Chapter 323: Bukgung Yeon Steps Forward
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 323: Bukgung Yeon Steps Forward
Screeeeee!
With a sound that seemed to pierce the very wind, hundreds of spears began to rain down simultaneously upon the disciples of the Qingcheng Sect.
The disciples watched the descending spears with trembling eyes. There were so many they were impossible to count, a literal shroud of steel blanketing the sky as they hurtled toward them.
Soon, the raw emotion of terror began to flicker in their gazes.
"Snap out of it!"
At that moment, Un-jeok-ja’s thunderous roar echoed from the front.
"If you lose your focus here, you die!"
Un-jeok-ja’s face was flushed with exertion as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Everyone, grip your swords! Channel your internal energy! The power behind each individual spear shouldn't be overwhelming!"
"Yes, sir!"
Perhaps jolted back to their senses by Un-jeok-ja’s shout, the Qingcheng disciples answered in unison and tightened their grips on their weapons. They circulated their internal energy, pouring it directly into their blades.
Wuuuuuuuuuung—
The disciples' swords began to cry out in unison, a collective sword resonance. It was proof that sufficient internal energy had been infused into the steel.
"Back to back! Focus only on the spears flying directly at you!"
""Understood!""
Tat-tat-tat-tak!
Following Un-jeok-ja’s command, the disciples immediately formed a defensive circle, backs pressed together, swords held high.
A heartbeat later...
Swa-aaaaak!
Swa-aaaaak!
Hundreds of spears plunged toward the Qingcheng disciples.
Clang!
The disciples swung their swords with desperate speed, parrying the incoming projectiles.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
An incessant storm of metallic clashing filled the air, turning the battlefield into a cacophony of noise.
Boom!
'Dammit!'
Un-jeok-ja cursed under his breath as he parried a spear thrown directly by Lee Yeon. His hands shook uncontrollably just from enduring the sheer, monstrous force imbued within the weapon.
'He’s strong.'
Un-jeok-ja could feel it. The spears Lee Yeon threw possessed a level of power that defied imagination. Even though Un-jeok-ja had countered with the Blue Cloud Red Sunset Sword—a technique of the highest caliber and a mark of a peak master—he had barely managed to knock the spear aside.
Tremble, tremble.
His wrists began to shake violently.
Throb, throb.
The pressure transmitted through his bones grew even more intense.
'At this rate, we’ll be overrun.'
Wuuuuuuuuuung—
Un-jeok-ja began to circulate the Ten Thousand Manifestations Return to One Divine Art, pushing his internal energy to its absolute limit. If he was breached here, the disciples behind him would have to face this monstrous force directly. There was no way they could withstand a power that even he, a master of the Transcendent Realm, found difficult to handle.
He had to hold the line. No matter what.
Un-jeok-ja gathered every ounce of his energy. He focused all his strength into the hand gripping his sword.
"Kuaaaaaah!"
Boom!
A thunderous explosion erupted, and Lee Yeon’s spear was finally sent flying backward.
"Haah... haah... haah... haah..."
Having barely repelled the spear, Un-jeok-ja panted heavily. The effort had drained a significant amount of his mental and physical stamina.
Swa-aaaak!
But there was no time to rest. The spear he had just deflected turned in mid-air and came hurtling back toward him.
Un-jeok-ja’s face turned deathly pale.
*
"Heugh... gasp... heugh... gasp..."
Un-jeok-ja breathed raggedly. An overwhelming, bottomless fatigue began to wash over him.
He was a wreck. Spears were grazed or embedded in various parts of his body, and his proud indigo robes of the Qingcheng Sect were drenched in blood.
Slowly, he turned his head to look behind him. He saw his disciples in a similar state of ruin. Some were riddled with spear wounds like him; others lay collapsed on the ground, having already lost consciousness.
"Are... are you all alright?"
Exhausted to his core, Un-jeok-ja squeezed out the words, his voice a mere rasp.
"..............."
Despite his question, not a single disciple spoke. They likely didn't even have the strength to answer.
