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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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“Cougar…?”
It was so absurd, so unexpected, it felt like he had been struck in the head with a blunt weapon.
Ma Yang’s face hardened, her composure cracking at the blatant disrespect from a boy barely half her age, a mere adolescent.
While she didn’t want to show her anger in front of her beloved junior sister and disciples, a slight twitch betrayed her fury.
She maintained her youthful appearance through internal energy cultivation techniques, but she hadn’t achieved true age regression, so this was a sensitive topic, a trigger point.
He had touched a nerve, a forbidden scale, this arrogant brat, ignorant of the consequences of his actions. She glared at him, her eyes narrowed.
“A frog in a well, whose only asset is his youth… dares to speak to me in such a manner.”
The air grew heavy, thick with the killing intent radiating from the Transcendent Realm master.
Yuehua, Ma Yang’s disciples, even Mancheon himself, felt a cold sweat trickling down their backs, their bodies instinctively recoiling from the overwhelming pressure of the enraged master.
All except for one: the fearless, rebellious cripple.
“A frog in a well may not know the vastness of the ocean, but it knows the height of the sky.”
He continued to approach, the dark red energy swirling around his left arm, his demeanor nonchalant.
Even a predator raised in isolation, unaware of the dangers of the world, was still a predator. A wolf was still a wolf, a tiger still a tiger.
A predator might die, but it would never cower.
So, he challenged his senior, a figure of immense power and authority in the martial world, his voice strangely calm, almost deranged.
“Come at me, old woman. I’ll send you down the river with the last tide.”
Ma Yang’s face contorted in rage, her carefully maintained composure cracking. Her attention, previously focused on Wang Meiyang, shifted to the arrogant boy before her.
She was about to strike him down, to end this insolence, when…
“You arrogant little brat… I’ll kill you…!”
she found out that she couldn’t move. She realized, too late, that the gravity, the weight pressing down on her, had changed. She was trapped.
Fudō Myō-ō Steps – Suppression.
He wasn’t simply scattering the energy; he had focused it, honed it, like a laser beam, targeting a single point, channeling the Wisdom King’s power to pin her in place.
Ma Yang had assumed he was simply being arrogant, ignorant of the vast difference in their skill levels, but it was the opposite. He was acutely aware of their disparity in power, and that was precisely why he had taken such precautions.
The Fudō Myō-ō Steps required him to stomp the ground, releasing his energy.
If Ma Yang had sensed his preparations, if she had struck first, using the swift attacks of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra to disable him, it would have been over.
So, he had distracted her, boasting and taunting, his left arm swirling with dark red energy, subtly gathering his qi, preparing for the decisive step, the heavy tread of the Wisdom King.
“Such a… insolence…!”
Of course, even with these precautions, the difference in their power was too great for him to truly incapacitate her. He had only created a momentary opening.
But… it was enough.
He lunged forward, low to the ground, his good leg propelling him forward like a low-flying projectile. He rolled past Ma Yang, continuing his forward momentum.
“He’s… he’s running away?!”
Ma Yang’s disciples, seeing him flee, shouted in confusion, but
‘No… he’s not running…!!’ Yuehua thought, her tear-filled golden eyes flashing as she watched Mancheon.
Those weren’t the eyes of a cowering seal fleeing from a predator. They were the eyes of a fearless hedgehog, preparing to strike!!
Mancheon hadn’t given up.
He rolled across the ground, a tactical retreat, drawing their attention, then, in a swift, unexpected move, he scooped up Wang Meiyang, who had been left lying on the ground, her pressure points sealed.
‘I said I’d send you down the river, not that I’d leave you there.’
Rescuing Wang Meiyang had been his objective all along.
“……?!!”
Wang Meiyang’s eyes widened in shock, her body still frozen, unable to comprehend the situation, this insignificant disciple, whose skill level was less than half of Ma Yang’s, not fleeing, but coming back for her. But her surprise didn’t last long.
Mancheon proceeded to shove his hands into her armpits and grope her.
“?!?!?!?!”
He channeled his internal energy, massaging her chest and armpits. He felt the soft yet firm flesh beneath his palms.
He wasn’t being a pervert. Judging from her frozen state, her inability to speak, Wang Meiyang had likely been struck in pressure points located in her chest, armpits, or shoulders, such as Jian Jing or Quchi.
If he were proficient in acupressure, he could have identified the specific points and released them,
but unfortunately, his knowledge was limited, and time was of the essence, so he resorted to… vigorous massage.
It seemed she had already been working on releasing the pressure points herself, because
“Wh-what are you doing?!” Wang Meiyang exclaimed, her face crimson as she pushed Mancheon away, the paralysis fading.
“It’s an emergency, so please bear with me,” he replied.
Mancheon smiled brightly, genuinely pleased at hearing his master’s voice, and
“…….”
