Chapter 472: At the Martial Alliance (6)

The quarters at Army-Breaking Pavilion looked exactly as they had before, spotless despite how long they had been away.

Gangryang whistled.

“Still kept perfectly tidy, I see.”

“Looks that way.”

“Clan Lord Yeon must have cleaned it every day.”

“Probably.”

“Honestly, he could leave things like this to the servants.”

“Unless he’s truly busy, he prefers doing it himself.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

Father.

He could not sense his father anywhere in the quarters. It seemed he had stepped out for a while.

“Go inside and rest.”

“What about you, Brother?”

“I need to report to the higher-ups. Let them know I’m back.”

Gangryang gave a dry chuckle.

“You really do have absurd stamina. All right, I’ll rest first.”

“Go ahead.”

Yeon Hojeong left Army-Breaking Pavilion again and headed toward the strategist’s office.

Then—

...?!

He stopped.

What is this presence?

He turned his head.

A powerful presence was reaching him from an open field some distance from Army-Breaking Pavilion, far from any surrounding buildings.

Considering the distance involved, the person projecting it possessed extraordinary mastery of Inner Qi. Even Yeon Hojeong himself would have found that range close to his limit.

A smile spread across his face.

WHOOSH!

He kicked off the ground and shot toward the source of the presence.

He closed the distance in an instant, then launched himself high into the air with one final step. A broad, open field spread beneath him.

And there, in the center of it—

A lone swordsman sat cross-legged.

WHIRL!

Yeon Hojeong landed and approached until only about thirty feet separated them.

Without opening his eyes, the swordsman spoke.

“You left Mad Dragon behind.”

“I did.”

“A weapon that is practically another part of you. Why leave it in the care of your men?”

“I didn’t feel like reaching for it.”

“You are already neglecting your weapon. How worrying.”

“Exactly. At first I wondered whether I’d somehow reached the Mind Sword, but the more I think about it, the less likely that seems.”

“Losing your attachment to a weapon does not necessarily mean you have entered the realm of the Mind Sword. But even if it is not the Mind Sword, whatever realization lies behind it may still have value.”

“I hope so.”

“You still have not seen the true nature of that realization?”

“No.”

“Then let us find out together what it is.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

At that instant—

FLASH! BOOOOM!

The Black-White Twin Dragons were suddenly in his hands as he smashed them down where the swordsman had been sitting.

The blow was so powerful that, despite being a cleaving strike, the resulting shockwave tore up the ground across a radius of more than ten feet.

“Just like you.”

WHOOOOOM.

The swordsman had already risen high into the air.

Yeon Wi’s clear eyes settled on Yeon Hojeong.

“Now then.”

SHIIING!

Yeon Wi drew his sword with force, and his body moved like lightning.

In midair, he seemed to step on an invisible foothold that did not exist, hurtling forward at terrifying speed.

It was so fast and violent that even Yeon Hojeong had never witnessed anything quite like it since his return to the past. For an instant, he was reminded of Beonjak, the First Tiger Martial Commander.

Sword and axes collided.

CLAAAAANG!

An invisible shockwave exploded in every direction, shredding the weeds across the field.

“As expected. You’ve grown even stronger.”

Yeon Hojeong’s smile deepened.

“Whose son do you think I am?”

CHIRIRIRING!

He crossed the axes into an X and unleashed force emission.

Yeon Wi was hurled far backward.

It was an explosion of emitted force—explosive force. Powerful enough to shatter an opponent’s weapon, yet not a single mark appeared on Yeon Wi’s sword.

Yeon Wi took one powerful step forward.

BOOM!

It was an unusually fierce stamping step for him.

Then his sword erupted with dazzling brilliance.

FLASH! BOOOOM!

Sword energy fired across fifty feet and struck Yeon Hojeong’s twin axes, shattering against them.

A vein bulged on Yeon Hojeong’s forehead.

Strong!

This was a power sword among power swords.

The sword energy was rough and destructive in a way utterly unlike his father, yet within it lay refined True Qi and force-emission principles rooted firmly in orthodox swordsmanship.

It was a terrifying strike.

Yeon Hojeong was genuinely astonished by his father’s sword power.

He’s grown. Even more than before!

It was only natural that Yeon Hojeong’s own growth was fast. He had already passed through these realms once before.

But he had never imagined his father would progress this quickly.

