Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Ferocious Beasts 3
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The Iron Blood Gang Leader's great axe charged forward with utter desperation, dancing through the air.
If that axe had been dipped in ink, the entire battlefield would have been stained pitch black from the trails left by its swings alone.
Yet Baek Moo-jin's movements were fast enough to repaint the void that the Iron Blood Gang Leader was blackening into a pure white in an instant.
Black and white clashed relentlessly, each encroaching on the other's domain in a frenzied tangle. The result of their collision was a shower of sparks from their clashing weapons.
Thus, as these masters of high-level martial arts intertwined, it formed a vivid painting of a black tiger entwined with a white dragon.
But the tiger painting with black ink was growing weary, while the hunter spewing pristine cold qi was adapting ever more skillfully to the tiger's techniques. This meant Baek Moo-jin was steadily gaining experience even as he battled the Iron Blood Gang Leader.
That fact sent a chill racing down Gwan Min-gang's spine.
'What in the world is this freakish young punk?'
Too strong to call him a mere fledgling.
Yet not seasoned enough to deem him a veteran—a faint sense of rawness lingered.
That was what made him so eerie.
A man barely into his early twenties, wielding power beyond his control while accumulating experience—it felt just like that.
Even as he was being pushed back, the Iron Blood Gang Leader had pierced straight to Baek Moo-jin's core. But understanding his essence changed nothing about Baek Moo-jin's overwhelming strength.
Moreover, Baek Moo-jin showed no hint of carelessness, as if acknowledging Gwan Min-gang's veteran prowess. Sensing the end drawing near, the Iron Blood Gang Leader suddenly envied Baek Moo-jin's youth. He even seemed like a "chosen one."
'Born a powerhouse and granted a fateful encounter to boot. Fine then, take it all. I'll show you one final move.'
Even on the back foot, the Iron Blood Gang Leader displayed the unyielding spirit of a Black Path warrior. In a flash, he foresaw six or seven exchanges ahead and charged toward his own demise.
Suddenly thrusting his great axe forward, he hooked Baek Moo-jin's sword into the inner curve of the axe blade. But with a sharp clang!, it was the Iron Blood Gang Leader who was yanked forward instead.
As if anticipating this, his palm strike erupted like lightning. It was a seamless counter accounting for his foe's power.
Baek Moo-jin slapped the palm strike aside with his left palm. Absorbing the force, Gwan Min-gang spun rapidly in place, adding Baek Moo-jin's redirected power to his own as he swung the great axe horizontally.
It was a magnificent technique.
With no choice, Baek Moo-jin wrapped his cold qi around the axe blade and gripped it with his left palm, then swung his White Mist Sword toward the Iron Blood Gang Leader's throat.
Then, something astonishing happened.
As if mirroring Baek Moo-jin, Gwan Min-gang seized Baek Moo-jin's sword with his bare hand, infused to the brim with inner energy.
With their arms locked together, pouring inner energy into each other, an extraordinary wave of qi rippled outward around them.
Whoosh!
It was a spectacle that drew every eye.
In any case, this deadlock favored Baek Moo-jin less.
Yet the Iron Blood Gang Leader's resolve and ferocity were heroic. He meant to fight to his last breath. As expected, his energy was overmatched by Baek Moo-jin's, and the hand gripping the sword was freezing white bit by bit.
At that moment, a bizarre scene began to unfold around them.
Members of the Iron Blood Gang and North Heaven Alliance alike surged toward the Iron Blood Gang Leader and Baek Moo-jin.
2.
Many eyes on this battlefield were watching the duel between the two. But none had intended to intervene.
This new development, however, was perilous.
They were locked together, weapons gripped, channeling inner energy.
One of the Iron Blood Gang's deputy leaders nearby was the first to leap toward Baek Moo-jin's rear.
At the same instant, Lee Jeong-nam—a First Grade Warrior who had been hovering nearby without using his full strength—moved to Baek Moo-jin's back as well. He had anticipated an ambush the moment Baek Moo-jin engaged in an inner energy clash.
