novelraw Chapter 126 : Heavenly Martial Festival (1)
Chapter 126 : Heavenly Martial Festival (1)
Chapter 126: Heavenly Martial Festival (1)
The next day, the long-awaited day of the Heavenly Martial Festival had finally arrived.
It was the day when the brave warriors of the five tribes, who had prepared for three long years, would prove the fruits of their efforts.
Atop the broadest and tallest peak of Mount Ailao, the circular arena of the Heavenly Martial Festival had been erected.
Its structure resembled the gambling dens of the Central Plains’ Black Markets, where wild beasts were forced to fight.
There, most of the Beast Palace warriors were seated as spectators.
“Who do you think will win this Heavenly Martial Festival?!”
“Of course, our Boar Tribe’s Great Warrior, Ahoe Buk!”
“Ahoe Buk lost to me too! This time, the winner will undoubtedly be the Wolf Tribe Chief!”
“Mmm, true. The Wolf Tribe Chief’s muscles have gotten absurdly massive lately. He definitely seems stronger.”
“Indeed, those muscles are……”
“Ooh! The warriors are entering!”
Swoosh!
At that moment, the warriors representing each tribe entered the arena, their eyes blazing with clear fighting spirit.
The total number of participants in this Heavenly Martial Festival was one hundred and ten—the highest in history.
Among them, the one drawing the most attention was, naturally, the top contender: the Wolf Tribe Chief, Meng Yung.
In contrast, the one receiving the least attention was Pa Taeyun, who had only become a Beast Palace warrior two days ago.
Except for a few warriors like Ta Sadon who had personally seen Pa Taeyun fight against the Diancang Sect, everyone else disregarded him. No one was paying him any mind.
Swoosh!
Then, accompanied by an overwhelming presence, the Palace Head of the Beast Palace, Umun Geol, appeared in the arena.
“Pay your respects to the Palace Head!!”
At the thunderous command of the Bear Tribe Chief and Umun Geol’s personal guard, Ta Saguk, all the Beast Palace warriors rose to their feet and bowed.
Umun Geol strode forward slowly.
At that moment, when all eyes were fixed on him, Umun Geol addressed the warriors in a voice full of grandeur.
“Warriors of the Beast Palace! Our great ancestors are watching over us!!”
Hush.
No Beast Palace warrior dared to speak.
With eyes burning with fervor, they focused solely on the words of their Palace Head.
“Fight with all your might for the honor of a warrior!! Defeat every brother standing before you!!”
Umun Geol shouted one final command.
“And at last—challenge me!!”
Woooah!!
Boom! Boom!
The response to Umun Geol’s roar was unimaginably intense.
All the warriors struck their right chests with their fists and stomped their feet.
A massive tremor and resonating echo shook the ground like an earthquake.
Only after Umun Geol sat on the highest seat prepared in the arena did the Beast Palace warriors begin to calm down.
Then, an elder warrior stepped forward to speak on his behalf.
“This Heavenly Martial Festival will be presided over and judged by me, the Clan Head of the Ape Tribe—Pa Tamun!”
“Pa Tamun! Pa Tamun!”
Despite his appearance, none of the other tribe chiefs or warriors objected. Rather, they cheered.
Pa Tamun was so widely respected within the Beast Palace that he was nicknamed the Wise Pa Tamun—renowned for his fairness and intelligence.
‘Tch, that damned old man’s the judge, huh.’
Only the Wolf Tribe Chief, Meng Yung, scowled openly, showing his dissatisfaction.
To Meng Yung, Pa Tamun and the Ape Tribe were a cancerous threat that needed to be eliminated to achieve his grand ambitions.
Pa Tamun often hindered his plans, using the trust of the Beast Palace warriors, and even covertly investigated him and the Blood Cult through the warriors of the Ape Tribe.
More than once, disaster had nearly broken out due to that bastard revealing his alliance with the Blood Cult.
Meng Yung would have liked to slaughter Pa Tamun and the entire Ape Tribe using the forces of the Blood Cult right then and there—but they wouldn’t allow it.
