Chapter 586 – The Fortress of the Northern Emperor

It is the moment when the majority of the seventeen squads gather.

The atmospheric pressure on the ground grew heavier.

Hwaaaaaak!

In an instant, a fierce wind formed that soared to the heavens, and all the flags of the Desolate Fortress fluttered violently as if they would be sucked into the void. It was literally fierce fire.

A scene announcing the end of battle.

Dozens of flags stand guard around the Acting Group Leader who stands unconscious in the very center.

The movement of the Northern Greatest ceased.

The Fortress of the Northern Emperor

* * *

Clear Light Plain became tumultuous.

It was due to the thundering footsteps that came rushing in as if to shatter the vast plain. The vibrations created by hundreds of lightness skill sprints. The barren land was filled with fierce resonance.

They come.

“…Today.”

It was then that pale winter breath leaked from the mouth of the Southern Emperor, who wore pitch-black mist like imperial dragon robes.

“You have won.”

He spoke slowly.

Behind the Southern Emperor, who still did not reveal his true form, the endlessly long horizon was being dyed white.

The sunset that had been faintly descending had disappeared without a trace. Only grayish-white clusters of light rippled everywhere. As if night itself had been annihilated.

It was the shock waves of Radiant Art Bond created by hundreds of people.

From afar.

Kugugugugugugung!

A group of strong ones comes racing while causing earthquakes. For the Northern Greatest to cut off Jeong Yeon-shin’s lifeline, now was the only time.

The vessel of an emperor recognized by the Fighting God.

Nothing was ever handled carelessly.

Though he acknowledged defeat to Jeong Yeon-shin in the wager he himself had made, he was not a martial artist.

As one who would sit on the imperial throne of a nation, one who bore the burden of the clans. His thinking flowed in a completely different direction.

Whoosh!

The domain of Transcendent Martial Art Southern Face Capable Emperor was withdrawn without warning. Instantly, the vicinity was dyed slightly brighter.

The Southern Emperor said.

“I acknowledge you as an obstacle to founding a nation. This is my lingering attachment.”

Simultaneously, a rumbling resonance spread from his body and transformed into human speech. It meant he had greatly used the power of his upper energy center.

[Dry Soul.]

While the Southern Emperor was assessing the situation of Literary Star and Upright Star through Bright Wind Spirit, he was simultaneously preparing an attack with his right hand. A palm technique that would render all of Jeong Yeon-shin’s defensive moves meaningless.

Wooooong—

A hand where pitch-black clouds rippled.

Tremendous internal energy friction was occurring within. Yet the reason only vibration sounds spread like a swarm of bees without even the smallest spark was that the compressed and re-compressed true energy had finally taken on transcendence.

There was no waste.

While freely switching between Internal Energy Heavy Hand Method and Striking Cattle Across Mountains, he had created palm power that even coveted the explosive fist power of Literary Star among the Six Star Lords.

Swish.

The Southern Emperor’s massive form glided toward Jeong Yeon-shin like a ghost. The atmosphere around his hand wrapped in black clouds distorted in chains.

Jeong Yeon-shin, who faced him, showed no reaction.

Though his eyes were clearly open, he was already unconscious. Even when tsunamis of sand rose behind his shoulders creating enormous shadows, he could only remain still.

Kwaaaaaang! Zzeojeong—!

Behind Jeong Yeon-shin.

As soon as explosive force was permitted on the battlefield, the collision between Yong Hye-myeong and the Northern Blade intensified. They became entangled while bursting out incomparably more brilliant rebounds than before.

Rainbow-colored blade winds and colorless heavy waves, simultaneously human forms distorted palely at overwhelming speed, and between them sand waves exploding in yellowish-brown.

“I say, Mr. Demon, it seems I must look away for a moment…!”

[Your sword strikes are mockery, not battle, so I will not respect them. Also, I have no surname, and the name ‘High Blade’ is sufficient.]

“Let’s stop talking. You’re too talkative.”

The Divine Sword Group Leader and the Northern Blade under heaven.

Beings infinitely close to the pinnacle of the jianghu, if either one tried to hold down the other, the battle would inevitably be prolonged.

Even if martial superiority that only they could feel existed between them at this moment, it was the same.

Step.

The Southern Emperor arrived before Jeong Yeon-shin, who was blankly turning his back on that scene. Space was crackling and splitting like glass along the trajectory of his hand wrapped in pitch-black clouds.

Now there were no more words.

It was an instant until he struck. He brought down his hand just like that.

Kwaaaaaaaaang! Kugugung—

An earthquake occurred.

Originally, Jeong Yeon-shin’s skull and blood should have scattered along with flesh. But all there was was violently shaking ground.

