Chapter 210

Chapter 210: The Path to Seeking a Solution (4)

As Dong Bongsu pushed off the circular table and launched himself ahead, Yan Bilyeong instantly responded by unleashing a Suppression Formation.

The Nine Attributes.

This fundamental technique of the Mountain Formation Division immediately tried to lock down Dong Bongsu’s torso.

Or rather, that was the intention.

Sssrrk.

As soon as the nine coiled cords of Formation Qi Ropes generated by her spell ensnared Dong Bongsu, they lost their grip.

Resembling oily strands, the True Qi could not hold its mark and slithered away.

The Super True Qi Field.

An unseen perimeter of energy surrounding Dong Bongsu pulsed outwards, naturally deflecting Yan Bilyeong’s True Qi.

The method used by the Mountain Formation Division involved interlocking strands of True Qi to dominate an area.

Without the ability to interlace these cords, the construct could not exist.

‘Not again!’

Though Yan Bilyeong’s gaze fractured in shock, her reflexes remained impeccable.

Beyond her status as a Formation Master, she remained an accomplished Martial Artist.

Fwaat-!

Abandoning the unraveled Formation Qi Ropes from her left grip, she drove her right fist forward instead.

The blow targeted Dong Bongsu’s facial features directly.

It carried the massive weight of a mountain peak, combined with the unyielding fortitude characteristic of the Gen Trigram.

Dong Bongsu shifted his posture slightly, angling his head back a fraction of an inch.

The punch barely missed, yet the sheer pressure of its passing whipped the air into a miniature cyclone.

Klang-!

At that exact moment, the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword materialized from his Inventory, slicing upward at an angle toward Yan Bilyeong’s jawline.

A sudden burst of True Qi flooded Yan Bilyeong’s palm, rapidly constructing a protective barrier.

A singular sheet.

Only one thin layer of a Qi Curtain materialized to separate the sharp edge from her neck.

Kaang-!

Steel collided violently with the Qi Curtain.

The impact threw Yan Bilyeong backward by roughly a zhang, tearing up the ground beneath her stance.

The wooden planks of the Main Hall splintered beneath her footwear.

The residual kinetic energy traveled straight into a nearby column.

Crack.

“Ah, I suppose a confession is due to Rahwa,” Dong Bongsu muttered, raising his gaze toward the overhead rafters.

Woooong-.

The atmosphere shifted entirely.

This transformation had nothing to do with heat.

Nor was it moisture.

The alteration occurred within the fabric of space itself.

The atmosphere surrounding his boots commenced a spinning motion.

A concealed pressure, with Dong Bongsu at its focal point, began wrapping the drafts together to bind his stance.

The initiator this time was Myo Jinheo.

Holding his fan partially unfolded, his hand traced a minor loop in the empty air.

This was the distinct Whirlpool Formation belonging to the Thunder Formation Division.

Whereas the Mountain Formation Division relied on interlocking lines of True Qi to capture a foe, the Thunder Formation Division functioned by morphing spatial traits.

One could see the boundaries, but the internal zone remained cloaked.

Dong Bongsu remained motionless.

He understood the effort was futile.

His Super True Qi Field was already dissolving the rotating energy zone below him.

The scenario mirrored the calm core of a massive storm; the ground right under Dong Bongsu’s soles remained utterly still.

Myo Jinheo narrowed a single eye.

Specifically, the eye still marred by traces of blood.

Anticipating this outcome, his gaze betrayed no hint of shock or hesitation.

Yet, confirming his suspicions brought an even darker realization.

This adversary had previously neutralized his Mind-Reading Eye with ease, and now, he had once again nullified a strike using an energy that was neither True Qi nor Aura.

He was dealing with an entirely foreign type of combatant.

‘I had hoped to avoid taking this too far…’

Right at that moment.

Kuuuung!

The supporting column gave way.

Simultaneously, all three combatants crashed through the structure’s walls and vaulted into the open air.

The colorful Sect Opening Ceremony adornments that Jeon Rahwa had meticulously arranged shattered into fragments, vanishing amidst the falling masonry.

● ● ●

Crack.

Jeon Rahwa snapped her gaze around.

She had been positioned at a section of the Training Ground, refining the stances of the younger martial students.

Hoae had been stationed right before the smaller disciples, executing a demonstration of the Horse Stance.

Crash, crack- Krrunch-.

The main column of the Main Hall, which still smelled faintly of freshly cut timber, collapsed to the ground.

The destruction wasn’t limited to a single pillar.

The structural supports shifted, forcing the roofing to lean awkwardly to one side as fractures spread across the masonry.

A peculiar, deep resonance began to vibrate through the entire structure via those widening gaps.

