Chapter 21
"B-Boss."
The two fleeing boys opened their mouths with startled expressions.
"That's... that bastard, he suddenly got stronger."
"R-Right. We should have deployed the Jade Scale Golden Serpent Formation from the start..."
Pang!
The two boys' words were cut short.
The large boy had used the White Horse Whip like a swift sword and sent both their heads flying.
"Tsk, I shouldn't have dragged around trash that couldn't even make it to the Upper-Level Hall."
The large boy clicked his tongue with an expression as if he had crushed two flies.
"The way they kept going on about 'Boss, Boss' and swearing loyalty."
Shaking his head, the large boy looked at Bu Eun-seol and grinned.
"Since the two remaining ones can't deploy the Jade Scale Golden Serpent Formation anyway... they've outlived their usefulness."
Killing his own comrades because the remaining two couldn't form the battle formation.
That cruelty was beyond imagination.
Step. Step.
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol, who had risen to his feet, strode up to the large boy.
"You're their leader?"
At Bu Eun-seol's question, the large boy gave an unexpected answer.
"Impressive. Blocking the White Serpent Spirit's form in midair... You've learned the Fire Rain Sword, haven't you?"
With a confident smile, he continued.
"My name is Umun Cheong. And you?"
As Bu Eun-seol glared at him silently, the large boy, Umun Cheong, burst into laughter, his uvula showing.
"Hahaha! Shouldn't you at least tell King Enma who it was that killed you!"
The moment his words ended, the White Horse Whip coiled around the iron sword Bu Eun-seol was holding.
It was a strike like lightning, no less swift than the fast sword Bu Eun-seol wielded.
Crack.
The large boy, having shattered the iron sword into two pieces, swung the White Horse Whip and shouted.
"They say the sword technique taught in the Fire Rain Sword Sect's Upper-Level Hall is a single defensive sword stroke, isn't that right?"
Astonishingly, Umun Cheong seemed to know in detail about the first form of Mystery Upon Mystery taught by the Fire Rain Sword Sect.
'So there was another group.'
Bu Eun-seol recalled the mysterious shadow that had come to the cave.
They had said they formed groups and shared the insights gained from each martial hall.
This boy named Umun Cheong clearly belonged not only to the group he led, but to another organization as well.
"What are you thinking about!"
There was no time to think leisurely.
Umun Cheong swung his whip like a windmill, pressuring Bu Eun-seol.
Swish! Rumble!
Every time the White Horse Whip sliced through the air, wind and thunder resounded.
From the sound alone, Bu Eun-seol could gauge how fierce and savage the power contained in the White Horse Whip was.
Tssst!
Moreover, every time Bu Eun-seol attempted a counterattack, the White Horse Whip changed direction in midair, leaving faint afterimages.
'So this is the White Horse Whip!'
Bu Eun-seol somehow managed to predict and evade Umun Cheong's sudden variation techniques.
It was thanks to having observed the whip's strokes and paths in detail within the Jade Scale Golden Serpent Formation.
"Not bad!"
As the continuous exchange of forms repeated even after half a quarter had passed, impatience flickered in Umun Cheong's eyes.
"Then try blocking this too!"
With a thunderous shout, the White Horse Whip's strokes cutting through the air suddenly accelerated.
Whoosh!
Countless whip shadows surging like waves began to coil around Umun Cheong's body.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
As the whip shadows poured out endlessly, Umun Cheong's figure finally vanished, leaving only a massive whirlwind.
Shring.
Bu Eun-seol, unflustered, deployed sword strokes in rapid succession.
Clang! Ting!
But each time, the black sword bounced off Umun Cheong's rotating body, which was wrapped head to toe in the White Horse Whip.
'Is this not working?'
Bu Eun-seol had been using the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword and the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, which could not normally be used in real combat.
This was only possible because he had converted the forms into sharp killing moves using the abilities of the Way of the Beast and his overflowing killing intent.
But Umun Cheong had properly mastered the essence of the White Horse Whip. Such variation techniques could never match him.
Ting!
Bu Eun-seol deflected the White Horse Whip, which poured in from an unavoidable angle, with his sword.
