Chapter 584: Chapter 584

Paper made from pagoda trees. When the dye is drawn from their summer blossoms and used to coat the surface, it becomes a conduit suited for channeling inner energy and willpower—an artifact of spell martial arts.

Just like the two sheets now tucked between Jeong Yeon-shin’s fingers.

Two human figures flickered intermittently on either side of him, like smoke.

One had the lean yet solid build of a scholar-warrior. A single sword hung at his waist, where a rainbow-like aura shimmered. His appearance was dazzling, as though removed from the mortal realm.

The figure on the other side glowed an eerie blue, like ghostly fire—his form difficult to make out. He looked like someone who had become an avatar of Blue Flame through some transcendent battle.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

The arrangement laid out by Shin Cheonhwa—now a predecessor twice removed. The two sheets of paper in Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand were treasures rarely seen in the world of martial arts.

After all, they were created by a Grand Master who once sat in the seat of the Divine Sword Sect Master, aided by the power of successor sect masters.

—Hand it over. Would I really play around with something ?

Her voice still echoed in his ears.

With the guidance of Shaolin’s Master Wonjeok, Jeong Yeon-shin imbued the Pagoda Yellow Paper with power and embedded the spell of Dimensional Hollow. A temporary link, allowing Yong Hui-myeong and Ma Yeon-jeok to reach him.

The highest-tier spell martial technique.

The Pagoda Yellow Paper, saturated with Jeong Yeon-shin’s spiritual force over a long period, had become something close to a sacred artifact. Within it, Shin Cheonhwa had inscribed her arcane techniques.

—You want me to extract my and Yong’s innate energy?

—Just a tiny amount. If not even that can be absorbed into this scrap of paper, how do you expect me to tether you all together? In short, it’s a medium.

—Isn’t that just poor understanding? Wouldn’t inner energy suffice?

—Yeon-jeok, you’ve never dropped that habit of questioning. It was annoying when your ego was at its peak, but now it’s kind of cute.

The ground was being torn apart by the force of the Northern King, yet Jeong Yeon-shin felt a deep sense of calm.

The heart that had been torn open by Myungryu Commander Un Sohyeon was, however faintly, beginning to mend. The frost cracking beneath his feet was nothing.

Even though Jeong Yeon-shin had almost no strength left, and even though projecting the shadows of Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hui-myeong was likely the limit—

—To properly activate the Dimensional Hollow, you must be prepared. It requires a vast amount of energy. Calling forth the two Sect Masters from beyond the veil means exactly that. Without sufficient force, they won’t come.

Just as Shin Cheonhwa had warned.

Though a faint glimmer of radiant martial energy was squeezing into the Pagoda Yellow Paper, only the distant hum of winter air echoed through.

The two figures beside him would not fully manifest. They wavered like mist, nothing more.

Beings like Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hui-myeong could not be summoned without price.

To activate the technique Shin Cheonhwa had inscribed in the Dimensional Hollow, a source of power was needed. And at this moment, the current Sect Master of the Divine Sword had exhausted nearly all his inner power killing the World’s Fastest Blade.

Jeong Yeon-shin had wagered his most powerful card—a decoy with Shin Cheonhwa’s guidance, no longer a trap but an insight born of enlightenment.

—Keep it in mind. A true Sect Master of the Divine Sword subdues even unpredictability itself. Always maintain composure.

He stared quietly ahead.

As he sent a silent message to Tae Yeom-ryong, who was stuck in midair as if caught in invisible shackles.

—You can’t break free?

—That Northern King is one of the top five in the world. The force holding me down is no less than the Imperial Sword Form of the late Namgung Clan Leader.

Tae Yeom-ryong precisely mimicked ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Jeong Yeon-shin’s signature voiceless communication.

Perhaps because he had once experienced it firsthand during their earlier reunion, he now understood the very principle behind the energy waves of Jeong Yeon-shin’s transmission technique.

Jeong Yeon-shin replied in a tone tinged with faint disapproval.

—First time hearing that twice in one day.

First, no matter how mighty the Northern King was, he could not hold onto Tae Yeom-ryong for long without a direct attack.

Second, the two flickering figures beside Jeong Yeon-shin—Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hui-myeong—exuded an aura so overwhelming that even a battle-hardened warrior like Tae Yeom-ryong believed they had physically manifested.

