Chapter 580: Chapter 580

Northern King's Army.

A force of monsters capable of even traversing flat plains on horseback with martial techniques. The realm of Man and Horse as One turns northern war steeds into combatants stronger than most martial masters.

Naturally, the army led by the Northern King is known as a calamity upon the world.

Unstoppable. Irresistible.

This is not a power on the level of a petty noble family.

It is the strength that the Ming Empire has tried to fend off all its life in the name of history.

Unless it’s the One Hundred and Eight Arhats Formation of Shaolin, no major sect’s battle formation can withstand them in mass combat.

And unless it’s the Seven Star Sword Formation of Wudang, nothing can break through them from within.

That was the view of a rare few connoisseurs well-versed in both southern and northern martial worlds.

Within snowflakes frozen mid-fall as if caught in an invisible web, the famed martial artists of the southern world stood in silence. And this was why.

The Yeom Jeong Army. The Chi Geuk Army. And the Chi Geuk King.

Unless one had a martial force on par with a garrison defending a great wall, it was impossible to stop them. It was nothing short of a natural disaster.

Yet Jeong Yeon-shin had dismissed the Yeom Jeong Army from a position of strength.

A decision made possible only because there had been no casualties on Ipwang Fortress’s side. Thanks to a certain technique of the Divine Sword Corps’ Gongmyeong Order.

They said it wasn’t enough to win, but it made it possible to endure.

Now that he thought about it, only the corpses of Yozoku and battle steeds were strewn across the field.

Perhaps because no maggots could survive the bitter cold winds and icy ground, the remains were pale and red. Just remnants of the battlefield left in a chilling stillness.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke softly atop them.

“This battle ends here.”

It would have been best to cut down the enemy’s strength as much as possible, but his physical condition was poor.

‘I need to secure the seniors still facing Mun Gok and Yeom Jeong first. The Sword Saint too.’

It was now even hard to elevate his internal energy.

The fact that his voice had begun to come out as unamplified speech rather than echoing inner voice was proof of that.

After executing Opening the Path with the Grand Tai Chi and clashing repeatedly with Shin Tu, he had no strength left to use his sword arts.

The hundreds of cavalrymen raised by the Northern King Yeom Jeong quietly saluted Jeong Yeon-shin and withdrew from the battlefield. Rather than hostility, their gazes were filled with reverence.

“Glory to the slayer of the Dream Phantom Lord.”

“Breathing with you makes us stronger.”

A foreign climate. This was the northern martial world.

The “Dream Phantom Lord” referred to Shin Tu, the king of the Dream Phantom Body.

There seemed to be no disagreement from Hak So-seon, Captain of the Light Blade Squad.

Though she didn’t resemble someone called the “Furious Blade,” Jeong Yeon-shin could sense deep unrest from her. Her perception was exceptional.

She was the one his maternal grandfather secretly favored most among the Black Robes of the One Sword Field.

Quietly following his lead, she asked about his condition through voice transmission.

—Slaying a being as mighty as Shin Tu requires something to precede it. Namely, the General Bureau’s strategy, carefully crafted over time. Mealtime habits, favorite techniques, general disposition, even the tiniest mannerisms... Once those were relayed to you, Master, only then should the deed have been done. But this time, it seems the scholars of the General Bureau didn’t get a chance to earn their keep. They had time to enjoy Ipwang Fortress's delicacies, though.

—I hear it was the same back when Taemosan Fortress and Cheongeuk Sect raised hell in Hangzhou... They think limbs of martial artists grow back like blades from a supply depot. Their heads aren’t filled with dantian energy but printed type. The price of the laziness soaked into their frail bodies... isn’t it the internal and external wounds you're suffering right now, Master?

Her concern was justified.

He was suffering from both internal and external injuries.

At this moment, the inside of Jeong Yeon-shin’s body was in chaos, as if all his veins could burst at any second.

The Eight Meridians of Odd and Even Channels flowing with Radiant Wheel Qi—every muscle in his body was in the same state.

Especially his temporarily reinforced right arm, which required constant focus not to fall apart.

It was held together by hardened Qi connecting muscle fibers and pressure points. The injury came from Mun Gok and Shin Tu’s joint attack, but worsened during his life-or-death fight with Shin Tu.

—Bullshit, you’re fine.

—I beg your pardon. I’ll offer you my shoulder, so please lean on me. Are you familiar with putting an arm around someone?

Now, most of Ipwang Fortress's martial artists knew Jeong Yeon-shin’s past.

Among them, the Black Robes had unusually wide authority to gather information, and for various reasons, had delved deeply into his life.

Some did so to glean insights that could help refine their understanding of the Seomye martial arts. Others wanted to truly understand Jeong Yeon-shin, who would one day become the Master in full.

