Chapter 684 – Origin (2)

Heaven Soaring Guest Wan Hui.

Had his strange words and actions been just a day or two?

The words attached to a jianghu person’s alias inevitably symbolize that character’s essence. Just as the alias Mixed Heaven Emperor Martial God was attached to ‘World Tree’ wearing Desolate Fortress Lord like clothes. Such is the insight of busybodies.

‘Except for one or two derogatory terms.’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

“The greatest blade wielder among unorthodox paths? There’s nothing more to hear. It would be proper to strike his crown with a temple bell.”

Beom-ryeol spoke of enlightenment.

But Jeong Yeon-shin slightly shielded Master Beom-heo with his back. Because the outline of an arm had suddenly begun forming from one side of the originally empty monk robe’s sleeve. A silently loaded Hundred Step Divine Fist was about to shatter Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s skull.

‘How much has he recovered?’

He wondered unconsciously.

Though Shaolin Abbot’s decline was a top secret matter, Jeong Yeon-shin was a party to the Hangzhou Dragon Formation Battle. He had contemplated not only Master Beom-heo’s entire body acupoints but even the state of his middle and lower energy centers.

Then Master Beom-heo’s question quietly continued.

“Do you have other thoughts?”

Clearly it would have taken ten years of recuperation to reach full condition, yet he still emanated mysterious mechanisms difficult for any super master to approach.

“Do Mount Song temples view sentient beings as stones rather than gold? Even when asking for teachings like this.”

At Heaven Conquering Sect Leader’s puzzled words, Beom-ryeol’s lips rose like a lion’s maw.

“Though I won’t argue propriety with Sima Unorthodox Path, does Benefactor have no dignity? Even when frequenting my sect, I’ve heard the name Heaven Soaring Guest.”

“Certainly, to the eyes of high monks with Buddha power sufficient to mention even ‘Heavenly Eye Penetration,’ such things as propriety might be visible.”

The blind man briefly lifted his old bamboo hat up to his eyelids, then soon lowered it again with a smile.

“But I wonder.”

Simultaneously, formless energy waves gently rippled from the pile of corpses supporting Heaven Conquering Sect Leader.

Swoosh.

Void Treading Step.

He floated up in a roughly seated position. He circled past Jeong Yeon-shin and settled down between Master Beom-heo and Jeong Yeon-shin.

His intention seeped through.

It meant cutting open his belly would be acceptable.

Jeong Yeon-shin, who had turned around, gazed at Heaven Conquering Sect Leader steadily. Until Unorthodox Finest Sword sat sprawled like a beggar who had thrown down his begging bowl.

“As you can see, I’m missing one knee. Consider me kneeling.”

“What are you doing?”

“First time seeing begging? Someone of your level should have witnessed most sights worth seeing and not worth seeing by now.”

“Madman.”

“I usually don’t deny that, but it’s not something to hear from a friend who carries around a human head.”

Heaven Conquering Sect Leader spoke calmly. Immediately, Wol-yo’s head among Jeong Yeon-shin’s baggage shook on its own.

“Heaven Soaring Guest! I’ve long heard your esteemed name. I heard you enjoy witty conversations with common people, and I’d like to set that story of losing your left arm and right leg to music. Would you permit it?”

“Seeing someone who’s only a head bravely provoking reminds me of one among Lightning Genius your subordinates. I felt strange sword energy on the dark path. Much like my arm…”

“Enough.”

Jeong Yeon-shin cut off the madmen’s rambling. And respectfully said to Master Beom-heo.

“I once made this fellow a prisoner and wielded him like a sword. He was greatly active at the Black Capital Great Battle, and was a very sharp blade. He’s useful for pacifying troubled times.”

Many others besides Fighting God flashed through his mind.

Desolate Fortress Lord and Four Great Dharma Protectors whose souls had changed, Zhongnan Grand Elder Yeo Il-shin and Dark Night Palace Young Leader, and deceased people who might have become enemies including Immortal Profound Void, the forces witnessed in World Tree’s city, and frequently heard rumors of Great Righteous Orthodox Alliance.

When would he have enough hands? Would such a day come?

“Have you established great cause?”

“…Yes.”

“Then I’ll ask.”

“Please inquire freely.”

“I understand you forged a vessel capable of embracing even Unorthodox Finest Sword in the north. But would Wudang Sect Leader be the same?”

Master Beom-heo’s question was quiet.

Words no one should rashly answer unless they were Wudang disciples. Because Taoist High Sword who died to Unorthodox Finest Sword was Taoist Hyeon-gong’s brother disciple. It could be called a topic Master Beom-heo had thrown out.

