149
Chapter 149: Expressing Gratitude
"This one has the talent to become the Sword Empress. Since I’ve acknowledged it, it will surely come to pass."
"Sword Empress? Kehahaha! Since coming to the Jongnam Sect, I’ve seen all sorts of ridiculous things."
The Ghost Whip King, who had burst into laughter, glanced back and forth between Hong Xian and Xian Zhu before speaking.
"It’s laughable enough that the fate of the Jongnam Sect, weakened by the Shaanxi Bloodshed, is now in the hands of the Hwasan Sect’s Sword Saint. And now, you say that girl has the talent to become the Sword Empress?"
When the Ghost Whip King looked at her, Xian Zhu widened her eyes and refused to avert her gaze. In response, the Ghost Whip King snorted dismissively.
"Hmph..."
Meanwhile, Hong Xian twitched his beard but could not refute the claim—it was true that the Jongnam Sect had suffered significant losses due to the Shaanxi Bloodshed.
Whoosh!
As the Ghost Whip King channeled a massive amount of internal energy into his Jiaolong Whip (蛟龍鞭), the leather surface began to protrude sharply, as if covered in thorns.
"The swords of the Jongnam Sect’s old bastards were quite sharp. Even if they borrowed the power of the Sword Formation, the fact that they could hold their own against a Transcendent Realm master is proof of their status as one of the Nine Sects. Now, let me see your sword."
Twisting his wrist in an odd motion, the Ghost Whip King swung the Jiaolong Whip, causing it to form a circular arc centered on the end of the whip held by Mu Hwi.
At the center of that arc was Mu Hwi’s upper body. As the Ghost Whip King pulled the whip taut, the circle tightened, attempting to bind Mu Hwi’s body.
"I’ll handle this. Everyone, step back."
Mu Hwi spoke to Hong Xian and the other Jongnam disciples while keeping his eyes fixed on the Ghost Whip King. Then, he flung the end of the Jiaolong Whip outward and dashed through the opening created.
"My apologies. I leave the rest to you."
"Be careful, Brother."
Seizing the opportunity, Xian Zhu and the Jongnam disciples carried the wounded and retreated from the Pavilion of Towering Views. At the same time, Mu Hwi stepped forward. The footsteps of the Dark Scent Flutter, imbued with the scent of plum blossoms, glided across the pavilion’s floor.
Seeing Mu Hwi closing the distance, the Ghost Whip King smirked and swung his right arm. The whip coiled behind him suddenly lashed forward, aiming for Mu Hwi’s back.
Clang!
Without even looking back, Mu Hwi twisted his body, deflecting the whip, then swung his sword horizontally, unleashing a storm of sword energy forward.
In an instant, Mu Hwi slashed seven times, sending waves of sword energy and wind, yet the Ghost Whip King remained completely unfazed.
After wrapping the whip twice around his wrist, the Ghost Whip King infused it with both weight and arm strength before swinging it downward with full force.
Boom!
The whip, extending high into the air, split the pavilion’s roof in half and shattered the floor along with the barrage of sword energy.
Already damaged from the earlier Six Harmonies Formation, the Pavilion of Towering Views could no longer withstand the Ghost Whip King’s strike and began to collapse.
Crash!
Despite the floor crumbling and debris raining down from above, the two masters paid no heed and continued their fierce exchange.
Each time the Sim-myeong Sword and the Jiaolong Whip clashed, sharp shockwaves rippled outward.
Even as the floor tilted, Mu Hwi remained steady, his sword blooming with plum blossoms. Seeing this, the Ghost Whip King wrapped his whip around a pavilion pillar, ripped it free, and hurled it at Mu Hwi—a sinister grin on his face.
Swish!
Mu Hwi focused on the incoming pillar and the subsequent barrage of the Ghost Whip King’s techniques hidden behind it—a clever tactic to obscure his attacks.
The pillar was so thick that two grown men would struggle to wrap their arms around it.
With a single slash, Mu Hwi split it in half, then tilted his wrist and traced a circle with his sword.
Plum blossoms bloomed around Mu Hwi, while dozens of whip lashes coiled toward him like serpents.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of the whip tearing through the air was deafening, yet the blossoms of Plum Endures the Snow’s Cold remained unshaken.
