Chapter 235 - Treasured Sword (8)

It was a low murmur, quiet enough to sound like he was talking to himself.

Not to a supreme master. Such experts possessed a Way of Perception beyond an ordinary person's imagining. The new captain of the Radiant Demon Squad was no exception. The Supreme Demon of Divine Blood's Black-ranked junior would certainly hear him.

And he did.

"My apologies, Senior Jin."

Core energy lent a resonant hum to the calm voice. Jin Myeongjo's pale face grew whiter still.

His junior was far away, yet sounded as though he were speaking beside his ear. The voice was perfectly clear.

A little further, and that would become the rarely witnessed Six Directions Voice Transmission—the realm in which a voice amplified by internal energy rang out in every direction.

Merely having reasonably pure core energy was nowhere near enough to attempt it. This demonstrated the depth of his internal cultivation. Quite apart from the size of his reserves, his attainment in his mental cultivation method was extraordinary.

Jin Myeongjo's mouth twitched.

'Urgh...'

Waves of internal energy had radiated from the voice, laden with Dharma power.

The new Radiant Demon Squad captain stood against the faintly spreading dawn. With a cloak thrown loosely over him, he sent invisible waves rippling outward with every step.

Only Jin Myeongjo could feel that core energy as though it were tangible.

'Damn it.'

He drew a hurried breath and fortified his body with his mental cultivation method. The revulsion those energy waves provoked was tremendous.

After several cold breaths had passed through his airways, a pitch-black figure descended before him. It was the Radiant Demon Squad captain, his long robes fluttering behind him.

His landing was natural. His attainment in Mobility Arts, which resembled the movements of the noble race, was improving. His cultivation seemed deeper than when he had left the fortress.

'What a monster.'

Jin Myeongjo thought this as he held his eyes taut. He had narrowed them into straight lines just before coming face-to-face with the new captain.

The manufactured expression gave him the bearing of a mysterious yet stalwart senior, a temperament befitting his aristocratic internal energy.

He tilted his head back at an angle, like one noble greeting another.

"The Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord is staying in Lintao Prefecture."

He brought it up before his junior could step any closer. It was, in its way, an exquisite move.

His junior, Lightning Genius, narrowed his eyes. Jin Myeongjo inwardly flinched, then realized that the young man's attention had shifted to the Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord.

The relief that washed over him in that brief instant was immense. Inwardly, he soothed his pounding heart.

Then the Radiant Demon Squad captain spoke.

"Lintao Prefecture. At the western edge of Shaanxi."

"The Tyrant Sword Tribe's main sect is located there. I heard he had entered secluded cultivation. I haven't seen him emerge beneath its signboard, and judging by his energy waves, the report is true. They are right to call him mad for the sword."

Jin Myeongjo spoke in a level tone.

Jung Yeonshin nodded.

"You have gone to a great deal of trouble traveling back and forth. And you have taken on the most dangerous task..."

He was personally keeping watch over a Lord of the Thirteen Skies. Anyone but the Blood-Preserving Squad captain, who had refined yin energy to its utmost limit, would have struggled even to approach. It was the most dangerous scouting assignment.

Concealing one's internal energy within the domain of an unparalleled master whose prowess invited comparison to purple rank was utterly different from hiding one's energy waves before lesser martial artists.

It was a task Jung Yeonshin, who had yet to achieve Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, would find difficult to perform.

"You overstep."

Senior Jin, the Supreme Demon of Divine Blood, raised the corners of his mouth slightly. His smile was rather chilly.

"However outstanding your abilities, you must understand this separately. How can one captain's duty weigh more than another's? The Radiant Demon Squad captain's work and the Blood-Preserving Squad captain's work are equal. Your concern is my disgrace. Remember that."

"..."

Jung Yeonshin raised his eyebrows.

Even his senior's momentary lowering of his chin struck him as a meaningful nod.

His eyes widened slightly. None of the masters of the Hall of the Sword That Seeks Peace were quite like this senior. He was deeply impressed.

