The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 60

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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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#060. The Gateway to the East (4)

He hadn’t done it knowingly.
He’d moved on pure instinct.
And then Yuyundan’s movements had shifted, their coordination tangling.
An effect born from a split-second judgment driven by instinct alone.
Because of it, Bukgung Danya couldn’t chain his follow-up technique smoothly.
That was what he regretted.
In that moment, Yuyundan—whose lines had been ensnared—recovered swiftly, reconstructing their formation anew.
Bang!
No room for a second mistake.
The two Yuyundan warriors pressed in on Bukgung Danya more deliberately now, their offense tightened and relentless.
Bukgung Danya met their pressure with steel, his blade singing through the air.
The Jingi from the Jinmujeongsimgyeol coursed powerfully through his core.
And lent its strength to the Hyeonjeong Geombeop he unfolded.
Bukgung Danya held his ground against the onslaught without strain.
Yet the more he did, the more he found himself awash in a sensation utterly foreign to him.
‘What is this?’
A new feeling he couldn’t name.
There were no words for it.
The path he saw and the path he felt were not the same.
Until moments ago, he’d been drawn in by what his eyes showed him. But now it was different.
When he should move, he stopped. Where the path lay clear before him, he chose another way entirely.
A movement that broke completely free from Yuyundan’s calculations—something they couldn’t have predicted.
It twisted the flow of the Yuyundan warriors entirely.
Their coordination frayed; they couldn’t move when they needed to move; they couldn’t draw their blades when they needed to strike.
And as this unfolded, Bukgung Danya’s eyes began, bit by bit, to perceive the hidden passages they’d been concealing.
The tide of battle began to turn.
Bukgung Danya seized the advantage against two opponents.
He who had been responding passively to Yuyundan’s rhythm now began to control the fight itself.
Yuyundan couldn’t accomplish a single thing they’d intended.
Their way was to show false paths, lure their opponent into traps, and drive them inexorably to their doom.
But Bukgung Danya wouldn’t be caught in that web.
In a sense, this was inevitable.
The essence of Bukgung Family Mugong is Jungjung, Gangin, and Chuksae.
A martial art of endurance, of pressing force, of ultimate destruction.
When Bukgung Danya drew out the true nature of his family’s Mugong, he would never be seduced by the false paths Yuyundan dangled before him.
Boom!
Bukgung Danya surged forward.
The Yuyundan warriors moved with sharp precision to match him, trying to guide him down a different route.
But Bukgung Danya, as expected, would not be swayed.
Then another Yuyundan warrior moved to close in on him.
It seemed a judgment that two weren’t enough.
Though the enemy’s numbers had grown, Bukgung Danya didn’t falter.
A breakthrough? That wasn’t what this was.
Bukgung Danya still moved on instinct, still followed his intuition, but now it was working—working perfectly.
With each exchange, he grew stronger by degrees.
This was the fruit of rigorous contemplation, cultivation, and repeated trials since meeting Cheon Mujgyeol.
And it was also the product of desperate calculation in this very moment to break free.
From one who needed protection to one worthy of trust.
All his effort crystallized now into a single result—a wall shattered.
Two became three, yet he overwhelmed them all.
The Yuyundan warriors themselves bore unmistakable signs of alarm.
This wasn’t the Bukgung Danya they had known.
Crash!
Two Yuyundan warriors staggered violently backward.
To deny them an opening, another fighter hurriedly swung his blade, but it found nothing but empty air.
Slash!
Closing the distance, Bukgung Danya pressed forward in a direct assault.
His sword carved through the air with vicious precision, and the Yuyundan martial artist couldn’t withstand the force.
Boom!
Crash!
The man flew backward, slamming hard into the stacked lumber behind him.
The two remaining fighters rushed at Bukgung Danya again, their balance still wavering.
Yet the tide had turned in his favor—his momentum swept over their assault and overwhelmed it.
Boom-boom-crack!
The opening form of Hyeonjeong Geombeop swept through them.
An overwhelming force that could not be escaped.
Both Yuyundan fighters, caught in that tide, crashed down with severe injuries.
“Hah… hah…”
Bukgung Danya drew breath in ragged gasps.
He’d felt nothing during the fight, but now exhaustion crashed over him all at once.
His breathing wouldn’t settle, and his limbs felt leaden.
Yet there was no time to rest.
In the distance, he caught sight of Cheon Mujgyeol slipping into an alley to evade the remaining Yuyundan fighters.
Straightening from his crouch, Bukgung Danya snapped his head around, scanning the area.
‘Where—which way do I need to go?’
As he surveyed his surroundings, Bukgung Danya’s foot caught one of the obstacles the Yuyundan had laid, and he vaulted onto the rooftop.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
He raced across the tiles, moving with fluid urgency.

