Chapter 563: Chapter 563

—Yeom Jeong, Yeom Jeong. Answer me, Yeom Jeong.

—I told you not to call me that. How dare those who weren’t even accepted into the Six Original Star Lords address me so familiarly...

—There is someone I’ve come to love. A monarch under my command, a great warrior. How should I approach them?

—Come to me, and I’ll sever your neck.

—It is a harder problem than grinding down a king’s life with an axe. All my cultivation is useless.

—Yeom Jeong need not respond. And you, please stop as well. # Nоvеlight # The royal house that Yeom Jeong established was built through coercion. Not all elders are wise.

—Then I shall ask you, advisor of the God of War, Mun Gok. My great warrior is a hybrid—our clan and those long-eared scoundrels. Brave by nature, undeniably manly...

—Rather than asking me, why not seek the new Northern King, Yaryul? He may be surprisingly worldly. I’m curious about his insight.

—Northern King Yaryul? Isn’t he dead yet?

—He’s the one who directly defied the God of War’s will in this Whirling Wind Hollow. If he possesses even half the audacity of that act, he won’t die so easily—he’ll carve out territory and expand. I heard the Ice Emperor who was at his side vanished somewhere with her consort... You’re listening, aren’t you, King Yaryul?

—Then I ask the only Northern King in this land without a Heaven-Piercing Armor. My great warrior is one of resolute bonds and clean breaks, a monarch who mastered the Cloud Dragon’s Grand Eight Forms, stolen from the south...

Jeong Yeon-shin quietly gazed into the void above.

Though snow covered the earth, the northern sky was not frozen. A firm full moon spilled dense light as it illuminated the drifting clouds above.

The winter wind was rough.

Now and then, tiny stone fragments rolled under Jeong Yeon-shin’s feet, and brittle twigs poked through the lightly disturbed ground, exhaling the bitter scent of dry earth.

Everything felt stark.

It was the scent of the North.

Somewhere far away, a starving wolf howled into the night air.

Amidst that, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly clenched and unclenched his fist. A city within the desolate Guanghon mountain range. Countless presences stirred around him.

‘The pulses of their hearts are overwhelming.’

Beats surging violently from the heart of the Four Kings of Dragon Resonance’s territory. Vibrations released by the myriad Yozoku and martial artists as they slept.

Each of their hearts, anchored in their middle dantian, gave off seismic tremors.

The sound of the North.

“Your Majesty, why do you not seek rest...?”

A middle-aged voice, slightly flustered, broke the stillness.

He likely spoke first, unable to avoid detection by the Northern King Yaryul’s sensory perception. Jeong Yeon-shin slowly turned his head.

A man stood there, a sword strapped to his back, wearing a plain mask.

The moment their eyes met, his brows twitched slightly, but his limbs and muscles remained still. An iron composure.

It was one of two things:

Either he was confident in his body’s resilience, or Jeong Yeon-shin’s presence was so terrifying that even his inner energy had locked him rigid.

‘Demon Annihilation Blade.’

A supreme martial artist who had received the Heaven-Piercing Armor directly from the God of War, and until recently, ruled as the Lord of Hocheonseong on the northern front.

Lately, he had become renowned as the one who survived an Yi Gi Yu Geom strike from the Yeonhwa Nata.

So Jeong Yeon-shin held him in particular regard.

It was through him that he first encountered the Heaven-Piercing Armor—and though he never showed it, he deeply respected the God of War’s martial legacy.

He asked the masked swordsman standing still:

“...Northern martial artists rarely close their eyes for long. Warhorses use lightness techniques. You never know when you’ll be trampled.”

Somehow, the Demon Annihilation Blade was overly talkative. As if he’d once tried and failed to escape the Northern King’s camp. Now that he thought about it, his manner of speech had also become more polite.

But Jeong Yeon-shin paid it no mind. He had more pressing matters.

“You were taught by the God of War too?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

He asked. The Demon Annihilation Blade’s gaze turned cold.

“Taught? I could not call him my master.”

“I was merely lucky to be included in a group handpicked by some unknown standard. Martial masters who crossed the Great Wall over ten years ago. The God of War sat there like a schoolteacher and casually shared the secrets of the Heaven-Piercing Armor. Told us to survive as best we could in that wild, harsh land...”

The man’s voice, once focused only on self-preservation, now dipped into memory.

