Lee Sungmin ignored the stench. Instead, Lee Sungmin’s brows furrowed because of Kang Seok’s words.
He wanted to play a game? Although Lee Sungmin knew that the Spear King was an erratic person to say the least, it was rather sudden since he knew what kind of game he would want to play.
“Why should I fight with you?”
“It’s been a while.”
As the Spear King said so, he smiled brightly and laughed, revealing his yellow teeth.
“I had a fight with you and I didn’t win. I quit mid-way because my excitement about the fight got cut off short.”
“Are you trying to say you want to settle things now since you couldn’t back then?”
“I’ve been rolling like a dog on this mountain for ten years. Even though I joined forces with the Black Dragon over here, we still lost to a one-armed Musin who was incredibly weak. Rather than that, I for once acknowledged I was still incredibly lacking. If I hadn’t endured the humiliation and escaped, I would have died by Musin then.”
Kang Seok’s eyes flashed with anger.
Ten years ago, the fight in the North between Musin and Sima Ryunju had left an impact. But even moreso, when the Spear King and Jehu had intervened, they were still pushed back overwhelmingly and it had become the single-most humiliating experience he had experienced.
“I’ve never fought by anyone else’s side in my entire life. I failed to defeat Musin even though I threw away my pride…. Before I attacked the Musin though, I saw the battle between him and the Demonic Emperor, your master. It felt like my eyes were flung wide-open. Everything I’d learned was nothing in front of the martial arts I witnessed that day. In order to reach that level of martial arts I came here and practiced for 10 years on this mountain, but I can tell I am still far away from that level. I think I’ll know for sure if I fight with you who learned from the Demonic Emperor, himself.”
“Is that your reason?”
“I haven’t seen the Pinnacle of Spearmanship yet. And the world shouldn’t be ruined. But… doesn’t that mean I have to help you, doesn’t it? If you want my help, you’ll have to make me want to help you.”
The Spear King spoke with a chuckle. The Black Dragon clicked his tongue and shook his head at the pitiful sight from the Spear King.
[Looks like you can’t avoid it.]
Heoju chortled. Lee Sungmin spoke as he let out a sigh.
“Okay, let’s do this… but let’s do it in moderation.”
“Are you scared?”
“No way. It’s not worth killing each other over a fight here, so let’s promise to back off in advance if things get too serious.”
“You make it sound like you’re constipated.”
“Is-…Isn’t it hard to fight right now for you? Do you really feel like you’re in your best condition after just finishing your trials here?”
“A day, no, half a day is enough for me. I just have to eat, drink, and I’ll be fine.”
As the Spear King said this, he slumped to his seat. Lee Sungmin turned his head to ask Yana and Baek Sogo for consent. When their eyes met, Yana spoke first.
“If you’re going to die, I’ll intervene.”
Baek Sogo didn’t say anything, but she intended to do the same. Kang Seok, who sat down, opened his spatial pocket without paying attention to the surrounding eyes.
Having taken out a lot of food and water from the spatial pocket, Kang Seok practically inhaled the contents as he had been starved of decent meals for quite some time.
But before they started, The Spear King took out a mirror and took a look at his face. The Black Dragon also sat next to the Spear King and looked in the mirror, wondering what they looked like after being isolated for so long. Suddenly, the Spear King shoved the Black Dragon as he got close.
“Don’t come near me. You smell like poop.”
“That smell is coming from your own ass.”
“It must be the smell from your philtrum.” (T/N : Philtrum is the place between your nose and mouth…. Basically he’s saying he’s got some nasty boogers.)
It seems that the two of them had become very close in the past 10 years, Lee Sungmin thought. Luckily, it seemed their eyes were full of life and they definitely did not need any motivation to act.
Eventually, they could not stand each other’s stench and jumped out of their seats.
“Let’s wash up and eat.”
“I agree.”
The two headed toward the waterfall to take a good bath. In the meantime, Lee Sungmin also sat down and started to meditate.
Although he ended up being forced into a fight with the Spear King as soon as he came back, Lee Sungmin also thought it was a good opportunity for himself.
