Chapter 456
Chapter 456
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 117
>Chapter Title: Supreme (2)
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“Are you afraid? Why keep your distance?”
-Crunch!
In an instant, Mok Gan’s expression twisted ferociously.
Even as a clone, they didn’t all share the exact same temperament.
Though they shared perceptions through the third eye, they were inevitably influenced by the original personality and disposition of the body they inhabited.
This clone with its savage features was the body Mok Gan had acquired over forty years ago.
Dongmyeong Death Sword In-seop.
His active period had been short, and coming from the southern barbarians, he had quickly faded from the memories of the martial world. But at the time, he was one of the supreme masters counted among the top five in all of murim.
In the southern barbarians and surrounding regions, this peerless expert had no equal. He was immensely proud and arrogant.
“Rising in power has made you cocky.”
-Roooar!
As Mok Gan unleashed his aura, tremendous wind pressure shook the broken bamboo around them.
‘...To this extent.’
Jin Ye-rin’s face darkened at his overwhelming presence.
She had suspected he was holding back, but to control his power to this degree?
He had already surpassed the wall of walls.
-Pat!
Though his severed arm hadn’t fully regenerated, Mok Gan extended a hand still raw without even skin formed.
“I’ll show you things are different now.”
-Woooong!
As Mok Gan thrust out his hand, the air tore with a ripping sound. Sharp sword intent and pure energy gathered, forming a sword so transparent it was nearly invisible—a formless sword.
‘Formless Sword!’
Jin Ye-rin’s pupils trembled.
It was the realm of the sword’s pinnacle: forging a blade from pure energy, the Formless Sword stage.
Mok Gan could dominate a body and draw out its full latent potential.
However, the body of Cheonji Society Leader’s great disciple Na Yul-ryang had only recently been taken. It hadn’t yet awakened to match his talent, so he couldn’t wield its full power.
But this body was different.
He had wielded it for over forty years, fully assimilating it and unlocking all its potential.
-Swish!
Mok Gan assumed a stabbing grip toward Mok Kyung-un, pulling back as if drawing a sword.
Vast energy began concentrating along the entire length of the formless sword.
It looked as if he were gathering all his power into a single point.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
Even the ground trembled beneath them.
The sharp energy radiating outward focused razor-sharp on Mok Kyung-un, like an arrow nocked to a bow.
‘No. This is...’
Mok Kyung-un couldn’t possibly miss the harbinger of death emanating from that stance. Why was he standing so still?
Was he planning to meet that sword strike head-on?
No matter how much his power had surged beyond compare, this was far too dangerous.
Sensing extreme foreboding, Jin Ye-rin hurriedly shouted.
“Young Master Mok, you mustn’t meet it head-on...!”
But her words didn’t even finish.
‘Heavenly Vein Sword Form. Formless Sword Form, Second Stance: Sword Fang Burst!’
-Boom!
A deafening roar like ruptured eardrums erupted. The sharp sword intent amplified with explosive power, instantly blanketing the entire space.
It was the momentum of a giant as vast as a mountain thrusting a sword.
The formless sword strike, laden with immeasurable energy, sought to destroy everything before it.
‘Fool.’
In that fleeting moment, the corner of Mok Gan’s mouth curled up.
To think he’d meet this head-on just because his power had risen.
Unlike this fool, he had spent ages studying countless martial arts and even devised sword strikes suited to the Formless Sword.
Unless it was a strike of equal caliber, meeting this head-on would...
-Shatter!
‘!!!!!!!!’
Mok Gan’s expression froze in an instant.
The Formless Sword Form’s Sword Fang Burst, which had extended to obliterate everything in sight, split clean in two.
The scene resembled a massive waterfall cleaved apart.
And between the parted halves stood Mok Kyung-un, sword slashing upward.
‘It... split.’
He wasn’t the only one stunned by the sight.
Jin Ye-rin was so shocked she staggered and fell on her rear.
She hadn’t even manifested a Formless Sword herself. And against Mok Gan, whose power had reached its peak even as a clone—she thought she couldn’t match him.
Yet in that bare instant, that split second...
-A chill!
The transcendent power radiating from Mok Kyung-un made her skin crawl.
Just one moment, but Mok Kyung-un’s energy had utterly overwhelmed Mok Gan.
What on earth was that just now?
She pondered in bewilderment.
-Step!
Mok Kyung-un, who had cleaved the formless sword strike with a single slash, began walking toward him.
Just one step, and an eerie pressure surged forth.
Mok Gan, momentarily flustered by his form’s disruption, regained his senses and hurriedly prepared another Formless Sword strike.
‘Heavenly Vein Sword Form. Formless Sword Form, Fourth Stance: Sword Wave Annihilation!’
-Swish swish swish!
As Mok Gan swung, countless sword afterimages bloomed, surging with tyrannical momentum like waves to engulf Mok Kyung-un.
Then...
-Slash!
Mok Kyung-un brought his sword down on the wave of sword momentum.
With that, the wave of black afterimages split apart, the Formless Sword Form shattered once more in utter futility.
At this sight, the third eye on Mok Gan’s forehead lost focus.
That third eye could read energy flows, yet the instant Mok Kyung-un swung, his power blackened everything around.
‘...How is this possible?’
He had clashed with Mok Kyung-un before, albeit with another clone.
Just recently, even his new body hadn’t matched in raw energy.
Yet moments ago, his power had surged to blanket all directions.
