Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Time to Answer

“KRAAAAAAGH!”

A beastlike roar tore from Master Baekheo's mouth.

It was too chilling to believe it came from a human throat.

Apparently, having his previous attack blocked by me had enraged him beyond reason.

His ink-black eyes snapped toward me.

The gaze looked ready to tear me apart.

Nothing remained in those eyes but killing intent.

So I've become the target now.

Then—

Baekheo drew both hands toward his chest.

A powerful force swirled around his palms.

A moment later, both hands thrust toward me.

BOOOOOOM!

A massive palm force carrying murky energy surged forward like a wall.

I hurriedly swung the Heavenly Law Sword and split through its center.

CLANG!

Sword and palm force collided head-on.

HISSSS!

The blue flames along the blade burned away the demonic qi mixed into the attack.

Its momentum weakened visibly.

Even so...

the remaining power was almost too much to endure.

Kugh!

The residual force of the Great Vajra Palm crashed into me.

My body was shoved violently backward.

SKRRRRR!

Both feet carved long trails across the stone floor.

My wrist throbbed around the hilt of the Heavenly Law Sword.

He's strong.

The Heavenly Law Sword could erase a portion of the demonic qi within the Great Vajra Palm.

But that didn't make Baekheo's decades of internal cultivation and martial achievement disappear.

The only reason I could withstand him at all was because he had lost his reason and was throwing his strength around recklessly.

If this were Baekheo in full control of himself...

I couldn't even imagine how powerful he would be.

Then, over his shoulder, I caught sight of Jin Gwangung and the others from Kunlun.

They were still locked in a desperate battle against Shaolin's corrupted elders.

None of them was uninjured.

Their formation looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Dangerous.

I couldn't afford to drag this out.

I wanted to run over and help them immediately, but—

“KRAAAAAAGH!”

Baekheo roared and blocked my path.

BOOM!

He stomped forward and closed the distance.

Then, without giving me even a moment to breathe, he unleashed palm strike after palm strike.

BANG! BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!

Powerful waves of force rushed toward me in succession.

I can't meet this with brute force.

I tilted the Heavenly Law Sword diagonally and unfolded the First Form of the Flowing Flower Kunlun Sword.

Clear Current Flowing Water.

The sword path flowed smoothly like a river and diverted the incoming palm forces to the side.

BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOM!

The redirected attacks smashed into the floor, scattering chunks of stone everywhere.

The destructive power was tremendous.

If I'd tried to take those attacks directly, the wrist holding my sword might have shattered in a single exchange.

“KRAAAAAH!”

Baekheo roared again and continued hurling palm strikes wildly.

I kept redirecting the unending Great Vajra Palms while carefully studying his movements.

His martial prowess was extraordinary.

More than worthy of being called Shaolin's greatest warrior monk.

Every palm strike was overwhelming.

But something was strange.

The power of the Great Vajra Palm was fierce...

yet the transitions between one technique and the next were slightly off.

They contained openings the true Baekheo should never have shown.

It looked almost as if his body were being forced to execute techniques it had mastered...

against his own will.

He hasn't been completely consumed.

It was the same as with Gonghyeon.

Even while drowning in demonic qi, Gonghyeon had resisted with his own strength until the very end.

Baekheo had lost most of his consciousness...

but the pure Buddhist internal energy he had cultivated throughout his life still hadn't surrendered completely to the demonic qi.

The righteous Buddhist qi and wicked demonic energy were colliding inside one body.

That conflict was creating tiny gaps in what should have been flawless palm techniques.

The problem was...

those openings lasted for almost no time at all.

They appeared and vanished so quickly that even following them with the eye was difficult.

To exploit one...

I had to enter his guard before the palm force was completed.

If I mistimed it by even a fraction...

I'd take the Great Vajra Palm head-on.

My body wouldn't survive that.

Even so...

there was no other way.

I'll bet on it.

The instant Baekheo's shoulder began to move again—

Tap!

I kicked off the ground and threw myself directly into his guard.

“Taoist Mujin!”

Gonghyeon's urgent shout rang out.

“KRAAAAAAGH!”

The maddened Baekheo hurriedly swung an arm at me.

An incomplete palm force still crashed into my body.

I twisted my upper body at once.

Kugh!

I avoided the center of the strike.

