WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 43: Absolute befuddlement

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“What...?”

Until just moments ago, that bastard had been third-tier. He had wrapped Ki-flame around his body, but he had been unable to change the attribute of his internal energy.

It had been sturdy enough to hold back Ganggi for a moment, but nothing else had changed.

But this was different. His eyes might have dimmed with age, but they were not so old that he could not distinguish Ki-flame from Ganggi. What covered that bastard’s fists now was undoubtedly Ganggi.

“H-how?”

Even Haryeong exclaimed in shock. But at that moment, no one was more shocked than the Blood Fiend.

Had he gained enlightenment in a fierce battle to the death and crossed the wall between tiers? It was possible. The Blood Fiend himself had experienced such a breakthrough in the past. That was why martial artists continued to fight, to seize such enlightenment.

That bastard fought too well to be believed as a third-tier martial artist. His internal energy was deep, and he understood martial arts well. Judging by how he had used Ki-flame against Ganggi, he was skilled at controlling internal energy and had apparently learned a special cultivation method.

In other words, he possessed everything needed to cross the wall between tiers. Given the slightest opportunity, he could surpass the third tier and reach the fourth at any time.

But going from the third tier straight to the fifth? This was not merely rare. It was impossible. Tiers had to be climbed in sequence. One needed to accumulate experience at each tier before advancing to the next. Even a genius blessed by heaven could not skip a tier.

‘No, that bastard is fourth-tier.’

A fifth-tier martial artist entered the realm of Ganggi, but freely wielding it required extensive study. One could not naturally maintain Protective Ganggi, and coating a weapon in Ganggi also required training.

Unarmed fighters were different. Compared to channeling energy into an external weapon and coating it with sword Ganggi, coating one’s natural body in Ganggi was far easier.

In advanced Ganggi control, such as Protective Ganggi, unarmed fighters had the advantage. Given that bastard’s talent, it would not be strange for him to form Protective Ganggi the moment he reached the fifth tier. Yet the thing covering his body was still Ki-flame burning like scarlet fire.

‘He formed Ganggi at the fourth tier...?’

Only his two fists were covered in Ganggi. In other words, that bastard had drawn out even a fragment of a realm he should not have been able to access at his current tier.

There was only one kind of martial art that could make that possible.

“You... What Divine Art have you learned...?”

A Divine Art was called a Divine Art because it could not be compared to other martial arts. If what that bastard had learned was a Divine Art that far surpassed even the finest martial arts, then it was understandable for him to form Ganggi at the fourth tier.

“Y-you... I won’t kill you.”

The Blood Fiend’s voice trembled.

“I won’t kill you. I’ll make you reveal every last detail of the Divine Art you’ve learned!”

The Demonic Cult was filled with all kinds of martial and demonic arts. Anyone qualified could enter the Cult’s martial arts archive and learn techniques suited to their standing.

But even the Cult’s archive, a treasure trove of martial arts, contained no Divine Arts. Not only in the Demonic Cult, but in any sect, martial arts called Divine Arts could only be learned by a chosen few.

Every martial artist would desire a Divine Art. The Blood Fiend was no exception. He was certain that this encounter was a blessing bestowed by the Evil God. A talented young source of nourishment, and a Divine Art as well. If he nourished himself and learned that Divine Art, he would surely overcome the aftereffects of qi deviation and aging, then return to the seventh tier.

“Kaaaaah!”

The Blood Fiend’s scream sounded faint and distant to Yuri.

Rather than talk of Divine Arts, Yuri’s attention was fixed on his fists.

‘This is Ganggi...’

It was hot.

It felt as though flames had wrapped around his fists. They were not actually heavy, but Yuri felt that his fists were heavy. He instinctively knew that if he swung them, he could smash countless things.

He could not produce the flame-like Ganggi anywhere but his fists. Yuri’s Ganggi manifested only from his fists. Had he reached the fourth tier through the sword, he might have been able to use sword Ganggi instead.

He had instinctively formed Ganggi and thrown his fist, but Yuri was just as bewildered by his own realm. Still, he was no longer confused.

Even if it was only on his fists, if he could form Ganggi, he could take the injured Haryeong’s place and attack the Blood Fiend directly. Yuri slowly turned his head and looked behind him. Elena was staring at him with startled eyes.

[Run.]

He did not know how to use telepathic messages, so he only moved his lips. He did not know whether the message had reached her, but he could see Elena’s eyes tremble.

