Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 21

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

Episode 21. The Dragon’s Nest — A Struggle for Supremacy
The crimson dagger came at Yuk Beom’s throat once more.
There was no time to nurse the aching in his arm. Yuk Beom pushed off the mountain of treasure and rose, generating a gust of wind beneath his feet. The Fusion Strong Energy that wrapped his entire body transformed into blazing flame.

“Flaming Collapse Mountain Fist!”

His burning fist collided head-on with the dagger.
Crash!
The dagger’s spiraling force pierced through his fist and burrowed into his meridians. His Dragon Blood Skin defended the surface, but it couldn’t stop the impact from within.

Bang!
Yuk Beom found himself slammed against the stone wall, swallowing blood that had risen all the way to his throat. The woman was driven back several paces as well, and the dagger wrought from Gangjing grew faint.
Yet the gap remained undeniable. She was a martial artist who had reached the pinnacle of the Inner Qi Realm. No matter how special the nature of Fusion Strong Energy was, Yuk Beom had only just perfected it — he was overwhelmed in raw power. The longer they clashed directly, the sooner his meridians and stamina would fail.

What he needed now was not victory. It was to seize the Ice Heart Meteorite and escape the cavern.
The woman narrowed her eyes, studying him.

“Your Gangjing is weak, yet you’ve blocked my attack twice. Your body alone seems quite resilient.”

She took another step forward, dagger held upright.

“But your Gangjing — why does it move like that? It flows like a martial artist’s Strong Energy yet like a Flame Practitioner’s Original Qi.”

While the woman’s attention was on the Fusion Strong Energy, Yuk Beom’s eyes swept rapidly across the cavern.
Jewels, ore, essence stones, and weapons lay stacked like mountains. He had no way of knowing how much longer O Jin could hold Im Poong at bay.
Then, from one corner of the treasure heap, a pile of pale-blue stones caught his eye. It radiated a cold as penetrating as that of the essence stone from Yuk Ik Yeol Cheon Yong, and the ore surrounding it was covered in a thin coating of frost.
The Ice Heart Meteorite.

It was the very prize he had sought, wandering West Mountain for nearly two months to gather the materials for refining the Bongryeok Seok anew. The goal was right before his eyes.
The woman had closed in, nearly upon him now.
Yuk Beom sprang from his crouched position.

“Destruction Collapse Mountain Fist!”

The power of the Collapsing Mountain Fist and the Minor Destruction Fist layered upon his right fist.

The crimson shadow split in two. His fist passed through the woman in the center — but it was only an afterimage.
The real woman drew her dagger from the side. Yuk Beom, as if he’d been waiting for it, stepped on the flat of the blade and, using the rebound, released a burst of wind beneath his feet.
His body shot across the treasure heaps like lightning.

“What—!”

The woman’s cry echoed behind him.
Yuk Beom dropped onto the pile of Ice Heart Meteorite, stretching both hands. His right hand seized one stone the size of his fist. His left hand grabbed another.
He meant to escape the cavern that way.
But the stone gripped in his left hand wouldn’t budge.
He pulled with all his strength, yet it didn’t shift — as though it were rooted to the ground.
Yuk Beom’s charge came to an abrupt halt. He lowered his head to look at his hand in confusion.
Two short front legs were clinging tightly to the Ice Heart Meteorite.
A small beast with a dark gleam emerged from the opposite side of the stone, baring its teeth.

“You…….”

It was the creature he’d met when he discovered the Terrestrial Flower before all this began. The small beast that had offered unexpected aid when Yuk Beom was being hunted by Cheong An Rang, then vanished without a trace. It had grown slightly larger since then, and its fur gleamed with a dark luster.
Whether it had grown by feeding on the Core Essence Stones and Ore in this place, his body now radiated a much thicker aura of yellow water than before.

“So you’ve been living here?”

The small beast clutched the Ice Heart Meteorite even tighter. Despite its diminutive frame, it possessed strength enough that Yuk Beom could not wrest the stone from its grasp.
Then, from behind, killing intent crashed down upon him.
The Red-Robed Woman, having had her own counterattack turned against her, ground her teeth.

“If I can’t even capture someone at the threshold of the Inner Qi Realm, all these years of training will have been wasted!”

A crimson stream of energy enveloped her body, and her short sword blazed with burning light.

“Phoenix Dance Nine Heaven Technique!”

Behind the Red-Robed Woman’s form, the afterimage of a phoenix wreathed in flames materialized.

“One Dagger Slash Heaven!”