"Quite sturdy."
As the Ghost Whip King’s eyebrows rose in surprise, the hem of Mu Hwi’s robe fluttered gently. Mu Hwi then closed the distance, pressing his attack.
"Do you think closing the gap will change anything?!"
Adjusting the whip’s length by coiling it around his shoulder, the Ghost Whip King attempted to swing it in a circular motion.
But Mu Hwi’s Sim-myeong Sword intercepted mid-trajectory, disrupting the whip’s path and preventing a complete circle.
The Ghost Whip King’s eyebrows rose again, but he focused on blocking Mu Hwi’s rising slash by extending his left hand and releasing tension.
Clang!
The clash between palm and sword sent a stronger-than-expected shockwave through the Ghost Whip King’s arm, forcing him back a step.
As he retreated, he shook his body to loosen the whip coiled around his shoulder, aiming for Mu Hwi’s legs. But before he could, the Sim-myeong Sword flashed.
Mu Hwi had anticipated the Ghost Whip King’s attempt to extend the whip’s length. The Ghost Whip King had no choice but to retreat hastily, scattering tension.
Yet Mu Hwi refused to give him space, sticking to him relentlessly. Sensing that Mu Hwi was gradually outmaneuvering him, the Ghost Whip King’s anger flared.
"How dare you?!"
Creating an opening with a gust of wind, the Ghost Whip King finally freed his whip and lashed out indiscriminately at Mu Hwi.
But his strikes were blocked by Falling Plum Blossoms (梅花落落), a technique that scattered hundreds of petals vertically.
As Mu Hwi stepped forward again with the Dark Scent Flutter, the Ghost Whip King tried to adjust the whip’s length by coiling it around his wrist.
Boom!
Mu Hwi stomped the ground and shot toward the Ghost Whip King. Sensing danger, the Ghost Whip King wrapped the whip around his arm and blocked the Sim-myeong Sword with his forearm.
Though he parried the strike with quick thinking, the Ghost Whip King was baffled.
"This bastard… Was he waiting for this?"
At first, he was confused, but now he understood Mu Hwi’s intent.
Flexible weapons like whips had the advantage of long reach but were difficult to master.
The sheer length made it hard to exert full force, and the extended range could become a liability.
To compensate, practitioners used large and small circular motions (Great Rotation and Small Rotation) to control power and speed, coiling the weapon around arms, shoulders, or the neck to adjust length, angle, and direction.
These techniques combined to form the foundation of the whip’s unpredictable, range-flexible combat style.
But Mu Hwi seemed to have perfectly grasped the nature of flexible weapons and exploited it.
"Even if his martial arts and insight are exceptional, understanding a weapon to this degree requires extensive experience. How?!"
Moreover, Mu Hwi was facing the whip of a man known as the Whip King in the martial arts world. This wasn’t something one could attempt with mere theoretical knowledge.
Even if Mu Hwi’s understanding of weapons was top-tier, the Ghost Whip King’s decades of training weren’t so easily overcome.
As these thoughts raced through his mind—
The Ghost Whip King tore through five plum blossoms blooming before him and realized:
The reason he was being pushed back wasn’t just a gap in skill.
But he couldn’t easily accept the truth, his instincts screamed at him.
"Am I really being overwhelmed by this young brat?!"
The Hwasan Sword Saint’s reputation was nothing to scoff at, but the Ghost Whip King had his own formidable legacy.
He hadn’t expected an easy fight, but he never imagined he’d be the one struggling.
Mu Hwi, noticing the flicker of doubt in the Ghost Whip King’s eyes, deflected a whip strike aimed at his waist and tilted the Sim-myeong Sword.
"Ghost Whip King… You’re exactly as I thought."
"What?!"
As Mu Hwi circulated his Purple Sunset Divine Technique (紫霞神功), a purple haze shimmered behind him, enveloping the Sim-myeong Sword.
It seemed Mu Hwi hadn’t been fighting at full strength—his aura grew deeper and more profound with each breath.
"Exactly at the level of a False King—nothing more."
After exchanging over a hundred moves, Mu Hwi was certain.
