Chapter 170: Those That are Lost (4)
Gadak
Jeon Myeon-hoon stares at me.
But why does his eyes not seem to belong to the living?
Those eyes look... akin to those of the dead.
Behind those lifelessly dark eyes, something fervent seems to slumber.
Overall, he appears dead and gloomy, with his hair disheveled and long.
His skin has become much paler than before, with dark shadows under his eyes.
He looks like a corpse, as if he might die at any moment.
Yet, from this corpse-like appearance, I sense a volcano about to erupt.
Right now, he is like a bomb on the verge of exploding.
"Jeon Myeong-hoon, are you alri"
Woosh!
And then.
The next moment, a fiery red lightning bolt strikes towards my chin.
"!"
I split the lightning with the Formless Sword enveloping my body and back away to create some distance.
But in the next instant.
Kugugugu!
As if thunder roars, he suddenly appears in front of me, extending his palm towards my face.
In that instant, he literally became lightning itself!
Crack, boom!
Around him, seven spears made of red lightning forms, aiming at me.
Above, below, front, back, left, right!
The red spears aim at me from the six directions, and the last spear is thrown directly at me by Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Vroom!
The last spear, transcending planes, fly towards me!
Each one is as fast as lightning!
'But, they're not actual lightning.'
I recognize the six directions and extend my hand.
Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom!
Boom!
Just once!
With a single gesture, six lightning spears are sliced, and I dodge the last one by moving my body.
Zip!
In an instant, I charge in front of Jeon Myeong-hoon and throw a punch.
He tries to defend by crossing his arms, but the moment my fist touches his defense.
Jeon Myeong-hun's upper body is cleanly cleaved in half.
Slash!
"Hmm, it's a bit regrettable that our reunion and greetings turned out like this after such a long time."
Zip, zap!
Crackle!
However, from Jeon Myeong-hoon's severed body, lightning sparkles, and shortly after, his body reattaches itself.
Then, Jeon Myeong-hoon, with his corpse-like eyes, spoke.
"Quiteimpressive."
"?"
Sensing something odd, I question him.
"Hey do you not recognize who I am?"
Clearly, his mental state is somewhat unstable.
Actually, very unstable.
To my question, Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at me with his dead eyes and replies.
"8th occupied territory... Aren't you the provincial governor? I know because I tortured the soul of the inspector."
"I'm Seo Eun-hyun. Do you really not remember?"
"Seo Eun-hyun?"
"From the same place as you! Remember where you come from!"
"The same place"
At those words, Jeon Myeong-hoon suddenly clutches his head.
"Ah, aah Aaaaaaah! Huaaaaaaah!"
Crackle, crackle!
Streams of multicolored lightning begin to flow from his entire body.
"Aaargh!"
Kugugugugugu!
Behind him, six faint flags begin to appear.
The six flags are stuck on Jeon Myeong-hun's back, like wings.
'Is that... a technique he learned?'
It seems like some sort of restriction, but the flow of spiritual energy is quite natural, suggesting its simply characteristic of his own technique.
After screaming and emitting lightning in all directions for a while, he calms down.
And then, those corpse-like eyes look at me once more.
"Seo Eun-hyun. Yes, I remember."
He smirks.
"It's been a while. Ever since facing [That], my mind hasn't been right, hence the disgraceful behavior. Try to understand, will you?"
"[That]?"
"Shut up! Just shut it! I'll kill you! Definitely! I'll grind and chew you into bits!!!"
Kugugugugu!
Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes tremble erratically and he begins to rampage.
Lightning strikes all around, and I dodge them while taking a moment to observe him.
Fortunately, Jeon Myeong-hoon stabilizes after a while.
Looking back at me with a gloomy expression, he opens his mouth again.
"...Well, no need for any chit-chat, I came looking for you, Provincial Governor of the 8th occupied territory, Seo Eun-hyun."
"What's the matter?"
"Did a disciple of the Golden Divine Heavenly Thunder Sect named 'Yeon Jin' come by the 8th occupied territory? Where did he go now?"
"Yeon Jin? If you mean Yeon Jin... he said he was going to the mainland of Bright Cold Realm to find you..."
"The mainland...? Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!"
Suddenly, Jeon Myeong-hoon bursts into mad laughter at my words.
"Hahahaha! The mainland! He went to the Bright Cold Realm! Are you saying we missed each other!?"
Tears stream from his eyes.
"Why! Why the hell! Why is this happening!!!"
Kugugugugu!
From Jeon Myeong-hun's body, crimson lightning bursts forth.
"Look, Jeon Myeong-hoon. Calm down and..."
"Enough!!!"
Before I can say anything more.
Jeon Myeong-hoon screams, scattering red lightning in all directions.
"Let them all die! Everyone! All of them!!!"
Kugugugugu!
What!
Lightning strikes envelop the area.
"Everything on this land, all of it, worthless! All, all of it, die!!!"
It isn't about the color of Jeon Myeong-hoon's lightning. His consciousness itself is drenched in a bloody red hue.
Rage.
He is violently spewing out his anger like molten lava.
"Hold, hold on a moment!
Simultaneously, the lightning he scatters starts to split and directly penetrate the barrier.
And now, I finally obtained the 'eyes' to properly wield this monstrosity!
If the Pure Spiritual Force obtained during the Qi Building stage supplies infinite energy to Beyond the Path to Heaven,
The 'eyes' obtained in the Nascent Soul stage precisely guides where Beyond the Path to Heaven should head.
