Chapter 135. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (6)
The Lust Emperor wasn’t in top shape, either.
In order to trap the Fist Emperor into his perfect trap, he had been forced to fight a fierce battle first.
The moment his hidden assassins appeared and dealt a massive blow to the Fist Emperor, the Fist Emperor hadn’t just waited for death. Instead, he had used all his power to strike a hard blow to the Lust Emperor’s abdomen.
Of course, as the Fist Emperor had been distracted by the other assailants, he hadn’t been able to actually use all that power effectively. However, it was still enough to inflict the Lust Emperor with multiple internal injuries.
Surrounding the Fist Emperor were the secret guards of the Lust Emperor. They had given up everything for this battle, sacrificing all their lifespan and cultivation through the Blood Explosion Pill for more power.
Beyond them, the Fist Emperor could see Woo-Moon filled with rage and rushing toward the Lust Emperor with a terrifying force.
“Ugh... you’ll suffer if you let your guard down, Lust Emperor. It’s time for the spring rain, and the tide will wash away the stagnant water of the Yangtze.[1] It’s funny. An evil Black Hand bastard like you will become the first sacrifice for the young dragon that will rise in the murim. No, is it more appropriate to call this rise the providence of the murim?”
“Seeing you drone on like this, I guess you’re still pretty healthy, then.”
Although the Lust Emperor had called Woo-Moon a young dragon, he still thought of Woo-Moon as nothing but a child. Thus, he turned his eyes away from the Fist Emperor and just watched Woo-Moon run in from afar.
“Tsk... you pathetic brats.”
Although his sons were getting slaughtered in droves, falling to Woo-Moon’s sword, he felt no emotions. After all, being killed by the Palm Martial Emperor’s grandson was effectively disqualifying them as his sons.
As Woo-Moon gradually approached, however, and as he glared at the Lust Emperor with bloodlust blazing in his eyes, the Lust Emperor’s expression changed little by little.
“Transcendent... has he crossed the wall? No, he’s not an Absolute Master yet... What the hell is going on? Palm Martial Emperor... just what sort of insane martial art did you create and teach your grandson?”
Woo-Moon wouldn’t have been much of a concern if he had been just a mere Transcendent. Even though he had dispatched many Transcendent experts by himself, that was still not much of a concern—after all, every Absolute Master had that strength as a Transcendent, including the Lust Emperor himself.
However, it turned out that wasn’t the case. Woo-Moon actually was a being that defied the common sense of murim.
‘He hasn’t reached the Absolute realm yet, but he’s not that far, either!’
The Woo-Moon before the Lust Emperor now was by no means the same Woo-Moon who was frozen by the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor’s aura a long time ago.
He had made incredible progress compared to when he had faced the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor and the Otherworldly Ice Fairy. The enlightenment he’d experienced a while back had brought him to an entirely new level of power.
Rushing to the Lust Emperor, Woo-Moon felt as though his mind was expanding. A refreshing feeling washed over him, and the form of a new technique once more appeared in his mind.
Dragon Bind Tiger Strike!
Sword aura rippled out of Inkblade like a thick thread and split into two streams. One stretched out long and vast, flying toward the Lust Emperor, while the other tightly bundled within itself into a stout figure before rampaging forward fiercely.
In the eyes of those watching, the perfect image of a dragon and tiger formed of sword aura appeared in the sky.
“How impressive!” the Lust Emperor shouted as he moved his whip flamboyantly. In an instant, his surroundings were filled with the shadows of his whip.
The aura left behind by the whip’s incessant movement didn’t dissipate but instead came together and intertwined like a net—not the average whip aura but one clearly exceeding the Transcendent level, as expected of an Absolute Master.
Yet the dragon flew down and wrapped itself around this net, confining it so that it couldn’t move. A tiger followed, striking the net with its massive paws.
BOOM!!!!
With a heavy explosion, the auras of both sides were canceled out.
Woo-Moon was forced to rapidly retreat fifteen steps, while the Lust Emperor endured the backlash and stood firm. However, as the pressure was too much, the Lust Emperor’s internal injuries became even more severe.
As he tried to swallow the blood about to gush up his throat, he felt something strange and instinctively pushed out with his hand.
Bang!
Ma-Ra, who had been hiding in the darkness and was trying to ambush the Lust Emperor the moment Woo-Moon’s attack dissipated, was unable to land a proper blow on the Lust Emperor and was hit in the side, flying away helplessly.
Even though Ma-Ra had inherited the Death God’s killing arts, it was still impossible for her to ambush an Absolute Master just yet.
