Chapter 263: Southern Sea Demon Territory, Man Hak-sung-1
Chapter 263: Southern Sea Demon Territory, Man Hak-sung-1
I realized that I had been so worked up that I'd ruined everything.
Making Man Hak-sung wary of me was a complete mistake.
'Damn, I overdid it. I still need a bit more time....'
Of course, I had already prepared countermeasures for when I would have to fight him.
But I still couldn't guarantee whether those countermeasures would actually be effective.
Even if they were effective, I still needed more time.
So being targeted by Man Hak-sung at this very moment meant I had no countermeasures at all.
Because he was one of the Four Demons of the World and one of the Fifteen Absolute Masters.
Fighting head-on against an opponent on the same level as the Blood Demon or the Sword Saint Elder?
It was no different from suicide.
'So... now what?'
It was while I was having such worries.
Man Hak-sung spoke to me with a smile tinged with killing intent.
"Well, what are you doing? Time to finish this. Go on, avenge your parents."
His words meant that I should hurry up and kill Jin Tae-do.
I couldn't tell whether the reason was to give me one last chance to avenge my parents, or to wear me down.
But I could clearly see that after Jin Tae-do, it would be my turn.
It was a difficult situation.
Killing Jin Tae-do on his orders was problematic, but so was just letting him go.
But within that difficult situation, I was able to find hope again.
Because he still didn't seem to know that I had figured out his intentions.
So I had to make the most of that.
Outwardly, I bowed my head very obediently and politely as I answered.
"Understood, Elder."
Then I looked toward Jin Tae-do.
He had just now pressed his pressure points to stop the bleeding from his shoulder and was gauging my and Man Hak-sung's reactions with a pale expression and anxious eyes.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
'He's completely broken.'
Perhaps due to the shock of being severely beaten by me moments ago, he appeared to have completely lost his will to fight.
It was an incredibly pathetic sight for one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World.
I pointed the White Tiger Sword at him and spoke.
"Jin Tae-do! I'll finish this now!"
Then he stepped backward with frightened eyes.
"Uuuuuh!"
It was an ugly sight that made me frown involuntarily.
But I felt a sense of wariness rather than anything else at his behavior.
'Hmm. This is a bit strange.'
Something felt unnatural.
No matter what, could someone who had reached the level of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World crumble so completely from a single defeat?
Reaching such a realm wasn't just about training the body, after all.
I suddenly asked Elder Mukrang.
'Elder, is that man truly frightened? Could he be acting scared?'
Elder Mukrang answered me with an amused voice.
- You finally noticed. It is an act. He's pretending to be scared to make you let your guard down and is aiming to turn the tables.
'As expected.'
I felt admiration anew.
To think he would act out such an ugly display to keep me off guard until the very last moment.
He was truly worthy of the name Hyo-ung.
But the fact that his spirit wasn't broken yet was no disadvantage to me.
On the contrary, it was an incredibly fortunate thing for me right now.
If he hadn't lost his fighting spirit, it would help my plan.
I smiled bitterly and spoke to him.
"How pathetic, Jin Tae-do. I already knew you were this kind of scum."
Then I immediately sent a telepathic transmission.
- I know you're acting, so listen carefully.
His pupils shook violently.
He seemed genuinely surprised.
I continued with another transmission.
- I'll drive you toward Man Hak-sung's side, so launch a surprise attack on him. Then I'll attack him as well.
Trembling, he spoke to me as if begging.
"D-don't come near me! I-I was wrong! Please forgive me!"
Then his telepathic transmission came right away.
- What's your sudden scheme? Weren't you trying to submit to the Demon Sovereign?
Unlike his outward appearance, which looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment, his telepathic voice was extremely cold.
I suddenly let out a chuckle.
I was one to talk, but I thought this guy also had remarkable acting skills.
"Don't make me laugh! Death is your only atonement! Pick up your sword!"
- That's not it. I was only trying to use him. I can't hand over Hainan to a bastard like him.
"N-no! Please spare me!"
- ...You're saying that now? How am I supposed to trust you?
"I don't want to cut down an unarmed man! Pick up your sword!"
- And if you don't trust me? Will you just die by my hand?
I saw his eyes twitch when he heard that.
He seemed to feel indignant.
But in the end, he had no choice but to follow my words.
The reason I had been able to overwhelmingly defeat him earlier was because I had recklessly attempted the fourth form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance, and because of that, I could never do it again....
But he wouldn't know that fact.
For someone who wanted to survive even by pulling such stunts, my proposal was probably the only way.
Sure enough, a telepathic transmission finally came from the shuddering man.
