“A white robe challenged a blue robe to a match?”
“A training bout to broaden his horizons, to be precise. Or so they say.”
“That’s not it. I know the real story.”
For once, whispers filled every corner of the Desolate Fortress. The news was that a newly arrived greenhorn would fight a blue-robed heavenly squad warrior over the honor of the seventeen squads.
The general consensus held that the gulf between the Fortress’s white, blue, black, and purple robes was even greater than appearances suggested. No one was particularly interested in who would win.
“How many moves will he last?”
“Ten at the absolute most.”
“Agreed. A newly admitted white robe lasting more than ten forms against a blue robe? I can’t picture it.”
“Isn’t that like an ordinary Mount Hua disciple challenging a Plum Blossom Swordsman?”
By the day of the match, word had apparently spread throughout the Desolate Fortress. Spectators came from the other seventeen squads, and even a few from the Command Bureau.
The venue was the heavenly squad’s training ground.
Jung Yeonshin had already arrived and was drawing curious looks from all sides. He surveyed his surroundings.
Swords. Nothing but swords.
The weapons racks held swords of every description, bringing home to him once again that the heavenly squad was a sword unit renowned throughout the martial world.
‘So they train in nothing but the sword here until they become blue-robed warriors?’
The widely known desolate fortress trial admitted white-robed warriors, but he had heard there were several other ways to enter.
The best-known route was the same as that of most major sects: take in children before turbid qi clogged their pressure points, let them wear whatever they liked, and have them gradually advance to white and then blue robes.
If anything, that was the more traditional route, with better prospects.
Yeonshin could hardly forget the lively, talented children he had seen in the Radiant Demon Squad’s halls. They had even followed him here to cheer him on.
“You have to last five forms! I bet sweets with the heavenly squad kids! Hey! Look over here! Over here!”
“Big Brother! Don’t disgrace the Radiant Demon Squad!”
“Junior Brother! You can do it!”
‘Junior Brother, he says.’
Yeonshin chuckled.
Unlike other sects, the Desolate Fortress determined rank entirely by robe color. In that respect, it resembled the military.
The children occasionally called him and Heon Wonchang their junior brothers as a joke. Having never felt much affection for his own household, Yeonshin found it refreshingly endearing.
He waved to the ten or so children, drawing a burst of cheers. They were innocent little things.
‘Come to think of it, there were some my age, too.’
The Radiant Demon Squad also had disciples older than these children. Even twenty was considered young to have one’s martial skill recognized, don white robes, and become a full-fledged warrior.
His own advancement was abnormally fast.
Naturally, some disciples were older than him. Unlike the children who had come to cheer him on, they were still awkward around him.
‘Time will sort that out.’
Setting the thought aside, he looked ahead.
The warriors who appeared to belong to the heavenly squad wore sour expressions. They resented being challenged by some fresh-faced youngster from the entrance trial.
Off to one side, two supreme masters in jet-black martial robes were engaged in a battle of wills: Ma Jin and the heavenly squad captain.
The latter was a celebrated swordsman counted among Huguang’s Ten Great Swordsmen. Though gaunt, he cut an imposing figure with his height, long arms, and piercing gaze.
“Let’s wager one spirit pill from our respective squads on whether he lasts ten moves. Naturally, I’m betting the greenhorn won’t last ten forms.”
The heavenly squad captain’s proposal brought a look of disbelief to Ma Jin’s face.
“A spirit pill? Isn’t that excessive?”
“Scared? Think you’ll lose?”
“What a childish provocation. A spirit pill from the Desolate Fortress is no trifling thing.”
“The honor of the Radiant Demon Squad and the heavenly squad is at stake. Is that a trifling thing?”
Sensing Ma Jin giving ground, the heavenly squad captain pressed harder, like a predator gaining the upper hand in a fight.
“Ma Jin. I’ve never seen you look so weak. You raised that uproar at the captains’ meeting just to recruit that boy?”
“You seem to be nursing quite a grudge.”
“Don’t change the subject. Are you backing out?”
“Ha... Fine. I accept.”
“Good. The head of an organization ought to have faith in his subordinates.”
The heavenly squad captain turned away, the corners of his mouth lifting. Thus, he missed the smile on Ma Jin’s face beside him.
