Chapter 208. Nine in the Fifth Place (4)

The elders and leaders of the Justice Coalition shouted in surprise. "L-lord Chief Commander Emeritus! What are you doing?!”

“Why did you do that to the Martial Commander?!”

The Sword Emperor swung his sword playfully, and plum blossoms bloomed from the tip of his blade. Petals of aura flew and swept away those who had just protested.

Battalion Leader of the Rear Guard Lee Chung tightly closed his eyes as he watched the aura flying toward him.

Bang!

However, there was only the sound of an explosion, and Lee Chung didn't feel any pain. He quickly opened his eyes to the sight of the aura disappearing. In its place stood Woo-Moon, sword in hand.

“So you've gone insane, Sword Emperor. Even with you being a member of Martial Heaven, you all still ate from the same pot, you know?”

The Sword Emperor gave a bitter laugh at Woo-Moon’s words.

“That, we did. And I can't even begin to describe how difficult it was to have to eat with those pieces of trash.”

“Yeah, that's what I figured. After all, Sword Emperor, you're a bastard who deceived the world and killed his friends. Yes, you have to be at least this evil!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Woo-Moon stepped forward and swung his sword while spinning around.

Raging Wind formed at the tip of his sword, devouring an incredible amount of aura before flying forward.

“Trash! Don't call me Sword Emperor. I am the Sword King of the Three Heavenly Martial Kings of Martial Heaven!”

Five plum blossoms bloomed from Sword King’s sword and fluttered through the air, surrounding Raging Wind from each direction.

BOOM!

Raging Wind and the plum blossoms canceled each other out, and petals and scent spread through the surrounding area.

“Good, Sword King! Then try to block this!”

Woo-Moon's hand stretched out and thirty bolts of finger aura blasted forward.

Clang, clang, clang!

The Sword King's sword flickered three times in succession.

“What?! Is this the Flawless Finger? You... Are you an heir of the Western Nihility Gate?!” he shouted.

The Western Nihility Gate—a hidden force destroyed by Martial Heaven.

Although it was far lacking in terms of size and therefore weaker than Martial Heaven, its techniques weren't lacking in any way compared to Martial Heaven. That was why Martial Heaven had ultimately destroyed them.

“Yes, that's right! The grudge for the Western Nihility Gate, for my grandfather, and for making me grieve my junior sister for so long... I'll make you pay for all of that today!”

Woo-Moon continued to attack, while Si-Hyeon started fighting the Hegemon Emperor on the other side.

“What are you doing? All of you, attack!”

At the Hegemon Emperor's command, the Absolute Masters and Transcendents of the Hegemon Clan rushed Si-Hyeon. On the opposite side, the Heavenly Demon Cult members grew excited when they saw the Hegemon Clan rushing in.

“You filthy bastards. You dare join forces?!”

“Chief Commander! We'll help you, too!”

As the troops of the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Hegemon Clan fought, Divine Monk drew a long stick from his sleeve and shot it into the air.

Boom!

It was a signal flare.

At the signal of Divine Monk, the third Mu Heon in the Martial Soul hierarchy[1], the Hundred and Eight Mu Heons waiting rushed in.

All Mu Heons from the third to the tenth were Absolute Masters, while most of those below them were Transcendents.

“We will fight too! All troops, all out war!”

ROAR!!!

The three Absolute Masters of the imperial government and their fifty thousand soldiers stepped forward and matched the Mu Heons.

With the Mu Heons' personal guards, their force numbered roughly three thousand.

While they were far inferior in terms of numbers, because each of their individual cultivations was so outstanding, they could fight on par with the fifty thousand soldiers even with their mere three thousand.

ROAR!!!!

Eun-Ah's roar ripped through the air.

Crunch!

“Agk!!”

Three Mu Heon guards fell down simultaneously, with their upper bodies missing, and blood sprayed everywhere.

Growl...

Eun-Ah was no different from Woo-Moon, Si-Hyeon, or Ma-Ra. She also hated and loathed Martial Heaven to the point that she would jump up from her sleep if anyone around her mentioned Martial Heaven.

“

Hiiik

, she's so big... too big!”

The Hegemon Clan warriors in front of Eun-Ah trembled.

As martial artists, they weren't the kind to be afraid just because a tiger was blustering around in front of them.

