Chapter 174: Battle-Axe Breaker (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 174: Battle-Axe Breaker (3)
Astral Qi—the energy that allows a peerless expert to manifest their will upon the world.
However, unlike ordinary internal energy, Astral Qi could not be used freely at any time. Since it bent and influenced all of creation according to the peerless expert's will, it came with significant limitations. Even the ultimate forms of divine arts and peerless techniques could not properly contain it.
Astral Qi was the purified essence of a peerless expert, heavily imbued with their mental intent. Therefore, a warrior who had just achieved the Five Qis Converging at the Origin had to devise a new form to contain this power. Within such a form, the expert's intent would dwell with exceptional clarity.
Some synthesized all the martial arts they had learned to create a form that concentrated their martial principles and insights. Others created a form to commemorate the relationships and stories that had defined their lives. Though the method and core principles differed for every peerless expert, the process was the same: they poured the most precious thing they held in their mindscape into its creation.
When Astral Qi met a new form into which one had poured their entire being, the one and only Manifested Astral Qi in the world was born.
A peerless expert's martial path, their beliefs, their identity, their desires, or their life itself—the ultimate technique that fully manifested these elements upon all creation was called Manifested Astral Qi.
Gossipers in the Jianghu often referred to Manifested Astral Qi as a peerless expert's signature technique, for the name of that technique could represent the expert's very name and title.
—Cut through Manifested Astral Qi?
—Yes. However, please unleash your ultimate techniques first to buy me some time and create an opening.
The voice transmissions were exchanged in an instant.
Kang Gok, who had always made decisive choices regardless of the situation, hesitated for the first time.
Because it possessed the power to interfere with all creation and cause phenomena, Manifested Astral Qi always appeared in its ultimate form. It was a technique so profound and transcendent that it could not be treated as merely an exceptionally powerful ultimate move.
Of course, Manifested Astral Qi was not flawless or absolute. The power of Astral Qi that influenced phenomena was by no means invincible. Even for a supreme expert who could not yet manifest it, there were clear ways to counter it.
‘When supreme experts launch a joint attack, the standard tactic is to unleash their respective ultimate techniques simultaneously to neutralize the Manifested Astral Qi as much as possible.’
Yet, Namgung Jun spoke of breaking it, not neutralizing it.
Of course, breaking it would yield a higher chance of victory, but that was only if it were possible. Could a mere supreme expert at the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown stage achieve this, when even a peerless expert who had not yet formed their own Manifested Astral Qi might struggle?
“Crushing.”
Kang Gok looked at Hyeokri Yu, who was calling him by his title. Seeing the look in Hyeokri Yu's eyes, Kang Gok let out a dry chuckle and raised his axes.
“Come to think of it, you’re right. The Azure Firmament Hall Master has never disappointed me.”
While Namgung Jun closed his eyes, holding the Eternal Righteous Sword straight in a mid-level guard, the Crushing Hall Master and the Nether-Fathoming Hall Master squeezed out every last drop of their internal energy. Their dantians were already running dry from the fierce battle.
They would not have the strength to unleash another ultimate technique after this. If Namgung Jun failed, their joint attack would collapse, and they would surely die.
Despite this, there was not a shred of hesitation in the posture of the two seniors. Since their junior trusted them and asked this of them, they, as his seniors, had to do the same.
“Righteous Spirit for a Thousand Autumns.”
“Expansive Chivalric Righteousness.”
Standing on the brink of death, Kang Gok and Hyeokri Yu steeled their resolve by reciting the mottos of the Azure Heaven Association. The two Hall Masters raised their weapons, their firm gazes shining with absolute trust.
Whoosh!
Sensing an instinctual shiver run through their bodies, the two Hall Masters unleashed their ultimate techniques simultaneously. Their desperately swung twin axes and twin swords whipped up a massive wave of qi.
Majestic Shattering Assault Axe.
Shatter of the Lamenting Sun.
Dark Waters Twin Dance.
Nourishing the Returning Soul.
The ultimate techniques of the two Hall Masters clashed against the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's Manifested Astral Qi.
* * *
In this moment of life or death, Namgung Jun was deeply submerged in his mindscape.
