Chapter 408. To Learn How to Fight Ten Thousand Men (2)

The air around Wu Qu shifted instantly.

“I’ll end this right away.”

It wasn’t just the atmosphere that changed. Even Wu Qu’s physique began to transform noticeably.

Crack! Crunch!

Small, sharp, spike-like protrusions formed along the edges of his forehead, growing larger until they resembled horns. They weren’t enormous, but their shape, thickness, and slight curve were reminiscent of a mountain goat’s horns.

Their pure white color gave off a strangely sacred feeling.

His eyes had changed as well. Vertical slits now ran down the center of each iris, which glowed faintly with a dark golden hue. His hands had turned pure white, as though snow had settled over his skin. His nails had sharpened, like a predator’s claws.

“Dragon Emperor Gate!” The Dark Heavens Association Lord didn’t bother to hide his shock while observing Wu Qu’s transformation. “The mysterious sect that acquired the power of a dragon so that you could transcend human limitations and become experts of ten thousand sword styles! Now I understand why you were able to unleash two opposing styles of swordsmanship at such a high level.”

“Have you heard about it from Celestial Maiden Gate’s... No, the Sword Saint of Eagle Grotto?”

“No. He never explained that technique in detail. However, I have gleaned a few things in Celestial Maiden Gate’s secret manual stored in the imperial palace’s treasure vault.”

Amusement gleamed in the Association Lord’s eyes now.

“To think that a member of such a mysterious sect, known for shying away from mundane affairs in order to devote themselves to the pursuit of the sword... was openly parading around like this! Indeed, the more I look at your Manifestation, the more it matches the purpose and even the meaning behind the title of Evil faction! Should that be called the Dragonifcation?”

“You’re half right.”

Wu Qu didn’t care what the Association Lord called it. His entire focus was on the monster before him, a force worthy of being called a natural disaster.

‘In one swift attack!’

KA-BOOM!

The ground beneath Wu Qu’s feet caved in, the explosion echoing thunderously. Cracks spread outward like spider webs, and shattered rock and dust flew in all directions. But when the cloud of yellow dirt lifted, Wu Qu was gone.

In spite of everything, Ximen Erjin was still standing behind the chaos, oddly preserved even from the force of that impact. His lifeless eyes reflected the back of an absolute master.

That back belonged to Wu Qu. Unlike the dragons from the legendary tales, however, he didn’t have a tail. Instead, he left behind a lengthy trail of light like a meteor.

Dragon Emperor Sword!

Mid-air, Wu Qu shifted his stance. With a flick of his wrist, he retrieved his sword. He took a giant step forward with his left foot, his right foot stretching far behind. His left hand hovered near the blade, fingers curling loosely around the hilt.

He held his breath. His white hands seemed to reflect flickers of light.

For a moment, his body had transcended human limits.

The torrent of qi starting from his dantian gushed forward like the waters of the Yangtze. In the blink of an eye, his qi traveled through his Eight Extraordinary Vessels consisting of the Governing Vessel, Conception Vessel, Penetrating Vessel, Girdle Vessel, Yang Heel Vessel, Yin Heel Vessel, Yang Linking Vessel, and Yin Linking Vessel.

Everything in him from his dynamic visual acuity, the circulation of his qi, the firing speed of his synapses, and even the strength drawn from his muscles, broke through the boundaries of human limitation. He had surpassed what should have been possible.

His grip on the sword tightened. Veins bulged beneath the white hue on his sharpened fingers.

Launching Dragon!

Slice!

The sound of something being cut broke the silence.

Scatter!

A portion of the Dark Heavens Association Lord’s hair got cut and scattered in the air. When Wu Qu took a closer look, he realized the enemy had leaned his head out of the way.

The Association Lord hadn’t done that out of confusion. That was the first time he had dodged since going on the offensive until now.

“...”

The Association Lord glanced behind him. His narrowed eyes locked onto a sword’s imprint carved into the mountain behind him.

"A power sword?”

Just as he uttered that, the follow-up storm viciously lashed out against the world.

KA-BOOOOOOOOM!

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The sheer force of the explosion made the earlier ominous silence feel like nothing more than the calm before the storm. The sound that followed was difficult to even categorize as an explosion.

It didn’t deafen like a typical blast. Instead, it resembled the experience of standing near a collapsing mountainside, hearing and feeling everything being torn apart.

Launching Dragon was meant to inflict a grave sword scar on the Association Lord’s torso, instead, it swallowed up the mountainside over half a kilometer away. The destructive power was shocking, to say the least.

