Chapter 228. Nine in the Fifth Place (24)
Six more swords flew in again under Sword Control, merging into the shield formed by the other swords.
But even so, the swords were gradually pushed back.
If the Great Justice Palace Master had been a little slower, he would have been reduced to rags by the rain of feathers!
Now, his expression was growing serious.
Six more swords flew in.
With that, all twenty-four swords the Great Justice Palace Master had were used to block Si-Hyeon’s attack, and it was only after these last six swords had joined in that he stopped getting pushed back.
However, because he had been pushed back until this point, Si-Hyeon had the advantage in terms of energy consumption.
Si-Hyeon smiled coldly.
“You sure are arrogant. And it’s because of your arrogance that you and your Martial Heaven will perish.”
While the Great Justice Palace Master and Si-Hyeon were engaged in a fierce battle, the overall situation of the main battlefield, where the Heavenly Demon Cult was fighting against the Great Justice Palace, Great Darkness Palace, and other Martial Heaven Forces, was slowly shifting in favor of the latter.
While the overall sizes of both forces were similar and they had more or less the same number of low-level underlings, there was a lack of high-level experts on the Heavenly Demon Cult’s side.
This resulted in Ma-Ra being forced to fight against two Absolute Masters of Martial Heaven.
It was only because Ma-Ra posed a significant danger to the average Absolute Master that she was able to hold out for this long. Otherwise, she would have been in deep trouble already.
‘Damn it!’
Ma Ra cursed inwardly, which was unusual for her, and quickly retreated.
An instant later, five arrows struck the spot where she had stood.
Swish!
Ma-Ra left afterimage after afterimage as she continued to retreat while avoiding the opponent’s spears. And in-between the spear strikes, arrows continued to fly, forcing Ma-Ra to focus only on avoiding and blocking, never giving her a chance to counterattack.
At some point, her back touched the wall of the huge pavilion.
Si-Hyeon also realized that there was an obstacle behind Ma-Ra, but there was nothing she could do.
Even if Ma-Ra wanted to try to escape to the other side, the Absolute Master shooting arrows at her from the roof of the pavilion prevented her from doing so.
‘What should I do?’
It wasn’t that she couldn’t break through the wall. It was a simple matter to break through and pass to the other side.
However, Ma-Ra knew that this short delay would prevent her from avoiding the enemy’s attacks.
At that moment, a light suddenly flashed behind the Bow Martial Minister, Martial Heaven’s Absolute Master who was raining arrows down on Ma-Ra.
Sensing something was off, the Bow Martial Minister quickly dodged as a flying sword narrowly missed his shoulder.
“Another Absolute Master?”
When the Bow Martial Minister quickly looked in the direction the Sword Control had come from, he saw a long-haired swordswoman entering through the main gate of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Behind the beautiful swordswoman were many corpses of Martial Heaven warriors.
She shouted, “The Hainan Sword Sect will join hands with the Heavenly Demon Cult!”
With those words, a hundred elites of the Hainan Sword Sect appeared behind her.
Then, Ra Mi blushed slightly, and her voice took on a more cautious tone.
“By the way, where’s Woo-Mo—ahem, I mean, where is the Wind Sword Battalion Leader?”
In spite of the fierce battles they were locked in, the faces of Si-Hyeon, Yeo-Seol, and Hyeon Yu-Yeon looked as if they’d just enjoyed a particularly juicy slice of unripe lemon.
‘Woo-Moon, really now?!! Aren’t you a fucking playboy?!’
***
He couldn’t even remember how many people he had killed.
At first, he counted them. But later, that became difficult. He just thoughtlessly slashed at the enemies blocking his way.
The more he killed, the more he worried about his father and the more enraged he grew at Martial Heaven.
Squelch.
He twisted the sword stuck in a bandit’s chest and pulled it out.
Swish!
Inkblade, which had just slaughtered all the enemies around him, returned to his hand. Then he flicked all the blood off of Inkblade and Lightflash before sheathing them once again.
