Suddenly, a Big Shot Shows Up? (5)
Chung Myung’s eyes never left the sleeve of Tang Gun-ak, which bulged as if it were about to burst.
Chasing Soul Darts.
And The Twelve Flying Daggers.
No one knew better than Chung Myung just how terrifying the combination of those two could be.
How many Demonic Sect bastards had died under those Chasing Soul Darts?
When they were on his side, they had been the most reassuring thing in the world. Now, instead, they were aiming for his throat.
Of course, it’s not even close.
Tang Bo.
In other words, the Dark Saint had made dagger techniques itself his personal art. The level he had reached in that field was unmatched in the Tang Family’s history.
That was why he had been the Dark Saint.
But standing before him now was the Poison King.
Tang Gun-ak might be able to use every art in the Tang Family’s arsenal, but his specialty was absolutely not dagger work. So his flying daggers could not be compared to the Dark Saint’s.
The problem was that the Chung Myung of the present also couldn’t be compared to the Chung Myung of the past.
If the difference between the Plum Blossom Sword Saint Chung Myung and the Mount Hua Divine Dragon Chung Myung was anything to go by, then the gap between the Dark Saint’s daggers and the Poison King’s was so tiny it might as well have been a speck of dust.
If I slip up, I’ll actually die.
A bead of sweat rolled down Chung Myung’s forehead and traced a line down his cheek. Even he couldn’t help but tense up at this moment.
The biggest weakness of dagger techniques was that once a dagger had been launched, it was almost impossible to retrieve it on the fly.
In other words, even if Tang Gun-ak had no intention of killing Chung Myung, one mistake could still mean his head flew off before anyone had time to react.
“Hoo.”
Chung Myung let out a long breath and tightened his grip on his sword.
And then, in that instant—
Fwaaaat!
With a piercing shriek of cutting wind, three Chasing Soul Darts shot toward him.
One came straight at him, while the other two curved wide to the left and right.
The rotating daggers were far faster than the one flying directly ahead. In the end, all three reached Chung Myung almost at the same time.
“Taah!”
Chung Myung shouted and thrust his sword forward.
It trembled.
The tip of Chung Myung’s sword quivered faintly.
Then the blade, now shaking more and more violently, split into dozens of afterimages and filled the air.
“A sword barrier?”
Clang! Kaang! Clang!
The three incoming Chasing Soul Darts were bounced back, unable to pierce the wall of sword light Chung Myung had thrown up.
Tang Gun-ak reached out, recalled the daggers, and without hesitation launched them again.
This time, five of them!
Kwoaaaaaah!
The five daggers flew toward Chung Myung at different speeds. They were clearly slower than the three he had just launched, but the force packed into them was on an entirely different level.
Clang!
“Ghk!”
The first dagger slammed into Chung Myung’s sword barrier.
The impact felt as if his wrist would snap.
Clang!
The second dagger drove the barrier back.
This time, the pressure shook him from the inside.
Klaaang!
The third dagger tore a huge gap in the sword wall Chung Myung had created.
Kaaaanng!
The fourth dagger utterly shattered the barrier.
Swishhh!
The fifth dagger shot forward as if it would pierce straight through Chung Myung’s stomach.
“Kuh!”
Chung Myung whipped his recalled sword back out again.
A tiny bud blossomed at the tip of his blade.
Plum blossoms.
Dozens of plum blossoms bloomed in an instant, gently enveloping the incoming Chasing Soul Darts.
“Soft overcomes hard?”
Surprise flickered in Tang Gun-ak’s eyes.
But regardless of his feelings, his hand was already moving to the most effective attack it could find.
Fwaaaaang!
Before Chung Myung could fully suppress the fifth Chasing Soul Dart, another one shot from Tang Gun-ak’s hand.
This one didn’t carry any special force.
It was simply monstrously fast.
The dagger that had seemed to vanish for an instant, as if it had crossed space itself, suddenly appeared right in front of Chung Myung.
Even Chung Myung had no choice but to pale in shock.