‘Whether you’ll embrace even others’ grudges and carry them…’

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“…I have no intention of stopping Wudang’s Head Taoist. If he comes to behead this fellow, I plan to step aside. So reflecting now, perhaps another word for my great cause is cowardice.”

“How heartless. We’ve tasted each other’s blades and have feelings.”

Though Heaven Conquering Sect Leader casually babbled with a voice tinged with laughter, Master Beom-heo only calmly asked Jeong Yeon-shin.

“A blade to use only until that day comes…?”

“I will enjoy this fellow’s martial arts without responsibility.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke seriously. Immediately, not only the head behind him and Beom-ryeol but even Heaven Conquering Sect Leader seemed to fall silent as if at a loss for words, crushed by his great cause at this moment.

It was natural.

Weren’t there just one or two people steeped in the current Divine Sword Group Leader’s life? Since many losses had been added even in the north, the briefly thrown story was enough to bring Heaven Conquering Sect Leader into the group.

“Follow to Mount Song. I see places farther than grudges.”

“Well… I understand. Magnificent, magnificent.”

Unorthodox Finest Sword had submitted to the Divine Sword Group Leader.

Though someday it would be something to shake all under heaven, what Jeong Yeon-shin immediately prioritized was different.

“Third Young Master…!”

Reunion with Jeong Family Manor’s General Administrator who had been imprisoned by noble clans. A middle-aged man of scholarly style whose wrinkles had deepened over the years. His face was one that inevitably became familiar to Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes more than any colleague at the main fortress.

“Is it really Third Young Master? Though I’ve heard strange rumors about complete transformation and such…!”

Was his grown appearance unfamiliar?

The General Administrator repeatedly looked back and forth between Jeong Yeon-shin’s attire and the Desolate character on his shoulder for a brief moment. Then he looked over his features and nodded.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin reminisced about his childhood for an instant from the General Administrator’s face.

“I heard you’ve organized a trade group since then, was it quite difficult…? When you entered as Shaolin lay disciple, your complexion was good.”

“Haha, it would naturally be so, since places like Desolate Fortress have emerged even in the merchant world. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Merchant Substitute Spring Gang. There’s nowhere that Great Righteous Orthodox Alliance or World Tree’s salt and supplies don’t enter…”

He was quite an extraordinary person. Because he had long regained his usual peaceful demeanor even while facing purple long robes before his eyes.

The General Administrator had been like this even during Jeong Family Manor’s destruction. If he hadn’t suddenly become flustered the next moment, it would have been very admirable.

“Oh my, Abbot!”

“Amitabha, a disciple of Original Dharma. It’s been a long time.”

“How have your precious footsteps come to a place that has been humble for generations…!”

“Just passing through. How are trade affairs?”

“They can only be good. How miraculous and great must be the mountain energy obtained from Mount Song? I should serve Dragon Well tea to the Abbot, but the site and fortune aren’t favorable…”

Jeong Yeon-shin passed through the front yard with humble steps.

Of course, as soon as he felt there were no major problems with the safety of those imprisoned with the General Administrator, he leaped toward the back mountain.

‘I should visit mother.’

Thud—

He crossed the ridge with only dry tree branches in one step. It was an instant until a quiet cemetery appeared.

On a low hill, over ten graves were lined up in a row. The burial mound surrounded by a three-zhang-high massive brick wall belonged to mother Ma Yeon-sang. At a glance, it was no different from a royal tomb.

“……”

It was said to be Seventh Apostle’s work. The grave weeding had been done for father’s grave in the adjacent spot.

—I’m going to Mount Song. To seek enlightenment.

—Yeah, when shall we depart?

—You need to go to Blood Flame Cult’s main group. It’s time to gradually gather forces. I need Senior Jin.

—That bast… when Divine Blood comes, your forces might greatly increase. Still, it would take a while to regenerate the arm torn off by the giant. Originally that bastard, Divine Blood is like that.

—If I boost energy circulation and breathing with the world’s purest blood energy, I might be able to shorten the time. It’s a situation where factional warfare has briefly reached a lull. Right now there’s only you.

—Only me…

—……?

—I’ll go and come back alone.

Jeong Yeon-shin put aside his thoughts.

He looked around calmly, but now there was nothing to weed. Dead grass leaves only rustled occasionally in the golden spring breeze. It seemed they would burn up the moment they met summer sunlight.

Then.