Art of the Violet Lightning Flash.

It was a peak martial art he had received from Orca. He had memorized it, but had never practiced or used it. Before reaching the fourth tier, when one could change the attribute of internal energy, it was a martial art that could not be properly used even if learned.

Crackle.

Violet lightning joined the Ki-flame covering Yuri’s body.

He had neither practiced nor used the technique before, but it was not difficult for Yuri. This was a qi art. Qi arts required a high level of mana affinity and understanding.

Yuri possessed both.

Whoosh!

Yuri shot forward. Ganggi alone had startled the Blood Fiend, but the addition of lightning made the Blood Fiend’s face twist.

Had he learned a Divine Art that handled lightning energy? Or was that a separate martial art?

He did not deliberate for long. There was no need to find an answer right now. Whatever the truth was, the Blood Fiend intended to capture Yuri and make him reveal every martial art he had learned.

“Kaaaaah!”

The palm strike he thrust out with a monstrous cry collided with Yuri’s fist. A fist that had only managed to stop him for a moment before now clearly pushed the Blood Fiend’s hand back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A flurry of punches collided with his palms. Yuri had barely matched the Blood Fiend’s level, but his internal energy was lacking. Every collision made it feel as though his internal organs were being shaken. Yuri bit hard into his lip and endured the dull, aching pain.

‘I can’t fight for long.’

He judged the situation calmly. Ganggi, which should have been impossible for a fourth-tier martial artist to use, was a burden even for Yuri. He had consumed the Azure Heaven Pill and cultivated his internal energy with the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil for over half a year, but Ganggi consumed far too much internal energy. If the battle continued, the internal energy in his dantian would be depleted and he would collapse from exhaustion.

Yuri did not know much about the Blood Fiend. But he remembered the conversation between the Blood Fiend and Haryeong. That old man had suffered qi deviation long ago, was recuperating, and had not recovered all the internal energy he had lost.

‘Between me and that old man, whose internal energy is deeper?’

He did not know the answer, but neither of them was suited for a prolonged battle. That was why Yuri decided to end the fight quickly.

Crackle.

He felt that sound from the internal energy flowing through his entire body. The Art of the Violet Lightning Flash mixed with the internal energy of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil. All lightning-attributed martial arts pursued extreme speed.

The Fist of the Rending Cloud pursued speed, fluidity, and variation. Of its four forms, the fastest was the fourth: Thunder Cloud Dragon Fang.

Yuri twisted his upper body to the side and held his right hand against his chest.

Crackle!

The concentrated lightning energy mixed with the Ganggi. At the same time, the internal energy flowing through his body to perform the form also became lightning.

Then Yuri threw his fist.

The Ganggi following his fist spread like clouds and muddled the Blood Fiend’s vision. At its center, a strike as sharp as a dragon’s fang pierced through the Blood Fiend’s palm force.

Boom!

The Blood Fiend’s body flew backward. His aged face twisted as he restrained the trembling in both hands. Fast and heavy. More than that, that bastard was looking directly at the Blood Fiend’s palm technique and piercing its openings. Perhaps because his tier had risen, his eyes were more precise and sharper than before.

‘Where did a bastard like this come from...?’

The Blood Fiend did not consider his own defeat, but he could not help worrying that he would become exhausted if the battle continued. The mage could no longer fight, but the assassin was different.

That damned woman was not recklessly joining the battle. She was focused on treating her internal injuries. She intended to settle the immediate crisis and then join the fight. If that happened, the Blood Fiend would be in an even more difficult position.

First, he had to stop that bastard from rampaging any further. He could not kill him, but he would break both his legs.

With that decision made, the Blood Fiend concentrated Ganggi in his right hand.

The palm strike he thrust out became a giant hand that filled Yuri’s vision. It could neither be blocked nor diverted. Nor could it be neutralized with an attack.

Yuri made his decision quickly and sent internal energy into both feet.

Crackle!

With the sound of electricity sparking, Yuri vanished from where he stood. He had added lightning energy to the footwork of Whirlwind Cloud Steps on the spot. It was absurd to merge two completely unrelated martial arts without practice, but Yuri accomplished it through instinct and sensation alone.

‘Afterimage displacement?’

The afterimage that could not keep up with his body wavered and vanished. A chill ran down the Blood Fiend’s back, and his body spun in place.

Boom!

Ganggi spread out as he turned, sweeping through the surrounding area.

“You rat!”

