A Casualty Before the Hunt
"Did you not travel all this way to hunt me? To strip my flesh, scrape my bones, and drain my blood? Now that we have finally met, why do you draw back?"
Instead of replying to the cheap provocation, Hoyeon Sin thrust his spear forward and softly chanted a mantra. At his action, the mystical characters etched like a painting along the long shaft of the spear began to writhe. Behind him, the other cultivators suppressed their rage, each revealing their own martial assets.
Jekyeong narrowed his eyes and let out a low growl. Flickering flames of Yokai Fire surged from his wide-open maw.
There had been seven cultivators from the Hoyeon Family in total. Four at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, two at the middle stage, and finally Hoyeon Sin, whose exact realm—whether middle or late stage—was still uncertain. One of the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had already vanished into Jekyeong's maw moments ago. He had been swept away by the Yokai Fire without even realizing he had been swallowed alive. Such a feat was only possible because humans were extreme 'glass cannons.' Had his opponent been a Great Demon, Jekyeong could never have disposed of him so easily.
Six left.
He felt no pressure. Although Hoyeon Sin's true strength remained an unknown variable, Myeong-ha was quietly biding his time in the shadows. Even if Hoyeon Sin truly was a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was nothing Jekyeong couldn't handle.
Clang!
Hoyeon Sin's figure blurred as his spear lunged forward. Against a massive Great Demon Beast spanning over two hundred meters, a single spear looked less like a weapon and more like a toothpick. Yet, the momentum carried by that toothpick was staggering. Was it because the toothpick-like spear was an exceptional Dharma Treasure? That was certainly part of it, but the true reason lay in the man wielding it—Hoyeon Sin.
Jekyeong unleashed a volley of fireballs while evading the brunt of Hoyeon Sin's spearhead. Hoyeon Sin's expression flickered in brief surprise at the beast's nimble movements, which defied its colossal size, but he pressed his attack again without missing a beat.
Boom! Crash!
Fireballs exploded, and the spear blade flashed. The other cultivators of the Hoyeon Family maintained a safe distance, forming a siege formation to rain down relentless attacks. Jekyeong ignored these gnats. His focus was locked entirely on Hoyeon Sin. Whenever Hoyeon Sin's momentum began to swell, Jekyeong immediately lunged forward to disrupt his flow.
Hoyeon Sin's spear technique was unlike anything Jekyeong had witnessed before. It seemed wild and unconstrained, yet it possessed an indescribable, structured discipline. Above all, it was incredibly powerful. Even a seemingly light, hurried strike carried enough force to rattle Jekyeong's massive frame.
So this is a true martial cultivator.
He was entirely different from those mediocre fools who merely fired off Dharma Treasures like guns. This was not a mere technique; it was a profound Dao. It was said that Hoyeon Sowol had once dominated the cultivation world of Yangseo Lake with nothing but a single spear, and it appeared his legacy had been passed down quite faithfully to his son.
"Die, monster!"
Jekyeong paid little heed to the other cultivators besides Hoyeon Sin. In truth, their attacks were not entirely negligible. They were, after all, the strikes of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Their power was sufficient to scratch his scales and draw blood. Indeed, not long after the battle commenced, Jekyeong's body was quickly covered in wounds. Yet, compared to his colossal physique, those injuries were mere scratches. To exaggerate only slightly, his natural regeneration healed the wounds faster than the six cultivators could desperately inflict them.
This would have been impossible in the past. Faced with these elite forces of the Hoyeon Family, who coordinated with mechanical precision, Jekyeong would have slowly bled out and grown exhausted. He might have held out for a day, two days, or perhaps even longer... but had the battle dragged on further, he might have slowly perished like prey thrashing in a trap.
That is, if this were his past self.
Boom!
A spiked iron mace, enlarged to over a hundred times its original size, slammed into Jekyeong. The massive impact rattled his body, scattering a few drops of blood. Yet, while the Hoyeon Family cultivator who delivered the blow turned as pale as rotting fruit, Jekyeong, the one who had actually taken the hit and bled, merely snorted in derision. He whipped his tail, swatting the spiked mace away.
Crack!
The mid-grade Dharma Treasure fractured. It wasn't a hairline fracture either, but a deep, thick crack. If it took two or three more impacts like that, the treasure would be completely shattered.
Even for a Flood Dragon, isn't this too absurd?!
The Hoyeon Family cultivator scowled in feigned annoyance, trying to look unbothered, but internally he was trembling with shock. If nothing else, his Dharma Treasure boasted a durability that rivaled high-grade treasures. How could this be?
"Fall back!"
Hearing the urgent shout, the cultivator hastily retreated. A terrifying torrent of flames swept past right where he had stood. Thanks to his ally's warning, he had evaded the immediate danger, but the crisis was far from over. The flames that had narrowly missed him suddenly swerved, surging back to swallow him whole. It was like a serpent that, having missed its prey on the first strike, instantly snapped back for another bite.
It's too fast!
The reaction speed was terrifying. It felt as though he were fighting the fire itself rather than the Black Flood Dragon. The flames reacted with sentient agility, relentlessly pressing him.
Thud!
A stone pillar as massive as a mountain peak slammed down onto the Black Flood Dragon's head. This time, the impact was severe enough to rattle him; the flames that had been spreading wildly like dozens of small serpents instantly lost their vigor and died down.
