The spear held by Lee Sungmin became a huge lightning bolt that took the shape of a Dragon. The rotating spear did not stop as Lee Sungmin continued to pump out internal energy from his dantian. The enormous power of the Dark Storm Arts mixed with the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques had created an entirely new spear technique for Lee Sungmin that Sima Ryunju had given him in the Forest of Fairies.
Never before, had Lee Sungmin attempted to use this technique since his time in the Forest of Fairies. It was incredibly dangerous and was the final move in the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques, bridging onto the advanced portion of spear techniques that Sima Ryunju had created for him after Lee Sungmin broke through the limits of Transcendence.
The space around the spear started to distort, and the maws of the Dragon formed from internal energy started to appear larger and larger.
But Kang Seok stood there with his arms spread wide open, as if to enjoy it while it lasted.
Lee Sungmin truly couldn’t understand Kang Seok. No matter how strong he was and how confident he was, there was no way he could possibly want to face this fearsome technique head-on, was there?
[It’s because he’s confident he has a better technique or that he can cut it down regardless.]
“That’s probably true, but…….”
Lightning started to crackle around Lee Sungmin’s hands as his hands trembled from the violent shaking of power stored within the spear.
Lee Sungmin pushed the spear forwards at that moment towards his waist, preparing himself to unleash the spear. The Dragon of Lightning, which contained Draconic Energy and the Dark Storm Arts, shone brightly.
Kang Seok just burst out with laughter as he watched the violent attack start to finally get ready.
The two smaller spears in Kang Seok’s hands started to spin. They spun so rapidly that it started to look as if he were actually holding two disks instead of spears.
“Come at me!”
Kang Seok shouted. Anything more powerful than this technique would be uncontrollable for both of them to handle.
Bang!
Lee Sungmin gnashed his teeth and threw the spear forward. The lightning and internal energy which had been condensed to the limit, exploded as it surged forth at Kang Seok.
Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques Ninth Move : Heavenly Spear of the Dragon (天槍)
Lightning exploded. The power was enough to tear the surrounding area in two, or even demolish half a city.
Kang Seok merely thought to himself as he was incredibly pleased with what Lee Sungmin had to offer him, and brought his two rotating spears to the front.
BA-BOOOOOOM!
Light burst in all directions. Their surroundings which had been demolished couldn’t be seen earlier due to it becoming night throughout their fight, suddenly lit up as if it had suddenly become daytime again.
Kang Seok did not close his eyes at all in the blazing light. The spears in his hands were still spinning.
The two spears rotated and faced the tip of Lee Sungmin’s fearsome attack as they divided the light. Immediately as he faced the onslaught of energy head-on, Kang Seok’s feet started to get pushed back.
The muscles within Kang Seok’s arms started to wriggle and pulsate with tension as his arm muscles were put to the test against the fearsome power of Lee Sungmin’s power.
Shuuupuk!
Kang Seok’s eyes turned wide open. The speed of his rotating spears intensified, and the light was starting to be pushed back a little. Between that brief gap, he reconnected the two short spears into one.
“Ha!”
With a sneer, Kang Seok swung the spear that he held with both hands upward.
Whoooooooosh!
Kang Seok upheaved his spear and started to shove the light upwards with all his might.
He didn’t even bother to rest. His spear moved dozens of times, starting with a flurry of thrusting movements. Stand firm, swing and thrust. It started to appear like dozens of holes were being drilled into the Dragon made of lightning.
Beyond the holes that were pierced through the light, Lee Sungmin saw the figure of Kang Seok. He looked like a man challenging the goliath in the form of a Dragon.
Lee Sungmin noticed what it was. At the tip of Kang Seok’s spear there was a dim light. It was a soft and dimly lit light, but the power contained within it was definitely not insignificant.
“Huah!”
The spear of the Spear King then fell down with a shout.
Booo-booooom!
The falling spear destroyed everything and split the already cracked ground into pieces. In the center of this once beautiful plain, was now a giant crater that expanded miles out and had several smaller craters within it due to Kang Seok and Lee Sungmin’s attack.
However, that was not the end of Kang Seok’s onslaught. He continued to dance with his spear, sending waves of internal energy, splitting through the air, aiming for Lee Sungmin.
Shwuck!
Kuhunggg!