The Blood Fiend shouted and reached out. Beyond the fading energy, he saw Yuri’s blurred afterimage. The afterimages that appeared and disappeared in rapid succession made his eyes swim.

“Damn it!”

The Blood Fiend cursed his aged eyes, which could no longer see clearly. The bastard who had been leaping around in every direction suddenly lunged at him.

Bang!

Palm and fist collided.

The moment Yuri’s fist pulled back, his leg moved. The leg, concentrated with the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash, traced the path of lightning.

Crack!

The instep of his swinging kick struck the Blood Fiend’s Protective Ganggi.

He could not concentrate Ganggi in his feet. That kick could not pierce the Blood Fiend’s Protective Ganggi.

It did not matter. Yuri had never intended to kill the Blood Fiend with a kick. He spun his body and continued to swing his legs.

The power of the rushing kicks was light, but they were fast. Each strike held the Blood Fiend’s Protective Ganggi in place, while punches delivered on the off-beat shook the Protective Ganggi.

But he could not inflict a fatal blow. He had drawn out Ganggi with the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, then mixed the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash into the Fist of the Rending Cloud and Whirlwind Cloud Steps. With this combination, he could overwhelm martial artists of the same tier and fight a fifth-tier martial artist, but it was not enough to kill the Blood Fiend.

He needed a sure strike. A martial art that could kill this old demon. One stronger than the Fist of the Rending Cloud, one that could pierce through that sturdy Protective Ganggi and kill the old man.

There was still something Yuri had not used.

Something he had learned from Lorelia, just like the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil.

‘Sacred Flame Release.’

He had never used it before Bakerd, Elena, or Haryeong. Like the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, it was a martial art he should not reveal before others.

But he had practiced it steadily. It was his first time using it in real combat, but his lack of experience no longer mattered. Everything Yuri had used while fighting the Blood Fiend had been new to him from the start.

‘Will it work?’

He knew the power of Sacred Flame Release, but he was not certain whether it could kill the Blood Fiend. But there was no other way now.

‘One strike.’

Since it was his first time using it in real combat, Yuri could not accurately judge Sacred Flame Release’s power or its consumption of internal energy. But he probably could not use it twice in succession. So he had to end it in one strike.

So far, Yuri’s attacks had not landed on any vital points. When Yuri had been third-tier, the Blood Fiend had not paid much attention to defense. But once Yuri’s fists carried Ganggi, the Blood Fiend had begun guarding against his fists thoroughly.

Then Yuri had only one thing to do. Break through. Sweep away every one of those blood-red palms and open the Blood Fiend’s chest. If the fight turned into a battle of attrition, his chances of defeat would be high. Even if his body became a wreck, Yuri would win if he killed the Blood Fiend.

He did not need to steel himself anew. The moment he stepped forward, he had already made every resolve he needed. All Yuri had to do was step forward.

Crackle.

The lightning energy of the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash accelerated Yuri’s body.

‘So he wants a brawl.’

Until now, that bastard had fought by combining the principles of speed with fluid footwork and fist techniques. He would obviously lose a contest of strength from the front, so that judgment had been correct. But in the end, it was merely a difference of being faster or slower. The Ganggi he had drawn out despite his tier consumed an extreme amount of internal energy, so he must not have much room left either.

The Blood Fiend did not have much room to spare either, but he had more than Yuri. Even now, the assassin was treating her internal injuries. Chasing that bastard, nimble as a rat, was troublesome, so a brawl was something the Blood Fiend wanted as well.

At the same time, he felt offended.

‘Brat.’

He thought Yuri’s arrogance was outrageous. How insignificant must this old body appear for him to gamble on such a fight? He wanted to smash that bastard’s head in out of anger, but Yuri was not someone he could kill.

The Crimson Tide Palm and the Fist of the Rending Cloud collided.

Yuri’s barrage of attacks was blocked by the palm technique. As expected, he was losing the contest of strength. With every repeated clash, blood filled Yuri’s mouth. The Ganggi of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil wavered, and blood gathered on Yuri’s fists.

He ignored all the pain. He only needed to avoid a fatal wound. That was difficult. Unlike the Blood Fiend, Yuri had no Protective Ganggi. Even a glancing hit could be fatal.

He could win if he landed a blow... but landing one was difficult. That had not changed from before. The palm force thrust at him was bent aside by his fists, and his swaying footwork barely avoided the twisted trajectories.

