Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 212 - Great Toad of the Eastern Sea (3)

Chapter 212 – Great Toad of the Eastern Sea (3)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Master.”

“Yes.”

“Please hold the line here.”

“…What?”

Leaving Cheong-hwa’s dumbfounded answer behind, I shot forward at once.

“Hui-yeong!”

Cheong-hwa’s voice faded behind me. I immediately filled my sword with Primordial Mixed Qi and charged the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. Seen from up close, its glossy green skin looked even more grotesque.

“You monster bastard, look at me!”

Shouting that, I chopped my sword down. The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea casually blocked it away with one hand as though I were annoying. Hand met sword, and yet the thing that tore open was my palm. Its hand was as hard as if it had been forged from steel.

“Young subject. Do not test this sovereign’s magnanimity. The only reason you still live is because you are still young. It is no crime to have been brainwashed by the wrong teachings of traitors.”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea spoke to me in a grave tone. Ah, so that was why it had refrained from attacking Namgung Hwi and me as much as possible. Mad monster though it was, it seemed to possess convictions of its own.

“Shut up, frog bastard!”

I withdrew my sword and at once unfolded the Nine Nether Asura Sword. At the same time, I deployed Dragon Splendor Soaring Wind Dance to add rotational force.

The third form of the Nine Nether Asura Sword. The whirlwind created by Heaven’s Ruin, Silent Extinction grew fiercer and wider in diameter.

Boom!

Sand flew up together with the sound of water bursting apart. But the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea lightly pierced straight through the whirlwind head-on. A green hand emerged from the whirlwind and seized my throat.

“Kgh!”

The moment it grabbed my neck, all strength fled my body.

“Young Master Muk!”

“Hui-yeong!”

People came running from directly behind me. It was Peng Chae-hyang and my master. While everyone else was busy fleeing the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, they were the only two rushing toward it.

With Longyuan in its other hand, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea easily drove back Cheong-hwa and Peng Chae-hyang.

“As a rule, I do not like to kill the young. For youth is the future of Great Ming. But a yellow shoot like you may be put down with no regret.”

I could feel the force squeezing my neck gradually increase. As my acupoints were pressed, my mind began to dim. Yet in a way, this was my chance.

Because direct contact with the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was exactly what I had been waiting for. This was the only method I had thought of.

Until now, I had absorbed countless strands of demonic qi. That was because I was the Patriarch of Demonic Qi.

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s Primordial Mixed Qi was also a fusion of demonic qi and spiritual qi, so it should respond to my own demonic qi.

I grabbed the green wrist that held my throat. The sensation under my palm was cold and unfamiliar, like touching a reptile.

“…!”

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s eyes filled with shock. But I too was equally startled.

Its internal energy did seem to be dragged toward me, yet only halfway before the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea seized it back as though reeling it in again.

Apparently shocked by the sensation of its internal energy being drained, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea flung me away. I bounced across the ground and flew back toward where my master stood.

“Hui-yeong!”

Just before I could be thrown farther, Cheong-hwa stepped in and caught me in his arms. So instead of flying farther, I ended up in Cheong-hwa’s embrace.

I lifted my head and looked at him holding me.

“Master. You saw it, didn’t you? The only one who can possibly catch the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea is me.”

“…”

Cheong-hwa must have seen it as well. The moment the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea recoiled in alarm and tossed me away. It was the first time that creature, which had shown absolute dominance until now, had truly been frightened.

I tried to slip from Cheong-hwa’s arms and go at the Great Toad again. In its reaction just now, I had glimpsed a possibility. In any case, if that monstrous Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was to be defeated, Primordial Mixed Qi was essential. And I alone possessed it.

“No.”

But Cheong-hwa only tightened his hold and bound me more firmly.

“Even if you truly are the only one who can defeat that monster, I still will not allow it. How can a master send his disciple ahead in his stead?”

“There are times for that too. Aren’t you being too conservative?”

I said it half in jest as I tried to wriggle free, but Cheong-hwa only hugged me more tightly.

