The White Wolf (2)

Thud!

Jin-hyeon latched onto the flying Gyeong Do-cheon at once and grabbed him by the collar.

“Keok!”

Gyeong Do-cheon swallowed a gasp.

His body curled on its own from the tremendous pain rising from his abdomen. But with his collar seized, he couldn’t bend at the waist.

In that horrific pain, Gyeong Do-cheon felt not fear, but rage.

“Khuek! Y-you bastard…!”

Peok!

His abdomen, struck by a knee, jolted and rippled.

Gyeong Do-cheon’s mouth fell open.

His whole body trembled. Strength drained from both legs, and his hands, out of control, flailed as if trying to grab something.

Tilting his head as he looked at him, Jin-hyeon struck the same spot again with the sword’s hilt, held upside down.

Peok!

“Keoheok…!”

It felt like his organs were vibrating. His abdomen, dented in and popped back out by the hilt, kept heaving.

“Interesting.”

His rage was immense, but his head was cold at the same time.

The more extreme it became, the harder it was for reason and emotion to coexist. Yet Jin-hyeon reined them in completely. He wasn’t frivolous, and he wasn’t reckless.

“At this level, you should be foaming from internal damage, yet you’re still holding on.”

It was then.

Pahak!

It was unknown how he regained strength. Gyeong Do-cheon grabbed Jin-hyeon’s throat with his left hand.

“Y-you, what are you!”

His voice had gone hoarse. The sound he forced out was even more chilling than his twisted face.

“What the hell are you!”

Jin-hyeon smiled, released his collar, and grabbed Gyeong Do-cheon’s wrist.

Uduk!

In an instant, Gyeong Do-cheon’s eyes bloodshot.

The long fingers wrapped around his wrist felt oddly soft. But the pressure wasn’t soft at all. The crushing squeeze, as if to break it, grew stronger and stronger, then kept climbing through his whole body.

“Ghk! L-let go!”

“I told you to let go too.”

“What?!”

Uduk!

Gyeong Do-cheon’s complexion went pale. It felt like his wrist was twisting by degrees. It was a wonder it still hadn’t broken.

“The moment to pull the stopper on wine sealed away to age has come. You don’t need to know about me yet.”

“Kyaaah! Let go!”

“Slowly. You can recall it one by one.”

Jin-hyeon smiled.

“There’s no need to rush between us.”

Only then, able to move his left arm, Gyeong Do-cheon swung and smashed Jin-hyeon’s face.

Peoeok!

Jin-hyeon’s head snapped to the side.

‘Got him!’

It was a blow infused with the internal energy of the Iron Soul Divine Art. To hell with forms and techniques. A single punch had the power to shatter even boulder.

Naturally, the bastard’s jaw and cheekbones should have been pulverized. Even in pain, Gyeong Do-cheon grinned.

But the grin vanished at once.

As Jin-hyeon slowly turned his head back into place, his gaze changed bit by bit.

A faint reddish haze seemed to seep from those eyes filled with blue flames. Neither flame nor fog, it was something eerie.

“You’re strong. I’ll give you that.”

“Y-you bastard!”

His cheek had only flushed slightly. Let alone being smashed, it didn’t even bruise.

And right when Gyeong Do-cheon was about to swing again.

Peok!

His vision flashed white in an instant.

With one short uppercut, he dropped to his knees. It wasn’t like the blows to his abdomen. His brain had been shaken, so will alone couldn’t keep him standing.

Strength went into Jin-hyeon’s hand.

Uduk!

“Kyaaak!”

The seized wrist dislocated. It was pain that snapped his swirling mind back in one stroke.

Still holding the dislocated wrist, Jin-hyeon let go of the sword and pummeled him with his right fist.

Peok! Peok! Ppagak! Peok!

Under fists that fell like a squall, Gyeong Do-cheon’s face became a mess. His cheek split, his eyelids swelled, and several teeth broke and flew out.

Jin-hyeon looked down at Gyeong Do-cheon.

Gyeong Do-cheon couldn’t collect himself. The way his head wobbled slightly, he was completely gone.

Jin-hyeon beamed.

“Now it finally looks right.”

Even as his mind slipped, Gyeong Do-cheon shuddered at the man’s voice.

Tap.

After sealing his dantian with an acupoint strike, Jin-hyeon leaned to Gyeong Do-cheon’s ear and whispered.

“Wait quietly. We’ll settle things after we finish cleaning up.”

