Chapter 83: "GAAAH!!"
Chapter 83
"GAAAH!!"
Judgment (2)
Swish-swish!
The golden threads moved incessantly, as if alive.
They scattered and gathered across Se-woon's body, continuously shifting in an endless dance of separation and reunion.
CRACK!
At that moment, Heo So-chang, who had been thoroughly battered, lunged at Se-woon in a desperate frenzy.
His appearance was utterly wretched.
Se-woon's merciless assault had left his face completely drenched in blood.
SHIIING!
GRRRT!
Heo So-chang poured demonic energy into his left hand and swung it downward with brutal force.
The Ghost King's Blade, radiating sinister spectral energy, descended as if to cleave Se-woon in half—
CLANG!
"?!"
But the attack failed entirely.
Above Se-woon's head, the golden threads had gathered anew, forming an X-shape with his crossed arms.
The First Principle of the Unbreakable Threads—Yi Cho Won-ik—had perfectly blocked the enemy's strike.
Now that the attack had been defended, it was time for the counter.
WHOOSH!
Se-woon stepped forward half a pace, pivoting on his left foot like a spinning top.
SHIIING!
The air split apart with a deafening roar.
Se-woon drove his elbow straight toward Heo So-chang's temple.
CRUNCH!
The black threads, which had formed the defensive X-shape, now surged forward like a sharpened whirlwind.
The attack flew toward Heo So-chang's skull with enough force to obliterate it.
'D-dangerous!'
Instinctively sensing peril, Heo So-chang's mind snapped to full alertness.
THWIP!
"Ghk—!"
He bent backward like a shrimp, throwing his entire body into evasion.
SWISH!
"......!!"
The attack grazed past him by a hair's breadth.
Time seemed to slow in Heo So-chang's vision.
In that fleeting moment, a chill ran down his spine.
WHIIIR!
Only now did he notice the black threads spinning viciously around Se-woon's elbow.
Had that struck his temple...
The horrifying outcome flashed through his mind, forcing him to recoil further.
SWOOSH! SWISH-SWISH!
Heo So-chang shifted his stance, prioritizing evasion.
Se-woon adjusted accordingly.
BOOM! CRASH!
His attacks became relentless, like stomping out a fleeing rat.
Every punch and kick Se-woon threw at the fleeing Heo So-chang erupted with explosive force.
Peng Dae-ho and the other warriors watching from below stared in stunned disbelief as debris from the pavilion shattered outward through the walls.
'What in the world is happening?'
'That scream was definitely the enemy's.'
'......Is this really how a fight between a Pinnacle Master and a Transcendent should look?'
Confusion lingered on their faces.
But there was a reason for this unbelievable outcome.
As he pursued his foe, Se-woon thought coldly:
'Heo So-chang. You cannot defeat me.'
His confidence stemmed from one fact:
The compatibility between Se-woon's martial arts and Heo So-chang's was catastrophically one-sided.
A saying circulated in the martial world: "There may be the greatest martial art under heaven, but none are truly invincible."
Even the strongest martial art would always have at least one counter somewhere in the world.
And as it turned out—
Heo So-chang's Black Heaven Yaksha Art and his weapon, the Ghost King's Blade, were nothing less than natural predators to Se-woon and his golden threads.
The Black Heaven Yaksha Art, passed down through generations of Yaksha leaders, was a peerless demonic technique—but its function was brutally simple.
It channeled demonic energy from the dantian to forcibly enhance the body beyond human limits.
And it fiercely resisted anything that interfered with combat.
The Ghost King's Blade operated on the same principle.
It fed on its wielder's demonic energy to sharpen its edge and amplify its techniques.
Under normal circumstances, this combination would create a multiplicative effect, layering enhancement upon enhancement.
But against Se-woon?
It was the worst possible matchup.
"DIE—!"
In an instant, the Ghost King's Blade shrieked as it flew toward Se-woon.
The blade's claws had sharpened like a raptor's talons, demonic energy concentrated at their tips.
It was an attempt to slice through the golden threads—
SCREEEECH!
FWOOSH!
"!?"
But all it left behind was an orange flare in the air.
Not a single thread had been severed.
The Ghost King's Blade's ability to devour demonic energy—
Could not surpass the Divine Artifact known as the Golden Threads of Heavenly Net.
The strength amplified by the Black Heaven Yaksha Art—
Was effortlessly crushed beneath Reverse Heaven Energy.
In the end, every tool Heo So-chang possessed was an inferior version of Se-woon's.
And that meant Se-woon held absolute dominance in this battle.
SWISH!
"!!"
Then, in the midst of his furious assault, Heo So-chang suddenly staggered.
Something unseen—like a serpent striking—had coiled around his left foot.
Panicked, he glanced down.
'What—!?'
A single black thread, laid as a trap at some unknown moment, had ensnared him.
THWIP!
"—!!"
By the time he realized it, Se-woon was already upon him.
THUD!
Se-woon drove his knee, wrapped in golden threads, straight into Heo So-chang's ribs.
"Ghk—!"
CRACK!
The sickening sound of shattering bone mingled with Heo So-chang's dying scream.
