Something descended. To the mountain range across from the Black Capital.

The temperament of the Northern Winds shifted.

It no longer blew dry. It felt a bit fresher now, a little heavier.

It was undoubtedly a far-off place.

At the far end, spanning a width that could easily contain three or four metropolises the size of the Black Capital, a reverberation had arisen—whispers of the “Southern Emperor.”

It felt as if something had forced its way through a sky that was choking down from above. A distance so vast it was almost unimaginable—literally an unforeseen manifestation. A crash landing.

It felt like a displacement technique that defied natural law.

[...A place you should not have been able to reach. So the Lord of the Divine Sword Corps dared to defy the heavens.]

In that moment, the voice of the Southern Emperor echoed from the Black Capital Palace, pointing it out. Shin So-bin felt that he was, unusually, surprised.

[Impressive, rather. I quite like it. But you must understand that every moment it took you to arrive is as precious as gold to me. I do not waste anything without reason.]

There was joy in his tone. No hostility. Merely the atmosphere of greeting a young companion.

Had he seen himself reflected in Jeong Yeon-shin?

But that sort of kinship was no deeper than the glint of sunlight on a river’s surface. The Southern Emperor’s composure remained as calm as a lake.

—Nothing is wasted carelessly.

He meant to end the war before Jeong Yeon-shin could arrive.

But the Lord of the Divine Sword Corps gave no response. He didn’t bother continuing the Thousand-League Listening Technique to hear what the Southern Emperor would say next.

That, too, signaled just how far the distance was—one that required the Thousand-League Listening Technique to begin with.

He said his piece, and that was enough to dampen the morale of many Yozoku.

A distance so vast that even conserving inner force for perfect arrival was necessary. Anyone with broad experience might have guessed that the “defiant displacement technique” had come with flaws.

That was why what had just happened settled over the Black Capital like a dream.

And yet, everyone on the battlefield must have felt it. The presence and voice were simply too overwhelming to ignore.

Even Shin So-bin, who smiled dazzlingly, showing her perfectly lined teeth.

Even the black-clad figures inside and outside the city walls.

Even the other blue-ranked experts of the Divine Sword Corps, and likely even the Northern Kings at the northern edge of the vast Black Capital, in the Black Capital Palace.

Ssshhhhh—

Was it the aftereffect of the Lord of the Divine Sword Corps manifesting?

From a distant ridge, white clouds rolled in slowly like a tidal wave.

As if a storm had broken over the original sea of clouds. Sunlight was sliced into pieces—slowly, but unmistakably. Then, whoosh— a sharp wind swept through.

Aimed straight at the Divine Sword Corps, standing firm in the main road.

That wind carried a subtly familiar aura. The kind of presence a disciple might feel toward their Grandmaster.

“...It’s him, right?”

“Where is he...?”

It was around the time the talented young warriors of Ipwang Fortress, Yeon So-ha and Sambok, began glancing around behind them.

A large shadow fell across the road. Shade laid down by the oncoming clouds. The chill of late winter deepened, and Shin So-bin’s breath turned a thick white.

Haa—

Exhale was Hwan-gang, inhale was Jeong Household Inner Art. Her breathing path felt even more solid than before.

She almost let out a chuckle without meaning to. But what slipped past her lips was actually a quiet sigh of relief.

“Ah.”

She couldn’t do it without her master. Not right now.

‘Just focus on the mission.’

That’s what Shin So-bin thought.

The tyrannical energy that had surged from all across the Black Capital seemed to hesitate as if it had been a lie. For a moment, their morale wavered. At the name of the Northern Emperor.

Naturally, this only occurred because the Black Capital’s martial troops were all highly attuned. There could be no lowering of one’s guard.

“Let’s go.”

It was Hong Jugeom who spoke. The scarred line of his mouth curled upward.

“We can go now. Keep moving. No matter what tricks the Southern Emperor tries.”

“Yeah.”

Ma Gwang-ik and Oh Wol-hyang responded.

She hadn’t been able to wipe the redness from her eyes. She was a one-armed swordswoman. If she let go of the hilt now, there was no other hand to take its place.

Yet Oh Wol-hyang didn’t sheath her long blade. In fact, her posture suggested she considered the scabbard behind her a nonexistent thing. The other experts of the Divine Sword Corps were the same.

That was because of the presences closing in from all directions in this vast city.

