Chapter 344 |
Chapter 344
Revenge
After listening to Mu-gyeong's response, Mu-gung pondered briefly before nodding.
"Upon reflection, what my martial brother says is true."
Having overheard the entire conversation between the two monks, the Noklim Leader appeared somewhat dazed.
However, he couldn't afford to remain in a stupor for long.
Buzzing!
Dozens of golden droplets formed around Mu-gyeong's body as their conversation concluded.
The Noklim Leader immediately sensed that these droplets held a considerable amount of fierce energy.
"Haaap!"
As the crimson Buddha's Hand, imbued with potent energy, flew towards him, the Noklim Leader hurriedly swung his axe to intercept it.
Boom!
The moment the strong energy infused in the Noklim Leader's axe caused the Buddha's Hand to explode with a loud bang.
Swoosh!
In no time, dozens of golden rain droplets were closing in on the Noklim Leader from all directions.
Contrary to his appearance, the Noklim Leader reacted with sharp intelligence.
Rather than moving rashly, he waited until the golden droplets were right upon him.
Then, he swung his axe roughly towards his right, creating a kind of air shield.
As the golden droplets flying in from the right collided with this air shield and dissipated.
Pah!
Seizing that fleeting moment, the Noklim Leader launched himself to the right.
Bang, bang, bang!
Shortly after, the place where the Noklim Leader had been standing was bombarded by the remaining droplets, producing a series of deadly noises.
Despite having evaded the enemy's trap, there was no time to relax.
Whizz!
As if anticipating the Noklim Leader's move, a small knife flew towards him, just as he escaped the encirclement of golden droplets.
Even as he desperately threw himself to avoid the small knife, the Noklim Leader nimbly twisted his body to dodge it while simultaneously attempting to swing his axe at Mu-gyeong.
But, astonishingly, Mu-gyeong's arm, which was wielding the small knife, changed its course in mid-air to aim at the Noklim Leader's heart.
"Ugh."
Surprised by Mu-gyeong's peculiar martial arts, the Noklim Leader was forced to awkwardly redirect his axe to block the small knife.
Clang!
The collision between his large, heavy axe and the much smaller, lighter knife.
nn
In a moment of shock, the Noklim Leader's face displayed his astonishment as he tried to push back the knife with his axe.
"What!?"
To his utter disbelief, the more he pushed with his axe, the more it seemed to scream as it was being worn down.
Realizing that his opponent's knife was no ordinary weapon, the Noklim Leader quickly infused his axe with strong energy.
Pah!
Mu-gyeong, anticipating this, swiftly retracted his knife and withdrew.
At that precise moment.
Boom!
Mu-gung's Buddha Palm, without fail, flew towards the Noklim Leader's back.
"You damn brats!!"
With a furious roar, the Noklim Leader was forced to redirect his axe, which he had been swinging at Mu-gyeong, to intercept the Buddha Palm.
Boom!
The Buddha Palm collided with the energy-infused axe, causing a fierce explosion.
Slash!
Amid the deafening noise, a sinister slicing sound echoed.
As the dust from the clash between the Buddha Palm and the strong energy settled, the Noklim Leader was revealed, bleeding from multiple wounds.
During the clash, Mu-gyeong had manipulated the golden droplets to ambush the Noklim Leader.
Enraged, the Noklim Leader wanted to scream in frustration, but there was no time for that.
Mu-gung was already closing in from the front, and the golden droplets were flying in from all directions once more.
Mu-gyeong was circling around, waiting for another opportunity to strike with his knife.
How long had he been enduring their combined assault?
Even though not much time had passed, the Noklim Leader's body was accumulating more and more wounds, turning him into a bloodied figure.
Just as Mu-gung had been in their previous battle.
Despite the combined age of these youngsters being less than his own, the Noklim Leader was struggling to cope with their combined attack.
Although he felt his blood boiling with rage, perhaps driven by his survival instincts, his mind remained calm.