In this situation, he could not even let out a battle cry to draw out every ounce of strength. Instead, he concentrated even more. The right hand blocking his front was a feint. The movement of the Blood Fiend’s shoulder and the twitch of his wrist hinted at a change.

His judgment, made after predicting several moves ahead, was correct. He swept the attack away and threw another punch, but it was blocked.

The Blood Fiend was also watching Yuri’s moves.

No matter how sharp Yuri’s eyes were, he could not defeat a demon who had fought for decades in an exchange of moves. Then he would accept a loss.

He gave up his left hand first.

His left fist flew upward after colliding with the Blood Fiend’s attack. The Ganggi scattered. The hand that could no longer clench its fist opened slightly.

The Blood Fiend did not miss it. A red hand shot out and seized Yuri’s left hand. Yuri spread Ganggi to resist, but the Blood Fiend was stronger. In the end, the Blood Fiend broke through Yuri’s scattered Ganggi and seized his hand.

‘I’ll crush it.’

It was over. The Blood Fiend thought so.

At the same time, Yuri thought the same.

The other hand he had swept aside earlier was far away. As the Blood Fiend’s grip tightened around Yuri’s left hand hard enough to crush it, Yuri quickly stepped forward and closed the distance.

‘Madman!’

The Blood Fiend did not release the hand he had caught. He could have smashed Yuri’s head by bringing down the hand that had been swept upward, but he deliberately did not. The Blood Fiend’s purpose was not to kill Yuri.

That was what Yuri had hoped for.

His right hand was pressed tightly against his chest.

Rumble!

The internal energy in his dantian gathered in that right hand. Ganggi burning like flames covered Yuri’s fist.

‘A desperate struggle.’

The Blood Fiend thought it was fine even though his chest was exposed. He had been wary of accumulated strikes, but he believed he could easily withstand a close-range blow like this. It would be Yuri’s final attack anyway, and judging by Yuri’s inability to maintain the Ganggi on his left hand, his internal energy must be nearly depleted.

Even so, he paid attention to defense. Thickened Protective Ganggi concentrated over the Blood Fiend’s chest.

What mattered in Sacred Flame Release was the binding, adjustment, and manifestation of internal energy.

It was binding internal energy without letting it scatter, driving it precisely through the point of impact, then adjusting it through will alone without directly touching it and manifesting it into a form befitting murderous intent.

The form of Sacred Flame Release that Lorelia had first demonstrated was an awl.

That was also the form Yuri had practiced several times. Yuri imbued his fist with the form of an exploding awl.

‘...?’

The moment the fist approached, the Blood Fiend felt a powerful sense of incongruity.

He could not take this blow.

His instincts warned him.

The Blood Fiend brought down his right hand too late. Divine Art or not, he felt that he had to kill Yuri. But Yuri’s fist reached his chest faster than the Blood Fiend’s hand could strike the crown of Yuri’s head.

The moment it touched, something had already pierced the Blood Fiend’s Protective Ganggi.

Boom!

The Blood Fiend could not immediately understand what had happened to him. Overwhelming pain sent his mind reeling.

Thud.

Sacred Flame Release was an internal-damage technique that destroyed the inside through an external blow.

The Blood Fiend could understand what was happening to him. Yuri’s internal energy, released from his fist, had pierced his Protective Ganggi and entered his chest. It was as hot as burning flame, and he could clearly discern its form.

The tightly bound internal energy changed inside the Blood Fiend’s chest.

Hundreds of awls exploded within his chest.

Pop-pop-pop!

The Blood Fiend’s chest burst like a balloon, and blood spurted from his mouth.

“This... This is...”

The Blood Fiend stared at Yuri with an expression of disbelief. The right hand that had remained frozen in its downward-striking posture trembled and fell limp. His left hand, which had been about to crush Yuri’s wrist, no longer had any strength in it.

Internal energy that had destroyed everything inside him and burned so fiercely it seemed like a hell of blazing fire. The Blood Fiend’s internal energy was entirely burned away by the flames that had entered him.

The Blood Fiend had knelt before the Cult Leader and received baptism when he became one of the Seven Evils. At last, he understood the true nature of the Divine Art Yuri had learned.

“Heavenly Demon’s... Divine Art...?”

That murmur became the Blood Fiend’s last words.

“What... bullshit...?”

That was the last thing Yuri could say. His dantian had truly become empty. The sensation in his body grew distant, and his consciousness became heavy.

‘I can’t pass out now...’

He tried to hold onto his consciousness, but he could not.

Footnotes:

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