Even if they had momentarily paused at the weight of Jeong Yeon-shin’s presence, the enemies’ inner force waves were still monstrous. After all, the Southern Emperor had just bolstered their momentum with his incantation.

Some martial troops who nearly clashed with the Divine Sword Corps outside the Black Capital were now approaching again from the rear. Hoofbeats began to resound once more.

It was simple.

They were being surrounded—front, back, and sides.

Which meant they had to break through the front.

KWAANG!

The Divine Sword Corps struck the main road again. Another quake erupted from the propulsion waves of the blue warriors’ feet.

Their target was the Black Capital Palace. If they could even slightly disrupt the formation of the God of War’s reenactment, the rest would be handled by their commander.

“The enemies only wavered for a moment. By now, they’ve probably reorganized their lines.”

“There are over ten Northern Kings alone. That probably means just as many types of Northern King armies. Even without counting the Southern Emperor’s forces, it’s absurd. We have to reach the palace. Whether we die there or survive.”

That was the conversation between Sambok and Yeon So-ha.

Nearly 700 enemy martial troops were charging at them. Each had twisted expressions, hefting massive weapons like axes and crescent blades as if they were light as reed stalks.

KUUGUGUGUNG—

The ground shook violently. The roofs of nearby halls swayed like fishing rods in the wind. The entire city seemed to be trembling.

That’s when it began.

Within the ranks of her seniors, Shin So-bin began to sense the world slowing down. She didn’t know why. Everything she saw blurred like a dream.

Amid a dangerously unstable state of inner deviation—

She found utter relief.

The spirit of her upper danjeon soared. It was a shape that followed emotions already risen to the top of her head. Because of her master, her emotional state was heightened—making this possible. Her breath grew even thicker.

Haa—

Her body, polished through Jeong Household Inner Art, gave a slight convulsion. The inner force that had already been sufficient as the heir of a noble house rippled from her lower danjeon, opened the middle danjeon in her chest wide, and surged to the crown of her head.

CRACK!

Lightning exploded at the top of her skull. Her black hair, usually falling to her neck, shot upward.

At the same time, Shin So-bin’s vision changed. The grand halls that had once stretched far away now flashed beneath her as she dashed forward with the Divine Sword Corps.

She had lost consciousness for a moment—even though her body was moving just fine.

“You’re breaking through both the Governor and Conception Vessels? In this situation? Just how deep did you dive into active cultivation...?”

It was Yeon So-ha’s voice.

“Shut up.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The reply spilled from her lips on its own. She was fully displaying signs of inner deviation. She didn’t have the presence of mind to even look back at her senior.

—Because you chose the Jeong Family.

Another explosion erupted in her head.

CRACK!

Her leather shoes squelched. A metallic scent entered with her inhale.

“...!”

This time, blood had splattered on her body. Even her right shoulder blade ached to the bone—she must’ve used Hwan-gang just once.

At her feet lay a body of a Yozoku martial artist so mangled it was unrecognizable, forming a red pool.

CRACK!

Another shift.

Now she was on the roof of some enormous structure.

Shin So-bin passed the sight of Great King Vajra’s left arm frozen and shattered.

Geum Cheong-won, Lord of Wu Geuk Pavilion, was having his prosthetic leg ripped out—tendons and all. Wеi Ji-geuk, Lord of the Heavenly Dragon Corps, grabbed Vajra’s ankle with a side split open by lightning and slammed him down to the rafters.

Meanwhile, Cheon So-so, Lord of the Celestial Wood, stood frozen, unconscious.

This wasn’t a battle a single group could delicately intervene in. At least not to Shin So-bin.

CRACK!

The martial forces behind Vajra’s shoulder were now right up close. Of course, it was the Divine Sword Corps who had charged in. Before the martial artists of the Black Capital could rally to support Vajra.

CRACK!

They had been wiped out. The collective charge of the Radiant Pact left a trail of starlike afterimages across the midday sky. Like a dawn that arrived too soon.

Ahead, the view was now filled with halls more formal than before.

The high officials’ residential quarters of the Black Capital.

They were more than halfway there.

‘...Ah.’

Now both of Shin So-bin’s arms ached. It felt like the recoil was shaking her bones—like her shoulders were about to be torn off.

Meanwhile, Yeon So-ha, Sambok, and Oh Wol-hyang glanced at her with eyes full of shock. So far, they were all still unharmed, though who knew how long that would last.

