Loosening And Tangling (6)

‘Huh?’

A cool feeling ran from the crown of his head down to his neck.

‘What is this?’

Mong Hyeong seemed to slow as he ran. That was how it looked to Jang Yu.

‘Why is he running so slow? Hurry and… huh? Where did that bastard go?’

Jang Yu’s thoughts stopped there.

Pu-hwaak!

Jin-hyeon stepped down like a reaper, planting a foot on Jang Yu’s back as he spewed blood and collapsed.

“You bastard!”

Sensing mortal danger, Lee Yong-geum fell back, and the three men and women with Mong Hyeong unleashed merciless killing moves at Jin-hyeon.

As if waiting for it, Jin-hyeon reversed his grip on the Indestructible Sword and planted it in the ground.

Chiriririring! Kwa-kwang!

In an instant, a dozen Indestructible Swords multiplied and repelled every crushing strike from all directions.

The Heavenly Wolf Qi surged like fire, kicking up blistering heat and afterimages. At once, a domineering shockwave of force blocked whatever came from the eight sides.

It was the War-Sword Three Arts, Tenfold Prison Wall. The all-around sword rampart carried tremendous rebound.

The three, members of the Oh Family Merchant House’s Twelve Ghost Guests, named on the Heavenly Will Alliance’s public wanted list, staggered back. Mong Hyeong also had to open a six-meter gap to bleed off the rebounded force.

Ulguk!

Blood welled from Jin-hyeon’s mouth.

He had managed to block the attack, but the impact was considerable. That single slash of Mong Hyeong’s aimed at his back made his insides churn as if he had been struck with a hammer.

‘It’s fine.’

It was fine. He had expected this much.

To set the flung-back foes right before the sword’s domain, to unseal at precisely this moment.

He had borne heavy cost to reach this point.

‘Now.’

The Heavenly Wolf True Qi coursing through his body bolted toward his brow like lightning.

Huk!

Jin-hyeon’s pale skin gradually flushed red.

Chiiiiik!

Like plunging heated iron into water, a white shimmer steamed up from all over his body.

It was no ordinary change. It reached beyond appearance and altered the aura he exuded.

Hwaaaak!

Frenzy overlaid the steel-hard, overbearing aura.

Creu-reu.

Mong Hyeong and the four felt gooseflesh prickle over their bodies.

A wolf’s howl rang like an auditory mirage. A blue-eyed wolf bared sword-sharp fangs with its gums, spewing dreadful killing intent.

A gift from the night laden with Yin Qi. For the blood-soaked wolf, the moonlight gladly yielded its side.

Heavenly Wolf True Art, Moonlit Unsealing.

A chilling monstrous aura pooled in Jin-hyeon’s eyes.

“Haah!”

The three who met his eyes struck on instinct.

Mong Hyeong shouted,

“Don’t!”

Flash!

The Indestructible Sword drew a vast half-arc.

Pu-hwaaaak!

With a brutal cross-cut that ripped the air, the trio’s arms and torsos were hewn away on the bias.

Peo-peong!

Jin-hyeon’s body jolted. He had taken the palm force those three expelled.

But that level could not harm him greatly. It was like tossing a few droplets on a campfire, his Heavenly Wolf Qi blazed all the fiercer.

Jin-hyeon’s mouth opened.

“Graaah!”

A beast’s roar that made mountains and trees tremble.

It was as if something not human had opened its eyes. Gritting his teeth, Mong Hyeong swung the Death-Snare Ghost Sword.

Jin-hyeon’s white hair writhed.

He keenly caught the killing intent surging from behind. Not merely the lump of killing intent, but the very motions of the foe emitting it.

Buaang!

The Indestructible Sword, swung as if burning the air, traced a cross.

In that instant, Mong Hyeong felt his vision blacken.

A cross strike twice larger than before pressed in with landslide pressure. Though the blade wind was unseen, blue-white flames seemed to approach in the shape of a cross.

