Almighty God of War - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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029

The next morning.

Guyang Cheongang visited Heo Ilbi’s study, carrying the newly created secret manual.

Heo Choryeong happened to be there as well.

Guyang Cheongang handed the newly compiled secret manual to Heo Ilbi and said.

“Uncle, this is my own research and compilation of the sword technique you showed me last night.”

Heo Ilbi received it with a puzzled expression and asked.

“What did you… do in just one night?”

“Exactly as I said.”

Heo Ilbi turned to the first page with some doubt.

But by the time he reached the second page, his expression hardened like stone.

Heo Ilbi’s fingers unconsciously traced sword trajectories in the air.

His movements, initially slow and careful, became increasingly fast and intense as he turned each page.

His eyes were wide with disbelief, and groans mixed with admiration and shock flowed from his mouth.

“This… these incantations… changing the flow of qi like this? Impossible… but… if done this way, the blocked parts… the connection of sword forms becomes so natural! There’s no waste of power at all…”

Heo Choryeong, watching from the side, didn’t understand at first.

But soon she realized why Heo Ilbi was acting this way and couldn’t contain her amazement.

After closing the last page, Heo Ilbi held the secret manual with trembling hands and stared blankly at Guyang Cheongang for a long while.

In his eyes was reverence as if facing an incomprehensible being, along with even a faint fear.

He asked in a trembling voice.

“Gang-a… who… who exactly are you…?”

“I am Uncle’s sworn nephew, Guyang Cheongang.”

“Hah… this is not something possible with human talent. Beyond simply doubling the power of the sword technique, the path to Divine Sword Unity that had blocked me my entire life… you opened it wide in just one night…”

Guyang Cheongang replied with an embarrassed expression.

“The sword technique was so excellent that I merely added some principles with my knowledge. I only hope it will help in the upcoming duel.”

His humble attitude only made his extraordinariness seem more mysterious and overwhelming.

Heo Ilbi, clutching the secret manual to his chest like a treasure, turned to Heo Choryeong.

“Ryeong-a!”

“Yes, Father.”

“Stop everything immediately and follow me to the training room. This new Twenty-Eight Forms of Bamboo Sword and Flying Swallow Sword Technique will become the foundation of our Bamboo Forest Manor from today. You must master it perfectly first.”

His voice carried an unwavering determination that would not allow even a moment’s delay.

Flustered, Heo Choryeong looked back and forth between him and Guyang Cheongang.

“Father…”

Regardless, Heo Ilbi nodded to Guyang Cheongang, then took his daughter’s hand and hurriedly left the study.

It was as if he couldn’t wait even a minute or second to master this new sword technique.

Guyang Cheongang watched the door they had disappeared through and smiled slightly.

‘I hope it helps.’

Three days later, Dong Taegu came to Bamboo Forest Manor again.

Heo Ilbi, who had no choice but to leave the training room, met him in the main hall.

“Our Manor Lord has proposed a duel between Hwaga Trading House and Bamboo Forest Manor. ‘A father must take responsibility for his child’s sins. If our manor loses this duel, I will leave the Young Manor Lord’s punishment to Manor Lord Heo.’ He also said he would hand over all the medicinal herbs he purchased to Bamboo Forest Manor.”

In Heo Ilbi’s eyes looking at him, a profound light flickered incomparably deeper than before.

“Good. Manager Dong, tell the Manor Lord that I accept that duel.”

Meanwhile, Elder Hwang, who had returned, reported to Guyang Cheongang that the medicinal herbs collected by Hwaga Trading House were stored in Manbodang’s warehouse in downtown Nanchang.

The night before the duel.

Pitch-black darkness without even moonlight was swallowing the city.

Standing on the roof of a mansion near the medicinal herb market, Guyang Cheongang looked at the three-story pavilion of Manbodang visible in the distance.

He had arrived here one hour ago.

Recent events flashed through Guyang Cheongang’s mind.

