Chapter 324

Kraaaaaash!

The hellfire that had burst forth spread outward, devouring the chill of early spring that had yet to fade.

It erased the wavering afterimages created by the Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword when it split into dozens, then reached the blade as it finally recombined into one.

The Sword Force, the one true essence and concentration of power, collided with the hellfire.

Gooooooong!

A deafening roar rang out as a massive wave of martial energy spiraled around the old man and the young man.

Blue flames coiled around the wind, tore through the tea house’s ceiling, and surged upward like a waterspout.

At the sight, the eyelids of the old man, Hwangbo Eom, trembled.

The fire dragon…!

He did not even notice that his once-proud white beard had been scorched black.

All he could feel was his breath catching and his chest tightening as he stared into the burning eyes of the young man glaring at him across their locked weapons.

It’s hot.

Hwangbo Eom possessed two jiazi of internal energy and had reached the Supreme Peak realm.

His body, tempered by formidable martial arts, had long since reached the state of being Unaffected by Cold and Heat.

But the young man’s gaze—and the aura radiating from him—was not the kind of thing that could be called mere heat.

Rage and fighting spirit.

And within them, the faintest trace of cold composure.

How is this possible? Even the word “young” fails to describe him…

“Cough.”

A dry cough escaped Hwangbo Eom, followed by a mouthful of blood. Then, with trembling eyes, he stared at the spear in the young man’s hand.

Blue-white flames coiled around the transparent silver spearhead.

It was not yet complete, but it was unmistakably Force.

No. That’s not possible. He hasn’t crossed the wall yet. He’s still at the Peak realm. Then how could this old man…?

Hwangbo Eom had crossed that wall ten years ago and entered the Supreme Peak realm.

Yet after all those distant years of gaining enlightenment through training and meditation, he was being pushed back by a young brat who had not even left the Peak realm behind.

“How?”

The young man’s answer to his question was short.

“Because I’m stronger.”

“……!”

With that quiet reply, the spearhead locked against Hwangbo Eom’s sword pressed down on him with tremendous force.

Kaga-ga-ga-gak!

“Hup!”

Two jiazi of internal energy poured into the Sword Force?

A martial art of the Supreme Peak realm?

All of it was useless. The strength transmitted through the spearhead was a divine strength no human being should have been able to wield. It brought to mind a myth he had heard as a child.

Pangu.

The primordial giant who had created the world by swinging a single ax.

The young man before him had confined the strength of a god within a human body.

And divine strength was not all he possessed.

Shlick!

The senses of a Supreme Peak master were far beyond those of an ordinary martial artist.

Yet even Hwangbo Eom could not evade the sudden silver line that slashed across the air.

Pain he had not felt in decades.

Then blood gushed from his shoulder, and his eyes flew wide.

When did he…?

He had not even seen the young man make his move.

Even the Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword, the Zhongnan Sect’s celebrated sword art of extreme speed, could not possibly be like this.

After eighty years of practicing the Zhongnan Sect’s martial arts, Hwangbo Eom shouted.

“This cannot be! How can this be?”

Kraaa-boom!

He summoned every last ounce of strength, and the Force gathered along his blade rose like a wildfire.

At last escaping the pressure, Hwangbo Eom pointed at the young man with trembling fingers.

“Who… Who in the world are you?”

“You know.”

The young man, Jin Taekyung, spat to the side like a common street thug before continuing.

“The Fire Gate Clan’s nineteenth successor.”

Fwoooosh!

The hellfire gathered around the transparent spearhead blazed fiercely.

Shweeeeeek! Boom!

The spearhead and the sword blade collided.

A series of moments so brief they could be called instants.

The hellfire and Sword Force erased everything in their path as they clashed and separated through dozens of exchanges.

Shishishishik! Bang!

I tilted my head a fraction.

A tremendous wave of martial energy burst from the tip of the sword that stabbed into empty air. A pillar three jang away split like tofu and came crashing down.

