Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: One Against a Hundred
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War Sword King Chapter 85
Everyone was dumbfounded.
They had wandered the world and witnessed countless battles between masters, but they swore they had never seen such a bizarre fight. It wasn't even a divine weapon—just a single cauldron had sent eleven masters flying in the blink of an eye.
Among the gathered crowd, the top experts—Cheongjin Dojang, Sichuan Spear Burning Skull, Death King, and Hong Gongtak—felt as if they'd been struck in the back of the head with a hammer.
How had they not realized such a powerful master was among them? No, they'd even exchanged words with him—how had they failed to notice anything at all?
As everyone stared with slack-jawed expressions, their pupils fixed in shock, Heuk Do-san scanned the room and locked eyes with Death King.
"What are you waiting for? Come on."
Without waiting for a reply, he shot forward like a gale. The cauldron lagged momentarily behind his body, as if dragged back by the sheer speed.
The instant his left foot slammed into the ground just in front of Death King, the cauldron—fueled by delayed momentum and the full power of his arms—hurtled toward him with unimaginable force and velocity.
Death King shuddered. Before his mind could process it, his body reacted on instinct, swinging his massive glaive with full power.
The inner energy poured into a heavy blade by a master like Death King could split a millennium-old boulder. Especially his signature technique, the Sand River Heavenly Heavy Blade, a sword art pursuing overwhelming dominance, perfected after thirty years of training amid the scorching dunes of a desert.
In midair, the bottom of the cauldron clashed with the glaive.
*Claaaang!*
A deafening roar that threatened to tear eardrums!
The air warped from the massive shockwave. No one doubted the cauldron would shatter.
Yet, inexplicably, the cauldron merely burst a decades-old layer of soot with a *pop!* and remained intact. Not only that—it smashed both the glaive and Death King together. Another thunderous crash echoed a split-second later.
*Doooong!*
Death King, his face brutally smashed against the cauldron's bottom, flew over ten *zhang* before slamming into the wall with a *thud!* and crumpling to the floor.
Blood poured from his chest, pierced by his own glaive. Before anyone could check if he lived, the Mountain Barbarian Fiend's merciless assault on the scattered foes began.
Heuk Do-san swung the cauldron like a whirlwind, charging forward. Poison Wind Squad or whatever—anyone dawdling nearby got smashed indiscriminately.
They were all here for the Demonic Cult's general ledger anyway. As he'd seen earlier, not a single one deserved even a shred of mercy.
'Live or die—none of my business!'
*Dooong! Dooong! Dooong!*
"Argh!"
"Gah!"
"Eek!"
In moments, five more flew off like ragdolls. It was a relentless barrage, leaving no room to breathe. In that instant, Heuk Do-san was like a raging bull charging into a flock of sheep.
The sheep dared not resist, scattering in panic, getting smashed and sent flying, or tripping over each other.
But even among sheep, there were wolves.
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull bellowed.
"Surround him in the center and form the Defensive Circle Formation!"
The Defensive Circle Formation was exactly as it sounded—a defensive array for a small force facing a larger enemy. It sacrificed mobility and offense for unmatched defensive power against charging cavalry, the best among all battlefield formations.
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull judged Heuk Do-san's cauldron charge equivalent to a cavalry spearhead.
The Defensive Circle Formation was known to every martial artist. Desperate for someone to lead, the crowd ebbed back like a tide, pressing against the walls at his command.
Even amid the chaos, six bandits and three allied warriors who couldn't escape in time were battered full-body by the blindly whirling cauldron and sent flying.
Trading nine sacrifices, Sichuan Spear Burning Skull bought a brief respite and shouted again.
"Switch to Wheel Formation!"
Wheel Formation, as the name implied, involved surrounding a lone foe with multiple soldiers rotating like a wheel to attack. The outer attackers could buy time, while the trapped center endured a ceaseless storm of blades.
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull instantly transformed the defense-heavy array into the most aggressive assault formation, attempting a reversal.
Wheel Formation was another common tactic.
But how to wheel around in the tavern's cluttered center, littered with tables and chairs? Instead of rotating, they lunged alternately from all sides, unleashing fierce attacks on Heuk Do-san in the middle.
The first to charge were the bandit leaders, leaderless but accustomed to such brawls. They attacked near-simultaneously.
"Die!"
A slight-framed middle-aged man slid in from the left, torso low, his curved saber skimming the ground threatening to sever ankles.
"Dead!"
From the right, a mantis-thin middle-aged man slashed downward vertically with his curved saber.
Aiming for the right shoulder—if it connected, half his body would come off.
Heuk Do-san didn't know it, but these two were the Poison Wind Squad's strongest, the Three Heads Six Tails alongside the slain Urka.
"What the hell are these long, skinny things!"
Heuk Do-san first lifted his left foot slightly to stomp the incoming curved saber skimming the ground. Then he smacked the falling right saber with the cauldron's bottom, sending it flying, before crushing the left attacker's skull with the cauldron's rim and smashing the right one's face in succession.
*Dooong! Dooong!* The sounds rang out as one.
All anyone saw was the massive cauldron whipping back and forth as two heads exploded in blood.
It was inexplicable how he wielded such a huge, heavy cauldron so swiftly.
Afterward, more foes surged in, mostly ferocious bandits at the forefront.
Each time, Heuk Do-san repelled them with the cauldron, smashing them into floors, walls, everywhere.
Table fragments rolled about, fallen bodies littered the ground. In moments, the tavern lay in ruins.
"Hong Gongzi, deploy the Soul-Chasing Ten Phantoms!"
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull shouted.
