Chapter 232 Turbulent Nine Dragons (11)

Chapter 232: Turbulent Nine Dragons (11)

The duel was fierce.

The master unleashed flames relentlessly, as if Chukyung had been reborn, attempting to incinerate Baek Sang-ji.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

The heat was so intense it melted the blue steel forming the grand martial arts arena.

But Baek Sang-ji was no pushover either.

Pah!

Each time he swung his sword, crimson slashes split the world.

Each strike contained a barrage of blows, each one utterly deadly.

Moreover, the deceit he harbored had added formidable power to such sword strikes.

‘Push back.’

The master began to be pushed back.

POW!

With each pass of Baek Sang-ji’s sword, saturated with his aura, new wounds began to appear on the master’s body.

The only silver lining was that the intense heat meant the bleeding wouldn’t last long.

“Should I go in?”

He hesitated for a moment, but quickly shook his head.

Kwaaang! Whoosh! Flash!

He didn’t have the confidence to step between those two.

If this were a game, area-of-effect skills wouldn’t damage allies, but this was the martial arts world.

If I tried to squeeze in between them, the dragon’s breath would melt me away in less than ten seconds.

Amidst that awkwardness, a warm hand wrapped around my shoulder.

“It’ll be alright.”

It was Taecheongjin.

Right.

If push came to shove, the recluses would step in; the worst-case scenario wouldn’t happen.

After all, there was the absolute master, the Green Dragon Sect Leader, and the Blue Dragon Sect Leader, who had seen the pinnacle of the pinnacle.

Above all, there is this body, the peerless genius born of the Nine Dragons Fortress.

But as they say, life doesn’t always go as planned.

“If the Outer Sect Leader fails, I will step in.”

“No.”

Shouldn’t I step forward first?

“Wouldn’t stepping forward first wound the pride of the Outer Sect Master?”

The baffling values of the martial arts world, where pride outweighed life itself, left me breathless.

Of course, not all the opinions were negative.

“From where I stand, you’ve got a good shot at winning. What’s the big deal?”

The former head of the Hwaryong Sect viewed the two fighters positively.

“Baek Sang-ji hasn’t seen real combat in a long time. On the other hand, that young fellow over there—every move he makes reeks of blood. He seems like someone who’s lived buried in the heat of battle.”

He bared his teeth and laughed.

“No matter how strong you are, a cracked skull makes you human. Honey, little brother, don’t worry too much.”

‘Real combat!’

He was right. It was also a teaching his master had always emphasized.

Hearing those words, the fight looked different.

POW! THUD!

Despite Baek Sang-ji’s relentless barrage of attacks, the master kept advancing.

He was avoiding fatal blows while waiting for his chance.

An opportunity to kill Baek Sang-ji in one fell swoop.

‘He’s got this.’

Seeing his master, who looked like a demon incarnate, brought him a sense of relief.

But.

‘Still, what must be done must be done.’

To win, don’t you have to do everything you can?

I had my own plan too.

‘Since it’s already a mess.’

Now that the unspoken rules of the factional martial world are already broken.

Even if I target Baek Jungcheon instead of Baek Sangji, I won’t be blamed.

No matter how strange a bead he swallowed, wouldn’t Baek Sang-ji hesitate if his son was captured?

Tsu tsu tsu…….

I drew out the Extreme Death Mirror and compressed it further and further.

Tae Cheong Jin and the former head of the Hwaryong Hall, sensing something amiss, looked at me in puzzlement, but I didn’t react. No, I couldn’t.

‘Kkeng.’

Because I had to focus that intensely.

An upgraded version of the Extreme Death Technique. Slender Moon.

As the fatal technique that killed the sect leader, Eom Bu-yeong, it lived up to its name—a technique that inevitably kills—displaying formidable power. However, its success rate was a mere thirty percent.

However, having found a path forward in the battle against the Ten Demon Lords, Xianyue’s success rate now soared to a staggering ninety percent.

It boasted odds incomparable to mobile games where you spend a million won and get nothing in return.

‘You’re done for.’

He intended to sever the seed of evil by cutting off his lower body entirely.

But perhaps he had been too arrogant.

Boom!

Greed got the better of me, and in the end, the crystal shard shattered with a loud crack.

It also unleashed a massive shockwave.

Paaah…

The two hermits beside him stared with expressions that seemed to say, ‘What the hell is this guy doing?’

“…Damn it.”

A martial artist of Baek Jungcheon’s caliber couldn’t possibly fail to sense such a shockwave.

His gaze naturally focused on me.

