Chapter 207 Inspector (4)
“The Dao King?”
“That’s what they say!”
“……Well, that’s not strange at all.”
The reason was obvious enough.
The muscled old man was itching for a fight, so he saw his chance and jumped on it.
[Paeng Yu-gun suits being a cultist even better.]
‘Well, all martial artists basically come equipped with that drive to improve.’
It was impossible to reach higher realms without that ambition. The cultists were just a bit more extreme about it.
“What are you doing? Get ready to go already.”
Pa Cheon seemed curious too.
[A golden opportunity to observe the Dao King’s martial arts alongside ours.]
Then I had to go. I really did.
“You go on ahead.”
“Understood. Don’t be late.”
Gongjin shot off like an arrow.
[Why not go now?]
“Just in case. What if the abbot shows up?”
I took the mountain air poison and mountain lung poison again.
The fiercely pulsing energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art settled back into its sealed shell.
[Smart. Better safe than sorry.]
I wanted to bring Sa Wol along, but I couldn’t drag her before the abbot—who already suspected my identity, or might—who could potentially see through me.
“If Gong-a comes looking, keep him occupied.”
“……Understood.”
With that, I headed toward the Arhat Hall. But just as I did—
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
A booming laugh that could shatter eardrums pierced through the walls.
Anyone would recognize it as Paeng Yu-gun’s.
“Next! Pathetic!”
As I crossed the threshold, the Arhat Hall was already packed with spectators.
Shaolin monks and guests alike stared at the training ground with rapt interest.
Je Gal Sung in particular sat on a chair he’d procured from somewhere, fanning himself with evident fascination.
In the training ground Je Gal Sung watched stood Paeng Yu-gun and the Arhats.
The only silver lining was that the abbot was nowhere in sight.
“Why are you so late?”
Gongjin chided me upon seeing me.
“What’s the situation?”
“The Dao King just broke the Eighteen Arhats. With sheer presence alone. Impressive.”
Paeng Yu-gun had stripped off his upper garment at some point.
A seventy-something old man, yet his body was a masterpiece of massive, densely packed muscle that drew gasps of admiration. The scars etched across it told the story of his brutal life.
But he hadn’t drawn his saber yet.
Before him stood eighteen Arhat monks, all drenched in sweat.
One monk stepped forward. Gongjin beside me whispered his name: Gonggak.
“You’ve broken the gate of the Eighteen Arhats. Next is the gate of the Thirty-Six Arhats. Do you accept the challenge?”
“Didn’t I say it was pathetic?”
“Understood.”
At Gonggak’s signal, the eighteen Arhats entered the training ground.
As fresh numbers joined, the Arhats slowly shifted positions.
They spread out wide, like a crane-wing formation, assuming their stances.
“Begin.”
“Come at me.”
“Thirty-Six Arhat Formation—activate!”
At Gonggak’s command—
“Ha!!”
The thirty-six Arhats shouted in perfect unison.
In that instant, heat haze began rising from their bodies.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
Their robes whipped wildly in the gale.
[Impressive. Their energies are merging into one.]
‘Like the Red Dragon Revolution Family?’
[No. This is a level above. Just… watch for a bit.]
Pa Cheon rarely said he’d “watch,” so he must have glimpsed some insight. I stayed quiet.
Gongjin spoke up instead.
“Every Arhat is a Peak expert. Uniting their presence means no ordinary person could budge. It’s like a thousand jin pressing down.”
The problem was, Paeng Yu-gun was no ordinary man.
The old warrior had reached Super Peak decades ago and never stopped training.
Even Poison King Dang Mugi had called him “not your average Super Peak.”
So—
Paeng Yu-gun grinned, lips curling wide.
“Refreshing!”
A thousand jin was roughly 600 kilograms. Under that pressure, his reaction was just “refreshing.”
“Advance!”
At Gonggak’s order, the Arhats shouted “Ha!” again and charged.
The thirty-six moved as one organism.
One struck with a fist; another sealed retreat with a kick; a third disrupted balance with a palm strike.
All flowed like water.
Paeng Yu-gun’s response?
“Time to move a little.”
He closed and opened his eyes.
In that moment—
—GRRRRROOOAAARRR!
A white tiger’s image materialized behind him and roared.
“Kuh!”
“Urk!”
The Thirty-Six Arhats clutched their chests, internals shaken by the beast’s cry.
Paeng Yu-gun casually swung his sheathed saber.
Fierce wind pressure felled them all at once.
……Monsters really are monsters.
Even manifesting a simsang, dropping Peak experts with a mere swing was no joke.
‘He didn’t even draw the blade or use a technique.’
No Five Tiger Severing Gates or Heaven-Earth-Falling Blade Technique from the Paeng Family.
“Brother Gonggak! Skip Fifty-Four! Go straight to Seventy-Two!”
The Arhat formations scaled in multiples of eighteen, growing exponentially stronger with numbers.
“Seventy-Two is a different beast.”
Gonggak gritted his teeth and signaled.
Thirty-six more Arhats joined, encircling Paeng Yu-gun in a ring.
Gonggak declared,
“The Seventy-Two Arhats formation assumes a Super Peak opponent.”
“Heh heh heh. Now that’s more like it.”
“……Activate.”
