Chapter 177. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (23)
The Absolute Masters who had attacked Woo-Moon earlier were just standing there, mouth agape, as they witnessed Woo-Moon and the Surpassing Evil Palace Master’s clash. Hearing their leader’s call, they immediately jumped at Woo-Moon.
‘I have to get out of here!’
Woo-Moon immediately escaped from their pincer attack, moving like a slippery eel, dodging the incoming palm force and batons coming toward him from the two Absolute Masters and the one Transcendent.
“Stop him! Don’t let him get away!”
Although Woo-Moon knew he had to get away quickly, the issue was that he was deep within enemy territory. Moreover, the number of the enemy troops in front of him was incessantly large.
Suddenly, a platoon of Peak Class Cruel Sandstorm Riders, led by one Transcendent, appeared and blocked his path.
However, rusted steel is still stronger than paper!
Woo-Moon conserved his qi, only using it to drive his movement art, and instead used pure physical strength to knock aside the Transcendent’s saber and stab him in the stomach.
Squelch!
“Ugh!”
Woo-Moon didn't stop there.
He rammed the Transcendent with his shoulder and continued to rush forward, slamming into the Peak Class martial artists behind him.
SQUELCH!
The sword pierced out through the Transcendent’s back, impaling three more people behind him as the mass of bodies continued forward without stopping, crushing dozens of people in its wake.
“Aah!!”
Woo-Moon took a slight step back and then pushed forward with great vigor.
BANG!
“AGH!!!”
“Cough, cough!”
Woo-Moon’s force crushed those standing before him, and they died with their spines shattered.
Woo-Moon leaped into the air the second he was able to pull his sword out from the crowd of bodies and bolted through the path he created through the corpses.
However, even though it seemed as though he had cleared through the opposition in an instant, the slight delay they caused in his escape was enough for the enemy to regroup as well; an arrow flew forward and pierced through his shoulder.
Still, Woo-Moon didn’t stop.
Borrowing the momentum of the arrow, he bolted forward even faster.
“Catch him no matter what!”
All kinds of shouts erupted from behind Woo-Moon.
‘Hmph, as if. You dogs of Martial Heaven are all bark, no bite.’
Although Woo-Moon had thought he had finally broken through the siege, the Cruel Sandstorm Riders were so large of a group that every time he thought he was safe, a new troop would appear in front of him and block his way.
Considering he could only use qi and not restore it, Woo-Moon realized that if things continued like this, he might actually end up exhausted of all of his reserves and not be able to power his movement art anymore.
If that happened, it would be the end of everything. His plans, his revenge, even his life.
Everything would be over.
Woo-Moon gritted his teeth.
He tried to spare his qi as much as possible, only killing those in front of him and clearing a path with his physical strength alone.
Arriving at a forest, Woo-Moon ran along a path between the trees, running his hands over the branches in his vicinity.
Crack!!
Soon, his hands were filled with tree branches and pine cones.
Once again, when he turned to the right on the forest path, he found another dozen Cruel Sandstorm Riders standing in front of him.
‘These relentless bastards!’
No matter how much qi he had lost, no one among the Cruel Sandstorm Riders could keep up with him if he were to use his movement art. Even the two Absolute Masters would be on par with him at best.
However, the Cruel Sandstorm Riders were intimately familiar with the terrain around them. Through their knowledge, they were able to determine what paths Woo-Moon could take and arrive there first, forming a blockade across all escape routes.
As Woo-Moon continued forward, he threw the twigs and pine cones in his left hand.
Swish!
The projectiles flew so quickly that even arrows shot by a master archer weren’t quite up to par. Moreover, since they were projectiles thrown by a Paragon, the strongest among the gathered Cruel Sandstorm Riders faltered nervously as they tried to deflect them.
However, while the speed at which the pine cones moved was impressive and the accompanying sound terrifying, the actual force contained within them was pretty weak.
‘We were tricked!’
