novelraw Chapter 159 : Time of Punishment (2)
Chapter 159 : Time of Punishment (2)
Chapter 159: Time of Punishment (2)
The Qingcheng Sect, having fallen into complete internal disorder, was not able to calm its chaos so easily.
Amid such overwhelming turmoil, the martial artists of the Sichuan Tang Clan cleverly assisted the Songpung Swordmasters.
Pababak!
Pupuk!
Standing only in places where they would never suffer harm themselves, they once again began spreading hidden weapons and poison.
“Please come to your senses, Senior Brother!!”
“Gah!! How can you not come to your senses!!”
But no matter what they attempted, the Puppeteer’s control did not break.
The Songpung Swordmasters, reduced to mere puppets, swung their swords like slaves until every last bit of their qi was exhausted.
At that moment, Jeok Seongja’s shout rang thunderously across the battlefield.
“They have been captured by the enemy and turned into mad hounds!! Do not hold back—cut them down!!”
“!!”
Shockingly, Jeok Seongja had ordered them to kill the Songpung Swordmasters.
The disciples were thrown into shock at the command to cut down their own senior brothers and students.
Chwaaaak!
Seogeok!
But once the casualties grew, they began swinging lethal swords in accordance with the Sect Leader’s order.
The limbs of the Songpung Swordmasters were severed, and even their heads were sent flying, rolling across the ground.
A truly horrific tragedy was unfolding.
Yet Jeok Seongja, the one who had issued the order, felt not a hint of guilt.
‘He’s coming!’
That instant, from directly ahead of Jeok Seongja, black threads sheathed in qi flew toward him in the shape of the character X, like intersecting bolts of lightning.
Chwaaaa!
Seogeogeok!
A range far greater than any spear or halberd could cut through was being sliced cleanly apart.
Pabat!
Jeok Seongja evaded all of the incoming attacks at a tremendous speed.
His movements were so natural, it was as if he entrusted his body to a fierce gust of wind.
It was the Great Mastery of Fine Willow Drift.
Focusing on evading the indiscriminate attacks Sewoon poured forth, Jeok Seongja rapidly turned his thoughts.
‘Black Threads imbued with the power of the Soul-Stealing Art! And an Eye Technique capable of nullifying qi!’
He was putting all his attention into identifying the true nature of the power Sewoon had been hiding all this time.
His opponent’s martial prowess was equal to his own, yet the bizarre techniques, whose principles of operation he could not even fathom, were so astonishing they left him speechless.
Threads that, once attached, allowed him to manipulate his enemy at will.
Eyes that could disperse qi just by looking.
He felt as though the Sewoon before his eyes might have learned some kind of demonic art.
However, it seemed that even the Soul-Stealing Art had limits.
The black threads were unable to subdue even a single Elder.
Meaning the technique’s influence extended only to martial artists below the Transformation Realm.
‘Then the Eye Technique must have limits as well……!’
Swaaa!
Pabat!
At that moment, Jeok Seongja spread his sword to the side and charged toward Sewoon.
The Great Luo Non-Action Divine Art, which had allowed him to break through the wall of the Manifestation Realm, was unleashed at full power.
From his dantian to all four limbs, a heroic surge of energy spread like crashing waves.
Pasusususu!
Uwoooong!
Alongside a sword cry that sounded like the heavens themselves were wailing, a completely new form of sword flux manifested along his blade.
It was the true qi projection that only one who had reached complete mastery of the Manifestation Realm could wield.
A righteous-formed qi projection, reborn according to the will its master imbued it with.
For Jeok Seongja to draw righteous-formed qi meant he acknowledged that Sewoon’s strength was genuine.
‘The sword of Qingcheng is the wind itself!’
Chwaaaa!
The newly manifested sword flux of Jeok Seongja became a mighty tempest that tore apart everything before it, wrapped in a radiant brilliance symbolizing the Orthodox Path.
It was the culmination of all the insights he had gained throughout his life—the very power that earned him the title of the Sole Flying Sword, one of the Five Great Swords Under Heaven.