But astonishingly, those two weren't alone.
In the blink of an eye, assassins aiming to kill Baek Moo-jin and protectors rushing to defend him converged, creating yet another battlefield.
The Black Path moved to slay Baek Moo-jin.
The Orthodox Path moved to shield him.
A stark contrast.
But contrary to the North Heaven Alliance members' fears, Baek Moo-jin wasn't in dire straits.
From the moment the Iron Blood Gang Leader grabbed his sword, blood had begun dripping from his hand, now hardening like ice. Soon, his entire left arm was frozen solid.
Baek Moo-jin met the Iron Blood Gang Leader's eyes and bid him farewell.
There was no mockery toward a weaker foe.
Gazing at Baek Moo-jin's expression, the Iron Blood Gang Leader gave a faint smile. He dropped the great axe from his right hand and thrust his right palm forward with all his remaining strength.
Both knew this was his final strike.
In that instant...
Instead of countering with a palm strike, Baek Moo-jin shoved the butt end of the gripped great axe into Gwan Min-gang's chest. The handle's tip was spear-like. With a wet thunk, blood gushed from the Iron Blood Gang Leader's torso. Baek Moo-jin then slashed diagonally with the White Mist Sword without mercy. This time, he couldn't dodge the spray of blood.
Baek Moo-jin's face and white robes were drenched in the enemy's crimson.
Cries erupted from the Iron Blood Gang around them.
"Gang Leader!"
"Gang Leader!"
His face soaked in the foe's blood, Baek Moo-jin regarded the falling Gwan Min-gang and offered a parting salute.
'Iron Blood Gang Leader, it was an honor.'
Where else could he have gained such real combat experience if not against this man?
But Baek Moo-jin had no time for sentiment. He whipped around abruptly and unleashed the Ice Wheel Sword Membrane toward his rear.
Thud thud thud thud!
Hidden weapons scattered harmlessly against the barrier.
The投掷 was impressively vicious.
Then, the Iron Blood Gang's Rain Guest—the hidden expert once slated to assassinate Baek Moo-jin—leapt into the air from somewhere and unleashed his lifelong pursuit: Full Sky Flower Rain.
He meant to devastate the area where Baek Moo-jin stood.
How had he mastered such a technique?
While airborne, the Rain Guest spat out volleys of steel needles in a downpour straight at Baek Moo-jin.
Screeeee!
He wasn't alone. Iron Blood Gang members began ignoring the North Heaven Alliance, hurling their hidden weapons at Baek Moo-jin.
The projectiles varied wildly: steel needles, poison darts, smoke bombs, throwing knives—all mixed together. Smoke bombs shrouded Baek Moo-jin's position in fog.
Yet the weapons flying from all directions kept thudding into the Ice Wheel Sword Membrane.
In an instant, Baek Moo-jin stood at the eye of the storm, like the center of a warzone.
Some charged at him despite their wounds.
Others hurled weapons from afar.
Those who felled their opponents then rushed Baek Moo-jin for revenge on their leader.
Even amid the chaos, they could scarcely believe their gang leader had fallen.
From the heart of the thick fog, Baek Moo-jin's voice rang out.
"North Heaven Alliance, fall back for now."
The Alliance members seemed ready to obey Baek Moo-jin's every word by this point. He was the man who had felled the Iron Blood Gang Leader, after all—his commands carried weight. As the North Heaven Alliance withdrew as if under orders and the Iron Blood Gang pressed through the fog to close in, One Great White Night erupted from within.
Though Baek Moo-jin had carefully modulated his power to spare any nearby allies, the fog first scattered on the qi wave, followed by the Iron Blood Gang thugs lunging through it freezing in grotesque poses.
Perplexed yet seizing the moment, North Heaven Alliance members slashed through those flailing or frozen in cold qi, surging back toward Baek Moo-jin. None voiced their joy aloud, but those around him were convinced this battle would end in victory today.
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