A battle amidst rocks, undergrowth, streams, and corpses.
Seated on his warhorse, looking down obliquely at the Seventh Apostle and the young man, Goon Yu-cheon doubted his own eyes.
The scent of blood mixed with the sound of flowing water had long since faded from his nostrils. Due to the close-quarters combat that defied reality.
'What is that fellow?'
Goon Yu-cheon, maintaining a dignified posture with his back straight, fell into confusion.
He was the young master of the Profound Martial Alliance. He had trained in the divine skill called Majestic Display to skillfully handle martial forces.
Having received direct instruction from his father in eye techniques, he had devoted himself to training day and night, and thanks to his innate excellent qualities, he was able to achieve deep attainment.
The exchanges of supreme masters unfolding before his eyes.
All the techniques were so swift they appeared whitish. Yet he could fully sense that their trajectories were imbued with the quality of transcendence.
The Seventh Apostle's movements, fluttering her pure blood robe, were different from when facing the martial forces.
Though her energy was depleted and her strikes were not as powerful as before, a gentle refinement flowed from her snow-white fingertips. It was captivating in its intensity and beauty.
He almost lost his composure while watching blankly.
Moreover, the young man's martial prowess surpassed even the Seventh Apostle who had fallen into a state of madness.
The movements he displayed when subduing her were close to the ultimate in harmonious state. It was enough to remind one of the Wudang Sect for a moment.
There was a reason the Blade Venerable had restrained him.
"Young Master."
Along with the sound of footsteps treading firmly on the ground, a sound transmission rang out.
A weighty presence squeezed in beside the head of the white horse Goon Yu-cheon was riding.
The energy waves of a supreme master who would be hard-pressed to be here otherwise. The Profound Martial Alliance's Blade Venerable had approached and spoken to him.
"We must act with caution."
"What do you mean?"
He asked in return.
"Do not judge that fellow hastily. Judging by his energy waves, he seems to have cultivated blood attack techniques, but I've never heard rumors of such an apostle in Blood Flame Cult."
Goon Yu-cheon did not answer and glanced at her briefly.
Blade Venerable Jin Min.
Her hair tied back in a single line was elegant, and the large blade on her back was imposing.
Like all of the Profound Martial Alliance's Three Martial Venerables, she possessed an appearance that did not match her supreme martial prowess.
Her cold beauty easily won the favor of high officials and noble lords regardless of gender.
Like the Flying Blood Venerable who died at the hands of the Four Great Vajras and the Radiant Demon Wing Leader before he could roam the noble houses of Beijing.
However, Goon Yu-cheon did not treat the Venerable warmly.
Even though she was the only supreme master who could greatly influence the succession besides the Sword Venerable, who had been confined by the Profound Martial Alliance Leader for long ignoring the order to return.
This was because she had taught his sister Goon Yu-rin. In the martial world, the bond between master and disciple takes precedence over everything else.
Moreover, Jin Min's personality was as stubborn as a northern general, and she had given Goon Yu-cheon the humiliation of rejection several times when he tried to win her over.
'Act with caution? I know that without being told.'
The absence of the Flying Blood Venerable was significant. He was the only one among the Three Martial Venerables who had supported Goon Yu-cheon.
How lamentable was the news that he had died with his limb meridians and dantian destroyed.
He was in a position where he had to somehow entice even the Sword Venerable when he returned to the Alliance. It was inevitable that the young and powerful Seventh Apostle with extraordinary talent would catch his eye.
Goon Yu-cheon drew true energy up to his Adam's apple.
"If we fail to take that woman from here, I'll have no excuse to give to the Alliance Leader. Our thousand martial forces have been reduced to nine hundred, and now we're about to lose even the Seventh Apostle who is as good as captured? As a Venerable, you won't be free from the Alliance Leader's anger either."
The Blade Venerable's brow furrowed.
"…That young man. His attire is close to that of a wanderer, but his energy and bearing are no different from a noble of Blood Flame Cult. Perhaps another holder of the Crimson Blood Body survived from the annihilated main branch. I'll talk to him first. Such individuals typically don't regard those with lower martial prowess as people."
