Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 57: Happy New Year

There are things only visible after reaching the Transcendent Realm. Crossing that single barrier completely changed one’s perspective.

Among these revelations was the realization of how shallow his own martial art truly was.

Chunbong’s sword moved as freely as clouds, Namgung Suah’s sky was boundless, and Jongin’s plum blossoms, though rough, brimmed with vitality.

Yet his Yellow Cloud Divine Art lacked Chunbong’s freedom, his sky wasn’t as vast as Namgung Suah’s, and his plum blossoms remained lifeless as ashes.

But so what?

Instead, he had captured a myriad of diverse elements in his mental landscape. Sky and earth, sun and moon, wind and river, plum blossoms and lightning—all circulating endlessly, maintaining an immature world.

This was the Primordial Divine Art, his martial art.

Whoosh────────!!

Stars descended, dwelling in the inner qi coating his fist. These stars existed in his mind, a world constructed within.

All Rivers Return to the Ocean.

He twisted his waist and thrust out his fist, his reinforced qi carrying the force of a turbulent river.

“How...!”

A shocked Jongin extended his sword.

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He couldn’t understand. Had he crossed the realm in this short moment?

It would take a long time to cross the barrier even with all conditions met.

Suddenly, a single word flashed through his mind.

Talent.

That damned heaven-bestowed talent!

Jongin’s eyes turned bloodshot. A torrent of reinforced qi surged like a tsunami, and his manifested plum blossoms ripped through the raging current.

“I will! Through your defeat, I shall stand above the heavens!”

Plum blossoms cascaded out as Jongin’s robes fluttered.

He leaped upwards, stepping on the plum blossoms he had created.

Seojun chuckled at this limited ability to dance through the air.

Heavenly Plum.

Lightning plum blossoms bloomed.

He stepped on them, chasing Jongin skyward.

His overwhelming qi suppressed essence and mind. What he had gained wasn’t balance, but dominance.

As the star within Seojun’s inner qi faded, a feeling of omnipotence took its place, making him feel as if through qi alone he could do anything.

Crackle!

A sword made of lightning materialized in his hand.

“A qi sword...!?”

Jongin’s jaw dropped in shock.

Seojun ignored him and glared.

He would drop him from here.

Standing atop the plum blossoms, he finally pierced through the sky.

Weight of the Heavens.

And with the tip of his sword, he sent the heavens descending down to earth.

RUMBLE────!!

Jongin, staggering under the immense pressure, fell.

Seojun immediately dispersed his lightning sword and brought his palms together.

Clap!

Between his joined palms, yin and yang unified, forming a misaligned taiji symbol. A star shone and disappeared at its center. From that point, the taiji began to rotate in reverse.

He couldn’t maintain it for long. Even after reaching the Transcendent Realm, he was still lacking the ability to form a complete taiji.

But for a moment, he could reach it.

Heaven Defying Sun-Moon Art.

The reverse taiji, self-converging and fading, shattered and unleashed its power in a single, straight blast.

“Noooo...!”

Jongin twisted and turned in midair, swinging his sword hundreds of times.

Plum blossoms piled up, forming a wall.

He couldn’t die like this. He couldn’t die after witnessing this injustice.

He hadn’t come this far to watch this brat cross the barrier so effortlessly.

“I must...!”

Cut────────

The Heaven Defying Sun-Moon Art pierced through the plum blossoms and Jongin’s shoulder.

“Arghhhh...!”

Jongin crashed to the ground. Boom! Seojun descended amidst the rising dust cloud.

“B-Big brother...!”

Chunbong looked pale as she rushed over. Seojun sighed painfully and placed his hand on her cheek.

“My heart might break, Miss Geum.”

The yang qi from Seojun’s hand neutralized the surging yin qi. After patting Chunbong’s head, her complexion quickly normalized. He nodded slightly to Namgung Suah and then looked towards Jongin.

“Aaaaaargh...!!”

Jongin, eyes bloodshot, tore at his pierced shoulder, and then wrapped reinforced qi around his teeth and chewed and swallowed his own arm, before laughing maniacally with his lips curved upwards.

“Hahaha...! Until the end! Until the very end, the heavens block my path!”

He took out some unknown pill from his chest.

There was no time to stop him. As soon as Jongin swallowed the pill, a sinister energy and explosive increase in inner qi emanated from his body.

“That’s...!”

Namgung Suah’s eyes widened upon recognizing it.

“Evil Black Serpent Spirit Pill!”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a pill made by the Black Serpent by grinding up humans! I had my suspicions, but why...!”

Namgung Suah’s eyes trembled.

A Mount Hua Sect elder was a Black Serpent spy? Since when? Was he turned midway? Or from the beginning?

She glared at Jongin like she wanted to kill him.

Jongin, oblivious to her gaze, reveled in his newfound omnipotence.

