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Chapter 158 – Erasing Qingcheng (2)
Translated by : moonchildkhz
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It was around the time when Woon-seong began to collide with the Wave Sword Sea Formation of Qingcheng.
Crackle—
A huge fire blazed. Silent flames spread out in all directions, burning the surroundings.
Bloom-
The heat was so intense that the surrounding space seemed to be distorted.
The Heavenly Demon’s Wheel.
Tendrils of flame emanated, consuming nearby soldiers.
“Ahhh!”
“Huff-puff!”
Screams sounded everywhere; ash billowed into the air.
The Qingcheng Sect had the greatest number of casualties.
They were within the direct range of the Heavenly Demon’s Wheel, and more than a dozen people were burnt to a crisp in the first blow.
Surprisingly, though it was hit with the Heavenly Demon’s Wheel, the Wave Sword Sea Formation did not collapse.
“Grrrgh.”
The elder slowly raised his head, straightening his knees as he stood up.
Immediately after
.
Bzzt!
Blue lightning flashed in front of Woon-seong, tearing the Heavenly Demon’s Wheel apart.
Seeing that, Woon-seong laughed, as if he found this very interesting. “Oh-ho.” I heard that you were very strong, but I didn’t think you could stop it.
Woon-seong’s smile was frosty, but the other side was still staring.
How can the demon be so powerful?
His eyes were one Woon-seong, but his heart was filled with fear. The hands gripping the sword trembled.
In the eyes of this elder, Woon-seong’s power was beyond human understanding. He had never met someone of the Semi-Divine Realm before, so this was quite natural.
Can one be this strong simply by stepping into Heaven’s threshold?
To be more precise, it was surpassing the status of a human.
The man did not know this, but fear of Woon-seong was deeply branded into his bones.
First Apprentice.
The elder remembered the First Apprentice, who had died, and couldn’t hide his trembling hands.
Although the energy of some 290 people flowed into the sword in his hands, it still seemed too little.
Is there no other way?
The man felt like he was facing Death.
It was difficult to say that the Heavenly Demon was not just another word for Death coming to him.
In that situation, something suddenly popped into his head.
— Really?
It was a voice inside the man’s head. His hand twitched as he grabbed at his chest, feeling a few small pills.
But because this was medicine made by the Cult of the Inverted Sky, it was not trustworthy. However, Hwan Dok had said that ingesting it could amplify internal qi by several times.
— If you eat this, you can achieve anything you want.
As the man’s hands trembled, the voice of Hwan Dok continued to echo within his mind.
Under normal circumstances, the man, Han Chong, would have realized that this was the beginning of some illusionary scam.
But this time, the situation was bad.
Han Chong was frightened by the overwhelming presence of Woon-seong.
Fear covered his entire body and his back was covered in cold sweat, making his entire body feel heavy as a wet cotton ball.
The temptation of immediate power amplified inside his mind because of that fear.
So he did not care that it would be his downfall.
Han Chong stuffed a pill into his mouth.
“You ate the Drunken Dream Pill,” Hwan Dok muttered as he watched the fight between Qingcheng and the Heavenly Demon from a distance.
Tang Jin-ryong turned and asked, “What did you say?”
Hwan Dok shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
The Demonic Emperor of Oblivion was waiting to see the effects of the pill with cold eyes.
You might not know it, but that pill is a failure.
His mouth was curled into a pitying sneer.
Pill of Drunken Dreams.
This pill, which induced the wayward dreams of a drunken man, was something created by the Cult of the Inverted Sky.
No, it was more than just a failed pill.
While it did indeed increase the internal qi of the user, the user would be quickly consumed by their hallucinations and fall into intoxicated madness.
The insanity that the Drunken Dream Pill induced was not very special. It merely made the user become controlled by their base desires and emotions.
The main problem was when these emotions or desires were too strong.
“Hahaha, die, Heavenly Demon!”
As the energy within the Drunken Dream Pill entered his body, Han Chong felt the internal qi in his body fluctuating.
The power of Qingcheng was added to it. Unexpected power began to surge around the man.
In the process, the consciousness of the man slowly dissipated. Only one strong emotion remained in the end, becoming the controller of Han Chong’s body.
That emotion was hatred.
A desire for vengeance against the Heavenly Demon, who had killed the First Apprentice, moved Han Chong.
Kwa-rung –
There seemed to be a thunderstorm gathering around the sword and suddenly the sword began to rotate.
The metal continued to rotate and eventually compressed, transforming into a new appearance.
Kuakua—
It was a vortex.
The man had compressed energy by spinning the sword at high speed!
Bang—
The sword could not contain the ferocious energy and shattered.
Nevertheless, Han Chong did not falter.
Guaguaguaya-
With only the handle left, the no-longer-a-sword continued to spin.
Seeing this, Woon-seong moved the White Night Spear.
Kwa-rung –
A wall of wind rose into the sky. Woon-seong couldn’t bear to do what the man was doing and destroy his weapon.
