Chapter 622
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 622
Chapter Title: Is This How It's Done?
Darkness's energy rejected Ha Mu-baek as if it possessed a will of its own.
The energies surged toward Gongya Ha-rang like a tidal wave.
Gongya Ha-rang was just as startled by the sudden turn of events.
But she couldn't afford to simply stand there dumbfounded.
She took in all the rushing energies without resistance.
The darkness's energy, absorbed into her entire body, raced along her meridians—the paths once filled with vital energy—straight toward her dantian.
There, the internal energy from her lifetime still lingered.
It merged with the internal energy of the Gongya Clan's secret heart method, the Dark Heaven Asura Hell Art.
And then.
An explosive energy began to whirl around her.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
In less time than it took to blink once, divided into ten parts, and just one of those fractions passing.
Gongya Ha-rang's energy had completely transformed.
"Ha?"
Ha Mu-baek let out a short breath, as if utterly dumbfounded.
He observed Gongya Ha-rang.
He focused even more intently through the Infinite Bright Wheel Eyes shining in his own gaze.
They were the eyes he had used to infuse darkness's energy into the void to find her when she had melted into the shadows and become an illusion.
He had trained them nonstop with lightness skill on the way here and kept them active the entire time.
What those eyes of Ha Mu-baek saw was.
'It's different.'
An energy similar to the darkness but fundamentally distinct.
It was undoubtedly infused with the power of darkness, yet it wasn't the energy of primordial darkness.
After that energy suddenly appeared.
The darkness energies Gongya Ha-rang was absorbing had changed as well.
Not just those pooled and seeped into the earth, but the energy from Mount Hyeong itself was now swirling and transmitting to her.
It was a heterogeneous energy unlike the original darkness that had permeated the area.
Yet it wasn't unfamiliar.
He had encountered it once before.
'Manhwang Kan.'
On the final day of the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
When Gae Hong-cheon had been revived as a jiangshi.
The bastard had claimed to have reached the Blood Demon God realm, but Ha Mu-baek had distinctly sensed a fragment of Manhwang—the power of Kan among the eight trigrams—from him.
And now, that same power was emanating from Gongya Ha-rang.
'Wasn't the Demonic Forest itself Manhwang Kan?'
At the time, Ha Mu-baek had thought Gae Hong-cheon had absorbed the power of Manhwang dwelling in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
'Insane.'
Ha Mu-baek had sensed the power of primordial darkness from Bang Sa-uk and returned to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
To find Gae Seo-ak, who had seized that primordial darkness.
But now.
This time, it was Manhwang Kan.
'Aren't Taecheon and Manhwang polar opposites?'
That was the most pressing issue.
The dawn of the world.
At that time.
Two forces that had clashed as mortal enemies and shattered into pieces.
Were now manifesting simultaneously within Gongya Ha-rang.
They shared the commonality of darkness, but still.
How could this be.
True Demon Heaven's Lord, the Demon Sovereign Shin Do-woong-cheon.
He remained seated cross-legged at the center of the demon prison.
Before him flickered the single candle illuminating the darkness.
Though much time had passed since it was lit, the candle remained exactly as it had been at first.
A bizarre candle that hadn't even dripped a single drop of wax.
Around it sat seven more unlit candles.
Suddenly, Shin Do-woong-cheon, who had been sitting with eyes closed, snapped his eyes wide open.
At that instant.
A flame ignited spontaneously on one of the candles.
Now two candles pierced the darkness.
"Oh!"
A cry of ecstatic admiration escaped his lips.
"The second flame has already been lit! Unbelievable!!"
He hadn't even dared to hope for it.
At this miracle, he rejoiced from the bottom of his heart.
His gaze turned toward the Central Plains.
"Perhaps..."
A murmur laced with faint hope.
Candles that hadn't been lit in hundreds—perhaps thousands—of years.
Yet in his generation, a second one had ignited already.
It might have been coincidence.
But.
Shin Do-woong-cheon felt a powerful premonition that it was no mere chance.
He even thought that perhaps, in his time, all eight candles might light.
