Chapter 331
Chapter 331
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 331
Chapter Title: Black and White Flower (2)
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Falling Thunder.
Spear shafts poured down like thunderbolts, piercing the man's body.
-Flash!
The countless spear shafts laced with demonic energy easily surpassed seven feet in length.
Black scorch marks etched themselves onto Plum Blossom's body.
-Boom!
They struck down.
Plum Blossom's body buckled to the ground, only for another spear to descend.
As his hand pressed against the floor, a different spear shaft pierced right through the back of it.
"Urk, keh, keh heh heh!"
Plum Blossom spat out a laugh steeped in madness, his lips twitching as he struggled to escape the force pinning him down.
His muscles writhed as he advanced one step forward.
-Boom!
Thud!
Plum Blossom's body collapsed again.
Another spear shaft plunged down, impaling his throat.
Each time the mana-forged spear pierced his flesh, it left behind pitch-black scorch marks on his body parts.
No external wounds, but internal damage lingered.
Shoulder and wing. Calf. Instep. Head and left eye.
As the falling thunder crashed down upon Plum Blossom, a fierce tremor ran through the corners of his eyes.
-Rumble...
The torrent of spears came to a halt.
Where they had all descended, only black mist lingered in the air around it.
'It's not over yet.'
Twitch.
A silhouette jerked within the mist.
-Rip!
As expected. Plum Blossom's body burst forth from between the fog.
He charged straight at me. Calmly, I crossed my arms and gathered mana.
His body leaned so far forward he nearly toppled over. Pure white mana rippled evenly across his back.
-Thud!
He kicked off the dirt and stepped forward.
He repeated the motion.
-Bang!
"Heavenly Reversal Step."
The massive surge of mana forced Plum Blossom's charging body to buckle at the knees once more.
A supreme secret technique born from a lifetime of twisted effort, placing the world beneath one's feet.
It wasn't the power White Path had wielded. At the very least, back then, it was the exquisite force I had briefly employed when my potential had peaked.
Forcibly grasping the heavens and earth, then flipping them over.
My own power had been insufficient to use it freely.
-Rumble...
With demonic energy infused into the pinnacle martial art, it had not only regained its original might but amplified it.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the entire ground, the earth resounding with noise.
Plum Blossom's body, kneeling on the floor, sank deeper and deeper into the soil.
'Eleonore, Lucy.'
<Yes, Master.>
With a single word, mana surged. The number of spear shafts increased one by one.
Plum Blossom's head rose laboriously. My face reflected in his pupils.
'Fire.'
One shot.
-Bang!
Two shots.
-Bang!
'Keep going. Until not even bones remain.'
The protective aura cloaking Plum Blossom's body began to waver. Without pause, I formed wind lotuses and unleashed them.
Five. Six. Seven.
Ten. Twenty. Thirty.
By the time weary groans escaped the lips of Lucy on my shoulder and Eleonore, I halted the barrage and gazed down at Plum Blossom at my feet.
Just then, the mist cleared, revealing his face.
Blood trickled down from his forehead.
"......"
-Crackle!
Plum Blossom's sprawled body suddenly sprang up, aiming for my throat.
I retreated just far enough that his claws barely missed.
"...I know this power."
He muttered in a raspy voice. His bloodless, pale blue lips trembled.
-Smirk.
The corners of his mouth lifted. His pearly white teeth gleamed.
Blood dripped from his fangs. Blood pooled on his perforated tongue spilled down his chin.
"I've seen it before. Yeah, that day—"
A pure white luminescence slowly bloomed around his body. The mana sprouting from his back made me furrow my brow.
"White Path.... You really learned from her, huh?"
"......?"
"Ah— she's strong. Beautiful... prettier than anyone. Keh heh heh."
Plum Blossom ranted about things I hadn't asked, cupping his face with both hands.
His nails dug into his skin, carving long scars.
-Drip, drip.
Blood gathered on his hands soaked the parched earth.
His face twisted further into madness.
"...I wonder what her face will look like when she loses a disciple—"
His words cut off midway.
His body twisted as he reached for my throat.
I reshaped Mistletoe into gauntlets to block it.
-Boom!
