Chapter 89: The Final Slash
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After a brief silence.
SPRING!
Jeo Gyeom, having swiftly raised his figure that had been slammed into the ground, regulated his breathing as if shaking off all the impact that had invaded his body.
PLOP, PLO-PLOP, PLOP…
Small metal fragments falling onto the ground.
They were the remnants of the Ghost Skull Divine Armor, which had been cracked, burst, and broken in various places by the heavy sword power that Cheol Ryu-heun had thrust back at him, now unsightly and damaged.
‘Him!’
Eyes explosively emitting fierce light, Jeo Gyeom immediately operated ascending internal cultivation while clenching his molars tight.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE…
While the floor, pressed by intangible energy, created tremors, fighting spirit and bloodlust merged with the Ghost Skull Divine Armor’s ghost energy were strongly released outside his body.
Simultaneously.
‘Urk!’
Yeop Hwon, Hyeop Mu-geuk, and Mun Bin flinched, their expressions stiffening greatly.
Because they felt chills when the intangible aura Jeo Gyeom emitted wildly swept through this garden.
It was an instinctive rejection reaction to the deepened ultimate ghost energy.
It was quite different from what they had felt when they first saw him.
There were other changes too.
The silvery-white aura currently rising thickly on Jeo Gyeom’s body and the skin turning entirely red… Yeop Hwon and Hyeop Mu-geuk realized immediately.
‘Innate True Energy!’
Having exchanged gazes, the two were convinced.
Most likely, it was the characteristic external change brought by triggering Innate True Energy.
Mun Bin also noticed that and muttered internally.
‘You have finally crossed a river that cannot be turned back. And yet…’
And yet it was beyond surprising.
The outstanding martial prowess of Cheol Ryu-heun, who had pushed the powerful Jeo Gyeom, said to rival the Five Supreme Martial Experts of Hunan, to that extent.
THUMP-THUMP.
His heart pounded violently, delivering excitement.
CLENCH.
Mun Bin clenched his fist, and the words Cheol Ryu-heun had said to him earlier rose again in his mind.
-I’ll give you at least the opportunity to behead him at the end.
Those words he had uttered as if certain of victory before even fighting.
Now that the situation had come to this point, he felt it anew.
That those words had by no means been boastful remarks made by confusing pride with arrogance.
Look.
The Ghost Skull Divine Armor was damaged.
Who could have predicted that the divine weapon Jeo Gyeom had so blindly trusted would end up like that?
However.
It wasn’t over.
Jeo Gyeom was still breathing, and moreover, he had even triggered Innate True Energy to supplement his exhausted body.
Yes, he absolutely could not relax until Jeo Gyeom died.
Moreover, the cracked Ghost Skull Divine Armor was revealing conspicuous changes unlike before, giving an ominous feeling.
The ferocious ghost face decorated in the center was continuously spewing currents like blue flames.
Energy so bizarre and eerie that goosebumps rose all over his body.
Something that felt extraordinary, ghost energy, was being emitted through Jeo Gyeom’s body, bringing rejection and discomfort.
Suddenly.
WI-I-IING-!
The Hunming Sword in Jeo Gyeom’s hand burst out an angry cry.
The corrupt energy of wicked depth, power of a realm that transcended extreme bloodlust, was loaded in the blade and vibrating.
‘I’ll kill him! Without fail!’
Currently, Jeo Gyeom was in a state where he couldn’t recognize the existence of Yeop Hwon, Hyeop Mu-geuk, and Mun Bin around him.
No… Perhaps it was more accurate to say he wasn’t paying attention to them at all.
Due to the final awakening phenomenon of the Ghost Skull Divine Armor, only the obsession to kill Cheol Ryu-heun occupied his mind.
It was the effect of reason being devoured by ghost energy.
“Let’s see you block this too!”
No sooner had Jeo Gyeom let out a roar full of bloodlust than.
FWOOSH…!
Suddenly, eight clones were generated like unfolding a folding screen on both sides of his body, confusing the field of vision.
Hyeop Mu-geuk and the others who saw that were quite startled.
‘Oh! Phantom Technique?’
Surely it was Phantom Technique that the Ghost Skull Divine Armor had naturally created, not Jeo Gyeom’s innate ability.
“I said it won’t work.”
No sooner had Cheol Ryu-heun’s words ended than.
CRASH!
Jeo Gyeom and his clones charged, smashing the ground.
PA-PA-PA-PA-PA-
The instant they reached a ten-pace interval, the eight clones that had outpaced the main body each displayed different attack stances and rushed toward Cheol Ryu-heun’s front and left and right sides.
Those were not just phantoms that only deceived the eyes.
Each one not only revealed presence like an actual person, but also contained considerable amounts of energy.
An essence that induced visual illusion plus disrupted energy sense.