But Shin So-bin could only think of Jeong Yeon-shin.

‘He used Hwan-gang this much, so casually...’

Her mind was filled with her master. The heightened state of her inner deviation was immense. Each time her vision shifted, she felt even closer to Jeong Yeon-shin.

She welcomed the explosion that once again surged up toward her Baihui acupoint. Come. Come again.

—This must truly be called Jeong Family Inner Art.

BANG!

Her vision changed again.

They faced a massive, crater-like depression in the ground. The main road had sunken in, and at the center, the tail of some kind of iron spear was trembling faintly. On closer look, it resembled an arrow.

A single strike had left behind a scar like a meteor fall. For the first time since entering the Black Capital, the Divine Sword Corps was forcibly halted.

It had clearly been fired from the Black Capital Palace.

If you shortened the range and increased the power of the “One Kill Every Ten Li” from the Thirteen Heavens’ Night Raid Lord, it would look like this. A transcendent bombardment.

“Heavenly Palace King...!”

Hong Jugeom muttered the name of yet another Northern King from the Whipwind Order. Said to have mastered the legendary archery techniques of the old Yuan dynasty. Capable of performing every manner of miraculous feat with a single arrow.

As the Divine Sword Corps changed direction, Shin So-bin’s vision briefly went black.

BANG!

When she opened her eyes again, their formation had collapsed. Who knew how many times they’d veered off course. Her comrades around her—and she herself—were all panting heavily.

Before her stood a familiar Northern King.

‘King of Ultimate Silence...!’

Her face was veiled in jet-black silk, and her body below the neck was completely translucent—a woman.

She stood alone, blocking a wide alley.

She was said to possess the world’s finest body-protecting inner qi. The skin and inner barrier of Mun Gok of the Six-Origin Star Army combined were said to equal her Celestial Shield.

“Scarlet Radiance Queen Shin So-bin.”

Her veil fluttered slightly.

“Tell me what you spoke of with the Lord of the Voice-Shrouded Temple. I can’t determine if she is an ally or enemy.”

“That’s none of your business. Why did you betray us?”

To Shin So-bin’s retort, King of Ultimate Silence replied.

“I deliberated for quite some time. But I concluded the Northern Emperor lacked both cause and capability compared to the Southern Emperor. The Lord of the Divine Sword Corps ultimately has no room to accommodate the Yozoku. Above all, his strategy cannot compare. As you know, I’m a Northern King who values self-preservation. The Southern Emperor is a flawless vessel for emperorship.”

A quiet groan followed from Hong Jugeom.

“Whipwind Order...! We’ve been hunted into a trap!”

Shin So-bin realized the same.

The Southern Emperor had sealed the Divine Sword Corps inside the Black Capital and was toying with them like playthings, ensuring they couldn’t interfere with the manifestation of the War God.

Proper time and {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} place. He’d positioned the right experts at precisely the right moments.

Meanwhile, King of Ultimate Silence spoke as if it were nothing.

“This is a great national conflict. Strategy and tactics are a given. The Northern Emperor, who has built his legacy through solo combat, has no chance of winning. He is merely a young man with extraordinary martial skill.”

[Ultimate Silence, that is a mistaken belief.]

Suddenly, the voice of the Southern Emperor cut in.

RUMMMBLE—

Perhaps due to his proximity, his Six-Direction Martial Echo shook the ground far more violently this time.

[Managing martial troops is not so different from martial arts itself. Do not belittle the Lord of the Divine Sword Corps in my presence. At the very least, he is on a different level than a traitor like you.]

“......”

[He is one who can soil his hands himself. Unlike you, he sees the greater cause. Therefore, it is enough that you prove your loyalty to me. Hurry.]

“...Understood.”

That was the end of it.

Hardly even worthy of being called internal strife. At the same time, with the Divine Sword Corps unable to break through King of Ultimate Silence, forces from all over the Black Capital were rapidly converging on this alley. Shin So-bin’s mind wavered again.

BANG!

For a split second, her vision darkened again—then cleared. But King of Ultimate Silence was still in front of her. Only a small speck of blood stained her translucent black veil.

Her consciousness flickered again.

BANG!

“......!”

Still King of Ultimate Silence.

