Chapter 176. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (22)

Woo-Moon infiltrated the Cruel Sandstorm Rider’s main camp.

He suddenly appeared where the largest cluster of enemies were gathered and swung his sword.

WOOSH!

A thick blade of sword aura flew, cleaving through earth and air simultaneously.

“Ugh!”

“AGHK!!”

Screams erupted, and in an instant, a hundred members of the Cruel Sandstorm Riders lost their lives.

“It’s an enemy attack!”

“Hurry up and sound the alarm!”

As soon as the alarm bell rang, Woo-Moon unleashed Raging Wind.

The Raging Wind Woo-Moon performed after becoming a Paragon truly lived up to its name; it was less of a human fighting technique and more of a natural calamity. It blasted countless Cruel Sandstorm Riders into the air, and they were completely unable to do anything about it.

Then, as the wind stopped, they all fell to the ground from rather high up. Some of the more unlucky ones broke their necks and died, while the others were left with multiple broken bones.

Woo-Moon swung his sword at the four riders who were approaching behind him, decapitating them at the same time, and kicked the support pole of the tent next to him.

The wooden support beam flew away with a harsh sound.

Squelch, squelch!

“Agh!”

Twenty-three members of the Cruel Sandstorm Riders were pierced like skewers by the support beam. The beam turned slightly slanted, and when it hit the next two people, it didn’t pierce through them but rather shattered every bone in their bodies.

Woo-Moon then threw Lightflash and activated Sword Control. And while Lightflash moved on its own, he held Inkblade in his hand.

Slaughter unfolded.

The damage caused to the Cruel Sandstorm Riders increased by the second.

However, an old man with an impressive white and voluminous beard finally came flying over. When Woo-Moon saw him, he stopped attacking and fled the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ base, and the old man gave chase.

“Stop!”

‘Alright, sure, I’ll stop.’

Of course, Woo-Moon wasn’t afraid of the old man—Martial Heaven’s Great Evil Palace Master.

However, he could sense that the other masters of Martial Heaven were gathering alongside the Great Evil Palace Master. If they were to get here before he could leave, things could become dangerous.

Woo-Moon grabbed one of the riders he saw along the way and threw him straight at the Great Evil Palace Master, making sure to coat him in a defensive aura first.

“AGHHH!”

The Great Evil Palace Master blew the man apart with one powerful strike, but by the time he looked ahead, Woo-Moon had disappeared.

The thought of being tricked like this made the Great Evil Palace Master furious.

‘It’s definitely that bastard from back then!’

The Great Evil Palace Master realized that it had to be the bastard who had fearlessly come to the camp a few days back to spy on them.

***

“Whew, the first attack was a success.”

Woo-Moon waited for some time, slightly far away from the Cruel Sandstorm Riders' main camp.

He planned to attack again in the same manner, taking advantage of when the enemy let down their guard. It was imperative that he repeated this a few times, inflicting as much damage to their forces as he could until his main forces arrived tomorrow.

So, three hours later, Woo-Moon infiltrated the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ camp once again.

He moved with the utmost caution, so quietly that even the Great Evil Palace Master failed to notice his presence.

‘What should I do this time?’

After contemplating for a moment, he found a very appetizing goal.

‘Good! Let’s do that.’

Woo-Moon went to the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ barracks, eventually finding where they stored their food. In front of him were all of their supplies, piled high.

He killed and disposed of all of the guards standing inside before they could even scream.

Then, he closed his eyes and circulated his qi. He took control of the natural qi in the air and brought it under his control as well, manifesting Samadhi True Flame throughout the camp and spreading it over a vast area.

Even with how strong Woo-Moon was, this one move took a major toll on him.

“Fire!”

“Fuck, that’s the food pantry!”

“Hurry up and put it out! Bring water and dirt!”

Woo-Moon hid in the barracks and looked around, using blasts of finger qi to pierce through the heads or chests of those coming to douse the fire with large quantities of water or dirt.

Thwip!

“Ugh...”

A member of the Cruel Sandstorm Riders, carrying a large water jar, fell forward. The surrounding people simply ignored him and rushed to catch the water jar, worried that it would fall and break, spilling all of its precious water.

After all, it was the only way they would be able to save their sustenance!

But they all collapsed immediately, spewing blood from their mouths. The water jar also fell and broke, the precious water pouring out uselessly onto the ground.

‘This is enough.’

There was no need for him to mess around for that long. All he had to do was to inflict as much damage as he could while riling up their anger.

The Great Evil Palace Master only arrived after Woo-Moon had left.

“You fucking bastard...”

He couldn’t help but let out a curse. This was his second loss to this unknown enemy in a single day.

After that, Woo-Moon attacked the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ base three more times until the sun rose the next day.

It was only as Woo-Moon was attempting his sixth attack that the Cruel Sandstorm Riders suddenly did something rather weird.

Nearly a thousand enemies around Woo-Moon opened their pockets and spread out some powder they had inside.

‘Hmm? What are they... Wait, is that poison?’

An area with a radius of thousands of zhang around Woo-Moon turned into white fog.

Realizing something was strange, Woo-Moon stopped breathing and closed off all of his pores, completely stopping the absorption of anything through his skin.

At the same time, one of the riders closest to Woo-Moon used a surprising movement technique and swung a sword at him.

‘Damn, it’s that shameless old man!’

It was the Great Evil Palace Master. Completely enraged, he had given up his pride and disguised himself as a regular rider, sneakily approaching Woo-Moon and attempting a surprise attack.

The old man was determined to end this on the spot, so he attacked with all of his might, leaving Woo-Moon with no room to escape.

Left with no choice, Woo-Moon drew Inkblade and unleashed Northern Blizzard, blocking the Great Evil Palace Master’s attack.

