Chapter 598 – Gathering the Night Sky (7)

Low laughter descended upon the repository of knowledge that held countless ages.

It was not from Jeong Yeon-shin.

Laughter that none of the party had made mixed with the roar and disappeared. Along with the rocks pouring down like hail from the ceiling’s collapse.

Kugugugugugugung!

Amid the aftermath of one of the Five Great Palm Methods under heaven, the Ming Cult’s Dark Heaven Hand Wall Formation, racing in all directions after striking the cave from outside.

Jeong Yeon-shin was suddenly reminded of when he had read Murong Family Head’s Heavenly Demon Divine Armor.

—Impudent.

It was the same feeling as that day. Still an incomprehensible matter. Was it spirituality that had transcendentally permeated the name Heavenly Demon? Carved into the martial art formulas while ignoring the passage of time…

“You’re laughing in this situation?!”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang shouted at Hwangbo Gon. This was possible because he, Ma Yeon-jeok, and Yu Xiong-gong were of similar age.

Hwangbo Gon merely shrugged his shoulders.

“I thought the old beggar had lost his mind.”

“What?”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang’s eyes widened, but Yu Xiong-gong, who was carrying him, remained calm. He had picked up the Sword Star, who had been briefly set down on the floor, with a composed face.

“People should act their age.”

After scolding them with his childish voice, he generated gentle energy throughout his body.

True energy operation that wouldn’t affect the Sword Star in his arms. Soon a hazy energy barrier arose in a hemispherical shape and covered overhead.

The energy barrier wasn’t wide.

It was a force field that semi-transparently enveloped only him, the Sword Star, and Divine Beggar Zhu Guang.

Yu Xiong-gong, who momentarily made eye contact with Jeong Yeon-shin, made an awkward excuse.

“Sorry. I don’t have much strength left either.”

Having fled from the Southern Emperor’s territory while carrying Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, he couldn’t be in perfect condition.

The Northern Greatest’s techniques only left fatal aftereffects, making it even more so.

Originally, why had Jeong Yeon-shin entrusted even the Sword Star to Yu Xiong-gong and taken the lead? It was with the intention that he could fight best among the party even with his dim luminous wheels.

“It’s fine.”

Jeong Yeon-shin answered while flowing dark light nets from both eyes. Yu Xiong-gong’s words trailed off upon seeing this.

“You’ll be fine, right…?”

Kurururung! Kukung!

In the midst of vibrations that now seemed to shake the entire earth’s axis.

Jeong Yeon-shin observed inside his body.

Following the two dim layers of luminous wheels, a third wheel of true energy that had wrapped around his heart.

It was a collection of demonic arts.

It was emitting dark light like ink inside his body. And naturally, it was very thin. True energy inside the body couldn’t suddenly amplify from nothing.

Without exaggeration, it was close to the size of thread. Far too small to generate the large amounts of true energy that Jeong Yeon-shin normally used.

As always, he would need to eat the spirit pills supplied whenever he visited the Desolate Fortress headquarters, and gradually inflate it through endless energy accumulation.

Like how the second luminous wheel, created when the Tang siblings bathed in starlight at the Flood Dragon Formation, had been cultivated thick and strong over a long time.

Or it would be a good method to safely reach the place where the Ming Cult’s medicinal materials were stored—that is, the treasure vault known as the ‘Northern Dark Treasury.’

This also meant that his martial prowess hadn’t greatly increased immediately.

To avoid being futilely killed by misjudging his own strength, he absolutely had to recognize this objectively.

‘Time.’

As always.

Jeong Yeon-shin needed time.

But as usual, leisure was the most distant word from the jianghu martial world.

—We’ve broken through…!

—There! There they are!

—Kill them! They are those who spied on our ancestors’ studies! We must burn their eyes without fail!

Outcries racing while bouncing here and there off the walls of the vast underground cavern. The voices themselves seemed to be roughly deploying lightness skills.

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang’s expression became serious.

“We must prepare for both sides. Not only the falling rocks from above, but also the demon cultists who will squeeze through the gaps.”

