Chapter 84
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: The Absolute Being Who Lost His Memory
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Yeong-gae tucked away his gray eyes deeply as he replied.
"Senior Brother was a disciple of Kunlun, and in the martial world, he was renowned alongside Qingcheng's Mo A-baek Senior Brother as one of the Twin Saints. He valued justice and chivalry above all, despising evil like a blood enemy, and personally slew the leader of the Imperial Church, earning the admiration of all the world's warriors. That's the kind of man Senior Brother is."
Kkek kek kek... kehk keh.
The old man laughed as if he might keel over dead at any moment.
"So I lived a trash heap of a life in the past."
The words spilling from the old man's mouth were enough to make the absolute experts doubt their ears.
Who was Cho Eun-seon, after all?
The man living in their memories would never utter such words.
"Senior Brother!"
Cheong-eum Yeo-seon cried out in desperation.
She couldn't accept this situation.
The idol whose whereabouts had been unknown for so long had returned, but he wasn't right in the head.
"I don't know what happened to you, but..."
Cheong-eum Yeo-seon couldn't finish her sentence.
A massive wave of energy suddenly crashed over them.
Kuhk! Kulk!
The family retainers hiding behind the main gate and watching spewed blood and tumbled over.
Almost simultaneously, the Divine Monk spread his arms wide.
Wuuung...!
A majestic aura poured out from the Divine Monk's widely spread hands.
The flesh-cutting killing intent vanished in an instant, and color began returning to Cheong-eum Yeo-seon's pale face.
"Namu Amida Butsu, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva...!"
The Divine Monk chanted his Buddhist invocation as he flipped his spread hands and swung them.
Kwang!
A deafening explosion rocked their eardrums, and space itself burst open like a bomb.
Immediately after, as Cho Eun-seon leaped back, a red glow began flickering in his pupils.
Euum...
A heavy groan escaped the lips of the absolute experts.
It was a dark energy that went beyond Gloomy, evoking thoughts of death itself.
In the martial world, such energy was called demonic arts.
And now, that demonic energy was emanating from Cho Eun-seon's entire body.
Kkek kek kek keh...
"Do you fools truly believe you can defeat this body, which has achieved transcendence and stands on the verge of ascension?"
Cho Eun-seon, his eyes rolling wildly with crimson light bursting forth, embodied the demon itself.
The absolute experts, watching him gravely, stepped forward.
They didn't know what had happened during his absence, but the Cho Eun-seon they knew was no more.
However, Cheong-eum Yeo-seon was different from the others.
She hurriedly blocked the experts' path and shouted.
"That man saved the martial world from the utterly depraved Imperial Church! No matter how strange he seems now, you can't treat him lightly!"
But her efforts were in vain.
"I suppose I should start by lopping off that old hag's head."
Swaeak!
With those words, Cho Eun-seon's treasured sword shot toward Cheong-eum Yeo-seon's neck like an arrow.
Kwang!
Illyang-ja smacked the energy-wrapped treasured sword with his own blade.
The sword that flew into the air came shooting back down toward Cheong-eum Yeo-seon.
Illyang-ja launched himself into the air.
Kwa-kwang! Kwang! ...!
In an instant, over a dozen clashes rang out, and the sword flew back through the air to its master's hand.
Illyang-ja's expression grew even graver as he landed.
Kkek kek kek...
Cho Eun-seon, who had been leering at him with eerie laughter, suddenly grimaced.
Eueu...
Not only that, but groans of pain were spilling from his mouth as well.
"Why? ...Just what is wrong with you? Why? ...Why...? ...Why reject this master? Nok-san...!"
Cho Eun-seon clutched his head with both hands, writhing in agony.
The absolute experts were at a loss in the sudden turn of events.
However, the faces of the Divine Monk, Illyang-ja, and Yeong-gae darkened further.
Cho Eun-seon, overwhelmed by pain, hurriedly pulled a silk pouch from his bosom.
From it, he took a black pill and popped it into his mouth.
Heuu...
After swallowing the pill, he let out a thin groan as if nothing had happened, then unleashed a murderous glare at the experts before him.
"The reason I descended to the mortal world is to capture that insolent demon brat. So I'll smash him first, then grant you all death."
Hwiing...!
With those words, Cho Eun-seon's figure vanished, leaving only a single whirlwind in his place.
But the absolute experts tracked his movement.
Namgung Jak kicked off the ground first and soared into the air.
Following him in order were Illyang-ja, Do-gun, Yeong-gae, Cheong-eum Yeo-seon, and the Divine Monk.
In the place they left behind, the family retainers lay vomiting blood on the ground, while the pale-faced family head and the Emei women stood stunned.
"Next up are Huashan's Hyun Won-ja and Sichuan's Tang Gok-cheon the Great Hero?"
I tallied the ones likely to visit my home next.
"The Demon-Subduing Sword Lord of Kongtong or Zhongnan's Six Sword Wall might come as well."
"Ah... the Seven Stars Lords."
Come to think of it, Yeong-gae, Do-gun, and Cheong-eum Yeo-seon were all among the Seven Stars Lords.
But the impressions from facing the Divine Monk, Illyang-ja, and Namgung Jak had been so intense that I'd forgotten about them.
Among them, only Yeong-gae gave me a vibe similar to the Five Heavenly Kings.
"Come to think of it, both the Five Heavenly Kings and Seven Stars Lords are all from the Nine Sects and Five Families."
How long had the Nine Sects and Five Families existed?
From what I'd heard, even a hundred years ago, they were said to represent the martial world as sects and clans.
And even now, they still reigned as kings of the martial world.
