The Mad Sovereign
A stinging pain shot up from his back, and his brow creased slightly. Still, it was fine.
Pain of this degree? He was used to it.
What kind of martial artist would ever bow to pain?
He lifted his head.
He could see the ‘Mad Dog’ charging straight at him.
He tilted his head to the side. The man's sword grazed past his cheek. He reached out and snatched the bastard's arm.
Then he drove his head forward with force. It was hardly a dignified attack for a master who had reached the Realm of Harmony, but there was no one here to see it. He had no intention of simply killing him. He intended to play with him first.
However, at the man's reaction that followed, Ma Heuk-rang found himself a little surprised.
KABOOOOM—!!
Their foreheads collided.
That's right. The bastard had also thrust his head forward with force, as if to headbutt him back.
‘...Was that a coincidence?’
For some reason, it had felt as though his movement had been read. Yes, that had to be his imagination.
He yanked the man's arm, dragging him in. The man's balance collapsed. He immediately lashed out with his foot.
KABOOOOM—!!
Struck in the abdomen, the man went flying into the distance. Ma Heuk-rang gripped his sword tightly and stamped off the ground.
The man alighted on the floor light as a bird and, in turn, kicked off the ground just the same.
He swept his sword out.
First Form: Thirteen Swords of Lightning Thunder
Ordinarily, this technique should have seized the space in an instant as thirteen bolts of lightning came crashing down, then cleaved the enemy's entire body apart all at once — but far from a storm of thunder, the blade that stretched out bore nothing but simple sword qi.
Even so, it was fine.
There were no fewer than thirteen swords. One was a true blade and the remaining twelve were shards of sword qi, but if even a single one found its mark, the man's body would be shredded to ribbons.
However, this time as well, Ma Heuk-rang found himself startled once more by Yi Do's response.
Yi Do's foot tangled. It touched the ground and pushed off. His waist, his arms, his head — every part of his body moved as if dancing.
Three waves of sword qi brushed past Yi Do's side, five passed over his head, and the rest swept across the back of Yi Do as he bowed his body deeply forward. Among those five were Ma Heuk-rang's true blades as well. In an instant, the distance between them had closed.
It was an exquisitely profound footwork technique.
He had never seen it before, yet it was so refined — its inner mysteries so utterly unreadable — that Ma Heuk-rang could make nothing of it.
His bewilderment had to end there.
The man's fist came thrusting in.
He raised his knee to block it. Then the man's sword came at him. It was like a bolt of lightning.
A single, perfect strike.
He had no idea what martial art it was, but from the way the qi of the air tangled and split apart before it, it was unmistakably an ultimate technique among ultimate techniques.
It startled him — but that was all.
Ma Heuk-rang swung his sword as well.
KWAAAH—!!
With a tremendous explosion, the man's sword was severed in two. The man, who had been stumbling backward, spun his body. His left heel came flying toward the side of Ma Heuk-rang's head.
Ma Heuk-rang thrust his own sword forward, edge leading.
It was a ploy to make the man take a hit from his own attack — but
The other man stopped dead.
Yi Do's foot halted. Then, reversing his rotation, his opposite foot slammed into the other side of Ma Heuk-rang's head.
KABOOOOM—!!
As a thunderous roar burst out and Ma Heuk-rang staggered back three or four steps, he finally could not hold it in and let out a gasp of admiration.
“...Astonishing...”
Ma Heuk-rang had quietly tried to stimulate his upper dantian. The natural qi he had always sensed was nowhere to be felt. The influence of this formation was unmistakable.
...He had no words.
“...I have never heard of, nor seen, such a formation. A formation that severs natural qi itself. And that footwork of yours — what in the world is it? Compared to those blood-stinking vibration techniques, it is so exalted, so utterly pure. Just what are you, wretch?”
Yi Do silently drew three or four quick-acting pills from his breast and tipped them into his mouth. His body, which had grown somewhat fatigued, regained its vitality.
“You mean to replenish the inner power you spent on those elixirs? In an ordinary case, using energy absorbed from elixirs directly as inner power would allow you to draw on only twenty or thirty percent of its original strength — so what cultivation method could you possibly be using to employ the power of all those elixirs exactly as it is?”
There was more than one question.
