Heaven and Earth Great Shift: Full Bloom
-Bang!
The moment my fist connected, I knew it instinctively.
It was the first effective hit Jeokmaryeong had ever taken from me.
We had already clashed twice before. Yet no matter how hard I went all-out, I had never properly shattered the white mask he always wore with a solid blow.
And now, right before my fist, the mask of the Yama King of the Surayeomrang Squad shattered and flew apart.
“…!”
Jeokmaryeong smashed through the kitchen door and went flying.
Outside, a downpour like a waterfall had turned the entire world white. Rainwater the earth could not absorb had risen nearly to the height of a pinky finger, mixing with rotting mud and trash to turn the streets into a quagmire.
-Squelch, squelch, squelch…!
Jeokmaryeong tumbled through it. His martial robes, which had stayed clean even amid the chaos of battle, grew filthy.
-Whoosh!
As he rolled, purple light flashed in Jeokmaryeong’s eyes. He kicked off the ground and spun through the air.
-Thud.
He landed on both feet. Rainwater fell between us, drowning out every sound.
-Shhhhh….
I pushed through the wreckage. Debris crunched under my feet.
-Clatter.
-Crack…. Crack-crack….
Black lightning surged up from beneath my legs. I stood facing him. Twenty paces separated us.
“….”
Jeokmaryeong’s eyes were wide. He stared at me blankly. His gaze swept from my toes to my head. Sensing the pressure radiating from my body, he snickered.
“…Look at this bastard. I thought I was the only one who’d trained myself half to death…. Turns out you were even worse.”
He brought a hand to his face.
-Crunch.
The remaining shards of the white mask crushed in his grip. His face began to emerge. His gritted teeth came into view. His voice still held a playful edge, but the eyes beneath burned with mad fury. Veins stood out on his forehead.
“Right. I’d almost forgotten. Back then, was it the third stage of Heaven and Earth Great Shift? Or the fourth? You even copied my martial arts right back at me.”
“….”
I chewed the blood pooling in my mouth and spat it to the side. Jeokmaryeong laughed at the sight.
“Keh… kehkehkeh! Good. Good…! Yeah. This is how it should be. From the first moment I saw you, I knew it instinctively.”
He grabbed the hem of the blood-red cloak at his neck.
-Whoosh!
He flung the fluttering cloak away. Beneath it was a black martial uniform clinging to his trained body. He even tossed the sword from his back. Rolling his wrists, he too chewed something and spat it aside. Two shattered molars landed there.
“That you were the same kind of bastard as me. That’s why you pissed me off so much. Yeah, of course. This dogshit feeling. Even if I had a brother, he wouldn’t make me feel as filthy as you do!”
Jeokmaryeong clenched his teeth. At the same time, the atmosphere shifted. The rain pouring around us temporarily slowed.
-Hummm
Purple light began to blaze in Jeokmaryeong’s eyes. I swallowed hard. Cold sweat mixed with rainwater ran down my temples.
Now the real fight begins.
“Moyong Bi, want to hear something interesting?”
Internal energy began surging from around Jeokmaryeong’s dantian.
“As you know, the Cult Leader personally placed a restriction on me so I couldn’t use Heaven and Earth Great Shift beyond a certain level. And as if that weren’t enough, just like you, from some point on I was constantly shoved out to the borderlands under the glorious bait of the title Yama King of the Surayeomrang Squad.”
“….”
“Do you know why the Cult Leader put a restriction that only allowed me up to the third stage on a Heaven and Earth Great Shift that was nearing completion at the eighth stage? And why he kept banishing me to the borders to lead the Surayeomrang Squad, and why, now that it’s clear I’ve escaped his control, he’s so desperately trying to kill me even at the risk of friction with the Orthodox Sects?”
Jeokmaryeong shouted through the rain.
“In the past, the Heavenly Demon Cult in the martial world followed the principle of ‘the strong are respected’—strength was everything, and even someone of low birth could rise to the Cult Leader’s seat if they were strong enough. But at some point it changed. The Demonic Cult also started valuing bloodlines and backgrounds. And it slowly began to rot…. It’s just that the Orthodox Sects on the other side rotted even faster, so it was less noticeable.”
