novelraw Chapter 211 : Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (3)
Chapter 211 : Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (3)
Chapter 211: Those Who Draw Near Ink Become Black (3)
At Great Master Gakgong’s declaration that he would purge the Tang Clan, Boyeon Divine Nun could not hide her shock.
In the martial world, Great Master Gakgong was known by the epithet Heavenly Fist Tathagata.
Among that title, Tathagata referred, in Buddhist doctrine, to one who embodied truth in the flesh—one who had reached nirvana.
In the end, it was simply another name for the Buddha.
That alone spoke volumes about the kind of man Great Master Gakgong once was—someone who valued compassion and balance above all else.
Yet now, in the eyes Boyeon Divine Nun was staring into, there was nothing but a vicious thirst for revenge.
“You’ve truly gone mad, Gakgong.”
“Heh. I never expected you to understand me anyway.”
“Didn’t I tell you again and again that Il-ryun’s affair was the work of some other hidden force, not the Demonic Alliance! Just what kind of nonsense did Namgung Myeong use to bewitch you—!”
“Ha!”
Rumble—!
Great Master Gakgong unleashed a furious roar in response to her words.
The force contained within that bellow was so overwhelming that the ground itself threatened to quake apart.
“Has even you, Divine Physician, been led astray by the babblings of the Blood Lord?!”
“…!”
Great Master Gakgong glared at Boyeon Divine Nun and rebuked her harshly.
Blood Lord was a derogatory epithet used by the White Path Union to belittle and mock the Blood-Thread Tyrant, Tang Sewoon.
“Before coming here, I personally executed the Blood Sea Dragon King. Taking that as the beginning, I shall cleanse every unorthodox fiend and demon from this world.”
“You…!”
At the words executed the Blood Sea Dragon King, Boyeon Divine Nun was struck dumb with shock.
And it was only natural.
The Blood Sea Dragon King referred to Gang Cheol-eon—the supreme stronghold lord of the Eastern Eighteen Raids and one of the Five Evils.
In other words, Great Master Gakgong was saying that he had severed the head of one of the Demonic Alliance’s masters.
And if Namgung Myeong’s White Path Union had seized control of the waterways of Dongting—
‘Ah… the martial world will be plunged into utter chaos…!’
Step.
Great Master Gakgong advanced a single step forward.
“So step aside, Divine Physician.”
“No. I cannot.”
Boyeon Divine Nun immediately blocked his path.
She raised her sword once more—the same blade that had forced the Golden Wave Dignitary to his knees.
“If you intend to punish those without sin, you will have to trample over me first.”
“…I truly wished it would not come to this.”
Great Master Gakgong raised his Green Jade Buddha Palm as well.
“A pity.”
Bang!
With those words, he charged straight ahead.
Kwarrr—!
The ground cracked apart like drought-stricken farmland, the air tore open, and a violent shockwave sound erupted.
The immense true qi pouring from Great Master Gakgong swept across the battlefield like a raging tide.
Boyeon Divine Nun met it head-on.
Screech!
Ziiing!!
Her sword and the Green Jade Buddha Palm—each laden with form-shaped qi—crossed in midair.
The sound that rang out was entirely different from her earlier battle with the Golden Wave Dignitary.
From their clash burst forth an impact reminiscent of the tolling of an ancient mountain temple bell.
That was because the tremendous power imbued in both of their weapons was rooted in Buddhist sorcery.
Shaolin Temple and Mount Emei Sect.
Orthodox martial arts—this was the collision of two absolute beings who had mastered the true ultimate arts of Buddhist sects that had never once been pushed aside within the Nine Sects and One Gang across countless ages.
The profound qi surrounding them was refined to absolute perfection, and the ripples produced by the collision of their true qi made it impossible for onlookers to approach carelessly.
Yet Boyeon Divine Nun, the one actually crossing blades with him, narrowed her eyes.
‘…Something is wrong.’
Like lightning, they exchanged dozens of blows in an instant.
