Chapter 472
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 472
Chapter Title: Thanks to You
"It's the Manhwang power."
Ha Mu-baek muttered to himself.
He could tell for certain from their exchange just now.
The power dwelling within that bastard's martial arts right now was the Manhwang.
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brow.
This was the second time encountering a wielder of the Manhwang.
But it was different from his first encounter.
With Go Hu-rak.
They had clearly traded a fierce barrage of blows.
Yet that bastard's aura showed no change whatsoever.
Despite weathering Ha Mu-baek's countless attacks.
The Infinite Ruyi Eight Severance Sword Sea.
He had met it all head-on, and his energy remained utterly unchanged?
Impossible.
"Manhwang? Who knows."
Gae Hong-cheon tilted his head as he replied.
But the corners of his mouth were curled upward.
"You zombie freak. No need to play coy. You're feeling it crystal clear right now too, aren't you? Even a zombie couldn't ignore the changes in its own body."
At Ha Mu-baek's question.
His mouth split into a wide grin.
Dark, hideous fangs gleamed into view.
"I've simply attained the true realm of the Blood Demon Divine State. A realm known only through legends... to learn of it only after awakening as a zombie. Amusing, isn't it?"
A sticky aura roiled and rose around Gae Hong-cheon's body.
"Blood Demon Divine State?"
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head.
"That's right. This land of Mountain-Crossing where the Blood Demon God personally descended. The Blood Demon God's true power slumbers here. Attain the Blood Demon Divine State, and you can wield that power."
The sticky aura began coalescing into a fiercer energy.
Those words sparked a memory in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
When he slew Blood Demon Gae Hong-cheon.
His final words.
'This land shall remain the Blood Demon's territory forever.'
This land, of course, meant Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
What exactly was this place?
The blood flowing from his wound had already stopped.
He had pressed his acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
Ha Mu-baek raised his sword once more.
If he had his way.
He'd unleash the Abyss right then and there.
But from testing it on Dugo Yapa.
It was a power with no reserve.
All strength poured into a single strike.
Of course, about thirty percent of the energy recovered immediately, but...
Looking at Gae Hong-cheon now, it would be a gamble.
If that bastard endured the Abyss.
And if his remaining power surpassed Ha Mu-baek's.
Then Ha Mu-baek would be the one on the losing end.
Gae Hong-cheon raised his sword as well.
"Heh heh. Thanks. It's all thanks to you. Hit by that technique of yours back then, I touched the Blood Demon God's omnipotent power! Kuhahaha."
Of course, he met his end soon after.
However.
Thanks to Il-no's scheme.
Reviving as the Asura Blood Heaven Zombie.
He seized that power.
He knew it instinctively.
How to wield the Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Destruction Blood Art.
That he had truly attained the Blood Demon Divine State.
Crimson blood-gang surged along Gae Hong-cheon's sword.
Pure white sword-gang surged along Ha Mu-baek's sword.
Kwaaaang!
Once more, their swords clashed.
Both poured in their full power.
Ha Mu-baek did. Gae Hong-cheon did.
Neither gained the upper hand.
Only natural.
Their current realms were perfectly matched.
Strictly speaking, Ha Mu-baek held a slight edge.
The clash just before proved it.
Ha Mu-baek had landed a solid strike to Gae Hong-cheon's heart.
Gae Hong-cheon had slashed Ha Mu-baek's upper body, but it was shallow.
The gap in damage mirrored the gap in their realms.
However.
Because Gae Hong-cheon was a zombie.
Despite the heart strike, he maintained his unyielding form.
It was human versus monster. Monster versus human.
A soul that should have long departed this world.
Clinging to its monstrous shell.
All thanks to Il-no.
The forty-nine days before a soul fully leaves the living realm after death.
Before then, he began the grand ritual to zombify Gae Hong-cheon, anchoring that soul.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek's lingering power in the heart obstructed the zombification.
But the soul remained tethered.
