novelraw Chapter 210 : Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (2)
Chapter 210 : Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (2)
Chapter 210: Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (2)
An ordinary person.
No—even a martial artist of the Transformation Realm would certainly miss the movement unless fully focused, within speed that had reached the extreme of swift momentum.
Boyeon Shinni slowly regulated her breathing while staring at Golden Wave Dignitary Roh Gyeongmyeong.
Unable to calm his excitement, the opponent furiously swung his spear toward her, his face flushed as though about to burst.
‘……Even so, the gap was never supposed to be this wide.’
And yet, Boyeon Shinni effortlessly evaded every single attack.
Like the natural motion of leaves scattering in the wind, her every step was unhurried to the utmost.
No matter how fierce the power of the spearhead was, it posed no threat before a gently flowing breeze.
‘It is far too easy. Ever since newly opening my eyes, that is.’
Originally, her realm had already been one step above Roh Gyeongmyeong’s, but now she occupied a decisively greater difference beyond that.
All of these seemingly effortless changes stemmed solely from her encounter with “Tang Sewoon.”
After meeting Tang Sewoon, she came to look anew at the very essence of the martial arts she had accumulated thus far.
—The Way of medicine could indeed touch upon the Way of the sword.
After witnessing Tang Sewoon succeed in treating the Crown Prince—something that even she herself had only managed to alleviate rather than fundamentally cure—
She repeatedly reflected on that scene alone and attained a startling realization.
As previously expressed, it was as though she had newly opened her eyes and grasped a new principle.
‘That child’s medical art had even absorbed the martial principles he had cultivated.’
The acupuncture that had truly reached a divine realm—so astonishing she doubted her own eyes—contained the martial principles Tang Sewoon had built up.
There, she received a realization as if struck by lightning.
Until then, she had considered medicine and swordsmanship as separate paths.
But the moment she realized the two paths could become one—
Saaaaa!
She seized an opportunity to reach the “extreme,” something she could never glimpse even if she trained her entire life, surpassing the full maturation of the Manifestation Realm.
“Uaaaaah!!”
At that moment, with a roar like a scream, Roh Gyeongmyeong thrust out his spear.
He unleashed a spear form that split Lightning Qi Projection into a line and scattered it into six branches.
Within each trajectory lay meticulous intent, aiming for death acupoints that would bring instant death upon contact.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!
The empty air tore apart. Countless people standing on the battlefield trembled at the overwhelming momentum.
Cheok.
Yet Boyeon Shinni stepped forward head-on.
There was neither compassion nor pity in her eyes.
Only the lingering afterglow of enlightenment and firm resolve toward the enemy remained.
Chwaa!
She drew her sword and swung it sideways, as though cutting through a solid line.
And what arose from that trajectory—
Saaaaa!
—was a single current of wind.
Wind, yet like a blade.
A blade, yet like a breath.
“……!!!”
Kwaaang!
Roh Gyeongmyeong’s spear was mercilessly pushed aside by that wind and struck the ground instead.
Blue Lightning Qi spread along the earth, then vanished without leaving a trace.
‘Why…… why can’t it reach her?’
Gripped by confusion, rage, and bewilderment, Roh Gyeongmyeong clenched the spear shaft once more.
Unnoticed by himself, cold sweat flowed down his back.
……Could it be that he was being pushed back?
No, that could not be.
“I’ll kill you!!”
Forcing himself to ignore the unfamiliar anxiety, Roh Gyeongmyeong lunged forward.
Pa-sseu-sseu!
Ji-jijik!
As though a Thunder Tiger had descended from the heavens, Lightning Qi roared and radiated from the spear tip—a truly spectacular sight.
Everyone watching realized it instantly: if even a little of that Lightning Qi brushed them, they would be burned black like charcoal.
Chwa-ak!
As if the breeze itself twisted her body, Boyeon Shinni rotated her sword without retreating a single step.
A strand of sword wind coiled forth, and a delicate trajectory once again scattered through the air like a drawn line.
