Chapter 584 – Fierce Fire (8)

The northern land where a nation and the jianghu are unified.

There is no such thing as non-interference between officials and martial artists. This is because it is a completely different world from the Ming Dynasty, where officials and the martial world are separate from the beginning.

To be hostile to the northern jianghu is equivalent to facing the vast northern ’empire.’ This is why the northern jianghu was powerful.

Southern Face Capable Emperor.

The place where the Northern Greatest’s Transcendent Martial Art was deployed looked similar to any other ground.

Grayish-white frost was embedded in the cracks here and there, and from the boundary surfaces of the somewhat sunken ground, the faint sound of falling sand was spreading with a rustling noise.

Five people existed at the very center.

Yong Hye-myeong and Jeong Yeon-shin, surrounded front and back by the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade, and Lazy Flame Dragon, still bound in the void, casually waving one hand at Yong Hye-myeong.

“That fellow was still alive?”

Yong Hye-myeong muttered in a plain tone. Then, surprised at himself, he soon waved his hand sheepishly.

“I wasn’t babbling about your constitution, just talking about your character.”

“Former Group Leader, I’m glad to see you too.”

“That would be insubordination.”

Yong Hye-myeong casually dismissed Lazy Flame Dragon’s form of address toward him, then called out to Jeong Yeon-shin behind him as if tossing the words over his shoulder.

“Junior.”

“Have you been well all this time?”

When Jeong Yeon-shin calmly inquired about his well-being, Yong Hye-myeong slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

“The north, indeed. Even at a glance, it has that kind of scenery…”

His words trailed off.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin briefly glanced at the side of his leg. Since they were standing back to back, the Enter the Divine Sword was protruding at length.

The symbol of the Divine Sword Group Leader.

Even the scabbard looked like a work of art.

Tree branch-like patterns were embossed and connected stem by stem, and even the hundreds of scratches surrounding it felt like decorations.

Truly antique scars of the battlefield. At this moment, they were noisily scattering the transparent sunlight.

When he got close, it felt distant.

‘Enter the Divine…’

He didn’t look out of greed. He glanced because he suddenly had doubts. Whether he possessed the caliber to call himself the Enter the Divine Sword Master.

Not yet.

Right now, wasn’t it still a distant matter?

Looking back at the events from the Desolate Fortress Great War to what had happened in the north, could he say he was without fault as the head of a sect?

“Junior, I’ll hear the whole story later.”

Yong Hye-myeong said.

He was already facing the Northern Blade.

Rumble—

On one side, the largest warhorse under heaven was staggering while spilling blood, but regardless of the vibrations from those hooves, Yong Hye-myeong chuckled as if amazed.

“You’ve put protective energy on a mere beast.”

[Three.]

“So you’re the Northern Blade.”

[The sword strike that inflicted wounds is remarkable. Seeing it directly here, you’re indeed worthy of being called the Southern Greatest Sword.]

“Southern Greatest? What You’re looking at is the Greatest under Heaven.”

Yong Hye-myeong, who replied so peacefully, was intermittently rippling like clouds meeting wind.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately saw through that state. While feeling a painful mistake.

‘The sorcery wasn’t properly completed.’

It was very unstable.

Originally, sorcery that should be bound by the caster’s internal energy.

Therefore, in terms of sorcery martial arts, Yong Hye-myeong’s roots still existed beyond the gate.

He had forcibly held onto the temporarily moved state with his tremendous true body internal energy.

Flicker!

Because of this, he appeared to flicker like flames on the frost-covered ground. He seemed like he might disappear at any moment.

Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked.

“Are you alright?”

Yong Hye-myeong chuckled while turning his back to him.

“I’m fine. Right now, you should worry about yourself.”

The senior known to have been born from an egg.

At this moment, he was directly defying providence.

Just as Ma Yeon-jeok had once ‘torn’ down the night sky when talking about Transcendent Martial Art, Yong Hye-myeong’s transcendent accumulated energy was also at the realm of Complete One.

Like this, the successive Divine Sword Group Leaders were each complete in different aspects.

At the same time, Yong Hye-myeong’s telepathic transmission penetrated Jeong Yeon-shin’s ears.

—Originally, this ability cannot be activated by just one person’s internal energy alone. How absurd is it to call a being like the Divine Sword Group Leader from beyond the gate to a desired point at a desired time?

—Then…?

—Then what else? Compared to young ones like us, the former elder, who lacks energy, is working hard on my behalf. Inside the gate.

He explained the situation half-jokingly.

