Chapter 683 – Origin

Master Beom-heo invited Jeong Yeon-shin to Mount Song.

Along with the story of lending strength to prevent Four Great Vajra Master Won-jeok and World Tree’s ‘unification.’

He had even mentioned Master Bodhidharma’s Wall-Facing Cave as Shaolin Abbot, and from the standpoint where Luminous Wheel That Transcends Law Technique’s achievement directly led to martial progress, it was difficult to decline.

Such was the being called Divine Sword Group Leader in troubled times.

There were also words from Emperor Long-zheng, who was said to have been dragged from Beijing by Fighting God’s hands.

—There are things to prepare. When you return again, there won’t be a single busybody in Central Plains who would dare speak of rebellion to you.

Starting with Desolate Fortress Lord who had begun openly using the character for Emperor (皇) in her alias, he had to compete for survival with beings like Emperor Li Chuang Nang Seong who had completely absorbed Central Plains jianghu, and ‘Martial Emperor’ Fighting God who could shake the world by moving alone.

The power of forces. Personal martial strength.

Nothing could be neglected even for a moment. Because it was a world where precious things would be lost anytime if one didn’t pursue being world’s greatest.

Therefore, Jeong Yeon-shin set foot on his homeland. Beneath the hill that had been high enough to serve as fortress walls for a long time.

“……”

Henan’s Xinye County.

Old thatched cottages and halls densely mixed together took in and expelled village people. Even at a glance, it was excessively vast land to be called just one county.

A place that must inevitably be passed through when moving the shortest distance from Xiangyang to Mount Song. It truly was just a path to pass through.

Step.

Yellow clay soil was crushed under old leather shoes, and sprouts that hadn’t managed to bloom smoothly emerged from the toe area. Like young Jeong Yeon-shin had been rejected by Xinye County people.

Thus dew that rolled from dead leaves left dark stains on the earthen ground.

Meanwhile, all of Jeong Yeon-shin’s steps were made with Jeong Family Dynamic Technique. While completely recovering the internal and external injuries suffered from Fighting God at this moment.

‘Sleeplessness, moonlight, swing.’

He was busy recalling formulas.

Stabilizing swollen acupoints and mending torn blood vessels with true energy. The reason he didn’t rush to Mount Song with lightness skill.

It was then.

Peerless defrocked monk Beom-ryeol, who always walked somewhat apart from Jeong Yeon-shin, swept his disheveled hair behind his back and suddenly said.

“As Divine Sword Group Leader, you must always be busy with public and private affairs. Did you often stop by your hometown?”

“Once when I fainted as a result of Mount Hua Agreement… This is the first time with clear consciousness since wearing main fortress martial robes.”

“Mount Hua Agreement? Western Sacred Mount Hua has long symbolized blade-sharp agreements due to its steep terrain. What was young Divine Sword Group Leader’s Mount Hua Agreement like?”

Beom-ryeol was such a person.

Though he was brother disciple of world Shaolin Abbot, he seemed to have had few opportunities to enjoy private conversation with Master Beom-heo. He was naturally unfamiliar with Shaolin’s inner circumstances as well as all kinds of jianghu stories.

And he was indifferent to everything. To the extent that he hadn’t exchanged even a few words with Jeong Yeon-shin while coming here.

‘Is it the fate of a gatekeeper?’

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“I acted as proxy for predecessor’s duel. My grandfather who was the former Enter The Divine Sword Master…”

He stopped speaking.

Because great commotion had arisen beneath the hill, as considerable numbers of Xinye County people began gathering somewhere. It was movement like holding some village communal ritual.

Then Jeong Yeon-shin felt tremendous earth energy undulation. Earth energy large enough to only be felt at World Tree’s Main Tree swayed like invisible waves throughout the entire village.

A strange matter.

Master Beom-heo calmly asked.

“How is your body? Fighting God’s explosive force should be power that makes anyone into a cripple.”

“I’m gradually reaching perfect condition.”

“Let’s go see.”

Master Beom-heo lightly kicked the ground as he was.

Shaolin was the headquarters of world dynamic cultivation. As a place possessing Master Bodhidharma’s Muscle-Changing Classic, it was reasonable not to be surprised by Jeong Yeon-shin’s recovery ability. Only Beom-ryeol casually threw out a word.

“Benefactor’s body is like Original Dharma. Though he’s head monk of our main mountain’s Four Great Vajra.”

The three people passed through one street without inspection and descended. Because of very natural observation skills, except for a few village people, no one looked back.

“Monk? From where?”

“Desolate character…? Could it be……”

Instantly Master Beom-heo’s sleeve rippled like temple incense, and people returned to their own paths as if falling into dreams.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked.

“What sorcery did you perform?”

“I struck brains with Prajna Great Power.”

Gentle footsteps continued.

The group slowly followed the procession, and village people headed from everywhere toward the village center like attending routine events. To the county office that had long governed Xinye County.

