Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 132 - A Beast Born to Fight
Chapter 132 – A Beast Born to Fight
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Is there truly no way?”
Peng Hak-gyeong, the Council Elder from the Peng family, glared as if to devour the aged man seated before him with his piercing eyes.
But Council Head Immortal Neung-gwang brushed off Peng Hak-gyeong’s gaze with perfect composure and replied.
“Did I not tell you? That boy, Mad Dragon, is slated to serve as a cornerstone for a grand plan that the Military Affairs Division and the Martial Alliance Leader’s Office are devising. And if a martial artist drawing such attention is harmed, what will people think?”
“That’s why I said we’d disguise it as an accident!”
“Why would you try to harm an innocent young man when the Peng family’s flaw has already been exposed?”
-Sip.
Immortal Neung-gwang calmly sipped his tea while grating on Peng Hak-gyeong’s nerves. He was essentially saying: why are you trying to harm someone else when your own people did something shameful?
Peng Hak-gyeong clenched his fist beneath the tea table yet continued speaking calmly.
“I too find that Peng Hyeok detestable for his petty scheming, and I’m endlessly ashamed of the Family Head who raised him that way. But when that man publicly crippled a son of the Peng family… can I just stand by and watch?”
“Stand by and watch.”
“Listen here, Neunggwang! Are you trying to play word games with me?!”
When Peng Hak-gyeong slammed the tea table with a bang…
“…”
Immortal Neung-gwang slowly raised his gaze to meet Peng Hak-gyeong’s eyes. After about the time it took to blink four or five times…
Peng Hak-gyeong’s eyelids trembled before he lowered his head. Immortal Neung-gwang slowly nodded and spoke.
“That child Ju-seong, the Mad Dragon, has done great favors for the Zhuge family heir, and has even received a token of gratitude from the Emei Sect. Personally, he’s also friends with Song-un, a treasure of our Wudang Mountain.”
“Hah…!”
Peng Hak-gyeong let out an incredulous scoff. When had that thunderclap clown formed ties with such important figures?!
To forge connections with great sects at such a young age… truly extraordinary skill.
If this was the case, surely…
“If you’re thinking of cutting him down before he grows, put that thought away.”
Immortal Neung-gwang’s sharp words cut into Peng Hak-gyeong’s thoughts. Having his mind read, Peng Hak-gyeong looked at Immortal Neung-gwang in surprise.
“That boy’s talent is of a level that appears only three or four times in a generation. A great battle will soon loom over jianghu… We need a sharp blade.”
Immortal Neung-gwang too was a weathered old monster of the martial world. He also viewed Ju-seong merely as a means to an end. A tool that couldn’t be broken yet because it still had uses.
Peng Hak-gyeong snorted and rose from his seat.
“Hmph, just don’t cut your hand on that blade!”
Immortal Neung-gwang calmly tidied up the tea table and replied.
“I’m past the age for swinging blades. All I can do is hope the Martial Alliance Leader and Chief Strategist do well…”
Just then, Immortal Neung-gwang sensed a wave of energy from far in the distance.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
Peng Hak-gyeong might not know, but Immortal Neung-gwang was a martial artist who had achieved Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.
A realm that the world crudely called ‘super-peak.’
Originally, understanding of energy and internal power was the primary factor in advancing realms.
Though Immortal Neung-gwang’s abilities were less than half of half what they’d been in his prime, his energy sense remained as sharp as ever.
‘I sense the residue of demonic arts. Jianghu is originally like a sandbar where fine dust accumulates layer upon layer… Even a gentle breeze can bring troubled times.’
Immortal Neung-gwang narrowed his eyes and gazed northward.
“This generation’s jianghu will truly become a wind-swept world.”
“When has it ever not been so?”
Immortal Neung-gwang chuckled and nodded.
“That’s also true.”
* * *
Ju-seong’s chest felt heavy.
“Did we get him” was not something to be carelessly uttered. Fate was mischievous by nature, and when you spoke wishes aloud, it invariably granted the opposite.
The same happened now.
-Whoosh!
Ju-seong twisted his body in alarm as two streaks of blade energy shot from the dust cloud, passing before and behind him.
Then, giving no time to breathe, the man burst out and brought a hand-blade down at Ju-seong.
He was already an exceptional martial artist who could imbue even his blunt hands with sharpness.
A great swordsman could contain a sword even in his sword fingers, and a deeply enlightened saber expert could form a blue blade in his hand-blade.
Ju-seong performed Red Lotus Palm with both hands, using the Grafting Flower technique to deflect the hand-blade.
-Crack!
A strange sound came from Ju-seong’s forearm. He’d taken damage deflecting such a powerful slash.
But it wasn’t entirely meaningless.
Having deflected one attack and closed the distance, Ju-seong began executing his grappling technique.
‘No matter how good you are, you couldn’t have mastered grappling too…!’
But Ju-seong had underestimated the man. This man was like a fighting ghost incarnate, having dabbled in every martial art there was.
‘He’s not a complete master, but his grip strength is too strong.’
Grappling was originally a technique that required strong grip strength to use properly. Even if you didn’t fully understand its subtleties, strong grip could compensate to some degree.
And this mad man had grip strength that was simply inhuman.
‘Damn, I should have noticed when he was using those two sabers!’
Fundamentally, a blade is a weapon that uses centrifugal force.
A human arm moves around the axis of the shoulder, and the weapon in hand follows that movement.
Centrifugal force gives power but takes away control.
If you’re only wielding a one-handed sword or saber, you can get help from your lower body or waist.
But to swing weapons in both hands simultaneously, you can only use arm strength.
To wield solid chunks of metal with both arms while maintaining perfect control?
