Chapter 85

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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**

The eyes of the blood pouches holding swords were emotionless, as if accustomed to blood and slaughter.

In their pupils, where only a wild gaze was overlaid on fanaticism, a flame was seen reflected.

Inside that flame, people died and offered blood.

After those who had been powerless gained power, they exploited others like themselves.

‘They are extremely dangerous to the commoners who do not believe in the Blood Cult.’

It was the ability of foresight that bloomed as the studies of the Upper Dantian’s Tai Chi Diagram Exposition deepened.

Just as Grandmaster Newton had said.

One shaves and shaves the karmic sins accumulated in the body to survey the past and future.

‘Dangerous people.’

The movement of my heart was contained in the sword.

The pulse of true qi extending over the sword blade resonated with the sword and poured out a cry.

Woo-oo-ong—!

Following the wave of the cry, a force field was formed.

The study of sword force advancing toward the unity of body and sword.

The net of the force field formed by the sword qi force wave of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword entangled the bodies of the blood pouches.

The movements of the blood pouches, who had been releasing blood qi while holding drawn swords, became dull.

The high-level domain.

It was not that they looked slow because it was a domain of slowed time.

It was a physical restriction of movement.

“Invisible qi?!”

“In this what!”

Toward the blood pouches whose movements were restricted, Senior Brothers Myeong-jin and Myeong-hun shot forward.

They were subdued in an instant.

However, there was a peculiar fellow.

“Ughhh!”

A blood-colored haze spread thickly from the body of one blood pouch bound in the force field of the sword qi force wave.

“Dawn Light Illuminates Blood!”

A phrase meaning that the dawning light of the early morning sky shines upon the blood.

A feeling similar to the Amitabha of Buddhism.

It was a mantra of the Blood Cultists that heightened their faith.

Together with that mantra, the guy’s body broke free from the restriction.

Tearing through the net spread by sword qi, he took a step forward.

At the tip of the sword extending straight, there was only one thing.

It was only filled with the determination to pierce an artery and draw blood.

A sword with a clear intention is easy to dodge.

Instantly, the Three-Section Brocade body protective qi confused the eyes of the blood pouch blinded by obsession.

“Uh!”

Hiding the body parts where large blood vessels passed behind the sword blade, I stood the sword flat.

Chi-ring!

“Keo-heok!”

Looking down at the blood pouch that fell after being cut, I thought.

‘Obsession with blood.’

Obsession is indeed the power of thought.

Since thoughts are manifested from the Upper Dantian.

The intent of the Upper Dantian tore the net spread by the true qi.

‘Unification of the Three Dantians.’

It was the path climbing to the peak of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

The sight of the blood pouch tearing the sword qi net remained as a single inspiration and was engraved in my mind.

Along with the conviction that it would be of help on the path forward, I raised my head again.

At that moment, I saw something flashing into the shadow.

A movement that avoided sunlight while simultaneously assimilating into the flow of the surrounding true qi.

It was secretive and threatening.

‘A blood ghoul.’

The sky filled with mist caught the corner of my vision.

It was not that the blood ghouls could not move because it was day. They were sensitive to light.

‘But if the sky is to this extent…’

They said the sky of Guizhou had no three consecutive clear days.

Since the mist was exceptionally thick today.

‘If it is a shaded place, they can move.’

Naturally, I pursued the presence moving along the shadows.

And at the end of that presence, Tang Jong-hyeok, who was in charge of one axis of the encirclement net, was visible.

The secretive yet bold movement of the blood ghoul overlapped with the spot where Tang Jong-hyeok was located.

As if noticing late, he retreated and widened the distance with the footwork force of the Tang Clan’s secret movement art, Netherworld Stride, while simultaneously scattering hidden weapons toward the approaching presence.

However.

With small clinking noises, the distance narrowed.

At that moment, the arm that blocked the hidden weapons caught my eye.

An outer skin that gleamed even in the darkness.

Even though it was Tang Jong-hyeok, who possessed hidden weapon techniques superior to Tang Si-hyeok, my comrade from Group Bing, the hidden weapons did not work at all.

‘Vajra Bloodline!’

It was said that the blood ghouls of the Dawn Sky Blood Cult possessed different abilities depending on their bloodline.

While the Phantom Shadow Bloodline was secretive enough to deceive the sensitivity of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition, the Vajra Bloodline surely had a very hard outer skin, just as Immortal Mang-won had said.

Because of that, my heart grew excited upon entering real combat.

‘Real combat like training.’

Because I had forged my sword qi through training like real combat.

I advanced immediately.

