Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Invincible Master
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The monster's appearance was utterly shocking.
Distracted by Seop Dae-gang, neither Bing-seol nor Heuk Do-san had noticed him at all. Yet Seop Dae-gang, who was the farthest away, sensed the presence first.
Detecting the presence of a living being was purely in the realm of internal energy. He had heard that the Huashan Sect's secret internal art, the Violet Haze Divine, was extraordinary, but he hadn't expected it to be like this.
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
Step by step.
The monster stepped across the sandy floor. The moment he entered the lantern light's range, his form was revealed in stark clarity.
Was his height even five cheok—about 150 cm?
His silver hair hung messily, draping over his small shoulders, and between the fur clothing, his neck and limbs showed almost no flesh at all.
His age—who knew how many years he had lived? His face, covered in age spots, was etched with deep wrinkles.
But his deeply set eyes gleamed coldly like chunks of ice.
'Is that... a human form...?'
Even more shocking was something else.
Dangling limply from both sides of the monster were a man and a woman. Shockingly, they were Mo Yong-ak and Hong Gong-tak. He had somehow captured the two of them in the meantime.
'When the hell...!'
When a human dies, their blood cools, muscles stiffen, and the body hardens quickly. But their dangling hands and necks swayed limply, suggesting they were still alive.
First he lured Hyeon-gak and Bing-seol, then took down Gong Cheon-ak, himself, and Yeom Jin-sang, and now he had kidnapped Hong Gong-tak and Mo Yong-ak too.
Heuk Do-san felt like he was facing an utterly unstoppable colossal foe.
The monster casually tossed Mo Yong-ak and Hong Gong-tak aside. Then he continued walking toward the center of the cavern.
Heuk Do-san tightened his grip on the lasso. Seop Dae-gang was a wildcard, but he had to bind the monster before he grasped the situation inside the cave.
'The old monster first.'
Fortunately, the monster was heading straight for the spot where he had buried the lasso.
'Just five more steps...'
Then the monster suddenly halted. He twisted his head and glared at Heuk Do-san.
In that instant, Heuk Do-san felt as if two torches were stabbing into his eye sockets.
'No way he noticed?'
He squeezed out every ounce of strength to feign being under a spell. Fortunately, the monster just stared with a somber expression, taking no further action.
'What the hell is he planning?'
The monster withdrew his gaze and resumed walking.
At that moment, Seop Dae-gang stealthily emerged from behind the stalactite on the ceiling. His skill in sliding down the slippery stalactite was impressive enough, but moving right beside him without a single trace of presence was simply astonishing.
He had drawn his longsword at some point, holding it in one hand. The plan was to drop using the Thousand Jin Hammer technique as the monster passed below and split his back in two.
No expert in the world could withstand a surprise attack, especially from an unexpected angle in mid-air.
But the point where Seop Dae-gang and the monster would meet was exactly half a step before the buried lasso.
Of course, Seop Dae-gang was oblivious.
If the bastard just took half a step more, Heuk Do-san could lasso from below while Seop Dae-gang struck from above, doubling the success rate of the ambush.
'Seop Dae-gang, please...'
In that instant, the monster appeared below the stalactite. He placed one foot inside the lasso.
Seop Dae-gang's eyes gleamed coldly.
'No! Wait!'
Seop Dae-gang kicked off the stalactite and dropped.
Swoosh!
With a sharp whoosh, the longsword sliced toward the monster's back.
'Damn it!'
Heuk Do-san yanked hard on the rope connected to the lasso.
Fortunately, Seop Dae-gang's longsword cleaved precisely through the monster's back.
But the expected slicing sound didn't come, nor did blood spray. In that split second, with speed too fast for the eye to follow, the monster had stepped back.
Heuk Do-san's lasso had succeeded in ensnaring the monster's ankle, even if just barely. But for some reason, the monster didn't budge.
