Wudang Sacred Scriptures-Chapter 172
What startled Kwak Yeon was not merely witnessing Hand-Force for the first time.
More than that, he was shocked by the fact that the White-Haired Demon Queen stood empty-handed, without wielding any weapon at all.
“A true master does not rely on weapons. No matter how skilled one is in swordsmanship, a sword remains a thing external to the body—shin-oe-ji-mul. A sword can never become my hands and feet.”
The voice of his old instructor from his Taiji training echoed in his ears, spoken so often it had worn them thin.
“People cling to weapons because of the sharpness and range advantage they offer during an attack. But in the end, we must rely on our own limbs.”
For those supreme masters who can radiate Qi through flesh-and-blood palms and are no longer bound by the constraints of physical distance, weapons are little more than cumbersome sticks.
Which meant—the White-Haired Demon Queen had already reached the realm of a supreme master who had completely cast off the use of weapons.
Another wall!
Moreover, this wall was of an entirely different dimension. He had expected as much after Ju Yeoryeong’s warning.
Fwoooosh!
A surge of longing burst within Kwak Yeon’s chest—to test himself against a supreme master one-on-one.
But now was not the time to indulge in personal desires.
Let’s first help Elder Danmok subdue her.
Subduing a master of the Flame Realm was close to impossible.
However, if he combined forces with someone like Danmok Seong, a peerless expert, it might not be unthinkable. Especially since success was already defined by how long they could hold out.
After all, the opponent was a supreme master who had cast aside weapons. They had to go all-out from the very beginning.
The blade-energy surged powerfully up along Kwak Yeon’s Cheonggang Sword.
“Elder, this junior shall now engage with a strike.”
“Come, then!”
The moment the White-Haired Demon Queen granted permission, Kwak Yeon’s form appeared before her.
—Phwang!
The Cheonggang Sword was already slashing toward the White-Haired Demon Queen’s waist.
“Not bad.”
With a cheerful exclamation, a large, round, hazy barrier appeared—roughly the size of a pumpkin—and blocked the Cheonggang Sword.
—Kwaaang!
The sword-energy enveloping the Cheonggang Sword exploded outward.
For a thin barrier to burst the sword-energy...
That round, hazy thing wasn’t a barrier—it was her palm, shrouded in Hand-Force.
It had been so fast that it merely appeared as a round energy field.
—Shwaaak!
Another hazy orb of energy surged toward Kwak Yeon’s face.
Two hands—one body.
Kwak Yeon had not overlooked the fact that the White-Haired Demon Queen used Hand-Force as a supreme master.
But never having clashed with a master of this level—let alone of the Flame Realm—he found himself in danger from the very first exchange.
The blow came from too close, too suddenly. It was already too late to evade it with footwork.
This is exactly the kind of speed and unpredictability that makes palm techniques so deadly.
It was too late for regret. If he didn’t want his skull shattered, he would have to twist his shoulder up to block it.
Hummm...
Kwak Yeon instinctively focused his Protective Qi into his shoulder and raised it.
—KWAANG!
With a thunderous explosion, the White-Haired Demon Queen’s blow vanished like mist.
“Lady Hong, your hand is far too heavy for a junior.”
Kwak Yeon saw Danmok Seong’s sword now hovering inches from his face.
A chill ran down Kwak Yeon’s spine.
If Danmok Seong hadn’t intervened so swiftly, he would have been injured from the very first exchange of the battle.
“Hmph! You from the Danmok Clan, spare me your lecturing—and take this!”
Before anyone noticed, the White-Haired Demon Queen had closed the distance to Danmok Seong, thrusting her palm toward his chest.
—PAAANG!
A blue shield sprang up before Danmok Seong.
Kwak Yeon recognized it—it was the sword-barrier of Seongra True Qi, which he had once seen on the imperial road.
—ZZZEEEEK!
Astonishingly, the sword-barrier of Seongra True Qi was ripped apart.
Though the White-Haired Demon Queen’s Hand-Force had diminished, it still surged directly toward Danmok Seong’s chest.
