The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 16

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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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16
Contenders for the Sword
“Damn it!”
“Urgh!”
Facing the blue lightning, the Heongnimdae martial artists deployed their ultimate techniques to protect themselves.
The Green Thunder Demonic Hand was undeniably a high-level ultimate skill, possessing tremendous power. If they had been ordinary martial artists, they would have surely fallen helplessly before it.
However, it was their misfortune to encounter such opponents.
The members of the Heongnimdae were all secular disciples of the Nine Great Sects.
Moreover, they were not ordinary secular disciples, but individuals possessing talent and martial prowess that rivaled the main mountain disciples.
Although they sustained a fair amount of damage, they managed to avoid suffering critical wounds.
The problem lay with the ordinary people aboard the ship.
Unlike the martial artists of the Heongnimdae, they did not possess any means or capability to protect themselves.
They were facing the threat of death completely defenseless.
It was at that moment that Ha Baek-jin stepped forward.
“Chah!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Ha Baek-jin unleashed his fist energy, obliterating the lightning that was hurtling toward the passengers. However, it was impossible for him to destroy all of the blue lightning with his strength alone.
Several stray arcs of lightning that had not been neutralized flew toward the passengers gathered in the corner of the deck.
“Oh no!”
Ha Baek-jin looked at the passengers with a look of distress.
It was then.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, someone appeared before the passengers like an illusion.
The one who materialized, his white beard flowing down to his chest fluttering in the wind, was none other than Baek Ho-yang.
“How lawless. To target even completely innocent people.”
Baek Ho-yang shook his head and glared at the blue lightning. Then, as if by magic, the blue lightning targeting the passengers vanished into nothingness.
“Ah!”
An expression of disbelief crossed Ha Baek-jin’s face.
This was because he could not comprehend what kind of technique had been used to obliterate the blue lightning.
Only then did Ha Baek-jin realize that Baek Ho-yang was a much more formidable master than he had vaguely imagined.
Since he was a close friend of his martial uncle, Master Hui Kong, Ha Baek-jin had naturally assumed he would be a master, but he truly had not expected him to be of this caliber.
“Grr!”
Infuriated that his attack had come to nothing, Qi Pingwei unleashed the Green Thunder Demonic Hand once more.
Yet this time as well, his attack was blocked by Ha Baek-jin and the Heongnimdae martial artists.
The stray lightning they failed to intercept was completely neutralized by Baek Ho-yang.
“What is this? Why are you interfering? Old man!”
His fury finally exploding, Qi Pingwei bellowed in rage at Baek Ho-yang and rushed forward. However, before he could even cover half the distance, he was cut off by Ha Baek-jin.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Bang!
His fist slammed heavily into the palm of Qi Pingwei, who was attempting to deploy the Green Thunder Demonic Hand.
Shocked by the massive impact, Qi Pingwei’s body staggered.
Whatever might be said of the others, Qi Pingwei was someone who could absolutely never be forgiven.
Ha Baek-jin attacked Qi Pingwei with a terrifying momentum.
Bang! Crash! Bang!
Explosive sounds rang out in continuous succession.
To anyone watching, it was glaringly obvious that Ha Baek-jin had seized the upper hand.
Not only Ha Baek-jin, but Gwak Pung also gained the advantage against the Chief of Cheongrang Dan.
Even while fighting the Chief of Cheongrang Dan, Gwak Pung maintained a clear grasp of how the situation was unfolding.
Having come to understand the entire truth, Gwak Pung’s heart swelled with absolute fury.
This was because he had been used by others and betrayed yet again.
He could not even count how many times he had been deceived and stabbed in the back within such a short span of time.
The wrath he had strictly suppressed until now erupted like a volcano.
A ghostly fire flickered intensely within his eyes.
“Did I look that ridiculous to you? To the point where you could just use me however you like and throw me away…”
Drip.