Through the grand ritual of zombification.
Gae Hong-cheon remembered none of the process.
During that time.
Gae Hong-cheon's soul attained the Blood Demon Divine State of its own accord.
Right before death.
A question echoed from the depths of his inner consciousness.
Because he answered it in the affirmative.
As his last breath faded.
He nearly failed to grasp that power.
But with Il-no anchoring the soul.
In death's deep unconsciousness, it claimed the power.
Blood Demon Divine State.
He knew not precisely what realm it was.
But Gae Hong-cheon's energy showed no depletion.
Thus.
Slightly inferior in realm, yet matching Ha Mu-baek through sheer overwhelming quantity of energy.
Ha Mu-baek believed.
That Blood Demon Divine State.
Was linked to the Manhwang energy.
He had clearly sensed Manhwang energy in the clash moments ago.
Eight fragments.
One of the eight pieces, without doubt.
But which, he knew not.
One certainty: it was not poison.
Now, time to probe deeper.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
The Four Severance Soul Shredder unfolded once more.
With momentum to shatter Gae Hong-cheon's soul in a single blow.
The power concentrated to a single point erupted.
But Gae Hong-cheon blocked Soul Shredder with a sword form of Reverse Heaven Destruction Twelve Bloods.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes flashed.
Peak Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
Those eyes clearly tracked the flow of Gae Hong-cheon's energy.
Zombie energy differed from human internal force.
Previously, hard to discern precisely.
Not anymore.
Peak Infinite Bright Wheel Eye synergizing with Ha Mu-baek's energy sense, yielding supreme clarity.
He saw it all too clearly.
'Even infinite internal energy shows a depleting flow the instant it's used.'
And above all.
That bastard's energy was not infinite.
Finite energy, unmistakably sensed.
Thus, replenishment from somewhere immediately after use.
Ha Mu-baek sought that source.
Kwaaaaang!!
The sword bearing slightly more energy than the internal force Ha Mu-baek poured into his own.
Ultimately blocked Soul Shredder.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes fixed on Gae Hong-cheon's abdomen.
Where the inner core resided.
To observe its energy flow with his eyes.
Gae Hong-cheon's depleted energy swiftly refilled.
The internal force spent on Ha Mu-baek remained spent.
Breathing in energy to replenish the dantian.
But the speed differed markedly.
Gae Hong-cheon restored all energy in a blink.
'Again.'
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
This time, Seven Severance Ruyi.
Gooooong.
Amid the quaking air, the sword descended toward Gae Hong-cheon.
Kuaaaaang!!!
Once more, Gae Hong-cheon blocked it.
This time, both staggered back.
And.
A faint quiver touched Ha Mu-baek's lips.
'Found it.'
This time, he clearly saw the energy flow.
Instantaneous recovery, yet.
This time, he witnessed it.
Exchanging blows for precisely this purpose.
Barely discerned amid the flow needed to block Ruyi.
"Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest. What is this land?"
Ha Mu-baek glared at Gae Hong-cheon and demanded.
"What're you talking about?"
"You. Recovering energy from this demonic forest."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes sharpened fiercely.
Indeed.
The instant that bastard expended energy.
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest's land, trees, air.
Instantly infused him with energy.
Energy utterly unlike standard martial arts.
Only then did Ha Mu-baek grasp one truth.
The sticky, repulsive sensation felt only upon entering Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
That eerie feeling earning it the name demonic forest.
Not solely due to the zombies.
The Blood Cult bastards had tampered with this forest space itself.
Thus the foul feeling every entry.
"The land where the Blood Demon God descended. That's all."
With that answer, Gae Hong-cheon's sword moved.
This time, his initiative.
The sword form unleashed.
The twelfth of Reverse Heaven Destruction Twelve Bloods.
Blood Tower.
Ha Mu-baek countered with his sword.
The fifth essence of Infinite Ruyi Eight Severance Sword Sea.
Kuaaaaakwaaaang!