And every time Great Master Gakgong’s palm met her sword, an inexplicable sense of dissonance crept over her.
She had clearly crossed hands with him many times before at the Murim Alliance.
But this was unmistakably different from the past.
Screech!
Pahaat!
The outward form was undoubtedly Shaolin martial arts.
‘Diamond Vajra Demon-Sealing Palm and Hundred-Step Divine Fist…!’
Each was a palm and fist art revered as divine techniques in Shaolin’s long history.
Yet the moment their strikes met, she realized it.
‘The shell is the same, but the inside is completely different. There’s something chilling layered onto the energy transmitted through the blade…!’
Not everything within his martial arts was the orthodox Shaolin foundation.
Within the twisted flow of those techniques, something ominous writhed incessantly beneath the surface.
Like a minute poison dissolved into pure essence—subtle, persistent, and impure.
‘…Just what kind of awakening did Gakgong draw upon to reach the extreme of the Manifestation Realm?’
The longer she crossed swords with him, the more Boyeon Divine Nun felt her heart sink.
Because it seemed that, in the time she had not seen him, Gakgong had begun walking a path he never should have trodden.
“Divine Physician.”
“!!”
At that moment, Gakgong called to her in a low voice.
“Do you truly still intend to clash with this monk?”
“…Enough with the nonsense. Come at me again.”
Boyeon Divine Nun concealed her true feelings and forced herself to speak calmly.
Gakgong’s eyes narrowed.
“Whether it is because you swallowed the Blood Lord’s heretical tongue, you truly have lost all ability to discern right from wrong.”
Kwaaang!
With his words, Gakgong hurled his right fist like a bolt of lightning.
Clang!!
Pazzz—!
With a sound like dozens of layers of glass shattering, the space along the trajectory his fist grazed shattered into fragments.
It was an optical illusion born from the shockwave of the fist.
Seeing the fist qi streaking toward her like a meteor, Boyeon Divine Nun twisted her body sharply.
Screee!
At the same time, her one-handed sword traced a crescent arc, drawing a counterattack.
Saaaah!
Chwarararah!
The lethal strike of the Burning Blood Sword Technique—Flowing Wind Without Flaw—unfolded.
Dozens of layers of sword qi perfectly embroidered the sky as they closed in on Gakgong.
Yet Great Master Gakgong did not retreat a single step.
She planted her feet firmly and vaulted her body straight upward.
Clang!
With the Green Jade Buddha Palm—its lake-deep blue energy surging and rolling—she blocked the hidden strike concealed among dozens of branching feints.
“That is as far as you go, Divine Physician.”
“!!”
Kwaaaang!!
Crack!
Immediately after, Gakgong drove a full-powered punch straight into Boyeon Divine Nun’s chest.
A horrifying sound rang out as her ribs shattered.
Unable to withstand the force of the fist, Boyeon Divine Nun was blasted backward, carving a long groove into the ground as she flew, before finally coming to a halt.
Then—
“Cough!”
She spat out a mouthful of congealed blood.
“Master…!”
“Divine Physician…!”
Those who had been watching the battle—among them Geumhwa Satae and Tang Muyeol—cried out in despair.
Yet regrettably, Boyeon Divine Nun being pushed back was unavoidable.
‘…I cannot win. No, I cannot even last for long.’
She knew from the moment the fight began that she would lose.
Her current realm was the mature stage of the Manifestation Realm.
But Gakgong had already reached the extreme of the Manifestation Realm.
The disparity in martial attainment was so vast it could never be bridged.
Her arms trembled violently like aspen leaves.
Blood dripped steadily from the hand gripping her sword and splattered onto the ground.
‘But I cannot.’
She clenched her teeth. She did not despair.
If she retreated, every member of the Tang Clan would meet a miserable death.
Gakgong stepped forward once more.
“Step aside. It is all over now.”
“Don’t spout such—”
It was then.
The air of the battlefield abruptly changed.
“……!!”
“!!”
The eyes of both Gakgong and Boyeon Divine Nun widened as if about to burst.
This was not a metaphor.
