Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Mission, Investigation (11)
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Regardless of Seo Ye's impressions, Namgung Jincheon was deadly serious.
The Peak Realm adversary he had finally come face-to-face with.
Boiling emotions and prickling killing intent.
All of it was becoming fuel.
‘Peak Realm.’
Fuel to reach that supreme realm.
‘I’ll follow.’
Namgung Jincheon, who had long ago sworn never to be swayed by stars again, willingly accepted it in this moment.
A temporary alliance, if one wanted to call it that.
The future the Emperor Star desired and the realm beyond what Namgung Jincheon now sought aligned perfectly at this instant.
Namgung Jincheon simply pondered.
‘Intent of the heart.’
What should he pursue and advance toward?
What did he wish to achieve with this sword?
The ideal he would assert through his qi, the name he would proclaim to the world because of it...
‘The answer is set.’
Grandson of the Sword King, master of the Emperor Star, and the next Greatest Under Heaven.
Every title bestowed upon him pointed to a single answer.
‘Heaven.’
He would rise higher than all else, arrogantly looking down in utter hubris.
The conviction unchanged since the moment he first gripped a sword spoke.
Now was the time to take a step toward that ideal.
Whoooosh—
His inner energy tore through the air, emitting a low growl.
At its center, Namgung Jincheon's gray eyes gleamed even more coldly.
Boom!
He took a step forward, raising his sword overhead before slashing down.
He embroidered the space with his blade as if painting on rice paper.
Emperor Sword Form, First Stance: Azure Sky Without Thought.
Beneath the blue heavens, let all stray thoughts vanish, leaving only lofty pride.
Fwoooosh—!
Refined energy poured down from above Yang Go-hye's crown.
Yang Go-hye raised her hand to block it.
Namgung Jincheon did not stop.
This time, a horizontal slash.
Distance meant nothing.
Emperor Sword Form, Second Stance: One Annihilation in Heaven's Center.
The emperor's sword does not pursue foes; it merely sits upon the throne and annihilates them.
True to the arrogant mantra, wherever his inner energy could reach, Namgung Jincheon's sword struck—regardless of the opponent's position.
Kwaaaang—!
Energy exploded from Yang Go-hye's midsection.
Yang Go-hye grimaced.
“Brutal.”
Roooar—!
White flames surged.
They fluttered around her body like a fairy's silken robes.
And behind her shoulders, they transformed into four arms.
Qi Technique: White-Hand Rakshasa.
Already at a mature Peak Realm, Yang Go-hye manifested it without delay.
Thud!
Yang Go-hye stomped lightly and charged.
Namgung Jincheon heightened his focus.
In that instant, his vision stretched long, and his body moved on its own.
—The Emperor Sword Form never repeats the same technique against the same foe.
Following the advice of his master and grandfather, Sword King Namgung Hyeok, he began weaving the next move.
—Even that is a luxury.
Namgung Jincheon pulled his right foot back.
He tilted his sword diagonally, aiming its tip at the oncoming Yang Go-hye.
Whoooosh—
A deep blue qi aura swirled around Namgung Jincheon's body.
Qi refined through two sword swings.
A single point born from two horizontal and vertical strokes.
From the center of the heaven Namgung Jincheon had forged, the sword shot forth.
Emperor Sword Form, Third Stance: Heaven's Origin Killing Path.
The blade need only reach the center of the heavens; if advancing, charge fiercely along that path alone.
A qi aura born of indescribable focus.
It had already become a single mass of power.
At last, embodying the intent of the heart, it struck the zenith.
Namgung Jincheon's qi aura, wings spread wide, dyed the space blue, dictating Yang Go-hye's movements.
‘What...!'
At the end of her charge, Namgung Jincheon's sword awaited.
Yet Yang Go-hye could not stop.
The flow blanketing the space dragged her straight there.
Even if she erupted her qi aura, her brow would surely meet that blade's tip in that instant.
Yang Go-hye gritted her teeth.
She shielded her face with the four hands formed from her qi technique.
And the sword pierced those hands.
Crackcrackcrackcrack!
The pavilion shook.
