The moment Mu-jin, who was cautiously observing the Head of Unhyangwon’s sword, tried to move.
The experienced Head of Unhyangwon struck first.
Before Mu-jin could react, the sword of the Head of Unhyangwon, moving with incredible speed, sliced through the air and struck Mu-jin. The sword energy surrounding the sword of the Head of Unhyangwon cut through Mu-jin’s Golden Turtle Technique like it was tofu.
Mu-jin desperately tried to dodge again, but his body was inevitably wounded.
He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, but the wounds caused by the sword energy felt like severe burns.
Though it was torn apart like tofu, the Golden Turtle Technique had bought him a moment’s respite. The source of thɪs content is noⅴelfire.net
It allowed him to narrowly avoid having his limbs severed completely, although long sword wounds still appeared on his body.
‘Should I try to defend my vital points and charge in?’
As he thought of using a strategy of sacrificing flesh to cut bone against a master several levels higher,
suddenly, a silver streak flew towards the Head of Unhyangwon from behind.
“Click-click-click. It seems you have a nasty hobby of bullying children.”
It was the Dark King who intervened.
Mu-jin recognized his opportunity when the Dark King diverted the Head of Unhyangwon’s attention and moved.
His target was the black-clad person who had ambushed Tang-gak.
However, the black-clad figure had once again used that bizarre martial art to disappear.
Even though Mu-jin heightened his senses to find the black-clad figure, nothing was caught by his senses.
If he couldn’t find the black-clad figure, Tang-gak could be ambushed again just like before.
So, Mu-jin focused his mind.
Ignoring the noise from the fierce clash between the Dark King and the Head of Unhyangwon nearby, and the pain from the wounds caused by the Head of Unhyangwon’s sword energy, he concentrated solely on finding traces of the black-clad figure.
Mu-jin, standing still like a scarecrow, suddenly shot forward with extreme Fast Ascent Step.
He hadn’t located the black-clad figure with his senses. He had just noticed a very subtle trace.
That trace was a tiny bloodstain. A bloodstain that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
‘It’s from the wound inflicted by the Dark King!’
However, even as he rushed towards the bloodstain, nothing was caught by his sight or senses.
Nevertheless, Mu-jin fiercely swung both hands towards the spot where the bloodstain appeared.
It wasn’t a mindless attack hoping to hit the hidden opponent.
No, the attack itself was a feint. The real aim was to scatter blood from the wounds caused by the Head of Unhyangwon’s sword energy.
And, oddly enough, some of the blood droplets flying through the air floated as if obstructed by something invisible.
Without hesitation, Mu-jin threw a punch towards the dark spot marked by the floating blood.
At the same time, a translucent dagger emanating sword energy emerged from the darkness to block Mu-jin’s fist.
But as soon as the dagger was thrust, the black-clad figure’s stealth technique was broken, and Mu-jin could finally see them.
Mu-jin yelled, determined not to let the black-clad figure escape, and fiercely pursued them.
He gave up on defense entirely, focusing solely on his qinggong and attacks, even abandoning qi control to give everything to the pursuit.
The black-clad figure lunged at Mu-jin’s unprotected chest with a dagger in a surprise attack.
As the dagger pierced Mu-jin’s chest,
Mu-jin’s left hand grabbed the black-clad figure’s cheeks.
The reason he had stopped using the Golden Turtle Technique and exposed his chest was to make the black-clad figure drop their guard.
‘I can’t let them escape again.’
This wasn’t just about them hiding. It was because of all the experiences with the insane forces of the Paedobang, Taeeulmun, and Cheonryu Sangdan, who would often choose suicide over capture.
So, he aimed to make the opponent drop their guard to prevent them from committing suicide.
When Mu-jin applied pressure to the black-clad figure’s cheeks, their mouth forcibly opened.
Without delay, Mu-jin thrust his left hand into their mouth, aiming to extract any suicide pill hidden inside.
Though the black-clad figure was fully covered in black and masked, during the process of forcefully opening their mouth, Mu-jin noticed they were a woman.
Thinking back, the Dark King had referred to the attacker as a woman from the start, showing the old man’s keen observation skills.
As soon as Mu-jin extracted the small poison pouch from her mouth,
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The black-clad woman tried to stab herself with the dagger she had used to stab Mu-jin’s chest, but Mu-jin quickly grabbed both her arms.
“Just sleep for a while.”
While restraining her arms, Mu-jin kneed her in the abdomen, then struck the back of her neck with his hand, making her collapse.
To be safe, he finally struck her pressure points to fully incapacitate her before looking around.
Nearby, the Dark King and the Head of Unhyangwon were engaged in a life-and-death struggle.
Annoyingly, the Dark King was being pushed back.
‘Damn old man, where’s that confidence you had earlier?’
If the Dark King lost here, his life would also be in danger.
Though he considered joining the battle, interfering in a duel of such high-level masters could be a fatal mistake.
So, he carefully observed the battle to find an opening to join.
It didn’t take long for Mu-jin to realize why the Dark King was being pushed back.
‘He’s out of hidden weapons!’
Unlike before, the Dark King was using debris from the building he had destroyed as makeshift projectiles instead of hidden weapons from his sleeves or clothes.
