Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: Echoes of Anannai
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The sense of déjà vu he'd felt upon first arriving at Black Forest hadn't faded into a mere fleeting illusion. If anything, it grew stronger as Wi Sungcheon departed the harbor and traveled along the coastline.
At first, he hadn't even registered it consciously. The revelation that the Black Heaven Young Master, who had left Heavenly Flower Sect four years ago, was none other than Wi Sungyeol had shaken Wi Sungcheon's mind to its core. It took quite some time before he could even pay attention to that nagging familiarity.
But he did become aware of it eventually. This island. Black Forest. A place he'd never visited before, yet it felt strangely familiar.
The churning sea looked no different from what he'd seen at North Sea Ice Palace, so he wondered if that was the cause. But after observing more closely several times, Wi Sungcheon realized the déjà vu stemmed not from the ocean, but from the island's terrain itself.
That made it all the more inexplicable. Wi Sungcheon had never been to Black Forest before. He'd even considered if perhaps, as a swaddled infant with no memory, he'd been carried here on his father's back—but that seemed impossible.
Then what?
'It's Anannai's memories.'
Moknae, whom he'd met in the underwater tomb. Anannai, the last palace lord of Podalrab Palace from centuries ago. He'd rambled on about heavenly principles and human ethics, showing Wi Sungcheon fragments of his memories to help him understand.
The island Anannai had reached after fleeing the burning, collapsing Podalrab Palace and crossing the Central Plains.
Cursing the heavens, convinced there were no gods or Buddhas in this world, Anannai had worried that if he died, he might become a horrific evil spirit. He'd resolved to meet his end on a deserted, uninhabited island where no one could ever find him.
But in the end, Anannai couldn't take his own life. It was because of the Sea Dragon and the Divine Maiden who appeared just before. Anannai's memories were incomplete and hazy, but unmistakable. This was the island where he'd sought death, the island where the Sea Dragon and Divine Maiden had come to stop him. After Anannai abandoned his suicidal intent, this island became...
Throb.
Wi Sungcheon pressed his temple against the sharp, ringing headache. He couldn't tell if this was the human ethics Anannai had spoken of, or some distorted heavenly principle. But one thing was clear. Wi Sungcheon had to head to the center of Black Forest. If whatever had been left behind was still there... he could fill in the gaps in these faint memories.
The next day.
Wi Sungcheon, who had woken early and finished his meditation, sat on the railing overlooking the streets below. The roads, occupied by pleasure-seeking residents until late at night, were now bustling in a different way from the dawn hours. There was no drunkenness on the faces of the milling residents.
"Blood tokens have appeared."
Baek Rihyang returned from scouting the streets to gauge the situation. Her face showed both delight that her prediction had come true and considerable tension now that it actually had.
"They're calling it the biggest ever."
"So that's why it's such chaos?"
"It has to be. Ten blood tokens appeared at once."
Blood tokens were the only items that could forcibly eject five-star residents from the city. Up until now, they'd been issued at most three at a time. This time, ten had been given out.
"Did you get one?"
"No."
Baek Rihyang's expression soured. Wi Sungcheon nodded, feeling a twinge of regret.
"So who did?"
Wi Sungcheon learned from Baek Rihyang about the ten residents who had received blood tokens this time. Among them, three stood out.
Shura Soul Sword. Black Leopard in the Mist. Red Turban Mad Axe.
"Those three are among the top fighters among the five-star residents. Especially Shura Soul Sword—he's the one who's lasted the longest in this city."
He'd been living here for five years already. He'd received blood tokens several times before and survived. With his skills, he could have become a six-star resident long ago, but Shura Soul Sword had chosen to remain a five-star fixture of the city.
"The other seven are just average. To be blunt, I could handle them all by myself."
"Don't say that."
"What about bait?"
"If you get robbed somewhere, what am I supposed to do? Don't expect loyalty from me even in that situation. If you lose your stars and barely escape with your life, I won't have any lingering attachment to you."
Baek Rihyang frowned at Wi Sungcheon's response.
"Who said anything?"
"Just saying. We don't need to move right away anyway, right?"
"Yeah..."
Residents who received blood tokens had to leave the city before midnight. Even if they exited before then, you couldn't hunt those with blood tokens.
"If you go out early and camp, you'll just become a target for the other residents."
There were plenty of precedents. The targets weren't just the blood tokens. Once outside the city, every resident was an enemy.
"Don't you have any factions or anything?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Watching from up here, I noticed a few things. Even in Black Forest, it's a place where people live, so it makes sense they'd band together with like-minded folks, right?"
Wi Sungcheon tilted his head toward the street beyond the railing.
"I'm not sure you'd call them factions, but no place with people is so barren that everyone operates completely solo."
"I don't."
Baek Rihyang's voice cooled sharply.
"Sorry if you needed extra hands."
"You don't need to apologize to me for not having friends."
Baek Rihyang ground her teeth at Wi Sungcheon's jab. He chuckled, watching her face flush bright red.
