Chapter 102
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Stolen Arts
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Although the body was never found, the Martial Alliance officially announced the death of the Blood Hand Honored One.
With that, a position among the Five Absolutes Under Heaven became vacant.
If he could display his true martial prowess at the inauguration ceremony, attended by the masters of various sects, claiming that spot would not be difficult.
Then, the reputation of the Qingcheng Sect would also change drastically.
He was that confident in his martial arts.
“Quite an impatient guest.”
Cheongmyeong Sanin smiled faintly toward the entrance.
“The inauguration is still a long way off. What’s the rush to visit our sect so early?”
He could feel the other party flinch, caught in the aura he had spread.
A moment later.
*Clank.*
The door opened, and a person stepped into the Supreme Purity Hall.
Staring intently at Cheongmyeong Sanin, who watched him with a relaxed demeanor, Cho Ak-ryang slowly nodded.
“Yes, indeed… seeing you like this, I remember.”
A face he had never forgotten for a moment.
The face of Cheongmyeong Sanin overlapped with the wooden statue that had been placed beneath his master's memorial tablet.
Cheongmyeong Sanin looked puzzled.
“Do you know me?”
Cho Ak-ryang smiled quietly.
At that moment.
“...!”
The color drained from Cheongmyeong Sanin's face.
“You!”
A gasp of horror escaped Cheongmyeong Sanin’s lips.
The Qingcheng Blood Massacre that took the lives of his senior brothers. How could he forget the very culprit!
Though he hadn't recognized the face, weathered by the years, at first glance, he could never forget those eyes.
“I heard you were dead.”
To Cheongmyeong Sanin's incredulous question, Cho Ak-ryang retorted in a chilling voice.
“That's what I'd like to ask. Why are you still alive?”
Only then did Cheongmyeong Sanin realize something.
“Those incompetent fools from the Martial Alliance…!”
They must have covered up the truth to hide their own failure.
Cho Ak-ryang let out a smirk.
“How amusing.”
“...?”
“Isn't this situation just that? We both thought the other was dead, yet here we are, facing each other alive and well.”
Cheongmyeong Sanin remained silent.
He couldn't laugh like Cho Ak-ryang.
During the Qingcheng Blood Massacre, he had feigned death just to survive. After narrowly escaping with his life, he had secluded himself in the deep mountains and valleys, dedicating himself day and night to his martial training.
Recalling those hellish years of endurance, killing intent surged within him.
When he thought about it, the harsh times he had endured were all because of the culprit standing before him.
“This is for the best.”
Emanating a thick killing intent, Cheongmyeong Sanin gathered his true energy.
“Let’s finish the fight from back then, right here and now.”
Come to think of it, there was no simpler or more certain way to seize a spot among the Five Absolutes Under Heaven.
All he had to do was defeat Cho Ak-ryang, one of the Five Absolutes, right here.
Cho Ak-ryang let out an involuntary, bitter laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
In response to Cheongmyeong Sanin's question, Cho Ak-ryang met his gaze with blatant mockery.
“Just thinking how confidently a rat who abandoned his dying brothers and fled can speak.”
“Shut up!”
“You must have been keeping up with the outside world while in hiding. I say that because you came crawling out the moment you heard I was dead.”
Cheongmyeong Sanin flinched.
But Cho Ak-ryang was wrong.
He had emerged only after perfecting his martial arts, intending to find Cho Ak-ryang and clear his name of dishonor.
The timing was merely a coincidence.
Grinding his teeth, Cheongmyeong Sanin growled lowly.
“I’ll send you to hell. The place you most deserve.”
Cho Ak-ryang countered.
“Is there such a thing as a separate hell? This place, where demons like you and I live… this is hell.”
Without a signal, the two men surged toward each other simultaneously.
*Craaack!*
A deafening explosion erupted, though it was only hand striking hand.
In an instant, a dizzying blur of hand-shadows filled the space, striking at each other's vital points.
