Chapter 79: Guanyin Palm-2
Chapter 79: Guanyin Palm-2
As we dashed together toward Guanyinjang, we witnessed a battle unfolding right in front of Guanyinjang between Ami Sect disciples and Blood Cultists.
And upon seeing the young lady confronting what appeared to be their leader, a demon head, Jeong-an Sojeo screamed as if shrieking.
"Jeonghye Sajeo?!"
Jeonghye was apparently her senior sister-disciple under the same master, the one Jeong-an Sojeo had been boasting about all the way here.
She had praised her endlessly, saying she was an incredibly wise person.
At that, Hwa Young-bin the Red Sunset Divine Sword, who had been running alongside us, also spoke upon seeing a middle-aged woman fighting desperately alone against three peak-level masters.
"That is Gyeoljin Satae. We must hurry!"
As he said that and quickened his pace, Bi Sa-yeong, who had glanced at Jeong-an Sojeo, suddenly burst forward explosively.
Pang!
The bastard was flying forward like an arrow loosed by a god.
He seemed to have used the Explosive Advance Step.
The Explosive Advance Step learned through the giant demon's secret manual was indeed a wondrous secret art — enough to understand why the bastard had possessed it even though it wasn't a Blood Cult martial art.
It was merely a footwork technique whose sole function was sudden acceleration for a brief moment, but that single utility was simply too tremendous.
Bi Sa-yeong's speed, accelerated using it, was truly the swift wind itself.
I heard Jeong-an Sojeo, running beside me, exclaim in admiration with a bright, innocent expression.
"Woah! As expected!"
But seeing the direction the bastard had accelerated toward, even using the Explosive Advance Step, I smirked. The direction the bastard had headed was toward Jeonghye Sojeo, Jeong-an Sojeo's senior sister-disciple.
I had been sensing it all along, but it seemed the bastard was completely sincere after all.
I grinned and thought.
'I can't just ignore a friend's business!'
Then I too immediately accelerated using the Explosive Advance Step.
Paang!
The surrounding scenery began to streak past at terrifying speed.
A limit-breaking sense of speed, a dimension higher than usual, was delivering a thrilling euphoria.
My target was the one confronting Jeonghye Sojeo.
The one clearly appearing to be the leader of the Blood Cultists.
His martial prowess looked to be roughly around eighty years of internal energy.
At that moment, Bi Sa-yeong, who had successfully flown in like the swift wind and rescued Jeonghye Sojeo, shouted.
"I'll handle the rear!"
I too charged at the demon head and shouted.
"Of course!"
I could have approached silently and launched a surprise attack, but I decided against it.
Because this bastard was exactly the opponent I had been wanting.
An opponent against whom I could test my current self.
There were still many remaining enemies, but it seemed they could be sufficiently left to the master called Hwa Young-bin the Red Sunset Divine Sword, who was coming up behind me.
Of course, the enemy numbers were a bit high, but if he joined forces with Gyeoljin Satae, who was already fighting, wouldn't it be enough?
So this moment, right now, was precisely that situation where I could fight exactly as I wanted, without thinking about anything else.
What a splendid moment this was?
A smile naturally formed on my lips.
At that moment, I saw the bastard step backward and initially assume a defensive posture.
He had probably felt threatened by my speed.
'Hmm, if that's the case?'
Ordinarily, the bastard was a master two levels above me. If he had solidified his defense, the wise thing to do at this point would have been to buy time by circling around using the Illusion Sword and movement technique.
But...
'Right now, I don't want to do that at all!'
I simply charged straight ahead and unfurled my sword concealment.
Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, First Form.
Divine Eagle Flight.
My sword shadow spread its dazzling radiance even further, unfurling its wings wide.
Shuhaaaak!
Seeing this, the demon head sneered and swung his dao.
"Trifling tricks!"
He seemed intent on confirming it was an Illusion Sword and shattering it with a heavy strike.
But at that instant, a smile rose to my lips again.
How long had I been waiting for a situation like this since that day?
Booaaaang!
The moment he swung his dao with powerful force, the wings of the Illusion Sword flexed softly and deflected his heavy strike.
A movement as if a real bird's wing were beating — the very technique Mukrang had demonstrated through my body.