“Haa… here we go again.”

Jeon Rahwa’s features flattened into a mask of pure exasperation.

“I explicitly cautioned you, didn’t I, you absolute idiot.”

What an absolute hassle, a complete nightmare to deal with.

She had personally selected every single log and driven every single nail with her own hands… Raewon, who had given his word to assist with the construction, vanished day after day, forcing Jeon Rahwa to round up laborers and even utilize the small children to slowly finish the building.

It had only stood for forty-eight hours.

Barely two full days.

Kuuuuung!

The Main Hall flattened completely.

A massive cloud of dust surged upward, and bursting through the gray haze, three distinct silhouettes collided high above the ground.

“Ehh?!”

Hoae uttered a sharp cry, but Jeon Rahwa paid her no mind.

The trio descended in a straight sequence onto the scattered stone and wood.

Dong Bongsu claimed one side.

Across from him stood the woman from the earlier encounter alongside the man carrying the fan.

The raw power rolling off those two figures was so oppressive that the smaller children flinched backwards out of pure survival instinct.

Jeon Rahwa moved swiftly, positioning her body between the kids and the threat.

The freezing energy of the Twin Snow Yin Cold Art began to manifest at the tips of her fingers.

Maintaining a staunch defensive stance, she kept her gaze locked entirely on Dong Bongsu.

— Are you out of your mind!

Jeon Rahwa loaded her deep irritation straight into a focused Sound Transmission.

Dong Bongsu offered Jeon Rahwa a casual, passing glance.

Their eyes locked for a brief heartbeat.

Observing his expression, Jeon Rahwa let out a heavy breath and bit her inner lip.

“Unbelievable, what could possibly be so amusing that he is beaming while tearing down his own estate?”

For the moment, she chose to push her anxieties aside.

Though a battle was underway, the surrounding pressure lacked a genuine desire for slaughter.

Shaking her head, she steered the youngsters toward an isolated corner of the Training Ground.

“The Sect Leader is engaged in combat.”

“Everything is fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Should we not step in to assist him?”

“Absolutely not.”

Jeon Rahwa dismissed the idea with a careless flick of her wrist, crossing her arms as a bright expression surfaced on her features.

“If we interfered, we would likely just get chewed out for our troubles.”

She took another careful look at Raewon’s expression.

To an outsider, his face might have seemed entirely blank and detached, but Jeon Rahwa possessed a deeper understanding now.

She recognized that detachment could take many different forms.

That particular look was an expression of unadulterated amusement.

Well, look on the bright side.

If she forced the person responsible for the damage to handle the reconstruction this time, he would finally have to roll up his sleeves.

Right then, Dong Bongsu’s distinctive Sound Transmission echoed clearly inside her mind.

[Do not fret.]

“Tch.”

As if anyone was losing sleep over you.

“Auntie, why are you smiling like that?”

“Who said I was smiling! And I am absolutely not an auntie!”

● ● ●

The Training Ground.

A vast, unobstructed plaza illuminated by the angled beams of the early morning sun.

Dong Bongsu held his position with the shattered remains of the Main Hall directly behind him, while Yan Bilyeong and Myo Jinheo stood shoulder to shoulder roughly a dozen paces ahead.

A heavy wooden staff was now clutched in Yan Bilyeong’s grip.

It wasn’t her standard implement of war, but rather a splintered beam dragged from the ruins of the Main Hall.

Even so, once it was saturated with the True Qi of a Trigram Master, it functioned no differently than a weapon forged of iron.

A mere piece of wood reinforced by True Qi.

It was a spontaneous adaptation, utilizing the specific martial methodology of the Mountain Formation Division.

The innate reflexes of a Formation Master permeated her approach to conflict, turning the items around her into instant instruments of death.

Conversely.

Shlk-.

Dong Bongsu casually rested the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword against his shoulder.

“How far do you intend to push this?”

The statement was a blatant challenge.

“Quiet.”

Yan Bilyeong was not one to back down when directly challenged.

Her emotional responses were entirely straightforward.

Fwaat—!

Her movement technique ignited instantly.

Yan Bilyeong’s form propelled forward with the velocity of a launched projectile.

Incredible speed.

A velocity that easily eclipsed the capabilities of a standard peak-level martial artist.

For someone whose primary discipline was that of a Formation Master, her prowess in direct martial combat was remarkably deep.

Even so.

Dong Bongsu’s discerning gaze had already mapped out her approach vector.

He shifted his footing a single step to the flank, keeping the massive blade resting comfortably on his shoulder.

A perfectly calculated, minimal adjustment.

Fwaat!

Yan Bilyeong’s wooden staff cut harmlessly through empty space.

