Chapter 81: White Yaksha (2)

Nam Mujin and Peng Daeho simultaneously blocked Heo Sochang’s path.

At that moment, the same thought arose in both of their minds.

‘One Sword, Certain Kill.’

‘We must pour everything into the first strike!’

Wooong!

All of their qi was imbued into their swords and blade.

They poured everything into a single instant.

If their strike failed, there would be no second chance, but there was no helping it.

The realm of Transformation that their opponent had reached was an overwhelming difference they could not hope to contend against.

Even if ten Supreme Peak Masters gathered, they could not suppress a single warrior at the entry of Transformation.

It was the very first step of a martial artist transcending beyond the human.

Swaeek!

Chwaaa!

Yet even so, the two men swung their weapons, staking their very lives.

Saaa!

Nam Mujin wielded the Left-Hand Sword, known as Bangdo.

A fierce energy like the crashing blue sea swirled around the blade.

It was the Thirty-Six Swords of the Southern Sea, the sword arts that earned his sect, the Mount Hainan Sect, its title as a Sword Sect.

Swaeek!

At the same time, Peng Daeho’s blade also came flying at Heo Sochang.

If Nam Mujin carried the sea within his sword, Peng Daeho carried the mountain lord within his blade.

Grrrr!

The blade roared like a tiger’s cry.

It was the Peng Clan’s supreme technique, the Tiger-Severing Blade.

Swaeeaek!

The sword and blade, each carrying completely different energies, crossed in the shape of an X and crashed down upon Heo Sochang.

But.

“Tsk, pathetic tricks.”

Heo Sochang only clicked his tongue as if everything was laughable.

Swaeek!

Kwaa!

The two blades that struck down like lightning, aimed at the Baihui Acupoint at the crown of his head—

Kwaduk!

“!!”

“……!”

Were effortlessly caught by Heo Sochang’s ten fingers, dyed in pitch black.

The desperate strike they had poured their lives into was crushed mercilessly.

‘Kuh!’

‘Kuhp!’

The veins on Peng Daeho and Nam Mujin’s arms bulged.

They tried to pull their weapons free, but they didn’t budge an inch.

The situation turned even worse.

Kwaduk!

Kwajijik!

Cracks began to run across their blades with a tearing sound.

Heo Sochang’s Flood Dragon Finger, focused with qi at the tips, was corroding their weapons.

“Orabeoni!”

“Young Master Nam!”

At that moment, Serin and Peng So-hye’s cries rang out.

Then, Peng Daeho and Nam Mujin abruptly changed their stances completely.

Paat!

Tadat!

‘……They abandoned their weapons?’

Suddenly, both of them boldly let go of their weapons and leaped back with all their strength.

With Heo Sochang still holding onto the now masterless blades—

Swaeek!

Chwaaa!

Serin’s Wind Silk and Peng So-hye’s Fist Wind came crashing down upon the weapons.

Jjaenggeong!

Pababak!

The shattered fragments of the broken weapons rained down on Heo Sochang.

But the fragments didn’t leave the slightest scratch on his skin.

Tting!

Ting!

They could not pierce Heo Sochang’s protective qi at all.

‘It worked!’

Yet in that moment, Peng Daeho and the other Young Successors’ eyes glimmered.

From the start, the plan’s true goal had only been to momentarily obscure his vision.

Swaaa!

In an instant, Serin’s Wind Silk exploded, releasing the hidden poison gas within and engulfing Heo Sochang.

“Kuhup?!”

Caught off guard, Heo Sochang inhaled the poison gas and let out his first sound of dismay.

Sss!

The fingers that had been dyed black by the Flood Dragon Finger quickly returned to their normal state.

‘My qi……!’

It was as if a raging typhoon had invaded his dantian, scattering everything outward.

Serin had hidden within her Wind Silk the most lethal poison of the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Immortal’s Cripple, and its Qi-Dispersing effect was taking hold.

Pabat!

Serin kicked off with all her strength, charging at Heo Sochang.

—I possess the Immortal’s Cripple.

—The Tang Clan’s Qi-Dispersing Poison?!

—Yes. Even a martial artist at Transformation, if left exposed carelessly, can be struck for a fleeting instant.

This was the conversation Serin and her comrades had shared in preparation for this very moment.

Tadat!

The Iron Fan shot forth, aimed sharply at the enemy’s glabella.

No matter how strong, in that single moment when his qi scattered, even a man at Transformation could not—

“Damn insects.”

“……!!”

Kwaaagagaga!

The Blood Sea Dragon King’s qi that Blood Cult had prepared vanished.

‘……Demonic qi?’

Crimson-black demonic qi erupted from Heo Sochang’s entire body like a raging wildfire.

Pabat!

With his true strength revealed, Heo Sochang’s movements became impossible for the Young Successors to even follow with their eyes.

“Then I’ll have to show my true face, insects.”

“-!!”

Heo Sochang’s hand suddenly seized Serin’s Iron Fan.

Pass!

Overwhelmed by the invading demonic qi, the Iron Fan disintegrated into dust.

Kwaduk!

Then, with his other hand, Heo Sochang seized Serin’s neck.

“……Kuk!”

“As punishment, you shall die the most painful death.”

Heo Sochang lifted Serin high by the throat.

Choking, Serin struggled desperately in his grasp.

‘N-no!! Unnie!’

Peng So-hye and the others screamed, but no sound escaped their throats.

The suffocating demonic qi that filled the space froze them all like statues, mice caught before a serpent.

Sreung!

Then, Heo Sochang, toying with Serin, raised his hand like a blade.

