Chapter 426. Hero of the Murim (1)

The Dark Heavens Association Lord’s face flushed red with shock.

"You... turned back time?"

Impossible. That couldn't have happened.

Harmony, Coruscant... no, there wasn't a single realm of martial arts that allowed one to do such a thing. Zhou Xuchuan had just erased cause and effect, returning things to how they were.

Now!

This might have been the last time Zhou Xuchuan would see the Dark Heavens Association Lord absentminded. He couldn't waste this rare opportunity.

Zhou Xuchuan flicked his wrist and moved his sword.

Ssss.

The Mount Hua's sword fell gracefully, as if brushing aside the blade that had struck it. Then, with a sudden twist, it surged upward once more.

Clang!

The Dark Heavens Association Lord snapped out of his daze as the metallic sound rang out.

Zhou Xuchuan felt resistance and clicked his tongue.

The Association Lord had been hit directly by a Frigid Pale Divine Palm, a Power Strike Fist, and a Resonant Palm. His back also had a long sword wound. Judging from the blood he had vomited, he was clearly internally injured, but his movements remained unchanged.

Zhou Xuchuan was stunned. Even while standing dazed, the Association Lord reacted with lightning speed the instant their swords clashed.

His strength, speed, endurance, and healing power were all abilities that far surpassed human limits.

Ten-Thousand Jin Sword!

Zhou Xuchuan struck while the Dark Heavens Sword was still suspended midair.

He gripped his sword tightly with both hands, adding the weight of all his years to it, and took a step forward.

The sheer weight of the strike felt like it would crush him, but his muscles and bones trained in the Iron Shirt barely held him up.

“Haaaaaaaa!”

He let out a loud roar and swung down the heavy sword with all his might.

As his arm passed his ear, his straight spine bent, and his tense shoulder blades stretched wide. Every muscle in his body screamed under the strain.

BOOM!

The moment the sword landed, the qi that encompassed the qi of the Great Nature collided with the Dark Heavens Sword, erupting like a thunderous explosion.

The surrounding space rippled, and a circular shockwave swept outward like a spinning wheel.

BOOM!

Then the full weight of the blow struck.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord’s legs sank into the ground up to his ankles, as if being swallowed. Even his knees, which had held firm, finally buckled.

“Agh!!"

A groan slipped from the Dark Heavens Association Lord's lips.

“Ha!”

Zhou Xuchuan pressed forward, refusing to let up. His sword strikes weren’t as fast as the Association Lord’s, but they were still terrifyingly fast.

Flicker!

Every time the sunlight reflected off of his blade, light seemed to explode.

Dozens of sword lights poured down like rain meant to clear the dark sky, and he attacked without hesitation.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Dark Heavens Association Lord didn’t just give up and take it. He endured the pain and quickly blocked the attack with his quick sword technique.

Damn it!

Clang!!!

The baptism of endless swords came to an end. At the same time, Zhou Xuchuan realized his golden opportunity had slipped away.

He looked at the Dark Heavens Association Lord’s expression, hoping for some sign of weakness, but the man remained unchanged.

"It seems that you can't rewind time as you please!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord had figured it out.

Time itself hadn’t been reversed. The traces that the Dark Heavens Association Lord had left when he stomped forward earlier were proof of this.

If Zhou had truly regressed only the Association Lord and not himself, he could have returned him to the exact moment before his sword swing, when he was completely defenseless.

Since it was the 'result' of his counter that had disappeared, he had been left with no choice but to withstand Zhou Xuchuan's barrage passively.

“Zhou Xuchuan!”

The Association Lord’s arms bulged, his muscles straining to the limit. Blood burst from his wounds, the cost of using such strength undeniable.

And yet, he couldn’t display the same power as before.

With the accumulated damage to his body and the burden of entering the Extremity Realm, it was a miracle he hadn’t already collapsed.

"Grah!"

