Chapter 289: Chapter 289
The collision of the two peerless experts engulfed the whole world in golden radiance and somber colors.
And.
Rumble-
The entirety of Mount Emei shook violently.
It was a fierce tremor, as if the creation of the world was occurring and a landslide would happen at any moment.
Every time the two peerless experts clashed like that, Mount Emei let out a scream.
Tap.
Cheon-hwi, who appeared in close proximity to the Mountain gate, took in the scene unfolding before his eyes. He could not take his eyes off the feast of martial arts displayed by the experts of the Heavenly Martial Realm.
His interest was piqued.
It was because the martial arts displayed by Nong-jil were something he was seeing for the first time in both his past and present lives.
And what about Abbess So-un?
The martial arts she was displaying while wielding the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff, spearheaded by the Emei Sect’s divine art, the Great Serenity Divine Art, were enough to catch Cheon-hwi’s attention.
The manifestation of dharma power containing golden radiance.
It could truly be called a divine art.
“It’s been a while since I’ve experienced the Emei Sect’s divine art. And that evil art too…”
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth slowly went up.
It was because he felt excited.
Peerless divine arts appeared before his eyes.
And two of them at that.
The Emei Sect’s divine arts and the martial arts of the Evil Emperor Palace, the great sect of the Unorthodox Faction before the appearance of the Four Black Alliances.
It was enough to make his mouth water.
Cheon-hwi’s eyes spewed red light.
The wide-open Baihui acupoint, the unified three dantians.
With his thinking accelerated, the inner energy blooming from Cheon-hwi’s eyes enhanced his visual acuity.
Within his expanded senses, Cheon-hwi captured the two figures, Nong-jil and Abbess So-un, in the vortex of energy waves with his two eyes.
The nature and operation of their inner energy, the forms, and even the microscopically moving muscles.
Everything without a single omission.
“I’ll thoroughly dig into what kind of martial arts they are.”
Cheon-hwi’s pure white teeth were revealed.
It was a smile tinged with sharpness.
Craaaack!
Meanwhile, Nong-jil and Abbess So-un were glaring at each other while clashing in the middle.
Amidst the inner energy battle, the two felt it.
That the opponent was a formidable adversary.
With the smoking pipe harboring peerless astral qi and the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff between them, their gazes tangled.
“Hahaha!”
Suddenly, Nong-jil burst into laughter.
With her ash-gray hair soaring high into the sky, her eyes curved greatly.
Her curved eyes were bewitching.
“You still haven’t been able to cast it away.”
Abbess So-un’s eyebrows twitched.
It was an unexpected remark.
And at that moment, Nong-jil suddenly let go of her smoking pipe and twisted her body to the side.
“……!”
Abbess So-un’s eyes widened.
It was because she hadn’t expected her to let go of her weapon, the smoking pipe.
To a martial artist, a weapon was life.
There was even a saying that one must not let go of it even in death.
Yet, she let it go.
As if it were nothing.
And it accurately pierced Abbess So-un’s opening, bringing about carelessness.
A state where their skills were neck and neck.
The carelessness that occurred within it caused a greater rift than anything else.
Whoosh!
Nong-jil, who was watching the change in Abbess So-un’s expression, took a large step forward and dug into her embrace.
It was an exquisite movement.
Following that, she moved her left hand and forcefully snatched Abbess So-un’s right hand.
A slender wrist was felt.
Nong-jil exerted strength in her left hand.
The veins popping out on her forearm were clearly visible through the torn palace dress.
Swoosh!
Abbess So-un was helplessly dragged by that force.
Soon, the faces of the two became noticeably closer.
At a close distance where their breaths seemed to touch, Nong-jil captured Abbess So-un in her two eyes.
The moment Abbess So-un’s bewildered expression was reflected in her vertically slit pupils.
Fwoosh!
Nong-jil spread her right hand wide open.
Suddenly, sparks flew from all directions.
Soon, somber lightning bloomed from Nong-jil’s open hand and stretched out like stems.
The manifestation of a very pitch-black Ink Thunder.
The continuously extending Ink Thunder harbored a terrible evil energy in every strand.
Evil Heaven Absolute Art, Ink Thunder Heaven Mixing Hand.
One of the Evil Blood Emperor’s absolute skills, whose power was said to be capable of destroying the heavens, had manifested.
‘To think such a terrible evil energy exists!’
Abbess So-un’s eyes shook.
The distant evil energy contained in a single strike was enough to give her goosebumps.
She urgently drew up the inner energy of the Great Serenity Divine Art and wrapped herself in protective astral qi.
The moment the brilliant dharma power wrapped around her entire body.