I shot myself forward, stepping on the wooden fragments raining from the ceiling.

Light yet heavy.

Soft yet rough.

It was like fire spreading.

So this is the essence of the Flamefire Path.

For an instant, a feeling of floating enveloped my entire body.

The world slowed down, and I alone seemed to be pulled forward. My body, light as air, shot ahead like a bullet.

Ding.

System

Enlightenment comes to you in many ways. Through ceaseless training and meditation, and through battles in which you stake your life.

The Flamefire Path has risen to seven stars!

You have gained a substantial amount of EXP!

Bang!

Air exploded beneath my toes.

At the same moment the System notification rang out, I found myself directly in front of Hwangbo Eom.

Perhaps because of the unexpected enlightenment and the increase in my speed, I had gotten too close to thrust with my spear.

Instead of retreating, I thrust out a palm strike.

Whoooosh!

My palm advanced, burning through the air.

Hwangbo Eom let out a thunderous roar and thrust out his own palm to meet it.

A dazzling blue light gathered over his wrinkled palm.

It was the Zhongnan Sect’s famed Blue Cloud Heavenly Force Palm.

But he had been given too little time to complete the Force in his palm.

No.

I was simply faster.

Whoooooosh! Boom!

The two palms met.

A thunderous crash rang out, followed by a strangled groan.

“Guh!”

Hwangbo Eom’s face had gone pale from his Internal Injury. Gritting his teeth, he raised his other hand and pointed it at me.

Papapap!

Five streams of finger qi cut uselessly through the empty air.

If I had not caught his wrist with the Fire Dragon Claw in that instant, I would have been bleeding.

How dare you.

Crack.

Using my thumb, index finger, and middle finger, I twisted the wrist I had seized.

A suppressed scream slipped through his split lips.

Taeeul Merciless Sword Hwangbo Eom.

How long had it been since he had experienced pain like this?

When the curtain falls on a stage, the actors leave.

The curtain had fallen on the war between the orthodox and unorthodox factions half a century ago, and the heroes had scattered in every direction.

The Hwangbo Eom I saw before me now was not a hero.

He was merely a petty old man.

This is going to hurt.

I released his limp wrist.

At the same time, I clenched the fingers that had been curled like a dragon’s claws.

Crack.

I had repeated the same stance countless times a day while wearing an iron ball weighing hundreds of geun.

My lower body had to be like roots, my waist like a pillar, and my fist had to be precise and unobstructed.

Not a single part of it deviated from Jeok Cheongang’s teachings.

At first, I smashed rocks.

I split waterfalls falling from hundreds of jang above.

Then I brought down cliffs.

Like the shell of a turtle, the skin across the back of my hand had burst and split countless times. Blue-white flames spread across it.

The time from taking up the stance to throwing the punch was less than an instant.

Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist.

Gooooong.

The Extreme Yang energy evaporated every trace of moisture within several meters.

Hwangbo Eom’s lips, cracked like a drought-stricken rice paddy, parted.

“You can’t—!”

“I can.”

With that answer, I drove my fist forward.

The Body-Protecting Qi of a Supreme Peak master stood in my way, but only for a moment. The punch shattered the energy surrounding his entire body before slamming into his aged flesh and bones.

Kraaaack!

“Gaaaaaaaaah!”

Hwangbo Eom’s body was hurled backward amid a shriek that seemed to tear the air apart.

Three pillars and part of the wall collapsed, and the remaining ceiling came crashing down.

Just as I began to think of the word finish, I saw bloodshot eyes glaring at me through the cloud of dust.

“C-cough!”

“Just lie down. If you want to preserve what little life you have left.”

“You… How could you…”

Shock and confusion.

Rage and humiliation.

Countless emotions churned within Hwangbo Eom’s eyes.

And at last, they all converged into one.

Hatred.

His blood-soaked lips slowly opened.

Blood mixed with pieces of his organs poured down, but his eyes continued to burn fiercely.

They were the eyes of a man who had abandoned all thought of what would come afterward.

