Chapter 303 – Drawing Pictures with Blood on White Snow (3)

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Discord

One side was a member of the Four Divine Emperors who had established himself as a legend of the martial world long ago.

The other side was the master of Rock Cliff Stream, one of the Demon Cult’s Thirteen Branches.

Their clash was truly terrifying.

CRASH! CRASH!

Every time they collided, the ground split and enormous trees were uprooted and sent flying.

CLATTER!

Dozens of Dan Gong-wol’s silver chains stretched out like snakes to target Seok Mu-gang’s vital points. In response, Seok Mu-gang’s entire body radiated momentum as solid as Mount Tai.

Rock Cliff Stream was rock.

Solid and unwavering like a massive rock – that was its essence.

Seok Mu-gang was a man faithful to the teachings of Rock Cliff Stream.

WHOOSH!

Every time he moved his body, fierce momentum radiated outward.

“Die! Old man.”

Seok Mu-gang flew his body forward ferociously.

CLANG!

The silver chains could not handle his body and were deflected. But Dan Gong-wol did not panic in the slightest and spread his palm to smoothly redirect his body. At the same time, he skillfully wielded the silver chains to attack Seok Mu-gang.

“Magnificent.”

Watching this scene, Dan Woon-hyang could not help but exclaim in admiration.

Though he was an enemy, Dan Gong-wol’s martial prowess was truly terrifying. He was not pushed back even an inch against the master of Rock Cliff Stream, one of the Thirteen Branches. Considering the fact that he was deeply wounded and exhausted, it felt even more magnificent.

“To reach that level, he must have wounded the Cult Leader.”

In other words, if he had not been wounded fighting the Cult Leader, even Seok Mu-gang would not be able to match him.

The masters of the Thirteen Branches could not all have identical martial arts. Among them, levels would naturally be divided, and exceptionally outstanding ones would exist.

Seok Mu-gang was certainly an outstanding one. He was young and his martial arts were strong enough to rank among the upper tier of the Thirteen Branch masters. Considering his age, it was an unbelievable achievement.

That’s why she had been very pleased when he said he would join forces with her. But on the other hand, it was also true that she felt regretful.

“Old man.”

The person she thought of at this moment was none other than Cheon Oh-gyeong.

The head of Sword Stream, one of the same Thirteen Branches as Seok Mu-gang. But his martial prowess could not compare to Seok Mu-gang’s.

Even when all the other masters of the Thirteen Branches had changed, he was still the master of Sword Stream.

When Dan Woon-hyang was young, he still had that same appearance, and even now that Dan Woon-hyang had aged, he looked exactly the same.

Even within the Demon Cult, there was no one who knew exactly how many years he had lived. He had almost no contact with the Demon Cult either. But the symbolic significance he held within the Thirteen Branches was beyond imagination.

Dan Woon-hyang deeply regretted not being able to draw in such a Cheon Oh-gyeong. If only he had been there, they could have easily subdued Dan Gong-wol without Seok Mu-gang having to struggle like this.

“But why did that old man crawl here so desperately?”

A light of suspicion appeared on Dan Woon-hyang’s face.

As far as she knew, Dan Gong-wol had no connection to this place at all. There was no reason he had to flee here while seriously wounded. Yet Dan Gong-wol had come all the way here, even drawing in Geom Yul-cheon.

“What’s the reason? The reason that old man had to risk his life to come here.”

Dan Woon-hyang looked around her surroundings.

Only then did the surrounding scenery enter her view.

It was ruins that seemed to have been abandoned very long ago. Only the occasional foundation stones spoke of past glory.

Deep furrows formed in Dan Woon-hyang’s brow visible above her red silk.

“What on earth?”

A light of suspicion arose in her eyes.

Dan Woon-hyang had wandered the world her entire life as the Holy Maiden of the Demon Cult. Therefore, she prided herself on knowing every corner of the world.

As far as she knew, there were almost no civilian homes on the snowy mountains. This was because of the perpetual snow that didn’t melt even in midsummer. For such large-scale ruins to exist in such a place.

