Chapter 82: Natural Enemy (7)

Thud!

Ming Cheon staggered and stepped backward.

Whoosh!

The qi that had been burning from his hands raced past his wrists and elbows and shoulders and, in an instant, spread through his entire body.

Klang!

As he shifted his footing to regain his center, the ground trembled.

He had neither released a formal technique nor performed any footwork — yet the earth shook as if a tremor had struck.

Haaah.

Yeon Hojeong looked up at the sky without meaning to. White breath rose from his slightly parted lips.

Vrrrrr! Vvrrr! Vvrrrr!

Beneath his clear skin a transparent crimson light coursed around his body.

Shiiiiiik!

The Black Tortoise Qi startled and withdrew into his kidneys.

Vvvrrr! Vrrr!

The crimson that wrapped his whole body met the White Tiger Qi.

Whoosh!

Though they were completely different currents, a strange kinship was felt. The White Tiger Qi swelled for a moment, enfolded the crimson light, and settled it into the heart.

Crackle! Crackle! Whoosh!

A round patch in the middle of the blood-stained battle-coat’s chest ignited.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heart hammered far harder than usual.

The power squeezing his blood vessels intensified to a terrible degree. A single squeeze of blood felt as if, for an instant, it had spun through his whole body dozens of times.

It was hot.

Heartbeats accelerated, body temperature rose. The temperature was one a human body should not endure, yet the crimson light only pushed Yeon Hojeong’s heat higher.

Shiiiiiik!

Yeon Hojeong’s form blurred in an instant — his searing body meeting the cold air and fountaining steam.

Ming Cheon, and the Death Swords.

And the Red Dragon Army arrayed behind the carriage.

All of them were looking at Yeon Hojeong. Yet none of them could move.

‘...!’

They felt as if they must swing their swords this instant. They felt they had to kill now.

Their murderous intent screamed so.

But behind that killing intent there surged another feeling like a tidal wave that forced their bodies into inaction.

It was fear.

Shiiiiiik!

Within the pale steam the crimson radiance flared wildly.

Saaaaaah!

At a moment the pale steam cleared, and there crouched a youth encircled by red qi.

Thump!

The sound of his heartbeat rolled through everyone’s ears like thunder.

Thump! Thump!

Yeon Hojeong slowly raised his upper body.

Wheeeee!

A white wind rising from under his feet shot the heat blazing across his body high into the sky.

It was a gust of red-and-white, or crimson-and-white. A westward wind carrying the Sun God’s heat howled like exultant sorrow.

“Ah — so you came before the East.”

The Vermilion Bird.

The Vermilion Bird among the Four Messengers is the incarnation of the Fire God of the bing-wu day, symbolizing summer. It governs the heart among the five viscera and quickens vital force.

The White Tiger maximizes pulmonary function to grant tremendous stamina, bone and muscle strength, and overwhelming recovery.

The Black Tortoise draws out turbidity to thoroughly protect the body and set up a posture that will lead the best from the worst.

But defense and offense did not reach their apex from White Tiger and Black Tortoise alone.

The highest safety is to kill before you die — to secure survival by killing the killer. That is the martial art of the battlefield, the true meaning of a killing method.

The White Tiger Qi, receiving heaven-earth qi, synchronized with the Vermilion Bird Qi and produced explosive output. It realized an art of heavenly killing that wildly increases cardiopulmonary capacity — infinite output that burns enemies like beams of light.

That is the Vermilion Bird.

Kill before you die, and kill the dead again. Among the Four Spirit Arts it is the fastest and most vicious.

Yeon Hojeong opened his eyes.

Huk!

Ming Cheon felt an inexplicable thirst at once.

He was hot. His throat was dry. It felt as if every drop of moisture inside him had evaporated.

The moment that brat opened his eyes and stared, Ming Cheon felt the same.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Kuuuuung!

Yeon Hojeong, axe in hand, stamped a resolute White Tiger step.

It was the White Tiger Command Step.

“I’ll finish this quickly.”

Ming Cheon’s face contorted again.

Though his posture overwhelmed the crowd with an even more mysterious technique, Ming Cheon’s murderous will had not yet died.

“What trick is this!”

Flash!

Ming Cheon’s body vanished.

It was a tremendous art. Techniques that produce this kind of speed are rare even across the whole martial world.

But Yeon Hojeong saw it.

