Chapter 56

Dan Woo-sung, Sama Gyeok, and Ju Ja-ryang, sitting around the campfire, smiled occasionally. They were friends who felt no discomfort even in silence. Dan Woo-sung, who had told the story of the Dragon Phoenix Grand Assembly, pulled a signal flare from his pocket and handed it to Ju Ja-ryang.

“Fallen Scholar.”

“Huh?”

“Find out where this was made.”

Zhu Ziliang turned his head left and right, looking at Dan Wuseong and Sima Jue.

“How could I?”

Danwooseong retorted.

“With your skills, talent, and cunning. If you can’t find it, try making something similar.”

As if it were the commission fee, Dan Woosung pulled two vouchers from his pocket and handed them to Ju Jaryang. Ju Jaryang took the vouchers naturally and asked.

“Where’d these come from?”

“Looks like something from the Demon Realm.”

“Ugh… That sounds ominous.”

Sama Gyeok said.

“It felt like fireworks bursting in the distant sky. Was it this?”

Dan Wuseong nodded. Zhu Ziliang remarked while observing the scroll he hadn’t seen in ages.

Anyway, I’ll look into it. There are quite a few large bustling districts near Gu Huashan too. I’ll have to go around myself. Sima Jue and your brother are busy training. Fighting like madmen every day… Though it’s mostly Jia Yan getting beaten up. Lately, he seems to be taking it pretty well. You know what I mean? Taking it like a champ. Bang! He flies across

and tumble around, then snap into a perfect stance. It can look kinda cool sometimes. Back in the day, even getting hit looked pathetic.”

Danwooseong let out a low chuckle.

“So the youngest has only gotten better at taking hits with style.”

“If you call that skill, then yes, it’s improved. Of course, Samaguk has improved even more.”

Danwooseong nodded his head as if satisfied.

“What about that secret manual? Is it a fake, by any chance?”

Of course, it was a secret manual created by Dan Woosung.

Sama Gyeok shook his head.

“It’s not fake. Some expressions are vague, but they make sense as you practice. It’s also a martial arts treatise written by someone with long experience. The parts that were occasionally difficult to understand, Zhu Ziliang reinterpreted. What I read and what Zhu Ziliang interpreted are a bit different. How should I put it… since he doesn’t know martial arts,

he seems to offer a more objective interpretation than I do… Still, it seems the failed scholar didn’t study in vain.”

Dan Woo-sung grinned.

The combination of Sima Jue, Zhu Ziliang, and Li Ziyan worked well together. They planned to increase support after returning to the Galaxy Trading Guild.

“I’ll purchase the necessary supplies and send them over.”

“There’s really no need for that. It feels good to be secluded at such a young age.”

“I killed the sorcerers scheming around here. Gu Huashan is vast, but you still need to be cautious. Supplies aren’t much. I’ll send what Sima Jue and Yi Zaiyan need to take.”

Sama Gyeok’s expression changed.

“Hmm, elixirs?”

Dan Wuseong nodded.

At that moment, a signal flare burst in the sky slightly above them, embroidering the night sky with sparks before vanishing.

Ju Jaryang tilted his head.

“Someone keeps setting off fireworks. What’s going on over there?”

Danwooseong said to his friends.

“It’s late, everyone. I should head back.”

“At this hour?”

“You’re leaving?”

“If I get tired walking, I’ll just crash anywhere.”

Sama Gyeok and Ju Ja-ryang looked at each other, then shook their heads as if they couldn’t understand. It felt like he had changed too much.

Dan Woo-sung stood up immediately and gave a relaxed smile.

“Take care.”

“Go.”

“Keep an eye on things.”

“Keep pushing the youngest.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Dan Woo-seong walked along that path for a moment, then the instant he was out of his friends’ sight, he unleashed his lightness skill.

What immediate help could Sima Jue, Zhu Ziliang, or Li Ziyan possibly offer against the Demon Path?

This was the thinking of Kwon Wang, the failed lone wolf general. It didn’t matter if they were of immediate use or not. He intended to accept the connection forged because of Lee Jin-eon and keep looking around him.

