Battle of Fame (Part Two)
Battle of Fame (Part Two)
Wind at the top of the mountain was strong and blew non-stop, causing the Neo Taekwondo attire Bae Seong-Joon was wearing to flap hard, as if it was playing a tragic symphony that Neo Taekwondo had experienced in less than two years.
In just a few days he hadn't see Bae Seong-Joon, Qin Fen discovered that Bae Seong-Joon's lush black hair had now turned bright and silver, exuding a heartrending cold gleam under the sunlight.
Qin Fen slowly raised his head and noticed that the sky over Hallasan wasn't empty; there were a few dozen human-shaped figures of all sizes hovering in the air.
After entering the fifteen-star level, all martial artists would find a way to learn the Wukong Technique through various channels, which was an important mark of a martial dao master.
Today's duel between new and old generations of martial dao master at Baengnokdam had made the spectators conscientiously choose to fly in the air, giving both sides the largest space for the duel.
As Qin Fen looked up, his pupils contracting suddenly. He might not know every spectator floating in the air but he definitely knew that robust man with a majestic aura lingering around him.
Song Zhenting! Qilin - Song Wendong's son, and also Qin Fen's future father-in-law. Even if Song Wenting wasn't related to Song Jia, Qin Fen would not forget that he had met this martial arts expert twice.
Almost every martial artist in the sky had one more person beside them. These people did not appear to be too old, in their late teens or early twenties. They didn't have the strength to use the Wukong Technique; they could only hover in the air with the help of martial dao masters beside them.
Usually, a martial artist could be struck with a lot of inspiration if only he had the luck to watch a duel between high-level martial artists. It was extremely difficult for a younger generation to watch the fight between martial dao masters, no money could give them that chance.
After all, everyone only had one life. The martial dao masters would not be so idle that they would fight each other just for the sake of fun.
Qin Fen could sense the mental state of all these young martial artists in the sky. Almost everyone was feeling the same way. And it was not that they were feeling excited about this upcoming battle between martial dao master. On the contrary, curiosity and doubt were clearly written on their faces.
Even if they had heard that Neo Taekwondo's martial dao master Jang Cheon-Hyeok had lost his life in Qin Fen's hands, the young martial artists were still deeply skeptical about it. How can a youngster in late teens enter the realm of martial dao master? How is this possible?
Each and every young martial artist who was brought by the martial dao masters to watch the battle could be regarded as a martial arts genius in any other era. For a moment, it was really hard for them to accept that while they were still trying hard to complete True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth, their peer, a young martial artist younger than themselves, had already completed Great Inborn Nirvana Marrow Transformation and successfully entered the fifteen-star level.
Right then, the sounds of heavy-lift helicopters flying through the sky slowly came from the distance. All the martial artists present here except Bae Seong-Joon looked sideways in confusion.
Today, Hallasan wasn't the only restricted area, even the sky above was controlled by the State of Korea's police. Forget ordinary people, even if one was filthy rich, he or she was still unable to approach this place.
Today, Hallasan's air and ground belonged to martial artists! Furthermore, powerful martial artists didn't need helicopters. The martial artists began to wonder if the person sitting in this helicopter was the current president of the Federation.
Very soon, the helicopter appeared in everyone's line of sight. Immediately, Qin Fen's eyes flashed with a pleasant surprise. He was quite familiar with the decal of the helicopter. It was the unique sign of Sacred Martial Hall, a large black '武' was painted on the helicopter.
Sacred Martial Hall! Every martial artist who came to watch the battle looked amazed. There were many geniuses in the Sacred Martial Hall. Obviously, such a huge helicopter wasn't carrying just one or two young martial artists to watch the battle.
As the plane approached, the faces of many martial artists hovering in the air changed suddenly; the look in their eyes as they looked at the Sacred Martial Hall's aircraft changed one after another. Almost everyone present here was a fifteen-star martial dao master at the very least. How could they not sense the strength of people in the Sacred Martial Hall's helicopter?