The world called it the Radiant Wind Sword Flux.
Jeok Seongja stomped off the ground, leaping high into the air.
Swaeeeeeek!
Kwaaaaaarrr!
Then, from midair, he swung his sword downward with the force to split Sewoon’s skull clean in half.
Red Mist Severing Light Sword
Third Move
Red Mist Sky Light
Unlike the first move of the Red Mist Severing Light Sword, which had covered every direction, Red Mist Sky Light consisted of only a single strike.
But the power contained within that single, simple sword strike surpassed the combined force of all previous moves, even if repeated countless times.
Chwaaaa!
Simultaneously, a radiant beam of light, like a rising sun, swept over the surroundings.
A normal martial artist would have been instantly blinded by such resplendent brilliance.
But Sewoon, who had unfolded the Color-Stripping Eye, stared at it calmly as though he wore protective spectacles.
There was only one difference from before.
‘As expected!!’
Jeok Seongja inwardly roared in triumph.
Even though Sewoon was tracking it with his eyes, the Radiant Wind Sword Flux of Red Mist Sky Light did not disappear.
Just like the Soul-Stealing Art, the Eye Technique also had limits.
It could not erase righteous-formed qi.
Chwarararara!
Sewoon suddenly extended both arms wide to the left and right.
Conveniently, the very last Songpung Swordmaster had just been annihilated.
All the black threads of the Heavenly Thread, which had been spread widely across the battlefield while wrapping around the enemies’ necks, rose gently into the air.
Swaaaaaa!
Then, the threads overlapped countless times, instantly forming a massive wall.
A fortress-like barrier crafted entirely of threads—like the shield of a giant.
Flawless Heavenly Garment
Second Move – Modified
Twin Circular Wings
It was the defensive technique Circular Wing of the Flawless Heavenly Garment, multiplied countless times to cover an enormous area.
Kwagagaga!
Kwaaarrrrr!
The next moment, Red Mist Sky Light collided with Twin Circular Wings.
The ground beneath everyone’s feet trembled violently, as though an earthquake had struck.
The spear that stubbornly tried to pierce through and the shield that tried to block until the end.
But that, too, lasted only for a moment.
Peeeooong!
An explosion loud enough to make his ears ring burst out.
Like a meteor falling into the great sea, a violent shockwave swept out in a wide circle.
Psssss!
The spear’s power had ever so slightly come out ahead.
A wound was carved into Sewoon’s right arm as though a beast had torn into it.
Seeing blood drip heavily from it, Jeok Seongja wore a triumphant smile.
Just as the surroundings were filled with shocked reactions, Jeok Seongja spoke with full confidence.
"Klkl, how laughable. Relying on petty foul arts. A brat who hasn’t even achieved an Intent-Shaped Qi dares to bring up full mastery of the Manifestation Realm?"
Talent— what talent was he speaking of?
In the eyes with which he mocked Sewoon, a glint of greed flickered.
‘Heh, if I get rid of him, it means I can gain all those powers.’
Now that he believed the opponent was no longer a threat, his desire to seize Sewoon’s unknown powers—such as his Soul-Seizing Arts—boiled up uncontrollably.
But then—
Sewoon murmured softly to himself.
"Here I thought the Heaven-Piercing Sect had given you something."
"What?"
"Looks like they didn’t give you anything. You’re weaker than ‘before.’"
"……??"
Jeok Seongja frowned, unable to understand Sewoon’s words.
Before— what before?
Without question, this was the first time Sewoon had ever seen Jeok Seongja’s Intent-Shaped Qi.
"So you intend to bluff with useless bravado to the end? Such shabby tricks won’t work o—!!"
Jeok Seongja, who sneered like that, suddenly lost his words.
‘What?!’
Ssshhh!
The arm that had clearly suffered a fairly deep wound had already recovered to its original state.
The reason was simple.
