Chapter 315: I Am Yong Hwarin

In the meantime, Tang Cheolgi was locked in a fierce clash with the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit.

“Aaaargh!”

The warriors of the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit who had been fighting Tang Cheolgi began to scream and convulse after just a few seconds of combat.

They collapsed, unable to withstand the poisonous energy emitted by his Poison Blade.

No matter how much of a first-rate martial artist one was, it was impossible to withstand the venomous energy of the Madok Petrification Leaf imbued in the Poison Blade. Moreover, in such a state, Tang Cheolgi’s blade was sharp enough to easily cut down the warriors of the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit.

It even looked like he was moving in a trance, no different from a Martial Master.

“Keep your distance from that bastard!”

Having tasted the power of the Poison Blade, the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit no longer dared to approach Tang Cheolgi.

Whenever Tang Cheolgi advanced, they would retreat in unison.

It hadn’t even been two hours, yet around twenty warriors had already fallen to Tang Cheolgi, so their reaction was understandable.

The hostages cheered as they watched Tang Cheolgi cut down the warriors who had been oppressing them like stalks of grass.

“Amazing! For such a master to emerge from the Tang Clan!”

“Why was someone like that taken hostage?”

“I heard from his companions that he came to rescue the hostages.”

“Huh, a hero of the murim has been born from the Tang Clan after a hundred years.”

All of them were praising Tang Cheolgi’s martial prowess.

However, Seomun Yuwon, who had come with Wi Jiman, wore a bitter expression. It was because Tang Cheolgi, whom they considered the weakest among them, was now stealing the spotlight and showing off his strength.

Even though he had barely recovered his qi circulation after taking the antidote to the Energy Dispersing Poison, he didn’t seem likely to regain his former prowess.

But he couldn’t stay idle any longer.

The warriors of the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit, who had been pushed back by Tang Cheolgi, now attempted to flank around and seize the hostages.

Around ten martial artists who had taken the antidote picked up the swords of the fallen and moved to confront the advancing warriors.

Lightning-Faced Madman, who had been frantically battling Yong Hwarin, shouted when he saw the situation of the hostages.

“How are the hostages using internal energy?!”

But no one responded.

He shouted again, now sounding irritated.

“Wi Oh! Where is Wi Oh?!”

Yong Hwarin approached Lightning-Faced Madman and spoke.

“What use is there in searching for someone who isn’t here?”

Then, he launched an attack with the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword, which Lightning-Faced Madman blocked using the Nine-Section Whip.

Yong Hwarin, seeing the Nine-Section Whip moving as if it were alive, was wholly absorbed in the thrill of the fight.

It was Jeong Minji who snapped him back to reality.

“Gaga, this isn’t the time for this. We need to finish up quickly and get out of here.”

Hearing that, Lightning-Faced Madman burst out in rage.

“You brats! What do you take this old man for?!”

The battlefield was utter chaos.

With their commander lost, the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit could not exert their full power in the confusion, and Lightning-Faced Madman, who should have been directing them, was bound by Yong Hwarin and unable to move.

In the meantime, Tang Cheolgi continued to slaughter them without resistance using his terrifying Poison Blade.

“Wahahahaha! Come on, all of you, you bastards! Come at me!”

Tang Cheolgi shouted, thrilled as he watched the warriors of the Blood Demon Castle fall to his blade.

Jeong Minji, the Gunwi siblings, and the Hwangbo Mak siblings were also locked in fierce combat with the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit after regaining their internal energy.

Seeing hostages being killed by the enemy while trying to escape, Yong Hwarin decided he couldn’t afford to waste more time.

Lightning-Faced Madman seemed to have the same thought and gathered all his internal energy.

“Aaaaargh!”

Letting out a strange battle cry, he swung his Nine-Section Whip.

Then, the nine steel segments separated and flew toward Yong Hwarin like they were going to shred him apart.

Swaaaaash!

This was Lightning-Faced Madman’s signature technique—Nine-Whip Heaven Pierce (九鞭刺天).

As they flew, their trajectories constantly shifted, making it impossible to predict their path.

But Yong Hwarin changed his grip on the sword to a High Sword Stance and moved forward.

Seeing that, the hostages screamed in terror.

“Reckless!”

“It’s suicide!”

“My god!”

“He’s out of his mind!”

The nine steel segments twisted at strange angles as they flew, and someone running directly into them could only be seen as insane.

Yong Hwarin had only one goal.

He had once read a letter from Lightning-Faced Madman using only his qi sense and realized one truth.

Everything imbued with qi had a unique pattern to that energy.

Yong Hwarin had already reached a stage where he harmonized and fused with Nature’s Energy. But this was something any master who had reached the Upper World Realm could achieve.

What differed was the ability or skill one gained after such fusion.

When Yong Hwarin used to say he could sense qi, it was merely a level where he could feel the presence of something invisible.

That was what he had achieved with the Flowing Stream Realm and gained the Time-Space Realm.

But even the Time-Space Realm only allowed him to feel the presence of qi, not actually see it.

However, when he tried to read the contents of the letter, he found himself stepping into another world.

Yong Hwarin didn’t bother giving it a name beyond the Upper World Realm, but he knew it was a realm higher than that.

Qi, by nature, was not something that could be seen with the eyes.

But just as the flow of a heatwave could be seen even when the wave itself was invisible, the same held true for qi.

After reaching the Upper World Realm and harmonizing with Nature’s Energy, Yong Hwarin became closer to nature and could sense the innate vibrations of all things.

