In an instant, the count of the elves surviving dropped to thirteen.
The hunting captain looked at Lee Sungmin with a cold look. She had no choice but to admit that she had misjudged the man in front of them. He was much more ferocious than she thought.
She knew that Lee Sungmin was a Peak Realm martial artist, at the brink of Transcendence , but he was slaughtering them with complete ease, and went against all logic she had against fighting other Peak-Realm martial artists.
All of the hunting group members were masters of the peak realm level but amounted to absolutely nothing in front of Lee Sungmin.
‘If I went outside of this forest, I would definitely not stand a chance against this man..’
The hunting captain knew then and there, that if they had not been inside the forest, she would have no chance of surviving against this human. Even now, her chances looked slim.
What was even more frightening to her, was that Lee Sungmin’s expression was completely calm as he slaughtered the other elves brutally without batting an eye.
There was no murderous intent being leaked out from Lee Sungmin, even though he was having no trouble committing a massacre.
It was clear to her that he didn’t even see them as a threat. He didn’t emit any killing intent, simply because he viewed them as moths attracted to a flame.
But for Lee Sungmin it was the opposite. He just felt no need to be such a heartless person anymore. He had realized just how much he valued his humanity and that if he acted in cold-blood, it would get harder and harder to find his true self.
While he traveled together with the Crazy Heavenly Demon and Rubia, he felt that he was slowly changing for the better as he was around them more and more. He also felt it would be a shame to be such a cold-hearted person after he was respecting the Crazy Heavenly Demon’s will.
Perhaps it was also the worry of having the monstrous version of himself take over his mental world again if he acted out in cold blood.
Maybe. Lee Sungmin knew that it was a possibility as well. However, he also did not intend to hesitate in his actions.
To kill Qian Zun, he was bound to confront the other elves residing in this forest, and if he decided to do so, he had to be prepared to kill them even if he didn’t want to take innocent lives. Even if he decided to keep some of them alive and only kill Qian Zun, it was highly unlikely that they would somehow forgive him.
Thirteen elves were remaining. If Lee Sungmin got rid of all of them, he wondered whether the swordsman named ‘Guan Zun’ would come or whether another group of elves would. Regardless of whoever came next, they would have to be dealt with anyways.
He would have to dirty his hands either way. But… if there was one thing Lee Sungmin hoped for, it would be that he hoped the elves would come to their senses and avoid needless slaughter.
“Jojang-nim.”
One of the elves that was a part of the hunting group called out to the hunting captain with a trembling voice.
The hunting captain stared at Lee Sungmin without saying a word. Even though she was also a master nearing the edge of the Peak Realm, she could tell that the elves were severely lacking in specialties and higher levels spells and techniques compared to the man in front of them.
It was simply a matter of inexperience. If anything you could say they were not inexperienced in protecting the forest from invaders, but because of that, they also didn’t know how wide the world was outside of the elven forest.
For them, Qian Zun was their only teacher. It’s not that they hadn’t tried to learn higher level techniques. However, Qian Zun was firm in his stance about not teaching them higher level techniques that could lead them to wanting to explore the world outside the forest. Not only that, but elves by nature couldn’t completely and heartlessly kill without reason like Lee Sungmin or other martial artists and wizards in Eria.
Of course in terms of battle experience and adaptability in battle, it was not much of a problem for the elves.
Most of the opponents they had been facing till now, were just low class mercenaries and ordinary mages that had not even become Archmages, let alone wizards yet.
Even if the elves were masters at the Peak Realm, they would be considered S-Class mercenaries in the mercenary guild. And if one would reach the wall of the Peak Realm right before stepping into Transcendence, like Lee Sungmin, they would be rated SSS-Class mercenaries.
The mercenaries hired by the slave traders were never higher than B or A-Class mercenaries at best. Most of them were around B-Class or lower.
But that was just the measurements in the mercenary world. And in front of these elves right now, was someone who they would regret facing against.
[What a waste to kill so many talented masters at the Peak-Realm.]
Heoju laughed at the fact so many talented individuals were wasting their lives by running at Lee Sungmin like idiots.