A thrill was running through me, the sheer euphoria of having executed that technique, which I had only practiced in my mind, so naturally at the most opportune moment.
The startled bastard's eyes widened enormously.
"?!"
The wings of light, which had evaded his dao strike as if beating, unfolded fiercely the very next moment and enveloped him.
It was a sequence flowing from the First Form, Divine Eagle Flight, directly into the Eleventh Form, Great Roc Spans Ten Thousand Li.
"Hurk!"
I saw the bastard's eyes fill with panic.
And also saw him grit his teeth and swing his dao.
"Euhaaap!"
Puhwaak!
Just as he was about to be completely engulfed by the wings of light, he spasmodically unleashed blade energy in all directions, sweeping away the wings of the sword shadow that were trying to envelop him.
It was a powerful and flawless dao strike, befitting a master of over eighty years of internal energy.
But that was precisely the response I had anticipated.
My eyes flashed at the sight.
It was an opportunity.
"Haaap!"
Sail Sword Technique, Third Form.
Three Threads Three Cuts.
Having already shifted to the flank, I unleashed three super-speed beams of light, each like a One Strike.
Shwiik!
"Keurk!"
Pssht!
Blood burst from the bastard's left shoulder and chest.
It was the price he paid for failing to completely evade my Three Threads Three Cuts.
I clicked my tongue briefly.
"Tch!"
I had intended to finish it with that if possible, but it seemed he wouldn't die so easily.
The bastard, who had desperately retreated backward, gritted his teeth and finally launched a counterattack.
I caught sight of his face, contorted as if exerting all his strength.
"Die! Mad Dragon Piercing Heaven!"
Kwukwakwakwakwakwa!
Berserk red blade energy was charging along an irregular path like a mad dragon.
The Mad Dragon Blade Art.
It was a famous blade ultimate technique of the Blood Cult.
Suddenly my heart pounded.
'Can I pull that off?'
Excluding Emptiness is Form, which I still couldn't use among the things Mukrang had shown me, what I had most wanted to try was that one move — cutting off the giant demon's all-out attack with One Strike.
That single move that had blocked the frenzied assault, surging like a tidal wave, by precisely severing its throat.
It had felt like the wondrous feat of stopping a charging cart with a single pine needle.
A wondrous feat possible only by possessing the insight to observe the opponent's offensive from a higher dimension, and the ability to precisely sever its pulse.
I had kept wondering.
Could I truly do that?
That one move, perhaps even more profound than Emptiness is Form?
The thought didn't last long.
Watching the red mad dragon charging at me with terrifying speed, I prepared.
Calm mind.
I exhaled and settled my heart.
Insight.
Mobilizing all my senses, I tried to contemplate the entirety of the frenziedly charging red blade energy.
Then I extended my arm, and the sword that had become one with my arm.
Sail Sword Technique, First Form.
One Strike.
Shwiik!
The sword, become a beam of light, shot toward the tail portion of the red mad dragon.
Ssssk!
But it failed to sever the bastard's throat, merely grazing it strongly.
It was a failure.
'Ah, damn it!'
In that instant, the greedy maw of the red mad dragon, now right before my nose, filled my vision.
And then a massive collision occurred.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
It was a collision so powerful that it left a huge, dragon-twisting scar upon the earth.
Standing upon the devastated ground, the bastard clutched his own throat, which had been cut about a quarter through and was gushing blood, and turned back to look at me with enraged eyes.
And I, standing about three jang away, clutched my pounding chest and muttered.
"Hooah, I really almost died."
I had narrowly managed to dodge my body at the last moment.
If it hadn't been for the Explosive Advance Step, and if my sword hadn't slightly deflected the direction of the blade energy by cutting even a little into the bastard's throat, it was a situation where I would have truly almost died.
I had a bitter taste in my mouth.
'Was this realm still too much for me after all?'
As my heated head cooled down thanks to the experience of having just stepped one foot into the underworld, regret flooded over me anew.
'To stake my life on baseless confidence, I was crazy, Seonwoo Jin.'
But earlier, for some reason, the confidence that I could do it had been too strong.
In fact, hadn't I almost succeeded just now?
Then, all of a sudden, his head started heating up again.
'Wouldn't it work if I just try it one more time?'
His regret from just moments ago vanished, and his spirit of challenge quickly reared its head again.
