Chapter 605: Chapter 605

“You were invited to the Blood King’s residence?”

The Drunken Beggar King, carried on Eo Ung-gong’s back, muttered in confusion. Right beneath him, Eo Ung-gong tilted his head as well.

Then, like a child, he began mumbling.

“The palace or whatever was a wreck, so I guess there was some kind of secret shelter. No, before that... they let us in even knowing who we are?”

Jeong Yeon-shin gave a small nod.

They were a group that left no choice but for Jeong Yeon-shin to take the lead.

Regardless of each person's martial prowess, Eo Ung-gong's condition alone made it obvious. The internal injuries he’d suffered from Namje were slow to heal, and he needed rest during long journeys.

Even so, on the eve of Hanheolgok, he once again carried the Drunken Beggar King. It was the behavior befitting a senior of the Ming imperial court.

The battlefield between the Northern King, Lord of Violent Winds, and the Blood King.

The group was standing atop a ridge where the mountain split in two. It was a spot from which the full aftermath of the seismic shift could be clearly seen.

Earth of a dull yellow hue, stripped to its raw flesh. Tree branches half-uprooted and dangling like swings, creaking. The opposite mountain face completely split open, yet utterly dry...

Below, the entire ground periodically caved in again and again. The brittle sound of dry rocks and parched dirt crumbling and grinding against each other.

A natural disaster had swept through.

Whether in the Ming lands or the Demon Realm, the soil was the same—soft and unstable.

So thought Jeong Yeon-shin, like a cynical hero.

“What is that? I recall you used something similar during the Heavenly Demon’s Fall.”

Eo Ung-gong asked him, staring at the circle glowing bluish on the ground. A taiji that curiously harmonized with the ruins.

At the edge stood a father and daughter with blood-colored pupils. The Blood King, and his successor, Jeok Iseo.

“It’s a negotiation tactic.”

Jeong Yeon-shin answered in a low voice.

Wrinkles formed on the brows of the royal heirs of the Blood King Clan.

They had lived under the customs of Hanheolgok, but the madness typical of blood fiends didn’t quite reach Jeong Yeon-shin.

Perhaps it was because he’d endured the Seventh Apostle for so long.

‘They’re earnest people.’

Maybe now, they could actually talk. Jeong Yeon-shin genuinely believed that—

“You’re going to strike Namje? You lot?”

The Blood King asked, shaking the blood from his sleeves. His voice was chilling.

“What’s wrong with us doing it?”

The child in armor adjusted the old man on his back and threw the question back.

The Blood King didn’t answer Eo Ung-gong. His sharp eyes merely flickered—blood seemed ready to burst from them.

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin had his gaze on the woman standing beside the Blood King. He asked calmly,

“Are you of the Jeok clan?”

The Red Lineage of True Blood.

It was how many martial artists referred to the Seventh Apostle. Naturally, it remained vivid in Jeong Yeon-shin’s memory.

“Why are you talking like that?”

Eo Ung-gong looked up at him with puzzlement, but Jeong Yeon-shin simply responded with a faint nod.

His conduct now bore such weight that Eo Ung-gong didn’t press further. Truthfully, there was no answer to give.

‘Successor of the Blood King Clan.’

Also called the Blood King’s direct daughter.

She was different by a margin. Her madness ran deeper, and if her hair grew as long and dark as the night sky, she might even resemble... someone.

The woman who had stared at Jeong Yeon-shin with horrified eyes at the edge of the Southern Flame Grand Taiji now smoothed her expression like it had never happened.

Her polite tone was effortless.

A person destined to become a monarch. Of course she understood gain and loss. In this moment, she had instantly recognized who among them held the greatest strength.

Perhaps that first line opened the conversation. Jeok Iseo immediately asked Jeong Yeon-shin,

“If we choose to resist, will you annihilate {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} our clan?”

Her tone was unmistakably noble.

Not just fluent in the language—it was refined.

“So the Blood King Clan really did take root in the South. I’d heard rumors the Bloodflame Cult Leader coveted them for a reason...”

The Drunken Beggar King murmured.

One corner of the Blood King’s lips lifted smoothly.

“That monster lusted after our main line. No other clan could cultivate blood energy as purely as we do.”

“Is it true you don’t practice bloodsucking?”

Jeok Iseo parted her lips at that. She frowned slightly, as if the Southern Flame Grand Taiji beneath her was unpleasant.

“Our clan quenches thirst through energy cultivation. More importantly, bloodsucking impedes ascension. Energy obtained through bloodsucking always contains the grudges of those drained. You can’t reach the Three Flame Ultimate Purification with that. Not unless you’re a monster.”

