Chapter 185 : The Price of Turning Away from the Truth. -02
Chapter 185: The Price of Turning Away from the Truth. -02
There was no need to force a conversation with someone who refused to listen.
Knowing that better than anyone, he drew his sword.
At once, the gathered party stepped back.
They had tactfully given them space.
“So you finally reveal your true colors.”
“Rather than true colors… it seemed like this was what you wanted.”
Bang Manchun’s face flushed in an instant.
He had not expected such blunt, familiar speech.
But Ban Hojin remained utterly composed.
“Hm. Weren’t you hoping for a brute? I’m only giving you what you wanted.”
Ban Hojin flashed a crooked smile at Bang Manchun, who could no longer conceal his anger.
His tone implied that he simply could not understand why the man was so agitated after being given exactly what he had asked for.
The Rising Juniors watching were equally startled.
None of them had imagined that Ban Hojin would speak so unreservedly.
“How dare you!”
“Yes. That’s better. I’ve even created the justification you were so desperate for.”
Ban Hojin grinned as Bang Manchun stomped the ground with a face contorted in fury.
Even a third party would have found the expression insufferable.
Enraged, Bang Manchun unleashed the Six Harmonies Nine Shao Divine Art, a divine art that only the Sect Leader of the Gongdong Sect could master, to its utmost limit.
Whoooooom!
True to the Sect Leader of the Gongdong Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects, an immense aura erupted from Bang Manchun’s entire body.
The oppressive presence unique to a master exploded outward.
As if to display it, his martial robes swelled violently.
Yet Ban Hojin showed no particular surprise.
Shaaack!
Even as the Demon-Subduing Sword Technique, imbued with the true energy of the Six Harmonies Nine Shao Divine Art, lashed forward like lightning.
Bang Manchun’s sword thrust accurately targeted Ban Hojin’s solar plexus, yet Ban Hojin stood still, his sword hanging loosely at his side.
‘As expected!’
A cold sneer formed at the corner of Bang Manchun’s lips.
It was exactly as he had anticipated.
Seeing Ban Hojin fail to react even as the blade closed in, Bang Manchun felt certain.
Ban Hojin had merely defeated the Iron Blood Demon Emperor through luck.
Whether it had been due to stamina or martial compatibility, one thing was clear.
He had only succeeded because heavenly fortune had favored him.
‘It was absurd from the start. To think he reached the Transcendent Realm at just twenty-one. Perhaps if Master Dharma or Zhang Sanfeng were reborn, but otherwise it is impossible.’
Even the Rising Juniors of the Five Great Families—who had undergone marrow cleansing at birth and consumed countless elixirs—could reach only the Peak Realm in their twenties at best.
Even a once-in-a-century genius would reach, at most, the late Peak Realm or the brink of Supreme Master Level.
The idea that Ban Hojin had reached the Transcendent Realm was sheer nonsense.
Bang Manchun himself had devoted decades to martial arts and still had not crossed that wall.
There was no way Ban Hojin had.
From the beginning, Bang Manchun had not believed it.
He had deemed it realistically impossible.
He thought that the current instability of the Murim required a hero, and that the Beggar King, the Yama King, and the Blade King had merely elevated Ban Hojin for that purpose.
Claaang!
Bang Manchun resolved to reveal the truth to the world in this very moment.
To show how absurd their claims were.
But then—
A sound he had never anticipated reached his ears.
At the same time, a tingling pain shot through the wrist gripping his sword.
“Ghk?!”
A twisted groan escaped Bang Manchun’s lips at the unexpected and powerful rebound.
But this was only the beginning.
Ban Hojin, who had appeared unable to react to the strike, had in fact met the sword thrust precisely with his own, deflecting it before swinging again.
With the same indifferent expression he had worn from the start, he slowly drew his blade downward.
Tsssss!
It was nothing more than a diagonal slash.
Yet the sword pressure emanating from Ban Hojin’s blade defied imagination.
Contrary to the simple-looking technique, the sword pressure crushing down on Bang Manchun was monstrous.
And Bang Manchun felt it clearly.
He understood what kind of aura was pouring from Ban Hojin.
“Grrrk!”
The realm he had longed to reach all his life—
The realm that had been his dream and ultimate goal—
The oppressive presence that only a martial artist who had reached the Transcendent Realm could emit.
Bang Manchun ground his teeth.
But the aura he himself emitted, unable to surpass that wall, was useless.
Rather, it was utterly trampled.
Pssss……
Though invisible to the naked eye, Bang Manchun felt it vividly.
The aura flowing from Ban Hojin was devouring his own in an instant.
Wooooong!
Even so, he could not remain still.
Even if Ban Hojin truly was a master of the Transcendent Realm, victory was not decided solely by the superiority of martial arts.
Countless variables could overturn any outcome.
Drawing upon every ounce of strength he had left, Bang Manchun forced his power higher.
When momentum surged to its peak, it was also the perfect moment to grow careless.
Considering Ban Hojin’s age, he would surely be intoxicated by the situation.
Bang Manchun intended to exploit that.
‘In terms of compatibility… I may have the advantage.’
Though he no longer believed Ban Hojin was overrated, he still believed he could win.
Even if his realm was lower, his experience and seniority were superior.
A head-on clash offered no chance.