“They’re already close. This whole place is going to collapse.”

Yu Xiong-gong’s answer.

Jeong Yeon-shin briefly gazed at the Sword Star held in his arms.

Actually, in this situation, the third luminous wheel was merely a byproduct. What was truly needed was knowledge to save the Sword Star.

And Jeong Yeon-shin had completely mastered the applications and limitations of the Seven Pillar Forbidden Acupoint Great Method.

Naturally, he had also learned about the reality and mysteries of the Seven Pillar Forbidden Acupoint Great Method that the Killing Gate, a subordinate family of the Ming Cult, had performed on Hyeon Won-chang, and the side effects where one’s lifeline shortened each time the method was forcibly released.

Along with bone-cutting self-reproach.

—Radiant Demon Wing was his protective strong energy.

Momentarily, the image of Hyeon Won-chang overlapped with the Sword Star. Was it because they had received the same method? If Hyeon-won Chang had aged safely, he might have been like the current Sword Star.

‘I can save both of them.’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought. If there were precious medicinal materials, it might really be possible.

Because he was now a grandmaster of demonic arts.

That’s when it happened.

The Sword Star, who had drowsily opened his eyes from Yu Xiong-gong’s arms, rambled like a drunk.

“That sky is fake…”

Words uttered while looking at the collapsing ceiling.

At first glance, it was a meaningful statement. Traditionally, Ming Cult members had been compared to the night sky that devoured even stars and moon.

But the Sword Star’s wrinkled eyelids drooped again. With a powerless feeling unlike the world-opening sword strikes he had shown.

Yu Xiong-gong’s brow furrowed.

“His pulse is getting weaker. There’s no time.”

“I’ll take the lead.”

Before they knew it, Jeong Yeon-shin was standing at the entrance they had come through.

Just that brief movement made the roar striking his ears louder. At this moment, cracks were rapidly forming around the iron door’s edges due to collisions of tyrannical explosive forces.

At the same time, Hwangbo Gon stood alongside him.

“Let’s go together. I owe you my life from the Flood Dragon Formation, so I’ll help. It would be difficult to take care of three people alone.”

Jeong Yeon-shin felt as if the mature Lazy Flame Dragon was standing beside him. Honestly, it was very reassuring, but he immediately shook his head.

“Couldn’t the Ming Cult Leader give Senior Hwangbo the answer you seek? I’ll do my best to ensure the poppy addict doesn’t die young, but there’s no need to cut off other possibilities.”

Swish.

Jeong Yeon-shin placed his hand on the groove in the center of the iron door. It was the same gesture as when entering.

“Please stay in the Ming Cult. This place will need strong ones like you even more now.”

“You…?”

Gugugugugugung—!

The massive iron door opened.

The demon cultists who had been striking around the door from outside were revealed. Each had faces where fierce killing intent had formed, bearing faint traces of doubt.

No one had expected it. That they would open the door themselves from inside and come out… Beings filling the wide cave so densely that it was hard to count their numbers.

Many were monsters with unusually large hands or feet, or who revealed eyeballs that had turned black like marbles.

Even if their bodies were intact, their atmosphere was inhumanly cold, yet none of them carried swords or spears.

All were empty-handed.

They seemed to know what would happen if Jeong Yeon-shin took their weapons.

They even seemed to be operating the ‘Life-Taking Art for Death.’ It was a martial art where the body exploded like a thunderbolt the moment one lost their life and their innate energy scattered.

The sight of dark demonic energy seeping from each of their bodies. They were fundamentally like explosive charges.

“Divine Sword Group Leader, come here!”

“Try crushing this body first!”

This was not a human sect.

They were truly demons. Their appearance, temperament, preparedness, and methods of mutual destruction all seemed created from an abyss.

“Now no one in the jianghu doesn’t know about your sound techniques and the destructive power of your formless sword. The larger the sect, the more thoroughly they’ll prepare.”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang spoke heavily, then suddenly added with a grave expression.

“Pull out one of my ribs to use.”

“Pardon?”

