Spear King Ak Bi-gang and the Lord of the Gaebong Gyeong Clan.

They were supreme masters who had nearly been forgotten due to the passage of time—men who could be called luminaries of the Central Plains martial world.

Even so, Jeong Yeon-shin did not feel their stature was high.

Their footwork compressed into his right arm with such density it seemed as if even his hand would be crushed—but that was all.

[Only their spear thrusts and hand techniques were refined.]

Jeong Yeon-shin acknowledged the two old men as worthy of being called strong, but he could not sympathize with the lives they had lived.

That was why he won.

[Speaking of the weak in front of the people—do you still enjoy the law of the jungle?]

“......”

The two old men stood tall, blood pouring from their shoulders like a river.

They had not retreated because the voice of the Cult Leader had echoed across Nakan Peak.

Their breath, exhaled as pale steam, flowed with internal energy.

Not only were their lives intact—their consciousness remained whole, even after suddenly losing both arms.

It was terrifying innate energy.

Yet to Jeong Yeon-shin, the two old men were no different from back-alley thugs.

People beneath even ordinary civilians—masters wielding the world’s divine martial techniques like hidden daggers from the gutters.

This was what the Central Plains martial world had become.

Suddenly, Jeong Yeon-shin drove the sword he held into the ground.

Kwaak!

A sword with the character Desolation (荒) engraved on the hilt.

It was the Ipwang Sword.

Dan Jeong-jeong, standing alone atop a stone pillar behind him, flinched.

That it had been used by none other than Jeong Yeon-shin—of course she hadn’t realized when or how it had been taken.

Only then did Spear King Ak Bi-gang’s eyebrows twitch.

His gaze landed on the silver-gray sword tucked at Jeong Yeon-shin’s waist.

Yes.

The Sword of Ascension had never even been drawn.

That alone brought shame more cutting than death.

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke slowly.

[You are nothing more than sounding arrows—no more than the signal heralding the Sword Division’s advance.]

“You didn’t retreat south after defeat in the North, then...”

The Lord of the Gaebong Gyeong Clan muttered calmly.

There was no sign of disgrace in his expression.

Though he had overreached as a martial master, his mental cultivation was worthy of his status.

But Jeong Yeon-shin’s reply shattered even that meditative clarity with merciless indifference.

[The Northern Campaign succeeded.]

“......!”

The old man who had lost everything resisting a catastrophe—he laughed, his blood bubbling in his throat like phlegm.

When his master’s intent had rung out, his palanquin bearers had descended the mountain.

As loyal household warriors of a merchant family, they had predicted their master’s defeat.

Jeong Yeon-shin had intentionally let them go.

If the warriors of the Gaebong’s First Household were the ones to deliver the news, the whole world would believe that the Sword Division had begun marching south.

[Then they’ll gather—from everywhere.]

His kin, his clan, his kind.

That was when the Gaebong Clan Lord abruptly stopped laughing and said,

“Then... that boy, the Yong family’s son, must still be alive.

He didn’t die and pass you the Sword of Ascension...”

Jeong Yeon-shin cut him off without hesitation.

[Spare me the pointless talk.

The grudges of all past Sword Division leaders are now mine to bear.]

Whatever his story was, it would end with Jeong Yeon-shin.

The Gaebong Clan Lord, swaying on his feet, let a faint smile cross his lips.

“That arrogance...

You truly are the Sword Division Leader.”

This time, Jeong Yeon-shin asked him a question.

[Are you one of the Tyrannical Seven Kings?]

After the Ming royal family had become powerless, seven mighty figures had raised the banners of “Might Makes Right” and “No Interference Between Officials and Martial Artists.”

Ak Bi-gang was said to have opened a path into Ipwang Fortress.

If so, there must have been six others who had invaded the stronghold.

“No, I am not.

While they were shattering Ipwang Fortress, I was wholly focused on the movements of the Cult Leader.

That Vault of Golden Arms is certainly a treasure coveted by all...

But I knew precisely what formation had been installed inside it.

Yes, it was something triggered by the scholar within the vault...”

The Gaebong Clan Lord’s voice broke as he continued.

“An ancient formation that recreates the Sammae Incineration of the vanished Shin Cheon-hwa—it burns the vault from within.

Whether one gains or loses, isn’t it still tragic?

Those martial texts were a part of the history of our world...”

[...]

“Those walking around Ipwang Fortress as if it were their backyard must be the same.

If they had any foresight, they’d just set up a perimeter and wait for the scholar to starve.

Or perhaps... the scholar already triggered the formation.”

After saying that, the Gaebong Clan Lord gave a hearty laugh.

“I thought obtaining the Heavenly Demon’s legacy was the wiser course.

But now I see—it was the worst possible move.”