“This is totally screwing me over…”

The quick-witted one began to quietly back away.

Probably figured out what I was after.

There was no other way now.

Thud!

There’s no choice but to take him head-on.

Pah!

He unleashed the Flying Sword Technique and flew toward the enemy.

Anticipating this, Baek Jung-cheon swiftly closed the distance and drew his sword.

Clang! Clang!

Blades like rays of light blocked his path.

Earlier, Baek Muha had shown me the Baek Clan’s ultimate sword technique while fighting me.

Swift, sharp, divine sword techniques that seemed to cleave the world itself.

And this opponent was Baek Jungcheon.

He was incomparably more powerful than Baek Muha, but I am not the same as I once was.

For I had now clearly ascended to the realm of the Fire Spirit (Jin).

Boom!

The piercing sound of air ripping apart, audible only to me.

His sword slash grazed my ear by the narrowest of margins, and I cried out.

“How dare you attack the leader of the Eight Palms Sect! Do you intend to defy the laws of Nine Dragons Fortress?”

A scoundrel who only invokes the law when he’s at a disadvantage.

“Criminals have no human rights!”

Baek Jung-cheon, having created sufficient distance, spun around and swung his sword.

Whoosh. Flash.

A different sword strike than before shot toward me.

Fast, sharp, and solid—a strike embodying everything the Baek family sword sought.

Though he merely swung his sword, it felt as if the world itself was splitting apart.

Kwaaah!

The sword strike blocked it, and the Dragon’s Breath exploded. It was regrettable, but thanks to that, I could gauge his skill.

‘Slightly below the level of a sect master.’

In the past, he would have been an unbeatable master.

If pressed, one could say he was walking toward the very pinnacle of supremacy.

Even after his right arm was severed by his master, he recovered his martial prowess this quickly. He truly was no ordinary, tough bastard.

But.

Thud.

I, too, am not the man I once was.

The Dragon’s Roar exploded, but I detonated the explosive bead in my hand to block his sword.

Heh.

He casts the Illusionary Transformation spell at the startled creature, whose eyes widen in surprise.

Thud.

He thrust the spear, brimming with experience, into the enemy’s body.

Pang! Crack.

The heavy, satisfying impact of striking the top of the protective energy barrier.

But this is where the advantage of the technique lies.

“Guh.”

Even if you block a sharp weapon, you can’t block the damage from a heavy blow.

Especially since the Ten-Thirteen Fist holds power capable of shattering boulders the size of houses.

“Guh.”

He pursued the man as he reeled back in disarray.

“You bastard!”

Flash.

A thunderous shout accompanied by a blinding flash.

“Tsk!”

He instinctively moved his feet to dodge the attack.

Spot. Splatter.

His neck split open as thin as a coin, blood flowing.

Though startled by the completely unexpected attack, I was the victor.

“Die.”

I unleashed the sphere gathered in my palm toward the enemy.

Whoosh! Crunch.

A gravitational force that swallowed everything erupted, violently pulling in the surrounding natural energy.

“……!”

Baek Jung-cheon, horrified, thrust his sword out at lightning speed.

Clang!

The sword energy of the Sunlight Blade struck the very center of the sphere.

Pashshsh.

It was nothing but a waste of his inner energy; the sphere remained completely unharmed.

The sheer force of the attack was overwhelming. He belatedly unleashed his defensive energy, but it was useless.

“Wh-what is this?!”

The sphere absorbed even his protective energy like a black hole.

Having devoured everything around it, the sphere reached its critical threshold.

BOOM!

It unleashed a force akin to five 81mm mortar shells exploding simultaneously, shattering everything around it.

It was the Moonbreaker, an evolved form of the Exploding Mirror, a technique of the Zhenwang lineage, akin to the Extreme Mirror.

The wind blowing from Baek Sang-ji and his master swept away the dust.

Whoooosh.

Baek Jungcheon could be seen planting his sword into the ground to steady himself.

Bang!

He unleashed the Ten-Thirteen Strike once more toward the enemy.

Crack.

Thirteen strikes pierced through his protective aura, shattering every rib on his left side.

“Gurgle.”

“Father!”

Baek Muha’s cry, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Jinmujeon!”

Baek Muha called out to me, but I ignored him and walked toward Baek Jungcheon.

“Yik!”

Clang! Thud.

As if he still had some strength left, a feeble Sunlight Sword burst forth from Baek Jung-cheon’s blade.

I easily deflected it and grabbed his hair.

“Give up now. Do you need the entire Baekryongdang to die before you come to your senses?”

