Chapter 91 – Kim Jinsu (2)

Wooooong!

Realizing that space was expanding, the Yaksha tried to change direction and circumvent it, but it was futile.

Because Lee Hanseong had deployed Footstep Heaven’s Edge centered on the Yaksha, he was in a state where he could go nowhere.

Yet, even though he was essentially trapped by Footstep Heaven’s Edge, far from being bewildered, he instead wore a sneer.

Ssss—

The moment a smile brimming with arrogance bloomed on the Yaksha’s face, which normally bore a ferocious expression.

Along with a sense of crisis ringing alarm bells in his mind.

Crash!

The barrier created by Footstep Heaven’s Edge shattered.

Unfortunately, countless tiny errors had overlapped, breaking Footstep Heaven’s Edge itself.

It was the effect of the Yaksha’s First Mythic Skill, <Eternal Pride>, which controlled all energy in the vicinity, even dominating fortune.

Gooooooo!

All fortune within a certain area aligns under the Yaksha’s control.

Its power was on a completely different level from Slow, which merely drew in a bit of fortune.

Right now, it felt like even Blinking Jade Throne would fail at Shrinking Earth.

Just before the Footstep Heaven’s Edge barrier broke, he had created as much distance as possible.

But with the speed of the Heavenly Yaksha state, that distance would be closed in no time.

‘Space-Time Step.’

Thus, he immediately deployed Pheidippides’s Sixth Awakening Skill.

Swoosh.

Using the second Primal Spirit God existing in the imaginary space as a guide, he escaped from the area dominated by the Yaksha’s Eternal Pride into the void space outside the dimension.

Even this might have failed if not for his Taiji Constitution, where the two Yin-Yang Spirits of reality and imaginary space cycled.

‘Whew.’

He had bought a little time to catch his breath.

Since this was an area detached from the spacetime of the dimension.

When returning to Earth, he could return to any point—past, present, or future.

‘Of course, the distance is based on the present he left.’

Anyway, moving to a different time period from reality was impossible due to the Wheel Constellation.

If it had been possible, leaving the present would likely be judged as fleeing the Hundred-Man Slaughter.

The only time and space Lee Hanseong could return to was the duel location in the present from which he had departed.

But the duel location, wherever it was currently, was under the control of Eternal Pride.

If he returned now, the only outcome would be being caught by the Heavenly Yaksha.

‘So, I must first devise a countermeasure for the Heavenly Yaksha’s speed here…’

A time-buying strategy possible because Pheidippides’s Primal Spirit God, having reached 7-Star, remained fine even after spending hours in the void space.

However, before he could even think of a plan for victory, an uninvited guest arrived in the void space.

Swoosh!

—Is this all the further you could run?

Through the Second Myth Skill <Void Night Demon>, the Void Night Demon, bearing the form of Three Heads, had stubbornly pursued him here.

It seemed the effect of Void Night Demon enabled entry into the void space.

‘……?!’

Thud.

Startled, he took a step back. The Void Night Demon couldn’t follow him, merely extending its Demon Hand.

Seeing this, Lee Hanseong’s hardened expression relaxed, and he grinned.

‘You can’t move in the void space, can you?’

Well, that makes sense for balance.

He had worried that the Heavenly Yaksha’s flight ability might work even in the void space.

Fortunately, it seemed that was only possible within ‘gaps’ like inside a dimension or imaginary space.

—You can move in the void space?

It seemed unexpected to the Yaksha that Lee Hanseong could move in the void space, as his eyes widened.

Ignoring the gaze of the Void Night Demon, which had become like a dog chasing a chicken only to find itself in a predicament, he continued with the countermeasure he had been considering.

And he recalled that, as expected, the only method was Transcendence.

‘Not me, but applying Transcendence to Pheidippides.’

To deal with the Void Night Demon, which had become Three Heads and whose Slow and Demon Hand had tripled, that was the only answer.

Pheidippides was already in a state of Divine Possession on Lee Hanseong’s body, sharing the effect of Guarantee of the Righteous Will, effectively reaching Half-Step 8-Star.

In that state, he left the Primal Spirit God in the imaginary space and applied Transcendence and Consecutive Transcendence only to the Primal Spirit God dwelling in Lee Hanseong’s body.

Whoosh!

The calculation was that after the Second Stage Transcendence ended and consumption occurred, if he swapped with the Primal Spirit God just before reverse summoning and the one in imaginary space, he could continue the Divine Possession even during the subsequent Life-and-Death Duel.

[The Dimensional Traveler ‘Pheidippides’ has temporarily reached 9-Star, and his Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Awakening Skills are embodied as Skills!]

Considering the plus from Guarantee of the Righteous Will, his Grade had risen to a state equivalent to Half-Step Ten-Star.

‘Huh, this…?’

But something was different.

He had experienced the process of Awakening Skills being embodied as Skills through Transcendence within the altering history a few times before.

He hadn’t felt anything special then, but perhaps it was because he was now in a state of having learned <Spirit Particle Manipulation>.

