* * *
Whoo – Whoosh!
There was a black wind that enshrouded the men as the space started to distort.
The atmosphere shook violently as the black wind of electricity crackled. The sixty-six rotating attackers and defenders all aimed at one point with their tonfas and stretched out towards Sima Ryunju. It was a focused attack containing the might of sixty-six Peak Realm martial artists. It was not something a human would be able to come out unscathed from.
Sima Ryunju held out his right hand and slowly approached the gathered attack as the currents of electricity and wind followed with him.
Crsssshhhh!
The black wind and electricity controlled by Sima Ryunju collided against the blow head-on. It made a sound different to what everyone was expecting. They thought it would be some type of shockwave from two equal sides. But that was not the case at all.
Both the two spectators, Lee Sungmin and Mugeol-Gae, were greatly surprised.
Lee Sungmin had to be careful with the true power of the Murim Alliance. That was what Sima Ryunju had told him. Although they were bugs compared to a Transcendent martial artist, the battle formations they used posed a great threat if one was not careful.
Though, Lee Sungmin didn’t quite think that to be the case. To him, it didn’t matter what the technique was; since no matter how powerful the technique, the ones wielding it couldn’t hold a candle to him.
Lee Sungmin taking those thoughts didn’t think it would be too exhausting to face a formation head-on by himself, though he knew he would have to be wary of any critical mistakes he could make by being sloppy.
However, the blow directed from these sixty-six martial artists was considered a power so great that Lee Sungmin’s arrogance was shattered. Looking at the might contained behind the blow, Lee Sungmin expected his master to even possibly have some trouble with it.
But, there wasn’t.Sima Ryunju held his hand out and directed the distorting space into a single point as the dark electricity compressed itself into the ball of space. His expression didn’t falter nor did his stance. Instead, he stared at it rather leisurely.
No. That wasn’t correct. Sima Ryunju actually had a facial expression of regret and disappointment.
“Jin!”
Mugeol-Gae roared again. The attack quickly resumed.
Whoosh!
The sixty-six warriors parted into two groups in a second.
The two groups sent individually concentrated attacks and came at Sima Ryunju from two different points of attack. The black wind containing the sparking electricity surged forwards into Sima Ryunju’s hands and met the two attacks.
KA-BOOM!
It was as if a thunderclap had gone off right in front of Lee Sungmin’s ears. He almost felt like he went deaf from the sound. Sima Ryunju’s grin widened as his robe sleeves fluttered in the wind.
He strode forward and Mugeol-Gae shouted once more.
Swwwiiish !
The thirty-three warriors responsible for clouding the senses of the target, started to clap their sticks louder as they moved faster and faster, waving and jumping in acrobatic moves to block the vision of the formation’s movement.
In response to the loud noise and accelerated movement of the formation, the internal energy started to pulsate in waves around the square.
The space around Sima Ryunju was becoming closed in on by the second, as the formation moved tighter and tighter, compressing the waves of internal energy.
Lee Sungmin felt as if his intestines and ears were boiling.
In side the formation, Sima Ryunju stood tall.
They continued to move in confusing and seemingly uncoordinated movements and moved closer towards Sima Ryunju. Sima Ryunju smiled and walked forwards to meet them.
A black current of electricity wrapped around Sima Ryunju’s body. His Dark Storm Arts were creating a true vortex; like a hurricane around his body.
Neither Lee Sungmin nor Wijihoeyon had ever seen Sima Ryunju release this sort of power when they sparred against him.
Kureung…… Kureung…… .
Thunder cracked out as shock-waves from breaking the sound barrier were created from the vortex of lightning around Sima Ryunju’s body. The figure of Sima Ryunju was enshrouded in the transparent black lightning, becoming a static apparition.
‘What the Dark Storm Arts seeks is true speed and becoming one with the lightning.’
Lee Sungmin recalled the words Sima Ryunju had first spoken to him when first teaching him the martial art.
Unlike before, Lee Sungmin coldly examined the power of the formation and his master as his excitement and anxiety had subsided while clearing his mind.
The hundred man formation of the Heavenly Fist Sect truly did live up to its name as the strongest formation of the Four large powers within the Murim Alliance.
In Lee Sungmin’s opinion, if he had been the one in Sima Ryunju’s place, he would struggle greatly against the formation. Even though he was a martial artist in the Realm of Transcendence, he would only be able to escape the formation after pushing himself to the absolute limits and exhausting almost all of his internal energy.
