Chapter 78: The Dao (4)
After quickly pinning down the last man, Seojun discovered something in his possession while trampling him.
“This is...”
“Y-Yes! Great Expert! I’ll offer you this martial art! So please...”
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“It’s already in my hand, how are you going to offer it?”
“But...!”
“Shut it.”
Seojun kicked the man’s head, causing him to go limp. He wasn’t dead, just unconscious.
While waiting for Hwan Baeho, Seojun examined the martial arts manual. The title was written prominently on the cover. Spirit Sword Technique. He’d never heard of it before.
Upon opening the manual, he first saw the preface filled with the founder rambling away.
He skimmed about two lines before skipping it.
Next came the main content, starting with the first sword move.
Detailed text and crude drawings explained the sword technique, but at a glance, it wasn’t easy to understand what it was saying.
But who was he? The TRANSCENDENT MURIM MASTER Lee Seojun. By roughly applying it to martial arts he already knew and sketching it out in his mind, he could understand it without much difficulty thanks to his high realm.
“Hmm.”
Flipping through the manual, he found it was a sword technique composed of thirteen movements in total.
There was nothing about cultivation methods, but the sword technique itself contained some profound principles, indicating it was quite an advanced martial art.
But well, why bother?
He already had the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword for swords and he could somewhat execute other sword arts too. There was no need to go out of his way to learn another one.
Hadn’t Namgung Jincheon acknowledged it? That the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword was the greatest sword in the Central Plains. Though he wasn’t sure if he could master it.
As he closed the manual with a thud, Hwan Baeho came running, right on cue.
Seojun grabbed the unconscious man by the scruff of his neck, jumped out of the hole, and greeted Hwan Baeho.
“Young Master!”
“How did it go?”
“I’ve spread the news, and the Sect Leader said he’d quickly inform other sects. However, that...”
Hwan Baeho hesitated before continuing.
“They seem somewhat skeptical about whether we can stop them.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And to be honest... I think the same.”
Seojun chuckled as he started walking.
“Why? Because there’s too many?”
“Yes... Although your skills are undoubtedly incredible, Young Master, aren’t there just too many demonic creatures? Your qi will be far from enough.”
“I don’t think so?”
“Hmm...”
Hwan Baeho seemed deeply troubled. Since there wasn’t much he could do about it now anyway, Seojun headed towards the direction the demonic horde was coming from.
It didn’t take long to get there.
There was a fairly sturdy wooden palisade at the city’s border, but that was about it.
Even a Second Rate martial artist could probably break it with just their fists.
It was best to consider the palisade non-existent.
“It would’ve been easier if there were city walls.”
“City walls aren’t very effective, so they’re rarely found except in Peking.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Well, it wasn’t strange.
Even a Peak Realm martial artist could jump over city walls in just a few leaps.
Of course, it might be a bit more convenient for defenders, but in a world dominated by martial arts masters, the effort-to-efficiency ratio was probably the worst.
“But with demonic creatures increasing lately... perhaps some places might start building walls.”
“Whatever, they’ll figure it out themselves.”
Seojun spotted a tall wooden structure, likely built as a watchtower, and jumped onto it.
Standing on his tiptoes at the top, he could faintly see the demonic horde in the distance.
Man, there sure are a lot of them, huh.
There was even a wide variety of species. These diverse demonic creatures moving obediently without fighting each other? It certainly wasn’t normal.
Around that time, several groups of martial artists appeared from various directions.
Hwan Baeho recognized one of them and whispered to Seojun.
“It’s the Azure Thunder Sect Leader. They have the largest influence in this area.”
“Ohh.”
Seojun jumped down from the wooden structure and landed in front of said man.
“Are you perhaps... the Young Expert from the Namgung Clan?”
“I guess that’s right?”
“What do you intend to do, Young Expert?”
“I’ll try to stop them here, but you all can do as you please. You can just enjoy the show if you want.”
“I see...”
The Azure Thunder Sect Leader nodded, looking somewhat uncomfortable, and began giving swift instructions to his disciples.
The martial artists moved in unison, setting up formations.
Five people formed a small formation and five of these small formations combined to create a larger one.
Aside from them, various other sects were preparing to stop the demonic creature flood in their own ways.
However, it was notable that they all made sure to secure escape routes.
The morale of the martial artists wasn’t particularly high either.
While almost none seemed terrified, they all looked ready to fight for a bit and then retreat.
“That’s wise.”
If holding out was impossible, they could temporarily flee elsewhere and return later.
The city would be devastated, but at least people could survive.
As Seojun watched them silently, the Azure Thunder Sect Leader, having finished preparations to face the demonic horde, approached him.
“Young Expert.”
“Yes?”
“We plan to buy time until civilians can evacuate, then retreat. You should withdraw with us at that time.”
“It’s fine. If worst comes to worst, I’ll use my father-in-law card or something.”
“Father-in-law...?”
“The Clan Head.”
“Gasp...!”
