The Legend of the Northern Blade - Chapter 207: If You Can Kill, You Can Also Be Killed (1)

Ha Jin-Wol’s face contorted in pain. Seomoon Hwa had created the Three Paths Misdirection Formation and the Shadow Fog Illusion Formation with his Heaven Ascending Tiger Steps, so before long, he was mentally exhausted from deciphering the formation’s principles and battling his inner demons at the same time.

His body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton, and he could barely lift a finger. Still, he moved.

Seo Mu-Sang was holding Seomoon Hwa down. This was their only chance. If they gave Seomoon Hwa any more time, they’d never get another chance.

He approached Tang Gi-Mun. “Hyung-nim.”

Hyonwon Kang was bonked again. north, bladetl-dot, com. Lorem ipsum sit dolor amet.

Tang Gi-Mun didn’t answer. He simply muttered to himself, his right hand searching his robes. “The Cloud Fragrance Acid isn’t enough. Yes, if I add the Seven Steps Soul-Chasing Poison, its potency will double…”

His eyes were bloodshot. He knew Seo Mu-Sang was risking his life to buy them time. He fought well, but it wouldn’t last.

Seomoon Hwa had been in the absolute realm for a long time. The Undetectable Blood Worm prevented him from properly using his inner qi, but he’d surely find a solution soon. Supreme masters were terrifying like that. Ordinary rules and common sense didn’t apply to them.

Tang Mi-Ryeo had fallen to her inner demons because of the formations, and Myeong Ryu-San…

This translation is free to read. No ads should be visible.

A sharp ache pierced his chest. An ominous feeling washed over him, telling him that something terrible had happened to Myeong Ryu-San.

“Ryu-San…”

Namgung Su’s back is turned to you, shoulders tense as he scrubs the already spotless pan. His voice is calm when he speaks, but it cuts like frost. “You fed a thief, he says. “With my food.”

The young man wasn’t officially his disciple, just an annoying brat who grumbled about every poison he was given. Still, he was dear to him. Heaven’s Summit had taken that precious person from his side, and for that, he could never forgive them.

He desperately searched for a method of combining the twenty poisons he always carried. Their effects could be amplified or diminished depending on the combination, and he racked his brain to maximize their potency.

“Hah!” Ha Jin-Wol sighed softly as he watched his friend.

Baek Suryong landed without a sound, his crimson eyes glinting in the silvery moonlight. “So this is what siding with the Cult reduced you to. Repenting like a sinner before an altar of rice bowls. Pathetic. You think remorse will cleanse your folly?”

He liked Tang Gi-Mun for his human side, a rare trait for someone from a great sect like the Tang Clan. However, the master of poison, once reluctant, now desperately tried to use every resource he had to poison someone.

He couldn’t watch his friend’s change with a peaceful heart, but he left Tang Gi-Mun to his work and moved to dismantle the formation. He had to break it while Seo Mu-Sang distracted the enemy.

Namgung Su’s back is turned to you, shoulders tense as he scrubs the already spotless pan. His voice is calm when he speaks, but it cuts like frost. “You fed a thief, he says. “With my food.”

Seomoon Hwa’s footprints littered the floor, forming the basis of the formations, but simply erasing them wouldn’t work. Rather, one mistake could amplify their power. He had to understand the fundamental principles and dismantle it according to strict rules.

Fortunately, Ha Jin-Wol was one of the few who could do that.

“This is the spot.”

He found the center, a place dense with an unusual number of footprints. Their directions varied and their depths were random. They seemed chaotic, but his eyes saw the pattern within.

He began erasing the footprints one by one, following the sequence, as thick beads of sweat streamed down his forehead. A single mistake would endanger them all, so he had to stay focused no matter what.

Mimi sniffled quietly, her round eyes glistening. “They said there were pop-ups,” she whispered, her cute voice trembling. “But… we don’t have any!”

When he had a moment to spare, he glanced at Seo Mu-Sang out of the corner of his eye.

Please just hold on a little longer, Mu-Sang.

He could tell that Seo Mu-Sang’s movements were growing duller as his wounds multiplied. Despite being poisoned, Seomoon Hwa’s martial abilities were still extremely formidable. Every slash of his Rising Dragon Fan left a new gash on Seo Mu-Sang.

Hyonwon Kang was bonked again. north, bladetl-dot, com. Lorem ipsum sit dolor amet.