Seizing the gap at the edge, Yang Go-hye twisted her head.
Fortunately, she had blocked the sword from embedding in her brow.
However, in evading Namgung Jincheon, Yang Go-hye encountered something more horrific than death.
Drip—
A warm liquid fell to the floor.
Yang Go-hye stared at it with trembling eyes.
‘Blood.’
Blood from where?
The answer came all too easily.
A stinging pain and damp sensation bloomed on the bridge of her nose.
“Huh...?”
Yang Go-hye touched her face.
The hot, sticky liquid trickled down her hand.
Her face was marred.
“Ah, ah....”
As Yang Go-hye shuddered and let out a sound, Namgung Jincheon straightened his stance.
His coldly gleaming gray eyes glared at her face.
The corner of his mouth twisted upward.
“Your face is ruined now. No one would touch you even if offered.”
It was his petty revenge.
It struck Yang Go-hye's reverse scale perfectly.
“...What?”
“You look hideous now. A fitting face for trash like you. No man will ever want that pathetic body of yours.”
His voice dripped with mockery.
Bloodshot veins burst in Yang Go-hye's eyes.
“How dare you....”
Her demonic qi began to rampage.
“How daaaare you—!”
“Shut your mouth. Who gave a whore like you the right to raise your voice?”
Kwaaaang—!
Yang Go-hye charged.
The four arms of white flame extended once more toward him.
Namgung Jincheon, too, unleashed his surging power with indescribable exhilaration.
He swung his sword and battered the arms.
――――――!
The clash of inner energies produced a deafening roar near tinnitus.
Seo Ye, watching from a step away with hands over her ears, widened her eyes.
'What...!'
Had he truly ascended to the Peak Realm in that moment?
Her gaze upon Namgung Jincheon held shock.
The ensuing exchange contained profundities beyond Seo Ye's level of comprehension.
Sword light flashed, white flames soared to the ceiling.
The shock made the ground quake and choked her breath.
Even standing properly was difficult.
Yet amid it all, Seo Ye could discern one thing.
‘The Sword Dragon is at a disadvantage!’
Though he had reached a level to clash with Yang Go-hye by surpassing his realm, that was all.
True enlightenment required time to consolidate.
A new weapon demanded adaptation to its unfamiliarity.
It was no unfounded worry.
In the moments the exploding energies cleared, Seo Ye saw Namgung Jincheon's complexion was far from good.
‘Then...!’
While Namgung Jincheon held Yang Go-hye, she needed to activate the formation.
Seo Ye's eyes turned toward the bed.
Where the desk should have been in the study.
Behind it stood a bookshelf.
Pushing it aside would reveal the safe—and the formation's core.
Seo Ye gritted her teeth.
‘I can’t just sit here!’
She staggered to her feet.
Suppressed her presence.
And began creeping along the wall of the leader's chamber.
Kwaaaaaang—!
“Dieeee!!!”
Yang Go-hye, her face twisted like a ferocious deity, pressed Namgung Jincheon relentlessly.
Even as his inner energy was shaved away in chunks, Namgung Jincheon parried every assault.
In his vision, he spotted Seo Ye moving behind Yang Go-hye.
‘Just need to buy time.’
Having judged thus, Namgung Jincheon taunted Yang Go-hye.
“Don’t look at me. You’re so ugly I might puke.”
“Aaaaagh—!”
The top two arms of the White-Hand Rakshasa clenched into fists.
Kwaaaaaang—!
Namgung Jincheon struck the qi barrier around him.
Then the lower two arms—and Yang Go-hye's arms—erupted wildly toward him.
Kwakwakwakwang—!
“Hup!”
Namgung Jincheon grimaced but endured.
Yet it was no easy feat.
Bare-Hand Demon Art.
One of the most vicious demonic arts known widely, it was an absorption technique that drained the inner energy of whatever it touched.
Thus, the longer this standoff lasted, the faster Namgung Jincheon's energy would drain.
A matter of compatibility.
The proper counter to an absorption art was to crush it with overwhelming force before it could suck in energy.
But for Namgung Jincheon, who had just awakened his intent, that was no simple task.