A massive explosion sent both skidding backward.
This time.
Neither took wounds.
Due to the prior exchange, both fought more defensively with their sword forms.
"I see."
And Ha Mu-baek's lips curved slightly upward.
This time, he had clearly seen and felt it.
"This damned demonic forest itself is a fragment of the Manhwang."
Vast power expended.
Vast energy stirred.
Ha Mu-baek saw and sensed it clearly within.
'Of the Eight Trigrams, Gen.'
The forest energy this damned Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest fed to Gae Hong-cheon was unmistakably that.
One of Manhwang's eight fragments.
Last time, Go Hu-rak's poison was the Tai energy.
This time, Gae Hong-cheon's was Gen energy.
And its nature.
'Darkness...'
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest was peculiarly dark compared to other lush woods.
Perhaps due to the sea of trees.
Yet even deeper, denser woods dubbed forests of trees lacked this gloom.
Ultimately.
The Manhwang fragment.
Influence of its energy.
However.
'It's incomplete.'
He knew from facing Go Hu-rak.
Gae Hong-cheon's Manhwang energy was not whole.
He had grasped the power, but not fully intact.
"As long as the Blood Demon God's power accompanies me, you cannot defeat me. Let's end this. I have much left to do!"
Explosive energy erupted from Gae Hong-cheon's body.
Until now, it felt like testing his limits against Ha Mu-baek.
Now, as if mastery achieved.
Momentum to crush Ha Mu-baek outright.
"Yes. Let's end it."
The faint smile on his lips deepened.
Ha Mu-baek now held certainty.
Having pinpointed the source of that bastard's power.
Fully comprehending Manhwang's nature.
Hesitation vanished.
Though Gae Hong-cheon could invest more energy in a single strike.
Due to Ha Mu-baek's body lacking perfect balance.
Limits on deployable power.
Were it Infinite at the twelfth star realm.
Were it the fifth essence.
He might have rent that body asunder.
However.
The aftermath of his body's shattered balance was unpredictable.
From battling Dugo Yapa.
No assurance the zombie wouldn't fuse and revive from cleaved parts.
Thus.
Reduce to powder in one blow.
Nine Severance.
Abyss.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
Gae Hong-cheon's sword moved too.
However.
A motion never seen before.
"This too, I realized thanks to you."
Gae Hong-cheon had endured all of Ha Mu-baek's fifth essences three times.
First encounter brought death.
As zombie, two more times.
That sparked enlightenment in Gae Hong-cheon.
Reverse Heaven Destruction Twelve Bloods.
Infusing principles from first to twelfth blood into one strike.
Cleaving down at Ha Mu-baek in a single blow.
'Blood Heaven Blood World.'
The name surfacing in Gae Hong-cheon's mind just now.
Reverse Heaven Destruction Twelve Bloods had become thirteen.
Facing Gae Hong-cheon's such sword.
Ha Mu-baek smoothly swept his sword downward.
Nine Severance. Abyss.
That light motion.
Stirred colossal energy, meeting Gae Hong-cheon's sword.
Seogeok.
A crisp slicing sound.
The freshly realized, newly forged, first-drawn-into-the-world.
Gae Hong-cheon's thirteenth blood, Blood Heaven Blood World, was rent.
Following.
Gae Hong-cheon was rent.
And.
The world was rent.
"Keuheok."
A guttural gasp of agony burst from Gae Hong-cheon's mouth.
Thanks to Abyss wholly devouring Gae Hong-cheon's energy.
All of Gae Hong-cheon's energy vanished utterly.
In that instant.
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest reacted.
The forest energy, the darkness energy.
Sought to surge toward Gae Hong-cheon.
Ha Mu-baek recovered thirty percent of the energy invested in Abyss.
And immediately.
Moved his sword again.
Moments ago.
He had swept downward vertically.
This time.
Casually, lightly.
Slashed horizontally.
Nine Severance. Abyss.
Unleashed once more.