Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 211 - Great Toad of the Eastern Sea (2)

Chapter 211 – Great Toad of the Eastern Sea (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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It had the shape of a human, yet it was not human.

Never in my life had I heard of a human with green skin.

I felt I understood why it bore the character wa, frog, in its name. That glossy green skin was unmistakably like a frog’s.

But I could not understand why the character for great had been attached. Its size was merely that of an ordinary human.

After the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea fell, something else came dropping down behind it like hail. What fell were human heads.

“…Urgh.”

They were the heads of the masters from Shaolin, Diancang, and Zhongnan. I barely managed to keep down the nausea rising in my throat.

For some reason, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had brought along all the severed heads of those it had killed. Of course, more shocking than that was the fact that it had disposed of those masters alone.

“This Great King has taken the heads of the enemy commanders.”

To everyone’s astonishment, a human voice came from the mouth of the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.

Its manner of speech and intonation were oddly archaic, yet the voice itself was disgusting, as though thick with phlegm.

“Heh. So that is the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea I’ve heard spoken of. How grotesque.”

Su Je-heon laughed aloud. Su Je-heon too had known of the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s existence. Well, Baek Yu-gyeom must have told him.

“When did this sovereign grant you leave to laugh?”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea spat out those phlegmy words and drew a sword from the worn scabbard at its waist. The instant it drew the blade, a tremendous aura flowed from it.

“…Hah.”

What poured from the sword was not the savage aura the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea itself leaked. Unlike that, the aura emitted by the sword itself felt auspicious.

Looking at that sword, everyone thought the same thing.

“So that is Longyuan.”

Su Je-heon said it. That was right. Longyuan was the sword of that Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. In that sense, the treasure map had not been false after all. The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea truly had been in the Zhoushan Archipelago.

How one of the Eighteen Famous Swords, one of the martial world’s supreme treasures, had ended up in the hands of such a monster was beyond me, but this was not the time to wonder about that.

Cheong-hwa and Namgung Ik edged slowly toward our side while reading the situation. They too had recognized that the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was no ordinary opponent.

Naturally, it looked like they planned to let Su Je-heon and the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea clash while fleeing together with us.

But the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was not so easy.

“When did this sovereign tell you to leave?”

In the blink of an eye, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea slashed at Cheong-hwa. Startled, Cheong-hwa instantly raised his sword to block. The two blades collided right in front of Cheong-hwa’s eyes. That only showed how fast the monster’s sword was.

At once Namgung Ik, Namgung Hwi, and I rushed in as well to attack it. The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea knocked away all four of our swords with swordsmanship bordering on the divine.

It lasted only a moment, a very brief one. The instant my sword touched the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s blade.

And within the energy pulsing inside it, I felt something familiar. Astonishingly, the aura of the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was the same as the energy I had named Primordial Mixed Qi, the fusion of demonic qi and spiritual qi. I had firmly believed that Primordial Mixed Qi was a power unique to me, but apparently it was not.

I stared at the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. Judging by its movements and its eyes, it seemed to possess a madness too deep for rational judgment. Perhaps because of that, it did not appear to realize that I possessed the same kind of aura it did.

After knocking all of us away, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea suddenly flew backward toward Su Je-heon.

Su Je-heon’s sword and the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s sword collided, and an instant later a massive shockwave exploded outward. The nearby sea was driven back and then rushed in again in the form of towering waves.

“No one escapes!”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea let out a tremendous lion’s roar. It was so loud it felt as though my eardrums would burst. In fact, something warm ran from my ears, and when I wiped it with my hand, blood came away.

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea moved back and forth between Su Je-heon and us, trying to kill us all. Strangely enough, though, it did not attack Namgung Hwi or me unless we struck first.

If it had truly targeted us, both Namgung Hwi and I would have lost our heads in a single blow.

The monster’s intent in particular radiated irregularly, scattering like smoke before it could even fully stretch into the air. So this, I thought, was what the intent of a madman looked like.

“You two run first!”

Cheong-hwa shouted.

My master too had noticed that the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was not attacking Namgung Hwi or me.

“Young Master Muk! Let us heed our elders! It doesn’t look as though we’ll be of any help if we stay!”

Namgung Hwi shouted at me. He was not wrong. Even if I unleashed the utmost limit of the swordsmanship I could presently use, I would not be able to leave even a small wound on that creature’s body.

