Chapter 125
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Clash of Dragon and Tiger
No, the instant I thought I had her, she slipped away, spinning to my side and unleashing a flurry of punches.
*Shushushuk!*
It was the Arhat Divine Fist, and unlike the Arhat Fist, its fist energy spiraled out like a whirlwind. A mere graze would tear flesh from bone.
‘She’s strong, as expected!’
In this situation, the Arhat Divine Fist, with its narrower but more precise attack range, was more effective than the Arhat Fist.
Unable to find an opening to attack, I employed the Celestial Wanderer's Steps.
*Ssseut!*
The Celestial Wanderer's Steps, used only when performing the Celestial Wanderer's Arts, was a footwork technique of breathtaking mystique.
From three feet away, Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo unleashed dozens of auras from her Arhat Divine Fist, yet I watched them come, swayed my body, and let them all flow past me—forward, backward, left, and right.
Even I had to admire it.
*Shwiiing! Swaaeng!*
As the auras of the Arhat Divine Fist grazed past me, it felt as though my skin was being sliced by a sharp razor.
I could have used the Celestial Wanderer's Steps to escape and counterattack, but I chose not to. Instead, I advanced head-on, dodging and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
In that instant, an aura from the Arhat Divine Fist shot like a beam of light toward the right, the very direction I intended to dodge.
‘Hah!’
Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo had changed her tactics. When more than twenty strikes of her Arhat Divine Fist failed to connect, she had predicted my path of evasion and aimed there.
In other words, the aura of her fist was hurtling toward the spot I was moving to.
It was unavoidable. No, I could evade it, but doing so would break my posture, leaving me unable to defend against her next attack and placing me in even greater peril.
Therefore, there was only one option. I unleashed the aura of the Celestial Wanderer's Fist, imbued with one hundred and eighty years of internal energy, directly at her incoming strike.
*Hwoooong!*
Seeing this, Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo's eyes widened slightly. A direct confrontation was a clash of internal energy.
Thus, the person with even slightly inferior energy was bound to suffer damage in some form.
But neither she nor I could reverse the situation.
I had released all one hundred and eighty years of my internal energy, leaving me without a protective aura to shield my body.
If Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo's energy was superior to mine, I would be the one to fall. I was prepared for that. I also had a slight intention of gauging the true level of her power through this opportunity.
*Jjeong!*
‘Kugh!’
The moment our fist auras collided, a pain that felt like my right arm was shattering and my chest was splitting apart shot through me, and I was sent flying backward like an arrow.
‘Dammit! She’s this strong?’
From that single clash of palms, I discerned that Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo possessed at least two hundred and fifty years' worth of internal energy, perhaps even as much as three hundred.
Her power was far superior to any opponent I had ever faced.
Back then, in the East Sea, when we fought the masters of the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union, Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo had not revealed her true strength.
To think of it negatively, she might have been testing me. To think of it positively, it could have been because she never found herself in a truly critical situation.
In any case, whether it was two hundred and fifty or three hundred years, the fact remained that her power was overwhelmingly greater than mine. A direct confrontation of internal energy was out of the question.
I barely managed to stifle the groan that threatened to escape my lips.
In that moment, I felt a colossal wall before me—a solid barrier I felt I could neither break nor overcome.
Since leaving Mount Gwalchang, I had fought many masters, but this was the first time I had ever felt this way.
I swallowed the blood that rose in my throat. It seemed I had sustained a minor internal injury, but it wasn't severe.
Most people would despair in such a situation, but I was different. On the contrary, a spirit of defiance and a burning will to fight surged from deep within me.
That is who I am, Ak Bi-ryong.
I must face her head-on.
‘Alright! The fight starts now!’
Despite the critical situation, my heart felt so light I could have hummed a tune. It was because I had finally met a true rival.
‘Skynet’s Divine Sense!’
As I activated Skynet's Divine Sense, I connected all my martial arts to it.
From now on, whatever Skynet's Divine Sense perceived, the most appropriate martial art in my arsenal would be unleashed in response.
I was currently flying backward, thrown off balance by the impact of our fists.
