The day before the group left Xuzhou was extremely bright.

The spring sun was very bright. Enough to shine vividly on Jeong Yeon-shin's dark eyebrows.

He was on his way back from visiting the government office to give news to various seniors.

He would inform seniors like Cheon Myeong who were scattered throughout South Zhili about the progress. It was something he could do because he was a Desolate Sect warrior.

The magistrate was reluctant. He said that it would take time for the news to arrive.

He wanted to send an urgent dispatch to Shandong Province, where the main force would be, but crossing an entire province meant that speed couldn't be expected.

Nothing can be done.

He walked out, leaving the government office behind. Jeong Yeon-shin had one more thing to worry about. It was Hyeon Won-chang's difficult movement.

He had internal injuries. It wasn't an easy decision to put him on a shaky carriage or horse.

How should I take him?

Jeong Yeon-shin returned to the guest room, agonizing over and over again. The Great Hero of the Desolate Sect lay on the bed with narrowed eyes.

Before closing the door, Hyeon Won-chang turned his body slightly. When their eyes met, he smiled and opened his mouth.

"It really feels like death."

"The noble body of the great hero is worrying."

Jeong Yeon-shin countered with humor.

The corners of Hyeon Won-chang's mouth continued to turn up. He seemed to never get tired of hearing the honorific.

Many ordinary people looked at the inn, wanting to see the Great Hero of the Desolate Sect, Hyeon Won-chang.

"I've become a burden."

"Great Hero Sword Dragon is waiting."

"Hmm? Lady Wei?"

Jeong Yeon-shin told him about the conversation with her.

Hyeon Won-chang's face immediately changed. To the point of looking horrible.

"Young Hero Jeong's heart is like a big sea. It's very touching! But don't do it. The Blood Flame Sect is at war with one of the Eight Great Families? They must have sent death swordsmen. Didn't we see the Seventh Apostle's martial power last time?"

"An eye flew out of my hand."

Jeong Yeon-shin replied calmly and leaned against the wall.

He alternately stroked the Northern Light and Desolate Sect sword hilts as he slowly continued.

"One hand is enough. The masters of the Namgung family won't be idle either."

They exchanged a few more words.

There is no reason not to.

Jeong Yeon-shin had already made up his mind. It was about earning merit while protecting the martial arts of a companion.

Hyeon Won-chang couldn't overcome his stubbornness.

The Great Hero of the Desolate Sect was nominally a Radiant Demon Wing Master.

Though his appearance was sloppy, his sense of judging a fight was excellent.

He realized that the longer they argued, the less room for maneuver Jeong Yeon-shin would have.

"After the life-saving debt, I am now receiving favor as a warrior."

Hyeon Won-chang rarely showed a serious face as he slightly closed and opened his eyes.

"Then Young Hero Jeong's concern is this. How to take a living corpse like me to Huizhou."

"In about a month's time, there won't be much room to come back to Xuzhou from Huizhou."

"Don't worry about it!"

Although his internal injury was severe, his voice wasn't dead. Hyeon Won-chang said with a grin.

"There's a reason why warriors with disordered qi circulation from falling into cultivation madness are weak to shock. It's because their mental focus has been unified by long training in true qi operation. Regulating internal energy as usual becomes poison. They do not know that their bodies are in tatters."

"Then what?"

"My family has the secret technique of the Great Turtle Breathing Method. It is not an ordinary technique. It even solidifies the true flow of qi to protect the internal meridians, and as an assassin's secret skill, its stability is unmatched even after a long time."

He mentioned assassins while talking about family secret techniques.

The Great Tortoise Breathing Technique?

It was said to be an ambush martial art that used internal energy to slow down breathing and heartbeat while hiding true qi.

It was an infiltration-type martial art that was even featured in the Desolate Sect's martial arts catalog.

Assassin's secret skill. Jeong Yeon-shin repeated to himself.

The idea of assassins forming a family was nonsense.

However, there might be assassins who washed their hands with gold powder and left the murim.

Since it was the first time that Hyeon Won-chang mentioned something about his family, Jeong Yeon-shin nodded without showing his thoughts.

A strange relief seemed to appear in Hyeon Won-chang's eyes. He continued speaking slowly.

"Even if I am buried somewhere in the ground, I only need a hole to breathe. The shaking of the carriage is nothing. There is no need to worry about me. Young Hero Jeong should concentrate on displaying his martial arts."

