To utilize the subtlety of a surprise attack, one needs neither grandiose techniques nor profound internal energy.
Kill!
The only requisites are patience, judgment, and the experience to seize the fleeting moment.
Swish.
Soaring up from behind the Grand Young Master, the Manifestation of the Profound Baek Cho thrust his sword in the shortest possible trajectory, bereft of a shout or even a hint of presence.
Got him.
Baek Cho was certain.
Convinced that all that remained was the tactile satisfaction of his blade striking home, he suddenly met the eyes of the Grand Young Master’s “back of the head.”
…?!
There are no eyes on the back of a human skull. Therefore, naturally, one cannot meet its gaze. Nevertheless, Baek Cho could find no other way to describe the sensation that washed over him.
Slide.
As the Grand Young Master extended his remaining hand backward from behind his waist, Baek Cho’s sword was sucked into the vacuum, vanishing into the yawning abyss of the Grand Young Master’s sleeve.
…?!
Baek Cho’s long eyebrows twitched in astonishment.
Even if they had choreographed and rehearsed this beforehand, such a feat would be nearly impossible to execute with such elegant coincidence.
“…Bastard!”
The Grand Young Master sneered.
“Did you think I had forgotten your existence?”
The coat, woven from Black Silk, was nearly impervious to blades, but that didn’t matter. The Grand Young Master’s arm beneath the fabric was made of frail skin and flesh. Before the Grand Young Master could make another move, Baek Cho struck first.
Wudang Sect, Secret Sword.
Profound Void: Chaotic Warbler Assassination Art.
Inside the sleeve, his short sword generated tremendous vibrations accompanied by a high-pitched hum.
Screech—!
One of Wudang’s killing arts, the Chaotic Warbler, was a technique designed to embed the blade into an opponent and destroy their interior with high-frequency vibrations. What Baek Cho aimed for now was the Grand Young Master’s arm, trapped inside the sleeve alongside his sword.
But then—
Crack!
The Grand Young Master’s arm, extended backward, twisted in a manner that ignored the natural limits of human joints and snatched the wrist of Baek Cho holding the sword.
He learned the Tianzhu Flexibility Art?!
However, a swordsman who had reached a mature realm would not simply yield his wrist. Baek Cho, forming a Wudang-style Sword Finger with his free hand, clawed at the Grand Young Master’s arm gripping him.
Wudang Sect.
Tiger Claw Door Annihilating Hand.
Yet, in that instant, the Grand Young Master slid between Baek Cho’s stance and shoved his torso backward, breaking the old man’s balance.
Is it the Leaning Method of the Kongtong Sect this time?!
If it was a matter of experience or knowledge, Baek Cho was confident he wouldn’t lose to anyone. To avoid getting swept up in the Grand Young Master’s momentum, he quickly executed footwork and raised his leg to kick the back of the Grand Young Master’s knee.
Thwack!
He clearly felt the impact connect. Yet, even while absorbing the kick, the Grand Young Master locked Baek Cho’s leg in reverse.
“…Kuh!”
A groan finally leaked from Baek Cho’s lips. He exerted all his strength, but his leg, entwined like the branches of a lover’s tree and locked like an iron latch, refused to budge.
“Ugh…!”
What kind of skill was this? It was a martial art even Baek Cho didn’t recognize. And in the meantime, the Grand Young Master’s sleeve was completely wrapping around Baek Cho’s sword, neutralizing it.
“Oh my.”
Looking back over his shoulder, the Grand Young Master smiled and clicked his tongue.
“It seems even the renowned Manifestation of the Profound is unfamiliar with the foot techniques of the Haedong Kingdom or the grappling arts of the Wa Kingdom across the sea?”
Foot techniques of Haedong? Grappling of Wa?
Of course, the Grand Young Master gave Baek Cho no time to ponder the answer.
“Hup!”
With a sharp exhale, the Grand Young Master controlled his center of gravity with the sleeve holding the sword and poured strength into his lower body through an unknown principle.
Boom.
