Chapter 132: The Slanted Ceiling and the Mountain of Laughing Corpses - 4
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132: The Slanted Ceiling and the Mountain of Laughing Corpses - 4
An invisible sword assailed the Earth Sage. Charrang. The five rings scraped against the blade in succession, deflecting its path. The Regressor, using Chun-aeng’s speed, aimed straight for the Earth Sage’s neck.
But instead of blocking or dodging, the Earth Sage simply tilted her head slightly and threw a counter-punch.
A battle of sword versus fist. Normally, in an exchange of blows, the sword should have the advantage, but normal calculations don't apply in a duel that defies common sense. The very premise was different.
The Earth Sage unleashed her Qi, catching the sword’s path with the rings on her ears. It was a Qi Deflection powerful enough to push back the wind. Against this, Chun-aeng, swung from an unstable stance, would at best leave a scratch on her neck.
In contrast, even if the Regressor shrouded herself in defensive Qi, a direct hit from that fist would transmit the shockwave unabated.
She was the one holding the sword, yet she was the one at a disadvantage.
“Tch!”
Instead of the neck, the Regressor pulled Chun-aeng back and slashed at the Earth Sage’s arm. A long gash appeared on the ringless left arm. For a moment, blood seeped through.
“Hup!”
However, the Earth Sage simply tensed, and the wound sealed shut.
No, it wasn't so much healed as it was instantly clamped shut by the pressure of her muscles and Qi. It made little difference.
The Earth Sage’s fist mercilessly collected the price for the scratch on her arm. Her hardened hand shot forward to pierce the Regressor. Though she hastily blocked it with the retrieved Chun-aeng, the Earth Sage’s ferocious punch was too much to be stopped by the sword alone.
“Kugh…!”
Even after releasing the space stored within Chun-aeng, the impact didn't fade, and the Regressor’s body was thrown backward.
Seeing the Regressor fly through the air, the Earth Sage opened her hand again. If her opponent was foolish enough to land on the ceiling again, she intended to crush her for good this time. If she fell to the ground, she would attack with vibrations.
But the Regressor’s choice was neither the ceiling nor the floor.
Skyblade Art, Storm Cloud.
Starting from the hilt, Chun-aeng slowly turned white. The sky is a vast space that holds aspirations and desires. Searing heat intertwines with the free-flowing air and rises to the heavens.
That is how the clouds that drift elegantly across the sky are born.
Skyblade Art, Stepping Cloud.
She scattered the whitened sword. The tip of the blade, fluttering like a butterfly, formed a shape in the air. It was a cloud, white and seemingly solid. A pure white mass that looked like a brick, as if a piece of the sky had been torn off and compressed, floated in the air.
The Regressor flipped her body in mid-air and landed on the Stepping Cloud with both feet. Judging by its texture, her feet should have sunk right in, but the Stepping Cloud supported her body as firmly as the earth itself.
“Haa…”
Standing on the cloud, she bent her knees.
Heaven and Earth were inverted.
The Regressor crouched upside down, assuming her stance. Chun-aeng flashed.
She coils her body.
She gathers her strength.
The pure white Stepping Cloud darkened as it accumulated power. It was as if a sage had taken an ink-laden brush and painted the cloud in a single, fluid stroke. It grew blacker and blacker, its color deepening.
The clouds that roam the sky do not always show their white face.
On a stormy day, when the heavens are wroth, clouds sometimes wear a wicked expression and unleash a roar upon the land. A white cloud turning pitch-black is a harbinger of the sky brimming with power.
By the time the Regressor created a foothold to stand on, the Earth Sage had missed her chance to react. She hastily used her Earth Art to pull at the concrete walls, but…
She was a little too late.
Skyblade Art, Thunderbird.
Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. The world's greatest delayed thunderclap filled the Abyss.
Lightning is the path that connects heaven and earth. After its power descends, a startled trumpeter, a beat too late, announces the march of power with a peal of thunder. But by the time the thunder is heard, divine punishment has already delivered its solemn judgment upon the sinner.
