Not Permitted
Just then, the Death-Protecting Technique activated, and Elder Makri shot upward at an insane speed.
My Sword Gang could only graze his chest instead of his neck.
Swish!
Even if that was all it took, it had already sliced his ribs in half, carved out half his liver, and completely severed one lung.
Yet Elder Makri survived, bleeding profusely from every inch of his body.
“Kuhuk! Kuek… kurrrk…”
He coughed up blood bubbles while desperately trying to hold together the shredded entrails with Pure Force.
He was still alive.
“Kurrk, kig… tha-that clothing… Cheongmun Clan…! You bastards who partnered with Cheongmun Clan…!”
Even with one lung completely crushed, he was still forcibly using damaged organs as substitutes for Pure Force, clinging to his last breath.
What an astonishing will to live.
But if I let him continue like this, he would burn through all his Pure Force and die.
“Kurrk… kuek… Cheongmun Clan disciple, please save me. I will offer an enormous reward from my family’s dimension.
After the massacre in the Dabcheon Desert, the killing intent of many Core Formation experts from the capital families has grown sharp…!
We must prepare for the great war in two hundred years…! Even a mid-tier Foundation Establishment expert can be deadly in this situation…!”
“…”
I remained silent, gripping my sword and pouring Sword Gang into it.
When Elder Makri saw this, he gritted his teeth.
“Th-this idiot! You have no idea what’s important…! I will compensate properly from my family’s dimension for crossing Byeokra Kingdom’s border! Just please….”
Whoosh!
“Ugh!”
He dodged the Sword Gang I had hurled at him and ground his teeth.
Since I clearly wasn’t someone who could be reasoned with, Elder Makri formed a seal and began pouring energy into the Death-Protecting Technique that glowed from his chest.
‘Jin Yuan…! He’s pouring life force into it…!’
At the same time, his body instantly turned pitch black and shot toward the edge of the barrier at breakneck speed.
‘That’s the Void Step of a Core Formation expert!’
That Death-Protecting Technique must have been imitating the Void Step used by Core Formation experts to float in the air, but at a lower stage.
“Damn it…! Am I supposed to die like this?! What nonsense!”
Kwaaang!
Elder Makri fired his spell with everything he had. The barrier shattered like glass, opening a gap.
In the backlash, the Qi Condensation experts who had formed the barrier all vomited a mouthful of blood.
“He’s not getting away!”
“If you want to catch him, catch him!”
Elder Makri grabbed the Death-Protecting Technique in his chest and used Void Step again.
His body had already moved ten zhang in the blink of an eye.
“Catch him!”
“Yes!”
I kicked off into the air and shot Sword Gang out at high speed.
“Hah, damn brats…! I will never die easily from your schemes…!”
Flash!
He used Void Step again, and his body vanished once more into the distance along with the blue streak.
‘That direction…!’
The faces of me, Kim Young-hoon, and the other Qi Condensation experts from the Jin Clan all darkened.
He was heading straight for the relay station of Makri Clan at the border of Yeon Kingdom.
“Block him! If he reaches the relay station and gets support from the family’s Foundation Establishment experts, we’re in trouble!”
“Understood!”
Kim Young-hoon and I chased after Elder Makri like madmen, and a pursuit battle began at the border region.
Whoosh!
I swung my sword, firing Sword Gang, then quickly formed a seal to chant the Earth Prison Star seal for Ground Confinement.
“Di Qiu!”
Ku gu gu!
Pure Force shot out, and pillars of earth erupted from the ground to trap Elder Makri.
However, the moment he formed his seal, Yin Wind howled and tore the earth prison apart like paper.
The pillars I had extended were pushed back by the Yin Wind and fell toward me again.
Flash!
My vision scanned the space as I watched the avalanche of stone debris raining down on me.
There was a gap.
Tap!
I quickly unfolded Mountain Beyond Mountain and Infinite stance, leaped over the rubble storm, and shot into the sky.
At the same time, with the first stance of Moon Peak, I swung my sword fiercely and fired Sword Gang.
A semicircular white Sword Gang shot toward Elder Makri.
“Hup!”
When he formed his seal, the Yin Qi condensed into a dense black cloud that wrapped around him, and my Sword Gang bounced off.