Chiiiik.
But his body was pushed all the way to the end of the passage.
He could not withstand the immense force contained in the White Horse Whip.
"With such pathetic swordplay, you cannot face the White Horse Rein Form!"
'True martial arts!'
Right now, he had to wage a contest of true martial arts, where only the difference in skill could be decided.
But the first form of the Fire Rain Sword, Mystery Upon Mystery, was a stance devoted entirely to defense.
No matter how much he converted it into a killing sword, it could not be used, so for Bu Eun-seol, it was the same as having no true martial art at all.
"Hup."
Bu Eun-seol, gripping the Black Sword in a reverse hold, took a deep breath and lowered his body.
At that moment, his pupils dilated, and an intense light began to pour out.
"Die!"
Umun Cheong's thunderous shout echoed through the passage.
As if it were his final strike with all his might, only the fiercely spinning whip filled the passage.
Boom-boom-boom!
Just as the White Horse Rein Form surged in like a wave and was about to coil around Bu Eun-seol's body,
Crunch.
From the five fingers of Bu Eun-seol gripping the Black Sword came the sound of bones twisting.
Seu-eu-eu.
A black heat haze seemed to rise from the Black Sword, and then a cold gleam burst from Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
Flash!
A ray of light, cutting through the wind, split the spinning White Horse Whip.
Chwak!
With a sound like water parting, the fiercely spinning White Horse Whip split apart,
"...!"
And Umun Cheong's greatly startled face was revealed.
Swiiiiish!
With a sound of breaking air that seemed to tear the eardrums, the Black Sword poured out a cluster of light like the Milky Way carved into the night sky.
"..."
A silence like death itself flowed through the passage of the Training Room.
Umun Cheong, having withdrawn the White Horse Whip from his hand, asked calmly.
"What sword technique is this?"
Bu Eun-seol, having sheathed the Black Sword, said calmly.
"Peerless Thunderbolt."
"Peerless Thunderbolt..."
Umun Cheong narrowed his eyes and nodded.
"It truly seemed as if thunder and lightning had struck."
Kung.
Umun Cheong's body collapsed as if crumbling.
The Peerless Thunderbolt, a peerless killing sword created by Cheon Un-gwang in his later years.
It possessed a might comparable to the Fire Rain Sword, but it was so complex that it could sever the fingers.
Moreover, if one failed to properly digest the sword form, it inflicted internal injury upon the caster.
"Peerless Thunderbolt..."
Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
At his current level, it was an Advanced Sword Studies far too excellent to be used freely.
Swish.
Having wiped away the blood, Bu Eun-seol straightened his body once more.
No trial could bend his body.
Thud, thud.
Just as he was about to leave the Training Room,
Ji-i-ing! Hi-i-i!
At that moment, along with a low vibration, a bizarre sound that seemed to tear the eardrums was heard.
'Ah.'
Only then did Bu Eun-seol realize that he had stayed in this place for far too long.
Ta-tak.
Quickly exiting the Training Room and stepping outside the martial arts hall,
U-duk.
He suddenly stopped moving, as if he had become a plaster statue.
Before the door stood a man wearing a Killing Outfit, engraved with a grotesque pattern like reptile skin.
One who, by the order of Chief Instructor Hyeokryeon Eung, restricted the area and mercilessly killed those who remained within it.
It was a Killing Ghost.
"..."
Meeting its gaze, Bu Eun-seol could not move a single finger.
If he moved rashly, it felt as though something like lightning would sever his neck in an instant.
"This is a restricted area."
A voice like a Grim Reaper that had just risen from the Nether Realm.
"I am aware."
Bu Eun-seol slowly nodded and answered.
"I will move immediately."
And slowly, carefully, he took one step.
But the Killing Ghost merely stared at Bu Eun-seol in silence, without even the slightest movement.
"..."
Silence stretched on once more.
A pressure like a boulder of ten thousand geun pressing down upon his head.
The opponent was an Absolute Powerhouse that could not even be called an enemy. The empty gaze revealed outside the mask was like a dead fish placed on a display shelf.
'Is it telling me to go?'
