Chapter 242: The World Doesn't Change (4)
Read more at Nineheavens.org
‘……?!’
Yeon Ho-jeong lifted his head and looked at the sky.
‘What is it?’
The sunset had an intense red color.
The world will turn dark within half a Shijin now. A faint moon was already revealing itself across the sky.
‘The atmosphere is fluctuating.’
A little further and it’s near Changsha.
But the air felt from there was strange.
‘It’s too noisy. Did something happen?’
Changsha is the capital of Hunan. Even when the day gets dark, there are many people. No, it would be even livelier because of the people gathered to enjoy entertainment.
But this wasn’t the chaos given off just because there were many people.
Kyaaaat!
The Vermilion Bird Qi situated in his heart let out a rough cry.
‘Killing intent?!’
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes spewed fire.
Kwaang!
A powerful foot stomp shook the earth.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who sensed it was an unusual situation, started awakening all the power he had put to sleep for the mission one by one.
Tsssts!
A flame-like aura whirled from Yeon Ho-jeong’s body, who had been running while killing his presence with minimal internal power.
Fwooosh!
The awakening Vermilion Bird Qi heated his heart hotly. The heart rate went up, increasing cardiac output, and the spurted blood circulated the whole body, making the nerves of his entire body extremely sharp.
Hwoooong.
The inhaled White Tiger Qi maximized his lung capacity.
A rapid increase in cardiopulmonary capability. Strength overflowed in his limbs and his senses became even sharper. The flow of the atmosphere felt like it could be caught in his hands, his flesh and bones became solid, and the joints of his whole body became flexible.
Oooong!
The Jade Gauze True Formula, which had reached the tenth star, minimized the burden the body received. However, since the Vermilion Bird Qi and White Tiger Qi were rough enough to discuss being the best in the world, the protection of the Jade Gauze True Qi couldn’t perfectly block muscle fatigue.
At that time, the Azure Dragon Qi soared.
Chiiiiiik!
The liver capacity was activated, blowing away the accumulated fatigue in an instant. The divine qi of the East Heaven, the heated Azure Dragon Qi hit the peak of recovery power.
The power of the Three Gods that maximized the utilization of the body and qi.
But even that wasn’t enough. It was a state sufficient to unleash explosive martial arts, but using excessively strong power could lead to a loss of delicacy. If done wrong, the body’s balance could be ruined, even causing internal injuries.
Hwaaaaah.
The divine qi of the North Heaven adjusting the balance from an unseen place.
It was the Black Tortoise Qi. As the Black Tortoise Qi soared, it eradicated all the murky qi generated temporarily while simultaneously perfectly righting the balance in his body.
Yeon Ho-jeong took a deep breath.
‘Good.’
He had only extracted and used one or two powers depending on the situation so far.
However, the true value of the Four Gods Martial Arts is displayed when handling all energies freely.
‘There’s nothing to hold back now.’
The energy of four colors flashed sequentially in Yeon Ho-jeong’s two eyes. The Four Gods Qi, deploying for the first time in a truly long while, that legendary martial art finally revealed itself on the land of Hunan.
Yeon Ho-jeong kicked the ground.
Kwaaaang!
The surface of the ground flipped.
Paaaaang!
He was producing a speed close to double that of before. The Yeon Clan’s best movement technique, Heaven-Sent Moving Flight, received the power of mutual generation, providing exceptional speed and limitless freedom.
Pararararak!
The hems of his long robe fluttered like crazy. It felt like the ends would become tattered if he increased his speed further like this.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who entered near Changsha in a single breath, his senses immediately caught the presence of the Operations Group party.
‘West!’
Paaaaang!
It was an amazing movement technique.
He kicked the empty air again to accelerate.
He was advancing truly like a streak of light. As he opened the power he had suppressed so far in an instant, all the suppressed energies cheered in unison, seeming to raise his martial arts themselves to another level.
And finally.
In Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes, who flew high into the sky after kicking the roofs of several pavilions, the Operations Group party was visible.
Baaam!