Looking through the glass of the cabin, shock on the faces of the floating martial artists became more and more apparent. What stroke of good luck had the Sacred Martial Hall struck with this time? The huge helicopter wasn't carrying just one young martial artist, nor was it two or three, rather it was a small group!
It was a group of young martial artists who appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties. The strength emanating from their bodies was clearly telling them that they were in the thirteen-star level at the very least!
What the hell is going on? The hovering martial artists looked at each other. All of them were once young, each and every one of them was a genius of their time; they were deeply aware of how difficult it was to advance their martial dao.
Not counting Qin Fen, who had entered the realm of martial dao master, any of the young martial artists sitting in the helicopter could be considered as a peerless genius in any other era. This was enough to make other young martial artists of the same generation gloomy, cause the brightness on their faces to dim down.
Sometimes, not even one such young martial artist would appear in one generation! But today, this helicopter was carrying a group of such monsters.
In addition to being surprised, the floating martial dao masters were all envious, deeply envious of Sacred Martial Hall's luck. Having the luck of getting so many genius martial artists in one breath, the Sacred Martial Hall would not just rise in its status in the future, but its overall strength would improve greatly if everything went smoothly.
Just these talented youngsters could make everyone fill with anticipation for the glory that the Sacred Martial Hall would enjoy in the future.
On the helicopter, Xue Tian and the others standing by the window raised their thumbs at Qin Fen, who was on the ground, one after another. At this moment, neither side needed to say anything. Their arrival here was the biggest support.
Bae Seong-Joon, standing at the center of Baengnokdam, gave Qin Fen a deadly stare, his eyes radiating a chill akin to that of a viper. Qin Fen withdrew his gaze from the sky and turned it on his opponent once more.
Kyokushin Genichi withdrew carefully from the range of Baengnokdam, furrowing his brow in faint anger. He secretly cast a glance at a man wearing a snow-white karate attire floating in the air, Kyokushin Kouten, the founder of Neo Kyokushin Karate.
Kyokushin Genichi would never forget that as a Japanese, he was once proud and arrogant to learn neo karate but he did not expect that the martial dao master, who he used to revere more than himself, would actually hide the martial arts rather than teaching them just for the sake of earning money.
A martial dao master's senses were extremely keen. Kyokushin Kouten's pores could sense the gaze landing on him. He slightly lowered his head and looked at the retreating Kyokushin Genichi in the far corner. He raised the corner of his lips in slight disdain. "Isn't that self-righteous, talentless punk, who betrayed his own school... well?"
Kyokushin Kouten's sneering lips turned stiff suddenly as his eyes flickered with curiosity and surprise as he gasped and drew a breath of cold air straight into his lung. "True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth!? Ten-star level!? How is this possible?"
How is this possible? The corner of Kyokushin Kouten's eyebrows twitched again and again. As a martial dao master, he had a very keen pair of eyes. He would never make a mistake in reading Kyokushin Genichi's natural endowments. He had already listed him as someone who did not have any future prospects in martial arts. So, how could this young man achieve True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth? How?
Kyokushin Kouten then turned his gaze at the disciples by his left side, the disciple on whom he had placed all his hopes on. He was already twenty-years-old, yet he was struck at the peak of nine-star level, unable to complete True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth.
"How is this possible? Impossible." Kyokushin Kouten shifted his gaze from Kyokushin Genichi to Qin Fen, his hawk-like eyes flickered with speculation and doubt. "Does he have some special means? Judging by Genichi's internal true energy, his true energy seems to be different from when I was teaching him when he was in the neo karate dojo. Is this because of Qin Fen? True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth... True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth! If there is a special reason why Genichi could advance, then..."
Kyokushin Kouten nodded again and again, a deep pondering look in his eyes. The development of Neo Karate wasn't any faster than Neo Taekwondo. It was true for almost all other self-found schools and sects. It was extremely difficult to break through after gaining a certain status.
True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth was a checkpoint for any martial artist. If there was some secret recipe to it, it was to follow a group of True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth martial artists. That kind of emotional stimulation would be more helpful. And because of this, the Sacred Martial Hall had more True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth martial artists than any other influence.
