The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 117

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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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117
Woo Geom-san Contends for Supremacy
“Ah!”
“Gah!”
Screams erupted from all directions.
They were the cries of the Jacheongi martial artists.
Wherever Woo Geom-san’s sword passed, the martial artists collapsed, clutching their arms and legs.
This was because Woo Geom-san’s sword had deftly sliced through their muscles and tendons.
The human body is highly intricate; even a wound to a single part can easily incapacitate the whole.
Having had both of his hands ruined during his childhood, Woo Geom-san understood this fact better than anyone.
Because of that, he also knew exactly how to neutralize a human with the absolute minimum amount of force.
There was no need to pierce the heart or sever the head.
A single laceration to the wrist was enough to break most men.
The Jacheon Storm Sword Formation of the Jacheongi was undoubtedly a formation of immense power. However, it required a moment of time to be fully deployed.
This was because a force of three hundred men had to move in unison. No matter how thoroughly trained they were in normal times, they still needed a slight adjustment to deploy it in actual combat.
Of course, like the elites they were, the coordination did not take very long, but to an expert who had reached a realm like Woo Geom-san’s, that fleeting instant felt as long as eternity.
Slash!
“Urgh!”
His sword cleaved the air, and another Jacheongi martial artist was incapacitated.
As the martial artist collapsed, spraying blood, the Jacheon Storm Sword Formation fluctuated wildly.
The warrior Woo Geom-san had brought down happened to be one of the core personnel holding the Jacheon Storm Sword Formation together.
In human terms, he was like a joint.
If a joint is shattered, one naturally cannot move properly.
The Jacheon Storm Sword Formation was no different.
The sword formation, which needed to move organically, temporarily froze as if a lump were caught in its throat.
To smoothly resolve this, someone else had to step in and replace the fallen man. But Woo Geom-san would not allow them to substitute so easily.
Thrust!
His sword pierced the shoulder of a warrior attempting to fill the empty space. Yet, this particular warrior seemed to possess some grit, as he tried to counterattack while enduring the pain.
“Die!”
With a bizarre roar, he thrust his sword toward Woo Geom-san’s throat.
Swish!
In that instant, Woo Geom-san executed Chaeuolsu and snatched the man’s wrist.
The opponent, pulled along helplessly, drew a large circle in the air before being slammed violently onto the ground.
Bang!
“Thump!”
This time, unable to bear the pain, he let out a shriek and blacked out.
“Fuck!”
“Die!”
Seeing their comrade’s injury, the nearby warriors lost their minds and rushed Woo Geom-san.
Beholding this, Gam Hu-myeong bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“No! Maintain the formation!”
The Jacheon Storm Sword Formation was a precise sword formation.
It unleashed its true power only when every single martial artist locked together and rotated with the precision of interlocking gears.
If they acted out of line like that due to a temporary emotional disturbance or rage, the movement of the entire sword formation would fall apart.
Slash! Splat!
Woo Geom-san’s sword cut through the bodies of the martial artists like flashes of lightning.
With minimal movement and force, he inflicted wounds upon the enemies’ bodies.
There was no need to even deploy the Choyen Sword Technique.
For Woo Geom-san had already ascended to a realm where even his simplest movements became an ultimate move.
Seeing with his eyes and feeling with his senses, a fitting movement came to mind the very instant he grasped the situation.
Without any need to execute formalized stances, his immediate movements became ultimate moves.
“Argh!”
“Gasp!”
The Jacheongi martial artists crumbled along with their screams.
Gam Hu-myeong glared with wide eyes at the unbelievable sight.
The Jacheongi, whom he had spent his heart and soul raising, were collapsing like a sandcastle.
The sight of as many as two hundred and seventy warriors fluctuating here and there before collapsing, as if swept away by a tidal wave, was utterly surreal.
What was even more shocking was that not a single person among the Jacheongi martial artists had died. That was why it was terrifying.
Gam Hu-myeong knew.
He knew that neutralizing someone while keeping them alive was several times harder than killing them.
Yet, right before his eyes, such a thing was taking place.