"Uuuuuh! Please, please spare me!"
- ...You attack first. Then I'll....
"Pick up your sword! Otherwise I'll just cut you down!"
- Don't talk bullshit. You don't think you're that trustworthy, do you? Send a telepathic message to Ja Seong-jin-in too. If you say you'll attack first, he'll believe it as well. And remember this — if you try to run, I can flee far better than you can.
"N-no! Aaaaaagh!"
As if gripped by terror, he clutched his head and screamed.
It was truly an incredibly ugly sight.
But while he was doing that, I caught sight of Ja Seong-jin-in, who had been watching him with a frown, suddenly making a surprised expression.
He seemed to have received a telepathic transmission from Jin Tae-do.
Ja Seong-jin-in seemed to ponder for a moment, then with a resolute expression, swallowed hard and glanced toward Man Hak-sung.
And as I watched him sideways, I had to endure a feeling like my insides were burning.
Unlike Jin Tae-do, I could clearly tell he was someone with absolutely no talent for acting.
And at that moment, a telepathic transmission came from Jin Tae-do.
- Ja Seong-jin-in said he'll join in too.
- Good. Now I'll drive you toward him and throw the White Tiger Sword, so use it.
A flash of surprise rose in his eyes at those words.
No matter that his sword was broken, he apparently hadn't expected me to give him the White Tiger Sword.
'Alright, shall we begin?'
I decided to start the play.
A con act with hastily assembled actors, that is.
"Jin Tae-do! I can't wait any longer! Even if you haven't picked up your sword, I'll cut you down!"
And I charged at him and brought my sword down.
"Haaap!"
Then he desperately rolled his body and dodged to the side.
"Uwaaaaah! Save me!"
I barely managed to suppress the laugh that nearly escaped me.
The technique of the Lazy Donkey Stomp, stamping the ground like a lazy donkey — it was the worst.
"Uwoooooh!"
Like a madman, he crawled on the ground toward Man Hak-sung.
As if his appearance was so hideous I couldn't bear to watch any longer, I grimaced, then threw the sword at him and shouted.
"What a truly despicable wretch you are! Just die cleanly!"
Shuuuuk!
The White Tiger Sword flew like a beam of light and embedded itself in the ground right beside his body.
No, it was just about to embed itself.
He snatched the White Tiger Sword right out of the air and charged toward the Demon Sovereign.
It happened in an instant, so quick that even I, who knew he would launch a surprise attack, was startled.
"Haaap!"
Shuuuk!
***
Demon Sovereign Man Hak-sung wore a dumbfounded smile as he watched Jin Tae-do beg for his life in a groveling and ugly manner.
Of course, he didn't believe that the man had truly broken down like that in an instant.
'He's probably struggling desperately to survive.'
But even as a desperate struggle to survive, it was astonishing that the head of a sect could go that far.
In any sense, he was truly an impressive bastard.
From the Demon Sovereign's perspective, the one being dragged around by him now seemed to be Inparang instead.
Because he appeared to be shaken and unable to compose himself at the sight of his parents' enemy showing such a wretched display.
Letting his guard down like that, it seemed he might fall to Jin Tae-do, who was waiting for an opening, in an instant.
But....
'That would be fine too.'
The Demon Sovereign had already decided what to do with him.
He couldn't keep a man with such sharp claws as a pet, after all.
It would be wiser to kill him before he became a future problem.
So if Jin Tae-do turned the tables and killed him, that would be fine too.
Either way, to the Demon Sovereign it was nothing more than a good show.
That was the moment.
Jin Tae-do stomped the ground with the Lazy Donkey Stomp, then crawled toward him like a dog.
"Uwoooooh!"
It was an incredibly disgusting sight.
A pathetic sight that made him want to laugh even though he knew it was an act.
And when Inparang, who had been grimacing at the sight, threw his sword at the man, Man Hak-sung felt a rare sense of bewilderment.
"Haaap!"
Shuuuk!
In an instant, Jin Tae-do snatched up his sword and came thrusting toward him.
It was the Ferocious Dragon Piercing the Sea, the technique that had seemed quite threatening earlier.
Puaaaang!
It was a sudden ambush, coming in with a thunderous boom like a cannon.
Manhaksung hurriedly struck it away.
"You dare!"
Kwaaaaang!
With a tremendous crash, the bastard was sent bouncing away.
It was a moment that chilled the heart slightly.
But in that instant, upon discovering the sword strike like a ray of light secretly thrusting from above his head, he could not help but truly hold his breath.
Shiiiiik!
