Chapter 74. The Cold Glint of a Well-Polished Sword (21)

Woo-Moon knew his grandfather was off somewhere, working diligently to reveal these bastards’ true identity and destroy their organization. If that was the case...

‘If I stop whatever they’re doing here and kill them all, I can be of help to my grandfather!’

A strong fighting spirit, different from before, burned brightly within him. Alone save for his sword, Woo-Moon charged right at the over two hundred enemies.

“What’s with this bastard?”

“You audacious brat, you dare to fight us alone?!”

The warriors of the Red Fog Valley shouted insults at Woo-Moo, but that only lasted for a few moments. Woo-Moon’s approaching form suddenly blurred before dissipating into the background, almost as if he had evaporated.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly in front of them, and his apparition was followed by a burning pain in their throats. Their minds couldn’t comprehend what happened next—they would no longer be able to think about anything at all, for that matter.

Woo-Moon had used the Divine Phantasm Step to approach the enemies and cut down three with a single slash. He continued to move forward, his sword shining brilliantly as he swung in every direction. With each slash of his blade, enemies collapsed one by one, spewing blood.

Raging Wind, Heavy Rain, and North Wind spread endlessly from the tip of his sword.

Ten, twenty, thirty...

The number of people spraying blood into the wind as they fell to Woo-Moon’s sword increased exponentially.

“Everyone, form ranks! We’re going to break through their blockade. Hye-Rim, lead the march!”

Following Su Ran's orders, Hye-Rim and the others quickly formed a phalanx. Su Ran was at the center, as she had the weakest martial arts prowess, and Princess Namar was behind her.

Considering how quickly and orderly they put together the formation, it was clear that they had been properly trained in group combat.

“Ahh!!!”

The enemy’s battle line had already collapsed due to Woo-Moon’s single-man charge, forcing them into a disorganized melee. Thus, it was nearly impossible for them to maintain a solid formation, much less defeat Princess Namar and the others, who did in fact have a solid formation.

The situation that had been going nearly perfectly until just a while ago began to crumble due to the actions of just a single man, leading the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster to become anxious.

“BRAT, YOU FUCKING DARE!!”

In the end, he rushed toward Woo-Moon with the four experts who made up the leadership of the brown-clothed warriors. He refused to allow Woo-Moon to cause any more chaos.

Surprisingly, although the four unknown experts were not quite at the level of the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster, it was apparent from their moves that their martial arts skills surpassed the Savage Twin Moon Monster’s.

The Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster seemed like a typical Buddhist monk, donning a monk’s robe with his head shaved, even having ritual scars marking his head.[1] However, he exuded a rich scent of blood and an aura of murder that didn’t suit his appearance.

On the other hand, the four experts of the brown-clothed warriors seemed to be, strangely enough, quadruplets. Two wielded swords, while the other two had sabers.

The five of them quickly approached Woo-Moon. The first to reach him leaped forward accompanied by a raging saber wind!

Woo-Moon retreated, lightly pushing off on his tiptoes and falling backward. Using the Iron Plate Bridge[2], he narrowly avoided the blow. The second his back bent backward, two swords, a Buddhist spade, and yet another saber came flying at him from four directions.

Thud.

Woo-Moon raised his sword above his stomach and blocked all four weapons simultaneously, propping his blade with his right hand.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Then, he exploded forth with a roar. “HA!!”

He drew his right hand back and let loose a palm in a fraction of a second, striking the flat of his sword. The four weapons pressing down on him flew into the air. However, his enemies weren’t so weak as to be disconcerted by his counterattack, as they immediately regained control of their weapons and tried to attack Woo-Moon again.

Thud!!

The moment Woo-Moon hit the ground, another weapon joined the fray, and five weapons simultaneously pierced toward his torso.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Woo-Moon kicked his feet into the air and hit three of them on the chins, then used the recoil to bounce back and move to safety on the side.

One of the quadruplets was hit first and had his neck shattered along with his jaw, immediately losing his life. The next one also had his entire jaw blown off, blood spewing everywhere. He wasn’t dead quite yet, but the excessive blood loss would get him there sooner rather than later.

The last to be hit, the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster, was fortunate enough to be hit only by the final, weakest strike. Even though his jaw ached as if he had been, well, kicked in the face, he hadn’t taken any major damage.

‘How could this...?!’

The five of them had reached at least the pinnacle of the Peak Class, and some were even showing signs of breaking through to the Transcendent Class. However, even with

that

strength, they had all been overwhelmingly pushed back.

The Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster couldn’t help but be amazed at his opponent’s skill, even while he tried to shake off the pain in his jaw.

