Chapter 368: Summoning the Night
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“Dragon Scale Protection Energy…”
Earth-Closing Kill Guest Hwal-bae let out a low voice while spewing thick killing intent from his two eyes.
Today was his first time seeing it.
The Dragon Scale Protection Energy, said to be the divine power unique to the Ten Great Heavenly Weapon; the Dragon Throne Sword.
He hadn’t experienced it when he competed with him before.
“Kreureureuk, you… So it wasn’t just your martial prowess that improved. To think you’ve even gotten your hands on that power?”
At that, Son Ja-ryong laughed.
Sneer.
The twist of his lips gave a clear feeling of mockery.
“You’re having some misunderstanding.”
A voice flowing out from between lips bearing mockery.
Hwal-bae’s eyes, tinged with dark blue light, rolled around wildly.
“Misunderstanding?”
“Our match ending inconclusively was entirely my intention.”
“…!”
Hwal-bae’s eyebrow twitched.
Then a murderous smile quietly appeared at the corners of his mouth.
Now he understood.
Back then… that bastard had a body that had awakened even the Dragon Scale Protection Energy.
But he deliberately hadn’t shown that power.
There was only one intention.
Simple testing of martial prowess.
That’s right.
That arrogant bastard had sparred with him at that time, regarding him as merely a practice partner of sorts.
Like a test for leaping to become the hegemon of the Zhejiang region.
Anger welled up anew.
That combined with the killing intent in his chest and transformed into a ferocious intangible Aura/Aura/bearing.
“That fight… you’re saying wasn’t using all your strength.”
Hwal-bae tilted his sword at an angle with those words, and Son Ja-ryong likewise moved his hand quietly and opened his mouth.
“Even though you’ve changed into a beast-like form, you seem to still have comprehension. In addition to that…”
Having trailed off thus, Son Ja-ryong continued speaking while injecting a large amount of True Energy into the Dragon Throne Sword.
“…I am not the me of that time.”
I possess martial prowess that exceeds your expectations.
That was the meaning of the warning.
Furthermore.
-Now, from this point I shall settle this within about ten exchanges.
There was also the meaning that the earlier boast was not bluster…
The Dragon Throne Sword resonated with its owner’s will and emitted a dragon’s cry.
WUUUUUUU-
It was somehow a mysterious yet magnificent and oppressive sound.
Son Ja-ryong’s spirit raging like a storm.
“Earth-Closing Kill Guest Hwal-bae, I do credit your courage for appearing alone. Though it must be reckless bravado in reliance on your backing.”
The Dragon Scale Protection Energy was protection qi that was impossible to overcome unless one’s Internal energy level was higher than the caster’s.
Therefore, Son Ja-ryong was confident.
That while casting the Dragon Scale Protection Energy, he was in an invincible state.
Though he couldn’t operate it for a long time because the internal energy consumption was great, his attitude of certainty that he would finish within about ten exchanges wasn’t bravado.
Hwal-bae, having tightly gripped his sword hilt, twisted up the corners of his mouth.
“Kreurrr… As you see, I too am not the me of before.”
A faint sound, and simultaneously his frame vanishing.
PAK-
Having kicked off the ground with his toe and leaped, Hwal-bae swung his right hand’s sword while descending.
Drawing a curve through the air as if cutting across the gap.
SSWAEK!
It was a simple killing sword linked with quick movement.
Aiming for the crown of the head.
Not to be outdone, Son Ja-ryong raised the Dragon Throne Sword.
JJEOEOEOEONG- KWAAAAAAANG!
Along with the noisy metallic sound, transparent ripples spread.
HWIRIRRIRIRIK-
Hwal-bae’s body, having done a reverse somersault in the air, landed on the ground.
Immediately after.
PAK!
He charged toward Son Ja-ryong in a straight movement.
It was a chained succession assault movement rapidly executed, befitting a famed assassin representing the Guangxi region, one of Guangxi’s Three Martial Arms, and an Unorthodox warrior.
