Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: Masters of the Transcendent Realm
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A colossal energy flowed from Jin Hong's dantian.
It was the power of a man who had already achieved the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, the Five Energies Return to the Origin, and Bone Metamorphosis—the pinnacles of martial arts—making him closer to an immortal than a human.
That power blossomed from the tip of his sword, scattering plum blossom petals in all directions.
The petals flowing from Jin Hong’s sword fell like seeds, and soon, dozens of massive, pale pink plum blossom trees grew within the great hall.
The scattering blossoms quickly formed a current as great as a river—a colossal flood made of petals.
This beautiful deluge confronted Mahoraga's lightning spear.
*Craaaack!*
A simultaneous clash of qi against qi.
Crimson-black lightning strikes overturned everything in their path.
A wave of plum blossoms like the flooding of the Yangtze River.
Immense energies collided without yielding an inch.
The battle took place in a truly vast hall, but the immense impact inevitably caused pillars to split and cracks to appear in the ceiling as if it were about to collapse.
A deafening roar filled the hall, so powerful that one would need a high level of martial skill just to remain standing. The place had become a scene of cataclysm.
Just then, Mahoraga paused his assault.
“Yes, this won't be enough!”
Mahoraga condensed the lightning spears he had formed with his six arms into one. A massive lightning spear, about thirteen feet long, took shape.
It was an energy verging on true destruction, an aura that could effortlessly obliterate a hall like this one.
“Kaaaargh! Die!”
Jin Hong, who had been deflecting the furiously storming lightning, prepared a technique to counter the colossal spear, but Du Baek stepped in front of him.
“Leave that to me. You focus on landing a blow on him!”
“...Understood.”
Du Baek's martial art involved condensing his internal energy to the absolute limit and distorting space itself.
The pure energy he had cultivated over a lifetime possessed a density that was simply unparalleled.
The Transcendent Realm energy drawn from his dantian circulated through his meridians before flowing from his fingertips into his sword.
‘The blade in my hands is an extension of my body.’
It was the state of Unity of Sword and Self, a realm every martial artist yearned to reach. Du Baek was a man who had never once neglected his training.
He was a master who had reached the pinnacle by combining his lifelong training with countless real-world battles, starting from the lowest ranks of the Martial Alliance.
He raised his sword as the leader of the Orthodox Sects.
The Transcendent Realm energy swirling from the center of his blade condensed and twisted the very air to its limit.
The resulting barrier of condensed air and qi created a perfect void, which appeared as a black sphere that absorbed even light.
*Crackle, crackle.*
A power that created the illusion of the atmosphere itself tearing apart.
It was truly the ultimate strike.
At that moment, Mahoraga hurled the lightning spear in his hand.
“Kahahahaak!”
Mahoraga let out a ferocious roar as he threw the colossal lightning spear. The crimson-black spear flew forward, piercing through everything.
All that existed in its path vanished as if its very existence was being erased...
Du Baek faced it head-on, his sword raised.
“There will not be an ounce of hesitation in my strike!”
He gripped the sword firmly with both hands.
A sword strike where a vortex of extremely condensed energy created a void. He thrust it forward. The sword slashed diagonally upward, from the lower right to the upper left.
The sword drew a graceful arc, a pitch-black void swirling at its tip.
*Claaang!*
A powerful explosion erupted between Du Baek and Mahoraga. A clash of immense power that seemed capable of swallowing heaven and earth.
Attacks of such magnitude that an ordinary martial artist wouldn't even dare to imagine collided. However, contrary to expectations, the explosion's radius was not as large as one might think.
The reason lay in the nature of the energy in Du Baek's strike. His martial art was based on the condensation of swirling energy... which neutralized Mahoraga's lightning spear before it could detonate.
He had prevented an explosion that could have leveled a mountain, but he could not stop the shockwave generated by the colossal impact. For a moment, the air shimmered. A shockwave encompassing the entire mountain erupted,
inflicting varying degrees of impact on everyone surrounding the mountain.
*Creeaak!*
The pillars supporting Guiwon Temple. Pillars that should have stood for hundreds more years finally gave way under the shockwave.
*Ruuuumble!*
Guiwon Temple began to collapse completely.
*Craaaash!*
The temple crumbled.
Countless pieces of debris rained down from the ceiling. At that moment.
To Mahoraga's right was Mu-heun. His hand rested on his hip, a wide grin on his face. He drew the Sun and Moon Sword and unleashed a sword art that could pierce the heavens and reach divinity itself.
"Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon, First Form. Asura Slash of the Nine Heavens Demonic Sword."
*Swiiish!*
A sinister slash tore through the air. It was menacing enough to threaten even Mahoraga, who had once held divinity.
But that was not all. On the opposite side, to Mahoraga's left, Jin Hong drew his Plum Blossom Sword and spoke.
"Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword, Plum Blossoms Pave the Way."
The sword Jin Hong thrust forward seemed to strike thousands of times in a single instant.
A slash that split the air.
Followed by another.
And another, thousands of times over.
The slashes, too fast for the eye to follow, merged in mid-air. As if space itself were tearing, the thousands of shimmering sword strikes began to converge into one.
The unified slash flew forth, a sharp, deep pink sword strike.
Mahoraga was stunned.
"How can this be...?"
Sweat began to bead on his skin. He had been dumbfounded when his full-powered attack was blocked by the Alliance Leader.
‘He's just a mere human.’
But that wasn't all. He saw sword strikes of terrifying power flying at him from both sides. And he realized they would reach him.
