Genius Martial Arts Trainer

“What will you do?”

It was Emperor Jianping’s question that pulled Mujin’s attention away from the letter.

Mujin seemed to ponder for a moment, then smiled faintly and answered.

“I see no reason to refuse.”

At Mujin’s answer, Emperor Jianping nodded as though he understood.

He did not ask whether Mujin could win, or what would happen if he lost.

No matter how much Emperor Jianping exercised his imagination, he could not picture Mujin being defeated.

On the day Emperor Taiping had been dragged down from the imperial throne.

The martial prowess Mujin had displayed that day had been branded into his mind like a burn.

***

Several days later.

For the first time in more than half a year, Mujin was preparing to leave the Forbidden City.

Mukyeong, who stood beside him watching him prepare, spoke in an indifferent tone.

“If it is truly inconvenient, I could secretly go and kill him for you.”

Mukyeong had come to guard Emperor Jianping in Mujin’s place during the several days Mujin would be absent.

And Mukyeong was saying that instead of taking over the guard duty, he would rather go out and kill Gu Yangpae himself.

Mujin chuckled and answered.

“Your eyes are completely bloodshot. Stop talking nonsense and get some proper rest for a while. This is only a precaution in case something happens anyway. The chances of an attack are low.”

Mukyeong had not spent the past half year resting either.

No, in some ways, he had been living an even more hellish life than Mujin.

He had been tracking down and assassinating the remnants they had failed to eliminate during the previous purge.

Mujin did not want to assign yet another killing to Mukyeong, who had likely killed an unknowable number of people over the past half year.

Mukyeong would probably continue doing that sort of work for some time, but Mujin at least wanted him to rest for a few days under the pretext of guarding Emperor Jianping.

“I will be back.”

After exchanging a final farewell with Mukyeong, Mujin handed Emperor Jianping’s protection over to him and left Beijing.

After traveling leisurely for three days, Mujin arrived at the foot of a low mountain located in Chongqing.

Several martial artists who appeared to have come from the Zhengmu League were gathered there with Zhuge Muhuan.

“You have come.”

On the opposite side stood Gu Yangpae and several others who appeared to have come from the Demon Cult.

“Then let us go up.”

As though there were no need to exchange greetings, Mujin said that, and Gu Yangpae nodded before beginning to climb the mountain.

Strangely, only Mujin and Gu Yangpae ascended {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the mountain.

The reason was simple.

Their martial prowess was far too great, so allowing spectators nearby would only get in the way.

They had chosen this low mountain so they could engage in a life-and-death duel in a spacious area where no one would interfere.

They climbed the mountain together in silence for a while.

Immediately after reaching the summit of the low mountain, Gu Yangpae spoke.

“Then let us begin.”

As he drew the Heavenly Demon Sword, Gu Yangpae thought.

He had waited for this moment for a very long time.

When he had first met that monstrous bastard, a single fist from Mujin had driven him to the very brink of death.

Of course, that punch had been little different from a surprise attack, and Gu Yangpae had been in the middle of fighting that assassin-like monk at the time, so in many ways, it had been a defeat bordering on unfair.

Even so, a defeat was still a defeat.

For Gu Yangpae at the time, that defeat had been a strange experience.

It was not as though Gu Yangpae had never lost once in his life.

However, he had never before been defeated by someone of his own generation.

He had believed he was not arrogant, but that was the moment the pride growing in one corner of his heart had been shattered entirely.

Yet he did not resent Mujin for it.

No, he was rather grateful.

Grateful that he had encountered a monster named Mujin before becoming intoxicated by his own genius.

Because there was a mountain he had to overcome, he had been able to continue driving himself forward.

Even after ascending to the position of Heavenly Demon, which had once been his goal.

'Now it is time to face the result of my efforts.'

Therefore, he had not sent Mujin a challenge out of vengeance or a desire for fame.

It was to prove to himself the efforts he had made to achieve the goal that gave him a reason to live.

Pat!

As they stared into each other’s eyes as though engaged in a contest of wills, Gu Yangpae suddenly closed in on Mujin and thrust the Heavenly Demon Sword several times in succession.

His movements were considerably faster and more precise than in the past, but Mujin lightly slapped the Heavenly Demon Sword aside with his hand as though swatting away an insect.

'As expected, this is nowhere near enough.'

Against that monster, whose protective aura was reinforced by skin possessing the Indestructible Vajra Body, even a divine weapon like the Heavenly Demon Sword struggled to inflict damage.

Clang!

Clang!!

As the unpleasant sound of metal continued to ring out.

Boom!!!

At last, the Heavenly Demon Sword and Mujin’s fist collided with an enormous explosion, producing an unending shriek of friction.

At some point, gray lightning had gathered around Gu Yangpae’s Heavenly Demon Sword.

When the power of the Heavenly Demon Sword was combined with the Primordial Martial Intent Divine Art, even Mujin’s protective aura began to tear apart with explosive roars.

Vwooom.

Yet Mujin’s protective aura repaired itself the moment it was torn, creating a deadlock.