At some point, white steam began rising from his arms with a hiss—

He had used both Sammae Fire and acupoint sealing to cauterize the stumps and stop the bleeding.

The pain must have been unbearable; cold sweat had gathered on his wrinkled face.

The conversation had circled back to the Heavenly Demon’s tomb.

Jeong Yeon-shin, his face expressionless like he wore So Cheonmujuk’s silver mask, said,

[I suppose you’ll have to stay alive.

Just like the others.]

“...The others?”

That was when—

Kuguguguguung!

Another massive tremor shook the land.

This time, the entire Jinryeong Mountain Range seemed to shudder.

A violent tremor rippled across the paths and threw all who stood on them off balance.

“W-what...?!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Dan Jeong-jeong’s stone pillar suddenly shattered into pieces.

From all around the vast mountainside, waves of earth surged like a tsunami, rushing toward the ground.

The force was terrifying.

Fwooosh! Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa—!

The tremors crashed violently beneath everyone’s feet.

The dried shrubs cracked as the ground split apart, and the already collapsed rocky hills sent boulders rolling in every direction.

The chaos was catastrophic—truly a calamity of earth and sky collapsing.

It spread across all areas within spiritual perception.

Never in all of Jeong Yeon-shin’s experiences had he seen anything like it.

Something had been activated.

At the same time, a booming laugh of a mad powerhouse echoed across the night sky.

[The Heavenly Demon of this age calls out to the first demon of all time in the Central Plains.]

As if she had become one with the Jinryeong Mountains, So Cheonmujuk Yalu Jin’s laughter-laced voice rose beyond the stars.

Ascension.

It was truly ascension.

[Come down.]

A True Word composed of transcendent demonic energy and spiritual resonance from her upper dantian.

It was like delivering internal energy through a striking move.

In other words—it was the completion of a true martial formula.

Its function was clear.

As she had said so many times before—

To perfectly recreate the image of the “First Heavenly Demon.”

[Stop—!]

In that moment, a resounding voice shattered the thin clouds.

Its energy was tyrannical, unbefitting Daoist practice.

It was the Subjugating Demon Divine Qi of the Joint Sect.

[...I must intervene.]

Jeong Yeon-shin turned his back on the armless Gaebong Clan Lord and Ak Bi-gang.

With a light step, an invisible wave erupted and struck both men’s lower and middle dantians.

Ku-koong!

“Keuhk...!”

“Hhp!”

The Eight Radiant Steps—seemingly simple, but they crippled the cores of supreme masters.

Dan Jeong-jeong, watching in horror, heard Jeong Yeon-shin continue.

[The Master of the Joint Sect seems ready to unleash a killing strike on the Cult Leader.

He might truly kill her.

Even the Sword Division’s criminal follows her like a shadow now.]

“...Then shouldn’t we leave her be?”

Dan Jeong-jeong’s question scattered into the void where Jeong Yeon-shin had vanished.

Even with the Eye Technique of Lunar Chaos she had learned from the Lord of Ipwang Fortress, she could not perceive his Movement Technique.

Kwaaaaaang—!

A thunderous roar burst from the ethereal constellations.

The situation was clear.

Jeong Yeon-shin had intercepted the finishing blow of the Post-Heaven Starborn.

Fragments of translucent True Orthodox Energy scattered like hail.

As those shockwaves touched the crumbled mountains,

Kururung—explosions erupted, mixing with gales and clouds of dust.

Each fragment resembled a thunderbolt made of light.

Slowly, but surely, the heavens above the collapsing Jinryeong Mountains echoed with the voices of transcendents.

[True One, preserve your strength.]

[The Sword Division Leader is protecting the Cult Leader...? What an intriguing development.]

[I have killed and lost too many. If I can resolve the Gate and the famine, it’s worth even speaking with a devil.]

[You see far... But it’s the Cult Leader’s doing. It might hasten the world's end.]

Even as the Post-Heaven Starborn’s energy surged, it remained unshakable like ten-thousand-year-cold iron.

With each syllable from his aged voice, Dan Jeong-jeong’s knees trembled involuntarily.

Jeong Yeon-shin soon made his decision.

[Red Family, stop the Sect Leader. Forget So Cheonmujuk.]

[Too shy to call my name? Curious what it is? Want me to tell you?]

[Watch yourself. You belong to the Sword Division now.]

[Mm, you're mine now.]

Dan Jeong-jeong stood on the devastated earth, struggling to make sense of the incomprehensible.

“So the Sword Division Criminal Seven follow the Lord’s command and fight the Starborn, while the Lord clashes with the old sect masters to protect the Cult Leader...

And the Cult Leader, like the former Sword Division Leader during the Battle of Ipwang Fortress, is about to manifest the First Heavenly Demon’s Origin Spirit in the Jinryeong Mountains...?”

The two old men listened silently to her muttering.