A thought he kept only in his mind, lest voicing it invite negation.
His eyes stared toward the direction of the prosperous Central Plains.
"Hm?"
Myo Gu-eung suddenly reacted.
Won Pyeong-sam looked in the same direction as Myo Gu-eung.
"You felt it too, I see."
Myo Gu-eung said to Won Pyeong-sam.
Won Pyeong-sam nodded.
"To think the second one would awaken so soon..."
Won Pyeong-sam muttered in disbelief.
"It's sudden."
Myo Gu-eung remained composed.
"For another abyss to awaken this quickly. Has your abyss said nothing?"
Won Pyeong-sam asked, still unable to calm his excitement.
'Abyss. Did you feel it too?'
To Myo Gu-eung's question.
[Of course.]
[The one who revels in darkness has awakened.]
A simple revelation of the newly awakened Manhwang fragment's identity.
"It says the one who revels in darkness."
At Myo Gu-eung's words.
"Darkness... then it must be Manhwang Kan."
Won Pyeong-sam immediately grasped the identity of the newly awakened Manhwang.
"What now? It feels quite far away."
To Myo Gu-eung's question, Won Pyeong-sam replied matter-of-factly.
"We meet it. The master of Manhwang Kan."
"Hm. Finally leaving this place."
Myo Gu-eung grinned.
He still had no certainty of revenge against that damned bastard.
But with an ally, the odds would improve.
He grew curious about this unknown bearer of power akin to his own.
"Hm?"
Ha Mu-baek, who had been watching Gongya Ha-rang's changes, suddenly turned at the new presence he sensed.
The Manhwang Kan energy swirling around Mount Hyeong.
Gongya Jang-cheon was being affected by it.
Through the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye, he saw.
His current internal energy was reacting to Manhwang Kan.
'Dark Asura Hell Art.'
He knew what Gongya Jang-cheon's heart method was.
The Gongya Clan's secret sole-branch heart method, Dark Asura Hell Art.
Who could have guessed its origin lay in Manhwang's power.
More precisely, an internal energy heart method derived from Manhwang Kan.
That was why it was reacting to the energy now raging across Mount Hyeong.
Ha Mu-baek turned back to Gongya Ha-rang.
The mystery was solved.
The reason she had resisted the Curse of Annihilation.
Because the origin of her cultivated internal energy was Manhwang, she had resisted the Curse of Annihilation, which stemmed from primordial darkness.
Similar, yet polar opposites.
Ha Mu-baek had found the answer to the puzzle from Geumbo Valley.
The reason she had endured the Curse of Annihilation for years without succumbing.
It was the power of Manhwang.
The Curse of Annihilation.
Ultimately derived from primordial power as well.
At that moment.
A storm raged in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
Not about the Infinite Free Heart Method.
Clues about Taecheon and Manhwang had gathered and ignited an awakening storm.
Demon beast and man.
Both were lost in their own situations, staring at each other without moving.
Gongya Jang-cheon was in the same state.
Suddenly preoccupied with controlling his internal energy reacting to the raging energy on Mount Hyeong.
Only the five Blood Thunder Soldiers gulped dryly, tense amid the abrupt change.
It felt just like the calm before the storm.
They too sensed the bizarre energy storm whipping around them.
A calm like the eve of a storm, within the storm itself.
An absurd scene unfolding before their eyes.
How much time passed?
Gongya Ha-rang was the first to move.
Her severed arm wriggled and regrew perfectly.
A sight both miraculous and grotesque.
"Hohoho. Now we really settle this."
Gongya Ha-rang giggled brightly, her face now cheerful.
As her words ended, her form vanished.
Merging into the darkness once more.
But this time, it was different.
The scope of the darkness she moved through was now broader and deeper.
Gongya Ha-rang wrapped around Ha Mu-baek from all sides and launched her assault.
The darkness became swords.
The darkness unleashed the South Fate Asura Hell Sword.
Front, back, left, right—plus up and down.
Attacks flew at Ha Mu-baek from all six directions.
Dark swords surging from the ground, dark swords plummeting toward his crown.
