Chapter 511
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 511
Chapter Title: How Long Has It Been?
Deeply embedded in the desert sand, the sword erupted with Ha Mu-baek's energy, surging outward in all directions.
Whoooong. Whooooong.
A fierce vibration rumbled from underground.
It felt like the ground would burst open at any moment, but it held firm.
The reason was Chaos.
Chaos was continuously channeling its power into the formation, resisting Ha Mu-baek's energy.
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrows twitched as he poured his energy into the sword.
'Well, now?'
The resistance was far stronger than before.
He could have shattered it instantly by adding more energy upon sensing the backlash, but this time, it endured even as he poured in more.
The stone at Jegal Nam-cheon's feet continued to emit a faint glow.
Proof that it was expending considerable energy.
Thud thud thud. Thud thud.
The entire overlapping formation shook violently.
The clash between Ha Mu-baek's and Chaos's energies.
In a perfect stalemate where neither side held an advantage, the aftermath rippled outward.
Ha Mu-baek sheathed his sword for the moment.
"Not bad, huh?"
Based on his experience so far, he had assumed this one would break easily too.
But the fifth was different in every way.
"Does this mean the overlaps are nearly complete?"
He interpreted it as the formation drawing ever closer to its core.
The internal energy left in his dantian was about seventy percent.
He looked unfazed, but destroying four formations had taken a toll.
Ha Mu-baek sat cross-legged.
Uncertain what lay ahead, he planned to recover the thirty percent he'd spent within this restriction-free formation.
"Trying to circulate your energy?"
Jegal Nam-cheon grimaced at the sight.
Circulating energy meant significant consumption, a relieving sign that the bastard was human after all.
But the thought of him recovering his spent energy right there in the formation made his teeth grind.
"He's completely ignoring the method to break it. This formation wasn't designed for brute force."
A formation dropped in the middle of the desert.
It was crafted to drain the intruder's internal energy and stamina.
Endlessly wandering the sands in search of the exit would sap their physical strength, vitality, and even internal energy.
Internal energy might be replenished through circulation like Ha Mu-baek was doing, but the vast, endless desert's despair and pressure would inevitably erode one's stamina, vitality, and mental fortitude.
Yet this monster ignored it all, smashing through with raw power alone.
He knew it was a monster, but experiencing it firsthand stoked a deep fury within.
This was the anger of a formation master from the Jegal Clan—not as its head, but as one individual.
Anger at someone defying the formation master's intent and breaking it on their own terms.
That crude, barbaric method of bulldozing straight to the goal, no matter the path.
The very approach people like Jegal Nam-cheon despised most.
It lacked any beauty.
Formations were beautiful creations born from the harmonious principles of all things in the world.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Jegal Nam-cheon scanned for the source as wind stirred around him.
The gentle breeze blew from all directions, converging at his feet.
Chaos.
The wind blew toward the stone it inhabited.
"What is this?"
[He's no pushover. I need to prepare too.]
Chaos was gathering energy as well.
About an hour? No, perhaps two had passed.
Ha Mu-baek opened his eyes and rose.
After stretching briefly, he gripped his sword again.
"Chaos? Emptiness? Which one are you? The one meddling in this formation?"
As if sensing he was being heard, Ha Mu-baek muttered a bit louder.
"Let's see you handle this again."
Internal energy flooded his sword hand like a torrent.
The moment a massive sword aura erupted from the glowing white blade, Ha Mu-baek stepped into the air.
Lightfoot skill of treading the void.
Standing in midair, he reversed his grip on the sword radiating the huge sword aura and plunged it into the ground.
The same move that had failed moments ago.
He unleashed it once more.
"Vanish!"
With his shout.
Storm-like energy swirled into the earth.
Chaos's stone flashed brightly.
Not the faint glow from before.
It was radiant.
A brilliant light mingled with countless hues.
Yet that brilliance was tainted with murkiness.
Symbolizing Chaos, where all things of the world were jumbled together.
Kukukukukung.
The vibrations intensified.
Far beyond the previous quake.
The ground shook wildly.
A deafening rumble as if it would split open with an earthquake at any second.
But it was still a stalemate.
Ha Mu-baek with his sword aura plunged into the earth, and Chaos emitting its radiant light.
With the formation between them, neither gained the upper hand yet.
"Tahat!"
Then a shout burst from Ha Mu-baek's lips.
The moment the sword aura's glow deepened.
Whoooong.
The sword rang out.
The sword's cry echoed as.
Kwakwakwakwaang!!
Kwang!
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
The ground flipped and exploded.
The balance of power had shattered.
Ha Mu-baek's energy overwhelmed Chaos's, and the overflow tore the earth apart.
Kukukukukung.
The formation quaked.
Sand scattered everywhere as the desert roiled.
Sandstorms raged, whirlwinds spun, and sand surged like tidal waves.
Ha Mu-baek's face remained impassive as he poured in his energy.
Whooooooong!!!!!
The sword's cry grew louder.
The moment Ha Mu-baek's entire body glowed white.
Kuuuwaaaaaang!
With a deafening roar that seemed to flip heaven and earth, accompanied by massive tremors.
The world transformed.
The desert vanished, briefly revealing the scenery of Yungjung Mountain, only for a volcano's crater overflowing with lava to appear in the center before disappearing too.
And where Ha Mu-baek stood.
The vast ocean.
A true boundless sea.
In the middle of it.