Here was someone who faithfully fulfilled his duties while encouraging his junior through word and deed. His aloof bearing was remarkably stylish.

Thinking that he ought to follow this example, Jung Yeonshin spoke.

"There have been no major developments on my side, either. I struck one of the local unorthodox factions' strongholds, but there was no immediate retaliation. They were different from underworld thugs. They proposed settling matters three days later... They were extremely cautious."

He finished calmly.

They had met to exchange updates. The spirit beasts gifted by the imperial family were busy traveling between the Blood-Preserving Squad, the Radiant Demon Squad, and the Desolate Fortress itself.

For captains accomplished in Mobility Arts, meeting in person was preferable.

"Cautious? Of course they were, if they had eyes."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

Senior Jin, the Blood-Preserving Squad captain, remained difficult to read. Was even the blood in his veins made of iron?

'Sometimes he says things I don't understand.'

He soon set the thought aside.

"Xi'an's evil and unorthodox factions were as the fortress's intelligence described. The Remnant-Revering Earth Sect, Whiteburn Gate, Severance Pavilion, Great Spirit Awe-Shaking Sect, Sword Demon Sect, Heaven-Ending Saber Sect, Radiant Moon House..."

Jung Yeonshin shared the current situation in Shaanxi with Jin Myeongjo in a conversation focused on the essentials. Travel was slow in this world.

Sources of news were scarce. After spirit beasts, the lightness skills of supreme masters were the fastest means of exchanging information.

For this mission, Jung Yeonshin had raced for ten days from Huguang Province and struck straight at the heart of matters.

He had come knowing that the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect was subordinate to the Lingering Spirits. Among the great evil-path factions, the Lingering Spirits of the Thirteen skies were renowned for intelligence gathering and devious schemes.

If he wanted to learn Jung Hye's whereabouts, starting here would be the shortest route.

He had used his authority as captain to change the mission's priorities.

He had put his original assignment on hold, obtaining the Desolate Fortress master's permission through the chief administrator. Apparently, this was not uncommon. The seventeen captains of the Divine Sword Squad enjoyed greater discretion than he had imagined.

If a captain deemed something the fortress's concern, the fortress would briefly deliberate and issue a new mission. Such was the standing of a Black-ranked supreme master.

The new Radiant Demon Squad captain was no exception.

1. Exterminate the evil and unorthodox practitioners disrupting the livelihoods of Xi'an's people.

2. Kill the Lingering Spirits expert posing as the leader of the White Sun Sect.

3. Mass killing authorized, regardless of status.

Those were the Radiant Demon Squad captain's dispatch orders. The first provision was connected to Jung Hye's safety. Jung Yeonshin thought that if he kept cutting off heads, something was bound to turn up.

Killing intent seeped from the new captain's body.

The seventeen captains of the Divine Sword Squad were a group of supreme masters whose thoughts immediately manifested in their bearing. They had reached a realm in which the internal energy dwelling throughout their bodies exerted pressure on their surroundings.

Jin Myeongjo flinched.

The toe of his shoe twisted slightly against the thin ice beneath him. Only the clear water nearby stirred; his balance remained undisturbed.

Was that thanks to his exquisite lightness technique? Jung Yeonshin inwardly marveled. He was always practicing his Mobility Arts.

'As elegant as the Moon-Shooting Bow Fiend.'

He recalled Wi Yeryeong, who had joined the Radiant Demon Squad from the Immortal Wood Spirit command. She was a blue-robed master archer.

With the profound bearing befitting one of the noble race, she had given Jung Yeonshin considerable inspiration. She would be waiting with the other Radiant Demon Squad seniors now.

"You can handle it alone, I trust."

Jin Myeongjo spoke abruptly.

When Jung Yeonshin looked puzzled, he added,

"Xi'an's Murim."

"Ah."

"This is the martial world at a captain's level. The scale is different. If you accomplish this task, you will unequivocally join the ranks of those who concern themselves with the world at large. Your fame will reach throughout the Central Plains north of the river, and you will be assigned only missions befitting your name. Bear that in mind, and prevail."

