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Chapter 249. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (20)

Meanwhile, Woo-Moon dug his way out of the cliff; he was a complete mess, with his clothes torn and his hair disheveled. When he saw them, he shouted, “No, retreat!”

But the Martial Heaven God’s hand had already moved.

When he snapped his fingers, a small bead popped out, flying toward the Mad Demon Squadron.

It really was small, only the size of a cherry, and it flew at a speed that didn’t look particularly high. But Woo-Moon knew that was only perception. Inside the bead of aura was a terrifying rotational power, which was gathering an incredible amount of energy.

Although he wanted to rush over and save the Mad Demon Squadron, Woo-Moon’s condition was terrible.

He had suffered considerable internal injuries due to the blow from Burning the Cosmos earlier. Since it was an attack of the Martial Heaven God, who was also a Zenith, it was difficult for him to recover quickly. The Martial Heaven God’s qi had a property that hindered the opponent’s recovery, just like Woo-Moon’s.

The Mad Demon Squadron didn’t realize how much power the aura bead had. Thus, they ignored it and tried to rush the Martial Heaven God instead.

And then... the bead got in the middle of the Mad Demon Squadron.

BOOM!

The moment it reached its destination, it exploded, conjuring a massive tornado of aura around it. Red streams of blood rose up with the winds of the tornado, and when the aura bead disappeared... so did the Mad Demon Squadron.

Not even a speck of dust remained.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the pesky intruders, shall we begin our game again?”

As the Martial Heaven God spoke, he approached Woo-Moon and stretched out his hand to shoot another aura bead.

Woo-Moon’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked at the Martial Heaven God.

“No!”

Ma-Ra had appeared behind the Martial Heaven God and was swinging her sword at him. In response, the Martial Heaven God laughed.

Cough, cough!

Woo-Moon flashed forward, even while vomiting blood, and hugged Ma-Ra, taking the Martial Heaven God’s attack square to his back.

“Ugh...”

The shock was so massive he couldn’t even scream.

At the same time, Si-Hyeon also ran forward and struck at the Martial Heaven God. But no attack could break through the barrier of aura that surrounded him; her attack simply vanished into thin air.

BANG!

Hit in return by the Martial Heaven God, Si-Hyeon flew backward, spitting out blood like a fountain. The Otherworldly Fairy Ah Hee leaped into the air and tried to mitigate the shock by catching her from behind, but the sheer force of the blast was so great that they were both propelled backward as if shot from a sling.

BOOM!

Woo-Moon, Ma-Ra, Si-Hyeon, and Ah Hee rolled across the ground simultaneously and vomited blood at the same time.

Even though Woo-Moon had taken on the brunt of the Martial Heaven God’s attack instead of Ma-Ra, the aftershock was enough to cause Ma-Ra severe internal injuries. At the same time, Ah Hee suffered internal injuries so severe that it would take at least three months to heal just by catching Si-Hyeon.

“Great Hero Undefeatable Sword Immortal Song Woo-Moon, you killed my only son. You see, I’m a person far detached from mere human emotions, but even so... it’s not a good feeling. I’m sure you’d understand.”

Thud, thud.

The Martial Heaven God slowly walked toward Woo-Moon.

By this point, Sang-Woon, Dae-Woong, Jin-Jin, Yeo-Seol, the Song Family guards, Woo-Moon’s disciples, and countless warriors of the Heavenly Demon Cult had arrived.

“Woo-Moon!”

“Lord!”

“Gege!”

All of them called out to Woo-Moon, each in their own way. But as they ran toward the Martial Heaven God like moths to a flame, Woo-Moon stopped them, even while spitting out blood.

“S-Stop! Cough, cough, stop right there! Don’t move, or you’ll die!”

Woo-Moon stood up on shaky legs.

“Hah, hah, hah....”

Although he took several deep breaths, his breathing didn’t stabilize. The powerful qi of the Martial Heaven God was still raging inside of him.

He used all of his strength to stand up straight. Then, he stretched out both hands and summoned Inkblade and Golden Dragon, which were in his room.

Woosh!

