Martial God of the Sun and Moon - Chapter 253
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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 253
Kwaaaaaang!
The deafening collision made Jimeol Magoon’s body tense with alarm.
‘How did he know?’
I had anticipated that reinforcements would arrive quickly, given that I’d ventured into enemy territory.
But the explosion wasn’t coming from outside the encirclement—it was coming from within. This meant someone had been hiding on this mountain where the encirclement was set up from the beginning.
‘Is he seeing not just one move ahead, but two or three moves ahead?’
Meanwhile, enemy reinforcements would surround the encirclement once more. Like a driven hunt, they would close in.
‘Could there possibly be a traitor in the sect…?’
Even such an absurd assumption crossed my mind.
Dokgo Myeong spoke as if he could see right through my thoughts.
“I can hear the gears turning in your head from here.”
“….”
“So, which is it?”
Kwaaang!
Even as he spoke, explosions and screams continued echoing from somewhere in the distance.
Dokgo Myeong deliberately withheld further words. He understood well that sometimes silence amplified an enemy’s confusion far more effectively.
‘Looking at this situation alone, I’ve completely lost the strategic game.’
My composure had been an act. This time, I was genuinely caught off guard.
I never expected him to throw officers-ranked fighters as bait to the Chammarwon, nor did I anticipate he’d fearlessly station troops near the family estate.
Because of this, I hadn’t devised any special strategies or tactics. Dokgo Myeong had outmaneuvered me.
‘But I had made preparations.’
There were lessons I’d learned from the battlefield.
That my opponent also formulates plans.
And if my plans had succeeded until now, perhaps today would be the day his plans succeeded instead.
So preparing for the worst was just as important as devising brilliant schemes and meticulous plans.
And Dokgo Myeong’s contingency was them.
“Manager Namgung Sohwa! I’ve arrived without delay.”
Chwak!
Namgung Sohwa flicked the blood from her blade and descended to stand beside Dokgo Myeong.
Kwaaang!
Cheolmu-baek appeared amid an explosion, then walked over in silence and took his position behind him.
“These mad fools dared to crawl into Honam?”
Dokgo Ak made his entrance, unleashing the ominous momentum of his Ilyang Divine Sword. True to his contrary nature, he stood awkwardly at a diagonal angle rather than directly beside them.
Jimeol Magoon suddenly let out a hollow laugh.
“There’s one last thing I’m curious about.”
“Tell me.”
“Have all the thunderbolt bombs planted in Chammarwon been dismantled by now?”
“Probably so.”
If Ye-hwa had detected them, Geum Seok-du would have acted, and if Geum Seok-du had acted, there was nothing to worry about.
Jimeol Magoon nodded.
“Interesting.”
*Whoosh!*
In an instant, Jimeol Magoon’s robes billowed outward as if they might tear.
It was a transformation caused by the release of true energy.
Materialized blood qi began spreading across the ground in thick tendrils.
“Just as I prolonged time to gather my forces, did you also drag things out with the White Tiger Guards?”
“….”
“I arranged this stage to avoid unnecessary conflict… but it seems unavoidable now.”
*Rumble rumble rumble rumble!*
Dokgo Myeong glanced down at the ground.
The earth was trembling. Such a formidable blood qi was spreading outward.
‘No, it’s the opposite.’
Dokgo Myeong’s gaze traced the origin point of the true energy spreading like tree roots.
It wasn’t emission—it was absorption.
The earth’s qi was withering around him at the center.
Soil crumbled, and the life force of grass and branches rapidly vanished.
What sent chills down my spine was that despite drawing in so much, the aura radiating from his entire body remained identical to before.
‘Could it be that fellow….’
One of Dokgo Myeong’s eyebrows twitched.
“It seems unavoidable.”
Jimeol Magoon grinned widely.
“I’ll need to exert some power if I’m to escape in time.”
*Crack crack crack!*
In an instant, the earth around Jimeol Magoon collapsed inward.
*Boom!*
When Dokgo Myeong reflexively ducked and raised his head again, Jimeol Magoon’s stone staff was descending toward his crown.
Dokgo Myeong immediately extended his staff upward.
*Boom!*
A shockwave erupted with the collision.
Dokgo Myeong was pushed back, scraping the ground, while Jimeol Magoon stared at him with surprised eyes.
‘Even?’
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes twitched.
‘No, I was pushed back.’
Three and a half steps—the distance I was driven back was greater.
Though he held the advantage of terrain, accounting for perhaps one step of difference, the gap still remained.