The very air they felt had truly changed.
Both of them had experienced such a phenomenon before.
This kind of distortion unmistakably accompanied the presence of the Demonic Cult in the past…!
“Everyone—!”
“Evade—!”
Boyeon Divine Nun could not even finish the word evade—
Saaaaaah!
Kwaaaaaaang—!!
A sudden thunderous explosion resounded across the battlefield.
Just as they had anticipated, a Thunderburst Bomb had detonated.
The abrupt explosion instantly plunged the surroundings into chaos.
Tang Clan and Lee Trading Company alike—regardless of faction—turned their eyes toward the site of the blast.
Rumble—!
Crack—!
One side of the mountain ridge collapsed entirely, sending up an enormous cloud of dust.
Fortunately, the landslide occurred where neither side had stationed anyone, so there were no casualties.
“…What?!”
“…That…?”
“…I can’t… hear…!”
The blast had been so massive that even after it subsided, voices exchanged between people could not be heard properly.
Boyeon Divine Nun and Gakgong, too shocked to continue fighting, paused to assess what had happened.
‘W-why is that happening now?!’
Lee Jamyeong was drenched in cold sweat running down his spine.
The moment he saw it, he understood what had occurred.
Some of the Thunderburst Bombs he had planted had detonated.
But he was dumbfounded.
[Gate of Assassins Leader!! What in the world is this supposed to be?!]
Lee Jamyeong himself had never given the order to detonate the Thunderburst Bombs to the Gate of Assassins Leader who had taken the contract.
That much was obvious.
Not only was Boyeon Divine Nun present, but the Heavenly Fist Tathagata—Great Master Gakgong—had come here to assist him. Why would he ever detonate the bombs?
Gakgong’s declared goal of purging the Tang Clan had been perfectly convenient to exploit.
That was why he had intended to leave the Thunderburst Bombs unused and quietly retrieve them afterward.
Yet one of them had exploded without warning.
Naturally, that meant it had to be someone’s mistake—one of the assassins planted by the Gate of Assassins Leader.
However, the reply that followed shattered his expectations completely.
[That was not our doing.]
[Don’t try to deny it! If it wasn’t you, then who else could have detonated a Thunderburst Bomb?!]
[Look over there.]
[…What?]
Lee Jamyeong turned his head toward the site of the explosion.
“…!!”
As the dust cloud gradually began to clear, he made out the silhouette of a single man standing boldly upright.
Flash!
“You bastard—!!”
At that moment, Great Master Gakgong shot forward like a bolt of lightning.
Boyeon Divine Nun followed immediately after him.
Watching them, a surge of unease rose sharply within Lee Jamyeong, and he bit down hard on his lip.
‘Damn it—!’
Flash!
He hurriedly leapt after them.
If traces of the Lee Trading Company were discovered there, it would spell disaster.
A pale-faced Myeongwolja followed last.
‘Just who in the world…!’
Pushing through the hazy dust cloud, Boyeon Divine Nun chased after Gakgong, thinking to herself.
A Thunderburst Bomb.
That horrific object once used by the Demonic Cult—was it really appearing here?
Crunch.
At last, Gakgong came to a halt upon reaching the destination.
Boyeon Divine Nun also stopped and confirmed what lay ahead.
“…!!”
The first thing that entered her sight was a corpse.
The dead body lay sprawled on the ground, already devoid of life, wearing the martial uniform of the Kongtong Sect.
And beside it—
“You…!”
A man stood there, upright and utterly unshaken.
“Ghk—khk!”
That man was gripping someone by the throat with one hand.
A black-masked figure of unknown identity was suspended in the air, trembling violently in his grasp.
At that moment, a low breath escaped Boyeon Divine Nun’s lips.
“…Tang Sewoon?”
Slowly, the man turned his head toward them.
Shock filled everyone’s eyes.
“Yes. I was the one who detonated the Thunderburst Bomb.”
The Blood-Thread Tyrant, Tang Sewoon, spoke words that left them utterly stunned.