Woo-Moon watched as her slender body flew through the air and blood spurted like arrows from her dainty mouth.
He knew it—he knew that even though Ma-Ra already realized that her efforts would have been useless against the Lust Emperor, an Absolute Master whom she could do nothing against, she had done it for him. She had risked her life to create an opening!
“AGH!!!!”
Woo-Moon felt like his heart was going to burst from anger.
He turned toward the Lust Emperor, who was still standing in front of him haughtily.
Quickly using the Divine Phantasm Steps, Woo-Moon turned hazy like smoke before blasting forward at high speed.
“I’ll kill you!”
Woo-Moon let out a shout and unleashed Raging Storm.
BANG, BANG BANG!
The Lust Emperor responded with a curtain of whip aura to block the torrential downpour falling on top of him.
Then Northern Blizzard immediately followed.
Although the Lust Emperor also tried to blast away Woo-Moon’s Northern Blizzard using a wide-area aura technique like the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor had, Woo-Moon wasn’t the same Woo-Moon that he had used to be, and the Lust Emperor wasn’t in his usual state either.
A long line of blood was drawn across the Lust Emperor’s torso, from his left shoulder to his right hip. Sadly, it was but a flesh wound.
“Die, die, DIE!”
With bloodshot eyes on the precipice of madness, Woo-Moon produced the Impenetrable Golden Wall directly before the Lust Emperor.
When it was used in such close proximity, this defensive technique could be used as a fearsome offensive technique instead.
However, this time, the Lust Emperor blocked the attack by combining his whip in his right and palm force in his left.
“Ugh!”
The Lust Emperor’s internal injuries flared up and he threw up blood; meanwhile, Woo-Moon also turned pale and vomited blood, having used too much of his qi in too short of a time through his unrelenting barrage of Gentle Celestial Sword techniques.
But even so, Woo-Moon didn’t stop.
‘Second form, Golden Wall Severing Void!’
Woo-Moon made incredible use of the narrow gap between him and the Lust Emperor and transitioned his Impenetrable Golden Wall into its second form, condensing it into a disc directly before his enemy.
“I-I refuse to be killed by a brat!” the Lust Emperor shouted as he tried to blast aside Golden Wall Severing Void. This time, he was not entirely successful, and the powerful golden disk severed his left forearm.
The Lust Emperor’s eyes were also bloodshot.
‘How fucking dare you! Am I really about to be killed by not even the Palm Martial Emperor but his grandson?!’
The Lust Emperor’s mind raced.
No, it would be too difficult for Woo-Moon, who was still young, to show any techniques that were even stronger than what he’d used so far due to his lack of strength.
With that in mind, the Lust Emperor used the strongest technique he had in his arsenal.
“Chaotic Nine-Wall Rend!”
Nine walls formed of whip aura were created between the Lust Emperor and Woo-Moon. Then, the Lust Emperor’s whip tore through each wall as it barreled toward Woo-Moon, absorbing the aura of each wall.
After tearing through a total of nine walls formed of whip aura, the Lust Emperor’s attack was exponentially stronger right as it reached Woo-Moon.
“Now die!”
As Woo-Moon let out a roar that was almost like a guttural scream, he squeezed his dantian for whatever qi he had left.
You’ve reached the limit.
Stop it.
It’s too dangerous to go any further.
Although his body screamed and warned him, Woo-Moon forcefully drew out whatever qi was in his being to the point where his dantian was beginning to tear itself apart in order to fuel another Dragon Bind Tiger Strike.
Shing!!!
The dragon and tiger painted by Woo-Moon’s sword flew forward with a silent roar and collided with the Chaotic Nine-Wall Rend.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The moment the two attacks collided, a terrifying roar erupted.
“AGH!!”
Woo-Moon, whose entire body was coated in blood and riddled with wounds, crashed to the ground, rolling backward for a bit before he could stop himself.
He lifted his head and glared over at the Lust Emperor.
The Lust Emperor’s torso had been cleaved nearly in half, and both of his legs were severed at the thigh. Yet he looked at the sky, laughing hysterically.
“Kekeke, kekekeke!!!”
‘In the end, I became the prey of the young dragon who is about to soar within the Justice Coalition? Is this all I’m worthy of being? A stepping stone?’
With a final laugh, the Lust Emperor died while still standing upright.
At the same time, the Fist Emperor’s arm pierced through the last remaining guard and pulverized his chest.
He watched the final moments of the Lust Emperor, the person he had hated the most throughout his life. However, it felt strange. Although he couldn’t explain it, he felt somewhat sad rather than exhilarated.
