Chapter 188

Chapter 188
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Chapter 188
Chapter Title: Heaven-Covering 108 Swords New Ultimate Technique. Eagle’s Roar Resonance.

Heaven-Covering 108 Swords New Ultimate Technique.
Eagle’s Roar Resonance.

From the moment he became the Sound Eagle’s disciple, Baek Yang-hui had dedicated himself to merging swordsmanship with sonic arts. Eagle’s Roar Resonance stood as one of the fruits of that pursuit.

When a practitioner attained a certain mastery over the Heaven-Covering 108 Swords, their blade would give forth sounds like the beating of a bee’s wings or the piercing cry of a hawk. In his past life, these sword sounds had been nothing more than a striking phenomenon—impressive to behold, yet carrying no true power behind them. All that changed when he met the Sound Eagle; what had once been merely atmospheric evolved into a genuine ultimate technique.

By using the sword’s resonant hum as a medium to align qi and sound, he could now manifest the Weighted Sound principle. Once he reached the Peak realm, this ability let him overpower two or three fellow Peak experts at once, creating an insurmountable gap in compatibility.

*I’ve honed this quite well so far*, he reflected. Yet he remained unsatisfied. Anyone who truly deserved the name of genius would never settle for achieving just one thing at a time.

Taking Eagle’s Roar Resonance as his foundation, he developed an entire series of variations. The result was exactly what was unfolding before him now.

Heaven-Covering 108 Swords New Ultimate Technique.
Eagle’s Roar Resonance, Water Union.

He drove his singing blade into the knee-deep water rising around him. Vibrations of qi radiating outward from the steel travelled through the surface and currents, shaking every bandit present to their very core. This was Water Union: sword and sound woven together, the blade’s cry merging once more with water to birth something entirely extraordinary.

*It works even better than I anticipated*.

Every last bandit standing in the shallows of Ha Mok Forest slumped over, unconscious. Neither the Black-Green Great Blade, the Ironclad Divine Wall, nor the Demonic Fruit Blood Lord offered any defence. Even the Green Forest Ten Heroes—seasoned Peak experts all—fell with the rest. To subdue over a hundred foes in a single strike: surely this was the very definition of martial prowess that defied the odds.

It was not without cost, however.

*Ugh*. He felt as though his dantian were as empty as a lonely man’s home. In a single instant, internal energy equivalent to two hundred years of cultivation—more than an ordinary person could hope to accumulate in a lifetime—had drained away. It was a disproportionate expenditure; no technique should reasonably consume that much power in one go. Only the Perfect Body’s ability to regulate his qi with absolute precision had saved him from suffering qi deviation. In truth, Eagle’s Roar Resonance, Water Union was an ultimate technique that no one in the world but Baek Yang-hui could possibly wield.

“H-how… how did you manage that?”

The question came simple and unguarded, jarringly innocent after such a fierce clash. Baek Yang-hui’s lips curled upward in a faint, knowing smile. It was Seong-pung who had spoken, his face clouded with bewilderment. It was a striking sight to see the proud, favoured disciple of Mount Qingcheng looking so thoroughly confounded.

*That old coot looked down on me before we even began*, he thought. *Now he’s completely lost*.

It was an understandable reaction. The sheer wonder of what Water Union had achieved beggared belief. For someone from a minor martial line—one scarcely worthy of being called a clan—to wield such godlike power was something no one could readily comprehend.

“When children fish in mountain streams,” Baek Yang-hui said, “they hurl stones into the water to stun the fish. That is all this is.”

His audience waited for further explanation, and when none came, Seong-pung pressed, “You intend to leave it at that? You will not explain further?”

“Is it proper to pry into another school’s secret arts?”

Seong-pung’s expression hardened at the rebuke. “And you call that an answer? Because of the map you provided, we nearly lost our lives!”

To hear such protests told Baek Yang-hui that the man was finally learning caution. It was true enough: he had said nothing of the Green Forest Ten Heroes’ presence, anticipating that it might cause complications later. His reasoning was straightforward.