* * *

With the Cheonlamhaejingyeol active, Cheon Mujgyeol was not easily drawn into Yuyundan’s traps.
Yet breaking free from their web was another matter entirely.
Cut one thread, and another would spring back in its place.
The more fighters Yuyundan threw at him, the more threads they created, and inch by inch, Cheon Mujgyeol found himself moving in the directions they guided him.
Yet for someone of Cheon Mujgyeol’s caliber, it should have been simple to shatter their net.
This was the man who had overwhelmed the combined forces of two martial schools at Danae Valley, where the pressure had been far more intense.
So why couldn’t he break free from Yuyundan now?
Though Cheon Mujgyeol’s expression remained blank, there was no sign of struggle in his face or movement.
It was more convincing to think that he was deliberately allowing them to guide him, moving as they wished.
The narrow alley was far more advantageous to him.
Numbers meant little in such a confined space, and drawing him in any particular direction became harder for Yuyundan.
The white threads visible to his eye had dwindled noticeably.
Whip!
The Cheonsingeom traced its path with clean efficiency.
Even in the cramped space, Cheon Mujgyeol unleashed sword forms of devastating power, unrestricted by any limitation.
Those struck by the Cheonsingeom’s sheath fell with injuries severe enough to keep them grounded, though their lives remained intact.
The fallen became obstacles that hindered their companions’ movement.
Thud!
In that instant, the number of visible threads suddenly increased.
The direction from which they extended was different now.
Threads stretching down from both sides above.
With the alley narrowed and blocked by fallen comrades, they had chosen to attack from above.
Slash!
Cheon Mujgyeol slipped backward with sudden speed.
Yuyundan fighters descended from both sides, driving their blades down where he had stood mere moments before.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
The sound of footsteps on tile echoed past him.
They meant to cut off his escape.
Whirl!
Cheon Mujgyeol spun around.
Still wearing his characteristic blank expression, he burst forward.
To an observer, it would look like flight.
But Cheon Mujgyeol did not run from anything.
Cheon Mujgyeol quickened his pace, shaking off the pursuit of Yuyundan who had been ahead of him but now trailed behind.
But that wasn’t all.
He overtook even those running across the rooftops in an instant, then stopped and turned back toward his original direction.
Whoooosh!
The narrow alley’s space trembled.
You could feel the Jingi condensing and gathering around Cheon Mujgyeol as its center.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-boom!
The ground shook and the walls swayed.
The vibration was so violent that even Yuyundan fighters running across the rooftops lost their footing, lurching badly or falling.
Slash!
Then the Cheonsingeom swept across horizontally.
It wasn’t that blade energy was released.
Rather, an enormous Geomapssak billowed out, filling the entire space and driving forward.
Yuyundan couldn’t advance and was driven back, crashing down.
They hadn’t suffered fatal wounds, but in the process of being pushed back by the Geomapssak, they tangled together, sustaining injuries and internal wounds.
Though he’d pushed Yuyundan back, it wasn’t over.
Somehow, Biyeongdae, who had been lying in ambush, now controlled the rooftops behind Cheon Mujgyeol and on both sides.
The nature of Yuyundan and Biyeongdae was completely different.
For Yuyundan, who deflected attacks and drew their opponent in the desired direction, a narrow alley was unfavorable terrain.
But for a unit with the character of assassins like Biyeongdae, a narrow alley could actually be the better battlefield.
Yet still, Yuyundan continuously lured Cheon Mujgyeol toward the narrow alley.
Probably they’d envisioned Yuyundan pressuring Cheon Mujgyeol’s front while Biyeongdae cut off his escape and pressed forward aggressively.
Cheon Mujgyeol understood their scheme and played along, but Yuyundan’s plan only half succeeded.
Because Yuyundan had failed to pressure Cheon Mujgyeol.
But the danger hadn’t ended.
Because he hadn’t opened a complete way forward.
He hadn’t killed them.
Yuyundan’s fighters were slowly and carefully getting to their feet despite their injuries and wounds.
That was when it happened.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
The sound of rapid footsteps running across the rooftop echoed.
“Cheon!”
It was Bukgung Danya’s voice.
Bukgung Danya, who had leaped onto the roof to survey the situation, had spotted Biyeongdae’s movements and came rushing over.
After that single shout, Bukgung Danya immediately threw himself at Biyeongdae.
Biyeongdae’s attention was diverted by Bukgung Danya’s arrival, and you could see their formation beginning to fall apart.
Crash-crash-crash-crash!
Part of Biyeongdae rushed toward Bukgung Danya.
Unlike Yuyundan, who had only sent three men, Biyeongdae attacked with far more fighters.
Their intention was to disable him quickly and refocus on Cheon Mujgyeol.
Bukgung Danya’s eyes deepened.
Biyeongdae’s character could be said to be in opposition to Bukgung Danya’s Mugong.
Moreover, they were on a roof now.
This wasn’t an environment where he could take advantage of terrain or structures.
Yet Bukgung Danya didn’t hesitate.
Instead, he charged forward toward Biyeongdae with even more aggression and boldness.
Slash!
Bukgung Danya’s blade shot out without obstruction.
The path that had dimly revealed itself through his fight with Yuyundan’s fighters strengthened his resolve.
Yet he wasn’t reckless.
From his very form and movements alone, you could see that Bukgung Danya had achieved clear growth in a short span of time.
A faint smile crossed Cheon Mujgyeol’s lips.
He hadn’t seen it directly, but he could feel it.
And Cheon Mujgyeol withdrew his Cheonlamhaejingyeol.
Because he had seen threads breaking off rapidly, one by one.
Bukgung Danya had now risen to the minimum threshold at which he could be trusted and relied upon.
This meant that the burden placed on Cheon Mujgyeol had become considerably lighter.
Whoosh!
Cheon Mujgyeol moved.
A speed too fast to see.
Yuyundan and Biyeongdae could not see Cheon Mujgyeol.
What they felt instead was a single gust of wind.
Whip-crack!
Cheon Mujgyeol moved between Biyeongdae and Yuyundan like a prisoner freed from shackles, the Cheonsingeom sweeping in broad arcs.
It was fortunate the blade remained sheathed—otherwise they would all be dead.
Cheon Mujgyeol unleashed his Mugong freely, something he hadn’t done in a very long time.
Yet Yuyundan and Biyeongdae were formidable in their own right; they poured everything they had into neutralizing him, leaving nothing in reserve.
It was chaos incarnate.
Bukgung Danya struggling desperately, Cheon Mujgyeol moving with fluid mastery.
And dozens of Yuyundan and Biyeongdae operatives.
They tangled together in the narrow space.
Crack!
Cheon Mujgyeol fixed his direction and charged forward.
He drove the Cheonsingeom down with heavy force, carving a path through their ranks.
Though he spoke no words, Bukgung Danya read his intent perfectly.
Even as Biyeongdae pressed him relentlessly, he matched Cheon Mujgyeol’s movements and carved his own path forward.
Bukgung Danya, who had been fighting Biyeongdae across the rooftops, suddenly dropped down to the street below.
They had woven through the crooked alleys and emerged onto a main thoroughfare.
The two of them were now deep within the town.
That meant they were drawing close to the plaza before the main gate of Dongbang Sega.
Yuyundan and Biyeongdae had not fully disengaged; they clung to their quarry with stubborn determination.
Without a word passing between them, Cheon Mujgyeol and Bukgung Danya’s eyes met briefly.
Crack!
Both men sprinted toward the plaza, and Yuyundan and Biyeongdae—now reduced in numbers—pursued like hounds on a scent.

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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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