Chapter 608
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 608
Chapter Title: It's Just a Hodgepodge
"Th-then that means I was meaningless...?"
Bang Sa-uk's voice trembled.
Ha Mu-baek shook his head.
"It's not complete resistance. If it were, you wouldn't have been able to hold onto your life against the extermination power's might. You simply ended up spending the same years trapped in Dragonfall Gorge as before."
Ha Mu-baek laid out the cold reality.
It was merely the difference between plummeting off a cliff, shattering all four limbs, teetering on the brink of death while battling the extermination power's curse—or facing it in perfect health.
And if it had been the latter, Bang Sa-uk would have been far more likely to fall completely under the extermination power's sway.
From his tale, it seemed the extermination power had expended considerable strength just to keep Bang Sa-uk alive.
'Still... his constitution clearly has stronger resistance than that wench Yeong So-hye. What a shame.'
Having encountered a second Vermilion Bird Blood Spirit Body, Ha Mu-baek could tell.
Not all Vermilion Bird Blood Spirit Bodies were the same; the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye revealed that each possessed varying degrees of resistance.
It was a conclusion drawn from comparing the two.
Yet even so, Ha Mu-baek's Infinite Bright Wheel Eye couldn't fully gauge the magnitude of the power Bang Sa-uk now wielded.
Because his internal energy was invisible.
"Hoo."
As Ha Mu-baek sorted through his thoughts, Bang Sa-uk let out a deep breath.
And then.
A more virulent aura of darkness billowed from his body.
An energy thick with murderous intent.
His eyes grew even blacker.
The moment an abyss-like darkness settled in his eyes.
The shadows around Ha Mu-baek stirred.
Darkness seeping in to immediately subdue him.
For an instant, Ha Mu-baek felt resistance binding his limbs.
But.
The moment he circulated his primordial energy, the resistance vanished in a flash.
"That power..."
As Ha Mu-baek actively channeled his primordial energy, Bang Sa-uk clearly perceived its true nature.
"How do you possess the power of darkness when you're no child of the shadows?"
"Who knows?"
Ha Mu-baek grinned and drew forth even more of his primordial energy.
The energies that had taken root as his internal energy.
They shared the same origin but manifested in different forms.
The power Bang Sa-uk wielded was pure darkness incarnate.
Whereas Ha Mu-baek's took the form of internal energy.
Bang Sa-uk fully emerged from the darkness, coalescing into a solid shape.
As he extended his hand, shadows gathered to forge a jet-black sword.
Tahat.
He kicked off the ground, swinging his blade at Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek drew his own sword to meet it head-on.
Chaeng! Kaeng! Chaeng!
True Knocking Eighteen Sword.
It was Bang Sa-uk's personal adaptation of the Beggars' Clan's Striking Dog Staff Method into swordplay.
He was undoubtedly a prodigy.
Yeong So-hye had shown no notable talents beyond her Vermilion Bird Blood Spirit Body, but Bang Sa-uk was different.
Reinterpreting established martial arts through one's own lens and transforming them wasn't something just anyone could do.
Especially since the Striking Dog Staff Method was the Beggars' Clan's signature technique.
'To think such a brilliant talent...'
Was ensnared by the extermination power's curse out of personal greed.
Ha Mu-baek's anger surged once more toward the now-vanished Mystic Hand Manor.
Regardless, his sword moved according to the paths of the Infinite Free Eightfold Sword Sea, pressing Bang Sa-uk relentlessly.
No matter how impressive the True Knocking Eighteen Sword, it was ultimately a derivative of the Striking Dog Staff Method.
And it hadn't even reached that staff method's proficiency yet.
The swordplay itself stood no chance against the Infinite Free Eightfold Sword Sea.
However.
Whenever Ha Mu-baek's blade neared Bang Sa-uk's body, shadows appeared from nowhere to interfere.
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brow.
That power to meld into the darkness and manipulate it at will.
He could block its influence.