Standing on a tiny fragment of a boat.
His sword rested quietly in its black scabbard.
Ha Mu-baek reflected on what had just happened.
"I broke two at once."
Indeed.
His overwhelming energy had destroyed the desert formation, and the aftermath shattered the next one too.
That fleeting glimpse of lava-spewing land must have been the scenery of the subsequent formation.
The view from outside it.
He had obliterated that as well, landing him once more inside a formation.
"A sea this time, huh..."
Beneath a cloudless sky stretched an endless azure expanse.
Not a single small island in sight.
A lone leaf in the vast sea.
Absurd.
No way this tiny boat fragment could have carried him to the middle of such an ocean.
But then, was a boundless sea unfolding in a Yungjung Mountain valley any more sensible?
The formation itself defied common sense.
"Could the fifth and sixth formations have broken simultaneously?"
Jegal Nam-cheon checked the seventh formation where Ha Mu-baek stood—the Seven Formations—and asked Chaos.
[Yes.]
A curt reply came.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Fear of Ha Mu-baek, who kept defying norms, took root.
His displeasure at the ugly method of breaking it had already faded.
To think he'd destroy two formations at once.
[I am Chaos. The beginning of the world, a fragment of primordial essence. There's no danger to one such as I.]
"You said that bastard possesses a portion of that power!"
Jegal Nam-cheon erupted in anger.
He clearly remembered Chaos's words.
[Comparing a mere thread of power obtained by a human to me, the primordial fragment itself? How laughable.]
Chaos responded calmly.
Yet Jegal Nam-cheon felt an inexplicable foreboding.
Its source was likely that bored yet confident look on Ha Mu-baek's face.
"It's been a while."
Ha Mu-baek flopped onto his back on the boat, gazing at the sky.
The harsh sunlight stabbed his eyes, but he didn't care.
"How long has it been?"
He had come to the sea once during the previous war.
Come to think of it, that was chasing after that guy too.
Blood Cult's Ten Elders, the Blood Shadow, Do Mun-wi.
Even recalling it now, what a persistent nuisance that one had been.
"Did I let him off too easily?"
The thought crossed his mind.
After all the trouble he'd caused.
"Well, still..."
Chasing that guy had let him witness the sea with his own eyes.
He had roamed the vast Central Plains, battling fiercely everywhere, but never had occasion to visit the ocean.
The desert was the same.
Recalling his first sight of the sea, it had been a shock.
The impact of that endless ocean.
Thanks to it, he had gained insight to elevate his martial realm, so Do Mun-wi hadn't been pure trouble for Ha Mu-baek.
A serendipitous encounter from the pursuit.
His thoughts reached that point.
"Letting him go easily was fine after all."
He revised his view.
He sat up and looked around.
"Come to think of it, Seol-ran probably hasn't seen the sea either."
Dongjeong Lake.
An endlessly vast lake, but a lake and the sea were decidedly different.
He hadn't considered it before, but seeing the ocean—even through this formation—made him want to show it to his sister Seol-ran.
"Wonder how the Fierce Dragon Corps members' vacations are shaping up?"
The thought of taking Ha Seol-ran to the nearest sea led there.
He hadn't discussed it with Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong.
"First, wrap this up. Then take Seol-ran to the sea."
With that decision, Ha Mu-baek stood.
Even moving vigorously on the small boat, it didn't rock in the slightest.
Just gently bobbing with the sea's swells.
Swooooosh.
Then came the sound of water parting.
Ha Mu-baek turned his gaze there.
Sleek tail fins poking above the waves.
Six of them approaching the small boat.
They hadn't been there moments ago.
"What the?"
Chwaaaak!
Suddenly bursting from the water.
"Sha...rk?"
He had never seen a live shark.
Well, he had seen a dead one hanging in a seaside village shop from his previous visit.
Its fins had all been cut off, but this was his first time seeing one this massive.
Its razor-sharp teeth glinted in the light.
He cleaved in half with one sword stroke the one charging at him with jaws wide.
Chwaaak.
The shark sank into the sea, spraying blood.
Was that the signal?
More and more sharks swarmed toward Ha Mu-baek's fragment boat.
And that wasn't all.
Far off.
Puhwaaaak!
Seawater erupted upward.
Puhwoooo.
Then a colossal creature emerged.
Ha Mu-baek had never seen one like this.
But he had heard of it.
"Wha...le...?"
It had to be.
Considering its enormous bulk, larger than most ships.
It was still distant, but slowly approaching Ha Mu-baek.
After dealing with the shark pack, next up was that whale.
"Heh, what a sight. I'd love to show this to Seol-ran too."
No trace of tension on Ha Mu-baek's face.
Only curiosity toward these novel creatures.
Though illusions conjured by the formation, they felt utterly real, so Ha Mu-baek experienced them as if genuine.
A rare encounter in its own right.
That was why Ha Seol-ran came to mind.
"Wonder if she'd see this at the real sea?"
Muttering that, he raised his sword.
Infinite Formless Eight Severing Sword Sea.
Third stance. Thunderbolt.
The sword moved.
Lightning streaked across the sea.
Sslash. Sslash. Ssslaaash.
The sharks swarming around Ha Mu-baek's fragment boat were all slain, floating belly-up.
All that remained was the distant whale.
Prrooooo!
The whale bellowed massively and charged fiercely toward the fragment boat.
Its movement whipped up huge waves that crashed toward the boat first.