The moment they realized it, Woo-Moon’s knee was already slamming into the face of one of the bandits.
The bandit fell backward with his entire face caved in, blood cascading from his nose and eyes. Without skipping a beat, Woo-Moon continued forward after clearing a path.
“You slippery little bastard!”
The Peak Class martial artists gritted their teeth after realizing they had been tricked and chased after Woo-Moon.
However, they weren’t able to get far; a cavalry unit overtook them from behind, trampling them.
“Get out of the way, you idiots!”
It was the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron, the horse bandit cavalry that stood as one of the top squadrons of the Cruel Sandstorm Riders.
The four Peak Class martial artists chasing Woo-Moon were trampled to death as the members of the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron caught up with Woo-Moon at a frightening speed, at the cost of the lives of their own allies.
The Demonic Horses raised by the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron were rare beasts, dozens of times stronger than ordinary horses.
That was how they were able to catch up with Woo-Moon so quickly.
The Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron were unique martial artists that, while not stronger than Absolute Masters, were much faster than them.
“You rat, just die!”
Just like Woo-Moon, the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron had also been unable to rest whatsoever due to Woo-Moon’s frequent attacks.
Up until this point, they had been unable to keep up with Woo-Moon, who was much faster than their Demonic Horses with his movement technique. However, now, they had the opportunity to kill him.
A wide-eyed Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron member approached Woo-Moon from the right and thrust a long spear at him.
However, Woo-Moon, detecting the attack using only the sound of the spear’s movement, changed his running direction to avoid the spear.
The issue was with the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron’s speed.
All of the squadron’s members worked together to move forward in concert, moving in such unison that it felt like not even water could get by them as they tried to trample Woo-Moon to death.
Right before Woo-Moon was about to be trampled by the Demonic Horses, he threw himself forward and spun in mid-air, scraping the ground with his back.
Scratch!!!
Since he couldn’t protect his body by using qi, the clothes on his back tore, and sharp stones scratched his back.
Still, Woo-Moon didn’t care whatsoever and instead focused all of his attention on what was before him.
Again, he fell into a state of Extreme Concentration!
This extreme concentration was precisely what allowed him to train using mental imagery, and it sped up his thought process to thousands or even tens of thousands of times faster than ordinary people. Now, he could process even the most minute input from his senses.
He could see the muscle movements of the Demonic Horses in detail.
He could see which of the Demonic Horses were jumping and how long each of their gaits was!
The length of the bodies and legs of each Demonic Horse, how their speeds slightly differed, even their habits could be determined through his Extreme Concentration...
He could observe everything about them, and from that, he could calculate exactly how they would move.
Rumble!
Meanwhile, the sound of eighty Demonic Horses galloping so vigorously that it seemed as though their hooves would tear through the ground pounded in his ears.
With each step, Woo-Moon also analyzed the members of the squadron on each of the Demonic Horses’ backs, seeing what kind of weapons they had, how long their arms were, and what cultivation level they had reached.
All of the relevant information seared itself into Woo-Moon’s brain.
At some point, Woo-Moon’s eyes glazed over as if he were dreaming. Then, he jumped into action, directly moving according to the mental image he had created, almost ignoring what was going on in front of his eyes!
RUMBLE!
The heavy galloping of the Demonic Horses grew even louder. The fear and intimidation they exuded made Woo-Moon feel more alive than ever.
He rolled on the ground, fending off attacks from the squadron members.
Dodging in a fluid motion, he exquisitely avoided the Demonic Horses’ trampling.
He was in such a precarious balance that even the slightest misstep would cause him to end with a caved-in head and broken limbs.
However, the greater the crisis, the faster Woo-Moon’s brain ran and the stronger his concentration grew.
Of course, not everything moved according to Woo-Moon’s initial predictions, as unexpected results could happen at any time!
Still, each time that happened, Woo-Moon continuously demonstrated his amazing improvisation skills by resolving the errors and moving accordingly at every turn!