Even if the gap in martial prowess meant he’d fight alone in crucial battles, he resolved to live his life without the loneliness of his past life.

In his past life, he was the stubborn King Kwon.

This life, Danwooseong resolved to live differently.

There’s no reason to repeat a life that failed once. And I didn’t feel that the loneliness of my past life was the right way to live. Even now, hadn’t I formed a different relationship with Yu Jeong-hong, the leader of the martial arts world?

As his friends suspected, Dan Woo-sung had changed in many ways.

Hoping that change would become the spark to surpass the Martial King, Dan Woo-sung unleashed his lightness skill toward the place where the signal flare had exploded.

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.

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‘One person?’

In a spot so empty it was almost too easy to find, a man clad in imperial yellow robes sat cross-legged.

He looked like a seeker or a man in training.

There were no traces around him whatsoever, as if he had come openly to be bait or even to die. It was a wasteland, not a place where an ambush would be expected.

Danwooseong greeted the morning sitting cross-legged on a hill overlooking the man.

He calmly organized his thoughts until morning came. Since the Tenfold Dan had ascended to the Ninefold Dan, only the ultimate realm of enlightenment, the Tenfold Dan, remained. Therefore, unless it was a spiritual elixir of the level of the Pure Crystal Oil, taking it now held little meaning. Such things he would gladly give to his youngest brother, Lee Ja-eon, or his friends.

It was an efficient time to do it. There wouldn’t be any word reaching the liver anyway.

Thus, after visiting the Martial Arts Alliance, his cultivation level had risen by one tier.

Now he intended to freely mold the shape of his lightning energy.

In his previous life, he had deployed it as a flying spear or drawn it as a sword from his palm. He could extend his hand to wield it as a spiderweb, or condense it into a sphere. Yet, he felt that was insufficient.

After all, mastering the lightning energy at will was the tenth rank.

Because there were no real limits, the Tenfold Dan held even greater symbolic meaning. Dan Woo-sung, who had been sitting cross-legged, imagining the freedom of the Tenfold Dan to his heart’s content, stood up.

‘When I unleash the Tenfold Lightning Strike, I shall become the Thunder Emperor.’

He intended to redraw with his hands what he had imagined in his mind.

The subjects were the sorcerer and the thunder spirit, and the background was the sky.

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“Come in.”

Bima Danju said to Danwoo Seong, who was walking alone. Danwoo Seong stopped at a suitable distance and looked at the sorcerer.

Bima Danju spoke.

“White Path?”

“No.”

“Black Path?”

“No.”

Bimadanju asked.

“Then what is it?”

Dan Woo-sung looked into Bima Danju’s eyes and replied.

“I’m the son of a merchant.”

Bima Danju tilted his head.

“What a strange fellow. Seeing he carries no weapon, it seems to fit. The one who killed my subordinate…”

“That was me too.”

Bimadanju, glaring at Dan Wooseong, raised one finger, then swiftly drew two. Instantly, Bimadanju multiplied into two figures. Then, as Bimadanju flicked his finger, he multiplied into dozens in the blink of an eye.

Not a sound accompanied the multiplication.

Nor was there any difference in their appearance.

Danwooseong watched the clones with his arms crossed. Since his subordinates had used the Demon Path’s concealment technique, it seemed easy for the apparent leader to employ such clones.

Then, each clone’s expression and movements changed.

Dan Woosung demanded.

“One of you will die here. Reveal your allegiance.”

The leader of the Bima Dan responded.

“I am Wu Jing, leader of the Bima faction of the Ten Thousand Horses Palace.”

Dan Wooseong felt an increasing sense of unease. The magic was unmistakable, but the attitude was not that of a magician. It was closer to that of a warrior. At least he now knew the name of the group.

Dan Wooseong said.

“Ten Thousand Horses Palace, huh? First time I’ve heard of it.”

As Danwooseong spoke, clones filled the wasteland. The clones of the Vimadanju, encircling Danwooseong in a circular formation, charged forward. Viewed from the sky, which Danwooseong considered his backdrop, they appeared like a swarm of pitch-black ants converging in a circle.