‘So our era is slowly coming to an end, then,’ he thought as he looked down at the dagger that had pierced his abdomen at the same time as his final blow against the guard.
Although it wasn’t a life-threatening wound, almost as if by fate, the dagger had somehow pierced through his dantian.
The sense of loss and the pain of having all of the qi one had cultivated throughout one’s life dispersed was so terrible that it was unimaginable to those who had never felt it.
Yet the Fist Emperor only laughed helplessly.
***
As soon as he confirmed that the Lust Emperor was dead, Woo-Moon stood up with shaky legs and staggered toward Ma-Ra.
His dantian, which generally always overflowed with qi and would constantly draw in more whenever it could, seemed to have been annoyed by Woo-Moon’s extreme actions. Rather than gathering any more qi, it just seemed to complain, sending him jolts of pain in quiet irritation.
Still, Woo-Moon wasn’t too worried. He knew that all he had to do was continue to cultivate slowly and address his hidden injuries in the future and all would be fine.
He got down on one knee and gently hugged Ma-Ra.
“Get it together! Wake up, Ma-Ra!”
However, Ma-Ra didn’t open her eyes at his insistence. It was as if she was really dead, and she wasn’t breathing.
“No, please. Please!”
The moment Woo-Moon closed his eyes tightly and hugged her body, his dantian stirred. As if it had a mind of its own, it immediately drew in as much qi as it could from the surroundings, flooding Woo-Moon’s meridians. Then, the qi in his hands was injected into Ma-Ra.
There, it gently circulated throughout her body as well, healing some of her internal injuries and dissipating the Lust Emperor’s palm force, which had brought her to the verge of death.
Fortunately, that was enough to pull Ma-Ra back from that precipice.
“Cough!”
Coughing and spitting blood, Ma-Ra opened her eyes.
“...Woo-Moon.”
As soon as she opened her eyes, all she could see was Woo-Moon’s worried, tearful face. Moreover, as soon as she opened her eyes, all she could feel was his warmth.
Woo-Moon was so happy to see her awake. All he could feel was happiness.
Without realizing it, he lowered his head and kissed her on the mouth.
“It’s a relief. I thought you were going to die, Ma-Ra. I’m so glad that you survived, really!”
Ma-Ra smiled.
It was a smile the likes of which Woo-Moon had never seen on her face before—a truly happy, pleased smile, a smile that lit up her entire face.
It was a smile so beautiful that Woo-Moon forgot how to speak.
***
With the destruction of Black Castle, the headquarters of the Black Bull Gang, and the death of the Lust Emperor, the boss of the Black Bull Gang, the Justice Coalition had finally won!
At the unbelievable news, the morale of the remaining gang members plummeted.
Moreover, the Lust Emperor had so many sons yet no proper declared successor, so whatever remained of the Black Bull Gang were immediately caught up in infighting.
The Black Bull Gang forces that were facing the Justice Coalition forces in Guangxi rapidly disintegrated and splintered apart after hearing the news, quickly being destroyed. Over in Sichuan, while the Black Bull Gang was able to rally together and stay cohesive, they, too, were helplessly annihilated once the Justice Coalition concentrated all its forces on that front.
In this way, the war between the Black Bull Gang and the Justice Coalition had ended with the victory of the Righteous Faction. However, that didn’t mean the coalition had emerged unscathed.
Moreover, the war between the Hegemon Clan and the Cruel Sandstorm Riders also ended around the same time. Both sides suffered equally heavy losses, to the extent that it was difficult to declare a winner. However, eventually, the Cruel Sandstorm Riders gave up on their desire to advance to the Central Plains and withdrew.
Among all of the chaos, there was one name that emerged as the newest hot topic in the Central Plains.
Song Woo-Moon.
Even though the Lust Emperor had been injured, it was still Woo-Moon who cut him down directly with his sword.
Any younger generation talent was nothing but a firefly before the full moon compared to his reputation, and the reputation of the Baek Family, which had now produced the Young Dragon Song Woo-Moon to follow in the footsteps of the Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon, increased as well.
Clip clop, clip clop.
Riding forward on his horse, Woo-Moon glanced at the carriage next to him.
Inside, Ma-Ra was circulating her qi. Fortunately, she was recovering quickly, and it seemed like she would make a full recovery in no time.
Kya!
Eun-Ah, who had already grown to the size of a wolf cub, ran around Woo-Moon’s horse and jumped up and down, teasing Woo-Moon.
It had been a month since he had killed the Lust Emperor.
1. An old proverb. Essentially, everyone eventually gets replaced by the new generation. ☜