Chapter 101: I Won't Die (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 101: I Won't Die (3)
A martial artist who reaches the Transcendent Realm possesses a Domain of their own.
A Domain was the very space they occupied—the absolute range where their mental imagery exerted its influence. The ability to manipulate natural energy was merely a byproduct of this supreme control.
Thus, a Transcendent martial artist could paint reality itself with their mind.
Twisting Heaven and Overturning Earth.
Heaven and earth warped. As the Giryeon Sect Leader’s mental imagery stained the space, reality began to contort.
The Appearance of the Yellow Dragon unleashed by Seo-jun was caught in that distortion. The dragon, given form by the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art, traced a bizarre, spiraling trajectory before violently crashing into the ground.
"Hoh..."
Despite his absolute control, the Giryeon Sect Leader couldn't help but marvel at Seo-jun. There was a space barely two finger-joints wide hovering just above the boy's skin—a sanctuary that even the Sect Leader’s mental imagery could not breach.
"How peculiar."
The Giryeon Sect Leader flipped his open palm. Earth and sky swapped places. Yet, the pull of gravity remained unchanged. Seo-jun’s body began to fall upward, plummeting toward the sky.
Boom—!
The Fist King kicked off the empty air, shattering the sound barrier as he lunged at the Giryeon Sect Leader. Seo-jun’s eyes gleamed.
The Fist King’s body was unnaturally sturdy. His frame hadn't taken a single scratch from the Sect Leader’s lighter attacks, and his fists possessed the sheer destructive force to pierce through any defense in a single blow.
While Seo-jun was holding his own against the Sect Leader thanks to his bizarre techniques, the only one capable of dealing substantial damage was the Fist King.
I'll support the Fist King.
Solidifying his plan, Seo-jun willed plum blossoms to bloom beneath his feet. Simultaneously, he manifested two extra pairs of arms forged from demonic qi, while the horns on his head sensitively tracked the shifting qi within the Domain.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s finger traced a circle in the air. Violent winds gathered, coiling around the Fist King’s body to trap him.
Having sensed the shift in qi beforehand, Seo-jun stepped in. Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Art. He hurled a sphere of energy at the Fist King, using the resulting explosion to violently blow away the binding winds.
"I’ll deal with you when this is over!"
The Fist King roared, eating the shockwave of the Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Art as he continued his relentless charge. The Giryeon Sect Leader narrowed his eyes.
"Well, now."
His left and right hands formed completely different seals.
Massive trees exploded into growth from the ground above their heads, while a torrential rain of fire surged upward from the sky beneath their feet.
Wood Generates Fire. The two sorceries merged, and a massive vortex of roaring flames erupted forth.
Whoooooosh—!!
The Fist King’s skin began to singe. He held his breath, his muscles bulging as he physically pushed back the raging inferno.
Seo-jun meticulously scanned the Sect Leader’s sorcery with his horizontally slit pupils.
The Five Elements. He already had a decent grasp of Earth.
He had seen Fire, and he had seen Wood.
Having pieced together three interlocking fragments of the Five Elements, he used them to deduce the remaining two.
Five Elements, Water, Convergence.
Splaaash—!
Torrents of water erupted from the inverted ground above, gathering into a massive stream.
It wasn't enough to completely extinguish the flames created by the Giryeon Sect Leader, but the intensity of the fire drastically diminished. The Fist King’s expression eased slightly as he clenched his fists.
The Giryeon Sect Leader’s eyebrow twitched.
"You want to compete with me in sorcery? How amusing. Fine. I shall face you using only the Five Elements."
With a flick of the Sect Leader’s finger, soil plummeted from the ground above, swirling around him.
Fire Generates Earth. The lingering flames baked the soil, hardening it into an impenetrable shell.
K-BOOOOOOM—!!!
The Fist King’s fist ruthlessly slammed into the earthen wall. Through the resulting cracks, the Giryeon Sect Leader smirked.
"What will you do now?"
Earth Generates Metal. Pieces of jagged metal sprouted from the soil and shot toward the Fist King like a storm of arrows.
These were no ordinary projectiles. Forged through supreme sorcery, the metal shards gouged deep wounds into the Fist King’s unnaturally tough skin.
Seo-jun’s lips curled into a grin as his fingers blurred into a seal.
Though no one had ever taught him, his hands moved as the qi guided them, flawlessly tracing the correct formation.
Five Elements, Fire, Melting.
He seized control of the dying embers the Sect Leader had left behind and commanded them to swell.
The flames enveloped the Fist King’s body. The incoming metal shards instantly melted and blunted in the intense heat, failing to pierce his skin.