Sssssss.

The sensation of Awakening Skills being engraved onto his soul as Skills was distinctly felt.

Enough that he could reproduce it later with <Spirit Particle Manipulation> as much as he wanted.

Deciding to think about that later, he focused for now on the flood of enlightenment arising from the elevated Grade.

* * *

A moment later. Lee Hanseong, who had created five additional Polarity Reversals, looked at the Void Night Demon, which was still only glaring at him.

‘Polarity Reversal 《Spatiotemporal Theft》, 《Six Directions Sealing Prison》.’

Wooong.

Deploying the reversal ability of Space-Time Step, which went beyond stepping on the void space to interfere beyond it.

And deploying the reversal ability of Six Harmonies Communication, a further development of the Footstep Heaven’s Edge barrier that had confined the Heavenly Yaksha, onto the present they would return to.

The domain of Six Directions Sealing Prison deployed overlapping the domain of Eternal Pride.

‘Now it’s time to return.’

Using Spatiotemporal Theft to seize the Void Night Demon and simultaneously exiting the void space, he returned to the present.

Wooong— Pat.

Immediately after returning to the present, the space where Six Directions Sealing Prison was applied expanded infinitely.

Clearly, even with the opponent right before his eyes, the distance between them increased so much they couldn’t meet.

And this was fatal to area-type abilities that projected power externally.

“With this, Eternal Pride is handled.”

Since Eternal Pride’s own limitation manifested as a confined space, if the space widened, Eternal Pride’s control inevitably weakened.

Confirming that Eternal Pride’s domain had completely disappeared, he deployed Shrinking Earth and moved to the location where the Void Night Demon had returned.

Pat—

Even as Lee Hanseong appeared before its eyes, the Void Night Demon remained rigid like a stone statue, unable to move even slightly.

This was the true effect of Six Directions Sealing Prison.

If Six Harmonies Communication connected the spirit to the outside through words that leaped over distance.

Six Directions Sealing Prison infinitely extended the distance of the nerves connecting spirit and body, imprisoning the spirit inside the body.

Perhaps the visual information that the Yaksha’s eyes saw him would take a long time to reach his spirit.

Thanks to that, he could move leisurely.

If he had merely expanded space, just as he had leaped over space with Shrinking Earth, the Yaksha would have also leaped over the spatial expansion by flying through the imaginary space.

“Polarity Reversal 《Victory Without Fighting》.”

Flutter flutter flutter…

Though he appeared defenseless, he remained vigilant and deployed the ability reversed from No Retreat in Battle onto the Yaksha’s body.

The Yaksha’s entire body trembled like an aspen tree.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

The effect of Victory Without Fighting was a kind of debuff that lowered and incapacitated the opponent’s will to fight.

Of course, to produce such a powerful effect, it had to have the restriction that it could only be deployed when the opponent showed no will to fight against him.

But when used in conjunction with Six Directions Sealing Prison like now, it was as if there was no restriction.

Tap— Twitch.

Deploying Shrinking Earth again, he touched the Yaksha’s body.

The Yaksha’s hand, which reflexively tried to swing its Demon Hand, stopped due to Victory Without Fighting.

Even with the spirit sealed, the Yaksha’s body’s instinct for struggle was still alive.

If he had tried to attack without using Victory Without Fighting, he would have been in trouble.

“Eight Formations Diagram Unraveling Ultimate Technique Eight Gates Sealing Stake.”

Pa-ba-ba-ba-bak…

Through the hand touching the Yaksha, he deployed the ultimate technique of Eight Formations Diagram Unraveling, reversed from Eight Gates Evasion.

Eight large stakes were driven into the Yaksha’s major acupoints.

The Yaksha’s presence gradually diminished.

Though he only learned this after temporarily reaching 9-Star, the limit of Eightfold Annihilation was only drawing out Starlight up to the 8-Star level.

Being a Legendary Skill, it couldn’t draw out power surpassing Legendary Grade.

So Eightfold Annihilation was almost meaningless from 8-Star onward.

Thus, its reversal, Eight Gates Sealing Stake, manifested by sealing the opponent’s Starlight.

Sssssss—

The Yaksha’s Starlight, which was at 8-Star, faded to about the 1-Star level.

A rapid decline enough that if not for the Blessing of the Heaven-Slaying Star, all his active Legendary and Myth Skills would have been dispelled.

But then, the Yaksha’s form, which had briefly faded, became clear again.

Could the Blessing of the Heaven-Slaying Star alone replenish the Starlight void?

Whoooosh—

His Mind’s Eye found the source of the Starlight.

The Starlight of Giparang, summoned to the second head grown from Earth Yaksha, was replenishing the Starlight reduced by Eight Gates Sealing.

Moreover, it seemed Hong Gildong was dwelling in the third head grown from becoming Void Night Demon, as Starlight was being replenished from there too.

The Starlight of two 7-Star Spirits was sufficient to substitute for the Starlight of an 8-Star Spirit.

