A tremor shook the earth as sothing rapidly approached. The presence was reminiscent of a martial army, though it was impossible to estimate the number of individuals. It was a swarm, moving as one.
The smile on Tae Yeom-ryong’s face deepened.
He felt a great presence.
It wasn’t the sensation of an absolute master, but it was coming with an overwhelming pressure, embedding itself deep into the Northern lands.
He had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° a guess.
“Seventeen from the Divine Sword Sect.”
To think Ipwang Fortress would greet such a force. Tae Yeom-ryong, born into the Hwangbo family as their first son, never imagined such a day would co.
This too was part of the amusent he gained from the imperial title he wore. Life had always been this fascinating.
Though, the Divine Sword Sect was still far off.
At his feet, his focus barely registered a ripple of their presence. Even if their overall power exceeded that of the most legendary figures, they couldn’t possibly arrive as quickly.
Because at this mont, the closest thing to him was sothing else entirely.
He was now facing the Northern Emperor—his form hunched slightly forward, eyes locking with his from a disturbingly close distance.
“Why are your eyes like that?”
A chill ran down Tae Yeom-ryong’s spine. Those eyes, black as night, were staring straight through him—like a bottomless pit or an abyss. The feeling was unmistakable.
Tae Yeom-ryong smiled faintly and spoke.
“Could you move your face?”
The Southern Emperor responded calmly.
“Is it enjoyable?”
“No, honestly, it’s terrifying. You’re disgustingly tall.”
At the sa ti, Tae Yeom-ryong shifted a step sideways.
He moved to an angle where an ambush would be more difficult to land. The Southern Emperor’s Heavenly Armor of Thunder was closing in like a swirling black mist, yet Tae Yeom-ryong moved with precision.
Hmm...?
But the Southern Emperor’s face remained unchanged. The angle of their gazes and the posture of his hunched body—all the sa. Even though Tae Yeom-ryong had moved a step to the side...
The Southern Emperor, like a ghost, had mirrored the exact movent.
A figure of an unimaginable level, with a perfect defense. Despite being an absolute master, he never allowed a single opening. Tae Yeom-ryong felt a rare shiver run through him.
Such a sensation was only the fourth ti in his life.
The first three were from Ipwang Fortress Lord, the Divine Sword Sect Leader Yong Hui-myeong, and Jeong Yeon-shin’s grandfather. Each had stirred a lightning-like tremor along his spine in different ways.
It was the kind of sensation that left one powerless.
"....."
The silence thickened in the frosted earth beneath their feet.
Only the occasional low sounds of the surroundings, like the faint crackling of ice, broke the stillness.
“Think it over.”
The Southern Emperor’s voice was low.
Once again, he was forcing a betrayal onto the traitor.
To leave the Hwangbo family, abandon Ipwang Fortress, and sever ties with the Ice Palace Lord, asking him to co over to him instead.
In exchange, he offered a new life.
The damned Sun God’s vein, to be fixed. Tae Yeom-ryong had felt his remaining life was limited to a few months, and the Southern Emperor spoke to him now.
“I know how you stave off pain and prolong your life.”
“Hmm?”
“The cold energy from the Ice Lord’s domain—the Han Bing Qi—must suit you well. It probably alleviates your pain using the harmonization of Yin and Yang.”
“Truly a ghost. You know everything.”
Tae Yeom-ryong responded lightly. He had intended to buy ti, but the Southern Emperor’s words slowly took away his calm.
“I’ll help you attain the martial arts mastery your wife possesses. The Northern Ice Lord’s lower Dantian holds the perfected Bingjing (Ice Essence). If you follow the path of the God of War’s inner power, you can transform your body.”
This was the offer to take the crystallized Han Bing Qi from his wife’s Dantian—a true embodint of the Ice Essence.
It was said that in the body of a lifelong ascetic monk, after nurous ditative trials, the essence of Han Bing would form in their Dantian, much like a saint’s relic.
But the Dantian of an absolute master held an energy far beyond anything, surpassing even the legendary Thunder Strike. Extracting it was like taking the life of the Ice Lord herself.
Tae Yeom-ryong tilted his head slightly.
“You’re saying you’ll kill my wife...? Was your goal to provoke , not to persuade ?”
“My cause in this land is clear. For a traitor like you, the greatest ambition lies in self-preservation. Think rationally. This is your final chance.”
