Chapter 135: The Path of the Gaegaek
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: The Path of the Gaegaek
As if time had stopped, everything fell silent.
It felt like a blocked meridian had burst open.
I felt like I could do anything now.
“You dare…!”
The tentacles, which had hesitated at the light pouring from the sky, snapped back to their senses at Gaechalgoatal’s roar and resumed their original task.
Countless tentacles stretched toward me.
Each one was strong enough to toy with me.
The reason Gaechalgoatal didn’t come at me directly, instead moving across the battlefield to increase his tentacles, was likely because he knew their power all too well.
After all, those tentacles originated from the power of Tai Sui.
Even with my newfound enlightenment, I hadn't become stronger than Gaechalgoatal, who borrowed Tai Sui's power.
The gap between us was still as wide as heaven and earth.
Gaechalgoatal himself knew this better than anyone.
Fwip!
I kicked off the ground at high speed.
In a single breath, I broke through the tentacles surrounding me and arrived before him.
I swung.
“Not bad!”
Fwoosh!
Gaechalgoatal increased his speed even further, dodging my attack.
The price for a missed attack was a razor-sharp counter.
Once again, the tentacles shot toward me.
Ruuuumble.
F-f-f-f-fwak!
An incredible number of tentacles descended upon me.
My right hand responded.
Swoooosh!
With the movement of a snake, it twisted the trajectory of every incoming attack.
Craaaash!
Even if I blocked the tentacles’ assault, Gaechalgoatal remained.
A twisted smile on his face, he thrust his palm forward.
My left hand met his attack.
That move… it must be the same technique he showed when fighting the Snake Queen.
Gaechalgoatal’s speed far surpassed my own.
Reacting to his attack would be next to impossible.
So I didn’t react.
I simply stabbed into the empty air with a movement like an eagle’s talons.
Shreeeak!
“Keuk!”
The spot I had stabbed was the exact point Gaechalgoatal would arrive.
I couldn’t react, but I could predict.
Startled, Gaechalgoatal twisted his body away.
His transcendent reflexes allowed him to move just an instant before my attack connected.
Swish!
I immediately swung my tail for a follow-up strike, but he hastily retreated.
“…You resort to cheap tricks!”
It seemed Gaechalgoatal had gauged the extent of my power.
If he charged in recklessly, he could be hit by an unexpected blow.
And that meant there was a very high chance he would now use a different kind of attack.
Whoooosh.
A storm began to brew.
The countless tentacles transformed into black shadows.
The power of Tai Sui and the innate power of the King of Birds.
It was a final, fatal strike that combined everything.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
The attack’s speed was slow.
No, it only seemed slow.
The moment I was caught in that attack, my body would be torn to shreds.
But there was no escaping the storm.
I had only one option.
To face it head-on.
What I had realized wasn't just how to wield my power.
The countless murals I had seen.
The passages the first Heavenly Demon left for his descendants.
I could faintly grasp what they meant.
I took a deep breath.
In my left hand, the profound principles of the bird.
In my right, the profound principles of the snake.
Swaaaaaa!
A movement like a viper and an eagle locked in a battle to the death.
The martial art the first Heavenly Demon had recorded on the rock.
The Eagle-Snake Life-Death Struggle.
My heart pounded.
All my internal energy focused into my hands.
Craaaash!
C-crack!
I parried one, then immediately blocked another.
Dozens, hundreds of movements.
Crunch!
Clang!
The black shadows of Tai Sui attacked relentlessly, and I continuously deflected them with the principles of the Eagle-Snake Life-Death Struggle.
K-k-k-k-krak!
Claaaang!
My right hand, like the head of a snake, stabbed into the storm.
My left hand, like the talons of an eagle, struck down the shadows of Tai Sui.
Boooooooom!
The black storm subsided into a gentle breeze.
“Were you hiding your strength?”
Gaechalgoatal stopped his attack and retreated.
He had realized that as long as I was using the Eagle-Snake Life-Death Struggle, his black storm couldn't harm me.
“Or are you drawing upon your Innate True Qi?”
It was something that defied common sense.
A mere lizard that had been struggling against a single tentacle had just deflected hundreds of them.
“A useless struggle, but quite amusing!”
His form vanished.
Claaaaang!
I hastily raised my hand to block his palm technique.
