Chapter 162. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (8)
They all looked at Woo-Moon with disbelief and astonishment.
Not even an Absolute Master would be able to deal with them this easily.
Disabling someone was much more difficult than killing them. However, Woo-Moon had been able to disable them all so easily. Not only had he struck the acupoints of twenty people at the same time, but he had done so using his sword rather than his fingers, and without causing them injuries.
On top of it all, he had gathered the snow around him, condensed it into a single club of ice, and swept them all away in a single blow.
His martial skills were beyond imagination; they showed these youngsters a heaven beyond the heavens, making them lose any thoughts of fighting back or retaliating.
Yu Cho knelt down without realizing it.
“Gasp... gasp.”
Before, he had thought, ‘I can still catch up to him if I try hard enough. I can still beat him if I do whatever it takes.’
Until now, he had really believed it.
But not anymore.
He realized it now. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he struggled, he could never beat Song Woo-Moon.
Even his master, the Sword Emperor, wouldn’t be able to display such skills.
By this point, Yu Cho just considered Woo-Moon as a person from another world. What point was there in taking revenge on someone like that?
It was the same for So Mu-Yong and the others.
Woo-Moon stretched out his hand, and the flags held by Yu Cho and a Snow Flower in the distance flew into the air and fell into his grasp. With this, he had nine flags.
“Young Lady Ha, we should go now.”
“Pardon? Ah, okay...”
Yeo-Seol was dizzy after seeing Woo-Moon's unfathomable martial skills, while all of the other Snow Flowers looked at Yeo-Seol's back with eyes full of jealousy and envy.
Now, none of them would be able to ignore Yeo-Seol anymore. Rather, they would have to pay attention to her and act deferential.
Yeo-Seol would rise to an important position at the North Sea Ice Palace, and the unfathomable master named Song Woo-Moon would protect her as her husband.
“We’re screwed,” a Snow Flower said resignedly.
Crack!!!
Jeong Gyeong ground her teeth, biting down so hard that several of her teeth broke into splinters.
She didn't even realize that. The feeling of defeat, humiliation, and anger at having lost to Yeo-Seol just swirled in her mind.
However, she, too, could never dare to take her revenge on Woo-Moon.
***
As Woo-Moon, Eun-ah, and Yeo-Seol walked toward the North Sea Ice Palace, four men and women blocked their path. It was Namgoong Sung, Baekri Yeong-Woon, and their partners.
“Hyungnim, this is a challenge.”
“We will be shameless and join forces!”
The two worked perfectly to attack Woo-Moon, the coordination catching him off guard.
They both knew that they had absolutely no chance of winning one-on-one. That said, that didn't mean that they had any confidence in winning by attacking together, either. Yet they didn't want to lose without at least trying.
Thus, Baekri Yeong-Woon and Namgoong Sung had waited here for Woo-Moon to return from fighting with the others and then quickly attempted to attack him.
However...
Shing!
Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon’s hair spread in the air as the bands they used to tie it were cut and drifted to the ground. Meanwhile, their two Snow Flowers were also paralyzed through an acupoint attack.
Although Woo-Moon didn’t strike his friends’ acupoints, Baekri Yeong-Woon and Namgoong Sung both stopped in place.
“Ha...” Baekri Yeong-Woon sighed as Namgoong Sung shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Well, it seems like the gap has widened even further. Just how much stronger have you gotten?”
It was truly astounding. When they had first met Woo-Moon, he had been extremely strong. However, now... he was an entirely different person.
The four of them had given up their pride and decided to conduct a joint surprise attack on Woo-Moon immediately after he had just fought over a hundred of their peers.
However, not even that had done them any good.
It was clear. The abilities of the younger generation were simply inconsequential in front of Woo-Moon.
“You’re still young. You have a lot of time in the future. If you work harder, you’ll become strong, too.”
Although Woo-Moon had said that to comfort them, it seemed to do the opposite as Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon just sighed.
“You’re also young, Hyungnim. You’re only two years older than us. We don’t think we’ll be as strong as you in two years...”
“Hmm.”