There seemed no escape.
Ha Mu-baek still stared blankly.
Just as the tips of the dark swords were about to touch his body.
Focus returned to his eyes.
"Is this how it's done?"
With that quiet murmur.
Black energy gathered along Ha Mu-baek's skin.
Boom!!!!
At that instant.
A massive explosion erupted.
Gongya Ha-rang's attacks had struck Ha Mu-baek's body.
A fierce gale whipped up, sending dirt, trees, and rocks flying.
Yet Ha Mu-baek stood unharmed.
Manhwang Kan.
An energy Ha Mu-baek lacked.
Thus, pinpointing Gongya Ha-rang's exact position while she wielded both Manhwang Kan and primordial darkness might have been difficult.
But Ha Mu-baek possessed the energies of Poison Citadel and Manhwang Tae.
Different as Tae and Kan were.
Both were ultimately Manhwang.
Ha Mu-baek quickly grasped the knack and located her.
The moment he confirmed her position.
His eyebrow twitched.
"Has she truly become a monster?"
Before, even as an illusion melting into darkness, she had maintained a human form while hiding within it.
Now, even her form had changed.
She had spread wide, enveloping the space around Ha Mu-baek.
Thank goodness Gongya Jang-cheon couldn't see this.
His beautiful little sister was gone, replaced by a monster.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
The briefly wielded primordial darkness vanished, replaced by pure radiant energy gathering on his blade.
However.
The scale of the energy was different.
Primordial Radiance.
Among the Primordial Six Bodies Art, it was the fragment with the smallest raw energy volume.
But the energy Ha Mu-baek now emitted was anything but small.
It overwhelmed even the combined power of primordial darkness and Manhwang Kan surging from Gongya Ha-rang.
"What is this."
Gongya Ha-rang's startled voice echoed from the surrounding darkness.
"You're not the only one who gained new power. Should I say thanks?"
Watching her changes had sparked an insight and awakening.
The result now blazed on Ha Mu-baek's sword as radiance.
"When wielding overwhelming power, the energy of extremity is far more efficient."
With those words, Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
He didn't target her specific form.
Her body had already morphed into a grotesque monster, the darkness enveloping him.
Ha Mu-baek simply swung his sword from his spot.
Infinite Free Eight Severing Sword Waves.
First wave. Opening Heaven.
That was the beginning.
Dazzling white sword beams of radiance burst in all directions.
The darkness encircling Ha Mu-baek shifted into myriad forms to block his sword and counterattack, but.
The moment they clashed with the radiance.
Sizzle.
They vanished, leaving only smoke.
The result of polar opposites colliding.
The radiance wasn't unscathed, but since Ha Mu-baek's energy dwarfed Gongya Ha-rang's.
The primordial darkness and Kan energies dissipated in the clash, while the radiance endured.
The immense energies of every nature dwelling in Ha Mu-baek's dantian and body—all converted to radiance and surged forth.
Infinite, Free, primordial darkness, chaos, void, Tae, Dragon Training's fire energy, Ice Citadel's ice energy, Poison Citadel's poison energy.
All transformed into radiance.
The fruit of the sudden awakening from witnessing primordial darkness coexist with Manhwang Kan.
The energies Ha Mu-baek possessed could now freely shift into any form at will.
Thus, he pressured Gongya Ha-rang, who enveloped his space with her vast power.
His sword path flowed from Opening Heaven through River Break and Thunder Scatter to Soul Shatter.
"Eeeek."
An even fiercer storm raged across Mount Hyeong.
Using the energy Manhwang Kan sent, she drew in every last bit of energy nestled in the mountain's forest.
The difference from Manhwang Tae.
Poison and swamp were hard to gather nearby.
But here on the southern slopes of vast Mount Hyeong, the forest sprawled everywhere.
Gongya Ha-rang ceaselessly pulled in the energy of the entire enormous forest.
And simultaneously, from deep underground, primordial darkness—the energy of shadows—surged up as well.
The colossal energies of two mighty entities clashed endlessly, shaking the heavens and earth.