Kwak Yeon hastily raised his own Sword-Qi Manifestation, stabbing toward the White-Haired Demon Queen’s back as he shouted,
“Elder, watch your back!”
The White-Haired Demon Queen turned with a flash to block the blow.
But Kwak Yeon’s strike was as swift as lightning—it was already too late for her to block it with a palm-generated barrier.
Instead, she brought her two palms together, as if in a monk’s prayer, and caught the blade of the Cheonggang Sword.
—CHZHENG!
The Hand-Force shrouding her twin palms clashed with the sword’s energy, sounding like metal plates shattering.
Kwak Yeon tried to yank the sword free—but it didn’t budge, as if embedded in a thousand-pound boulder.
“You damn cave-dwelling Daoist! Let go of your sword!”
With a thunderous shout, the White-Haired Demon Queen channeled overwhelming internal power into the Cheonggang Sword.
Whooooosh!
Zzzzt!
A brutal stream of energy stabbed like an awl into the acupoint in Kwak Yeon’s palm, and he reeled.
He could feel it—that her internal energy was at least twice as vast as his own.
If he wanted to avoid internal injury, he would have to release the Cheonggang Sword. But for a martial artist to voluntarily let go of their personal weapon was tantamount to admitting defeat.
“You, Lady Hong! With such celestial mastery of Hand Techniques, why would you even covet mere steel?”
Just then, Danmok Seong’s rebuking voice rang out once again.
“If you truly require one, then take my sword instead—it is the better of the two.”
With that, Danmok Seong unleashed threads of Sword-Silk from his blade, all streaming toward the White-Haired Demon Queen.
—CHWA CHWA CHWA CHWAANG!
The blue flashes of the sword-threads stretched across the sky like a celestial meteor shower—mystical in their beauty.
But the force they carried was anything but beautiful.
“Hmph!”
The White-Haired Demon Queen drew a sharp breath and flung away the Cheonggang Sword she had been gripping. Without looking back, she flew straight toward Danmok Seong.
—KUAANG!
Kwak Yeon, who had been pulling on the Cheonggang Sword with all his might, was thrown backward from the unexpected release.
—PHAAANG!
He shot backward like an arrow for nearly ten jang before finally activating Heavenly Pound Stance to halt his momentum.
—PAPAPAPAK!
The earth beneath his heels split apart, grass and dirt clods erupting as he skidded.
—ZZZEEEKK!
Only after carving two furrows three jang long did Kwak Yeon finally manage to stop.
In truth, the reason he flew so far was intentional.
Kwak Yeon had sensed that the White-Haired Demon Queen’s casting-away technique had hidden within it a Penetrating Qi—Cheon-gyeong.
For some reason, the External Spirit Boundary, which had been ineffective until now, suddenly activated against her.
As the name suggests, Cheon-gyeong—"Penetrating Qi"—is a type of warlike energy that grows more destructive the more resistance it meets.
Because it was surging forth like a volcanic eruption, it was better to be thrown back and naturally dissipate it than to meet it head-on and risk injury.
Though it was a smart decision that avoided harm for Kwak Yeon, it came at a cost for Danmok Seong.
With Kwak Yeon thrown from the field, the White-Haired Demon Queen could now engage Danmok Seong without distraction.
—CHZZZENG!
Brushing aside the Meteor Heaven Radiance of Danmok Seong’s sword with Hand-Force, she began to press him hard, no longer needing to worry about her rear.
—BANG! BANG! BANG! BWAANG!
The White-Haired Demon Queen unleashed strike after strike with both palms, while Danmok Seong repeatedly conjured the sword-wall of Seongra True Qi to block her.
A clash between two supreme masters!
But Danmok Seong was clearly being pushed back.
He had overextended himself rescuing Kwak Yeon, and his Qi distribution had fallen out of rhythm.
The White-Haired Demon Queen already held the higher ground in terms of cultivation, and now she had seized the initiative as well. Her one-sided assault was to be expected.
While the brightness and size of her Hand-Force remained constant, Danmok Seong’s sword-barriers were beginning to thin.
