Chapter 33: The Disciple Surpasses the Master
Right after that, Chun Mu-jin's figure cut through the air.
"Hup!"
Sun Yuhan instinctively took out three defensive spiritual tools and layered them.
It might seem like an overreaction against just a peak Qi Refining cultivator, but he trusted his gut.
Claaaaaaang!
Chun Mu-jin's strike collided with the defensive spiritual tools.
"Ugh!"
The tools shifted back—pushing Sun Yuhan with them.
Sun Yuhan grimaced and stepped back.
Fortunately, he wasn't injured, but the spiritual tools weren't in good shape.
That's a peak Qi Refining cultivator...?
It didn't make sense.
No matter how much his body was specialized in one-on-one combat, wasn't this too much?
At that moment, Chun Mu-jin's eyes widened as he spoke:
"Oh, as expected of the owner of a famous sword."
Chun Mu-jin smiled warmly and raised his blade.
"What's your name?"
"Do I have to answer?"
"You don't. In that case, I'll give you a name."
Chun Mu-jin pointed his sword.
"Number 7532."
"...?"
A strange expression appeared on Sun Yuhan's face.
Chun Mu-jin continued:
"You are my 7,532nd opponent."
He laughed like a child and swung his sword down.
Fwoooosh—
He's insane!
Sun Yuhan quickly threw himself to the side.
He could only dodge because he had anticipated it.
Sun Yuhan rolled on the ground, forming hand seals.
At that, Chun Mu-jin laughed boisterously.
"Good, very good! The owner of a famous sword should naturally enjoy fighting... huh?"
Th-th-thump—!
Sun Yuhan was getting away.
Chun Mu-jin's face went blank.
I thought we were fighting, but he's running?
"Hahahaha... it seems I've been looked down on."
Crc, crrrrc—
Chun Mu-jin's foot pressed firmly into the ground.
As he was about to lift his foot.
"I've heard of your reputation for a long time. Chun Mu-jin, you're the favorite to win this competition, aren't you?"
A low voice pierced his ears.
Chun Mu-jin paused and slowly turned his head.
Cultivators were emerging from several bushes.
Their number was considerable.
...Were they waiting for an opportunity?
Indeed, the scale of the fight just now had been too large.
The roar was loud enough to attract the attention of nearby cultivators.
The cultivators, their faces tense, raised their spiritual energy.
Among them, a cultivator with a cunning look chuckled—and said:
"Meaning, if we just take you down, the rest will be easy, right?"
Chun Mu-jin scanned their faces.
It doesn't seem planned. Did they gather this many people on the spot?
An impressive feat.
Chun Mu-jin, internally impressed, drove his sword into the ground.
Shunk!
The sword sank deep.
The cultivators' faces brightened.
"Giving up already? Then use your talisman quickly. Before I kill you."
As the cunning-looking cultivator taunted him, Chun Mu-jin's lips twisted into a smile.
"Talisman? Indeed, it would be better for you to use one quickly."
Sensing something wrong, the cultivators quickly formed hand seals.
But it was too late.
Chun Mu-jin took a short breath and swung his sword up.
Griiiiiind—!
The ground split, and a sharp sword "qi" tore a long gash across one of the cultivator's chests.
"Keuk!"
It wasn't a fatal wound, but it seemed difficult for him to continue fighting.
With that as a start, Chun Mu-jin's figure shot into their midst.
"Hahahahaha!!"
The battle he had longed for had begun.
Chun Mu-jin, having completely forgotten about Sun Yuhan, swung his sword.
After running for some time, Sun Yuhan cautiously looked back.
He's not coming.
He had faintly heard something while running earlier.
He wasn't sure, but it sounded like several cultivators were about to attack Chun Mu-jin together.
However, Sun Yuhan had no intention of joining them.
"Pushing back three defensive spiritual tools at once... it's better to avoid a monster like that."
Tap— Tap—
Sun Yuhan pushed off the ground with more ease.
He had a rough idea of Chun Mu-jin's location, so he planned to put as much distance as possible between them.