‘That fellow has reached it.’
The wall of Wu Chi.
Though I hadn’t yet broken through or surpassed it, he had reached the limits of human potential.
Yet Jimeol Magoon was equally astonished.
‘What in the world is this internal energy?’
Within the sect, only the sect leader and the grand commander stood above him. Yet he matched shoulders with the Jeongheol Sect’s monstrous divine generals, and now this man was holding nearly equal ground in a test of strength.
“I’m counting on you to guard our rear.”
Dokgo Myeong spoke to the managers.
The three men gripped their weapons firmly and responded.
“Have no fear.”
“Trust us.”
“Let’s go!”
Dokgo Ak’s carefree shout served as the signal.
Crash!
The real battle had begun.
* * *
Boom!
Dokgo Myeong rolled his feet.
Simultaneously, he unleashed the Heavenly Realm Shadow Blade through the Hyeon-cheon technique.
‘Invincible, Blazing Heaven.’
I used the Blazing Heaven Strike of the Extreme Divine Seal—possessing extreme offensive power—as my projectile. And I set the Immovable Seal’s Invincible Stance as my cannon.
Crash!
The stone staff that collided with Dokgo Myeong’s fist bent as though it would shatter.
‘This bastard…!’
Jimeol Magoon’s face twisted.
His internal energy application was crude. His movements lacked agility.
He had entered the realm, but it was clear he hadn’t yet crossed the wall or stood as an equal.
Yet.
‘How can he draw forth such power?’
His martial art, the Mara Jimeol Technique, was one that could unleash several times the firepower with even a handful of internal energy. Moreover, as long as his feet touched the ground, it was an ability that never suffered from lack of strength.
Yet they were locked in a contest of strength. No—rather, he was losing.
‘And somehow, he knows the gaps in my true energy pathways.’
He was disrupting the flow of my inner power.
He couldn’t possibly have experience fighting the Mara Jimeol Technique, so how was he managing this?
Bang! Bang! Clang!
Shockwaves erupted in succession.
Dokgo Myeong’s hand, bounced back from colliding with the staff.
Yet Dokgo Myeong used that recoil to spin his body and thrust his leg forward.
It was an application of the Limitless Heaven Wave Technique. Now he was utilizing not just his own pathways, but his opponent’s as well.
Crash! Metallic ring!
The ring caught on the stone staff burst with metallic sound and bounced backward.
“I don’t know your reasoning, but you do know how to counter it. So what will you do about this?”
Jimeol Magoon didn’t retreat. Instead, he spun the stone staff once and shook off the energy pathways.
Boom!
He extended one foot backward to support his body.
No, that was a true stance.
A terrifying qi force concentrated in the stone staff. Just as Dokgo Myeong had combined Bulyo Jeonglib and Hwacheon Gyeok to create a formation, he supported his body on one foot to prepare for a follow-up strike.
‘I must block this!’
Dokgo Myeong urgently extended both arms forward.
Whoosh! Crash crash crash!
As the stone staff swung, trees and boulders caught in its path were ground to dust.
It was a blow like a landslide. The name “Ground Annihilator” suited it well.
Boom! Crash!
Dokgo Myeong’s hands, having blocked the strike, shot upward as if in celebration. Even his toes lifted slightly off the ground.
His torso, now completely exposed.
Jimeol Magoon spun the stone staff and swung it diagonally.
Bang! Crash crash crash!
“Ugh!”
Dokgo Myeong groaned and was pushed backward.
Though he had taken a direct hit, Jimeol Magoon’s expression hardened instead.
‘The strike connected, yet it slid off like water.’
That last blow was a cutting slash. Yet Dokgo Myeong wasn’t even wounded—merely pushed back.
Hummmmm!
The Seongcheon Gong, the protective technique of the Silver River Wall. A barrier of qi energy flowing seamlessly through his robes had deflected the strike entirely.
“Barely a sting,” Dokgo Myeong said, brushing his chest and chuckling.
Jimeol Magoon let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“That martial skill, that audacity. I acknowledge it. There is reason you’ve become an enemy of our sect.”
In an instant, Dokgo Myeong launched himself forward in a surprise assault.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Jimeol Magoon extended the staff toward the path of his charge.
Whoosh!
Dokgo Myeong’s body spun rapidly through the air. Quickly regaining balance, he planted one foot in a true stance.
Boom!
Huicheon Cheonra—the infiltrating footwork.
With the stance planted, the attack must follow.
Slash! Crash crash crash!
