Ascension of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 68

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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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Chapter 68

 

 

How dare a mere Zhuge brat!

This was a common phrase uttered by renowned masters in the martial world. They considered the Zhuge Family to be a weak scholarly clan that only knew how to use their heads.

Namgung Cheonwoong was no different.

However, the situation from a moment ago was puzzling.

The heavy objects that Zhuge Munhyeon had removed.

At a glance, they looked like iron rings worn on the limbs. But how could those things dig into the ground and embed so deeply? Just how much did they weigh?

That question was quickly resolved.

Crack!

With a powerful step forward, Zhuge Munhyeon’s face instantly rushed right up to his nose.

‘Gasp!’

Startled by the movement that closed the distance in an instant, Namgung Cheonwoong hastily pulled back his body.

Whoooosh!

The swung fist grazed the tip of his nose.

The moment his face instinctively grimaced from the stinging pain, another attack came flying from the side.

As soon as the first attack missed, Zhuge Munhyeon kicked off the ground, leaped up, twisted his body, and struck with his foot.

Namgung Cheonwoong raising his arm to block was an instinctive action.

Thwack!

His forearm tingled and his body swayed.

The dull impact spread throughout his entire body, but before he could even recover, the attacks continued.

Thwack!

The exact same spot.

Without even a chance to withdraw his blocking arm, the heavy impact struck his entire body. There was no opportunity to draw his sword.

Thud.

Unable to withstand the weight of the impact, one of Namgung Cheonwoong’s knees touched the ground.

“Hmm, good reflexes. To think you blocked that…”

“…”

No follow-up attack came.

Zhuge Munhyeon, who had stepped back with a leap, was just looking down at him with a grin.

“Huh?”

Zhuge Munho and Gwan Hwiping as well.

“Hmm…”

Even Cheonpungjo, who had been watching from behind, couldn’t hide his surprise.

He had never imagined that Zhuge Munhyeon, who seemed to have disappeared from sight for a moment, would bring that Namgung Cheonwoong to his knees.

Of course, the most surprised person was the party involved, Namgung Cheonwoong.

When the attacks stopped, he looked down at his own knee touching the ground with a dumbfounded expression.

He couldn’t do anything except block.

There wasn’t even a chance to counterattack.

Carelessness?

No, it was simply too fast.

Zhuge Munhyeon’s movements far exceeded his expectations. It wasn’t luck that he had defeated Namgung Yu, who had reached the Tan Qi level, in one strike.

No, the attack from just now was at a level that Namgung Yu couldn’t even imitate. Now the reason why he still hadn’t woken up made sense.

But why?

Zhuge Munhyeon was standing with his hand on his waist, looking down at him kneeling and smiling.

‘This, this bastard… on purpose?’

Namgung Cheonwoong unconsciously bit his lips.

“You bastard, were you hiding your skills?”

“Hiding my skills? Who?”

“What?”

“I don’t think I ever said I was hiding them?”

“…”

“But is that all a Supreme Peak master amounts to? Then I’m disappointed… I had quite high expectations since you’re supposedly famous.”

Though the words were full of mockery, Namgung Cheonwoong showed no reaction.

The energy that had been surging and erupting due to his anger calmed down, and his confused mind cooled down.

Zhuge Munhyeon…

He wasn’t just some brat.

Even his casual speech toward someone much older felt natural.

“I see, the level of Tan Qi. I disappointed you. I apologize for that.”

“…”

Huh?

Tan Qi? Who?

It had been ages since he reached Ui Qi, and his experience was at the level of the world’s best.

Not even knowing that he had matched his level…

This was exactly the problem with guys who were confident in their own skills.

They thought they were superior.

Because he looked young, because his background was unremarkable, because his clothes were ordinary… there were countless reasons they could attach, weren’t there?

Usually, guys like that would get beaten up.

Then they’d whine about waiting and seeing, or not forgetting this humiliation.

But seeing him slowly get up and brush the dirt off his knees, Zhuge Munhyeon’s mouth corners split wide on both sides.

‘Oh? Look at this? I thought he was just some ordinary guy, but the Nine Wall Sword wasn’t just an empty reputation, was it?’

He had thought he was just a rude person who relied only on strength, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

The moment he acknowledged his opponent, he changed his attitude.

