Chapter 288
Chapter 288
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 288
Chapter Title: The Plum Blossom Divine Hero Appears
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“The Leader of the Ghost Shadow Division……”
“W-What is……”
The Evil-Black Alliance forces, who had been relentlessly pressing the nuns of the Emei Sect, faltered.
All because of a single man.
It was that shocking of an entrance.
In the space left behind by the Ghost Shadow Division Leader collapsing powerlessly, stained only with blood and the scent of slaughter, a lone youth stood tall and proud.
A young Daoist clad in black-crimson robes.
An appearance so youthful it was hard to believe he had severed the Ghost Shadow Division Leader's lifeline with a single stroke.
Yet his aura, his presence, was extraordinary.
“That man…… the Plum Blossom Divine Hero……”
The old man, the Blood Shadow Division Leader, let out a groan.
The sacred figure of the Mount Hua Sect—no, of the entire martial world.
The being who drew more attention than anyone else in the current era had appeared.
“……”
The Blood Shadow Division Leader felt his mouth go dry.
He had never truly believed the rumors about the Plum Blossom Divine Hero that spread far and wide across the martial world.
That a youth who had just barely passed thirty had repelled the King of the Green Forest Bands, evaluated as having reached the Realm of Heavenly Martial.
Who in the world would believe such a thing?
But now, he was different.
He had seen it with his own eyes just moments ago.
The Ghost Shadow Division Leader dying to a single sword strike.
Cold sweat poured from his entire body.
A monster like this in the world……
Sweat beaded on his chin, thick with white beard, and dripped down.
An utterly unforeseen danger had arrived.
His eyes darted quickly up, down, left, and right, scanning his subordinates and the Ghost Shadow Division.
Their conditions were far from good.
Their pupils were dilated like those gripped by panic, their tension plainly visible.
In contrast, the Emei Sect side was different.
“Young hero!”
“Amitabha. You've come to our aid.”
The Emei Sect disciples were filled with both relief and joy at Cheonhwi's dramatic arrival.
The situation had already been dire.
About half their disciples were injured and unable to continue fighting.
On top of that, even Emei Sect's master, Elder So Hye, had lost an arm.
They had been spiraling toward the worst.
But then Cheonhwi appeared.
To the righteous warriors gathered at Bokho Temple, he was no different from a savior.
The battlefield's momentum, which had been tilting toward the Evil-Black Alliance, began to shift bit by bit.
The martial world was a realm where the strong reigned supreme.
The shocking entrance of a peak expert called the Plum Blossom Divine Hero was more than enough to shatter the morale of the Evil-Black Alliance forces who had held the advantage.
“There are still so many vermin around.”
Cheonhwi scanned his surroundings, muttering as if to himself.
An arrogant remark that scraped at the pride of warriors.
Yet not a single one of the Evil-Black Alliance martial artists, including the Blood Shadow Division Leader, opened their mouths.
Step.
Cheonhwi's leather shoe pressed into the ground.
A small sound.
But that sound embedded itself clearly in the ears of everyone present.
Cheonhwi kept walking.
Toward the Evil-Black Alliance forces filling his view.
One against hundreds.
To an onlooker ignorant of the truth, it looked like walking straight into a tiger's maw.
“There's only one enemy.”
The Blood Shadow Division Leader bit his lip and barely managed to speak.
He was trapped on all sides.
Flee? Impossible.
As the leader of the Blood Shadow Division—no, as a member of the Evil-Black Alliance—abandoning his mission meant death.
He had only one choice left.
Kill that Plum Blossom Divine Hero.
“Kill him!”
With his hysterical shout, the Blood Shadow and Ghost Shadow Divisions scattered in all directions.
Cheonhwi quietly observed those spreading around him.
As expected of elite Evil-Black Alliance troops, their movements were organized and sharp.
Hidden weapons, saber arts, claw techniques, sword arts……
A riot of varied martial techniques unfolded.
Yet despite the lack of uniformity in their arts, their movements felt synchronized as one.
To kill Cheonhwi.
That was the sole purpose driving them.
Their techniques, laced with vicious killing intent and morale, closed in tightly on Cheonhwi.
Cheonhwi parted his lips as he gazed at those assaulting him from all sides.
“You're all rushing to your deaths on your own.”
A voice tinged with amusement rang out.
And whoosh!
Aura erupted from Cheonhwi's body.
The colorless energy rose like heat haze, reflecting the midday sun overhead.
The divine presence of a transcendent realm expert.
They say an expert who has reached that realm wields the power of an entire legion alone.
