Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 32

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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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Chapter 32. Spirit Beast Fusion
The Red Dagger sliced across the table and flew toward him.
Yuk Myeong shoved his chair back to stand, but Hwan Wol’s heel struck his chest first.
Thud!
His body hurtled backward and crashed against a pillar.

“Yuk Myeong!”

There was no time to shout.
Hwan Wol twisted herself on the table and drove the burning dagger downward. Yuk Beom drew the Weaponless Heavy Sword from his back

and met the strike head-on.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
What appeared to be a single thrust unfolded into three layers of force in rapid succession. The heavy impact traveled along the blade and bit into his wrist.
It was nothing like their encounter in the dragon’s nest before.
Then, Hwan Wol had relied on raw power to drive him back. Now, with each step she took, the next attack lay concealed, and even the flames at the dagger’s tip bent to follow the path of his sword.
Both her footwork and the sharpness of her Gangjing had strengthened—not by one level, but by several. Yuk Beom had grown as well, yet it was unmistakable: one careless moment and his throat or heart would be pierced.
Yuk Beom twisted the heavy sword to push the dagger away.

“Heavy Sword First Form,

Wind-Breaking Strength!”

The dark blade split the flames and swept clear.
Hwan Wol’s feet skimmed the floor. In the space between them as they both retreated, the table shattered into fragments.
Kkamangi leaped onto Yuk Beom’s shoulder.
From its open mouth, black flames rippled outward.
Whoosh!
Hwan Wol’s eyes widened. She twisted her body to dodge, but black fire caught the cuff of her sleeve.
In that moment, a thick palm intervened from the side.
The black flames scattered swiftly across the innkeeper Seo Dan’s hand.

“Miss Hwan Wol!”

Yuk Myeong gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up from the pillar.

“So you were working together after all.”
“Working together? I’ve never seen this fat man before.”

Hwan Wol brushed the singed fabric from her sleeve and looked Seo Dan up and down.

“Who are you?”
“I oversee the Beast Taming House

at Dongsan Castle. My name is Seo Dan.”
“You’re from the Beast Taming House? Fine. Get out of my way. I caught this one first.”

An awkward expression crossed Seo Dan’s face.
Once Hwan Wol confirmed he was stepping back, she turned the dagger toward Yuk Beom again.

“Hand over what you took from the dragon’s nest.”
“What I got my hands on first belongs to me.”
“So?”
“I have no intention of giving it back.”

What they had obtained from the dragon’s nest was spoils that went to whoever seized them first. There was no reason to return any of it, and even less reason to hand over what remained.
At his curt refusal, the red flames burned brighter.

“If words won’t work, then I’ll beat it out of you.”

Two afterimages split left and right.
Yuk Beom didn’t choose the real one. He swung the Weaponless Heavy Sword in a wide arc, blocking the entire path of approach.
Metal shrieked through the inn.
Hwan Wol’s daggers stabbed alternately at the broad blade and spine of his sword. Each time he blocked one side, firelight from the other threatened his throat and ribs.
Yuk Beom raised and lowered the sword, erasing every gap. Even wrapping his entire body in the flames of the Blazing Gold Body,

he couldn’t fully push back the assault.
Each time Kkamangi spewed black fire from the side, Hwan Wol’s feet halted.

“What exactly did you do in that time?”

Hwan Wol leaped backward, shaking out the burning sleeve again.

“You couldn’t even properly parry back then!”
“I’ve kept training since then.”
“That answer irritates me most of all.”

A Red Dagger appeared in her left hand.
The moment the two blades crossed before her chest, flames erupted to the ceiling.

“Flame Dragon One Flash

!”

A crimson line split his vision.
By the time Yuk Beom raised his sword, it was already too late.
The first dagger slid along the blade and tore open his right hand. Blood sprayed from the split cloth armor.
The second blade lodged in his shoulder.
Even with the Dragon Bloodline Skin and Blazing Gold Body layered together,

he couldn’t stop the attack.
Yuk Beom swallowed the pain and pulled back his left fist.

“Destruction Collapsing Mountain Fist

!”

