A broad vortex spread around Jung Yeonshin. Shards of stone and fallen leaves scraped across the training ground, their clatter mingling with the distant ring of a hammer striking a divine sword in the smithy.

“Well now, that's one noisy way to accumulate qi.”

It was the Supreme Flame Dragon. He tapped the ground beside Yeonshin with a casual foot, his shaded eyes roaming as he spread his energy detection wide. He was standing guard in a truly languid posture.

The affairs of the martial world were strange indeed. Yeonshin was entrusting his life to the Hwangbo young clan head, whom he had first met as an enemy.

Neither of them paid it any mind, however. Both were rather numb to such sentiments. The boy felt a kinship with this poppy addict who also faced an early death, while the addict found a novel source of stimulation in the boy's martial talent.

A young captain and his world-weary subordinate. Their relationship was as peculiar as it was uncomplicated.

“Let's run away.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon spoke abruptly. His expression was fairly serious, but that was all. How could his words carry weight when he was chewing so appreciatively on poppy? Nevertheless, he continued through his teeth.

“We aren't ready to handle this. I've given it considerable thought, but the outcome doesn't change.”

Few could rival the Supreme Flame Dragon's innate senses. They were so exceptional that Yeonshin had deliberately provoked him by calling him slow-witted.

He was quite capable of picturing a battle against the Lords of the Thirteen Skies. And he must have seen a crushing defeat, just as Yeonshin had—even with himself, Captain Jung Yeonshin, the Tang clan head, and the Tang masters all committed to the fight.

“This makes no sense. Isn't the Desolate Fortress supposed to put the greater good before keeping faith with some noble clan? Think of all the lives our acting captain could save in the future. Yet you're determined to hold out here? Above all, you're bringing my early death even closer.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon, once the Hwangbo clan's young clan head, shook his head repeatedly.

He was considering the worst-case scenario: facing the Pure Demon Alliance Leader and the Blood Flame Cult Leader at once. They had to assume these peerless masters surpassed the Hwangbo clan head.

Hadn't his own wretched father been slain by three black-robed supreme masters, including the Radiant Demon Squad captain and the Annihilation Squad captain? The Lords of the Thirteen Skies, foremost among the evil and unorthodox paths, would at least have held their own.

“Listen, Captain. The Lords of the Thirteen Skies are the same breed as the leaders of the Nine Great Sects. Supernatural abominations you could go your entire life without seeing once. People with bright futures like us... No, not bright futures. At any rate.”

He swallowed the poppy he had been chewing. Then, narrowing his eyes, he slowly continued.

“Not only is this beyond a mere unranked disciple like me, it's still far beyond an acting captain who's only just borrowed his uncle's robe. The gulf between the leader of a great sect and the head of a single combat unit is enormous. Of course... well, your achievements are unprecedented for your age, but...”

“Too late,” the boy said.

He sensed a cluster of powerful energy waves racing straight toward the Tang stronghold's main gate. The rumbling footfalls of Mobility Arts seemed to reach him even here.

The poppy addict beside him furrowed his brow. His naturally far-reaching energy detection must have picked them up as well. But before he could reply, the boy continued.

“Let's work out a simple tactic. In case it turns into a melee.”

“Hmm?”

“You and the Tang masters hold off the Lord of the Thirteen Skies. There seems to be only one.”

“Do you even hear yourself...?”

“I'll finish off the others quickly and join you. I'm not saying I'll take on all of them. If I overwhelm one supreme master other than the sect leader, it should dampen their fighting spirit.”

“Aren't you being utterly unreasonable? Acting Captain, are you sure you performed the discipleship rites for the fortress master, not the former Divine Sword Squad Leader? The one with the fiery temper.”

“Discipleship rites?”

“I hear plenty of strange sects these days practice the nine-bow rite, performing all nine courtesies in one sitting. To assert their authority, apparently.”

“If you're going to ramble incoherently, shut your mouth. Just what I'd expect from a poppy addict.”

THWIP!

The two had already launched into their movement techniques. This was how things turned out when the moment arrived.

Despite his talk of flight, the Supreme Flame Dragon kept up with Yeonshin readily, a fresh piece of poppy from his robe between his lips.

“I should have brought it up sooner.”

“The fortress wouldn't have approved if we abandoned the Tang Clan after finally gaining them as allies.”

“Who knows? This is simply your own chivalry, Acting Captain. The Desolate Fortress is more likely to disapprove of one of its promising rising disciples being placed in such mortal danger.”