At the same time, the black cloud that had enveloped him transformed back into a dragon and shot toward me.
But I charged straight at him without hesitation.
It didn’t block.
Flash!
A wave of indescribable will surged behind my back, and the sound of air breaking came.
Kwaaang!
A fist-sized orb of light flashed past me and entered the maw of the dragon, exploding it and slamming into Elder Makri.
“I can’t die!”
Flash!
He poured Pure Force into the Death-Protecting Technique again, and with Void Step he vanished.
At the same time, a strong light explosion erupted where he had been.
Storm of light!
Countless light streams and knife scars seemed to fill the space in front of me.
Just as the explosion began to subside, I pierced through the light and thrust a fierce slash toward the fleeing Elder Makri!
Danak Sword Art.
Limitless Mountain Heaven.
Sword Gang expanded greatly as it strengthened.
With the range widened, my Sword Gang stretched out toward him.
Whoosh—
Kwaaang!
My extended Sword Gang slammed into Elder Makri and drove him down into the ground.
I frowned and formed a seal, creating a prison of earth.
‘The sensation hitting Sword Gang was dull.’
He hadn’t been cut.
Even while doing that, I had raised protective Sword Qi and stopped at the point of impact.
“Di Qiu!”
Ku gu gu!
The earth prison grew larger and trapped Elder Makri.
However, a battle cry echoed from inside the earth prison, and my spell was completely shattered by the sheer momentum.
‘As expected, Foundation Establishment experts have entirely different body sizes.’
Even Sword Gang and spells couldn’t land a proper effective hit.
But it didn’t matter.
I had already successfully grabbed his ankle.
Before long, Kim Young-hoon arrived again and was showering him with light balls.
Nine light balls rained down toward Elder Makri.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
The storm of light pushed him relentlessly.
At the same time, a blue light streak flashed through the storm of light.
“I can’t die… I won’t die like this…!”
Elder Makri poured Pure Force into the Death-Protecting Technique and used Void Step, barely dodging Kim Young-hoon’s light ball barrage and fleeing.
However, some of the attacks had gotten through, and his abdomen was completely split open while one arm was gone.
Yet he still forced out a single arm with Pure Force, formed a seal, and kept fleeing.
‘Not even a cockroach…’
I watched his life force with my tongue sticking out and chased after Elder Makri.
What kind of human is this?
‘Foundation Establishment experts said that as long as one of their head, heart, or dantian wasn’t completely destroyed, they wouldn’t die easily… so that was true.’
Foundation Establishment experts said that the Pure Force they created inside their bodies, combined with the spiritual veins established during Qi Condensation, reinforced each other. Even if several organs were missing, Pure Force could temporarily take over the role of those organs.
I still couldn’t quite understand why such nonsense was possible, but it was indeed the case.
Of course, if blood loss or internal organs were destroyed to this extent and Pure Force ran out, he would die.
But as long as his Pure Force allowed it, he could survive in that state.
Kim Young-hoon and I chased the Foundation Establishment expert of Makri Clan at high speed.
When I interrupted him and grabbed his ankle, Kim Young-hoon would follow up with a deadly attack.
Elder Makri would use Void Step to slip away each time he used the Death-Protecting Technique at random.
This cycle continued endlessly, and even in his half-dead state, Elder Makri would pull out pills from his space ring and swallow them indiscriminately to barely endure.
‘It’s not easy to finish him in one go…!’
The biggest problem was that he had used Wansuigungmurok to sense and approach silently.
He was dealing with it with remarkable efficiency.
Fundamentally, he had more and stronger Pure Force than Elder Makri Hwang-shin, but in this life, Kim Young-hoon had fought Makri Clan a lot, so his techniques were well-known to the enemy.
‘And… he has a considerable number of pills.’
He was still stuffing pills from his space ring into his mouth like eating roasted rice cakes.
‘If I stall him, it’s a problem…’
The sun was already beginning to set.
I gritted my teeth, launched my sword into the air, and chased after Elder Makri.
The tip of my sword was pursuing a Foundation Establishment expert.
Normally, this would have been meaningless.
Against a Foundation Establishment expert, even if I fired Sword Gang or swung my sword a hundred times, it was useless unless I precisely pierced the gaps in their protective Sword Qi.
But Elder Makri was dodging my sword with a face as pale as death.
