Chapter 97

Baek Mu-Gun used the Thunder God’s Shadow and immediately narrowed the distance between the Lulin bandits in the blink of an eye, his speed surprising them. Mu-Gun then launched Moonlight’s True Soul at them without hesitation. A dozen rays of moonlight qi spread like a fan and washed over the Lulin bandits. Everyone in its range vomited blood and fell to the ground before they could even react.

Mu-Gun jumped over the fallen corpses and penetrated through the group of Lulin bandits ahead. He then began to unleash moonlight qi in all directions. The Lulin bandits tried to retaliate, but the moonlight qi hacked them down before they could even get close. Mu-Gun’s overwhelming martial prowess flustered the Lulin bandits and made them panic all over the place.

The Four Peerless Wanderers stormed into the fray right behind Mu-Gun, jumping past the Lulin bandits and attacking without hesitation. Jin Yoo-Sung’s sword poured forth a ray of sunlight, and Yang Cheol-Gon’s saber manifested a tempest. Hwang Rei’s fist then unleashed a dragon’s howl, and Han Baek’s bare palm blasted forth a violent wave of lightning vortexes.

“Ackkk—!”

As explosions resonated from all sides due to the Four Peerless Wanderers’ attacks, the Lulin bandits, who were no match for them, were defeated in droves.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before all three hundred outlaws of Lulin were wiped out. However, Lulin also had masters of their own. Lulin Battle King Lee Ja-Gyung and the four Commanders of Lulin stopped watching from the back and stepped into the battlefield. The Lulin Battle King focused on dealing with Mu-Gun, and the four Commanders of Lulin took action to fend off the Four Peerless Wanderers.

Mu-Gun looked at Ja-Gyung, who stood in his way and blocked his advances. He had a massive build and a muscular body, which was akin to a bear. He wielded two axes, both of which had the glow of blood covering their tips—an indication of the number of lives they had taken.

The fighting spirit and killing intent pouring out of Ja-Gyung made even Mu-Gun flinch. Due to his appearance and aura, Mu-Gun immediately realized that he was Lee Ja-Gyung, the Lulin Battle King.

“So, you’re the Lulin Battle King, huh?”

“What a rude mouth you have, young brat.”

Do you not know that power isn't necessarily relative to age in murim?"

“I certainly have to give you credit for your skills. However, there’s not much you can do before my twin axes.”

Ja-Gyung charged toward Mu-Gun as soon as he finished speaking and swung one axe after another. Called the Twin Spectrum Axes, his axes were made by a famous blacksmith who poured his heart and soul into crafting the weapons, creating a masterpiece worthy of being called a divine artifact. In fact, ordinary weapons commonly shattered just from clashing with the Twin Spectrum Axes—a testament to the great power they possessed.

However, what was truly terrifying was the Bloodthirsty Black Wind Axe Art, which Ja-Gyung unleashed with the Twin Spectrum Axes. It manifested a black whirlwind that swept all over the place, tearing apart anyone caught in it until they were no longer recognizable.

That terrifying black whirlwind was currently gushing toward Mu-Gun. With the Flying Golden Shield in hand, Mu-Gun charged toward it. Ja-Gyung laughed mockingly when Mu-Gun tried to block his Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy with nothing but a shield, thinking it would cut Mu-Gun in half along with the shield.

Ja-Gyung’s Twin Spectrum Axes, which were enveloped with Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy, clashed head-on with Mu-Gun’s Flying Golden Shield, which was imbued with golden Thunder God Qi. The collision created a deafening roar that resonated across the battlefield.

The Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy and the Thunder God Qi scattered in all directions, sweeping through the surrounding area. Roped into the aftermath of their clash, the nearby Lulin bandits and the Zhejiang Martial Alliance warriors fell to the ground when the two colliding energies’ fragments hit them. Mu-Gun’s strength seemed to have surprised Ja-Gyung. After clashing head-on with his destructive Twin Spectrum Axes, Mu-Gun was still in one piece and wasn’t even pushed back.

However, his surprise only lasted for a brief moment. Ja-Gyung increased his internal energy output and pushed the Flying Golden Shield back. Pretending to clash head-on with him, Mu-Gun pushed the Flying Golden Shield to the side, causing the Twin Spectrum Axes to swerve away. He then thrust his sword toward Ja-Gyung’s side.

Ja-Gyung spun back around and quickly swung his axe to block Mu-Gun’s sword. Another loud explosion ensued when their weapons collided, and Ja-Gyung was pushed back. Without delay, Mu-Gun followed right behind Ja-Gyung and unleashed the Celestial Moonlight Sword, sending a wave of moonlight sword qi coursing toward his target.

As soon as Ja-Gyung stepped away, he swung the Twin Spectrum Axes as fast as he could. Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy flooded out of the Twin Spectrum Axes as if it was going to pulverize the moonlight sword qi, but as the collision caused a series of explosions, Ja-Gyung was cut all over, blood seeping out of each one. There were so many rays of moonlight sword qi that not even his Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy could block all of them.

Ja-Gyung rushed at Mu-Gun, disregarding the wounds he had sustained. Mu-Gun began to understand why Ja-Gyung was called the Battle King when he saw him throwing himself at him like a wild boar. It would be problematic if he were to lose the momentum to an opponent like Ja-Gyung. Hence, Mu-Gun did not back down either. He thrust his sword toward Ja-Gyung.

While Mu-Gun and Ja-Gyung were duking it out, the Four Peerless Wanderers were pushing back the four Commanders of Lulin with overwhelming might. Even though the four Commanders of Lulin were Upper Peak Realm masters, they were helpless and could not even show their strength to their opponents, who were Absolute Realm masters.

The Four Peerless Wanderers were veterans who had been through hell and high waters during the war against the Hell-Blood Demon Sect. Hence, the four Commanders of Lulin never stood a chance against them both in terms of martial arts and experience. All they could do was hold on for as long as they could.

Even if they held on to dear life, however, it was unlikely for the situation to go in their favor. Lulin Battle King Ja-Gyung had his hands tied with Mu-Gun, and Ma Yong-Seong and his subordinates, who were with Ja-Gyung, just sat on the sidelines watching.

“What are you doing? Help me!” Flying Dragon Fighter Ho Cheol-San asked Yong-Seong for help as he struggled.

However, Yong-Seong didn’t budge from where he was standing, seemingly having no intention of helping. He was in the midst of observing the situation right now. For starters, although he didn’t know who the Four Peerless Wanderers were, he was certain that, along with Mu-Gun, they were Absolute Realm masters.

Yong-Seong also concluded that the Asura Cult’s two Demonic Monarchs failed to ambush the Baek Sword Sect because of them. More importantly, he had confirmed that the Zhejiang Martial Alliance had five Absolute Realm masters within their ranks. They also currently had two Upper Peak Realm masters with them, namely Wind Saber Sect Patriarch Tae Gong-Pyo and the Baek Sword Sect’s Baek Cheon-Gi.

Yong-Seong brought his subordinates along with him, which included four Upper Peak Realm masters and twenty Peak Realm masters. Even if they joined the battle now, it would still be difficult to even just put up a fight against their opponents. Considering they currently had no chance of winning at all, immediate retreating was their best course of action. Joining a losing battle for no reason would only result in his forces dwindling down.

‘I have to abandon them.’

To the Blood-Crazed Clan, the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin were nothing but tools meant to be used and discarded anyway. Of course, losing the Lulin Battle King and four of the Twelve Commanders of Lulin was a pity, but preserving the Blood-Crazed Clan’s power was more important than their lives. Their sacrifices weren’t in vain, at least, since Yong-Seong managed to identify the martial arts masters assisting the Baek Sword Sect.

Meanwhile, the fight between the Four Peerless Wanderers and the four Commanders of Lulin was reaching its end. If Yong-Seong stayed here any longer, he would lose the chance to escape. Hence, Yong-Seong quickly decided to order his men to retreat. The Blood-Crazed Clan’s martial artists quickly began to escape from the area upon receiving his orders.

Even in the midst of his battle against Ja-Gyung, Mu-Gun still noticed Yong-Seong escaping the area. As soon as Mu-Gun saw him, he immediately concluded Yong-Seong was a demonic practitioner of the Nine Celestial Demons Sect. If so, then that evidenced the Nine Celestial Demons Sect was behind the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin. Either way, Mu-Gun had no intention of letting Yong-Seong escape.

However, to catch Yong-Seong, he had to deal with Ja-Gyung first. Ja-Gyung continued to attack without losing any momentum despite the countless injuries all over him. Conscious of Yong-Seong, Mu-Gun unleashed the Heavenly Descent Thunder God Sect’s martial arts, which he had been restraining himself from using. Using Ten Thunderous Tornado Strike, he manifested ten streaks of Thunderbolt Swords from his sword and quickly made them circle around Ja-Gyung, releasing a wave of golden lightning.