And there was no knowing when that mad Great Toad might change its mind and target us, so it was only right to flee now. Su Je-heon, who should have been pursuing us, was tied down by the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, making this the best chance.

“…”

Yet for some reason, my feet would not move.

“Go!”

Cheong-hwa barked at me again. Without meaning to, I shook my head.

“I don’t think I can.”

“What?”

Namgung Hwi and Cheong-hwa both looked at me at once. It was because I felt the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, which used Primordial Mixed Qi, might provide some clue about the very source of the power I possessed.

“Young Master Namgung, you should go.”

“…No, if Young Master Muk stays, how could I leave?”

“That’s true.”

“Very well. We can’t even use treading on duckweed and crossing water yet, so it’s not as though we have anywhere to flee anyway.”

Namgung Hwi gave up on running away rather easily. Come to think of it, since neither of us could yet use treading on duckweed and crossing water, we had had no real choice from the beginning.

So we stayed on the fringes, waiting only for an opportunity, while Su Je-heon, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, Cheong-hwa, and Namgung Ik continued to clash.

Paradoxical as it was, it felt as though Cheong-hwa and Namgung Ik were only managing to endure against the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea because Su Je-heon was there too. If either of them had to take even a few exchanges in succession against that creature, their heads would likely have been removed at once.

How much time passed like that? Suddenly I sensed more presences approaching from afar. They were the martial artists from the other boats.

“No, what is this…?”

An elder from the Hwangbo Clan whom I had seen before at the Martial Alliance stared at the scene with flustered eyes. The other masters looked equally unable to understand what they were seeing.

They had likely felt the tremendous qi waves and sounds from around Hachido and stopped their search to come running here.

In the end, one by one, the people from the other boats began gathering on Hachido.

They were startled once by the appearance of the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, twice by the severed heads of other masters lying nearby, and a third time by the sight of Su Je-heon and Cheong-hwa crossing swords amidst it all.

“What in the world is going on?”

“How should I know?”

“And that monster?”

“How should I know that either?”

The people whispered among themselves, but none dared join the battle. They did not know why Su Je-heon, Cheong-hwa, and Namgung Ik were crossing swords, and the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s swordsmanship was too fearsome.

And amid that confusion, one more source of confusion was added. Tang Se-ui entered Hachido carrying Peng Chae-hyang on his back.

Come to think of it, Tang Se-ui, Peng Chae-hyang, and the Namgung Clan had all been riding the same boat. It seemed Tang Se-ui had fled in one direction carrying Peng Chae-hyang while Namgung Ik fled in another carrying Namgung Hwi.

Tang Se-ui too had apparently sensed the huge aura and come here first. Right behind him, the experts of the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhuge Clan who had been pursuing him also entered Hachido.

The Mount Hua Sect, the Zhuge Clan, and Tang Se-ui, after setting Peng Chae-hyang down, confronted one another. Seeing the martial artists from the other boats gathered here, the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhuge Clan could not move rashly. It was a complete mess.

“What in the world is going on?”

Someone asked it. Tang Se-ui immediately pointed at the Zhuge Clan and the Mount Hua Sect.

“Those bastards tried to kill us.”

“…What are you talking about?”

The people who had barged into Hachido midway through all of this knew nothing about the situation, so they could only be flustered by Tang Se-ui’s words.

Then Zhuge Gyeom, head of the Zhuge Clan, shamelessly opened his mouth.

“Thousand-Poison Scholar was in truth a spy of the Demonic Cult.”

“That is an outright lie! The Martial Alliance, the Mount Hua Sect, and the Zhuge Clan joined forces and attacked our boat without warning!”

Tang Se-ui protested furiously, but the martial artists did not know what to do.

When events shocking enough on their own erupted all at once, the mind had no choice but to stop.

Even if I stepped in here and stated the truth, Zhuge Gyeom was already lying, so it would only deepen the confusion.

“So many traitors have gathered before me. Are you not afraid for the altars of state!”

Shouting words no one could understand, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea charged into the place where the martial artists were gathered. They recoiled in alarm, drew their swords, and counterattacked. Yet astonishingly, even against the dozens of gathered experts here, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was not driven back.

While it darted among the martial artists exchanging swords, someone suddenly cried out in shock.

“Wait, isn’t that the Heavenly King Sect Leader?”

“What? The Heavenly King Sect Leader?”

It seemed someone had recognized the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. Of course, as it swung its sword like one who had wholly lost reason, it did not seem to hear them.

