Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Just Before the Blast
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Right before the deafening blast.
Many people threw themselves into the fray.
In truth, rationally speaking, they shouldn't have. Objectively, Baek Ri-hyang was certainly among the ranks of experts, but she wasn't at a level to charge into a battlefield where supreme martial arts were clashing like that.
Even so. Baek Ri-hyang moved anyway. It wasn't because she was confident. She just felt like she couldn't let it go on any longer.
Points connect to form lines, and lines connect to form planes. Even with her limited insight, she could see it.
The Black Heaven Young Master's martial arts would kill Wi Sung-cheon.
Baek Ri-hyang didn't want to witness that right before her eyes. If he died out of sight, there was nothing to be done, but she couldn't bear to watch Wi Sung-cheon get torn to shreds in such plain view.
Lines connect. And pitch-black darkness fills the space within. Wi Sung-cheon stood before it. What Baek Ri-hyang had imagined in her impulsive charge was grabbing Wi Sung-cheon's shoulder or wrist at the last possible moment, making a stylish escape, and then bragging about how she'd saved his life.
"Ah, this is."
It didn't take long to realize it was a completely unrealistic fantasy. As she reached out to save Wi Sung-cheon, Baek Ri-hyang despaired very quickly.
"I'm going to die with him."
Kwaaang!
The blast shook the forest. Baek Ri-hyang's consciousness cut out for a moment.
When she came to, Baek Ri-hyang realized her feet weren't touching the ground—she was floating. Baek Ri-hyang blinked dazedly and lifted her head.
"Are you trying to make a fool of me?"
A chilling voice snapped her back to reality. Before she knew it, she was cradled in the Black Demon King's arms. The Black Demon King had intervened just before the blast and protected her.
"If you met such a dog's death, the entire martial world would mock this Black Demon King. It would only be natural. If the Black Demon King's one and only daughter died—not even in direct combat, but caught up while spectating a fight, no less. Especially if that fight was..."
"Ah, Father...?"
Baek Ri-hyang let out a bewildered voice. At that call, the Black Demon King's face twisted sharply. After glaring at her for a moment, he clicked his tongue and set her down.
Only then could Baek Ri-hyang stand properly and look ahead.
The ruins that the Black Heaven Young Master had made his lair were no longer recognizable as mere ruins.
"...Hm."
The Black Heaven Young Master, hovering in the air, let out a low groan. His arms were blocked by Mu Yeon-jun.
If Baek Ri-hyang had jumped in to save Wi Sung-cheon, Mu Yeon-jun had jumped in to block the Black Heaven Young Master. Thanks to Mu Yeon-jun's intervention, the destruction hadn't gone further.
"What should be done about this?"
The Black Demon King no longer looked at Baek Ri-hyang. He gazed at the Black Heaven Young Master with narrowed eyes. Mu Yeon-jun, who had been holding his arms until now, slowly caught his breath and released the Black Heaven Young Master's hands.
The Black Heaven Young Master looked down at his arms, which had just been gripped by Mu Yeon-jun. Vivid red handprints burned there.
"You dared defy my will."
The Black Demon King's voice cooled like ice. The Black Heaven Young Master's body flinched. The Black Demon King's ferocious killing intent pressed down solely on him. Yet the Black Heaven Young Master merely paled; he didn't spit blood or drop to his knees.
"I said not to kill any student of the Heavenly Academy. If you are my disciple, you must never defy your master's will."
"It was you, Master, who taught me to deny my master and make killing him my goal."
"That was when you had attained that level of power."
"...I never intended to kill him."
The Black Heaven Young Master slowly shook his head.
"I could have died in the process. You know that, Master."
"You're right. I know. I've been watching from the start."
The Black Demon King's eyes flashed. The Black Heaven Young Master's pale cheeks trembled, and black, dead blood began to trickle from his nose.
"That's why I'm displeased. If you hadn't been bound by personal emotions, you wouldn't have faced any risk of death. And you wouldn't have defied my will."
"...Yes."
