A Fist of Retribution
He was trembling.
His entire body shook violently.
But it was not a tremor born of submission to fear.
Wuuuung!
It was the resonance of qi.
Indeed, the power of the Mungok star was relentlessly vibrating his Overlord's Divine Qi, and his body was shaking from the aftershocks.
His entire body was wracked with a tearing pain, just like when he had fought Jibu Gwimo.
Go on, then. Rage harder.
Yet, Jeok-un did not let slip even a faint groan.
To say it did not hurt would be a lie.
But he could not afford to complain about a pain of this level.
Elder Hwang must have suffered far worse.
The last image of Elder Hwang was burned into his mind.
Even though he had rushed at his absolute limit, he had arrived too late.
The moment Elder Hwang recognized him, the old man had lost consciousness with a faint, weary smile.
That image remained as vivid as if it were engraved upon his retinas.
I injected my Overlord's Divine Qi into him and left his treatment to Hwa Mu-il, but still...
His heart remained heavy.
Because of his miscalculation, Elder Hwang had been forced to endure immense agony.
If he had been even a moment later, Elder Hwang might have resorted to burning his innate true qi.
How could Jeok-un not be furious?
Elder Hwang had kept his loyalty even at the cost of his life. For such a loyal subordinate, there was only one thing Jeok-un could do.
To utterly destroy the culprit.
Jeok-un's murderous gaze locked onto Do Ye-cheon.
Ssssshh!
Rumble!
An immense energy, incomparable to anything before, exploded outward.
The starting point was Jeok-un's entire body.
The profound inner qi originating from his dantian surged through his eight extraordinary meridians and erupted in all directions.
It tangled and intertwined like wild vines, rapidly amplifying in endless resonance.
It was like an avalanche.
Though the beginning was minuscule,
in an instant, a destructive force capable of sweeping away everything in its path manifested before them.
Bang! Bam!
The resonance of the Mungok star triggered new transformations throughout his body.
The explosive sounds ringing in his ears were by no means harmful.
They were the sounds of him shattering his limits and breaking through yet another wall.
At last, Jeok-un had reached sixty percent mastery of the Overlord's Divine Qi.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar like a falling boulder, Jeok-un lunged forward.
It was the result of a single, explosive stomp against the earth.
What?!
Do Ye-cheon's eyes widened in shock.
Jeok-un's figure rushing toward him had literally transformed into a whirlwind.
But Do Ye-cheon was also a master of the Profound Realm.
Instinctively, he assumed a defensive stance and readjusted his posture.
And in that split second—
"...!!"
An attack so swift that no ordinary eye could track it flew straight toward Do Ye-cheon.
Gwoooo...!
A resonant hum shook heaven and earth.
Its source lay in Jeok-un's two fists.
Two spheres of light spun fiercely over his clenched fists as if chasing each other, emitting a mesmerizing glow.
It was the unmistakable symbol of the Established Profound Realm: Ganghwan.
This bastard...?!
Do Ye-cheon was thoroughly shaken.
To the world, Jeok-un's primary weapon was the sword. But what was he seeing now?
He has achieved such mastery in fist techniques that he can compress Ganghwan onto his bare hands?
For a moment, he wondered if it was some clever illusion.
However, the destructive energy radiating in waves from the compressed spheres was undeniable, physical proof.
Tsk!
Do Ye-cheon's gaze flickered like a candle in the wind.
It was too fast. Far too fast.
Left, right, up, down—it was impossible to predict where the next fist strike would land.
But his panic lasted only a moment.
I will break through the center...!
Do Ye-cheon cleared his mind and threw a punch.
Stepping forward, he drew upon his inner energy, then spun his body to add momentum to the strike.
Though it took only a fraction of a second, Do Ye-cheon's clenched fist carried a force no less formidable than Jeok-un's.
Third Form: Mad Soul Flash-Reap
The character Ye in Mad Soul Flash-Reap meant to reap or cut, while the preceding character Seom meant to flash.
As such, the naming of a technique contained its very essence. The reason for this naming lay in the mental image, the concept.
It was defined in the most intuitive form so that the practitioner could manifest the true nature of the technique with absolute precision.
Rumble!
It was a truly staggering force.
Just as a tightly drawn bowstring propels an arrow with greater force, the energy compressed to its absolute limit became a taut string.
The concentrated energy within began to suck in everything like a swamp—from Do Ye-cheon's own inner force to the ambient energy of nature and even the drifting dust.
Shatter!
Naturally, anything that was not of the same nature was utterly crushed.
The stray dust and debris were no exception. The moment they touched the Mad Soul Flash-Reap, they were reduced to nothingness.
In this manner, the condensed energy of the Mad Soul Flash-Reap would obliterate everything in its path without a trace.
"Die!"Do Ye-cheon roared as he unleashed the strike.
The mental image of the Ganghwan infused into the Mad Soul Flash-Reap was "Annihilation."
Singing of destruction, the strike surged straight toward Jeok-un.
And against Do Ye-cheon's attempt to annihilate him...
Whoosh!
Jeok-un met the blow with a simple, ordinary punch—one that surprisingly carried no mental image at all.
Rumble...!
Would it feel like this if a meteor fell from the sky?
A silent scream reverberated through the surroundings.
It wasn't that a loud noise had erupted; rather, the atmosphere itself was vibrating violently.
