Chapter 193: Heavenly Orchid Society (5)

A short while before.

"No, you don’t?!"

Seeing Maeng Gwak trying to form his Force Qi, Il-mok wasted no time and lashed out with his sword.

Whoooosh!

Il-mok's Sword Qi sliced through space, flying toward Maeng Gwak. But the Heavenly Orchid Society Leader simply held his twin sabers and effortlessly neutralized the attack.

The energy gathering around his blades had already surpassed the level of Saber Silks and was approaching true Saber Force.

But Il-mok knew that already.

Swish!

The moment he released his Sword Qi, Il-mok used his movement technique to close in on Maeng Gwak, swinging his sword in an incredibly intricate pattern that somehow avoided the extended reaches entirely.

But Maeng Gwak was the boss of a shady faction for a reason; he'd been in too many fights to get rattled.

"Hmph."

With a snort, Maeng Gwak swung the saber in his right hand to meet Il-mok's sword.

Clang clang clang!

Meanwhile, a series of metallic ringing sounds echoed from the left saber as he swung it at another angle. This was the result of him blocking the sneaky Sword Qi that Il-mok had dispatched using the sublime principles of the Traceless Soul-Slicing Sword.

Il-mok had mixed in the principles of the Sixth Secret Technique, the Northern Wind Soul-Severing Strike, with his Traceless Soul-Cutting Sword by spinning the Sword Qi to increase its cutting power. But Maeng Gwak saw through his strike and blocked it easily.

When Maeng Gwak's right saber clashed with Il-mok's sword, a thunderous boom echoed through the air.

BOOM!

Il-mok's sword now had Sword Silks coiled around it, and those threads carried a strange repelling force.

He'd used the Second Secret Technique - the Soul-Rebounding Sword to the Sword Silks like a repelling barrier.

It was an absurd display of skill, but it ultimately failed.

"That's enough of your little tricks!"

Maeng Gwak roared and swung his left saber, the one that had blocked the Traceless Soul-Cutting assault.

As Maeng Gwak's saber came flying with enough force to cut him in half, Il-mok calmly circulated his internal energy.

The Sword Silks that had been forming the repelling force now clung to Maeng Gwak's right saber as if they were one body and Il-mok spun with his sword like he was dancing.

Clang!

Using the principle of Floral Substitution, Il-mok made Maeng Gwak's twin sabers crash into each other. Then he immediately withdrew his sword and launched a series of thrusts.

His thrusts focused on speed, one after another.

While Il-mok's sword movements were simple and fast, the Sword Qi flowing from his blade was flexible. Some of it would curve in mid-air, while other hides behind other Sword Qi like a hidden weapon.

It was a bizarre and unpredictable display of sword mastery, controlling both sword and Qi with complete freedom.

Clang!

Clang clang!

But Maeng Gwak managed to block the chain of attacks by using minimal movements.

And when that overlapping Saber Qi reached its peak—

"This is the end!"

With a roar, Maeng Gwak's twin sabers cut through Il-mok's Sword Qi and flew toward him.

Tch.

Il-mok realized that the Heavenly Orchid Society Leader had finally managed to form a true Saber Force on his twin weapons. He barely managed to pull back and narrowly dodged the strike.

But with his rhythm broken, now it was Maeng Gwak's turn to go on the offensive.

"Hahaha! Let's see you dodge this too!"

Meng Guo wasn't just carrying two sabers to look cool; his martial arts were just as bizarre and unpredictable as Il-mok's.

His left and right blades carved different paths through the air, attacking relentlessly without pause.

What made it especially troublesome was that his twin blades were now wrapped in true Force Qi. If Il-mok tried to clash directly, both his sword and his body risked being cut clean in half.

—What are you waiting for!

—Use the move from that day and chop that disgusting body to bits!!

That useless bastard also started nagging in his mind.

Maeng Gwak's right blade came flying toward Il-mok, who had just dodged the left blade.

Realizing that dodging was not a viable option, Il-mok gritted his teeth.

