Chapter 250
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 250
Chapter Title: Face-to-Face
“…That thing.”
“Huh….”
The sapling of the bloodwood loomed larger than any tree around it.
Seeing the grotesque tree monster blocking its path, Hwa-ryeon and her master let out groans.
It looked like a tree clumsily trying to mimic a human.
The way its branches and roots writhed like tentacles made disgust rise naturally.
Even larger and more repulsive than the Chilji they’d seen in Hefei long ago.
Even I, who had faced one before, couldn’t help frowning, so it must have been even more shocking for the two who had never seen Chilji’s true form.
“Ugh…!”
Seol-i went even further, dry-heaving.
The tree monster, which had launched a lethal assault on our group’s eyes from the start, kept cackling as if it found something hilarious.
-Kee-hee, kee-hee-heek! You fools came rushing in excitedly, not even knowing this is your grave.
“…I wasn’t particularly excited, and I have no intention of dying. First off, let me ask one thing. You’re Soso, right?”
-…What?
“Is that really what matters right now?”
The tree monster’s dumbfounded retort and Hwa-ryeon’s incredulous scolding.
Smacking my lips at being criticized regardless of friend or foe, I offered an excuse.
“No, look at it. I wasn’t even sure if that’s Soso or not.”
“So now you’re saying that’s a big deal….”
-Wait! You didn’t come to Mount Wudang chasing me?
Interrupting Hwa-ryeon, Soso (presumed) cried out in panic, and I answered honestly.
“Yeah… no? We didn’t come chasing you.”
Our original goal had been allying with the Wudang Sect, after all.
We’d only confirmed Soso was at Wudang a few days ago.
“To be precise, we came to Mount Wudang and found you here.”
-…….
Soso fell silent, its branches twitching.
For some reason, it seemed stunned by the answer not matching its expectations.
And that was exactly the situation I’d been hoping for.
Seizing the opening from Soso’s carelessness, I signaled with my eyes.
Ye So-ha, catching the signal, nodded slightly and concealed her right hand behind her back as she ignited holy fire.
-Hwoosh.
Before setting out in earnest today, we’d already settled on a plan for dealing with Soso and the sapling.
Ye So-ha would swiftly take out Soso with a surprise attack, and I’d destroy the sapling.
Even if my accumulated holy power wasn’t enough to shatter the sapling directly, we figured Soso could be reduced to ash easily, just like how Chilji had been turned to powder.
And as planned, Ye So-ha struck at the perfect moment.
Her blurry figure kicked off the ground and charged at Soso.
Her speed was unbelievable for a sorceress rather than a warrior.
Thus, Ye So-ha raced straight at Soso and unleashed the holy fire gathered in her hand…
-Kee-hee.
“Guh!?”
…or so we thought.
It hadn’t been dazed and off-guard after all—it had deliberately created an opening.
Soso swiftly extended branches to bind Ye So-ha’s body and hoist her up.
Gazing at Ye So-ha now dangling helplessly in the air, Soso snickered mockingly.
-Kee-hee-hee, did you think I wouldn’t see through your pathetic little scheme?
The moment the surprise attack failed, the whole group rushed toward Soso to rescue Ye So-ha.
But suddenly, the ground before us erupted, and dozens of roots burst forth to block our path.
I immediately drew my sword and sliced through the roots, but soon after, roots on a scale incomparable to those rose again.
In an instant, dozens became hundreds.
Unable to withstand the pressure, we had no choice but to fall back.
“Tch…!”
-Didn’t I tell you? This is where you all die!
With Soso’s shout, the hundreds of roots surged toward us all at once.
Facing the onslaught of roots filling my entire field of vision, I unleashed Transcendent Crescent Slash repeatedly, sending crescent-shaped sword qi to counter.
-Kwaaang!
A massive explosion from the clash of sword qi and roots.
The blast’s force kicked up a huge cloud of smoke that obscured our vision.
And through my energy sense net, I detected a small gap forming within the smoke.
I also sensed the surviving roots rushing to fill it.
“Be right back.”
Without time for chit-chat, I dashed straight for the gap.
Channeling inner energy from my dantian to the Yongquan point on my soles, I shot forward like a streak of light and barely slipped through the narrow opening.
Emerging from the smoke, I spotted Soso and Ye So-ha.
Surprisingly, Ye So-ha had already broken free and was confronting Soso.
-You bastard…!
Soso reacted sharply, but as it turned, Ye So-ha spotted me and gave a faint smile.
“You got here faster than I thought.”
“And you seem more relaxed than I expected. Maybe I rushed for nothing.”
“Oh my, what a heartbreaking thing to say.”
Seeing us casually chatting, Soso angrily slammed a branch into the ground.
-Kwaang!
-Kee-hee-hee…!
…Or was it anger?
With no face, just bark, it was impossible to read its mood.
-Fine by me. I’ll kill you two pests at once!