"Not bad."
The Giryeon Sect Leader waved his hand. But just as he was about to weave his next sorcery, Seo-jun rushed in alongside the Fist King.
"I thought we were competing with sorcery?" the Giryeon Sect Leader asked with a hollow laugh.
Seo-jun just raised his middle finger.
"When did I ever say that?"
Lightning crackled along the blade of Seo-jun’s sword. The sky beneath his feet—the sheer absurdity of the situation caused a sudden surge of inspiration.
The sky seemed to rise with his sword stroke. The sovereign of three heads and six arms thrust forward, a blade firmly gripped in each of his six hands.
Emperor Sword Form
Beside him, the Fist King squeezed every ounce of his monstrous strength into a single punch. The kinetic rotation started from his toes, traveling up through his waist, shoulder, and elbow, before finally exploding from his fist.
Gang-gwon
The Giryeon Sect Leader clicked his tongue.
"The mood is ruined."
He drew upon the suppressed power of his mental imagery. Twisting Heaven and Overturning Earth. Space violently warped, forcing Seo-jun’s sword to collide directly with the Fist King’s fist.
K-BOOOOOOM—!!!
The resulting shockwave sent Seo-jun and the Fist King flying in opposite directions.
"Ugh...!"
Seo-jun hastily circulated his internal energy to forcibly piece his crushed right arm back together.
"Watch out!" the Fist King’s shout rang out.
In that very instant, space warped, and the Giryeon Sect Leader materialized right before Seo-jun's eyes.
The Sect Leader swung his hand. Time seemed to grind to a halt. The approaching strike was horrifyingly vivid. The edge of the palm. The lethal Astral Qi gathered upon it. The target was his neck.
Slash—!
Seo-jun’s throat was severed. His head tumbled from his shoulders. His vision went pitch black...
"Hehehe...!"
The extra arms forged from demonic qi instinctively caught the falling head. He slammed it back onto his neck, and the flesh instantly reattached.
Within the mental imagery of Seo-jun—who had just experienced death for a fleeting, terrifying moment—a twisted sense of joy erupted.
A thrilling inspiration surged like an explosion. His mind, burning white-hot as if reaching a climax, craved blood.
"I can still go!"
Red and blue—Yang and Yin energies—violently mixed along his sword. Soon, they formed a Reverse Taiji, dwelling within the blade and taking the shape of a turbid, chaotic edge.
Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Astral Qi
He swung it with reckless abandon. The Giryeon Sect Leader’s eyes widened in shock as he desperately twisted space to evade.
Sliiiice—
The sword, entirely ignoring the warped space, cut straight through reality and touched the Sect Leader’s body. Quickly retreating, the Giryeon Sect Leader touched his neck and burst into loud laughter. Red blood. Just how many hundreds of years had it been since he last bled?
"Ha, hahaha...! This is fun! You—are you even human?"
The Fist King, who was bounding through the air by kicking the atmosphere, also looked at Seo-jun with a deeply disturbed gaze. He even subtly increased the distance between them.
Seo-jun tilted his head, staring blankly at the Giryeon Sect Leader.
Shhh—
The Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Astral Qi dwelling in his sword hissed as it dissipated. Even for the current Seo-jun, maintaining such a terrifying power was only possible for a fleeting moment. Seo-jun tilted his head again, his movements jerky and unnatural.
"Well, fine. It’s good. Yeah. I’m heating up."
The whites of Seo-jun’s eyes were suddenly dyed pitch black. Within that abyssal darkness, his glowing red pupils locked onto the Giryeon Sect Leader.
Watching Seo-jun with intense interest, the Sect Leader spoke.
"Hey, Pae Jin-gwang."
"What." The Fist King replied with a deep scowl.
"No matter how I look at it, that brat seems like a sprout of the Heavenly Demon. Is it really okay to leave him be?"
"Why the hell do you care? Mind your own business and hand over your head."
"Good grief. I try to show some concern and you give me shit."
"Quiet."
Listening to their banter, Seo-jun gnashed his teeth, his entire body trembling violently. His feet scraped against the empty air, coiled like a beast about to charge at any moment.
The Giryeon Sect Leader laughed heartily and waved his hand.
"Well, fine. Time is short, and since you’ve shown me something truly entertaining, I’ll leave it at this."
"Where do you think you're going...!"
Seo-jun lunged. Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Astral Qi roared back to life along his blade. But the Giryeon Sect Leader simply warped space, his form shifting away in an instant.
Swish—!
Seo-jun’s sword cleaved through empty air. He whipped his head around to glare at the Sect Leader. The man was already fading away, smiling as he gave a casual wave.
