Chapter 225: Beyond-Heaven
How was I supposed to explain this?
The opponent had rely stood still and flicked her fingers a few tis.
And yet, attacks that could neither be seen nor heard, and not even felt as Qi, poured down on , leaving no way to resist.
Whik—
Sothing was coming. I couldn’t feel anything, but the mont the woman twitched her finger, I instinctively realized it.
It was an attack that had substance and cut through the air, yet left no trace behind—an assault that transcended the limits of matter.
And yet, for so reason, there was a faint killing intent woven into it.
When she knocked out the martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace, the trajectory of the attack hadn’t been visible. But when it was aid at , a crimson arc began to draw itself before my eyes.
“Ghk!”
Slash—
I desperately threw myself aside, but the red trajectory sliced across my shoulder.
Fortunately, thanks to the Heaven-Slaying Star’s ability to read killing intent, I avoided being severed entirely, but my left arm was as good as useless for a while.
Perhaps she was surprised that I had even partially dodged it, because the red-haired woman’s eyes twitched slightly.
“…What are you?”
That was exactly what I wanted to ask.
What kind of woman suddenly popped out of a cave and started doing sothing this absurd?
“Ugh… then who exactly are you?”
I spoke, trying to buy ti for my Heaven-Slaying Star body to stop the bleeding.
The aning of that crimson trajectory was clear. When dealing with the North Sea Ice Palace martial artists, the red-haired woman had held back. But against , she was genuinely trying to kill.
‘No, damn it, why?!’
Why was a monster of that level going all-out only against ?
The curse rose to my throat, but I forced it down and kept my composure.
“How did you avoid that attack just now? Answer .”
The unidentified woman walked toward , her red hair swaying as if it would turn vermilion under sunlight.
This woman seed to have the sa habit as —answering questions with more questions.
“Mujin, I couldn’t see that attack at all… How did you dodge it?”
Jo Harang also asked in confusion, startled by the sudden invisible exchange of blows.
But this was one of the abilities of the Heaven-Slaying Star. There was no way to explain it.
“This damned Murim… just when I think I’ve gotten used to it, sothing even weirder shows up.”
Normally, if sothing with substance cut through the air, there would at least be so sign. At the very least, the movent of Qi should be detectable.
But that woman’s attacks felt like nothing at all, blatantly defying the laws of nature.
It was like the first ti I encountered the mystery of Sword Qi—sothing that could split steel like tofu.
At that mont, the woman flicked her finger again.
‘Idiot… dod—ge!’
Even in urgency, the Salseong still had to call an idiot.
I imdiately released a massive amount of Internal Energy through my Yongcheon acupoint and kicked off into the air. Even so, I couldn’t stop a part of my calf from being sliced.
“Haah!”
At that instant, Jo Harang rushed toward the red-haired woman.
Since the attacks couldn’t be seen anyway, she chose offense over defense, aiming for an opening.
But the red-haired woman rely flicked her finger again, as if she had no interest in the Purple Star.
“You… I have no interest in you. Just sleep.”
Thud!
A sound of sothing striking the air. Jo Harang’s waist bent mid-charge, and she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Harang…!”
Fortunately, she was still breathing, rely unconscious.
The problem was —left alone in this vast ice cave.
I had to face that absurd, monstrous woman by myself.
“H-how about we talk for a mont?”
“Ha! What is there to discuss with one tainted by the moon? Just die.”
She laughed sharply and casually told to die.
Whik—
This ti, her killing intent deepened. The strike aid at my neck dyed my vision crimson.
“Shit!”
But who did she think I was?
I was the Heaven-Slaying Star, marked by the heavens to turn the world into a sea of blood.
Thanks to that, I managed to barely dodge what should have been an unavoidable attack.
Thud.
Because the attack’s form was so vague, I had to throw my entire body each ti to evade it, leaving myself completely exposed after every dodge.
Yet she didn’t follow up, instead raising her brow with interest.
“Oh? So it wasn’t just coincidence.”
Even my desperate evasions were rely an unexpected variable to her.
It felt like facing a wall beyond heaven itself.
Just like when I first t Hwang Geolgae back in my beggar days.
“W-we’re not… acquaintances, are we?”
I hurriedly tried talking, just like I used to back then.
“We are not.”
“Then why are you specifically trying to kill only …?”
