Standing atop the pure white sword, Baek Seo-gun turned her head. She had just scanned the faces of the common people, who were nodding in agreement with the words of Chivalrous Slayer, among the gathered crowd.
There was an auspicious presence about her that made even those ignorant of Jianghu instinctively bow their heads.
To the commoners, Sword Flight was an art passed down in Taoist folklore, a skill of the Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin.
"Treasure?"
Her transparent gaze, cast from the sky where she had performed the miracle of Sword Flight, met Chivalrous Slayer's, but he met her eyes calmly, unshaken.
As if he had already faced supreme masters such as Fist Grand Duke, Radiant Demon Squad's leader, and Eternal Heaven Sword Demon.
"Yes. The object to be disposed of by Radiant Demon Squad's leader, who put an end to First Fist of the Eun Clan. There are no eccentric individuals here who had deep personal ties with her, after all."
His hand, adjusting the black silk covering his mouth, moved with a somewhat nonchalant air.
As if he were pondering the relationship between Radiant Demon Squad's leader of Desolate Fortress and the Sword Sovereign of the Profound Martial Alliance. His natural disposition was both refined and enigmatic.
"Who are you?"
Eternal Heaven Sword Demon, Baek Seo-gun, asked him. She did not inquire about the treasure.
The moment she cast her gaze downward, a strange breeze arose, chilling the robes of the high-ranking warriors encircling them.
The presence of internal energy emanating from her jet-black pupils was immense.
Chivalrous Slayer glanced at a small pebble near his feet for only a moment, but it was enough for him to grasp the situation.
The high-ranking warriors and the commoners reacted in their own ways. Sword Flight—confronted with a sight almost impossible to believe, the murmuring crowd grew larger.
"The Sword Demon of Henan... what business does she have in Shaanxi?"
"That was a real technique? I thought it was nothing more than a rumor..."
"A celestial being, no, a divine general has descended...!"
Among them, only the Chivalrous Slayer, standing tall with his black bamboo hat slightly tilted back, remained unfazed.
"Forgive me for not revealing my real name. I have ties of enmity with sinister forces... Regardless, in Shaanxi, I am excessively known as the Chivalrous Slayer."
Swish.
Chivalrous Slayer let out a chuckle and raised his hands in an exaggerated martial salute.
As his jet-black sleeves slipped slightly, the sharply defined muscles of his forearm became visible, an arm trained to the extremes in Swift Sword.
Baek Seo-gun, looking down at him with a detached gaze, remained impassive.
"I do not know you."
"Of course. Compared to the Sword Sovereign who has made their name known throughout the vast lands of this country, I am nothing but a lowly assassin. My name is only somewhat known due to my affiliation with a rather disreputable sect, the Grand Moon Slaughter Sect."
"Grand Moon Slaughter Sect...?"
Repeating the name of his sect, a flicker of recognition passed across Baek Seo-gun's face.
At the same moment, the radiant light of her Sight Arts glimmered for an instant.
The Chivalrous Slayer, about to lower his hand, hesitated, but she paid him no mind and spoke again.
"I can guess where your roots lie. You managed to survive... However, that is of no concern to me."
Swish.
The moment Baek Seo-gun reached out her hand, a faint glow rose from beneath the Chivalrous Slayer's feet and was drawn toward her. It was the lingering energy of the treasure.
Rather than an absorption technique, she had retrieved it using the mysteries of Sword Flight.
Though there was almost no fluctuation in internal energy, the high-ranking warriors around them wore expressions of unease.
The pebble that had been at Chivalrous Slayer's feet was now wrapped within the long, ash-gray sleeves of her robe, drawn toward her without touching her skin.
Anyone could see that she was concerned about its whereabouts.
"Sword Sovereign of the Profound Martial Alliance! The noble families of this land were about to mediate!"
"Would you not consider descending for a moment?"
The noble families of Shaanxi, encircling the Chivalrous Slayer, each spoke with deliberate dignity.
Their restrained yet honed presences were like sharpened blades, yet not one of them dared to step forward.
It was not just a matter of whether they could subdue the Eternal Heaven Sword Demon by force. The military strength of the Profound Martial Alliance, standing behind her, was the real issue.
They were the largest sect in numbers after the Blood Flame Cult.
Unlike ordinary bloodthirsty cultists, their ranks were filled with elite martial artists.
Moreover, the current leader of the Profound Martial Alliance was openly referred to as the Martial King and Martial Emperor.
One of the Thirteen Celestial Demons, an absolute force. Even though the imperial family and Desolate Fortress watched, the words "king" and "emperor" flowed through Jianghu.