The displaced air from the failed strike tore a straight trench directly into the packed dirt of the Training Ground.

Massive weight.

Unquestionably heavy.

It was an immense strike backed by a staggering reserve of inner strength, far beyond what one would anticipate from a Formation Master.

Merely standing near the trajectory sent an icy shiver straight to the marrow.

Yet, raw weight was its only merit.

It was a characteristic developed by abandoning nearly every other tactical benefit, which, from a certain perspective, turned it into her most glaring vulnerability.

Kaang!

The Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword slammed accurately into the side of the incoming timber.

He chose an angle designed to redirect and warp the trajectory of the True Qi rather than attempting to halt its momentum head-on.

The Windless Sword Art.

A singular technique, executed without generating a whisper of sound or air pressure, disrupted Yan Bilyeong’s recovery window by roughly a hundredth of a second.

Naturally, that brief window provided Dong Bongsu with more than enough opportunity.

Fwaat—!

He slid forward a half-step, reducing the gap to the exact range of his blade.

Yan Bilyeong’s pupils contracted sharply.

Incredibly close quarters.

An interior distance where an elbow strike would land before a sword could finish its arc.

She instantly spun on her left heel, forcing True Qi down into her sole and expelling it outward.

The Wind Angle Formation.

An adaptive technique drawing from the Mountain Formation Division’s Formation Dao, it served as a short-range defensive maneuver meant to repel a foe by tracing a pattern of True Qi across the dirt beneath her feet as she rotated.

He should have been thrown backward.

Yet.

“…What?!”

He didn’t budge an inch.

Dong Bongsu’s feet remained firmly anchored to the earth.

The Super True Qi Field was actively dissolving the discharge of True Qi radiating from beneath her boots in real-time.

Kaang!

A sweeping lateral blow, unleashed without giving up a single inch of ground.

[Three Forces Sword Art First Form: Thousand Army Sweep].

A singular horizontal trajectory directed straight at Yan Bilyeong’s midsection.

It wasn’t heavily saturated with True Qi.

The manifest Sword Qi was exceptionally fine, yet flawless in its execution.

Kagang-!

Yan Bilyeong barely managed to intercept the path by driving her wooden staff downward.

However, a distinct fracture split the wood.

The improvised weapon, held together only by a Formation Rope forged of True Qi, had cracked after a mere two exchanges.

“…!”

Her expression twisted as astonishment quickly mixed with her rising temper.

‘What kind of monster is this?’

While her reputation might not have spread widely through the inner circles of the Formation Tower, she tracing her lineage back to one of the Ten Great Sects.

Not from some distant branch, but from the primary bloodline.

This pedigree was the reason she possessed such overwhelming dominance in close-quarters skirmishes compared to ordinary Formation Masters.

By her own estimation, if she were to be evaluated by the metrics of the wider Jianghu beyond the walls of the Formation Tower, she was confident she belonged in the top one hundred masters at the very least…

To find herself losing ground against the leader of a backwater sect, an organization barely recognized by the martial world, was completely past comprehension.

“What? Is it that puz—”

Spurt-.

“—zling?”

Dong Bongsu’s follow-up arrived at a completely unpredicted interval, leaving a shallow laceration across her right forearm.

“You underhanded…!”

Blinded by fury, Yan Bilyeong threw herself forward once more, putting everything into a swing of the fractured timber.

Yet Dong Bongsu neutralized the incoming threat with a shift of a mere half-step.

“Underhanded? There is no such thing as underhanded in a real fight.”

Though his steps appeared casual, every heavy counter from Dong Bongsu’s blade steadily forced Yan Bilyeong to cede ground.

Her sporadic attempts to strike back were turned aside with effortless ease.

They were either parried away, evaded entirely, or interrupted before they could fully form due to his offensive pressure.

“If you have a desire to stay alive, learn to fight underhanded.”

Dong Bongsu had already thoroughly deciphered Yan Bilyeong’s mechanical tendencies over the course of their initial clashes.

To be precise, it was a fundamental flaw shared by practitioners who began their journey as Formation Masters.

Yan Bilyeong possessed an ingrained tendency to manifest her Formation Qi—whether on the soil, in the atmosphere, or across her own skin—prior to circulating her internal reserves.

A faint ripple of Formation Qi would project outward just before her physical strike materialized, a signal that was immediately caught by the Super True Qi Field.

The reality that her specialized energy always preceded her physical fist or blade inevitably bared a disastrous blind spot.

An entirely telegraphed offensive.

To Dong Bongsu’s senses, every single one of Yan Bilyeong’s maneuvers was a clear signal, mapping out her future actions a hundredth of a second in advance.

