Chapter 331
Chapter 331
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 89
>Chapter Title: Sichuan Turmoil (3)
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‘!!!!!!’
As the carriage door opened, two swords floated out into the air, drifting like fish swimming through water.
The moment he saw them, Hyun Moon-ja of the Qingcheng Sect, who had half-drawn his sword, froze in place.
The other Qingcheng warriors were the same.
“N-No way?”
“Flying swords?”
No swordsman who wielded a blade could fail to recognize them.
It was the sword control technique—controlling one’s sword with qi—said to be possible only for those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and whose internal energy approached the wall of walls.
Led by the senior disciple Hyun Moon-ja, the Qingcheng warriors buzzed with shock.
There weren’t many in the entire martial world who could wield the sword control technique.
Why would such a peerless master appear in a place like this?
Moreover, that face they’d glimpsed earlier didn’t look a day over seventeen or eighteen, let alone in his twenties.
‘No way. Nonsense!’
In that instant, Hyun Moon-ja assumed the one displaying this rare technique wasn’t that young man.
There had to be some hidden expert inside the carriage...
-Swish!
It happened right then.
The flying swords shot toward him at blinding speed, startling him into leaping away with all his might.
By a hair’s breadth, the blade grazed his left shoulder.
But,
-Poof!
While he dodged the flying sword, the other Qingcheng warriors did not.
Like skewering meat on a spit, the sword pierced through the heads and hearts of three junior sect members in an instant.
-Pfbt! Pfbt! Pffft!
“Gahk!”
“Keurk!”
Excluding the one whose head was pierced, the other two collapsed with dying screams.
As three lives were lost in a flash to the flying swords, the Qingcheng warriors panicked, abandoning their encirclement and scattering in all directions.
“Junior Brother Jung-wan! Brothers Bu-hyun!”
“R-Run!”
There was no time to rage or grieve over their fallen brothers.
Mok Kyung-un’s two demon swords, Evil Instant and Fear Slaughter, pursued the fleeing Qingcheng warriors like hunters, piercing them at tremendous speed.
-Pfbt! Pfbt! Pffft!
‘H-How could this...’
As four more fell in moments, Hyun Moon-ja’s pupils trembled wildly.
Excluding the apostate monk Bokma Kwon-sa Ja Geum-jeong, he had assumed none of them were particularly strong since they were all so young.
But that had been a grave miscalculation.
They had touched something they should never have.
To wield two flying swords so freely and render first-rate masters on the verge of peak realm helpless meant this foe was at least an Eight Star supreme master—or beyond.
They stood no chance.
Yet,
‘Escaping all together is impossible.’
Nearly a third had already perished.
Using them as shields might save his own life, but how could he abandon his brothers and flee?
And,
-Drip, drip, drip!
Something was wrong with his left shoulder where the sword had grazed him.
He had sealed the bleeding acupoint and sent qi to the wound, but the blood kept flowing, and the pain was intensifying.
‘What an eerie sword.’
The wound refused to heal.
Even if he escaped now, who knew what would happen.
Hyun Moon-ja steeled his resolve.
-Pat!
He launched himself toward the carriage.
No matter how supreme the master, if he pressed with mutual destruction techniques that drained their qi, couldn’t he buy even a little time for his brothers to escape?
“S-Senior Brother!”
One of the juniors cried out at the sight.
Without halting his charge, Hyun Moon-ja shouted for all to hear.
“Scatter!”
“Senior Brother!”
His brothers grasped his intent.
Determined not to let their senior brother’s sacrifice be in vain, they prepared to disperse.
But,
-Woooong!
In that moment, black sword qi erupted from the two hovering swords.
Then, Evil Instant and Fear Slaughter began piercing the Qingcheng warriors at speeds incomparable to before.
-Pfbt! Pfbt! Pffft!
“Kuaak!”
“Gahk!”
Hyun Moon-ja, who had averted his eyes, couldn’t help but look and was dumbstruck.
It gleamed unlike any ordinary sword aura, but it was unmistakably sword qi.
‘Flying sword qi?’
He could scarcely believe it.
Even Eight Star supreme masters couldn’t wield sword qi while controlling flying swords.
That meant,
‘A Six Heaven peerless master?’
It was a divine feat impossible without reaching the pinnacle of the current martial world’s Six Heavens.
Hyun Moon-ja had charged forth prepared for mutual destruction, but witnessing the flying sword qi plunged him into despair over shock.
Who the hell was inside that carriage?
That was when it happened.
-Pak!
Someone snatched the nape of his neck as he flew forward.
Then slammed his face into the ground.
-Boom!
“Keuk!”