One figure in black and another in an unranked disciple's robes cut through the air toward the stronghold's main gate. Even as they spoke, they displayed exquisite Mobility Arts.

The Tang masters seemed to have detected the enemy as well. Numerous presences converged from every direction.

WHOOSH!

The headwind battered their ears. With every footfall, the training ground seemed to slide backward beneath them.

The Supreme Flame Dragon's cheerful voice rang out, as though trying to lighten the mood.

“Anyway, they say that old former Divine Sword Squad Leader followed the path of domination in his day. Your tactic sounds exactly like his sort of thing. Perhaps you've inherited your maternal grandfather's true teachings rather than the fortress master's.”

“Nonsense.”

“I'm only saying it because we desperately need more strength. Where in the world has our purple-robed master disappeared to? Surely he hasn't died in some remote corner of Sichuan.”

“He'll arrive in time. You'd do better to worry about your own safety. That's what my intuition tells me.”

“The ones coming now don't feel like practitioners of demonic arts or Blood Arts. Not however I look at it. Isn't this the worst-case scenario? It seems the Ten Perfections Sect has arrived first.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon frowned as he chewed his poppy. Yeonshin had sensed it too.

Strictly speaking, the Ten Perfections Sect's Myriad Variations Primordial Unity Art was not a mental cultivation method of the evil and unorthodox paths. Only their conduct followed unorthodox ways.

That meant the Dharma-Surpassing Radiant Wheel Art held no advantage of opposing affinity against it. The enemy whose arrival he had hoped to delay by sparing the Halberd-Surpassing Sword, So Jinrang, had come first.

“At least our side seems fully prepared? Noble clans do move faster than the Nine Great Sects. That's something of a relief,” the Supreme Flame Dragon said.

They reached the Tang stronghold's outer garden, the space just inside the great gate where visitors were received. Beautifully landscaped shrubs flanked either side, now rustling against one another with a desolate air.

Pushing off the ground, Yeonshin took in the center of the garden. Tang masters stood in green martial robes, equipped with assorted hidden weapons and protective gloves. At their head were the Tang clan head and the Twin Poisons of Dragon and Phoenix.

They were sharp. Their bearing was so venomous that their recent displays of good faith seemed a distant memory.

The boy landed among them alongside the Supreme Flame Dragon, black and unranked robes fluttering.

TAP.

“Teacher.”

The Tang masters clasped their hands in salute as one. Tang Unhwang and his children did the same. Even with a formidable enemy before them, they courteously folded their hands to their benefactor. Their bearing carried the dignity of an illustrious martial clan.

“I'll take the vanguard,” Yeonshin said.

It was a rational decision. Tang martial arts were ideally suited to providing cover. In a combined assault, a practitioner of close-combat arts could stand in front while they deployed poison arts and hidden weapons from behind.

“We shall follow your wishes, Teacher. I dared not ask it of you... but we could wish for nothing better. You have my deepest thanks.”

Tang Unhwang raised another clasped-fist salute. The short, middle-aged Poison Lord wore a complicated expression, reverence mingled with remorse. He was a clan head, responsible for the lives of his household. He could not readily refuse the kindness offered by a powerful benefactor.

STEP.

Returning the salute, Yeonshin slowly stepped forward.

“The Ten Perfections Sect?”

“Yes.”

The enemies' presences were distinct. They had now arrived just outside the gate. Among those making no effort to conceal their energy was one exceptionally powerful being.

His energy waves sent a shudder through Yeonshin. They seemed capable of slicing flesh through the gate itself. They did not feel human.

At last.

No sooner had he entered the realm of Black than he faced a Lord of the Thirteen Skies. Jung Yeonshin's martial world was expanding rapidly.

He took his place at the front, his expression composed. His rational decision to annihilate two of the Thirteen Skies here, and the banner of chivalry the Blue Qilin had raised for him, became an unwavering presence.

[“Infinite Blossom Hand, Radiant River. If anyone asks, that is what I shall tell them.”]

[“Good...”]

[“You seem to want them known far and wide. I, too, must travel throughout the martial world. It is my innate nature. I cannot do otherwise.”]

[“Yes... Do that. In perfect freedom...”]

'In freedom.'

Yeonshin had never expected the affair involving retired clan head Tang Taedok to be resolved so easily. Ordinarily, he would have spent long years searching. It was time to repay the faith Tang Unhwang had shown him.