However, Eun-Ah was a spirit beast that had reached the equivalent of the Absolute realm, and the aura that rippled from her prickled their skin and terrified them.

Sssss.

A bloody smoke-like aura rose and materialized behind Eun-Ah, its color and qi signature reminiscent of the Blood-Horned Poison Serpent.

Eun-Ah attacked the Hegemon Clan warriors and Mu Heons' guards as the bloody snake materialized above her.

“Agk!!”

“Ugh!!”

“S-save me!”

Screams and shouts continued to erupt around Eun-Ah.

Humans were more terrified of the prospect of getting attacked by the fangs and claws of a beast than the spears and swords of a fellow martial artist.

Obviously, Eun-Ah wasn’t satisfied with just a single attack.

After she tore apart three enemies with her merciless claws, the phantom behind her ripped to shreds five more.

As time passed, Eun-Ah had completely assimilated the neidan of the Blood-Horned Poison Serpent and grown even stronger. Now, with her increased strength, the Hegemon Clan and Mu Heon's party grew even more helpless under her claws.

“You bitch!”

A single martial artist blocked Eun-Ah's path as she ran wild and killed over a hundred enemies.

“You insignificant little shit! I, Five Steps to Death Je Moon-Gang, will kill...”

The Hegemon Clan's Evil Blood Squadron captain, Je Moon-Gang, wasn't able to finish his words. This was completely understandable, as it is rather difficult to speak with your heart ripped out of your chest.

Eun-Ah, who had taken Je Moon-Gang's heart with a flick of her tail, roared once again and continued violently attacking the surrounding enemies. Since many of those around her were already terrified by Eun-Ah, the roar felt even more powerful.

At first, the Hegemon Clan's warriors hesitated and failed to respond while fighting the imperial government's troops properly.

Killing a government official meant becoming a criminal in the Central Plains, and harming the subordinates of a high-ranking official in the pursuit of official action could be considered a form of treason.

Thus, in the beginning, the Hegemon Clan warriors fought passively, only defending. However, as time passed, they began to give in to the ways of the Evil Path.

In the end, what mattered the most was killing their enemy and surviving. As the blood of their comrades sprinkled in the air, the Hegemon Clan's soldiers began to fight with all their might.

Meanwhile, the Justice Coalition forces, surprised by the Sword King's sudden change in attitude, had no choice but to step back from the battlefield and watch the situation unfold.

Woo-Moon struck three times in succession in the midst of his battle with the Sword King. Right as his third strike flew through the air, Ma-Ra appeared and flung her Blood Sickle right alongside Woo-Moon's attack.

“You assassin bitch! I've been waiting for you!”

With a shout, Divine Monk punched the air.

Bang!

As a white fist-shaped aura blasted forward and deflected the Blood Sickle, Divine Monk dashed like the wind, his yellow robe fluttering.

Thud! Thud, thud, thud!

Because of the footwork Divine Monk was using, there was never a case where both of his feet stood in the same place in the air at the same time. His foundation was incredibly stable as he continued to advance, continuously firing the Hundred Paces Divine Fist.

All of his fists were aimed directly at where Ma-Ra had briefly revealed herself when she attacked with her Blood Sickle.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Since the Hundred Paces Divine Fist attacked with such speed, Ma-Ra had no choice but to block the fists without being able to dodge or go back into hiding.

As Divine Monk's attacks continued, Ma-Ra's figure gradually became clearer, and eventually, she was forced entirely out of her stealth.

“I was just waiting for you to reveal yourself!”

Divine Monk's footwork technique, the Great Victory Heavenly King Steps, was a hidden foundational technique of the Shaolin Temple. It allowed him to move extremely quickly while still displaying the incredible stability befitting the name of the Shaolin Temple, a holy ground for martial arts, and its thousand-year history of stability and greatness.

Ohmmmm!

Divine Monk advanced right up to Ma-Ra, settled into a deep horse stance, and shook his shoulders roughly, causing a colossal bell sound to resound as a surge of energy rippled around him.

Because of that sound, Ma-Ra failed to retreat into the shadows again, and Divine Monk bought himself an opening to thrust a palm toward her.

Woosh!

