The Pure Demon Alliance Leader's arrival had been inevitable. She had lost virtually every master under her command. Considering what had happened at the City of Master Artisans and the Desolate Fortress's Kuizhou branch, she had every reason, as the head of her organization, to come punish Jung Yeonshin and the Desolate Fortress masters.

The Desolate Fortress Master's appearance was not strange, either. She had called Ma Yeonjeok an old friend. Having received word that her trusted friend, who had served for decades as Divine Sword Squad Leader, had been reduced to a cripple, she might have come all this way before he breathed his last.

Yet there was something mysterious about it. About the sight of the Desolate Fortress Master stepping forward behind the Pure Demon Alliance Leader. The affairs of the martial world could be so astonishing.

Was their coinciding arrival merely chance? Did some special mandate descend from heaven upon those who wielded its granted power to the utmost? Considering the abilities of Jung Yeonshin's upper dantian, it was not an altogether outlandish supposition.

Or perhaps the Desolate Fortress Master had spotted the Pure Demon Alliance Leader first and was putting off their clash, feeling the breeze brush her skin as she always did. But why would she? In the past, she had driven off even the Blood Flame Cult Leader without hesitation.

Once again, a host of questions rose in the boy's mind.

STEP.

It was a truly uncanny sight. The Desolate Fortress Master approached amid the green glow of luxuriant leaves, as though she had left her presence hanging like mist between the trees.

The most exalted of her people.

The abilities she manifested in the forest meshed with the martial prowess of a peerless master. They were enough to deceive even the Pure Demon Alliance Leader's energy detection.

Only after the Desolate Fortress Master emerged fully from the trees' shade did the Pure Demon Alliance Leader seem to notice her presence. It happened in an instant. Her blue eyes flew wide as she turned, visibly startled.

"...!"

Even before then, Jung Yeonshin was already rousing his internal energy. The radiant wheel at his heart spun. Core energy filled the Human Welcome pressure points on either side of his Adam's apple and the Corner Spring point just above his vocal cords. He immediately sent out a sound transmission.

—You must not let any qi waves escape.

His maternal grandfather would be in danger. He had to prevent it, even if that meant committing the impertinence of daring to whisper in the fortress master's ear.

For an instant, her green eyes brushed over the boy. Just then, a halo of sunlight settled over her pale face, as though welcoming her as she parted the forest's shade like a curtain and stepped out.

Moon Spirit Divine Technique.

A faint radiance rose from her body. Her pale-green sleeves, as full as those of a court gown, fluttered slightly. A moonlike glow wreathed her clothing and filled the surrounding space.

A curtain of qi.

She gave her core energy tangible form, erecting a solid barrier. An immense shield of internal energy expanded outward, its substance firm enough to push Jung Yeonshin back.

GRRRRIND.

His feet carved furrows as he slid backward. The boy raised his eyes. A hemispherical curtain of qi, some ten jang in radius, had appeared, enclosing only the Desolate Fortress Master and the Pure Demon Alliance Leader.

She had created this spectacle merely upon hearing his words. It seemed beyond the mortal world. Every aspect of her control over her power was wondrous. This did not look like a human art.

"Desolate Fortress...?!"

It all happened in a flash. By the time the appalled Pure Demon Alliance Leader had fully turned, the Desolate Fortress Master was already swinging her sword. The radiance flowing down its blade was crystalline. A sword strike flashed, seeming to mingle moonlight with sunshine.

SPLASH!

A long spray of blood burst from the Pure Demon Alliance Leader's abdomen as her armor of internal energy, which had flickered ink-black for an instant, split apart. She had failed to deploy it firmly enough to withstand the Desolate Fortress Master's ambush.

Even so, the sight hardly felt real to Jung Yeonshin. The Pure Demon Alliance Leader's demonic core energy—her power had felt so unfathomably deep.

BOOOOM!

The roar reverberating within the curtain of qi sounded muffled. In the blink of an eye, the Pure Demon Alliance Leader's blood-soaked figure blurred amid a whirlwind of qi waves. Her Mobility Arts were so swift that they were momentarily difficult to follow. The prowess she unleashed even after taking that blow was astonishing.

Yet Jung Yeonshin knew instinctively. Even while maintaining the curtain of qi, the Desolate Fortress Master was overwhelming her.

