Chapter 64
Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Life and Death Duel
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"After clashing for over a thousand exchanges, I lost by the slimmest margin of a single strike and breath. The sandstorm hadn't even fully cleared back then."
A single strike and breath was a razor-thin difference that could arise from one errant breath.
One that could shift with mood or physical condition that day.
Yet Snow Mountain Old Man couldn't accept even that.
But thinking it over, the Heavenly Demon's victory was only natural. He was the strongest man in the current martial world, after all.
Heuk Do-san was instead shocked that Snow Mountain Old Man had held his own against the Heavenly Demon.
'This madman was that strong?'
"For some reason, though, the Heavenly Demon didn't kill me. He said that right now in this desert, thousands of White Path martial artists led by Yeop Jeong-cho had spread a dragnet to capture me. But he didn't want to hand me over to them. He said he'd spare my life if I promised not to return to the Central Plains martial world for thirty years."
"And?"
"Back then or now, I've never clung to life. But after perfecting the Hundred Thousand Great Heaven Palms, I wanted to defeat the Heavenly Demon once for sure. So for the first time, I broke the code of life-and-death duels."
"......!"
"Then, from the sandstorm appeared dozens of shamans in bizarre attire. They surrounded me, chanting strange incantations, shaking bells, and hurling talismans. Suddenly, dry lightning cracked through the sandstorm. And I vanished."
"Vanished?"
"I ended up trapped in the Nine Heavens Illusion Grand Ancestral Formation and brought here, just like you."
"......!"
What nonsense was this?
Heuk Do-san was stunned for a long while.
He'd heard from Bing-seol that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's shamans had tested the Nine Heavens Illusion Grand Ancestral Formation in the great tent. But he hadn't expected Snow Mountain Old Man to fall victim too.
"What's your name?"
"Heuk Do-san."
"Your techniques were a chaotic mess. Where on earth did you pick up such half-baked martial arts?"
"Whenever I needed skills for the battlefield, I learned whatever I could from old mercenaries."
"What did you do before becoming a mercenary?"
"I was a scholar."
"A scholar?"
"Yes."
"What a peculiar fellow. So you have no master who properly taught you martial arts?"
"If war was my master, then yes."
"Hmm......"
Snow Mountain Old Man rested his chin on one hand, lost in thought. The anger had largely faded from his face, but since he was so unpredictable, Heuk Do-san stayed on high alert.
At last, having finished thinking, Snow Mountain Old Man spoke.
"I have a way to reveal my existence to the world while also preserving your life. How about it? Want to hear it?"
'What scheme is this madman cooking up now?'
"What is it?"
"I haven't counted the years for so long that I don't know my exact age, but I'm probably around a hundred and twenty now. As you see, it's far too late to conquer the world or perfect my martial arts."
Heuk Do-san had never seen anyone over a hundred and twenty still alive. It was an age where dropping dead any moment wouldn't be strange.
He felt humiliated that a walking corpse like this had overpowered him so easily.
But what could he do? The reality was that his skills couldn't even match the old man's toe.
'Why drag it out like this? What is he getting at?'
"I'll be direct. From now on, learn the Hundred Thousand Great Heaven Palms. Go out into the world, defeat all the strong ones, and prove that the Hundred Thousand Great Heaven Palms is the supreme martial art under heaven. Defeat the Heavenly Demon above all. Then......"
"Wait a minute."
"Hm?"
"Are you telling me to become your disciple right now?"
"Exactly."
"Why me......?"
"I've devoted my life to exploring demonic arts, but I never mastered eternal life. Perhaps it's the natural order for a body born of man."
"That's not what I asked."
"I'm telling you now, aren't I? I'm old and sickly, but you're young. Become my disciple and carry on my martial lineage. I declare that my lineage is the world's finest."
"Why me, of all people?"
"First, people are precious here. Second, I don't have much time left. Third, I like your sharp tongue."
He'd sweet-talked a bit to buy time, and it seemed to have hooked the old fool.
"If I refuse to become your disciple, you'll kill me."
"Of course."
"What about my comrades?"
"One disciple is enough."
"......!"
He'd take him as disciple and kill the rest. Even if he promised to spare them all, it was dubious; now he threatened to kill them outright? The old man knew nothing of negotiation.
No.
Snow Mountain Old Man simply said whatever he wanted. Having lived without regard for anyone his whole life, his thoughts spilled out raw and unfiltered.
"You're telling me to betray my comrades to save my own skin."
"It's all for your sake. If the Hundred Thousand Great Heaven Palms becomes known before you perfect it, experts will swarm like clouds to kill you and steal the manual. Train for exactly ten years, enduring bone-shattering pain. Then no one will touch a hair on your head."
"I can't do that."
"That's the rivers and lakes."
"I'm not a rivers-and-lakes man."
"Everywhere you stand is the rivers and lakes."
"I'll say it clearly. No."
Snow Mountain Old Man looked utterly flustered at Heuk Do-san's knife-sharp refusal. He hadn't expected such a straightforward rejection.
"Don't you want to grow strong?"
"I'm managing fine as is."
"In the rivers and lakes, you can fell ten foes only to die to one stronger than me."
"I don't want to be bound."
"Weakness is bondage itself. Only one called supreme can enjoy true freedom."
"If freedom comes from killing others, I'll choose a bound life instead."
