The Fighting Spirit of Cheonun
The instant Qi Gongtian erupted, every Cheonun Sect disciple on the scene erupted with him.
BOOM!
Wang Maeng was the first. A wave of Profound Qi surged from his entire body, fierce enough to pierce the heavens. His carefully groomed hair was a wreck, but in his eyes flashed a fighting spirit no one had ever seen in him before.
He was pinning Qi Gongtian's shoulder with every ounce of strength he possessed. Terrifying Profound Qi flooded through him until he coughed up blood, but he never let go. Instead, a look of fierce, triumphant satisfaction spread across his face.
"Get lost? Heh. You Gi Clan son of a bitch — if you want to get past me today, you'll have to walk over my corpse!"
What?
Qi Gongtian looked back. The weak Cheonun Sect disciple he knew was nowhere to be found. In his place stood a savage wolf, the kind that would tear one last strip of flesh from its enemy even as it died.
What's gotten into this guy?
An unease he couldn't name crept over Qi Gongtian. He looked around — every last Cheonun Sect disciple had changed. They clenched their teeth and poured everything they had into the fight, turning their own bodies into shackles and their will into a prison, determined to pin the three clans' experts right where they stood.
"Let go of me! You Cheonun mongrel, how dare you—!"
Qi Gongtian roared. He had never seen anything like this in his life. He raised his right hand high, ready to smash it down on Wang Maeng's forehead — and that was when a hulking figure came flying in from the side and threw his entire body onto Qi Gongtian's right arm. Yo Yeong-chun ground his teeth and pinned that terrifying arm in place.
"No! No! Don't you dare insult our Cheonun Sect!"
Every Cheonun Sect disciple was shouting the same words. No matter how vicious and savage the three clans' experts became, the Cheonun Sect disciples were no longer afraid. They no longer wavered.
Damn it. There are over fifty of us — we'll bury every last one of you!
"Let go! Let go of me!"
The three clans' experts detonated their Profound Qi and sent someone flying.
"Eat shit!"
But even more Cheonun Sect disciples threw themselves in, staking their lives on it — grabbing hands, biting arms, blocking every path. Technique and dignity no longer meant a thing to them. All that remained was the conviction burning in their blood, and it was creating a spectacle that left everyone watching stunned.
This year's Cheonun Sect... they're truly different...!
Watching from outside, Maeng Chang-haeng wore a proud smile, tears welling at the corners of his eyes. He seemed to be saying, That's my boys! Today, you lot are true heroes!
Han Un and the other elders, along with the Cheonun Sect disciples who had already been eliminated — Mo Soo-mi among them — clenched their fists, eyes glistening, cheering on every last one of their fellow disciples.
"Hold on! Don't you dare let go! Pin those shameless bastards down!"
Everyone else was stunned. Naeng Chu, Gi Yeo-hae, Ouyang Cheong, Gongsun Hong — all of them were stunned. Every spectator watching was stunned.
If the Cheonun Sect disciples had looked shameless and ridiculous before, they were now coughing up blood and still smiling, still refusing to let their opponents go. What they were showing now was a shock that sank all the way to the bone. No one would ever dare look down on a group like this again.
What they didn't know was that in this very moment, in the hearts of those fifty-odd Cheonun Sect disciples — even in the heart of Beom Undae, who hated Yeop Pung more than anyone — lived a pride that had been born and raised in the Cheonun Sect. If someone would stand up for that pride, what did it matter if they had to fight with their lives on the line, right here, right now?
WHAM!
A heavy fist slammed into Wang Maeng, and he coughed up blood once more. Vivid crimson stained his white teeth, but his smile only grew more resolute, more dazzling. Yeop Pung's back had already vanished from his sight, yet he poured every last bit of his strength into a roar toward the sky.
The only sound in Yeop Pung's ears was the roar of the wind. He didn't need to look back to know what was happening.
This was a plan he and Old Man Maeng had already rehearsed many times over. Using every Cheonun Sect disciple's body as a shackle to pin down Qi Gongtian and his party — that was the operation. Grim as it was, they wouldn't take any truly serious injuries, and it would buy Yeop Pung all the time he needed.
And now Yeop Pung had no reason to look back. All he had to do was catch the twenty people ahead of him. The strongest young experts in Fengsang Commandery were right in front of him.
But Yeop Pung was already prepared. They had barely left the starting line when he burst into booming laughter.
Hahaha!
A massive peal of laughter swallowed heaven and earth, echoing across the vicinity of Taibai Peak.
Down below, still thrashing in the crowd, Qi Gongtian heard that laughter and ground his teeth. That damn Yeop Pung! How dare he laugh at us!
The Heavenly Phoenix Legion experts in the lead all wore expressions of contempt. A few of them glanced back at Yeop Pung trailing behind and spat out three words.
"Madman!"
Hahaha!
But the laughter didn't fade — it kept going. Yeop Pung ran like a fool, laughing as he went, and as he laughed he watched the cliffs.
They'll show up any moment now!
