Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 193
>Chapter Title: Nancheon Society (5)
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Ten minutes earlier.
"Where do you think you're going!"
As the Nancheon Society Leader Maeng Gwak moved to form his qi blade, Il-mok swung his sword through the empty air.
Swaaaaaack!
Il-mok's sword qi tore through space toward Maeng Gwak, but the Nancheon Society Leader simply thrust his twin blades forward to neutralize it effortlessly.
In no time, the energy gathered on his blades had surpassed the level of blade threads and was advancing toward qi blades.
But Il-mok knew this as well.
Swaaaaaack!
The moment he unleashed his sword qi, Il-mok deployed his lightness skill and closed in on Maeng Gwak, swinging his sword.
He traced a truly wondrous sword path that avoided the blades Maeng Gwak had thrust forward.
But Maeng Gwak, the head of an unorthodox faction who had weathered countless battles, did not falter.
"Hmph."
With a snort, Maeng Gwak swung his right blade to meet Il-mok's sword.
Chaeng! Chaeng! Clang!
A metallic ring echoed continuously from his left blade swung at another angle.
Three exchanges after the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword. It was the result of blocking the sword qi Il-mok had secretly fired using the principles of the Flawless Soul-Shredding Sword.
Amid this, Il-mok had mixed the principles of the sixth form, Shredding Wind Spirit Severing Hand, into the Flawless Soul-Shredding Sword, spinning the sword qi to heighten its cutting power, but Maeng Gwak saw through the technique and blocked it simply.
Then, as Maeng Gwak's right blade clashed with Il-mok's sword, a thunderous boom rang out.
Boom!!
By then, a sword aura had formed on Il-mok's sword that met Maeng Gwak's right blade, and a strange rebound force emanated from that sword aura.
He had deployed the principles of the second form, Rebound Soul Sword, spreading the sword aura like a rebound force.
It was an absurd feat of simultaneously executing three second forms, but it ended in failure.
"That's enough of your tricks!"
Roaring, Maeng Gwak swung the left blade that had blocked the Flawless Soul-Shredding Sword's qi.
As Maeng Gwak's blade flew toward him with the intent to bisect him, Il-mok calmly circulated his internal energy.
The rebound force forming on Il-mok's sword aura clung to Maeng Gwak's right blade as if they were one body, and Il-mok spun his body along with his sword like a dancer.
Clang!!
Using the Plum Blossom Grafting technique to make Maeng Gwak's twin blades clash against each other, Il-mok swiftly withdrew his sword and unleashed a series of thrusts.
Amid the rapid thrusts emphasizing speed.
Unlike Il-mok's simple and swift sword, the sword qi flowing from his blade bent flexibly at times or hid within other sword qi to fly like hidden weapons.
A bizarre succession of feats freely manipulating sword and sword qi.
Clang!
Clang!!
But Maeng Gwak wielded his twin blades, layered with blade qi, with minimal movements, somehow blocking Il-mok's relentless assault.
And the moment the blade qi's layering reached its peak.
"It's over!!"
With a shout, Maeng Gwak's twin blades sliced through Il-mok's sword qi and flew forward.
'Tch.'
Realizing Maeng Gwak had finally succeeded in forming blade auras on his twin blades, Il-mok barely pulled his body back to evade the strike.
Thanks to the disruption in his combo's flow, Maeng Gwak's counteroffensive now began.
"Uahaha! Try dodging this one too!"
Maeng Gwak wasn't just carrying those twin blades for show; his martial arts were bizarre beyond compare.
His left and right blades ceaselessly traced different paths and flew in one after another.
Especially since blade auras coated his twin blades, directly clashing swords risked his sword and body being cleaved in two, making it all the more tricky to handle.
- What are you doing!
- Hurry and slice that filthy carcass with that day's single strike!!
Amid the side effect nagging in his mind.
As Il-mok twisted to dodge the left blade, Maeng Gwak's right blade came flying toward him.
Realizing evasion was impossible, Il-mok gritted his teeth.
'You damn side effect bastard!'
Channeling massive internal energy from his dantian fueled by rage at the side effect, Il-mok swung his sword, mixing in all the principles of the second forms.
Il-mok's sword clashed with Maeng Gwak's right blade, creating a thunderous boom.
Boom!!!
By then, a cluster of stars formed by overlapping sword qi had appeared on Il-mok's sword.
"So you had reached the supreme realm after all."
As if he had already noticed while being toyed with by Il-mok's techniques, Maeng Gwak sneered even as he dripped sweat like a pig.
"Tch."
Pushed back in raw power, Il-mok lightly clicked his tongue.
'I should have trained harder at the Demonic Path Academy.'
It wasn't regret over his swordsmanship training. In terms of weapon-handling techniques, he didn't feel outmatched at all.
The problem was internal energy.
He had deflected the opponent's power with technique at the end, but a direct clash might have caused severe internal injuries.
"Huu. Die!!"
Taking a deep breath, Maeng Gwak swung his twin blades at Il-mok once more.
Il-mok dodged the onslaught again using footwork and lightness skill, occasionally disrupting with concise thrusts.
And when there was absolutely no room to evade.
Boom!!
He forcibly formed a qi blade to block the attack, then used the rebound force to pull his body back.
It was an unavoidable choice.
He had grasped the knack of qi blades while facing that Allah zealot leader, but wielding them was still burdensome for Il-mok.
Forming qi blades took time, and above all, his internal energy was insufficient.
Repeated use would empty his dantian in an instant.
But even as he was continuously pushed back, Il-mok's eyes remained calm.
'Aside from lacking internal energy, this is manageable enough.'