He bit his teeth so hard that fresh blood began to seep from between his lips. Combined with his bloodshot eyes where capillaries had burst, he closely resembled a vengeful demon.
Faced with Gwak Pung’s ominous demeanor, the Chief of Cheongrang Dan gasped for breath.
It felt as though a murderous intent, instantly amplified several times over, was piercing straight through his chest.
‘What kind of bloodlust is this…’
Even for someone like him, who had spent his entire life handling filthy and dangerous jobs, this was an intensely suffocating bloodlust the likes of which he had never experienced before.
Only then did he realize that something had gone terribly wrong, but it was already far too late to turn back.
Shatter!
Gwak Pung’s sword traced a sharp circle in the empty air.
In an instant, a wheel formed of pure Qi materialized and flew directly toward the Chief of Cheongrang Dan.
It was the second form, the Reversing Heaven Wheel, from the Six Forms of the Killing Soul.
The moment he laid eyes on the Reversing Heaven Wheel, the Chief of Cheongrang Dan felt a sensation as if his entire body were being torn into shreds.
It was a warning flashed by his raw instinct.
“Damn it!”
Without wasting any time on further thought, the Chief of Cheongrang Dan poured all his strength into deploying his most powerful technique.
“Hiah! Darkness Soaring to Heaven!”
Inky-black sword Qi erupted violently from his blade, colliding head-on with the Reversing Heaven Wheel.
Slash!
Accompanied by an eerie cutting sound, the Chief of Cheongrang Dan’s body jolted violently.
In the next moment, the Chief of Cheongrang Dan’s complexion turned pitch-black.
A look of utter disbelief surfaced upon his face.
Gwak Pung’s Reversing Heaven Wheel had not merely snapped his sword in two; it had also cleanly sliced completely through his waist.
“W-What…”
The Chief of Cheongrang Dan could not manage to finish his sentence.
This was because his upper torso was already sliding slowly away along the severed plane.
Thud!
Ultimately, his upper body collapsed pathetically onto the deck.
Such was the end of the notoriously wicked Chief of Cheongrang Dan.
“Whew! Whew!”
Gwak Pung panted heavily for breath.
It was not because he had exhausted his internal energy to slay the Chief of Cheongrang Dan.
It was because, consumed entirely by anger, he had voluntarily unleashed a martial art that he must absolutely never reveal to the outside world.
The Six Forms of the Killing Soul was originally not a martial art belonging to the Mount Hua Sect.
It was a martial art that belonged to a great demon of a past generation whom the Mount Hua Sect had subdued long ago. The Mount Hua Sect had stored the secret manual of this great demon deep within their repository.
This was done in order to find a way to counter the Six Forms of the Killing Soul. However, this research had eventually stalled, and the manual was ultimately shoved deep into the recesses of the repository, fading completely from people’s memories.
It was by pure chance that Gwak Pung discovered the Six Forms of the Killing Soul.
Because his abilities were remarkably outstanding, he was granted rare permission for a secular disciple to enter the repository, and he happened to unearth the Six Forms of the Killing Soul from amidst a mountain of stacked books.
The moment he laid eyes on the Six Forms of the Killing Soul, Gwak Pung felt an intense sense of destiny. Thus, even while fully aware that it was a forbidden martial art, he secretly mastered it.
Perhaps because their affinities matched perfectly, Gwak Pung was able to master the Six Forms of the Killing Soul at an exceptionally rapid pace. However, he had absolutely never displayed the Six Forms of the Killing Soul to the outside world. He had concealed it so thoroughly, yet today, unable to contain his rage, he had brought it to light.
Belatedly, he realized he had made a mistake. However, he did not regret it.
If the Mount Hua Sect were still intact, his martial arts would have been crippled and he would have faced immediate expulsion the very moment he revealed the Six Forms of the Killing Soul.
But right now, the Mount Hua Sect posed no threat to him whatsoever.
