Chapter 594 – Gathering the Night Sky (3)

It was right after the Song of Bone had fallen upon the space of the initiation ceremony, conducted on an unprecedented scale even for the Ming Cult.

A fishy smell came rushing in.

Was it because this was a damp place? The scent of blood that explosively surged from various parts of the underground cavern, then settled down thickly.

Saaaa—

The lanterns that had dimly illuminated the damp walls flickered like small candles. They seemed about to go out at any moment.

The strong ones who had been devouring each other.

The Ming Cult members who had been looking down at the cavern.

All were dead.

Over three hundred people had perished in an instant. Some wouldn’t have even known by what method they met their end.

Thud! Thump!

Many collapsed belatedly with heavy sounds. Not only the floor of the cavern but also the spectator seats were the same.

The fishy smell of the strong ones who had eaten clans, and the scent of dead blood from the Ming Cult members who had supervised them—neither was different from that of humans.

Sword Song was such a martial art.

While the Ming Dynasty royal family was said to enhance their mood with the ringing of blades, the melody that resonated from the Divine Sword Group Leader’s hands was a war technique.

Swish.

The man with Dream Demon Body who lay sprawled at his feet twitched slightly. Was it because he was from a clan with a developed upper energy center? Even though he had faced Sword Song at close range, he let out a dying groan.

“Damn… it…”

Soon his breath continued faintly before mixing with the ground. Into stone floors that couldn’t even become fertilizer.

Great Ming Flame Festival.

They had called it an initiation ceremony.

But the Ming Cult’s festival was ultimately something that occurred among the upper echelons of the jianghu.

On the other hand, the Divine Sword Group Leader was an existence who competed for the pinnacle of the world’s martial arts. For him to belong to such a festival was close to absurd.

It was natural that the Ming Cult’s event would collapse.

“……”

Jeong Yeon-shin silently looked down at the rib in his grip. The sight of it crumbling away futilely with a rustling sound. It was the reason he couldn’t use Sword Song with Remaining Thunder.

‘I’ll have to find Remaining Thunder here too.’

Meanwhile, the speed at which operation of Baihui Accupoint progressed was the same as usual. It was a realm where he didn’t burn his life for ordinary Sword Song.

It had naturally become so after achieving Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown. It was a paradoxical technique. When he first learned it, it had coveted Jeong Yeon-shin’s lifespan, but now it only hastened the lives of enemies.

Step.

He silently took a step forward.

The battles that had taken place at Clear Light Plain were seeping into his mind.

Even without wanting it, it became a review like a game of go. Through this, he became stronger little by little, yet surely.

Though the lanterns that had illuminated the underground cavern had all gone out, there were no dark areas in his vision with Eye Technique Lowly Revelation activated.

It was time to advance.

* * *

The underground Ming Cult was surprisingly vast.

Paths were endlessly carved out, and the ceiling was high as if a flood dragon had truly passed through. On the other hand, there was strangely little sign of human presence. Only dim silence.

The main base of the Thirteen Evil Sects.

Jeong Yeon-shin began to observe his body’s interior as he walked. It was something he should have done as soon as he opened his eyes, but it had been delayed because one of the Dream Demon Body scoundrels had attacked his upper energy center.

‘The luminous wheels…’

The two rings dwelling in his heart were dim. Especially one was as faint in density as candlelight.

Originally there were two—the luminous wheel used for internal energy operation and the one used for protective energy—and the former had lost its light as if about to disappear.

Literary Star and Divine Thief. Then Divine Thief again. Then the Southern Emperor.

He had experienced three battles at the peerless realm in a single day. Having squeezed out his true energy like that, it was natural to reach this state.

‘When will I be free from hardship?’

It was a topic that wouldn’t leave Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind. It had been so from the moment he learned of Nether Stream Squad Leader’s death until now.

One step from his current achievement.

If he could advance just one more step, it seemed like he could become anything, yet the world was still difficult.

The demon realm was even more so.

It was a jianghu that had handled the imperial Ming Dynasty. The culprit that made the Desolate Fortress take charge of the nation’s security in place of the military. While it would be strange if it were easy to face, for Jeong Yeon-shin this too was merely an extension of his mission.

A land to overcome.

Even if the Southern Emperor ascended as emperor and established something like the ‘Qing Dynasty,’ it would be the same. The flags planted throughout the northern jianghu saying ‘Jin’ or ‘Great Qing’ were of no concern.

‘Recovery, third luminous wheel, fifth fist technique, unique formless sword, Dharma power of reaching the Dharma realm, Radiant Wing Ten Steps, the battle of Clear Light Plain…’

These were the topics spinning madly in Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind at this moment.

Meanwhile, strangely, most of his external wounds had healed. Even his right shoulder that had been half torn off by Literary Star was clean.

