Chapter 284: The Iron Snake Gang (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 284: The Iron Snake Gang (4)
Screeeech—
As Kang Hyun-woo’s and Wang Chwiong’s energies clashed, a bizarre sound echoed, as if space itself were distorting.
Of course, neither of them was using their full power. A single misstep could get them all buried alive, so they had to maintain a certain level of control.
Though he didn't show it, Wang Chwiong was quite surprised.
From his perspective, Kang Hyun-woo had reached the perfected state of the Superlative Realm. To be precise, he was in the stage of establishing and solidifying his inner image.
There was an absolute difference between that and the Flower Realm, where one could manifest their inner image externally.
For example, it took five masters of the Superlative Realm, skilled in coordinated attacks, to face a single master of the Flower Realm. This showed that a direct confrontation between Wang Chwiong and Kang Hyun-woo should have been impossible.
Yet, Wang Chwiong could find no easy opening in the man before him.
It was as if he were facing an equal.
For the first time in a very long while, Wang Chwiong felt a sense of alarm.
‘...I must kill him here.’
For a rising star who had just reached adulthood to possess such profound skill... at this rate, it was clear he would surpass Wang Chwiong's own realm before turning thirty.
He was truly the makings of the next Strongest under Heaven.
If he let him go here, it was obvious that the Black Crow Sect would one day face the calamity of annihilation.
‘Hoo... I never thought I'd have to use my strength against someone who isn't even an elder of the Wudang Sect, but in a way, this is for the best. If that monster were given enough time, there's no telling what variables he might introduce in the future.’
Acknowledging that heavenly luck was on his side, Wang Chwiong began to draw out his internal energy without hesitation.
Rumble—
His dark, murky energy began to shake the entire tunnel. In response, tens of thousands of centipedes writhed bizarrely, puffing up their bodies as if to threaten their opponent.
As if to counter him, Kang Hyun-woo also revealed the power he had been hiding.
Kiiiiing—
An inky Aura enveloped the Mad Demon Sword.
Wang Chwiong felt a sinister energy from Kang Hyun-woo's Aura Blade and was momentarily puzzled, but he dismissed it, assuming he had learned the martial arts of the Black Dragon Castle Lord.
Just as the two were about to clash...
“Brother!”
Mujin and Cheon Yeo-hwa came running from behind.
Cheon Yeo-hwa was relatively unscathed, but Mujin was covered in blood. Fortunately, it was the blood of the Iron Snake Gang members.
“I think there's an earthquake! We have to get out of here—”
Feeling a sense of crisis from the precariously shaking tunnel, Mujin tried to shout with all his might, but the bizarre scene unfolding before him left him speechless.
“O-Old Monster Mangong?!”
Typically, rising stars from sects and clans would familiarize themselves with the faces of masters from hostile factions before venturing into the Murim.
Mujin, in particular, knew almost everything there was to know about the masters of the Evil Alliance.
“W-Why in the world are you in Hubei?!”
Old Monster Mangong, Wang Chwiong.
The infamy of the leader of the Black Crow Sect, one of the Twelve Demonic Sects, was widespread throughout both the Orthodox and Evil Factions.
Not only had he single-handedly annihilated the Murim Alliance's Wind Swift Squad, but he also had a record of killing Namgung Yicheon, the Meteor Sword and an absolute master of the Namgung Family.
“Hoh, and the Blue Dragon has come as well. The heavens are on my side.”
A strange light glinted in Wang Chwiong’s eyes.
Mujin, who received his killing intent head-on, turned pale.
Soon, Wang Chwiong’s gaze shifted. His eyes widened as he looked at Cheon Yeo-hwa.
But at the same time, a question arose.
“...You're not Hyeolhwa. Who the hell are you, wench?”
“I have no name to give to an old monster who just plays with poisonous insects.”
“...The two of you, a pair of hopeless brats.”
Wang Chwiong’s face twisted at Cheon Yeo-hwa’s mocking reply. However, he didn't let his emotions get the better of him and continued to think.
The woman before him was indeed more beautiful than Hyeolhwa, but she was definitely not Hyeolhwa.
Only then did Wang Chwiong realize his assumption had been wrong.
