Novel Bin Chapter 130. Trying to Row a Boat on Land
Chapter 130. Trying to Row a Boat on Land
“This is enough. You guys step back for now.”
The Wind Sword Battalion members cupped a fist at Woo-Moon and simply fled without a word.
“Ma-Ra, let’s begin.”
“Okay.”
Ma-Ra, who was hiding in the dark, quickly crossed the enemy lines, which were in disarray due to the Wind Sword Battalion’s attack, and headed to the heart of the enemy camp—the barracks where the leadership and majority of the Black Bull Gang’s troops were located.
Knowing that he had to create an even more violent distraction to help her succeed, Woo-Moon infused Lightflash with an immense amount of qi, used Raging Wind, and simultaneously let out an Azure Dragon’s Roar.
“RAH!!!!!”
The sword aura Woo-Moon unleashed flew out with the force of a violent gale, cutting down about twenty gang members at the same time.
“Agh!!!”
He combined the Northern Wind Steps and the Divine Phantasm Steps to suddenly arrive in front of a mass of gang members, startling them.
Woosh!
The shining silver blade cleaved through flesh and blood as blood spurted out in a thin film like a curtain.
Squelch!
Woo-Moon cut through the chests of two people at once and pierced the abdomen of an enemy who was approaching from behind before spinning in place twice with his sword outstretched.
“Ugh!”
“Agh!!!”
An open circle formed around Woo-Moon, though he was in the midst of the enemy forces. Wherever his arm reached, no enemy could stand.
Woo-Moon\'s gaze was so emotionless that it almost seemed innocent, a sight that caused the gang members to cower in fear as he moved again. He was no different from a wolf attacking a flock of sheep.
Blood splattered, heads flew, and severed limbs fell to the ground.
Five people came running over quickly a moment later with a tremendous roar.
“You fucking dare!!!”
“This time, you’re dead!”
It was the Five Ghostly Scholars again.
Woo-Moon swept his left foot backward in a wide circle and stood facing the approaching Five Ghostly Scholars with his right shoulder forward. He lifted Lightflash straight ahead, taking a respectful sparring stance.
“I was so busy with my own thoughts that I couldn’t even greet you properly before. To apologize for my rudeness...”
Before he finished his sentence, Woo-Moon disappeared.
“Be careful!” one of the Ghostly Scholars shouted.
Now in a perfectly clear state of mind, Woo-Moon quickly shifted to the Northern Wind Steps. The compatibility between the Divine Phantasm Steps and the Northern Wind Steps was truly incredible!
‘Damn it! What the hell...! He’s so fast that it’s impossible to keep up with either my eyes or my senses.’
The Five Ghostly Scholars were astonished. They were experts who feared no opponents unless they were Absolute Masters, after all. They had heard that there was a talent among the younger generation that had been gaining a lot of attention lately, so they were rather interested to see who this young sprout was. To think this kid had such mastery over his movement technique that even they couldn’t follow his steps!
They didn’t have much time to think. Woo-Moon had already arrived in front of them.
Swish!
The sound of his sword sharply cutting through the air was horrifying. It hadn’t even reached them yet, but the Fourth Ghostly Scholar was terrified, as if his sword had been broken just by the sound alone.
“Tsk!”
He quickly shifted his dress sword and blocked Woo-Moon’s attack. Well, he thought he blocked it.
‘What?!’
Woo-Moon’s sword moved nimbly, as if it were alive, sliding down the edge of his dress sword like a venomous snake.
‘I can’t block this!’
No matter how hard he tried to shake off Woo-Moon’s sword, nothing he did seemed to work.
“Ah-Woo!”
The Second Ghostly Scholar barely managed to save him by stabbing at Woo-Moon’s side.
“Get it together, Ah-Woo! Just what the hell do you think you’re doing in the middle of battle?” the First Ghostly Scholar shouted.
Only then did the Fourth Ghostly Scholar come to his senses.
‘What a terrifying sword. It’s almost like...!’
At least with regards to Woo-Moon’s grasp of martial technique, the Fourth Ghostly Scholar felt as though he was facing an Absolute Master.
Woo-Moon didn’t have the powerful qi or the overwhelming presence of an Absolute Master. However... after taking Woo-Moon’s Cold Snow directly, he couldn’t help but see Woo-Moon as no different from an Absolute Master.
“How dare a bunch of bandits like you wear scholars’ robes?!”
