C1703
“Argh!”
The face of Seop-ryang, an elder of the Sun Palace, twisted in pain.
“Who are these people?”
His small eyes visibly trembled. This can’t be happening. This is impossible.
His martial art, the Burning Sun Technique, was meant to incinerate people. As human beings, it was natural to feel rejection and fear in the face of blazing fire.
Even those with unyielding wills, cruel assassins, and any expert would inevitably flinch in the heat of the Burning Sun Technique. Due to the nature of the Burning Sun Technique, even if they blocked the internal energy, they couldn’t avoid the accompanying heat.
All that remained of them was a charred body. That's why they should retreat. That is the natural reaction, the logical reaction.
But these madmen were completely ignoring that logic.
“Damn it! It’s hot!”
Cursing, the tip of a red sword flew toward Seop-ryang's face. Though he screamed in pain and his face contorted in agony, his strikes were cold and calculated.
“How is this possible?”
He thought he only needed to defend himself.
If he properly cooked the exhausted ones, the cliff would collapse on its own, and they just had to escape through the prepared path.
How did something so simple turn into this?
“Aaaah!”
They were even being pushed back. He could feel the panic around him. Those with less experience couldn’t demonstrate their skills due to the desperation.
He had always mocked such situations, but now the Sun Palace was being pushed into a similar situation.
'Mount Hua.' The determination of these opponents even hardened Seop-ryang’s body.
“Get out of the way, you bastard!”
‘Danger...’
Seeing a young man with curly hair charging toward him, Seop-ryang unconsciously stepped back. He had been outmatched in determination even before the fight began.
At that moment...
“You shameless insolent!”
“Argh!”
Seop-ryang's eyes widened.
He slowly turned like a petrified statue. What he saw was not the owner of the voice, but a huge blazing sun that seemed to engulf the world.
‘No, it can’t be.’
Kwoooooooom!
A torrent of fire engulfed him. His flesh melted instantly, burning to a crisp.
“What, what is that?!”
“Fall back!”
Yoon Jong quickly pulled Jo Gul to save him from the blazing heat. The two rolled together.
“Aaaah!”
The heartbreaking scream froze the battlefield. In the midst of the red flames, a twisted black body struggled desperately.
“This...”
It was an indescribably horrible scene.
When the flames extinguished, the charred body of Seop-ryang fell to the ground.
Everyone stared at the corpse reduced to ashes in shock. Then they turned their attention to the figure emerging from the ashes.
“L-leader of the palace!”
“Pathetic! How much more do you think you can humiliate me?”
Jin Pyeong, the leader of the Sun Palace, roared furiously. His eyes blazed like flames.
“Mount Hua? Against these insignificants!”
The Burning Sun Technique erupted from his body like lava.
“Come. I will send you to hell personally!”
The guardian of the last portal to hell roared.
“Leader of the palace?”
Jo Gul spoke with a hesitant voice.
“That seems to be the leader of the Southern Sea Sun Palace.”
“Is that him?”
Jo Gul asked incredulously, and his face twisted in horror.
“Isn't this too unfair? Our Sobaek is so small and cute, but why...?”
“What nonsense are you spouting, idiot!”
Yoon Jong reprimanded Jo Gul while watching the palace leader with a tense face. Although it was ridiculous that Jo Gul thought that, deep down, Yoon Jong couldn’t help but agree.
'It's like a blazing sun.'
The heat emanated by the palace leader seemed to burn Yoon Jong's clothes from a distance. Is this the power of the Burning Sun Technique when it reaches its maximum potential?
Yoon Jong felt his body stiffen with tension.
On the outside, the palace leader seemed like just a noble middle-aged man enjoying a luxurious life.
In other words, he wasn’t someone who impressed at first glance like the Black Dragon King.
But the immense and terrifying energy emanating from his body made his ordinary appearance seem irrelevant.
'In a moment like this...'
Discouragement washed over him.