Hwa Doryeong’s despicable trap, and the vicious methods of the Yin Wind Ghost Demon who had tried to torture and kill him.

Since coming to this world, he had tried to handle everything rationally.

But what returned were merciless storms and continuous threats of death.

‘The laws of this place are different from Earth. There’s a saying that when in Rome, do as the Romans do. To survive here, I must forget the way I lived on Earth.’

It felt like something was crumbling inside his heart.

It was the last remaining foolish sentimentality of a scientist who had spent his entire life in a research laboratory.

To protect himself and those he cared about, he needed to have the mindset to willingly use the same methods as his enemies.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. What you gave me, I shall gladly return to you.’

Opening his eyes, he asked.

‘Akasha, what’s the security situation at the target location?’

[Two guards are yawning at the main gate, and patrol teams make rounds every half hour. Security level F. It’s practically at public facility level.]

A cold smile crossed Guyang Cheongang’s lips.

‘Then it’s the perfect playground for us.’

As confirmed from afar, Manbodang warehouse’s security wasn’t strict.

This was because they believed that Heo Ilbi, a righteous gentleman, would never steal medicinal herbs.

They couldn’t even imagine how shocking the consequences of their arrogant belief would be.

Guyang Cheongang deployed the newly learned Heavenly Meteor Movement Technique.

His body movement seeped into the darkness like a streak of meteor and ran lightly across the rooftops like wind.

With each step, he leaped over distances of more than two zhang as if weightless, like the wind.

Guyang Cheongang was amazed even by himself at the speed of the movement technique and the optimization of internal energy usage.

Considering the amount of internal energy he possessed, the efficiency of this movement technique was truly miraculous.

‘The claim that it was created to travel long distances with minimal internal energy wasn’t false.’

Arriving at Manbodang’s roof, Guyang Cheongang silently removed the roof tiles and infiltrated the warehouse interior like a ghost.

The warehouse was filled with the dense medicinal fragrance emanating from mountains of piled medicinal herbs.

The amount that Hwaga Trading House had scraped together, even disrupting Nanchang’s medicinal herb market, was truly enormous.

‘Wow, what a spectacle. Hwaga Trading House has prepared a feast for us. I feel like I’m at a buffet, what should I try first, Akasha?’

Akasha’s voice also carried a playful tone.

[First, the nutritional components… no, it would be best to start with the highest energy efficiency. The Purple Sunset Grass at 3 o’clock has the highest purity of energy. It seems suitable as an appetizer.]

‘Good choice.’

A smile appeared on Guyang Cheongang’s lips.

He operated the Absorption Formula of the Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art and began absorbing the energy of the medicinal herbs in the warehouse.

Each time he touched the medicinal herbs, the flowing energy swirled and was sucked into his body.

But he didn’t immediately convert the energy into his own internal energy as before.

‘Eating too much suddenly causes indigestion. It would be foolish to try to digest this massive amount of foreign energy all at once.’

He compressed the enormous amount of unrefined medicinal energy he had absorbed into one corner of his dantian and carefully sealed it.

As if holding a time bomb that could explode at any moment, his dantian writhed heavily and unstably.

[Doctor, the influx of unrefined foreign energy is approaching critical levels. The pressure in the isolation space within your dantian is rising. It’s too dangerous to continue.]

‘I understand. Let’s stop here.’

At Akasha’s words, Guyang Cheongang immediately stopped absorbing energy.

Nine-tenths of the medicinal herbs that had been piled like mountains lost their light and fragrance.

Though their appearance remained unchanged, the medicinal herbs had become ordinary piles of weeds with all their medicinal properties gone.

[Absorption rate of active ingredients from medicinal herbs: 93%. Tomorrow morning, Hwaga Trading House will discover the most expensive pile of weeds in all under heaven.]

Guyang Cheongang smiled and replied.

‘Since I carefully turned them into weeds, they’ll be useful as kindling.’

After completing all his work without leaving a single trace, he escaped the warehouse and returned to Bamboo Forest Manor.