"Now!"
Catching their breath, the cultivators unleashed a coordinated barrage of attacks. Jekyeong grit his teeth as he bore the brunt of the onslaught with his bare body. It wasn't because of the pain, nor was it out of humiliation from this undignified gang-beating. It was simply that the stone pillar pinning his head down was unbearably annoying. When the pillar had suddenly materialized and crushed him before he could react, he felt like Sun Wukong trapped beneath the Five Elements Mountain. The sheer frustration of being pinned was far harder to endure than the physical pain.
"Grrr..."
As Jekyeong strained to lift his head, the stone pillar—larger even than the Black Cult Palace—began to rise. The middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator controlling the pillar gasped in horror, desperately pouring his Dharma Power into the spell. Already drenched in sweat, his face turned deathly pale, and blood began to trickle from his nose and mouth. Yet, no matter how hard he struggled, he could not stop the pillar from being hoisted up. As he tried to force more weight into the stone, the pillar finally reached its limit and began to crack with a deafening screech.
Boom!
With a ferocious roar, Jekyeong reared up, and the stone pillar pinning his head split clean in half. In his irritation, he unleashed a sweeping wave of fire in all directions. Normally, he disliked such indiscriminate, wasteful area-of-effect attacks, but this was an exception. Being forcibly pinned down—especially by these ant-like creatures—was an utterly repulsive experience.
As he unleashed his wrathful flames like some fire dragon, Jekyeong found himself marveling at his own arrogance. Setting aside the early-stage cultivators, he was looking at middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators—who were technically in the same realm as him—and thinking of them as mere ants.
Hehehe.
In the past, Jekyeong would have cautioned himself against such hubris. A man blinded by arrogance was bound to slip and fall into a pit of fire sooner or later. But now... he didn't feel the need to be so guarded. Strictly speaking, this wasn't arrogance. It was merely a form of amusement, a way of savoring the achievements he had worked so hard to attain.
Thud!
His scales had lost their former luster, but in return, they had gained absolute hardness. Even an attack delivered with gritted teeth by a middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator felt like nothing more than a mild sting.
Thud!
Was that fellow over there, frantically waving his flags and firing off pale, ghostly projectiles, weak? To the current Jekyeong, he certainly seemed so. But objectively speaking, in terms of combat power, that man was easily on par with the cultivator who had once severed Jekyeong's horn.
Does a cultivator's combat power not necessarily scale with their realm? Or am I simply the exception?
Jekyeong was completely at ease. As long as he kept an eye on Hoyeon Sin, who occasionally triggered his sense of danger, this battle didn't feel risky in the slightest. Aside from Hoyeon Sin, these people were all gnats. And even Hoyeon Sin was just a gnat if Jekyeong didn't give him the breathing room to unleash his ultimate technique.
Well, a slightly larger and fiercer gnat, perhaps.
"Patriarch! This monster's body is too tough!" coughed the middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who had briefly pinned Jekyeong with the stone pillar, spitting up blood as he yelled.
This was completely unexpected. They had considered the possibility that the Black Flood Dragon might be stronger than anticipated... but they had never imagined its strength would manifest in this manner.
A considerable amount of time had already passed since the battle began. It had been at least a day, perhaps even two. They had expected a grueling fight, and fortunately, aside from the one unfortunate casualty at the very beginning, they had suffered no further losses.
But... that was the only positive. Everything else was bleak. It had to be.
They simply could not bring this Black Flood Dragon down!
"..."
The eyes of the Hoyeon Family cultivators, who were barely holding their formation together, were filled with anxiety. Even Hoyeon Sin's complexion had darkened. Was it because he had depleted too much of his Dharma Power and physical stamina? That was certainly part of it, but the greater issue was the utter lack of hope.
This battle was the textbook definition of a war of attrition. They could pressure the Black Flood Dragon with their numbers, agility, and various techniques, but they could not actually defeat it. This was a kind of battle none of them had ever experienced in their entire lives. Cultivators were fundamentally beings whose offensive power far outstripped their defense, and humans carried this to the extreme. Their battles were typically decided after landing two, three, or at most four clean hits. To strike an opponent with all their might for days on end without reaching a conclusion was entirely unprecedented.
"Back away, monster!"
Hoyeon Sin transformed into a streak of light and shot forward. He struck Jekyeong, who had opened his maw wide and was closing in on an exhausted cultivator. Thrown back by the impact, Jekyeong shook his dizzy head in irritation, quickly recovering his bearings. The fierce, serpentine eyes locked onto Hoyeon Sin. They dripped with such raw, murderous intent that if looks could kill, Hoyeon Sin would have been sliced to ribbons hundreds of times over.
"How light. It seems your strength is finally failing you."
Instead of immediately lunging back into the fray, Jekyeong mocked Hoyeon Sin. Just as he had initially suspected, Hoyeon Sin was indeed at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. However, his skills fell short compared to a seasoned late-stage cultivator. While his Dharma Power was undeniably immense, fitting of his realm, he seemed to struggle to control that vast power smoothly, resulting in a slightly clumsy execution.
"Do you covet my flesh and blood? You are greedy, yet you cannot even properly control the power you possess. Now I see why the Hoyeon Family, which was said to have flourished under your father's generation, has fallen into ruin under yours."
"Shut your mouth!"