They had to open this path to survive.
But the wall in front of them was too high and thick. And to make matters worse, they had to overcome this wall quickly.
'We must find another way...'
While Yoon Jong was deep in thought, someone suddenly leapt over him.
“Sagu!”
He screamed instinctively.
While Yoon Jong was thinking, Yoo Iseol was already acting. Her body lunged toward the palace leader like a hawk.
“It's reckless, Sagu! Right now...”
“Ah-mi-ta-bha!”
At that moment, a voice resonated from beside Jo Gul.
Bang!
With a deafening sound, Hye Yeon’s Hundred Steps Fist launched toward the palace leader. An attack focused more on speed than strength. It was a strike intended to support Yoo Iseol.
In front of him, the great talent of Shaolin threw his fist, and from above, Mount Hua’s most lethal blade aimed at his neck.
It was a situation that would make anyone feel threatened.
But the palace leader didn’t flinch.
“Insignificant tricks!”
Fwoooom!
From the hands of the palace leader erupted a tremendous energy of the Burning Sun Technique.
‘What is that?’
Yoon Jong's eyes widened.
The energy from the palace leader's hands turned golden. That golden energy rippled like waves, covering his entire front.
Boooom!
The Hundred Steps Fist vanished in the heat. Yoo Iseol, who came with all her might, was repelled by the rebounding energy and flew backward.
“Sagu!”
Tac.
Yoo Iseol landed on her knees, blood trickling from her lips.
“Sagu! Are you alright?”
“...Yes.”
After a single exchange of blows, her hair was singed, and she was bleeding from her mouth.
Literally, in a single blow.
“This is...”
Yoon Jong’s eyes trembled slightly.
‘Is this really possible?’
All the opponents they had faced so far hadn’t been easy.
The Black Dragon King’s strength was unimaginable, and the speed of the Thousand-Faced Gentleman was unreachable.
Jang Ilso intimidated everyone just with his presence, and even thinking about the sword of the Great Master of Ten Thousand Gold was enough to send chills down their spines.
But this was different from that kind of "strength."
How immense must the internal energy be to occupy so much space with a single strike? That is literally an absolute barrier. It even burns and kills anyone who approaches, like a burning shield.
Hye Yeon spoke as if groaning.
“The leader of the Southern Sea Sun Palace… is said to have always been of royal lineage. With the power of royalty and the palace leader, he monopolizes countless elixirs of Im Eub.”
Jo Gul sharply turned to Hye Yeon, as if that were nonsense.
“No, can eating elixirs like rice do that? Chung Myung said that elixirs don’t make much sense after a certain point, right?”
“He’s probably right. Generally.”
“What?”
“If there is more water than the container, it overflows. But… that man is of royal lineage, destined to be the leader of the Sun Palace from birth. They probably made the container from the beginning.”
“Damn world. I should have been born into a rich family.”
“You shouldn’t say that, idiot.”
“And the monk? Weren’t you also raised in a wealthy monastery?”
“I, I was also a street orphan…”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I’m always the bad guy, always.”
At that moment, Yoon Jong was about to smack him on the back of the head.
“Watch out!”
Everyone jumped in different directions at Yoo Iseol's short cry. Almost simultaneously, a golden strike crashed where they had been standing.
Uuuuuung!
There was no explosion. The energy struck and melted rather than destroyed. The ground where they had been standing turned red before burning.
“...Oh my god.”
Jo Gul gaped in amazement.
In that brief moment, the ground had burned. If a person were struck by that heat, what would happen? Even if they enveloped their body with internal energy, could the human body made of flesh and blood withstand it?
“You seem to lack manners.”
The palace leader frowned as he looked at them.
“How dare you joke in front of me?”
His gaze was extremely arrogant, as if he were in the heavens.
However, absurdly, that arrogance didn’t seem excessive to Jo Gul’s eyes. In fact, it seemed perfectly natural.