‘I tested whether, like before my regression, Gui Yeongja would transfer Blood Cult power to me—but in this life, it didn’t happen. Meaning Gui Yeongja stepped aside this time.’
When he pushed the power of Ink Blood, which he had been using only at the bare minimum, to its extreme, his natural healing ability soared drastically as a result.
Just as Jeok Seongja had assessed Sewoon, Sewoon also assessed his opponent.
And now he reached his conclusion.
"With things like this, there’s no need to see any more."
"……!!"
Jeok Seongja’s power was utterly insignificant and laughably mediocre.
Trash-like strength, nothing more.
At that moment, Sewoon unleashed all the power he had been suppressing.
Uwooooong!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!
Unlike Jeok Seongja’s incomplete and lacking stage of the Manifestation Realm, a perfected Manifestation Realm—achieved through the Unity of Essence, Energy, and Spirit—unfolded.
"!!"
Seeing that spectacle, Jeok Seongja became speechless, as if his lips were sealed together.
Pabat!
Before he even realized it, he convulsively gripped his sword and charged at Sewoon.
His instincts had realized it.
‘No, no!’
He must never allow the new power Sewoon was about to unveil to be completed.
Swaaah!
Chwaaah!
Once again, Jeok Seongja’s sword carried Wind-Splendor Sword Barrier.
An even more mysterious radiance than before burst forth from the blade.
Kwarurur!
Jeok Seongja poured nearly half of the qi within his dantian into perfecting this one strike.
A horizontal line of light and storm carved itself long across the air.
Chwaaah!
This time, Jeok Seongja unleashed a slash with the momentum to cleave with a Single Sword Severing in Two.
But then—
As if the world’s time had slowed, Sewoon’s field of vision changed.
And everything became perfectly clear.
The stream of light his opponent emitted was nothing like the sun—merely the pitiful light of a single firefly.
‘That’s not proper Intent-Shaped Qi.’
Intent-Shaped Qi reflected the owner’s will.
And so, if the practitioner’s cultivation was lacking and they couldn’t engrave their will properly, it instead carried only the innate nature they wished to avoid.
This incomplete qi, bearing the grandiose name Wind-Splendor Sword Barrier, was exactly that.
This sword barrier resembled Jeok Seongja himself.
The radiance it emitted appeared gorgeous and resplendent at first glance, but in truth it had no substance and was vile to the core.
The seemingly profound energy was mere trickery.
The radiance that manifested served only to blind the opponent, toy with their senses, and prevent them from fighting properly—just like the despicable blade of some back-alley thug.
‘I’ll show you proper Intent-Shaped Qi.’
The moment he resolved that, the Intent-Shaped Qi was already forming in Sewoon’s hand.
Indeed—Sewoon had long since completed his Intent-Shaped Qi.
He had even used it once.
It was when he slew the Prayer Demon at the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
When he unified Essence, Energy, and Spirit and turned various qi into a single flow.
In that slow-moving world, Sewoon slowly raised his palm.
Swaaaah!
Kwaga-ga!
A molten, sticky Intent-Shaped Qi boiled within his palm, becoming Intent Incarnate.
But this was completely different from the power he had used against the Prayer Demon.
Originally, a martial artist could wield only a single Intent-Shaped Qi.
Because one’s inner qi—the foundation—existed in only a single nature.
But Sewoon was different.
Within his body slept countless types of qi.
And by merging three different qi into one, he could forge a new Intent-Shaped Qi.
‘This time, I’ll merge the power of Ink Blood, Innate True Qi, and Divine Poison Qi into one.’
Swaaaah!
Chwaaah!
Three entirely different energies transformed at Sewoon’s fingertips into a new attribute and form.
In this moment, Sewoon held a single intent.
The enemy blocking his path.
A punishing power that would make him die within the most excruciating agony.
Swaaaah!
The slowed world began to return to its normal speed.
"……!!"
Jeok Seongja’s sword technique was engulfed by Sewoon’s Intent-Shaped Qi—Calamity-Heaven Gang (殃天罡).