Chapter 289
Chapter 289
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 80
>Chapter Title: Northern Blade King (1)
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Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek.
Another title for him, who guarded the Emperor, was Northern Blade King, the pinnacle of the current martial world and one of the Six Heavens.
His most famous tale was slicing three massive ships led by the Yangtze River Waterway Stronghold in half with a single stroke on the Yangtze.
Thanks to that legendary feat, Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek ascended to the summit of the martial world, newly claiming a spot among what were once called the Five Heavens.
-Shing!
As Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek drew his blade, his gaze swept past Mok Kyung-un, disguised as a palace eunuch wearing a human skin face mask, along with Six Heavenly Leader So Ye-rin in palace maid attire and a black mask, and the Six Blood Star Dan Baek-ha, whose body was caked in scraps of flesh.
'Confirmed.'
He had swiftly patrolled the outer palace starting from the inner palace on the Emperor's orders.
Extending his energy sense to its maximum, he spotted them in an instant.
Finding them hadn't been difficult.
No matter how much they concealed their auras, for one of the Six Heavens—the pinnacle of the Central Plains martial world—it would have been stranger if he hadn't found them when actively searching.
'Faint auras.'
Passing the three, Gu Seongbaek's eyes turned toward a cart of flesh scraps.
It was covered, but he detected a subtle energy.
Judging by the utterly ordinary aura, he assumed it was the target they intended to sneak out.
As for the rest,
'A traitor among them.'
Gu Seongbaek's gaze shifted to the masked Golden Guard Thousand Commander, Mara Hyeon.
Meeting his eyes, Mara Hyeon exhaled ragged breaths and staggered back.
'This is... one of the Six Heavens...'
Mara Hyeon was utterly bewildered.
He had thought himself much stronger after his enlightenment, but this mere pressure from his presence made breathing difficult. It was a monster incarnate.
It was then.
-Pak!
Gu Seongbaek lifted his signature weapon, the broad blade Golden Crescent Moon, with one hand.
In that instant, his blade rippled with blue light.
It was Blade Gang.
'What kind of energy condensation is that?'
Seop Chun and Mong Mu-yak couldn't hide their astonishment at the sight.
The blue Blade Gang formed without warning the moment he raised his blade—it was awe-inspiring.
But the problem was the killing intent it targeted.
-Pak!
Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek, holding the massive broad blade Golden Crescent Moon in one hand, swung it directly toward where Mok Kyung-un, So Ye-rin, and Dan Baek-ha stood.
As he swung, the blue Blade Gang took the form of a colossal blade, descending in a merciless, domineering stroke.
-Kwaaaaang!
The Blade Gang, stretching over ten paces, split the floor, sending fragments flying in all directions.
Visibility was briefly obscured by a dust storm, but it vanished with a casual flick of Gu Seongbaek's hand.
As the dust cleared, a glint appeared in Gu Seongbaek's eyes.
The aftermath spared Mara Hyeon, Seop Chun, Mong Mu-yak, and the flesh cart, thanks to Six Blood Star Dan Baek-ha, whose hands were stained red with Blood Jade Hands, and the masked So Ye-rin wielding a sword rippling with blue Sword Gang.
"Not bad."
They had surpassed the wall, so he hadn't held back on that strike.
Yet these two masters had deftly deflected his blade's power.
They were no ordinary foes.
'Red hands. The witch of immortality.'
Gu Seongbaek recognized Dan Baek-ha as an escaped prisoner the moment he saw her Blood Jade Hands.
Having once been a Golden Guard himself, he knew this information.
Gu Seongbaek's sharp gaze turned to the flesh cart.
In conclusion, these were escaped prisoners attempting a breakout, aided by their rescuers.
-Swish!
Pointing his left hand at the flesh cart, Gu Seongbaek said,
"Who's inside there? Who are you trying to take...?"
-Sruk!
Before his words finished.
Something hazy appeared behind Gu Seongbaek, aiming to sever his neck in one stroke.
It was Mok Kyung-un, wearing the human skin face mask.
