It was then.
A presence with fluttering clothes brushed through the air.
It descended in a straight line, spreading the distinctive repetitive energy waves of lightness skill. It was a single leap from the opposite hill to the clearing where Jeong Yeon-shin was.
Tap.
She landed with a light footstep. White Cat Shin So-bin. The tip of her long braided hair rose slightly and then settled from the backdraft of her lightness skill.
She seemed to have spent time braiding her hair while surveying the surroundings.
"Squad Leader, it seems safe now."
"Thank you."
Jeong Yeon-shin smiled faintly.
His disciple who had insisted on standing guard and climbed the hill despite him saying he was fine. She was refining her seemingly mischievous temperament with sparkling wit. She had been doing so for years.
Even when Jeong Yeon-shin had entered the martial forces, she had checked for escape routes alone from the outskirts.
Though he only taught her martial arts, Shin So-bin had grown on her own as if to prove her noble family origins. She was always reliable as a scout.
Swish.
Shin So-bin knelt on both knees and slightly bowed her upper body. There was mischief in her eyes as she looked down at her squad leader.
"You're really grateful, right? You don't think I'm being strange, do you?"
"..."
"Squad Leader, your martial arts instructions don't get blocked like that."
"They do when there's no inspiration."
Jeong Yeon-shin had long discovered one of his qualities from those who maligned his character.
The skill of dismissing slander and calmly stating his defense. However, it rarely worked on Radiant Demon Wing masters who knew their squad leader well.
Shin So-bin straightened her posture.
"I heard the Ma family and Shin family formed a hundred-year covenant but had poor relations for generations, and now I think I understand why."
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled brightly. Then, with exaggerated gestures like a high official, she put her hands behind her back and began looking around.
"I lived in Xiangyang for a long time, you know. When you become the Divine Sword Group Leader someday, there will be times when you'll need to make small talk. Like when you defeat Uncle Yong and have to visit the imperial court about the Group Leader position, or when you need to boost the morale of subordinates who will step forward before you at the Mount Hua Conference's Nine Sects Martial Tournament…"
Shin So-bin, who had been counting the squad leader's future prospects one by one with her finger like a fortune teller, suddenly flinched.
The Seventh Apostle had opened her eyes. She had somehow turned to face them while lying down.
Her crimson-tinged eyes stood out. It was because she was looking at Jeong Yeon-shin with the sunset at her back.
Unlike her cheek that was slightly pressed up against the ground, the jawline coming down from the opposite side was extremely white, rimmed with the twilight glow.
Her unusually smooth skin, like white porcelain, testified to her clan and status.
'The Blood Demon…!'
Goosebumps rose on Shin So-bin's skin. She couldn't help it even with the squad leader beside her.
The youngest apostle.
The Mara True Blood Body, said to be close to the Blood Flame Cult Leader's successor.
Arrogant martial warlords of the martial world coveted the Seventh Apostle even at great cost.
There were no pleasant stories among the rumors about the blood demons, and Shin So-bin, who had grown up in the upper echelons of the martial world, was especially wary of them.
But the Radiant Demon Wing Leader opened his mouth with a composed expression.
"I knew you'd be awake."
"…Grandmaster."
The Seventh Apostle raised herself sideways.
Her hair, black as ebony, flowed softly down past her shoulders.
The blood stains clumped in various places on her body disappeared, emitting faint smoke, and the hem of her pure blood robe regained its bright red, smooth texture.
It was an extremely delicate deployment of Samadhi True Fire originating from blood attack techniques.
Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at her and then turned his gaze slightly away.
"You, using strange incantations…"
"My incantations are strange? What flea would say such a thing?"
She moved her lips with a genuinely angry expression.
Her voice was bewitching like when they first met, and unstable energy waves flowed from her entire body without any pattern, pushing away the dirt ground.
"No one."
Jeong Yeon-shin concluded briefly.
That seemed sufficient. The corner of the Seventh Apostle's mouth rose slightly.
"Of course. Anyone can see it's a martial art tailored for me. It's so ecstatic even with just a few lines of incantation left. You, you know my acupoints too well…"
"Because I've taken your pulse."
He brought the Seventh Apostle back into his view. The feeling against his skin was strange.
She would look directly at him, then immediately avert her gaze, then glance at him again, appearing not in her right mind. Her rambling also suggested this.