'This is dangerous.'
Realizing that it was impossible to secure a safe victory with the numerous minor injuries he had already sustained, the Noklim Leader decided to take a gamble. He needed to either kill one of them or incapacitate them.
But which one should he target first?
The Noklim Leader easily chose his target.
"Haaap!"
As Mu-gung shouted and unleashed another Buddha Palm, the Noklim Leader swung his axe to meet it head-on.
But just before the axe and the crimson Buddha's Hand made contact.
"Hmph!!"
The Noklim Leader suddenly twisted his body and gritted his teeth.nn
Not because of the strain on his body from the sudden change of direction while exerting full force.
But to brace himself for the impending pain.
Boom!
As the Buddha Palm grazed the Noklim Leader's left forearm, it exploded violently.
Although it was just a graze, the fierce energy of the Buddha Palm engulfed the Noklim Leader's left forearm.
In an instant, skin and muscle burned and tore away, and blood vaporized, exposing the bone.
Despite the horrific injury, the Noklim Leader's eyes turned red with fury, but he ignored his wound.
Without concern for what happened to his left forearm, he continued to swing his axe.
Amazingly, the axe was heading towards Mu-gyeong, who was launching an attack with his knife.
A strategy of mutual destruction.
From the start, the Noklim Leader's real target had been Mu-gyeong.
Though Mu-gung's Buddha Palm had reached a power level comparable to his own, from the Noklim Leader's perspective, Mu-gyeong was the more troublesome opponent.
Because Mu-gyeong's martial arts were much more unpredictable, it seemed more burdensome to face him rather than Mu-gung when injured by a strategy of mutual destruction.
'This guy focuses on unpredictability and speed.'
Moreover, Mu-gyeong had noticed that he lacked the strength to block his ultimate move head-on.
Seeing the fierce axe blade coming to split him in half, Mu-gyeong's eyes wavered as he thrust his small knife forward.
Up until now, Mu-gyeong had always aimed for a surprise attack at the moment Mu-gung and the Noklim Leader clashed, but the current situation was akin to being struck by lightning.
Yet, the Noklim Leader felt an ominous feeling from Mu-gyeong's response.
'Is he smiling?'
Mu-gyeong's lips curled into a smile as if he was enjoying himself.
And at that moment.
Buzzzzzz!
The golden rain droplets scattered around began converging rapidly towards the small knife.
The golden droplets, already infused with powerful energy, overlapped with the knife, forming a near-perfect constellation just before colliding with the Noklim Leader's axe.
Like the notorious Dao Strength, commonly known as Dao Barrier in the martial world.
'Damn!'
Only then did the Noklim Leader realize Mu-gyeong had been hiding his final move, but it was too late to change the axe's trajectory.
Boom!!!
The Noklim Leader's axe collided with Mu-gyeong's small knife, causing a thunderous sound.
As Mu-gyeong's small knife held onto the Noklim Leader's axe.
"It's over!!"
Mu-gung's second Buddha Palm shot towards the Noklim Leader's back.
Boom!!
n
The Buddha Palm hit the Noklim Leader's back, creating a massive explosion, revealing his horrendous appearance.
His back, with its skin and muscles burned away, exposed the bones.
Whether from being unable to withstand the pain or because his back muscles had all been torn and burned, the Noklim Leader collapsed to the ground.
"Heuuurk... Heuu..."
Lying on the ground, the Noklim Leader breathed heavily, mixing blood with each breath, like a dying man.
With his life hanging by a thread, the Noklim Leader, his face twisted in pain, reached out towards something.
'My money... my money... If only I had escaped this place, I could have lived lavishly...'
His hand stretched towards the south, where Seonhwa Escort Agency was located.
There, he had hidden the money he had accumulated from his banditry.
It was all so futile.
Despite having desperately gathered that money through robbery, just as he had jokingly thought, that money would end up as someone else's fortune.