A burning fist drove into Hwan Wol’s ribs.
Thud!
Her light frame flew three lengths back, crashing through tables and chairs in succession.
The guests who had been watching screamed and fled up the stairs.
But Hwan Wol’s breathing remained steady as she rose from the wreckage of furniture. Only dust clung to her clothes; there was no sign of real injury.
She had twisted her body the moment the fist landed, letting the impact slide away. Pushing aside the fallen furniture with her toes, Hwan Wol’s gaze fixed first not on her own ribs but on the dagger embedded in Yuk Beom’s shoulder.
Her blade had certainly sunk deeper. Yet it was she who had been driven back. The fact pricked at her pride while making it strangely difficult to look away.

“Is it really you?”

The one who had fled in panic from the dragon’s nest was now hurling her backward.
Before his shock could fade, Seo Dan’s face contorted viciously.

“How dare you injure her?”
“That’s not necessary!”

He didn’t wait for a reply.
His corpulent frame crossed ten lengths in a single step. The Gangjing extending from his fingertips cut like a blade across Yuk Beom’s chest.
Crack!
His body lifted into the air, then tumbled across the inn floor. A long wound opened where his clothes split.
Outer
Outer Gangjing Realm
—his Gangjing tore flesh and bone from a distance.
Kkamangi shrieked and hurled himself forward.
The black flames could not pierce the transparent barrier of Gangjing. When Seo Dan slashed through empty air, the small creature went flying into the wall.

“Kkamangi!”

The beast hit the ground and scrambled up on all fours at once. Even as he swayed, he planted himself in front of Yuk Beom and bared his teeth.

“Stop! This is my fight!”

At Hwan Wol’s sharp command, Seo Dan turned his head.

“I cannot stand idle while a lady is hurt. I will dispose of that wretch myself.”

In that brief moment, Yuk Beom rose to his feet.
Without time to wipe the blood from his chest, he hurled the Weaponless Heavy Sword with all his strength.
The dark mass tore through the air.
Seo Dan snorted and extended one hand.

“With merely a sword—”

The moment his palm touched the blade’s face, his expression froze.
The weight of the Weaponless Heavy Sword and the power of the Bongryeok Seok

crushed his Gangjing all at once. As he twisted to wrench the blade away, his wrist bent sharply and the floorboards beneath his feet split with a crack. His arm sagged downward, and his movement stopped—if only for an instant.
That instant was all he needed.
Yuk Beom bore down behind the blade and drove his fist straight into his face.
Crack!
The solid defensive Gangjing wavered, and his round form tumbled across the floor.
Spectators hanging over the upper railing gasped in amazement.

“An Internal Qi Realm fighter just knocked down an Outer Gangjing!”
“How heavy is that sword, anyway?”

Yuk Myeong did not miss the opening and rushed in.

“This is the price for coveting Kkamangi!”

His sole stamped down on Seo Dan’s face.
But the power of the Soft Body Realm could not penetrate the Outer Gangjing’s defensive Gangjing. Yuk Myeong bounced away and fell on his backside, while only a clear footprint remained on Seo Dan’s cheek.
Laughter erupted from every corner of the hall.
As Seo Dan traced the footprint, the whites of his eyes flooded crimson.

“How dare you reduce me to this?”

As he rose, the cups and dishes scattered across the hall flew about in the wind he made.

“Now, whether you surrender the beast or not, I will not let you leave alive.”

Gangjing swirled in a massive vortex above his palm.

Thousand Wind Breaking Wave Palm!

A white palm strike, vast as the hall itself, descended.
The wind pressure alone buckled Yuk Beom’s knees. There was no room to turn and dodge, no time to reclaim his sword.
He planted both feet on the ground and drove his right fist forward.
Boom!
The disparity in power was stark.
Even gathering Fusion Strong Energy

to a single point could not shake the enormous tension. If an attack could not be avoided, there was nothing to do but endure without breaking. Yuk Beom gritted his teeth and poured every remaining ounce of strength into the Dragon Bloodline Skin and Blazing Gold Body.

Flames burst around his fist, and Yuk Beom’s body was driven into the floor. The inn’s foundation buckled beneath him, and blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Still, his fingers moved.
Watching him brace himself against the shattered floor and struggle to rise, Seo Dan’s lips twisted into a cruel smile.

“You’re still alive after taking that. Your body has some use after all.”

Strong Energy gathered once more.
A crimson shadow blocked the way.
Hwan Wol’s two daggers angled toward Seo Dan’s throat.

“What did you just say?”
“Step aside, please.”
“I asked if you tried to steal Kkamangi.”

Seo Dan’s gaze wavered.

“The circumstances are complex. Once we’ve disposed of this one—”
“Do you think I don’t know the rules of the Beast Taming House?”