“Strike! Pierce through!”
Mugeol-Gae cried out as if he were about to cough up his lungs. The current of electricity that surrounded Sima Ryunju in a vortex was impenetrable. The warriors tried their best to get closer and penetrate through the storm.
The path through the formation to attack? Lee Sungmin did not comprehend a single flaw in the movement of the ninety-nine warriors. At least that was the case for Lee Sungmin.
However, Sima Ryunju saw something completely different from what Lee Sungmin could.
[Look carefully.]
Lee Sungmin heard a mental message inside his head at that moment from his master. Sima Ryunju took a leisurely step in the midst of the formation suddenly, where the path was invisible for everybody else.
He was using the Dark Storm Arts, which sought extreme speed, but his pace was slow. At least it was in the eyes of Lee Sungmin.
However, it was different for Sima Ryunju. When his feet reached the ground. His body became a ray of lightning.
The several movements of the ninety-nine warriors had a flaw. Or they really didn’t. Sima Ryunju had just forcefully made a flaw.
It wasn’t a proper way out. If it were anybody else, they would have been smashed to bits for that reckless movement.
Mugeol-Gae was surprised. The moment of panic made him forget the instructions for the warriors maintaining the formation. It was an incredibly short time to create such a microscopic flaw, but it was enough time for Sima Ryunju. The hand of Sina Ryunju hit the front of the moving formation.
Roar !
The wall was bursting again and splitting apart. The face of the warriors who were responsible for holding the formation, had their faces whiten. Sima Ryunju was creating a gap in real time within their impenetrable formation.
The formation that they were all so confident in, was being broken like a thin sheet of paper.
“Rotate! Keep Rotating!”
Mogeul-Gae shouted again. The formation was divided into 33 attackers and 33 defenders once more. Once again, the formation started to rotate furiously, repairing the flaw.
Sima Ryunju muttered to himself. If he continued to have more expectations, he would only have more disappointment to follow.
Demonic Emperor’s Dark Storm Arts : Ten Thousand Thunder (萬塊雷)
Whoosh!
Lee Sungmin stepped back in surprise at the outburst of lightning. The shots ripped apart the defenses and attacks of the sixty-six warriors. Sima Ryunju didn’t bother to wait and see what they had any longer. If he did, he knew he’d only be disappointed further.
Lee Sungmin gulped as he observed his master’s raised left hand.
The left hand stretched out and black lightning poured out in a ball, compressing itself as it aimed at the formation. When the fingertips flicked forwards, a beam of lightning shot out from the ball of darkness in a flash.
The concentrated power that had swelled into that beam of lightning was so great that Lee Sungmin could not dare to measure just how powerful it was.
“Darkness.”
The sound disappeared in the entire area. It was eerily silent.
Sims Ryunju had just concentrated the power around him and spread it like a net. At least that was all Lee Sungmin could understand to that point. What happened next was indescribable.
That’s the moment the power exploded forth and expanded over the area, it became deafeningly silent and the entire surroundings became pitch black.
Lee Sungmin hesitated and stepped back. The formation stepped back reflexively and broke down. The hundred man formation that thought they were surrounding Sima Ryunju and trapping him inside realized that they were the ones trapped there with him the entire time.
Little by little, Lee Sungmin’s vision was restored. What Lee Sungmin saw next was the warriors flinching and falling over one by one.
“Gasp… Gasp…….”
Mugeol-Gae didn’t die. He staggered to his feet. His body was not moving properly, so he tried to support himself with the tonfa in his hand, but only at that moment did Mugeol-Gae realize. The fact that his tonfa was broken in two.
It wasn’t only his either. All the tonfas in the area that were used by the warriors in the formatio, were broken in half. Sima Ryunju murmured, lowering his raised hand down.
“I was expecting too much.”
It was a voice full of irritation.
“You’re the best in the history of the Heavenly Fist Sect? Of course, this old man didn’t believe it……but I thought there would be something with that much confidence. In the end though, it’s absolutely nothing.”
“I… I……!”
“I thought I’d watch a little more, but I knew I’d be more disappointed in the end.”
“Don’t insult the Heavenly Fist Sect…….”
“You’re insulting me. What you just fought against was the Demonic Emperor, Lord of the Sama Order, Sima Ryunju. The strongest in this world, perhaps even the strongest of all time.”