‘What a terrifying brat. He looks like he hasn’t even reached twenty. How does he have such power?! With this level of skill, he’s definitely reached at least the peak of the Transcendent Class!’

Before one reached Peak Class, the differences between each class weren’t great. It wasn’t uncommon for a Second Class martial artist to die at the hands of a Third Class martial artist if they weren’t careful. However, once one reached Peak Class, even a single level of difference meant a practically insurmountable gap in martial skills.

Indeed, the higher one’s cultivation, the more difficult to progress, but also the greater the benefits.

Thus, it only made sense for Woo-Moon to be able to show off this level of power if he had reached the peak of the Transcendent Class.

“Damned bastard! Alright, you’re from the Iron Sword Baek Family, I get it! You don’t have to shove it in my face now!”

“Thank you for the compliment. Honestly, though, my martial arts skills have very little to do with the Iron Sword Baek Family.”

Although Woo-Moon spoke honestly, each word sounded more arrogant than the next to the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster.

As they spoke, the quadruplet who had his jaw blown off ultimately lost his life..

However, despite losing two brothers, the expressions of the remaining quadruplets didn’t change much. It wasn’t like they were not angry, but they had to suppress their anger. They knew that if they lost their temper here, it would be bad.

However, at that moment, something happened that made them even more desperate.

The troops of the Baek and Namgoong Families arrived.

“Kill the evildoers of the Red Fog Valley!”

“Attack!"

To think things had unraveled to this degree.

The Three Peak Monsters and the brown-clothed warriors had joined forces, yet not only had they failed to take down their individual enemies, but an even greater crisis besieged them. Namely, their opponents had also joined forces.

“What are you doing? Well, if you’re not going to attack, then don’t mind if I do!”

The next moment, Woo-Moon used the Divine Phantasm Step.

‘Huh?! Where...’

The Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster quickly looked in all directions. Eventually, he managed to detect Woo-Moon’s position and swung his spade.

Clang!

‘He’s pretty impressive. This is the first time I’ve had someone see through the Divine Phantasm Step this quickly.’

Feeling some admiration for the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster, Woo-Moon proceeded to use Cold Snow. His sword seemed to swing extremely slowly at first glance, leading the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster to try to parry it with his spade. However, Woo-Moon’s blade suddenly changed direction and slid across the spade’s handle.

‘W-what an incredible sword technique!’

The moment the astonished Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster narrowly escaped Cold Snow, Woo-Moon’s sword shifted once more. The sword suddenly burst out with a violent force and irregular motions—yet even in its erratic motion, its tip was clearly bound for the throat of the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster.

‘I can’t stop it...!’

However, at that moment, the two remaining quadruplets lunged forward with a sword and saber and saved the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster.

The two quadruplets and the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster exchanged glances. They were strong martial artists, hegemons of their territory; yet here they were, barely surviving Woo-Moon’s attacks.

‘This is do or die.’

They were all of the same mind, and each roused their qi to the point where they could feel intense pain in their dantians.

ROAR!

A thick layer of black and blue qi emitted from their weapons. Seeing this, Woo-Moon also imbued his sword with qi, generating a golden sword aura.

“HAAAAA!!!”

With a great roar, the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster unleashed the strongest technique he had, while the two quadruplets also swung their sword and saber in a combined slash, launching a final desperate attack.

Massive waves of qi flew toward Woo-Moon. However, the light surrounding his sword only grew more intense. Then, he pointed his golden sword at the sky, suddenly bringing down a rain of swords.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

The Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster, the attack of the two quadruplets, and Woo-Moon’s Heavy Rain collided head-on, creating an explosion.

At first, Heavy Rain seemed to be pushed back. The combined effort of the three attackers pushed forward, destroying the rain of sword auras.

However, the rain steadily and gradually ate away at the momentum of the three attackers’ techniques. They continuously gnawed away at the qi, like water droplets boring holes through a rock.

“Kaaaaaaak!”

Golden rays of light blasted the two remaining quadruplets, and soon, their entire bodies had been incinerated and reduced to powder. Heavy Rain also pierced the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster. However, he was still able to maintain human shape thanks to his external body cultivation, a form of cultivation that took perhaps even more effort than cultivating inner qi.

Blood poured out from hundreds of holes as he spoke in a dejected voice.

“I-in... the end... you are still the Iron....”

Before he could finish his sentence, the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster breathed his last with his eyes wide open.