‘You bastard!’

By instinct he unfolded one of the latter two forms of the Death-Snare Ghost Sword, the Death-Net Great Sword.

Kwaang!

Blade force smashed blade force, belching a brutish shockwave.

The pressure that gushed out was immense. To take it bare would shatter every bone.

Mong Hyeong staggered back, but even as he did, his sword traced out the next move. On instinct alone, he realized his opponent would launch a follow-up attack without hesitation.

‘Range fifteen meters. Boost power with two driving steps…’

It was that moment.

Hwaaaak!

A tidal aura crashed over and crushed his whole body.

‘Impossible!’

Jin-hyeon was already within six meters. He charged through, taking the shockwave’s pressure on a body packed with internal energy.

Mong Hyeong’s eyes bulged as if they were tearing out, stained with shock.

Beast-madness met with human killing intent, being reborn as blue monster Qi. It was a chilling presence that defied description, like a murderer who had slain hundreds, so drunk on the thrill of the next prey before him that he did not know what to do with himself.

“You mad bastard!!”

Cursing despite himself, Mong Hyeong unleashed the Death-Snare Ghost Sword’s final move, Ghost-Net Death Sword.

Hwareureureuk!

Jin-hyeon’s Indestructible Sword flipped over, raising a wall before him.

Kugugung!

It was like a giant gate scraping over the earth as it moved.

Rather than all around defense, he split half his sword power to block forward only. It was a variant of the Tenfold Prison Wall, the Ten-Sword Twin Walls.

Mong Hyeong’s net-like blade wind hammered the Ten-Sword Twin Walls.

Kwarung!

Another shockwave burst.

Pabababak!

Blood seeped from all over Mong Hyeong. His skin burst at random under the shockwave’s pressure.

The rebound was too fierce to dissipate. His vision reeled and he thrust a cut at once with pure instinct.

Jjeo-eong!

His blade, piercing the dust cloud, sparked and pinged away.

Hwaak!

A hand burst through the cloud and seized his arm.

Peobeok!

The grip strength was monstrous.

The burrowing fingers mashed skin and muscle. His strong internal arts protected his bone, but those fingers punched through flesh and muscle, inflicting permanent damage to his arm.

Chiring.

The hand that held his sword sprang open. The fallen blade gave a pitiful scream.

Jin-hyeon broke through the cloud and swung his leg.

Peo-eok!

He drove his right knee into Mong Hyeong’s abdomen.

Mong Hyeong was no slouch. Even doubled over, he swung his remaining left hand and cracked Jin-hyeon’s face.

Ppagak!

Jin-hyeon spat blood.

Luckily the Heavenly Wolf Qi protected his whole body. Otherwise it would not just be a split lip, but his right cheekbone down to his jaw would have been smashed.

Of course, he had anticipated this as well. Even as he scattered a beastly aura unmatched under heaven, his reason remained as cold as moonlight.

He forced his turning head up with strength and tightened his abdomen hard.

Ppagak!

A vicious headbutt. Mong Hyeong’s nose bridge broke and his front teeth flew.

Even as his eyes flashed and strength fled his body, Mong Hyeong’s senses did not die.

And thanks to those senses, he could accept his final moment.

‘I’m dyi…’

Pu-uk!

The reverse-gripped Indestructible Sword punched down through his chest.

Mong Hyeong’s eyes went dim.

A great dark blade, a black guard, and fingers white yet tinged with red came into view one after another.

‘When did he release the hand that seized my arm?’

He had expected death, but not to die impaled on a sword.

Even the final blow defied expectation. With a bitter smile, Mong Hyeong let his head hang.

Pu-hwaak!

Drawing out the Indestructible Sword, Jin-hyeon swayed for a moment.

“Huff! Huff!”

His breathing ran ragged. With Heavenly Wolf Qi heating him from between his brows through his body, he felt aflame.

He hurried to reseal his unshackled body.

Huuuuung!

The cold night wind quickly cooled his reddened skin.