The amusing part was that he still held out against an art he shouldn't prolong the clash with—thanks to his inner energy reserves, which had long surpassed his realm.
Even after such draining, Namgung Jincheon had room to spare.
‘But enduring alone won’t cut it.’
Seo Ye was on the move.
He needed to draw Yang Go-hye's eyes even more to keep her from noticing the anomaly.
Namgung Jincheon went on the offensive.
His sword surged fiercely from below upward.
It targeted her jaw and lips, and Yang Go-hye sensed it.
“This...!”
Aiming to mar her face again.
Instinctive crisis sense made Yang Go-hye jerk her head back, and Namgung Jincheon's eyes lit up.
The sword path shifted.
An unstable sword path with uneven power distribution, imitating Mok Ri-won.
From his own experience suffering it, this unpredictability was worth attempting despite the instability.
The upward-surging blade twisted, carving a long gash down the center of her chest.
Yang Go-hye realized too late and blasted demonic qi to retreat, but the sword had already reached its mark.
Slash—!
Along with the precarious knot of her top loosening, a long wound etched into her cleavage.
Blood sprayed, and her garments fell open.
Thud!
Yang Go-hye landed.
Namgung Jincheon spoke with evident disgust.
“Your tits are sagging too. Hideous.”
“You virgin trash...!”
“Even as a virgin, the thought of touching you never crosses my mind. Ugly face, ugly tits, ugly gashes. You’re at the pinnacle of revulsion. And you even smell like a chicken coop. Please, just don’t look at me.”
The taunt worked.
Seo Ye had already circled half the room to reach the bookshelf wall.
Yang Go-hye fixated solely on him amid it all—unpleasant, but a tactical success.
“Aaaaagh!!!”
Yang Go-hye shrieked and charged again.
Namgung Jincheon regulated his breathing and swung.
Kwaaaaaang—!
The study lay in ruins from the blasts long ago.
Yet their assaults continued without respite, and as the burden grew, Namgung Jincheon's gaze flicked toward Seo Ye more often.
She was just pushing the bookshelf.
But in that moment, Yang Go-hye noticed the anomaly too.
Spotting where Namgung Jincheon's eyes rolled, she found Seo Ye.
“You rotten brats!”
Yang Go-hye saw it at a glance.
These damned kids were plotting something.
Yang Go-hye tried to turn.
Switching targets to Seo Ye.
Namgung Jincheon bared his teeth and clung to Yang Go-hye.
“No time!”
“I pushed it all!”
As Seo Ye spoke, a pitch-black space yawned behind the bookshelf.
The instant Seo Ye vanished inside, Yang Go-hye began erupting all the demonic qi she had absorbed thus far, as if shoving Namgung Jincheon away.
“Get loooost!!!”
A desperate moment.
If he distanced himself from Yang Go-hye now, Seo Ye would be in danger.
The plan would fail.
Desperation gripped Namgung Jincheon at the need for any means.
‘How...!’
In that instant.
‘...That might work.’
What fateful coincidence.
Namgung Jincheon suddenly recalled words from Jegal San in the recent past.
—Namgung hyung, you know this?
—What.
—They say women feel the same pain in their chest as men do in their groin when struck there.
—...Why tell me that?
—Just seemed like useful info for someone like you.
—Spit it out straight before I draw my sword.
—Eek! I’ve got urgent business—gotta go!
Flash!
Namgung Jincheon's eyes flew wide.
The thought didn't linger long.
Namgung Jincheon swung his sword grandly, as if to say "look here," and Yang Go-hye poured massive power to deflect it.
Namgung Jincheon released his sword.
Clang!
The blade flew effortlessly into the air.
Yang Go-hye faltered, exposing a gap.
Namgung Jincheon clenched his fist, cramming all remaining power into it.
And thrust.
Smack!
Into Yang Go-hye's chest.
“Gaaack...!”
In an instant, Yang Go-hye's breath cut off.
Her eyes rolled back.
Namgung Jincheon said inwardly to Jegal San.
‘You helped.’
A curt thanks.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The formation activated.