Chapter 301
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 301
Chapter Title: Mutual Restraint?
A sword burning with pure white flames.
White Fire.
There was no other way to describe it.
Ha Mu-baek kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
He stepped on thin air and charged straight at Hyun Hwang.
Hyun Hwang, too, drew up every last drop of his energy.
He could sense that this was different from before, so he fought with desperate resolve.
Ha Mu-baek arrived right in front of Hyun Hwang in the blink of an eye.
The sword moved fluidly.
It was a technique he had used several times already.
Infinite Free Eight Severing Sword Wave, First Severance.
Opening Heaven.
Hyun Hwang had faced this technique many times.
That's why he was confident.
Before, he had clashed against it with Shaolin fist techniques.
This time was different.
Dark Chaos World-Destroying Tyrant Fist.
The fist technique that had forged the man Hyun Hwang was today.
And this was the Void Form, infused with a fragment of nothingness.
He moved his fist as guided by the abyss.
Jet-black haze billowed up, colliding with Ha Mu-baek's pristine white sword aura.
Sizzle.
Hyun Hwang's eyebrows twitched.
The reaction was unlike anything before.
He had drawn up all his energy and unleashed his strongest fist technique.
Normally, it should overwhelm the opponent.
Or if evenly matched, there should be a thunderous clash.
But a sizzle?
'It's like it's burning in fire...'
The moment that thought crossed Hyun Hwang's mind.
Ha Mu-baek's sword was truly incinerating his energy, burning it away.
"H-how...?"
Hyun Hwang cried out in alarm.
But Ha Mu-baek's sword showed no mercy.
It tore through and burned Hyun Hwang's energy.
"Tch."
Writhing black energy stretched out like tentacles toward Ha Mu-baek.
Every motion followed the trajectory of the Tyrant Fist.
Four pairs of tentacle fists surrounded Ha Mu-baek from all sides.
Sizzle. Crackle. Sizzle.
Yet the First Severance, Opening Heaven, burned through Hyun Hwang's energy without the slightest hesitation.
The next severance unfolded.
Severing Clouds!
The massive sword strike sliced through all eight tentacles formed from Hyun Hwang's energy in one go.
The black energy tentacles regenerated instantly.
This time, there were double—sixteen of them.
But that was all.
Severing Clouds pressed on relentlessly.
The white-flamed sword aura cleaved through every bit of energy Hyun Hwang emitted.
Hyun Hwang spewed forth endless gloom-ridden darkness like pitch-black abyss.
But it was all severed and burned away in moments.
"Raaargh!!!"
Hyun Hwang roared in fury.
Black energy writhed and poured from even his seven orifices.
The sight was grotesque and eerie.
This was no human.
A demon?
No, far more horrific than any demon.
Compared to that, demons seemed almost cute.
A devil?
Yes.
It was a devil.
Demons were still within the realm of humanity.
Hyun Hwang's current form looked like some otherworldly abomination.
The Shaolin monks were seized by horror.
How could a human take on such a form?
That was the visage of yakshas and devils, fit only for the hells among the Six Realms spoken of by the Buddha.
"Amitabha, Amitabha, Amitabha."
"Amitabha..."
The Shaolin monks chanted sutras repeatedly.
They closed their eyes and prayed to the Buddha.
A devil had appeared before them—it was only natural.
Hyun Gwang stared blankly at Hyun Hwang's form.
'Calamity... turned into a devil... Master was right. How far did you see, Master...'
Hyun Gwang slowly closed his eyes.
—Abbot. I leave you my final will. Hyun Hwang, confined in the deepest chamber of the Repentance Cave—never release him. That is my will.
Hyun Gwang had already passed the abbot's seat to his disciple.
But as the former Abbot of Shaolin, he did not speak down to him.
—Yes. I understand, Master.
—Yet even my will, or that of the previous abbot, can be broken.
Hyun Gwang lowered his gaze.
He gave no reply.
Both Guang Hae and Hyun Gwang knew what case that would be.
