“Our Lightning Genius! It’s been a while. Though I have been watching everything... You looked wonderful at the founding ceremony, you know? I fell for you a little.”

A small hand lightly patted his shoulder. It belonged to Ak Surim, a girl in long black robes, her short hair reaching the nape of her neck.

Their eyes met. The black eyes of this far older senior, whose body had returned to youth, sparkled.

“I thought my eyes would fall out from keeping watch. Especially when you were with the Sword Demon. Eye techniques aren’t even my specialty. Anyway, I couldn’t let this pass. It was far too dangerous.”

As she finished, she turned toward the Zhuge clan head. Their clear gazes met.

Below the Divine Sword Squad Leader, Ak Surim was a contender for the strongest in the Desolate Fortress. The Zhuge clan head had planned the Martial Alliance and established his clan on an unshakable foundation. Which of them held the advantage? It was a confrontation the martial world would watch closely.

BOOM!

Meanwhile, the giant arrived after demolishing no fewer than seven halls and took his place to Jung Yeonshin’s left. His presence was overwhelming.

Nothing about him looked like the noble race, yet his ears were as pointed as those of most pureblood clans. His face was handsome, too, his hair swept all the way back to expose a broad forehead. His eyes held deep curiosity as he glanced down at the boy.

“So you are the Lightning Genius. I am Weizhen of the Desolate Fortress’s Xiahou family.”

His voice was as massive as his frame. It seemed to resonate from deep within his body, and the internal power infused in it was truly staggering.

Every word rang inside Jung Yeonshin’s head. Was this the result of a long-lived member of the noble race never neglecting his core-energy breathing exercises?

Xiahou Weizhen, the Thousand-Fist, Dragon-Strength Retainer.

He was renowned as the leader of the Forest-Treading Squad and a trusted retainer of the Desolate Fortress Master. As a captain himself, he likewise wore long black robes. Standing a full three heads taller than Jung Yeonshin, he made them look almost like a wind cloak—a mantle.

Jung Yeonshin briefly clasped his hands in salute.

“Greetings, Senior Xiahou. I am Jung Yeonshin of Xinye County.”

For now, they left it at introductions. A peerless master stood before them.

Ak Surim spoke, casting the Zhuge clan head a disdainful look.

“The Tang clan head will come, too. He calls our Lightning Genius Teacher. We only need to put Murong and Zhuge firmly in their place. I doubt it’ll be difficult. This slapdash Alliance isn’t even finished yet.”

She spoke with a bright smile, sounding as cheerful as a chirping skylark. The atmosphere was rapidly losing its gravity.

Ak Surim folded her smooth fingers down one by one.

“Let’s see... Me, the Tang clan head, the big fellow, and our Lightning Genius. Surely we can knock around a pasty thing like you and that Murong idiot, then get out? Our swordplay and footwork are nothing like those pitiful subordinates of yours. Looks like the Murong fellow knows everything already and is keeping himself shut away. Feel his qi waves. He isn’t budging.”

The corners of her mouth lifted.

“There must be something inside that shouldn’t be seen. But it looks like Murong has washed his hands of you. After sensing us.”

She spoke outrageously of the Zhuge and Murong clan heads. Yet it was no exaggeration.

Jung Yeonshin sensed two qi signatures approaching at a terrifying speed. Their profoundly deep internal energy felt familiar.

The Tang clan head and Perfected One Cheon Joo. With this much commotion, they could hardly have failed to notice something was wrong. Whose side they would take upon arrival was obvious.

The Alliance Leader was neutral. His failure to appear so far made that clear.

Sword Star Hyeon Sobaek was a peerless master whom ordinary people called an immortal. Despite his origins as a wandering martial artist, he was said to have displayed transcendent abilities time and again.

The reach of his energy detection was difficult to imagine. He had likely realized what was happening with the Blue Qilin the moment the Radiant Demon Squad captain caused the disturbance.

When they had met, he had spoken of setting the righteous martial world right and revealed his anguish. The strongest master presently in Hanzhong would therefore not appear here.

As Martial Alliance Leader, he could not side with the Desolate Fortress, but neither would he support the Zhuge clan head.

Under these circumstances, Ak Surim and Xiahou Weizhen had one role: to safeguard the Lightning Genius’s actions. They had entered prepared to risk war, but it was only right to avoid unnecessary fighting.

They were in the heart of the largest enemy stronghold under heaven. Unless the Zhuge clan head tried to break through them, they had no need to harm him.

Watching his downfall would suffice.

“The Desolate Fortress should have no forces to spare of late...”

The Zhuge clan head spoke quietly. Whatever he felt, his face revealed nothing. With his fan covering only his lips, he still looked composed. But everyone present knew that composure was a bluff.