An ignorant man would simply think, how remarkable, what a madman — but Ma Heuk-rang was not such a man.
Through the eyes of one who had reached the Realm of Harmony, the Yi Do standing before him was a profoundly strange existence.
An existence that defied explanation.
He spoke.
“Did you come here to babble?”
“...”
“I believe I said it before — if you've come to chatter, open the door and get out.”
“Hoh...”
“If not, then pull yourself together, because from now on it will be different.”
“Different?”
Ma Heuk-rang burst into scornful laughter.
“Aren't you being a touch too presumptuous? Say you've sealed the power of natural qi with this strange formation of yours — your realm is still a mere Five Rings and Coiling Ascension. Remarkable for your age, certainly, but do you truly believe that a body which has not unified its upper and lower dantians can defeat this one?”
Yi Do did not bother to answer.
“I told the Sect Leader I would kill you, but my thoughts are changing a little. I may well let you live.”
This time too, Yi Do gave no reply. He simply stood in silence, eyes closed. Ma Heuk-rang continued.
“Cast off the name Yi Do. I will grant you a new one. Swear that you will serve as a ‘Shadow’ of the Imperial Sword Sect, and I will spare your life.”
Only then did Yi Do react.
Pfft — he burst out laughing.
Yi Do opened his eyes. In that instant, Ma Heuk-rang flinched.
How could a man's eyes be so red?
“Live as a Shadow? Like ‘Yaksha,’ ‘Azure Dragon,’ ‘Black Tortoise’?”
Ma Heuk-rang's eyes flew wide open.
“...How does a wretch like you know those names?”
Say it again and again — the murim is not a beautiful place.
The Imperial Sword Sect was one of the supreme powers of the martial world. Did they claim that seat on strength and reputation alone?
Of course not.
As one climbed, and as one lived, filth tended to cling.
And when that filth needed cleaning, they required hands to do it — whether by hiring outside forces, or by employing the sect's hidden strength to wipe it away.
The three names Yi Do had just mentioned were the hidden power of the Imperial Sword Sect. Those three operated from behind the sect's back, obscuring its dirty dealings and pinning the blame on others.
It had been those very three who covered up every one of the Sword Emperor's unsavory hobbies.
Yi Do had met all three of them.
And he had killed them all.
Not merely killed them — they had asked him to. He had honored that request and granted them painless deaths.
“I was planning to split your head in two with a sword. A shame.”
He tossed the halved sword casually to the side.
Whew.
He caught his breath.
“Let me say just one thing.”
“Speak, then.”
“Think carefully before you answer what I am about to say. It will serve as your last words.”
“...Very well. Let us subdue each other first, and have a proper conversation then. I have many things I wish to ask you. Above all, the method of unfolding that formation — that much you will surrender, without fail.”
There was no need to answer.
Yi Do stamped off the ground.
It was utterly different from everything before. Ma Heuk-rang's eyes twitched.
He immediately raised his sword.
KWAAAH—!!
With a tremendous crash, Ma Heuk-rang's body slid backward. He tried to move his sword, but it would not move — held fast in Yi Do's left hand.
The grip strength was considerable.
No — more precisely, the density of qi contained in that hand was far too thick. It was a strange energy.
He had swallowed elixirs, so he should have been using the elixirs' power, but this energy... its density was too high. Just as he tried to lash out with his foot —
KWAAABOOOM—!!
He hastily shielded his face with his free hand. He had no choice. The sword in Yi Do's bloodstained hand had exploded outright.
Sword fragments burst out in all directions. A few lodged in his fingers, but it was nothing. At once, Yi Do's opposite palm struck Ma Heuk-rang's solar plexus.
Ma Heuk-rang reacted instantly to that wicked energy pouring into him, spinning his body and sweeping out his foot.
THWACK—!
Struck across the face, Yi Do staggered two steps sideways, brow furrowed in pain.
Yi Do's blood-red eyes fixed on the unbalanced Ma Heuk-rang.
Goosebumps broke out across his entire body.
Yi Do's foot shot high into the air.
And came slamming down.
A kick that shatters the very earth beneath heaven.
He hastily raised his arm.
It connected.
He had blocked it.
Or so he thought — and in that very instant, his brow crumpled violently.
