Episode 370

As Jinmu took a threatening step forward, the Shadow Swords retreated slightly, maintaining their distance.

Sama Do watched Jinmu with a cold gaze.

A familiar face.

How could he not recognize it?

The Palace leaders repeatedly examined the sketch of his face.

“Sword of Wudang…”

Sama Do muttered through clenched teeth about Jinmu’s identity.

The man from Central Plains who had been devouring Grotto-heavens and became the ruler of the South, challenging the throne, was the Sword of Wudang.

Sama Do’s face twisted mercilessly.

If he were the one who killed Dae Rang (Great Wolf), whose skills were similar to his own, he would have drawn his sword immediately.

However, the fact that he had killed Jong Ryeo-gyun and Song Yeo-bang… Those two monstrous warriors made Sama Do hesitate.

The clothes he was wearing.

A black hat, black cloak, and dark sword.

He wore the same attire and held the same sword as themselves.

Suddenly, Sama Do realizes that Jin Sook and the hundred fifty members of the Shadow Swords, with whom communication was lost, are dead.

The enemy must have infiltrated disguised like them and slaughtered from within.

The sheep could not withstand the hunt of the wolf that had mingled in with them wearing their own skin.

Had they known the enemy had reached Third Grotto-heaven, they would not have pursued recklessly.

Like many people, when committing a mistake, it is as if something blinds their eyes.

And then they regret it bitterly. But what can be done with regret?

“Make way. He is not your opponent!”

“…?”

At Sama Do’s command, the Shadow Swords step aside in confusion.

“You should have done that earlier.”

Jinmu chuckled and left Chung Sang, Chung Woo, and Gong Saeng on the outskirts as he walked straight along the path toward Sama Do.

He was aware that this path was a trail within the Sword Forest, yet he remained endlessly at ease.

Sama Do bit his lip as he watched Jinmu approaching.

Damnably confident and self-assured. It must mean he has confidence in his own skills.

He probably considers the Shadow Swords filling the surroundings to be worth less than weeds.

As the distance between them closed, Sama Do was engulfed in serious contemplation. Could he kill that guy with his own strength?

If his martial prowess was known objectively, it would be a sure defeat.

Moreover, the experts surrounding the Shadow Swords and the warriors of Third Grotto-heaven on the cliff.

Before Jinmu appeared, he was confident he could win even considering the losses, but now it had turned into a significant threat.

Yet the honor that the Shadow Swords has upheld until now.

For them, who had never retreated with an enemy in front, the word ‘retreat’ did not exist from the beginning.

A direct confrontation is difficult, but…

A sinister glint flickered in Sama Do’s eyes as he devised a certain plan.

“It seems that there were two traps from the start. Not just here, but the lure itself was a trap, wasn’t it?”

“Oh! Smart, aren’t you?”

Idiot, you should have realized it sooner.

Contrary to his inner thoughts, Jinmu clapped his hands, pretending to be amazed at his cleverness.

“Jin Sook must be dead.”

“Do you have a personality that thinks fast in a crisis?”

“Then, are you thinking of killing me now as well?”

“Only after asking a few things.”

“You’re foolish to think I would answer willingly.”

“Hmm… Wouldn’t you?”

“……”

“I don’t know how to torture. But I do know of a way to make you spit answers out.”

Jinmu grinned and showed his fist.

“Hmph, do you think that I, Sama Do, would open my mouth under force?”

“…….”

Hmph, how unnecessarily coy.

But is that guy really like that out of habit? I, Sama Do, blah blah.

Anyway, it’s a question not worth answering.

Apparently, he doesn’t know that there’s only one person who held out in front of me.

Master Myung Jin.

A remarkable person who endured through the pain of bone-crushing pressure.

If you have that level of patience, I’ll take responsibility and spare you.

Sama Do, who was watching Jinmu approach with a sly smile, also smiled as he walked to meet him.

A certain plan that Sama Do had devised.

If it succeeds, he will surely die.

It’s impossible with his power alone, but if the hundred fifty members of the Shadow Swords charge together and he joins in, there’s a chance of success.

Ten steps to the center of the Shadow Swords.

Bokri Do-cheon promised to support the Palace if he killed the Sword of Wudang and brought the Grotto-heaven to its knees.

Whether Han Seung became a beast or Sang Gwan-pyeong lost his sense and rampaged, it did not matter.

