Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: People on the Cliff
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Jo Gwan's response was not wrong.
Overwhelming sword strikes closed in, and to avoid being crushed, he lowered his stance while straightening his spear shaft.
That was the best Jo Gwan could choose. It simply wasn't enough.
Jo Gwan lay collapsed on the ground, breathing raggedly.
What Namgung Myeong had swung was clearly a sword.
Yet the wounds left on Jo Gwan were not ordinary cuts—they looked like something had torn chunks out of him.
"Huh, huh... You... What the hell did you do?"
"I've played around enough, so I showed you just a tiny fragment of my true skill."
Namgung Myeong spoke with feigned leisure, but Jo Gwan coughed up blood.
"Don't lie. Who plays around until there's a hole in their shoulder..."
"..."
Namgung Myeong offered no reply.
Jo Gwan's lungs must have been damaged—every breath came with a leaking wheeze, like air hissing out.
The feral glint unique to a warrior in battle was gone from Jo Gwan's eyes. He had realized the fight was decided, that his own death was imminent.
And soon enough, the leaking sound from Jo Gwan's mouth stopped.
He had won.
The moment he confirmed Jo Gwan's death, all strength drained from Namgung Myeong's body.
Pushing past the wall of peak realm at the end of a life-or-death duel was no easy feat for anyone. Doing so and then unleashing martial arts beyond one's control right after was even more so.
Namgung Myeong collapsed on the spot and lost consciousness.
Among those watching the scene, Pyo Choong was the most shocked.
For a brief moment, he even forgot about his fallen martial brothers and the Taeui Sword Sect Master below the cliff.
Pyo Choong had thought "Young Hero Myeong" was a fairly talented youth who barely brushed against first-rate level.
He had held his own against Jo Gwan's attacks with first-rate skill, exceeding expectations.
But that wasn't the end. The moment he gripped his sword, the man transformed, vaulting over the wall of peak realm in one leap to unleash transcendent martial arts. With a single technique, he crushed a peak realm expert.
The sheer power was so immense that Pyo Choong lost faith in the Wudang swordsmanship he had trained his whole life.
"Incredible... No, this isn't the time."
Pyo Choong hurried over to check Namgung Myeong's condition.
Though he knew no medicine, he could tell the difference between someone about to die and someone who wouldn't just yet. And to Pyo Choong, Namgung Myeong didn't seem on the verge of death.
"Phew."
Only now did Pyo Choong's thoughts turn to the Taeui Sword Sect Master and his martial brothers.
"Dang Rang, San Jeo..."
Pyo Choong approached the cliff with a heart-wrenching pain.
He probably couldn't confirm the bodies due to the trees blocking the way, but he felt he needed to at least check where the Taeui Sword Sect Master had fallen.
But the instant Pyo Choong neared the cliff, the Taeui Sword Sect Master's form shot up from right beside it, landing softly atop the cliff.
"...!"
Pyo Choong was so startled he couldn't speak, his mouth gaping like a fish hauled onto dry land.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master lightly cracked his neck.
"That was fairly dangerous."
"...H-How in the world?"
"How? You think I've only run into one or two guys aiming for mutual destruction?"
The Taeui Sword Sect Master spoke with pretended ease, but his heart pounded like a war drum.
If he had released Dang Rang's hand even a moment later.
If San Jeo's push had been even a bit stronger.
If he hadn't found a branch to grab while kicking off from San Jeo to leap up.
If even one thing had gone differently, the Taeui Sword Sect Master would now be lying dead somewhere below No Gun Mountain's cliff.
Torrential rain poured down. The Taeui Sword Sect Master wiped the rain from his face and scanned the surroundings.
'...Why is Jo Gwan dead?'
He didn't know. But there was no need to dwell on it right now. The only one standing before the Taeui Sword Sect Master was Pyo Choong.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master drew his sword.
"The pain will be brief."
*
Dang Mujin finished off the warriors filling the mountain path.
Half had plummeted off the cliff to their deaths, while the other half fled in terror.
He briefly considered chasing the runners to finish them, but Dang Mujin didn't forget his priorities. He had to help the people on the path above. The situation there was surely dire.
"They'd better be holding out."
When Dang Mujin finally climbed back up the path, an unexpected sight greeted him.