Already, dozens of warriors had collapsed with deep wounds, but not a single one had lost their life.
Being able to show mercy meant he possessed that much room to spare.
If he had heard that someone intended to fight the Jacheongi while showing them mercy, Gam Hu-myeong would have scoffed.
That was how confident he was in the martial prowess of the Jacheongi warriors.
The Jacheongi was his pride.
That very pride of Gam Hu-myeong was being shattered into pieces before his eyes.
By Woo Geom-san alone.
Although more than two hundred warriors were still standing, not a single one could even inflict a scratch on Woo Geom-san’s body.
It was because of his ghost-like footwork.
He was clearly within arm’s reach just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, he had shifted to a space far away.
Woo Geom-san’s footwork was reminiscent of Fudong Mingwangbo, the legendary footwork of the Shaolin Temple.
Not a single martial artist could detect the movements of Woo Geom-san as he executed the Flowing Void Steps.
Woo Geom-san’s movements—perceiving the opponent’s energy waves in advance, riding the flow to open up space, and appearing—perfectly resembled a phantom.
“Crazy!”
“Is he really some kind of ghost?”
A shadow of dread washed over the faces of the Jacheongi martial artists.
He was clearly right in front of them, yet even when they extended their swords, they could not reach him.
Just when they thought they had closed the distance, Woo Geom-san would already be standing far away; his figure was truly terrifying.
Furthermore, with his every single strike, one person would inevitably spray blood and collapse.
The sight of him moving on to find another victim only after ensuring he drew blood was absolutely horrifying.
Even though not a single person had died, the Jacheongi martial artists felt the terror of death.
“Ugh…”
“How are we supposed to face someone like that?”
The Jacheongi martial artists hesitated and shrank back.
They could no longer muster the courage to deploy their proud Jacheon Storm Sword Formation.
Whenever the sword formation was about to take shape, Woo Geom-san would immediately neutralize it.
Ultimately, Gam Hu-myeong’s temper exploded, and he stepped forward.
“Get out of the way! You fools.”
Gam Hu-myeong threw himself toward Woo Geom-san.
Whoosh!
A purple Sword Qi erupted violently from his blade.
It was the phenomenon that appeared when he deployed his signature ultimate move, the Mantian Ziying Jian.
The purple Sword Qi soared up to nearly two feet.
There is a saying that an extra inch of length brings an extra inch of strength, while an inch shorter brings an inch of danger.
It meant that distance itself was power, and the longer the weapon, the more advantageous it was for striking first and subduing the opponent. Therefore, it was accepted as orthodox that martial artists who mastered long weapons were stronger.
However, there was a means to overcome the disadvantage of a short weapon, and that was to coat the weapon with a sharply refined Qi, such as Sword Qi or Saber Qi.
Just like Gam Hu-myeong was doing now.
His three-foot-long sword extended by a whole two feet, becoming five feet long.
He had secured a reach as long as a decent spear. On top of that, the power of the Sword Qi coated on the blade was immense.
It could slice through ordinary spears and swords as if cutting radishes.
Gam Hu-myeong believed in his sword and his gongfu.
Channeling all the internal energy he had accumulated over the years, he swung his sword.
Swishshsh!
Accompanied by the sound of a fierce gale, a storm of purple Sword Qi engulfed Woo Geom-san.
Even though he saw the purple Sword Qi flying toward him and filling the sky, Woo Geom-san did not execute the Flowing Void Steps to evade.
Instinctively, he felt that now was not the time to dodge.
To break the enemies’ vanguard, he had to take down the strongest person head-on.
In an instant, the purple Sword Qi reached Woo Geom-san’s throat.
It was at that exact moment that Woo Geom-san took action.
Whoosh!
His sword flowed as softly as a cloud and collided with Gam Hu-myeong’s sword.
Yet, no sound of weapons clashing could be heard.
This was because Woo Geom-san’s sword parted Gam Hu-myeong’s blade and Sword Qi soundlessly, as if cutting through paper.
A sword stance like a drifting cloud.
It was precisely the third stance of the Choyen Sword Technique, the Flowing Cloud Form.