With Soso’s ear-piercing shout, dozens of bundles of branches rained down.
Without a word, Ye So-ha and I split left and right to dodge the branches.
The branches divided as well, hot on our heels.
And roots erupted from the ground again to block our front.
Roots ahead, branches behind.
It felt just like being herded for the hunt.
Frowning in irritation, just before being fully surrounded, I slammed my feet into the ground with the Absorption Technique and sharply changed direction, charging straight at Soso’s main body.
I worried about leaving Hwa-ryeon and the others behind, but there was no point dragging this out—I’d go straight for the core.
-Hmph!
Soso snorted shortly, as if it had read my intent, and welcomed me in defenselessly, like it dared me to try.
How leisurely.
If it was offering itself up, no reason to refuse.
“Hah!”
With a heavy kiai, I unleashed Mysterious Sky Tempest.
A relentless storm of strikes battered the giant tree monster’s entire body.
Of course, the effect was negligible compared to the force.
Like with Chilji before, my sword—imbued with sword energy—only gnawed at the outer bark, unable to penetrate deeply.
-Kee-hee-hee-hee.
Looking down at me mockingly, Soso extended its branches long across its whole body and swung them toward its rear.
Caught off-guard by the sudden ambush, Ye So-ha—who had been sneaking up behind—let out a yelp and was sent flying far away.
Another failed surprise attack.
It seemed to perceive everything around it without even looking, just like my energy sense net.
“…No way.”
Was it really perceiving everything?
Its quick response to Ye So-ha’s initial ambush, and now this.
There was no explanation unless it was sensing its surroundings completely, like an energy sense net.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Lucky.”
Dodging the renewed barrage of branches and roots, I approached Ye So-ha.
The moment I confirmed she looked remarkably unharmed despite taking a full-force branch strike, roots surged from the ground again.
Leaping back to evade, I racked my brain.
The enemy has something like my energy sense net.
How do I land a solid hit on such an opponent?
The answer was simpler than expected.
Just hit it with an attack it can’t dodge even if it senses it.
And conveniently, I had the perfect method.
The issue was delivering that solid hit…
Sword energy aura was out.
No way I could form an aura amid this relentless assault.
Taiji Mercy Sword was out too.
As if it had learned from the prior wooden doll fight, Soso wasn’t using any vital energy and stuck strictly to physical attacks.
Without energy to absorb, Taiji Mercy Sword couldn’t deal proper damage.
Eliminating options one by one left just one.
Ye So-ha’s white flames: holy fire.
That power, which had turned tree-monster Chilji into ash in seconds, would surely be lethal to Soso too.
But as we’d seen twice now, Ye So-ha’s attacks hadn’t reached Soso.
I lacked the power effective against Soso.
Ye So-ha lacked a way to strike Soso.
So then…?
Just in case, I shouted loudly to Ye So-ha, who was diligently dodging attacks.
“Could someone else use that holy fire by any chance?”
“Huh?”
She parroted back, not grasping the question at first, then ducked low.
A menacing branch whistled past her head.
Barely evading, Ye So-ha eventually nodded and replied.
“I can infuse holy fire into someone else’s weapon. Then…”
“Do it now!”
Without waiting for the rest, I yelled and charged toward her.
Frowning in confusion at my behavior, she still ignited holy fire at my request.
-Hah, I don’t know what you’re scheming, but it’s useless! Just die quietly!
Dodging Soso’s incoming attacks left and right, I reached Ye So-ha.
The instant I arrived, her slender finger—wrapped in white flame—brushed along my blade.
White flames coiled around the sword following her touch.
Seeing it, I grinned in satisfaction.
“The holy fire should last about one ke.”
“No need for even that long.”
Answering Ye So-ha confidently, I led with the blazing white sword and stepped into Heavenly Mechanism Foreknowledge.
Tracing the Nine Palaces’ nine directions to close in on Soso, the moment I raised my sword, a root erupted from right below me to impale me.
Soso gloated triumphantly at the sight, only to realize a beat too late that it had pierced my afterimage—and recoiled in shock.
-Wha…?!
But the shock was brief.
Sensing me who had instantly shifted behind it via Heavenly Mechanism Foreknowledge, it swung branches again.
Of course, this attack too merely sliced through my afterimage.
-Th-this… what is this?!
A voice unable to hide its fluster.
Hearing it, I smirked inwardly.
The technique I’d just used was Thoughtless Haze.
The sixth form of Creation Palace Thoughtless Sword, one that paired perfectly with Heavenly Mechanism Foreknowledge.
Originally designed to deceive the enemy’s senses with countless feints created via Heavenly Mechanism Foreknowledge to create openings, my intermittent training had elevated Thoughtless Haze to a realm worthy of the name Shifting Shadows.
Thus, no matter how Soso sensed and attacked me, it futilely struck only afterimages.