The force wave of the Cloud-Climbing Step’s internal power exploded beneath my Yongquan acupoint.

An elliptical cloud of dust rose as my body surged forward. In addition, I wrapped the Three-Section Brocade body protective qi around my entire body.

The force field unfolded with the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art pushed away the air particles, and as the silk-like body protective qi woven from internal power shed the natural qi, friction was reduced.

In addition, I extended my sword.

Even though the distance did not reach.

Since the true qi filling the sword blade to the brim dominated the space.

The blood ghoul’s movement slowed down in an instant.

Since the distance between him and Tang Jong-hyeok widened in a flash.

The blood ghoul turned his head toward the source of the force field.

“Such a cheap trick!”

Looking at the approaching sword blade, the blood ghoul raised his arm to protect his heart and neck.

Yet, a sneer was floating on his face.

As if telling me to try cutting it.

The texture of his raised arm turned transparent in an instant.

The unique outer skin, which diffusely reflected light even in the shadows, caught my eye once again.

‘Is he defending with a temporary hardening of the skin?’

Skin texture changed.

Together with some intuition that flashed through my head, I became convinced.

‘It is hard. Even more so than hundred-refined refined steel.’

True to that thought.

Jjeong—!

The first sword strike was blocked.

The blue internal power burning on the sword blade scattered like sparks, shaking the surrounding natural qi.

Despite it being a powerful sword strike, it failed to cut off the blood ghoul’s arm.

“Hehehe, die!”

Dodging the hand of the blood ghoul that counterattacked while shouting by a hair’s breadth, I thought.

‘Why is a hard object hard?’

It is because the symmetry and connectivity of its atomic structure are great.

In an instant, a thought flashed.

Because no matter how hard a structure among all things under heaven is, cases where it is perfectly homogeneous are extremely rare.

I realized as I swung my sword once again.

I examined the outer skin being struck down with my sword through the sensitivity of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition, and confirmed it.

I must precisely strike the joints that are relatively non-homogeneous. To do that.

‘Sharper.’

The blue internal power burning on the vibrating sword blade rather subsided.

Subsliding and subsiding, only the haze that had shimmered on the sword blade when I first reached the Resonance Stage remained.

Instead, the sword edge, which had been like milky white, began to take on a light blue light.

The internal power that had been emitted and dispersed from the sword blade was concentrated to the maximum into the sword body and edge.

Just like that, I delivered a sword strike toward the gaps in the blood ghoul’s skin that I had confirmed through experiencing several clashes.

The blood ghoul, as if it was laughable instead, pushed his arm in further.

And.

Puhwahak—!

The blood ghoul’s arm and neck cleaved the air together.

**

The blood pouches were fanatics whom even average branch warriors were reluctant to face.

It was because of their tactics of not sparing their bodies in a ‘you die, I die’ manner, and their bizarre evil arts that far exceeded their accumulated internal power.

However, no matter how they were, subduing the blood pouches easily was not a surprising thing.

If Yeon Baek-jung’s reputation and skill were considered, that is.

Moreover, because Tang Jong-hyeok had already performed missions with Yeon Baek-jung and seen his skill well, he was not surprised.

However.

‘A blood ghoul so simply?!’

They were blood ghouls upon whom the swords of average branch warriors did not even work. He had sent such a blood ghoul’s arm flying together with its neck.

Above all, the Yeon Baek-jung in his memory.

‘Was clearly specialty in close-combat fist and palm?’

Watching Yeon Baek-jung who saved him with a sword, Tang Jong-hyeok felt the change of seasons.

‘His height also seems to have grown about a span taller…’

The Yeon Baek-jung he had seen at the end of spring seemed to have grown longer in his torso during the time passing through summer and entering autumn.

He liked him even more now.

“Thank you, brother-in-law.”

As soon as he saw him entering through the main gate of the Guizhou branch, he had playfully called him brother-in-law.

It was half-sincere.

Now, it seemed to have exceeded half.

“That ‘brother-in-law’ thing… can we do something about it? I don’t even know what Brother Tang’s younger sister looks like.”

At Yeon Baek-jung’s words, Tang Jong-hyeok shrugged his shoulders.

“You will probably like her. She is of the same age as Young Brother Yeon, but she is already rumored to be the number one beauty of Sichuan.”

At Tang Jong-hyeok’s words, Yeon Baek-jung said, “Yes, I see,” and walked away with a fed-up face.

On that retreating back, the image of Yeon Baek-jung from several months ago was superimposed.

The image of the young Wudang Sect disciple who had stood tall against the great devil of the past generation, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal, whom they had faced in Chibi.

