Chapter 571 – Contest (4)

[TL Note- In previous chapter/s, Literary Star was translated as Scholar Star. Although both mean the same but Literary Star is the accurate term.]

The north is an ambiguous land.

At least to those familiar with the Ming Dynasty.

This was because it was a place thoroughly blocked off by the imperial absolute rulers like Emperor Qian-ling, the Three Regional Great Generals, and the Imperial Three Great Masters.

It meant that except for a very select few sects that had maintained close relationships with the imperial family from the beginning, there had been no encounters with the northern jianghu.

Internal worries and external troubles.

The Ming Dynasty entrusted the martial world, which could be called internal concerns, to the Desolate Fortress, while personally confronting the northern foreign powers that directly threatened the empire’s survival.

Thus they became a wall.

The power of the imperial state, founded by encompassing countless martial clans and great sects, was poured north and poured again.

This process on such a massive scale that it could be called the most magnificent history in the Ming Dynasty.

Naturally, most Ming Dynasty jianghu people had no choice but to be ignorant of Yao tribe culture, martial arts, dispositions, and power structures.

This was also why the masters who coveted the Zhongnan Sword Immortal’s secret manual had rushed to the northern lands without hesitation.

Because they were extremely ignorant.

Because it was difficult to feel any proper sense of reality.

Wooong!

Therefore, at this moment, the woman who opened her eyes with hazy focus—the Sword Empress—was also shocked by the martial prowess of the Divine Thief.

It wasn’t just because of her world-shaking movement technique.

Her monstrously skilled transformation technique, the martial principles that grasped and shook the breathing of the peerless master she was facing, and her energy distribution that was so adept at prolonged battles she seemed like the incarnation of the Fighting God himself—all of it was mysterious.

Even her long, silver-gray hair that rippled like waves under the dreamlike moonlight.

It was the same now.

The image reflected in her blurry vision.

The Divine Thief’s body repeatedly bloomed like a flower in the void before disappearing.

Movement technique Heaven-Severing Connection Technique. The moment an opponent struck out, she would move the same distance in the exact opposite direction. As if her body and internal energy’s reactions had become one with her opponent.

Body Transposition was premised in all her movements like basic foundation techniques. An absolute secret technique of unity between essence, energy, and spirit that allowed no fatal strikes.

This was why the Divine Thief always felt so distant.

Even if it were a sword strike that could cleave mountains, if it didn’t hit, that was all there was to it.

The Divine Thief of the north.

If another battle between the northern jianghu and the Ming Dynasty were to unfold, she would be an existence that could rightfully be called a god in war reconnaissance.

The rumors that she freely came and went from the secret archives of Beijing’s imperial palace would not be false.

Right now, Sword Empress Jin Xuan-chan felt a lump-like confusion just from recalling the repeated movements of Heaven-Severing Connection Technique.

‘That person…’

But the scene before her eyes was strange.

At this moment, the man trapped and toyed with by the Divine Thief’s movements—the silver-masked youth—showed peculiar movement.

Rustle—

In an instant, the sight of both people’s sleeves fluttering in the same direction.

Over the Divine Thief’s clothing edges where pure white sunlight rippled, shabby gray sleeve edges flapped roughly and overlapped.

As if he had foreseen the movements of Heaven-Severing Connection Technique, the anti-Ming Dynasty war martial art.

The next moment, a bang! explosive sound burst from the silver-masked youth’s shoulder. The Divine Thief, who was said to strike only once when killing an opponent, had struck down at that spot with her hand blade.

Kugugugugung!

Massive cracks raced across the sandy ground, and through those gaps, dark abysses were revealed, creating a cliff-like scene.

The grains of earth that bounced up momentarily distorted the sunlight.

However, the youth only deflected pale sparks once as if wearing Heaven Silk Steel Armor, then once again seemed to assimilate with the Divine Thief’s movements and followed her.

Before they knew it, they were inside flames that had spread blue in a large circle.

“…!”

The eyes of the King of Dream Demon Body flinched slightly.

Though it was an extremely small movement, since she was a transcendent whose mind and body had never been disturbed by anything under heaven, that change seemed large. In other words, her perfect invulnerability had been broken.

Now the Sword Empress completely lifted her head at the silver-masked youth’s back and began to look only at that man.

It was entirely a symphony of explosive sounds.

Hwaaaaaak! Zzeojeong!

Two streams of human forms crossed like rays of light with the Yao giant at the center.

It was a scene as if they had made the massive absolute master the central axis of some ball of thread, and it was unbelievable even seeing it with one’s own eyes.

This was even more so because that giant peerless master was also a monster no different from the Divine Thief.

The sound of internal energy circulating in his body was reminiscent of waterfalls, and following his head movements, deep dark blue eye-light was carved into the void.

Kwaaaaaaaaaa!

Literally a giant who held an abyss within his body.

The surrounding atmosphere warped around him like the eye of a typhoon that had arisen on a battlefield.

He was an existence who could overwhelm strategic grand schemes not with schemes but with his physical body. His martial prowess was strategy itself.

Hell on earth.

No martial artist could survive there.

There should be none. For the balance of heaven and earth, such an existence shouldn’t exist.

But the silver-masked man moved as if possessed by gods in a space where he would die if struck properly even once.

Movements that flowed like water, stepping over the Yao giant’s vast shoulders, and in the void, overlapping bodies with the Divine Thief and mixing like flower petals.

It was even dreamlike.

‘…That’s an impossible thing.’

Movements impossible unless one possessed senses, qualifications, and information in one body. But there was no such existence under heaven.

Even if one possessed perfect martial prowess, it would be difficult to be familiar with the Yao tribe upper echelons.

That was when it happened.

A faint vibration was carved into the Sword Empress’s soles, then naturally took the shape of characters in her mind.

—I speak to the Diancang Sect Leader. Disappear to a place so far you can’t be seen from that spot. If by any chance you’re still sitting quietly in place until this moment, you must move right now. Do not interfere with the Ming Dynasty’s divine sword any longer.

It was a sound transmission method that could only be understood with very sensitive energy perception.

It was clearly something that had shaken the earth’s energy with some kind of explosive force, but it was difficult to determine who had sent it when, where, and from where.

‘The Ming Dynasty’s… divine sword?’

Her wrinkled eyes regained smooth elasticity through temporary rejuvenation. She was young again.

She had found an acceptable answer.

Someone who could face supernatural beings with inhuman strength and who was transcendentally knowledgeable about information regarding the Yao tribe upper echelons.

This was only possible by carrying years in one’s body.

The lips of Sword Empress Jin Xuan-chan, a figure counted among the most mysterious under heaven due to her temporary rejuvenation, parted slightly.

“Ma Yeon-jeok…!”

The Tyrant Hero under heaven had come.

While showing what kind of existence the Divine Sword Group Leader was with the body of his youth.

* * *

The Sword Empress moved away from the battlefield… Even with an exhausted presence, she was sufficiently fast. She was the Diancang Sect Leader. Since her consciousness had awakened, she was a peerless master of such high caliber that she could easily perform lightness skills.

Her strangely unhesitating movement must have been the handiwork of the Nether Stream Squad Leader.

‘Good.’

Jeong Yeon-shin felt Nether Stream Squad Leader Yun So-hyeon’s handwriting with every step he took. Even now, in the midst of swift movements.

—The Divine Thief is so skilled that the Fighting God of the north gave her a place beside him. Though she can be discussed for first under heaven in terms of movements alone, she is fundamentally someone who can distort the principles of heaven with a single palm. You must be wary of unexpected strikes. Without being bewitched by the mysterious Heaven-Severing Connection Technique.

It was very detailed and clear calligraphy with distinct strength and weakness, and it felt like her fingertips were tickling his soles.

Perhaps because that feeling was good. Even when Literary Star’s giant fist tore through space and struck his solar plexus and abdomen, Jeong Yeon-shin smiled.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

A shockwave that completely overturned the yellowish-brown ground with explosive sounds. In an instant, waves made of sand rose like castle walls.

Naturally, the pain from that single punch was tremendous. An earthquake of fist strike shock waves had struck his entire respiratory system, including even his middle dantian.

The silk clothing of internal energy, True Radiance Brilliant Star Heaven, had also thinned to nearly half its thickness.

His whole body ached.

He had clashed countless times with enemies that wouldn’t be easy even in one-on-one combat.

It wasn’t just a matter of not being intact—it would be correct to say he had been driven to death at every moment. The blood vessels that had burst inside his body would number in the dozens.

‘It’s okay.’

Because Yun So-hyeon’s Earth King Word Crossing Technique was still tickling his feet.

—If the Sword Empress has disappeared, now is the time for you to sprint. Break away from there and encompass the battlefield. With the Deputy Group Leader’s senses and Ten Li Gentle Light, it’s possible.

Words that steadily followed Jeong Yeon-shin.

Part of the resonance was Radiant Art Bond. Something that had no choice but to be drawn to the rotation of the luminous wheel surrounding Jeong Yeon-shin’s heart.

This was the same principle as tributaries of a river returning to the main stream, and it was continuously deposited to Jeong Yeon-shin with certain time delays.

As if timely advice had been sent in advance like Zhuge Wuhou of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period.

It could be called the unity of the Nether Stream Squad’s divine secret technique and the Lightning Genius Martial Lineage. Admiration flashed in Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes.

Now it was beginning.

—First, it’s ten li southwest from Yeoktru Castle as a reference point. The martial army forces that Six Star Lord Literary Star sent out are blocking Divine Sword subordinate Lazy Flame Dragon. Behind them, Upright Star’s forces are pressing in. The Great Warriors of the two Six Star Lords handle axe techniques that overlap shock waves and moon-cutting chains that kill with one strike respectively, and with very skillful army command, they’re preventing the joining of allied forces equivalent to two Divine Sword Group squads. At this rate, they might be defeated individually.

Jeong Yeon-shin twisted his body in the realm of instants.

In that moment, Literary Star’s fist that struck down like a meteor again and the Divine Thief’s long kick swept past front and back. Just the aftereffects caused his rough hemp clothing to wrinkle entirely.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t care.

Kung!

He pressed down and kicked the ground as is.

A great tsunami of sand rose behind Jeong Yeon-shin’s back, and Literary Star and the Divine Thief each disappeared from their positions with indifferent faces.

Human forms stretching out hazily like meteors.

It was the beginning of a pursuit battle.

* * *

The north is the world of the Northern Kings.

The principle being that the movement of kings changes heaven and earth. Just like how the wilderness that had been spread out silently around Lazy Flame Dragon was now filled with people and horses.

For Lazy Flame Dragon, it was as if heaven and earth had changed while he was rushing to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Thud thud thud thud thud thud!!

The resonance of horse hooves shook the plain.

There were hundreds of mounted troops, each having learned divine martial arts. The sight of that mass undulating vastly across the wilderness and closing in was tremendous.

Literary Star Army and Upright Star Army.

They were martial army forces with notorious reputations even throughout the Yao tribes.

Northern jianghu people were like that. When sharing drinks, there were no more generous people under heaven, but when they charged in unity without any formations, they were masters of the battlefield.

What kind of group would be born if the truly overwhelming military spirit of the old Yuan Dynasty, Yao tribe customs and temperament, and the aggressiveness of all sorts of nomadic peoples and Manchu jianghu people who engaged in plunder were mixed together?

The word “monster” would suffice.

Kwaaaaaang!

Lazy Flame Dragon was swept up in the charge of steeds refined with true energy.

This was after Jeong Yeon-shin was sealed as Ruinous Star among the Six Star Lords, making Severing Hope King, the previous Six Star Lord, and after sending his wife, the Ice Emperor, to that monster.

All directions were filled only with dust containing fragments of various internal energies.

Distinguishing heaven and earth was fundamentally impossible.

Yet the war horses of Literary Star Army charged across the plain relentlessly like flood dragons. Every formation was one giant supernatural being.

Their intense vibrations and fierce neighing created thunder sounds on the ground. The word “war” was fitting.

‘Troublesome things…’

That was his inner thought, but in reality, the troublesome one had to be the side that faced the mounted army forces that had learned martial arts alone.

Every time Lazy Flame Dragon melted and burst the head of a war horse entirely with a single palm, the hooves of other beasts came charging in with blue crescent blades.

A tsunami of people, horses, and blades that pressed from all directions while surging like rapids.

It could be called the Emperor Sword Technique of the Namgung family transcending some realm and becoming substantiated. It was truly an army that emperors would operate.

“Traitor of the Desolate Fortress!”

“Minion of Northern King Yelu!”

The unified shouts of the Yao tribesmen, infused with martial power, also shook his mind. Roars close to sound techniques. They used even their words to slaughter enemies.

“A Great Warrior who follows a masked man has no pride! Are you still a Northern King’s servant even like that!”

“If you don’t return to the Northern Sea, you’ll be torn apart and die!”

Every voice was thunder and lightning.

Lazy Flame Dragon muttered inwardly amid the pandemonium. He might die.

That was when it happened.

“Block them! Left flank! It’s the left flank!”

“King Yelu is coming! He’s trying to cross over to the Upright Star Army and Shame Extreme Army side…!”

Various voices burst from among the Literary Star Army warriors who had trapped Lazy Flame Dragon.

They didn’t hide their military strategy at all.

