Chapter 19
**CHAPTER TITLE: Peak Martial Artist (1)**
Morning had broken.
Just like every other loop, today a three-tailed white fox the size of a house barge came looking for us, claiming this forest as its territory.
I offered the fox a simple greeting, then offered it my arm and extended it.
But something suddenly stirred my curiosity.
*Would this fox show me red lines too?*
Watching the fox drool and bite at my arm, I activated the sight of a peak martial artist.
At the same time, I witnessed an awe-inspiring sight.
Red!
The entire world was red!
“Hah… hah…!”
If previous humans had shown me the trajectory of those “lines,” this fox was now wrapping the whole sky and earth in crimson light centered on its forehead.
It wasn’t just lines.
Beyond the surface, three-dimensional red light was already swallowing the surrounding space.
*Unbeatable.*
I extended my arm with a dazed expression, confirming the fox’s crimson glow and its territory.
Crunch, crunch!
Even as the fox chewed through my arm, I only let out a dazed cry while continuing to analyze the area.
*What the hell is this? How does something like this fill the entire space with red light?*
I couldn’t understand it.
What kind of creature was this?
And thanks to the Taoist priests who arrived again a few days later, I could put on another dazed face.
*Oh no!*
The three monsters who came to pick up Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, and Kang Min-hee were all spitting out the same red energy that was already consuming the surrounding space.
Only then could I finally understand the difference between Taoists and Wulin warriors.
*Wulin may be crude, but their intent still flows in the shape of lines. But these Taoists… their intentions manifest as something that devours the entire space.*
I imagined fighting those Taoists inside the space they had already swallowed with their red light.
*Impossible…*
I understood why even the lowest-rank Qi Condensation stage one beings among the Taoists could clash with peak martial artists.
Without real combat experience, once they swallowed the space with their intent, even a peak martial artist couldn’t read their intentions.
Conversely, the Taoists could see everything happening inside the space they had occupied with perfect ease.
They had completely defeated me in the matter of compatibility.
The next day, after they took their companions away, I took the opportunity to question the Sea Dragon King Seo Hyoel who had come to pick up Oh Hye-seo’s deputy.
“I, the foolish criminal, present a question to the Sea Dragon King.”
[Hmph, what’s this?]
I gave him a rough explanation of what I had seen, then asked about the red territory of the Taoists.
Seo Hyoel laughed heartily and explained.
[Taoists all possess something called “shi”. Whether you call it intuition, consciousness, or any other name, that ability exists. The criminals’ shi doesn’t leave their brains, but the Taoists extend it beyond their brains and can perceive anything that fills the surrounding space. Even a monster Taoist priest like myself operates the same way. Does that answer your question?]
“Thank you.”
Since we were conversing in the language of Yeon Kingdom, Kim Young-hoon and the others had no idea what was being said.
A short while later, Seo Hyoel vanished from his seat. Then a hunchbacked beast rider appeared, claiming it would take Kim Ju-im, and shoved me and Kim Young-hoon through a spatial rift.
I lost consciousness once more.
* * *
Splash!
“…”
Gurgle, gurgle!
I suddenly awoke to the waves crashing over me, shook off the shock, and thrashed desperately.
*What… what the hell is this?*
I was underwater.
Crunch, crunch!
I regained my senses and swam toward the light shining above.
In my previous life I had learned to swim when catching fish, so I had no trouble in the water.
“Hah, damn. Last time it was up in a tree, and now it’s underwater? What a plot twist.”
This was still Yeon Kingdom, but the problem was that I kept randomly falling into places I didn’t recognize across the kingdom.
I scanned my surroundings. It was a massive lake.
*Wait, what about Kim Young-hoon?*
While looking around, I suddenly glanced beneath the surface.
Kim Young-hoon was sinking, coughing bubbles from his mouth.
*Damn, he’ll drown if I leave him.*
I quickly swam over, lifted him onto my back, and swam back to the surface.
I laid Kim Young-hoon on the shore, used internal penetration to force water out of his abdomen and lungs, then exhaled violently.
Puwaak!
Kim Young-hoon expelled streams of water from his mouth and nose, then regained consciousness.
“Hah… huh! Where am I?”
“Completely different place.”
I gave him a brief explanation of the situation, then we both searched the area.
