Chapter 37: The Wolf Disciple (7)
Chapter 37: The Wolf Disciple (7)
Since I couldn't go around wearing torn pants, I changed into a fresh spare set of martial robes. The moment I left the training grounds, I could tell: there was a Peak Realm expert nearby. That presence was there in addition to Seol Yu-ran's. I suppressed my own presence and tried to approach in secret.
If the Bedchamber Arts were a necessity for a Lust Demon, then suppressing your presence and using stealth techniques were highly recommended.
I would return to the me I had been when they called me the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon. The me who focused on nothing but thrusting my dick into women's cunts, changing my face as I went, and erasing every trace of my presence.
I repeated it to myself as if trying to hypnotize myself.
Perhaps it worked.
I brought back my old instincts without delay and suppressed my presence. Before long, I was able to approach the new Peak Realm expert without difficulty and observe him.
And then I saw him.
My cunt!
The Green Forest King, brimming with malice toward the woman I had marked as mine.
I knew all too well what a piece of trash he was, and I knew that if I let him do as he pleased with Seol Yu-ran, I had no idea what he might do to her.
So, forget the plan—I had no choice but to rush straight out.
I stirred the Lightning Qi that had been curled up in my dantian lately. I sent it flowing through the meridians in my whole body, then threw myself forward with my body strengthened.
"Master!"
"...My disciple?"
Her call sounded more like, Why are you here? But I didn't have time to answer.
The moment I intervened, the Green Forest King twisted his wrist as he brought down the flat of his axe, turning the striking edge into a blade.
I could have dodged it as easily as I pleased, but if I did, Seol Yu-ran behind me might be badly hurt. So I decided to meet the attack head-on.
Crackle!
I created a repulsive force in my left hand and struck the great axe.
Boom!
"What?"
The great axe was knocked aside by my palm force, and the Green Forest King was momentarily taken aback. But his hand didn't hesitate: he drew the sword at his waist and thrust it at me.
This time, I did the opposite. I created an attractive force in my right hand and guided the single-handed sword off course, then drove my shoulder into the Green Forest King's face with an Iron Mountain Charge.
Wham!
"Pgh?!"
The Green Forest King flew backward after taking the Iron Mountain Charge to the face. But perhaps because he was a martial artist who had broken through the wall, he wasn't finished yet.
While flying, he used the Thousand-Jin Drop to force himself down onto the ground, then immediately pulled out a dagger and threw it at me. I lightly diverted it with the Great Ultimate and promptly thrust out my fist.
Rumble!
Lightning shot forth from my punch, charged with Lightning Qi. In a fight between Peak Realm martial artists, techniques like Sword Energy Projection weren't very effective. But an attack that fired Lightning Qi this powerful could sometimes catch them by surprise and leave them open.
But perhaps he really was a veteran who had weathered every kind of trial.
He didn't flinch. He calmly raised the great axe, pouring all his power into it, and brought it down with enough force to split Mount Tai, cleaving the lightning apart.
It was the martial art that proved he was the Green Forest King: the Mount Tai Suppressing Axe.
That martial art had only one move, an extremely simple downward strike, like chopping firewood... but at the same time, it was overwhelmingly powerful.
Even with my Diamond Indestructible Body, if I raise a repulsive palm force, this insane martial art will break through it all and cut me in half. If it hits me, I'm dead on the spot.
It was an Ultimate Art made up of strikes that were utterly simple, yet every bit as powerful as they were simple.
And if the one using that martial art was a Peak Realm expert who had broken through the wall, then it was safe to say there was no one of equal rank who could stop him.
What was more, the Green Forest King had once been a general and mastered a wide variety of weapons. He would naturally link his movements together with other weapons, then drive that great axe into his opponent as his decisive blow. That made him no easy opponent.
Of course, with Transcendent Heart Art, I could overwhelm him by sheer difference in ability. But I didn't need to show Seol Yu-ran that I was that powerful.
Come to think of it, this might be my chance to win her over.
If I put up a hard fight and barely managed to defeat the Green Forest King, wouldn't she feel indebted to me?
If I beat him easily, she wouldn't feel any debt at all. Then she would dismiss it as a "simple kindness," not a "debt for saving her life."
So I would stage things so that I won with difficulty and make Seol Yu-ran take a liking to me.
I had rushed out because there was a chance I might lose Seol Yu-ran, but since the situation itself wasn't bad, I might as well make use of it.
"Master. Please step back."
"My disciple. He's the Green Forest King. We have to fight him together—"
"You're injured."
I cut her off and spoke firmly. My tone made it unmistakably clear that I was determined not to let a patient join this fight.
Of course, the truth was that if she joined in, the Green Forest King would be caught without a struggle, so I was keeping her out of it.
"What kind of disciple would be so unfilial as to make his injured master push herself? Don't worry."
Rumble.
"Your disciple will protect you, even if it costs me my life."
At my voice, ringing clearly even above the thunder,
"Ah."
Seol Yu-ran's face flushed.