It would be Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s sorcery martial arts.

The healing ability that Dark Heaven Emperor had once tried to use to restore Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s injuries, but had to stop due to Jeong Yeon-shin’s interference.

For such efficacy, there would have been a great price. There must have been loss of innate energy or consumption of precious dharma treasures.

‘What picture is she drawing?’

Jeong Yeon-shin realized through vibrations that seeped from the ground to the Yongquan points on his soles.

That there were three more spaces identical to the cavern where he had regained consciousness, each connected from the four cardinal directions to the center.

Initiation ceremony.

It was said to be a festival where Ming Cult members observed outsiders fighting. It was a structure where survivors from each area gathered at the center.

Step.

He reached the end of the cave.

There was an incongruously antique iron door. It had flame-like mirage patterns carved along the border. It was the style of the Ming Cult that worshipped dark flames.

He pushed the door without delay. The hinges were so well-oiled that the opening sound was extremely faint.

Jeong Yeon-shin had no intention of making excuses about his physical condition. When had fair fights ever been common for Desolate Fortress warriors?

—If that heart never breaks through the ages, you are this nation’s sword.

Emperor Qian-ling’s voice deeply carved into his mental imagery.

He had experienced enough of the demon realm’s jianghu.

From now on, he would have to become strong in any situation.

‘Combat methods that can seize the flow even when not in perfect condition… it might not be difficult now.’

Soon after.

As Jeong Yeon-shin opened the door and entered, a thunderous shout struck his ears. Absurdly, it was a welcoming voice.

“You there, isn’t that Lightning Genius?!”

“Lightning Genius? Acting Divine Sword Group Leader…?”

The voices of an old man and young person rang out in an extremely luxurious space. It was a bedroom that looked like stars filled the ceiling, with several luminous pearls embedded.

Inside were a legless beggar and a child wearing armor. They appeared to have finished the festival faster than Jeong Yeon-shin and entered.

“Sect Leader elder…!”

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately recognized Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, and myriad emotions crossed his eyes. He naturally clasped his hands together… But the moment he saw the old swordsman lying beyond their shoulders, he was already passing by the old and young.

Sword Star Hyeon So-baek.

He was in a state with numerous large needles stuck all over his body.

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang glanced at the child in general-like attire and smiled slightly.

“See? I clearly said you were different from your maternal grandfather, but Yu Xiong-gong denied it. Said there was no way that could be.”

“Such things aren’t important. Why on earth is the Acting Divine Sword Group Leader here?”

Yu Xiong-gong.

Famous for the ultimate technique called Light Spear.

One of the Imperial Three Great Masters. A boy wearing old armor like a defeated general. He looked about seventeen or eighteen at a glance.

The only one in the Ming imperial family to achieve rejuvenation.

A peerless master who had once received direct teachings from Emperor Qian-ling, and had once become a great topic for rescuing the Beggar Sect Leader from the Southern Emperor’s grasp.

But Jeong Yeon-shin let their conversation flow past him and bowed his head.

The Sword Star was lying with bandages wrapped all over his body like Nether Stream Squad Leader. With at least a hundred large needles stuck throughout his body.

“Don’t pull out any of them. The Alliance Leader is sustaining his life with those.”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, now carried on Yu Xiong-gong’s back, spoke from beside him.

“He was struck by a terrible ultimate technique. It’s amazing that his breath hasn’t stopped immediately. Peerless masters who’ve rolled around on the streets are such miraculous beings.”

Of course, including myself. Divine Beggar Zhu Guang concluded with a smiling face.

Jeong Yeon-shin was silent at the legless beggar king’s laughter. He had nothing to say. He wasn’t confident he could cheerfully raise the corners of his mouth like the Beggar Sect Leader when in the same condition.

Perhaps guessing his feelings.

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, who had kindly curled up the wrinkles around his mouth, asked.

“How did you know to come rescue us?”

“I was also captured.”

“Mm, in the demon realm that’s certainly possible. Isn’t it the imperial jianghu just before founding a nation? You could say it’s land where the Thirteen Evil Sects, Nine Sects, and Eight Families are unified. Of course, there are divisions among them too…”

Yu Xiong-gong, who had been listening to their conversation with an incredulous face, burst out.

“Possible my foot! Think about how much chaos there must be in the world! The absence of someone at the Divine Sword Group Leader level…!”

“Don’t worry too much. Of course, the Ming Cult Leader’s whims are like natural disasters, but she won’t go around bragging about such things. It’s not like the Divine Sword Group lacks people.”

While saying this, Divine Beggar Zhu Guang told Jeong Yeon-shin about their circumstances.

They had infiltrated because Young Heavenly Demon Invincible might manifest the Fighting God of the north, but it turned out such a great ritual was being conducted elsewhere.

It was happening in the Southern Emperor’s territory, not here which had become the Ming Cult’s main base.

While procuring supplies and dharma treasures from the northern strongest’s storehouse.

“Yelu Zhen… true to her epithet of mocking heaven, she’s truly a consistent scoundrel. If it’s something that could ruin the world, she can’t help but lend a hand.”

[TL Note- Yelu Zhen means laughing at heaven.]

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang spoke as if to himself.

That’s when it happened.

[Was the Sect Leader’s intelligence only to that extent? There’s one more thing I can’t stand.]

Suddenly an overwhelming presence pressed in.

A young woman’s voice echoed, and even before it finished, Jeong Yeon-shin, Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, and Yu Xiong-gong, who had already turned their heads in that direction, saw a pale human shadow reflected in their eyes.

An existence that had constructed a Spirit Body in a semi-transparent form like a ghost in an instant.

It was Young Heavenly Demon Invincible.

The empty space was completely filled. It was a terrifying sense of oppression.

Even though it was just one avatar.

Not only the fallen Divine Beggar Zhu Guang but even Yu Xiong-gong couldn’t create such a feeling. It was divine power that could be counted on one hand throughout the world.

Perhaps because of that, even though the inside of her silver mask looked haggard, only her presence stood out.

Suddenly Divine Beggar Zhu Guang’s telepathic transmission gently reached Jeong Yeon-shin.

—Yu Xiong-gong rescued me from the Southern Emperor’s territory. No matter how much he’s the northern strongest, it’s difficult to stop a peerless master’s thirty-six stratagems of running away. But I was the only one who could leisurely retreat while carrying a drooping old man under my arm. Yu Xiong-gong’s body isn’t normal either.

[That would naturally be so.]

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible spoke casually. She had overheard the telepathic transmission like Jeong Yeon-shin.

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang didn’t even show a flustered expression despite his cunning. He only threw a question at her.

“Where is your true body?”

[Didn’t you realize your mistake after crawling into our cult? Naturally it’s in Black Capital, the capital of the demon realm. From here it’s about… fifteen hundred li to the south.]

“Aren’t you overusing Form-Shifting Void? You, the Southern Emperor, and Heaven Conquering Sect Leader. As far as I know, there are only three beings under heaven who wickedly travel through space, and coincidentally they’re all at the pinnacle of unorthodox paths. Don’t you know the reason for this?”

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible casually brushed her hair behind her ear.

[Someday my entire body will decompose and die scattered throughout all creation. But it’s fine. At least I will die a natural death sooner.]

“Will only you die? If you insist on dragging the Fighting God outside the gate, all under heaven will collapse under his lame leg.”

He persistently held onto and extended the conversation.

Jeong Yeon-shin could tell without even making eye contact with Divine Beggar Zhu Guang. That the world’s Beggar Sect Leader believed in the Divine Sword Group Leader’s qualities.

He had given Jeong Yeon-shin time to gather energy.

But Young Heavenly Demon Invincible also possessed extraordinary perception. Her jet-black pupils turned toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

[Oh my, I applied the Seven Pillar Forbidden Acupoint Great Method to the Sword Star. It’s medical arts that restrains true energy and nurtures vitality in the acupoints. It’s the reason the old man about to die is clinging to his lifeline.]

“The reason?”

Jeong Yeon-shin asked with an expressionless face.

It was a question that implied many things. His heart, sick to death of Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s incomprehensible behavior, also showed through.

Throughout all his jianghu travels, was there another existence as ambiguous as her?

[……]

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible briefly closed her mouth.

In Jeong Yeon-shin’s image reflected in her jet-black pupils, there was no longer even killing intent. The execution of the Ming Cult Leader had settled in his heart as something natural.

Rustle.

She slowly removed her silver mask.

Soon it disappeared without a trace like the mask that had once been broken by Jeong Yeon-shin. What remained was only Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s Spirit Body with her bare face revealed.

Ultimate beauty. The clusters of light from the luminous pearls flowed down her ebony hair and split at her dreamlike nose bridge.

“Mm.”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang groaned, and Yu Xiong-gong stared at her intently as if he would draw her portrait later…

[You are my mirror. You must be feeling it with your upper energy center too. The kinship that strikes Baihui Accupoint like lightning.]

She continued speaking slowly.

[Quite some time has passed. The more I knew, the more everything was alike. Fleeting life, repeated loss, even beauty was the same.]

Though she seemed to have spoken it as a joke, no one laughed. Jeong Yeon-shin was the same.

“Keep babbling.”

He spoke while gathering luminous wheel energy in his grip.

But Young Heavenly Demon Invincible paid no attention with an indifferent face. As if she might cross space to her true body at any time.

[Look back. When you came to Sichuan to avenge the dead Obeying Heaven Wing Leader, it was I who helped to resolve that tangled heart.]