Instead, with tremendous rebound force, Heuk Do-san's body flipped upright. By then, Seop Dae-gang had landed on the ground.
"Attack!"
Heuk Do-san shouted.
Startled by Heuk Do-san's sudden appearance, Seop Dae-gang had no time to react as he slashed lightning-fast at the monster's side.
Heuk Do-san, surging up, swung the axe he had grabbed with full force.
Targeting the shoulder.
From the left, Seop Dae-gang's longsword sliced at the side, from the right, his own axe chopped at the shoulder—no expert under heaven could evade that.
Swoosh!
Whoosh!
But incredibly, both Seop Dae-gang and Heuk Do-san cleaved and chopped empty air.
"Keep attacking!"
Heuk Do-san shouted again.
From then on, there were no forms or techniques. He wildly swung the axe at the monster's upper body. Seop Dae-gang too unleashed a frenzy of sword strikes.
But each time, the monster's upper body swayed like fallen leaves swept by a broom, like a candle flickering in the wind, dodging axe and sword alike.
Ghostly movement.
'Illusion technique!'
A sorcery that overlays illusions on surroundings to deceive the enemy's eyes. At this rate, even a hundred techniques wouldn't touch a hem of the monster's robe.
'Damn it!'
In that moment, the monster's counterattack began.
"Go!"
With a roar that echoed through the cavern, the monster lightly flicked his sleeve.
Boom!
Just a sleeve flick unleashed a tremendous gust.
Seop Dae-gang's longsword, thrusting powerfully at the monster's heart, bounced away as if struck by lightning.
Heuk Do-san's axe too crashed into the ground, unable to resist the force.
In that instant, the monster's bony wrist flew toward the axe, intent on snatching it.
In the blink of an eye, he spotted the lasso around the monster's ankle. Heuk Do-san yanked with all his might on the lasso still clutched in his left hand.
"Urk!"
With a death rattle, the monster lost balance and staggered.
'Got him!'
Using the Naeryeo Ta-gon's rolling technique, Heuk Do-san tumbled twice, then snatched the two iron clubs buried in the sand.
Simultaneously leaping like lightning, he targeted the monster's back. Right on cue, Seop Dae-gang swung his sword from the front.
No matter how skilled in illusions, with a broken stance, he couldn't cope.
"Where!"
The monster suddenly twisted his body and unleashed double palms.
Boom!
Another tremendous gust raged. The iron clubs plummeted back to the ground, and Seop Dae-gang's sword flew upward.
But the Huashan Plum Blossom Swordsmanship was extraordinary; just before the sword bounced away, Seop Dae-gang finally sliced a strip from the monster's chest.
Rip!
Cloth tore, and blood droplets sprayed. At the same instant, a heavy palm exploded from Seop Dae-gang's wide-open chest.
Boom!
Like Gong Cheon-ak before in the cavern, and Heuk Do-san, Seop Dae-gang flew back six or seven strides, crashed into the stone wall, and fell.
Even then, he quickly readjusted his longsword and tried to rise.
But soon, he spewed a gush of dark red blood, fell on his rear, and slumped.
One single palm.
The seventeenth-generation disciple of Huashan Sect, the current inheritor of the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, felled by a single counter.
Seop Dae-gang leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
'That bastard can't even think of counterattacking, so he must be in real agony.'
By now, his internals were shaken, his mind hazy. Yet not collapsing immediately like Heuk Do-san showed the Orthodox school's internal energy was indeed formidable.
The monster whirled like a gale, extending his left palm toward Heuk Do-san too. Blood seeped through his chest, but he paid it no mind, as if it were a trivial wound.
Heuk Do-san quickly tossed aside the two iron clubs and raised both hands high.
"I surrender!"
"......!"
The monster still hadn't withdrawn his hand. Bloody energy coiled thickly between his skeletal fingers like pine roots.
Ready to unleash a palm strike at any moment.
Just looking at it chilled his chest.