“!”
But then I sensed Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo shooting toward me, flying parallel to my own trajectory.
I didn't see it; I sensed it.
‘Celestial Wanderer's Movement!’
My flying form vanished for an instant, only to reappear above the approaching Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, tumbling over her in a prone position.
Celestial Wanderer's Kick.
As I soared over her prone form, I swung my feet eight times, unleashing eight torrents of Celestial Wanderer's Kick energy with my toes and heels.
*Hoooong!*
“Ah!”
A soft gasp escaped Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo. She only reacted this way when I did something that surpassed her imagination.
The moment I sensed her twist her body to evade the kicks and ascend into the air, I shadowed her movements and launched three strikes of the Celestial Wanderer's Palm with my left hand.
*Tuwoot!*
This wasn't my conscious will, but my martial arts, linked to Skynet's Divine Sense, reacting to the situation.
I sensed her flip her body to the right to dodge the palms and extended my right hand, only to hesitate. My right arm had been broken in the earlier clash.
But if I didn't attack now, the flow would be broken. Even if the attack didn't land, I had to at least corner her and deliver a blow. If my offensive ceased, I would be the one to fall.
Therefore, I had to attack, even if my right arm shattered.
*Tuwoot!*
From both my fists, twelve consecutive strikes of the Celestial Wanderer's Palm—twelve radiant auras—burst forth like a rainbow.
‘Ugh!’
My forearm and elbow screamed in agony, as if they were being torn apart. But it wasn't the pain of a broken bone. Thank goodness.
Having lost her chance to counterattack, Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo shot up another two yards from her position two yards above the ground to evade. Skynet's Divine Sense detected that she had dodged with difficulty.
With the Celestial Wanderer's Movement added to Skynet's Divine Sense, I shadowed her relentlessly, and in a flash, I unleashed three Celestial Wanderer's Fists and three Celestial Wanderer's Palms with both hands.
*Wiiiing!*
But in that moment, I felt something was wrong.
‘This doesn't feel right.’
Things were pouring out of me that were different from when I trained in the Celestial Wanderer's Arts eleven years ago, or even one year ago.
The ‘Seonyu’ in Celestial Wanderer's Arts meant to roam freely like an immortal, and the ‘Do’ signified that its martial techniques had reached the highest realm.
A year ago, when I had perfectly mastered the Celestial Wanderer's Arts, it wasn't like this.
My one weakness was that I had never once used the Celestial Wanderer's Arts against a person.
Moreover, my current opponent was Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, a master who could be called not just transcendent, but ultra-transcendent.
‘What was it?’
I had a vague recollection that the ‘Seonyu’ part was some kind of sense or feeling, but I couldn't bring it back. I'm usually confident in my memory, but since it was a feeling, I was at a loss for now.
If I had the time to calmly collect my thoughts, I might be able to recall it, but the situation was urgent, and my mind was racing.
Just then, I saw Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, who had dodged my three fists and three palms, steady herself a yard above me and catch her breath.
This was the result of my lack of focus on the attack while I pondered the intuitive activation of the Celestial Wanderer's Arts.
Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo looked down at me and spread her arms wide.
*Hwawoooo!*
A white radiance seemed to erupt from her body, then suddenly expanded, blanketing the ground and the air in a one-and-a-half-yard radius around me.
I quickly glanced around. It was some kind of transparent white membrane, seemingly intended to trap me.
A sudden intuition told me that Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo was about to use her ultimate technique.
My first instinct was to escape the transparent membrane.
But I didn't want to. I wanted to stay and face the ultimate technique she was about to unleash.
In that instant, Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, floating a yard below me, thrust both her palms toward me as I looked up at her.
*Tuuuu!*
A dazzling golden streak shot out. It was a beautiful, almost childlike sight, like a single ray of sunlight piercing through dark storm clouds to reach the earth.
But its speed was like lightning, already at my throat, and I sensed it would be more powerful than any fist or palm technique she had used so far.
*Hwooom!*
Just then, the transparent membrane began to rapidly contract.
“!”
