Chapter 158
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: It Was Because of What That Bitch Said
Ha Mu-baek glared at the Tenth Dharma Protector. He didn't avoid Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
"A strange thought just popped into my head."
Ha Mu-baek's voice was thick with killing intent.
"What thought?"
The moment the Tenth Dharma Protector asked,
Thwack.
Ha Mu-baek appeared in front of him in an instant, swinging his arm to grab the man by the collar.
"Urk."
As strength poured into the twisted collar gripped by Ha Mu-baek's right hand, the Tenth Dharma Protector groaned and struggled.
Ha Mu-baek whispered lowly into his ear.
"The water is blue, and the sky is blue. The water is deep, and the sky is high. The blueness is the same, yet the directions are opposite."
His voice was still laced with killing intent.
The words were whispered softly, but infused with inner energy, so Yeong So-hyang could hear them too.
Yeong So-hyang tilted her head at the sight of Ha Mu-baek muttering something incomprehensible.
But the Tenth Dharma Protector was different.
"Urgh... Your inner strength is like this too. Urk. If the direction reverses... the essence can change as well."
Even in agony, he unwittingly recited the next incantation.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"As expected, you've mastered it properly. You truly understand the Annihilation Technique."
"Tenth Dharma Protector! What the hell is going on? You weren't just researching, were you?!"
Realizing from his response that it was about the Annihilation Technique, Yeong So-hyang shouted loudly.
But with his collar gripped by Ha Mu-baek, the Tenth Dharma Protector couldn't answer.
Ha Mu-baek tossed him aside with an expressionless face.
Bam!
The Tenth Dharma Protector tumbled to the ground, groaning as he pushed himself up.
For Yeong So-hyang, everything was a mystery right now.
She now clearly understood why Ha Mu-baek's arrival had forced her into such a hasty escape.
But everything else was still chaos.
As the great young lady of the Hao Gate, she needed to grasp the situation, so even in front of Ha Mu-baek, she had no choice but to ask the Tenth Dharma Protector.
"You've been researching the Annihilation Technique, haven't you, Tenth Dharma Protector."
From Yeong So-hyang's shout, Ha Mu-baek learned the identity of the old man before him.
"But when did you become the Tenth Dharma Protector? Your face isn't in my memory."
Ha Mu-baek had seen all twelve Dharma Protectors of the Hao Gate during the previous war.
He didn't know which was which, but he had seen all twelve faces.
Yet this old man hadn't been among them.
Heh heh heh. "Do you think only one or two died in the war? New people fill the vacancies like that."
In that interval, his demeanor had changed, perhaps due to a shift in his mindset.
Then, a strange discord appeared on the Tenth Dharma Protector's face.
The human skin mask he wore on his face had shifted from the impact of tumbling to the ground moments ago.
That sight added certainty to Ha Mu-baek's suspicions.
"Right. That's it. But it's strange. As I said earlier, your cultivation is higher than Ye Cho-a's. After researching to that extent, why didn't you tell Ye Cho-a?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, the wretched-looking Tenth Dharma Protector smiled faintly.
"You already seem to know."
Ha Mu-baek bared his teeth in a grin.
"You're right, you Blood Cult bastard."
Ha Mu-baek unleashed a palm strike toward the Tenth Dharma Protector.
The moment terrifying palm force enveloped him,
Boom!
The Tenth Dharma Protector countered with his own palm.
Skid.
Pushed back about three zhang (roughly 9 meters) by the power of Ha Mu-baek's palm force, the Tenth Dharma Protector's expression remained calm.
He gazed at Ha Mu-baek with a faint smile.
His face had changed.
One eye was dyed blue, the other red.
"H-How..."
Yeong So-hyang stared in disbelief.
Blood Cult.
What in the world was happening?
"How did you know?"
"You researched it yourself, didn't you? The Annihilation Technique. In my judgment, even the new Annihilation Technique Ye Cho-a learned surpassed the Hao Gate's capabilities. Well, considering their desperation to avert destruction, I could barely accept it as a razor-thin possibility. But not you. Your level is absolutely impossible to achieve by improving on the Hao Gate's foundation."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, the Tenth Dharma Protector's gaze turned to Yeong So-hyang.