With a sound like sand crumbling, Ma Heuk-rang's right arm simply ceased to exist.
This cannot drag on.
It has to end fast.
He had just taken one of Ma Heuk-rang's arms.
In that instant, Ma Heuk-rang's pupils flashed. An instinctive, experience-forged warning rang through his skull. He twisted his body aside at once — but he was a little too late.
Ma Heuk-rang's palm struck my abdomen.
The Imperial Sword Sect does not train only the sword. Its palm arts are esteemed as ultimate techniques in their own right.
His tremendous inner power came crashing in like a wave.
It was unmistakably the Great Heaven Wind Palm of Vast Derivation.
There was nothing more my body could do.
I poured all the Pure Harmonious Qi in my body into my abdomen.
KABOOOOM—!!
With agonizing pain, my body went flying far backward. I slammed into the ground and rolled three or four times.
Thud. I pressed my hand against the floor.
Hah.
I gasped a single breath and rose to my feet. My limbs were trembling — not entirely by my own will. This was a warning from body and mind alike. I raised my head.
There stood Ma Heuk-rang, staring blankly at his vanished right arm.
I looked around.
The formation still held, but there was no telling for how long.
I tipped the remaining elixirs into my mouth and immediately circulated the Primordial Unity Qi Cultivation. Even if its effect paled beside sitting in full lotus, practice was practice — it could be done regardless.
That was the nature of the Primordial Unity Qi Cultivation. I converted as much energy as I could into Pure Harmonious Qi. The trembling of my body began to subside.
As I wiped the blood trickling from the corner of my mouth, Ma Heuk-rang's voice pierced my ears.
“...That martial art. I know it.”
Ma Heuk-rang's eyes had gone dark and sunken.
It was only natural.
“...To think I would see that woman's martial art in a place like this.”
Laughter burst out of me.
Perhaps my amusement struck him as odd, for Ma Heuk-rang asked,
“Why do you laugh?”
“Why do I laugh? Because the man who'll be wetting himself the moment he comes face to face with her is standing here spouting nonsense — how could I possibly keep a straight face?”
“...Show yourself, then. That woman, who hid herself away in the murim's shadows as its Public Enemy, trembling in fear — and yet you learned her martial art so admirably.”
There was no need to answer.
One fact was clear.
As my body stood now, I could not defeat him.
True, he had lost an arm — but the formation's time was running out, and my inner power was spent to the dregs. Even refilling it with the strength of elixirs would not be enough.
No matter what means I devised, this fight could only end in my defeat.
That was what a gap in realm meant.
As proof: I could not even hold my body upright, while the Golden Heaven Divine Sword, save for his lost arm, remained hale. His inner power? It remained as abundant as the sea.
Power enough to spare — enough to wring my neck and carve my limbs apart with room to waste.
“I intended to spare your life and grant you a new name — but if you are that woman's disciple, the matter changes. I will give you two choices.”
“...”
“The first is to die under my interrogation. I will torture you until every answer I desire has been wrung from you. The second is to tell me, here and now, everything you know. Do so, and I will grant you a painless death.”
Whichever I chose, Ma Heuk-rang would never kill me quickly. I had never seen the man Ma Heuk-rang in my past life, but I knew what manner of man he was.
Birds of a feather flock together — look at the vermin who keep company with a man, and you know the man.
“The third option suits me fine.”
“The third?”
“Me splitting your head open. That's the third choice.”
“...You leave me speechless. Enough. I will see to it myself.”
Silently, I drew a small box from my breast.
The Heavenly Spirit Spiritual Root Pill, left behind by that so-called Iron-Blooded Demonic Emperor.
Ordinarily I would never swallow pills of unknown provenance, but I had no choice.
I opened the box and tipped the riotously five-colored pill into my mouth.
“What a wealth of elixirs you carry. It almost moves me to pity, watching them squandered so.”
Words about how thorough my preparations were, about how many elixirs could I possibly have left — an endless stream poured from his mouth.
My head rang.
Beyond a dull throbbing, it felt as though something were crushing it. I nearly collapsed where I stood. My brow knotted.
Every meridian in my body lost control for an instant and writhed like something mad. My middle dantian shook, and my lower dantian with it.
