Alhazard, Are You Insane? (6)
Jang Seok-gong had spent his entire life mastering the Ten Severing Fist, a technique whose roots traced back to Taiji Fist. The Taiji Fist created by Jang Sam-bong, the founding master of the Wudang Sect, was a defensive art that harmonized yin and yang to redirect and counter an opponent's attacks. In contrast, the Ten Severing Fist discarded yin entirely, channeling only yang energy into a purely aggressive style. As a descendant of Jang Sam-bong who possessed an extreme yang constitution, it was perhaps inevitable that he would learn the Ten Severing Fist.
Some might find it odd that a Taoist like Jang Sam-bong had descendants at all. This contradiction arose from the clash between King's Crown's unique rule—where players changed from generation to generation—and the traditional wuxia setting where Taoists never married. The developers of King's Crown prioritized the game's core mechanics over the unspoken traditions of wuxia. To them, the Wudang Sect was simply a powerful martial clan led by Jang Sam-bong, composed of various surnames. Naturally, these un-wuxia-like elements drew heavy criticism from players. Users flooded the Storm reviews for King's Crown with downvotes, complaining that they couldn't tell if it was the Wudang Sect or the Jang family clan, while spamming memes about Plum Blossom Sword Technique, Qi Circulation and Stone Devouring, and Silver Cloak Return.
Despite the backlash, King's Crown's ignorance of wuxia tropes wasn't fixed until version 1.4.0—and even then, it wasn't a free patch. The developers sold a several-thousand-won DLC called "Murim," which only earned them more hatred.
"Unleash the Resisting West Formation!"
At the royal guard captain's shout, the guards instantly formed a human formation centered around Batur Qan. The moment the formation was complete, half of them drew their short bows from their shoulders and nocked arrows from their waists. Their target was, of course, Jang Seok-gong, who radiated killing intent from the front.
Even with hundreds of royal guards aiming at him, Jang Seok-gong showed no sign of shrinking back. His gaze was fixed solely on the Khan Emperor. Meeting that stare head-on, the Khan Emperor gave the order.
"Fire!"
At the Emperor's command, the guards released their bowstrings in unison. Hundreds of arrows imbued with inner energy tore through the air toward Jang Seok-gong.
At that moment, he stomped the ground hard with his right foot, executing the Earth Stance. Dust exploded upward from the earth as a scorching energy surged like a rising dragon. Jang Seok-gong layered the mysteries of the Ten Severing Fist onto that energy, striking its side with palm techniques to amplify the rotational force. Just as striking the side of a spinning top makes it rotate faster, the extreme yang energy blazed with greater ferocity, whirling upward into the sky like a raging inferno.
That tremendous energy swallowed everything around it. Not only the hundreds of arrows fired by the guards, but even Jang Seok-gong himself, who had been closest to it, was pulled inside.
"Unleash the Resisting West Formation!"
To counter the overwhelmingly powerful and scorching yang whirlwind, the guards raised their inner energy to the limit while protecting the Emperor, desperately trying to block the force. The human formation they were using, called the Resisting West Formation, was something Batur Qan had devised after experiencing the massive-scale Western magic during his two western campaigns. Compared to Alhazard's own "Magic Dispelling," it wasn't particularly effective, but it was at least enough to prevent the annihilation of tens of thousands of troops in an instant.
"Kuh..."
"Huu... huu..."
Because the formation consumed the guards' inner energy at a rapid rate, exhaustion began to show on their faces as time passed. And as if he had been waiting for that moment, Jang Seok-gong suddenly burst out from the upper layer of the extreme yang whirlwind. His entire body, wrapped in flames, soared through the high sky like a bird.
In that instant, Batur Qan saw in his approaching figure a falcon diving bravely from the sky above the great plains to strike its prey. The falcon was so fast that the guards, distracted by blocking the yang energy, couldn't react before it reached the Khan Emperor's vicinity.
Thus, the Emperor instinctively drew the curved sword at his waist and let out a battle cry.
"Hiyaaaaat—!!"
With the eerie battle cry unique to the warriors of the great plains, a fierce sword aura erupted from Batur Qan's curved blade and slashed toward Jang Seok-gong, who was gliding through the sky.
"Haaaaap!!!"
Not to be outdone, Jang Seok-gong, cloaked in yang energy, traced the elegant curves unique to the Ten Severing Fist and unleashed palm techniques with both hands. An enormous amount of extreme yang energy poured from his palms, but it never reached the Emperor at the center of the formation. The inner energy of hundreds of guards had gathered around Batur Qan, protecting him.
Ka-deuk-deuk— Keu-keuk—!!!
Extreme yang energy clashed with the combined force of hundreds, spreading an unpleasant, terrible noise through the air. This single exchange decided their fortunes. Disappointment appeared on Jang Seok-gong's face, while bewilderment showed on Batur Qan's.