Na stared at the bastard like a wildcat eyeing its prey and licked his lips.
***
Hwa Yeong-bin the Red Sunset Divine Sword watched the backs of the two Flying Dragon Squad members who had shot forward at a speed even he himself couldn't match.
Both were astonishing, but the movement technique of that friend Bi Sa-yeong was particularly wondrous.
A first-rate warrior who even he, now looking upon the transcendent peak realm, couldn't keep up with? It was so absurd it made him laugh in disbelief.
'I can't believe it's possible even as I see it with my own eyes. Considering his movement technique alone, there'd be no shame in calling him a prodigy of the ages.'
Moreover, the other one, Seonwoo Jin, was astonishing in a different way.
His internal energy only seemed to be about seventy years, yet wasn't he driving back a Blood Cultist who appeared to have crossed the eighty-year wall?
'A genius? A genius with a slightly different feel from my junior brother.'
When Hwa Yeong-bin's master, Cheong-gwang Jinin, first brought his junior brother Lee Geon and began teaching him with great care, Hwa Yeong-bin couldn't even feel jealousy.
The talent was so overwhelming that the thought never even crossed his mind.
The pride he had felt in his own considerable talent seemed utterly pathetic now.
And on the other hand, he thought it was fortunate.
Because he himself, who had made revenge against the Blood Cult his lifelong goal, would no longer be able to fulfill his master's dream of reaching the mythical realm.
He believed.
That his junior brother Lee Geon would surely fulfill their master's will.
That he would be able to receive the title of 'God', which had been dormant for a hundred years.
In comparison, that friend Seonwoo Jin was a bit peculiar.
'I don't sense overwhelming talent from him like my junior brother. But...'
The things he had accomplished, as well as what he was showing now, were all far too astonishing compared to the talent Hwa Yeong-bin had gauged.
Hwa Yeong-bin had also served in the Flying Dragon Squad.
It was because, right after the Great Blood War ended, he could never forgive the Blood Cult demon heads who had stolen his lifelong beloved from him.
From then on, his purpose in life was solely one thing: to annihilate the Blood Cult.
'However... the Flying Dragon Squad was not a place that could achieve that goal.'
Not long after joining the Flying Dragon Squad, he had to face utter despair.
Because he discovered that the Flying Dragon Squad was nothing more than a sentry guarding territory, not a force to overthrow the Blood Cult.
So, judging that he could do nothing more in the Flying Dragon Squad, he completed his five-year service period and left without any lingering attachments.
'And yet...'
Due to the pleasing connection of meeting his junior members from the Flying Dragon Squad, Hwa Yeong-bin was able to have many conversations with the two while coming here.
And he was greatly shocked.
'The grudge between the Blood Demon and the Jeomchang Sect, the existence of the Shadow Corps, and even the Blood Cult's forward base that had burrowed into the martial world?'
These were the things they said they had unearthed.
And it was also information that Hwa Yeong-bin hadn't known at all during his five years in the Flying Dragon Squad.
He felt a sense of self-reproach over what on earth he had been doing during those five years.
Moreover, listening to their story, didn't it seem that junior, Seonwoo Jin, was at the center of all those events?
He was a truly astonishing and commendable junior.
'And that sword...'
Hwa Yeong-bin carefully observed the sword 'Mukrang' that Seonwoo Jin was holding.
It was a sword that looked very much like the sword of that person Hwa Yeong-bin had met only once.
'Could it be...?'
When his thoughts reached that point, Hwa Yeong-bin's own figure also broke into the midst of the Blood Cultists.
"Haaaap!"
Chwaaaak!
"Keuaaak?!"
"Kuaaak!"
As he swung his sword, a majestic sunset glow draped over the battlefield.
It was a brutal sunset glow, thick with the scent of blood.
The Blood Cultists, seeing it, began to scream in terror.
"I-it's the Crimson Sunset Divine Sword!"
"How is the Crimson Sunset Divine Sword here?!"
For Hwa Yeong-bin, who was looking upon the transcendent peak realm, striking down the three demon heads at the initial peak level who had been pressing Gyeoljin Satae and cleaning up the remaining riff-raff was not a difficult task.
Thus, even while slaughtering the Blood Cultists, Hwa Yeong-bin focused on Seonwoo Jin's fight.
