“Sword Corps Leader.”

It was the Namgoong clan head who spoke. He glanced at the bodies of Namgoong Sejin and Namgoong Mi.

“I will bear the disgrace of a revolving assault.”

“... I obey.”

The Vast Heaven Sword Corps Leader turned and raised his clasped hands.

The clan head’s meaning was plain. A revolving assault—the term referred to the wheels of a carriage. In Murim, it meant a tactic in which many took turns fighting a smaller number of enemies.

He would accept the disgrace, so the corps leader was to risk death to wear down the Divine Sword Squad Leader.

“Remarkable.”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader smiled.

The Vast Heaven Sword Corps Leader turned back, his eyes flashing.

“If you mean to mock us, speak with your sword.”

“Not at all. That is precisely what you should do. Is the Namgoong clan head’s head not at stake? Of course you should use every means available.”

Satisfaction showed on the Divine Sword Squad Leader’s face.

The absolute master reputed to be the strongest of the Desolate Fortress’s purple robes had a peculiar character. Jung Yeonshin had never encountered such a disposition. Was this what a strategist devising schemes felt like?

He spoke of disregarding the means with utter naturalness.

Just then, their eyes met. The squad leader’s gentle, scholarly eyes curved in a smile.

“You should head back now. Who knows how many more wrinkles my predecessor has gained? The old man looked ready to have a fit while you were crossing swords with the Blue Qilin.”

“... May fortune favor you in battle.”

Yeonshin offered a martial salute as he spoke, leaving the Divine Sword Squad Leader looking taken aback.

“To think someone would wish me luck in battle. Live long enough, and you see everything.”

Then he laughed cheerfully and gave a brief nod.

“Lightning Genius of the Radiant Demon Squad. You have worked hard.”

Yeonshin thanked him and turned toward the Desolate Fortress contingent. His steps were heavy.

It felt as though the shadow of Namgoong Sejin, the Blue Qilin, lay thick over him. As he walked, neither the people nor the scenery registered in his eyes.

“Hey, boy. You were rather interesting, weren’t you?”

“Granny Ak, a little dignity, please.”

Ak Surim and several other Divine Sword Unit masters had just stepped forward when an old man strode up ahead of them.

“Yeonshin!”

He had never heard that voice call to him with such affection before.

Yeonshin raised his head.

Ma Yeonjeok was already only a few paces away, studying him with wrinkled eyes.

Former Divine Sword Squad Leader, head of the Desolate’s Ma clan—those titles felt remote. To Yeonshin, maternal grandfather was enough.

“You have no serious wounds. I am very, very proud of you. Any internal injuries?”

“No. Let us talk later.”

Yeonshin spoke with a slow nod. He could not spare Ma Yeonjeok a glance.

The Divine Sword Squad Leader was facing the Vast Heaven Sword Corps Leader.

They headed the combat units standing on the front lines of the Desolate Fortress and the Namgoong clan respectively. Such a match was rarely seen anywhere under heaven.

The boy thought of broadening his vision. A battle between absolute masters of their caliber promised inspiration.

His only concern was that their movements might be too much for his current eye technique to perceive.

‘I mustn’t think of following them with my eyes. I won’t be able to anyway. I’ll think of it as keeping them within my field of vision.’

With that resolve, he roused his core energy.

An intangible flame blossomed from the Baihui point atop his head. For an instant, a sky-blue radiance shone in his eyes—a flash from his upper dantian.

‘The Divine Sword Squad Leader. Just how strong is he?’

The boy’s goal stood there: a peerless master who had already attained the rank that had become his purpose in life.

Even if he gained nothing now, he hoped he could draw on what he saw someday.

While Yeonshin gazed steadily ahead, Ma Yeonjeok was smiling, a rare sight indeed.

“Did you say we would talk later? You, to me.”

Delight seeped into his murmured words. His face looked ready to melt with contentment.

This was the grandson who had maintained a blade-sharp attitude toward him and the Desolate’s Ma clan.

A promise of later? Even a casual remark was welcome. Even if he had not meant it.

The faces of the Divine Sword Unit masters watching from the side twisted in different ways.

They openly looked as though they had witnessed something they should never have seen. Ak Surim, the Desolate Divine Spear, actually curled her lips as though about to vomit.

“He’s not right in the head, is he?”

“So it seems to me as well.”

“Soha, Yeon Soha. Where did you say Lightning Genius’s family was from?”

“Why would we concern ourselves with that? We’re busy enough roaming the Central Plains.”

“That nasty old Ma is practically bowing and scraping. Doesn’t it make you feel wronged? Ah, our Soha wasn’t even a lowly white robe back then. You wouldn’t know how he worked me to death when he was squad leader, would you? Lightning Genius, Jung Yeonshin, was it? I can’t figure that boy out. The more I think about it, the stranger it is. Does he have some dirt on the Ma clan...?”

“Granny Ak, they can hear every word over there.”

While the girl in the Desolate Fortress’s black robes conversed with the youthful-looking man named Yeon Soha, the third match between the Desolate Fortress and the Namgoong clan began.

