Chapter 290
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 290
Chapter Title: Mother, You Say?!?
BOOM! KWABOOM! KABOOM!
Deafening explosions erupted in all directions.
The sky shook, and the earth trembled.
All four arrows lay broken on the ground.
Hyun Hwang's tattered robes were torn here and there.
He glared at Woo Moon Ga-yul.
In the meantime, she had arrived and was by Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's side.
"M-M-Mother..."
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon called out to Woo Moon Ga-yul in a trembling voice.
Woo Moon Ga-yul quietly embraced her daughter once before glaring at Hyun Hwang.
What kind of monster is that...?
During the last war.
She had fought countless demonic fiends from the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult, but none had reached that level of power.
"Oh ho. Mother, eh? What a beauty. Heh heh heh."
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's face was that of an ordinary man.
But Woo Moon Ga-yul, who had appeared after firing her arrows, was different.
Exhausted from racing nonstop over a long distance, yet her beauty was undimmed.
Once hailed as one of the Six Flowers of the Martial World, her allure had now matured into profound elegance, reaching its peak.
Gulp.
Hyun Hwang eyed her up and down, swallowing unwittingly.
Energy surged through his body unbidden, churning wildly.
A stiffness settled below his waist.
"Delightful. Simply delightful. Heh heh heh. I told you not to touch that wench. Perfect—her mother suits my tastes even better!"
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's face drained of color at his words.
"Mother! Hurry and flee! Ugh... Urgh."
Horrified, Gong Ya Hwi-yeon tried to rise, but she couldn't budge.
Hyun Hwang still held her restrained.
"Shut your mouth. Stay put for now. I'll take you after I've had my fun. With a peerless beauty like this appearing—far superior to some whore from Dengbonghyun. Heh heh heh heh."
With a casual wave of his hand, Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's body floated up and flew away.
Woo Moon Ga-yul frowned, glaring at Hyun Hwang.
The monster still clutched her daughter in his grasp.
And now he was eyeing her with that lecherous stare.
To rescue her daughter unharmed, she had no choice but to deal with this monster somehow.
I must.
Woo Moon Ga-yul drew internal energy from her dantian.
Her right hand grasped an arrow.
"Ha Mu-baek has appeared in Anqing?"
The news came from the Hao Clan.
Mun In Baek-song affirmed Gong Ya Jang-cheon's question.
"Yes."
"Then..."
"It means there's a high chance the young lady is in Anqing."
That man had chosen a specific location to linger.
The possibility was strong.
"Heavens... How..."
His granddaughter's current situation was hard to track, even for Ha Mu-baek.
Yet he had found her.
Incredible.
"He's a monster like that, after all..."
"Have you informed Ga-yul?"
"We don't know the lady's exact location..."
Gong Ya Jang-cheon nodded at Mun In Baek-song's reply.
Fair enough.
Her movements were unpredictable.
She must have headed to Mount Mokryeom.
But what came after was unknown.
"Anqing... Anqing, you say..."
"It seems she's planning to return here via the waterways."
A map lay unfurled before them.
Mun In Baek-song pointed to a spot.
Namchang, Jiangxi Province.
"She'll likely disembark here."
"Then we should—"
"The moment the report came in, I dispatched men to Namchang and Anqing."
Not Wuchang.
Places like Namchang in Jiangxi and Anqing in Anhui were within reach.
Forcing the Sa-pil Alliance's forces there was just barely feasible.
Anhui meant dealing with the Namgung Clan in Hefei.
But recent intel said the Namgung Clan was in internal turmoil.
Gong Ya Jang-cheon tapped the armrest thoughtfully.
"It'll be fine?"
"With the lady stepping in and Ha Mu-baek searching for the young one too, barring any major variables, nothing should go wrong."
Mun In Baek-song didn't know.
That Shaolin's Abbot Hyeon-gwang had already unleashed a horrific variable.
BOOM!
KWABOOM!
KWABOABOABOOM!
Explosions continued to ring out.
From the clash of arrows and fists.
Woo Moon Ga-yul moved swiftly, firing arrows relentlessly.
Explosive Force.
Soundless.
Heavenly Kill.
Each infused with different internal energies.
Fired using techniques of Explosive Force Heavenly Kill and Soundless Heavenly Kill.
Hyun Hwang swung his fists wildly.
A foul gray sword aura.
That aura shattered every arrow she loosed.
Even those brimming with ink steel energy.
I should have prepared better arrows...
Ordinary arrows had limits to the energy they could hold.
Even firing them at maximum capacity, they were blocked every time.
If only she had steel arrows forged by a master craftsman.
