Mount Mi, which wasn’t too far from Chengdu, Sichuan—
At a waterfall in the valley, there was a stout muscular old man with his eyes closed.
Swish!
Judging from the height the water was falling from, the current was so strong that it could break rocks, but the old man was seated in the middle of it alone.
As is, without moving, the old man who was seated there opened his eyes. And there was a shine within. The old man who had opened his eyes, slowly began to get up.
‘As fast as the wind, as calm as the forest, burning like fire to hold the momentum, and as heavy as a mountain.’
These were the Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain. It was regarded as one of the strategies to gain calmness and enhance energy.
The roads one took were considered to eventually come together.
‘I finally realized it!’
The old man who was blocked by the wall of growth for a long time under this waterfall went into intense meditation and gained enlightenment by breaking through the wall which had been blocking him.
The man lowered his head and took a deep breath. Then he raised his head at the waterfall which was falling down on him.
“AHH!”
Paaang!
At the same time, a strong wind pressure arose, and the waterfall that was flowing towards the ground instead reversed and flowed up. And he began to climb up ten feet as he punched up.
And—
Wooong!
In the direction of the punches, a huge intangible fist was created, and it pierced the waterfall.
Papapak!
The intangible fist soared into the air, and even if the flow couldn’t be completely pushed up, he made it sprinkle around.
The old man smiled in satisfaction.
‘Finally I did it.’
Intangible Fists—it was a difficult stage even for the famous warriors who crossed the wall to do. And this man completed it.
No, he was sure to be able to compete with the Southern Blade of the Emperor, who was said to be the strongest of the four.
‘Of course, before that I have to fight a decisive battle with that East River Sword Star.’
He had competed several times but so far he never won. By now, Shin Eui-gyeom must have attained enlightenment about his own sword techniques.
‘Let’s refine it even more.’
Even if he completed his enlightenment, if he could not calmly handle it like breathing then there was no point using it in combat.
He could enjoy this even more, but the old man learned to calm himself down. Eventually, as the waterfall began to fall on him again, the old man stepped on the air and came out of the valley.
He looked up at the sky and noticed the setting sun.
‘I need to head back.’
The old man got dressed and was ready to go when he heard the voice of someone.
“Wonderful.”
The old man, who was tying the robes, frowned.
The voice came from not too far away and he couldn’t feel any sign of approach until now.
‘Who?’
It was an existence that was strong to the point of ignoring his senses.
It was impossible for one to achieve such a level unless they were stronger. The old man slowly turned his head to the source of the sound, and there was a middle-aged man with a pale face who was looking at him with an arrogant expression.
The old man narrowed his eyes.
‘Who is he?’
After seeing them, the energy from the guy was beyond thought, and it seemed like he was trying to hold back as much energy as he could, but the intimidation was too much.
The old man said,
“Who are you?”
At his strong body, the internal energy he used to speak was profound, and this was to test the opponent. But—
‘!?’
Despite the powerful voice, the middle-aged man’s expression didn’t change.
Rather, he seemed normal, still looking at him with arrogance on his face.
‘Was there someone like this?’
There was no way he would have been unaware of a warrior of this level. But he was meeting this man for the first time.
While wondering, the middle-aged man said,
“Time has flown. You have grown so much that I cannot compare you to the past.”
“What?”
At the middle-aged man’s words, the old man frowned. Although he was now old, he didn’t lose his memory and stuff.
To say something arrogant like this when they never even fought, it felt like sarcasm to him.
And the old man said,
“Do you know me to say that?”
“I do. There is no way the head can forget you old man.”
“Head?”
Did this man just call himself the head all by himself? The arrogance made him angry. And it was absurd, but the man walked over.
“Do Jin-chun. Do you not recognize me?”
Do Jin-chun—
That was the name of the old man.
He was one of the Four Great Warriors, North Heavenly Fist. At this he clenched his fist, unable to respond.
“I do not know who you are but I am certain of one thing, you don’t seem related to me in a good way.”
“A good way… we, you and I are in quite a bad relationship.”
Shh
Do Jin-chun immediately threw a fist out at the middle-aged man and warned,
“Do not cross the line. I do not want to carelessly throw a fist at someone, I am ruthless when I do.”
“Be as ruthless as you like.”
Step!
Pat!
It was the moment when the middle-aged man stepped out, Do Jin-chun extended his fist ahead.
At that moment, wind rose with amazing speed and brushed right past the middle-aged man’s face.
Bang!
The wind which passed shattered the huge rock behind him and Do Jin-chun warned,
“It is no joke.”
“Do I look like I am making a joke?”
Step
The middle-aged man took another step ahead and now the punch went right for him. The force was much greater than before.
But—
Paaang!
The middle-aged man held out his palm and blocked the wind.
‘He stopped this?’
Seeing this, Do Jin-chun’s eyes turned serious. It looked like a normal punch, but what he did was a technique similar to the Intangible Fist.
