Chapter 300 : A New Heaven (2)
Chapter 300: A New Heaven (2)
“You arrived quickly.”
Previously, Muk Geom-yeong had been dragged away by the King of Ghosts while fighting Jang Sam-bong.
Yet he had returned sooner than expected and made Jang Woo-hyun his new target.
“It was not something that would take long.”
His indifferent eyes, as though looking down upon all things, turned toward Jang Sam-bong.
“And your reason for blocking my path?”
“To help clear the road ahead for a junior.”
“A junior? You know him?”
“We share a connection.”
“So you have met him.”
The corners of Muk Geom-yeong’s lips twitched.
“I wonder whether that connection is worth going this far for.”
Even among the Six Great Heavens, it would be difficult for Jang Sam-bong alone to stop Muk Geom-yeong.
That was why, before, he had blocked him together with the Blade Heavenly Lord.
“Will someone else come this time as well? Or do you intend to stand with those riffraff?”
“Someone hearing that would think no one came following the Heavenly Demon Lord.”
The First Heavenly Demon and the Second Heavenly Demon.
Even the ancient demonic masters silently hiding within the Demonic Palace.
Looking at the demonic practitioners gathered here, it would not be an exaggeration to say the Demonic Palace had brought its full strength.
“They have no intention of fighting. They merely wish to witness the new heaven. Are you truly planning to stop me?”
“If not, there would be no reason for me to be here.”
At the straightforward answer, the corners of Muk Geom-yeong’s lips rose slightly.
It was an awkward smile.
“Then try it, if you can.”
As he raised his hand, Jang Sam-bong drew his sword.
At that moment, Muk Geom-yeong’s brows furrowed slightly.
“…….”
“I too am a martial artist.”
Jang Sam-bong smiled.
Unlike Muk Geom-yeong’s artificial and awkward smile, it was refreshing and warm.
“Hah, hahahahaha!”
Seeing Jang Sam-bong draw his sword and release his aura, Muk Geom-yeong burst into laughter.
Unlike before, where only the corners of his lips twitched slightly, he laughed loudly this time.
For the first time, true emotion filled his voice.
Seeing how much Jang Sam-bong had improved since their previous meeting, Muk Geom-yeong genuinely rejoiced.
It was obvious he was enjoying himself.
“Indeed. I had forgotten.”
The Supreme Sect Leader of the Three Pure Taiji Sect.
The symbol of righteousness and a great elder.
The Guardian Sword Heavenly Lord who protected the Middle Heavens Murim.
Beyond all those titles, Jang Sam-bong was also a martial artist.
An Ascender who rose from the Lower Realm to the Middle Heaven Realm with extraordinary skill.
Muk Geom-yeong’s eyes shone as he looked at Jang Sam-bong.
Suddenly, the world darkened.
Not merely a shadow falling over it—the world itself became pitch black.
As though swallowed by jet-black darkness, everything vanished.
Within that overwhelming sight, Jang Sam-bong spoke.
“It would be boring if we simply fought.”
Jang Sam-bong’s figure vanished.
He now stood at the edge of a floating continent twenty li away.
At some point, Jang Sam-bong’s aura had weakened greatly.
“What are you doing now?”
“Let us make a wager.”
Despite the great distance between them, the two conversed as though standing face-to-face.
“With such foolish tricks—”
“Are you afraid?”
“What?”
“You seemed frightened, so I asked.”
At the provocation, Muk Geom-yeong fell silent.
Immediately afterward, he vanished and reappeared near Jang Sam-bong.
“You said a wager? Then what are the stakes?”
“If I win, I will ask one favor.”
“A favor?”
“It is not difficult. You merely have to fight beside me.”
It was impossible to understand.
What kind of matter required him to fight together with another?
Leaving the brief question behind, Muk Geom-yeong spoke.
“And if I win?”
“Then I will offer my head.”
At the overly predictable answer, Muk Geom-yeong shook his head.
At some point, the crease between his brows had relaxed again.
“That would be boring. If I win this wager, then you must come to the Demonic Palace.”
“……As someone responsible for the righteous path, is that not asking too much? That is a request I cannot grant.”
“Are you afraid?”
This time, Muk Geom-yeong provoked Jang Sam-bong.
It was childish taunting, but nothing worked better on martial artists than that.
“If you are afraid, then you need not do it. I lose nothing either way.”
“……Very well. It seems I have fallen into my own trap.”
Muk Geom-yeong smiled awkwardly again and asked what kind of wager it would be.
“We will spar in this state. Then gradually raise our power. For now, this level.”
The amount of strength Jang Sam-bong currently displayed was at the First-Rate Realm.
