The party set out on the final stretch before going their separate ways.

Seven days and nights had passed since Jung Yeonshin's private conversation with the Divine Sword Squad Leader—a conversation that had felt both long and short. Wuchang was just ahead.

They would part with the Divine Sword Unit there, for the city had a post station on the last leg to the Desolate Fortress.

"Isn't this return trip a little too easy? Not a single bastard's come after us. I was bracing for ambushes before we even reached Southern Zhili."

At Yeon Soha's remark, the other Divine Sword Unit masters began offering their own opinions.

"True enough. Our squad leader and the Namgoong clan head fought. Those Jianghu bastards could reasonably expect one of them to be in bad shape right afterward."

"Well, now. An easy return? At Azure Wild Valley, we ran into the Blood Flame Cult, the Martial Alliance, Lingering Spirits, and the Martial Dragon Society. How can you say that after encountering four major factions?"

"Exactly. Normally, we'd have clashed with them on the spot if the squad leader hadn't put on that show of strength. Though those sneaky Lingering Spirits bastards might have kept watching until then."

"Anyone reckless enough to attack after feeling the squad leader's qi waves wouldn't bother waiting until right after a duel in the first place. And most peerless masters capable of challenging a purple robe are tied down by the vast web of powers across the Central Plains."

"In any case," Ak Surim cut in with a bright smile, "we have Lightning Genius to thank. He somehow managed to help the squad leader circulate his qi and heal amid all that chaos. That's made our journey considerably easier."

She reached out. Shorter than Jung Yeonshin, she raised her palm high, apparently intending to pat his head.

He subtly veered aside. With an amused chuckle, she settled for giving his back a few pats.

"You're like a cat. Black Cat would suit you better than Lightning Genius."

That hardly called for a reply.

'Senior Ak would notice if she so much as touched my head.'

So the boy thought.

His short-lived constitution, and the Jeong Clan Estate in Xinye County.

He had taken care in explaining his circumstances to the Divine Sword Squad Leader. Quite apart from being a peerless master, the man was a purple-robed senior far above him.

There had been no telling how he would take it, yet his expression had not changed once as he listened to Jung Yeonshin.

Even the flippant words and gestures that occasionally escaped him had been absent.

["So, you're saying you intend to push me out?"]

Only his final words had been playful. Such was the extraordinary nature of the Divine Sword Squad Leader's response.

["Two purple-robed masters in the Divine Sword Squad. The thought alone sets my heart racing. Come up and join me."]

Then he had added that, once Yeonshin was qualified, he would gladly face him in a match.

Those words had come from none other than the Divine Sword Squad Leader. The prospect alone was still too daunting to contemplate.

Jung Yeonshin had privately felt he was merely reciting his sordid family troubles. He was surprised anew to feel his heart ease at that single remark.

Was it because the man had taken him seriously, despite his being a junior so far beneath him?

"My internal injuries are much better, too. Seven days and nights spent doing nothing but healing have paid off."

The Divine Sword Squad Leader spoke breezily. Catching Jung Yeonshin's eye, he winked. The boy quietly turned his head away.

"Wuchang's main gate!"

Ak Surim responded to Yeon Soha's shout.

"The inspections look rather strict. The poor harvest must have soured the people's mood."

"Our dear deputy leader is to return to the unit, rather than laze about at the fortress. Immediately, I might add."

The Divine Sword Squad Leader spoke with a mock glare. Ak Surim chuckled at the man, who ranked below her in Jianghu seniority.

"We'll see. I was thinking of lining up those captains of the seventeen squads and giving them a lesson in discipline. It's been a while. I wonder if the captain of the Radiant Demon Squad is at the fortress?"

She swept her hair back beside her ear, glancing at Jung Yeonshin with mischief written all over her face.

Looking thoroughly accustomed to this, the Divine Sword Unit masters chatted among themselves.

"Do you suppose something happened to the Elder Council Leader? Why hasn't he joined us?"

"What do you take a peerless purple-robed master for? Unless at least two sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects or Lords of the Thirteen Skies ambushed him together, there's very little in this world that could harm him. His martial prowess has already reached an absolute realm."

"Even that hypothetical is absurd. The leaders of the Nine Great Sects and the Thirteen Skies? The most exalted figures in all Murim hardly roam about like village dogs."

"What do you think, venerable Ma Clan head?"

"... The Elder Council Leader? His character may be wanting, but he is not a man to die by the roadside in the Jianghu. The concern of the likes of you is an insult to him."

