* * *
Kwaaaaaang—!
The observing noble families were completely overwhelmed.
From the moment the wandering swordsman Geom Un-bi revealed his identity, the atmosphere had been in turmoil. Those who were relatively weaker and more unstable had already fled far away.
There were very few martial artists in Jianghu who possessed the courage to face the Desolate Fortress' black rank.
At first, some pretended to remain calm, but as the match continued, they could no longer hide their shock.
The audience murmured.
"A draw… No, it's more than that. The warrior who earned the honorific title of 'Duke' with nothing but his formidable fists is being pushed back."
"To think that there was someone else like him in the world, besides the monstrous force of the Ming Cult…"
"I never believed it, not even after hearing the rumors."
"Leader Gongya! What is the meaning of this?"
"Are you truly allying yourself with the Imperial Sword? This is not a wise choice. The Desolate Fortress is powerful, but it lacks resources, and the Zhuge Clan's leader has claimed this entire region as his own… How do you plan to contend with his mystical martial arts?"
The gazes from the surrounding noble families were not kind. It was inevitable that the presence of a high-ranking official from the Desolate Fortress would stir unrest.
Among them, only Gongya Su, whose mouth was hanging open and eyes gleaming, and Gongya Jung, who was staring intently at the dueling stage with an expression of disbelief, reacted differently.
"I had a feeling he wasn't ordinary. No, if you just look at his face, he looks like he comes from a noble family, but how does it make sense that he grew up so harshly? If he's a blood relative of the infamous Ma Yeonjeok, then of course he'd be unfazed by anything! I even told you, I was close like brothers with Lightning Genius from the Desolate Fortress! Radiant Demon Squad's leader! Radiant Demon Squad's leader, I tell you!"
"Su, quiet."
With a deep look in her eyes, Gongya Jung grabbed her younger sibling's sleeve, calming him.
She could feel the surrounding gazes pressing in like iron bars.
Whether they were people she had been close with, renowned figures, or those who had dined at their family's banquets, all were staring blankly at the Gongya Clan.
The noble families of Shaanxi Province's Jianghu would no longer associate with the Gongya Clan.
It was the fate of those involved with the Desolate Fortress.
Unless one was from the Eight Great Clans or the Nine Great Sects, which held dominance over the region and commanded great respect, this was something they had to endure. Non-interference in governmental matters, the freedom of Jianghu martial artists…
'As long as the Zhuge Clan's leader is alive, it won't be easy for our main clan to remain intact.'
Gongya Jung suppressed her resentment. She recalled the decade-long martial arts instruction given by the Radiant Demon Squad's leader.
They had exchanged martial techniques. She wanted to think of him as a fellow martial artist rather than merely as a member of a noble family.
"Hm…"
The Gongya Clan's leader said nothing.
He simply gazed at the present Radiant Demon Squad's leader with a solemn expression.
Boom! Zzzzzzt! Kwaaaaaang!
The figures of the two fighters continuously blurred, as if they were unable to maintain distinct forms. They clashed and separated, generating deafening thunderous roars.
Each time, the waves of energy created fierce winds, tearing apart the canopy above them.
The shockwaves from their movements were tremendous.
It was like entangled lightning threads. This was no mere fight between humans.
"…It's not the time to be concerned about our home. Hasn't Shaanxi become a battleground between dragons and tigers?"
The Gongya Clan's leader muttered quietly.
Even if Shaanxi Province was smaller than Huguang or Yangyang, it was still a province.
Not merely a city built of bricks, but a vast region classified as a governmental territory.
It was expansive enough to rival some entire nations, yet the powerful noble families of Shaanxi were now caught in the tidal waves of the Desolate Fortress and the Eight Great Clans, chirping like frightened orioles.
There was no room to maneuver politically; things had already spiraled out of control. It was inevitable.
'What should I do about this…'
While they all activated their Sight Arts, struggling to track the two supreme martial artists' movements with their eyes—
The battle atop the dueling stage took a sudden turn.
Boom!
Eun Hwaryun's rising instep strike was deflected by Jung Yeonshin's knifehand.
Her left arm, left hanging, was now visibly close to being crippled. It was gruesome, her torn flesh revealing raw, red muscle. It was clear that she could no longer apply strength to it.
That was why she resorted to kicking techniques, immediately regaining her sense of balance.
She was said to be a master of Eun Clan's First Fist martial arts, a title signifying her expertise in bodily movements.
Ssshhk! Sssshhhk—Boom!
Her footwork was uncanny. She wielded her long legs like a sword.
There was barely any sound as she cut through the air, yet each time a sharp energy wave exploded, fresh wounds appeared on Jung Yeonshin's skin. The burning pain felt like fire.