They simply chose not to voice it.
If it truly came to pass, it would mean betrayal: betrayal by the disciple for Guang Hae, and betrayal of the master for Hyun Gwang.
No one could speak such words.
—Abbot. Subdue your inner demons. Forget the worldly ties and burn away the inner demons as well.
—I have already burned them all and forgotten, Master.
Guang Hae stared intently at his disciple in response.
Hyun Gwang, head bowed, could not meet his master's eyes.
—Demons unseen, unfelt, may lurk deep in your heart. Continue your cultivation diligently, Abbot. Should those demons raise their heads, calamity may summon devils.
Seeing his martial brother become this calamity, this devil, Hyun Gwang realized.
Releasing his martial brother from the Repentance Cave had not been for the greater cause of eradicating evil and revealing truth.
It stemmed from revenge against the unorthodox sects that had exterminated his family.
It was the manifestation of the inner demon he had lied to and hidden from his master.
His master had known it all.
That's why he had not passed it on to him.
The final insight to subdue his martial brother.
His master had surely attained and pondered that insight.
Right up to the moment of entering Nirvana.
Yet he had said not a word to Hyun Gwang.
It was all because of his own shortcomings.
Now, seeing Hyun Hwang like this, regret came too late.
"Amitabha..."
Hyun Gwang murmured a sutra softly.
He opened his eyes and stared straight at Hyun Hwang.
If that devil sought to defeat the monster and emerge into the world, he had to stop it here.
That was his duty.
"Prepare the Demon-Extermination Arhat Formation, everyone."
At Hyun Gwang's command, the gathered Shaolin monks circulated their qi and moved into position.
They were ready to deploy it at any moment on the abbot's order.
The Demon-Extermination Arhat Formation, to eradicate evil beings.
A sacred and noble formation that maximized the Buddha's power.
At that moment.
"Martial brother still hasn't escaped his inner demons. Amitabha."
Hyun Gwang frowned at the sudden voice.
"What do you mean by that? Hyun Gil. You leave your post and show up only now."
Hyun Gil, returned from the Repentance Cave, looked at his senior brother Hyun Gwang with pity.
"Couldn't senior brother suppress Hyun Hwang right now? Why haven't you? Because of your inner demons? You hope Ha Mu-baek eliminates him."
Hyun Gil's words struck at the heart.
Indeed.
Hyun Gwang's earlier reflection was just pretense.
The three sealing spheres still clung to Hyun Hwang's body.
A simple incantation would subdue him instantly.
Yet he had ordered the Demon-Extermination Arhat Formation instead of using it.
Planning to intervene only after the fight ended.
Hyun Gil could tell from that alone.
His senior brother still hated the unorthodox.
Not for the greater cause, but personal grudge.
And he wanted to eliminate Ha Mu-baek, the absolute powerhouse he saw as allied with the unorthodox, aiding them.
Even borrowing the hand of his devil-turned martial brother.
But.
It didn't seem to be going his way.
The current battle showed as much.
Ha Mu-baek, wielding his white-flamed sword, relentlessly overwhelmed and dominated Hyun Hwang.
'How on earth is that lay disciple...'
Doubt flickered in Hyun Gil's eyes.
Before, he had just seemed monstrously strong.
Now that he had accepted the abyss, he could tell.
The man wielded power of a similar nature to his own.
However.
That man had not encountered the abyss.
Yet he displayed an overwhelming might that seemed to grasp the full extent of that power.
How?
How exactly?
Even the abyss wondered.
He could feel it.
But Hyun Gil suppressed it.
He had accepted that power solely to guide Hyun Hwang to Nirvana.
He had no intention of borrowing the abyss's power for anything else.
Indeed.
Ha Mu-baek.
Could that man send senior brother Hyun Hwang to Nirvana without the abyss's power?
He grew curious.
"H-how can this be...?"
Hyun Hwang's face twisted in fury.
The three severances Ha Mu-baek unleashed had utterly shredded his energy.
He could feel his once-endless energy dwindling bit by bit.
Meanwhile, that damned bastard's energy overflowed.
What the hell was that monster?
How could this happen?
His current level was extraordinary.
The faces of his staring senior brothers, juniors, and nephews told him that much.
Even the Demonic Cult Leader wouldn't provoke such expressions.
Yet.
Yet.
This accursed bastard was overwhelming him like this.
Shuuuaak!
In the brief moment Hyun Hwang lost himself in thought.
Ha Mu-baek's sword slipped through the gap.
That horrific blade that incinerated his energy with the slightest graze.
It struck true again.
"Urk."
He retreated once more.
The sword pressed relentlessly.
Now it was terrifying.
What the hell was that power?
Just moments ago, it had been neck-and-neck. No, there were times he had the upper hand.
Now he was being pushed back one-sidedly, unbelievably so.
A few days ago, when they had fought all-out, he had sensed a slight shortfall.
Now, the gap was vast.
He had no idea how to counter that man.
"Ugh."
Hyun Hwang groaned again.
"You bastard. What the hell is that power? How can it counter mine so perfectly?"
Ha Mu-baek smirked at the question.
But he didn't stop his sword.
The intent was obvious.
His sword sliced into Hyun Hwang's right thigh.
Slash!
Blood sprayed.
He had dominated until now, but this was the first wound on Hyun Hwang's body.
It wasn't deep.
But the injury was unnatural.
Like a burn from fire.
Not a mere sharp cut from sword aura.
Only then did Ha Mu-baek pause his sword and gaze steadily at Hyun Hwang.
Well, entertaining him a bit like this wasn't bad.
In that interval, Hyun Hwang pressed acupoints around the wound to staunch the bleeding.
A bizarre injury.
Burns don't bleed much.
The flesh chars and seals the wound.
Yet.
This wound looked burned, but blood still flowed.
What the...?
"Mutual restraint? You idiot."
Hyun Hwang's face flushed red at Ha Mu-baek's reply.
Mockery again.
That bastard he wanted to tear apart.
"If not mutual restraint, then why does your energy annihilate mine completely?!"
"Didn't that abyss nonsense explain? It seemed to devour even your ego."
Hyun Hwang faltered at Ha Mu-baek's question.
Come to think of it.
At some point, the abyss...
Had gone quiet.
When had that happened?
"Think it's mutual restraint keeping you from using your power? You idiot. I thought you were smart."
The mockery continued.
"The reason is simple."
Hyun Hwang, about to erupt in anger, glared as Ha Mu-baek continued.
His eyes demanded the answer.
"Because I'm stronger."
"W-what?"
An unacceptable response.
"Before you unleashed that damned energy, it was clearly..."
"I was just matching your level for fun earlier. Made you use quite a bit, though."
Hyun Hwang stared in disbelief.
"No way... No way..."
He had gathered three kinds of fragments and fused them.
True, they were shattered fragments, not whole.
But he had met the abyss and learned the truth of power.
Recall the euphoria when a fragment of nothingness became his—this was absurd.
"I told you. You won't see my sword's seventh and eighth severances. Why do you think that is?"
Hyun Hwang shuddered, recalling Ha Mu-baek's terrifying swordsmanship.
Indeed.
The techniques he used now seemed like repeats of those against him before.
But the results differed.
Previously, Hyun Hwang had blocked or gained the advantage.
Now, he was getting one-sidedly crushed.
"Then. Time to end this."
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved again.
Fifth Severance: Heaven Breaker.
Not splitting the heavens, but shattering Hyun Hwang—the massive sword descended upon him.
"I won't go down like this!"
Hyun Hwang drew up every ounce of energy, as if to shatter his dantian.
His body was fully engulfed in jet-black energy.
He swung his right fist with full power.
From the massive black energy, a sharp, awl-like black fist strike shot forth.
Ha Mu-baek's Heaven Breaker and Hyun Hwang's Dark Chaos World-Destroying Tyrant Fist clashed in midair.