Before Ming Cheon’s movement even began, the direction he intended to move showed up to Yeon Hojeong as a red line.

And Yeon could see what martial art Ming Cheon would use and where he would aim.

KAAAAANG!

Ming Cheon’s eyes went wide.

He countered the strike aimed at his rear with the same cut.

His reaction was tremendous. But more remarkable was the destructive force belched from the axe.

“Ugh!”

Bang!

Ming Cheon’s body flew and smashed into the ground.

“Argh!”

He scrambled to regain posture and readied the Phoenix-Soaring Sword again.

‘...?!’

Ming Cheon’s eyes split wide.

Yeon Hojeong had vanished.

‘Where?’

Kraaaang!

“Guhk!”

Ming Cheon spat blood and was flung sideways.

Thud!

Ming Cheon’s eyes were bloodshot.

From where he had been bounced, Yeon Hojeong reappeared and drove a fist into his abdomen — a strike that punched up to Ming Cheon’s wrist.

“Uwehk!”

Ming Cheon spat blood.

The heat rising from his belly disassembled his Phoenix Qi and hammered through his viscera.

It was a terrifying penetration. Phoenix Qi could not block it.

‘H-how the hell—?’

And what was this speed? When had he even reached this point?

Ming Cheon gritted his teeth and sent out Phoenix Water.

Kraang!

The misfired tension broke the ground.

Already Yeon Hojeong had disappeared from that spot. He had moved beyond the Phoenix Water’s striking distance — three zhang and one chi away.

The speed was jaw-dropping. Within the combat realm he seemed faster than the Phoenix-Soaring Blade.

“This is Blood Wing Sweeps the Heavens.”

It is a footwork, not a secret art.

A footwork specialized for annihilating an enemy: using explosive force to move at extreme speed. Simple, but correspondingly swift. Among the Four Messengers’ footworks it consumes inner force the fastest.

And then the attack.

Shaaang!

The sound of the air tearing was far sharper than expected.

Breaking the wall of air, Yeon Hojeong had already come to Ming Cheon’s flank.

Ming Cheon instinctively swung his sword.

Zhhhzzzh!

Their blades clashed and produced real sparks.

‘Grrk!’

Ming Cheon backed away, faltering.

He was overwhelmed by force. And that force was created by speed — speed enabled by the Vermilion Bird qi heating his heart.

Paahhh!!

Yeon Hojeong rapidly expanded in Ming Cheon’s vision.

“You bastard!”

The greatsword drew a cross. It was the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Flying Phoenix Cross Blade of the Phoenix-Soaring Sword.

Flash! Ka-thrum!

The cross of blade qi completely destroyed the carriage Ming Cheon had ridden in.

It was a devastating sword attack. Even with his inner force control fractured by the infiltrating Vermilion Bird qi, he still executed such a technique. Truly the martial art of the head of the Seven Great Families.

‘He really is strong.’

Even if seized by madness, losing the psychological fight, or having inner force operation restricted—

Ming Cheon was still strong. Even after his capabilities were cut by more than half, he could not be confidently beaten in straight confrontation.

This is the head of a Seven Great Family. The master of the world’s foremost house.

However—

“Your arts, too, I, a Grandmaster, will take from you.”

Thud!

Yeon Hojeong drove up the Chained Flying Swallow Strikes. Ming Cheon spat blood and hung trembling in the air.

Staring with a fierce eye, Yeon Hojeong poured Vermilion Bird qi into his axe.

The Black Tortoise is a defensive art and the White Tiger an offensive art. Then what is the Vermilion Bird?

It is an instant-death art.

The calamity of the Fire God, the ruler of the southern sky bearing flames, detonated over Ming Cheon’s body.

Bukbukbukbuk!

“Graaah!”

A gush of blood spattered in all directions.

Whoosh. Thud!

Ming Cheon rolled on the ground.

His whole body was drenched in blood. His torso, mangled by the strikes of the six-zhang great axe, was grotesque. He was not dead, but he could not move.

Yeon Hojeong stood proudly; Ming Cheon writhed miserably on the ground.

The fight was decided.

“Huff!”

Yeon Hojeong’s face turned sallow.

‘That was overkill.’

Ming Cheon had cut him twice with the sword — deep cuts that opened blood vessels and nearly struck bone.

