Chapter 483 – Desolate Day Extinction (2)

Suddenly, the courtyard of the Mu Family Estate trembled minutely.

It was because the Divine Physician, who had been taking pulses on the wooden platform, convulsively kicked the platform and stood up.

Wooooong!

Hazy wood energy flowed out from his body. It was white and semi-transparent, taking the form of mist with an extremely refreshing feeling.

“Are you truly insane?!”

To whom were those words spat out?

Even the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects couldn’t immediately fathom.

The manifestation of the Desolate Fortress Lord.

It was an event for which even the word “shock” was insufficient. Though the elf clan Divine Physician who had lived through long years might speak condescendingly to the Shaolin Abbot, no one thought his eccentric words and actions would extend to the Desolate Fortress Lord as well.

However.

“Wei Qun-hui!”

The words that the Eternal Candle Divine Physician shouted in anger revealed the name of an absolute being that none present had ever encountered. His glare was clearly fixed on the sky.

Toward the Desolate Fortress Lord, who had somehow fittingly inserted two pure white divine swords into the sash at her waist.

“What do you think this place is that you’ve come here…!”

His roughly cracked voice scraped the atmosphere. The Divine Physician cried out almost desperately.

“Answer me! Why! How could you not maintain your position?! No, if you had to come down, you should have headed north! Why did you abandon Qian-ling? Why, why on earth!”

The Emperor was mentioned.

Qian-ling, Emperor Qian-ling.

A being whose name should never exist similarly on this land. The Son of Heaven who should only be above the clouds.

“Oh, no matter how renowned a famous physician may be…!”

“We didn’t hear anything!”

At that moment, commoners who were somewhat worldly-wise or quick-witted began fleeing outside.

Urgent sounds of kicking the ground or hurrying about rained down from all directions. Some stood bewildered but were swept up by the atmosphere and left their spots in confusion.

Meanwhile, the Desolate Fortress Lord slowly opened her mouth without even looking at the Divine Physician.

“There was a more serious matter…”

During this, the modest leaves gently laid the sleeping Jeong Yeon-shin on the ground with a rustle.

“That occurred.”

She quietly concluded her words.

The Desolate Fortress Lord.

Jeong Yeon-shin was reflected in her jade-like lustrous eyes. The appearance of a beautiful young man with somewhat disheveled long hair.

An unprecedentedly defenseless temperament spread along his slightly bent jawline, making him seem more like a young youth than lofty purple rank.

“……”

Soon, the Desolate Fortress Lord, who had closed her lips, turned her gaze to the Divine Physician. He happened to be ready to vent his anger at her.

“A more important matter?”

Originally, the Eternal Candle Divine Physician’s eyebrows were famous for being beautiful like a master craftsman’s brushwork, but at this moment they were grotesquely distorted.

“How could you utter such nonsense…!”

“Examine my disciple.”

The Desolate Fortress Lord commanded again.

The wood energy that had flowed from the Divine Physician’s body scattered before it could even reach her. Just as he had futilely shouted earlier.

“……”

In the end, the Divine Physician fumed alone before closing his mouth. Thus, the courtyard that had somehow become empty grew quiet, and the dust that had risen like clouds settled along with faint wind sounds.

The Desolate Fortress Lord stepped down, treading on such ground like bedding with a soft thud.

“I spoke of one hour.”

It was a command-like statement.

Before her voice could even disperse, the Divine Physician’s eyes bulged again.

“He’s a fellow whose body wastefully contains bloated natural energy! All those called masters are like that! You’re forcing me to heal someone who has strangely refined nature’s energy to an extreme degree and stored it as true energy? To do so while again cutting away at my lifespan? I’ve already reattached that fellow’s left arm once! Unless you plan to kill me…!”

“A broken tree branch.”

The Desolate Fortress Lord didn’t even smile. Her face was expressionless even as she calmly concluded her words.

“Grows again when it touches the ground.”

“Th-this, this…”

The Divine Physician even stuttered his words. His features, which could be called those of a peerless beautiful youth, flushed red, and the energy that had been flowing threateningly from his entire body died out like extinguished embers.

A brief silence flowed.

The houses surrounding the inner courtyard of the Mu Family Estate.

The absolute masters of the Nine Great Sects, who had been sitting cross-legged with their doors wide open, were quietly looking up at the Desolate Fortress Lord with meaningful expressions.

Only Qing Shu’s face showed a particularly noticeable look of surprise.

“……”

No one rashly stood up. Only the gazes examining this land’s foremost martial artist from their respective positions were deep.

At most, Lu Xian pressed her hands on the floor as if about to fly toward Jeong Yeon-shin while seated, but she lowered her arms due to Beomheo shaking his head from a distance.

The strange movements characteristic of peerless masters were ultimately not displayed.

The Nine Great Sects and Desolate Fortress.

Disciples and military units might clash to some extent. But various sect leaders and the Fortress Lord should not do so. The impact on the world would be different.

The fact that the Desolate Fortress Lord was only watching the Divine Physician without giving them a glance was rather fortunate.

Eventually.

The Divine Physician, who had lowered his head, let out a sigh.

“Give me… more time.”

* * *

The Divine Physician lifted Jeong Yeon-shin with strong wind and entered the inner quarters.

It was after he had threatened that no one should enter. He did not permit others’ gazes.

Meanwhile.

Beomheo offered the Desolate Fortress Lord a seat.

[Such a meeting occurring could also be called inevitable. Could this humble monk briefly request a conversation?]

The Shaolin Abbot’s Wisdom Light Heart Speech was more transparent and clear than winter wind. He naturally humbled himself while showing no servile aspects. He was still an absolute master.

“……”

The Desolate Fortress Lord, who had been silently gazing at the old Shaolin monk for a moment, soon nodded her head minutely.

Thus finally.

A gathering of those who moved the world’s martial arts was realized.

It was a true martial arts grand assembly.

Shaolin, Mount Hua, Qingcheng, and the owner of the Beggar Sect who had returned late to the Mu Family Estate, Dragon Head Sect Leader Divine Beggar.

And the Desolate Fortress Lord.

Outside the estate, Desolate Divine Spear Yue Shou-lin and Blue-Eyed Demon Sword Cheong Myeong, Desolate Divine Hero Hyeon Won-chang and Blood Radiance Successor Shin So-bin were guarding the walls together with Qingcheng Sect’s disciples.

Yue Shou-lin, who had sensed the Fortress Lord’s presence, had charged over like wildfire and urged the others.

This was why the crowd of martial artists who had originally surrounded the walls had disappeared like smoke at some point.

The meeting place was the courtyard of the Mu Family Estate’s inner courtyard, from which all commoners had departed.

None of the peerless masters felt particularly great guilt toward the common people. The situation was too critical for that. Moreover, the Divine Physician’s medical skills had long reached heaven as rumored. After healing those with serious illnesses in the evening, he had been treating things like common colds.

“In all my life, I never thought such a gathering would be arranged…”

Divine Beggar, roughly seated on a thick tree branch, muttered while clutching his belly. His face showed disbelief at this situation even while looking down at the Desolate Fortress Lord.

Lu Xian and Qing Shu were trying to hide their somewhat uncomfortable feelings from their original seated positions.

Only the Desolate Fortress Lord and Beomheo had peaceful expressions.

[I would like to ask the great senior. How was the matter that Benefactor Jeong went to handle resolved?]

Wisdom Light Heart Speech that occupied all spaces like Six Harmonies Voice. Beomheo, who had been completely ruined due to taking the flood dragon as a companion earlier but had preserved even a speck of internal energy, was still a mysterious great monk.

“……”

The Desolate Fortress Lord stood quietly in place without immediately answering. Her calm gaze remained on the inner quarters where the Divine Physician had disappeared with Jeong Yeon-shin.

She only parted her lips after a moment.

“The Ming Cult child will not return.”

[What circumstances led to this…?]

“That child has a role given to her.”

The ancient foremost martial artist of the world spoke. Deep internal energy breathing mixed within, spreading refreshing energy, and Qing Shu momentarily narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Don’t tell me… you deliberately let her go? The calamity of Xinjiang who single-handedly unified that vast barbarian martial world?”

The Desolate Fortress Lord didn’t give the Qingcheng Sect Leader a glance. Rather, Beomheo dissuaded him with a gentle look.

[The current Ming Cult Leader is a very strange person. She constantly carries some restraint that suppresses her original martial prowess. From what this old monk sensed, there would be no more than five people throughout the entire martial world who could stop her when she releases those restraints. She is someone who, along with Benefactor Jeong, could be called heaven’s mistake.]

“But isn’t that person the Desolate Fortress Lord? She would naturally be included among those five and more…”

Qing Shu stopped speaking and suddenly closed his mouth. It was after he glanced at the Desolate Fortress Lord, who still kept her gaze on the inner quarters.

Bringing the battered Jeong Yeon-shin back ‘intact’ from before the Ming Cult Leader. It was something none present could guarantee success in.

[But there seems to be another reason… From what this monk sees, it doesn’t seem like you particularly exchanged techniques either.]

Beomheo spoke with a faint smile.

Subsequently, Lu Xian, who had kept the door of a small house on the other side wide open, slowly parted her lips.

