Chapter 112. Five Dragons Fight for a Pearl (8)

The tents and barracks surrounding the sparring ground shook for a moment, then succumbed to the wind and were blasted away.

“Ahh!!”

“Flee!!!

The people on both sides quickly retreated.

Kyanng!

As the sleeping Eun-Ah was blasted away by the wind, looking like a pitiful flying squirrel, a beautiful girl in a delicate flower gown stretched her hand out. Ma-Ra snatched Eun-Ah out of the air and held her tightly before using Thousand-Catty Ballast to sink to the ground as fast as possible.

Cough, cough.

Seeing Eun-Ah struggle to breathe in her tight embrace, Ma-Ra let her go, and the baby tiger wobbled along, clearly not fully awake even after this shock.

Ma-Ra used her dainty and delicate hands like hidden weapons to cut apart the debris shooting toward her before turning to watch Woo-Moon and San Woo-Gyeol once more.

San Woo-Gyeol’s disgusting lump of fist aura couldn’t pass through Woo-Moon’s Impenetrable Golden Wall.

Although the fist aura pounded on Impenetrable Golden Wall for what seemed like an eternity, in the end, it failed to break through it.

As soon as San Woo-Gyeol’s attack ended, Woo-Moon stepped forward with his right foot and spun, throwing the golden sword curtain he had formed through the Impenetrable Golden Wall directly forward.

BOOM!

With a tremendous clang, the Impenetrable Golden Wall spun forward like a chakram, emitting and reflecting light in all directions. It was an incredible sight.

“That bastard...!”

Gong Do jumped up, forgetting the piercing pain in both shoulders. He had already been shocked and enraged to see Woo-Moon imitate his Heaven-Flipping Lightning Strikes. Now, seeing him imitate a second technique, his anger grew like wildfire.

Sha Xiao’s eyes almost tore at the seams. He could no longer keep his grotesque smile any further.

The fear of death that he had forgotten for so long had returned once more.

‘What the hell is this... I know he’s supposed to be the grandson of the Palm Martial Emperor, but this is still too much, isn’t it? Other Absolute Masters also have grandchildren, but which one of them is remotely this good?!’

He had lightheartedly thought that it might be good fun to pretend to be a talent of the Hegemon Clan and join the spar against the Justice Coalition. He could never have imagined that he would meet a real monster in this spar.

Still, it wasn’t as if he had any time to think about such things right now.

No, he had to focus on surviving the golden shield made of sword aura flying toward him right before his eyes.

‘I-I don’t want to die!’

He had taken countless lives, but he was very much unwilling to give others his own.

Sha Xiao gathered together the last of his remaining qi, even going so far as to draw upon all of the innate qi within his body, not caring about the aftereffects. He pushed it all into strengthening his defensive qi.

BOOOOM!

Another explosion rocked the stage, completely destroying whatever remnants were left over and leaving it unrecognizable.

A bloody figure broke through the dust, rolling across the ground: Sha Xiao.

Woo-Moon had held back, knowing that things could really escalate if he were to kill an opponent during this spar. As a result, Sha Xiao was able to survive.

However, that did not mean he was able to leave the stage unscathed. Due to using every last shred of his qi to mount a defense, he was no longer able to support his own cultivation technique. Thus, his body immediately began to grow old—or rather, to get in line with its actual age.

If the Hegemon Clan had something to be thankful for, it was that the only ones who saw his blood-soaked body were their own members. None of the Justice Coalition members noticed it, busy as they were to cheer for Woo-Moon.

Knowing that things would escalate if they were caught, So Myeong-Chan hurriedly gathered some of the attendants to take Sha Xiao to their physician.

Cheers erupted one after another from the Justice Coalition.

As Woo-Moon took down his opponent, they were as high with joy as they’d been down with despair just moments before.

“That was truly marvelous, Young Hero Song!”

“You’re incredible!”

“We’ve won!!”

At this moment, everyone, barring a few, was cheering and rejoicing at Woo-Moon’s victory.

Woo-Moon called out to So Myeong-Chan from the stage, which was now nothing more than a pile of stones.

“What, are you all scared? What the hell are you doing instead of coming up to the stage right now?”

It was the exact same words that So Myeong-Chan had said earlier to provoke them every time Sha Xiao had won.

So Myeong-Chan grit his teeth, knowing Woo-Moon intentionally did this to mock and ridicule him.