Moreover, there was a crucial difference between Woon-seong and Han Chong.
“Fool,” Woon-seong muttered as he swung his spear towards Han Chong, who also swung his blade at Woon-seong.
The might of the Wave Sword Sea Formation blasted out.
Woon-seong broke the move with a flick of his spear.
Disconnect, divide, and eventually the man was blown backwards.
Kuakuakua—
Han Chang, who collided with Woon-seong’s wall of wind, was forced several meters back.
“Cough!” Han Chong coughed out a mouthful of blood.
The biggest difference between Woon-seong and Han Chong was in their abilities to manage internal qi.
The difference between Semi-Divinity and Absolution was not just one step.
Having more internal qi would not fill in this gap.
A martial artist at Transcendence could handle their internal qi in a much more sophisticated manner than a martial artist at the Peak Level. A regular sword in the hands of a First-Rate martial artist would be more powerful than that same sword in a Third-Rate’s.
And now, that same logic applied between Woon-seong and Han Chong.
Woon-seong simply overwhelmed the Qingcheng’s offensive.
Wherever the Wave Sword Sea Formation fell, the White Night Spear was there.
The White Night Spear quickly scattered traces of the Qingcheng’s skill into the four winds.
The Qingcheng’s formation was being split right in front of Woon-seong.
As if the fog had been scattered, the move had no effect on Woon-seong.
In that situation, Woon-seong smiled.
There was a technique called the Dismantling Sword. It was a swordsmanship style which read the opponent’s qi flow, then sealed the opponent’s sword path.
That was what Woon-seong was using.
No, it should be called the Dismantling Spear, since I’m using a spear. I quite like the name.
Either way, the important thing was that Woon-seong was able to freely control both his spear and the opponent’s swords.
Not bad.
The martial arts of the Spear Master Sect aimed to build knowledge of martial arts in order to develop their own techniques. In the process, because they analyzed such a large number of techniques, sometimes their spear arts held the traces of other weapon arts.
That was the case right now.
Enlightenment from stepping into Semi-Divinity had only added to Woon-seong’s knowledge of martial arts.
With that, the famous Wave Sword Sea Formation of the Qingcheng Sect became like children waving wooden swords about.
The main reason wasn’t Woon-seong’s skill, but actually that Han Chong failed to fully master the Qingcheng Sect’s swordsmanship style.
Thanks to that, Woon-seong dealt with the Qingcheng as easily as flicking a child on the wrist.
“Aaaah, die, Heavenly Demon!”
On the other hand, Han Chong, who had already lost all rational judgment, needed more and more power to defeat Woon-seong!
The victims here were the disciples of Qingcheng.
“Cough!”
“Cough!”
The disciples, who made up the Wave Sword Sea Formation, coughed up blood. This was because Han Chong was robbing them of tremendous amounts of energy.
Those who were weaker were already dying, bleeding out from their orifices.
“E-Elder
”
“S-Save
”
The remaining swordsmen gathered their energy and called for Han Chong to stop.
But these voices fell on deaf ears.
“Heavenly Demonnnnnn!”
Han Chong only continued to scream bloody murder. He was so consumed by his anger towards the Heavenly Demon that he didn’t realize he was hurting his own people.
He only continued to take qi and life force away from the swordsmen remaining inside the formation, trying to gain even more power.
That was the raving madness of a drunken man.
Woon-seong coldly ridiculed the man.
You’re so drunk on getting revenge that you’ve lost all semblance of self-preservation or care for others.
If you really wanted revenge, you shouldn’t have done that.
You have to look at things a little less emotionally, hiding yourself until you have reached perfection.
It is also important to act carefully until you achieve your goals. Humans cannot help but be affected by emotion, but you can do your best to mitigate these effects.
Woon-seong couldn’t do that in his previous life, so he lost his life to Jwa Do-gyul. But this life would be different.
That was the way of an avenger which Woon-seong walked.
But what was this man doing?
He was bursting with rage, shouting for revenge.
There was no questioning what he should do and what he should not do.
I’m appalled by this weakness disguised as strength.
Watching on, Woon-seong’s emotions could be described in a single sentence: I wish you’d disappear from my sight.
Woon-seong’s energy rose. At the same time, a grayish energy surrounded him and his eyes turned gold.
White Night Spear clasped in his hands, the Divine Flame went wild.
Soon, it wrapped around the White Night Spear, forming one giant flaming torch.
Woon-seong swung.
Flow of the Divine Dragon.
A golden dragon haloed by flames left Woon-seong’s hands and sped off into the world.
Kwaarnee-
Watching the dragon wreathed in flames rush towards the Qingcheng Sect, Tang Jin-ryong muttered, “It’s about time.”
“Indeed, it is time.”
It was time for the corpse puppet Sword Emperor of Ice and Light to move.
To shave off the power of the Heavenly Demon