“Tsk. This is the best I can do for weakening.”

Pat.

Lee Hanseong clicked his tongue at the unsatisfactory result and deployed Shrinking Earth to distance himself from the Yaksha.

Ultimately, to deal proper damage to the Yaksha, he had to release Six Directions Sealing Prison.

He planned to release Six Directions Sealing Prison and simultaneously use Spatiotemporal Theft to directly deliver Pheidippides’s strongest blow, Blooming, to the Yaksha.

“Dual Polar Annihilation.”

A wide-area annihilation technique that reversed Yang Will Divine Art to collide and explode the energies of Yin and Yang poles pushed to extremes.

After forcibly merging the repelling opposing energies and suppressing them to the limit.

Sssssss— Flash!

A flash of annihilation that leaped over spacetime and erupted directly from inside the Yaksha dyed the surroundings pure white.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!!

Zzzzzz—

He blocked the aftershock that poured out a beat later with a Footstep Heaven’s Edge barrier.

The aftershock calmed as it passed through the endlessly expanding space.

‘Did I finish him?’

When the light disappeared and color and sound returned.

Nothing remained where the Yaksha had been standing.

But perhaps the judgment was too hasty.

Pat.

The Yaksha, though severely wounded, revealed himself again.

It seemed that when caught in the explosion, he was luckily bounced into the imaginary space for a moment and then returned, as the Yaksha was alive, not dead.

The fortune of Slow, tripled, had saved him.

He wanted to attack again immediately, but unfortunately, the duration of Consecutive Transcendence ended, leaving him unable to move.

While switching the Primal Spirit God, which had dropped back to 7-Star, with the intact one in imaginary space.

“Cough! Ughhhh!”

The Yaksha vomited a bowlful of blood containing Starlight.

Clatter clatter.

Mixed in the blood he vomited were the Eight Gates Sealing Stakes.

Even the Starlight sealing had been undone.

“This time… I really thought I would die.”

Before he could attack again.

As if deciding to get serious, the Yaksha, his eyes blazing, deployed Hong Gildong’s Awakening Skill.

Whoosh!

Hong Gildong Fifth Awakening Skill 《Arrival of Chestnut Island Country》.

An area-type Awakening Skill where the skill itself possesses the effect of Domain Expansion.

Its effect was simple.

The proclamation of a new law.

Click!

“Interference with space is forbidden.”

A law seemingly worried about being trapped in Six Directions Sealing Prison again.

As it applied to space itself, it was a law that couldn’t be completely ignored even with Relativity of Rules.

Of course, since Taiji Constitution held superiority over space, it wasn’t that interference was entirely impossible.

But it seemed the purpose was originally to buy time.

Hong Gildong Sixth Awakening Skill 《Feathered Ascent to Immortality》.

Whoosh!

Next, the Yaksha’s form changed into a giant Immortal Crane.

Perhaps due to Heaven-Slaying Gang Qi, its pitch-black appearance was closer to a Demonic Immortal than pure white.

He felt a Grade more powerful than in human form.

Flap!

With one beat of its wings, the Immortal Crane soared high into the sky and looked down at Lee Hanseong.

“Return to True Form.”

Hong Gildong’s Second Polarity Reversal, reversed from Disguise Unraveling, was deployed.

Kim Jinsu returned to his original, ordinary Yaksha form.

Though both Three Heads and the Black Flame Winged Garment had disappeared, the Grade he felt wasn’t much different from before.

Judging by Mind’s Eye, it seemed to be an ability that maintained the benefits gained from transformation even in the original form.

Whoosh!

But for some reason, even though the Yaksha wasn’t doing anything special, his Grade kept soaring.

—Earth Yaksha Reversal 《Hell Night Demon》.

Once, as Giparang dwelling in the second head was completely absorbed.

—Heavenly Yaksha Reversal 《Heavenly Night Demon》.

Another time, as the Blessing of the Heaven-Slaying Star along with the winged garment on his back was completely absorbed.

—Void Night Demon Reversal 《Vajra Night Demon》.

Yet again, as even Hong Gildong dwelling in the third head was completely absorbed.

Thus, after experiencing three Grade increases, the Yaksha’s Grade had surpassed 9-Star and reached Half-Step Ten-Star.

Gooooooo!!!!

In his hand, he held the lightning reversed from Demon Hand, 《Vajra Pestle》.

Behind his head, he wore the halo reversed from Slow, 《Halo》.

And beneath his feet, the lotus reversed from Eternal Pride, 《Lotus Platform》, was positioned.

“Vajra Night Demon King?!”

Though Hong Gildong’s domain, Arrival of Chestnut Island Country, had already disappeared, 7-Star Pheidippides was no match for this level.

Whoosh!

So he also activated Transcendence and Consecutive Transcendence on Pheidippides’s new Primal Spirit God.

Raising his Grade to Half-Step Ten-Star.

Thus, their Grades became equal.

What remained was who was more desperate.

And regarding desperation, Lee Hanseong had no intention of losing to anyone.