"It was because of what that bitch said."
His gloomy voice made Yeong So-hyang flinch.
"Just as you said, Ha Mu-baek. The Divine Annihilation Technique surpasses the Hao Gate by leaps and bounds. That's why I haven't told Ye Cho-a yet."
Ha Mu-baek nodded at his words.
"Yeah. Exactly. In the world, no one understands the Annihilation Technique better than the Blood Cult. Your level is impossible without being a Blood Cult bastard."
Ha Mu-baek had suddenly considered that possibility. Yeong So-hyang's shout had confirmed his suspicion.
Heh heh heh. "Damn it. I never thought that stupid Ye Cho-a bitch would draw you in."
His voice carried anger at how things had turned out—anger toward Ye Cho-a.
"You were the one who lured Ye Cho-a into analyzing the Annihilation Technique... And the Pang Clan's mess was Ye Cho-a's rampage, I suppose."
"As expected. You're sharp. Unlike that retard bitch. But why didn't you strike the Hao Gate back then? You must have suspected the duplicate's existence. If you'd come then, you might have had a chance to salvage it."
The Tenth Dharma Protector's question was filled with regret.
In fact, by then, he had already arranged for Yeong So-hyang to be sent to the far reaches of Sichuan.
Under the pretext of inspecting the Hao Gate's Sichuan branch.
Convincing Ye Cho-a hadn't been hard. With research stalled by Yeong So-hyang's interference, suggesting she be sent far away to Sichuan for a while did the trick.
After that, if Ha Mu-baek attacked the Hao Gate, he could simply slip away alone.
He could go to Yeong So-hyang, inform her of the Hao Gate's destruction, take her, and escape beyond the border to prepare for the future.
But Ha Mu-baek hadn't come, and Yeong So-hyang had finished her Sichuan inspection and returned to the Hao Gate.
And because Ha Mu-baek had suddenly barged in, he'd ended up caught like this while moving with her.
Everything had gone awry.
"I want to ask you the same. Why didn't you escape alone? You wouldn't have been caught by me."
Ha Mu-baek's question.
It was because this didn't match the behavior he knew of Blood Cult members.
He was certain there was some reason.
But instead of answering, the Tenth Dharma Protector gathered his silvery energy.
Ha Mu-baek frowned at the sight.
The Blood Cult's Blood Technique was operating alongside the Annihilation Technique.
He'd suspected it when one eye turned red.
The red eye was a feature of both the Annihilation Technique and the Blood Technique.
However, the fact that his Infinite Bright Wheel Eye had missed the Blood Technique bothered him.
'It must be concealed by that Divine Annihilation Technique.'
A truly troublesome technique. The Divine Annihilation Technique was.
A technique that hid even the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
Keh heh heh. "Let's see if you can get an answer from my mouth! Die!"
The Tenth Dharma Protector thrust both hands forward.
Palm forces of different colors twisted together in a spiral and flew toward Ha Mu-baek.
Red and blue palm force.
Ha Mu-baek hurriedly circulated his inner energy.
The incoming momentum was extraordinary.
Boom boom boom boom!
A deafening explosion erupted.
But that was it.
Ha Mu-baek looked at his hand with an unperturbed face. His hand, which had blocked the Tenth Dharma Protector's palm force, had a slight tingle—a sign of his dramatically improved skill compared to before.
It matched the ominous momentum perfectly.
A bizarre form of palm force he'd never seen before.
'Operating the Annihilation Technique and Blood Technique simultaneously to produce this power...'
And the Tenth Dharma Protector fled with all his might.
Using even the recoil from the palm strike against Ha Mu-baek, he unleashed his lightness skill to the maximum.
Seeing that, Ha Mu-baek...
"That bastard."
Twisted his expression.
He glanced at Yeong So-hyang.
"Wait here or head back to the Hao Gate."
He left those curt words and launched himself forward.
And he truly unleashed his lightness skill at full power.
Noble Light Covering Miles.
Ha Mu-baek gritted his teeth and deployed the fastest lightness skill he could perform.
He poured every ounce of energy from his dantian into his legs.