Jeong Yeon-shin could clearly feel it. The awe and reverence the Demon Annihilation Blade held for that unbelievable figure.

“Of course, the God of War showed no particular interest in anyone. It was up to each of us to make something of his teachings. He seemed to think that understanding the formulas immediately was something anyone could do. But... I still consider him my master. I believe many others do too.”

Faint sparks flickered from his hand.

It was the friction of internal energy from the Heaven-Piercing Armor. Dozens of compressed layers of true energy—dense enough to withstand even Yi Gi Yu Geom. And now, the Demon Annihilation Blade’s body was already far from the cliff of Mount Guanghon.

He had withdrawn naturally as he spoke, step by silent step.

As though he’d always been standing over there. Even Jeong Yeon-shin tilted his head slightly in surprise.

The Northern King Yaryul asked calmly,

“Where are you going?”

“...The scenery here is lovely. No better place to enjoy the night view beneath the ten-thousand-foot cliff.”

In the next instant, Jeong Yeon-shin was standing beside him.

Light, faint remnants of the Ten Li Glimmering Step drifted behind like feathers. And behind the Demon Annihilation Blade’s mask, his eyes filled with a mix of dismay and shock.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke in a low tone.

“I need your strength.”

“Well, of course. I’ve heard in detail what you did at the Whirling Wind Hollow.”

The Demon Annihilation Blade nodded, pretending calm.

“Even now, all manner of Northern Kings are watching your every move with keen interest. Some war-crazed ones are likely on their way to cut off your head. No—there’s no doubt about it. Northerners are far more warlike than those of the South!”

His voice, a suppressed shout, carried the weight of a shifting world.

Whether genuine or not, the Demon Annihilation Blade looked ready to bolt. But Jeong Yeon-shin had his attention elsewhere.

From the start, this man, the one closest to the Great Wall and former Lord of Hocheonseong, was unlikely to fear such things.

“The ones you speak of—they turned their backs on the Southern Emperor in the Whirling Wind Hollow.”

“Of course they did. A Northern King trying to kill another? That’s straying far from the God of War’s will. Unthinkable!”

The Demon Annihilation Blade again stepped slightly away from the cliff edge, and Jeong Yeon-shin followed him with a composed expression.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean they’ll have any affection for me. Every Northern King I’ve met was a madman. I’m not after them—I want the mastery of your defensive inner energy.”

He spoke in a low tone.

And then, for the first time, he saw the Demon Annihilation Blade grow serious. The claim that he considered the God of War his master seemed real.

“You want the Heaven-Piercing Armor? Have you no pride?”

“I’m not asking you to give it to me. I’m proposing a duel. And yes, it’s true—I don’t have much pride to begin with.”

Jeong Yeon-shin replied calmly.

The last words of the Jade Sword Zhenren, the heads of the Main Fortress warriors left dangling on the battlefield, the corpses of Myeong-ryu and Soyeon... These scenes flickered in the mind of the Master of the Shin Sword Corps.

He made no effort to recall what came before all that.

This young man had lost much, too soon—and now, having overcome that heart-demon, he stood in the heart of the northern martial world.

One who moves the great powers of the world.

He was, quite literally, preparing for war. He had already accepted the unseen God of War as his Grand Master.

Then, the Demon Annihilation Blade stirred beneath his mask and spoke:

“...Strike once. Lightly. With ten thousand pounds of intent in your hand.”

It was supposed to be a friendly match. But the Demon Annihilation Blade couldn’t keep up with Jeong Yeon-shin’s strike, and his whole body absorbed the shockwave that burst faintly from his abdomen, sending him flying deep into the city.

The air rippled like midsummer heat. Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin casually dusted off the back of his striking hand.

For a moment, the Demon Annihilation Blade staggered, dazed, carving twin ruts into the ground before finally stopping. Then he suddenly grinned, somewhat triumphant.

“You even added Internal Weight Manipulation in that short instant. If we’re talking reaction speed to that kind of energy flow, only someone like a Star Lord of the Six Origins might keep up.”

“The Heaven-Piercing Armor I operate blocks the infiltration of inner energy. As long as the opponent uses the same level of true energy, there’s no way my internal defense can be broken. At this level, even the Pang family’s blade techniques would be easy to chew through.”

Then the Demon Annihilation Blade muttered that it might be worth a try, glancing warily at the cliff beyond Yaryul’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened and closed his hand.