The Black Heaven Young Master didn't deny it. If he'd truly meant to finish it from the start, he could have taken down Wi Sung-cheon long before it came to this.
But... he hadn't. Various emotions had made his hands hesitate, leading to this outcome.
"Do it yourself."
"Yes."
Without hesitation, the Black Heaven Young Master grabbed his left arm. Krunch! With a gruesome sound, his left arm snapped.
"Forgive me with one arm."
"You didn't even tear it off?"
"If I had truly killed him, I would offer my life. But the Latent Dragon neither died nor suffered major injury. So forgive me with one arm."
"You talk well."
The Black Demon King snorted, but withdrew his killing intent. The Black Heaven Young Master let his broken arm hang limp and turned his head.
A little higher in the sky. The White Night Witch stood with Wi Sung-cheon slung over her shoulder.
At the moment the three forms of the Divine Demon Annihilation Method erupted, Mu Yeon-jun blocked the Black Heaven Young Master, the Black Demon King protected Baek Ri-hyang, and the White Night Witch protected Wi Sung-cheon.
'What the hell is that guy?'
The White Night Witch furrowed her brows, glaring below. On the ravaged ground stood the Crimson Light Master.
He said nothing, just raised his head to look at Wi Sung-cheon slung over the White Night Witch's shoulder. If the White Night Witch had been even a moment later, the Crimson Light Master would have protected Wi Sung-cheon.
'He watched a lot.'
Sang I-rin had no reason to move. She was surprised when Mu Yeon-jun moved to block the Black Heaven Young Master, but she didn't pursue. With a complicated feeling,
'Better if he'd just died.'
Such thoughts, she withdrew. In the end, her wish didn't come true.
This... she didn't like either. The more entangled, the more she disliked. Sang I-rin stood alone, glaring at Wi Sung-cheon.
If I were in mortal danger. Who would jump in to save me?
In that question, Sang I-rin couldn't even imagine Mu Yeon-jun.
* * *
"Did he pass out?"
At the Black Demon King's question, the White Night Witch slowly nodded. Blood flowed from wounds all over his body. Scratches from breaking through the lines of the Divine Demon Annihilation Method. But none were serious injuries.
Yet Wi Sung-cheon's body burned like a fireball. His overworked muscles still radiated heat, and his heart thumped so loudly it could be heard from outside.
"...You chose quite the impressive disciple."
The White Night Witch sneered as she set Wi Sung-cheon down. She glanced at the ruins where the Black Heaven Young Master stood far off.
"It's been less than three years since I personally taught him martial arts, and he can already unleash Hell Extinction."
"If he can unleash it, he could do all five forms. He just hasn't achieved mastery."
The Black Demon King replied indifferently. The White Night Witch couldn't help but be even more shocked.
Hell Extinction, the third form of the Divine Demon Annihilation Method. Reaching that realm in three years of training was astonishing enough, but if he could unleash it, he could perform all five forms.
"Why so surprised? He's no one's disciple but this Black Demon King's. And since I taught him personally, that's the least he should do."
The Black Demon King spoke as if it were obvious. His dry words didn't sound like boasting at all. He truly believed it.
"Well, you're not the only exceptional master. I saw him use Soul Drifting White Escape too. If we're talking absurdities, the Latent Dragon piercing the essence of Soul Drifting White Escape in mere days is even more so."
"...It was similar to the Absorbing Star Great Law. And don't misunderstand—he's not my disciple. Nor am I his master."
The White Night Witch grumbled as she looked down at Wi Sung-cheon. Still unconscious, he lay sprawled carelessly on the ground.
[What the hell is that bastard?]
The White Night Witch sent a transmission to the Black Demon King, mindful of the Crimson Light Master who'd followed them all the way. He was in plain sight, yet strangely, the Black Demon King hadn't spared him a single glance.
[A ghost.]
[...What?]
"Why would a living man concern himself with a ghost? Ignore him, as I do."
With such blatant deflection, the White Night Witch furrowed her brows. She didn't like 'ghosts.' It reminded her of the Blood Cult Leader's ghost she'd encountered on this island decades ago. The White Night Witch whipped her head around to look at the Crimson Light Master.
