The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#189 Scholar Juyul (12) - Realm of Creation "I and the world do not clash with each other but form harmony, so high and so high" *** While Juyul was repeatedly clearing his throat under Zhang Oh's gaze. Black Blood Sect leader Dokgo Gang had just finished circulating qi and breathing exercises and opened his eyes. "Whew..." His physical condition was good. The internal energy flowing through his blood vessels was majestic yet flowing like a peaceful river, and his dantian was heavy like a solid mass of metal, seeming to wait for the moment to pour out that power at any time. His senses had become extremely sharp, seemingly able to see even the movement of small dust particles throughout the room, and he could clearly perceive even the minute changes in the air. 'I have ascended to yet another realm!' Originally they say enlightenment is important for a martial artist's growth, but that's not necessarily the only way. If backed by sufficient experience and basic training, it's not impossible to ascend to the next realm by absorbing high-quality elixir pills and receiving assistance from their energy. The tension of facing a great decisive battle combined with the energy of various elixir pills that the Black Blood Sect had been collecting, raising Dokgo Gang's realm from its original Early-stage Transcendent to Mid-stage Transcendent. No, among the elixir pills he absorbed were herbs that had low sustainability but greatly boosted internal energy temporarily, so in terms of pure internal energy alone, it was even more than that. "Today one corner of the Seven Hegemons will change." With dignified steps, Dokgo Gang kicked open the door of the training hall and stepped out. In the outer training hall built to surround the inner depths where he had been, disciples who had finished circulating qi and breathing exercises before him were waiting for Dokgo Gang, and seeing the radiance overflowing from his eyes that couldn't be completely contained, they unconsciously swallowed their breath. The intensity of that aura was such that the weak-hearted would naturally stop breathing and tremble. "Congratulations on breaking through the wall, Master! With this momentum, you should be able to reach the Transformation Realm soon!" (E/N: I'm assuring Transcendent is 5th rank while Transformation is 6th rank) "It seems the day is not far when our Black Blood Sect will become one of the leading sects not just in Mao Province, but in the entire evil path, no, the entire martial world!" "Hah, you're making quite a fuss." While he verbally restrained his disciples like that, Dokgo Gang's mood didn't seem particularly bad. Instead of scolding them about what they were doing before a big fight, he put his hands behind his back and subtly encouraged them as if telling them to continue. The disciples, who had the attitude of being strong against the weak and weak against the strong ingrained in them, also continued their flattery earnestly to match their master's mood, and it was during such harmonious time. "Se, Sect Leader!! This is serious!!" At that moment, the door opened urgently and one of the Black Blood Sect disciples rushed inside. Dokgo Gang's eyebrows twitched, and one who quickly detected this shouted angrily. "How dare you!! You should know how delicate the work of a martial artist's circulating qi and breathing exercises is, yet you barge into the training hall - what kind of rudeness is this!! If we had still been in the middle of circulating qi and breathing exercises, we could have fallen into qi deviation!!" The retort of "Could that be when the sounds of laughing and chattering could be heard even outside the training hall" was meaningless. Not only were they dealing with senior brothers and a master who were like heaven to him, but now was not the time to nitpick about such things. The Inner Sect disciple who had been guarding outside without receiving elixir pills due to his low rank urgently bowed his head and shouted. "I, I'm sorry, senior brother! But the matter is urgent!" At that desperate voice and gesture, even those who had been laughing until now realized the situation was not normal and hardened their expressions. Dokgo Gang spoke. "Explain immediately what happened." "The thing is─" The Outer Sect martial artists who went to chase the academy children haven't returned. One of the Inner Sect disciples who realized they were being lured to one place went out to stop this, but he also hasn't returned. Due to time and distance issues, the fact that all the martial artists who were lured like that had been beaten and captured hadn't been transmitted yet, but the above content alone was enough to turn the harmonious atmosphere into chaos. "You stupid fool! If the situation was like that, you should have reported it earlier!!" "Your foolishness is about to ruin our great undertaking!" The disciple being scolded had the words "If it was such an important matter, you guys should have stayed instead of doing circulating qi and breathing exercises for no reason" rise up to his throat, but he couldn't spit them out. In fact, even if he had said it, it was questionable whether the upper echelon would have reflected on it. Because by their standards, this was all the result of anticipating the operation's progress and coordinating in advance. The disciples would secure hostages, screen whether there was useful information from those secured hostages, inform Zhang Hualing about it, observe how she would react, and then respond