Chapter 471
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 471
Chapter Title: Now It's My Turn
Sword auras blazing toward each other with immense power.
Blood-red blood aura clashing against pristine white aura.
The first to move was Gae Hong-cheon.
"Explode."
With that quiet mutter.
The blood aura shot toward Ha Mu-baek in an instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Kaboom!
The ground beneath Ha Mu-baek's feet erupted in a massive explosion.
And at the same moment, countless blood aura thorns surged up from the earth.
"Begone."
Ha Mu-baek murmured softly and swung his sword. The white aura expanded into a massive sphere.
Crrrackle.
The blood aura thorns rising toward Ha Mu-baek shattered.
Thud. Thud-thud-thud.
The blood aura flying toward him likewise slammed into the white aura wall and halted.
Gae Hong-cheon's form vanished.
Riiip.
The white aura sphere tore apart in that instant.
And Gae Hong-cheon's sword, now right before Ha Mu-baek, thrust forward.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved as well.
Clang!
He deflected it once.
Clang-clang-clang-clang! Ka-ka-ka-kang!
The two swords moved without pause, ringing out deafening clashes.
It wasn't just noise.
Each collision unleashed massive shockwaves that swept in all directions.
The ruins of collapsed buildings shattered further, debris scattering everywhere.
The expressions of the two, glaring at each other as they swung their swords, were utterly impassive.
"Heh heh heh. Not bad. You've gotten quite strong."
"Not words I care to hear from a man who died by my hand."
"The guy who barely won against me through a joint assault with So Hwi-woong."
"Acting like you fought alone."
During that final battle back then, several of the Blood Cult's Ten Elders had been present.
They too had met their end there.
Kaboom!
The moment their emotionally charged strikes collided.
A thunderous explosion rang out.
"That mouth of yours is still as obnoxious as ever."
A sinister smile curled at Gae Hong-cheon's lips.
"A zombie brat yapping like a human."
The two hurled provocations at each other.
Across years of enmity.
They were finally clashing one-on-one.
Not in war, but a duel.
A fight to the death.
A storm of transparent energy began raging around Gae Hong-cheon.
Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art.
Back then, it had roiled with red energy.
Now, not a trace remained.
So an outsider might mistake it for mere wind blowing through the space.
From Ha Mu-baek's body rose the aura of the Infinite Leisure Divine Art.
Rooooaaar.
The two energies intertwined in midair, locked in a battle of wills.
Tat!
Ha Mu-baek kicked off the ground.
His sword moved.
First Form: Heaven Breaker.
The beginning of the Infinite Leisure Eight Severing Sword Waves.
Reverse Heaven Destruction Thirteen Bloods.
The Blood Cult's strongest martial art, the Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art's sword and blade method.
It met Ha Mu-baek's sword.
Kaboom!
A massive crash as sword met sword.
Second Form: River Severer.
The sword plummeted as if to cleave Gae Hong-cheon in two at once.
Thud.
But Gae Hong-cheon's sword halted it.
Third Form: Thunder Splitter.
Lightning bolts forked in all directions, converging on Gae Hong-cheon.
Crackle. Rumble-rumble-kaboom!
A great thunderclap erupted.
Yet the blood mist blooming from Gae Hong-cheon's sword blocked every bolt.
It felt eerily familiar.
No, it wasn't just familiar.
It had actually happened.
The final battle of the Blood Cult War.
That was how Gae Hong-cheon had countered when So Hwi-woong and Ha Mu-baek pressed him.
Even then.
The bastard had blocked the Infinite Leisure Eight Severing Sword Waves just like this.
Yet Ha Mu-baek's sword did not stop.
Fourth Form: Soul Shredder.
Swords closing in from all sides to crush Gae Hong-cheon.
Flying as if to shatter his soul in an instant.
Kuuaaaang!
Gae Hong-cheon's sword shot straight out, clashing at the tip.
A colossal typhoon raged.
But it affected neither Ha Mu-baek nor Gae Hong-cheon.
Ha Mu-baek simply swung his sword in silence.
Fifth Form: Heaven Render.
Since arriving at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
After reaching a new realm.
Few foes could withstand Heaven Render.
Yet Gae Hong-cheon endured it as if it were only natural.
Ha Mu-baek, expecting as much.
Sixth Form: World Annihilator.
