Chapter 150: Chapter 150

“Argh!”

What on earth had happened?

Jeok Mu-seong, coughing up blood, could not make sense of the reality unfolding before his eyes. When did the manor scenery change, and why was his head shoved into the dirt?

His brow furrowed at the pain that prevented him from gathering his senses properly. Even though he had naturally maintained his protective body barrier energy, it had shattered in an instant.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Dan Woo-hyun’s foot dug deep into his abdomen.

Sliding backward, Jeok Mu-seong felt his breath stop for a moment. With all the air in his lungs forced out, he could not even breathe.

His face flushed bright red.

“Urrgh…”

“I told you not to draw it…”

Hearing those words, he looked up at his opponent.

A relaxed expression.

Eyes looking down on others.

An arrogant momentum.

Such things grated on the nerves of Jeok Mu-seong, one of the Five Emperors.

Jeok Mu-seong slowly rose to his feet.

He endured the pain and slowly steadied his breathing.

“You are quite decent.”

“Haha…”

Jeok Mu-seong, wiping the blood from his mouth, was somewhat composed. It was not that there was no pain. He had also realized that his opponent’s skills were far greater than he had imagined.

Therefore, he had let his guard down at first, but not anymore.

Who was he?

The leader of the Five Emperors, the king of the unorthodox path.

He did not have the slightest thought of losing.

He slowly gripped his blade with strength and composed his mind.

Even the mocking expression of his opponent did not register in his eyes.

“Do not think the same thing will work twice.”

“I see.”

He was still an unpleasant fellow.

Even though Jeok Mu-seong’s momentum dominated the surroundings, he did not budge and merely smiled. It was like the expression of an adult watching a child’s antics.

He charged.

Waiting or analyzing the opponent did not suit his temperament. Loading power into strike after strike and putting pressure on the opponent was the very tactic that had made Jeok Mu-seong who he was today.

Moreover, his opponent was not even holding a blade.

If it was a martial artist who mainly used fists and kicks, they would naturally be cautious of a blade-wielding martial artist. The sword qi of a martial artist who had reached the master realm displayed sharpness enough to cut even diamond in two.

Thus, martial artists using fists and kicks were at a somewhat disadvantage.

Swish, swish!

The fiercely swung sword was so fast that even its path could not be seen. However, he quickly noticed that something was off.

‘He’s dodging it!’

More than five forms had already been unleashed.

It was a sword technique he was confident that not even Namgung Cheon or Sa Do-hak could completely dodge, yet his blade failed to touch Dan Woo-hyun, stopping right before his nose as if the blade had shortened.

The moment he gnashed his teeth and took a step forward.

Boom!

He was pushed back by a sudden burst of momentum.

“Kugh…!”

“You are decent. Judging by your swordplay alone, you are not lacking compared to Namgung Cheon.”

The word that reached his ears rushed more blood to his head.

Jeok Mu-seong ground his teeth hard as he balanced himself on the ground. The way he stared at his opponent burned fiercely, as if he would tear him apart.

“I will kill you, bastard!”

He exuded a massive momentum along with an incomparably sharp killing intent. Being toyed with by an opponent, his crushed pride… all of this was something he, who walked the martial path, was experiencing for the first time in his life.

If it had been a close match, he would not be so irritated.

However, since a virtually one-sided fight was taking place, there was no way Jeok Mu-seong, who held the position of one of the Five Emperors, could accept any of this gracefully.

“Only your momentum is good.”

“You bastard! You talk too much!”

Dan Woo-hyun’s smirk snuck into his ears once again. Every time he heard it, an uncontrollable murderous intent welled up inside him.

This made no sense!

He had let his guard down a second time!

No, it was because he had fallen for his opponent’s provocation.

He comforted himself with such thoughts.

Because if he did not, he felt he would go even madder.

“Now I see. Why Namgung Cheon or Sa Do-hak do not even acknowledge the unorthodox path. Looking at you, you are completely useless.”

“Y-You… You bastard…!”

“One of the Five Emperors? You did well to rise to that position with such skills.”

Every single word sounded genuine.

The gaze, expression, and every word uttered dug deep into Jeok Mu-seong’s chest. Whenever the Great War between the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions occurred, the unorthodox path had never won even once.

The same went for the Great War between the Orthodox and the Demonic.

Even when fights broke out among the young generation, only a tiny minority won. Thus, many said that the unorthodox path was the weakest among the three factions, and it was to shatter such notions that they had attacked Shaanxi.

Jeok Mu-seong was one of those who knew that fact well, but he was also the man called the king of the unorthodox path who hated hearing it more than anyone else.

Thus, he grew even angrier, his teeth grinding.

“Your blade is as rough as a rogue’s, your actions are no different from a ruffian’s, and even your mindset is like a thug’s. Should you even be called a martial artist?”

“Hmph! Running your mouth like that ends now!”

“And…”

Dan Woo-hyun muttered a word and lightly took a step forward.

Boom!

The ground was violently hollowed out, and a cloud of dust rose. The surroundings shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred.

Jeok Mu-seong lost his balance in an instant.

What on earth was happening before his eyes?

