Chapter 680

The world crept by.

Blue-white flames surged around my fist, feeding on every sight that flashed past in that fraction of a second.

The punch I drove like a cannonball toward the Black Hand Fist Demon’s heart.

His bulging eyes and the hand he thrust out in haste.

The black Force giving way despite his efforts, and his Body-Protecting Qi shattering the instant it touched the flames.

Even the dazzling flash that came slicing through the space beyond them.

KWA-AAANG!

A tremendous roar. A violent tremor.

Everything happened in an instant, and ended just as quickly. Then a blast of hot air swept across the place.

No—the blast swept across everything within several dozen jang.¹

Mist born from the heat and steam of Scorching Yang Qi spread everywhere, blocking my view.

Whoosh…

I stood still, staring into the pale mist, until a voice drifted out of it.

“Truly astonishing. More than I expected.”

There was a faint note of genuine admiration in his voice. I drew White Flame back with Seizing an Object Through Empty Space and answered calmly.

“I’m pretty good for my age. I doubt even the Heavenly Demon or Martial God was this good.”

“How arrogant. Still, I’ll grant you that. You’ve earned the right to say it.”

“Listen to you talking about what I’ve earned. You got scared and interfered, and now you’re saying that?”

My voice sounded calm, but I was bitter inside.

Damn it.

That flash I’d seen at the last moment. If it hadn’t been for the twin wheels the slender old man had thrown, the Black Hand Fist Demon might have suffered a severe internal injury—or died on the spot.

I expected him to interfere, but his timing was too damn good.

I’d had only two choices: finish off the Black Hand Fist Demon and let the twin wheels take my head, making me a Dullahan candidate, or let him go and save my own life.

Naturally, I’d chosen the latter.

I changed the direction of my punch in midair and struck the twin wheels aside. The Black Hand Fist Demon did not even dare try to take advantage of the opening. He hurriedly pulled back.

The clash had started and ended in the blink of an eye. It might have looked like a draw, but I’d lost far more.

Having learned what I could do to him, the Black Hand Fist Demon would fight me with a caution he’d never shown before. An opponent’s carelessness was a weakness greater than any other, but you only got one chance to exploit it.

At this rate…

This wouldn’t be easy. No, it had become an incredibly difficult fight.

I searched for the figure hidden beyond the mist and called out.

“Black Hand? My dear Black Hand, who’s had fifty more years than me to learn martial arts and apparently learned them through his asshole instead. Where are you hiding?”

I thought he might ignore me. But the Black Hand Fist Demon was considerate enough to give my question his full attention.

“…Shut your damn mouth.”

“Is it just me, or are you talking a lot quieter than before? Did a taste of fire shrink your balls too?”

“…You bastard. You caught me off guard once, and now you’re full of yourself. Do you think you’ll get another chance?”

I let out a short laugh.

Given his martial prowess, he wasn’t entirely wrong to say I’d caught him off guard. But that was the kind of excuse a young prodigy made, not an old monster who’d lived as long as he had.

“You sound like a fucking idiot, and you know it. Right?”

“You—tearing you apart wouldn’t be enough…!”

“Enough.”

A cold voice cut off the Black Hand Fist Demon’s shout. A slender figure emerged from the mist still blanketing the area.

Step.

Mud baked hard by the terrible heat crumbled like sand beneath the old man’s foot.

He held a wheel in each hand, blades jutting from them like the teeth of gears. He gave his sleeves a light shake.

Whoosh…

A cold wind settled over the heat and swept away the mist, revealing what had become of the poisonous marshland around us.

It looked like a desert.

“So this is the Fire Gate Divine Technique I’ve heard so much about. Impressive. What stage have you reached?”

His admiration sounded genuine. I lowered my spearhead and answered.

“Three thousand twenty-five.”

“Is it just me, or is that a ridiculous number?”

“The realm of martial arts has no end.”

“A foolish question met with a wise answer. The Fire King raised his Disciple well.”

“He did, didn’t he? So why did your parents raise their kid like this?”

A parent insult, thrown hard and tight on the inside. The old man didn’t flinch.

“I suppose I’ll ask them if I ever find myself in the afterlife.”

Step.

He walked forward as if out for a stroll. I measured the distance between us.

“Since you brought it up, why not visit them today?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t expect to go anywhere near there for some time.”

“You shouldn’t put that off. Think how angry your parents must be in the Nine Springs. They worked their asses off raising you, and you won’t even visit.”

“You’ve guessed wrong this time. I’m an orphan, with no family in this world. No one cared for me growing up, so I can hardly be accused of being an unfilial son.”

Step.

His third step.

Muyaho had gone from a majestic White Tiger to Poppy after a disastrous grooming job with the twin wheels. He gave a low growl. I watched the wheels begin to turn slowly in the old man’s hands and muttered,

“Then you won’t be able to ask why they raised you this way when you get to the Nine Springs. You don’t know what they look like.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right. Thank you for the advice.”

“What about the idiot creeping along behind you?”

