Wudang Sacred Scriptures
Chapter 109

Sreung!

Facing the second wave of the incoming coordinated assault, Kwak Yeon lowered the inner energy imbued in his Cheonggang Sword to the level of Sword Qi.

That was because he still needed to divide the not-yet-fully-replenished inner energy between footwork and martial arts manifestation.

The harmony between internal and external energy, the perfect embodiment—he could now fully deploy every martial art he had mastered. Enemies of this level could be swept away like dry brush.

—Chwaaah!

A dazzling vacuum of the Taiji Sword Technique unfolded from the white-hot tip of Kwak Yeon’s sword.

—Ppugak! Ppugak! Ppugak! Ppugak!

Four blades charging at him shattered into fragments against the sudden emergence of a massive full moon.

Twelfth form of the Taiji Sword Technique: Turning Back to Face the Moon !

It was the moment Kwak Yeon forged a moon-shaped sword ring using the Wudang Sect’s foundational sword style.

“Keurgh!”

“Kuhak!”

The four wielders of those blades could not withstand the impact. Coughing up blood, they collapsed to the ground.

—Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

To divert the four blades now aimed at his back, Kwak Yeon unfurled the Five Element Tailwind Steps.

At the same time, he raised the Cheonggang Sword, already hanging downward, and swept it upward toward the heavens.

Cloud-Flowing Sword Technique, Final Form – Tail of the Great Dragon!

While it didn’t carry the full power of extending hardened energy, everything within a jang’s distance would be cut.

Kwak Yeon’s Cheonggang Sword cleaved through the enemies without pause.

—Seogak! Seogak! Sseuak!

Just as the blade that had slashed down three martial artists curved toward the fourth—

A sudden surge of Sword Qi erupted from that enemy’s blade.

A peak-level master!

And worse—he had already closed the gap to within half a step. A surge of Sword Qi at that range!

If Kwak Yeon continued his assault, he could take the man’s head. But he’d be wounded by that Sword Qi in return.

Kwak Yeon instinctively twisted his body away.

It was the grappling art he’d learned during his early training: Blue Dragon Body Twist.

A movement to escape when one's ankle is fully caught—named for a wrathful dragon twisting its body.

Not a martial technique, so it required no incantation for circulating inner energy—a purely physical body art.

And yet, Kwak Yeon, even when not intending to, was in a state where internal energy rose with every motion and external force responded—a realm of Transformation.

His body sank downward and vanished like a fading shadow, and the enemy’s Sword Qi merely sliced the front hem of his robe.

Only his robe had been cut, but Kwak Yeon was truly enraged.

Who could have guessed that bastard had hidden a needle in the haystack—a classic illusion tactic.

“The martial world teems with cunning schemes. Never assume your ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) enemy fights as you would.”

He had nearly fallen for it—because he’d carelessly forgotten that lesson, once given by the Azure Sun Swordsman Hong Sucheon as a warning for survival in the rivers and lakes.

Enraged, Kwak Yeon struck the stunned enemy with Qi-Guided Whirlwind Kicks to the ribs and face.

—Kwaaak! Ppaggak!

The man’s ribs collapsed, half his face shattered, and he flew through the air like a rag doll—thus, the second wave of the coordinated assault was broken.

With the first and second waves vanishing in an instant and the courtyard now piled high with corpses, the warriors rushing in as the third and fourth waves faltered.

Hao Clan Leader Im Saeng, who had begun slipping away the moment he saw the first wave’s fighters dismembered, turned on his heel the moment he saw the second wave crushed as well.

He had judged: If not now, I won’t make it out.

However—

As he tried to sprint toward Baekyang Hermitage’s gate, Clan Leader Im Saeng found that he couldn’t move.

Because someone had seized him by the scruff of the neck.

“Where do you think you're going, Clan Leader?”

It was Sub-Branch Leader Yang Won-gak. Pale-faced, Im Saeng muttered back.

“...Sub-Branch Leader, we can’t match him at all...”

“So you intend to run?”

“For now, we retreat and—try to come up with a plan...”

“You don’t understand? Once you run, it’s over.”

“But...”

“You spineless bastard.”

—Sseogak!

Yang Won-gak drew a dagger and severed the Clan Leader’s head.

Then, raising Im Saeng’s dripping head high, he bellowed toward the subordinate warriors.

“Anyone who retreats here will end up like this!”

The sight of him roaring with a bleeding head in hand was downright terrifying.

“That cave-dwelling Daoist bastard just took a serious hit.”

Yang Won-gak had seen clearly: a peak-level ally had slashed Kwak Yeon. That emboldened him.

But the Blue Dragon Body Twist Kwak Yeon used—rooted in the Transformation Realm—had created an illusion due to its sheer speed.

“Look at him! He’s barely able to hold his sword, worn out from the fight! He’s alone! Surround him—if even one of you lands a blow, it’s over! Whoever lands that blow gets one hundred gold taels and a seat on the Council of Elders!”

The reason Kwak Yeon had lowered his sword was to enter breath-gathering meditation and replenish his inner energy. But to outsiders, he looked unmistakably injured and weakened.

And now, with Yang Won-gak offering an enormous reward, fear melted away from the warriors’ eyes.

Chwarururuk!

As the warriors all raised their blades, Yang Won-gak roared.

“No more divisions between third and fourth wave—attack together!”

At Yang Won-gak’s signal, they all rushed toward Kwak Yeon.

Yang Won-gak was triumphant.

He expected the Cave Daoist would now be destroyed.

His certainty wasn’t unfounded. It wasn’t just because the Cave Daoist had been injured by a peak-level ally.

Yang Won-gak had noticed something peculiar during the second wave—Kwak Yeon’s movements had suddenly slowed.

