Chapter 535: Chapter 535

'They’re both insane.'

That thought struck at the exact moment Jade Cliff’s fist cracked with a sharp snap. A series of thunderous booms erupted along the boundary of the formation.

An explosive wave of qi, triggered in rapid succession. It was the order to the Wudang disciples encircling the arena—to open the formation.

"Head Master, you can’t leave now. Hand over the expelled disciple."

[Seven Thrones Veil the Heavens!]

Over a hundred Wudang disciples shouted in unison. Their voices were laden with sorrow.

"You’re all really doing this?"

At that roar, Hyun Gong, who had seemed ready to depart at any second, jerked his head back stiffly.

Rrrrumble! Crraaaaack—!

Suddenly, the massive qi barrier shattered into countless fragments, and a pair of warhorses streaked down through the air.

A deafening thunderclap pressed in against the eardrums. With each pounding of hooves, the shockwave tore not only the earth beneath but even the air itself, splitting it apart.

[Where is he, Gwangya Ilmyeol.]

The voice boomed like a shockwave—so fierce it was impossible to tell whether it was a human shout or a blast of force.

Hyun Gong’s eyes widened instantly.

"That appearance... A northern bastard dares trespass upon the sacred grounds?"

A spy from the north. The Maddened Dream Demon.

The crazed Head Master.

The Wudang masters determined to restore the order of the sect.

And now—an overwhelming warhorse crashing into the battlefield from nowhere.

The sacred mountain Wudang, shrouded in a blanket of white clouds, had in an instant become the center of a world-shaking clash.

Jade Cliff clenched his eyes shut. The tranquil air unique to Mount Wudang flared into raging flames as waves of power ignited it.

"What is your objective?"

In that instant, the sky flashed white with streaks of lightning.

Hyun Gong’s sword intercepted the warhorse charging with a thunderous gallop, and the resulting rebound filled the air with blinding light. Even the withered trees below were torn up by their roots, hurled skyward as if caught in a typhoon.

And yet, the iron-colored aura shielding the rider deflected Hyun Gong’s Pine Crest Sword without so much as a scratch, only sparking red embers on contact.

Hyun Gong caught sight of the man on the warhorse.

He wore a bamboo hat like the Lord of Celestial Extremes, clearly to hide his face. The unstable surges of energy distorted the very air around him, making even his jawline impossible to see.

[Answer the question. This fight is meaningless.]

The man's tone was detached. His voice rumbled like a thunderclap, scattering all nearby qi with brutal force.

It was a bright afternoon, shafts of sunlight pouring down in pristine beams.

―First, we must eliminate the source of the qi that’s exacerbating the Head Master’s mind demon. The sound-based attack technique employed by the Maddened Dream Demon is the primary cause. According to our sect’s knowledge, it’s a divine martial technique for mind control—insidiously subtle and unbelievably cruel. Also... you must never meet his eyes. Even if nothing happens to you, we can’t be sure...

It had been Ju Se-hwa’s advice.

She was no longer by Jeong Yeon-shin’s side. The moment he began his descent, she had fallen behind. Her lightness technique was a tier below that of Tae Yeom-ryong.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes settled, calm and unwavering.

Hyun Gong Zhenin in his possessed state was already a major problem—but he wasn’t sure the Maddened Dream Demon was the same.

That was because of the overwhelming qi that had suddenly erupted across the battlefield. A presence so immense, Jeong Yeon-shin had rarely experienced anything like it before.

And it wasn’t just one.

Two unmatched warriors moving as if one body, and yet they didn’t seem inferior to Hyun Gong Zhenin at all. It was unbelievable, but unmistakable.

It should have been impossible.

Jeong Yeon-shin and Ipwang Fortress had already endured countless battles, with immeasurable sacrifice, to reach this point.

The martial world had largely settled into some form of order.

There were many eccentric masters across the land, sure—but for someone to suddenly appear and stand shoulder to shoulder with the Five Heavenly Swords?

Even if such peerless warriors existed, these new arrivals exuded a completely alien qi.

Rough, yet refined. Destructive, yet composed. They carried such contradictory energy within a single body that Jeong Yeon-shin couldn’t even begin to guess what martial techniques they used.

‘Unless... they came from an entirely different world.’

Jeong Yeon-shin was startled by his own thought.

At the same time, he sensed a familiar presence beside him.

"This time... where have you been?"

He suddenly asked, while darting through the air. Shin Cheonhwa was right beside him.

Her lips curved into a playful smile.

"Always remember and stay wary. Masters of illusion and spatial arts can exist anywhere. They treat the world as one giant step through void paths. There are likely a few in the northern martial world too."

"Then you could just teach me the formulas for Void Transposition, couldn’t you?"

It wasn’t an arrogant request.

He wasn’t begging for power as an individual—he was requesting a strategic tool as the acting leader of the Divine Sword Sect. It was a legitimate demand.

But Shin Cheonhwa merely gave him a faint, amused shake of the head.

"You can already traverse the branches of the World Tree wherever you wish. You even have sword strikes that track through Void. You’re already a complete warrior."

"You’re more than enough. It’s for your own sake."

She lightly clasped her hands behind her back, stepping down just as Jeong Yeon-shin launched upward again. Their stride matched flawlessly.

The surroundings distorted from the sheer speed of their lightness movement, racing downward through the air.

"It’s better you don’t delve deeper into sorcery and arts. Those who stared too deep into the fabric of reality always met a horrible end. That includes what I taught you. Use them as light tricks, but always prioritize the sword."

