Chapter 530 – Southern Splendor Radiant Taiji

“Great Hero Tang.”

“Speak.”

“When I think about it, it’s quite strange.”

“What is?”

“The Dark Heaven Emperor. His death cry was truly resounding. They say that in life he so desperately sought Wudang’s founding patriarch… that is, Immortal Zhang Sanfeng, but I wonder what he would have requested if he had actually met him? If he were like other swordsmen, he would have asked for a demonstration of the wisdom sword.”

“Look here, Hyeon-ga.”

“I’ve told you several times that I’m Hyeon Won…”

“Don’t you have any more beneficial stories? I’ve told you many times already. Everything about you must go into this sword. The spirituality of divine weapons is created that way. Your internal energy breathing has sufficiently ripened, but your life story is far too meager.”

“Are you disparaging the adversities that Lord Jeong and I have overcome together?”

“Of course, being buried alone in the earth must have certainly been an ordeal. I acknowledge that.”

“Frankly, I can’t accept this. There’s no way the owners of divine weapons would have all ranted like madmen to their swords…”

“Since your non-action is lacking, you must put in sincere effort. The world’s treasures called divine swords and demon swords strictly choose their masters. With your realm, you cannot fully handle such an absurd divine weapon as this one, so it’s proper to apply medicine from the start.”

“Medicine indeed, truly befitting the master of the Tang Family.”

“Enough. Tell me that Zhang Sanfeng story.”

“Ah, Immortal Sanfeng… there are countless anecdotes in all regions. So when I stopped at an inn in Kaifeng with an empty stomach in the sixty-eighth year of Emperor Qian-ling’s reign. Some Wudang lay masters approached a shockingly beautiful pair of man and woman…”

* * *

Jeong Yeon-shin knew. That ever since ascending to the purple rank of Desolate Fortress, taking on the title of Acting Divine Sword Group Leader, and being counted among the Five Greatest Swords under Heaven, all under heaven had begun watching him.

But this place was different.

No power holder or major faction could minutely calculate Jeong Yeon-shin’s every move.

Even if they were extremely lucky in grasping his movements, their limit would be making rough estimates based on facts.

“……”

It was a tranquil mountain path.

Jeong Yeon-shin walked with his shoulders slightly drooped, then glanced up at the plaque hanging above his head. He had heard it was located at the very center of the Taoist temples commonly known as the Wudang Sect.

Though called a gate, in reality it was just a wooden board tied to one of the pine trees scattered around a small path in the middle.

The only special thing was the unusually thick and fragrant pine scent.

However.

‘That is…’

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced again at the writing on the plaque.

It was a plaque where three stories conflicted over truth and falsehood. Even the Wudang Sect itself didn’t provide a definitive answer.

The rumor that it was a gift from the former Grand Empress Dowager who was moved by Zhang Sanfeng’s martial arts and character.

The gossip that it was one of the reciprocal gifts given by Emperor Yongle, who had driven the originally Nanjing-based imperial clan north to fight the Yao tribe, to major sects like Desolate Fortress that hadn’t interfered in the civil war.

Finally, there was the story that Zhang Sanfeng himself had roughly made it.

Looking at it now, it was the third one.

Because he could feel it from the strokes of the calligraphy. The traces of a dragon that had died while coiled in a taiji pattern.

Jade Clear Gate.

It was writing that seemed to gently absorb one’s soul.

[Jade Clear. Another form of the most venerable Tao in Taoism… that is, the first of the Three Clear Ones. Of course, as religions always are, there are those who consider Jade Clear to be last.]

Step.

Jeong Yeon-shin felt a soft sensation on his shoulder and turned his head. He saw the profile of a woman with long black hair hanging down like a sword.

A subtle and unparalleled presence like incense on an ancestral altar. It was Shin Cheon-hwa, the former former Divine Sword Group Leader.

‘Where has she been all this time?’

But he couldn’t continue his thoughts.

As he climbed the mountain and reached a low hill, before his eyes more than ten Taoists were standing in a row with both hands raised together.

In identical poses, at the same moment, sleeves that reached down to their elbows.

Extremely noble.

But their Taoist robes were faded white. No one wore new clothes.

“We greet the Lightning Genius Taoist. This place is the Sword Release Pond.”

The middle-aged man at the front spoke.

With a thick jawline and weighty bearing. It was Profound Silence Jade Cliff Immortal, who had roughly exchanged greetings with Jeong Yeon-shin earlier. He was said to be the acting sect leader of the Wudang Sect that had even lost High Sword Immortal.

Right behind him was Phoenix Palm Zhu Se-hwa as well.

Like the other Wudang Taoists, she was offering fresh greetings to Jeong Yeon-shin, but her demeanor had become subtly more respectful than before. It wasn’t the upright conduct of before.