It surpassed even this fully assimilated body.
-Step step!
Staring at the approaching Mok Kyung-un, Mok Gan spoke.
“You... Did you consume a spirit beast’s essence core?”
“Essence core?”
“Else how could your power skyrocket in so short a time? Yes, that must be it. To reclaim your strength, you’ve been devouring spirit beasts’ essence cores!”
There are three tomes called the Three Demonic Scriptures.
One, the Immortal White True Scripture, speaks of spirit beasts born from the convergence of nature’s vast energies.
Even the Confucian classic, the Five Classics’ Book of Rites in the Rite Fortune chapter, mentions four of the Five Spirits: the auspicious quartet of Lin, Feng, Gui, Long.
Azure Dragon, Qilin, Phoenix, Dragon Turtle.
Since ancient times, the Central Plains regarded these four as harbingers of fortune.
But the Immortal White True Scripture’s Five Spirits differ slightly.
If the four are mythical, these Five Spirits are real.
They are the Great Peng, Imugi, Fire Qilin, Wind White Tiger, and Dragon Turtle—beings born from the energies of the five elements, akin to nature itself.
The scripture details something crucial: consuming the blood or essence core of these Five Spirits, born from nature’s energies, grants vitality enough for eternal life or agelessness, surplus for a lifetime.
‘Spirit beasts... essence cores...’
Mok Kyung-un hadn’t seen the Immortal White True Scripture, but he knew of the Five Spirits to some degree.
From Blood Saint Dan-baek of the Blood Cult, he’d heard of the Dragon Turtle and Fire Qilin from Jin Ye-rin, and vaguely from Jin Un-hwi’s lingering will in the bamboo slips.
An opportunity to directly absorb the quintessence of the five elements, or so it was said.
But Mok Kyung-un had no interest in such beasts.
He had only one concern.
“Take that garbage yourself.”
“What?”
“That’s not what matters.”
-Pat!
Mok Kyung-un’s form blurred to Mok Gan’s front in an instant.
Mok Gan, vigilance unbroken, swung his Formless Sword to behead the appearing Mok Kyung-un, but...
-Clang!
‘!?’
His Formless Sword bounced off.
‘The Formless Sword?’
Not even the same Formless Sword—and with a demon sword, no less—deflected like a mere blade?
-Pat!
Mok Gan dodged the demon sword Ya-geuk aimed at his throat, retreating as his left hand traced a sword mudra downward.
-Woooong!
A massive formless sword materialized in the air, crashing down like an iron mace toward Mok Kyung-un.
However...
-Clang!
Mok Kyung-un advanced, batting it away.
No, more than that—it shattered and dispersed upon colliding with his sword.
The pupil of Mok Gan’s third eye quivered, veins bulging.
Only then did Mok Gan realize.
‘His power surges to the extreme the instant he swings. This isn’t... his own energy.’
Mok Gan’s gaze filled with disbelief.
If he had consumed all Five Spirits’ essence cores, the five elements would balance, linking him to nature to draw its power.
But if so, he would have sensed it already.
No, Mok Kyung-un hadn’t consumed any such essence.
‘How... How could this...’
“Still not enough.”
-Roooaaar!
-Flinch!
The moment Mok Kyung-un assumed a stance to swing at him, the blade’s sharpness honed to an extreme.
‘Kuh!’
Mok Gan hurriedly blocked the incoming sword.
-Clang!
It didn’t end there.
-Clang! Clang! Clang!
Mok Gan blocked Mok Kyung-un’s successive strikes with all his might.
But each block brought overwhelming power that boiled his five viscera and six bowels.
He couldn’t counter; defending alone was taxing.
-Clang!
“Guh!”
Colliding with the next strike, his palm tore open, blood spurting from his mouth as his form was pushed back relentlessly.
-Scraaaape!
He tried to redirect the invading sword force with Redirecting Palm techniques, but it was impossible.
It rampaged wildly inside him; without circulating energy to expel it, there was no way.
The gaze of Mok Gan’s third eye sharpened on Mok Kyung-un.
‘Main body... I need the main body to face him.’
He had set traps and sent three clones to be thorough.
But variables arose, and he’d absurdly lost two.
Weighing whether to fight or retreat having achieved his goal, he recalled their clash at Cheonji Society and thought a fully assimilated clone could suppress him at full power.
A miscalculation.
This one required the main body for any chance of victory.
“Cough cough...”
Wiping flowing blood, Mok Gan scanned around.
Jin Ye-rin stared in shock; Ghost Sword barely clung to life.
Since it had come to this, he had one task.
Mutual destruction: slay everyone here and wound him, even slightly.
-Roooaaar!
Veins bulged on his forehead’s third eye as energy surged.
He’d explode his demonic power and pure energy in one blast.
Glaring at Mok Kyung-un, Mok Gan said.
“This is the end...”
-Slide!
In that moment, Mok Gan felt the world tilt sideways.
‘!?’
What was happening?
He realized soon enough.
Unnoticed, his head had been severed, rolling away.
-Thud!
It bounced on the ground, and in his vision, a sharp sword intent arced endlessly through the air.
-Shatter!
It was neither sword aura, sword beam, nor Formless Sword.
Immeasurable power rode the sword momentum, as if...
-Grip!
Then Mok Kyung-un seized his rolling head by the hair, lifting it.
He smirked and said.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve drawn closer to the Supreme Sword.”
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