"An injured person hiding safely... if there's no problem with the escort, that would be really reassuring."

"Of course! This Desolate Divine Hero won't be a burden to anyone!"

Hyeon Won-chang laughed heartily before coughing as if he had blood in his throat.

Shaking his head, Jeong Yeon-shin left the room.

After visiting the government office to borrow fine horses and a carriage, he explained the situation to Wei Ji Myo-hwa.

Her expression clouded at the mention of the Great Turtle Breathing Method. She was the heiress of one of the Nine Sects, the pinnacle of the orthodox sects.

She couldn't welcome assassin martial arts.

"You two are heroes. I'll cover the back."

Fortunately, Wei Ji Myo-hwa was broad-minded. She was a great hero who didn't judge people by their martial arts.

Jeong Yeon-shin thanked her with a cupped fist salute.

Thus, two people and a half corpse set out on their journey.

* * *

Xuzhou to Huizhou was not close. They were the northern and southern ends of South Zhili.

This time, they encountered many bandits.

Not murim forest bandits. They were commoners who were driven to use farm tools to harm people because of the famine.

Moreover, it was said that disasters weren't limited to famine.

Perhaps because of the Blood Flame Sect's rise, the bandits increased the closer they got to Huizhou.

"What would evil sects eat? They just sink their teeth into the backs of ordinary people."

Surprisingly, these were Wei Ji Myo-hwa's words. Only when they talked about the Blood Flame Sect did her eyes also show an edge.

It seemed that their relationship had become a bit closer during their not-so-short journey together.

When the bandits didn't try to take their lives, they sent them away again and again with intimidation. Before they knew it, they had reached their destination.

"We have arrived."

Wei Ji Myo-hwa said. The two of them had just buried Hyeon Won-chang in the ground nearby.

They did so because they expected a fierce battle.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked past the guards at the entrance to the valley.

It was the border between Chizhou and Huizhou. They said it was called the Clear Night Valley.

Collisions of energy waves could be felt from afar. In fact, it didn't seem like an ordinary scale battle.

"You."

Those in the distance approached. Five of them had red hair.

Their identities were clear even before they approached.

One of them took the lead. He was a man with a shaved head and a square jaw.

Since the energy waves that reached even Jeong Yeon-shin's skin were quite strong, he looked like a regular member of the near swordmaster level.

His martial power was such that some might mistake him for a sect swordsman.

He opened his mouth.

"Your appearance is not ordinary. Even bringing such fine horses and wagons. Leave everything you have here and turn back."

A well-made carriage was a luxury item.

Anyone would assume that there was plenty of money to travel with. The bandits they met along the way also thought so.

However, the Blood Flame Sect members stopped at a distance of ten paces.

They didn't come any closer. They kept their distance.

The Thirteen Evil Sects indeed.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought.

He was very perceptive. He seemed to sense something from Jeong Yeon-shin and Wei Ji Myo-hwa.

Some of the bandits we met earlier were different. They rolled away after approaching recklessly and trying to hurt Wei Ji Myo-hwa.

"Desolate... blue...?"

Another muttered as he stepped aside slightly. He had sharp eyes.

The fellow's words burst out.

"Desolate Sect's blue rank? At this age?"

"Must have been born into a noble family. Probably grew up eating spirit medicine like meals. Beware of single strikes. Their power must be tremendous. We could die if we are careless."

"That's all. We just have to overwhelm them with our technique. Truly excellent prey."

They began to talk among themselves.

This was the true face of the Blood Flame Sect. They valued the absorbable inner power pieces more than their own lives.

They even made assumptions when they saw Jeong Yeon-shin's appearance.

They don't know me.

The difference remained in Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes. He seemed to have found a weakness of the Blood Flame Sect.

These were ordinary members, not Blood Swordmasters. Fire ants. Far more numerous than swordmasters.

They said that evil sects that gathered with fanatics were especially places with clear orders from the top down.

Orders from above, obeyed below. No freedom. Sharing information isn't easy.

The fellows began to approach with great steps. Eventually, some even used the ease technique to rush.

They seemed to be saying whoever catches it first gets the property.

Wei Ji Myo-hwa stepped forward. It was the moment her palm struck the solar plexus of the one in front of her.

Waves of true qi surged out of the gap.

BANG!

Dust scattered in all directions. Waves of energy spewing strong winds swept away, even scratching rocks.

The guys who had rushed together rolled away pitifully.

