The bushes swayed in the hollow wind. It was still hard to tell whether it was late winter or early spring—the air was serene and still.

The one-armed storyteller in the straw hat, the Lord of Heaven’s Extremity Sect, boasted that his next sword slash would be a proper one. Jeong Yeon-shin, of course, didn’t believe him.

Especially since the one-armed man had already sat down cross-legged on the dirt, saying he needed to replenish his qi first after a misstrike.

They’d just used a large-scale Displacement Void several times to move the whole group.

If you tear open that much space, you're bound to run low on stored energy. Still, even with this delay, it was far better than running thousands of li on foot.

“But still.”

The blind man in the straw hat pressed his sword gently into the dirt and asked out of nowhere,

“You really gonna drag that cripple all the way to the Black Capital?”

The brows of Alliance Master Jоо Gwang-shin, who was being carried on Jeong Yeon-shin’s back, furrowed deeply. A curse came out of his mouth, naturally.

“This one-armed bastard’s got a goddamn death wish...”

“I only said it out of concern for the old man. That place is hell on earth. Even for that kid, there’s no way he can carry a cripple and fight at the same time. The world’s fastest blade? That’s just a nice memory now, isn’t it?”

“Enough.”

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head.

“Focus on your breathing. The Alliance Master has experience you lack.”

The Lord of Heaven’s Extremity Sect just smiled at that.

“You’ve stepped onto a slope now. Once you start charging downhill, it’s hard to stop. I hope you land on your feet when it’s over... and not just because your legs still work.”

The words were cutting, but flowed as naturally as a breath.

Jоо Gwang-shin, instead of getting angry, actually relaxed. He even let out a chuckle, glancing briefly at Jeong Yeon-shin’s legs.

‘Riding a tiger and unable to dismount.’

Meanwhile, Jeong Yeon-shin found the old man’s words to be reasonable—at least the part about the downhill sprint that couldn’t be stopped.

Swoosh.

He lightly placed a hand over his chest.

Since breaking through the seal under the night sky, Jeong Yeon-shin had kept his three luminous rings silently spinning. Always ready to unleash his full strength.

Behind him now stood two Northern Kings and their respective forces, clad in various hues of red and coarse fabric, their robes fluttering in the wind.

***

Shin So-bin was sprinting down a slope with her comrades.

Every time her foot slammed into the ground, pale light rippled out from her footprint. She was the only one in the group using the Ten Li Lightfoot Technique.

Naturally, she had a little leeway. She gently touched the spot beneath her chest.

“This war’s just like the Battle of Ipwang. From now on, you mustn’t come out. You have to stay quiet.”

Tweet—

“No one’s here to protect you now. Not unless your master, my teacher, is here...”

For a brief moment, Shin So-bin’s eyes lost focus. Her consciousness sank inward.

Even as the sound of a swallow chirping, almost like a human response, came from within her robes, she raised one hand while running and summoned a spiral of energy.

The Pure Lineage Energy of the Ipwang Shin Clan’s Supreme Heavens Martial Canon, combined with the Blood Qi Power of the Seomye Lineage’s Mara Vital Blood Art. A transparent, reddish vortex formed in her palm.

The dirt beneath her began to tear open with a crackling roar.

“I don’t know anything. I just have to guess. Whether you’ll be okay, when Master will arrive, what kind of heart he’s living with these days, I just... I have to at least do this part right...”

She was rambling.

But this too was a kind of mantra. A personal incantation for accepting martial arts into oneself, a process of aligning intention with technique.

Martial artists often ran into heart demons this way. Some even fell into madness from obsession, only to later awaken again.

Sometimes it led to enlightenment and advancement. Other times, their internal flow collapsed, and they were crippled.

But right now, no one had time to pay close attention to Shin So-bin.

The martial forces of the Northern Kings were breaking through dozens of city gates all at once.

Some of them even vaulted over entire walls. In total, they numbered over a thousand.

Despite being elite warriors with swift movement techniques—

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!

