Chapter 74: Enemies (Grudge), and Source Water (4)

As he was now, Yeon Hojeong had not yet fused the realization to his body; he was clearly beneath Ming Hak.

However—

Yeon Hojeong had the means to overturn this match. There was a gap in skill, yes, but his experience and realizations were abundant enough to bridge it.

He had insisted on a head-on clash with surging killing will, but the thought struck that this wouldn’t do; he moved to change tactics.

It was right then. Black Tortoise Qi reacted.

Vrrrrm.

Because of the internal injury, surging turbid qi was expelled at frightening speed.

Even from minute damage to the blood paths, turbid qi rises. That turbid qi hinders inner-power cultivation and, if severe, even degrades the quality of one’s inner power.

Yeon Hojeong, with Black Tortoise Qi enlarged, flushed all turbid qi out in an instant. That alone let him feel the internal injury steadily mending.

And not only that—

Come to think of it—

In a split second, the fist-method patterns of Ming Hak flashed up.

Short yet supple motion. A fist art that drew out maximum power with minimal movement.

But that pattern ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) would, beyond doubt, display a more outstanding potency in defense than in offense.

The reason being—

Northern Heaven Twelve Walls!

Yes.

Ming Hak’s Spirit Turtle Divine Art, though of a different color, ran on the same grain as Black Tortoise Art.

It was an astonishing fact. So unexpected that even his killing will and anger blew away clean.

In that instant, Yeon Hojeong recalled what Je Gal Ahyeon had told him at the meeting.

“The Ming Clan of the Nine Provinces has a long enough history. But not as long as the Five Great Clans—except yours. The forefathers who founded the Ming aided the Four Directions Martial Emperor roughly three hundred years ago to end the Blood Sect Uprising. The Ming’s history begins there.”

The Four Directions Martial Emperor, and the Blood Sect Uprising.

Yeon Hojeong recalled another of Je Gal Ahyeon’s lines.

“If the Four Directions Martial Emperor’s caliber is as history records, he deserves to be called Absolute Unrivaled, doesn’t he? Not one but four arts, all trained to the extreme.”

He had no certainty.

But Yeon Hojeong guessed the one called the Four Directions Martial Emperor was a descendant of the Four Spirit Arts.

“They say he later even wielded a golden dragon and was called the Yellow Dragon Emperor. Even I think that goes too far.”

Four arts that excelled at offense–defense, evasion, and counter.

And a golden dragon.

The odds that he was a descendant of the Four Spirit Arts were high. No—at this point, he could be confident the man was their descendant.

And the Ming forefathers aided the Four Directions Martial Emperor to bring the Blood Sect Uprising to an end.

“Could it be that the man—the Four Directions Martial Emperor—transmitted a portion of his arts to the Ming forefathers?”

He could think nothing else.

He did wonder for a moment if the Ming forefathers had stolen the arts of the Four Directions Martial Emperor, but the probability was near zero.

He who completed Yellow Dragon Qi—the Divine King’s Yellow Dragon Art, a secret of the Four Spirit lineage—cannot be beaten by anyone.

One who generates Yellow Dragon Qi is a disaster on the order of a natural cataclysm. You can compete with a person; you don’t grab a natural disaster by the scruff of the neck.

In other words, the Ming could be seen as a collateral branch of the Four Directions Martial Emperor.

“What—?!”

Yeon Hojeong realized one more thing at once.

The subtlety of released force, orthodox proper skill—and yet with a hue that ran on a track different from Central Plains arts.

No matter how much his upper dantian had swelled, at the time he’d been busy running; it would have been hard to remember each and every trait of the man-eaters’ arts.

And yet Yeon Hojeong remembered the color of their inner qi and the traits of their released force.

How?

“Because they were alike.”

Blood flushed Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

Jade Wave True Qi settled and Black Tortoise Qi seized his whole body. At once the color of the true qi sheathing Ming Hak’s flesh was caught.

“The color differs. But the grain is the same.”

He called up Ming Hak’s rebound fists.

They were entirely different from the released force of the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls. But in the defensive generation of an inner-power shield that inflicted damage on the enemy via rebound force, there were many commonalities.

In short, Ming Hak’s fist method took the rebound of the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls and borrowed it to seize offensive power. He’d have paid for that in defense.

“How can this be. That I didn’t see it...”

It was inevitable.