Entering his room in the separate building, he immediately sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

He carefully drew out a thread-thin strand of energy from the massive medicinal energy sealed in one side of his dantian.

And he began the process of purifying it into pure energy using the furnace called Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art.

Like a craftsman cutting and polishing rough gemstones to create brilliant jewels, he focused his mind on this delicate and dangerous process.

Once this arduous process of purification and absorption was complete, he would gain far greater power than he possessed now.

How much time had passed?

Guyang Cheongang, having finished his energy circulation and breath control, opened his eyes.

[Doctor, with your total internal energy breaking through fifteen years, 50% of the yin energy accumulated in the first major acupoint of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians has been successfully dissolved by the Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art. You’ve taken a definitive first step in treatment. My sincere congratulations.]

‘Thank you.’

Guyang Cheongang turned his head toward the window.

The eastern sky was gradually brightening.

Dawn had broken.

‘Today is the day the duel takes place.’

* * *

When the sun rose to its zenith.

In front of the main gate of the Namchang Yu Family located in the eastern outskirts of Nanchang, thousands of spectators had already gathered like clouds.

Warriors from the Gangxi martial world, quick-witted merchants, and common people who had simply come out seeking interesting entertainment mixed together to create a spectacular sight.

In front of the main gate, a large duel platform measuring one zhang in height and ten zhang in both length and width had been installed.

At the height of noon, when the sunlight blazed most intensely.

Under the tent to the right of the duel platform sat Manor Lord Heo Ilbi of Bamboo Forest Manor, his daughter Heo Choryeong, Guyang Cheongang, Elder Hwang, and about ten others.

Heo Ilbi’s expression was calm, and Heo Choryeong’s face overflowed with confidence.

Murmurs erupted from the crowd upon seeing them.

“Manor Lord Heo has really come out.”

“How could he endure it when his daughter was insulted?”

“Still, hasn’t he been too quiet until now?”

“He must have been cautious since his opponent is Hwaga Trading House.”

“The woman beside the Manor Lord must be Miss Heo Choryeong, the Snow Flower Flying Swallow? She’s indeed a peerless beauty worthy of being called Nanchang’s greatest beauty.”

Shortly after, Manor Lord Hwa Seokdae of Hwaga Trading House, his son Hwa Doryeong, General Manager Dong Taegu, and Half-Dragon Sword Master Jin Mun with a great sword on his back appeared under the left tent.

After both sides took their positions, Yu Hansaeng of Full Moon Spear, the organizer of the duel, stepped onto the duel platform.

In his mid-fifties, he was a respected warrior in Nanchang’s martial world known for his fair and just character.

That’s why both Hwaga Trading House and Bamboo Forest Manor had entrusted him with managing this duel.

Yu Hansaeng briefly explained how today’s duel came to be arranged and asked the leaders of both sides.

“I will confirm once more what the victor of the duel will gain.”

Swallowing, he continued speaking.

“If Hwaga Trading House wins, Miss Heo Choryeong will marry Young Master Hwa Doryeong, and Bamboo Forest Manor will guarantee Hwaga Trading House’s participation in the recent spirit pill manufacturing. Do you agree to this, Manor Lord Heo?”

“I agree.”

Then Yu Hansaeng turned his head to Hwa Seokdae and asked.

“If Bamboo Forest Manor wins, Hwaga Trading House will immediately withdraw the marriage proposal and compensate with ten thousand silver taels along with an apology. Do you agree to this, Manor Lord Hwa?”

“I agree!”

Having heard both men’s answers, Yu Hansaeng shouted loudly.

“By Hwaga Trading House’s demand and Bamboo Forest Manor’s acceptance, today’s duel will be conducted over a total of two rounds! The first duel will be between the parties directly involved in this incident – Miss Heo Choryeong of Bamboo Forest Manor and Young Manor Lord Hwa Doryeong of Hwaga Trading House!”

His voice, infused with internal energy, reached clearly even to the ears of those farthest from the duel platform.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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