The Legend of the Northern Blade - Chapter 204: When A Boy Becomes A Man (1)
TL: FoodieMonster007
Blood drenched Jin Mu-Won from head to toe. Hot steam rose from his reddish-brown uniform with every labored breath.
I have to catch up to them quickly.
Seo Mu-Sang had left a trail only he could follow, but enemies kept appearing to block his path. He pushed north, yet the distance between them never seemed to close.
He glanced back. Heaven’s Summit rose into the early dawn, its countless lanterns blazing with dazzling light. The great, sleepless fortress seemed to stare down at him with arrogance.
He gritted his teeth and turned away.
It’s my fault. My arrogance created this situation.
He should have been more cautious, more humble. He had thought himself different from his father, but he ended up making the same mistake.
Baek Suryong uses the Heaven Defying Divine Art on you and beats you to a pulp.
I should have been more perfect. I should have hidden myself better.
Countless thoughts raced through his mind as he unleashed his movement arts, but he quickly pushed the blame aside. Now wasn’t the time for useless emotions. He had to focus on the crisis before him.
He sprinted away from Heaven’s Village at a terrifying speed. With no one to see him and nothing to hold him back, he unleashed his full might.
ZING!
Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through both his temples like an awl. He rotated his body to the side instinctively and swung Snow Flower.
CRASH!
A giant gray boulder filled his vision before slamming into him, hurling him backward nearly fifty meters before he crashed into a large tree.
“Keuk!” Jin Mu-Won groaned and stared at the boulder. There was a fifteen meter wide crater where it hit into the ground. Whoever had thrown it at him had frightening destructive power.
“Hehe!” Letting out a sinister laugh, the boulder began to move.
A head lifted from the massive torso. Arms and legs as thick as logs stirred to life. Madness swirled in the two red eyes that looked down on him, and a ferocious aura crashed over the surroundings like a wave.
Jin Mu-Won’s eyes narrowed. He knew this man. “The Chaos… Demon?”
“Hehe! Long time no see.” The Chaos Demon Tae Mu-Kang said, rising to his feet like a huge brown bear. Ferocious killing intent poured from him as he stared at Jin Mu-Won.
“Why are you here?” Jin Mu-Won asked, more shocked by Tae Mu-Kang’s presence than the attack itself. Eun Han-Seol had told him Tae Mu-Kang helped cause the internal conflict in the Silent Night. He had seriously injured her master, So Geum-Hyang, and thrown the organization into chaos.
Hyonwon Kang was bonked again. Lorem ipsum sit dolor amet.
Someone who caused a rebellion in the Silent Night is taking orders from Gwan Dae-Seung? That doesn’t make any sense! Unless… something much more sinister is lurking beneath the surface.
Jin Mu-Won straightened his back as Tae Mu-Kang took a large stride toward him.
Compared to seven years ago, the Chaos Demon’s aura blazed even more ferociously. He had found it hard to breathe back then, but now the giant’s overwhelming power made it difficult to even stand.
Although Jin Mu-Won had grown in the past seven years, he could feel that Tae Mu-Kang had gotten much stronger as well.
Tae Mu-Kang grinned. “You’re pretty good, brat.”
“Are you working for Heaven’s Summit?”
“Who knows?”
“Since you’re taking orders from Gwan Dae-Seung, I suppose you must be.”
“Trying to provoke me? Hehe!”
“Am I wrong?”
“Well, you’re gonna die by my hand anyway, so I guess it’s fine to tell you.”
“……”
“Gwan Dae-Seung’s definitely a member of Heaven’s Summit, but he’s not loyal to them. He pledges his loyalty to another being.”
“Are you loyal to him too?”
“Hehe! I’m not loyal to anyone. In fact, it’s closer to hatred.”
“Then why?”
“You’ll have to find out the rest yourself. If you make it out of here alive.”
KUKWAKWA!
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Tae Mu-Kang’s formidable aura churned the air violently. Trees nearby swayed as if they would snap, and forest beasts foamed at the mouth and fled in terror. His energy dominated the entire forest.
Jin Mu-Won knew he couldn’t escape without a fight.
A rematch with the Chaos Demon, huh?
WOOONG!
Snow Flower screeched loudly, sensing the crisis.
A peculiar light flickered in Tae Mu-Kang’s eyes. “That sword… that’s a cursed weapon.”
Jin Mu-Won didn’t answer. He simply raised Snow Flower and aimed it at Tae Mu-Kang.
Tae Mu-Kang furrowed his brow. Though they stood fifty meters apart, he could feel a sharp killing intent that seemed to pierce straight through his head. It seemed that the kid from seven years ago had grown into a dignified swordmaster.
“Hehe! Time really does change a person,” he giggled sinisterly and clenched his fists.
A gray, murky enhanced qi wave exploded outward and swirled around him like a raging storm.
HWIRURU!
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Jin Mu-Won’s gaze deepened.
His rebound qi is now made up of enhanced qi?
He’d experienced Tae Mu-Kang’s special rebound qi seven years ago and knew it better than anyone. This giant was the strongest enemy he’d met since entering the jianghu, a presence with destructive power that surpassed even Yeon Cheon-Hwa.
“Well then, let’s have some real fun, kid.”
Before the word kid finished echoing, Tae Mu-Kang’s massive body vanished.
Jin Mu-Won didn’t panic. Even though Tae Mu-Kang was too fast for his eyes to see, his All-Encompassing Cognizance sensed his opponent’s presence vividly.