For young Jeong Yeon-shin, it had been quite a difficult place to approach. Because the master of Xinye County office was father Jeong Pan-yue’s childhood friend.

—You’re Madam Ma’s son? That fellow Jeong Dae-myeong being obsessed with superstition has been like that since he was a snot-nosed kid, so if he doesn’t even provide meals, secretly come to the office.

—He says he’ll beat me with bamboo sticks if I go…

—That Jeong fellow said that? That bastard to beat to death!

‘This is the first time walking this road alongside people.’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

The feeling of stepping into a shallow swamp. Each step fell into strange emotions. The main road where scrawny trees lined up, walls turning into small paths, many things reflected in his eyes were steeped in childhood.

“That wall over there, I feel Benefactor’s spirituality. Very faintly though…”

Beom-ryeol pointed to one side of the roadside.

A small wall elegantly surrounded some large tree like an antique bonsai. The tree branches’ shadows caressed the stone wall here and there with winding shadows.

The wall that Jeong Yeon-shin and other village children called ‘Han Sang Castle.’ Literally a small castle.

‘Still the same.’

That rarely lush and lively tree was a mulberry tree said to have been directly planted by Emperor Guan Yu long ago. It was also Xinye County’s most famous sight otherwise.

“The village brothers under Jeong Family’s tutelage once knocked down the wall while drunk, then blamed me for the mistake. Because eldest brother was in that group at the time.”

Beom-heo tilted his head puzzledly.

“I don’t understand. Though their comrade was clearly beside them, they shifted blame to an innocent comrade’s younger brother?”

Jeong Yeon-shin continued calmly without explanation.

“It happened to be when I was creating Jeong Family Dynamic Technique while analyzing muscle movements. When I rebuilt Han Sang Castle like that, repeatedly knocking down walls throughout the village and blaming me became routine. Around age ten, I became accustomed to martial arts creation.”

Perhaps surviving in the storm-tossed martial world was also thanks to Xinye County. Without childhood experience, it would have been very difficult to immediately create martial arts during jianghu travels.

“Amitabha.”

Master Beom-heo lowly chanted Buddha’s name, and Beom-ryeol mixed Buddha invocations and curses like Supreme Ultimate, then pointed to another side.

“Don’t tell me Benefactor also repaired that office’s walls? The level being very uneven shows it was built with pitiful and angular heart. How regrettable.”

“That was said to be made as a gift to the office by mother during her lifetime…”

“Aggressive workmanship. She had general qualities.”

The land where Shu Han Liu Bei’s Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage bore fruit. The birthplace of Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, most famous among contemporary jianghu cultivation.

There had to be many visitors.

‘But.’

Even so, at this moment the office crowd was excessive. At a glance it could be counted as easily thousands, and people were packed even outside the long walls.

“If you received it, come out quickly!”

“Hey, how many sheets are you taking?”

“Why make a fuss over just two sheets? How many family members do I have to feed…”

Some of those who barely escaped from the office left their places with quick steps. Through paths familiar to Jeong Yeon-shin. None other than toward Jeong Family Manor direction.

“Huh?”

Among them, a shaggy-haired man hesitated.

Then he slowly turned his face toward Jeong Yeon-shin like a wooden puppet, and there were scars faintly running from his rough forehead to his lips. Nail marks left by six-year-old Jeong Yeon-shin.

‘Fabric shop’s second son, So Su-hun.’

He had been eldest brother Jeong Nam-san’s friend.

The basic breathing technique for quickly moving Jeong Family Dynamic True Energy to fingertips was created thanks to So Su-hun. He had playfully enjoyed strangling from behind, and to escape from those strong arms, there was no choice but to scratch faces.

“You, no, you…?”

“Are you perhaps going toward Jeong Family Manor’s old site? That land should have been bought by Desolate Fortress to make a branch, so what business?”

So Su-hun didn’t answer.

He just trembled with some paper stamped with red official seal like a talisman, then blankly uttered incomplete words with “uh, uh” sounds from his mouth. His gaze swept over the faded purple front robe, black Desolate character, and Jeong Yeon-shin’s face in succession.

Then soon strange resignation spread across his face.

“…Oh my.”

The look of facing something he knew would come someday but had been deliberately ignoring. Jeong Yeon-shin had made a name in jianghu for quite a while. If one was a village person who hadn’t bothered moving territories, they would have thought of such a situation at least once long ago.

“Won’t you tell me?”

“No, so, with this you can receive rice rations… The Desolate Fortress martial artists guarding Jeong Family Manor site heard news of Seven New Enemies of Defeated Desolation’s rebellion and left somewhere… What’s managing there now are immortals said to come from World Tree, so noble clans… saying the earth energy latent in the village is world’s greatest…”

Jeong Yeon-shin silently listened to his rambling. And slowly opened his mouth.