“Now, die.”

Heo Sochang declared death.

Seogeok!

A chilling slicing sound rang out.

“Kuaaaak!”

But the one screaming in pain was none other than Heo Sochang.

Beside the collapsed Serin, his left hand—the one that had been gripping her neck—was severed from the wrist down, rolling across the ground.

‘Wha, t…….’

In Serin’s blurry vision, she could see the horrified faces of her comrades.

Swiik.

At that moment, she felt a warm touch enveloping her.

“……Noona, it’s alright now.”

The voice of her younger brother, one she should never have been able to hear again, rang in her ears.

‘Se, woon……?’

With eyes slowly closing, she looked at her brother.

Her brother was making an expression she had never seen before.

It was so terrifying and dreadful.

‘No. Sewoon, ah…….’

Worry and fear for her brother rose up at once.

But in the end, she could not resist the sleep demon dragging her down.

“Cough, cough.”

“Huff, huff.”

Peng So-hye and Nam Mujin barely escaped the pressure of the demonic qi and gasped for breath.

When the enemy’s hand was severed, the restraining force of his energy had also disappeared.

But even so, they could only catch their breath. Because of the aftereffects of the demonic qi, they couldn’t even steady their bodies properly.

‘What in the world……?’

Only Peng Daeho was desperately retracing the situation with eyes wide as if they would burst.

Among the three, he alone had reached Supreme Peak Mastery and had clearly witnessed the moment that the others had not.

‘……No, can this even be said to have been seen?’

At the instant when the enemy’s hand blade fell toward Tang Serin’s neck.

Suddenly, the man’s hand had exploded apart.

He was simply left dazed and bewildered.

Surely, there had been no kind of flying weapon?

And even now, no hidden weapon that could have blown apart the man’s arm could be seen anywhere……

Tok.

Then, the sound of a drop of water broke his thoughts.

“-!!”

When Peng Daeho traced the source of the sound, he was utterly shocked.

In empty air, a drop of blood had clearly formed.

Exactly where the enemy’s hand had been blown apart.

Pouring his inner qi into his sight, he finally saw it—

‘……A thread?’

A single black thread, invisible because of the dimness, stretched across the air.

And that thread was connected to the hand of the mysterious figure holding Serin.

‘Ah.’

At last, he realized the identity of the unique weapon said to be wielded only by the Tang Clan’s true heir.

Which meant this man was none other than—

‘Tang Sewoon, the Green Dragon!’

But then, a sudden doubt rose in Peng Daeho’s mind.

He turned his head and looked back.

Beyond thirty jang away, he could see the river by the dock.

Even if they had been moving toward the dock to disembark—

‘……How in the world did he cross that distance?’

It was far, far too long to simply leap across.

And he didn’t seem to have used water arts or swum either.

His clothes weren’t wet in the slightest.

Then, could it be.

‘……Water Walking?’

No, that was impossible.

To step beyond Walking on Grass and achieve Water Walking was proof of having entered the Manifestation Realm.

And yet, even his leather shoes weren’t damp.

It meant the water had never touched him at all.

Tok.

Another drop of blood fell onto the deck.

Seeing that, Peng Daeho couldn’t help but—

‘No way-!!’

He felt as though a hammer had struck his skull.

The thread stretched across the air was the key that explained everything.

Sewoon hadn’t flown through the air or swum across the water.

‘He shot the thread from the dock to the tower ship, anchored it, and then ran across it.’

And then, while sprinting across that thread in an instant, he unleashed the strike that severed the enemy’s hand.

Peng Daeho let out a hollow breath without realizing it.

Even though he himself had thought of it, he couldn’t believe it.

To strike a distance of thirty jang—an effective range almost rivaling an arrow.

And not only to use it as a means of movement, but also to deliver a strike powerful enough to injure an enemy at Transformation.

Could such a thing even be possible?

And by a youth more than ten years younger than himself?

If it truly was, then the figure before his eyes was no ordinary human.

“……A monster.”

The word slipped from Peng Daeho’s lips before he could stop himself.

Swiik.

At that moment, that monster slowly turned his head.

Peng Daeho flinched and shuddered.

Step, step.

Sewoon, carrying his sister in his arms, walked toward him.

Then, after gently laying his sister before Peng Daeho—

He suddenly placed a hand on Peng Daeho’s shoulder.

Swaaa!

“!!”

Peng Daeho was startled.

The moment Sewoon’s hand touched him, qi surged through his entire body.

It was a flawless execution of Qi Transfer Technique.

He was bewildered, but he couldn’t think of rejecting it.

For the qi flowing into him was so pure and clean, like immaculate white.

But then—

‘W-wait?!’

When he realized the nature of Sewoon’s qi brushing through his body, Peng Daeho was shaken.

‘I-it’s Innate True Qi?!’

Astonishingly, the qi Sewoon transferred to him was not ordinary qi, but his very own Innate True Qi.

It was akin to sharing a portion of his own life force and lifespan.

Peng Daeho could only stare at Sewoon with shocked eyes.

But Sewoon only looked at him with emotionless eyes and spoke a single word.

“Protect.”

“……What?”

Peng Daeho answered with a trembling voice.

Sewoon added, looking down at his sister.

“With your life.”

“!!”

Looking into Sewoon’s eyes, Peng Daeho shivered.

Why was it—

That he felt a greater fear than even when facing the Demonic Practitioner earlier……

Completely overwhelmed by someone ten years younger, Peng Daeho could only nod his head without saying a word.

Paat!

And at that moment, the monster turned his back and charged toward the Demonic Practitioner.

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