After all, the Mount Hua Sect had sealed its gates, and they would not be able to exert any influence whatsoever over the Jianghu for the next several decades.
The real issue lay with his fellow Heongnimdae martial artists.
The crucial question was how they, who were entirely composed of secular disciples of the Nine Sects, would look upon him now.
Fortunately, however, the Heongnimdae martial artists did not show any significant aversion, even though he had deployed a martial art so heavily steeped in murderous intent.
This was because their own fury regarding this wretched situation had also reached its absolute peak.
Even during the war against the Cheonmyeong Association, they had possessed a sense of pride.
The very fact that they, as secular disciples of the Nine Great Sects, were participating in a grand war that carried the fate of the entire Jianghu was the greatest honor for them.
However, now that the war against the Cheonmyeong Association was over, absolutely no one recognized or acknowledged them. Their master’s sects had locked their gates, and the various factions of the Jianghu only thought of exploiting them.
Under these circumstances, even if Gwak Pung had unleashed a demonic art that was strictly taboo in the Jianghu, it simply did not matter anymore.
They were nothing more than abandoned existences anyway.
It was at that moment.
“Urgh!”
Qi Pingwei, the Vice Chief of Eunha Merchant Group, coughed up blood and collapsed under Ha Baek-jin’s fierce assault.
The Green Thunder Demonic Hand was certainly a rare ultimate skill within the Jianghu, but it fell short when compared to the Hundred-Step Divine Fist.
Furthermore, Ha Baek-jin was at a stage where he had delved deeply into the Hundred-Step Divine Fist to establish his very own philosophy of martial arts. On top of that, he had experienced countless real-world battles during the war against the Cheonmyeong Association.
Qi Pingwei, who had only trained his martial arts within safe confines, could never hope to be his match.
Having brought Qi Pingwei down, Ha Baek-jin approached Gwak Pung.
“What on earth happened? Does the Mount Hua Sect possess a martial art with such a heavy aura of slaughter?”
“That is not what is important right now.”
“What?”
“What matters is the fact that we were utilized as disposable pawns once again. Every single one of these bastards only intends to use us and throw us away. If we lacked power, if I hadn’t mastered the Six Forms of the Killing Soul, we would have been slaughtered like dogs after the hunt was over.”
“Hey! Pung.”
“I intend to hold those who used us thoroughly accountable.”
“What kind of foolish…”
“Do you truly think I am being foolish? Look at them. They are the comrades who participated in the war alongside you. Do you think it is right for them, who fought more honorably than anyone else, to live in such misery? Tell me, Baek-jin!”
Gwak Pung’s voice was laced with deep, bitter resentment.
He was expressing his absolute fury toward the current Jianghu and toward the factions that only sought to exploit them.
Those factions were cowards who had merely stood by and watched the war between the Cheonmyeong Association and the Nine Great Sects.
He could no longer tolerate being swayed and manipulated by such people any further.
Ha Baek-jin asked him.
“So, what exactly do you propose we do?”
“Instead of being used by someone else, I will become the entity that does the using. Rather than living as floating duckweed drifting through the Jianghu, I will erect our own fortress in a corner of the Jianghu. A fortress so grand and powerful that absolutely no one would dare to even dream of challenging it.”
“With what funds do you intend to build a fortress? …Don’t tell me?”
“That’s right! The Gold Ingots loaded on this ship, the weapons—we will take them all for ourselves. Since they were the ones who betrayed us first anyway, the justification lies entirely with us. We will use that as the foundation to build our own fortress. Join us, Baek-jin!”
“Oh my god!”
Ha Baek-jin was utterly horrified by Gwak Pung’s declaration.
This was because he had never anticipated that Gwak Pung would react in such a manner.
The Heongnimdae martial artists were beginning to gather closely around Gwak Pung.
Not a single person raised an objection to Gwak Pung’s opinion.
Drip, drip.
Blood was dripping steadily from their weapons.