Wang Meiyang, her cheeks still flushed, patted his head.
“Thank you… for coming back.”
She stepped forward, her robes swirling around her.
“Can you win?”
At her only disciple’s question, her left hand crackled with energy.
-Crackle! Sizzle!!
Setting aside her personal feelings, her desire for revenge against her former senior sister who had betrayed their sect, she focused on her duty as the leader of the Quanzhen Sect, determined not to be humiliated again.
With a mind as clear and still as a lake, her back to the stars, she answered calmly,
Frost Treading Ice Shattering Palm.
“Yes…”
The true Big Dipper of Quanzhen revealed itself once more.
Ma Yang couldn’t understand what had gone wrong.
‘Where did I make a mistake?’
Her plan had been flawless.
She had used Longyuan to create chaos in the town, and had easily subdued Wang Meiyang, who hadn’t known about the Ancient Tomb Sect’s techniques.
She had even used Longyuan to remove Nangong Xiaoshao, who had proven to be unexpectedly skilled.
And yet, everything had fallen apart in a single moment.
Tian Quan and Yu Heng, whom she had expected to win easily, had been defeated, and Wang Meiyang had broken free from her restraints.
She knew Wang Meiyang’s skills well, having trained alongside her as senior and junior sisters.
She had only been able to defeat Wang Meiyang so easily because of the element of surprise. Even with a disadvantageous matchup, Wang Meiyang wouldn’t have fallen for the same trick twice.
While it didn’t mean she would lose, the situation had become significantly more complicated.
The victory she had held so firmly was slipping away.
She looked at the man responsible for this turn of events,
the crippled boy standing behind Wang Meiyang, radiating a menacing aura… Sima Mancheon.
Mancheon (Deceiving the Heavens)… what an ominous, arrogant name.
The anger that had consumed her moments before faded, replaced by a cold, calculating calm.
“Tian Chu, lend me your sword. The rest of you, tend to Tian Quan and Yu Heng.”
For Ma Yang, a master swordswoman skilled in both the Quanzhen and Ancient Tomb Sect’s sword techniques, to draw her sword meant she was taking this fight seriously.
Her instincts, honed from years of experience, screamed danger. She knew, without a doubt,
that if she didn’t eliminate Mancheon now, he would become a serious threat in the future.
She accepted the sword offered hesitantly by her disciple and unleashed her sword qi.
A clan leader, a sect master, a figure of power and authority, wherever they went.
Two Transcendent Realm masters, at the peak of their abilities, faced each other.
The world-shattering palm technique and the chillingly blue blade clashed…
“Well, that’s enough. I’m out of breath after running all this way.”
but the clash never happened.
A broad-shouldered, muscular man with a short beard, dressed in Daoist robes that seemed ill-suited to his rough, rugged appearance, interrupted the fight.
Zi Lu, leader of the Martial Alliance, a master among masters, said to have mastered a thousand techniques,
had personally intervened.
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After Tang Wu had pursued Jang Sam and disappeared, and after Mancheon, worried about his young master, had also left…
Wu Ming, one of the Three Enemies of the Martial World, the Unregistered Invincible, smiled awkwardly at the pale, handsome man who stood before him.
“Um… you know, it’s not good to kill people indiscriminately. It’s always better to resolve conflicts through dialogue, if possible. What do you think of that… as a joke?”
Yan Wuyong, the Tenth Elder of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, originally from the Jinju Eon family, a man who had infiltrated the Sun Moon Holy Cult to further his own agenda, and who had risen to the rank of elder, frowned at Wu Ming’s strange question.
“What kind of joke is that?”
“I told it to a… friend? Acquaintance? And they didn’t seem to appreciate it. I was wondering if you could… tell me if it’s funny.”
Wu Ming, pleased that someone was taking an interest in his joke, elaborated.
“It’s a conversational joke. It requires a setup. The punchline is, ‘As an assassin, I shouldn’t kill people indiscriminately,’ followed by, ‘It would be a waste of my time and effort to work for free.’”
“The humor comes from the irony of a ruthless assassin, a killer, saying he shouldn’t kill people…”
Yan Wuyong cut him off, having heard enough.
“Enough. It’s not funny. Explaining a joke is a sure sign it’s a bad joke. Don’t tell it again.”
Wu Ming’s shoulders slumped, his eyes downcast, his face wore a mask of disappointment.
“Please… don’t be so harsh. My body might be invincible, but my heart isn’t.”
“Enough with the nonsense. You should leave. The Martial Alliance leader is here.”
“I… I know.”
“What?”
Wu Ming’s eyes, usually dull and unfocused, now gleamed with a chilling, predatory light as he looked towards the Martial Alliance leader.
“If you wish… I could eliminate him for you. It would disrupt our plans, but… I could do it. …Probably.”
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Will he kill him?