[It’ll be good to fight with him since then you will be able to know your current level and how it matches up to Musin’s.]
Heoju reminded Lee Sungmin as he recalled that the Spear King and the Black Dragon had experienced fighting against Musin. If he fought with Kang Seok at this time, he would be able to definitively know what his current level was at.
As promised, after about half a day the Spear King finished his breakfast and bath and came back to the foot of the mountain where Lee Sungmin and the others were. In that short time, his complexion had visibly improved and he looked brand-new.
It was proof that the Spear King had complete control of his body. He pulled out his spear, which he had on his back.
Thanks to Mush’s reminder, the two of them went down to the bottom of the mountain. Even if it was a “friendly” game of sorts, they had to go to the bottom of the mountain since a fight between high-level Transcendent Martial Artists on the top of a mountain could very well collapse the entire mountain’s terrain.
“The 10 years you and I spent apart from each other seem to have definitely had their different results.”
Standing on a wide plain, the Spear King uttered as he examined Lee Sungmin.
“Your body and power 10 years ago was incomplete, sinister and mutated. Now… …it’s not incomplete persay, but your body is definitely more evil. In fact you don’t even look human anymore.”
“That’s exactly what happened.”
“Are you saying you’ve become a complete monster? You seem to be in your right mind for someone who transformed completely into a monster.… Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure you’ve grown stronger.”
Just as the Spear King felt Lee Sungmin’s changes, Lee Sungmin felt the same thing from the Spear King. The Spear King’s internal energy and overall aura was sharper than it was ten years ago. He had toiled and struggled on the Mountain of Mush for an entire decade, so there was no way he would have gone through any kind of small improvements.
Although it was clearly going to be increasingly more and more difficult to get stronger once reached the realm of Transcendence in martial arts, the Spear King was not just any Transcendent Martial Artist. Lee Sungmin could feel that The Spear King had grown to a completely new level from before.
Lee Sungmin held up his new spear. This time it wouldn’t be destroyed by his own internal energy. If he smashed it again it would be shameless to show up in front of Selgerus ever again since this was a spear that was made of the very same draconic body parts as the one he had lost.
Click.
The Spear King divided the spear into two smaller spears and held them in both of his hands.
Kang Seok jumped straight in without even rousing his internal energy around the spear. His quick movements narrowed the distance between him and Lee Sungmin quickly, and swung the two half-spears as they tore through the space with spatial essence.
But even this incredibly swift movement from the Spear King was visible to Lee Sungmin.
It was a completely unseen speed that Lee Sungmin had never gone against in any other opponent thus far. The trajectory of the two spears was followed in Lee Sungmin’s eyes. Lee Sungmin’s spear moved in the most efficient and threatening direction against the Spear King’s attack, which came from two directions and united back into a single spear movement.
BOOM!
A huge shockwave erupted as the two spears made contact with each other.
Shi-shi-shi-shing!
The blades of the two spears glided against each other as sparks flew. The Spear King twisted his arms flexibly.
The Spear King moved his spear and adjusted the direction of his swing and aimed directly at Lee Sungmin. But the spear couldn’t reach Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin’s image blurred and was replaced with a violent spark of electricity surging where he once stood.
Lee Sungmin’s lightning gale leapt through the very essence of space itself.
The place where Lee Sungmin was standing a while ago was torn by the Spear King’s spear. At that moment, Lee Sungmin was already behind him.
Feeling his spear tear through empty air, the Spear King burst into laughter. He jerked around and swung the spear in a wide arc.
His spear ripped off the purple current of electricity. The spear shaft quickly changed directions as Kang Seok shifted his arms and pointed it towards Lee Sungmin’s chest once more.
There was no time for Lee Sungmin to effectively counterattack so Lee Sungmin only leaned backwards and slightly lifted the spear to deflect the blow.
Lee Sungmin lowered his posture after letting the Spear King’s spear rip through the air next to his head. The power being emanated between the two of them was still not close to their true peaks though.
But what was even more amazing for anyone watching them, was that there were no inefficient movements between the two of them and absolutely no internal energy was wasted.
