The Blue Sword Emperor Arrives
Geumsin did not simply charge in recklessly. He advanced with caution, yet with overwhelming force. Following the White Dragon Stride Technique, the Phoenix Pine Staff shot forward, aiming straight for the Black Sword Ghost’s vital points. Clang! The collision rang out as if wooden staff and sword had truly met. The weight of the Phoenix Pine Staff—modeled after the legendary Heaven’s First Pine of Mount Guhua—vibrated through the Black Sword Ghost’s wrist.
Not an ordinary wooden staff. The wood itself was of exceptional quality, but there was undoubtedly a metal core embedded within. Otherwise, it could never possess such heaviness.
“Cha-hat!”
With a powerful shout, Geumsin pressed down on his staff and kicked off the ground, launching himself upward. The White Dragon Stride was no mere footwork; it was a practical combat technique that also contained elements of kicking methods. In an instant, Geumsin’s crossed legs streaked toward the Black Sword Ghost’s temples.
“Hup!”
Creak—thud!
The Black Sword Ghost forcefully shoved away the staff pinning his sword and twisted his body at the same time. In a stance reminiscent of Iron Mountain Lean, he thrust his shoulder forward. Geumsin’s toes grazed the man’s shoulder, and the rebound sent his body flying back.
Boom—!
It sounded like striking a massive temple bell. The shock traveling up from his toes flashed a hint of pain across Geumsin’s resolute face.
The inner energy of the Great Vow Heart Method carries the power of Buddhist law… yet this internal energy is simply absurd.
Because he cultivated the Great Vow Heart Method, he had only been shaken. Any ordinary martial artist would have suffered internal injuries from that insidious penetrating force.
Geumsin’s eyes grew even more cautious. If the protective qi of the Great Vow Heart Method could be pierced, he himself could be neutralized in an instant by that same penetrating energy.
“Is that all you have?”
“As if!”
His opponent was strong. A single mistake could prove fatal. The situation was dire. The enemies the Black Sword Ghost had brought were pressing the martial monks of Hwaseong Temple hard. Yet within Geumsin’s heart, an even greater fighting spirit surged upward.
“Oh, Southern Flame Lord!”
Crying out to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Geumsin poured even more internal energy into his staff. The abundant qi created ripples centered on the staff as he launched another assault. The staff’s movements were bold and unrestrained. For a monk who cultivated Buddhist law, the attack was excessively fierce.
The Black Sword Ghost ducked to avoid the staff aimed at his head and shouted lightly.
“You’re no monk—you’re a warrior!”
Clang!
Whoooosh!
The qi loaded into each weapon collided, generating fierce winds. In the winter air, the bare branches of the trees shook violently.
Geumsin’s figure moved without pause. His feet followed the White Dragon Stride while his arms swung the Phoenix Pine Staff according to its techniques. In his mind, the flow of battle unfolded clearly. In his chest, alongside the pounding of his heart, the true qi of the Great Vow Heart Method raced endlessly.
It was a relentless barrage bordering on selflessness.
The staff, moving even faster, tore through the air and grazed the Black Sword Ghost’s body. The force rippling from the staff shredded his clothing, revealing its terrifying power.
Yet the Black Sword Ghost’s blade was sharper still.
Slash!
A fierce strike sliced through the front of Geumsin’s monk robes. The moment he felt the stinging pain, Geumsin concentrated his internal energy at the wound. The cut was shallow. He had also managed to block the penetrating force that followed.
But the Black Sword Ghost did not wait.
Amid the scattering droplets of blood, another vicious sword gleam flashed.
Squelch!
“Ugh!”
The instant he thought he had blocked it, the Black Sword Ghost’s blade split Geumsin’s staff in two and divided his vision as well. Accompanied by a chilling black light, another spray of blood erupted from Geumsin’s upper body.
A horizontal cut followed by a vertical cut. He had to retreat.
Geumsin instinctively stepped back using the retreating form of the White Dragon Stride.
“…You’re not pursuing me.”
“Not pursuing? Your focus is impressive, I’ll give you that.”
What did that mean? Just as Geumsin tried to parse the Black Sword Ghost’s words—
“Huuup…!”
He realized it too late—the massive, coiling wave of energy. Why hadn’t he noticed it sooner? It was being released so openly. It was proof that he had poured every ounce of his attention into the fight against the Black Sword Ghost. If his concentration had been any weaker, he would have been quartered by the man’s blade long ago.
He didn’t choose not to pursue—he couldn’t!
A presence was approaching by the second. This kind of aura was something Geumsin had never encountered before. Even the strongest martial monk in Hwaseong Temple would be a lesser figure compared to the Black Sword Ghost. Where could he possibly have felt such pressure?
The closer it came, the more his skin tingled. An overwhelming aura. The depth of the internal energy was so profound he couldn’t even begin to guess.
“A monster has arrived.”
The Black Sword Ghost withdrew his attention from Geumsin and adjusted his stance. The black sword he had drawn back began to gather even denser sword qi. The black light, which had grown dense enough to swallow light, compressed further and transformed into sword gang.
