Chapter 75

KABOOM!

As soon as the explosion sound was heard, Namgung Woo stomped the ground.

The energy wave spreading from the Infinite Steps instantly halted the battle between Banunbang and the Wudang Sect.

The initial move of the Dragon Soaring to Heaven, imbued with the subtlety of Qi Control, propelled Namgung Woo’s body high into the air.

“That guy…!”

Hallyong Mado, who had heard about Namgung Woo’s appearance from the Black Sword Ghost, immediately recognized Namgung Woo’s identity.

Taking advantage of the moment Hallyong Mado turned his attention to Namgung Woo, Gowon Jinin’s Songmun Sword struck like a whirlwind.

The blade extended smoothly, pushing aside the heavy Moon Blade. Gowon Jinin, showcasing the essence of the Taiji Sword, the pinnacle of softness.

“Huff!”

Hallyong Mado, instead of stubbornly blocking with the Moon Blade, simply bent his body. Using the Iron Plate Technique, he barely managed to evade the sword. However, the Taiji Sword wasn’t about to let him off easily.

Whoosh!

The Songmun Sword grazed his shoulder. As Hallyong Mado’s stance faltered, Gowon Jinin didn’t hesitate to deliver a palm strike. It was the Cotton Palm, one of the Wudang Sect’s two great techniques alongside Taiji Fist.

A soft strike that didn’t even produce a proper sound. Yet, the damage was far from insignificant. The Internal Energy Strike Technique pierced through his defenses, inflicting internal injuries on Hallyong Mado.

“…Tsk. This is a loss.”

Hallyong Mado spat out blood. He could endure this level of internal injury.

Namgung Woo’s presence had already disappeared from his senses. From the moment Namgung Woo used Qi Control to leap into the air to Gowon Jinin injuring Hallyong Mado with the Cotton Palm, it had only been three exchanges.

In less than ten seconds, Namgung Woo had already distanced himself far away.

Confirming that the biggest variable had disappeared, Hallyong Mado revealed his true strength.

“Now, I’ll take you seriously.”

§

The Jegal Family’s estate was a cauldron of chaos.

Though there were no massive walls, the Jegal Family’s estate was akin to a fortress.

Mechanical devices operated by physical mechanisms and formations based on feng shui, enhanced with artificial spells to create specific formations.

This Mechanical Formation was the lifeblood of the Jegal Family. No such formation in the Central Plains could compare to the Jegal Family’s estate.

Even the Forbidden City paled in comparison to the Jegal Family’s estate, and the Sichuan Tang Family, known for reaching the pinnacle of hidden weapons, though superior in the quality of their mechanisms, fell short in overall level compared to the Jegal Family’s.

It was no less than the skill of the descendants of Zhuge Liang, who created the Eight Formation Diagram and invented the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse, among other inventions.

A fortress among fortresses. It was said that while the Jegal Family could be defeated, they could never be conquered, such was the reputation of their estate’s defenses.

Yet, now it was crumbling.

Was it the reverse calculation of high-level spells? Or was it breaching the mechanisms by extracting information from within to find the answer?

No such thing.

There was only sheer, unrelenting destruction.

The estate’s walls were collapsing.

Buildings were exploding.

The earth was shaking.

Flames and smoke were rising…

Even a thousand-strong army could be repelled by the mechanisms, and the formation that could disperse energy, making it impossible for even a Peerless Master to escape without profound spell knowledge, was rendered utterly powerless.

Watching the Jegal Family’s hard-built tower crumble in an instant, Jegal Chong muttered in despair.

“Truly insane. Gunpowder… Did the Ming Imperial Family look so weak to you?”

That was it.

The method Banunbang used to attack the Jegal Family.

It was simply a massive explosion using an absurd amount of gunpowder.

There was a reason Namgung Woo couldn’t sense the energy wave and come to counter it. Of course. When neither martial arts nor spells were used, how could one sense the energy?

“To face the Jegal Family of the world, one must go to such lengths.”

The voice came from behind Jegal Chong.

It was a voice Jegal Chong knew.

Though he had only heard it once, Jegal Chong, with his exceptional memory, recalled the owner’s identity.

“…Heorok (虛祿).”

“That name has long been discarded.”

Dongbang Hwa laughed self-deprecatingly upon hearing the name he thought had been forgotten.

“From whom did you hear it?”

Dongbang Hwa shook his head and spoke again.

“No. There was no need to ask. It must be the Wudang Sect. They must want to eliminate me this time.”

“…I thought you were at Cheonjasan Mountain.”

“I didn’t come here to exchange questions and answers with you.”

“If you want my answer, it would be good for you to answer as well.”

Dongbang Hwa was a monster. A monster who had lived for over 80 years.

Perhaps due to a lack of enlightenment, or something else, he hadn’t reached the level of a Peerless Master, but Dongbang Hwa was a bizarre existence that even a Peerless Master couldn’t easily predict.

The internal energy accumulated over a long life. Martial arts and spells collected indiscriminately, broadening his knowledge and means. The experience gained through the Blood Sect’s calamity and the Jeongsa Great War.

Yet, Jegal Chong showed no signs of shrinking back against such Dongbang Hwa.

It was the spirit of one who had risen to the position of a family’s head.

“Using gunpowder. You must be confident in handling it. Is it Man Gwibi?”

“…Indeed, Jegal. You guessed right.”

Man Gwibi. The woman who enjoyed the boundless favor of the current emperor, Seonghwa Emperor.

The woman who killed the emperor’s only legitimate son and was forgiven. Even if she committed the grave crime of using gunpowder weapons against the Ming law, she could be acquitted.