accordingly. Preparing too early would scatter their concentration, but the bigger problem was that the internal energy they had raised with elixir pills would return to its original state. This was because most of the elixir pills they possessed were not ones with permanent effects, but items focused on temporary enhancement. But since the first button of the operation had gone wrong from the start, they would waste manpower and time would get tangled up. "Everyone shut up." At Dokgo Gang's single word and the energy contained in his voice, those who had been making a commotion immediately bowed their heads in unison. "Everyone move to your assigned positions and prepare for battle. When I give the signal, immediately commence the combined attack formation." "Pardon? R-right now, you mean?" "Then, if not now when the prey has come, when exactly do you plan to use it?" Lady of Trampling Fire has come? Without even capturing hostages, she came into the Black Blood Sect's lair on her own feet? To the bewildered disciples, Dokgo Gang did not answer. Because his senses were focused entirely on Zhang Hualing who was standing right in front of the Black Blood Sect's main gate. *** "You woman! This is the Black Blood Sect's─" The gatekeeper's voice, which had been about to shout something loudly, rapidly lowered. Vivid red hair and black horns grown between them. Splendid ornaments and clothing that revealed her body's figure completely. She was a beauty that a lecher who thought with his lower body rather than his head would try to flirt with regardless of consequences, but there was no way the gatekeeper wouldn't recognize the very person they had been making all kinds of fuss about fighting throughout the entire sect. "Emergency!!" Shouting at the top of his lungs, the gatekeeper fled directly over the wall into the manor without even opening the main gate, as if afraid he might be caught. "Hah." At the sight that was hard to evaluate whether to call it lack of responsibility as a gatekeeper or wisdom for not showing unnecessary bravado, a chuckle escaped from Zhang Hualing's lips. However, the smile appeared only briefly. Zhang Hualing, who soon returned to a cold expression, unhesitatingly raised her leg. Crash! Rumble! Massive roars echoed one after another. The first was the sound of Zhang Hualing's kick technique sending the main gate flying, and the second was the sound of that gate falling into the manor courtyard. In the quiet stillness. Zhang Hualing, who had walked to the center of the courtyard, faced Dokgo Gang who was likewise waiting in the center of the courtyard. It was Dokgo Gang who spoke first. "I've long heard that Lady of Trampling Fire has a foul temper, but I didn't know it was to the extent that you couldn't even do something as simple as opening a door and entering normally." Zhang Hualing also responded without backing down. "I have never heard stories of whatever Black Blood Sect or whatever these scoundrels are, but just looking at what they do, I can't help but know they must be a despicable group." At her harsh words, killing intent soared from various parts of the manor. Dokgo Gang clicked his tongue. Since they weren't guys who had received assassin training, he hadn't expected them to hide their presence to the end, but wasn't this too obvious? Judging that there was no longer any point in hiding, Dokgo Gang sent a signal, and dozens of martial artists revealed themselves from here and there, surrounding Zhang Hualing. Swish! Clang! The momentum of the martial artists who drew their swords in unison was inconsistent with considerable gaps, but even the lowest among them was emitting wavering sword aura as proof that they had stepped into the pinnacle realm, and in the case of disciples who had absorbed elixir pills, they were revealing peak-level energy as if unable to control their surging internal energy. Dokgo Gang spoke quietly. "I don't know what methods you used, but I'll praise you for luring away a considerable number of our people elsewhere. However, you were hasty. You seem to think you can handle the remaining personnel head-on, but those who fell for your scheme were just worthless bunch in terms of real strength from the beginning. The real ones are here." From the beginning, the Outer Sect personnel were nothing more than useful servants to Dokgo Gang. It was regrettable that he couldn't use them as meat shields when needed, but as long as the Inner Sect personnel who could be called real strength and Dokgo Gang himself remained, there was sufficient chance of victory. No, considering that Dokgo Gang's own realm had risen, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they would rather overwhelm her. Zhang Hualing made no particular response. Dokgo Gang also, instead of waiting for her answer, shouted without hesitation. "Attack!!" Simultaneously with the signal, a net flew up into the sky. Made from various plant materials soaked in oil or woven entirely from metal, it was one of the anti-master equipment that even fairly sharp famous swords could pierce holes through but couldn't easily cut. No matter how splendid the sword aura a martial artist boasted, once their limbs were entangled in the net and their body covered, they would be helpless without even being able to demonstrate their skills. Of course, for Lady of Trampling Fire who wielded powerful Blazing Yang Energy, its effectiveness would be greatly reduced... but Dokgo Gang thought even that didn't matter. 