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“I apologize for causing such a great commotion for several days. It was not the proper conduct of a guest.”

The bodies of several Taoists flinched minutely. A reaction to encountering behavior beyond expectations. Jeong Yeon-shin understood.

Who would have expected that the person who had made a move as soon as arriving at Mount Wudang was actually a gentleman? It would have been surprising even for Immortals who had cultivated mystical Taoist power.

‘They’re not jianghu bandits but the Wudang Sect. They would all know propriety and courtesy.’

He thought.

Indeed, after Jeong Yeon-shin showed proper etiquette, the atmosphere became much more harmonious. The moment when the purple of Desolate Fortress and Wudang’s immortals achieved exchange. Naturally, the ‘sword release’ was also accomplished smoothly.

It was the temporary entrusting of weapons according to the name of Wudang’s Sword Release Pond.

Along with the killing intent, sin, and disturbed mind contained in those weapons.

Swish.

“I will protect it with everything our sect has.”

The young Taoist who received Remaining Thunder with both hands spoke calmly.

He was a prestigious member of the same Yun generation as Zhu Se-hwa, a disciple of Jade Cliff Immortal and great-grandson of Profound Void Immortal. He was also a successor of the Taiji Wisdom Sword.

An act proving extreme courtesy.

Jeong Yeon-shin simply nodded slightly with a face where thoughts were hard to guess.

Then, guided by the Wudang masters, he passed countless Taoist temples and was guided to the largest house as a temporary residence.

It was a hall with beautiful blue roof tiles.

“Please walk freely anywhere. As long as it’s not the Heavenly Tao Hall where our sect’s secret manuals are stored, there are no other difficult places.”

Jade Cliff Immortal said.

Without crossing the threshold of the hall. But his attitude was respectful.

He was clearly treating Jeong Yeon-shin as the practical head of Desolate Fortress. As an equal to the pinnacle of the Wudang Sect.

Something the fifteen-year-old boy from Xinye County who had lived near Shaolin and Wudang had never imagined.

Jeong Yeon-shin stared at him for a moment, then asked.

“Is there some urgent matter?”

“Yes. However, it’s an internal matter of our sect…”

Drawing a line.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t ask further.

Rustle… Like that, Jade Cliff Immortal and several other Taoists returned. Their footsteps were very hurried, and he could feel the gently undulating propulsive energy waves characteristic of Cloud Ladder.

One person remained. It was Phoenix Palm Zhu Se-hwa.

“There’s something I’d like to ask.”

She spoke quietly.

It was different conduct from before. Was it because she had seen the scene of competing equally with Profound Void Immortal? Zhu Se-hwa asked gently with complete respect.

“During your stay, our sect’s disciples will attend to your needs, but it’s difficult to identify Lord Jeong’s energy waves from a distance. Is there another reason you maintain such a state of Return to Origin at all times?”

“Because enemies would be the same.”

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t particularly boast about the perfection of the Divine Sword Deputy Group Leader. He just glanced at Zhu Se-hwa once and walked toward his temporary residence.

[The junior’s mood isn’t comfortable. At this rate, one room will be sufficient.]

Shin Cheon-hwa, with her hands clasped behind her back, followed alongside Jeong Yeon-shin. Her purple garment edges brushed Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder with familiar softness.

The skin under Zhu Se-hwa’s eyes slightly protruded with bewilderment.

“…Our sect’s Profound Eye Palace, which specializes in eye techniques, is sweeping the mountain. As soon as the sect leader is discovered, we’ll convey it through mental transmission. However, as you know, Wudang’s mountain slopes are extremely vast and even the sect leader’s Cloud Ladder is difficult to track…”

“Please do so. Don’t be impatient.”

Jeong Yeon-shin answered briefly, then stepped up to the main hall. And slowly disappeared through the door gap.

It was the beginning of seclusion.

The atmosphere arising from the eighteen-year-old youth’s sense of defeat seeped deeply into each section of the blue roof tiles.

A sticky feeling like a swamp. And the sense of loss that wouldn’t leave also settled down with faint mist.

After that.

No other sounds came.

* * *

There was a man wearing a bamboo hat.

It was beneath a plaque reading “Upper Clear Pass.”

Sitting roughly on the dirt ground. Though the end of the sword scabbard at his waist pressed strongly into the earth, his empty right sleeve just fluttered peacefully.

“Hmm.”

The man suddenly made a sound of contemplation.

“I’ve been waiting quite a while.”

A Taoist temple more than twenty li away from Jade Clear Gate.

“……”

About a hundred Taoists surrounded him. Not only filling the clearing, but those standing on the roof edges of the Taoist temple exuded thick pine fragrance.

Each held Pine Gate Ancient Swords imbued with martial power.

Among them, Acting Sect Leader Jade Cliff Immortal had his hand on his sword hilt.

