Chapter 573: Chapter 573

The Strategist of the God of War.

Among the Liu Yuan Star Generals, Mun Gok was a Northern King unlike any other. Despite holding dominion over vast lands, he preferred to wander.

So much so that even the expansive western territory beyond the Great Wall’s Jiayu Pass seemed meaningless to him.

In his youth, when he was small and slight, he studied transformation arts alone and passed the Ming imperial civil service exams under a false identity crafted by the Yeoryeong Lord.

Had it not been for the piercing eyes of the imperial nobility, he might have become a Hanlin scholar.

Thus, the name of the land Mun Gok governs is Mushimryeong—"The Heartless Prison," a realm abandoned by its king.

The lord of Mushimryeong, Mun Gok’s own battle commander, was naturally called the Lord of Mushimryeong. He was also Mun Gok’s son.

At this moment, it was he who sat atop a massive black horse, glaring at Tae Yeom-ryong from a distance.

"You don’t even look back when your own father is in danger. Still, I suppose it’s surprising you even answered his summons and led your troops this far. It must’ve been quite a journey."

"Is that danger, Your Majesty?"

Two figures—one large, one small—stood atop a gentle hill overlooking the battlefield.

Though not very high, the view was clear. The dust clouds rising like thunderheads, the surging mass of hundreds of riders, and the seven black-robed warriors striding silently toward Mun Gok—all of it lay before them.

Fine grains of sand scraped against their boots, remnants of the shockwave from the punch Mun Gok had unleashed just before missing Yaryul.

"It is danger," the larger figure clicked his tongue.

"There are seven warriors there, each worthy of becoming a battle commander. And above their path, the stars of the Demonic Realm shine."

"...Mun Gok of the Liu Yuan Star Generals," murmured the smaller one, barely reaching the other’s waist. The giant nodded.

"Has there ever been such a battle? Since the arrival of the God of War?"

"Never. That figure sought only the peace of the Northern Kings..."

"If Mun Gok slaughters more than half of those black robes but his own body and life are lost—what use is it? He’ll fail to fulfill the God of War’s will."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I’ve never seen you smile so brightly."

"Since when, I wonder? My skin’s gone numb and my senses are dull—I didn’t even notice."

"It was after Yaryul passed by them."

His voice grated like clashing stone.

The towering figure—eight feet tall, with a lithe frame for a Yozoku man—let out a booming laugh. The pale corners of his mouth curled upward.

He was the ruler of the southern lands below the gray waters of the Yosu River, where a dragon once emerged long ago.

Northern King Cham Mang.

He was also the former Pah Gun of the Liu Yuan Star Generals.

The only soldiers gathered beside him were a group of small, shaggy-haired warriors from the Iron Clan.

Despite being a famed Northern King, Cham Mang had mobilized only a single battle commander.

And yet that alone was enough to give the area a crushing sense of weight.

"That brat had spirit rare for a southern exile! He was suspicious in three different ways! And without even trading a single blow with me, he stole the title of Liu Yuan Star General! He should’ve been named King of the North, not just a tenant of this Demonic Realm... and now he’s holding a Naadam on his own!"

Every word that spilled from King Cham Mang came with a cloud of frosty breath.

It wasn’t just his incomprehensible spiritual energy.

The air around him was a sheet of ice, crackling with freezing cold that hissed and popped as it spread. The Domain of the Ice Empress.

It wouldn’t be strange if one’s body shattered from the cold.

A transcendent cold energy, Cold Ice Energy, seeped through everything nearby.

Not only had Cham Mang and his battle commander fortified themselves with countless layers of internal defense, but their entire bodies vibrated with extreme, precise control of their inner force.

Such defenses were necessary just to withstand the cold.

"Your Majesty, he’s clearly a southern spy. [N O V E L I G H T] It’s only that the blood-soaked path he walks suits our land’s temperament."

So spoke his battle commander from the Iron Clan, a burly man with a thick beard.