The one who grabbed and smashed him down was none other than Seop Chun.
He had tailed and seized Hyun Moon-ja for daring to bypass him and target his liege, Mok Kyung-un.
Seop Chun yanked him up by the hair.
“A mere pawn trying to grab the king right off the bat? Pathetic.”
“You bastard!”
Hyun Moon-ja tried to shake off Seop Chun’s grip on his hair.
But the moment their wrists connected, he instinctively sensed Seop Chun’s internal energy far surpassed his own.
‘No?’
What were these guys?
This one looked barely into his twenties too—how could his energy be this overwhelming?
It was unbelievable.
Hyun Moon-ja’s pupils shook violently.
The bandits surrounding the Tang Clan were one thing, but what the hell was happening in Sichuan?
But he could think no further.
-Crack!
Seop Chun had twisted his neck backward.
Since these were the ones who had pursued them from the inn, leaving them alive would only invite trouble.
Seop Chun clicked his tongue in mild regret after killing him.
He seemed like a righteous sect swordsman—would’ve been fun to clash properly.
But with his injury and haste, it ended too quickly.
‘Well, no time anyway.’
Then someone approached from the side.
“Step aside.”
It was Mara Hyun, the masked one.
“Hm?”
“Lord’s orders.”
“Ah.”
Seop Chun stepped aside.
Mara Hyun picked up the sword from the neck-snapped Hyun Moon-ja and began carving something into his forehead.
He drew a vertical line straight through the center of the character for “two.”
This was the secret mark of the third Mok family head.
“This is...?”
“Carve it on all the corpses.”
“Lord’s orders too?”
“Yes.”
“Got it.”
At Mara Hyun’s words, Seop Chun headed toward the other bodies.
Meanwhile, Evil Instant and Fear Slaughter, having slaughtered every Qingcheng warrior with flying sword mastery while hovering in the air, returned to the carriage.
Gazing at the two demon swords, Mara Hyun inwardly marveled.
‘Getting stronger still.’
Without stepping a foot outside the carriage, he had sensed and slain every enemy with mere qi perception.
He had reached a level impossible to approach, truly awe-inspiring.
Even his former master, So Ye-rin, wouldn’t stand a chance now.
‘...A real monster.’
* * *
The morning of the fourth and final day that the Bandit King Stone Crusher Bear had given as his deadline.
In the rear garden of a separate pavilion within the Tang Clan estate.
A woman in her early twenties with short hair and refined beauty stood before Clan Head Tang In-hae, hands neatly clasped.
Tang In-hae, who had been staring intently at her, spoke.
“Song-a. Still haven’t changed your mind?”
At the question, the woman called Song-a wore a complex expression.
Her name was Ye Song-a.
The daughter of a Tang branch family with Tang blood, and the sole granddaughter of the Blaze Fire Sect’s Holy Flame Commander.
“Clan Head...”
“It’s the last day of that man’s offer. What would you have me do?”
At Tang In-hae’s words, Ye Song-a recalled their conversation from four days prior.
[Let me be frank. The main family is in dire straits right now.]
[Because of those surrounding the estate?]
[Of course, the Bandit King makes them dangerous. But there’s something even greater.]
[What could be greater?]
[I don’t know how it leaked, but the fact that we’re protecting you has spread everywhere.]
[Ah...]
[There aren’t many ways to contain this.]
[...]
[You’re family from a branch, so we must protect you, but as clan head, I have to prioritize the Tang Clan.]
[...]
Ye Song-a knew.
Just as she followed the Blaze Fire Sect’s doctrines, the clan head placed the Tang Clan’s interests above all.
Even branches were unforgiven if they harmed the clan.
If not for ‘that,’ he wouldn’t have bothered discussing it and would have abandoned her for the clan from the start.
All this lengthy explanation now was ultimately,
[But if you renounce the Blaze Fire Sect and pledge to use your power for the main family, then I—no, the Tang Clan—will protect you at any cost.]
Yes, that was the goal.
Her grandmother, the Holy Flame Commander, had lost the qualification, and that power had fully passed to her.
And Tang Clan Head Tang In-hae wanted it.
The four days to think were for this very purpose.
“Your decision will determine what I...”
-Kwaaaang!
Before he could finish.
A massive explosion roared.
The pavilion trembled faintly from the blast, furrowing Tang In-hae’s brow. He stopped mid-sentence and headed outside.
* * *
Just moments earlier,
Outside the Tang Clan estate.
Bandit King Stone Crusher Bear sat beneath his command tent, arms crossed, legs propped on a table.
He hadn’t expected them to use the full allotted time.