“What a pity, what a pity!”
Sh-sh-shk!
Crack!
Even while using the principles of both the snake and the bird, I was barely keeping up with his attacks.
I was far larger than him, yet he surpassed me in both strength and speed. My massive size was actually working against me.
“To think you could have become a dragon. And now I must kill you with my own hands!”
Baaam!
His palm strike broke through my defense.
Craaaash!
The price for allowing an attack to land came swiftly.
I slammed into a rocky mountain and immediately coughed up blood.
The fatigue accumulated during the fierce battle exploded all at once.
Bones shattered, and every muscle in my body screamed.
I hadn't been fighting him on equal footing.
I had just been forcing it to look like we were equals.
There was no time to feel the pain.
The King of Birds was not satisfied with this.
His wicked internal energy materialized.
Gaechalgoatal, in his human form.
Above his head, the form of a giant feathered serpent shimmered.
Just as blue flames had once enveloped my body, the black shadow of Tai Sui now enveloped Gaechalgoatal.
Step.
Thud!
His technique, meant to end my life.
A slow but certain death was approaching me.
My vision blurred.
Though I had miraculously achieved enlightenment, it didn't erase the damage I had accumulated.
The stamina I had recovered thanks to Gaechalgoatal’s arrogance vanished in an instant.
“Snake Queen! Open your eyes and watch! Witness the final moments of the lizard you love!”
Step.
Thuuud!
Step.
Thuuuud!
Gaechalgoatal’s attack gradually picked up speed.
“Watch closely how I kill this arrogant bastard!”
Arrogant.
The phrase ‘I Alone Am The Honored One’ was an arrogant one.
Heaven and earth.
It meant to encompass them all.
Squeezing out my last bit of strength, I assumed the same stance as before.
“Khahahat! What is that ridiculous pose?!”
Gaechalgoatal burst into laughter.
Death drew nearer.
One hand pointed to the sky.
The other hand pointed to the ground.
Step.
Thuuuuuuud!
No.
One hand grasped the heavens.
The other hand grasped the earth.
Grand Shift of Heaven and Earth.
To grasp and move heaven and earth.
A legendary martial art, said to be the greatest divine art in Murim alongside the Nine Yang Divine Art.
To put it simply, the Grand Shift of Heaven and Earth was about understanding the very foundation of power.
A martial art that could draw out every last drop of potential and freely change the direction of force—truly worthy of being called a divine art.
There was no way I could replicate it.
[You have temporarily acquired 「Grand Shift of Heaven and Earth」.]
All I could do was replicate a minuscule fraction of its power.
Ruuuuuumble.
“This energy is a dragon…!”
Craaaaaaash!
Gaechalgoatal’s speed increased.
He must have decided it was better to shorten the time it took to reach me rather than gather more power.
It was the right call.
The Grand Shift of Heaven and Earth was a divine art that could draw out potential.
Every elixir I had ever consumed responded to the divine art.
“Did you think I would just stand by and watch?!”
Gaechalgoatal’s strike arrived.
Craaaaaaaaaaaaaash!
A demonic art of terrifying power that literally annihilated anything it hit.
My body, wrapped in Dragon Scales, was brutally destroyed.
I couldn’t dodge the attack.
“…No way!”
His attack had effortlessly ignored my defenses.
But it probably wasn’t the result he wanted.
‘Shedding my tail.’
What his attack had struck wasn't my main body, but my severed tail.
What I gained by sacrificing my tail was overwhelming speed.
The price for a perfect evasion was a razor-sharp counter.
I focused all my internal energy into my right hand.
Just one blow.
I needed the power of a single strike that could pierce his defense.
My attacks up to now wouldn't be enough.
So I had to walk a different path.
There was only one path for me to walk.
The Path of the Gaegaek.
The Path of the Gaegaek meant…
A being from the lowest of places grasping the heavens.
Five fingers, imbued with the profound principles of the Gaegaek, swung out.
Not an imitation of someone else’s technique.
Not something I was taught, but my very own martial art.
The Gaegaek Divine Claw.
Claaaaaaaaaaaaang!
Craaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
A deafening roar shook the heavens and the earth.
“Keo-heok!”
Gaechalgoatal vomited black blood.
“Khak, heok!”
Gaechalgoatal cried out in agony.
