Wudang Sacred Scriptures-Chapter 177

The White-Haired Demon Queen shook her head violently.

“Absolutely not!”

No one knew better than that child how deeply she cursed the Danmok Clan.

There’s no way that palace mistress of mine would ever do such a thing.

And yet, the more one denies an ominous thought, the more it clings—like a spider’s web.

After shaking her head to tear through that web of thoughts, the White-Haired Demon Queen fixed her gaze on Kwak Yeon.

“Why do you say her heart is not turned toward you?”

“How could I possibly know Sojeo Ju’s heart?”

Kwak Yeon met her murderous glare with an easy air, then countered with a question of his own.

“Elder, since we’re on the subject, may I ask—why did you choose me as Sojeo Ju’s partner in the first place?”

“Because you were the perfect vessel for harboring love tangled with hatred.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Though you claim to be a reclusive cultivator, you are still a Taoist of Wudang Mountain, and so single-minded in martial arts that I thought you’d never develop affection for her.”

“By that standard, I suppose I was well-qualified. If I had refused to travel with Sojeo Ju back then, would you {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} really have killed me?”

“Of course.”

At her resolute answer, Kwak Yeon suddenly understood all of Ju Yeoryeong’s curt words and sharp manners toward him.

“You’re rude and inconsiderate—thank goodness for that. One day, you’ll realize I mean it.”

Those words she had spoken the first day they met had been the tip of her good nature poking through like the point of a needle from a pocket.

He recalled her bright, unguarded smile as she tenderly cared for So Cheong.

“Ah! I missed the butterfly. Don’t worry, this nuna will catch it for you.”

For an heir to the Moon Maiden Mental Discipline—a technique one could only learn by harboring venomous intent—that kind of kindness would surely become a great obstacle.

No matter how important passing down a martial lineage may be, to twist someone’s nature and force them to harbor hatred...

From its very roots, the Moon Maiden Mental Discipline was crooked, and it was twisting the people who learned it as well.

In the White-Haired Demon Queen’s murderous aura, Kwak Yeon could almost see Ju Yeoryeong overlaid.

One day, she too will appear like this, dragging along her own grand-disciple and forcing them into love and hate.

It was like watching the endless wheel of karmic retribution spoken of in Buddhism—evil deeds endlessly reincarnating.

Hoo...

Letting out a quiet breath, Kwak Yeon asked her:

“Elder, if by chance I had set my heart on Sojeo Ju, what would you have done?”

“From the start, your heart was irrelevant. In any case, you would have been the one to wound her and leave for good.”

The implication was that if he refused to leave her side, she would kill him and make it appear he had gone.

“So, in other words, I’d become for Sojeo Ju what Elder Danmok once was to you.”

Flames lit in her eyes.

“You cur! Do you have a death wish?”

“Hardly.”

Kwak Yeon shook his head.

“If you kill me right now, you’ll be breaking the promise you just made yourself.”

— Shrring!

Kwak Yeon drew the Cheonggang Sword.

“Elder, this time, you’ll have to be very careful.”

A pale blade-aura surged up the sword.

Vwooom!

Kwak Yeon had a reason for provoking a fight here inside the shrine: to keep the White-Haired Demon Queen within the two-jang radius of his External Spirit Boundary.

With the shrine’s interior being barely that across, she would never be able to leave its range.

But she too seemed pleased as she saw the sword-aura rise.

A battle in a space with so little room to evade was absolutely advantageous to a master.

Moreover, she had already learned from their earlier clash that the Hermit Taoist’s movement arts were simple.

She thought the Taoists of Wudang Mountain trained so single-mindedly in internal cultivation that such superior movement skills had been neglected—one of the reasons the sect’s backbone was on the verge of breaking.

Even if you had learned Wudang’s Cloud-Movement Body Technique, there would be no escaping here. You’ve climbed into the tiger’s den yourself.

Her hands flushed jade-green.

“You’d best take care yourself.”

It meant she would use the Annihilation Palm from the start.

Shhhk!

Feeling the frost-edged chill as the air around him rapidly cooled, Kwak Yeon circulated the Honwonmusang Technique to its peak.

Hwoosh!

The Moon Maiden Mental Discipline’s cold surged up, rippling the air inside the shrine. Already guttering from nearly spent wicks, the candles died.

Ffft!

Darkness swallowed the shrine.

The White-Haired Demon Queen was an absolute master who wielded both her five senses and the External Spirit Boundary.

She could see her opponent even in the dark.

Kwak Yeon stood rooted at the center of the hall.

So, he means to defend and wait out my Annihilation Palm? Useless.

Just as she moved to launch the Moon-Shadow Divine Steps, she felt a viscous pressure closing in from all directions.

