Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Confronting the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad (2)
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I immediately recognized Neung Yu-seong's short spear technique. The Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear was among the one hundred eighty-nine martial arts I had mastered.
There are thousands of martial arts in the world, so the one hundred eighty-nine I've mastered aren't that many in comparison.
Considering that, it's quite a coincidence that I know the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear and am now facing Neung Yu-seong, who has learned it.
Over four hundred years ago, the Ghostly Shadow Divine Spear, known as the god of spearmanship, created the ultimate spear art in his later years: the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear.
Afterward, the Ghostly Shadow Divine Spear's top disciple founded the Divine Spear Sect, which has continued to this day.
For the past four hundred years, the Divine Spear Sect has solidified its unrivaled position in spearmanship, with no one able to challenge them in the art of the spear.
Neung Yu-seong was pouring all his energy into the attack. His face was not one of overconfidence but of sincere effort, giving it his all.
It was clear his intention wasn't to defeat me but to learn from me. That is the proper attitude for a martial artist.
I didn't move, letting the short spear close to within a foot of me.
‘If this fellow has mastered more than fifty percent of the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear, he should be making a change right about now.’
*Swiiish!*
As expected, while the pair of short spears stabbed at six points on my upper and lower body, they also executed simultaneous horizontal slashes at my neck and waist. He was changing his form.
With my hands behind my back and my feet planted on the ground, I swayed my body like a reed in the wind, easily dodging all his attacks.
It was a footwork technique based on the same principle as a slender, weak blade of grass swaying in a fierce wind without taking any damage.
It was also a move made possible by knowing exactly where and how the pair of short spears would strike.
Neung Yu-seong's eyes widened. He knew I was strong, but he probably hadn't expected me to dodge so effortlessly.
*Taat!*
Neung Yu-seong shot upward. He bent his body, flying behind me, intending to swing his short spears downward.
Even though I hadn't retreated, his haste led him to make a self-defeating move.
At that moment, I lightly grabbed his ankle and pulled him down.
"Ah!"
*Thud!*
As Neung Yu-seong landed two steps in front of me, I tapped his chest with my fingertips.
"Huk!"
"A fine attack."
Neung Yu-seong felt a splitting pain in his chest and stumbled back three steps before finally stopping. I had tapped him lightly, enough to cause pain but no internal injuries.
His face, once contorted in pain, soon turned serious as he clasped his hands and bowed.
"I never imagined I would be defeated in a single move! You are truly the Fire Dragon Sword!"
He continued, still bowed.
"Please accept me as a member of the Dong-ro Branch!"
"You, what generation of the Divine Spear Sect are you?"
Neung Yu-seong looked up, startled.
"Ah! How did you know I was a disciple of the Divine Spear Sect?"
"Who else in the martial world uses the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear besides a disciple of the Divine Spear Sect?"
"Ahh! You even recognized the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear! I am a twelfth-generation disciple of the Divine Spear Sect!"
"Why would someone of your skill wish to join the Dong-ro Branch?"
"Because by assisting a great warrior like you and traveling the martial world, my skills will surely improve!"
He was spirited, but I couldn't take him on as a close aide for that reason alone. I had no need for close aides.
Watching Neung Yu-seong's spearmanship, So Yang-gun had wondered if it was the Thunderous Ghostly Shadow Spear and then nodded in confirmation.
'The Vice Master truly knows everything.'
So Yang-gun had already accepted me as the Vice Master.
I leaped lightly off the dueling stage.
I wanted to observe Neung Yu-seong's skills a bit longer, but it was a shame I couldn't due to my appointment with the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad.
Seeing me give a slight nod, Do Hyeon-tak said to Neung Yu-seong,
"Neung Yu-seong! You pass!"
***
*Creek! Creeak!*
Jang Ung rowed the small boat carrying me and Go Un-hyo toward the middle of the Jeondang River.
"The ten members of the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad have not yet arrived on Anpyeong Island, they say."
"They must be watching from somewhere to see if I've come. They'll arrive after I've reached the island."
"That's likely."
The chosen location for the fight was an island in the middle of the river, a short way downstream from Dong-ro Prefecture.
It was a flat, sandy island, about a hundred feet wide and two hundred feet long.
Anpyeong Island was uninhabited; only migratory and resident birds had made their nests here and there.
*Thump!*
As the boat reached the island, I launched myself forward, flying perfectly horizontal before landing on a low-lying rock.
Because I was about to face the formidable Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad, my body had already reacted, and my internal energy was at its peak.
"Go back."
"Brother!"
Go Un-hyo's face was filled with worry. He couldn't shake his concern over the fact that I had to fight ten members of the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad alone.
I smiled faintly.
"Un-hyo, who is your brother?"
"The strongest in actual combat!"
"If you know that, then don't worry."
"Understood."
Despite his words, the worry didn't leave Go Un-hyo's face.
*Creek! Creek!*
A mid-sized boat was being rowed toward Anpyeong Island.
With my hands behind my back, I watched the approaching boat.
I didn't know how powerful the combined attack of ten members of the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad would be, but I expected it to surpass that of the Blood Shadow Sword Venerable.
Tense anticipation gripped my body, and a great sense of excitement and eagerness welled up within me.
I like and enjoy this kind of feeling. It's because I can feel that I am alive with my entire being.
Imagine a state of body and mind brimming with the confidence to unleash martial arts of immeasurable power at any moment, with an unfathomable amount of internal energy flowing majestically through every meridian!
Conversely, without martial arts and internal energy, it feels like lying listlessly in a tomb.
On the approaching boat were ten men in black robes, either sitting or standing, and a boatman rowing. That was all.
A single aura emanated from them—a thick demonic energy, and power.
