The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 118

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

118
Woo Geom-san Competes for Supremacy
Geum Ak-cheol, who had been sitting with the Vagrants in front of the secret passage and drinking, suddenly lifted his head.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
A Vagrant beside him looked at Geum Ak-cheol with a puzzled expression.
“Didn’t you just hear something?”
“I didn’t hear a thing.”
Bang!
At that moment, an explosive roar echoed from beyond the passage.
Geum Ak-cheol threw away his liquor bottle and stood up.
“Damn it! You need to poke a skewer through your earholes first, you son of a bitch!”
“Motherfucker!”
It was just as the Vagrants who had been drinking with him hurriedly scrambled to their feet.
Whoosh!
Piercing through the dense darkness of the passage, someone charged toward them.
A burly man with a cheerful impression, leading with fists as large as pot lids.
It was none other than Ha Baek-jin.
Crash!
“Argh!”
Hit by his unannounced attack, one Vagrant was turned into bloody paste and sent flying.
“You bastard!”
Geum Ak-cheol spat out a shout of alarm and assumed a starting stance.
Whish!
At that moment, a storm-like wind swept past him.
All Geum Ak-cheol could see was Ha Baek-jin’s blurred figure.
Passing him like the wind, Ha Baek-jin’s massive fist slammed into the chest of a Vagrant who was standing blankly.
Boom!
As if struck by a battering ram, the Vagrant was blasted far away. But this was merely the beginning.
Ha Baek-jin’s leg whipped around at an angle that should have been impossible to bend, crashing into another Vagrant’s shoulder.
Crack!
“Argh!”
The Vagrant, whose shoulder was caved in, rolled his eyes back and collapsed on the spot.
It was the Horse-Kicking Technique, one of the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts of Shaolin.
Although he was living the life of a Vagrant now, he had been a secular disciple of the Shaolin Temple’s main mountain.
To have cultivated at the main mountain meant his talent was that outstanding.
He was on an entirely different level from the ordinary Vagrants who wandered the Jianghu, learning whatever random martial arts they could find.
Ha Baek-jin was not called the Fist Expert for nothing.
In an instant, half of the gathered crowd of Vagrants was wiped out by the tempest named Ha Baek-jin.
“Aaagh!”
“He-Help me!”
The screams of the Vagrants defeated by Ha Baek-jin echoed throughout the area.
“Why is the Fist Expert here…”
Only then did Geum Ak-cheol recognize Ha Baek-jin’s identity, his body trembling violently.
If he had known that the man they were tracking was Ha Baek-jin, he would not have made the mistake of sitting here so leisurely.
Geum Ak-cheol quickly pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew it.
Tweeeet!
The sound of the whistle spread far and wide.
In an instant, Ha Baek-jin’s gaze shifted to Geum Ak-cheol.
“It was you, you dog of the Yayue Market!”
Just as Geum Ak-cheol recognized Ha Baek-jin, Ha Baek-jin recognized Geum Ak-cheol as well.
Quickly stepping backward, Geum Ak-cheol said,
“Reinforcements will be here soon. You’d better run away quickly!”
“Do you think I can’t cut off your breath before they arrive?”
“You son of a bitch…”
Geum Ak-cheol frantically looked around.
Just then, Yi Se-gyeong, who was emerging from the passage with Ha Yeong-ryeong on her back, caught his eye.
Instinctively, Geum Ak-cheol realized that the child on the woman’s back was Ha Baek-jin’s daughter.
Without needing to think further, Geum Ak-cheol lunged at Yi Se-gyeong.
“Hand over that brat!”
“A crazy fool who doesn’t know his place!”
Yi Se-gyeong spat out a curse and reached for her waist.
Crack!
The whip she wore around her waist extended toward Geum Ak-cheol like a venomous snake.
Rip!
The whip struck Geum Ak-cheol’s chest, tearing away a chunk of flesh.
“Argh!”
Screaming from the excruciating pain, Geum Ak-cheol tumbled backward. What awaited him there was Ha Baek-jin’s fist.
“How dare you target my daughter?”
Boom!
