"The Blood Flame Cult was there?"

Ma Jin murmured, the scar on his face creasing deeply.

"And not just anyone, but a Blood Master Swordsman..."

"You've gone and proved that Zhenping County wasn't just luck."

Behind Baek Miryeo, whose brow had furrowed as though she recognized the gravity of the matter, Chung Myung simply praised Jung Yeonshin and stroked his head.

"There are signs that regeneration began but stopped midway. It's definitely a Blood Master Swordsman."

For some reason, Heon Wonchang was behaving unexpectedly. He neither clicked his tongue in amazement nor shook his head as though resigned to it all. Instead, he examined the Blood Master Swordsman's severed head, checking the marks left by the sword blade.

Ma Jin spoke.

"This isn't normal. It should scarcely be possible."

"Blood Master Swordsmen aren't this common."

Baek Miryeo gave a slight nod.

"We need to investigate, whether in unorthodox Murim or places without martial sects. The Blood Flame Cult's expansion is a serious matter. If they've advanced their sinister arts enough to station a Blood Master Swordsman in every county, it could mean their Apostles have increased in number as well. The ones whose hair has turned completely black. If there are more of them too... How dreadful."

"Of course."

This time, even Chung Myung nodded in apparent agreement.

"Lightning Genius has rendered no small service. Trouble seems to follow you everywhere. That you dealt with it and returned with intelligence and accomplishments will have consequences for Murim. The Desolate Fortress will respond."

After gazing steadily at him for a while, Ma Jin spoke again.

"Now, then. You want to go up Mount Zhongnan."

"I'm softhearted. I can't help worrying about my nephew's safety."

Had that sounded like a veiled reproach aimed at Desolate's Ma Clan?

Ma Jin's face stiffened awkwardly. For once, his expression looked strained as he spoke.

"... We've only just received word ourselves. But Mount Zhongnan is dangerous right now. The Tyrant Sword Tribe is a different breed from the Blood Flame Cult."

"You can't simply call them unorthodox. They practice orthodox martial arts and sinister arts indiscriminately. They're obsessed with growing stronger and know no limits."

Baek Miryeo added her explanation. There seemed to be concern in her slightly upturned eyes.

"Yes. More importantly, we haven't received a mission. It's enough for us to carry out our assigned duties."

Neither Ma Jin nor Baek Miryeo seemed willing to let Jung Yeonshin go. Only Chung Myung, standing beside them, obliviously took the Radiant Demon Squad's youngest member's side.

"But someone of captain rank can assess a situation and assign a mission at their own discretion, can't they?"

"..."

As Baek Miryeo shot Chung Myung a fierce look, Ma Jin continued.

"I'll be honest. How can I let you go when, for all I know, you might enter Mount Zhongnan and never return?"

"Pardon?"

Jung Yeonshin could not help asking. Yet everyone present except him seemed to share the sentiment.

"Anyone in the Desolate Fortress who knows your talent would worry."

"Even if it's needless worry, it's understandable. Any sect would covet you, and you say you have blood relatives there too. Mount Hua's Sword Saint has already talked about making you an honored guest."

Not only Baek Miryeo but even Chung Myung spoke with an expression of agreement.

Jung Yeonshin knew Ma Jin had another reason, one the others were unaware of. He was likely concerned because Yeonshin had formed no attachment to Desolate's Ma Clan.

"What am I to do if my captain cannot separate public duty from private feelings? Is that all the trust I've earned in the Radiant Demon Squad?"

He spoke with a calm expression. The words struck home.

"..."

"I've rendered a clear service. Please let me go. And record this accomplishment as mine alone."

"He's got you checkmated."

At last, Baek Miryeo struck Chung Myung in the ribs. As he groaned, Ma Jin, who had been deep in thought, slowly spoke.

"You're right. I can hardly refuse you outright. Make a wager with me."

"What sort of wager?"