A kind of clone ultimate technique in which so-called lumps of ghost energy, that energy, had transformed into vivid phantoms.
It was a skill at such a supreme level that it would not be lacking even compared to the ascending martial arts of Heretic Cult, an unorthodox martial world force of deep tradition famous for various strange techniques.
Cheol Ryu-heun, facing Jeo Gyeom’s offense, was also at some point rapidly swinging the Ganjiang Sword.
SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA, SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA-SCHWA-!
White sword shadows were instantly overlapping following the complex hand movements.
Ray-like trajectories of extreme speed wrapped Cheol Ryu-heun’s figure like a large sphere in the blink of an eye.
It was a scene as if countless blades had poured out at once and roundly covered his entire body.
The circular sword energy barrier created by the Ganjiang Sword – that was none other than Sword Curtain, called a supreme-level defensive sword path study.
Ximen Yue, who had been hiding in a tree, involuntarily tensed his body the moment he saw that.
He hadn’t known.
That he could even perfectly execute Sword Curtain.
That was actually not a matter of cultivation level.
Of course, there was a standard for the amount of internal cultivation basically required, but more than anything, it was a very difficult study that could only be realized once one’s understanding of the common essence, the knowledge about the fundamental nature of sword arts, had nearly reached its peak.
There was only one reason Ximen Yue was surprised.
It was because of the intuition that Cheol Ryu-heun’s outstanding comprehension, which could deploy an art like Sword Curtain at once, might somehow be at a level rivaling his own.
No less than the Ghost Skull Divine Armor’s Phantom Technique, each afterimage of energy comprising the Sword Curtain was also radiating dense edge.
All those countless sword shadows, impossible to count with the eyes, seemed as if they were all real.
Within the impression of an instant, the fierce offensive and defensive battle of the two martial artists unfolded.
KA-KA-BOOM, KA-KA-KA-KA-BOOM-!
All eight clones, blocked by the massive Sword Curtain, scattered as if crushed to powder.
CLA-CLA-CLANG- KRA-KA-KRASH!
Even Jeo Gyeom, who had executed a vertical slash laden with maximum cultivation, couldn’t slice through that round barrier of sword energy and played a thunderous sound as he scattered.
‘Urk!’
The moment Jeo Gyeom scrunched his face at the pain wrapping his wrist and was pushed back fiercely.
SHU-SHU-SHU-SHU-SHU, SHU-SHU-SHU-SHU-SHU-SHU-!
Sharp sword winds flew indiscriminately from the Sword Curtain, spitting cutting sounds.
Jeo Gyeom hurriedly rotated the Hunming Sword laden with sword energy in a wide circle while retreating.
However.
KA-KA-KA-BOOM!
It was overwhelming force.
‘Uugh!’
Along with a great impact striking the front of his rotated sword attack, over a dozen threads of sharp sword wind that invaded beyond that range sliced his arms, legs, and more, causing fresh blood to gush from the wounds.
KA-KWAK-!
Blood also trickled from the mouth corner of Jeo Gyeom, who had barely managed to stop.
Worsening internal injury.
‘Tch…!’
It was hard to suppress his rage.
Even when he had deployed the same technique several times before, it had been completely blocked by that unfathomable Sword Curtain.
Even with Innate True Energy triggered and the Ghost Skull Divine Armor’s ghost energy having reached its ultimate, that monster’s cultivation was consistently threatening.
Like waves endlessly crashing against a boat.
The gap between one who replenished energy while fighting and one who didn’t… This was a gap with no way to overcome immediately.
Meanwhile, Ximen Yue was inwardly shocked having just watched that scene.
‘Such a Sword Curtain…!’
It was talent to the point of being dumbfounding.
Ordinarily, all sword energy needed for Sword Curtain displays the profound use of convergence to not exceed a certain range for solid defense, yet he harmonized the exact opposite – the profound use of dispersive release – to also shoot waves of sword wind?
It was an essence that ignored the laws of internal energy technique.
Keeping the series of sword energy bound to a certain radius while separately sending out only massive sword wind – that was easy to say but a transcendent ability not just anyone could deploy.
Even if execution was possible, Cheol Ryu-heun’s choice was quite puzzling.
Just the countless sword energies comprising the Sword Curtain should cause great cultivation depletion, so simultaneously executing sword wind like that on top of it would cause the body’s energy meridians to receive tremendous pressure and invite internal injury.
In other words, it was a technique where the executor’s risk burden was greater.
Yet.
Cheol Ryu-heun appeared unaffected.
Ximen Yue suddenly thought of one alias and name.
Evil Emperor Yul Cheon.
The transcendent who was said to have executed Sword Curtain in a similar manner, and an absolute powerhouse who had reigned over all under heaven as the Emperor of the unorthodox faction.
