A young man and woman each held a petal-shaped sliver of iron. With the unusual, ink-black pieces tucked between their fingers, they experimented with different postures. Each change in their opening stances sent waves of qi surging through their bodies.

"How about this?"

"No, a little lower. To the right."

"You're right. It's tilted a little. To make the combat path plunge downward, we have to account for the follow-up launch..."

Their finely formed features bore many similarities. So did their bodies. The siblings had small but agile-looking builds, well suited to their light outfits of green silk. They looked utterly delighted as they discussed the martial arts of hidden weapons.

Some distance in front of them, a gaunt old man watched with a satisfied smile. A dazzling golden robe draped his body, which resembled the trunk of an ancient tree. This was Tang Taedok, the retired head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, an old master also known as its retired patriarch.

"Immortal talent. True immortal talent."

Skipping a generation, the siblings' gifts had reached glorious perfection. Tang Taedok thought them beyond comparison with his son, who had severed ties with the clan.

The bargain had been a success. The Blood Flame Cult Leader had indeed spared no support. Beginning with the body of a Blood Master Swordsman, he had supplied the flesh of Blood Flame Cult members with regenerative powers and even captured the Desolate Fortress's Elder Council Leader.

'He may have joined forces with the Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord, but it was still truly astonishing.'

Tang Taedok, too, had given his all. He had poured in the clan's spirit medicines, medicinal ingredients, and even its poisons. Apart from the bare minimum needed to sustain the Tang Clan's foundations, he had committed everything to the Great Acupoint Alteration Art.

And so his grandchildren had been reborn with talents unmatched through the ages.

'They can perfect Blossoms Raining Across the Sky. With their senses, they certainly can.'

The anatomical diagram provided by the Blood Flame Cult's Seventh Apostle had played an enormous role. The chart of the bodily structure of the Desolate Fortress's Lightning Genius had brought the Great Acupoint Alteration Art to fruition. It was a method of bodily modification that brought together the sorcery, medicine, and poison arts possessed by the Blood Flame Cult and Tang Clan.

His grandchildren's bodies had been exceptional to begin with. They had been born with extraordinarily robust constitutions. That was why they had been able to withstand the art in full.

After the procedure, the Tang siblings had risen to fame in an instant. Whatever variations they introduced to their hidden-weapon throwing techniques, they never missed. Their command of core energy was even more remarkable. Though they had yet to reach a supreme realm such as Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, the precision with which they released and withdrew internal energy was staggering. Even most seasoned masters struggled to match it.

They had met no one of their own generation capable of standing against their brilliant martial gifts. Word spread through Sichuan's Murim that only the finest elites of the Nine Great Sects or the Thirteen skies could withstand a single move from the Poison Dragon or Poison Phoenix.

'They have no idea what those children are worth.'

Tang Taedok sneered inwardly. The Tang Clan's hopes did not rest on the martial strength of the siblings known as the Twin Poisons of Dragon and Phoenix. Of course, their talent went beyond the finest in Sichuan; they could contend with the best under heaven. They were fully capable of that now.

But he set aside what was only to be expected. His attention, and that of the rest of the Tang Clan's leadership, lay elsewhere.

Blossoms Raining Across the Sky.

The peerless secret technique that had long symbolized the Sichuan Tang Clan.

It was a supreme divine art that lay dead, surviving only in books. The generation before Tang Taedok had failed even to begin mastering it. Its martial lineage had broken off decades ago, and no one had learned it since.

If a secret manual alone sufficed to master it, it would not be a divine technique. There would be no need for a teacher, either. Yet people of the Central Plains still thought of an irresistible rain of flowers filling the heavens whenever they heard the Tang Clan's name. That was the essence of the Tang family's martial arts, passed down by word of mouth for centuries.

'All ninety years of my life have been devoted to it,' Tang Taedok thought.

In his youth, he had undertaken the restoration of Blossoms Raining Across the Sky out of duty. Somewhere along the way, it had become a delusion and an obsession.

Was one's comprehension inadequate for the difficulty of beginning a divine technique? Could the flow of core energy through the body's fine meridians not keep pace with the manual's formulas?

Then change it all.

One need only open the Baihui point wide and adjust the acupoints throughout the body.

Tang Taedok had poured his soul into this heaven-defying art ever since he was the young clan head. Upon taking the clan head's throne, he had led the research. Even after retiring, he had never let it go. Only recently had it yielded results. His aged body, however, could no longer withstand the art.

And so he had surgically bestowed peerless talent upon children who had practiced the Tang family's martial arts since they were small. The siblings had inherited the clan's blood in full measure. He had believed they would withstand the art, and the results had been just as he expected.