“Haaa!!!!”
It was on another level.
Twice the numbers, but ten times the pressure.
The heat haze crushed the air.
Was this what Domination felt like?
But it didn’t end there.
The haze from the Arhats coalesced into three lotus shapes, rising into the air.
[Linking seventy-two souls to forge an artificial simsang…?]
Pa Cheon’s voice was laced with shock, breaking his silence.
I was stunned too.
In Murim Returner, the One Hundred Eight Arhats had appeared but got one-shotted by the Heavenly Demon before any details.
This wasn’t just a formation.
Gongjin chuckled beside me.
“Surprised? Heh heh. First time for me too. We rarely see the Seventy-Two Arhats formation.”
“How is that possible?”
“Shaolin teachings emphasize cultivation, granting unmatched stability. That allows soul-linking. Qi and body refinement are Shaolin staples too.”
Only possible because Shaolin arts were the pinnacle of orthodox martial prowess.
‘Even most orthodox sects couldn’t replicate it, let alone unorthodox ones.’
That’s why they revealed it so freely.
“Excellent! Perfect!”
Paeng Yu-gun bared his teeth in satisfaction.
“I’ll go all out too!”
He drew his saber.
A massive odachi matching his giant frame gleamed.
Crackle crackle!
Familiar red lightning arced along the blade.
GRRRRROOOAAARRR!
His white tiger simsang dissolved into smoke and seeped into the saber.
“You’ve forged an artificial simsang, so you can use protective gang qi too.”
Paeng Yu-gun grinned ferociously.
“If you value your limbs, give it everything.”
He raised the saber high.
“Heaven-Earth-Falling Blade Technique, First Form.”
Red lightning crashed from the sky onto his blade.
“First Fall.”
Flash—!
Vision flickered. The bolt splintered into dozens, hundreds of spiderweb strands, claw-tipped like tiger talons, raining on the Arhats.
“Ha!”
The Arhats thrust out hands in stance. The floating lotuses glowed, channeling power.
They shone golden. Translucent barriers bloomed from their palms.
“Prajna Protective Body Art! Protective Gang Qi!”
Gongjin cried out in surprise.
Prajna protective gang qi met Paeng Yu-gun’s lightning.
Groooaaan!
The Arhats slid back, digging heels into the ground, carving long trenches.
But seventy-two Arhats held firm.
The lightning stalled three jang out, locked in stalemate.
Then—
Pop!
Eighteen more joined: Ninety Arhats.
They filled gaps, deploying Prajna protective gang qi.
With numbers bolstered, the barrier gained slack.
“Repel!”
At Gonggak’s shout, they thrust arms forward.
Paeng Yu-gun’s lightning reversed, surging back at him.
Encircling him, it looked like thunder from all directions.
The rebound made it fiercer than before.
“Ha ha ha! Now we’re talking!”
Paeng Yu-gun’s eyes sharpened like a tiger’s.
Fearsome lightning gathered on his saber.
[Insane power!]
Even from afar, my hair stood on end.
Honestly, Pa Cheon and my Thunder Shadow Sword lightning felt like child’s play compared.
……Thanks, Pa Cheon. Keeps me humble.
A ‘true’ Super Peak at full power was this.
But then—
The crackling sparks on Paeng Yu-gun’s saber flickered like a dying fluorescent bulb.
“What? Did he fail the technique?”
Gongjin muttered. It looked off to me too. But Pa Cheon—
[This madman—.]
His tone was startled.
‘Why?’
[Just watch. No time to talk.]
Paeng Yu-gun slashed horizontally.
Silence fell.
——Crackle!
Something felt wrong.
Normally, sparks and whoosh—but silence first, then delayed crackle.
Did he fail? Blood gushed from his mouth.
But the result was beyond imagination.
Two jang radius around his feet: utter devastation.
The rebounding lightning vanished without trace.
“Kuh!”
“Guh!”
Arhats paled, knees buckling, groans escaping.
Ptoo!
Paeng Yu-gun spat blood with triumphant glee.
Then I understood. Why Pa Cheon was shocked.
“Formless Blade Gang……!”
I’d forgotten.
This world—everyone but me was a genius.
Even gramps.
He’d taken my half-assed formless gang qi excuse and perfected it himself.
I’d thought he was holed up in the carriage doing nothing, glad he didn’t bother me.
But he’d completed formless gang qi.
Chills ran down my spine.
The novel’s title might as well be Everyone But Me Levels Up.
“Congratulations on your great achievement!”
“Achievement my ass. Thanks to you, Sword Dragon. Heh heh heh.”
Blood trickled from his mouth, but he looked neither weak nor pathetic.
Maybe the Heavenly Demon Divine Art suppression?
He exuded the menace of a predator devouring fresh kill.
‘Even if one-time, glad this gramps is on my side.’
Then—
[Monster.]
‘Why?’
[Fight too. With the Arhats.]
‘You mad?’
[You’re not drained. You can handle it.]
‘Why though?’
[Look at the floor.]
‘Floor?’
I glanced at the training ground floor as Pa Cheon said.
……Ah, why’s that here?
The Muhonjibyeok left by the First Heavenly Demon.
It lay beneath the Arhat Hall training ground.
Pretending to Be the Heavenly Demon