Nong-jil thrust her right palm, loaded with the Ink Thunder Heaven Mixing Hand, towards Abbess So-un’s abdomen.
It was a fleeting moment.
Woooong!
The Ink Thunder imbued with the inner energy of the Evil Heaven Absolute Art flashed, and the air let out a cry.
It was a sound as if it were terrified.
Eventually, the Ink Thunder transformed into an intense palm art and penetrated Abbess So-un’s abdomen.
Craaaang!
The dharma power that had been wrapping Abbess So-un’s entire body clashed with the Ink Thunder and distorted.
Then eventually.
The energy wave bursting from Abbess So-un’s abdomen distorted even the surrounding space.
Baaaang!
A delayed circular shockwave exploded.
Several trees around Subduing Tiger Temple were uprooted by the shockwave accompanied by a fierce storm, and the dirt dust that arose from various places hung densely in the vicinity.
And within that dust.
“…Ink Thunder Heaven Mixing Hand?”
Cheon-hwi, who was watching their life-and-death battle, narrowed his eyes.
Although the dust raged, the light in his eyes shot out without him even blinking.
The Ink Thunder and the evil energy wave contained within it.
It exactly matched one of the martial arts of the Two Great Absolute Skills of the Evil Path written in the Jianghu Martial Arts Rankings, a book left behind by Flying Demon in the secret cave in the past.
“Evil Heaven Absolute Art…”
He was excited.
It was because although the Return to Heaven Formula he currently knew was also called one of the Two Great Absolute Skills of the Evil Path, the Evil Heaven Absolute Art was ranked higher than it.
“I thought it would be hard to see since the Evil Emperor Palace collapsed…”
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth twisted.
The Evil Heaven Absolute Art was a divine art created by assembling all the evil arts that the Evil Blood Emperor had stolen.
The crystallization of all kinds of evil arts and evil methods.
Because of that, it was one of the divine arts he had paid attention to after reading the Jianghu Martial Arts Rankings.
However, he had thought it would have completely disappeared when the Evil Emperor Palace collapsed…
It existed right there.
And right before his eyes at that.
“It’s an unexpected windfall.”
Around the time Cheon-hwi’s smile deepened.
Trickle-
Blood flowed from Abbess So-un’s mouth.
The inner energy loaded in the palm that struck her abdomen was shaking her insides with a concussion.
She urgently drew up the Great Serenity Divine Art to suppress the internal injuries.
However.
“Cough!”
It was of no use.
The evil energy of the Evil Heaven Absolute Art that had already penetrated deep into her body shook the Great Serenity Divine Art.
“It’s an useless action.”
Nong-jil sneered at such an Abbess So-un.
It was an attitude as if she had already seized the victory.
The Ink Thunder Heaven Mixing Hand, loaded with the supreme essence of the internal heavy hand technique, had accurately smashed Abbess So-un’s lower dantian and energy channels.
On top of that, the evil energy of the Evil Heaven Absolute Art was gradually penetrating.
A severe injury that was impossible to recover from in a short time, even for an expert of the Heavenly Martial Realm.
It was natural for her to be confident.
It was then.
Abbess So-un, who was swaying as if she had lost her balance while coughing up blood, kicked off the ground.
‘The final move…!’
Her eyes became bloodshot.
It felt as if she would soon vomit blood due to her concussed insides.
A manifestation of inner energy without thinking of the future.
Her body could not endure the aftermath.
However, Abbess So-un could not stop.
Upon her shoulders rested the well-being of many Emei Sect disciples and the Orthodox Faction of Sichuan.
How could she step back?
‘I cannot lose!’
She soon drew out even her innate qi.
The dharma power of the Great Serenity Divine Art drawn up like that bloomed behind her back.
A brilliant golden radiance.
The greatly merciful and compassionate dharma power manifested physically.
At the same time, Abbess So-un’s body became blurry.
Displaying the Nine Revolutions Illusion Shadow Footwork, she stretched the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff forward.
There was no hesitation in her movement.
And soon, the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff, infused with the golden radiance, became blurry while ringing with the sound of bells.
A move loaded with all her inner energy.
Nirvana’s Tranquility, Right Concentration.
The Six Rings of Reincarnation Staff, which contained all the forms of Nirvana’s Tranquility into one, called forth illusions.
Afterimages divided into dozens.
However, they soon merged into one and accurately aimed for Nong-jil’s face.
Ten Thousand Transformations Respond to One Origin.
A single strike containing ten thousand changes rushed in, scattering golden light and drawing a brilliant trajectory.
Nong-jil’s eyes widened slightly.
