Chapter 566 – Northern Emperor (6)

The life of a king is complicated.

Even the various Northern Kings who seemed like tyrants at first glance had things they absolutely had to uphold.

Assessing the state of the people’s livelihood, overseeing supplies, being wary of other nearby Northern Kings, and mediating between the lords under their command while even elevating their own martial prowess.

Therefore, despite their violent temperaments, they were perfect rulers.

A wilderness where military lords obsessed with martial arts continuously grew stronger while even cultivating their own power.

Now Jeong Yeon-shin was in Yeoktru Castle as a king.

This was a place originally seized by the Northern Sea Ice Palace, which had put Lazy Flame Dragon forward as their great warrior, but which had been taken back once again.

It was another purple-colored stronghold in a different sense.

Swish.

Jeong Yeon-shin sat on the throne covered with grizzled wolf pelts. And he gazed down below with a steady stare.

“Your Majesty!”

Immediately, some man shouted.

The leader among those lined up in front of the throne.

A warrior with a massive frame as if carved from iron, holding a large axe in one hand.

It was none other than a double-bladed great axe made in the weapon style unique to the northern Yao tribes.

Perhaps sensing Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze directed at that gleaming blue axe blade, the man in shabby silk clothes standing nearby moved his lips.

—In northern lands, weapons can be worn even in the royal palace, that is, where the ruler resides. If anyone were to forbid this, they would be considered as lacking the qualifications of a Northern King. It would be better not to feel uncomfortable about it.

It was a telepathic transmission from the Northern Gatekeeper.

His more cautious tone than before was notable. Even though he was known to have directly learned the Heaven Silk Steel Armor and the Towering Yellow Ten Knots from the Fighting God.

As soon as word spread that Jeong Yeon-shin had torn apart the Southern Emperor’s original spirit along with the Heaven Silk Steel Armor, everyone became respectful, and the Northern Gatekeeper was no exception.

“State your business.”

At the command of the youth wearing Northern King Yelu’s silver mask, the Yao tribesman immediately responded.

“Teach us martial arts!”

It was somewhat awkward speech. Unlike the supreme masters fluent in Chinese, perhaps because he was someone who could hardly be called a strongman in the military camp, Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked him back.

“Are you seeking to learn from me?”

“The Fighting God left, and you came! I don’t yet know whether you are a king or a god, but if you are a god, you should bestow teachings! The Fighting God did so!”

The words of the Yao tribesman holding the double-bladed axe were consistently loud and as bold as would be hard to imagine in the southern martial world.

This too must have been an effect of the battle fought with the Southern Emperor.

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at the northern stronghold people lined up behind the man, then rose from his seat.

Instantly, the Yao tribesman and everyone present simultaneously stepped back with retreating footwork.

Though it was only a single step, those who were said to be difficult for even the Ming Dynasty’s martial military officers to handle one-on-one had instinctively stepped backward first.

At the same time, the Northern Gatekeeper’s advice rang out telepathically.

—It doesn’t seem like something worth tearing limbs over…

Jeong Yeon-shin became inwardly curious about how the northern people regarded his temperament, but he didn’t show it outwardly. Instead, he simply opened his mouth slowly.

“Do you all have the same business? Are there no inconveniences in your lives or matters worth reporting to the king? No, before that.”

“……”

“Are you people who pay tribute obligation?”

At his quiet question, the inner castle of Yeokru Castle was enveloped in ice-like silence.

The words of the Northern King who had declared war on the Southern Emperor were stern, and immediately enormous questions filled the hall.

“Tribute…? To pay…”

“What does that mean?”

“Pay, Tribute. Write it down in blood. It must be a precious oral formula.”

“Is it a blood-absorbing technique?”

Jeong Yeon-shin closed his mouth. Conversely, the Han Chinese Northern Gatekeeper beside him spoke carefully.

“The stronghold people here are both martial artists and those who bear military service. They are literally a type of martial army, so they could be said to already be faithful to tribute. Of course, not all of them follow the Northern Kings’ orders, but…”

“I have no business teaching martial arts to these people.”

It was something he said as the Acting Divine Sword Group Leader who would undertake the northern expedition.

Instantly, the massive shoulders of the Yao tribesmen lined up in front of the throne sank slightly like an earthquake, and the Northern Gatekeeper raised the corners of his mouth with a face that said it was natural.