“Hey! You there! Retreat! You may find your wife, but this fight is beyond you.”
Tae Yeom-ryong turned back to the soldiers of the Ice Palace who had been caught in his earlier skirmish. He raised his head once more.
The Southern Emperor stood like a massive stone statue, looking down on him, unmoving. Perhaps he deed the rest unimportant. Nothing about his deanor resembled a human—his conduct and temperant were utterly inhuman.
“...Well, I’m not sure. Your thinking’s so filthy, it’s hard to make a decision so quickly...”
As Tae Yeom-ryong deliberately drew out his words, he felt a presence above him.
The Southern Emperor’s hand sliced downward like dark lightning, without a word.
In that instant, Tae Yeom-ryong instinctively knew it was a blow that could not be avoided.
It wasn’t a technique—it was fate itself.
Like the darkness of midnight descending upon him, it was inevitable. There was no thought of using his protective energy or defense.
It was the output of a Natural Body—the realm he had once felt when brushing against his wife’s energy.
“A so-called absolute master, yet he uses his full power every ti?”
Both he and the Northern Emperor were like wild beasts.
At that mont, his Dantian flared with intense heat like lava, overriding all other sensations. The fiery energy that surged through his mind had reached its peak, stoking his internal fire.
Whoosh—
The Southern Emperor’s hand slowed as if caught in thick ti, his movents dragging through the air.
A minuscule difference, but enough that Tae Yeom-ryong could twist his shoulder just enough to make room.
When the body is pushed to the extre, ti feels as though it slows down.
The absolute realm—Six Tis Like Three Autumns.
It was a technique he had realized after weeks of ditation upon hearing rumors of Jeong Yeon-shin’s death at the hands of the Southern Emperor and the Lord of the Celestial Tree.
The Southern Emperor’s hand grazed Tae Yeom-ryong’s shoulder in slow motion, piercing through the blackened sky.
Boom!
The protective energy and flesh, the shoulder and bones shattered in an instant.
Had he simply relied on his energy and rushed forward, his head would have exploded.
But Tae Yeom-ryong managed to step back ten paces, blood spilling from his left arm. The pain was unbearable, but still, it wasn’t as bad as the constant burning pain he endured daily.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
The Southern Emperor spoke again.
“That sensation.”
“What now?”
“The land I will rule is vast beyond comprehension. Such a trait is indispensable.”
“Are you discussing filial piety to soone like ?”
There was no answer. In that mont, the Southern Emperor’s gaze rested on Tae Yeom-ryong, but it seed as if he was looking far beyond him, at sothing else entirely.
For a brief mont, words crossed Tae Yeom-ryong’s mind.
The world. The Emperor.
His opponent seed less like a martial artist and more like a powerful, godlike figure. A ruler of a kingdom, a man who could not be defined as just another person.
The scale is entirely different, and yet... he’s the leader of the enemy forces...
Tae Yeom-ryong relished the feeling of death hovering close. Then, in a soft voice, he spoke.
“...It seems like two of your Six Star Lords retreated. I know for sure they used the ‘Guangming Pill.’ They must be quite drained by now... If I were you, I’d be praying they don’t encounter an equally matched adversary.”
He thought of it as his final words.
But by now, the Southern Emperor’s focus had completely shifted away from him.
The Northern Emperor was now spreading a wave of energy, constructing a formation with the remains of the fallen enemies.
Thud, thud—
The sound of bodies rolling.
Nothing more was needed. It was the ritual that would make the Northern Emperor stronger.
The Southern Emperor, seemingly satisfied, was rely waiting for Tae Yeom-ryong’s response before continuing.
“Cheeeek!”
Tae Yeom-ryong quickly pressed his shoulder to staunch the bleeding, preferring to use his energy for healing than to drain it fighting back.
“I’m as good as dead anyway. Those freshly made bloodied sons of bitches would stop the bleeding using acupressure.”
The battle against Tae Yeom-ryong had long passed, and now the Mun Gok army began to set up their formation of defense.
They had created a massive circle of human-horse barriers. Perhaps it was the fact that they fed on the innate energy of the corpses instead of the usual fodder, but the battle horses of the Northern martial army had grown monstrous in size, so large that the outside world was obscured from view.
On the other hand, the forces of the Ice Palace had disappeared without a trace, as if it were so kind of trick. They had gone to search for Tae Yeom-ryong’s wife.