While So Ye-rin and Dan Baek-ha blocked Gu Seongbaek's strike, Mok Kyung-un had executed Manifest Water Crossing Step for ultra-high-speed movement, targeting his back.
However,
-Pat! Chaeeeaeng!
Gu Seongbaek blocked Mok Kyung-un's sword with his blade swung backward, without even turning.
'He blocked it without even looking?'
But it didn't end there.
As blade and sword clashed,
-Paaang!
A powerful rebound sent Mok Kyung-un's form flying back over ten paces.
-Chaarrarararung!
Mok Kyung-un's sword trembled violently from the pushback.
Then, cracks spiderwebbed across it.
-Crreeeak!
'A normal sword can't withstand it.'
He had taken one from a Royal Guard, yet it reached its limit after one clash.
Mok Kyung-un's eyes narrowed.
He knew the opponent was beyond imagination, but this one surpassed anyone he'd faced.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say he had completely transcended human limits.
'This is the pinnacle of the current martial world...'
He had heard there was only one of the Six Heavens in the imperial palace.
Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek.
'He's different.'
Mok Kyung-un had met another of the Six Heavens before.
The Heaven-Earth Society's Leader.
When he met the Leader, his own skills were weaker, and the Leader was bedridden and frail, so despite the strength, he hadn't felt this overwhelming pressure.
But a healthy one of the Six Heavens was on another level entirely.
He had truly reached superhuman realms.
-Chungsaeng!
At that moment, Cheong Ryeong, watching from above, tried to descend toward Mok Kyung-un.
Gu Seongbaek slashed his left hand toward the empty air.
A sharp energy rippled, slicing through the void.
-Cheong Ryeong!
-...I'm fine.
Cheong Ryeong, who had ascended higher instead, clicked her tongue.
She knew higher martial prowess meant keener senses, but she had fully concealed her spiritual power, and there was still distance.
Yet he had precisely launched energy at her.
"Hmm."
Having launched the energy, Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek raised one eyebrow, then turned to Mok Kyung-un and said,
"Curious. There was definitely something there."
"......"
"By the way, you're unusual. You've clearly surpassed the wall, yet your aura is barely detectable. One of two things: you've mastered some unique energy circulation method, or you're strong enough to fool me."
-Pat!
No sooner had he spoken than Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek appeared right before Mok Kyung-un.
-Chak!
Gu Seongbaek's broad blade Golden Crescent Moon slashed at Mok Kyung-un's neck.
Or rather, at an afterimage.
-Sruk!
The severed afterimage scattered, and Mok Kyung-un's form had already burrowed into Gu Seongbaek's right side.
Thanks to ultra-high-speed movement, he could match speeds to some extent.
However,
-Swish!
Gu Seongbaek casually tilted his head back to dodge Mok Kyung-un's energy-infused sword technique, then seized his wrist with lightning-fast Capturing Hand.
He followed with a swift kick to Mok Kyung-un's abdomen.
-Puk!
'Kuk.'
Mok Kyung-un's form shot upward.
Gu Seongbaek swung his Golden Crescent Moon, loaded with Blade Gang, to follow.
In that instant, a blue Sword Gang blocked the incoming Blade Gang.
Not perfectly— it was repelled backward.
'So strong.'
The one repelled was none other than the masked So Ye-rin.
Sensing Mok Kyung-un's peril, she had intervened mid-strike to block the Blade Gang, but its power was too immense, sending her flying instead.
But that wasn't the end.
-Chachachachachak!
In that moment, Gu Seongbaek unleashed successive Blade Gangs at them.
It was Bouncing Blade Gang.
The incoming blue Blade Gangs precisely targeted Mok Kyung-un and So Ye-rin, who had soared upward and been repelled.
-Six Heavenly Leader!
Mok Kyung-un's voice transmission rang in So Ye-rin's ear.
Glancing back, she saw Mok Kyung-un extending his foot toward her.
So Ye-rin, flying backward, hurriedly flipped in midair,
-Whiriric!
Twisting her form to kick her sole against Mok Kyung-un's sole.
-Paang!