Her martial arts were profound, befitting a warrior of the Eight Great Clans, the so-called heavens of secular Murim.
Jung Yeonshin continuously tracked her limb movements. His Sight Arts and Heaven-Piercing Technique were fully activated.
His eyes, gleaming with a blue radiance, moved rapidly in all directions, leaving afterimages.
'Next, right fist.'
Clang!
He struck upward at Eun Hwaryun's right hand.
The strain from her wrist to her shoulder was immense. The reverberations from multiple Radiant River strikes still lingered.
Her fists were not easy to handle. She had more stored energy than even Jung Yeonshin.
Yet, he was unfazed.
Each time their attacks clashed, an odd sensation deepened.
Thud!
He stepped down on her rising knee strike and slammed his hand into her temple.
Zzzzzzzt!
It felt as though lightning had struck his palm.
An overwhelming numbness coursed through his hand. Fragments of energy force scattered in all directions, the rebound of her body-strengthening technique generating a miniature storm.
'Again.'
Jung Yeonshin experienced the illusion of being struck on his own cheek.
Each clash was a form of communication. This was the function of the upper dantian's energy perception. Seeing the occasional flicker in Eun Hwaryun's eyes, it seemed she, too, had begun to realize this.
Perhaps it was due to the abandoned treasured artifact. Or perhaps, it was simply because both were supreme martial artists who utilized their upper dantian to its limits.
'Is this a stroke of fortune?'
He flipped backward, contemplating.
At the edge of his vision, he saw Eun Hwaryun rise, unleashing a fierce battle cry.
Her disheveled, jet-black short hair exuded an ethereal energy. She was undoubtedly a formidable warrior.
'So… I think I understand now.'
He had finally grasped how Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown was structured.
It was different from the perception ability of the Desolate Fortress' Lord, who seemed to gaze down from an unfathomable height.
Despite the burning pain in his fingers, shoulders, and waist from overusing Radiant River, the sensation barely registered.
He now had a vague understanding of how those absurdly fast monkeys operated their inner energy system.
It was different from before, when they seemed merely fast. If he were to undertake their 'closed-door training' himself, his understanding would evolve further.
'There's no time for that now, though.'
Once he grasped a sensation, he never let go of it.
Sssssng.
He drew the Beiming.
He could no longer afford to waste more Radiant River strikes. Nor could he expend energy executing Ultimate Thunder. He had to conserve strength for Zhuge Clan's leader.
Since his opponent showed no signs of retreating, he had no choice but to end it with Sword Thunder Flash Art.
Eun Hwaryun stood tall, gazing at him silently.
"..."
Neither spoke further.
As the transparent sunlight caressed the ruined dueling stage, the winter wind brushed against their skin, leaving it dry.
Suddenly, Eun Hwaryun's figure vanished.
Thud—!
There was no sign of accumulated footwork energy.
Without warning, she reappeared, stepping hard against the ground in front of Jung Yeonshin, her right fist enveloped in a colorless yet blazing energy wave, as if her form had fragmented mid-motion.
A single punch with the force to crush mountains. Truly befitting the First Fist of the Eun Clan, who made the Zhuge Clan's leader an untouchable force.
In the blink of an eye, the space between them wavered and distorted.
Jung Yeonshin's eyes glowed bright blue. He had never encountered a fist technique like this before.
The movements, extending in a straight line without conscious thought, appeared strangely intricate.
The profound mystery of Dull Sword, forcing the opponent into an inescapable position. The streaks of violent energy waves tore into the earth and shredded the air as if the battle could only end upon collision.
Hwaaaaak!
Simultaneously, the domain of transcendence unfolded.
Time between the two slowed. Each moment stretched into eternity, allowing them to feel even the sharp winter wind brushing against their cheeks in strands.
'Upper dantian.'
Eun Hwaryun recalled the contemptuous gaze of the Zhuge Clan's leader.
—What confidence made you reject my counter-techniques? This was inevitable in the end.
It was after she had been defeated by Lightning Genius in the Murim Alliance.
She had loved someone unworthy, and in the end, she made an honorable choice as a martial artist, thus betraying the one she truly loved.
She shifted her consciousness to her approaching foe.
A remarkably handsome young man, his eyes gleaming with a storm of blue lightning, an unrestrained force like a thunderbolt. He was worthy of delivering the final blow to the true inheritor of the Eun Clan's Divine Fist.
A mere instant.
From a distance—
Uuuuung—
A pebble, fallen before Shaanxi's noble families, shimmered faintly.
At the same time, the upper dantian's mental energy, aligned with lower dantian energy, radiated a white brilliance from Eun Hwaryun. For a fleeting moment, she felt sorrow.
But it was not her own.
