Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Intrusion
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Hwa Geum-bi's ace in the hole.
The former leader of the Shadow Crypt Hall, now the head of the Enforcement Corps.
The mere presence of Dark Venerable Gun Wan-geuk lent undeniable legitimacy to their cause.
Had he been persuaded?
No.
A man like Gun Wan-geuk wasn't someone who could be swayed by just anyone.
Even after Hwa Geum-bi's endless overtures, Gun Wan-geuk hadn't budged.
Instead, he'd warned that if she tried any more underhanded tricks, he'd deal with her according to sect regulations as head of the Enforcement Corps.
Gun Wan-geuk devoted himself solely to honing his martial arts and fulfilling his assigned duties.
That was precisely why the Supreme Pole Sect Leader had granted him the critical position of Enforcement Corps head.
Therein lay the difference between Gong Yataek and Hwa Geum-bi.
Hwa Geum-bi had orchestrated a situation where Gun Wan-geuk had no choice but to step in, given his nature.
Gong Yataek, on the other hand, had fixated on Gun Wan-geuk's background and viewed him as a potential threat.
"Shadow Crypt Hall...! So, you were in cahoots after all."
Gong Yataek unfurled his cherished weapon, the Violet Iron Wing Fan.
Rather than a soft whoosh, it rang out with a crisp metallic chime—an iron fan.
As Gong Yataek assumed his stance, signaling his refusal to back down from the fight, Gun Wan-geuk's steady advance halted.
"That's far enough, Admiralty Division Head."
"...Nonsense."
"This incident will hold the Paekho Squad accountable as well. Cease fighting here and restore order to the Admiralty Division. The Paekho Squad will do the same. If you remain in seclusion afterward, that will be taken into consideration when reporting to the Sect Leader."
"So you're telling me to disarm and surrender?"
"Admiralty Division Head. Make a wise judgment."
"Playing your petty tricks again, Gun Wan-geuk!"
Gun Wan-geuk's utterly impassive tone and demeanor crushed Gong Yataek's composure.
Unlike Gong Yataek, who had fallen from Sect Leader to mere Admiralty Division Head, Gun Wan-geuk had seized the real power of the Enforcement Corps simply because he belonged to the Shadow Crypt Hall faction, the same as the Sect Leader.
His very existence fueled Gong Yataek's inferiority complex, and now this arrogant attitude from Gun Wan-geuk ignited it completely.
"A wise judgment? Fine, I bowed my head to the Sect Leader because of that! But look!"
The iron fan whipped through the air, unleashing a gale.
He'd merely flicked his arm out of habit, yet it mocked the laws of nature, commanding the wind itself.
This was the movement of a transcendent master, where essence, energy, and spirit united, infusing perfect harmony into every motion.
And Gun Wan-geuk, who had reached the same realm, was no different.
He didn't even bother waving his hand to deflect the wind.
Standing still and taking it with his body, the only change was his hair fluttering slightly.
What peak masters strained their qi to block was little more than a casual gesture to transcendent masters.
Gong Yataek's voice cut through the wind as he vented his rage.
"Ever since the Sect Leader took power, our Admiralty Division has been discriminated against. The Shadow Crypt Hall got the Enforcement Corps, Night Raven Pavilion gained the Intelligence Corps, but all we received was an expansion of the Medical Corps—which was ours to begin with! It's been over ten years since the Sect Leader ascended! Our Admiralty Division's position has only shrunk! While Shadow Crypt Hall expanded into Hanyang County and Night Raven Pavilion into Hanggu Town, we were left playing guard dog in Wuchang! All because we lacked power! All because I was once the Sect Leader!"
Clang—snap!
Gong Yataek folded the iron fan like a scepter and pointed its tip at Gun Wan-geuk.
"Answer me! Wasn't that the case? Within the Supreme Pole Sect, we've been treated as mere sidekicks! So we sought power! Is that a crime?!"
"Even if it meant becoming unorthodox?"
"Unorthodox? Ha, ridiculous. Orthodox and unorthodox—what's the real difference?"
Gong Yataek sneered at Gun Wan-geuk's words, as if a demonic sect member preaching righteousness was absurd.
Truth be told, what grand difference was there between unorthodox rabble and demonic sect forces?
They just paid a bit more lip service to the imperial gaze.
"Poor beggars who can't even afford a doctor's visit anyway. If they're going to die, isn't it better they contribute to advancing poison arts? We've merely given value to their worthless lives."
Gun Wan-geuk's face remained expressionless throughout, but it darkened even further at those words.
"Take any remaining grievances to the Sect Leader."
"I will. With your head on a platter, inscribed on that face of yours."
The conversation was over.
All that remained was to see whose martial prowess was superior.
As Gun Wan-geuk crouched and lunged forward, Gong Yataek unleashed his poison fog.
§
The Supreme Pole Sect's grand training grounds.
Built by razing an imperial garden, this vast expanse now lay in utter ruin.
The clash between the Admiralty Division and Paekho Squad had become trivial.
All eyes here were fixed on the death match between Gun Wan-geuk and Gong Yataek.
And naturally, that included Wi Sowol and Hwangbo Yun.
"Whoa... hard to keep up."
