Chapter 249
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Face-to-Face
The Mountain King's head, launched into the air, soon crashed back to the ground under the pull of gravity.
Its headless bulk followed, collapsing limply in the same bound position.
- Boom!
A hefty thud rang out, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The resolve squad, covered head to toe in the dirt, stared blankly at the Mountain King's head rolling across the ground.
Vacant, unfocused eyes and a limp, dangling tongue.
Blood gushing from the ragged stump of its neck.
The outcome was plain as day.
The monster that had threatened the very survival of the Wudang Sect was dead.
As that reality slowly sank in, a low chuckle echoed from nearby.
"Kuh, kuhehehe...!"
The source was none other than Mu Yeop-ja.
Laughter leaked from the corner of his upturned mouth, soon erupting into full-throated guffaws.
"Puhahaha! Serves you right, you damn tiger bastard!"
Uttering curses unbecoming of a Taoist, Mu Yeop-ja—forgetting his own grievous wounds—clenched his fist and slammed it into the Mountain King's corpse.
- Thwack!
The massive body shuddered with a heavy impact.
Hyeon-jin, perched atop it, tumbled off helplessly.
"Abbot!"
"Senior Brother!"
"Hey, you idiot!?"
Everyone rushed over in alarm, laying the fallen Hyeon-jin flat and checking his condition.
All the while, he had been gazing vacantly at the blood-red sky.
Slowly, he raised his right hand, gripping the sword hilt.
Hyeon-jin looked up at Hyeon-un's sword—its blade shattered, but still bearing a blue silk tassel.
Suddenly, a familiar face appeared beyond it.
'Ah.'
I'm hallucinating.
Seeing Hyeon-un's face materialize in his fading consciousness, Hyeon-jin smiled faintly.
Senior Brother, it's all over now.
We'll be fine.
As if those unspoken words reached him, the expressionless Hyeon-un gazing down smiled brightly.
-Well done, Hyeon-jin.
With those short words echoing in his mind, Hyeon-jin's consciousness plunged into deep darkness.
*
"...Ha."
The Mountain King's head rolling pathetically across the ground.
Yuk-gan let out a hollow laugh at the sight.
He should have been furious, but it was so absurd that laughter bubbled up instead.
That bastard Ja-seong had shattered their trump card, the Wood Spirit.
Now the Wudang rabble had slaughtered all the sacred beasts.
Even the Mountain King, powerful enough to be called a divine beast.
'This can't be real. It shouldn't be possible.'
Yuk-gan genuinely couldn't comprehend it.
The Mountain King, the spirit beast that had long ruled over all creatures on Mount Wudang, had received a blessing from the Divine Tree's offshoot, granting it even greater power.
It shouldn't have fallen to mere Wudang Taoists, let alone someone like Ja-seong.
And yet, the evidence before his eyes told a different story.
The Mountain King lay beheaded and lifeless, while the Wudang scum had survived.
It felt like a nightmare.
Every measure prepared to protect the Divine Tree's offshoot was gone.
Now, only Yuk-gan himself remained.
"...How did it come to this?"
Everything had been going smoothly.
The Divine Tree's offshoot had grown without issue, and neither the Wudang fools nor the nearby humans could handle the sacred beasts.
A situation with no chance of reversal.
Yet it had flipped overnight.
In his astonishment and emptiness, Yuk-gan let his arms hang limp.
But as a certain face flashed in his mind, his fists clenched involuntarily.
"Goon Ja-seong...!"
The bastard who had dropped from the sky like a bolt, ruining every plan.
He was the root of this entire failure—someone he'd devour raw if he could.
"You, at least... no matter what it takes...!"
Yuk-gan muttered, his voice thick with hatred and rage.
The Divine Tree's offshoot responded to her venomous tone.
- Woooom!
A fierce aura spread outward from the offshoot.
Overwhelmed by its sheer dominance, the offshoot extended a branch toward Yuk-gan, wrapping around her body.
"Off-offshoot? What is this...?"
Yuk-gan couldn't hide her confusion.
Soon, she gasped as an immense energy flooded into her body.
"Heok-!?"
The vast vital energy permeated every corner of her being, reverting her form to that of the wooden monster.
It began tearing her flesh apart and rebuilding it anew.
-Aaaah-!
-Krik! Krakrak!
Pain like her nerves being shredded throughout her body.
Yuk-gan writhed wildly, screaming in agony.
-Kududuk! Kuduk!