The Tang household gazed at the back of the boy in the jet-black robe. A black-robed expert of the Desolate Fortress stood in front of the Tang masters.

Their faces held a variety of emotions as they witnessed something rarely seen in the martial world. On the faces of the Poison Phoenix and Poison Dragon, those emotions were outright admiration.

“We should at least collect that divine sword before we leave.”

Beside him, the Supreme Flame Dragon lightly kicked the ground.

At that instant—

KRAAA-BOOM!

The Tang stronghold's vast gate exploded. Figures emerged through the dust and splintered wood scattering in every direction. Their seemingly leisurely steps were strangely swift. At their head was a figure bearing a spear.

One sweep sent a wave of force extending from its blade, clearing the dust like a whirlwind.

“Is the murderer who killed the Sword Scorpion Demon and the Halberd-Surpassing Sword here?”

A woman's husky voice rang out. The figure revealed a moment later was striking.

So was the spear she held angled downward. Shaft and blade formed one continuous piece of steel. It must have weighed an enormous amount, yet she carried it like a bamboo stalk.

She wore an iron-gray battle robe like a general's, and it suited her remarkably well. Her disheveled hair resembled a lion's mane.

“The Ten Perfections Sect Leader was a woman...? I've never heard that. Her energy waves are peculiar too,” the Supreme Flame Dragon muttered.

The Poison Dragon, Tang Yeohwa, shook his head beside him.

“The Pure Demon Alliance Leader is the only woman among Sichuan's Lords of the Thirteen Skies. That is Yeo Juha, the Moon-Gazing Radiant Halberd. She's the most famous spear practitioner in Sichuan, renowned as a master. I heard she was in closed-door training, but she must have emerged because of the devastating losses her sect suffered.”

“She was the late Sword Scorpion Demon Dokgo Gwang's lover,” added the Poison Phoenix, Tang Ryeoryeo.

Yeonshin was already staring past Yeo Juha's shoulder.

Roughly forty people had forced their way in after destroying the gate. A considerable number of their masters had already died in the City of Master Artisans and on Kuizhou's main avenue. They seemed to have brought a handpicked group of warriors fit for a conflict between great sects.

One man stood among them, his presence unmistakably distinct.

He seemed to have drawn his energy inward the moment he entered. At first glance, he did not even look like someone trained in martial arts. That made him all the more terrifying. It attested to the realms of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and Five Qi Return to the Origin, where one wielded internal power as freely as one's limbs.

'The Ten Perfections Sect Leader...!'

The man remained still and merely gave a small nod, as though this was not an occasion for him to step forward. At that same moment, Yeo Juha moved to obscure him.

“I asked you! Is the murderer here?”

She behaved like the leader of a strike force. She had brought her grudge here, and the Ten Perfections Sect Leader seemed to have granted her permission to settle it herself.

To avenge a wrong with one's own hands: she had invoked the martial world's foremost principle.

“No, there's no need to ask. It's you, isn't it?”

Her spear point aimed at Yeonshin. Vanguard faced vanguard. In that instant, the tactic he had discussed with the Supreme Flame Dragon became meaningless. The atmosphere was naturally turning toward a one-on-one duel to the death.

“Yes. I did it,” the boy answered slowly.

He was puzzled by the mention of So Jinrang's death, but the Sword Scorpion Demon Dokgo Gwang had certainly died by his hand. With the Ten Perfections Sect Leader already here in person, there was no reason to quibble over the details.

Yeo Juha's eyes blazed with internal power.

“They say your martial talent is extraordinary. Face me in a duel to the death. I will show you how Jinrang died, and how my beloved Gwang met his end.”

She had attached a lover's endearment to Dokgo Gwang's name. Her attitude was ferociously belligerent.

SHHHH...

Even her energy waves seemed to resemble their owner. They spread toward him, roiling like flames, making Yeonshin's black robe billow violently.

'She's not merely at Blue level.'

His gaze grew still.

He had been told that a great sect never possessed more than one master of Black level, with the Blood Flame Cult the sole exception. That was wrong. Facing one directly told a different story. Had they been concealing their strength?

If every one of the Thirteen Skies was like this, the Desolate Fortress might face an unprecedented crisis.

For now, however, it was just as well. If he broke the Moon-Gazing Radiant Halberd's spear shaft, the Ten Perfections Sect would be crippled beyond recovery. That alone was enough.

“Nothing to say for yourself! Then my martial arts will ask the questions!”

