Chapter 238
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 238
Chapter Title: Dragon Head Bang Leader of a New Era (1)
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Defeat.
The moment those two characters flickered through his mind, Yeonsagang completely lost his self-control.
The Dragon Head Bang Leader—that mad bastard—must have gathered everything he had before dying and passed on his full power to Hugae.
How could that be possible?
His internal energy wasn't solely his own; it belonged to the Beggars' Sect. How could he divide the sect's power so unfairly!
Even in life,
he'd been like this.
And now, even in death, he was clinging to Yeonsagang's ankles, stubbornly obstructing him.
Yeonsagang had nowhere left to retreat.
So.
He secretly dumped the improved version of the Storm Heaven Extreme Pill, which he'd kept hidden in his bosom all this time, into his mouth.
Perfectly refined without even a trace of solitude herbs, it would instantly multiply his power several times over.
If he used that to crush Hugae, no one would be able to deny his authority.
That was what Yeonsagang thought.
And in fact.
"Kuhk—!"
Hugae, who'd clashed palms with him, couldn't withstand the suddenly surging power and was sent flying backward by the massive impact.
Yes.
This was it.
The moment Yeonsagang, already half out of his mind, grinned with a sinister smile to savor the taste of victory—
"Wow, these beggar scum are popping pills nowadays, huh?"
"...You bastard!"
The man who caught the flying Hugae midair and landed gracefully with fluid footwork.
Looking at Heopunggae, Yeonsagang ground his teeth.
Yes.
It was all because of that hellish mouth of his.
He was connected to Hugae after all.
"How dare a mere bang leader interfere in the Beggars' Sect's major affairs!"
Yeonsagang bellowed.
It was the straight truth.
No matter how slightly cowardly his own actions were, could they be graver than barging into this situation?
This was actually a golden opportunity.
If he could bite down on the collusion between this guy and Hugae and flip public opinion—
"My formal greetings are late. I am Heopunggae, the secret inspector inheriting the late Bang Leader's will."
"Secret inspector...?"
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
Yeonsagang had heard of it before too.
The secret organization directly under the Bang Leader that gathered and organized all information.
Could it be, then?
That this had all been planned long ago?
"Dragon Head Bang Leader...! Even in death, you mock me...!"
Yeonsagang erupted in massive rage.
And at the same time.
The energy waves infused with his ferocious might began surging around his body.
Everything had become crystal clear.
The Bang Leader had never intended to hand the Beggars' Sect over to him.
For that milk-scented pup, he'd pass on the sect he'd devoted his life to and led through ups and downs.
Just like that.
Unforgivable.
The Beggars' Sect had to be his.
Thinking back, even the idea of splitting it half had been naive.
What reason was there for that?
"Whether secret inspector or Hugae, I won't care anymore. If you're so confident, then defeat me—"
The moment Yeonsagang, radiating a ferocious aura, tried to slam his staff into the ground—
"...!"
A thick, sticky killing intent—something no Beggars' Sect disciple could emit—brushed past Yeonsagang's cheek.
"If you swing that down, you might die."
Heopunggae murmured in a chilling voice.
However.
Yeonsagang ignored it and brought his staff down anyway.
"Form-Shadow Hundred Transformations."
The moment his mental image twisted the world's principles.
Yeonsagang felt as if he himself was splitting into several, dozens of fragments, accompanied by a splitting headache.
Though he couldn't create a hundred shadows as the name implied.
Right now.
Yeonsagang was here, and there as well.
"Whoa! You know the Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Heh heh."
"Don't think it's"
"a mere"
"clone."
As his bodies, extended in multiple directions, resonated individually to produce sounds.
He swung his staff toward Heopunggae—the incessant secret inspector supporting Hugae.
At the same time, the other Yeonsagangs moved in perfect unison.
No formation in the world, not even one formed by dozens of years of synchronized senior brothers, could ever be perfect.
But.
Yeonsagang—himself—
could recreate the most perfect form of the Staff Formation with his power alone.
No matter if the opponent was the secret inspector.
Could he protect the visibly internally injured Hugae and withstand his attacks?
The gazes of the pouring Beggars' Sect disciples.
And the murmurs?
No need to heed the voices of the weak.
"That old man's shamelessness pierces the heavens."
"Yeah... Kuhk, kuh."
"Sigh, you pathetic guy. Already internally injured again. That's why you're still at peak realm, Unhak."