That is why thunder is the sky’s delayed echo. The moment you hear it, it’s already too late.
The Regressor’s form, which had blurred and vanished, reappeared behind the Earth Sage, a trail of lightning in her wake.
Crackle, crackle. The air pulsed in time with the sound. The path she had taken was faintly visible in the trail of electricity arcing through the air.
With a threatening crackle, the static electricity surrounding her made her hair stand on end. The Regressor let out a short breath and turned.
KRA-KOOOM!!
Lightning erupted between the Storm Cloud and the Regressor. The slash revealed itself a moment later in a flash of lightning. The concrete protecting the Earth Sage dried out and cracked. The fissures looked just like bolts of lightning.
A swift, lightning-fast sword strike. An unavoidable blow imbued with the power of a thunderbolt.
However.
“How… thrilling!”
The Earth Sage let the energy flow down to her feet, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile.
Since the dawn of time, the earth has endured countless lightning strikes. It could not even be said to have endured them; it had embraced the lightning itself.
It was the strongest attack the Regressor could muster, but it was not enough to reach her heart.
The aftershock of the lightning strike caused a trickle of blood to run from the corner of the Earth Sage’s mouth, but that was all. One of her rings shattered, and sword marks were carved into her arm and shoulder, but that was all.
She channeled away the lightning imbued in the sword and used her Qi to knit her muscles back together, the wounds closing as if they had never been there.
Yes, just like the body of Mother Earth, which, though sundered countless times, always heals.
“Tch.”
The Regressor ignored the warning throb from her wrist and raised Chun-aeng.
The path was already connected. Chun-aeng was here, and the cloud was on the other side; all she had to do was connect them again. Lightning coursed through the Regressor’s body, and the Storm Cloud floating in the air rumbled ominously.
Just before her lightning-wreathed step touched the ground…
“Earth Dragon.”
The ultimate form of Earth commanded the ground.
As the Earth Sage raised her hand, dust rose from the concrete. An impossible feat. How could hard concrete, without being ground down, raise dust?
But for the Earth Sage, it was possible.
The concrete that formed the ceiling of the slanted Tantalus swirled on its own. Grind, scrape. The colliding and grinding concrete instantly turned to dust and dirt. The Earth Sage drew the concrete, now returned to its primordial form, toward her in a single motion.
The twisted concrete rose like a coiled serpent, a cloud of dust and dirt enveloping it.
The power of the earth that manifested looked just like a dragon born from the ground. The Earth Dragon, formed of dust, swallowed the Storm Cloud in one gulp.
The Storm Cloud, which had been too close to the ground, vanished.
‘Tch. An Earth Dragon. Thankfully… it’s a bit small right now.’
In a previous timeline, the Earth Sage, wielding Jizan, had walked the earth and wrapped a massive shrine with two Earth Dragons. She had even been able to pluck out the people inside one by one.
The Earth Sage, marching with her two dragons, was truly an earthwyrm that dreamed of defying the heavens. An unstoppable nightmare approaching the Sanctum to demand retribution for its sins.
Compared to that, the current Earth Dragon was just a single, small creature, barely large enough to constrict one person.
‘Of course… whether I can withstand it is another matter.’
Perhaps its smaller size made it even more troublesome.
The Earth Dragon wrapped itself around the Earth Sage. The sand swirled as if to protect her.
In response, the Regressor brandished Chun-aeng. A cloud wreathed in lightning enveloped her. Her hair stood on end.
“Here I come.”
“Come.”
A brief exchange, hardly a conversation. But it was enough.
The Regressor leaped forward and swung her sword. The Earth Sage raised both hands to meet her.
The Earth Dragon opened its maw.
This was no ordinary Earth Art. It was the flowing earth, moving in concert with the Earth Sage’s fists and feet like a serpent. As the Earth Sage threw a light punch, the concrete dragon surged like a wave and crashed down upon the Regressor.
