Chapter 184. Eight Years of Hardship and Suffering (5)

Chapter 184. Eight Years of Hardship and Suffering (5)

Some of the attacks exploded while the other attacks were cut down by the Great Evil Palace Master's Ten Heaven-Fearing Swords. The sword auras coming from his fingertips were incredibly fast and, above all, had incredibly precise movements.

Seeing the Great Evil Palace Master blocking their joint attack so easily, the five Absolute Masters felt a sense of crisis descend upon them once again.

‘We have to do everything we can. Otherwise, all of us will die!’

Right at that moment, all of the remaining forces of the Cruel Sandstorm Riders came rushing out from behind the Great Evil Palace Master. They had seen him fighting from afar and were rushing to help. Once they saw how things were going on that side, however, they turned away and attacked the Kunlun Sect's disciples.

The twenty thousand mounted horse bandits attacked like a tidal wave. Their numbers alone were so overwhelming that it seemed as though the Kunlun Sect’s disciples would be annihilated within moments.

Thankfully, like Jin Won-Myeong, the other four Absolute Masters had their own forces, too.

The first to arrive and help the Kunlun Sect’s disciples were the six hundred warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace.

Their aid was life saving for the Kunlun Sect’s disciples, as the North Sea Ice Palace’s warriors included the younger generation talents who—by virtue of the Marriage of the Snow Flowers—had become lay disciples stationed within the North Sea Ice Palace for the next decade.

Of course, they weren’t remotely enough to bridge the gap. But there were other pillars to that bridge: the Imperial Demonstration Department, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the Iron-Blooded Black Cavalry, and the Regional Military Commission’s thirty thousand troops.

First, the Iron-Blooded Black Cavalry used the momentum of their own horses to cut through the Cruel Sandstorm Riders’ mounted bandits. They were quickly followed by the Imperial Demonstration Department, all of whom had been taught Formless Flying Sword’s sword arts. The Imperial Demonstration threw flying sword after flying sword into the fray, causing confusion and killing many horse bandits.

Finally, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, each of whom had Peak Stage cultivation, rushed forward, their gold robes flapping in the wind. With each step, they mercilessly slaughtered whatever enemies were still breathing.

The precious weapons that the imperial government had forged for them gave off a sinister light.

Even though the thirty thousand troops of the Regional Military Commission were relatively weak, they served to fill whatever gap remained through sheer numbers alone and served as stepping stones, supporting the experts.

Thus, the fight between the forces gradually grew more and more intense, with both sides pushing each other.

In the midst of the chaos, the fight between the Great Evil Palace Master and the five Absolute Masters was also still ensuing. Unexpectedly, however, it was the Great Evil Palace Master who was losing little by little.

This was partly because the five Absolute Masters had been extremely focused and nervous at first. Thus, the sum of their joint efforts was less than the parts at the beginning. However, as time passed, they were increasingly able to gauge and understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses, becoming more and more in sync with each other.

“You bugs dare!”

The Great Evil Palace Master, who had been keeping a relaxed expression the whole time, burst out with a roar. Kicking off the ground, he soared into the sky and stretched out his ten fingers.

Crackle, crack!!!

Dozens—no, hundreds of blasts of finger aura poured down like rain on the heads of the five Absolute Masters.

The most skilled among them with regards to defensive martial arts, the Battle Emperor, tried to block the blasts of finger aura by continuously slashing out with saber aura in a large area to create a saber curtain. However, it wasn’t enough.

Thus, the Saber Emperor began to rotate in place, creating a vortex of saber aura that canceled out the remaining finger aura and lifted some of the burden off of the Battle Emperor.

While the two defended, the remaining three attacked the Great Evil Palace Master, who was still floating leisurely in the air, with their flying swords and palm force. Unfortunately, gravity is a thing, and attacks that go upward are not quite as effective as attacks coming down from above.

“You bastard!” Formless Flying Sword shouted angrily and kicked the ground. She approached the Great Evil Palace Master and threw out sixteen flying swords at the same time.

The flying swords spun each at a different speed and moved on a different trajectory, striking at the Great Evil Palace Master some from right to left and some from front to back.

Sadly, they were all simply knocked aside by the Great Evil Palace Master's defensive technique.

Jin Won-Myeong and Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee also came up next to Formless Flying Sword, joining forces to trap the Great Evil Palace Master in between them.

However, the three could only stay floating in the air for an extremely short time. They couldn’t freely float in the air like the Great Evil Palace Master, so in the end, they had no choice but to descend.