Hwangbo Yun, who had been eagerly absorbing useful techniques from the Supreme Pole Sect's martial arts, finally let out a weak complaint.
"First time seeing transcendent masters fight?"
"Yeah. My clan has a couple, but spars are one thing—life-or-death battles like this..."
"What about the duel between Clan Head Hwangbo Se and the Rampaging Demon Heaven Lord?"
"Obviously I didn't see that. This is my first time out in the jianghu, remember?"
More like sneaking out into the jianghu.
Wi Sowol considered correcting the slip but let it go.
Not because she worried the slightly sulky Hwangbo Yun—pouting over stolen snacks—might get genuinely upset.
She needed to focus on the death match between Gun Wan-geuk and Gong Yataek.
"Then don't force yourself to track their movements. Focus on the residual qi they've left behind."
"Residual qi?"
"Reverse-engineer it. From the form of the residual qi, infer the technique's structure. From the clash, deduce how they circulated their inner power. With your genius, you can figure it out."
"Oh... got it. Were you watching that way too, Sowol?"
"No. I'm tracking them."
But Wi Sowol wasn't following their movements with her eyes either.
That was impossible with mere good dynamic vision.
She'd once mastered peerless eye techniques, but now she had none worth mentioning.
Wi Sowol tracked them through a kind of knack.
By substitution.
If I were them, using bare-handed brawling or poison-enhanced lightness skills, what would I do?
Prediction and intuition.
Combining her innate genius with past-life experience, Wi Sowol grasped the transcendent clash.
Gun Wan-geuk will win.
Surprisingly, Gong Yataek's martial arts weren't inferior to Gun Wan-geuk's overall.
His defensive techniques were actually superior.
But at the root, Gong Yataek was at a disadvantage.
Poison arts and lightness skills shone best at range.
Gong Yataek's excellence in defense likely stemmed from that.
Gun Wan-geuk's style, however, was bare-handed brawling.
An ultra-close-range art that closed distances for body-to-body combat.
Even if Gong Yataek's defense held a half-step advantage, Gun Wan-geuk's forward-specialized footwork was inevitably faster. Above all, the initial clash distance had been too short.
Even if Gong Yataek scattered ground poison and whipped up wind with lightness skills to intoxicate him, Gun Wan-geuk showed no sluggishness despite the poisoning.
His body, honed to the limit, and matching vast inner power relentlessly pressed Gong Yataek.
Finally, the decisive blow landed.
Craaaack—shatter—boom!!
A shoulder strike loaded with terrifying destructive force.
A rare high technique that one might overlook shattered Gong Yataek's protective aura and sent his body flying.
"It's over."
"Just one hit, right? And it looked like he blocked the high technique."
Though his aura had shattered, according to Hwangbo Yun's reconstruction from residual qi, Gong Yataek had successfully deployed a defensive stance with his iron fan.
Not fatal, even if the impact hurt.
Gong Yataek's body crashed through the training ground's walls, and the blood trickling from Gun Wan-geuk's chest belatedly supported Hwangbo Yun's inference.
"Didn't see?"
"What?"
"His foot."
As he thrust in with his shoulder, Gun Wan-geuk had stomped down on Gong Yataek's foot.
Not just footwork—it was a retreating technique countered with advance.
"His leg's probably wrecked."
Muscles torn clean, joints mangled beyond repair.
His one remaining advantage, footwork, was gone.
He'd sacrificed his lower body to protect his upper.
No choice. Blocking the high technique was all he could do—otherwise, his heart might have burst.
In combat—at least close quarters—Gun Wan-geuk's skill surpassed Gong Yataek's.
But Gun Wan-geuk wasn't unscathed either.
Scattering poison in the air to poison via breathing was one thing; poisoning through wounds was another level.
The former was deadly enough, but only for mortals.
For experts who infused qi into their breath, airborne poisoning via respiration was nearly impossible.
Wounds, however, were different.
No matter how one shed mortal coils, human blood vessels couldn't be fully tempered.
Gun Wan-geuk's movements dulled.
Instead of pressure points, he tore off a chunk of his wounded pectoral.
No hesitation in ripping his own flesh.
"Is that shadowed muscle?"
The muscle was dark and dusky.
A body clearly unlike an ordinary person's.
No wonder Gong Yataek had protested what difference there was between demonic and unorthodox.
The Shadow Crypt Hall's arts were dynamic cultivation.
Gun Wan-geuk circulated his qi to manage the poison while closing in to end the fight.
"Urgh... hngh..."
Gong Yataek staggered up from the wall rubble.
As Wi Sowol had said.
Beyond his stomped left foot, his entire left leg was mangled and torn.
Dripping blood that was a vivid purple.
Just as Shadow Crypt Hall's shadowed muscle was dark red, the Admiralty Division's poisoned blood deviated from the norm.
"...This."
A faint smile crept across Gong Yataek's lips as he rose, blood dripping.
Seeing it, Wi Sowol shot to her feet.
"What's wrong?"
"Get back!"
She shoved Hwangbo Yun away and propelled herself forward using the momentum.
"Think you can walk the yellow spring path alone...?"
In that instant.
From Gong Yataek's entire body, thick violet-black mist began surging wildly.