Obviously, one would need inhuman grip strength.
-Crunch!
The man’s grip seized Ju-seong’s wrist and yanked, then grabbed his belt with the other hand.
Ju-seong tried to anchor himself using the Thousand-Pound Weight technique…
“Hryaaah!”
The man lifted Ju-seong with bizarrely powerful legs and arm strength and slammed him down.
“Guh…!”
Ju-seong felt his chest getting crushed.
The barbarians of the north tested strong warriors by grappling bare-handed to contest strength.
His build and appearance did resemble a northerner. So that’s why he displayed such rough northern wrestling.
But Ju-seong hadn’t been idle either.
“Damn!”
The man startled and flung Ju-seong away, retreating.
Several strands of Heavenly Silkworm Silk constricted where the man had just been, squeezing empty air.
Not fast enough to fully escape, over a dozen blood lines were carved into the man’s forearm.
Exploiting that opening, Red Beggar rushed in and suddenly tumbled into a handstand.
-Boom boom boom!
From the handstand, palm force aimed at the man’s legs blasted the ground apart.
As the man leaped to avoid it, Cho Yu-gyeong hurled fierce sword energy in an X pattern.
Ju-seong took two Kunlun Iron throwing knives in both hands and flung them at the man before leaping up himself.
Suspended in midair, the man experienced time slowing to a syrupy crawl through extreme focus.
A sensation only felt in the most exhilarating battles.
He began moving both hands like blades, a mad grin on his lips.
-Slash!
The sword energy flying in an X was split and dissipated by his slashing left hand. Simultaneously, his left hand split open with a deep gash.
-Bang, bang!
His right hand left afterimages as it swung left and right, knocking away the two throwing knives Ju-seong had sent.
But Ju-seong had used the Mother-Child Dart technique, hiding needles behind the knives.
The man didn’t panic, quickly pulling his left hand to catch the needle on his forearm.
“Ugh!”
Ju-seong had already loaded the Purple Gold Centipede’s paralysis poison onto the needle.
The man furrowed his brow and used his right hand to seal the acupoints on his left arm.
The poison wouldn’t spread further, but now he couldn’t use his left hand.
Red Beggar and Cho Yu-gyeong charged again, scraping out every last bit of internal energy to unleash their finishing moves.
Cho Yu-gyeong drew out thirty-six sword energies at once.
Waves that crashed and crashed again through long years until they finally shattered rock.
Behind the sword energy, another layer of energy at the same interval and output overlapped, and overlapped again.
The thirty-six sword energies had slightly different speeds, merging into one at the intended impact point.
And that point was precisely where the man stood.
Red Beggar poured out undulating palm force like two dragons from his joined palms.
The man ground his teeth and concentrated internal energy into his right hand.
Dark crimson blade energy began rising like heat shimmer…
-Hiss…
The smoky, wavering energy slowly began to condense and organize.
As if spreading wrinkled fabric taut…
‘Blade Aura Materialization?’
Fortunately, it wasn’t perfect materialized aura. Ju-seong had once witnessed the Blade Aura his master could wield.
But even so, this was an tremendous achievement.
Joy flashed like sparks in the man’s eyes.
“I’ve reached it…!”
So muttering, he brought down his right hand… no, right blade.
The finishing moves from both men were sliced apart and crumbled by a single swing. But…
“Getting that excited over a new toy, are we.”
Before anyone noticed, Ju-seong’s form was suspended in the air, back to the bright full moon.
Like the black clouds of Sichuan, a single palm would fill the entire sky.
Fifth technique of the Three Yang Fist’s latter half, the final technique.
“Myriad Heavens Palm.”
A mass of crimson palm force popped from Ju-seong’s hand.
And as it fell, the palm’s shape distorted, only growing madly in size until it covered everything.
A single move that transcended martial form, approaching pure energy technique.
-BOOM!
The ground caved in, and red flames spread from where the man stood, turning orange, then yellow as they faded outward.
A charred silhouette burst from that terrible inferno and fled into the blood-soaked inn.
-Hissss…!
He rolled once in the blood pooled on the floor to extinguish the heat, then…
-Crunch, crunch.
He suddenly tore out the raw liver from a corpse on the floor and began devouring it.
The party had already used their best techniques and sustained minor injuries, with no strength left to stop him.
They could only stare with stunned faces at the pitch-black monster committing this act of inhuman consumption.
The monster seemed to have recovered some energy, for he rose with a nonchalant air, looked at Ju-seong, and spoke.
“Let’s call it here for today.”
“…What the hell are you, exactly?”
When Ju-seong asked, staring at the monster, he answered softly.
“You pushed me this far, and thanks to you I glimpsed the next realm, so it’s only fair I answer.”
He spread both arms and looked down at his own body as he spoke.
“I am a ‘disciple’ of the Taowu lineage.”
Ju-seong noticed the man placed peculiar emphasis on the word ‘disciple.’
“Disciple?”
The man nodded with a strange smile.
“The Four Fiends lineages of the Cradle of the Demonic Path always exist in pairs per generation. Master and disciple…”
“…”
Ju-seong narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
The Four Fiends. Also called the Four Fierce Beasts. The four evil beasts from legend.
Among them, the one renowned above all for ferocity and belligerence was Taowu.
With a tiger-like appearance and tusks jutting like a boar’s.
Arrogant, stubborn, endlessly savage… wherever it passed became a wasteland.
A beast born to fight. That was Taowu.
Ju-seong stared at the man, crimson blood dripping from his lips like drool.
He felt as though he was finally staring at the true face of those who would trample everything he’d sworn to protect.
The Cradle of the Demonic Path, the Cradle of All Demonic Paths… The next-generation Taowu born from there now stood here.