Perhaps it was the oppressive presence of two former Sect Masters.

It was only right that, for now, no one could pierce the illusion.

[Dimensional Hollow...? Ma Yeon-jeok hasn’t fallen?]

The thought came with a heavy resonance.

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced toward the Namje.

The Northern King, nearly fused with his enormous warhorse. The air beneath his hat was shimmering translucently, like the face of a man who’d just heard something deeply intriguing.

[You’ve already unfolded a united force. An astounding technique.]

[Ma Yeon-jeok’s rejuvenation has been confirmed here. Keeper of Fortune, do not enter lightly.]

Only someone capable of addressing the second of the Six Star Lords as Keeper of Fortune while placing themselves above him—

Had once declared a desire to see the mutual destruction of the Southern Lord and the God of War.

At any time, he could strike the back of the Divine Sword Sect. He mediated between North and South on his own terms.

At the root of his actions was a fundamental desire to safeguard his clan’s future.

Of course, this meant that with his monstrous mounted lightness skill, he would shift sides constantly between Namje and Jeong Yeon-shin.

When Namje held the advantage, he’d aid Jeong Yeon-shin.

When Jeong Yeon-shin rose too high, he’d help Namje.

A mediator. One who seeks balance.

At this moment, he was an enemy.

‘That mounted footwork imbued with shockwave force is the problem. Someday I’ll have to block his retreat and kill him.’

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

Then, suddenly, a low voice emerged from the black fog surrounding Namje.

“...Just now, a report came through Whirling Wind Hollow. You’ve claimed to be the Sect Master of the Divine Sword.”

He did not enter the battlefield.

He was wary of Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hui-myeong, as if expecting one of them to suddenly draw a blade.

Those who dwelled in the realm of peerless masters always watched for the sudden, fatal strike.

Even Jeong Yeon-shin had lost half his right arm to a combined attack from Mun Gok and Shin Tu.

Mist danced like candlelight, cloaking the forms of Ma Yeon-jeok and Yong Hui-myeong.

That fog would not lift here.

The forms of the two previous Sect Masters would remain shadows, then vanish. But in this moment, only the current Sect Master knew that. At least for now.

The corner of Jeong Yeon-shin’s mouth curled faintly.

“Report from Chi Geuk Fortress?”

“I acknowledge you. Your martial prowess, insight, and preparation are all worthy of leading a sect. Sect Master of the Divine Sword... yes, the ceremonial sword was always just a symbol anyway.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Jeong Yeon-shin could feel the thick pressure of the gaze pressing into his skin. A gaze so intense it was almost obscene in its scrutiny.

Wondering whether another process is needed to activate the Pagoda Yellow Paper’s spell—or whether the Dimensional Hollow is already complete and about to unleash a deadly ambush.

“I know your energy is spent. Has that Pagoda Yellow Paper truly reached the level of a sacred artifact—so complete that it no longer requires its owner's inner power?”

There hadn’t been enough time to construct such a technique.

At that time, Shin Cheonhwa had already long since passed, and her spiritual projection remained only barely sustained through Jeong Yeon-shin’s power.

But Jeong Yeon-shin answered evasively.

It was to protect both himself and Tae Yeom-ryong. For the sake of his comrades in Ipwang Fortress.

If Jeong Yeon-shin’s head ended up in Namje’s hands here, then the Divine Sword Sect, which had struggled so far north, would face complete annihilation.

A swordsman’s feint is ultimately sword technique.

But a leader of the greatest martial sect under heaven—their feint could be anything. Martial skill, eloquence, composure, bluff, or balancing on a razor’s edge between piercing gazes like the blade of the North’s greatest warrior.

Suddenly, the Northern King’s warhorse took a step forward.

[Tear up that Pagoda Yellow Paper here and now, and send the Divine Sword Sect back south. Do that, and I won’t oppose you. I’ll even hand over the Warden of Blessings.]

“Northern King, don’t speak nonsense.”

Namje’s black armor began to ripple like tendrils of flame. At the same time, he stepped forward, and the pressure in the hall thickened.

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t retreat a single inch.