His offensive was even faster than Son Ja-ryong’s.
It took only two moves to reach him.
The blade that had sliced the wind struck Son Ja-ryong’s side.
KKAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Rather than the sound of clothes tearing and flesh splitting, a stinging metallic sound burst out.
Moreover, red sparks even flew out PAPAK!
It was truly the solid majesty of the Dragon Scale Protection Energy.
In that instant, Hwal-bae intuited.
The fact that his opponent had deliberately given up his side.
Having judged that the Dragon Scale Protection Energy couldn’t be pierced.
Sure enough.
SYUKAAAK!
Son Ja-ryong’s Dragon Throne Sword surged diagonally through that gap, creating chilling wind.
When Hwal-bae forcefully threw his frame back.
PIT-
The Dragon Throne Sword’s blade that had descended grazed past the bridge of his nose.
Thus, the moment Hwal-bae retreated, Son Ja-ryong’s sword tip smashed the ground.
KWAKWANG- WADEUDEUK!
Grass blades and stones scattering into the sky as if leaping.
Hwal-bae intuited again.
‘He’s above me!’
He felt the energy loaded into the sword attack.
Was it extreme internal energy?
Who knew?
The precise level couldn’t be known, but it was heavy sword power, enough to chill a corner of his heart.
Before anyone knew it, Son Ja-ryong, having compressed the gap, closed in directly in front of Hwal-bae.
HUUUUK-
Son Ja-ryong’s posture was unguarded.
His entire body was full of openings.
It was movement performing only a charging sword form.
The reason that was possible, was because he was casting Dragon Scale Protection Energy, which was equivalent to invincible armor.
He didn’t care about counterattacks.
He was rushing in fiercely as if telling him to stab wherever he wanted.
KWACHAAANG- KWACHANG, KWACHAANG-!
The swords collided in succession.
‘Kuk!’
Hwal-bae was pushed backward with his body slightly lifting off the ground.
The sword power the Dragon Throne Sword displayed wedged in through the gaps of his defensive sword strikes and bestowed a shock accompanied by repelling force.
Fortunately, he avoided internal injury, but some energy channels inside his body had been shaken.
It was Son Ja-ryong who had taken the advantage in an instant.
The Dragon Throne Sword once again burst out a great dragon cry and surged forward.
A power-biased sword attack that thoroughly excluded sword skill techniques such as Emptiness, Transformation, and Mystery.
Heavy force was discharged.
KAKANG- PEOPEONG!
Hwal-bae, who had met the blade head-on, retreated again.
Several more exchanges quickly passed.
KWANG, KWAKWANG, KWANG!
Clamorous explosions shook the mountains and rivers and plants.
Son Ja-ryong’s unguarded sword attacks, looking only at a series of movements, made it convenient to attack with killing swords, but the Dragon Scale Protection Energy was the problem.
It was hard to pierce that, so the characteristic unguarded posture seemed to come across as difficult instead.
This kind of contest was a first for Hwal-bae.
‘Damn…!’
Ten exchanges were imminent.
In accordance with that, the Dragon Throne Sword approached while discharging immense true qi like a tidal wave.
JJEOJEONG, JJEOJEOJEONG!
Simultaneously with the swords’ powerful collision.
PUHAK!
Blood burst from Hwal-bae’s left shoulder.
And he withdrew from the spot with quite precarious body movements.
“Kreureureuk…!”
A red wound was visible.
Though not deep, but long.
Son Ja-ryong, having stopped in place, leveled his sword tip forward and spoke.
“You don’t need to be too humiliated. I specially drew up extreme cultivation, considering your martial fame.”
At that, Hwal-bae sneered.
“Do you think this is all?”
“No, of course not.”
“…”
“Since you appear to have become a slave of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan, you must possess some hidden power as well. Also, the fact that you’re different from ordinary slaves. That’s what I’ve guessed from your appearance.”
“And yet you declared settling things within about ten exchanges?”