But the residual force still crushed into my right shoulder and side.

CRACK.

Pain like breaking bones tore through me.

Blood burst from the wound in my side.

But I didn't stop.

Gritting my teeth, I stepped even deeper inside.

Unfinished palm force swirled violently around Baekheo's hand.

At its center...

black demonic qi writhed.

Now.

I thrust the Heavenly Law Sword forward.

The sword tip struck the center of Baekheo's palm.

CLANG!

A sharp sound rang out that seemed impossible for an impact between flesh and steel.

The sword tip pierced straight into the center of the demonic qi gathered in his palm.

The Heavenly Law Sword immediately began vibrating violently.

FWOOSH!

Blue flames erupted from the tip and engulfed Baekheo's hand.

“KRAAAAAAAGH!”

A horrific scream burst from him.

The blue fire spread rapidly from his palm to his wrist...

then toward his elbow.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

The demonic qi wrapped around his arm broke apart in several places, scattering black sparks.

At the same time...

the Great Vajra Palm gathered in his hand distorted violently.

RUMBLE!

Unable to maintain its form, the palm force exploded outward and scattered.

“Uuuugh....”

Baekheo groaned in agony.

His blackened eyes shook.

I flipped the Heavenly Law Sword and drove the pommel hard into his solar plexus.

THUD!

“Kugh!”

His upper body bent sharply.

Then one knee struck the ground.

The black demonic qi surrounding him writhed violently.

Just as Baekheo tried to rise again—

“You should rest now.”

I raised the Heavenly Law Sword before his chest.

FWOOSH!

Blue flames surged along the blade and engulfed Baekheo's body.

Strangely...

they did not burn his flesh.

They consumed only the black demonic qi.

“Uuuugh...!”

A pained groan escaped him.

The demonic qi crawled beneath his skin and was forced outward.

HISSSS!

The moment it emerged from his body, the blue flames burned it away.

Baekheo's pitch-black eyes slowly returned to their original color.

Then...

as though all strength had left his body, he collapsed forward.

I caught him by the shoulder and gently lowered him to the floor.

Just in case, I checked his pulse.

Fortunately, nothing seems seriously wrong.

Only then could I release a brief breath of relief.

At that moment—

“Even Baekheo... you subdued him as well?”

A stunned voice reached me.

I looked up.

Gonghyeon was staring at me as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

But I had no time to pay attention to his reaction.

The fight wasn't over.

I need to help the others.

I raised the Heavenly Law Sword again.

“I'm sure you have many questions, but I'll answer them later.”

Gonghyeon looked at me.

“T-Taoist Han....”

“There are still things we need to finish first.”

I immediately turned and surveyed the cavern.

Closest to me...

Hyeongwon, Yu Seola, and Myeongjeon were being overwhelmed by one Shaolin elder.

BOOM!

“Kugh!”

A palm strike from the elder sent Myeongjeon, the weakest of the three, rolling across the floor.

Before he could even rise—

“Uuuuuugh!”

The elder extended a palm toward the fallen Myeongjeon.

Powerful palm force mixed with black demonic qi gathered in his hand.

“Myeongjeon!”

Hyeongwon shouted urgently.

SWOOOSH!

The palm force shot toward Myeongjeon's chest.

I jumped between them.

The Heavenly Law Sword drew a blue arc upward.

Slice!

The demonic qi wrapped around the elder's arm split apart under the blue sword light.

FWOOSH!

Blue flames swallowed the severed demonic qi.

With its power gone, the palm force shattered just in front of Myeongjeon's face.

The elder's arm was thrown upward.

I stepped directly into his guard.

Then flipped the Heavenly Law Sword and drove the pommel upward.

THUD!

It sank deep into the elder's solar plexus.

“Kugh!”

His body bent like a bow.

His breath stopped, and both legs buckled.

“What are you doing? Now!”

The others moved immediately.

Myeongjeon rolled from the ground and wrapped himself around the elder's right arm.

Yu Seola struck the opposite arm hard with the flat of her sword.

At that exact moment...

Hyeongwon slipped into the elder's exposed guard.

Tap! Tap!

His fingers struck acupoints on the elder's chest and beneath his throat in quick succession.

The elder's body stiffened.

Then collapsed.

I confirmed that he wasn't getting back up.

“We're going to Master!”