The first three Ghostly Scholars attacked Woo-Moon from three different directions. However, Woo-Moon blocked them easily, with incredible speed, moving so fast that he even created afterimages before pointing the tip of his sword upward.
Rumble!
A vast amount of qi was injected into his sword, and the surrounding air roared with thunder.
And then, a torrential downpour ensued.
Raging Storm!
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
A roar resounded as if a waterfall from the precipice of heaven was hitting the ground as Woo-Moon’s sword bombarded the Five Ghostly Scholars.
“Five Nether Ghost Sword Art!”
When the eldest Ghostly Scholar shouted, the five got in a circle and thrust the tips of their swords together.
Thrum!
When the sword auras on the five dress swords gathered together into a single point, a bead of fused sword aura began to form. Then, a tremendous amount of qi was released toward Woo-Moon’s Raging Storm.
When the two techniques collided, it was as if a massive pane of glass cracked and exploded, sending endless soundwaves rippling in all directions.
“Ugh!”
“Cough, cough!”
The soundwaves were so intense that the eardrums and even eyes of the weaker gang members ruptured, thick blood immediately spewing from their five orifices. With a thud, they collapsed, no longer able to move.
“Ugh!”
After the horrifying clash, the pale Five Ghostly Scholars stumbled backward through the hazy dust. Meanwhile, on the opposite side, although Woo-Moon had similarly paled, he stood firm and unyielding.
The Five Ghostly Scholars\' expressions darkened as they realized that they had been pushed back by a single person.
‘We won’t be able to run from this. Perhaps... this will become our resting place.’
Right as they were about to lose all hope, aid arrived for the Five Ghostly Scholars.
“You damned bastards. Fine, we’ll grace you with our help!”
“Oho. You must be relieved to see us arrive.”
A man dressed as a woman, complete with a full face of makeup, and a woman dressed as a man, complete with a long beard, dashed over to the battle using the heads of the Black Bull Gang grunts as stepping stones.
‘To think we have to get help from those foolish bastards!’
They were none other than the Nature-Inverting Twin Apparitions, Transcendent experts of the Black Bull Gang who had a horrible relationship with the Five Ghostly Scholars.[1]
The eldest of the Ghostly Scholars leered at Woo-Moon.
‘We must not let him go this time. We have to kill him right here, right now! That’s the only way we can raise the morale of our troops.’
Woo-Moon was a young hero on a rapid rise through the Justice Coalition. His popularity soared day after day due to his incredible martial skills and performance that belied his young age. His very existence raised the Justice Coalition\'s morale.
Naturally, as long as he was alive and kicking, the morale of the Black Bull Gang continued to plummet.
If they were to take down Woo-Moon here and now, all of those disadvantages would reverse instantly.
“We have to kill that bastard! Use whatever means necessary!”
“Oho, to think you’d be giving us orders when you’re the one getting help?”
“Even if you didn’t say anything, we would have killed that bastard!”
Even as they bickered, the Five Ghostly Scholars and the Nature-Inverting Twin Apparitions unanimously agreed on one thing.
Song Woo-Moon had to be killed, and he had to be killed now.
Although Woo-Moon was in the midst of a crisis and he had to deal with seven Transcendent Class experts alone, his expression was strangely calm. No, in fact, he actually smiled.
‘He’s smiling?’
The eldest of the Five Ghostly Scholars directed his younger brothers and the Nature-Inverting Twin Apparitions before slightly taking a step back to observe Woo-Moon’s reaction. He was shocked to see Woo-Moon smile, and one second later, he was absolutely horrified to see him laugh.
At the same time, he could feel a strange qi drifting from their main base.
‘No way....’
“The commander has been assassinated!”
“The Fourth Young Master has been assassinated!”
The eldest Ghost Scholar couldn’t believe it—the panicked cries of the soldiers coming from the main base had to be some kind of illusion.
‘That assassin bitch!’
He had thought it was strange that the bitch who was always with Woo-Moon was nowhere to be found. Now, he finally realized why she wasn’t present—while Woo-Moon was causing a ruckus, she was busy carrying out assassinations behind the enemy lines.
“Y-you!!! Dirty Righteous Faction bastards! To think you’d assassinate people like that!”
Fighting seven Transcendent Class experts just by himself was not feasible, even for Woo-Moon. Right now, he was just stalling for time, doing his best to dodge the enemy’s attacks.