Even if the two Hall Masters poured out their ultimate techniques to briefly halt the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's Manifested Astral Qi, the time they bought would be a mere fleeting instant.
However, for Namgung Jun, who was utilizing the ability of the Butterfly Metamorphosis of Mystic Time to its absolute limit, it was as if he had been granted more than enough time.
‘Even if I cannot manifest Astral Qi, I must still pour everything I have into this.’
Though it was a joint attack by three supreme experts, their opponent was a peerless expert. There was a chance of victory, but it was only right to stake their lives on it. A joint attack by inferiors against a superior master naturally demanded the risk of death.
If they had gone with the standard tactic—unleashing their ultimate techniques simultaneously to neutralize the Manifested Astral Qi—it was highly likely that someone would have died in the subsequent clash. The martial prowess displayed by the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor was far beyond the intelligence reports and rumors they had gathered.
Namgung Jun decided to be greedy. He did not want to let go of either of his seniors' hands. To ensure that, he, who had the highest chance of success in this situation, had to take responsibility and step forward.
‘Master.’
Namgung Jun recalled the sword technique Lee Se-ha had taught him.
The Lone Soul Sun-Gazing Sword.
To be precise, its final form: the Lone Soul Single Sword.
As he thought of the Lone Soul Single Sword, Lee Se-ha's face naturally painted itself vividly in his mind. If she were here, she would have scolded him with a furious expression. She had every right to. After all, had he not told her to abandon the Lone Soul Sun-Gazing Sword?
‘Do not worry, Master.’
This is not to die.
It is to live, and because I want to save them.
He was not executing the Lone Soul Single Sword itself. He merely drew upon the insight and principles of pouring one's entire heart and soul into a single strike.
The moment Namgung Jun, having envisioned the strike to counter the Manifested Astral Qi, opened his eyes—
\[Manifested Astral Qi.\]
The Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's mental intent engraved itself vividly into Namgung Jun's mindscape. Through the Astral Qi that caused phenomena in all creation, the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's will was branded across the entirety of Mount Munbong. Not only the martial artists locked in combat, but even the vegetation and rocks trembled in response to his intent.
Rumble!
As the entirety of Mount Munbong shook as if alive, the starlight gathered on the Mountain-Ringing Axe reached its peak.
\[Treading the Mountain, Leaving Clear Dew.\]
Crash!
The massive wave of starlight that had been tearing up the summit of Mount Munbong suddenly split into hundreds of streams, like a single drop of dew hitting the ground and scattering into dozens of tiny droplets.
Astonishingly, the power of the split Astral Qi did not diminish in the slightest. Each stream, possessing enough power to cleave a mountainside, spread out in unpredictable trajectories.
Rumble!
The ultimate techniques unleashed by the two Hall Masters toward the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor gradually dispersed. Immediately after the collision, they had only managed to shave off some of the Manifested Astral Qi's power and halt it for a brief moment.
However, for Namgung Jun, that alone was enough.
Thud!
As Namgung Jun's right foot slammed down in an Earth-Trembling Stomp, crushing the ground, he executed the Thousand-Li Lake Journey to its absolute limit. The eyes of the two Hall Masters widened as they watched his back, seeing him throw everything he had into the charge.
‘So this is the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's Manifested Astral Qi.’
A turbid starlight, a mixture of green and ash, filled his vision. It was a truly vast and perilous sight, but Namgung Jun steadily aimed his sword.
Vrooom!
A massive vibration erupted from the Eternal Righteous Sword as it thrust straight forward. He layered and condensed the immense Sword Force that could be generated through the Namcheon Sword Art. The Sword Force loaded into this single strike was so immense that even Namgung Jun had to expend a vast amount of mental energy just to trace his intended Sword Path.
Naturally, the internal energy in his dantian was also sucked dry into this single strike. It was truly a final blow, delivered with no thought of a next move.
‘But these things are not what matters most.’
Simply cramming martial principles, insights, and internal energy into a single strike was not enough to counter Manifested Astral Qi. Just as a peerless expert melted their entire being to achieve Manifested Astral Qi, one had to pour their entire martial path and life into the strike to have even a sliver of a chance.
Of course, simply having the resolve did not mean one could blindly attempt it. To condense the vast experiences held in one's mindscape into a single thought required a prior enlightenment equivalent to reaching the peerless realm.