The moment his eyes widened in shock.

Thud, thud, thud!

“Aaarggh!”

Flying pebbles battered his entire body like hidden weapons. Though it was a brief moment, it was a strike powerful enough to send his body airborne.

Falling to the ground, Jeok Mu-seong groaned as he rolled down the slope. The embedded stones and the standing trees now turned into weapons, tormenting Jeok Mu-seong.

“Uuuugh…”

He writhed in pain while lying prone.

The opponent’s strength was felt all too clearly.

He had not acted leisurely, nor had he let his guard down. He had tried to kill while being as cautious as possible, but since nothing worked, even despair rushed over him.

He could not win.

The moment he realized that.

Fear of the man before his eyes washed over him.

Fear?

Of all people, Jeok Mu-seong?

He was born as the greatest talent of the unorthodox path and rose to this position after all kinds of efforts. As such, he possessed a strong mental fortitude, backed by rich experience and skill.

Yet.

Rustle!

Hearing the sound of Dan Woo-hyun’s approaching footsteps, Jeok Mu-seong swung his blade. It was a wide horizontal slash, a strike so fast that the sound of it was heard only afterward.

“Urrgh…!”

However, seeing the situation unfold before his eyes, Jeok Mu-seong was lost for words once again. His opponent blocked the swung sword with his foot. Even the sword qi that easily sliced diamond did not work.

It was as if his internal energy dispersed only at the spot where it touched Dan Woo-hyun’s foot.

What kind of nonsense was this?

Nothing worked.

The experience he had accumulated, his craftiness, and his formidable strength.

Jeok Mu-seong’s heart, which had been triumphant while looking down on others, crumbled and shattered like a collapsing sandcastle, scattering in all directions.

His hair was disheveled.

His entire body was covered in dirt and blood. Although he held the sword in his hand, even his fingers trembled with fear, and his eyes shook wildly as if an earthquake had struck.

“Are you afraid?”

He flinched at the sound of Dan Woo-hyun’s voice.

As the man took a step closer, he took a step back.

The storm-like momentum he had shown just moments ago had already been crushed and vanished. Jeok Mu-seong only desperately wished to escape from this place.

“What a funny fellow. Didn’t you have that much resolve when drawing your blade?”

“Ugh…!”

Resolve?

He had done no such thing.

Maybe he did when he was of the younger generation. However, Jeok Mu-seong, who stood at the peak of the unorthodox path and bore the name of one of the Five Emperors, only drew his sword to cut and kill others; he never once thought he would be the one defeated.

That was the perspective of the strong.

And now, Jeok Mu-seong had become the weak.

“W-What kind of monster are you! Who… Who on earth are you…!”

“You have no need to know.”

Dan Woo-hyun smirked and took another step forward.

“Damn it!”

Jeok Mu-seong backed away two steps and then began to run like crazy. In his entire life, he had probably never run this fast.

“Pant! Pant!”

He ran. He ran.

Squeezing out every ounce of his remaining strength, he ran looking only forward.

He had to get as far away from that monster as possible. Having felt to his bones that this was a monster he never wanted to face, he chose a desperate escape to survive.

He did not want to run into him.

He did not even want to hear his voice.

‘I will never set foot near Yueyang again!’

He swore such an oath, gritting his teeth.

“Bwahaha!”

Sa Do-hak, who arrived at the scene of the fight, could not stop laughing. It was because he saw Jeok Mu-seong, who had been miserably beaten, tuck his tail and run away as fast as he could.

One of the Five Emperors and the greatest figure of the unorthodox path.

The sight of him fleeing with his tail between his legs was the highlight.

Even Namgung Cheon wore a faint smile on his lips.

He probably could not burst into loud laughter like Sa Do-hak out of a desire to maintain his own dignity.

“Ehehehe! Oh, I’m dying!”

“Ahem! Stop laughing! It’s not a pleasant sight.”

“No, but that guy… Bwahaha!”

At the continuous laughter, even Namgung Cheon turned his head away, his shoulders shaking. Indeed, the situation before them was shocking enough to warrant it.

Dan Woo-hyun also had a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

He had not expected a martial artist of that caliber, of all people, to flee. Thus, even though he watched him run, he did not give chase.

Because the situation was so absurd, even his desire to kill had vanished.

“Amusing… Did they say his name was Jeok Mu-seong?”

“Yes, yes, that is correct.”

“I have seen many fellows, but… he is a first.”

Dan Woo-hyun smirked, a smile playing on his lips.

Life had its ups and downs. Sometimes the unexpected happened, and he felt that now was exactly such a time.

The greatest expert of the unorthodox path running away?

Dan Woo-hyun could not stop smiling at that fact.

“With this, the unorthodox side will be quiet for the time being.”

Unless Jeok Mu-seong was a fool, he would not dare attack recklessly. He would need information on his opponent, and he must have realized that his current self was nowhere near enough to face Dan Woo-hyun.

Then, only one thing remained.

He turned his head and looked toward the west.

‘I wonder how he is doing?’

Dan Woo-hyun furrowed his brow as he thought of the fellow who could be considered the biggest problem.

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