Chapter 366
They who had been one Yeomubaek became two, then four, then eight — and in an instant the number swelled to ten. Each figure moved the same way, breathed the same way, and stared at Unhwi with the same intent.
It was an illusion technique.
The response Unhwi prepared was enough to make even Yeomubaek look taken aback.
He closed both eyes right there.
What... what is this bastard...?
To abandon sight was to concentrate on qi-sense, and that in itself showed this art was not simple enough to be read with mere perception.
It should have been.
But it was not Unhwi.
Ten shapes. In the third of them, he detected an irregular current.
Unhwi’s sword moved.
Absolute-Ice Return-to-Void Sword.
A blue chill pierced the third Yeomubaek.
“Kugh!”
Yeomubaek staggered. Blood spurted from his side. The other nine phantoms vanished like smoke.
“...How on earth.”
Unhwi reset his grip on the sword and, breathing hard, spoke in a quiet voice.
“There are two flaws in the Heavenly Gate Method’s Void-Reality Heart Division.”
“Two... flaws?”
“First, the real one always draws a little more heaven-and-earth qi. The illusions do not expend qi.”
He shifted his grip slowly.
“Second...”
Unhwi lifted the blade.
“The caster’s gaze cannot lie. You were most concerned with the third illusion. You looked at it more often without realizing it, and you examined its qi more closely.”
Yeomubaek’s face went pale.
“You know of Heavenly Gate... Who did you see? No — how many times did you see them?”
“Several times.”
Unhwi leveled his sword.
“Also, far stronger people than you.”
Yeomubaek ground his teeth.
He took pride in being one of the Ten Pillars of the Heavenly Gate.
Above all, he had learned the supreme art among sorceries, the Heavenly Gate Method, and he used it.
He thought Heavenly Gate was a massive body beyond murim’s embrace, and that the geniuses within murim were overrated.
So he’d come to see for himself — and the situation was going wrong.
“...This won’t do. Really won’t do. You seem to be belittling the Heavenly Gate Method; do you think using mere martial arts makes that acceptable?”
“Does it matter what comes from my mouth?”
A fierce aura of illusory qi began to surge from Unhwi’s sword.
“In the martial world, a martial man speaks with his blade. Even if you turned your back on murim out of fear and joined Heavenly Gate, you are still a martial man — so speak with your sword.”
“Not a sword — I’ll speak with sorcery.”
“Then do so.”
Yeomubaek drew five talismans from his robe.
Each talisman bore complex sigils and hummed with the charge of thunder.
Heavenly-Atmosphere Sealing Art. Five-Thunder Linked Explosion.
He tossed the talismans into the air. They arranged into a pentagon and from each burst pale-blue thunder.
Kraaaang—!!
Five thunderbolts detonated in sequence.
The first stimulated the second, the second the third, the third the fourth — the force amplified exponentially.
The chamber was small but not tiny.
It was roughly the size of an ordinary manor’s common hall, and the thunder nearly filled it; Chief Seong, watching with growing alarm, panicked and began to run like mad around the area.
Even using Cloud-Mist Flow Steps.
But not Unhwi.
He lifted his sword.
Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword.
As the name suggested, this blade had an origin tied to thunder. It was intimately familiar with thunder currents in a way other qi were not.
Kraaaang—!!
The thunder’s shock was conveyed along the blade. His arm went numb; his whole body felt paralyzed.
Kraang!
He was thrown backward. His back slammed hard against a rock.
Blood leaked from his mouth. One or two ribs felt cracked.
The difference in level is vast, as expected.
But he had no thought of giving up.
Unhwi rose slowly and wiped the blood from his lips.
Through the roaring thunder he could see Yeomubaek smiling.
He would not let him go.
He muttered under his breath.
The weak will end as dust in the mud; a single thought of supremacy breaks my old self.
A song flowed out.
A red light bloomed from the sword-spirit, as if the blade were drinking blood.
The road of slaughter runs thick with blood; one sword in hand, heaven and earth tremble.
As the song continued, the sword’s momentum changed. Killing intent poured from the blade. The air grew heavy.
Yeomubaek’s eyes widened.
“This is...?”
The energy Unhwi gave off was extraordinary. It was not a mere sword technique. The swordsman’s will itself had been placed into the blade.
Unhwi planted his feet.
The earth split. In an instant the distance to Yeomubaek closed.
Yeomubaek hurried into a defensive posture.
Great Reversal of Heaven — the flow of heaven-and-earth qi within a three-zhang radius about him reversed.
The normal qi current began to run backward.
A typical internal-technique would have suffered reflux and scattered at that moment.
But Unhwi’s sword did not stop.
It only grew faster.
The Reverse-Heaven Vastness Sword did not rely on heaven-and-earth qi.
It was a sword swung by will and resolve.
Reverse-Heaven Vastness Sword. First Form: Pae-Do Blood Sword.
The blade pierced Yeomubaek’s defense. A deep line scored his chest.
“Kugh...!”
Yeomubaek screamed. A crimson aura oozed from the wound. The Pae-Do Blood Sword’s killing qi seeped along the gash into his body.
If this continues... it won’t do.
Yeomubaek moved his hands swiftly.