Anyone could tell, for the wind blowing from ahead had abruptly ceased.

The Divine Sword Unit masters fell silent. This was on a different level from a battle between rising generation disciples.

The Divine Sword Squad Leader and the Vast Heaven Sword Corps Leader.

The gorge’s fierce winds blew without pause, yet not a speck of dust stirred in the space where the two masters faced each other.

Their qi waves were dense enough to form a barrier. No outside interference was permitted entry.

SWISH.

It was different from the very first move. The instant their sleeves stirred, sword light flashed.

Namgoong Ryeok, the Vast Heaven Sword Corps Leader, practiced heavy swordsmanship, not the king-style sword arts.

His mastery of the Namgoong clan’s Boundless Heaven Technique, honed to its utmost limit, was acclaimed as one of the martial world’s unparalleled arts.

It was said that he freely blended destructive sword force into its unrestrained sword paths.

The Divine Sword Squad Leader was unarmed. He met his opponent’s heavy sword with his bare hand.

BOOM!

The gorge shook. A monstrous tremor spread in every direction.

With his fingers held together in a knife-hand, he unleashed a heavy sword strike surpassing Namgoong Ryeok’s and knocked the blade away.

He had met it with sword force embodying the very same principle.

WHOOOOSH!

Amid it all, the Divine Sword Squad Leader’s purple scholar’s robe did not so much as twitch. Its hem hung still in the oncoming storm.

Protective force qi. Such a sight would scarcely have been possible without a peerless barrier of internal energy enveloping his entire body.

“A fairly sturdy blade. And no ordinary material, either. Was it made by the iron race?”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader asked calmly, like a scholar out for a stroll.

“Hup!”

Driven back a full jang, Namgoong Ryeok scraped both feet across the ground. Core energy erupted from his Yongquan points and brought him to a halt.

The instant his body stopped, he charged again, treading the two furrows he had carved himself.

It was a truly explosive movement. A single stamping step made the earth tremble once more.

SWISH!

His treasured sword cleaved the air, carrying white light. The strike was like lightning.

Swift swordsmanship.

The essence of the Boundless Heaven Technique was a sword path unbound in the vast heavens. Adaptability without obstruction.

Unfettered swordplay. Swift swordsmanship and heavy swordsmanship each unleashed their power within the same formula.

There was not even a sound of air being split. In an instant, the sword strike raced up before the Divine Sword Squad Leader.

At the same time, sharp qi wrapped around the edge of his hand, as though it held an invisible blade.

The moment Namgoong Ryeok’s sword approached his shoulder, the Divine Sword Squad Leader alone moved through a different time.

First came a step, twisting aside a single inch.

Then his sleeve blurred along with his right knife-hand.

SWISH.

Clad in deep-blue martial robes, Namgoong Ryeok swept past the Divine Sword Squad Leader. His body lifted as though about to fly, then sprawled to the ground.

He had been unable to halt his swift momentum. His balance utterly broken, he rolled across the earth. Not a trace remained of a supreme master’s dignity.

And then...

He did not move. He had died instantly.

“...”

Once again, movement ceased among the spectators.

The commotion of people sending messenger pigeons, exchanging opinions, and using lightness skills to depart in every direction dwindled to a halt.

It was difficult even to discuss what this meant. The sword wielded on the front lines by the great martial house of Namgoong had shattered. The exchange had not even lasted long.

Namgoong Mi, Namgoong Sejin, and now Namgoong Ryeok.

The scheduled event was growing ever more extraordinary.

“Sword Corps Leader. You forgot how an inferior fighter must fight.”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader straightened his collar. His purple scholar’s robe, disordered by the rather large movement of his arm, was spotless. Not even a bloodstain marked it.

“You should have known you were several levels beneath me. Had you been cautious, we might have exchanged a few more moves.”

His tone was conversational.

He murmured to the corpse, provocation coming as naturally as breathing. Yet no one could answer.

In the silence, the Divine Sword Squad Leader turned his gaze toward the Namgoong clan.

“You seemed shamelessly dissatisfied with proceeding from youngest to oldest. Then is the Council of Elders Leader next, as originally planned?”

“No. Enough.”

STEP.

The man who answered as he stepped forward was not the Namgoong Council of Elders Leader.

At last, the Namgoong clan head slowly emerged. The immense presence of the king-style sword arts cloaked his entire body.

His oppressive presence seemed to advance like a fortress wall.

He was the head of one of the Eight Families, a fully realized martial artist. Even his bearing differed from his son, the Blue Qilin.

“Come to think of it...”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader tilted his head slightly.

His playful attitude was unlike that of the peerless master known to the world, yet it made him all the more terrifying.

“He’s still absent. That old fool who has learned nothing with age.”

“Divine Sword Squad Leader. Show some dignity.”

The Namgoong clan head spoke in a low voice.

It held enough internal power to make anyone feel the abyss beneath them, but the Divine Sword Squad Leader merely drew his brows together in annoyance.