Rumble!!!
Thus, Woo-Moon succeeded in avoiding all of the attacks of the eighty Demonic Horses and their riders.
Swish!
As the last of the stampeding horses passed him by, Woo-Moon reached out and grabbed it by the tail, using its forward momentum to launch himself into the air.
His gaze had returned to normal, and he flew through the air in a perfect arc, landing behind the squadron member riding the horse that he had just grabbed.
“Huh?”
The moment the squadron member realized something was wrong and turned his head back, Woo-Moon grabbed him by the chin and twisted upward hard.
Crunch!
Although it was an attack without even a hint of qi, Woo-Moon timed his attack right as the man showed an opening in his surprise, cleanly twisting and breaking the man’s neck.
“You dog bastard, how dare you!”
One of the man’s comrades riding to the right brandished his scimitar, eyes shining with thirst for revenge.
However, Woo-Moon just looked at him with an ice-cold and indifferent gaze as he swung his free hand.
Bang!
The pine cone he held in reserve hit the eye of the scimitar-wielding man, disrupting his vision.
As the scimitar blindly cleaved forward, Woo-Moon twisted his body slightly to avoid any fatal injuries while pulling a steel arrow out of the dead squadron member’s quiver. He stabbed the blinded man right through the gap in his helmet, piercing his exposed eye.
Squelch!!!
At the same time, the scimitar fell on Woo-Moon’s upper forearm, cleaving off a thick piece of flesh. Blood splattered everywhere as a long groove was cut through Woo-Moon’s arm.
At the same time, the man collapsed backward and fell off his horse. It was hard for him to hold the reins while he had an arrow lodged in his brain.
“How dare you, bastard?! What the hell are all of you doing? Hurry and shoot!” the squadron leader shouted as he aimed his crossbow and shot at Woo-Moon.
The other subordinates followed in turn, gritting their teeth and shooting as well.
Thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip!
The sound of a mechanical device firing bolts rang out continuously, and Woo-Moon's gaze went blank once again.
Unable to protect and aid his brain with qi, his overworked brain heated up after using Extreme Concentration twice in succession, causing his body to protest in pain and his nose to bleed.
Still, he had no other choice if he wanted to avoid dying.
Woo-Moon’s rapidly processing brain accurately read all of the bolts’ trajectories.
Unfortunately, he quickly realized that he couldn’t avoid all of the bolts in his current condition. So he tried his best to move just enough to avoid any fatal injuries.
Squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch!
Five bolts hit Woo-Moon, spread across his calves, thighs, and forearms.
Pain spread throughout his body.
‘Damn it. I just wanted to lure them in by pretending to take a small loss.’
Although he had predicted that Martial Heaven would prepare some sort of poison, he never could have expected them to have such a vicious Qi Dispersion Poison.
After grumbling to himself for a moment, Woo-Moon grabbed Lightflash by the blade. He dragged it across the Demonic Horse’s forehead, cutting a deep gash just above its eyes.
Lightflash was a Treasure-grade sword on the verge of becoming a Divine-grade one. Not only did it slice through the flesh of the Demonic Horse, but it also left a deep wound on Woo-Moon’s own palm.
The intense pain and loss of sight caused by the blood flowing into its eyes were too much for the Demonic Horse, which had been already panicking anyway since it felt someone other than its master was riding it.
Driven over the edge, it began to buck wild.
Neigh!!!
It ran around like crazy, jumping left and right, hitting other Demonic Horses head-on. As it rampaged, Woo-Moon jumped off its back and flipped backward before rolling on the ground further away.
Crack, crack, crack!
All of the arrows lodged in his body broke off in his tumble.
Now genuinely becoming a man of flesh and blood, Woo-Moon looked ahead to see the Heaven-Defying Demon Squadron, which had been racing back at him at a frightening speed, have their formation completely scattered due to the Demonic Horse’s rampage.