Un-jeok-ja’s expression darkened. He had known from the start that Lee Yeon was stronger than him. But he had never imagined the gap would be this overwhelming.
When Lee Yeon first launched the spears, Un-jeok-ja had dismissed it as a mere spear-throwing technique enhanced by Void Manipulation. But the skill Lee Yeon displayed was no simple throwing art.
The spears had a will of their own. Even when deflected, they lunged back like starving predators, maintaining a relentless pressure. Such a thing could not be called mere spear-throwing.
It was Spear Kinesis.
And it was Spear Kinesis performed with hundreds of weapons simultaneously.
Anxiety flickered in Un-jeok-ja’s eyes. Though they had swung their swords frantically to suppress the spears, their internal energy was nearly depleted. If Lee Yeon launched another assault like the last one, they would never survive.
Thump, thump.
His heart began to race uncontrollably.
Shiver.
A cold dread wrapped around his entire body. Un-jeok-ja prayed and prayed again—prayed that the previous attack had been Lee Yeon's last.
Vroooom!
Unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered. The spears that had fallen to the ground rose into the air once more and flew back toward Lee Yeon.
Swa-aaaak!
Swa-aaaak!
Hundreds of spears gathered around Lee Yeon’s position. They hovered above him, bobbing gently in the air.
Despair clouded Un-jeok-ja’s vision. It seemed that performing Spear Kinesis with hundreds of weapons wasn't even a burden for Lee Yeon.
"You fought well, disciples of Qingcheng."
Having recovered all his spears, Lee Yeon looked straight ahead and spoke.
"But it seems this is the end."
He looked down at them with a calm, detached face.
"I shall carve your struggle into my memory. Therefore..."
Lee Yeon’s eyes flashed as he glared at the Qingcheng disciples.
"Die."
Swa-aaaaaaaaak!
With that short command, the hundreds of spears began to pour down once again.
Seeing this, Un-jeok-ja tightened his grip on his sword. He knew. He knew that, as he was now, he couldn't stop those spears. His internal energy was more than half gone, and the wounds all over his body screamed in pain. In this state, blocking a barrage of Spear Kinesis was impossible.
Grip.
Even so, he had no intention of just standing by and watching. He would swing his sword. Until the very moment he died.
"Come!"
Un-jeok-ja roared at the descending forest of spears. His eyes were filled with a resolute will.
Swa-aaaak!
As the spears hurtled toward the disciples, despair finally took hold of their hearts.
Whirrrrrrrrrrr!
Then, something completely unexpected happened.
A massive blizzard suddenly whipped up, forming a wall that blocked the path of Lee Yeon’s spears.
Wuuuuuuuuuung—
The spears, their momentum halted, vibrated and wailed as they unleashed their massive force against the barrier.
Whirrrr!
The blizzard blocking the spears grew even more violent, completely cutting off their advance.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted as the stalemate between the two forces was suddenly broken.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The spears, having lost their power, plunged into the earth. Every single one of them ended up buried in the ground between Lee Yeon and the search party.
Lee Yeon’s brow furrowed slightly. As a man who valued efficiency above all else, he detested having to do the same job twice. Once he planned something, he felt the need to finish it in one stroke. He had intended to wipe out all the Qingcheng disciples with that single move.
His plan had been ruined by a sudden blizzard. How could he not frown?
Lee Yeon slowly raised his arrogant gaze to see the culprit who had disrupted his plan.
And then, he saw her.
A woman of peerless beauty was stepping lightly out of the main gate of the Ice Palace.
"........Bukgung Yeon."
Lee Yeon muttered her name. His gaze became deathly serious.
Step, step.
Having emerged from the gate, Bukgung Yeon walked forward with light, graceful steps. She was barefoot. Her pace was neither fast nor slow—a normal walking speed—but to the Qingcheng disciples, overwhelmed by her aura, she seemed to move with a sublime and haughty elegance.
Step, step.
She passed by the Qingcheng disciples.
Step, step.
Before long, she even passed Un-jeok-ja at the front.