'...?'
But he'd vanished before she knew it.
'Father... saved me.'
Baek Ri-hyang stood half-dazed. She was still lost in that thought. It was a plain fact. For whatever reason, the Black Demon King had personally stepped in to save her.
The Black Demon King himself paid her no more mind. He knew her body had undergone major changes from the Dawn Commander's Five Elements Six Harmonies Method, but he didn't mention it. Baek Ri-hyang felt no resentment about that either. She was too moved that her father had thrown his body to protect her.
[Is it the power of the Immortal Brew?]
[No. He's been using it unconsciously even before.]
The Black Demon King replied. The White Night Witch hadn't watched the treasure hunt in the forest, but the Black Demon King had observed everything that happened there in detail.
[The Latent Dragon has stepped into the Divine Realm. He hasn't fully opened his upper dantian, but that incomplete intent body of his... has allowed him to enter the Divine Realm, if only by a step.]
Wi Sung-cheon's sharp instincts. Surviving fatal crises and sensing the presences hidden in the forest during the treasure hunt weren't solely due to highly developed qi sense.
Wi Sung-cheon was unconsciously wielding intent through his incomplete intent body.
[...He hasn't even opened his upper dantian and he's already initiated into Intent Martial Form?]
[He opened it a little. He's been utilizing the intent body before. After all he's been through, it's plausible he'd unconsciously use Intent Martial Form.]
[Don't talk nonsense. There's no precedent for...]
The White Night Witch trailed off mid-sentence. She glared at the Black Demon King's smirking face.
[...The Black Heaven Young Master initiated into Intent Martial Form too?]
[My disciple learned Heavenly Flower Sect's martial arts, after all. He's had an intent body formed for a long time. Cruder than the Latent Dragon's, but he used it better.]
The White Night Witch laughed in disbelief. Intent Martial Form was the sure proof of transcending human martial arts and entering the Divine Realm. The martial arts of intent, entered by opening the upper dantian. Shaping it into form was Intent Martial Form.
[You said you're not the Latent Dragon's master. Still, as a senior, give him some advice. It'd be a shame to waste the Intent Martial Form he's finally obtained.]
With that transmission, the Black Demon King stood. The White Night Witch recalled the eye that had appeared above Wi Sung-cheon's head and shook her head.
"Why don't you do it yourself?"
Irritated, she spoke aloud instead of transmitting, but the Black Demon King just smiled.
"I'm a busy man in many ways."
"You looked plenty free. Came all the way here to watch."
"I'll be busy from now on. And no matter how free I am, surely not more than you."
The White Night Witch clamped her lips shut, unable to retort. Seeing her silenced, the Black Demon King smiled.
"You have to give him at least that much, or the Latent Dragon will get thrashed by my disciple again next time."
At those words, the White Night Witch's face twisted sharply.
Wi Sung-cheon wasn't even her disciple, yet the Black Demon King's teasing grated on her terribly.
* * *
Again.
Once more, right before it touched—just as it seemed it would—and when he came to...
"Stop moping and get up."
Wi Sung-cheon, staring blankly at the ceiling, took a kick to the ribs from the White Night Witch's toe.
"Guh!"
Wi Sung-cheon clutched his side and rolled around. Then, feeling wronged, he whipped his head up to glare at the White Night Witch.
"Ah, come on!"
"You can reflect anytime. But I won't adjust to your mood. It has to be when I feel like it."
"...How long was I out?"
"Half a day. Your bones didn't even break—how long do you plan to lie there?"
"They feel broken now."
"They didn't break, so get up. Before I really break them."
The White Night Witch spat with a fierce expression. Wi Sung-cheon followed her out of the room with a dazed look. Having lain there half a day, the sun had set and night deepened.
"...How did I lose?"
"I said you can reflect anytime."
"Uh, um, so what are we doing now?"
"As a senior giving advice to a junior."
The White Night Witch said coldly.
"As a senior, not a master."
She added it like an excuse to herself, but Wi Sung-cheon couldn't grasp what she meant.