The Rising Martial Arts Genius

Chapter 173: Beast King Sect (3)

"Do you know about Ye-ju’s situation?"

"Yes, I heard on the way here."

"And yet you still say that?"

Baek Kang released a faint surge of energy.

"For what I must do from here on, I need the Beast King Sect’s support. And the one most suited for that job is Senior Maeng."

Jang Woo-hyun brushed away that energy without a care as he spoke. The ease with which he dispersed it made Baek Kang’s eyebrow twitch.

"Impossible. This is an internal matter of the sect. It’s not something an outsider should interfere in."

"Why am I an outsider?"

Baek Kang looked at Jang Woo-hyun with a face that seemed to ask what he meant.

"Not only did I rescue the kidnapped Beastkin, but I also saved members of the Beast King Sect. I even defeated Sa Do-woong, the Flying Wing Duke of your enemy, Twin-Winged Lotus. And just recently, I saved Elder Dan Hong, your successor Senior Maeng, and more Beastkin besides. Given all that, it’s hard to call me an outsider, isn’t it?"

It was a fair point. Jang Woo-hyun was, in truth, no different from being the Beast King Sect’s benefactor.

"I’ve heard that the Beast King Sect has a unique way of expressing one’s opinion."

Baek Kang, who had been leaning against the back of his seat, straightened up. That alone sent forth a crushing pressure in all directions.

"Hup."

Jin Ha-un, standing behind Jang Woo-hyun, let out a small gasp.

"What you just said... because you are the sect’s benefactor, I will overlook it this once."

What Jang Woo-hyun had just declared meant that he intended to assert his opinion through force.

In other words, he was challenging Baek Kang, the Beast King, to a fight right now.

This wasn’t merely bold — it was reckless and discourteous.

"There’s no need to hold back."

Jang Woo-hyun stepped forward. A deep smile spread across his face.

"You’re an amusing one."

"I tend to be that way."

"Very well, then I won’t refuse."

Hearing the two speak, Jin Ha-un thought it was like watching a lazy tiger lower its body in preparation.

"Huh?"

At that moment—

Jang Woo-hyun, who had been standing a few steps ahead, vanished.

Kwaaaang!

The delayed sound of an explosion rang out.

In the blink of an eye, Jang Woo-hyun had crashed through the wall of the grand hall and been flung outside.

Standing where he had been moments ago was a massive White Tiger Beastkin.

Having been thrown outside through the grand hall’s wall, Jang Woo-hyun shook his left arm, which had taken the brunt of the impact.

‘So this is his level.’

Because he had been on guard, his arm and torso weren’t shattered.

Hooook—

While Jang Woo-hyun was taking his stance, a fierce wave of energy surged from inside the building. It felt as though countless wild beasts were charging at him all at once.

‘Should I use my sword?’

He reached for Mukya, but stopped.

Baek Kang was already injured. He figured Baek Kang wouldn’t be using his full power either, so he decided not to use his sword.

Having decided how to fight, he raised both hands.

Right then, the energy Baek Kang emitted surged toward him again. Jang Woo-hyun wrapped himself in the will to cut.

Shaaak—

The energy, charging like a herd of beasts, split apart as it neared him. He had turned himself into a blade and cleaved through its momentum.

Thump. Thump.

From inside the building came the sound of Baek Kang’s footsteps. Jang Woo-hyun, who had been stepping forward, stopped in place.

‘What is this?’

Something felt strange. Even within Baek Kang’s energy spreading in all directions, he sensed a familiar presence.

It was a situation he felt he had experienced once before.

It wasn’t that he had sensed someone’s energy or presence.

Rather, it was an uncomfortable, unsettling feeling — something he’d felt somewhere before, but couldn’t quite recall.

‘Is there something here?’

Even when he expanded his Qi Perception and focused on the surroundings, nothing caught his attention.

Kududeuk. Kugoong!

While Jang Woo-hyun was briefly scanning the area—

Baek Kang stepped outside the building.

Kwajik! Kwajik!

As he walked, the stone floor and steps shattered beneath him. Baek Kang was destroying his surroundings with nothing but his unleashed energy and overwhelming physical might.

"Hmm…"

Jang Woo-hyun let out a low murmur.

‘This is different.’

The atmosphere, the presence, the pressure—

Everything was different from when Baek Kang had been seated.

He was a head taller than Kang Yung, who was seven cheok tall. His sheer size was on another level.

Rather than calling him a White Tiger Beastkin, the word “giant” seemed more fitting.

Just meeting his gaze was enough to freeze his body.

It triggered something instinctive.

The emotion called fear began to creep up.

Beast King.

Baek Kang was truly the king of beasts.

"You’ve got guts."

The massive White Tiger Beastkin strode forward.

And behind him, those who had been inside the building began to slowly file out.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

While everyone was standing still—

The sound of short legs kicking off the ground rang out.

Someone planted themselves between Jang Woo-hyun and Baek Kang.

