Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Chapter 27 Supplementary Lesson (5)
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Shh shh shh shh.
The masked figures glided across the fallen leaves like shadows slipping over ice.
They closed in from all sides, shifting positions to form a razor-sharp encirclement, then unleashed their killing intent in unison.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
The whirlwind of murderous aura sent the leaves soaring into the air all at once.
Yet the old man remained utterly still, sword cradled in his arms.
"Hmmm."
He even closed his eyes.
As if he couldn't even see the enemies, lost in his own meditation.
"A mad old fool."
With a short scoff, the masked figures thrust their swords forward as one.
Pa pa pa pa!
The airborne leaves shattered into fragments under the chilling killing intent.
The realm of infusing sword energy into their aura.
The moment these seasoned peak masters struck together—
The old man's form seemed destined to be shredded in an instant.
That was when the old man moved for the first time.
His initial motion was utterly unremarkable.
Tap.
The lazy old man merely shrugged one shoulder, as if swatting a fly.
Shing.
But from that small gesture, the sword slumbering peacefully in his embrace erupted like a geyser.
Shwaaa!
When the fiercely gleaming blade surged forth in a wild assault—
Slash!
One masked figure flashed his sword light, splitting toward the old man's crown.
In that instant, the old man's eyes snapped open, gleaming sharply.
"Begone!"
Slash!
Grasping the soaring sword, he shot upward like a bird of prey. The masked figure's sword energy and body cleaved apart as one, splitting to either side.
Splatter!
Blood mist painted the air.
"What?!"
As the charging masked figures swallowed in shock, the old man flipped in midair, dragging his sword tip across the ground before launching upward again.
Slash!
Slash slash slash slash!
A cascade of sword energy like the Milky Way poured from the old man's blade tip, indiscriminately shredding the oncoming masked figures.
Clang!
Some raised their swords to block.
Hummm!
Others summoned inner energy to deflect.
Crack crack crack!
Splatter!
They couldn't hold for even a moment—swords shattered, blood fountains erupted.
At this astonishing technique, the Beggar Elder cried out in awe.
"Milky Way Dividing Sword! Truly the pinnacle among the world's supreme arts!"
Indeed, the ultimate technique of the once-mighty Kunlun Sect, hailed as the world's greatest.
"Milky Way Dividing Sword? No way!"
Jang Deuk's face, until now brimming with arrogance, drained of color.
"The Lone Flying Swordsman, Wang Wu!"
Even his scream-like shout failed to halt the old man.
Now he plunged right into their midst, unleashing indiscriminate sword strikes—like a beast amid a flock of sheep.
Thud thud. Slash. Clang!
Stomping the ground with his right foot, thrusting and slashing with superhuman speed. Wherever the old man moved, it was as if a river of stars trailed behind.
"Block him! Hold that man back!"
The masked figures were no pushovers either.
With considerable experience, they quickly regained composure despite their comrades' deaths, reforming a tight encirclement.
"Counter with the sword formation."
"He's alone."
"His energy isn't infinite—wear him down."
Not a bad choice.
Even this old man, whose sword mastery far outshone his inner energy, finally halted for the first time.
"Impressive foes."
His cheeks twitched as he felt his cherished sword scream in his grip.
"If breaking through proves difficult... I suppose I'll have to withdraw."
The savage predator of moments ago vanished, the old man abruptly turning tail.
Boom.
As he stomped powerfully and leaped some ten feet into the air, the masked figures growled.
"Think you can escape?"
"Leave your head behind!"
Not a poor judgment.
Unless one had wings, flight was impossible—and once momentum faded, balance would fail, leading to a fall.
Impaling an exposed foe would be simple.
But witnessing this, Jang Deuk shouted.
"No—don't!"
It suddenly dawned on him.
Among the famed supreme arts of the jianghu, some defied common sense with their bizarre techniques.
Above all, Jang Deuk knew of a legendary movement art that reigned supreme in midair.
'If he's truly the Lone Flying Swordsman...'
One must never fight him in the air.
Lone Flying Swordsman.
The sole existence in the sky is the solitary swordsman.
And sure enough.
Refusing to descend after his ten-foot leap, the old man inverted himself, spinning like a top.
Flutter flutter!
His robes billowed loudly as his body surged upward once more in midair.
His form kicked the air four times in bizarre fashion, shifting directions.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
His trajectory shifted at near-right angles, somersaulting through the sky.
"Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms!"
"Ha! They called Kunlun the root of all purity, and indeed you've mastered every essence!"
Trailing was another cascade of starry sword light.
The result was gruesome.
Splatter!
Thud thud thud.
"No... I never thought it was really the Lone Flying Swordsman..."
Jang Deuk's pupils quaked in horror at the masked figures reduced to blood and flesh chunks in the air.
In his trembling vision, the old man lightly landed, his sword tip blooming with crystalline energy.
Sword aura.
True sword aura, condensed transparently—the air grew scorching as it manifested.
"Sword aura?!"
"How could an unknown old man... No way."
"Dodge! The backlash from the sword aura!"
Awe filled the voices of the reeling masked figures amid the swirling heatwave.
But the old man was a step faster.
Shiiiing.
One flash.
A single thread of sword light flickered.
The faint line born in the darkness sliced everything behind it diagonally.
Trees, rocks—even lives.
Splat!
The forehead line parted, the skull cap sliding smoothly away.
Crack.
Shoulder to flank—the upper body crumbled along the line.
Not just people and swords, but everything behind followed the cut, tilting over.
In the wake of the old man's sword, everything within fifteen meters lay severed and split.
