His fervent wish lasted only a moment. Jung Yeonshin immediately put aside all distracting thoughts.

Even if the sects hostile to the Desolate Fortress were as numerous as the grains of sand in the southern archipelagos, any individual martial artist would consider this an honor. It was not merely rare; it was all but impossible.

The Divine Sword Squad Leader himself had entrusted his back to him.

This was the Gate of Life pressure point of one of the greatest masters under heaven. Would he ever have another chance to touch it?

It was the pressure point through which a person's vital energy circulated most vigorously. That was why people offered the center of their backs when receiving help healing their injuries with core energy.

His hand slid into place.

The fabric felt rough where the Namgoong clan head's sword strikes had torn through it.

Even as Jung Yeonshin laid his palm on the squad leader's back, the situation felt unreal. He felt a little unmoored.

"From the Gate of Life, head straight toward the Body Pillar pressure point. An ordinary full circulation from a Daoist health-preservation method will do. Our squad leader opened both his Conception and Governing Vessels, and his upper dantian, long ago."

Ak Surim drew close and whispered.

"You can think of all the pressure points in his body as blades. Imagine you're oiling a sword's edge. That should be enough."

Her words, carried on breaths made long and deep by her accomplishments in internal martial arts, were profound. They held the hidden principles of internal cultivation. The squad leader's casual nod alone made that clear.

Just then, a small commotion arose among the Divine Sword Unit's masters.

"They're coming! They're coming this way! Vipers and scorpions, the lot of them!"

"The mad blood fiends are first? Those bastards really don't fear anything. Next is... the Martial Alliance, perhaps. Judging by their speed."

"The Martial Dragon Society has changed direction too. They're in an escort formation."

"They must have an honored guest with them. Who could that rabble be so protective of? You'd think the society leader's precious child had come along. Meanwhile, the Lingering Spirits are going on their way. Devious bastards, as always."

The warnings ringing out on every side all concerned the unorthodox Thirteen skies—the great factions that contested dominion over the Central Plains martial world with the Nine Sects and Eight Families.

The moment they learned that the Divine Sword Squad Leader was not in good health, it would be no surprise if they turned their blades on his party. Such was their relationship.

If that happened, the squad leader's condition would be exposed. The unconscious Namgoong Hwashin could not even resist.

Facing several of the Thirteen skies at once would be difficult. Even the Desolate Fortress's strongest combat unit would have to endure heavy losses.

This was a crisis. Jung Yeonshin lowered his eyelids slightly.

Internal energy was inherently difficult to control. Operating it along two different routes simultaneously was harder still, needless to say.

All the more so while using a lightness skill, which required fluid manipulation of core energy. This was a new challenge even for Jung Yeonshin.

"Don't draw your swords rashly! That really would look strange!"

Leaving Ak Surim's shout behind, he sank into his consciousness. Along with his core energy, he delved into the squad leader's body.

HUM.

He poured every vestige of his will into a single strand of internal energy. He had activated the upper dantian's faculties, which he had recently begun learning to draw upon consciously, little by little.

He could do it even while running with his lightness skill.

Ak Surim's incredulous chuckle brushed his ears, then slowly faded from his awareness.

And suddenly...

Jung Yeonshin sensed a universe. Even the elasticity and breadth of the meridians were different.

The middle dantian, closest to the Gate of Life pressure point, felt like a dragon's inner core. It seemed capable of holding endless energy. He had never known that a human body could develop such profundity. It was utterly wondrous.

Yet perhaps because of the internal injuries, the blood was not flowing normally. Even the internal power that should have flowed like waves through the twelve primary meridians, the eight extraordinary meridians, and every pressure point was faint, as though rusted.

He sent the Movement Art's core energy surging straight in.

He recalled Ak Surim's words. She had told him to complete one full circulation as though oiling a blade. She meant for him to use his core energy to polish the squad leader's energy-circulation routes, which had lost their vigor in the fierce battle with the Namgoong clan head.

He did exactly that.