His conviction that in all the vast Central Plains, there could be no woman comparable to, no, even more beautiful than the Three Flowers—that had been his great misjudgment from the start.
‘Then that means that brat isn't from the Black Dragon Castle either...’
Wang Chwiong’s mind raced faster than ever.
The law of the jungle was an absolute truth for those of the Evil Faction, but calculating profit and loss was just as important.
With great patience, Wang Chwiong suppressed his anger and spoke.
“You, what is your name?”
Kang Hyun-woo answered with his middle finger.
“Get your filthy eyes off my woman.”
“...”
Wang Chwiong’s mind went blank for a moment at the unprecedented insult.
If he had his way, he would tear the Blue Dragon and that brat to pieces right now, then drag the woman back to the Black Crow Sect and make her his concubine.
But he squeezed out his last bit of patience and reined in his killing intent.
“...It is because I find your talent a waste that I am giving you one last chance. You would do well to put away that petty hot-bloodedness and answer with care.”
The warning from an absolute master who had reached the Flower Realm made the air grow heavy.
Cheon Yeo-hwa was relatively fine, but Mujin’s complexion was growing worse.
“Become this old one's disciple. Do so, and I will spare your life. However, I must take the Blue Dragon's head.”
Mujin gasped at Wang Chwiong’s proposal.
His opponent was one of the top masters in the Evil Alliance.
No matter how heaven-defyingly talented Kang Hyun-woo was, he was no match for him.
Furthermore, Old Monster Mangong was a poison master who wielded poison arts. It was a well-known principle that when two martial artists of equal skill fought, the one who used poison always had the upper hand.
In other words, their chances of getting out of here alive were slim.
‘...Master. It seems this unworthy disciple must go on ahead.’
Mujin steeled his resolve and stepped forward.
Kang Hyun-woo looked at him with a puzzled expression. At that moment, a telepathic message entered his mind.
—Brother, I believe that you will one day become a hero who leaves his mark on the world. So please, survive, even if it means becoming that demonic leader's disciple. Only then will there be a next time, won't there?
Mujin smiled brightly and raised his sword.
It was spattered with dark red blood from fighting the Iron Snake Gang members, but the Taiji symbol engraved on the hilt had not lost its luster.
With a composed aura, Mujin glared at Wang Chwiong. His eyes glowed blue.
“Mujin, second-generation disciple of the Great Wudang Sect! Even if I am to die, I will take one of that Evil Faction bastard's arms with me!”
“Kekeke, and you think that's possible?”
Mujin already knew it was impossible.
His sword, which had never once touched Kang Hyun-woo in their duels, had no chance of reaching a master who was on the same level as his own master.
Nevertheless, Mujin did not back down.
If someone had to die here, he alone was enough.
‘Though our bond was brief, I am content just to have met a kindred spirit in this vast Central Plains and become his sworn brother.’
A bluish Sword Qi rose from Mujin’s blade.
He stood his ground, as firm as a pine tree.
‘So now, I will simply do what I must as a Daoist of Wudang, and as a martial artist!’
Mujin bit his tongue, suppressing the trembling in his arms and legs. In the face of Wang Chwiong’s intense killing intent, his body was reacting instinctively, against his will.
“Pathetic, truly pathetic. What can you possibly do with arms and legs that tremble like a leaf in the wind?”
“...Even without arms or legs, a sword can be swung if the heart is resolute.”
“Kekeke... Are you speaking of the realm of the 'Heart Sword'? With your level of skill?”
Despite Wang Chwiong’s blatant ridicule, Mujin quietly fanned the flames of his fighting spirit.
Seeing this, Wang Chwiong gave an order to his centipedes. It went without saying, but to provoke the Wudang Sect as much as possible, he needed the head of the Blue Dragon, twisted in agony.
Tap.
With the sound of his staff, the ‘darkness’ behind Wang Chwiong stirred. It was the ‘Blood Scale Centipedes’ he had personally raised for this occasion.
These centipedes, numbering in the hundreds, carried the Heart-Shattering Death-Forbidden Poison, designed solely to inflict pain on their target.
Mujin swallowed dryly at the sight.
But he did not retreat.
Kiiiiing!!