“This old man is… The First Sword of Zhongnan.”

At that moment, the hot wind swirling around us cooled.

Then a freezing wind began to blow.

It started from one man and rose from one sword.

I felt my overheated blood begin to cool and muttered,

“This is…”

“The Taeeul Formless Sword. Watch closely. This is the sword art that will take your life.”

Shing—

The sword moved, and the wind blew.

The sword was the wind, and the wind was the sword.

Invisible sword strikes were mixed into the wind.

It was the instant I thought I smelled a strong scent of blood.

Shlick!

I took half a step to the side.

That half-step saved my life.

I had no time even to feel the blood flowing from my neck. Every time Hwangbo Eom’s sword vibrated more than ten jang away, invisible sword strikes poured toward me like waves.

Shik, shlick!

My side stung.

The energy carried by the sword strike shook my insides.

Even as I staggered, I raised my arm. The attack that passed within a hair’s breadth of me split a roof beam like tofu.

What is this?

Shlick!

I had no time to question it.

This time, my chest was cut open in a long slash. A stream of blood sprayed out and soaked the floor.

I can’t see it.

It felt as if I had been swallowed by dense fog.

This was not a matter of strength or speed.

It was martial arts—a sword art of supreme mastery wielded by a martial artist who had attained greater enlightenment than I had and was forcing his internal energy into a rampage.

And yet…

How have I managed to dodge it until now?

One question suddenly took over my mind.

Dozens of sword strikes poured down on my rigid body.

I stared at the sight with a dazed expression.

Then I closed my eyes.

In the darkness that came with them, one man’s face appeared.

His sharp, ringing voice echoed faintly.

In the Murim, live with your eyes wide open. Then you won’t get stabbed and die.

But what if I end up in a situation where I’m about to die anyway?

Then tear out those useless eyes and see with your heart.

My heart? Come on. How is that supposed to work?

Have you even tried?

Yes, I had.

No.

I was trying now.

So this was what you meant back then.

A smile spread across my face before I realized it.

I could not see.

But I could feel it.

The sword strikes approaching through the darkness where I could not see even an inch ahead.

The final struggle of Taeeul Merciless Sword Hwangbo Eom.

Thank you for the lesson, Old Master.

I twisted my body with my eyes closed.

I finely tuned every limb and every tiny muscle, as precisely as the notes of a piano.

The sword strikes missed my flesh, tearing through my clothes and clawing at the ground.

Kraaa-boom!

Amid the thunderous crash, I slowly opened my eyes.

Hwangbo Eom’s face was filled with astonishment.

An emotion I had never seen before was reflected in his eyes.

Fear.

He knew it, too.

He knew the fear he was feeling.

The terror he sensed from me.

“D-don’t come any closer!”

Shweeeek!

I took one step forward and swung my spear.

The sword strike that had been cutting toward my neck collided with the spearhead and vanished.

Then I took another step.

Shishishishing!

I unfolded my spear as naturally as I breathed.

I knocked aside, blocked, and pierced the attacks as though I were dispatching a living enemy.

And all the while, I continued walking forward.

I was not in a hurry.

Hwangbo Eom was desperate.

Ignoring the body that had already reached its limit, he unleashed one final sword strike.

Kraaaaaash!

Sword Force carrying enough power to reduce the entire tea house to dust came rushing toward me.

I watched it approach until it was right in front of my face.

Then I swung my spear like a bolt of lightning.

Heavenly Strike.

The fire dragon’s claw seized the Sword Force.

And then—

Crack!

The shattered sword blade tumbled across the ground.

Hwangbo Eom stared blankly at the broken sword he had cherished before lifting his head.

“You… What in the world are you…”

“So why…”

I slowly continued speaking to the greatest martial artist of the Zhongnan Sect, Taeeul Merciless Sword Hwangbo Eom.

“Why the fuck are you insulting someone else’s master? You old bastard who ate your age through your asshole. You trying to get yourself killed? Fuck.”