He even heard that at this moment, over a hundred southern martial people trapped in the Upright Star Army and Shame Extreme Army were on the verge of annihilation. Along with words about those who had sewn the character “Desolate” on their clothing.

Group battles were no match.

The combination of the Northern Kings’ Bright Wind Spirit and the mounted martial army forces was so fearsome it was thrilling.

‘It seems they’ve come on a northern expedition from the main fortress, but is it about two squads?’

The timing wasn’t good. If they were defeated individually, everything would be in vain.

Lazy Flame Dragon trampled one mounted warrior’s crescent blade and leaped into the sky.

Then he turned his head to another direction. It was because he had sensed a cluster of new energy waves outside the overwhelming military spirit of the mounted army forces.

Seven people in total.

The moment he recognized them, they were already close at hand.

Flutter!

The dust that had been spread out in a complicated manner was covered by jet-black sleeve edges.

Even without clearly examining each face, he could tell what kind of people they were. The masters of the main fortress Wish for Peace Sword Hall.

For a brief moment, Lazy Flame Dragon fell into contemplation. He knew there was no trust in the wastrel eldest son of the old Hwangbo family.

Should he strike out defensively after all? He was known as a traitor of the Desolate Fortress, and even now he was fighting for a Northern King.

‘I’ll also have to explain who King Yelu is. To avoid becoming a fool who dies or gets hindered by allies…’

But that was as far as it went.

Pueoeoeoeoek!

In an instant, the woman who brushed past him with snow-white skin, Wish-fulfilling Spring Squad Beigong Ya kicked and burst an entire pair of people and horses.

Following that single strike, shockwaves exploded with a bang! The bloody smell rose from her martial uniform pants that clung to her legs for convenient leg techniques.

Some middle-aged man’s voice also rang out.

“If you’re providing support, that person must be him.”

The dark prosthetic leg of the Ultimate Martial Hall Master made a clanking sound as it disappeared. He had already leaped to Beigong, who was moving away while stepping on the Literary Star Army’s spears and blades.

Due to that reaction, five nearby people and horses swayed with loud neighing.

Soon after, Dragon Treading Squad Leader Wei Zhi-ji flew away with an ugly killing intent on his face, throwing a rope at the Ultimate Martial Hall Master’s prosthetic leg, and Resonance Spirit Squad Leader Yun So-yu and Forest Treading Squad Leader Xiahou Wei-jin moved away, penetrating the Literary Star Army head-on.

Saaak! Pueoeoek!

Blood spurted like fireworks from all directions. The sword winds and fist winds of the two family squad leaders practically refined the ground marked with all sorts of footprints into two streams.

There was even the sound of the sandy ground suddenly freezing white with rising moisture.

Zzeojeojeoek—

A gaunt man in black robes glided forward like a ghost on the ice.

From both hands spread left and right, extremely destructive energy circled like rings, and the Literary Star Army’s people and horses were deflected with bursting protective energy as they brushed against those translucent air currents.

Annihilation Team Leader, Silent Lord Shin Hwang.

Immortal Tree Spirit Leader Cheon So-so, who was the master of the ice path, also landed beyond the Literary Star Army like them. It seemed the squad leaders had something they needed to do first.

It was also then that space began to distort wobbily from far away. Fearsome pressure came across vividly even at a distance of hundreds of zhang.

Lazy Flame Dragon’s eyes widened.

‘Six Star Lord Literary Star…!’

It was an instant.

Without any sound, a massive crater was created in the distant wilderness. A hemisphere-shaped ground with a diameter of one hundred zhang. It suddenly seemed as if an invisible meteor had struck.

It was a natural disaster.

The reaction came belatedly.

Zzeoek—

Not only did it fill the ears with deafness, but strong winds began to create dozens of layers of sand waves in all directions. The feeling of pressing down on the skin was terrifying.

It was a single punch from a Six Star Lord.

‘That’s… supposed to be fist technique…?’

But Lazy Flame Dragon couldn’t think further.

Kwaaaaaaa!

In an instant, King Yelu’s body, which had changed direction dozens of times, intersected with the squad leaders. As if they had taken turns.

The masked Jeong Yeon-shin moved away to the complete opposite side like that.

The direction where two other military forces were trapped by the Upright Star Army and Shame Extreme Army. It was the movement of the Divine Sword Group Leader who had to prioritize assembly immediately.

The place where Jeong Yeon-shin had left like that was filled by others, other sleeve edges.

Step—

It was a plain footstep sound.

The seven squad leaders walked toward Literary Star. There was no ceremony or pretense.