Despite facing a demon head who was a superior master, Seonwoo Jin never slowed his offensive from beginning to end.
Moreover, he hadn't lost the upper hand from the start until now.
The demon head had been using his blade with his left hand after injuring his right wrist, and he didn't seem as proficient. Watching this, Hwa Yeong-bin even began to think that Seonwoo Jin might really be able to defeat an opponent two levels above him.
"Haaaap!"
As Seonwoo Jin's illusion sword spread like dazzling wings and descended upon the demon head, the demon head gritted his teeth and swung his blade.
"That technique again?!"
The blade qi stretched out long, carving deep as if determined not to miss this time.
But before the blade qi could reach it, the wings of light shattered into pieces in the air like breaking glass.
Paaak!
"?!"
Amidst the scattering light, the demon head spotted Seonwoo Jin's sword thrusting at a lethal speed, and in great shock, he hastily retreated backward.
Shiik!
It was a paper-thin difference.
The quick sword, like a ray of light, barely grazed his collar.
Thereupon, as if he had finally seized an opportunity, he struck down at Seonwoo Jin with a ferocious expression again.
"You bastard!"
It was a berserk blade strike with an irregular trajectory, like a mad dragon writhing as it charged.
Kwaaaaaa!
The blade strike hit Seonwoo Jin.
Or rather, it appeared that way.
However, Seonwoo Jin's figure, hit by that ferocious momentum, did not get cut but shattered into pieces.
It looked just like scattering flower petals.
An afterimage?
At that point?
Hwa Yeong-bin marveled at that astonishing movement technique.
Seonwoo Jin, who had scattered into multiple afterimages like flower petals swirling in the wind, was suddenly unleashing over a dozen illusion swords from behind the demon head.
"Don't be absurd!"
The demon head gritted his teeth and swung his blade again to sweep them away.
At that moment, one sword that had been an illusion suddenly accelerated rapidly and slashed the demon head's thigh.
Shiik!
"Keugh!"
Hwa Yeong-bin was astonished again.
The combination of illusion sword and real sword was so exquisite.
That clever combination, harmonized with his superb movement technique, was rendering even an expert two levels higher completely unable to respond.
But was he still a bit lacking in experience?
As the demon head, cut in the leg, seemed to lose his balance, Seonwoo Jin immediately thrust his sword directly at his front.
In Hwa Yeong-bin's eyes, it was a far too hasty move.
He let out a cry of regret.
"Oh no!"
Sure enough, the demon head's eyes flashed and he unfolded his blade strike. It was the Mad Dragon Piercing Heaven he had shown earlier.
"Euhaaap!"
Kwakwakwakwakwakwa!
The red mad dragon charged toward Seonwoo Jin's sword.
In a situation of direct frontal attacks, the demon head with superior internal energy and martial prowess had an absolute advantage.
The demon head burst into maniacal laughter.
"Euhahahaha! Die!"
The demon head's blade qi, like a red mad dragon, swept away Seonwoo Jin's sword qi, which was nothing more than a thin stream of light.
Seonwoo Jin's sword qi was being swept away and vanishing like sand.
"?!"
But only then did both the demon head and Hwa Yeong-bin realize.
That even that was an illusion sword.
Seonwoo Jin, smiling fiercely, thrust the real sword in this time.
At a speed incomparable to the illusion sword just now, it was the One Strike of the Four-Days Sword Art.
Puuk!
"Eog?!"
Seonwoo Jin's sword precisely pierced the demon head's wrist.
Then the red mad dragon that had been charging wildly vanished into nothingness.
The next moment, with just a slight flick of his wrist, Seonwoo Jin was able to cleanly sever the demon head's wrist.
Puhaak!
"Euaaaaak!"
As blood spurted from the severed wrist and the demon head screamed, Seonwoo Jin chuckled and muttered.
"See? I told you it'd work if I tried it one more time."
Then he slashed his sword like a ray of light again, cutting off both shoulders of the defenseless demon head.
The demon head could offer no more resistance.
Ultimately, watching Seonwoo Jin capture an opponent of a higher realm than himself, Hwa Yeong-bin laughed in disbelief.
It seemed his junior brother Lee Geon had gained a worthy rival.