But if it became a prolonged battle, his greater internal power would eventually overturn the fight.
‘Perhaps I’ll even discover a weakness.’
Clangclangclang!
Though neither sword was coated in visible sword energy, the aftershocks of each collision were immense.
With every clash, the earth split apart.
Invisible formless sword force raged violently, forcing most of the Rising Juniors to retreat even further in alarm.
Craaaack! Crack!
The ground fractured with each of Ban Hojin’s strikes.
Bang Manchun had begun avoiding direct clashes, aiming for a drawn-out fight.
Deflecting what he could not avoid and dodging the rest, the open clearing was reduced to devastation in moments.
‘So this is how you’ll play it.’
Ban Hojin smiled faintly.
From his movements alone, Bang Manchun’s intentions were transparent.
‘And yet he truly knows nothing about himself.’
Even knowing he was at a disadvantage, Bang Manchun still failed to judge Ban Hojin’s strength objectively.
The proof lay in his eyes.
Though focused solely on evasion rather than counterattack, he still underestimated Ban Hojin.
From that, Ban Hojin could infer how dulled Bang Manchun’s real combat instincts had become.
Krrraaaang!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Ban Hojin’s sword strikes changed.
Now he intended to wield his sword properly.
And to show Bang Manchun just how naive his plan was.
In true battles between real martial artists, luck and miracles did not occur.
Boom! Boom!
The results were immediate.
Ban Hojin’s sword momentum surged toward Bang Manchun like a tempest.
Bang Manchun tried to slip out of the sword flow, but in the end, he failed.
Ban Hojin gave him no opening.
“Ghk!”
Bang Manchun’s face twisted under the ferocious, gale-like assault.
There was no space to evade.
Beyond mere superiority of realm, Ban Hojin’s techniques had depth.
They were not the sword of a mere brat.
Skrrk. Shhk!
Worse still, Ban Hojin’s sword speed was steadily increasing.
As if to toy with him, he gradually accelerated, until it became difficult to keep up.
His once pristine white martial robes were now reduced to rags, his hair disheveled.
But the greater issue was stamina.
“Huff! Huff!”
Unlike Ban Hojin, who was in the vigor of youth, Bang Manchun’s body was slowly descending from its prime.
Moreover, unlike Ban Hojin, who trained his stamina to extremes, Bang Manchun had not fought with such all-out intensity in years.
Though he trained daily, he had not pushed himself to his limits.
Year by year, his stamina had waned.
This was the result.
Screeeech!
Perhaps that was why Ban Hojin’s sword felt even faster.
His reactions slowed; his senses dulled.
Wooooong!
The moment he realized it, Bang Manchun made his decisive gamble.
He would stake everything on the internal power where he believed he still held clear superiority.
Reaching the Transcendent Realm did not necessarily mean one possessed overwhelming internal power.
In a single decisive exchange, he believed he still had a chance.
More precisely, he had no choice.
If he dragged this out further, defeat was certain.
“Chaaah!”
At the same moment he resolved himself, the secret ultimate strike of the Demon-Subduing Sword Technique unfolded.
It was a sword imbued with his entire life’s refinement.
The distilled essence of decades of cultivation surged toward Ban Hojin.
Pssssss……
But the gap between Supreme Master Level and the Transcendent Realm was far greater than Bang Manchun imagined.
Crossing that wall—or failing to—might seem like the difference of a single sheet of paper.
Yet the actual disparity was overwhelming.
Even pouring out all his strength, Bang Manchun’s sword did not even touch Ban Hojin.
Before it could, the true energy surrounding the blade dispersed like smoke.
Thud!
At the same time, Ban Hojin’s sword struck Bang Manchun’s blade.
A clean, powerful blow.
“Ghk!”
It appeared to be a simple clash.
It was not.
The immense shock transmitted through the sword made Bang Manchun grit his teeth.
Even so, a groan leaked between them.
Clang!
He bit down hard, refusing to show weakness.
But under the relentless follow-up strikes, he could endure no longer.
Ban Hojin’s sword strikes were solid and ferocious.
They pressed him with maddening precision, leaving no room to evade or deflect.
“Ugh! Hah! Ngh!”
Bang Manchun’s body shook violently under the continuous onslaught.
He managed to block, somehow.
But the accumulating shock was unavoidable.
Though he diverted as much force into the ground as possible, there was a limit.
His complexion darkened by the second.
Craaaang!
Anyone could see that defeat was inevitable.
But Bang Manchun did not give up.
More accurately, he could not.
The moment he admitted defeat, he would lose everything.
He was not merely a martial artist.
He was the Sect Leader of the Gongdong Sect.
Even if he lost, he could not lose like this.
‘Somehow…!’
His stamina was depleted.
His mental strength was at its limit.
Yet he endured.
Endured, believing an opportunity would come.
Though he was being thoroughly crushed, he thought Ban Hojin might grow careless.
The fact that he had not ended it already was proof.
Thuuud!
“Cough!”
Now unable even to suppress his groans, Bang Manchun staggered with unfocused eyes.
He retreated unsteadily, on the verge of collapse.
Ban Hojin did not stop.
Ending it halfway did not suit his temperament.
“That’s enough. Let us end it here. This is sufficient.”
Kooong.