The haze wavering around his body solidified into purple lightning and flames. I felt the cool air heating up.
“The Cult Leader realized it somewhere along the way. And he started to fear me. That according to the old laws of the Heavenly Demon Cult from the martial world’s past, the principle of the strong being respected, a worm like him should have been torn apart by me long ago…!”
-Whoosh!!!
Centered on his two hands, purple flames exploded into life.
Barely the fourth stage.
And even that fourth stage far surpassed the momentum of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift I had copied from him during our previous close-quarters fight.
Jeokmaryeong said,
“Consider it an honor…! You’re the first opponent against whom I’m releasing the restriction and going all-out!”
-Shake… shake-shake!
The ground began to tremble.
-Crash! Crash-crash!
Wine bottles and cups scattered around the inn shattered from the waves. Rainwater began shooting upward. Purple flames rose more than twice his height.
“You can be proud even in the afterlife. Because the me standing before you right now…!”
Jeokmaryeong clenched both fists.
“Even if only temporarily, in terms of combat, I am the strongest in the Heavenly Demon Cult…! Seventh Stage!”
The energy kept surging endlessly. It showed no sign of stopping.
“What I want is only one thing! Unique and supreme under heaven and earth! Unifying the martial world or the Cult Leader’s seat of the Heavenly Demon Cult—those pathetic childish things mean nothing to me, and that Cult Leader bastard never understood that till the end! That’s why he feared me!!”
My pupils trembled.
“Th-this can’t be. Th-this is….”
Even if it wasn’t complete, this was clearly on the level of Ilmanhyeolje. No—Ilmanhyeolje at least had a refined, controlled feel. And he had been arrogant, always overconfident as the former strongest, always letting his guard down.
But the Jeokmaryeong before me had none of that. He was a starving wolf itself. He was pouring maximum concentration into the hatred and hostility of wanting to tear me apart and kill me.
Jeokmaryeong roared.
The pinnacle of his restricted power, unleashed without restraint.
-Rumble!!
For a moment, heaven and earth fell silent.
Jeokmaryeong muttered through his bloodied face.
“Die, third-rate.”
“…!”
-Flash.
The purple flames themselves vanished.
After using Sura-dae-myeol-geop, I had prided myself that in no fight had I ever lost track of an opponent’s movements. Moreover, after the descent of the Great Heavenly Demon Emperor, my physical condition had been remodeled past the Extreme Demon stage all the way to the Demon Escape stage. Even at the same stage of Sura-dae-myeol-geop, it was on a completely different level from before. And right now I was at the third of the four stages: Myeol.
Yet even I couldn’t catch the trailing edge of those purple flames.
-Shudder.
Goosebumps raced over my entire body. My fine hairs stood on end. As fast as I could, I raised both arms to block in front of me and shouted.
“Ryu…!”
Focusing everything reinforced by Ryu solely into forming a defensive technique, and at the same time—
-BOOOOM!!!
Black lightning covering the sky and purple flames smashed down onto my arms.
-Crunch!
My two arms, wrapped in Ryu’s lightning, snapped instantly. They were forced upward. My face was fully exposed beneath them. With no barrier left, Jeokmaryeong closed in.
“Ah—!”
[Host, no!!]
With Mumyeong’s desperate cry, Jeokmaryeong’s fist struck my face dead-on.
“Guh!!!”
My neck nearly snapped as my head whipped back; I spat a mouthful of blood and flew backward. Behind me was the quagmire.
-BOOM!
With a massive shockwave, the ground flipped over.
-Rumble!
Buildings began collapsing. Even the government troops who had been charging with spears were swept away by the impact.
“…Look at this guy?”
Jeokmaryeong lightly landed on the collapsed rubble and looked at his fist. His voice was full of unexpected surprise.
“You didn’t die instantly even from a full-power Heaven and Earth Great Shift punch?”
“Cough… cough!”
I crawled out of the debris with thick nosebleeds.