Inkblade and Golden Dragon quickly flew toward Woo-Moon. But the moment they approached, the Martial Heaven God stretched out his hands. The two swords quickly changed directions and entered the Martial Heaven God’s hands.

“Ugh!”

Clutching his chest, Woo-Moon suffered another tremendous shock as the flow of the Sword Control was wrestled away from him.

“We don’t need such unsightly things between us, do we?”

The Martial Heaven God grabbed Inkblade and Golden Dragon and simply smashed the two swords together.

Crack!

Inkblade and Golden Dragon shattered into pieces, which fell to the ground.

Then, the Martial Heaven God appeared right in front of Woo-Moon using Illusive Shift.

“Actually, I expected this from the beginning.”

As he said that, the Martial Heaven God grabbed Woo-Moon’s head.

“I was convinced of it when I heard that the youngest Paragon in history was born not within Martial Heaven or the Heavenly Demon Cult, but from some random family in the murim. And even more so when I heard that he reached the Zenith realm in just a few moments. I came here to confirm it.”

Woo-Moon’s feet rose into the air.

“And I see I was right. You’re the disciple of that damned Daoist, Woo Bok-Hee.”

“AGHHH!”

Woo-Moon screamed in pain.

The Chaotic Finger Qi that seeped from the Martial Heaven God’s hand roamed around Woo-Moon’s body, destroying everything in its way and tormenting him like nothing before.

The extreme pain of having his body pierced by ten thousand nails and burned alive made Woo-Moon wish he no longer had a body at all.

“Everything will be over once I kill you. It won’t matter if Woo Bok-Hee shows up again; I’ll still carry out my plan.”

Woo-Moon’s gaze, tinged with pain, met the Martial Heaven God’s smiling gaze.

Then, Woo-Moon realized it. The Martial Heaven God really was insane. He really was not human.

He had become intoxicated by his own strength and had lost his humanity. He wanted to become a god himself, transcending even Immortals. He could see that deep, unending desire within Eun Jang-Cheon’s eyes.

“Oh, have you figured it out? Yes. The extermination of the murim is nothing but one step of my plan. I don’t need those imperfect bugs with ridiculous martial arts in my world. Sadly, it’d take far too long to kill ten thousand or a hundred thousand bugs by myself, so I have to use some bugs to fight other bugs. What, you think I’m being ridiculous? No, it’s YOU people who are being ridiculous. The murim, the martial artists are the ones who are in the wrong!”

The Martial Heaven God did not intend to eliminate the murim and leave behind Martial Heaven. No... Martial Heaven itself was nothing but an expendable tool bound to be eliminated. He intended to kill all those who had learned martial arts, except for himself.

“Ugh, ha, cough, cough... I... I... AGH! I...!”

“Oho? You’re actually trying to speak? To think you could endure my Soul Burning Ritual!”

The Martial Heaven God was, in fact, somewhat impressed. The sheer pain caused by this Zenith-level technique likely surpassed the very flames of hell, let alone mere torture of the mortal world.

But in the midst of this extreme pain, Woo-Moon’s eyes also flashed with madness. The stubbornness of not wanting to lose to anyone and the spite of never wanting to show weakness, at least in front of Martial Heaven, dominated his mind.

“Yes... agh! You’re right, we are stronger than everyone else! Everyone else with delusions of power is just being ridiculous, since we can kill thousands of people with a single swing of the sword. And I don’t really know if the murim, or cultivation for that matter, are even necessary in this world. Nor do I care to think about it or make any judgments. But one thing, I do care about.”

Woo-Moon’s voice was blunt.

The Martial Heaven God tried to increase the power of the Soul Burning Ritual, thinking that he simply wasn’t putting enough elbow grease into it.

“And what’s that?”

This time, Woo-Moon’s voice didn’t waver.

“My family are all martial artists, so if you’re planning to exterminate all martial artists, then they’re on your list, no? I will not allow that to happen.”

“So you only care about your family, then. How selfish.You seem very different from the swordsmen that I once knew. It seems like the world never knew this side of you... but well, I suppose it makes sense. Anyway, don’t you think it’s a little quiet here? How about you scream for me now?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Martial Heaven God unleashed another Soul Burning Ritual, this time with as much power as he could put into it.

