Chapter 196: Chapter 196
‘How could he use the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand…?’
Cho-ryeon fell into great confusion.
The Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand was a martial art that had never once been unfolded in the Central Plains, and it was the main reason she had been entrusted with this secret scheme.
However, who was that young Taoist in front of her?
Just uttering the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand was astonishing, but what he had shown just before…
‘It was more outstanding than mine.’
Her throat naturally felt parched.
Facing an incomprehensible situation, a deep thirst arose.
‘Did our Cult plant a spy in the Mount Hua Sect? No, if so, they would have definitely informed me. And if there was someone who could unfold the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand to this extent, it wouldn’t be someone I didn’t know…’
Around the time her eyes, unable to grasp what exactly was going on, were swallowed by confusion without finding their direction.
Crackle…
Cheon-hwi did not care whether she was confused or not and loosened his left shoulder.
It had been a while since he unfolded it.
Was the last time he unfolded the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand when he taught it to the Rakshasa Ice Demon?
Cheon-hwi, who was briefly reminiscing about the past, chuckled as her expressionless face came to mind.
‘I didn’t know that blunt woman would take in a disciple.’
At that moment when he was thinking of the Rakshasa Ice Demon, who kept her distance from everyone except him.
“…Who are you?”
Cho-ryeon, who had been looking at Cheon-hwi for a long while, struggled to part her sticking lips.
It came out after a long period of contemplation.
It was a question that implied many things.
How he knew and unfolded the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand.
Whether he was related to the Heavenly Demon Cult.
However, what returned was…
“I revealed it earlier. It’s Cheon-hwi.”
It was a simple answer full of laughter.
“…”
Cho-ryeon naturally bit her lower lip gently and coldly glared at Cheon-hwi.
Realizing through that answer that further conversation was meaningless, she took on a gaze as cold as ice.
‘Still, I found out one thing.’
Then, she slowly drew up her internal energy.
Transparent true qi flowed out from her body, meticulously wrapping around both of her hands.
It was the release of the internal energy mental method she had mastered, the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Qigong.
‘He is someone unrelated to our Cult.’
Her eyes flashed chillingly.
If he had been related to the Divine Cult, he would have leaked some information somehow.
However, he did not do so.
‘I absolutely cannot understand how he unfolded the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand, but that is something to look into later.’
She slowly caught her breath.
Although she was curious about many things regarding him, the duel was more important right now.
Ssss…
Around the time when her momentum spread out faintly, quietly revealing her presence.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, the sound of the wind splitting was heard.
Before she knew it, Cheon-hwi’s sword was swung as if to cleave Cho-ryeon’s crown.
It was a fast sword of astonishing speed.
It was a trajectory that was barely visible due to how fast it was, but her body moved first and quickly chased the sword.
Whoosh…
Her right hand, which cut through the air, bent like a whip and aimed for the sword body. It was her intention to strike the descending sword face and bounce it off.
However.
Whoosh…
Her right hand cut through the empty air in vain.
It was because Cheon-hwi, who was swinging the sword, momentarily disappeared as if he had extinguished.
“…!”
Cho-ryeon, who lost Cheon-hwi’s trace for a moment, freaked out and drew up her qi sense.
‘Left…!’
She, who quickly discovered Cheon-hwi’s presence, turned her head and flinched.
It was because Cheon-hwi, who had approached closely at some point, was swinging his sword.
Thump!
Reflexively, she stepped on a stomping step.
Following that, she twisted her waist incredibly intensely and extended her palm.
The transparent Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand reflecting the sunlight shot toward Cheon-hwi’s face.
It was a counterattack aimed in an instant.
However.
Thud!
Regrettably, the shooting Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand was blocked by Cheon-hwi’s sword.
‘This easily?’
Cho-ryeon’s mouth slightly opened.
Embarrassment swelled up.
It was not her full power, but it was still the Jade Eternal Divine Demonic Hand unfolded with seventy percent of her internal energy.
Yet, he lightly blocked it.
‘It will be overwhelming in this state.’
Around the time Cho-ryeon, who seemed to have resolved something, flashed her eye light with a stiff face.
“Are you not coming anymore? Then shall I go?”
Cheon-hwi took a step by step toward the stiffened her, narrowing the distance.
A slow and relaxed pace.
Cho-ryeon’s eyebrows slightly twitched as she watched the unparalleled defenseless steps.