It seemed as though he should say something else to comfort them. However, Woo-Moon couldn’t think of anything else that he could say.
The two swordsmen felt their state of mind start to crumble.
No matter what they did, they couldn’t keep up with Woo-Moon. The gap just continued to widen further and further.
At that time, Nak Eun-Mi, who had always quietly accompanied Baekri Yeong-Woon, suddenly spoke up.
“Young Hero Song is Young Hero Song, and you are you. There’s no need for you to compare yourself to him and suffer. The path of the sword is a path meant to be walked alone, anyway. Your sword is different from the sword of Young Master Song. If you quietly follow the path of the sword, you’ll eventually see its end. Even if you feel like a turtle, even if it feels like every step takes an eternity, keep walking till you reach the end.”
“Ah!”
Baekri Yeong-Woon and Namgoong Sung exclaimed simultaneously at Nak Eun-mi’s words.
Although she had only spoken up to comfort the suffering Baekri Yeong-Woon, at this very moment, both youngsters came to a great realization.
“The path of the sword is a path meant to be walked alone... my path. My Sword Dao,” Baekri Yeong-Woon muttered before suddenly grabbing Nak Eun-Mi's hand firmly.
“Thank you so much, Young Lady Nak. You’ve taught me an incredible lesson.”
Nak Eun-Mi’s cheeks turned red.
“It was nothing. I just...”
Namgoong Sung also spoke as he cupped his fist at Nak Eun-Mi.
“Thank you, Young Lady Nak. You’ve given me a great boon.”
Looking at that scene, Woo-Moon smiled. Both Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon seemed poised to achieve great things in the future.
He saw that Namgoong Sung had already won a flag, while Baekri Yeong-Woon hadn’t found one yet.
That said, Woo-Moon already knew he was guaranteed first place anyway. Thus, he pulled a flag from his bag and threw it to Baekri Yeong-Woon.
“Take it. It’s a gift.”
“Huh? What—but, hyungnim...!”
Woo-Moon was already on his way with Eun-Ah and Yeo-Seol by the time Baekri Yeong-Woon realized what he had been given.
“Thank you, hyungnim!”
In the end, all he could do was to shout his thanks.
***
“W-what happened here?” Yeo-Seol said, shocked.
The two guards of the North Sea Ice Palace were lying on the ground before the main gate, their chests cleaved open.
“I thought something was weird... damn, something must have happened.”
Huff.
Smelling blood, Eun-Ah cried out softly as Woo-Moon stormed into the North Sea Ice Palace first.
There were blood stains everywhere and corpses littering the ground.
Woo-Moon ran alongside Eun-Ah and Yeo-Seol to the back of the palace, where they could hear the sound of fighting.
“You dirty traitors!”
“Shut up! You’re the grunts of some dirty bitch who gave birth to an outsider’s daughter out of wedlock. And you dare to call us traitors?!”
There were two groups fighting and swearing at each other, both using the same martial techniques. The North Sea Ice Palace's!
“Young Lady Ha, do you know who they are?”
Woo-Moon recognized one of the two sides—those he had met when he had first come to the North Sea Ice Palace. However, he had never seen the other side before, and they also used the techniques of the North Sea Ice Palace. Thus, he found it difficult to make a move without knowing more about them.
“They’re the traitors! They’re from the same group who tried to kidnap me before.”
Yeo-Seol had almost been kidnapped when she had traveled to the Justice Coalition in the past, something Woo-Moon also remembered clearly.
His gaze growing cold, Woo-Moon threw out his swords.
Shing!
With a sharp sound, the two swords flashed through the air and pierced through the North Sea Ice Palace traitors.
“Ahhh!!!”
“T-this is Sword Control! Who are you?”
Sword Control was something that could only be used by someone who had reached the Absolute stage.
Thus, the people of the North Sea Ice Palace looked for the perpetrator, only to see a young man they didn’t know.
“Who are you?”
“Why are you getting involved in the affairs of the North Sea Ice Palace!”
Woo-Moon answered calmly, “Why? Because I’m now a member of the North Sea Ice Palace.”
