Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: Upheaval in Nine Dragons (11)
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The duel was fierce.
My master, as if Zhurong, the god of fire, had been reincarnated, relentlessly unleashed flames, trying to incinerate Baek Sang-ji.
*Fwoosh. Fwoooosh.*
The heat was so intense that the bluestone paving the grand training ground began to melt.
But Baek Sang-ji was no pushover.
*Fwip.*
Every time he swung his sword, a crimson sword strike split the world.
Each strike was a torrent of impossibly lethal force.
Furthermore, the demonic energy he wielded added immense power to his attacks.
*‘He’s being pushed back.’*
My master began to lose ground.
*Pshuk!*
With every pass of Baek Sang-ji's demonic energy-laden sword, more wounds appeared on my master's body.
The only silver lining was that the intense heat cauterized the wounds, preventing prolonged bleeding.
“Should I jump in?”
I considered it for a moment, then shook my head.
*CRRAAASH! FWOOSH! FLASH!*
I didn't have the confidence to step between those two.
If this were a game, area-of-effect skills wouldn't damage allies, but this was the martial world.
If I got caught in the middle, my War Dragon Aura would melt away in less than ten seconds.
As I felt this predicament, a warm hand rested on my shoulder.
“He will be fine.”
It was the Great Pure Adept.
Right.
If things went south, the hermits would step in, so the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen.
There was also the Green Dragon Hall Master, an absolute master, and the Blue Dragon Hall Master, who was said to have reached the pinnacle of supremacy.
Above all, there was me, the unparalleled genius born of the Nine Dragons Fortress.
But, as they say, life doesn't always go your way.
“If the Outer Hall Master is in real danger, I will intervene.”
“No.”
Couldn't you step in before that?
“If I were to intervene prematurely, would it not wound the Outer Hall Master's pride?”
The baffling values of the martial world, where pride was placed above life, left me breathless.
Of course, not all assessments were negative.
“From where I'm standing, he's got a perfectly good chance of winning.”
The former Gray Dragon Hall Master viewed their fight positively.
“It's been a long time since Baek Sang-ji has seen real combat. On the other hand, that young fellow over there... every move he makes reeks of blood. It seems he's lived his life buried in battle.”
He grinned, showing his teeth.
“No matter how strong you are, a person's head can still be cracked open. So, little brother, don't you worry too much.”
*‘Real combat!’*
He was right. It was a lesson my master had always emphasized.
Hearing that, I saw the fight in a different light.
*Pshuk! Puk!*
Despite Baek Sang-ji's relentless attacks, my master kept advancing.
He was avoiding fatal blows while looking for an opportunity.
An opportunity to kill Baek Sang-ji in a single stroke.
*‘He can do this.’*
Seeing my master looking like a fearsome god of slaughter, I felt a sense of relief.
However.
*‘Still, I should do what I can.’*
To win, you have to do everything in your power, don't you?
I had a plan of my own.
*‘Things are already a mess anyway.’*
Now that the unspoken rules of the Righteous Path had been broken...
...I probably wouldn't be criticized for targeting Baek Jung-cheon instead of Baek Sang-ji.
No matter what strange bead he'd swallowed, if I captured his son, even Baek Sang-ji would hesitate, wouldn't he?
*Tsssss...*
I drew out my Ultimate Death Force and compressed it again and again.
The Great Pure Adept and the former Gray Dragon Hall Master, sensing something was off, gave me quizzical looks, but I didn't react. No, I couldn't.
*‘Nngh.’*
That's how much concentration it required.
An upgraded version of Ultimate Death Force. Slender Moon.
It was the finishing move that killed Dao Sect Master Eum Bu-yeong, a technique whose power lived up to its name as a "certain-kill technique," but its success rate was a mere thirty percent.
However, after finding my path during the fight with the Ten Demon Alliance's lord, the success rate of Slender Moon was now a staggering ninety percent.
It boasted odds incomparable to mobile games where you could spend a million won and get nothing.
*‘You're dead.’*
I was planning to sever the root of evil by cutting off his lower half entirely.
But perhaps I was too complacent.
*POP!*
My greed got the better of me, and the Ultimate Death Force exploded with a loud noise.
Releasing a massive wave of energy.
*Fwaaaa...*
The two hermits next to me stared, their faces clearly asking, ‘What on earth is this kid doing?’
“...Damn it all.”
There was no way a martial artist of Baek Jung-cheon's caliber wouldn't feel that wave of energy.
Naturally, his gaze fixed on me.
“This completely ruins my plan...”
The quick-witted bastard started to slowly back away.
He must have realized what I was aiming for.
Now I had no other choice.
*Thud!*
I had to take him down in a direct confrontation.
*Fwip.*
I used the Phantom Step and shot toward him.
Baek Jung-cheon, who had anticipated this, quickly increased the distance and drew his sword.
*CLANG! CLANG!*
Sword strikes like rays of light blocked my path.
In our previous fight, Baek Mu-ha had shown me the ultimate swordsmanship of the Baek Clan.
A divine art that was fast, sharp, and seemed capable of splitting the world.
And my opponent this time was Baek Jung-cheon.
He was incomparably stronger than Baek Mu-ha, but I wasn't the same person I used to be, either.
I was now a martial warrior who had truly reached the Realm of Transformation.
*VWOOOM!*
A sound of tearing air that only I could hear.
It was the sound of his sword strike grazing past my ear as I dodged it by a hair's breadth.
“How dare you attack the Hall Master of one of the eight halls! Do you intend to defy the laws of the Nine Dragons Fortress!”
A guy who only looks for the law when he's at a disadvantage.
“Criminals have no rights!”
Having created enough distance, Baek Jung-cheon spun around and swung his sword.
*Whoosh. Flash.*
A different kind of sword strike shot toward me.
A strike that embodied everything the Baek Clan's sword sought: speed, sharpness, and solidity.
He had merely swung his sword, yet it felt as if the world was splitting apart.
*KWWAAAA!*
My War Dragon Aura shattered as it blocked the strike. It was a shame, but thanks to that, I could gauge his martial prowess.
*‘A little below the Dao Sect Master.’*
In the past, he would have been a master I couldn't possibly defeat.
If I had to place him, I'd say he was walking the path toward the pinnacle of supremacy.
Seeing how quickly he'd recovered his martial skill despite having his right arm severed by my master, he was clearly no ordinary, tenacious bastard.
But.
*Thwack.*
I, too, was not the man I once was.
My War Dragon Aura was gone, but I detonated the Explosive Death Force in my hand to block his sword.
*Smirk.*
I used the Phantom Step on the bastard, whose eyes widened in surprise.
*Fwip.*
I slammed the War King's Thirteen Strikes, filled with my internal energy, into his body.
*POW! CRACK.*
The heavy impact of my fists hitting his protective aura.
But this is where the advantage of striking arts comes in.
“Kgh.”
You can block sharp weapons, but you can't block the damage from heavy blows.
And the War King's Thirteen Strikes held enough power to shatter a boulder the size of a house.
“Keuk.”
I pursued him as he stumbled back in a daze.
“You bastard!”
*Flash.*
Something flashed along with his enraged shout.
“Tsk!”
I instinctively moved my feet to dodge the attack.
*Slice. Drip.*
My neck was sliced open by the thickness of a coin, and blood trickled down.
I was surprised by the completely unexpected attack, but I was the victor.
“Die.”
I unleashed the sphere I had gathered in my palm toward him.
*VWOOOM! CRUNCH.*
A gravitational force that swallowed everything was generated, violently pulling in the natural energy from the surroundings.
“...!”
A horrified Baek Jung-cheon thrust his sword out with lightning speed.
*CLANG!*
The energy of his Sunlight Sword struck the very center of the sphere.
*Fizzle.*
It was just a waste of internal energy; the sphere was completely undamaged.
Alarmed by the unusual energy, he belatedly deployed his protective aura, but it was useless.
“Wh-what is this!”
Because the sphere, like a black hole, absorbed even his protective aura.
Having devoured everything around it, the sphere reached its critical point.
*KABOOOOM!*
It displayed the power of five 81mm mortar shells exploding simultaneously, devastating the surroundings.
This was Moonbreaker, a technique of the War King Arts, an evolution of Explosive Death Force.
A gust of wind from where Baek Sang-ji and my master were fighting cleared the dust.
*Whoooosh.*
Baek Jung-cheon came into view, his sword planted in the ground to support himself.
*POW!*
I unleashed the War King's Thirteen Strikes on him once more.
*CRACK.*
Thirteen strikes broke through his protective aura and shattered every one of his left ribs.
“Krrk.”
“Father!”
Baek Mu-ha's cry of disbelief.
“Jin Mujeon!”
Baek Mu-ha called my name, but I ignored him and walked toward Baek Jung-cheon.
“Nngh!”
*CLANG! Thud.*
As if he still had some strength left, a feeble Sunlight Sword burst from Baek Jung-cheon's blade.
I easily deflected it and grabbed him by the hair.
“Just give up. Do all of you from the White Dragon Hall have to die before you come to your senses?”
“...”
“This all ends if you just die. Are you going to end the long history of the Baek Clan here? If you're worried about your father, I can ask my master to consider the circumstances. An acquittal might be impossible, but we could probably end it with a sentence to the Thunder Prison.”
“...Can I trust your word?”
“‘Jin Mujeon, First Squad Leader of the Outer Hall,’ is a symbol of trust.”
“...”
*Nod.*
In the end, trusting my credibility, Baek Jung-cheon nodded.
This is why a person's credit rating is so important.
Just as I was about to signal to my master that it was all over...
*KIEEEEEEEK!*
An ominous energy washed over me, and goosebumps erupted all over my body.
I quickly turned my head and saw a terrifying aura, one that was hard to believe could come from a human, pouring out of Baek Sang-ji, whose eyes were blood-red.
The problem was...
“What? What’s wrong with him?”
...his condition was very strange.
As if he had lost all reason.
*Pshuk!*
His sword moved powerfully.
The world-splitting sharpness was gone, replaced by an aura filled with nothing but raw power.
*KABOOOOM!*
When that attack landed, the entire grand training ground exploded.
Of course, my master wasn't one to be hit by such a crude attack.
Martial arts weren't just about raw power.
“Hmph.”
Though he looked a bit tired, my master calmly used his footwork to evade the attack.
So far, so good.
Until he completely lost his sanity.
*KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!*
Baek Sang-ji began unleashing attacks in all directions, indiscriminately targeting friend and foe alike.
“Get back!”
“Hup!”
“Damn it!”
The hermits and the Green Dragon Hall Master quickly blocked his energy blasts.
“Unbelievable!”
Power that could split a mountain.
Even for an absolute master, even if he had abandoned speed and sharpness, that was just impossible.
Because humans have clear limits.
In other words.
*‘He’s drawing on his innate true energy.’*
He was unleashing these attacks at the cost of his own life.
“Wh-what is this!”
Seeing this, Baek Jung-cheon gasped.
A reaction that suggested he definitely knew something.
“If you know something, spit it out!”
The moment I pressed him.
*VWOOOM!*
A crimson energy blast came flying toward me.
“Son of a bitch!”
He was now trying to kill his own family.
It was too late to dodge.
I activated my War Dragon Aura with all my strength.
*KWWAAAAA!*
The black dragon charged toward the crimson energy.
But there was no way I could block it with the War Dragon Aura alone.
*Grrrr...*
Moonbreaker.
I detonated a full-power strike right in front of the War Dragon Aura.
And then.
*KABOOOOM!*
The sphere, instantly reaching its critical point, exploded and unleashed its energy.
“*Gasp! Gasp!*”
I'd succeeded in blocking it, but this time, I had genuinely almost died.
If I hadn't created Moonbreaker, or if I hadn't found my path while fighting the lord of the Ten Demon Alliance, I would have had no way to block his attack.
But.
“Kikiki!”
The crisis wasn't over.
“Damn it!”
Baek Sang-ji had swung his sword at me again.
“...!”
I had internal energy left, but not enough to unleash Moonbreaker.
“Damn it all.”
I had no choice.
I was ninety-nine percent sure I'd die, but I had to try and dodge it somehow.
Just as I was about to take a step...
...the Battle Lord Arrow tied to my little finger caught my eye.
*Grit.*
*Whirl.*
I gritted my teeth and poured all my internal energy into the Battle Lord Arrow.
*‘Houyi, who was determined to shoot down the sun, considered not speed or power to be the most important, but direction...’*
Sun-Shooting Sword: Houyi's Sunshot.
To unleash the legendary divine art said to have shot down the sun.
An utterly desperate situation.
*‘Focus. Focus.’*
As I channeled my internal energy according to the chant, the Battle Lord Arrow turned white.
The moment I saw that, I was certain.
*‘It’ll work.’*
I could live.
“Go! Battle Lord-mon!”
The Battle Lord Arrow shot from my finger like a beam of light and collided with the crimson energy.
*KABOOOOM!*
With a flash of light, it succeeded in piercing through the center of the energy blast sent by Baek Sang-ji.
I had blocked it.
“*Pant! Pant!*”
Thanks to that, I had no internal energy or stamina left, but at least I was alive.
And then.
*FWOOSH! KWAAAA!*
Black flames erupted from my master's hands, soaring high into the sky.
The Black Flame Dragon.
*KWOOOOAR! FWOOSH!*
Baek Sang-ji's sword moved once more, but it couldn't unleash the same power as before.
In the end.
“KIEEEEE!”
Letting out a bloodcurdling scream, Baek Sang-ji burned away without a trace.