*To draw every last bandit in Ha Mok Forest to one place, this was the most efficient means available*.

He had, in effect, used the Nine Schools as bait. Their disciples had been placed in real peril, but in the world of those who walked the path of the blade, such risks were inseparable from the work. If they took offence, they ought not to have dismissed him so lightly from the start.

“Now, mind your words,” he replied evenly. “I acted as no spy. The information I shared was simply incomplete—hardly grounds to hold me responsible.” It spoke to a lack of thoroughness, certainly, but not to any wrongdoing.

“Do you want this secret so badly that you would turn to force?”

Seong-pung’s face grew stony indeed, caught out so directly. Baek Yang-hui met his gaze and grinned openly. “You are burning with curiosity, are you not?”

A single Peak-tier master might have been able to wipe out the Touch Wolf Stronghold on their own. But to subdue every last defender simultaneously? That was impossible—unless one had ascended to the Super Peak realm.

“Impossible. Super Peak at your age? Absurd.”

“Sorcery?” came another voice.

Baek Yang-hui dismissed both notions. They were the sort of claims found only in fanciful tales. Curiosity was one thing, but these transparent attempts to wheedle information were clumsy.

“I am afraid I will not be sharing it with anyone.”

*-Hui, brother…* Dang-gun’s voice carried clear alarm in his mind. *Are you not provoking them rather dangerously? And should you be displaying such a formidable technique so openly?*

There was a reason a hidden dragon kept to deep waters: emerge too soon, and it would be checked and crushed before it could grow to its full might. Baek Yang-hui knew this truth as well as anyone, yet here he was—flaunting his strength and goading them on. It was unlike his usual careful self, and Dang-gun was unsettled.

*-I have decided to change my approach*, Baek Yang-hui sent back silently.

*-Why?*

There were three reasons. First: to test the unity of the Nine Schools. When word spread of an extraordinary prodigy performing impossible feats, how would Mount Qingcheng and Mount Emei respond? Would they report what they had seen to the rest? Their decision would shape all his plans going forward.

Second: to establish his worth to Jin Yeong-gil. He was about to enter a renewed ten-year pact with the leader, and he needed to make it unmistakably clear that he was an asset who could not be dispensed with.

And third… *Come on*, he thought. *Take the bait*.

“Ah, Daoist Seong-pung,” he said aloud. “Perhaps I might be persuaded to explain—on one condition.”

“What condition?”

“Daoist Neung-o, your companion from Jeom-chang displayed remarkable swordsmanship earlier. It was quite unlike the Sun-Shooting Sword Method. How would you feel about exchanging notes on our respective styles?”

Neung-o’s expression tightened further than Seong-pung’s had. To see someone who usually maintained perfect composure so visibly ill at ease was almost satisfying.

“That sounds entirely reasonable,” Seong-pung answered on his behalf. Mount Qingcheng would be no less eager to learn of Jeom-chang’s new sword techniques; there was nothing to lose in agreeing.

“I would be interested as well,” a voice from Mount Emei put in. Members of the Dang family nodded their approval—discussion of martial arts was always welcomed among peers.

Neung-o found himself trapped. “It… is a new style our school has developed,” he said reluctantly.

“Truly?” Baek Yang-hui pressed. “It felt distinctly different from the Sun-Shooting Sword Method.”

“Each style holds its own essence,” Neung-o replied evasively.

“The technique I used earlier,” Baek Yang-hui said, deliberately drawing out the name, “is known as Eagle’s Roar Resonance, Water Union.”

Neung-o still refused to be drawn. “It remains an incomplete, closely guarded art. I cannot speak of it without permission from our elders.”

A plausible excuse, yet his manner gave him away.

“Senior Brother Neung-o, why keep it hidden?” The speaker was the next most senior disciple of Jeom-chang, perhaps five or six years Neung-o’s junior. “Do you hold the Light-Splitting Sword Method in such contempt?”

