Chapter 523 – Honoured One of the South (2)

It was a time when even the twilight had vanished without a trace. Dark wind currents repeatedly blew down from above, only to scatter helplessly.

Occasionally rubbing bleakly against the sand sea that filled the earth.

There was no moon.

No constellation of stars existed either.

Yet it was not a dark night. This was because purple currents that seemed extracted from the edge of sunset rippled long like a river.

Crossing the sky powerfully and grandly like the brushwork of a young master painter, it undulated hazily like the dying breath of a giant whose days were numbered.

Thud.

A man passing beneath it with dignified steps suddenly hesitated and opened his mouth.

“Energy emission waves… traces of shock waves? I thought it was common aurora…”

Muttering close to a whisper. He had deliberately spoken aloud to overcome the fear pressing down on his mind and body.

He glanced up at the night sky.

Simultaneously, the current resembling dying sunset rippled. Like a person’s eyelid.

Incomprehensible. Literally meaning impossible to understand. It was a sight that would make even any master feel eerie.

“……”

Fear passed through the man’s blue eyes. His unusually distinct jawline also twitched convulsively.

It was enough to make even his naturally authoritative temperament temporarily subside.

Heavenly Messenger Beigong Ming.

Among the countless young lords of Northern Sea Ice Palace, the steps of this man, who was counted among the top ten, quickened.

‘This is not sorcery that humans can wield. His Lordship made the right judgment.’

At the end of crossing such wasteland, the place Beigong Ming arrived at was some manor. A place composed of halls so large they were nearly close to a palace.

There were no gatekeepers.

Only the breathing sounds of those filling the walls, roofs, and the small paths spread throughout the manor interior.

Each wore clothes of different colors and styles with no sense of unity, yet the formless energy waves that sharply cut through the atmosphere were identical.

About three hundred people.

Just standing still, they subtly carved into the earth. Moreover, even the atmosphere was trembling finely.

Huu—

Beigong Ming channeled internal energy into his chest. As soon as he crossed the manor’s threshold, breathing had rapidly become difficult, and only after forcibly contracting his interior did his breath clear a little.

‘Ming Cult demons.’

Energy waves befitting the night sky that had swallowed the moon and stars.

It was no different from the stories passed down in Ice Palace. They said the old Ming Cult would not bow its head even to Desolate Fortress.

Beigong Ming barely managed to open his mouth. While holding up a transparent jade bead with one hand.

“May I enter? As you can see, this is a fragment of ice crystal, and I am an envoy from Ice Palace. I’ve come to convey the will of our palace.”

No answer came.

But he tactfully stepped forward. It was sufficient that the inhuman beings didn’t immediately pounce on him. Naturally, he had been granted entry.

Thud.

Passing through a garden where all sorts of exotic flowers and plants grew, reaching the inner part of the manor filled with the scent of alcohol.

Beigong Ming walked while trying not to look left and right. The Northern Sea Ice Palace Lord he served was the person with the most fearsome temperament in the north.

But separate from her presence that shrouded Ice Palace, this land where Ming Cult members had gathered had a feeling that even shadows would be sucked down underfoot.

‘Damn it. What do monsters who lived below have to eat that they’ve come up this far…’

He deliberately hardened his face as he raised his gaze.

Before his eyes was now an extremely splendid artificial mountain. A sculptural valley made by stacking pebbles and carving rocks. The ultimate in pleasure, with wine flowing instead of water.

The figure of a woman stepping on one of those peaks with the tip of one foot was also mysterious.

Was she training her sense of balance?

She was a swordsman with unusually jet-black hair hanging down her back.

The silk wrapped around her waist was black star satin that only came from the western regions, and the sword hilt stuck in that sash had the character ‘Desolate’ carved on it.

A woman with a snow-white face as if she had fully mastered the legendary Bare Hand Demonic Arts throughout her body, possessing an extremely cold expressionless face.

She paid no attention to Beigong Ming, who had just entered the inner courtyard. Like a statue decorating the hall.

