Chapter 65: First Young Master of Green Mountain (5)

“Mm. Good.”

Yeon Hojeong clenched his fist.

Tss, tss, tss—

White Tiger Qi naturally suffused it.

He wanted to shoot that clenched fist out this instant. Swing it at a rock and the rock would split; swing it at a tree and the tree would shatter.

Of course, it was something he could also do with the ever-deepening Jade Wave True Qi.

But anchoring on Jade Wave True Qi while driving the strike with White Tiger Qi made a difference in raw offensive power.

‘Now it runs properly.’

White Tiger Qi is savage. It is not a heavy, static energy like Black Tortoise Qi.

So it always strained to bolt outward. If you cannot seize White Tiger Qi, you will struggle to control even your martial arts.

And if you can’t control your martial arts?

Then you self-destruct. Even a peerless treasured blade only shines when used at the proper time. Fling White Tiger Qi around without control, and before your inner power runs dry, your flesh will fail first.

‘Even so.’

Satisfaction rose on Yeon Hojeong’s face.

‘Having White Tiger as well is solid reassurance.’

It had been eight days since he gained White Tiger Qi.

In that time he had governed his True Qi and trimmed it to fit his body.

He hadn’t swung the axe or trained footwork, yet he felt his martial arts had greatly advanced. No matter how far one pursued the extreme in the martial path, a minimum of balance was necessary.

Yeon Hojeong stood, taking up his axe. After days in the forest his beard had grown thick, yet his skin seemed clearer.

“Then.”

He stamped a strong single step.

Thoom!

A tread that shook the earth announced the master of the mountain.

Yeon Hojeong’s body blurred like smoke.

Whud!

The instant he seemed to vanish, he appeared ten steps away and cleaved a tree on the diagonal.

By nature, Yeon Hojeong’s movement arts were not especially fast. Even now, their attainment differed little from before he gained White Tiger Qi.

But his footwork was another matter.

He had always been quick at plunging through short range. Now he was faster still—lightning, in truth.

That was White Tiger Lord’s Step: the stride of the Western Great Emperor who rules a battlefield where blood and flesh fly.

Footwork that could meet any enemy who entered its domain. Footwork specialized for combat.

Yeon Hojeong swung the axe again.

Swaaaash!

He swung with such vigor the shaft seemed ready to bow.

It resembled the Beast Spear Method, yet was wholly different. At last, the marrow of “one strike, one kill” had begun to infuse his blows.

Before the actual attack even landed, its momentum smashed the foe—Tiger ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) King’s Nine Thunderclap Stances, a peerlessly extreme art.

After dozens of cuts, he hammered the axe in his right hand into the base of a boulder.

Kra-boom! Rrrr-rrrr!

A fairly large rock rolled five zhang before it struck a great tree and stopped.

He blasted the stone away with explosive force. There was no brute strength like this brute strength.

Thud.

Yeon Hojeong let the axe drop and looked down at his hands.

His fingertips quivered ever so slightly.

‘The Qi is complete, but the body doesn’t yet back it.’

Since he’d struck with an axe carried by White Tiger Qi, the boulder should have split. But he had hurled the boulder away with that destructive Qi.

It meant his True Qi intake and output were at will—a proof he could command White Tiger Qi perfectly.

But muscle, tendon, and joint could not yet fully absorb the brutality of the method.

‘For now it’s fine. But if I don’t loosen it in advance, it will inevitably rupture someday.’

Yeon Hojeong did not worry.

White Tiger Qi is rough. Yet because of White Tiger Qi, bone and sinew grow.

In short, beyond external physical training, if he just runs White Tiger Qi well, this issue will vanish in time.

Yeon Hojeong drew in a great breath.

Vmmm—

He centered on Jade Wave True Qi, regained True Qi with White Tiger Qi, then used Black Tortoise Qi to blow out any crooked taint.

Recovery was truly swift. The body that had felt stiff filled with vitality at once.

“All right, then.”

Resting the axe on his shoulder, he looked to the grand wine house towering in the distance.

His stomach rumbled.

“Time to oil the belly for the first time in a while.”

The place Yeon Hojeong reached was Zhengzhou, capital of the prefecture in Henan.

Kaifeng was Kaifeng, but Zhengzhou’s crowds were another thing altogether. The streets were showier than Kaifeng’s, and the halls were larger and taller.

He went straight into the especially large, splendid wine house among them and took a room.

He hadn’t washed properly in days. He bathed for over half an hour, then changed clothes.

As arranged, the clothes were martial garb—black martial garb that didn’t show dirt.

Dressed in martial garb, he took his axe and headed for the dining hall.

Clamor.

The wine house was noisy. Though the sun had not yet set, many had already laid out drink.

He sat in a secluded spot on the top floor and ordered dishes. Wine, naturally, came with them.

“Smells good.”

Three ordered dishes arrived. Yeon Hojeong tore through them like a starving ghost.

But he was not Ga Deoksang—two dishes in and he felt full enough.

‘They’ll do nicely as appetizers.’

Leisurely, he tossed back a cup of wine.

He felt people’s sidelong glances. He paid them no mind. He was not the sort to be bothered by others’ eyes, and he’d long grown used to them.

He finished a bottle like that and was ordering another when—

“You look wonderfully bold when you drink.”

Yeon Hojeong lifted his head.

There stood a woman with bright, dazzling looks. She’d had a fair bit to drink; both cheeks were flushed.

She was attractive. Whether by design or not, her clothes showed off a curving figure. A woman hard for any man to look away from.

“Are you a warrior of the rivers and lakes? My, do you carry that huge axe around? Amazing! You must be very strong?”

Yeon Hojeong answered evenly.

“I use my strength as needed.”

“Heeeh, you’re stiff, aren’t you? Attractive.”