While heavily injured inside, Yeon Hojeong awakened the Vermilion Bird Qi and overwhelmed the enemy with explosive movement. His vision spun.

Fsss.

That was as far as it went.

The mysterious aura that had radiated from Yeon Hojeong faltered and quieted. The Three Spirit Qis were scattering.

Only then did the Death Swords and the Red Dragon Army who had watched the duel with dazed eyes come to their senses.

“This, this can’t be!”

Ming Jeokryang shouted angrily.

“What are you waiting for! Kill him at once!”

“Kill him!”

The Death Swords charged toward Yeon Hojeong. The Red Dragon Army in the rear drew blades.

It was a desperate, life-and-death moment.

“Stop!”

Bang!

A lightning-like blade qi cut across the front of the Death Swords.

Yeon Hojeong raised his head.

“Young Master! Are you all right?!”

Yeon Hojeong smiled wryly.

“In the end you lifted the seal.”

Whoosh!

A grave momentum rose from Shin Mo’s body.

It was a qi completely different from the power he usually held. It was the manifestation of the Dragon-Embrace Divine Art — one of the Yeon family’s Five Great Divine Arts.

Shin Mo shouted.

“Azure Hawk Squad, protect the Young Master!”

“Understood!”

Bababab!

They, who had been stunned by the divine contest Yeon Hojeong had displayed as if possessed, finally drew their blades ready to die to guard him.

Yeon Hojeong frowned.

‘This is bad.’

Even without the Death Swords, holding back the Red Dragon Army alone would be tough. If the martial men waiting in the rear joined, it would erupt into a chaotic melee.

Then, as if on cue, a booming voice rang out.

“The warriors of the Ming Clan, proclaimed Enemy of the Martial World — kneel at once!”

“Waaah!”

Hundreds of warriors from the rear of the Red Dragon Army charged in full force.

The number was astonishing. Each of them executed restrained techniques, and they looked very seasoned.

At their head stood Ga Deoksang and Lee Cheolgyung.

Ga Deoksang shouted again.

“All Ming Clan warriors, kneel where you are! You have been declared Enemy of the Martial World!”

Horror spread across Ming Jeokryang’s face.

“What, what did you say?!”

“The Temporary Murim Alliance has declared the Ming Clan Enemy of the Martial World! If you resist you will all be annihilated!”

“What nonsense is that!!”

Ga Deoksang’s eyes flashed.

He drew a letter from his bosom.

“It is the formal decree bearing the seals of the Nine Sects and One Union and the heads of the Seven Great Families.”

“...!”

“Put down your weapons at once! If you resist even once, a death-pursuit order will be issued against every Ming Clan member from this time forward!”

Ming Jeokryang’s face went pale.

The man with eight knots — a Rear Beggar of the Beggars’ Union — spoke the words “Enemy of the Martial World” and even mentioned a death-pursuit order.

The bewildered Death Swords and the Red Dragon Army looked to Ming Jeokryang.

‘This...!’

They had no idea how the situation had turned.

Ga Deoksang lifted a corner of his mouth.

“Not putting them down?”

“...!”

“Good. Because of you the Ming Clan’s necks might just get severed clean.”

Ga Deoksang said to Lee Cheolgyung.

“Master Lee! Send a letter to the head right away! Order the death-pursuit across the Ming Clan!”

“As you command.”

Ming Jeokryang was stunned.

“J-just wait! We will put them down! We will put them down, so wait!”

“You idiot! You should have done that sooner!”

Ga Deoksang looked back at Yeon Hojeong with a delighted face.

He gave a sly thumbs-up.

“Am I cool?”

Yeon Hojeong snorted a laugh.

“All the hard work fell on me, what of it.”

“You madman, you wanted to fight, didn’t you?”

“None of your business.”

“Heh heh heh.”

After a long bout of tittering, Ga Deoksang cocked his head.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

Yeon Hojeong rose, axe in hand. Even taking a step looked arduous.

“Want to rest a bit? You look close to dead.”

“I have business left.”

“Business? What business?”

“Revenge.”

“...Huh?”

Yeon Hojeong walked over to the fallen Ming Cheon.

A brutal murderous light stained his eyes.

“He said he would cut me into pieces. Now that I think about it, that sounds like a decent enough revenge.”

“...?!”

“Let me warn you in advance: don’t try to stop me. I didn’t kill him on purpose.”