Was it a reward for guessing correctly? Or was it self-indulgence and a desire to boast? Dongbang Hwa added an explanation to Jegal Chong’s answer.

“Everyone wants to live. Not just live, but live young. And Man Gwibi’s desperation was stronger than anyone else’s. It was no trouble to draw her in.”

The woman who, after her child died, dared to kill the emperor’s child to vent her anger.

Having become a body too old to bear children, she committed all sorts of atrocities to ensure no other woman could bear the emperor’s child.

How sweet must the promise of rejuvenation have sounded to such a woman?

No matter how close the officials of Wuhan were to the Jegal Family, they couldn’t withstand the pressure from higher up.

From the moment Man Gwibi backed them, Wuhan became a space where Banunbang could freely come and go.

Jegal Chong realized the full story of the preemptive attack from Wuhan, which he hadn’t anticipated.

“To that extent… To that extent, are you so greedy? Do you want to live so despicably, even at the cost of others’ lives! And yet, you, the leader of the Wudang Sect…!”

CRASH!

Before Jegal Chong could finish, Dongbang Hwa’s hand shot out.

The sword wind, launched with the index and middle fingers extended straight, tore through the air, grazing Jegal Chong and shattering the building wall.

Dongbang Hwa’s face, which had been wearing a leisurely sneer, turned as cold as ice.

Dongbang Hwa walked step by step towards Jegal Chong and spoke.

“We don’t ask for much. We just want to live. We just want to extend this wretched life a little longer. Isn’t the desire for survival the instinct of all living beings? Why is following such an instinct evil? Accepting death meekly is what betrays the duty of the living. We are merely fighting harder than anyone else. Against this fate.”

A creeping energy began to envelop Dongbang Hwa’s entire body.

Tentacles of energy seemed to extend from Dongbang Hwa’s body, creating a bizarre sight. Yet, unbelievably, the energy was pure and pristine.

Similar to the internal energy Gowon Jinin had shown, but covered with a sinister miasma.

The meaning of the nickname “Fallen Immortal” became intuitively clear.

“If you still can’t understand us, we’ll take it by force.”

Even if a limb or two is lost, Dongbang Hwa intended to leave Jegal Chong barely alive, scattering life-severing energy.

The eerie blades flying from the index and middle fingers of both hands.

Among the Wudang Sect’s sword techniques aimed at using softness to overcome hardness, Dongbang Hwa’s unique martial arts, based on the particularly direct and deadly Life-Severing Sword Technique, combined with other martial arts he had separately mastered.

But Jegal Chong was no pushover. He, too, was a Supreme Peak Master. In an instant, he unfolded a fan, creating a massive gust of wind.

“The Seven Star Life-Extending Technique is an impossible spell for humans!”

Jegal Chong, who was enduring Dongbang Hwa’s fierce attacks while stepping on the Heavenly Mystery Step, a secret technique of the Jegal Family renowned alongside the divine spells, shouted urgently.

In contrast, Dongbang Hwa’s voice, as he relentlessly pressed Jegal Chong, was calm.

“With the White Book, it’s possible.”

“The White Book has already been corrupted! It’s impossible to exert its power for seven days!”

“That’s your thought. For me, it’s possible.”

SLASH!

Dongbang Hwa, releasing the sword fingers and spreading his palm, struck Jegal Chong with a sudden palm strike. The Heavenly Mystery Step, based on the Eight Trigrams and exerting a profound principle to confuse the opponent’s sense of direction, couldn’t surpass Dongbang Hwa’s experience.

Dongbang Hwa’s skill surpassed Jegal Chong’s.

The Wudang Sect’s secret technique, Cotton Palm.

The same martial art that had inflicted internal injuries on Hallyong Mado now shook Jegal Chong’s internal organs.

“Cough, cough!”

Jegal Chong, who had lost control of the Heavenly Mystery Step and was stumbling backward, coughed up blood. The fact that he was still maintaining a fighting stance despite his body instinctively curling up showed that Jegal Chong hadn’t neglected his training.

“…The Seven Star Life-Extending Technique… shouldn’t be forced with artifacts like the White Book… The essence, spirit, and soul are ever-changing… Even if the soul is forcibly held with the White Book, the body won’t withstand it and will collapse…”

“I know.”

A cold, eerie energy enveloped Dongbang Hwa’s face.

“That’s why I first perform the great spell on others to confirm the side effects. After several improvements, a usable result will come out.”

“…Truly, you have chosen the path of the inhuman!”

“From the moment my sword was broken, I had already chosen this path.”

There was no retreat.

Jegal Chong checked his body’s condition. Cotton Palm. An immensely powerful martial art, but fortunately, he had managed to activate his Protective Aura Energy in time to minimize the damage.

The internal energy of the Great Heavenly Divine Technique was still flowing smoothly. He could still fight.

Reading Jegal Chong’s fighting spirit, Dongbang Hwa clicked his tongue and said.

“Enough. It’s too much for you. The Mechanical Formation is ruined, and the Wudang Sect is held back by Hallyong Mado. The Great Master of Nengyun? I’ve set Myeolseomma against him. Unless there’s a Peerless Master, this situation can’t be reversed. Give up now and hand over the White Book and the Seven Star Life-Extending Technique. If you do, I’ll end it here.”

“…There is.”

“Oh? Then show me. What trick do you have left?”

“A trick? It’s not that.”

Jegal Chong smiled confidently.

As Dongbang Hwa said, overcoming such a crisis would be difficult without a Peerless Master.

And though the Jegal Family didn’t yet have a Peerless Master…

“Our nephew has brought someone.”

As if Jegal Chong’s words were a spell.

Lightning struck.

§