I fell back while reloading wind lotuses.
The moment I tried to fire, Plum Blossom vanished from my sight. In an instant so brief my eyes couldn't capture it.
[Master, behind y— Chirp!?]
Lucy's voice suddenly cut off. The woodpecker burst apart, feathers scattering into the air.
I halted the wind lotuses and spun, blocking the punch with my elbow.
-Bang!
The clash unleashed a shockwave.
With black aura cloaking my body, I tracked Plum Blossom's movements several times with my eyes.
[Chirp, squeak!?]
Tree Footrest and Eleonore floundered amid the relentless spins.
I couldn't afford to worry about her now.
Plum Blossom appeared and swung his fist.
-Kwang!
Twice the clashes. I gathered my knee and elbow to block the punch.
Even so, momentarily pushed back by sheer power, my body tumbled backward.
"You're weak."
The voice came from behind as I flew.
I gave no reaction to his mocking disdain.
I slowly assessed the battlefield.
'...'
-Crunch!
As I allowed the attack, even with my aura maxed out, my ribs cracked.
But the shattered bone fragments knit back together in an instant.
I read Plum Blossom's movements at length.
"...Lee Siheon!"
Irregular and savage, yet talented and poised.
For a fleeting moment, White Path's form flickered in his movements.
"Ha, haha!"
A glimpse of admiration and envy in his combat prowess.
I knew those movements.
He had partially embraced the Heavenly Demon's power.
Unlike me, his mana quality resembled White Path's, making it easy to mimic.
He had twisted the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon into his own style.
A phase that I, Heavenly Path, and White Path had all passed through once—and now Plum Blossom had traversed it too. It showed in his movements.
-Bang!
My arm that blocked the attack throbbed. Plum Blossom halted and scanned my face. I simplified my stance and caught my breath.
"Sss. Haa."
Fist forward, feet to the side.
Preparing to receive Plum Blossom's attack.
"......"
Plum Blossom clicked his tongue in boredom as he stared at me.
"Is that all?"
-Ting.
"There's—"
The familiar bell chime echoed briefly. Space folded alongside pure white petals.
"—plenty more!"
-Kwaaa!
The ground heaved like an ocean. Plum Blossom blinked in and out of sight, accelerating repeatedly to double his speed in an instant.
A straight line of plum petals traced through the air, sending searing pain through one of my arms.
Unholy mana began gathering in his grasp.
Plum Blossom's eyes tore wide. My vision blurred ahead as a straight line of replicated petals wavered in space.
'No way.'
A chilling sensation. Had he truly stolen techniques that far?
Plum Blossom paid it no mind and unleashed his stolen art.
"Keh heh heh."
He muttered.
"White Path."
-Kwaaaaa!
*****
To Plum Blossom, the only sparkle in his boring world had been the young woman, barely of age, on a tiny screen.
[What difficulties did you face in clearing this dungeon?]
[None.]
The silver-haired woman who always ignored reporters' interviews with haughty grace and strode away.
Sometimes red eyes. Other times blue.
But what he distinctly remembered was that she was the most beautiful among anyone he'd ever seen.
Others might call it love at first sight.
'I want to be like her.'
He wanted to resemble her to the point of madness.
'Fist like this.'
'Foot to the side.'
Blossoming flowers in pure white. Replica petals of pristine mana.
A flower more beautiful than any other, one he never wanted to pluck.
But one he wanted to claim as his own, just once.
'So cool.'
That was his reason to strive. There was someone he had to emulate.
Talent had always been plentiful. His superior potential propelled him to high ranks swiftly.
From C-rank hunter. To B-rank. A-rank hunter.
Eventually surpassing that to S-rank, just like her.
His authority was more vicious than any tree's, but it brought him closer to his dream.
He first awakened his authority when a minor mistake triggered a trap that killed his team members.
By the time killing teammates via traps became second nature, Plum Blossom's body was tougher than anyone's.
'I can become like her.'
The method didn't matter.
Reaching that place did.
But Plum Blossom's hopes shattered at a single turning point.
[Out of my way.]
When she dispatched with one punch an opponent he couldn't defeat.
Plum Blossom, arrogant with his fresh S-rank badge, couldn't help falling for White Path during the disaster in China.
To resemble her, he needed to kill even more people and strive harder.
He wanted to reach her.
Untethered from ethics or morality. To him, there was only White Path.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"I'm touching it."
He invoked it.
The exhilarating sensation spreading from his fingertips sharpened Plum Blossom's movements further.
"I touched it."
-Myriad Layer Plum Blossom.
His entire body's mana warped grotesquely. Flower petals embodying the traits of two trees bloomed in a form no one had seen before.
A monster.
That explained why he commanded such a massive branch of the National Trees.
"Finally, finally!"
Lee Siheon's movements were the trigger.
Endlessly probing and mastering the stubborn kink that wouldn't yield.
Ecstasy burst from Plum Blossom's voice as his body grew even denser.
Now, perhaps he could glimpse that realm.
The transcendent domain of the Flower Realm, where even those at the pinnacle must grind their bones and face death to attain.
-Crack!
Lee Siheon's arm, fully accepting the Myriad Layer Plum Blossom, regenerated intact and seized Plum Blossom's throat.
His punches that had felt so heavy moments ago.
"You're weak."
Now, he led.
No.
Even in this state, he was ahead.
He could do more. Become far stronger. Reach it. Brush against White Path's realm.
-Kwang!
Lee Siheon's body crumpled dramatically against a massive boulder.
His blood-smeared face still stared at him, eyes holding an expression as if hiding something.
Ridiculous.
How many walls had he scaled in this brief moment?
That so-called 'disciple of White Path' took his attack and collapsed pathetically?
"Kuh, keh heh heh heh."
Mad laughter bloomed alongside false replica petals.
"Kuh hahahahaha! Surprised, aren't you?"
Laughter bubbled uncontrollably.
No one present could match his movements.
Not even Suyeon or Saku, who soared as National Trees, nor Africa's Bao.
Not even shrugging off his vulgar sneer was easy.
The weight in his voice was different. Cold sweat beaded on everyone's skin.
Even ally Haku lost the will to fight and slumped to the ground.
Truly, he seemed on the verge of ascension.
"Lee Siheon. Thank you. Thanks to you, I made it this far."
Siheon's eyes narrowed. Plum Blossom ignored it.
Strength, speed. Even martial arts. He held the advantage in everything.
"I'll kill you."
His finger pointed at Lee Siheon's heart. The silhouette of his idol flashed in his mind.
"And next. White Path. I'll kill that bitch."
"......"
"No, not just kill her. Slowly, savoring it."
Using every method at his disposal. That was courtesy when killing one's idol.
"Stuff her mouth and rape her! Then cut her throat after seeing her cry."
"......What?"
"First, I'll bring your head to her. Her face when she sees her disciple's head... it'll be hilarious, won't it?"
A heavy voice echoed in the ears.
His face, neurotic moments ago, now hardened coldly.
Watching her burn out at the end might be fun too.
"Her pure white skin. That translucent skin. Keh, heh heh."
The prominent bulge in his pants.
Plum Blossom raised his fist one last time.
Time to end it. The two petals gathered on his fist plunged toward Lee Siheon's brow.
-Bang!
-Squeee!
'It's over.'
A ringing filled his ears.
Flash—
It was a brief moment.
Sound vanished from his ears as the petals and mana evaporated instantly.
His vision tilted suddenly. Left and right. The moon in the sky plummeted to the ground.
His pupils rolled across the dirt ceiling as he lay face-up. No sensation remained in his fist.
'Huh?'
Dead.
Such delusion struck him.
His returning senses grasped reality.
Pure white mana scorched his body, methodically slicing it apart piece by piece.
Unconsciously, he reached for his deafened ear.
His right ear had been severed.
-Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Heartbeat. Veins raced frantically as muscles contracted.
The tension of facing a natural predator. Black petals fell at his feet.
-Step.
The man whose body blazed advanced one step at a time.
-Step.
The black liquid on his wrist swiftly formed clothing. Evaporating blood revealed a pallid face. He looked down at Plum Blossom with contempt.
'...Wh-what.'
-Thump, thump.
Death.
Only in the moment sound fled the world did he comprehend his plight.