Thud.
She took a step forward without even looking back. She paid no attention to Goon Yu-cheon who had clenched his fist so tightly behind her that his veins stood out.
It was the attitude of dealing with a dim-witted fool. This had continued from the moment it became known that the young master had sent a love letter to Sword Venerable Baek Seo-gun until today.
The Blade Venerable soon faced the man and woman who had just fought.
'This fellow's limbs… I must be careful of even a single exchange.'
She thought.
The muscles of the young man's limbs, clearly visible due to the short length of his clothes, were truly extraordinary.
Though he didn't seem to be exerting any particular effort, there was a sense that energy and strength were pulsing greatly. Though his arms and legs weren't especially thick, the pressure felt at this moment was no less than that of a Shaolin divine monk said to have perfected reverse muscle technique.
"I am Jin Min of the Profound Martial Alliance."
The Blade Venerable, who had taken in his entire body at a glance, spoke slowly.
The distance was ten paces.
The Seventh Apostle was now breathing roughly and unsteadily as if her acupoints had been sealed, while the young man was supporting her jaw and upper body with one shoulder as he gazed blankly at the Blade Venerable.
"..."
During the silence that flowed, no one moved.
It was an extremely arrogant stillness. Though the Blade Venerable was known to wield the swiftest and most destructive blade techniques within the Profound Martial Alliance, the young man didn't seem to feel any need to remove the Seventh Apostle from his embrace.
"Profound Martial Alliance."
The young man who had quietly repeated the Blade Venerable's words opened his mouth again.
"Are you on an expedition?"
"…That's right."
"Your business must be military provisions for the north."
"You know well."
"Any other purpose?"
The young man asked calmly. It was in a voice so low it was almost drowned out by the sound of the stream.
But the Blade Venerable heard clearly, and for a moment she did not answer.
The martial world journeys of martial nobility never end with a single purpose.
Just look at her and the young master. They would engage in life-and-death duels if they encountered hostile forces, and they would try to recruit any talented individuals they came across.
Capturing the apostle of Blood Flame Cult who had become a wanderer was the same. To begin with, no martial artist would criticize how they dealt with a supreme master of the Sima Evil Path.
The young man must know this too.
So his question was like forcing a choice upon the massive martial force. Whether to withdraw now or to engage in battle.
It was an absurd thing.
'Today… my blade feels unusually light.'
The Blade Venerable's right hand twitched slightly. She should first uncover the other's identity, but her arm muscles were reluctant to move.
Her sense of energy was better than usual. The grip on her weapon also felt extremely light.
It was a day when her fortune as a martial artist was close to its peak. The blade techniques she would display today would be half a breath faster than even her old friend the Sword Venerable's swordsmanship.
'Seo-gun would deny it but.'… The Blade Venerable's blade drawing is truly unrestrained as the rumors say. This is because her innate sense, along with her eye technique, allows her to read trajectories in advance.
So, she slowly opened her mouth.
"…The Profound Martial Alliance is a loyal military force of this land. We have no other purpose."
Amid the noisy stamping of warhorses surrounding the village, the answer flowed out.
An impossible thing had occurred.
There are extremely few who can preserve their lives after directly clashing with martial forces numbering close to a thousand.
Even the Seventh Apostle had reached her limit after repeatedly fleeing and checking them while holding them back, falling into a state of madness. This was despite cultivating the Elegant Lightness Skill of Blood Flame Cult, said to be among the top five movement techniques in the world.
But the young man didn't seem to feel any particular emotion about the scale of the martial force.
The Blade Venerable understood. With the movement technique he had displayed when intruding, the footsteps that seemed to mark constellations, he could probably behead the leaders and escape unharmed. At least the young master's death would be a foregone conclusion.
It was then.
The young man slightly nodded his head toward a spot beyond her shoulder.
"A loyal military force? That fellow doesn't seem to think so."
The Blade Venerable knew without turning around. The face of the young master wearing an expression of indignation was clearly pictured in her mind.
She thought: Damn brat.