Within the Transcendent Realm, there were no strict classifications, but he had surpassed the arbitrary benchmark of a False King.
He was still far from the level of the Three Seats (三座), who had reached the Absolute Realm (絶對境), but he had undoubtedly stepped beyond False Kings and was advancing toward the Seats.
Yet Mu Hwi felt no joy.
He only confirmed that his progress was on the right path.
His battles against numerous Absolute Realm masters had accelerated his growth. Today, he was certain he would grow another step by defeating the Ghost Whip King.
Unlike Mu Hwi’s calm gaze, the Ghost Whip King’s eyes burned with murderous intent.
"How dare a mere whelp like you judge me?!"
The Ghost Whip King’s aura exploded as he roared, seemingly unleashing both his dantian’s energy and the natural power around him.
In response, the jagged leather of his whip rose like thorns.
The Sim-myeong Sword effortlessly deflected the enhanced Jiaolong Whip’s strike and shot toward the Ghost Whip King’s throat.
The Ghost Whip King barely dodged by leaning back, and Mu Hwi smirked.
"What will you do, Ghost Whip King? It’s clear that I stand at a height where I can judge you."
"Bastard!"
Enraged by Mu Hwi’s taunt, the Ghost Whip King spun his entire body and lashed out with his whip.
Infused with internal energy, the whip expanded like a serpent—no, a flood dragon—opening its maw to strike.
But Mu Hwi, as if waiting for this, stomped the ground and slashed the Sim-myeong Sword in a cross-shaped strike.
The Ghost Whip King’s ultimate technique unfolded from the whip’s tip, drawing countless large and small circles—
Jiaolong Rampaging Through the River (蛟龍灢河).
A chaotic storm of whip strikes, mimicking a flood dragon churning a river, filled the air with dozens of unpredictable trajectories.
An ultimate technique where power, angle, speed, and spacing are shifted dozens of times in an instant.
A single misstep would trap Mu Hwi in the Ghost Whip King’s rhythm, but he calmly unleashed Nine Sword Shadows (九劍影).
The nine shadows branched outward, each transforming differently—some into plum tree trunks, others into branches and roots. Together, they formed an entire forest of plum blossoms.
Nine Transformations of the Plum Blossom (梅花九變).
Boom! Crash!
The pavilion, already half-destroyed, completely collapsed under the clash of ultimate techniques.
Even the cliff beneath the pavilion cracked from the shockwaves, sending rocks tumbling down.
Petals of sword energy scattered like dust, while the Jiaolong Whip’s rotations were repeatedly shattered by the endless sword shadows.
As the two techniques canceled each other out, the Ghost Whip King, having exhausted his energy, gasped for breath—but Mu Hwi still had strength left.
Emerging through the dust and debris, Mu Hwi startled the Ghost Whip King, who hastily swung his whip.
Mu Hwi’s eyes locked onto the whip’s tip as it weaved through the air.
"Thanks to you, I’ve perfected another technique. I express my gratitude."
The Ghost Whip King’s eyes widened at Mu Hwi’s quiet words.
A technique designed to counter flexible weapons—whips, three-section staffs, fishing nets, meteor hammers, rope darts—
The Ghost Whip King’s whip arts were the pinnacle of such weapons, and Mu Hwi, drawing from his battles against countless martial artists in his past life as the Sword Devil, refined his experience into a single technique.
Severing the Rope to Seek the Empress (破索求后).
A technique to rescue the future Sword Empress.
The future that might have ended today at the Ghost Whip King’s hands would now continue its path of the sword.
The technique focused on disrupting the whip’s rotations and exploiting its flexibility, culminating in a single, precise slash.
Slice!
A sharp cutting sound echoed as the Jiaolong Whip, aimed at Mu Hwi’s vital points, split into nine pieces and fell to the ground.
The Ghost Whip King stared in horror at the fragments of his whip.
The final strike of Severing the Rope arced toward his throat. Feeling the Sim-myeong Sword’s killing intent, his face twisted in despair.
Then, Mu Hwi’s back prickled with goosebumps.
In an instant, the space behind him distorted, and a masked figure wielding twin blades appeared.
The twin blades aimed straight for Mu Hwi’s back.