“I really don’t like this.”

Gyu Jeok, a man famous for being expressionless, wore a rare grimace.

It had been a long while since even the sunset had lost its light and the whole world had gone dark. He still could not get used to the winter weather of the Central Plains.

He had already reached a realm untouched by heat and cold, so neither winter nor summer affected him much, but weather still had a feeling to it. Gyu Jeok thoroughly disliked the winter weather of Henan.

I still can’t get used to it, even after all these years.

His homeland was best after all. The land of the Central Plains was so vast and fertile that it absolutely had to be conquered for the expansion of the Cult’s power, but Gyu Jeok still hated this place.

It would be better if we could just fight it out properly.

Of course, he knew. War was not something that moved according to the logic of strength alone.

A war was always best when it ended as quickly as possible. And for a war to end quickly, overwhelming strength and influence were necessary.

That was exactly why Divine Flame, Perverse Lust, and Mad Blood had not revealed themselves, instead slowly infiltrating the Central Plains. They had to seize an overwhelming victory.

Still, knowing something in one’s head and feeling it in one’s heart were different things. Gyu Jeok possessed an excellent mind, but more than that, he was hot-blooded.

The reason he rarely showed expression was also to govern that fiery temperament of his. The reason he forced himself to show mercy to his subordinates came from a similar place.

Damn it.

He wanted to burn every mountain in sight to the ground.

His head understood, but as time passed, his heart only grew more stifled.

I can’t even remember the last time I fought a match worthy of the word.

Was it because his heart felt so pent up?

His accursed stagnation had shown no sign of breaking even after five years. If he could just break free of this plateau, he could enter the ranks within the first ten generals in one breath.

This was all because of his environment. It had been five years since he entered the Central Plains and became a military figure in Henan Province.

If he could not even throw his fists properly, his martial arts were bound to stagnate. That was what he believed.

“Hmm.”

Gyu Jeok looked around.

He had run more than fifty li from the base. It seemed all right to speed up now.

PAAAAANG!

A crimson light seemed to drape over his entire body, and the speed of his movement technique doubled.

As he tore through the wind, his frustration seemed to ease a little.

When one felt foul, running freely like this was best. Gyu Jeok’s expression grew much more relaxed.

How long had he run like that?

.......

Gyu Jeok tilted his head.

What was that?

PAPAPANG!

After kicking through the air several times to slow himself, he landed at the top of a massive tree.

It was a huge tree, but the branches at the top were thin. Yet even though he stepped there, the branch did not bend. It was an extraordinary lightness art.

He looked around.

“...Hmm. I definitely felt qi stir.”

An extremely faint ripple of qi.

In truth, it was faint enough that he could have simply passed it by. Come to think of it, he could have dismissed it as a mistake. He had been running at tremendous speed, after all.

But Gyu Jeok was cautious.

Dissatisfaction was only dissatisfaction. As one of the Divine Flame Cult’s Eighteen Warrior-Generals, he did not forget his identity.

It shouldn’t be possible, but there is always the chance.

HWARURUK. HWARURURUK.

The Fire energy surging around his body slowly lost its color.

The qi wave shifted from visible to invisible. He was scattering the True Qi that filled his dantian in all directions like a spiderweb.

It was a method of detection through circulated qi. Only masters who had broken through the Wall and crossed their limits could perform such an exquisitely delicate circulation of True Qi.

WOOOONG. WOOOONG.

The wind blowing against him was fierce.

Because the wind was strong, the True Qi he spread kept rippling. He had lowered the density of his True Qi, and its foundation was Fire energy, so it did not harmonize with the winter wind.

Hmm.

Still, skill did not go anywhere.

He forcefully infused stronger Inner Qi and probed the surroundings in greater detail, then soon gathered his True Qi back.

Was it just a mistake?

Gyu Jeok smirked and was about to lift his foot from the branch.

That was the moment.

FWIP!

A streak of sharp wind rose from beneath the tree.

Gyu Jeok’s hand moved like lightning.

KWANG!

Palm force as fast as a thunderbolt and heavy as a boulder.

The single blow burst the ground open and crushed half of the thick tree roots. It was tremendous power.

PAAAAAK!

Gyu Jeok dropped downward in one breath and looked all around.

“Who the hell...?!”

In that instant, Gyu Jeok felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

THUD!

An axe a foot long buried itself into the tree all the way to the handle.

It was an extraordinarily stealthy and swift trick. Even Gyu Jeok himself would have had his neck taken clean off if he had been only an instant slower.

Of course, the attack did not end there.

HOOOOONG!

Scorching True Qi approached right in front of Gyu Jeok’s nose.

Fire energy?!

It was Fire energy. And yet that Fire energy was no ordinary thing.

Astonishingly, it was powerful enough that it did not fall far short even compared to the Fire energy he possessed. For an instant, seeing that overflowing firepower and burning Killing Intent made him wonder if the attacker was someone from this Cult.

And the knife hand thrust out by the owner of that Fire energy had already reached two inches before Gyu Jeok’s throat.

FWIP!

A long cut opened on Gyu Jeok’s neck. The wound shed a few drops of blood, then was burned black in an instant.

It was unbelievable. Gyu Jeok, a master of heat-yang arts, had not only been wounded by a knife-hand strike based on Fire energy, but had even been burned by it.

“You bastard!”

BANG!

The attacker’s body was flung backward by force that exploded without warning.

Gyu Jeok’s eyes shook.

What?

Fire-Worship Force-Breaking Art was a unique Divine Flame Cult martial art faster than the Central Plains’ inch-force technique, with twice the explosiveness and power.

And the one using it was one of the Eighteen Warrior-Generals. It would not have been strange for the upper body of most masters to burst apart on the spot.

Why didn’t I feel anything?