He would use the Twin Poisons' gifts to reproduce the divine technique in its entirety. That was why he had accepted the Blood Flame Cult Leader's proposal.

'Those children have only a few years left to live now, but what does it matter if they die after bringing Blossoms Raining Across the Sky to life? The succession can be settled by adopting someone from a collateral line.'

Tang Taedok's lips stretched into a grin so wide they seemed about to split. How endearing the siblings were, laughing and chattering without knowing when they would die. The sight of them enjoying the restoration of Blossoms Raining Across the Sky was truly beautiful. They were worthy descendants of the Tang Clan's direct line.

Lovely children. You shall be the final nourishment that gives my life a meaningful flowering.

There were two layers to Tang Taedok's gaze: madness wrapped in fond satisfaction. The Poison Dragon and Poison Phoenix, standing opposite one another, saw only his gentle smile. The Poison Phoenix waved to her grandfather.

"Look! We've got it down to a single breath now!"

She turned back toward her twin brother and spread her snowy fingers. Practicing the Tang Clan's poison arts had left her hands without so much as a crease. In an instant, the petal-shaped iron sliver between her fingers vanished. It happened in a single flick of her wrist.

Tang Taedok saw it all. It was a feat performed with core energy. The iron flower flew toward the Poison Dragon. In an instant, the launched sliver split into eight pieces, each rushing toward a different spot.

The Poison Dragon grinned, and his left hand blurred. His pale hand traced an arc. With a slight step backward, he swept up every incoming iron fragment in a single breath. It was a combat path guided by exquisite instinct.

"The very highest grade," Tang Taedok said with a smile.

Exchanging flower darts was a game passed down through generations of the Tang Clan. It was also a training method for both hidden-weapon releases and hand techniques, as well as a means of judging individual aptitude.

That was why he had called it the highest grade. How did one deal with a flower dart thrown by a Tang Clan master of equal standing? Aptitude was judged by that response: reaction speed, the ability to release and withdraw internal energy, the precision of one's combat path, and an eye for the point of impact.

Having caught every piece with only a single step backward, the Poison Dragon could rightly be called the most gifted in the Tang Clan's history. The Poison Phoenix was no different. A smile spread across her face, a most charming smile.

"I think we've sharpened our senses enough, don't you?"

"Yes. We've rested enough. Grandfather, we're going out to train again! We need somewhere open, and I like our usual spot. How should I put it? It gives me inspiration. It makes me feel as though I could create anything."

The confidence on the Poison Dragon's pale face was identical to his sister's. It was the spirit of a young master soon to take the world by storm. His martial talent, now flashing like lightning, filled him with endless exhilaration. His aptitude had changed at its very root. It was an entirely new world.

Tang Taedok nodded.

"Go on, then."

They were sparks that would illuminate the Tang family before fading away. He could grant them anything they wished.

"Guard them closely."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Tang Taedok sent only that single sound transmission to the experts charged with protecting the Tang direct line.

* * *

There was a saying: a hundred thousand members. It was both a figurative and a literal description of the Beggars' Sect's numbers. That many people might not truly represent its available fighting strength, but its influence was said to span the Central Plains.

'The Beggars' Sect's Beggar Heir.'

Jung Yeonshin gazed at the fellow sprawled facedown at the Supreme Flame Dragon's feet. He was destined to become the master of the martial beggars of the Central Plains. In other words, the next sect leader. His presence carried enormous weight in the martial world.

"In sheer numbers, even the Thirteen skies and Nine Great Sects combined fall short of the Beggars' Sect."

"Mm. In both manpower and intelligence, it truly is one of the world's great sects. They'll certainly... know a great deal."

The white-robed warriors of the Lightning Genius martial lineage spoke, their expressions uniformly impassive.

"Hey! Hey! You imperial dogs, do you know who you're dealing with?"

"Hands off! I said, hands off! Want a begging bowl to the head?"

White robes barred the indignant Beggar Heir's followers as they approached. Standing in a line, the warriors prevented the beggars from making any move at all. Their hands resting on sword hilts or toying with gauntlets made for a threatening sight. The beggars flinched.

The white-robed warriors spoke.

"Weren't you the ones who provoked us first with that talk of the imperial family's treasured swords?"

"Relax. We won't kill him. Well... provided you had nothing to do with this affair."

The Wing-Returning Unit's full-fledged warriors generally knew more of the world than Jung Yeonshin. Yet none seemed troubled that the Supreme Flame Dragon had laid hands on a great sect's successor. They were keeping the gravity of the situation and their limited time firmly in mind. The Radiant Demon Squad was their founding master's combat unit, and its members were their comrades in the Desolate Fortress.

