Chapter 223. Nine in the Fifth Place (19)
Woo-Moon grabbed the Myriad Lives Monk by the jaw with one hand and pulled him right in front of his face.
"I'll let you understand what helplessness feels like. I'll show you that even with you alive and free to do whatever you want, the Righteous Faction and Heavenly Demon Cult will still end up joining forces. The more you insist they can't, the more they will shun you. They'll belittle you, saying that you can't follow the way the river runs. In the end, you all will be abandoned by the Righteous Faction. I'll make that future a reality for you."
Yes, this seemed like a better solution than killing them all.
He was sure of it.
Those who had dared to try to kill Si-Hyeon and ruin his plans would be ostracized the way they deserved.
"Fuck off."
Woo-Moon threw the Myriad Lives Monk away.
Then, he and the others walked back toward the path to the Heavenly Dem
“You dirty cultist bastards!!” the Myriad Lives Monk shouted as he charged once again with his broken sword. The other surviving elders joined him.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
With a loud clamor, they were all thrown back, left bleeding from internal injuries.
No one could break through the Paragon Qi erected by Woo-Moon.
"It's starting to get annoying."
Woo-Moon swept a hand over them once, shooting blasts of aura that pierced their acupoints.
***
For a very long time, Ra Mi didn't wake up.
Her family knew that she had learned a new cultivation method with Woo-Moon's help, and they also knew that it was a new art that allowed her to cultivate even in her dreams.
However, somewhere along the line, she had fallen asleep and hadn't woken up for a whole month.
They knew that with her cultivation at the Transcendent Stage she could go a very long time without food or water. But even so, her father—the sect master of the Hainan Sword Sect—and his wife were worried and constantly checked on her condition.
Ra Baek-Do checked on Ra Mi dozens of times a day. It was only after a few weeks that he and his wife Geum Ga-Yeon realized that there was nothing they could do and stopped coming to her room.
Ra Mi slept.
Longer than anyone else.
She dreamed endlessly, practicing her martial arts and cultivating over and over again, three, four, five times more than anyone else.
Since she had long since reached the limits of her flesh, practicing in her mindscape was an incredible help.
Three months into her endless sleep, a seven-colored light began to fill her room.
The light was not coming from the outside, but from within her.
A little more time passed... and there flash!
Ra Mi’s eyes opened, and a divine light emanated from her eyes for an instant before her gaze quickly returning to the calm gaze of an ordinary person.
This was the true return to nature.
As one's cultivation improved, one would eventually return to the natural state of a newborn human being, as if they’d never lived and never learned martial arts.
Yet in spite of her ordinary appearance, the aura of a great master flowed from her entire body.
Having become an Absolute Master, she no longer suffered from narcolepsy. Her control and mastery of her body and mind had become so strong that she could even get rid of a problem she had been born with.
However, before she could even immerse herself in the afterglow of achieving this high realm, she suddenly stood up.
"F-father...!"
"Chikushou!"[1]
A pirate from the Eastern Islands swung his sword at Ra Baek-Do while cursing.
“How audacious!"
Ra Baek-do was the leader of the Hainan Sword Sect.
Although he may not have fully mastered the Thirty-Six Swords of the South Sea[2], he intimately understood each form's meaning, and although he wasn't an Absolute Master, he was an expert strong enough to be counted among the Absolutes thanks to his incredible sword techniques.
One strike, one death!
Ra Baek-Do's sword deflected and pushed away the pirate's slightly curved sword, then pierced the pirate's head. However, three other pirates attacked him simultaneously.
While he struck one down, the other two still cut into his side and shoulder.
“You monkey ass bastards!”
The two pirates, whose swords were stained with Ra Baek-Do's blood, were split in two almost simultaneously by his counterattack.
Ra Baek-do shouted, "You bastards! None of you can enter this room! All of you, come at me! I'll kill you all!"
The pirates' murderous desire intensified as Ra Baek-Do steadied himself, ready to wipe them all out.
However, it turned out that the pirates were actually no different from the Eastern Islands' official soldiers, as they even received support from their home country.