In response, the Regressor bounced her light body… and ran along the Earth Dragon.
It was a feat possible only with a light body, superb Qinggong, and mastery of Qi Arts. Like riding a wave at an angle instead of fighting against it, she slid forward, scraping Chun-aeng diagonally.
The Earth Sage, inwardly impressed, threw a punch.
Sword and fist collided.
The invisible blade cut through the air. The untraceable sword cut through the rings, deflected off her fists, and chipped away at her flesh.
But the Earth Sage, clad in her Earth Dragon, was not so easily hit this time. The dragon served as armor, and her attacks couldn't quite reach. As the Regressor clicked her tongue in frustration…
The Earth Dragon, which had been biding its time, lunged with its maw wide open. Its speed was like that of a coiled snake. The moment its coils twitched, its head had already shot forward.
The Regressor barely dodged it with Heavenly Counter Domain.
‘Thank goodness for Heavenly Counter Domain…!’
Breathing an inward sigh of relief, the Regressor slashed at the Earth Dragon’s exposed neck. The decapitated dragon focused on defense until its head could regenerate.
A tedious war of attrition that chipped away at her stamina and concentration continued. The Regressor was clearly at a disadvantage.
‘If my opponent were fast, I could use Heavenly Counter Domain to fight a battle of speed, but…!’
Her opponent was as steadfast as the earth. The title of Earth Sage was no empty boast. On top of that, her body, hardened like a rock through decades of training, felt like it was only being scratched on the surface whenever she managed to land a blow.
But for the Regressor, a single hit would be fatal. Especially now, in the early stages of her regression, when she was weaker than ever.
A hand swung in a wide diagonal arc. It wasn't a proper attack, but even this would be trouble if it connected. Deflecting it with her blade, the Regressor complained inwardly.
‘What’s the point of training after regressing! My body is still the same! Tch, do I have to use that…?’
“You jumped,” the Earth Sage said, clenching her fist. The Regressor tried to react, but as it happened, both of her feet were slightly off the ground at that moment.
‘Ah!’
She hadn't created enough distance yet, and the recoil from blocking an attack had lifted her off her feet. She had been careless.
And the Earth Sage, her feet planted firmly, had detected it through the vibrations running through the corpses and was preparing an attack.
“Dimensional Force.”
Shatter.
The sound of breaking glass echoed in the empty air. A bizarrely distorted Qi seized the world, space and all.
‘Dimensional Force?! She can do it… with just her body?!’
It was the secret technique she had used in a past life to warp the world itself, deflecting incoming arrows and bullets and capturing fleeing enemies.
‘To think it could be used in close-quarters combat!’
It shouldn't have reached, but the Regressor’s body was pulled forward.
Heaven and Earth, pushed to their extremes. An immense amount of Qi gathered in the Earth Sage’s right arm. Her intact and broken rings began to vibrate, resonating with each other. The sound of the rings clashing was like the chirping of cicadas.
It was just Qi Gravitation, projected from her entire body. That was all, but the airborne Regressor was pulled in, unable to resist.
She could break free if she tried, but it would be too late. She was already caught in the technique. All the Regressor could do was grit her teeth.
And above her, the Earth Dragon, twisted taut like a rope, unleashed all its power.
“If you’re tough,” the Earth Sage said, throwing a short punch into the air. The dragon, uncoiling in an instant, shot forward and tore into the Regressor.
“Kya… hak!”
A sound like her lungs were being crushed. Something could be heard breaking. The Regressor was swept away by the Earth Dragon and slammed into the distance.
A figure, looking much like a corpse itself, tumbled among the bodies.
“You will survive.”
The Earth Sage muttered, wiping a streak of blood from her cheek. As if in response, the Regressor let out a pained scream from below.
“Guh, guuuhhh…!”
“…You’re tough. But you’re already a wreck. You won’t be able to fight anymore.”
Finishing her assessment with that single sentence, the Earth Sage turned to head for the summit.
The Regressor slowly pushed herself back up.