Seamlessly unfolding the Infinite Leisure Eight Severing Sword Waves.
Swords hurtling toward him with world-ending momentum.
Gae Hong-cheon blocked them with all his might.
Like a rain of blood.
Countless sword shadows.
Halted Ha Mu-baek's sword.
However.
The sword did not stop.
It pressed onward along its destined path.
Seventh Form: Leisure.
A sword form he was using for the first time since entering the new realm.
No, even before.
The first opponent he'd unleashed Seventh Form Leisure against in real combat was this bastard, Gae Hong-cheon.
That was how formidable a foe he was.
"Puhahat!"
Gae Hong-cheon, gritting his teeth to block all of Ha Mu-baek's strikes, exhaled roughly.
Ha Mu-baek's sword halted for the first time.
"What kind of zombie needs to breathe?"
"Still an utterly fearsome sword. Heh. Even as a zombie, I need breath. To draw in the ambient energy, you know."
Gae Hong-cheon grinned.
"But. Only one left now, right?"
He clearly remembered that previous battle.
"Ah, was there one more?"
Gae Hong-cheon recalled the sword that had dealt him his final blow.
It had been different from the eight swords Ha Mu-baek had shown him.
Ha Mu-baek stared at Gae Hong-cheon.
"You've changed. Definitely different from back then."
To that.
"Doesn't the same go for you?"
Gae Hong-cheon retorted.
"You know it's not on that level."
Ha Mu-baek's voice grew icy.
Gae Hong-cheon merely smiled faintly.
"Primal Chaos? Ten Thousand Desolations?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
He had sensed it while clashing with the bastard.
That his martial arts contained that power.
Yet.
He couldn't tell which one.
He'd felt it again while blocking Leisure.
The Seventh Form Leisure differed slightly from the first six.
Primal Chaos Six Divine Arts.
As it infused the aura of Leisure.
Compared to that previous battle.
Back when Ha Mu-baek hadn't yet awakened to Primal power.
It was an entirely different sword form now.
Yet.
Gae Hong-cheon had blocked it.
Just like years ago.
A sword form infused with one of the Primal Chaos Six Divine Arts' auras.
That meant.
The bastard wielded power on par with his own.
'How......'
That's why he had paused.
The bastard had died that day.
And.
Today, he had awakened as a zombie.
Now suddenly wielding unknown Primal Chaos or Ten Thousand Desolations power?
Ha Mu-baek couldn't help but be beset by questions.
Gae Hong-cheon looked at Ha Mu-baek.
His lips stretched into a grin.
"Looks like you've gained transcendent power too. Primal Chaos? Ten Thousand Desolations? Who knows. Honestly, I don't even know what they are. But one thing's certain: the power I now wield is the true Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art."
An honest answer.
In life.
He had received the call of the Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art.
So.
When Ha Mu-baek clashed with full power in that final strike.
When he activated the Reverse Heaven Blood Surge Great Law.
[Do you desire power?]
He had heard that voice.
He tried to answer yes.
But his heart was pierced.
When he opened his eyes again.
He realized the aura from that voice dwelled within him.
Not just the power of the Asura Blood Heaven Zombie.
The true power of the Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art.
Looking back, he had sensed a similar aura several times deep underground in the Blood Cult headquarters.
Faintly.
He'd dismissed it as nothing.
But he'd felt it again in the cave where his grandson Gae Sae-ak had holed up.
So Gae Hong-cheon believed his grandson had received the Blood Art's call.
"You don't know Primal Chaos or Ten Thousand Desolations?"
Ha Mu-baek looked surprised.
He'd thought the Blood Cult's Blood Arts originated from them.
"Does that even matter? Let's keep going."
Gae Hong-cheon raised his sword.
He was right.
What mattered now was ending this deathmatch.
Whether Gae Hong-cheon had gained Primal Chaos power or Ten Thousand Desolations power—it didn't matter.
Just eliminate him.
Ha Mu-baek raised his sword again.
Eighth Form: Infinite.
The sword from that past decisive battle erupted forth once more.
The ultimate sword form without end.
Unleashed toward Gae Hong-cheon.
Kuuaaaaang!
Whiiiiiing!
The aftershock shook the earth.
A blood aura-coated sword blocked the white aura sword.
Ha Mu-baek pushed with all his might against the locked blades.
Gae Hong-cheon held firm.
