Chapter 491 – Noble Clan’s Tree (3)

Form Shifting Void.

It was Jeong Yeon-shin’s martial art born of resentment.

He hadn’t been able to try any other methods and had Baek Mi-ryeo taken away by Invincible. Until he reached purple rank, there had never been a time when he harbored such grudge against a technique itself.

He still didn’t know how to properly use it.

It was a transcendent martial art. Even if one knew the techniques, it was difficult to manifest without the mental intent of the incantations. Like the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader and some martial sorcery practitioners, he couldn’t move to desired locations at will.

However.

When martial sorcery masters withdrew from battlefields, or when those who toyed with space through some formations tried to escape from Jeong Yeon-shin’s grasp.

Following along became possible.

By tracing the traces they left behind, the vestiges of their internal energy.

It was through such mysteries that he had once pulled out Divine Monk Beomheo who had disappeared into some unknown space.

Now Form Shifting Void escapes wouldn’t work against Jeong Yeon-shin.

Even more so if it wasn’t an immeasurable distance like what the Shaolin Abbot’s Void Moon Dance had created. In any case, he would inevitably face them again.

Just like right now.

Step.

A quiet footstep.

He stepped on a leaf large enough to serve as the roof of a thatched house.

A space filled with the soft green light of lanterns in all directions. Before he knew it, Jeong Yeon-shin had positioned himself behind Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit.

She maintained the same appearance as when she had shot an arrow with her great bow earlier and turned away with dignity.

But that was only momentary. Soon Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit, who had turned toward him like a hazy gust of wind, opened her eyes wide as if they might tear.

Their gazes met.

“……”

She possessed green eyes darker than her own hair.

While colorless eye light continuously flickered within them, the lantern light floating nearby like fireflies was faintly broken as it passed along her high nose bridge.

The skin thus softly illuminated was as white as recent snow welcoming winter.

But to Jeong Yeon-shin, that appearance worthy of being called devastatingly beautiful struck him in a different way. That’s why it was important.

‘Master…?’

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit of World Tree.

She resembled the Desolate Fortress Lord amazingly.

Both the features that achieved the pinnacle of harmony like legendary stories about the Natural Sword, and the facial lines so distinctly clear they didn’t seem dreamlike at all. Only her eye corners were slightly sharper, like the tips of crescent moons.

Those eyes alone befitted an absolute master of archery martial arts that Jeong Yeon-shin had never seen before, yet it was clearly an appearance that had to have some relationship with the Desolate Fortress Lord.

‘Sisters perhaps.’

Or they might be close relatives.

Swish.

He raised both hands together in a respectful manner.

“I am Lightning Genius of the Jeong family. I came from Desolate Fortress and serve the Lord of our fortress as my master.”

He spoke thus calmly. While looking at the scenery unfolding beyond her shoulder. He couldn’t help but cast his gaze there.

Another world.

It was exactly as the Divine Physician had said.

Whitish clusters of light floated around like fireflies, and there were so many of these particles made of radiance that even his energy sense couldn’t count them.

At this moment, beneath the leaf Jeong Yeon-shin stood on, blue-green stems thicker than decent logs were intertwined like a net while extending endlessly downward. Like the official roads connecting various parts of a marketplace.

Indeed, considerable human presence could be felt from distant places.

An extremely tranquil feeling.

Energy waves flowed out naturally without concealment.

It was a temperament somewhat different in nature from other internal energy masters, but its density was reminiscent of the extremely rare great factions in the jianghu. A village or city truly seemed to exist.

Most mysterious of all was the warm breeze brushing his skin at this moment.

It was different from the outside facing cold winter. It was strange that wind would blow inside the transcendently vast tree, but that warmth was completely separated from the exterior.

The clans of World Tree were living in a space entirely their own.

Then.

“You.”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit, who had been staring intently at Jeong Yeon-shin, grabbed his sleeve and approached one large step closer with an extremely natural movement.

A distance where even close combat techniques would be difficult to deflect. She had erased the gap in advance.

“I said this wasn’t a place permitted to you.”

She whispered strongly as if their conversation shouldn’t be overheard.