"Face one of my moves. Just one will do. If you counter or evade it, I'll let you go. You'll need at least that much skill to travel the martial world alone. And I'll promise you another reward as well."

"Understood."

To the others' surprise, Jung Yeonshin readily nodded.

* * *

They headed to the inn's rear courtyard. Neither Jung Yeonshin nor Ma Jin paid any mind to onlookers. They were only going to exchange a single move.

The Mount Hua masters approached to ask what was happening. Once they heard the broad outline, many cautiously requested permission to watch the exchange. Ma Jin granted it without concern.

"Thank you."

The Mount Hua martial artists formed a ring around them, blocking the common people's view.

"The captain of the Radiant Demon Squad is going to make a move. A Black master of the Desolate Fortress would be comparable to you, wouldn't he, Martial Uncle?"

Yoo Hyun asked Sage Cheon Joo. The leader of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen answered in the affirmative, then added,

"In a melee, he would be stronger than I am. His epithet is the Hell Slaughterer. It means he utterly dominates the battlefield. Quite a few elders of prestigious sects have met their deaths at his hands after committing atrocities beneath a mask of virtue."

"Even facing a single move from him looks frightening."

"When facing a supreme master of that caliber, you cannot take even a gesture lightly. A single move contains the principles of instant death. He's different from us of the Nine Great Sects, who seek the pinnacle of the sword. His martial arts have been honed solely for actual combat. Think of battlefield martial arts taken to their utmost extreme. There is scarcely anything more frightening."

"... Even Yeonshin will have trouble, I think. Against a master like that, none of our peers could last more than a single move."

Yoo Hyun looked toward Jung Yeonshin, standing opposite Ma Jin.

The Radiant Demon Squad's Lightning Genius stood in the breeze with his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt. His face remained unchanged, showing little fluctuation in emotion.

Jung Yeonshin was calm, thinking only of demonstrating the martial arts he had learned. Slowly, he spoke.

"Would you give me some time?"

"As much as you like. I intend to show you a strike beyond what a white-robed warrior can easily handle. Sharpen your senses accordingly."

It sounded as though he meant to hold back. But Ma Jin's standards would be different.

The captain of the Radiant Demon Squad. A supreme master of the Black rank. There were said to be no more than thirty even in the Desolate Fortress.

Jung Yeonshin closed his eyes. Turning his awareness inward, he first awakened his lower dantian. The energy he had accumulated through the Movement Art, lying dormant throughout his body, stirred with it.

As he circulated core energy through his entire body, he also sought to summon the perception he had awakened at the Mantis Sect.

For an ordinary martial artist, the experience might have slipped away whenever it seemed within reach, demanding devoted training to recover it.

Jung Yeonshin was different. Once he had properly experienced a sensation, it was wholly his from that moment onward. He had no need to spend time turning a chance insight into a step forward.

'I can see.'

Was this what Sun Wukong's cloning art in the legends of Xuanzang felt like?

It was as though he were examining Ma Jin from every direction. He could perceive even the man's back as clearly as if he saw it. Combined with his uniquely sensitive energy detection, it brought his perception to its fullest.

"I'll let you have the first move."

Jung Yeonshin made a rare joke.

Ma Jin chuckled and raised his hand, setting its thick edge like a blade.

Yeonshin had heard that his martial arts embodied the essence of the Radiant Demon Arts. He had truly mastered every kind of weapon. They said he could skillfully wield anything that lay scattered across a battlefield—even a wine bottle discarded on a tavern floor.

'Then his hands must be the most frightening of all.'

The gathering waves of qi alone were enough to tell him. Now he understood what Ma Jin meant by a strike beyond a white-robed warrior's ability to handle.

Its density was on an entirely different level. A palm technique of that magnitude looked capable of shattering even a fairly thick fortress wall in a single blow.

'I'll have to dodge.'

His decision was made. A clumsy attempt to block would leave him seriously injured.