If one had to guess, Hak So-seon of the Light Blade Squad belonged to the former. One could tell by her achievement in the Light Radiance Arts.

“You know what it means to put your arm around someone?”

Even those who hadn’t read the simplified notes of Jeong Family Martial Arts would, at some point, leave Jeong Yeon-shin feeling like he was laid bare before his comrades.

This was no different.

Though he had fought the world's fastest in hand-to-hand combat, he had never in his life shared a shoulder like that with someone.

“I’m still the Northern King?”

He asked Chi Geuk’s Commander, deliberately ignoring Hak So-seon. He feared his lingering thoughts of Grand Master Un Sohyeon might fade.

The Commander of Chi Geuk laughed.

“Of course, we must treat you with that honor. You hold command, possess the martial dignity of a king, and most importantly, you were acknowledged by the Northern Lord while being one of the Whirling Wind Hollow. The Northern Lord appointed you as Pah Gun of the Six Original Star Lords. Until that decision is revoked, you remain the Northern King.”

“A convenient excuse to make sure I’m still standing?”

“Still standing, you say?”

The corner /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ of the Chi Geuk Commander’s mouth curved into a smooth arc. By now, he hadn’t so much as glanced at Shin Tu’s corpse, and instead gestured toward where Chi Geuk King stood.

“She perfected the greatest inner defense in the world. Personally, she’s my mother-in-law. So with all due respect, why would we fear the battered King Yaryul? Even if your swordsmanship just now was extraordinary, it likely wouldn’t scratch Her Highness’s defensive Qi.”

His eloquence couldn’t fully hide the wariness in his tone toward Jeong Yeon-shin.

Even now, the Azure Tai Chi was locking down Hak So-seon and her subordinates. A technique whose principle not even the Chi Geuk Commander or other Northern Kings could quite grasp.

That was also why the commander remained suspicious. Could Jeong Yeon-shin still be in fighting shape?

He might strike them from behind with Chi Geuk’s army in the future, but for now, peace with him seemed the wiser choice.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin dwelled on other words.

‘The greatest under Heaven...’

As the Northern Head of the Divine Sword Corps, he now understood what those words truly meant. The speed that had overwhelmed him time and again—Shin Tu’s.

If Chi Geuk King’s defensive cultivation was truly that deep, then for now, it was best to go along with her friendly posture.

“Perhaps next time, we’ll meet on opposite sides.”

The Chi Geuk Commander’s sleeves rustled softly as he brought his hands together.

Despite his slender build, the veins on his forearms bulged like cords.

One could only imagine how many people had met their end beneath those arms. But Jeong Yeon-shin had to think not as a peerless martial artist, but as the head of his sect.

He glanced beside the commander.

A body that still shimmered transparently in the midday sun entered his vision. A woman with only a black veil floating over her face.

She stood, staring quietly down at Shin Tu’s corpse. There was no reading what she was thinking.

Jeong Yeon-shin asked softly, gesturing toward the Chi Geuk Commander.

“Is that your mouthpiece?”

Her answer came in a low, curt tone.

Jeong Yeon-shin nodded and said,

“...Understood, Master of the Divine Sword Corps.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Somehow, the Chi Geuk Commander had already stepped back over ten paces as he answered nonchalantly. This time, the honorific “Northern King” was notably absent.

Soon after, even Chi Geuk King turned away, and the heavy sound of retreating footsteps followed as the Chi Geuk Army slowly withdrew. Unlike the Yeom Jeong Army, both their men and horses were wrapped in semi-transparent defensive Qi, and like the commander, they offered Jeong Yeon-shin no particular respect.

Clip-clop, clip-clop—

They merely stepped aside.

Only then did the tension that had quietly shrouded the battlefield begin to lift. The clash of masters who ruled over energy had subsided.

Immediately, winter sleet began to sweep down between them.

Captain of the Light Blade Squad, Hak So-seon, cast a glance at the back of the Chi Geuk Commander and spat out a single line.

“That one won’t live to see a peaceful death.”

She was speaking to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Perhaps he heard her—Chi Geuk’s Commander turned his head ever so slightly and smiled at her with his eyes.

“Beware your dreams.”

And with that, he was gone.

What remained were the corpses of Shin Tu and a portion of the Yeom Jeong Army. Pristine white snow quietly piled atop the bright red bodies.

“...Crazy bastards...”

The voice of someone among the southern martial artists leaked out.

The Northern King's Army, led by the Northern King—

The disaster of the human world had withdrawn on its own.

Translucent shimmering heat waves drifted off the inner force barriers of the hundreds of horsemen and mingled with the falling snow. Yet the overwhelming presence they had never again took form on the battlefield.

Before anyone noticed, the martial masters of Ipwang Fortress were standing behind Jeong Yeon-shin.

The blue-hued Tai Chi circle that surrounded them gently escorted the retreating hoofbeats.