Kyokushin Kouten had been researching martial arts for many years and had always believed that there was a certain special trick to cross every martial dao checkpoint. Unfortunately, he had not made much progress in this regard.
For someone as young as Qin Fen to achieve Nirvana Marrow Transformation and even help his once talentless disciple to achieve True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth, Kyokushin Kouten could not help but wonder whether Qin Fen had made outstanding progress in this area.
"Mister Song, can we start?"
Bae Seong-Joon spoke in an incomparably chilling voice without turning his head. From the beginning to the end, his gaze and aura were locked on Qin Fen.
A duel always needed a notary. Although there were many martial artists present, no one dared to take the initiative to be the notary this time.
Because there was someone from the Song Family present here, the son of Qilin - Song Wendong.
Even if Song Zhenting wasn't a divine beast-level martial artist, no one dared to look down on him.
Not just because Song Zhenting was surnamed Song, but his terrifying strength alone was enough to make him qualified to be a real notary of this duel.
Song Zhenting waved his arm gently. "Begin."
In a flash, the air around Baengnokdam changed suddenly. All the martial artists floating in the air held their breaths as they stared straight at the two people at the center of the field prudently.
Begin... while the word was still lingering in the air, Bae Seong-Joon's pupils that were staring at Qin Fen with murderous intention sunk into calmness in the blink of an eye.
In a flash, Bae Seong-Joon entered the Yiru realm of Neo Taekwondo.
Yiru: to live was to live by all kinds of laws, to perish was to live by the same skeleton.
Yiru: God told us to avoid the three boundaries of human beings, how could we avoid it when it was in the heart?
Yiru: to combine the body and the spirit.
Yiru was only one regardless of point, line, or face. Yiru was the combination of equal strength and balance in the body and the spirit to achieve the highest realm.
This was the true realm of Yiru, far from being as rough as Cai Renying, who had just entered the realm of Yiru. Bae Seong-Joon's eyes had nothing in them but Qin Fen.
This sky, this earth, everything in this world had nothing to do with him. He had merged his everything into one and locked it onto Qin Fen.
The victory in Kyokushin Genichi's heart suddenly vanished in the puff of smoke at the sight of this scene. His body and mind, which had never entered a state of relaxation, had indescribable tranquility and relaxation.
Yiru, a true Yiru realm could affect others. The moment Bae Seong-Joon entered the Yiru realm, he did not stop. His youthful and elastic skin suddenly turned red as a network of interweaving black lines visible to naked eyes bulged from his skin as if his body was covered by a fishing net woven from black threads.
His dark pupils were bloodshot at once. At the same time, a red glow appeared on his ferocious face as his every muscle fiber swelled, one after another. The moment he unleashed his sixteen-star true energy, cracks began to appear within a range of five meters of him, as if a powerful bomb had exploded under his feet. One after another, wide cracks began to appear on the ground; the widest of the rift could be stuffed with a baseball bat.
Sixteen-star! Fourth-level fusion with the biochemical beast! Mysterious fourth-level biochemical beast fusion! Bae Seong-Joon silver bright hair floated under the outburst of his true energy at once!
A chill ran straight to the bone marrows of the young martial artists in the sky; their bodies shivered uncontrollably. Immediately, they turned their gaze at their masters beside them in shock.
The martial dao masters floating in the air did not have any different look on their faces. A very same thought flashed in everyone's mind, Bae Seong-Joon had taken everything out. Even if this did not bring him any fame, he would still kill Qin Fen!
There were not many people in the world with biochemical beasts. Usually, martial artists who had biochemical beasts were accustomed to fighting using their own strength when fighting with others. This was not an issue of habit but rather a kind of confidence in their martial arts.
Just like Cai Renying when she had fought with Qin Fen that day. She also had a biochemical beast but because she had been concentrating on martial arts for many years, she had only completed level one fusion with her biochemical beast. Also, she thought that she could defeat Qin Fen with just her strength. But when she regretted and wanted to use it, she had already been split into two by Qin Fen.
