Chapter 11

Chapter 11

By the long-standing common knowledge of the martial world, the accepted wisdom held that the maximum number of pinnacle masters a single supreme master could handle alone was roughly fifteen at most.

No matter how vast the gap in enlightenment, no matter how overwhelmingly superior one might be in every aspect of martial prowess — from the output and total reserves of internal power to perception and physical ability alike —

There was an equally clear limit to what a single individual could endure.

This was a manifest truth that had been proven countless times throughout the long history of the martial world, irrespective of Orthodox, Unorthodox, or Demonic factions.

In the present age, there was not a single fool anywhere who would raise an objection or argue otherwise.

And yet, right now —

"GRRR!"

"We need to merge the sword formations into one!"

"Those she-devils' yin-cold qi is too strong!"

A mere five were overpowering twenty times their number in reverse — a scene that defied belief even as one watched it unfold.

By the hand of five masters who were presumed — no, confirmed — to belong to the Moon Vein of the Sun and Moon Gate, or at the very least trained in its teachings.

CRACKLE—!

CRACK—! CRACKLE—!

CRASH—! CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CLANG—!

"How dare you pin such filthy false charges on our sect?!"

"Mount Hua — know your place!"

"Ha! A pack of wretches who can't even stand alone without the Martial Alliance propping you up!"

Their hands moved without restraint now — going beyond merely freezing the plum blossoms conjured from sword qi to shattering them to pieces, wrenching the swordsmen's internal power flow into violent disarray.

"We'll smash you along with your precious plum blossoms!"

"Insolent, vulgar Daoist bastards!"

Even as they ceaselessly unleashed a yin-cold qi that left any onlooker feeling instinctively overwhelmed, the Sun and Moon Gate's masters were decidedly at ease.

The clearest proof was how freely their mouths ran even while expelling such massive quantities of true qi.

'What on earth are their qi centers made of?'

Even Yul Hwi, hidden at a distance with his presence suppressed to nothing, found it hard to contain his bewilderment.

Inhale. Inhaaale.

"Hmm."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, he was drawing in the yin-cold qi that had spread in every direction — absorbing it through his breathing.

There was no particular reason.

He simply felt compelled to do it, felt strongly that he had to.

Under normal circumstances, the reckless act of inhaling another person's qi through respiration was something he would never have done.

'......What is this now?'

But the accident-that-was-not-an-accident, committed on thoughtless impulse, had turned into an unintended stroke of fortune — bestowing new insights upon him with every passing moment.

'This is—?!'

This body had, after all, been born with the heavenly curse of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.

It was already overflowing with cold qi to a sickening degree.

Yet the unfamiliar yin-cold qi he was now absorbing anew did not clash with the existing cold qi in the slightest — it simply merged into it as naturally as if being absorbed, adding to its volume.

Like a river meeting a vast sea: losing its original form and becoming part of the whole.

'...Ah!'

And because of that, Yul Hwi grasped the situation in a single flash.

'The yin-cold qi these Moon Vein masters are emitting can't overpower the extreme yin qi born from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians!'

No — this could not even be described as merely failing to overpower it.

It was being torn to shreds and devoured ravenously. That was the state of things.

"Hah...!"

His consciousness had already abandoned the battle over there entirely, focusing with minute precision on the changes occurring within his own body.

Inhale. Inhaaale.

"Hmm!"

CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CLANG—! CRACKLE—!

HYAAAH!

HA!

And so, in one corner of the battlefield — where fierce shouts, battle cries, and spine-chilling thunderous sounds raged in wild disorder —

"Inhaaale...... inhaaale......"

Yul Hwi's theft — a theft that was not quite a theft — began in secret.

***

SPURT—! SPLATTER—!

"Ugh!"

"Senior Sister! Are you all right?!"

Several plum blossoms had punched through the barrier erected from hardened cold qi, and the Vice Captain of the Ice Jade Unit was forced to yank back her blood-soaked hands in a rush.