The eerie dark sword flickered as it moved in an unpredictable, changing pattern, piercing at the Great Evil Palace Master’s throat.

‘Hmph!’

The Great Evil Palace Master was completely caught by surprise. He had certainly not expected to be outclassed in terms of techniques of all things, and he was even more shocked when Woo-Moon’s Lightflash also quickly approached through the air and broke through his defenses.

‘What sort of sword technique is this?’

The Great Evil Palace Master prided himself on his knowledge of all the martial arts that existed in the world. However, he could be certain that this was the first time he had ever come across Woo-Moon’s sword technique.

That said, he was still a Paragon and couldn’t be harmed that easily, even by another Paragon.

The Great Evil Palace Master created a thick barrier around his body, making it so dense that not even a single speck of dust could pass in or out, and deflected Lightflash.

Then, he thrust his sword toward Woo-Moon’s heart.

Swish!

The sword engulfed in an enormous aura flew toward Woo-Moon with rampant force, while other attacks came in simultaneously around him from three directions.

A sword under Sword Control from the left; arrows from the right; from below, a baton made of dark metal.

‘I can’t avoid it!’

Just like the Great Evil Palace Master, a Transcendent expert and two Absolute Masters had disguised themselves in the clothes of regular riders. Now, they had sneaked up to Woo-Moon.

Their joint attack, combined with the attack of the Paragon Great Evil Palace Master, was a truly terrifying thing to face.

‘If I’m going to have to suffer anyway, I’ll at least leave you something to remember me by, you old bastard!’

If he didn’t do something about the Paragon among his enemies, there was a high chance that he would die in vain before completing his plan.

Thus, Woo-Moon opened the pores over his entire body and took a deep breath.

While doing so filled his lungs with poison, the air gave him the strength to use all of his qi immediately.

‘Let’s go!’

As he used the Divine Phantasm Steps, which he had now mastered to the absolute pinnacle, his figure blurred before splitting into dozens of phantoms. Like wisps of smoke, they raced toward the Great Evil Palace Master.

While doing so, Woo-Moon pulled his arm back like a coiled spring and thrust his palm forward, unleashing Raging Wind Palm.

BANGBANGBANGBANG!

A ridiculous amount of palm force erupted, slowing down the Great Evil Palace Master’s sword.

Clang!

Woo-Moon used Inkblade to parry the sword before floating away with the Northern Wind Steps.

Woosh!

His figure seemed to stretch forward as the distance between him and the Great Evil Palace Master grew closer.

Woo-Moon stepped on the ground with his left foot and lightly spun forward. The moment his right foot landed on the ground, he explosively spun in place and lashed out with Inkblade.

Swish!

Inkblade turned into a streak of light and flew forward at a speed that seemed to transcend time and space. It arrived before the Great Evil Palace Master faster than it would take an ordinary person to even think about anything.

Not even the famed Absolute Masters could block this attack!

Still, the critical fact was that the Great Evil Palace Master was also one of those who qualified to be called a Heaven Beyond the Heavens, a true Paragon!

CLANG!

Gesturing with his hand, he quickly summoned back his sword and imbued it with as much qi as possible, deflecting Woo-Moon’s attack.

Inkblade slid down the Great Evil Palace Master’s sword, cutting off half of his magnificent beard and leaving a bleeding gash on his chest.

‘What a close call. Still, I stopped it!’

“Huh!”

Right as he felt a moment of relief, the Great Evil Palace Master let out a sound of surprise.

Woo-Moon’s aura manifestation was about to reach him! Two clusters of aura forming into the visage of a dragon and tiger!

The dragon and tiger were in perfect harmony with each other, working together to destroy the Great Evil Palace Master!

‘I can’t dodge this! I have no choice but to face it head-on.’

The Great Evil Palace Master's sword split into dozens, hundreds, thousands, then tens of thousands of swords, each coated in aura.

It was the strongest technique known to the Great Evil Palace Master, the Million Eon Slash.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rang out, shaking the very heaven and earth. It was so loud that even the soundwave itself could turn normal people’s brains into mush. And it was exactly what happened—the riders nearby succumbed to it, bleeding from all their orifices.

Then, the following shockwave tore through the surrounding earth, the wave of heat sparking another fire.

It was an impossible sight. No one would ever believe that it was the side effect of just two people fighting.

“Agh!”

A groan came out of the Great Evil Palace Master's mouth, and at the same time, he fell to one knee and vomited blood. It was clear that he had suffered severe internal injuries.

Yet although Woo-Moon was standing upright before him, he wasn’t faring all that great either.

The difference between him and the Great Evil Palace Master could be said to be paper thin.

By defeating such a strong enemy so quickly and being forced to exert so much effort continuously, he was dangerously low on qi reserves. And it was only now that he realized what sort of poison he had been struck by earlier.

‘Qi Dispersion Poison! And it’s a really strong one!’

One could become immune to almost every poison in existence just by becoming an Absolute Master. To think that this Qi Dispersion Poison was so strong that it could even affect a Paragon!

It really was an extremely terrifying poison.

Of course, if Woo-Moon qi reserves had been full, the Qi Dispersion Poison wouldn’t have been able to do all that much. However, now that he had used nearly all of his qi, the Qi Dispersion Poison that had spread throughout his body reared its head.

It settled in his bloodstream, hindering and dispersing his qi, keeping him from recovering quickly.

Of course, it couldn’t do anything about the qi he still had in his dantian. Still, keeping him from recovering his spent qi and properly utilizing the one he still had was more than enough to be considered a painful blow.

“Kill him! He must be killed NOW!” shouted the Great Evil Palace Master with blood foaming at his mouth, not caring that his internal injuries were being further aggravated by his shouts.