Lee Sungmin also agreed with that statement. They were talented individuals used as mere hunting group members and didn’t even know their own talents and possibilities in the world of Eria.
The hunting group of elves were fast, sharp, had great reaction time for peak-realm masters but still fell short in front of Lee Sungmin as he could see all the gaps and flaws in their movements.
If one knew they had a gap, they would try to hide it as best as possible from their opponent, but for Lee Sungmin, exploiting those gaps felt too easy.
“Thirteen.”
Lee Sungmin murmured again as if to warn them again what was to come. Lee Sungmin’s body started to glow once more in a purple and golden sheen, mixing his internal energy and yokai powers into one.
The wolves began to backtrack and retreat their steps. The remaining elves within the hunting group looked on at Lee Sungmin with pale faces and widened eyes. Every single one of them wanted to retreat. But they couldn’t. They were a hunting group that served as the protectors of their village and had to attack Lee Sungmin since he had killed their brethren.
Their chain sickles were too weak and were crushed every time, their arrows from their crossbows couldn’t even touch him. The elven hunting group realized they would have to resort to hand-to-hand combat. All the elves including the captain rushed in at Lee Sungmin.
[How sad.]
Heoju just continued to laugh his head off. It just happened to be perfect for Lee Sungmin and Heoju also knew it, but rather felt a little sarcastic. It was not easy to experience a fight of thirteen peak-realm experts against one.
It was the first time Lee Sungmin had the opportunity to test out his newfound strength without holding back ever since adjusting to his heightened powers with the yokai power from Heoju. There were many things he wanted to test out.
The Shadowless technique used by ‘Silent Flare’ Baek Sogo was indeed a footwork of incredible caliber. It was incredibly viable for any situation Lee Sungmin found himself in, but it was important to remember that footwork was not everything.
Shadowless Footwork Technique 1st move : Spirit-Stealing Steps (偷灵) Lee Sungmin approached the incoming elves seemingly with casual steps, however suddenly his image disappeared and an after-image was all that was left in his place.
S hadowless Footwork Technique 2nd Move : Gentle Ripples (灾害) Images of Lee Sungmin in the dozens started to fluctuate as more and more images of him started to appear and blur at incredibly high speeds, approaching ever so calmly. Shadowless Footwork Technique 3rd Move : Calamitous End (灾害)
The final and ending move of the Shadowless technique. Not much was needed to be said about it.
The true value of this footwork technique could only be shown when the practitioner could take all three moves and bring them to fruition. If the opponent hadn’t lost their life by the second move, the third move was almost always a certain death due to its lethality.
The technique was simple yet, being simple did not mean it was anything easy. The first move was to gather one’s internal energy and compress it around themselves. The second move was expanding their senses and internal energy to fluctuate and take control of the surrounding space. The third and final move was the release of the compressed internal energy within the confined space that would explode and surge forth at the opponent within the practitioner’s range of space.
The result was inevitable. When Lee Sungmin had already completed the third move, the first two elves in range had come into his range and threw their fists forwards at him.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The compressed and violent, purple energy around Lee Sungmin distorted in the space the second the two elves entered. The two caught elves’ bodies immediately fell limp and their necks spurted blood as their heads were nowhere to be seen.
Lee Sungmin did not even swing his spear. The power of the Shadowless footwork technique was even more powerful when additional and external techniques were added and stacked atop each other.‘Eleven.’Lee Sungmin stretched out his feet one after another. There was a sudden darkening in the surroundings around Lee Sungmin with each step he took forward, as the air turned a very deep and dark red. It was a move that Lee Sungmin had not been able to pull off in the past when he used the Blood Rings Martial Arts and the move that gave the Crazy Heavenly Demon his title as a Heavenly Demon. Crazy Heavenly Demon Martial Arts : Blood Gale Nova (血環狂風) The flow of energy from the feet of Lee Sungmin turned dark-red and twisted into a fierce cyclone around his body.
A storm of blood started to pulsate and shred apart the very air around Lee Sungmin as his very being looked like the epitome of a demon.