There was almost no rebound.

The lingering sensation on his hand was oddly faint. Each strand of true energy forming the defensive aura felt like flexible threads of iron.

And if even Internal Weight Manipulation was ineffective... this might well be invincible.

A martial art with no weakness...?

Even the Moon Spirit Divine Technique of the Lord of Ipwang Fortress had shown weakness to shadow-based blood techniques.

And what about Dream Demon Body, which planted heart demons in the Grandmaster of Wudang’s Three Peaks?

Jeong Yeon-shin walked toward the now re-energized Demon Annihilation Blade.

The Heaven-Piercing Armor was a strategic martial art in and of itself, but surely, there had to be a way to counter it.

Though each version manifested differently depending on the practitioner, meaning universal counters were meaningless...

“...I’ve heard some forms of Heaven-Piercing Armor can even be used offensively.”

The Demon Annihilation Blade snorted.

“More than half the Northern Kings do that. With their inner arts, it’s rare for any of them not to be tyrannical.”

“So I’ll need to prepare to break through each one.”

“Prepare? Unless you’ve seen the unique inner technique of each individual Northern King, that’s impossible. Even if you know their martial arts, you never know how the Heaven-Piercing Armor will take shape.”

“If it were that easy to analyze, would the Ming military’s formations have been stuck at the Great Wall? They’ve got more troops than this land has people...”

Suddenly, Jeong Yeon-shin raised his right hand like a claw and pressed it onto the Demon Annihilation Blade’s shoulder.

He brought his pinky and ring finger together, index and middle fingers together, and thumb extended—forming three branches.

“I get it for now. I’ll see you at the war council.”

It resembled the initiation gesture of Shaolin’s Dragon Fist, mimicking a dragon’s claw—but far more destructive.

A translucent fracture appeared on the Demon Annihilation Blade’s shoulder and quickly spread across his entire body.

It was like a glass shell shattering. The defensive aura surrounding his whole form broke apart. This was a new move from the unnamed Shattering Ultimate Technique that had yet to be fully defined.

“Yours was simpler, in a way. The strands of defensive energy were bundled together—once I tore them off, it was over. The real issue will be when the structures for offense and defense differ.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about...!”

“I’m still figuring it out myself. The technique’s not finished yet.”

Jeong Yeon-shin walked past the stunned Demon Annihilation Blade.

A masked warrior who revered the God of War.

Not someone easily recruited, at least not on the surface—but with his most trusted defensive technique dismantled, he’d likely remain here at Mount Guanghon for now.

Until the Northern Conquest war council, with Jeong Yeon-shin, Shin Sobeen, the Sword Saint, the Four Kings of Dragon Resonance, and her champion, the Sword Division, yielded results.

The movement paths are finalized. Now it’s time to discuss logistics—without plundering the common folk here.

It was at that moment.

Suddenly, something fell from the distant sky.

It was nothing like a fierce ambush, so Jeong Yeon-shin simply stopped and stared as he sensed it first.

A foul stench hit him.

[You seem unusually calm for someone who’s claimed a Northern King’s seat...]

A pair of legs rolled to a stop on the snow, accompanied by a chilling six-direction inner force.

The limbs were half-rotted already.

Not cleanly severed—but ripped out, bone and all. It was the mark of a brutally tyrannical hand technique.

[I have arrived. Bearing the legs of your dear friend.]

The night air grew even darker.

A presence heavier than the clouds blocked out the moonlight. A shadow darker than all fell slowly from the distant sky.

It descended trailing darkness deeper than a winter night, like a curtain being drawn.

For a moment, the Demon Annihilation Blade’s energy flickered uneasily. Maybe he could see in the dark. Maybe he recognized the figure from his time as Lord of Hocheonseong.

The name of the South’s greatest martial artist.

The Southern Emperor’s arrival was abrupt.

As someone skilled in warfare, he clearly understood the value of a preemptive strike. It was a moment that would rattle anyone, but Jeong Yeon-shin simply stomped once.

Instead of a footstep, it sounded like kindling igniting.

In the clearing where the intruder from the sky would soon land—

Blue flames flared out, drawing a massive Taiji around Jeong Yeon-shin at its center, spinning like rays of light.

Southern Harmony Vast Taiji.

It was the domain of the Master of the Shin Sword Corps.