“The sun is already up. It must be difficult to use that power to its maximum without darkness.”
The Darkness-Craving Blood Clan’s power grew stronger at night than during the day.
Those who had become slaves were bound to share parts of immutable law and innate nature.
That aspect was one of the characteristics that the Jianghu, which had rallied around Hidden Dragon Sword Tak Wi-yeon, the Jianghu hegemon of five hundred years ago, had identified through the Blood Tribulation.
“Kreung, kreureung! It’s disadvantageous for me… and advantageous for you?”
“Of course.”
Having replied thus, Son Ja-ryong was about to move when.
-Hohohot. Darkness can just be created.
A voice similar to Secret Sound Transmission sounded from somewhere.
Following that.
SEUSEUK…
Suddenly, a figure appeared beside Hwal-bae.
It was the owner of the voice.
Seeing that, Son Ja-ryong’s skin crawled for an instant.
The figure’s identity was a woman of tall stature approaching a full nine cheok.
Her pair of pale white pupils was terrifying, yet her overall appearance gave quite a beautiful feeling.
Yet.
Her attire of black silk gauze allowed the body inside to show through, a very embarrassing sight.
Tension rapidly heightened.
In the midst of that, a question flashed through Son Ja-ryong’s mind.
Who was she and what was she blathering about?
She said create?
Darkness?
Meaning she could swap day and night?
The woman licked her lips with her tongue while letting out seductive eye light and laughter.
“Hoohoo, what a delectable child.”
It was Lust-Blood Seductive Ghost Hu-ra, one of the Three Spirits under Bat Demon Great King Heuk Ma-yung.
“Are you the chief of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan!”
Son Ja-ryong burst out a great shout and charged.
Suddenly.
CHYUCHYUCHYUCHYUCHYUCHYU-!
A weighty wind sound, and along with it a jet-black object surging toward him.
It was precisely Hu-ra’s hair.
JJEOGEOEOEONG!
The instant the hair that had lengthened in an instant struck the Dragon Throne Sword hard.
‘Uuut!’
Son Ja-ryong retreated about ten paces back.
WUNG… WUNG… WUNG…
The Dragon Throne Sword’s naked form vibrating, and some internal energy channels shaken.
For Son Ja-ryong, it was a power he had never experienced before.
That wasn’t the end of it.
CHYUCHYUCHYUCHYUCHYUCHYU-!
The hair, having clumped together again, curved like a whip and flew at him.
KWACHAHANG- PEOHEOEOEONG-!
The sound of it fiercely striking Son Ja-ryong’s left shoulder rang out.
KKUKUNG, WAJIKEUN!
His frame crashed into the ancient tree on the right.
Because of the force loaded into the hair.
It was power as if multiple sword energies had been bundled together.
He avoided injury.
But something unbelievable had happened.
It was shattered.
The Dragon Scale Protection Energy that had been covering his left shoulder.
Just then.
SREUREUK.
Hu-ra, having quickly retrieved her lengthened hair, curled up the corners of her mouth.
“What a pity. Is it that you can’t handle my power even in daylight?”
Son Ja-ryong, having been provoked, quickly corrected his posture.
The shattered part remained as it was.
Because in order to restore it to its original state, he had to gather the divine power again.
But there was no time for such things.
“Let’s have a go at it!”
Right as Son Ja-ryong, having shouted, was about to charge in a state of displaying extreme internal energy.
HWAAAAK-!
Black smoke billowed out centered on Hu-ra’s body.
It was a current like semi-transparent heat haze.
That spread into the air and generated a pitch-black night.
A strange and wondrous sight.
Darkness that blocked the sun covered above Son Ja-ryong’s head.
The light was so dim that only the outlines of objects could be identified.
It was astounding.
To actually summon night.
It was certainly a kind of strange and unpredictable high-tier sorcery.
Through this, he realized again.
The fact that the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan and Heretic Cult were on the same side.
Once the artificial darkness settled, Hwal-bae’s power grew even stronger.
“Kreureureuk! Now, say what you said earlier again!”
At that moment, Hu-ra restrained him with a gesture.
“That’s enough. Let him go.”
At that, Hwal-bae, whose eyes had become hazy, answered in a low voice.
“Yes, understood.”
It was a posture of unconditional obedience.
Hu-ra cast Secret Sound Transmission while disappearing along with Hwal-bae.
-Night can settle anywhere. If you want to obtain the Divine Martial Sword, you should overcome it, shouldn’t you? Hohohoohoot!
Son Ja-ryong didn’t pursue their receding presences.
Fighting without securing visibility was burdensome and dangerous.
He had to first make this night disappear cleanly.
But at that moment.
From the distant direction behind his back, a transparent wave quietly arose.
Son Ja-ryong, sensing that, turned his head.
‘Ah…!’
Someone’s familiar Aura was touching his energy sense.
The wave grew wider and wider, and soon light was generated from it.
FLASH!
Thus, the hole of light grew large.
SEUSEUSEUSEUSEU, SEUSEUSEUSEUSEU-
The darkness that had been dominating the space began to vanish.
Before long, the forest brightened.
In the midst of sunlight shining down here and there, the person who had created that transparent wave approached.
“Ja-ryong! Are you alright?”
It was his childhood friend Zhuge Bi.
He had perfectly breached the Death Gate of the formation Snake-Robed Hwa-rang and Snake-Robed Hwa-nong had spread using the Corpse Transformation Replication Technique.
In that short time while Son Ja-ryong had exchanged blows.
It was truly tremendous talent.
Behind him, the figures of the Zhejiang Son Family party were visible as well.
Son Ja-ryong, having quickly put away the Dragon Scale Protection Energy, showed a sunny smile.
“Hoot, you’re out already?”
“I sensed your Aura inside the new darkness formation and immediately used the Heart-Stealing Spirit-Commanding Body to smash it. But I expended a large amount of energy and am somewhat tired.”
“Save the excuses.”
Son Ja-ryong, having snickered, explained the earlier events.
When the short story ended, everyone’s gazes sank deeply.
Because the tension in each of their chests had heightened.
In the midst of that, Zhuge Bi muttered.
“Summoning night…”
“Could those bastards perhaps be trying to cover this entire place with night?”
“That might be possible, but why would they bother… Well, perhaps if it’s a certain range.”
At Zhuge Bi’s words, Son Ja-ryong shrugged his shoulders.
“Who knows? Maybe they’re trying to summon some dark demon god… In any case, we’ve confirmed their true nature, so… let’s find the Divine Martial Sword. Don’t worry about the enemy’s power. If I encounter that woman again next time, I’ll behead her with the ultimate Dragon Form Qi.”
“Right, I’m not worried. Since I know your power better than anyone…”
Thus, the two young geniuses exchanged glances, then proceeded along the forest path with the party in tow.
* * *
“Good heavens…! Is this fellow also of the genius class?”
Ju Yu-gang exclaimed in admiration after confirming the contents of the document.
Then, looking at the bodyguard Dam Maeng-gi standing to the side, he obliquely asked.
“How was it?”
“Yes, just as you read. Only he alone shortened the time. However, it looks like the others will also finish within two days. Their rate of growth is so steep that…”
Ju Yu-gang, who heard Dam Maeng-gi’s words, stroked his chin.
“Hmm, is that so.”
The document in question was a handwritten report from Vice Commander Ban Bu-bong, stating that he had passed at an unchecked pace through the training course specially prepared by Tae Sa-ja, the group leader of Yaksha Squad, White Peak Sword Sect’s special operations organization.
Ju Yu-gang soon rose from his chair while wearing a faint smile.
‘Hoot, at this occasion I should personally guide Tae Sa-ja and shape him into a fine product. In repayment for Sect Master Cheol’s efforts… I’ll take responsibility and complete him into a Swordsman optimized for combat.’