If the one deemed the strongest under heaven kept his promise, Central Plains would be dyed in blood, and the Palace would once again dominate the world.

He would die here, but his name would be praised for generations.

Five steps forward.

A wicked smile played on Sama Do’s lips, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Three steps…huh?

Jinmu stopped.

And he smirked slyly at Sama Do.

“Crazy bastard.”

“…?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t see through you?”

“…!”

Stupid bastard. You should have hidden your eyes.

Seeing how he was caught in a lure, his brain is unusually naive. Did his age of experience come by playing with marbles?

What are you doing, glaring with such a despicable look and taking every step with a wicked smile?

“Go ahead. See what happens. Why don’t you take a few more steps?”

The moment Sama Do realized that Jinmu had caught on to his plan, the smile vanished from his face.

But it was too late to sheathe the sword that had already been drawn.

“Strike! Kill him!”

At the desperate command, the entirety of Shadow Swords thrust their swords at Jinmu.

A fierce wind blew through the once tranquil path.

The fool who walked into danger on his own.

The blades riding the wind became a massive formation, beginning to shred Jinmu.

“D-damn it! Save the Alliance Leader!”

In the sudden assault that trapped Jinmu, Neung Seo-hyun shouted with bulging veins and unleashed her qi toward the enemies in front of her.

“Sasuk!”

Chung Sang swings his sword, and Chung Woo scatters his first qi with a fist.

“Seriously, damn it! Why did you crawl in there and cause a mess!”

The Puppet’s silver threads danced, and Il-hwan’s sword extended like a beam of light.

Even with Hwang Shin and So Dong-bo joining in to unleash their deadly moves, the Sword Forest’s defensive barrier was too solid.

Despite the attacks pouring in from all directions, the Shadow Swords didn’t even flinch.

Whether injured or dead, their sole target was Jinmu.

“Heh heh heh, you bastard! No matter how skilled you may be, there’s no way you’ll survive.”

Sama Do, located within the Sword Forest alongside Jinmu, grinned in satisfaction.

Though Jinmu evaded countless attacks from the Shadow Swords, his hands and feet striking down and breaking the warriors with ease, Sama Do had his sights set on something else.

An instant strike to cut him down while he focused on his subordinates’ attacks.

His attention was on his subordinates, making it impossible to block his surprise attack.

Sama Do lowered his stance, readying his sword technique, and the dark blade trembled intensely.

Wooong!

He condensed his Enhanced qi to the limit, waiting and waiting again.

‘Now, it’s over. You…’

Just as Sama Do, prepared to attack, gripped the sword’s handle tightly, the air’s movement changed subtly.

“What, what is this?”

Kuuu.

Suddenly, a wind arose.

What seemed like a gentle breeze lightly fluttering the hem of his clothes quickly turned into a gale, sucking towards the center of the formation.

“What, what on earth is this?”

Sama Do widened his eyes, staring at the center of the formation.

In the hand of the one trapped within the Shadow Swords’ attack, a dark sphere began to form.

Enhanced qi? With an intensity as fierce as it is terrifying?

A chilling scream echoed around the bead of Enhanced qi, so concentrated that one could not even dare to speculate its magnitude.

And then, with a clear laughter directed at himself, the sphere of Enhanced qi created by the enemy thrust toward the ground.

Rumble, rumble.

The earth forcibly swallowing the sphere began to vibrate finely, and soon the entire canyon started to shake violently.

“Damn it! Get out of the way!”

Unable to suppress his anxiety, Sama Do swung his sword with all his might.

The Enhanced qi contained in the dark sword moved flexibly like a whip, cutting through everything it touched as it shot forward.

The death of his subordinates?

That was something he had been prepared for from the start.

As long as he could kill that bastard…

But just as the Enhanced qi whip Sama Do created seemed about to split the enemy in two, an earthquake erupted from deep within the earth.

Shadow Dragon Elemental Assimilation Arts, Charging Dragon, Tectonic Blue Wave.

Rumble, rumble, boom!

The roar, akin to that of a dragon rising from the depths, accompanied by a thunderous explosion, causes the earth to surge like blue ocean waves.

“This, this…monster-like?”

The massive explosion not only shredded the warriors at the center of the formation but also obliterated Sama Do’s Enhanced qi, extending its range.

The aftermath of the explosion stirred up a thick dust across the entire canyon, obscuring vision.

The center of the formation collapsed, but Sama Do did not give up.