The opponent's realm was similar to that Allah zealot leader he had fought in the past.
"Huuk. Huuk."
Compared to his realm, internal energy, and battle experience, the man's body was remarkably sluggish.
Flick.
Il-mok took a light step back and sneered.
"How lazily have you lived to let your body get like that?"
The warrior had a massive pouch of fat on his belly.
Il-mok, who already found muscle-worshipping types repulsive when they stripped, now felt his hygiene obsession surge at the sight of this pudgy man bare.
'No one had seen him fight since taking over as Nancheon Lord.'
He had likely slacked on training after becoming the Nancheon Society's master.
"Huu. Shut your mouth!"
Perhaps stung by the point about his thick gut, Maeng Gwak's forehead veins bulged as he charged at Il-mok again.
"You'll drop dead from hypertension at this rate."
Obese people already needed to watch for high blood pressure.
Il-mok lightly clicked his tongue and evaded the heavy man's twin blades with light movements unlike his bulk.
"I'll help you shed that belly fat. Hahaha."
Successfully provoking his tiring opponent, Il-mok calmly waited for an opening.
"Eeek! You fly-like bastard!!"
The moment the enraged Maeng Gwak swung his twin blades again.
'Now!'
Having observed Maeng Gwak's techniques with his eyes all this time, Il-mok moved decisively.
Swaaaaaack.
Sword qi had gathered on Il-mok's sword thrusting toward Maeng Gwak's right blade.
Thud.
For some reason, no explosive boom erupted from the clash like before.
Il-mok had read the opponent's technique and struck at a glancing angle.
Thanks to that, Maeng Gwak's right blade, its path deflected, bizarrely flew toward his own following left blade.
Boom!!
As the blade qi's of left and right blades collided with a thunderous boom.
Slash.
With a sharp cutting sound, Il-mok's sword sliced open the man's lower abdomen.
"Guh...."
Letting out a choked groan, Maeng Gwak hurriedly bent forward and clutched his lower belly with both hands to hold in the spilling blood and organs.
Looking down at his pathetic form, Il-mok said.
"Congratulations. You've finally succeeded in losing weight before dying."
As Il-mok swung his sword toward the neck of the collapsing Nancheon Society Leader.
Slash!
Cutting sounds rang out successively around Il-mok.
But Il-mok wasn't startled. He had already grasped the surroundings.
"Thank you, Team Leader Dam Bin."
Beyond the black-clad thugs with limbs severed by black threads, Il-mok called out, and Dam Bin emerged from the darkness.
"I merely did my duty, Young Master. More than that, your skill was truly splendid."
She had arrived around the end of Il-mok and the Nancheon Society Leader's fight and chose to observe rather than intervene rashly.
It looked like he was being pushed at a glance, but Il-mok's eyes were so calm.
'Perhaps the Eighth Young Master might gain enlightenment from this battle.'
As a cult that revered martial prowess, they valued duels to the death between the strong.
That said, she wasn't idle. She had prepared for contingencies, allowing her to slaughter those ambushing Il-mok right after the fight in one go.
"At this rate, reaching Transcending Demon before thirty isn't a dream."
At her praise, Il-mok clicked his tongue with a regretful face.
"I hope so."
Unfortunately, Il-mok hadn't gained any special enlightenment from this fight either, despite the opponent being a considerable expert.
Shaking off his regret, Il-mok looked up and surveyed the surroundings—or rather, the carnage from Dam Bin's black threads.
"If it's not rude, may I ask one thing?"
"Ask freely."
"Could you tell me the name of the martial art you're cultivating and its side effect?"
The thread-manipulating art was fascinating, and he had a foreboding feeling that such an expert's side effect wouldn't be negligible.
"The art is called Dark Spider Blood Thread Art, and the side effect is similar to that of the Bare Hand Demon Art."
"Dark Spider's Blood Threads. A truly demonic name."
"You're too kind."
He meant it was chilling, but Dam Bin took it as praise.
"Hmm. Similar to Jin Sojeo's side effect—fascinating. The vibe is so different I never would have guessed."
At Il-mok's words, a smile formed on Dam Bin's lips.
It was an odd feeling.
She often smiled calmly in her maidservant attire.
But the smile now, in her black night clothes, exuded an inexplicable bewitching aura.
Wondering if it was due to her outfit, Il-mok thought.
"It's not the side effect when a woman cultivates it, but when a man does."
At her following words, an old memory surfaced for Il-mok.
'When a man cultivates it.... That's it, isn't it!?'
Faced with her unusually bewitching gaze, Il-mok swallowed dryly.
'Whoa.'
* * *
A few days earlier.
In the heart of the Martial Alliance near Lake Dongting.
An important meeting was underway there.
A meeting to address the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's bizarre movements over the past three years or so.
However, the reactions of those attending were uniformly incredulous.
"Ha! Not content with freely wielding sword qi at sixteen, at seventeen he mastered sorcery to save a drought-stricken village, and two months later handled qi blades too? Do you really think this makes any sense?"
It was because of Il-mok.
More precisely, because recent bizarre activities of the cult were mostly due to the youngest young master.
Upon hearing this, the Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord had ordered further investigation into the Eighth Young Master, and the results were now being revealed at the meeting.
"Even if demonic arts grow fast, this is beyond excessive."
"Even Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi, the current Heavenly Demon—that monster— wasn't this much."
"Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord. How exactly are you handling things?"
The problem was that most of the contents were utterly absurd.
'Huu. Damn Eighth Young Master.'
The Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord, blamed just for gathering rumors on Il-mok, swallowed his rising killing intent inwardly.