Perhaps because their parting was near, the Divine Sword Unit masters had grown more talkative. None seemed genuinely worried about the Elder Council Leader. Their faith in the might of a purple-robed master was absolute.

"We really must split up now, eh?"

"Lightning Genius, you've broadened my horizons on this journey. Those personal martial arts of yours were wonderfully inventive."

"Indeed. Everything from your fist and palm arts to your swordsmanship."

Many of the Divine Sword Squad's Divine Sword Unit masters gave Jung Yeonshin friendly pats, just as Ak Surim had.

They hardly seemed like men famed even in the Jianghu for their exceptional arrogance.

Was it because they had spent a week getting to know him after watching his duel with the Blue Qilin, Namgoong Sejin?

'This is good. One day, I need to bring them under my command.'

It was a thought anyone would have called impudent.

Yet even at the last, none of the Divine Sword Unit masters mentioned requisitioning him. Jung Yeonshin reflected on this.

He was not yet a master whose strength they desperately needed.

Such was the breadth of the world of the Desolate Fortress's blue rank.

'Still, if I can incorporate the insights I gained this time...'

What would happen if he wove the Movement Art into the mental cultivation method he would soon create, and improved Radiant River's use of core energy as well?

He pictured himself being counted alongside Chung Myung and Baek Miryeo in discussions of the strongest blue robe. When he met the Divine Sword Unit again, he would show them a different side of himself.

"It's been quite enjoyable."

"Deputy Leader, come straight back."

"And you, old Master Ma, do try to rein in that temper."

Even their parting wishes were cheerful. Their martial strength supported their seemingly carefree dispositions.

"Come on, let's go."

Ak Surim had decided to return briefly with Jung Yeonshin and Ma Yeonjeok. As deputy leader of the Divine Sword Unit, she had to submit a mission report.

"Your palm technique is good, but don't neglect your swordsmanship. That sword art has plenty of room to grow."

The Divine Sword Squad Leader offered advice in place of a farewell. These were the words of a peerless master who had shown him a shining sword of core energy.

Jung Yeonshin clasped his hands in a martial salute and bowed his thanks.

"May fortune favor you in battle."

No sooner had he finished than cheerful laughter rang out. A hearty reply soon reached him on a gust of wind.

"You're the only fellow who wishes me luck."

WHOOSH!

When he raised his head again, the entire Divine Sword Unit was already far away, moving with lightness skills.

Nearly twenty shadows sped onward, blotting out the sunlight along the boundless horizon. The Divine Sword Squad Leader's back was nowhere to be seen.

"Let us go."

Ma Yeonjeok spoke. It was time to return.

* * *

It had happened the day before Jung Yeonshin departed for his duels with the Namgoong clan.

The sunlight was bright.

The Desolate Fortress's Gold-Piercing Martial Repository was another fortress within the fortress itself.

Its snow-white stone walls rose in elegant splendor. Anyone unfamiliar with it would have struggled to imagine it was a library.

It was built that way because it housed the Desolate Fortress's secret martial manuals.

It was called a compendium of martial learning. It had been established with foundational arts supplied by the imperial court.

It also held the personal martial arts donated by the fortress's warriors.

But what sort of martial library had marble walls? That was invariably the thought of first-time visitors.

Such thoughts usually showed on their faces. The boy who entered now, however, looked utterly composed.

STEP.

The scholar in charge of the Gold-Piercing Martial Repository knew him. Upon receiving the unprecedented manual of the Demon-Slaying Gentle Flowing Strike, he had even been obliged to report it to the imperial court.

Rarely had he poured so much care into the brushstrokes of an official document.

"Young Master Lightning Genius."

"Scholar Oh."

The boy returned Scholar Oh's martial salute. It was a neat, composed greeting.

An idle thought crossed the scholar's mind. This boy, whose martial reputation had been growing of late, would fit rather well among the scent of paper here.

Perhaps the books tucked beneath Jung Yeonshin's arm strengthened that impression.

What might he have become had he followed a path other than that of a warrior? Shaking off the sudden fancy, the scholar asked a question.

"What have you there?"

"I'd like to donate these to the fortress. They are my personal martial arts. I'd also like to request an assessment of their merit-point value."

Lightning Genius Jung Yeonshin spoke as though merely stating his business, with no particular expectations.

Even a street vendor selling sweets would have made more effort to attract interest.