He had felt none of the sensation of explosive force bursting from the center of his palm and breaking the target.

It felt as if he had struck a rippling wall of water. Gyu Jeok had never felt anything like this while using Fire-Worship Force-Breaking Art.

A moment split into another moment.

In Gyu Jeok’s eyes, he saw the flow of True Qi running across the attacker’s front in the darkness, like translucent waves of water.

Water?!

Time, which had slowed, rapidly accelerated again.

CHWAAAAAK!

A fist punched through the center of the water wall and drove toward Gyu Jeok’s pit of the stomach at terrifying speed.

It was too fast to dodge. Gyu Jeok instantly circulated Blue Furnace Pure Fire Art and swung Heat-Fire Divine Palm.

PUH-PUH-POONG! CRUNCH!

He could not fully offset the penetrating power of the straight punch. Gyu Jeok’s body smashed a giant tree to pieces as he was shoved backward.

PAPAPAPAPANG!

Gyu Jeok’s eyes widened.

He’s fast!

The attacker drew countless straight lines while emitting a firelike qi wave.

It was a truly terrifying movement technique. Or was it footwork?

Whatever it was, the speed was a level above his own.

PAAAAANG!

The attacker, who had been moving in a dizzying pattern, bent downward in one breath and came at Gyu Jeok’s lower body.

It was not merely fast. It also possessed extreme flexibility. The movement transcended imagination, and Gyu Jeok had no choice but to acknowledge that when it came to lightness arts, his opponent stood above him.

KWAKWANG!

Their fists and palms collided, releasing a thunderous boom.

Gah!

A thick vein bulged on Gyu Jeok’s forehead.

The attacker was not simply quick in movement. Along with fast, dazzling lightness arts, he possessed strength no less formidable.

Gyu Jeok retreated madly. The attacker closed in swiftly and whipped both legs out like a storm.

PAPAPAPAPANG! BOOM!

Even his kicking art was fast.

They were kicks without some profound enlightenment or refined forms. Even so, they were fast and powerful. Gyu Jeok could not follow with his eyes how and where the attacks were aimed.

Gyu Jeok’s twin palms slashed wildly through the air.

PUH-PUH-POONG!

Both of Gyu Jeok’s hands were knocked backward.

He’s strong!

Fast. And strong.

That was all. And that was also everything martial arts were.

If one was fast enough to be difficult to confirm with the naked eye, and possessed enough power to shatter any barrier, that itself was the ultimate martial art.

The attacker was driving him this far with martial arts that were not particularly special. It meant he completely understood the path leading to the essence of martial arts.

BOOM!

After being pushed back through several exchanges, Gyu Jeok detonated the Heat-Fire palm force he had quietly gathered and drove the attacker away.

This time too, he felt nothing in his hand. Its power was clearly a level above Fire-Worship Force-Breaking Art, but before that translucent water wall, it was useless.

But that was fine.

With this blow, the distance between him and the attacker widened to more than five jang. At that distance, he could at least catch his breath for a moment.

“Hoo.”

After steadying his breath shortly and quickly, Gyu Jeok’s eyes burned red like fire.

“What dogshit bastard dares...!”

Gyu Jeok could not even finish speaking before he had to bend his upper body down.

KWAAAAANG!

This strike was massive.

It had the force of a cannon fired at a huge fortress wall. The formless twin-palm explosive force shattered three trees behind Gyu Jeok to pieces.

It was a palm art of incredible power. But what was even more astonishing was that despite using a martial art this destructive, the attacker had revealed no flow of True Qi.

The firelike glow in Gyu Jeok’s eyes gradually changed into a thick, sticky blood-red.

KWAKWAKWANG! KWAAAAANG!

The attacker, who was about to attack again, flinched.

KWAAAAANG! BANG! HWARURURUK!

Under Gyu Jeok’s indiscriminate barrage of palm force, the surrounding trees shattered. And ominous flames rose from the broken trees, creating a wall of fire across the area.

A battlefield of burning flames.

Gyu Jeok asked in a cold voice.

“Who are you? State your name.”

Flinch.

The attacker stopped his follow-up attack.

After silently glaring at Gyu Jeok, the attacker relaxed his stance. The terrifying Killing Intent in his eyes as he glared at Gyu Jeok remained unchanged, but puzzlement appeared on his face.

“Exchanging names? In this situation?”

“I will say it again. State your name. I do not want to settle a match with someone who cannot even reveal three characters.”

Gyu Jeok called it a match.

Yes. Though he had been pushed back, after only a few exchanges, Gyu Jeok had fully acknowledged his opponent.

Crack, crack.

A vicious sound rang from Gyu Jeok’s clenched fists.

His martial heart burned hot. His exploding competitive spirit suppressed even his faith toward the Cult Leader for one moment.

The intense desire he had lived while forcibly pressing down inside his chest.

At the appearance of an opponent worthy of clashing with every ounce of strength he possessed, Gyu Jeok became excited enough to forget even the situation he was in.

The attacker, Yeon Hojeong, narrowed his eyes.

“...You’re a strange one.”

He had launched the ambush himself, but regardless of the reason, Gyu Jeok also had to kill his opponent. He should not have been staring at him with such spirited eyes and asking his name.

A name could be asked after half-killing the other person. In the first place, an attacker in his right mind would not simply give his name.

Gyu Jeok spoke again.

“Whether it is the earth of this place you call the Central Plains, or the land I came from, meeting a strong man of this caliber is never easy. We have already pointed our fists at each other, so there is no meaning in asking reasons. But I do wish to know your name.”

“Before that.”

“...?”

Yeon Hojeong’s face twisted sharply.

“Why are you wearing those clothes?”

“...Hmm.”

“I’m asking why you’re wearing the official uniform of a Pacification Officer from the imperial Defense Command.”