Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Pass
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Charging in boldly was all well and good,
but Hwangbo Yun was struggling hard right now.
'These bastards... they have zero intention of facing me head-on...!'
Hwangbo Yun wasn't inexperienced in one-against-many fights.
Back in Wi Sowol's hometown village, he'd battled warriors from the Rampaging Demon Heaven, fellow members of the Twelve Black Seats.
He'd taken on five of them—and won.
But this was different.
There were far more than five this time, and unlike those Rampaging Demon Heaven warriors, these foes had no interest in close-quarters combat or forcing a direct clash.
"Tch!"
Pazzzzt!
The Thunderclap Divine Fist boomed like thunder, swatting away incoming hidden weapons.
Poison-coated darts.
One he hadn't fully blocked pierced toward his protective aura but failed, dropping harmlessly without touching his skin.
Infused with internal energy, they were the work of peak masters, but piercing Hwangbo Yun's protective aura was impossible.
This was the payoff from diligently training his aura as Wi Sowol had instructed.
His Heavenly King's Body amplified his senses, tracing the darts' paths—intricate trajectories blending points, lines, and planes.
Even fully deploying the Heavenly King's Step and the Hwangbo clan's Heavenly Lord's Floral Wander fell short; dodging them was no easy feat.
"Too many!"
Yet Hwangbo Yun charged like lightning.
Each flash of the Heavenly King's Step Radiant Divine Flow positioned him before whoever dared hurl a dart at him, fist thrusting out.
Woodduk!
Driving his fist into an enemy's solar plexus, Hwangbo Yun sent a transmission.
[This won't end at this rate!]
Wi Sowol's situation wasn't much better.
At least she had a slight edge over Hwangbo Yun.
No matter how superb the Heavenly King's Step and Heavenly Lord's Floral Wander, they were ground-based arts, whereas she maneuvered not just forward, back, left, right—but up and down too.
Chiring—! Pashak!
A bell-like sword cry mingled with shattering ice, creating harmony.
Wi Sowol channeled the yin energy of Great White Light True Qi from her Yongquan acupoint on her sole, instantly freezing airborne moisture into thin ice platforms for footing.
Her already light frame, infused with exquisite technique, made the ice as solid as bedrock.
Lightening her body per lightness skill principles, she propelled herself like Grass-on-Flying.
Her lightness skill surpassed even Traceless Snow Tread.
Skimming thin ice across the void—it was better called Ice-Skating the Skies.
No mere midair stepping; she danced through the air.
Most attackers focused on Wi Sowol over Hwangbo Yun.
He was a tough opponent—at least you could predict and counter his target—but with her, it was impossible.
She'd seem to charge right, then suddenly craft new footing and soar upward, leaving chasers like dogs pursuing a hen.
Even for Wi Sowol, battling these Je Deokwon warriors was incredibly tricky.
Her combination—Preservation Meridian, Green Shadow Step, Star Lodge Divine Traces, and Frost Night Hundred Paths—enabled otherworldly midair maneuvers with optimal energy use.
Perfect evasion and three-dimensional strikes from blind spots.
When she first unveiled Ice-Skating the Skies, she'd effortlessly taken three Je Deokwon warriors' lives before they could react.
'They're adapting.'
But these were Je Deokwon's elites among elites.
Mingled with many peak masters, they quickly matched her movements.
Their hidden weapons, now incorporating midair object manipulation, shifted to high-energy strikes aimed at hitting her, no matter the cost.
They'd figured it out.
Her maneuvers were acrobatic beyond lightness skill, but defensively, she was vulnerable.
A frail body that yielded little from external hardening training.
She had a protective aura, but unlike Hwangbo Yun's tightly woven one, hers lacked cohesion.
A side effect of Frost Night Hundred Paths that even Wi Sowol had overlooked.
Circulating internal and external energy for sustained power clashed poorly with the aura's internal-external distinction.
"Pin her feet! Just land one hit!"
A Je Deokwon peak master shouted.
In masters' fights, both sides usually read each other's moves.
They even skimped on transmission energy to focus on striking Wi Sowol.
'Poison's trouble.'
Wi Sowol's energy operation was twice as complex and difficult as others'.
Right now, she had her full arsenal deployed.
This battle was the culmination of her every technique.
Adding poison resistance would inevitably disrupt it.
Then.
Something caught Wi Sowol's eye.
'This...?'
In that fleeting instant.
Her eyes widened, capturing an unbelievable sight.
A way to break this deadlock lay within.
[Bo Yun, how's your energy reserve?]
[Plenty left!]
[Listen carefully.]
Don't give me that— just get to the point, he thought, exasperated at being treated like a child, but Hwangbo Yun reeled at her explanation.
[That work?]
[It will. Trust me.]
Fatigue had begun creeping into his face amid this endless fight, but now unprecedented vigor filled it.
[Alright, let's do it...]
Their numbers: dozens.
Probably just a fraction of Je Deokwon's forces.
Je Deokjeon was a massive sect to begin with.
Considering Hwangbo Sega's scale, these dozens were mere scouts.
They had to end it fast, before reinforcements arrived.
Pazzzzt—!
Lightning crackled across Hwangbo Yun's body.
Not just fists and arms like in Thunderclap Divine Fist—but enveloping his entire form.
Wi Sowol eyed him while shifting her steps.
She focused on deflecting darts over attacking.
The Je Deokwon warriors eyed the change warily, puzzled.
Her steps seemed neither evasive nor ambush-oriented—ambiguous.
But they were pros.