Unhak suppressed his rampaging qi and blood with effort, while feeling the urge to smack the back of his friend's head.
But there was no reason to start infighting in this situation.
Tat!
Paht!
While regulating his internal injuries, he focused his mind on deflecting Yeonsagang's staff swings aimed at him.
The power that had suddenly grown bizarrely strong.
Perfectly reflected in the multiple clones extending out.
This was truly—should he call it the profound depth of martial arts, or scream that it made no sense?
But even more astonishing than that.
"Vice Bang Leader, how about putting in a bit more effort?"
"You still have breath left in you, Heopunggae!"
His close friend, saddled with the ridiculous alias Heopunggae.
Geum Sihyeon.
Facing the Vice Bang Leader's onslaught, which fluctuated in number and moved in bizarre patterns yet displayed a perfect Staff Formation.
Geum Sihyeon simply blocked it all with a bored expression, using the minimal movements necessary.
And not just that?
Taak!
"Don't lose focus."
"...Thanks."
He even precisely caught and deflected attacks slipping into blind spots that Unhak couldn't respond to—as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
But.
He couldn't hide behind his friend forever.
Why entrust his future and the Beggars' Sect's future to his friend?
To someone who wasn't even a sect disciple?
That wasn't the duty of a Bang Leader.
So.
For a moment.
Even just a brief one.
He had to break free from the limits he'd set for himself and burn his flames brighter.
Even in the midst of this urgently unfolding battle.
Unhak closed his eyes.
.
.
.
Geum Sihyeon, glancing at him sidelong, curled a faint smile on his lips.
How long had it been since this martial arts maniac shattered his wall, and he was already eyeing the next one?
Of course, he still fell short of Geum Sihyeon himself.
That was why, to buy his still-lacking friend a moment's time.
And also, to seize the enlightenment flickering before him.
"Give up!"
"You can't!"
"Defeat me!"
He focused his gaze on Yeonsagang, still producing surround sound with his clones.
And began analyzing how each of those existences twisted principles to individually plant their feet on this land and project their will.
The idea was simple.
Geum Sihyeon's unique mental image, Myriad Phenomena, was about fully comprehending the world's principles and making them his own.
Thus, he could borrow and assimilate those whose inner mental images he could glimpse.
But why limit it to his friends'?
Others' rice cakes are always bigger—wouldn't stealing the enemy's be even tastier?
An idea utterly befitting Geum Sihyeon, which he'd mulled over many times.
And now.
Not perfectly, but a fragment of that greed had already twisted and shaken the principles Yeonsagang had warped once more.
The result.
"Wh-what in the world...?"
Along with Yeonsagang's voice laced with disbelief.
One of his clones returned to emptiness.
And in its place.
Geum Sihyeon's form flickered into existence, shimmering vaguely before smoothly vanishing.
"Hm, tricky."
Not complete, but he'd grasped a clue.
And in that process, one certainty he'd gained was.
"It seems my will was stronger than the Vice Bang Leader's?"
In the end, a unique mental image was projecting one's mind onto the world.
If his own mind and will could twist the world more strongly than another's.
Then it could sufficiently offset it.
Though he hadn't yet reached the conclusion of mental image theft as initially intended.
To Geum Sihyeon himself, it already felt like just a matter of time.
"What kind of damn nonsense is this...?"
Flinging a smile at the astounded, disbelieving face of Yeonsagang, Geum Sihyeon deflected the staff hurtling toward him and erased another clone.
One by one.
On the stage where even the Beggars' Sect disciples' murmurs had turned to complete silence.
Geum Sihyeon—Heopunggae—had fully fulfilled his duty of guarding Hugae without launching a preemptive strike.
"Dragon-Fighting Eighteen Palms. Ultimate Technique."
While others murmured their mental images.
A low voice resounded: Unhak, still unable to escape novice level, reciting the technique name crudely.
But.
The power carried in that voice was far from insignificant.
Kugugugu—!
Behind Unhak's back, a fierce golden haze writhed and surged upward.
"Dragons and Tigers Battle."
⟨ Dragon-Fighting Eighteen Palms ⟩
Right after.
From Unhak's thrust-out left and right palms, a tiger and dragon burst forth as if competing with each other.
Yeonsagang's clones were torn, split, and scattered.
And the divine beast forms, having devoured all prey and smacking their lips, swirled briefly in the air.
Before crashing straight down onto Yeonsagang's head.