The Heavenly Demon Goes to See Her Master (4)
This is ridiculous. That old fool. If you’ve lived this long, shouldn’t you know how to take care of your body? What is an old man who has already stepped into the twilight of his years thinking, trying to unleash his true energy like he’s putting on some grand spectacle?
I pulled my benefactor back by the shoulder and stomped the ground, driving a fist forward.
The Asura Dual Extremes employed by the Blood Cult Leader was undoubtedly one of the murim world’s supreme techniques. Fusing extreme yang and yin energies within the palm was the same as defying the natural order to create one’s own principles. It would not be wrong to call it magic from another world.
However, this martial art was nothing more than something I had broken once before. There would be no difficulty in dealing with it.
When I countered his palm strike, the Blood Cult Leader was pushed back and let out a groan.
I offered no reply. I had known for a long time that answering his babbling tongue would only give me a headache.
I stepped forward with a firm stance and charged into his range. The Blood Cult Leader expanded his energy. Just how many lives had he devoured to enlarge his vessel so enormously in such a short time? With a vessel so vast it defied comprehension, internal energy surged forth endlessly like water. It would be fair to call it an ocean.
Yet perhaps because he had obtained the power so suddenly, he seemed clumsy in wielding it. The jiangshi body could not endure the vessel he possessed, could it?
The white energy of the Asura Dual Extremes and the dark-red aura of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art collided and parted again and again. With every exchange, the composure etched on the Blood Cult Leader’s face diminished further.
He must be wondering why I wasn’t being pushed back. The quantity of internal energy, the height of the realm attained, the body possessed—none of them were lacking, so he would be curious why the stalemate continued.
Losing his composure, he revealed the obvious trajectory of his palm strike. I evaded it and drove my fist into the Blood Cult Leader’s body. There was no need to deliver a massive shock to a form already developing cracks. All that was required was enough force to accelerate those fissures, and that much this body could manage easily.
The dark-red energy surged like a living beast, perfectly controlled despite its overwhelming size.
BOOM!
The instant I landed the strike, the Blood Cult Leader’s body floated into the air. Then, smashing through the barren mountain trees, he flew far into the distance.
Even after watching that, I did not relax my tension. I knew he would not fall from something of this level. There was no way the tenacious life force of a jiangshi would end so easily. Whether I buried him deep underground or severed his limbs to cripple him, the choices remained the same even for the Blood Cult Leader.
A voice brimming with delight echoed from beyond the forest. Had he been struck too hard and gone mad? How could he sound joyful when an opponent he could not overcome stood before him?
No. That was indeed something to rejoice over.
From beneath the shadow of a tree, the Blood Cult Leader revealed himself once more. Cracks ran across his face, unable to endure the energy. The body exposed beneath his torn clothes had long since rotted and decayed. His arms, forced to endure extreme yin and yang, were necrotic; it seemed miraculous that they could move at all. The sole reason that body could still function was because it was a jiangshi.
"Are you curious?"
"Then find out for yourself."
Sorry, but I don’t like giving easy answers to my enemies. Unless you plan to crawl beneath my feet, you will have to defeat me if you wish to draw an answer from me.
As I raised my internal energy once more, the Blood Cult Leader laughed.
The two energies that had remained only within the Blood Cult Leader’s hands spread across his entire body. For an ordinary person it would be a decision made while prepared for death, but for him it was different. To that man, a body was nothing more than a bullet to be used once and discarded.
In the past I used to grow irritated by that damned suicidal special attack, but now I’ve become able to do the same thing.
I pressed my acupoints, amplifying the internal energy within my body. The ferocious energy that sought to devour everything around it was released for a brief moment before being concentrated once more inside me.
Come. Prove that your sea is so vast it can swallow even the heavens. If you cannot, then the realm you have reached will simply remain beneath my feet.
I lifted my foot and stomped the ground.
The old man could only watch what unfolded before him. It was not because his physical condition was poor. It was not because his realm was too low to intervene in the fight. It was not because someone blocked him. It simply felt like a sin to insert himself into the scene unfolding ahead.
Watching the martial arts performed by the woman who had appeared so suddenly, the old man could not help realizing how low the heavens he once believed he stood upon truly were.