For a martial artist who had already reached such a high level to carve open another realm of this caliber in only a few months was exceedingly rare.

I can feel it. Father’s effort.

The history of that effort could be felt within that overwhelming strike of sword energy.

To reach this level, his father must have endured mental anguish intense enough to make him cough blood.

Yeon Hojeong could feel every trace of it.

PAK!

Yeon Wi closed the distance with terrifying speed and unleashed three sword strikes in a flash.

It was difficult to believe an ordinary iron sword could move that way. The fact that a simple iron blade, untouched by a master craftsman’s mind and soul, could withstand such speed and internal force was astonishing in itself.

The Black-White Twin Dragons moved furiously.

CLANGCLANGCLANG! CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!

It did not end with three strikes.

The three swords had merely formed one sequence. When that sequence ended, four strikes poured in, and when those four ended, five followed immediately after.

If the opening sword energy had represented the extreme of the power sword, then this relentless chain of attacks embodied the very essence of the swift sword.

Despite swinging at such speed, Yeon Wi struck precisely where he intended, each blow carrying perfectly stable sword power.

Strong and fast.

There was his father’s new strength—a strength that had shattered the old framework of the Yeon Clan’s orthodox swordsmanship.

WHOOOOOM!

Yeon Hojeong was astonished by what his father had achieved, but he did not simply stand there admiring it.

CHIRIRING! CHIRIRIRING!

The Black-White Twin Dragons knocked aside Yeon Wi’s sword, their movements accelerating until they matched the rhythm of his swift-sword assault.

This was a speed impossible to reproduce with Mad Dragon.

The hand axes were far lighter and shorter than Mad Dragon, allowing him to answer Yeon Wi’s speed. Had he not been wielding the Twin Dragon Axes, he would already have withdrawn and begun hunting for an opening instead.

PAK!

Yeon Hojeong’s leg snapped into motion with elastic force.

A whipping kick that curved around before crushing its target lashed toward Yeon Wi’s left arm.

In that instant, Yeon Wi withdrew his sword and moved his left arm smoothly.

WHIRRRR!

Force wrapped around Yeon Hojeong’s leg and sent his entire body spinning through the air.

A simple grappling technique, elevated through Inner Qi into the principle of using four ounces to move a thousand pounds.

It was a display of imagination and skill astonishing enough to leave even a Transcendent Peak master speechless.

As Yeon Hojeong spun, his foot shot out violently.

BOOM!

Yeon Wi braced his left arm against the flat of his sword to block.

Even then, he could not disperse the entire impact.

His body slid backward across the ground.

Strong.

The kick had struck like a cannonball.

Despite having his posture broken, Yeon Hojeong had twisted through his center of gravity and delivered the technique at full power.

In that brief instant, when most would have been caught off guard, he had used the best possible movement to launch the strongest possible counterattack.

His son’s combat instincts had not dulled in the slightest.

If anything, they seemed even sharper and more instinctive than before.

PAK!

Yeon Hojeong recovered his stance and attacked immediately.

He closed the distance and unleashed an axe art resembling the fangs of a savage beast.

It was the Tiger King’s Nine-Cleaving Stance of the White Tiger Art.

It looked completely different from when performed with Mad Dragon.

The technique itself was identical, yet it was faster and sharper. Even with an axe in each hand, the form never broke down.

An overwhelming pressure descended upon Yeon Wi.

His sword moved with disciplined precision.

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!

Where the axes moved with uncompromising force, the sword slipped in with razor-sharp precision.

The Iron Sword Thirty-Six Grand Evolution Forms.

It was the Yeon Clan’s secret sword art, a martial scripture said to contain the entirety of the clan’s swordsmanship.

That sword art methodically dismantled the ferocious martial art of the Tiger King.

No matter what attack the opponent unleashed, the sword could produce the proper response.

It was swordsmanship approaching divine skill.

This won’t work.

Yeon Hojeong had not even reached the final technique of the Tiger King’s Nine-Cleaving Stance, yet his movements were already losing their precision.

Perfect responses.

A gentleman’s sword art that stopped a martial technique at its very foundation, preventing it from manifesting properly.

If he stubbornly continued without recognizing what was happening, he would simply lose.

Yeon Hojeong stamped the ground with tremendous force.

BOOOOM!

The impact was even heavier than Yeon Wi’s, the earth rumbling as though an earthquake had struck.

FLASH! CLAAAAANG!