He had been someone who had always engrained in himself and his younger siblings that one had to use their full potential in anything that they did, believing that it would definitely help them in the future. However, Woo-Moon had been an opponent whom he could never handle, even if he was to use the thirty percent of his strength that always lay hidden.[3]

The morale of Princess Namar’s troops and the Baek and Namgoong Family forces skyrocketed as they saw the death of the Blood-soaked Buddha monster.

On the other hand, the morale of the Red Fog Valley warriors and brown-clothed warriors dropped significantly as the already bad battle situation became even more overwhelmingly unfavorable.

“Is it over now? No, that’s not right. There are still two of them left.”

Even tigers would come down the mountain if a fire threatened them.

The moment Woo-Moon spoke, eight moon discs suddenly came out of nowhere, glinting in the sunlight, and attacked the allied family forces.

Squelch!

They chopped through the waists and necks of anyone in their path, leaving behind a trail of blood and corpses. In addition, countless go pieces streaked through the air, piercing through the bodies of warriors and leaving nothing but death behind.

“H-how could this be!”

Just from that single sudden attack, as many as fifty warriors had lost their lives. Moreover, among the casualties was one of the Ten Distinguished Swords and two young talents of the Namgoong Family.

This was the work of the Savage Twin Moon Monster and the Life-Death Go Monster.

However, this power was worlds apart from what they had previously shown. Previously, the maximum number of moon discs that the Savage Twin Moon Monster had been able to control was six, and the power behind each one was rather lackluster.

However, now, even though he had thrown eight at the same time, they contained incredible force. Moreover, it was the same with the Life-Death Go Monster. Both the quantity and the force of the go pieces were shockingly greater than before.

Woo-Moon saw several of the warriors he had rescued from the falling boulders earlier among those who had fallen, covered in blood.

Moreover, he saw one of the Ten Distinguished Swords, who, for better or worse, was still a member of his family, being cut in half at the waist.

Woo-Moon was filled with rage.

“You bastards!”

Woo-Moon’s eyes blazed as he glared at the Savage Twin Moon Monster and Life-Death Go Monster, who suddenly appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

Seeing them reminded him of something his grandfather had said.

—Among the dirty tricks of gangho, there are ways to unleash one’s latent potential. You can either use acupuncture to open one’s acupoints or use certain pills. Among all of the major organizations that use such methods, the Black Bull Gang is famous for using pills that trigger your latent potential at the price of your reason, causing you to go insane.

The Black Bull Gang.

Led by the Lust Emperor, one of the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors, the Black Bull Gang was one of the forces of the three factions that made up

gangho

—the Righteous Faction, the Evil Faction, and the Black Hand.[4]

The Red Fog Valley wasn’t known to have any connection to the Black Bull Gang, but now that Woo-Moon saw the two Monsters, it seemed that things were not as simple as he had initially thought.

In any case, that was a matter for him to ponder later.

First and foremost, Woo-Moon had to not only vent his anger but also stop the Savage Twin Moon Monster and the Life-Death Go Monster.

The eight moon discs had returned to the Savage Twin Moon Monster, now covered in the blood of the warriors of the Baek Family, and he threw them yet again.

The moon discs flew forward, this time leaving red trails behind them, and the go pieces of the Life-Death Go Monster followed suit.

Woo-Moon looked at their trajectories for a moment then extended both hands toward the boulder in front of him.

Crack!

Woo-Moon coated his hands in qi and gripped the boulder, his fingers penetrating into the rock. He firmly grasped it, lifting and throwing it in the path of the moon discs and go pieces.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

The boulder flew through the air, and the sound of metal rapping against rock echoed as the moon discs and go pieces perforated it. Within a mere second, the boulder was cracked apart by the weapons, shattering into pieces as the projectiles continued forward.

However, the boulder greatly reduced the velocity of these projectiles, allowing the targeted warriors to avoid fatal injuries.

“I’m your opponent!” Woo-Moon shouted as he rushed at the two Monsters.

1. The original is “jieba,” scars burned into a Buddhist monk’s head in some sects of Chinese Buddhism, for instance the Shaolin Chan sect. Generally, they are dots arranged into a rectangular pattern—think Krillin from Dragon Ball. ☜

2. This is the literal translation but if this makes you imagine a Matrix-style move, well, that’s also what we imagine. ☜

3. A lot of wuxia/xianxia have the concept that everyone subconsciously holds back thirty percent of their strength and that strength is only unleashed when one faces death. ☜

4. Although the author has previously separated the forces into four factions—the Righteous Faction, the Evil Faction, the Demonic Path, and the Black Hand—the Demonic Path can be considered a subsection of the Evil Faction. ☜