Genius Martial Arts Trainer

'Their level is...... perhaps around Hyuk Jingang’s?'

That judgment was not based solely on their cultivation realms.

'The imperial family must have invested quite heavily in them.'

There was no telling how much spiritual medicine they had devoured, for their internal energy was full to overflowing. More importantly, the weapons the two men wielded were a problem.

They were using a great saber and a slender sword comparable to Dao Yuechen’s black blade, Gu Yangpae’s Heavenly Demon Sword, or Zhuge Jinxi’s black fan.

Just as Hyuk Jingang had once been called one of the Three Swords Under Heaven alongside Nangong Mugeuk and Immortal Yunhe by drawing upon the power of a divine weapon known as Indomitable Will, those two were also comparable to Hyuk Jingang when their weapons were taken into account.

It was because they possessed weapons of that caliber and enough skill to use powerful aura that they had managed to pierce Mujin’s iron defense and leave a scratch.

Of course, it was quite literally nothing more than a scratch.

While Mujin assessed the abilities of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander and the Director of Ceremonial.

“Your Majesty! Leave this place!”

The Commander, who had exchanged a single move with Mujin, shouted gravely to the emperor directly behind him.

Even then, he did not make the foolish mistake of turning his head to look at the emperor.

'The instant I lose focus, even for a moment, I die.'

The Commander had sensed the danger through that single exchange with Mujin.

'They say nine-tenths of the rumors circulating through the world are lies or exaggerations, but to think he would be this powerful.'

Since Mujin was treated as the current number one under heaven, even the Commander, who had spent his entire life within the Imperial City, had heard the rumors about him.

However, he had regarded martial artists as nothing more than uneducated thugs.

His confidence had not been baseless.

He possessed martial arts bestowed upon him by His Majesty the Emperor.

Martial arts concealed in the deepest reaches of a secret archive accessible only to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot.

The ancestor of the Heavenly Lord, the emperor of the former empire who had since passed away, had attempted to create a horrific martial art known as the Xuanyuan Divine Altar Art in order to transform himself into a half-man, half-god.

To accomplish that, he had indiscriminately gathered information regarding all kinds of martial arts and divine weapons from throughout the Central Plains.

A considerable portion had been taken away by the survivors of the former empire—those who would later call themselves Shincheon—during the empire’s collapse, but whatever they had failed to retrieve remained in that archive.

Naturally, the Commander knew nothing of those circumstances.

The Director of Ceremonial, who had likewise reached his current realm through martial arts left in the archive, was equally unaware of that secret.

In any case, thanks to the existence of that archive, everyone who entered the Embroidered Uniform Guard or Eastern Depot could become an expert. Even the personal guards who had died so futilely moments ago had learned martial arts from that archive.

Among those who had become experts in that manner, the Commander had displayed the greatest talent. He had consequently received additional spiritual medicines, successfully reached his current realm, and had even been bestowed a great saber worthy of being called a divine weapon.

Naturally, he had believed that the thugs who called themselves martial artists could never be his match.

And in a single exchange, that confidence had shattered.

It had been only one exchange, yet the collision had driven him back three steps. Though he showed nothing outwardly, his internal energy had been shaken so violently that his insides churned.

At the Commander’s urgent shout, the emperor began quietly retreating.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Mujin performed the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps again and shot forward.

“Haaap!”

The Commander immediately swung his great saber wrapped in powerful aura to block him, while the Director of Ceremonial had already pursued Mujin from behind and thrust his slender sword.

“Khup.......”

The more he collided with Mujin, the redder the Commander’s face became. Enduring that monstrous force, which was impossible to believe came from bare fists, left him struggling even to exhale.

He could only hold on this long because the Director of Ceremonial was assisting him from the side by constantly harassing Mujin.

Meanwhile, every time Mujin’s fists collided with the weapons of the Commander and the Director of Ceremonial, powerful aura exploded and fragments of it scattered in every direction.

Naturally, those fragments also flew toward the emperor nearby, and members of the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard threw themselves forward in an attempt to protect and evacuate him.

“Protect His Majesty!”

“Block them!”

Most were pierced by the fragments of powerful aura and died futilely, but several of the more skilled among them barely managed to intercept the fragments and protect the emperor.

When two Embroidered Uniform Guards and one eunuch who had somehow protected the emperor supported him and tried to leave the battlefield, Mujin again launched himself toward the emperor.