And now, the second-in-command of the Profound Martial Alliance floated above their heads. No one could help but hesitate.
Even as Baek Seo-gun turned her gaze toward the distant mountains, the voices of the noble families of Shaanxi grew quieter on their own.
"Sword Sovereign, you cannot resolve Jianghu conflicts in such a manner."
"This is a formal duel we painstakingly arranged...!"
Heh.
The black silk covering the Chivalrous Slayer's face from his nose to his chin quivered slightly.
"They are definitely using the Sword of the Heart. If they wished, they could kill someone out of sheer embarrassment."
His voice carried laughter. He did not bother lowering his tone, letting it carry far.
Yet, the noble families did not act rashly. The terrifying clash between the First Fist of the Eun Clan and Radiant Demon Squad's leader had already shown them the overwhelming might of the true masters.
The audience in the arena looked up at Eternal Heaven Sword Demon, Baek Seo-gun, as if awaiting the judgment of the King of the Underworld.
"..."
But she seemed to have completely forgotten about the events unfolding below.
She simply stared blankly in the direction where Radiant Demon Squad's leader had vanished, her feet shifting slightly atop the sword.
Baek Seo-gun had descended like an immortal, yet now she hesitated to go further.
'Lightning Genius, Jung Yeonshin.'
A boy who had once unraveled the mysteries of the board game taught by Jung Clan's leader through the sword. His posture, lifting the sword of Origin Ability overhead, still remained vividly in her mind.
A consolation that had recently come to her with striking intensity.
For so long, her status had prevented her from feeling even the wealth and honor right before her.
When the profound truth of Jung Ban-ak's teachings arrived in the form of a transcendent sword technique, she had reassured herself that the disputes of the Jung Clan were not so trivial after all.
Even after she had come to be called the Sword Sovereign, the deep-seated inferiority within her had been severed, by none other than Radiant Demon Squad's leader.
—I didn't realize it when I left, but now that I see you again, I feel something strange. You remind me of Ban-ak.
—Had I not made a great decision, I might have wandered Xinye County with you, holding your hand. But it's fine. You have received the love I could not give you. You look healthy... I'm even curious how you were raised.
—You grew up upright. I am relieved your clan did its duty before disappearing.
Words spoken in the past.
'Ah...'
The bold words spoken throughout her life now formed iron bars around her.
The cold sensation burrowed into her core, fracturing the dignity of the Sword Sovereign, revealing a part of what had once been her foundation.
Until she was twenty, she had served Jung Ban-ak.
It was something that had replayed in her mind dozens of times. She needed to sever it.
Clench.
Baek Seo-gun pressed down firmly on the blade beneath her feet, then slowly shook her head alone.
She had to face it now. To establish the Sword Sovereign, Baek Seo-gun, within herself completely.
Woooom.
The pure white divine sword beneath her feet trembled and soared into the sky.
"Hey! Wait! Wait!"
"Even if you are the Sword Sovereign of the Profound Martial Alliance, you cannot treat us like this!"
"Consider how much grain flows from Shaanxi to Henan! Do you think there is another place capable of supplying this amount during a famine?!"
The noble families' small outcries never reached her ears. The speed of Sword Flight was beyond comparison to even the most refined lightness techniques that touched the ground.
Without so much as glancing downward, she ascended high into the vast sky, becoming rapidly distant amidst the humming wind.
"Damn it!"
"Does she think she alone stands at the peak of the world?!"
The noble families, dressed in luxurious silk robes, spat out curses.
Some adjusted their belts or tightened the straps of their leather shoes, ready to give chase at a moment's notice.
"You gentlemen have mastered the subtlety of the Sword of the Heart. Truly, you have reached a level worthy of admiration. I deeply respect you."
A voice rang out, exaggeratedly polite.
It was the Chivalrous Slayer.
At some point, he had silently stepped onto the ruined edge of the dueling stage, briefly glancing toward Heon Wonchang in the distance.
Even as his body twisted from the overwhelming force of his Protective Energy Technique, he winked at Heon Wonchang's group.
Whoosh!
Like a mirage, the Chivalrous Slayer vanished into the distance.
Shin So-bin, standing beside Heon Wonchang, blinked once, and he was already gone.
* * *
A hazy white radiance carved a long, straight line across the sky.
Screeeeech—!
At that moment, the Radiant Demon Squad's leader was racing forward. The air, shredded behind him, roared with relentless noise.
He passed over marshes and lakes without pause, tearing through them as if they did not exist.