He had run this experiment more than ten times in his previous time travels. If Yeop Pung started laughing about three li from the trailhead, the monkeys would come running in as little as twenty minutes. Even at their slowest, they never took more than thirty. By then, they would be roughly at the midpoint of the mountain path. That was the perfect moment for Yeop Pung to start the real show.
Hahaha!
Yeop Pung kept laughing at the top of his lungs. No one knew what he was doing. Gradually, the people at the entrance could no longer hear the laughter. All they could do was stare toward the end of the mountain path, their eyes full of anticipation and fury.
Not a single person could have predicted what Yeop Pung's laughter would do to today's Ascent Battle...
Before anyone knew it, thirty minutes had passed since the Ascent Battle began. The chaos at the trailhead had more or less settled. In the end, of the remaining seventy-six, only one person clenched his teeth, broke through the crowd, and chased toward the mountain summit.
That person was Qi Gongtian. One hand clutched his pants; the other jabbed at the sky as he hurled curses.
"Yeop Pung, just you wait! I'll catch you, and when I do, you're finished!"
Behind him, exhausted Cheonun Sect disciples and young masters of the three clans lay tangled together. Every one of them was injured, and none had the strength left to push toward the summit.
From this moment, the Ascent Battle split into four groups. Twenty Heavenly Phoenix Legion members in the lead. Yeop Pung chasing about three li behind them. Two more participants trailing Yeop Pung by some fifteen hundred feet. And at the very back, Qi Gongtian struggling on alone.
No one had seen this coming. And yet, for all the mortifying spectacle that had just unfolded, the outcome wasn't a bad one for the heads of the three great clans.
"Come, everyone! Let's head up to the summit ourselves and wait for the first champion!"
Commander Naeng Chu gave the signal, then boarded a flying vessel and soared toward the summit. The remaining clan patriarchs each employed their own mystical arts to carry their disciples to the peak of Taibai Peak. The unaffiliated participants could no longer watch this thrilling contest, and could only look on with regret.
Just as the patriarchs took to the sky and set foot on the summit of Taibai Peak, something no one noticed was unfolding. In a forest a short distance from Cheonun Peak, black shadows were racing toward Taibai Peak like lightning.
Damn it! That man had finally shown himself again!
Sa Cheonseong was a cold man. Coldness meant stillness.
He liked to train alone on quiet, empty nights in the Heavenly Phoenix Legion. He savored the solitude that stillness brought; in his world, it was enough that he alone existed. Growing stronger, and stronger still, endlessly stronger — that was all he needed.
And yet... right now, someone was trampling the stillness in Sa Cheonseong's heart without mercy.
Hahaha!
That laughter is infuriating!
Sa Cheonseong furrowed his brow without realizing it. Even so, he was a remarkably patient man. The other nineteen members of the Heavenly Phoenix Legion, however, were already at their breaking point.
Damn it! Would you shut up with that godawful laughing?! I'm going to lose my mind!
That laughter was like disgusting caterpillars and earthworms crawling into their ears and gnawing at their brains. Hearing it for a moment was one thing. Hearing it nonstop was enough to drive a man insane. If their captain, Sa Cheonseong, had so much as said a word, those Heavenly Phoenix Legion warriors — who showed mercy to no one — would already have beaten Yeop Pung to death with their fists.
But even Sa Cheonseong's patience had its limits. He could ignore a paltry insect. He could not ignore that insect buzzing in his ear without end.
They had reached roughly the halfway point of the mountain path when a landscape of pure white snow unfolded before them. Sa Cheonseong stopped.
Hahaaaah~
From behind, that insufferable laughter was still tormenting their ears.
Sa Cheonseong didn't look back. He simply spat the words in a voice of ice.
"Yes, sir!"
Four Heavenly Phoenix Legion warriors immediately detonated the Profound Qi throughout their bodies and answered in heavy voices. Finally, we get to deal with that bastard!
Four white shadows leapt backward in an instant and soared into the air. They were as light and elegant as four cranes taking flight — and at the same time, they brimmed with killing intent.
Among them, a short-haired young man had a particularly vicious look. With every burst of Yeop Pung's laughter, the fine hairs on his body stood on end, then settled, then stood again. He was already seized by the urge to rip Yeop Pung's mouth apart. At last, he would get to vent.
He was the first to draw the long sword at his waist, slashing a razor-sharp blade of sword qi through the air. White fragments of energy danced like scraps of silk as they flew toward Yeop Pung.
"You lowlife — shut your mouth, now!"
Yeop Pung's laughter cut off.
Still hanging in midair, the short-haired young man caught a flicker of panic on Yeop Pung's face. He cheered inwardly. Hmph. Coward. Scared of a single sword?
But something he never saw coming unfolded. At that very moment, several enormous monkeys, their entire bodies covered in gray fur, poked their heads out from the cliffs on both sides of the ascent path.
And because the short-haired young man had leapt the highest, he was the first thing the monkeys laid eyes on. White robes with red patterns. The monkeys knew exactly who he was.
The monkeys' eyes flushed red in an instant.