The Pure Demon Alliance Leader's timing had been unfortunate. Even in a straightforward, face-to-face contest, the Desolate Fortress Master would have held the advantage. Instead, she had allowed a peerless master of the noble race to get behind her in a dense forest. She had begun this fight to the death after already suffering a blow. It was no different from starting a good two moves behind.

STEP.

One needed only to watch the Desolate Fortress Master advancing a step at a time to understand. She no longer held her sword pointed down. Her sleeves fluttered like blades of grass. The sword thrust forth by her snow-white hand spread into a pale lunar halo.

This was something beyond even swift swordsmanship. The sword strikes overlapped to a staggering degree, threatening to slash the Pure Demon Alliance Leader from head to foot at any moment.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOOM!

The ceaseless sword moves resembled a scene from nature, as though the wind that wore away cliffs had been accelerated without limit.

Yet the Pure Demon Alliance Leader was also a peerless master. She continually unleashed ink-black waves of force from her limbs, blocking the sword strikes. Her fist and palm arts and her kicking arts scattered like the flutter of a moth's wings. Striking obliquely with her hands and feet, she cut off a considerable number of sword paths, creating afterimages that the eye could scarcely distinguish.

It meant that the speed of her attacks far surpassed the Desolate Fortress's Black rank. The battle resembled a clash of supernatural abominations pitting their powers against each other.

'I have to be able to kill someone like that before I can get the Fruit of the World Tree...'.

So Jung Yeonshin thought. That was why he had involuntarily felt relieved at the fortress master's arrival.

Just then, the Desolate Fortress Master's leg extended in a long stride as she advanced a single step.

THOOM!

Though her foot stamped down lightly, it produced a tremor like an earthquake. The sword light forming a halo around her hand grew faint. It was not that her sword had lost its force. Quite the contrary: it had become so powerful that far fewer of its strikes were visible.

The fortress master extended her sword again, sweeping horizontally from close to her body outward. Suddenly, the air resounded with a boom. The sword move spread softly outward, as though a typhoon had been compressed within it.

KRRRASH!

The air itself seemed to rip apart. The aftermath of the Desolate Fortress Master's own sword strike scattered her curtain of qi like mist. Apparently, ordinary sword moves were not enough to kill one of the Lords of the Thirteen Skies.

HUP!

The Pure Demon Alliance Leader's martial shout rang out. At the same time, ink-black armor of internal energy enveloped her entire body. An ominous, chilling wave of qi rose.

Giving core energy tangible form was a rare discipline, yet the two peerless masters wielded such lofty techniques as casually as the third-rate swordsmanship commonly seen in the marketplace.

THOOM!

Another tremor shook the ground. This time, the Pure Demon Alliance Leader had stamped her foot. Without looking away, Jung Yeonshin reached out and roughly steadied Heon Wonchang's shoulder as he staggered beside him. Still staring fixedly ahead, he saw the Pure Demon Alliance Leader shoot explosively upward.

'With a single stamp... How many times did she compress the core energy at her Yongquan points?'

Her figure stopped in midair. These were the Mobility Arts of Soaring Through the Void.

"Desolate Fortress Master!" the Pure Demon Alliance Leader shouted.

The ends of her ebony hair had been unevenly shorn away. Blood streamed down her forehead above the vivid blue eyes characteristic of people from the Western Regions, giving her the look of a fierce demon. Together with the black demonic core energy flowing from all over her body, she scarcely looked human. Her bloodstained upper body alone was enough to create that impression. Her spirit was astonishing.

"You must have been in a hurry! How utterly underhanded!"

Scowling like a fiend, the Pure Demon Alliance Leader wiped the blood between her brows with the back of her hand. Even standing on empty air, she kept one leg slightly bent. That, along with her taunts despite being a peerless master, spoke volumes about her temperament.

She continued, "I never thought you would swing your sword without a word. Aren't you ashamed? Even after reaching that realm, you give no thought to a contest of martial learning. I know a strange rumor has been spreading through Xiangyang lately. They say you took a disciple who isn't even of Imperial blood."

Her lips curled upward. She tipped her chin slightly toward Jung Yeonshin below.

"Was your young lover so precious to you? Desolate Fortress Master, you lackey of the Ming imperial house."