I could have used my lightness skill to get from the riverbank near Dong-ro Prefecture to Anpyeong Island, but the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad likely couldn't.
I hadn't chosen Anpyeong Island as an escape route for a critical moment. It was to ensure that not a single one of the ten members of the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad could escape, to bury their bones here.
*Chak, chak, chak!*
The Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad—ten Life-Reaping Masters—lightly leaped from the boat, landing one by one before me, about thirty feet from the river's edge.
Seeing them effortlessly cover the seventy-foot distance from the boat in a single leap gave me a rough idea of their martial prowess.
Without even forming a battle line or asking who I was, they immediately launched their attack.
*Chwaaang!*
The clear ring of ten swords being drawn simultaneously by the Life-Reaping Masters echoed through the air of Anpyeong Island.
*Shwiiit!*
As the three in front shot toward me to attack, five others attacked while simultaneously spreading out to my left and right, forming an encirclement.
And the remaining two leaped into the air, raining down attacks on me from above.
Before I could even draw the Fire Dragon Sword, the first three swords from the front slashed, stabbed, and cleaved at me.
*Kiiit!*
‘Fast!’
The Life-Reaping Masters' initial attack began from over fifty feet away, but they closed the distance by thirty feet in an instant.
But then, the tips of the three swords turned a bluish color, emitting a faint light.
*Chyuuut!*
‘Sword energy!’
It wasn't a trick of the eye. The faint light emanating from the three swords was unmistakably sword energy.
They curved horizontally like a half-moon, shot forward in a straight line faster than an arrow, and cleaved vertically, attacking my waist, torso, and head.
It was flawless sword energy.
Sword energy can easily kill an enemy at a greater distance, beyond the reach of a three-foot-long sword.
Perfected sword energy can be projected over a hundred feet, capable of piercing through or completely severing a massive tree.
They said the Life-Reaping Masters of the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad were on par with sect leaders. They are indeed formidable. Their reputation is well-deserved.
The moment I executed the second stance of Floating Light, Divine Shadow—Divine Trace, Illusory Void—and shifted my position twice within a five-foot radius, the three streams of sword energy shot past me on either side.
Eight Life-Reaping Masters surrounded me, while two from above descended like a lid on a pot, unleashing a combined assault.
*Swish! Swiiish!*
*Kiiit!*
Trapped within a thirty-foot diameter encirclement like a pot with a lid, even a peak master would likely fall if attacked with sword energy by ten Life-Reaping Masters.
But I am no peak master, nor am I a transcendent or supreme master. I am the strongest master of actual combat.
I abandoned the thought of prolonging this fight to gain experience or sustain the excitement and thrill. I had observed them briefly, but there was nothing to be gained from the Demonic Emperor's Life-Reaping Squad.
I changed my objective in this fight to simply proving how strong I was.
While dodging the shower of sword energy attacks from all directions using Divine Trace, Illusory Void, I swiftly flipped my upper body and swept toward the Life-Reaping Masters behind me.
This fight would be with palm arts, not the Fire Dragon Sword.
Even as I suddenly charged toward their rear, the Life-Reaping Masters attacked without the slightest hesitation.
In a posture almost flat on my back, looking up at the sky, I shot against the incoming streams of sword energy and extended both my palms.
*Fwoosh!*
It was the Shaolin Temple's immortal divine palm art, the Great Vajra Palm.
A brilliant golden light, imbued with sixty percent of my internal energy, erupted forth, tearing through the twenty-foot gap of empty air to strike the chests of two men.
*Thwack! Thwack!*
"Keuk!"
The two men struck by the palm wind had their bones, entrails, and organs completely crushed, sent spinning into the air like dry leaves.
*Pshaaak!*
As they flew, holes burst open in their backs, spewing columns of blood mixed with pulverized fragments of their internal organs.
I could have manifested the Great Vajra Palm as solidified energy, but mere palm wind was sufficient for the Life-Reaping Masters.
A single Life-Reaping Master was half a step below the Sword Demon King, Nu Jinsang. Their strength came from their numbers and combined attacks, not their individual skill.
If I could break into their midst and shatter the order of their combined attack, I would be facing each Life-Reaping Master individually.
The problem, however, was that breaking the order of their combined attack was difficult.
Flying horizontally, I spun from my supine position into a prone one, extending my arms toward the two men to the left and right of the pair I had just sent flying.
*Fwoooosh!*
This time, a thick pillar of golden light from the Great Vajra Palm, unleashed with fifty percent of my internal energy, split and shot out to both the left and right.
‘The Great Vajra Palm! Magnificent!’
If one looked closely into the golden pillar, one could see what looked like a palm made of gold, but those struck by it had no time to notice such details before being hastily dispatched to the afterlife.
The sword energy unleashed by the two targeted Life-Reaping Masters was engulfed by the golden pillar of the Great Vajra Palm and vanished without a trace.
*Splat!*
Unfortunately for these two, the palm wind struck their heads, which instantly disintegrated, leaving them no time to even scream.
Just then, the two Life-Reaping Masters above me shot down headfirst, unleashing an astonishingly fast sword technique.
*Kiiit!*
Was it a momentary lapse in concentration?
‘Hup!’
Two streams of sword energy grazed past my ear and shoulder. No, as they passed, they sliced about half a handspan's worth of fabric from my shoulder.
It was only that, but having my clothes cut felt as if my pride had been cut.
*Thwack! Thwack!*
"Keuk!"
In the short span of two breaths, six Life-Reaping Masters had died, yet the remaining four continued their attack as if they felt nothing.
‘You are no match for me.’
Like an eagle snatching a chick, I swooped toward the four, unleashing the Great Vajra Palm.
*Vwiiiiing!*