“…I do not want to lose any more of my people!”

I was startled. The cry was not merely sorrowful but desperate. At once I thought of Martial Uncle Cheong-su, the former master of the Melody Hall.

Though he had never shown it before us, had Master missed Martial Uncle Cheong-su that much?

I had let him know that Cheong-su was alive, but if they could never meet again for the rest of their lives, what comfort could that really be? Cheong-su’s disappearance from Wudang seemed to have remained a deep wound in Cheong-hwa’s heart.

“You are my disciple. At least before my eyes, you must not go ahead of me. You must not.”

By now my master’s voice had grown choked. No matter how long he had practiced the Dao, he too was still only one small human being. An ordinary person who did not wish to lose his family.

“But if this continues, everyone will die.”

“And if you go, that does not mean they will live.”

“They might live. You saw how it reacted.”

This time I wrapped my arms around Cheong-hwa instead. I could feel my master’s pounding heart.

The sensation of two heartbeats overlapping calmed a person. It was something I had learned from Senior Brother Myeong-gyeong.

“Please trust me just once. I have never once failed to live up to your expectations.”

“Even so…”

I carefully slipped free of Cheong-hwa’s grasp. He tried to catch me again, then suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“Y-you madman…!”

I smiled awkwardly. While hugging Master just now, I had lightly pressed the numbing acupoint. Of course, I had pressed it only weakly so that it would release almost at once, but it was enough time for me to break away.

Watching me escape, Cheong-hwa ground his teeth.

“What disciple in this world uses acupoint sealing on his own master!”

“We are hardly an ordinary master-disciple pair.”

I sent voice transmission to Namgung Ik, asking him to look after Cheong-hwa only until the numbing acupoint released. At once Namgung Ik moved over to Cheong-hwa and hauled him away.

By now the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had resumed slaughtering the other martial artists. Even so, thanks to the time I had bought, it seemed a few had managed to escape these waves.

Of course, only a tiny number could do so. I had no intention of standing by and watching more meaningless deaths.

‘Ridiculous.’

I let out a bitter laugh. Since when had I ever cared about the deaths of others?

My only interest had always been money, and I had believed that was the professional spirit of a merchant.

It struck me anew just how much I had changed. In my previous life, I would have accepted Baek Yu-gyeom’s offer, and even here I would never have stepped forward.

But to not step forward now, there were things within my chest that kept poking at me, indescribable things that prickled and would not leave me alone. When one was young, there were such things as growing pains.

Then perhaps what I was doing now was trying to create within myself some small fragment of chivalry.

“Hoo.”

I did not know. I did not even know whether what I had was truly chivalry or not. I had spoken of chivalry to Baek Yu-gyeom, but I had never actually felt it with certainty.

But that was not what mattered right now. I was merely moving according to the cry of my own heart.

When I charged at the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea again, it vanished with a quickness it had not shown before, whereas until now it had dealt with me as though I were only a nuisance.

It now seemed to have no intention whatsoever of letting itself be caught by me. The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea was clearly wary of me. It shouted out.

“O Son of Heaven! Has madness seeped even into your marrow!”

It was a ridiculous thing to say. To any onlooker, the one buried in madness was the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea itself.

“Since the Son of Heaven has gone mad, I shall personally grant him peace.”

By then the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had already closed the distance to me. With its movements beyond what I could follow, and in a situation where I could not even read its intent, there was no way I could keep up with a monster whose single sword stroke severed even peak masters’ heads.

Thrust!

Until now, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had beheaded every person it killed. But with me, it did something different. It pierced my heart.

“Forgive this disloyalty.”

“…Kgh.”

Was that, in its own way, a sign of respect? But even if it was respect, that did not make it hurt any less.

My vision went white, and my mind dimmed.

From behind me I heard people shouting my name. But even those voices had already become too distant to make out clearly.

With all the strength I had left, I seized the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea’s wrist. But its internal energy did not budge, as though it were a lump of stone.