[Host…! Are you all right?!]
“Haa, haa!”
Both arms were broken and bent outward. My ribs were broken too, stabbing into my lungs so that every breath grew more labored. I glared at Jeokmaryeong with bloodshot eyes.
Ahead stood Jeokmaryeong, wrapped in purple flames as if he had risen from hell itself.
I was no match. My entire body had been shattered in a single blow. I never imagined it would be this overwhelming. Even the final chapter of Sura-dae-myeol-geop was meaningless.
Jeokmaryeong murmured.
“Did I raise Heaven and Earth Great Shift to full power for nothing? How am I supposed to fight like this? Worm? Kehkehkeh.”
-Crunch.
I ground my teeth until they nearly broke. Wheezing, the movement of my lungs gradually stopped. My vision blurred.
Mumyeong shouted.
[This won’t do! Initiating emergency restoration! This is the last one—no more emergency restorations after this!]
-Flash!
Red light blazed in both my eyes.
-Crack! Whoosh! Crunch!
My twisted arms reversed as if time itself rewound. Wounds all over my body healed. Depleted internal energy filled back up.
A strange light entered Jeokmaryeong’s eyes.
“That sorcery I saw before? Yeah. You definitely did that last time too. Recovery? Annoying. The Blood Cult has guys like that sometimes.”
Jeokmaryeong spoke as if he didn’t care.
“But let’s estimate. The fact that you save it for life-or-death extremes like last time means there are serious restrictions on its use. Inferring from that, that pathetic super-recovery is the first and last time this round, right?”
“…!”
Jeokmaryeong was reading the battle situation with chilling clarity.
“Anyway, it’s a letdown. To think you’d be smashed in one hit like this. Not even fun to play with.”
Muyeong-sintu’s prophecy came to mind. I realized why this time was an unavoidable death. Even when facing Ilmanhyeolje, I hadn’t felt this much despair.
But that didn’t mean I planned to give up. That was the life I had lived!
“Mumyeong, get ready!”
[Surely not…!]
Mumyeong cried out.
[Host…! That’s not complete yet! There’s no going back, and… and…!]
Mumyeong shouted.
[This is the heart of the Orthodox Sects! If even one person witnesses it, Host is finished forever!]
-Flinch.
I hesitated.
“…?”
Jeokmaryeong frowned.
“Strange. There’s still no despair in your eyes. Normally by now you’d be soiling yourself and begging for your life.”
“….”
As if exasperated, Jeokmaryeong said,
“Then shall I help you struggle a bit more, revive that fighting spirit?”
Jeokmaryeong rummaged in his robes.
“Know what this is?”
What came out was a black wooden case. He leaped onto the rubble of a collapsed building. He looked around.
“Hmm, just as I thought—they’re rushing here like mad.”
“What?”
“You might not know, but the Nine Killing Stars of the Heavenly Demon Cult are racing here to kill me. And this is Gwando of all places. With me raising my internal energy this high in Gwando, every Orthodox martial artist in the vicinity is probably panicking and charging this way, right?”
“…?”
Jeokmaryeong chuckled and opened the wooden case. Inside was a greenish bead. I recognized it instantly. I had seen something similar before.
“A Guardian Pearl!”
“Oh, you recognize it. Yeah. I extracted this from the half-baked Guardian of the Sichuan Tang Family who came at me. It’s only half, but it’s still a proper pearl. Now then, a question.”
Jeokmaryeong rattled the wooden case with a clack-clack.
“What happens if I ‘accidentally’ drop this right in the middle of a place where both Orthodox and Demonic forces are gathering?”
“…!”
Right now the martial world looked peaceful on the surface but was thin ice. The Guardians were all holding their breath, ready to stab each other in the back. If an ownerless pearl appeared with a clear location right in the middle of both camps, the catastrophe that would unfold was obvious. It would be like throwing a torch into a powder keg.
“You…!”
Jeokmaryeong gazed into the distance.
“Time is at most one quarter-hour? Annoyingly, the Nine Killing Stars from the Demonic Cult might arrive first…. Well, doesn’t matter.”