Woo-Moon’s refreshing provocation brought out cheers once again from the Justice Coalition.

Crack.

“Our next representative is Hong Mu-Yeol of the Blood Myeong Family (血銘家).”

As So Myeong-Chan spoke, a young man with a giant sword walked up the stage.

“I am Hong Mu-Yeol of the Blood Myeong Family.”

“I am Song Woo-Moon of the Iron Sword Baek Family.”

Although he was pretending to be calm, Hong Mu-Yeol was extremely nervous on the inside. He, too, had watched the earth-shattering battle between Woo-Moon and Sha Xiao.

‘All I can hope for is that he consumed a lot of his qi fighting San Woo-Gyeol.’

Woo-Moon tapped the ground with the tip of his foot.

“Then, let’s begin.”

Hong Mu-Yeol’s entire body tensed. He wanted to say something in reply, but the moment he opened his mouth, all that came out was blood and broken teeth.

Right after Woo-Moon said “Then let’s begin,” his figure suddenly blurred. Before Hong Mu-Yeol could even feel a faint breeze, he caught sight of Woo-Moon standing right next to him.

Then, Woo-Moon’s solid scabbard hit him right in the mouth.

It was as if a phantasm had rushed him.

Hong Mu-Yeol fainted, dropping down to the ground.

‘I had thought that he was using some amazing new footwork when he was fighting Sha Xiao, to think that after experiencing it myself... was the Kunlun Sect’s Divine Phantasm Steps really this terrifying?’

Of course, the Divine Phantasm Steps was one of the best footwork arts in the whole

murim

. However, Woo-Moon’s Divine Phantasm Steps was not exactly what the Kunlun Sect disciples were using.

That was because Woo-Moon had modified the Divine Phantasm Steps to suit his own physique and cultivation without even realizing it, using the Gentle Celestial Sword and the Forbidden Divine Art as a guide.

As a result, his Divine Phantasm Steps grew to become an even more mysterious and elusive art than the original.

“Who’s next?” Woo-Moon asked nonchalantly.

So Myeong-Chan’s anger boiled over. Normally, those of the Righteous Faction spoke politely, even when dealing with the Evil Faction. But this bastard wasn’t like that at all.

Well, if he were to be frank, Woo-Moon was treating them exactly how So Myeong-Chan himself treated the Righteous Faction.

‘Damned bastard, and you still dare call yourself a member of the Righteous Faction? If you’re a member of the Righteous Faction, you should act like it!’

So Myeong-Chan signaled one of the talents standing behind him.

“Understood.”

The Hegemon Clan’s next representative was a young man carrying two sabers crossed on his back.

“I am Bul Cho-Han, from the Twin Fang Troop of the Hegemon Clan’s Special Squadron.”

“Song Woo-Moon.”

Woo-Moon didn’t even feel like saying his name anymore. What was the point?

‘Honestly, they already know everything about me anyway, so I shouldn’t have to keep introducing myself, right? I wish I could just say nothing like that guy San Woo-Gyeol.’

The only reason Woo-Moon continued to introduce himself was that not doing so seemed a little too insulting, even for him.

Possibly because he saw that Hong Mu-Yeol had been defeated before he even had the chance to draw his weapon, the first thing Bul Cho-Han did was draw his twin sabers with both hands.

“Mmm.”

With a short sigh, Woo-Moon kicked one of the fragments of the stage lying on the ground.

Woosh! Woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh!!

Just as Bul Cho-Han was preparing to parry it, Woo-Moon kicked another four stones in succession. Two of them were cleverly positioned and flew in an arc rather than straight at Bul Cho-Han.

Even though they were just normal rocks, Bul Cho-Han couldn’t look down on them whatsoever. He fully focused, destroying the stones one by one as they reached him.

He seemed to have thought of his next moves in advance. As soon as he took care of the stones, he quickly retreated to prepare for whatever attack Woo-Moon was going for after the stones. Judging from Woo-Moon’s attack methods that he had seen thus far, he assumed that it was the best course of action.

"What are you doing?"

However, Woo-Moon didn’t seem to think the same way. He was simply standing in the same place.

‘You bastard...!’

It was as if Woo-Moon was playing a mind game— the moment Bul Cho-Han’s focus was replaced by irritation, his silhouette blurred.