I shouted briefly...

then launched myself toward the other side of the cavern.

There, Jin Gwangung was taking on two elders alone.

BOOM!

Every collision between their palm forces and his fists sent violent shockwaves across the cavern.

Jin Gwangung's upper robe was already torn in several places.

Blood continued flowing from wounds visible beneath the ripped fabric.

Then one elder thrust a palm toward his side.

I jumped between them and swung the Heavenly Law Sword diagonally.

BOOM!

The palm force slid off the flat of the blade and smashed into the floor beside Jin Gwangung.

Barely redirecting the attack...

I landed beside him.

“Master!”

“You damned brat! Why the hell are you only getting here now?!”

Jin Gwangung didn't even have time to look at me.

He met the fist of an elder charging from the front.

BANG!

After forcing the elder backward, Jin Gwangung shouted between rough breaths,

“These damned monks! How many times do I have to knock them down before they stay down?!”

“It's because of the demonic qi surrounding their bodies!”

I raised my sword.

“Master, make an opening for me!”

“If you do, I'll cut that demonic qi away!”

“Tch. What a troublesome bunch.”

Jin Gwangung swung both hands wide.

“Fine!”

BOOOOM!

An explosive wave of fist force blasted both elders backward at once.

I didn't waste the opening.

I rushed between them.

Slice! Slice!

The Heavenly Law Sword drew two consecutive blue arcs.

The sword light brushed across the arms and chests of both elders.

The black demonic qi wrapped around their bodies split apart.

FWOOSH!

The severed demonic energy burned in blue flames.

Both elders froze.

Jin Gwangung's fists shot forward like lightning.

THUD! THUD!

One elder took a fist to the jaw and his head snapped backward.

The other took a punch directly to the solar plexus and lost his breath.

“Kugh!”

Their eyes rolled back.

Both collapsed to the ground.

With the last elder down...

silence finally returned to the cavern.

The explosions of staffs and palm force that had been hammering against our ears only moments ago vanished as though they'd never existed.

All that remained were the rough breaths of the fallen monks.

After the battle ended...

we checked the condition of everyone who had collapsed.

All those who had been consumed by demonic qi were unconscious.

Some had suffered serious injuries.

Several Dharma Hall warriors had broken bones.

The Shaolin elders had also sustained significant internal injuries.

But no one had died.

Gonghyeon checked Baekheo's pulse and released a long breath.

“Fortunately, his qi and blood are severely disturbed, but his life is not in danger.”

Hyeongwon, Yu Seola, and Myeongjeon checked the Dharma Hall warriors one by one.

“This one is alive too.”

“Same here.”

Myeongjeon finally sat down on the floor with a relieved expression.

“Not a single person died.”

I slowly looked over the fallen Dharma Hall warriors.

Before my regression...

the tragedy that began here had spread across all of Shaolin.

Shaolin's core fighting force had slaughtered one another.

The blood spilled that day became the spark that ignited the conquest of the Demonic Cult.

And in the end...

countless martial artists died in those flames.

But this time was different.

Even in a situation desperate enough for Shaolin's Abbot to permit killing his own disciples...

not a single person had died.

Today...

we had stopped the tragedy that was supposed to begin inside the Cave of Repentance.

The first spark is out.

Of course...

I couldn't say the Shaolin Bloodbath had been completely prevented yet.

But at the very least...

the tragedy from my previous life had not repeated itself exactly.

That alone mattered.

I released the breath that had been trapped in my chest.

Then Gonghyeon approached me.

His face carried relief.

Gratitude.

And grief he couldn't fully conceal.

But stronger than any of those emotions...

was caution and confusion.

“Taoist Mujin.”

I looked at him.

But his gaze wasn't on my face.

It was fixed on the Heavenly Law Sword in my hand.

“There is something I wish to ask you.”

His voice grew heavy.

“That sword...”

He stared at the blade.

“What exactly is it?”

The moment he asked...

every nearby gaze turned toward the Heavenly Law Sword.

No one spoke.

But everyone wore the same question on their face.

"..."

I quietly looked down at the Heavenly Law Sword.

The blue flames that had burned along the blade were almost completely gone.

Only a faint ember remained...

wavering slowly across the steel.

My grip tightened around the hilt.

“Haa.”

I slowly raised my head.

Right.

Now it was my turn to answer their questions.