Below the hem of his Taoist robe, dust spiraled up to his waist before falling repeatedly.

He quietly asked.

“Has the isolation been properly achieved? I mean the formation.”

Jade Leaf Immortal on the left answered with a clouded smiling face.

“Yes, but even now it would be better to request the guest at Jade Clear Gate…”

“Entrust all the sect’s worries to a guest we earnestly requested for a brief stay? Moreover, not just anything, but these people who are like natural disasters…?”

“……”

“This is a matter of honor that leads to death. Though taiji circles the world without obstruction, a person’s face exists only once in the secular world. Moreover, if the sect leader suddenly storms into the main mountain, what would happen? This time too, he’ll surely seek the residence of High Sword’s fourth uncle where the guest is currently staying.”

That’s when it happened.

The man in the bamboo hat slowly rose from his seat.

“I’m rather timid by nature.”

The moment his mouth opened, all directions fell silent. A wisp of cloud mixed with wind circled the venue like smoke.

“I deliberately didn’t stop by the Sword Release Pond.”

“……”

“Looking at it now, it was an excellent choice. Taking the guests’ swords while the host properly holds a blade. Isn’t this precisely the ultimate mystery that all swordsmen should rightfully obtain? It could indeed be called precious teaching.”

Swish.

He awkwardly raised his only fist.

It was an incomplete fist salute.

The man’s lips drew an ambiguous smile, and that tiny movement of his mouth corners overwhelmingly pressed down on the vicinity like sword wind.

“I heard there’s a mad old man who fell into seclusion here, so I was hoping you’d include me too.”

“False, true, false, false.”

The woman to the right of Jade Cliff Immortal whispered quickly. A Taoist with disheveled hair, Jade Sword Immortal of Wudang’s Supreme Harmony Seven Honor Stars.

Therefore, the Wudang forces filling the venue at this moment were close to more than three military units under the Divine Sword Group.

And not ordinary military units, but comparable to the Annihilation Team, Wish-fulfilling Spring, and Radiant Demon Wing in his prime.

It could be called invincible.

And the opponent was the very person who had killed High Sword Immortal, Wudang Sect’s irreconcilable enemy.

But Jade Cliff Immortal kept his mouth tightly shut.

‘The momentum is… absurdly fierce.’

Sword energy that transparently surrounded the venue without a single point of waste. How could someone who had lost one arm still be one of the Five Greatest Swords under Heaven?

The problem was great.

If ten Wudang masters died, more than a thousand common people below the mountain slopes would lose their lives.

Because of the poor harvest and supernatural monsters. Wudang Sect’s responsibility had always been so.

Moreover, now was a situation where mutual destruction had to be assumed.

“……”

Jade Cliff Immortal made his decision in repeated silence. Before he knew it, evening twilight was swallowing the vicinity like a giant’s sword shadow.

“Is the preparation insufficient? Bring a vertical flute if you have one.”

The man in the bamboo hat was also gradually stroking his sword hilt, seeming to have exhausted the patience he had shown pretending to be a polite guest.

“…Jade Leaf.”

“Yes, Acting Sect Leader.”

“Open the Heavenly Tao Hall and request the guest.”

* * *

How many days had passed?

It was after Shin Cheon-hwa had gone out for a walk.

Jeong Yeon-shin flinched. He was curled up with his back bent in the thin bed. His unique sleeping habit that no one could see.

Wuung—

Suddenly vibration rang out from his waist. It wasn’t Remaining Thunder but the Pine Gate Ancient Sword. The Baihui acupoint inside his extremely thick hair also suddenly became cool.

It was certain.

The sensation of his upper dantian’s power activating.

Mount Wudang was said to be one of the renowned spiritual mountains under heaven, full of mysteries. A place layered with traces of Taoists who had polished immortal secret arts for hundreds of years. The mountain slopes themselves were close to dharma treasures.

It was truly monstrous. Even the Yuan Dynasty’s horse-mounted martial arts, said to be like monsters, ultimately couldn’t violate this place, so such things could certainly happen.

Wasn’t Shin Cheon-hwa also a spirit of the dead arising from such mystery?

However.

Saaaa—… 

Looking back strangely, a fragrant pine scent spread from the sword hilt that none of the Wudang people had found odd. Jeong Yeon-shin noticed this even with his eyes closed.

And he detected an unfamiliar presence at his bedside.

A feeling flickering faintly like candlelight.

It wasn’t Shin Cheon-hwa. It wasn’t as solid as her.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately opened his eyes.

“What…!”

It was an instant before his mind was dyed white. Incomparably hot. Like formless thunder striking through the night sky, suddenly three characters filled his head mistily.

Flickering in the realm of intuition.

Zhang Sanfeng (張三丰).

It was the name of the presence.