For someone on the verge of death, even my sword was a terrifying threat.
Spot!
My sword barely grazed Elder Makri.
‘As expected, it’s hard to control the sword precisely during chaotic battles.’
I needed solid footing.
I descended from the air and planted my feet on the ground.
“Cheon Sok!”
I chanted the Heavenly Speed Star seal and used the spell.
Ku gu gu!
The earth gathered and formed a round disk beneath my feet.
When I changed my seal, the disk slid across the ground like on ice.
Ku gu gu gu gu!
The ground became my mount.
Countless trees and rocks flashed past behind me.
Above, I could see Elder Makri, whose speed had already slowed.
On the ground, it was me. In the sky, it was Kim Young-hoon. We surrounded him from above and below, each firing light balls and Sword Gang.
I held my sword form on the disk.
‘I’ll end this…!’
This time, the ground beneath my feet was solid.
I won’t miss!
Uuung!
With the sword sheathed, I gathered energy.
Ku gu gu gu gu!
Crunch, creak…!
The sword hilt couldn’t withstand the force and cracked and shattered.
I let out a small smile.
‘Not bad.’
How desolate the end of life was.
How heavy the moment of death was.
However, this death in this life…
Seemed like it would end meaningfully.
The sun set.
Just before dawn the next day.
My lifespan would end.
‘Here I go.’
Danak Sword Art.
Eleventh stance, Severing Cliff!
Kwa ja jak!
I didn’t sheath the sword.
With the sword already sheathed, I swung it anyway, cutting the sword hilt itself and slashing Sword Gang into the sky.
My Sword Gang shot into the sky at incredible speed, and nine light streams fell from the sky.
In the midst of it, Elder Makri of Makri Clan, who had been lost, let out a self-deprecating laugh and formed his seal.
“……Hah. You win.”
Light streaks filled heaven and earth.
Inside the storm of light, I could see Elder Makri’s entire body being torn apart, and finally, all his protective Sword Qi scattered.
“Kuhuk…!”
The expert who had been flying in the sky fell to the ground.
Thud!
With great effort, he was still clinging to life.
The remaining Pure Force left in him was now only about one or two stars of Qi Condensation.
And that was already fading.
His life force was trembling as if it would extinguish, and his heartbeat had grown weak.
“You will stop breathing now.”
“Understood.”
I led my tired body and looked at the dying Elder Makri.
A sky-flying expert writhing pathetically like a worm.
I recalled my past life.
The one who had summoned black clouds and poured rain, turning his back on the pitch-black sky and looking down on us with compassion.
That Foundation Establishment expert had ended up like this.
“……When it comes to dying, Foundation Establishment experts are no different from the criminals you all despised.”
I raised my sword calmly.
That was when.
“……You say we’re no different from criminals…?”
Elder Makri of Makri Clan looked at me with bloodshot eyes full of rage.
“Don’t laugh. I am Makri Yun-ryeon! Elder of the Great Makri Clan and a great expert of the spiritual family…!”
Flash!
“……”
“Do not compare us to criminals…!”
His body swelled.
At the same time a strong stench of rotting corpses exploded from him along with blue light.
Seeing the spiritual power flowing inside his body, I immediately understood what he was trying to do.
‘Self-detonation…!’
Tap!
I hurriedly dodged, and a blinding light explosion covered the surroundings.
‘What is this…?’
However, while looking at the explosion, I felt something strange.
The light of the explosion was huge, but the destruction range was too narrow and the power was weak.
‘This isn’t an explosion so much as… a Flash Bomb…?’
Startled!
I immediately understood his intention.
“Hyung Kim! You have to run! Over here….”
Ku gu gu gu!
The stench of rotting corpses grew stronger, and from far away, a large amount of poisoned green water mixed with corpse poison flooded in like a raging river.
Kirrrrrk, krurrrk….
Kwaeek!
Keeeeeek!
I hurriedly kicked into the air to avoid the poison stream, but inside it, undead surged out, leaped into the sky, and swung their claws.
‘Damn it, this is….’
Swish!
The poison stream swirled and boiled.
From the center of the whirlpool, a middle-aged expert in blue robes emerged holding a sheath knife.
The massive size of his will.
The pressure of this spiritual power!
‘A Foundation Establishment expert… one more…!’