After the Eastern Islands' civil war ended, they leveraged the power of their countless warriors and engaged in piracy at a national level to reaccumulate national wealth.
Although the overall martial prowess of the Eastern Islands was inferior to that of the Central Plains, the Hainan Sword Sect was gradually pushed back just by the sheer number of pirates. Eventually, the invaders pushed their way all the way into the Hainan Sword Sect's base, and Ra Baek-Do stayed behind on his own to protect his cultivating daughter.
Even though he was covered in blood, Ra Baek-Do did not take one step back.
There was only one thing on his mind.
He would protect his daughter!
Just the thought of what would happen to his sleeping daughter after he fell made him dizzy.
"FUCK OFF!!!"
As he looked at those before him, Ra Baek-Do's entire body filled with strength once more. Four pirates were cleaved in twain by one slash his sword, and blood spewed everywhere.
However, Ra Baek-Do had already reached his limit. While he had cut down countless enemies, the corridors were still full of countless others.
"Ha... ha..."
The tip of Ra Baek-Do's sword slowly drooped downward without him even realizing it. His wrist was losing strength.
As if jolted awake from sleep, Ra Baek-Do noticed it and tightened his grip on his sword.
"None of you shall pass!" he shouted again, raising his fighting spirit once more.
However, the invading pirates were like devils coming from the depths of hell.
It seemed as if their Dao was a never-ending pursuit of blood.
Just as the pirates were about to rush Ra Baek-Do again, someone suddenly stopped them from behind.
"Enough. Step back. I'll deal with him."
After berating his men in the Eastern Islands' language, which Ra Baek-Do couldn't understand, a pirate dressed in samurai attire walked toward him.
While he was tall for an Eastern Islander, he was still somewhat shorter than Ra Baek-Do.
Ra Baek-Do could immediately tell that his opponent was strong. He was most likely one of the strongest experts of the Eastern Islands.
If Ra Baek-Do was in a normal state, he would have been able to defeat him. Right now, though, that was impossible.
Still, he shook off the slight inkling that he would be defeated. He could not afford it.
'I can't lose! Ra Mi, Ra Mi is behind me!'
That single thought gave him strength.
The samurai held his katana[3] with both hands and raised it above his head. Then, he carefully walked toward Ra Baek Do, step by step.
‘I have to win!’
The pirate’s katana came down upon Ra Baek Do with a fierce slash.
Although Ra Baek-Do tried to block with his sword, in his current state, he couldn't keep up with the katana’s speed.
'No, I can't die here...!'
As Ra Baek-Do opened his eyes wide, watching the sword falling over his head, a very familiar scent flowed into his nose.
"R-Ra Mi!"
Ra Mi appeared in an instant, like a phantom, standing before Ra Baek-Do and blocking the sword in his stead.
"Ugh!"
The samurai was unable to overcome the rebound force that reverberated through his katana and fell backward.
That was how powerful Ra Mi's sword was.
Seeing the samurai fall, Ra Baek-Do was shaken. Then, noticing the significantly different appearance of his daughter, and her eyes, in which not a hint of sleepiness was visible... tears flowed from Ra Baek-Do's eyes.
"A-A-Absolute Master! My dear, you've... you’ve done it..."
Ra Baek-Do burst into tears.
Whenever he acted like this, one could not help but wonder who was the parent and who was the child.
Ra Mi smiled brightly when she saw her father.
Swish!
Then, her sword cut a straight line.
Squelch!
Blood spurted out in a line behind the tip of her sword.
One sword, and nineteen of the pirates were slaughtered, their torsos and necks severed by the sword aura.
While some of them tried to block her attack with their katanas, the swords were simply cut in two alongside their bodies.
"Father. I'll go deal with these bastards first, so please wait here," She said as he pressed the acupoints around Ra Baek-Do's wounds, stopping the bleeding and giving him simple first aid.
"Ugh... chikushou... Bitch, you dare!"
The samurai, who had fallen with internal injuries after being blocked by Ra Mi's sword earlier, got back up, cursing.
Swish!