‘Had I not formed the Tai Chi Dantian, I never would’ve reached this level.’

After consuming the Azure Dragon Three Marbles, around two hours of meditation had brought Yong Hwarin countless realizations.

‘All things are composed in harmony between yin and yang, and they cannot be perceived by just one type of energy. So as long as humans possess only a single dantian, they can never sense the true essence of all things. But with the Tai Chi Dantian, which contains both yin and yang energy, I can sense the essence of all things. That’s why I’ve reached a stage where I can read qi’s waves and even see it.’

That was the conclusion Yong Hwarin had reached.

He couldn’t say it was a level vastly above the Upper World Realm, but it was clearly something even Namgung Bi hadn’t achieved.

Yong Hwarin named this realm Qi Revelation Realm.

It seemed to fall somewhere in the middle of what others referred to as the realm of Unity of Sword and Mind, though Yong Hwarin remained skeptical about that concept.

While walking less than ten steps, countless thoughts crossed his mind.

Even though the nine steel segments flew irregularly, the pattern of the qi within them revealed their path.

That alone allowed him to predict where they would fly.

Shwik!

He bent his waist to dodge one, and in that position, lifted his right leg to evade another flying low.

Shwik!

He tilted his head to the right and avoided the one heading for his head.

Shwik!

Yong Hwarin ducked low to the ground, narrowly avoiding a steel rod spinning through the air as if it intended to sever his waist. At the same time, he leapt up.

Thud!

In that instant, a steel rod struck the spot where he had just been sitting.

Had he remained there, it would have pierced straight through his chest.

Only then did Yong Hwarin realize that Lightning-Faced Madman was controlling the steel rods with his qi.

In a way, it could be called a form of Unity of Sword and Mind, but instead of complete control, Lightning-Faced Madman was adjusting the direction of the rods slightly using qi.

Regardless, it was extremely effective.

Had Yong Hwarin not been able to perceive the flow of qi, he would have suffered greatly under Lightning-Faced Madman’s Nine-Whip Heaven Pierce.

After dodging all the steel rods of the Nine-Section Whip and standing before Lightning-Faced Madman, the latter muttered,

“This can’t be… Nine-Whip Heaven Pierce can’t be avoided by sight…”

Until now, even martial masters and those who had reached the Extreme State had lost their lives to this technique.

It was because no one had been able to read the trajectory of Nine-Whip Heaven Pierce.

Each steel rod carried immense qi, making it extremely difficult to block.

Even Lightning-Faced Madman himself couldn’t predict where the rods would go, since their direction changed constantly through qi.

To think this young brat had dodged them by sight alone momentarily flustered him.

But only for a moment—when Yong Hwarin approached, he stretched out his hand.

He infused qi into the whip, now emptied of steel rods, and thrust it toward Yong Hwarin’s chest. But Yong Hwarin deployed Protective Force and deflected it, then sliced off Lightning-Faced Madman’s right arm with his sword.

Slash!

It happened so quickly. But it was an expected result.

Having failed with the final secret technique he prided himself on, Lightning-Faced Madman had already lost his fighting spirit and now felt fear toward Yong Hwarin.

In such a state, he couldn’t withstand Yong Hwarin’s Dragon Eye Stare.

Dragon Eye Stare (龍眼相目) was a technique where, if one felt fear, they could no longer follow Yong Hwarin’s movements.

It was, as the name implied, like facing the eyes of a dragon directly and tasting fear. As his arm dropped to the ground, Lightning-Faced Madman quickly retreated and fled.

Realizing that he faced an opponent he could never defeat, he discarded his pride and ran for his life.

Yong Hwarin watched him and threw his sword.

“What the…?”

Hwangbo Mak, who had been watching their fight, muttered.

The sword Yong Hwarin threw was three jang away from the fleeing Lightning-Faced Madman.

The others also looked disappointed, thinking Yong Hwarin had made a rare mistake.

But then something strange happened.

Lightning-Faced Madman, while fleeing, suddenly changed direction and flung himself straight into the path of the thrown sword.

It looked as if he had intentionally hurled himself toward the weapon.

“Graaah!”

The sword Yong Hwarin had thrown pierced directly through Lightning-Faced Madman’s abdomen. Perhaps his dantian had been damaged—he collapsed soon after.

Yong Hwarin had seen the flow of qi emitted from Lightning-Faced Madman’s Yongcheon Point and predicted that he would soon veer three jang to the right.

But for those unaware of this, Yong Hwarin looked like a ghost.

To those who could predict such movements, it was only natural he would seem ghostly.

“Lady Jeong, just who is that person?”

Hwangbo Mak grew curious about the age of the young man displaying such mysterious martial prowess at such a young age.

Seeing Jeong Minji gaze at him with affectionate eyes, he assumed she knew him.

“He is…”

Just as Jeong Minji tried to speak with pride, her words caught in her throat as she saw figures emerging from the forest. Jo Qiansheng was carrying the fallen Lightning-Faced Madman out of the woods.

Behind him were the warriors of the Homa Heavenly Corps, Wi Oh, and the fifty warriors of the Dragon-Slaying Blood Sword Unit Jo Qiansheng had sent.

Jo Qiansheng handed Lightning-Faced Madman over to his subordinate and spoke.

“To think the one who put Elder Ju in this state was a hostage… I can’t believe it.”

Jo Qiansheng stared directly at Yong Hwarin and asked,

“Who are you? You’re no nameless nobody. State your name!”

Yong Hwarin removed his Face-Concealing Mask and shouted,

“I am Yong Hwarin!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep