Chapter 126

Dozens of martial artists, the pursuit squad of the Martial Alliance, surrounded two men with menacing intent, their blades drawn.

However, the encircling martial artists were sweating nervously, tense.

The two men who were surrounded.

One, a Westerner cloaked in white, and the other, a man who appeared to be of mixed Central Plains heritage.

Fan Fang, the Sixth Elder of the Ilwol God Sect, from the Qingsheng Sect.

And a mysterious giant with disheveled hair and a rough beard, contrasting with his clean white martial attire.

Gongsun Po, the Eighth Elder of the Ilwol God Sect, from the Gongdong Sect.

He calmly scanned the martial artists surrounding them.

“There’s no one with a shield. How strange.”

Fan Fang was the first to speak.

“The Qingsheng Sect has a dual-sword technique called the Blue Cloud and Red Sunset Sword Art. A flowing sword like a blue cloud, deflecting the opponent’s attacks. A heavy sword like a slowly descending red sunset, pressuring the opponent. It’s a martial art that uses both simultaneously.”

He muttered to himself, looking confused.

“But, isn’t it weird? Clouds don’t have a fixed shape, so that’s fine. But why is the sunset a sword? The sun, the sunset, they’re round.”

“I just can’t imagine the ‘image’ of expressing the sunset as a sword technique.”

As Fan Fang rambled, one of the martial artists, seeing an opportunity, charged forward with his blade.

“You! What are you babbling about? Hah!!”

With a fierce shout, the sharp blade rushed toward Fan Fang, about to pierce him.

Blue Cloud and Red Sunset Defense Technique

Fan Fang’s cloak fluttered, revealing a round shield covering his left arm.

Clang-!

The shield, enveloped in red energy, deflected the blade.

“Huh…?”

Before the martial artist could comprehend, the shield struck him like a sunset.

Crash-!!

A dull thud followed by a sickening crunch.

The martial artist who had charged so boldly now lay dead, his head shattered.

Fan Fang, looking down at the scene, revealed the sleek steel plate armor hidden beneath his white cloak.

Plate armor, a sword in his right hand, and a shield in his left.

Fully armed, he spoke.

“That’s why I trained in sword and shield techniques instead of dual swords. I smashed the heads of the Qingsheng Sect elders and fled.”

He looked at the shieldless martial artists with pity.

“If you want to get stronger, pick up a shield. Your stability will skyrocket.”

Another martial artist, enraged by his comrade’s death, charged forward.

“Don’t get cocky!!”

In the current martial world, there are no prominent families or sects that use shields. They don’t know how to deal with shield-bearing enemies.

But the martial artist thought that relying on such external hardness could be broken with internal energy techniques.

He unleashed a penetrating strike aimed at the shield, targeting the internal energy.

But before the strike could fully manifest, the shield closed the distance.

Slanting in, it struck from below, hitting the wrist and disarming the martial artist.

“Shield parry.”

Thud-!

Fan Fang stabbed his sword into the exposed abdomen of the martial artist, explaining.

“In the West, this is called ‘Parrying.’ I learned it from the knights of the Round Table of Britain.”

With the second martial artist dead, the faces of the remaining pursuers turned pale. Their leader, trying to rally them, shouted.

“They’re just two men! Two! Attack together!!”

“Ahhhhhh-!!”

Following the leader’s command, the martial artists charged, their trembling blades infused with energy.

Gongsun Po, the Eighth Elder who had been watching Fan Fang fight, stepped forward with a cruel smile.

“Now it’s getting fun.”

He dashed forward, dodging a horizontal slash by bending his body and delivering a punch to the abdomen.

“Guh-!”

One punch, and Gongsun Po didn’t even check if the opponent was dead.

He immediately dashed again, lightly dodging another attack and delivering a punch to the second martial artist’s stomach.

Moving swiftly in a zigzag pattern, Gongsun Po punched the abdomens of five martial artists before calmly stopping.

The martial artists hit by Gongsun Po’s fists were stunned.

They felt no significant damage despite the punches to their stomachs.

“What did you… Guh!!”

Before they could finish, blood gushed from their eyes, nose, and mouth as they died.

Seven Injury Fist

A deadly martial art that destroys seven internal organs upon contact, not through external force.

The leader of the pursuit squad, recognizing the technique, turned pale.

“The forbidden technique of the Gongdong Sect!? You… you Demon Sect bastards have no shame!”

Gongsun Po smirked.

“If you’re jealous, why don’t you use it too? It’s so good, why wouldn’t you?”

The leader gritted his teeth at the taunt.

The difference in strength was too great. They should have retreated after locating them, not tried to surround them.

“Everyone, scatter! I’ll buy time!”

To save his remaining subordinates, the leader infused his sword with blue energy.

“Hah!!”

With a determined shout, he swung his sword at Gongsun Po, ready to die together.

A killing intent. But Gongsun Po’s smirk remained.

Nine Yin White Bone Claw

Gongsun Po’s claw technique shattered the sword mid-swing.

Crunch-!!

His fingers pierced and crushed the leader’s skull.

“That new elder, Unmu Yong, is quite a good friend.”

Gongsun Po shook off the blood, flesh, and brain matter from his hand.

“The Nine Yin White Bone Claw, a technique from the Nine Yin True Classic. He even taught me such a good technique.”

Fan Fang, who had finished off the fleeing martial artists, nodded.

“He’s quite impressive. We got word that he successfully established a ‘transaction’ with the royal family.”

As Fan Fang mixed in some Western words, Gongsun Po frowned.

“Hey, stop using those Western words in the middle of sentences. It’s annoying.”