For them, the Ice Lord’s presence, which had been absent for a long ti, held more importance than anything else.
Even the Northern King, renowned as one of the Six Star Lords, was among the enemy forces. The man was calmly observing the battlefield from atop the largest battle horse. Beneath his imnse hat, the air around him distorted as though it were bending to his will.
Another one of those monstrous figures.
[The reinforcents from Whirling Wind Hollow are arriving. At this rate, they will arrive before the Southern forces. Lastly, as you know, there’s one more coming from the direction of Haebing Mountain...]
"Wait a mont."
Jeong Yeon-shin interrupted the Northern King’s words.
In that instant, from among the fragnts of bodies scattered all around, a book was sucked into Jeong Yeon-shin's hand.
A torn pile of paper, much like the corpses on the battlefield.
“Legal treasure...?”
The paper was torn in half, as if it had been shredded. There was a fragnt of spiritual essence that could not be restored by anything. It must have been naturally mixed into the chaotic battlefield.
Due to the powerful vibrations of the energy waves and the booming sounds of the weapons and the bloodbath of the bodies, it had gone unnoticed until now.
Tae Yeom-ryong imdiately felt an odd impulse as soon as he saw it. A strong sense of needing to take it. The instinct of his core.
He took a subtle step forward, and imdiately all eyes were drawn to him.
The gazes of Jeong Yeon-shin and the Northern King were upon him, and just the weight of their stares made his head feel like it was being squeezed. The steep cliffs of the North seed to be crashing down upon him.
“...”
Tae Yeom-ryong, whose shoulder had been torn and left mangled, seed to be told that he was far from being able to handle it yet.
Soon, Jeong Yeon-shin turned his head toward the book again.
“I need to find the other half.”
[It’s with .]
A voice from far away rang out in the Six Harmony Territory.
It wasn’t the Northern King’s voice. It was, rather, a voice that sounded familiar to the ears of the Queen of the Divine Sword Sect, one that had been heard before.
In an instant, Tae Yeom-ryong’s vision shifted as he snapped his head toward the source of the sound. He saw a strange sight. The black mist enveloping Jeong Yeon-shin’s lips fluttered slightly, and it was clear that he was smiling.
The reason for unfolding his formation and sparing Tae Yeom-ryong seed to have been for this mont.
‘That bastard?’
Had he laid a trap?
In the blink of an eye, without looking back, Tae Yeom-ryong slamd his eyes shut.
Hwooo!
The Northern King’s montum, which had been still, suddenly grabbed him from the air. It was an absurd phenonon.
Not only had the Northern King blocked the speed of the Heavenly Sword’s movent with his energy waves, but he had also sealed the territory of the Queen of the Divine Sword Sect by his presence alone.
[You are not numbered.]
The monster of the North spoke.
Boommm!
At that very mont, Jeong Yeon-shin was crossing the vast plains like a beam of light.
Truly, his body wrapped in a faint halo. From over his shoulder, the warriors of the Ipwang Fortress were chasing after him.
The white wave was drawing closer to those who bore the golden marks on their shoulders, including the leader of the Divine Sword Sect.
In an instant.
Jeong Yeon-shin pierced the cavalry barrier of the Mun Gok army and appeared in front of them. The five pairs of warriors aligned in his direct path stumbled and exploded violently as they fell off their horses.
“...!”
With that, he extended his sword’s force toward the Northern King.
The sword reached out with a terrifying power, creating a swirling gust of snow that ford around the blade, and with the darkness of that shadow, both Jeong Yeon-shin and the Northern King faded into it.
[The Southern Emperor is capable of.]
Jeong Yeon-shin’s words fell onto the plains.
Kiiiiiing!
The sound of energy breaking and the crackling of swords being shattered filled the air. The powerful energy gathered in the sword broke apart with an explosion of ice shards.
Everything seed to lt away in the cold air.
The Northern King had created an absolute domain, an impenetrable zone.
The situation was clear. It was a space where no energy could be allowed to reach, a profound depth like the abyss. The mont it happened, Tae Yeom-ryong realized that Jeong Yeon-shin was already drained.
He stepped back slightly.
Jeong Yeon-shin naturally withdrew his sword and stood face to face with the two monstrous figures, the Northern King and Jeong Yeon-shin.
He was hit by the sudden burst of cold power.
