booknovelhub
Chapter 227. Nine in the Fifth Place (23)
Chapter 227. Nine in the Fifth Place (23)
Chapter 227. Nine in the Fifth Place (23)
Woo-Moon displayed the North Wind Steps, displaying a transcendent level of control that surpassed even the twelfth step of mastery that was commonly known as perfection.[1] And the next moment, he unfolded the Divine Phantasm Steps, appearing behind the lower-ranking members of the Heavenly Dippers.
“Watch out! Dodge!”
The stronger Heavenly Dippers were flabbergasted by Woo-Moon’s reality-defying movements and warned the others. However, Woo-Moon’s sword had already slashed through the necks of the four weakest Heavenly Dippers by that point.
Squelch!
As their blood flowed into the ground, the other Heavenly Dippers rushed Woo-Moon.
“Trash, you dare?!”
“I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands!”
Swish!
Holding Lightflash in his hand, Woo-Moo steadied himself as he watched the seven upper-ranked Heavenly Dippers rushing toward him. At the same time, his feet shifted into a flexible stance that would allow him to respond to anything they threw at him.
Some of them wielded a weapon, while others were barehanded. As the fist, palm, finger, leg, sword, saber, and whip began to attack and surround him from all sides, Woo-Moon spun, using his left foot as the axis, and drew a circle on the ground with his right foot.
Clang, clang, clang!
All of the Heavenly Dippers’ attacks bounced away.
The eyes of the Heavenly Dippers grew wide. Even if Woo-Moon was a legendary Paragon, to be able to block them all just like that was too much for them to process. They were confident in their own abilities, so how strong could this man be?
After blocking all of the enemies’ attacks, Woo-Moon’s sword flickered with a sharp and deadly movement like the tongue of a viper.
Swish!!
It flew forward, aiming for the throats of the two Heavenly Dippers closest to him.
Sensing that the targets wouldn’t be able to defend themselves properly, the surrounding upper-ranked Heavenly Dippers tried to help them.
Six of the Absolute Masters joined forces to block Woo-Moon’s attacks, while the remaining one attacked him directly, cleaving downward with his saber.
‘A... a feint?’
The six Absolute Masters were shocked. Woo-Moon’s attack only looked threatening on the surface; in fact, it was nothing but a feint with no real strength behind it.
Quickly pulling his sword back, Woo-Moon swung up, striking the saber of the Heavenly Dipper descending onto him.
Crack!
The saber broke in half.
Woo-Moon caught the tip of the saber that was flying through the air with his free hand, and with the same smooth motion, shoved it through the eye of his enemy into his brain.
The Absolute Master Heavenly Dipper fell backward, not even understanding how he had died.
“YOU DARE!!!”
“You bastard!”
The other six Absolute Masters, who had only been able to watch as their comrades died, charged at Woo-Moon with a fighting spirit that burned even hotter.
“Yes, come at me. I’ll kill you all!”
Shouting with bloodlust, Woo-Moon bent backward, displaying a perfect Iron Bridge.
Swish!
A sharp enemy attack almost touched his chest. He twisted his upper body and used the rotational force to spin midair.
Woo-Moon’s sword, fingers, and feet moved at lightning speed as he spun sideways in the air.
“Ugh!”
“Agk!”
Screams erupted.
One of the Heavenly Dippers had his head shattered by Woo-Moon’s heel; another had his heart pierced by the Flawless Finger, his eyes opened wide in death; finally, another was slashed in half by Lightflash’s razor-sharp edge.
In an instant, three of the Heavenly Dippers lost their lives.
The First Heavenly Dipper’s eyes filled with disbelief.
“I-impossible. Are you saying you’ve already reached the pinnacle of the Paragon Stage? How? Just how did you do it?”
“You Martial Heaven bastards need to be at least on the level of your Martial Heaven Emperor to face me! This is the result of your Martial Heaven’s arrogance!”
Northern Blizzard unfolded from the tip of Woo-Moon’s sword.
In an instant, white snowflakes filled the entire space around him. Then, Lightflash moved through the center of the space.
Shing!
With a cracking sound, the frozen space split apart and shattered into pieces.
At the same time, the remaining Heavenly Dippers also shattered.