The members of the Blue Wolf Dan and the guard martial artists brought along by Qi Pingwei had all lost their lives at their hands.
The only survivors left were the ordinary passengers, Ha Baek-jin, Baek Ho-yang, and Woo Geom-san.
The sailors from the Hongjo Bang were also completely overwhelmed by the intense aura of Gwak Pung and the Heongnimdae, unable to even utter a single word.
Gwak Pung extended his hand toward Ha Baek-jin.
“Join us. We need your strength.”
“I cannot do that.”
“Then do not stand in our way. If you interfere, I will consider you our enemy as well.”
Not just Gwak Pung, but the entirety of the Heongnimdae was now glaring intently at Ha Baek-jin with eyes brimming with bloodlust.
To have the comrades with whom he had shared life and death look at him with eyes full of hostility was nothing short of absolute torture for Ha Baek-jin.
However, he simply did not wish to align himself with their intent.
Using betrayal as an excuse to plunder Gold Ingots and weapons was nothing more than a cowardly pretext.
Although Shaolin had sealed its gates, he still carried the immense pride of being a disciple of Shaolin.
He had no desire to tarnish the honor of his master’s sect.
“As long as you don’t harm the passengers on this ship just to destroy evidence, I will not concern myself with this matter.”
“We are not butchers. We have no intention of slaughtering innocent passengers.”
Suddenly, Gwak Pung’s gaze shifted toward the old man standing on the opposite side of the deck.
An old man possessing the air of an immortal with a white beard extending down to his chest—it was none other than Baek Ho-yang.
He was a martial artist of such caliber that Shaolin’s Master Hui Kong had gone out of his way to specially invite him.
While it was impossible to know exactly how deep his true skills ran, one could easily deduce that he possessed tremendous martial power just by witnessing the casual move he displayed against Qi Pingwei’s Green Thunder Demonic Hand.
At this very moment, the only person he felt concerned about was Baek Ho-yang.
If Baek Ho-yang decided to step in and put a stop to this, his and the Heongnimdae’s journey could be cut short before it could even begin.
Gwak Pung walked over toward Baek Ho-yang.
“Senior! I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Speak.”
“Please turn a blind eye to what occurs here today. I will absolutely never forget your grace.”
“…”
Baek Ho-yang knitted his brows subtly.
In truth, this was not an affair for him to meddle in.
The grievances and debts of gratitude within the Jianghu were highly complex, and one was not supposed to rashly entangle oneself in them.
Even from his perspective, the fury driving Gwak Pung and the Heongnimdae was entirely justified.
However, the thing that weighed heavily on his mind was Gwak Pung’s bloodthirsty martial arts and his volatile disposition.
‘Is it truly right to stand by and watch an ambitious hero gain the wings of financial power?’
If things went wrong, the Jianghu could easily fall into even greater chaos because of Gwak Pung.
If he stepped forward right now to eliminate Gwak Pung, he could prevent such chaos before it ever manifested. However, it was not easy to judge whether it was right to take a life out of mere anxiety over something that might not even come to pass.
It was then that Baek Ho-yang’s gaze shifted toward Woo Geom-san, who stood right beside him.
As if he had also sensed something, Woo Geom-san was staring fixedly at Gwak Pung.
At that exact moment, Baek Ho-yang came to a realization.
The truth was that he was merely a passing acquaintance in Gwak Pung’s life. His own era had already reached its end. However, his grandson was different.
He would live through the very same era as Gwak Pung.
He did not know what kind of destiny would bind them together, but if Gwak Pung should ever bring harm to the world, his grandson would deliver the will of heaven in his stead.
The net of heaven seems coarse, but it is never loose, ensuring that no karma can ever escape its grasp.
The incredibly resilient bonds of the Inescapable Net of Heaven and Earth were currently weaving Gwak Pung and Woo Geom-san tightly together.
Baek Ho-yang let out a long sigh.
“Phew.”

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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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