Seeing this, it was certain that the Blaze Fire Sect member she mentioned was indeed inside.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t drag it out like this.
But this raised one question.
‘What the hell is this Blaze Fire Sect person that the Tang Clan protects them so fiercely?’
They were part of the Righteous Alliance, a righteous faction.
For them, sheltering a Blaze Fire Sect member was a fatal weakness, a stain on their honor.
Yet the Tang Clan had agonized for nearly four days without yielding.
Meaning they saw value worth enduring all this for?
‘What could it be?’
He had come here for her demand, but that woman never made pointless requests.
There was value, so she asked.
What was the reason?
Did that Blaze Fire Sect member possess something special?
As he pondered suspiciously,
“Hm?”
‘!?’
Stone Crusher Bear turned toward a voice.
There stood a young man, arms crossed, wearing a pensive expression.
One of Stone Crusher Bear’s eyebrows shot up.
‘What’s this guy?’
A stranger.
Clean attire, strikingly handsome face—he didn’t look like a bandit.
When had this guy slipped into the command tent?
‘Hold on... How did I not notice him approaching this close?’
Something was off.
His qi sense detected nothing special from the youth.
Yet he hadn’t sensed his approach at all.
Did that even make sense?
He, one of the Eight Stars hailed as the martial world’s pinnacle, failing to detect a mere youth right under his nose?
“...Who are you, little brother?”
Stone Crusher Bear lowered his legs and rose, speaking.
The youth, who had been frowning in thought with arms crossed, replied.
“Strange.”
“What?”
“I came because the Tang Clan was in crisis, but it doesn’t look like a crisis at all.”
Stone Crusher Bear scowled.
What was this punk babbling about?
Here to aid the Tang Clan?
“...What are you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Who else would I be talking about?”
“Ah! Right. I’m Moo-jin, eldest son of the Yu family.”
“Yu Moo-jin?”
A name he’d never heard.
Then the self-proclaimed Yu Moo-jin scratched his head.
“Doesn’t seem like the crisis I feared, so I’ll be going.”
“Ha!”
Stone Crusher Bear snorted in disbelief.
“You think you can just come and go as you please? Do you know where you are?”
“No business here, so I’m leaving.”
“Hoo.”
Stone Crusher Bear sighed.
The moment the sigh ended,
-Sruk!
His form blurred, instantly appearing before Yu Moo-jin.
In a flash, he drove a fist toward the youth’s abdomen.
-Thud!
No warning—he had struck with five-star power to test him properly.
But,
“That all you got?”
‘!?’
Stone Crusher Bear’s eyes widened in shock.
It didn’t feel like hitting flesh; it was like smashing a thick boulder.
Of course, even a boulder would shatter under his fist, but this guy hadn’t budged an inch, just staring back.
Now that he looked, the loose clothes hid it, but his upper body was insanely thick.
Pure muscle everywhere.
Then,
-Thud!
“Kuhk!”
Yu Moo-jin’s fist sent Stone Crusher Bear flying five paces back.
-Murmur, murmur!
The surroundings erupted.
The bandits watching the Bandit King had been shocked by the sudden commotion.
It was the first time they’d seen him pushed back.
Stone Crusher Bear himself was stunned.
-Ugh, ugh!
His abdomen throbbed violently, bile rising.
‘This punk’s fist...’
No internal energy, yet the impact reverberated through his body, forcing him back.
Now wary, Stone Crusher Bear assumed a proper stance.
He too had claimed an Eight Star seat with pure external arts; he was confident no one surpassed him in raw power.
As he settled into position,
“Oh. You’re strong. Top tier in the martial world, I’d say.”
“What’re you on about?”
“I thought stage five would suffice, but looks like stage four it is.”
“What?”
What nonsense was this?
As he wondered, he noticed Yu Moo-jin fiddling with a golden ring-like band on his right arm.
Turning it,
-Kiririk!
The grating sound unnerved him.
Feeling an ominous premonition, Stone Crusher Bear struck first.
-Pat!
If before was five-star power, now he surged to ten-star in an instant.
Enough to level a small hillock.
But,
-Tak!
‘No!?’
Yu Moo-jin casually caught the fist with one hand.
And that wasn’t the end.
-Shoooo!
His right arm’s biceps and forearm swelled prominently, heating to a glowing red as white steam rose.
The bizarre sight shook Stone Crusher Bear’s pupils.
Then Yu Moo-jin grinned and said,
“You’d better clench your teeth tight.”
“Wait...”
-Kwaaaang!
Before he could speak.
A fist smashed into his face, slamming his body into the ground.
The force cratered the earth five paces deep, debris flying everywhere.
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