Combined with the pressure of this spiritual energy.
He was not a normal Foundation Establishment expert.
Late-stage Foundation Establishment!
A powerhouse on the level of Elder Makri Hwang-shin!
“If a sudden flash signal had erupted, I would have thought someone was causing trouble, but it was only a distress signal sent by Yun-ryeon-nim….”
When the blue-robed expert snapped his fingers in the center of the whirlpool, the green water flowed and brought him the clothes and space ring that Makri Yun-ryeon had left behind.
“……A magnificent alchemist. Even if only the high-quality pills born from his hands exceeded tens of thousands….”
He glared at us while grinding his teeth.
“Makri Clan’s expert, and Jin Clan’s ultimate weapon. You smartly exploited the loophole in the treaty between Jin Clan and Makri Clan to kill Yun-ryeon-nim, right?”
Seeing that he had grasped the situation, he began raising his spiritual power while alternately looking at me and Kim Young-hoon.
“You brats… don’t think you can die comfortably…!”
However, Kim Young-hoon let out a smirk and fired another light ball.
“I have no idea on what grounds you are so confident. Even Makri Yun-ryeon, who had reached the fourth stage of Foundation Establishment, was taken down by me, yet you, who are only at the third stage, think you can intimidate me?”
“Hahaha, I already know I’m exhausted from facing Yun-ryeon-nim. Jin Clan’s Qi Condensation trash can only help so much. They barely have any Pure Force left… you’re not enough.”
“Hah… If I were alone, that would be the case. But my brother from Cheongmun Clan has more power than the highest stage of Qi Condensation and below the lowest stage of Foundation Establishment. If he joins us….”
“Join?”
He asked with a smirk.
“Ah, it seems you have a misunderstanding. When did I say I came alone?”
Kuuuung!
In the dark night sky.
Black clouds gathered again.
It seemed he had learned a spiritual technique similar to the one Makri Yun-ryeon had used, and the phenomena occurring around us matched his exactly.
The size of the black clouds was less than half of Makri Yun-ryeon’s, but I felt cold sweat running down my back.
The sky was covered in Yin Qi.
“I happened to be collecting materials nearby along with one of the late-stage experts from my family, so I came together.”
“Makri Clan uncle! You’re too slow, Jun-ah.”
The one who arrived was a young man in blue robes.
With a gentle appearance, he naturally revealed his spiritual power while gathering energy.
Mid-stage Foundation Establishment!
‘Even that… late mid-stage… about to reach late stage soon…’
Direct descendant of Makri Clan!
An individual worthy of being called a late-stage expert had appeared.
“You’re not slow, Jun-ah. Well, anyway, you’re here. Take care of those Jin Clan trash and that Cheongmun guy. I’ll kill the martial artist who is the outer hall elder of Jin Clan.”
“Yes, but who sent the flash signal?”
“……Yun-ryeon-nim has passed away.”
At those words, the young man’s face twisted horribly.
“Yun-ryeon-nim…? Th-that… a great alchemist like Yun-ryeon-nim…?”
“It seems like it was done by the hand of those who partnered Jin Clan and Cheongmun Clan.
They exploited the gap in the treaty between Makri Clan and Jin Clan.
It seems they used the hand of that Cheongmun guy to cross Byeokra Kingdom’s border as a pretext and assassinated Yun-ryeon-nim.”
“…These trash…”
The young man of Makri Clan’s face twisted like a ghost.
“You think you know who you killed… You killed the great alchemist who was most respected under the Core Formation elders of Makri Clan…
Many disciples lost the opportunity to receive his teachings, and you bastards took away the chance to refine those incredibly valuable pills…!”
I looked at the loud-mouthed youth with an expressionless face and formed my sword form.
“Good. Now that this trash is dead at my hands, hundreds of thousands of lives will be preserved.”
After all, today was the day I was going to die.
I had decided this place would be my grave.
Dying didn’t frighten me.
But what weighed on my heart was…
“Hyung Kim! Run away as far as you can!”
Kim Young-hoon dying without even being able to deploy his will here.
I was about to die anyway, but I wanted him to live a little longer.
“I will stall for as long as possible.”
Lifting the stance of Mountain Beyond Mountain and Infinite, I rushed at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment youth who looked weaker.
