Chapter 106
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: What I Want to Protect (2)
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As Dang Wuryang thrust out his left palm, Geum Sihyeon swung his sword.
Kwaaaang—!
Their energies clashed, producing a massive roar.
The one who took the loss in the first exchange was...
"...What kind of old man has this much power?"
Unlike Dang Wuryang, who hadn't budged an inch from his spot,
Geum Sihyeon had been pushed back about three paces.
But from the perspective of the one receiving the attack, it was different.
"Brat, you're quite the expert, aren't you?"
During their two weeks of travel together, Geum Sihyeon had never once shown his true strength, so a glint of interest flickered in Dang Wuryang's eyes.
"There's an old saying: always hide three-tenths of your skill."
In truth, ever since mastering the Chugwi Eunhyeong technique,
Geum Sihyeon had been using it to conceal the true depth of his internal energy, making it nearly impossible for anyone to gauge his realm.
But now,
he was going all out.
The sword energy rising from Geum Sihyeon's blade—far too vivid and thick to simply call sword qi—swept through the air.
The poisonous mist that had filled the surroundings scattered like heat haze under that clear, refreshing aura.
Yet Dang Wuryang seemed unconcerned, casually flicking his left palm to effortlessly disperse Geum Sihyeon's sword energy.
And then,
Kwaaaang—!
A fiery bird clashed with a venomous serpent, unleashing another massive explosion, followed by several more exchanges.
"...Ol' man. Were you originally from the Hidden Weapon Sect?"
"How do you know that name, you brat?"
"Haha..."
He had been born with exceptional talent for poison,
but Dang Wuryang's gaze had always lingered on hidden weapons, not toxins.
Unlike poison that rotted from the inside,
how beautiful were those flying butterflies that left the fingertips and swam freely through the sky as if alive.
After his dantian was destroyed, he thought he'd never throw them like that again.
Yet now, at his will, the poisonous energy condensing around him took on all sorts of shapes, responding to his intent.
Grab whatever was at hand and hurl it.
A flick of the wrist, and it became a hidden weapon.
Of course, for Geum Sihyeon on the receiving end, it was pure hell.
"No, seriously, how does this even make sense?"
He grumbled nonstop from his mouth, but he was knocking away each of Dang Wuryang's projectiles one by one.
However,
each tiny hidden weapon carried an immense force.
And these weren't limited physical projectiles he carried.
They were conjured endlessly from what seemed like inexhaustible like a nimbus cloud, leaving him barely able to defend.
Geum Sihyeon unleashed sword energy nonstop with his right sword,
while countering with sudden bursts of White Rainbow Palm Force from his left, gauging his opponent's reserves.
Fortunately, the poison energy wasn't entirely on Dang Wuryang's side.
Just absorbing the sticky toxins seeping into his lungs rapidly replenished his internal energy.
But the gap in their realms was vast.
Dang Wuryang, a being who had transcended humanity despite being human,
and himself, still a novice warrior who couldn't even contain starlight.
Geum Sihyeon glanced up, taking in the sight of Myo Hwaseo fluttering far in the distance.
"Hm..."
She seemed to be straining to contain the poison energy as much as possible within the concentric circles centered on this battleground between him and Dang Wuryang.
He couldn't expect help from her.
Even so,
that didn't mean he could just run away.
Geum Sihyeon bit his lip lightly and reignited his will to fight.
After several more exchanges,
"Be careful now."
Dang Wuryang murmured softly.
In what seemed like frozen time,
his hand slowly clenched and unclenched, scattering something with rapid movements.
One petal, two petals, three petals.
No, one drop, two drops, three drops.
Each one laden with deadly poison, manifesting as tangible daggers that rose into the sky.
As a child,
captivated by that endlessly beautiful scene, he had trained ceaselessly,
yet in the end, with his own meager skill, he couldn't recreate that ultimate technique—even after decades, it finally bloomed from Dang Wuryang's hand.
Too beautiful to call it Full Sky Flower Rain, so he'd leave the longing as longing.
If he had to name it,
"Dark Sky Calamity Tears."
Time resumed its flow,
and tears of calamity rained down from the darkened sky.
Geum Sihyeon let his shoulders slump as if giving up, then calmly began spinning his sword in circles.
It was such a light motion that even Dang Wuryang, unleashing the assault, felt a twinge of bewilderment.
But with each rotation of Geum Sihyeon's blade, the Dark Sky Calamity Tears swirling toward him gathered into a single point, embraced like a woman cradling a child.
Infused with Geum Sihyeon's pure energy as well,
the clustered poison—now the size of a child's small fist—hovered around his robes like a living thing, devouring the stray toxins he hadn't blocked.
It was a technique Dang Wuryang had clearly seen before.
The Ghost Horse Demon's Blood Flower Chaos.
It resembled that bizarre spell that neutralized any attack aimed to harm him.
"You, don't tell me—"
"Misunderstanding. I'm not related to Granny Hong Sundok at all. I just peeked over her shoulder when I lopped off her head recently and copied it."