"... Yes."

"I will send word the moment the Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord moves. Don't get yourself killed by some worthless bastards."

"May fortune favor your battles, Senior Jin."

Jung Yeonshin was about to offer a fist-and-palm salute when Jin Myeongjo, the Supreme Demon of Divine Blood, shook his head slightly.

BOOM!

Right before his junior, he kicked off the thin ice beneath his feet. The leap carried monstrous internal energy. It was as though he had used the explosion of core energy itself as a foothold.

His black robes fluttering, the Blood-Preserving Squad captain shot straight upward. His Mobility Arts called a bat to mind.

Sunlight scattered in fragments across the water spraying around him.

'Damn it, even my skin's going to burn. I can't take this. Run.'

So thought Jin Myeongjo.

"I shall wish you fortune in battle."

Murmuring with an indifferent expression, he swept his sleeves with a flourish. They snapped in the air.

Using the recoil of his core energy, he changed direction in midair. Turning his back, Jin Myeongjo vanished into the distance with elegant, winglike movements.

WHOOOSH!

It was a miraculous feat approaching Soaring Through the Void. It seemed to be one of those consummate skills every Desolate Fortress captain was said to possess. It was profoundly mysterious, enough to appear almost supernatural.

'So there are techniques like that, too.'

Jung Yeonshin's eyes shone.

In that instant, he found tremendous inspiration. Senior Jin truly was different. From conduct to technique, there was nothing about him unworthy of emulation.

Today was no exception. He now understood what his own eye technique should pursue. Its direction was finally clear.

It was a major accomplishment.

'Now, with just one catalyst, I can become even...'

Stronger.

* * *

Word of Chivalrous Sword Gal Dojin and the Young Hero of Xi'an, So Yurang, spread far and wide. They had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the outsiders' so-called Chief.

There had been too many witnesses. Not one of the inn's patrons had been harmed.

Rumors of the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect's humiliation spread like wildfire.

Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

Though tensions had gripped it lately, it was still a great city, sprawling across an enormous area. That meant there were plenty of places to hide and discuss rumors.

And not merely one or two. People gathered beyond the eyes of the unorthodox martial artists, whispering with interest.

"Demon Footsoldier So Yurang went down in one move!"

"I heard Gal Dojin couldn't even draw his sword properly."

"That's an exaggeration. He's the Fell Sword, after all. I heard his sword was shoved back into its sheath as he drew it."

"They say two men did it, but another two have joined them now. They seem to be a band of rather accomplished wandering warriors. Probably drifted here looking for food."

"I heard they're more than skilled enough to earn their keep..."

"Well, of course."

"There are only a handful of them, but they've finally given us some entertainment. They look likely to last a good while."

It was an inner chamber in a manor, a very spacious room.

Wi Ilhwa, leader of the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect, sat in a dark brown ceremonial armchair, listening to the voices.

She gave a little laugh and crossed her legs.

Cool sunlight poured down from every side. Each mote of drifting dust stood out clearly. The air was so heavy it seemed visible.

To those trembling before Wi Ilhwa, it would truly feel that way.

"Could he be on par with the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect leader...?"

"Surely not... You know too little of the Demon-Scattering Sword... Perhaps he could embarrass her..."

Sunlight falling through the windows illuminated more than a dozen mouths. It touched them with a searing texture.

Commoners and wandering warriors. They endlessly repeated the words they had uttered just before their capture, kneeling before the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect leader with faces gripped by abject terror.

Wi Ilhwa's lips curled upward.

"Go on. Keep going."

She savored the faces and voices of those dragged before her. Her mind, cultivated through evil arts, steeped in sweetness.

Even poppies could scarcely compare. It felt as though sweets like candied hawthorn were melting inside her head.

This was her peculiar indulgence: tormenting people slowly to death. Among the pastimes of evil and unorthodox sect leaders, it was relatively restrained.

