Give away Radiant River? Both his reason and his heart balked at the idea. It was not merely because Namgoong Sejin had named the technique.

'This is a form worth guarding against even the remotest possibility.'

Martial arts sometimes leaked out into the world, however rarely. In the lower reaches of the martial world, where smaller sects fought over territory, such leaks were reportedly common. Betraying one's sect was not the only cause. Even for superhumans who had mastered martial arts, enduring torture was another matter entirely.

The arts he had donated so far had immense room for improvement. In Jung Yeonshin's hands, they could advance as far as he wished. He would even welcome counters to them. Radiant River was different. By its very nature, it was bound to fixed patterns and methods of circulating core energy.

"You're not donating it...?" Shin Sobin asked weakly.

"No. I'm not."

"O-oh. You're not..."

Her crestfallen expression amused him inwardly. His face remained calm as he thought, 'No matter how urgently I need merit points.'

He had to protect the formulas of his reasonably complete core arts. The same held true for sword song and the Movement Art. Moreover, Radiant River was a single-strike art meant to kill in one blow. It already had clear weaknesses in execution time and precision. He could not disclose its formula on top of that. Anyone who knew the circumstances would agree that his survival was at stake.

'Besides.'

One first had to gain a grounding in the Demon-Slaying Gentle Flowing Strike. The prerequisite itself was an art no one else had managed to begin learning. That was true even leaving aside the Blood Flame Cult's Demonic Asura Blood Art. There was no reason to donate it.

"B-but you'd earn a lot of merit points. A really, really huge amount. You've only just returned, so you don't know what an uproar there's been." Shin Sobin watched his reaction as she spoke.

"I wonder."

The merit points he had received for donating the Demon-Slaying Gentle Flowing Strike had been middling. It was a paltry sum for an art the Shaolin monks had called a divine technique. Though generous considering that no one had managed to begin learning it, the reward had fallen short of his expectations. Even that much, he had been told, was due to the rarity of Dharma-powered martial arts. That was all.

'Radiant River won't earn many merit points either.'

Those were the Desolate Fortress's standards. Even the most sublime martial arts were judged on how widely they could be used. To master Radiant River, one first had to learn the Demon-Slaying Gentle Flowing Strike, which had no other practitioners. No one would be able to learn it. There was absolutely no reason to bear the cost of disclosing its formula.

"I've only just returned. I need to circulate my qi first," the boy said. He gently disengaged the hands of the children clinging to his robes, meeting the unranked disciples' eyes with a small smile.

'They're sweet children.'

They still approached him freely, even now that he wore blue. Those who were a little older treated Jung Yeonshin formally, but he did not expect that of the younger children.

"Circulate your qi first. Oh, right. Of course you do." Shin Sobin replied with an oddly abashed look.

Perhaps because she had drawn in on herself ever so slightly, the hem of her long white Desolate Fortress robe had creased. It had been so immaculate that it lent her an air of confidence. She belonged to the fortress's Shin Clan, said to rival desolate's ma clan in prestige. Yet her behavior now hardly befitted the cherished daughter of an illustrious house.

"Shin Sobin, where are the captain and the other seniors?"

"They left on a mission right after you set out, Senior Lightning Genius. None of them have returned."

"Sichuan?"

"That's right."

Jung Yeonshin recalled his conversation with Ma Jin before confronting the Namgoong clan.

["I'll have to visit Sichuan soon myself. Because of that Thunderclap Bomb you suffered so badly from. There's intelligence going around that the Sichuan Tang Clan has been secretly manufacturing explosive bombs. The Command Bureau told me to investigate."]

["The Tang Clan... I've heard Sichuan's martial world is dangerous. Isn't it a place where even Radiant Demon Squad experts can't count on surviving if they get caught in the turmoil? The Sichuan Tang Clan vies for supremacy among the Eight Families, and three of the Nine Great Sects and three major factions of the Thirteen skies are gathered there."]

He also remembered Ma Jin's smiling reply. He had said he was more worried about Yeonshin.

'They still haven't returned.'

Jung Yeonshin nodded once, then spoke.

"Let's catch up later. Though I don't have much else to say about the Infinite Blossom Hand... no, the Infinite Blossom Fist Strike."

He now used Hand rather than Fist at the end of the art's name. After creating three fist forms, he had created the palm technique Radiant River.

"Yes, let's do that!"

Her voice rose to a squeak. Shin Sobin nodded her small head, then blushed. Jung Yeonshin found it a little puzzling. It was difficult to imagine her acting this way ordinarily.