The shockwaves generated by their collision spread outward, whipping the fallen leaves around them into a storm, while fragments of shattered energy flew in every direction, piercing and destroying rocks, trees, and the ground.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue lightly, Gu Yangpae continued his fierce assault.

“Haaap!”

Meanwhile, Mujin blocked by recreating his protective aura every time it was torn apart, or countered Gu Yangpae’s Primordial Martial Intent Divine Art with the Formless Divine Fist.

The exhausting deadlock continued for a while.

Pat!!

Mujin, who had fought defensively until then, suddenly unleashed the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps at full power and charged toward Gu Yangpae.

Gu Yangpae reacted with apparent surprise and hurriedly swung the Heavenly Demon Sword, but Mujin pushed inside as though he had no interest in Gu Yangpae’s attack.

Boom!!!

Once again, the Heavenly Demon Sword collided with Mujin’s protective aura and produced a deafening roar.

The Heavenly Demon Sword seemed on the verge of finally piercing through the protective aura.

“Kh.”

But Mujin had already entered punching range, and his fist was flying toward Gu Yangpae’s abdomen.

Faced with Mujin’s one-sided offensive that completely disregarded defense, Gu Yangpae gradually began to be pushed back.

Boom!!

Each time Gu Yangpae hurriedly threw himself aside to avoid Mujin’s fists or kicks, the ground where he had stood, along with nearby rocks and trees, exploded, sending deafening roars throughout the entire mountain.

At the end of their relentless chase, Gu Yangpae’s posture faltered slightly and a startled expression crossed his face.

“Haaat!”

To end this life-and-death duel, Mujin once again unleashed the Formless Divine Fist toward Gu Yangpae.

As Mujin’s fist, wrapped in brilliant golden radiance, flew toward the area around his heart, Gu Yangpae’s startled expression had already returned to its usual calm.

At the same time, Gu Yangpae swung the Heavenly Demon Sword toward Mujin’s fist.

The gray lightning swirling around the Heavenly Demon Sword had transformed into black flames.

Slice!

Immediately after an unpleasant cutting sound rang out.

Pat.

Mujin’s body, which the Heavenly Demon Sword had cut through, scattered like an afterimage, and Mujin reappeared one zhang away.

However, he was not unharmed.

A deep cut had appeared on his forearm.

Furthermore, a Black Flower that had spread onto the wound burned like the infernal flames of hell, scorching the gash.

Mujin hurriedly drew up natural energy and covered the wounded area with his left hand, which he had wrapped in protective aura.

The protective aura formed from natural energy clashed with the Black Flower, producing an unpleasant noise for a while.

As Mujin continued pouring in natural energy, restoring the protective aura each time it melted and pressing the flames down, he was soon able to extinguish the Black Flower.

“As expected, you had a hidden trump card prepared.”

At Mujin’s words, Gu Yangpae answered in an indifferent tone.

“It is called the Sacred Flame Divine Art. It is a martial art this seat spent years cultivating and creating in order to pierce that monstrous body of yours. And I have just confirmed its results.”

At Gu Yangpae’s confident words, Mujin could only nod.

It had truly been a long time.

A very long time since he had suffered such a deep wound rather than a mere scratch.

The wound on his right forearm, struck by the Sacred Flame Divine Art, had torn through not only his skin but even his muscles.

More frightening than that was the flame that remained attached even after the cut had been inflicted.

Had Mujin acted even a little later, it might have melted away all the muscle beneath his skin as well.

'It was fortunate that I prepared for this.'

Mujin let out a sigh of relief inwardly without showing it on his face.

From the moment Gu Yangpae had suddenly sent him the challenge, Mujin had expected him to possess something he trusted.

That was why he had fought defensively at the beginning of the life-and-death duel.

However, when Gu Yangpae refused to reveal his trump card until the end, Mujin had instead switched to the offensive.

He had done so without overcommitting, ensuring that he could still retreat at the very last moment.

The result was the wound he had now.

Had he failed to withdraw at the final instant, his entire arm might have been severed.

It had been roughly eight years.

For the first time since his battle against the Divine Lord, someone capable of killing him had appeared.

“Phew.”

Feeling the tension of a life-and-death duel for the first time in ages, Mujin exhaled deeply and quickly assessed the situation.

'A martial art with such absurd power must consume an enormous amount of inner energy.'

Then how should he deal with it?

The moment Mujin considered the question, someone came to mind.

Pat!

Having made his decision, Mujin rapidly swung both fists through the air again and again.

At the same time, clusters of fist energy formed from natural energy flew toward Gu Yangpae.

Clang!

Gu Yangpae knocked several of the fist energies aside and avoided several others as he attempted to close in on Mujin.

Swoooooosh!

But another cluster of fist energy had already formed and was flying toward him.

“Haaaaat!”

Having already fired countless clusters of fist energy, Mujin continued swinging both arms through the air without pause and launching even more.

Bababababak!

The area where Gu Yangpae had been standing was reduced to ruins by the successive barrage of fist energy after he threw himself aside to evade it.

“Tsk.”

Realizing Mujin’s intention, Gu Yangpae abandoned evasion and instead charged directly toward Mujin, seeking a swift conclusion.

Clang!

