Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time

Fan-Dragon Treads the Blossoms.

A technique devised by a boy who was once insignificant.

It was Jeong Yeon-shin’s desperate struggle when he first encountered the wall of fate.

A mayfly, doomed to perish swiftly, had forged it in defiance of time.

—Do you know? They say life itself is contained within the game of Go. It is no exaggeration. Even the temperament of prodigies can be expressed through the principles of Ten Tenets of Go—whether it be Great Flame Dragon or Azure Qilin.

Seonryong Jegal-hyeon.

Even when they had no close ties, he had shown kindness.

Like a festival swing that moved even when climbed alone, everything about Jegal-hyeon—his words, his disposition—was such to Jeong Yeon-shin.

Fan-Dragon Treads the Blossoms was a divine technique created in his honor.

It was an ultimate technique infused with both Jeong Yeon-shin’s past and his hopes for the future.

—To reach for that which is beyond grasp.

The core principle of the divine secret art.

If applied to the sword, it captures the sword’s will.

If applied to a person, it deceives the body into believing it possesses the longevity granted only to those who live through endless ages.

One manifests as Sword Control. The other, Threefold Flame Purification.

The Upper Elixir Field’s divine resonance manipulates the sword, while the body deceives itself into existing beyond its limits.

Though it was a martial technique, it was closer to sorcery.

Now, with Dark Heaven Emperor’s Dragon-Summoning Art having unleashed a celestial catastrophe—

The being swimming within Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind was also a dragon.

A Fan-Dragon with a pure white fan-marked body.

Among all that the newly appointed Purple-robed One had seen, it was the most noble. It always would be.

The flood dragon manifested upon the land.

The Fan-Dragon swam through his consciousness.

Both were equally auspicious.

What would happen if they overlapped?

This sensation…

And at this moment—

Jeong Yeon-shin realized.

That such an absolutely flawless state could exist in the world.

Had the Lord of Heavenly Extremity Sect, in his pursuit of the Way of the Sword, ever experienced such a state?

If they were to measure skill in a contest where both were unable to use Empty Moon Dance, Jeong Yeon-shin would still need to calculate at least half a step more precisely to have a chance at victory.

Or perhaps it was akin to Abbot Beomheo’s mental state, where he reconstructed his vital essence, spirit, and mind within the Void Nihility Realm through meditation.

It could even be close to the Lord of Ipwang Fortress’s innate sensory perception.