To master the Hundred Thousand Great Heaven Palms required absorbing the vital essence of living people. Who in their right mind would walk a demonic path for supremacy?
"You fool. Do you truly not grasp the tremendous opportunity before you?"
"The sun and moon seem to share the sky, yet they inhabit different realms. You'll never find common ground with me, no matter how long we talk."
"Then you must die."
"Kill me."
"Your comrades must die too."
"You planned to kill them anyway, didn't you?"
"......"
"You crazy old bastard."
"W-what did you say?"
"Learning has no end, and hardship is man's fate. Think sitting at the pinnacle brings perfect freedom? Nonsense. Beggars have beggars' worries, emperors have emperors'. Do you even know no emperor has ever died of old age through all history?"
Snow Mountain Old Man's face twisted horribly at Heuk Do-san's blazing rebuke. Flames poured from his beast-like tiny pupils.
"You worm!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Snow Mountain Old Man thrust out both palms. Blood-red energy swirled around his gaunt hands.
'Now!'
Heuk Do-san flung the sand he'd gripped beforehand straight into the old man's wide-open eyes.
Too close to dodge.
"Gah!"
Snow Mountain Old Man clutched his eyes and staggered back. Heuk Do-san sprang up like a bolt and shouted.
"Now!"
Bing-seol, who had been holding her breath all this time, hurled a stone that toppled the lamp.
Thud!
The fire went out, plunging the cave back into pitch darkness.
In that moment, Heuk Do-san leaped to a spot he'd eyed earlier, snatched up two iron rods from the floor, kicked off his shoes, and charged toward where Snow Mountain Old Man had been.
"I'll kill you!"
Sensing his approach, Snow Mountain Old Man roared like a lion and unleashed twin palms. But Heuk Do-san, who had anticipated this counter, had already kicked off the ground and soared.
Boom!
A torrent of palm force whipped up a gale beneath his feet. By then, Heuk Do-san was above the old man's head, striking down with all his life's energy.
Crack!
'Hit!'
The heavy rebound told him he'd struck true on the head.
"Ugh!"
A short cry, and he sensed Snow Mountain Old Man staggering back. Faint light gleamed from the shoes now visible on him.
Hitting the ground, Heuk Do-san stuck like a shadow, denying any counter and unleashing the rods in a storm.
Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!
Among known protective qi arts, Shaolin Temple's Golden Bell was the strongest. Perfected, it made the body hard as bronze—an external art.
But even Golden Bell wasn't immortal; greater force would shatter it.
Let alone the bones and flesh of a man over a hundred and twenty. Especially since he hadn't trained Golden Bell.
Unknowing the old man's moves in the dark, Heuk Do-san ignored forms.
He rained merciless blows.
A head hit would crack the skull, a shoulder the collarbone, a chest the ribs.
He targeted not just upper body but legs too. Thigh, knee, shin—the thickest bones, but once broken, crippling most combat power.
"S-stop... stop!"
"Shut up, you crazy old geezer!"
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
Having lost initiative in the first ambush, Snow Mountain Old Man found no chance to counter.
He took the wildly flying rods helplessly in the dark. Then suddenly, he bellowed like thunder.
"Stop, I said!"
Rumble!
A lion's roar that shook the entire chamber. Something whooshed in, seizing his arms and waist, yanking him down.
'Damn it!'
His head rang.
An immense force he'd never felt before crushed his torso.
Crunch-crack!
Joints twisted and snapped. Like being bitten by a giant beast.
Heuk Do-san was gripped by agony and terror that his body would snap in two.
Clang! Clang!
The two iron rods slipped from his hands to the floor.
In that instant, he'd struck dozens of times with iron rods. Enough to shatter boulders.
Yet not only unbroken—how did such strength remain?
Then.
"Hah!"
Snow Mountain Old Man suddenly screamed and writhed. The arms clamping him slackened in that instant.
"I stabbed his side!"
A sharp cry pierced the darkness.
It was Bing-seol.
But what had she stabbed with?
A dagger. She'd pulled the one embedded in Yeom Jin-sang's left shoulder and thrust it.
Heuk Do-san headbutted what he guessed was the old man's philtrum.
Thud!
"Urk!"
More strength ebbed from Snow Mountain Old Man's body. Heuk Do-san wrenched his arms free from the barely clinging grip.
"Raaagh!"
Roaring, he shoulder-charged the old man. Then summoned every ounce of strength left and shoved him all the way.
Thud!
A heavy impact—Snow Mountain Old Man's back hit the wall. Having pinned him there, Heuk Do-san pummeled his face with balled fists.
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!
The feel of eyes, nose, cheekbones, jaw transmitted to his knuckles. Sounds grew heavier, sticky.
As an expert, Heuk Do-san knew it was blood. The old man's face was becoming a bloody mess.
Judging the face sufficiently battered, he hammered throat, chest, shoulders, ribs, and sides.
Thud! Thump! Thud-thud-thud!
"Die!"
Then a bony palm shot out, slapping against his chest. Having tasted dark energy on the jaw before, Heuk Do-san's mind flashed alert.
But a martial expert's hand always outpaces the mind.
Splaaat!
A dark energy beyond compare to the jaw strike!
Blood vessels burst, organs ruptured, bones shattered throughout. Unable to withstand the mighty dark energy, Heuk Do-san flew back, slamming into the opposite wall and crumpling.
Thud!