After battling a martial artist renowned throughout the Jianghu, the aftermath was beyond imagination.
It was something he had to endure. After all, he had slain someone who once stood far above him.
At that time, every strike Jeong Yeon-shin had exchanged with the Zhuge Clan Leader’s Twin Divine Art sent shockwaves deep into his bones.
Even fragments of their internal energy carried the weight of a thousand catties. He couldn't even channel the force away using his advanced energy control. There had been no time for that.
The wound that ran through his shoulder was proof enough.
A true grandmaster’s strike wasn’t just physical—it went beyond external injuries.
Internal Burdening Technique.
The reverberations of their energy had seeped into his entire meridian system, tearing at his body from within.
Had it not been for True Flow Inner Art, even moving would have been impossible.
It made him realize the overwhelming level of Ak Su-rim, who had opposed the Zhuge Clan Leader while armed with counter-techniques.
Even his muscle recovery was sluggish.
It was said to be a side effect of the Twin Divine Art’s mystical abilities. Senior Jin of the Blood Restoration Sect had suffered from it before.
His meridians and pressure points had lost their elasticity. Just reaching Taewon had been an ordeal.
Meanwhile, the Radiant Wheel he had pushed to its limits now spun sluggishly, a far cry from its usual speed.
His stored energy had been drastically depleted. He needed time to recover.
He had no other options.
Especially now, with Gun Yu-rin—who he suspected to be the daughter of the Lord of the Shadow Martial Alliance—and her subordinate standing before him.
Uuung.
The chopsticks in his hand quivered slightly before slipping through his fingers. He had just tried aligning the spiritual resonance of his upper dantian with his Baihui acupoint.
It was an astonishing phenomenon.
Jeong Yeon-shin could feel the long texture of the chopsticks in his mind.
‘Is this how it works...?’
Images of chopsticks and a blade overlapped in his mind, the shape of his sword seeming to envelop the wooden sticks.
Yet, they never truly merged.
He knew instinctively that if they did, a force even greater than Ten Thousand Blossoms in Rain would be born.
He had a hunch about the reason.
Divine Dragon Transformation Art was a technique that heavily relied on the upper dantian.
He had first activated it when he slew the Zhuge Clan Leader, straining his Baihui acupoint to its limits. It hadn’t fully recovered yet.
That was fine.
Uuung.
One of the chopsticks floated in midair, drifting gently toward the fan pointed at his forehead.
The man wielding the crane-feathered fan was half a breath too slow in reacting.
While Gun Yu-rin’s eyes widened in surprise, her subordinate maintained eye contact with Jeong Yeon-shin as if demanding a response—only to flinch belatedly.
"What kind of sorcery is this?!"
"You sound like some stuck-up orthodox geezer! It’s not sorcery, you idiot!"
Even in urgency, their exchange sounded like a comedy skit.
Jeong Yeon-shin’s gaze sharpened.
The power imbued in the floating chopsticks was woefully insufficient.
It was nothing compared to when he had fully unleashed Ten Thousand Blossoms in Rain.
It was a testament to how much the battle with a grandmaster had drained him.
Should he forcefully use the Fist Technique Concept he had developed after observing Cloud Lotus Refinement?
It would be a gruesome sight for the young tavern server watching.
But before he could decide—
"Wait!"
Gun Yu-rin suddenly grimaced, bringing both hands behind her back.
In the next moment, a massive, gray arc fell from her grasp—
A shadow of her saber’s blade.
Her unsheathing strike was terrifyingly fast, descending in a jagged curve like a fading crescent moon.
Saaaak—!
"Gaaahhh!"
Blood sprayed into the air.
Her subordinate’s arm, still clutching the crane-feathered fan, was severed at the shoulder.
With a dull thud, the severed limb hit the floor, streaks of blood painting the once-white fan in crimson.
The brutal scene had unfolded in an instant.
Fwoosh!
Gun Yu-rin, who had leapt to her feet in the same motion, casually shook her saber to rid it of excess blood.
Scarlet droplets spattered onto the wooden floor, soaking into the grain in macabre patterns.
Her subordinate, who had been gasping for air, had an expression worth noting.
For a fleeting moment, he had been too stunned to process what had happened.
Then, realization dawned, and he quickly suppressed his groans, regaining focus.
It had all happened in less than three breaths.
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The silence in the tavern thickened.
"If you can’t judge people properly—"
Gun Yu-rin scratched the back of her head before continuing.
"—then, of course, you deserve to die. But since I didn’t go all the way, just consider this as losing an arm."
"You didn’t go all the way?"
"Well, I suppose I can’t really argue that... But think about it—he just lost his main combat ability at the hands of his own master. Isn’t that even more humiliating? He didn’t even lose it fighting an enemy."
Gun Yu-rin smirked.
"And let’s be real—we’re an unorthodox sect. If you think about honor and pride, the so-called demonic sects care about that stuff even more than orthodox clans do. You know that, right?"
A rapid stream of words spilled from her mouth, casual yet laced with insight.
Tap. Tap.
She kept kicking her subordinate in the shin.