Although it was a joint attack, he had cut off the arm of the Red Yang Demonic Immortal who had achieved the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

A feat accomplished when even most elders of the Tang Clan could not guarantee victory when facing the Red Yang Demonic Immortal alone.

Even back then, Yeon Baek-jung had displayed skill exceeding the capabilities he possessed.

It was the same this time as well.

‘Clearly, the amount of accumulated energy or wave of energy that is felt does not exceed that of the branch warriors, and yet…’

Although he was different from the very beginning, the single sword strike that had cut the blood ghoul just now was of a different dimension from that. The sword of the Mount Heng Sect disciple at the Guizhou branch, who possessed similar skills, only left a scratch on the blood ghoul’s arm.

He could not help but compare them anew.

‘How on earth?’

He had thought he would be pushed back as the clearly burning sword qi subsided, but it was not so.

‘He has converged the sword qi into the inside of the sword blade.’

He had seen something similar before.

It was when a guest of the family who was said to have achieved the unity of body and sword demonstrated sword techniques.

In other words, it meant that Yeon Baek-jung’s attainment in the sword was gradually drawing closer to the unity of body and sword.

Within the passage of only two seasons.

‘Just how high is his current skill level?’

From close-combat fist and palm to even sword techniques.

It was not easily estimated.

His skill could not be judged merely by his wave of energy and routine.

However, what was certain.

‘Is that it is an upper-tier skill even within the True Martial Pavilion.’

It was a talent for martial arts and a growth rate that had never been heard of before.

Since it was naturally a sight that made him look forward to the future.

“Brother-in-law! Let’s go together!”

Tang Jong-hyeok quickly trailed behind Yeon Baek-jung who was moving away.

Yeon Baek-jung used his footwork force and grew distant.

Over the gloomy mountain slopes of Guizhou, the autumn wind drove away the moisture.

**

Within two days, three more branches collapsed.

And today marked the tearing down of the fourth branch.

“Watch your back!”

“Yes!”

Puhwak—!

Although converging sword qi into the sword blade was familiar now.

The consumption of mental energy was considerable.

In the state where sword qi was concentrated on the sword blade, it was also difficult to resonate with the surrounding true qi.

Even so, the reason for concentrating internal power on the sword blade was only one.

The more it converged, the more the sword qi was concentrated on the sword blade and edge, the sharper the sword qi was forged.

Real combat.

It was a realization obtained thanks to cleaving the diamond-like shield of the Vajra Bloodline blood ghoul.

A substance of high hardness has stronger bonds between the atoms that make up that substance.

Because precisely striking a place where such bonds are relatively weak is the most certain way to neutralize external arts.

Ka-gak—!

‘I was clumsy this time.’

I should have compressed the true qi loaded on the sword edge and sharpened the edge keenly, but my concentration was disrupted by the consecutive sword strikes.

‘Because in order to cut a material with high hardness, greater pressure is required.’

What is pressure?

It is the value of force divided by area.

In other words, even with the same force, the narrower the area to which the force is applied, the more the pressure is maximized.

It is the reason why a sharp sword cuts objects better than a blunt thing like a hammer.

However, because internal power fundamentally has a strong tendency to disperse, opposing that nature required high concentration.

Just as a blood ghoul who could not be cut down in time tried to break through the encirclement and flee, the guy’s neck flew through the air.

It was the sword of Senior Brother Myeong-jin who had come along.

“We have swung swords all three days since arriving. Junior brother, you need to rest a bit.”

He was an amazing senior brother who had already broken through the wall of the Nascent Soul Stage following the unity of body and sword.

It was the words of the senior brother who had given the greatest help during the creation of the Slender Willow Flutter.

‘It is only proper to listen carefully.’

I nodded my head.

Certainly, I felt tired.

Having experienced even the attacks of assassins on the way, not being able to sleep comfortably must have had an effect.

‘Certainly.’

Having confirmed as I circulated my true qi.

The fatigue of the Upper Dantian was considerable.

I had learned that one must always be fully prepared when entering the Jianghu, but it seemed I had failed to practice it.

“Yes. I understand.”

Just as I was about to put my sword away like that.

“Keu-ha-aa-ak!”

The clearest day since arriving in Guizhou.

Among the ‘no three days of clear weather,’ it was a day corresponding to the two clear days.

A blood ghoul shining sharp fangs was running toward our side along the main road.

Yet, no traces of burns were visible on his body.

A blood ghoul of a different class from ordinary blood ghouls.

It was a Daywalker whose movements were free even under the daylight of broad day.