The aura he emanated did not yield in the slightest to the onslaught of the horde's energy.
If anything, it felt superior.
Swish—
Cheonhwi raised the lowered Hwamwol.
The blade, faintly crimson in the sunlight's reflection, pointed toward the charging foes.
Then Cheonhwi lifted his head.
The sun, which had been high in the sky, was now obscured by the swinging enemy weapons closing in.
Pitch-black darkness descended.
Darkness filled only with killing intent and morale.
Within it, Cheonhwi's eyes gleamed sharply.
His Baihui acupoint opened wide.
In that instant, his Three Fields unified, slowing the surrounding time to a crawl.
Only the time within his accelerated cognition sped up.
Cheonhwi lowered his gaze upon those moving sluggishly, almost halted.
Fragrance Fills Heaven and Earth Dance.
At the same time, a single technique came to mind.
The Seven Ultimate Plum Blossom Sword, second form.
Among the arts he had mastered, it was the most suitable for wide-area deployment.
Soon, a trajectory etched itself in the darkness.
The sword path of Fragrance Fills Heaven and Earth Dance.
Swish—
Hwamwol followed suit.
Inner energy flowed at his will, and Hwamwol vanished in an instant.
Beyond mere speed, like a streak of lightning.
The single trajectory split into dozens, then hundreds.
And then.
Flash!
Hwamwol's sword strikes turned to light.
Crack! Shraaa!
Light engulfed them as chilling crimson sword qi shredded the unorthodox warriors.
“Arghhh!”
“Kuhuk!”
The charging foes screamed.
Excruciating pain assaulted them.
The agony of their entire bodies being rent apart.
Fragrance Fills Heaven and Earth Dance cleaved not just their clothes, but their weapons and bodies alike.
Blood sprayed from all directions.
Dozens of unorthodox warriors lost their lives on the spot, collapsing to the ground.
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
Blood pooled slowly.
The corpses began to stain red in the rising pool.
Heavy silence descended.
As if someone had doused them with cold water.
Even the Emei Sect disciples couldn't easily speak.
That was when.
Step.
A low footstep echoed amid the sprawled corpses.
All eyes focused there.
Cheonhwi was walking forward.
Not a single drop of blood on him.
“……”
Cheonhwi swept his indifferent gaze over the unorthodox warriors trembling like aspen leaves.
A look devoid of emotion, seemingly annoyed at best.
His gaze made the Blood Shadow Division Leader's body stiffen.
I…… I can't win.
His thoughts froze.
It felt just like facing the Evil-Black Alliance Leader.
The suffocating sensation from back then.
Crunch.
He took a step forward.
In one stride, ten zhang closed, Cheonhwi's figure suddenly looming large.
A footwork technique that shrank space itself.
“……S-Spare……”
As the terrified Blood Shadow Division Leader dropped his sword and clasped his hands in plea.
Swish—
A red trajectory appeared in his vision.
He stared blankly at the trajectory, entrancing as twilight itself.
Then his vision began to darken.
And his consciousness faded.
Shraaa!
Blood gushed from all around.
The sword strike cleaved the Blood Shadow Division Leader and the unorthodox warriors lined behind him.
A single clash.
In that one exchange, around a hundred from the Blood Shadow and Ghost Shadow Divisions encircling Bokho Temple perished.
The righteous warriors swallowed hard.
It was cause for joy, yet they couldn't collect themselves from Cheonhwi's handiwork.
Then, someone approached Cheonhwi.
“Amitabha.”
Elder So Hye, chanting the Buddha's name, stepped before Cheonhwi and clasped her single hand in greeting.
“My thanks for your aid.”
Her severed stump now wrapped in cloth, she bowed her head to Cheonhwi.
Cheonhwi stared at her and said,
“You've lost an arm.”
“Heh heh, what does that matter? To have preserved our lives is fortune enough……”
Elder So Hye smiled.
A smile blooming amid her pale complexion.
It seemed frail at a glance, yet somehow tender for it.
“Hm, true enough.”
Cheonhwi, who had been watching her, turned his head.
This place was merely a detour.
Cheonhwi's current goal lay there.
His gaze fixed on the sect gate.
Golden radiance entwined with thick demonic energy churned in the air.
Crack crackle!
Cracks were forming.
And the surrounding earth trembled violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
The clash of two absolute experts.
Its aftermath had reached even here.
Cheonhwi's lips moved.
“You can handle the cleanup yourselves, right?”
His eyes remained locked on the sect gate, unmoving.
Elder So Hye gazed steadily at Cheonhwi and replied softly,
“Worry not, and go.”