On a hill with nothing but corpses, Woo-Moon stood alone, looking ahead with gloomy eyes.
Then, he quickly leaped down. There wasn’t any time for him to be absorbed in feelings and emotions.
Finally, the Forbidden City came into view.
The bustling capital spread out far and wide.
On the long road in front of him leading into the Forbidden City, between the buildings lined up on both sides, it would normally be bustling with merchants and pedestrians.
Yet now, martial artists lined the path.
The entire capital was filled with the smell of blood.
A massive number of people had died, and the air was filled with screams, as well as the sounds of doors and windows being broken.
The smell of blood filled the entire city.
Who among the citizens of the capital could ever have imagined that the capital would be trampled by bandits, thieves, and robbers like the villages deep in the mountains?
However, the warriors of Martial Heaven, under the command of the Martial Heaven Emperor, had slaughtered the soldiers of the Capital, and the very same kind of enemies who kept standing in Woo-Moon’s way throughout his journey here were now killing, raping, and pillaging however they pleased.
Woo-Moon pursed his lips. Then, a laugh burst out.
“Ha... haha... ha... You really are going all the way, aren’t you? You’re going so far that there really is no turning back. Martial Heaven...”
As soon as he finished speaking, Woo-Moon shot forward like a cannonball. Golden Dragon and Inkblade came out of their scabbards into his hands. Then, they spun fiercely.
Swish, swish, swish, swish!
Golden Dragon and Inkblade flew around, slashing at the necks and torsos of the enemies blocking Woo-Moon’s path.
As he passed by, Woo-Moon used Sword Control to throw Lightflash at the surviving enemies, taking their lives without leaving a single one.
He had now passed about a quarter of the distance.
By now, he had killed a monstrous one thousand five hundred enemies. There were four thousand five hundred left.
Inkblade and Golden Dragon flew back into his scabbards. Woo-Moon stretched out both his hands.
Thwip, thwip, thwip!
As ten blasts of finger aura exploded, another ten followed, and then another ten. He kept using Flawless Finger, shooting out hundreds of blasts of finger aura in volleys.
Thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip!
“AHH!!!”
“Ugh!”
“M-move! Agk!”
While it wasn’t exactly a narrow path, there were so many of them that there was no room to dodge.
The finger aura blasts pierced through the enemies like through butter. Eventually, another one thousand five hundred people lost their lives.
He was halfway there now.
Woo-Moon ran across the enemy corpses and coated his sword with an intense golden sword aura—Transcendent Aura. One horizontal slash, and a sharp band of Sword Aura expanded along the road, mowing down everything in its path.
“Wha—”
“Agh!”
With this attack, he advanced to three-quarters.
Crunch.
Gritting his teeth so hard that a few molars cracked, Woo-Moon flew forward, holding the Golden Dragon in both hands. He spun mid-air, and the union between sword and man generated a massive vortex—it was something reminiscent of the Wind Soul-Piercing Iron Spear that Si-Hyeon had previously used against him.
Those whose bodies were pierced by Woo-Moon’s sword had their limbs torn apart, and even those who weren’t directly hit by the sword were swept away by the vortex, their entire bodies twisted and broken like twigs.
Finally, Woo-Moon arrived at the main gate of the Forbidden City.
He kicked the door open and went inside.
There, he saw someone waiting for him.
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!”
He called out to his father like he used to when he was young.
His shout shook the entire Forbidden City and echoed throughout the capital. The citizens of the capital who had survived the plunder shuddered.
They were all hiding in their homes, desperately hoping for someone to help.
Dae-Woong, who had been unconscious, instinctively woke up when he heard his son’s voice. His eyes immediately moved in all directions, searching for any sign of his son.
Then, he saw him.
He saw the figure of his son that he had always dreamed of, both when he was awake and when he was asleep.
His son, covered in blood, was standing in the distance, staring at him with burning eyes.
Tears fell from Dae-Woong’s big eyes.
However, his joy was short-lived.