"See you next time. Let us meet on the day you have fully ripened."
Flash—!
As his form vanished, the Domain shattered.
The positions of heaven and earth snapped back to normal, and gravity righted itself as Seo-jun’s feet finally touched solid ground.
Grrr—
A feral, rasping growl tore from Seo-jun’s throat, his demonic eyes flashing. The Fist King, keeping a very safe distance, called out to him.
"Hey. You back to your senses yet?"
"Huuu...."
"Guess not."
The Fist King scratched the back of his head. Seo-jun, still glaring at him with those murderous red eyes, suddenly raised a hand and violently struck his own head.
Whack—!
The pitch-black sclera of his eyes rapidly faded back to normal white. Then, he immediately started babbling absolute nonsense.
Chun-bong? Bluetooth? The Fist King couldn't understand a single word coming out of the boy's mouth.
Seo-jun muttered incomprehensible gibberish for a while longer before casually reaching up and slicing off his own demonic horns.
The Fist King stared at him like he was looking at a complete lunatic.
"The young fellow is quite..."
"...Shut your trap."
Thud. Seo-jun collapsed face-first into the dirt.
*
Namgung Chang-hwi gasped for breath as he surveyed the devastated surroundings. The Black Lotus Union was retreating.
It was a practical victory. His eyes trembled as they took in the unbelievable reality.
"Truly..."
He looked toward the epicenter of the battlefield, where a Transcendent martial artist and two Super Peak masters had clashed. The terrain there had been completely obliterated and reformed.
The brief glimpses of the battle he had managed to catch were entirely beyond the realm of humans.
Heaven and earth inside a massive spherical space had literally swapped places. Mountains had been ripped from the earth, and apocalyptic storms of fire had raged. Yet, after enduring a battle that seemed ripped straight from the legends of Immortals, the Young Master had somehow survived safely.
"I can’t believe it..."
Just how on earth did Lady Su-ah bring such a monster into the clan?
From the very first day he arrived, he had miraculously saved the critically injured who were destined to die. And now, he had successfully stalled for time and survived a death match against a Transcendent master.
This was no ordinary feat.
With the Transcendent master tied down here, the Murim Alliance had been given the opening to secure a massive advantage.
The Sect Leader of the Kongtong Sect, which was stationed close to Mount Giryeon, had likely mobilized, creating a ripple effect across numerous nearby battlefields.
Perhaps they had even managed to take out a few Super Peak masters of the Black Lotus Union in the meantime.
"Waaaaaaaah—!!!"
Amidst the deafening cheers of the surviving martial artists, Namgung Chang-hwi slowly began to walk toward Seo-jun.
Overwhelmed with emotion, his pace gradually quickened into a run.
But someone else had arrived first. Jang-geuk stood protectively over Seo-jun, exchanging fierce glares with the Fist King.
The Fist King scowled.
"Move, bandit."
"Heh, what an ill-mannered fellow."
"I won’t say it twice."
"Our lord might not seem very human, but he’s the son-in-law of the Namgung Clan, you know? You want your head taken by the Family Head?"
Chang-hwi didn't know the full situation, but it was abundantly clear whose side he needed to take.
"Senior, please calm down first and let’s talk."
*
I told this punk not to wander around, but he doesn't listen for shit.
On the top floor of the inn, Chun-bong nibbled on a sweet rice cake as she stared out the window.
From this vantage point, she had a clear view of the main road her brother would have to take when he finally returned.
As she blankly watched the bustling crowds passing by below, a voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
"Young lady, please don't be like that. Let’s just talk for a bit..."
"I already told you I have nothing to say."
Chun-bong shot a venomous glare at the man who had been relentlessly bothering her.
The man laughed awkwardly, waving his hands in a placating gesture.
"It’s nothing much, I just thought we could share a drink together..."
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Do you really have a death wish? That punk told me to live quietly and suppress my temper, but you just keep pushing it...!"
Chun-bong viciously swung her chopsticks, coating the wooden utensils in razor-sharp Sword Qi. The terrified man scrambled backward.
"W-Wait...! I get it! I-I’m leaving, so please put those away...!"
"Well? Aren't you going to get lost already?"
"Yes, ma’am!"
The man practically tripped over himself as he fled down the stairs.
Chun-bong settled back into her seat and returned her gaze to the window.
The corners of her mouth twitched upward into a sly smirk.
Lee Seo-jun, you punk, just wait until you get back here.
I’ll make you completely lose your mind with my mature charm...!
Chun-bong giggled to herself, happily drifting away into her own delusions.