Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Wudang Under Attack
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“Scared? Of what?”
“What else? The storm you unleashed yesterday, young hero.”
“Storm…? Oh.”
It hit me in that instant what she was talking about—the Emperor Sword Form.
Ye So-ha didn’t hide her admiration as she continued.
“I caught a glimpse of it from afar back in Hefei, but seeing it up close again? It was truly staggering. A sight worthy of being called divine might.”
“Haha….”
Her words made me laugh awkwardly.
Not because they were unpleasant to hear.
If you asked why they unsettled me, it was because I’d realized during yesterday’s battle that I’d made a colossal mistake.
The delusion that I’d perfected the Emperor Sword Form.
Back when I swept away the Tian Guang Corps thugs in Hefei with it, I truly believed I’d fully mastered the Emperor Sword Form.
But I hadn’t.
The version I wielded was still incomplete, and yesterday’s fight had exposed that fact beyond doubt.
-Roarrr-!
The tiger monster’s bellow still echoed in my ears.
That club-wielding brute had broken free of my qi restraints with a ferocious roar, even while bound.
In the end, I’d let slip away the monster I thought I had firmly in my grasp.
On the way to the Zhuge family estate, Hyul Li-gwang had once dodged my qi restraints.
But no one had ever escaped after being bound by them.
That’s why I’d clung to the illusion for so long.
Because it had seemed sufficient.
No one had ever shattered my qi restraints before.
After retiring to bed last night, I lay awake for a long while, mulling over the Emperor Sword Form.
—The Emperor’s sword, which dominates space itself.
I repeated the essence of the Emperor Sword Form in my mind, questioning myself.
Could I claim to dominate space just because my qi bound the enemy?
The qi infused with the emperor’s mindset and intent had overwhelmed the Tian Guang Corps, no doubt.
But Hyul Li-gwang had evaded it, and the tiger monster had overpowered it outright.
Was it unavoidable because it was a monster defying natural law?
That was just an excuse.
A true emperor’s sword should overwhelm any foe.
Yet mine had failed.
In other words, the Emperor’s Sword was still unfinished.
Something was wrong,
or perhaps something was missing.
Those thoughts from last night still swirled in my head, and I responded to Ye So-ha’s words with absent-minded replies as I continued climbing the stairs.
That’s when my senses picked up something ominous.
-Kyaaak!?
-Kieee-!
“…!”
A human scream and a monster’s roar.
I snapped my head up, gazing toward the end of the stairs—Heavenly Pillar Peak.
The Wudang Sect’s grounds came into plain view.
Countless monstrous cries emanated from within.
“I need to go ahead. Take care of this guy for me.”
“Huh? W-Wait…!?”
I dumped the unconscious Daoist Hyunjin—strapped to my back—onto the flustered Ye So-ha and bolted up the stairs at full speed.
Leaping four or five steps at a time, I shot past the gate bearing the Wudang Sect plaque and plunged inside.
“Kwaaak!”
“Hold the line!”
An infernal scene assaulted my eyes.
Monsters were already rampaging throughout the sect, and countless people lay slumped on the ground as cold corpses.
-Crunck.
Grinding my teeth at the sight, I drew my sword and charged the nearest monster.
-Kiee…?
The beast, poised to swallow whole the head of a young female Daoist pinned beneath it, let out a puzzled cry at my sudden appearance.
Its bloodshot sclera rolled, pupil dilating as it registered me.
I swung my blade, severing its neck in one stroke.
-Splurt!
“U-Ugh…?”
The monster’s head flew off, detached from its body.
Drenched in the blood gushing from the stump, the female Daoist spat out the blood that had flooded her mouth.
Leaving her behind, I swiftly cut down the other nearby monsters.
-Kieee-!
They crumpled one by one amid sharp death cries.
Having cleared the surroundings, I approached the female Daoist still trapped under the monster’s corpse.
I kicked the body aside to free her and extended a hand.
“Are you all right?”
“Huh? Y-Yes… But who…?”
“What the hell happened here?”
Instead of answering, I changed the subject.
Perhaps grateful for the timely rescue from death’s door, she answered my cryptic question without hesitation.
“A massive red tiger led a horde of monsters in an assault on the sect just moments ago. Our disciples fought back, but there were too many…”
A massive red tiger.
I instantly knew what it was and frowned, demanding its whereabouts.
“Where’s that tiger now?”
“Toward the Upper Purity Hall…”
Her finger pointed to the grand hall at the sect’s heart.
I thanked her and raced in that direction.
*
-Kwachik!
“Aaaak!”
