Chapter 181: Realization Through Battle (1)

Gu Hyeong was dumbfounded.

He felt both impressed by Yong Hwarin, who managed to overwhelm him with something as trivial as a Large Needle, and pathetic for being in such a state.

Yong Hwarin was merely a fledgling who had only just begun to gain renown, while he himself was a master of the Three Demonic Absolutes.

There was no humiliation greater than this.

Rather than suffer such disgrace at the hands of a young brat, Gu Hyeong chose to die fighting.

"Ta-hat!"

As Gu Hyeong charged in, prepared for Mutual Destruction Technique, Yong Hwarin didn’t dare to underestimate him.

Until now, Yong Hwarin had been able to evade Gu Hyeong’s attacks only because his techniques lacked refinement compared to his internal energy. But now that Gu Hyeong was resolved to die in battle, Yong Hwarin focused purely on defense, like one avoiding a torrential downpour.

Gu Hyeong floated into the air and shouted,

"Black Kill Ten-Directional Formation!"

At those words, the assassins fighting nearby suddenly changed direction and charged toward Yong Hwarin.

As ten assassins blocked all of Yong Hwarin’s avenues of escape and launched a coordinated attack, a chill ran down his spine.

Some threw Hidden Weapons, while others hurled Poison Pellets.

One even charged in using a Mutual Destruction Technique.

Blocking every path with a variety of techniques and launching a simultaneous attack — that was the essence of the Black Kill Ten-Directional Formation.

With no way to break free, Yong Hwarin had no choice but to block each of the assassins’ attacks one by one.

Whoosh!

Just as he had defended against all of them, a crushing pressure like a thousand-jun boulder descended from above.

The assassins continued their attack using the Black Kill Ten-Directional Formation, leaving Yong Hwarin unable to avoid Gu Hyeong’s assault.

Left with no other option, Yong Hwarin raised his sword to block the Heaven-Cleaving Saber of Gu Hyeong.

Kwaang!

When the True Qi of both unleashed over Three Gaps clashed midair, a thunderclap exploded alongside a burst of lightning.

The assassins who had been attacking Yong Hwarin recoiled from the shockwave of the collision.

Those who had already been injured by Yong Hwarin couldn’t escape in time and bled profusely from their mouths.

"Monsters, the lot of them."

Namgung Yoo widened her eyes as she watched the collision.

Then she added,

"Was he really at that level?"

From Namgung Yoo’s assessment, Yong Hwarin’s martial prowess had been at the Master Level.

But now that she saw this, she realized that had been a misjudgment.

He seemed to have surpassed the Master Level, transcending into the Realm Beyond Extremes.

"Grandfather was right."

There was a time when Namgung Bi had said that Yong Hwarin was the only one who might surpass him within ten years. She hadn’t believed it.

She had thought her grandfather overestimated Yong Hwarin.

At Namgung Clan, they hadn’t been able to properly witness Yong Hwarin’s fights due to being occupied with controlling Jiangshi, so they couldn’t believe the tales of his martial feats.

Listening to stories about Yong Hwarin’s battles against the masked foes had made it sound like her grandfather had fought them himself.

She had thought the accounts were exaggerated.

But now that she had witnessed it with her own eyes, she thought perhaps Yong Hwarin’s evaluation might even be lacking.

"Just die already!"

Each time Gu Hyeong’s saber came down, Yong Hwarin’s body shook.

Unable to evade, he had to block each strike with his sword.

The saber strikes, all exceeding the Three Gaps level, left his True Qi in chaos, giving him no space to employ a footwork technique.

‘Kgh!’

Boom!

A bomb exploded within his body.

Gu Hyeong’s True Qi pierced through the Laogong Point, delivering internal shock.

‘Penetrating Art.’

The most difficult opponents to deal with were those who could infiltrate their True Qi like this.

Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong aimed to blow up Yong Hwarin from within using his most confident inner energy.

That’s why he swung his saber down repeatedly without hesitation.

Though the techniques were simple, the saber strikes were so powerful and fast that Yong Hwarin couldn’t easily break free from the assault.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

To an onlooker, it might have looked like someone hacking at a tree with an axe.

Yong Hwarin’s ankles gradually sank into the ground.

Even with Three Gaps-level inner energy, Gu Hyeong’s force surpassed Yong Hwarin’s and held the upper hand.

Had Yong Hwarin been utilizing his Tai Chi Dantian to operate his inner energy, Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong wouldn’t have been able to launch such a one-sided onslaught.

But with his Self-Revolving Inner Qi activated and his Tai Chi Dantian sealed off, he was enduring with only the Three Gaps inner energy of a Demonic Master.

As he absorbed the pressure from Gu Hyeong’s invading inner energy, Yong Hwarin suddenly thought of the Dragon Claw Five Fingers.

The pain from Self-Revolving Inner Qi alone was unbearable, and having to endure Gu Hyeong’s Penetrating Art on top of it made his mind dizzy.

He felt that if he stayed like this, he would die just as Gu Hyeong intended — his insides exploding.

And in that desperate moment, a way to break through the situation flashed through his mind.

Faced with the thought of death, even amid the mental fog, his consciousness clung to survival.

He thought that if he received Gu Hyeong’s Penetrating Art through the acupoints of his five fingers, he might be able to disperse Gu Hyeong’s True Qi.

Jjeong!

Once again, sword and saber collided.

The massive True Qi flowed into the sword and burrowed into Yong Hwarin’s hand.

At that moment, he accepted Gu Hyeong’s Penetrating Art through the acupoints of his five fingers.

"Khk!"

It would have been better not to do it at all.

The blood vessels in all five fingers felt as if they were about to burst from the pain.

Jjeoeong!

As if enjoying the grimace on Yong Hwarin’s face, Gu Hyeong grinned and swung his saber down.

Yong Hwarin received the Penetrating Art again through his fingers.

However, just as the Penetrating Art flowed through his fingers, it suddenly escaped somewhere.

"Huh?"

And Gu Hyeong flinched, as if something felt off.

Gu Hyeong slashed down again.

While receiving the saber strike, Yong Hwarin experienced once more the exact same sensation—Gu Hyeong’s Penetrating Art vanished.

But then, Gu Hyeong took a step back.

As Yong Hwarin frowned at this inexplicable phenomenon, Gu Hyeong assumed that Yong Hwarin had reached his limit.

Still, something nagged at him.

Strangely, the rebound force grew stronger each time he struck with his saber.

‘It’s too late to try anything else now.’

Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong infused his Three Gaps-level inner energy fully into his saber and chopped down like he was splitting a tree with an axe.

Jjeoeong!

Teoteoteoteok!

The clash of saber and sword sent Gu Hyeong retreating four steps, leaving deep footprints behind.

"What the—?! Why is my inner energy rebounding?!"

Gu Hyeong muttered in shock.

Yong Hwarin was still pondering the strange phenomenon in which Gu Hyeong’s True Qi, after flowing in through his sword and seeping into his fingers, disappeared.

Then Gu Hyeong’s shout snapped him back to awareness and he realized the cause.

"Ah!"

A sudden realization struck Yong Hwarin.

‘The True Qi that flowed into the fingertip acupoints—Sangyang, Shaoshang, Zhongchong, Guanchong, and Shaochong—passed through the Laogong Point at the center of the palm and then exited back through the sword. That’s why Gu Hyeong felt a rebound in his own True Qi and was forced back.’

The incoming True Qi had been so forceful that he hadn’t noticed it exiting through the Laogong Point.

‘But why did this happen?’

Then it suddenly came to him—the Inner-Outer Realm, the second stage of the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

‘Could this be the Inner-Outer Realm of the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra?’

It was the only way to interpret what was happening.

‘Now I understand. The Inner-Outer Realm means that the True Qi formed in the Tai Chi Dantian moves with a will of its own, creating internal and external communication by itself. When Gu Hyeong’s True Qi disrupted and tried to destroy my body’s energy, the Tai Chi Dantian—having reached the Realm of Self-Existence—used the Inner-Outer Realm to expel his True Qi.’

The more he realized, the more elation welled up within him.

Maybe because of that, the pain from the Self-Revolving Inner Qi gradually subsided.

‘If I hadn’t mastered the Dragon Scale Finger, I might never have reached the Inner-Outer Realm.’

Had the blood vessels in his fingers not been developed, Gu Hyeong’s True Qi wouldn’t have had a path to exit through the Laogong Point, and he would never have awakened to the Inner-Outer Realm.

Because the initial blood vessels for receiving True Qi in the hand were not the Laogong Point, but the acupoints of the fingers, this was possible.

Most other martial artists received external True Qi through the Laogong Point, and so could never reach this state.

"You bastard, what trickery is this?!"

Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong erupted in rage, injecting his full Three Gaps-level inner energy as he soared through the air, bringing down his saber with the might of a One-Stroke Severance.

It was clear he was staking everything on this one move.

Yong Hwarin began walking toward Gu Hyeong.

"Young Master Yong! Stop!"

Jeong Minji screamed, burning the surrounding assassins as she shouted.

To Jeong Minji, it looked like Yong Hwarin was about to use a Mutual Destruction Technique.

Namgung Yoo also shouted to the guards nearby.

"Assist Young Master Yong, now!"

However, the three guards from the Namgung Clan, though willing, were unable.

They were already overwhelmed, barely managing to fend off the assassins clinging onto them.

"Protect the Young Master!"

At Mu Iso’s words, the wounded Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect disregarded their lives and rushed toward Yong Hwarin.

"Out of the way! You bastards!"

Mu Iso was prepared to die here today.

If it meant saving Yong Hwarin, he had no regrets about dying here.

"If we cannot save the Young Master, then the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect will die here today!"

Mu Iso’s shout resonated with the hearts of the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect.

To them, Yong Hwarin was their teacher, their companion, their friend.

If they failed to save such a Young Master, it was better to die.

From that moment on, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect abandoned the defensive techniques of the Azure Bamboo Sword and charged toward Yong Hwarin using only offense with the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword.

"Khk!"

But being outnumbered, they didn’t even make it three jang before being stopped, and soon found themselves in a perilous state.

All were gravely injured and unable to execute proper sword techniques, and their wounds only increased.

"I said move, you bastards!"

They shouted and swung their swords, but strength gradually drained from their hands.

‘This can’t go on.’

Mu Iso grit his teeth.

"Uagh!"

Oh Pyo-du screamed as he collapsed onto the ground.

Having barely held on alongside Do Gye-gong, he couldn’t block the joint assault of the assassins and had his throat cut.

Do Gye-gong was in despair.

Their attackers were far too many and far too strong.

And their leader, Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong, was a master beyond reckoning.

He did not resent Yong Hwarin.

He knew that only because it was him had they managed to hold out even this far.

‘But the gap in martial prowess is too great.’

No matter how famous Yong Hwarin had become as the Heavenly Sword Hero, it was only natural that he could not contend against a master of the Three Demonic Absolutes, one who belonged to the peak structure of the martial world.

‘Fine then! If I must die, I’ll take at least one of them with me to the netherworld!’

Resolving himself to die, he raised his saber.

It was at that moment.

With a shock like lightning striking right in front of him, Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong was launched into the air.

Meanwhile, Yong Hwarin remained completely unscathed.

He walked toward where Gu Hyeong would fall, at the same pace as if he were taking a casual stroll.

Thud!

Gu Hyeong barely landed on the ground, vomiting blood with a guttural sound like a pig being slaughtered.

"Ku-e-e-egh!"

He spat up nearly a bowlful of blood and glared at Yong Hwarin with eyes full of rage.

"W-what just happened?!"

At that moment, Yong Hwarin kicked off the ground and soared into the air.

He mirrored the exact same movement that Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong had made earlier.

As Yong Hwarin brought his sword down, Gu Hyeong poured all the True Qi in his body into his saber.

He now unleashed the forbidden ultimate technique that had made him who he was: Soul-Extinguishing Frenzied Saber.

Kwa-reu-reu-reung!

With the sound of thunder, a faint blue light surged toward Yong Hwarin.

"Enhanced qi?"

As Jeong Daji murmured, Jeong Suji shook her head.

"No. It’s Nascent qi."

Just because it was enhanced qi didn’t mean there were no stages.

Even sword qi was divided into six stages, so it was natural for enhanced qi to have stages as well.

The initial stage of enhanced qi was called Nascent qi, a form of qi with weak cohesion that would quickly explode.

The next was Twisted qi, similar to enhanced qi but with shorter duration.

Finally, there was True qi, the form of enhanced qi that all martial artists aspired to.

The enhanced qi that Gu Hyeong now revealed was that of someone who had just stepped into the realm of enhanced qi—Nascent qi.

The explosive power unleashed through the enhanced qi was precisely due to it being Nascent qi.

Soul-Extinguishing Frenzied Saber was a saber art Gu Hyeong had devised as a realization after acquiring Nascent qi.

‘I’ll burn even your bones to ash!’

Gu Hyeong, watching Yong Hwarin fly toward him, wore the smile of a victor.

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