As if a titan from legend had swung a sword, a massive scar from a sword strike at least half a kilometer long had engraved itself on the forest... No, the mountain itself. The land had split apart as if an earthquake had hit it. The resulting chasm was so deep that its bottom wasn’t visible. Some trees even got smashed into pieces and ended up getting sucked in.

“

Tsk

!”

Wu Qu clicked his tongue softly. A trace of unease flickered across his face. Even the horns that once radiated a dragon’s majesty had shrunk slightly.

Pah-haht!

But there was no room for regret in battle. The Dark Heavens Association Lord seized the opening like a bolt of lightning.

Wu Qu’s hand trembled, but he forced it to tighten around the sword and raised the weapon as fast as he could.

“Too slow!”

The Association Lord’s sneer deepened as his sword slashed down in a sharp, diagonal arc toward Wu Qu’s shoulder. His movement was as clean and precise as it could get.

‘Although it’s been fun, this is as far as you go!’

The Preceding Heaven Sword Technique was a swordsmanship of extreme swiftness, one where the speed of a reactionary strike could catch up to a preemptive strike.

Wu Qu might be able to utilize the strength of a dragon body, but he would still need time to defend against an attack aiming for the side not holding a sword.

A battle between high-level experts was usually decided by the narrowest of gaps. Knowing this, the Association Lord was certain of Wu Qu’s death.

CLAAANG!

“...!”

The Association Lord’s face twisted grotesquely. Wrinkles formed where none had been before. For the first time, a faint trace of anger stirred behind his eyes, which had until now been like a bottomless abyss.

“A Formless Sword...?”

The Association Lord’s sword failed to cut through Wu Qu’s shoulder. It didn’t miss its target. It simply stopped, halted in place by something unexpected. It wasn’t Wu Qu’s right-hand sword that blocked it. It was another sword, held in his left.

What made this weapon so strange was that it was invisible. No, it wasn’t as if this weapon was transparent, making it completely invisible even to an absolute master. It simply wasn’t there. But the physical sensation definitely proved that a ‘sword’ had blocked the attack.

“No,” Wu Qu replied in his usual deadpan manner. “It’s a qi sword.”

Wu Qu’s Manifestation of One’s Path, Ten Thousand Swords! His true Manifestation wasn’t Dragonification.

The entire point of the Dragon Emperor Gate’s existence had always been all about being able to use ten thousand sword styles. Dragonification was merely a process, a step, in reaching that goal. As utilizing the power of ten thousand sword styles was deemed impossible through a human’s physique, the sect simply considered borrowing a dragon’s power. Never was becoming an actual dragon their true intention.

The disciples of Dragon Emperor Gate devoted their entire lives to completing the ten thousand sword styles. That meant they never cared about leaving their mark on

gangho

.

“

Hu-aaaaaahph!

”

Wu Qu roared loudly, muscles swelling with power. His biceps thickened, veins bulging beneath the skin, pulled taut with strain.

As more strength gathered in his core and thighs, his shoulder blade tightened, rotating with a twist that signaled what came next.

His counterattack had begun.

WHOOSH!

The steel sword gripped in his right hand rose up horizontally. The Association Lord sensed a heavy weight closing in. Hot winds akin to swinging a large mace, not a sword, blew at him.

The Association Lord took a step back to dodge the incoming sword. He watched his front hair dance from the heated air shooting upward. Being able to maintain his balance in a situation like that deserved high praise.

Wu Qu dismissed the qi sword in his left hand, then shifted his weight forward to dig into the Association Lord’s chest.

The true terror of a qi sword wasn’t the fact that it was invisible, but that one didn’t have to keep holding on to it like a regular sword. If one didn’t need it, one could just let it go, then re-materialize it when needed during an attack.

This power shattered the conventions and logic associated with all swordsmanship.

“

Kkeuh-euh-hut!

”

Wu Qu’s body screamed in pain as he moved, perhaps due to performing Abolishing Dragon. Bones creaked, while his meridians and vessels throbbed and ached, but there was no time to stop. No space for recovery.

Pah-ba-ba-ba-ba-bat!

Ignoring the pain, Wu Qu crossed his arms. From left to right, and from lower to upper torso, he unleashed strike after strike. Fitting for a swordsman who pursued mastery in ten thousand sword styles, he was proficient in dual-wielding, as well.

He didn’t give his enemy a chance to breathe and relentlessly attacked. Every time their blades collided, the formless qi exploded, creating a noisy howl. The sword strikes generated storm-like winds and upturned the surroundings, scattering debris all around.

