lpffa Chapter 127 : Bell-Ringing Ceremony
Chapter 127 : Bell-Ringing Ceremony
Bell-Ringing Ceremony
A tremendous explosion erupted, enough to make the surroundings vibrate.
And it happened right below the cliff where the bell tower stood.
Soon, an immense plume of dust, far too large to be called mere dust, bloomed at its fringes.
"What, what is that?"
"Did something explode over there...?!"
Even the Shaolin monks who had been striking the bell froze in their movements.
Behind them, other martial artists who had stood by for the ceremony turned their heads in confusion, creating an unsettled scene.
Of course, the bell striking was abruptly halted. Then, as various martial artists leaned forward to see over the edge of the cliff—
An unbelievable roar erupted again and again, as if a lie.
KWAGWAGWAGWANG!
"Insane!"
"What on earth?!"
The bottom of the cliff collapsed completely with an earth-shattering explosion.
The blast to the ears was nothing compared to the sight before their eyes.
As rocks and soil burst apart, the lower portion of the cliff began to sink entirely.
A small landslide occurred nearby, enough that even trees toppled over.
Amazingly, only the very edge where the bell tower stood remained intact.
The fringe of the cliff, barely holding on, looked extremely precarious.
"Move the brazen bell!"
"Lower it from the bell tower!"
The Shaolin monks, startled by the sudden event, milled about in turmoil, unable to decide what to do.
Yet, none dared approach the bell tower.
It now stuck out over the void, as though the edge had been sliced away.
The rocks supporting its weight had all collapsed. The mass looked about to snap and fall under its own heavy load at any moment.
"Did the resonance from the bell's sound cause the gorge to collapse?!"
Someone murmured so, but Jeong-un shook his head.
Certainly, the sound of Shaolin's brazen bell was great enough to make the mountain range resonate.
However, no matter how powerful it was, it could not have exploded sheer cliffs like that.
These were cliffs of solid rock, centuries old at that.
If they could be destroyed by something that mild, they would have fallen long ago.
More than anything, the sound of the bell only resonated through the air, not vibrated the ground hard enough to collapse it.
A certain memory surfaced naturally.
Back in Yangyang, when he fell into the Divine Physician's tomb, hadn't the ground trembled and then caved in?
'No, this is...'
But this was clearly different from that time.
Back then, a real explosion started deep underground and erupted up in an instant.
This time, it wasn't nearly as powerful, though it was clearly not a natural incident.
Yet, there was a strange similarity to an earthquake.
"Shouldn't we help?"
"How? Even we have to hurry down the mountain for our safety!"
No less than the Shaolin monks, the martial artists watching the bell-striking ceremony were thrown into confusion.
The entire mountain was chaos.
Small landslides broke out nearby, stones and boulders raining down like a storm.
Even the ground beneath their feet was still shaking, as if it could cave in at any moment.
"L-let's just go!"
"If we stay put, we're in danger too!"
The martial artists each unleashed their ki waves.
They used their lightness skill, and one by one, began darting down the mountain.
Mount Song is a mountain range made up of many large and small peaks clustered together.
As those peaks began collapsing one by one, it was a scene not unlike a natural disaster.
Even those called superhuman martial artists could do little in the face of such calamity.
At that moment, a figure shot up from below the cliff.
The explosion of ki waves was so powerful that it instantly caught everyone's attention.
It was shocking that its presence had been hidden till now.
"Th-that...?"
"What the...?!"
It was an extraordinary movement skill.
The figure soared upward, seeming to fly through empty air where there was nothing to step on—as high as the tallest peak.
Even more, he then stood still in midair. It was the legendary skill - Walking Through the Void(凌空虛道).
"......!"
Everyone gaped at the figure floating in the sky.
Wearing a thick yellow Buddhist robe, the man hovered above, looking down at the martial artists below.
Against the backdrop of the night sky, it was as if a shooting star had stopped halfway, an unreal sight.
The man spoke.
"This is why I don't trust things like thunder bombs."
He snapped his right hand up, and from wrist to fingertip, powerful internal power gathered.
Most of the observers instantly realized his intent and widened their eyes.
"In the end, I have to deal with it myself."
FWIP!
As his raised hand struck downward, it created a ring of light—a powerful bursting energy.
Released from his fingertips, it streaked straight for the top of the cliff where the bell pavilion stood.
KWAGWAGWAGWANG!
A tremendous explosion followed. The cliff shattered, and the unstable edge crumbled as though snapping off.
WOOOOOOOONG!
Amid the tremendous roar and tremors, the bell pavilion could be heard tilting in the air.
The heavy iron bell leaned to one side, then toppled off.
"No!"
From the side, Shin Soryeong let out a screech.
"That, that...!"
"The iron bell with a hundred-year history...!"
The martial artists staring in shock all spoke at once, helplessly watching.
There was nothing they could do.
Not during the disaster moments ago, nor in the face of this sudden appearance of an uncanny power.
All they could manage, aside from their faces turning as white as their minds, was stand frozen.
Except for one.
SPLAT!
Jeong-un kicked off the ground, leaping.
The ki wave that erupted from his toe created a powerful shockwave.
Gongsun Yeong, who stood beside him, was nearly sent flying backward.
SHWAAAK!
He moved with blinding speed, already nearing the collapsing cliff.
Even though the original peak and the one with the bell pavilion were quite far apart, he closed the distance in an instant.
Still, there was distance left between him and the hovering opponent.
Currently, Jeong-un had reached the level where he could unleash bursting energy with his sword strike.
The energy unleashed from his swing would cut like a blade.
But even so, it was not enough to bridge this distance.
He wouldn't be able to reach his foe. His momentum from springing off the ground was fading.
Then.
Unbelievably, he moved his foot in midair.