It was the Radiant Demon Squad's leader's emotions. She could feel the direction of his sentiment. A vision of a young man, dead with a fan in his grasp, surfaced in her mind.
'So, that's how it was. You were the one who raged. Not the Zhuge Clan's leader, but you.'
Dim white light flared in succession.
From the treasured artifact, blooming forth with infinite power through Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, to the Radiant Demon Squad's leader, who was activating his Sight Arts, his upper dantian was glowing with an almost surreal radiance.
The profound energy clashed violently, linking like constellations.
Uuuuuung!
In Jung Yeonshin's mind, a flower bud bloomed. A lotus-like mental image, something yet to fully blossom.
Saaaak—
At that moment, his sword sliced through Eun Hwaryun's energy wave, reaching her side.
Between their upper dantians, Radiant Demon Squad's leader's was overwhelmingly stronger.
He could comprehend the raging energy storm, entangled to the extreme, as if it were his own.
The myriad sword paths rising in his mental landscape finally converged into a single line, completing the final calculation.
Beiming, tracing a pale arc like ghostly fire.
Sword Thunder Flash Art, Radiant Sword Like Phosphorescence.
Uuuung.
A pure white trajectory was engraved in midair.
The gleaming energy force emanating from the blade resembled a sunlit river.
It was as if the River of Three-Crossings, guiding souls to the afterlife, was flowing toward her. The shattered remnants of her energy force scattered like flower petals refracting light.
Puaaak—!
Eun Hwaryun's abdomen was slashed diagonally.
It was deep. Her internal organs were completely severed.
Her once-powerful energy wave faded before it could fully extend.
The two stood there, staring at each other in silence. Eun Hwaryun was the first to speak.
"…Did you feel it?"
"Yes."
"I have discovered the secret of your talent… Such an extraordinary gift, far beyond what I imagined."
"Thank you. I sensed something I never expected."
Jung Yeonshin spoke slowly. Eun Hwaryun's chin lifted slightly.
"Good. Very good. Your senses will remember me, won't they?"
"Yes."
"There is a secret manual in my possession, the Eun Clan's Fist Scripture. If you pass through Jinju, could I entrust it to my family?"
"If I don't die first."
His response was brief.
Eun Hwaryun laughed soundlessly.
"At the very end, I was… right."
Her blood-stained lips curled into a faint smile.
"If I had remained by Sleeping Dragon's side, I would have faded into obscurity. Just another forgotten figure, buried in the distant memories of a heartless lover. That… that would have been such a meaningless death."
Her murmurs were weak, blurred by the blood pooling in her throat. If that was the case, she would escape through the martial arts she had devoted her entire life to.
Eun Hwaryun's staggering steps suddenly steadied, her foot pressing firmly into the ground.
Thud.
The colorless energy wave flowing from her calves down to the earth coiled tightly. At the same time, the tendons across her body began to blur.
Her final footwork technique.
Her supreme sense of balance declared, even in death, the great noble of the Eight Great Clans would not lose its dignity.
Thus, she stood unwavering. Her presence was overwhelming. She was, in every sense, a perfect martial artist.
Huu…
With her gaze locked onto the Radiant Demon Squad's leader, she released her final breath.
A representative martial artist of the Eight Great Clans, celebrated across the nation, she shone with unwavering light even in death.
Jung Yeonshin did not avert his gaze.
And then, Eun Hwaryun's final breath faded away.
The internal energy of a supreme master no longer flowed. Only her blood-drenched fists remained, hanging diagonally at her waist.
Her lips, still faintly curved, hardened into permanence.
As she stepped onto the River of Three-Crossings, she looked toward the one person she believed would be most proud of her.
Through a hazy, time-reversed vision, she saw a young and handsome scholar of the Zhuge Clan, smiling warmly with the Four Books and Five Classics in his arms.
"..."
Silence enveloped the dueling stage.
The personal affairs of the supreme masters of the Eight Great Clans were both top-secret and of immense interest. Since the entire world knew their names, even their smallest actions drew attention.
The First Fist of the Eun Clan, Eun Hwaryun.
She passed away at the age of forty-three.
"Farewell."
The Desolate Fortress' Radiant Demon Squad's leader accepted the final words of the First Fist of the Eun Clan.
Standing before a life woven of conflict and martial arts, Jung Yeonshin imprinted her decision into his memory.
It was something he would have to remember for a long time.
How should a martial artist die to leave behind fewer regrets?
Jung Yeonshin began walking slowly.
He paid no mind to the silent, horrified crowd. His only concern was tracking down his missing predecessors.
Step.
His footsteps echoed through the silence.
The Radiant Demon Squad's leader had crossed the final threshold of his great task.
Now, he had to kill the Zhuge Clan's leader.
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