‘With this scale, hundreds or even thousands of people could have lived here. If that many people had lived here, our cult couldn’t have been unaware of it.’

It was when Dan Woon-hyang’s suspicions were deepening.

CRASH!

An enormous roar incomparable to anything before echoed throughout.

“What?”

Dan Woon-hyang quickly turned her head. Then she saw a massive rock that had been under Death Cliff shatter and scatter in all directions. And she saw Seok Mu-gang with a somewhat bewildered expression extending his fist.

Just moments before, Seok Mu-gang had unleashed his fist energy.

Even with the same energy, the power differs according to the quality of concentrated internal energy. The energy unleashed by a master of Seok Mu-gang’s level would naturally have power beyond imagination. But Dan Gong-wol had deflected such fist energy from Seok Mu-gang. He had changed the direction of the fist energy flying toward him and made it strike the massive rock under Death Cliff directly. Thus, the house-sized rock was shattered by Seok Mu-gang’s fist energy.

While Seok Mu-gang hesitated momentarily in surprise at this, Dan Gong-wol flew his body toward the rock. More precisely, toward the black cave that was revealed after the rock shattered.

Dan Gong-wol’s figure disappeared into the darkness of the cave in an instant. Only then did Seok Mu-gang realize that Dan Gong-wol had used his power to shatter the rock that had been blocking the cave, and he burst with indignation.

“How dare the old man mock me?”

Without thinking further, he flew his body after Dan Gong-wol.

“Wait a moment…”

Dan Woon-hyang cried out belatedly, but Seok Mu-gang had already disappeared into the cave.

Dan Woon-hyang shook her head.

The black cave without a single point of light felt ominous. But having come this far, she had no choice but to enter.

Eventually, Dan Woon-hyang also flew her body toward the cave.

After they disappeared and considerable time had passed, someone revealed themselves.

A man with disheveled black hair wearing a torn black windbreaker robe – it was Dam-ho.

Dam-ho briefly looked around his surroundings.

Traces of battle were clearly visible everywhere. It was certain that someone had fought here before he arrived.

The black cave that gaped open like the mouth of hell entered Dam-ho’s view. Dam-ho moved his steps toward the cave without hesitation.

As soon as he entered the cave, he felt a chilling coldness. The cave felt full of damp energy, as if it had been sealed for a very long time.

Step! Step!

Dam-ho’s footsteps struck the cave walls and echoed several times louder. The echoes did not subside easily and spread far and wide.

It felt as if the entire cave was like a giant resonating chamber.

Still, Dam-ho silently moved his steps.

Not hurrying, slowly.

Though it was darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, Dam-ho’s eyes were piercing through beyond the darkness. Patterns and pictures of unknown meaning were carved on the cave walls. Dam-ho briefly stopped walking and looked at the pictures carved on the wall.

The patterns and pictures were very faint, showing how old they were. The moment Dam-ho touched them, the wall crumbled and fell apart.

Dam-ho removed his hand and looked at the pictures. Pictures whose forms could not even be recognized due to faded and blurred colors. But among them, there was one picture whose colors still remained vivid.

A snake with two heads. A pair of large wings were attached to its body.

It was a Double-Headed Flying Winged Serpent that did not exist in reality.

The heads of the Double-Headed Flying Winged Serpent were looking in different directions, but only the eyes were distinctly yellow.

The bright yellow pupils were so vivid that they made one feel as if the Double-Headed Flying Winged Serpent was alive.

Dam-ho looked at the Double-Headed Flying Winged Serpent for quite a while.

“Two heads…”

What meaning was contained within it could not be known for now. But truth was like an awl in a pocket – it would be revealed someday.

It was when Dam-ho was looking at the picture like this.

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, a strong resonance was felt from inside the cave, and intense wind rushed forth. Thanks to this, Dam-ho’s hair and windbreaker robe fluttered.

CRASH! CRASH!

Following this, violent roars echoed along the cave walls. The entire cave vibrated as if an earthquake had occurred. Stone fragments fell from the ceiling, and water pooled on the floor kept splashing up, soaking Dam-ho’s pants.

Dam-ho moved his steps toward the inside of the cave.