‘Shut the fuck up, you useless yapping motherfucker!’

Using his anger toward his alter ego as fuel, Il-mok drew massive amounts of internal energy from his dantian and mixed all the principles of his techniques together into one strike.

Il-mok's sword clashed with Maeng Gwak's right saber, creating a thunderous sound.

BOOM!

Il-mok's sword now had its own constellation of overlapping Sword Qi.

"So you really have reached the Supreme Peak Realm."

He was acting like he’d already figured it out from all of Il-mok’s fancy moves. Maeng Gwak sneered even as sweat poured down his face.

"Tch."

Il-mok got pushed back by the pure power of the impact and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

'Should've spent more time training back at the Hall of the Demonic Way.’

It wasn't his sword skills he regretted slacking on. When it came to pure technique, he felt like he was holding his own.

The problem was internal energy.

He’d only gotten away without a serious injury because he’d used a fancy trick to redirect most of the force. If he’d taken that hit straight on, he’d be spitting up blood right now.

"Huu. Die!"

Taking a deep breath, Maeng Gwak swung his twin sabers at Il-mok again in rapid succession.

Il-mok used his footwork and lightness skills to dodge the attacks, occasionally interrupting the man's rhythm with precise thrusts.

And when he absolutely couldn't avoid an attack—

BOOM!

He’d have to grit his teeth and form Sword Force again to block, then use the rebound to pull back.

It was his only choice.

Although he had grasped the basic principle of Force in the process of fighting the leader of the fanatic force, handling true Force Qi was still beyond Il-mok's current abilities.

Not only did forming the Force Qi take time, but most importantly, he lacked internal energy.

If he used it too many times, his dantian would be completely drained in an instant.

But even as he kept getting pushed back, Il-mok's eyes remained calm.

‘Apart from lacking internal energy, this fight is totally winnable.’

His opponent's level was similar to that fanatic leader he'd fought before.

"Huff, huff."

And for a supposed master with all that power and experience, the man was as slow as a brick.

Whoosh.

Il-mok stepped back lightly and smirked.

“Seriously, how lazy do you have to be for your body to end up like that?"

The guy called himself a martial artist, but he had a potbelly you could rest a drink on.

This was a real problem for Il-mok. He found ripped, muscle-bound dudes gross when they were half-naked, so the sight of a flabby guy fighting naked was enough to make his inner germaphobe start screaming.

‘They said no one's seen him fight since he took over the city.'

He'd probably gotten soft after becoming the big boss of Lanzhou.

“Hahhh. Shut your mouth!”

Maybe it was because of the potbelly comment, but a vein started throbbing on Maeng Gwak’s forehead as he charged in again.

“Easy there, you’ll die of high blood pressure at this rate.”

Being overweight means you gotta watch out for high blood pressure anyway.

Il-mok clicked his tongue and used his lightness skill to dodge the heavy man's twin sabers.

"I'll help you lose that belly fat. Hahaha."

With his ragebaiting success, Il-mok calmly waited for his chance.

"Grrr! You damn pest!"

The second the furious Maeng Gwak swung his sabers again—

Now!

Il-mok, who'd been studying Maeng Gwak's techniques, moved boldly.

Swish.

Il-mok's sword, now wrapped in Force Qi, shot toward Maeng Gwak's right saber.

Thud.

But somehow, when Il-mok's sword met Maeng Gwak's right saber, it didn't produce the same explosive sound as before.

That was because Il-mok had read his opponent's technique and struck it with a deflecting blow rather than clashing directly.

Thanks to this, Maeng Gwak's right saber was knocked off course and flew toward his own left blade.

BOOM!

As the Force Qi from both sabers crashed into each other—

Slice.

A sharp cutting sound rang out as Il-mok’s sword slashed open the man’s lower abdomen.

"Kuk..."

Maeng Gwak let out a choked groan, quickly hunching over and pressing both hands to his torn belly as blood and organs tried to spill out.

Il-mok looked down at the pathetic sight.