Hwan Wol’s voice dropped lower.

“Whoever steals a spirit beast that another has tamed is stripped of training rights and cast out from the sect. Is that what you’ve done?”
“Hwan Wol, please step back for now.”
“Explain yourself, right now.”

Realizing there was no escape, a cold light flickered across Seo Dan’s eyes.
His palm suddenly drove hard against Hwan Wol’s shoulder.
The crimson figure flew sideways, caught completely off guard. It was a controlled strike that caused no injury, but it was enough to clear his path.
If only Yuk Beom and Yuk Myeong were dead, there would be no one left to testify.
Seo Dan made no attempt to hide the killing intent that radiated from him.

“Let’s end this here.”

Yuk Myeong gripped his sword and tried to push himself up, but his legs refused to obey. Hwan Wol rose quickly as well, but the enormous tension between Seo Dan and Yuk Beom had already settled over the space between them—a distance where even one step’s delay meant there was nothing either could do.
All of his Strong Energy funneled into a single palm.
Yuk Beom watched the approaching hand and drew up his Fusion Strong Energy.
The true identity of the Iron Face meant nothing; the secret that he was a Flame Practitioner mattered nothing. If he did not survive, there would be no secrets left to keep.
Five-colored light bloomed from his wounded body.
As the surrounding Force of Heaven and Earth

twisted into a tempest, Seo Dan’s palm slowed—just barely.
In that instant, Kkamangi bit down on Yuk Beom’s right wrist.

“Kkamangi?”

The small body scattered into black light.
In the space where Kkamangi had been, flames wrapped around Yuk Beom’s arm. Black patterns bloomed across his skin, forming the shape of a roaring dragon.
The faltering power reversed in an instant.
Black fire and Fusion Strong Energy twisted together and gathered into his fist.
Kkamangi’s rage and fear flowed into him not as words but as pure sensation. A simple will to protect Yuk Beom throbbed through him like a burning pulse. At the same time, the Five Elements power that Yuk Beom had accumulated over time seeped into the black flames.
Two different forces, yet they did not clash. They meshed as though they had been one since the beginning, and something vast opened its eyes within his arm.
Yuk Beom drove his arm forward on pure instinct.
Raaaaahhhhh—!
Neither the cry of a man nor the call of a spirit beast, but the roar of a dragon shook the inn.
The force that had sought to mold the flame into the shape of a beast refused to obey Yuk Beom’s will. From within the black inferno, the massive head of a dragon surged skyward.
Its gaping maw swallowed Seo Dan’s palm whole.
Crash!
The Outer Gangjing Realm’s protective energy shattered to pieces.
The rounded figure was swept up by the black dragon, torn through the ceiling, and hurled into the street beyond the inn. Roof tiles poured down like rain, and Seo Dan was driven into the earth outside.
He lay bleeding, unable to move a single finger.
Cold night air rushed through the broken ceiling. Black embers clung to the roof tiles and support beams, burning with reluctant persistence. The patrons who moments before had scarcely been able to breathe under the weight of Outer Gangjing Realm power now did nothing but glance back and forth between Seo Dan and Yuk Beom, both sprawled in the street.
Hwan Wol too remained frozen, her dagger still lowered. She seemed less shaken by Seo Dan’s defeat than by the moment Kkamangi had vanished without a trace.
Inside the inn, no one dared to speak.
Yuk Beom gazed blankly down at his own right arm.
A black dragon pattern moved across his skin as though alive.
Before he could fathom what it was, the marking faded. Black light drained from his arm and took on a small form against the floor.
It was Kkamangi.
The creature’s body hung limp, diminished in appearance from its usual size. Yet when their eyes met, the tip of its tail tapped the ground once.
It lay there helplessly, barely managing to open its eyes.

“Kkamangi.”

The moment he tried to step forward, strength drained from his entire body.
His vision blackened.
Yuk Myeong rushed forward and caught the collapsing Yuk Beom.
Beneath his fingertips, a faint but steady pulse throbbed at his wrist.

“He’s exhausted…….”

After releasing a breath of relief, Yuk Myeong studied the unconscious face before him.

“If you die here, I won’t let it rest even back at the clan.”

Hwan Wol approached from the side and looked between Yuk Beom and Kkamangi in turn.
The fury from moments before had vanished entirely.

“It was real.”

From between her lips came a voice steeped in disbelief.

“Spirit Beast Fusion

…….”

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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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