As the Marriage of the Snow Flowers had begun, Woo-Moon could now be said to be a member of the North Sea Ice Palace.
Meanwhile, the two swords continued to fly around under his Sword Control and eventually pierced through the shoulders and arms of all of the traitors in the hall.
Yeo-Seol then grabbed onto Woo-Moon’s arm.
“Master! Master isn’t here. Could she be in danger? We have to help her!”
During the short time it took Woo-Moon to take out all of the enemies, Yeo-Seol had looked for her master, the Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee. However, she was nowhere to be seen.
At that time, an elder among the thirty or so people from the North Sea Ice Palace that Woo-Moon had saved came forward.
“Thank you, Young Hero Song! As she said, the Palace Lord is in danger. Please, help her, Young Hero Song! We’ll go to the other places and help the palace members.”
“Understood. I’ll go to her aid. Young Lady Ha, please guide me to the Palace Lord’s chambers.”
“Understood!”
Following Yeo-Seol, Woo-Moon headed to the very center of the North Sea Ice Palace.
After a short while, he was able to find Ah Hee struggling, surrounded by four women and three men.
“Master!”
In a surprising fashion, completely unlike the Palace Lord, Ah Hee was startled by Yeo-Seol's voice, causing her to look back at Yeo-Seol in surprise for an instant.
However, that small move revealed an opening.
Clang! Squelch!
Although Woo-Moon ran like the wind and tried to block the attacks on her behalf, a sword still pierced through her stomach. After all, he was not omnipotent.
“Ugh!”
However, the Otherworldly Ice Fairy was still an Absolute Master!!!
The second she was attacked, she reflexively attacked back and struck the woman who stabbed her.
“Agh!!!!”
The woman, clearly a Transcendent class expert, was hit by Ah Hee’s attack, and her entire body was turned into a block of ice, which rolled across the ground before shattering into pieces.
“Master!”
Seeing her Master suffer a fatal wound, Yeo-Seol’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’ll deal with them, so please step back for a moment,” Woo-Moon said, standing by Ah Hee's side.
“Do you think I can’t deal with these pests?” Ah Hee spat out viciously while pressing her hand to her stomach to stem her blood loss.
Woo-Moon shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I’d just like it if you would step back for now. Do it for the sake of your worried student.”
“Master, are you okay?”
Yeo-Seol had come running, staring at her with worried eyes.
In her heart, Yeo-Seol wanted to hug her master and support her. However, she found herself unable to, as the fear she held in her heart of her master was still everpresent.
Woo-Moon looked at the enemies attacking Ah Hee.
“It looks like they took advantage of the chaos caused by the Marriage of the Snow Flowers to attack.”
Among those who had been attacking Ah Hee, a woman who was also clearly a Transcendent class expert looked at Woo-Moon with a cold gaze.
“Seeing how you’re dressed, you seem like an outsider. Instead of meddling and losing your life in vain, you should leave.”
“I don’t think it’s your place to worry about my life, though. You think you’re strong enough to handle me?”
“Oh, you think we’re all that’s here?”
The moment she said that, one of the walls of the Palace Lord’s chamber suddenly collapsed and a group of men burst in.
“Sorry we’re late!”
They were thirty or so, and Woo-Moon could see that the leader of the group was an Absolute Master, while the others were all at the Transcendent stage.
‘With that much strength, that’s enough to wipe out most of the sects in the murim in one fell swoop. They must be connected to Martial Heaven. Could they be the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ troops?’
When Ah Hee saw them, her expression darkened for a moment, and she glared at Cho Woo-Yeon, the woman who was the leader of the traitors.
“Cho Woo-Yeon! How dare you ally with another force to attack the palace? So you’ve lost what little pride you had left, it seems!”
“Kekeke! Why does that matter in a life-or-death battle? Even if some other forces absorb the North Sea Ice Palace, as long as I survive, nothing will change for me. What do I care?”
Ah Hee bit her lip.
She knew that Woo-Moon was strong, but there were too many enemies. Moreover, one of the new arrivals was an Absolute Master that she didn’t know if she could defeat even if she was to face him one-on-one.
‘What should I do...’