As they chaotically exchanged blows, a look of surprise appeared in Cho Ak-ryang's eyes.
“...!”
Cheongmyeong Sanin's boast was certainly not without reason.
Though he wasn't in perfect condition, an opponent who couldn't have lasted a hundred moves against him in the past was now effortlessly deflecting and countering his attacks.
He wasn't falling behind much in terms of either internal energy or techniques.
Most importantly, his grappling arts, which he prided himself on as the best in the martial world, were being blocked with ease.
Faced with his opponent's movements, which were far more refined and skillful than he'd expected, Cho Ak-ryang was quite taken aback.
Cho Ak-ryang had already crossed hands with all of the Seven Stars of Qingcheng, said to be the sect's greatest masters.
Naturally, he knew the martial arts of the Qingcheng Sect better than anyone.
The martial art Cheongmyeong Sanin was using.
At a glance, it resembled the techniques of the Nine Forms of the Azure Cloud and the Cloud-Chasing Fist, but the underlying principles were closer to a hand art than a fist art. However, the Great Luo Scattering Hand of the Qingcheng Sect, as Cho Ak-ryang knew it, lacked such profoundness.
If it had, he wouldn't have been able to deal with the Seven Stars of Qingcheng so easily.
Then, in a flash.
A glint like lightning flashed in Cho Ak-ryang's eyes.
“You shameless bastard!”
A thunderous roar erupted from Cho Ak-ryang as he realized why the man could fight him on equal footing.
The techniques of the fist art Cheongmyeong Sanin was using.
The movements that occasionally appeared between the flows were all too familiar. They were remarkably similar to his own grappling arts.
No.
It wasn't just similar.
The sharpness used to exploit openings in offense and defense, the methods of nullifying an opponent's attack through various paths—it was as if he had copied it completely.
It was then that a smug grin appeared on Cheongmyeong Sanin's face.
“You finally figured it out?”
As the saying goes, the student surpasses the master.
Imitation is the foundation of creation.
What martial art in this world has ever just fallen from the sky?
They are improved by building upon existing arts, correcting their weaknesses and adding strengths.
The same was true now.
The new martial art, born from the fusion of existing Qingcheng arts, was incomparable to its past self.
It had become perfect in its own right by erasing old flaws and adding new strengths.
Just as most of their technique names symbolized clouds, the martial arts of the Qingcheng Sect focused on extreme adaptability. But by incorporating the principles of extreme speed and layered illusions, it had transformed into a new divine art.
“This is the result of my past years of blood and sweat.”
*Clang-clang-clang!*
The sharp clash of their hands locking together shook the entire Supreme Purity Hall.
Pressing Cho Ak-ryang, Cheongmyeong Sanin sneered.
“Besides, you of all people have no right to talk. A descendant of traitors.”
Traitors who clung to foreign invaders and sold out their own people.
During the Yuan Dynasty.
The Mosan Sect, which had abandoned its pride as Han people and sided with the Yuan imperial family, compiled the martial arts of the existing Nine Great Sects to create a new art.
Cho Ak-ryang was the last successor of that very Mosan Sect.
“If you trace it back to its roots, I've only taken back what was ours to begin with!”
“...!”
Cho Ak-ryang was so dumbfounded he was speechless.
It was because of Cheongmyeong Sanin's shamelessness, who was now openly using the techniques he had initially mixed in subtly.
Now that he was caught, he intended to use them proudly!
At this point, Cho Ak-ryang felt as if he were fighting his own shadow.
“Now I'm certain.”
It was the moment suspicion turned to certainty.
The bastard had stolen the techniques he could comprehend from his master's secret manual and made them his own, while tossing out the difficult-to-master Eight Forms of the Crimson Sunset like bait to win the loyalty of the secular sects.
And so, Cho Ak-ryang was enraged.
At that moment, a glint flashed in Cheongmyeong Sanin's eyes.
Cho Ak-ryang's attack missed its target at the same instant Cheongmyeong Sanin vanished from sight.