The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea pulled its sword free. I fell flat on my back staring at the sky. Blood poured from my chest and soaked along my spine.

I could hear my breathing growing shallower, and each time my punctured heart tried to beat, I could feel blood gushing out in heaving spurts.

What should I have done? I had certainly done my best. After all, if I had simply done nothing, everyone here would have died.

Wait. The thought hit me just then. If I died now, would all those people over there die too?

“Kgh, hack!”

Blood burst from my mouth. I had almost no time left.

If it could be called fortunate, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had not touched my dantian. That was why, even with my heart destroyed, I was somehow still alive now.

All the internal energy I had gathered until now in my qihai acupoint was moving to take over the function of my heart.

Gradually, it felt as though the earth itself were warmly embracing me. It was a familiar aura.

Ah. Deep beneath the ground of Hachido, Primordial Mixed Qi had sunk in. If I had not been lying here this long, I would never have known. For that Primordial Mixed Qi was flowing deep underground.

It was likely proof that the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea had lived here a very long time. If its aura had seeped so deeply into the earth, that could only be the case.

A thought suddenly came to me. My Primordial Mixed Qi was still alive. I was still the Patriarch of Demonic Qi.

Could I move the Primordial Mixed Qi flowing deep under the earth like a water vein? I turned over the hand that had been facing the sky and pressed it against the ground.

Astonishingly, I was able to move the Primordial Mixed Qi deep below the earth. Even on the verge of death, I was still the Patriarch of Demonic Qi.

Rumble.

All of Hachido shook. It was a burst of power spent at the edge of death.

Then suddenly the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea turned deathly pale and cried out.

“No!”

Why had something so fast and so strong remained on Hachido all this time? Perhaps there was something upon Hachido that the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea treasured. It seemed my guess had been right.

Turning deathly pale, the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea immediately rushed inward across Hachido.

If so, then the method for separating the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea from the people became simple. One need only shake all of Hachido and threaten it.

Boom. Perhaps I had shaken it too hard, because I could even hear the ground splitting apart. I had amplified and detonated all the Primordial Mixed Qi flowing within the earth. More precisely, I had ordered the demonic qi contained within that Primordial Mixed Qi to self-destruct. Fortunately, it obeyed me well.

“Th-the island is collapsing!”

I heard people shouting that in unison. I had destroyed the very ground supporting Hachido. With a tremendous roar, the earth tilted and trees came crashing down.

I was collapsing the entire island. I still lay flat upon the ground. I turned my head to look toward where my master was.

“Hui-yeong!”

Master was stretching out a hand toward me, but because of the aftereffects of the numbing acupoint, he still could not fly over with lightness skill. Namgung Ik and Tang Se-ui, carrying Peng Chae-hyang and Namgung Hwi on their backs, were dragging Cheong-hwa away from the island from either side.

The island broke apart and began to sink into the sea.

The white sea, like the dawn, came washing toward the sandy shore where I lay and swept away the island, the severed heads and bodies of the masters tumbling about, and the life I had spent weathered by decades of wind and frost.

Underwater, everything seemed slow. I watched the island being swallowed by the sea in slow motion. It was a magnificent sight.

In the midst of it all, I also saw the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea, bleeding and unconscious, falling into the water. No matter how great a master it was, once the entire island collapsed, it could hardly have emerged unharmed after rushing into the very center.

My consciousness too was slowly fading. To be honest, the fact that I had made it this far with my heart pierced was already close to a miracle.

And as I lost consciousness and sank into the sea, something strange entered my vision.

It was one enormous statue fragment. It looked to be at least sixty cheok long, overwhelmingly huge. Judging by its dress, it seemed to be an emperor. A golden emperor statue stood imposingly beneath the sea, cast entirely in gold.

And at the emperor’s feet rose a mound like a tomb. Then I experienced something astonishing.

The eyes of the emperor statue looked at me.

Was the hereditary madness of my family finally flaring up just before death? The golden emperor statue slowly moved its hand and wrapped it around me as I sank.