Chapter 302: Qi Deviation-2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 302: Qi Deviation-2
"I like you."
Sun-woo spoke, his eyes fixed steadily on Neung So-hwa.
"Why the sudden, embarrassing confession? I like you as well."
Hearing his words, Neung So-hwa twisted her body bashfully as she replied.
"But right now, you don't seem like the Neung So-hwa I like."
"What is that supposed to mean?! To say that I am not myself!?"
Neung So-hwa’s voice rose in irritation at his follow-up.
"The Neung So-hwa I know didn't disparage others as 'lowly,' nor did she speak of killing so carelessly."
Sun-woo slowly steadied his ragged breathing before continuing.
"You aren't Neung So-hwa. You're just the dregs of a demonic art wearing her shell."
"Don't make me laugh!"
Enraged by his words, Neung So-hwa expanded the flames surrounding him even further. She intended to inflict a suffocating agony, a heat so intense it would sear his very flesh.
"It’s useless."
Sun-woo’s calm voice pierced through to her ears. Neung So-hwa’s eyes widened. Had she not just unleashed a torrent of high-temperature, high-pressure heat?
That heat should have left him in agony. His entire body should be roasting, his lungs burning from the scalding air, making every breath a struggle.
And yet, how could he speak so calmly?
"How are you unscathed?"
"I simply redirected it," Sun-woo answered flatly.
"Redirected it?" she asked, looking bewildered. What could he possibly have redirected so suddenly?
"All the heat coming toward me."
"That’s impossible! To redirect not just internal energy, but a natural phenomenon like heat?!"
Neung So-hwa spoke with a look of pure shock. This was entirely unexpected. She already knew Sun-woo possessed a special martial art that could reflect attacks; after all, that was why she had asked him to break her seal in the first place.
However, reflecting a natural phenomenon—not just the fiery energy created by the Extreme Yang Flame Emperor Demonic Art—was something she hadn't anticipated.
Reflecting Qi and reflecting nature itself were two entirely different matters. For the former, there were several similar techniques, and those who reached the pinnacle of internal cultivation could mimic it to some extent. But the latter was considered nearly impossible.
How could a human forcibly twist the flow of nature? How could a mere mortal defy the laws of the world? It was nonsensical.
"Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter," Sun-woo continued in a composed tone. "What matters is that your heat no longer works on me."
Sun-woo looked at her, his eyes shining.
"Your gaze is quite arrogant. Do you think you've become something special just because you deflected a bit of heat?"
Meeting his eyes, Neung So-hwa scowled.
"I shall see for myself if you truly have the skill to back up such arrogance!"
Whoosh!
As soon as she finished speaking, the flames surrounding Sun-woo lunged at him all at once.
Roar!
'Twist it!'
Sun-woo quickly activated the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, altering the flow of the flames. The encroaching fire began to scatter in the opposite direction.
"It’s futile!"
Seeing this, Neung So-hwa condensed the scattered flames into an even more massive blaze and sent it hurtling toward him again. A literal tidal wave of fire began to swallow Sun-woo in an instant.
'It’s huge.'
Looking at the massive wall of fire, Sun-woo realized this onslaught was far larger than anything he had imagined.
'Can I do this?'
A flicker of anxiety rose within him. He wondered if he could truly twist such a ferocious and gargantuan force.
'I have to.'
Hardening his resolve, Sun-woo gritted his teeth and began to circulate the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth Divine Art. The absolute martial art of the Heavenly Demon, once hailed as the Greatest Demon of All Time, began to manifest through Sun-woo’s hands.
'Twist!!'
The tidal wave slammed into him. Sun-woo began to wrench the entire flow of the fiery energy pressing against his body.
Sizzle.
Suddenly, Sun-woo’s clothes began to char.
'Damn it.'
The flames he hadn't managed to redirect were starting to touch his skin. The flow of heat was so vast and overwhelming that it took time to twist every single strand of it.
"Urgh...!"
Sun-woo let out a pained groan as the heat began to burrow into his body. He pushed the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth to its absolute limit. He accelerated his thoughts, calculating every flow that was about to hit him and every flow already in contact.
'Twist, damn you!'
Swish!
Before long, the massive tidal wave of fire split to the left and right, completely dissipating.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Sun-woo panted heavily. Perhaps because he had accelerated his thoughts while holding his breath, he felt suffocated. Furthermore, the mental strain of the acceleration made his head throb.
"Impressive! Truly impressive! You are indeed the one I hold dear!"
Neung So-hwa’s voice, filled with genuine admiration, reached his ears. Sun-woo raised his head and looked at her slowly. He saw her smiling brightly.
He was taken aback. If someone nullified an area-of-effect attack of this scale, shouldn't she feel a sense of crisis? How could she smile so radiantly?
"Haa... haa... Are you... bluffing?" Sun-woo asked between ragged breaths.
"Bluffing?" Neung So-hwa tilted her head as if she didn't understand.
"Otherwise... there's no way you could be this relaxed after seeing that your fire doesn't work."
"But the fire did work."
"It worked?"
"Are your clothes and skin not slightly singed?"
Neung So-hwa pointed at Sun-woo’s scorched clothing and skin.
"That is proof enough that my attacks are reaching you."
She wore a playful smirk.
"I only got this much of a singe from that massive inferno. You don't feel any sense of danger?"
"None at all," Neung So-hwa stated firmly. "I simply need to create an even greater flame, do I not?"
Fwoosh!
