Chapter 99
Chapter 99
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Third-Rate Martial Family Becomes World's Best
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Tang bro! I'm throwing you!"
Chui-dal hurled Dangun straight toward the spot where he'd fallen, then immediately twisted his body around.
"Adu! Jump back!"
"Ow! It hurts! It hurts!"
"Hey! I need you for this, so hurry up and follow me!"
The Iron Poison Flying Bats' flesh-and-blood assaults were like hidden weapons, one after another.
At his current level, short of reaching the Peak Realm, Yang-hui couldn't break through a swarm of hundreds or thousands.
To maximize the effect, I need to get right into the center of the swarm.
It looked just like leaping into the heart of thousands of hidden weapons—like the Tang clan's ultimate technique, Myriad Blossoms Falling Like Rain.
Yang-hui made a bitter face but stuck tight behind Adu, who was leaping backward.
"Ow! It hurts! It hurts! Argh!"
Adu threw out a fist strike, and the Iron Poison Flying Bat that took it head-on turned into a bloody pulp.
A Shaolin monk, complaining of a little pain and already killing.
But saying that right now wouldn't help at all, would it?
"Nice one!"
"Did I do good?"
"Totally! Keep it up just like that!"
With thousands of bat pups swarming, over a hundred must have grazed past them just getting to the center.
Thanks to that, while Adu was fine, Yang-hui's clothes were torn in places, blood seeping through.
I've got past-life experience—I'm not gonna flinch at this.
Skin-deep wounds were nothing.
Hell, in his previous life, he'd even survived qi deviation.
Bwoooong!
Every time Yang-hui swung his arm, his sword trembled fiercely, buzzing like a bee's wings.
Can I really pull this off?
Now that he'd come this far, it had to work.
Even if it failed, he could just take a few poison stings and bail—but more importantly, he couldn't keep running from the bat swarm forever.
Kieeeek! Kieeeek!
The Iron Poison Flying Bats' cries were shriller and thinner than any beast Yang-hui had ever heard.
Not just the nonstop screeching. Every time they cry, their bodies react.
He might look it, but he was a disciple of the Heavenly Demon's Ten Venerables' Sound Destroyer, who claimed a seat among the Ten Great Masters with sound arts.
Naturally, through years of training, he'd grasped the fundamentals of sound arts and developed a keen sensitivity to sounds.
Sound. These things don't see with their eyes. They see with sound.
Light and sound were similar—they spread out in all directions from their origin, far and wide.
In other words, with sound...
An attack infused with sound art principles might knock them all out in one go.
No, it definitely would.
The only problem?
Producing a sound powerful enough to subdue thousands at once.
Impossible alone. The Phonetic Seal Array lacks destructive power.
His mind raced.
Improvisation was the right and duty of a once-in-a-millennium genius.
As Yang-hui desperately searched for something usable, his eyes landed on it.
Adu's round, rock-like head.
It could shatter black rocks at the first-rate realm.
But it probably couldn't shatter Adu's head.
So then?
"Adu! You've mastered the Iron Skull Technique, right? To what degree?"
"Degree?"
"Damn it, is your head really that tough?"
"Oh, yeah!"
Not that it'd reached the indestructible diamond realm already, of course.
"I believe in you! Hold steady—I'm gonna hit your head with my sword!"
"Huh? Okay!"
A brilliant golden halo emanated from his fresh, shiny bald head... no, his gleaming pate.
It was dazzling enough to hurt the eyes.
"Here goes!"
Pouring half his full cycle's internal energy into it, Yang-hui infused the sword with the essence of the Heaven-Covering 108 Swords.
The blade trembled violently. The vibrations surged forth.
No—sound.
Bwoooooong!
With all his might, he swung down.
Heaven-Covering 108 Swords, Third Stance Initial Form.
White Feather Pressing the Ding, Eighth Variation.
The eighth variation of White Feather Pressing the Ding was a one-strike kill.
Infused with the essences of the first through sixth forms, and resounding with the Phonetic Seal Array, it carried the momentum of suppressing a great mountain.
And that strike...
Crashed onto Adu's golden bald head.
"Amitabha!"
Yes! The guy held up!
Ddeeeeeeng—!
Along with the sonic wave, the Prajna Great Divine Power's signature golden Buddhist light rippled outward in all directions.
Every time the light and sound pierced the Iron Poison Flying Bats, they dropped like mayflies caught in a downpour.
"As expected of Shaolin! When it comes to iron heads, it's Shaolin! I knew I could count on you!"
Adu rubbed the slight scrape between his forehead and crown, grinning ear to ear.
"Believe it! I'm Adu!"
Feeling pumped, Yang-hui patted Adu's bald head a few times, then froze.
Oh, everything had gone so perfectly that he got carried away.
Still, some things you just don't do to people.
"You did great, Adu. For real."
"So I can have rice cakes?"
"Yeah. I'll give you a ton."
He'd dug through sheer rock walls faster than any earth technique and even racked up major credit for subduing the bats.
Rice cakes were the least he could do.
"Hm? These things aren't dead."
A few near his feet had bled from their noses and died, but about half seemed just knocked out.
Twitching legs and wings confirmed they were alive.
Should I finish them off? Nah, better not. Who knows.
Yang-hui casually strolled over to rejoin the group.
"Little brother! How in the world did you do that?"