What’s that trick? Just moments ago he was displaying the Transformation Realm, and now he’s clumsy?

The white gleam on the Cheonggang Sword was noticeably dimmer than before. It wasn’t even radiating outward anymore.

He had never heard of a master lowering their realm in actual combat.

Usually, one elevates their power over time.

Then earlier—that was an Explosive True Qi!

Explosive True Qi (激發眞氣)—a forbidden technique where one forcibly erupts their inner energy, unleashing strength beyond their current cultivation.

Yang Won-gak was certain—he had learned that very technique himself recently, bestowed as a secret method.

That sly Cave Daoist bastard used trickery to gain the upper hand.

Because Yang Won-gak was convinced Kwak Yeon was beneath his level, he urged the remaining subordinate warriors forward, intent on finishing it all in a single strike.

But that was his fatal misjudgment.

While he was beheading the Clan Leader and rousing his subordinates, Kwak Yeon had already replenished his depleted inner energy flow.

He had been waiting—waiting for the greed-blinded warriors to close in all around him.

At last, Kwak Yeon raised his Cheonggang Sword.

In that instant, a dazzling white radiance lit up the entire courtyard of Baekyang Hermitage.

Jjaaaeng!

All those within earshot experienced the bizarre phenomenon of light producing sound.

They saw a flash—so why did they hear a chime?

Only after they watched the warriors in the front line sliced down like straw did they understand what that sound had truly been.

It wasn’t just a flash of light—by that moment, the space had already been cut through.

When a sharp blade crosses through space, any matter within that space—unless a ghost—cannot avoid being severed.

Hoo-doo-doo-doot!

Jets of blood erupted, and chunks of flesh thudded to the courtyard floor, piling up into a gruesome mound—undeniable proof of that truth.

Sub-Branch Leader Yang Won-gak was the first to recognize it.

He was skilled in schemes, always suspicious by nature. That’s how he had been able to move first, even before the previous Clan Leader tried to oust him.

The moment he saw the white radiance from the Cheonggang Sword surge even stronger than before, Yang Won-gak knew—he had miscalculated.

It hit him then: The Cave Daoist had deliberately lowered his level to bait them into letting their guard down.

He’d drawn them in so he could wipe them out in one sweep.

“Elder Yi, as expected, it’s a great relief we’ve cleaned this place up all at once.”

That bastard meant what he said.

A chill crawled down Yang Won-gak’s spine.

This is not someone I can handle!

That conclusion made, Yang Won-gak turned and ran without a backward glance.

He had to get down the steps while some of his subordinates were still alive.

If he could just reach the boat moored by the lakeside at the foot of the mountain, he could escape with his life.

Everything he’d built would be lost—but he would find another opportunity.

He would return and punish that Cave Daoist bastard. Without fail.

Jjeooong!

With one final pulse of white radiance flashing behind him like a foothold of resentment, Yang Won-gak bolted out through the front gate of Baekyang Hermitage.

And just like the Cave Daoist had said, it wasn’t he who laid a trap—

He’d fallen into one.

“Hyup-cha!”

Suddenly, a single staff appeared and smashed into his abdomen.

—Kwaaaang!

With a shattering blow that reverberated through his entire body, Yang Won-gak bent in half.

“Ggeueek!”

That same staff, having folded him in two, now pressed down on the back of his head.

Gggguk!

It felt like a thousand-jun boulder was crushing him.

“Just as Brother Kwak said, this rat tried to bolt.”

“......!”

“Sub-Branch Leader Yang, how’s the taste of old Master Chwi Dugae’s staff? Bit of a shame it’s not the Beat-Dog Staff, though.”

Only now did Yang Won-gak comprehend the overwhelming power of the staff that had bent him and pinned him motionless.

His neck acupoint had been struck using the Ten Thousand-Pound Hidden Staff (萬斤藏拐)—the ultimate staff technique of the Beggars’ Guild.

Chwi Dugae had unloaded his bundle and, just as Kwak Yeon instructed, had stood guard at the front gate of Baekyang Hermitage the entire time.

“Rear Beggar. Nothing’s better than the Beat-Dog Staff for catching a mad dog biting its master and running off.”

Looking down at the frothing Yang Won-gak, Chwi Dugae smacked his lips bitterly.

“Damn. Problem is, this dog ain’t even edible.”

He was still regretting the yellow dog meat he’d left behind at the temple altar the day before.

****

Inside the Dragon King Pavilion of Baekyang Hermitage, Kwak Yeon pressed Yang Won-gak’s pressure point to wake him.

“Are you conscious?”

“......?”

Yang Won-gak was dazed at first, but soon came to and said:

“Go ahead and kill me.”

Kwak Yeon shook his head calmly.

“I cannot. If I meant to kill you that easily, I’d have done it first, rather than asking the Rear Beggar.”

Sitting in a corner of the pavilion, Chwi Dugae chimed in.

“Sub-Branch Leader Yang. You’ve no idea how hard it was for me to resist braining you on the spot.”

“......”

Kwak Yeon met Yang Won-gak’s eyes directly and said:

“There are a few things I’d like to ask you. And some proposals I think might interest you.”

Yang Won-gak gave a bitter smile and said:

“To be honest, I don’t understand why Wudang is meddling in our internal affairs.”

“......”

“I could understand if it were the Beggars’ Guild—they’re our rivals, after all.”

At that, Chwi Dugae gave him a look of utter disbelief.

“Huh. Would you listen to this bastard. Trying to bury your own shit and call it someone else’s? When have you ever seen the Beggars’ Guild peddling filthy fake epithets like you people? Rivals, my ass.”

Kwak Yeon turned to him and said:

“Rear Beggar. If you're angry, might I suggest stepping outside for a moment?”

“Shi—! Are you seriously telling me to shut up and get out right now?!”