Chapter 515
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 515
Chapter Title: That Remark Is Unpleasant
Chaos naturally knew all about Ha Mu-baek's situation.
He could have attacked Jegal So-rin right then and there to put Ha Mu-baek in a bind.
"So, So-rin! You can't! That child mustn't get hurt!"
Jegal Nam-cheon was shouting.
Even if her actions were interfering with him and drawing ironclad surveillance, she was still his own flesh and blood—his granddaughter.
He couldn't bear to watch her get hurt.
Especially not by a formation he himself had created.
The current state of the Nine Chen Formation was utterly ferocious and malevolent.
Even Jegal Nam-cheon hadn't anticipated it would turn out like this.
It was different from the Eight Chen Formation.
The Eight Chen had been a dangerous formation capable of taking lives, but the poisons aimed at Jegal So-rin had merely threatened her without going further.
Not so with the Nine Chen.
The moment he saw the formation shift to attack Ha Mu-baek, Jegal Nam-cheon realized he might have been deceived by Chaos.
That's why he was screaming like this to prevent any attack on Jegal So-rin.
Even the fragments rebounding from Ha Mu-baek's battle with the formation posed grave danger to her.
'Sly serpent-like bastard.'
Flames sparked in Jegal Nam-cheon's eyes.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The ground trembled with heavy footfalls.
Turning toward the sound, a massive stone giant was striding toward Ha Mu-baek.
"Hah."
A hollow laugh escaped Ha Mu-baek's lips.
What in the world was this formation?
Not only were all manner of real-world creatures manifesting as illusions, but so were monsters that didn't exist in reality.
Jegal So-rin couldn't close her gaping mouth at the spectacle unfolding before her.
'I shouldn't have come here.'
She berated herself.
She had intuited that she was Ha Mu-baek's fatal weakness amid this staggering display of combat prowess.
Though they'd only just met today, judging from what her brother had told her of his character and his actions so far, it was a reasonable guess.
Had he not cared for her safety, he would have shattered the Eight Chen Formation outright instead of waiting for her.
He had destroyed it all too easily, after all.
And look at him now.
Boom! Kwaboom! Kwakwakwa-boom!
Monsters unknown to the mortal world were being pulverized by Ha Mu-baek's sword.
But they kept pouring out endlessly.
Where on earth were these monsters coming from in such endless waves?
The answer was simple.
They were illusions conjured by the formation's energy.
The problem was that these illusions possessed tangible, immense power.
And they kept coming without respite.
'What is the source of this formation's power? How is this even possible?'
It was a formation that utterly shattered Jegal So-rin's common sense.
Formations ultimately drew upon nature's energy.
Since they harnessed the natural forces within their deployed range, those forces had inherent limits.
Such harmony was impossible with ordinary formations.
It required power beyond natural energy.
Like the Blood Cult's blood formations or the Demonic Cult's vile demonic arrays.
Yet her grandfather wouldn't have deployed such things on Yungjung Mountain.
Jegal So-rin was plunged into confusion.
As she observed and pondered the phenomena before her eyes, the unresolved crux of the Glorious Radiance Revolving Heavenly Brilliance Formation suddenly unraveled, yielding an answer.
'Primordial power?'
Her thoughts turned to the six fragments of power left in the book Primordia by Jegal Mu-gun.
She had found the answer to the immense power composing and activating the Glorious Radiance Revolving Heavenly Brilliance Formation.
That had been the sticking point while reading the formation manual.
How could such a colossal array, impossible to manifest with natural energy alone, even be configured?
The layered formation before her posed the exact same riddle.
Her thoughts inevitably drifted to power transcending natural energy, leading her to the conclusion from Jegal Mu-gun's Primordia.
'Then the radiant glow emanating from the Glorious Radiance Revolving Heavenly Brilliance Formation... is the power of radiance, one of the primordial fragments?'
Once that clicked, she re-examined the formation.
Which primordial fragment's power was fueling this array, then?
How had her grandfather obtained primordial power?
Could he have found clues to the primordial fragments in the clan library?
Questions begat more questions.
Boom! Kwakwakwa-boom!
Even as she lost herself in thought, Ha Mu-baek waged a fierce battle against the formation.
"Hoo."
Ha Mu-baek exhaled deeply.
He had just shattered another stone giant.
Rumble rumble rumble.
This time, an earthen giant was emerging.
And not just that.
An earthen dragon and octopus were forming as well.
Ha Mu-baek raised his sword again.
He wanted to cleave through this formation in one stroke too, but the onslaught from all directions prevented him from closing the distance to Jegal So-rin.
Even if he could, it would be a problem.
She'd be caught in the radius of this brutal melee.
And shattering the formation outright in this situation might harm her in unknown ways.
Ha Mu-baek's sword danced ceaselessly, flames and frost energies blooming in all directions.
'He said this was the final formation...'
This was the Ninefold Overlapping Formation.
And it was the ninth one now.
According to Jegal So-rin, breaking it would finally bring a confrontation with Jegal Nam-cheon and Chaos.
Ha Mu-baek checked his internal state.
About seventy percent of his inner energy remained.
He regretted not circulating his energy during that previous forest trek.
He hadn't anticipated this being the last one—or that it'd be such a formation. That was his miscalculation.
Even so, Ha Mu-baek decided to go all in.
He couldn't let himself be dragged along by Chaos's scheme to wear him down with endless hordes and exhaust his strength.
A dark sword aura—not his usual pristine white—coiled around Ha Mu-baek's blade.
It exuded a somehow perilous aura.
The moment the dark sword aura flared, Ha Mu-baek's own presence shifted.
Slash. Slash.
His speed in felling the charging monsters seemed to accelerate—
And then the dark sword aura surged massively upward.