The twin axes cleaved down in an X, temporarily locking down Yeon Wi’s sword art.

SHRIRIRIRING!

In that brief opening, Yeon Hojeong used remote manipulation to move the Flood Dragon Chain wrapped around his upper body.

CLACK! CLACK!

The chain connected to the rings at the ends of the Black-White Twin Dragons’ handles.

Yeon Hojeong swept both arms outward.

CLAAAAANG! CLAAAAANG!

Surprise appeared on Yeon Wi’s face.

The chains extended to tremendous length, and the Black Dragon and White Dragon axe heads attached to them now possessed an astonishingly wide attack radius.

And they were powerful.

Yeon Hojeong was not merely using them like whips. The force of the cleaving blows generated through the swinging chains was actually greater than when the axes were wielded directly by hand.

They’re slower. But he compensates for that with variation.

CLANG! CLAAAAANG!

Before Yeon Wi knew it, the distance between them had widened.

He struck the Black-White Twin Dragons aside one after another with his sword, only for an axe to snake toward him from another direction and attempt to coil around his body.

An extraordinary method.

A remarkably creative use of weapons.

Setting aside both their relationship and their respective levels, Yeon Wi felt genuine awe at the way Yeon Hojeong manifested his martial arts.

His perspective has grown broader, and his martial arts have become even more creative. Truly remarkable.

FLASH!

Yeon Wi closed the distance.

As though that posed no problem whatsoever, Yeon Hojeong spun his body and created a storm of chains and twin axes.

The movement was so violent that it prevented anyone from closing beyond a certain range.

Yeon Wi swung his sword with force.

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!

His blade seemed to scream as it struck axes and chain alike.

The defense was like an iron fortress.

There appeared to be no path through.

Of course, Yeon Wi was no ordinary martial artist.

BOOOOM!

He struck a Coiling Dragon Palm in the same direction Yeon Hojeong was spinning.

Yeon Hojeong’s rotational speed instantly doubled.

Even Yeon Hojeong had not anticipated that.

Yeon Wi had added force to his rotation precisely to make the spin collapse under its own momentum.

It was a method every bit as impressive as the grappling technique he had elevated through the principle of using four ounces to move a thousand pounds.

Yeon Hojeong drove one foot into the ground.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!

The ground tore apart as he slowed his rotation.

Yeon Wi’s sword immediately exploited the opening, thrusting toward Yeon Hojeong’s middle line.

The timing was perfect.

An ordinary martial artist could never have evaded it.

Fortunately, Yeon Hojeong was not ordinary either.

WHOOSH!

He erupted with Vermilion Bird Fire Qi, driving his physical reaction speed to its absolute limit.

His upper body dropped backward in an instant, and the sword aimed at his middle line stabbed through empty air.

BOOM!

At the same moment, Yeon Hojeong’s kick exploded with force emission directly in front of Yeon Wi’s torso.

Had Yeon Wi not anticipated the counter and blocked with a Coiling Dragon Palm, he would have suffered a serious internal injury.

The ability to transform crisis into opportunity.

As a martial artist who had spent his life walking the boundary between life and death, there could scarcely be anyone more accomplished in actual combat than Yeon Hojeong.

CHIRIRIRIRING!

Yeon Hojeong widened the distance again, retracted the Flood Dragon Chain, and took the Black-White Twin Dragons back into his hands.

Yeon Wi’s face had flushed.

His son’s unorthodox yet immensely powerful martial arts had fully ignited his own fighting spirit as well.

“You truly have grown tremendously.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“I’m honored.”

No matter how many times he heard it, praise from his father always felt good.

He had never cared much for anyone else’s approval, but recognition from his father was enough to make any son’s heart soar.

WHOOOOOM!

Their blazing fighting spirit merged with their already formidable presences.

Like oil poured onto flame, the resulting qi waves surged outward with unimaginable force.

Yeon Wi’s gaze changed.

“I’m going all out now.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes took on the same intensity.

“So am I.”

FLASH!

The two moved toward each other like bolts of lightning.

It was a reunion befitting martial artists.

They were father and son, but they were martial artists as well.

This was how a father and son of a martial family—two men who acknowledged one another—held a conversation.

Their spar did not end until half a day had passed.

It was the Yeon men’s own way of catching up after a long separation, one that let them understand everything the other had gone through more clearly than any ordinary greeting ever could.