The two, kicking soles in empty air, rebounded in opposite directions.
The Bouncing Blade Gangs narrowly passed between them.
Her wariness heightened by his flawless attacks, So Ye-rin scanned for Gu Seongbaek even as she flew.
'Where?'
By then, Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek had moved toward the flesh cart, blocked by Six Blood Star Dan Baek-ha.
'Blood Jade Hand Eighth Form: Blood Claw Thousand Shatters!'
Raising her Blood Jade Hands to the extreme, she unleashed her ultimate technique against Gu Seongbaek.
Her claw energy tore toward him like a meteor shower, but Gu Seongbaek blocked it effortlessly with his left hand alone, without moving his right's Golden Crescent Moon.
-Papapapapapak!
'Hah?'
Dan Baek-ha was stunned.
She hadn't expected him to block her energy-laden Blood Jade Hand ultimate so easily.
Not with some special form, but mere light palm strikes matching her technique—each exquisitely precise.
That made her realize it clearly.
'This guy's... surpassed the wall beyond the wall.'
Dan Baek-ha inwardly clicked her tongue.
She had thought the old martial world's generation had collapsed with the Great Cataclysm, producing no more grandmasters like this.
Yet in the decades she was imprisoned, much had changed.
A monster like this blocking her path proved it.
-Papapapapapak!
-Ulgek!
Each clash with Gu Seongbaek made her innards churn.
Energy transmitted through her organs, bile rising.
Judging himself superior, Gu Seongbaek amplified his power, its shockwaves rapidly transmitting.
-Euduk!
Dan Baek-ha's eyes sharpened.
'Though this lady was trapped in the underground Golden Prison, doing nothing but letting my energy wane, I am still Six Blood Star of the Great Blood Cult.'
-Pachik! Pachik!
Blue lightning sparks erupted from Dan Baek-ha's right hand.
'Hm?'
Sensing the lightning power, Gu Seongbaek hurriedly blocked his face with the broad blade Golden Crescent Moon.
-Pachichichichik!
In that instant, intense lightning repelled his form three paces back.
'Lightning power numbs energy. Then...'
As he was repelled, Gu Seongbaek chose to disperse rather than condense energy on his Golden Crescent Moon.
Executing Plum Blossom Grafting technique, he raised his blade upward,
-Pachichichichik!
The lightning climbing the blade scattered into the air.
The blue flames burning like tree roots were a spectacular sight.
"Hmph."
Annoyed, Dan Baek-ha snorted.
She figured someone beyond the wall beyond could somewhat resist lightning power, and sure enough, he deflected it with Plum Blossom Grafting.
His reactions and judgment were too fast.
It was then.
Mok Kyung-un and So Ye-rin ultra-high-speed charged toward Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek's back.
Matching them, Dan Baek-ha summoned lightning again to pressure him from the front.
In that instant.
-Pak!
Gu Seongbaek slammed his broad blade Golden Crescent Moon into the ground.
'Earth Shatter Wave Severing Form!'
-Chachachachacha!
Centered on where he plunged the Golden Crescent Moon, the floor cracked, and fragments shattered around him with Blade Gang, flying like hidden weapons.
'Hah?'
'Such a thing!'
Mok Kyung-un, So Ye-rin, and Dan Baek-ha, who had aimed to strike simultaneously, hurriedly executed defensive forms to block the incoming Blade Gangs and fragments.
-Chaechaechaechaechaechaechaeng!
They merely blocked, but the metallic clashes and whooshes echoed like thunder in all directions.
The ringing was ear-piercing.
Moreover, repelled fragments and shockwaves crumbled nearby palace walls and buildings.
-Kwakwakwakwakwaang!
Witnessing this clash, Mara Hyeon, Mong Mu-yak, Seop Chun, and others were speechless.
This battle had surpassed any level they could intervene in.
A wrong move to "help" might get them gravely injured or killed by a stray strike.
"...Is this a superhumans' duel?"
"Damn it. To get tripped up here of all places."
Mong Mu-yak spat roughly at Seop Chun's sigh-like words.
