Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 235

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 235. What Do You Seek? (5)
Moyong Bi’s gaze blazed with fire.
The Infinite True Qi, heated to its absolute limit, coursed through his nerves and traversed his entire body. The terrifyingly writhing Infinite True Qi soon merged with the Brain Gate Heart Technique, dragging his consciousness into another realm.
‘How swift.’
The world within his perception slowed.
Even in that decelerated world, Meng Ha Sung’s fist remained blindingly fast.
Had I considered only the visible martial arts realm, such a fist would never have been thrown. It would be obvious I couldn’t evade it.
In other words, Meng Ha Sung had assessed me as a skilled one surpassing the aura I had revealed.
‘His instincts are indeed sharp.’
Midway through, I possessed the capability to retract my fist or halt the attack.
‘I won’t disappoint you.’
Moyong Bi’s right foot pressed hard against the ground.
Boom!
A powerful gust erupted from the fist energy that detonated in the empty air.
Moyong Bi, who had withdrawn using the Thousand Gold Step, now stamped the ground with his left foot.
Whoosh!
A person charging forward—it sounded like an arrow being loosed.
Meng Ha Sung’s expression grew grave.
‘A charging stance. Remarkably swift.’
Gripping a spear with both hands while charging, the striking surface was astonishingly minimal.
In that instant, I became one with the spear. Not sword-and-body unity, but spear-and-body unity. In this fleeting moment, I had achieved the realm of merging freely with my weapon while charging—a being who had perfectly embodied their own enlightenment.
Crack-crack-crack!
A quality long spear tore through the empty air with violence, targeting the space between the eyebrows, the heart, and the lower abdomen.
Three strikes along the centerline. Each one targeting a fatal point, yet not truly a killing blow.
‘Testing my reaction?’
Meng Ha Sung laughed inwardly.
‘Using such tactics against the Martial Alliance Leader….’
I couldn’t fathom where such magnanimity had been cultivated.
Meng Ha Sung received the move Moyong Bi had offered with leisurely elegance and classical grace.
Whoosh.
With merely a single sidestep, all three spear strikes missed entirely.
Meng Ha Sung, having evaded laterally, extended his hand toward Moyong Bi’s face.
It was not a fist technique. Quite literally, his hand extended as if to grasp something.
In that instant, lightning struck across Moyong Bi’s head.
Zzzzzing!
The Brain Gate True Energy writhed, sensing an intense threat.
‘This fellow—look at that.’
The aura emanating from his palm was extraordinary.
No killing intent, yet possessing the power to obliterate whatever it grasped. A move that pressured the opponent through overwhelming aura.
Less an attack than an intent to observe the opponent’s response.
‘You do it because I did it?’
Releasing his right hand from the spear’s end, he spun the long spear with his left hand.
Clang!
The spear struck Meng Ha Sung’s forearm, vibrating with terrible force.
It felt as though he had struck a steel rod rather than a human arm. The fearsome elasticity, the dispersing formless energy waves, were etched into Moyong Bi’s eyes like phantoms.
‘Formidable.’
His entire Internal Power never ceased protecting his body for even a moment. An aura of density—easily ten times that of ordinary Qi Armor—enveloped his form.
‘To wield such Qi Armor so naturally. Boundless fusion, he has emerged from the narrow gorge of the Transformation Realm.’
The realm of absolute masters.
Even among Orthodox Sect Martial Arts, where realm distinctions blur, there are certain realms that can be clearly identified, and the Transformation Realm is one of them.
The Transformation Realm is a state where Qi dominates both will and flesh perfectly. Simply put, it represents a path beyond the Peak Master.
Common people without connection to Martial Arts regard those with Internal Energy and combat experience as superhuman, and those who reach the Peak Master level as unstoppable monsters.
The world of Martial Artists is somewhat different.
Upon reaching Peak Master, one is considered to have entered the realm of the superhuman, and at the level of transcendent Peak Master, they are truly regarded as monsters beyond human limits.
Transcending even that, upon entering the Transformation Realm, they begin to be viewed as beings of an entirely different status.
The Transformation Realm is, in the truest sense, the boundary dividing human from non-human. Most masters who reach that point experience anomalies such as Qi Deviation or madness. Like an insect shedding its human shell, it is considered the most perilous realm.