By infusing his own energy with primordial might, he could nullify it.
But he couldn't wield the darkness with such freedom.
No, the very idea of manipulating darkness was absurd.
It was only possible because it touched the world's origin—the primordial force.
'But was darkness truly this potent?'
One of the six fragments, yet the power Bang Sa-uk displayed transcended the primordial or myriad wilderness forces Ha Mu-baek had faced thus far.
Even Hyun-hwang, immensely powerful as it was, hadn't shown abilities that defied reason so blatantly.
How had this man obtained the darkness's power?
Could a demonic creature like a dark blood jiangshi wield darkness's might?
Was it because he retained his reason?
Because the Vermilion Bird Blood Spirit Body met the darkness's energy?
A flurry of questions arose, but there was no immediate way to resolve them.
He could only pour his full focus into defeating the enemy before him.
A colossal storm of energy erupted from Ha Mu-baek's body.
If darkness could be wielded freely, then simply purging it would suffice.
A blinding light burst from Ha Mu-baek's form.
Radiance.
Infusing his internal energy with the power of Radiance from the Primordial Six Divine Arts banished the shadows in an instant.
At the same moment, Bang Sa-uk's figure vanished as well.
Ha Mu-baek's senses sharpened to a razor's edge.
Gripping his sword in reverse, he plunged it straight into the ground beneath his feet.
"There?"
He felt sword aura of Radiance converge on the blade.
As the sword sank deeper, the sensation faded.
And from the shadow draped behind Ha Mu-baek, Bang Sa-uk reemerged.
A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, clear evidence he'd taken a hit.
Yet as if unperturbed, he thrust out his hand.
Shadows coalesced into a spear-form and shot toward Ha Mu-baek.
The instant Ha Mu-baek's sword whipped up to parry the attack.
Darkness began to pour down around him.
It emanated from Bang Sa-uk's body.
Simultaneously, Bang Sa-uk's form began to warp grotesquely.
Claws elongated from his fingers, fangs pierced through his lips, and horns sprouted from his back.
A monstrous silhouette.
"A demon of darkness, then."
Ha Mu-baek stated simply before charging at him.
Kang! Kang! Kang!
Bang Sa-uk's attacks had changed.
Previously the structured swordplay of True Knocking Eighteen Sword; now, it was a wild torrent of overflowing energy.
Yet even in that chaos lurked patterns and subtleties.
Ha Mu-baek could sense them as he countered with sweeping sword strokes.
'Darkness. The essence of the abyss.'
The energies of the six primordial fragments.
One name for wielding them was the Primordial Six Divine Arts.
Divine achievement.
Each fragment embodied ultimate martial perfection.
Infinite asserted they were pure primordial force, not martial arts—but at this level, their mere existence rivaled any divine art.
Bang Sa-uk, fully fused with darkness, had become a shadow demon.
His onslaught was relentless.
Though Ha Mu-baek fought while emitting Radiance's power, he was gradually being pushed back.
Ha Mu-baek fully seized Radiance's might.
Bang Sa-uk before him was wholly consumed by darkness, yet he hadn't truly mastered it.
He couldn't recognize primordial power for what it was.
Hadn't he merely called Ha Mu-baek's emanation "the power of darkness"?
From this, one could infer: Bang Sa-uk hadn't claimed the abyss; the abyss had devoured him.
And yet he wielded such strength.
'The abyss...'
This differed from what Infinite and Radiance had told him in the mental realm.
Will might vary, but power levels did not, they'd said.
Yet here was a clear disparity in power.
"I've encountered a branch of the abyss."
Radiance spoke as she strolled through a field ablaze with blooming flowers, glancing toward Infinite's location.
In that instant, Infinite appeared.
"Indeed. But this is..."
Infinite and Radiance.
The two supreme beings were taken aback.
This was not the abyss they remembered.
Even after being shattered and eons passing, how could such a transformation occur?
"Nothing but the divergence of will birthing a divergence in power."
Radiance stated calmly.