The Southern Emperor’s gaze fell downward, and an old swordsman who had somehow blocked his massive right hand came into his view.

[I know you. Sword of the night sky.]

“……”

Sword Star Hyeon So-baek only let a few drops of blood fall from beneath his white beard.

The sight of him blocking the peerless palm technique while gripping his old sword in reverse. It was the reverse sword grip used when there was no strength in one’s grasp.

He had blocked Six Star Lord Upright Star for a long time with his aged body. Naturally, it had to be his limit, yet the Sword Star had pushed Jeong Yeon-shin back with the waves from his earlier step.

Jeong Yeon-shin, who was pushed back, maintained his balance regardless of his lost consciousness. The sight of maintaining the dignity of a Divine Sword Group Leader. His innate senses had broken through even unconsciousness.

They were all superhumans.

[Remarkable.]

Sincerity flowed from the Southern Emperor’s mental command.

But that was all. Grayish-white shock waves had spread from his hand wrapped in black clouds like gloves.

Defense impossible. It was the mystery of Striking Cattle Across Mountains.

In an instant, the wave that crossed the sword descended into the old swordsman’s body, and immediately dozens of streams of blood burst forth.

It was because thin and sharp blade winds were embedded in the world-shaking explosive force.

Slowly.

The aged body collapsed.

It was accompanied by the sound of softly pressing down on the earth.

Thud—

The rusted sword was planted in the cracked ground.

The Southern Emperor silently moved his steps. There was no mockery or evaluation. It was simply the bearing of one doing what must be done.

He would attempt anything.

It was for the nation that would arise in the future. In the same context, he respected those who tried to protect something. Just as he had once acknowledged Divine Beggar Zhu Guang as a ‘great warrior.’

Step.

Finally, the Southern Emperor and Jeong Yeon-shin faced each other.

“……”

Han Chinese and Yao tribesman. The height difference was great. Like the completely different jianghu of north and south respectively.

Jeong Yeon-shin had clearly open eyes but no focus.

Literary Star among the Six Star Lords and Divine Thief, then Divine Thief again, and the Southern Emperor. He had handled in one day those who would someday become founding ministers or emperors. He was an absurd existence.

[There is no more time. Die.]

The Southern Emperor’s mental command flowed out nakedly.

Separate from that echo from his upper energy center, his hand already wrapped in black clouds was already falling toward Jeong Yeon-shin’s head.

It was then that the vicinity suddenly brightened.

[Too late.]

Along with the Southern Emperor’s mental roar.

Zzeojeong—!

Finally, four human shadows struck through the instant and charged in. All were fluttering black robes.

Their forms slowly reflected in the Southern Emperor’s pitch-black pupils. Each one had existed in the Wish for Peace Sword Hall.

The first to arrive and immediately strike up the Southern Emperor’s wrist like a wind current was Radiant Demon Wing Leader Cheong Myeong.

It was a movement that completely abandoned defense, yet the sword path that rose with clever twisting managed to lift the Southern Emperor’s hand slightly upward.

The characteristically cold blue eye of the noble clan contained the Southern Emperor and blazed.

It was an instant where one breath was divided into hundreds of segments.

Another sword was added to the sword that had interfered. A tremendous strong strike. Radiant Sword Squad Leader Hak So-seon’s hair tied in one strand fluttered sharply like a soft sword.

She was even slightly raising both corners of her mouth.

Was the extreme situation welcome?

Or perhaps it was because she was confident in defense.

Pazizizik!

Dozens of bluish sword energies were pulling at one of the Southern Emperor’s knees like lightning.

Sorcery sword technique focused on the back of the knee to destroy balance. The figure of a tall and gaunt middle-aged man could be seen beyond Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder. The Desolate Fortress Azure Sky Squad Leader was holding a sword wrapped in blue light.

Up to here, there were three black ranks.

There was one more.

Though slightly later than the three squad leaders, a handsome youth who planted the flag of ‘Divine Sword Group Divine Sword Squad’ at the Southern Emperor’s feet with a bang— and emitted tremendous pressure.

Hwaaaaaak!

Obeying Heaven Wing Leader, White Qilin Namgung Hwa-shin gently grasped Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder and retreated far away in one step. While leaving the Divine Sword Squad’s flag planted in the center like some barrier.

Four black ranks. Protective energy harder than any Heaven Silk Steel Armor. All these processes occurred in a single moment.

The Southern Emperor’s assessment was quick.

He judged that he could not break through the Divine Sword Group’s squad leaders at once. The next moment, he was standing on another battlefield behind them.

Whoosh!

Literary Star Army and Lazy Flame Dragon above the ruins.

It was a situation like a single burning leaf bouncing here and there in the whirlwind of mounted army forces. Lazy Flame Dragon was buying time.

The perfect Northern Greatest walked through that center.

[Let’s go now. Literary Star and Upright Star are in danger.]

He grasped the shoulder of the Yao tribesman who had been driving Lazy Flame Dragon from atop a giant warhorse. None other than Literary Star’s son, a prince who would inherit the position of Northern King in the future.

Kiiiiiiing—!

Simultaneously, the corpse fragments that the Southern Emperor had earlier planted in the ground vibrated fiercely. He had deployed Form-Shifting Void on a wide scale.

The rapidly turning battlefield. Literary Star’s son asked in a voice filled with killing intent.

“Do you intend to take the Ice Emperor’s husband along as well?”

[There is no one who cannot become my people.]

It was the Southern Emperor’s answer.

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

Lazy Flame Dragon’s retort was meaningless. Before he knew it, the Southern Emperor, hundreds of Literary Star Army, and even Lazy Flame Dragon’s own body were becoming faint. They had been completely caught up in Form-Shifting Void.

Wooong!

Resistance impossible. They were forcibly moved.

“What kind of damn situation is this…?”

It was when Lazy Flame Dragon tried to quickly step with retreat footwork.

Suddenly, a rainbow-colored sword energy burst from the edge of his abdomen. His body, pierced by the sword, became clear as if by magic at the same time.

The Enter The Divine Sword Master’s Dragon Ring Sword.

A blade of internal energy made of powerful true energy. The moment it touched, Lazy Flame Dragon’s Form-Shifting Void was broken.

Of course, he frowned. It was because the Dragon Ring Sword was humming while penetrating one side of his abdomen.

“Kuk…!”

“Endure it. I stabbed well.”

Yong Hye-myeong suddenly appeared beside him.

Beyond his shoulder, the Northern Blade carrying a massive warhorse was racing through the void. While trampling the streaming sunset light with four semi-transparent legs.

Kugugung! Kugugugugung—!

Marvelous void-treading steps.

The northern Six Star Lords did not feel shame in retreat like seasoned generals. Their temperament was fundamentally different from southern jianghu people, and moreover, there was no one who could block their retreat.

This was why the Southern Emperor had taken Divine Beggar Zhu Guang’s legs.

Soon the jianghu would learn. That the fastest under heaven had disappeared from the world, and all peerless masters had become extremely free.

“Are they all going back like this? Losing face as well.”

Yong Hye-myeong spoke with a slight smile.

The Southern Emperor, in a completely semi-transparent state, stared at Yong Hye-myeong for a while, then slowly opened his mouth.

[You should have stabbed me.]

“This fellow is like the left leg of the next Divine Sword Group Leader. He’s more important than anyone else.”

[Is the World Tree safe? As bad harvests continue, the Gates also become more rampant.]

“Well. Seeing monsters like you walking around casually, I can guess what the northern lands are like now.”

[It wasn’t like this before. I suspect the Desolate Fortress Lord’s time is not far off.]

“This land seems to await our meeting again. Wouldn’t the corpses of the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade under heaven be perfect as fertilizer?”

[Tell Yelu. That talent and battle sense alone cannot handle a nation’s great cause. The Blue Flame warrior you failed to bring… he too must remain there. If he doesn’t want to die.]

“I don’t know what Yelu is. Anyway, don’t worry about your clans. You’ll soon obtain fertile land.”

That was all.

Hundreds of Literary Star Army and the Southern Emperor disappeared entirely without a trace. Not even a great roar occurred.

A single northern wind blew.

It was red like the end of the extinguished sunset.

But the northern wind could not reach the emptied battlefield.

Because hundreds of Divine Sword Group masters who had densely surrounded the battlefield were looking at Jeong Yeon-shin standing silently among the squad leaders.

The light clusters of Radiant Art Bond reflected and rippled in the unconscious Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes. As if his eyes were sparkling even after countless fierce battles.

“When did so many…?”

Yong Hye-myeong’s faint hollow laugh descended in place of the disappeared twilight.

The Desolate Fortress had been moved to the heart of the demon realm.

It had the momentum to handle the combined attack of all Northern Kings.

“……”

The vast battlefield was grayish-white with the shock waves of Radiant Art Bond. The broken ground here and there, frost fragments scattered in all directions, and pits deeply carved everywhere gradually brightened.

There were no shadows.

Dawn came directly after sunset.

“Acting Group Leader, following the orders of Lightning Genius Master Jeong…”

In the quiet silence, Radiant Demon Wing Leader Cheong Myeong reported to the two Divine Sword Group Leaders. He was already kneeling on one knee.

“The Divine Sword Group has assembled.”