Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Absolute Step Technique
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Absolute Step Technique.
Absolute Step Technique (絕大步法).
It was a legend of the Primeval Martial World.
The Primeval Martial World referred to the ancient era of the martial forest that had not been properly recorded in history.
At that time, external martial arts were valued more highly than internal energy cultivation, and it was said that masters of external arts were actually stronger than those of internal energy.
It wasn't because the internal energy masters had weak internal energy. There were martial artists who possessed internal energy accumulated over several dozen years through cultivation methods and spiritual elixirs, yet they still couldn't match the external arts masters.
External arts masters wielded a mysterious power called Divine Demon Herculean Qi and cultivated unique step techniques. Those two factors were said to have made them absolute beings.
Generally speaking, step techniques were akin to different ways of walking. Just as there are various gaits like bow-legged steps, crisscross steps, or straight strides for more comfortable movement, step techniques originated as methods to perform martial arts more easily.
Initially used only for facilitating martial arts execution, they gradually evolved into auxiliary means that enhanced the power of techniques. In other words, step techniques themselves became martial arts. However, once step techniques developed into full-fledged martial arts, a drawback emerged: the consumption of internal energy.
Yet, there existed a step technique that defied the fundamental principle of internal energy-consuming martial arts.
The more one executed the step technique, the less internal energy was depleted—in fact, it accumulated. The step technique functioned like circulating qi and cultivation.
For a martial artist, being able to circulate qi and cultivate amid fierce combat offered an immense advantage. Of course, the internal energy generated this way was too meager to fuel techniques like sword qi or sword gangs.
It merely alleviated fatigue. Even so, for martial artists engaged in prolonged battles, having a mechanism to relieve fatigue was extraordinary.
If someone could fight for several shichen with the same physical condition as when they started, they would inevitably become the world's strongest. That step technique was called the Absolute Step Technique.
And it seemed that was exactly what this was.
No, it was definitely the Absolute Step Technique.
Without it, no one could maintain the same power for two and a half shichen. Moreover, the strength was growing even greater.
Scree! Slash!
A peculiar saber, like a half-moon blade fitted with a handle, flew toward him at terrifying speed.
“I am Gorgan of the War Wolf Clan!”
Gorgan drew a small knife from his waist. It wasn't a weapon but a utensil for eating. The situation was so dire he had no choice but to use it.
Boom! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The clash of weapons echoed without pause. The Fear Demon wielded by Ak Muyoo grew ever stronger, while Gorgan was continuously pushed back.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwakwang!
Techniques from Life Bind, Death Bind, and Mad Thousand Blood Steps exploded onto Gorgan. Then, a second Single Stroke Severing struck.
Kwang!
“Urk!”
Swish!
Ak Muyoo, who had closed in unnoticed, swept his left arm horizontally to unleash Single Stroke Severing. With his right arm, he executed Death Bind. The Death Bind, fused with Mad Thousand Blood Steps, gripped its target even more fiercely than before.
To block Single Stroke Severing, Gorgan thrust his left arm forward while slashing down at Ak Muyoo's head with the knife in his right hand. Ak Muyoo's Death Bind targeted Gorgan's hand, while Gorgan's knife aimed for Ak Muyoo's head.
At that moment, their gazes met in midair.
A faint smile crept onto Ak Muyoo's lips.
‘He's smiling?’
Gorgan's eyes widened.
‘No way—he thinks he can dodge my knife?’
‘That's right. I can dodge it. And I'll take your left hand.’
The two conversed through their eyes.
‘You absolutely can't dodge. Even if you tilt your head back, my knife will pursue and sever it.’
In his current stance, moving his legs was impossible—it would sap the attack's power. So he would have to dodge by shifting his head side to side, but pursuing a dodging head and slicing it off was trivial. Just adjust the knife's angle.
‘I won't dodge.’
Ak Muyoo kicked off the ground. His body soared into the air. Since he wasn't shifting left or right, it affected neither Single Stroke Severing nor Death Bind at all.
“Gasp!”
Gorgan was horrified.
He had never imagined Ak Muyoo would leap straight into his knife. Moreover, his knife was wrapped in saber gang.
‘My left hand!’
His gaze flicked to his left hand.
Thud!
The instant Ak Muyoo's shoulder struck Gorgan's knife, Death Bind seized Gorgan's left arm.
“Arrrgh!”
A scream burst from Gorgan's mouth.
“Keurk!”
Ak Muyoo also cried out in pain as he crashed to the ground. In an instant, his shoulder was drenched in blood. But Ak Muyoo sprang up even faster than he'd fallen. His left arm was immobile, but his right was fine. He yanked the Fear Demon's hilt, charged toward the kneeling Gorgan.
As Ak Muyoo approached, Gorgan thrust his knife forward. But Ak Muyoo was faster.
The Fear Demon shot toward Gorgan's throat at horrifying speed.
Scree!
The air-cutting Fear Demon halted right before Gorgan's throat.
Stab!
Gorgan stopped as well, but a beat too late—the tip pierced about an inch. His knife had slipped not atop the protective garment but into a gap between the plates.
Even if Ak Muyoo had completed the Black Demon Vajra Divine Body, rendering him impervious to blades, that only applied to ordinary swords—not those infused with gang energy. Had Gorgan pressed on, Ak Muyoo's internals would surely have been shredded.
“…….”
“…….”
The two stared silently at each other. A staring contest ensued for a time.
“Does it hurt?”
Ak Muyoo spoke first.
“……Pfft!”
Gorgan, who had been staring in disbelief, let out a chuckle. Then he continued.
“Of course it hurts when your hand's been severed, you punk.”
