Chapter 48 – In Search of a Fateful Encounter (5)

Yu-jin moved his hands even faster to protect Ran, who was on his back. He had no choice, as this place was too dangerous for Ran, whose martial arts were still lacking.

Unlike Ran, however, Eun Seol-rin and Na Ye-jin swung their swords fiercely, striking down the hidden weapons.

“A trap mechanism designed to account for a person’s rapid movements… how infuriating!”

Yu-jin unleashed the Black Heaven Divine Palm, and the immense force not only swallowed the hidden weapons whole but also slammed into the walls.

To set a trap that considered not only human psychology but also various response methods… Yu-jin wanted to curse the ones who had created all this.

“Grab my hand!”

At Yu-jin’s words, Ye-jin and Seol-rin hastily reached out and grabbed his hand. Ran hugged Yu-jin’s neck even tighter, determined not to fall from his embrace.

“Let’s go!”

Pushing the Flying Heaven Dance to its limit, Yu-jin vanished on the spot with the three women. When he reappeared, they were in the wide cavern they had seen at the end of the passage.

“Hah… hah…”

The women were utterly exhausted. The incredible speed Yu-jin had just displayed was so immense that it strained even their bodies, masters of the Transformation Realm. If Yu-jin hadn’t been protecting her, Ran might have been injured by the sheer air resistance.

“Should we go for another round to loosen you up?”

When Yu-jin asked with a mischievous smile, Na Ye-jin, Eun Seol-rin, and Ran all frantically shook their heads. Before they had started moving again, they had been thoroughly ravaged by Yu-jin, and even now, dried white fluids clung to their bodies.

If their stamina and internal energy hadn’t been replenished by the power of Yu-jin’s Yin-Yang Lust Arts, they wouldn’t have been able to move at all.

“But Master, is there really no way we can find some clothes?”

Eun Seol-rin asked, her face flushed. Not only Yu-jin, but all three women were currently naked. Even though no one was watching and the surroundings were shrouded in pitch-black darkness, their feelings of shame didn’t simply disappear.

“I want to find some too, but we’ll probably have to go deeper inside to find clothes. So, you’ll have to bear with it for now.”

Yu-jin said, glancing at the women’s figures again before stepping forward. The women sighed as if they had no choice and followed him.

***

The Martial Emperor, Mun Gil-je, had originally intended to pass his martial arts down to his disciple. However, due to a certain incident, he never taught his signature arts—the Absorption Arts and the Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis—to any disciple, and even had the manuals sealed within his own tomb.

As if that weren’t enough, before his death, he found a special great art and cast it upon his own body, so that he could kill any enemies who came seeking his manuals.

*Kwoooo!*

A golden light erupted from Mun Gil-je’s entire body, forming one hundred and eight golden wheels. His form was so filled with majesty that if a heavenly god of light existed, it would surely be him.

In contrast, Yu-jin, who faced him, was completely shrouded in darkness. The two, having drawn out all their power, looked like a heavenly god and a demonic god.

Just then, Yu-jin noticed something was wrong with Mun Gil-je.

“Being mad is a truly frightening thing. He’s lost his sanity.”

He had lived as a dead body for an unimaginably long time, perhaps hundreds of years. Having spent that time in a place of nothingness, even the formidable mind of an absolute master was bound to erode.

Until a moment ago, he had been able to speak through the great art he had previously embedded, but once the internal energy used for it was depleted, Mun Gil-je became a complete madman.

“And that’s what makes it even scarier.”

A madman who felt no emotion and could pour everything into defeating his enemy was undoubtedly an unsettling opponent.

But Yu-jin’s situation demanded that he defeat even such an opponent. Yet, Yu-jin smiled. The harder an opponent was to break, the greater the sense of accomplishment and ecstasy upon victory.

With a smile on his face, Yu-jin rushed toward Mun Gil-je.

*Kwaaaaa!*

Yu-jin’s fist and Mun Gil-je’s hand collided at a single point, and in that instant, a tremendous shockwave swept through the stone chamber.

“Damn it!”

Na Ye-jin and Eun Seol-rin hastily poured all their internal energy into forming a powerful protective barrier to shield Ran and themselves.

*Kwakwang!*

The shockwave alone was enough to shake the barrier the two had created. In that moment, they realized that staying here would only hinder Yu-jin, and they quickly retreated out of the stone chamber.

The vast amounts of gold, silver, and treasures, the weapons, and the elixirs did not enter their sight. Nothing, no matter how valuable, could be more precious than a person’s life.

“Thanks.”

Seeing the women hastily retreat, Yu-jin muttered softly and drew out even more power. He then threw a punch, aiming to shatter Mun Gil-je’s head.

*Kwang!*

Mun Gil-je casually extended a hand and blocked Yu-jin’s punch. He then gripped Yu-jin’s hand, which was imbued with the Green Scale Poisonous Flame and the Heaven-Shattering Mara Fist.

In that instant, Yu-jin felt his internal energy being shaken. The Absorption Art’s Siphoning Technique, which stole an opponent’s internal energy or sucked in all the surrounding energy, had been unleashed.

His internal energy began to drain away rapidly, as if a hole had been punched in the vessel of his dantian.

“This technique is as annoying as ever!”

It was certainly an attractive martial art, but when used by an enemy, it was incredibly difficult to deal with.

Before this art, even the Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis, which could be called the ultimate spear and shield, had its shortcomings. Yu-jin quickly combined the Black Heaven Hand and the Green Scale Poisonous Flame and struck out with his palm, hitting Mun Gil-je in the chest.

