Heavenly Yang Divine Art (2)
The moment Cheonhwa stepped into the manor, the disciples of the Ihwa Sect within reacted with startling speed.
"We're under attack!"
"Which Black Path faction is it this time?!"
"No—it's the Geongon Sect storming in!"
"Those bastards are here?!"
Their response to the raid was oddly swift. Perhaps, in the chaotic brawl among Black Path factions, they had been maintaining a constant state of alert.
It's a shame the ambush didn't work, but what I have to do remains the same.
Cheonhwa left the Ihwa disciples to his companions and pressed deeper into the manor. Naturally the remaining men tried to bar his path—
Light-force blades coiled around Okgyeong's edge and cut down every foe that closed in.
Through the Six Harmony Sensory Path he had already mapped the manor's interior. A powerful aura pulsed from the inner residence—almost certainly the Ihwa Sect Master himself. Cheonhwa wasted no time and strode straight into the courtyard.
At that instant the Six Harmony Sensory Path blared a warning. A light-force palm strike was hurtling toward him. He answered at once, unfolding the sword wind of Heavenly Clear Wind with Dark Heaven True Qi.
Ssshhhht!
Cold-laden sword wind and heat-laden palm wind collided in midair; the air itself boiled and the sound of it echoed through the courtyard. Cheonhwa turned his gaze upon the man who had launched the attack.
A middle-aged man whose body ceaselessly radiated heat. His appearance and aura matched exactly the description of the Ihwa Sect Master that the Hao Clan had provided.
When the surprise palm strike failed, the man scowled and roared,
"Who the hell are you?!"
"I am the one who has come to end the chaos you have sown in Baoji, Ihwa Sect Master."
At Cheonhwa's words the man reacted—minute but unmistakable. Fingertips and eyelids trembled; a flicker of shock crossed his eyes as he wondered how the plan had been discovered. Cheonhwa was now certain: this was the Ihwa Sect Master, the architect of Baoji's turmoil. Further conversation was unnecessary.
He began to press the man with successive waves of sword wind charged with Dark Heaven True Qi. The Ihwa Sect Master either dodged the light-force blades or met them with palm wind of his own. Cold and heat clashed; steam flooded the inner courtyard until the air itself grew thick and white.
From the first exchange the advantage belonged to Cheonhwa. Through the Six Harmony Sensory Path he could read every trajectory of his opponent's strikes; even when the man attacked, he parried without difficulty. After several more exchanges the Ihwa Sect Master seemed to grasp something, and a sly smile curved his lips.
"Your reactions are growing slower. Is that the weakness of ice arts?"
"…"
"Judging by the way you keep flinging sword wind from a distance, even ice arts can't fully block the heat of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art."
He was not wrong. The difference in accumulated qi made it hard to completely neutralize the scorching heat of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art, and closing the distance risked invasive burns that could leave internal injuries. Convinced he had found the flaw, the Ihwa Sect Master charged in triumph.
Objectively his skill was nothing special. His internal energy circulation was crude, and the palm winds carried almost no true Jin Release; he was barely at the bottom of First-class. Yet an ocean of internal energy more than compensated for every shortcoming. He poured out power as if he had been swallowing precious elixirs for breakfast.
No one short of a great sect's successor can gobble elixirs like that. What method has he used?
Cheonhwa felt a flicker of suspicion, but there was no time to dwell on it. Even now the Ihwa Sect Master's internal energy continued to swell. The tide of battle reversed; Cheonhwa was forced onto the defensive. Sensing victory, the man accelerated with a light-body technique that used the explosive force of Extreme Yang Art, closing the gap in a blur.
Cheonhwa tried to evade—yet the Ihwa Sect Master struck first with an unexpected trick. From the man's outstretched hand erupted a strange suction force.
The Absorption Formula?
