novelraw Chapter 235 : Chapter 235
Chapter 235 : Chapter 235
Chapter 235. Final Battle (5)
Baek Hyang swung the Twin Fate Swords toward the Grand Elder.
Using the profound principle of Moonlight Shaking Sword that she had learned from Jin Yuseong, she redirected the Grand Elder’s left blade.
BOOM!
Even though she attempted to redirect it, an explosion still erupted.
The overwhelming force that she failed to completely deflect transmitted through her arms.
Her bones and muscles screamed in pain.
At that moment, the Grand Elder’s right blade flew toward her again.
Baek Hyang barely managed to leap away and avoid the strike.
Just as the Grand Elder prepared to swing again, gray energy suddenly shot toward him from the side.
“You insects!!”
While blocking Paeng Daecheol’s lightning energy with his right blade, the Grand Elder quickly twisted his upper body.
WHOOSH.
A hidden strand of sword aura that had slipped through the lightning grazed the edge of his clothes.
It was a sword aura launched by Choyeon.
Annoyed, the Grand Elder swung his left blade through the air.
Another enormous surge of Enhanced Qi tore through the sky toward Paeng Daecheol and Choyeon.
Choyeon barely avoided it using her superb footwork.
“HYAAAH!”
Paeng Daecheol shouted roughly and performed a clumsy donkey roll to barely avoid the attack.
“HAHAHA! Of course! In real combat, a donkey roll is sometimes necessary!”
For some reason, Hwangbo Ak laughed happily and charged toward the Grand Elder.
Supporting him, Baek Hyang also swung the Twin Fate Swords toward the enemy.
Several exchanges passed like this.
Baek Hyang and Hwangbo Ak clung to the Grand Elder.
Whenever one of them was knocked away or placed in danger, Paeng Daecheol and Choyeon launched sneak attacks.
After this pattern repeated several times, the Grand Elder coughed and spat blood.
“Cough.”
It was the result of the injuries he had accumulated while fighting the One Hundred and Eight Arhat Formation alone.
Although he had succeeded in destroying the formation, he had not escaped unscathed.
Moreover, suppressing the rampaging demonic energy within him had only worsened his internal injuries.
The Grand Elder’s stance collapsed momentarily as he coughed.
Lightning energy, fist aura, and sword aura all flew toward him again.
The Grand Elder waved both arms violently.
His two blades traced circles, forming a black energy barrier.
After repelling all the attacks, the Grand Elder looked miserable.
But his eyes had grown even more murderous.
“Heh heh heh. So this is your plan—to slowly grind this old man to death.”
Realizing the enemy’s intentions, the Grand Elder observed the battlefield.
The bodies of his cult disciples lay scattered everywhere.
“You think things will go as you wish?”
In the distance, he also saw the Cult Leader rampaging alone in the middle of the enemy ranks, releasing terrifying demonic energy.
The Grand Elder poured his internal energy into a shout.
“Supreme One!! Use this foolish servant as fertilizer and lead the faithful to ascend to the heavens!!”
At this rate, things would simply proceed according to the enemy’s plan.
After speaking what was essentially his final words, he suddenly swung his left hand.
Holding the blade, he used his thumb to strike multiple acupoints across his body.
Instantly, the demonic energy flowing through his body began to rage wildly.
The Grand Elder had no intention of suppressing it any longer.
“Heh heh heh. Come then—let us die together.”
With those words, his consciousness snapped completely.
“GRAAAAAAH!!”
The Grand Elder, now no more than a mindless beast, swung his right blade wildly.
A terrifying force, far beyond anything before, tore through the air.
The violent power caused his own acupoints to burst open, but it no longer mattered.
He had already abandoned his life.
The terrifying aura forced everyone nearby to leap away.
Some Beggars’ Sect disciples and Shaolin monks who failed to escape were torn apart instantly.
“AAAAARGH!”
Meanwhile, the Grand Elder raised his blade again.
Grinding her teeth, Baek Hyang rushed toward him.
Supporting her, Paeng Daecheol unleashed the Thunderclap Blade Technique, while Hwangbo Ak joined the assault.
CRACKLE.
The Grand Elder casually swung his right blade toward the lightning energy.
With a motion like swatting an insect, Paeng Daecheol’s lightning shattered instantly.
But that brief moment bought by Paeng Daecheol allowed Baek Hyang to reach the Grand Elder.
“GRAAAAAH!!”
Having completely lost his reason, the Grand Elder wildly swung both blades at the nearest enemy.
CREAK.
Ironically, every time the Grand Elder swung his blade, his own body screamed.
His movements were driven by the rampaging demonic energy.
His body could no longer endure the force.
Yet because these movements exceeded his limits, the speed and power of his attacks far surpassed before.
Baek Hyang stood like a firefly caught in the middle of a storm.
Black energy surged from all directions, and the twin blades rained down relentlessly.
Every moment was a deadly crisis.
Yet Baek Hyang moved with calm grace, as if dancing.
This dangerous situation was stimulating her genius comprehension.
Without realizing it, she had entered a state of complete absorption, wearing a blissful expression.
In reality, the Grand Elder’s blades created a violent storm.
Inside her mind, countless martial arts surged like a tempest.
‘Not yet.’
Within the storm, she waited.
Using her extraordinary perception, she quietly read the flow of the storm.
She waited for the day when the plum blossom would bloom.
In the harsh winter frost and wind, a plum tree simply waits for its time.
Even after losing all its beautiful petals, leaving only its bare trunk.
Just like a tree enduring winter, she endured the storm with minimal movement.
Her robes were torn apart by the storm.
Wounds opened across her body.
Yet her eyes remained calm.