His sword pointed down instead of up, flying low enough to scrape the ground before snapping up toward Zhou Xuchuan’s chin.

It wasn’t as fast as before, but the power behind it was just as overwhelming.

Bang!

Just before the blade could cleave his chin, Zhou Xuchuan managed to catch it, twisting his sword to meet it at center.

BOOM!

Still, he couldn’t withstand all of that monstrous power. His body was sent flying like a meteor.

"Ugh!"

His entire body hurt. A sharp wave of pins and needles shot through his organs. His bones throbbed with pain.

Zhou Xuchuan shot through the air like an arrow, smashing through a wall.

BANG!

The wall that had the traces of the hands of countless craftsmen was crushed like tofu, before swelling up from the impact force and exploding outward.

His vision spun. The heavens and earth seemed to trade places.

He tried to brace himself, but his body refused to obey. If this kept going, he would crash through the buildings inside the walls.

However, as if he had expected this to happen, Zhou Xuchuan shouted.

“Little Ghost!”

Woosh!

Zhou Xuchuan wasn't the only one who had broken through the bamboo forest. A special force could be seen within the eight gates.

While everyone else was distracted, only Little Ghost moved.

Thud!

Little Ghost flew in as if she had been waiting for this moment.

In her place stood not a small girl, but an adult woman. The Piercing Mark rippled like dark ink across her well-defined, eleven-lined abs.[1]

Little Ghost ran along the marble-paved road with the Phantom Steps, which had reached the perfection stage. She made no sound, not even the slightest disturbance. From the side, it looked so unnatural that it seemed as if she were sliding down an icy slope.

Her clothes clung tightly to her body and didn’t flutter in the wind. Even her short hair, brushing against her collarbone, stayed perfectly still.

The Phantom, who had helped Zhou Xuchuan several times throughout their journey, ran along the wall instead of the ground. She stopped halfway up the surface, as if she'd been there all along, and steadied herself.

She extended her right hand, palm facing out. Her left hand, wrapped in her Black Iron Gauntlet, supported the back of her right.

If she were a noblewoman, she might have stood with both hands neatly folded in front of her navel, but she was neither someone of that status nor was this the time to do so.[2]

She shifted both hands to her left hip, ready and firm, as she waited for him to arrive.

And as if it had all been rehearsed, Zhou Xuchuan, who had been thrown through the wall and sent flying, made a spectacular turn in midair and landed on her palm.

BOOM!

A loud noise, like a meteor crashing to the ground, erupted.

Even though the broken wall helped to absorb some of the shock, her arms trembled under the weight. Her knees buckled slightly, her waist bent as if it would snap.

Her shoulders creaked.

Crack!!

A part of the wall she had been standing on also cracked and splintered like a turtle shell, and the tiles above her shattered.

She didn’t even blink despite the pain that tore through her entire body, and just silently continued her task.

"Throw me!"

She straightened her knees and spine in one sharp motion. In front of her, the Phantom Sovereign she had been holding soared through the air like a spear.

“Haaaaaa!”

Zhou Xuchuan leapt with his battered body like a snake ascending to a dragon, swinging his sword in a vertical arc, carving a line from the earth to the heavens.

Of course, his target wasn't just the pitiful air before him.

It was the dark heavens that blocked the dragon’s ascension.

“Die!”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord also roared. From just above, he brought his sword crashing down.

BOOOM!

As before, an explosion erupted, but this time, it wasn’t just the clash of metal.

Each impact resembled a natural disaster, with massive ruptures and deafening blasts. It was pure chaos.

"Cough, cough!"

The body, reverted to its original state, fell straight down.

Zhou Xuchuan didn't lose consciousness upon hitting the ground. Instead, his back bent from the impact, and his body bounced uncontrollably into the air like a spring.

Before his face could meet the ground again, the Dark Heavens Association Lord appeared, as if he’d moved through space.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord refused to allow a single opening and tried to strike the final blow.

However, it wasn't just the Association Lord who had appeared before his enemy.