However, each of them exploded out with all of their qi in a moment of last-minute panic and unleashed a final massive attack, which resulted in Woo-Moon also taking quite a hit.
Looking down, he saw five large wounds on his arms, legs, and abdomen. However, all of the wounds were instantly healed as Woo-Moon’s Paragon Qi circulated. His body restored itself as if he had never been wounded in the first place.
“Father, wait for me. I’m coming!”
He flew forward again.
Just as he activated his movement art, however, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. There was no reason for something like that to happen, and it triggered a memory from a while back.
‘Back then, the pain in my chest... Could it be that... that ominous feeling back then... what if it was because of what happened right now?’
The sharp instincts of a Paragon allowed him to sense not just things that were happening right then, but also some things that had not come to pass. And the pain he felt right now reminded him of a pain he’d felt before, one that was certainly not tied to anything that was happening to him at the time.
Recalling that terrible pain, he wondered if something really big was going on right now, or if something was going to happen.
‘No!’
Woo-Moon shook his head violently from side to side.
“I cannot—I don’t have ominous thoughts. I’ll definitely save Father. Father is still alive, and I will save him!”
His heart blazed, but his eyes were filled with a cold light.
‘That bastard. I’ll definitely kill that bastard who hurt my father and threatened me! No matter who he is, even if he’s a god! I’ll kill him!’
For his family—his father, his mother, his brother, Si-Hyeon, Ma-Ra, Yeo-Seol, and even Eun-Ah!
Woo-Moon already resolved himself, not caring if he had to kill everyone in the world.
What was important to him wasn’t the world, and neither was it his own person. It was those whom he loved, and who loved him in return.
‘Anyone who touches my family is committing the gravest sin. I’ll destroy them all!’
***
The Heavenly Demon Mound.
It was here that the Heavenly Demon Si-Hyeon had risen and fallen, only to rise again thanks to the sacrifice of a loyal subordinate.
The inner labyrinth now lay in ruins.
A human palm suddenly popped out from among the rubble.
Then, a middle-aged man whose face was so covered in dirt that it was hard to see clearly crawled up to the surface, clearly having dug his way from quite deep below the ground.
“Ugh... Finally, I’ve come out. Damn, how long has it been?”
The man looked around.
“No one seems to be around. I should at least circulate my qi for now. Who knows how many days that’ll take....”
The aura he could feel from his dantian was just too weak. Of course, even so, it was a miracle that he was alive to begin with, so having lost his cultivation was not very high on the man’s list of problems.
“Well, rekindling dying embers really is a difficult task, but it is what it is. I have to recover my cultivation as soon as possible. Only then... Only then can I get my revenge.”
The man went into the nearby mountains and hid in a dark cave hidden by the forest.
***
The Heavenly Demon Cult.
A group of people appeared and surrounded the Heavenly Demon Cult, systematically removing all of the Heavenly Demon Cult’s scouts on the outside.
Then, Martial Heaven attacked.
“They’re coming,” Ma-Ra said coldly, inspecting their surroundings.
Si-Hyeon nodded and quickly gave orders to her subordinates. The entire force of the Heavenly Demon Cult began to fight the attacking Martial Heaven under her orders.
“He must be fighting harder than we are right now. We must not lose, either. We have to survive!”
Yeo-Seol and Ma Ra nodded with heavy expressions at Si-Hyeon’s words.
***
Yu Yu was feeling quite anxious. Gyeong Mu-Gi went to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her behind him.
“Master told me something: A senior brother must protect his junior sister at all times. I’ll protect you, so don’t ever leave my side.”
Yu Yu tried to hold back tears as the image of her late older brother overlapped with Gyeong Mu-Gi’s back.
“... Thank you, senior brother.”
Gyeong Mu-Gi smiled broadly when he heard her quiet voice.
ROAR!
Eun-Ah roared.
Then, she slashed at the enemies coming over the walls of the Heavenly Demon Cult with her sharp claws.
The enemies’ blood poured everywhere, and Eun-Ah roared once more. The low-ranking warriors of Martial Heaven hesitated at the sight of her majestic appearance.
Eun-Ah was feeling somewhat better now.
