Chapter 471 – Peerless Grand Battle (6)

Three masters of the previous generation were killed in succession.

Though Jeong Yeon-shin wore only a makeshift purple robe, the faded elf clan members immediately seemed to recognize Desolate Fortress.

“Purple…!”

“Yes, they had no choice but to intervene!”

“But how…?”

They approached no further.

They merely flickered in the dim air. They concealed their ashen skin in the atmosphere like dust-covered metal.

Eventually, silence fell over the hall.

“……”

All five or six of them suppressed their energy waves, with only grayish eye light faintly flickering. They were employing extreme concealment techniques.

Their control of internal energy was exceptionally refined. This was separate from not having achieved Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

Divine Beggar quickly erased his expression of confusion.

“These are old masters from previous generations. Being elf clan members, their bodies haven’t deteriorated, and instead their internal energy cultivation has only deepened… Truly troublesome, as expected of a clan that becomes more difficult with age.”

Weariness emanated from the old beggar’s wrinkled lips.

His deeply furrowed brow reflected another aspect of the martial world, simultaneously revealing the character and life of a person counted among the luminaries of the martial realm.

Dragon Head Sect Leader.

The head of the Beggar Sect had a concerned look about the future.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin was contemplating the person known as Dark Heaven Emperor.

‘I don’t understand.’

The widely deployed Transcendent Martial Art.

He couldn’t fathom by what principle it had been activated. He couldn’t sense any true energy structure either.

Whether because it was a completely different high-level mystical martial art, or because Jeong Yeon-shin’s upper dantian was no longer the same, he couldn’t tell.

One thing was clear.

From the start, this domain was a technique aimed at Taoist Three Peak, who had long since ascended.

Dark Heaven Emperor’s intent said as much. This wasn’t a life-saving ultimate technique meant for juniors far behind him, but rather a supreme skill forged from an obsession carried alone for hundreds of years.

‘The movement of my head remains the same, but…’

Jeong Yeon-shin marveled at the surging power he felt. Though he wanted to suppress it as inappropriate for the situation, he couldn’t help but feel genuine admiration.

With his upper dantian’s spirituality in a state of having expanded only to be crushed again. The silent roaring that had been tormenting his mind had quieted.

His physical body, which had barely served as a vessel throughout his metamorphosis, was now completely integrated with the spirituality of his upper dantian.

Twenty years old.

No, if he hadn’t been born with a fate to die at nineteen, would he have been like this?

Jeong Yeon-shin straightened his back.

Pajik-

Immediately, several streaks of white lightning flickered around his body.

The energy wave of the Luminous Wheel Technique. It responded not to his mind but to the subtle movements of his body. An extremely sensitive state of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

“How does it feel?”

A woman’s voice glided smoothly down the cave wall.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked up.

A figure sitting cross-legged, attached upside down to the ceiling. Yet her long black hair and clothing didn’t flow downward. It was as if she existed under a different law.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“…Ming Cult Leader.”

“Feeling quite good, aren’t you?”

She asked.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t answer. This was because his opponent’s attire was close to perfect.

Ming Cult Leader Invincible.

She had wrapped herself in a white windflower robe as magnificent as the Emperor’s dragon robe. Indistinguishable patterns decorated the hem with black embroidery thread, which appeared to be ancient characters.

Meanwhile, the scarf around her neck was snow-white. It seemed to spread a pale mist around her nape as if woven from the fur of a spiritual beast.

This time, she was real. It was her true form.

Swish.

The beggar beside him made a gesture of readying himself. Jeong Yeon-shin stared up at Invincible.

“Your aura is different.”

He said.

A dizzying smile formed on Invincible Yelu Zhen’s snow-white face. It was demonic in nature.

The quality of the Ming Cult’s grand master that could bewitch people. Even with just one corner of her reddish lips raised, her unrivaled presence stood out.

“It’s not like I wouldn’t use something like this, right? I’m not a fool or an idiot.”

She was referring to the Realm of Void Extinction.

Her speech and conduct had changed. It wasn’t the polite condescension she had used when joking with him before.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t mind.