‘Desolate…? Surely it can’t be a master from Desolate Fortress.’

But Beigong Ming couldn’t observe her for long.

[You have considerable knowledge.]

“It’s a virtue of our sect. We keep in mind all entertainments and customs that occur in this land.”

Beyond the artificial mountain.

This was because one of two people playing go on some wooden platform had turned his head. A man wearing a conical hat pulled down deep so his face couldn’t be seen.

“Regrettably, I am the prior guest. I came from Yu Ling.”

A strange voice flowed from beneath the conical hat. It was a voice like scraping metal.

Then the man in the conical hat quietly asked.

“You’re from Ice Palace?”

But Beigong Ming only glanced at him without bothering to exchange words.

This was because the presence of the woman sitting across from the man in the conical hat was encompassing the sky with a distant feeling. The owner of the aurora spread in faint purple existed here.

The youngest Western Tibet’s Strongest Person throughout all time.

Ming Cult Leader Invincible.

“Mm.”

One knee raised diagonally, with an elbow resting on it. A scene oozing with extreme boredom. The sight of rolling a single go stone with one hand was the same.

Meanwhile, the softly pouring aurora light clusters were shattering along with shadows on her prominent nose bridge. Features that stole one’s soul.

Beigong Ming’s mind snapped to attention.

The opponent’s face was not dreamlike. It was thrilling beauty that by itself evoked supreme martial arts.

‘They say the Ming Cult Leader turns people into followers with just a few words…!’

The Heavenly Demon had been known since ancient times to bewitch people with their very existence. An inhuman being whose bearing, appearance, and martial arts were all overwhelming. Seeing it now, the oral traditions were not wrong.

Fortunately, the current Ming Cult Leader was as unrestrained as her presence. She who urged speech without even giving Beigong Ming time to be entranced.

[Your business?]

The indifferent voice made all eight directions rumble.

Beigong Ming felt shock as if drums had beaten in his ears, but as one directly descended from the Ice Palace Lord, he didn’t distort his expression.

“…I report to the Ming Cult Leader. What is the reason for not stopping your northern advance?”

[The world is turbulent. To the extent that our sect’s masters will need a secure home to make a living in the future.]

It was a roundabout answer.

Beigong Ming gauged the Ming Cult Leader’s character from that brief exchange.

He intuitively saw through the temperament of not opening one’s heart to anyone. Thanks to having his wits sharpened in Ice Palace’s extremely harsh succession struggle.

‘I should be completely honest with this one. That way I won’t get on their nerves.’

That’s when it happened.

“An unexpected development… but the conversation has become much easier. Since I’m the prior guest, my words should come first, shouldn’t they?”

Had he not expected to have an audience with the Ming Cult Leader together with Beigong Ming? The Yu Ling master in the conical hat continued speaking while placing a white stone on the go board.

“The current Ming Cult’s strength is clearly first among all the Thirteen Evil Sects. Above all, if it’s not a full-scale war but merely seizing the ice crystals they possess, it’s quite doable. It would be even easier if the Cult Leader lends a hand.”

“……!”

Beigong Ming immediately realized.

If the Ming Cult Leader accepted that man’s request, his life would end here. They wouldn’t leave alive an Ice Palace person who had heard the conspiracy about ice crystals.

That’s when it happened.

[Mm… the price?]

“Whatever you desire.”

It was the conical hat man’s answer.

At those words, Invincible’s lips drew a mysterious arc.

That was it.

In an instant, Beigong Ming’s vision was filled entirely with jet-black radiance, and the aurora current spread in the sky also changed from purple to blackish ink color.

* * *

What is the first virtue that the Divine Sword Group Leader of Desolate Fortress should possess as the supreme commander of subordinate warriors?

Jeong Yeon-shin was someone who had read all sorts of sages’ writings since childhood. Naturally, he knew the answer.

‘Tolerance. Embracing comrades…’

He slowly looked around.

Seats arranged in a circle around a huge circular table carved from stone. All carved from precious marble. Moreover, the grayish-white backrests exceeded the height of any decent man.

