Chapter 421: Broken Ones (3)

Chapter 421: Broken Ones (3)

Kugugugugu!

The entire Heaven-Earth Palace shatters, and the surrounding Flying Immortal Platforms simultaneously crumble.

Beneath the Flying Immortal Platforms, the Void Spirit Ponds begin to reveal their subtle forms.

It's a scene reminiscent of when Hon Won used the Great Mountain Splitting Emperor Technique nearby.

However, there is one key difference. Hon Won used the divine power of the Great Mountain Splitting Emperor Technique, while I simply grabbed Hon Won by the face and slammed him down.

[You...bastard!]

He growls, beginning to gather power.

Spatial waves reverberate from within his body, and gradually, his size starts to swell.

Hon Won reveals his true form.

Due to the mass, I'm momentarily pushed back, rising into the sky.

Kugugugugu!

In the next instant, he becomes a mountain.

Rocks, soil, and trees sprout from his body.

Streams and creeks emerge from his form, with veins of minerals buried in its depths. Deeper within, lava bubbles up as a colossal mountain soars.

The mountain imbued with the Five Elements transforms into a giant, glaring at me.

This Mountain Giant is Hon Won's true form.

[Integrated Dao Domain. Great Mountain Great Dust Chariot Tearing Wind Bird (太山大塵車裂風鳥)!]

[TL/N: Chariot Tearing/Chariot Dismemberment is also known as dismemberment by five horses, an ancient Chinese death penalty where a person's four limbs and neck are tied to chariots/horses and pulled apart.]

Kugugugugu!

His body transforms into a domain, and at the same time, his domain begins to engulf the surroundings.

Hon Won's domain is a desolate island.

Within his domain, countless islands float in the void.

In that void, countless dust storms rage, turning into sharp blade winds that shred everything excluding Hon Won.

Rising from the center of these dust-bladed gales, the Mountain Giant exudes a fierce momentum towards me.

[Let's settle the score that we couldn't before, Seo Eun-hyun! If you want to deal with me, you'll have to step over my corpse...]

And in the next moment.

Kwakakakwang!

With a single strike, Hon Won's upper body explodes and is sent flying, while the shockwave from my punch obliterates his entire domain in an instant.

"You seem to be under some kind of delusion."

I glare at Hon Won, my eyes blazing, as I move at an extremely high speed.

"You won't last even ten moves against me now, Hon Won!"

Without revealing my true form or drawing the Colorless Glass Sword or my domain, I simply let the Three Great Ultimates float behind me.

[That was the first move.]

Bo-oong!

I move above Hon Won's head, bend my legs, and then forcefully stomp down, smashing into his regenerating stomach.

Rumble!

[Second move.]

Hon Won's body is completely pierced through, and the shockwave from the impact slices through various parts of the domain.

He uses the Flying Escape Technique and unleashes the full power of Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation within the light to counter me.

Our bodies collide.

[Third, fourth.]

After two clashes, both of Hon Won's fists are severed, and his upper body is once again greatly slashed.

The way to subdue those in the Integration stage is to smash their domain to pieces.

For the Heaven Tribe, you destroy the domain. For the Earth Tribe, you destroy the domain and the body that is fused with it, and the Grand Cultivator dies.

But what about Heaven and Earth Dual Cultivation?

'How troublesome.'

In the case of these guys, even if you slice through their domain, their domain regenerates as long as their body remains. If you cut through their body, as long as the domain is intact, they resurrect.

Both the domain fused with the body and the manifested domain have to be eliminated simultaneously.

Quite a hassle.

But that's all there is to it.

[Fifth, sixth, seventh.]

With the first strike, his domain. With the second, his body. With the third, I attack his soul and subdue him completely.

[You bastard...!]

However, perhaps not a complete waste even if rotten, the bastard quickly covers the entire surrounding area with the barrier of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.

His will is to blast the area around him with the Great Mountain Splitting Emperor Technique

But it's useless.

I grip a black banner in my hand.

Wriggle, gurgle!

This isn't just any banner.

From the shadows of the banner's reverse side, pitch-black, eye-like things squirm, and terrifying entities within seem desperate to escape.

Wriggle, wriggle—

The object in my hand continuously squirms, trying to grow.

'If I plant this, he'll probably die.'

The Yin Soul Ghost Incantation, which instinctively expresses my rotting, decayed insides, has long since surpassed its limits.

Pain and agony so condensed that even my Heart Demons wail for escape—that is the current Yin Soul Ghost Incantation.

If I stab Hon Won with this, no matter how strong an Integration Grand Cultivator he is, it's certain he will fall into madness with his soul evaporating.

