Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Divine Domain Martial Arts
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The woman's head snapped back sharply from the elbow strike loaded with internal energy.
I hadn't swung it with the intent to kill from the start, but it didn't feel like it had landed solidly either.
She had pulled her head back at the exact moment of impact to lessen the damage.
The woman, now with her hairpiece dislodged, clutched her bleeding nose and glared at me. Her skin was dark, and her features were subtly different from those of Central Plains folk.
'Not from Tianzhu, it seems. A Southern Barbarian, maybe?'
Where this woman came from wasn't really important.
What truly mattered was that bizarre technique she'd just used—some kind of movement art.
Her presence had completely vanished, only to reappear. At this point, it proved her martial prowess had surpassed the pinnacle.
"......How?"
The woman muttered while still glaring at me.
She meant how had I known she'd appear from behind.
It didn't seem like she was expecting an answer—just a musing laced with doubt—but I replied readily enough.
"Assassins trained in those kinds of killing arts are all the same, whether from righteous sects or demonic ones."
I crossed my arms and continued.
"Once they slip from sight, they always pop up behind you. Did you skip the basics—heaven, earth, front, left, right—when you first learned the Six Harmonies?"
"You bastard...!"
The Tang Clan, the Assassins' Sect, even the Black Wind Squad from the Demonic Cult.
Every killer I'd faced always came at me from behind if they couldn't seize my rear—they acted like it was a fatal illness or something.
And in most cases, since my realm was higher than theirs, I never had much trouble dealing with rear attacks.
I wondered if even the Dark King—the supreme assassin whose mere presence could suppress a righteous-demonic war—would be different. But in my previous life, I'd never faced the Dark King's Thousand Shadows Myriad Rains.
'He's already an old man past two full cycles of sixty years.'
As I drifted into unrelated thoughts, the Southern Barbarian woman drew a dagger from her waist and growled.
"Do you even realize that your very existence—breathing and living—is a grace from the Heavenly Lord? Just having you near is a threat to him! And yet you don't even appreciate that flimsy thread of life still holding...!"
"No idea what you're rambling about, but sorry to disappoint. I've never thanked my own parents in my life. Grace doesn't stick with me, but grudges carve right into my bones."
-Clang! Kaching! Clang!
Blades whistled through the air mid-conversation. Silver trails etched the ends of her arms as they whipped freely like lashes.
Chops slicing up, down, and diagonally crossed, leaving afterimages of pure internal energy in the air as they lunged.
Each afterimage carried the intensity and cutting power of sword gang—deadly weapons woven tight.
A net of sword gang closed in on me, dense and unyielding.
I drew the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword that one of Mountain King's underlings had left behind not long ago. I'd thought I'd lost it in the chaos of battle, but finding it again was a stroke of luck.
I held the blade horizontal, its tip cloaked in Great Purity Gang Qi, and thrust straight into the center of the sword net. At the same time, I applied Force Transfer to my wrist, spinning it in a whirl.
The sword net fixed to the tip of the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword got caught in the rotation and clung to the blade.
The essence of Great Purity Gang Qi was the "vessel" that held the energy.
I had poured the sword net—like water—into the vessel of the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword.
"What...!"
In other words, I'd seized control of the gang qi she'd unleashed.
My internal energy output might be lacking, but my control far outstripped hers, making it possible.
But to her, the technique seemed utterly incomprehensible.
"You mad bastard. What's your problem?! Do you have any idea how many warriors under heaven have ever received the treatment you got in Demonic Heaven this past month? What more could you want that you're stirring up trouble like this?"
She gripped her dagger tighter, her hand trembling faintly, and spat the words sharply.
Honestly, coming from a woman ready to chop off my arm over a few words, it didn't seem worth listening to.
I tilted my head as if baffled and replied.
"Why do something like this...? Simple enough."
There was a reason, sure, but it didn't matter much.
I'd always viewed the world through a warped lens anyway.
Call it a side effect of my long one-eyed days, but it felt more like an innate disposition.
To me, Shaolin was a pack of bald-headed monks, Huashan a bunch of plum-obsessed weirdos playing with flowers via sword.
The Demonic Cult was just scum begging to be beaten, and the unorthodox sects were dens of motley riffraff.
I trashed both the white and black paths without mercy, but I especially hammered the black ones. My roots were in the righteous sects, after all.
Drawing on that old experience, I recited in a flat tone.
"I've never liked you black path bastards from the start."
Flames erupted from the Southern Barbarian woman's eyes. Her dusky cheeks flushed beet red with rage—it was that obvious.
'Oops.'
I hadn't meant it that way. A twinge of regret hit me late, but I didn't let it show.
"If blocking Mountain King's axe gave you that much confidence, you're mistaken. Don't fool yourself into thinking his controlled strike was on my level just because the Heavenly Lord's order was to bring you alive."