A single short blade fell, cleaving through the cave’s darkness. Before the edge could even touch him, a powerful surge of energy pierced Yuk Beom’s skin. Even with Dragon Blood Skin, there was no way he could withstand that attack head-on.
He had to abandon the Ice Heart Meteorite and evade.
Just as Yuk Beom was about to release his grip, the small beast lifted its head.

“Grrr…….”

The thin whimper gradually transformed into a clear, piercing roar.
Whoosh!
Black flames erupted from the creature’s maw.
Yuk Beom, the nearest to it, was engulfed first and released the Ice Heart Meteorite. The Red-Robed Woman’s short sword, colliding with the black flames, began to burn.

“What kind of fire is this!”

The flames clung to her Strong Energy, devouring her protective barrier until only one layer remained before extinguishing. These were no ordinary flames—they seemed to feed on Strong Energy itself.
Yuk Beom’s entire body had burned as well, but when he pushed out his Fusion Strong Energy, the black fire scattered rapidly. The Dragon Blood Skin immediately healed his scorched skin. Despite being struck by the same flames, he sustained far less damage than the Red-Robed Woman.

Yuk Beom stared at the small beast in astonishment.
Black flames sprouted from the creature’s back, transforming into two small wings. Its short legs lifted from the ground.
From the small body came a distinct dragon’s roar.
Though it was modest in size, its momentum bore witness to a bloodline like that of Yuk Ik Yeol Cheon Yong.

‘So it had dragon blood mixed in.’

Black flames gathered once more in the small beast’s mouth.
This time, its target was the Red-Robed Woman.
Confidence vanished from the woman’s face. With most of her Strong Energy spent, she hastily deployed her Movement Technique, scattering a crimson afterimage across the space.
The small beast did not pursue the afterimage. Its swollen belly heaved once.
Boom!
Black flames erupted in all directions, not as a single stream but as a torrent in every direction.

The dragon’s nest became a sea of flame in an instant. Ore and weapons melted away.
Yuk Beom thrust all of his Fusion Strong Energy outward. The milky-white energy stream and black flames locked together, yet even the Dragon Blood Skin’s regeneration struggled to keep pace with the inferno’s consumption.
The scent of charring flesh stung his nostrils.
A short cry came from behind.
When Yuk Beom turned his head, a red shadow was collapsing within the black flames.
The Red-Robed Woman had slipped behind him, using his body as a shield, but as the flames engulfed the entire cavern, she too fell as her Gangjing failed.
Just moments before, she had aimed for his throat. Yet he could not stand by and watch her burn to death before his eyes.
Yuk Beom drove through the inferno and caught her. The protective radius of his Fusion Strong Energy was so narrow that their bodies had to press together.
With one arm he pulled at her waist, the other bracing her slipping form. In the urgency of it all, he failed to notice his palm gripping hard against the curve below her waist.
To save the Red-Robed Woman, he had to shield her with his own back against the flames. Yuk Beom turned his body to hide her within his embrace and clenched his teeth.
The black flames consumed them both.
Yuk Beom fashioned a small barrier with his remaining Fusion Strong Energy. Moments later the flames died, but his entire body felt as though it would tear with every movement.
Small Beast descended slowly from atop the treasure heap. The flaming wings upon his back had already vanished.
He exhaled two rings of black smoke from his mouth, then collapsed onto his side. As if all his strength had been spent, even his eyelids would not move.
More than half the treasure in the cavern had melted away.
The Red-Robed Woman cradled in Yuk Beom’s arms opened her eyes.
The woman, depleted of Gangjing, and Yuk Beom, his body rigid, neither could move.
Her gaze drifted downward. Yuk Beom too suddenly realized where his hand had come to rest.

……
……

He tried to withdraw his hand, but his arm would not obey.
The Red-Robed Woman’s face flushed far deeper than any burn from the fire.

“I didn’t mean to do this.”
“Move your hand first, then speak.”
“I cannot move right now.”

The moment her eyebrows arched, a rush of wind sounded from the cavern entrance.
O Jin burst in like a gust of wind itself.
His face hardened as he took in the cavern, melted and ruined, and Yuk Beom, blackened and scorched.

“Yuk Beom! Are you all right?”
“I don’t believe I’ll die from this.”

Yuk Beom managed to turn his gaze toward the treasure heap.

“More importantly, gather what remains. Before Im Poong returns.”

O Jin asked no further questions. He withdrew the Nine Heavens Ring from Yuk Beom’s hand and swiftly swept the remaining treasures into it.
The Ice Heart Meteorite, the unmelted ore, essence stones, weapons—all streamed into the ring without pause. O Jin’s hands moved without a shred of hesitation.
As the treasure heap laid bare the floor, O Jin channeled a strand of Fusion Strong Energy into Yuk Beom’s Dantian.
Power flowed back through his withered meridians. Yuk Beom’s bones clicked and reset themselves in rapid succession.
He lowered the Red-Robed Woman to the ground first.

“Forgive me. These items were something I truly needed.”

The Red-Robed Woman glared at him with eyes aflame with both fury and humiliation. The theft of her treasures angered her, but each time she recalled what had just happened, her face burned all the hotter. Yet she could not bring herself to hurl curses at the one who had just saved her.
O Jin glanced toward the entrance.

“We must leave. I only drew Im Poong far away. He’ll return soon enough.”

Yuk Beom paused before Small Beast, who lay unconscious.
He could not abandon the creature who had helped him once before. Yuk Beom lifted the small form with one hand.

“I’m taking this one with us.”

O Jin gripped Yuk Beom’s shoulder.
Their bodies transformed into wind and swept out of the cavern.
As they descended below the Cliff, a flash of black and white light tore through the sky and came rushing back. The beam of light had entered the dragon’s lair moments after the two departed.
O Jin and Yuk Beom did not look back, cutting through the forest at speed.
From within the cave, Im Poong’s urgent cries echoed out.

“Hwan Wol! Hwan Wol!”

Spotting his disciple sprawled on the cave floor, Im Poong rushed forward in a single bound. He placed his hand upon her forehead and checked her condition with his senses; only then did the tension drain from his face.

“Thank the heavens. She’s simply collapsed from exhaustion—nothing more.”

As black and white Gangjing flowed into her body, Hwan Wol’s eyes opened with difficulty.

“Foolish Master. Why are you only just arriving now?”
“That man’s momentum was so formidable. I never thought it might be nothing but bluster….”

Hwan Wol pushed herself upright and glared coldly at him.

“And you fell for such an obvious ploy? Are you truly a Master of the Yin-Yang Realm? I nearly died down here while you were brawling in the sky above. I’m so mortified I can’t even tell anyone you’re my master.”

Im Poong’s face flushed red.
Hwan Wol pointed a finger at the empty cavern.

“That’s the end of it, then? The treasures—they’re all gone, taken by others. We found nothing but an empty cave.”

Im Poong glanced around the vacant chamber, but since his disciple was unharmed, he held no attachment to the treasure.

“What’s done is done. There was no guarantee the Divine Weapon I sought was ever here.”
“A Divine Weapon? What sort of weapon were you even looking for? You wouldn’t tell me in all ten days I asked.”

Im Poong wore an uncomfortable expression.

“I don’t know myself. I only heard that a Divine Weapon belonging to some supreme master had appeared. I know neither its owner nor what it looks like.”
“And where did you hear such information?”
“Your uncle told me.”

Hwan Wol’s face hardened.

“Don’t tell me he figured this out by staring at the stars?”

Im Poong avoided her gaze and nodded.
Hwan Wol could no longer contain herself and cried out.

“Foolish Master! You dragged me through the mountains for ten days on the strength of a divination cast from stargazing?”

She stormed out of the cave with a huff.
Left alone, Im Poong stroked his beard and tilted his head in confusion.

“His divinations are sometimes uncannily accurate….”

He gazed after his disciple as he muttered to himself.

“But why is she so angry today?”

By that moment, Yuk Beom and O Jin had already fled dozens of li away.
Yuk Beom set the unconscious Small Beast down in a grassy field and collapsed. Though the Dragon Blood Skin was mending his body, the pain from the black flames still burned.
O Jin handed over the Nine Heavens Ring.

“Check inside. We gathered it in haste, but we haven’t missed what was necessary.”

Yuk Beom withdrew the Ice Heart Meteorite from within the ring first.
Ice-blue stone gleamed cleanly beneath the sunlight.
After searching long and far, he had finally found the refinement material for the Bongryeok Seok. O Jin examined the grain of the stone and nodded in approval. The quantity was sufficient. Even using only a portion, he could refine the Bongryeok Seok far stronger than before.
Yuk Beom withdrew the other objects one by one to examine them. Among the essence stones, ore, and gold coins, his fingertips caught upon an unusual texture.

“Master.”

He pulled hard at the object within the ring.

“There’s a sword in here as well.”

The black blade emerged slowly into view.
It was a Heavy Broad Sword, far wider and thicker than an ordinary blade. Yuk Beom barely managed to draw it out with both hands.
The moment the blade touched the ground, the earth sank and the surrounding air rang dull and heavy.
At the same time, the Fusion Strong Energy flowing through his body

seemed to settle, crushed beneath an enormous stone. It was not only his two arms holding the sword that grew heavy. Even the power rising from his Dantian felt bound by invisible chains.
The smile faded from Yuk Beom’s face.
This sword was no mere weapon of weight.

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