Whiteburn Gate leader Jang Ilgi, for instance, had once slowly cut the throats of ten commoners before the Tyrant Sword Tribe's Ghost-Soul Divine Sword.

'Compared to him, at least.'

Wi Ilhwa spoke.

"The Remnant-Revering Earth Sect has suffered a grave loss of face."

"..."

Silence spread instantly. The disciples standing beyond the commoners held their breath.

What that man called Chief had done.

Respect for the evil and unorthodox paths arose from fear of their conduct and martial power, and he had swept all of that into a cesspit.

Even in a martial world where fights broke out without warning, this qualified as a major incident. If they failed to settle it, maintaining their position as an emerging regional noble clan would become difficult.

Better to attack together. In the unorthodox martial world, the power of popular standing was no different from martial strength.

"Send this letter to that Chief after three days... And add a separate message for Whiteburn Gate leader Jang Ilgi, that Zhongnan traitor. Tell him I shall keep summoning Shaanxi's Foremost Demon in mind, so he may need to contact the Tyrant Sword Tribe's Ghost-Soul Divine Sword. Tell everyone to lie low first."

Her response followed the ways of the unorthodox paths to the letter. She laid her schemes to dismantle the powerful outsider who had entered Xi'an and turn him into fertilizer for her sect.

"A swordsman who controls a single blade with qi is not the only kind of powerful man. If someone can mobilize a thousand swords, that person is an unparalleled master, too. Like me."

Wi Ilhwa left her subordinates several written orders.

Then she hid herself here.

The powerful invariably had their own refuges. The leaders of the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect, too, had possessed a distant safe house for generations. It was a hall built harmoniously into the mountains.

She had withdrawn temporarily because she was not confident of surviving if that unidentified supreme master stormed in.

There was no need to stand her ground. The unorthodox had their own rules. Crushing him to death through the methods of the evil and unorthodox paths would suffice.

Her fingertips lightly scraped the armrest.

How many other wandering warriors like the Sword Star could there be? They generally died before becoming unparalleled masters. That was how it usually went.

"It has happened more than once or twice."

Her amused murmur was swallowed by the cries of mountain birds.

* * *

Three days later.

Zhuge Hyeon, who had entered disguised as a merchant, felt it distinctly. The instant he set foot in Xi'an, he had the impression that the city was on the move.

Something was wrong.

Merchants folded up their stalls. Inn attendants who had noisily solicited customers along the main road hid themselves as well.

They disappeared into shops and inns without the slightest sign of coming back out.

Two notices were posted in an alley.

[Let the band of wandering warriors occupying Fruit Cloud receive the judgment of our brethren below Great Moon Gorge at noon on Minor Snow. We comrades who follow the chivalrous path have united in purpose. If you know shame, you would do well to withdraw first. We have resolved to punish and expel these lawless outsiders. The stern blades of Xi'an are now leveled at you.

—Wi Ilhwa, Demon-Scattering Sword, Leader of the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect]

[What a load of bullshit.

—True Elder Brother, Acting Chief of the Vast Genius Stockade]

Beneath them, needles fallen from a nearby pine rolled this way and that.

Already dried yellow, they looked lifeless. A low, chilly wind was blowing.

The bustling city had fallen quiet, as though united in fear.

"What in the world..."

An extraordinarily handsome man with a scholarly air gathered his sleeves close.

It was Fan Dragon Zhuge Hyeon.

"It was so lively when the Zhongnan Sect was here."

"Young master, that is not a name you should speak lightly. Xi'an is now called such things as a den of demons..."

The man walking beside Fan Dragon spoke. He, too, wore yellow padded clothes, his hands tucked into his sleeves like a merchant.

As a martial artist of the Zhuge Clan's Worthy Heaven Squad, he was skilled at concealing his energy.

The eldest young master, who had cultivated the clan's eye technique, had come in person. Using the Bone-Shrinking Art, a mystical martial technique, he had softened the bone structure around his eyes.

The martial lineage inherited by the Zhuge heir contained many such mysterious arts.

