Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: The Strong and the Weak
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At Guyang Cheong-jeong's words, Ma Han jumped in alarm.
"You'd risk your life for that man?"
"But..."
While Guyang Cheong-jeong hesitated, the leader, realizing they were trying to retreat, gestured to his men.
"They plan to escape over the western wall. Stop them!"
*Swaaaek!*
The warriors immediately unleashed a flurry of palm strikes.
The technique was simple, yet its speed and power were immense. In the end, Guyang Cheong-jeong and Ma Han missed their chance to escape and were cornered once more.
"Young Master Ma, I'll hold them off! You go first!"
She gathered herself, spinning powerfully to deflect the incoming palm energies.
It was the supreme art that had established the Pungsa Sword House as the preeminent sword school of Qinghai: the Twelve Slashes of the Wheeling Wind Shot.
"Heh heh."
But the masters of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect merely scoffed and dodged her swordplay.
A sword art, by its very nature, requires the practitioner's internal energy and sword intent to be in harmony with its demands. Without that, it is nothing more than a series of pretty poses.
Much like the young masters of the Seven Sword Houses, Guyang Cheong-jeong lacked real combat experience and inner energy, and she had yet to fully grasp the sword intent of her own technique.
Thus, even if her forms were perfect, she couldn't execute the right moves for the situation and was being pushed back relentlessly.
*Pow! Pow!*
In that time, four of the young masters were struck by palm energies and collapsed.
Only Guyang Cheong-jeong, Ma Han, and Wiji Un remained.
"Cheong-mae!"
Ma Han roared, realizing they had missed their golden opportunity to escape.
"Dammit! All because of that man..."
"I'm sorry, Young Master Ma!"
"Enough! Let's just hold on and break through somehow!"
They gritted their teeth and held on tenaciously.
Though none of the three were exceptionally stronger than the others, they somehow managed to withstand the warriors' attacks.
"Hoh."
Observing them, the leader smiled as if he had realized something.
"So that's how it is."
A grim smile on his face, the leader suddenly approached them and unleashed a palm strike.
It was a decisive blow aimed solely at Guyang Cheong-jeong, who stood in the center.
*Kwarreung!*
As the lightning-fast palm energy surged forward, Ma Han and Wiji Un risked their own safety, turning to protect her.
But as if anticipating their move, the leader's palm energy curved sharply, striking Ma Han and Wiji Un from behind.
It had been a spinning supreme technique aimed not at Guyang Cheong-jeong, but at their backs from the very start.
*'Damn!'*
Only then did the two realize they had fallen for the leader's trick.
*Pow! Pow!*
Struck in the back and side respectively, they collapsed, spitting blood.
"It seems their single-minded desire to protect her led them to create an exquisite joint attack on the fly."
The leader smirked.
He had seen through them—they had only managed to hold on for so long because Ma Han and Wiji Un had focused their swordplay solely on protecting Guyang Cheong-jeong.
*Chk!*
Just then, Guyang Cheong-jeong swung her sword, positioning herself in front of the two men.
This time, it was her turn to protect them, unleashing the Twelve Slashes of the Wheeling Wind Shot with all her might.
"Hahaha. You clearly don't know the masters of our sect."
The corners of the leader's mouth curled up.
No matter how brilliant her sword art, she was still a young maiden with little experience in the martial world.
In contrast, the demonic beings of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect were killing fiends trained to be accustomed to fear and pain.
They would charge forward without hesitation, even if it meant getting their limbs slashed.
"Ugh."
In the end, less than a dozen seconds passed before she was stabbed in the shoulder and leg, causing her to collapse.
"Hehehe."
The leader's eyes raked over Guyang Cheong-jeong's body, her clothes clinging to her sweat-drenched form. A strange, suggestive smile touched his lips.
"Quite a sight."
He licked his lips and grinned lecherously.
"I could eat you raw, and I bet you'd still taste sweet."
"You damn bastard! Don't you even dream of touching Cheong-mae!"
As the fallen Wiji Un shouted, the leader just smirked.
Then he strode over, grabbed his shoulder, and channeled energy into his fingertips.
"Aaargh!"
Wiji Un let out a bloodcurdling scream as the man's five fingers dug deep into his shoulder.
"Before the strong, you should neither shout nor make demands."
the leader whispered coldly, looking down at the screaming Wiji Un.
"Have you not learned that yet?"
"Ugh..."
Wiji Un swallowed his pain and shouted loudly.
"I am the heir of the Gwanghan Sword House!"
In an instant, the leader's eyes became like those of a venomous snake.
Seeing this, Wiji Un immediately shut his mouth. He felt that if he uttered another defiant word, his head would be smashed in an instant.
"Heir?"
The leader glanced at Wiji Un and the other fallen young men, a contemptuous smile spreading across his face.
"You brats. Instead of holding these gatherings as if you were someone important, you should have been practicing your martial arts."
At his words, all the fallen young men trembled slightly. It was a tremor born not of fear, but of bitter regret.
Just as the man said, instead of preening and spending money for gatherings like this, they should have spent even one more day honing their skills.
The masters of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect were strong, but not so exceptional that they were invincible.
If they had trained diligently, they would have been skilled enough to stand a chance.
But their laziness and complacency had ultimately led to this result.
"Now, take them away."
"Ugh..."
The heirs of the Seven Sword Houses trembled, unable to resist any longer.
They realized that any pleas or words were useless against these fiends.
The weak can demand nothing of the strong.
In the martial world, resolving matters through dialogue is only possible when you possess greater strength than your enemy.
"Wait."
Just then, the leader suddenly grinned and spoke coldly.
"Sever all of their meridians."
As he uttered those shocking words, the heirs of the Seven Sword Houses froze in terror.
"If we take them unharmed, there's no telling what they might try."
The leader smiled as he watched the young men from the Seven Sword Houses tremble ceaselessly in fear.
"But if we cut their meridians, they won't even think of resisting. All that matters is that we bring them back without any external wounds."
The rumors circulating in the martial world were not mere exaggerations.
The cruelty and savagery of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect's fiends were even worse than the stories suggested; they were like true demons.
"Oho."
Then, the leader's gaze fell upon Guyang Cheong-jeong's trembling body.
"Don't touch her. I'll take care of her myself."
The man swallowed his saliva, flicked his tongue, and lifted her into his arms.
"If you can please me, I might just spare your meridians."
"Ah, ahh..."
Frozen by extreme terror, Guyang Cheong-jeong could only shed tears.
Just as the leader finally turned to enter a room in the Seogangwon,
"Aaaahhh."
the sound of a lazy stretch was heard.
Everyone's gaze naturally turned toward the source of the sound.
The one stretching was none other than Bu Eun-seol, who had been sitting at a table in the banquet hall with the open door.
He had remained seated neatly at the table this entire time.
"Kngghhh."
Unbothered by the stinging glares, Bu Eun-seol stretched out languidly once more.
*'I suppose it can't be helped.'*
Contrary to his relaxed stretching, his inner thoughts were a bit complicated.
Originally, Bu Eun-seol had no intention of getting involved in this fight.
This was because the skills of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect's warriors were far more pathetic than he had expected.
More importantly, he had come to Jinyang to lie low and digest the insights he had gained. He had no particular desire to get entangled in the grudges of the martial world.
*'But I can't just turn a blind eye, can I.'*
Guyang Cheong-jeong had thrown away her chance to escape in order to protect him.
Having witnessed that firsthand, Bu Eun-seol couldn't bring himself to ignore her plight.
The martial world was a merciless place, but it was also a place where debts must be repaid.
"A madman."
The leader stared at the yawning Bu Eun-seol with a look of utter disbelief.
*Step. Step.*
In that time, Bu Eun-seol walked straight toward the leader.
He walked in a straight line, as if he were the only person left in the world.
"Get rid of him."
At the leader's command, two of his subordinates quickly blocked Bu Eun-seol's path from the front and back.
And without a single word, they thrust out their palms, unleashing a fierce palm energy.
The attack was so sudden, with two men striking from both front and back, that Bu Eun-seol had no time to dodge.
*Kwaang!*
But with a loud explosion, the two warriors who had unleashed the palm energy were sent flying through the wall of the Seogangwon and out into the open.
"..."
As the completely unexpected situation unfolded, the thoughts of everyone present came to a momentary halt.
"He was a master."
The one who came to his senses the fastest was the leader.
He nodded his head in surprise and said.
"You've learned a formidable fist technique."
Despite the leader's praise, Bu Eun-seol wore an expression of utter annoyance, like a patient suffering from indigestion.
"This is a hassle. Just get lost."
It was the first act of mercy Bu Eun-seol had shown since entering the martial world. A moment of compassion for the weak.
In his eyes, the warriors of the Blood Sea Demonic Sect were so pathetic that it was a bother to even lift a hand against them.
"There are always those who think they're something special."
The leader, having raised his internal energy, smirked.
At that, Bu Eun-seol, who had been wearing a look of worldly annoyance, looked back at him and grinned.
"..."
The leader suddenly felt extremely uneasy.
Seeing Bu Eun-seol's smile, it felt as if the world around him was darkening, as if some unknown entity was about to swallow him whole.
"You..."
The leader's words were cut short.
Because Bu Eun-seol had thrown a punch at his face.
*Kuuung.*
A sound like something massive falling echoed as immense pressure surged toward his face.
"Hoh."
The leader dodged Bu Eun-seol's punch with a surprised expression.
But then, wasn't the immense pressure that had been aimed at his face suddenly splitting and digging into both of his sides?
*'What?'*
The leader, utterly aghast, quickly rolled on the ground.
Unable to think of any other way to evade, he had used the "Lazy Donkey Roll," a move considered shameful among martial artists.
"You bastard!"
Barely getting back on his feet, the leader was about to unleash his fury when his eyes suddenly widened.
*'Wait... he freely altered the trajectory of the fist's power after it was already unleashed?'*
Techniques that change the direction of an attack mid-flight were not particularly rare in the martial world.
However, a divine skill that could split the power of an already unleashed fist and send it in different directions was something he had never even heard of.
"You are..."
Only then did the leader, guessing that Bu Eun-seol was a master not to be underestimated, adopt a grim expression.
"Impressive. In that case!"
With a short shout, he unleashed a palm technique that seemed to claw and scrape at the heavens and the earth.
"Hmm."
Watching the attack pour down like a dense net, Bu Eun-seol lightly twisted his fist and extended it.
*Kuuung!*
As the fist's power and the palm's energy collided, a sound and vibration like the striking of a great bell rang out.
*Chiiik.*
At the same time, the leader was pushed back eight steps, his feet dragging along the ground.
"What in the world are you? Who the hell are you!"
He was breaking.
When one who had only ever inflicted fear upon others meets a powerful being who instills that same fear in him?
A spirit once as calm as a lake shatters uncontrollably.
"This is impossible! Me, being pushed back by a mere brat like him?"
When one who had always held the lives of others in his hands meets a being who now holds his own life?
He denies it. He denies that being's existence and flees from reality.
"Answer me! Who are you to interfere with the affairs of my sect?"
"Have you not learned?"
Bu Eun-seol looked at the leader and smiled faintly.
"That before the strong, you should neither shout nor demand anything."