However, Yul Cheon was a figure from no less than six hundred years ago, and his true teachings had long since vanished with the line completely cut.
The two had no connection whatsoever.
So the doubts in his chest only kept growing.
On the other hand.
Jeo Gyeom was already realizing it.
That what Cheol Ryu-heun was executing now was Evil Emperor Yul Cheon’s supreme sword technique.
-The one who smashed the Ghost Skull Divine Armor in the past was none other than the Evil Emperor. And I am one who has inherited that true teachings.
Having recalled those words he had heard earlier, Jeo Gyeom immediately drew up an extreme mass of internal cultivation and let out a shriek.
“KRAAAAAAK!”
Pain as if the energy meridians inside his body were expanding and about to explode from worsened internal injury plus rapidly operating a tremendous amount of vital energy.
However.
The single-minded resolve to definitely kill Cheol Ryu-heun transcended all that and delivered a kind of ecstasy.
Reason seized by thick ghost energy was crumbling like that.
CRASH-!
Jeo Gyeom kicked off the ground and charged at tremendous speed.
CRASH-!
Not to be outdone, Cheol Ryu-heun went out to meet him.
While the wind sound of rapid movement shook the inside of the manor, the two swords collided in the middle.
KABOOOOM!
Along with a clamorous explosion, the two figures moved apart in opposite directions.
They had both been pushed before tremendous repelling force.
In the blink of an eye.
RETCH.
Fresh blood spurted through the mouths of Cheol Ryu-heun and Jeo Gyeom.
They had suffered internal injury.
Since equal maximum cultivation had collided head-on, that was unavoidable.
However.
Cheol Ryu-heun, the moment the great impact invaded, began Energy Circulation for Healing Injury without further hesitation.
The aftereffects of internal injury rapidly subsiding.
But Jeo Gyeom, no sooner had he barely stopped his body, coughed blood a couple more times hard.
It was the effect of the damaged Ghost Skull Divine Armor’s ghost energy all being used solely for offensive purposes, causing its defensive profound use to drop sharply.
If his reason had been intact, he would have refrained from such a reckless collision.
“Guh… urk…”
Having let out a groan, Jeo Gyeom sensed in an instant.
This was the end.
He had little power left that he could use.
From now on, whether attacking or defending, once he operated maximum internal cultivation one time, he would probably become completely exhausted.
Yet.
Cheol Ryu-heun over there in front had managed his internal injury and also performed energy gathering as if immediately afterwards, maintaining a lively complexion.
It felt even more so because he was inherently expressionless.
His bloodlust had faded at some point.
Instead.
Fear was wildly invading.
Had he read his heart?
Cheol Ryu-heun raised the Ganjiang Sword in his right hand high up and injected a tremendous amount of vital energy, letting out an indifferent voice.
“The final slash of maximum cultivation to conclude the match.”
A figure leaping CRASH! off the garden floor, crossing through the air.
Falling toward Jeo Gyeom’s head in an instant, he moved his right hand to execute a vertical sword attack.
SHWIIIIING!
As if to crush and press down everything visible below.
Having no capacity to move elsewhere, Jeo Gyeom squeezed out all his power and swung the Hunming Sword upward.
It was a sword strike focused on defense.
The last survival instinct must have induced such a choice.
Yet.
The grain of the sword energy falling down long was different from expected.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s hand movement had clearly been a vertical sword attack, yet what actually rushed in was a horizontal sword attack.
Sword energy completely ignoring the motion that accompanies release.
The martial arts of Evil Emperor Yul Cheon from the far distant past had such a characteristic.
Releasing horizontal sword energy with a vertical sword attack, an essence absolutely impossible to accept by common sense.
Moreover, the shape of that long white current evoked a giant mountain peak toppling over in a row.
Jeo Gyeom sensed it.
The terrifying slash Cheol Ryu-heun had just executed was a profound use combining Evil Emperor Yul Cheon’s unique martial art and the three ultimate techniques of the White Peak Sword Scripture’s final chapter.
KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-BOOM, KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRASH-!
Along with successive thunder, a thick dust cloud rose.
Thus, with vision obscured, Jeo Gyeom’s agonized voice leaked out quietly.
“Urk…”
The sight of Jeo Gyeom lying covered in blood on the greatly caved-in ground, and Cheol Ryu-heun standing with one foot pressing down on that body.
Immediately after.
CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK… CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK…!
The Ghost Skull Divine Armor, having spat stinging bursting sounds, shattered to pieces and flew up and fell in all directions.
PATTER, PATTER-PATTER.
Suddenly, blue currents flowed from each fragment and, as if drawn toward Cheol Ryu-heun, passed through his body and vanished like transparent haze.
At that moment, Jeo Gyeom saw it.
Some kind of red brilliance filling both eyes of Cheol Ryu-heun, who arrogantly stood stepping on him.