“Hurry up!”
The moment So Wonhui flew at Na Yuk-hyung, Sima Young began to run ahead. She was about to use a martial art she had learned from her father.
For the first time, she was meeting someone who could actually threaten her life. This enemy was a skilled warrior and had subordinates who were also quite skilled.
‘It is dangerous.’
So Wonhui had made a sound judgment.
It would be foolish for everyone to focus on dealing with just that one man. This was because no matter how or what they did, they might fail to have any energy to also take down his subordinates.
After she had created room between her and So Wonhui, she immediately moved in to attack.
Pat!
A sword attack enhanced her movement as she swung her sword at a subordinate of Na Yuk-hyung.
She only held the target in her eyes as she swung her sword. But a man looking to be in his 40s, probably another disciple of Na Yuk-hyung, intercepted her.
Another skilled warrior, Myung Jong, a disciple who was also skilled at handling a whip like his teacher, laughed at her.
Did he maybe expect this to happen?
“Foolish thing.”
Myung Jong swung his whip to prevent her from getting any closer. But she was someone who was swift.
Sima Chak’s most notable footwork completely focused on deceiving the vision of his opponent.
Sima Young’s form disappeared from Myung Jong’s eyes.
‘She vanished?’
She did disappear. Just beyond the scope of his sight.
Myung Jong felt perturbed and turned to whip the place where he thought he had heard a noise come from.
Swish!
The whip twisted around once before it rushed in like a snake towards the sound. Of course, Myung Jong expected her to back off, but Sima Young slid across the ground when the sound of the whip came.
And she sliced down the ankle of Myung Jong.
“Uh?”
Without a thought of knowing how this happened, Myung Jong jumped back. For the first time in his life, he had experienced such immense pain.
Puak!
‘…!!’
But her sword bent as if it was always destined to reach its target, and stabbed into one of his vital areas.
“Kuaaaak!”
I wasn’t some other place, but directly in the wealth of a man.
Myung Jong began to feel a horrible pain that no one could describe. And at that moment, the sword continued stabbing through his chin and out the top of his head.
“Kuak!”
With only a short groan, the man died. Who would have expected that the disciple of Na Yuk-hyung would be so easily disposed of by some unknown, nameless person.
Well, at least, the other men were shocked at this, and Sima Young took the chance to provoke them,
“I don’t have time, so come at me right away.”
“T-this bastard!”
“Die!”
Na Yuk-hyung’s men decided to attack her at once. But even in such a situation not once did she make the expression of being troubled.
‘Ha…’
Seeing her like that, Cho Sung-won bit his tongue. While fighting with her all this while, he knew that she was too intent on killing people to use proper techniques. All she did was stab her enemies in their most vulnerable points.
[What are you doing? If you don’t rush we will be in danger!]
Cho Sung-won, who didn’t want to make her yell, moved right away.
Woong!
Smoke began to rise from my body.
A phenomenon that occurs as one’s blood begins to circulate rapidly, as the body temperature rises, the moisture in the body evaporates.
The True Blood Diamond Body was a technique that could be learned by those with a special body constitution. To handle this technique though, the body needed to grow.
Unlike Hae Ack-chun or the twins, I could only use it for less than half the original time of those with that special body constitution.
“You, what the hell…”
Na Yuk-hyung was puzzled.
It was a technique that he must have never seen from the South Heavenly Swordsman. Without delay, I immediately moved to attack him.
This combination of the Xing Ming cultivation and the body enhancement technique increased my capabilities.
Pat!
In an instant, my body began to move ahead. It moved so fast that even I myself couldn’t believe this.
But, the opponent wasn’t some weak man.
“Huh!”
Na Yuk-hyung swung his whip at me.
This snake-like whip flew at me. If the range was this long and wide, how could I close my distance to use my weapon?
‘True Loach Shaped Sword!’
The new form. Iron Sword bent into eight different points that stretched out like a gentle willow tree.
The whip and the sword began to move like opposing waves and collided.
Kwakwang!
The whip made of skin leather moved freely, and the blade flowed like a branch.
The sword was soft, but so was the whip.
The confrontation between these two soft forms of movement was unfavorable for me. The opponent had an advantage since the whip could soar high, curve, and then rush in like a dragon.