SHUCK—! SCRAPE—!

"Eek!"

Had she been even a fraction slower in pulling away, the sharp blade hidden behind the plum blossoms — revealing its murderous hand — would have sliced clean through her wrists.

"You filthy topknot bastards!"

"Senior Sister, calm down! They're starting to adapt to our yin-cold qi! You must not lose your composure!"

"The Ice Jade Unit Captain is right. Collect yourself and tend to your wounds first."

Following the Ice Jade Unit Captain — who was also privately her direct senior martial sister — the Fourth Elder, one of the Moon Vein's most venerable figures, added her own counsel.

"Yes. My apologies."

The Vice Captain did not dare talk back, and swiftly retreated three steps to staunch the stinging bleed from her palm.

'These loathsome Martial Alliance bastards...!'

It had been only two days since they had arrived in Taewon, escorting the Moon Vein's three Elders along with the Ice Jade Unit under their command.

Their primary purpose had been to serve as reinforcements for the Sun Vein, which had failed to settle its score with the Martial Alliance over the past five years on its own — bringing the tiresome, profitless war to a swift conclusion.

It was essentially being saddled with the cleanup of the incompetent blunder committed by the Sun Vein's Infernal King Unit, which had originally been dispatched to retrieve the Nine Yin Severed Meridians as per internal Sun and Moon Gate policy.

Considering the yang-rich severed meridians the Moon Vein had been quietly procuring in secret over the past decade and more, the entire situation was nothing short of infuriating.

And as if her blood were not already boiling, the horseshit those Mount Hua topknot bastards had spouted when they barged in without warning had drawn the wrath of the entire Moon Vein.

'As if we'd have any reason to—!'

Assassinating Mount Hua's future, the Blossom Sword Dragon, and then — not content with that — sneaking into Mount Hua a day later to assassinate an elder who went by the laughable epithet Fallen Petals on Flowing Water?

Assassination?!

The swords drawn in the wake of that outrageous false accusation were what had led to the current predicament.

"Target the wounded one hiding in the back!"

"Kill that she-devil first!"

"GRRR! Who are you calling a she-devil?!"

In the time it had taken her to stop the bleeding and steady her breathing with a few deep breaths —

Her companions, forced to cover the gap left by one person's absence, had been pushed into a decidedly dire disadvantage.

"HAAAH!"

"HYAAAH!"

"Hh— hrk!"

Hissssss!

CRACKLE—!

Unlike the three Elders, who continued pouring out ferocious storms of cold qi with vigor unchanged, her senior sister — the Ice Jade Unit Captain — also showed clear signs of flagging.

As Vice Captain, she could not help but be deeply concerned about the current state of the battle.

The Sun Vein's Elders and the Infernal King Unit's leadership, who had come along, would be suffering similar trials at the hands of Shaolin and the Jinju Eon Family — so hoping for their support was unrealistic.

To make matters worse, the Ice Jade Unit that had accompanied them had been scattered in small groups across all of Sanseo long ago, on the assumption that once the ceasefire was finalized, they would lose the freedom to search the province.

Because no one had imagined that the Martial Alliance — having proposed the ceasefire themselves, supposedly champions of the righteous path — would stab them in the back.

'Those vile hypocrites!'

As a result, six of the Sun and Moon Gate's Twelve Elders — half the total — along with the Captains and Vice Captains of both the Infernal King Unit and the Ice Jade Unit were now on the verge of being wiped out entirely.

'I have to step in — at least to buy the Elders a chance to withdraw!'

At last, a vicious resolve settled into the Vice Captain's eyes, which until now had been filled only with fury.

She had made up her mind to sacrifice herself, if need be, to push back those loathsome topknots and carve a more certain path of retreat.

But just as she had been racking her brain for a way to land a blow on the Mount Hua Daoists —

An entirely unexpected new variable arrived like a ghost, without any warning whatsoever.

"GRAKH!"

"GUH!"

"Am— ambush! We're being ambushed!"