“Draw your sword.”

Swish······!

Countless clones drew their swords simultaneously. They were skilled enough to show confidence that they wouldn’t die unless facing the Sword King, despite the operation failing.

Even Danwooseong’s eyes couldn’t distinguish whether the clones were mere illusions or possessed substance. The moment he recalled the realm of the Tenfold, he thrust both hands out to the sides, then wrapped his white aura around them and launched into close combat.

The moment he thrust a fist into the face of the first enemy he encountered, the brain energy infused into his clone surged through his body and radiated out in all directions. He was harnessing the brain energy like a magnetic force. Amidst the fight, a barrier of brain energy enveloped Dan Wooseong’s entire body.

Dan Woosung, who had been darting through the gaps between the clones using his teleportation skill, raised both eyebrows.

“Oh Gyeong, it seems the clone won’t suffice.”

“We won’t know until we try…”

Dan Wooseong unleashed a thunder fist toward the source of the voice. The moment he assessed that five or six clones had scattered, the true body of the Vima Clan Chief, Oh Kyung, blocked the thunder fist with a horizontal sword strike.

CRASH!

As Wu Jing flew backward and collided, the number of clones decreased again. Dan Wuxing, who had been closing the distance with Wu Jing using the Wu Liao Bo technique, charged forward, coiled the lightning energy into a spherical form, and hurled it ahead.

Oh Kyung’s new form moved in a乙(乙)-shaped pattern. In that moment, Dan Woo-sung poured the blade-like lightning down vertically. Oh Kyung dodged, and Dan Woo-sung sent a mixture of fist wind and lightning fist toward the spot where Oh Kyung would land.

Meanwhile, the clones closed in from behind…

Dan Woosung stepped on the thunder horn without even glancing back.

Truly a man’s way of fighting.

Amidst this, Oh Kyung vanished, and Dan Woosung grabbed the empty air beneath his chin with his right hand.

A sword gripped the hand that had been grasping at thin air.

Clang.

With the sword seized, both men swung their left hands. As the forces collided, Oh Kyung twisted his arm, wrenching the sword from Dan Woo-sung’s grasp. Even as the blade twisted, the knuckle guard remained intact.

As Danwooseong soared into the air, eight swords surged in from all directions, narrowly missing him.

‘Clones… How bothersome.’

Dan Wooseong spread his claws, trampling the clones’ heads as he passed through them.

Crack!

The clone crushed under the brain horn shattered and scattered. Then, in an instant, the clones vanished completely, leaving only the Five-Eyed Demon King, Ogyeong, standing alone.

Bima Danju Oh Kyung knew Dan Woo-sung was stronger than himself, yet he did not retreat.

He walked toward Dan Woo-sung, lowered his sword to his lower body, and charged forward without a trace of fear.

Dan Wooseong grabbed the sword with his left hand and pulled it toward him, then kicked Ogyeong’s abdomen with his right foot. Thud. Following the sound, Ogyeong, who had been thrown to the ground, got back up and walked toward Dan Wooseong again.

He truly was a man who had come to die.

“The Demon Lord of the Ten Thousand Horses Palace, I shall watch over you as you wander the Nine Heavens.”

Oh Kyung charged forward, swinging his twin blades. As soon as Dan Wooseong grabbed the blades, he crushed his hands, yanked them back, and drove his knee into Oh Kyung’s abdomen. Though weaker than Dan Wooseong, he was a formidable man whose profound magical power was palpable.

Dan Wooseong grabbed Oh Kyung’s head, pulling his brain up to the skull cavity, and stared into his eyes. Though excruciating pain must be surging through him, not even a scream escaped. Unlike those previously struck by the Ten Thousand Battles Ten Thousand Deaths Palm, Oh Kyung’s scalp was charred black from the crown down.

Dan Wooseong watched Oh Kyung, now charred black and collapsing to the floor, and said.

“I don’t think my fate was meant to end like this just to see that so-called Demon Realm.”

Danwooseong believed he was undergoing this process to resolve a matter significant enough to defy fate.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong