Chapter 124: Let Us Tie Off This Ill-Fated Relationship
Jin Seong-un stood in place, raising his sensory perception to the extreme.
Ten martial artists were charging in unison, each wielding their weapon.
Some were rushing from behind, others dropping down from above, making it impossible to deal with them by sight alone.
Through his sharpened senses, Jin Seong-un felt every movement of the martial artists with perfect clarity.
Jin Seong-un moved his steps.
Swaek–!
A blade suddenly thrust into where he had been standing. He lightly evaded and swung his sword.
Chaeng–!
Sparks flew the instant the swords clashed.
At the same time, one sword and two sabers stabbed in from three directions.
Every retreat was cut off.
Jin Seong-un leapt into the air without hesitation.
In that instant, the whip of the old woman lashed out, twisting like a venomous serpent.
It was far faster and more irregular than even a skilled master’s full-powered movement arts.
The whip wrapped tightly around Jin Seong-un’s arm in midair.
The eyes of the martial artists gleamed.
Being entangled by a whip in midair meant countless openings were revealed.
A giant axe rushed toward Jin Seong-un, threatening to split his body in two.
Kang–!
Jin Seong-un swung his sword, striking the side of the axe. Its trajectory shifted slightly, narrowly slicing only the edge of his sleeve.
He kicked off the air and spun his body, using that force to yank back against the whip coiled around his arm.
The sudden move pulled the old woman forward, her face filled with surprise.
Jin Seong-un’s gaze briefly flicked toward one martial artist.
‘What is he?’
He was short, with a child’s face, but his hands bore undeniable wrinkles. He stood still in place, merely watching the fight.
Three swordsmen, two bladesmen, one martial artist with hidden weapons, an axe, a whip, and even a hulking expert in external arts.
The other nine displayed their traits at a glance, but the man with the childlike face was difficult to read.
He could always confirm it directly.
The old woman, pulled before him, flung out her internal force desperately toward Jin Seong-un.
He stared at her calmly, then thrust out his own force in response.
Jjeoong–!
Both Jin Seong-un and the old woman were blasted in opposite directions. Swords and hidden weapons tore mercilessly through the space between them.
Unlike Jin Seong-un, who maintained balance, the old woman was flung away helplessly. Her body hurtled directly toward the child-faced man.
He furrowed his brows and tried to dodge, but for a senior of the Southern Black Lotus, his movements were shockingly slow. He collided with the old woman.
“Keoheok!”
The old woman and the child-faced man tumbled across the ground together.
Watching them, Jin Seong-un tilted his head slightly.
There was little time to think.
Five martial artists rushed at him once more.
The sword of the one who closed in first was clearly imbued with sword flux.
Jin Seong-un struck back with sword flux of his own.
Jjeoeeoeeong–!
In that instant, both swords shattered simultaneously.
The four remaining martial artists’ eyes lit up.
The experienced ones assumed Jin Seong-un would retreat. It was the natural reaction of a swordsman who had just lost his weapon.
The hulking external arts master cut off Jin Seong-un’s escape. A swordsman and two bladesmen advanced more cautiously, slowing their pace.
But their prediction was beautifully shattered.
Jin Seong-un hurled himself at the very swordsman he had just clashed blades with. That man, too, had lost his weapon.
The swordsman’s eyes trembled.
Jin Seong-un extended his hand into the air.
The essence of Psychokinesis. The saber of the bladesman he had slain earlier flew into his palm.
Gripping the saber, Jin Seong-un’s aura shifted in an instant.
The Black Wolf Saber Art of the Merchant King.
The jet-black saber carved down in a ferocious arc, like a vicious wolf descending upon prey.
Chwaak–!
The martial artist’s body was split in half.
The others, shocked, hurriedly closed the distance.
Jin Seong-un calmly deflected their blades.
A saber was a weapon specialized solely for cutting and severing. By nature, it was weak in defense.
The martial artists knew this well, and raised their offensive as if seizing the chance.
Cha-cha-cha-chaeng–!
Unlike a sword, a saber’s edge was on only one side, making the transition between attack and defense more difficult.
The martial artists poured out slashes without pause, not intending to give him any chance to counterattack.
Jin Seong-un was forced back two steps.
One swordsman and two bladesmen focused intently on the saber in his hand.
At the same moment—
Puaak–!
One bladesman’s waist was cleanly severed.
A sword was suddenly in Jin Seong-un’s left hand.
He had pulled it to him with Psychokinesis from where it had been lying on the ground.
They, too, were capable of Psychokinesis. But in a situation that demanded such extreme concentration, using it was impossible.
That was common sense.
Thus, Jin Seong-un suddenly employing Psychokinesis mid-battle to draw a sword and swing it was beyond their imagination.
The bizarre sight stunned the martial artists, freezing them momentarily. Their survival instinct sought to process the situation.
That instinct led to disastrous consequences.
Jin Seong-un did not miss the fleeting opening. His saber slashed across in a long, horizontal arc.
The Black Moon Saber.
The jet-black saber carved a crescent shape through the air.
Upon that curved path lay the necks of the remaining swordsman and bladesman.
Chwaak–!
Their heads flew skyward.
With that, all the swordsmen and bladesmen were dead.
Jin Seong-un calmly scanned left and right.
What remained was only six, including the Southern Black Lotus Lord.
Before even the time it took to draw one breath had passed, half their forces were dead.
Still wearing a dry expression, Jin Seong-un held his sword and saber loosely in his hands, waiting for the next attack.
For a while, silence stretched.
Jin Seong-un’s gaze turned to the Southern Black Lotus Lord.
He had earlier advanced, his fists wreathed in visible fist force, but now stood frozen in place.
It was the face of someone who sensed that something was wrong.
“Come. Let us tie off this ill-fated relationship.”