“Hyun-so!”
Fangs sank into the upper body of a young Daoist as it entered the Upper Purity Hall.
The owner of those fangs was a truly enormous tiger.
Whiskers sharp as blades, a horn jutting from its forehead, and a ruined right eye from a sword slash.
The overwhelming menace would make any ordinary person’s legs buckle just from looking.
The Daoists gulped nervously.
Once the mighty lord of Wudang Mountain’s domain, now empowered further by the Blood Eye, the Mountain King surveyed his surroundings arrogantly, trailed by a swarm of monsters.
The air stiffened with tension and fear.
The Mountain King’s sole remaining eye drank in the humans’ terror.
The pleasure drowned out the pain in his right eye, and he clenched his jaws tighter.
The young Daoist—Hyun-so, a second-generation disciple like Hyunjin—screamed in agony once more from the Mountain King’s bite.
“Aaak-!”
“You beast! Release Hyun-so right now!”
A gruff roar drew the Mountain King’s gaze to its source.
At the center of the crowd encircling the monsters flooding into the Upper Purity Hall stood an elderly Daoist.
“You vile demon! You dare harm a Wudang disciple and think you’ll escape unscathed?!”
The Mountain King was a tiger.
No matter how spiritual, he remained a beast and couldn’t comprehend human speech.
Yet instinct told him the old Daoist was rebuking him.
How dare a mere human act so insolent.
Irritated, the Mountain King clamped down harder.
His jaws, empowered by his massive frame, snapped Hyun-so’s waist and neck in an instant, and he devoured the upper torso.
-Kwachik!
The head and legs fell limply, severed from the torso.
Witnessing this, the old Daoist’s face twisted in demonic fury as he bellowed in rage.
“You bastard—!”
The death of a disciple he’d trained for decades at Wudang.
The Wudang Sect Leader and Grandmaster, Muhwa-zi, let out a roar laced with fury and anguish that echoed through the Upper Purity Hall, the sect’s core.
Hearing that cry brimming with rage and despair, the massive tiger—the Mountain King—growled contentedly, savoring the intense thrill.
Prey so utterly helpless and insignificant beneath his fangs and claws.
That was humanity.
He was the predator that devoured them.
The horrific memory of yesterday faded amid the satisfying scene, and he purred pleasantly.
But he wasn’t satisfied yet.
More.
More despair and death for these humans.
-Roaaarrr-!
The Mountain King’s roar shook the Wudang Sect grounds.
The monsters, hearing it, screeched and lunged at the Daoists.
-Kieeeek-!
The Daoists paled as the beasts charged.
Then Muhwa-zi’s command rang in their ears.
“Wudang disciples, form the Five Elements Sword Array!”
His qi-infused shout steadied their wavering hearts, and they drew their swords in unison.
Dividing into groups of five, they began encircling the monsters.
-Kiik?
The beasts, bewildered by humans who encircled them instead of fleeing in terror.
Soon, incoming sword strikes turned confusion to agony.
-Hah!
-Kieee-!
Monsters bled and fell under the encirclement.
In contrast, the beasts’ attacks barely reached the Daoists.
It was only natural, really.
The Daoists in the Upper Purity Hall were either first-generation disciples or elders of higher rank.
Warriors honed through countless real battles.
No matter how formidable the monsters, they weren’t easy prey.
Seeing his minions collapse without landing proper blows, the Mountain King bared his fangs in displeasure and stirred.
Blocking his path was Muhwa-zi.
“You’re facing me, beast!”
Spotting Muhwa-zi gripping a sword embedded in his forehead like a fixture, the Mountain King roared massively and swiped with a forepaw.
-Roaaarrr!
The monster’s claw rent the air as it lunged.
Facing its savage momentum, Muhwa-zi countered with the fifth form of the Five Elements Sword—Water Sword.
The Five Elements Swordsmanship transformed the same stance dramatically via the elements’ mysteries.
Among them, Water Sword flowed flexibly like water, exploiting the foe’s gaps.
-Skreeek!
Even against the Mountain King’s ferocious charge, Muhwa-zi remained calm, thrusting precisely.
His blade’s tip targeted the gap between the razor claws.
-Pfuk!
-Grunt-!?
Wracked by searing pain in its forepaw, the Mountain King bellowed and retreated a step before lunging again.
This time, its claws aimed not at Muhwa-zi, but his Songmungo Sword.
A judgment to shatter his weapon first and render him defenseless.
“Hup!”
Sensing it, Muhwa-zi met the claws with the third form of the Five Elements Sword—Earth Sword.