Bae Seong-Joon had brought his full strength to play. Even the biochemical beast that he rarely used had been energized. One must know that using a biochemical beast was similar to taking some kind of stimulant to some extent. After a forced enhancement of one's physical attributes in a battle, one's body would enter a long period of weakness.
As a martial dao master, Bae Seong-Joon had many enemies who wanted him dead apart from Qin Fen, an enemy whom he wanted dead. He rarely energized his biochemical beast unless absolutely necessary.
Today, Bae Seong-Joon had brought everything out. It could be said that he had thrown every caution to the wind just for the sake of killing Qin Fen.
Ahhh...
After energizing a level four fusion with his biochemical beast, Bae Seong-Joon's body had also entered a state of overload. Amidst the roars, Bae Seong-Joon took out two thumb-sized pills from his Neo Taekwondo uniform and stuffed them into his mouth.
Super Berserker Pill! Super Armor Pill! This time, even the corner of Song Zhenting's eyebrows twitched. Bae Seong-Joon had truly gone crazy! He didn't care how long his body would enter the state of weakness or what kind of danger he would encounter after this fight. There was only one person in his eyes, and that was Qin Fen.
He only had one goal and that was to kill Qin Fen, who had killed his wife, apprentices, and son!
At this moment, the true energy erupting from Bae Seong-Joon's body was visible to the naked eye! Purple! Purplish true energy had covered Bae Seong-Joon entirely. Also, a purple glow had taken over Bae Seong-Joon's hideous face. Rumor had it that Bae Seong-Joon had practiced Violet Clouds Divine Art to the realm of great perfection!
"Qin Fen!"
A roar filled with endless hatred tore through Bae Seong-Joon's throat. Suddenly, the entire Hallasan seemed to be shaken. A tremor seemed to run through the entire hilltop of Hallasan. The explosive sounds of kicking the ground were like deafening claps of thunder. The distant Kyokushin Genichi, whose feet were rooted to the ground, suddenly had an unsteady feeling. In his sight, all he saw was a rushing stream of purple light rushing straight to Qin Fen, crushing and flinging rocks into the air in its path!
The young martial artists in the sky had long put on strange golden spectacles, which was an expensive next-gen technology developed by the Federation called sky-eye, which used state-of-the-art satellites to capture images that no human eye could.
For instance, Bae Seong-Joon who turned into a streak of purple light as he rushed ahead could be clearly mapped out by the eyes of young martial artists through sky-eye. However, it was only okay as long as it was only used for watching. If someone used it in a fight, it was tantamount to a fool's behavior. Just because one could see it didn't mean that he or she could keep with that kind of crazy speed.
Once Bae Seong-Joon brought everything into play, the true energy wrapped around his body was extremely powerful and stable. His roar, even more so, was as fierce and as overbearing as thunder. In the blink of an eye, he had already pushed his strength to the limit. He was indeed worthy of the title of martial god of State of Korea.
Taebaek!
Bae Seong-Joon spread his five fingers, flipped his palm and pressed down, covering the entire Baengnokdam in the blink of an eye! Taebaek, Tanjun's founding myth was connected with the state of Korea's mythology. It was also the root of the spirit of the state of Korea. The beginning of the historical tradition of the Manchu ancestors was then rumored to be the sacred mountain of the State of Korea.
Taebaek was the supreme realm of Neo Taekwondo! Practicing Taekbaek was the soul of Neo Taekwondo. It was the integration of the entire history of the State of Korea, the integration of the State of Korea's entire history of prosperity, decay, glory, and shame!
Taebaek was the integration of all the historical imprint of the State of Korea from the second century to the third with Neo Taekwondo. It was the fist intent with everything integrated into it through Yiru!
Today, Bae Seong-Joon had merged his hatred for Qin Fen, his love for Cai Renying, his pain of burying his son, as well as all his life experience into Taebaek.
The life of any martial dao master was a magnificent and moving painted scroll!