Five-Element Borrowing Technique. Water-Life Healing.
He drew the life of water to heal the wound.
Unhwi seized the opening and thrust his sword again.
Heaven-Snow Flying-Decision Sword.
When he slashed, dozens of sword-energies poured out like a snowstorm.
Each blade-energy moved independently and encircled Yeomubaek.
Yeomubaek spread his hands. Greenish roots of wood-energy shot up from the ground and wrapped around the sword-energies.
Five-Element Borrowing Technique. Wood-Energy Restraint.
But Unhwi’s illusory qi transformed freely.
Converted to ice-snow qi, it froze the wood-energy in place and shattered it.
Several sword-energies rained down on the startled Yeomubaek.
Cuts opened on his arms and legs and shoulder. White frost lined each wound.
Cold sank deep into his body. Circulation slowed.
“...As expected... they shouted genius and genius he is.”
Yeomubaek made a decision.
If he kept being beaten like this his chance of death would be high.
He must overwhelm him.
No — he must force him to kneel.
He brought his hands together.
Spirit-Dao Method. Five-Spirit Reversal Chaos.
A strange light flowed from Yeomubaek’s eyes.
In an instant, Unhwi’s senses twisted.
Vision distorted.
Up became down. Sounds meant for the left came from the right.
Even touch was ruined — cold felt hot, hot felt cold.
Unhwi staggered.
It was been a while.
Of all the martial arts and sorceries in this world, none were as nauseating and vile as this technique.
Five-Spirit Reversal, a mental attack that jumbles the five senses.
He had suffered this at the hands of Heavenly Gate’s head in his past life and had nearly died then.
“Hahaha! How do you feel?” Yeomubaek laughed. “When your senses don’t function properly, a martial man is powerless.”
He was right. With the five senses scrambled one could not fight effectively.
But Unhwi closed his eyes.
And covered his ears.
He abandoned sight and hearing.
Quietly, he recited the breath-forms of the Tao-Beginning Innate Heart Method.
Void and substance join to form true emptiness. Right and wrong fuse, attaining the Way.
His body’s qi stilled. The confused senses vanished.
In their place a new sense bloomed.
Qi-sense.
He felt all surrounding qi: the flow of heaven-and-earth, Yeomubaek’s position, the direction his attacks would come from — everything was visible.
More accurate than the five senses.
I would ordinarily let this pass, but you insist on baring your teeth; I have no choice.
Yeomubaek, who was about to pull a talisman and throw it at Unhwi, was thrown into sudden confusion.
Unhwi swung his sword. The talisman split and Yeomubaek’s hand was torn.
“What... what!”
Clutching his arm, Yeomubaek stepped back.
The Five-Spirit Reversal didn’t work?
But something was odd.
There was no focus in Unhwi’s eyes. That proved it had worked.
He gritted his teeth.
He knew Unhwi was no ordinary man.
But had he encountered no impediment in reaching this level?
Had there been nothing to hold him back?
A crafty light crept into Yeomubaek’s eyes. As he cast a formula and mouthed seals, if a simple distortion failed then ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a higher-level illusion could be used.
Spirit-Dao Method. Heart-Demon Induction.
A strange light flowed in Yeomubaek’s eyes.
In an instant, something burrowed into Unhwi’s head.
An illusion spread.
Memories of a past life.
Scenes of betrayal, comrades dying, a snow-covered mountain soaked in blood.
Brief bonds that had once been — people he had wanted to protect but could not.
Faces he had reached for but failed to touch.
All the figures flashed past in an instant.
Unhwi clutched his head and sagged to the ground.
As he did, a talisman flew toward him.
It struck his chest and he could not stop it.
He only drew in qi by instinct.
Kraaaang—!!
An explosion threw Unhwi’s body against the wall.
Heart-Demon Induction — a method that plucks out an opponent’s wounds and amplifies them.
“Hahaha! How is it! The past swallows the present!” Yeomubaek roared.
Unhwi looked up at Yeomubaek, who was laughing. The induction was still effective; his head spun and the old pains rose like a tide.
But.
Unhwi’s gaze did not waver.
All those things were—
Already settled.
He recited the seals softly.
Void and substance join to form true emptiness. Right and wrong fuse, attaining the Way.
It was the Tao-Beginning Innate Heart Method.
Unhwi’s mind cleared. The heart-demons vanished.
“Uh...?”
Yeomubaek’s confusion was plain to see. He could perceive the chill emanating from Unhwi’s body.
In an instant the temperature around him plummeted.
The air froze. Moisture crystallized into falling ice.
Heaven-Snow Flying-Decision Sword — Extreme Form: Heaven-Snow Flying-Shadow.
Unhwi tossed the Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword into the air. As it spun, countless sword-energies shot in all directions; each was trailed by a snowflake.
Yeomubaek hastily extended his uninjured arm to erect a wall of flame.
Five-Element Borrowing Technique. Fire-Energy Melting Wall.
A wall of scorching flame rose.
But Unhwi’s sword-energies pierced the fire. The ice-snow qi countered the fire and broke through.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Several blade-energies punctured Yeomubaek’s body.
Holes opened in his shoulder, thigh, and side. Blood spurted from each wound and then froze.