Jo Gwan was dead, and Namgung Myeong lay sideways, bleeding from his shoulder. The faint smile on his face suggested his life wasn't in immediate danger.
Pyo Choong was visible too, struggling to block the Taeui Sword Sect Master's sword. Dang Mujin knew exactly what needed doing.
Dang Mujin unleashed the Shadowless Lotus Step, charging toward Pyo Choong and the Taeui Sword Sect Master.
In one fluid motion, he drew his sword and intercepted the Taeui Sword Sect Master's strike aimed at Pyo Choong's heart.
Scraaape. The grating of blades traveled up his arm.
As if targeting Dang Mujin from the start, the Taeui Sword Sect Master smoothly redirected his sword and unleashed a barrage at him.
Dang Mujin swiftly deflected the piercing thrust twice.
Before his arm could even reset, an elbow flew in from his blind spot. Hesitation would mean his left temple shattered.
Reflexively, Dang Mujin executed the Flying Palm to redirect the attack. His palm stung from brushing off the elbow.
It was a precarious display, but the best defense a lesser against a master could muster.
A brief silence fell.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master inwardly admired Dang Mujin's clean response. Such attainment at that age.
'Both young ones are gems. So Pyo Choong had something to rely on after all.'
Two buds on the verge of blooming.
He wondered how someone like Pyo Choong had drawn in talents like these.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master was seized by a desire to take Dang Mujin as a disciple.
But he kept it to himself. He knew the talent was too great for him to handle.
And he knew that if he couldn't claim it, better to kill it. Especially now that their blades had crossed.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master's strikes slowed instead. The grand, heavy slashes vanished from his sword.
Very slowly now, he accumulated small wounds on Dang Mujin and Pyo Choong.
In turn, his own defense grew ironclad.
At some point, neither Dang Mujin nor Pyo Choong could even nick his robes. It burned Dang Mujin up inside.
'This won't work.'
To beat a master as the inferior, one must exploit a gap and go all-in.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master knew this, so rather than forcing an end, he eliminated his own openings.
Even when Dang Mujin and Pyo Choong swung together, he blocked effortlessly. Their swift kicks and fists never landed.
Dang Mujin even secretly hurled a dagger. But it didn't work. The Taeui Sword Sect Master flicked the poisoned blade off the cliff. The wall of peak realm loomed high.
"Not bad with a sword, and you've picked up a few dirty tricks too, I see."
Dang Mujin racked his brains instead of answering.
He couldn't release poison into the air. No airborne toxin could subdue a master like the Taeui Sword Sect Master, and his venom arts weren't perfected yet. Releasing it now would poison Pyo Choong first.
'I need a way.'
A memory surfaced of another hopeless bind like this. Back then, the Heavenly King Needle Case from Dan Seol-yeong had saved the day.
His thoughts reached that point when he felt a small anomaly in his bosom.
'I've got it.'
One last gambit worth trying. Though success wasn't guaranteed.
"Hup!"
Dang Mujin swung his sword heavily to draw the Taeui Sword Sect Master's eyes. Simultaneously, he slipped a hand into his bosom and opened the needle case lid. Three slender needles gripped in his left hand.
When he had thrown the dagger earlier, the Taeui Sword Sect Master had sensed it from his blind spot with a peak expert's ki sense and deflected it.
'But can he detect needles flying amid the raindrops?'
Dang Mujin flicked his left hand sideways. The needles flew in a direction far from the Taeui Sword Sect Master. It was a small motion, so he paid it no mind.
Dang Mujin swung his right-hand sword at the Taeui Sword Sect Master while maneuvering the inner energy linked to the needles with his left, sending them flying toward him.
The lives of Dang Mujin, Pyo Choong, and Namgung Myeong hung on this simple vacuum grasp—not even a lethal technique.
The instant the needles' path shifted, blood poured from Dang Mujin's nose.
Attempting two feats at once without mastering legendary dual-wield arts was sheer overreach.
Even with just vacuum grasp on the left, it was the same.
For a moment, Dang Mujin's vision went white.
In one try, he hit his limit. Not physical, but mental.
Yet it worked. A peak expert's senses were sharp, but he couldn't detect needles from behind. Especially amid the downpour.
As he swung his sword, the Taeui Sword Sect Master felt a prick at his nape.
'What?'