He had not used a massive amount of internal energy like Gam Hu-myeong’s Mantian Ziying Jian, nor was there any flashy manifestation of Sword Qi.
Even so, Woo Geom-san’s sword sliced through Gam Hu-myeong’s blade like tofu.
Gam Hu-myeong’s eyes stretched wide at the unbelievable sight.
He even forgot to execute a life-saving ultimate move and simply stared at Woo Geom-san’s blade.
The ordinary Refined Steel Sword looked like a peerless divine weapon at this moment.
In that instant, Woo Geom-san’s sword slashed across his chest.
“Argh!”
Gam Hu-myeong shrieked in excruciating pain and stumbled backward.
His chest was ripped open, and a tremendous amount of blood was pouring out.
If the sword had dug just an inch deeper, his bones would have been split, and he would have lost his life.
Fortunately, the moment the blade made contact, he had pulled his body back with all his might, which allowed him to escape with a wound of this extent.
“Stop him!”
“Squad Leader!”
The warriors in the vicinity rushed forward to save Gam Hu-myeong.
Since Woo Geom-san had no intention of fighting to the death with Gam Hu-myeong anyway, he backed away.
It was then.
“Woahhh!”
“The bastard is over there!”
With a loud roar, fresh martial artists came rushing in.
They were the escort warriors of the Tianjin Escort Agency.
As over a hundred escort warriors arrived as reinforcements, the Jacheongi martial artists regained their courage.
Combining the Jacheongi and the Tianjin Escort Agency warriors, nearly four hundred martial artists had gathered just to subdue a single man, Woo Geom-san.
Woo Geom-san suddenly glanced toward the eastern wall of Maseong.
‘Did they manage to escape safely?’
***
“Tch! These are faces I haven’t seen before.”
Yi Se-gyeong, who was carrying Ha Yeong-ryeong on her back, muttered as she peeked at the thatched cottage.
Several martial artists could be seen standing in front of the thatched cottage that concealed the secret passage.
They were faces she had not seen when they entered.
Yi Se-gyeong instinctively realized that they were not Dokgui’s subordinates.
Ha Baek-jin, who was beside her, spoke up.
“They’re the bastards from the Yayue Market.”
“What are we going to do?”
“There’s no choice. We have to break through head-on.”
Ha Baek-jin spoke with a resolute expression.
Gong Pyeong-hae had carried Ning Yunxiao on his back and entered the sewer.
It was a place where all the city’s filth gathered and emitted toxic fumes—truly the worst possible location.
A healthy child like Ning Yunxiao might endure the stench and toxicity of the sewer to some extent, but Ha Yeong-ryeong, who had not yet fully recovered, would suffer a major blow the moment she entered.
Because of that, they had chosen the secret passage they initially came through, but now they were on the verge of ruining the plan.
“Arghhh!”
“Kill him!”
Just then, from far away where Woo Geom-san was located, the furious shouts and screams of people could be heard.
Just as he had promised, he had drawn the attention of the entire city to himself.
They could not afford to waste the time he had bought for them.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Ha Baek-jin took the lead, and Yi Se-gyeong followed close behind with Ha Yeong-ryeong on her back.
“Who goes there?”
“Stop right there!”
Detecting the unfamiliar presence, the vagrants shouted.
Whoosh!
In that split second, Ha Baek-jin kicked off the ground.
Executing the Arhat Gale Step, Ha Baek-jin reached the front of the vagrants in a flash and swung his fists.
Thud! Thack!
Slammed by fists packed with a thousand pounds of raw strength, the vagrants guarding the thatched cottage collapsed without even being able to scream.
Clenching his blood-stained fists tightly, Ha Baek-jin stepped inside the thatched cottage. There, a pitch-black secret passage revealed itself.
A fierce murderous intent could be felt from beyond the tunnel.
Even without looking with his eyes, he could tell.
There were more vagrants waiting on the other side.
Ha Baek-jin strode into the passage without a hint of hesitation.
“I shall show you exactly why I am called the Fist Expert.”

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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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