They complement each other.
Added to this, the physical strength obtained through body cultivation, the Formless Sword, drawing on the power of the plane of Qi, possesses overwhelming dominance and transcends to a higher plane, cutting through the essence of the lightning in its very dimension.
Charak!
An azure flag is pulled from Jeon Myeong-hoon's back.
Now, every single lightning strike is of the Heavenly Being stage!
However, with the strength of the physical body.
The eyes of the Nascent Soul.
And the capabilities of the Formless Sword combined, my Formless Sword precisely hits the weak points of Jeon Myeong-hoon's lightning, slicing through it directly.
Slice!
Shall we see how far it goes?
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Stepping forward, I draw a circle around me with my sword.
His lightning continues to gradually grow stronger.
It starts to require slightly more effort to slice through the lightning.
In other words, until now, slicing through lightning of Heavenly Being stage required no effort at all!
Kung, kung kung!
Green and yellow flags are simultaneously pulled from Jeon Myeong-hoon's back, and each of his lightning strikes elevate to the level of Heavenly Being Great Perfection.
Kwoong!
At that point, my sword feels heavier.
Despite finding his weakness, wielding the sword that cuts through everything with the powerful force of the physical body, there's a limit when the power gap becomes too great.
However, I smile, deciding to test my limits now that I have reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Gradually, greater strength begins to attach to my Formless Sword.
The sword dance becomes faster.
This is the state of Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains!
Woogwoogwoog!
I continue to channel the strength of Jeon Myeong-hoon's lightning into my Formless Sword, repeatedly reflecting its force.
Though the strain on my entire body gradually intensifies, the realm of Nascent Soul combined with the physical body tempered through body refining tightly holds together what should have ended in an explosion.
Kwaang, Kwaang!
The barrier laid out by Wi Ryeong-seon is trembling from our clash.
Gradually, the colorless sword begins to push back against the red lightning.
Pwook!
Finally, the last orange flag is pulled from Jeon Myeong-hoon's back, melting into the lightning.
Kururung!
The already red lightning shines even more violently red as it shoots towards me.
The lightning directly cuts through space!
This might be a bit too much... but still
I look up at the sky with a smirk.
Let's give it a try!
Kuguguguruk!
Stars swirl around my entire body.
Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method!
I utilize the starlight and blue light to the extreme, infusing these energies into my Formless Sword.
Wo-woong!
The Formless Sword dyes with starlight.
Tstsstsstsst!
My Formless Sword becomes a strand of the Milky Way.
What I hold is no longer emptiness.
The Galaxy.
A small Milky Way is held in my hand.
The ultimate technique of the Azure Spirit Starlight Quintessence Great Method.
The technique of Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter, finely tuned to the extreme and blown into the Formless Sword.
Releasing all the power in my body in one strike!
Ah
At this moment.
I feel like there is nothing I cannot cut through.
Phshhhhh!
With Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains, the attack power of the Formless Sword soars to the extreme, and with the added power of Azure Wing Heavenly Shatter, it sweeps the sky clear.
That is the end.
Fwoah!
The baptism of red lightning that covered the sky is swept away in one go.
I smile and spit out a mouthful of blood.
Using Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains is fatal.
Or, it used to be.
"Curse, reversal!"
Pwaah!
The pressure of Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains that filled my body is all redirected back to Yuan Yu.
Pwook!
Down below, Yuan Yu, who had been protecting the Devil Race from getting swept away by my command, explodes as a curse doll.
His body, having reached the Core Formation Great Perfection, took on all the load that had been on me.
Wo-woong!
Then, Yuan Yu quickly rises to our location and lifts a skull staff towards Jeon Myeong-hoon, who is unable to regain his senses after spilling all the lightning.
Tsrrrrrk!
His vital energy is sucked into Yuan Yu.
Gradually, Yuan Yu absorbs Jeyon Myeong-hoon's energy, regenerating his exploded body.
Jeon Myeong-hun staggers and falls below the barrier, drained of energy by Yuan Yu.
Whish!
I have Yuan Yu catch him and bring him slowly down to the ground.
"Hey, Jeon Myeong-hoon."
I ask him, who had unleashed all his power along with his madness in one go.
"Are you okay?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at me and says,
"Shut up."
"What?"
"Don't pretend to understand..."
He clenches his teeth.
"Kill me... If I recover my strength, I will kill all living beings in this area without exception."
Fury blazes in his eyes.
"No matter how much I pour out, this pain and rage doesnt subside... My heart feels like it's burning...! I can't stand it unless I kill everything in sight...! So, if you want to stop me, kill me now, Seo Eun-hyun!"
"...Calm down, anger is not resolved by killing others."
"You!"
He shouts and lunges at me, angrily grabbing my collar.
"What do you know? Have you ever lost a lover right before your eyes? Have you experienced being helpless as your teacher, friends, loved ones, and all acquaintances are swept away like insects by an unstoppable entity? Do you know the misery of being unable to do anything as your precious ones die? What do you know about me? Shut up! Just shut up!!! I..."
Tears of blood flow from Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes.
"I've lost everything!!!"
Kwarururung!
From his body, red lightning bursts out once more, sweeping the surroundings.
Donated chapter by ASDF. Thanks for the support!
***
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Link to donations in the discord!