*Kwang!*

“Tch!”

Just as Yu-jin’s hand was about to connect, golden light gathered near Mun Gil-je’s chest, forming a small shield that blocked Yu-jin’s attack.

All the while, Mun Gil-je, still gripping Yu-jin’s fist, continued to siphon his internal energy.

“I have no interest in holding hands with men.”

*Kwang!*

As Yu-jin unleashed the Black Heaven Divine Palm, Mun Gil-je’s body was sent flying, crashing into the wall.

But even after hitting the wall, Mun Gil-je nonchalantly absorbed the internal energy of Yu-jin’s Black Heaven Divine Arts into his body. It was a power so immense it could truly be called the ultimate martial art.

“He took about twenty percent?”

It might have only been twenty percent, but Yu-jin had accumulated a vast amount of internal energy through constant consumption of elixirs. For someone like him, even twenty percent was an enormous amount.

However, despite losing such a large amount of internal energy, Yu-jin was not flustered. What he had done so far was merely to confirm the nature of the martial arts he would soon learn, and he possessed an art that could break all of them.

*Shhhng.*

For the first time since entering the Martial Emperor’s tomb, Yu-jin drew the Ink Dragon Sword. He infused his internal energy into the blade, firmly believing in the bond between the sword and his arm.

Then, he let go of the sword. A sword that should have fallen according to the laws of physics instead hovered in mid-air.

Sword Control Arts. The supreme sword art of manipulating a sword at will using true energy. The very art that only a master of the sword who had reached the Transformation Realm or higher could perform was now unfolding in his hands.

*Shweeeek!*

The sword rotated, swerved, and accelerated, then surged through the air as if streaking across a vast sky.

But Yu-jin’s attack didn’t end there. As the sword cut through the air, it began to multiply. It was the Sword Division Form, an advanced application of the Sword Control Arts.

The number of swords increased to a total of ten. Yu-jin swung his arm forcefully, and the ten swords flew toward Mun Gil-je like bolts of lightning.

“The Siphoning Technique is useless unless you make direct contact.”

Since ancient times, various martial arts that absorbed internal energy had existed, such as the Star-Sucking Demonic Arts and the Star-Sucking Great Arts. Like the Absorption Arts, they all shared a clear limitation: they were meaningless unless they made direct contact with the body of the person whose energy they were trying to steal.

Yu-jin muttered with a smile, and soon, the ten streaks of black lightning exploded against Mun Gil-je’s body. Or rather, they were about to.

“Huh?”

*Kwaaaaang!*

“Kuh!”

What blocked Yu-jin’s inky lightning was a brightly shining golden sphere.

Realizing he couldn’t block it with the Siphoning Technique, Mun Gil-je had hastily gathered the golden wheels of his Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis to create ten powerful spheres. The power of these spheres was on par with Yu-jin’s Sword Division Form.

*’In that case, this battle will be decided by who has better control!’*

*Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!*

Light and darkness embroidered the air, clashing endlessly. With each collision, a massive shockwave slammed into the stone chamber.

Watching Mun Gil-je hold his ground without being pushed back at all, Yu-jin realized their control abilities were on the same level.

In that case, the Sword Control Arts were no longer meaningful. Yu-jin withdrew his swords, and Mun Gil-je likewise withdrew his spheres.

“Ah, I didn’t want to have to use this.”

Yu-jin lamented as he aimed the Ink Dragon Sword at Mun Gil-je. In truth, he had already learned a martial art capable of breaking both the Absorption Arts and the Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis.

“It’s just that controlling its power is difficult.”

An inky aura coiled around the Ink Dragon Sword. The energy was so immense that even the insane Mun Gil-je instinctively felt a threat.

*Phat!*

Mun Gil-je charged hastily to block Yu-jin’s attack. But Yu-jin simply grinned at him and swung his sword.

“You’re too late.”

*Kwakwakwakwang!*

The powered-down Profound Heaven Ink Phosphorus Sword swallowed Mun Gil-je whole.

***

*Kukukukung!*

A large hole had been torn open in the stone chamber, and in its center lay Mun Gil-je, most of his body ripped to shreds.

To block Yu-jin’s Profound Heaven Ink Phosphorus Sword, he had protected his body with the Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis and tried to siphon the sword’s energy with the Absorption Arts, but even that was not enough to stop it.

If Yu-jin hadn’t held back, he would have been completely annihilated.

“No one but the Heavenly Demon can block this technique.”

In terms of sheer power, the Profound Heaven Ink Phosphorus Sword, along with the Heavenly Demon’s Asura’s Heaven-Annihilating Sword, could be called the strongest in the martial world.

The only reason Yu-jin had lost was because the Heavenly Demon was an abnormal existence; the Profound Heaven Ink Phosphorus Sword was so powerful that even most masters of the Profound Realm wouldn’t dare to block it head-on.

The problem, however, was that the manuals that had been here had also vanished in the process. Despite this, Yu-jin’s expression remained relaxed.

*’Because there’s a much better method than manuals.’*

Yu-jin approached Mun Gil-je, who wasn’t bleeding a single drop. He seemed to still be conscious, but with every bone in his body shattered and his muscles torn, he couldn’t move.

However, the madness from before had completely vanished from his eyes. Mun Gil-je had regained his sanity just before returning to nothingness.

[To think you could subdue me, a master of the Absorption Arts and the Golden Wheel Heavenly Aegis… truly remarkable.]

At those words, Yu-jin simply smiled faintly.