Chapter 415
Chapter 415
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 415
Chapter Title: Spectacle (4)
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The moment my palm strike clashed against Jin Gworyang's.
A tremendous wave of energy scattered the dirt, and a deafening roar assaulted our ears.
BOOOOM!!!!!!!
Jin Gworyang's palm force, infused with the energy of the Heaven-Splitting Divine Art, had been neutralized.
The only immediate damage to me was my tattered martial robe's upper garment bursting apart.
However, the primal energy that had pooled between Jin Gworyang and me soon pressed down on me.
"...Kuh."
An overwhelming pressure, too dense to withstand, began to bear down.
Witnessing my struggle, Jin Gworyang sneered.
"I don't know where you learned it, but your heart technique shares roots with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's martial arts. Yet, unlike your boasts, it seems you can't fully handle it?"
"Keh... I'm the type who opens presents slowly anyway."
"...A present? Ha. Even in this situation, you're bluffing? I'll give you credit for your nerve, but the Hundred Schools' elders who aided you are gone now. It's just you."
He was right.
Those who had been flung back trying to block Jin Gworyang, and those disrupted by the recent shockwave.
All of them rose swiftly and charged toward Jin Gworyang.
But none could launch an attack at him.
In this situation, mishandling Jin Gworyang could endanger me as well.
"Kekeke. Kehahahaha."
Jin Gworyang seemed delighted by this, grinning crookedly to reveal his uneven teeth.
"Slowly. Bit by bit. I'll crush you. And in the end, when your bluff pops like a bubble and you scream in agony as you die... those who could only watch helplessly won't forgive themselves."
"...Kuhk, with ambitions like that, you're a true great demonic head. Hoo. Too bad everything else falls short, so you devoured all your followers and ended up like this?"
The moment he bared his teeth and ground them.
"...Yes, yes. Blather on all you want. That way, your screams will taste even sweeter."
The primal energy pooled between us inched closer to me.
Crunch-
At that moment, every joint in my body began to ache terribly.
That was when my master spoke.
- Visualize a sword in your heart.
'A sword in the heart... Do you mean the Heart Sword?'
One who had reached the realm of manifesting a sword with mere thought could extend it toward Jin Gworyang even now.
But that was impossible for me at present.
'...Isn't that a realm reached only at the pinnacle of no-mind? This disciple is still far from it.'
I sent back my question.
My master replied in a stern voice.
- Did I say to manifest a sword? I said to visualize it. Every martial artist has a sword in their heart. You simply fail to recognize it because you think it's distant.
'...You fail to recognize it because you deem it distant.'
- Of course, drawing that sword is another matter. But at your current level, you can at least gaze upon it. Don't view it as some remote realm—contemplate it. The Heaven-Splitting inner energy isn't merely accumulated power. Every swing of your sword and step you've taken has been forged within you.
Following my master's words,
I visualized the heart formula of the Heaven-Splitting Divine Art.
And quietly contemplated the days I had swung my sword.
'Regret, gained when I was exiled from the family.'
The sloppy swings using black magic, now embarrassingly crude in hindsight.
'The moment I met my master.'
Moths drawn to the prodigal label, and the demons encountered walking that path.
And the giants of the Hundred Schools martial world.
Facing the time I had relentlessly swung Regret without rest,
'Is this the sword in my heart?'
I realized that the path I had walked had been forged into a single sword, just as my master said.
At the same time, I understood that drawing it now would be difficult.
'But I can grip it.'
I reached out and grasped the sword of my heart.
My closed eyelids naturally lifted.
'You fail to recognize it because you deem it distant, fail to reach it because you deem it profound.'
With the intent to draw the gripped Heart Sword, I took a step as my foundation.
Thud.
That step became a true stance, fiercely striking the primal energy pooled between Jin Gworyang and me.
Kurrrr rumble-
The greatly rippling energy exploded outward, surging toward Jin Gworyang.
Caught in the storm, his body scattered like mist, and with a dazed expression, he uttered one phrase.
"...Heavenly Demon Supremacy?"
"That's the fake version."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ KABOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!
With the erupting primal energy, Jin Gworyang turned to dust and perished.
"Yong-un!"
"Young Master Eon!"
"Lord Yong-un!"
Voices calling my name arose from those around me simultaneously.
But it was too early to say everything was over.
"Kuh."
To avoid being caught in the storm that annihilated Jin Gworyang, I had absorbed the energies.
Now they rampaged within my meridians.
I quickly signaled Yin Xia Lian and Zhuge Seolji with my eyes.
'You two handle wrapping up the rest.'
I immediately sat cross-legged, sinking my consciousness back into my inner world.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud!!
In my inner world, the energies I faced took the form of thousands of stampeding cattle.
'If I send those into my blood wheels... it'll truly be a fateful encounter. If not...'
I discarded such thoughts.
I summoned the Heaven-Splitting inner energy to my back.
And charged at the lead crimson beast among the herd.
Thwack.
I seized its horns firmly.
For a moment, the beast drooling saliva from its blood-red eyes bellowed.
Moooooo!!!
The remaining thousands of cattle merged into the one in my grasp,
Transforming into a colossal bull.
My stance began to give way inch by inch.
Screeech.
Screeech screeech.
As my footing slipped further,
The amassed colossal bull finally shifted into a blood-red tsunami shrieking deafeningly.
Squeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
It poured down as if to devour me.
"Not... quite. It's too early to give up."
