Chapter 154: Heaven’s Fortune: Sun-Moon Divine Palm

Baek Moo-jin looked down from the sky at the chaos below. Those bound by the Great White Night and struck by the Heaven-Destroying Flames were literally melting away.

They froze solid, only to be instantly engulfed by flames.

Survivors on the outskirts, who had barely avoided the Great White Night and the Heaven-Shattering Flaming Hell by using their comrades as shields, were reeling in shock, unconsciously backing away. They were the fortunate ones among those who had pushed each other aside not out of malice, but to survive. Even when they had dared to confront the master swordsman Baek Moo-jin, they had known no fear.

But the scene they had just witnessed was too shocking.

‘This fight is hopeless.’

‘The level is different.’

‘It’s unreal.’

The conclusion felt like facing a catastrophe.

The martial arts displayed by Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye in that single exchange.

Of course, since each wielded an extraordinary technique, their power was bound to be formidable. Yet, with a single attack, five of the Seven Thunder Masters—arguably the highest-ranking masters of the Thunder Demon Sect—were killed.

The other two were spared because they weren’t in the path of the Heaven-Shattering Flame Ball.

The fear of the commander, who roughly knew the martial arts level of the Seven Thunder Warriors, grew even deeper.

He had considered the name Holy Flame Palace and the woman Jin Sohye’s reputation to be ‘lightweight’. Yet the combination of Baek Mujin and Jin Sohye instilled in the commander an absolute faith that surpassed any expectations he had harbored for Baek Mujin.

‘Baek Moo-jin is the Heavenly Demon. He must not become an enemy. Demon hybrid or not…’

On one hand, there was also a desire to observe Baek Moo-jin’s actions further. Yet, the commander had no intention of immediately kneeling before Baek Moo-jin and offering himself as a subordinate. He didn’t believe Baek Moo-jin would accept him, so for now, he planned to retreat at this point.

Thus, the Chief Commander led the Undercover Corps to sweep the outskirts once more, cutting down the Black Dogs reeling in shock, before retreating without a word to Baek Moo-jin.

At some point, he vanished like the wind.

The commander could hardly be called a normal man.

To put it kindly, he was perpetually engaged in a peculiar gamble only he and Baek Moo-jin could play.

Baek Moo-jin, suspended in the air, had his vision secured by the light emitted from the flame-spewing demon.

Only then did he spot Nomadu and drop his sword energy vertically.

But Nomadu, seemingly merging his twin blades, countered Baek Moo-jin’s sword energy with a bizarre palm strike that produced a deafening roar, forcing those nearby to cover their ears.

Though the two had yet to face each other, sensing each other’s presence, they exchanged a single blow before the distance between them widened again.

In that instant, a severed head spun through the air toward Nomadu. Nomadu, who had been keeping his distance from Baek Moo-jin, caught the flying head.

The cleanly severed head belonged to his disciple, the sixth of the Seven Thunder Masters.

“Heh heh heh… He wasn’t the type to fall like this…”

At that moment, the self-proclaimed ‘passerby swordsman,’ shaking off blood, approached and addressed Nomadu.

“The Demon Lord himself making an appearance…”

“Who are you?”

While the two were conversing, Baek Moo-jin descended to the ground, and Jin So-hye was approaching him from behind.

The subordinates of the Thunderstorm Demon Sect, who had been staying on the outskirts, gathered around the Demon Lord.

The Thunderstorm Demon Sect still had more men.

But the nameless swordsman was not alone either.

The moment he severed Chil-Roe Jin-Su’s neck, a dozen masked martial artists wearing face masks flew in from the air and took their positions around the swordsman.

Simultaneously, they drew their long swords, awaiting the next command.

Their leader, the man who had severed Chil-Roe Jin-Su’s neck, was Bi-Sa (Secret Snake), the Snake of the Secret Twelve Zodiac Signs.

He had been on his way to see Baek Moo-jin after receiving Cheon Yu’s report, but upon deciding that purging the demonic path was the priority, he joined the fray.

As Bi Si approached Baek Moo-jin, he stated his opinion as if speaking to a comrade he had met yesterday.

“Lord Baek, shall we handle the Nomadu while you block their retreat? Or would you prefer the opposite? Either way is fine with us.”

Unlike Cheon Yu, Bisha addressed Baek Moo-jin with respectful honorifics. It was a small clue that the personalities of the Twelve Zodiac members were all distinct.

Baek Moo-jin roughly gauged the swordsman’s skill and paused to choose his words.

‘No matter how I think about it, Nomadu probably isn’t your subordinate…’

Baek Moo-jin said.

“I’ll handle Nomadu.”

“Understood.”

Bisa gave a nod to his subordinates and said,

“Make way for Lord Baek to deal with Nomadu. Don’t spare any. Kill them all.”

“Understood.”

As a dozen swordsmen advanced…

Baek Moo-jin briefly glanced at the swordsmen.

‘Hm?’