I'll cross over to another mountain.
This place was no good.
A short time later, after entering a new mountain, Sun Yuhan walked while scanning his surroundings.
"Hah, haaaah...."
He held his breath, panting.
He was slightly out of breath from running for a long time.
After some time had passed, Sun Yuhan found new prey.
Mid-stage of Qi Refining.
It was a lizard-shaped beast.
Not a difficult opponent.
Sun Yuhan dashed forward and cut off the beast's head.
—Kieeee....
Then, as he was about to put the corpse into the storage bag.
"Hmm...?"
It didn't go into the storage bag.
His expression stiffened.
Don't tell me.
—Kieeeek!
Sure enough, the beast's tail suddenly shot towards him.
Right after that, two black eyes and a long mouth grew on the surface of the tail.
"The head and tail were switched."
It was a beast with a strange anatomy.
Sun Yuhan's sleeve fluttered.
Clang!
A gray shield blocked the beast's headbutt.
He pointed his finger at the beast's real face.
"Fireball."
Booooom!
The beast's head shattered into pieces.
With mechanical movements, Sun Yuhan put the corpse into the storage bag.
"There can't be many of them with characteristics like this."
As he finished storing it and was about to push off the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?"
A familiar voice stabbed his ears.
Damn it.
Sun Yuhan immediately took out a high-grade defensive spiritual tool.
Claaaaaaang!
A water spear collided with the spiritual tool.
The spiritual tool was smooth, without a single scratch.
However, Sun Yuhan was not happy at all.
"Have you been following me all this time?"
At that moment, Beom Jin-woo and other cultivators emerged from the bushes.
Beom Jin-woo said with a nasty smile:
"Follow you? Our paths just happened to cross by chance."
"It's a small world, indeed. To run into someone from the same sect by chance."
"Hmph, just like how you were watching us earlier?"
"......"
Sun Yuhan clamped his lips shut.
Thinking about it, he had nothing to say.
Beom Jin-woo radiated killing intent as he spoke:
"It goes both ways. So you'd better understand."
Sun Yuhan's eyes darted around.
Three of them now. They were four before, so is one in ambush?
If I try to flee rashly, I might end up in a bigger mess.
After a quick calculation, Sun Yuhan spoke:
"Is there really a need for us to do this, fellow sect members? We can also join forces."
"Don't bother trying to be smart. You think I'll let my guard down for that?"
"What a pity."
As expected, that bastard Beom Jin-woo knew him well.
Whether they liked it or not, they had been around each other for a long time, so it was only natural.
At that moment, Beom Jin-woo scowled.
"Hmm?"
Sun Yuhan's expression darkened as he took out a yellow talisman.
An escape talisman!
Beom Jin-woo shouted urgently:
"Kill him before he uses it!"
Beom Jin-woo and the other cultivators quickly unleashed their spiritual arts.
They were in such a hurry that they didn't even form hand seals.
Because of that, their power naturally decreased.
Now!
Sun Yuhan activated Wind Steps and threw himself to the side.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Their spiritual arts flew past him.
It was too easy because he was prepared.
Thump—
Sun Yuhan immediately pushed off the ground and dashed back.
"That bastard!"
Realizing they had been tricked, Beom Jin-woo and the others immediately chased after him.
Sun Yuhan sharpened all his senses, maintaining his wariness of his surroundings.
Where is he, where.
At that moment, the ground beneath Sun Yuhan's feet moved.
Sun Yuhan placed a high-grade defensive spiritual tool beneath him.
Clang!
Dense iron spears erupted and collided with the spiritual tool.
Sun Yuhan stepped firmly on the spiritual tool and moved forward.
"Damn it! We missed!"
"It's not too late! Keep intercepting him!"
Woooosh—
Fwooooosh—!
Various elemental energies disoriented Sun Yuhan's senses.
Sun Yuhan continued to run, dodging what he could and blocking what he couldn't.
The distance between them and Sun Yuhan gradually widened.
"I'll give you this, you're good at running! Just like the coward you are!"
