Chapter 179
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Manhunt Across Myriad Miles (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Geum Sihyeon declared,
"Let there be light."
With a fierce flash swirling like a storm at his back, he swiftly leaped down from the cliff.
In times like this, he was glad his opponent was a righteous faction elder.
At least with the righteous sects,
they knew how to graciously yield the first move.
Even if he unleashed attacks with the ferocity to blow the entire Mount Hua Sect sky-high, they'd grit their teeth and block or dodge without fail.
...He did briefly worry if they might fail to block it.
But a Profound Realm master with peak transcendent power failing to block it?
Impossible. Probably.
And it was terribly selfish, but...
When weighing the collapse of a single uninhabited peak against his own life, of course his life was more precious.
Of course, there'd be the minor side effect of the area becoming a barren wasteland impassable by humans for a while due to the poison.
- Haaaaah—!
Hearing the Azure Heaven Society Leader's booming shout echoing from behind, it seemed he was holding it off with all his might.
If it were him, rather than detonating it right there, he'd probably coax it up into the air and let it burst like a fireworks show.
"Hup!"
Of course, that was just his nose itching for trouble.
He'd dived straight into this sheer abyss without ropes or parachutes, so surviving the fall came first.
Thud, thwack, thwack-thwack—!
Pummeling the cliff face a few times to slow his descent as much as possible.
Crack, boom...!
"Hrraaah!"
As payment for his eco-unfriendly cliff destruction, he narrowly dodged the falling rocks from above, while using protruding branches here and there to swing like a rope for braking.
Ruuuumble—!
"Tch...!"
Despite all his efforts, the moment he finally hit the ground, a massive pain shot through him like his erector spinae ripping apart.
Ugh!
This really hurt!
A girlish yelp escaped him unwittingly, but he couldn't stop.
Somewhere below,
he spotted several figures climbing up—ones with inner energy similar to his Mount Hua acquaintances, yet carrying a faint alien tang that didn't quite match the plum blossom scent from their fluids.
"That's... the Heaven-Defying Freak, Geum Sihyeon!"
As expected, Azure Heaven Society lackeys.
Wait, but.
"Heaven-Defying Freak? What the hell kind of baseless nickname is that?"
Just what did that even mean?
This body had a perfectly fine moniker...
Did it? Did he? What was his nickname again?
...Did he even have one?
Mulling over this cosmic revelation for a moment.
"Ah, jeez."
His spine still vibrating, he sighed at the sight of the Azure Heaven Society goons charging madly at him.
Their martial prowess was around transcendent level—not nearly enough to match his quintuple-transcendent self.
But if he got caught up fighting here, the old man above, still wrestling the Invincible Meteor Bomb, might finish up and swoop down anytime.
"Restore the martial world to greatness!"
"Heaven-Defying Freak, your evil deeds end here!"
...Slicing these lunatics up here would rocket him straight to public enemy of the martial world.
Still, they were righteous faction folks.
"Hey, what evil deeds have I even committed?!"
But being wronged was still being wronged.
Infusing his palms with grievance and fury, he unleashed a double palm strike.
"Watch out! He can use formless palm force!"
Since when had rumors about him spread in such detail?
Well, swinging around White Rainbow Palm Force wasn't a one- or two-day affair.
But.
"If it feels like you're dying, take this, and I'm out!"
What he'd just fired wasn't mere palm force.
Colorless, odorless.
And formless poison.
Not quite as grandiose as the Tang Family's secret Invisible Finger Poison, nor lethal on inhalation.
"Cough, hack."
"It's Scatter Energy Poison!"
"Urk, my lower abdomen suddenly..."
He'd just lumped together a bunch of random toxins causing respiratory distress, inner energy disruption, erectile dysfunction, explosive diarrhea, and the like, then liberally sprayed them around the area.
Plus, he'd kindly included an antidote that would take effect about an hour later.
Silently thanking Moyong Taek and Unhak, who'd volunteered as test subjects during its development.
He bolted down the mountain, in the opposite direction from where he'd come up.
Like a madman.
"Haaaaah—!"
So intense was his focus on blocking the calamity before him that Guyang Hwi unwittingly let out a shout.
The orb Geum Sihyeon had dumped on him...
was truly worthy of being called a disaster.
Martial arts techniques typically followed a natural order.
Whether sword qi or sword gang, once separated from the warrior's blade and cast into the world, their energy naturally waned bit by bit.
Like how you could strike a foe ten li away with a sword gang, but not one a hundred li distant.
But.
This technique dubbed the Invincible Meteor Bomb utterly defied that norm.