“Ah, thinking that makes me a plebeian. My slave nature…”
“What nonsense are you saying, idiot?”
“Ugh.”
Jo Gul groaned.
“Palace leader! They are insignificant and vile. They don’t deserve to face you personally.”
“We fear that your precious body will be harmed. Please, stop!”
“We will handle this.”
The terrified Guardians pleaded and dissuaded the palace leader, but only received a cold, contemptuous look in return.
“What do you think you can do?”
“L-leader of the Palace.”
“Pathetic idiots. How much more will you shame me?”
The Guardians paled at the palace leader’s anger.
They knew the palace leader well because they were always by his side. It wasn’t common to see palace leader Jin Pyeong so furious.
From his perspective, he had enough reasons to be.
If they were in Im Eub, he would never have been humiliated by someone like Jang Ilso. He wouldn't even receive orders, let alone bow to him.
And if they couldn’t even do this properly?
The humiliation he would suffer from Jang Ilso would be immeasurable. The Sun Palace leader, who had always been above others, couldn’t accept that.
Therefore, he had to complete this mission personally. No, this proposal. For Im Eub, for the Sun Palace, and for himself.
His golden robes flapped violently as if facing a typhoon.
“Get out of the way! If you don't want to die too!”
The Guardians retreated in terror from the searing heat. Being close to him meant becoming charcoal.
The palace leader wrapped himself in immense Burning Sun Technique energy as he walked towards Mount Hua. He wouldn’t just block their path but also burn them alive with his murderous aura.
“Vulgar creatures. Disrespectful... And they don’t even know their place!”
The swordsmen of Mount Hua instinctively stepped back.
The heat was so intense that just facing it drained their souls. They knew they shouldn’t retreat, but the instinctive fear and rejection stopped them.
They knew they had to move forward to survive. But if the path was covered with infernal flames, could they really charge ahead?
Jo Gul gritted his teeth so hard his muscles stood out.
“What do we do, Sahyung?”
“I don’t either…”
“You're the one who has to think! How do we face that bastard?”
Instead of responding, Yoon Jong bit his lower lip.
“Is there no way?”
“Yes, there is.”
There is always a way to fight against any opponent. Chung Myung had taught them that. But…
“What is it?”
“Internal energy is not infinite. It consumes. No matter how immense his internal energy is, he can’t launch those strikes indefinitely.”
“And then?”
“Then, normally… we would have to drag him into a war of attrition.”
“...This is crazy.”
Jo Gul's face darkened immediately.
Yoon Jong wasn’t wrong. That was the best strategy.
But Mount Hua couldn’t afford a prolonged battle. Time was of the essence.
He has weaknesses, but they can’t be exploited. The world calls such an existence invincible.
Jo Gul thought frantically, clenching his hands until they turned pale.
“No, no. I have to do something!”
He was the leader of Mount Hua's vanguard. No matter how difficult, he had to open the way. That was his role and his reason for being.
But no plan came to mind.
Facing the palace leader meant being turned to charcoal. His body would be completely burned. What could they do against such an enemy?
‘Maybe…’
Maybe jumping off the cliff? Wasn’t it more likely to survive that way than facing him?
Of course, he knew the way back was as long as the one they had opened.
But compared to hitting that desperate wall...
Just as Jo Gul was about to look back, he saw something.
Someone was standing in front of the palace leader, facing the searing heat without flinching. The back of that person showed no signs of hesitation.
He heard that person's soft voice.
“It doesn’t matter if it's a thorny path or a blazing abyss… I decided long ago.”
“Sasu…”
“What matters is if you can carry it out…”
Mount Hua's sword pointed at the palace leader.
The palace leader was surprised to see the sword pointing directly at him.
“...Who are you?”
“Baek Cheon.”
“S-Sasuk!”
In the midst of the blazing heat, Baek Cheon's eyes were cold and calm.
“I am the Deputy Sect Leader of Mount Hua.”