Little Ghost had rushed to where the Phantom Sovereign landed and, without hesitation, had thrown him forward like a javelin. Now, she stood before the Association Lord.

"Fuck off!"

Even the Phantom Steps, which toyed with everything under the heavens, couldn't hide in front of the Dark Heavens. So the Association Lord tried to dismiss Little Ghost.

While a gauntlet seemingly forged of black iron blocked his way, he didn't care. He just assumed that he could cut through the armor and keep going.

Clang!

"You blocked this?"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord glared, eyes wide.

It was a series of surprises.

No matter how abnormal his physical condition was, it was strange that he couldn’t cut through it when his body was perpetually surrounded by Formless Aura.

In a split second, all sorts of thoughts raced around him before he came up with a single answer.

"Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron!"

The durability of the Black Iron Gauntlet newly forged through Gan Yezi's hands was formidable. Though the Association Lord was clearly exhausted, it still stayed firm against his strike and even dispersed the power.

Even if it couldn’t endure another blow like that, its current fragility no longer mattered.

Now!

As the Phantoms taught, assassination was about deceiving the enemy. One had to aim for the moment when their target wasn't expecting it, even if one's chance was brief.

Though Zhou Xuchuan’s body screamed from the strain, he ignored it.

He boldly threw aside Longyuan, which he couldn't even swing properly anymore. Instead, he moved his arm into his other sleeve and drew a hidden weapon.

The silk tied to his arm unraveled as the Horn Saber dropped into his hand.

Everything, I have to use everything I can!

Anything could be excused as long as he could defeat the monster before him.

He used everything he had accumulated so far.

The Black Iron Gauntlet was bigger than one would have expected, its size helping to hide Zhou Xuchuan drawing the Horn Saber. Due to it blocking the Association Lord's vision, he succeeded in acting in stealth.

He flipped the Horn Saber, which had been forged using the horns of the Seven Horned Serpent, into a reverse grip before using only his perception to accurately stab the Dark Heavens Association Lord through the meridian connecting his arm to his dantian.

Squelch!

"AGH!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord groaned, his face crumpling in pain. The strength in his hand that was holding the sword, ready to finish off the two before him, was gone.

“How dare you?!!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord swung his other arm instead of his sword in anger.

With bone thicker than a tree trunk, his arm became a weapon as it struck Little Ghost’s chest with terrifying force.

Crack!

“...!"

Unable to breathe, Little Ghost's lips parted in shock.

The Piercing Mark that had been dancing across her body shone brilliantly, but in the end, she couldn't withstand the impact.

Blood splattered as she flew, bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone before crashing into the Eight Gates.

"RAH!!"

There was no time for Zhou Xuchuan to look back at her.

As if voicing her pain for her, Zhou Xuchuan roared with everything he had, his voice tearing from his throat as he slammed his fist under the Association Lord’s chin.

Crack!

"Ugh!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord finally dropped the sword in his hand.

His head and waist bent backwards. His dark pupils trembled within their sea of black.

Zhou Xuchuan, who stood right back up like a roly-poly toy (不倒翁), pushed forward through the recoil of his fist.

Bang!

"Ugh!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord was pushed back, coughing blood.

Zhou Xuchuan fell to the ground, bracing himself with his bloodied hands, caked with dirt.

While sharp shards dug into his calluses, he didn't care. He forced his broken body up again.

"DARK HEAVENS ASSOCIATIONNNNN LOOOOOOOORD!!!"

His entire body trembled in protest. Although he was in such a bad state that he could have collapsed at any moment, he forced himself to stay standing. Just as he was about to punch the Master of the Dark Heavens in the face again, the Association Lord also stood up straight.

"YOU BRAT!"

He used his damaged legs as iron pillars, planting them on the ground, and raised his upper body.

Woosh!

His hair whipped around as a fist-sized hole appeared through the strands.