"Congratulations. You managed to lose some weight right before dying."

Just as Il-mok swung his sword toward the collapsed Heavenly Orchid Society Leader's neck—

Slice!

Sharp cutting sounds echoed around Il-mok.

But Il-mok wasn't surprised. He'd already sensed what was happening around him.

“My thanks, First Squad Leader Dam Bin."

He looked past a pile of thugs whose arms and legs had just been lopped off by black threads as Dam Bin stepped out of the darkness.

"I only did what needed to be done, Young Master. But that was truly magnificent swordsmanship."

She'd arrived near the end of Il-mok and the Society Leader's battle, but instead of rashly joining the fight, she decided to observe.

Though it looked like Il-mok was being pushed back, his eyes remained remarkably calm.

‘The Eighth Young Master might gain some enlightenment from this battle.’

Since the Demonic Cult revered martial prowess, they believed there was nothing more valuable than a real do-or-die battle between masters.

That was not to say she had been idle. She'd been preparing for contingencies. That's how she was able to instantly slaughter the thugs who tried to ambush Il-mok right after the battle.

"At this rate, achieving Transcendence before thirty isn't impossible."

Hearing her praise, Il-mok clicked his tongue with a disappointed expression.

"I wish that were true."

Unfortunately, Il-mok hadn't gained any special insights from this battle despite his opponent being quite strong.

Shaking off his disappointment, Il-mok looked up and surveyed his surroundings. Specifically, the carnage that Dam Bin's black threads had created.

"If you don't mind, can I ask you something?"

"Please ask freely."

"Which Demonic Art are you cultivating, and what's the side effect?"

Not only did he find the thread-wielding art fascinating, but he was also struck by an ominous premonition that a master of her caliber would surely have a side effect that was just as formidable.

"My Demonic Art is called the Dark Spider Blood Thread Art, and the side effect is similar to that of the White Hand Demonic Art."

"Dark Spider’s crimson thread. That is a name truly befitting a Demonic Art.”

“You’re too kind, Young Master.”

He'd meant it was creepy, but Dam Bin took it as a compliment.

"Hmm. Weird that you have the same side effect as Miss Jin. You two give off a totally different aura, so I never would’ve guessed.”

When he said that, Dam Bin smiled.

And it was a weird smile.

Sure, she smiled sometimes back when she was in her servant uniform, but those were always calm, gentle smiles.

This one in her black night clothes had an inexplicably bewitching quality.

Il-mok wondered if it was because of her outfit, but then—

"It's similar to the side effects when a man cultivates it, not when a woman does."

Her words hit him, and a memory from long ago came flooding back.

'The side effect for guys... Don't tell me it's THAT ONE!?'

Looking at her unusually seductive and predatory gaze, Il-mok gulped.

‘Oh shit.’

***

A few days earlier.

Deep within the Murim Alliance headquarters located near Dongting Lake, an important meeting was taking place.

It was a conference to determine a response to the Demonic Cult, which had been showing strange movements for the past three years or so.

Except… pretty much everyone at the meeting looked like they were about to lose their minds.

"Ha! Not only was he freely wielding Sword Qi at sixteen, but at seventeen he mastered sorcery and saved a village suffering from drought, and two months later he was using true Force Qi? Do you really think this makes any sense?"

The reason was Il-mok.

More specifically, it was the news that all the weird stuff the Demonic Cult had been up to was because of their youngest Young Master.

When the Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord received this news, he ordered an additional investigation into the Eighth Young Master. The results were now being presented at this meeting.

“I know Demonic Arts are fast, but this is just ridiculous.”

“Not even the current Heavenly Demon, Hyeokryeon Il-hwi, was ever this good and this fast. And that guy’s a monster within their cult’s history. ”

"Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord, how exactly are you handling this?"

The problem was that most of the information in the report was completely unbelievable.

‘Fuck that Eighth Young Master.’

He was getting chewed out just for reporting the crazy rumors he'd gathered, and he had to fight down the urge to go and personally murder the kid.