Chak! Srr!
Blood flowed down the palm of the middle-aged man who blocked the attack. It seemed like a failed block.
However, the bleeding wound disappeared in an instant.
‘!?’
Do Jin-chun doubted his eyes for a moment. What was that?
To him who was confused, the middle-aged man mumbled,
“I thought you were fine but it was just around this.”
“What?”
Just what is he talking about?
And so the middle-aged man looked at him and said,
“Ahh. You have a body with a high degree of perfection but it ages quickly and the durability of the body is a bit low.”
Shhh
As soon as the words ended, the middle-aged man’s form blurred and appeared right ahead.
Flinch!
Do Jin-chun hurriedly crossed his arms at the destructive force coming for him, and with that, his body bounced back.
Paaang!
Even though he couldn’t jump back when he wanted, he immediately corrected his body which was pushed back 20 steps. Smoke rose from his crossed arms.
And Do Jin-chun was shocked.
‘T-this…’
It was because he remembered the attack which came. Do Jin-chun glared at the middle-aged man and said,
“Overlord Blood Demonic Arts!”
The monstrous martial arts of the man that he and the other Four Great Warriors had to work together to defeat 17 years back.
Pijie, to the southwest of Guizhou, was a dry valley where not a single blade of grass grew.
And this valley had endless turns and numerous caves which made people call it Ant Hell.
The reason why they called it that was because the caves looked like ant holes, numerous ant holes, but the moment they entered, one would never come out.
Because of that, not many would even go there, so the place was known as Ant Hell and was a banned area.
Thud!
Someone from the sky landed right at the entrance of the cave.
The area they landed at had cracked down and was hollowed out by a middle-aged man with a rough look and two people in his arms.
It was Mumu with Yang Muoh and Kang Mui.
“Wuk!”
“Haa… Haa…”
When Mumu put them down, both of them staggered or puked. They flew over from the palace in almost half a day with such speed, and it was like they were going to die.
‘Insane bastard… Does he think we are like him?’
Kang Mui thought, looking at Mumu, who didn’t seem tired. A monster. Looking at those who were puking, Mumu asked,
“Is this right?”
Yang Muoh nodded at it.
The banned area in the Guizhou province, called Ant Hell, was the base of Heavenly Killing Valley.
And Yang Muoh pointed to the entrance and said,
“Among those places there, there will be those which move around like devices and in a word it can be called the Gate of Hell.”
“Gate of Hell…”
Kang Mui snorted at the words, and Yang Muoh shook his head as he continued,
“There are eight entrances in total. There are just two passages which take us to the eight entrances and even if we find those two the road going down there will be like a maze, and if we get lost, it will be a mess.”
At those words, Kang Mui mumbled,
“Defense seems to be perfect.”
Unless someone knew the path, reaching there seemed unlikely, and besides, if the underground was further down, then it meant the place was too deep.
“Even if we know the way, it will take another half day, this place is like a fortress.”
“Half a day! Ha? The sky wasn’t enough, now we spend another half underground?”
Kang Mui spoke looking at the entrance of the cave.
Yang Muoh shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care, and to him the distance had been shortened by half a day now, so they had to follow the road.
Yang Muoh pointed to a cave and said,
“The entrance is there. Follow me.”
And he tried to guide them, but Mumu shook his head.
“It is bothersome.”
“Even if it is bothersome, it doesn’t matter. It is not like we can see ahead and move…”
‘!?’
For a moment, Yang Muoh stopped talking and turned to Mumu with a puzzled expression. Then Mumu nodded as if he found a good way.
At this Yang Muoh said,
“Wait, did you forget what I said? It goes underground, so the force cannot…”
“Force.”
Shhh!
He kicked off his feet and soared high into the air.
Mumu soared up and stopped in the air, and soon kicked to the down side.
Pang!
As soon as he turned in the air, ripples formed in the waves. Along with that, Mumu clenched his fist and moved it to the ground.
Then—
Kwakwakwa!
It pierced the ground and more.
Yang Muoh’s mouth opened up at the sight he saw.
“Fuck!”
Kang Mui also saw this and was dumbfounded, and he ran to the place that had caved in because of Mumu’s punch.
Looking there, it was a large hole, but it was so dark that one wouldn’t know how deep it went.
Kwakwakwang!
A roar was rising from within like it was crushing down. He really was going to break through until the base.
Yang Muoh was puzzled, and approached Kang Mui as he looked down.
‘… He really is not human.’
He was totally out of common sense. The force was beyond common sense to him. He thought that, and the crushing roar continued to resound.
Kang Mui clicked his tongue.
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“Are you not going down?”
“Like this?”
“Do you want to go down the maze which takes half a day? In that case, I’d prefer the shortcut.”
Wheik!
With that, Kang Mui jumped down the hole Mumu made. Yang Muoh sighed as he watched the scene and then followed Kang Mui.