When he heard the man’s complaint, Woo-Moon chuckled.
“Are you even serious? I’m not going to say anything about what you guys are doing, but don’t forget this is war and this is a reasonable tactic.”
Suddenly, the Third Ghostly Scholar felt an eerie feeling right as he attacked Woo-Moon, forcing him to dodge to the side and look behind him hurriedly.
Squelch!
His arm was cut off at the elbow.
He had dodged the attack, but unfortunately for him, the translucent Silver Moon Discs doubled back before returning to Ma-Ra’s sleeve.
“You assassin bitch!”
Ma-Ra, whose pale complexion was even paler than usual, disappeared again before reappearing a few zhang in front of the Five Ghostly Scholars and whipping out an arm.
Clank, clank, clank!
Her sickle and chain clanked and flew out like an arrow, racing toward the Male Apparition. As he swiftly dodged, the sickle stuck into the ground where he had just stood.
“Hmpf! It looks like you’re not all that. As expected of a lowly assassin bitch!”
The Male Apparition, a man who wanted to be a woman, felt intense hatred and jealousy for Ma-Ra’s astounding beauty.
“...”
Ma-Ra was a little shocked by the strange appearance of the Male Apparition and just waved a hand without a word.
Clank, clank!
She advanced swiftly, the chain swinging with a beckoning of her hand. Soon, she reached her sickle and imbued it with qi, giving a lifelike vitality.
Clank, clank, clank, clank!
The sickle plunged into the ground and carved a furrow through the dirt, aiming to cut through the Male Apparition’s ankle.
“Hmpf!”
The Male Apparition shifted backward as if sliding along the ground, not even bending his knees as he moved.[2]
Bang!
The sickle then bounced off the ground before spinning in place even faster, shooting toward the Male Apparition’s waist.
“You really are showing off your tricks!”
The Male Apparition was forced to jump in place to dodge the sickle and chain again. However, he failed to notice something as he was preoccupied with the sickle and chain: a crossbow bolt secretly shot by Ma-Ra.
As the silent bolt was about to pierce the Male Apparition’s neck, the Female Apparition blocked it with her whip.
“Get yourself together!”
Ma-Ra’s perfect combination had failed, thanks to the interference of a third party. Meanwhile, the eldest of the Ghostly Scholars flew up and swung his dress sword at the falling Ma-Ra, like a hawk snatching its prey.
“...!”
As the First Ghostly Scholar was rushing toward her, Ma-Ra found it too difficult to use the Silver Moon Discs, considering how focused the man was on her. She was in a situation where she had no choice but to fight head-on.
With that considered, Ma-Ra was clearly at a disadvantage.
She thought for a moment. Should she draw her sword and try to fight him, or should she try to use her hidden weapons to stop him from approaching?
She quickly decided that it would be too difficult to confront him with her sword.
Thwip, thwip, thwip!
Although she fired bolt after bolt, the swift dress sword knocked each of them aside without a single mistake.
Swish! Clang!
Not even the immense power of the Silver Moon Discs could work on a Transcendent Class expert who was properly prepared from the beginning.
She simultaneously released forty hidden weapons from her sleeves, including throwing stars, caltrops, spikes, and the like. However, the First Ghostly Scholar easily countered her, spreading a curtain of sword aura in front of him to deflect all the hidden weapons.
“Die!”
Like Woo-Moon, Ma-Ra was also acknowledged as a nuisance by the Black Bull Gang. Her assassination skills were so amazing that even the Fist Emperor paid close attention to her. Naturally, she had to be disposed of as soon as possible.
She didn’t even have time to draw her sword by this point. Therefore, she gave up on doing so and continued throwing as many hidden weapons as she could.
However, the narrow dress sword moved like a viper, coming directly for her delicate throat.
“I’ll be upset if you forget about me that quickly!” Woo-Moon shouted as he defended against the four remaining Ghostly Scholars on the ground.
In the midst of the chaos, the number of people he was fighting had been reduced from seven to four, allowing for some breathing room.
Aware of the danger Ma-Ra was facing, Woo-Moon turned his sword upward and shot a bolt of sword qi at just the right moment.
1. The word we translated here as “nature-inverting” is 逆天. We normally translate this as “defying the heavens” or “going against the heavens” but I think you can see why we chose this instead. ☜
2. This refers to the way female immortals (a.k.a. immortal fairies) are said to glide across the ground without moving their legs. ☜