Yeo Juha's shout burst forth, laden with powerful core energy. The Ten Perfections Sect warriors standing behind her roared in response.

It was a military disposition, just like the Martial Alliance masters the Blue Qilin had killed. Yeo Juha, the Moon-Gazing Radiant Halberd—a woman well suited to the word valorous.

Yeonshin silently drew his Desolate Sword. Northern Radiance had yet to complete its transformation into a divine sword.

Facing Yeo Juha reminded him of Ak Surim, the Desolate Divine Spear. The deputy leader of the Divine Sword Unit within the Divine Sword Squad was said to have regained her youth and wield spear arts approaching the divine. He could not help comparing her to the spear master before him.

SWISH!

A sharp gleam flashed toward him: a spear blade imbued with powerful internal energy. Though it was a thrust, the tremendous sound of tearing air resembled a great saber's slash.

CLANG!

Yeonshin struck upward with the Desolate Sword. The instant he knocked the attack aside, a powerful vibration drove into his grip. The force behind it was tremendous, enough to recall Dokgo Gwang's sword force.

Beneath the rising spear blade, Yeo Juha's lips curved into a savage smile. One hand had already released the shaft and was emitting the energy waves of Burst Discharge, as though this combination of forms had caught many an opponent off guard.

HUMMM.

A resonant sound leaked from her clenched hand. A fist technique. Its crushing wave of force was exactly like Dokgo Gwang's—an exceptionally refined application of internal power.

The spear master tilted her weapon behind her and continued the combination with her fist, unleashing Burst Discharge powerful enough to shatter steel.

BOOM! BOOM! KRAAAASH!

With a stomp that seemed to cause an earthquake, she closed the distance in an instant. Her blazing eyes were suddenly before Yeonshin's face. Below them, her punch seemed to suck in the air.

At the same moment, the boy extended his empty hand in a gentle motion.

SWISH.

His open palm intercepted her fist and swept down. In that fraction of a second, the colorless waves of the Dharma-Surpassing Radiant Wheel Art spread. His finesse reached its pinnacle, severing strand by strand the energy waves of the punch hurtling at him like a storm.

It was an application of internal power that created a domain, coupled with the movements of Harmonizing Force.

A perfect counter.

Anyone using the same Burst Discharge as Dokgo Gwang could no longer do anything to the boy.

Yeo Juha's eyes briefly wavered. Her sharpened energy detection had recognized that her punch had been neutralized. Too late.

Yeonshin's hand had already slipped past her fist and seized her wrist in an iron grip. Her confident fist form was trapped, and the spear she had swung behind her to attempt a close-range blow lay far out of reach.

At that instant, the Desolate Sword was falling from the boy's right hand. He had deliberately let go. They were too close for a sword.

'Radiant River.'

RUMBLE!

His black sleeve flapped violently. A storm sprang to life in his palm. The swirling vortex of martial force sent fragments of the gate scattering in every direction.

“Kh...!”

Within the powerful whirlwind, Yeo Juha drove her knee upward. The time required to unleash the technique was an eternity in the realm of supreme masters.

She had instantly seen through the weakness of this palm technique that had attained the level of a divine technique. She drove in with a crushing knee strike.

THUD!

Yeonshin's foot shoved her calf away. The impact was heavy. The Burst Discharge from his sole also shattered the force waves of her knee strike.

Her response never escaped the flow of the counter he had devised—not before Radiant River was completed in an instant and his right hand reached her abdomen.

Yeo Juha's eyes widened. Just as she hastily clothed herself in colorless armor of internal energy, the Dharma-Surpassing Radiant Wheel Art exploded in the shape of a condensed typhoon.

KRAAA-BOOM!

The earth shook.

Yeonshin felt the force of the Burst Discharge in his palm even more strongly than the trembling ground. The sensation of tearing her core-energy shield to shreds was vivid. Recoil that might have surpassed the firepower of a Thunderclap Bomb rose in his palm and swept up his forearm.

His left hand still held his opponent's wrist. The weight sagging from it told him the outcome of the duel to the death.

Through the faintly rising dust, Yeo Juha's dead eyes stared wide at Yeonshin's face.

“You asked how the Sword Scorpion Demon died.”

Yeonshin slowly parted his lips. He raised the right hand that had unleashed Radiant River and gently closed the dead woman's eyes.

“He died in vain. Just like you.”

His voice rang out with the desolate breeze in the Tang stronghold's outer garden. The boy's tone was calm.