*Hmm, based on the shape, this must be Gae-du Lake.*
The lake was named after its shape that looked like a rooster’s head when viewed from above.
After four lives, I knew every place in Yeon Kingdom now.
There was probably a Changho City nearby.
“Ugh… how do we get out? If we fell into an entirely different place… is there anyone nearby?”
“Hmm, that seems likely. Look, there’s a building over there.”
“Really?”
I pointed at the floating structure in the corner of Gae-du Lake.
“I can swim, so I’ll go to that building and borrow clothes, money, and food.”
“Ah, no. They won’t understand our language, right?”
“Actually, I learned some Chinese. It should be enough to communicate. I’ll explain later.”
I made an excuse and swam toward the floating building.
From my memory, this was the lair of the Ji Lake Water Road Camp.
In my previous life, I had gone there to exterminate them.
The camp leader was a late-stage first-class expert, the deputy leader a mid-stage first-class, and the four major fish demons were barely first-class.
The rest were mostly third-class or second-class.
Of course, with so many of them, I had to deal with poison first.
Splash, splash!
A few second-class fish demons on guard duty spotted me and shouted.
“Hey! Who the hell are you!”
“Haha, what crazy person swims into the Ji Lake Water Road Camp?”
“Hahaha, are you trying to join the camp?”
“He’s a newbie!”
Hahaha—
I ignored their shouting and slowly approached the camp.
Then one of the fish demons lowered his pants.
“Hahaha, newbie! If you want to enter the main camp, you have to do the initiation ceremony first!”
Sploosh—
A foul stench rose with yellow water.
A few drops of the yellow liquid splattered onto my head.
He even had herbs ready and was aiming at my head to strike me.
Thud, thud.
I calmly received the liquid, climbed onto the camp, but…
Boom, boom!
“You arrogant bastard! Where did you come up from? Come back down!”
“Quick, give the lord’s holy water baptism! Hahaha!”
The underlings poked my head with sticks and shoved me back underwater.
But I didn’t care about their attacks and climbed back onto the camp anyway.
“Ah, damn, I told you not to come up…”
A fish demon holding a stick rushed at me.
Boom!
“Gah… aaargh!”
In a speed I couldn’t even see, I kicked his ankle and flipped him over.
“Hmm, not bad.”
I picked up the wooden club he dropped, weighed it, and gripped it.
“First, you. How many did you kill in the Ji Lake Water Road Camp?”
“This, this damn… even the ones I killed number over a hundred…”
Punch!
I didn’t listen to his answer and swung the club to sever his neck.
“Next, you all. How many have you killed so far?”
“This, this bastard, what the hell are you doing?!”
Swoosh, swoosh!
The fish demons pulled knives from their pockets without hesitation and charged at me.
“Judging by how hesitant they are to strike, they’ve killed a lot, haven’t they?”
Slash, slash!
I swung the club once more to cleanly sever the charging fish demons, then dropped them into the water.
“Ugh… aaaa… w-wait…”
The last remaining one was the fish demon who had urinated on me.
“I, I’m a new arrival to the camp! I haven’t killed anyone yet…”
“Some call the other guys ‘lord.’”
“S-save me…”
Splash!
Slash!
Starting from the herbs, he was cleanly divided into parts.
Thud!
After washing with the fish demons’ blood and their dirty urine, I entered the interior of the Ji Lake Water Road Camp.
The fish demons were loud, smoking tobacco and drugs, drinking, and gambling with women.
Most of the women looked like captives—hands and feet bound, bruises covering their faces.
“Woohaha, who’s this guy?”
One fish demon, covered in blood, rubbed his eyes when he saw me enter the camp.
“H-hey, look at this guy?”
“Who the hell is this?”
“Hey, grab weapons. A customer’s here.”
They were drunk, but they didn’t look unnatural holding weapons, probably because they had killed people before.
“…There’s nothing to ask here.”
Uwoong—
I coated the wooden stick with sword qi.
“Die.”
“What are you doing? Serve the customer!”
“Yaaaah!”
“Hehehehe!”
Fish demons charged from the front, above, and both sides, each wielding weapons.
I entered the sight of a peak martial artist.
Red lines filled the surroundings.
Those lines were the attack trajectories of the fish demons aiming at me.
*So this is what being a peak martial artist feels like.*
It was strangely absurd.