An overwhelming sword strike.
"Cough."
The old man staggered.
"They say to discard is to gain."
Not an easy feat.
The old man staggered again.
"No!"
Unable to bear watching half his men reduced to corpses in an instant, Jang Deuk lunged forward.
'I must kill him. Kill him now!'
If such a master joined the Murim Alliance, it spelled disaster for their cause.
With the Blood Dew Stone's seizure failed, slaying the Lone Flying Swordsman was their only option.
'For the Lord!'
But someone blocked his path.
"Heh heh. And where do you think you're going?"
"Tch. Beggar. You'd best step aside."
"Can't do that."
Buoyed by the old man's divine prowess, the Beggar Elder shook out his double palms.
Hummmm.
Jang Deuk's face darkened at the fiercer resonance of energy.
'Damn. This is bad.'
He unleashed his hidden demonic qi, trying to ignite even more fury, but—
"Quite warm, indeed. But do you think you alone can trouble this old man?"
"Grit."
"Dogs of the Heavenfall Society. Leave your head."
With nothing left to protect, the Beggar Elder no longer played defensive.
Clang! Crunch!
Jang Deuk's fiery aura chipped away under the fully unleashed Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms.
Boom! Boom boom!
Jang Deuk desperately ignited his demonic arts to resist, but the Beggars' Sect's anti-demon-infused Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms brooked no tolerance.
Thud. Boom.
Unyielding techniques exploited no gaps. Before fifty exchanges passed, the bout ended.
"Fall to hell."
Splat!
The Beggar Elder's double palms pierced Jang Deuk's chest, bones crunching.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
So powerful—the palm force's shockwave ravaged the ground twenty meters behind him.
"Guh... ack."
Jang Deuk's eyes rolled back from the churning energy ravaging his body.
"Gurgle."
Black blood trickled from his mouth—proof his organs were mush.
The Beggar Elder said coldly.
"Die alone. I'll send them one by one to hell."
Jang Deuk's form collapsed.
What followed was straightforward.
Boom! Boom boom!
On one side, the Beggars' Sect master unleashing mighty palm strikes.
On the other, the elder expert wielding forgotten Kunlun arts.
It took little time for the two veterans' combined assault to lay all masked figures low.
"Vicious bastards."
"Tell me about it."
Though victorious, both were utterly spent.
"Not easy moving these old bones."
"Sorry for dragging you into this hardship in your later years, Brother Wang."
"...Brother Wang? You're not joking?"
"Haha. This beggar has never spoken a falsehood in his life."
"A Beggars' Sect elder calling me brother—far too generous a title for a reclusive old timer like me."
"Kekekek. Best get used to it. After a lifetime alone, I'm not letting go of my hard-won brother in my old age."
"Urgh. Still..."
"Give it up. Even the Sect Leader couldn't break this beggar's stubbornness."
At the Beggar Elder's bullheadedness, Wang Wu's smile faded.
Come hell or high water, the Beggar Elder wouldn't back down.
"You're a jianghu senior, and you saved this beggar's life—what's the harm?"
Wang Wu finally raised his hands in surrender.
"Brother Chu. Compromise reached."
"Calling the junior brother instead? Disappointing, but fine for now."
The Beggar Elder chuckled smugly, seemingly content.
"Brother Wang, recover your energy. I have some investigating to do."
Leaving Wang Wu to circulate his qi, the Beggar Elder spent a long while combing through the corpses.
He returned with a grim expression. Wang Wu asked,
"Something wrong?"
"Well... quite a few familiar faces."
"Meaning the Heavenfall Society's minions have deeply infiltrated the Murim Alliance."
"Simple grunts would be one thing... but even Nangwol Do?"
"Nangwol Do?"
"Nangwol Do Danyo. Guest elder of the Buyeon branch office. Publicly a renowned hero, but actually an inspector dispatched by the Alliance."
"If they've even turned the Alliance's secret personnel, the situation is gravely serious."
"Exactly. I thought the recent purge wiped them out, but perhaps what I know of the Heavenfall Society is just the tip of the iceberg."
What to do.
The Beggar Elder muttered worriedly, pondering deeply before asking,
"By the way. Remember that story you told me before?"
"What story?"
"About how the Blood Dew Stone might not be just one."
Wang Wu nodded, recalling.
"Yes, I did say that."
"Then this is truly dangerous. It means there are more than one or two madmen pulling off stunts like this."
"Undoubtedly."
"Judging from this, even if there are multiple Blood Dew Stones, their number isn't great."
Wang Wu probed at the oddly confident tone.
"What makes you so sure? I can't fathom it."
Tapping his temple with a finger, the Beggar Elder replied,
"Simple arithmetic. Traitors we couldn't catch despite repeated strict audits came running at the sight of this stone."
"...It must be something crucial."
"Crucial or not, if it were common, they wouldn't charge in blindly like this. These meticulous folk, so hard to tail—yet today they came rushing like madmen. A first."
A convincingly logical argument.
Among them were key position holders; their silent disappearance would surely cause chaos in the Murim Alliance.
"Not like these schemers, who always plot in shadows."
"You have a point in mind."
"As expected, Brother Wang—you read this beggar's mind like a book."
Grinning mischievously, the Beggar Elder continued in a sly tone,
"They're obsessed with the Blood Dew Stone. We use that to our advantage."
"...How?"
"Use this stone as bait. Lure them out."
"Lure them with the Blood Dew Stone?"
Wang Wu startled at the bold scheme, but the Beggar Elder laughed.
"Gives us even more reason to head to the Murim Alliance together, Brother Wang."