Cast on the holy mountain of State of Korea was the legendary martial skill of the holy mountain! In the eyes of everyone, Bae Seong-Joon alone wasn't moving but rather the entire Hallasan appeared to have merged with him, moving with him, radiating tens of thousands of Hallasan's history!
The giant Hallasan was moving! Bae Seong-Joon, with the aura of power of Hallasan, had truly reached his peak since he had started learning martial arts. This was the real reason why he chose Hallasan! It wasn't just for the so-called home court advantage!
When a martial dao master was fighting, he would take all the winning and losing factors into account. Here, Bae Seong-Joon occupied an absolute geographical advantage. It could be said that he was occupying the time and space advantages!
Sometimes, the right time and the right place were interconnected.
Taebaek! Bae Seong-Joon's knuckles let out a series of explosive crackles; his palm hard! He had unleashed the strongest blow since he had started walking on the road of martial arts. The entire air of Hallasan had changed! The distant Kyokushin Genichi felt as if a heavy hammer had been slammed onto his chest; he opened his mouth and spewed out three mouthfuls of blood into the air.
BANG! The moment Bae Seong-Joon made his move, only true master-level martial artists could hear this bang. This earth-shattering momentum wasn't just created by Bae Seong-Joon alone, Qin Fen also had made his due contribution to this earth-shaking momentum.
Having energized the level two biochemical beast fusion and swallowed the Super Berserker Pill and Super Armor Pill sent by Enzo Rota, when Qin Fen compressed the true energy in his dantian, it almost exploded. The full burst of true energy galloped through his body along with his blood!
In a flash, Qin Fen's entire body was glowing as if the sun was coming out as two streaks of visible dragon-shaped true energy roared and circled around his body. His entire skin seemed as smooth as jade. It looked even glossier than that of a newborn baby. He appeared more of a statue carved out of jade than a real human.
BANG BANG BANG! Qin Fen brought everything of his martial dao into full play in the blink of an eye. His legs didn't appear to bend yet the rocks under his feet cracked and flew about. His figure vanished into thin air. Even the next-gen sky-eye could barely capture vague images of him.
BANG BANG BANG BANG...
Unlike Bae Seong-Joon's single jump, Qin Fen traversed just a distance of over ten meters with every step. The ground thundered and pieces of rocks flew everywhere after his every step, it was as if Hallasan was facing an artillery shelling. It was like artillery had hit everywhere he went. He was so fast that it appeared that all the explosions had taken place at the same time, regardless of whether it was his first step or the last!
Qin Fen's body wasn't swaying under the extraordinary speed of Thunder Steps, but all the joints of his body dislocated with a crack at the same time, just like the sound made by Wu Zun shaking his entire body that day. Only, the momentum and power were far beyond the time Wu Zun had exerted his entire strength. It was as if tens of thousands of people were playing mahjong in a small space at the same time, tens of thousands of mahjong tiles colliding at the same time.
He didn't need to move but all of his bones and muscles still drew a circle. This series of gentle shaking resonated in the blink of an eye, becoming extremely firm and fierce strength.
Qin Fen flung his right arm from under the ribs and cut through the air, even space was split asunder. Immediately after, dragon roars resonated from under his ribs and crackles from his fist, one after another; eighteen glowing streaks of true energy twined around his arm, almost tangible. They circled and bit the surrounding air, devouring the entire air, creating a bright-as-crystal hole in their path. Qin Fen had truly unleashed the strength of a dragon and ten elephants!
"Peak... peak punch..."
Song Zhenting was shaken to the core; his eyes suddenly shining bright. He somewhat couldn't believe that Qin Fen could display such a punch. How could a young man under the age of twenty display such a powerful punch?
The moment Song Zhenting was shaken to the core, Qin Fen took another step as two deafening crackles emerged from his shoulder position. The punch's momentum changed, once more, as an ancient and might aura of power erupted from his body! For a moment, the torp space was filled with deep and ancient dryness. The water of Baengnokdan in Hallasan seemed as if it would be evaporated completely by this dryness.