‘You mean to look down on me?’
She, who was looking at Cheon-hwi’s action that touched her pride, sharply raised her eyes.
At that moment.
Woooosh…
Her clothes fluttered greatly.
The wind raged in all directions, and an intense chill spread out with her at the center.
A pure white chill that made it feel as if midwinter had arrived immediately settled on the dueling arena, and.
Crack…
Before long, all the chill gathered in her hand, and a transparent hand appeared.
Cheon-hwi’s eyes slightly widened upon seeing that.
“What? Did you complete that?”
A smile naturally formed on his lips.
The starting stance she was showing now was exactly the same as the technique the Rakshasa Ice Demon had created in the past, declaring that she would surely defeat him.
“Did she call it the White Hand Demonic Art? I remember it with a martial art name similar to that…”
It was when Cheon-hwi was thinking about what the martial art name he heard in his past life was.
Crack!
Cho-ryeon’s palm, where the chill had gathered, extended, and an intense internal energy was spewed out.
It swept over Cheon-hwi’s entire body in an instant, like a surging tsunami.
‘I must definitely kill him.’
A terrible killing intent explosively radiated from the whole body of Cho-ryeon, who had made up her mind to kill.
The plan to keep the opponent alive and win the hearts of the people had already long since disappeared.
The opponent must never be kept alive.
She unconditionally had to kill him.
Even for the sake of the future.
‘Before he grows more than he is now!’
At the moment the White Hand Demonic Art carrying the fierce chill completely swept over the Cheon-hwi in front.
“…!”
Her two eyes glared fiercely.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
The internal energy of the robust White Hand Demonic Art started to split open, and something red leaked out through that crack.
It stealthily stuck its head out in a very small size like a sprout springing up from a cracked ground, and before long, it fully bloomed a single plum blossom.
‘Plum blossom…?’
While she was blankly looking at the plum blossom, the White Hand Demonic Art was torn in half.
Slash!
Cheon-hwi, who had ripped apart the White Hand Demonic Art that was covering the dueling arena, slightly nodded his head.
“I’m disappointed. I heard that if the White Hand Demonic Art is properly unfolded, it freezes the world, but like this, you wouldn’t even be able to freeze water.”
An indifferent voice struck Cho-ryeon’s ears. However, she had no time to properly carve those words into her mind.
‘H-how could this be…’
Something she hadn’t even thought of happened.
The White Hand Demonic Art was an absolute technique that could be counted on one hand among hand techniques even within the Heavenly Demon Cult. No matter how lacking her skills still were and how she had not achieved great completion.
Still, the power contained within it could not be ignored!
Yet, it was neutralized and collapsed just now.
Furthermore, it didn’t just collapse; it was miserably crushed and shattered.
‘How could such a thing happen?’
Cold sweat, which had formed in beads on her forehead before she knew it, flowed and pooled on her chin, and.
Drip.
A single drop fell on the dueling arena.
“Try exerting your full power. Or shall I make you exert your full power?”
Just as a cold voice was heard, Cheon-hwi briefly kicked the ground and moved.
At that, Cho-ryeon instinctively jumped to the side and chewed on her lower lip.
Her beautiful face distorted suddenly like an evil deity.
At the same time, her eyes sank.
Into a bottomless pit whose end could not be known.
As a member of the Heavenly Demon Cult, a failure of the plan was an impossible thing.
Soon, she released all her internal energy.
Craaaack!
The White Hand Demonic Art unfolded due to that froze the empty air, generating a fierce wind centered around her.
It was a cold chill enough to suffocate one’s breath.
To the point where one would wonder if even the beating sunlight would coldly freeze upon getting close to her.
“Phew.”
She let out a deep breath.
A cold breath flowed out between her lips. She, who briefly looked at Cheon-hwi with transparently sunken pupils, slowly stepped on a stomping step.
Thump.
A dull noise.
Soon, her body leaned forward.
Her palm, fully carrying an intense chill as if to completely freeze and crush whatever it touched, headed toward Cheon-hwi.
However.
Thwack…
Cheon-hwi’s sword body struck her hand.
In a breath, the White Hand Demonic Art lost its direction and went in a direction other than Cheon-hwi, and then.
Boooom!
It overturned the floor of the dueling arena.
Due to that, dust rose on the dueling arena, blocking the sight of the two.