I dare say, even Sacred Master Baek Woon wouldn't remain sane if hit directly by this.

And I wait for Kang Min-hee on the now completely ruined Flying Immortal Platform, where the original form of the Void Spirit Pond is fully exposed.

Kugugugugugugu—

Ghostly wails fill Heaven and Earth as she finally arrives at this place.

Deep darkness.

Crackle, crackle...

Within that deep darkness, I immediately identify Kang Min-hee's location.

'Compared to the darkness I saw when [The Oldest One] was chasing me during that regression process...'

The darkness surrounding her is quite distinguishable.

Kiiiiing—

After charging up a single strike in the All-Heavens Sword, I launch it directly at Kang Min-hee.

Flash!

The All-Heavens Sword, transformed into a thin line, shoots towards Kang Min-hee at the speed of light, and just before reaching her,

It strikes something like a barrier.

'As expected, I can't penetrate it in one go.'

She stops and stares at me intently.

I meet her gaze and smile faintly.

Paaaatt!

The All-Heavens Sword, lodged in front of her, begins to shine and transforms into a Seated Detachment, Standing Oblivion avatar.

Through the Standing Oblivion avatar, I launch another single strike at her once again right in front of her face.

The avatar, lacking energy, morphs into a Gang Sphere.

Kuagwangwangwang!

Her upper body explodes, and in that brief moment when she can't regain her senses, Hon Won, who rose up with Seo Hweol, covers the entire area with the barrier of Yin-Yang and Five Elements at Seo Hweol's command.

'Is this how it was done?'

I clasp my hands together and focus my consciousness.

Silently reciting the formula of the 'twisted' mantra without connecting with [Them] through attraction force, I simultaneously start to use the mantra that [They] 'taught' me.

The location where the Standing Oblivion avatar struck Kang Min-hee.

The Gang sphere clone that remains there.

Centered around that Gang Sphere clone, the barrier of Yin-Yang and Five Elements begins to close in.

Though it's far from being a true Immortal Art, its form is close enough!

[Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra!]

Kugugugugugu!

The barrier of Yin-Yang and Five Elements that covers the area begins to constrict around the Gang Sphere before Kang Min-hee.

Though the mantra is twisted, its effectiveness is undeniable.

The density of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy within the barrier begins to increase, filling the surroundings with light.

[Aaaaaah!]

Kang Min-hee lets out a ghostly wail, attempting to shatter this prison that has now turned into a prison of light, but it's futile.

No matter how powerful she is, even she can't break the barrier that was created by enduring my disgust to combine strengths with Hon Won.

Before long, the barrier gradually shrinks smaller and smaller until it's narrower than the range I occupy, finally forming a sphere that imprisons only Kang Min-hee.

Of course, that's the limit.

I can't make it as smaller than dust, like what I saw back then.

This is my own limitation.

Wiiing!

Before the Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra sphere can dissolve, I immediately summon the Three Great Ultimates and charge in, forcefully smashing the sphere containing Kang Min-hee down towards the Void Spirit Pond.

Kugwagwagwagwang!

A tremendous resistance is felt from within.

It feels like she's about to burst out in an instant, but she's an instant too late.

She has already been expelled through the Void Spirit Pond.

Of course, it's impossible to block the Void Spirit Pond, so she will eventually return.

But for at least a month, she shouldn't be able to climb back up, dealing with the Vestiges of the Interdimensional Void.

"...See you later, Kang Min-hee."

I look down, trying to calm the goosebumps that have risen from my disgust.

I really didn't want to use it.

Even though the twisted Phenomena Extinguishing Mantra doesn't form an attraction force with the Owner of Great Mountain, it still touches upon my most painful memories.

But there was no other choice.

Just as I shouted at Hon Won just moments ago, with Penglai Palace weighing on his shoulders.

Now, I have my remaining comrades weighing on mine.

I had to stop Kang Min-hee, no matter what.

'If it's just my own disgust that's the problem, I'll ignore it as many times as necessary.'

No matter how agonizing and painful the memory is, I will bring it out and use it.

If that is the means to protect the deceased followers of the Wuji Religious Order.

And to protect the comrades who are still alive.

[Splendid, Daoist Seo.]

"Shut up."

I glare at Seo Hweol and Hon Won as they descend from the sky.

"From now on, we're going to regroup with my comrades and head to the Mad Lord. In the meantime, explain in detail the method you mentioned to bring the Mad Lord back to his senses."

[Understood. I'll explain as we go. First...]

And so, after temporarily driving away Kang Min-hee, we set off toward the Mad Lord Jo Yeon.