She should have suffered terrible internal injuries.
Yet, to think there would be such an intense strike.
It was an amazing mental strength and inner energy operation.
Eventually.
Slaaaash!
Blood splattered in all directions.
It was Nong-jil’s blood.
However, despair hung densely on Abbess So-un’s face, which revealed itself through the blood scattering in the empty air.
It was shallow.
Only a faint bloodstain had been engraved on her cheek at most.
Nong-jil had displayed a bizarre footwork and narrowly avoided the all-out strike.
The moment she bit her lip.
Thump!
A shock was applied to her abdomen once again.
Before anyone knew it, the Ink Thunder Heaven Mixing Hand swung once again by Nong-jil struck Abbess So-un’s solar plexus.
“Keok!”
As her body collapsed soon after.
Swipe-
Nong-jil wiped her cheek with her hand.
She, who had smeared a long bloodstain on the back of her hand, licked the blood with her tongue.
A fishy taste lingered in her mouth.
“Fufufu.”
She, who was smiling with eyes full of madness, looked down at Abbess So-un.
She, whose monk’s robes were torn to shreds, was spilling dark dead blood through her slightly parted lips.
Her life was intact, but it was dangerous.
It was a severe internal injury that would only heal after recuperating for at least a few years.
Nong-jil stared at the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff that Abbess So-un was holding in her hand even amidst suffering heavy injuries.
“I guess this is that precious?”
She lifted her foot.
And she thoroughly trampled on her hand holding the Reincarnation Six Rings Staff.
Her eyes swirled with excitement.
Her mind became ecstatic at the thought of personally killing the sect leader of the Emei Sect and destroying the divine artifact containing its history.
Soon, just as she was about to exert strength in her foot to finish it like this.
“Are you going to finish it already?”
Suddenly, a voice interrupted.
Nong-jil sharply turned her head.
At that moment, something flying towards her caught her eyes.
Clack.
Nong-jil reached out and caught it.
“This is…”
Her glabella narrowed.
The thing that flew was the smoking pipe she had thrown earlier while facing Abbess So-un.
Following that, she stared at the place where the smoking pipe was thrown from.
“I haven’t even been able to watch properly yet.”
Along with the voice, a young man walked over.
The sight of him walking towards her looked leisurely, as if he had come out for a stroll.
However, Nong-jil instinctively tensed up heavily.
An unknown energy wave was spreading out around him as he walked.
It was an unbelievable momentum.
At that time, the walking young man stopped.
A distance of ten zhang.
It was a distance that perfectly rested on her domain.
“You are…”
Nong-jil half-closed her eyes.
Only then did she check the Taoist robes and the plum blossom pattern the young man was wearing.
“Hahaha!”
Nong-jil burst into mad laughter.
Killing intent blazed furiously like a flame.
At the same time, her eyes were dyed in a somber color, showing a glimpse of madness.
“You are the Plum Blossom Divine Hero who is so famous in the current Jianghu. As expected from the rumors, you are very young? I heard you just passed the age of twenty?”
Questions poured out.
However.
“You talk a lot.”
Cheon-hwi picked his ear and ignored her.
It was an attitude showing he had no interest at all in a conversation with Nong-jil.
“You are a prickly child.”
Nong-jil bit the smoking pipe she held in her hand.
“Phew, yeah. The reason you came here must be to save this old nun, right?”
Her gaze, having exhaled pure white smoke, glanced downwards.
Abbess So-un was in a fainted state before she knew it.
She could end her life at any time.
Even right now.
Right when Nong-jil was about to exert strength in the tip of her foot.
“That’s just incidental.”
“Incidental…?”
At Cheon-hwi’s unexpected answer, Nong-jil’s eyebrows twitched.
‘Are you saying you didn’t come to help?’
Cheon-hwi laughed upon seeing the flustered Nong-jil.
“Rather than that, right now I want to patiently see the martial arts you display. Very meticulously, one by one.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheon-hwi’s sleeve fluttered largely.
Fwoosh-
In an instant, the atmosphere rippled.
The wave of qi that started from Cheon-hwi’s sleeve eventually reached Nong-jil.
“……!”
Startled by the energy wave of the force extending from his sleeve, Nong-jil pulled back the foot she was about to use to trample Abbess So-un and moved urgently.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Nong-jil’s body blurred.
Around the time Nong-jil, who had displayed the Shape Shifting Position Changing to avoid the aftermath of the force, urgently twisted her body.
“So display it properly.”
A low voice was heard from behind.
At the same time, just as it felt like an intense energy surged in, a fierce energy wave struck down like lightning and plunged into the crown of her head.