They had long moved away from where Ximen Erjin’s body lay, allowing Wu Qu to fight without restraints. As if to prove that, countless sword scars got engraved into this nameless mountainside.

Ka-ga-gagagak!

One sword drew a wide arc, slicing clean through the dirt. A palm-sized rock was launched into the air, only to shatter and dissolve into powder before it even landed.

And before the dust could settle, another blade roared through the air from behind, sending a sharp wave of sword light directly at the Dark Heavens Association Lord.

While the quick sword formed the foundation of his barrage, Wu Qu also slipped in a variety of strikes from time to time.

Even when his enemy managed to deflect a blow, Wu Qu pressed on, following up with a heavy sword strike. When sheer force was not enough, he resorted to power sword strikes to hurl a desperate attack.

Illusion sword!

Wu Qu’s blade began to blur, only leaving behind afterimages. However, at this point, it was difficult to tell if those were indeed afterimages. As if he had transformed into an Asura with several arms, dozens of swords breathlessly rained down on the target.

“I will acknowledge you,” said the Association Lord, still stuck within the storm of sword blows. “The Sword Demon, Wu Qu!”

He didn’t emit something like furious anger reminiscent of boiling lava. Instead, icy flames burned ferociously in his eyes. But he soon closed them to hide the flames from the view.

“I didn’t expect you to push me this far.”

That was when a pitch-black haze began to seep from his body.

Wu Qu’s senses were instantly overwhelmed. A deadly chill ran down his spine, and the hairs on his skin stood on edge. His body, which had been pushing through pain just moments before, suddenly seized up.

Something was wrong. Deeply, indescribably wrong.

“Let me show you.”

The Association Lord lazily opened his eyes. All the whites in his eyes had now become completely dyed black.

“This is my full strength.”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord muttered something softly.

***

The Northern Upper Army found itself in grave danger.

While the army was trying to deal with the Hidden Gang within the pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen, Tang Mingren led his troops and positioned themselves behind the army.

That meant the Northern Upper Army’s original purpose of activating the hidden mechanism had failed. Not only that, but they had failed to lure the enemy away and were now trapped. And with the crux of the plan, not just a portion of it, failing so spectacularly, it seemed the Northern Upper Army’s defeat was rapidly becoming inevitable.

“

Aaaaahk

!”

“

Ku-ahhhk

!”

Screams rang out from all directions.

‘No! This is bad!’

Tang Hui bit down briefly on her soft lower lip.

‘Everyone is too exhausted!’

Fighting in an environment where nothing was visible took a great toll on not just physical state, but on one’s mind, too. On the other hand, Tang Mingren and his troops remained relatively fine.

The Hidden Gang had already been half-destroyed, but the rest of the enemy troops, obviously well prepared for this development, still rushed in with the unstoppable momentum. That left her with no answers and zero ideas.

“You already know any more resistance is futile,” said Tang Mingren, his hollow gaze locked on his little sister.

“Shut up!” Tang Hui shot back, but unlike her brother, her eyes were filled with desperation. ‘

What should I do?’

She desperately racked her brain and tried to formulate a plan. Since her group was surrounded, she couldn’t unleash her deadliest hidden weapons, not when they killed indiscriminately.

But that didn’t mean she could urge her troops to keep fighting back. Realistic problems stood in her way, even making her forget to breathe. The biggest problem was Peng Zihu, the strongest fighter in her army, being tied up somewhere in the rear.

With how nothing was visible, and with the medication’s effect wearing off now, the exhaustion and qi consumption would only worsen.

What am I supposed to do?!

Tang Hui couldn’t see a way out. There didn’t seem to be any solutions to this deadly crisis. She began thinking that, more than likely, she would be forced to taste a meaningless defeat.

However, just as all hopes began morphing into despair—

“Mingren? Whenever I see you, my heart numbs and starts to ache.”

A voice Tang Hui missed so much suddenly reached her ears.

“I wonder why?”

“...!”

Tang Mingren whipped his head toward the sound.

“By the way, have you improved your poison techniques since I left? Because I came prepared this time.”

“This can’t be—”

The atmosphere on the battlefield shifted instantly. Where there had been despair, hope bloomed. Morale, which had fallen into the dust, surged to the heavens.

“Have you been well, Mingren? I hope you won’t hold back on the Extreme Formless Poison. Be generous with it, will you?”

There, in the distance, was Zhou Xuchuan standing triumphantly.