“So why.”

[When you were struck by the combined attack of Dark Heaven Emperor and Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, it was I who guided your unconscious self to the traces of Zhang Sanfeng for recovery.]

“Why bother?”

[I was consistently careful that you wouldn’t be hurt. I didn’t even give a scratch to your wife… no, you said she wasn’t your wife? Anyway, to that blood demon. Because you are like me in my youth, and that blood demon is the possession that beings like us inevitably come to possess.]

They said demons were temperaments with no restraint in all things.

She had done everything as her heart desired. Even while bound by heaven’s mandate, she was freer than anyone.

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible moved her lips.

[You must be safe until the world perishes. Two mayflies standing side by side at the world’s end. I want to see the beauty of that paradox. I actually experienced my consciousness going out on the night I passed twenty, and my mind went completely mad after that.]

Madness blazed in her calm voice. It felt damp like a swamp of abyss.

[Do you know the meaning of Heavenly Demon? One who doesn’t live according to heaven’s will. So…]

Thud—!

Suddenly tremendous pressure pushed away the atmosphere. The underground stone chamber shook with thunder sounds at the same time.

[I save you and kill the world.]

Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps.

It was naturally deployed as soon as Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s true feelings flowed out.

A feeling as if space itself was freezing. The lights of the luminous pearls flickered. Her presence was becoming absurdly thick.

Wooong—

Before he knew it, a pale form wavered before Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes. Meanwhile, the Spirit Body that had been speaking until now had completely disappeared.

It was a precursor to Form-Shifting Void. She was trying to move again from the Southern Emperor’s territory called Black Capital to this place.

Jeong Yeon-shin. Divine Beggar Zhu Guang. Yu Xiong-gong.

Though the three men’s bodies were far from perfect condition, she knew she couldn’t handle them with just a Spirit Body.

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s true body opened her mouth. Even in that moment, pale smoke was rapidly shaping her form.

[Oh my, restrain yourself here.]

Kugugung—

Just from uttering a few words, all directions shook. She had clearly loosened her restraints somewhat.

She’s coming.

“You’re truly busy going here and there.”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang mocked her with some tension making him slightly bitter. Beside him, Yu Xiong-gong was creating light with his small hands like fern fronds.

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible didn’t even look at them. She only gazed intently at Jeong Yeon-shin from close by.

Colorless demonic energy flowing from her body gently bound Jeong Yeon-shin. Using the method of Smoke Ash Dark Embrace to completely ignore dharma power while reversing compatibility.

Jeong Yeon-shin felt as if her naked body was binding his. A martial art that reversed compatibility. He couldn’t shake it off.

[My actions will never harm you. It’s always been so.]

“…Yes.”

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“It’s always been so. Those who don’t know me act like wet nurses, cutting out my future and judging me.”

[I’m different from them.]

Jeong Yeon-shin raised his right hand amid the rapidly increasing pressure. Thunder sounds were already faintly leaking from his grip.

“No, you’re not different. Rather…”

In his mind, the things he had experienced in the north swirled.

The Heaven Silk Steel Armor of the demon realm jianghu people passed through his head one by one. The fleeting movement techniques of Heaven Conquering Sect Leader and Young Heavenly Demon Invincible had long taken root in his mind.

To not let go when caught.

Jeong Yeon-shin had conducted secluded cultivation within the world.

“You are my mirror. A broken mirror.”

He placed his hand on Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s head before she could fully materialize.

Making three branches with his ring and little fingers together, index and middle fingers together, and thumb, like a flood dragon’s front paw.

Swish.

As soon as he put strength in his grip, her hair became slightly disheveled.

Caught. Caught her. She was caught.

In that moment, blue light burst from Jeong Yeon-shin’s pupils. The mental imagery of a youth worn ragged by worldly affairs released the madness he had been holding back.

“Don’t come.”

[……!]

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s eyes widened for the first time.

‘Eternal Blossom Fist, Fifth Technique.’

Heaven Breaking.

Pueoeoeoeoeoeoek—!

Her semi-transparent body shattered into pieces. The Luminous Wheel That Transcends Law Energy that had torn apart the entire true energy structure of Form-Shifting Void belatedly rumbled and released thunder-like sounds.

Through the strands of hair that had been partially severed, thick drops of blood scattered like flower petals in the void. The true body that hadn’t finished moving had also been damaged.

“Bringing me to this place was a mistake. Now the Ming Cult is in my grasp. So you too…”

Jeong Yeon-shin growled.

“You lose something too.”

Saaaa—

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s face made of hazy smoke crumbled with a shocked expression. It was only an instant until the pressure of Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps that had been shaking the underground disappeared.

Only Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, Yu Xiong-gong, and the Sword Star on the bed remained with Jeong Yeon-shin.