By the time Cho Ak-ryang realized it, Cheongmyeong Sanin had already driven his shoulder into Cho Ak-ryang's side.
“...!”
Cho Ak-ryang's face hardened.
A moment of agitation.
That momentary wavering had exposed the crucial gap between his inhale and exhale.
It was a truly absurd mistake.
And...
As is often the case in battles between masters, a single mistake can lead to an irreversible outcome.
*Crack!*
Cho Ak-ryang gritted his teeth against the heavy impact digging into his side.
As Cho Ak-ryang's feet left the ground, Cheongmyeong Sanin seized the golden opportunity, relentlessly ramming his attacks into the briefly exposed opening.
*Thud-thud-thud-thud!*
A series of impacts, like the beating of a leather drum, rang out.
Sharp attacks using his palms, the blades of his hands, and his elbows flew ceaselessly toward Cho Ak-ryang's vital points.
It was a merciless chain of attacks that gave him no room to even catch his breath.
Under the hail of attacks, Cho Ak-ryang was utterly helpless.
Cheongmyeong Sanin had no doubt of his victory.
No matter how powerful one's protective energy, no one could remain unscathed after taking such a continuous barrage of hits to their vital points.
“Let’s end this now.”
Cheongmyeong Sanin's hand began to change.
Instead of the nimble movements from before, a sinister and chilling energy began to gather in his hand.
The ultimate art of Qingcheng that could tear a heart to shreds.
It was the Heart-Crushing Palm, known to be unrivaled among heavy internal arts.
At that moment.
A sudden chill ran down Cheongmyeong Sanin's spine.
He clearly held the upper hand, but not to the point where he could ignore the warrior's instinct he had relied on his entire life.
It was then that his eyes met Cho Ak-ryang's.
“Foolish.”
Cho Ak-ryang smiled.
“...!”
Cheongmyeong Sanin's gaze wavered.
And for good reason. Even on the verge of collapse, there was no trace of defeat or bewilderment in Cho Ak-ryang's eyes. Instead, they glinted coldly, like a hawk eyeing its prey.
Cheongmyeong Sanin's heart sank.
Cho Ak-ryang had suddenly thrust out a hand, aiming to grab his throat.
A blow that disregarded all defense.
But by some trick, the powerful energies that had filled his vision were being effortlessly shredded apart.
Cheongmyeong Sanin hastily retreated.
As a result, Cho Ak-ryang's hand swiped through empty air.
Straightening his staggering form, Cho Ak-ryang shot him a haughty look.
“If you had kept using my sect's martial arts, you might have had a chance.”
Cho Ak-ryang had already regained his composure.
*Step.*
As Cho Ak-ryang approached, Cheongmyeong Sanin, sensing danger, once again unleashed the new Qingcheng martial art he had established based on the arts of the Mosan Sect.
But Cho Ak-ryang had no intention of dodging from the start.
‘This madman!’
Cheongmyeong Sanin swallowed a gasp of astonishment.
It was because Cho Ak-ryang was responding only with deadly attacks, completely ignoring defense.
“Kuh!”
In the end, Cheongmyeong Sanin had no choice but to withdraw his attack and retreat.
But that was a fatal mistake.
Conversely, Cho Ak-ryang's momentum surged fearsomely.
His senses, honed through countless real battles, walking the tightrope on the edge of death.
Using that as his weapon, he began to unleash a relentless barrage of killing moves.
A wave of anxiety washed over Cheongmyeong Sanin.
Although the fight seemed evenly matched at a glance, as time passed, he began to keenly feel the distinct gap in their skills.
‘This monster!’
The level of Cho Ak-ryang's prowess he had anticipated was based on the man from the Qingcheng Blood Massacre.
But now that they were actually fighting, he was on a completely different level.
Perhaps that astonishment showed on his face.
When their eyes met, Cho Ak-ryang spoke abruptly.
“Time is fair to everyone.”
“...!”
Cheongmyeong Sanin's gaze wavered.