Grabbing his collar brutally, Jin-hyeon flung him aside. Gyeong Do-cheon’s body lifted and dropped in front of the Iron King Squad.

Pahak!

The Iron King Squad members caught him so he wouldn’t fall headfirst, then tightly surrounded him.

Jin-hyeon picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and slowly moved his neck.

The udeudeuk cracks sounded especially vicious. Baek Gyu, the Iron King Squad Leader standing at a distance, swallowed without meaning to.

‘Is that man really the Second Young Master?!’

It wasn’t only because of his changed appearance.

The aura flowing from the Second Young Master was not ordinary. He didn’t know what kind of Kangho expert he had met or what sort of martial arts he had learned, but even that mere aura was enough to raise goosebumps all over his body.

And Baek Gyu could feel the terrifying violence sleeping inside that aura. He had senses that were unusually keen.

Saaaak.

The air around Jin-hyeon’s body seemed to warp strangely. Heat-haze, like the shimmer above a scalding bath, seemed to billow from his whole body.

“Hoo.”

Jin-hyeon drew a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Seureuk.

The moment his right toe seemed to have lifted slightly.

Fwoosh.

Jin-hyeon vanished from where he stood.

As Jin-hyeon sprinted toward the battlefield raging before the main gate, he saw Han Cheol-sang and Ha Suk-heon.

Jjeojeojeong!

Han Cheol-sang was swinging his blade in a frenzy against countless masters all alone.

It was as if his whole body was on fire. He swung his blade while pouring out a crimson aura without restraint, and the sight called to mind a hellish fiend that had descended into the mortal world.

But Jin-hyeon could tell. Even as Han Cheol-sang used his ruthless martial arts against so many masters, his internal energy was starting to waver bit by bit.

‘As expected.’

He could tell at a glance.

That divine art of Han Cheol-sang’s resembled those of the Blood-Saber Demon Lord and the Life-Snatching Demon Lord from the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader’s days.

It was clearly an internal cultivation art suited to finishing enemies in a breath with explosive power. It was like the two Demon Lords’ arts had been merged into one. The might was superb, but it didn’t look sustainable.

‘Good.’

He could still hold. Before anything else, Jin-hyeon trusted his ability.

Assassins from Black Society were clashing with other masters. Their fight wasn’t loud, but it was lethal. Their movements, actively using hidden weapons, daggers, and concealment arts, were like phantoms.

It was the same for them. They could hold somehow.

Then there was only one master Jin-hyeon needed to take.

Paaaaang!

Using Heavenly Escape Steps, Jin-hyeon moved to Ha Suk-heon’s rear and immediately unleashed War-Sword Three Arts’ Cross Soul-Slash.

Startled by the killing intent driving in from behind, Ha Suk-heon instinctively leapt away.

Kwaduk!

The cross-shaped sword strike left vicious gouges in the earth.

Ha Suk-heon, airborne, looked down at the ground.

‘?!’

Shock fell over Ha Suk-heon’s face. He couldn’t see the unknown master who had attacked him.

‘Where?’

In that moment, Ha Suk-heon felt fierce killing intent above his head.

The attacker had risen even higher than him, who had already thrown himself into the air. He quickly steadied his posture with a turn, then thrust out twin palms.

Even without stomping, tremendous force poured out of his palms. It was Cheongyang Association’s Jade Immortal Seal.

At that moment, Jin-hyeon’s iron sword swung savagely.

Kwakwakang!

With an explosive boom, crushing pressure surged in. Ha Suk-heon’s body plummeted toward the ground.

Sarak.

Even after falling that fast, he landed lightly on the ground with his two feet.

‘Strong.’

The moment he felt the enemy’s attack was not ordinary, Ha Suk-heon abandoned the refined way of fighting.

Ha Suk-heon snapped his head up.

In that instant, his eyes widened. Shock from confirming the opponent’s identity again, and horror that the opponent was already right before him, swinging his sword.

“Teacher!”

Kwareung!

The descending iron sword was like an axe.

Even the Jade Immortal Seal’s palm force struggled to block it. He couldn’t understand how such monstrous strength came from a three-foot sword that wasn’t even that thick.

Ha Suk-heon shouted quickly.

“What in the world are you doing!”

Jin-hyeon didn’t answer. Now wasn’t the time to talk. It was time to attack.

Pababak!

Jin-hyeon’s zigzag approach drew a gasp in spite of himself.