She had been sad that she wasn’t able to fight with Woo-Moon, so she was glad to see that the enemies had come to her in person. It felt good to fight against Woo-Moon’s enemies.
While the defensive formations spread all across the outskirts of the Heavenly Demon Cult were truly terrifying as far as normal martial artists were concerned, they were powerless against the might of a Paragon.
Following the orders of the Martial Heaven Emperor, the Great Justice Palace Master attacked the Heavenly Demon Cult with the forces of his Great Justice Palace. He first brute-forced his way through the formations before leading the forces of Martial Heaven to attack the Heavenly Demon Cult without hesitation.
Squelch!
The Great Justice Palace Master’s sword pierced the chests of the Heavenly Demon Cult warriors.
“Tsk. Weaklings.”
As he muttered, the Great Justice Palace Master roused his qi, and the twenty-four swords in the case on his back flew out one by one and hovered in the air.
“Go.”
With this single word, the twenty-four swords spread out in all directions under Sword Control, lusting for the blood of the Heavenly Demon Cult warriors.
“How dare you step into this sacred place with your filthy feet?!” shouted the three Absolute Master elders of the Heavenly Demon Cult, rushing toward the Great Justice Palace Master.
The Great Justice Palace Master’s eyes turned to the three elders.
Four of the twenty-four swords changed direction and headed toward the three elders.
Clang, clang, clang!
The elders’ defensive qi blocked the swords.
“Oho.”
The Great Justice Palace Master laughed like a grandfather watching his grandson’s antics. Then, he strengthened the aura he was sending to the four swords.
Thrum!
The light of the aura surrounding the swords grew stronger as the thickness of the aura started to grow thinner, becoming extremely compressed. Then, the compressed aura rebounded, becoming as thick as before while keeping the extreme density.
It had transformed itself, now having become Transcendent Aura.
Squelch!
One of the flying swords pierced through the three elders’ combined Inkcloud Demonic Barrier and pierced their abdomens.
“Ugh!”
“Hmm, how bland. It seems I didn’t need all four.”
Another of the swords shot forward, this time aiming for the three elders’ necks.
At that moment, a girl wearing a flower gown appeared from the three elders’ shadow and swung her sword upward.
Clang!!
A loud metallic noise rang out; the sword was deflected from its trajectory and just grazed the top of the three elders’ heads. Blood ran down their faces, but fortunately, the injuries weren't enough to threaten their lives.
“Oh... that’s right. You’re that bitch. The one who inherited the Death God’s assassination art or something like that.”
The Great Justice Palace Master looked at Ma Ra.
She threw away her shattered sword and glared back at the Great Justice Palace Master while stopping the bleeding from her lacerated arm.
“Should we test your skills, then?” he said.
Right as the Great Justice Palace Master was about to make a move, however, a cold voice sounded from behind him.
“How about you have some fun with a fellow Paragon?”
As soon as the voice finished speaking, dozens of black whips formed of demonic qi lashed out.
Swish! Crack!
The Great Justice Palace Master was pierced by the whips, but his body suddenly turned into motes of light and shattered.
“Heavenly Demon! Hoho, the first female Heavenly Demon in the history of the cult! Yes, if it’s you, it should be a good match.”
“Hmph.”
Si-Hyeon sneered.
Her wings spread across the sky, and hundreds of millions of feathers flew out and rained upon the Great Justice Palace Master.
The Great Justice Palace Master formed a hand seal and pointed at the rain of feathers.
Shing!
With a crackling sound, twelve of the swords under Sword Control flew forward and formed a circle in front of the Great Justice Palace Master.
They turned into a shield, blocking the feathers.
However, the number and power of the feathers were just too much, and the twelve swords were gradually pushed back.
“Ah, quite impressive.”
As expected of a Paragon of Martial Heaven, even when the Great Justice Palace Master seemed to compliment the attack, his compliments were delivered from a lofty perspective; the man was clearly looking down on everyone.
Then, he formed another seal with his left hand.
1. This is the first and only time in the book where the maximum proficiency level and number of intermediate steps are specified. So as it turns out, when it says Woo-Moon is at the sixth step (around 100 chapters back), that’s mid-level proficiency. ?