At Geum Sihyeon's response, the Poison Demon felt flustered enough to lose his focus.
"...Is that something you can just peek and learn?"
"Worked when I tried it."
He didn't seem to be lying.
Watching Geum Sihyeon dismantle the Dark Sky Calamity Tears with a deadly serious expression, Dang Wuryang swallowed a groan.
Not content with unseen perfect meridians and bones, he had such brilliant comprehension too.
But what escaped Dang Wuryang's lips wasn't admiration.
"All talk and no quit. You could claim to be the Supreme Under Heaven in debate with swords."
"How'd you know? I'm the winner of the inaugural Supreme Under Heaven Sword Debate Tournament."
"Ha?"
He'd tried to mock him, only to get outdone and let out a hollow laugh.
However,
the situation wasn't ripe for banter.
"Brat. Don't blame my merciless hands."
"Don't worry. I'm actually more specialized in elder abuse than elder respect."
"...You really don't know when to shut up."
With that, Dang Wuryang clamped his mouth shut and resumed pressing Geum Sihyeon.
A bit more chit-chat, and he might get swept up in the youth's cheerfulness, dulling the single shard of venomous intent in his heart.
"Kyuuu..."
Feeling strength gradually drain from her entire body,
Myo Hwaseo let out a mournful cry.
Though she possessed immense spiritual power, enough to bear the overly grand title of Divine Beast,
the pressure she felt now was on another level entirely.
Far more insidious and thick than the evil energy and poison that had rampaged when the Black Nether Beast went berserk—it was spreading endlessly, trying to envelop the entire forest.
Probably, that man from back then had cast some kind of spell.
Even so, she couldn't just let it happen.
The moment Myo Hwaseo gave up,
this toxic cloud would escape the forest, staining West Double Board, and ultimately all of Yunnan.
If that happened, Yunnan would become a hellscape devoid of animals or humans.
The silver lining amid the misfortune
was that Myo Narang and the wolf pup had joined forces to evacuate the animals from the forest as quickly as possible.
"Geum Sihyeon..."
The misfortune was that Geum Sihyeon—who was at least sharing the pressure bearing down on her—was growing precarious bit by bit.
Myo Hwaseo felt shame and gratitude simultaneously.
Shame for foisting her duty upon him.
Gratitude for getting entangled in something he didn't have to, supporting Myo Narang all this time and now even her.
But,
she had no way to help.
She knew well that asking him to sacrifice himself for her sake here would be utterly shameless.
: : Geum Sihyeon...! That's enough, leave the forest with Narang right now...! : :
Before her own power waned further.
She earnestly hoped at least Geum Sihyeon and Myo Narang could leave this place alive.
Not just out of affection,
but because the weight of fate Geum Sihyeon bore was far too immense.
If he fell here,
The hope born of heaven’s reason—the true obedience to heaven forged through defying it—might vanish.
But,
Geum Sihyeon didn't move.
In Myo Hwaseo's eyes, the image of him shaking his head clearly formed.
: : No, Geum Sihyeon! That's enough...! Run! : :
She squeezed out one more desperate cry,
but instead, Geum Sihyeon gripped his sword tightly,
and against the heavy flow of poison coiling around his ankles, he finally stepped forward.
Watching Geum Sihyeon stagger forward one step, then another, sword gripped tight, Dang Wuryang sighed.
"...Sometimes, you have to abandon convictions for the sake of living. Sihyeon, this isn't where you die."
Calling him by name instead of 'brat,'
it was sincere advice.
Dang Wuryang's goal was singular.
Evil and twisted methods forced into his body or not, as long as he could exact revenge with this power, that was enough.
For his vow,
and even if the blood path ahead spilled countless lives—his sin alone to suffer in death.
...Even so.
He didn't want to kill the young man before him now.
Partly because he'd glimpsed his pure heart during their journey,
'Master...'
though they'd never studied under the same roof, he could call him a proper junior brother.
But,
the light in Geum Sihyeon's eyes—though he looked ready to collapse—hadn't faded.
"...Dying to protect the woman I nearly kissed? That wouldn't be a bad final chapter to life."
Geum Sihyeon murmured with a faint smile.
However,
the moment he took another step,
bits of skin began sloughing off his body, scattering in the wind.
The poison was so vicious that, though his insides were fine, his skin finally gave way.
"What kind of foolish—"
Dang Wuryang started to sigh, then suddenly widened his eyes.
"—No way."
Geum Sihyeon's flesh was indeed melting away.
No.
More precisely, not melting,
but like the rear waves of the Yangtze pushing out the front,
in this extreme situation,
in that fleeting instant,
the skin that had long built and supported Geum Sihyeon's body finally completed its duty, cracking, peeling, and scattering to make way for newly emerging perfect flesh.
"But not today."
Into Geum Sihyeon's sword,
that which was said to be permitted only to the warrior who had fully forged his own path—
starlight permeated.