He calmed his anger, regained his composure, and stabilized his energy. His mental cultivation as a martial artist was proper.

‘Well, he didn’t reach Supreme Peak for nothing.’

It was a difficult realm without enlightenment.

With an explosive temperament, one could never cross the wall and reach that place.

The settling of energy.

A quiet and calm heaviness rolled in, as if sunk to the bottom of deep water.

That wasn’t easy to achieve.

It was completely different from the level of assassins who generally hid their energy for killing purposes.

Though it seemed ordinary as if it didn’t exist, one could feel sinister fangs lurking within.

‘Interesting. This will be very interesting.’

This was how fights should be.

The spreading killing intent touching the skin and making even the fine hairs stand on end – exactly this feeling!

The thought that one could die in an instant, drawing out all the strength one possessed!

‘Hehehe, this is it. This is exactly it.’

At the chilling atmosphere emanating from Namgung Cheonwoong, Zhuge Munhyeon’s mouth corners split wide on both sides.

Strangely… I liked this kind of thing.

Should I say it made me feel like I was alive?

So do it properly.

That way, the pleasure of crushing you will be even greater.

When Namgung Cheonwoong drew his sword and aimed it, Zhuge Munhyeon responded in kind with his bright blue flickering eyes.

The tips of the sword and staff pointed at each other.

Time passed.

The sounds of insects chirping and wind brushing through leaves filled the air, but the two focused on each other as if they alone existed in this space.

To the point where any observer would be so tense they’d swallow dry saliva repeatedly…

How much time had passed?

Despite the cool wind blowing, beads of sweat that had formed from tension gradually grew larger until they finally couldn’t bear their own weight and trickled down.

‘Hmm, at this rate there’ll be no end.’

Seeing Namgung Cheonwoong who wouldn’t move easily, Zhuge Munhyeon slightly extended his foot.

If he won’t come, then I’ll make him come.

Rustle.

The trampled fallen leaves crumbled.

And as if that was a signal, Namgung Cheonwoong moved like lightning.

Since he had already acknowledged this was the level of Tan Qi, he had no intention of yielding the first strike for a junior’s sake.

As if trying to repay the humiliation suffered at the Zhuge Family to their descendant, killing intent swept forth like a fierce wind.

Whoosh!

Simultaneously, his sword created a horizontal trajectory.

Though the sword was at a far distance to reach, if it was the Namgung Family’s sword, it was more than enough to reach.

Boundless Azure Sky.

This was why the character ‘boundless’ was attached to their sword technique, meaning their swordsmanship had no limits.

Even if the blade itself didn’t reach, the range of the protruding sword energy extended beyond imagination.

However, Zhuge Munhyeon had enjoyed fighting countless masters in his previous life.

Could there have been no Namgung among them?

Thus he remembered the Namgung sword as familiarly as if it were his own.

A confined sword.

Strong but not irregular, fast but not cold enough to cut off breath in an instant.

But.

‘Well, look at this?’

Namgung Cheonwoong’s sword exceeded expectations.

It had changed.

In this age of warring heroes, an era where if you don’t become strong, you get devoured by another strong one.

Through countless battles, they too had changed.

More practical, more cruel.

Therefore.

“Good!”

Zhuge Munhyeon’s face changed like an excited child.

The fact that his opponent was stronger than expected meant he didn’t need to excessively suppress his own skills.

Clang! Clang-clang-clang!

The shock of collision made even his wrists tingle.

The sword trajectory creating brilliant changes dazzled the eyes, and in a moment of carelessness, it would slice through the body.

Stinging wounds and blood.

That awakened fighting spirit.

“Mu, Munhyeon…”

At the sight of him seemingly being pushed back, Zhuge Munho muttered worriedly.

Not knowing he was enjoying it…

Come now, let me show you.

No matter how much the Namgung sword has changed, there’s an absolutely unsolvable weakness within it.

Zhuge Munhyeon, his excitement at its peak, stomped hard on the ground and leaped up, adding a vertical line toward the center of the horizontal line of the approaching sword.

Crash-clang-clang!

Extension is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

The more it extends, the more its power diminishes, so the split sword energy scattered faintly and disappeared.