It was astonishing. Even with martial arts deeper than the Thirteen Evils’ Dark Night Palace Leader, was there something to be wary of? In the interior of World Tree, no less.

“I heard there was a passage test. But since I walked in like this, isn’t everything going smoothly?”

Jeong Yeon-shin deliberately showed archaic speech and conduct. It was to form friendship with a figure who might have some relationship with his master, something unprecedented in his jianghu journey.

The connection formed with the Desolate Fortress Lord.

The fruits of the mystical tree.

All sorts of thoughts were tangling in his mind like the strange fireflies of this place.

The starting point of his departure from home.

The intention he had set while stepping toward Desolate Fortress existed in this transcendent tree.

He had thought he had become somewhat detached from heavenly mandate thanks to various connections and martial lineages, but upon setting foot inside World Tree, he realized that wasn’t the case.

The reason he had continuously endured such a difficult jianghu journey until now.

He was still earnest.

Unlike immortals like Divine Monk Beomheo and Lady Lu Xian who somehow seemed to have cast off human aspects, he was different.

He wanted to share drinks with Radiant Demon Wing in the distant future. As many times as the wrinkles that would form on his face as he safely aged.

“Everything going smoothly? Are you insane…?”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit muttered in a flat tone. Jeong Yeon-shin accepted that absurd soliloquy with an calm face.

“Why don’t we exchange names? Are you perhaps of the Wei clan?”

“Wei clan?”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit, who briefly questioned back, raised one corner of her mouth minutely.

It wasn’t a smile directed at Jeong Yeon-shin. He intuitively realized that her mockery was directed at the Desolate Fortress Lord. Naturally, one side of his heart froze like ice.

For some reason, Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit seemed to be the same way.

“Still using such a name…?”

Another soliloquy. Moreover, the strangely unpleasant rising tone was enough to make the expression disappear from Jeong Yeon-shin’s face.

“Is there some problem?”

“It’s none of your business. It’s an intimate matter of the clans.”

Instantly Jeong Yeon-shin’s sleeve squirmed on its own and brushed away her hand with a flutter. It was a movement without warning like a divine sword, containing considerable energy… The energy was infused by his mind, yet it was as fierce as if energy had been infused because it was a divine weapon. It was like the purple clothing of Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hye-myeong that had once moved on its own.

“…Dharma treasure.”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit didn’t bother to compete with the metal thread and withdrew her hand.

But she didn’t step back either. Rather, she met his gaze at such a close distance that their trouser hems nearly brushed, and her eye level was almost identical to Jeong Yeon-shin’s.

“I won’t ask how you entered. It must be your own secret technique. But what’s important is that you’ve come covered in worldly contamination. If you swagger through the city in this state, regardless of your status, the council of elders will unanimously expel you.”

Rapid whispers continued. Her long exhalation scattered like faint smoke above Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest.

It was because it collided with the internal energy barrier originating from the Luminous Wheel Technique. A method of gauging defensive strength. Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit’s internal energy breathing had swept through the true energy structure of his invisible protective energy.

As if preparing to embed an arrow in Jeong Yeon-shin’s chest at any time.

This was behavior impossible without constantly maintaining vigilance. It was befitting of noble clans said to exchange breath with great nature without learning separate mental techniques.

“Your business doesn’t matter. But if you want to stay healthy here, if you want to be treated as a human in this land, you must follow my words. Naturally it’s for your sake. First hide your body and…”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit grabbed Jeong Yeon-shin’s sleeve again while saying this, with no particular killing intent in the series of movements.

A feeling that everything was naturally so. Conduct that didn’t tolerate any doubt.

Had she lived only inside World Tree? Everything was extremely closed off.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t find her behavior pleasant. It had been that way since the beginning when an arrow like artillery fire had struck down even where his master was present.

For some reason it was behavior that slighted the Desolate Fortress Lord. Naturally she wouldn’t show proper courtesy to that disciple either.

He thought. What is this. Why.

Rustle—

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had disappeared from his position in an instant, stood with his back to Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit. His faintly purple-tinged sleeve was still hanging neatly.

It was supreme Radiant Wing Step.

He slowly opened his mouth.