Ha Suk-heon realized he had been terribly mistaken. Not only about Jin-hyeon as a person, but that the man’s martial arts exceeded his expectations by far.

‘How in the world!’

From the opponent’s body, which gave off an almost colorless, transparent haze, deep blue energy flickered in and out.

Hwaaak!

It felt like a storm was sweeping in.

The pressure pouring down was truly terrifying. It was the aura of a savage beast, brutal and violent beyond measure. Momentum of extreme power that knew no compromise.

‘I’ll die at this rate!’

Ha Suk-heon unleashed the Jade Wave Divine Fist once more.

Jin-hyeon, swinging his sword, bent like a snake in an instant and slid into his arms.

Even with a sword in hand, he entered the pugilist’s distance. He was confident in extreme close combat.

Killing intent rose in Ha Suk-heon’s eyes.

‘Don’t tell me you deceived me?!’

If he had room, he wanted to talk. But he also knew very well that talk wasn’t needed.

Jin-hyeon attacking him with indifferent eyes was its own conversation.

‘You bastard!!’

Peopeopeong!

Palm force exploding in succession from his left hand stacked and slammed down toward Jin-hyeon’s head.

It was the Jade Seal Triple-Stacked Palm, which only three people in the Cheongyang Association had mastered. It was also the association’s top-tier martial art that added the characters ‘Divine Palm’ to Ha Suk-heon’s nickname in his youth.

Bringing out the Triple-Stacked Palm meant Ha Suk-heon had truly taken murder into his heart.

Jin-hyeon’s body rotated.

Kwakwakang!

The outer court floor shattered, carving a huge furrow.

It wasn’t power even a Peak Realm master could take with a bare body. It was a martial art strong enough to crush a boulder as big as a house.

Ha Suk-heon ground his teeth. He had felt that Jin-hyeon had already circled to his outer right.

It was truly suffocating and unbelievable. Even though he had trained movement arts carefully to control distance, he couldn’t keep up with Jin-hyeon’s footwork.

The iron sword swung at high speed.

Peobeobeobeok! Jjeong!

Countless sword wounds were carved into both of Ha Suk-heon’s arms.

‘Damn it!’

Even after raising Iron Qi Art, his muscle was cut. It was swordplay thrown out in haste, so the strikes shouldn’t have been in full strength, yet this was the result.

Kwang!

With a stomp, Ha Suk-heon drew up power and his upper body dipped at a slant.

Behind the left hand he swung like a rake, two more bursts of the Triple-Stacked Palm followed. A total of six streams of palm force poured down, aiming for Jin-hyeon’s whole body.

It was remarkable internal energy control. His explosive-force technique had reached a true level.

At the moment anyone would sense Jin-hyeon’s defeat—

Kwakwakang!!

Ten Sword Twin Walls, rising like an illusion, linked and blocked the Triple-Stacked Palm that poured down.

Ha Suk-heon’s eyes trembled. Even without seeing, he could tell the opponent had blocked his attack.

‘Damn it!’

As he pulled back a step and was about to smash ribs with his right palm—

Peoeok!

Ha Suk-heon’s right arm was knocked aside. Jin-hyeon’s kick had hammered his forearm.

He couldn’t understand how he used kicking technique from such a broken posture. Startled, Ha Suk-heon tried to retreat at once, but Jin-hyeon, bleeding from a gash on his forehead, had already appeared right in front of him.

‘Damn it!’

Jin-hyeon’s elbow smashed Ha Suk-heon’s collarbone.

Ppagak!

Pain so sharp a gasp burst out on its own. And it was the left collarbone, so his left arm shook along with his pinned right arm.

Sak!

Ha Suk-heon’s toe grazed Jin-hyeon’s side.

‘This crazy—!’

He dodged again. He had truly thought he wouldn’t have been able to avoid that attack!

‘He’s reading all my attacks?!’

Pung!

Jin-hyeon’s movement, folding the hip joint and whipping his leg up like a lash to strike Ha Suk-heon’s calf, was practically art.

Jin-hyeon swung his iron sword straight at the precariously staggering Ha Suk-heon.

A killing-intent-filled sword strike slashed diagonally. It was the half-form of the War-Sword Three Arts’, Cross Soul-Slash, One-Sword Severing the Soul.

Ha Suk-heon’s face went pale.

Seogeok!

The iron sword cut diagonally across his upper body.