"Where did that Namgung youngster go? Weren't you on a martial arts tour together? Namgung and Desolate Fortress, I mean."
"…You'll need time."
Her state of madness hasn't fully subsided. Jeong Yeon-shin muttered.
They say there are cases where turbid true energy rises to the head and disturbs one's reason.
Before Jeong Yeon-shin met Azure Qilin Namgung Se-jin, when he had shared forms and incantations with the Seventh Apostle. Her consciousness seemed to remain at that point in time.
Only the Mara True Blood Technique created by Jeong Yeon-shin could heal her state of madness. After staring at the Seventh Apostle for a moment, he parted his lips very slowly.
"Don't you have a dharma treasure? A martial arts implement that uses spell techniques to make energy waves and body shape be perceived differently when covering the eyes."
In that moment, her red demon eye was fully revealed, up and down.
"How did you know? I was also wondering why the Blood Protection Silk Scarf is in my bosom right now. This is the cult leader's sacred object."
"Take it out and use it. We're going to the main fortress."
"With you? I…?"
There was no sign of refusal. The Seventh Apostle just blinked as if in a dream. For a moment, she stared intently, filling her ruby-like retinas with the grown-up Jeong Yeon-shin…
Suddenly, the young man's head tilted slightly to the side.
"If it's before dueling with the Namgung family, my appearance should look strange…"
It was then.
Jeong Yeon-shin couldn't fully finish his muttering.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar sounded. Circular shockwaves were etched in succession in the distant sky, and from within them, a whitish red light descended like lightning.
Thud.
A man wearing a pink robe stepped into the center of the clearing. A powerful backdraft from void absorption rose above his low footsteps.
It was a realm where even the recoil of movement techniques was transferred to the void. Soon after, three wild boars flew and sprawled together, carried by the marvel of void absorption.
Tyrant Hero Ma Yeon-jeok smiled at his grandson… "I only watched because you seemed to lack leisure."
"Grandfather."
"You seem fine now."
He glanced once at the Seventh Apostle and spoke.
In that moment, her lips moved to say "Grandfather."
Simultaneously, Ma Yeon-jeok's eyebrows twitched greatly, but he immediately had to turn to Jeong Yeon-shin. This was because he didn't have much time.
"Since the old man's leave isn't very long, I'll have to shamelessly act as your grandfather today."
***
***
Grandfather and grandson moved to another spot.
They sat side by side on a rock on a hill where faint moonlight poured down, gazing together at the dim ridge.
"Your martial arts have become extremely powerful."
Ma Yeon-jeok said.
"I want to tell you in advance about things you will come to know. Since the Fortress Lord is likely away, I should tell you at least a little to ease my mind."
"What do you mean by things I will come to know?"
"There are many things you will encounter and need to resolve in the realm of purple-rank. Because there are always too few hands in the world. The Fortress Lord's departure is also related to that."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"Do you know the Great Ming Outline, Chapter One, Verse Four?"
After briefly looking at his maternal grandfather's profile, Jeong Yeon-shin recited the verse without asking further. It was a passage he had heard even before the Zhongnan Sect and Tyrant Sword Sect came to the Jeong family estate.
"At the gate of heaven, compatriots with long ears and small stature returned, destroyed the evil Yuan, and established the Great Ming with the founding emperor."
"What about Chapter One, Verse Eight?"
"A great demon pursued the compatriots, but the gate was closed in time, allowing for their extermination."
"Remember this. The purple-rank martial world you will face will be close to a demon-subduing battlefield. You might even see real dragon-serpents."
Demon-subduing battlefield. It refers to a cave where demons hide.
It didn't sound like empty words. It was a story that vaguely revealed where his grandfather had been and what he had been doing.
He could roughly gauge how busy he had been moving in a different world of the martial world.
"It seems like grasping at clouds. More specifically…"
"You'll hear it at the main fortress. More than that, I wanted to tell you why you need to further enhance your martial arts. Your martial prowess has already become unbelievably strong, but still."
"Are you giving me teachings?"
"If you have any questions, ask anything. With your current perception, you must have all sorts of topics."
Ma Yeon-jeok spoke in a gentle voice. Jeong Yeon-shin immediately opened his mouth.
"Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown seems within reach, so now I'm curious about what realm Five Qi Returning to the Origin is. I heard briefly from my uncle that it's a peerless realm… The cultivation of those called invincible in the world must be incredibly deep, right?"
"Five Qi Returning to the Origin, you say."
Ma Yeon-jeok burst into laughter.
"There is no such realm."
"What?"
"Just."
In that moment, Jeong Yeon-shin inevitably forgot his manners and had to look at the sky. The feeling that everything around had brightened for a moment was not an illusion.
All the stars visible to his eyes, those that had been sparsely formed, were gradually growing larger. The starlight that had barely been obscured even by moonlight was being pulled down by his grandfather's gesture.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
Slowly.
Threads of whitish radiance bent and gathered toward the grandfather and grandson.
The flickering was magnificent. Hundreds of comet tails reminiscent of the creation of heaven and earth poured down like a dream.
The glowing streams were being etched in the void like a mandala.
"Can you manifest a lifetime of cultivated martial arts in a single technique?"
His grandfather continued in a calm tone.
"That alone determines the peerless realm. That's where the paths of purple and black diverge."
"..."
"Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown is merely a state necessary to embody the martial arts in your head with your body."
Jeong Yeon-shin suddenly realized. The scene unfolding in the sky was merely an illusion.
It was like dozens of illusion swords at the extreme being fragmented. It wasn't some spell technique, but a marvel created by his grandfather's martial arts.
He had brutally twisted the light-filled void with tremendous power.
It was the principle of world-shaking martial arts. It completely transcended common principles. The rumor that the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader could cut even the laws of nature among the thirteen evil sects was no exaggeration.
'This isn't a martial arts incantation.'
He thought.
'He's manifesting his enlightenment outside his body.'
Jeong Yeon-shin recalled the Mount Hua Sect Leader's sword technique. It was a form that seemed to use the sunset-spread horizon as a sword.
It had been the most magnificent and mysterious among all the techniques of peerless masters he had seen, but his grandfather's light gesture surpassed even that.
"That Murong b*st*rd had it too."
Ma Yeon-jeok said bluntly. As if he found it distasteful to mention such vermin.
Something immediately came to Jeong Yeon-shin's mind. Accumulating Divine Halberd. The thrust that had come through the Star Radiance Great Sword Lord's sword energy.
At that time, Jeong Yeon-shin couldn't react. He helplessly exposed his abdomen.
"Life-saving ultimate move…"
It unconsciously flowed from his lips.
Ma Yeon-jeok smiled.
"How plain. Yes, when a life-saving ultimate move reaches mastery, it's called peerless. That unfilial Zhuge b*st*rd substituted it with spell techniques, formations, and dharma treasures. The Murong family's youngster could deploy it alone."
[TL Note- Murong Family Youngster=Family Head]
"So Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown is a stepping stone."
"When you achieve the state of unity of essence, energy, and spirit, your mental imagery begins to meld with your martial arts. Eventually, you'll penetrate all the martial arts you've cultivated with a single technique. Those worthy of discussing purple call it Five Qi Returning to the Origin or Transcendent Martial Arts."
"Transcendent Martial Arts."
Jeong Yeon-shin calmly repeated. It meant all martial arts transcending their limits.
Suddenly, Ma Yeon-jeok's brow narrowed.
"Thanks to you, this old man has undergone rejuvenation, and my enlightenment has progressed in another direction. I've come to take your outrageous name as my meaning."
Yeon-shin (Ashes). Smoke rising from what remains after burning.
Jeong Yeon-shin didn't bother to ask about the name. It was too embarrassing.
Suddenly, Ma Yeon-jeok changed his expression and smiled with satisfaction.
"You beheaded the Zhuge Clan Leader and Murong family head without any of that. You will far surpass the path of tyranny this old man walked when he became purple at thirty. In that sense."
He took off his robe and handed it to his grandson. The symbol of Desolate Fortress's Tyrant Hero was being transferred. It was something that would shake the world.
"I would like you to wear this. It's a garment that once shook the martial world."
"…This grandson doesn't have the confidence to walk the same path as Grandfather. My innate temperament is not strong enough…"
After staring down at that bright pink color, Jeong Yeon-shin silently returned the robe to his grandfather.
In Ma Yeon-jeok's eyes, it was an excellent path of tyranny.