"Like corpses sealed in tombs—natural energy can invade the death acupoints and cause premature death. Sorcery is the art of manipulating harmony beyond one’s own skill. Unless you wear precious artifacts for protection, you’ll pay a price. That’s the curse of those who study these arts."

"...Once, I clashed blades with Wudang’s Head Master. He wielded external power through natural force, and yet the stability of his qi was astounding."

"That’s because it was Jang Sam-bong’s martial art."

She didn’t elaborate. Her words ended there.

Then Shin Cheonhwa added,

"Four times. That’s how many times I’ve used Void Transposition in my life. It’s not a technique you abuse unless you’re about to die. You’d be better off mastering your Three Pure Powers."

Suddenly, Jeong Yeon-shin felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Hadn’t they had this exact conversation before...?

‘Was it right after the Battle of Ipwang?’

He’d heard this all once already—from the true Shin Cheonhwa, just before she vanished from the world.

The Shin Cheonhwa who had traveled with him recently—was nothing more than an illusion conjured by his unstable mind.

Suddenly, a sleeve violently brushed against his arm. He could feel its texture, vividly.

Shin Cheonhwa, with whom he’d been speaking just a moment ago, was gone.

No—she had moved far ahead.

He could see her back.

Beyond her sharp shoulders, a battlefield unfolded. Her fluttering violet robes somehow felt perfectly at home with the sight.

Yet she no longer remained a single, stable figure.

Like a gemstone that refracted differently at every angle, her form kept changing.

That violet-clad warrior—

In this moment, she looked like Shin Cheonhwa... but also like Yong Hui-myeong. For a split second, she even shimmered into Ma Yeon-jeok’s reliable back.

Then she reverted back into Shin Cheonhwa again. No matter which form she took, they were all leaders of the Divine ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Sword Sect—figures who could turn the tide of any battle in the world.

And simultaneously, they were manifestations of his own heart demon.

A youth who had witnessed the deaths of countless true warriors while his own internal energy surged unstoppably along his crown acupoint.

The heart demon had crept in without a sound.

To reclaim himself, he had to shatter it within his own mind.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Jeong Yeon-shin corrected himself. That wasn’t enough.

The shockwave from Ten Li Radiance crushed the earth beneath him into pieces. Cracks spread like an earthquake across the land. He stepped forward again.

It was the seventeenth step.

Jeong Yeon-shin burst through the space behind him, scattering faint white shockwaves in all directions.

He soared upward—high enough to see the entire battlefield of Wudang Mountain in one sweep.

It was instantaneous.

As his body merged with the shimmering images of the three shifting forms, his long black hair and violet robe darkened further.

It was warm. The phrase “sovereign unto himself” surfaced in his mind.

He was the one who inherited them all.

No one else in the world.

Finally, the memories resurfaced—what the real Shin Cheonhwa had said just before disappearing after the Battle of Ipwang. Words he could now reflect on at last.

The final farewell, ending with kind words acknowledging the burdens he would carry.

It echoed in his mind again.

―You, too, are a leader of the Divine Sword Sect.

Suddenly, shards of translucent glass formed in his vision—and shattered completely.

Those fragments bore many names. Defeat. Impatience. Sorrow. Inferiority. Fear...

Heart demons that narrowed a man’s sight and cast his soul into hellfire.

Now merged with the phantom of Shin Cheonhwa, Jeong Yeon-shin accepted all of it—and let it flow gently away through the tips of his feet.

The unseen fragments fell quietly to the ground, mingling with the fading echoes of Ten Li Radiance.

From a place far, far above.

The moment the world felt utterly pure and clear—

“What the hell is that now?!”

“Gwangya Ilmyeol... no, that’s Yeonhwa Nata, the Empty Guest! How did he move that fast?!”

“...So he’s the one I already crossed swords with. I told them not to look for him.”

“Ipwang Fortress’s Seomye? Why does he look perfectly fine...?”

He was already falling—swept into the fading tempest of qi radiating outward.

The last voice of doubt came from a handsome young man standing at the center of the battlefield, and beside him stood Hyun Gong Zhenin.

The Maddened Dream Demon.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand moved to his waist.

The moment he gripped the sword hilt tied to his belt, he felt the quiet engraving of an old pine tree—then a piercing, crystalline hum erupted from the Pine Crest Sword.

A sound like something invisible being shattered.

The natural camouflage of the sword had broken.

In that instant, every gaze from the Wudang immortals snapped toward the Pine Crest Sword.

Their once-separate, elegant waves of qi began to merge into a single circular current. The origin of that force was Jeong Yeon-shin’s grasp.

It took less than a breath for the wild, overpowering storm of internal energy to weave into a single thread.

With the blade now reversed in his grip, Jeong Yeon-shin brought down the Pine Crest Sword in a detached motion—as if dropping something trivial.

The ancient sword pierced through the Maddened Dream Demon’s ribs and pinned him into the ground. Only then did his scream tear out, and Hyun Gong Zhenin’s eyes sharpened like drawn steel.

Yet no shockwave followed the strike.

Only the dirt of the wide clearing rippled outward, sketching a vast symbol into the ground—like a colossal serpent coiling into a spiral.

Hyun Gong Zhenin’s movement stopped as he glanced down.

The same was true for the high masters of Wudang, whose noble waves of qi had just been emanating with force.

The faint crackling of firewood breaking.

Beneath everyone’s feet, a sapphire-blue Taiji slowly began to burn with a subtle flame. A circle formed from endless blue fire.