Chapter 300
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 300
Chapter Title: What Are You?
Hyun-gil stepped out of the Repentance Cave.
There was only one person confined here: Hyun-hwang.
That was why there were no guards.
The rugged peaks of Mount Song simply stretched out before his eyes.
No one else had committed a sin grave enough to be imprisoned here besides Hyun-hwang.
They deemed Master Gwang Hae's seals sufficient, so they had locked him away in the deepest hidden cave.
The solitude of being confined here alone was punishment in itself, leaving no need for additional watch.
Only the elders knew of this place.
Even among the younger disciples who were aware of Hyun-hwang's existence, none knew the location of this Repentance Cave.
There were other such caves as well, after all.
Hyun-gil's gaze turned toward Jugeuk Peak.
A fierce battle was still raging there.
The echoes, tremors, and vibrations of energy reached even this far.
It was a clash between monsters that transcended mortal limits.
Hyun-gil faced his inner self calmly as he gazed upon it.
There, the being who called itself the Abyss awaited him.
"Have you made your decision? After desperately seeking me out, you fled like a coward the moment we met?"
The Abyss, encountered again after two months.
"What exactly are you? How can a martial art possess a will?"
Hyun-gil's question.
"Hah. What a pathetic fool."
The response was mockery.
"On the contrary, aren't you the demonic hindrance?"
"Demonic hindrance? Demonic hindrance? You know better than anyone that I'm not, you pathetic coward. A demonic hindrance is merely your own delusion."
Hyun-gil furrowed his brow.
This was the entity he had encountered by delving deeply into the Reverse Muscle Aging Scripture.
It couldn't possibly be a demonic hindrance.
A demonic hindrance within the Reverse Muscle Aging Scripture?
If so, it would be his own delusion born from improper cultivation.
"I am one fragment among the many from the primordial origin. I am its consciousness. My will is the primordial will. Will you accept that power, O fated one?"
These were the first words it had spoken when they first met.
The Primordial Origin.
The being Master Gwang Hae had told him about.
He should have rejoiced at reaching it, but fear struck Hyun-gil first.
A martial art with such a will?
Even if it was the beginning of the world, could such a thing truly be possible? Doubts and deliberations followed.
Two months had passed in such contemplation.
It wasn't the Abyss of the Primordial Origin that had forced the decision.
Rather, it was Senior Brother Hyun-gwang's actions as abbot and the monstrous form of his fallen Senior Brother Hyun-hwang.
The agonizing had been long.
But the decision came swiftly.
He had to uphold Master Gwang Hae's final wish.
"I accept."
As Hyun-gil answered,
a brilliant light briefly emanated from his dantian before fading away.
And then,
Hyun-gil beheld a new world.
The world of Essence.
Hyun-gil kicked off the ground without delay.
To grant his fallen Senior Brother Hyun-hwang nirvana, in accordance with Master Gwang Hae's dying wish.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved once more.
The smile playing on his lips deepened.
It was an innocent smile, devoid of any emotion.
Truly.
A smile that said this moment was amusing beyond measure.
His sword danced lightly, matching the smile across his face.
The energy flowing out like a spring breeze instantly wove a vast net.
A net poised to constrict and shatter Hyun-hwang from every direction.
Even amid the pure white sword energy net enveloping him, Hyun-hwang kept swinging his two fists.
Pitch-black dark energy clashed against Ha Mu-baek's sword energy net.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening explosions erupted continuously.
Hyun-hwang staggered back step by step.
"Groooaaar!"
A roar escaped his lips, whether a shout or a beastly cry, none could tell.
And finally,
he tore through one side of the sword energy net and broke free.
The empty space where Hyun-hwang had escaped.
Chain Soul rapidly converged on a single point.
Shatter.
Everything within that range was utterly pulverized.
"Huff. Huff. Huff."
Hyun-hwang spat out ragged breaths.
He glanced back at the spot he had just occupied.
A chill ran through him at the thought of what would have happened had he not escaped.
He glared at Ha Mu-baek.
"An unfathomable bastard. You clearly haven't met the Abyss. How can you wield such strength... Tsk."
Doubts filled Hyun-hwang's mind.
But Ha Mu-baek paid no heed.
He simply pressed on with his next attack.
It was still amusing.
To think the Chain Soul net would be torn.