“To run fast enough to be called the fastest under heaven, training the bones and muscles comes first. Wouldn’t it be harder than your maternal grandfather’s rusted bones at least? Pull it out without worry.”

“How can a person think such things…”

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head with jet-black pupils. He had maintained his sanity even while intoxicated by faint demonic energy.

That’s when it happened.

Huuuuuuuuk!

Suddenly dark wind approached. It was palm force that rushed while running along the rough walls, monstrously grinding through the stone walls as it charged in.

Dark Heaven Hand Wall Formation.

A technique known as the strongest among demonic palm methods.

It reached before Jeong Yeon-shin’s party in an instant, turning the light clusters of luminous pearls black.

“It’s the Ming Cult Grand Preceptor!”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang, who had been gauging the path of the vast underground city with closed eyes, shouted.

That palm force suddenly deflected off a figure that popped out beside Jeong Yeon-shin. A strike that bounced precisely off the back of a hand and flew to the opposite side.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!

The demon cultists who had been blocking Jeong Yeon-shin’s party’s path exploded like charges. A scene where a path was created with earth-shaking roar.

When Jeong Yeon-shin glanced to the side, Hwangbo Gon was already dusting off his hands with a nonchalant face like Lazy Flame Dragon. It was the Hwangbo family’s Graceful Heaven King Martial Art.

“I carelessly took the wrong path and came out in surprise, nearly dying crushed by a blind palm strike.”

—Go straight ahead. I’ll exercise restraint as you advised.

Hwangbo Gon’s telepathic transmission.

Bang!

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately kicked the ground without delay. Naturally, the faint light clusters of Ten Li Gentle Light spread on the floor. Yu Xiong-gong, carrying the two old men, quickly followed.

—Break through the wall to the northwest! Run straight that way!

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang shouted through telepathic transmission. Jeong Yeon-shin slightly adjusted the direction of his toes accordingly.

Footprints were left on the ground sticky with blood, and just that made the Ming Cult Grand Preceptor in the distance of the large passage shout thunderously.

[The heretics are targeting the Northern Dark Treasury! The Three Desolate Dark Lords should each seal the twenty, thirty, and forty zones, and the Fu Ghost Emperors should block the outside air with the great formation the Cult Leader has deployed! Bright Demon should not rush in vainly but wait at the ‘altar’!]

Sharp insight.

The Ming Cult’s great teacher.

The appearance of the old man wearing pure white robes stood out particularly in the dark cave, but he didn’t bother rushing at Jeong Yeon-shin.

He merely continued sending palm strikes from a distance.

Kugugung! Kugugugugung!

[The opponent has refined dharma power, so you must not approach carelessly! It’s sufficient to pour out long-range attack techniques! They have no time or energy, and this is none other than our cult’s main headquarters!]

Even though Six Harmonies Battle Voice was striking the entire space, there was no sign of the underground cavern collapsing.

This too would be thanks to the great formation that had established the underground as a living space.

The instructions were also accurate.

It was strategy and situation that would work against anyone except Literary Star’s Transcendent Martial Art.

This was indeed the main headquarters of the strongest sect among the Thirteen Evil Sects.

Bang!

Jeong Yeon-shin smashed the wall with his left hand while simultaneously crushing the void with his right hand. Just that made the palm force of Dark Heaven Hand Wall Formation that had charged from afar extinguish like a dark candle.

This was possible because it was demonic art study with extreme compatibility with dharma power, and the Ming Cult Grand Preceptor hadn’t bothered to approach closely.

“What the…!”

Were they reinforcements?

The Ming Cult members who had been rushing from passages that spread like spider webs in all directions flinched.

Their gazes toward Jeong Yeon-shin were like looking at supernatural phenomena. It was natural. They were facing an existence that made their lifetime’s accumulated internal energy meaningless.

Therefore, Jeong Yeon-shin could act like an invincible one even with dim luminous wheels. The sprint of Ten Li Gentle Light never stopped for a moment.

Hwaaaaaaaaak!

The damp wind characteristic of underground pushed against his face.