A round head, pointed ears, and a plump body all over — a small Fox Beastkin.

It was Dan Hong.

"Lord, he’s still a young fellow. There’s no need to go this far."

"Step aside, Great Elder."

Despite the massive size difference, Dan Hong stood firmly in front of Jang Woo-hyun.

The two glared at each other.

Dan Hong didn’t move aside, and Baek Kang didn’t withdraw his energy.

"Lord."

"Step aside."

"Your recent actions have gone too far. There’s no need to react like this to a young man’s hot-bloodedness."

"The youngster asked for it himself."

"He said he’d follow the Beast King Sect’s way, but he didn’t say he would fight you, did he?"

Normally, Baek Kang wouldn’t have stepped forward personally.

No matter how fierce or quick-tempered he was, as the head of a great sect, he wouldn’t have crossed hands with a martial artist who had only just begun to make a name for himself.

But now, being injured, his judgment was clouded, and his temper was even shorter than usual.

Even with Dan Hong’s persuasion, Baek Kang did not heed her words.

The standoff between the two continued.

Neither yielded an inch.

"Hoo…"

Dan Hong, who had been speaking, exhaled deeply, closed her eyes, then opened them again.

She decided any further words were pointless.

"Lord. No… Kang-ah."

As the way she addressed Baek Kang changed, her aura shifted at the same time.

"If you keep this up, you’ll have to face me."

Puk! Kwa-deuk!

The ground beneath Dan Hong’s feet burst apart.

And soon after, the sound of beasts growling echoed around her.

"Noona, step back. This is the last time."

"Last time? Even when I’m asking you like this, you won’t listen to me? I’m hurt, you know."

Dan Hong bent her body slightly, ready to spring forward.

At that moment, a hand came down from behind and landed on her head.

Squish, squish.

Then it pressed down on her head.

"Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to."

He didn’t add the words, ‘It’s just that your head looks so cute from behind.’

Jang Woo-hyun took his hand off Dan Hong’s head.

"Elder, it’s fine, so please step aside."

"Fine, you say?"

Her expression softened compared to just moments ago as she turned her head.

"I’m not unaware of the Sword Hero’s skills, but the Lord is extremely strong. What you see now isn’t all there is."

In response to her concern, Jang Woo-hyun bent his knees to meet her eyes.

Then he leaned toward her ear and whispered.

"But right now, he’s hurt from taking a hit somewhere, isn’t he? So maybe it’s worth a try, don’t you think?"

At Jang Woo-hyun’s absurd remark, Dan Hong’s eyes widened and her ears perked up.

She glanced back slightly.

She could see Baek Kang’s face twisted in displeasure.

A Beastkin with physical abilities far superior to a human’s and a skilled martial artist besides — there was no way Baek Kang hadn’t heard what was just said.

Dan Hong turned her head back to meet the smiling Jang Woo-hyun’s eyes.

About to spar with the Lord of the Beast King Sect right here inside the Beast King Sect, and yet there wasn’t a hint of tension on his face.

She liked that confidence and smiled too.

"Alright. Then go ahead. But if it gets dangerous, I’ll step in."

"Yes. But that won’t be necessary."

Dan Hong shuffled sideways with small steps, and Jang Woo-hyun once again faced the massive White Tiger Beastkin.

"I heard something amusing."

"Ah, so you heard?"

Jang Woo-hyun clenched his fist.

"This will be even more amusing."

He vanished on the spot.

Using Muheo, Jang Woo-hyun appeared at Baek Kang’s side in an instant and threw his fist.

Kwaaaaang!

With the explosion came a shockwave.

Baek Kang was struck in the side and sent flying, crashing into a small building.

Baek Kang hadn’t reacted in time.

That was how great Jang Woo-hyun’s skill was, and he had moved at a moment Baek Kang hadn’t anticipated at all.

Moreover, Muheo was an improved version of the Ma Wang Ilbo Geukkan.

Geukkan itself was a footwork that pierced an opponent’s blind spot, so striking toward Baek Kang’s injured eye made his reaction slower.

"Consider this my reply to the greeting you gave earlier."

As Jang Woo-hyun spoke, the building Baek Kang had crashed into exploded apart.

Kurooong—

From amidst the debris and flying dust, the single remaining beastly eye gleamed.

"Uahahaha! Good!"

Even after being struck, Baek Kang laughed heartily as if he were enjoying himself.

Then, in an instant, his laughter stopped, and he let out a mighty roar.

‘This is…’

An invisible attack.

It could be sound waves, sound arts, or perhaps even a Beastkin’s special ability.

After Baek Kang’s roar, something unseen bound Jang Woo-hyun, creating an opening for a split second.

‘Damn.’

A fighting style completely different from humans — this opponent was a Beastkin.

The White Tiger Beastkin didn’t miss the opening and pounced on his prey.

Closing the distance quickly, he thrust his fist forward.

Jang Woo-hyun, his body stiffened and momentum stolen, stepped back.

Kwaaaaang!