Lee Sungmin felt his heartbeat thumping with excitement. The internal energy from within his dantian exploded and stretched throughout his entire body.
He felt like his internal energy was roaring at him, begging him to be allowed to go full throttle.
He had been the one to want this fight as well since he wanted an opponent for which he could truly be able to measure his proper strength with. Yet, here he was hesitating from the very start. Once realizing this, Lee Sungmin allowed his internal energy to surge out unabated.
Brrrrrrrrr!
The internal energy surging from Lee Sungmin’s body started to materialize as a purple aura of electricity started to shake the very space around him. Lee Sungmin’s very body became a violent energy capable of giving anybody the chills as the energy came out in waves and threatened to destroy everything in the vicinity.
The Spear King separated his spear into two pieces once more and put them forward. The collision with the waves of energy pushed the Spear King’s body back.
The Spear King laughed loudly. Kang Seok started to let his internal energy run rampant as well. He started to twirl the two spears once more as the internal energy started to siphon into them.
The former Spear King, who had fought with Lee Sungmin 10 years ago, was much more powerful than he once was when they previously fought and his spearmanship was even more refined.
‘I can see it.’
Lee Sungmin could finally see the smaller things that he didn’t see 10 years ago when Kang Seok had gone all out back then. It was a completely new sight to him. At least in terms of pure “spearmanship”, Lee Sungmin still had not reached the level of perfection that the Spear King had attained.
This was because even if his body was capable of unleashing his spearmanship in full, his overall technique had not yet reached the pinnacle of spearmanship like the Spear King’s spearmanship had.
But… he could still respond. Because Lee Sungmin could see it, he could actually face Kang Seok’s spearmanship head-on. The two spears that were twirling in each of Kang Seok’s hands started to create a violent storm.
Lee Sungmin jumped in without hesitation against the brutal onslaught of energy from Kang Seok, which started to manifest by tearing apart the very ground they stood on..
‘Quicker.’ Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques : Lightning Annihilation ( 閃電滅)
Lightning from the Dark Storm Arts, and the Nine Heavenly Spears techniques unfolded from Lee Sungmin’s spear as the spear shook violently.
The sheer energy from the two spearmen’s spears collided with one another. Bbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Both of their spears were pushed back and neither gained a foothold over the other.
[Your skills alone are not enough to compete with him.]
Heoju advised Lee Sungmin. If the two of them only competed with pure spearmanship, then Lee Sungmin would be swayed into the Spear King’s pace. But if you looked at both of their overall capabilities, it was clear Lee Sungmin was the stronger individual.
Even looking at their physiques, Lee Sungmin had a stronger body…
And he also had a seemingly infinite and bottomless dantian full of internal energy.
Beyond that, there was the Dark Storm Arts, the strongest martial art in the world. It was not a pure spearmanship technique, but Lee Sungmin added the dark lightning from this martial art into his spear as it was completely unparalleled in speed.Lee Sungmin’s spear shot out.
The expression of the Spear King changed. Actually, he couldn’t even avoid it. Because Lee Sungmin’s spear was just too fast to even comprehend.
Kang Seok quickly combined the two spears back into one and placed it in front of his chest and raised his internal energy around his body as a shield.
BA-BOOM!
The body of the spear was pushed back. Rather than forcing it, it naturally pushed back and scattered the shock.
One after another, Lee Sungmin retracted and struck out with his spear with multiple stabs at the Spear King.
The spear king shouted and swung the two spears fiercely. Ripped debris scattered in all directions.
Lee Sungmin was aware that he would not be able to completely overwhelm Kang Seok with just pure physical prowess and speed.
Kang Seok smiled with his teeth exposed as he looked down at his stiff wrists.
“That’s not fair… but since it’s gotten to this.”
He murmured silently to himself.
Kei-ing.
Separating the spear into two once more, the spears in both of his hands began to vibrate. Lee Sungmin saw an energy that was incomparable to any other, start to form in Kang Seok’s spear. It was a harmonious sense of unity and perfection that one could only attain if they reached the absolute pinnacle of their craft.
‘That is dangerous.’Lee Sungmin fixed his expression as he felt a sense of criss from the Spear King. It was as Kang Seok had said.