Two of my qi rings began to swell violently, as if they would burst at any moment.
Crash. In the end, one knee gave out and hit the ground.
Something was wrong.
This thing now coursing through my body was absolutely not inner power.
Pure Harmonious Qi?
It resembled it, a little... but it was different.
I clutched my head with one hand. It felt as though it would split open.
The Baekhoe point, where the upper dantian resided, burned hot.
I could see him approaching before me.
“Gorge yourself on elixirs without a thought, and of course the side effects come calling.”
Dense killing intent struck into every corner of my body.
I had to respond. I had to move.
My muscles and nerves refused to obey.
“Foolish wretch. Let us begin by cutting off both your arms and legs.”
I could see Ma Heuk-rang's face, twisted in a cruel smile. Beyond it, his sword was falling toward me.
It was a blade of crushing weight — like a great mountain descending.
An ultimate technique said to be teachable only to the elders of the Imperial Sword Sect.
In the past, the Sword Emperor had cleaved a mountain in two with it.
The sword descended.
Everything seemed to slow.
Just as the blade was tracing its arc —
My head opened. The upper dantian awoke. Every sensation that had slipped my control returned in an instant. A red light began to stream down from my eyes like smoke.
I could feel it.
That power from those days, when I had contended not for this vast murim, but for all the world under heaven.
In this moment.
I became the Mad Sovereign of the Three Sovereigns and Seven Venerables.
I reached out my hand.
Thud.
I caught Ma Heuk-rang's sword.
“A final struggle, is it? Yes — if my eyes do not deceive me, your will reaches far beyond that of ordinary martial artists. No wonder that woman took you as her disciple.”
“...‘That woman,’ ‘that woman.' You tire me.”
“Defending her because she was your master? Worry not. She will be dead soon enough.”
The man gave a sneering chuckle, pulled his inner power up, and bore down with all his strength.
But before long, he was thrown into confusion.
Because I had not budged an inch.
I rose to my feet.
Ma Heuk-rang staggered backward.
“That... what in the world is that...”
The figure of me reflected in his eyes must have been extraordinary. My hair whipped wildly as if caught in a gale, and my red eyes, my arms — every part of my body exposed to the air was stained crimson.
It would be unfamiliar to him. But to me, that figure was all too familiar.
When the lower and middle dantians are unified, it is called the True Dantian.
Circulate a minimum of five qi rings, and activate the True Dantian together with the upper dantian.
And on top of that, wield the Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Secrets —
and this is the form that appears.
My master had called this manifestation the Avatar of Asura.
“A d-demon... You truly were a demon...”
I seized the throat of the trembling Ma Heuk-rang with my free hand.
“Asura is no demon.”
It felt exhilarating.
As if every chain that had bound me had been loosed at once.
“I don't wish to blame your ignorance, but in your next life, try studying a little harder.”
I tightened my grip.
His protective sword qi tore apart like paper.
Before long.
Crack.
Ma Heuk-rang's neck snapped. I showed no mercy and lashed out with my foot.
KABOOOOM—!!
Ma Heuk-rang's abdomen burst open, and his body split in two.
I collapsed where I stood.
The fleeting coolness I had felt turned back into agony.
The upper dantian that had blazed shut itself, my middle dantian swelled as though it would burst, and my qi rings shook violently.
My meridians danced like mad.
Khul-luk.
Black blood poured from my mouth.
Steady.
I had to stabilize myself.
No — before that.
I dragged my feet forward, desperately. One leg dragged across the ground as though paralyzed.
I picked up the sword that had fallen.
Half of it remained — but it was enough.
I kept moving.
I found Ma Heuk-rang, reduced to his upper half. His neck had certainly been broken, yet remarkably, he was still alive. A master of the Realm of Harmony — his body was not one to judge by ordinary standards. With his upper and lower halves fully severed his death was certain, and soon. But that alone would not satisfy me.
Khul-luk.
Blood spilled from my mouth. My whole body screamed its warning: fall to the ground now, collapse, rest. But no. It was not yet time to rest.
There was still something I had to do.
I had said it with my own mouth.
That I would split that head in two.
Toward the man whose eyes asked what in the world are you doing, I brought the sword down.
Crack—!
Ma Heuk-rang's head split in two.