I blocked the whip by holding my sword. Though I made sure that my sword was never angled horizontally.
In that state, I released the built-up strength in my legs and launched my body high.
‘True Hidden Clam sword.’
It was a sword attack that was meant to counter the opponent’s attack.
Pat!
Originally, the technique was meant to be executed stationary, but as the whip was strong, and the distance wide, I had no choice but to close the gap.
Pat!
At the same time as I moved, the whip snapped and a wave of wind slammed into me, protecting Na Yuk-hyung. I was surprised a whip could be handled like this.
But somehow, I had to look for a gap.
-Give him a shock.
Said Iron Sword to me. I had the same thought, so I decided to swing my sword with ten levels of qi.
“Do you think you can pierce through this?”
The whip continued to spin faster.
Shak!
The instant my sword collided with the whip, strange, metallic sounds of scrapping could be felt and heard. At the same time, the whip which was still rotating began to wind up and around the sword.
Na Yuk-hyung was shocked
“Oh?”
Even I was shocked!
I was kind of stupid when it came to pushing past my limits, but as my body was enhanced to match up against this man, I was able to withstand the power of the whip.
Yet, my foot still got pushed back more than one step.
Although the gap was still smaller than before, Na Yuk-hyung still had the upper hand.
‘Still, it is worth trying.’
At least it became possible to fight now. If there was too much of an overwhelming difference, there would be no way to push him out
-Hurry Wonhui! Your body-enhancing techniques gave greater physical backdrops!
‘I know.’
I could only maintain the True Blood Diamond Body for a short amount of time. And when it starts to wear off, my body would have to pay an equally painful toll.
‘I need to unwind it.’
In order to unwind the whip from my sword and attack my opponent, I performed the sixth form of the Xing Ming sword.
‘True Accelerating sword!’
I stepped forward firmly with a long stance to stab and pulled my hand back.
The whip which had been wound tightly around my sword began to loosen as I began to rotate the sword, which made Na Yuk-hyung tighten it even more before I had the chance to free the sword.
Pak!
‘Shit!’
He seemed to be worried about me trying to get my sword free, and with his all, began to drag my body towards him. My body seemed to float a bit as I was drawn to him.
“Caught you, you bastard.”
His hands were like the claws of a hawk, wanting to grab my heart.
-Wonhui!
I quickly drew my sword with my left hand and performed the Linking Dagger.
Na Yuk-hyung’s left hand, which began to move, had to halt to avoid the dagger that I had aimed at his wrist.
Pak!
He had to drop the dagger in hand at a stinging pain.
Ah!
At the pain which came in, he kicked Short Sword which fell to the side.
“You really are nothing but a kid”
He smiled a little and came for me again. It was then.
Srik!
Something flesh-colored began to come forward, a thin shiny thread shining in between. Shocked at how late he had noticed, he immediately moved to the side.
Chak!
At the same time, something brushed past his ear. It was Short Sword.
‘Tch.’
Right after Short Sword was kicked aside I used the Silver Thread and tried to sneak attack him. Unfortunately, however, this attempt at taking him down failed.
Touching his cut ear slightly, Na Yuk-hyung looked like he found this situation to be absurd.
“You, what are you?”
That is what I wanted to say. You are a fuckin monster.
In that brief moment of movement, he managed to find the silver thread. I hurriedly continued to move.
Pat!
During that time, I was ready with the dagger in my left hand. This was my chance to see how well my practice had worked.
“Huh!”
As I threw Short Sword out again, he tried to grab it again, to which I stretched out my arm to the side and pulled it back.
Pak!
As the path of Short Sword was broken twice, it moved in another direction as he turned his left thigh so as not to get hit.
If I had taken more time to get used to this technique maybe the movements wouldn’t have been this extreme, but for now, this felt like my limit.
Na Yuk-hyung pulled his whip.
‘This!’
Thanks to this, my hand which was still holding the sword was pulled and Short Sword deviated. I infused my qi into the silver thread and pulled it to make Short Sword swerve and aim for his back.
Shrik!
“Did you think the same thing would work twice?”
Na Yuk-hyung quickly turned his body to avoid Short Sword and kicked it up. In that state, he smashed the thread.
“Let’s break it!”
Ting!
‘…?!’
His eyes widened.