“Aaaagh!”
He twisted his body with all his might.
Shhhhhk.
The Chasing Soul Dart carved a long line across his chest, and the fifth dart, which he had failed to fully suppress, cut deeply into his thigh.
Thud!
Chung Myung spun once in midair before landing on the ground, then quickly pressed down on the pressure points in his leg to stop the bleeding.
Of course, he wouldn’t die from bleeding like this. But losing too much blood would sap his stamina, and once stamina dropped, concentration would follow.
Having fought endlessly across long, brutal battlefields, Chung Myung knew that minimizing injuries was the fastest way to cling to life.
“…You dodged that?”
Meanwhile, Tang Gun-ak stared at Chung Myung with a face that made no attempt to hide his disbelief.
Setting aside the Five Thunder Chain technique, which could be blocked if one tried hard enough.
The Lightning Seizing Life technique he had just used afterward was not something a mere younger disciple should be able to evade.
And yet the perfectly executed Lightning Seizing Life had been dodged by a disciple of Mount Hua.
And he even wrapped softness into his sword? A disciple of Mount Hua?
That meant his sword was not bound by Mount Hua’s teachings alone.
Anyone like that would grow stronger.
No—
That boy was already strong.
“Four moves.”
While Tang Gun-ak was still struggling to recover from the shock, Chung Myung straightened his back and glared at him instead.
“You’ve got six left.”
“…….”
Tang Gun-ak slowly extended his hand.
Then, as if gripping the air and pulling, he recalled every Chasing Soul Dart that had fallen to the ground back into his sleeve.
“Hm.”
He quietly stroked the eleven daggers now hidden in his sleeve and let out a heavy groan.
A new worry had taken root in his mind.
Six moves.
He wasn’t worried because he thought he couldn’t catch Chung Myung within six moves.
If the purpose of this sparring match was to prove the existence of a future number one in the world, then that boy has already achieved it.
An inexhaustible talent.
He could not imagine anyone his age defeating Chung Myung. The boy would likely be called the greatest sword of Mount Hua, and before long, perhaps even the greatest sword in the world.
But…
For some reason, the thirst still hadn’t gone away.
I want to see it.
Where the end lay.
What on earth was hidden beneath the bottom of that monstrous boy whose limits could not be seen.
Even if the result was that he himself would end up killing the future number one in the world with his own hands.
Crk-crk!
The Chasing Soul Darts gave off another chilling metallic rasp.
I don’t care!
Tang Gun-ak’s desire as a martial artist overwhelmed the gains he stood to make as the head of the Tang Family.
Fwaaaaat!
Three daggers shot out.
Chung Myung’s face hardened as he watched them fly.
Here I come!
Thud!
His foot kicked off the ground.
Instead of retreating, Chung Myung charged straight toward the Chasing Soul Darts flying at him.
The closer the distance, the greater the power of dagger techniques. Naturally, anything launched would lose force the farther it traveled!
But victory never waited for those who backed down!
This was Tang Gun-ak’s distance.
Chung Myung’s sword would never reach him.
Even if this was only a spar for testing, if it didn’t pursue victory in a life-or-death fight, then it wasn’t Chung Myung!
He charged ahead despite the danger.
The place he needed to seize was in front of him, not behind!
Kaaang! Kaang! Kaaang!
The three daggers were knocked skyward by Chung Myung’s sword.
Every time he struck one, pain flared so fiercely it felt like his wrist would snap. Chung Myung’s internal energy still wasn’t complete enough to withstand the formidable strength of the Poison King.
Even so!
Hold it!
All he had to do was endure without breaking until the spar was over.
After that, who cared what happened!
Five moves!
Tap-tat-tat!
Chung Myung kicked off the ground and closed the distance between himself and Tang Gun-ak.
“Hm!”
Tang Gun-ak let out a short sound, as if he were amused, and swept his sleeve wide.
Fwaaaang!
At the same time, seven daggers shot out.
When Chung Myung saw the daggers flying in the positions of the Seven Stars, his eyes flew wide open.