Knowing in advance that no one would touch me.
I closed my eyes.
I didn’t need sight to face these kinds of people.
Without sight, without hearing, without feeling.
I focused only on the red lines, raised the club, and swung.
“One second, Wolak.”
Slash!
I ducked, dodged the weapons of the three charging, and slashed horizontally to cut them down.
“Two seconds, Ibsan.”
I switched to the lower stance and severed the legs of the five charging fish demons.
“Three seconds, Deumak.”
I gripped the club upward and swung down.
Then I leaped into the middle of the fish demons using the Wolak form and swung the club again.
Wolak, Ibsan, Deumak.
I kept using only the three basic forms, dodging the red lines, and extending sword qi in the direction the blue lines pointed, cutting them all down.
“Wolak, Ibsan, Deumak.”
“Deumak, Ibsan, Deumak.”
“Wolak, Deumak, Ibsan.”
“Ibsan…”
Slash, slash, slash!
With the minimum movement, I cut down the maximum number of fish demons.
When I no longer saw any red lines heading toward me.
I opened my eyes. The surroundings had become a sea of blood.
“Guh… uwaaah… gwueok… aaaaah…”
On one side, the camp leader of the Ji Lake Water Road Camp was writhing and crawling toward the exit.
*According to my memory, he was a late-stage first-class expert.*
Among the fish demons I had cut down without mercy, he had been one of them.
“Hey.”
I approached the nearly dead camp leader and spoke.
“Y-you… peak… peak martial artist…! S-save… save me…”
“Hey, let me ask one thing. How long have you been attacking this water camp?”
“I-it’s been about ten days…”
“Really? Thank you. Die.”
“W-wait. Where did you hide the money…?”
Swoosh!
I didn’t wait for his answer and severed his neck.
“Anyway, since I came last time, I know where your hidden assets are.”
I left the camp leader’s head behind, freed the bound women, and also freed those who looked like prisoners in the camp’s jail.
“T-thank you. Great Hero!”
“Thank you for avenging us against these disgusting fish demons!”
I nodded to the prisoners and women thanking me, then went to the camp leader’s room and took out the two cleanest sets of clothes I could find.
After that, I smashed the wall of the camp leader’s room and took out a small wooden chest containing his hidden wealth.
When I opened the chest, there were three silver ingots inside.
*How thrifty of these fish demons.*
I changed into clothes that had been dirty with blood, put on the camp leader’s clothes, and boarded the ferry attached to the Ji Lake Water Road Camp.
“G-great Hero. If you would tell us your name or title, we would surely repay you.”
“Hmm, name or title…?”
When one of the prisoners cleaning up approached me and asked, I scratched my head and pondered.
*It’s only been a short time since I regressed, so I don’t have anything…*
I briefly considered, then pulled out the title I had used in my previous life.
“My title is Infinite Fighting Monster. Just remember that.”
“T-thank you, Great Hero! I will definitely repay you one day…”
“Understood~ Then I’ll take my leave for now. You should come out properly.”
To avoid trouble, I rowed the ferry back toward the lake shore.
Kim Young-hoon was waiting on the shore.
“Oh, clothes changed?”
“Yeah, the owner was kind and gave us clothes. After hearing our situation, he even lent us money. It seems he’s a very kind person. The kindness of the countryside really is like that.”
“Hahaha, I should thank the owner. The house was too far away, so I couldn’t see it properly, but what kind of place is that?”
“Hmm… I heard they’re people who gather from all over the countryside to catch meat… something like that, made so it’s easy to catch meat.”
“Really? That’s quite interesting…”
I listened to Kim Young-hoon’s words on one ear and headed toward the nearby Changho City with him.
*In my previous life, it took about a day to attack the Ji Lake Water Road Camp and wipe out those bastards.*
That was using poison to first make them sick, then setting fire to the camp so they would die from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Even after doing that, it still took a day to exterminate them.
However, in the domain of the Peak Realm, I wiped out the entire camp in just ten days.
*With nothing but a wooden club.*
This was the difference between peak and first-class.
*In my previous life, as a first-class expert, I had obtained what suited a first-class. Now that I’ve become a peak martial artist, I should be able to obtain what suits a peak.*
Although it hadn’t been long since I regressed,
it seemed this was the first life where I could look forward to so many days.
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