“……”

“It’s over once you’re gone anyway. Are you going to end the Baek family’s long history here? If you’re worried about Father, I’ll ask the master to show leniency. Acquittal might be difficult, but we can probably settle it with a sentence to the prison dungeon.”

“……Can I trust that?”

“‘The Outer Hall’s First-Ranked Martial Master Jin Mujeon’ is a symbol of trust.”

“……”

Nod.

In the end, Baek Jung-cheon, trusting my credibility, nodded.

This is why a person’s credit rating matters.

Just as I was about to inform my master that everything was settled.

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

An unusual aura filled the air, sending shivers down my spine.

Quickly turning his head to look, he saw a terrifying aura emanating from Baek Sang-ji’s body, with its blood-red eyes, so intense it was hard to believe it came from a human.

The problem was.

“What the hell? Why is it like that? That thing?”

His state was utterly bizarre.

As if he’d lost his mind.

Puff!

His sword swung with tremendous force.

The sharpness that could have sliced through the world vanished without a trace, replaced by a blade filled only with raw power.

Kwaaang!

As that attack struck, the entire Grand Martial Arena exploded.

Of course, he was no master to fall for such a trivial attack.

Martial prowess wasn’t everything just because one possessed great strength.

“Hmph.”

Though he looked slightly fatigued, the master calmly moved his feet to evade the attack.

So far, so good.

That is, until he completely lost his mind.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Baek Sang-ji unleashed attacks indiscriminately in all directions, friend or foe.

“Dodge!”

“Hmph!”

“Damn it!”

The silver-robed figures and the Green Dragon Sect Master swiftly blocked his powerful energy.

“Unbelievable!”

A power capable of splitting mountains.

No matter how absolute a master one may be, even if they’ve sacrificed speed and sharpness, that’s impossible.

Humans have clear limitations, after all.

In other words.

‘He’s drawing upon his innate true energy.’

He’s unleashing attacks at the cost of his own life.

“Wh-what the hell is this?!”

Baek Jung-cheon’s throat tightened at the sight.

His reaction suggested he knew something.

“If you know anything, speak up now!”

Just as he was pressing the man like that.

Whoosh!

A crimson energy blade flew toward me.

“Damn it!”

Now he’s trying to kill my kid too.

Too late to dodge the attack.

I activated the Dragon Qi with all my might.

Kwaaaaah!

The black dragon lunged toward the crimson energy.

But there was no way the Dragon’s Breath alone could block it.

Kukukuku.

Moonbreaker.

He unleashed a strike with all his might, detonating it right before the Dragon’s Breath.

And then.

BOOM!

The sphere, having reached critical mass in an instant, exploded, unleashing a torrent of energy.

“Gah! Gah!”

He managed to block it, but this time he nearly died for real.

If I hadn’t created the Powell, or if I hadn’t found a way while fighting the Ten Demon Rounds, there would have been no way to block his attack.

But.

“Kee-kee-kee!”

The crisis wasn’t over.

“Damn it!”

Baek Sang-ji swung his sword at me once more.

“……!”

I still had inner strength, but I lacked the experience to unleash a full-fledged attack.

“Damn it.”

There was nothing I could do.

I was almost certainly going to die, but I had to try to dodge somehow.

Just as I was about to take that step.

The Jeonju City tied to my pinky finger caught my eye.

Gulp.

Swish.

Gritting my teeth, I poured all my inner strength into the Jeonju Sword.

‘After resolving to bring down the sun, what Hwajeong valued most was not speed or strength, but direction…’

Four-Sword Descendant, Huiye.

To unleash the legendary divine technique that would make the sun fall.

A situation of unparalleled urgency.

‘Focus. Focus.’

As I channeled my energy according to the incantation, the city of Jeonju turned white.

The moment I saw that, I knew.

‘It’s possible.’

I could survive.

“Go! Jeonju-mon!”

Jeonju City flew like a beam of light following my finger and collided with the crimson energy.

Kwaaang!

With a flash of light, it successfully pierced the very center of the energy beam fired by Baek Sang-ji.

It had been blocked.

“Haaah! Haaah!”

Thanks to that, I had no internal energy or stamina left, but at least I was alive.

And then.

Whoosh! Kwaaah!

Black flames erupted from the master’s hands and shot skyward.

Black Flame Dragon.

Kwaaaaah! Whoosh!

Baek Sang-ji’s sword moved again, but it failed to unleash the same power as before.

Finally.

“Kyaaaah!”

With a bloodcurdling scream, Baek Sang-ji was burned to ashes without a trace.