Looking again, their appearance was also familiar—they were the same as the grand master’s chairs that some Yong fellow, swept away by the front waves of the Yangtze River, had once made beyond the door.

Eighteen in total.

This was Desolate Fortress’s Wish for Peace Sword Hall. Now eight seats were filled, including Jeong Yeon-shin.

Forest Treading Squad Leader, Immortal Tree Spirit Squad Leader, Law Enforcement Squad Leader, Ultimate Martial Hall Leader, and Namgung Hwa-shin, who had entered with his upper body wrapped in bandages, all focused their unchangingly upright gazes on the Acting Group Leader.

There wasn’t one who hadn’t buried dead comrades in their hearts. Yet not a single one made the atmosphere heavy.

Among those who deliberately treated the vicissitudes of war as familiar, the dust in the room flowed silently like stars.

Soon after.

“We will begin the meeting.”

Jeong Yeon-shin’s words echoed like reverberations. Simultaneously, Divine Blood Demon Jin Myeong-jo, sitting to his immediate right—effectively the second seat of honor—barely perceptibly convulsed.

He seemed to feel deep emotion at the sight of his grown junior.

“……”

In the left seat was Yue Shou-lin with her brow deeply furrowed.

An expression that suited her sixteen-year-old face very well. Though the foremost standard bearer of Desolate Fortress was throwing her unique weapon down at her feet at this moment, Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t rashly try to fathom the turbulent period he had passed through without experiencing.

It was precisely the attitude of a great person.

He spoke calmly.

“Supplies have already been resolved, so I’ve excluded them from the agenda. Next, we need to organize formations.”

“There’s much to discuss. This is work that wouldn’t be enough even if we debated for seven days and nights. Naturally, you’ve all eaten your fill and come…”

Before Yue Shou-lin’s interjected words from the side could even finish, Jeong Yeon-shin’s calm voice pressed down on her speech.

“It’s completed.”

“What…?”

Yue Shou-lin’s counter-question rang out in honorifics. It was quite difficult work, so it was understandable to be surprised. Jeong Yeon-shin nodded alone while flicking his hand.

Flap—

Some scroll shot up from his bosom and landed in the center of the circular table. When Cheon So-so, who had tilted her head from one side, extended her index finger, the scroll also spread wide, revealing its contents.

Along with an unwavering voice as if confident in a successful first meeting.

“First is the Divine Sword Squad. We’ll take along the Divine Sword Squad members who survived after cutting the supply lines of the dragnet that once trapped Senior Yong, but I’ve selected several people from each squad. Excluding the Squad Leader and Deputy Squad Leader, all Divine Sword Squad members will be composed entirely of blue ranks.”

As Jeong Yeon-shin said, the Divine Sword Squad’s formation was written at the beginning. Literally written in one breath. There were traces of deliberation in only two or three places.

[Acting Group Leader and Divine Sword Squad Leader Jeong Yeon-shin.

Divine Sword Deputy Squad Leader, Divine Blood Brilliant Star Jin Myeong-jo.

Divine Sword Squad Member, Desolate Divine Hero Heon Won-chang.

Divine Sword Squad Member, Divine Sword Sharp Brush Yeon So-ha.

Divine Sword Subordinate, Lazy Flame Dragon Hwangbo So-and-so.

Divine Sword Squad Member, Hidden Fist Sam-bok.

Divine Sword Prisoner, Red Robed Mad Blood.

Divine Sword Squad Member, April Bow Ghost Wi Ye-linh.

Divine Sword Squad Member, Wise Blade Wu Yue-xiang…]

The word “Acting” written at the very front was somewhat faint, but no one paid attention to that.

It was because of the energy waves that had simultaneously erupted from inside and outside the Wish for Peace Sword Hall. They were tremendously powerful.

Wuuuuuung—!

In an instant, two figures convulsively kicked their seats.

One presence approaching softly like a divine dragon swimming through clouds from outside.

‘…Insubordination?’

Jeong Yeon-shin’s face was tinged with shock, however slightly.