Zhou Xuchuan’s face twisted in anger.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord pulled out one of his legs, which had supported his upper and lower body, from under the ground and kicked it up.

Bang!

Zhou Xuchuan’s mouth snapped shut. The Association Lord’s knee had just shattered his ribs.

The fist that was about to strike again lost its strength and trembled, and his body, which was completely destroyed, threatened to fall backward.

"GRAH!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord roared.

Zhou Xuchuan couldn’t tell if the Association Lord was trying to bring himself to finish the battle, or if he had some other hidden motive.

The Association Lord lowered his raised leg and shifted his center of gravity forward as he trudged ahead.

Torn muscles, pierced meridians. A body that shouldn't move still radiated tremendous strength.

He pulled his left arm back before driving it forward again.

His target was Zhou Xuchuan, who was falling. He aimed to hammer his fist into the center of his chest.

But at that moment—

If I can't bring myself back up in time...!

Zhou Xuchuan didn't struggle to get up, but rather increased his weight and sank.

His body, which now felt like it weighed thousands of jins, dropped to the ground. However, that didn't mean he had completely given up.

He placed his fractured hands against the floor, then kicked upward with everything he had left.

Woosh!

He felt his legs lift into the air. Gathering the last of his strength in his right leg, he snapped it forward like a whip.

BANG!

A full-force roundhouse kick blocked the Association Lord’s left arm.

"Ugh!"

A groan escaped the Association Lord's lips.

“A brat like you dares!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord roared. As if signaling the end, one of his eyes returned to its original state.

The whites of his eyes that had been dyed black reappeared, and bloodshot eyes that showed his struggles were visible.

Break!

Crunch!

The forearm that had been hit by Zhou Xuchuan's kick snapped. The bone, surrounded by flesh and muscle, broke into two pieces, and eventually, Zhou Xuchuan forced the broken limb aside and landed a solid blow to his face.

"Ugh!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord let out a single scream as he was knocked back, but he twisted his body to regain his footing.

Zhou Xuchuan also twisted, using the momentum to return to his original position.

The two Absolute Masters didn't allow the other to retreat. They didn't back down either.

"Dark Heavens Association Looooorddddd!!!"

"ZHOUUUUU XUUUUUCHUANNN!!!!"

This was no longer a duel.

There was no longer a secret plan that had been built up for decades.

There were no longer any Manifestations of One's Path that shook the very fabric of reality with one's will.

Their swords, which were the foundations of their martial arts, were stuck in the ground, crossed with one another.

Neither was in any condition to fight. Their pulses had faded to near nothing and blood poured from their wounds.

Their meridians were in tatters and their bones were broken.

Considering the situation, it was right to back down.

They should take a moment and grab their sword before doing anything else.

They should fight with the Violet Haze Sword Sutra and the Preceding Heaven Sword Technique.

However, neither would tolerate showing such weakness.

They didn't want to back down, at least not before the enemy in front of them.

"How dare some brat!!!"

Memories from his past flashed through Zhou Xuchuan's mind.

The reason and judgment in his head shouted at him to turn around immediately, pick up his sword, and attack with his blade. Or that the wisest decision would be to ask for help from Little Ghost or the surrounding martial artists and win, one against many.

He already knew that.

But he didn't like it.

Maybe this was the pride that he had laughed at so much, the pride of a Righteous Faction member which was valued over even food. But, even though he knew it, he didn't, couldn't, back down.

"How dare some brat of your status!!!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord didn't back down either. He didn't use his divine speed. He didn’t slip behind Zhou Xuchuan like before.

Zhou Xuchuan and the Dark Heavens Association Lord.

The two absolute masters.

No.

The two martial artists swung their fists at the same time.

Right hand and left hand.

The fists crossed and landed on both cheeks at the same time.

Bang!

1. In Korean, we distinguish eleven-lined abs and six-pack abs with the terms One Lined and King Lined abs. ☜

2. I have no idea why this was interjected here. ☜