“Where is Senior Baek?”

“Cho Yeol is certainly quite a remarkable figure. His perspective is different. His gaze remains fixed in the past, and the being who established himself at that point is none other than Zhang Sanfeng.”

“Tell me where she is.”

“But one cannot go against the decree of heaven? The divine principle invading our minds cannot be crushed by human skill. If that were possible, I would have revered Cho Yeol as my benefactor. In about half a day, the upper dantian will move again, and it will mockingly whisper to us. ‘Haven’t I granted you limitless talent?'”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s pupils, which had been staring at Invincible, filled with white light.

It was the Lowly Revelation Technique.

In the dim cave, he began to assess her openings and gaps. But Invincible’s crooked smile didn’t fade.

Rather, unlike someone who wielded demonic energy, she only uttered words imbued with profound insight.

“This cursed upper dantian is heaven’s punishment. Earlier I mentioned sensing heaven’s will. Aren’t you curious what that is?”

“……”

“There are too many strong individuals in the current world. All of them contain natural energy as internal energy in their bodies and never allow it to flow back to the earth. We are the sickles that harvest their heads. Of course, not a blade that lasts like a diamond, but more like wooden materials that will become fertilizer after the harvest is done.”

A voice that seemed to stir the air in the cave continued.

“As you’ve surely experienced, those martial artists won’t leave naturally strong ones like us alone. They literally come seeking places to die. That’s how the natural order is woven. Wasn’t that how the martial world you lived in was too?”

A deep resonance existed within her question that sounded casual at first. Jeong Yeon-shin, who had been silently looking up at her, placed his hand on Remaining Thunder’s sword hilt and bluntly said one thing.

Toward Invincible, who was smiling as if anticipating an answer like “excessive delusion” and ready to counter.

“That’s a good thing.”

“What?”

“Because such people usually enjoy territories cultivated by common people through force. Are you even aware that one cannot carry weapons without the country’s permission? That’s the Great Ming Code.”

Suddenly, Divine Beggar’s arm twitched, but no one paid attention. This was because the air between Jeong Yeon-shin and Invincible was being distorted semi-transparently… Grayish-white stone powder crumbled with a crackling sound from all directions.

“What have you done?”

Jeong Yeon-shin abruptly asked.

“What?”

“There’s no trace of you in the current martial world. Have you done nothing while refusing that so-called fate? You, a descendant of the Heavenly Demon.”

“Ha.”

Invincible’s smile deepened.

“The same goes for you. The unorthodox path martial world has regressed a hundred years by my hand. There’s nothing intact except the Potala Palace in Tibet or the Ice Palace in the north. Exceptionally noticeable talent invites blades. Whether actual knives or pointed gazes.”

Her life was evident in just those few words.

“How long must we just listen? That child’s energy wave is adversely affecting our lord…”

As soon as one of the previous generation’s masters stepped forward, the hall was engulfed in black flames. It was a blaze that rose like an illusion.

Soon after, nothing remained where the black flames had subsided. The previous generation’s masters had disappeared without leaving even bone fragments, flesh, or clothing.

An extremely surreal technique.

Invincible hadn’t even twitched a finger. She had merely glanced obliquely.

Jeong Yeon-shin sensed Divine Beggar’s silent astonishment beside him. The underground area was filled with intense silence. It felt as if invisible remnants of Samadhi True Fire were encircling the hall.

“Know your place.”

Invincible, who had briefly muttered this, smiled at Jeong Yeon-shin.

“I’m conversing with a precious person here.”

Sabak.

She rose from her seat.

She was still using the ceiling of the underground as her floor.

In this way, Invincible standing upside down and Jeong Yeon-shin with his feet on the ground looked up at each other. For a moment, calm gazes were exchanged.

Their equally long hair fluttered in opposite directions.

“……”

The first strike belonged to the divine sword Remaining Thunder.

Kwang!

It plunged into where Invincible had been. It had shot up from Jeong Yeon-shin’s scabbard as a beam of light.