They warned that if he moved too rashly, it would expose their existence to the rest of the murim world.
So Meng Yung changed his plans.
His eyes glinted with intent as he spotted someone among the warriors.
‘Heh… If I kill him right in front of Pa Tamun, that’ll be good enough.’
Meng Yung’s gaze landed on Pa Taeyun, who was warming up.
In the Heavenly Martial Festival, no punishment was given for killing an opponent during the match.
On the contrary, a warrior’s death in battle was considered an honorable and glorious fate.
He would raise a toast while tearing apart his long-lost grandson in front of everyone.
At that moment, Pa Tamun announced once more.
“The first round is a melee battle! Each warrior must defeat ten other warriors! There are no other rules! I now call the first group of fifty-five warriors to the stage!!”
The Heavenly Martial Festival was divided into two rounds.
The first round was a melee battle, with the participants split into two groups.
The first group, as called by Pa Tamun, began to ascend the arena one by one.
‘Tch, guess I’m in the second group.’
Unfortunately, Meng Yung was not among those called.
But fortunately, among the twenty-five Wolf Tribe participants, a full twenty were placed in the first group.
Meng Yung ordered his subordinates:
Kill Pa Taeyun mercilessly as soon as the battle begins.
---
“The Clan Chief requested it. If your life’s in danger, hide behind us. Warrior Pa Taeyun, son of Pa Taho.”
A great warrior of the Ape Tribe spoke to Pa Taeyun.
His expression was filled with displeasure.
It was absurd, after all, to protect someone in the Heavenly Martial Festival.
But he couldn’t ignore the earnest plea of his clan chief.
So, suppressing his displeasure, he addressed the rookie before him—
“…Are you listening?”
But Pa Taeyun wasn’t even looking at him.
He was scanning the first group of warriors, as if searching for someone.
The warrior was baffled.
“Tch, so they’re in the second group.”
Even as he muttered something incomprehensible, Pa Taeyun continued to ignore him.
To think this brat dared to ignore me, the Ape Tribe’s foremost warrior!
Just as he raised his voice in protest—
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
Pa Taeyun suddenly called out to him.
And said something utterly unexpected.
“If you don’t want to get hurt, you and your clan members should stay as far away from me as possible.”
“…What?”
As the warrior blinked in confusion—
The roar of the Ape Tribe’s Clan Head announcing the start of the first round echoed through the arena.
Thud thud thud!
At that moment, the warriors of the Beast Palace charged at each other with all their might.
“I’ll crush them all!!”
“Ancestors, grant me strength!!”
Boom!
Pow!
Just like the name melee battle implied, chaos reigned with no order or strategy.
But—
This time, something was different.
Tap tap!
Flash!
“Uh, wh-what?!”
“Huh?!”
The spectators watching the festival reacted in confusion.
The warriors of the Wolf Tribe were all rushing toward one person at once.
Like hunters driving prey into a trap—Pa Taeyun was their target.
Shhh!
Boom!
Each and every Wolf Tribe warrior exuded overwhelming battle energy from their entire body.
Even the great warrior of the Ape Tribe hadn’t anticipated this and rushed in panic to intervene—
‘Well now… How considerate of them.’
Pa Taeyun flashed a meaningful smile.
Despite being outnumbered ridiculously—
He didn’t run.
To run away? Why?
Fwsh!
Instead, Sewoon charged head-on at the oncoming Wolf Tribe warriors.
‘Lining up like that, begging to be killed.‘
It was nothing but welcome.
Sewoon immediately activated Ink Blood.
Rrrumble!
Skkraak!
As if his blood were boiling, intense heat surged through his entire body in an instant.
“Die!!”
At that moment, the first Wolf Tribe warrior to reach him threw a fierce punch at Sewoon.
At present, Sewoon's body held no trace of Reverse Heaven Qi or any other energy.
Whoosh!
“?!”
Yet, he evaded the strike with astounding speed.
And that wasn’t the end.