Who would imagine that fragments of the arts he had trained had been transmitted to mortal enemies who had ruined his clan? Even Yeon Hojeong—he might have felt the familiarity, but it would have been hard to sense the linkage.

Until now—until directly colliding like this.

A strange futility passed through Yeon Hojeong.

“The arts Master handed down to me share one vein with the arts of those man-eaters of the Four Spirit line who harmed my clan...?”

He was dumbfounded.

Since returning to the past, he had not suffered such a massive mental shock. For a very brief instant, Yeon Hojeong even felt the urge to rip White Tiger Qi and Black Tortoise Qi out by the roots.

“So that was it. That’s why I...”

Everything locked into place.

Before he fought Ming Chisan and the Pure-White Martial Corps, he had called up Ming Onji’s art and felt an unknown déjà vu.

Because her art followed the traits of Black Tortoise Art. Only, Ming Onji’s realm was so low he could not feel the Black Tortoise’s signature water-qi and weight.

Had she fully mastered Black Tortoise Qi from the start, Ming Onji wouldn’t have lasted even a single fingernail’s time.

“Four Spirit Arts... Four Spirit Arts!”

“Black Tortoise Art? What kind of dogs**t is that!”

Yeon Hojeong stared at Ming Hak with dazed eyes.

Ming Hak twisted his lips.

“What’s with that face? Hmph! Struck dumb after seeing my art?”

“...”

“Silent, are we. Fine—this ends now.”

Thud!

With a fierce advance of true steps, Ming Hak closed in.

Yeon Hojeong, without meaning to, shook his head.

“Unmoving Pillar is not an art to be used that way.”

Even the footwork was similar. Just as his fist method had borrowed the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls to harvest offensive power, that footwork had taken the gait of Unmoving Pillar and remodeled it into a forward-only form like White Tiger Lord’s Step.

“Haaap!”

With a kiai, Ming Hak’s fist drove for Yeon Hojeong’s chest.

A lethal strike. Receive it without inner power and your sternum through to your spine would be crushed as is.

Yeon Hojeong closed his eyes.

Boom!

“—gh!”

Unable to endure the shock, Ming Hak staggered back five full steps.

Wiiiiiinnnn.

Having set the axe down, Yeon Hojeong had spread both hands. Around his open palms, hexagonal carapace forms had risen into being.

It was a form of the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls—the Great Emperor of the Dark Heavens Heavy Wall.

The Great Emperor Zhenwu is the Lord of the Dark Heavens, and the Lord of the Dark Heavens is the deified Black Tortoise. The defensive power of this form needs no explanation; the name alone tells you.

But the reason Ming Hak was flung away was not simply the strong rebound of the Great Emperor of the Dark Heavens Heavy Wall.

“Again.”

Ssssshhhk!

With sooty vapor, the semi-transparent inner-power shield of hexagonal carapace dissolved.

Yeon Hojeong crooked a finger.

“Come again.”

Ming Hak’s face flushed red.

“You bastard!”

Kraaang!

This time he truly went all out. He didn’t care if he died on this blow.

Ming Hak’s attack laid his murderous intent bare. Following explosive footwork, the final form of Spirit Turtle Divine Fist unfolded.

Ten zhang back, Ming Hwi and Ming Heon shouted.

“Brother!”

“Don’t kill him!”

The giant fist smashed straight into Yeon Hojeong’s chest.

Kraaang!

A thunderclap boomed.

It was as if he’d detonated gunpowder with his fist. Brute beyond belief.

Crk-crkk.

The ground under Yeon Hojeong’s feet sank a full five chi.

...!!

Dismay spread over Ming Hak’s face.

His fist was pressed to Yeon Hojeong’s chest. And Yeon Hojeong’s two hands were gripping that arm.

Yeon Hojeong slowly raised his head.

“...Good.”

Yeon Hojeong’s face had grown even paler.

But that was all. He could not avoid internal injury, but he had prevented bones from breaking.

It wasn’t the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls. Nor was it the Tiger King’s Nine Thunderclap Stances.

Before the fist landed, he’d traced the raging force—reverse-ordering the forms of the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls—and dismantled and dispersed it to nothing.

With the destructive released force all extinguished, it couldn’t show its might. Muscle and trained knuckles he protected with Jade Wave True Qi.

“H-how?!”

Ming Hak gaped like a carp.

“How did you... dismantle it?!”

“Like this.”

Black Tortoise Qi rippled over Yeon Hojeong’s upper body.