He had no choice.
Only after seeing that damned bastard fleeing—precisely, deploying his lightness skill—did he realize his identity.
He knew he was wearing a sophisticated human skin mask, but he never imagined it was that bastard.
Blood Flying Shadow Do Mun-wi.
The fastest in the Blood Cult.
The one Ha Mu-baek had let escape three times during the last war.
One of the Blood Cult's hidden elders, a master of extreme lightness skill.
The Tenth Elder among the Blood Cult's Ten Elders.
One of the ten strongest in the Blood Cult, excluding the Cult Leader.
To think the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye had missed that bastard's technique.
'Divine Annihilation Technique, was it? He's created something headache-inducing.'
It wasn't the technique itself that was the problem.
The issue was that it concealed the Blood Cult's Blood Technique from the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
Without activation, it couldn't be detected.
In their clash just now, that damned bastard must have realized it.
That's why he was fleeing for his life.
"You bastard."
Ha Mu-baek spat out a mutter filled with rage.
Blood Flying Shadow Do Mun-wi fled at full speed.
He unleashed his unique lightness skill, Moonlit Night Blood Shadow Body Technique, to its limit.
A faint red energy lingered briefly where he passed before vanishing.
When pushed to the extreme, it left traces—a fatal flaw—but by the time the opponent spotted them, he was already far away. An otherworldly speed lightness skill.
Even after shaking pursuit, he could continue without traces.
The red energy only appeared at full throttle.
No one, not even Ha Mu-baek's Noble Light Covering Miles, had ever caught him.
"Damn that Ha Mu-baek bastard for ruining everything. Regrettable, but I must survive first. He doesn't seem likely to do anything to Yeong So-hyang right now."
Do Mun-wi was furious too.
The picture he'd been painting was perfectly shattered.
"More importantly, he didn't recognize me. Probably because of the Divine Annihilation Technique... It's worth researching."
Having clashed with Ha Mu-baek three times, Do Mun-wi thought he knew him well.
The guy who eerily pinpointed identities, though how was unknown.
Do Mun-wi had speculated it was some ability to read techniques.
Today's encounter revealed one possibility from the Divine Annihilation Technique.
Specific to Ha Mu-baek, perhaps.
Heh heh heh. "Next time won't be like today, Ha Mu-baek."
Rumble rumble rumble!
Do Mun-wi raced westward, kicking the ground madly.
He planned to cross Gansu into Qinghai.
Do Mun-wi could maintain lightness skill for a full day without rest.
Fast, and enduring—a cheat-like skill.
That was Do Mun-wi's lifeline.
Ha Mu-baek pursued at full speed.
He knew how long and fast that bastard could run.
But he also knew he left traces.
The last time he'd escaped, after the red energy faded, pursuit was impossible.
But this time was different.
'If you're the same level as during the last war, you'll be mine this time.'
Ha Mu-baek's eyes cooled coldly.
Knowing it wouldn't end quickly.
He cleared his head.
And unleashed Noble Light Covering Miles at full power.
His lightness skill had transcended walls too.
Faster and longer than before.
Able to maintain top speed continuously.
Thus, he didn't miss Do Mun-wi's traces.
Running full out, the faintly scattering red energy stayed in sight.
Ha Mu-baek simply followed it.
"Whoever tires first loses, Do Mun-wi. It might've been me before, but this time it's you."
A mutter full of conviction.
Feeling the overflowing energy in his dantian, he was certain he wouldn't lose him this time.
And so, the chase between Blood Flying Shadow Do Mun-wi and Ha Mu-baek continued for a full day.
At the spot where the Tenth Dharma Protector and Ha Mu-baek had vanished.
Yeong So-hyang stared blankly westward.
What the hell had happened?
One thing was certain.
"Blood Cult..."
A mutter thick with fury.
Laden with venom.
In the end, the Hao Gate—her family—had been toyed with by their hands.
Her little sister had even died.
Poisonous venom poured from her eyes.
"...I'll have my revenge, no matter what."
Muttering that, Yeong So-hyang turned.
Toward the place she'd left.
Toward Chang'an, where the Hao Gate was.