Fragments occasionally bursting from the walls left wounds on his bare skin. Jeong Yeon-shin was running through the vast underground passage without even wearing protective energy.

It wasn’t arrogance.

Literally because he had no strength to spare. Two luminous wheels that had lost density through repeated battles at the peerless realm, and one luminous wheel that had just been conceived and needed time.

The explosive forces that enemies shot from a distance could be shattered with just a handful of internal energy. The same was true for the palm wind that a particularly strong-looking middle-aged man had sent like blade wind.

Precisely from the left side.

Zzeoeoeng!

This time the shock flowing into his grip was great. It was because he had skills close to the Three Black Pillars level, and was much closer than the Ming Cult Grand Preceptor. He was vigorous with blood and energy.

“I am Thorn Disaster Lord among the Three Desolate Dark Lords who lead our cult’s three battle groups. I’ve come to dig out and eat your skull.”

Refined madness stood out.

It was a distance of nearly three zhang. For most masters, it was no different from being right at hand.

But Jeong Yeon-shin ignored him and passed by. While gesturing behind him so Yu Xiong-gong couldn’t follow. Naturally, the palm force that fell behind created a long furrow in the ground.

Those who had been pursuing from behind hesitated once more… Jeong Yeon-shin had experience facing the Pure Demon Alliance, known as a branch of the Ming Cult. Even if the demon cultists here were the orthodox lineage of the Ming Cult, each individual couldn’t be stronger than the Pure Demon Alliance Leader.

Kwakwakwakwakwang—!

He ran through uninhabited territory.

Width of ten zhang, fifteen zhang, nine zhang, three zhang, then over ten zhang again… Jeong Yeon-shin raced through underground passages whose width endlessly fluctuated like plains, and smashed walls whenever he encountered them.

When strong ones like the Ming Cult Grand Preceptor and Thorn Disaster Lord sent monstrous blade winds, he chopped them down with the ground using his hand blade.

“Madman!”

“How can such a being exist…?!”

Thus, following the path that Divine Beggar Zhu Guang indicated with the sensory study called ‘Divine Outstanding Undying Art’ by the shortest route.

Before they knew it, Jeong Yeon-shin’s party was facing another iron door. It was a place where faint medicinal fragrance seeped through the door cracks.

“We’ve come to the right place! That’s it!”

Divine Beggar Zhu Guang shook Yu Xiong-gong’s shoulder.

“Strong Demon Pills, Heaven-Transcending Pills, the inner cores of ten-thousand-year flower spirits… All sorts of medicinal materials the Ming Cult has gathered will be sleeping there! This, this was truly an impossible thing…!”

Then.

Kwarrrrrrung!

The ground beneath their feet churned violently.

The walls surrounding the Ming Cult’s medicinal storage—that is, the Northern Dark Treasury—began collapsing like a lie. It looked as if thunderbolts had been detonated from inside and out.

“…!”

A space instantly filled with hazy dust. Huge piles of stones came tumbling down, messily covering the jet-black iron door.

An unbelievable sight.

Unlike when opening the Heavenly Demon Treasury, they had collapsed the Northern Dark Treasury before Jeong Yeon-shin could even approach.

This wasn’t the level of sacrificing flesh to take bone. Rather than watch the enemy benefit, they had destroyed it so neither side could have it.

This too was madness.

[We cannot suffer humiliation twice. Already having sinned against our predecessors, even if we die, it will be together with you bastards.]

The Ming Cult Grand Preceptor’s Six Harmonies Battle Voice crept up behind them like a shadow, damp and sinister. He was walking from afar. Along the path Jeong Yeon-shin had broken through.

“Too chaotic from the start. That fellow seems to be a greater demon than us.”

Thorn Disaster Lord’s voice mixed in with it.

At this moment, the place where Jeong Yeon-shin’s party stood was an underground passage about thirty zhang ahead of the Northern Dark Treasury.

With paths open not only front and back but also left and right, it could be called a kind of plaza.

Was it due to the mysterious smelting skills of the Ming Cult’s Dwarf clan?