He began dealing with the fist energies flying toward him by lightly surrounding the Heavenly Demon Sword with sword energy.

He intended to rely on the power of the divine weapon and minimize his consumption of inner energy.

However.

“!!”

Only belatedly noticing the fist aura hidden among the clusters of fist energy, Gu Yangpae hurriedly drew up his inner energy and unleashed the Primordial Martial Intent Divine Art.

Boom!!

A barrage of fist energy that embodied the principle of extreme speed, with fist aura cleverly concealed among it.

The person Mujin had remembered was the former Leader of the Martial Alliance, Wei Jinhak, whom Mujin had once killed with his own hands.

And toward Gu Yangpae, who had blocked the powerful aura without much difficulty, Mujin continued swinging his fists through the air and firing fist energy without pause.

“Tsk. You are using underhanded methods.”

Gu Yangpae muttered with a frown as he looked at Mujin.

“Is that not true for both of us?”

Mujin answered with a sneer.

It was hardly something a man could say after pretending to be pushed back while waiting to use his hidden trump card and attempting to end the fight in a single move.

Even afterward, the battle continued in a similar fashion.

Despite being a fist fighter, Mujin maintained an appropriate distance and endlessly fired fist energy and fist aura.

Meanwhile, Gu Yangpae, despite being a swordsman, looked for an opening to close in on Mujin.

The countless waves of fist energy and fist aura Mujin unleashed utterly devastated the mountain.

Boom!!!

From time to time, the Black Flames Gu Yangpae launched whenever he found an opening burned and melted everything indiscriminately, whether it was the ground, rocks, or trees.

Swoooooosh!!

While using footwork to maintain the distance between himself and Gu Yangpae, Mujin realized that Black Flames were still burning in the direction he had intended to move and hurriedly twisted his body.

“Tsk.”

Gu Yangpae’s sword flew toward Mujin, who had nearly been driven into a trap, but Mujin narrowly succeeded in avoiding it.

'Hmm. Is this still not enough?'

Although not much time had passed, the summit had literally been devastated, and the mountain itself was gradually becoming lower.

Seeing that Gu Yangpae remained in better condition than expected, Mujin decided to take a slight risk.

Even after facing tens or hundreds of volleys of fist energy and fist aura, Gu Yangpae had calmly deflected or avoided them all, and he was not using the Sacred Flame Divine Art as recklessly as Mujin had expected.

Even so, nothing changed significantly.

Swoooooosh!

Mujin still continued firing clusters of fist energy.

The only difference was—

“Hup!”

The number of times Gu Yangpae managed to close in on Mujin began to increase.

Slice!

At last, the Sacred Flame Divine Art wielded by Gu Yangpae after he entered Mujin’s range succeeded in creating a new wound on Mujin’s body.

It was a shallower wound than the one inflicted during the first surprise attack.

Sizzle!

As Mujin retreated while forcing the Sacred Flame clinging to his body away with protective aura—

Fwoooosh!

Gu Yangpae once again raised the Sacred Flame and swung his sword toward Mujin.

Having already succeeded in extinguishing the Black Flames, Mujin hurriedly threw himself aside and narrowly avoided the attack.

After creating a little distance with the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps, Mujin once again fired clusters of fist energy and fist aura.

Swoooooosh!

Gu Yangpae forced his way in once more and unleashed the Sacred Flame Divine Art.

Mujin threw himself aside to avoid the attack.

Or—

Pat!

He abruptly pushed even farther inward and attempted to seize Gu Yangpae instead.

“Tsk.”

Knowing Mujin’s monstrous strength, which defied all common sense, Gu Yangpae was forced to hurriedly twist his body or retreat whenever that happened.

Thus, they alternated between fighting from a distance and clinging to each other in close combat for dozens of exchanges.

Numerous wounds had appeared across Mujin’s body, ranging from shallow scratches to injuries deep enough to expose muscle or bone.

In contrast, there were no clearly visible wounds on Gu Yangpae’s body.

However.

“Huff. Huff.”

At some point, Gu Yangpae’s face had turned deathly pale.

As the frequency of close combat increased, the number of times he had used the Sacred Flame Divine Art had risen exponentially, and he could no longer withstand the resulting consumption of inner energy.

“How about giving up now?”

Judging only by the visible wounds, Gu Yangpae appeared to be the victor, yet it was Mujin who urged him to surrender.

Gu Yangpae also understood Mujin’s intention.

He had merely known that a prolonged battle would be unfavorable to him, so he had willingly used the Sacred Flame Divine Art in an attempt to decide the match.

However, in the end, he had failed to settle it.

It meant that despite all the effort he had made over the years, he had still failed to reach Mujin.

Clang.

Gu Yangpae adjusted his grip on the Heavenly Demon Sword, then smiled despite his deathly pale complexion and spoke.

“This seat is the Heavenly Demon of the great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Did you truly think this seat would acknowledge such an unsightly defeat?”

At Gu Yangpae’s proud declaration, Mujin also raised the corners of his mouth and answered.

“You are saying we must see this through to the end.”

Toward the giant charging forward with brilliant golden powerful aura wrapped around his entire body, Gu Yangpae once again swung the Heavenly Demon Sword.