Seize the Soul, Seven Stars!
Tang Bo’s signature move!
If one gathered up only the Demonic Sect bastards who had died to that horrifying, vicious dagger art, they’d probably make up a small mountain.
“Haaah!”
Once again, Chung Myung shouted and threw himself at the seven incoming daggers instead.
If he retreated, it was over.
Seize the Soul, Seven Stars was seven daggers that stole the soul.
If he fell back, the follow-up changes would keep catching him more and more until, in the end, his throat was pierced!
Chung Myung lifted himself about three inches into the air, then repeatedly kicked off the open space between him and the ground, slipping cunningly between the daggers.
“Huh?”
For the first time, a voice of open shock burst out of Tang Gun-ak’s mouth.
I’ve seen this a hundred times!
If he didn’t know Tang Bo, there was no way he could have broken the move like that. But for Chung Myung, this dagger technique was almost as familiar as Mount Hua’s swordsmanship.
The seven daggers sliced past Chung Myung.
Sshhk!
Shhhhk!
His left arm. His side. And his right ankle!
Three places were cut at once, and blood sprayed into the air. But Chung Myung didn’t even spare the wounds a glance as he charged straight at Tang Gun-ak.
Six moves!
Tang Gun-ak’s expression regained its composure in an instant.
With his right hand, he used his finger technique to pull back the Chasing Soul Darts, while with his left, he launched five daggers at once.
Kwoaaaaaaah!
The Chasing Soul Darts spun with horrifying speed, releasing a monstrous wave of qi.
It was the same move Tang Jan had once shown during his spar with Jo Gul.
But these daggers could not be compared to those from that day.
Even though it was the same martial art, who used it made it into something else entirely, and Tang Gun-ak’s Chasing Soul Darts were in no way comparable to Tang Jan’s.
I can’t dodge this!
Chung Myung clenched his teeth.
The internal energy in the five incoming daggers was already crushing him.
If he tried to dodge sloppily and got caught in that storm of qi, his body would be reduced to a finely minced lump of meat in an instant.
Shhlak!
Chung Myung’s Plum Blossom Sword whipped through the air like a lash.
At the same time, plum blossoms began to bloom.
One blossom.
Two blossoms.
Within moments, the blossoms multiplied, then multiplied again, until they began to bloom without end, swallowing the world whole.
This is…?
Shock spread through Tang Gun-ak’s eyes.
Plum blossoms.
It looked as though heaven and earth had been buried beneath them.
Like an endless sea of plum blossoms.
Kwoaaaaaaah!
The spinning Chasing Soul Darts plunged into the sea of blossoms.
Terrifying power.
Monstrous force.
But the sea embraced everything.
Tang Gun-ak’s Chasing Soul Darts failed to pierce the surging sea of plum blossoms, lost their momentum, and fell to the ground.
And then Chung Myung burst upward through that sea of plum blossoms and flew straight at Tang Gun-ak.
Blood bubbled from between Chung Myung’s lips.
That was the price of receiving Tang Gun-ak’s power while unleashing his sword at such speed.
Seven moves!
Chung Myung swallowed the blood surging up his throat and shot a cold glint from his eyes.
Fwaaaang!
Tang Gun-ak did not miss the tiny opening Chung Myung had revealed in that instant.
A dagger shot toward Chung Myung at terrifying speed.
I’ve felt this before!
Using the momentum of his leap, Chung Myung swung his sword and slapped the dagger away.
Clang!
And then, that was when it happened.
Chung Myung’s eyes flew so wide they seemed ready to tear.
Another dagger appeared directly in front of his nose. He had definitely struck it away, and yet it was flying at him again as if it had never been deflected at all.
Too late…
There was no time to react.
“Aaaagh!”
“Chung Myunggggg!”
His martial siblings also caught on to what was happening and screamed in piercing panic.
Thwack!
The dagger sank straight into Chung Myung’s face.
Knocked backward in midair, Chung Myung’s body began to fall toward the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.