Shwik!
Sewoon’s right hand slithered like a living snake, grazing past the warrior’s eye, then seized his arm.
Crunch!
Splat!
He tore off the warrior’s arm with sheer bite force and raw physical strength.
“Gwaaaaah!!”
Overwhelmed by the agony of having his arm ripped clean off, the Wolf Tribe warrior fell to one knee.
Then Sewoon spun like a top—
Shwik!
Crack!
—and smashed his elbow into the warrior’s temple.
Thud.
With the full weight of his body behind the blow, the warrior died instantly, collapsing where he stood.
‘W-What was that?!’
‘……!!’
The Wolf Tribe warriors were stunned by the swift brutality of what had just occurred.
“Where are you looking?”
“!!”
Crunch!
Crack!
Sewoon twisted another warrior’s neck the opposite way, killing him instantly.
Sewoon had only one goal in this melee battle—
They thought they were hunting him?
No. They were his prey.
His objective was to kill or incapacitate as many of Meng Yung’s subordinates as possible.
But that didn’t mean Sewoon was indiscriminately butchering innocents.
‘These trash have consumed an awful lot of demonic arts, haven’t they?’
To Sewoon’s eyes, the Wolf Tribe warriors appeared different from the rest.
Their entire bodies were stained with pitch-black color.
This was another ability granted by Ink Blood.
A power surpassing even Golden Purity Eyes of Yoo Jinhak or the Dragon’s Eye of Do Hayeong.
He had named it—“Color Perception Eye.”
‘It reveals all martial arts hidden by color.’
Normally, to identify an opponent’s concealed energy, one had to circulate energy through their meridians.
But no martial artist in the murim would ever willingly offer up their meridians. That would be no different from handing over the right to decide their life or death.
But now, with the Color Perception Eye, Sewoon could see through every hidden power at a glance.
Demonic arts appeared black.
Unorthodox arts showed red.
Orthodox arts shone white.
This was what he confirmed in a mere moment.
That was why, the instant he saw the Wolf Tribe warriors, he realized they were traitors aligned with the Blood Cult, and began executing them.
Three… five… eight…
Sewoon flew like a storm, battering the Wolf Tribe warriors to death one after another.
Uwooooh!
Waaaah!
The Beast Palace warriors watching only erupted in cheers.
It wasn’t because they bore grudges against the Wolf Tribe.
“See! Didn’t I tell you? That brother was born to be a Great Warrior!”
“Pa Taeyun! Pa Taeyun!”
To them, dying in such a battle as a warrior of the Beast Palace was the highest honor.
Only one person was fuming in this moment.
‘What in the world is this……!!’
Meng Yung stood with his jaw so slack a fly could fly in.
Sewoon had already defeated more than ten warriors, and yet he continued to hunt down every last one of the Wolf Tribe warriors who charged him, reducing them to corpses.
He pierced with his fists, shattered with kicks, rammed with his head, smashed with his elbows, and drove upward with his knees.
The external martial arts Sewoon displayed were too crude to be called proper techniques.
But the force and spirit imbued in them were so overwhelming that none dared to stop him.
‘What the hell is that lunatic?!’
Meng Yung couldn’t even finish the thought.
Shwik!
“…!!”
Something flew toward him at incredible speed while he was still watching.
In panic, he quickly crossed his arms in an X to block.
BOOM!!
A sound like a drum exploding rang out.
Thud!
The force of the projectile was so great that even his large frame slid backward.
Rolling at his feet was none other than the corpse of a Wolf Tribe warrior.
Eyes filled with shock, he looked up—
Smirk.
“…!!”
Sewoon was openly grinning at him.
It was the last of the twenty Wolf Tribe warriors—Sewoon had kicked the corpse at Meng Yung.
That brat—how dare he!
Just as the killing intent in Meng Yung’s eyes began to burn—
“Melee battle! Pa Taeyun is victorious! He is the first to advance to the second round!”
Pa Tamun’s voice echoed through the Heavenly Martial Arena.