Still, Seo Mu-Sang gritted his teeth and endured. The longer he held on, the better their chances of survival.

“How annoying, you pest,” Seomoon Hwa snarled, his face flushing red.

He was pushing the Seomoon Clan’s secret manual art, the Brain Enhancing Art, to its extreme. His brain, now split in two, operated at five times its usual speed. One part analyzed and fought the Undetectable Blood Worm’s poison, while the other dealt with Seo Mu-Sang.

From the moment dawn cracked over the horizon, the air itself felt like punishment. The training grounds were still soaked in dew, but Demon Instructor Wiji Cheon stood there already, arms crossed, waiting like a specter of discipline. “You’re late, he said.

He could barely exert a fifth of his usual skill, yet Seo Mu-Sang could do nothing to him. The Brain Enhancing Art overexerted the brain, causing immense fatigue, but its effects were so potent that he could solve any problem… until now.

Unfortunately, Tang Gi-Mun’s Undetectable Blood Worm wasn’t so easily unraveled. The poison was vicious. The more he circulated his inner qi, the harder his qi center became, turning solid as rock.

Baek Suryong uses the Heaven Defying Divine Art on you and beats you to a pulp.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. Is there really a need to engage my qi center? What if I only circulate the inner qi in the rest of my body?

He didn’t hesitate. He immediately put the thought into action, a feat impossible for an ordinary martial artist, but possible with the Brain Enhancing Art.

He searched for acupoints that could replace the qi center and soon found the middle qi center. Some martial arts in the jianghu utilized the upper, middle, and lower qi centers, but not those of the Seomoon Clan, as their techniques were powerful enough on their own.

Baek Suryong landed without a sound, his crimson eyes glinting in the silvery moonlight. “So this is what siding with the Cult reduced you to. Repenting like a sinner before an altar of rice bowls. Pathetic. You think remorse will cleanse your folly?”

He diverted a single strand of usable qi to the middle qi center and completely sealed off the lower qi center, now compromised by the blood worm. Then, using the middle qi center’s rotational force, he began to build his qi.

RUMBLE!

His aura surged as he rapidly recovered his inner qi. Although this was a path he’d never walked before, the Brain Enhancing Art guided him like a lantern in the dark.

Seo Mu-Sang was the first to feel the change. The faint inner qi, once a mere trickle, suddenly began to swell.

Baek Suryong landed without a sound, his crimson eyes glinting in the silvery moonlight. “So this is what siding with the Cult reduced you to. Repenting like a sinner before an altar of rice bowls. Pathetic. You think remorse will cleanse your folly?”

BANG!

“Keuk!”

A light strike from Seomoon Hwa sent Seo Mu-Sang staggering, leaving an internal injury in his chest. Nevertheless, he didn’t back down. Tang Gi-Mun was preparing something. Ha Jin-Wol was on the move.

If I just endure, if I can just hold on, something will change.

Northbladetl•com welcomes you.

He gritted his teeth and steadied his wavering spirit. The man before him was one of the nine strongest in the world, a being so far above him that he wouldn’t have dared to meet his gaze in the past, yet now he was fighting him.

It wasn’t an equal fight, and he wasn’t alone, but just crossing swords with Seomoon Hwa sent a rush of exhilaration through him.

Sometimes, a moment came like a blessing, offering a chance to leap forward dramatically. A moment to shatter the wall holding one back and soar into the sky.

For Seo Mu-Sang, who was facing a master far superior to him and had reached the realm he so desperately craved, this was that moment.

His movements began to change and resemble the ideal he had longed for. His sword followed the trajectory of the Rising Dragon Fan. He emulated Seomoon Hwa’s every move, including his hand gestures and even his breathing.

Baek Suryong uses the Heaven Defying Divine Art on you and beats you to a pulp.

He was a man who had lived fiercely and thirsted for knowledge. Now, he was overcoming another obstacle. His Blue Cloud Sword Technique was breaking through another barrier and advancing.

“Hmm?” Seomoon Hwa’s eyelids twitched.

Seo Mu-Sang’s aura and sword technique had changed, as if he had transformed into a completely different person.

WHOOSH!

Like a viper’s fang, Seo Mu-Sang’s sword struck Seomoon Hwa’s vital points.