* * *
“Jung Yeonshin, was it? A white robe of the Radiant Demon Squad.”
“Jung Yeonshin of the Radiant Demon Squad.”
He respectfully clasped his hands in salute to his opponent. It had not been long since he had introduced himself as Jung Yeonshin of Xinye, yet the Radiant Demon Squad already felt like a far better fit.
From the massacre at the Jeong Clan Estate, from Nanyang in Henan to Xiangyang in Huguang.
Whatever others thought of him, this chance to fight as the representative of an entire group felt both unfamiliar and precious.
The warrior who had asked his name stood impassively ten paces away. His blue martial robes marked him as one of the Desolate Fortress’s main fighting force. His presence rose like a blade, and his eyes were sharp.
“I have trained in Clear Sky Swordsmanship for twenty years. They say a sword has no eyes, but the sword of an accomplished master does. Even so, I will not hold back. Remember that.”
“Yes.”
The warrior’s eyebrow twitched at Yeonshin’s curt reply. Without another word, he laid his hand on his sword hilt. A frost-sharp presence streamed outward from him.
‘What kind of sword does he use?’
Yeonshin had not intended to provoke him with his brief answer. He was already putting the radiant demon arts into practice, reading his opponent through core energy.
His seniors had told him that Clear Sky Swordsmanship possessed a wide variety of sword movements. Depending on the practitioner, it could become swift swordplay or deliver powerful heavy-sword strikes.
‘They said that by blue-robed rank, they’ve learned all of them, even if they have a specialty.’
Then Yeonshin need only bring his own martial arts to bear.
‘Classic of Initiating Transcendence.’
It was his own unique martial art, created to compensate for core energy lacking in both density and quantity. At his intent, internal energy began circulating in overlapping currents through his supple meridians.
Such control was possible only because he had brought the Movement Art to Great Completion and thoroughly opened every energy pathway in his body, including the twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians.
The Classic of Initiating Transcendence was developing alongside his swift swordplay. He had reached the point of circulating core energy while constantly identifying where his body needed to bear weight and exert force.
“Come.”
The blue-robed warrior yielded the first move as though it were only natural. Yeonshin decided he would see that face register surprise.
“Hup.”
The instant he held his breath within his body, he stamped down and drew his sword.
His core-energy-laden stomp struck the training ground with a thud. Clear sunlight warped over the Desolate Sword’s blade as he imbued it with the formula of swift swordplay.
Power rose from beneath his feet and gathered in his sword at tremendous speed, tracing the sword path of the radiant demon arts.
CLAAANG!
He smiled at the vibration climbing through his grip with the sword resonance.
That had landed properly.
He had not cut his opponent, but the warrior’s composure had shattered. His surprise and faltering balance registered with almost tangible clarity.
The faster a sword moved, the greater its power. That was what they called sword force.
He pushed off with the same foot he had stamped down.
When properly employed, the Classic of Initiating Transcendence—which he judged to have reached twenty-percent mastery—doubled the effectiveness of his normal core energy.
The scenery flashed past as the warrior loomed larger.
The radiant demon arts revealed a combat path. With a sword in his hand, it was a sword path.
Apparently, the warrior’s promise not to hold back had nothing to do with whether he underestimated his opponent. His disrupted balance was plain to see, just as it had been with those who had let the boy’s appearance throw off their rhythm and lost in a single exchange.
‘Now.’
If he did not win now, he never would. On that vast training ground, amid so many people, Yeonshin alone was thinking of victory.
CLANG!
He could feel how dramatically his sword force had improved. The reverberation through his hand was tremendous.
The warrior’s eyes quickly grew serious. Yet though Yeonshin’s relentless swordplay fell far short of blue-robed standards, it denied him the chance to assume a proper opening stance.
At the edge of his vision, Ma Jin had gathered the children and was teaching them the importance of striking first. He certainly looked untroubled.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!
The sword paths of the radiant demon arts filled his vision with white streaks. He was drawing out the utmost effectiveness of swift swordplay.
He relentlessly exploited the rhythm and balance he had seized in that single instant. His opponent’s expression gradually became one of dismay.
Yeonshin lost count of how many forms they had exchanged. Completely absorbed, he was making the radiant demon arts his own.
The principles of martial arts accumulated upon the body honed by his Movement Art.
