Chapter 206. Nine in the Fifth Place (2)
While he knew he would be able to escape the vortex itself, its energy was not limited to its visible range. Even if he wasn’t struck directly, he still felt as though his body would be torn in half.
The destructive power of the vortex was just that great.
It couldn't be avoided.
'Then there's no other choice. I have to confront it head-on!'
Woo-Moon had a technique of his own with destructive power that could stand up to the Wind Soul-Piercing Iron Spear! A technique that focused solely on destruction!
Raging Storm!
His sword pointed at the sky and a never-ending torrent of sword aura descended, striking the vortex with the force of a hurricane.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
A thunderous roar incomparable to any clash that had occurred up until now resounded throughout the area.
"Ahh!"
The eardrums of those with weaker cultivations burst and blood gushed from their ears. They screamed in pain, but their screams were drowned out by the blast; even they themselves couldn’t hear them.
Raging Storm struck the Wind Soul-Piercing Iron Spear relentlessly, and eventually, it gained the upper hand, completely dispelling the Wind Soul-Piercing Iron Spear and sending it flying back toward Si-Hyeon.
Although Si-Hyeon had perfectly mastered all of the martial arts of the past Heavenly Demons through the Inherited Foundation Demonic Art, there were bound to be differences even within this so-called perfection when comparing inherited mastery of a technique that wasn’t even practiced with mastery of a self-created technique.
If it the Wind Soul-Piercing Iron Spear had been used by its creator, it wouldn't have been inferior in any way to Raging Storm. But it wasn’t Si-Hyeon’s technique, and her mastery was bound to be inferior due to her lack of practice.
With that said, Si-Hyeon also had a technique most suited to herself.
During the considerable time she had spent within the Heavenly Demon Shrine after being reborn, her burning desire for revenge had inspired her to create a technique of her own.
Heaven-Rending Black Stream, a technique that allowed her to utilize her enormous reserves of demonic qi directly.
Some of the feathers adorning her demonic qi wings burst into a flurry and flew through the air, meeting each of the falling swords and canceling them out. Then, the remaining feathers shot toward Woo-Moon.
However, not a single one targeted his head or heart.
That was the same for Woo-Moon's Raging Storm.
Woo-Moon retaliated with the Impenetrable Golden Wall to block all the feathers and, borrowing the force of the clash, flew backward to distance himself from Si-Hyeon.
Thud.
As soon as he landed on the ground, thunderous cheers poured out from both the Allied Forces of Good and Evil and the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Roar!!!!!
“Undefeatable Sword Hero Song Woo-Moon! Undefeatable Sword Hero Song Woo-Moon!”
"The Heavenly Demon Cult is eternal!"
"The Lord's cultivation has no bounds!"
Those who watched the fight felt awe and fear at the power of the Paragons.
Moreover, they couldn't help but feel strong admiration and respect for the Paragon who was on their side.
Amid the cheers, Woo-Moon and Si-Hyeon looked at each other in silence.
Now that they had fought, they understood each other's feelings.
Woo-Moon thought of his own feelings, as well as the feelings of his junior sister, Si-Hyeon. Each time they had clashed, their emotions had been transmitted in their purest form.
So Woo-Moon tightly shut his eyes for a moment. And when he opened them, there was no longer any doubt visible within, and he spoke with conviction.
"Whether it be that you don't love me anymore or that you fell in love with someone else and got engaged—none of it matters."
Hearing his words, Si-Hyeon also opened her mouth.
"None of it matters for me, either. Not that you have a relationship with someone else or that you look down on me now and consider me to be the witch of the Heavenly Demon Cult. It doesn't matter."
The cheering warriors suddenly grew quiet, trying to listen to their conversation.
After hearing the two speak, a murmur began to ripple through the crowd.
"What do they mean, it doesn't matter? What are they saying?" the Allied Forces of Good and Evil whispered.
Meanwhile, on the side of the Heavenly Demon Cult...
"M-my lord, why are you talking to that bastard of the Righteous Faction?"
"Wait... it can't be..."
Woo-Moon turned around amidst the commotion.
No longer looking at Si-Hyeon, he turned to face the Allied Forces of Good and Evil with his sword in his hand.
“I swear on my sword. In the past, now, and in the future, Si-Hyeon is my only junior disciple sister... The enemy of my junior sister is my enemy, and none of those who hurt her will escape my sword."