Ra Mi's sword flickered for an instant, and a hole the size of a soybean appeared in the samurai's forehead.
As she walked by him, he simply fell backward.
Ra Mi shot sword aura in all directions.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
"Agk!"
"Ahh!"
"Ugh!"
A series of explosions and screams rang out, and before long, Ra Mi had driven away the pirates who had invaded the Hainan Sword Sect's base.
After the battle, Ra Mi's mother, who had been in hiding, returned and had a touching reunion with her family.
The Hainan Sword Sect's warriors celebrated the survival of the sect and the birth of an Absolute Master, chanting Ra Mi’s name.
On this very day, the legend of the Sword Empress of the South Sea began.
***
As they approached the Heavenly Demon Cult, Yeo-Seol suddenly started hiccuping.
"Hic...! Hicc!"
Even her hiccupping was adorable.
Woo-Moon smiled.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes, yes. Hicc! I'm okay."
Yeo-Seol's face was pale, as if she was scared.
It was understandable.
This was the base of the Heavenly Demon Cult, of all places.
Yeo-Seol was tense and terrified as she entered a place with such a frightening reputation.
She hadn't even acted like this when they had entered the Forbidden City. Well, in a way, it was natural. As a martial artist, the name of the Heavenly Demon Cult held more meaning to Yeo-Seol than the emperor’s name.
Seeing her reaction, Woo-Moon and Si-Hyeon smiled.
"SOOOOONG WOOOOOOO-MOOOOOOOOOOOON"
Suddenly, someone ran up with a shout and swung a sword at them.
It was the Myriad Lives Monk.
This was already the ninth time.
The Myriad Lives Monk had continued to attack the party. At some point, he began to target Woo-Moon instead of Si-Hyeon or the Dark Soul Squadron.
It seemed that his personal resentment had grown stronger than his desire for revenge.
Up until this point, Woo-Moon had simply neutralized him by locking his acupoints, but this time, he felt particularly annoyed.
Thus, he started by pressing the acupoints of the Myriad Lives Monk and the others again.
"Kill me!"
The Myriad Lives Monk looked at him with eyes full of resentment, begging for Woo-Moon to kill him.
Hearing his bitter shout, Woo-Moon just shook his head and continued by pressing a special acupoint.
It was the famed Bone-Splitting Muscle-Twisting Technique!.
While the technique didn't actually cause any wounds, it would cause extreme pain all throughout the body, as if one's bones were breaking and their flesh was being torn apart.
If it were an ordinary person, the sheer pain could even cause immediate cardiac arrest and death. Martial artists would not die from it, but if they were to undergo this torture more than once, most would have a mental breakdown.
"AHHHHH!!!"
A desperate scream burst out from the Myriad Lives Monk’s mouth.
Woo-Moon glared at him with a sneer.
"It'll last half a day. Don't worry, you won't go crazy."
With that, the party headed back to the base of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Soon, they arrived in front of the main gate.
Gulp!
The sound of a dry gulp echoed loudly.
It wasn't the gulp of just one person. Everyone apart from the cultists, Ma-Ra, and Woo-Moon, had swallowed nervously.
Even if they weren’t hiccuping like Yeo-Seol, they were all nervous about entering the base of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
The Myriad Lives Monk and his group of elders that had been persistently chasing them had also stopped by this point, either because of the pain of the Bone Splitting Muscle Twisting Technique or because they didn’t feel like being in the Heavenly Demon Cult’s sphere of influence.
The youngest of the Dark Soul Squadron, who was in charge of the grunt work, ran forward.
"Open the gate this instant. The Lord has returned!" he shouted.
1. Yes, he speaks Japanese. Yes, he really does say that. The word originally refers to being reincarnated on the Animal Path, one of the three lower paths of reincarnation, which is considered to be a punishment. In general it's not used to curse people (and if it is, it's incredibly rude, like calling someone a mutt), but rather as a generic "damn it!" ☜
2. Hainan means “south sea,” so this would be the fundamental technique of the sect ☜
3. Fun fact, the hanmun for katana is “foreign saber.” ☜