Was she trying to save his life somehow? The way she kept glancing at Jeong Yeon-shin for cues made her seem more human than the Zhuge Clan Leader had been.
Her subordinate, whose name was Jeon Baek, seemed to take every word from Gun Yu-rin as a mortal blow. His brow twitched, but he quickly wiped his expression clean and threw himself forward in a deep bow.
His trembling shoulders barely hovered above the ground, convulsing as blood poured from his wound, soaking into the wooden floor.
And yet, his posture remained unnervingly disciplined.
“This Jeon Baek failed to recognize a great master! I humbly beg for your forgiveness, with the wisdom that the benevolent are invincible!”
He looked utterly pitiful, all his arrogance wiped away.
Jeong Yeon-shin remained silent for a moment.
Gun Yu-rin... Is she really the child of the Lord of the Shadow Martial Alliance?
They were strange people. It was as if he were seeing the true face of the Demonic Outsiders.
If her lineage was real, she was a rare figure in Jianghu. Yet her judgment was razor-sharp, as if she had the makings of a warlord who could lead through times of chaos.
He finally spoke.
“Get lost.”
“A refined yet upright fellow. So merciful with your blade.”
Gun Yu-rin snapped her fingers.
Twng—
A sharp gust of wind whistled through the air and struck Jeon Baek’s shoulder.
With a dull impact, the bleeding suddenly ceased. A masterful application of internal energy to cauterize the wound.
Gun Yu-rin glanced briefly at her staggering subordinate before settling back into her seat across from Jeong Yeon-shin.
Resting both elbows on the table, she laced her fingers together. The rough fabric of her sleeves scraped against the wood, breaking the silence.
“Our nameless friend here carries the bearing of a great master. I even saw how the tavern boy ducked his head and ran off at your mere glance. You treat people solely as people. That humility is ingrained in you, which is why even after mastering Sword Assimilation, you remain unfazed. You are far from arrogance, yet keenly aware of those around you.”
A reading technique?
Jeong Yeon-shin was startled. She was disturbingly accurate.
“These eyes of mine, the Phoenix-Slaying Crimson Blade, don’t miss much. That’s why I have a proposition for you... but I’ll tread carefully.”
Fwoom.
As she whispered, a semi-spherical wave of energy expanded around them, sealing their surroundings with an aura barrier.
At the same time, the floating chopstick returned to Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand.
Gun Yu-rin watched the movement with fascination before speaking again.
“Someone like you couldn’t have remained unknown. You traveled a long way to get here, didn’t you?”
“Your insight is decent.”
He responded flatly, though inwardly, he was impressed by her assessment of his character.
He was a Black Cloak of Ip Hwang Fortress.
He couldn’t simply let a direct descendant of the Lord of the Shadow Martial Alliance walk away.
He had two options.
Either he ignored his battered body and captured Gun Yu-rin for interrogation, or he concealed his identity and used this opportunity to uncover the martial secrets of the Shadow Martial Alliance.
“I don’t make mistakes.”
Gun Yu-rin smirked at his acknowledgment, tilting her chin up ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) slightly.
She no longer looked like someone who had just severed a man’s arm. Her demeanor matched the nobility of her bloodline.
She was indeed a direct descendant of the Thirteen Heavens of the Unorthodox Path, earning her infamous title, The Phoenix-Slaying Crimson Blade.
“A powerful wanderer with no ties to Taewon. I’ve been looking for someone like you. But don’t worry—I wouldn’t propose anything dishonorable, something that would make those hypocrites in the orthodox sects ashamed of their own morality.”
“I like the way you talk. Speak.”
Jeong Yeon-shin replied indifferently.
His recent experiences with the Great Clans had only deepened his disgust toward the so-called righteous sects.
If he hadn’t met the true martial cultivators of the Nine Schools, the Murim Alliance Leader Hyeon So-baek, the Azure Qilin, or the Divine Dragon, he would have discarded the idea of righteousness altogether.
“Listen to this guy. All stiff and formal.”
Gun Yu-rin chuckled, her smile widening.
“Anyway, I don’t care why you’re here in Taewon. Whether you came for sightseeing or martial duels, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have nothing to lose here. Because I’m about to hit the Assassination Sect hard.”
“...What?”
“My damned father is arriving here soon. If I want to win the succession battle, I need to impress our esteemed Lord Father. And what better tribute than crushing the Assassination Sect, who once sided with the Mo-yong Clan? Honestly, I’d love to take my father’s head, just like he did to his own father. But I’m not strong enough yet. Not even close.”
Her muttering carried a wild, untamed energy.
A world apart from normalcy.
It was common knowledge that after the previous Lord of the Shadow Martial Alliance was slain by the Sword Saint, a bloody power struggle erupted within the alliance.
It was widely known that the current lord, Gun Wang-mu, had personally crushed his own father’s throat.
“Whether you seek to improve your martial skills or build your name, the Assassination Sect is a fine target. Right now, Sanseo has been wiped clean of martial talent—the Zhuge Clan Leader and the Lotus Manifestation swept through and left nothing behind. Hm? Now that I think about it, that Lotus Manifestation in Ip Hwang Fortress was young, like you. Though, I never heard rumors of him practicing Sword Assimilation...”