And when that sword form—settling down weakly like a spider’s web—touched the Thunder Tiger—
Saaaaa!
“?!?!”
Roh Gyeongmyeong’s spear strike was erased in midair. It was neither a clash nor a collision.
It was simply “erased.”
As if its very existence had faded, the true qi created by the spear dispersed emptily into the void.
Roh Gyeongmyeong was struck with shock.
Despite wagering his life in countless life-and-death battles against masters, this was an experience he had never once encountered.
‘This is…… there isn’t some other divine art at work. She has simply embodied a new martial principle.’
With that realization—
Kwaaaang—!!
A tremendous explosion rang out.
His power had been erased, but the opponent’s sword technique remained fully alive.
The sword wind transformed into a fierce vortex, tearing through him as it passed.
Seogeok!
Chwaaak!
With a horrific slicing sound, his body staggered.
A stream of blood burst from his left shoulder, and his martial uniform was mercilessly shredded.
“Kuh! Keok!”
Roh Gyeongmyeong spewed black blood from his mouth.
The sword wind had not merely wounded his exterior.
The razor-thin wind instantly bored into his interior, ravaging his meridians before calmly fleeing away.
‘Is this…… is this even possible……?’
He unknowingly staggered backward.
For the first time, the spear in his hand felt unbearably heavy.
“This is impossible…… it has to be impossible!!”
His scream scattered into the empty air.
That soliloquy, heard by no one—
Seogeok—!
—ended futilely before Boyeon Shinni’s sword.
Unable to close them, Roh Gyeongmyeong’s wide-open eyes stared on as his head left his body and rolled across the ground.
* * *
“Waaahhh!!”
The Tang Clan camp’s roar shook the battlefield.
Amid it all, Lee Jamyeong stood with his mouth hanging open, as if his insides were laid bare.
‘The Golden Wave Dignitary is dead……?’
And not even after a full hundred exchanges—he had met a truly miserable end.
Among the countless possibilities Lee Jamyeong had calculated in advance, not a single one contained such a future.
At that moment, the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician unleashed another Lion’s Roar.
—The battle is over! If you do not wish to meet a meaningless death, withdraw at once!
The profound inner power carried within that roar forced the martial artists of their camp to stagger backward.
Among the wandering warriors who had lost their master, some even fled without looking back.
[Client, what will you do? If you intend to use the Thunderburst Bombs, say it now.]
At that moment, the familiar telepathic transmission echoed in Lee Jamyeong’s ears.
Thunderburst Bombs had already been planted throughout the battlefield, and preparations to detonate them were complete.
Yet Lee Jamyeong clenched his fist tightly and could not answer easily.
‘Damn it…… what am I supposed to do?’
This was the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician who had dispatched even the Golden Wave Dignitary with ease.
Could detonating the Thunderburst Bombs really kill her?
If Boyeon Shinni survived even the explosion, the situation would truly become catastrophic.
If she lived, a full-scale collision with the Murim Alliance would be unavoidable.
Moreover, Boyeon Shinni was a renowned figure of the martial world, known to have ties even to the Imperial Palace.
That would not simply be a failure—it could lead to expulsion from the White Path Union and turn him into a public enemy of the entire martial world.
[Answer quickly, Client. If time drags on further, every remaining possibility will return to nothing.]
‘Damn you!! Just shut up and sit still for once—!!’
Just as he was about to hurl curses at the one urging him again—
Wooooong!!
Woong!
“What the—?!”
“……!!”
Lee Jamyeong and Myeongwolja let out low groans.
They sensed other ominous energies beginning to move toward the battlefield.
‘Don’t tell me even Tang Sewoon……!’
His complexion turned deathly pale.
If even the Blood-Thread Tyrant were to appear, the situation would truly descend into the worst possible outcome.
Lee Jamyeong widened his eyes and stared toward the northern mountain ridge, from where the surge of energy emanated.
“Waaah!”
“Waaahhh!!”
At that moment, cheers erupted from a completely unexpected direction.
Chwaaah!
A group numbering in the hundreds revealed themselves, exuding overwhelming momentum.
—We originally came here to punish the Lee Trading Company for acting rashly.
At that instant, a Lion’s Roar no less forceful than that of the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician shook the entire battlefield.
Simultaneously, monks wearing kasayas draped with red cloth on one side began to appear one after another.
Alongside the Wudang Sect, they were one of the two great powers that had never once departed from the Nine Sects and One Gang.
For a single man, the Eight Guardian Monks of Shaolin Temple and the Eighteen Arhats parted the way.
“Why is the Murim Alliance, which has no involvement here, threatening and persecuting the White Path Union?”
The figure who emerged under their protection spoke softly. Yet his voice resounded like thunder.
Kooong.
Alongside the Sect Leader’s Command Token, the Green Jade Buddha Palm, the current Abbot of Shaolin Temple, Great Master Gakgong, revealed himself.
“……Gakgong.”
“It has been a long time, Divine Physician.”
Boyeon Shinni spoke. Yet her voice carried not joy, but regret.
Kururung!
The gazes of the two crossed in midair.
The majestic momentum emitted by both beings pierced the heavens.
‘Why is the Abbot of Shaolin here……?!’
Even Lee Jamyeong had never anticipated this appearance.
Why would those who were waging war against the Eastern Eighteen Raids led by the Blood Sea Dragon King, Gang Cheol-eon, be here?
Yet instinctively, he realized it—this action by Shaolin would undoubtedly turn into an overwhelming advantage for him.
The reason was simple.
‘Since when did he reach such a realm……!!’
The aura emanating from Great Master Gakgong was no longer that of a mere Manifestation Realm master.
If Boyeon Shinni had gone beyond maturity and drawn infinitely close to the extreme—
“Th-the extreme of the Manifestation Realm?!”
“That is the realm of the Sword Emperor……!!”
Having withdrawn from the Murim Alliance, Great Master Gakgong had, over the years, reached the very extreme of the Manifestation Realm—on par with Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak.
At the destructive aura pouring out from Great Master Gakgong, every martial artist on the battlefield shut their mouths and held their breath.
“……What have you done, exactly?”
At that moment, Boyeon Shinni spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.
Shaolin’s martial arts were the foremost orthodox Buddhist arts in the martial world.
Yet the energy she sensed from Great Master Gakgong now contained none of that profound clarity.
Though he had attained the inhuman realm known as the extreme of the Manifestation Realm, it was unmistakably power gained through crooked and heretical means.
“I pondered alone for a long time, and the Buddha bestowed upon me the strength to enact righteousness.”
“You have lost your mind. That filthy power gained for twisted revenge—do you call that the strength to uphold righteousness?”
“……”
Even at Boyeon Shinni’s words, Great Master Gakgong showed not the slightest reaction.
Seeing that, Boyeon Shinni slowly shook her head and spoke again.
“Hah… seeing such a dreadful state, I no longer even feel like fighting. Everything is over, so take your remnants and withdraw at once.”
After finishing her words, Boyeon Shinni turned away.
Yet from behind her came a completely unexpected reply.
“Over? What, exactly, is over?”
“……What?”
“I made a vow.”
A voice filled with chilling killing intent, enough to raise goosebumps in those who heard it.
“The entire Demonic Alliance is that child’s enemy. I vowed that I would burn this body in the fires of hell and mete out severe punishment to every last demonic fiend of the unorthodox.”
“……!”
Faced with that brutal madness, utterly unfitting for the Abbot of Shaolin, Boyeon Shinni was left speechless.
“And the Tang Clan as well—having abandoned righteousness and thrown themselves into unorthodoxy, they are nothing but demonic abominations.”
Gakgong declared calmly.
“Today, I will punish and execute them, and I will also reclaim the item my master once bestowed upon me.”
Thus, the battlefield was entering a new phase.