“You bastard!!”

Perhaps enraged that even their combined assault could not fully restrain Mujin, the Director of Ceremonial unleashed the strangely androgynous shout peculiar to eunuchs and thrust his slender sword repeatedly.

Ironically, the Commander, who had been clashing with Mujin from the front, was struggling merely to regulate his breathing and did not even have the leisure to shout.

Thanks to the desperate efforts of the Director of Ceremonial and the Commander, they managed to prevent Mujin from directly attacking the emperor, but that created a bizarre situation.

BOOM!

“Khuk.”

Mujin, the Commander, and the Director of Ceremonial clashed barely one zhang away from the emperor.

The aftermath sent waves of energy, fragments of powerful aura, fist energy, and sword energy raging in every direction.

CLANG!

Those protecting the emperor were so busy blocking the aftermath, let alone Mujin’s direct attacks, that they could not easily escape.

That strange deadlock continued for a while.

“Khup.......”

The moment blood trickled from the Commander’s lips because he could no longer endure the accumulated internal injuries from continuously facing Mujin head-on.

“Haaap!!”

Mujin’s massive iron fist flew toward the Commander once again, even though the Director of Ceremonial’s slender sword was streaking toward Mujin’s back.

SLASH.

BOOM!!

The sound of Mujin’s back being cut was drowned beneath a thunderous explosion like the detonation of a Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt.

Already suffering from internal injuries, the Commander attempted to block Mujin’s straight punch once more, only to spit blood as he was launched toward the wall at tremendous speed.

That left a wound across Mujin’s back, but it was merely a thin, long, meaningless cut.

The only problems were the slight stinging pain and the blood gradually seeping from it.

And Mujin’s response to the flowing blood was utterly bizarre.

“Hup!”

BULGE.

He inhaled and tensed his back, causing his muscles to swell and close the wound.

While Mujin stopped the bleeding in that strange manner.

Several Embroidered Uniform Guards and Eastern Depot agents who had been waiting a few steps away unleashed their ultimate techniques at Mujin simultaneously.

They had been preparing in case something went wrong. They had merely remained on standby because intervening carelessly might instead hinder the Director of Ceremonial or the Commander.

Although inferior to those two, they were still renowned experts within the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard, and every ultimate technique they unleashed took on a form resembling powerful aura.

Powerful aura—or energies that had failed to fully become powerful aura—mixed together and repeatedly collided with Mujin’s swollen body, producing a succession of explosions.

“Kiyoooooot!”

The Director of Ceremonial, who had retreated the instant the Commander was sent flying, thrust his slender sword through the dust storm with a shout.

He had judged that a monster like that had probably survived the barrage of ultimate techniques moments ago.

And his judgment was only half correct.

Mujin’s protective aura and body, which had reached the level of the Indestructible Vajra Body, could not be pierced by half-baked attacks.

The problem was that, contrary to the Director of Ceremonial’s expectation that Mujin must still have suffered at least some damage.

GRAB.

Mujin, whose clothes were merely somewhat torn and whose body was only covered in dust, effortlessly caught the slender sword flying through the dust storm.

And the next thing the Director of Ceremonial saw.

Was Mujin’s enormous fist approaching at tremendous speed.

BOOM!!!

With a horrific explosion, what had once been the Director of Ceremonial’s head scattered in every direction.

Because the slender sword was worthy of being called a divine weapon and had been wrapped in powerful aura, Mujin’s palm was lightly cut and began bleeding.

SQUEEZE.

But simply clenching his fist tightly once stopped the bleeding with ease.

After dealing with the two men who could be called the final bastion, Mujin performed the Mountain-Shattering Divine Steps toward Emperor Taiping.

Those nearby hurriedly swung their weapons to protect Emperor Taiping, but it was utterly useless against Mujin.

Unless they were at least on the level of those two men from moments ago, they could not even wound him in the first place.

After instantly disposing of everyone around him, Mujin finally reached Emperor Taiping.

Then Mujin swung his leg and kicked Emperor Taiping’s legs out from beneath him.

CRUNCH.

“Khhuup!!”

Perhaps because of his pride, the emperor somehow suppressed his scream even as both legs twisted grotesquely.

Looking at the emperor’s legs, whose bones had been shattered so thoroughly that even the medicine of Mujin’s modern world might not have been able to repair them, Mujin grinned.