A palm-shaped blast of aura shot forward from the Divine Monk's right palm, growing bigger and bigger. By the time it reached Ma-Ra, it had become so massive that it dwarfed her tiny body.

Ma-Ra was trapped, unable to use her stealth technique or even dodge out of the way. She had to confront this attack head-on.

She drew a sword from her sleeve with a cold look in her eyes.

‘Death God's Secret Technique, Soul-Stealing Meteor Sword.’

A pure white light appeared and a single meteor appeared above the ground, splitting the incoming Tathagata Divine Palm as if cutting through the air.

“What hellish sword technique is that, you assassin bitch?”

Divine Monk had deliberately avoided getting involved in the battle so that he could deal with Ma-Ra.

While he couldn't detect her, he was sure that she would eventually try to help Woo-Moon with a surprise attack of some kind. He bided his time, waiting for her to expose herself, thinking that if he could force her into the air and fight her head-on, he would be able to kill the assassin in no time.

However, his expectations were wrong. He was dumbfounded that an assassin could display such an amazing sword technique.

“There's no need to tell someone who's about to die,” Ma-Ra said coldly.

Then, she revealed another Death God technique to the world.

One, one became two, and two became four, four became eight...

Her figure split over and over again, and eventually, a hundred twenty-eight Ma-Ra's appeared in the air.

‘

Death God's Secret Technique, Illusions of Heaven Hiding Shadows.’

The hundred twenty-eight Ma-Ra's simultaneously unleashed Soul-Stealing Meteor Swords.

The Death God's Secret Techniques.

They were the two techniques that the Death God had created in his later years to overcome the limitations of assassins, who were weak in direct confrontations once they were discovered and their identity revealed.

She had never used them until this point because there had been no need. After all, the Death God's Secret Techniques wouldn't be needed unless one had been forced out of stealth, so it was somewhat of a shame for an assassin to have to use them.

However, she had never had to fight directly out in the open so far, only ever helping Woo-Moon in the shadows.

One hundred and twenty-eight meteors. A true meteor shower.

A truly incredible spectacle.

Even in the midst of the war, those who saw her sword skills opened their mouths in awe, unable to stop themselves.

They had all thought that Woo-Moon was the only one who was outstanding. They never could have expected that the assassin who followed him around everywhere had such incredible martial skills.

However, Divine Monk wasn't an easy opponent, either. While he hadn't quite reached the peak of the Absolute realm yet, he wasn't a novice by any means.

"Thousand-Armed Tathagata Divine Palm!"

As it turned out, just like Ma-Ra, Divine Monk had a technique that allowed him to unleash multiple attacks. His arms seemed to multiply by a thousand, and each arm used the Tathagata Divine Palm!

BOOM!

A loud noise rang out, and the Soul-Stealing Meteor Sword unleashed in combination with the Illusions of Heaven Hiding Shadows clashed with the Thousand-Armed Tathagata Divine Palm. The two seemed to be on par with each other!

'No, wait, the Thousand-Armed Tathagata Divine Palm is getting pushed back!'

Bang!

A meteor pierced Divine Monk's shoulder.

"You insignificant assassin bitch!"

His pride was damaged, and Divine Monk burst into anger and rushed Ma-Ra.

"Why do you keep calling me a bitch?"

Ma-Ra's eyes were filled with a vicious, murderous intent.

Although Divine Monk was injured, as an Absolute Master, such an injury was far from being crippling.

Then, he and Ma-Ra clashed head-on again.

Heavenly Demon Si-Hyeon's opponent was none other than the Hegemon Emperor.

To be more precise, her opponent was the Saber King, one of the Three Heavenly Martial Kings of Martial Heaven.

"You random bitch, you think you can just show off after lucking herself into the power of the Heavenly Demon?!"

The Saber King swung his saber with a broad motion, and a saber aura of almost unimaginable size was generated, mercilessly destroying the ground below and splitting the clouds above.

Woosh!!!

Thirty-six whips extended from the demonic qi behind Si-Hyeon and wrapped themselves around the gigantic blade of saber aura.

Crack!

The whips tightly wrapped around the saber aura and made a terrifying sound as they tightened.

“Break!”

Crack!!

The saber aura cracked and shattered, and Si-Hyeon closed her eyes for a moment before glaring at the Saber King.

1. Mu Heon means Martial Soul. ☜