In the Lower Realm, one would be called an expert.
But in the Middle Heaven Realm, it was merely the level of those just beginning martial arts.
“A wager rising from First-Rate to Peak Realm and then Beyond Peak.”
After quietly repeating the realms to himself, Muk Geom-yeong’s aura suddenly plummeted as though by magic.
Matching Jang Sam-bong’s aura, he lowered his power to the First-Rate level.
As though signaling the immediate start, Muk Geom-yeong slowly approached and threw a punch.
There was not much power behind it.
Instead, it contained countless changes.
If resisted, he intended to transform it into endless feints and variations to target Jang Sam-bong’s weaknesses.
Jang Sam-bong extended his sword toward the approaching fist.
Then he moved the sword tip.
Unlike Jang Woo-hyun’s Three Ring Sword Art, it would be more accurate to say the sword tip merely trembled slightly, drawing an extremely tiny circle.
At that moment, Muk Geom-yeong’s punch, which contained countless variations, lost its direction.
And just like that, Jang Sam-bong’s sword slashed his side.
Sshhk.
Muk Geom-yeong’s clothes were cut by only a finger joint’s worth.
“…….”
Jang Sam-bong withdrew his sword and stepped back.
“I believe I won. Since this was the first exchange, I do not mind if we treat it as practice.”
Muk Geom-yeong narrowed his eyes slightly while staring at Jang Sam-bong.
The word “Next.” escaped his lips, and immediately his aura changed.
This time, it was at the Peak Realm level, capable of projecting qi over long distances.
Toward Jang Sam-bong, Muk Geom-yeong flicked his finger as though snapping someone’s forehead.
The middle finger pressed beneath his thumb straightened, and a tiny clump of qi shot from his fingertip.
The qi bullet flying like a projectile was no larger than half a finger joint.
Facing the rapidly approaching attack, Jang Sam-bong raised his sword to block it.
Taaang!
The sound was stronger than expected.
And the force behind it was considerable.
Jang Sam-bong could not immediately deflect Muk Geom-yeong’s attack.
With a grinding sound, the bean-sized Qi Sphere pushed against Jang Sam-bong’s sword.
He could neither redirect nor cut it apart.
In the end, Jang Sam-bong had no choice but to pour more energy into his sword and destroy the Qi Sphere.
“Huh…….”
Jang Sam-bong admired Muk Geom-yeong’s skill.
The attack just now was not a technique the Peak Realm should have been capable of.
Yet he had not used power beyond the Peak Realm.
‘He compressed the internal energy to its limit and added rotation.’
In that brief instant, he packed countless things into it.
It was merely condensed qi, yet it possessed destructive power comparable to Sword Aura.
As a result, Jang Sam-bong had no choice but to use Sword Aura to destroy Muk Geom-yeong’s Qi Sphere.
“You used Sword Aura, so this round belongs to me.”
His previously narrowed eyes had returned to normal, and the corners of Muk Geom-yeong’s lips rose slightly again.
Because Jang Sam-bong had used strength greater than the agreed limit, this victory belonged to Muk Geom-yeong.
The score between them became one-to-one.
“Next is Beyond Peak?”
At the Beyond Peak Realm, one could use Sword Aura.
And if Sword Aura became available, Muk Geom-yeong held the advantage.
After all, demonic arts often overwhelmed opponents through sheer power.
Fwoosh.
Muk Geom-yeong vanished from his spot, closed the distance, and stomped the ground.
Kuuung!
The ground shattered like broken glass, and waves of qi erupted from the cracks.
In the Lower Realm, it was the sort of Heavenly Demon step commonly given names like Heavenly Demon Descends Upon the World—a step that destroyed everything blocking its path.
Yet despite the tyrannical pressure, Jang Sam-bong did not retreat.
Instead, he advanced toward Muk Geom-yeong.
Facing the overwhelming energy, Jang Sam-bong swung his sword.
It seemed as though it would be pushed back, yet it was not.
It seemed as though it would break apart, yet the sword strike continued endlessly.
The phrase “Unbroken Continuity” suited Wudang’s swordsmanship better than anything else.
Eventually, Jang Sam-bong split apart the wave-like energy and thrust his palm forward, colliding with Muk Geom-yeong’s fist.
KWA-A-A-ANG!
Wudang’s martial arts were no less formidable than any demonic art.
The third battle between the Heavenly Demon Lord Muk Geom-yeong and the Sword Heavenly Lord Jang Sam-bong had begun.
---
The battle against the Divine Dragon Family ended far too quickly to even be called a war.
The Sovereign Family, their so-called ally, fled immediately after realizing Yong Cheon-myeong had fallen.