The plains began to fill with a deafening roar. The tremors were enormous. Yellow dust kicked up in all directions like a typhoon, and the very earth was quaking.

There were no Black Swords left to guide Shin So-bin.

Most of them had already shot through the plains like thunderbolts, knocking back the Great King Vajra and the Sage Sword Lord of Goyo long ago.

Now, each of them stood with a blood-red formless sword in hand. None of their backs showed even a hint of ease.

Their black robes flapped in the dusty wind.

The air was chilling.

By the time the Great King Vajra and the Sage Sword Lord seemed to reset, as if time itself had rewound—

Rustle.

They were back before the city wall, in their original forms, surrounding Mun Gok, Jin Myeong-jo, and the other Black Swords.

Vajra opened her mouth.

“In my homeland of Tianzhu, there is a force much like yours. A military order that turns emperors into gods... You’re just as savage.”

Her voice held the weight of history.

But it was a personal reflection at best. The Central Plains martial world had no contact with Tianzhu.

The two sides were cut off by countless ranges and basins, including the peak of Everest. For now, the only foreign absolute the Divine Sword Corps had to face was Vajra.

At least until the Ming dynasty fell.

Standing opposite her were Thousand Hands Pavilion Lord Cheon So-so, Heavenly Dragon Star Lord Wei Ji-geuk, and Infinite Polarity Star Lord Geum Cheong-won.

All of them had reached the realm of "mind’s eye," where their internal senses could detect even the pulse of their opponent. It was a confrontation so intense, they could afford no distractions. Only they remained in each other's world.

Meanwhile, the Northern Kings’ martial forces fully vaulted over the wall and charged across the plains toward the Divine Sword Corps.

Geum Cheong-won gently tapped his blackened prosthetic right leg and spoke.

“No one is born brutal. It’s the times that turn people into beasts. Like us, lately.”

“What kind of beast willingly smashes an egg against a boulder? You have honor, and because of that, you will die.”

Her voice carried sorrow.

Then, the air around her hand began to tremble. A colorless energy crackled and stretched out like a spear.

It manifested—

The divine art Indara.

Vajra, in truth, was named after a weapon wielded by the Thunder God in Tianzhu mythology. Indara was another name for that god. Which meant she had taken a divine weapon as her own name, and the god who wielded it as her martial namesake.

No one knew why.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

But none of the Black Swords cared about the inner history of their mortal enemy. Who in the world didn’t have their own burdens?

Cheon So-so opened her mouth.

“We have to go in.”

“Mhm.”

Vajra smiled with her colorless, crackling spear in hand. By now, her hair had lightened to a soft brown in the sunlight.

“The God of War must descend, and you will not enter. I will turn this place into a Crimson Citadel.”

A Crimson Citadel—

In far-off Tianzhu, that was the equivalent of the Forbidden City. Heaven on earth. A vow to defend it at all costs.

“Then watch.”

Cheon So-so spoke quietly.

It was the first time in recent history the Divine Sword Corps launched a preemptive strike, but right now the chill of her Frozen Heaven Streamless Ice Art spread naturally from her body.

Frosty mist clung thickly to her deep blue eyes and long black hair.

Vajra tilted her head slightly as she stepped forward barefoot.

“Don’t you Ice Art cultivators understand the limits of the human body? If you push it too far with cold qi, your whole energy network could freeze solid.”

But regardless of her words—

White frost crackled from Cheon So-so’s black robe, and despite the frozen exterior, her cheeks were flushed with a rosy hue.

Proof of the subtle vibrations building in her internal energy channels.

Divine Sword Corps Active Motion Art – Zhang of the Flower Lord of Changling.

Like the hearth of a house, the mysterious flow of her energy shielded her body. The limits of Ice Arts had become meaningless. At that moment, her translucent qi broke through a threshold and exploded outward.

BOOM! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!

“......!”

Still frozen with her spear in hand, Vajra’s jaw was sent flying upward by Infinite Polarity Star Lord Geum Cheong-won’s thunderous kick.