“Damn it!” the Saber Emperor swore.

The Great Evil Palace Master, regaining his composure, unleashed his finger aura again and shot it downwards.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The Saber Emperor and the Battle Emperor went on the defensive together. However, both of them turned pale and spat out blood, suppressed by the endless power of the Great Evil Palace Master.

Seeing this, the other three Absolute Masters could no longer focus only on attacking; instead, they had to focus on helping the two protect themselves and the others.

Formless Flying Sword Yoon Ha-Rin bit her lip.

Meanwhile, the other five Absolute Masters had turned toward the Cruel Sandstorm Riders and tore through the enemy lines with all their might. With this crushing blow, the Cruel Sandstorm Riders began to fall apart; most of the bandits died, a number were severely injured, and anyone who still had functional legs used them to flee.

“That’s one problem solved.”

Ma-Ra nodded her head at Woo-Moon's words.

“I can’t believe it was so hard to destroy a scarecrow group like this. When we have to deal with the actual Martial Heaven...”

As Woo-Moon's expression darkened, Ma-Ra brushed aside the hair falling down on Woo-Moon’s face with her thin, snow-white fingers.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

Ma-Ra looked a lot less like a porcelain doll and a lot more like an actual human being as of late. Well, at least while she was with him. These changes naturally made Woo-Moon happy and made Ma-Ra look even cuter in his eyes.

Mwah.

Woo-Moon playfully kissed her on the lips.

"Thank you."

The two of them slowly landed on the ground, Ma-Ra in Woo-Moon’s arms.

The battle had ended, and they landed right in the middle of where everyone was celebrating their victory.

Countless people looked at Woo-Moon and Ma-Ra.

Usually, in a situation like this, the lady would blush with great embarrassment and whisper to the man to let her go. However, Ma-Ra’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as she instead just rested her head on Woo-Moon’s chest.

Since Woo-Moon was also not the type to care about what others thought when it came to what he wanted, he proudly held Ma-Ra in his arms and walked toward the five Absolute Masters, who had been the greatest contributors to this battle.

His display was rather shameless, but nobody could be bothered to point it out. Not only were Woo-Moon and Ma-Ra a beautiful couple, but at the same time, they were the two main characters of the day’s victory. Thus, no one said anything or looked at them with any irritation.

An Embroidered Uniform Guard blew a long whistle, then clapped his hands and shouted, “What a beautiful picture. Very impressive! Hahaha!”

With his interjection, everyone in the crowd burst into bright laughter.

“You’re a flirt, it seems,” the Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee said.

She was somewhat upset by what she saw, as she wanted her own daughter to be the one tied to Woo-Moon. Still, as long as a man was capable and a woman was accepting, the culture of the murim didn’t frown upon having multiple wives and concubines, and Ah Hee herself was well aware of that.

Considering Woo-Moon’s looks and abilities, it would be strange not to be desired by many women.

“Well, they don’t call it the Hero’s Blessing for no reason, hahaha!”[1]

As the Battle Emperor boisterously laughed, Woo-Moon and Ma-Ra finally let go of one another.

It wasn’t that they were ashamed of their expression of affection; they just felt it would be rude to keep it up like this in front of the five elders.

“We won!”

A tiny soldier with a blackened face appeared in front of Woo-Moon, Ma-Ra, and the five Absolute Masters, shouting in an incongruously cheerful and sharp voice.

“Uh, Princess?”

Although she may have covered herself in charcoal and disguised herself, Woo-Moon immediately recognized her.

"Huh! You noticed it right away. Hehe," Princess Mok Yong said as she stuck out her tongue. Even though her face looked as if she’d just gotten out of a chimney, she was rather cute.

Seeing that, Yoon Ha-Rin put her hand on her forehead and let out a groan.

‘I can’t believe the Princess is fawning over Woo-Moon like this. This is a problem. How will His Highness, the Crown Prince, react...?’

The usually cold Princess Mok Yong was behaving rather unlike herself. Of course, it wasn’t like Yoon Ha-Rin didn’t understand what it meant to fall in love at first sight. She knew that even she might have fallen for Woo-Moon if she was the princess’ age.

The more outstanding a person is, the more attractive they are. It’s only natural; it’s an instinct shared by all species. Calling people shallow for wanting to have someone exceptional as their partner is nothing but denying nature.

1. TLDR, a Hero always attracts the ladies. ☜