“You stop talking nonsense, Clan Head. Where did he go? Your Council of Elders Leader.”

“I know the Desolate Fortress’s Elder Council Leader left long ago. I merely matched our house’s numbers to yours. Have you the gall to object?”

Listening closely, Yeonshin suddenly remembered what Ma Yeonjeok had told him before.

The fortress’s Elder Council Leader was pursuing the Seventh Apostle.

‘It’s been days. Still?’

The Elder Council Leader wore one of only three purple robes in the Desolate Fortress. Surely the Seventh Apostle’s lightness skill was not good enough to shake off even a purple-robed master.

Was she perhaps concentrating on enduring through the regenerative ability of her perfected Blood Art?

Just then—

“A petty trick. You mean to preserve someone capable of leading your house from the front?”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader’s voice rang out, his tone now languid.

“A truly excellent decision. It cannot be helped. I will have to deal with the problem before me first.”

Then Yeonshin witnessed a sight he could scarcely believe.

It happened the moment the Divine Sword Squad Leader raised his right hand before the Namgoong clan head.

CRACKLE.

A ray of light sprang up in his grip. At the same time, a long fissure split the space before him.

With a sudden pulse of core energy, a sword took shape in an instant.

HUMMMM!

It looked as though a rainbow had been gathered and forged into a single blade. A treasured sword composed of seven-colored radiance rested in the Divine Sword Squad Leader’s right hand.

It was, quite literally, a dazzling blade of light. Monstrous qi waves surged from it like a tidal wave.

‘It’s on a different level from my Radiant Sword Art. That is simply a sword of light.’

It felt as though he were unleashing a strike that could hardly be resisted, merely by holding it.

‘A sword... of core energy.’

Yeonshin understood.

This was a realm in which one fashioned a sword from internal energy. Though he had never seen such a secret art in his life, he knew immediately.

The tangible core energy he sensed was that thick and dense.

“... As flamboyant as your temperament.”

Even before a skill approaching the divine, the Namgoong clan head appeared unshaken.

His face was solemn. Was it because anything was possible in the realm inhabited by the leaders of great martial powers?

“Come.”

The Namgoong clan head drew his treasured sword. That was his last word.

BOOM!

The two peerless masters vanished. Only the luminous trail of the Divine Sword Squad Leader’s flashing blade slowly dispersed.

Yeonshin could not see the sudden flurry of movement. How many exchanges had there been?

ROOOOAR!

The pressure came before the sound. The aftermath of their collision transcended even the realm of explosive noise.

He had to struggle not to be swept away.

Yeonshin drove his Movement Art to its utmost. Even that was not enough.

He unleashed the combat paths of the Infinite Blossom Hand into empty air. He had to tear through the qi waves crashing over him.

CRASH! CRAAASH!

Both hands ached with cold. He had no idea how many forms he had thrown out.

‘How much longer...?’

A single breath felt like an eternity.

Then, after a blink, he finally saw the Divine Sword Squad Leader and the Namgoong clan head.

The sword of core energy had dispersed from the squad leader’s hand. Yet he alone stood upright, looking down.

His opponent was different.

The sole master of the Namgoong clan. One of the Eight Family heads acknowledged throughout the martial world.

That giant of the age lay fallen, eyes wide open. His upper body had been blasted away.

At the end, he was just like his son, Namgoong Sejin. Neither his house, his blood kin, nor his children filled his vision.

Without even turning his head, he stared fixedly at the Divine Sword Squad Leader. Fighting spirit and bitter resentment lay naked on his face.

“...”

It was the Divine Sword Squad Leader who broke the terrible silence.

He glanced toward the Namgoong clan. Every one of its masters stood motionless, as though frozen.

They were not alone. Everyone throughout the vast Azure Wild Valley was the same.

The head of one of the Eight Great Families was dead. There was no telling what repercussions would follow.

“Well, at least collect the body.”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader clicked his tongue.

Then he moved, walking straight toward the Desolate Fortress contingent.

“Our squad leader took quite a few sword strikes, didn’t he? I counted as far as five.”

It was Ak Surim.

Yeonshin examined the Divine Sword Squad Leader’s tattered purple scholar’s robe.

It surely had to be woven from Thousand-year Silk, yet it seemed unable to withstand the Namgoong clan head’s sword strikes.

“Mm. He was rather strong.”

“Putting on a brave face, are we? I can feel your breathing tremble. Why not settle your mental cultivation method?”

As the Divine Sword Squad Leader nodded absently, Yeon Soha interjected with an innocent expression.

“Well, that’s settled for now. But I’m more curious about the reward you promised Lightning Genius. Connections in the martial world, was it? Did you have any of those, Squad Leader?”

“...”

The Divine Sword Squad Leader suddenly turned toward Yeonshin. Their eyes met immediately.

The peerless purple-robed master’s lips curved, but his smile looked decidedly awkward.

“Connections, in our position...? What martial house would welcome the Divine Sword Unit? We’re fortunate if they don’t start chanting Buddhist prayers to ward off our ill fortune.”