Occasionally, he would retrieve and reuse fallen hidden weapons or draw a few remaining emergency ones from his sleeves, but it was clearly not enough compared to his initial barrage of hidden weapons.
‘Since using the Thousand Flowers Rain technique, I’ve wondered where all those hidden weapons were kept.’
Even though he had diligently hidden them in his clothes, there was a limit to the number he could carry.
‘Crazy old man. If there’s a limit to how many you can use, you shouldn’t have used the Thousand Flowers Rain technique in the first place!’
Although he felt like swearing, it wouldn’t change the situation. In times like these, moving quickly to take action was better.
Mu-jin lifted the unconscious black-clad woman onto his shoulder and swiftly moved through the Unhyangwon, avoiding the duel between the Head of Unhyangwon and the Dark King.
During his movement, he picked up the small iron pieces, the hidden weapons thrown by the Dark King, scattered among the debris.
After searching several places and collecting dozens of hidden weapons, Mu-jin gathered them in one spot and looked towards the still ongoing chase between the Dark King and the Head of Unhyangwon.
The Dark King’s clothes were torn and bloodstained, showing he was being severely pressed.
Mu-jin needed to get the hidden weapons to him quickly, but the problem was how to enter such a high-level fight.
‘To attract attention, nothing works better than a threat.’
But the problem was, those maniacs would rather commit suicide to erase evidence. Threatening to kill the black-clad woman wouldn’t work. Instead,
“Senior Dark King! Hold on a bit longer! I’ve captured this woman. I will take her back to the Tang Clan and interrogate her to expose their identities!”
Instead, threatening to torture her alive would be effective.
– I’ve hidden the weapons under the eaves on the right side among the debris.
While delivering this threat, Mu-jin sent a telepathic message to the Dark King about the location of the hidden weapons and then started running in the opposite direction.
Whether the threat worked or not, the Head of Unhyangwon, who had been pressing the Dark King, started moving to chase Mu-jin.
Sensing a cold presence from behind, Mu-jin quickly dodged, as the sword energy from the Head of Unhyangwon sliced through the spot where he had just been.
If Mu-jin were alone, he would have trusted in the Golden Turtle Technique and the Jade Vajra Technique and ignored it, but the problem was the black-clad woman on his shoulder.
The Head of Unhyangwon was explicitly targeting her with his sword energy, forcing Mu-jin to dodge and deflect the attacks with his free hand.
Already struggling with the difference in skill level, evading attacks only made it worse. Mu-jin was quickly overtaken by the Head of Unhyangwon.
With the Dark King still a concern, the Head of Unhyangwon unleashed his full power, sending waves of sword energy towards Mu-jin.
It was difficult enough to dodge the Head of Unhyangwon’s sword energy alone, let alone with the burden of the black-clad woman on his shoulder.
Mu-jin pushed his internal energy to the limit, reinforcing the Golden Turtle Technique and desperately dodging.
Though it was still shredded like tofu, increasing its thickness might buy a little more time.
This strategy allowed Mu-jin and the black-clad woman to narrowly avoid being cut in half, but their bodies accumulated wounds.
As the Head of Unhyangwon swung his sword to finish Mu-jin off,
Silver meteors flew towards the Head of Unhyangwon’s side.
“You endured well, young one. Click-click-click.”
It was Tang-gak, who had come after gathering the hidden weapons while Mu-jin bought time.
Tang-gak kicked debris towards the Head of Unhyangwon, who dodged the thrown hidden weapons and charged towards Tang-gak.
‘If the Shaolin Divine Dragon escapes while I’m held by the Dark King, it will be dangerous.’
The Head of Unhyangwon lightly deflected the debris and used extreme qinggong to dash towards Tang-gak.
Thinking Tang-gak had run out of hidden weapons, he made a bold move. However, he wasn’t entirely careless.
‘That crafty old man. He must have a few hidden weapons left for a final move.’
His plan was to block those and then finish off the Dark King before chasing the Shaolin Divine Dragon.
However, this was a poor choice because he didn’t know Mu-jin had gathered the Dark King’s hidden weapons.
As the Head of Unhyangwon approached within striking distance of Tang-gak, his momentum shifted.
At the same time, the Dark King pulled out hidden weapons from his clothes and began to throw them.
The number of hidden weapons far exceeded the Head of Unhyangwon’s expectations.
Once again, dozens of hidden weapons spewed from the Dark King’s hands simultaneously.
Not just once, but continuously.
The Tang Clan’s secret technique, the Thousand Flowers Rain, was unleashed again, this time solely aimed at the Head of Unhyangwon.
Mu-jin watched the scene with awe.
‘If we had dueled, I might have been turned into a pin cushion.’
The initial Thousand Flowers Rain was overwhelming, but this second deployment was even more extraordinary.
Unlike the first, where the hidden weapons were thrown in quick succession, this time they flew along different paths.
Some came directly, others spun sideways, and some even seemed to disappear into the darkness only to reappear and strike from behind.
Indeed, the Thousand Flowers Rain was an absurdly powerful technique.
The only issue was that using it left no hidden weapons remaining.