Calling him attractive to his face. Even the brazen don’t do that easily.

The woman set her hand on the table.

It was a bold, alluring pose. The parted front bared the cleft of her chest.

“How about it? I happen to be alone too. Shall we drink together?”

“Is that all right?”

“Oh my. Why? Is there a law that a man and a woman can’t drink together?”

“There isn’t, is there?”

“Then let’s drink together.”

“No.”

Disappointment flickered over the woman’s face.

“Why? Do you want to be alone?”

Yeon Hojeong jerked his chin around them.

“People aren’t looking at me.”

“Pardon?”

“I carry a fearsome piece around. They all sneak glances while pretending not to. But right now no one’s looking at me.”

“Oh my, then are they looking at me?”

The woman looked about. Yet no one was looking this way.

Yeon Hojeong gave a thin smile.

“Plenty of pests must have gotten in the way while I was gone, huh? But people aren’t looking at you either.”

She kept glancing around.

“True. They aren’t looking at me. Why is that?”

“Why else. They’re afraid of you.”

“Afraid of me? What did I do?”

“How would I know. How many you put hands on, how much of a scene you made.”

The woman shut her mouth.

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“You lot are sloppy. If you’re going to fool your mark, you should fool the others too. You think fooling only me is enough?”

“Hm.”

“I’ll play along when it’s time. For today, wash your feet and go to sleep.”

“Oh my, oddly enough that line makes me expect things.”

She turned her head back to Yeon Hojeong.

Her face was still bright. Only her eyes had changed—ice-cold now, unlike a moment before.

“How did you know, little brother?”

Her manner of speech had shifted.

“I just told you.”

“No, not that reason. I’m curious how you really knew.”

“I’ve said my piece. Go.”

“...Hoh? So it was real? You can see through it that easily?”

Of course.

There is such a thing as a sense you can’t explain with logic, too. He’d seen so many who lied to get close and sink a knife in your belly that he could smell it from the approach.

Plop.

With shameless ease, the woman sat opposite him.

Yeon Hojeong grumbled.

“Let me eat, will you.”

“Eat. We won’t touch you.”

She meant it. Yeon Hojeong read sincerity in her words.

Sincerity always comes out of confidence. The woman—no, they—were sure they could take Yeon Hojeong without trouble.

Leaning forward, she propped her chin on her hand.

The pose was still enticing, but without the earlier sultry drift. Cool, pure eyes shone with artless innocence.

“Amazing. You were the fastest. Most men go slack-jawed the moment I come close.”

“Sounds like you only ever played fools.”

“Think so? But among the ones we caught were some decent ones. One called himself the Sword Hero of Mount Heng, if I recall?”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes lit.

He knew the sobriquet Sword Hero of Mount Heng. Because that man was the last master of the declining Mount Heng Sect.

What mattered was his force.

The Sword Hero of Mount Heng was a peerless master equal to an elder of the Azure Castle Sect, one of the Nine Sects and One Union. To have caught such a master meant this group’s capability was extraordinary.

“How many are you?”

“Who knows? About seventy? I stopped counting after a few batches of recruits came in.”

“Quite a crowd to dogpile one man.”

“Hey now, we’re not that rude. Only five went to take the Sword Hero of Mount Heng.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

That was fairly astonishing. How many organizations could seize someone on the level of an Azure Castle elder with just five?

“How many came this time?”

“All of us.”

“Oh?”

“So I got curious. Maybe the target’s one of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats? My curiosity got the better of me, so I came out first.”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“I’ll guarantee you this—whoever you are, you’ll never catch one of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats.”

The woman grinned crookedly.

Her gaze grew colder still.

“Why so sure? Don’t you know the rivers and lakes are a place where even a top master dies to a knife the kids toss?”

“I know. But it’s not the Thirteen Seats.”

“You know those gentlemen?”

“There are things you know without seeing faces. At your level, you couldn’t catch the Thirteen Seats—couldn’t even match my father.”

“Judge’s Sword Yeon Wi. I’ve heard he’s formidable.”

“Meet him in person and you’ll foul yourself.”

“Bragging on your daddy, are we.”

“Go pay a visit if you get the chance. Ah—but no, you won’t. You’d all be dead by my hand first.”

She shook her head as if amused.

“You really don’t know fear, do you.”

Yeon Hojeong waved his hand.

“If you’re done, go rest. I mean to get drunk tonight.”

She watched him a moment, then rose with a smile.

“Drink plenty. The dead can’t drink.”

“I got it. Go on, already.”

“Hee-hee-hee.”

Giggling, she swayed off.

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes deepened.

‘Considerable.’

The stench of blood was thick.

A woman who had killed more people than she could count. Likely everyone in her organization was the same.

‘Seventy of that sort?’

This could be fun.

Creatures that reek of blood like that never crawl under a noble house. And a noble house wouldn’t take them in to begin with.

Yet it seemed they were not Ming Clan.

“Greedy little things.”

Just then—

[From the Beggars’ Union. Clan Lord Mo Yong has arrived in Zhengzhou.]

A gleam flashed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

‘At last.’

He had come.

Yeon Hojeong murmured small.

“Tell him I’ll tidy up one more thing before I come.”

[Yes.]

Mo Yonggun, Clan Lord of Mo Yong.

A peerless master titled the Sword Deity and Alliance Lord of the Martial World; comrade-in-arms—and enemy—who had climbed Mount Tianzhu with him to exterminate the Cult of Perversity Sect Lord.

He would finally meet him.

Not as Lord of the Black Emperor’s Citadel, Dark Emperor—but as Yeon Hojeong, First Young Master of the Yeon Clan of Green Mountain.

Steadying his thudding heart, Yeon Hojeong raised a hand.

“Another bottle here.”