I felt so lost at the thought of it being broken, but despite his amazing internal qi, nothing happened to the thread.
“This isn’t an ordinary thread.”
Na Yuk-hyung was surprised by how strong this was. And soon he tried grabbing onto the thread and pulling on it.
Thud!
I didn’t miss the chance to surrender myself to the pull.
“What?”
And as the distance grew closer, I pushed myself to stop and unleashed the attack of my sword again.
Wheik!
As the sword rotated, the half-wound whip began to remove itself and the sword rotated like a tornado straight for Na Yuk-hyung.
Na Yuk-hyung who was ready to pull the string again hurriedly moved back and drew an oblique pattern from the right side.
Pak!
The whip was released and struck my right calf.
“Kuak!”
It felt as if my leg had been cut off, but thankfully, due to my body being enhanced for the moment no such thing came to pass.
I clenched my teeth and continued my form.
‘Insane!’
This man could change the techniques with a slight movement of his head. And I had to calculate everything.
“Finally caught you!”
Without losing sight of me, he came to kick me in the chest with his foot.
Puak!
“Ack!”
My body got thrown back in pain and my internal organs felt wounded. With the whip pulled back he was ready to attack me again
At that moment, I infused innate qi into the silver string.
Puak!
“Kuak!”
The silver string which was wound up had hit the guy in the back. As this all was happening in the fleeting moment with him concentrated on me, he couldn’t avoid it.
But the moment Short Sword struck him on the back, he had moved forward to decrease the damage,
“You fucking bastard!”
He pulled out Short Sword and threw it at me, making me lean back to avoid it.
Pang!
Short Sword which was caught in the silver string, stopped but as my leg and arms were pulled back thanks to this guy’s reflexes, I had to rotate my body to release the accumulated force.
Papapak!
“Kuak!”
I barely landed on the floor as dizziness washed over me.
“Huk…huk…”
My breathing was rough and my mouth was too dry to even gulp saliva.
Gradually, the body enhancement technique was leaving my body.
‘Shit.’
This man was clearly different from the other opponents I had met. Like a warrior who had reached the peak of growth, he was able to move according to any attack I made.
His accumulated experience must have had a huge impact on this, and because of this, he was my most difficult opponent.
Na Yuk-hyung smiled,
“So there was a limit.”
Because of my rough breathing, he must have noticed it. I widened the distance between us.
It looked like he was dragging out the time to make sure my body had returned back to normal, this man was so meticulous.
He smiled as he said,
“Are you really the disciple of the South Heavenly Swordsman? The changes happening in your… body right now are the Ghastly Monster’s technique.”
‘…!?’
He recognized the technique I had used and he was of the same generation as my teacher, making it easy for him to figure it out.
As I chose to just breathe without saying anything, he narrowed his eyes,
“Who are you? How do you have the talent of the men who have disappeared?”
“Hahaha. I have no obligation to answer you. If you want to know then kneel down to me and maybe, just maybe I will consider it.”
I was provoking him on purpose. If I kept my distance and he continued to attack with the whip, I would be at a disadvantage.
Na Yuk-hyung mumbled,
“Huh! It doesn’t matter. After all, if I cut off your limbs then your mouth will open.”
He was someone who wasn’t afraid of using the evil methods of the Forces of Evil. I concentrated on my qi.
If there was even the slightest disturbance, I would be hurt, and Na Yuk-hyung would definitely notice. But something distracted him for a moment,
“What is this now?”
His gaze was on Sima Young and Cho Sung-won who were fighting with his subordinates.
Over half of them were dead while he was fighting with me. I glanced at him to check his expression and noticed that Sima Young was back to killing enemies.
Well, she was the daughter of the Evil Man, Sima Chak.
Puak!
When he saw his subordinates collapse, his expression began to distort, it looked like these were his cherished subordinates.
Although it looked like he was angry from the gaze not leaving Sima Young, he turned to face me,
“You had something to believe in.”
Maybe seeing her use her sword and killing his subordinates changed something, but this guy who was trying to drag out the time with me changed,
“To use this against not even Ho Jong-dae but a kid like you.”
Swish! Swish!
He began to rotate the whip he was holding, left and right. The whip began rotating in the shape of an infinity, gradually increasing in size and the whip which began to move faster began to touch the ground and rip it up.