“Fair enough. I've got no experience, so I wouldn't know.”
Ak Muyoo withdrew the Fear Demon and sat cross-legged before Gorgan.
“Your shoulder must be shattered too.”
Gorgan said, glancing at Ak Muyoo's left shoulder.
“My bones are too sturdy to shatter easily. Probably just a skin scrape.”
“That's an awful lot of blood for a scrape.”
“All I've got is blood to spare.”
“Is that the Black Demon Vajra Divine Body?”
“Yeah. And this protective garment makes me impervious to blades too.”
“You're insane for cultivating the Black Demon Vajra Divine Body.”
“Can't blame you for thinking that. But…….”
“Why didn't I thrust?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn't you sever?”
“My father came to mind.”
“……Do I look like your father?”
“If you looked like my old man, you'd be dead.”
“…….”
“I pitied the kids you'd leave behind, losing their worthless dad.”
“……How'd you know I have no wife but only kids?”
Gorgan asked, astonished.
“You carry a familiar scent.”
“A familiar scent?”
“The kind you smell entering a barracks full of guys. The fancy term is ‘widower balls stink.’”
“You're saying I reek of widower?”
“Yeah. And it's potent.”
“I don't smell it.”
“You never smell your own.”
“But I don't…….”
Gorgan sniffed himself.
“Cut it out already.”
Ak Muyoo brushed off his clothes and stood.
“The others will keep chasing you.”
Gorgan said.
“There won't be many stronger than you among them.”
“True.”
“You don't sound too confident.”
“……Anyone but the Desert Ten Heroes, and I'd be fine.”
“You can't handle the Desert Ten Heroes?”
“Never fought them directly.”
“So you can't.”
“…….”
Gorgan's face twisted.
Ak Muyoo spoke the truth. One could never know true strength without clashing blades, but that was mere personal opinion—no one else acknowledged it. In the Border Wastelands, the strongest were solely the Desert Ten Heroes.
And he was even weaker than the Border folk believed.
“What do you think the reason is?”
Ak Muyoo sat back down and asked.
“Long ago, our War Wolf Clan was the strongest tribe in Great Desert Wolf Heaven. We always fought at the vanguard, facing the fiercest foes. The problem was that as our clan's masters died, their martial arts were lost with them. Over centuries, we became the weakest tribe in Great Desert Wolf Heaven.”
“You didn't preserve them in manuals?”
“In Great Desert Wolf Heaven, the strongest becomes chieftain. Since all War Wolves are comrades and rivals, no one leaves behind manuals exposing their personal arts.”
“So that's why—you lost your martial arts.”
“Exactly. Our tribe has no remaining arts. Even the War Wolf Ten Arts I cultivate are empty shells without substance.”
“If you had superior arts, you'd be confident in taking first place?”
“Of course. With over sixty years of energy, failing to claim first would mean I deserve death.”
“Your energy is sixty years' worth?”
Ak Muyoo was shocked. Sixty years meant a whopping 360 years of cultivation. Purely in terms of energy, he rivaled the Desert Ten Heroes.
“Our tribe chose energy cultivation.”
“To overcome the flaws of our inferior arts with raw power.”
“Yes.”
“How'd you obtain such energy?”
“We inherited it.”
“…….”
“All War Wolves inherit energy from parents or masters.”
“And still you take up arms?”
“Because we're War Wolves.”
“What bullshit. Call over five smart guys.”
“…….”
Gorgan eyed Ak Muyoo quizzically.
“I'm seriously conflicted right now, so better hurry.”
“Smart guys, you said?”
“Not guys—punks!”
“Got it.”
Gorgan turned his head and shouted in their tongue. Soon, five men approached behind him.
“Sit in a circle here.”
Ak Muyoo said.
“You sure it won't give way?”
Gorgan asked.
“Only where you're sitting. Two paces back, and it's swamps on both flanks.”
“You can distinguish swamp from sand?”
“Why else would I come here?”
“…….”
“Not sitting?”
Ak Muyoo yelled at those behind Gorgan.
“He's no liar—sit!”
The five sat to Gorgan's left and right.
“A woman's here too?”
“You didn't need to worry about your kids growing up fatherless.”
“Why?”
“They're all grown.”
“Daughter?”
He nodded toward the woman.
“Doesn't take after you, huh?”
“If she did, she'd be a beast, not human. You kidnap some kid and raise her as your own?”
“Want to go another round?”
"What's her name?"
He asked, looking at the woman.
She was as massive as Gorgan.
She wore clothes exposing her shoulders, muscles wrapped like armor. Despite her hulking build, her face was small and cute.
“Goha.”
“Go home and confirm she's really your daughter.”
“I was planning to anyway.”
“Go, Goha.”
Gorgan called his daughter, flustered.
“If he's my father, he'd never lose to a guy like this.”
“This guy is…….”
“From now on, I'll recite martial arts formulas. I'll do it ten times total—memorize them or not, that's on you.”
“Martial arts formulas?”
Gorgan asked, stunned.
“Better than that War Wolf Ten Arts you're practicing— a hundred times stronger.”
“You've seen the War Wolf Ten Arts? Seen it, punk?”
Gorgan bellowed.
“Pride aside…… Getting owned that bad by a guy with no internal energy means it's not even proper martial arts, punk.”
“You little…….”
“Anyway, listen up. All of you memorize it. If you can't in ten recitations, chalk it up to your shitty luck.”
Ak Muyoo immediately began reciting the formulas.
The martial art he imparted to Gorgan and his group was the Phantom Demon Twelve Forms, one of the secret arts from the Absolute Fleshly Heaven Thousand—specifically, the Enigmatic Heaven division.