Standing in the air and running her mouth, she looked every bit a demon from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. In one respect she seemed jovial, yet she was far from a great-hearted hero. The head of an entire martial lineage, she still indulged in frivolous taunts.

It was the behavior of a demonic practitioner for whom defeating and breaking an opponent was all that mattered. Even the way her gaze swept every inch of the Desolate Fortress Master's body, as though seeking an opening, made that plain.

The Desolate Fortress Master did not answer. She merely lowered her gaze calmly. Rather than bother looking up, she half closed her eyes. Her long lashes cast shadows over her jade-green irises.

It was a truly mysterious sight: the opening stance of a noble-race master, said to live in companionship with the wind and experience energy detection as a sense of touch.

The Pure Demon Alliance Leader slowly closed her mouth.

Then it happened.

"A founding master of the Demonic Path talking about underhandedness. Is this an opera?"

The boy in the long black robe murmured to himself. The core energy borne on his words spread like a gentle breeze.

The Pure Demon Alliance Leader slowly turned her head toward Jung Yeonshin. Her energy detection must still have been fixed on the Desolate Fortress Master, yet simply receiving her gaze felt like a mountain crashing down on him. It was an immensely heavy sensation.

"Child. What did you say?"

Her rough, hoarse voice demanded an answer. The boy readily obliged.

"I said you talk and act like a back-alley thug."

"..."

"No, that's not right. You're complaining about things even a street thug wouldn't question in a real fight, and you can babble shamelessly about lovers. Your state of mind is simply astonishing. If you hand over the formula for the demonic art you practice, I could fix it for you. It seems your power has invaded your Baihui point."

Jung Yeonshin tapped his temple lightly with his now-long index finger.

He knew the value of speaking plainly. His travels through the martial world had taught him that well. There was no need to go out of his way to provoke anyone. The pride of martial masters towered as high as the heavens; merely stating the facts without reserve could easily turn the tide of a fight to the death. Vision narrowed by fury was a fatal weakness in the world of masters. An instant's difference in reaction was a whole move's difference.

'It's not as though I can afford to be choosy.'

So the boy thought. The fortress master had raised her curtain of qi the moment she heard his sound transmission. She must have guessed Ma Yeonjeok's condition. She was fighting one of the Lords of the Thirteen Skies to the death while bearing that burden. It was no easy battle.

Even though her opening attack had succeeded, her opponent was still a peerless master. No warrior other than the Desolate Fortress Master could even speak of having a chance of victory. Yet it was difficult even for her, so Jung Yeonshin wanted to lessen his teacher's burden by any means possible.

'The Pure Demon Alliance Leader won't have come alone.'

He pictured her giving in to her temperament and outpacing her subordinates. This was a battle that needed to end quickly.

The leaves lying quietly around the Desolate Fortress Master caught his eye. Her bearing brought to mind the calm before a storm. The Pure Demon Alliance Leader, too, seemed to be circulating qi according to some formula as she gazed down at Jung Yeonshin.

This lull was merely a breath taken to regain their composure. Ma Yeonjeok was now in danger. It had become clear that maintaining a curtain of qi while fighting a peerless master was difficult. His teacher, the Desolate Fortress Master, seemed to be honing her sword's force for a swift, decisive clash.

Then distracting her opponent, however slightly, would be enough. If he saw an opening, he intended to throw his sword as well.

WHOOOSH!

A whirlwind raged beneath Jung Yeonshin's feet. Dust rose around him, spinning in time with the radiant wheel amid flickering white currents of qi. Auspicious waves of Dharma power began to fill the surroundings.

The boy spoke again.

"I have some interest in demonic arts. I know the Baihui point fairly well, too. Alliance Leader, in my opinion, you..."

"Young Master, perhaps that's enough..."

Their positions reversed, Heon Wonchang was now trying to dissuade him. The hand resting on Jung Yeonshin's shoulder trembled slightly. The boy shook it off with a swing of his arm. What? Why?

Then it happened.

A soft breath escaped. The faintest little laugh rang out with unusual clarity. Jung Yeonshin's gaze shifted.

It was none other than the Desolate Fortress Master. She, who had remained still even through the Pure Demon Alliance Leader's abuse, raised her head slightly.

"I shall give you your second lesson."

Her crystalline voice flowed forth. A small smile lingered on her lips.

"The sword of the heart."