Her eyes were mysteriously sharp like the elegant ends of plum blossom petals.

“Lotus Nezha desperately sought a comrade. Bewitching Sword Demon Baek Mi-ryeo. What happened to her?”

“…That is not a story you can hear.”

The Desolate Fortress Lord slowly answered. Momentarily, Qing Shu, who had been silently watching her from one side, exhaled frustrated breath, causing cloud-like dust winds to rise around him.

Whoooosh!

“Is this really a meeting? What on earth are we supposed to discuss…!”

[If we’re to discuss matters, there are many others besides that.]

Beomheo gently intercepted Qing Shu’s words, then gazed at the Desolate Fortress Lord again.

[The Fortress Lord would naturally handle matters concerning Desolate Fortress warriors. Since we’ve met like this, we should also discuss the martial world’s situation. We haven’t achieved accomplishments like the Zhongnan Sect, so we still lack leisure… but we’re seriously considering whether to send disciples down to the Sima unorthodox path members stirring throughout the world. Isn’t Desolate Fortress already short-handed?]

“…Even just the Myriad Upper Road Stronghold is encompassing not just this Zhejiang but the Yangtze River.”

Qing Shu spoke with a reluctant expression.

Myriad Upper Road Stronghold.

Those who mixed formation techniques used by martial artists during joint attacks with battle tactics possessed only by naval commanders.

They were newly risen among the Thirteen Evil Sects.

They were different from the water bandits of the old Yangtze Waterway Eighteen Strongholds. Starting with the supplies and equipment that couldn’t exist without some monarch’s support.

“There are even rumors they openly fire cannons. The country has fallen into ruin. If that old Tyrant Hero had been healthy, they would have been smashed long ago…”

It was Beggar Sect Leader Divine Beggar.

He swayed his body comfortably on the tree branch while continuing his words. It was while looking down at the Fortress Lord below.

“Is Ma Yeon-jeok doing well? That old man, even after taking the backlash of Convergence Divine Skill head-on, his temperament wouldn’t die, but if the Fortress Lord doesn’t properly block martial world rumors, he’ll inevitably dash out into the Nine Provinces’ martial world. He might already be somewhere in the mountains with a broken waist, which is also quite worrisome.”

It was close to jest meant to lighten the atmosphere.

His face showing a slight smile with very wrinkled lips was the same, and his appearance using withered branches as a bed was as leisurely as any peerless master.

“……”

But the Desolate Fortress Lord didn’t answer this time either, and brief silence circulated among the Nine Great Sects’ leaders.

Soon Beomheo brought up another topic.

[Our temple’s brown squirrel reports that the Profound Martial Alliance has stopped sending military forces north… If that rumor is true, what does the Desolate Fortress side intend to do? It will become even more difficult to block the Yao tribe masters pushing down from the north.]

But his words didn’t draw the Desolate Fortress Lord’s attention.

The story about a master from the Thirteen Evil Sects’ Military Horse Green Forest above the Yangtze being killed while competing in mounted martial arts with a Yao tribe master was the same.

Ultimately, reaching agreements and deciding how to operate their sects’ forces in future movements was the responsibility of the Nine Great Sects’ leaders.

Names of all sorts of sects flowed from their lips.

Saaaa—

Suddenly, wind that blew from somewhere mixed with the Desolate Fortress Lord’s hair, dyeing it green.

Before long, she had turned her body toward the inner quarters where Jeong Yeon-shin had entered, with her gaze slightly lowered.

Standing absent-mindedly while her palace-like deep green robe hem fluttered, she emanated an immovable temperament more like a tree than a person.

No one could properly converse with her. Until Lu Xian, unable to bear it, casually threw a word to the Desolate Fortress Lord.

“Yeon-shin in the future…”

“In speaking of this fortress’s purple.”

A lustrous voice slowly continued from the Desolate Fortress Lord’s lips.

“You must show complete respect.”

Lu Xian closed her mouth. Divine Beggar and Qing Shu on one side showed expressions of having something to say, but were pushed back by the gentle winds that calmly scraped the transparent winter air, unable to open their mouths.

Only after a breath of time had passed did Lu Xian part her lips again.

“…I’m curious about Lotus Nezha’s future whereabouts. If only he consents, at our Mount Hua…”

“Lightning Genius.”

The Desolate Fortress Lord’s eyes, which interrupted her words, reflected the inner quarters where Jeong Yeon-shin had entered. The old threshold was vibrating minutely.

It was along with the Divine Physician’s somewhat low groaning, the aftermath of the Great Circulation caused by a world-class internal energy master.

“Will go to World Tree.”

The Desolate Fortress Lord concluded her words.