He began at the Gate of Life in the center of the back. Then he poured core energy without hesitation into the Body Pillar pressure point directly above it. Internal power refined through the Movement Art flowed in, as pure as the boy's childhood.

"What's this? It's as pure and profound as energy cultivated through the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic."

He heard the squad leader mutter to himself.

"Has the abbot of Shaolin secretly broken his vows? Are you his hidden son?"

His voice betrayed his bewilderment.

Jung Yeonshin ignored him and concentrated. He had no choice. Once the circulating energy gained momentum, its flow accelerated like a torrent.

The squad leader's pressure points were on another level.

They were not merely like well-maintained official roads; they were as smooth as the ice walls of the Northern Sea. He scarcely seemed human.

'With pressure points honed this far, he really could circulate his energy in the blink of an eye.'

He understood firsthand why peerless masters could unleash their attacks in an instant. Compared with ordinary warriors, Jung Yeonshin himself could lay sole claim to speed. Yet even in the world of masters, the squad leader's speed could be measured in instants.

He gained an insight. It could even be called an awakening.

'I was right to link the mental cultivation method I'm creating with the Movement Art. Perhaps I, too....'

That was the first. In the midst of danger, he had grasped a clue to further growth.

It did not end there. More followed. The squad leader's body was a storehouse of limitless possibilities.

No—a treasury was the better word, with lofty principles of martial learning intertwined like precious treasures.

'And what's this?'

The energy detection of the boy's upper dantian flashed. This was a heaven-granted domain.

As Jung Yeonshin contemplated the interior of his superior's body, he discovered a remarkably strong trace. It marked the route along which the squad leader had chiefly circulated his internal energy.

Immensely powerful internal power had swept through like a typhoon. The traces of core energy were extraordinarily clear.

'This is....'

He instinctively worked backward to determine the route's effects. Then, with a shiver, he understood.

This circulation suited martial arts that discharged great amounts of internal power in a single form. These were the traces of a route that added stability to explosive martial arts.

It could not have been better suited to the luminous sword of core energy the squad leader had displayed.

A divine technique.

'If I can properly incorporate this method....'

He would be able to greatly reduce his concerns about the recoil of Radiant River, the palm technique named by the Blue Qilin, Namgoong Sejin.

It was an exceedingly precious cultivation principle. Might it not have played a major role in allowing the squad leader to bring his decisive battle with the Namgoong clan head to a swift end?

It was then that a voice spoke.

"Well, look at you."

He could not help but hear it. A curious amusement lingered in the voice.

"Now I see I've let an extraordinary thief inside me."

It was the Divine Sword Squad Leader.

The soft snort from ahead sent a chill through him, despite the utterly light tone.

The squad leader, too, could speak while circulating energy. Nor was it strange that he could sense Jung Yeonshin's energy detection sweeping through his body.

He was the Divine Sword Squad's foremost master. It was only natural. Jung Yeonshin did not trouble himself with an apology. He had no time for one.

'He promised to teach me a martial art anyway. If I ask his forgiveness later....'

With a thought that struck even him as childish, he withdrew his hand. The full circulation of internal energy had just ended.

Continuing any longer would be dangerous. As the Divine Sword Unit's scouts had warned, masters of the Thirteen skies were closing in like wildcats.

The man who had slain the Namgoong clan head could hardly be unscathed. Even someone who was not a master could surmise that.

"Ho there! Would you chivalrous heroes of the Desolate Fortress spare a moment for a word?"

The voice rang out from the third-farthest group. The core energy carrying it was so powerful that it sounded like someone shouting directly into his ear.

Yet some of the Divine Sword Unit's masters remained cheerful. Strangely so.

"Look how relaxed those Martial Dragon Society bastards are. I can't tell what they're thinking. They've never had any particular clash with our fortress, have they?"

"The Blood Flame Cult and Martial Alliance are coming first. Are they really going to try their luck?"

"Squad Leader, aren't you finished yet?"

The nearby onlookers, who had already recognized the Desolate Fortress's Divine Sword Unit, had fled far away.

Those approaching instead were all leading powers of the unorthodox path: a Blood Flame Cult branch, the Martial Alliance, and the Martial Dragon Society.