The wind and ground shook violently as Lee Sungmin looked like he was taking a stroll in the park. The elves nearest to him were torn apart from the limbs and died on the spot. The remaining count of the elves alive, was no more than seven.
“AHHH!”
There was a scream.
Grrrrrr!
The wolves of the other members shrunk back in fright, but the largest wolf and leader of the pack was not scared. The huge mount of the hunting captain roared and jumped towards Lee Sungmin. However, even that large creature was no exception to the ruthless and bloody gale as it died upon contact.
“To the village!”
The hunting captain shouted. It was a cry for the remaining elves to retreat as fast as possible.
The man before them was unstoppable; a walking natural disaster. Even if they sacrificed their lives to try and delay him, he would exterminate them and the rest of their kind on the spot, but there was hope if even one of them could somehow reach the village. The hunting group of elves, who understood the reasoning behind the order, fled right away.
It was not possible to call for Qian Zun to step up as he had to maintain the curse, but their last remaining hope remained in the friend of their guardian, Guan Zun the swordsman.
Lee Sungmin did not even try to prevent the remaining hunting elves from retreating. It was because he thought they would be able to bring to him Guan Zun or even Qian Zun if he was lucky to try and stop him, in which would be the next best course of events.
“Are you not going to leave?”
Lee Sungmin asked while looking at the hunting captain that was staring at him without moving a muscle. The hunting captain did not answer. She was never that talkative in the first place. She lowered the two daggers in her hand.
Whuck!
As Lee Sungmin took a breath in, the hunting captain coated her daggers in internal energy.
The blades of the daggers shook and trembled as the internal energy wrapped around them like elastic bands to form gauntlets.
Lee Sungmin stared at the hunting captain who did not rush at him rashly like the others did earlier.
She was strong. Lee Sungmin could tell that much at a glance. The level of the woman in front of him compared to the other elves was drastic.
‘I used to think that First-Rate Martial Artists were the strongest in all of Eria.’
Now that he thought about it, those who bragged about their abilities as first rate mercenaries in his previous life, really were insignificant compared to the level of power he was currently wielding and even more so for those above him.
The hunting captain rushed in first. Lee Sungmin raised his foot without wielding the spear. In an instant, the Blood Gale shrunk and compressed into a whip of blood and hit the hunting captain. The hunting captain held out her new gauntlets without avoiding the strike. Crazy Heavenly Demon Martial Arts : Blood River Predation (혈류추살)
As the river of blood, formed like a whip, collided with the captain’s gauntlets, something strange occurred.
The river was split apart into two from the strength emitted from the captain’s gauntlets coated in her internal energy.
[Oh.]
Heoju had a surprised reaction. Lee Sungmin was surprised at the phenomenon he had never encountered before when he used these techniques, but grabbed his spear and rushed forwards like a bullet.
Puck! Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques 3rd Move : Lightning Annihilation (閃電滅)
Lee Sungmin quickly followed up with the fastest stabbing technique in the Nine Heavenly Spears techniques at the hunting captain. The hunting captain twitched and reacted in a way different from what Lee Sungmin expected once more, as she brought her gauntlets in front of her to deflect it.
Lee Sungmin stayed emotionless on the outside but inwardly thought she was being foolish this time as it would be impossible to block head on, at least that’s what he thought.
Boom!
There was a completely different sound than he thought.
The hunting captain’s body was pushed back by the impact, but her hand, which blocked the blow, was not pierced.
[It’s made of dragon scales.]
Heoju said.
[I remember when this old man hunted dragons. It was quite annoying when my attacks would bounce off the scales. Only attacks of a certain level would be able to penetrate through their hides.]
‘That’s made from the scales of a dragon?’
[The scales of dragons are the hardest and most durable material in the world. It won’t be easy for you to pierce through it.]
“Those Gauntlets.”
Lee Sungmin opened his mouth while looking at the hunting captain’s facial expression.
“They look good. Where did you get them?”