The more the sword path tilted, the more he used his back muscles. Twisting his stamping foot as he stepped diagonally forward generated rotational force along with his core energy. So this was the Silk-Reeling Force Chung Myung had used, one form of Burst Discharge!
HUMMM!
Swirling core energy filled his sword strike.
CLAAANG!
The warrior retreated a step. Yeonshin swept his sword upward and spun without stopping.
Powerful, cutting winds scattered in every direction. They were fragments of the force released through Burst Discharge.
As a sense of accomplishment raced up his spine like a shiver, he named another form.
‘Energy Accumulation Discharge!’
The power he could not contain carried his body along of its own accord. He spun once more.
In that instant, he understood instinctively that Energy Accumulation Discharge could also be used for consecutive attacks. Its power increased with every successive form. Following Accumulated Energy, First Strike, Accumulated Energy, Second Strike unfolded from his sword tip.
BANG!
The blue-robed warrior had not even finished turning to put distance between them.
His Desolate Sword flew from his grasp. The tremendous sword force of Energy Accumulation Discharge shook his entire upper body, throwing his arm above his head.
“Ghk!”
He nearly collapsed. As he barely recovered his stance, a sword touched the underside of his chin.
Yeonshin stood with his Desolate Sword leveled at him, wearing a peculiar expression.
The warrior’s blue robes were remarkably neat considering how many of Yeonshin’s strikes he had received. A few wrinkles were the only change.
But the white robe had won. Even if carelessness was to blame, there was no arguing with the result.
“...”
Yeonshin gazed steadily at him.
It had been luck.
He had won because a timely flash of inspiration had added power to his onslaught. If they fought again, it would never go the same way.
Hadn’t he heard that the Desolate Fortress’s blue-robed warriors could hold their own even against Mount Hua’s Plum Blossom Swordsmen?
The sheer gulf of a single rank made him feel the Fortress’s true depth of strength. With martial prowess like that, one would have difficulty finding a worthy opponent even in the vast martial world. He felt as though he had found his first goal.
Yeonshin sheathed his Desolate Sword, then clasped his hands in a heartfelt salute.
This man had helped him gain Energy Accumulation Discharge and given him a goal.
“Thank you for the opportunity to witness your sublime swordsmanship.”
“... Your sword paths and Silk-Reeling Force were remarkable. Your martial prowess is beyond your years.”
After speaking, the blue-robed warrior stared at him briefly, then straightened up. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly; he did not seem displeased.
Yeonshin thought there was something admirable about a man whose expression could soften at a single respectful salute, even after losing so much face.
He turned his head. The spectators wore a variety of expressions, but most were visibly aghast, while some looked awestruck.
“How many... moves was that? A white robe actually won.”
“They must have exchanged a good twenty forms.”
“Exchanged? That’s not what happened. What tremendous talent for the sword. Lightning Genius Jung Yeonshin, was it? His age is astonishing, but his martial prowess is so much more astonishing that I can scarcely comprehend it.”
“The Radiant Demon Squad has taken in a treasure. I’m sick with envy.”
The blank faces of the impudent Radiant Demon Squad children were amusing, too.
Yeonshin also saluted the heavenly squad captain, who was biting his lower lip, then walked toward the children.
Though he had moved fiercely, his body, tempered by the Movement Art, was already dissipating the accumulated impact of clashing core energy. He had hardly grown tired at all.
“I didn’t disgrace the Radiant Demon Squad with that, did I? Make sure you collect your sweets.”
Yeonshin crouched to meet the children’s eyes as he spoke.
He did not know how many moves they had exchanged, but he had certainly demolished the prediction that he would last no more than ten. Hadn’t he won?
The children nodded blankly. Gradually, life returned to their eyes, until they sparkled so brightly it was almost overwhelming.
“Yeah! I’ll enjoy those sweets!”
“You’re so strong, Big Brother! A white robe really is a white robe!”
“Wow...”
The child who had called him Junior Brother could only exclaim in a daze.
Ma Jin strode up through the chattering children. A fragrant scent drifted from his outstretched hand.
A round medicinal pill rested on his powerful-looking palm. Yeonshin could sense the flow of densely concentrated energy.
“It’s yours.”
Ma Jin spoke with a smile that lifted the scar beneath his lip.