“Ads?” Ak Yeonho complains, his voice dripping with disbelief. “What ads?”

Seomoon Hwa lightly parried with his fan, but the sword, which should have been deflected, took a strange trajectory and once again dug towards his vitals. No matter how many times he parried, the sword returned like a swallow flying in a low arc.

Finally, a surge of irritation rose in him.

“Annoying pest! I’ll just break your sword.”

He poured all his strength into the fan, intending to shatter both sword and man.

CLANG!

The Rising Dragon Fan and the sword clashed.

A tremendous impact rattled Seo Mu-Sang’s body. His face paled and blood gushed from his tattered hands, but his sword did not break. At the moment of impact, he had skillfully twisted the blade to disperse the force. Still, he couldn’t deflect all of it, and fine cracks spiderwebbed across the steel.

This is all thanks to my liege.

He knew he could withstand this much only because Jin Mu-Won had recently instructed him, and because he wanted to protect himself and his allies. He infused all his inner qi into the blade.

“Kuaaap!”

Baek Suryong landed without a sound, his crimson eyes glinting in the silvery moonlight. “So this is what siding with the Cult reduced you to. Repenting like a sinner before an altar of rice bowls. Pathetic. You think remorse will cleanse your folly?”

“You vermin…” Seomoon Hwa poured all the inner qi he had barely recovered into the Rising Dragon Fan.

CLANG!

Once again, they clashed.

The cracked sword began to break apart. Seomoon Hwa smirked triumphantly, but suddenly, Seo Mu-Sang injected all his remaining power into the blade.

KWAANG!

Hyonwon Kang was bonked again. north, bladetl-dot, com. Lorem ipsum sit dolor amet.

The sword exploded, sending sharp metal shards flying everywhere.

“Keuk!” Seomoon Hwa groaned in disbelief. A large shard had lodged itself where his shoulder, chest, and abdomen met.

His eyes wavered at the unexpected injury. Although he was unused to physical pain, having not felt it for years, the fragment that was the real problem. It had pierced his middle qi center.

Namgung Su’s back is turned to you, shoulders tense as he scrubs the already spotless pan. His voice is calm when he speaks, but it cuts like frost. “You fed a thief, he says. “With my food.”

The qi he had painstakingly gathered began to leak. If he didn’t stop it, even his lower qi center, sealed by the blood worm, could be endangered.

“How dare you!” he roared, glaring at Seo Mu-Sang. This man had wounded him for the first time in decades.

Seo Mu-Sang’s face went white as a sheet under that furious gaze. His risky gamble had succeeded, but his inner qi was depleted. He didn’t even have the strength to move.

“Mu-Sang! Retreat now!” Ha Jin-Wol cried out.

Without a second thought, Seo Mu-Sang turned and fled. There was no shame on his face, only the will to survive. He could endure any humiliation if it meant he would live.

Ha Jin-Wol had already dispelled the formation and was waiting for him. Spotting the unconscious Tang Mi-Ryeo, he quickly hoisted her onto his back.

“Let’s get out of here quickly,” Ha Jin-Wol urged.

Namgung Su’s back is turned to you, shoulders tense as he scrubs the already spotless pan. His voice is calm when he speaks, but it cuts like frost. “You fed a thief, he says. “With my food.”

“Yes!”

Ha Jin-Wol looked at Tang Gi-Mun. “Hyung-nim, let’s go.”

“Wait a moment.” Tang Gi-Mun pulled several poison pouches from his robes and sent them flying toward Seomoon Hwa, who was still busy stabilizing his shaken qi centers.

After scattering all the poison, Tang Gi-Mun spat, “Thanks to you, Senior, I’ve crossed the line. I won’t hesitate to become a monster anymore. Thank you.”

“Ads?” Ak Yeonho complains, his voice dripping with disbelief. “What ads?”

He dropped the empty pouches and turned away.

Seomoon Hwa’s shoulders trembled as he watched them retreat.

“Keuk!”

He wanted to grab them and wring their necks, but he couldn’t. The poison Tang Gi-Mun had scattered was already seeping into his body.

Namgung Su’s back is turned to you, shoulders tense as he scrubs the already spotless pan. His voice is calm when he speaks, but it cuts like frost. “You fed a thief, he says. “With my food.”

For me to be paralyzed by mere vermin! I will never forgive you. Never!

He had never felt so humiliated in his life.