Spirit Fire Trial (8): Steadying Resolve Against the Final Foe
The relentless battles had scattered my intent, but I gathered it back together. Just that alone breathed new life into my weary body through the Martial Spirit Divine Art. My stamina was holding, my inner energy was plentiful. The accumulated phantom pains were horrific, but by now, they were familiar. Only the New Murim Alliance Leader remained. I was almost there. I could still fight.
I didn't even need to unleash the Horizontal Small Heaven Army. There weren't that many enemies left alive to begin with, and over half of them bolted the moment the Monster Monk dropped. Even if I couldn't say for sure what it looked like from their side, it must've seemed like I'd dominated him from start to finish—no wonder they freaked out.
As I methodically cut down the ones frozen in terror and the few still burning with fight in them...
"Hah."
Once I'd cleared out the surroundings a bit, he finally arrived where I was.
"You've cost us some precious talents."
Black Daoist robes embroidered with plum blossom patterns on the sleeves. A single, unassuming yet extraordinary sword at his waist.
"It's not like renowned clans and sects haven't been wiped out by the Heavenly Demon before. By some stroke of fortune, the Shaolin and Tang Clan lineages endured... only for all of them to perish by your hand. Truly regrettable."
The New Murim Alliance Leader. Just like all the others I'd killed so far, I didn't know his name. We weren't exactly in a position for polite introductions, no time for it anyway—and above all, I didn't care.
"As the leader of the New Murim Alliance, I cannot overlook this."
I'd only been calling him that because he himself claimed the title. Tilting my head at this guy who introduced himself as the Alliance Leader instead of by name, I shot back.
"And what're you gonna do if you can't overlook it?"
"I don't know how you're maintaining your inner energy, but..."
Before he could finish, I kicked off the ground hard.
Boom!
A sound like an explosion. Even optimized by the Martial Spirit Divine Art, the Eight Directions Step was still just that—balanced movement in all directions. No special stealth or blinding speed. Pour more power in, and it gets faster... but noisier too, as a trade-off.
Of course, it was worth it.
The wind whipping my face, the scenery blurring into lines, the Alliance Leader's startled expression. I closed the distance in an instant and stomped down hard right in front of him.
Thud!
A deeper roar than before. The anchoring step. A preparatory motion to unleash explosive power in a split second. A fundamental technique in any martial art, though the methods varied slightly.
The momentum from my charge rebounded as force surging up from my feet. Calf to knee, knee to waist, waist to shoulder, shoulder to wrist. As the power transmitted sequentially through each part of my body, it gained momentum with precise assists.
Power amplification, flawless motion, focused release of amplified strength... Every insight I'd gained from the battles so far poured into this single strike. My full power, lunging at the Alliance Leader in a surprise attack.
Kiriririk—
It grazed the front of his hairline before halting abruptly.
"...Gonna drive me nuts."
Honestly, I had no idea what he'd done. Couldn't tell when he'd even drawn his sword or how he'd swung it. All I had were the afterimages of red sword qi in my vision and the shock vibrating through my hands—my best guess was he'd whipped it around multiple times in rapid succession to block.
This was my first real clash with the Alliance Leader, after all. No surprise if he had moves I didn't know. Every prior encounter had been me completely suppressed, ambushed in the chaos, leaping off a cliff without fighting, or getting my throat slit in under ten seconds.
But I hadn't expected him to be this strong...
Did my frustration show on my face? He spoke in a calm voice.
"Plum Flower Enduring Winter. One of the defensive forms from the 24 Plum Blossom Sword Technique, known only to me, the sect leader of the Hwasan Sect."
"...Sect leader feels off for someone at super peak."
As I fell back to reset my stance, he chuckled and shook his head.
"No choice. Every last disciple of Hwasan is dead except me, so I had to step up. The same goes for those you killed—they were the Tang Clan head and the Shaolin abbot. And among the first-rate experts you chased down and slaughtered, there were heirs to family arts and the last survivors of hidden sects. ...Do you understand why I'm telling you this?"
"How should I know? You aren't bragging, are you?"
"The severance of martial lineages. Peerless arts honed over centuries, gone. Each one was a genius incomparable to common folk ignorant of the martial world."
He sighed deeply, genuinely mournful. Then he leveled his sword tip at me and continued.
"Fools who don't grasp the value of martial arts dare to practice them... I can't comprehend you demonic scum."
"So I should've just died quietly, huh."
"You should have. But now that things have come to this, I won't kill you easily. Someone has to teach you the weight of your deeds."
"Like I'd just roll over... Hngh!"
I couldn't get the rest out. His body closed in suddenly, sword thrusting right at my nose.
A mid-conversation ambush, just like I'd pulled on him moments ago. Good thing I'd never let my guard down even for a second—I managed to react in time.
Clang!
I somehow parried the diagonal downward slash. But his attack was one swing... yet not one strike.
The instant our swords met, his blade tip quivered and split into multiples. Trajectories scattering like a flower blooming in splendor.
I could only block the initial stem. The rest poured down like raindrops.
Shwick, shwick.
"Argh...!"
The Iron King Heart Protection Art was useless against sword qi. In a flash, slashes embroidered my shoulder and arm.
The wounds weren't deep. No vital hits, no hindrance to movement. But the moment that cold edge pierced my flesh, I realized.
He'd swung shallow on purpose.
From my scant experience fighting him, his sword had been fiercer than this. If he'd wanted, he could've crippled my mobility even if not outright decapitating me.
But he'd targeted only the spots that hurt like hell.
Not hard to guess what that meant. Torment before death.
...He was underestimating me.
Sure, from his view, it was a rational choice accounting for the gap between peak and super peak. But he wasn't tanky like the Monster Monk, nor did he have the protective qi of Fire Realm masters.
Just an inch. Drive the sword an inch into the precise spot, and he was done.
I knew from dying plenty of times.
Grind.
Right. A variable sword, huh. If one swing hid multiple strikes within...
Then just bat them all away.
"Let's see you try."
Growling low, I charged at the Alliance Leader again.
The earlier exchange confirmed it. His sword was flashy, but each individual strike lacked punch. I'd blocked his initial ambush by clashing blades multiple times, and while I couldn't fully parry the last one, handling it wasn't that hard.
So the Horizontal Small Heaven Army should...
Sword wind infused with qi swept across the front in a ferocious gale.
A wide-area attack that couldn't land fatal blows on even peak experts. But if it made his sword hesitate even a little, that'd be enough. A disrupted variable sword lost its threat; with luck, I could exploit the gap. Worst case, it'd force him back momentarily.
But when his sword swept from left to right just like mine, the plan fell apart.
With each twist of his wrist, the tip shook, blooming plum blossoms. The petals scattered by the gale turned into razor-sharp blades burrowing into my body.
"Guh...!"
Blood spraying from my body once more. This time, it felt like my forehead was gashed—my whole face grew warm and slick.
Further clashes revealed more. His 24 Plum Blossom Sword Technique felt worlds apart from the Hwasan disciple I'd seen at the Yongbong Tournament.
At higher realms, the technique was said to release a plum fragrance with each variable form, bewitching the mind. But all I sensed from his blade was the stench of blood.
And for a Daoist art, the killing intent was far too thick.
Thanks to that, I could track where strikes came from easily... but it was still the 24 Plum Blossom Sword Technique. The ever-changing subtlety was a nightmare.
Knowing didn't make dodging or blocking everything possible. Each swing made my body shrink instinctively.
Not a good matchup for me at all.