Among them, the blood fiends approaching with crimson hair and the Martial Alliance swordsmen advancing beneath military banners exuded a particularly fierce presence.

Battle seemed ready to break out at any moment.

"You've done me a great service."

The squad leader spoke quietly, then smiled and ruffled Jung Yeonshin's hair.

He stepped out to the front. His movements had become remarkably light.

Some of the Divine Sword Unit's masters, who had been watching in disbelief, glanced at Jung Yeonshin. They looked as astonished as when he had returned after defeating the Blue Qilin.

"Oh... It seems the temporary treatment worked better than expected. Unless it's something like Shaolin's Pill of Luminous Rectitude, even medicine for internal injuries won't work without energy circulation."

Ak Surim approached with a bright smile.

"Well done, our Lightning Genius. You said you belonged to the Radiant Demon Squad, didn't you? Ma Jin, that dull-witted eunuch, has raised you well."

She reached out a hand smaller than his own, as though to pat his bottom.

The boy recoiled in horror. He had never encountered such behavior in his life. For an instant, he nearly unleashed the Radiant Sword Art.

Tucking her short black hair behind her ear, Ak Surim giggled with her girlish face. She seemed entirely at ease again.

"Soha. You said a single burst of qi would do?"

The squad leader spoke in an even tone. Yeon Soha merely shrugged.

"I was just saying."

"Let's see, then."

The Divine Sword Squad Leader of the Desolate Fortress advanced without hesitation.

His appearance, his bearing alone, exerted an enormous influence. The effect was immediately visible ahead.

The blood fiends in their blood-red robes and the Martial Alliance warriors faltered. They could hardly do otherwise. Every one of them had witnessed the terrifying might he had displayed against the Namgoong clan head.

Energy surged outward, a wave of qi that had reached the realm of the divine.

It was fundamentally different—so much so that the amount of internal energy seemed beside the point.

With every step the squad leader took, it billowed forth, its very nature evoking an overwhelming calamity. It felt as though he had brought over the landslide that was now settling in the far distance.

'And I have to displace that man....'

For an instant, Jung Yeonshin felt overwhelmed.

The forces of the Thirteen skies seemed to feel something similar. The Blood Flame Cult and Martial Alliance abruptly veered off course. Their approach appeared to have been nothing more than a probe.

Even so, those retreating belonged to the Thirteen skies. It was a spectacle seldom seen under heaven.

Who else present could have brought about such a scene? This was the awe a peerless master's martial prowess had engraved upon the world.

"Hey! Come here! Where are you going?!"

But they were not the ones who heard Yeon Soha's gleeful taunts.

Even after the two forces veered away, some masters continued straight toward them.

Were there about thirty? Jung Yeonshin narrowed his eyes. He recalled hearing that they were the Martial Dragon Society.

They were another of the Thirteen skies, yet their attire and energies all differed. They felt like masters from different sects gathered into a single group.

But something was curious. He sensed no hostility.

From among them, a slender girl stepped lightly forward, speaking in a clear voice.

"My greetings to the divine swords of the Desolate Fortress."

She wore a snow-white padded coat over a light-green silk court dress. Was she not hot? In a place where even the beating sunlight seemed caught in the confusion, she alone appeared clear and serene.

Her ebony hair, falling to her waist, rippled gently from side to side with her steps. Its jet-black sheen formed a curious harmony with her white skin. Her exceptionally distinct features were striking.

A girl of extraordinary beauty.

Was she about three years older than Jung Yeonshin? She looked to be approaching twenty, the age of the coming-of-age cap.

"..."

The boy's brows drew together slightly. The Martial Dragon Society girl's gaze had swept over him.

Not just her gaze—a wave of qi had accompanied it.

Was this his upper dantian's foresight? Despite being with the Divine Sword Unit, he felt uneasy. He had gained a direction for developing the Movement Art and even the subtle principles of a divine technique, yet the feeling persisted.

'Could I cut her down?'

The thought came to Jung Yeonshin unbidden.