But his words couldn’t continue for long. It was because the Southern Emperor had already reached before Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes.

As soon as Yong Hye-myeong generated even a trace of telepathic transmission energy waves, he had taken a step, and at this moment was extending a hand wrapped in black clouds toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

“Stop your tricks.”

The Southern Emperor’s internal energy breathing flowed out in a brief voice.

Wooooooong—!

Thick ripples arose from the Northern Blade’s legs as he faced Yong Hye-myeong. Then, in an instant, those energy waves were molded into the form of a colorless, semi-transparent steed’s lower body.

“…!”

Jeong Yeon-shin could feel it without looking back.

That the Northern Blade’s energy cultivation activated at this moment had reached the realm of Master Beom-heo, who had once created arms with golden radiance.

The Northern Blade’s head, wearing a bamboo hat, naturally positioned itself even higher. All the spear strikes he would unleash would fall from above as if mounted on a warhorse.

The mounted martial arts of a Complete One.

From the half-man, half-horse formation, terrifying angular force could be felt. It was a body of extremely powerful internal energy.

[Stay away.]

When the blood-soaked, staggering warhorse seemed to understand the Northern Blade’s command and retreated.

Bang!

Yong Hye-myeong’s elbow, which he had drawn back to swing at the Northern Blade, struck Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder blade, and Jeong Yeon-shin’s left hand, carrying that overwhelming rebound force and shooting out like lightning, met the Southern Emperor’s right palm.

It was a straight-line combat path.

Zzeoeoeoeoeoeng!

No sooner had Jeong Yeon-shin met the Southern Emperor’s strike than he was bounced backward.

He immediately bumped into Yong Hye-myeong’s back with a thud, and at that moment, Yong Hye-myeong was already striking up the Northern Blade’s crescent blade with the Enter the Divine Sword.

Naturally, typhoon-like ripples surged from the point where the weapons collided.

Rumble!

The ground sank from the strikes of the four absolute masters.

“With monsters like these!”

Lazy Flame Dragon, freed from the Northern Blade’s momentum, spat out curses.

He was already facing the Literary Star Army that had begun to close in from all directions. While distorting the winter air behind him in various ways.

This would be the final battle of Clear Light Plain. In an instant, the battlefield was divided into two sides while drawing hazy storms.

A chaotic battle unfolded.

The Literary Star Army, unable to dare interfere in the chaotic battle of absolute masters, faced Lazy Flame Dragon, while the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade under heaven faced the two Divine Sword Group Leaders.

‘Even killing the Divine Thief alone would be excessive for a day’s merit, but the Acting Leader’s condition is…’

It was when Lazy Flame Dragon glanced back.

Suddenly, Jeong Yeon-shin’s telepathic transmission struck his ears like a club.

—You take care of yourself.

—Even when I’m worrying about you…

The situation that had grown absurdly large from the skirmish that began with Northern King Yelu’s appearance.

No one could guess how today’s battle would end, whether it would really conclude, or how the world’s political situation would flow after today’s great war.

‘The Acting Leader’s preparations are quite thorough, but those two northern monsters won’t withdraw quietly.’

Lazy Flame Dragon thought.

Bang!

While blocking two spear strikes charging at him with both palms.

Instantly, the red-hot blades crumpled as if they had been heated in a furnace for days. With a hissing sound, molten metal flowed from between Lazy Flame Dragon’s fingers.

“Gasp…!”

“Huff!”

The sounds of the spear owners gasping for breath.

They were Yao tribe jianghu people on horseback.

They melted within their Heaven Silk Steel Armor without even being able to do anything about their spears that had become molten metal. It was because the truly destructive Internal Energy Heavy Hand Method had transmitted Lazy Flame Dragon’s power through the spear shafts.

He was a genius rare throughout history.

The qualities and punishment sent from heaven had permitted boredom to the eldest son of the Hwangbo family.

As life’s candle wick progresses toward its end, paradoxically, the Fierce Yang Energy of the Scorching Divine Meridian becomes more powerful.

Just as Jeong Yeon-shin’s senses and intuition in battle become more extraordinary with each passing year.

‘Hmm…?’

In the searing pain that tore through his body more intensely than ever before, Lazy Flame Dragon suddenly had doubts. Why was the Acting Leader…?

But that too was a thought to be resolved after the battle ended.

Kugugugugung!

Military momentum charging in so intensely that even Lazy Flame Dragon was breathless. The vibrations of horse hooves constantly shaking his balance. The energy waves of Heaven Silk Steel Armor curving in various trajectories.

Deflecting all the axes shooting like meteors with bare hands, and slightly smiling as if having a staring contest with the sunlight distorting on the surfaces of dozens of crescent blades.

It was a crisis of death.

But when had it not been?

Bang!

A fragment of an axe that burst on the back of Lazy Flame Dragon’s hand bounced high.

The small metal piece drew a very long parabolic arc, overlapping with the sun, then fell onto the opposite battlefield.

There was the end of Jeong Yeon-shin’s purple robe hem.

Robe hem that had been stained dark red with blood, then even that had hardened and become brittle.

These were traces of simultaneously facing the Six Star Lords and the fastest under heaven. Then finally killing the King of Dream Demon Body and coming here.

This was why the Southern Emperor was trying to kill at least Jeong Yeon-shin at this moment.

Separate from the battle between Lazy Flame Dragon and the Literary Star Army, the battlefield of absolute masters had become ruins as if dozens of lightning bolts had swept through.

Kwakwakwakwakwa—!

The domain of Transcendent Martial Art Southern Face Capable Emperor.

Roars spread within the strong winds that raised their heads only to scatter themselves. Dark air currents whirled in all directions.

Within that, a human form distorting palely.

It was the Southern Emperor’s body.

While confining Jeong Yeon-shin within large movement lines and constantly pounding him with fist and palm techniques, the speed was so excessive that it rather appeared as slow movements.

Thud! Rumble! Kugugugugung—!

The sounds were the same. Each time an attack properly landed, the roar was segmented and echoed.

The Northern Greatest was a person complete in both martial arts and techniques.

An absolute master who enhanced fist and palm techniques with highly practical sorcery martial arts. This was a matter the Ming Dynasty Imperial Army had already concluded long ago. An existence with no weaknesses.

Even Jeong Yeon-shin in perfect condition would find it difficult to calculate stable odds of victory, so there was no way he could gain the upper hand with a body like worn-out robes.

At this moment, even enduring the offensive could be called astounding.

He had already killed the Divine Thief and was now holding back even the Southern Emperor. From within the hazy black mist, the Northern Greatest’s admiration flowed out.

“Amazing. Is this what a Divine Sword Group Leader is?”

Words spat out while striking down with a hand blade that could even cut through ordinary mountain slopes.

Instantly, as Jeong Yeon-shin rotated hazily to the side, the ground split open with a crack, revealing a black mouth.

A narrow cliff had been created. Judging by the vibrations underfoot, it would be at least dozens of zhang deep.

But even that was part of a chain technique.

The Southern Emperor’s hand, already covered in black clouds, was coming to cover his face, and Jeong Yeon-shin used the rebound from being hit in the back by Yong Hye-myeong’s kick to execute the Thunder-Annihilation Sword technique Nine Verdant River.

Puhwahak! Kugugugugung!

He tore through the Southern Emperor’s black mist with previously accumulated force.

But the sword technique couldn’t be complete, so all the recoil from the collision accumulated in Jeong Yeon-shin’s entire body’s acupoints.

He was literally enduring.

How was such a thing possible with true energy that had hit rock bottom?

It was thanks to the intermediate movements that occurred each time Yong Hye-myeong struck at the Northern Blade. They all passed through Jeong Yeon-shin behind him.

The elbow drawn back just before extending the sword, the Enter the Divine Sword’s handle rotating with the waist when stepping with footwork, the purple sleeve edges swirling heavily with internal energy, the impact force when backs collided the moment he returned after briefly moving far away then coming back in an instant.

Jeong Yeon-shin had the sense to receive all those forces with the mysteries of Energy Transformation and extend them toward the Southern Emperor.

The Jeong Family Dynamic Technique’s whole-body force emission. The divine skill of changing the direction and form of all kinds of impacts like light rays within the body and transforming them into true martial arts in an instant.

Decisively, Yong Hye-myeong made this possible.

As if he knew the flow of Jeong Yeon-shin’s entire body muscles and acupoints inside and out, he was harmonizing with the Northern Blade while applying necessary force at necessary times.

It was not a human realm.

Flutter!

Two strands of purple robes entangled and rippled in the dusky air. Absurdly beautiful sensations and scenes.

‘I too am amazed.’

Jeong Yeon-shin had no time to look back. Nevertheless, Yong Hye-myeong was drawn in his mind. The sight of him dancing a gorgeous sword dance with a gentle smile.

It was while the dusk’s twilight was being sucked into the distant horizon.

But the two sunsets on earth were dancing with swords.

And they did not set.