"Well, I prefer it that way. No need to pick and choose opponents, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone except you and me is an enemy. No mercy needed—just catch every bastard you see in the forest."
Baek Rihyang blinked at his nonchalant words. Soon, she let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
"Talk is cheap."
"Don't you trust your ally too little?"
"If you want my trust, show me something worth it."
"Don't worry. You'll see."
How long would it take? Wi Sungcheon gazed down at the city, lost in thought. His reason for becoming a six-star resident wasn't just Anannai's memories. The Black Demon King had said that one week after the Righteous Heaven Academy students arrived on Black Forest, he would "scatter" various items at the island's heart.
Elixirs, weapons, martial arts. Even the martial arts the Black Demon King mentioned were enough to upend the martial world: Wudang's Tenfold Golden Chains, Huashan's Endless Lotus Sword, Zhongnan's Hundred Dance Cloud Sword.
When she heard about Endless Lotus Sword, U Hayeon had exuded an uncharacteristically chilling killing intent. One week from now. To reclaim her sect's lost martial art from centuries ago, U Hayeon would surely move.
And there were plenty of residents gunning for U Hayeon. Among the Black Tyrant's alliances, the one with U Hayeon and Do Ji-eun had the fewest members. Plus, U Hayeon had Red Scale, one of the Six Heaven-Earth Guardians.
'I promised Big Sis, too.'
He still questioned whether "protecting" U Hayeon was truly right.
If he had to fret over "protecting" someone, it was more Paeng Yeonhwa or Dang Heeran.
* * *
The sun had long set. Wi Sungcheon didn't rush, immersing himself in meditation until night had fully deepened. As midnight approached, Baek Rihyang openly showed her anxiety by gnawing her nails.
"Shall we go?"
Finally, Wi Sungcheon stood.
"...Wouldn't it be better to leave after midnight passes?"
Despite her earlier fidgeting, Baek Rihyang took a step back.
"Doesn't matter if we go late or now."
"But... go?"
"The ones leaving are already out there, lying in wait. Forgot? Our targets aren't just the blood token holders. Everyone except us."
"...I just can't buy your bottomless confidence."
"If you really can't, stay here. Honestly, it'd be easier for me that way."
"...No, I'll go with you."
"That works too. I could use you as bait."
Baek Rihyang's insides boiled. In truth, such behavior was unfamiliar to her. Even if she wasn't acknowledged as his disciple, she was the Black Demon King's daughter.
"You weren't just biting your nails while I meditated, right?"
"Ha!"
The streets, bustling when the sun was up, now stood empty. Wi Sungcheon walked them with Baek Rihyang.
[...The God-Demon Annihilation Technique is an ultimate rigid qi art.]
As they crossed the streets toward the city gate, Baek Rihyang explained what she knew of the God-Demon Annihilation Technique.
[I never properly learned it myself, but as a child, I watched Father practice it countless times.]
From what Baek Rihyang described, Black Demon King Baek Rimuon was more diligent than expected. Back when she lived in the Black Death Alliance estate before coming to Black Forest.
The Black Demon King would wake earlier than anyone, refining his martial arts with ritualistic reverence.
[As far as I know, Father never skipped his dawn training once while at the Black Death Alliance.]
To achieve such prowess yet crave even higher realms. How many Righteous Heaven Academy students diligently practiced every morning? Wi Sungcheon pondered briefly. Back in the dorms, he'd refined his arts each morning. Though not truly "every" day—injured or away from the academy, he'd had no choice but to skip.
[My talent didn't meet Father's standards, but... seeing it day after day, I noticed the 'changes.' Father's God-Demon Annihilation Technique evolved bit by bit over time. But five years ago, it stopped changing.]
Curious, he'd asked about it. Truth be told, his question wasn't purely from curiosity about why it no longer changed. He'd wanted to convey that he'd watched diligently, yearned for it.
You've watched closely. He'd hoped for such praise, but the Black Demon King offered none.
[There's nothing more to add.]
Just those dry words. Nothing more to add, thus ultimate. The martial world had countless rigid qi arts. Rigid qi arts were profound from the outset, so those purely handling rigid qi inevitably became supreme techniques.
If the Black Demon King declared nothing more to add, his God-Demon Annihilation Technique was undoubtedly a perfected divine art.
[The version I saw consisted of four forms...]
"Wait."
The moment they passed through the wide-open city gate.
Wi Sungcheon cut off Baek Rihyang's transmission with his voice. It wasn't just for her.
It was also for the enemies lurking beyond the darkness, watching them the instant they exited.
Baek Rihyang's expression hardened quickly. The hostility and glares were blatant enough for her to notice too.
Wi Sungcheon shifted his halted step sideways. That single motion positioned him in front of Baek Rihyang, blocking all possible attacks from any direction.
"Come out."
Wi Sungcheon loosely clasped his hands behind his back. The smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth oozed such excessive nonchalance it would infuriate any onlooker.
"Do you know where you are?"
A chilling voice tried to dominate the scene. Gazes and malice grew more overt, presences manifesting.
Wi Sungcheon's senses had already pinpointed the ambushers, but the enemies obligingly revealed themselves, surrounding Wi Sungcheon and Baek Rihyang.
'Seven.'
Exactly as he'd sensed.
"Little shit, strutting on the alliance leader's protection."
"You talking to me or her?"
The residents' eyes blazed at Wi Sungcheon's mocking pose, hands still behind his back.
"Miss, what bean paste blinded you to come out here?"
"Know your place. Teaming up with some fledgling dragon? Pathetic sight."
"Trying to become the Black Demon King's disciple through this chance?"
The revealed residents jeered. Wi Sungcheon scanned their faces.
[...Four-star residents.]
Baek Rihyang transmitted. Four-star residents who couldn't enter the city and lived in forest villages. Blood token hunters weren't limited to city five-star residents.
Four-star residents in the forest villages desperately hoped for blood tokens too. When they drew city residents out en masse, they could target relatively easier prey.
"You're seven, we're two. How you splitting the merits?"
"Not your concern."
"The alliance leader said not to kill students."
"Didn't say anything about other things."
Hostility shifted to killing intent. Weapons drawn with metallic shrieks targeted Wi Sungcheon.
"If you don't want to end up crippled, hand over your star plaque quietly and scram."
"Just the fledgling's plaque enough?"
"That'd defeat the purpose. Take the miss's too."
"Miss, hear that? We don't want to bully you needlessly. Truth is, we pity you. His own daughter, yet not even a disciple."
"Wait, is she really his blood daughter?"
The residents snickered and traded barbs. Baek Rihyang's shoulders trembled as she listened. Her eyes tinted red—the hallmark of her Blood Eye Torrent, not God-Demon Annihilation Technique.
"Righteous or demonic, doesn't make a difference."
Wi Sungcheon shrugged and muttered. The residents whipped their gazes toward him.
"What?"
"This."
His hands came forward from behind his back. Sneering at the flinching residents, Wi Sungcheon pointed at his own mouth.
"When you fools think you're in an advantage, you always flap your gums like that. Even when you're not."
Before they could retort to the taunt.
Wi Sungcheon vanished before their eyes. It only seemed like vanishing; what he did wasn't some grand disappearing act.
He'd drawn their hands forward to make them wary. Focused their eyes with mockery, stoked their rage.
Then, when their vision narrowed, he accelerated once to leap outside it. That was all. The "vanishing" illusion lasted only a blink.
That blink.
Was ample time for Wi Sungcheon. In one step, he escaped their sightlines; in the next, he plunged into their midst. His midair steps were Air Stride—nothing surprising for him now.
The residents couldn't even cry out in shock. Time, meant to flow equally, wasn't equal for them. Long enough for him, too short for them.
They hadn't yet registered Wi Sungcheon in their center. As they panicked and turned.
He smashed his fist into the nearest resident's jaw. Feeling the jaw shatter wasn't enough. He hooked his striking arm like a sickle, driving his elbow into the man's chest. He dove under the spray of blood from the man's mouth.
He grabbed another resident's collar and yanked. His pre-clenched fist gladly pierced the man's solar plexus. In that instant, the hand gripping the collar opened into a palm strike, caving in the nose.
The one beside got grabbed by the shoulder and yanked diagonally down. Legs braced to resist? Wi Sungcheon kneed the thigh.
He stomped down on the fallen man's head with a thud, stepping over him.
"Every time this happens."
Three down pathetically. The rest finally reacted late. A sharp sword gleam cleaved the dark.
Fast sword, they thought, but to Wi Sungcheon, it crawled like a grub. His fingers blocked the blade's advance.
His opposite arm whipped up, smashing the resident's philtrum.
Clang!
The caught sword blade snapped. Wi Sungcheon didn't let go, slamming it into the man's thigh.
"Argh!"
After the pained scream. The fifth couldn't even scream. A fluid barrage struck philtrum and throat, the final blow sinking deep into the solar plexus. The fifth collapsed foaming blood instead of crying out.
"I learn my lesson."
The sixth charged bellowing. Confident in brute strength matching his bulky muscles, he reached with massive hands to grab Wi Sungcheon.
Wi Sungcheon met it head-on, extending his own hand. Their hands clasped—then the sixth's crushed instantly. Forearm snapped, elbow joint dislocated.
"Gurk!"
Wi Sungcheon twisted the arm behind the man's back, knotting it. Bones pulverized, joints shattered, pulled taut into a bind.
The man screamed deathly, but Wi Sungcheon ignored him.
Last one.
The seventh backed away hesitantly. Former malice had turned to terror.
"W-wait. The star plaque..."
The seventh never finished. Wi Sungcheon closed the gap in a flash, clamping the man's throat.
"Know what lesson that is?"
The seventh's body lifted off the ground.
"Hands faster than mouth."
Crunch!
The seventh's body slammed into the dirt.