"I know that. More importantly, I heard that Salhyeop is considered a chivalrous warrior."
"He's the only one. The rest are nothing but Demonic Outsiders. As the leader of his faction, he's probably struggling against the elders. But, well... that guy, Salhyeop, he's something else."
"You know quite a lot."
"My sect is pretty amazing, you see. For some reason, the Imperial Court even exempts us from tribute payments. And the sect I’m leading right now? It’s just one of our many branches. We’re deploying a significant force to eradicate the Assassination Sect, and our people are already on the move."
The two of them continued their conversation, still keeping their true identities hidden.
With the terrified guests having fled after witnessing the severed arm twitching on the floor, only Gun Yu-rin, her retainer, and Jeong Yeon-shin remained on the second floor of the tavern.
Dust drifted quietly in the white sunlight.
"If you cooperate, I’ll make sure to reward you generously. Gold, silver, whatever you want—just name it. I even know an absolute beauty who wields the blade like no other. I’ve never had the guts to make a move, but... she’s my master."
"Do you have elixirs? Anything highly effective and unusual."
"Of course, I can get some!"
She didn’t claim to have them right now. Likely out of concern that they might be forcibly taken from her.
Despite her eccentric way of thinking, she was shrewd.
She also had the boldness and confidence to share confidential plans with a martial artist she had just met.
Their personalities meshed surprisingly well.
Her rough demeanor, sharp insight into people, and complete lack of hesitation made Jeong Yeon-shin feel oddly at ease.
Gun Yu-rin smirked.
"You’re injured badly, aren’t you? Your scent is different from my Jeon Baek’s blood."
Had she picked up on the scent of his wound?
The puncture wound in Jeong Yeon-shin’s shoulder still reopened from time to time.
Just earlier, when he had contemplated using Fist Arts, his deltoid muscle had reacted instinctively, tearing open the wound again.
Even with her strangely human qualities, she was still trouble.
He changed the subject.
"Do you know the way? To the Assassination Sect?"
The White Swallow hidden in his robes had guided him here, but now that he had arrived, he couldn't sense Tae Yeom-ryong's presence.
Nor could he detect the energy signatures of Hyeon Won-chang or Shin So-bin.
Damn, I shouldn’t have let them know about my condition.
He had been too open about his injuries, as he would have been with Cheongmyeong or Baek Mi-ryeo.
His subordinates, who should have been focusing on their own well-being, were now worrying about their leader’s safety instead.
It was fortunate that Tae Yeom-ryong was with them, at least.
But with the Shadow Martial Alliance targeting the Assassination Sect, there was no room for complacency.
"I only know the general locations of their branch hideouts. One of our spies got caught in the web my sect cast, and he spilled everything. If we clean up the branches one by one, we’ll find the main sect eventually. We’re going to wipe them all out."
Gun Yu-rin drove her massive sword into its sheath on her back with a firm thunk, flashing a fierce grin.
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly parted his lips.
He didn’t spare a single glance at the wounded subordinate still standing silently in pain.
"I accept your proposal."
***
For two days, they walked together, their footsteps rustling against the ground.
Tak. Tatak.
Three sets of footprints trailed along one side of the road.
A large bonfire flickered and danced in the night, its embers occasionally swallowed up by the falling snow.
Gun Yu-rin was a skilled hunter.
Despite having plenty of dried rations stored in her pack, she had gone out and caught all sorts of wild game.
All Jeong Yeon-shin had to do was gather firewood.
"That white sword of yours—it caught my eye from the start. Have you only trained in swordsmanship?"
"I also practice unarmed techniques."
"A master of Sword Assimilation who also practices martial arts?"
"Only the basics. The movements aren’t too complex."
"Such dazzling humility. You really don’t suit the Demonic Outsiders. You’re more fitting for the Righteous Factions or the proper orthodox schools. You’re on the right path, aren’t you?"
"Your insight technique is remarkably refined as well."
Jeong Yeon-shin replied casually, leaning against a tree trunk.
Martial encounters in Jianghu were like the wind—brief meetings before parting ways again.
He had tried not to get too involved, yet they had already shared a considerable amount of conversation.
Jeon Baek, now missing an arm, continued to act like a servant, glancing at Jeong Yeon-shin anxiously as he fanned the fire.
"Heh, Master Jeong, I think we’re running low on firewood... Of course, someone of your caliber must have mastered the supreme Immunity to Heat and Cold, but still, letting the frigid wind touch your noble skin doesn’t seem ideal."
"Do as you wish."
"I shall, then!"
Just as the one-armed scholar turned to leave—
Boom!
His body was suddenly knocked sideways, sent flying.
A powerful ripple of internal energy spread through the air like shattered petals.
At the same time, a loud, youthful voice rang out.
"Indeed, the sacred beasts of Shaolin are unparalleled in the world! Master, over here!"
"Amitabha."
Mount Hua and Songshan.
Fate and coincidence intertwined.
The scent of the treacherous mountain air had found them.