As the Northern King and Namje’s pressure erupted in violent waves of power, shimmering transparent ripples spread from their eyes. It was a sensation Jeong Yeon-shin had never experienced before.

With transcendent senses, they combed through every part of his body, trying to read the truth and spot any flaw through the subtle vibrations of his breath and pressure points.

Their massive gazes collided and tangled like invisible threads.

Namje’s Wolf-Gaze, said to see even the peak of the Big Dipper clearly.

The Northern King’s Divine Plow Light, a technique inherited from the fallen Yuan Empire, which, fused with his warhorse, allowed him to see the instant just before a strike.

The battle had already begun.

In the time it would take to blink, hundreds of paces had metaphorically passed.

Tae Yeom-ryong must be sensing it too. The troublemaker of the Divine Sword Sect had a talent for battle sense.

Jeong Yeon-shin sent him a silent message.

—The guards under Namje are narrowing their formation. They’re following his order to kill you.

—I’ll survive on my own, so don’t worry about me. But... something feels off. Is that really Pagoda Yellow Paper?

He’s annoyingly perceptive.

Jeong Yeon-shin considered the final variables left on the battlefield.

‘The Light Blade Squad and Gongmyeong Command.’

They were just about to clash with Mun Gok’s forces, who had surrounded the area like a wall.

Even though the Gongmyeong Command’s ultimate technique had been blocked by Namje’s Southern Law, once they got a little closer, other paths would open.

Even if there was no obvious method, he intended to create one here and now.

Likewise, Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t believe that the Divine Sword Sect, gathered through Whirling Wind Hollow, would simply be stopped by the northern forces. The sect’s “Radiant Art Formation” wasn’t that kind of martial art.

What he needed now was this—time to be examined, time to breathe.

If this moment could stretch just a little longer, then the Divine Sword Sect might just raise another fortress here in the demonic wasteland. A new symbol of Ipwang Fortress, pressing down on the northern martial world.

Suddenly, the sound of Namje’s footfalls blew across the frost like a ghostly chill.

Had he fully analyzed the supreme spell martial technique Shin Cheonhwa had inscribed? His pace was so fast it could only be called transcendent.

Yet even this was a leisurely stroll to the Northern King, who began striding forward without hesitation.

It felt like the night sky itself was moving.

[Warden of Blessings, do not act rashly.]

“Northern King, you’re a bat with no loyalty, an idiot, and a coward. Stay back. Those figures won’t come.”

[This is for the clan. Our bodies are merely...]

The Northern King approached.

From that moment, much of Jeong Yeon-shin’s world began to blur.

He had exhausted his time buffer. Now, with what little energy he had left, he would have to face Namje directly. Draped in his violet robes, he burned his upper dantian white-hot.

Naturally, the surrounding sounds faded, and even his vision began to narrow around Namje.

Perhaps to eliminate the variables, the Northern King urged his enormous warhorse forward to follow Namje. Two transcendent figures closing in together.

Then, a final thought snagged in Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind.

He had accounted for this scenario. His preparations were not yet complete.

If fate aligned just right.

If someone chosen by the Dimensional Hollow, one who possessed the greatest energy under heaven, could tear through the technique’s limits and arrive beside Jeong Yeon-shin of their own will—

A soft whistle echoed faintly. Like a mischievous breeze caressing a distant ridge.

From Jeong Yeon-shin’s right.

Before Namje or the Northern King could even react—

The mist surrounding Yong Hui-myeong shattered without warning.

“So this was the fuss.”

Amid the twilight glow, Yong Hui-myeong stepped free from the haze and fully materialized. Not by Jeong Yeon-shin’s energy, but by breaking the spell barrier with his own internal power.

The man in scholarly violet robes had returned, his colors fully restored.

He looked up at the Northern King.

Suddenly, a thin rainbow-like line appeared on the neck of the enormous warhorse. A spray of blood followed its path like a slash.

Namje and the Northern King reappeared on either side of the two violet-clad men—as if it had all been a lie. The horse was gone.

In an instant, the realm of peerless warriors was set.

In the cold northern wind, twin robes of violet fluttered.

Past and present—Yong Hui-myeong and Jeong Yeon-shin.

“I can feel military presence all around us. Where are we?”

At some point, the two Sect Masters of the Divine Sword Sect were standing back to back.