Shin Sobin, the Radiant Demon Squad's White Cat. He recalled the time around his meeting with the Supreme Flame Dragon during the Dragon-Phoenix Summit mission. She had been with him then and had bluntly told him that practicing sword song was drawing attention. She had felt no hesitation in criticizing a blue-robed expert. She had even openly commented on his skills. She was, by nature, remarkably bold. She always had been.

'What's gotten into her?'

Inwardly puzzled, he stepped forward. Several robes brushed together as the Radiant Demon Squad's unranked children reluctantly moved aside.

These boys and girls had entered the fortress through a more traditional path than the desolate fortress trial. They had grown up in the Desolate Fortress as their own sect, just like disciples of other sects. Innocent as they looked, they had been learning within the Radiant Demon Squad since birth. They were familiar with the fortress's cycle of missions, rest, and training.

"Right. He needs to rest before telling us his war stories."

"I was just calling dibs. Anyway, I'm first for the Infinite Blossom Fist Strike. I don't know how to put power into Formidable Wall. Not properly!"

"What are you talking about, weakling? Let's settle it with a match. Follow me to the training ground."

"Fine! You think I'm scared?"

Amid the clamor of young voices, Shin Sobin watched Jung Yeonshin's retreating figure with a faintly dazed expression. There was no trace of fatigue in the boy as he walked silently away. Only the quietly concentrated air about him attested to his growth. His qi waves had a powerful presence.

'His martial prowess has risen again.'

The thought came to Shin Sobin as the blue-robed Lightning Genius's attainment struck home. An expert of heights far beyond her reach. She could no longer even estimate how many moves she could last against him. All she saw was his back, moving endlessly onward.

Yet something mattered more than attainment: the talent to create martial arts. The Radiant Demon Squad's Lightning Genius grew and created at the same time. Even as he devised new arts, he advanced. She could no longer see him as a boy her own age.

"Senior Shin, what's wrong?"

"You're acting all awkward. It's weird."

"That's not like the Radiant Demon Squad's White Cat!"

The children chattered teasingly. They were right. This was utterly unlike her. Had she developed romantic feelings for Senior Lightning Genius?

'Surely not.'

No. It was nothing so shallow. The feelings troubling her were directly tied to her identity as a martial artist.

A memory came unbidden to Shin Sobin.

'He called him a founding master.'

Those had been the words of Hong Joogeom of the Annihilation Squad, whom she had met at the Gold-Piercing Martial Repository.

A pioneer of a school. One who attained enlightenment before others. A visionary revered by all. The values of those in the martial world were generally rooted in martial learning. Those who founded a martial lineage, a sublime school of arts, were honored as founding masters.

Martial artists looked up to Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng more than to Shakyamuni. They were the creators of Shaolin Temple's supreme arts and the Wudang Sect's Supreme Ultimate martial arts. Both were known as Grandmasters.

Lightning Genius Jung Yeonshin was also creating a lineage. No one could treat him lightly anymore.

'Even if it's still incomplete.'

Anyone who walked the martial path owed him respect.

'Every martial artist with their head on straight.'

Shin Sobin had avidly studied the martial arts Jung Yeonshin had donated. Thus, she had felt it all. She had confronted, in their barest form, the overwhelming martial talent and flashes of inspiration running through his formulas. It was different from merely regarding Lightning Genius as an individual warrior. She had even been deeply moved.

Only a tiny minority occupied the martial world's uppermost reaches and possessed peerless arts. That meant most martial artists ought to humble themselves upon reading the formulas of Jung Yeonshin's creations. Not only the Infinite Blossom Fist Strike. The Evading Swift Step, Classic of Initiating Transcendence, and Radiant Sword Art were all the same.

'The Lightning Genius lineage.'

Only then did she understand her own heart. Her bearing had changed at its very foundation. Unconsciously, she had adopted the attitude a student ought to show a founding master.

Therein lay a problem. Shin Sobin was far from the only fortress warrior who felt this way. Yet the Desolate Fortress was an organization whose laws forbade master-disciple ties. There were no masters or fellow disciples. Only superiors and subordinates, seniors and juniors.

'What if some malicious bastards use it against him...?'

As a daughter of the Shin Clan's main line, Shin Sobin had grown up roaming the Desolate Fortress. Certain faces came to mind as she furrowed her brow.