Ha Baek-jin’s fist slammed into Geum Ak-cheol’s abdomen.
With this single blow, Geum Ak-cheol’s internal organs were crushed like minced fish.
“Gah-ha!”
Vomiting pieces of his ruptured organs, Geum Ak-cheol collapsed onto the ground. And he never moved again.
That was the end of Geum Ak-cheol, who had been notoriously infamous in the Yayue Market.
Ha Baek-jin looked down at Geum Ak-cheol’s corpse with cold eyes. It was Yi Se-gyeong’s voice that snapped him out of it.
“We don’t have time to be doing this. The others will come swarming in. We must escape quickly.”
“Understood.”
Ha Baek-jin hurriedly left the place together with her.
Immediately after they disappeared, the Vagrants and martial artists who heard the whistle arrived.
A martial artist from the Yunyo Bang shouted to the Vagrants,
“Catch them, quickly!”
“Yes!”
The alert Vagrants and martial artists set out in pursuit.
***
“Hmm!”
“Unbelievable.”
“Is that really the martial prowess of a brat whose hair hasn’t even dried yet?”
At the place where the Three Perils of Tianmen were staring with expressions of disbelief, Woo Geom-san was displaying incredible divine might against Jacheongi and the escort warriors.
The sight of a single person overwhelming hundreds of martial artists brought a great shock to the Three Perils of Tianmen, who had reigned as the terror of the Jianghu for a long time.
If they set their minds to it, they too could deal with Jacheongi as much as they wanted. However, it was impossible to face so many martial artists without killing anyone like that.
It was because their own martial arts were far too destructive, and their temperaments were not the type to show consideration for anyone.
It was simple enough to kill them and be done with it, so there was no reason to go through the headache of keeping them alive to suppress them.
Even so, it was a fact that the martial prowess Woo Geom-san was currently showing was unbelievably magnificent.
“Aaaah!”
“Urgh!”
Even at this very moment, the martial artists of Jacheongi and the escort warriors were falling like autumn leaves to Woo Geom-san’s sword.
Unable to watch any longer, Yun Jin-myeong roared,
“Is this a time to just be admiring him? We must suppress him at once.”
“Ah, right.”
Only then did the Three Perils of Tianmen snap out of it and prepare to leap into the battlefield.
At that moment, Woo Geom-san, who had glanced slightly toward the Three Perils of Tianmen, suddenly launched himself into the air.
Landing on the roof of a nearby pavilion in an instant, Woo Geom-san dashed forward.
“The bastard is fleeing!”
“Pursue him quickly!”
The martial artists, left looking like dogs chasing a chicken, belatedly snapped out of it and began the pursuit.
The Three Perils of Tianmen also joined the chase a moment later.
“Stop right there!”
“Freeze! You son of a bitch.”
The curses of the martial artists chasing from behind reached his ears.
Their crude murderous intent pricked the back of his neck and spine like needles, but Woo Geom-san had no intention of stopping.
If he wanted to, he could run fast enough that they wouldn’t even dare to dream of keeping up, but Woo Geom-san exquisitely adjusted his speed.
This was because making as many people as possible follow him would keep Ning Yunxiao and Ha Yeong-ryeong safer.
As he dashed across the rooftops, the city gates of Maseong entered Woo Geom-san’s view.
In front of the gates, about a dozen martial artists were also standing guard.
“Stop!”
“Stand right there!”
The martial artists guarding the gates drew their weapons and shouted, but Woo Geom-san had no intention of stopping.
Woo Geom-san swung his sword just as he was.
Swish!
An intangible Sword Qi flew forth, slicing through the city gates the martial artists were guarding as if they were sheets of paper.
“Aaaah!”
“Hieee!”
The martial artists guarding the gates froze completely on the spot.
This was because if Woo Geom-san’s Sword Qi had been directed at them, they would have met the exact same fate as the city gates.
Through the doors split apart like paper, the scenery outside the city could be seen.
Woo Geom-san passed right by the frozen martial artists and escaped Maseong.
The martial artists who belatedly regained their senses tried to catch Woo Geom-san, but it was useless.
Having completely broken out of Maseong, Woo Geom-san ran toward the north without a shred of hesitation.