“Why? Is it too ‘difficult’ for you?”

Fan Fang’s smug smile made Gongsun Po roll his eyes.

“…I’m going crazy, really.”

Fan Fang shrugged and got back to the point.

“We got word from the sect. The Blood Church is going to cause chaos in the Martial Alliance. If we take this chance to kill some Martial Alliance members, it’ll be good.”

“Unmu Yong… the Tenth Elder successfully made the deal. Before the full-scale war with the Martial Alliance, our goal is to reduce their numbers and gauge the strength of their elites.”

Gongsun Po interjected with interest.

“Ho~ That sounds fun. The Blood Church will handle the numbers. Who’s participating?”

“From the Ilwol God Sect, it’s you, me, and the Third Elder, Tang Wu.”

“Not bad. What about the Blood Church?”

“Jang Do, the Dragon Body, Snake Heart. I’ve fought him a few times and worked with him before.”

Fan Fang made a bothered expression.

“He’s strong, but he’s a pain in many ways.”

***

Near the Martial Alliance, at a bookstore.

The troublesome man, Jang Do, shared his opinion on illustrations.

“I said that illustrations need breasts, buttocks, and pretty girls to stand out, but it’s not always necessary.”

Ner tilted her head.

“That’s different from what you said earlier.”

“That’s what attracts the most attention. For a novel to succeed, it needs to grab the reader’s interest.”

It’s a matter of taste.

Overemphasizing breasts and buttocks can turn off some readers.

“Well, if the novel is interesting enough, readers will draw their own illustrations or commission them.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

As Ner’s admiration ended, Jang Do’s gloomy voice echoed.

“…Of course, I’ve never received any.”

Here we go again, this guy’s rant button got pressed.

Ner thought Jang Do would start rambling about novels no one cared about, but…

Jang Do just sighed.

“Well… I don’t draw illustrations anymore, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because it pains me to know that the illustrations I worked so hard for, catering to the artist’s whims, were given away for free by someone else.”

Jang Do tapped his head with his index finger, forcing a bitter smile.

He picked up his brush and started writing again.

“…I’m losing confidence. If I had just kept writing novels and drawing illustrations, it would’ve been fine. But at some point, I started doubting.”

“Did my novel only succeed because of the illustrations? Would it be boring without them?”

The trembling brush couldn’t fill the blank white paper.

“If that’s the case, it’s over. I can’t write anything.”

The most painful thing about writing a novel is when you think it’s interesting, but the response says otherwise.

When your ideals can’t keep up with reality.

When you lose yourself.

Well, it’s not like I’m writing anything groundbreaking.

I should just keep pushing forward.

***

Near the Martial Alliance, at the Jiegal Family’s villa garden.

There, Guhae and I practiced the Jeonjin Sect’s internal energy technique.

The Mystical Taoist Inner Energy Technique.

Thanks to Master Wang Miaoyang’s miraculous calculations, we were learning about the Jeonjin Sect’s martial arts.

I glanced to the side and saw Guhae smiling softly, her eyes meeting mine.

She just seemed happy to be with me.

Anyway, Master Wang Miaoyang’s lessons for the revival of the Jeonjin Sect continued.

“Both of you seem to have mastered the Empty Clarity Fist well. I’ll teach you the next step.”

The Empty Clarity Fist, based on the Taoist teaching that emptiness has its uses, turns the opponent’s strength into nothingness.

A sturdy, defense-focused martial art.

I thought there was nothing more to evolve, but apparently, there is.

“From now on, you’ll learn the offensive form of the Empty Clarity Fist.”

I focused intently on Master Wang Miaoyang’s unexpected words.

When two empty bottles collide, both break.

But when an empty bottle collides with a full one, the empty one breaks.

Furthermore.

When a bottle filled with sand collides with a bottle filled with water, the one with water breaks.

Emptiness can contain great strength.

Not just turning the opponent’s strength into nothingness.

But containing great strength to shatter the opponent.

The new form of the Empty Clarity Fist.

Behold—

The Empty Clarity Shattering Fist.

As soon as Master Wang Miaoyang finished explaining.

“Oh… I got it.”

Guhae immediately succeeded in executing the Empty Clarity Shattering Fist.

“Huh…?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped my mouth.

Crack! Crackle!!

Blue energy surged from Guhae’s delicate hands, emitting an ominous aura.

To test the power of her new technique.

Guhae unleashed the Empty Clarity Shattering Fist at a nearby rock.

Crash-!!

A clean punch shattered the rock into pieces.

Guhae’s face was calm.

Her usual serene blue eyes, cute face.

As if it were a natural result, she showed no sense of accomplishment.

The face of a true genius.

Even though I train to catch up to her, to protect her.

The gap keeps widening.

Perhaps that’s why I hear the voice of the Empty Clarity Fist in my inner world.

‘Empty Clarity~ Empty Clarity~ Sima Mantian! Evolve it!!’

Gah! Who do you think I am!?

Once again, I tried to execute the Empty Clarity Shattering Fist as Master Wang Miaoyang explained.

But it didn’t work.

‘Kyaaaaah! Master Kongzi! Uncle Mukgang!’

I silently screamed, calling out the names of the two masters who acknowledged me as a genius.

‘I’m a genius who even deceives the heavens! I’m Sima Mantian!!’

But still, the Empty Clarity Shattering Fist didn’t manifest.

‘Sigh… Sigh… Sad Lefu…’

Next, I decided to go to Nangong’s place for sword training.

Sima Mantian, resolved to bury his face in a maternal chest and throw a tantrum.