“Ahh...! Yes! I see it!”

Crack! Bones sprouted from his torn shoulder. Twigs grew from the bones, intertwining to replace his arm.

He glared at Seojun with murderous eyes.

“Someone like you will never understand, how miserable it is to lack talent! But today, I will break through that limit and ascend to the heavens!”

Jongin’s body began to float in the air from the overwhelming surge of inner qi.

He continued to laugh as he looked down upon the others from midair.

“I will kill you all, receive the Supreme Law of the Black Serpent, and extend my lifespan! With time and a bit of human sacrifice, I too can reach the Unrestrained Realm!”

“...”

“And finally, upon reaching the Profound Realm, I shall live forever. Embracing all I have achieved until now!”

Jongin rattled off his plans that no one had particularly asked about. He must have suffered a lot mentally from keeping it all secret until now, but Seojun didn’t really care.

“Unrestrained Realm? Is that supposed to be difficult? I mean, I learned martial arts for about a year or two and hit Transcendent.”

Snap—

Jongin stopped laughing, his face contorting like a vengeful ghost. He spread his arms wide.

“Very well...! If you are so eager to die, I will kill you right now...!”

As he invoked his will, plum blossoms burst forth from his entire body.

The blossoms covering the sky twisted and condensed, forming a dragon.

In the sky, a plum blossom dragon looked down upon the insignificant humans.

Chunbong and Namgung Suah’s bodies stiffened at its fierce aura.

He had merely been overwhelming just moments ago, but now Jongin was in a place they dared not hope to reach.

From the mere look of the plum blossom dragon glaring down at them, they could vividly feel death at their noses.

“Tsk.”

But Seojun clicked his tongue as if he had lost interest.

“Wow, you really only choose to do stupid things.”

“Such excessive bravado! Then take this!”

The plum blossom dragon opened its maw wide and descended, flower petals scattering along its coiling body.

At that moment, the human standing before the massive dragon calmly extended one hand.

“Big brother...! Don’t do anything crazy, dodge...!”

“Young Expert...!”

Hearing their worried voices, all he could do was laugh.

Grateful, and also a little sorry, Seojun stepped into the plum blossoms and lightly waved his hand.

Whoosh──────────

The plum blossoms danced following his gesture.

Jongin’s power had certainly increased after consuming the Evil Black Serpent Spirit Pill, but power that cannot be controlled is worse than having none at all.

The dragon, haphazardly and crudely woven together, was pathetic.

The image imbued in the inner qi was poor, and the will guiding it was pitiful.

So in the end, it scattered all too easily with just a wave of his hand.

“T-This cannot be...!”

“It was better before.”

Seojun drew a large circle with both hands.

The inner core within him once again increased its presence, balancing essence, qi, and mind.

Perhaps because his distorted essence, qi, and mind had realigned, three flowers bloomed behind his head once more.

Seojun scattered the plum blossom dragon and gathered all those plum blossoms in one place.

Following his hands endlessly drawing circles, countless plum blossoms formed a sphere about the size of a head.

“Now then, go join your parents for real, you bastard.”

Clap!

He brought his palms together. Simultaneously, flower petals shot out like raindrops, engulfing Jongin.

“This can’t be...! This can’t be happening...!”

Jongin struggled to the end, swinging his sword frantically, but Seojun coldly raised his hand to the sky.

WHOOSH──────────

The rain surged upwards. The human, now reduced to mere blood, mixed with the rainwater and soon lost even its existence.

Rustle—

Plum blossoms scattered across the night sky.

Seojun looked up at the sight and chuckled.

“Happy New Year.”

It’s not exactly the new year, but still.

*After the battle ended, the group quickly moved to a new location.

Now that it was certain the Mount Hua Sect elder had joined hands with the Black Serpent, they wouldn’t be surprised if their sect leader suddenly appeared to capture them.

“That won’t do, you crazy bastard! If even the Drunken Plum Sword Immortal has joined the Black Serpent, wouldn’t it be better if we just became part of the Unorthodox Faction starting today?”

Namgung Suah laughed awkwardly at Chunbong’s words.

“Even so, that’s a bit...”

“Excluding you. Just me and him will go.”

“That’s problematic too.”

Seojun laughed and patted the back of Chunbong in his arms.

“You. Stop talking and just go to sleep.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Chunbong firmly refused and snuggled closer into his embrace.

“Oh jeez...”

He chuckled and recalled the memories he had pushed back.

That woman, what was she really?

That woman he thought he had killed before falling into this martial world. In the memories he regained upon reaching the Transcendent Realm, the woman with her head smashed in laughed and said,

You’ve ripened well! I’ll be looking forward to what’s to come.

And on the day his mother stabbed his father—that woman had clearly looked at him and said,

Found you, Cult Leader of All Demons’ Successor.