“Of course, I thought so. Divine martial secrets are never taken lightly even in this northern land. Rather, they uphold the iron rule of ‘not transmitting to the unworthy’ more firmly than any other land. It’s just that the Fighting God was extremely unusual.”

“Not transmitting to the unworthy?”

Jeong Yeon-shin questioned back. Not transmitting to the unworthy. It meant not passing on teachings to those whose character was not properly formed.

At least, it wasn’t something that the northern stronghold people, who engaged in plunder even against their own compatriots, should be saying.

The Northern Gatekeeper shrugged slightly.

“Here, ‘unworthy’ means the weak. The feeble are not people. Anyway, will you continue attending to state affairs?”

“Dragon Sound Sasa King is said to be coming. Let’s go inspect the supplies.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke with a calm expression. At this moment, while ignoring the northern stronghold people filling the inner castle of Yeokru Castle like decorations.

‘What are these things?’

Originally, he had intended to draw inspiration for new fist and foot techniques from the Yao tribesmen’s physiques, but the strangely naive appearance of these people had long since dampened such thoughts.

Just then.

“Your Majesty! Receive a visitor!”

The Yao warrior temporarily serving as gatekeeper shouted.

Jeong Yeon-shin ignored him.

* * *

A pursuit battle between transcendents dwelling in the peerless realm was taking place.

Two streams of colorless light entangled in the desolate plains, fell with tremendous roars, and repeatedly collided again.

It was a situation where two streams of afterimages followed each other in that lightning-like rush.

Kugugugugung!

Dust clouds bursting out in all directions, murkily coloring the horizon.

Each collision caused the vast land to cave in deeply with thunderous sounds.

Swift lightness skill rushes fast enough to become light itself mixed with explosive force attacks were repeated, and all the sand hills near the pursuit route were smashed and collapsed.

However, strictly speaking, only one person was making attacks.

The other person was casually deflecting or trampling the sword strikes with their hand as if the opponent was bothersome.

A posture of having something to protect in one’s embrace. They had never once made an attack.

“You.”

A woman’s voice rang out softly from within the afterimages of the endlessly rushing human shadows.

“Thanks to this book, you’ve been alive only up to here. Now you’ve come to my land. A place filled with the energy I’ve been accumulating.”

It was the Divine Thief of the northern jianghu… Soon the voice that responded was also a woman’s, likewise at a level where internal energy breathing could substitute for conversation.

“It seems you’ve enhanced your martial prowess with special energy circulation and absorption.”

It was the Diancang Sect Leader following persistently with tenacious sword strikes, slowing down the Divine Thief’s lightness skill as much as possible.

Her voice was clear even amid the thunderous sounds.

“But could there be anything more dangerous than northern Yao tribes taking the secret transmission of the Zhongnan Sword Immortal? Especially when it might influence the Southern jianghu’s sects.”

Sword Empress Jin Xuan-chan’s tone was as dignified as an old woman’s despite her youthful voice that seemed to have met her prime years.

[TL Note- Sword Empress’ name may have been mistranslated previously as Kim Seon-seon.]

An absolute master of the sword who had lived through the same era as the previous Acting Divine Sword Group Leader Ma Yeon-jeok.

She was actually an old woman, but she was activating temporary rejuvenation that returned her to a young body only when engaged in battle.

“I’ll say it again. Hand over what you stole and go.”

Immediately afterward, densely bursting shockwaves.

Kwaaaaaaaang—!

It swallowed even the afterimages of the pursuit that had been following like a tail behind them, swelling up like a transparent tsunami.

At the same time, their sprint that had only appeared as light beams also completely stopped.

Eventually, where the dust settled.

Two women were revealed.

Each was called a King of swords and Dream Demon Body respectively, with hair like black ebony and ash powder fluttering in the cold wind.

Crack!

The Sword Empress knelt, sticking a sword into the ground like a staff. Her black hair flowed down like a waterfall.

Behind her.

The Divine Thief stood with her back to her.

She had one hand inside her bosom.

“It’s safe. Thank goodness.”

The Divine Thief’s voice spread brilliant echoes across the sandy ground as it settled down.

She was checking whether the Zhongnan Sword Immortal’s sword manual was properly preserved.

The Divine Thief’s attention was focused solely on that.

“……”

Under the sunlight pouring transparently from the suddenly opened sea of clouds, the body lines of the two peerless masters stood out darkly.

Drip, drop.

Blood flowed down from the corner of the Sword Empress’s mouth. Drop by drop, it fell and stained the sandy ground dark red. That area gradually expanded.