The white trajectory drawn by Jeong Yeon-shin’s internal energy, which had been activating the Lowly Revelation Technique, moved sideways. Invincible, who had descended by performing an aerial somersault, was smiling and flicking her finger.

[Dragon Pillar.]

Kwarlrung!

The ground beneath Jeong Yeon-shin’s feet transformed into a massive stone pillar and shot upward.

A realm where intent flowed constantly as if casting Transcendent Martial Art. For martial sorcery practitioners who magnify their techniques with a few words of incantation, it was like another form of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

[Mid-Day Bright Lightning.]

It was a chain technique. The intent connected almost instantaneously.

Pajijijik-!

A net of lightning spreading in all directions and illuminating the cave with blue light rapidly converged around Jeong Yeon-shin, who was suspended in the air.

It was faster than any swift sword. The mass of blue lightning completely encased Jeong Yeon-shin and flickered violently.

For a moment, the surroundings became as bright as day. A martial sorcery technique imbued with tremendous destructive power. It was as if another sun had risen, filling all directions with blue light.

The heat radiating outward was immense. Soon even the earthen floor began to crack with a sizzling sound.

But the figure trapped in lightning was neither torn apart nor disappeared. There wasn’t even the smell of burning skin.

This was because at the moment the lightning spread, he had woven starlight like clothing around himself at a much faster speed. It was a peerless protective strong energy.

“Elder Beggar, you may take your leave. You should stop the Dragon Summoning Ritual Formation of the Taimo Mountain Castle Lord.”

A calm voice flowing from within the lightning.

Divine Beggar flinched. He had been contemplating, alternately looking at the gourd bottle tied at his waist and a short staff.

“…Do you intend to handle the Ming Cult Leader alone? Even for Desolate Fortress’s purple, you should reconsider. That person… what the young leader of Ming Cult has done in the unorthodox path is all true. Even obtaining the epithet ‘Invincible’…”

“Go.”

Divine Beggar’s words were cut off.

Simultaneously, the figure trapped in lightning vanished from its spot and appeared before Invincible, who was poking various places in the air with her long finger.

Supreme form transformation. A faint afterimage belatedly appeared in a line behind Jeong Yeon-shin’s back.

Jjeoeoeoeoeeng!

His fist pounded against a semi-transparent barrier.

It was an internal energy shield that Invincible had suddenly created, and though he had struck it with just a Advancing Thunder technique, a fierce reverse wind like a hurricane ruffled both their clothes.

Not only his movements but even the speed of his Eternal Blossom Fist was fundamentally different from before. In that instant, a long crack was running along the solid energy barrier.

[Too powerful.]

Invincible’s low laughter mixed with the noise.

[I loosened the restraints a bit, yet it’s not easy to respond.]

“……”

Jeong Yeon-shin silently raised his left hand.

His left hand was now dyed with a white light. A pale radiance even whiter than the Samadhi True Fire that Invincible had constantly active. A technique that had once broken part of Form Shifting Void.

Demon Extermination Light Trace.

Sarak.

His outstretched hand penetrated Invincible’s internal energy barrier like air and then grasped her white collar.

The entire sequence was unbelievably natural.

[……!]

For a moment, Invincible’s eyes widened.

On one side, Divine Beggar, who was passing by her, also showed a rare expression of shock, and by then, Invincible’s eyes were curving beautifully like a crescent moon.

[Impressive as always. A breaking technique aimed at me… It seems you’ve been thinking about me day and night.]

There was no answer from Jeong Yeon-shin.

The back of his hand was touching near Invincible’s collarbone, but there was a reason he couldn’t flip or spread his hand. A recoiling elasticity accompanied by the fierce heartbeat characteristic of a peerless master.

Pajijijik!

Dark blue sparks flew chaotically.

For the first time, he was blocked. It was the Heavenly Demon Divine Armor. In that moment, Invincible slightly tilted her head toward him and whispered:

“I’ve been thinking about you too. The Ming Cult Leader’s only kindred spirit, and my complete opposite adversary. What else would I breathe thinking about, if not you.”