Ha Mu-baek swept it horizontally in one motion.
Innumerable emerging monsters were bisected by that single stroke.
The moment his form vanished, he reappeared at Jegal So-rin's side.
"It might get a bit noisy."
With that, Ha Mu-baek raised his sword high and brought it down.
Infinite Free Eight Severings Sword Sea.
Seventh severing: Wish Fulfillment.
A sword strike imbued with the power of Wish Fulfillment.
The dark sword aura plummeted as if to split the formation in twain.
Rooooooar.
With a deafening roar, the formation transformed.
The vista of Yungjung Mountain enveloping them vanished, and from the ground rose an enigmatic hand.
A colossal hand radiating murky, mingled hues grasped at the descending dark sword aura.
Wish Fulfillment seemed caught in the formation's manifested hand.
Yet the blade didn't halt.
Wish Fulfillment continued unfolding, while the formation's hand scattered its turbid light explosively, desperately trying to halt it.
Roooooooom.
The clash of titanic forces made the formation shudder violently.
A contest of sword versus palm.
This time, Chaos's resistance was no pushover; Ha Mu-baek's expression hardened.
Wrinkle lines creased his brow.
"Not bad..."
Ha Mu-baek muttered softly as two energies rose from his body.
Dragon Training flames and Frost Crystal frost.
The dual yin-yang energies spiraled into a vortex, bolstering the dark sword aura the instant they intertwined.
The sword began pressing down the formation's hand—and ultimately...
Kwakwakwakwakwa-boom!!!!
With a colossal explosion.
Rooooooom.
A tremendous vibration echoed.
And the environment around Ha Mu-baek and Jegal So-rin changed.
The same landscape reemerged.
Yungjung Mountain.
But now, standing before them was Jegal Nam-cheon.
"Looks like it's really over."
Ha Mu-baek murmured with a grin.
"Ha Mu-baek. Are you truly human?"
Jegal Nam-cheon asked in a trembling voice.
"Long time no see, Jegal Clan Head. Feels like I heard something similar a few years back?"
Ha Mu-baek had single-handedly swept through the Blood Cult's elites on Yungjung Mountain when Jegal Nam-cheon said something like that.
"What business brings you here?"
Jegal Nam-cheon's gaze shifted to Jegal So-rin.
He demanded sternly, as if scolding her.
"I heard the explosions and came looking, ending up here. What is this formation, Grandfather?"
Jegal So-rin met his eyes squarely, unflinching, and posed her own question instead.
"An ultimate formation I prepared for the clan's future. Though that bastard destroyed them all."
Ha Mu-baek let out an incredulous chuckle at Jegal Nam-cheon's words.
"You're the one who sprang the formation on me the moment you saw me, Jegal Clan Head. Or should I call you Serenity Guan Yin Cult Leader?"
Jegal Nam-cheon's face twisted at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"Shut your mouth!"
"Or perhaps Chaos's master?"
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned to the stone embedded in the ground.
That remark is unpleasant. How could a mere human possibly be this body's master?
Our interests merely aligned, so we cooperated. Nothing more.
Chaos's voice echoed simultaneously in the three people's minds.
Ha Mu-baek glanced around and asked,
"Setting up a damn formation like this deep in the mountains? What were you thinking?"
What else would Chaos desire but chaos itself? Keh heh heh. Heir of Wish Fulfillment.
Chaos had deduced that from the sword energy Ha Mu-baek unleashed destroying the ninth formation.
Whummm.
The stone rose from the ground, glowing brightly.
Jegal Nam-cheon startled at the sudden development.
"Wh-what is this?"
My medium for wielding power is gone, so I'm moving directly. That's all.
The stone's glow intensified, and soon the ground where the formation had been began shining too.
The remnants Ha Mu-baek hadn't destroyed.
Those parts were now radiating light.
And then.
Thank you, Heir of Wish Fulfillment. Energy of this magnitude. Keh heh.
With those words, countless energies surged from the destroyed formation's debris, flying straight into the stone.
"That is..."
Ha Mu-baek frowned at the sight.
Energy flying toward Chaos to empower it.
Familiar energy.
Wasn't it all the energy he himself had unleashed to destroy the formation?
Rather than being expended in the destruction, the formation had absorbed it all upon collapse.
And now Chaos was absorbing every last bit.
'So that's why...'
Only then did Ha Mu-baek realize why Chaos's resistance hadn't been desperate.
It had all been to draw out and absorb his power.
"Tch."
Ha Mu-baek's sword flared with dark sword aura, and he struck at Chaos without hesitation.
Clang!
But a powerful protective aura enveloped Chaos as it absorbed the formation's energy.
Strong enough to deflect Ha Mu-baek's strike.
Jegal So-rin gasped in shock.
She had already witnessed that sword aura's might; for it to be repelled so easily was astonishing.
The dark sword aura grew even larger, and Ha Mu-baek swung again.
The seventh severing, Wish Fulfillment, unleashed once more.
But.
Kwaaaaaang!
Only the sound was louder.
It failed to breach Chaos's protective aura.
Heh heh heh. This too is your power. Can you shatter your own power with your own power?
Chaos began to transform slowly.
Grrr rumble.
Surrounding earth, rocks, and boulders gathered toward Chaos.
Rooooar.
It took on the form of the giant from the ninth formation.
The difference? Same shape, but the size was different.
No longer a giant.
Precisely Ha Mu-baek's own build.
This seemed the most efficient form for battling you.
The horde of monsters from the ninth formation.
They had been Chaos's experiments.
Trials to compose the optimal form for battling Ha Mu-baek.
In the end, the human form proved optimal. A rather hollow result. It was a test to find other shapes, after all.
The eyes, nose, and mouth on its rocky face.
Among them, the mouth curved slightly.
As if sneering.