The hunting captain did not answer his question and remained focused with her narrowed eyes. Lee Sungmin never seemed to talk this much when fighting against opponents so it was rather rare he showed this much interest in conversing with an opponent.
Lee Sungmin also had a surplus of materials from dragon based origins due to Heoju’s inheritance. However, there was no way for him to process it at the moment, so it was stuck in a subspace pocket currently with no use.
[Pressure her and ask where she got it.]Heoju started talking with an irritated and yet also curious tone.
‘We’ll have to wait and focus on the fight at hand first.’
The spear moved in a fluid motion as the images of the spear divided from one into several images of golden dragons symbolizing the power of the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques. Lee Sungmin knew that she would not be able to come out unscathed from this attack since she had barely managed to block the 3rd move of the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques just earlier.
That was because the very motion and power embedded into the spear was different from the previous attack.
The elves relied on their sixth sense to defend themselves as much as possible when it came to facing difficult opponents they could not quite keep up with, but the hunting captain’s body quickly became bloody from the several stabs hidden within the ferocious golden dragons made of internal energy. The several stabs were unpredictable and faster than her hands. Her sixth sense could only recognize where the attacks were coming from, but that didn’t mean her body could always keep up.
That was why she was coming closer and closer instead of keeping a distance against Lee Sungmin. Masters of the spear were always dangerous since they could exploit fast moving techniques from a distance and skilled masters could even defend from close distance, making strong spear masters incredibly dangerous opponents.
The gauntlets made of dragon scales, were initially defending well, but wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.
As blood flew from the several light cuts, her stamina was wearing thin which was what Lee Sungmin was aiming for. He wanted to create an advantageous situation where he could converse in while not being too behind.
First, he wanted to exhaust her and make her fatigued before starting to question her.
‘It’s not easy though.’
Lee Sungmin lightly clicked his tongue. It didn’t mean it was easy to completely subdue her. Subduing a foe and killing one were two completely different things, as subduing a foe was much harder.
Lee Sungmin lightly shook his front hand holding the spear and the spear’s trajectory suddenly twisted. The hunting captain failed to respond to the sudden twist in movement.
But before Lee Sungmin’s spear penetrated the leg of the hunting captain, a sharp clanging noise rang out as Lee Sungmin’s hand felt a pressure unseen from before.
“This child is Qian Zun’s daughter.”
A low voice could be heard as the owner of the voice was the one who blocked Lee Sungmin’s attack. Lee Sungmin glanced at the hunting captain’s wandering eyes and looked in the same direction as her looking at the source of the voice.
A man with short brown hair was staring at Lee Sungmin.
“The elves are a race that have low reproducibility rates. Qian Zun probably… won’t be able to have another child in his lifetime so I cannot let you die here.”
“Are you expecting me to lose?”, the hunting captain glared daggers at the man.
“Yes.”
He glanced at the hunting captain as he replied bluntly.
The hunting captain clenched her fists tightly in humiliation. She didn’t want to borrow human hands for the responsibilities she had to solve for her village’s safety, but she knew she didn’t have the ability to stop the man in front of her.
“Go back to Qian Zun.”
The swordsman said to the hunting captain. She opened her mouth to respond, but a cold killing intent washed over her at that moment and her face turned pale white. It meant the swordsman with brown hair would not allow any room for arguments.
“How disturbing.”
The man with light brown hair spat out at Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin no longer cared about the hunting captain at that point.
Guan Zun began to approach him slowly from a distance.
“What’s your name?”
“Lee Sungmin.”
“Lee Sungmin…Ah yes. Your martial nickname is ‘Spear Ghost’. I’ve heard it’s caused quite the stir for the Murim Alliance these days. You were the one who stepped in to protect the Minor Heavenly Demon, correct?”
“Are you stronger than An Zun?”
Lee Sungmin suddenly asked, averting the words from Guan Zun. Guan Zun shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“An Zun is a great master in the same realm as me, he is quite strong indeed.”
“Stronger than you though?”
“If we fight to kill each other, I would probably win with a loss of an arm or two.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To protect Qian Zun.”