Step, step.
Stop.
She came to a halt exactly ten paces away from Lee Yeon.
"It’s been a long time, Lee Yeon."
Bukgung Yeon spoke, her cold eyes fixed on him.
"Indeed," Lee Yeon replied with a calm expression.
"Is that all?"
"What more needs to be said?"
"How disappointing. I’ve been looking forward to the day we met again."
Bukgung Yeon spoke with a chilling smile.
"I feel a sense of regret for making you wait unexpectedly."
"Don't you? Making a lady wait is the worst thing a man can do."
Bukgung Yeon glared at him with icy eyes.
"But I’ll forgive you. Since we’ve finally met like this."
"I express my gratitude for your mercy."
"Then, shall we settle our business?"
Whirrrrrrr!
As she finished speaking, a massive blizzard began to swirl around Bukgung Yeon’s body.
"Your way of settling business is rather violent."
Wuuuuung—
Lee Yeon reached out and used Void Manipulation to pull one of the spears buried in the ground toward him.
Snap!
Wuuuuuuuuung—
The spear flew into his hand and immediately began to emit a sharp resonance.
"It’s not like we’re the type to sit down and chat over tea, are we?"
Bukgung Yeon spoke as she unleashed a freezing blast of wind.
Whirrrr!
Swa-aaaak!
"I suppose not."
Lee Yeon replied as he sliced through the blizzard she sent his way.
Seeing this, Bukgung Yeon made a swift gesture with her hand.
Cr-crack!
Cr-crack!
The moisture in the air instantly froze, forming several massive pillars of ice in the void.
'Go.'
Bukgung Yeon projected her will into the ice pillars.
Swa-aaaak!
Swa-aaaak!
The ice pillars hurtled straight toward Lee Yeon. Seeing them coming, Lee Yeon caused several spears around him to float and launched them directly at the pillars.
Boom!
Boom!
The spears and ice pillars collided with a thunderous roar, both being deflected away by the impact.
"So, you have indeed reached the Profound Realm."
Lee Yeon spoke as if impressed. To be honest, he had been unsure until now, even after hearing from Ju Do-san that the North Sea had frozen over. But seeing her effortlessly block his Spear Kinesis and manifest ice out of thin air, he was certain.
She had reached the transcendent state of defying nature itself. She had surpassed the limits of humanity.
"I had a stroke of luck," Bukgung Yeon replied calmly.
She wasn't lying. While her martial achievement was her own, she would likely still be stuck at her previous level if she hadn't happened upon the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Essence.
"Of course, it would have been for naught if not for my own exceptional talent," she added with a cold smile.
"I admit it. You are a genius. In my entire life, I have never seen a genius like you, save for one other person."
"Really? I don't know who that is, but even they won't be able to surpass me."
"Arrogant."
"They say the conviction of the superior is called confidence."
"I am curious to see how long that confidence lasts."
"You'll have to be curious for the rest of your life. Because you're going to die here."
Rumble!
Having spoken, Bukgung Yeon waved her hand toward the sky. The ground began to vibrate, and massive pillars of ice erupted from the earth, surging upward to crush Lee Yeon.
Grip.
Lee Yeon gripped his spear tightly. He watched the ice pillars closing in on him. There were five of them, each as wide as a city gate. He knew that even for someone like him, a direct hit from those would cause significant damage.
Wuuuuung—
Lee Yeon concentrated his internal energy. A massive aura swirled around his body before being absorbed into the spear. He slowly pulled his right arm back, taking the stance of a javelin thrower.
Boom!
He stomped his left foot down, a powerful step that sent a shockwave through his entire body. Lee Yeon channeled that impact upward, transmitting it through his waist, shoulder, and fingertips in an instant. Then, he released the spear.
Swa-aaaaaaaaak!
The spear left his hand, tearing through the very air as it flew toward the encroaching ice pillars.
Rumble-boom!
The spear and the ice pillars collided, unleashing a terrifying explosion that shook heaven and earth.
The battle between those who had reached the Transcendent Realm had begun.