But to those watching the fight, it was a terrifying sight.
It seemed as though Baek Hyang could die at any moment.
Yet no one could easily intervene.
She was standing in the very center of the storm.
If they interfered recklessly, they might strike her instead.
While everyone hesitated—
Only one person watched calmly.
Choyeon.
She slowed her breathing and erased her presence.
Blending her energy with the surrounding aura, she waited for an opportunity.
From a distance, she observed the battle.
After watching the butterfly struggling within the massive black storm for a while—
Choyeon saw it.
A tiny opening.
A slight error appeared in the Grand Elder’s movements as he swung his blades like a madman.
His right leg muscle twisted after exceeding its limits.
A small gap opened within the storm of energy.
One single opening into the storm.
The moment she saw it, Choyeon thrust the Silver Moon Sword silently.
A silent thrust that cut through the air.
A single strand of hidden energy shot forward.
Through the gap in the black storm.
SLASH!
Her sword aura did not aim for the Grand Elder’s vital points.
If it had, he would have reacted.
Instead, the hidden aura merely grazed the Grand Elder’s right ankle.
“GRAAAH!”
Unaware of the injury to his leg, the Grand Elder swung his blade again.
But his stance collapsed.
Baek Hyang instantly realized it.
This was the moment the flower would bloom.
The energy flowing through every acupoint in her body surged toward the Twin Fate Swords.
The power she had condensed while enduring the winter burst forth at once.
A single arc traced through the air.
And then a plum blossom bloomed.
Along with blood.
SLASH.
There was no scream.
The Grand Elder’s severed head fell to the ground with a dull thud.
The raging storm disappeared instantly.
Baek Hyang remained standing in the same posture, her sword extended.
The insights she had gained while fighting the Grand Elder still filled her mind.
For a brief moment, she organized those realizations.
Then—
BOOM!!!
A terrifying explosion shattered her concentration.
Only then did Baek Hyang realize she was still standing in the middle of a battlefield.
Her head snapped toward the sound.
Not only her.
Everyone nearby turned their heads.
The ominous sound had come from the place where the most terrifying battle was unfolding.
***
Earlier in the battle.
“Amitabha!”
The Shaolin Abbot thrust out his palm, sending a crimson surge of energy toward the True Bright Cult Leader.
But with a single swing of his sword, the Cult Leader cut it apart effortlessly.
Even though Buddhist energy was especially effective against evil forces.
And it was not only the Buddha Palm.
The Abbot unleashed countless Shaolin techniques—Hundred-Step Divine Fist, Finger Flicking Technique, and more.
Yet none of them worked against the Cult Leader.
“You damned monster!!”
The Beggars’ Sect Leader also pressed the Cult Leader relentlessly with the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.
“Heh heh heh. So many delicious-looking prey.”
The Cult Leader only grew more greedy.
The demonic energy swirling around his body blocked the staff.
It did not feel like ordinary protective energy.
It twisted and writhed as if it possessed its own will.
“Heh heh heh.”
While pressing the Shaolin Abbot with his sword, the Cult Leader used the surrounding demonic energy to repel the Sect Leader’s attacks.
At one point, the demonic energy even opened its jaws and bit the staff.
“What the hell is this?!”
Startled, the Sect Leader hurriedly unleashed the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms to push the energy away.
At that moment, a sword flew toward the Cult Leader.
WHOOSH.
The demonic energy surrounding him bared its teeth.
But the sword suddenly changed its trajectory, avoiding the energy.
The sword moved through the air as if someone were wielding it.
It circled and attacked the Cult Leader’s vital points.
“Oh? Flying Sword Control.”
The Cult Leader looked at Jin Yuseong with interest.
Even now, Jin Yuseong was controlling the Myungin Sword with Flying Sword Control.
The sword that had risen into the air curved downward and struck toward the back of the Cult Leader’s head.
But demonic energy surged from the Cult Leader’s body and blocked it.
At that moment, the Shaolin Abbot and Beggars’ Sect Leader attacked together with fist and staff.
“Amitabha!”
“Die, you monster!!”
A thunderous explosion followed.
But neither of their expressions improved.
Their combined attack had been easily blocked by the Cult Leader’s sword.
While veins bulged on their foreheads, the Cult Leader did not even break a sweat.
‘Is he truly a monster?’
‘…Our best option may be to stall until he loses control.’
At that moment, demonic energy flowing from the Cult Leader’s shoulder tried to grab the Shaolin Abbot.
The Abbot hurriedly stepped back.
But the Cult Leader followed.
To save the Abbot, the Sect Leader swung his staff repeatedly.
The Myungin Sword also circled the Cult Leader, aiming for his vital points.
But the Cult Leader repelled every attack and approached the Abbot.
“I will devour you first!”
Just as he thrust his sword toward the Abbot—
Jin Yuseong suddenly appeared in front of him.
At the same time, the Myungin Sword flying through the air returned to Jin Yuseong’s hand.
Holding the sword, Jin Yuseong unleashed Golden Ring.
A ring of Enhanced Qi formed, blocking the Cult Leader’s blade.
The overwhelming force crushed down upon him.
Jin Yuseong gritted his teeth.
Blood flowed from between his tightly clenched lips.
Yet his eyes stared straight at the Cult Leader.
Within them, he saw the terrifying energy flowing through the Cult Leader’s body.
—Using them as sacrifices, I will ascend to the heavens!
The Cult Leader’s naked greed was clearly visible.
But something else was even more shocking.
Another surge of black energy flowed from the Cult Leader’s body and opened its jaws.
—I will devour everything.
Strangely, within that dark energy, the Cult Leader’s own desires were clearly contained.