TAANG─!
He shot upward in an instant, with enough force not to lose speed.
Ki waves burst from his airborne toes in all directions.
"He... he's using Void Steps!"
Someone shouted.
It was, literally, as the name states. He propelled off the air itself, leaping in midair.
It looked just like the legendary Void Steps, the art of walking the empty sky.
"... No."
It was Zhuge Myeong who said it.
Zhuge clan's arcane arts included many body techniques.
Although not quite on the level of Shaolin's famed Heavenly Eye Observance, it was of an advanced level.
Zhuge Myeong, who had mastered this art to a high level, muttered in disbelief.
"... He used falling rocks as stepping stones and performed lightness skill."
At the moment when everyone gaped in shock, Jeong-un was already right in front of his foe.
The enemy's face, staring at him, seemed to zoom in rapidly.
In that brief instant, when time seemed to stop, Jeong-un's heightened senses felt the opponent's aura and rapidly calculated the gap between them.
The enemy repeatedly summoned cultivated power to stand in midair, whereas Jeong-un was merely matching heights by kicking off falling rocks.
'So what.'
His right hand gripping the sword guard was already filled with true ki.
Just like grasping the sword blade with his hand, an overwhelming cultivated power gathered.
No, it was more than that.
His body was full of true ki he had already drawn forth.
The power, flowing through his meridians, rapidly raised his body temperature and tensed every muscle.
At some point, his waist had already turned halfway.
At the same time, his right hand gripped the sword guard at his hip.
As he drew, his waist would twist, adding tremendous acceleration to his swordsmanship.
"..."
At that moment, Jeong-un's ki sense swept beneath the cliff.
He was already thinking about what to do after cutting down his foe.
He had to descend immediately and pursue the falling brazen bell.
The enemy's target was surely the brazen bell.
Judging by how he only knocked it down, he must have an accomplice.
With those thoughts concluded, he drew his sword.
All these calculations happened in an instant.
SREEE―!
The cultivated power, concentrated at his wrist, was instantly sucked into the motion.
The white sword blade slid from the black scabbard, and as it was revealed, it drew a bolt of lightning.
Traceless Flash.
It was a sword move now completely different from when he had first unleashed it.
It was no mere swift sword move.
Every movement of his body was optimized for swinging the sword horizontally.
The flow of true ki matched the shift of his center of gravity, surging from his waist to his wrist and sword tip like a bolt.
FLASH—!
Lightning struck the midnight sky.
There was simply no other way to describe it: a golden blaze, leaving not even a sound from its swing.
"..."
Jeong-un froze in the posture of having swung his sword.
His outstretched forearm throbbed.
Martial artists train their bodies to endure movements at the very limit of what a human can withstand.
To swing and parry a sword at such speeds, to bring down huge structures, solid cliffs, even mountains, comes from the miracle of an internal energy built from natural energy.
With this one move, Jeong-un had used up every bit of that miracle that he could unleash.
He doubted he could ever do better.
Which made it all the more frustrating.
'Did I miss?'
No sensation of hitting anything was transmitted to his hand.
The blade had sliced through empty air.
At that moment, Jeong-un's pupils darted to the side. This time, he caught the movement.
"You?"
A familiar voice stabbed into his ear just as he felt a surge of internal power hit his side.
As he realized, true ki rushed and gathered in his left hand.
He hadn't managed to cut down his foe, but he had not only grown physically.
His ki sense, now incredibly keen, was tracking the enemy's every movement.
He read the trajectory of the counterattack, utilizing the subtlety of the heavy striking technique.
PAANG—!
He struck away the foe's entering palm technique with his left wrist.
The opponent's attack was completely neutralized.
The bursting energy flared, pushing his body back slightly.
Then, the pull of gravity began to drag him down.
"You...!"
Their eyes met as the enemy drifted away.
Even with different faces, they recognized each other at once.
Jeong-un casually turned his head and glanced at the ground.
He had to go back up. The foe was still up there.
'Something to leap off of...'
Nothing useful was in sight.
He had no choice but to brace for the fall. Dropping from this height was nothing to him.
After that, he would need to launch himself back up from the cliff—as quickly and directly as possible.
KWOONG!
At that moment, an explosion burst from atop the cliff.
"Young hero!"
It was Do-un.
He looked down anxiously at Jeong-un.
As the direct disciple of the abbot, had he been taking part in the bell-striking ceremony?
At the cliff's edge, he initiated a forcible stride, breaking the cliff and sending boulders tumbling down toward the falling Jeong-un, following a well-aimed wave of bursting energy.
FWIP!
Seeing this, Jeong-un spun his body in midair.
As the hem of his robe curled round, he brushed his foot against a falling rock as it passed by.
SPLAT!
He shot upward once again.
SWISH!
The chunk of rock Jeong-un had stepped on shattered to pieces.
An incredible burst of ki wave erupted in midair.
He had unleashed the mysteries of Moonlight Swift Steps to their fullest.
"Ha!"
He was once again eye-to-eye with his enemy.
The opponent, seeing Jeong-un rocket back up, widened his eyes—then shouted with real joy.
"So it really is you! That internal power...! You've already absorbed it all?!"
At that instant, Jeong-un was calculating the strike he would unleash upon his foe.
All his accumulated combat experience forged a new sword move in his mind.
'Can't cut him down?'
Well then.
He pulled his hand back, sword in grip.
At the same moment, his center of mass shifted backward.
His true ki responded, sensitively moving in time with his intent.
"I told you."
"...?"
"If you can't cut me down, you'll die."
He thrust his sword forward.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
허공답보 (虛空踏步) - Void Steps is a technique- I can step on air...
능공허도(凌空虛道) - Walking Through the Void is a state, not just a technique - the air becomes the road...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】