No complacency; they kept distance, hurling darts and fanning winds.
Suddenly.
Wi Sowol's sword swept their winds.
Whirrrly—! Kwarrr!!!
Great White Light True Qi's pure yin fused with Nine Yin Absolute Meridian's deathly yin, unleashing a massive energy torrent.
Their saber winds visibly recoiled like waves.
Myriad ice crystals from the frigid qi scattered light.
Winter had descended.
This humid land of lakes and rivers.
Moisture from nearby South Lake mingled with winds, flying as sleet.
Wi Sowol didn't stop.
Sword as baton, she whipped up sword winds, twisting gale and white rain to her will.
[Now.]
With the transmission, she unleashed her final slash.
A clear sword cry heralded the peak—and the thunder dragon coiled around Hwangbo Yun ascended.
Kwarrrung!!!
Vast energy exploded from his dantian, leaving it void.
Raising arms skyward, thunder rumbled from his palms as dozens of bolts streaked out.
Releasing most remaining energy as thunder qi.
A few Je Deokwon warriors, flailing in the blizzard, touched the eerie bolts and collapsed like fainting ghosts.
But just a few.
This was their desperate last gasp.
That thought lasted less than a second.
Kwarrrung!!!
Pazzzizzizizik!!
Heaven and earth blazed bright.
Thunder qi tore through the invisible forest of ice crystals, golden flashes entwining blue streaks in chain explosions.
Winds shredded in electric frenzy; crystals powdered into a blizzard, painting the scene surreal.
Darkness was utterly banished.
Gold, silver, and blue wove a celestial canopy over the world.
Creeeak—! Kwagwagwang—!
Airborne ice grains became thousands, millions of fuses, amplifying and spreading lightning.
Electric webs, branches, veins spidered everywhere.
Hundreds, thousands of bolts forked out, engulfing Je Deokwon warriors.
A lightning banquet.
The thunder god's wrath descended to earth.
Irresistible.
The Je Deokwon warriors lost all will to fight.
Not linked in mind, yet they shared one thought.
'Is this... judgment?'
Before heavenly punishment for their inhuman path, they could only accept their end.
The lightning feast subsided before a breath passed.
But that instant was an eternity for them.
As thunder faded and smoke rose everywhere.
The slum's poison-tainted stench was gone.
Replaced by a sharp, metallic burnt smell piercing the nose.
Hwangbo Yun, dazed, clung to consciousness and looked around.
The slums were utterly devastated.
Scorched earth, charred plants, corpses strewn and smoking everywhere...
"...Haha!"
He let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
He'd done this?
Even at transcendent peak, could he recreate it?
Seeing his father's Divine Fist—called godlike—split a waterfall hadn't thrilled him like this.
Right now, Hwangbo Yun felt invincible.
With Wi Sowol, even transcendent masters held no fear.
That euphoria sank when Wi Sowol hopped down from midair.
"Ah, Sowol-ah."
"What're you doing. Stand still."
What? The most important task, obviously.
"Thousand Ice, Ten Thousand Blossoms; Myriad Heaven Thunder Rain—how's that? Or Sleet Swirling, Heaven's Thunder Vast!"
"Whatever, you decide."
"Then the second one? Next time, you shout 'Sleet Swirling'!"
Wi Sowol shot him a look—hope lightning didn't fry his brain—while tugging his shoulder.
"Let's bounce first."
"But leaving the patients there... is that okay?"
"They won't kill them."
Criminal sects disregard commoners' lives like any other, but massacring in a central city like this would collapse urban order.
Commoners might seem foolish, but they're not.
They just appear powerless under martial forces' absolute violence.
They struggle fiercely in their world.
'Just like Nether Luo Sect thinking.'
That was the commoner life Wi Sowol had seen and lived.
This time, beggars, slums, city's weak.
Next?
Who knows when blades reach their throats.
Commoners don't wait like frogs in boiling water.
They flee cities, seek outside aid, build their own strength.
Then Wuchang ceases to be Paegukmun's stronghold.
"Mobility's already freer for commoners. Pull that, and Wuchang crumbles."
Hobuk Province dominated by Paegukmun, yet orthodox forces exist.
Mount Wudang holds there.
South: Hunan’s Heng Mountain Sect, Jiangxi’s Nangong family—top sects aplenty for refugees.
Wuchang's a transport hub.
Via Hanshui and Yangtze, contacting Wudang or Nangong is effortless.
"If they slaughter anyway."
Like Shaanxi orthoxes united against Guangzhengjiao.
Orthodox world would rally to purge Paegukmun.
With clear cause, the court looks away.
Even glad to avoid dirtying hands.
"Got it."
Hwangbo Yun nodded, relieved at Wi Sowol's explanation.
Born to Nanju's great clan Hwangbo Sega, he felt responsibility toward commoners.
In remote Nanju, clan influence outstrips court more than elsewhere.
His status there: like a princess of a small kingdom to be queen.
'Her... a princess?'
Hard to picture.
Anyway.
Crisis averted—for now.
Key: what next.
"Just head to Nanchang County like this?"
Hwangbo Yun asked hesitantly.
He felt responsible.
He knew her suggesting avoid Hogyang, reluctance for Wuchang boat, was consideration.
So he'd swallowed pride as Hwangbo heir, accepted becoming a courtesan.
And enjoyed it fully, results aside.
He suggested Nanchang guiltily, but Wi Sowol shook her head.
"Can't just go."
Then Hwangbo Yun grinned.
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Time to settle the score."