Despite being flustered by the attack, which was on an entirely different level from Mu-Gun’s earlier ones, Ja-Gyung still managed to instinctively swing the Twin Spectrum Axes so fast that seeing them with the naked eye became difficult. His weapons released Soul-Crushing Black Wind Energy, which intertwined with the golden lightning that was raging in from all directions. However, the energy dispersed as soon as it collided with the golden lightning.

The golden lightning gradually closed the gap and pierced through Ja-Gyung. Clenching his teeth, Ja-Gyung continued swinging his weapons, but his form was shattered when the golden lightning hit him. Ja-Gyung activated protective vajra qi to defend himself as well, but even that was shredded to pieces. Not long after, the attack finally obliterated Ja-Gyung.

The golden lightning trampled all over Ja-Gyung as his protective vajra qi disappeared into thin air, cutting him countless times until he collapsed to the ground completely covered in blood. Mu-Gun stopped attacking before Ja-Gyung was cut into so many pieces it would have been impossible to piece back his corpse. However, he was still reduced to a bloodied state.

After defeating Ja-Gyung with the Ten Thunderous Tornado Strike, Mu-Gun immediately activated the Thunder God's Shadow with all his might and chased after Yong-Seong and his men, who had already escaped thousands of meters away.

It would have been difficult to catch up to them under normal circumstances, but with the Thunder God’s Shadow, Mu-Gun flew toward them like a ray of light and quickly narrowed the distance between them. The three-thousand-foot gap became two thousand feet, which was then reduced to a thousand. Yong-Seong was surprised upon realizing Mu-Gun was so fast that he had caught up to them and was now less than a thousand feet away. At the very least, Mu-Gun’s movement art was way above theirs.

At this rate, if they just kept running away, Mu-Gun would eventually catch up to them. If so, then it would be better to fight him instead. He was chasing them alone anyway, so Yong-Seong thought that together with his subordinates, killing Mu-Gun would be a piece of cake. In fact, it bothered him that he ran away before he could even do anything. If he killed Mu-Gun, an Absolute-realm master, he thought he would at least be able to save face.

“Let’s take care of that bastard first, then continue on our way.”

Following Yong-Seong’s orders, his subordinates turned around without hesitation and prepared to attack as Mu-Gun narrowed the distance down to five hundred feet. Yong-Seong’s men pulled themselves together and took a deep breath, then concentrated their internal energy, planning to launch an attack with all their might as soon as Mu-Gun came within attacking range. The moment Mu-Gun came within a hundred feet of them, Yong-Seong’s subordinates rushed toward him in unison.

When they did, Mu-Gun tossed the Flying Golden Shield, which was enveloped by a golden thunder qi. It quickly flew toward Yong-Seong’s men, violently rotated, and released waves of golden thunder qi all over the area. Startled, his opponents hurriedly tried to defend themselves from the attack that came from way too close to them.

Failing to block the golden thunder qi, the Peak Realm masters collapsed as they got cut up and their limbs severed. The four Upper Peak Realm masters managed to block the golden lightning, but they still got blasted away, unable to completely absorb the shock. Mu-Gun immediately chased after the four Upper Peak Realm demonic practitioners and used the Celestial Moonlight Sword Art.

However, before he could, a black shadow appeared before him and exuded a pitch-black aura that took the shape of a huge hand. It then grabbed the moonlight sword qi he unleashed and crushed all of them. That technique was known as the Blood-Crazed Monarch Hands—an almighty martial art ranked within the top five Absolute-realm martial arts of the Blood-Crazed Clan.

Mu-Gun quickly stepped away to avoid the shockwave, but Yong-Seong chased after him without delay and reached out his hand again. As a huge hand rampaged toward and tried to grab hold of Mu-Gun, Mu-Gun quickly switched sword arts—from the Celestial Moonlight Sword Art to the Ten Thousand Sky-Shattering Pressure Sword Art—and swung his sword at the pitch-black hands, the Sky-Shattering Destructive Qi that emerged from his weapon suppressing it with ease.

Unable to withstand the immense pressure, the pitch-black hands plunged to the floor and shattered. After destroying it with the Sky Shattering Destructive Qi, Mu-Gun once again switched sword arts, this time using the Heavenly Sea Waves Saber Art. The Thousand Waves Qi pouring out of Mu-Gun’s sword flooded toward Yong-Seong.