There was no gap in the whip to move past and attack, if I were even slightly pulled in I was sure to have a chunk of flesh ripped out.
My hands and feet trembled as the fear of dying began to seep in. It would be a lie to say that I was not afraid of death just because I had already been through it once.
At that moment, I heard Iron Sword say,
-Wonhui. Did you say the memory was alright?
At that moment a blue light flashed from the point on the back of my hand. My vision blurred and the scene ahead of me had changed.
There was a younger-looking Na Yuk-hyung and he was doing the same attack as now.
‘This…’
-Concentrate…
As soon as he said that, a young guy sprinted ahead with terrifying speed. And that was the instant the match was decided.
‘Ah!’
The scene in front of me restarted and Na Yuk-hyung was back to before he was using the trick. And Iron Sword said,
-Be patient, Wonhwi.
Noticing his intentions, I slightly focused on the memory. The current state of my body wasn’t in a state capable of handling qi, but in this past memory, the confrontation between him and South Heavenly Swordsman, there was a way to win.
Once, twice, thrice, four times, and five times
“Cough.”
My stomach twisted and blood gushed out. I had reached the limit, and my body enhancement technique had worn out.
The vision scattered as I returned to reality. And I could see the whip turning with the man smiling.
Seeing me coughing out blood he was sure of his victory,
“Let’s kill you!”
With the force of a storm, his body moved for me.
My body felt like it was being thrown away from the pressure of it alone. It was much stronger than the memory I had seen 6 times in my head.
‘Concentrate. I need to focus now.’
I continued to stare toward the middle. The thing was rotating, but that tiny gap was there.
Pat!
As if moving towards death, I moved for him. Raising my internal qi to its max, I thrust my sword toward the center of rotation without another thought.
Papapak!
“Kuaaaa!”
My hand holding the sword shook violently as if the flesh was about to be ripped off. In that state, I clenched my teeth and moved forward.
‘I used the accelerating sword.’
I had never attempted something like this before, but now I had the memory of how the South Heavenly Swordsman had used it like this after watching that scene six times.
As the sword began to rotate in the opposite direction, a crack occurred in the flow of the whip, which was moving around like a typhoon.
Papapak!
The moment the sword was pushed ahead the frightening movement of the whip stopped.
Na Yuk-hyung felt shocked. Did he maybe find the shadow of his old rival right now?
And he smiled,
“Does it make sense for me to not check that weakness?”
With those words, he tried to rotate the right hand holding the whip in the other direction. At that moment I pulled my left-hand
Pak!
The whip of the guy who was trying to turn with him was stopped.
“Kuak!”
It felt like my left arm was being pulled out.
“Uh?”
Na Yuk-hyung couldn’t hide his shock as the whip stopped suddenly. The end of his whip was entwined with the silver string.
As a result, my left arm felt dislocated because of the tremendous strength he was using to hold it.
-Now is the time!
Although it was painful, this was my only chance. With every little strength left in me, I thrust the sword into his one and only eye.
Pat!
“Kuak!”
Na Yuk-hyung, tired of seeing the same scene as in the past, let go of his hand holding the whip and moved back.
It was that moment. My form, like a bird gliding over the air, caught him by surprise. And his eye grew bigger.
“T-this!”
Flustered by the technique which followed, he tried to raise his hand to stop the attack, but it was too late. My sword was already in his eye.
Puak!
“Ack!”
A scream that sounded like a groan and shock when the eye was pierced. I tried to pierce it more.
Pat!
But then he grabbed the sword which stuck to his eye.
His hand holding the sword didn’t even budge.
“Kuaaak! You! You come with me!”
He reached out his hand to my face. With my left arm already dislocated, I could not stop him any further.
It was terrifying to know that he could probably rip my face off.
It was then, chak!
“Kuak!”
Screams.
And his hand stopped right in front of my nose. His hand trembled, convulsed, and then immediately fell to the floor.
‘…?!’
As his hand that was blocking my sight fell, the stump at his neck began to spurt blood.
After that, Sima Young was seen holding her sword, soaked in blood from head to toe.
‘Ha!’
It appeared at an exquisite moment. Sima Young who was exhaling harshly, smiled broadly,
“I am not late.”