However, Cho-ryeon did not panic this time. She, who admitted that the opponent’s skill was not ordinary through a few exchanges, did not let go of the string of tension despite the failure of the attack.
She immediately put strength into the tips of her toes.
Whoosh!
Her left hand, which advanced forward while piercing through the dust at a formidable speed at once, exerted a fierce and supreme-ruler-like power.
A technique that just seemed to have been extended forward.
But that was precisely one of the absolute techniques of the White Hand Demonic Art, the White Hand Destroying Heaven.
The pure white hand that destroys heaven.
As per the technique name, that pure white hand instantly grew larger and crushed the sky in half.
Craaaash!
The dueling arena made of hard stone shattered into pieces, and the fragments burst out.
“Gasp!”
The complexions of the crowds turned pure white.
It was because the stones of the broken dueling arena were about to pour down on them.
“Aaaagh!”
“D-dodge!”
At that time when the crowds, who met a sudden disaster out of the blue, urgently tried to flee.
“Everyone, help!”
“What are you doing without going quickly!”
The Taoists from the Zhongnan and Mount Hua Sect sides hurriedly kicked their seats and moved hastily.
At the appearance of the Taoists, the crowds politely gathered their two hands.
“P-please save us!”
“I beg of you!”
The Taoists raised their swords upwards at the tearful voices coming from behind.
“We will block them all!”
Along with Ha Woo-jin’s roaring shout, their swords cut the rocks falling like heavy rain and cleared them away in all directions.
Because it was not just one or two, a few pierced through them and poured down, but.
“Move out of the way!”
“Stand behind me.”
The martial artists who had been watching the duel among the crowds stepped forward and deflected or cleared away the remaining things that were pouring down.
A little later, around the time the series of commotion ended.
Whoosh…
The wind blew, and the dueling arena was revealed.
The half of the dueling arena, which had been shoddy but solid on its own, was completely shattered.
“Oh my goodness…”
“How could that be…”
The crowds ended up at a loss for words.
In particular, the surprise of those who had learned martial arts was of a different level.
‘Does such a technique exist?’
‘This is a human’s power?’
It was a destructive sight enough to make even the Taoists of the Mount Hua and Zhongnan Sects momentarily lose their minds.
At that time, Ha Woo-jin turned his eyes.
“Where is Cheon-hwi…”
His eyes, which quickly scanned over the dueling arena, discovered Cho-ryeon earlier than Cheon-hwi.
Seeing her, he smiled.
Although she had shown such an intense technique, her lips were trembling quiveringly.
What could that mean.
The moment his gaze shifted following her wavering gaze.
“It was quite refreshing.”
A voice mixed with laughter was heard.
Subsequently, Cheon-hwi slowly revealed his appearance through the wreckage of the broken dueling arena.
Cheon-hwi, who was walking while brushing back his hair that had slightly flowed down, paused his steps for a moment and tapped away the dust that had settled on his shoulders.
“It’s to the point where I’d like to separately learn it for when it’s hot.”
Cho-ryeon, who saw him walking without a single wound, was dumbfounded.
It was the White Hand Destroying Heaven, none other.
An absolute technique that even within the Divine Cult, people could not properly receive unless they were a few.
Yet, the young Taoist in front received it.
Not only did he receive it, he stood calmly as if nothing had happened.
At that time, Cheon-hwi took a step again.
Step… Step…
Cho-ryeon’s heart palpitated as she watched him walk while stepping on the smashed wreckage.
At the same time, she flinched and stepped backward.
Cheon-hwi, who saw her retreat in tune whenever he took a step, grinned and stopped the steps that had been advancing forward.
“Since I also saw an interesting sight, in return…”
He lifted his sword and manifested the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
An internal energy that was even more transparent and clean than what Cho-ryeon had emitted enveloped the sword.
Following that, a color was coated on the internal energy.
It was a very bright red like blood.
At the same time, it was a red color overflowing with vitality.
“I will show you the Mount Hua Sect’s sword.”
Cheon-hwi dropped his sword downwards.
As the sword started drawing a semicircle with a gentle momentum, the red internal energy squirmed, and then.
Whooosh…
Plum blossoms bloomed in full glory in all directions.
Plum blossoms that were beautiful to the point where not only the watching crowd but even the opponent, Cho-ryeon, momentarily had their eyes stolen.
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