“Indeed!”

Was this something he said because he had already anticipated the result?

Or was it admiration because, though unexpected, Munhyeon had shown such skill?

Even though his sword energy, having reached the Supreme Peak level, had been cut through, Namgung Cheonwoong’s sword force became even sharper, and without lingering on the failed technique, he immediately continued with Azure Sky Shadow Severing.

As soon as he cut through the air, dozens of shadows formed and struck down toward Zhuge Munhyeon all at once.

“Mu, Munhyeon!”

Zhuge Munho and Gwan Hwiping, startled, shouted simultaneously, but the Zhuge family also had excellent body techniques.

It’s just that those idiots only created them but couldn’t utilize them properly.

Watch carefully and use it later, you fools.

This is how to use the Position Changing Phantom Form of the Heavenly Mystery Bewildering Steps.

Crash-clang-clang-clang-clang!

Sword shadows poured down like rain, tearing up the ground.

And Zhuge Munhyeon approached Namgung Cheonwoong leisurely through the sword rain as if he knew where each strike would fall. His disheveled hair was cut and scattered, his collar was sliced, but his body was unharmed.

“Not bad. Really not bad! There probably isn’t anyone in the Zhuge family who matches you!”

Namgung Cheonwoong’s technique changed again as he shouted with apparent excitement.

It was Ten Thousand Forms Cloud Flow, where the sword continuously changed and flowed like clouds in the sky taking ten thousand different shapes.

When one technique ended, another technique followed, and eventually all those many techniques overlapped and overlapped until all directions were filled with sword energy.

Remarkable, Namgung.

I praise your development.

But even so, it will be difficult to surpass me.

Against the fiercely pouring overlapping sword energy, Zhuge Munhyeon gripped the Silver River tightly and pushed his internal energy into it.

Let me teach you.

There is no longer a weak Zhuge.

Whoooosh!

The Silver River, drawing a large trajectory, struck the countless accumulated sword trajectories like meteor flashes cutting through the night sky.

Crash!

From the collision between the densely layered sword energy and the hammer-like force, shock waves spread in all directions.

However, there’s no law that says only one meteor falls.

Crash!

Zhuge Munhyeon’s staff continuously struck Namgung Cheonwoong’s sword strikes like a meteor shower pounding the ground.

As if crushing splendor with pure force.

Finally, the sword energy shattered.

Glittering fragments scattered in all directions.

Behold, this is the Zhuge Martial Learning that you have looked down upon.

“Tch!”

Namgung Cheonwoong gritted his teeth and swung his sword.

Each time their weapons clashed, the penetrating internal energy made his entire body tingle. With each accumulating impact, blood rose to his throat.

He couldn’t understand it.

How could this be possible?

At such a young age, what kind of cultivation had he accumulated to unleash attacks heavier and stronger than his own? Why were his techniques crumbling to pieces before that power?

Now what technique should he…

His mind was in chaos.

Though countless techniques still remained, he couldn’t grasp which one to use.

It seemed like whatever he used would be shattered.

The prolonged hesitation slowed the connection between techniques and broke the flow.

Zhuge Munhyeon was experienced enough to penetrate that fleeting moment.

Flash!

A single streak of light, flowing starlight.

Meteor Flash, creating a trajectory somewhere between stabbing and slashing, slipped through Namgung Cheonwoong’s opening.

“Kuk!”

The place he struck was the leg.

After all, anything that loses its center will fall.

And if he added just a little more force at the moment of that fall.

Thud!

Struck hard by the heavy fist, Namgung Cheonwoong was helplessly slammed into the ground.

He was defeated.

By that young boy…

It wasn’t carelessness—he had lost in terms of skill.

Namgung Cheonwoong acknowledged his defeat while soaked in that devastation.

“I have lost…”

Thud!

His body bounced up like a ball and floated in the air.

“Kugh!”

Namgung Cheonwoong, who had tried to acknowledge his defeat, looked at Zhuge Munhyeon as his mind grew hazy from the tremendous shock.

Why? I already acknowledged my defeat…

Then Zhuge Munhyeon’s eyes, rippling with a deep blue light, seemed to answer.

No, not yet.

My excitement hasn’t subsided yet, you know?

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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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