Had she possessed the skill to employ her Formation Qi and inner strength as separate, desynchronized forces, the engagement might have proven genuinely entertaining.

Once more.

Kaang!

This time, he utilized the linear thrust of the Piercing Yellow Dragon to bite directly into the pre-existing fracture on the wood.

Crack—!

The reinforced beam shattered cleanly into two segments.

“Kuhut!”

Deprived of her makeshift tool, Yan Bilyeong was sent skidding backward toward the perimeter wall, carving two distinct ruts into the center of the Training Ground.

However, Dong Bongsu chose not to press the advantage.

Because.

Tingle.

Initially, it was nothing more than a faint whisper.

A sudden sensation of the microscopic hairs across his flesh standing erect simultaneously.

In the next heartbeat, a tiny spark arc’ed off the edge of the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword.

At the exact same moment, the crossguard of a wooden practice implement resting along the perimeter of the Training Ground began to emanate a distinct azure glow.

The phenomenon didn’t end there.

The metallic fittings scattered among the wreckage of the destroyed Main Hall all commenced a frantic humming vibration.

Every scrap of iron within the vicinity was awakening.

The air pressure hadn’t intensified.

Rather, the composition of the air itself had transformed.

Myo Jinheo stood positioned at the far side of the Training Ground, his fan now unrolled to its full extent.

The primary configuration of the Thunder Formation Division.

This construct existed on an entirely different plane compared to the Whirlpool Formation deployed within the confines of the building.

If the earlier technique was a minor manipulation designed to distort passing drafts, this was an outright restructuring of the laws governing the area.

No symbols appeared upon the earth.

No visible cords of Formation Qi Ropes could be detected.

The entire environment of the Training Ground had simply been subjected to the domain of the Thunder Formation Division.

The only perceivable indicators were the physical consequences.

Electrical discharges jumping from metallic objects, static current racing across bare skin, and miniature bolts of lighting occasionally fracturing the empty air.

“…Accept my apologies, Sect Leader Kim.”

Myo Jinheo’s words carried a heavy layer of genuine regret.

“As a Trigram Master, this remains my obligation.”

The Thunderclap Absolute Sealing Circle.

The definitive binding array utilized by the Zhen Trigram Thunder Formation Division.

It imposed an absolute lockdown on any entity captured within its boundaries.

Physical joints, neural pathways, internal reserves, and every other variant of energy were forced into erratic misfires by the raw authority of lightning.

Unseen, and therefore impossible to evade.

By the time an individual perceives the trap, they are already entirely enveloped.

[An unknown territory has been established across your surroundings.]

[Requisite parameters achieved. ‘Shield of Faith Lv.2’ is now initiating automatic deployment.]

A microscopic shimmer of light coated Dong Bongsu’s entire frame.

A membrane so incredibly thin that it defied detection by the unaided eye.

While the Super True Qi Field deflected the tangible intrusion of the True Qi, the Shield of Faith actively denied the conceptual intrusion of the formation’s territory itself.

A layered system of preservation.

His muscular structure failed to tighten.

His movement remained unrestricted.

His neural responses belonged entirely to him.

The circulation of his internal reserves maintained its natural cadence without interruption.

Even so.

The Thunderclap Absolute Sealing Circle was far from finished.

Zzzzzzzzzzz—!

The atmospheric thickness climbed to a completely different threshold.

The environment hovering over the Training Ground began to warp visibly, becoming apparent to the eye.

It bore no relation to a heat shimmer.

The very fabric of space was trembling.

Myo Jinheo swept his fan forward in a single, sweeping gesture.

Fwaat.

With that solitary action, the density governing the zone surged twofold.

Unseen arcs of lightning relentlessly battered the exterior boundary of the Super True Qi Field.

Striking over and over without pause.

Zzt.

Zzzt.

Zzzzzzt—!

For the first time since the clash began, the Super True Qi Field maintained by Dong Bongsu exhibited a minute tremor.

This was a separate beast from the Whirlpool Formation.

The stark variance between a spontaneous, rushed strike and a meticulously established trap.

This was the exact juncture where the true capability of the Formation Master known as Myo Jinheo finally manifested.

Through the erratic, blinding pulses of the lightning field, Myo Jinheo’s gaze remained visible.

One eye, still bearing the vivid remnants of blood.

The other, completely focused and steady.

Those eyes carried a silent declaration.

‘Regardless of what you truly are, I, as a Trigram Master, will lay it bare.’

An invisible battle of a Qi Field against a specialized Formation Field.

The Thunderclap Absolute Sealing Circle continued to grind against the Super True Qi Field, constricting inward to completely ensnare Dong Bongsu.