But this was far from over.
Se-woon's assault had only just begun.
SWOOSH!
THUMP!
The thread binding Heo So-chang's foot retracted at blinding speed, yanking him onto his back.
Now exposed like a gutted fish—
Se-woon raised his leg high, poised to crush his skull.
"......!!"
As if foreseeing his fate, Heo So-chang's eyes bulged wide—
SHIIING!!
With a sound like lightning splitting the sky, Se-woon's foot plunged into his abdomen.
BOOM!
CRASH!!
A deafening explosion followed as Heo So-chang's body smashed through the third-floor pavilion—
And plummeted all the way to the first.
Pain. Pain.
The only sensation left in his body was agony.
'......Where... am I?'
A thick haze of dust clouded Heo So-chang's vision.
Just as his consciousness began to flicker—
WHOOSH...
"......!!"
Through the slowly clearing dust, a pair of chillingly cold eyes gleamed down at him.
Heo So-chang's blood ran ice-cold.
That gaze—from the third floor above—
It was familiar.
He had seen it before.
A humiliation unlike anything he had ever experienced seized his entire being.
It was the same look he had given others when they lay beneath him.
In that instant, madness flooded Heo So-chang's eyes.
"DON'T... LOOK DOWN... ON ME!!"
RUMBLE!
CRACK!
An energy he had never before unleashed erupted from his body.
He launched himself upward through the shattered floor, charging at Se-woon with reckless abandon.
His reason gone, Heo So-chang released the last reserve of power he had been holding back.
HUM!
A crimson aura overflowed from the Ghost King's Blades in both hands.
Gangqi—the pinnacle technique that earned Transcendent Masters the title of "Half-Step into Divinity."
It was the culmination of a martial artist's entire training, embodying all their insights and will.
Unlike the hazy manifestation of sword energy, Gangqi took tangible form.
It pushed destructive force beyond human limits into a new realm.
Normally, Gangqi could only be countered by Gangqi.
This was why Transcendent Masters held an overwhelming advantage over Pinnacle Masters.
But there was one reason Heo So-chang had refrained from using it until now.
If word got out that he had resorted to Gangqi against this opponent, his rank among the Blood Cult's elders would undoubtedly plummet from ninth to dead last.
Failing to suppress a mere Pinnacle brat without Gangqi would make him a laughingstock.
Moreover, unless one had reached the peak of the Transcendent realm, all demonic arts would inflict backlash upon the user—making it impossible to hide.
But now—
'Even if that bastard Dokma stands above me—it doesn't matter. I'll kill this wretch right here!!'
Heo So-chang had resolved to accept all consequences.
Just to slaughter Se-woon.
......Yet something felt off.
'Finally.'
Se-woon, the intended victim—
Was actually welcoming this deadly threat with open arms.
CRACK!
In the blink of an eye, Heo So-chang leaped back to the third floor.
"DIE—!!"
SHIIING!
Twin fists wreathed in scarlet Gangqi surged toward Se-woon.
Struggle all you want.
Heo So-chang smirked inwardly.
With Gangqi unleashed, defeat was impossible.
Gangqi could only be blocked by Gangqi.
No matter what Divine Artifact Se-woon possessed, he could never stop this attack.
"—!"
......But something was wrong.
Even as his Gangqi-laced fists hurtled toward Se-woon's skull—
Se-woon stood motionless, not even attempting to dodge.
For a moment, Heo So-chang faltered—
'He's given up! The power is too much!'
He pushed forward, pouring everything into the strike.
BOOOOM!!
KABOOM!
The next instant, a colossal explosion erupted.
Debris rained from the sky like hail.
Half the third-floor pavilion vanished without a trace.
The destructive force of compressed Gangqi detonating at once was overwhelming.
"Ghk—GRK!!"
At the same time, a pained groan echoed from the wreckage.
"Khh—Ghh... GAAAHK!!"
It was far more wretched and agonized than before.
But the astonishing sight was—
The one writhing in pain wasn't Se-woon, who had taken no defensive stance.
It was Heo So-chang, the one who had unleashed the Gangqi.
Foaming at the mouth, he rolled on the ground in a pitiful state—
A far cry from the domineering figure who had thrown that devastating punch.
But it couldn't be helped.
RIIING—
Right now, Heo So-chang heard nothing.
His thoughts were shattered.
Only all-consuming agony remained.
Bubble-bubble...
Horrific boils, like molten lava, erupted across his flesh.
The Tears of the Calamity God—
The peerless poison Se-woon had scattered around himself—
Was now burning through Heo So-chang's body and soul.
It was a sight so gruesome it could evoke pity even for one's mortal enemy.
But Se-woon's gaze held not a shred of remorse or mercy.
'The pain you feel is only the beginning.'
For daring to lay hands on his family—
He would make sure Heo So-chang experienced the deepest pits of hell.
And at that moment—
CLANG!
Deep within his upper dantian, the Devil's Gate shook violently once more.
Then—
CRACK...
A fissure spread across one of the chains binding it—
SNAP!
Before it finally broke, falling away with a dull clatter.
The Tyrant of Sichuan—
Had begun to stir.