Ak Surim flicked back the ebony hair hanging beneath her ears. Then she casually massaged her pale nape. Her bold, graceful bearing exuded an air of freedom.

“Anyone can see our Lightning Genius is the future of the Desolate Fortress. We sent our treasure into your hands, and you thought the Fortress would just sit back and watch? Do you think we’re fucking idiots?”

Despite her crude mockery, the Zhuge clan head offered no reply.

The strongest of the Desolate Fortress’s Black ranks could vie with clan heads. Reports that the Desolate Divine Spear had raised the Ak Family Spear to an entirely new realm were no empty rumors.

Meanwhile, the Thousand-Fist, Dragon-Strength Retainer’s fist arts were said to split hills. The Tang clan head and the Sword Saint were also widely known supreme masters.

Moreover, Jung Yeonshin had caused an enormous disturbance.

He had demolished the wall around the Zhuge Clan’s grounds. He had unleashed Radiant River, too.

The Martial Alliance was unmistakably the martial world’s upper echelon, teeming with people whose senses were keen. A tremendous crowd was converging.

Everything was turning against the Zhuge clan head.

Even if the hall holding the Blue Qilin’s corpse concerned him, he could not afford to look away with the Desolate Divine Spear and the Thousand-Fist, Dragon-Strength Retainer before him.

The Zhuge clan head stood elegantly atop the roof and did nothing.

Slowly, Jung Yeonshin put his appearance in order. He straightened his sole remaining sleeve, the right one, and brushed the dust from his body.

Once again, he felt the immensity of the shelter the Desolate Fortress provided.

It was time to meet the dead. Zhuge Cheonga, who had been trembling and at a loss, followed him.

Resolve filled her expression. She meant to crush the Zhuge clan head’s reputation among the orthodox righteous factions once and for all.

“Radiant Demon Squad Captain.”

The Zhuge clan head called to him in an even voice.

Jung Yeonshin did not look back. Nor did he stop walking.

The voice continued, clear enough to merit comparison with the Marquis of Wu in the old tales.

“It does not do to act with such ignorance of your place in the world. You will die young, far from home. Even a flower unmatched through the ages means nothing if it never blooms. However your talent may compare with all of history, the many powerful figures of this world will not look kindly upon you.”

“Your kind never thinks to look at it the other way around.”

Jung Yeonshin merely spoke as he walked.

“The Alliance has earned my displeasure. Remember today, and revisit it two years from now.”

His words brought silence. They were a dreadful warning.

A talent racing forward at a speed without equal under heaven had made a promise for the future. The more accomplished the listener, the more chilling that promise would be.

The moment the supreme master holding the white-crane fan fell silent, booming laughter erupted.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

“Quite the proud spirit!”

Xiahou Weizhen’s laughter raised a wind. It was not merely hearty; its resonance was a gale.

Jung Yeonshin nearly wrapped his eardrums in radiant wheel qi, but restrained himself with an effort and entered the hall. Zhuge Cheonga accompanied him, drawing thin, hurried breaths.

Countless presences rose behind them.

There were martial heroes asking one another what had happened, rising talents who had hurried over, including the Young Sword Empress, and Perfected One Cheon Joo, who had arrived ahead of them.

He also sensed Heon Wonchang’s qi signature clinging to the Tang clan head’s presence.

A great uproar flared like fire.

“How could this happen...?”

“The Radiant Demon Squad captain may have won the founding tournament, but does that give the Desolate Fortress the right to act so outrageously?”

“The Desolate Divine Spear?!”

“Those black martial robes, that build, the noble race... Is the Thousand-Fist, Dragon-Strength Retainer here...?”

“Radiant Demon Squad Captain! Why have you committed such an insolent act?”

The bewildered voice of the Clear Unity Sect leader also rang out. Early in his visit to the Alliance, Jung Yeonshin had exchanged blows with him and his disciples.

He was one of the figures featured near the beginning of the Comprehensive Compendium for Breaking the Righteous Path. Though he had come looking for a fight, he had left smiling, saying Jung Yeonshin had taught him a lesson.

He was proof that no small number within the Alliance thought well of the Radiant Demon Squad captain.

The number gathering behind them began to exceed several hundred.

Some vaulted the high walls in a single bound, others crossed the roofs, and still others perched with a foot on a hall’s railing. Some stood tall on the roof opposite the Zhuge clan head.

“That is who he was all along. Such martial prowess at his age... And he is the Desolate Fortress Master’s direct disciple, too. Wouldn’t the whole world look like his plaything? He wraps himself in that lofty banner of the people’s welfare and refuses to see Murim for what it is.”