No matter how much he observed, the Killing Ghost did not seem to be taking such a posture for an ambush.
After deliberating for a long while, Bu Eun-seol carefully moved his feet again.
One step, two steps...
Even as he slowly approached, the Killing Ghost remained motionless, as if turned to stone.
'Does it have no intention of attacking?'
At last, just as Bu Eun-seol's body was about to carefully pass beside the Killing Ghost,
Saaak.
He felt an ominous aura pass through his head like a lightning flash.
With no time to think, Bu Eun-seol instinctively threw his body and spun like a top.
Flash!
In that instant, something of indiscernible form grazed past the back of Bu Eun-seol's head.
Rustle.
Even though he had evaded it with the lightning-flame-like reaction of the Way of the Beast, a handful of hair fell to the floor.
Bu Eun-seol had fought many life-or-death battles before, but he had never come so close to death as now.
CLANG.
Landing on the ground, Bu Eun-seol swiftly drew the Black Sword.
Since a strike unleashed without any warning had nearly taken his life... the attack that followed was certain to display heaven-shaking might.
"..."
But the Killing Ghost merely glared at Bu Eun-seol and made no movement at all.
'I must not be fooled by that posture.'
Judging from the situation just now, the Killing Ghosts seemed capable of launching a lightning-swift strike without even taking a violent attacking stance.
Moreover, like a fish moving stealthily through water, he could not sense even the slightest presence of movement.
'No, that's impossible.'
The reason a human can move their body is, to put it simply, because the length of the muscles connected to the bones contracts.
In other words, humans can take various postures because they have bones and muscles.
'At this extreme close range, being completely unable to sense the Killing Ghosts' movements makes no sense.'
If he expanded the senses of the Way of the Beast, he could feel movements from hundreds of feet away.
No matter how exceptional a Master was, being unable to detect sound and presence at this distance was an absurd notion.
—Have you ever seen a carnivore hunt a herbivore?
Suddenly, the words Sa-u had once spoken surfaced in Bu Eun-seol's mind.
—In running speed, the carnivore is faster, but the fleeing herbivore is not easily caught. Do you know why?
After thinking for a moment at Sa-u's question, Bu Eun-seol had answered.
—The faster one runs, the harder it is to change direction. But fleeing herbivores mostly run in a zigzag pattern.
At the unhesitating answer, Sa-u had nodded.
—That's right. Yet carnivores still succeed in hunting herbivores. Why is that?
At that time, Bu Eun-seol had been unable to answer Sa-u's question.
But now, he realized the secret to how carnivores succeeded in their hunts.
'They attack in time with the fleeing enemy's movements!'
Only now could Bu Eun-seol understand how the Killing Ghost before him had ambushed him like lightning without any presence.
'He hid his own presence and launched an attack, timed to the sound and motion of my own movement.'
Bu Eun-seol took a deep breath.
He intended to execute a method to escape the Killing Ghost's lightning-like reactions and attacks.
'Hoo.'
After taking a deep breath, Bu Eun-seol suddenly looked at the distant sky and let out a shout.
Flinch.
At the loud yell, the Killing Ghost's body reacted minutely.
Sensing that, Bu Eun-seol ran at full speed without looking back.
Tap-tap-tap.
The Killing Ghost, unable to react immediately to Bu Eun-seol's movement, failed to execute his lightning-like ambush.
'This isn't the end!'
With his back to the Killing Ghost, Bu Eun-seol ran out of the martial arts hall, shaking his body like mad and moving left and right.
Tak. Tak.
He ran left and right like a madman, and sometimes tilted his body as if to run left, then ran right.
'I must not let it predict my movements!'
The Killing Ghost's pursuit speed would catch up to Bu Eun-seol before he could even catch his breath.
If he ran with predictable movements, he would lose his life in a single strike, just as if he had been ambushed at close range.
Step. Step.
At that moment, the Killing Ghost watching the fleeing Bu Eun-seol began to move his feet, one step, two steps.
Step. Step. Step.
The Killing Ghost's pace gradually quickened, and then,
Tatatatatak.
At last, he began to follow at a tremendous speed, his legs becoming invisible.