Jeong Yeon-shin rushed through the aftermath of the Zhongnan Sect's Azure Cloud Heavenly Force Palm.

He knew that the battle between the Namgung family and the Blood Flame Sect was just ahead.

Without hesitation, he extended his left hand and grabbed the face of a fellow. It was the shaved-headed man who looked like a Blood Swordmaster.

"Kuk!"

Recently, only Jeong Yeon-shin's face could hint at his age.

His body, refined by the Jeong Family Dynamic Technique, rode the flow of time. He had grown remarkably lately.

His body was already almost adult.

His fingers that clasped the other's face were long enough.

This meant that he could run while holding an adult man's face with his inner strength.

THUD!

A storm arose beneath his feet, pounding the earth. He felt it the moment he immediately pushed off the ground.

True Qi of the Overlapping Fate Defying Scripture gushed out from the quadriceps that clearly split on both sides of his thighs.

It begins.

BANG!

He sprinted while holding the guy's face. The valley landscape before his eyes faded into hundreds of lines.

WHOOSH!

The wind that whipped through his ears was tremendously fierce.

He had been thinking for a long time that it shouldn't be incomparably magnificent to achieve remarkable military achievements.

Jeong Yeon-shin drew his sword and created a storm with the ease of his technique.

The sunlight shimmered silver along the wave patterns flowing on the blade.

It was completely instantaneous until he charged into the battlefield. The valley below was as wide as a plain.

Hundreds of people swarmed around, displaying their martial power.

The festival of tremendous martial arts created a military spirit like a war of thousands.

He paid no attention. Jeong Yeon-shin jumped down and threw the man he was holding.

THUD!

"Wh-what?"

"Who is that guy?"

It was a body-guarding momentary technique like the Elf Clan's unique Wrapping Wind. Jeong Yeon-shin's blue clothes fluttered like an immortal's robe.

WHOOSH!

At that moment, the cry of the sword song rose from the Northern Light Sword.

The Blood Flame Sect members who had been torturing him began to fall, spitting blood.

THUD!

He deliberately stomped on the ground. The thick dust was shredded by the storm of energy waves that immediately rose.

After landing, he rushed off again. Following Jeong Yeon-shin's Northern Light Sword, the flow of the battlefield immediately began to twist.

As if an invisible typhoon was spreading with him at the center, people continued to fall in all directions.

Most of them were instant deaths. It wasn't a power that could be seen as Jeong Yeon-shin's martial arts level.

The sword song chants that had been adjusted earlier failed to create any casualties among the Namgung family.

He entered the battlefield in a straight line. In an instant, he reached the place where the Namgung family leadership could be seen.

The faces of several elderly people, including a friendly-looking, incomparably handsome man, a tanned woman full of vitality, and a middle-aged man with an overwhelming spirit, were filled with different emotions.

That's when it happened.

"Radiant Demon Wing's Flash. They managed to return."

"The face that lost its soul looks friendly, but it has strange martial arts."

Looking back, familiar people smiled. Even if they knew Jeong Yeon-shin's identity.

Blood Sand Swordmasters with shiny black and red hair.

The energy waves the two of them emitted together were extraordinary.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked at them silently. A scene was clearly drawn in front of his eyes.

The memory could not be blurred. It was the moment of his first escape.

He understood the look of contempt on their faces.

They were the ones who stood in the front and threw thunderbolts at Jeong Yeon-shin during the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.

They all possessed madness. They did not seem to care how many ordinary members died.

"Did you think you could do something with the Namgung family?"

One of them said. He held thunderbolts in his hand, silently drawn like hidden weapons.

The martial artists around him showed great signs of flinching.

The moment the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering collapsed, Jeong Yeon-shin in Huizhou Lotus Pavilion was the same as them.

One step.

This time was different. Jeong Yeon-shin walked forward without stopping.

He knew without looking back. The supreme masters of the Namgung family would be watching this way.

He slowly parted his lips.

"You guys. Should know for sure."

While sheathing the sword of the Northern Light, he drew the familiar sword of the Desolate Sect. The flow between sheathing and drawing was seamless.

It was a master's stance that anyone could recognize. The blade of the Desolate Sect sword naturally revealed itself and began to contain sunlight.

He adjusted his grip on the hilt once. The cold sensation immediately turned hot.

"You who throw first are the traitors. Pay for your sins."

Jeong Yeon-shin said calmly.