Now was the perfect time to finish him, but I had no strength left.
All I could do was trust the words of the Red Woman.
“How dare you, how dare youuuu!”
Gaechalgoatal glared at me, his face grotesque as he wept tears of blood.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!”
But contrary to his words, Gaechalgoatal couldn’t move.
Spurt!
Dark red tentacles sprouted from his body.
“Geu-reuk… Gyaaaak!”
To be precise, it looked as if they were escaping from his body.
“Tai, Lord Tai Sui! Whyyyy!”
Gaechalgoatal thrashed on the ground in agony.
“Kahahak!”
He continued to vomit blood.
“Geuuk… Keuk…”
Gaechalgoatal glared at me.
“Don’t think… this is… the end…”
Does he still have strength remaining?
This is bad.
Right now, I literally can’t move a single finger.
It was the moment Gaechalgoatal painstakingly raised his hand.
Clang!
Craaaash!
A Destruction Ray.
It was the Snake Queen’s.
“Gyaaaak!”
Hit by the Snake Queen’s attack, Gaechalgoatal was sent flying into the distance.
She had scraped together her remaining strength to stop his attack.
“Keo-heok… Khaaaak!”
However.
Dark red tentacles sprouted from the spot where the Destruction Ray had hit.
“Geu-heuk, gyaaaaaak!”
Craaash!
C-crack!
The power of Tai Sui began to run rampant.
“Keuk… Fine… I’m going to die… anyway…”
Wooooong.
The scattering black shadows gathered in one place.
“I’ll take you… as my companion to the afterlife…”
C-craaaaaack!
“Not just you, but everything in this jungle… I will return it all to nothingness.”
I felt an ominous energy.
Craaaash!
The power of Tai Sui was running wild from his severed arm.
That alone would be an unbearable disaster.
But he wasn't satisfied with that.
“Worship…”
Swoooosh!
A black energy shimmered.
“The Incarnation of Death…!”
I realized his objective.
With Tai Sui’s power running rampant, Gaechalgoatal would die soon.
The rampaging Tai Sui would not move according to Gaechalgoatal’s will.
This meant that even if he had power left, he couldn’t achieve his goal.
To solve that, he had summoned another being.
“The being closest to a demon!”
Zwaaaaaang!
“Khahat! Struggle all you want! Even if I die, this jungle will disappear!”
Gaechalgoatal laughed maniacally.
“Khehehe, of course, it will be meaningless! There’s no way someone with this much demonic energy would let you live!”
I had made a mistake.
I should have saved some strength.
I never dreamed he would make such a choice while Tai Sui’s power was running wild.
…
The situation was desperate.
Gaechalgoatal, empowered by Tai Sui.
And another powerful being, one he called the Incarnation of Death.
There was no way my current self could defeat such a being.
A single figure emerged from the black shadow.
“Khahak! O, Incarnation of Death! O, mighty being! Annihilate this world for me!”
“Are you the one who summoned me?”
I’ve lost.
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine winning against that being.
“That’s right! Cut off that lizard’s head over there and bring it to me!”
“My principle is to not interfere with nature, but this seems to be an exception.”
“Khat! You speak my language. Such a sinister demonic aura!”
Step.
Step.
The mighty being approached me.
This is the end.
There’s no way out.
The difference in power was too overwhelming.
My broken and torn body trembled.
Thump.
Someone grabbed my head.
Are they going to rip it off?
Like hell I’ll just die.
Crunch!
I bit the being’s finger.
My teeth couldn’t sever it.
I did my best, but all I could do was leave a tiny mark.
“Lizard.”
The trembling in my body stopped.
“Little lizard.”
There was only one being who called me ‘little lizard.’
“Did that thing do this to you?”
A woman with blue eyes gently stroked my head.
“Wh-what are you doing! That lizard’s head, right now…!”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Huiya.”
The being Gaechalgoatal had summoned radiated an aura even more sinister than Tai Sui’s.
“Did that half-breed monster do this to this lady’s one and only disciple?”
Squeezing out my last bit of strength, I answered her.
“Gekgek…”
She gently laid me down.
Step.
Step.
Without a word, she walked slowly toward Gaechalgoatal.
“Are you prepared?”
With an enraged expression I had never seen before, she rolled up her sleeves.