Chapter 449: An Unexpected Name
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“In the end…… I…… lost.”
Wang-ryu, having quietly spoken so, trembled.
Was it a reaction of fear from excruciating pain?
No.
Wang-ryu’s spirit was different from ordinary people.
There was no fear in his heart.
Not even a handful.
Of course, while exchanging blows with Cheol Ryu-heun, he had felt shocking crisis.
That was as far as it went.
That hadn’t developed into extreme fear.
He had experienced countless life-and-death struggles while honing his martial arts.
Therefore, he had lived thus far with a mindset that he could die fighting at any time.
But he hadn’t expected that the opponent who marked the end of his life would be Cheol Ryu-heun, the Sect Master of White Peak Sword Sect.
Indeed.
Now death could not be avoided.
He had intuited it after exchanging their final ultimate techniques.
That his life was essentially over.
If not fear, then what was the body’s trembling?
It was the outburst of resentment for the defeat he didn’t want to acknowledge as a core warrior of Heaven Emperor Society.
But that trembling soon quietly stopped.
The gaze that had been blazing with fury sank deep like the ocean.
Acknowledgment.
He had finally accepted it.
The opponent’s strength.
For him, it was the first time except for his master, the Heaven Emperor Society Lord.
SEUK.
He who had powerlessly dropped his head inwardly let out a bitter smile and briefly muttered.
‘Hut…… Hunan’s Foremost Martial God…… was it?’
What nonsense, that was wrong.
Such a title was no different from undervaluing Cheol Ryu-heun’s power.
Already far transcending a single region’s martial prowess.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s martial prowess was at a level that could be called the peerlessly foremost within Jianghu martial arts.
When that point had been since was unclear.
When he had thwarted the ambitions and schemes of the Sun Moon Demon Sect led by Sun Moon Sect Master Aryun nan some time ago……?
But that wasn’t an appropriate reference point or turning point.
Cheol Ryu-heun seemed to have completed a tremendous level of power before that.
And…… it seemed his martial prowess had risen at an astonishing rate day by day.
He was curious.
What on earth was the fortunate encounter he had obtained?
If one comprehensively acquired all the blessed fortunate encounters arranged by heaven, would one become like Cheol Ryu-heun?
Suddenly, one thought flashed through his mind.
‘One whom Heaven’s mandate helps……’
Yes, somehow that’s how it felt.
Existing in this land according to the will of providence……
It felt as if mysterious fortunate encounters just found him on their own and protected him.
The earlier incident was also like that.
Just before being defeated by Cheol Ryu-heun’s successive finishing techniques, his body had suddenly wavered, and he had successfully reversed the situation using that gap.
Thus, he believed there would be no more sudden variables.
He had been certain of victory.
But after Cheol Ryu-heun’s beloved horse appeared, the battle situation suddenly changed again.
It had been a really short time.
In that span, Cheol Ryu-heun had miraculously recovered.
Not only that, his martial prowess had also grown stronger.
As if he had gained a momentous fortunate encounter of sorts……
On top of that, an unknown precious sword had even flown to this place.
If that was not heaven’s protection, what was it?
A conversation with the Heaven Emperor Society Lord suddenly came to mind……
-Setting aside Gun Mu-ak, Cheol Ryu-heun is still a bit……
-Yes, he hasn’t been completely analyzed yet. But looking at his movements, he’s extraordinary.
-Indeed. He’s grown rapidly in a short period. Besides, our society’s fighting force has also suffered damage…… Of course, thanks to him suddenly appearing and rampaging, the one hundred thousand great mountains plan could be moved up.
-But if he dies before you complete the work, there won’t be a particular need to worry.
-He seems like he’ll tenaciously survive. Just a vague intuition though.
-Let me say it again. Whether it’s Heuk Ma-yung, Gun Mu-ak, or Cheol Ryu-heun…… If they interfere with the work, annihilate them all.
-All of them……
-Perhaps you find it burdensome?
-Hu-hut, what…… Not at all. How could that be? Rather, it’s what I wished for. Until now, there’s been no opponent who could decently parry this power I possess, but those two could at least be playthings for amusement.