"I already took one hit earlier."
Heuk Do-san clearly restated his intent to surrender.
The monster stared at Heuk Do-san for a long time with an expression like, what kind of guy is this? Then he belatedly noticed the two iron clubs on the ground and rolled his eyes back white.
"I went to get my axe and bow and figured I needed something extra... Sorry."
The monster suddenly strode forward and grabbed Heuk Do-san's jaw with one hand. It happened in the blink of an eye.
Then.
Boom!
An unknown force exploded from the monster's palm center. A heavy impact jolted through his jawbone and spine.
"Gah!"
Heuk Do-san clutched his nape and rolled on the ground. Breath caught in his throat, unspeakable pain surged. It felt like lightning had pierced him.
Dark energy.
A type of Probing Ki that experts shoot from their palms. If the monster had any intent to kill, he would have died instantly without feeling pain.
Having easily downed Heuk Do-san, the monster paced the cavern with hands behind his back.
"Strange, strange."
Heuk Do-san heard the monster's voice properly for the first time. It grated like scraping a wok with an iron spatula.
The monster's incomprehensible actions and mutterings continued.
"Strange, strange. Very strange."
'Damn it, what's so strange?'
Amid twisting in agony, Heuk Do-san watched the old man's movements.
The monster stopped to gaze at the wall, then paced with head bowed.
"Could it be because of that? No. No. That can't be. It's impossible. But why? Then maybe because of that? No, no."
'Is he really mad?'
The monster writhed like someone facing an unsolvable riddle. Then he suddenly halted, tore at his hair, and screamed.
"Aah, strange. Strange."
'Definitely insane.'
"Should I ask?"
The monster stopped screaming and said.
He glanced sideways at Heuk Do-san and asked.
"How did you get here?"
'He was agonizing just to ask that?'
It was absurd.
Normally in this situation, wouldn't he rage about the attempt to kill him, or demand to know who sent them?
But after downing them, his question was how they got here?
"You think I don't know?"
'......?'
"Heaven forbid. I don't know now. But give it time, and I'll figure it out alone. That's insight, intuition. So what I'm asking now is just to shorten that time. I'll ask again. How did you get here?"
'What nonsense is this?'
"Ignoring my words?"
Flames of malice poured from the monster's eyes. He extended his hook-like hand and approached.
"I'll gouge your eyes!"
"Wait!"
Heuk Do-san yelled.
The monster's bony hands halted right before his eyes.
Heuk Do-san swallowed dryly once, then asked.
"What do you want exactly?"
"Is that a question now?"
"I asked, so of course it's a question."
"Kehhehe. Good attitude. The young must be full of curiosity. Indeed."
The monster grinned broadly in satisfaction. His toothless smile looked even more grotesque.
"Literally, the reason you lot came here."
No matter how he looked, there seemed to be some circumstance. Heuk Do-san thought he needed to learn the monster's identity first.
Negotiation means giving what the opponent wants as late as possible while getting what you want. To do that, he needed to buy time first.
"When you stopped earlier, you noticed that guy ambushing on the stalactite, right? So you pretended to glare at me to lure his attack?"
"How did you know?"
"Did you notice I woke up too?"
"Of course."
"How did you know?"
"Footprints everywhere."
"There were footprints everywhere before too. You don't mean you memorized all those footprints?"
"Naturally. That's why the sand was laid. Hm? Come to think of it, why didn't you fall for the Seven Stars Bewitching Soul Formation? And how did you cut the rope?"
The formation at the cave entrance must be called the Seven Stars Bewitching Soul Formation. Strictly speaking, Heuk Do-san hadn't fallen for it; he'd woken quickly.
"That..."
"No, don't answer. Cancel that."
"......?"
"No more questions? Ask anything. I'll answer all."
He was at a loss.
Tell him not to answer when he asks, then asks if there's more to question.
'What kind of ridiculous old man is this?'