Spear King Ak Bi-gang still wore a blank stare, unable to accept reality.

The Gaebong Clan Lord, on the other hand, had already sensed that whatever was happening would shift the fate of the Central Plains.

At that moment—

“......”

The quake that had rattled the vast mountain range ceased as if it had never happened.

[I've never focused so singularly on one thing before...

A shame I couldn’t even savor Brother Yeon-shin’s movement.]

It echoed from beneath the earth.

It was So Cheonmujuk—but not her usual altered tone through internal force.

It was her natural, smooth voice.

[I narrowed all my qi perception into the True Formula alone, and still it took this long.

Even now, crafting the Origin Spirit of the late Clan Ancestor is no easy feat...

No matter how well-prepared the tomb was.]

She was the absolute being when fully prepared.

The pinnacle of demonic martial arts—what some would call heretical or outside the righteous path.

Boom!

Jeong Yeon-shin landed where he had originally stood.

It was the place where invisible demonic energy had begun to stir in vast currents. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

He silently clasped his hands behind his back.

The overlapping violet sleeves behind him flapped violently in the rising storm.

[All that remains is the offering.

The corpses of grave-robbing riffraff who slaughtered one another—this is the reason I crafted this grand stage.]

So Cheonmujuk Yalu Jin sat cross-legged in the depths of the Jinryeong Mountains, laughing.

She had already made the tomb of the Heavenly Demon her own through dimensional distortion.

[I will summon the power and wisdom of the First Heavenly Demon in perfect completeness.

Using the resentment of corpses and innate energy as sacred tools.]

Ttak!

A snap of her fingers echoed like a ripple—

All the way to where Jeong Yeon-shin stood.

Heavenly Demon Divine Scripture

Chapter of Yalu Jin

Zhuangzi’s Raving Dream

It was a wide-area dimensional anomaly.

A technique that forcibly gathered and transported the bodies of martial artists with sufficient internal energy from across the Jinryeong Mountains.

The axis of the formation—beneath Nakan Peak of Mount Hwa.

That is, the very ground where Jeong Yeon-shin stood.

Whoosh!

In an instant, Jeong Yeon-shin’s body shot upward.

The scent of blood swept past him at the same moment.

A mountain was truly being formed.

The bodies of countless martial artists, layer upon layer, piled beneath his feet.

The discarded weapons clattered together with hollow metallic clangs.

The earth of Jinryeong vomited forth corpses without end.

It was a grotesque sight.

Jeong Yeon-shin now stood atop that mountain of bodies, eyes lowered in silence.

It was then that a flicker of confusion crossed So Cheonmujuk’s mental intent.

[These corpses...?]

Among the thousands who formed the mountain, few were actually dead.

From below, the untrained screamed.

As one looked higher, most bore only a single red point at the nape of their neck, breathing faintly.

They had been struck in their demonic points and rendered immobile.

True corpses were few.

Barely a hundred or so had been pulverized like bloody lumps struck by a giant’s fist.

Even that, given the scale of the Jinryeong Mountains, could be called merciful.

[You... You did this...?]

[Beneath the starlight.]

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke bluntly.

[This is what happens when I run.]

Under the constellation of blades, the Swiftest Under Heaven had long since charged forth.

Not just the Jinryeong Mountains—the entire Central Plains could be subdued.

Even if the Origin Spirit of the First Heavenly Demon descended, there would be few sacrifices left for her.

“......”

Silence fell over the mountainside.

Now all of Jeong Yeon-shin’s actions were aimed at the grand strategy.

Perhaps because of the deep impression left by the Southern Emperor.

He could only be at ease when he held the game board in his own hands.

But below the mountain of bodies, where Jeong Yeon-shin stood,

Spear King Ak Bi-gang—who had stood like a corpse for some time—seemed to have other thoughts.

The old man opened his mouth.

“You are too strong. With point strikes of that intensity, their future use of internal energy will face countless obstacles.”

[...]

“The martial world is a wall that defends against invaders from beyond the frontier.

To empty the Central Plains so utterly... Do you intend to let it fall?

Even setting aside the Cult’s ancestor's Origin Spirit, do you ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) know what has become of the now-vacant Ipwang Fortress?”

[You misunderstand.

Even if all martial artists lose their strength, the world will not be left in a void.]

“What nonsense is that...?”

Ak Bi-gang replied, his voice raspier than ever.

Jeong Yeon-shin gazed silently down the mountain of martial bodies.

The faint starlight glinted against the sheath of the Sword of Ascension.

Slowly, he placed a hand on the hilt.

[Now—I am the martial world.]

His calm words rolled down the slope of blades like falling steel.

Jeobeok.

The First Heavenly Demon began walking across the barren rubble.

Hair darker than the night sky billowed behind her like a dragon robe.

It was Baek Mi-ryeo.