Separate from her breath, a single mental intent spread.

[Smoke Lingering Thought.]

There was no particular energy wave… Only the slender exhalation of Invincible brushed past his hand, and the snow-white radiance shattered like glass.

A sound like the friction of sand grains swept through the air. It was literally demonic. A technique that distorted the true energy structure of Demon Extermination Light Trace from its foundation.

Pasak-

Simultaneously, the clothes Jeong Yeon-shin had been wearing crumbled, exposing his bare skin.

The genuine purple robe that had been largely torn by the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s sword was now hanging only as sleeveless straps on both shoulders.

Ming Cult’s grand master.

True energy manipulation that restored the compatibility of dharma power and demonic energy to its origin.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought about upbringing in Ming Cult. Immediately, he visualized an identical technique. He sensed the flames of Samadhi True Fire darkly covering all directions.

And he wondered.

Are the noble peering into a broken mirror and the demon reflecting the same image truly the same?

‘No.’

In that moment, light flowed from within Jeong Yeon-shin’s body.

If it was difficult to settle this with the current structure, he could simply change the game.

[You naturally wouldn’t be surprised? Let’s just sleep for a while.]

Just before the extreme black flame raised by Invincible completely engulfed both herself and Jeong Yeon-shin.

“Too cramped.”

[What?]

Sabak.

Jeong Yeon-shin stepped back to the side like an illusion. Simultaneously, he exerted strength on his right foot as if planting it firmly.

Kuwung-

A Brilliant River suddenly activated and layered like waves of light flowing toward the Yongcheon acupoint in his foot sole, and this energy, stacked layer upon layer in an instant, transcended the concept of overlapping and was then driven into the ground.

Had she prepared for the powerful strike that was about to descend on her at close range? Invincible, who had abruptly retreated backward, showed a fleeting expression of realization.

Kung!! Jjeojeojeojeojeojeok-!

The ground shook entirely with a muffled resonance.

It was as if countless explosive charges had detonated at once. Thick cracks raced in all directions for a moment.

Soon, terrible booming sounds spread from within the spider web-like crevices now etched across the vast floor and walls, finally pulverizing all the stone walls like dust and raising a thick cloud.

Hwaaaaaaaak!

The vast space that had been close to a sealed room now endlessly expanded.

The sky opened up beyond the ceiling that had vanished without a trace. Thus, unexpectedly dazzling sunlight poured down.

“What? What is this?!”

“Is the dragon already…?!”

“Avoid the strange monk! No, on that side is the Brilliant Jade Sword God…!”

Jeong Yeon-shin sensed new presences in the unstably shaking underground and hazy air.

Behind him were the dense energy-filled spirit projections, as well as Shaolin Abbot, Lady Lu Xian, Taoist Two Walls, Yue Shou-lin, and various other miscellaneous presences.

Ahead were Divine Beggar, some older true energy signatures, and Dark Heaven Emperor.

Whether the Dragon Summoning Ritual Formation had been completed or not, there was also an immeasurably massive and huge energy.

Gradually, the commotion subsided.

A land that any faction in the martial world would be reluctant to approach.

Was it because there was no one who couldn’t extend their energy sense here? Or perhaps because it was a battlefield where transcendent masters were everywhere.

“……”

An extremely dense silence began to fill the surroundings. Sunlight refracted and bent through all sorts of detailed energy waves.

In the midst of this.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s body emitted a faint radiance.

His disheveled robe absorbed internal energy vibrating as swiftly as light rays. The garment bestowed by the Emperor was a dharma treasure imbued with spirituality.

Soon, smooth fabric like silk began to descend from the torn sleeves on both sides.

Saaaa-

It was purple.

Jeong Yeon-shin indifferently raised Samadhi True Fire.

In that moment, with the sound of fabric burning, the character “Desolate” (荒) was etched in black on both shoulders.

The sleeves penetrating through the thick dust and rippling in the sunlight were also completed, and the long hem characteristic of the robe fell to his feet and stopped.

Thus, his attire was complete.

Step.

He slowly took a step forward.