Seonwoo Jin had approached like a shadow before he knew it and was silently thrusting his sword from above.
It was the Mukrang sword, drawn after a long while, and the sword strike felt even faster than Jin Tae-do's Ferocious Dragon Piercing the Sea.
It was the Sail Sword Technique's One Strike.
In that moment of crisis, Manhaksung expelled his internal energy throughout his entire body.
It was Protective Strong Qi.
"Uhaaaap!"
Tuung!
Seonwoo Jin's Mukrang sword was seen bouncing away, unable to pierce the Protective Strong Qi.
The crisis had been averted.
Only then could Manhaksung understand what the situation had become.
"These mongrel bastards..."
It seemed the two had conspired to toy with him.
Rage like an active volcano surged up within him.
But in that moment, Seonwoo Jin shouted.
"Dojang! Now!"
Hm?
When he abruptly looked, the Six Harmony Swordsmen of the Hengshan Sect were thrusting their swords toward him.
'When did these bastards join in too?'
Now it was a bit absurd.
It was astonishing just how thoroughly they had set this up.
Manhaksung lightly swung his arm and deflected the two swords thrusting toward him.
Teoong!
Attacks of this level from these bastards were merely laughable.
But Manhaksung's face, which had thought so, could not help but harden in an instant.
As if in rotation with the ones deflected backward, other bastards came forward and thrust their swords in again.
It was a chain strike like the teeth of a gear.
"Ho-oh!"
This time, Manhaksung properly unleashed twin palm strikes.
Peoong!
He felt a heavy impact.
It was unexpected.
'These bastards' internal energy?'
The cultivation of those who had appeared to be merely at the initial stage of transcendent peak was far heavier than he had thought.
To this degree, they felt stronger than even Jin Tae-do.
And in that next moment, one of them attacked from above like a gear once more.
"!"
Manhaksung recalled what Seonwoo Jin had said earlier.
'They said that if they deploy the sword formation, even Honam First Sword Wi Jeong-guk cannot withstand it...'
It seemed he would have to take them a bit more seriously.
But that was the moment.
A scream rang out from behind Manhaksung.
"Kuaaaaak!"
"No!"
"Bi, Biyo!"
An ominous feeling grazed the back of his neck.
Aghast, Manhaksung deflected the Six Harmony Swordsmen away and hurriedly turned around.
'?!'
Then he could see it immediately.
The body of Biyo Magun Sang Dogyeong, his direct subordinate among the Four Evils of Dae Nam, split into two halves...
Seonwoo Jin, who had gone to the rear after being deflected by him, had killed the man.
He could not have known, but it was the might of the Mukrang Sword Technique's One Stroke Opening Heaven.
"Biyo!"
And on top of that, Seonwoo Jin did not stop.
As if deploying Ihyung Hwanwi, the bastard arrived before Heukgyo Magun in an instant.
The flustered Heukgyo Magun defended himself and shouted.
"Y-you bastard!"
But in that moment, a lightning-like sword struck down upon him.
It was once again the Mukrang Sword Technique's first stroke, Opening Heaven.
Chwaaaaaak!
"Kuaaaaak!"
"Heukgyo!"
The enraged Manhaksung deflected the sword strikes of the Six Harmony Swordsmen, who were once again pestering him, and tried to charge at the bastard.
But in that instant, the Six Harmony Swordsmen, who had surrounded him before he knew it, were thrusting their swords from all four directions.
Shuhaaak!
"These annoying bastards!"
Hwaaaaak!
Teoteoteong!
He immediately released Protective Strong Qi and deflected them away.
That was the moment.
Before he knew it, the sword of Jin Tae-do, attacking in tandem with Seonwoo Jin, pierced through the back of Baekjeok Magun, the last remaining one.
Puuuk!
"Keoheok!"
While Baekjeok Magun was on guard against Seonwoo Jin, Jin Tae-do had ambushed him from behind.
Manhaksung cried out in anguish.
"Noooooo!"
Those Four Evils of Dae Nam were subordinates who had followed Manhaksung for several decades.
So by now, they felt more like disciples or younger brothers than subordinates.
But all four of those subordinates had been slain.
By those two—Jin Tae-do and Seonwoo Jin.
Kkadeudeuk!
"Uuuuuuu."
Unable to contain his fury, Manhaksung let out a low growl and trembled violently.
The thick killing intent flowing from him made Seonwoo Jin, Jin Tae-do, and Ja Seong-jin-in unconsciously swallow hard.
It was killing intent of a tremendous force.
Their skin prickled, and even their hair fluttered slightly.