Who would believe that this spectacle was born from the collision of fists made of flesh and bone?
The clash between two humans produced a catastrophic, unbelievable result.
An unprecedented energy that destroyed, crushed, and tore apart everything in its path rippled out in all directions.
In the midst of it all, Do Ye-cheon witnessed it clearly.
The energy of his Mad Soul Flash-Reap was being torn to shreds.
What...?
It was a fleeting question.
Before he could even think of a way to respond, before that split second could even pass—
BOOM!
A massive explosion swallowed Do Ye-cheon's body, blasting him away in a violent gale.
Though not widely known, the Jegal Family Manor did have a fist technique passed down through its lineage.
Only a single one, however.
Furthermore, because the Jegal Family Manor's representative martial arts were all sword techniques, virtually no one sought to learn it, leaving it largely unknown to the outside world.
Yet, in his past life, this fist technique had been of immense help to Jeok-un.
During the time he was expelled from the family by Jegal Wi-yeon and wandered the streets as a crippled beggar, the greatest tool for protecting himself among the jackals of the unorthodox factions had not been a sword, but his fists.
And the foundation of those fists had been this very technique.
Actually, calling it a proper fist technique or martial art was almost an overstatement.
One simply stepped forward and threw a punch.
For the trajectory of the Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist consists of that single move.
The instruction was so simple and basic that it could be used even without inner energy.
However,
the deeper Jeok-un delved into the Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist, the more he realized that this simple trajectory was not as straightforward as it seemed.
For within a single stroke, infinity lies hidden.
The mental image and subtle truth contained within the Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist were but one: to kill with a single blow.
Without a doubt, the Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist was a martial art steeped in far more murderous intent than any other technique in the Jegal Family Manor.
"Cough, *urgh!*"
Do Ye-cheon coughed up a pool of blood.
Bits of internal organs were mixed into the dark red fluid. Though excruciating pain ravaged his entire body, Do Ye-cheon had no time to worry about such things.
Whoosh!
Tsk!
With the sharp sound of tearing air, the previous fist strike flew toward him once more.
It was, again, an incredibly ordinary strike that simply drew a straight line through the air.
Yet, it was the exact same trajectory that had just torn his Mad Soul Flash-Reap to shreds.
What on earth is this...!
Do Ye-cheon unleashed his Mad Soul Ten Kills Style to block the punch, but—
Crash!
Ugh!
He failed once again.
Moreover, this time was far more devastating than the last.
The Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist had managed to slip through his defense and strike Do Ye-cheon square in the chest.
Crack!
The sickening sound of crushing bones rang out first.
"Argh, *aaaaagh!*"
Then came Do Ye-cheon's pain-filled scream.
But Jeok-un merely looked on with cold, lifeless eyes, searching for his next target.
Thud!
Another heavy impact echoed.
Having fought through countless battlefields, Jeok-un had defeated numerous foes with a single strike of the Heavenly Star Collapsing Fist.
But this time was different.
Killing him in one blow would be far too merciful.
Yes, he would only allow death after this man paid back the pain Elder Hwang suffered several times over—no, dozens, hundreds of times over.
I'll kill you! I'll kill you!
However, Do Ye-cheon was not about to just stand there and take it.
Amidst the intense shame and humiliation, bile rose in his throat and his stomach felt as if it were turning inside out, but he swallowed the blood and clenched his fists once more.
Only venomous resentment and hatred remained in his bloodshot eyes.
I don't care if I die after this fight is over!
As long as he could kill this wretched bastard.
Ssssshh!
Rumble!
A mighty power, incomparable to anything before, began to run wild throughout Do Ye-cheon's body.
It was his innate true qi.
It was a resolve to drag his opponent down to hell with him, even if it meant throwing away his own life right here.
Flash!
With a speed that rivaled the swiftness Jeok-un had shown earlier, Do Ye-cheon closed the distance in a mere instant.
Arriving before Jeok-un, he unleashed his final, desperate strike.
Gwoooo...!
The massive energy gathered before his fist began to vacuum the air.
Temporarily breaking through the barrier of the Established Profound Realm, a power reaching the absolute peak compressed and swallowed everything.
This unprecedented, colossal force was, by its very existence, a power capable of annihilating all creation.
It was the same principle as a single ox plowing the earth deeper than several men combined.
Even as Do Ye-cheon threw away his life to unleash this single punch,
Step.
Jeok-un took the exact same stance, his trajectory not differing in the slightest from before.
"...!!"
In that instant, Do Ye-cheon's eyes widened so much they threatened to burst.
No, it was not the same.
It was similar, yet fundamentally different.
A change that no one else in the world would notice, but which only Do Ye-cheon could perceive, was engraved upon Jeok-un's trajectory.
...He absorbed the martial principles of my Mad Soul Ten Kills Style...?
In the middle of combat, his opponent had seized the core of his martial art and used it to forge something new.
This was a feat possible only when a genius of peerless talent combined heaven-sent intuition with sudden inspiration.
The world referred to such a person as a Grandmaster.
Bang! Bam!
Simultaneous with his shock, Do Ye-cheon's fist strike was instantly eaten away.
In the blink of an eye, it was completely dismantled.
And then—
"First, let's shut that mouth of yours."
BOOM!
Jeok-un's strike slammed directly into Do Ye-cheon's jaw.