Woo-Moon generally approached his attacks in the same way. He would first use the Divine Phantasm Steps to hide his position and then use the Northern Wind Steps to rush to a position from where he could attack quickly.

As expected, his approach was the same this time as well.

His method of movement was so fast that it generally achieved the same effect as Illusive Shift. Woo-Moon actually preferred this method as it required much less qi and mental strength than the actual Illusive Shift.

Bul Cho-Han hurriedly looked down, only to see Woo-Moon already crouching before him.

“Ugh!”

Flustered, he tried to retreat. However, Woo-Moon had already attacked before he could react.

Woo-Moon kicked straight up, stretching his leg high, and Bul Cho-Han was sent flying upward.

Thud!

Woo-Moon kicked off the ground and shot up faster than Bul Cho-Han, arriving next to him and repeatedly hitting him left and right with the sheathed Inkblade.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

Each time he was hit, Bul Cho-Han flew higher and higher in the air, and Woo-Moon continued to rise alongside him.

Eventually, Woo-Moon grabbed him by the collar and, forcefully stopping their ascent, threw him to the ground.

WOOSH!!!

BOOM!

Bul Cho-Han hit the ground with such force that he bounced back up a little, then dropped to the ground a second time.

He was covered in blood, and he had actually fainted the moment he first hit the ground. However, even with the terrifying crash, he had been able to avoid serious injury as Woo-Moon had placed a counterforce within him to mitigate the impact.

“Damn it!”

So Myeong-Chan let out a low curse.

Woo-Moon was the last representative of the Justice Coalition. The Hegemon Clan would become the final winners the moment they took him down. However, it really didn’t seem like taking him down would be easy.

‘No, no. That bastard is definitely... yeah, he definitely is still a member of the younger generation. He has to be. Considering how long he’s fought, he definitely has to have used up a lot of his stamina by now. All we have to do is send one more person to tire him out before the real hero goes out to finish him.’

[1]

So Myeong-Chan was in fact thinking the same thing Yu Cho had been thinking when facing Sha Xiao. Having resolved himself, So Myeong-Chan didn't want to give Woo-Moon a long break and thus quickly selected the next representative and sent him up.

The next representative was Kwak Han-Seung of the Obliterating Azure Kwak Family, said to be the family with the greatest martial skills among the Four Great Pillars of the Hegemon Clan.

‘Kwak Han-Seung can probably do something!’

So Myeong-Chan had great expectations regarding Kwak Han-Seung. Excluding So Myeong-Chan and his two brothers—who were the great-grandsons of the Hegemon Clan’s patriarch, the Hegemon Emperor, Kwak Han-Seung was the strongest of the talents of the Hegemon Clan.

Kwak Han-Seung was clearly trying to live up to So Myeong-Chan’s expectations. He was swinging a steel baton, and he was actually performing better than So Myeong-Chan thought he would.

He stepped forward, using his baton to chain attacks endlessly in powerful combinations. His frenzy was so fierce that it had even made Woo-Moon take a step back and let those watching entertain the chance that he might win.

However, roughly two minutes later, Kwak Han-Seung unveiled an opening and was forced to his knees by Woo-Moon’s attack.

The Justice Coalition members went wild when Woo-Moon ended the fight by hitting both of Kwak Han-Seung’s knees with the flat of his blade. Some of them even wiped their eyes with their sleeves as if they were crying, moved by Woo-Moon's dramatic reversal.

“Good, fine, I guess. Then, I’ll just have to go up last.”

So Myeong-Chan felt much lighter.

The situation may have turned to the point where he was the last man standing and was forced to ascend to the stage. However, looking at Woo-Moon, who had just fought another spar with Kwak Han-Seung, he felt as though he had a chance of winning.

‘He definitely has to be tired, and his qi consumption has to be massive. That’s the only explanation for why he wasn’t able to show an overwhelming performance like before, even struggling against Kwak Han-Seung. Hahaha. I’ll finish you now, Song Woo-Moon.’

“Hmpf! This great one is called So Myeong-Chan, the Second Young Master of the Hegemon Clan.”

“Song Woo-Moon.”

So Myeong-Chan grew enraged as Woo-Moon’s brusque reply made it clear that he was looking down on his opponent.

1. He’s talking about himself. So Myeong-Chan has started to refer to himself in the third person to elevate his own status. ☜