The Beast King Sect and Five Wheel Five Elements Sect did not recklessly pursue them.
As a result, the Divine Dragon Family was completely surrounded by the Demon-Extinguishing Corps and their allies.
Though the Golden Scale Dragon King Yong Wi-gun was one of the Seventeen Emperors, he alone could not stop everyone.
And thus, the Divine Dragon Family was defeated.
By the time Jang Woo-hyun returned, the battle had already ended, and everyone was cleaning up afterward.
The moment they saw him, the Demon-Extinguishing Corps and his companions welcomed him.
“Hyung-nim!”
“Captain!”
“Woo-hyun!”
“It’s our Captain!”
“Jang Woo-hyun! Jang Woo-hyun!”
“Invincible Divine Sword! Heavenly Scale Sword Hero!”
The Demon-Extinguishing Corps and allied martial artists rushed toward him in waves.
They surrounded Jang Woo-hyun and poured out endless words.
They praised his achievements, thanked him, and marveled at his growth.
“Hyung-nim, is your arm alright?”
“Ah, this? It’s fine. It’s not a serious injury.”
Seeing his missing arm, people assumed it was a wound gained after an intense battle.
But in truth, the arm had been destroyed because he used power beyond his limits.
He had injured himself trying to control an uncontrollable force.
However, his companions did not see it that way.
They believed Jang Woo-hyun had overexerted himself alone for their sake once again.
Only after repeatedly reassuring his worried companions that he was fine could he move on to the next conversation.
“I believed you would find a way, but I never imagined you would personally defeat the Dragon Emperor Heavenly Lord.”
Seo Gyeong-mu had followed Jang Woo-hyun because he trusted him, but even in his dreams, he had not expected things to be resolved this way.
This was beyond simple trust.
What Jang Woo-hyun accomplished would carve a massive mark into the history of the Middle Heavens Murim.
Not long after the Sword Heavenly Lord changed, another of the Six Great Heavens—the Dragon Emperor Heavenly Lord—had fallen.
And unlike the previous Sword Heavenly Lord, who died fighting another member of the Six Great Heavens, this time the victor was a rising expert who belonged to neither the Seventeen Emperors nor the Ten Thrones.
Once this truth spread, the entire Middle Heavens Murim would tremble.
The power structure of the martial world would change.
Jang Woo-hyun and the Demon-Extinguishing Corps would rise as a new force.
During the wars initiated by the Divine Dragon Family, only the Heavenly Sword Family could truly be considered destroyed.
The Guardian Sword Pavilion had suffered due to the Sword Heavenly Lord’s death, but from the beginning, the pavilion had very few members and only gained recognition among the Ten Sects Three Families because of the Sword Heavenly Lord.
By contrast, wherever Jang Woo-hyun intervened, two sects had collapsed.
The Phantom Illusion Sect and the Divine Dragon Family.
The Phantom Illusion Sect had effectively lost all its power.
And while the Divine Dragon Family still had Yong Un and others who opposed Yong Cheon-myeong’s plans, they alone could never maintain the family’s place among the Ten Sects Three Families.
The Ten Sects Three Families had disappeared.
Now there remained Eight Sects One Family.
And alongside those nine forces would stand the Demon-Extinguishing Corps.
At the center of it all stood the martial artist named Jang Woo-hyun.
He was not necessarily the strongest martial artist.
But he had undeniably become the center of the current Middle Heavens Murim.
“What happened to the Sovereign Family?”
“They fled the moment the atmosphere changed.”
“They never intended to fight seriously from the start. They were merely waiting for an opportunity. The moment the tide turned, they abandoned the Divine Dragon Family.”
After hearing the explanation, Jang Woo-hyun briefly looked toward the direction where the Sovereign Family had vanished.
“It’s not your place to interfere.”
Realizing what Jang Woo-hyun was thinking, Maeng Ye-ju stopped him.
“This is something we must handle ourselves. You stop here.”
Hae-ryang was still alive, and the Beast King Sect had no intention of forgiving the Sovereign Family.
The matter with the Sovereign Family was something the Beast King Sect needed to settle personally.
“I say this as the Young Sect Leader of the Beast King Sect.”
At Maeng Ye-ju’s firm words, Jang Woo-hyun nodded.
The Beast King Sect had its own circumstances.
There was no need for Jang Woo-hyun to recklessly involve himself in everything.
“Understood.”
Only after he answered did Maeng Ye-ju’s hardened expression relax.
Afterward, he spoke with the others as well.
And when the conversations were nearly finished—
Yong Seo-hee and her grandfather Yong Un, who had been carefully watching for the right moment, approached him.