It was over ten zhang wide, with a ceiling high enough for a two-story pavilion. As if it were a space that Young Heavenly Demon Invincible had created by raising a flood dragon.

Jeong Yeon-shin silently turned around.

The scene immediately reflected in his eyes. Darkness was writhing from beyond the passage. The Ming Cult’s martial army forces that had ultimately driven and trapped the party.

Yu Xiong-gong readjusted his hold on Divine Beggar Zhu Guang.

“We’re surrounded. In the end, we couldn’t even attempt energy circulation.”

Now revealing the true form of the strongest sect among the Thirteen Evil Sects.

Originally, they had intended to supply themselves with the Ming Cult’s medicinal materials and escape, then treat the Sword Star. Because there was no other way.

But this was also a method that carried great risk. How fierce would the Ming Cult become after losing both their treasury and medicinal storage?

[Lightning Genius Jeong Yeon-shin, I know your true energy has hit bottom.]

The Ming Cult Grand Preceptor’s voice gradually grew louder. The distance was closing, and this time he seemed ready for close combat as well.

[Because of you, two of the world’s greatest treasure vaults have collapsed, so even if I die, I must take you to the underworld. At least here, in this situation, it’s sufficiently possible.]

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t listen.

When his physical condition was already so messed up that he couldn’t even eavesdrop on telepathic transmissions, was there any need to pay attention to the enemy’s spoken words? In a situation where even the divine sword Remaining Thunder was likely in Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s possession.

He was merely weighing which of two techniques would be better. Brilliant River, created by friction between demonic energy and dharma power. And Heaven Breaking, whose completion he was steadily improving.

‘I’m used to cornered fights.’

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly pale light arose from the ceiling. The radiance that Yu Xiong-gong beside Jeong Yeon-shin had suddenly created swept in a circle overhead.

Kugugugugugugung!

It was mysterious explosive force. Falling rocks that instantly surrounded the party in a circle and descended. Each was tremendously thick. As if Yu Xiong-gong had suddenly exerted his full power.

Naturally, the Ming Cult’s martial army forces that had been closing the encirclement were also obscured.

“…?”

Jeong Yeon-shin unconsciously questioned. With what hands had Yu Xiong-gong, who was holding the Sword Star…?

“Junior did as you said.”

As soon as Jeong Yeon-shin heard Yu Xiong-gong’s childish voice, he turned his head like lightning, and before he could fully turn it, his body stiffened.

A warm hand had struck his pressure point.

It was a touch he had avoided several times because it had tried to embrace him.

“Sword Star elder…?”

“Why seek the world’s greatest treasure in the wrong place?”

An aged voice. It was indeed the Sword Star. His voice continued faintly.

“Isn’t an old man’s life the most precious thing under heaven? What I possess, and what you want to have.”

Swish.

A palm pressing on the center of Jeong Yeon-shin’s waist—that is, the Gate of Life acupoint.

Instantly, the words of the Dream Demon Body fellow he had first met in the Ming Cult flashed through Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind.

—If it’s a wanderer who has survived to old age, he must have skills that even the Northern Kings of the demon realm would find hard to imagine.

“Wanderers don’t waste energy. People who have lived without much, you see. The same goes for Body-Crossing Power Transmission.”

Body-Crossing Power Transmission.

A technique for transferring energy to others. A secret art that involves extreme physical exhaustion, with overwhelmingly much power lost to nature, so even considerable major sects don’t use it.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes widened.

Right now he had neither Remaining Thunder, which could be called his lifelong companion, nor time to cultivate new luminous wheels. He didn’t want to lose even the Sword Star, who was a peerless swordsman.

“Elder?”

“I removed the great needles stuck in my body. They were quite bothersome for moving.”

“You mustn’t…!”

But peerless masters are all beings who live as they please, and not one of them listens obediently to others’ words. That’s how they were able to reach the peerless realm.

“A swordsman.”

The old swordsman’s voice continued calmly. While the sound of wind tearing through clouds was already rumbling from Jeong Yeon-shin’s Gate of Life acupoint.

The third luminous wheel.

“Must hold a sword.”

Began to expand in size like the night sky.