“I think it is. Aside from the color of his skin, he looks exactly like the Heavenly King Sect Leader.”

Several people spoke one after another. They were all describing the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea as the Heavenly King Sect Leader.

“I did think the face looked familiar. Now that you mention it, it is the Heavenly King Sect Leader.”

Su Je-heon clicked his tongue. It was a startling truth. The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had once been the sect leader of the Heavenly King Sect, which had been exterminated ten years ago.

The disappearance of the Heavenly King Sect was one of the representative marvels of the jianghu. The revelation that its sect leader was here, mad and covered in unprecedented green skin, seemed to shock everyone.

Personally, I had not been a martial artist back then and had cared little about the disappearance of the Heavenly King Sect, so I was not sure why it was quite so astonishing.

“Heavenly King Sect Leader, regain your senses! Don’t you remember me?”

“Silence. How dare the dogs of traitors address this sovereign!”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea cleanly severed the neck of the martial artist who approached while trying to speak to it.

“It’s insane!”

People were enraged by the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s merciless killing stroke. But being enraged was one thing. None of that changed the fact that no one could keep up with its sword or its movements.

“It’s a mad monster! Everyone, flee!”

Realizing they could not defeat the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, the martial artists scattered in all directions. No matter how fast the Great Toad might be, if peak masters and above scattered apart, surely it could not catch them all.

But the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was a being far beyond what any of us had imagined.

“I said it. This sovereign did not permit it.”

Speaking in a low voice, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea stamped the ground with a shock step. From the point where its foot landed, an immense wave of compressed air burst out. Those concentric ripples of force spread even to the sea.

The once-calm sea instantly rose into violent waves.

Treading on duckweed and crossing water meant spreading exceedingly delicate qi through the soles of one’s feet to walk upon water. But that was only possible on calm water. Walking violent waves required a realm far beyond mere treading on duckweed and crossing water.

“Aaaagh!”

The martial artists immediately lost their balance and fell into the waves. Worse still, the great waves hurled them back toward the sands of Hachido.

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was already difficult to face even with both feet planted on land. Naturally, the masters thrashing helplessly in the water were turned into lonely souls by its lightest sword stroke.

It was an overwhelming sight. They said that when martial arts reached the extreme, they touched nature itself. To call up towering waves from a formerly tranquil sea was almost awe-inspiring.

“Heh. It truly isn’t human.”

Even Su Je-heon, one of the very strongest here, was aghast at the sight. He seemed to have concluded that even he could no longer seize Longyuan from the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.

Perhaps for that reason, while the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea plunged into the waves to slaughter people, Su Je-heon gathered the people of the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhuge Clan and broke through at a single point.

No matter how rough the waves were, among Su Je-heon’s group were Violet Mist Divine Sword, Ink Sword Hero, and no fewer than two of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven. If those two joined forces to break through the waves, then perhaps it was not impossible. It seemed that men on the level of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven really could escape even from a monster like that.

Of course, among them, the martial artists of lower cultivation were swallowed by the raging waves and dragged back onto Hachido. From the start, it seemed they had had no intention of saving the weaker ones. The only three who got out were Zhuge Gyeom, Gu Jinqing, and Su Je-heon.

“Those heaven-forsaken bastards…!”

Watching the three flee, people ground their teeth, but they could not stop them.

And once even the martial artists’ will to fight had been lost, what followed was simply one-sided slaughter by the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea.

Torsos fell into the sea, and the waves washed the entrails spilling from them back toward the shore. It was a true hellscape unfolding upon Hachido.

“Young Master Muk!”

A small voice called out to me. It was Peng Chae-hyang approaching us. Behind her, Tang Se-ui followed, covering her.

“It’s a relief you’re still alive.”

“…Up to now, yes.”

At my words, Peng Chae-hyang answered in a despairing voice.

I nodded. Right now, it was true that there seemed to be nothing we could do but wait for the moment that mad Great Toad of the Eastern Sea killed us as well.

“If we’re going to die anyway, there’s something I need to say.”

Peng Chae-hyang looked at me with grim resolve. What could she mean? If we were going to die anyway, something she needed to say?

Before any words could leave her mouth, I covered it with my hand.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Miss Peng. Let’s hear those words later. If I hear them now, it really feels like we’ll die.”

With her mouth covered, Peng Chae-hyang glared at me as though asking what I thought I was doing.

“Because there is still a chance we might live.”

I raised my Primordial Mixed Qi.