“If I made a mistake, I should naturally pay the price. But as the direct disciple of the Desolate Fortress Lord, I have the right to at least send word to the clans of World Tree. A disciple’s dignity is the master’s dignity, so I cannot tolerate being turned away at the gate and followed you. I apologize first for the discourtesy I committed. However…”

He slowly turned around to face Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit again.

Lightning-like eye light was flickering white in her jade-green pupils. It seemed she was penetrating Jeong Yeon-shin’s protective energy.

‘Madwoman…’

He rarely felt threatened.

She was mad about martial arts in a different sense. An appearance of thoroughly calculating only variables, regardless of acknowledging the opponent or not. It was as if the mechanical formations of craftsmen had taken human form.

She seemed fundamentally unable to form human friendships.

“…The conduct of our fortress’s purple will not proceed according to your will. It’s a status that must always know detailed circumstances and move with convincing reasons.”

“Right, it would be difficult for me to detain you. Unless I fight and kill you.”

She only moved her lips while staring intently at Jeong Yeon-shin. Like the word ‘vigilance’ had been molded into human form.

This too was another world.

He wondered. Would the outside noble clans also take such an appearance when entering World Tree? It didn’t seem like Qing Shu would become like that immediately.

‘Unless it were Senior Xiahou.’

Jeong Yeon-shin, who inwardly tilted his head while recalling Forest Treading Squad Leader Xiahou Weijin, turned around in place.

It was to survey below, but nothing could be seen properly due to paths woven together with blue-green stems.

“…I should welcome my master. Would you guide me?”

“You can’t meet her right now.”

Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit spoke.

“Your situation is different. According to custom, she’ll wash away the turbid energy before entering. To set foot deep in the city’s heart, all the body’s acupoints must be pure, and the elders will want to examine her body too. Your master is a precious person even here. Only after all procedures are complete will she walk in with dignity.”

Rarely was some emotion infused. But Jeong Yeon-shin had long since given up the thought of growing close to her. He decided to treat her only as an archery master threatening enough to endanger his life.

‘Habitual fingertip movements… She’s not at the level of Dark Night Palace Lord. I can’t picture what trajectory her arrows would take.’

It was after being greatly threatened.

Jeong Yeon-shin pondered while gazing at the back of Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit who led the way, telling him to follow. For some reason, even when close, he couldn’t be confident of ten-tenths certain victory.

How should he respond if they became hostile?

If he couldn’t move as swiftly as Beggar Sect Leader Divine Beggar, he shouldn’t allow a distance of more than five li.

If a life-and-death battle broke out, Thunder Annihilation alone would feel insufficient to strike and kill, but if he deployed Radiant Taiji, wouldn’t the opponent also bring out Transcendent Martial Art?

‘What is all this…’

Suddenly futility crept in.

He hadn’t expected to have such worries after coming this far.

He harbored no particular killing intent. He had merely assumed a worst-case scenario, but Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit’s appearance of moving her large ears up and down as if sensing even that seemed distant.

Demon-subduing battlefield.

This was the true face of World Tree, known as the root of heaven and earth. Moreover, it extremely shunned outsiders.

They had called it the turbulent jianghu. The world was still difficult.

“Your status here means nothing. Stay quietly in my residence, and when you see your master’s figure, then attend to your business. Don’t go out to the city either. Don’t needlessly provoke the clan masters. It will truly become dangerous.”

She spoke without looking back. Jeong Yeon-shin slowly nodded.

“I’m a guest. Restraint is proper.”

He spoke of propriety and principle. His voice was more serious than ever. It was to the extent that Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit, who had constantly sought to suppress Jeong Yeon-shin, no longer offered advice.

Thus.

Two days passed in the city without sun and moon.

* * *

“I report to the Chief Elder. The Eastern Region governed by Heaven-Reaching Bow Spirit has collapsed. The thunder sound that rang half a time period ago seems to have originated from there.”

“What…?!”

“According to communications, it’s a scale reaching ten li in diameter. A comrade from the Eastern Region clans who mastered the Sentiment-Reaching Soul-Departing Eye Technique reports that confirming the cause is nearly impossible…”

“…Silence the mouths of those with thin clan blood, and ask Praising Earth Sword Lord to examine those traces. We have important clan matters ahead, so this must be treated as a major incident.”

“I shall do so.”