The several waves of Spear Qi started to close in on Lee Sungmin as he felt the waves cut through the air. Lee Sungmin took a step back and started to wind back his spear.
Shadowless Footwork techniques (Dark Storm Arts version) : Two-step Gentle Ripples (二步柔漣) Thunderstorm (飛雷).
Lee Sungmin took two steps forward in a soft and seemingly light step, as electricity started to swirl around his visage in a violent manner. The electricity started to swirl into that of a cyclone around him, and offset the waves of Spear Qi heading towards him.
It was the shadowless footwork techniques that allowed Lee Sungmin to redirect some of the Spear Qi shot at him, but it wouldn’t completely stop all of it.
What if he used the Lightning Gale from the Dark Storm Arts? It could work, but Lee Sungmin decided to do something different and more confrontational. There was a technique that Sima Ryunju had taught Lee Sungmin and had turned it into a spear technique for him.
Demonic Emperor’s Spear Demon Arts : Dark Void ( 空道爆雷)
Lee Sungmin and his spear suddenly disappeared in a mirage. He then reappeared immediately in front of the next wave of Spear Qi and shot his spear forwards, creating a tiny and minuscule hole in the space.
Starting with the Spear Qi around it, it started to suck in the air and everything around it within the space.
The Dark Void. It was a move created by Sima Ryunju in theory, and left it to Lee Sungmin to try and complete it with his spear. It no longer took the lightning and thunder from the Dark Storm Arts, and was made as an entirely new martial art by Sima Ryunju.
But by using the cultivation method that was unique to Sima Ryunju, it expanded Lee Sungmin’s internal circuitry and dantian, forcing an incredibly explosive power into the small void containing the elements of space.
“Hmm!”
Kang Seok’s eyes opened wide. What an interesting way to use the spear, he thought. There was a tiny hole that sucked everything around it, along with a spinning centrifugal force of spatial essence inside of it, since Lee Sungmin had directly punctured the space.
Kang Seok immediately thought of Sima Ryunju. He had never met the man, but he was sure this technique was invented by him. His desire to not die here had gotten stronger, because if he died here, he would never be able to face the master of the spearmaster in front of him.
‘But I don’t think I’ll be able to win too easily. I didn’t even know he was this strong. Just how much is he hiding?’
Shiriririk!
The Spear King, Kang Seok, truly thought Lee Sungmin was a Ghost who never revealed his cards until the last moment, as he began to swing his spears.
Bang! Kang Seok started to rush towards the Dark Void with his spears in tow.
Lee Sungmin knew now that Kang Seok would definitely not avoid this move again.
That’s why Lee Sungmin was already preparing another technique behind the Dark Void. Sima Ryunju’s spear techniques that he had created for Lee Sungmin were somewhat doable despite being only in the Realm of Transcendence, but that didn’t mean they were easy to pull off. Lee Sungmin started to compress the internal energy from his dantian like a rubber ball, and let the electricity surrounding him coalesce into a pure form around the spear.
Demonic Emperor’s Spear Demon Martial Arts : Heaven-splitting Thunder ( 空道爆雷)
The light around them started to shift and change from purple to red and gold in a myriad of colors. Lee Sungmin was currently establishing a ‘domain’.
Kang Seok inwardly admired Lee Sungmin’s incredible growth and power. He was only twenty-seven according to reports, yet he had reached Transcendence, and had already learned how to manipulate spatial essence and create such a powerful area around himself, establishing his own domain.
But… This also meant one thing to Kang Seok. There was no way this level of power was achieved only by human efforts. It was a level of power that was beyond any Transcendent Kang Seok had met.
“How many elixirs have you taken?”
Kang Seok thought that it might be due to some elixirs that Lee Sungmin might have taken as he shouted, but quickly erased that thought.
In terms of size and sheer quantity of internal energy, it far surpassed Kang Seok. It was only comparable to someone like Musin from Beyond the Heavens.
‘What a nasty and murderous aura…’
It wasn’t only Lee Sungmin’s own power, and Kang Seok could feel it. There was no way a human could give off this sort of bloodthirsty aura.
Most of the source of power that Lee Sungmin was drawing upon was a borrowed power that was demonic even.