“You’re saying World Tree’s noble clan masters occupied Xinye County? Henan land not far from Mount Song?”

“Uh… anyway, even Shaolin Temple can’t protect us now. Not only noble clans, but outsiders who heard about earth energy and flocked from outside. All jianghu people.”

A man like So Su-hun couldn’t have extensive knowledge. Unless it was clothing that could specify status at a glance like Desolate Fortress martial robes, it would be difficult to recognize Master Beom-heo and Beom-ryeol’s Buddhist identity.

Meanwhile, sunlight hitting Jeong Yeon-shin’s purple long robe was transforming into dawn-like light. Because the robe torn by Fighting God was very slowly repairing itself. So Su-hun seemed to find even moving his mouth difficult before that.

Not only that.

Before long, many Xinye County people were looking back at the group. Some were startled as soon as eyes met and fled far away, while others just stood there blankly.

‘They look prosperous.’

People who had hidden the fact that the land was fertile from outside the village. Those who couldn’t leave even after hearing news that the neglected child had entered Desolate Fortress.

“……”

Indescribable bewilderment and fear shimmered in pure white sunlight.

How many years had they lived in hell?

Though there were several people worth resolving old feelings with, Jeong Yeon-shin silently moved his steps. Toward Jeong Family Manor’s old site.

Then So Su-hun shouted from behind.

“The General Administrator of Jeong Family Manor came down to protect the site, but was captured instead! The escorts who served the General Administrator as trade leader all died…! They might use him as hostage before you!”

“……!”

In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin stepped into the pouring sunlight.

Step.

The next moment he stood before Jeong Family Manor’s main gate.

Now beneath a plaque carved with three characters ‘Opening Flower Earth’ instead of the name Jeong Family Manor. Then after one breath Beom-ryeol, and after three breaths Master Beom-heo naturally manifested like Buddha statues on both sides.

“Absurdly fast.”

Beom-ryeol, who glanced at Jeong Yeon-shin, continued in low tones.

“Now when it comes to World Tree’s noble clan masters, one cannot think without ‘unification.’ With such sensitive energy perception, great effort must be taken to retrieve hostages. You might have to stay up all night in peerless realms that stretch moments like eons.”

It was correct.

Rebuilt halls along with walls much more magnificent than old Jeong Family Manor. At this moment no presence was felt at all, because very dense energy barriers had covered the surroundings.

‘There’s a peerless master inside.’

Xinye County.

The quiet rural land had drawn in World Tree following Tyrant Sword Sect and Blood Flame Cult. Who knows what lurked beneath the ground.

Master Beom-heo slowly opened his mouth.

“You two will do the fighting. This old monk will extract the common people.”

“Senior brother, don’t drain energy. ‘Unified Won-jeok’ might be waiting for us at the main mountain. The monster turned scoundrel might have already knocked down everything from library pavilion to wall-facing cave…”

It was then.

Creak—

Suddenly the main gate opened by itself. The semi-transparent energy barrier also disappeared simultaneously, and very fishy smell struck sharply. Sticky blood flowed down toward Jeong Yeon-shin’s feet.

Old Jeong Family Manor’s front yard.

“Primordial Peace.”

A blind man in bamboo hat sat atop a pile of corpses.

“I came begging without caring about appearances, but they thrust blades instead of rice. Blue-sharp swords like their own ears at that.”

It was conduct familiar to Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes. Just one thing was different. The sight of blood flowing from trouser hems missing one leg overlapping with the mountain of corpses.

Beom-ryeol tilted his head.

“Noble clans and jianghu people all fell to one sword. Could it be the realm of using Form Shifting Void blade work as attack techniques…?”

Meanwhile, several presences caught on Jeong Yeon-shin’s energy perception. Were they people who had value as hostages? He also felt the breath of the General Administrator he had parted from on the day of Jeong Family Manor’s destruction.

‘In the underground prison.’

Everything had already ended.

It was then.

“Actually it was an emergency landing. Coming to the place with densest grain energy in nearby Henan land, it turned out to be the center of those fellows’ halls.”

The blind man embarrassedly showed the front edge of his bamboo hat slightly downward. Jeong Yeon-shin silently clenched and opened his fist.

“Anyway, meeting again like this is also fate. Originally good blade work comes from intact legs. I heard some armless monk at Mount Song molds arms with internal energy, and a handsome youth in Xiangyang with sword insight can argue perfect condition even with one breath.”

“……”

“Would you bestow even one teaching on this pitiful traveler?”

Then Heaven-Conquering Sect Master, who had been regripping his sword hilt, hesitated and made a round smile like his bamboo hat. Because before he knew it, Jeong Yeon-shin had pressed his leather shoe tip to his throat. It was speed equivalent to drawing sword.

“…Emotion entered your movement. Movement like seeing some unpleasant face.”

“You said to exchange one move.”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“I truly meant to ask for teaching.”