Seonwoo Jin swallowed and asked Jin Tae-do.
"I'm surprised you're not running away in this situation?"
Jin Tae-do scoffed and replied.
"Hmph! Do you take me for a fool? The one who runs now will be targeted first."
That was the moment.
Manhaksung came charging like a thunderbolt in a single instant.
Paaak!
"!"
"!"
Startled, Seonwoo Jin and Jin Tae-do threw their bodies to either side to dodge his attack.
But in that moment, Ganghwan spheres shot out from both of Manhaksung's hands.
Shuhaak!
Seonwoo Jin was horrified.
It was because the diameter of the Ganghwan flying toward him appeared larger than his own height.
It was a Ganghwan like a massive boulder shot at tremendous speed—an attack whose range was incomparable to Jin Tae-do's Ferocious Dragon Piercing the Sea.
"Kheu-euk!"
Seonwoo Jin deployed Cheonpung Shinbeop to its extreme.
The massive Ganghwan grazed past his body by the margin of a single sheet of paper.
Shaaak!
It was a moment that chilled his heart.
The next instant, the Ganghwan that had grazed past Seonwoo Jin collided with the gorge's cliff.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The explosion was smaller in scale than expected.
And the reason could immediately be understood.
It was because the Ganghwan had not exploded upon striking the cliff but had pierced through and burrowed into it.
Through the dust clouds, the trace of the Ganghwan could be seen, having burrowed deep as if into a cave.
It was truly a terrifying power.
In that moment, a thought suddenly surfaced in Seonwoo Jin's mind.
'I dodged, but what about Jin Tae-do?'
He himself had been able to dodge with Cheonpung Shinbeop, but it seemed impossible for Jin Tae-do.
He hurriedly turned his head and looked at Jin Tae-do.
"!"
Then he could see it.
The sight of Jin Tae-do, his left shoulder completely gone, gushing blood.
From the remaining stump of the left arm that he himself had cut off earlier, all the way into the inner shoulder, it was in a state of complete disappearance.
That it had not reached his heart seemed a stroke of heaven's luck.
"Kkeu-eu-euk!"
Jin Tae-do, his face deathly pale, clutched his shoulder and collapsed to his knees.
It was too great an injury.
There was no way he could continue fighting with such a wound.
He had not died on the spot, but he was eliminated from combat.
'In just one strike?'
Seonwoo Jin felt a chill down his spine.
What had been needed to render Jin Tae-do, one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World, combat-incapable was merely a single Ganghwan.
In that moment, two Six Harmony Swordsmen seized the opening and thrust their swords at Manhaksung's back.
Shiiiik!
Manhaksung once again expelled Protective Strong Qi.
"Huaaaap!"
Hwaaaaak!
And in that state, he charged toward the Six Harmony Swordsmen.
Teoteoteong!
Against him, his entire body enveloped in energetic force, the swords of the Six Harmony Swordsmen were utterly useless.
All of them merely bounced helplessly away.
Seonwoo Jin stared at him with a jaded expression.
'He's moving like that while maintaining Protective Strong Qi?'
Protective Strong Qi, no matter how transcendent peak a master was, was an enormously draining technique that exhausted most of one's internal energy with a single release.
Yet Manhaksung had maintained it while moving and charging as if it were nothing.
All the swords of the Six Harmony Swordsmen bounced away lightly, and Manhaksung, having reached Ja Seong-jin-in in an instant, grinned savagely.
"I've caught your head."
Ja Seong-jin-in's eyes, looking at him, filled with terror in an instant.
Manhaksung's palm, swinging before his eyes, was expanding in a flash.
Peoseok!
With a single gesture of his hand, Manhaksung crushed Ja Seong-jin-in's head.
The other Six Harmony Swordsmen stood rigidly in place and ceased moving.
It was the moment the Hengshan Sect's mightiest force, the Pacheon Squad's Six Harmony Swordsmen, had been neutralized with such absurd ease.
Manhaksung swept his gaze over the motionless Six Harmony Swordsmen and clicked his tongue.
"A Soul-lost Seal, no less. The hypocrites of the orthodox faction, I swear."
Then he slowly turned his head and looked at Seonwoo Jin.
It was the gaze of a beast, with killing intent streaming forth in streaks like a halo of light.
He smiled fiercely and spoke.
"I thought you would have run away by now, but you were waiting. Is it because of that wench?"
Manhaksung glanced briefly at Jin So-eun, standing inside the gorge, chuckled, and began to approach Seonwoo Jin.
At that overwhelming presence and martial prowess, Seonwoo Jin could not help but swallow hard.