Jeokmaryeong looked at me and said,
“If you want to stop a great catastrophe in the martial world, kill me and take this before everyone arrives—within one quarter-hour. Moyong Bi. Otherwise.”
Jeokmaryeong intoned in a chilling voice.
“Something will happen that makes the great massacre of Gwando look like a joke. In short, the peace of the martial world that has lasted for over a hundred years ends today. Forever—”
“…!”
My breath stopped. And the trembling and hesitation vanished from my eyes.
“Fine.”
I stopped thinking about the aftermath. I decided to deal only with the despair before me.
“Mumyeong.”
[…Understood.]
Mumyeong no longer tried to stop me. I rose from my seat and muttered.
“Yeah. I was arrogant. Even going all-out it was fifty-fifty whether I could win, but I was too complacent.”
“…What?”
I looked up at Jeokmaryeong looking down at me from the building rubble.
“So you want to see my full power that badly, Jeokmaryeong.”
“Kehkehkeh. Honestly, even that Heaven and Earth Great Shift-like martial art of yours seemed to be at max, but you’ve got another move? There’s a limit to bluffing. From where I stand, you’re just a worm who doesn’t know his place and is running wi—”
-Flash.
The color of my pupils changed. Jeokmaryeong’s mocking laughter cut off.
“…Huh?”
My eyes, which had been filled with red energy, became black eyes as still as a great mountain. My aura changed completely. It was as if the person himself had changed.
The first to sense that change was Jeokmaryeong. Jeokmaryeong blinked.
“What. Am I sensing this wrong right now?”
Jeokmaryeong stammered.
“…Th-this can’t be? No, wait. No, it can’t be. This. This feeling is…!”
Light began exploding from my eyes.
-Hummmmm!
It was white light that radiated black radiance.
-Crack, crackle…!
Black flames with white cores began pouring from my body.
-Crack…! Crackle-crackle!!!
Black lightning erupted madly.
-Tremble.
Red blood began flowing from the corner of my mouth. Even so, I didn’t stop circulating my internal energy. Over the red blood, black blood began to flow anew. The black blood flowed down as if devouring the red blood.
“Why… why! From that Orthodox bastard!”
Jeokmaryeong shouted in disbelief.
“Such dense demonic qi that you’d only feel at the sacred grounds of the Ten Thousand Mountains!!”
“Mumyeong!”
I roared like thunder through the blood.
“Release all demonic qi!”
[Understood!]
-BOOM!!!
At the same time, pitch-black flames and black lightning erupted from my body enough to cover heaven and earth.
“Keh… keaaaagh!!”
The four-gapja of immortal qi that had been piled in my original dantian was pushed out. In its place, the Heavenly Demon Jade newly settled as my dantian.
-Rumble!
Using the Heavenly Demon Jade as a medium, the demonic qi that had accumulated—two inner cores originating from the Demon Spirit Beasts, as well as the demonic qi obtained by fully substituting the largest of the three roots of the thousand-year snow ginseng—surged up explosively.
Jeokmaryeong shouted.
“This is pure demonic qi of at least three gapja…!”
The Sura-dae-myeol-geop and Demon Escape body that had been applied based on mismatched immortal qi were now meeting proper energy and pouring out incomparable power.
-Clench.
I gritted my teeth.
-Rumble-rumble…!!
Two massive demonic energies faced each other across the plaza.
“Th-this is ridiculous.”
“….”
The energy of Sura-dae-myeol-geop born from the substituted demonic qi rivaled Jeokmaryeong’s full-power Heaven and Earth Great Shift.
“Within one quarter-hour I will definitely kill you and take that. Jeokmaryeong.”
The light of surprise slowly faded from Jeokmaryeong’s eyes. Then his eyes glittered madly.
“Heh heh heh! Fine… fine!! Yeah, this is how it should be—this makes it worth abandoning everything and coming all this way just to kill you!!”
Purple flames equivalent to full-power Heaven and Earth Great Shift exploded from Jeokmaryeong’s body.
“Isn’t that right, Moyong Bi!!!”