metaphor is.”

“This fellow again?”

As the man stood up angrily, the storyteller slightly lifted the brim of his conical hat. Eyes covered with a whitish film were revealed. He was blind.

“Would you like to try?”

“What… bad luck.”

Spitting, the man shook his head and left the open space.

“Talking about the tragic death of a young hero for mere entertainment, I should have known better. Don’t live like that!”

“Does death in the martial world ever come according to age?”

The blind man with the conical hat said with a slight smile. He still had two listeners remaining.

“Surprisingly, your patience is deep. Especially the maiden from the Blood Flame Cult, it’s unexpected. Ill-intentioned visitor, it seems you haven’t come with good purpose.”

He continued, stroking his sword hilt.

“Surely you haven’t been waiting for the commoner to leave?”

“…Tear it apart.”

It came from above his head. The woman with her long red garment, lying askew like a corpse on the thick branch, moved her lips.

Her single red eye, opposite to her eye patch, was unfocused and empty.

“Burn it, burn it…”

She muttered to herself.

Saaa-

A dry wind tickled the green leaves of the cypress tree.

“……”

The Taoist seated on one side of the open space, holding a sword, fixed her gaze on the storyteller. She was extremely quiet, and the red-robed woman did not exist in her terribly bloodshot eyes.

Water droplets slowly fell, drip by drip, along her wet hair and garments.

“The great anger of one who has failed.”

The storyteller laughed.

“It’s quite pleasing. It makes my spine tingle.”

It was as he flipped his conical hat, connected by a neck strap, to his back.

Suddenly, the ground trembled.

Kugung.

At first, it was small.

“Hmm…?”

A moment later, it was not. Literally in the blink of an eye, that rumbling rapidly grew larger. The momentum of vibration upon vibration was extraordinary.

Before a single breath could end, the ground shook entirely with a thunderous sound.

Kugugugugung-!

It was as if lightning was spreading from the earth. Under repeated tremors, the yellowish ground was cracking.

The sky was the same.

Something like a comet was rushing vertically down through the upper air. It wasn’t lightning but a beam of light itself.

It unfolded the distant clouds in dozens of layers of shockwaves in circular patterns and plunged to the ground in an instant.

In that fleeting moment.

The form was reflected in the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s whitish film-covered eyes.

It was a sword.