Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 134
>Chapter Title: Unwanted Conclusion (2)
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Whether it was because that smile grated on him, the coldest of faces belonging to Yu-geuk underwent a subtle change.
A change named irritation.
At the same time, an immense yin cold energy began to condense around his saber.
‘A bit rushed, but no choice.’
The saber, laden with overwhelming chill, flew toward Seo Wan-pyeong to bisect him.
‘…Ice arts are tricky, as expected.’
Seo Wan-pyeong, who had already wiped the smile from his face, gritted his teeth and pulled up internal energy from his dantian as best he could.
His body had grown sluggish from the cold that had invaded it. Dodging that clearly dangerous technique with footwork was out of the question.
“Hup!”
As befitting an assassination-specialized martial art, a translucent energy wrapped around Seo Wan-pyeong’s sword.
Boom!!!
The moment saber met sword, cold energy scattered like a massive iceberg exploding, creating a deafening blast.
Piercing through the steam born from the explosion, Seo Wan-pyeong was flung backward, managing to stop only after flying about a zhang.
“Cough…”
Seo Wan-pyeong spat out a mouthful of blood right then. The impact of the clash had been hard to endure—not only did blood pour from his mouth, but his eyes were bloodshot too.
But.
“Heh heh heh.”
Even as his eyes were bloodshot and blood trickled from his mouth, Seo Wan-pyeong was laughing again.
It wasn’t that he had fallen into demonic deviation from internal injuries and gone berserk.
Proof was in Yu-geuk’s face, who had inflicted serious internal wounds on him—it was etched with even greater irritation than before.
“What happened, Deputy Leader!?”
“Who the hell is that!!”
Thanks to the noise and energy waves from their clash, instructors and students of the Demonic Path Academy were rushing over.
Knowing this would happen, Seo Wan-pyeong already considered the mission a success.
Conversely, aware of this too, Yu-geuk had tried to kill Seo Wan-pyeong as quickly as possible—even resorting to a major technique.
Originally, Yu-geuk preferred a fighting style where he slowly cornered foes with cold energy until their bodies stiffened completely, then unleashed a big move.
‘…All I can do now is pray the Third Young Master hasn’t overheard our secret talk.’
Though they had only exchanged a few blows, Yu-geuk had belatedly realized his opponent’s identity during their weapon clash.
That made him want to deal with the Third Young Master even faster.
If he killed him before others arrived, he could claim it was a misunderstanding—killing an intruder who sneaked into the Demonic Path Academy without permission.
But now, with others watching, it was dangerous.
“There’s an intruder from outside!”
Yu-geuk tried to get ahead before the injured Third Young Master could speak.
“Academy Master. This bastard is the underling who targeted my youngest junior brother!”
Seo Wan-pyeong shouted while vomiting blood, his gloomy face twisted into an expression of delight that didn’t suit it.
Yeom Ga-hwi, who arrived with the other instructors, stepped forward at Seo Wan-pyeong’s cry and asked,
“Are you certain?”
“I heard it clearly! He ordered the death of my youngest junior brother in the exam ten days from now!”
At Seo Wan-pyeong’s shout, Yu-geuk said with a cold expression,
“Academy Master. The Third Young Master is an intruder who barged into the Demonic Path Academy without permission, even before being a disciple of the Supreme One. Are you truly going to believe this man’s slander?”
At that question, Yeom Ga-hwi looked at him with a blunt expression.
“I’m sorry, but I already knew. That the Third Young Master had entered.”
Yu-geuk nearly gritted his teeth without realizing it.
‘…So that’s how it was.’
The moment he realized the rat eavesdropping on their secret talk was the Third Young Master, Yu-geuk had already sensed something amiss.
But he couldn’t back down like this.
“Are you framing me like this, Academy Master?”
Yu-geuk intended to spin this incident into an internal power struggle or political battle within the Demonic Path Academy.
With instructors, assistants, and students watching, he figured he could at least buy some time.
But he had forgotten one crucial fact.
Having seen only ‘Academy Master’ Yeom Ga-hwi for too long, he had forgotten what kind of man he was during the era when he was called the ‘Fist Demon’.
Looking at the aggrieved Yu-geuk, Yeom Ga-hwi spoke one last time.
“If you want to play childish word games, find someone else.”
By the time ‘find someone else’ pierced Yu-geuk’s ears.
Boom!!!
With a massive roar, the ground where Yeom Ga-hwi stood shattered.
Yeom Ga-hwi, leaving only his shadow behind, closed in on Yu-geuk in an instant and swung a fist brimming with red energy.
But Yu-geuk had prepared to some extent, swinging his cold-energy-wrapped saber to block the strike.
Clang!!
It was an odd metallic sound for saber and fist colliding, and right after.
Clang! Clang!!
The clash sounds and energy waves rang out at tremendous speed one after another.
* * *
“Senior Brother! Are you alright?”
Il-mok, who had rushed to the scene the moment he heard the noise, first checked on his third senior brother, Seo Wan-pyeong.
“Ahem. I’m fine, don’t worry.”
Was it because he had more or less succeeded in the task his precious youngest junior brother requested? Seo Wan-pyeong put on a reliable expression to show a cool side.
‘…Who’re you trying to impress looking like that.’
Of course, with blood trickling from his mouth and eyes bloodshot red, he didn’t look cool—just pitiful.
“Leave the rest to the Academy Master and me. For now, perform qi circulation and breath adjustment. I’ll stand guard. Good work, Senior Brother.”
“Alright. I’ll trust only you, my brother.”