Kang Seok recalled the original report An Zun had given the organization about his first fight against Lee Sungmin. He said that Lee Sungmin was close to the Great Yokai of the South, Heoju.
Kang Seok remembered that incredible regenerative power that Lee Sungmin had. Even if he had selected the path of a monster, that kind of power was too immense. Lee Sungmin was not human, nor was he a monster. It was something frightening and in between.
‘Dangerous…. He’ll become far too dangerous in the future.’
The white light from Lee Sungmin’s spear exploded. The whole domain of red and purple energy surged forth to attack Kang Seok.
It was true that he was lacking to Lee Sungmin in terms of physical strength and internal energy, but that didn’t mean Kang Seok could not match him.
As the Spear King, he may be weaker than Musin, but he was the very apex of all spearmasters. He had mastered the art of the spear like no other.
Kang Seok focused all of his consciousness onto the spear in his hands. The spear was him, and he was the spear. Swordsmen these days often called themselves swordmasters these days with their so-called perfection with the sword.
Kang Seok thought it was a load of bullshit. If one could not form a ‘mind spear’ or ‘mind sword’, then in his eyes, they were worthless. But that alone didn’t mean they could call themselves masters of their respective weapons in his eyes. There was a certain aspect that Kang Seok had realized, that truly made him realize he was a real ‘Spearmaster’. Lee Sungmin was not a true ‘Spearmaster’ in this sense.
It had been less than fifty years ago since Kang Seok had gained the confidence to call himself the Spear King and a true Spearmaster.
“Open your eyes and watch carefully.”
Kang Seok spoke in a low voice.
Kang Seok did not say this out of arrogance. Lee Sungmin was his junior with regard to the spear, and it was something he judged that Lee Sungmin truly deserved to witness.
Under the incoming pressure of Lee Sungmin’s domain encapsulating him, Kang Seok lifted the spear.
“This is called the Spear of Creation.”
Whoo-hoosh!
Kang Seok’s image started to blur as a dark spear took his place in Lee Sungmin’s eyes. Dozens of blows suddenly hit Lee Sungmin’s established domain. The spear that had taken place of Kang Seok moved and disappeared completely.
After that, everything changed in Lee Sungmin’s eyes.
The space that made up Lee Sungmin’s domain was completely erased. If Lee Sungmin was like a bright light that was a blank canvas, then Kang Seok’s Spear of Creation was a black ink that splashed the entire canvas.
Within the dark space around Lee Sungmin, Kang Seok reappeared with the dark black spear in his hand.
Kang Seok’s spearmanship was sharper and faster than any other spear in the world. It may have not been created with the materials of Dragons, but it was not lacking in any way.
Lee Sungmin did not back down despite the sharp spear Kang Seok wielded.
[This is not good.]
Heoju muttered.
[He’s stronger than you and I both expected.]
‘I know.’
[Do you want to try even more than this then?]
‘Of course. I may not be able to do it under normal circumstances, but I should at least try.’
There were two more moves within the spear techniques that Sima Ryunju had given Lee Sungmin, that he had not used. Not only that, but the borrowed strength from the unknown entity was still growing without any signs of stopping.
Lee Sungmin roused his internal circuitry to forcefully expand under the huge surge of power coming into his body. It was at that moment.
Putuk.
The image of Kang Seok disappeared. Lee Sungmin quickly turned around in haste and swung the spear.
Whoosh!
The Dragon Spear collided with the Spear of Creation. Lee Sungmin still had the advantage of strength, but Kang Seok knew that and did not allow him to use it against him. Suddenly, the Spear of Creation slipped through Lee Sungmin’s defenses and curved towards his chest.
Bodang!
It was an odd sound that rang out.
The Spear of Creation landed a hit on Lee Sungmin’s Dragon armor. The armor did not break, but it did make a dent and forced a wedge inside Lee Sungmin’s stomach.
“Ugh!”
Lee Sungmin swallowed his blood; the internal circuitry he was forcefully expanding was reset, and he had to try again to expand it because of the blow from Kang Seok.
But he didn’t care. He had the body of a monster, and the wounds regenerated in an instant.
Lee Sungmin let his spear fly and try to hit Kang Seok away, since his spear was still focused on Lee Sungmin’s armor.
Click.