The Bloodflame Cult Leader and the cult’s Apostles were such monsters.

When their main sect was intact, even the Lord of Ipwang Fortress had to manifest to counter them. Until the rise of the Demonic Cult Leader, they had been indisputably the strongest among the Thirteen Heavens.

It was only natural the Blood King Clan had been overwhelmed and pillaged by them.

“If you came to this place in the name of an alliance, then you’ve misjudged. I ask that you turn back.”

Jeok Iseo spoke calmly.

Even clans of the same kind differed in power. Just as the vast martial world of the Ming Dynasty was divided into countless sects, despite being mostly Han or Ming by blood.

“Blood fiends valuing energy flow over raw intake...? How ironic.”

The Drunken Beggar King let out a hollow laugh.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Could it be you’re pursuing the natural state of the North? Aristocrats who feed on blood?”

“I’ve already told you. No one of our main line has bloodstained teeth.”

Her answer was measured.

Jeok Iseo even opened her mouth slightly to show them.

On both sides of her crimson tongue, faintly sharpened fangs. Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly recalled the neat bite marks left on his nape and dropped his gaze.

The Blood King Clan. Royal family of Hanheolgok.

A sect mad for martial arts—but in a different way.

A lineage with the constitution to absorb energy through breathing techniques instead of bloodsucking. A clan whose leader once rivaled the Northern King in standing, well adapted to the Demon Realm.

A child of such bloodline, born with extraordinary talent, had once become the Seventh Apostle. Of course the Bloodflame Cult Leader had desired her as his successor.

The martial world was truly diverse.

From the center of the bluish taiji, Jeong Yeon-shin slowly spoke.

“...I have two questions.”

His tone shifted again. Speech changed with position and the person being addressed—this natural adaptability was what he aspired to as Master of the Divine Sword Corps.

He was starting to realize the world could not be divided neatly into black and white.

“So that’s a demonic clan...?”

Even Eo Ung-gong’s muttering wasn’t much of a compliment anymore. It was just stating the obvious.

Jeok Iseo replied swiftly.

She had one hand outstretched to hold back her father, the Blood King—who had just begun to twist his lips as if to mock Jeong Yeon-shin.

Jeong Yeon-shin paid it no mind and asked,

“I’ve heard you’re the Northern King of the Half-God Faction. Why haven’t you submitted to him?”

“Isn’t it hard enough to fill our own bellies? Our main line owes Namje nothing! Why should we go crawling under someone else just to become a dog!”

The Blood King’s voice rang out with pride.

In essence, he was the same as the Bloodflame Cult Leader. Snow-white hair cascading down, a demonic charm in his bearing—he was not someone who would serve under another.

Jeong Yeon-shin nodded, as if he genuinely accepted it. Naturally, the Blood King’s expression turned slightly sour.

He asked—almost politely.

Now, the Blood King wore the expression of someone barely holding back a string of curses.

“A foolish question. Why would I needlessly burden myself with turbid energy?”

He spoke in an archaic manner. If not for his appearance befitting a king of blood fiends, one might have mistaken him for a Daoist hermit.

The Blood King slowly clenched and unclenched his unusually white, long fingers.

“If I attain a state of complete naturalness, I wouldn’t even need to exchange power with you. Only a contest of techniques would remain—and at least then I wouldn't be subjected to such humiliation.”

The Realm of Northern Natural Form.

Though he didn’t fully understand what that meant, Jeong Yeon-shin had felt something similar from Namje.

A transcendent who could cast multiple techniques in a single breath, who had completely dissolved the boundary between martial arts and sorcery.

And the next Emperor.

‘There are things to learn.’

At the same time, Jeong Yeon-shin became aware that the Blood King and his daughter’s bodies, hidden beneath their garments, were emaciated. He hadn’t noticed it during their first clash. Now he did.

As blood fiends, they were pathologically careful about what they consumed—almost to the point of spiritual cultivation. The Demon Realm’s Daoist tradition was embedded in this.

‘So that’s the kind of family they are.’

Honestly, Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t see them as normal. He wanted to wrap this conversation up quickly.

“Then that’s enough. You’re fit to strike Namje.”

“You lunatic, going nowhere in circles...?”

“Father, please step back.”

Jeok Iseo turned her back to the Blood King. She now stared at Jeong Yeon-shin as if he were a madman. Their gazes mirrored each other.

“If you’re asking us to help strike Namje, are you also telling us to abandon this land?”

“How did you get that from what I said?”

“If Father leaves, that’s what it will become. As you know, there are two Northern Kings who claim this gorge as their territory.”

Jeong Yeon-shin felt a strange sense of dissonance during this exchange.