The woman was astonishing. Her realm had not even reached the Peak Realm. Her body was no different from that of any ordinary martial artist. The internal energy she possessed was substantial for her level, yet that was all. Judged by conditions alone, she should have been a martial artist unworthy of the old man’s attention.
Yet the scenery she gazed upon was different. She stood in such an exalted place that it was impossible for the old man to even guess where her eyes were directed.
Why did she move her feet in that manner? Why did she throw her punches like that? Why did she unfold the Heavenly Demon Divine Art in such a way?
The questions blooming in the old man’s mind were not born of mere curiosity but of a young lamb seeking enlightenment. He observed the woman’s movements in pursuit of learning.
At the grumbling voice, the old man turned his head and saw a woman with a dragon’s tail standing beside a girl with fox ears.
The two bickering figures were far too relaxed. It was hard to believe they had been worried that one of them might die only moments ago. That was only natural—the woman driving the Blood Cult Leader back was simply too overwhelming. To defeat that person, the figures regarded as myths in the murim would have to appear.
Could even Hwaryeong win? …Hwaryeong?
The instant the old man recalled the name of the child who had half-forcibly claimed the title of his disciple, he felt a sense of déjà vu.
Why did he sense the will of Pacheon from that person? Why did he see the arrogance of one who sought to shatter the heavens and stand above them?
Why?
It was the moment such questions filled his mind.
When the woman pressed her own acupoints, internal energy erupted inside her body. That was not merely unleashing true energy. It was a resolve to discard her own life in order to kill the enemy.
Why would she choose such a method? Someone who had reached that level! Someone who would soon stand at the pinnacle of the murim! Why would she make such a choice!
The moment the old man tried to rise to stop her, the fox-eared girl blocked his path.
An outsider? There were those among them who had reached such a level?
It was the moment the old man was struck with astonishment.
The internal energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art within the woman ferociously devoured all surrounding energy before concentrating back into her body. An energy so vast it could rival the sea controlled by the Blood Cult Leader gathered at a single point.
Seeing this, the Blood Cult Leader did not remain idle. Having made his body the core, he prepared to pour the ocean contained within him into his palm and unleash it.
The moment both sides completed strikes containing everything they possessed, the one who moved first was the woman.
She took a step. The internal energy gathered at her toes rode the force of her stomp, traveling up her leg, through her waist, across her shoulder, and into her fist. Each time it passed a junction, the energy amplified, yet it never wavered.
Just how exceptional was her skill in controlling internal energy? How could she keep such power—grown so enormous it would not be strange if it burst at any moment—perfectly under her command?
And then, the instant the woman swung her fist, the energy concentrated in her hand shot forward like an explosion.
The old man saw it. He saw the woman’s fist split the sea. Split the forest. And as if that were not enough, reach the heavens and cleave the world in two.
The Fist That Shatters the Heavens. A single strike that split the sea, tore through the forest, and cleaved the sky itself.
The old man stared at the sight in a daze.
The fist that shatters the heavens. It was the Fist of Pacheon.
As I approached the Blood Cult Leader—whose body had been blown away, leaving only his head—he let out a hollow laugh.
Have you finally realized how threatening an opponent who can discard his life as many times as he wishes truly is? I’m glad I could teach you that even now.
I gave no answer. I had grown sick of learning that physical threats held no meaning for this bastard. Even if I smashed his annoying head to pieces, nothing would change.
Then was there truly no way to threaten him? Not at all.
I took the pipe from my bosom, placed it in my mouth, and pressed down on the surroundings with killing intent carried through my energy.
Then I crushed the Blood Cult Leader’s head beneath my foot, erasing it, and turned back toward my benefactor.
The old man ignored the mountain spirit trying to restrain him, forced his body upright, stood before me, and offered a polite bow.
"What thanks? It is merely the grace you once bestowed returning to you."
When I spoke, the old man blinked. Hmm. I thought I had dropped plenty of hints, yet he still hadn’t noticed?
"Among the lives you saved, how many wield the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"
When I gave such an obvious clue, the old man blinked in bewilderment. Haha. This is rather amusing.