How could it grow stronger over time, even absorbing the surrounding natural qi like a living thing, becoming ever more potent?
"Hngh!"
His right hand coiled like a nimble viper, his left repelled like a swift hawk, controlling the rebound—little by little.
Guyang Hwi twisted the Invincible Meteor Bomb's trajectory.
Exquisite maneuvers that would earn any martial artist's admiration wove through the air, infused with Profound Realm insight.
Of course, he could abandon altering its path here and just let it explode, suffering only minor internal injuries in the process.
But.
Guyang Hwi.
Mount Hua Sect's Guangxu Zhenren.
Even if this wasn't the solemn Mount Hua of his memories, he didn't want to leave even a speck of damage on the Mount Hua he loved.
'His resolve runs far too deep...'
Thus.
Guyang Hwi inwardly revised his assessment of Geum Sihyeon.
Previously, just a fated genius doomed to disrupt the martial world...
Now.
A latent dragon capable of uprooting the martial order entirely.
"Hoo, haaa...!"
Finally launching the orb—now as large as his upper body—high into the sky,
Guyang Hwi immediately sat in lotus position.
His arms were already steeped in thick poison qi.
No helping it.
Even if scattered into the air, the intense poison within could endanger the entire mountain.
"Did he calculate even this far?"
Slowly expelling the poison qi akin to the Poison King's, Guyang Hwi sighed.
Geum Sihyeon had likely escaped Mount Hua unscathed.
Though he'd summoned the society warriors waiting below, they probably couldn't hold him.
It'd be easier if he'd just opened a path to kill him.
"As if."
Sighing, Guyang Hwi mulled over Geum Sihyeon's parting words.
- If you let me go, please leave me and those around me alone until year's end.
A promise made lightly.
However...
Once the year ended,
how much stronger would that heaven-defying monster have grown?
"Kyau?"
The wolf pup nestled in her arms suddenly twitched its head,
"Mmm..."
Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's forbidden treasure.
The sole heir to the Heavenly Demon Cuddle Guard.
Little Lady Cheon Luri boldly wriggled her eyelids against the onslaught of drowsiness.
Soon enough.
"It tickles..."
Even hugging the shedding-fur pup tighter didn't help.
"Kiiing, kiing...!"
Despite sharing Little Lady's bedchamber—the ultimate honor—the pup's rebellion only grew.
In the end.
As sleep gradually slipped away, Cheon Luri opened her eyes.
The faint trace of the sun shyly revealing itself beyond the horizon draped across the window, the surroundings hushed in stillness.
But.
"Hm...?"
Cheon Luri felt a cosmic intuition piercing her mind.
Soon.
Rumble, ruuumble...!
Boom────!!!
"Eek!"
"Kyeng!"
The distant, heaven-shattering roar made her clutch the pup fiercely without thinking.
And then.
Thump-thump.
Unable to contain her curiosity, she approached the window, and her eyes beheld...
"Whoa..."
A majestic scene unlike any she'd witnessed in her life.
The single sun adorning the distant horizon.
And.
Mount Hua's peak, dizzyingly high even craning her neck, and beyond that—infinitely higher in the vast blue sky.
A second sun blazed.
"Kyauung!"
Even the anxious, trembling pup gawked in awe at the spectacle.
Far too ethereal for a mere natural wonder, in that dreamlike vista,
Cheon Luri recalled a legend passed down in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
- On the day two suns rise, the true Heavenly Demon shall awaken.
"Mm."
Blink!
Squish!
Stretch!
Setting down the hugged pup and even doing some growth stretches,
her body and heart showed no change.
"Uuum..."
Cheon Luri's sharp mind swiftly reached a conclusion.
The legend was false!
If true, she would've ballooned into a majestic, Heavenly Demon-worthy body.
Thus, the legend was wrong.
Having constructed flawless logic.
"Kiiing..."
She warmly scooped up the fidgety pup again and tackled her morning routine's most vital task.
Which was, of course,
Peeking on Geum Sihyeon during his soul-link cultivation!
However.
"H-Huh...?"
The instant she closed her eyes and linked her consciousness to Geum Sihyeon, Cheon Luri could only blurt out something foolish.
Having slyly infused demonic qi lately to boost the soul-link's intensity, Luri could now grasp his state more precisely than before.
What her eyes saw:
Geum Sihyeon frantically crashing through the forest, fleeing someone.
What her heart felt:
Geum Sihyeon forcibly corralling his chaotically surging, tangled qi and blood.
In that moment.
Cheon Luri bolted from her room.