The enemy leader was still standing. Yet simultaneously, the dozen swordsmen soaring through the air unleashed their sword qi in unison and began a fierce charge.

It was an action of extreme recklessness.

Moreover, their martial prowess far surpassed that of the top-tier warriors of the North Heaven Alliance, and they executed their movements with remarkable natural ease.

Not only were their individual martial skills outstanding, but it was clear they had honed their sword techniques over a long period.

Behind them, the secret agents joined the fray, wielding swords lowered to their left hips while deploying lightness skills. Regardless of the relative strength of their martial arts, they displayed perfectly trained coordination.

Baek Moo-jin briefly met Jin So-hye’s gaze.

“Is it Bicheon?”

“Probably. They don’t seem inclined to reveal their identities.”

The two exchanged a brief glance before immediately charging toward the bandit leader.

2.

As a dozen swordsmen approached, the Thunderstorm Demon King naturally unleashed his aura like a torrent of lightning. The swordsmen grouped in threes and fours, crossed their blades, and astonishingly blocked the Thunderstorm Demon King’s aura. They tumbled backward, then sprang back up. Following the secret agent’s command, they scattered, splitting left and right to begin slashing at the black hound.

Meanwhile, Baek Moo-jin clashed with the Thunder Demon Lord, swinging his White Cloud Sword.

But how could an eighty-year-old veteran warrior fail to read the situation and fight Baek Moo-jin head-on? Using his most confident technique, he unleashed thunder energy to create distance.

The roaring sound was matched by terrifyingly powerful force.

It displayed a level of force indistinguishable from the White Flower Divine Art used by Baek Moo-jin or the Heaven-Shattering Divine Art wielded by Jin So-hye. Blocking the thunder energy was futile. Had it not been Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye, the sheer weight of its power would have reduced them to ashes the moment they blocked it.

However, after unleashing two or three fierce bolts of lightning, the Thunder Demon Lord, abandoning all his subordinates under attack by Bicheon, deployed his lightness skill and began dashing through the darkness.

But outmaneuvering Baek Moo-jin with lightness skills proved difficult.

Before long, Baek Moo-jin blocked his path, and Jin So-hye’s Silver Serpent Blade flew, wrapping around Thunder Demon Lord’s arm.

Thunder Demon Lord seized the silver-lined blade wrapped around his arm and unleashed a torrent of thunder energy. The blade, which had been reddened by the scorching heat, was instantly consumed by the thunder energy.

In that moment, Baek Moo-jin’s sword flew toward Thunderstorm Demon Lord’s neck.

But as the Thunderstorm Demon Lord swiftly unleashed a left-handed palm strike, Baek Moo-jin had no choice but to counter with his own right-handed palm strike.

CRASH!

Baek Moo-jin was pushed to the left, and Noh Jeong-majon to the right.

In that instant, Thunder Demon Lord wrapped the Silver-Lined Blade around himself, flew toward Jin Sohye, then used the rebound force from being flung by Baek Moo-jin to unleash another double-sword strike.

A massive, inescapable force poured forth, creating a hair-trigger situation.

It was a force powerful enough to instantly shatter everything in its path, including the trees and rocks behind Jin Sohye where she stood.

In that instant, Baek Moo-jin, realizing any attack he launched could injure Jin So-hye, moved like an arrow.

“So-hye!”

‘Can So-hye handle Ma-jon? It would have been better to fight alone.’

Just as regret flooded Baek Moo-jin’s mind, Jin So-hye, judging evasion impossible, unleashed her own power to block the demon’s force.

A shockwave radiated out from the two of them, sweeping through the surrounding area. Trees nearby were swept away en masse, snapping clean in half or cracking loudly as they broke.

Mazun and Jin Sohye were clashing their qi without even touching palms.

Thunder energy and crimson-hued flame energy interlocked in midair.

At that moment, Baek Moo-jin, who had charged forward through the energy waves, lunged in. Amidst this, the Thunderstorm Demon King, who had been pouring his energy into overwhelming Jin So-hye, shifted his position. Ultimately, as he dashed forward, Baek Moo-jin soared into the air, drew his White Cloud Sword, and as he landed, unleashed a powerful strike at the Thunderstorm Demon King’s back.

Thud!

In an instant, the cold energy of the White Flower Divine Art surged up from the back of the Thunderstorm Demon Lord.

Simultaneously, the scorching flames erupting from Jin Sohye’s twin palms, which she had been holding back, engulfed the Thunderstorm Demon Lord.

A phenomenon different from when the Great White Night and Heaven-Destroying Flames poured forth occurred.

The two energies collided, using the Thunder Demon Lord’s body as a medium.

The White Flower Divine Art and the Heaven-Destroying Flames clashed, visually tangling into a sphere of white and red.

As the Thunderstorm Demon Lord strained every ounce of his strength to block it, Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye had no choice but to draw upon even greater power. Yet, no matter how formidable the Thunderstorm Demon Lord was, even he found it a struggle to withstand Baek Moo-jin’s full might.