Not only were the palms holding the sword torn, but even the inside of her body was in ruins.

The protective gear wound around her grip with silk material remained only as several bundles of thread. Evidence that the Diancang sword technique couldn’t properly handle what was in the Divine Thief’s hands.

It was defeat.

Originally, cases where superiority and inferiority were clearly divided among peerless masters were extremely rare, but starting with Jeong Yeon-shin, the Desolate Day Extinction who was like a symbol of chaotic times, they were rapidly increasing.

Sword Empress Jin Xuan-chan waited for death in the grizzled cold wind. And suddenly she recalled one face.

A clear, thick jawline, with eyes gleaming with tyrannical madness.

She had loved such an inhuman hero. Because her deceased wife existed in his heart even after death, Jin Xuan-chan too had been able to fulfill her duty as a sect leader of the Nine Great Sects.

It was a fortunate thing.

But still.

‘Just once…’

To see him again.

However, the Sword Empress soon filled her mind with her disciples again. The previous Acting Divine Sword Group Leader was just lingering attachment from her youth.

On the other hand, the disciples of the Diancang Sect were another aspect of life and her most proud achievement in itself.

Qu Su-yu.

When her lips were shaping her chief disciple’s name.

“Yes, if you have last words, tell them to the wind. The north wind hears everything.”

The Divine Thief’s shadow fell over the Sword Empress like silk.

The face that was said to compete with the Cult Leader for the title of greatest beauty under heaven was using the distorted sunlight as a mask, but her gestures were soft and gentle enough to raise goosebumps on the skin of the dying Sword Empress.

Rustle.

The King of Dream Demon Body lowered her head and grasped the Sword Empress’s nape. The hair of the two people with contrasting colors became disheveled and entangled.

“I am a king.”

The Divine Thief’s whisper continued softly.

“Even if I execute you here, the Fighting God cannot reproach me.”

Repeated battles from Zhongnan Mountain to reaching the northern lands.

About an hour had passed since they had entered this land, causing all sorts of shockwaves and fierce energy waves.

If it had been another Northern King’s territory, someone would have come long ago, but the Clear Light Plain where they had set foot had long become the Divine Thief’s territory with the Fighting God’s permission.

A place bordering Yeoktru Castle and Vast Jade City Castle, making it easy to cross the Great Wall.

Crack!

Blue veins formed on the back of the Divine Thief’s hand.

To crush the protective energy of an orthodox peerless master like the Sword Empress, it was inevitable to apply tremendous force.

If loaded into sword strikes, it would be power that could split two or three small mountain peaks and still have strength left.

“You’re not a Northern King.”

The Divine Thief’s smooth lips moved slightly. Pure white sunlight was rippling on her lips.

“All the ground here is my land.”

“……”

The northern lands were said to be places where vegetation did not grow. The Sword Empress’s hand still gripped her beloved sword, but her blade could not perform the miracle of sprouting like seedlings.

Unlike farmers surrounded by green life, the end of stronghold people was always cold and barren.

Crack, crackle—

The sound of the internal energy barrier crumpling filled the quiet plain for a while.

“It’s not your land.”

Suddenly, some youth’s voice pressed down on the ground.

Bang!

It was literally so. The momentum contained in the voice was terrifying.

Invisible pressure made the ground beneath the listeners cave in circularly, and was enough to turn even small pebbles into powder with a crack.

It was a reckless imitation of Acting Divine Sword Group Leader Yong Hye-myeong’s whistle. However, there were virtually no people who would know this fact.

“……”

The Sword Empress’s head, which had already lost focus, slowly lifted up.

“Your territory?”

A somewhat dazed voice leaked from the Divine Thief’s lips. She had never had anything taken from her by anyone. Because she had always taken everything, she was the Divine Thief.

“You seem ignorant of the situation.”

The intruder’s voice continued from the point where their gazes struck down like prison bars.

“This is a people’s livelihood inspection.”

A silver-masked youth in plain clothes walked out through the sunlight that overlapped hazily with the horizon.

He said.

“This land is already mine, and I can come and go as I please. Whoever you are, you cannot kill people here without my permission.”

It was a declaration of war against the Divine Thief… While the Divine Thief and Sword Empress were heading north, the conqueror king’s progress had already been made several times, beginning to heat up the northern lands like a furnace.

The Northern Blade under heaven had just elevated Yelu’s name to Ruinous Star among the Six Star Lords two days ago.