"Kraaaaaaaaargh!"
Mahoraga hastily summoned his energy, spreading his six arms to either side.
*Kzzzzzzzt!*
A barrier of crimson-black lightning energy formed.
However,
*Craaaack!*
The hastily erected barrier failed to completely block Mu-heun's Asura Slash and Jin Hong's Plum Blossoms Pave the Way.
*Splaaash!*
Deep wounds were carved into Mahoraga's body. Thick blood oozed from his serpentine form, the wrists of two of his six arms were severed, and gashes covered his body.
*Craaaash!*
And Guiwon Temple collapsed completely.
*Boom!*
Mahoraga's massive form burst from the rubble of the ruined temple. He was utterly enraged.
"You...! Human! Scum!"
Just then.
*Rumble!*
Mu-heun, Jin Hong, and Du Baek also emerged, shattering the temple debris. Mu-heun spoke sarcastically to the wounded Mahoraga.
"Damn, this snake bastard has been squawking nonstop! Still calling us 'human scum' even when you're about to die?"
Mu-heun immediately closed in, provoking Mahoraga as he unleashed the Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon.
"Second Form, Heaven-Descending Sword. Dragon's Descent Shatters the Sky."
He formed a dragon from the yin and yang energies prepared in his dantian and imbued it with the power of the Five Elements. No matter how close to divinity his opponent was, he would not escape unscathed.
*Clang!*
"Kuaaaaaargh!"
Mahoraga let out a horrific scream.
*Cough!*
Thick, viscous blood poured continuously from his mouth. At that moment, Jin Hong appeared behind him. He followed up with an attack meant to finish off the rakshasa.
"Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword."
Jin Hong unleashed his sword art from above Mahoraga, who was bent over, coughing up blood.
"Plum Blossom Blood Rain."
Guiwon Temple was completely destroyed.
The sky was filled with dark clouds.
But above them, pale pink plum blossoms began to fill the heavens.
Soon, like a hailstorm of blood,
crimson meteors formed from Jin Hong's energy
rained down upon Mahoraga.
*Cra-cra-cra-cra-crash!*
*Gaaah!*
Mahoraga thrashed in agony, yet he was filled with indignation, as if it were impossible for mere humans to do this to him.
"Kraaaaaaaaargh!"
He finally let out a roar toward the sky that resembled a massive shockwave. The dark clouds swirled, forming a crimson-black thunderhead.
Then, including the arms with severed wrists, he raised all six hands to the sky and shot out a bolt of lightning-like energy.
*Cra-crack!*
The rising lightning struck the crimson-black storm cloud, creating an ominous atmospheric disturbance.
*Ruuuumble!*
As if intending to end it all with this attack, Mahoraga, his face stained with blood and twisted in fury, shouted.
"Thunderbolts of black blood! Strike them down!"
*Ruuuumble!*
Dozens of lightning bolts rained down from the crimson-black thunderhead, merging at a single point to form the shape of a colossal lightning spear.
Just then, Du Baek said to Jin Hong and Mu-heun,
"I will block that. You two finish him off!"
With those words, Du Baek leaped into the sky.
He raised his Transcendent Realm energy to its maximum and resonated it with his sword.
A black sphere that seemed to suck in even light. The sphere formed on his sword and collided with the lightning spear plunging toward the ground.
*Claaang!*
*Cra-crack!*
As before, it ended not with a massive explosion, but with an extremely condensed shockwave.
Seeing this, Mahoraga coughed up more blood and screamed.
"Kuaaaaaargh! You human bastard!"
In the opening created as Mahoraga roared in fury,
Mu-heun and Jin Hong did not miss their chance.
"Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword, Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom."
The sword Jin Hong swung split into thousands of blades, causing plum blossoms to bloom in every direction, creating a scene like a field of flowers in full bloom.
However, the petals fluttering in this flower field were not merely beautiful. They instantly began to shred Mahoraga to pieces.
“Kaaaargh!”
As Mahoraga thrashed in pain, Mu-heun charged forward.
"Third Form. Asura's Heaven-Annihilating Art, Severing the Heavens."
*Slice!*
A sword strike that seemed to sever space itself—the Third Form of the Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon, Severing the Heavens—sliced off one of Mahoraga's shoulders.
“Kuaaaargh!”
“Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword, Plum Fragrance Forms a Current.”
Jin Hong then gathered the blooming plum blossoms into a vortex and let them flow like a drifting fragrance. On the surface, it was a spectacular stream of petals, but its current carried a wave powerful enough to split a mountain in two.
Even as his torso was being torn to shreds, Mahoraga did not lose his fighting spirit.
“Kuaaaargh!”
He unleashed lightning in all directions.
At that moment, Mu-heun unleashed the most powerful attack he could currently muster.
"Fourth Form. Five Elements Demonic Sword, Dark Chaos Void Strike."
Jin Hong did the same.
"Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword, Plum Blossoms' Fragrance Spreads Ten Thousand Li."
Mahoraga felt an irresistible force approaching him from both sides.
The Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon unleashed by Mu-heun flew toward him, wreaking brutal destruction as if to turn everything to nothingness. The pale pink energy of Jin Hong's Twenty-Four Movements of the Plum Blossom Sword stormed in as if to erase the entire area.
In that fleeting moment,
Mahoraga sensed his end had come. He realized that if he were hit by such attacks from both sides, even he could not survive.
‘Ah... after enduring all those years of hardship, living at Houtu's beck and call... is this how it ends?’