Instead, as if to make a point, his Sword Qi erupted fiercely, momentarily pushing back Wang Chwiong’s presence.
“Now! Brother, run—!”
Whack!
“Gah?!”
“Stop spouting nonsense and get out of the way. You're a hindrance.”
Kang Hyun-woo brought a karate chop down on the crown of Mujin's head. The blow, maximized for pain, forced Mujin to clutch his head and collapse to the ground.
Kang Hyun-woo pushed Mujin aside and stepped forward.
“I might consider it if my master were a nation-toppling beauty, but I'd rather bite my tongue and kill myself than become the disciple of a filthy old man like you.”
“...So you insist on refusing the toast and choosing the penalty drink instead.”
Without a word, Kang Hyun-woo pushed his thumb between his index and middle fingers.
Wang Chwiong had never seen the gesture before and couldn't understand its meaning, but the wisdom he had accumulated over his long life allowed him to quickly deduce its intent.
Sssshhh!!
Immediately after, the darkness covering the tunnel began to surge toward Kang Hyun-woo’s group like a tidal wave.
Tens of thousands of centipedes bared their fangs.
“...I will kill you all.”
As a formidable rage erupted from him, Kang Hyun-woo kicked Mujin, sending him flying backward.
“Yeo-hwa.”
“Understood.”
Cheon Yeo-hwa grabbed Mujin by the scruff of his neck and, without asking any questions, started running back.
As Cheon Yeo-hwa took off at an incredible speed, a horrified Mujin shouted.
“S-Sister-in-law, what are you doing?! My brother is still back there!”
“Stay still.”
“Keuk! Brother!”
Mujin, dragged away without being able to put up any resistance, cried out in anguish.
“Are you trying to make the kind of sacrifice those hypocrites from the Orthodox Faction talk about?”
“Sacrifice? Don't make me laugh.”
Kang Hyun-woo scoffed at Wang Chwiong’s words.
“For a mere wench, she is quite fast, but did you truly think this old one would let them go just like that?”
Wang Chwiong sneered at Kang Hyun-woo and extended his staff.
In that instant, tens of thousands of centipedes surged forward like a wave and completely engulfed Kang Hyun-woo. Seeing him buried without even putting up a fight, Wang Chwiong’s lips curled into a smirk.
In such a confined space, not even a martial artist from the Sichuan Tang Family, known as the ancestors of poison, would have been able to endure.
A mere rising star, talented but with shallow experience, was nothing.
Of course, he hadn't killed him yet.
‘I only commanded the centipedes carrying Bewitching Powder, so he should lose consciousness and faint soon.’
At first, he had intended to kill him, but his talent was too much of a waste.
So, he planned to knock him out, take him to the Black Crow Sect, and brainwash him into a hunting dog. His rebellious spirit was far too strong to make him a disciple; he was completely unsuitable.
“I’ve reaped an unexpected harvest.”
The Blue Dragon's head to provoke the Wudang Sect, a fairly useful hunting dog, and a wench whose beauty surpassed the Three Flowers.
Satisfied with the result, Wang Chwiong stroked his beard and smiled.
But at that moment.
‘...Hm? What is this?’
An unidentifiable heat began to close in on him.
Of course, it was only slightly warm. It was a heat he could easily endure if he just took off his long robe.
But the important thing was the fact that he felt discomfort from a change in temperature.
Having reached the state of Immunity to Cold and Heat upon ascending to the Flower Realm, he couldn't hide his bewilderment at the sudden change in his body.
The changes didn't stop there.
It was no longer just warmth; he was beginning to feel ‘heat.’
Feeling a growing sense of crisis from the rapidly rising temperature, Wang Chwiong gave an order to his centipedes.
Kill Kang Hyun-woo at once.
But he was a step too late.
Suddenly, a massive red light, bright enough to illuminate the entire tunnel, appeared along with a strange symbol floating in the air.
[Pyroblast]
KWAAAAAA!!!
“W-What?!”
Seeing the surging flames, Wang Chwiong desperately drew upon his internal energy and deployed his protective aura at full power. Immediately after, the flames incinerated every last centipede filling the tunnel and swallowed Wang Chwiong whole.