‘It’s hard to talk to them.’

The feeling arose deep within. That those features shouldn’t be speaking in such refined tones.

Because of that, his hand reflexively twitched as if forming the initiating seal for the Formless Ultimate Hand: Shatter the Heavens.

Even though he knew Jeok Iseo was right, his body reacted otherwise. It was a response too far gone to reverse.

So Jeong Yeon-shin turned his gaze back to the Blood King.

“Then why insist on speaking further inside the residence?”

“...First, because of your unbridled conduct and reckless power. Second, because of the Lord of Violent Winds. The other Northern King who shares this Hanheolgok with me.”

The Blood King spoke in a cold, cutting voice. There was no sign of his anger toward Jeong Yeon-shin subsiding.

It couldn’t be helped.

Jeong Yeon-shin, as the Master of the Divine Sword Corps, knew through experience: if you wanted to speak with an unorthodox master, you first had to etch in their mind who held superior strength.

These were people who most devoutly believed in the law of the jungle. They did not converse with the weak—they sought every opportunity to sever the strong one’s head.

Even before seeing Jeok Iseo’s face, it would have been the same. Eventually, Jeong Yeon-shin was bound to exchange blows with the Blood King.

“Lord of Violent Winds.”

Jeong Yeon-shin repeated the Blood King’s words, eyes fixed on the great mountain across the way.

A topography where a large city formed in the central valley, flanked on either side by two colossal mountains.

The left mountain had been split in half by Jeong Yeon-shin’s sword strike. Only the right mountain remained intact. At this moment, that towering mass met the eyes of Jeong Yeon-shin’s party.

“They say it used to be a base for Yuan Dynasty cavalrymen. From the sound of names like ‘Violent Wind Camp,’ it seems they’ve become a band of horse thieves...”

The Drunken Beggar King spoke in a low voice.

Though they must’ve witnessed a massive landslide, there was no response from the mountain where the Violent Wind Camp was supposedly stationed. Like a pack of wolves hiding in the grass.

Jeong Yeon-shin locked eyes with the two elders.

“I’ll take them one at a time.”

First, the Blood King Clan. Then, the Lord of Violent Winds.

This was like hammering away at the most revered Northern Kings of the Demon Realm. Like focusing on each sibling of the Tang Clan, one blow at a time.

The Blood King’s lips curled into a thin smile. A stubborn expression. A life thick enough to have attained Void Moon Steps could be faintly felt.

“The uninvited guest truly desired our main family.”

Jeong Yeon-shin didn’t mind.

The patience in his heart had long since formed a ring as deep as the night sky.

Perhaps the aftermath of the landslide had passed. A gentle breeze blew—but nothing stirred.

The dead trees reduced to stumps, the shattered stones scattered across the ground, the blades of grass pressed flat by a massive rock—nothing moved.

In Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes, it reflected like a mirror.

“Do you know the name Harin?”

“I was bitten on the neck by her once.”

The Blood King’s cold, blood-colored pupils widened, surrounded by stark whites. Even as Jeong Yeon-shin spoke these typhoon-like words aloud, his heart remained as dry as the northern wind.

‘The southern march is near.’

[Report to the Grand Marshal.

―Divine Sword Corps has lost its acting Master. Culprit: So Cheonmujuk, Leader of the Demonic Cult.

―Tai Yeom-ryong of the lowest rank and Bright Wing Lord Cheongmyeong have both departed Yeoklu Fortress. Each has begun individual pursuit.

―All Black and Blue rank members of the Divine Sword Corps have entered ‘Jeong Family’s Donggong’ cultivation. The core method differs from the simplified version. All Black rank members and Bright Wing Lord’s warriors have reached Full Mastery.

―Divine Sword Corps is currently advancing from Yeoklu Fortress toward the capital of the Demon Realm. The consensus: strike first, before the Northern Kings can gather under Namje’s grand mobilization.

At this time, the Divine Sword Corps has yet to recover theMaster.

At the moment of writing this message, we are approaching Yongam Fortress. At our current pace, a clash is inevitable tomorrow by the first quarter of the Shen Hour (3–3:30 p.m.).

According to the scout report from the Myungryu Division underlings, Namje’s son, ‘Aisin Gioro Heukhwan,’ the Great King Vajra, and the Sage Sword Lord of Goyo are moving south as reinforcements for Yongam Fortress.

As you know, all of them are Northern Kings under the Whirling Wind Hollow faction aligned with the God of War.

They will be strong. Strong enough to seize the Ming Empire.

But the Divine Sword Corps still lacks its acting Master.

―Deputy Commander of the Divine Sword Corps.]