-The Four Divine Generals including you were personally made into masterpieces by me. Made so that there’s nothing to fear under this sky.
The Heaven Emperor Society Lord’s misjudgment, and his own arrogance. That was the conclusion it had brought.
Yet there was no resentment toward his master.
The loyalty in his heart was still firm even before the moment foretelling the end of his life.
‘I’m sorry, my Lord. I…… have bungled the work.’
He merely blamed himself for the mission failure.
Following that.
-Now I have to find out. The true identity of the Heaven Emperor Society Lord.
Having recalled those words, Wang-ryu soon smirked.
“Hu-hut…… foolish……”
Conviction was visible in his voice mixed with sneering.
As expected.
“Kill me.”
He whose eyes flashed spoke while stretching out his neck.
Thereupon Cheol Ryu-heun asked with an extremely indifferent expression.
“Didn’t you hear me?”
Simultaneously, Wang-ryu’s smile deepened.
“Sure…… I heard. I heard alright…… if you’re planning to find out through torture…… just give up. my mouth…… will not open easily……”
“As if. do you think I’m like you people?”
“……”
“The foolish one is you. you just stay crumpled there. I’ll take care of everything myself.”
“What do you……”
Wang-ryu, whose words trailed off, changed his gaze.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s words were quite meaningful.
His doubt connected to a certain conjecture.
‘Could it be……?’
Cheol Ryu-heun immediately read the turmoil hidden in that gaze and spoke.
“That’s right, What you’re thinking now.”
Wang-ryu, having suddenly raised his head, rippled in his gaze like waves.
“……!”
“I’m going to attempt that.”
At that sound, the waves in Wang-ryu’s eyes grew even larger.
‘That fellow! does he mean he can…… peer into the minds of others!’
In an instant, Cheol Ryu-heun’s eyes changed strangely.
CHEUCHEUCHEU, CHEUCHEUCHEU……
Pupils beginning to take on a red glow.
Wang-ryu intuited that it was an eye technique of the mind’s eye school.
He somehow felt that power.
‘My ominous premonition hit the Mark!’
Wang-ryu realized the inside story with that thought.
How he had found out about the existence of Heaven Emperor Society.
‘Keuk, so that’s it! through the thoughts of the special forces three Armies leadership……!’
-You’re a four divine general, right?
Those words Cheol Ryu-heun had uttered as soon as he came to this forest freshly came to his heart.
The moment the mysterious eye light burst out and connected his eyes.
‘It must not be!’
Wang-ryu immediately triggered his innate vital energy as a final resort.
His intent was to commit suicide in the manner of activating poison qi.
Yet.
DEOLKEOK!
A heavy power bound his entire body.
Due to that, the acceleration of his innate vital energy slowed.
Signs of paralysis.
‘Keut!’
In the instant Wang-ryu’s expression crumpled, Cheol Ryu-heun’s mouth opened.
“Stop, you think I’d let you die like that?”
“Fe…… llow……!”
“There’s still much I don’t know. so tell me and then go.”
“Shut…… up! if you…… took me so lightly……”
“Yes, You’re not easy. I’ve had this much trouble for the first time since my reincarnation.”
An honest assessment.
Indeed, Wang-ryu’s skill was by far the foremost among the martial artists he had faced since his reincarnation.
A level surpassing even Gun Mu-ak, the warrior representing the outer Demonic Path.
“Well, even now. if it were an ordinary martial artist, his entire body would have been instantly paralyzed and his mind would have been forcibly opened.”
Having said so, Cheol Ryu-heun increased the amount of divine energy he was operating.
Simultaneously, Wang-ryu’s vision became hazy.
A faint darkness settled in.
‘Uk!’
He immediately realized what that was.
It was clearly the phenomenon of the opponent’s mental energy trying to connect with his upper dantian.
“As expected of a Heaven Emperor Society executive, you’re far beyond comparison to ordinary rabble.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s dry voice, Wang-ryu desperately shouted.
“Let’s…… see this through to the end!”