The Sky-Lip Kicking Method of Infinite Polarity Star Sect. A circular shockwave burst from the tip of his prosthetic leg, and Vajra’s body, sent flying through the air for dozens of jang, pierced the fortress wall and was caught mid-flight by a thick, tightly coiled Mensung Rope.

“I’m going.”

Wei Ji-geuk gripped the rope tightly and soared up after her like a bolt of lightning.

Whoosh!

Cheon So-so and Geum Cheong-won vanished after him through the collapsed stone wall. Only deep, frost-covered footprints remained in the intact sections to either side.

Whether or not the strike had landed cleanly, they had already broken through—inside the Black Capital in an instant.

Meanwhile, back where they’d stood, just beneath the towering fortress wall—

Mun Gok and the Sage Sword Lord of Goyo had not chased after Vajra. They simply stood still, locking eyes with each of the eight Black Swords that surrounded them.

It was a standoff.

Especially Mun Gok, who didn’t take his eyes off Jin Myeong-jo, who had casually stepped back ten bo. He clearly hoped the man would come close enough to fight hand-to-hand.

—Deputy Lord, hold your strike until the real opportunity comes. Right now, you are our sword.

An internal transmission from Annihilation Star Lord Shin Hwang. He asked quietly,

“Is the Deputy Lord inside?”

His voice overflowed with power, but Mun Gok merely smiled as he pulled his judge’s brush from the wall.

“Who knows. I’ve focused all my strength on blocking you people, so I’m not too familiar with the secrets of the Black Capital.”

As always, the presence of Mun Gok of the Six-Origin Star Army was overwhelming.

With one punch said to rival battleship artillery, he was a walking fortress. And now, the Sage Sword Lord of Goyo stood beside him, a giant greatsword slung behind him like a cannon shell.

The clash between the Black Capital’s martial force and the Divine Sword Corps was about to begin, but the tremors caused by both sides’ steps were completely absent beneath the two Northern Kings.

Transcendents of Outer Power, who absorbed force through their entire bodies. Though chaos raged all around, underfoot they were completely still.

“In any case... the Divine Formation for the War God’s descent, the Divine King of the Western Heavens alive and bound, the Southern Emperor’s head.”

Mun Gok spoke slowly.

“You weren’t joking. I truly didn’t think you’d make it inside the Black Capital. You can’t even imagine what those who’ve gone in are about to see.”

“There was no need for this. Vajra was right. This is smashing an egg against a rock.”

The Sage Sword Lord added.

From beneath his feet, a ripple of sword force spread across the dirt like waves from a lakeshore.

Then—

“Is your tongue your sword?”

Light Sword Star Lord Hak So-seon reversed her grip and drove her Dark Night Blood Ash Demon Sword into Mun Gok’s solar plexus. Faint radiant traces of the Radiant Pact glowed behind her—evidence of a leap straight from her original position to his face.

CRACK!

The {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} demonic sword, colliding with Heavenly Forged Armor and the world’s strongest Outer Power, was deflected. Sparks of crimson fire scattered from his chest in a row as the blade screeched across his scholar’s robes.

“This technique...”

Mun Gok’s voice came low and calm, his breath undisturbed. His hand suddenly clenched around her left arm.

“This is the Golden Nasoo, the move that shattered the Divine Sword Lord’s right arm.”

A gentle provocation to open a gap.

BOOOM!

Thousand Woods Star Lord Hahoe Wi-jin’s shoulder crashed into Mun Gok’s abdomen like a siege ram. A full-body strike using Shoulder Method, the impact thundered through the fortress wall behind him and left deep cracks.

Then—

The giant took half a step back. The heavy backward scuff was sharp and clear against the stone wall. That alone said everything.

“.......”

Mun Gok’s gaze dropped to Hahoe Wi-jin.

“...I don’t understand. Why are you stronger now?”

And then he suddenly crushed Hak So-seon’s left shoulder.

The faint bluish flames of the Heavenly Armor scorched Hahoe Wi-jin’s right side for only a moment before Mun Gok used Hak So-seon’s body like a shield and swung her into him.

WHAM!