“AGHHH!”

Woo-Moon writhed in pain. It seemed that he wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

The Martial Heaven God smiled.

Then, the breeze shifted in five different directions around him.

It was Sang-Woon, Jin-Jin, Dae-Woong, Yeo-Seol, and... Jin Yo.

Jin Yo’s viewpoint had changed a lot since the carnage at the palace. Although he had suffered a miserable defeat after standing up and fighting the Martial Heaven Emperor, Jin Yo actually felt relieved.

He realized that living in seclusion was no longer the answer. That was why he had come to the Heavenly Demon Cult to talk to Woo-Moon. He wanted to tell Woo-Moon that he would help him fight Martial Heaven.

He had arrived just a few days before, and was now able to witness Woo-Moon being tortured by the Martial Heaven God. Thus, he joined the impromptu four-man squad led by Sang-Woon, performing an exquisite combined assault. Five attacks were about to strike the Martial Heaven God at the same time.

Sadly, Woo-Moon could have destroyed all of them with one hand behind his back. So how could they stand a chance against Eun Jang-Cheon?

The Martial Heaven God grabbed Woo-Moon by the head with his right hand, continuing the Soul Burning Ritual, while stretching his left hand upward.

Woo-Moon’s mouth opened wide when he saw that.

“No... no!”

With that shout, both his body and his qi began to move. The qi of the Forbidden Divine Art filled Woo-Moon’s meridians with a flow that could never be halted, rushing throughout his body like a great river.

The five attacks were blocked by the barrier around the Martial Heaven God, and five blasts of Zenith Aura, far surpassing the Transcendent Aura of a Paragon, shot out of the Martial Heaven God’s fingers.

But at the same time, Woo-Moon broke the Martial Heaven God’s grip and took the blasts of Zenith Aura in place of the others.

Thud!

As soon as he was hit by the first blast of Zenith Aura, his body rose into the air and blood gushed out of his body.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Four more dull sounds rang out, and Woo-Moon dropped to the ground, listless. Meanwhile, the five people who had attacked the Martial Heaven God were simply bounced away, with severe internal injuries due to the rebound.

But right now, their severe internal injuries were quite low on the list of priorities.

“My son!”

“Woo-Moon!”

“Senior Brother!”

“Gege!”

Pitiful screams burst out of the mouths of Woo-Moon’s family.

Meanwhile, the Martial Heaven God also stood there unmoving. He simply looked at Woo-Moon with a questioning gaze.

“I don’t understand. How did you overcome the Soul Burning Ritual? How did you escape?”

***

Cho-Ah was sitting in her room writing a letter. While her handwriting was rather sloppy, as she was only now learning how to write properly, she was so focused on her work that she was sweating.

Soon, the letter was complete.

She put down her brush with a satisfied smile and quietly reviewed the contents of the letter.

Plop.

A tear fell on the letter. She wiped it away and walked over to the window, letter in hand.

Then, she burned the letter using the flame of a candle and sent the ashes flying into the sky.

She put her hands together, thinking of the person she wanted to send the letter to—naturally, Blood Cloud Devil Emperor Seob Un-Ha.

But at that moment, a loud noise shook the room, making her scream and cover her ears.

“Ahh!!”

What could have happened?

Cho-Ah, terrified, climbed onto the bed, covered herself with a blanket, and shivered.

“N-no, I don’t like this. I’m scared... Big brother, save me. I don’t like this, I’m scared. No... Please, I don’t like this.”

The loud noise continued to resonate.

After a few moments, she heard familiar voices calling for someone... screaming... Woo-Moon’s name?

‘Woo-Moon, Song Woo-Moon. My new... big brother. Big Brother?’

Cho-Ah ran out of her quarters as if she was wind itself, running and running until she was out of breath.

Then, she saw it—the Martial Heaven God holding onto Woo-Moon’s head and torturing him.

“AH!”

‘Big Brother is suffering!’

The image of the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor overlapped with Woo-Moon’s. Hot tears flowed from her eyes.