"That is due to the chivalrous spirit that young men of that age typically possess. Because he is immature and lacking in virtue, he is unskilled at discerning when to draw his sword… Pay him no mind."
"He needs humility more than martial arts. He might die away from home otherwise."
"You speak rightly. I will tell him to engrave your words in his mind."
The young man merely nodded his head without answering.
He subtly turned his chin this way and that, away from the Seventh Apostle's ebony-like hair by her ears that was tickling his cheek.
Until the Blade Venerable carefully took a step back and then returned to her camp.
Jeong Yeon-shin paid no attention to the faint shouts of some creature in the distance.
He also withdrew his interest from the sight of nearly nine hundred men and horses kicking up coarse dust with the sound of hoofbeats.
At this moment, he was more concerned with the pulsing of the Seventh Apostle's heart that seemed to whisper strange words to his chest muscles.
'State of madness… Her blood flow is urgent. Her true energy is unstable too.'
He began to contemplate methods of circulating energy to restore this figure of love and hate.
It seemed that something else needed to be added to the Great Heavenly Circuit pathway of the Mara True Blood Technique. The Seventh Apostle's energy waves were subtly different from the True Blood Technique.
***
***
The vast wilderness spread out below Gojin Village.
A long line of men and horses stretched out. The dust cloud trailing behind the procession was magnificent.
"Venerable, does this make any sense…?!"
"Why wouldn't it? I saved your life. What use would it be to pour all our martial forces into killing that man, only for you, the successor, to die? That young man was that powerful."
The Blade Venerable replied, keeping her horse's head aligned with the young lord's.
Sitting on a white horse that left hoof prints on the ground with a clattering sound, Goon Yu-cheon snorted in disbelief. His hand tightened on the reins.
He couldn't think of what to say to his father. The hundred martial forces lost to the Seventh Apostle were incomparable to even a decent small or medium-sized sect in the martial world.
Without achieving any results, he couldn't avoid the Military King Martial Emperor's wrath.
"Weren't we originally going to deal with the Radiant Demon Wing Leader? Rumors were spreading that he had evaded the Ten Li One Kill of Dark Night Palace, but according to you, we should have changed our course long ago. I would have struggled to handle his movement techniques anyway."
"He is different from the Desolate Fortress squad leader. His energy was like that."
"How could the world-renowned Venerable be so powerless? Was the position of the Three Martial Venerables so insignificant?"
"Mind your words. Even my patience has limits."
"I find it highly suspicious. Are you planning to have Yu-rin succeed the leadership?"
"As I've said repeatedly, if you want to capture him completely, you need supreme masters or a few high masters, not martial forces…"
"I cannot agree with that, so let's see! When we examine the Radiant Demon Wing Leader's corpse, we'll know that you were being overly cautious!"
[Whose corpse are you talking about?]
A voice that pressed down on all eight directions fell to the ground.
It was six-directional spirit energy. A weathered quality emanated from the authoritative voice.
Kwaaaang—!
Just as the startled Blade Venerable and Goon Yu-cheon raised their heads to the sky, a terrifying thunder-like sound raced through their ears as if about to burst their eardrums.
In an instant, all nine hundred men and horses scattered in panic, turning their heads in all directions. It was as if the sky itself was collapsing.
"What…!"
By the time they realized, it was already too late.
Goon Yu-cheon's pupils instantly filled with a deep pink hue, and his two arms were torn off with a ripping sound of flesh, accompanied by streams of blood.
A chilling rainbow formed over the spurting blood.
Kraaaak—!
As a miserable scream filled the wilderness.
The corpses of three wild boars suddenly fell and rolled on the ground with a heavy thud.
***
After the mounted masters of the Profound Martial Alliance had departed, Gojin Village was filled with faint twilight.
Jeong Yeon-shin was leaning against a tree trunk with one knee raised.
He alternately glanced at the edge of the reddish sunset fading in the distance and the Seventh Apostle lying on one side, wrapped in her bright red pure blood robe like a sleeping bag.
"You," he slowly opened his mouth.
"Have you regained your senses?"