Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Young Palace Lord of the Sacred Flame Palace 3
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Jin So-hye's fiery personality was indeed a problem, if it was one.
Jin So-hye, bursting through the settling dust, glared at Baek Moo-jin as she thought to herself.
'Whether I kill the Baek Patriarch or die trying... I'll settle this.'
As she took a few steps toward Baek Moo-jin, Jin So-hye unwittingly halted and scanned him from head to toe.
'What? Did he hold back until just now?'
Her resolve to keep fighting was ironclad, yet despair crept in at the thought that nothing would pierce Baek Moo-jin's defenses. Jin So-hye frowned, sensing he had grown even stronger, and that expression was captivating—like the legendary beauty Xi Shi furrowing her brow. Even Baek Moo-jin, lost in the martial exchange, nearly let out an admiring gasp.
"Huh..."
But Jin So-hye, convinced she was losing ground, seized the fleeting opening and lunged like a thunderbolt. The ambush failed utterly. To Baek Moo-jin, her movements were crystal clear, and soon their palms clashed in a brutally direct confrontation.
Kwaaaaaang...
Baek Moo-jin's palm met Jin So-hye's, their gazes locked.
This time, she held firm without yielding an inch. Yet her body gradually paled to purest white, as if the red hue drained away like spilled paint. She had shed her usual full-body protective aura, channeling every ounce of energy into her palm strike—a desperate, life-forsaking assault.
To Jin So-hye, it felt like slamming into an impenetrable wall.
Resisting the frigid blast from Baek Moo-jin's palm, the world faded, plunging her into an illusion of solitary isolation on the North Sea's frozen tundra. Bone-deep chill made endurance a grueling trial. Tears welled in her eyes; she could scarcely keep them open against the onslaught. Baek Moo-jin, observing, sighed inwardly.
'What incredible stubbornness.'
His own pride ignited, Baek Moo-jin pressed the palm duel harder. No killing intent—he simply countered with measured ease, biding his time until her energy ebbed.
But how much time passed...?
Jin So-hye's reserves were uncannily vast, holding steadfast against Baek Moo-jin for what felt like ages.
Still, prolonging the clash promised an inevitable end. Jin So-hye envisioned her body flash-freezing, shattering into shards that scattered on the wind.
'Create a wildcard while I still have power to strike.'
Boldly, she seized the instant. A split-second modulation of her energy flow made it seem as if Baek Moo-jin's force repelled her; she detached and reeled backward in a blur.
Baek Moo-jin marveled at her ingenuity, feeling schooled in turn.
'A trick like that works?'
His internal energy held clear superiority, yet Jin So-hye's cunning retreat was a masterful stroke that rounded his eyes in appreciation.
Meanwhile, the culprit herself dripped cold sweat.
Like thrusting her head into a tiger's maw and yanking it back.
Distance gained, she whipped Heaven-Annihilating Flame Flower Qi around her right palm mid-leap, slashing vertically through the air like cleaving the heavens.
A bizarre screech erupted... Her external energy blade rent the sky, raining toward Baek Moo-jin's shoulder.
Whiiiish!
But the instant the palm-blade launched, Jin So-hye prepped her follow-up. A single ground-shattering kick reversed her trajectory as she flicked both palms in an eerie twist.
From her hands erupted those same flames that had once incinerated Lim Ga-so, the former sect leader of Passing Day Sword Sect—now spiraling forth as Scorching Heat Flower Prison.
Roarrrrrk!
Scorching Heat Flower Prison, drawn from the Scorching Heat Hell among the Eight Hot Hells... A fiendish technique where brushing the flame petals unfurled them into an infernal cage.
Not reassured even after the barrage, Jin So-hye kicked off once more, chasing her own blaze.
2.
Baek Moo-jin, arms dangling loosely, impassively watched Jin So-hye's maneuvers as she broke free of his palm domain.
A ruddy blade hurtled first; his right palm swatted it aside effortlessly.
Thud! It dispersed. Then grotesque flames billowed forward, rippling unnaturally through the air. Jin So-hye rocketed in their wake.
Baek Moo-jin scowled.
'What manner of technique is that...?'
The flickering blaze evoked primal unease—beyond rational grasp, instinct screamed warning.
As he shifted back to evade... astonishment followed. Jin So-hye, trailing her Scorching Heat Flower Prison, wrenched its path mid-flight, as if tethered by invisible cords.
Straight toward Baek Moo-jin's evasion route, naturally.
A high-speed pursuit erupted in a heartbeat.
Each ground strike devoured vast distances in retreat and chase. Eluding capture, Baek Moo-jin prompted Jin So-hye's next gambit. Internal energy surged into her feet; she spun like a whirlwind and vaulted skyward.
Aloft, as if unleashing her all, she wreathed twin palms and birthed a colossal Flame Orb unprecedented in scale.
Intending to detonate the pursuing Scorching Heat Flower Prison with it.
"Huh...!"
Baek Moo-jin dimly foresaw her explosive ploy. The technique's oddity impressed, but her audacious creativity awed more.
Scorching Heat Flower Prison bore down; from above, the titanic Flame Orb plunged to raze all.
That instant...
Baek Moo-jin halted, rooted firm, staring blankly at the descending inferno.
Options abounded, yet peril loomed large.
Time to conclude with pinnacle arts.
Pure white frost coalesced in Baek Moo-jin's palms, then White Flower Divine Art's aura churned across his frame.
A crisis demanding one of its Four Great Mysteries.
Baek Moo-jin spared no regret for invoking it now.
Jin So-hye merited such a foe—worthy of supreme counters.
Heat assailed from both flanks; mind honed, he intoned a Great Mystery while unleashing frost.
[Absolute Cold Qi: One Belt White Night]
Frigid explosion from Baek Moo-jin's body rippled outward in a circular shockwave.
......
In a flash, motion ceased—everything froze...
Frozen forms bleached utterly white...
The inbound Flame Orb, roiling Scorching Heat Flower Prison, even Jin So-hye's charging form—all halted, shrouded in pristine chill.
Post-impact shatter of orb and prison, stasis gripped a dozen zhang radius around Baek Moo-jin's stance.
Sole mover Baek Moo-jin advanced slowly to inspect Jin So-hye. Yet frost gripped even his footing; amid hush, faint cracks resounded.
Each step shattered thin ice in chilling echoes.
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