Blue veins bulged across the back of his broad, blunt hand as he gripped a crescent blade. The ground itself cracked beneath the tension.

Cham Mang shook his head.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"Many kings had already suspected as much. They merely chose to observe Yaryul for a time. The shock of his duel with the Southern Emperor lingered."

His rough voice fell like a shadow beneath his long legs—upon the figure kneeling below, whose shoulder was pinned beneath one of his massive feet.

Her long black hair spilled down her neck, brushing the frost-covered earth. She was covered in dust.

Once, Cham Mang’s energy had swept out like a wide circle, but now it was frozen solid—like a wave caught mid-surge.

One of the transcendent battles had already ended.

The Ice Empress could not throw off Cham Mang’s leg, and both he and his battle commander were frozen in place—unable to move.

The one who broke the balance first would be the one to survive.

"I could stay until the next winter comes."

Cham Mang muttered flatly.

The Ice Empress said nothing. She merely turned her head slightly and stared off into the distance.

All three of their gazes converged in the same direction.

Toward the Lord of Mushimryeong, the Mun Gok Army, Tae Yeom-ryong, and beyond them—the seven black-robed warriors standing face to face with Mun Gok.

As soon as Mun Gok of the Six Liu Yuan Star Lords faced the Seven in Black Robes, he asked bluntly,

“Have any of you ever read the Analects?”

Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued.

“In the ‘Governing with Virtue’ chapter, Confucius said, ‘To govern with virtue is like the North Star—remaining in place while all the other stars revolve around it.’ ... A memorable line.”

To govern with virtue.

Is like the North Star, calmly fixed in its position, around which all other stars orbit.

Here, the North Star Confucius spoke of symbolized the king. Naturally, the stars referred to his subjects or the people.

The Commanders remained silent. A nine-foot-tall giant quoting the Analects with composure—an utterly bizarre sight.

“To me, the North Star is the God of War. He ruled this Demonic Realm with virtue. He freely shared divine techniques, stopped the clans from eating human flesh, and eventually gave them the strength to strive toward a world without hunger.”

Whether one agreed with the God of War’s will or not, those countless stars—each bearing their own convictions—were drawn into orbit around him, touched by his deeds.

Thus were born the Six Liu Yuan Star Lords.

Six transcendent beings revolving around the North Star, the Star of Greedy Wolves.

“The Emperor who will overturn this desolate land. The god who will make inhuman clans live like people... That is my cause. And as with all causes in history, for some, it will surely seem like wickedness.”

Mun Gok raised his right hand—the very same hand that had carved a hundred-jang-wide crater. A faint smoke still wafted between his thick fingers.

The residual heat of friction from his overwhelming force.

“Do you also have a North Star?”

Mun Gok smiled as he asked, then added, “Though I can already guess.”

The one who stepped forward was Cheon So-so, Lord of Seonmok.

Her black hair, undone by her lightfoot dash, billowed behind her, while between the strands, the blue eyes characteristic of the Ming Clan shimmered like jade.

A type of martial incantation that strengthens intent before battle. Martial Guidance. It leads to Seomye.

Mun Gok smiled gently.

“Damn Ming clans... Always saying only what they want. North Fortress or Demon Realm, nothing’s different.”

That was as far as pleasantries went.

Suddenly, the nine-foot behemoth was standing right in front of the Commanders.

A step that tore space faster than sound. It was the Nine Pool Devil Step, known in the North as the pinnacle of advance footwork.

As Mun Gok twisted his iron-tower-like waist and loaded a punch, his every motion flowed with an unreal smoothness—without a single wasted movement.

There was no explosive sound.

Unless one could move faster than even the formation of combat qi, they couldn’t even begin to react.

Cheon So-so chanted inwardly.

At the same time, the frigid inner force of Cold Sky Flowless Ice Technique surged like a rainbow from her core.

From the Yin Union Point beneath her navel, it raced past her rectus abdominis and shot straight up to her smooth forehead.

Twenty layers of internal force bloomed like gauze, forming a body-protecting energy in the image of eternal snow that never melts.