Thinking about his hidden money until his last moment, the Noklim Leader stopped breathing.
As his hand, which had been twitching on the ground, fell limply and his rough breathing ceased completely.
After briefly staring at the Noklim Leader's corpse, Mu-gung dusted off his hands and spoke to Mu-gyeong.
"Let's go back."
"Yes, senior brother."
To assist those still fighting the bandits, they used their light footwork to move away, leaving the Noklim Leader's corpse behind.
As they pushed through the bushes, Mu-gung suddenly asked Mu-gyeong a question that had come to mind.
"Junior brother. The martial art you used at the end, I think it's the first time I've seen it?"
"Ah, that one."
Mu-gyeong replied nonchalantly.
"A few days ago, Mu-jin shared a technique with me, saying he wanted to further develop his Invincible Divine Fist."
"He did."
"After seeing the technique, I had a good idea and decided to incorporate it into my own martial arts."
The strong energy Mu-gyeong created at the end was his own variation of the Invincible Divine Fist.
Instead of focusing the energy in his fist to create Fist Barrier, as Mu-jin did, Mu-gyeong came up with a way to create the strong energy by overlapping the golden droplets outside his body.
And Mu-gyeong explained this remarkable achievement as if it was no more significant than a casual outing.
Mu-gung sighed as if he had given up and replied.
"I see."
"It's still a bit lacking."
"Is it?"
"Yes. Right now, I can only create the strong energy if I have a medium, like a small knife or my own body. If I develop it further, I might be able to create golden droplets made entirely of strong energy in mid-air."
"That's amazing."
Mu-gung agreed it was an impressive martial art.n
The idea of dozens of water droplets made entirely of strong energy flying around was indeed incredible.
But for some reason, Mu-gung's tone and expression, though he said it was amazing, lacked any genuine enthusiasm.
Feeling an inexplicable discomfort, Mu-gyeong looked at Mu-gung for a moment before something seemed to come to mind.
"By the way, do you think Mu-jin is doing well?"
Mu-jin, who had inspired Mu-gyeong to develop the Golden Rain Technique, was currently fighting with the Namgung family against Sa Do-ryeon.
Despite the danger of facing one of the Three Swords of the World alone, Mu-gung remained indifferent.
"Instead of worrying about him, I need to take care of myself."
It was obvious why he said "myself" instead of "us."
It was because worrying about a genius like Mu-gyeong was utterly pointless.
* * *
Meanwhile, Mu-jin, whom Mu-gung had no need to worry about, was currently.
Blocking So Cheon-ju's surprise attack with the Invincible Divine Fist.
Boom!!!!
The golden constellation sent by Mu-jin collided with the purple energy, creating a huge explosion.
However.
'Damn it. I guess it's still not enough?'
As it had been in the Southern Barbarian, it was impossible to completely block his martial arts with the Invincible Divine Fist.
Although the majority of the purple energy was obliterated by the explosion, some of it continued to advance.
And Mu-jin willingly threw himself to block the remaining purple energy.
Because the New Star Unit's elite troops were still behind him.
The residual purple energy collided with Mu-jin's body, creating another explosion.
Boom!!
Shortly after, Mu-jin emerged, scorched and wounded in various places.
Though he felt stinging pain all over his body, Mu-jin laughed willingly.
Thanks to his fight with one of the Three Swords of the World, he had realized a very important fact.
"Hahaha! This is refreshing!"
As long as he didn't die, the more he was hit, the more his Jade Vajra Technique would improve—a very 'positive' fact.
Seeing Mu-jin's hearty laughter, So Cheon-ju also smirked and replied.
"Hehehe. If it's that refreshing, I'll make it even more so."
In his hands, blue and red energies were surging.
As his two hands clashed, creating a prayer-like gesture, purple energy began to form again.
Watching the purple energy emerge with a thunderous roar, like thousands of birds crying out, Mu-jin thought.
If he got hit by that, there would be no room for improvement—he would really die.