Heavenly Yang Divine Art (3)
The clash between Geongonmun and Ihwamun was overwhelmingly dominated by Geongonmun, largely because the Ihwamun master was nowhere to be found. The fact that their only First-class martial artist had been the master himself made all the difference.
Who could have imagined that a sect which had thrown Baoji into such turmoil would prove so frail?
No—it's the opposite. They knew how weak they were, which is why they never stepped into the open and chose to work through schemes instead.
Jeokhwa had read Ihwamun's situation with perfect clarity, yet she still could not fathom why they had sown chaos across Baoji in the first place.
The sect is far too small for this to be about claiming territory or rights. What are they really after?
In the end she found no answer. Even if she wanted to reason it out, information on the enemy was simply too scarce. For now she could only focus on what could be done.
So it was that, after she and the Geongonmun martial artists had cut down every last Ihwamun fighter and begun the cleanup, something strange brushed against her senses.
"Hm?"
A faint suction—so subtle it was nearly impossible to notice—tugged at the air. The pull grew stronger by the moment, and soon what it was drawing in became unmistakably clear.
This is… true qi?
The force was swallowing the scattered remnants of true qi that hung all around them: the lingering traces of the qi waves countless martial artists had unleashed during the battle, and even the vital essence seeping from the corpses of the fallen Ihwamun disciples. Energies that should have dispersed naturally with time were being sucked away toward a single point—the inner courtyard where the Ihwamun master still lay.
At the same moment, Cheonhwa also sensed the change in the Ihwamun master. The man was drawing in the surrounding energies and beginning to radiate heat.
I don't know what this is, but leaving it alone is dangerous.
Cheonhwa sent a blade wind laced with cold qi racing toward the master's throat. The thick wall of blazing yang qi surrounding the man blocked it completely. Heat compressed to its absolute limit was protecting him like a defensive barrier of pure energy.
If I use the form of Heavenly Cloud Scatter to pierce the internal barrier… No. There isn't enough time.
His survival instinct screamed a warning. He could not name the reason, but every fiber of his being told him he had to leave this place at once. Cheonhwa heeded the alarm and shouted to the others.
"Get out of here right now! Hurry!"
The Geongonmun martial artists hesitated at his cry. What could possibly be so urgent that they needed to flee?
"Just run! Listening to Brother Ubo never costs us anything in a situation like this!"
"He's right. Quickly, this way!"
It was Wijiun and Jeokhwa who shoved them into motion. Past experience had taught both of them to react instantly to Cheonhwa's warnings; they drove the group hard, and the moment the entire party cleared the manor walls—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted. A colossal pillar of flame surged upward and swallowed the entire compound. Had they delayed even a few breaths longer, the blast would have caught them all.
A sinister energy radiated from those flames. This was no ordinary blazing yang qi. It felt less like something corrupted by outside influence and more like a true nature that had finally been unveiled. Those ominous, dark-crimson fires were the very essence of the peerless art that had turned Baoji into a wasteland.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Laughter rang out from within the inferno—unmistakably the voice of the Ihwamun master. He strode out of the flames unscathed, a thick smile carved across his lips.
"At last… I have become a Peak Expert!"
His surging emotion made the qi waves around him thrash and ripple. Every martial artist present stared in disbelief. The true qi of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art was now visible to the naked eye—not merely sensed. It looked exactly like Intent Qi Manifestation, the hallmark of the Peak realm.
Faced with the immense pressure pouring from the Ihwamun master, the Geongonmun fighters faltered. If he truly had reached the Peak, there was nothing they could do. Even an ordinary Peak Expert required multiple First-class masters trained in formations to wheel-fight him—and this man cultivated a special blazing yang art, making him far more troublesome than most.
How in the world did he become a Peak Expert?
Even if he isn't Peak, that mountain of internal energy alone will crush us flat.
It's over. There's no way to stop that.
Despair filled countless eyes as they looked upon the Ihwamun master. Only one person among them saw a chance of victory: Cheonhwa.
It's far too unstable to be true Intent Qi Manifestation.
His senses, honed razor-sharp by the Six Harmony Sensory Path, pierced straight through the anomaly. The man's control of internal energy was far too crude for a Peak Expert, and unrefined power leaked from him in steady streams. What looked like Intent Qi Manifestation was simply such an enormous volume of internal energy that it had become visible to the naked eye.
He already possessed considerable internal energy before he fainted, but nothing close to this level.
How could anyone gather that much power in so short a time? In a flash the name of the secret manual the Ihwamun master had carried flickered through Cheonhwa's mind.
Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art.
A technique that seizes and absorbs vital essence.
The name alone felt sinister, but I never imagined it would actually be a demonic art.
The martial world of the Central Plains contained countless techniques, yet some of them were so vicious in method or so catastrophic in side effects that they were branded demonic arts.
Judging by the way he just sucked in the surrounding energies, it must be a system that absorbs others' power—something like gathering yin to supplement yang.
Piecing the clues together, Cheonhwa concluded that the Ihwamun master was merely using overwhelming internal energy to mimic a Peak Expert.
Even so, he's still just as dangerous. Right now the energy he absorbed is running wild because he can't digest it. If he finishes assimilating it and gains enlightenment, he could become a true Peak Expert.
If they did not strike while the man was still lost in the intoxicating high of excess power flooding his skull, the chance would vanish forever.
"I'll handle him. Everyone else, withdraw."
"But fighting him alone is far too dangerous, Brother Ubo!"
"It's the opposite. There's no one else here who can face the Ihwamun master."
Wijiun bit his lip in frustration at the cold truth. The Heavenly Yang Divine Art had already made the man a nightmare to confront head-on; now even approaching him was nearly impossible. The only one who could stand against that heat was Cheonhwa, who cultivated ice arts.
"We should retreat at once. Remaining here will only make us a burden."
Jeokhwa soothed Wijiun and turned her gaze to Cheonhwa.
"I'll bring Senior Sister Yeonhwa from Geongonmun. Don't die before then."
She had instantly accepted that she and the others could offer no real help—and so she would bring the one person who could. Yeonhwa, who also cultivated ice arts, would be invaluable in every way.
"Take this."
"This is…?"
"It belonged to the Ihwamun master."
To prevent any unforeseen disaster, Cheonhwa handed her the secret manual. Once the others had set off toward Geongonmun, he faced the Ihwamun master alone. The man was still drunk on elation; he showed not the slightest awareness of his surroundings.
I don't have the strength for a long fight.
He had already used Dark Heaven True Qi once against this opponent, and the cold had invaded his meridians. If the exchange dragged on, the yin-cold energy would freeze his channels and inflict severe internal injuries.
But the same is true for him.
The vast energies he had absorbed had healed his wounds, yet the overflowing blazing yang qi of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art was clearly burning him from within—he simply had not realized it yet.
In the end it will be a contest of endurance: which of us collapses first.
And endurance was the arena in which Cheonhwa held absolute confidence.
With a single breath, Dark Heaven True Qi stirred in his middle dantian; Vast Heaven Qi Art and Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art followed at once. According to the principle of mutual generation among the Five Elements, the layered internal arts amplified one another. Cheonhwa shaped the surging yin-cold energy into a blade wind and sent it flying.
A pure-white blade wind cut through the heat and slammed into the Ihwamun master, who still stood completely unguarded.
Hisssss—
Heat and cold collided, birthing a cloud of white steam. When the vapor finally settled, the Ihwamun master stood unharmed. His thick barrier of internal energy had blocked the strike completely.
The attack finally drew his gaze to Cheonhwa.
"Ah, yes—you. The meddler sent by the orthodox sects. The thief who stole my manual!"
His mouth split in a grin that reached his ears. Rapture glittered in the eyes that locked onto Cheonhwa. Here at last was the chance to take revenge on that detestable orthodox dog, to kill him and reclaim the manual. Bloodshot eyes burned with that single purpose.
"Perfect timing. I should test just how far my newly attained Peak martial prowess will carry me against a disciple of a great sect."
With that roar the Ihwamun master charged. The explosive acceleration he had shown before returned—yet now, driven by overwhelming internal energy, his speed had become monstrous. In an instant the distance vanished and a palm strike shot toward Cheonhwa.
Cheonhwa reflexively swept Okgyeong up to meet it, but the crushing force of the palm still hurled him backward through the air.
Hot. I didn't even make direct contact and the heat is this intense.
Had he not instantly wrapped himself in a triple-layered qi wave, he would already be suffering internal injuries. Closing the distance was pure suicide.
But if I only fling blade winds from afar, I can never pierce his protective energy.
He looked up. The portion of the barrier his blade wind had shaved away was already regenerating at terrifying speed—possible only because the man possessed an absurd amount of internal energy. Even Heavenly Cloud Scatter would struggle to bring that wall down easily.
But it isn't all advantage for him.
Every time the protective energy repaired itself, the blazing yang qi burned the Ihwamun master a little more. Shattering that barrier would simply hasten his self-destruction. There lay Cheonhwa's path to victory.
To break through, I have to destroy it faster than he can restore it.
A single form would not be enough, but weaving the principles of multiple forms together might work. The method required him to close in—and therefore carried equal risk.
I could simply keep launching blade winds from a distance and stall for time.
Yeonhwa, summoned by Jeokhwa, would arrive soon. Once the two of them worked together with ice arts to grind away the protective energy, the Ihwamun master would destroy himself before long.
But is that truly enough?
Could he really hold a madman already consumed by a demonic art in place for that long? The Ihwamun master's voice shattered the thought.
"Hmph. For someone from a famous orthodox sect, you managed to block that well enough. But it's only a matter of time. Once I kill you, this body will climb to an even higher realm."
"The same way you used the chaos in Baoji to steal people's vital essence?"
"…"
The Ihwamun master glared. How did you know that? the look demanded. Cheonhwa played along, buying time.
"I saw the secret manual of the Essence-Stealing Qi Absorption Art you carried, and I watched you absorb vital essence and internal energy from the dead Ihwamun disciples. You stirred up chaos in Baoji so you could harvest internal energy from the corpses of the black-path rabble, didn't you?"
"Sharp little bastard. I've changed my mind. No more dragging this out—I'll kill you in a single stroke."
"Funny. I was thinking the exact same thing. You have to die here—no matter what!"
This was a man who had thrown an entire city into turmoil for his own ends. Right now the euphoria and the delusion of having reached Peak kept him fighting, but the moment he sensed disadvantage he would flee without a second thought.
If he escapes, the same nightmare will simply happen somewhere else. I have to end it here.
Cheonhwa raised his triple-layered internal energy to its absolute peak. The Ihwamun master likewise poured out his overflowing power without restraint.
The Ihwamun master moved first. He concentrated the surging energy into both palms, intending to compress it to the limit and unleash it in a single blast that would obliterate everything around him. Cheonhwa answered by charging straight at him, sword tip leveled.
Fool. He's rushing to his own death!
The Ihwamun master sneered inwardly and unleashed the ultimate form of the Heavenly Yang Divine Art.
Compressed heat erupted from both outstretched palms in a single catastrophic release. A tidal wave of fire advanced, incinerating everything it touched—until it finally swallowed Cheonhwa whole.
Perfect. Sweep the surroundings and burn everything to ash!
Certain that Cheonhwa had been reduced to a blackened cinder, the Ihwamun master prepared to drive the raging qi wave outward and set the entire area ablaze. Yet for some reason the heat refused to advance. Worse—it was actually drawing closer to him.
What is happening?
In the instant the question formed, a human silhouette burst through the flames. Cheonhwa—whom he had been certain was nothing but charcoal—was still very much alive, and he was charging straight at the Ihwamun master while dragging the entire qi wave of Sunlight Filling the Heavens with him.
Twenty-Second Form — Heavenly Lightning Flash
Cheonhwa poured everything into the technique—not only the blade of Okgyeong, but the protective qi waves wrapped around his own body. The form of Heavenly Lightning Flash clamped down on the expanding wave of Sunlight Filling the Heavens and refused to let it scatter. Severe burns and internal injuries wracked him for the effort, yet he paid them no mind and drove straight toward the Ihwamun master.
In that moment he looked like the mythical steed that once pulled the sun across the sky.
Twentieth Form — Heavenly Cloud Scatter
A conflagration like the sun itself crashed down upon the Ihwamun master's barrier of internal energy.