Heaven-Ice Shield of Deep Walls.

The instant the formless true-energy barrier wrapped around her head—

A massive shockwave exploded. A translucent concentric storm blasted outward in all directions. Cheon So-so’s pupils lost focus as Mun Gok’s fist struck her forehead directly.

She lost consciousness in a single blow.

None of the seven Commanders had reached the realm of Absolute Mastery. Someone had to take Mun Gok’s blow head-on.

And yet, Cheon So-so remained standing.

Once an ice technique reaches the realm of divine martial mastery, it grants numerous abilities. Exceptionally solid defensive energy was one of them.

She had more easily elevated her body-protecting energy to that realm than other martial masters of the same generation—and her achievements had been greatly enhanced thanks to occasional exchanges with Jeong Yeon-shin.

Her long hair scattered like snowfall.

Even the ground beneath her feet was crumbling, about to give way—but she was undeniably alive.

Among the six Commanders who had scattered in every direction, it was Bukgung Ah, Lord of Yeouicheon, who passed behind Cheon So-so and tapped the back of her neck.

It was a form of Acupoint Transition, a technique that clears blocked energy and blood flow caused by internal injury or impure qi.

The moment blue light returned to Cheon So-so’s eyes—

The other Commanders had already begun to act, using the time she had bought.

Wuji Commander stomped Mun Gok’s back with her prosthetic leg and clambered up to his shoulders. At the same time, Hahoe Wi-jin slammed his glowing forearm into the back of Mun Gok’s knee.

The fierce tremors shook the ground.

Pale waves of energy sculpted sand into towering walls, and through the cracks in those ochre waves, Mun Gok exhaled a blackish smoke like hellfire.

—My leg’s burning. That’s body-protecting energy imbued with flame.

—Is this the Skyforge Battle Armor? My right arm’s done for. Cover my right!

Wuji Commander and Hahoe Wi-jin’s sound transmissions scattered at the same speed as their martial intent.

They weren’t long-distance sound transmissions, but from masters whose Essence, Energy, and Spirit had become one, their thought-speed voice transmissions were no different from Whirling Wind Hollow techniques.

Unrelated to all that, the wave of Mun Gok’s fist burst into consecutive explosions in midair.

Twice—shattering the Emperor’s Step combo of Bukgung Ah, who had launched it with her long legs.

Once more—bouncing away both hands of Shin Hwang, the Annihilation Commander, who had unleashed Twin Divine Flame Palms.

As Bukgung Ah bent backward in midair like a Beijing opera acrobat, she smacked both kneecaps with her palms to snap her legs back into position.

And beneath Mun Gok’s descending fist stood a handsome young man with a rugged presence, holding a thick rope.

A temperament that seemed born of the wild northern lands—one of the Demonic Realm’s killing ghosts: Wi Ji-geuk, the Heavenly Dragon Commander.

Like the others, his whole body glowed with a faint light.

It was activated immediately. For even among peerless masters, endurance was inhuman—and dragging the battle out risked total annihilation.

Sword Intent Guidance of the Divine Sword Sect.

Unification of Martial Light.

The bodies of the Commanders became interconnected with pale currents like constellations. The flow united all the earlier bursts of force.

Martial Guidance. It leads to Seomye. “Unification” here meant “gathered into one.” As always, seventeen stars surrounded the Divine Sword Sect Master.

On the opposite side of the hand Mun Gok had swung, Yun So-yu, Lord of the Commandments, was crushed and sent flying—bones and all.

Her beloved sword, Woonja Sword, was already embedded like a tombstone in the back of Mun Gok’s left knee.

Cracks began to spread like snowflakes across the Skyforge Battle Armor, which had been considered indestructible.

And yet, Wi Ji-geuk’s gaze never left Mun Gok’s fist. His battle-tempered eye technique sought the tiniest opening for a killing strike.

The combined assault from Ipwang Fortress’s Sword Intent Hall was no martial arts demonstration.

It was war-killing technique.