The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 119

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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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119
Woo Geom-san Contends for Hegemony
The Three Fiends of Tianmen had each mastered a different martial art.
Daehyong’s martial art was a palm technique.
The palm technique, named Cheandun Pahyeoljang, was not refined or elegant like other palm techniques in the Jianghu.
Instead of being sophisticated, it boasted extreme power.
This was because it was a martial art created solely with a focus on killing.
Ihyong had mastered a claw technique called Yuhyeol Gwijogong.
It was a method of growing one’s fingernails sharp like the talons of a hawk or an eagle and using them as weapons.
For decades, Ihyong had cultivated Yuhyeol Gwijogong until it reached the realm of grand completion.
His fingernails were harder than steel, capable of slicing through large boulders in a single blow.
Finally, Samhyong had mastered a saber technique called Hyeolpok Gwangdosik.
True to its name, Hyeolpok Gwangdosik was a saber technique that displayed the pinnacle of ferocity.
If struck by this technique, unleashed with a Nangado that closely resembled a wolf’s teeth, it did not end with mere slicing of flesh and severing of bone.
The muscles and flesh would be torn away as if sawn through, and the bones would be shattered into pieces.
The moment it even slightly grazed someone, it inflicted an unrecoverable wound, making Hyeolpok Gwangdosik a terrifying saber technique where even those who survived would be left crippled.
The Three Fiends of Tianmen had each mastered their respective martial arts to the grand completion realm.
“Die!”
Rumble!
As Daehyong’s Cheandun Pahyeoljang unleashed, a sound resembling a thunderclap burst forth, and the air in the vicinity was ripped to shreds by Ihyong’s Yuhyeol Gwijogong.
The crowning touch was Samhyong’s Nangado.
“Hyeoldo Nanmu.”
Slash!
Saber shadows filled the empty air, lunging viciously toward Woo Geom-san.
The joint attack of the three was executed without a single opening.
Woo Geom-san did not dare to underestimate them and stepped backward.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Die!”
At that moment, the martial artists of the Yunyo Bang who were surrounding him attacked Woo Geom-san’s back, blocking his path of retreat.
Ultimately, Woo Geom-san stopped retreating and struck back against the attack of the Three Fiends of Tianmen.
Clang!
Accompanied by the metallic screech, the Three Fiends of Tianmen faltered.
They had received a considerable shock from Woo Geom-san’s single sword strike.
In particular, a sharp laceration appeared on the palm of Daehyong, who had deflected Woo Geom-san’s sword with his bare hand.
Despite having tempered it to be harder than pig iron, a wound had formed.
“You’re quite decent.”
Daehyong actually flared his murderous intent while looking at the wound on his palm.
After all, it was nothing more than a superficial cut on his flesh. A wound of this degree would heal in a single night.
“Hah! Hyeolmun Gaecheon.”
Daehyong unleashed the ultimate move of Cheandun Pahyeoljang.
“Eumjo Jamhon.”
“Gwanghyeol Chamryun.”
Ihyong and Samhyong joined forces with him.
Crash!
Under their relentless onslaught, the air fluctuated wildly, and the surface of the earth turned inside out.
Looking at the spectacle that made it seem as though the end of the world had come, the surrounding martial artists watched in a daze.
It was a scene that demonstrated exactly why the Three Fiends of Tianmen had been able to survive even after being designated as public enemies of the Jianghu.
Boom!
Bang!
Along with the explosive roars, trees snapped and boulders blew apart.
They drove Woo Geom-san into a corner without a moment’s rest. However, not a single attack managed to inflict a wound on Woo Geom-san’s body.
The figure of Woo Geom-san executing Flowing Void Steps was truly like a ghost.
Fluttering his dark navy light armor, Woo Geom-san moved as if swimming through the darkness.
The way he circumvented when blocked and retreated when collided with was as beautiful as a painting.
Amidst this hellscape where the heavens wailed and the earth inverted, Woo Geom-san alone seemed to exist in a different world.
The Three Fiends of Tianmen attacked Woo Geom-san with literally every ounce of their strength.
Daehyong unleashed the ultimate moves of Cheandun Pahyeoljang one after another.
Thud! Thud!
Palm-shaped holes were punched into the earth where his palm force struck.
It was truly an awesome power.
However, the expression of Daehyong as he unleashed Cheandun Pahyeoljang was not so bright.
No matter how powerful a stance was, it was useless if it failed to hit the opponent’s body.
The Cheandun Pahyeoljang unleashed by Daehyong failed to graze even the hem of Woo Geom-san’s clothes, striking only the wrong places.
The attacks of Ihyong and Samhyong were exactly the same.
They repeatedly unleashed the ultimate moves of Yuhyeol Gwijogong and Hyeolpok Gwangdosik respectively, but Woo Geom-san slipped through the hair-thin gaps like a phantom.
‘It’s because of that footwork.’
Woo Geom-san’s footwork was the problem.