On my left!
He unleashed the Flowing Stream Steps and slashed with Snow Flower.
CHWAAAK!
A sound like tearing silk rang out as Snow Flower and Tae Mu-Kang’s enhanced qi collided. The impact sent them both staggering.
Tae Mu-Kang quickly bounced back and pressed the attack, his enhanced qi moved like a living creature, exploiting every opening with clever precision.
On the other hand, Jin Mu-Won darted nimbly, blocking or deflecting the attacks as he closed the distance. The immense power tore at the webbing of his hand and rattled his organs. If his Shadow Qi hadn’t protected him, his body would have been shredded in the first clash.
Tremendous shock accumulated in his body, but he didn’t retreat a single step. If he got pushed back now, regaining the upper hand would be nearly impossible.
He unleashed the Meteor Soul, the first form of the Shadow Blade of Destruction. Snow Flower flew like a meteor, aimed straight for Tae Mu-Kang’s Adam’s apple. The strike came lightning-fast, quicker than the eye could follow, but Tae Mu-Kang’s mysterious perception let him block it. He wielded the Rebound enhanced qi as freely as his own limbs, using it for both attack and defense.
Still, Jin Mu-Won wasn’t completely pushed back. He unleashed the Northern Heavenly Wall and Dividing the Heavenly Seas in rapid succession. Snow Flower sliced through the air, cutting everything in its path.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t cut the rebound enhanced qi, which boasted the defense of an iron wall and the offense of a tiger’s fangs.
Damn it! This isn’t enough to break through.
A chilling light flashed in Jin Mu-Won’s eyes, and he swung his sword faster. The tip of Snow Flower, already cutting through the air like a meteor, began to glow bright red from the sheer speed and friction.
Baek Suryong uses the Heaven Defying Divine Art on you and beats you to a pulp.
KIIII!
The air wrapped around the blade tore apart, and the dawn sky screamed.
For the first time, Tae Mu-Kang’s expression hardened. He recognized the power in this new strike. The previous attacks had been fearsome, but this surpassed them completely.
Rather than fear, though, he felt pleasure.
“Keke! Excellent!” he laughed manically and threw his massive body toward Jin Mu-Won. His body itself was the ultimate weapon.
JJEOOONG!
Snow Flower and Tae Mu-Kang’s massive body collided.
A triumphant light appeared in Tae Mu-Kang’s crazed eyes. His body slam had buckled Jin Mu-Won’s back.
“Hehe!” he giggled, but his laughter quickly faded.
A fountain of blood erupted from his shoulder. Jin Mu-Won’s sword had pierced through his rebound enhanced qi.
“Keuha!” he gasped in admiration. “To think you’d pierce my rebound enhanced qi. You’re truly amazing, young lion of the Northern Army.”
“Rebound enhanced qi isn’t invincible.”
“That’s right. It breaks when it meets a stronger force. Still, mine’s special. Do you know why?”
“……”
“It’s because its source is the Chaos Fiend Art. Hehe!”
“Chaos Fiend Art?”
“Didn’t you experience it seven years ago?”
Baek Suryong uses the Heaven Defying Divine Art on you.
The memory hit Jin Mu-Won instantly. Dam Soo-Cheon and Shim Won-Yi had been helpless against it.
The reason is…
His entire body flinched as if struck by lightning. A foreign energy streamed through his body.
“Penetrating energy?”
“Hehe! It’s called Chaos Fiend Qi.”
Tae Mu-Kang sneered. When Jin Mu-Won had wounded him, he’d injected Chaos Fiend Qi into the young man’s body.
The Chaos Fiend Art he mastered was like the Bulgasari,^[1] a creature that fed on iron. It consumed an opponent’s inner qi, tore it apart to find weaknesses, and transformed into the most antagonistic energy to attack.
Even now, the Chaos Fiend Qi was analyzing Jin Mu-Won’s inner qi and attacking his major meridians.
Jin Mu-Won’s complexion quickly turned pale.
Tae Mu-Kang smiled triumphantly, confident Jin Mu-Won would fall just as the others had. “Hehe! How is it? Can you withstand it, young lion?”
“……” Jin Mu-Won raised his head and met Tae Mu-Kang gaze.
Tae Mu-Kang scowled. Contrary to his expectations, the light in the swordsman’s eyes hadn’t broken.
“It seems you’ve forgotten something as well,” Jin Mu-Won said.
“What are you talking about?”
“The wound from that day.”
“What? Keuk!”
Tae Mu-Kang’s face contorted as he looked down at his shoulder. The wound from Snow Flower was gradually tearing open. He had the ability to instantly heal any injury, but for some reason, it wasn’t working.
Suddenly, he remembered the events of seven years ago. The wound that Jin Mu-Won had inflicted then hadn’t healed easily, either. It had only worsened.
“You bastard!”
“Now it seems we’re on equal footing.”
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Just as the Chaos Fiend Qi was afflicting Jin Mu-Won, the Shadow Qi was ripping apart Tae Mu-Kang.
Tae Mu-Kang ground his teeth. “You’re quite something, Jin Mu-Won, but that won’t change the fact that this place will be your grave!”
“We’ll see about that.”
Jin Mu-Won tightened his grip on Snow Flower, gathering his Shadow Qi to counter the Chaos Fiend Qi.
A fierce battle raged inside his body, and the same held true for Tae Mu-Kang.
KWAUUU!
As the two combatants rushed toward each other, a ferocious wind swept across the battlefield.