“Yeon-hyo—watch your tone,” Neung-o warned.

“But I do not understand why we must be so secretive!”

“Yeon-hyo!” To defy a senior’s wishes, however minor, was an offence punishable under school discipline. Yeon-hyo fell silent, though his face made plain his disagreement.

“It was created by one of our elders,” Neung-o said stiffly. “That is all I am permitted to say.”

“Daoist Neung-o…”

“Your pleas will not change my mind.”

“Why so guarded?” Baek Yang-hui pressed gently. “Jeom-chang does not deal in forbidden arts.”

Seong-pung too joined in the pressure, and Baek Yang-hui observed him with new understanding. *He is not merely difficult with me—he is authoritarian by nature*.

Still, he had learned more than he had asked. He had begun to understand why Neung-o alone seemed to master the Sun-Shooting Sword Method; he could dig deeper into those details later. For now, he had laid the groundwork.

“I respect your wish, Daoist Neung-o,” he said smoothly. “Even as we stand united in purpose, it remains wrong to pry into others’ martial heritage—such is the unwritten rule.”

Seong-pung realised he had overstepped in pressing two schools at once, and clicked his tongue in quiet frustration.

“Regardless, this is no time for lingering,” Dang-gun interjected promptly. “We should secure the Touch Wolf Stronghold before any stragglers can escape.”

The shift in topic was timely, and the group moved immediately into the fortress to begin their search. As others discussed how to divide their forces, Baek Yang-hui turned a thought over in his mind.

*Light-Splitting Sword Method… intriguing*. He wondered: was it truly Light-Splitting, or Scattered Light?

—

The Touch Wolf Stronghold occupied a mountain stronghold guarding one of the three vital passes leading from Sichuan down toward the central plains. Vast stores of treasure were almost certainly piled up within its walls. Instead of joining the main group, Baek Yang-hui followed Neung-o, who had slipped away alone to search the perimeter.

“Split into pairs or trios and spread out,” Neung-o instructed his disciples. “If you see anything out of the ordinary, send up a signal flare at once.”

The Jeom-chang disciples scattered, leaving only Baek Yang-hui and Neung-o standing together.

“Shall we proceed, young hero?” Neung-o turned toward a stretch of broken, difficult terrain where even faint mountain paths disappeared. He seemed determined to go where no one else would follow. When they had gone deep enough into the wilds, Neung-o spoke without preamble.

“Speak your mind.”

Baek Yang-hui found his directness refreshing. He might have danced around the subject, but he preferred plain dealing. “The Light-Splitting Sword Method—who created it?”

“One of our elders.”

“Where does that elder originate from?”

Neung-o’s expression remained unchanged: lips faintly upturned, eyes narrowed, a smile that never reached true warmth. Baek Yang-hui had a sense that no matter what he said, that composure would not crack.

*Stubborn*, he thought.

“Is that elder the reason Jeom-chang lent support to the Fake Sword Immortal?”

“Everyone seems more focused on this Light-Splitting Sword Method than on the Sun-Shooting Sword Method,” Baek Yang-hui observed. “Does that mean it is the greater of the two?”

“Daoist Neung-o, why do you yourself favour the Sun-Shooting style? I would know.”

“Can you sense it?” Neung-o asked finally. “What the Light-Splitting Sword Method truly strives for?”

Neung-o had answered none of his questions, but Baek Yang-hui caught the flicker of inner turmoil at that last one. The man stood silent for a long moment before speaking.

“…Do you know the Sun-Shooting Sword Method?”

“I have never seen it employed.”

“Then see it now.”

It was an extraordinary proposal, given they had already exchanged demonstrations before setting out. Yet both understood the gravity of what was being offered.

Sun-Shooting Sword Method, Ultimate Technique: Hou Yi Shoots the Sun.

Neung-o’s blade drove forward in a thrust that seemed capable of piercing the very heavens itself, aimed straight for Baek Yang-hui’s throat.