The soul of a million years long desert! Qin Fen was alone in the desert for nearly two months, comprehending and integrating the soul of Sahara's million years history at the risk of his life!
In a flash, the momentum of Qin Fen's original Eighteen Dragons Gathering the Wind and Clouds changed, and with the integration of the desert's soul, it was compressed and transformed into the ultimate skill of Godly Fists, Investiture of the Gods!
The martial dao masters in the sky stood dumbfounded in their spots. Although they had long expected this fight to turn into a life or death struggle, they had never imagined for this battle to be so shocking.
This was a punch that showed Qin Fen having mastered the Godly Fists completely. It bore all his martial arts experience and had absorbed the seemingly uninteresting yet deeply moving soul of Sahara which had been dry for millions of years.
In contrast to the soul imprint of Sahara's history that spanned eras, the State of Korea's history of a couple of millennia seemed so small. If not for Bae Seong-Joon's tragic martial arts experience mixed in with it, State of Korea's historical imprint would have been smashed into nothing by the historical imprint of Sahara.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The peak of Hallasan was truly shaking! The giant peak was shaking non-stop as powerful and vast shockwaves swept through the sky with heaven-shaking roars. The young martial artists in the sky spewed mouthfuls of blood, one after another, facing this heaven-shaking aura of power. Some weaker martial artists even fainted as their whites showed up.
Song Zhenting swept clear the air before his eyes with a stroke of his palm and hastily looked at the center of the battlefield. If not for the level four biochemical beast fusion, there would be no need to watch. He knew Qin Fen would certainly win. But the ability of level four biochemical beast fusion was too powerful...
BOOM BOOM BOOM...
Qin Fen sunk his waist and relaxed his shoulder as he took another half step with his left foot! Bae Seong-Joon, whose body was no longer glowing purple, had hairs standing erect as blue veins spread all over his cheeks like a devil was crawling his way out of hell. Suddenly, red blood spurted out from his skin as his entire figure quivered fiercely. His right arm with which he had cast Taebaek had started to explode. In the blink of an eye, over half of his body had blown up. His heart which was hanging from the right half of his body beat slowly and forcefully.
Baengnokdam had completely turned into a ravaged rocky hill. Even now, the peak of Hallasan was still shaking. And by no means was it an ordinary quaking, it was similar to an earthquake with a magnitude of ten on Richter scale. The highest peak of the mountain was slowly crumbling. It seemed that this blow had not blown up the martial god of State of Korea, Bae Seong Joon, but rather the soul of Koreans and their history, as well as Hallasan, the highest peak of State of Korea!
Gugu... gugu...
Bae Seong-Joon spewed blood as soon as he opened his mouth. He was still very much alive. The muscles of the remaining half of his body were actually squirming, wriggling with a speed visible to the naked eye!
Regeneration! That's right! Bae Seong-Joon's muscles were regenerating! While Qin Fen was watching this weird scene before his eyes, he heard Song Zhenting's voice coming from the sky, "The biochemical beast itself has a therapeutic function. The most terrifying aspect of reaching the level four fusion is the regeneration. Unless its user's heart or brain is destroyed, the biochemical beast can stimulate rapid cell division and regeneration as long as it was provided with enough energy..."
Qin Fen somewhat admired this Asura-like Bae Seong-Joon. A master-level martial artist was a master-level martial artist. At the last critical movement, he had moved his heart forcefully by relying on his tremendous strength, avoiding the deadly blow.
"You are very strong, unfortunately..."
Qin Fen withdrew his arms slowly and took half a step back, watching Bae Seong-Joon's heart as it beat faster and faster. "Your era is over."
BANG! Bae Seong-Joon's beating heart exploded into pieces and fell all over the ground. The hidden potential of Investiture of the Gods had seeped into his heart before Bae Seong-Joon could avoid it.
The peak of Hallasan shook more and more fiercely. Just as the martial god of the State of Korea lost, it appeared that the peak would crumble. And with the burst of State of Korea's martial god's heart, it, too, started to collapse...