Ten Li Radiance Step incorporated the principles of Grass Flutter and Art of Water-Stepping at its core, originally inspired by the swift movements of the feline races.
It was the lightness technique that shaped Jung Yeonshin into an unassailable warrior.
Boom!
The sheer resistance tightened against his skin, but Jung Yeonshin kept his eyes wide open.
While scanning his surroundings with his senses, he meticulously observed the landscape ahead.
'This is definitely the right direction.'
He was following the faint traces left by the powerful energy waves of the Divine Sword Order's vice-leader and the Blood Preservation Squad's leader.
Their profound internal energy had left lingering remnants.
As he relentlessly pursued those traces and occasionally activated the Heaven-Piercing Technique, Jung Yeonshin refined his tracking method into his own unique form.
At this moment, he felt no envy toward Jang Sun-il, the young herbalist who had received the Comprehensive Overview of Demonic Factions' Annihilation and mastered its pursuit techniques.
Jung Yeonshin's tracking was flawless.
'But…'
The trail had suddenly broken. Then, as if a line had been reattached elsewhere, its intangible echoes had shifted far beyond the snowy hills and thick forests.
This was the third time.
It meant that both seniors were in a space that was intermittently severed from the world.
And they kept moving.
Unless they had somehow used a mythical teleportation technique attributed to the Immortals, no ordinary martial artists should have been capable of causing such a phenomenon.
It was the trace of an enigmatic miracle. They had collided with the leader of the Zhuge Clan.
Whoosh!
As Jung Yeonshin once again kicked off the ground, his gaze sharpened.
The battle trail was far too long. At the very least, it was a deadlock.
"Ah…"
Suddenly, a chill crawled over his heart.
The rotation of his Radiant Wheel halted on its own. A faint, vacant sound escaped his lips.
Just imagining the possibility of another loss did that to him.
Could Ak Surim and Jin Myungjo be dead?
'No. That can't be.'
Boom!
A surge of internal energy erupted beneath his feet.
The surrounding foliage flattened in every direction, and leaves, shattered by the force of his lightness technique, shot upward in the violent wind.
"Lightning Genius? It's Lightning Genius!"
A young girl's voice rapidly grew louder from high above.
At the same time, Jung Yeonshin's head jerked up, his eyes widening.
Flap!
A black robe billowed fiercely in the wind.
From the jagged ends of short black hair, a tremendous, spiraling energy distorted the air behind her, she had leapt from a great height.
"I need some meat and blood! No need to rush, just check your surroundings carefully!"
Ak Surim shouted from high above.
She was barely managing to balance a pitch-black figure over her narrow shoulders.
* * *
Crunch.
Dry mountain grass of an unknown name crumbled beneath black leather shoes.
Jung Yeonshin surveyed his surroundings.
He had been dashing in all directions but found no signs of life, so he had finally descended.
With Jin Myungjo's condition being critical, reaching a town or village was not an option. Instead, he focused on sensing the depths of the ground.
He had not even been able to hear the full story yet. All he knew was that escaping from the Zhuge Clan's leader's territory had taken priority.
Ak Surim immediately sat cross-legged and began regulating her internal energy.
She was an extreme grandmaster who had transcended Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and now pursued Five Energies Returning to Origin.
Her mastery of internal energy control meant she required no protection.
'Wild animals…'
It was a winter of famine. The mountain beasts were said to be disappearing.
Even wild boars had grown rare. They evaded even the perceptive senses of renowned masters.
That was why banditry flourished, and why strength commanded great value.
Hoo—
A white breath slipped from Jung Yeonshin's lips. It had already been two hours.
A supreme master in black had failed to hunt. It was unbelievable. Perhaps he lacked experience.
For the first time, he truly felt the severity of the famine.
'Senior Jin needs the vital energy in fresh blood…'
As Jung Yeonshin bit his lower lip lightly, something massive appeared in his peripheral vision, accompanied by a faintly metallic scent.
A great figure floated in the air from a distance, gliding toward them.
As if someone had spread the Protective Energy Technique of Grand Void Art with extreme precision.
It was a dead wild boar.
"…?"
It hesitated, as though unsure of its actions, before finally dropping with a heavy thud.
The massive beast tumbled to Jung Yeonshin's feet, exuding an ominous presence.
Someone had offered them food. But this was an era of chaos. Anyone wielding a sword would never accept it so easily.
Even if it came from someone who had just given them immense aid.
"What is this? Acting like some wildcat."
The eyes of the Radiant Demon Squad's leader sharpened.
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