With that, a calm and gentle bloodlust slowly rose and enveloped the entire Allied Forces of Good and Evil.
Almost at the same time as Woo-Moon began to speak, Si-Hyeon also turned her slender body back and spoke, looking at the Heavenly Demon Cult members.
"I swear on my name, the name of my deceased father, and the names of my grandmaster and the hero who sacrificed themselves for me, the Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon and the Night Spear Devil Gyeong Hong. My senior brother is my only love, now and forever. And his enemies will never escape me."
The two Paragons of two opposing forces had just made shocking declarations!
And each was so absurd that even though people heard it clearly with both ears, they couldn’t properly understand it for a moment.
The first to react was the Sword Emperor.
He suddenly stood up, eyes filled with anger and hands trembling with rage.
"Song Woo-Moon! You-you dare support the Heavenly Demon Cult’s witch! To think you chose to abandon the Righteous Faction for the Demonic Path! The Palm Martial Emperor is shedding tears of blood even in his grave! You shameless bastard!”
Woo-Moon looked at the Sword Emperor with a cold gaze.
"Don't you dare bring up my grandfather with your filthy mouth, you old geezer."
"W-what did you say?" the Sword Emperor roared.
The way those of the Allied Forces of Good and Evil looked at Woo-Moon changed. Suddenly, they were filled with contempt, hatred, and betrayal.
At that moment, the Hegemon Emperor opened his mouth and looked at Woo-Moon.
“Song Woo-Moon, it’s not too late to change your mind. No one can compromise with the Demonic Path.”
The Sword Emperor quickly reined in his anger before speaking once again.
“Your actions are tarnishing the honor of the Iron Sword Baek Family. If you truly join hands with the Heavenly Demon, I will have to name you the traitor of the murim. Then, the Iron Sword Baek Family will lose its renown as a family of heroes and will be condemned by the people for turning into a family of cultists.”
“...and?”
“Think carefully, Woo-Moon! I know you are strong, but even so, you cannot win against all of us. If you join hands with the Demonic Cult, we will have to eradicate you before we destroy the Demonic Cult! By yourself, you...”
Right before the Sword Emperor could finish, voices interrupted him.
"Whoever told you my uncle is by himself?"
"Gege isn't alone!"
"We will follow the will of the Battalion Leader!"
Ye-Ye, Yeo-Seol, and So Gun-Pil stepped forward, dashing through the air to stand by Woo-Moon's side.
“As of today, I am no longer the Matriarch of the Baek Family. My choice to stand with uncle has nothing to do with the Iron Sword Baek Family," Ye-Ye said. She was clearly intending to mitigate any fallback on the family.
However, to her simultaneous dismay and delight all of the other Baek Family members, whom she had strictly ordered to stay put, also came forward, repeating more or less the same words.
"I am now a bastard who abandoned the Iron Sword Baek Family."
"As of today, I will abandon the Baek name. My actions now have nothing to do with the Baek Family."
Ye-Ye’s first impulse was to stop them, but she knew what they felt. Didn’t she feel the same, after all? In the end, she said nothing.
'Follow your heart.'
These were words that both the Palm Martial Emperor and her uncle Woo-Moon had repeatedly said to her.
Ye-Ye repeated those words to herself.
So Gun-Pil, who had come out together with Ye-Ye, also gave the same stance, saying that his choice had nothing to do with his family, the So Family of the Sound Emperor Heavenly Palace. He proudly stated that he would follow Woo-Moon, the Wind Sword Battalion Leader.
While Woo-Moon was overcome with emotion, Yeo-Seol clung to him and said, "I am no longer the Little Palace Master of the North Sea Ice Palace. From this moment forward, I am just Gege's lover!"
“That will not be necessary. I am here to support my son-in-law.”
A cold voice echoed and a white cloud appeared in the air, revealing the silhouette of an Absolute Master.
It was none other than the North Sea Ice Palace Master, Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee.
Following her appearance, the Ten Swords of the North Sea flickered through the air as they lined up behind her and her daughter, while about five hundred Ice Palace warriors also came running to stand behind Woo-Moon.
“The North Sea Ice Palace!”
“It’s the Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee!”
There was a murmur from the Allied Forces of Good and Evil, and the Sword Emperor sneered.