“Has his arrogance grown so great that he would turn his sword on the Alliance’s vanguard? There ought to be limits even to such contempt for others.”

“Does the Desolate Fortress truly regard the righteous path as no different from the evil and unorthodox paths? Our Three Joys Sect has stood with the people’s will since its founding! Not everyone is like the Hwangbo clan!”

Hostility spread like wildfire.

The Zhuge Clan was the Martial Alliance’s central pillar. A warrior from another faction had violated its grounds within Alliance headquarters. Seeing the ruins Jung Yeonshin had created, they could only be outraged.

The mood was ominous. At last, even the sound of blades being drawn and imbued with internal energy rang out.

SHING! CLANG, CLANG!

Many prepared to fight despite seeing Ak Surim and Xiahou Weizhen.

Ak Yerim, who arrived late, was among them. Her long black braid swayed. The qi waves rising from her body sent her robes fluttering like an egret’s wings. She held a spear in both hands.

Even the sight of her aunt Ak Surim, who looked younger than she did, made her start only briefly.

She had come after hearing that the Radiant Demon Squad captain was running amok. The devastation of the halls, far beyond anything she had imagined, chilled her heart.

‘I thought he was different from what I’d imagined. I thought I’d been too prejudiced, that I should be ashamed...’

It had been the Desolate Fortress’s Radiant Demon Squad captain who undertook the campaign against the Martial Alliance in Hanzhong, where the other Martial Alliance was based. He had not refused, even though it meant confronting one enemy in another’s territory.

Before they faced the Martial Alliance’s forces on West Peak Road, she had heard his innermost feelings, too. The Lightning Genius had killed a worthy rival and suppressed himself afterward.

When the advice of Fan Dragon Zhuge Hyeon loosened those feelings, a Swift Sword Style reminiscent of the king-style sword arts had emerged.

Afterward, she had seen herself reflected in the Alliance when it moved the founding ceremony forward.

Narrow-minded, stubborn behavior born of the belief that being right justified anything.

She had even stopped Eon Hwaryeon when the woman was debating whether to read the countermeasures against the Lightning Genius’s martial arts that the Zhuge clan head had provided.

Because it disgusted her.

But the scene before her now...

‘I don’t know anything anymore.’

Ak Yerim squeezed her eyes shut, her face twisting with dizzying distress.

What was right, and what was wrong? What sort of person was the Lightning Genius, truly? Among the Worthy Heaven Squad warriors groaning in the distance were friends she knew well.

The Radiant Demon Squad captain did not emerge from the small hall for some time.

“Explain why you have committed this outrage!”

“Does the Desolate Fortress intend to bring down our Alliance?”

The air grew hot. An area packed with internal-energy masters usually filled with blazing yang qi, even without anyone intending it.

The moment they raised their internal energy, their qi waves rubbed against one another. In group combat, the greater one’s internal power, the greater one’s mastery of protective force qi needed to be.

“Shouldn’t you deal with the Thirteen skies first, if you want any justification for your actions?”

“Lightning Genius, come out and speak for yourself! Why are you hiding in the Zhuge Clan’s quarters?”

Anger bred heat, and blazing yang qi fanned anger in turn. The seething cauldron of qi waves expanded steadily, ready to erupt at any moment.

This was the Martial Alliance. Anyone wearing a weapon here was already a master.

Yet Ak Surim, the Desolate Divine Spear, seemed to fear nothing.

“All this noisy chatter. Even the Zhuge clan head won’t attack for fear of getting hurt, but you so-called martial artists are nothing but mouths.”

“How dare you behave so lawlessly in an alliance of righteous orthodox factions!”

Some warriors’ shouts ceased the instant she opened her mouth.

“There are three Black ranks gathered here.”

Resting her weight on one leg, Ak Surim casually clasped her hands behind her back. She answered with a smirk, the spear held loosely behind her flashing with internal power. The attitude of a back-alley thug suited her strangely well.

“Don’t you know what that means? Right now, this place is the Desolate Fortress, too.”

With the face of a girl who looked barely past fifteen, she mocked the gathered heroes. Though she did not strike first, she was all but pouring oil on the flames.

That was Ak Surim’s nature. Even driven to the very edge of a cliff, she would smile that infuriating smile.

That temperament, so strikingly paired with her sublime martial arts, had earned her the title Desolate Divine Spear.

The protests intensified. Even jeers, unbecoming of the occasion, rang out. Some Alliance masters had fully honed the force waves of their sword strikes.

A single spark would set it off. A battle of unprecedented scale was about to begin.

“An insignificant clan, prattling on without end! Truly contemptible! Insects, every one of you! I would like to crush you all to death!”

BANG! BANG!

Xiahou Weizhen slammed his fists together. Colorless fragments of internal energy fell away—core energy given tangible form through Burst Discharge.

Some of the gathered heroes flinched at this display of the Thousand-Fist, Dragon-Strength Retainer’s power.

STEP.

A hem parted those fragments of mighty martial force as though they were flower petals. It was pitch-black, moving with the sound of quiet footsteps.

With the wind, the young Radiant Demon Squad captain suddenly appeared.

“...!”

Eyes widened throughout the crowd.

The boy held a remarkably handsome young man in both arms. Namgoong Sejin’s eyes were closed as though in deep sleep, his complexion too full of life for a corpse. Such a thing would have been difficult without some artifice.

“Ah...”

Ak Yerim covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes reddened as she stifled a moan.

A few particularly perceptive onlookers seemed to grasp the situation quickly. Low murmurs rose here and there.

The Blue Qilin had been famous in the righteous martial world. Many recognized his face, starting with the rising generation.

Murong Mingjun quietly slipped away and vanished. Gongsun Min’s mouth fell open. So did the Young Sword Empress’s and Yoo Hyun’s.

The Supreme Flame Dragon had been crouching on a wall, watching the hall. At the sight of his old friend’s condition, a bitter expression crossed his face.

Fan Dragon Zhuge Hyeon, arriving late, looked utterly bewildered.

Shock and questions swelled. The crowd’s commotion grew louder.

“Why is the Blue Qilin in a Zhuge Clan hall?”

“Why is a corpse that should be buried in the earth so perfectly preserved...?”

The Zhuge clan head took no action. He had to endure the eyes of the Desolate Fortress’s supreme masters holding him in check.

He could expect no aid from the Alliance Leader, who still refused to appear, nor from the Murong clan head, who had swiftly grasped the situation and fled.

‘I’m cornered. Must I live as a man without position?’

He considered it calmly.

The body of Blue Qilin Namgoong Sejin emerging from this place was, in itself, all too clear evidence. The Zhuge Clan’s grounds were guarded like an iron fortress.

The disturbance the Lightning Genius had caused was proof enough. So were the traces of the Maoshan Sect permeating the Blue Qilin’s body.

Any respected elder with the slightest knowledge of sorcerous martial arts would recognize their origin. It would not take long to trace the connections between the Maoshan Sect of Southern Zhili, the Namgoong clan, and the Zhuge Clan.

That was why he had tried to stop this before it happened. His fatal mistake had been failing to account for the Desolate Fortress’s extreme response.

Then Zhuge Cheonga added her testimony. It was the climax of the final act. Swallowing lightly, the girl stepped forward and publicly recounted what had happened.

“As you assembled heroes know, I am a humble martial artist called Still, Deep Eyes, and I serve as the Zhuge Clan’s eyes.”

Her clear voice laid out every circumstance. She continued evenly.

The Council of Elders Leader, sole survivor of the Namgoong clan’s direct line; Lightning Genius Jung Yeonshin, dispatched to the Alliance some time later as an envoy of the Desolate Fortress; her father’s decision, unwilling to lose face to the young Radiant Demon Squad captain; and the captain’s actions after readily agreeing to help upon hearing Zhuge Cheonga’s account.

The longer they listened, the more shocked they became. It was a story that allowed no other response.

“What in the world...?”

“The whole world will laugh at the Alliance...”

Unable to bring themselves to glare at the supreme master holding the white-crane fan, people slowly raised their gazes from Namgoong Sejin’s body.

The Radiant Demon Squad captain’s face was reflected in countless eyes.

He had broken through a noble clan’s defensive formations alone. He had charged forward to recover the body of someone he had faced as an enemy.

He had not feared an armed clash with a noble clan in the heart of the Alliance.

The faces of the Alliance’s heroes began to soften. Anger and determination gave way to shame.

They belonged to the righteous orthodox factions. The Three Joys Sect leader had been right. Not everyone in the martial world was rotten.

Then, from one side, Heon Wonchang spoke—the man who had remained beside the Desolate Fortress’s Lightning Genius longest.

As though composing the verse on the spot, he briefly sang in a melody like a funeral dirge. His voice was clear and pleasing to the ear.

A moment of youth is worth a thousand pieces of gold [少年一刻値千金]

Yet his worthy rival is forever bound within that sword [永結劍中好敵手]

“...”

No one was ignorant of what had happened between the Desolate Fortress and the Namgoong clan.

Silence spread like a tidal wave. Hundreds of people closed their mouths. The sight unfolded like a magnificent landscape.

What was each of them feeling? The many shades of emotion present were difficult to fathom.

As the gathering, with not a single person who was not a master, lay enveloped in qi waves rising like clouds, Heon Wonchang cautiously continued.

“Now piss off.”