At first it seemed a mere internal-energy technique, but the force dragged not only objects but qi itself, and it carried a sinister, alien quality never found in orthodox arts. Caught by the unknown pull, Cheonhwa found no path of escape. Certain of victory, the Ihwa Sect Master launched a palm strike infused with the principles of the Heavy Palm Art of Internal Force.
In that instant light flashed in Cheonhwa's eyes and Okgyeong moved like a streak of lightning. He employed a form of Heavenly Wind Demon that used sword wind to accelerate the blade itself. Palm and sword collided; the shockwave blasted the steam aside and carved a vast concentric circle in the air. The clash of Jin Release hurled both men backward.
"Kngh!"
A groan of pain escaped between the Ihwa Sect Master's clenched teeth. From the palm of his right hand all the way to the wrist, mottled blotches had erupted—unmistakable signs of internal injury caused by the Heavenly Yang Divine Art itself.
How is this possible?
He could not believe what he saw. He had clearly struck with the Heavy Palm Art of Internal Force. Yet the instant palm and sword met, the power of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art had reversed and wounded him instead. One thing was certain: the Taoist before him had used some hidden art. And that judgment was correct.
Heavenly Cloud Peak — a counter form that rebounds the opponent's force and forces it to reverse, inducing internal injury.
Cheonhwa had deliberately drawn the man into using the Heavy Palm Art of Internal Force, then turned the very danger of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art—its power to burn even its wielder—against him at the perfect moment.
He won't be using that right arm for a while.
With one arm crippled, the balance of power flipped once more. The Ihwa Sect Master began to give ground.
"It's not over yet!"
Even as the battle tilted against him he continued to spew heat and thrash about, occasionally attempting to overturn the situation with that bizarre absorption art. Yet Cheonhwa, relying on rock-solid fundamentals, steadied his center each time, and every time the man unconsciously released the aura of the Heavy Palm Art of Internal Force, Cheonhwa drove Heavenly Cloud Peak into the opening.
"Cough!"
The Ihwa Sect Master staggered several steps back, blood spraying from his lips. The blotches spreading across his body announced that the end was near. The moment Cheonhwa closed in to finish it, something slipped from the man's robes.
Two slim manuals. The violent struggle had torn his clothes, and the books he had kept against his chest tumbled free. At the same instant the Ihwa Sect Master behaved strangely.
"No!"
He screamed as if the world itself were ending and lunged to snatch the books—creating a fatal opening. Cheonhwa did not miss it.
Crrrack!
A perfectly delivered Jin Release shattered bone. The Ihwa Sect Master rolled across the floor and could no longer rise. He tried desperately to cling to his fading consciousness and stand again, but internal injuries had already pushed his body past its limit.
"Mine… I won't give them to anyone…!"
He stretched a trembling hand toward the manuals he had failed to reclaim, then finally lost consciousness.
The man who plunged Baoji into chaos, defeated by his own martial arts and left unconscious… a pitiful end.
Because of the rumors of a peerless divine art, Cheonhwa had expected a far harder fight. The Heavenly Yang Divine Art and the sheer volume of internal energy had been troublesome, yet nothing else about the man had been remarkable. Still, the sinister aura of that absorption technique and the way the man had exposed a critical opening just to protect the manuals left Cheonhwa uneasy.
What could make him cling to them so desperately?
He picked up the fallen books and read the titles. One was the Heavenly Yang Divine Art; the other, the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art.
Even the names alone reeked of the heretical and the strange. Cheonhwa longed to open the books and examine their contents, but the fighting was not yet finished. He tucked the manuals away and stepped forward to end the Ihwa Sect Master once and for all.
Then—
Hmm?
A strange, wrong sensation began to rise from the unconscious man.
The unconscious Ihwa Sect Master was dreaming of the past.
The Ihwa Sect had been a minor Black Path faction on the western edge of Shaanxi, yet its master had nursed a grand dream: to raise it into a great power that would dominate the entire western region. The dream, however, had no means to match its size.