Then suddenly, the White-Haired Demon Queen struck down with a single mighty palm, tearing apart half of the sword-barrier.
—KWAANG!
Fixing Danmok Seong with a venomous glare, she shouted,
“You! Was your earlier vow not to harm me just another lie?”
Danmok Seong’s face turned pale.
A moment ago, in his rush to save Kwak Yeon, he had been forced to aim for her death point.
“I... I...”
He had, in truth, broken his promise again. He had no excuse.
The White-Haired Demon Queen said coldly,
“Give up now. If you do, I’ll at least let that cave-dwelling Daoist walk away.”
Danmok Seong’s sword trembled faintly.
“Elder! Whether I walk away or not is something you should ask me, the one concerned!”
—SHWEEEAK!
Sensing a surge of Qi behind her, the White-Haired Demon Queen turned and struck it aside.
—KWAANG!
The rebounding Cheonggang Sword whirled in a graceful arc before returning at even greater speed.
—KANG! KANG! KAAANG!
Only after three consecutive attacks did Kwak Yeon retrieve his sword and retreat a step.
“Elder, I thank you for your forbearance.”
The White-Haired Demon Queen was surprised to see the cave-dwelling Daoist still unfazed after four direct exchanges.
To think he would unravel my Mid-Sea-Crashing-Palm so swiftly and return like this...
After staring at Kwak Yeon for a moment, she said,
“You’ve got talent. No wonder the Wudang Daoists favored you so. Go now, so they need not worry.”
“Elder, I wish to test myself a bit more.”
“In the martial world, we do not forgive those who challenge superiors knowing full well the gap in skill.”
“I’m aware of such law, Elder—but I cannot back down just yet.”
Infuriated, the White-Haired Demon Queen abandoned any lingering mercy she might have held for the cave-dwelling Daoist.
Even without him, the world was full of pawns to be used and discarded.
“Then I shall show no restraint.”
The White-Haired Demon Queen drew up all her Internal Qi to its peak.
HUUUUUUM!
Waves of air distorted around her, and her form began to blur.
By now, the night had deepened. The moon had risen, casting its pale light over Lotus Valley. As her form grew more indistinct, she seemed to vanish—like a ghost.
Shiver...
Kwak Yeon raised all five senses in response to the chilling aura, fully releasing his External Spirit Boundary.
Then he heard Danmok Seong’s voice, projected directly to his inner ear.
—“Daoist Kwak. That’s the Moon-Shadow Divine Steps. Under the moonlight, they have no equal.”
Even her faint outline vanished. On the wide open grounds of Lotus Valley, the White-Haired Demon Queen’s figure could no longer be seen.
Yet both Kwak Yeon and Danmok Seong were seeing her.
Having surrendered reliance on sight, now dulled by illusion from the interplay of darkness and moonlight, they sharpened their other senses.
—Sshrrk!
A rustle of grass.
—Plink!
The fall of a single dewdrop rang like thunder in the night’s silence.
Right side. Just beyond five jang!
Kwak Yeon and Danmok Seong’s sword tips turned in unison.
—Whiiish!
—Whik!
But nothing happened.
A ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) suffocating silence fell over Lotus Valley beneath the moonlight.
Saralalang...
A breeze swept across the ruined estate.
At that moment, Kwak Yeon felt a chill run down his spine.
Something alien had brushed the edge of his External Spirit Boundary.
In front! Just one jang away!
Without hesitation, Kwak Yeon thrust his Cheonggang Sword toward the center of that unfamiliar presence.
—CHYUUUT!
A streak of pure white sword-energy cracked forward like a thunderbolt.
HUUUUUM!
To the eye, it looked like a futile slash into empty air.
But then—
—KWA-RUNG!
FLASH!
A thunderclap split the world, and a brilliant white lightning bolt scorched across Lotus Valley before vanishing.
In the final arc of that bolt, Kwak Yeon saw the White-Haired Demon Queen’s figure vanish.
It had been a truly perilous moment.
No—it was only the beginning of the peril yet to come.