"Great sect, my ass. No matter how many rabble you gather, they're still just a swarm of ants."

The Supreme Flame Dragon spoke while chewing a poppy, his expression relaxed. He was sitting on the Beggar Heir's back.

"I've heard plenty about the current Beggar Heir. Even tucked away in a corner of Jinan, the Hwangbo clan picked up plenty of news about the great sects. They say that whenever you beg for food, any sect will lay out a feast for you. And that you enjoy it quite a bit. I'd been waiting for you to show up at the Dragon-Phoenix Summit, but you never did."

"I'd heard the Supreme Flame Dragon had a shitty temper. Good thing I stayed away."

Even facedown, the Beggar Heir was no slouch with words. The insults came naturally, and he retained his composure despite being completely subdued.

"I apologize for provoking you. This beggar misjudged his opponents. I never imagined I'd end up so thoroughly humiliated. But how did the Supreme Flame Dragon come to be a pawn of the Desolate Fortress?"

"As I thought. Have the rumors spread this far? Then you must know why we're here, too?"

He smoothly let the irrelevant remark slide. The Supreme Flame Dragon's manner of speaking seemed careless, yet ultimately never strayed from the point. A bitter smile touched the Beggar Heir's lips.

"The Radiant Demon Squad's annihilation is a serious matter for us, too. If two or three of the Divine Sword Squad's combat units gather, all hell could break loose. That's how the Hwangbo clan was wiped out. Of course, the Desolate Fortress has commitments everywhere, so its scattered forces can't easily come together."

"You seem to think mentioning the Hwangbo clan will anger me. It doesn't hurt a bit. Keep talking."

"... Our sect has already been investigating the Radiant Demon Squad incident. We heard the Tang Clan's twin geniuses, the Twin Poisons of Dragon and Phoenix, often appear nearby, so we were trying to make contact."

His manner of speech had changed. This seemed to be how he normally spoke.

"I see."

The Supreme Flame Dragon stood and dusted off his backside. Glancing at Jung Yeonshin, he said,

"You can take over now, Acting Captain. I doubt he'll waste any more of our time with theatrics. Martial-world folk need a show of force on first meeting. Especially the bastards from major sects."

"What a way to talk."

Grumbling, the Beggar Heir planted both hands on the ground. He rose, twisting his torso this way and that with a thoroughly nonchalant air, as if to ask whether anything had happened at all. Then his eyes lit up at the sight of Jung Yeonshin. His gaze sparkled.

"So you are the famous Lightning Genius, Young Master? The rising talent who is said to have learned the Desolate Fortress Master's martial arts and slain Blue Qilin Namgoong Sejin. It isn't easy for a master from northern Huguang Province to make a name for himself even in Sichuan's Murim, but if all the rumors are true, you've certainly earned it. I already knew about your catching the Tyrant Sword Tribe's Vicious Rakshasa Swordsman off guard."

He was remarkably affable. He felt like someone halfway between the Supreme Flame Dragon and Heon Wonchang.

"They say the Beggars' Sect's intelligence network is the best under heaven. Tell me what you know, and I'll repay you."

As he spoke, Jung Yeonshin began walking slowly. He passed the Beggar Heir and the other beggars, heading for a patch of ground by the cliff covered in countless marks.

'This is it.'

It matched the description in the report. Daggers, iron slivers, throwing needles, and more. Countless hidden weapons imbued with internal energy had rained down here. The gouges alone made that clear.

He slowly parted his lips.

"The Radiant Demon Squad suspected the Tang Clan of manufacturing Thunderclap Bombs. They went out to investigate it properly. These hidden-weapon marks here—are they from Blossoms Raining Across the Sky?"

It happened just as Jung Yeonshin finished speaking.

WHOOSH!

He felt the wave of qi before he heard the sound. He detected two hidden weapons streaking like rays of light. As he turned, iron slivers hurtling toward him like flower petals came into view. Each immediately split into eight pieces. Sixteen beams of light pierced the space directly before him.

Heat flooded his head. His upper dantian blazed of its own accord. There was no time to discern how the trick worked. The ambush was astonishingly fast. He did not even have enough time to gather the internal energy for Mobility Arts. Jung Yeonshin reacted unconsciously.

TAP.

He gave the ground a light kick. A strand of core energy bent through the stone struck by the toe of his shoe. The stone flew upward, splitting into the same number of pieces—sixteen—and blocked every angle of the incoming weapons.

CLATTER-CLATTER-CLATTER!

Every iron petal veered off course. Amid the crumbling fragments of stone, Jung Yeonshin slowly raised his head.

The assailants who had thrown the hidden weapons—a man and woman in light green outfits—were staring at the boy in stunned disbelief.