A venomous insect from No Gun Mountain?
No. Insects didn't fly in such rain, and no ordinary bug's venom stung like this.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master immediately rubbed his nape, extracting three slender needles. He shouted.
"You think this trick will work?!"
Of course, a peak expert wouldn't fall to mere poison. He circulated his qi to suppress it naturally. His swordplay showed no hindrance.
After another three or four exchanges, he felt another prick at his shoulder blade.
He lightly pulled out the needle and tried to swing again, but something felt off.
'Different poison.'
All poisons have unique properties. Methods to expel or resist them differ too.
One type? Any first-rate could handle it unless it was transcendent venom.
Two mixed? Even peak experts found it troublesome. Three or four? A real mess.
'...Time to take the risk.'
The Taeui Sword Sect Master abandoned his defensive stance.
He had to end it fast, even if it exposed counter openings.
He thrust a sword dripping with viscous killing intent at Dang Mujin.
Dang Mujin reflexively thrust to block, but his blurring vision botched it.
Just as the Taeui Sword Sect Master's blade neared Dang Mujin's throat, Pyo Choong leaped in front and took the strike.
"Keep going!"
Pyo Choong's aid let Dang Mujin keep his sword, but he couldn't drop it either. Dang Mujin swung while flicking his left hand again.
Even the Taeui Sword Sect Master's focus splintered. Blocking was another matter.
As Dang Mujin clenched his left fist, the airborne needles curved toward the Taeui Sword Sect Master. Now three poisons mingled in his body.
"Huuuuh—!"
Half in a trance, Dang Mujin swung his sword, hurled needles, and grasped at vacuum. His dantian qi and venom arts tangled chaotically.
Warriors grew through experience, and Dang Mujin advanced at an indescribable pace. The problem? It was too fast.
His qi circulation and venom arts were overly complex, exceeding his capacity.
His jaw trembled. Every fluid in his body boiled at once.
Dang Mujin vaguely realized: this was qi deviation taking hold.
Yet Dang Mujin didn't slip into it easily.
Though different in kind and form, he had once overcome heart demons. His mind was far sturdier than most.
The Qing Sang Fist trained in Emei Mountain's depths, the White Lotus Divine Fist and Shadowless Lotus Step from Shaolin Temple resisted the incursion.
Lost in trance, Dang Mujin swung his sword and flicked his left hand again. He lost count.
Then, at some point, Dang Mujin entered a blinding white world.
Dang Mujin ran madly.
In the all-white expanse, the only non-white thing was one: a massive wall far ahead.
Dang Mujin didn't know what it was. But gripped by an inexplicable urge, he charged wildly and slammed into it full force. The wall didn't budge.
Dang Mujin crashed into it twice, three times in succession.
The wall held. Dang Mujin knew it too. The time to topple this behemoth hadn't come.
Yet Dang Mujin neither retreated nor gave up. He slammed into it several more times, then leaned against it and lost consciousness.
*
Torrential rain poured on No Gun Mountain's cliff.
Dang Mujin stood motionless under it, unconscious.
Before him stood the Taeui Sword Sect Master, propping himself on his sword like a staff.
Unlike Dang Mujin, the Taeui Sword Sect Master hadn't lost consciousness. But he couldn't move.
Dozens of unextracted needles pierced his back, nape, and forearms.
Countless poisons tangled inside him, forming an unsolvable knot.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master was no different from an insect trapped in a web.
'I thought he was a bud about to bloom, but he's a venomous spider with sharper fangs than any.'
Gasping, the Taeui Sword Sect Master laughed hollowly.
Pyo Choong knelt, hands on the ground, coughing up blood twice.
Toward the end, he had shouldered most of the Taeui Sword Sect Master's strikes alone. He wasn't unscathed either.
Yet Pyo Choong staggered to his feet and raised his sword.
Raindrops splashed off the silver blade.
Pyo Choong drew a deep breath, then slowly thrust, burying his sword in the Taeui Sword Sect Master's heart.
The Taeui Sword Sect Master's breathing stopped, his eyes losing their light.
For the first time in thirty years, it was over. Something welled up in Pyo Choong's chest.
Pyo Choong roared like a beast.
So his vanished martial brothers below the cliff could hear. So those who died imprisoned on No Gun Mountain could hear.