How much time passed?
Half-delirious, she regained her senses—and shivered with a mystical sensation.
The earlier despair and fury were blown away by an intoxicating surge of power.
An omnipotence as if the entire world lay beneath her feet.
-Th-this is...?
Yuk-gan instinctively realized.
She had become one with the Divine Tree's offshoot.
Not just physically linked—their existences had merged.
Overwhelmed by the unexpected honor, the offshoot's will flowed into her.
The directive to eliminate two approaching threats.
-Two beings...?
One was surely Goon Ja-seong.
But the other...?
Yuk-gan couldn't grasp it.
The offshoot showed her their forms directly through their connected minds.
The first was Goon Ja-seong, as expected.
The second was the woman with striking golden eyes.
'That woman doesn't seem like much.'
Just a sorceress wielding odd white flames, right?
She'd seen the woman fight, but sensed no real threat.
Yuk-gan puzzled over it briefly, then dismissed the doubt.
The Divine Tree's offshoot had spoken directly.
There must be some meaning she didn't understand.
She would simply crush the divine enemies with the power gained from this unity.
-Ah...!
As time passed, the fusion intensified, drawing a gasp of ecstasy from Yuk-gan.
The thrill of transcending mortal limits, becoming one with a god.
The superiority of being able to bend the world to her whim.
Unable to hold back, she burst into laughter.
-Kyahahaha-!
The prior rage and peril were gone.
No one could stand before this power.
-You two won't be any different.
Yuk-gan eyed Ja-seong's group approaching her.
She no longer needed watcher eyes.
Unity with the offshoot let her see everything within Mount Wudang at a glance.
-Come, then. Kneel before the great power of the divine...! Kyahaha-!
Yuk-gan's mad laughter echoed across the entire mountain.
*
After dispatching the wooden doll—which had drained a fair bit of our internal energy—we decided to circulate our qi first to recover.
"I've said it a few times, but we don't have much leeway. This angle is the max time I can give you."
"This angle, huh...."
Even half a shichen focused on circulation would recover a good amount.
Regrettable, but even that regret was a luxury—we dove straight into it.
Deep breaths drew qi into my body, operating the improved Three Realms Qi Technique to refill my dantian.
Focused on circulation, that sliver of time flew by.
Opening my eyes at the end, I met golden eyes staring straight through me from right in front.
"...What are you doing?"
"Just watching 'cause it's fascinating."
"What's so fascinating?"
"Taking in external qi and turning it into your own power. Not my first time, but it's always amazing."
"...How's yours different, Miss Ye?"
As far as I knew, sorceresses drew natural energies through their upper dantian at the crown to cast spells.
My skeptical gaze made Ye So-ha roll her eyes and shrug.
"Well, sorcery branches into many paths. Methods and systems vary wildly."
No retort from a layman like me.
But why did something still nag at me?
Narrowing my eyes, I pressed Ye So-ha further.
"Then how do you accumulate that holy power?"
"Uh, um. Explaining wouldn't help you get it. And we don't have time anyway. Shall we move?"
Seeing Hwa-ryeon and Master finish circulating behind me and open their eyes, Ye So-ha jumped up hastily.
She just dodged that, didn't she?
Grateful one moment, distrustful the next.
Grumbling inwardly, our group resumed toward the Divine Tree sapling.
Pressing straight toward the now-closer blood-red pillar, Seol-i muttered.
"It's weirdly quiet. I figured another attack was coming."
Ye So-ha chuckled at Seol-i scanning warily around.
"Three dolls wielding Blood Lord's power showed up. Hard to imagine more than that."
I agreed.
Surely even that old fox hadn't anticipated us toppling the wooden doll.
Nodding as we advanced, I suddenly realized the watcher eyes monitoring us were gone.
"...What the?"
"What's up?"
Hwa-ryeon asked at my reaction.
As I opened my mouth to answer, a piercing mad laugh assaulted our ears.
-Kyahahaha-!
"...!"
It raised goosebumps instantly, stirring primal fear in the gut.
"Eek...?"
The eerie sound hardened everyone's faces; Seol-i paled, spooked.
Hwa-ryeon soothed her shoulder as Ye So-ha muttered with a stiff expression.
"...Things are turning ominous. Better hurry."
Nodding, we quickened our pace.
Soon enough, we laid eyes on the so-called Divine Tree sapling.
-Kikiki! You've come, you pathetic fireflies.
Blocked by a wooden monster standing between it and us.