A murderous intent shaped like darkness wrapped around her body like protective gang qi.
Normally, thickening killing intent amplifies presence, but strangely, hers was fading.
The midday sky darkened. A high, shrill voice like crickets in the night echoed through the gloom. It was Six Harmonies Projection.
'Not enough power to dye the sky with force alone. Some kind of barrier technique? Density's thin, range about four zhang. Compared to Master Mugwang's Taiji Radiant Halo Wheel... just your run-of-the-mill domain art.'
My brief spark of interest faded just as quickly.
Whether she saw my disappointed expression or not, the woman had already hidden herself in the hemispherical darkness she'd conjured and was ranting something.
Weisinmu
Dark Heaven Net Vast
The night sky that had risen at the shen hour shattered to pieces.
A low, resonant voice had broken the activated Weisinmu.
Projecting Six Harmonies infused with power and intent via a sound art like the Lion's Roar.
A feat possible only for the Dark King, who could weaponize even musical notes, or absolutes beyond him.
'No. The sound didn't enter my ears—it struck my mind like lightning. This is beyond Six Harmonies Projection...'
As I reeled from a technique I'd never seen even in my past life, the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's voice continued.
"But, Heavenly Lord...!"
I felt a gaze piercing down from impossibly high above. It was as if the sun in mid-heaven had become the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's eyes, overlooking the earth.
Surface Shadow seemed just as affected.
"......As you command."
Chewing her lip, Surface Shadow vanished like a flickering lantern shadow via Preservation Nerve.
I nodded at the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's words.
"Shallow tricks."
"What do you mean?"
"Or were you just itching for a fight after lying around a month? What do you gain picking a fight with my subordinate?"
The vast hall resembled an imperial banquet chamber.
The Black Mysterious Sword Emperor, elbow on the armrest of an ornate throne-like seat and chin in hand, asked in his curt tone.
He seemed to have already seen through my intentions.
But it was something that had to come out eventually.
I took a deep breath and answered.
"Conviction."
I looked up and met the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's eyes.
"I needed to believe that even after saying this today, you wouldn't kill me."
"Contradictory. I don't know what you'll say, but slapping my subordinate's face isn't exactly a reason to spare you."
"It's enough. You didn't punish me much even after I attacked your favored subordinate. I know you've been lenient with me all along. I just wanted to see how far that mercy extends."
Feeling the heavy air on my skin, I pressed on.
"I wondered why you went so far— even assigning Divine Physician—to bring me here. If it's related to my sect, you could wipe Wudang Mountain off the map alone. And anything I can do, you could too."
The Black Mysterious Sword Emperor gripped the armrest with the hand propping his chin and leaned forward. Interest finally sparked in his eyes.
"So, do you know the reason?"
"Roughly. But first, hear my request."
"Hm. Speak."
I didn't bother shielding my mind. Read it if you want.
"No matter what I say from here, believe me three times."
"Not asking for three favors, but to believe your words three times?"
"Yes."
"And what do I gain?"
This was the crucial part.
Before an absolute master.
A place thicker with death than any battlefield I'd faced since my return.
On the knife-edge between life and death, I teetered on the threshold dividing the living world from the underworld.
And then, I uttered the one phrase that might drive me to my doom.
"Your daughter, Dugu Yuyeon."
The Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's eyes flashed. A predatory gleam, sharp as a raptor spotting prey from the heavens.
Suppressing the frog-like terror before a serpent, I forced out the rest.
"I'll save her."
Silence like the world had frozen.
And then.
"Ha."
A whistle-like chuckle escaped the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor's lips.
"Hahahaha!"
Soon, he was clutching his belly, doubling over in laughter. A chilling, mad cackle that rang out.
Pathetic fool. The mumble mixed with laughter reached my ears.
I kept a curt demeanor—at least, appearing so—and asked.
"What's so funny?"
"Hahaha... Aren't you the funny one?"
The Black Mysterious Sword Emperor snapped his fingers.
In that instant, the world filled with darkness.
The hem of my robe, slightly swaying, frayed to shreds. My skin, vibrating faintly with my heartbeat, etched with countless scratches. Sliced by invisible blades.
The surrounding air, sound, even light—all transformed into blades.
The stone floor I'd stood on became thousands of blades. Sword edges, expressed as lines, merged into planes of perception.
Right now, I stood literally on the edge of a sword.
The darkness enveloping only me and the Black Mysterious Sword Emperor was a phenomenon of countless blades layered so densely not a speck of external light could penetrate.
At the center of that transcendent scene stood the solitary Black Mysterious Sword Emperor, his mouth opening.
A voice sank chillingly like the sword cry of hundreds of blades flicked at once, clawing at my eardrums.
Divine Domain Martial Arts
Sword Thought World
True to its name, a martial art touching the realm of gods.
A supreme technique transcending martial arts, manifesting in the mortal world as divine authority.
Solely to kill me.