It was a sight too unreal to believe.

As the elder of the Namgung Clan, the middle-aged warrior leading the Eon Clan’s martial artists, and the Zhuge Clan retainers surrounding Jegal Cheong-ah all fell into deep silence—

A youthful voice burst out unexpectedly from the midst of them.

“Should I go after them now and kill them all? Their formation’s taking a weird curve—looks like they’re circling around Mount Haebing to join another battlefield.”

A wild boast, to say the least.

Some of the younger southern martial artists responded immediately.

“Divine Sword Corps?”

“Divine Sword Vanguards...!”

“Chi (菷)? Calling someone a ‘broom’ to their face? What kind of speech is that from a martial artist...”

A young man in a conspicuously bright blue robe pushed aside the swordsman who had muttered about the Divine Sword Vanguards. A youth from the Divine Sword Squad of Ipwang Fortress.

He walked straight up to Jeong Yeon-shin and clasped his hands together.

“Greetings to the new Master! Divine Sword Corps, Divine Sword Squad—Yeon So-ha and fourteen members are assembled on the battlefield. We’ve secured a flawless perimeter around Mount Haebing.”

He said “new Master.” As if Yong Hui-myeong had already been erased from the history of the Divine Sword Squad. In a way, even more decisive than Jeong Yeon-shin himself.

But everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

“If you order a pursuit, we’ll finish them off immediately. Of course, not me—Senior Sambok of Hidden Fist, Senior Wi from the April Palace Ghosts, Senior Oh the Wise Blade, Uncle Hong Jugeom, the Deputy Commander, and Red-Robe Blood Frenzy... Sorry, by ‘that one’ you mean...?”

Yeon So-ha scratched his head like his upper dantian was itching.

“If you mean the Divine Sword Prisoner, he was the one who asked who had done that to your right arm, Master. He asked Senior Wi from the April Palace Ghosts, the one with the keenest eyes. Then after hearing the answer, he just vanished.”

“...We’re moving out.”

Declared the Master of the Divine Sword Corps.

While the famed southern martial artists stood hesitant, unsure whether to follow or hold back—

The Azure Tai Chi that surrounded the battlefield blazed bright blue in an instant. It seemed ready to bring all the high-level skirmishes on this plain to a close.

Time to speak with those close to Grand Master Un Sohyeon and hear her story.

Led by Captain Hak So-seon, the martial masters surrounding Jeong Yeon-shin took a step forward. Naturally, Yeon So-ha moved with them.

At the same time, the vast circle of Tai Chi that had dyed the surroundings a deep blue also advanced a step.

It moved in perfect sync with the march. The same martial power that had earlier struck Hak So-seon with divine might.

Amid the widened eyes of the southern martial world, the Divine Sword Corps advanced. Though they numbered only a few dozen, they filled the space around Jeong Yeon-shin with overwhelming presence.

Each bore the character “荒” (Wilderness) on their shoulder, above which blue flame-like shadows flickered violently.

Among the dumbfounded onlookers, someone muttered,

“...Northern Emperor.”

Meanwhile, the Gongmyeong Order experts, who had yet to formally introduce themselves, were transmitting faint energy pulses to Jeong Yeon-shin.

There was no mistaking it—Qi from the Light Radiance Art.

It felt like he was using another person’s dantian.

More than perfect—it was beyond perfection.

Grand Master Un Sohyeon’s words flashed through his mind.

—You’ll surely experience a wondrous energy phenomenon. This is also the result of our General Bureau scholars researching the Light Radiance Art in depth.

It felt like a second radiant ring had formed outside his body. It defied logic. Beyond mysterious—it was astonishing.

“What technique is this?”

Jeong Yeon-shin turned to the blue-uniformed warriors of the Gongmyeong Order and asked.

They appeared no different from commoners on the street, yet the mist they exhaled was more mystical than anything from the Seventeen Divisions.

A particularly old, middle-aged man responded.

“It is the culmination of combining the Light Radiance Art with our order’s shared energy flow technique. We call it ‘Entering the Way of Radiant Art.’ So long as our Qi reserves and your mastery of Qi currents, and both sides’ stamina permit... we will act as an additional dantian for you, Master.”

“Entering the Way of Radiant Art...?”

“It’s merely routine support.”

The middle-aged warrior seemed to truly think nothing of it. As if providing divine martial arts to their Master was no big deal.

The Seventeenth Division of the Divine Sword Corps.

It felt like the legendary eighteen-armed weapon array was gathering one piece at a time.

Now, Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind was free of distractions. What filled his thoughts entirely was something else.

The woman in the beautiful red robes. The seven seniors. Deputy Commander Jin Myeong-jo. The Sword Saint. Mun Gok. Yeom Jeong. And the Southern Emperor and Northern Blade of the world.

Ipwang Fortress moved toward them.