Seo Wan-pyeong, who tried to maintain a reliable image to the end, endured the pain of internal injuries wracking his five viscera and six bowels, as well as the agony of cold energy invading his body everywhere, and sat in lotus position.
Confirming Seo Wan-pyeong had begun qi circulation and injury treatment, Il-mok hurriedly sent a transmission to someone.
- Instructor Eun-ryeo. Please block Instructor Ma.
At Il-mok’s sudden transmission, a question appeared on Eun-ryeo’s face as she watched the situation after arriving on scene.
- What on earth is going on? Do you know, Academy Student Il-mok?
- No time to explain details. Instructor Ma might commit suicide, so you must stop him!
- !?
Though doubt flickered on Instructor Eun-ryeo’s face at Il-mok’s instruction, it was only for a moment.
As a warrior of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, she wasn’t so naive as to panic helplessly in such an urgent situation.
‘He asked me to stop a suicide, so I just need to stay near Instructor Ma and watch.’
Deciding to hide near Ma Do-yeong and observe first, she carefully deployed stealth arts and slipped calmly to Ma Do-yeong’s side.
With people still flocking here continuously, the chance Ma Do-yeong would notice her stealth was slim.
Unless he had been constantly watching Instructor Eun-ryeo from the start.
And right now, Ma Do-yeong had no leisure to watch for Instructor Eun-ryeo.
With a face full of complex emotions, he frantically scanned the situation by turning his head this way and that.
‘Damn. Damn. Damn. Where did it all start going wrong?’
Now it seemed all of the Demonic Path Academy had gathered, with dozens surrounding them.
Boom!!
In the center, the Academy Master and Deputy Leader continuously clashed, unleashing blasts and energy waves.
Amid it all, Ma Do-yeong’s sole dilemma was one thing.
‘Should I help the Deputy Leader kill the Academy Master? Or just commit suicide?’
If caught here, the identity of ‘that one’ could be exposed by him and the Deputy Leader. So suicide might be the right choice.
Conversely, attacking the Academy Master offered a slim chance of survival. But suicide just meant death and the end of everything.
In that fleeting moment, the endlessly wavering scales finally tipped one way.
‘Too many have gathered already. Even if I miraculously kill the Academy Master, there’s no escape.’
Having decided, Ma Do-yeong drew his sword and thrust it toward his own heart.
“Guh!?”
But the pain came not from his heart, but elsewhere.
The instant he moved, Eun-ryeo, who had sneaked close with stealth arts, instantly sealed his acupoints.
Lost in deep contemplation, Ma Do-yeong hadn’t noticed her approach right beside him.
Having stopped Ma Do-yeong’s suicide, Eun-ryeo looked toward Il-mok with a ghostly pale expression.
‘How did he know this guy would try to commit suicide?’
Unaware of Eun-ryeo’s inner thoughts, Il-mok nodded with an “as expected” look.
It was a prediction possible because he had been burned by this several times already.
‘Take me hostage or commit suicide. Those were his only options.’
Il-mok shouted toward Yeom Ga-hwi, who was locked in fierce battle with Yu-geuk.
“Academy Master!! Ma Do-yeong has been subdued!”
The moment his shout ended.
Boom!!
A massive explosion rang out, sending Yu-geuk’s body flying backward.
Yu-geuk, blood pooling at his mouth and wearing an unusually furious expression unlike his usual self, swung his saber repeatedly in the air, sending saber energy riding its blade toward Yeom Ga-hwi.
Looking at the incoming saber energy, Yeom Ga-hwi assumed a straight punch stance with a blunt face.
At the same time, the red energy flowing over his entire body took the form of three heads and six arms.
Boom!!!
As if the punching motion was skipped, six red trajectories were suddenly etched in the air.
‘Crazy… He really is an Asura incarnate.’
Il-mok, who had already fainted when Yeom Ga-hwi subdued Chu Il-hwan back then, was seeing his martial arts for the first time.
The blood-red fist energies Yeom Ga-hwi unleashed pulverized Yu-geuk’s saber energy with ease.
Screeech!
The fist energies, still with power left, flew straight at Yu-geuk.
Yu-geuk, who had tried to buy time with saber energy to unleash a big technique, gave up forming protective energy and hurled his body aside.
Boom!!
Six explosions erupted almost simultaneously.
Yeom Ga-hwi, who had deployed lightness skill, closed in on Yu-geuk, who had desperately leaped away, and swung his fist.
Boom!!!
Once again, Yu-geuk and Yeom Ga-hwi swung saber and fist at point-blank range, their near-white cold energy and blood-red aura clashing to produce continuous blasts.
A fierce battle between two absolute experts on a different level from him.
Il-mok watched without blinking, determined not to miss a single minute movement or the precise control of energy, thinking,
‘No.’
He wanted them to stop already.
But his body had all nerves on edge, fully focused on the fight, and even his energy sense—akin to a sixth sense—was sharpened to a razor edge.
Perhaps because his own realm had risen somewhat now.
‘Stop!!’
He couldn’t read every exchange between the two experts, but bit by bit, his intellect analyzed and understood their battle.
- Look at that swift fist! That’s how you unleash speed!
- See that saber? That’s the true essence of stillness amid motion!
In one corner of his mind, that damn demonic art was raising a racket.
- What are you doing! Draw your sword and swing it already! You gonna miss this chance!!
Amid the flood of enlightening insights.
‘Shut up!!’
Il-mok strained with all his might to keep from drawing his sword.
He could be called the first in the martial world to reject enlightenment.