She could have poured in maximum energy.
Hyun Hwang, swinging his fists, inched closer step by step.
Woo Moon Ga-yul unleashed her lightness skill to the utmost, maintaining distance while shooting.
But she couldn't halt his steady advance.
Her arrows were dwindling.
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon watched her mother with eyes full of worry.
Now only about ten arrows remained.
"Mother!! I'm fine, just go! He won't do anything to me!!"
She had heard it straight from Hyun Hwang's mouth. He wouldn't touch her.
But her mother was different.
She couldn't let her mother suffer humiliation at the hands of that monstrous monk.
So she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Yet Woo Moon Ga-yul continued glaring at Hyun Hwang, bowstring taut.
Now eight arrows left.
"Shut it. Be quiet."
Hyun Hwang swatted two arrows aside and sent a palm wind at Gong Ya Hwi-yeon.
A pressure point strike.
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon kept screaming, but her tongue stiffened, and no voice emerged.
She shot Hyun Hwang a venomous glare.
Meanwhile, arrows dropped to seven.
Woo Moon Ga-yul brushed the sword at her waist briefly.
This too was an ordinary longsword.
Could she face that monster with it?
As time passed, the truth sank in.
She couldn't win against this monster.
Her goal was to escape with her daughter.
Even that seemed impossible now.
"Heh heh heh. Down to seven now. After they're gone, let's share some pleasure, you and I. Don't underestimate this seat's prowess. Heh heh heh."
Hyun Hwang kicked off the ground.
Closing the distance in an instant, he swung his hand.
Woo Moon Ga-yul dodged at maximum speed.
His hand sliced through empty air.
"Oh ho. Quite fast."
Hyun Hwang's eyes gleamed.
"Fun. This is fun. Yes, a woman needs this spark. Heh heh heh."
Pew.
Another arrow flew.
He's faster than me.
From that one exchange, Woo Moon Ga-yul gauged his lightness skill speed.
Dodging was growing difficult.
She glanced at her daughter.
Still restrained.
Then.
What if she lured this old monster far away?
No matter how monstrous, he couldn't restrain from afar.
Six arrows left.
Biting her lip hard, Woo Moon Ga-yul made her decision.
[When the restraint breaks, run full speed toward Anqing.]
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's eyes widened at her mother's sudden transmission.
What did that mean?
What was she planning?
Woo Moon Ga-yul staked her last hope on the enigmatic master called Ha Mu-baek.
The one said to be searching for her daughter.
Tyrannical Force God-Exterminating Heavenly Kill Arrow.
It flew at Hyun Hwang once more.
And in that instant.
Woo Moon Ga-yul turned and ran.
"Hm?"
Startled by her sudden flight, he pursued hastily.
But the Tyrannical Force God-Exterminating Heavenly Kill Arrow chased him.
"Tch. Annoying."
The moment he smashed the arrow—packed with immense energy—with his aura-infused fist.
KWABOABOABOABOOM!
A colossal explosion roared.
Thunder cracked, and the earth quaked.
This arrow had been charged to the brink of bursting.
Its shockwave even reached Anqing.
It was the aftershock that alerted Ha Mu-baek outside Anqing.
Woo Moon Ga-yul ran at full tilt.
To draw the monster as far from her daughter as possible.
What happened to her didn't matter.
She had to prevent her daughter from becoming a Shaolin hostage.
But still.
To think such a monster lurked in Shaolin.
A monk with such ominous energy in a sect that despised the Sa Clan.
Having dealt with the arrow aimed at him, Hyun Hwang kicked off the ground.
"Kuhaha. Ashamed to enjoy this seat before your daughter, eh? What a needless scruple."
He bellowed thunderously as he chased the gritted-teeth, fleeing Woo Moon Ga-yul.
As long as Hyun Hwang held Gong Ya Hwi-yeon, Woo Moon Ga-yul couldn't escape.
A mother's heart for her child was like that.
But Hyun Hwang couldn't comprehend such feelings.
Above all, lust had blinded him now.
How long had it been since leaving Repentance Cave?
Yet that damned abbot senior brother had him chasing wenches.
With frustrations piled sky-high.
A beauty fit to turn his head appeared before him.
Though he spoke so, Woo Moon Ga-yul was the most stunning woman he'd ever seen.
His reason was bound to crumble.
Dominated not by his brain, but by the thing between his legs.
Thus, the two vanished.
Shortly after.
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon felt her body loosen.
She sprang up at once.
And tried to chase after her mother.
She was told to flee to Anqing.
But she couldn't.
Her reason said she must—for her mother's sacrifice to mean anything.
Her heart said otherwise.
She might be useless in a fight.
But she had to follow and help her mother.
She rolled up her sleeves.
The Seven-Colored Phoenix Ring gleamed ethereally.
First, she had to dispel this.
"..."
She tried to speak, but no sound came.
Her pressure points were still sealed.
I shouldn't have discarded the Four Thunder Palace...
If she still had it.
Her mother wouldn't be so hard-pressed against that monstrous monk.
Such thoughts plagued her.
"What happened here?"
Then.
A sudden voice.
To her, it was the voice of salvation.
Turning toward it, there he was.
The world's greatest.
Tears streamed down Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's beaming face once more.
"...... ......"
She desperately tried to explain.
Her mouth merely flapped silently.
Ha Mu-baek gazed at her with a hardened expression.
He'd thought she'd already reached Anqing or would arrive today at latest.
He hadn't anticipated this state.
Too complacent...
Ha Mu-baek's insides boiled.
A year and three months since joining Dragon Training Pavilion.
That comfort had dulled his edge.
And this was the result.
I thought Shaolin monks couldn't catch up.
So he'd focused his senses on Anqing.
Finding her with altered appearance and sealed energy via aura sense.
Was like spotting a single grain of golden rice in a desert.
Limits on search range were inevitable.
His maximum covered all of Anqing city.
Anqing was no small town.
A massive city.
Former capital of Anhui before Hefei.
Even after Namgung Clan rose in Hefei and the capital shifted, it had been the seat before.
Still vast and bustling.
Blanketing the whole place with aura sense was feat enough.
Yet he'd concentrated on finding Gong Ya Hwi-yeon amid it.
I got careless... My instincts dulled.
A painful lapse nonetheless.
The aura felt here.
He never imagined a Shaolin monk like that existed.
No, he still doubted it was truly Shaolin.
Now.
Only Shaolin monks pursued Gong Ya Hwi-yeon.
Unless Abbot Hyeon-gwang himself...
The aura was absurd.
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon flapped her mouth frantically before the self-reproaching Ha Mu-baek, radiating murderous intent.
She had to convey her plight.
Desperately.
Only now did Ha Mu-baek truly take in her state.
"Pressure points sealed?"
The man stood before Gong Ya Hwi-yeon.
Ha Mu-baek.
To her, he was a beam of light in darkness—a savior.
After briefly checking her neck, Ha Mu-baek tapped her pressure point lightly.
Soon, words spilled from her mouth.
"Th-there's a monstrous monk in Shaolin named Hyun Hwang..."
Ha Mu-baek frowned at that.
No dharma name like that among known elders.
An unforeseen variable had intervened—one he hadn't anticipated.
Utter complacency.
"So your mother... Hm? That..."
In her frantic explanation, Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's eyes caught the bow slung over Ha Mu-baek's shoulder.
Not its usual form.
But the aura it emanated—she knew it well.
Her cherished weapon.
Though now its presence dwarfed what she remembered.
"Mother, you say?!? Right now?"
Ha Mu-baek was equally shocked.
Her mother—the one he suspected as his benefactor.
"Nine-Fold Celestial Fire Bow?"
Gong Ya Hwi-yeon nodded vigorously at his question.
"Release the seal and enter Anqing. No Shaolin monks there."
Leaving those words, Ha Mu-baek kicked off.
He knew where to go.
The two clashing auras from here were on the move.
He'd only paused because he'd sensed Gong Ya Hwi-yeon's aura here.
Ha Mu-baek ran at full speed.
Lightning-Light Travel for a Thousand Li.
Pouring every ounce of strength.
Damn it...
He cursed himself as he ran.
He had no choice.
His careless lapse had nearly cost Gong Ya Hwi-yeon capture.
And now his benefactor was in peril.
The fleeing one was surely Nine-Fold Celestial Fire Bow wielder.
He sensed Sa Clan energy.
Her pursuer must be that Shaolin monk Hyun Hwang.
But that aura.
Oddly familiar.
An eerie, sinister familiarity.
Inexplicable.
But not the priority now.
The distance between them shrank.
Please!
Ha Mu-baek pushed faster, praying he'd arrive in time.
"Kuhaha! Is this spot to your liking?!"
A small grove.
Here.
Woo Moon Ga-yul was nearly caught by Hyun Hwang.
Please hold...
Woo Moon Ga-yul nocked her last four arrows.
And poured energy into bow and arrows.
RUMBLERUMBLEKWABOABOABOOM!
Four arrows shot forth at once.
Tyrannical Force God-Exterminating Heavenly Kill Arrow.
All four targeted Hyun Hwang simultaneously.