If such a powerful technique shook the entire canyon, the internal qi consumed must be significant. He had to quickly rally the surviving subordinates to find and attack him.

Sama Do, enduring the fierce winds that followed the explosion, searched for Jinmu’s figure.

“Find him! He must be killed…”

Just as he was urgently issuing orders to his subordinates, a massive presence felt right in front of Sama Do.

A refreshing energy completely different from before… Spiritual qi?

Ah! The murderous Evil qi previously emitted was so shocking that he had forgotten.

That before he was the Lord of Evil Conquers Heaven, he was a Taoist of Wudang.

“Damn it!”

With a curse, Sama Do swiftly retreated to create distance, wildly swinging his sword. Dozens of crescent-shaped energy blasts shot towards the center of the formation.

Black Moon, Dark Moon Qi Burst.

Swoosh! Bang, pop! Bang!

The crescent-shaped Enhanced qi blasts, fired into the dust cloud, exploded in quick succession, followed by a brief silence, and the Spiritual qi that had been right in front of him vanished without a trace.

‘What on earth just happened…!’

In an instant, Sama Do widened his eyes and quickly turned his head.

The overwhelming Spiritual qi reappeared with a whirlwind from below his left flank.

Jinmu bared his white teeth and emitted a fierce light.

‘When did it…?’

Simultaneously, Sama Do barely managed to block the incoming punch with a twist of his sword.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Though he blocked it, Sama Do couldn’t avoid the impact and staggered sideways like a crab.

And Jinmu, who followed his movement closely, skimming low over the ground.

“Damn it!”

Sama Do gritted his teeth and swung his sword wildly, as if scribbling in the air.

The dark light emitted from the tip of his sword enveloped Jinmu’s body like a dense net.

Do you think Wudang Taoists always walk like immortals riding clouds?

As the net of dark light approached, Jinmu’s movements became nimble.

Wudang’s lightness technique, Yan Qing’s Eighteen Flights, unfolded as freely as a swallow frolicking in the air.

In an instant, Jinmu’s body, which had penetrated the net of sword strikes created by Sama Do, moved so swiftly it was almost invisible.

“…!”

Jinmu, having swiftly evaded the sword light, accelerated by pushing off the ground.

Too fast to block, Sama Do enveloped his body with qi to brace for the impact.

Zzzeng!

Jinmu’s penetrating palm strike hit his abdomen roughly.

Despite having formed an qi barrier, the impact was so heavy that Sama Do’s face twisted, making him gasp for breath.

How could the gentle palm force of a Taoist, known as The Secret Taoist Technique, feel so blunt, as if a rice cake was being hit by a hammer?

However, he merely staggered; holding his ground.

Hurriedly, a counterattack…?

What Sama Do saw as he gritted his teeth and prepared to swing his sword was a series of palms flying toward him, layer upon layer, in succession.

Growing more powerful with every addition of its thirty-six transformations, Wudang’s Soft Palm.

Zzeng! Zzzeng!

Jinmu’s sweeping palms repeatedly struck Sama Do’s abdomen.

Persistently, at the same spot.

Even if he wanted to stop it, he couldn’t, and even if he wanted to avoid it, he couldn’t.

Boom!

When the last palm strike exploded in his abdomen, Sama Do barely swallowed the blood surging up his throat.

As he tried to seize the brief respite at the end of the relentless attack, Jinmu suddenly grinned.

“You’re quite a stubborn one.”

“…?”

Startled, Sama Do instinctively gathered all his qi, layering it over his abdomen.

He doesn’t target anywhere else.

Given his persistence in striking the abdomen thirty-six times, it was clear he’d aim for the same spot again.

Whoosh!

Jinmu’s palm stretched out toward Sama Do’s abdomen, who stood firmly on the ground.

“…?”

But the palm that touched him was too light.

Though swift, the force exerted from his palm was far too calm to have…

Splat!

“Argh!”

Sama Do’s face, previously filled with bewilderment, contorts sharply with the pain assaulting his abdomen.

This, this is… From the inside, not outside?

The barrier he created was of no use.

Splurt!

Unable to withstand it, Sama Do spews forth a fountain of clotted blood, collapsing before Jinmu, who smiles darkly.

No matter how much I think about it, you’re a naive brat. Do you think Wudang only has Soft Palm?

Try blocking it all you want, you punk.

This is Wudang’s legendary secret powerful hand technique, the Ten-Segment Brocade.