Now that it got to this point, it was impossible to fight in moderation and without harming each other. Lee Sungmin had to fully defend himself as if he were guarding his own life since it could be at risk.
The two spears in Kang Seok’s hands were still vibrating. Lee Sungmin thought about what to do. If they continue to fight, one of them may die. They should stop here if it was getting too out of hand.
Even though he knew, Lee Sungmin didn’t want to back down. Kang Seok had said that he spent the entire last decade of training practicing because of what he had seen from Sima Ryunju on the snowy plains that day.
Lee Sungmin had inherited the power of Sima Ryunju.‘I want to test it.’Such aspirations rose in Lee Sungmin’s heart.
Regardless of the results, he wanted to compete against the Spear King on equal terms.
He wanted to know how much he could do against the man who was called the King of Spears, and whose spearmanship had far surpassed his own.
“I become the spear. The spear becomes me.”
The Spear King murmured in a low tone of voice. He had reached the pinnacle of spearmanship decades ago, and then it was refined for even longer
And in the last 10 years, Kang Seok had trained after seeing the man who had attained the level of martial arts in existence, fight to his very best.
Nevertheless, it was the first time he had used this move. Within the past few years of training on this mountain, Kang Seok had abandoned the hopes of getting physically stronger and focused solely on meditation and attaining a higher peak of spearmanship than thought possible.
This was something that was almost godlike. It was spearmanship that had reached the truest sense or perfection and transcended into the realm beyond humans. The Spear King had reached this level, but he knew very well that he could not control it as he was.
“It’s up to you to block this from here on out.”
The spear king pushed the spear forward, and Lee Sungmin allowed the internal energy of his dantain take over his body. Lee Sungmin’s body, wrapped around a black and purple current of electricity, disappeared from space.
The Spear King’s eyes could not see Lee Sungmin’s movements. However, his body followed Lee Sungmin’s movements by using his sixth sense.
It was a little off. The spear of the Spear King pierced thin air. Lee Sungmin was right next to it but he had dodged it.
If Kang Seok’s spear had been a little more accurate, Lee Sungmin would not have been able to avoid it.
The surprise did not dull Lee Sungmin’s spear. Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques : Fate Severing (武神) Crazy Heavenly Demon’s Blood Ring Techniques : Blood Ring Smithereens (血環破碎) On top of Lee Sungmin’s Dark Storm Arts that were already enveloping his spear in lightning, he added two more martial art techniques on top of it.
Even though three types of martial arts were being unfolded at the same time, there was absolutely no problem with Lee Sungmin’s internal energy or body, keeping up with it.
Despite the movement breaking beyond the limits of what the human body could normally achieve, Lee Sungmin’s muscles did not rupture and his bones did not break.
At this moment, Lee Sungmin’s bones and muscles were bending flexibly like rubber.
There were countless trajectories burning with ferocity in the single spear which lurched forward. Against such an attack, the Spear King pushed the pushing end of his two spears straight toward Lee Sungmin without stopping.
It was a memorable scene.
Sima Ryunju had lost his power due to an intervention of Wolhu’s borrowed powers of a True Transcendent. Beyond the Heavens’ attack on his former master.
The absolute perfection of speed, the essence of the Dark Storm Arts created by Sima Ryunju, had crushed all of Musin’s attacks despite being in a weakened state.
And that very martial art was showing the same results even now.
Lee Sungmin saw Kang Seok’s attack being torn apart by his spear. He gasped for breath.
The spear recoiled slightly as they clashed spears with a bang. His eyes were bloodshot. Kang Seok tried to push the spear all the way to the end.
“Cough!”
Blood shot out from the mouth of the Spear King. Kang Seok’s legs, which were shaking, finally relaxed.
The Spear King, who held down his ground, did not let go of the spear he was holding, but he could no longer swing it and lowered his head as his mouth continued to bleed.
“……Damn it.” (T/N : in english)
Kang Seok spat out the blood heaped around his mouth, rubbing it with the back of his hand.
Lee Sungmin stared blankly at him with a confused stare since he couldn’t understand English.