Then terrible pain surged through him. His heightened senses aggravated every wound.

The chilling feeling of cold ice rubbing along his spine.

Jin-hyeon closed his eyes.

Wooooong!

The blazing Heavenly Wolf Qi flinched.

He roused the Soul-Refining Art and issued a forced command. The pain lessened, and the Heavenly Wolf Qi rampaging like a beast gentled and gathered into his dantian.

“Hoo…”

Exhaling long, Jin-hyeon rose to his feet.

‘This should be fine.’

Moonlit Unsealing awakens the Heavenly Wolf True Art’s nature.

Unsealing does not increase the amount or density of internal energy; but because the force is originally so hard-edged, using martial arts in that primal state damages sinew, bone, and the viscera.

Thus he normally wraps something like a protective film of Qi around it. Moonlit Unsealing is the secret art that strips that film away and drags out the power’s true form.

This too is resolved at the fourth stage. That does not mean the after-effects of the Moonlit Unsealing vanish, but that the body grows to the point where it can live in the unsealed state.

“…This kind of bout is a first.”

When he lived as one with the Eight Wastes Alliance Lord, he had faced death crises countless times.

But the urgency and pain of then had grown faint. As those memories dulled, reality again forced the line of death upon him.

An undeniable experience, and an experience that cannot be one.

Shaking blood from the Indestructible Sword, Jin-hyeon turned his head.

“As expected.”

Lee Yong-geum was gone. He had fled.

But he would not know. Though the heightened five senses from unsealing were lessening, Jin-hyeon’s sense of Qi remained razor-keen.

Huk!

Jin-hyeon became a gust of wind and vanished.

“Huff, huff!”

How long had he run?

He crossed a mountain and circled a village; in his haste, even his Qi allocation was a mess.

In the end his internal energy was nearly spent, and his stamina hit bottom.

But Lee Yong-geum could not stop.

‘A demon!’

He could not forget Jin-hyeon, eyes brimming with blue monster Qi, killing three of the Twelve Ghost Guests with a single stroke.

Fear scraped his spine until his skin tingled. Lee Yong-geum’s eyes quivered uneasily.

Truly, he had never felt such primal terror. He ran frantically with fear, and only now, strength fading, did he realize he was terrified.

‘Impossible! Impossible!’

What of Mong Hyeong?

He didn’t know. He couldn’t know. Thinking of Mong Hyeong’s skills, perhaps he hadn’t died; but recalling that mad beast, not even Mong Hyeong’s survival seemed certain.

Whatever the case, he had to flee farther.

He needed as much distance from the battleground as possible. The beast could be on him anytime.

Jjiik! Saak!

Branches tore his clothes and scored his skin.

It didn’t hurt, but the unfamiliar sensation helped him regain reason little by little.

‘What of Yong-dan’s side? Did they succeed? Or fail?’

He had heard Seol So-ha’s martial arts ranked among the finest late-stage experts of Sichuan.

But the Black Cat Twin Swords were also fiends among the Twelve Ghost Guests. They were gentle by nature, but once blades were drawn, they were fierce as fire.

‘No, they must not seize Seol So-ha. That beast could go berserk.’

As that thought came, another followed.

‘They say he’s close with the Seol clan. Then is it better to take her hostage? But if he charges at them like a madman?’

Returned reason still couldn’t suppress his fear.

‘First, I need to get out of Sichuan. I must go to Shaanxi.’

It was when he reached the dark pass summit—

“You’re late.”

“Ghk!”

Startled, Lee Yong-geum toppled on the spot.

His trembling wouldn’t stop. He slowly raised his head.

“Ah!”

On a small rock at the summit.

A beast sat at ease, the Indestructible Sword hooked over his shoulder, looking down at Lee Yong-geum with blue eyes.

“Are you finished with your business with me?”

“!!”

“Then it’s time for me to see to mine, is it not?”

Lee Yong-geum’s vision was stained with darkness.