Beom Jin-woo shouted at the top of his lungs.
As Sun Yuhan let out a sardonic smile—and was about to push off the ground.
Swiiiiiiish—
"...!"
A noise like the air itself was tearing.
Simultaneously, a long object shot towards Sun Yuhan.
A flag?
Sun Yuhan instinctively blocked it with a defensive spiritual tool.
Thwack—
Is that the sound sticky rice would make if thrown against a wall?
It wasn't a sound of collision, but something closer to sticking.
Right after that, a voice full of amusement stabbed his ear.
"Yellow Soul-Binding Banner. Activate."
Woooong—
Simultaneously, a strong yellow spiritual energy exploded from the yellowish flag in all directions.
Sun Yuhan urgently tried to pull the flag off, but it wouldn't budge.
"Tsk!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Sun Yuhan threw the spiritual tool to the ground.
His discerning eye instantly recognized the flag's purpose.
A top-grade formation spiritual tool. I need to get away now.
Then, he activated the Optical Evasion Art talisman.
Shiiiine—
Transforming into a bright aura of light, Sun Yuhan shot forward.
His speed was incomparable to before.
"Optical Evasion Art!"
"That crazy bastard!"
Beom Jin-woo and the other chasing cultivators were horrified.
What was Optical Evasion Art? Along with Lightning Evasion Art, wasn't it the fastest evasion art in the cultivation world!
However, the mysterious cultivator who threw the flag muttered indifferently:
"Hoh, a bit surprising, but."
The mysterious cultivator smiled.
"It's already too late, you fool."
Crrrrrumble—
A thick earthen wall rose in a circle.
Its diameter seemed to be about three hundred zhang.
In an instant, it formed a hemispherical ceiling.
It was much faster than Sun Yuhan's Optical Evasion Art.
"...This is absurd."
Sun Yuhan bit his lip and drew his sword.
The ceiling blocked the sunlight, plunging the area into darkness, but infusing spiritual energy into his eyes quickly solved the problem.
Fwoosh—
"Hup!"
His sword drew a red crescent.
It was a sword strike enhanced by the speed of Optical Evasion Art. It should be able to make a small hole, at least.
Booooom!
"...What!"
Sun Yuhan's eyes flew open.
The earthen wall dented slightly.
However, it wasn't even close to breaking the wall.
He immediately unleashed a sword strike towards the ground.
Kabooom!
The ground was as hard as the earthen wall.
As expected, the top-grade spiritual tool was flawless.
Sun Yuhan let out a deep sigh and turned around.
Thud— Thud-thud—
"Hahahaha! We finally caught you!"
"You cowardly bastard! To think you even carried an earth escape talisman!"
Beom Jin-woo and the other cultivators landed one by one, guffawing.
Sun Yuhan's expression stiffened.
Nine of them.
Not only was their number greater than before, but the faces of the newcomers were also familiar.
Sun Yuhan spoke to the new cultivators:
"Weren't you part of Elder Kwon's faction? Why are you helping Beom Jin-woo?"
Surprisingly, all those who had ambushed Sun Yuhan were cultivators from Elder Kwon's faction.
In other words, they were, for all intents and purposes, in the same boat as Sun Yuhan.
"Heh heh, faction? What does that matter? We're simply helping because our intentions align."
An old man with a long beard spoke with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Intentions?"
"Yes, intentions. You, haven't you ever thought you've been standing out too much lately? Just a primitive spiritual root reaching the peak of Qi Refining this quickly, and even making mid-grade spiritual tools with ease."
The old man laughed grimly.
"That won't do. Members of the same sect should help each other, not have one person rush ahead alone. And......."
The old man pointed to Sun Yuhan's spiritual tool.
It was too exceptional a tool for a peak Qi Refining cultivator to have made.
"What master in the cultivation world would welcome a student who surpasses them?"
At that moment, the face of a man with a resentful expression flashed in Sun Yuhan's mind.
The current head craftsman of the Qi Refining workshop.
Yun Jin-woong!
A bone-chilling killing intent rose from his body.
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