The air split apart, and right after came Baek Kang’s kick.

A kick that sliced through empty air.

Jang Woo-hyun thought it was a pointless attack, but it wasn’t just any ordinary strike.

Baek Kang was a Beastkin.

He didn’t wear shoes to begin with, and his feet bore sharp claws.

When he saw the sword flux tearing through the air from those claws, Jang Woo-hyun raised both hands.

Kwa-deudeudeuk!

He deployed a qi barrier, but it was ripped apart in an instant, and Baek Kang’s fists rained down on him as he retreated.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The space around them exploded with each clash.

Even as they exchanged attacks, both made sure not to harm the others present.

If they had gone all out, the Beast King Sect’s main compound itself would have been demolished.

"Amazing!"

Baek Kang shouted with a laugh.

Seeing and actually crossing hands were two different things.

Jang Woo-hyun was, at best, of a similar generation to Maeng Ye-ju.

No, perhaps he was even younger.

Yet he had already risen to a high position.

It was hard to think of another at that age who had reached such a level.

‘I feel the same way.’

Jang Woo-hyun was feeling the same thing about Baek Kang.

Even though he was called the Beast King, Baek Kang was injured now.

One of his arms was gone, and he had only one eye left.

For someone of Baek Kang’s caliber to still not have regenerated his body meant his core had been damaged.

Yet, even with such severe injuries, he was not being pushed back at all.

If he could use his full strength, Jang Woo-hyun thought he wouldn’t be able to avoid a hard fight.

"Good! Very good!"

As the fight with Jang Woo-hyun went on, Baek Kang grew more excited, raising his momentum higher and higher.

Jang Woo-hyun also drew up his energy to match him.

The auras of the two spread wider and wider around them.

Then, in that moment—

Jang Woo-hyun felt something and stopped.

That sensation from the beginning. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel✦fire.net

He thought he finally knew what it was.

Because he had experienced it once before.

When Jang Woo-hyun suddenly stopped after moving quickly, Baek Kang stopped as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Just a moment."

Suddenly halting the fight, Jang Woo-hyun focused all his attention.

When he raised his energy, he thought he could figure out what the aura he had felt when he was first blown back was.

"I don’t know what you’re doing."

Baek Kang, who had waited for a moment, walked toward him and threw a punch.

Kwoong!

The ground sank in from the single blow.

Even with Baek Kang right in front of him, Jang Woo-hyun wasn’t focusing on him.

He raised both hands to block the punch, then looked elsewhere again.

"You’ve got guts and skill. But your basics are lacking."

Looking away in the middle of a fight — this was foolish behavior.

The good mood Baek Kang had been in vanished in an instant.

"I don’t just have skill; I also have good eyes. No, maybe I should say I have good instincts."

Jang Woo-hyun turned his head to look at empty air.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Don’t you think so?"

He answered Baek Kang’s question with a question of his own.

The person Jang Woo-hyun was talking to wasn’t Baek Kang standing in front of him, but someone else.

That strange feeling he had sensed a moment ago—

It reminded him of the assassins who hid in another dimension, the ones he had met in the Giant Tree Grove.

He had experienced it once before, and now that his realm had risen, he could sense them differently than before.

And now, there was something else added to that.

Baek Kang also turned his head, following Jang Woo-hyun’s gaze.

In that moment—

"Huh… how did you find this?"

From out of thin air, a limp masked man suddenly appeared.

And right after, pushing the masked man out, a Beastkin he had never seen before emerged into the open.

It was as if he had opened a door from an invisible space and stepped through.

It was a Beastkin Jang Woo-hyun had never seen before.

But Baek Kang knew his identity.

"Mas… Master—"

Kwaaaaang!

Baek Kang, flustered, couldn’t finish his sentence before being sent flying backward.

He crashed into the large building where they had started.

Then, as the newly arrived Beastkin clenched his empty hand—

Kwajijik! Kwaduk!

The entire building compressed into a large sphere.

With just two moves, the newly appeared Beastkin had sealed Baek Kang, the Lord of the Beast King Sect.

Jang Woo-hyun studied the figure who had appeared before him.

A Beastkin that looked like a combination of a tiger and a lion.

His height was just under seven cheok, and a single horn jutted out from his head.

It was an animal he had never seen before.

Its mane wasn’t as thick as a lion’s, but strangely, it swayed on its own even without any wind.

When he looked at Jang Woo-hyun, Jang Woo-hyun took a step back and gripped the hilt of Mukya, which he had not used during his fight with Baek Kang.

‘Monster.’

This wasn’t something that could be described as a master.

He was above Baek Kang.

He couldn’t be read clearly at all.

The Beastkin before his eyes made him think of the Taecheong Divine Sovereign or the Dragon Emperor of the Heavens.

‘Perhaps…’

He might be on the same level as them.

"What are you staring at like that?

Never seen a Haetae before?"

The white-furred Beastkin asked with a slight smile.

Following the dragon, Jang Woo-hyun had now met another animal of legend.