The Black Hand Fist Demon spat out a brief curse. The old man answered calmly.

“Black Hand? He’s in a similar position.”

“I’m genuinely curious. Is that a requirement for joining Dark Heaven, or is it just a trend?”

The old man took another step instead of answering.

Step.

The sound rang unusually clear in my ears. At that moment, I saw blue light blaze from the twin wheels in his hands.

Hiss! Whoosh!

Two streaks of light flew toward me with faint sounds of splitting air. The twin wheels twisted through the air like living snakes. Beneath them, the Black Hand Fist Demon charged, madness gleaming in his eyes.

SHWAAAAAAK!

An attack from two directions. No—from three at once.

“GRAAAH!”

As the White Tiger roared behind me, I brought White Flame’s spearhead down with all my strength.

KWAANG!

The impact sent a violent jolt through my arms. I knocked one wheel aside, felt wind from my blind spot, and turned my head.

Whoosh—shhk!

It missed by a hair. Strands of hair severed by Force scattered through the air as the Black Hand Fist Demon closed to within three jang of me and snapped his tattered sleeves.

“Youuu!”

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

Palm Force burst from his outstretched hands, shaking the space around us. I eased my spearhead into the black Force rolling toward me like a wave.

Fire Dragon Divine Spear. First form.

Fire Dragon’s Single Tail.

Fwoosh—shaaaa!

Blue-white flames surged. The fire dragon’s tail split the black Palm Force and shot straight toward him. The Black Hand Fist Demon cried out in alarm and twisted aside.

Shhk!

A sharp cutting sound.

Unlike me, he hadn’t escaped with a few lost hairs. Blood dripped from the blunt end of his nose, whose tip had been sliced off before he knew it.

“You—you dare…”

I knew it now. Even if we fought ten more times, the Black Hand Fist Demon could never defeat me.

That old monster’s towering pride and the anger buried in his heart clouded his judgment. The smallest crack in it was an opening for me.

Now.

Flash!

One step.

The several jang between us vanished. More than a dozen possible moves flashed through my mind, and choosing one was easy.

Whoosh!

From sky to earth, my spearhead came down with a faint hiss. Blue-white flames rose along its edge.

Fire Dragon Divine Spear. Second form.

Heavenly Strike.

Fwoosh—KWA-AAANG!

A snowball grows as it rolls. A current swells into a wave when more water joins it.

The Black Hand Fist Demon looked up at the streak of flame crossing the air. His eyes flew wide.

“Guh…!”

With a startled cry, he thrust up both palms. The Palm Force he hastily summoned met the flames and faded away. In that brief instant, blue flashes came from my left and right.

SHWIIIIING!

My neck. My chest.

I couldn’t dodge both by moving. I made my decision in a split second and twisted the spearhead away from the Black Hand Fist Demon, swinging it at the wheels.

KWAANG!

Even someone like me couldn’t overcome the verdict contained in those four characters: force majeure.

SHRAAAK!

The tremendous rebound threw me off balance and sent me sliding helplessly backward. A pale figure rushed in like a ghost.

Shrik!

Not a word. Not even a breath.

Until now, the old man had stayed back and thrown his twin wheels. Now he entered the fight himself—calm and cold, each movement timed and placed with precision.

Just as he did now.

SHWAAK! THUD!

Hot and cold.

Though I twisted aside at the last moment, it made little difference.

Finger Qi erupted from the tips of fingers long and withered as tree branches and pierced my shoulder. White Flame’s spearhead, which had been driving toward the old man, wavered off course.

Dodging the weakened spearhead was easy for him.

Whoosh!

My spearhead cut uselessly through empty air. Gritting my teeth, I steadied myself and opened my free hand. Flames roiled around it as I drove my palm toward the old man’s chest.

Fwoosh—whoooom!

The Flame Divine Palm surged forward, burning everything in its path. I saw its flames reflected in his eyes, their heat beyond description, burning without pause.

Yet his eyes remained cold. A chill I couldn’t explain ran through me.

This is…

And the ominous instinct that seized my entire body soon revealed itself as reality.

Sss…

In a moment divided into fractions of a fraction, the old man slowly extended his hand.

No. He wasn’t the only one moving slowly.

My palm advanced toward his chest just as slowly. Behind each of us, the Black Hand Fist Demon and the White Tiger were charging toward the other.

Then cold flowed from the old man’s wrinkled hand, and time began moving again.

KRAK! SHHHHTZZZ!

Our palms met at last. Blue-white flames collided and mingled with pure-white cold.

KRRRUMBLE!

Everything was hot and cold at once.

Two lights of different colors flashed without cease before my eyes. Unprecedented internal energy shattered and shook everything around us.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

A roar like heaven and earth splitting apart.

And I saw it. At the same time, I heard it.

“I’m late introducing myself.”

Powerful Yin-Cold Qi pressed down on the flames as they slowly died away.

“I am called the Great Snow Fiend.”

The cold voice drifted through a cloud of pure-white breath.

KRAAASH!