"Heh heh. Is that all? You've grown astonishingly strong, but I've grown stronger too."
In that instant, Gae Hong-cheon unleashed a burst of power.
Ha Mu-baek was pushed back by the force.
"One left now? The one that killed me that day?"
Slightly different from back then.
Still, Gae Hong-cheon had blocked even Infinite.
Ha Mu-baek scowled in irritation.
The day after dealing with that annoying bastard Dokgo Ya-pae.
And now this guy shows up.
Moreover.
He was incomparably stronger than before.
Ha Mu-baek was giving his all right now.
And he was blocking it all.
'I can't fully utilize Extreme power yet.'
Physical balance.
The limit he could maintain was tenfold.
Elevenfold was still too much.
No, if the situation demanded elevenfold, he'd have no choice.
But not yet.
No.
His senses and Infinite Bright Wheel Eye told him so.
Ha Mu-baek held a half-step advantage over Gae Hong-cheon.
At this moment.
And.
He still had that final move.
No progress in mastering balance.
But the Abyss, now even more powerful.
Gae Hong-cheon beckoned Ha Mu-baek with a finger.
"Come on."
An insufferably arrogant look.
At least to Ha Mu-baek.
That's why.
He unleashed the essence taught by his master.
The Infinite Leisure Eight Severing Sword Waves' essence.
The principles of the first through eighth forms fused into a single strike.
Ziiing.
The sword sliced through space in all directions, streaking straight ahead.
Its target: Gae Hong-cheon's heart.
Chaaaang!
Blood aura flared.
Forming a massive wall.
Ha Mu-baek's sword halted against it.
Cracks spiderwebbed across it.
As if it would collapse any second.
But the fact remained.
It had successfully blocked Ha Mu-baek's strike.
Gae Hong-cheon trembled, teeth clenched.
Revealing his current state.
Yet.
He had blocked it.
"That's the end of your sword forms, right? I've still got three left."
Gae Hong-cheon had countered Ha Mu-baek's forms using nine of the Twelve Bloods.
With the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth still remaining.
"Now it's my turn."
Gae Hong-cheon's sword moved.
Tenth Blood: Myriad Heaven Blood Rain.
A rain of blood poured down.
Toward Ha Mu-baek.
Filling every space with a blood drizzle.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
Savagely batting away the blood droplets falling toward him.
Gae Hong-cheon's sword didn't let up.
Eleventh Blood: True Blood Falling Star.
A colossal blood aura plummeted from the sky toward Ha Mu-baek.
Kaboom!!!
Ha Mu-baek's deflected sword met it head-on.
Slide...
Ha Mu-baek's form slid backward.
He furrowed his brow.
'Stronger?'
On par with Ha Mu-baek at full power.
"Heh heh heh. Yes, block it. You blocked it back then too, so of course you will now. But what about this?"
Gae Hong-cheon gripped his sword with both hands.
Twelfth Blood.
That day.
With that form.
So Hwi-woong, assaulting him in tandem, had faced a moment of life and death.
And Ha Mu-baek had intervened, piercing his heart with the final essence.
That's why he remembered it clearly.
The form of absolute power.
Blood Wave.
Blood Tears.
Ha Mu-baek didn't know the name of that form.
But he remembered the sensation from back then.
Blood Tears.
The anguished blood tears of a perishing world.
The sorrowful blood tears of a crumbled realm.
The blood tears of the Alliance Leader felled by that form.
An absolute form evoking such feelings.
This time was no different.
Ha Mu-baek's response was the same as before.
The essence.
Once more unleashed.
It clashed head-on with Gae Hong-cheon's Twelfth Blood, Blood Wave.
Kuuuuaaaang!
Their positions had swapped.
Shatter.
Gae Hong-cheon's upper garments turned to dust and scattered.
A fresh wound opened above the lingering scar on his chest.
It hadn't pierced through.
But it was a meaningful injury.
If he were human.
As a zombie.
Just a wound.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Pahat!
Ha Mu-baek's upper garments also crumbled to dust.
A long sword gash from chest to flank burst open, blood spraying.
Ha Mu-baek scowled, staunching the blood with acupoint seals.
The two turned to face each other simultaneously.
Gae Hong-cheon grinning wickedly, Ha Mu-baek's face rigidly set.
The emotions in their mutual glares were worlds apart.