Unsettling sounds began to emanate from Baek Cho’s tightly entangled leg.
Crack-creak.
“Eeeek…!”
Resisting that terrifying pressure, Baek Cho’s face turned crimson, veins bulging against his skin. At this point, even if he wanted to boldly abandon his sword to escape, he couldn’t. The Grand Young Master’s grip was clamping down on his wrist like the jaws of a tiger.
[…Baek Cheong!]
…!
At Baek Cho’s telepathic transmission, the dazed Steel Dragon Fang Baek Cheong snapped his head up.
[What are you doing?!]
Although his breadth of experience was relatively narrow, Baek Cheong was also a master who had crossed the Wall. Instead of answering, he thrust his fastest sword straight at the Grand Young Master.
Supreme Clarity Sword Art.
One Origin: Flash Scattering Strike.
Sword light roared roughly, aiming for the Grand Young Master’s back like a bolt of lightning.
“Useless.”
The Grand Young Master hadn’t used his other hand against Baek Cho even once. That free hand, still fixed in a Sword Finger, deflected Baek Cheong’s sword light into the ground.
And it didn’t stop there.
Thwack!
Utilizing the principle of the Willow Sword to flexibly shed the impact, the Grand Young Master’s Sword Finger bounced up and lashed across Baek Cheong.
“Kugh…!”
Spewing blood from his mouth, Baek Cheong’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart.
Mount Hua’s Falling Flower Willow Sword?!
A thought flashed through his mind in that instant.
Really? Did the Grand Young Master really… Just as he said, grasp the Origin and reach a single, deep, and vast enlightenment of the Taoist sects?
Is there another sky above the sky? Is there another Wall beyond the Wall?
[Baek Cheong!]
Baek Cho’s roar flew into his ears.
[Do not be dazzled by the opponent!]
Baek Cheong snapped out of his trance and quickly corrected his posture in mid-air.
Crack!
Even in that brief window, Baek Cho’s knee joint and shinbone were gradually being crushed.
“Kuh…!”
[We execute a Combined Strike now!]
Baek Cho’s face, once red, was now turning pale. Sweating profusely from the pain, he issued orders without wavering.
[We must not give that bastard Grand Young Master even a moment’s respite…!]
Wudang would not lose like this!
Baek Cheong, eyes glistening with fighting spirit, dug into the Grand Young Master once more.
Supreme Clarity Sword Art.
Three Powers: Secret Art.
Three Poles, Three Spirits, Three Origins, Three Rituals.
And simultaneously.
“Kuh-hup…!”
Baek Cho raised his only free arm and delivered a palm strike toward the Grand Young Master’s torso.
Wudang Sect.
One Absolute Technique.
Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique.
“Good…!”
Did the Grand Young Master still have leeway?
A long arc was drawn on his lips. He opened the hand that had formed the Sword Finger, drawing countless Small Taiji circles with each finger. Then, waving his arm, he drew a massive Great Taiji.
Once again, Wudang’s Ultimate Sword Art unfolded from the Grand Young Master’s hand.
Supreme Unity Wisdom Sword.
The energy of heaven and earth fluctuated, nullifying the attacks of the two Wudang brothers at once. However, their combined strike was only just beginning.
“Not yet!”
A shout burst from Baek Cheong’s lips. Unfolding from his sword tip was the ultimate technique of the Supreme Clarity Sword Art: Nine Palaces: Ever-Changing, Myriad Transformations.
“Huuuup!”
A low shout leaked from Baek Cho’s lips as well. Unfolding from his hand was the second section of the Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique, revered as one of Wudang’s absolute techniques.
…!
A gleam finally flashed in the Grand Young Master’s eyes.
Baek Cheong’s Nine Palaces: Ever-Changing, Myriad Transformations was the extreme of the Blunt Sword, drawing countless changes within slowness to trap the opponent. In other words, the Slow Sword.
Manifestation of the Profound Baek Cho’s Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique was a legendary palm art whose power multiplied continuously the more it was used in harmony.