Jung Yeonshin lowered his hand completely from his sword hilt. As the spectators watched in undisguised puzzlement, Ma Jin's massive frame rushed in.

THUD!

His Mobility Arts were neither elusive nor ethereal. They were direct and brutally fast. It felt like a compressed typhoon charging straight at him.

This could not even be his full speed, yet Jung Yeonshin could barely manage to turn his body aside.

WHOOOSH!

Ma Jin controlled his movements with astonishing precision. A slight twist of his toes reversed the flow of force. His knife-hand tore horizontally through the air, with Jung Yeonshin's head at the end of its path.

Even then, Jung Yeonshin continued observing Ma Jin's movements. A pale blue gleam flashed through his eyes.

The Mobility Arts he had learned so far could not carry him clear. The noble race's movements that Chung Myung had taught him were not, in themselves, a formal technique. He needed a single, purposeful step that would open a path to survival.

'Just one step.'

Ma Jin's coming movements and the direction of his force traced intricate lines through his mind. The Baihui point at the crown of his head seemed to burn.

What posture should he take? How should he channel his core energy, and at what instant should his foot land?

Within his mind's eye, a single step began to take shape, one that would tear through a gap in the raging wind.

At the same time, he felt another energy core sprout near his heart. It lasted only an instant. A strand of internal energy from the Movement Art had passed through his middle dantian, briefly activating it.

His core energy, strengthened for that fleeting moment, spurred the creation of a new ultimate technique.

He had not entered the realm where certain supreme masters perceived time as slowing. His thoughts were simply moving as fast as a flash of light. That was all.

In that instant, his innate talent manifested in the realm of martial arts.

TAP.

KRAAASH!

The instant Jung Yeonshin took a step, a tremendous wave of martial force swept his hair upward. Then he felt a fierce wind from the power that exploded behind his back.

"..."

Dust swirled, but no one spoke. Everyone present was a master whose life revolved around martial arts. Every one of them could sense that the step Jung Yeonshin had just taken was extraordinary.

"That footwork just now."

Still holding his hand out in the position of his strike, Ma Jin moved only his lips.

"What was it? I've never seen it before."

"I simply took a step. I could see a way to survive."

"... Your talent truly defies understanding. Even now."

"I'll call it the Radiant Wing Step."

Jung Yeonshin spoke matter-of-factly.

The origin of the Radiant Demon Squad's name was not complicated. It meant the wings of the Desolate Fortress that vanquished the demons of the Great Ming Empire.

The Radiant Wing Step's name was different. By choosing a character meaning radiance, Jung Yeonshin had expressed his affection for the Radiant Demon Squad to which he belonged.

Not only Ma Jin's face but Chung Myung's and Baek Miryeo's softened as though melting.

Ma Jin straightened his posture. Slowly, he spoke.

"Lightning Genius has permission to travel to Zhongnan."

"Waaah!"

Heon Wonchang rushed over with a wild cry. Brimming with excitement, he showered Yeonshin with praise for his astonishingly marvelous footwork.

As Wonchang gripped his shoulders and shook him, Jung Yeonshin thought quietly.

'The Radiant Wing Step.'

For now, it was a single step. He did not know how many steps it might become. If it expanded into something like the Ten Radiant Wing Steps, would he have reached the Divine Sword Squad Leader's realm?

"The Desolate Fortress has produced an unparalleled genius."

"It's not entirely welcome news. But those are the steps of a rising talent with limitless possibilities. He should be a pleasure to watch."

"I'll come visit, so don't turn me away at the door!"

Amid the Mount Hua masters' admiration and Yoo Hyun's envious gaze, Jung Yeonshin returned to the guest room.

A palpable warmth filled the circle of seated Radiant Demon Squad masters.

"If you're to represent yourself at Zhongnan alone, white robes won't quite suffice, will they?"

Chung Myung spoke with a broad smile.

What was he talking about now? Puzzlement filled Jung Yeonshin's eyes.