Tt-tt-tt-tt-tt.

Heaving up, Black Tortoise Qi crossed his shoulders and moved into his hands.

And the Black Tortoise Qi orbiting his hands, in a blink, infiltrated Ming Hak’s arm.

“—gh!”

Startled, Ming Hak tried to yank his fist back.

But the fist would not come free. This whelp’s grip strength was surging at a terrifying pace. No matter how he strained, he couldn’t pull his arm out.

“You cur!”

Thwack!

With his free fist, Yeon Hojeong’s head snapped to the side. The corner of his mouth split and blood burst.

Ming Hak’s face went pale.

W-what is this?!

With fists that could shatter a log even without inner power—cheekbone, jawbone, all should have broken.

But Yeon Hojeong was fine. The corner of his mouth split and bleeding—that was all.

Witnessing an unreal sight, Ming Hak in that instant grasped a chilling realization.

He grows stronger and I grow weaker?

Then Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“Black Tortoise is the northern black and winter. As the Water Deity of Gui-Hai, it governs water.”

“...?!”

“Tributaries flow into the main stream. That is water. The countless collateral powers that spread through the world return to the head family.”

“W-what nonsense is this?!”

“Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise—also called dragon-wave, tiger-fell, flying-kill, and strange-wall. Black Tortoise is strange-wall: the symbol of perfect defense and an invincible shield.”

Majesty settled in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

Seeing those eyes, Ming Hak—unbelievably—felt himself shrink.

“You took an iron-wall art that had reached completion and loosened it into that trash. Soon, the qi will reverse and your original essence will shatter. The reason: in the Four Spirit Arts, qi and method are one.”

“...!!”

“To shave off lifespan to implement martial art—so you’ve turned a world-rending divine art into a half-made demonic art.”

Ming Hak’s mouth fell open.

Shave off lifespan? Was that not a line of grave meaning?

Ssssshhhk!

Both of Yeon Hojeong’s eyes were dyed to perfect darkness.

“I, the Patriarch, will take all that you are.”

Cr-rrrrk!

“Graaah!”

Ming Hak dropped to his knees. Under Yeon Hojeong’s grip, his thick forearm crunched to pulp.

And not only that—

Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle!

Ming Hak’s mouth fell wide.

Spirit Turtle qi was being sucked into Yeon Hojeong’s hands. Like a rolling river, it flowed down at terrifying speed, and he could mount no resistance.

Fear crept over Ming Hak’s face.

The inner power he had forged over decades—and, after recently training the Spirit Turtle Divine Art, he had transformed that inner power into Spirit Turtle True Qi.

All that qi was transferring to the opponent. So easily, so smoothly.

Could it be essence-absorption...?!

Ssssshhhhh!

All true qi was pulled into Yeon Hojeong. Of the Spirit Turtle True Qi sucked in, most—being impurity—burned off and flew away; the small fraction of pure Black Tortoise Qi seeped into Yeon Hojeong’s kidneys.

Thunk.

With one hand, Yeon Hojeong took Ming Hak’s face.

Ming Hak could not turn his head. As his true qi drained away, even his strength had fled.

Watching from afar, Ming Hwi and Ming Heon sensed the atmosphere turning dire.

“Brother?!”

“W-what are you doing!”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

His smile was somehow vacant—and filled with majesty.

“Those your younger brothers?”

“—khff.”

“I wonder what fakes your younger brothers trained. I’ll send them shortly to where you are.”

“S-spare—”

“Fare well.”

Crkkk-kkk!

Ming Hak’s skull was crushed as is.

“—gh!”

“Y-you cur—?!”

Flaaare!

Ming Hwi and Ming Heon charged with tremendous force.

A gleam flashed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

The speed was such that even reacting wasn’t easy—but he saw it now. Which arts those two had trained. In a glance, he saw which of the Four Spirit Arts their modified arts were grounded in.

Chzzzeo-o-ong!

A single, biting slash and flame-like tension hurled Yeon Hojeong back. In that instant—had he not lifted the axe to catch it on the shaft—he would have died.

Fsssss.

Pale smoke lifted off the shaft.

It was killing will of an extreme order—murderous art terrifying beyond measure. With a single cut, the will of Ten-Thousand-Slaughters; with a flick of the hand, a thousand men’s blood scattered.

Yeon Hojeong raised his head.

Within the northern black of his gaze, a sunlike force lifted its face.

“...Vermilion Bird.”