The scholar, who had been forced to receive even an imperial edict over the Demon-Slaying Gentle Flowing Strike, shuddered inwardly.

The matter had been handled in the strictest secrecy so that the sects of the Jianghu would not catch wind of it.

Dharma-powered martial arts.

After all the commotion behind the scenes, the boy had ultimately received so few merit points that it had only made the scholar angrier.

Enrich the nation and strengthen the army. They had said the art did not accord with that guiding principle of Zhang Juzheng, who had served as chief minister of the Ming imperial court.

Apparently, it was because the art was so abstruse that no one else could even begin learning it. The scholar did not even know whether the decision had come from the Desolate Fortress's Command Bureau or the imperial court.

'May this one go smoothly.'

He silently hoped so as he accepted the books from the boy.

Then Jung Yeonshin spoke.

"You are a skilled speed-reader, Scholar Oh. Might I wait until you've estimated their general value...? I'll be leaving on a mission soon, so I'll have to depart before the results arrive."

Donated martial arts were assessed from several angles.

Before they passed through the Command Bureau's senior scholars to higher authorities, including several Black Captains, their effects, training methods, and difficulty of mastery had to be organized.

Drafting the framework of that report was the job of the Gold-Piercing Martial Repository's scholar.

Naturally, he practiced martial arts himself. He prided himself on having an eye no less discerning than that of most blue-robed experts. That was why he had been assigned this post.

"A mission tomorrow... I have nothing else pressing today, so I'll give them a thorough look right away."

The scholar quickly picked up one of the books. Its title caught his eye.

Infinite Blossom Fist Strike.

The cover, with Infinite Blossom Fist Strike scrawled across it, was plain. Clearly, the boy had obtained blank forms from the Command Bureau and roughly bound them together.

Smiling inwardly at the book's clumsy finish, the scholar turned a page.

"..."

Then he closed his mouth.

Gradually.

Very slowly, he sank into silence.

Infinite Blossom Fist Strike, Evading Swift Step, Classic of Initiating Transcendence, Radiant Sword Art...

He went through the four secret martial manuals in turn. In the stillness, only the soft rustle of turning pages could be heard.

It continued until he had read every book inscribed with martial formulas.

"Hmm..."

With a low murmur, he raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and astonishment flashed in his gaze as he looked at Jung Yeonshin.

His expression alone filled the brief silence amply.

Slowly, the scholar parted his lips.

"... As you know, donations of personal martial arts are converted into merit according to the fortress's own criteria. Their value is assessed by how much they can improve the overall strength of our warriors. We do not rely particularly on the judgment of supreme masters. If I may venture an opinion on these arts of yours, Young Master Lightning Genius..."

* * *

Abruptly, the scholar's recollection ended.

"Excuse me. There's something I'd like to ask."

The voice was tinged with anxiety.

At the entrance to the vast library, the scholar sighed over the ink he was grinding at a desk equipped with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

He could guess the visitor's exact business without hearing another word. More than a dozen such people had come today alone. His brow furrowed.

"The Lightning Genius martial lineage has been transferred to the repository's upper floor."

It was something he had already said more than a dozen times.

'It's a regular market day in here.'

The scholar of the Desolate Fortress's Command Bureau rubbed his weary eyes. He had spent the whole day dealing with argumentative warriors.

This was never what being a clerk at the Gold-Piercing Martial Repository had entailed.

"That young master is the problem."

The words escaped like a sigh.

A muttered complaint that faded away with his weariness...

The young man in cotton clothes paid no heed to his muttering. His face flushed with anger, and his voice rose steadily.

"Transferred? Transferred?! What dreadful thing are you saying?"

"It is the Command Bureau's decision. They are no longer available to just anyone. You must at least attain the formal rank of white robe. That has always been the case with profound martial learning. The Chief Administrator intends to encourage the desire to improve..."

"What utter...! I was born and raised in the Desolate Fortress! Are you saying warriors who haven't earned white robes aren't even people?"

"White-robed warrior is the minimum rank for formal assignment to the Divine Sword Squad's seventeen squads. You know that perfectly well, don't you? Why not take the desolate fortress trial, then?"

The scholar's reply was listless. It could hardly be otherwise. This had happened far more than once or twice today.

The uproar centered on the Gold-Piercing Martial Repository.

Moving the Lightning Genius martial lineage had caused an enormous stir. The scholar swore inwardly.

'Damn it.'

Now that word had arrived of victory in the duels against the Namgoong clan, the Desolate Fortress was in an uproar.