“Hah, it’s not just ridiculous, it’s infuriating.”
Kuuuung!
Yin Wind blew.
A ring of Yin Qi flew toward me from beyond the Yin Wind.
While unfolding Danak Sword Art, I cut through the spells of Foundation Establishment level and sometimes formed seals myself to counter with spells.
‘I’m squeezing every last drop!’
I cut through countless spells, deflected them, countered, and slipped into the gaps.
And so, I found a tiny gap and rushed toward it.
‘Got you!’
My sword surged toward the mid-stage Foundation Establishment youth.
Danak Sword Art, twenty-second stance, Severing Peak!
Twenty-one stances unfolded at once and burst out through my sword.
‘Break through!’
Severing Peak!
The final stance with the name of determination to cut down even mountains charged toward the mid-stage youth.
And.
Kang!
My sword broke.
Beyond just the sword breaking, even the Sword Gang wrapped around it shattered into dust.
Did he deploy a defensive spell?
No.
Did he counter with an offensive spell?
No.
Did he use spiritual power?
No.
The mid-stage Foundation Establishment youth did nothing.
He simply spat out protective Sword Qi using Pure Force and looked at me as if I were ridiculous.
Even that was enough for my Sword Gang, which the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin martial artist deployed, to have no effect.
‘…This is a Foundation Establishment expert….’
If it was a newly entered Foundation Establishment expert, he could have barely died with Wansuigungmurok and other martial arts.
But the one who had entered Foundation Establishment properly, accumulated experience, and reached mid-stage was impossible for the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin to deal with easily.
It was different from Makri Yun-ryeon, who had been beaten half to death by Kim Young-hoon with light balls just before dying.
Although his realm was lower, his Pure Force and stamina were lively mid-stage Foundation Establishment!
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
I realized I could not even bite him.
Even facing Elder Makri Hwang-shin in my past life had been possible only because his power had dropped to the fourth stage of Foundation Establishment, roughly equivalent to thirteen stars of Qi Condensation.
Anything above that was completely unreachable.
“Is this the end for you, you bug?”
Kwaaang!
Countless Yin Qi surged into the hand of Makri Clan’s youth, forming a dragon claw.
The dragon claw slammed into me.
I flew through the air and crashed into the forest below.
“Kuhuk…!”
If I hadn’t deployed a defensive spell while releasing strength, I would have been beheaded in one hit.
Simply put, the body sizes were different.
“Kuk… kuhuk….”
I tried to stand up from the ground, spitting blood, but strength didn’t enter my legs.
Kulak, kulak.
Along with coughing up blood-mixed phlegm, pieces of entrails came out.
It seemed my intestines were ruptured.
“Ku… kuhuk… ku… ka… kaha… kahaak….”
I spat blood and looked up at the night sky obscured by black clouds.
The expert handling the poison stream had already pushed Kim Young-hoon back into a corner.
‘…How embarrassing.’
Run? Run from what?
Stall? What stall?
I had been overwhelmed like this.
Embarrassing, so embarrassing.
A life of only embarrassment.
I had accomplished nothing, and I had only confirmed that I had been rejected by heaven.
Even the mid-point of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin, I had barely reached it.
After Qi Condensation seven stars, I had only studied the theory thoroughly, never actually reaching it because the sky never allowed it.
In the end, I had thought I would die with some honor, but instead I was dying in such a pathetic way, treated like a bug.
A life with nothing accomplished.
“Tsk, trash. The Five Qi Consorting with the Origin martial artist at Cheongmun Clan is you, right? On the battlefield, even holding a steel rod and causing a ruckus, yet you dared to confront a spiritual expert.
You even learned a little of the expert’s sword technique, yet you’re only at seven stars of Qi Condensation… what a waste of air….”
Elder Makri’s late-stage expert clicked his tongue and formed his seal.
“You were killed for entering the border with the pretext of killing my family’s elder… so I will kill you with the same pretext….”
My body was lifted by his spell and slipped between the borders of Byeokra Kingdom and Yeon Kingdom.
“Die regretting that you dared kill the great alchemist of my family with the life of a bug like you.”
He formed his seal.
I felt a self-deprecating smile forming.
‘A bug’s fate…’
Yes, that was right.
No matter how much I tried, I could not escape this cycle.