The moment her answer reached him.
Whoosh!
Cheonhwi's figure vanished like a lantern snuffed out.
In an instant.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Beneath the blazing midday sun.
Two women glared at each other.
Nongjil and Elder So Un.
The two transcendent experts channeled their inner energies, warily facing off.
Flick—
Suddenly, Nongjil shook her sleeve.
Perhaps from their earlier exchange.
Most of her sleeve was shredded to rags.
And between the tattered sleeve.
Hiss—
The pipe released the energy it couldn't contain, spilling outward.
“You're the first in nearly a decade to give me such a thrill. The Alliance Leader said the Great Pure Divine Art's power rivals Shaolin's without shortcoming, but I never dreamed it was true.”
She laughed, seemingly pleased.
Her arched brows traced a beautiful crescent arc.
In contrast, Elder So Un remained expressionless.
Yet the dharma power emanating from her body burned even more fiercely than before.
Instead of replying, Elder So Un raised her Wheel of Reincarnation Six Rings.
Jingle—
The bell rang, and intense dharma power rippled from her body like waves.
A heavy wave of energy.
“Fine momentum.”
Nongjil channeled her own energy in response.
The Evil Heaven Absolute Arts of Sichuan.
The ultimate technique from the Four Emperors Battle she had mastered at the cost of her life appeared.
Pale gray energy rose.
Tangible demonic energy blazed like flames, enveloping her body.
And then.
Groooan—
It clashed with Elder So Un's energy waves, vibrating the air.
Those whose prowess touched the heavens……
The atmosphere shuddered as if in fear from the clash of two Realm of Heavenly Martial experts.
Space tore in jagged fissures.
Even without direct strikes, mere energy exchange warped reality.
As thunderous energy waves crashed down.
Boom!
Suddenly, a massive explosion rang out.
Nongjil deployed ghostly movement arts, shrinking space in a breath.
She thrust her left hand forward as she closed the gap.
The flapping sleeve etched itself clearly into Elder So Un's eyes.
Elder So Un countered with her left hand.
A technique from the Subduing Tiger Palm Method.
The two left palms clashed in midair.
That was the beginning.
In an instant, they unleashed their arts, moving to kill each other.
Crackle! Boom! Clang!
The clash of two Realm of Heavenly Martial experts echoed with explosive blasts across Mount Emei, whipping up fierce gales.
Boom! Crash! Clang!
Delayed blasts followed.
The intense shockwaves surged past Bokho Temple's gate, resounding throughout the mountain.
The space between them quaked.
Each strike from the two transcendent experts collided faster and fiercer than anywhere on the battlefield.
Dozens of exchanges in a flash.
Techniques of Buddha Light Protection Palm infused with Great Pure Divine Art.
Unorthodox arts laden with Evil Heaven Absolute Arts.
The moment the opposing golden radiance and pale demonic energy tore into each other.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Nongjil's aura shifted.
From the pipe in her right hand, tangible sword energy wove like threads.
Firm, razor-sharp demonic energy.
A venomous malice unfit for the mortal world condensed into one.
“Such a demonic……”!
Even Elder So Un, who had maintained composure amid the exchanges, gasped at the energy coiling around the pipe.
“You're insane! To harbor such energy in a human body!”
At Elder So Un's agitated cry, Nongjil burst into mad laughter.
“Hahaha! Yes, insane! Utterly mad! But do you know?”
Nongjil's eyes flashed wildly.
She spread thick killing intent, her voice low and laced with madness.
“Only by going mad can one grow strong.”
No sooner had she spoken.
Booooom!
Terrifying demonic energy erupted from her body, corroding her surroundings.
Soon, her pipe moved.
“Amitabha!”
Elder So Un chanted.
She poured all her Great Pure Divine Art into the Wheel of Reincarnation Six Rings.
A golden light incomparable to before.
Dharma power as if the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion had descended.
Thus, channeling every ounce of her power, Elder So Un thrust her Wheel of Reincarnation Six Rings.
Nirvana Pure Serenity, Zhengding.
The Emei Sect's ultimate divine art manifested.
The moment the golden Wheel pierced heaven and her like a link.
“Hahaha! Excellent!”
Nongjil, laughing uproariously enough to shake her veil, unleashed her gaze.
Gripping the pipe transformed into a single sword, she moved.
Woooo—
The air wailed in an instant.
An overwhelming pressure bore down.
And then they met.
Booooooom!
The massive blast and shockwave spread from Bokho Temple's gate across the entire mountain.