From the moment he first set foot in Yichang until now, the ill fate with the Southern Black Lotus had dragged on for quite some time.
The Southern Black Lotus Lord did not reply, only glaring at Jin Seong-un.
The martial artist wielding the whip and hidden weapons, the one gripping the massive axe, the mysterious child-faced man, and even the bald giant.
All of them kept their distance, unable to step forward toward Jin Seong-un. After briefly sweeping his gaze across them, Jin Seong-un spoke quietly.
“Then I shall go.”
At that moment, Jin Seong-un’s figure sank into the ground and vanished. The martial artists hastily spread out their senses, scanning left and right.
Jin Seong-un reappeared before the axe-wielding martial artist.
Buuung–!
The martial artist, startled, swung his axe.
For an instant, it seemed as though the enormous axe had pierced straight through Jin Seong-un’s neck.
While the others looked on in shock, the wielder himself knew. His axe had struck nothing.
Jin Seong-un’s figure had already slipped inside the axe’s trajectory.
The Technique of Exchanging Two Forms—so that to others it seemed as if two figures had swapped places.
The axe-wielding martial artist found himself staring into Jin Seong-un’s eyes at point-blank range. A chilling sensation crawled up his spine.
Puk–!
Instead of cleaving the large-framed man’s body, Jin Seong-un drove his sword into his heart.
The man groaned in pain briefly before his eyes lost focus.
The axe slipped from his hand, and his entire body collapsed at once.
At the same time, Jin Seong-un felt an immense force restraining his body. The bald giant had already closed in, locking his arms and crushing his entire frame in an embrace.
True to his massive body and fearsome muscles, he unleashed overwhelming external arts.
Jin Seong-un felt as though his entire body were encased in iron.
The instant the giant restrained him, the Southern Black Lotus Lord and the other martial artists surged forward.
Whether swordsmen or bladesmen, with both arms bound, surely he could do nothing.
Even so, unease lingered in the corners of their hearts.
Throughout the battle, every one of their calculations and judgments had been overturned.
And grim premonitions often proved true.
At the very moment the Southern Black Lotus Lord closed in, Jin Seong-un suddenly released the sword and saber in his hands.
The Lord’s brow twitched.
What was he doing all of a sudden…?
‘It doesn’t matter.’
It was far too late to retreat. Moreover, Cheol Sinsal was the man in the Southern Black Lotus with the greatest raw strength.
Since he held the man down with all his might, no matter how monstrous the enemy, he believed he could not escape.
The Southern Black Lotus Lord thrust his massive blackened fist, wreathed in fist force, toward Jin Seong-un’s head.
At that moment—
Jin Seong-un’s empty hands turned blood-red.
The Southern Black Lotus Lord’s pupils wavered.
Jin Seong-un lightly stamped his foot.
Jjeojeojeojeojeok–!
The ground split beneath him as the blood-red energy spread outward like a spider’s web.
Cheol Sinsal spewed a mouthful of blood. His arms slackened, loosening their grip on Jin Seong-un.
Jin Seong-un slipped his hands free from the giant’s chest.
Suddenly, the black fist force of the Southern Black Lotus Lord clashed head-on with Jin Seong-un’s blood-red Blood Demon Fist.
Everyone rushing forward instinctively froze.
Between the two men’s fists, it felt as though the energy of the entire world had condensed.
In that instant, all of them shared the same experience.
It was as if they had plunged into deep water, with all sound in the world cut off.
A tremendous wave of energy engulfed their bodies.
And finally, an earth-shaking roar rattled their very skulls.
Kwaaaaaaaang–!
A massive explosion erupted, as though the world itself were collapsing.
The surrounding martial artists bent double, vomiting blood.
Even Song Jae-mun, who had been standing far away, fainted outright and collapsed to the ground.
“Keuruk!”
The Southern Black Lotus Lord crouched on the floor, vomiting up his insides. From that single clash, the bones in his right hand had been utterly shattered.
Worse still, the internal injuries were so severe that excruciating pain boiled up from within.
He forced himself to raise his head.
‘…He’s gone.’
The Guest Dragon was nowhere to be seen.
Surely that monster had suffered severe internal damage as well. He must be hiding somewhere, trying to recover.
He must be found.
If he were allowed to slip away, the future would be bleak indeed.
With that thought, the Southern Black Lotus Lord struggled to rise, and unexpectedly found Jin Seong-un almost immediately.
In the distance.
Southern Black Lotus Elders hunched over, vomiting dark blood.
Jin Seong-un calmly went to each one, severing their breath with quiet precision.
Puk, puk, puk.
Cold, wet sounds rang one after another.
The Southern Black Lotus Lord’s pupils shook violently, like a trembling aspen.
Jin Seong-un cast him a dry glance, then moved toward the final man.
The child-faced one.
In that moment, the man thrust out his hand. A grayish miasma spewed forth, covering Jin Seong-un’s face.
For a brief moment, the Southern Black Lotus Lord’s expression brightened with hope.
That man was the only true poison arts expert in the Southern Black Lotus. His toxins were so fierce that even skilled masters could be melted down to nothing.
The instant one inhaled even a little, the internal organs would dissolve in agony.
And Jin Seong-un had been engulfed in that poison—
Puk.
The final wet sound echoed.
Jin Seong-un stepped calmly out of the poisonous fog, driving his sword into the man’s heart.
After cutting off his breath without hesitation, Jin Seong-un turned his gaze to the Southern Black Lotus Lord.
“……”
His breath carried faint wisps of the poison fog. Some of it had been purified by the Women’s Moon Qi, while some had been burned away by the Blood Demon Qi.
Jin Seong-un then began walking toward the Southern Black Lotus Lord, who felt as though Yama himself or a demon was approaching.