Who could have foreseen that, just before reaching high ground, not just anyone but a peerless master at the martial world's pinnacle would appear?
Then Mara Hyeon approached and said to them,
"Staying here won't help us. At this point, we move while they're fighting."
"Move?"
"Yes. Staying will just hinder them."
Deeming Mara Hyeon's judgment sound, the two nodded.
At least they shouldn't be a hindrance.
They abandoned the remaining flesh carts, aiming to take at least the one carrying Saintess Flame Commander's and flee.
However,
-Urrrrr!
"Over there!"
"Fighting's breaking out there!"
From the outer palace south gate they needed to reach, crowds were swarming in.
They were Royal Guards and eunuchs from the Western and Eastern Depositories.
That wasn't all.
-Urrrrr!
"Waaaaaaa!!!"
"Over there! Royal Guard Shadow Platoon, head northwest!"
"Royal Guard Spear Platoon, block the northern path!"
'Damn.'
Already, all available forces in the palace capable of combat were converging from every direction.
With a duel shattering walls and buildings, it would have been odder if they hadn't noticed.
The trio's faces darkened rapidly in this trapped bind.
From the moment the Six Heavens—one of the Central Plains martial pinnacle—grabbed their ankle, escape was impossible.
'Is it over?'
As despair crept in.
It was then.
-Swaaaaaa!
Something bizarre happened.
Blood rose from the ground, then slowly floated into the air.
The eerie phenomenon halted the incoming Royal Guards, Western and Eastern Depository eunuchs, leaving them clueless.
"What in the world?"
Mara Hyeon touched a rising blood droplet.
No illusion—the foul smell and warm stickiness confirmed real blood.
At this odd sight, Mong Mu-yak and Seop Chun exchanged glances.
'This is?'
They knew it.
From that village on that stormy night.
-Swaswaswaswaswaswa!
The floating blood reversed into the sky like pouring rain, dyeing the heavens blood-red.
As everything turned to blood, all nearby were horrified.
It evoked hell itself.
What grotesque phenomenon in broad daylight?
Then, the reversing blood in the air swirled and coalesced, revealing a figure.
Wearing a mask and pipe in mouth, it was Cheong Ryeong.
-Pak!
'What the hell?'
Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek, mid-execution of a large-scale anti-personnel form, yanked his plunged broad blade Golden Crescent Moon and frowned.
What otherworldly being was that?
No matter how he looked, it didn't feel human.
As he wondered, Cheong Ryeong swung her pipe.
-Whik!
-Swaaaaaa!
Blood around them surged like reverse waterfalls, forming walls in all directions.
'No way?'
Surveying, Gu Seongbaek realized the blood waterfalls had isolated them from surroundings.
Even the Royal Guards' presence and footsteps were cut off.
-Thud thud!
Now, Six Blood Star Dan Baek-ha, Mok Kyung-un, and So Ye-rin surrounded him front and back.
-Swish!
Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek rested his broad blade Golden Crescent Moon on his shoulder, face utterly composed, and said,
"I don't know what sorcery you've wrought, but you think this changes the outcome?"
"Who knows. We haven't gone all out yet."
"What?"
As he retorted, Mok Kyung-un extended his hand somewhere.
Then,
-Kwajik!
-Shuk!
A flesh cart shattered, two swords flying out.
They were Old Man Gu's demon swords: Instant Evil Sword and Murder Fear Sword.
-Pak!
The moment Mok Kyung-un gripped both demon swords, ominous black energy with demonic aura surged from his entire body.
'...He was hiding his energy?'
Gu Seongbaek's eyes narrowed at the violently rising ferocious aura.
But it didn't end there.
-Goooooo!
So Ye-rin's hair suddenly turned red, her sword blade staining blood-red.
It was an intensely sinister, murderous aura.
-Pachichichichik!
Behind, Six Blood Star Dan Baek-ha was cloaked head to toe in blue lightning.
At the completely transformed auras of the three, Southern Advance Warrior Gu Seongbaek's formerly leisurely gaze turned deadly serious.