Such battles between exceptional masters were filled with intricate maneuvering. Jeong Yeon-shin’s perception and mind were nothing short of transcendent.
“...”
Blood began to drip slowly from the edge of Jeong Yeon-shin’s purple robe.
At this point, his body lacked even a small amount of energy, but the presence of the Northern King, the leader of the Divine Sword Sect, was steadily encompassing the entire battlefield.
Jeong Yeon-shin had beco such a figure.
Even when no answers could be found in the situation, his presence alone sustained the battlefield. Tae Yeom-ryong, having raised a small smirk, muttered.
“Why are you here? I was just about to betray you.”
“You fool.”
Jeong Yeon-shin could no longer speak his Six Harmony Territory words. However, his voice was clear and crisp.
The Northern King looked at him silently and said.
“At one point, I considered you my grandfather.”
Instead of answering, Jeong Yeon-shin quietly asked.
“Did you kill the Lord of the Divine Sword Sect?”
“Seomye Jeong Yeon-shin. I’m glad to have t you as Yuan Yeong-shin. The Lord of Ipwang Fortress... I almost made an useless strategy based on the rusted sword of the Divine Blade.”
“You must have wrapped yourself up in bandages. Did you intervene? Where is the body?”
“Seomye.”
As they exchanged words, Jeong Yeon-shin interrupted the conversation and slowly asked.
“Did you kill Shin Tu?”
For a mont, Jeong Yeon-shin paused, then answered.
“I killed him with my own hands.”
[Hahaha!]
The Northern King laughed from the side.
The cold wind blowing from the North seed to be a welcod sign. Tae Yeom-ryong inwardly cursed him as a madman.
“...I see.”
Jeong Yeon-shin nodded.
“The subordinates you had are indeed dead. I crushed their heads, leaving no spiritual essence.”
“...”
“The world’s Shin Tu and the Divine Sword Sect’s Lord of Ipwang Fortress... The balance is off. If we calculate the gains and losses, it would be a little more beneficial for us to kill you here. But before that, let ask.”
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly began to speak.
“What is your ultimate goal, and with what confidence did you step into my domain?”
Saaaaa—
The wind of the Northern King and the Southern Emperor brushed across Jeong Yeon-shin’s purple robes, pulling them taut. The robe of the Divine Sword Sect’s leader fluttered wildly in the wind. Like the turbulence of the martial world, never slowing down.
“I intend to build another Ipwang Fortress here.”
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke.
His eyes were as clear and dark as obsidian.
The youthful determination he had carried since childhood. A great ambition, pure and unshaken. His eyes, once filled with personal anger, were now unmoved by anything so trivial.
“I’ve seen the common people devoured by their own kin. The towers of corpses were accepted as a familiar sight. Now, I need to strike quickly at you Northern Kings and protect the people here by building a fortress.”
“Another fortress in this world?”
The Northern King’s voice showed so curiosity, but it wasn’t particularly interested. He spoke again.
“You must have heard of it from Whirling Wind Hollow. Your allies are gathering there. Your reinforcents will be neutralized by them.”
“...”
“I wonder how you plan to handle and the Northern King. You’ve killed Shin Tu, but we haven’t yet fought anyone. We are still prepared.”
The Northern King gave an order to Mun Gok’s forces. Kill the Lord of the Ice Palace.
At that mont.
Suddenly, Jeong Yeon-shin’s hand slowly reached into his chest. It was the gesture of the Divine Sword Sect’s leader, making an extrely important decision after deep contemplation.
His sleeve brushed over, and as the purple fabric rged with the other purple fabric, it turned a deep red.
Neither Jeong Yeon-shin nor the Northern King acted hastily.
They knew that in the hands of such a peerless master, they couldn’t predict what might co out. He was an unstoppable force, even in his calm.
The faint energy left in the air confird that Jeong Yeon-shin had run out of internal energy.
There was no reason to enter carelessly.
With a rustling sound—
As Jeong Yeon-shin’s long fingers reappeared, two yellowish pieces of paper were tucked between them.
The two strange yellowish papers created a shadow across the horizon like a couple of tall figures.
“Dealing with you.”
Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly.
“It is not my job.”
Along the sunset-filled horizon, two figures flitted by Jeong Yeon-shin, one on either side.
Before the Northern King’s monsters.
The dusk deepened.
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