Suddenly Wol-yo dangled from his back. It was movement to absorb demonic energy among the extremely faint Three Luminous Wheels’ energy waves like dew through Return to Origin Reverse Formation, but because it was such a minute amount, he left it alone.

He was someone with many uses anyway.

“The earth energy here is also strangely dense. Somehow it feels nostalgic. It was like this when I had great enlightenment too. While training Dual Stars, spiritual earth energy pierced into Baihui acupoint.”

“Be quiet.”

“So even unprecedented killing demons know how to mourn someone. Well, jianghu people are those who selectively grieve while revering heroism. Anyway, who is the owner of that large tomb? It’s terribly disrupting feng shui harmony.”

“My mother.”

“Though it would be only bone powder, I feel rough temperament to the bones. My upper energy center resonance has always been accurate. Surely a temperament like a lone general, self-willed and troubling those around…”

Jeong Yeon-shin was slightly flustered by this unprecedented speaking style. And using the rat fire technique learned from Yue Shou-lin, he turned Wol-yo’s head while slowly looking back and forth at the two graves.

Soon his gaze stopped at one place.

Simultaneously, he remembered last words he hadn’t listened to carefully once.

—You have… it. The qualities of a grandmaster…

The reason for coming to the grave.

Jeong Family Dynamic Technique was cultivation completed through mother Ma Yeon-sang. Though he had confirmed through her alone that he was equal to Fighting God in physical recovery, people are given both parents by natural law. Just as one is usually born with both arms.

‘Father.’

The abyss of Jeong Family Manor’s third son.

Another origin.

Today, seeing Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, he thought. That hatred alone has its limits at Unorthodox Finest.

Jeong Yeon-shin was the same. His Jeong Family Dynamic Technique lacked the Jeong clan. That’s why he lost to Fighting God.

He opened his mouth calmly.

“…Now you are Divine Sword Group Leader’s father. Since you had a nature obsessed with fame and profit, if you were alive, you would have been greatly satisfied.”

In the cemetery’s characteristic quiet silence, one dead leaf mixed into the whirlwind made with Wol-yo’s head and fluttered. Jeong Yeon-shin’s soliloquy also mixed into it.

“Thank you for acknowledging me at the end. The warmth that was faintly tied to your voice has only now come to mind, and that would be why I received excessive affection in jianghu during this time. Otherwise I would never have known for life.”

“……”

“The one phrase that came to mind today.”

It seems it will make me world’s greatest. Jeong Yeon-shin swallowed his following words.

Instantly, a dry fallen leaf fluttered before his face. Was it years stuck to the leaf? Here and there were small crumbles.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought while watching the dancing leaf. After you return to earth, I hope sprouts will bloom in the cemetery.

Rustle—

As it had long been, it felt like years were being sucked into the leaf’s dance. The moment the fallen leaf that had been teasing before his eyes fell from sight and mind like falling flowers.

“Welcome to Shaolin.”

Jeong Yeon-shin was before a magnificent mountain gate.

From Jeong Family Manor’s gravesite back to the old site and up Mount Song, it had been an instant like a spinning top or falling leaf.

“Did you have any enlightenment? You were meditating the entire way.”

Heaven Conquering Sect Leader standing beside him spoke. He had been limping along using his beloved sword Winter Dream as a staff, but Jeong Yeon-shin silently looked around.

Even the air was different.

Tap, tap, taptap.

Clear wooden fish sounds settled down like a gentle breeze.

The characteristic incense scent of dharma halls seemed to tint the steep rocky mountain bluish. The voices chanting sutras here and there were also strange. Though it wasn’t Six Harmonies Complete Voice, it felt like embracing the upper energy center like a lotus.

A different world.

Shaolin’s mountain gate was the same.

There was a monk who appeared to be a gatekeeper, with a tremendous build. A scene where his large shadow was cast all the way behind the mountain gate. If there hadn’t been ordination scars on his bald head, one would have thought of Literary Star first.

“Yao tribe? In Shaolin’s precincts…?”

Heaven Conquering Sect Leader muttered.

He was already supporting his body with Void Treading Step while half-drawing his sword. Originally a killing demon, but if the opponent was Yao tribe, it felt like he wouldn’t distinguish between water and fire.

Beom-ryeol laughed.

“That’s Won-mu, head monk of Four Great Vajra. If things go wrong, he has the technique of using Benefactor’s skull as wooden fish substitute, so put away your sword.”

Mount Song Shaolin. The birthplace of Central Plains martial learning.

‘From the start…’

He was a Yao tribe member who had learned the Muscle-Changing Classic.