Dae-Woong beat his chest in resentment and shouted, “Why did you come here?! You fool, you idiot! Why did you come?! What did you come all this way for?!”
Woo-Moon did not fail to understand why Dae-Woong was shouting like this. His father’s boundless love made his heart ache.
He shouted in a hoarse voice, “I am your son! I am Song Dae-Woong’s son, Song Woo-Moon! If I don’t come here, who will? Wait for me, Father! After I kill all of these bastards, I’ll save you!”
However, Dae-Woong remembered what the Martial Heaven Emperor had said before—that he would make Woo-Moon suppress his own qi and fight like that.
Dae-Woong shook his head desperately.
Not caring that his shoulder, which was pinned to the pole, was shaking and blood was flowing out, he yelled, “No! Get out of here right now, you brat! Get the fuck up! Hurry up and run away!”
—Hohoho. Why, this is making me shed tears. What a true, endless love between a son and a father!
Woo-Moon finally saw the Martial Heaven Emperor.
He was sitting on the top of the pole where his father was hanging, laughing.
“You... are a dead man.”
Woo-Moon’s voice was filled with rage, hatred, and a desire for revenge that seemed to pierce the heavens.
However, the Martial Heaven Emperor just chuckled.
—This situation really is fun. Well, the thing is, no matter how much you hate people or get angry at them, in the end, you can’t overcome everything with your own strength. No matter how much you love someone, in the end, you’ll still die if I stomp on your head and crush it. You... Eh, whatever, I’ll give you a test. Let’s see how well you do.
“A test?”
The Martial Heaven Emperor placed his beautiful hand on Dae-Woong’s head. It was precisely where the Baihui acupoint was.
Woo-Moon’s eyes widened.
“If you don’t move that hand right now, I’ll kill you and chew on your bones!”
—Calm down, Song Woo-Moon. The one at the business end of the knife is you, not me.
He was right. He held the axe, and Woo-Moon could only wait to be executed.
He thus gritted his teeth and waited for the Martial Heaven Emperor to continue.
—First, restrain your qi. Press your Qihai acupoint.[1]
“No! Don’t do it, son! This bastard’s going to kill me anyway! Just think of me as a dead man and please survive!”
With that, Dae-Woong tried to bite his tongue and commit suicide.
“FATHER, NO!!!” Woo-Moon shouted, noticing the determination in Dae-Woong’s eyes and the sudden movement of his mouth.
Then, the Martial Heaven Emperor’s hand moved. He pressed Dae-Woong’s acupoints to prevent him from attempting suicide.
He smirked.
—Are you grateful? I saved your father. Kekeke. Now come on, you know what you have to do.
Woo-Moon struck his own acupoint without saying a word. His endlessly surging qi could no longer spread from his dantian to his entire body.
—Even if you lock the Qihai acupoint, as a Paragon, you still have the ability to use the qi spread throughout your entire body. You will refrain from doing that. From this point on, you will only use your physical strength. Understood?
Woo-Moon nodded.
“Okay, I’ll do it your way.”
—Good, good. At least you can follow an order. Here’s the test: To get here, you had to run down the main street of the capital. There are many other streets in the capital besides that one.
“And?”
—And there are all kinds of martial artists there. Kill them all and return here. Then, I’ll release your father.
Woo-Moon could see Dae-Woong speaking with his eyes.
‘Don’t do it. Just run away.’
However, Woo-Moon nodded at the Martial Heaven Emperor, and Dae-Woong squeezed his eyes tightly in frustration.
“Martial Heaven Emperor. Will you keep your word?”
—Of course, kekeke.
“I’ll believe you, then.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Woo-Moon ran down the streets of the capital. Since he wasn’t using any qi, his speed was incomparable to his usual speed.
—Now, shall we have some fun? said the Martial Heaven Emperor with a satisfied smile.
1. Literally “qi sea,” the Qihai acupoint is directly above where your dantian would be and is the acupoint that controls all movement of energy. ☜