Hahoe Wi-jin spun out of Mun Gok’s grasp like a leaf, tumbling toward the Sage Sword Lord’s flank.

He had risen behind Annihilation Star Lord Shin Hwang like a mirage. His Wind Body movement looked like a shadow trailing behind Jeong Yeon-shin.

KA-KLANG!

Hahoe Wi-jin deflected the Sage Sword Lord’s blade with a single punch. Hak So-seon, upon hitting the ground, spun through the air like a pinwheel to escape the clash.

She had broken free of Mun Gok’s grip using vibrations close to full-body release.

She didn’t seem to feel pain.

Radiant Sword.

Hak So-seon—“Radiant,” as in raging light—spat on the ground and stood up.

The black robe sleeve on her left arm tightened automatically, stabilizing her damaged limb, and her expressionless eyes gleamed not with pain, but with fury.

“Yeah, you’re strong.”

She muttered.

Mun Gok stared at them in silence.

His frame evoked a steel tower. A stark contrast to his calm and refined demeanor. And yet, his eyes were still deep and searching.

“Where is that highborn girl?”

He asked. Even with eight Black Swords before him, he searched for the Divine Sword Prisoner. As if the entire battle was the only thing on his mind.

A living, burning diamond. A being of Outer Power whose body wouldn’t allow serious injury from lesser fighters. His calm yet destructive presence suited his size.

But then—

A young man, as if numb to all emotion, stomped on Mun Gok’s foot with pinpoint precision.

Namgung Hwa-shin of the Divine Sword Successors. At that moment, the earth beneath him cracked and exploded outward from sheer pressure.

BOOM—!

It was the Sword Thunder Island Ridge Strike – Judgment of the Qilin from the start.

As his foot hit the ground, a demon sword shot upward from his hip like a drawn blade, the blade’s radiance twisting upward toward Mun Gok’s groin.

Namgung Hwa-shin’s clear eyes said it all—this was the Divine Sword Lord’s sword technique.

In that same instant, Jin Myeong-jo’s form twisted from his position, having kept both Northern Kings in his sight.

The flaw Geum Cheong-won had spoken of was faint, but visible. Two swords of blood-red mist formed in the Deputy Commander’s hands, flickering like ghostly flames.

He moved straight toward Mun Gok.

[Silent Night – Sleepless.]

The ultimate state where any technique could be unleashed without delay. He focused the power of Empty Moon Dance not into his surroundings but his own body, amplifying his combat strength.

The pinnacle of Three Essences Unifying the True Self. It was only possible because Jin Myeong-jo had perfected Divine Sword Corps’ Active Motion Art through his Empty Moon Dance.

Even with mixed blood, there was no burden on his body.

RUUUMMBLE!

The moment he advanced, all the warriors before the fortress wall moved at once.

Just a single step from each sent waves of qi exploding in every direction—a battle beyond all that had come before.

Mun Gok’s palm, ghostly pale from the overwhelming force of pressure step, smashed down on Namgung Hwa-shin’s crown—sword and all.

CRASH—!

The backlash lifted dirt like a tidal wave, and Jin Myeong-jo leapt skyward using the yellow sand as stepping stones, locking eyes with Mun Gok.

“......?”

Just before Mun Gok’s Piercing Sovereign Palm could crush Namgung Hwa-shin entirely—

—I’ve been pondering what form best suits special swords like the Formless Blade. Maybe someday, we’ll refine it together in a proper duel... Consider this a draft I’m sending ahead of time. Though I guess it’s too early to serve with drinks.

Co-Authored Formless Sword Technique

Chapter of Divine Blood Rekindling the Stars

[Wine Note.]

Swoosh—

Two streaks of red mist carved into the giant’s shoulders. Like blood-tinted oilpaint mixing into a brush stroke, they cleverly bypassed his Heavenly Armor.

Jin Myeong-jo’s eyes gleamed crimson with the same light.

Mun Gok of the Six-Origin Star Army.

From the strongest Outer Power master’s tendons—

FWOOOOSHH!

Twin fountains of blood erupted violently into the sky.