The two Wudang masters were simultaneously unfolding martial arts of completely different natures, exquisitely combined into one. That was indeed the Wudang Sect’s Cultivated Combined Strike: Continuous Link Art.
First, the Grand Young Master snapped the wrist of Baek Cho that he was holding. Since Baek Cho’s internal energy was concentrated on the opposite hand unfolding the Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique, his wrist couldn’t withstand the torque and shattered instantly.
Snap!
“Kuh…!”
A sound terrifying just to hear rang out, but Baek Cho instead added more internal energy to the Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique in his other hand. Even if he could never hold a sword with his right hand again, he would kill the Grand Young Master here and now. That was the old man’s killing intent.
But from the start, the Grand Young Master hadn’t broken Baek Cho’s wrist to break his fighting spirit. It was merely to gain the freedom of the hand that had been holding it.
At that moment, the Grand Young Master’s hands became completely free.
…!
…!
Simultaneously toward both sides, he began to execute two completely different martial arts.
Toward Baek Cheong using the Slow Sword, a martial art of Extreme Speed and Extreme Strength.
Northern Flow of Hengshan.
Secret Art.
Earthbound Lightning Blade.
Toward Baek Cho using the strengthening Ten-Sequenced Brocade Technique, a martial art containing the subtlety of Softness Overcomes Hardness.
Shaolin Temple.
Breaking Technique: White Lotus Yielding Fist.
The Grand Young Master’s single move—which was not a single move—was viciously effective.
Flash!
Earthbound Lightning Blade.
True to its name, lightning soaring from the ground pulverized Baek Cheong’s Ever-Changing, Myriad Transformations and severed the tendons of his right arm.
Boom!
White Lotus Yielding Fist.
That single punch, containing the teachings of the Thousand-Year Shaolin said to have depths unseen even after a hundred years of training, embedded itself into Baek Cho’s abdomen.
“Aaaargh…?!”
Baek Cheong scrambled back, clutching his right arm from which fresh blood spurred. He didn’t even have the leeway to pick up his dropped sword.
It was heavenly luck. If the Grand Young Master had been free to move his body fully, Baek Cheong’s entire right arm would have been blown off instead of merely suffering tendon damage.
However, unlike Baek Cheong—
“Kuh-huk…!”
Baek Cho vomited a massive amount of blood mixed with pieces of internal organs.
“Cough!”
It felt as if a giant hole had been punched through his abdomen. Baek Cho, whose foot was still trapped by the Grand Young Master’s leg lock, couldn’t even move to minimize the impact.
Yet, both Wudang brothers fixed their gaze not on their injuries, but on the Grand Young Master, who was assuming different starting stances with each arm.
“You, yoooou…!”
“That Cultivation Art…?!”
How could they not know? How could a martial artist of Wudang fail to recognize it?
The Cultivation Art the Grand Young Master was unfolding now was the one created by an ancient Immortal to handle two opposing extreme energies. A mythical Divine Art now completely lost even to the Wudang Sect.
Dual Principles Cultivation Art.
“H-How in the world do you…?!”
Baek Cho glared at the Grand Young Master with wide eyes even as he spilled blood.
“How do you know the Dual Principles Cultivation Art?!”
The old man screamed convulsively.
“How does the Sword Clan possess our Wudang’s Dual Principles Cultivation Art?!”
“The Sword Clan?” Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon’s low laughter echoed in the darkness. “This is not the property of the Sword Clan. It is a Cultivation Art I purely recreated myself.”
At those words, the two brothers trembled violently.
“…What?!”
“Did I not tell you?”
Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon spoke with a lingering laugh.
“The martial arts of the Taoist sects return to a single, deep, and vast enlightenment.”
As his words ended—
Crack!
Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon shattered Baek Cho’s leg, which he had still been tightly entwining with his own.
“Aaaargh…!”
Baek Cho vomited a scream.
Baek Cheong, frozen in horror, dared not even think of retrieving his sword.
“Now.”
To the two brothers fallen into shock and chaos, Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon spoke.
“Do you feel the Wall?”