"Hmm. An unforeseen anomaly."
Seriousness clouded Infinite's face.
"The abyss was the largest fragment from the start."
Radiance.
She fully understood the abyss, her natural counter.
"Having claimed the bulk of the origin mix, this was bound to happen."
"The six of us comprising the origin mix were equals."
Infinite still couldn't accept the situation.
"Seeking to inherit the origin mix's will may have amplified its already vast fragment."
At Radiance's words, Infinite murmured gravely.
"Then I wonder what became of Emptiness."
The six fragments.
Infinite, Free, Radiance, Chaos, Emptiness, Abyss.
Among them, the two largest were Abyss and Emptiness.
And it remained silent, biding its time.
Chaos had once tried to unleash the abyss, only to be thwarted by Ha Mu-baek.
Hyun-hwang.
The abyss that had spurred him was Chaos's.
"Why so grave? Wasn't the Infinite Free Eightfold Sword Sea designed to account for unexpected variables?"
Infinite nodded at Radiance's question.
Of course it was.
However, Ha Mu-baek needed to fully make it his own to unleash its complete potential.
At his current grasp of the abyss, something felt off.
"If you were so uneasy, you should have assimilated him directly into the fragments' power from the beginning."
Infinite shook his head at Radiance's point.
The Six Divine Arts.
The pinnacle of power in their pure form, yet with clear limits.
They could match other divine arts but not surpass them.
Thus, he had created the Infinite Free Divine Art to wield Infinite and Free's powers most potently—surpassing the others—and arranged the Infinite Free Eightfold Sword Sea.
"I trust your arrangements, Infinite, Free."
Radiance said indifferently.
"And if they fail? We return to the origin mix. That's all. Though I'd rather not. Such is our nature."
Radiance resumed walking amid the flowers.
Infinite remained alone.
He gazed at the sky.
"Yes, you're right. We were always meant to be that way... but it seems I've changed a bit. Heh."
Infinite's form faded after his quiet murmur.
"Interesting."
Now seated in the deep underground abyss, legs crossed in meditation, Gae Se-ak chuckled darkly to himself.
The creature that had ravenously devoured the pooled darkness's power in the blood had encountered one being.
A presence Gae Se-ak could never forget: Ha Mu-baek.
He was now locked in combat with him.
And the situation exceeded Gae Se-ak's expectations.
They were evenly matched, surprisingly.
The one even Reverse Heaven Blood Flow Annihilation Blood Art—the Blood Cult's absolute divine art—couldn't overcome was trading blows as equals with the dark blood jiangshi to whom he'd granted darkness's power.
"Because it's a mutant?"
Gae Se-ak muttered uncertainly.
Mutant.
Indeed.
A dark blood jiangshi absorbing darkness's power became a mightier demonic beast, but it couldn't move with reason and will like that one.
Even to Gae Se-ak, it was an irregular existence born abruptly beyond specifications.
[That one's innate constitution triggered a bizarre reaction.]
The Abyss whispered to Gae Se-ak.
"Constitution?"
[A constitution resistant to the abyss's power—precisely, Mie-gong's power. That resistance interacted strangely with Mie-gong's awakening, and darkness seeped in through the gap, yielding this result.]
"A unique variant, then. Pity. Can't make another like him..."
Gae Se-ak seemed thoroughly pleased by the sight of it holding its own against Ha Mu-baek.
[More intriguing is that other one. Gathering all the primordial fragments' energies.]
The Abyss focused instead on the energies Ha Mu-baek possessed.
Infinite, Free, Radiance of course—but traces of Emptiness and Chaos too.
Even a portion of its own abyssal energy.
It had sensed one of its pre-arranged powers activating not long ago.
Though most of its essence resided here in the Blood Cult, it had scattered small fragments across the world.
One in Mount Song had reacted; perhaps that man was the cause.
"Does that make him strong?"
[Hmph, it's just a hodgepodge.]
The Abyss snorted in response to Gae Se-ak's question.