Chapter 236. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (7)
He suddenly found himself face to face with a disembodied head—no, it was just Ma-Ra’s head, which was still very much attached to her neck. She had been standing on a tree branch, and as the Great Justice Palace Master appeared underneath, she simply let herself fall upside down, swinging her sword at his Baihui acupoint.
“What?!”
It was such a ridiculous ambush that the Great Justice Palace Master couldn’t even think of blocking it and instead tried to dodge instinctively.
However, Si-Hyeon’s demonic qi surrounded him, preventing him from moving away. It was as if she had anticipated this situation.
‘There’s no “as if,” these brats planned to corner me!’
The Great Justice Palace Master realized that the trap was planned the moment he saw the look in Si-Hyeon’s eyes.
Gritting his teeth, he looked for his swords, only to realize that they were all trapped by Si-Hyeon’s demonic qi and it was too late for him to pull them out.
‘This bitch really went as far as hurting herself to manifest enough demonic qi!’
Si-Hyeon’s face was pale and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Indeed, she had pushed herself too far, all for the sake of blocking the Great Justice Palace Master’s movements and creating the perfect trap with Ma-Ra.
‘Even if I die, I refuse to die at the hands of some assassin who barely reached the Absolute Realm!’ the Great Justice Palace Master thought as he dodged Ma-Ra’s attack and jumped directly into Si-Hyeon’s demonic qi trap.
Squelch!
Four strands of demonic qi pierced the Great Justice Palace Master’s shoulder, both legs, and groin simultaneously. Blood burst out from his mouth.
Swish!
At the same time, twelve swords flew forward from behind Si-Hyeon. She quickly manipulated her demonic qi to block while dodging what she couldn’t block, but she failed to catch all of them and one lacerated her left arm as it passed.
Still, anyone could see that the Great Justice Palace Master had lost it heavily in the exchange.
Moreover, Si-Hyeon’s Flowing Darkness Whip Heaven was a technique that greatly suppressed the opponent’s recovery, even if said opponent was a Paragon. It was more difficult for the Great Justice Palace Master to heal his wounds as compared to usual.
The Great Justice Palace Master took a step back, his resentment-filled eyes blazing.
“Ugh... cough, cough. You treacherous whores. To think you’d not only ambush me but also use a joint attack...”
Si-Hyeon responded in a cold tone.
“Oh my, those with power massacring those without for ridiculous reasons are complaining about those who join forces to stop them. I’m really not sure who the treacherous ones are.”
The fact that Si-Hyeon chose to cooperate with Ma-Ra did not mean she was admitting her loss or that she was inferior to the Great Justice Palace Master. In fact, the two were almost perfectly matched, and no one could tell who would have been the last one standing.
However, Si-Hyeon couldn’t risk her life on a gamble.
She thought it was more important to survive, protect her other loved ones, and welcome Woo-Moon back alive than to risk her life for some nebulous concept of martial honor. In the first place, the Great Justice Palace Master and she had different burdens.
The Great Justice Palace Master ground his teeth as he watched Si-Hyeon and Ma-Ra coldly looking down at him. His pride as a warrior of Martial Heaven was so hurt that his blood boiled.
‘To think I’d end up like this just from an attack by those two bitches!’
It had been a long time since he had last gone out into the gangho. Moreover, that ‘long time’ couldn’t be measured in years, or even decades. To those at his level, a long time meant centuries. Due to being deprived of combat for so long, he had now suffered a defeat at the hands of two absolute novices.
And now, he was about to lose his life to what he considered the most cowardly tactic, a joint ambush planned by an assassin!
“Well, since things have already gone this way, then you, Heavenly Demon bitch, are going down with me! AGHHH!”
The Great Justice Palace Master let out a guttural roar that seemed completely out of place considering his clean-cut appearance and mannerisms, and quickly rushed Si-Hyeon.
He instantly ignited all his qi and reversed its flow deliberately, forcing himself into a state of qi deviation. And due to that, his power immediately rose to more than double!
Although it was a power that would disappear within a single moment, during that single moment, the Great Justice Palace Master was quite literally strong enough to flatten a mountain.
“Gasp!”
Si-Hyeon burst out in worry. Her eyes were filled with a sense of urgency. Her keen senses were telling her that she would die if she didn’t dodge.
However, she couldn’t move away in time.
The Great Justice Palace Master was just as fast as her to begin with, and due to the momentary amplification from burning his innate qi to the point of causing qi deviation, his speed had now reached unprecedented heights.
‘Senior brother, I’m sorry...’
Si-Hyeon was about to close her eyes and accept her fate, but just as her eyelids were approaching each other, her vision was blocked by a large and sturdy-looking back.
“You’re pathetic.”
With these words, Woo-Moon swung his sword, and the Great Justice Palace Master’s powerful momentum quickly melted away like snow in the spring sunlight.
“AGHHH!”
With a great roar, the Great Justice Palace Master rolled across the ground. His bones and veins twisted and ruptured, and he died a gruesome death.
Woo-Moon smiled and turned around to face Si-Hyeon and Ma-Ra.
“I’m back. Thank heavens I was able to return in time.”
“S-senior brother!”
Si-Hyeon ran to Woo-Moon and hugged him. He looked surprised for a moment, then smiled gently and hugged her back.
“What about Father-in-law?” Ma-Ra asked.
Woo-Moon smiled brightly.
“He’s fine. Right now... Look, he’s over there.”
Dae-Woong could be seen reuniting with Woo-Gang and Eun-Ah in the direction Woo-Moon pointed to.
A look of relief could be seen in Ma-Ra’s eyes.
Si-Hyeon looked at the body of the fallen Great Justice Palace Master and suddenly realized that Woo-Moon had easily taken him down even while he was under a ridiculous power boost.
“You’ve reached another realm, haven’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“The Zenith Realm?”
Si-Hyeon was one of the extremely, extremely few who knew exactly how impressive an achievement this was. It was practically a feat of legends!
Paragons, while rare, could still be found. Most Heavenly Demons had been Paragons, after all, and she knew the techniques they’d left behind. And so far as the cult’s records told her, they would sometimes clash with other Paragons from outside the cult.
Zenith Masters, on the other hand, never appeared.
There had only been one confirmed Zenith Master in all of the murim’s history, as far as she knew: the absolute ruler of the murim during his time, the First Heavenly Demon.
There were two others who had possibly reached the Zenith Realm—the Sun Moon Sword Hero Baekri Hyeon-Yu and the Wind God Heavenly Demon Dan Jeok-Ha.[1] However, many questioned whether that was actually true, and even assuming it was, there were absolutely no records of anyone else apart from them
Yet now, Woo-Moon had surpassed the Paragon Realm and reached this mythical Zenith Realm!
Si-Hyeon felt a sense of pride and joy swell in her heart. Ma-Ra, on the other hand, was just as impressed as she usually was.
The battle wasn’t actually finished yet. Even now, there were many warriors fighting.
While the overall situation was unfavorable for Martial Heaven, they still held on tenaciously and kept struggling, persevering thanks to their outstanding individual prowess.
Woo-Moon then drew a deep breath and let out a shout.
“Begone!”
One simple word, one simple result.
All of the remaining Martial Heaven warriors shuddered before their flesh, bones, and organs were turned into mush. They slumped to the ground as nothing more than sacks of human skin filled with a nondescript paste.
It was only then that the others realized Woo-Moon had returned.
Some were soaked in blood.
Some were exhausted.
Some were in pain.
But all of their expressions brightened at the same time.
“Great Hero Song has returned!”
“The Undefeatable Sword Immortal has returned!”
They were all happy that they had survived.
And...
“Gegeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
Right as Woo-Moon left Si-Hyeon’s embrace, another girl came running over like a cannonball and launched herself into his arms.
“Hahaha. I missed you, Yeo-Seol.”
“Really? I really, really, really, really, really missed you too, Gege! And... I was... I was also really worried. Ughhh...”
Yeo-Seol wiped away her tears. Woo-Moon smiled at her cute appearance, then looked at Ma-Ra with a warm gaze.
“I also missed you, Ma-Ra.”
Ma-Ra’s white cheeks turned bright red at his words, and she immediately slipped into the shadows with her stealth technique.
She was absolutely embarrassed.
In fact, if he was to talk about bonds, the one he had the most special bond with was Ma-Ra. They had spent a long time together, had gone through all sorts of difficult battles, and saved each other’s lives repeatedly.
While it most likely would never happen, if the world changed and he was forced to only pick one woman...
‘If that’s the case, then I most likely...’
Let’s stop there.
Woo-Moon immediately cut off that thought. If he were to go down that hole, he would be committing a sin against all three women. If something like that really were to happen, Woo-Moon and the two women who he would have to give up on would live their whole lives in misery. Naturally, the one who ended up with him wouldn’t be terribly happy either.
The love they had for each other couldn’t be replaced by anything or by any other love.
And speaking of love, at that moment, there were two women standing in different places and crying while looking at the four people.
Hyeon Yu-Yeon of the Mount Hua Sect and the Sword Goddess of the South Sea, Ra Mi.
Hyeon Yu-Yeon was crying out of loneliness, as she couldn’t see a place for herself within their lovely image. The fact that she was just watching them from afar, wanting to fit into their happiness, made her feel even more miserable. It made her feel hurt and alone, as if there was no one for her in this world.
Ra Mi, on the other hand, was so confused that she couldn’t even figure out what her own feelings were. She couldn’t tell if her feelings for Woo-Moon were actual love or not.
In a way, that was only natural.
Because of her narcolepsy, the years she had actually lived were less than a tenth of her actual age. She’d never had enough time to experience the feeling of love.
But at the same time....
A tear flowed from her eye as she watched the four of them together.
But while the two wallowed in sadness, the world happily revolved around Woo-Moon’s triumphant return.
Huff!
With a loud roar, Eun-Ah ran over and rubbed her cheek against Woo-Moon’s back.
Huff, huff.
“Little beast. Yes, I missed you too. What? Haha, don’t worry about that. Do you really think I’d go somewhere just to get beaten up?”
While Woo-Moon wrestled with Eun-Ah’s massive head, Dae-Woong walked over, following the tiger.
Ma-Ra saw him approach.
“What a relief. I missed you.”
Now, Dae-Woong was Ma-Ra’s father-in-law, in practice at least, if not on paper. But even so, Ma-Ra’s way of addressing him was still perfectly casual.
Well, it wasn’t like Ma-Ra was the type to bother with such concepts as formality and seniority.
Dae-Woong, of course, was also very happy to see Ma-Ra.
“Whoa, Ma-Ra, you’re actually talking now! You’ve come a long way. Good job!”
Seeing Ma-Ra smile faintly at those words, Dae-Woong was even more surprised.
“Oh my! Are you even smiling now?”
A simple thing like Ma-Ra’s smile really moved Dae-Woong. Of course, even if his emotions weren’t as vivid as Woo-Moon’s when he first saw her smile, Dae-Woong had always felt sorry for Ma-Ra and thought of her as a daughter, and seeing her smile made his nose sting.
Dae-Woong wiped his eyes, trying to pretend that nothing was going on. Then he smiled mischievously.
“I should have realized when I saw you two together back then. Well, it’s to be expected. You’ve been sharing a room for so long it’s understandable you’d develop feelings,” he said teasingly.
Yeo-Seol, who was completely unaware that Woo-Moon and Ma-Ra had been sharing a room since long ago, turned to look at Woo-Moon in disbelief, just in time for Si-Hyeon’s jaw to drop to the ground.
“There were special circumstances. I didn’t...”
Just as Woo-Moon was about to say that he wasn’t the one who had proposed that arrangement, Ma-Ra cut him off.
“He was a bad guy.”
With that short sentence, Ma-Ra disappeared.
“W-what?!! Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about?! Come out now!?
Woo-Moon’s face turned pale.
How many times had he been misunderstood because of Ma-Ra’s actions?!
By this point, it was clear that she was doing it intentionally.
1. The main characters of the author’s two other books, The Sun and Moon Divide the Heavens and The Sixth Heavenly God. ☜