She absorbed the Divine Sword Corps’ explosive footwork head-on. Whenever a blue-clad warrior was flung into the sky or into walls, arrows from the Heavenly Palace King rained down through the clouds without fail.

FWOOOM!

Shards of brick and tile mixed with blood sprayed in all directions.

Suddenly, Shin So-bin’s back grew hot.

Even the ground rapidly began radiating heat, to the point that her Yongchun acupoint on the soles of her feet was disrupted.

‘Lord of Molten Flame...!’

A Northern King who had once fled from a combined attack by the black-clad warriors. Now, he was closing in completely. A net of heaven and earth, woven by the Southern Emperor.

Once more, her Baihui acupoint roared.

KWAAANG!

She opened her eyes fast—no change.

King of Ultimate Silence still stood there.

Like the King of Yama himself, her veil fluttered silently as she blocked every breakthrough with her transparent Celestial Shield. She offered no opening for counterattack.

There wasn’t even a chance to trap her joints with silken thread. Dying by blood loss would’ve been preferable to this.

Her veil curled like lips.

“You must die for the homeland to survive. There will be no compromise.”

It was suffocating.

An unimaginably solid body-protecting inner qi.

It might as well have been diamond. She truly might be the best in the world. Had it been any other Northern King, they wouldn’t have been trapped so completely.

Sambok shouted.

“Multiple shockwaves incoming from the upper left sky...! It’s the Heavenly Palace King again!”

At last, it began. The Southern Emperor’s manipulation of martial forces—despite calling it insignificant.

Rather than merely blocking escapees, the barrage now fell directly upon the completely trapped Divine Sword Corps. A calculated strike. He knew King of Ultimate Silence’s Celestial Shield wouldn’t be broken by such an attack.

The implication was that only the Divine Sword Corps would be pierced and die.

In that instant, Shin So-bin stomped the ground and leapt up.

In her right hand, a spiraling vortex twisted violently. She didn’t even dare look directly at King of Ultimate Silence.

‘I have to parry the arrows with Hwan-gang first...!’

That was the only option. Her Flower-Blooming Peerless Hand couldn’t pierce King of Ultimate Silence’s inner barrier.

The problem was reaction time.

Could she properly deflect the Heavenly Palace King’s arrows, which poured down in dozens like meteors, in the split second they arrived? What if she failed and was pierced instantly?

That’s when it happened.

THUD!

Her vision flashed. Another shock struck her Baihui acupoint. But this time, it was brief.

She was still rising.

From the direction of the Black Capital Palace, dozens of shockwaves were crashing down in layers. Shin So-bin suddenly felt it. The world around her had slowed again—like sinking into a swamp.

THUD!

Her vision darkened again, then lit up with something strange.

Bluish lines of light raced across the wilderness, encircling even the Black Capital. The range was transcendent. It truly moved like a streak of light.

Even in this world where everything had slowed due to the union of essence, energy, and spirit...

‘A taiji...?’

She didn’t have time to finish the thought.

[Enter the Way, Leap Together.]

[Enter the Way, Leap Together.]

[Enter the Way, Leap Together.]

From the distant mountain range, it echoed like overlapping chants. A voice she knew. It slammed into her mind three times in a row.

BOOM—!

As her awareness returned, she saw three streaks of light.

They tore through an absurd distance, shredding the thick white sea of clouds as they fell.

Shockwaves burst out in chains along their path. In a blink, they even swallowed up the Heavenly Palace King’s barrage.

Shin So-bin quickly lowered her eyes to the ground.

BOOM—!

A blast of deep-blue sparks exploded from King of Ultimate Silence’s chest. For some reason, a blue sword—one that looked like the favorite of the Lord of Cheongeuk—had struck her right in the solar plexus.

Cracks spread across her translucent body from the initial blow.

Two more swords fell.

KWAAANG! KWAAANG!

Her upper body was swept away by an overwhelming shockwave. The long-range sword strike had even layered in additional techniques.

The Celestial Shield shattered completely as three swords embedded themselves in the ground, trembling.

Her lower body was gone.

Not even blood remained.

“......”

For a moment, the entire city held its breath. Even the Heavenly Palace King’s arrows ceased in that silence.

[I’ll take command from here.]

It was Jeong Yeon-shin’s voice. Calm, from the position of a junior—then descending like clouds, as befitting the Lord of the Divine Sword Corps.

[Follow my orders.]