The Azure Thunder Sect Leader’s jaw dropped, and he asked excitedly.
“D-Do you mean the Azure Sky Sword Venerable is coming here?!”
Azure Sky Sword Venerable? What a title. It sounds cool as fuck.
But why am I the Mad Hungry Wolf?
Seojun turned away, uncomfortable with the Sect Leader’s flushed, excited face, and asked Hwan Baeho.
“Did you contact the Namgung Clan?”
“I sent a messenger bird, but whether the Clan Head will come is...”
The Azure Thunder Sect Leader’s excitement quickly cooled at his response.
“Ah... Then he probably won’t come... The Azure Sky Sword Venerable rarely shows his face in public... In that case, Young Expert, you must retreat with us.”
“Hmm.”
“If anything were to happen to you, Young Expert, it would mean our deaths.”
“That would be terrible, now wouldn’t it?”
Seojun replied casually and picked up the man he had thrown in the corner.
By now, the demonic horde had approached close enough to be visible even from ground level.
“So anyways, you just need to buy time, right? I’ll take care of it.”
Seojun waved his hand dismissively and stared at the palisade. It was meaningless anyway, just an obstruction.
Boom!
He waved his hand, creating a hole large enough for three or four people to pass through, and stepped forward.
“Let’s see...”
The demonic horde. There certainly were a lot, but at the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about running out of qi.
He could replenish qi even mid-battle, and in the unlikely event he ran low, he could always tap into the Supreme Law of Essence Absorption.
So, first, one big shot.
Seojun struck the unconscious man’s lower abdomen, destroying his dantian.
“Kuhak...!”
The man spat blood and regained consciousness from the pain. He began to scream, likely feeling his qi dissipating.
“N-No...! NOOO...!!”
Thud! Seojun knocked him out again because he was too noisy.
He quickly seized the man’s dispersing qi, controlled it, and anchored it where the dantian had been. Adding his own qi to the mix, he converted the combined force into equal parts yin and yang, separated by a barrier.
RUMBLE──────!!!
The earth shook as thousands of demonic creatures charged, dust clouds rising. Seojun twisted his waist as he watched this spectacle.
“Go contribute to society...!”
He untwisted his waist and threw the man.
The man hurled through the air in an arc.
The qi now bound to a physical vessel would maintain its potency and even if it was detonated from afar, its power would remain virtually intact.
The living bomb charged with most of Seojun’s qi plummeted into the demonic horde, and...
──────────────!!!!
A massive explosion occurred.
Demonic creature parts flew everywhere. That single strike had wiped out nearly a hundred of them.
“What...!”
“How can it have such power...!”
The surrounding martial artists gaped in astonishment.
The fact hat no one batted an eye at using a person as a bomb really showed the moral standards of murim people.
“Young Master, are you alright? Your qi must be...”
“Now now, I said I’m fine.”
Seojun grinned and started walking.
The bewildered martial artists murmured behind him, but he continued calmly advancing towards the demonic horde.
His black martial outfit fluttered in the wind as he wrapped his rapidly replenished qi around both hands and kicked off the ground, launching forward.
“Young Expert...!”
He ignored the panicked shout of the Azure Thunder Sect Leader.
Before him were thousands of demonic creatures. Thousands of killing intents focused on Seojun.
“Haha...!”
His body burned hot. The killing intent directed towards him transformed into an electrifying thrill that raced up his spine.
Not suppressing the joy in his soul, he violently slammed his palms together.
Clap!
Primordial Sun-Moon Art. A distorted taiji manifested between his palms.
Seojun’s mouth curved up in a savage grin as he met the demonic horde head-on.
BOOM──────────!!!
A massive explosion tore through the air. While standing at the heart of the destruction carved through the demonic horde, Seojun raised both hands.
“Now this is sex.”
Plum blossoms bloomed.
Amidst the profusely blooming petals, three flowers blossomed behind Seojun’s head.
The flowers were far from beautiful. They were hideously distorted, eyeballs densely sprouted on each layer of petals, staring in all directions.
Clench!
Seojun grabbed a demonic creature’s head in each hand and unleashed the Supreme Law of Essence Absorption at full power.
“Kieeek...”
“Grrrk...”
The demonic creatures withered like mummies and after completely draining even their innate true qi, they perished.
Seojun held the stolen energy in his hands instead of absorbing it. While absorbing the true qi of others was dangerous, using it immediately posed no problems.
The enormous qi flowed through his hands, blooming one by one.
Plum blossoms bloomed anew, matching those that had already flowered.
“Hell yeah, I’m the God of Smurfing.”
CRUNCH────────!!!
The demonic creatures were torn apart by the surging plum blossoms.
The thousands of demonic creatures stopped their advance. Their eyes locked onto Seojun almost reverently, mesmerized, a flicker of awe in their faint intelligence.
“Come at me.”
Three word. The demonic creatures charged with all their might, as if obeying his command.
Footnotes
1. Slaughtering Noobs, Noobstomping, used in online games.