He never hurried.

With all his muscles relaxed, he moved one step, then another step toward the source of the roars.

How far had he gone like this?

At the point where the narrow cave ended, a faint light was visible.

ROAR!

From there, rough air currents were surging along with the usual roars. It was when Dam-ho was walking toward that place.

FLASH!

Suddenly, a black shadow popped out from there.

It was a shadow holding a sword stained with fresh blood. The black shadow wearing a mask over its head was very surprised by Dam-ho’s appearance and gasped ‘Huh!’ But that was only momentary, and immediately swung the sword fiercely toward Dam-ho.

WHINE!

Sword wind filled the narrow cave.

Dam-ho clenched his fist tightly and leaped toward the sword wind.

CRASH!

With one Explosive Star Strike, the sword wind that had been blowing so fiercely disappeared like a lie.

An ordinary martial artist would have their fighting spirit broken by one of Dam-ho’s Explosive Star Strikes. But the black shadow that attacked Dam-ho was not an ordinary martial artist.

“Not bad.”

Along with a heavy bass voice, the sword in the masked person’s hand underwent a change.

HISS!

His sword flew toward Dam-ho’s vital points like a venomous snake.

Commonly, martial artists who had reached a certain level would unconsciously use techniques like sword energy or sword force to maximize the power of their sword. But the masked person was different.

He maximized the subtle principles inherent in the sword without drawing up sword energy or the like.

Dam-ho’s eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Dam-ho had faced countless martial artists until now. Among them were many who could be called absolute masters, and there were many martial artists who had achieved mastery with the sword.

The masked person’s swordsmanship was not inferior to any of the sword masters Dam-ho had faced until now. No, he rather thought it was a level above.

The technique the masked person was deploying was the Three Elements Sword Method.

Ordinary movements of cutting, thrusting, and slashing that all martial world people knew. But the masked person was skillfully mixing these three movements to target Dam-ho’s weak points.

HISS!

Sharp sounds of cutting through air continuously echoed in the darkness.

The reverse energy contained in the sword was extraordinary. Every time the masked person swung his sword, the air split and screamed.

The masked person was perfectly dominating inside the cave. But his opponent was wrong. The one he was facing was none other than Dam-ho.

He deployed his charging technique.

His body rushed forward at a frightening speed like a battering ram.

It was inside a narrow cave. There was nowhere to escape. Only a collision of force against force awaited.

CRASH!

“Hmm!”

With the collision, the masked person let out a stifled groan.

Blood traces showed at the corners of the masked person’s mouth.

For a moment, a bewildered light arose in his eyes.

‘To encounter the Fist Demon in this place of all places.’

If you grabbed all the martial artists in the world and asked who they least wanted to meet, one hundred out of one hundred would all answer the Fist Demon.

This was the same for the masked person as well.

‘It’s still too early.’

He was someone he would meet someday, but it was the masked person’s honest feeling that he wanted to delay it as much as possible.

As a result of directly clashing, the Fist Demon was strong. No matter how much he applied ordinary techniques, he was not an opponent who could be defeated.

That spine-chilling intimidation and beast-like gaze were pressuring him.

Eventually, the masked person had to make a decision.

“CHAAAAAT!”

Along with a loud battle cry, his sword underwent a change.

Flowers began to bloom in the darkness.

Pure white flower petals heralding the brilliant beginning of spring.

For a moment, Dam-ho’s pupils, which had been emotionless, shook for the first time.

“Plum blossoms?”

The flowers the masked person had bloomed were definitely plum blossoms.

Countless sword techniques exist in the world, and among them, quite a few emit flower-shaped sword energy. But there is only one sect in the world that has sword techniques that emit plum blossoms.

Mount Hua Sect.

No other sect can bloom plum blossoms.

Dam-ho recognized the identity of the sword technique the masked person was deploying at a glance.

“Twenty-Four Step Plum Blossom Sword?”

The ultimate sword technique that only Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Masters could learn.

WHOOSH!

Mount Hua’s supreme learning was being deployed not at Mount Hua but by someone who was not a Mount Hua disciple.