Surprisingly, Sima Ryunju did not even bother to include the names of Musin, or Geom-Seong.
“I can’t believe you’re performing some sort of dance to beat up this old man and calling it a battle formation. There’s a degree to insulting this old man.”
“It’s not over yet…….”
“No, it’s over.”
Sima Ryunju shook his head.
“I could have killed you all. Killing you would have much easier than simply overwhelming you with sheer power and skill to subdue you.”
Sima Ryunju left Mugeol-Gae speechless.
Some of the other elders of the Murim Alliance behind the Heavenly Fist Sect started to grate their teeth in frustration or sob.
Chigweol was listening to everything that came and went out of Sima Ryunju’s mouth, but he lay on the ground pretending to be stunned and immobile.
He thanked Sima Ryunju for his mercy and prayed earnestly for his babbling master to shut up.
“…… Kill…me.”
“It’s not worth it.”
Sima Ryunju looked back at Lee Sungmin, saying so.
“I tried to instill some respect into this dumb disciple of mine. Yet, he’s not even showing a reaction.”
“…… I think I’ve seen enough.”
“Really? I don’t even think I’m warmed up.”
Sima Ryunju replied with a smirk.
The class was entirely different.
The distance from Sima Ryunju felt distant. Lee Sungmin gulped. When he reached the Peak Realm, he felt the difference between the threshold of Transcendence and actually being in Transcendence..
At the height of that moment, he felt that there might be more than just being a Transcendent Realm Martial Artist.
What about now, for instance?
[That’s as far as one can go.]
Heoju spoke.
[Where he has reached is the true end that a human can hope to achieve. If he goes further than that, he would no longer be called a mortal.]
“Do you mean he’s going to lose his humanity and turn into a monster?’
[No, don’t compare him to that. That is a completely different process altogether. One has to give up on everything that makes them a human. He has transcended the limits of being a human, but to go further… would be to become something that exceeds human standards. It would be right to say that he is already far beyond the scope of other human beings. In fact, his level appears to be inhuman, yet he is still a human shell.]
Heoju was genuinely in admiration. It was absolutely true that Sima Ryunju was the strongest human being he had ever seen in this world to date.
“There’s nothing more to see here.”
Sima Ryunju raised his head and gazed into the distance. What he saw was a large pagoda in the center of the city; the headquarters of the Murim Alliance.
* * *
Jehu was in agony over the situation. In his opinion, his defeat was inevitable if he faced Sima Ryunju head-on.
Defeat would be certain even if he was in a perfect state. But… in his current state, he was still a mess from the fight with Juwon. His injuries had barely started to heal.
He tried various methods, like elixirs and potions. He even secretly called in a high priest and had them use divine magic.
He even called in the Divine Doctor from the Murim Alliance, but even he could not do anything about Jehu’s wounds.
Jehu looked down at the gash down the middle of his chest. It was torn up from Juwon’s claws. If he had gone deeper, Jehu’s body would have been torn in half. He managed to step back and stop it from further bleeding and ran away, but the wound from Juwon caused pain and hindered his movement at all times.
He felt terrible. He had Draconic blood running through his veins! His regenerative power should have been healing this already. But the corrosive power that Juwon used in his attacks met the speed of Jehu’s regeneration.
‘Why aren’t you answering me?’
If he fought Sima Ryunju, he would lose and die. He knew it clearly, but Jehu was unable to leave the Murim Alliance at will.
It was the will of the Heavenly Spirit and the Divine Maiden that he should be the Lord of the Murim Alliance. Jehu could not leave the Murim Alliance unless he had permission from Musin and the Divine Maiden, who communicated with the Heavenly Spirit.
It was a shame.
Jehu glared at the crystal ball. The Divine Maiden could not hide her shock when she heard that Sima a Ryunju had invaded the Murim Alliance on a whim. It had already been a while since he had given her the detail of the situation, and there was no answer back yet.
Jehu bit his lip from his anxiety. And yet… he thought to himself inwardly.
Even though it’s Sima Ryunju, Jehu didn’t think he would be able to get here so easily through all the martial artists from the smaller and mid-sized sects and large ones as well… right?
BOOOOOM !
The building suddenly shook violently with a tremor as Jehu erased his stupid thoughts.
He just sighed, putting his hands on his face in misery.
“Crazy bastard.”
He should’ve just ignored everything and ran away already.
Jehu raised himself up as he finished his last thoughts.