Chapter 54
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: I See...
It was a man he'd never seen before.
And yet Pang Mu-ryang was absolutely certain. That bastard was Ha Mu-baek.
After all, someone had spat out his name, letter by letter, in that savage voice.
Ha Mu-baek slowly raised his head and stared at Pang Mu-ryang.
"Pang Clan Head? Pang Mu-ryang, was it?"
"Grind. That's right. I am Pang Mu-ryang. Get over here right now and offer up your neck!"
He gripped his sword sheath so tightly that the veins bulged on his hand, then bellowed in fury.
Ha Mu-baek just smirked.
Talking was pointless in a situation like this anyway. He would simply take the bastard's head and be done with it.
Getting this much blood on his hands was unavoidable.
Ha Mu-baek rose from the rock and planted his feet on the ground.
"Whose neck? From where I'm standing, it looks like yours."
Ha Mu-baek's calm words flushed Pang Mu-ryang's face red.
"Grind. You green little punk..."
A seething aura rose from Pang Mu-ryang's body. It was thick with rage.
Someone watched their standoff with a face drained of color.
Pang Do-jam.
The only one present who had, during the last war, caught even a distant glimpse of Ha Mu-baek.
'He... he seems even more terrifying now...'
The aura Ha Mu-baek subtly exuded as he calmly regarded the clan head.
Pang Do-jam couldn't sense it directly.
His own level hadn't reached that point.
But because he'd seen it once before, he could tell just by looking.
Do not touch him. Ever.
But it was already too late to turn back.
"Gulp."
Pang Do-jam swallowed dryly.
"What's with the tension? Dawn's breaking, and there's nowhere for that bastard to hide here. He's been hitting us like a coward assassin up till now, but that's over. He's a dead man walking."
The Storm Corps Leader clapped Pang Do-jam on the shoulder as he spoke.
'No. You're just clueless. We might be the dead ones.'
The words rose in his throat, but he couldn't bring himself to voice them, so they stayed locked in his mind.
Shing.
With a sharp ring, Pang Mu-ryang drew his sword.
"I'll let you draw your sword. Do it."
Ha Mu-baek lightly shook his head.
"That's for me to decide."
"Insolent whelp."
The words had barely left his mouth when Pang Mu-ryang's sword lashed out.
Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade.
The Pang Clan's supreme sword art, known only to its head.
Ha Mu-baek had named Pang Geol-ryang's Nyeongun Palyeongdo as the clan's finest, but this was his first time witnessing the Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade in person.
Its fierce, domineering strokes were truly a cut above Iron Blood Thunderclap Blade.
And it had that mystical variation that seemed to rip the soul right out of one's body.
As a sword art alone, it was worthy of being called the Pang Clan's pinnacle.
'The problem is the one wielding it.'
Even so, Ha Mu-baek still believed Pang Geol-ryang's Nyeongun Palyeongdo was the clan's best.
With a technique of this caliber, Pang Geol-ryang could overwhelm it completely.
Which was why Ha Mu-baek didn't draw his sword. Instead, he hurled himself straight into the onslaught of Pang Mu-ryang's blade strikes.
The sword came at him from every angle, radiating murderous intent and sword energy, but Ha Mu-baek evaded it all with utter nonchalance.
Bam!
Occasionally, he would smack the blade path aside with his fist, unleashing a deafening boom.
They'd exchanged a mere three moves, yet Ha Mu-baek had pierced the intervals in Pang Mu-ryang's sword and dragged him into the range of his own fists.
No need to think twice.
'Dantian first.'
Ha Mu-baek's left fist shot straight for Pang Mu-ryang's dantian.
"Urk."
He had suspected the punk might target his dantian.
After all, in the darkness, he'd obsessively gone after the Pang warriors' dantians.
That suspicion saved him.
He barely deflected the left fist with his sword and rolled across the ground.
Otherwise, the follow-up punch would've shattered his dantian.
Caked in dirt, he tumbled away, creating distance.
He was fully out of the bastard's range now.
"You... bastard..."
Pang Mu-ryang glared at Ha Mu-baek with feral eyes, but covered in filth, he projected no intimidation.
Ha Mu-baek regarded him with the same impassive expression.
"Not bad. Unexpected. I thought you'd go down in one exchange."
"Eek."
Ha Mu-baek's quiet mutter turned Pang Mu-ryang's face beet red, like it might explode.
'He's strong. Really...'
His face betrayed shock, but his mind cooled rapidly.
One clash had nearly spelled his doom. He hated to admit it, but he had to.
"Go on, flap that clever mouth of yours again. See if you can."
Pang Mu-ryang raised his sword once more.
"Hoo."
He took a deep breath.
And shifted his internal energy circulation.
Primordial Flowing River.
He'd changed the internal art powering the Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade.
In an instant, Pang Mu-ryang's aura transformed.
A sinister energy crept outward.
His eyes gleamed faintly red.
Even the hue of his sword energy took on a subtle crimson tint.
Ha Mu-baek frowned at the sight.
The opponent's aura felt off—dangerously so.
"You bastard!"
With a mighty roar, he swung his sword.
Ha Mu-baek flinched and hurriedly twisted away.
Slice.
His lapel was nicked.
The blade energy had grazed him.
The speed, variation, and power were incomparable to before.
That's why Ha Mu-baek hadn't fully evaded it.
The gap between the two exchanges was too vast.
"What is this? You...?"
Ha Mu-baek's voice turned icy as he demanded answers.
The change Pang Mu-ryang had just shown.
He'd seen it before.
Not just once—over and over, until he was sick of it.
Thus, murderous intent poured from Ha Mu-baek's body like frost, dominating the surroundings.
"Urk..."
The Pang Clan warriors felt their insides quake from the aura alone.
Pang Mu-ryang ignored it, his face proud and aloof as he swung again.
The Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade unfolded.
It was utterly different from before—a ferocious barrage that crushed everything in its path, reaching the pinnacle of dominance.
Clang!
Ha Mu-baek finally drew his sword to parry, sliding back several paces.
"Kuhaha! Is that all you've got, you arrogant punk? This time, I'll take your head properly. No, wait—not good enough. I'll hack off your limbs, smash your face... and toss that sister of yours to Gun-ho as a concubine. Watch while he ravages her, every wretched detail. Kuhahahaha!"
Even the Pang warriors winced at the depraved words.
Ha Mu-baek grinned in response.
A smile laced with murderous intent deeper than anything in the world.
"Just as I thought. No need to confirm. Your ravings tell me everything."
An internal art that corrupted even one's nature.
Ha Mu-baek knew it all too well—and had suffered it enough to make him curse.
Inky black sword energy began flowing from Ha Mu-baek's body.
His eyes, by contrast, shone with crystalline clarity.
Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
The cheat-like technique that read an opponent's internal energy origin and flow.
Which was why Ha Mu-baek rarely used it.
The strain on his body was considerable.
The last time had been a split-second activation against the seven first-year cadets.
Even so, he had to use it now. He was certain, but confirmation was necessary.
Sure enough, vivid crimson energy coiled in the dantian.
The clear light faded from his eyes as Ha Mu-baek looked at Pang Mu-ryang.
"You. You've cultivated Primordial Flowing River, haven't you?"
"H-How do you...?"
Pang Mu-ryang jolted in shock. His secret—how could this bastard know?
"Hah. I see..."
Ha Mu-baek sighed in disbelief.
"What do you see?! Offer up your limbs to my blade nicely!"
Pang Mu-ryang erupted with explosive energy and lunged.
Each stroke shook the earth and roared through the heavens.
Yet unlike when his lapel was sliced, Ha Mu-baek handled them with composure.
His ink-black sword energy didn't yield an inch to Pang Mu-ryang's blade.
Ha Mu-baek's face had turned as cold as a blizzard-swept peak.
To face this damned technique again.
The displayed sword art was Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade, but its foundational energy was Primordial Flowing River.
Its true name: Chaos Blood River Obliteration Art.
The Blood Cult's secret manual, laced with insidious schemes—hence "Obliteration."
He'd faced it so often he knew exactly how to counter it. Years later, his body reacted before his mind could catch up.
Pang Mu-ryang probably thought he was unleashing the Primordial Soul-Reaving Blade at near-mastery.
He was wrong.
The Chaos Blood River Obliteration Art had devoured the sword art. The obliteration energy warped its variations.
Techniques based on it followed distinct paths.
Ha Mu-baek could trace them with his eyes closed.
Slash.
The ink-black sword moved, severing Pang Mu-ryang's right arm clean off.
"Kraaaagh!"
A beastly scream of agony tore from Pang Mu-ryang's throat.
Ha Mu-baek's sword didn't stop.
Slash.
Now the left arm fell.
"Aaaagh!"
The relentless blade then sliced through the meridians at both ankles.
"Guhk."
Unable to support himself, he collapsed, then toppled fully without arms to catch himself.
Blood fountained from both shoulders.
"C-Clan Head!!"
"You bastard!"
The Pang warriors charged in shock at the sudden turn.
Ha Mu-baek's sword swept indifferently.
"Kuh."
"Aak."
"Ugh."
As many screams rang out, that many dantians ruptured.
They crumpled, faces slack and powerless.
Now, only Ha Mu-baek and Pang Do-jam remained standing.
"Not jumping in?"
Ha Mu-baek glanced over and asked.
Pang Do-jam shook his head.
"I know who you are. No point playing moth to the flame."
Ha Mu-baek grinned at the reply.
"It's been a while."
"You remember."
"I make a point of remembering comrades-in-arms."
Ha Mu-baek gave a curt answer and approached Pang Mu-ryang.
"S-Spare the clan head!"
Misreading it as an execution, Pang Do-jam cried out desperately.
"Not killing him. Gotta save him. Definitely. Even leave the dantian intact."
As he spoke, Ha Mu-baek pressed the shoulder acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
"What...?"
Pang Do-jam stared blankly at the unexpected response.
"Your clan head. He was trying to become a monster. Lucky we caught it now—or maybe not."
"Kuhk. Y-You... bastard..."
Pang Mu-ryang trembled in pain, glaring at Ha Mu-baek with venomous eyes.
"About ten percent attainment?"
Even amid agony, Pang Mu-ryang's eyes widened at Ha Mu-baek's pinpoint guess.
He'd only reached ten percent recently.
"Sigh. Talented or not, I can't tell... Ten years for a measly ten percent. And you didn't even take the quick path—stubbornly followed the orthodox method. Tsk."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue.
Pang Mu-ryang glared in utter confusion, face twisted in shoulder pain.
Ha Mu-baek scanned the surroundings. Pang Mu-ryang's horse was still there.
Having sealed his internal energy completely, Ha Mu-baek hoisted him onto the horse and tied him roughly.
"Got a way to contact the Righteous Heaven Alliance?"
Pang Do-jam shook his head. No messenger hawk, not even a pigeon.
At that, Ha Mu-baek looked around briefly before bellowing loudly.
"Hey! Beggar!"