His hand blade’s cutting strike fell, scraping against the hastily raised staff shaft.
Though he had deflected the spear blade, another attack followed immediately.
Splurt!
Dokgo Myeong suddenly felt one side of his vision turn red.
‘I couldn’t completely evade it?’
Blood was flowing, obscuring his eye.
‘My defensive techniques are gradually being overwhelmed.’
“It looks like even the dissolution method is getting blocked now.”
He was constantly varying his martial techniques moment by moment. The countermeasures I had anticipated in advance no longer worked.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Boom!
It was now impossible to exploit openings.
In the end, it came down to a contest of raw power.
My Spiritcore’s output and the Jimeol Force that infinitely absorbed and dissipated intertwined, repeating cycles of annihilation.
“You’re keeping up this far.”
Jimeol Magoon spoke with a gleam in his eyes.
His tone wasn’t one of looking down from above. It was closer to genuine admiration.
“How in the world did you pack such power into a mortal body?”
“Should I tell my enemy?”
“Fair point.”
Jimeol Magoon nodded.
“Then I’ll have to figure it out myself.”
Jimeol Magoon swung his stone staff again.
That was when it happened.
Clang!
At the sudden metallic sound, Dokgo Myeong’s true energy wavered.
“…!”
Splurt!
In an instant, blood sprayed from Dokgo Myeong’s thigh.
Dokgo Myeong’s eyes widened.
‘A hidden technique?’
That wasn’t all.
The moment I stamped my pressure point, my true energy didn’t amplify—instead, it began being sucked away somewhere.
The Jimeol Force had pierced through the barrier of my Spiritcore technique.
‘This pathetic bastard.’
Only then could I understand how he had penetrated my Spiritcore’s resistance and infiltrated his hidden technique.
It was because of the Jimeol Force accumulated within my body. The inner and outer forces resonated with each other, breaking down the barrier and creating openings.
‘Right, I already knew these bastards were skilled in such crude tactics.’
My power was halved? What of it?
If it was halved, I simply needed to pour out even greater power.
Boom! Crash!
Stamping my pressure point with my wounded leg, blood immediately gushed from my thigh.
“…?!”
Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to attack in that situation. Jimeol Magoon’s eyes widened.
Dokgo Myeong immediately drove his fist forward.
Kaboom!
“Ugh!”
Jimeol Magoon extended his palm, barely pushing back that fist.
Even the shockwave from the repulsion caused an explosion on the ground.
It was clearly to Jimeol Magoon’s advantage. He continued to gain only benefits.
Yet why was it?
Despite the clear gains, why did his spine occasionally chill with unease?
That was when it happened.
“Waaaah!”
Crash! Clang clang clang!
Countless sounds erupted from the lower reaches of the mountain.
The White Tiger Guards had finally arrived.
“Tsk.”
Jimeol Magoon clicked his tongue.
‘I’ve dragged this out too long.’
He exhaled a sigh.
How had things come to this?
‘This affair brings far more losses than gains. Losses—far too many losses.’
Jimeol Magoon hardened his resolve.
“There’s no helping it.”
Dokgo Myeong sensed something ominous in Jimeol Magoon’s murmur.
Whooom! Whooom! Whoooooom!
In an instant, subtle vibrations rippled across Jimeol Magoon’s entire body.
Soon, blood vessels began to bulge across his skin.
“I shall not forget this bloodshed.”
“What madness is this now?”
“I pray this sacrifice proves worthwhile.”
His momentum transformed entirely.
Jimeol Magoon’s eyes gradually darkened with an inky hue.
Ching!
He swung his stone staff.
A strange qi wave extended from the staff, echoing through the air.
‘Is he truly attempting that now?’
Ching!
The stone staff swung once more.
I could no longer stand idle.
Dokgo Myeong immediately kicked off the ground.
In that moment.
Boom!
Someone burst from the side and tackled Dokgo Myeong.
Whoosh! Crash!
He immediately threw him off and unleashed a palm strike.
The Jeongheol Disciple who had burst forth couldn’t withstand the blow and flew backward, crashing hard into the ground.
Yet.
Wriggle!
The corpse of the man whose sternum had shattered and who should have been dead suddenly convulsed.
Then it began to swell grotesquely.
“This insane bastard!”
In the very instant Dokgo Myeong glared at Jimeol Magoon.
He didn’t even glance back before launching himself off the ground.
And then.
Boom! Crash! Kabooooom!
A cataclysmic explosion swept across the entire area as if the heavens and earth themselves were collapsing.
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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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