'To deal with the net completely, she would have to emit powerful fire and heat over a wide range. Her internal energy consumption would be that much faster.' Sure enough, even before the net could touch her body, flames erupted from Lady of Trampling Fire's entire body and the net instantly burned or melted away. However, the Black Blood Sect martial artists swung their swords from all directions without hesitation as if they had already predicted this, and soon a fierce bloody battle unfolded. When Zhang Hualing looked forward, a sword came flying from behind, when she raised her arm, someone tried to stab her side, and it was common for them to throw sand or powder at her face whenever they had the chance. Dokgo Gang also, instead of boldly confronting Zhang Hualing from the front, repeatedly hit and ran by interfering whenever she tried to unleash a major technique and then retreating again. Someone might judge this as cowardly and base, but Dokgo Gang didn't care at all. If you're going to seek fairness or a martial artist's pride, then that would be the orthodox path - why would it be the evil path? Zhang Hualing was foolish for coming in alone thinking the Black Blood Sect's forces had been sufficiently drawn away, but there was no problem at all for the Black Blood Sect dealing with her. Thinking that woman must be getting tired by now, Dokgo Gang once again aimed for Zhang Hualing's back and thrust his sword. Clang! Zhang Hualing casually turned around and swung her arm, and he nearly dropped his sword from the impact. 'She still has this much strength left...!' To a swordsman, the sword is part of their body. Dropping it would be no different from throwing one's heart on the ground, so a martial artist skilled beyond a certain realm would not let go of their sword even if their arm bones were crushed. Yet the internal energy and momentum contained in Zhang Hualing's single strike was truly fearsome enough to make a master of Dokgo Gang's level nearly drop his sword. An attack that wasn't much inferior to when they first exchanged blows, no, it seemed even stronger. That wasn't the only strange thing. 'The heat keeps rising!!' To face Lady of Trampling Fire, Dokgo Gang had made thorough preparations in his own way. Although he couldn't bring something like a combined attack formation which was difficult to obtain or learn due to its extremely high difficulty, he had thoroughly prepared heat countermeasures by distributing ice crystals that naturally contained cold energy to his disciples along with nets and various other tools, and even soaking parts of their clothing in water. Originally, techniques that handle natural attributes like Blazing Yang Energy or cold energy tend to consume internal energy faster than techniques that handle pure internal energy itself, and for a type like Zhang Hualing who poured out massive firepower in a short time, that degree was even more severe. But no matter how much time passed, there was no sign of the temperature dropping or the fire and heat that Zhang Hualing emitted diminishing. Even with ice stones that emitted powerful cold energy in their chests, sweat poured from their bodies and vaporized before it could even flow. Despite protecting their bodies with internal energy, their skin was turning red from the heat, and even though they hadn't exchanged a single blow with Zhang Hualing, people were appearing everywhere grimacing in pain. 'Th-this is impossible!!' Crucially, realizing that not a single decent wound had appeared on Zhang Hualing's body, Dokgo Gang received a tremendous mental shock. It wasn't that he had ignored Lady of Trampling Fire. However, she was even younger in age within the Seven Hegemons who were already young compared to the representative masters of the past, and in the martial world of old, she would have been treated as nothing more than a rising master at best. In fact, Zhang Hualing's realm that Dokgo Gang had investigated was about Late-stage Transcendent. Even that was only threatening against higher-ranked opponents due to her combat style specialized in short decisive battles, and the common consensus was that her pure realm was lower than that. But the scene unfolding before his eyes now was making all such speculation useless. How could someone evaluated as vulnerable in prolonged battles never tire no matter how much she fought, and how could someone evaluated as Mid-stage or Late-stage Transcendent not receive a single wound against Dokgo Gang, who was also Mid-stage Transcendent, and dozens of his disciples? Was the information wrong? Or did it mean she had rapidly grown stronger in the short time since coming to You Province? They said all she had done was attend an academy at most, so what kind of opportunity did she encounter there! "Aaahhh!" Clang! Along with a scream, one of the disciples dropped his sword and trembled his hands. The skin of his palms looked as if they had suffered severe burns, the result of repeatedly colliding with Zhang Hualing's limbs covered in red energy. Someone collapsed after losing balance from sweating excessively, and someone else screamed while clutching their eyes as if their eyeballs had dried up. When everyone was intact, they shared the damage with each other or blocked major attacks, but once the number of personnel began to decrease, those falling increased at a terrifying speed like fire spreading through a forest. And finally, watching Zhang Hualing melt his sword just by gripping it and swing a palm strike directly at his face, Dokgo Gang muttered blankly with dried lips. "Transformation Realm..."