It was indeed the External Spirit Boundary—but denser than before.

The density is different.

She smirked inwardly, thinking she had guessed why he boasted of finding her flaws.

She had already encased herself in a thick wall of her own External Spirit Boundary, anticipating he would use his to probe.

Futile tricks.

Ignoring the clinging sensation of his Boundary, she slid forward.

The Boundary was nothing more than a way to read movement—useless against the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm.

Yet Kwak Yeon did not look surprised to find his probing stopped by a wall.

He had expected her to prepare for this—someone who had realized the External Spirit Boundary early in her cultivation would naturally guard against it.

The wall was thick indeed.

But he believed he could dissolve it.

This was the real reason he had drawn her into a fight here.

For nearly ten years, he had made himself one with the cabin of a boat, circulating his qi within a closed space.

Here, though there was no natural yin or blazing yang energy, he possessed a sacred object that could absorb primal true qi.

If it could absorb, it could release.

Without the insight of the Honwonmusang Technique, such a thought would never have occurred—but now, through the sacred object hanging at his neck, he let a faint thread of primal true qi seep out.

Primal true qi was the source of all life-force, meeting no resistance from anything.

Naturally, it seeped through her thick wall of Boundary like water through cloth.

I see it!

In his mind, the tightly packed flows of her inner qi appeared, coursing through her meridians.

At her heart, the surging flow cooled.

Rrrrumble...

That chilled mass of inner energy ran down the meridians toward her right palm.

— Shhh!

She thrust her jade-colored hand forward, swollen with gathered force.

Even as he raised the Cheonggang Sword to block, Kwak Yeon did not cease his observation.

At the instant the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm’s energy erupted, the flaw would reveal itself.

— Bang! 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Her qi burst from her palm with a shattering roar.

Found it.

— Crash!

The remnants of her strike shattered his sword-aura and slammed into his protective qi.

— Thud!

The shock twisted his insides.

Urgh!

The taste of blood rose in his mouth.

But it was only a physical blow; the double layer of defense had kept the palm’s invasive qi out.

— Whrrrl!

Having struck with one palm and leapt back, the White-Haired Demon Queen let out a sound of admiration.

“Remarkable.”

Gathering her qi again, she added:

“You’re the first to take my Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm head-on and remain standing.”

Kwak Yeon said lightly:

“Heaven’s Pillar Point.”

Her eyes widened in shock.

“How...?”

“Forgive me, but I cannot explain—yet.”

He meant he hadn’t identified all three flaws and could not reveal the method.

She didn’t believe him—finding such flaws with the External Spirit Boundary was impossible.

He’s a crafty one. He must have guessed and happened to be right.

“Even so, I acknowledge you.”

Her jade hands lit once more as she slowly advanced.

She judged that her use of the Moon-Shadow Divine Steps earlier had exposed a trace of the flaw’s location.

Since he held his ground, there was no need to divide her qi to fuel footwork—the power of the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm would be greater still.

Slow, but overwhelming with sheer power.

Her intent was to crush him in a direct clash of internal force.

Rrrrumble...

Her aura shook the objects in the shrine.

Kwak Yeon felt as if a mountain were advancing toward him.

Finding flaws was no longer the problem—she was bearing down on him with the Mount Tai Presses the Crown technique, and doing it at a walking pace.

It was a declaration of frontal internal-force contest.

If you admit defeat, retreat or dodge.

But retreat never crossed his mind.

You can’t shatter a mountain. So—pierce it.

He refined his inner energy into fine threads—the same delicate technique an old Taoist had shown him while drilling holes in wooden planks to repair the waterwheel at a riverside house.

“Little uncle, this is nothing. Twist those tickling threads together and they’ll bore through iron.”

Gathering the threads into the tip of the Cheonggang Sword, he thrust toward the oncoming mountain.

Steel-Aura Nail.

The sword tip struck her palm, ringing like steel on steel.

— Screeeech!

The energy of the Hanbaek Soul-Scattering Palm splintered, sending up blue sparks.

— Shrrreak!

It poured out endlessly, like a spring that would not run dry.

If I give ground, it’s over.

His inner reserves were draining fast. Soon even the qi in his meridians began to flow out in support.

Though it pained him to spend what he had built up over the years, this was no time for regret.

— Clang!

With a final thunderous crash, the White-Haired Demon Queen stepped back.

Kwak Yeon felt utterly spent.

But in that last moment, the flaw had stood out clear.

“...Inner Interval Point.”

The harder one fought, the sharper the flaws appeared.

Even amid the clash, he had kept the threads of primal true qi spread through her, and it had paid off.

“...!”

The White-Haired Demon Queen, jade hands raised to strike again, halted in her tracks.

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