She smirked, reading the injustice on my face.
“Because you seem to be that man’s disciple.”
That man’s disciple?
Did that old man cause trouble while drunk again?
“Just what did Hwang Geolgae do?”
“Ha! Who is that? What a strange na.”
She didn’t seem to know him.
“He’s my master—Hwang Geolgae…”
“Hmph. So that sinister old man who has lived for hundreds of years now uses that na?”
That’s when I realized there was a massive misunderstanding.
Hwang Geolgae was only about sixty.
What kind of existence did she think my master was?
“You’ve avoided my Formless Sword twice. That old man must have taught you how to counter it.”
I frantically waved my hands, trying to explain the misunderstanding.
But she didn’t care.
“Then try dodging these as well!”
Her fingers danced rapidly.
In response, crimson trajectories filled the air.
“Ghk!”
I twisted my waist and barely avoided the first wave.
But the invisible attacks kept coming.
Their forms weren’t fixed, making it impossible to dodge with minimal movent. I had to fling my body around like I was dancing on blades, exposing massive openings.
“Gah!”
A crimson arc tore across my side.
My organs didn’t spill out, but hot blood soaked the ice floor.
“Please, listen to ! There’s clearly a misunderstanding!”
“Ha. What is there to discuss with those driven mad by the moon?”
She moved to finish it.
I wrapped the Hell-Piercing Demon-Slaying Staff in white energy and barely blocked the incoming strike.
Clang!
“Oh? A rather sturdy black staff. Even with Qi reinforcent, it endured my Formless Sword.”
“Ugh… not as much as the one you handed that monkey…”
I muttered, pale-faced.
“More importantly, please listen! My master is the Dragon Head Sect Leader of the Beggars’ Union, Hwang Geolgae! He’s just a drunk eccentric old man, not so sinister centuries-old being!”
I never thought I’d defend Hwang Geolgae like this in my life.
As I shouted in frustration, she paused.
“…Beggars’ Union, you say? I’ve heard of it.”
Even soone like her had heard of it.
“Now that I think about it, that staff technique you used against the White-Furred Lion King… it does resemble the Dog-Beating Staff Technique I saw a hundred years ago.”
A hundred years?
Just what kind of being was she?
And the way she kept ntioning the moon and madness…
It reminded of sothing.
Sothing from the Ei Sect.
“If you’re truly the disciple of the Dragon Head Sect Leader, you should have the token or the Dog-Beating Staff.”
She was asking for proof.
“…I don’t have it right now…”
“As expected—die, disciple of the moon.”
She sentenced to death again without hesitation.
“I-ilwol! I’ve also received the teachings of Ilwol, a Beyond-Heaven being!”
“….”
That seed to hit the mark.
At the ntion of Ilwol, another being beyond heaven, she stopped.
“But you abandoned his teachings and embraced the moon’s energy. Die.”
“No, damn it! I only took it in to save soone!”
Why did everything end with “die”?!
“The moon’s energy is not sothing one accepts by accident, you fool.”
“There was a reason! The Sect Leader of the Ei Sect was going mad because of it, so I took it in to stop her!”
I explained everything—my work as a troubleshooter, what happened there, and how I acquired the Moon Spiritual Energy.
As I demonstrated the overwhelming power of the Starfall Heart Cultivation thod, burning white with accumulated star energy, she began to believe slightly.
“…Still, there is sothing strange. Those who harbor the moon’s energy inevitably go mad. Yet you seem sane…”
She was asking why I wasn’t insane.
Back then, I used to hear that because of the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Now it was because of sothing else.
How was I supposed to explain that there was sothing even crazier inside my head than the Moon Spiritual Energy?
“Though… judging by how you talk back to , perhaps you are slightly mad.”
Why did everyone say that?
“I don’t know either. Maybe because my Internal Energy from the Starfall Heart Cultivation thod is overwhelming, the Moon Spiritual Energy is just suppressed in a corner of my Dantian.”
To prove it, I revealed my imnse Internal Energy—nearly a hundred years’ worth.
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
“You truly are a strange one. Nothing about you is ordinary.”
Tell about it.
“Well… then you’ll spare my life?”
“Hmph. We shall see.”
So I wasn’t safe yet.
“Ugh…”
At that mont, Jo Harang and the experts of the North Sea Ice Palace began to regain consciousness.
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