Thus he flashed his eyes and clenched his molars tight.
‘Suicide using innate vital energy has failed. then now the path I can choose is……!’
Currently, he was in a situation where moving his body was impossible.
But his upper dantian’s mind, his willpower, was different.
That could resist in another form.
A true final resort.
Namely, desperately operating all the triggered innate vital energy to send to his upper dantian.
And he intended to pour everything into defending his mind.
Until his life ended, so Cheol Ryu-heun couldn’t discern any secret.
Wang-ryu’s indomitable tenacity was tremendous.
At last, all his innate vital energy flowed into his upper dantian.
Immediately after, he even added the energy squeezed from his two lower dantians.
In other words, he had sent the remaining energy, combining his fluid dantians, to his upper dantian.
Though the pain from that was considerable, he didn’t care at all.
Currently, all that filled Wang-ryu’s heart was the resolve to endure until the moment of annihilation brought by the depletion of innate vital energy.
His mental barrier, thus solidified.
In that midst, Cheol Ryu-heun also focused his mind and heightened the power of the eye technique operated through divine energy.
Intending to penetrate the mental barrier reinforced with innate vital energy and enter within.
Divine energy depleted in large quantities.
But no nosebleed flowed.
It meant the remaining amount of divine energy that could be operated was still sufficient.
‘Mu-wol, thanks to you.’
Having expressed gratitude to Blood God, Cheol Ryu-heun enhanced his willpower.
Then, light seemed to spread.
FLASH!
Complete darkness came before his eyes.
Like a large black paper being spread out……
That was the space of the mind’s image.
At last, he had entered Wang-ryu’s mind, the mental world inside his upper dantian that was of the same vein as the ultimate samadhi.
It still wasn’t over.
Behind the outer mental barrier, the inner mental barrier was positioned.
Everything was dark, but it came across with clear sensation.
‘I must break through!’
Before long, willpower harmonized with divine energy created formless cracks.
JJEOK…… JJEOJJEOK……
That was the sound of the inner mental barrier beginning to rupture.
Right then.
Light shimmered in the pitch-black space before his eyes.
SEUSEUSEUT, SEUSEUSEUT……
That light soon explosively spread out.
That then transformed into a single scene.
A forest path with large trees standing as if in rows appeared.
A fragment of memory.
A series of scenery viewed from Wang-ryu’s perspective.
JEOBUKJEOBUK, JEOBUKJEOBUK……
Walking down the path wasn’t him alone.
Three more people were beside him.
All had silver masks covering their faces.
Cheol Ryu-heun intuited who those three were.
‘The Divine Generals……’
When on earth was this memory from?
Thus, at the point where the narrow forest path ended, everyone stopped walking.
Before Wang-ryu and the Four Divine Generals, a secluded villa’s main gate appeared.
KKIIIK…
When the four people opened the gate and entered.
“Did you obtain it?”
From a garden where all kinds of flowering trees beautifully mingled, someone’s quiet voice flowed out.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun’s heart pounded.
THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP.
He was visible.
Over there, sitting alone at a small stone table, was he.
The vagrant swordsman who had murdered White Gate Sword Gentleman Sagong Woon and destroyed the Divine Martial Sword, the Society Lord of Heaven Emperor Society……
It was exactly the same as then.
A gray wind cloak draped over his body and a bamboo hat pressed low.
The Four Divine Generals, having bowed their heads, approached that side.
TAK.
Wang-ryu soon placed a booklet on the stone table.
“Yes. we’ve secured it.”
On the cover of the faded book, only the author’s name was visible instead of a title.
Ou Yezi (???).
Cheol Ryu-heun, having confirmed it from Wang-ryu’s perspective, was startled.
Ou Yezi…… That was the name of the legendary swordsmith who in the past had been a twin peak blacksmith alongside Gan Jiang.
The vagrant swordsman, no, the Heaven Emperor Society Lord soon examined the booklet and then wore a faint smile.
“Hut, so it was stored there after all. with this, I can finally create an invincible Divine weapon surpassing the Divine Martial Sword.”