Bewildering shouts suddenly erupted from the rear of the swarming mass of Daoists.

'Ambush?'

An ambush?

The same question struck the Elders, who had been silently enduring the Plum Blossom Swordsmen's onslaught at the front line.

"What is that commotion?"

"An ambush?"

"Ice Jade Unit Captain. Did you perhaps send some kind of signal to the Ice Jade Unit?"

Seizing a momentary lull in the fighting, the Fourth Elder glanced aside with her question, and the Ice Jade Unit Captain shook her head with a firm denial despite her flustered expression.

"No — absolutely not. The earliest possible assembly time for our unit is still at least two double-hours away."

"My word? Then what is that bizarre spectacle?"

"Hmm. Look closely, all of you. Those are not Ice Jade children."

"Hm?"

And at that moment, the Eighth Elder — who had been scrutinizing the sudden variable with keen attention — abruptly dropped her jaw and let out a piercing cry.

"O-over there...!"

"Hm?"

"What's gotten into you all of a sud— wh-what?!"

The battlefield had by now filled with a haze of steam — the aftermath of countless collisions between plum blossom sword qi and yin-cold qi.

Piercing through that chaos to discern what had occurred at the Plum Blossom Swordsmen's rear and who was responsible — that was a feat reserved only for seasoned supreme masters.

"How?! How can a man wield such terrifying yin-cold qi...?!"

"That's no ordinary yin-cold qi, either! And what in the world is that spectral footwork...?!"

Immediately after the Sixth and Eighth Elders exchanged rapid observations back and forth —

"...Wh— WHAT?!"

"F-Fourth Elder?"

"That person is...!"

From the mouth of the Fourth Elder — who had maintained an unwavering composure even under the Plum Blossom Swordsmen's ferocious assault — a thunderclap of shock finally burst forth.

"Snow-white skin and blue eyes! It is undoubtedly the second son of the Taewon Yul Family — the one the Infernal King Unit lost five years ago!"

"What?! But if it's that child, then the Nine Yin Severed Meridians...!"

"That can't be! That person is clearly a grown young man — how could a boy born with the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, a male child no less, have survived to that age?!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Sharpen your eyes and look properly! With skin that pale — far too white for a man of the Central Plains — and those blue eyes, how can you say such things?!"

By now, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen's attention had shifted to the assailant who had materialized out of nowhere at their rear.

"The cowardly cur — how dare he!"

"This one uses yin-cold qi too! He's a remnant of the Sun and Moon Gate!"

"Kill the one using those dirty ambush tricks first!"

Already, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen had suffered well over thirty dead at the hands of the Moon Vein's five masters.

And on top of that, a single attacker who had appeared out of thin air had cut down five Plum Blossom Swordsmen in the blink of an eye.

"He's fast on his feet!"

"Surround him with the sword formation and finish him!"

"Make sure the Sun and Moon Gate she-devils can't interfere — pin them down tight!"

CLANG, CRASH—! CRASH, CRASH, CLANG—!

Flashes born of blade-on-blade collisions glimpsed intermittently through the milky haze.

And the sounds of something frozen by cold qi shattering to pieces.

"No — stop! You mustn't!"

"The Nine Yin Severed Meridians must be kept alive!"

"Wherever he learned such martial prowess on his own — by what means he overcame the Nine Yin Severed Meridians and obtained that terrifying yin-cold qi — until we find out, we must absolutely not let him die!"

'Nine Yin Severed Meridians? The second son of the Taewon Yul Family — the one born with the Nine Yin Severed Meridians in a male body — is still alive?!'

And holding his own against those insufferable Plum Blossom Swordsmen with such commanding presence, no less?

The Vice Captain stood frozen in a momentary daze of cognitive dissonance — until a stern command pierced her ears and snapped her back to her senses, forcing her feet into motion.

"The Ice Jade Unit Captain and Vice Captain must seize the chaos we create to rescue that boy and secure him without fail! No matter what it takes!"