And the moment that shell is shed, one becomes human yet ceases to be human.
This was precisely what Meng Ha Sung had become.
Patter-patter-patter!
Creating distance with rapid steps, Moyong Bi immediately spun the long spear.
Meng Ha Sung’s eyes widened.
‘What is that?!’
The surrounding air seemed to be sucked terrifyingly into the rotating spear.
‘The Martial Arts of the Previous Alliance Leader!’
Boom!
With a fearsome explosive sound, the spear shot forth, aiming for Meng Ha Sung’s throat.
It was the Vortex Dragon Cannon of the Doryong Spear Method—a lethal technique that had developed the spear’s piercing and destructive power to extremes.
Meng Ha Sung drove his fist upward from below.
Clang!
The spear, capable of grinding stone with ease, curved upward as if bending.
In that instant, Meng Ha Sung was greatly startled.
‘He released the spear?’
Indeed.
As if he had anticipated this, Moyong Bi released the spear from his grasp and drew the pair of short swords that dangled at his waist.
There was no sound of the blade being drawn. The short swords, drawn smoothly, had already targeted Meng Ha Sung’s ribs.
Swift yet gentle, sharp yet leaving room for retreat.
Clang!
Meng Ha Sung neither dodged nor needed to—the blade struck his ribs and bounced away naturally.
Surprise flickered across Meng Ha Sung’s face.
‘This fellow, look at him.’
His Qi had transcended the body itself, permeating even his garments—a realm of mastery few could fathom.
Yet where the blade had struck, his clothing bore a small tear, the fabric damaged by the ferocious force of his martial power.
‘This too is the Alliance Leader’s martial prowess.’
On the surface, this extraordinary young man’s martial arts had only recently ascended to the peak realm.
And yet he had unleashed a Slashing Attack that should have been impossible at that level—not even with his full strength behind it, but executed with effortless grace, power deliberately restrained.
Pap pap pap!
From that moment, Meng Ha Sung’s two fists whirled with terrifying ferocity.
A continuous chain of attacks that, given the depths of the Three Pure Infinite True Formula and the Brain Gate Heart Technique, could not possibly be defended against.
‘The Nine Thunder Divine Fist, was it?’
The linking movements flowed with exquisite smoothness, yet each strike descended swift and devastating as lightning.
Not Meng Ha Sung’s ultimate technique, but a martial art he wielded with great fondness—one that stood on equal footing with Moyong Bi’s One Hundred Eight Forms of the Green Dragon Spear Method.
Clang! Whoosh! Boom!
As his sword disrupted the fist path, his body shook; where the fist aura grazed his shoulder, flesh tore away; the shockwave reduced his sleeve to powder.
Moyong Bi’s form became fluid as water without shape.
Meng Ha Sung’s eyes widened as he prepared to strike again with the Nine Thunder Divine Fist.
‘The Chung Hak Yu Su Haeng!’
One of the secret Lightness Skills from the Moyong Family Estate’s ancient transmissions.
‘Such an astonishing realm.’
His Internal Power fell short, yet his retreating movements and flowing grace were executed with such perfection that admiration came unbidden.
Boom!
Meng Ha Sung surged forward at twice his previous speed, his fist striking with deceptive lightness.
As if merely tapping the empty air.
Rooooom!
Yet the fist aura that erupted forth was utterly terrifying.
Like a colossal boulder hurtling through space at tremendous velocity. Moyong Bi’s brow furrowed.
‘Damn it.’
A move thrown out of curiosity—whether it could even be blocked.
He trusted his opponent’s strength enough for such a gambit, but from Moyong Bi’s perspective, it was an exceedingly troublesome move.
‘What does he expect me to do with this?’
Evasion was impossible. At his current level, it could not be done.
He had to block it or break through and counterattack. But that was far from simple.
‘Still, I shall oblige.’
Meng Ha Sung had woven much meaning into this single strike.
Entertain me further, I know your limits extend beyond this, when will you show the resolve to kill—and more besides.
Flash!
The Infinite True Qi erupted like lightning, resonating with his Brain Gate True Energy, the harmonized force radiating outward through all four limbs and hundred meridians.