"Yang-hui, little bro, there was a bell sound—what was it?"
Adu beat Yang-hui to it, shouting excitedly.
"Yang-hui hit my head with his sword!"
"What?"
"Wh-what did you do, big brother?!"
"Were you planning to kill him? No way—you used the monk as bait to escape!"
Yang-hui sighed, looking up at the sky.
The guy had done everything right, then ruined it with one dumb line.
"No, it was all part of the plan. The bats seemed sensitive to sound."
"So?"
"Were you trying to draw a wail out of the monk, Yang-hui?"
"Not that. I figured Adu could take a hit from my sword."
He explained in detail: Adu had mastered the Iron Skull Technique to the pinnacle of the head realm, concentrating the Prajna Great Divine Power there, before striking.
"That's how it went. As you can see, the plan worked perfectly—no one got hurt."
"Hm. Technically, you got hurt the most, little brother."
He wasn't wrong. Blood showed through Yang-hui's clothes in spots.
Injuries he'd inevitably taken breaking through the swarm.
Meanwhile, Adu had whined about the pain nonstop but had zero wounds.
His only injury was that one scrape on his head.
...At least my sword is tougher than the Iron Poison Flying Bats.
Should he take comfort in that?
Where the hell did this monster come from?
Definitely Shaolin.
Such a guy died nameless in his past life?
Well, considering his intelligence, falling into a trap and dying wouldn't be surprising.
But with this monstrous prowess already, ordinary traps probably couldn't kill him.
What had happened? Now he was curious.
"Yang-hui, little bro, come here. I'll treat you. The bats' teeth and claws are poisonous—you need antidote right away."
"Ah, yeah. Thanks, Tang sis."
After applying ointment to each wound and taking the antidote, he circulated his energy for a bit.
These were half-spirit beasts, after all.
Their poison required detoxing both the energetic and material aspects.
"Sssip, whoooo."
The Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art unified all energies, soothing and neutralizing the poison's toxic qi.
After a full cycle, recovering some spent internal energy, he finally stood.
"Brother."
Chui-dal, who'd stepped away briefly, called to Yang-hui.
"Yeah. Where'd you go?"
"While the bats were out, I checked the end of the passage."
"Find anything good?"
"Yes. There's a half-collapsed gate at the end, but the outside is packed with dirt and rubble."
Dirt and rubble. So the passage led to the cavern trapping the martial artists.
"I thought it connected east, but it's the opposite of what we expected."
"The internal structure's more complex than we thought."
"I agree."
How twisted did they have to make it for the opposite direction to lead to the cavern?
This meant finding the way without the Namgung clan's supposed layout intel would be tough.
Of course, assuming no spirit energy.
If we couldn't sense spirit energy, we'd be trapped too.
"Looks like we should head east instead of west?"
"Unless we wanna dig through the rubble to meet the cavern martial artists."
Then, with a thud, dust fell from the ceiling.
"I'm hungry."
"...Monk. Even if you're hungry, don't punch the wall with that massive fist. If it collapses, we're all dead."
Seemed like they needed to eat first.
"Better to go back to the original spot than eat here."
"Brother's right. Who knows what danger might come in the passage."
They all climbed back up through the hole Adu had dug.
Bonus: Had Adu widen the area around the hole for a comfy dining space.
"Did everything you asked. Rice cakes. Now!"
The guy was like a tiger. Looked ready to eat him if no cakes.
"Here, eat up."
Tossed one over, and Adu caught it in his mouth without hands, chomping away.
At least he knew his digging hands were dirty.
Would be even better if he washed them with those dripping water drops in the corner.
"Let's eat too."
"Young clan leader. Should I grab some bat corpses on the way down?"
"Poisonous beasts—not edible."
"Not for eating. Thought we could use the oil we brought to light them as kindling. Their legs and wings look dry and hard—should burn well."
"Hm, yeah, they could work as firewood."
As Chui-dal, excited for hot food, started down the hole...
Yang-hui waved him off with a scolding.
"Stop. The smell might tip off the martial artists below."
Since it came up, he peeked through a narrow rock crevice to check the cavern's activity.
Yang-hui's eyes widened.
What the hell. Why are they fighting already?
While the group explored the passage, much of the cavern floor had been dug up.
They still hadn't found gates or passages, apparently—instead of digging more, the martial artists had drawn weapons.
"Brother. Something wrong?"
"Nothing for us, but something for them."
Pouring internal energy into his ears, he eavesdropped on distant voices from below.
"Distribute the food fairly right now. Otherwise, I won't stand for it."
"You dare order Sky-Cleaving Namgung, you bandit scum? Hahaha!"
"Here, there's no Namgung clan or bandits. Just young Namgung Cheonhu and I, Iron Blood Iron Hand Meng Xiong."
Chui-dal whispered.
"Brother, why are those bastards fighting already? Thought food issues would take days."
"That bandit's smarter than he looks. They won't see blood yet, though. Not idiots."
Chui-dal looked puzzled at the contradictory words. Instead of explaining, Yang-hui pondered briefly.
"Wait. Chui-dal. We can get out anytime, right?"
"Sure? We've got the hole we came down."
No matter how slick from rainwater, sword and axe notches would let them climb.
"That's right. Heh heh heh."
Seeing Yang-hui's smile, Chui-dal shuddered.
It was a grin evil enough to make black path bosses back off.