“I have heard that the body of an emperor bestowed by heaven must bear no blemish whatsoever. It appears Your Majesty’s days of playing emperor are now over.”

Despite the violent pain and Mujin’s provocation, the emperor merely glared at Mujin with a cold expression as though he wanted to kill him. Instead, those watching from nearby raised their voices on the emperor’s behalf.

“How insolent!”

“You bastard! How dare you speak that way to His Majesty the Emperor!!”

They merely shouted and did not dare approach Mujin.

Partly because they feared Mujin’s martial prowess, but also because Emperor Taiping appeared to have been taken hostage by him.

And yet.

After leaving the emperor with a single provocative remark, Mujin turned around and approached those surrounding him.

The moment Mujin widened the distance between himself and the emperor, the surviving Eastern Depot agents and Embroidered Uniform Guards charged at him without delay.

CRUNCH!

Without exception, their bodies burst apart, and they departed this world.

While Mujin slaughtered the men who surrounded him by the hundreds and attacked without pause.

“Not so fast.”

Whenever someone quietly approached Emperor Taiping and attempted to rescue him, Mujin instantly shot over, swept away everyone near the emperor, and then charged back into the enemies.

After that happened several times, everyone nearby, including the emperor, finally understood Mujin’s intention.

The emperor was bait.

Bait meant to prevent them from escaping this place.

Only then did those who understood Mujin’s intention hesitate, and someone quietly attempted to slip out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

“Huh? Look at that bastard. His Majesty the Emperor is in mortal danger, yet he’s running away to save himself?”

When Mujin pointed somewhere and said that, everyone’s gaze turned toward the Vice Minister of War, who had been attempting to sneak away.

“Th-This is a misunderstanding!”

The Vice Minister of War’s face turned deathly pale as he tried to make an excuse, but Mujin’s fist was one step faster.

CRUNCH!

Immediately after the golden energy released from Mujin’s hand crushed the Vice Minister of War’s face.

“Should you not be grateful? I personally disposed of such a disloyal man on your behalf.”

Mujin asked the emperor as casually as though exchanging jokes.

Even though Mujin had broken his legs, used him as bait, and subjected him to such humiliation on top of that, Emperor Taiping did not shout.

He merely spoke coldly, his face frozen with rage.

“Do you believe anything will change because of this? Even if you kill me, you will never return alive. No—even if you return alive, your family, your friends, and everyone connected to you will be unable to escape death.”

Mujin nodded at the emperor’s curse.

It was something Mujin already knew.

Mujin possessed the strength to reduce the Forbidden City to ruins and kill the emperor, but he did not possess the power to govern the empire.

Governing an empire had nothing to do with an individual’s martial strength.

It required tens of thousands of officials, great and small, who could spread and enact his will throughout the vast Central Plains. It also required hundreds of thousands of soldiers to protect those officials and punish those who broke the law.

To make that many people follow him, he needed legitimacy.

Enormous legitimacy.

Legitimacy sufficient to stand wholly as emperor.

And for Mujin, who had not a single drop of imperial blood, obtaining that enormous legitimacy was a distant prospect.

He would have to continue gathering people and wage endless wars throughout the process.

The entire Central Plains would inevitably be stained with blood.

Millions. Perhaps even tens of millions might die.

That was, if Mujin intended to become emperor.

That was why Mujin had tried to avoid direct conflict with the imperial family whenever possible.

And even now, when conflict with the imperial family could no longer be avoided, Mujin had no intention of becoming emperor.

Because a better card had fallen into Mujin’s hands.

Not long after silence descended upon the Hall of Supreme Harmony following the emperor’s curse.

“Make way!”

With someone repeatedly shouting, a path opened, and a man began walking past the Eastern Depot agents, Embroidered Uniform Guards, and high-ranking officials toward the emperor and Mujin.

He was a member of the imperial family, the current emperor’s younger half brother.

Those who had moved aside in surprise at the name Prince Ying belatedly began to feel puzzled.

Why was Prince Ying deliberately pushing past them and walking forward at a moment like this?

Under the concentrated gazes filled with that question, Prince Ying continued toward Mujin and the emperor.

And before long, shock, fear, and confusion began mixing in the eyes of those who had been staring blankly at Prince Ying’s back.

Prince Ying had clearly appeared while limping.

“This foolish younger brother greets His Majesty the Emperor.”

Yet by the time he reached the emperor’s side, he was walking with a perfectly steady gait.