Kang Seok’s spear divided in two again. Instead of retrieving the spear that had hit Lee Sungmin’s armor, he pushed it deeper into the armor and swung the other half of the spear to block Lee Sungmin’s incoming spear.
Lee Sungmin had predicted such a movement from Kang Seok. Lee Sungmin brought his spear down with more strength in one hand, and opened his left hand up to land a palm strike at Kang Seok’s chest.
A red energy started to swarm around Lee Sungmin’s palm as it hit Kang Seok’s chest. Kang Seok’s eyes still shone in excitement at the prospect of such an intense fight despite being hit head-on.
As Kang Seok was hit, he kicked with his foot at the half spear embedded in Lee Sungmin’s armor, and used the momentum of Lee Sungmin’s palm strike to kick the spear through the armor and pierce directly into Lee Sungmin’s stomach.
“Huop!”
Lee Sungmin vomited blood on the spot, as he wobbled backwards with the half spear in his chest and tried to unfold a spear technique to recover.
He unfolded Lightning Annihilation from the Nine Heavenly Spear techniques, since it was the fastest technique he knew, but it was slow in the eyes of Kang Seok.
Kang Seok rushed at Lee Sungmin without hesitation and grabbed onto the half spear in his stomach and rotated the grip, pumping his internal energy into Lee Sungmin’s insides.
“AHHHHHH!”
Lee Sungmin howled at the gruesome pain. His intestines were shredded apart from the rotating spear as Kang Seok pulled the spear right out of his stomach with cool eyes.
Along with the bloody spear, Lee Sungmin’s entrails were pulled out in a bloody lump.
“You’re holding out still.”
Lee Sungmin stepped back with his spear and tried to regain his stance as Kang Seok just looked at him who was still alive.
Lee Sungmin put his right hand over his stomach to keep his body from spilling out any more of his organs. He felt it. His body was already healing itself at an unbelievable pace.
His intestines that were shredded started to regenerate, and his other organs that had spilled out started to grow back at a visible rate. Lee Sungmin panted as he swallowed the taste of iron from the blood in his mouth.
“You can even regenerate that severe a wound. Amazing.”
Kang Seok muttered in a cheerful voice.
Lee Sungmin’s vision was a little blurred from the blood from his soaked air dripping into his eyelids.
He still had more cards that Kang Seok did not know of.
Lee Sungmin squeezed his grip on the spear, supporting himself upright and getting into a stance. There were two more techniques from the Spear Demon Martial Arts.
“I’m sure you’ve still got more for me.”
Kang Seok strode forward, saying so.
“Come on and show me. I’ll see how good you really are, and just how strong the cards you’ve hidden from me are..”
“…Huuuu….Hahhhhh…….”
Lee Sungmin took a deep breath out and exhaled. Kang Sek had been urging him, but he was already preparing his second strongest technique that he had ever used.
The spear in Lee Sungmin’s hands was moving at an unimaginably slow pace, yet afterimages were showing. The space around Lee Sungmin started to distort, and the very surroundings around the two of them started to move.
Kang Seok gazed at Lee Sungmin with his heart fluttering in excitement.The technique Lee Sungmin was about to unfold was based off of Sima Ryunju’s idea of the Heavenly Spear techniques and called it the true 8th move of the 9 techniques.
Kang Seok did not know what he was feeling. Was it pleasure?… No, it wasn’t excitement either. It was a mix of fear and expectation. The spear that was moving slowly started to paint the face of a Demon as Lee Sungmin’s eyes shed an eerie light.
There was a reason why Lee Sungmin had never used the Spear Demon Martial Arts compared to the original Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques.
It was a set of 3 techniques that Sima Ryunju had created with nothing but theory for Lee Sungmin to attempt. However, Lee Sungmin intuitively knew they were real moves of devastating power. As a Transcendent Martial Artist that used the spear, he knew that if he could pull them off, they would work.However, he couldn’t use them before due to one reason. Even in the Realm of Transcendence, he wouldn’t be able to replicate their power. Unless he had power beyond the Realm of Transcendence, he would not be able to use the Spear Demon Martial Arts.But now…. Now, it was different. He had the power to use them.
The Demonic Emperor’s Spear Demon Martial Arts : The World of Illusions (幻界)
Through the distorting world around the two of them… Lee Sungmin’s spear shot through the space between him and Kang Seok.