With a fierce sword strike, three warriors emitting a bizarre aura collapsed on the spot.
It was Pae-yul. Perhaps he had refined the Sun-Piercing Sword more during this time, the explosive power loaded in his swinging sword seemed to have gotten stronger.
It was the most noticeable performance among the party. Because every sword formula starting from the middle posture was simple yet practical, the heads of enemies fell like autumn leaves with every swing of the sword.
He is strong enough and to spare even without using Diancang’s martial arts. As expected of the youngest elder of the Diancang Sect, the superior killing sword polished through countless battles was trampling the enemies.
Papapapapang!
Tang Sang-ah’s martial arts were also surprise itself. Her martial arts, known as the greatest talented woman of the Sichuan Tang Clan, were already flawless even compared to mid-level masters who had gone through all sorts of hardships.
Moreover, she was not using hidden weapons.
A fast and nimble palm method. She didn’t even operate Poison Qi, but when one palm strike went in, one person unconditionally collapsed.
Her movement technique was insidious like a snake, and her striking palm force aimed at fatal death acupoints amidst softness. The flexible yet chilling fist and leg techniques became a dance of death, toying with the Soul-Severing Group.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
The most unexpected one was Zhuge Ah-yeon.
Whether in combat or missions, she always took a step back. In the first place, she was more skilled at using her head than martial arts, and she enjoyed devising another move even if the outcome was unfavorable.
Not now.
Crack! Smack! Bang!
The noble martial arts of the Zhuge Clan transformed into vicious killing moves, killing the enemies.
Surprisingly, Zhuge Ah-yeon’s real combat ability was extremely excellent. Whether she had learned it together while commanding the Evil-Annihilating Army, her utilization of killing moves alone was rather above Tang Sang-ah’s.
Zhuge Ah-yeon, enraged in the face of the deaths of innocent commoners, was deploying terrifying martial arts she hadn’t shown even to Yeon Ho-jeong.
And Ga Deuk-sang.
If Zhuge Ah-yeon was the most unexpected, Ga Deuk-sang was the most worrying.
“Die!”
Crack! Smack! Smack!
Excitement was clearly evident in his strikes.
Even though he could kill an enemy in a single strike, he made the enemy into a mess over at least three strikes.
Was he holding onto at least one strand of reason. He was unfolding the unique off-beat rhythm of the Beggars’ Gang martial arts and seemingly sloppy yet fierce fist strikes, but thank goodness he didn’t unleash absolute skills.
“It’s these bastards! Call everyone!”
“Contact the Group Leader! Everyone to this place……!”
Paaaaang!
Ga Deuk-sang, who narrowed the distance in a single breath, kicked the chest of one Soul-Severing Group member just like that.
Crack!
The Soul-Severing Group member hit in the chest fell away without even being able to scream. Since his sternum was caved in, his life wouldn’t be intact.
“Yeah, call everyone!”
Dense killing intent blazed in Ga Deuk-sang’s two eyes. It was fierce killing intent enough to pierce even the hood of the cloak.
“Call everyone! I’ll kill you all!”
It was a terrifying momentum.
The power of his martial arts increased with anger, but he lost delicacy and balance.
As much as every single strike became stronger, his stamina consumption was quite severe. Ga Deuk-sang’s breathing was gradually becoming rough.
The leader of the Third Unit of the Soul-Severing Group, Ghost Saber, shouted.
“Everyone step back! Don’t approach rashly! Surround them until reinforcements arrive……!”
At that time, a streak of finger wind pierced the atmosphere.
Puuuuck!
Along with a chilling sound, Ghost Saber’s eyes lost focus.
Losing strength in his neck, he soon collapsed with a thud.
Fwoooosh!
The intense heat spreading in all directions captivated everyone’s gaze. All the Murim people present turned their heads to the place where the finger wind was shot.
Kwaaaang!
A ruthless gust of wind split the middle of the battlefield.
It wasn’t the sky but the ground. Yeon Ho-jeong, who deceived everyone’s eyes with explosive Fire Qi, extracted the White Tiger Qi to maximum output and broke into the place where the Soul-Severing Group was concentrated.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s twin fists poured out a storm-like fierce barrage.