It was at that very moment.

The white cold energy Baek Moo-jin had unleashed and the red flame energy Jin So-hye had released instantly engulfed Noh Jeong-ma-jon’s body in a reverse taegeuk pattern. Without a single drop of blood spilling, Noh Jeong-ma-jon’s body was trapped within the reverse taegeuk, shattering into countless pieces.

Not a single fragment of the Thunder Demon Lord’s body remained…

Yet the external energy forming the inverted taiji remained visible to both of them. There, the two looked into each other’s eyes and gradually lessened their power.

It was a strange scene.

White cold air rose toward the sky only to fall back to the ground.

Red heat swallowed the cold air, only to spit it back out again.

As the two energies spun violently, devouring each other, Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye remained extremely cautious until they gradually faded into a faint light and vanished.

They were both utterly astonished.

The spectacle lasted longer than they had anticipated, drawing nearby masters of the Bicheon sect to observe this bizarre scene.

A moment later, when the two completely withdrew their energy…

A heavy silence hung over the area.

3.

Bisa was at a loss for words as he looked at Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye.

‘It’s definitely not martial arts of the righteous path. Yet, it stands in stark opposition to the Demon-Immortal Sect… And who were those who interrupted in the middle? This is awkward to report.’

Bisa hesitated to approach Baek Moo-jin to ask, realizing he was overstepping without higher-ups’ permission. Instead, he bowed to Baek Moo-jin first.

“I’m relieved you’re safe. Until next time.”

Bisa bowed to Baek Moo-jin.

His stance of not introducing himself remained unchanged.

Baek Moo-jin had no intention of pressuring an ally who clearly didn’t want to reveal their identity. Assuming he was a master from Bicheon, he nodded and responded.

“Thank you for your help. Until we meet again.”

“You’re too kind… The outcome would have been the same even if we hadn’t intervened. Well then…”

As the assassin turned to leave, Baek Moo-jin called out from behind.

“If fate brings us together, let’s meet at the Xiaoliu Lake in Hanzhong.”

At those words, Bisha paused and replied.

“Soryu Lake…? Is that perhaps the location of the Demon Clan?”

“That is the opinion of the Red Lotus Sect.”

Bisa nodded and replied.

“I’ll take note. Go and investigate.”

Bisa led his subordinates away.

Baek Moo-jin and Jin So-hye looked back at the carnage they had wrought and discussed it. Among their topics, the focus was undoubtedly on the ‘Reverse Taegeuk’. It was the bizarre martial art the two had created. It was their own power, yet it was chilling.

How could cold and heat possibly form a Taegeuk?

Perhaps it was possible precisely because, before being cold and hot, it was a martial art of extreme yin and extreme yang.

Baek Moo-jin voiced his thoughts.

“When extreme yin and extreme yang harmonize… we gain power beyond our own control.”

“It was too dangerous. It could have even harmed you and me. Couldn’t we use it a bit more safely in actual combat? Earlier, I saw that if we had unleashed the full force…”

Jin Sohye trailed off.

Nodding, Baek Moo-jin was lost in a completely different train of thought.

‘Ultimate Yin and Ultimate Yang…’

Baek Moo-jin already possesses the energy of the Yan Emperor. If he could separate and combine the extreme yin and extreme yang within his twin blades, he would be able to wield the external force manifestation of the reverse Taiji alone. As the thought occurred, he immediately began to ponder what to call it.

No matter how much he pondered, nothing seemed more fitting than the words ‘Sun and Moon’.

Baek Moo-jin murmured.

“Perhaps I should name it the Sun-Moon Divine Palm…”

“The Sun-Moon Divine Palm? It fits. Though it does sound ominous, like an ancient demonic sect’s name…”

“The Sun-Moon Divine Sect?”

“Yes.”

The moment he heard the words “Sun-Moon Divine Sect,” Baek Moo-jin fell deep in thought. It was a name he had heard before. Moreover, if the origin of the Snow Mountain Hundred Families was indeed the Demon Cult’s left-hand family, as the Demon Cult’s words suggested, then it couldn’t be considered unrelated to the Sun-Moon Divine Sect. Yet, naming it the Yin-Yang Divine Art felt even more awkward.

Baek Moo-jin spoke.

“Sohye, it’s our secret anyway. We might need to use this again in the future. When we do, just say ‘Sun-Moon’.”

“Yes.”

“Before then, let’s refine it so we can deploy it in actual combat. Earlier, the balance was oddly perfect because of the nomad’s attack. Perhaps that too was divine fortune.”

“Yes.”

They both sensed that today’s divine favor had come about because their hearts had grown so close they could understand each other with just a glance. But they couldn’t rely on divine favor every time. Before facing the Demon King, they intended to prepare to wield the Sun-Moon Divine Technique perfectly in actual combat.

And Baek Moo-jin…

…had resolved to train until he could wield the Sun-Moon Divine Palm on his own.

Heaven’s Fortune: The Sun-Moon Divine Palm End