* * *

Three days passed. With Ma Jin away and unable to receive missions for him, Jung Yeonshin could only wait for orders to come directly from the Command Bureau. He spent those days refining his martial arts.

He wanted to spend as little time as possible in the fortress itself. Merit points mattered, but he also needed experience and a broader knowledge of the martial world. Though he had won the recent duels, he found it difficult to be satisfied.

'I was lucky.'

He recalled his fight with Blue Qilin Namgoong Sejin. The flow of battle had favored Jung Yeonshin that day. That was all. Each had possessed arts capable of inflicting mortal wounds on the other. The king-style sword arts were so novel and overwhelming that they seemed supernatural. Either of them could have won.

'I have to advance further.'

Martial learning was the distillation of fighting others into a discipline. It could not be learned alone. Living martial prowess arose from interaction with an opponent.

Someone immediately came to mind. White Qilin Namgoong Hwashin. Among those with whom he could improve, Hwashin alone could keep pace with Jung Yeonshin's perceptions.

But the boy inwardly shook his head. Hwashin would be sunk in despair. He could not use him as a means to hone his martial arts.

'When I can't even offer him comfort.'

Sparring with the Radiant Demon Squad's warriors no longer stimulated him. They had become like family, and his progress in honing practical combat arts had slowed. He simply felt no danger. Besides, all his seniors had gone to Sichuan with Ma Jin anyway. Jung Yeonshin continued with visualization training alone.

Was it because he had witnessed peerless supreme masters, including the Divine Sword Squad Leader, during the Namgoong clan mission? His thoughts grew ever more extreme. He almost wished someone would pick a fight with him, so he could unleash his personal arts to his heart's content.

'What a thug's way of thinking.'

Shaking his head inwardly, he sank into meditation. Roughly two traditional double-hours passed.

Then sunlight, broken by the window lattice, brushed the boy's cheek. It was the breath of twilight at the day's end. That was when it happened.

["Is anyone there!"]

A voice suddenly rang out, setting the air trembling. The core energy within it was truly immense. Those waves of internal power were at least at the blue-robed level. Jung Yeonshin reacted immediately. With no black robe present, he was currently the Radiant Demon Squad's only blue robe.

HUM!

He immediately employed his Mobility Arts, swiftly opening the door and dashing outside.

TAP! WHOOSH!

A fierce rush of wind swept through his hair. He closed the distance in an instant. Only one person awaited him in front of the hall.

"I joined the Desolate Fortress today. I've been assigned to the Radiant Demon Squad."

A young man with haggard shadows beneath his eyes smiled. It was a gentle smile. He strode toward Yeonshin holding a gourd flask, and the smell of alcohol grew stronger as he approached. He continued.

"We've met before, haven't we? Your face left quite an impression. The brat who called me slow."

"..."

"I don't know your name. I know your epithet, though. Lightning Genius... wasn't it?"

He looked a good ten years older than Jung Yeonshin. His appearance gave that impression. His distinct, handsome features exuded profound ennui. He was a familiar face.

"The Hwangbo clan's Supreme Flame Dragon," Jung Yeonshin said.

First, he loosened his body with the Movement Art. In an instant, every muscle relaxed like those of a beast preparing to fight. Meanwhile, the boy studied the man.

"So you remember me too."

The Supreme Flame Dragon smiled in satisfaction. Despite his shabby martial robes, he possessed a strange dignity. The leaf held between his lips did indeed appear to be poppy. Where had he obtained it? Such an appearance was difficult to imagine within the Desolate Fortress. His faintly shadowed eyes curved in a smile, while Jung Yeonshin merely gazed back at him.

"Of course you would. Aren't our gifts of a kind? I have the Solar Divine Meridians, and you have..."

Trailing off, the Supreme Flame Dragon tilted his head slightly.

"What was it? Anyway."

Terrifying qi blazed from his entire body. Even though he did not appear to have roused much core energy, he radiated heat. It was blazing yang internal power. He felt even stronger than before, as though he grew all on his own.

"I'm not some Hwangbo young clan head anymore. Just a small-fry unranked disciple. I look forward to getting along."

His words and manner suggested that he had no lingering attachment to anything in the world. He hardly seemed the heir to a clan. But that was not important. A question occurred to the boy. Why had the Desolate Fortress admitted the heir of a clan it had annihilated? Was that something the Command Bureau could decide?

As he ordered his thoughts, Jung Yeonshin slowly parted his lips.

"Respect."

"Hmm?"

"Speak respectfully to me, Supreme Flame Dragon."