He hadn't used it much since entering the jianghu.
But no one had ever broken through it like this.
Then,
next would be,
naturally,
the fifth form.
Heaven Breaker.
How would he counter this one?
Ha Mu-baek's anticipation grew.
This foe was showing responses beyond even the Blood Cult Leader Gae Hong-cheon or Demonic Cult Leader Seok Won-cho.
Considering the sheer power of the martial arts they wielded,
Hyun-hwang's level still fell short of those two.
In other words,
Ha Mu-baek had yet to unleash his full power.
He had surpassed his past self's realm long ago.
Roooaaar.
Ha Mu-baek's sword floated into the air, leaving his hand.
The pure white sword energy grew ever denser,
until sword and energy became indistinguishable.
Then, the sword plummeted straight toward Hyun-hwang.
A single strike to destroy all.
A technique with power enough to shatter even the heavens.
Fifth form. Heaven Breaker.
It descended.
Hyun-hwang's face hardened gravely.
He had no inkling of which martial art could block it.
A sword of unprecedented might was falling upon him, one he had never seen in his life.
How? Such overwhelming energy. Without meeting the Abyss, without claiming the fragment's full power... Impossible.
His eyes brimmed with shock.
Hyun-hwang drew up all his internal energy.
Was it internal energy?
Or mere energy?
The three fragments entwined in his dantian bit and swirled around each other.
Darkness. Chaos. Emptiness.
The three formed the shape of the Three Ultimate Forces, gradually stabilizing.
Darkness and Chaos of equal magnitude.
Emptiness, slightly weaker than the others.
The Abyss.
It whispered to Hyun-hwang.
It imprinted something into his mind.
The Thousand-Handed Buddha's Prajna Scripture.
He had thought obtaining the fragment of Emptiness hidden within had granted him everything, but no.
A means to fully wield the swirling Three Ultimate Forces in his dantian.
A martial art.
One implanted in his mind by the Abyss, instilled throughout his body.
Dark Chaos World-Destroying Wasteland Fist.
The very martial art he had first encountered at Zhangjing Pavilion.
It had evolved one step further.
Dark Chaos World-Destroying Wasteland Fist: Void Form.
It unfurled from Hyun-hwang's fingertips.
This time, none among the Shaolin monks recognized Hyun-hwang's technique.
Until now, he had wielded one of Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Arts, but now he drew forth something utterly unfamiliar.
His fist and energy indistinguishable,
his pitch-black energy-clad fist itself
shot toward Ha Mu-baek's sword.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
The heavens and earth trembled.
A storm surged outward, threatening to devastate everything in all directions.
"Urk."
"Ngh."
The storm's aftermath engulfed the Shaolin monks.
Though they channeled their internal energy to the utmost to resist,
some suffered internal injuries, vomiting blood.
The colossal shockwave swept beyond Jugeuk Peak, across all of Mount Song.
Ha Mu-baek peered into the heart of the raging energy storm.
Hyun-hwang, black energy roiling over his entire body.
His eyes had turned utterly black.
The whole of his eyes, pitch black.
He resembled a monster from hell.
Hyun-hwang's gaze fixed on Ha Mu-baek.
Crackle.
The two men's eyes locked in midair.
"Should I thank you? Thanks to you, I've grown one step stronger."
Unpleasant black energy vapors wafted from his body.
Moments ago, Hyun-hwang had just absorbed a tiny fragment of Emptiness.
Now, he had fully integrated it into his power.
'He might even be stronger now.'
Ha Mu-baek compared him to Gae Hong-cheon and Seok Won-cho.
Hyun-hwang now surpassed those two fiends who had plunged the world into chaos during the Great Martial War.
At last, the storm subsided.
Now, every Shaolin monk could behold Hyun-hwang's form.
Upon seeing it, Hyun-gwang's eyes widened in horror.
"Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha..."
He chanted Buddhist invocations repeatedly.
He realized he had truly unleashed a calamity upon the world.
Hyun-hwang had now far surpassed Hyun-gwang's own realm.
Someday.
Seok Won-cho, the Demonic Cult Leader he had briefly clashed with during the Great Martial War.
An aura of intimidation stronger than that man's emanated from Hyun-hwang.
Ha Mu-baek glanced sidelong at Hyun-gwang.
The bastard who had released him himself was now insisting Hyun-hwang had escaped.
Even so, had he kept him confined, he surely possessed some means to seal him.
Yet here he was, merely spectating.
Well, it didn't matter. Not now.
It had been amusing for once.
Of course, the price would come later.
Ha Mu-baek's sword returned to his hand.
It still radiated chilling sharpness.
Taat.
Hyun-hwang kicked off the ground.
His fists surged toward Ha Mu-baek with ferocious momentum.
Dark Chaos.
World Destruction.
Wasteland Breaker.
Void.
Fists imbued with each ultimate essence scattered terrifying, malevolent energy.
Heh.
Ha Mu-baek grinned.
That repulsive fist technique.
The essence one of them displayed
resembled one of the Infinite Free Eight Severing Sword Waves.
Which was stronger, truly?
Since even the Shaolin monks didn't recognize it, it must be Hyun-hwang's unique fist art.
Ha Mu-baek kicked off into the air, launching his body forward.
His sword moved.
It carried a nihilistic energy unlike before.
Infinite Free Eight Severing Sword Waves.
Sixth form.
World Destruction.
The sword's energy, meant to annihilate the world, eerily mirrored one aspect of Hyun-hwang's Dark Chaos World-Destroying Wasteland Fist.
Though their origins were entirely different.
Sword and fist clashed savagely.
The two targeted only vital points with lethal intent, each strike aimed to end the other's life in one blow.
Neither succeeded.
Each was blocked by the other.
Kwa-kwa-boom!
Kwa-boom!
Colossal energy collisions resounded endlessly in all directions.
The Shaolin monks had retreated step by step, now standing quite far off.
Slash.
Ha Mu-baek's sword sliced Hyun-hwang's sleeve.
Thud.
Hyun-hwang's fist energy grazed Ha Mu-baek's shoulder.
Not yielding an inch, the two.
For a full half gak, they pressed their assaults without respite.
As if defense was unthinkable.
They parried attacks with attacks.
The innocent smile on Ha Mu-baek's lips deepened to its utmost.
Hyun-hwang's eyes turned blacker than black could be.
Eyes as deep and dark as the abyss of eons.
Kwaaaang! Boom!
The two men's strikes, bent on erasing each other from existence, collided.
In the end, both retreated.
Neither gained the upper hand in this exchange.
"What manner of being are you? You wield power from the same origin as mine. Yet you don't use it fully. You haven't met it. And still, you're as strong as I am. What are you?"
Hyun-hwang stared at Ha Mu-baek and asked.
Yet the words were peculiar.
Though spoken by Hyun-hwang, they weren't solely his.
Likely, that thing called the Abyss.
It had merged with Hyun-hwang's self.
"Looking at your state now, it seems right that you haven't met it. A power that invades the self."
Ha Mu-baek grimaced, his amusement fading.
It had been quite fun until now.
But a martial art that eroded one's sense of self?
He wouldn't find the same thrill anymore.
Gae Hong-cheon and Seok Won-cho,
had held firm to their egos until the very end.
Even after cultivating those nefarious Blood Arts and Demonic Arts.
Hyun-hwang might be stronger than they had been then.
But in truth, he was weaker.
To have a portion of his self stolen by some mere martial art.
"Heh. You came seeking me because you couldn't overcome my power anyway."
Hyun-hwang sneered.
Only then did Ha Mu-baek recall what he had forgotten in his thrill.
Gong Ya-hwi.
The energy that had been consuming her.
Come to think of it, it resembled the energy now billowing from this man.
Though this one was even more vicious.
"Well, I'll find a way somehow. Just because I can't now doesn't mean I never will. I sought you out in haste. But seeing you like this... Eh. Maybe it's best just to kill you."
Ha Mu-baek's aura shifted.
An even denser, wilder energy rose.
"Gae Hong-cheon."
Suddenly, the name of the former Blood Cult Leader slipped from Ha Mu-baek's lips.
"Seok Won-cho."
This time, the former Demonic Cult Leader.
Question marks appeared on the faces of the watching Shaolin monks.
Why these names all of a sudden?
Such doubts.
"Those two at least made it to the seventh and eighth."
Words of unclear meaning.
"But you? I don't think you'll need that."
Ha Mu-baek's sword gleamed.