The sky was rejecting me, so what exactly was I supposed to do?
No matter how hard I tried, I could never reach it.
What was I supposed to do?
I closed my eyes and waited for the death that would come for me.
A life with nothing accomplished.
The end of a tough life had come like this.
I thought this was my seventh regression.
Kwaaang!
The explosive sound rang out, and the Pure Force of the late-stage expert of Makri Clan who had been binding me scattered.
I opened my eyes and looked at the person who had freed me.
It was an extremely familiar back.
“……Master…?”
My master, Cheongmun Ryeong, stood blocking my way.
“Eh, how did you get here….”
I asked in surprise, but my master did not turn to look at me and answered shortly.
“Didn’t you send a letter?”
“Yes? That… it should take three days to arrive….”
“Hmph! Three days? You’re already slow even in daily life, yet you’re late in sending a letter to your master. Before you left, I put a much higher-quality transmission talisman in your space ring.”
My master sighed and waved his hand.
In his hand was a crumpled letter of mine.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? This brat… I could tell what kind of emotion was in your letter just by looking at your handwriting.”
I had thought I had written the letter with the most emotional restraint possible, but my master’s eyes had clearly seen through it.
……Disciple, why are you so stubbornly dragging on to the very end? I read the heavenly laws with you over and over while we performed the rites together.
I read hundreds of heavenly secrets about you, yet you didn’t know that the day your lifespan would end was approaching?”
“……”
“I thought you knew your own lifespan was ending, so I sent it… but what is this? Are you coming to die honorably? Or did you try to fight me silently, bearing a grudge, and die?”
My master shouted at me with an angry expression.
But I couldn’t hold back my tears.
My master’s will was deep, dark blue.
The will of sorrow.
Just like the black clouds draped over the sky, your will was dyed the same way.
……I’m sorry.
And, I had no choice but to hear the words I had never wanted to hear from my master the most.
“I couldn’t do anything for you….”
“……No.”
“I don’t know how much lifespan is left, but even so… would it not be okay to say goodbye in front of this master?”
My master was still speaking without turning to look at me.
Somehow, I felt I understood why.
Because my master’s voice was trembling.
……Yes. I will.
That was when.
The late-stage expert of Makri Clan, Makri Jun, let out a smirk and shouted at my master.
“Hah, your disciple has rashly crossed into the border of Yeon Kingdom, so I have to handle it myself. Move aside quickly.”
……You seem to have a strange misunderstanding. It is not the Qi Condensation experts who cannot cross the borders of each country without permission, but the Foundation Establishment experts who are the main power of each family. Therefore, my disciple has no reason to be judged by you.”
“Hah, that’s interesting. Then, since you, a Foundation Establishment expert of Byeokra Kingdom, are currently stepping on Yeon Kingdom’s land, you are also a target for judgment, right?”
……Yeon Kingdom land?
Ku gu gu gu—
A greenish spiritual energy began to flow around my master.
“The young one seems to be misunderstanding. The territory between spiritual families is not clearly defined by the criminals’ border laws. It is not the borders of criminals’ countries, whether Yeon Kingdom land or Byeokra Kingdom land. It is based on the dragon veins flowing in each great land.
Each family marks the land where spiritual energy suitable for their family flows as their territory. And beneath that territory, the criminal nations were established, but the criminals’ borders are not the spiritual families’ territory….”
Ku gu gu gu!
My master’s formation unfolded around me.
At the same time, the quality of the surrounding spiritual energy changed.
Ku gu gu gu!
‘This is….’
The spiritual energy of the dragon vein changed!
The spiritual energy that originally existed in this land began to be pushed out by the spiritual energy of the quality I had often felt in Byeokra Kingdom!
Meaning, the dragon vein is proof of the territory of the spiritual family. For now, as long as I maintain the dragon vein, this land is our territory. Now, on the contrary, you have invaded the land of Cheongmun, Byeok, and Gongmyo Three Families. Disappear quickly! If you interfere with the final moments of me and my disciple, I will not forgive you!”
“Eek, eeek…!”
Makri Jun formed his seal, trying to drive away the dragon vein my master had summoned with the formation.
But because of the difference in skill and experience in handling spells, every spell he attempted was nullified.
“I do not permit you to touch my disciple!”