Since he sensed the powerful energy waves emitted by the Three Fiends of Tianmen and rode along with the flow, it was utterly impossible to catch him.
Whenever they tried to step back and catch their breath, he would approach like a ghost before they knew it, so they could not let down their guard for even a single moment.
As expected of experienced old monsters, the Three Fiends of Tianmen did not have their stances tangled, but instead, their breathing began to twist.
When breathing gets twisted, the operation of internal energy is also adversely affected.
It was the first time such a thing had happened since they had learned martial arts.
With their faces flushed red, the Three Fiends of Tianmen screamed.
“You are using sinister sorcery!”
“Stop dodging like a rat and face us head-on!”
“Do you not even have the courage to face us head-on?”
Yet, Woo Geom-san did not offer any response to their words.
The Three Fiends of Tianmen were undoubtedly strong.
They were sufficiently menacing entities.
They held their ground even when compared to the Ten Radiant Divine Lords of the Red Cloud Sect.
The moment he made a careless mistake, Woo Geom-san too could suffer a major wound. Despite that, the reason Woo Geom-san did not counterattack immediately and instead dragged out the fight was precisely because of Zhong Tianyi, who was hiding in the darkness.
Rather than the Three Fiends of Tianmen fighting right before him, Zhong Tianyi, who was concealed deep within the darkness, was a far more dangerous existence.
After the Three Fiends of Tianmen stepped forward, Zhong Tianyi’s presence vanished without a trace. But that did not mean he had left the battlefield.
He was definitely hiding quietly somewhere around here.
Woo Geom-san could feel his secretive gaze.
If the Three Fiends of Tianmen were overwhelming him, he would not step in, but the moment they fell into even a slight disadvantage or crisis, he would immediately take action.
The reason Zhong Tianyi was threatening was because of the Dragon Steering Rod.
The Dragon Steering Rod, which could attack from over hundreds of feet away, would remain a constant threat.
“You brat! What are you thinking about?”
“To think you’re distracted!”
Noticing that Woo Geom-san was thinking about something else, the Three Fiends of Tianmen flew into a raging frenzy.
Boom! Rumble!
“Argh!”
“Arghhh!”
Under their relentless onslaught, the entire area shook as if an earthquake had struck, and unintended victims emerged.
Several of the martial artists who had formed the perimeter nearby were struck by the attacks of the Three Fiends of Tianmen.
Although the martial artists were blown away as bloodied messes, the Three Fiends of Tianmen did not spare them a single glance.
In their eyes, frantic as they were to kill Woo Geom-san, the martial artists who had established the perimeter did not even register.
Rather, they considered them a nuisance.
They thought their movements were being hindered because of the martial artists enclosing them closely.
Therefore, without giving any thought to the safety of the martial artists, they unleashed their ultimate moves. Because of that, even more casualties occurred.
“Damn it!”
“D-Dodge!”
Ultimately, the martial artists had no choice but to retreat backward to avoid the Three Fiends of Tianmen.
Thanks to that, the containment loosened, and Woo Geom-san’s room for movement widened.
Numerous sounds of breathing came mixing together.
Rough breathing, shouting, the sound of swallowing dry saliva, the fluttering of clothes, the sound of shoes crushing the undergrowth—countless noises pierced into Woo Geom-san’s eardrums.
Among the numerous sounds cluttering his ears, Woo Geom-san heard one exceptionally quiet breath.
It was a sound of breathing that did not suit this place, which had turned into a shambles, at all.
In an instant, Woo Geom-san’s movements changed.
Swoosh!
Unleashing Shunliu, he squeezed into the narrow space between Daehyong and Ihyong. Samhyong, who discovered Woo Geom-san too late, unleashed a life-saving ultimate move to rescue them.
“Watch out!”
Hyeolhon Bungdo, the strongest ultimate move of Hyeolpok Gwangdosik, was unleashed. However, Woo Geom-san’s movement was far faster than that.
Slash!
Woo Geom-san’s sword pierced Ihyong’s heart.
Because the attack happened so instantaneously, Ihyong could not even react in time.
Thrust!
At the excruciating pain piercing through his heart, Ihyong’s mouth fell wide open.
At that exact moment, Samhyong’s attack came bearing down upon Woo Geom-san.
Woo Geom-san’s choice was Reverse Flow.
Unlike Shunliu, which naturally squeezed into a space by following the flow of Qi, Reverse Flow forcibly closed the space.
Crash!
“Urgh!”
Samhyong staggered from the powerful shockwave generated as a reaction to closing the space.
Without missing that window, Woo Geom-san unleashed Heosilgyeol.
Amidst numerous illusory swords, a single real sword lay hidden.
Samhyong did not have the leeway to distinguish the real one.
Slice!
“Cough!”
Woo Geom-san’s sword passed through, slitting Samhyong’s throat.
Samhyong clutched his own throat with an expression of disbelief. He tried to stem the blood with his hands, but it was useless.
Having poured out an immense amount of blood in an instant, his body toppled backward like a log.