The membrane was shrinking to trap me completely, just as the golden streak was about to strike.
It was a strange and wondrous martial art, the likes of which I had never even heard of.
‘I’ll counter with the Incinerating Seal!’
It was the Supreme Yang Palm, the Supreme Power Palm, and the Supreme Speed Palm—a palm technique that burned and destroyed all things.
Being a Supreme Yang Palm, it would be infused with Yang Essence, but at a twenty-year level, it wouldn't be enough to incinerate Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo.
The Celestial Wanderer's Arts didn't seem to be working, so it was right to pull out a technique with a higher chance of success.
But it was in that very moment. Something refreshing and thrilling pierced the very center of my mind.
‘Aha! The Art of Sensory Recognition!’
My senses had to recognize the martial art for me to deploy the Celestial Wanderer's Arts by feel.
My heart pounded, and hot air flared from my nostrils.
‘Hahahaha! Here I go!’
Martial arts weren't executed solely with the internal energy in one's dantian and memorized formulas.
When sensation was added, one could perfectly grasp the flow of an opponent's technique and launch a counterattack.
It wasn't the mind. It was the body's sensory organs awakening.
*Shwiiing!*
Trapped by the shrinking, formless membrane, I instead shot upward, narrowly grazing past the golden streak.
*Kwaoong!*
As the golden light struck the ground, I closed the distance to within a yard below Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, who was in a prone position in the air, and thrust out my left hand.
Celestial Wanderer's Fist.
*Kyoong!*
The moment the aura from one hundred and eighty years of internal energy exploded outward, I was already preparing for the next step.
There was no need to launch multiple strikes like before. A single, precise blow to a vital point was all that was needed.
Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo looked down, her face a mask of surprise. She hadn't expected me to close in so near and launch a counteroffensive like this.
*Suuu!*
From her prone position, she floated upward as if teleporting, then slid sideways to evade and thrust out her right hand.
*Hwooo!*
From her wide-open palm, a wave-like ripple emanated.
It was Prajna Grand Power, a supreme divine art of Shaolin.
Prajna Grand Power was a legendary divine art that no one at the Shaolin Temple had managed to master for generations.
For her to use even this meant she acknowledged me as her strongest opponent.
But before she could unleash her Prajna Grand Power, I was already at her side, launching the energy of the Celestial Wanderer's Fist at her flank.
*Kyoong!*
Even if she possessed between two hundred and fifty and three hundred years of internal energy, a direct hit from the Celestial Wanderer's Fist would be fatal.
However, the crucial point was that while the Celestial Wanderer's Arts could maintain an offensive, it couldn't land a blow on her.
Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo flipped her body, evading the fist. She never dodged my attacks by more than a hand's breadth.
It wasn't that she was trying to dodge narrowly; it was because she didn't need to evade by a wider margin.
*Kyoong! Hwoong!*
I continued my assault, but I still couldn't hit Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo.
If I used the Fire Dragon Sword, I could probably land a hit with the Heaven-Severing Divine Sword, a Supreme Ultimate Fast Sword technique. But we had agreed to fight bare-handed, and a promise must be kept.
It was right at that moment.
From Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo, several hands tinged with blue light shot toward me in a wide arc.
There were multiple hands, and more were continuously being generated from her own, following in their wake.
*Swaeaek!*
They were so fast that the sound of them tearing through the air followed behind them.
‘Guanyin's Adamantine Hand!’
A supreme art of Shaolin. But the problem was that Guanyin's Adamantine Hand was a Supreme Ultimate Fast Art.
When Hyukryeon Byeok-gyo had explained the Twelve Supreme Ultimate Fast Arts, she had mentioned that among the palm, fist, and hand techniques, there were four Supreme Ultimate Fast Arts, one of which was Guanyin's Adamantine Hand.
But she had never said that she herself had learned it.
I suppose there was no need for her to say so. I hadn't mentioned that I had mastered three Supreme Ultimate Fast Arts myself.
The problem was my own complacency in not even considering that she might have learned a Supreme Ultimate Fast Art.
‘Dammit! They’re too close!’