The already-slowed world slowed further still. Simultaneously, the burden upon his body doubled.
‘There is no need to prolong this.’
This time, Moyong Bi tested Meng Ha Sung.
Whoosh!
Even in this slowed world, Moyong Bi’s footwork remained swift.
Though his foot struck the ground, no sound emerged. Instead, something terrifyingly condensed sent a slow ripple upward from beneath.
Meng Ha Sung’s eyes widened with astonishment.
Shiiiiing!
From the advancing blade tip came the sound of silk being torn asunder.
The sword cleaved through the air, and the terrifyingly condensed force spiraled, exponentially amplifying both the blade’s hardness and the density of its energy force.
This was the Sword technique from the Spear-Sword-Palm, the three supreme techniques of the Martial Alliance Leader Moyong Cheon.
It was the Ten Segments One Brocade Form—a technique only those who had reached the pinnacle of the Nine Rings Brocade Sword could manifest.
I am crumbling.
In the silent world.
I could see the massive fist aura disintegrating like grains of sand beneath the tremendous force erupting from the blade’s tip.
Fast yet slow. Slow yet fast.
A martial art that condenses multiple layers of overlapping power into a single sword strike, destroying all external matter in its path.
Such a remarkable sword technique existed.
Even as astonishment seized him, Meng Ha Sung realized that Moyong Bi had not yet reached the pinnacle of this technique.
He could still layer more power. The fact that he knew this yet could not do it meant, quite simply, that his strength was insufficient.
In other words, his enlightenment was more than adequate.
Meng Ha Sung clicked his tongue.
A human born by heaven’s mistake. How could one so young—merely twenty years old—achieve such profound enlightenment?
The tightly condensed, silk-like sword aura had nearly demolished the entire fist aura of the Nine Walls Divine Fist.
Only then did the sound of destruction reach his ears. The sword strike had transcended the sound barrier.
Meng Ha Sung swung his hand once more.
Whoooosh!
Having shattered the fist aura, he seized the increasingly powerful sword aura with one hand and rapidly retreated.
A moment later.
Boom!
With a tremendous explosion, Moyong Bi’s body flew backward.
Pssshhh.
Dark scorch marks appeared on the ground where the sound barrier had been broken. Had Meng Ha Sung not neutralized the shockwave with his strength, the earth would have caved in.
“Cough!”
Moyong Bi, having retreated, spat out a mouthful of blood. Though he had neutralized the shockwave, the strain of using the secret technique had inflicted internal injuries.
“….”
As Meng Ha Sung, who had been watching Moyong Bi in silence, was about to speak.
Thud!
A long spear fell from the sky, landing before Meng Ha Sung’s feet.
Had he taken one more step, it would have struck his crown. Of course, it could never have pierced through his True Energy barrier.
Meng Ha Sung asked, bewildered.
“Were you manipulating this spear as well?”
Moyong Bi wiped the corner of his mouth and slowly rose, speaking.
“I have not reached the realm of freely manipulating objects in empty air, but I can alter the trajectory of a freely falling spear to some degree.”
“…Heh.”
Meng Ha Sung let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
“So you really meant it—fighting with the resolve to kill me?”
“A direct confrontation would be difficult, so I had to exploit an opening.”
Truly, what a remarkable fellow.
Meng Ha Sung gazed at Moyong Bi with admiration, then his eyes drifted to the sword held by this extraordinary young man.
The blade, broken midway through, was gradually crumbling into dust.
“…Well?”
“Well what, sir?”
“Do I look like someone you could wield and swing about?”
Moyong Bi spoke while rubbing his shoulder.
“Not a bad prospect, actually.”
His words carried genuine sincerity.
Meng Ha Sung laughed heartily.
“A fine compliment indeed. This pleases me greatly.”
“And what of me, sir?”
“You’re a beast—a wild one at that. I’m uncertain whether to let you roam free. One misstep and you’ll bite several people to death.”
“Wasn’t that unpredictability precisely what you sought?”
“Hahahaha!”
Laughter brimming with satisfaction.
Meng Ha Sung turned his body.
“Since your sword was damaged because of me, I’ll gift you a fine one. Follow me.”

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