“You crazy bastard, how dare you kill my brothers!”
Losing both of his younger brothers in the blink of an eye, Daehyong’s eyes flipped completely, and he unleashed Cheandun Bungsal, the ultimate grand move of Cheandun Pahyeoljang.
Roar!
An immense pressure weighed down on Woo Geom-san.
It felt as if the sky were collapsing.
Amidst the destructive pressure, Woo Geom-san’s choice was Cheongryugyeol.
Flash!
A single strand of blue line shot out from Woo Geom-san and struck Daehyong.
“Arghhh!”
His chest slit long and wide, Daehyong sprayed blood.
That was the end of the Three Fiends of Tianmen, who had been notoriously infamous throughout the realm.
However, Woo Geom-san did not even cast a glance at Daehyong and drew his body long into the air.
Having reached high up in the air, Woo Geom-san flew toward the nearby forest like a meteor.
Ping!
Instantly, a silver thread bounced out from within the forest.
It was the fishing line of the Dragon Steering Rod.
Woo Geom-san extended his sword straight toward the fishing line.
The sixth stance of the Choyen Sword Technique, Banryugyeol.
True to its meaning of ‘reversing and returning,’ Banryugyeol possessed the wondrous utility of turning the opponent’s momentum back against them.
Swept up by Banryugyeol, the fishing line and needle flew right back toward Zhong Tianyi.
“How can this be!”
When the attack he had launched came flying back from within the darkness, Zhong Tianyi was horrified.
He manipulated the Dragon Steering Rod, trying to safely retrieve the fishing line.
At that moment, as if by magic, Woo Geom-san appeared right before his eyes.
Before he knew it, Woo Geom-san had deployed Flowing Void Steps and occupied the space in front of him.
Toward the astonished Zhong Tianyi, Woo Geom-san unleashed Heart-Shattering Resolution.
Zhong Tianyi had to abandon retrieving the fishing line and lift the Dragon Steering Rod to block Woo Geom-san’s attack.
He believed that if it was the Dragon Steering Rod, it would sufficiently block Woo Geom-san’s sword. This was because, in terms of durability alone, it was perfectly fine to consider the Dragon Steering Rod the strongest under heaven. However, it did not take long at all for him to realize how massive a miscalculation that was.
Snip!
Along with a hair-raising cutting sound, the cherished weapon that had been with him for his entire life was snapped in two.
At the unbelievable result, Zhong Tianyi’s eyes flew wide open.
Not a single wound had formed on Zhong Tianyi’s body, but the moment the Dragon Steering Rod was severed, he felt a sensation as if his heart had been cut out.
“H-How?”
Zhong Tianyi’s voice trembled to an extent that was painful to hear.
Having lost the Dragon Steering Rod, he was no longer the expert who used to lash out at the Jianghu. Like an ordinary village elder, he stared blankly at Woo Geom-san with a helpless appearance.
Heart-Shattering Resolution had severed not merely the Dragon Steering Rod, but even his heart.
Although he still possessed powerful internal and external cultivation, Zhong Tianyi, whose heart had been cut, was nothing but helpless.
His gaze, which had been shining until just moments ago, lost its light and life energy, turning entirely dark.
Woo Geom-san stared silently into the eyes of such a Zhong Tianyi.
Zhong Tianyi did not dare to look into Woo Geom-san’s eyes and lowered his head to avoid them.
He could not even summon the nerve to counterattack.
Woo Geom-san spoke quietly.
“Senior, you do not seem to be someone who belongs here. If possible, I hope you sever your ties with the Yunyo Bang.”
“Are you…… sparing me?”
“What profit would I gain by killing someone whose heart is already broken? Instead, please clearly convey this to Master Yun of the Yunyo Bang. That no one can stop me from returning to the Woo Family Manor.”
If possible, he wanted to tell Yun Jin-myeong directly. However, whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Yun Jin-myeong had not yet arrived.
Zhong Tianyi nodded his head weakly.
“I shall convey it to him. And I, too, shall sever my ties with the Yunyo Bang.”
“You have thought well.”
It was just as Woo Geom-san turned around and was about to leave.
“There are many helpers of the Yunyo Bang inside the Woo Family Manor. They are participating in the Yunyo Bang’s plan. However, even I do not know who they are. It is infinitely insufficient as a price for sparing my life, but that is all I know.”
“Thank you. For telling me the truth.”
After offering a cupped hand salute to Zhong Tianyi, Woo Geom-san flew off.
Watching the back of Woo Geom-san as he vanished beyond the perimeter in an instant, Zhong Tianyi muttered powerlessly.
“Despite having strength, he does not wield it recklessly, and despite being able to kill, he shows leniency; benevolence and righteousness are contained within his sword. You have lived in vain, Zhong Tianyi! A young man who is not even half your age knows benevolence and righteousness, yet because you were slightly strong, you drunk yourself on power and lived your whole life as you pleased. I am so ashamed that I cannot even lift my head…….”

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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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