Unyielding, I regulated my breathing and steadied my inner world.
"The sword I gripped when I blasted Jin Gworyang. I draw that sword."
If I could just draw it somehow, I could vent all that energy in one go.
With that thought, I tried to visualize the sword in my inner world once more.
Swish-
At that moment,
I felt someone place a hand on my cross-legged body.
'...Isn't it common sense in the jianghu not to disturb one circulating energy?'
As all sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind,
'Who?'
Why?
Has another variable arisen on the battlefield?
Shaaaa-
A clear, refreshing energy began flowing into my meridians.
That influx soon turned into a gentle breeze enveloping me.
As if warning that the Heart Sword must not be drawn rashly by the unprepared, the breeze that had wrapped around me strand by strand began to rotate.
Whirl!
Whirrrl!
The rotating wind traced a taiji symbol for a moment.
The resentments in the crimson tsunami bearing down on me were caught in the taiji, screaming as they sublimated.
Squeeeeee!
Thanks to that, the fragmented resentment shards became manageable,
And I hurled them into my blood wheels.
When I sealed away the infused energy and opened my eyes,
"!"
Myeongyeong, who had placed her hand on my back, vomited blood and collapsed to the side.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Immediately after the battle with the Blood Heaven Asura Palace ended.
While directing the cleanup of the battlefield, I was caught by Dang Okgi.
Held by her for quite some time.
Sizzle.
The moxibustion on my body finished burning,
And Dang Okgi opened her acupuncture kit.
With treatment seemingly complete, I rose,
"All good?"
Dang Okgi reopened the kit and jabbed me with a long needle.
"All good? All gooooood? Like hell it's good! What could possibly be good!!!"
"Nng. I have somewhere to go..."
"Ack!!! Eon Yong-un, because of you, I can't die in peace! Where are you off to pull some crazy stunt now? Just lie down already!"
Yin Ha-seong, who was with us, shook his head.
"...Our Brother Yong-un really isn't human. Please, just stay put. If something goes wrong because you move? Not just Sister Okgi—me and those two over there become wanted criminals in the martial world."
Where Yin Ha-seong pointed, Jang Seon and Paeng So-cheon stood.
"What, four people babysitting me? We're short-handed outside. Especially those two—they're strong. Isn't this a waste?"
As Paeng So-cheon and Jang Seon nodded contentedly at my words,
"I am pretty strong."
"Hehe."
Dang Okgi thrust another long needle and spoke.
"You asking 'cause you don't know?! This is to keep you from running off!"
Having heard all the scolding from the physician,
I lightly evaded her strikes and spoke.
"I don't recall doing anything weird elsewhere. But anyway, where I'm headed now is where Senior Myeongyeong is."
"......"
"Right after vomiting blood, the Wudang Five Heroes took her away, and then you grabbed me, so I couldn't check on her. Come along if you want."
At my words, Dang Okgi rolled her eyes and closed her kit again.
I headed to the tent where Myeongyeong was resting, together with my suspicious younger siblings shooting me looks.
As I walked, I recalled Myeongyeong's aid.
'...To think she'd transfer her vital energy.'
Thanks to her, I escaped the devilish tribulation easily.
My original inner energy, the absorbed primal energy, and Myeongyeong's transferred power combined, more than doubling my inner energy.
'In terms of inner energy alone, no one in the Hundred Schools might match me.'
However, Myeongyeong had lost nearly all her accumulated power as a result.
Pondering if this was truly for the best as I walked,
"Over there."
We soon reached the tent now used by the Wudang disciples.
Jeonghyeon, guarding the front, greeted with his eyes.
"Young Mas—"
Inside the wide-open tent, a pale-faced Myeongyeong was bickering with Myeonghan, the youngest of the Wudang Five Heroes.
"This is enough. Leave me be."
"Don't be like that—say ahhh. Just one more spoonful. Come on, Eldest Brother. Ahhh."
"Do I look like a child to you?"
"No different! A lifelong sword-swinger loses his inner energy—where's he gonna get strength? The road home's nine thousand li; eat up to recover your vitality quick."
Then, my eyes met theirs.
"......"
"...Didn't I say I was fine ages ago."
Myeonghan set down the bowl and acknowledged me.
"The Dragon Calamity arrives. Are you alright?"
"Yes. Thanks to you."
Myeongyeong issued a guest dismissal to Myeonghan.
"That look says you have words for me. Step out for a bit. Feed that porridge to your junior."
A dismissal to Myeonghan, but an invitation to me.
I straightened my robes, entered, and cupped my hands in salute.
Myeongyeong nodded and spoke.
"So, what is it you want to say?"
I got straight to the point about her actions.
"I could have handled it alone."
"Haha. Talk that'd deflate your helper... But I like that confidence."
"Why did you do it?"
"Because it was the right thing. I couldn't just leave it."
"...I'm not sure I understand. The Blood Cult is merely one pillar removed from propping up the Ten Myriad Great Mountains. Yet we fought this grueling battle. The world needs the Infinite Sword."
"You just boasted you could do it alone. But what if you couldn't?"
"......"
"The world needs the Dragon Calamity too."
Myeongyeong stroked his chin thoughtfully mid-sentence,
"Hm. Where to start... Ah, first things first."
Suddenly, he spoke of the origins of my martial arts.
"Your martial arts likely trace back to a master from about a century ago. The Sword Demon, Wi Cheol-jin. From him, right?"