As she spoke, she began to draw out even more of the Extreme Yang Flame Emperor Demonic Qi from within her body. A pillar of fire, far more massive than before, shot up toward the sky.
"Can you redirect this as well?"
Neung So-hwa spoke with a bright smile. Sun-woo’s face hardened. He hadn't imagined she could produce a flame even more gargantuan than the last.
Gulp.
Sun-woo swallowed hard. He realized he was in deep trouble.
ROAR!
The even larger tsunami of fire began to crash down upon him. Seeing this, Sun-woo accelerated his thoughts and pushed the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth to its peak, driven by the single-minded determination to stop those flames at any cost.
Soon, Sun-woo collided head-on with the massive fire Neung So-hwa had conjured. A fierce struggle began between Sun-woo, who was trying to change the flow, and the flames, which were trying to swallow him whole.
Whoosh!
A moment later, the tidal wave of fire completely engulfed Sun-woo.
*
"Remarkable."
Neung So-hwa spoke.
"I never imagined you would be able to endure even that."
She looked at Sun-woo with surprised eyes.
"Haa... haa... haa... That was... close."
Sun-woo panted heavily. He was in a wretched state. Most of his clothes had been burned away, and his body was covered in burn marks.
"Now we are both naked."
Neung So-hwa spoke, her face flushing slightly.
"How fascinating. Is this how a man's body is shaped?"
She scanned Sun-woo’s body intently.
"Haa... haa... Could you... stop staring so closely?"
"Understanding differences is the beginning of learning."
"Learn about those differences from your husband later."
"Then why don't you become my husband?"
Neung So-hwa’s eyes curved into crescents as she gave him a seductive smile.
"I'll pass."
Sun-woo slowly raised his sword toward her.
"I only accept proposals when the person is in their right mind."
Bang!
With those words, Sun-woo lunged at her. Pushing his Wind-Dust Step to its limit, he closed the distance in a flash, moving like a bolt of lightning. He swung his sword straight at her.
Whir!
The sword tore through the air with a sharp howl.
Flicker!
As the blade approached, the flames surrounding Neung So-hwa swarmed toward the direction of the strike.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang out, followed by a heavy vibration.
"You are too hasty. A man should possess a certain level of gravity, should he not?"
"Protective Qi?!"
Sun-woo asked in shock, looking at the flames that had blocked his sword. No matter how much he had struck with the flat of the blade, how could she block cold steel with her bare hands?
"It is something similar. Though my Flame Emperor Demonic Qi is far more powerful than mere Protective Qi."
Neung So-hwa replied with a radiant smile.
'Damn it.'
Sun-woo cursed inwardly. He had intended to close in and knock her out quickly, but it seemed that plan had failed.
Whoosh!
Neung So-hwa extended her other hand and unleashed a blast of fire. Sun-woo used the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth to reflect the attack right back at her.
Fwoosh!
The unleashed flames were absorbed back into Neung So-hwa, and she simply emitted an even more powerful blaze.
'Fuck.'
Sun-woo cursed again. He twisted the flow of the flames once more and kicked off the ground, leaping backward to put some distance between them.
"Why are you leaving? Are we not doing more?"
Neung So-hwa looked at him with a sly grin.
"Because it's a waste of mental energy."
"Why do you think so?"
"Because no matter how much I redirect the flames, they just end up going back to your body."
Sun-woo spoke in a flat tone. It was the truth. No matter how he twisted the fire, it didn't scatter or vanish; it was simply reclaimed by her. In this state, facing her flames head-on was an act of idiocy. In the end, he would be the one to run out of internal energy first.
"You aren't a total fool, I see."
Neung So-hwa gave a small smile. Sun-woo watched her with a calm gaze, his mind racing to find a proper way to subdue her.
Neung So-hwa possessed an almost infinite supply of fire. Once ignited, the flames didn't go out; they stayed with her. He couldn't just keep holding out with the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth. Although he now possessed enough internal energy to not be easily depleted, he couldn't deflect her near-infinite flames forever. They seemed equal for now, but as time passed, the gap would inevitably widen.
He had to think. He had to find a way to win.
'If I could just do something about those damn flames!'
Sun-woo felt a surge of frustration. The flames were the problem. They didn't even have a will of their own, so how did they react so instantaneously to any attack directed at their master?
Furthermore, the bigger issue was that despite being fire, they possessed physical force. The flames Neung So-hwa produced weren't just a phenomenon generating heat and light. They were something special that could exert physical pressure. It was infuriating. They had heat, light, physical force, and acted as if they had a mind of their own.
Sun-woo pondered deeply, searching for a breakthrough.
'I have to find a way to extinguish the flames. Otherwise, my internal energy will run out first.'
He began to accelerate his thoughts. It would bring significant mental fatigue, but he needed a solution as quickly as possible.
'Flames... Demonic Art... Fire energy... Extreme Yang... Yang energy... Opposite point... Yin energy... Extreme Yin...'
He listed numerous words related to her in his mind and began to piece them together like a puzzle.
'Ice Essence.'
Finally, he found the last piece of the puzzle that would provide the answer.
Yes. It was the Ice Essence. If he could get her to consume the Ice Essence, it would suppress the flames, and then he could subdue her.
Sun-woo realized he had been thinking about the order incorrectly. It wasn't about subduing her and then feeding her the Ice Essence; he needed to feed her the Ice Essence to subdue her.
Sun-woo’s eyes began to flash with renewed light.