Pabababababak!
Strong and fast.
At the same time, accurate and delicate. The fangs of the King of Beasts, the Great Emperor of the West, the White Tiger, accurately struck the hearts of as many as fifteen Soul-Severing Group members.
Spurt!
Soul-Severing Group members collapsing while vomiting blood.
The flustered remaining troops turned their gaze to Yeon Ho-jeong, but he was already not there. Because he didn’t wear a hood like the party, he judged that his face shouldn’t be revealed.
How to annihilate enemies in the shortest time with the most efficient movements?
Pooooong!
The exploding fire Qi led Yeon Ho-jeong’s body to a realm of divine speed.
Pabababak! Crack! Kwaaaang!
It was the second coming of a Fire God spewing merciless fists and palms.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who raised his killing intent to the maximum, became an invincible general breaking through the middle of the enemy camp, sweeping away the wicked people who abandoned humanity and righteousness like falling autumn leaves.
The flustered Soul-Severing Group members tried to open up distance belatedly, but Yeon Ho-jeong did not tolerate their retreat.
He was moving at an extreme speed. The Soul-Severing Group members couldn’t read his eyes, let alone his face.
Pabababababak!
It was the moment the number of enemies Yeon Ho-jeong killed became greater than the number of enemies the four people had defeated.
“Uhk?!”
Surprise lingered on the face of Ga Deuk-sang, who had been more excited than anyone else.
‘Young Master Yeon!’
Among the party, excluding Zhuge Ah-yeon, he was the person who had seen Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts the most.
Zhuge Ah-yeon shouted.
“To the north!”
Paaaak!
Pae-yul and Tang Sang-ah headed straight north as soon as Zhuge Ah-yeon’s words ended.
Kwaaaang!
Yeon Ho-jeong, who burned five or six Soul-Severing Group members on the spot with the death martial art struck with twin palms, the Red Flame Six Killing Art, shot straight to Ga Deuk-sang.
Paaaak!
There wasn’t even time to be flustered. The movement technique of Yeon Ho-jeong, who was already carrying Ga Deuk-sang on his shoulder, was dizzyingly fast.
Ga Deuk-sang shouted.
“There are two bastards left!”
He looked ready to kill them all. Ga Deuk-sang’s face glaring at the two retreating enemies was contorted like a ghost.
Yeon Ho-jeong shouted.
“More enemies are coming from behind! It’s time to open up distance now!”
“Fuuck! Do you know what those dog bastards did?!”
“If we keep staying, that place will only become a battlefield! It’s better to lure them away!”
“……Damn it!”
It seemed he was incredibly resentful. Moisture filled Ga Deuk-sang’s two eyes.
‘Damn it! Damn it!’
Whatever the reason, dozens of innocent commoners died because of the Murim Alliance’s mission. Among them was a young child who didn’t even look ten years old.
‘I’m sorry.’
Feelings of shame and apology were greater than anger. Really, he never imagined those bastards would commit such an act.
“Beggars´ Successor.”
“…….”
“Don’t think about anything right now and focus only on escaping.”
Yeon Ho-jeong immediately realized the unfolding situation. He was also angry, but there was nothing good about staying there anymore.
For the Operations Group, and also for the commoners.
Ga Deuk-sang gritted his teeth and said.
“I- If those dog bastards again…….”
“Yang Cheon is a person who knows morality. That’s the same for his subordinates. They will know well that creating a mess like this won’t do them any good.”
“…….”
“Regain your coldness.”
“……Please put me down now.”
Yeon Ho-jeong took a breath and threw Ga Deuk-sang far away.
Parararak!
Ga Deuk-sang, who landed on the ground with an elegant movement technique, ran keeping pace with Yeon Ho-jeong.
“Young Master Yeon.”
“Please speak.”
“……Thank you.”
“Let’s say such things after escaping this place.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed with passion.
“The bastards are swarming from all directions. The mission is not over yet.”