Though invisible due to the deep darkness, there was a high and rugged mountain to the north of Maseong.
It was Mt. Chilak, known as the most wicked mountain among wicked mountains.
Mt. Chilak, which was incomparably treacherous and had swallowed countless lives, was Woo Geom-san’s destination.
Woo Geom-san’s goal was to make a detour through Mt. Chilak to shake off his pursuers and return to the Woo Family Manor.
“Stop!”
“Aaagh!”
From behind, the spiteful shrieks of the pursuing martial artists could be heard.
The number of martial artists defeated by Woo Geom-san alone already exceeded a hundred.
Fortunately, no one had died, but that didn’t mean the anger of the martial artists had vanished.
Above all, there were existences urging them forward.
“Pursue him quickly!”
“If you lose him, I will start by lopping off your heads!”
It was none other than the Three Perils of Tianmen.
Because they were threatening the martial artists from behind, no one could stop.
In fact, when one martial artist lagged behind, Daehyong waved his hand and crushed his head.
Witnessing the sight of a perfectly fine person’s head shattering in an instant, the martial artists didn’t dare to dream of resisting and had no choice but to run for their lives.
Thus, the chase of hunting and being hunted continued all the way to the entrance of Mt. Chilak.
Even by then, the martial artists of the Yunyo Bang and the Tianjin Escort Agency had been unable to catch up to Woo Geom-san.
“Phew.”
It was just as Woo Geom-san exhaled a soft sigh and tried to slow his pace for a moment.
Swoosh!
A sharp sound of slicing wind echoed through the darkness.
Woo Geom-san instinctively ducked his head and rolled across the ground.
Slash!
At that moment, the thicket near where Woo Geom-san had been standing was sheared away as if cut by a scythe.
Woo Geom-san’s eyebrows twitched at the unexpected surprise attack.
However, the crisis was not yet over.
Hiss!
An even sharper and more stealthy sound erupted.
Assailed by a chilling murderous intent, Woo Geom-san didn’t even think twice before swinging his sword to block his front.
Clang!
A heavy impact was felt through his sword.
Something invisible had slammed into the blade.
If he hadn’t blocked it out of instinct, his head would have been severed without him even knowing why.
Zing!
A single slender silver strand of fishing line vanished into the darkness in an instant after colliding with the sword.
‘A fishing line? It’s that old man.’
The old man who had rescued Yun Jin-myeong from Cheongmul Island, Zhong Tianyi, was hiding somewhere out there in the darkness.
His weapon, the Dragon Steering Rod, had a range that exceeded a whopping hundred zhang.
A surprise attack launched from over a hundred zhang away in the deep darkness was truly fatal.
Hiss!
Tearing through the darkness and appearing soundlessly, the fishing line and needle were truly objects of terror.
An ordinary martial artist would have lost their life without even knowing what hit them.
Only after opening all his senses could Woo Geom-san block or evade Zhong Tianyi’s surprise attacks.
The only silver lining was that Zhong Tianyi had no intention of genuinely fighting Woo Geom-san.
He had only one purpose.
It was to hold Woo Geom-san in place until the Three Perils of Tianmen and the others arrived. And his intention succeeded beautifully.
“Caught him!”
“The bastard is here!”
The pursuing martial artists had surrounded Woo Geom-san.
Only then did Zhong Tianyi cease his attacks on Woo Geom-san and conceal his presence.
“You brat! I will never forgive you.”
“I’ll tear you apart alive.”
The Three Perils of Tianmen approached Woo Geom-san, radiating a sinister murderous intent.
“Sigh.”
Woo Geom-san let out a sigh and looked at them.
Due to Zhong Tianyi’s intervention, his plan had gone significantly awry.
He needed to buy a little more time, but he had been caught up to too quickly.
Since things had turned out this way, he had no choice but to face them with total seriousness.
It was just as strength surged into his hand gripping the Refined Steel Sword.
“You bastard!”
Shouting at the top of their lungs, the Three Perils of Tianmen attacked Woo Geom-san.
Their ferocious murderous intent shook Mt. Chilak.

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