‘An ordinary supreme expert would find this impossible under any circumstances. But I can do it.’
He had already achieved the Five Qis Converging at the Origin and stepped into the peerless realm in his past life. Otherwise, he would never have made such a reckless attempt to break Manifested Astral Qi while only at the stage of the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.
Hummm!
Something new began to dwell within the Eternal Righteous Sword, which he had thought already contained everything. Though he had drawn inspiration from the Lone Soul Single Sword, the mindscape that anchored the sword was entirely different.
The two things Namgung Jun drew from his mindscape were truly immense.
Huangshan, and the cluster of stars in the southern sky.
The long years spent with his disciples.
‘It is so heavy, yet so warm.’
This would surely not fall short of the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor's mindscape contained within his Manifested Astral Qi.
A master's benevolent worry, unable to take his eyes off his disciples.
An old man's longing, gazing at the southern sky even as he slowly faded away.
Since he had woven these two together through the bond of the Namcheon Palace, the name of this ultimate technique could only be—
“Southern Heaven.”
The green starlight adjacent to the constellation-like Sword Path faded away, one by one. The void was replaced by an indigo mist condensed by his immense Sword Force.
Upon the summit of Mount Munbong, the southern sky of Huangshan was being recreated.
* * *
Shortly after the three halls of the Azure Heaven Association gathered at Mount Munbong began their assault on Taewol Fortress, a certain event quietly unfolded in Bunseo.
Bunseo was a region southwest of Mount Munbong. Although there was a fair distance between the two locations, it was not particularly far for martial artists.
In an unnamed canyon in Bunseo, two peerless experts stood in confrontation.
“Great Hero Jang. To think we would meet like this. I am glad to see you have recovered your health.”
“Hidden-Star Demon King.”
Jang Mu-yeon toyed with his bracelet as he looked at the middle-aged man with a gentle impression. One of the Four Demon Kings of Bright Heaven, the Hidden-Star Demon King. Over a hundred demonic practitioners stood waiting behind him, but Jang Mu-yeon treated them as if they did not exist. He focused solely on the Hidden-Star Demon King, who was flashing an easygoing smile.
“It seems you rushed here after hearing news of the Flying Swiftness Hall Master. He was quite a remarkable figure, so it is truly a pity.”
“And you have come to seize the three halls heading to Mount Munbong by the scruff of their necks.”
“Haha. I was originally on my way to a meeting with the Great-Axe Green Forest. Dealing with the three halls is just a bonus.”
Jang Mu-yeon placed both hands on his waist, looking poised to draw the blades at his hips at any moment.
“Great Hero Jang. Instead of blocking my way, shouldn't you head to Taewol Fortress immediately?”
Jang Mu-yeon snorted. “Three Hall Masters of the Azure Heaven Association have gone. They are more than capable of slaying the Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor.”
“The Hall Masters of the Azure Heaven Association are indeed stronger than ordinary supreme experts of the Jianghu. However, it will be difficult. The Heaven-Treading Axe Emperor has made significant achievements over the past six months.”
“I believe in my Hall Masters.”
Jang Mu-yeon thought of the three Hall Masters who had headed to Taewol Fortress. The Crushing Hall Master and the Nether-Fathoming Hall Master already had experience slaying a peerless expert through a joint attack several years ago. And though the remaining one was the youngest Hall Master, he actually inspired the greatest expectations.
The Ink Lord must have dispatched the three Hall Masters because he was confident that such a lineup would be more than enough. Jang Mu-yeon's thoughts were not much different.
‘Gaining the experience of defeating a peerless expert, even if through a joint attack, will serve as an excellent foundation for that kid.’
That was why Jang Mu-yeon had headed to Bunseo instead of Taewol Fortress. The Hall Masters under his command were beings to be trusted, not objects to be protected. His duty was to thwart the Sun-Moon Demonic Cult's scheme to strike the rear of the three halls and annihilate them.
This was the best that the lacking Heaven-Reliant Sword Lord could do right now.
“Since my mood is currently extremely foul…”
Jang Mu-yeon had no intention of conversing any further. Instead, he took a step forward and raised his blades high.
“Today's sword dance will be quite rough.”