But Hong Gongtak hesitated to order his men. He didn't fancy following orders, nor wasting his Soul-Chasing Ten Phantoms in this chaotic melee. He needed to thin out his rivals instead.
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull bellowed again.
"You fool! If we don't take down that monster, the Soul-Chasing Ten Phantoms won't get their chance either!"
That much was true.
The bandits had already lost seventy percent of their strength with Death King and the Three Heads Six Tails dead.
The remaining allied forces, centered on Sichuan Spear Burning Skull, couldn't muster their full power against the Mountain Barbarian Fiend rampaging freely.
Hong Gongtak glanced at Cheongjin Dojang, who nodded.
"Attack!"
At last, the order came. Hong Gongtak and his ten Soul-Chasing Ten Phantoms encircled Heuk Do-san amid the fray, swiftly claiming positions.
The Light-Splitting Eighteen Sword Formation activated. As "light-splitting" implied, it was a joint formation pursuing utmost speed.
Heuk Do-san had no idea, but this intricately meshing gear-like array was strongest against a single master—originally designed to capture the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's leadership. In short, it was the purified essence of the Wheel Sword Formation.
Ten swords rained down like a tempest. Faster than anything before. Heuk Do-san swiftly flipped the cauldron over his head.
*Clangclangclangclangclang!*
A frenzy of metallic shrieks echoed inside the cauldron. The instant it stopped, he shoved it leftward with full force.
With a massive iron shield bearing down, the two Soul-Chasing Phantoms on the left recoiled frantically.
A gap opened in moments. Gripping the cauldron's edge, Heuk Do-san yanked rightward powerfully, sweeping aside the two spraying sword qi.
Before the Soul-Chasing Phantoms—or even their grandfathers—such blistering cauldron speed left no counter.
*Clangtangtangdoooongdoooong!*
Two swords, two heads, and one cauldron collided in a bizarre cacophony.
Battle-hardened Heuk Do-san felt the vibrations through the cauldron—they'd blacked out.
After sending two flying, he used the cauldron's centrifugal force to leap airborne. Two swords from the left grazed underfoot as he twisted midair like lightning.
The cauldron, tracing a semicircle along his outstretched arm, plunged left and smashed two heads mercilessly.
*Doooong! Doooong!*
They crumpled mid-sword qi, skulls smashed into the floor.
But one torso got wedged inside the cauldron. Suddenly, Heuk Do-san's spine chilled—he spun urgently.
From behind, a dark shadow plummeted with a flashing dragon-head longsword.
Hong Gongtak's surprise attack, buying time from his men. Fitting its name "Sky-Dominating Sword," the strike was razor-sharp.
Raising the cauldron from low left after felling two was impossible—the sword too close.
Then, another dragon-head longsword streaked from left airspace like an arrow, stabbing at Hong Gongtak's flank.
Startled, Hong Gongtak hastily redirected to parry. The two swords tangled wildly midair.
*Kagagagagang!*
It was Bang Daegang.
His men had appeared beside him, blocking Heuk Do-san's front and assaulting the Soul-Chasing Phantoms.
Heuk Do-san didn't know it, but this was the clash between the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Blood Sword Corps and the Righteous Alliance's Soul-Chasing Ten Phantoms.
"Out of the way!"
Heuk Do-san roared.
"We'll handle these!"
Bang Daegang called amid the chaos.
Heuk Do-san's original target was Hong Gongtak. Bang Daegang and his men jumping in was absurd.
With four Soul-Chasing Phantoms gone, it was no longer ten. The formation failed; the remaining six desperately fended off Bang Daegang's relentless assault.
Then it happened.
"Dojang, let's go!"
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull leaped in. Cheongjin Dojang joined instantly from the left.
Sichuan Spear Burning Skull thrust his signature weapon deep. The skull head's energy was no joke.
From the left, Cheongjin Dojang unleashed twin palms. Violet energy swelled from his palms like fireballs.
One cauldron couldn't block both—too fast, too fierce.
In the five elements, nothing is invincible.
Water loses to earth, earth to wood, wood to metal, metal to fire, fire to water.
Martial arts are the same.
Speed loses to variation, variation to heaviness, heaviness to speed.
Speed, variation, heaviness seem mutually destructive but stem from one truth. Utmost speed births utmost variation, utmost variation births utmost heaviness, utmost heaviness births utmost speed.
Force, speed, change are not three—they are one. Heuk Do-san grasped this through the Ten Thousand Great Heaven Classic.
Heuk Do-san executed Capturing Hand, flipping his palm at terrifying speed to seize the spear. Meanwhile, his right hand's cauldron smashed Cheongjin Dojang's erupting palm force.
Two motions, simultaneous without gap. Two clashes, echoing as one.
*Thwack! Boom!*
The repercussion was immense.
The cauldron, struck first by twin palms, exploded outward. Shattered fragments flew like hidden weapons.
Cheongjin Dojang, horrified, whipped his hands frantically and retreated in a lightning motion.
Meanwhile, Sichuan Spear Burning Skull was unwittingly dragged forward, then struck dead-center in the solar plexus by Heuk Do-san's rising knee.
"Gack!"
The blow came unseen; breath caught, he dropped to his knees.
But only for a moment—Heuk Do-san's brutish palm then smashed his temple.
*Thud!* Blood sprayed from his right ear. True qi pierced brain then burst the eardrum.
Unable to withstand, Sichuan Spear Burning Skull smashed headfirst into the floor three times, rolling wildly before crashing through the kitchen door and stopping.
By then, his breath was gone.
For one who once shook the jianghu, such an ignoble death. Everyone's jaws dropped.
But an even more absurd event awaited.