Myeong-gak gave an enigmatic smile at my words.
"It can't be helped, Young Lord."
"Why not?"
"Shaolin doesn't just have Patriarch Dharma's martial arts anymore. Since Dharma, Shaolin has produced countless experts, and they have many arts born from their enlightenments. Moreover, Shaolin doesn't only have arts unique to its disciples. It has absorbed profound techniques from outside as well. If a place like that can't produce world-shaking experts, then where could they possibly come from?"
Myeong-gak might have a point.
Founders like Shaolin's Dharma Patriarch, Wudang's Jang Sam-bong Patriarch, and Huashan's Yeo Dong-bin Patriarch were originally so powerful that no one in the world could match them.
If such figures established sects, took disciples, and built power, they could far more easily seize or acquire other martial arts than anyone else.
"In the end, the righteous and demonic paths are all the same in the martial world. Power comes first."
Perhaps hearing my mutter, Cheong-pung showed interest as well.
"Not quite, Young Lord. Still, the righteous clans and sects prioritize righteousness unlike the evil paths or demonic cults."
I snorted derisively.
Hmph.
"Prioritizing righteousness, huh? They pick fights with me first and shove a sword into my shoulder? And that's not all. They all know exactly what Seok Ja-kyeong of the Seok Family did, yet they're keeping their mouths shut."
Tsk...
Myeong-gak and Cheong-pung averted their gazes and stared off at the distant mountains, apparently at a loss for words.
Hmeung.
At that moment, Je-gal Ji and Namgung Hye joined our conversation.
"It's not that they lack justice or chivalry in their hearts and stay silent. They're watching to see how it all ends. The Nine Sects and Five Families have had their share of Seok Ja-kyeongs. Some even worse. But they've handled such matters quietly and smoothly, which is why they've survived as the martial world's leading sects and clans to this day. So please, Young Lord, don't think too badly of us righteous folk."
I wasn't viewing the righteous faction poorly even without Namgung Hye's persuasion.
However, they weren't the chivalrous group she described.
Just look at Seok Yang-ho, who had begun making a name as a gentleman of the martial world.
As I watched Myeong-gak fiddling with the iron orb in his hand, I suddenly felt a vicious killing intent that made my heart churn.
'What is this?'
Before I could even find an answer to my question, the vicious killing intent was already right in front of me.
"Dodge!"
Kwa-kwa-kwa... kwang!
The moment I leaped up from the bench I was sitting on, the wall split in half, and radiant energy hurtled toward the bench.
Jjeojik, kwa-rurur...
The wall and bench the energy passed through cracked and crumbled, raining down onto the ground.
Across the bisected wall, I locked eyes with a gaze spewing ferocious murder.
Kkek kek... kehk...
"So you're that demon brat."
The killing intent, enough to make every hair on my body stand on end, was comparable to the Great Heavenly Demon's.
This was the man Goo Ji-yeom-ma had spoken of.
Shiaak...
I reached toward the kitchen, and my sword flew into my hand.
"What did the wall ever do to deserve being sliced like that?"
Even when the house had burned to the ground, the wall had remained intact.
Now I'd have to rebuild that too.
No sooner had I spoken than the ferocious gaze beyond the split wall crossed over and appeared right before me.
Heok!
I hastily swallowed a gasp and slashed my sword upward in a diagonal arc.
The sharp blade approaching me vanished from sight, then reappeared before my eyes.
Sak.
As I dodged the blade piercing my throat with footwork, I saw red blood droplets scattering.
Those droplets were flowing from my own neck.
As my afterimage, severed by my sword, dispersed, a radiant and massive blade of energy plummeted from the sky.
Kwa-kwa-kwang...!
Dust billowed thickly as clods of earth and stones flew in all directions.
The massive energy blade cleaved the bench in front of me in two, split the wall lined up behind me, and even carved the ground where I stood.
Kwa-kwang! Kwang! ...!
The energy blade sliced through my form, which had split into dozens.
Kwang! U-rurur.
I blocked the massive energy blade's sword, but unable to withstand the impact, I flew back and crashed into the wall.
Kuhk!
The stones making up the wall poured down over my body.
"Young Lord!"
With someone's shout, energy hurtled toward me where I lay buried under the stone pile.
Kwa-kwang! Kwang! ... kwang!
The energy blade completely devastated the area around where I'd fallen.
Kulk...
Red blood flooded my mouth.
Sensing my peril, Myeong-gak shot forward into the fray.
The ferocious energy pouring from his fist clashed wildly with the old monster's sword.
Kwang! Ku-dang-tang!
Kkeueu...
Myeong-gak's body smashed through the house wall and embedded inside.
Kkek kek...
Before my eyes, the old monster approached, radiating savage killing intent.
This was the strongest foe I'd faced since entering the martial world.
This old monster might even be stronger than the Infinite Sword Demon or Goo Ji-yeom-ma.
"Entrust your body to me."
At that moment, the Great Heavenly Demon's will flowed from my mouth.
"Shut up."
I curtly rejected the Great Heavenly Demon's offer and hurled myself into the streams of energy pouring toward my body.
My split forms were all severed in an instant, and a single stream of energy flew at me.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
The whirling energy sword clashed with my own whirling energy sword.
Tatak... kung!
Unable to bear the shock, I staggered back, then stomped my right foot hard and shifted left and right.
The moment my form split left and right, the energy sword split in the same manner.
A wave of sword energy filling the space, splitting in all directions.
It resembled the Great Heavenly Demon's sword, yet was different.
Kwa-kwa... kwa-kwa-kwang...!