Watching the sight, Geumsin realized the Black Sword Ghost had been holding back against him. That comment about the Phoenix Pine Staff being quite decent had not been empty praise. He had only been playing along moderately to observe Hwaseong Temple’s martial arts.
If that’s fortunate, then it’s fortunate.
That very composure had become the Black Sword Ghost’s fetter.
While Geumsin felt both the wounded pride of a warrior and a sense of relief, the Black Sword Ghost took his next action.
“Suuu—”
A shallow, deep inhale followed by a short, sharp exhale. Gathering all his strength into a single strike, the Black Sword Ghost unleashed a sword blow on an entirely different level from when he had faced Geumsin.
Kwoooong—!
Geumsin’s eyes widened. A slash carrying condensed sword gang. It was a supreme strike he couldn’t even dream of replicating. Yet regardless of the profound technique and enlightenment contained within that single blow, to Geumsin’s eyes the slash seemed utterly meaningless.
There was nothing but empty air. A black trajectory was drawn across it.
However, contrary to Geumsin’s thoughts, the Black Sword Ghost’s strike was by no means a pointless display. The enormous presence that had been pressing down on his mind through the aura—he had cut that intangible power.
“Upper dantian ability. Crude, but powerful.”
The Black Sword Ghost took another stance and muttered. It seemed like meaningless soliloquy, but at that moment Geumsin finally sensed another presence beside him.
The distance was considerable… already here?
Geumsin forced his stiffened muscles to turn his head. It was a young man. How many years had it been since he passed twenty? Despite covering a vast distance in the blink of an eye, he showed no sign of fatigue. That alone proved he had not even exerted his full strength.
Is that even possible? Unless he’s a supreme expert who has returned to youth…
Geumsin’s shock was great, but the one struck by an even greater impact was someone else.
The sky…
It was Jegal Seon-a.
Jegal Seon-a’s resonance ability was the power of sympathy and assimilation. What was resonance? It was the heart moving in tandem with a certain feeling. It was a sincere wish reaching the divine. Yet in the distant future, it also referred to objects within a magnetic field taking on similar properties under its influence.
Jegal Seon-a’s resonance applied to all three aspects to some degree, but it leaned closest to the final meaning. Because of this, her mindscape was vulnerable to external forces. Knowing this, the Jegal family had taught her the Resonance of the Starry Heavens to protect her mind, but in a state where both mental power and internal energy were greatly depleted, even that mental barrier could not function properly.
Especially since just moments ago, Jegal Seon-a had faced the Black Sword Ghost’s overwhelming aura head-on, leaving her already fragile mental barrier half-destroyed. That was why she had been unable to help even while Geumsin fought desperately against the Black Sword Ghost.
Before Jegal Seon-a’s color-drained, paralyzed eyes, an endless expanse of clear blue sky unfolded.
“Ah…”
It was peaceful.
Her resonance ability offered great versatility, but it also came with many side effects. In the face of the oppressive hostility of the Black Sword Ghost, it shrank endlessly. Yet within solid protection, it grew infinitely stronger.
Jegal Seon-a slowly lifted her lowered head. All she could see was the back of a fluttering robe, yet that single view of his back brought her complete stability. It was vast. Immeasurably so. It even gave her a strange certainty that he could protect her no matter when or where.
While Jegal Seon-a stared blankly at Namgung Woo’s back with half-lidded eyes, the situation continued to unfold.
The Black Sword Ghost spoke, still maintaining his sword gang.
“Let’s end it here.”
“You come as you please and say you’ll end it as you please?”
“I know you are strong. But you are alone. It seems more are coming, but before they arrive, those martial monks of Hwaseong Temple will meet their end.”
Namgung Woo had assessed the urgent situation and rushed ahead alone. This was the first time he had pushed the Thousand-Li Tiger Step to its limit. Even now, the others were probably following with everything they had.
The Black Sword Ghost was right. Though he seemed a step below the East Sea Matchless Han Gye-ran, he was still a formidable Transcendent Realm expert. While he kept Namgung Woo occupied, the Black Sword Group following him would slaughter the monks of Hwaseong Temple.
“Great Hero.”
As Namgung Woo hesitated to answer, Jegal Seon-a finally parted her lips with difficulty. In her hand was a sword just over two cheok—roughly sixty centimeters—long.
“You don’t have to accept it.”
The object in Jegal Seon-a’s hand was far from an ordinary weapon. With its ornate decorations and blunt blade, the strange material that looked like both bone and jade was not a weapon, but a dharma treasure.
“Baekseo…! So it really was here!”
The Black Sword Ghost’s eyes shook violently the moment he saw Jegal Seon-a holding it. It was the instant his composure—maintained even while facing Namgung Woo—crumbled.
“Black Sword Group! Fall back!”
At the Black Sword Ghost’s roar, Jegal Seon-a thrust the dharma treasure Baekseo into the ground.
“The others—I will protect them.”