***
"Just what is this—is Shaanxi some sort of gathering place for reclusive masters?"
Since when did Peak Realm experts start sprouting up like bamboo shoots after rain?
Seol Yu-ran alone was already a formidable master—a Mount Hua Sect elder, or with slight exaggeration, someone whose skill bordered on sect leader level. And now, out of nowhere, another unheard-of Peak Realm expert had appeared to interfere.
No wonder the Green Forest King was left utterly dumbfounded.
Moreover, the energy he wielded was Lightning Qi.
Though not as ferocious as the Demonic Qi cultivated through Demonic Arts, Lightning Qi was notoriously savage and difficult to control. Yet here was a master manipulating it with effortless mastery.
He looked remarkably young, but if he were a genius who had undergone Bone Transformation Rebirth to drastically slow his aging, it wouldn't be entirely incomprehensible.
"Listen here, friend."
"What is it, old man?"
"...Your words are rather curt. Or are you some master who's reversed his aging?"
"Why should I waste breath on a limp-dicked bastard who dares lay hands on my heaven-like master?"
"......"
The Green Forest King rarely ever felt this unsettled.
The one called "master," Seol Yu-ran, was unmistakably from an orthodox sect—yet this so-called disciple before him, a foreigner spewing Lightning Qi, spoke with an exceedingly crude tone.
His manner was flippant and irreverent, giving off the impression of someone from the unorthodox faction rather than the righteous sects.
It was as if he had defected from the unorthodox faction to the orthodox.
"By any chance, were you originally from the unorthodox faction?"
"Orthodox, old man."
"...Enough with the 'old man' nonsense. My hair's gone completely white lately, and it's been bothering me."
"If your dick doesn't work, you are old."
The relentless provocations creased the Green Forest King's brow. Though inherently vicious, he had once been a general of the Imperial Troops, and his speech still carried a refined air unbefitting the unorthodox faction.
But this seemingly young master kept calling him "old man," grating on his nerves.
And on top of that, he kept hurling provocations no man could endure. How could he possibly ignore it?
Finally snapping, the Green Forest King roared:
"How the hell would you know whether mine works or not?!"
"Then let's find out, you impotent bastard!"
"Tch!"
Those who break through the wall of martial mastery inevitably grow mindful of their dignity.
But the Green Forest King lacked the patience to endure such street-thug vulgarities from another Peak Realm expert. He raised his great axe.
Further conversation with Geum Tae-yang was pointless. The more they spoke, the more his reason drowned in rising fury.
"Die!"
With that shout, the Green Forest King unleashed Bow-Body Springing Shadow.
'That arrogant brat will assume I've lost my reason and let his guard down. I'll exploit that opening to land a single decisive strike.'
He feigned acting in the heat of passion. To the Green Forest King, Geum Tae-yang's youthful appearance—suggesting he hadn't seen many battlefields—made him the perfect target for this ploy.
KRRRUMBLE!
Before he could close the distance, Geum Tae-yang unleashed another bolt of lightning—but it missed.
The Green Forest King had already activated Form-Shifting Position Change before the lightning could strike.
Perhaps Geum Tae-yang never expected his opponent to use such a technique while charging with a great axe, because he failed to react in time. Seizing his back, the Green Forest King channeled his inner energy into the axe.
A single strike to kill even a Peak Realm master in one blow.
The moment he was certain of victory—
"Thunder Heaven Divine Art, secret technique."
CRACKLE!
"Thunderclap Flash!"
A straight punch, unleashed in a monochrome world even Geum Tae-yang himself barely perceived, pierced through the Green Forest King.
Muscle, flesh, ribs—all shattered under the force of that fist before it blasted through his heart.
The Green Forest King's world drowned in black ink.
His vision darkened. His thoughts ceased. The entire process happened so swiftly that even calling it an instant felt insufficient.
Though he had delayed aging through his cultivation, his body had long been rotting from within, plagued by the ailments of old age. The shock of his heart being pierced killed him instantly.
The pupils visible beneath his half-lidded eyes were filled with euphoria—proof he hadn't even realized his own death.
"You won!"
His voice brimmed with unmistakable excitement.
Seol Yu-ran, who had been prepared to intervene with her Innate True Qi if necessary, was overjoyed that Geum Tae-yang had defeated the Green Forest King. As a master, how could she not rejoice that her young disciple had triumphed over a notorious monster feared throughout the Central Plains?
Even if he hadn't used her Ice White Divine Art, victory was still victory.
After all, he had only fought the Green Forest King to protect her—his master. It was only natural she felt relief at his success.
"What a relief...! Truly, what a relief."
Though her face held more than just a master's relief... It was too soon for her to recognize her own emotions.
"It's a relief we're both unharmed. I've suffered some internal injuries, but with a few days of rest, I'll recover—"
"Hah...! Hah...!"
"Disciple?"
In the brief moment she hesitated at Geum Tae-yang's clearly abnormal state—
"GRRAAAGH!"
Her disciple, now a wolf, pounced on his master.