No people, no funds, and even the martial arts we possess are only Third-class. How am I supposed to achieve anything with this?
Then, one day, the first stroke of fortune arrived. A martial manual he obtained by chance recorded powers he had never seen before. Captivated, he spent months mastering the basics of the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art.
With this I can obtain overwhelming internal energy!
Yet to use the art properly he needed the right environment—chaos, a place overflowing with the blood and death of martial artists. And if no such place existed?
Then I will simply create one.
From that day he actively gathered intelligence across western Shaanxi. He learned that in Baoji the secular branch of the Zhongnan Sect and a coalition of Black Path factions had fought a massive battle. The Heukwi Faction had been annihilated; the Geongon Sect still reeled from its losses.
When one region's Black Path power vanished, others inevitably moved to seize its interests, and territory wars and chaos followed as naturally as night after day.
I will move first and dig in. While I claim Baoji's interests, I can also harvest internal energy from the chaos itself. With luck I might swallow every scrap of the Heukwi Faction's former domain.
He led the Ihwa Sect into Baoji faster than any neighboring Black Path force and began gathering the interests the Geongon Sect had been too damaged to reclaim. And there he met his second stroke of fortune.
The Heavenly Yang Divine Art?
He discovered the secret manual of a peerless art that the Heukwi Faction Master had hidden away. When he confirmed the formulas, his entire body trembled with joy.
An incredible martial art—equal even to the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art I already possess!
The Heavenly Yang Divine Art used extreme Yang energy to achieve rapid progress; the more internal energy one held, the faster one advanced. Unlike most unorthodox arts that stopped at First-class, it could even reach for the realm of Peak Expert. Any Black Path martial artist would covet such a divine technique.
With this art my plans will proceed far more smoothly.
While cultivating the Heavenly Yang Divine Art he deliberately spread rumors of a peerless divine technique. Exactly as he intended, countless Black Path factions flooded into Baoji, hungry for both the manual and the territory, and created the blood-soaked chaos he needed. Only one obstacle remained.
The Geongon Sect. Those people are the problem.
For the moment the wounds from their blood battle with the Heukwi Faction kept them quiet. But the moment they recovered, the chaos would shrink rapidly.
Tsk. Whether main mountain or secular branch, Orthodox Path dogs all leave the same bad taste.
A Black Path faction that suffered such damage would have struggled simply to rise again. Orthodox forces, however, practiced systematic and stable arts; so long as they lived, they recovered their strength with frightening speed. That was the true foundation of those who stood under the shelter of the great righteous sects.
Wait—I heard the current acting master of the Geongon Sect uses Extreme Yang Art…
The Heavenly Yang Divine Art he had publicized was also Extreme Yang. Spreading a rumor that the Geongon Sect possessed the manual would be easy. A few fools would believe it and attack them. While the Geongon Sect was pinned down, he would complete his own plan.
I will break through the wall my martial arts could never surpass and reach the Peak Expert realm!
Once he became a Peak Expert, placing all of Baoji's martial world beneath his feet would be simple. All he needed was time—and he firmly believed time was on his side.
Or so he had thought.
Where did a monster like this come from?
He had kept to the shadows and focused only on schemes, yet the Geongon Sect—supposedly short on manpower—had launched a raid, and a martial artist who cultivated ice arts, the perfect counter to Extreme Yang, now stood in his way.
These movements… this one has been properly trained. He is without doubt from a great sect!
As they exchanged blows he deduced the man's identity. There was only one external expert working with the Geongon Sect: the Taoist sent by the Zhongnan Sect to aid its secular branch.
The completion of my plan was right before my eyes. Is this truly how it ends?
On the very brink of the dream he had cherished for so long, failure filled him with a fury so fierce that even as consciousness slipped away he could not suppress it. And answering that fury was the other martial art he had obtained before the Heavenly Yang Divine Art—the true core of every plan he had ever made.
Within his fading awareness, the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art bared its vicious nature.