Though the two had been locked in a contest of strength, it lasted only a fleeting moment. The guards who had been protecting the Emperor instantly swung their curved swords, carving into Jang Seok-gong's body from all sides.
Clang! Che-eng!!
Surprisingly, metallic sounds rang out from Jang Seok-gong, who had taken the curved swords with his bare body. Most of the guards' blades failed to pierce his skin and bounced off. Only a few guards with exceptionally high-level martial arts managed to wound him, but the injuries weren't deep.
"Kuh-aaaaah!!!"
Jang Seok-gong abandoned his contest of strength with the Emperor and retreated, violently expelling extreme yang energy in all directions. The guards calmly maintained their formation, deflecting and dispersing the energy.
"...You are not Jang Seok-gong."
The Khan Emperor spoke quietly to Jang Seok-gong—or rather, the Blood Jiangshi—who was bleeding black blood from his body.
"If the real Jang Seok-gong had been here, that single strike would have killed me. Who are you? Why are you wearing Jang Seok-gong's shell?"
Batur Qan was right. Jang Seok-gong was the greatest martial artist of his era, a warrior who had reached the very edge of the Hwa-gyeong realm, known as the realm beyond human. If it had truly been him standing there, the Khan Emperor would undoubtedly have died from that blow. Of course, if the Blood Jiangshi before him had actually been Jang Seok-gong himself, he wouldn't have allowed himself to be caught off guard by such a surprise attack. After all, no matter how skilled Jang Seok-gong was in Hwa-gyeong, he couldn't have suddenly created a firestorm in empty air and ridden it like a bird.
"That incredible firestorm you just used was more like Western magic than martial arts. Did you learn it from Alhazard?"
Realizing that the Blood Jiangshi's martial arts were weaker than expected, the Khan Emperor regained his composure. The Blood Jiangshi, who had remained silent in response to the Emperor's question, suddenly snapped his head in one direction. He had sensed powerful energies approaching rapidly from afar.
"...I've lost."
The Blood Jiangshi calmly admitted defeat. The yang whirlwind he had created was so massive that anyone in the imperial palace would have seen it. If just a little more time passed, masters with high-level martial arts would arrive at this place. Time was clearly on the Emperor's side.
"You're right, Emperor. I am not Jang Seok-gong."
"Then who are you?"
At the Emperor's question, the Blood Jiangshi briefly looked down at his own body. His robes had been burned away in the fiery whirlwind, leaving only charred rags. Without hesitation, he grabbed the remnants and tore them off. His corpse-like white skin was revealed to the world. The "chimera synthetic artificial blood," an essential material for constructing automatons, trickled from the wounds scattered across his body and dripped to the ground.
"I am a failure."
He was the one among the seven Blood Jiangshi created by Alhazard—each representing the yin-yang and five elements—who embodied yang. Alhazard and the other Blood Jiangshi called him Extreme Yang. Originally, he was supposed to travel through a portal with the other Blood Jiangshi to Alhazard's workshop in the West. But Extreme Yang hadn't wanted to. The resentment of Jang Seok-gong, whose corpse had become the Blood Jiangshi's material, had seeped deep into the roots of that body and corrupted his mind. If he returned to the West like this, he might never see the Khan Emperor again. Then Jang Seok-gong's revenge would become impossible forever.
Realizing this, Extreme Yang had deliberately formed a qi barrier over his ears when Alhazard ordered him to enter the portal, blocking out the sound. By intentionally ignoring Alhazard's command, he had stayed behind to lure and kill the Khan Emperor—but he had failed.
In truth, there were several reasons his plan had failed. As the Khan Emperor pointed out, Extreme Yang was not Jang Seok-gong. Even though the main material composing his body was the corpse of a Hwa-gyeong master, his mind was Alhazard's personality, making him no different from an ordinary person ignorant of martial arts. The fact that he had mastered the Ten Severing Fist to this level in just a few years was purely the result of Extreme Yang's pure talent and thirst for revenge.
Another miscalculation was the strength of the Khan Emperor's martial arts. The Khan Emperor that Extreme Yang had imagined wasn't at the high level he displayed now. His standard had been based on Jang Seok-gong's experiences from over a decade ago, before his death. Back then, the Emperor's martial realm hadn't even reached the peak stage. The problem was that Batur Qan possessed the Ambitious trait. As explained before, Ambitious was a cheat-like trait that increased fame and abilities the more foreign lands one conquered. During the time he had competed with Jang Seok-gong, the Khan Emperor hadn't even conquered the East, let alone the Central Plains martial world. Now, he had conquered not only the East but so many vast lands near the distant West that they were countless, causing his abilities to skyrocket insanely. Moreover, among the countless treasures he had obtained while conquering the Central Plains martial world were supreme elixirs like the Shaolin Great Return Pill and the Wudang Taiching Pill. Having consumed such renowned elixirs, Batur Qan the Khan Emperor had become incomparably stronger in martial arts than he had been when Jang Seok-gong was alive.