"I hear all manner of unorthodox factions are on the move. All to catch one wandering warrior thought to be a supreme master."

"Thanks to that, our covert agents have found more openings to infiltrate. Gathering intelligence has become easier. It is like a typhoon swirling around a single inn."

They walked briskly, lowering their voices almost to the level of sound transmission.

"What is the place called?"

"The Fruit Cloud Inn, they said."

The Martial Alliance in Hanzhong, like the Zhongnan Sect, had roots in Xi'an. On hearing of the upheaval, they had no choice but to come investigate.

They had also heard the rumors of the wandering warriors who had thoroughly humiliated the Remnant-Revering Earth Sect.

"We should take a look. Considering what lies ahead, we need to know how powerful they are."

"We are almost there. They say not even an ant approaches it now."

It happened then.

"I'll pay double."

"I am sorry. I deserve death for this..."

"No, just sell it to me. I'm offering you silver, aren't I?"

"My apologies. My sincerest apologies..."

In the middle of the increasingly deserted street, a merchant wearing a shabby yellow robe despite the winter was arguing with someone.

They stood before a stall displaying dried grain. Perhaps the need to earn his livelihood had kept him from closing it.

He seemed unwilling to deal with the man standing with his weight cocked onto one leg like a thug. Anyone could see that he feared the unorthodox martial artist.

Zhuge Hyeon's eyebrows contorted oddly.

"What is he doing here?"

"That man is the Supreme Flame..."

Fan Dragon's subordinate closed his mouth and stared ahead.

The Hwangbo clan's Supreme Flame Dragon was already squatting before the stall. He looked like an underworld thug through and through.

Even the way he worked his empty mouth, as though chewing poppy, fit the image.

"Did someone put you up to this? Tell you not to sell us food? Who was it? Those Remnant-Revering Earth Sect vermin? I never knew Xi'an was this hostile to outsiders. The martial world's sense of decency has hit rock bottom."

"Great hero, even if you do this to me...!"

"There's a growing child in our household. Those arms and legs are worth a fortune. Will you take responsibility if they don't grow as long as they should? Even when I'm offering silver? These really are the end times!"

The merchant's face turned white. Just before he could answer, Zhuge Hyeon approached them.

"What is all this commotion in broad daylight?"

"If you don't know, keep your... Hm?"

Turning only his head slightly, the Supreme Flame Dragon looked at Zhuge Hyeon and raised his eyebrows in astonishment. The Blue Qilin, Fan Dragon, and Supreme Flame Dragon had been counted among the foremost talents of the regional noble clans.

They had become acquainted through gatherings hosted by Blue Qilin Namgoong Sejin. A disguise and the Bone-Shrinking Art were not enough to keep them from recognizing each other.

"Well, there's a surprise."

Just as the Supreme Flame Dragon chuckled, the merchant cried out.

"D-duck! Duck down!"

He had been glancing habitually at the sky, and now forced the words from his throat.

WOOOOOM!

A great rumble echoed on and on, from a height near the clouds. The Supreme Flame Dragon and Zhuge Hyeon glanced up, their eyes widening.

Far away in the sky, they saw an old woman riding a sword.

She was a one-armed swordswoman with ears like blade tips. Though distant enough to appear a mere speck, her monstrous presence swept over them.

She cut a straight line across the blue expanse. A blue tassel streamed from the end of the sword hilt beneath her feet, along with her empty sleeve.

Ethereal waves spread ceaselessly outward. Through some mysterious means, she was reproducing sword-riding flight.

She did not so much as glance down. She looked like an immortal with no interest in the mortal world below. That was how she appeared, at least.

Zhuge Hyeon murmured gravely.

"Sword-riding flight... The Ghost-Soul Divine Sword!"

"Xi'an's unorthodox factions, and now a supreme master of the Thirteen skies."

The Supreme Flame Dragon muttered with a frown.

For a long while, neither could move. They stood silent beside the merchant on the hushed street.

Only the winter wind rustling through the pine needles rang loudly, like a dry whistle.