“Otherworldly Ice Fairy, I hope you are aware that with this choice, you and the North Sea Ice Palace will be on the path to destruction.”
Ah Hee was not weak.
Although she was not counted as one of the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors, she was still an Absolute Master who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any of them.
Confident in her strength, she glared back at the Sword Emperor without the slightest hint of being intimidated.
“Our North Sea Ice Palace is not weak enough to be destroyed by the weaklings of the Central Plains.”
The Hegemon Emperor also had a sneer on his face.
"Song Woo-Moon. So the fact that you came out swinging like this is because you’re relying on the North Sea Ice Palace? How foolish of you to try to fight the entire murim with only these barbarians.”
While the Hegemon Emperor blustered, Woo-Moon sent Ah Hee a voice transmission.
—Thank you for coming. But how did you know to come to my aid?
—Heh. Ask your assassin girl later.
'Did Ma-Ra call for help?'
Indeed, the Hegemon Emperor was not wrong—the Ice Palace was quite weak compared to the Allied Forces of Good and Evil.
“Ahahaha! And where did you hear that nonsense? Who said that Woo-Moon's power only came from the North Sea Ice Palace?”
A single figure appeared, splitting the sky with his arrival and taking his place behind Woo-Moon.
“Saber Emperor...!” the Hegemon Emperor grumbled as shouts erupted from the warriors.
“The Saber Emperor! The Saber Emperor Jeong Yi-Moon!”
“But why has an imperial government official come?”
At their shouts, the Saber Emperor’s face turned red.
“You bastards dare to call me an emperor?!”
To call oneself an emperor before the imperial government was a serious crime that could result in the extermination of one's clan.
Of course, since the Saber Emperor was an Absolute Master, the actual emperor couldn't just execute him. After all, he was aware that the murim had its own system and, most importantly, the Saber Emperor was his loyal subordinate; he would have to be ridiculously stupid to be upset just because of a title.
Still, since the Saber Emperor was an imperial government official, he couldn't help but be sensitive to such things.
At this moment, two figures flew through the sky and stood next to the Saber Emperor: the Battle Emperor and Formless Flying Sword.
As soon as the Battle Emperor appeared next to the Saber Emperor, he looked at the crowd with a serious expression.
“It’s the Battle Em—”
“Anyone who calls me by that ridiculous title will be summarily executed.”
With this warning, the voices calling his title were cut off abruptly. None of them doubted that he would carry out his threat verbatim.
In response to the unexpected situation, the flame in the Hegemon Emperor’s eyes was instantly quenched. He grunted coldly.
"And what brings you here? Are you trying to say that the imperial government is planning on interfering with the murim?"
Of all people, the Sword Emperor and the Hegemon Emperor had to watch their mouths.
The Palm Martial Emperor had a close relationship with the Saber and Battle Emperors; moreover, he was a wanderer with hardly any connection to even his own family. Thus, he had been able to do whatever he wanted and say whatever he wanted. On the other hand, the Sword and Hegemon Emperors were the leaders of their own forces and their word held sway throughout the murim; they could not speak carelessly to those in high positions within the imperial government.
The Formless Flying Sword stepped forward and answered his question.
"We've come to help the general."
"The what now?"
Woo-Moon took out an identity plaque from his bosom.
Then, the Saber Emperor, the Battle Emperor, and the Formless Flying Sword all saluted Woo-Moon respectfully.
“We greet the Martial Subduing General!”
“We greet the Martial Subduing General!”
“We greet the Martial Subduing General!”
Everyone who saw this was shocked.
“The... the Martial Subduing General?! Song Woo-Moon?!”
“When the hell did he get that title?!"
The position that Woo-Moon had received, the Martial Subduing General, was a position of the upper-first rank.[1]
While the Battle Emperor was also of the upper-first rank as the Grand General, since Woo-Moon had been given absolute authority to gather the imperial troops under his command, the Battle Emperor also had to salute Woo-Moon.
At the same time, a shout erupted from far away.
“OOOOOH!”
It was certainly not the sound of one person yelling. In fact, it sounded as if there were thousands of them!
1. During the Ming dynasty, the officialdom was classified into nine grades, each grade subdivided into two degrees, extending from upper first grade at the top to lower ninth grade at the bottom. The upper first grade is the highest grade one can reach and grants the bearer the right to question even the emperor himself. ☜