Lee Sungmin recalled what he had heard from Wijihoyeon about her fight against Qian Zun. She had fought for days and days on end, but could not come out on top. In the end she had lost to Qian Zun and was cursed while Lee Sungmin almost died to An Zun who was confident in completely defeating Qian Zun.
In other words, this man in front of Lee Sungmin was much stronger than any of the opponents he had faced thus far.
“Are you the one who fought the Crazy Heavenly Demon?”
Lee Sungmin asked while fiddling with his spear.
“Do you remember him?”
“I remember, he wasn’t a warrior with some meager skills.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It wasn’t worth forgetting but he also wasn’t worth thinking about any further.”
T/N : Seems Wolhu was not the one who defeated The Crazy Heavenly Demon but rather it was this guy… how intriguing huehue
With that answer, Guan Zun pulled out the sword hanging around his waist.
“It was around ten years ago though. I didn’t kill him because I thought there was a possibility of him possibly overcoming the wall of Transcendence, but even after 10 years, The Crazy Heavenly Demon did not reach the realm of Transcendence. Come to think of it, you fought with him together against An Zun, right? Where is the Crazy Heavenly Demon then right now?”
“He is dead.”
Lee Sungmin replied curtly. Listening to the arrogant words of Guan Zun which did have reason to be so, since the man had the skill to back it up, caused a tension and flurry of emotions to start bubbling within Lee Sungmin’s conscience.
“Really? So he never reached the realm of Transcendence in the end. If I had known this would have happened ten years ago, I would have just killed him on the spot.”
Guan Zun mumbled and glanced down at the sword in his hand.
The seething emotions within Lee Sungmin started to intensify the more Guan Zun spoke.
“More than that…… you’re the one who is amazing. I have only been able to hear it second-hand from An Zun, but I think you’ll be able to reach the realm of Transcendence soon. Originally, I would have tried to fight you if I had known, but I wouldn’t have killed you. If there’s even a slight possibility of someone reaching the Transcendence Realm, it would be a waste to kill them since they would be incredibly beneficial for us in ‘Beyond the Heavens’. However… I don’t think you have any intention of trying to join us.”
“That’s right.”, Lee Sungmin grit his teeth lightly.
“And I doubt the power you use, since it can’t really be called your own. That power you use originates from the Great Yokai from 400 years ago. Therefore, I can’t say that you’ve reached where you are, purely with your own efforts…. Hence why now, I don’t see any reason to keep you alive.”
“You’re just the same as An Zun…”
Lee Sungmin uttered in a low voice and continued.
“You’re both just as arrogant.”
“But I have the right to be. If you were to reach where I am right now, you would be as well.”
Guan Zun spoke as he slowly lifted his sword.
“If you don’t believe that I can be, then I’ll prove it to you. As the Divine Maiden said, Qian Zun had a possibility of dying. That must mean it was you who was trying to disturb our organization’s plans. I will not show you mercy unless you intend to join us and abandon your malicious and dirty powers of the Great Yokai.”
“Do whatever you want, I don’t care nor do I have any intention of joining you bastards.”
Lee Sungmin had enough at that point and responded as he roused his internal energy and began spinning it fiercely throughout his circuits at a completely different level than he was using against the hunting captain.
“One last question.”
A deep and dark red energy that resembled blood, wrapped tightly around Lee Sungmin’s spear.
“Do you remember what The Crazy Heavenly Demon’s martial arts were that he used?”
“No.”
Guan Zun answered without much thought.
“Didn’t you say that it wasn’t impressive enough or something like that..….”, Lee Sungmin started to grind his teeth as he spoke in a low voice.
“Blood Rings.”
A strong gale started to flow throughout the bloodied field where the two stood, and the bloody energy around Lee Sungmin’s spear started to convulse and pulsate, and then compressed itself into the speartip
“His legacy he left behind and martial arts he practiced were called the Blood Rings Martial Art Techniques.”
Lee Sungmin’s emotions started to reach a boiling point, as he had enough of talking to the arrogant man in front of him.
As his golden eyes flashed, the energy around Lee Sungmin exploded ferociously.